The Keep

Have you ever tried getting your hands on a book that isn’t very long, that you essentially find thrilling and well written, but somehow it takes you way more time to read it, than a book of its size normally would? Just such a book was The Keep by Jennifer Egan. I read about it several years ago, but just got around to reading it now. The book is divided into sections. In one we follow Danny, a troubled young man who flees New York. What sends him on the run is vague, but he accepts his cousin Howard’s offer to come work on a castle in Europe that Howard wants to turn into a resort. A big part of the resort is that no communication devices are to be allowed. This causes Danny great concern since a big part of his personality is upheld by feeling linked in with all of his friends. His life is mainly spent making money through menial jobs, and then hanging out with his New York friends hoping to become someone great one day. Once Danny arrives he realizes that something strange is taking place in the castle. Danny starts seeing things and has a strange encounter with the old lady who has barricaded herself in the keep of the castle. The other section of the book takes place in a prison, where an inmate is taking a writer’s course, and the story that he tells is the one we hear about Danny. The book shifts between the sections throughout the book. Weaving a pattern that slowly builds up a convergence between the two stories. This is the first book I’ve read by Jennifer Egan, and boy is she talented. I think the reason it took me so long (more than a week), to read the book, is that I simply savored the language. Egan’s style is elegant and very beautiful. She uses words in unique ways that open doors in the mind, shut for way too long. The story also kept me guessing and I was surprised several times by the directions Egan chooses for her characters. The level of originality is really high, and I have no doubt that I’ll read this book again, and there find details that I didn’t pick up on in my first reading. The story is in several places very violent (not necessarily physically) and actually created discomfort; therefore I will give a small warning to readers that are impressionable. Other than that I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I look forward to reading more by this very talented author.

Going to the library

I don’t know if you’ve ever tried this. A couple of days ago, I was standing in front of my bookshelves, contemplating what to read next. Even though there is a large number of my books I haven’t read yet, I could find nothing, that appealed to me in that instant. Since I was broke, there was only one thing I could do…. off to the public library. Luckily the library is nearby and shortly after I was browsing through all the treasures that it contained. One of the books I ended up picking was a Graphic Novel, or as I still prefer to call them, a comic. Stop Forgetting to Remember: The Autobiography of Walter Kurtz is written and drawn by Peter Kuper. It is the story of Kuper’s alter ego, Kurtz, and therefore also in large part Kuper’s own story. I love Kuper’s style and here it seems more appropriate than ever. We enter Kurtz’s life while he is trying to get pregnant with his wife, struggling with an autobiographical comic, and trying to keep his friends in his life. It’s no easy task, and as his child is born it gets no easier. Through the story Kurtz breaks the fourth wall and talks directly to the reader, acknowledging the fact that this is a very honest, but still unavoidably artificial look into his life. Kurtz tries to create his true work of art, but finds himself impeded by everyday life, a baby that won’t stop crying, deadlines that constantly gets pushed back and so forth. All the while through his narration, his innermost thoughts are revealed and thereby the story never rings false, and everything seems very believable. It was a great experience reading another of Kuper’s books, but this time I felt a twinge of melancholy and fear. If you have doubts as to whether or not having children is for you, best stay clear as some of the insights given regarding parenthood are quite depressing. For a comic it is very text heavy, but the story calls for it, and this is definitely an experience I’d recommend for everyone, even those who normally steer clear of comics.

 

Check out this link, for a reader’s guide to the book:

 

http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307339508&view=rg