The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

I feel, in the spirit of full disclosure, that I should admit how much I adore Roald Dahl. He’s dry and witty, his writing is tight. His plots have morals without sugar-coating the immorality of (often) more than half of the characters...and even his heroes aren’t always clear-cut Good Guys.

Take Mr. Fox. He’s a thief. Yes, he’s stealing to feed his family, and he’s a fox so it’s assumed that that’s what he’d do...but he’s still a thief. And when it’s pointed out to him he rationalizes that it’s the only way to feed his family. It’s steal or starve to death. And after all, the people from whom they are stealing are three Very Bad Men, so it’s really not harmful.

And that’s the gist of it, really: three awful farmers (and to hear Dahl tell it it’s amazing they manage to have farms, employees, and spouses) get fed up with the fox stealing from them nightly and set out to do something about it. Namely: kill the fox. They chase Mr. Fox into his hole with his family and, when shooting and digging prove not clever enough, decide to starve him out.

I won’t tell you how it ends, except to remind you of the title of the book. It’s a little chapter book, it would take barely an afternoon for an adult to read, but could be spread out over a week for a young reader. I wouldn’t hold back from giving this to your kids to read, either. Certainly before the movie comes out. Dahl doesn’t sugar coat things, but he doesn’t discount virtue, either. It’s a worthy read.

Wes Anderson loves it so much that he’s written a screenplay and directed a stop-action film based on the book. From the trailer and the interview it appears that he’s given more story to the story, but that’s to be expected: a direct cinematic translation would be either full length and boring or thirty minutes and interesting. Staying true to Dahl’s vision is the trick, but I feel if anyone, Anderson is the man for the job.

Interview here:  

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120416136 

(there’s also an amusing anecdote regarding Anderson’s desire to shoot a sci-fi space movie on location at the end)

And Trailer:

Mallets Aforethought by Sarah Graves

I warned you that I was picking up the next one in the series to see if I was right about the foreshadowing.

And without spoiling too much: I was and I wasn’t. That particular plot involved Jemmy, Jacobia’s old partner-in-”crime” who has been in hiding from the mob since book one. It has always been a B-plot and remains so in this book, which I found disappointing. I enjoy Jemmy when he makes the rare appearance and would love to have seen this character fleshed out even more - not to mention the insight we get into Jake’s previous life as a slightly shady investment tycoon. Luckily, there are several more books just waiting to be read and maybe he’ll pop back up now and again.

Graves doesn’t waste any time mucking about with catching the reader up on what happened between the last book and this one - by page two you know that Ellie is pregnant (I know - that’s a spoiler, but it’s page two. I promise not to spoil anything else.) The historical society is restoring a house that was once in the possession of Ellie’s family, but hasn’t been for at least a generation and is now falling apart. Ellie and Jake, perpetually curious, have found a hidden room and not one, but two dead bodies. One of them is very fresh and is the much-reviled president of the Historical Society, and the other appears to have been killed in the twenties right before the room was sealed off.

The most unfortunate part of all of this is that said Historical Society President is discovered dead mere days after Ellie’s husband, George, was seen by more than half the town in a local bar, drunkenly ranting about how much he’d like to see the other man dead. Apparently this puts George at the top of a long list of possible suspects, but his refusal to give an alibi coupled with the fact that Bob Arnold (our beloved local law enforcement) is out of town lands George in the clink.

As I read through the book (one which I could not put down) I was struck time and time again by how much improved Graves’s writing has become. She hasn’t lost her voice, by any means. But her prose is tighter, her plots layered and interesting enough that - while you may have an inkling - you never quite know if what you suspect will turn out to be the way it happened. Also, because she knows her characters as well as most people know their close friends and family, their actions become more fluid and when they drop in and out of the story it’s with an ease that only comes from years of familiarity (both in real life and on the page.)

Have I mentioned how glad I am that I am so far behind? If you’re just picking these up (start with Dead Cat Bounce, please and go from there) I am jealous that you are getting to read them for the first time.

Unhinged by Sarah Graves

*Note - I read Wreck the Halls in the spring during my bed-rest...it was really good but I dropped the ball and didn’t review it and now I’ve read the next one and so that ship has sailed. But let me say this - it was really good. I read it in a single afternoon, which is easy to do when getting out of bed is a Bad Idea and you just can’t sleep anymore.

Unhinged opens as so many mysteries do: with a missing person and a home-repair nightmare. Ok, not all mysteries have home repair nightmares, but Sarah Graves’ do and that’s part of their charm. The other part is her characters: Jacobia, who is afraid of heights and sometimes clumsy but who insists on going up the ladder herself. Ellie who dresses like an extra from Dumbo’s circus but is unfailingly loyal and intuitive and bull-headed when necessary. In addition to the rest of the crew we’re coming to like (I’ll admit it...I’m even starting to like Victor when I’m not rolling my eyes at him) we meet a few new characters in this installment: all of whom are potentially murder suspects.

It’s nice and juicy. There’s a little bit of gossip, a little bit of romance, some explosions, some suspense...all the good stuff is there. Even home repair tips, although the recurring theme in Unhinged is to hire a professional because some things go beyond what mere mortals can accomplish without dragging an entire house down with you.

The book reads (again) like a love-letter to Eastport, Maine. I’m not complaining...but every time I read about the hijinks gotten into by Jake, Ellie, et al, Maine moves a little higher on my must-visit list.

I do like that while Jake and Ellie are well-known around town for snooping into shady events and often getting themselves completely embroiled in them, that it’s not always someone they know who is the victim. Because in some series you just think “Man, you sure are a magnet for murder. I’m glad I don’t know you in real life!”

By the end of Unhinged I found myself being rather moved - emotionally - by the events that were unfolding. There was just enough suspense and grit without a complete unravelling that you get caught up in the events...and by this stage of the game it’s entirely possible to forget that these characters we are beginning to know so well are imaginary so their fates feel just that much more important. I was satisfied by the ending, and am not going to hesitate skip a few books in the TBR stack to move straight on to the next one...mostly because I suspect some foreshadowing in the last chapter and I want to know if I’m right.

Have you started reading these yet? Catch up!

The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

If you’re not familiar with Alice Hoffman, it’s time to rectify that. And please don’t judge her based on the film adaptation of Practical Magic, because as chicky and fun as that movie was, it felt like a huge divergence from what had been put on the page...and as such, the movie was lacking.

    Her latest novel is so enticing and haunting that I could barely put it down. It surrounds the lives of three sisters, Elv, Meg, and Claire Story, from their early teen years into adulthood. Some of Hoffman’s recurring themes pop up yet again as welcome as old friends. Their mother has a garden in which they spend a lot of their time, they talk about the color of the light and the scents on the air and each other...they are tuned in to what gets lost too often during a busy adult life.

    Elv, the oldest, has created a fantasy world that the girls live in for a while. It sprung up suddenly and out of nowhere on what Elv and Claire refer to as “The Bad Day” - a day that Meg was thankfully absent from, but which defined all of their lives nonetheless. They all grow up in its shadow (even Meg and their mother, from whom Elv and Claire keep the day a secret) and it effects each in her own way. Elv becomes more reckless and frantic, Claire blames herself and turns inward, Meg feels more and more alienated until ultimately she can no longer relate to either of her sisters. Their mother watches helplessly as her girls grow up and away - because she does not know what happened, she cannot begin to help them heal.

    Details unfold as new friends and boyfriends enter their lives through the stories they tell each other. Stories that are interlaced with magic (dresses made by hand that glow with moonlight, fairies, demons) and superstition. Generations of women come together to help the girls find their way, bringing with them their own superstitions and intentions.

    I read this in the course of a few days and noticed as my perception changed: at first Elv was remarkable and untouchable, Claire was delicate, and Meg was certain to be the voice of reason who snapped them all out of it. But, as happens too often in real life, things spiral out of control and the unexpected becomes routine. By the end I found myself wondering what would happen had I been their mother: would I have known instinctually that very evening that a life altering Bad Day had occurred? Would I know what to do if the lives of my children splintered in a way I’d never imagined? Would I be able - as their mother is - to ask for help? I would venture to say that those who have watched someone unravel will find this book resonating more than those who do not have that experience to draw on. Either way, it’s a book that you can open up and fall into. Hoffman creates worlds we’d all like to walk through now and then, and The Story Sisters is no exception.

The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

     Let me just start by saying that Sarah Vowell is ridiculously smart. She’s also funny, engaging, and charming. I would love to be able to claim that I came to know her  - and by “know her” I mean recognize her name as a smarty-pants author/editor/NPR voice- through, well, those very things. But no. The first thing I think of when I hear “Sarah Vowell” (or her distinct voice) is Violet Parr. You know who she is:

Right. So then I realized that as a regular NPR listener I knew who she was. And a few years ago my mom read (and recommends) Assassination Vacation...so when I heard that this witty woman had tackled one of my favorite subjects I had to add it to my To Be Read List.

What subject is that, you ask? Why, it’s the Puritans and the settling of the colonies, of course! The Wordy Shipmates takes place primarily in the 1630s with the emigration from England of the Arbella and it’s passengers ultimate settling of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (You know that as Boston) and the strife therein. After all, they are Puritans. The government they set up was certainly religion-based, with the laws equating to the ten commandments...which is all well and good when you’re up against a murderer or a thief, but not so good when you’re up against someone who’s committing blasphemy, which often led to banishment. And Rhode Island. That’s right, Vowell covers not just Boston, but Rhode Island as well.

There is also the question of The Natives. Keeping in mind that this particular story takes place almost twenty years after the Pilgrims and their Thanksgiving, as well as the fact that the new Puritans feel that the Small Pox outbreak cleansed the land and left it wide open for their settlement...and you end up with a lot of blood soaking the ground. But I won’t spoil it. Vowell’s rendition reads like a series of gang wars, only with cannons and wigwams.

Overall, the only thing I can think of that would have made this book better would have been a timeline at the back I could refer to, as Vowell bounces back and forth a little bit to keep the narrative of the particular situation fluid. I want to gift this to anyone who is currently studying United States History in school because it’s infinitely more interesting than any history text I ever encountered.

But you don’t have to take my word for it... she's very convincing on The Daily Show.