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The Golden Apples of the Sun

8/28/2019

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Why a quote from Yeats to title this post? It simply seemed appropriate; dealing as Rushdie's novel 'The Golden House' does with the Golden family, led by Lear-like patriarch Nero Golden who uproots his life and the lives of his three Sons in India, to travel to the Big Apple, US, for nefarious reasons that are clarified - perhaps over-clarified - in Act Three of the novel...

Suffice it to say I was delighted to discover that Rushdie's new novel was set in my destination of New York, having struggled and failed to finish my previous NY choice, 'A Little Life' by Hanya Yanagihara (hailed a modern classic by many, it left me cold). Rushdie's opus 'Midnight's Children' remains and, I believe, will remain a classic of modern magic-realist literature and if 'The Golden House' doesn't quite match its scope and vision it is still a wonderful novel. Flawed, but wonderful. For the most part I concur with the publisher's exuberant spiel: 

"When powerful real-estate tycoon Nero Golden immigrates to the States under mysterious circumstances, he and his three adult children assume new identities, taking 'Roman' names, and move into a grand mansion in downtown Manhattan. Arriving shortly after the inauguration of Barack Obama, he and his sons, each extraordinary in his own right, quickly establish themselves at the apex of New York society.

"The story of the powerful Golden family is told from the point of view of their Manhattanite neighbour and confidant, René, an aspiring filmmaker who finds in the Goldens the perfect subject. René chronicles the undoing of the house of Golden: the high life of money, of art and fashion, a sibling quarrel, an unexpected metamorphosis, the arrival of a beautiful woman, betrayal and murder, and far away, in their abandoned homeland, some decent intelligence work.


"Invoking literature, pop culture, and the cinema, Rushdie spins the story of the American zeitgeist over the last eight years, hitting every beat: the rise of the birther movement, the Tea Party, Gamergate and identity politics; the backlash against political correctness; the ascendency of the superhero movie, and, of course, the insurgence of a ruthlessly ambitious, narcissistic, media-savvy villain wearing make-up and with coloured hair.

"In a new world order of alternative truths, Salman Rushdie has written the ultimate novel about identity, truth, terror and lies. A brilliant, heartbreaking realist novel that is not only uncannily prescient but shows one of the world’s greatest storytellers working at the height of his powers". 


To address the plot further is to give the game away, although, to be honest, the key denouements are - purposely? - signposted pretty obviously and early on, and when they come, along with a rather awkward tying up of loose ends, in part three they are rather laboured. As a reader I kept thinking, especially during Nero's final confessional monologue, 'yes, I know, I get it, now move on'. Ultimately the book does move on and whilst certain loose ends are tied up, others are left hanging...'was Nero's being poisoned by his scheming wife?' for instance.

In the end the conclusion is rather too pat, almost wilfully artificial. Rushdie portrays it in the form of a film script playing out told to us by the author/narrator/protagonist/film-maker, is this simply another magic-realist breaking down of the fourth wall, or an intentional admission by Rushdie of the inadequacy of art in truly portraying reality...? Either way, the third part, in which Rushdie himself seems a little unsure of what to do with the Golden world he has created, is sole reason for its 4 rather than 5 star rating.

And make no mistake, this is a wonderful book, flitting effortlessly between the idiosyncratic characters - many of whom inhabit the communal gardens of the various neighbouring gardens (think 'Rear Window') - to twenty-first issues such a gender identity, mental health and a certain character with white made up face and ridiculous hair, a Joker who is no joke about to take the highest office in the land. Step forward a thinly disguised Donald Trump.

And the Golden's themselves, embodying America, and particularly New York, in their very foreignness as immigrants - quickly accepted through wealth - as blank canvasses with a history, as carefully drawn enigmas each with their issues: autism, gender confusion, depression and - in the case of Nero - deep-seated and repressed guilt on many levels... ultimately the title is fitting - The Golden House itself, and its gardens, is almost a character itself, in and around which people live, love, hate, die, work, are born, scheme, regret and celebrate. A perfect metaphor for both New York, New York and the country as a whole...
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From the bustling metropolis now, to America's Midwest - specifically Cleveland, Ohio. I don't even check out the air fares and flights, opting instead for a much cheaper (and longer!) Megabus coach journey at $50. I get a yellow cab to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, 625 8th Avenue for 10pm, and 15 minutes later we are off. The journey is 8.5 hours so the idea is to sleep overnight. I hedge my bets and carry on an inflatable pillow and eye mask, but also my laptop (the coach has a serviceable wi-fi connection) and my next book of my journey. 

I do manage some sleep - the coach is half full and there's plenty of room to stretch out - and the toilets are clean at least, although the driver also makes a couple of pit stops along the way. All in all, without the hassle, cost, and boarding shenegans of a flight, I'd do the trip again. So I arrive, a little bleary-eyed but rested, at Stephanie Tubbs Jones Transit Center in the city of Cleveland, in the state of Ohio, county seat of Cuyahoga County, in the American Midwest. 

No cowboys in my next book "Cherry: A Novel" a semi-autobiographical work by Nico Walker; but plenty of twenty-first century desperadoes, crime, fighting, drugs and guns (of the US Army issue type). There's even a few bank robberies thrown in for good measure (Walker wrote the novel from prison where he is serving time for this misdemeanour). Sounds interesting....
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Waukegan Public Library unveils Ray Bradbury statue on ‘Fahrenheit 451’ author’s 99th birthday

8/26/2019

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One of the literary magicians of my childhood and into adulthood, and a key author of my love of books... ​

The 12-foot-tall statue of Ray Bradbury astride a rocket ship unveiled Thursday evening outside the Waukegan Public Library honors “a literary icon and a beloved Waukeganite who gifted us his ever expanding universe of imagination, intellect and optimism for our future,” its sculptor said."The dedication was the culmination of a years-long effort that began a little more than five years ago over lunch at Louie’s Restaurant in Waukegan, said Richard Lee, the Waukegan Public Library’s former executive director and a co-chair of the committee that led the statue’s fundraising effort.

The idea came from the late Waukegan booster Hank Bogdala, Lee said. Bogdala thought the city should put up a statue honoring the Waukegan native and “Fahrenheit 451” author, just like it did for Jack Benny down the block.

"Titled “Fantastical Traveler,” the statue was created in stainless steel by artist Zachary Oxman. The design — which features Bradbury, book in hand, on a rocket ship — was inspired by Bradbury’s poem “If Only We Had Taller Been.”
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The statue tells the story of a man “beaming with unbridled imagination, curiosity and surprise,” Oxman said Thursday evening at the dedication. It shows a “seasoned Bradbury” astride a vintage-style rocket ship with his “legs blissfully outstretched to the wind.”

​“We see a grown man on the outside yet a curious boy on the in,” Oxman said. “As a writer, Ray loved metaphors, and this rocket is the personification of the scores of novels young Ray devoured at the Waukegan library that propelled him to uncharted worlds.

“The cogs and gears turn, interlock and harmonize, the endless churning of a vibrant and curious mind. Enraptured in the glory of the moment, Bradbury sends to the cosmos with pages fanning in the wind, beckoning us to explore, imagine, write and tell stories yet untold.”

Bradbury, who died in 2012, often spoke of the hours he spent at the Waukegan Public Library, then housed in the Carnegie Building on Sheridan Road. The library moved in 1965 to its current home at the corner of County and Clayton streets.

The current library stands on the site of Waukegan’s Central School, which Bradbury attended as a child before his family moved to Los Angeles in his teenage years.
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Bradbury, who received an Academy Award, two Emmy award and a Pulitzer Prize but never attended college, struggled during his years at Central School, said Jonathan Eller, the director of the Center for Ray Bradbury Studies at Indiana University -Purdue University Indianapolis.


“He was occasionally banished to the hallway outside of his classrooms in Waukegan Central School, where the principal would fix him in her gaze and say, 'When are you going to learn to keep your mouth shut?’” Eller said.

His “secret source of early learning and his great passion for literature” instead came from the Waukegan Public Library, Eller said.

Oxman’s statue proposal was selected in August 2016 from three finalists narrowed down from 41 domestic and international submissions.

The committee was “blown away” by Oxman’s submission, and the choice was unanimous, Lee said. The Maryland sculptor has created works for a variety of public art commissions as well as for two U.S. presidents and has exhibited throughout the U.S., including at the National Museum of American Art, the White House and the Delaware Art Museum.

The $125,000 project was primarily financed through donations, big and small, from all over the world. Donors of gave at least $150 received a book from Bradbury’s personal collection, donated upon his death to the library."

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​By EMILY K. COLEMAN, LAKE COUNTY NEWS-SUN, AUGUST 23, 2019
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An Englishman (Stuck In) New York...

8/16/2019

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Well, it had to happen sooner or later on this trip - New York based breezeblock 'A Little Life' has, after 6 grinding months of grimness, introspection and banal vacuousness (think Bret Easton Ellis without the irony), defeated me. Critics and literati loved it. I hated it. Only Moby Dick has defeated me before...i even managed James Joyce's Ulysses from start to end!!!
Rather than flogging a dead horse I am saying a reluctant fairwell to my self-absorbed hosts and am heading to see an old friend. Thus I take a yellow cab across this sprawling city and arrive in uptown Manhattan, New York with Salman Rushdie's lastest work 'The Golden House'. This is described as "invoking literature, pop culture, and the cinema, [spinning] the story of the American zeitgeist over the last eight years", and promises to be the perfect way to resume my literary journey around the world.

I am already halfway through and am hooked by this slice of bohemian life that revolves initially around the communal garden of an exclusive set of apartments but, later, increasingly orbits the mysterious and secretive Golden family, newly arrived from India with - certainly in the case of the protagonist/narrator - devastating consequences. 

Thanks for your patience and support - a full review soon, before I head off to Ohio in the Midwest!
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