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	December 2004 :: issue 14
	Books This Month 1. Case Histories by Atkinson 2. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Flynn 3. You Remind Me of Me by Chaon 4. The Plot Against America by Roth 5. Graceland by Abani 6. Beautiful Losers by Rose/Strike   More 2004 Book Recommendations Boldtype 2004 Recap Book News Credits/About Us The 2004 Year-end Issue Despite a year that involved visions of governments gone wrong, violence in the third world, lost and dysfunctional families, dark and entangled histories, and difficulties with identity, we also witnessed brilliant examples of poor outsiders pushing culture into new and beautiful places. It could be a long trip through 2005, but as long as everyone stays on board, it'll be just fine.

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FICTION Case Histories by Kate Atkinson Published: November 2004 Pages: 320 Publisher: Little, Brown Links: Author bio Atkinson's top ten Synopsis An elegantly written novel that tracks the emotional aftermath of three intertwining and enduring crimes — and their impact on the life of the private detective who links them together. Review It's tempting to read Case Histories as a kind of dark, cynical twin to Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. Both are stories about missing girls who fall victim to unpredictable dangers, but while the surviving characters in Sebold's novel display strength and perserverance — with the dead narrator offering comfort from beyond the grave — Case Histories' characters have remained hollow inside, decades after experiencing loss. The novel conveys a sense of paranoia and emotional ambiguity to the reader, instead of comfort. But to draw such a simple parallel between the two works would be a mistake, as it would elide Atkinson's rich, sparkling language, deft plotting, and uncanny ability to evoke the pathetic quotidian — all of which make Case Histories such an immensely pleasurable read — and one of 2004's best books. Case One follows the disappearance of Olivia Land, the youngest of four daughters of a frustrated, young housewife and a cruel, distant mathematician. Case Two involves the pursuit of the killer of Laura Wyre, who ran into her father's law office one day wearing a yellow golf sweater and wielding a knife. And in Case Three, a young mother suffering from postpartum depression goes into a fit of rage that ends with an axe through her husband's head — and her infant daughter forever out of her life. Jackson Brodie, a down-on-his-luck, recently divorced private detective with a penchant for mournful country music, is hired by two of Olivia's sisters, Laura's father, and the young mother's sister, and the lives and pasts of his clients quickly begin to entangle. All the while, the son of a bothersome longtime client is trying to kill him — he thinks. Even with the rigid structure of the cases as its jumping-off point, Atkinson's plot manages to be consistently surprising and uncontrived. Her characters are so real and engaging that we become more and more interested in them, even as they reveal horrifying flaws. But Atkinson's writing is the real achievement here: each sentence is constructed with compulsive care; currents of a deeply satisfying kind of anger and misanthropy are cut through, with just enough wry, dark humor to make us believe that this novel isn't the work of someone who loathes humanity, but rather someone who just observes it very carefully. (ML) back to top NONFICTION: MEMOIR Another Bullshit Night in Suck City by Nick Flynn Published: September 2004 Pages: 288 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co. Links: Village Voice article Boston Phoenix article Some Ether Blind Huber Synopsis Award-winning poet Nick Flynn's devastating memoir chronicles his life-long turbulent relationship with his homeless father, a convicted felon and self-proclaimed novelist. Review As a teenager, Nick Flynn only knows his father from the slew of letters he sent during his two-year stint in prison for bank robbery, and the outrageous stories filtered through his mother and the locals. Unapologetic for his absence from his son's life, his father sends letters which are haphazard scribbles of a novel, of a fictitious life lived — inventor of the life raft, car dealership proprietor, longshoreman, poet, and proud con-artist. Through these stories, the narcissist Jonathan Flynn elevates himself to mythic status, making himself unattainable to his young son. In this heartbreakingly gritty, oftentimes humorous memoir, the author details two parallel lives: of a son who is raised by a struggling, well-meaning single mother, desperate to make ends meet, who exposes her children to a revolving door of unstable boyfriends and a lucrative drug operation and ultimately commits suicide while Flynn is a teenager, and of a father who is a specter in their lives, obsessed with penning the Great American Novel. A promising poet with drug and alcohol problems of his own, Nick as an adult is constantly haunted by his wayward, alcoholic father adrift in Boston's South End. Flynn navigates their tenuous relationship, which culminates when his father takes up residence at the homeless shelter where Nick works. What renders this devastating memoir so unique is that Flynn's story amplifies a rather risky concept: love is not unconditional; there are limits to love for a parent who consistently fails in his/her role as parent, whose actions come at the expense of their child's emotional stability. Deploying staccato-style chapters that alternate between lyrical poetry and searing prose, the author reveals a relationship with his father that becomes a reckoning with himself, and a necessity not to repeat the detrimental patterns of addiction and detachment. Flynn's success as a writer is redemptive and supercedes his father's hopeless distortions of the truth. Another Bullshit Night in Suck City redefines our traditional notions of family and home. (FS) back to top FICTION You Remind Me of Me by Dan Chaon Published: May 2004 Pages: 368 Publisher: Ballantine Books Links: Author bio Houston Chronicle review SF Gate review Synopsis Two generations of a family in disarray unknowingly affect each other as they struggle for something more in the barren Midwest of the '60s to the not-so-different '90s. Review Even as a child, Jonah Doyle is deeply aware of his mother's dissatisfaction and regret, as he grows up listening to the story of his brother who had been given up for adoption before Jonah was born. His sense of isolation is heightened when a vicious attack by his mother's Doberman leaves him maimed. Marked by a life of self-doubt, desperation, and loneliness, Jonah later tracks down his half brother, Troy — who's working as a bartender in a small town in the Midwest, and whose recent arrest and probation prevent him from seeing his son. Too afraid to approach his brother with his knowledge of their familial relationship, Jonah settles into town and works with him. As Jonah realizes that he can't escape himself, he risks it all to redeem not only himself but also his family by reuniting Troy with his son. You Remind Me of Me examines the lives of the disappointed — people seemingly locked in a world that refuses to make them any allowances or offer them any chance for change. Chaon forges a rare intimacy with his characters as they stumble through their daily routines, vaguely aware of only regret and mistakes. As Troy and Jonah seem to drift in a relentless current driven by pain and weakness, they still remain hopeful that things will get better, that what is missing will re-appear. The reader cannot help but care for, and empathize with, these brothers, who remind us that life is indeed meaningful and, more importantly, worth living. (JM) back to top

FICTION The Plot Against America by Philip Roth Published: September 2004 Pages: 400 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Links: Slate discussion Synopsis Remember when the far right didn't mind Hitler? Philip Roth does in this startling rewriting of mid-20th-century American history. Review One of the best books of the year, Philip Roth's The Plot Against America documents the creeping American fascism that almost was. While fascism is commonly associated with goose-stepping soldiers, book burnings, and Mussolini podium-poundings, the bureaucracy of autocratic governing can be far more frightening. Wrapped up in red tape like a Christmas gift, institutional fascism's deceptive everyday banality can render its doubters Chicken Littles — even as the stratosphere plummets to earth. From the perspective of his seven-year-old self, Roth imagines the Nazi-sympathizing aviator Charles Lindbergh beating Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election and the Hitler-collaborating administration that ensues. The Roths' New Jersey household — father Herman, mother Bess, brother Sandy, and Philip — reacts with fear and revulsion to America's slither toward Nazi pogroms, finding solace solely among other Jews and in gossip columnist Walter Winchell's weekly Lindy-baiting radio show. But when new federal policies result in Sandy being shipped off to Kentucky, the Roth nest begins to crumble: daily rituals disappear, friends leave for Canada, and the FBI begins investigating the family. The hysteria cuts to Philip's aching heart as he vacillates between trusting his father's increasingly paranoid rants and the government's patronizing reassurances to the Jewish community. Waking up a stranger in your own country is trying enough for adults, but for children — who grasp at familiarity like it is a life preserver — the ordeal is doubly hard. Especially when your nation's flag becomes a villain's cape billowing beneath swastika fireworks. (YS) back to top FICTION Graceland by Chris Abani Published: February 2004 Pages: 336 Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Links: Author bio Synopsis A teenage Elvis impersonator hustles to survive in Lagos, Nigeria in this brutal and compelling debut novel. Review Elvis Oke, the wayward hero of Chris Abani's Graceland, is a teenage street performer impersonating his namesake, trying to stay afloat in Maroko, one of the countless overcrowded and vibrant shantytowns dotting the outskirts of Lagos, Nigeria. Set to a booming soundtrack of afrobeat, reggae, and funk, the hard streets of this modern Babylon brim with clever, eccentric, and beautiful survivors, whose loves, struggles, and betrayals Abani celebrates. This is Elvis' home, and he makes little more than bus fare performing for puzzled foreign tourists. A stubborn autodidact, he picks up dancing by watching Fred Astaire and Bollywood movies, and learns as much from black market pulp novels as from his dog-eared copies of Ellison, Dostoevsky, and Achebe. Unable to make ends meet, Elvis looks to Redemption, his connected outlaw of a best friend, who introduces him to a life of easy money, through hustling in nightclubs and smuggling drugs — or even worse commodities. Also vying for control of Elvis' destiny are his alcoholic father and an aging dissident turned wise man called the King of Beggars. Excerpts and recipes from his deceased mother's journals stitch together this sinuous narrative. Binding a restless plot into two converging storylines, Abani alternates snapshots of Elvis' painful childhood with chapters tracing his rough-and-tumble adolescence. As the stories converge, Nigeria's corrupt military government is plotting to demolish Maroko, on whose streets there are rumblings of a popular rebellion. Naturally, Elvis is caught in the middle, and must choose which of his father figures he should follow or forsake, in his quest to escape to that distant Graceland of his imagining, the United States. Abani was tortured for his writing, and he unflinchingly depicts the entrenched exploitation that haunts Nigeria. Graceland quivers with almost unrelenting violence, which can at times be overwhelming. But brave readers should not be discouraged: this is a rich, brutal, and thoroughly engrossing novel. (TW) back to top ART Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture edited by Aaron Rose and Christian Strike Published: August 2004 Pages: 256 Publisher: D.A.P./Iconoclast Synopsis An exciting overview of a young, contemporary art movement inspired by surfing, skateboarding, graffiti, independent music, and other forms of low culture. Review Working outside the art world, the artists in this traveling exhibition catalog are rebels influenced by youth subcultures in styles born on the street. Operating on the fringes of society, they have all been arrested at one time or another — a claim few other art movements can make. But in the past five years, these ambitious outsiders, particularly Barry McGee and Chris Johanson, have risen to the forefront of the art market and are being celebrated worldwide. Scene insiders Aaron Rose and Christian Strike have organized a colorful show and highly entertaining book, which includes informative essays by such players as perennial hipster and Paper magazine editor Carlo McCormick, Open City editor and skateboard connoisseur Jocko Weyland, and art impresario Jeffrey Deitch, who divulges humorous accounts of pursuing and showing these young radicals. Though the written word brings us up to date on this thriving scene, it's the visuals that make this tome so compelling. Mixing ephemera, documentary photos, installation shots, and illustrations of finished pieces, the editors give us an edgy view of the current wave, as well as the precursors that paved the way. The artists of Beautiful Losers (which was titled after a free-form Leonard Cohen novel) include Phil Frost, Mark Gonzales, Margaret Kilgallen, Ryan McGinness, Clare E. Rojas, and others, while the roots are represented by legends such as Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Larry Clark, and Dogtown and Z-Boys' Craig R. Stecyk III. As the suburbs and the cities blend into one here, what stands out is the curious fact that those who were labeled least likely to succeed have proved the establishment wrong. (PL) back to top MORE 2004 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FICTION Like the Red Panda by Andrea Seigel (April 2004)   Heralded as "anti-chick lit," Like the Red Panda follows the final days of high school for talented, driven, and unhappy Stella as she struggles for closure with school, and toys with the idea of suicide. Unlike most teenage narrators, Stella's sharp-tongued disaffection is not merely posturing, and her funny and sometimes striking criticisms of others are cushioned with sincere warmth. (CNH)   NONFICTION: POLITICS What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America by Thomas Frank (June 2004)   Using his home state of Kansas as an example, Frank explains how conservatives have managed to exploit social issues such as school prayer and gay marriage to obscure the GOP's true fiscal policies. Weaving real world examples and policy issues into an engaging and often funny narrative, he unearths the faux populism of this bait and switch, and how it has won the day in American politics. (PM)   FICTION Little Scarlet: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley (July 2004)   Walter Mosley brings back Easy — and quite literally resurrects his hoodlum cohort Mouse — for the eighth and finest installment in this series. Set in LA immediately following the Watts riots, Mosley weaves a story of race and reconciliation over a sturdily built murder mystery that overflows with colorful characters and tough guy confrontations. (AA)   COMIC In the Shadow of No Towers by Art Spiegelman (September 2004)   Part 9/11-memoir, part comics history lesson, In the Shadow of No Towers is Art Spiegelman's first graphic novel since MAUS. To make sense of that day, Spiegelman buried himself in old comics, finding eery echos of the falling towers in such classic strips as Little Nemo, Krazy Kat, and the Katzenjammer Kids. The result is this polemical and soul-searching work, which re-imagines those uneasy months in the style of early broadsheet newspaper comics. (TW)   COMIC Get Your War On II by David Rees (September 2004)   With inspiring brilliance, satirist savant David Rees tackles the Bush administration with simple elements even the guy in the Oval Office could understand: comic strips and four-letter words. It's worth reading just for the laugh-out-loud moments, but this is a book that's taken on new meaning since November — as Rees becomes the perfect companion for post-election spleen. (AA)   FICTION: SHORT STORIES Seconds of Pleasure by Neil LaBute (October 2004)   Neil LaBute easily trounces Ethan Coen in the (not particularly well-attended) race between successful, iconoclastic filmmakers to see who can publish the best book of short stories. Sharp, witty, and stacked with LaBute's signature characters — blithely ill-willed and horrifically flawed — the collection will be appreciated by anyone tickled by his moral bludgeonings. (CNH)   FICTION Astonishing Splashes of Color by Clare Morrall (October 2004)   This moving, astute debut about a woman who, losing her mother when she was a child, and the chance to be a mother herself when she miscarries her first child, feels trapped between a past she can't remember and a future she'll never have. She is synesthetic, so the present is suffused with the astonishing colors of the title (also a reference to that other paean to motherless children, "Peter Pan"), and enhanced by her equally colorful — though never charicatured — extended family. (TG)   FICTION Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (November 2004)   Gilead appeared last month like a revelation for book reviewers. James Wood gushed about it in the NY Times, and Slate's review enthused with unabashed missionary fervor. Narrated as a letter by a 76-year-old pastor who believes he is dying, the fiery poetry of his pious ecstacies should move even the most devotedly secular reader. (CNH)   FICTION Links by Nuruddin Farah (March 2004)   The latest novel from perhaps the best known writer from Somalia follows the return of Jeebleh, a Somali living in Queens, to his native city to investigate a kidnapping. Harrowingly potent, but also surprisingly playful and intricate, Links' portrait of the teeming Mogadiscio underworld is something you won't soon forget. (AA)   ART Colorama by Alison Nordstrom, Peggy Roalf (October 2004)   This book presents a striking selection of panoramic photographs from the 18-by-60-foot Colorama display in New York City's Grand Central Terminal from 1950 to 1990. The gigantic backlit color transparencies were produced by the Eastman Kodak Company to portray photography as an essential leisure activity in the most ideal manner. The 50 featured photos say as much about America during these times as it does about the medium. (PL)   ART Supernatural: The Work of Ross Lovegrove by Ross Lovegrove (July 2004)   This stylish monograph offers an in-depth view into contemporary designer Ross Lovegrove's creative process and innovative products. His award-winning designs for furniture, bicycles, and other contemporary objects are discussed by writers such as MoMA curator Paola Antonelli and experimental architect Greg Lynn, and beautifully illustrated with dynamic images and splendid layouts. (PL)   back to top   BOLDTYPE 2004 RECAP Below are several other notable books published in 2004 that we reviewed in previous issues of Boldtype. FICTION Snow by Orhan Pamuk Aloft by Chang-rae Lee In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami How the Light Gets In by M. J. Hyland The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson I Am Not Jackson Pollock by John Haskell NONFICTION Goat by Brad Land Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi Blood Horses by John Jeremiah Sullivan Gunshots in My Cook-Up by Selwyn Seyfu Hinds Duveen by Meryle Seacrest Where You're At by Patrick Neate back to top   BOOK NEWS A few notable bits of recent book news. The final word on Plath? (Slate) The restored edition of Sylvia Plath's Ariel turns out to be an unexpectedly hopeful book — but can it finally put to bed the controversy surrounding Ted Hughes' edits? Madwoman found in attic after 60 years (Guardian) The garret that hid the real-life Mrs. Rochester — the tragic prisoner in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre — has been found in Yorkshire. Marquez one-ups Nabokov (Guardian) His new novella, Memorias de mis putas tristes, (not yet available in English) concerns a 90 year-old-man's love for a 14-year-old-girl. Relax, he just watches her sleep. Seven Pillars of Wisdom is a must read in Iraq (Christian Science Monitor) The Pentagon lists T.E. Lawrence's memoir at #2 in a list of 100 books recommended for US forces. Former poet laureate Mona Van Duyn dies (CNN) Van Duyn, who won a Pulitzer for Near Changes in 1991 and was named the first woman US poet laureate a year later, died at 83. A round-up of 2004 book awards Catch up on the 2004 Pulitzer winners, the 2004 National Book Award winners, the shortlist for the Man Booker, and Publishers Weekly's book of the year. Publications announce their picks for the best books of the year The New York Times gives us their 100 notable books; the Village Voice, their 27 favorites; the Independent, a big list in 14 categories; Salon, their ten top picks; and the Guardian, a big list from 41 writers and critics. back to top

	CREDITS Editors Mark Mangan Joe Mangan Paul Laster Toby Warner Christopher N. Hampton Editors-at-Large Larry Weissman Sean McDonald Contributors Megan Lynch Felicia C. Sullivan Yancey Strickler Tara Gallagher Paul McLeary Bosko Blagojevic Andy Dehnart Jocelyn K. Glei Lavina E. Lee Peter Stepek Peter J. Wolfgang Production & Design Anjuli Ayer William "Keats" Pierce Sascha Lewis Header Image "Closing a Summer Cottage, Quogue, New York," 1957 (detail) by Ralph Amdursky and Charles Baker, art direction by Norman Rockwell from Colorama: The World's Largest Photographs Courtesy the Aperture Foundation, Inc. ©2004 by the Eastman Kodak Company   ABOUT US Boldtype is a monthly, email-based review of books published by Flavorpill Productions. Our mission is to cover five to seven books each month that are worth reading. No money is accepted from any publishers, writers, reviewers, or marketing or PR companies. FEEDBACK We welcome any and all feedback — comments, criticism, and even effusive praise. To reach the staff at Boldtype, please email us at editor. SUBMISSIONS If you have a book that you would like us to consider for review, please send an email to books or mail a copy here: Boldtype c/o Flavorpill Productions 594 Broadway, Suite 1212 New York, NY 10012 MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS Boldtype offers exclusive monthly media partnerships — an opportunity for like-minded brands to integrate their creative into the mailer. For more information, please email us at media-partner. Our other email magazines: A biweekly email magazine highlighting the latest in electronic music — including news, reviews, and original features An email magazine covering a handpicked selection of music, art, and cultural events — delivered each Tuesday afternoon A biweekly fashion report providing an insider's view on trends emerging from Paris, London, New York, and around the world
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