The Boys in the Boat

This book is terrific!  Well, I often run from "uplifting" books, but this is so well written, with different narrative threads providing resonance with the rags-to-glory story, that it's exceptional - and I was absorbed and stirred by the book.

In brief, it's the story of a collection of young men, most very poor and from logging camps, farms and mill towns, who were members of the 8-oar crew at the University of Washington in Seattle, which ultimately won the gold medal at the infamous 1936 Olympics in Berlin.  The events are set against the backdrop of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Depression and the turmoil wrought by the devastating Dustbowl storms.

The story of Hitler's frustration by the gold medals of Jesse Owens is well-known and this is a parallel story, though along the way, these young men first had to conquer the skills and superior attitudes of crews from elite East Coast schools.  While Owens' story demonstrates the superlative achievements of one man, The Boys in the Boat emphasizes what can be accomplished by a group working in a harmony that is almost spiritual.   The central character is Joe Rantz, whose upbringing provides first a heartbreaking story of abandonment and poverty that is overcome by determination, resourcefulness and strength, which commands admiration and respect.  Joe's early struggles and doubts, eventually followed by triumphs and a fulfilling marriage, mirror and enrich the story of the crew.

The story is extremely well-researched and documented and is driven by it's improbable and ultimately joyful and heroic achievements.  YouTube offers a very nice presentation by the author, who reads from a portion of the book.   Very highly recommended!

The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890) - Oscar Wilde

The Faustian tale of Dorian Gray is my bookclub's pick for February 2016. In it, young, innocent, Adonis-like Dorian sits for a painting by his friend, the worshipful Basil Hallward. The painting is Basil's masterpiece, but this sitting is the occasion for a fateful encounter - Dorian meets and is corrupted by the glib hedonism of another of Basil's friends, Lord Henry. Utterly taken in by Lord Henry's poetical musings on the supreme value of youth and beauty, Dorian impetuously makes a wish that changes his life forever:

"How sad it is!" murmured Dorian Gray with his eyes still fixed upon his own portrait. "How sad it is! I shall grow old, and horrible, and dreadful. But this picture will remain always young. It will never be older than this particular day of June.... If it were only the other way! If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old! For that- for that- I would give everything! Yes, there is nothing in the whole world I would not give! I would give my soul for that!"

Although the plot is very simple, Wilde's prose is magnificent, and this short (213-page) novel is utterly captivating. It is also interesting how delicately Dorian's sins are portrayed - everything alluded to rather than shown, perhaps due to the publication in 1890, when the work was decried as obscene - amazing how standards for the depiction of sex and violence have changed in the past century.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the novel is Lord Henry's indulgence in cynical epigrams, such as, "the only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it." Although his wordplay is delicious, Lord Henry's amoral fascination with beauty, and his artistic interest in the destruction of Dorian's life, is frightening - he would have done well to learn from his contemporary, Tolstoy, who said “It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”

Heap House - Edward Carey

My bookclub's first book of 2016 was Edward Carey's Heap House. Clod Iremonger is the 15.5-year-old protagonist of this delightful and deeply original young adult novel. Clod lives with hundreds of his relatives (both noble "Uppiremongers" like himself, and multitudes of more distantly-related servants), in a sprawling hodgepodge of a mansion. The family's estate is the focal image of the novel - built from relocated pieces of London homes, riveted together with steel girders, it spreads across an immense landfill ("the heaps"), basis of his family's garbage scavenging empire. Clod is driven to avoid his family members by the cacophonous voices he alone can hear emanating from their "birth objects," household items assigned at birth and carried upon one's person until death.  Thus, Clod spends much of his time wandering alone over the estate, until he one day meets a spunky serving girl, Lucy, and together they begin to uncover the grim foundation of his family's wealth.

An engaging tale with compelling characters that vividly explores the dangers of greed, xenophobia, and blind obedience to authority.