M. J. Walsh

Action and reaction with no escape

Revisado: 03-22-22

Two men meet by chance on a train. They talk. After a time one tells the other of a way in which each could commit a murder on behalf of the other, then face no consequences.

But there are consequences and they may not be predicted. We know ourselves imperfectly and each of us has a dorment will to destruction within. A least that is the view that PH expresses in this book, which is as much a study of phsychological torment as it is a crime genre murder story.

The reading strikes just the right note of moral weariness and anxiety.

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Magical, but overwritten and overlong

Revisado: 02-14-22

Framed as a journey from the present to the past in upstate New York, there is magic in this tale of good and evil. But the magic is impaired by gusts of overwriting and a tendency toward sentimental, even maudlin, rumination.

A long, overlapping, double narrative sags in the middle then, by the end, resolves into a too humdrum conclusion that finally gives way to the maudlin. There is real magic in some of the book's many characters and the moody presence of a landscape long past its gilded age glory days. But Twin Peaks seems close at hand as well.

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Slight but substantial

Revisado: 02-03-22

This relatively simple tale about a pious young woman's experiences when she takes work as a governess seems slight by comparison with the best known works of the Bronte sisters. But it has substance to enhance its merits.

The character studies of those that employ Agnes, and are taught by her, are the book's high point. They more than compensate for a religiosity from Agnes that can seem cloying at times.

The reading becomes another highlight as the characters are brought to life with insight and a fine acting skill.

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But the day is Jung...

Revisado: 01-06-22

The first book in this trilogy concluded after the mysterious death of Boy Staunton, titan of Canadian industry and sexual swordsman.

In the second book we follow the experiences of Boy's son David as he turns to the old world and Jungian analysis in his quest to find his authentic self. With a Swiss guide to ease his way, he begins to see some light in the darkness. But it is only a beginning.

The best books conjure up a compelling world of their own. By that measure this is a book of considerable merit. It is also a fine primer for those curious about Jung's system for decoding the shadows that lurk within all of us.

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The enormity of the challenge

Revisado: 12-28-21

The story of Shackleton's last Antarctic expedition and its outcome is a story of such endurance in the face of relentless adversity that it seems to defy words in the telling. This book accepts that challenge and, in finding the language and balance required, achieves an unadorned grandeur that is worthy of the astonishing story it tells.

The reading is perfectly judged to match the magisterial simplicity of the writing. A truly great book that stands outside time and fashion as a record of the enormity of a struggle to survive against ice, sea and mountains that, if it were fiction, would defy belief.

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Of note, yes; interesting, no

Revisado: 12-17-21

Said to be a landmark in the emergence of the modernist novel, this is the first in a set of four volumes known collectively as Parade's End.

Set before, during and after WW1, it presents a sort of literary impressionism in which its characters make a point of never saying what they think and then often think that they should, perhaps, think differently about what they didn't candidly disclose anyway. You get the picture.

There are some moments but, all too soon, the fog of style descends again for a good long while. It might be noteworthy but, crucially, it is not interesting. I shall spare myself the other three books.

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Do we seek what we find?

Revisado: 12-06-21

The first of a trilogy, this engaging novel takes the form of a memoir which purports to explain the life of a retired schoolmaster in his own words.

It is an unusual book because it is also about much more than it discloses, but each reader (or listener, in the case of this superbly narrated audio book) will have their own view of that world of shadows between the lines.

Ultimately, richly imagined and involving as it is, all this book clearly tells us is that there is more to come.

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A world of observances, observed

Revisado: 11-27-21

A now almost forgotten world of New York money, position and social observances is observed in this novel by an author now almost faded to obscurity himself.

Listening to this audio version of one of Auchincloss's most prominent works I thought of John Galsworthy and his The Forsyte Saga as being a good trans-atlantic comparison. Both authors deal with human emotions filtered by a complex construct of social obligations to which all must pay heed, before choosing rebellion or acceptance.

Auchincloss is a fine writer and, however limited his canvas, this is a fine, surprisingly involving novel with moments of powerful engagement. The recording is uneven but does not diminish the experience.

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A strong, resilient woman's inner light

Revisado: 11-15-21

Anne, the youngest and least known of the Bronte sisters, wrote this proudly proto-feminist blockbuster of a novel in her mid-20s. Sadly she died aged 29 only a year after it was published. Had she lived longer, to judge from the potential so apparent here, she may have gone on to put her better known sisters in the shade.

The depiction of a strong, resilient woman living in accordance with her own inner guiding light is remarkable for the first half of the 19th century. Her story unfolds via a shifting narrative structure that is also highly unusual for the time. It begins as one side of a purported correspondence in which the writer describes events he experienced many years in the past. As his account goes on at great length it becomes the book we are reading and the device of the "letter" is forgotten. Then, within this book, anothet book appears and we read that to understand the history of the mysterious woman with a young son who has taken up residence in the previously derelect Wildfell Hall. Situated in a remote corner of a sparsely populated, rural English county, could it be a hiding place?

Although, as a whole, this book is an impressive achievement the latter part does fall away a little. There seems to be an excess of earnest religiosity and the plotting begins to stretch credulity. The quality of the writing also begins to be less textured and, at times, seems almost perfunctory. Perhaps the author was pressed for time to finish it?

However, quibbles aside, this is a great 19th century English novel and it deserves a place in the front rank of the canon. The reading, which switches from a male voice to a female voice and back again, is competent and effective.

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Candidly; brevity yes, sparkling wit no

Revisado: 10-05-21

Voltaire was thought to be one of the greatest wits of his time but this slight, sketchy book provides no matter to support that belief. Perhaps much has been lost in translation. In a short work, clearly intended as a light satire, topical references would also have been present but they are obscure today.

All we get is a brief, sketched out account of the catastrophic travails of an innocent abroad. He is repeatedly brought low by the mendacity and stupidity of almost all those he encounters on a quest to find his lost love.

An entertainment that largely fails to entertain.

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