U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos

The U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos is a group of three books that traces a group of relatively young people as they experience the time before, during, and after World War I. I must admit, I was somewhat cautious starting these books. First, they're really long, and I was relying on the library (stupidly, I checked all three out at once) for these books and felt really rushed getting through them (the books were 300ish, 350ish, and 450ish pages long). Also, I've not had good experience with novels written by disillusioned people set in the post World War I time period (forefront in my mind here is On the Road by Kerouac); I just don't enjoy reading about wayward youth who I tend to think are wasting their brains, their drive, and their use to society. But I really thought Dos Passos' U.S.A. moved past that by fully developing his characters' motives, feelings, and actions but still not ignoring his own political viewpoint of the time period.

The most successful element of the trilogy is Dos Passos' characterization. There's an incomprehensible number of characters including in these novels, and they all move in and out of the storyline at somewhat random times. Still, despite the sheer number of characters, Dos Passos still carefully created and maintained his characters throughout the novels. Each character does different things, has different political and ideological views, and plays different roles in the historical events happening at the time. I found it particularly interesting to see how each of the characters interacted with each other as they moved in and out of each other's lives. Also, I thought it was really interesting to see how Dos Passos placed each character in the political, historical, and technological developments of the time period, including World War I, the airplane industry, and the "Roaring Twenties." This has always been one of my favorite parts of reading novels set in a historical time period that I know something about. I also really enjoyed the sections of "Newsreels" where Dos Passos includes the headlines and text of front-page newspapers of the time period. (As a history major, I found a nerdy interest in how he picked out individual parts of the various news stories.) These sections also included lyrics from songs and protest chants. In addition, Dos Passos weaves in short biographies of important figures of the time period, which I thought were well-researched and rightfully cynical of these "heroes" of the time period. For example, he doesn't buy into the typical hero-worship of Henry Ford and included some of the seedier parts of his background. All of this made me a very happy history-loving girl.

I won't pretend that I understand the literary elements of this book, especially since I've always been rather disinterested in that part of reading novels. As a result, I found the sections called "Camera Eye" difficult. I know that they are basically autobiographical, telling Dos Passos' experiences during the same time period that he is discussing in the main body of the novel, but honestly, I just had a difficult time following the stream-of-consciousness from one section to the next. And I didn't try too hard either; I was much more interested in the other parts of the novel so I generally focused on those.

Also, I thought, in general, the female characters in this book were relatively weak. Some end up killing themselves through their own naivete, and others just seemed whiny, politically uninvolved. Basically, most of them seemed to be "follower" characters who accompany their male acquaintances into whatever political endeavor they decide. Very few (in comparison to the male characters) follow through on any jobs or political actions on their own accord. They always seem to be acting like a "puppy dog" to follow attractive men into the movement. I didn't think it detracted much from the book and probably had much more to do with the time period that the author wrote in than any purposeful attempt by Dos Passos to detract from women's roles in any sort of political movements in the time period.

In general, I found this book really interesting, but I don't think I need to re-read it again; still, I'd definitely recommend it to other people.

My rating: 8.5/10

Up next: A Rush to Injustice by Nader Baydoun and R. Stephanie Good, which is a well-researched recounting of the Duke lacrosse rape case.

Used Bookstores = True Love

So, the hubby and I sneaked off for a weekend getaway at one of our favorite places--Eagles Mere Inn in Eagles Mere, PA. Eric likes it for the hiking and outdoorsy stuff within 15 minutes of the fantastic little bed & breakfast we stay in, but I like it for the fantastic (and I mean fantastic) food and the adorable little used bookstore about a block away from the Inn. Eric and I made a total killing again this year; 6 books or so for about $50. I, unfortunately, didn't have my 1,001 Books list with me so I didn't look for novels or anything (I'm trying to limit my book purchases to those that the local library system doesn't have...my reading habits already take up an oddly large portion of our money), but I've found that their selection of history non-fiction is spectacular. When we were there for our honeymoon, I bought Robertson's Stonewall Jackson and Remini's History of the House of Representatives, and this time I picked up McCullough's John Adams as well as books on the Duke Lacrosse case and the Soviet Union's activities in Eastern Europe during and after World War II. It really should be some good stuff; plus, I still need to read Remini's book that I've had for almost 2 years and just haven't gotten around to (damn college and all its silly reading requirements). So, the blog may take a bit of a turn as I read these books and others that have been sitting on my bookshelf for way too long as a result of impulse book buys and a very busy school-related reading schedule. But now that I'm unemployed, have no school obligations, and have plenty of open time to spend reading by the apartment complex pool, I should be able to move through a big chunk of the unread books on the shelves (I know, I am filling out 100s, nay 1000s of job applications too...I promise). Of course, considering the content of those bookshelves at the moment, this will mean a sometimes-long foray into novels not on the 1,001 Books list and plenty of non-fiction that I need to catch up on. I hope you'll bear with me here.

I just finished reading the U.S.A. Trilogy by John Dos Passos, and I should get a chance to post about it tomorrow sometime (probably after hitting up the farmer's market for local strawberries--I know you're jealous). I thought it was fantastic, and, even if I hated it, the novels deserve a much longer and more in-depth treatment than I can muster at the moment (I know, I'm too young to be tired at 10:30, but such is life).

U.S.A. Trilogy Update

I am a little less than 2/3 of the way done with Dos Passos' U.S.A. Trilogy, and I'm really enjoying it. Considering how much I disliked some of the other stuff from the disillusioned authors of American history (namely, Kerouac--for some reason I just don't like him much), I really, really like Dos Passos. I think it's mostly because he actually has characters that interact and are fully developed. I'll write a complete review of all three books in the trilogy at once since they're all connected and all play off of each other to some extent.

Just wanted to post an update!

Labyrinths by Jose Luis Borges

I really liked this book, but I'm pretty sure I only really understood the message in about 25% of the stories. The book is a collection of short stories, essays, and parables by Jose Luis Borges, an Argentinian writer, incorporating his theories of time, space, personal experience, etc. into fictional (and sometimes non-fictional) writings.

I don't generally like short story collections. I think in general, short stories tend to lack the character and story development that I generally prefer to have in my books, but I was so distracted by trying to figure out what theory Borges was trying to put forth in the individual stories that I tended to not miss the character development. I won't go into much detail about any of the stories, but I really liked the mystical way that the author incorporated physics and metaphysics into his stories. Even though this book isn't my typical idea of Latin American fiction, he definitely still managed to capture my attention and keep it, despite my continuous struggles with the subject matter. It's not a book about people or places or things; rather, it's a discussion, through fiction, of the various ways that we experience these people, things, and places. I had no clue who about 98% of the philosophers, scientists, etc. were that he named in the book, and I probably would have gotten a lot more out of the book had I known more about most of them. I will probably come back and re-read this one in the future...after I brush up on my philosophy and physics (which may be never, but a girl can hope for infinite free time, right?).

My rating: 8.5/10

Up next: John Dos Passos' U.S.A. Trilogy. I just picked up all three from my local library and have 2 weeks to read before I need to renew/return. We'll see how it goes.