Literary Fiction | Book Chatter

Child Wonder
By Roy Jacobsen
(Graywolf Press, Paperback, 9781555975951, September, 27, 2011, 256pp.)

The Short of It:

A touching, coming-of-age story.

The Rest of It:

Finn and his mother live in a small apartment in Oslo, in the early 60s. She works in a shoe shop and does her best to make ends meet. They are comfortable and happy. Finn’s father died long ago in a crane accident but he left a little something behind…a daughter. Linda, age 6 and only a few years younger than Finn, comes to live with them. With another mouth to feed, Finn’s mom takes in a quirky lodger.

I’m not sure what I expected when picking this book up but I wasn’t expecting to be completely charmed by Finn. Finn is a great kid. He’s not the most popular kid but he’s not an outcast either. Living alone with his mother has given him a sense of maturity that you don’t normally see in a child his age, but he still possesses that child like wonder that makes this particular age so special.

Finn’s mother is firm, but wonderful and they watch out for each other quite a bit. When Linda comes to live with them, Finn is not sure what to think. Out of nowhere, this half-sister arrives and he immediately sees that she’s not quite right. But there is no jealously here. Just a fierce need to protect her and Finn does exactly that.

What the lodger provides, is a man’s perspective. Something Finn has never had. Although he resents having to have a lodger, he learns to live with the guy because for one, he has a TV and two, he’s nice company for his mother.

Towards the end of the story, something happens that changes the way they live and once again they are forced to readjust to their new lives. I was a bit sad when I read the ending, but as stricken as the characters are, they accept their situation and continue to grow.

There are many things that I liked about this book. It’s a very simple story and because it’s so simple, you can focus on the characters and they are really wonderfully drawn. I liked that Finn was not a babbling child but a child with a good head upon his shoulders. I liked that his mother was not perfect, but was a really good mom. I also loved the development of Linda, the half-sister.

All in all, reading this book was a pleasant experience and reminded me of what it’s like to be a child in a grown-up world.

Note from Ti: This book comes out September 27, 2011, but since I liked it so much, I decided to review it early.

Source: Sent to me by the publisher.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Caribou Island
By David Vann
(Harper, Hardcover, 9780061875724, January 2011, 304pp.)

The Short of It:

The path from normalcy to insanity is literally a mere boat ride away.

The Rest of It:

Gary and Irene have been married for 30 years. Their marriage is falling apart but they are held together by a very thin thread. When Gary decides to build a log home on the small island of Caribou, located on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, Irene sees it for what it is. Their last chance to make the marriage work, or a sign that it will never work and that they have failed miserably. What takes Gary sometime to realize, Irene has already realized and partially accepted.

While they are trying to put this cabin together, Gary and Irene’s grown daughter, Rhonda has problems of her own. She is dating Jim, a dentist. He’s well-off, successful and safe. But Jim has his own secrets. As Rhonda ponders what is going on with her parents, she can’t help but think about her own relationship.

These are troubled times.

This is not a happy story. There are no happy people here. In fact, what you have are miserable characters who are wrought with loneliness. So lonely, that being together is better than being apart and trust me, these people should be apart. As depressing as this all sounds, and it does get rather depressing here and there, the story is very compelling. Vann’s writing is lovely and sad and brutally honest. It’s scratchy and raw and there were times when I was uncomfortable reading, but only because Gary and Irene’s story seemed so real. You know how it is when you are with a couple who is fighting? How you try to ignore the tension yet it’s impossible to do so? That’s how it was for me reading this book. The tension is everywhere, yet I couldn’t put it down.

Halfway through the story, I knew where the story was heading, but in no way did it prepare me for what actually happened. I reached that last page and the air was sucked right out of me. I had read Vann’s Legend of a Suicide and had a similar feeling when I finished that one but these characters seemed more real…as if they could be people I know. That made it more personal to me and what marriage hasn’t seen trouble every now and then? The images that Vann created are still floating around in my head today.

Caribou Island is a moving account of a marriage gone wrong and although it’s bleak, it’s very thought-provoking and Vann does wonderful things with the setting. You don’t enjoy a story like this, but you experience it and appreciate it on a different level. Vann is a very talented writer and at this point, I’d read anything by him.

Note from Ti: I also listened to this on audio afterward and it’s great on audio as well.

Source: Borrowed