Book Review: The Quick by Lauren Owen

The Quick was referred to me by Penguin Random House Hotline (Thank you, Bridget! So umm... what do I need to do to get your job, pretty please?) Uhm, anyhow... to be honest, I had absolutely NO EXPECTATION for this book. Usually I read reviews on Goodreads to get a feel for what to expect before starting a book, but this time around, I went in totally blind! And am sure glad I did because apparently, from the reviews I read after I had finished reading this book, I could tell that people somehow had the wrong sort of expectation out of this book. So, diving in blind was definitely the right choice.

As for The Quick, it's an adult fantasy book. It is about people who are, one way or another, dealing with vampires. "Quick" is a term used by vampires of this book, set in the victorian era England, for mortal humans. A fitting title if you consider the story. It really is about the mortals, and not necessarily about the vampires themselves. They simply shape the story of these "Quicks" that surround them; more accessories and less the subjects. I thought that was so smart! In many ways this book made me think of Interview with the Vampire, albeit the difference in subject matter (IwtV really was about the vampires themselves).

A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro

I started reading A Pale View of Hills by Kazuo Ishiguro without any expectations, good or bad. I was simply walking through the stacks of books at the university library, which I do often, when I came across the Ishiguro section, and was simply scanning over the titles when I spotted this book. Much smaller than most of his other books, which is why I randomly decided to check it out. I realized afterwards that it was also his debut novel, so I guess I was a bit intrigued, but not heavily expectant.

After I finished reading this book a few hours later (it's a small book so, it didn't take any time at all to finish it), I could not believe what I'd just read! This is going to sound crazy, but this is by far my first Ishiguro book! Not that I had not attempted, quite the contrary. Earlier this year I tried reading Remains of the Day as well as A Buried Giant, but in both cases, I wasn't able to finish them. Not because I didn't like the books, but somehow the timing was not right. Both of those times I was hit by the worst sort of reading slump, and simply had to switch to different books.

As I was saying, I just could not believe what I'd read. I was instantly hit by the urge to start reading it all over again, but I made the mistake of jumping on Goodreads and reading some of the other reviews which essential confirmed my suspicions.

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara

The People in the Trees by Hanya Yanagihara tells the story of Norton Perina, a Nobel Prize winning scientist, who practically chanced upon the discovery of a lifetime while on an anthropological expedition in 1950. The book is written in the form of an autobiography from Norton Perina to his friend and colleague Ronald Kubodera.

Before I start, I should warn the reader that this book is in many ways extremely unconventional and pushes the boundaries of a lot of controversial things in several isolated instances. This book is, in many ways, a lot like Lolita in which the reader is pushed to the extremes. May be even pushed over! Depends on the reader of course. Truth be told, I loved The People in the Trees even more than I liked Lolita. I love a controversial book, and this one felt like it was testing me and my limits in practically every other turn of a page.

A little on how I came across this book before I delve into the plot and the characters: earlier this year I noticed a lot of hype about a book called A Little Life by the same author. I wanted to check out the book, but unfortunately, both the university library as well as the public library had a long hold list. The People in the Trees however was available, and I decided to give it a go as I had never read anything by Hanya Yanagihara before. And I must say, if you asked me to name my top 3 contemporary authors, she would now be one of them.

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

The Man Booker Prize 2016 longlist was announced almost a month ago, and I finally managed to read ONE book out of the entire list. The reason I chose Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh is because, one of my favorite reviewers — Clare of A Little Blog of Books — happened to describe Eileen as one of the creepiest books she had read this year. I love creepy, so I figured I’d start the list with this book.

Eileen is about a girl and her grand escape from her hometown where she was born and raised and spent most of her youth, being unhappy and neglected by her parents, always thinking less of herself, concocting up vivid imaginary situations that would make her feel important. She grew up in a dysfunctional family, and as almost always with the kids of such families, Eileen grew up a little off. Different from her peers in many ways that you wouldn’t know just by looking. The first person to see that she was a bit “different” just happened to be this eccentric young woman, who has issues of her own. May be it is because of that very reason, that Rebecca, the new (I already forgot what her post had been at the juvenile detention center that Eileen worked at, but if memory serves, she had been some sort of…) educational guidance counselor to the young prisoners, sought to take Eileen into her confidence. Eileen, on the other hand, was so distracted and, in search of a more appropriate word, enamored by her, who is the complete opposite of Eileen that she was ready to do anything to feel important, find a friend, akin to a lover almost, in Rebecca.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first picked up The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a fable by John Boyne. I hadn't seen the movie, and went over a few reviews on Goodreads just to get an idea of whether or not it was worth the time. There were good reviews and there were really bad reviews. I decided to read it anyway, and am I glad that I did!

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a story about The Fence. The Fence that divides rationality from insanity, kindness from cruelty, common sense from madness, people from animals, wisdom from ignorance, and so on. To me, this book is not really about the World War II, or the Holocaust. The story simply happens to be set during that time, with Auschwitz as the backdrop. In reality though, the moral of the story is as relevant and prevalent in our time as it was back in 1940.

Bruno is a 9 year old curious, but kind and good natured boy. When his father is transferred to Poland to be in charge of Auschwitz, he is upset about leaving his life in Berlin behind him. However, in time he meets and befriends a boy wearing striped pajamas on the other side of a fence that's just beyond the huge garden that surrounds his new home. Unaware of what it means to be on the other side of the fence, or what it means to be a Jew, both boys spend almost a year talking and sharing the stories of their lives with each other, from the opposite sides, until somewhat unexpectedly, yet not quite so, we reach the ending of the story.

There are a lot of interesting references throughout the book which can have double meanings. For example, 9 year-old Bruno seems to have trouble saying the words "The Fuhrer" or "Auschwitz", and instead, refers to them as "The Fury" and "Out-With" respectively, throughout the book. The author does an excellent job of inserting these subtle references every now and then. There is one scene in particular where Bruno is having a conversation about the people from the other side of the fence with his older sister, whereupon he asks, if the people on the other side are Jews, "What are we then?"; to which his sister says that they are "the opposites".

I won't spoil the ending, but I'll just say this, that while it is a sad little story about the acts of cruelty that humans are capable of committing, it is also a story about the goodness in us. While there will always be those who would do anything to oppress and create separation, there will also be those who would try to break the barriers and fight alongside the oppressed. Or at least that is how I interpreted the ending of the book.

Just one suggestion to any future readers of this book: do not expect a gory, realistic portrayal of the concentration camps. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is not about that. It is a book about human nature, and humanity itself. If you can keep an open mind while reading it, then I'm sure, you'll see what a little gem of a book this is. Also, I will leave you with this question: who really is The Boy in the striped pajamas?

I hope you enjoy this book just as much as I did.

5 out of 5.

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Title: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Buy on Amazon)
Author: John Boyne
Publisher: David Ficking Books, 2006
Genre: Fiction
Source: University of Denver Library