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Every Man Dies Alone. Hans Fallada. Reviewed. In the Argo catalog.

Hans Fallada. HANS FALLADA. HANS FREAKING FALLADA. That is me yelling his name from the literary rooftops. Where has this guy been all my life? Have you ever wondered what Dostoevsky would have written about the Third Reich? Well now I think we know. Fallada knew that on our deathbeds the only judge that really counts is ourselves, and we will know better than anyone else whether our lives have been largely in the name of good or wasted in the name of evil, an especially important topic for someone living through the Early to Mid-Twentieth Century in Europe. Every Man Dies Alone is a story of German resistance to the Nazis. It is a tale of the banality of good in the face of real evil. It questions right and wrong from a staggering array of perspectives and leaves the reader dizzy. There are huge crimes and lesser ones, some straight forward others convoluted, sometimes it is difficult to know who the victim of a crime really is.

In the mess that was Third Reich Berlin Otto Quangel and his wife are leaving postcards denouncing the Nazis all over Berlin. A simple and seemingly small act that will cost them their lives if Hitler has his way. What a world of fear and hate Fallada depicts! When Fallada writes about facing death he knows what he is talking about. As a youth he was part of a homosexual scandal. Entered a duel with a friend (more of a suicide pact really). He shot and killed his lover, but the lover’s fire was to as accurate. Fallada picked up his lover’s weapon and shot himself in the chest, and failed to die. He was committed to a hospital and a life of drugs and alcohol followed. He writes from somewhere deep and succeeds in taking us to the heart of evil.

He demands you understand the position people were put in under the Nazis and further demands that we do not for a second forgive them for saving their own skins. His book could not be more compelling. It is (that clichéd term) a Staggering Literary Achievement that any high art literary buff needs to read. Fallada has several other books and you will be reading about them here in the near future. This is an author that has really, truly caught my attention. I am riveted even now that the book if over. I did not want it to end but am happy that there is so much more of him to read.

Freedom. Jonathan Franzen. In the Argo catalog.

It is high time I weigh in on this ambitious novel that has been reviewed just about everywhere else. It is a novel that proves that the muses of the ancients Greeks are not dead yet. Mr. Franzen must be one of the greatest living authors we have. Freedom displays his understanding of human nature and his ability to write focused and clear prose. This book is so good that you should read this book, whoever you are.

To begin with the pacing of the book is perfect. I literally never wanted to put it down. I stopped only to sleep and eat (I hate getting mustard on books) and read the 564 pages in two and half days. This is the type of book that creates a new world, that engulfs you and does not let go until you are done. If you are worried that you are missing it by reading it too quickly, fear not, I am sure you will want to read it again.

The heart of most great books is great characters. Franzen knows that every human is capable of both good and bad and we are rarely purely good or evil. The good characters in the novel have their failings and the bad characters have their triumphs because life is complicated. You learn to cherish the characters for what they are, not what you want them to be. The people in the novel are real, I saw myself and friends that I know in some. In getting to know and understand his characters Franzen is more careful than I have seen anyone be in a long time, in fact, he reminds me of Tolstoy in his character building.

Love is a part of almost every great huge novel. Some people find it cheesy, but it is nevertheless true. Mr. Franzen does not get caught with a lame romantic comedy type of love. He does not get caught up in fake love that surpasses all all the time, instead he demonstrates a finely tuned comprehension of love and the spending of one’s life with another. Love requires a long view of life. That is about as succinct a summation I can make (I suggest you just read the book). Suffice to say the love stories are very satisfyingly real and complete.

Honestly the truth is that I cannot write well enough to explain why you should read it. Does that say enough?

Howl. A Graphic Novel. Allen Ginsberg and Eric Drooker. In the Argo Catalog.

I sit down and read “I saw the best minds of my generation…” My thoughts run wild: yes here we go, here we go again. It has been a long time since I last saw you my friend–the poem that got me into poetry–I see you have gotten a make over. That is dangerous you know. You were so good originally–the most popular poem of the century?– but I guess after 50 years you need to attract a new kind of man, of student. The world has changed a lot since 1955 and yet your messages are still important. I see that cartoons give you a weight in 2010 that in 1956 they would not have. I see what you are trying to do. I wonder if it will work. Up to now I have not yet read a graphic novel that  I liked.

If I ever meet Mr. Drooker I will thank him and give him a hug. Reading Howl with his images interspersed was like reading it for the first time all over again. If you are a fan of the poem then you know what that is like and understand why you must run out and get a copy of this to put beside your City Lights version and your Ginsberg collected works. Trust me, you will not be disappointed or disgusted with what was a very dangerous project. Drooker’s artwork reminds the reader of the raw power of the poem, the stark worldview. In short, Drooker captures Howl perfectly.

The format is compelling, even to me, a person that is ambivalent (to put it nicely) about graphic novels. As the reader of this graphic novel you turn page after page at the end of the lines, the constant page turning adds to the desperation, adds to the force of the poem and makes you quicken your pace of reading. It also isolates each and every idea and image forcing you to consider them more closely, not pass any line too quickly, in short, it forces you to read the poem as it is meant to be read, with care. The constant turning wears you down, leaves you feeling a little like what Ginsberg must have felt when he wrote it. Then you start all over again to appreciate the Eastern Island heads, the saxophones, and the horned Moloch.

I read it once quickly loving the pacing of the lines. Then again for the images, a slow process of carefully trying to understand Drooker’s interpretation of the lines through his drawings. Drooker gets Howl that and that is why he needs to be hugged. He has rejuvenated the piece for a new generation of readers and maybe rekindled the love for it in an older one and for that he deserves our thanks. Reading the poem and searching the pictures is a great way to pass an afternoon. I suspect this fall I will be found on a bench on Mont Royal under orange leaves holding this book.

Sex Bombs and Burgers. Peter Nowak. Reviewed. In the Argo catalog.

This is a book about technology and the ways it has entered our lives. It is the sort of book that on almost every page the average person will say to themselves “wow we can do that?” This is a rollicking romp through the technology that fills our world from the everyday to the incredible. The tidbits in it make it a lot of fun (did you know the Silly Putty and the Slinky are both brought to us by the U.S. military? Or that the microwave oven is a spin-off from the Manhattan project?). This is a good bathroom read because every page has a value but read in long sittings you are overwhelmed by the amount of information that you wish you could remember. Read the rest of this entry »