Notes
Yes I skipped a week, and this one is a bit late, but nothing much happened last week anyway, just continuing through three books.
Completed
Freedom. I finished this after an effort to get it done before the loan expired. It got better as it went along, and it didn't begin badly, just a bit typical novel material. There were some very interesting structural things about it.
But first, I probably should say a little about what it's about. Walter and Patty Berglund. Set mostly in Minnnesota, she was a college basketball star, then stay at home mother. He an environmental activist lawyer. Two kids, one quite independent. A rockstar friend and more than friend. All with their own interlocking struggles, separating and coming back together in the political climate of the Bush-Cheney years.
Freedom progresses the exact opposite of John LeCarre novels. Rather starting out with action and having no clue what's going on, in Freedom, you feel like you know something at the start. Sure, everybody's got their baggage that you don't know, but you feel that you get Walter and Patty. You're wondering what will happen, but you understand the setting. But as you read more, you get different points of view and the characters become less clearly defined. The view moves from photorealistic to impressionist. Richer emotionally, but less clear.
After we hit the climax, there's some increase in clarity. Some. And there are end results which still keep my mind ticking. This is not a novel where, while you weren't able to predict in the middle, once you get to the end, it doesn't seem that it could have ended any other way. That is not to say that the end results are inconsistent with what happened or make it seem contrived (which is something I hate). It just doesn't seem inevitable. Maybe not even likely. But possible, for sure.
Of course, the novel is titled Freedom. Maybe that's part of it. There are lots of ways freedom factors in. The coming of age sort of freedom as one moves into adulthood. There is ample political freedom that comes into play. Freedom within (or without?) relationships. But also, perhaps, that freedom that keeps life from being inevitable. The freedom to take everything you have and lay it on the line, and maybe, that last push will be enough.
On Break
Homo Deus. The loan has expired, and I will get back to it in some weeks when I can. Much of the non-fiction I read elicits a response like "Ohhhh, now I understand how that works a little better." Non-fiction I stop reading probably gets something more like "That does not follow. I am not buying these arguments." Homo Deus is in between. "Some of these things make a lot of sense, but I'm not buying all the conclusions." Whether I end up convinced or not, considering the perpective presented is enlightening.
I would compare it to the "Defund the police" mantra that emerged a little while back. It's not useful as an immediate policy goal - creating a vaccum where a police presence was previously would clearly have a lot of negative consequences. It is useful as a thought experiment. Suppose there was that vaccum where the police are now. What would need addressing? How would we deal with those problems? How would that look and not look like what policing is now? Let's explore that, and then build that system we arrive at.
So, I'm not a disciple, but I am a once and future reader.
Continuing Reading
Gandhi I've been concentrating on finishing up Freedom, but making some progress He has had some success in South Africa's social activism and is returning to India. It will be a main focus of the coming week.
Started
Nothing new
In conclusion
I think I'm going to hold back on the last half star for Freedom and give it 4.5, but I won't rule out a later revision upward. Most thought-provoking novel in a while. Now I gotta go back to hit the other books.