A Clockwork Orange

#605
Title: A Clockwork Orange
Author: Anthony Burgess
Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics
Year: 1962/1998
160 pages

Audiobook (edition not clear from publishing data, audiobook at http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B002V1OHIW)

I'm fond of Burgess, so it pains me to relate what a putz he is in the intro ("A Clockwork Orange Resucked") read in this audiobook. He rails against U.S. publishers for removing his last chapter, which is included in this edition. He incorrectly asserts that Americans only like the book for its baser qualities and aren't interested in Alex's redemption. Well, guess what? The last chapter is terrible, tacked-on, what our semiotics friends like to refer to as the suturing of the text (as, in Austen, Yay! Everybody gets married! That takes care of the plot!). It makes little sense in the world of the book--aww (spoilers ahead), poor widdle Alex wants a widdle baby, and a meaningful life, just 'cause? Yeah, I believe that. The horror of the concluding chapter in the first U.S. editions is that the system continues to screw up, and political machinations are such that the restoration of Alex's violence serves a useful purpose that has nothing to do with protecting either Alex or his society. Kudos, original U.S. publisher! Boooo, Burgess! Wanting a moral ending doesn't mean you wrote it successfully!

That said, there's much I admire about this novel, and my admiration only grows with each re-reading. In this audiobook version I'd have wished for a less careful, more natural reader, though his rendition was fine. The appended segment of Burgess reading (from an older recording) has the slurry fluency I crave, and I may have to hunt up that version as well.

Drown

#604
Title: Drown
Author: Junot Díaz
Publisher: Riverhead 
Year: 1997
208 pages

Earlier short stories by the author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Most are linked by the character Yunior, and the collection is presumably autobiographical in some respects. It's lean and spare; where Oscar Wao exults in a frenzy of language, Drown is quieter but no less affecting. Similarly, where Oscar Wao is fragmented and postmodern, Drown includes straightforward narratives. The stories, of a Dominican family with an absent father, might most fruitfully be read before Oscar Wao to provide a more intimate and emotional backdrop to the novel.

Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory

#603

Title: Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory  

Author: Peter Hessler 

Publisher: Harper  

Year: 2010  

512 pages

Audiobook

Part travelogue, part reportage. In addition to the pleasures of reading about Chinese culture and development, it's enjoyable to see Hessler's own growth across his three China books.

The Sun Hath Looked Upon Me

#602

Title: The Sun Hath Looked Upon Me  

Author: Calixthe Beyala

Translator:  Marjolijn De Jager  

Publisher: Heinemann  

Year: 1996

Country: Cameroon  

120 pages

A novel providing a women's perspective on systemic oppressions, both old and new, in Cameroonian culture. 

Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral

#601
Title: Poems on Various Subjects: Religious and Moral 

Author: Phyllis Wheatley  

Publisher: Dodo Press  

Year: 1773/2008

Country: Gambia

80 pages

I learned little about Gambia, but, I think, much about colonization. The precocious Wheatley writes rhyming religious verse with occasional reference to being torn from her home as a child. I'm sure this was considered laudable and charming in its era. Reading it from this perspective, it's a testament to cultural overthrow and puts me strongly in mind of Anderson's Octavian Nothing: The Pox Party. You can write prettily in Latin, and this may avail you some, but you're still a slave.

Case Histories

#600
Title: Case Histories
Author: Kate Atkinson
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Year: 2004
312 pages

It's hard for me to say much about this novel. It's a mystery lite, the writing was fine, and it was an interesting enough way to spend a day. However, there were too many coincidences and the parts fit together too neatly for me not to scoff a little at the end.

The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters

#599
Title: The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters 
Author: B. R. Myers 
Publisher: Melville House
Year: 2010 
208 pages

A fascinating premise rendered unpleasant to read by the author's asides. Interesting ideas, the flow of which is frequently interrupted by Myers's compulsion to snarl at, bite, and cast aspersions upon others who have studied North Korea and its beliefs. I'd teach with it, but I don't want my students to think that this is an acceptable way to critique other academics.