There are 2 books I read last month that blew me away. I am currently in recovery, since after 1 good book, it is hard to go back to the usual fluff (I routinely use fantasy books as "cushions" to go back and forth between writers), but 2 such great books one after the other caused me to read the entire Elemental Masters series by Mercedes Lackey.
(For those interested, the books are the retelling of fairy tales in Victorian England, where magic is as strictly ruled as it is in the Harry Potter series. Elemental Magic-s are linked to the 4 elements. It is a nice, unassuming series, the villains are quite vile, even if not always convincing, and Lackey is ever throwing a word in favor of suffragettes and lady doctors.)
Anyway, back to ze 2 great books
The first one - just because I read it first - is The Time Traveller's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger. I didn' t like the pitch when I heard it, which is why it took me 3 years and numerous signs to finally get to it.
It is a love story between Henry and Claire, the same way Belle du Seigneur, by Albert Cohen, is a love story between Ariane and Solal. The hitch, in TTW, is that Henry suffers from a condition that causes him to vanish in a different time period when he is tired, stressed out, or sometimes perfectly fine. He cannot control "when" he will land or for how long. He has thus lived through the accident that took his mother's life hundreds of times, as a child and an adult. Henry the character suggested that such emotionally charged incidents could act as a strong pull on him, forcing him to go through the experience over and over.
Another problem, which could seem funny rather than tragic, is that when he "lands", he lands naked and penniless. Over the years, he's had to learn to master burglary and mugging in order not to end in jail every time he is pulled away.
So, since this is after all a love story, Claire meets Henry when she is 6 years old, and they are already married in "his" time. She grows up meeting him and being guided and nurtured by a Henry who is already in his forties, asking him how they are doing in the future. Sometimes Henry answers and sometimes he doesn't. Claire grows up waiting to meet Henry in both their presents, and when she does, of course, he hasn't met her yet...
Now, I may sound confusing, so this is why you must read the book. Audrey N. beautifully and effortlessly weaves all the strands of the story together. It looks so simple when she is doing it than only afterwards do you realize the true grace of her talent (usually when YOU try to explain and it all comes out jumbled....)
It came out in French under the cheesy title "Le temps ne compte pas", but still, do not skip it!
The second one, heading this entry, is We Need To Talk About Kevin, by Lionel Shriver
Now we are radically changing styles.
Lionel Shriver is a woman. She was nearing her mid-forties when she went soul-searching in order to know if she should have a child. The result was - not pregnancy, but - this book, an epistolary novel.
Eva Khatchadourian writes letters to her "estranged" husband, 2 years after their son Kevin murdered a dozen fellow students in his high school.
Okay, it sounds grim. I didn't find the reading painful, though. We already know the worst; the time has now come to analyze it. Eva is an incredibly smart woman (some readers on the internet found her "arrogant" and "too sophisticated"). When she gives birth to Kevin, (the infamous "KK") she's in her forties and has ambivalent feelings about motherhood, as well as a heavy family history - but hell, who doesn't? She is also a successful businesswoman who traveled the world for her guide company, not a fainting bluette who thought her son was the world's 7th marvel (and that's for the good, I guess...). As she dissects the reasons that prompted her to finally become a mother and the years that follow, her voice is so honest, so smart and articulated, so gritty that she can be funny and so utterly un-self-pitying that I couldn't help but cheer for her. I was definitely on the "Eva-is-great" side. Some readers were of the opinion that Kevin had the turned out the way he had BECAUSE his mother had been a bad mother.
Needless to say, the raging debate was music to Lionel Shriver's ears. Nothing is easy and clear-cut (except the sister counterpoint theme, but I'm cutting LS slack at this point), but I found myself underlining so many wonderful passages that I had to stop myself, figuring it is the un-underlined ones that would stand out.
It is very refreshing to read about a woman who doesn't take shelter behind the whole motherhood mythology. Motherhood is tough. Kids aren't perfect. Parents (some parents) can be lucid about their children. And some people have a cross to bear. Some do it with style. I think this book will be easy reading for those who have ever tried to wonder at the nature and root of violence, and -possibly - evil.
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