SRA 2022

“Dear Sir. I take up my pen after long thought and meditation but in the end the truth is better than a lie. I have this to say.” – Wide Sargasso Sea

“’Every minute,’ continued M. Krempe with warmth, ‘every instant that you have wasted on those books is utterly and entirely lost. You have burdened your memory with exploded systems, and useless names.’” – Frankenstein

“And I had the high intention of reading many other books besides. I was rather literary in college—one year I wrote a series of very solemn and obvious editorials for the Yale News” – The Great Gatsby

“’That’s good, carry on reading that’, she says. ‘I’ll write you out a list of what books you should read first of all —if you want me to, that is.’” – The Idiot

“’Isn’t your imagination running away with you a little?’ said the vicar.” – Jamaica Inn

“’I have a pile of books I’ve been meaning to get to, and when the derby is over, I’ll fish just long enough to catch something to eat, then climb into the rocker on the porch and spend the rest of my week reading.’” – Hook, Line, and Murder

Dearest Aisling,

Thank you, again, for your efforts in curating the sixth annual Summer Reading Adventure. As is now expected, it was both interesting and enjoyable, elevated by the moderately surprising selection this year.

1. Wide Sargasso Sea

8/10

Short and sweet. A layered and well-crafted novel, rich in meaning and symbolism.

On some level, any comments that I have on this text are meaningless. The topics and ideas that it deals with so beautifully, many of them historic and relating to race and colonialism, are large and far beyond my knowledge or comprehension. Nevertheless, the world of the story is populated by vivid characters in conflict with one another and this cultural and relational clash provides an access point to readers such as me. I really appreciated how the relationship between young Antoinette and Mr Mason changes, where she becomes grateful to him and begins to like him. I also found the tension between the ‘natives’, caused by proximity of some to the ‘colonialists’, to be fascinating. The book surprised me. After starting with Antoinette as the narrator from childhood, I was a little stunned when it switched to the unnamed ‘Rochester’ character as a second narrator. Cycling between the perspectives of both presented a fascinating glimpse into the minds of each and enhanced the relatability of their perspectives. Rochester and Antoinette have the honeymoon from hell, fuelled by mutual suspicion and misunderstanding. Much of the ‘marriage falling apart’ material was very resonant with me which made the completion of this scintillating novel quite emotionally demanding. “’Christophine, he does not love me, I think he hates me. He always sleeps in his dressing-room now and the servants know. If I get angry he is scornful and silent, sometimes he does not speak to me for hours and I cannot endure it any more, I cannot.’” Towards the end, Antoinette is locked away in a house somewhere in England. She talks about setting fire to the building and climbing to the roof. I had a hearty chuckle when it was revealed that this was a ‘and then I woke up and it was all a dream’ moment. Despite being an accomplished and highly regarded author, were Jean Rhys alive today, I would caution her on getting any feedback on her work from secondary school teachers in Ireland.

2. Frankenstein

7/10

Thrilling, frightening, unpredictable, profound, moving, and enjoyable from start to finish. A wonderful book that asks some interesting questions about acceptance, the human condition, and the nature of revenge.

The book begins with Robert Walton, a drama queen, writing desperate and needy letters back to his sister in England. These detail how much he would like ‘connection’ or a friend. Thankfully, another drama queen is rescued by his boat, and they develop a relationship, wherein the rescued party shares his story in which he creates a monster. The monster is hilarious and is also a drama queen. When he first spoke, it was a jaw on the floor moment for me. “’I expected this reception,’ said the dæmon. ‘All men hate the wretched; how then must I be hated, who am miserable beyond all living things!’” The monster is fantastically eloquent and articulate, having spied on some conveniently nearby English lessons and after learning to read with Christian propaganda. Essentially, the monster wants to punish Frankenstein for his refusal to make him an equally ugly young wan. Now, from the beginning of the novel, basically everybody was sick and dying anyway, but Frankenstein’s monster is speeding up this process. He commits three murders and harasses Frankenstein over many years. In many ways, I am team ‘monster’. The monster seems to be vegan (“My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid, to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment”). Plus, Frankenstein is almost like a father abandoning his child and there was nothing stopping him from suggesting a third option, where he does not create a Mrs. Monster, but spends some time with his monster and introduces him to others. Though I thought I knew what to expect with this book, I was completely wrong thanks to pop cultural references and film adaptations of the story. I was surprised that much of the text was epistolary. Victor Frankenstein is not Dr Frankenstein. (Was he being supervised by Pat?) He is from Geneva, meaning he speaks French and not German. At no point in the text does he utter the words, ‘It’s alive!!!’. The monster is also not created by some machine that harnesses the power of lightning. One criticism I had of the story is that there is some repetition. There are two instances where a character is being prosecuted for a murder committed by the monster. However, these end differently, with the Justine plotline being the more effective. What I enjoyed was how unpredictable and tense the plot was. When Frankenstein learns about the murder of Clerval, I was genuinely stunned. I had the same response when the monster is discovered on the boat at the end. If this were a modern book, there would have been a huge over-the-top fight scene instead of the dignified, fascinating, and profound ending that this story had.

3. The Great Gatsby

9/10

A beautiful masterpiece of literature.

It had been many years since I read this novel originally and when I saw it on the list, I jumped at the chance to enjoy it again with fresh and more refined eyes. In fact, the introduction to my version of the book, Scribner UK (2018), spoke about how readers notice different aspects of the story and writing at different times in their life. Though I really enjoyed the writing, I did think it was inconsistent in places. This is a minor criticism when you have descriptions like the following. “She was in the middle thirties, and faintly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously as some women can. Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crêpe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering.” There was one part of the book that was a little dull. It was naming the people who attended Gatsby’s parties and probably means nothing to any reader not familiar with the 1922 social scene. Another passage that I singled out was this, where Tom and Wilson are dealing with identical issues with unfaithful wives. “He had discovered that Myrtle had some sort of life apart from him in another world, and the shock had made him physically sick. I stared at him and then at Tom, who had made a parallel discovery less than an hour before—and it occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.” I’m not sure if that’s inspired writing or a little too ‘on the nose’ and explanatory for attentive readers. Poor Gatsby has the worst case of one-itis that I’ve ever seen. “It had gone beyond her, beyond everything. He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time, decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way. No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man will store up in his ghostly heart.” This places enormous constraints on how he lives his life, blind to change, and in pursuit of a single goal. Even when Gatsby sees that Daisy has a child from another relationship, he doesn’t relent in his singular ambition. I would have run a mile. I really appreciated and resonated with the ‘general resolves’, written by Gatsby as a boy, that Mr Gatz shows to Nick. This includes the routine of ‘rising from bed at 6’ and using his non-work hours in productive ways, “No wasting time at Shafters or [a id, indecipherable] No more smokeing or chewing. Bath every other day Read one improving book or magazine per week Save $5.00 [crossed out] $3.00 per week Be better to parents”. His ambition of self-improvement for its own sake, before it became corrupted, was admirable. I viewed Tom as quite a comedic character on this reading and I found his bigotry and racism amusing. “’Civilization’s going to pieces,’ broke out Tom violently. ‘I’ve gotten to be a terrible pessimist about things. Have you read ‘The Rise of the Coloured Empires’ by this man Goddard?’…  The idea is if we don’t look out the white race will be—will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved… I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr. Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. Well, if that’s the idea you can count me out. . . . Nowadays people begin by sneering at family life and family institutions, and next they’ll throw everything overboard and have intermarriage between black and white.’” Thank goodness Tom isn’t around today when traditional institutions are under attack. Imagine what he’d think of gay marriage, trannys, polyamory, gender fluidity, etc.

4. The Idiot

3/10

A long-winded, meandering, and unfocused soapbox from which to deliver a banal commentary on the moral state of society.

Right out of the gate, I have to praise the quality of the version I read, Oxford World’s Classic. It had some great commentary on the text at the beginning, which I draw on for this terse paragraph, in addition to my old friend ‘Lectures on Russian Literature’ (Nabokov), and footnotes that explained references relating to history, art, politics, and translations of the French passages, that were necessary for its comprehension. Nevertheless, the quality of the edition was not enough to redeem serious deficiencies with the novel. The notes say that Dostoevsky originally regarded this text as “as an artistic failure in which he had wasted a long-cherished idea” and that is a sentiment that I would agree with. A novel with the purpose of providing some social commentary only works when it is compelling, well-crafted, and populated with interesting and likeable characters with whom readers can engage. “To kill for murder is an immeasurably greater evil than the actual crime itself. Judicial murder is immeasurably more horrible than one committed by a robber.”; “Prince, how everybody’s on the make these days! Here I mean, in Russia, in this beloved country of ours. How it all came about, I’ve no idea.” To Dostoevsky I say, we get it. It’s a materialistic society and is devoid of spiritual purpose. Limiting the descriptions of extravagance, coupled with the ‘bidding for Nastasya’s hand’ scene, would have been enough to express this. Upon completion, I can’t say that there is one character that I liked, and many were blatantly used as vehicles for expressing various ideas, in addition to being boring and one-dimensional. According to Nabokov, “All this crazy hash is interspersed with dialogues destined to depict the respective points of view of different circles of society upon such questions as capital punishment or the great mission of the Russian nation”. Though the book begins in such a captivating way on the train with limited characters, introduced magnificently and with great pace and flow, things get out of control when there are 20 distinct people talking in a room or at a party. The scene with Burdovsky’s attempt at claiming the inheritance felt like something out of Jeremy Kyle. Ultimately, I think my favourite parts were when Myshkin is just walking around by himself and ruminating. The worst character of all is Nastasya Filipovna. While there was some interesting stuff in there about the line between love and pity, it did not justify the way the character was written. Nastasya Filipovna is a walking nightmare and multiple time runaway bride. Nobokov describes her as “one of those completely unacceptable, unreal, irritating characters with which Dostoevski’s novels teem”. While I suspected from the beginning of the book that she’d be redeemed in some way throughout the text, the truth is, I think she went more off the rails and became more unlikeable. The book also felt very plot driven, rather than being character driven, a shame for a novel with so many. While “the plot itself is ably developed with many ingenious devices used to prolong the suspense. Some of these devices appear to me, when compared to Tolstoy’s methods, like blows of a club instead of the light touch of an artist’s fingers” (Nabokov). I believe the writing is sub-par. As you know, I’m a fan of beautifully ornamented, flowery prose, but I found this text too dry, repetitive, and overly descriptive. Notes on the text say, “readers are also familiar with Dostoevsky’s solecisms, such as using the word ‘again’ five times in four lines, or ‘suddenly’ six times in ten lines, both examples taken from The Idiot.” Note to self: proofread this terse paragraph to ensure some variation in the language. With regard to the length of the book, I suggest Dostoevsky refer to the words of the prince, “Oh, Lebedev, how tedious this is!… Come to the point, why drag things out?”. What made the text worthwhile was some of the chuckles that I had along the way. The prince’s epilepsy treatment in Switzerland, “involving cold water and gymnastics”; “the one in black was the eldest of the Belokonskaya daughters, an old maid of around 35” – who you callin’ old?; the prince’s hatred of the Roman Catholic Church; and the newspaper article written to smear the prince; were all notable examples.

5. Jamaica Inn

6/10

A masterclass in tension building that, sadly, culminates in a predictable ending and an implausible romance.

This novel started off so well. The premise, an orphaned 23-year-old goes to live with her aunt and uncle by marriage at a destination that has strange rumours swirling about it, with hints of a deeper mystery, lures the reader in. She finds her aunt Patience completely changed and ‘slatternly’ and her uncle a cruel ape of a man. In fact, her uncle is a perv right out of the gate as when she meets him first, he says, “Haven’t you a kiss for your Uncle Joss?”, a question that repulses her. Joss is a great character. Unstable, unpredictable, volatile, violent, scary, and brutal. The man is basically a lunatic. Mary says of him, “I fear and detest him more than you or anyone in the country, and with reason.” Me too, Mary. Comedically, she later concedes that the vicar is worse than Joss. “My uncle at least was honest; drunk or sober, he blurted his crime to the four winds, and dreamt of them by night – to his terror. But you – you wear the garments of a priest of God to shield you from suspicion; you hide behind the Cross.” Patience is a doormat that is repressed and controlled. I thought it was interesting how, prior to her trip to the fair with Jem Merlyn, Mary sees that Jamaica Inn is causing her so much distress, it is aging her prematurely and she gains some empathy for her aunt. Now, I was expecting twists and turns and made various notes throughout my reading about my predictions. My guesses, in order, were that Aunt Patience was an imposter and a stranger was impersonating her; that the vicar would betray her; that Jem would kill Joss; that the vicar was really the mastermind behind the ‘wreckers’; Bassat was in on it too; and Jem would kill the vicar. The fact that half of my predictions were correct and posited long before they were addressed by the book, says something about its predictability. In fact, any dummy could guess that Francis Davey was up to no good from the moment of his introduction. Some positive aspects of the book are how Du Maurier ratchets up the tension and I was on the edge of my seat at times, like when Mary sneaks down to the bar late at night to eavesdrop on the ‘wreckers’ conversation; when Mary speaks to the vicar after she discovers his caricature drawing of his congregation; and when Mary leaves the Bassat’s for Jamaica Inn in the trap and doesn’t know what she will find there. Thrilling stuff. Major criticisms I have of the novel are its stilted dialogue, a notion confirmed by the commentary accompanying my copy, and Mary falling in love with Jem and leaving with him in the end. I think at that stage they had met five or six times total, plus he planted a smacker on her at the fair. It was too quick and not believable to me as a reader. I also don’t like books that are too action packed. The section where Mary was taken to the cliffs by the ‘wreckers’ was that I enjoyed least. There was also one really obvious and painful plot hole that I noticed. When Joss is keeping careful watch of the inn after the botched wrecking, in order to avoid being attacked and killed by his former gang, Jem climbs up to Mary’s window and breaks it in order to have a kiss and a cuddle. How on earth did Joss not notice this?

6. Hook, Line, and Murder

2/10

More like ‘Hook, Line, and Stinker’, amirite?

Though this was a short novel, the authors, Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain, and Renée Paley-Bain, two of whom actually exist, compensated with this through rapid exposition and characterisation. “Maureen was our sheriff’s second wife. His ex, Adele, had opted to return to New York City where Mort had been a member of the police force before abandoning the Big Apple for Cabot Cove’s more quiet life. But that was not what Adele had in mind, and after trying out Cabot Cove for a few years she decided it was not for her.”; “Brian went on to say how much he hated Alice’s father back then. He found it ironic that he lived with his father and Alice lived with her father, too. Both men had been widowed and were left to raise a young child alone. Alice had been seven when her mother succumbed to the flu. Brian was three when his mother died giving birth to a stillborn boy. He said that he often thought about his mother and the brother he never got to see, and thought his father probably did, too.” Jessica Fletcher is represented in the text as if she is a perfect and amazing person with zero flaws. Towards the beginning, she reassures the anxious Maureen that fishing takes time to learn and become good at. Her humour is so inoffensive and safe, that I was more laughing at, than with her. “’She’s not much of a baker at three and a half but she loves to make cookies with her mom. And her dad loves to eat them.’ ‘And share them,’ I added.”; “Was that strange odor I detected eau de bear?” Nevertheless, I contend that Jessica is a whiney, judgemental old bat. “I felt myself sigh. Trying to capture the attention of young people on their cellular phones was not an easy task”; “I shook my head. I would be deaf in no time if I listened to music at that volume all day”; “I knew it wasn’t one of my neighbors, who would more likely simply come in through the back porch without a by-your-leave”; “’I thought I was having fun being retired,’ Sharon said, snapping her seat belt over her ample stomach.” It was not enough for her to just diss fat and young people, “a car pulled into one of the driveways, and an elderly lady got out, leaning on a cane… “’Are you looking for things to do?’ I asked. ‘Because our senior center offers lots of activities and courses.’ ‘Do I look that old to you?’ she asked indignantly.” Is Jessica completely oblivious? She is an ‘elderly woman’, and this sighting is just after she describes being totally out of breath after walking up a small hill! I will commend the book for showing some restraint and not making Jessica the winner of the fishing derby. For the most part, I found the plot really boring, stupid, unrealistic, and repetitive. While I predicted early on that Brian was guilty of the murder of Caruthers, of course it couldn’t be such a salt of the earth character. No. Instead, it was the most obviously evil and disagreeable character, Pelletier, whom I disregarded because it was just too obvious. Silly me. Expecting some sort of twist or revelation. His confession was so easily obtained, despite Jessica or Mort having no evidence or any convincing argument to justify accusing him. The hostage situation was totally preposterous, wherein anybody could step up to the bullhorn and have a go. My main criticisms of the book, which is competently written, though nothing special, are that Jessica doesn’t really do any mystery solving and that it’s a book for people who are dumb. The sum total of her investigations are getting a ‘lucky stone’ and note from Jepson’s aunt and asking a legal secretary who the last person that spoke to Wes Caruthers on the phone was. With regard to the book dumbing everything down, Jessica says to Mort; “’Jepson?’ I asked, changing the subject. ‘What?’ he asked. ‘Jepson,’ I said. ‘Have you—?’ ‘You’re thinking the same thing that I am?’ he said.”; about twenty pages after any compos mentis reader would have put two and two together and strongly suspected that Maureen had been kidnapped. When I read the following line, I could visualise the exact expression from my limited knowledge of the TV show. “I raised one brow at my friend and gave him my best skeptical look.” The book also completely disrespects the character Barnaby Longshoot. The poor guy is just relaxing and in both of his appearances in the text, but is treated like garbage. “’Do I get one on the house, too?’ Barnaby asked. ‘Do I ask you to vacate that stool that you occupy all day, keeping paying customers from having a seat?’ ‘No, ma’am.’ ‘Then there’s your answer,’ Mara said.” #Justice4BarnabyLongshoot. I had a good chuckle when a dog who hates the Irish is used to track Maureen. “She ducked beneath the still-spinning blades and ran forward, leading a black-and-tan dog wearing a red collar with a badge attached.” This is before the most irrelevant and pointless details about said dog are included. “’He’s a Belgian Malinois.’ ‘Kind of looks like a small German shepherd to me,’ Mort said. ‘They probably share a common ancestor,’ Ong said. ‘We use both breeds, and sometimes a Labrador retriever as well. The Malinois is a high-energy dog. They’re known for their intensity, endurance, and intelligence.’” Get on with it! For some reason, the book also has some social commentary. “…but I’m sure you won’t be surprised if I remind you how many people don’t read a newspaper or watch television. And those who get their information online are more likely to click on a funny cat video than a news story about an escaped con”. Leave the critiques of modern society to more intelligent books, Jessica Fletcher, Donald Bain, and Renée Paley-Bain.

In conclusion, I would like to include a quote from The Great Gatsby and invite you to repeat your admirable job as Summer Reading Selector for 2023.

“’I wouldn’t ask too much of her,’ I ventured. ‘You can’t repeat the past.’ ‘Can’t repeat the past?’ he cried incredulously. ‘Why of course you can!’”

“’Read and write I don’t know. Other things I know.’” – Wide Sargasso Sea

“Perhaps we did not read so many books, or learn languages so quickly, as those who are disciplined according to the ordinary methods; but what we learned was impressed the more deeply on our memories.” – Frankenstein

“…either it was terrible stuff or the whiskey distorted things, because it didn’t make any sense to me.” – The Great Gatsby

“‘Enough!’ declared Lizaveta Prokofievna abruptly, fairly shaking with anger. ‘Time to put an end to this nonsense!’” – The Idiot

“And he would burst into a shout of laughter, slapping his thigh, while Mary forced a smile in answer, rather than his joke should fail.” – Jamaica Inn

“Maybe Maureen took a walk and found a sunny glade in which to read her book and lost track of the time. A good book can do that to you. Look up and it’s hours later and you’ve forgotten to eat or make the calls you’d promised” – Hook, Line, and Murder