4 posts from April 2008

Genna Meade is the well-meaning daughter of well-to-do, radical hippie parents. Her college roommate Minette, the daughter of an African American minister, is reserved, prickly, eccentric and unpopular.  Genna is almost desperate to win Minette's friendship, but a series of racist incidents in their dorm complicates their relationship and sets the stage

for a tragedy. 

As always, Oates presents finely drawn characters and an engrossing story.  My only criticism is that Genna seems too naive, politically and socially, considering her home environment.  The college, too, seemed quaint and genteel, and I doubt even a Main Line women's college was genteel in the 1970s.

The subtitle is Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon--And the Journey of a Generation, so you can guess why I

bought it.  I cheated and only read the Joni chapters so far.  The author managed to talk to a lot of people, and uncovered stories that as far as I can tell have never been told before.  It's certainly interesting stuff, and for the most part the author is fair.  But the overwhelming emphasis is on Joni's romantic relationships, and that was disappointing.  The woman is an incredibly ambitious artist.  I would have liked to read more about her artistic vision and her struggles as a woman in the music business.

In The Road, an unnamed father and son are trying to survive in the aftermath of a worldwide catastrophe that leaves

the earth literally dying.  They are heading south in attempt to escape worst of winter, but the world is cloaked in winter.  Finding food is difficult, as all animals and plants are apparently dead by this time. There is danger from bands of survivors who have their own ideas where to find food.

We never know what caused the disaster, just as we never know the characters' names or the precise time and place.  It's not about geopolitics or man's evil nature.  It has interesting things to say about god or the absence of god, but it's not by any means a religious parable.

Bleak? Yes. Monotonous? Yes, at times, deliberately so.  But it is remarkably readable.  And the character of the little boy is brilliantly rendered.

Haunting doesn't begin to describe this work. Read it, please. 

I just attended the Public Library Association conference in Minneapolis.  A vendor took pictures of librarians standing next to candidate cutouts; here's me and my gal: