Donna and I got back a few hours ago from watching the Brooklyn Cyclones (the Mets' "A" division team) playing the Crosscutters, a PA team. The Cyclones won 4-3 in a game that could have gone either way. Add that to the Mets beating the Yankees the last couple of days and I'm a pretty happy baseball fan. Yeah, the Red Sox are still the Red Sox, but it was a lot of fun to sit in the stands in Coney Island (Right under the old Parachute ride) and cheer on a bunch of guys who still seem to enjoy the game.
Happy Fourth of July to my fellow bloggers and anyone else who happens to drop by. A salute to my fellow vets goes along with that.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
Following is my latest review for the JOE BOB BRIGGS site. As, I've said before, the books in the "Thriller" genre I'm sent aren't always the type of thing I'd either classify as that or are books I'd normally pick up on my own.
The review pretty well sums up my feelings on the book, but I can certainly understand why James Carroll has a following.
*******************
SECRET FATHER by James Carroll; reviewed by Steve Chaput
Houghton Mifflin; ISBN 0-618-15284-9
There’s an old fashion feel to this novel, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For folks of a certain generation I’d be tempted to sum it up in part as “The Adventures of Spin & Marty in Berlin”. An over simplification, for sure, but in the early parts of the novel it captures the sense of innocents abroad.
It’s also interesting that Carroll uses the old Reader’s Digest column “The Most Unusual Character I’ve Met” as sort of a running gag, since except for a few ‘F’ bombs tossed around by the kids, it really wouldn’t be hard to see this entire novel printed in one of those Reader’s Digest Condensed Books that my mother used to have laying around the house. There is barely any sex in the book, and when it appears it isn’t anything along the lines of a Jackie Collins bedroom scene. Like I said early on, this is an old fashioned book with a dated sensibility.
Carroll takes us back to Berlin, Germany in 1961, just before The Wall went up and moved the Cold War to another level. Paul Montgomery, a widower working for Chase Bank in Germany, worries about his son Michael, just like any father. However, in Michael’s case there are also the crippling effects of his childhood polio which have left him more vulnerable in his father’s eyes. Michael doesn’t wish to use his handicap to gain the sympathy of others, and would rather be accepted for who he has become.
When Michael, his friend Ulrich and their fellow schoolmate Katherine ‘Kit’ Carson decide to head to Berlin to see the May Day parade in East Berlin things go terribly wrong. Ulrich, whose father works in the intelligence gathering section of the U.S. Army, brings with him secrets, both knowingly and unknowingly, which endanger far more than three teenagers on holiday. When the kids disappear it is up to Paul and Ulrich’s mother, Charlotte (herself carrying more than her share of secrets) to try and bring the children back safely.
Carroll breaks the story into two parts, moving the narration from the elder Montgomery to Michael as the plot becomes more and more complicated. Writing from the perspective of three decades of hindsight father and son see events unfolding from their own points of view. Since we know that father and son still are around to tell the tale we have to wonder who else in the novel might not be around to see the final chapter.
Carroll’s title, as we discover, has several interpretations as secrets are revealed about several fathers in the tale. He brings to life not only his characters, but also the time in which the story unfolds. While he’s no Le Carre, Carroll is still able to create the atmosphere which must have hung over Berlin in that particular time. It’s no wonder that Carroll is so widely respected, he makes the whole thing seem easy, and the early chapters narrated by Michael read like something you’d find in the Young Adult section of your local library or bookstore. Three stars.
The review pretty well sums up my feelings on the book, but I can certainly understand why James Carroll has a following.
*******************
SECRET FATHER by James Carroll; reviewed by Steve Chaput
Houghton Mifflin; ISBN 0-618-15284-9
There’s an old fashion feel to this novel, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For folks of a certain generation I’d be tempted to sum it up in part as “The Adventures of Spin & Marty in Berlin”. An over simplification, for sure, but in the early parts of the novel it captures the sense of innocents abroad.
It’s also interesting that Carroll uses the old Reader’s Digest column “The Most Unusual Character I’ve Met” as sort of a running gag, since except for a few ‘F’ bombs tossed around by the kids, it really wouldn’t be hard to see this entire novel printed in one of those Reader’s Digest Condensed Books that my mother used to have laying around the house. There is barely any sex in the book, and when it appears it isn’t anything along the lines of a Jackie Collins bedroom scene. Like I said early on, this is an old fashioned book with a dated sensibility.
Carroll takes us back to Berlin, Germany in 1961, just before The Wall went up and moved the Cold War to another level. Paul Montgomery, a widower working for Chase Bank in Germany, worries about his son Michael, just like any father. However, in Michael’s case there are also the crippling effects of his childhood polio which have left him more vulnerable in his father’s eyes. Michael doesn’t wish to use his handicap to gain the sympathy of others, and would rather be accepted for who he has become.
When Michael, his friend Ulrich and their fellow schoolmate Katherine ‘Kit’ Carson decide to head to Berlin to see the May Day parade in East Berlin things go terribly wrong. Ulrich, whose father works in the intelligence gathering section of the U.S. Army, brings with him secrets, both knowingly and unknowingly, which endanger far more than three teenagers on holiday. When the kids disappear it is up to Paul and Ulrich’s mother, Charlotte (herself carrying more than her share of secrets) to try and bring the children back safely.
Carroll breaks the story into two parts, moving the narration from the elder Montgomery to Michael as the plot becomes more and more complicated. Writing from the perspective of three decades of hindsight father and son see events unfolding from their own points of view. Since we know that father and son still are around to tell the tale we have to wonder who else in the novel might not be around to see the final chapter.
Carroll’s title, as we discover, has several interpretations as secrets are revealed about several fathers in the tale. He brings to life not only his characters, but also the time in which the story unfolds. While he’s no Le Carre, Carroll is still able to create the atmosphere which must have hung over Berlin in that particular time. It’s no wonder that Carroll is so widely respected, he makes the whole thing seem easy, and the early chapters narrated by Michael read like something you’d find in the Young Adult section of your local library or bookstore. Three stars.
Thursday, July 01, 2004
Boy, I'm almost surprised that I still know how to get in here, let alone post anything.
To be honest, the failure (so far) of the job hunt has me pretty depressed and I really haven't felt like posting anything.
Not that I'm not keeping track of world events, etc., but there's probably little I can add to what is already being addressed here in blogland.
Anyway, just wanted any folks out there who might be interested to know that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, nor been abducted by alien lifeforms (unlike an old friend, whom we will not mention by name). :-)
As I've said, if you hear of any places desperate for a librarian be sure to drop me a line and let me know, okay?
Oh, and keep your head down and your hands away from fireworks this weekend. We'd hate to hear about one of you loosing a typing hand.
To be honest, the failure (so far) of the job hunt has me pretty depressed and I really haven't felt like posting anything.
Not that I'm not keeping track of world events, etc., but there's probably little I can add to what is already being addressed here in blogland.
Anyway, just wanted any folks out there who might be interested to know that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, nor been abducted by alien lifeforms (unlike an old friend, whom we will not mention by name). :-)
As I've said, if you hear of any places desperate for a librarian be sure to drop me a line and let me know, okay?
Oh, and keep your head down and your hands away from fireworks this weekend. We'd hate to hear about one of you loosing a typing hand.
Boy, I'm almost surprised that I still know how to get in here, let alone post anything.
To be honest, the failure (so far) of the job hunt has me pretty depressed and I really haven't felt like posting anything.
Not that I'm not keeping track of world events, etc., but there's probably little I can add to what is already being addressed here in blogland.
Anyway, just wanted any folks out there who might be interested to know that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, nor been abducted by alien lifeforms (unlike an old friend, whom we will not mention by name). :-)
As I've said, if you hear of any places desperate for a librarian be sure to drop me a line and let me know, okay?
Oh, and keep your head down and your hands away from fireworks this weekend. We'd hate to hear about one of you loosing a typing hand.
To be honest, the failure (so far) of the job hunt has me pretty depressed and I really haven't felt like posting anything.
Not that I'm not keeping track of world events, etc., but there's probably little I can add to what is already being addressed here in blogland.
Anyway, just wanted any folks out there who might be interested to know that I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth, nor been abducted by alien lifeforms (unlike an old friend, whom we will not mention by name). :-)
As I've said, if you hear of any places desperate for a librarian be sure to drop me a line and let me know, okay?
Oh, and keep your head down and your hands away from fireworks this weekend. We'd hate to hear about one of you loosing a typing hand.
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