Tuesday, August 29, 2006

The Death of Achilles


The Death of Achilles by Boris Akunin

Boris Akunin has written 11 mysteries with Erast Petrovich Fandorin, the detective reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes, although Fandorin also engages in violence in these stories. This is the fourth that has been translated. This book is interesting because the story is told in two separate parts. The first part is told from the perspective of Fandorin, as the previous books have been. However, the second part of the book is told from the perspective of Achimas Welde, Fandorin's adversary. In this book, Achimas is the far more interesting character, and is portrayed from a sympathetic viewpoint. These books are set in the Russia of the 1880s, and in each one, Fandorin is the protector of the Motherland. However, in this book, Achimas is also the protector of the Motherland, as he has been retained by the rulers to eliminate a military general who is a national hero, but who is leading a military overthrow of the government. Fandorin investigates, despite being ordered not to and even placed under house arrest to prevent his investigation from proceeding. As in all of the Fandorin mysteries, a beautiful woman is an integral part of the plot, and in this case, innocently so. The book is filled with murders and suspense, and danger for the innocent. Akunin informs the reader of the truth through Achimas, the killer, and builds sympathy for a happy outcome both for Achimas and the beautiful Wanda. However, in the end, Akunin chooses death for Achimas, while Achimas saves Wanda. I have now read the four Fandorin mysteries, and I will continue to read them as they are translated from Russian. However, I find them unsatisfying in some ways. First, Akunin finds it necessary to resort to fantasy in places that is a distraction and lessens the quality of the story. In addition, Akunin includes scenes that are completely out of character for his protagonists, also diminishing the quality of the story. And finally, Akunin always includes the death of sympathetic characters, and needlessly so. The books are entertaining, and interesting up to a point, but never rise above the level of "beach reading".

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, begins as a "murder" mystery, the murder of a dog and the attempt of a boy to find the murderer. However, the book is not at all a murder mystery, or even a mystery. This wonderful little book is about how autistic people think. The book is narrated by a 15 year old autistic boy, and one quickly realizes that the book is not about an incident, any incident, but about the way an autistic boy copes with life, and about how his parents cope with having an autistic child. This book is fascinating. It is written in a very simple language and style as it takes the reader through the thinking processes of an autistic child, and the terrible difficulties that his parents face in coping with him and taking care of him. But is it an accurate reflection of the thinking of an autistic child? That question was answered by the Amazon reviewer Autistic Moggy Mania, who describes herself as "happily autistic in Northern California". She wrote: "Mark Haddon absolutely "got it right" in this book. From descriptions of how overwhelming the man-made world is for us on a sensory level, to frustration with a society that expects us to learn how to recognize neurotypical facial expressions based on simple drawings -- I'm really impressed, everything really does reflect how many of us experience life." (Her complete review is well worth reading on the Amazon link above.) I found the book fascinating, and I highly recommend it.

Friday, August 18, 2006

Expresso Tales

Alexander McCall Smith has written many wonderful little books that leave his readers feeling good. His series of books on the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency are a joy to read, as are his books on The Sunday Philosophy Club. However, this book did not leave me with the same happy feelings of those books. Last year, McCall Smith published the first of this series -- 44 Scotland Street -- which was first published as a series of 110 columns in the Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The book chronicles the lives of the residents of an apartment building at that address in Edinburgh. Each chapter in the book is approximately three pages long, the length of the newspaper column for that edition. This latest book in that series -- Expresso Tales -- was first published as a series of 105 additional columns and continues to chronicle the lives of the same residents, along with their friends, families and acquaintances.

McCall Smith describes the people with such color that he makes them seem real. Their characters are full and rich. However, the problem I have with this book is that the characters in the book are incredibly boring people who lead incredibly boring lives. Each one is flawed in ways that make them unattractive, and they do nothing interesting at all in their lives. The author seems to take pleasure in creating quirky characters, and to write amusing little stories about their quirkiness. In a few instances, one of the characters almost does something interesting, or attempts to do something interesting, but McCall Smith quickly makes the attempt fail in an embarrassing way, and the character hurries to return to his or her boring life, grateful for not being successful in adding any pleasure or joy to his or her life. The characters have no vitality, no life, no joy. They are boring people who lead boring lives.

And yet, McCall Smith includes nuggets of beauty, such as this: "She had to share her joy, as Lou knew that joy unshared was a halved emotion, just as sadness and loss, when borne alone, were often doubled."

The Shakespeare Theater -- 2007 Season

My tickets arrived for the 2007 Season at the Shakespeare Theater. It will be an interesting year, and I am looking forward to it. My schedule is as follows:

An Enemy of the People 9/21/06 8:00 p.m.
Beaux Stratagem 12/21/06 8:00 p.m.
Richard III 2/22/07 8:00 p.m.
Titus Andronicus 5/10/07 8:00 p.m.
Hamlet 7/12/07 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Little Women, the Broadway Musical

As the review in the Washington Post said, Little Women is the "most powerful girly book this country's ever produced." It is hard to find a woman who has not read the book, and it is equally hard to find a man who has. The book has been in print continuously since 1868, and never falls from the Top 10 list of all-time bestsellers. There have been two major film versions of the book, starring Katharine Hepburn in 1933 and June Allyson in 1949, and another version in 1994, starring Winona Ryder. And last season saw the opening of the very successful Broadway musical, starring Maureen McGovern.

As I expected, The Kennedy Center was filled with women and teenage girls who had read the book, or little girls who were taken to see the show by their mothers who had read the book. As for me, although I had never read the book, I found the show enjoyable to an extent. I was not put off by the very female perspective of the story, and I enjoy musicals very much. However, certain technical aspects of the production were less than optimal. The biggest problem was that the orchestra completely overwhelmed the voices of the singers. For a theater like the Kennedy Center, that should not have happened. The words were almost impossible to hear. Maureen McGovern was great, and some of her words were understandable. However, the actor who played Jo did not have a strong voice, and she was completely overwhelmed by the orchestra. It was very unfortunate. All in all, however, the women had a wonderful time at the theater, remembering the story and reliving the time that they read the book for the first time.