unexpected guest

...and some catch-up.

I'm on the last day of my vacation and I finished a few books before I left, and then read three on vacation, so... catch-up. In order of reading, for me more than you, most likely exclusively for me I need to get down my thoughts about:

An Unexpected Guest
You Suck
Friends of the Dusk
The Magician's Tale [UPDATE]*
Astray
Past Tense

The more recent reads will follow on in short order, but now, we're at An Unexpected Guest by Anne Korkeakivi. According to the bio on the book jacket, Korkeakivi has lived in France and Finland, and is now, or was at the time this was written (2012), in Switzerland, married to a UN lawyer. To me, that means writing about the intrigues of diplomatic life is probably not too much of a stretch. It also seems pretty clear that Korkeakivi enjoys food as it is woven lovely into this tale.

This is not a big novel--less than 300 pages--and it moves along pretty quickly, taking place over the span of just a few days in Paris. Clair Moorhouse is an American married to a British diplomat, who discovers that she needs to step up with very little notice, to play host with her husband for a small group of people. Clair spends her time planning the dinner, while all of the other things in her life, and suddenly her past, come swirling into view demanding her attention.

The story revolves around Moorhouse's ability to keep all the balls in the air when it seems certainly that she can't handle one more thing to happen. Life seems to conspire against her success in ways that seem both human and real. Korkeakivi does a job job of knitting those things together, following Moorhouse as she plans, dodges, reevaluates, puts out fires, retools, and moves ahead, making it clear that even though her husband sees his job as critical and complex, his wife's is just as much, and at time more so.

Its always fun to read a book written by someone with a different perspective. Korkeakivi's time overseas hasn't given her the voice of a foreign writer, but an American writer with a European influence is probably a good way to put it. I enjoyed the tension, the intrigue, the dark secrets, and the sumptuous foodie details.



* UPDATE: I found a picture on my phone of this book that I borrowed from the house were were staying in.

fourth hand

I picked up John Irving's The Fourth Hand at a library book sale. Not because I was looking for it--or even knew about it--but rather, I've read a few of Irving's books and I expected a treat. Irving writes a carefully plotted, intricately woven novel, typically about normal American folks dealing with normal American stresses, typically through the clarifying lens of some abnormality. A typical Irving character is challenged in some way, or possibly challenged by living with other folks who may be challenged more than they are. Irving characters may be physically or intellectually challenged, located somewhere personally lonely on the gender or sexuality spectra, furries, addicts, insane, a farmer or a wrestler.

Maybe all of those things.

But Irving uses these perceived abnormalities to accentuate and elevate the human feeling in a way that clarifies the story of their struggles for us, and allows us to see inside those issues like our our. It bother mirrors and magnifies our own thoughts and feelings as human beings, and draws us into the story deeper than we might have otherwise. But only if we are willing. As an author, John Irving does his job, but we need to do ours as readers and bring our understanding and empathy to the mixture in order to get out of his writing what Irving puts in.

Patrick Wallingford is a TV journalist who loses his hand during a report from India, and the accident is caught on film. Wallingford then become known as the guy who lost his hand, as the clip is watched hundreds of thousands of times worldwide. A hand surgeon in Boston would like to be the first to successfully perform a hand transplant, and a Wisconsin truck driver and Green Bay Packer fan wants to be the donor, or maybe its his wife that wants him to be.

Where these three people, and those around them, come together, each wanting something from the others, is where this story comes together. A small slice of the bizarre, served à la sexe, gives this story the juice which powers it forward, and makes it such a delight to read.

Read this book, and everything else John Irving writes.