A Not-Quite-Review of the Housekeeper and the Professor

The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yoko Ogawa

I have a confession to make.  Tonight I gave up on one of the books I was reading: the Housekeeper and the Professor.

I read a friend's 5 star review and it prompted me to want to read it.  (I just reread that review and it nearly made me want to give this book one more try.)  The cover is beautiful, too, and convinced me that I would love the book.  (Don't judge a book blah blah, yes, I know.)

I started and stopped it, then returned to it and have now stopped again.  Ogawa's writing is beautiful, and the relationships between the three characters is developing so nicely, but. . . It's not you, novel, it's me.

You see, I am mathematically challenged.  This book revels in the beauty of mathematics and numbers.  I want to see this beauty, I know it's there, but I'm in over my head every time they start adding up simple numbers; the complex problems cause me great discomfort.  When I am faced with any kind of math, my brain tends to freeze; it's been a problem since the 4th grade.  (I did try skimming over the math bits, but they are integral to the story.)

Like I said: it's not you, it's me.

I would recommend the Housekeeper and the Professor to those that are good at math; I think those people would enjoy both the beauty of the writing and the beauty of the mathematics.  I'd also be more than glad if  someone would tell me how it ends because I care about the unnamed Professor, his unnamed Housekeeper, and her unnamed son.  I do.  Unfortunately, I can't overcome my arithmophobia enough to be able to read it through to the end.

(See how beautiful the cover is?!)

Two More "Did Not Finish" Books

Wow!  This February has not been the most profitable reading month for me.  Here are two more that I tried to read but didn't complete.

1. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol 2 by Alan Moore (author) and Kevin O'Neill (illustrator).
Despite not being thrilled by the plot execution and the artwork of the first volume, I decided to go ahead and give this one a try. Half of the first issue contains conversation only in Arabic (TEN PAGES!) which necessitated searching for an annotation site from the beginning. This entire first issue shows the League for two pages, after setting up a particularly ridiculous desert battle against "Sorns" and mollusks and cannons and "tripods". . . I didn't continue to the second issue in this volume. This time I have given up the series for good.

2.Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.
I was, and still am, quite interested in the history being shared by this novel. It prompted me to do my own research on foot binding and the "secret language" of nu shu. I really wanted to like this, and expected I would, but the voice of Lily just wasn't convincing, was too lacking in personality, too stiff, too cardboard. Also, the reader knows from the beginning that the friendship is going to end unhappily and I didn't want to read that, for some reason. It could just be this season of my life, and I may give it another try sometime later. For now, though, despite reading 37% of it (according to my Kindle), I just can't go any further.

I hope my February readings are more successful, or at least that the March book choices will be!

Two "Did Not Finish" Books

First off is V for Vendetta, the graphic novel by Alan Moore. It takes place in a dystopian UK of the (then) future 1990's, after a war left the UK standing nearly alone. A highly (outwardly) moral Fascist regime rose to power after the anarchy brought about by the devastation of the war, a regime that doesn't allow any difference in race or sexual orientation or, really, opinion. The mysterious "V" appears on the scene, and in superhero fashion begins to take out leaders of the regime.

I really expected to love this novel, from what I had heard of it. It started out rather good, but just didn't live up to what I had expected. It was rather dry, for my taste, and the dreary, uninteresting art did nothing to spice it up. I made it through the first three chapters ("issues") and finally gave up.

The second one I didn't finish is the Heir of Redclyffe. It began with the worst first sentence I can remember reading:

"The drawing-room of Hollywell House was one of the favoured apartments, where a peculiar air of home seems to reside, whether seen in the middle of summer, all its large windows open to the garden, or, as when our story commences, its bright fire and stands of fragrant green-house plants contrasted with the wintry fog and leafless trees of November."

Despite that inauspicious start, I was still willing to give it a try. The author, Victorian novelist Charlotte Mary Yonge, was quite popular in her day and I am always interested in a Victorian author I've not yet read.

I made it less than 10% of the way through the novel and realized that I still really had no clue what the book was meant to be about. I had an uneasy feeling that one particular character was going to turn nasty, but couldn't be sure, and hadn't developed enough interest in any of the other characters (except perhaps Bustle the dog) to be concerned about what does happen to them. After nearly two weeks of trying to read it (and yes, only making it about a tenth of the way through), I finally admitted defeat this afternoon.

Next!

Star Island: my first "did not finish" of the year.

Star Island
Carl Hiaasen
Publisher: Knopf; 1St Edition edition (July 27, 2010)
Did Not Finish

I enjoy Carl Hiaasen; have been reading his novels for years. Back in August, when I saw he had a new one published, I added myself to the library waiting list. Number 102 of 102 waiting. And I waited. And waited. And waited.

Last week, my turn finally came. I opened it eagerly and began to read. About two chapters in, I thought, "I'm really not into this!"

The story, as far as I got, is about a young pop star starting to spin out of control, her undercover double, and an icky paparazzi stalker. Skink, my favorite returning character is in it as well.

I read for an evening, dutifully, and made it 113 pages. As I turned out the light my thoughts were on how I dreaded picking it back up the next night. I'd waited so long for it. . .

Then it hit me. D'oh! Just because I've waited five months to read it doesn't mean I have to read it! I can admit defeat and go on; I've done it before, I can do it now!

I don't know that the book is really all that terrible, maybe it just isn't the season for me to be reading it. I don't remember Hiassen being so vulgar, crass and tawdry, though, so I'm thinking it's the subject matter that is my problem, and the reason for Hiaasen's more brash and unappealing writing style this go 'round.

Then, it could be that his novels have always been like that and my utter absorption of late into the world of gentler Victorian novels has made my tolerance for such way lower.

Either reason, or both, is good enough. The fact is, while I have enjoyed Hiassen in the past, I could not work up one grain of sympathy for any of the characters this time (including Skink). This one will go back to the library and the other fifty or so in line after me can have their chance at it.

(Hmmm. . . I just looked at Amazon. Out of 173 reviews, this book has a 3.5 star rating. Could be I'm not far off the mark in saying it isn't up to his standard.)