It would be easy to dismiss Tim Crothers's The Queen of Katwe as just another feel-good, underdog triumph tale. And, make no mistake, it is exactly that - but it's a darn good one all the same. If a person can live in the most abject poverty and disadvantage imaginable and yet rise to junior chess champion of her continent, maybe we all can dare to hope. Maybe we all can take inspiration from Phiona Mutesi and do something with our lives, accomplish something during our brief stay on earth.
As you'd expect, though, the book lacks nuance and complexity where it needs it most. The author states in the epilogue that, upon writing a magazine article on Phenomenal Phiona, he knew he must expand it to book length and tell the whole story. Now, the book will only do good for Phiona (and possibly others in Katwe), but the story (at least as Crothers relates it) should have remained in the periodical realm.
He spends the crucial second chapter telling the rather confusing life story of the man who came to run the program that introduced Phiona to chess, and many other parts drag on as filler to take a rather simple story to book length. At the same time, Crothers pays no attention to the political realities of Uganda that foster the slums which make Phiona the rare exception to the rule of degrading and desperate poverty. He mentions Idi Amin in passing several times as if he were simply a former president, like Gerald Ford, and not the Uber-African despot. In the end, the book reads like an overlong magazine fluff piece, when it could have been a serious book about not only an exceptional girl, but also about the world which makes a successful girl something to marvel at.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Book Review: Diana Wynne Jones, "Reflections On the Magic of Writing"
I came to Diana Wynne Jones's work in a roundabout way. Already a fan of Hayao Miyazaki's movies when Howl's Moving Castle came out, I was surprised to find that someone else's book lay behind the story, since Miyazaki has a way of owning everything he uses - his style and vision are so engulfing. The book was so, well, magical, that I went on to read three more of her novels.
Now we have a collection of essays and various other pieces by Jones, Reflections On the Magic of Writing, that, even for a casual reader of her work like me, not only exposes the influences and thinking behind her own writing, but solidifies her place among major 20th-century English writers of fiction.
Neil Gaiman contributes a heartfelt introduction, but his star power fades swiftly when Jones takes the stage and reveals her approach to writing children's literature, a method like that of a research psychologist:
From my window I can see a steep stretch of woodland ... I have watched it for five years now.
It is full of children who appear to be mad. A group of girls totter down the slope. ... anyone
who watches this wood, or anywhere else where children habitually play, will quite soon notice
a number of things, all of which ought to have great importance for anyone who is interested in
writing for children.
But Jones doesn't analyze: she embraces. She writes about Tolkien, Narnia, learning to read Anglo-Saxon, and a favorite of mine, the somewhat obscure but startlingly brilliant poet Mervyn Peake. She takes each in her arms as one would a child one adores, but without sentimentality or stooping to hero-worship.
What sets this book apart from all other posthumous essay collections is that it shines - these are no leftovers, or some last scraping at sales by a publisher. This collection sparkles, it crackles, it burns with life like the fiery burning bush that not only burns without consuming, but provides a place for the voice of the divine.
Now we have a collection of essays and various other pieces by Jones, Reflections On the Magic of Writing, that, even for a casual reader of her work like me, not only exposes the influences and thinking behind her own writing, but solidifies her place among major 20th-century English writers of fiction.
Neil Gaiman contributes a heartfelt introduction, but his star power fades swiftly when Jones takes the stage and reveals her approach to writing children's literature, a method like that of a research psychologist:
From my window I can see a steep stretch of woodland ... I have watched it for five years now.
It is full of children who appear to be mad. A group of girls totter down the slope. ... anyone
who watches this wood, or anywhere else where children habitually play, will quite soon notice
a number of things, all of which ought to have great importance for anyone who is interested in
writing for children.
But Jones doesn't analyze: she embraces. She writes about Tolkien, Narnia, learning to read Anglo-Saxon, and a favorite of mine, the somewhat obscure but startlingly brilliant poet Mervyn Peake. She takes each in her arms as one would a child one adores, but without sentimentality or stooping to hero-worship.
What sets this book apart from all other posthumous essay collections is that it shines - these are no leftovers, or some last scraping at sales by a publisher. This collection sparkles, it crackles, it burns with life like the fiery burning bush that not only burns without consuming, but provides a place for the voice of the divine.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Book Review: Garry Wills - "Why Priests? A Failed Tradition"
We arrived at Trinity United Methodist a few minutes late for Garry Wills's talk because we were chatting with Marisa Meyer while she signed my daughter's copy of her new book, Scarlet, at this year's Savannah Book Festival. Garry was already going full steam, and we had to creep along the balcony and ask a gentleman to move his coat in order to sit down (his umbrella clattered to the floor).
I always enjoy the challenge of reading an intelligent diatribe against something I believe in - Christopher Hitchens (God rest his soul) remains one of my all-time favorite authors. And, having read several of Garry Wills's works (What Paul Meant, What Jesus Meant, the one on Augustine, etc.) before, I bounced in my seat as I put a hold on his new book, Why Priests? (he likes titles with interrogatives, apparently) and bounced yet higher when I heard he would soon be visiting Savannah.
But, ultimately, I was disappointed by the blunt force of his argument against the priesthood - he made the error of starting with a position ("Down with priests!") and then searched out the Scriptures and history for random supporting evidence. What a shame for such an esteemed scholar. His primary thread of debate regards the absence of a Christian priesthood (as we now know it) in the time of Christ or the Apostles. What matters that, my friends? The doctrine of the Trinity (see C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity for how this belief all but defines the faith) did not develop for, um, millennia after God told Abraham to "kill me a son." The priesthood is no more far-fetched than Christianity itself.
Hopefully Wills returns to actual scholarship following this sterile invective, putting down his axe (to grind) and taking up the surgical knife of astute historical and religious analysis that made him such a respected author in the first place. He's welcome to take views contrary to Church teaching, but he must refrain from cherry-picking evidence in such a biased manner - he dwells on every last molehill of sin of priests and the Church without the slightest appreciation for the mountains of good they both raised. I look forward to reading him again with a smile of discovery rather than a puckered mouth of sourness.
Note: I had established this blog to cover educational issues, but there are issues with that concept. For example, I have both a legal and moral obligation to maintain my students' privacy, and it's difficult to discuss education without bringing up what happened at school. Therefore, I turn this ship towards another love: reading. We'll see how that goes!
I always enjoy the challenge of reading an intelligent diatribe against something I believe in - Christopher Hitchens (God rest his soul) remains one of my all-time favorite authors. And, having read several of Garry Wills's works (What Paul Meant, What Jesus Meant, the one on Augustine, etc.) before, I bounced in my seat as I put a hold on his new book, Why Priests? (he likes titles with interrogatives, apparently) and bounced yet higher when I heard he would soon be visiting Savannah.
But, ultimately, I was disappointed by the blunt force of his argument against the priesthood - he made the error of starting with a position ("Down with priests!") and then searched out the Scriptures and history for random supporting evidence. What a shame for such an esteemed scholar. His primary thread of debate regards the absence of a Christian priesthood (as we now know it) in the time of Christ or the Apostles. What matters that, my friends? The doctrine of the Trinity (see C. S. Lewis's Mere Christianity for how this belief all but defines the faith) did not develop for, um, millennia after God told Abraham to "kill me a son." The priesthood is no more far-fetched than Christianity itself.
Hopefully Wills returns to actual scholarship following this sterile invective, putting down his axe (to grind) and taking up the surgical knife of astute historical and religious analysis that made him such a respected author in the first place. He's welcome to take views contrary to Church teaching, but he must refrain from cherry-picking evidence in such a biased manner - he dwells on every last molehill of sin of priests and the Church without the slightest appreciation for the mountains of good they both raised. I look forward to reading him again with a smile of discovery rather than a puckered mouth of sourness.
Note: I had established this blog to cover educational issues, but there are issues with that concept. For example, I have both a legal and moral obligation to maintain my students' privacy, and it's difficult to discuss education without bringing up what happened at school. Therefore, I turn this ship towards another love: reading. We'll see how that goes!
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