921. Cloudsplitter

Cloudsplitter
Russell Banks
1998
Around 770 pages

Well, that was a doozy. It's difficult to sustain momentum for over 700 pages. I knew it was tough road ahead when it took the narrator 30 pages to explain that he wanted to tell his father's story. We have another 30 pages dedicated to describing the family's financial situation, and yet, he chose to skate over much more interesting material. Sigh.

Our narrator is Owen Brown, who is the last surviving son of famous American martyr and abolitionist John Brown. Clearly a lot of painstaking research went into the composition of this novel, so props to Banks. But some of the melodramatic touches he added were a little much. Isn't the real life story melodramatic enough?

So yes, I thought this was dry and a chore to get through. Considering the religious convictions of these characters, it's unsurprising that they behave in totally strange and over the top ways, but it prevented me from forming a connection with anybody.

What an absolutely miserable time.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

The title of the book comes from a translation of the Iroquois word Tahawus, the name of the mountain—English name Mount Marcy—just beyond the Brown family estate. 

UP NEXT: Amsterdam by Ian McEwan

920. All Souls Day

All Souls Day
Cees Nooteboom
1998
Around 400 pages

Cees Nooteboom might have the best name on this List, but I haven't been too excited about his works yet. Rituals was pretty good, and then this just felt okay. Although okay on this List is still a good day.

This is the story of a Dutch documentary filmmaker who lives in Berlin. Whenever a translated novel doesn't feel authentic, based on the dialogue or character actions, I always have to wonder if it's just the translation. This is one of those instances where it feels like the author is not that interested in storytelling and just wants a vehicle for their philosophical discussions. Person A has this idea, Person B responds with this idea. 

Just sort of bland, but not the worst way to spend an afternoon.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Nooteboom has been mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel Prize.

UP NEXT: Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks

919. Tipping the Velvet

Tipping the Velvet
Sarah Waters
1998
Around 475 pages

What a great chaser to that cesspool behind us. Sarah Waters is one of my favorite authors, and I was absolutely obsessed with this novel. 

This is the coming of age story of Nan Astley, who lives a dreary existence in England working at her family's oyster restaurant. That is, until she meets a male impersonator named Kitty Butler, and follows her to London to assist in her performances. She falls desperately in love with Kitty, and joins her as a partner on stage. But Kitty can't surrender herself completely to a love affair with a woman.

Waters said that she wrote about the Victorian era because a lot of the things we think know about it are stereotypes, or just wrong. I love that, I love it when authors deconstruct the ideas we have of certain historical time periods, since we love to romanticize the past so much. Waters is a brilliant writer and made me fall in love with Nan instantly.

No complaints, the perfect read.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted into a BBC series in 2002.

UP NEXT: All Souls Day by Cees Nooteboom

918. Glamorama

Glamorama
Bret Easton Ellis
1998
Around 550 pages

I come bearing good news for once! This is our last Bret Easton Ellis novel! Hopefully he stays down, although if any past List author were going to rise from the grave and chase us with an ax, it would be him.

So another novel where we follow a sociopathic leading man as he navigates a vapid world. This time the plot involves models turned terrorists, and if you are thinking that sounds like Zoolander...well, yeah, Ellis tried to take legal action against them and I guess they settled. 

Ellis was always obsessed with name-dropping and branding, and he does it to an absolutely absurd degree here. I get that it's intentionally obscene; it's satire. Just like Great Apes. So why aren't those novels ever fun? I imagine it's even more of a bore if you're not American.

If books had auras, all of his works would be a horrible chartreuse. 

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

Ellis said that the novel failed to break even for its US publisher, Knopf.

UP NEXT: Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters

917. Another World

Another World
Pat Barker
1998
Around 280 pages

Pat Barker is another overrepresented novelist on this List, and I could have done without this one. That being said, it wasn't a terrible read, so we'll give it a pass.

Nick's grandfather Geordie is dying, which causes him to relive painful memories. Pat Barker really likes exploring PTSD, unfortunately the characters were a lot less likable than they were in her Regeneration series.

Anytime an author is dwelling on memories as a theme, the structure is going to be disjointed and muddled, which works better in some novels than others. Here I didn't vibe with it, and I just wanted to get to the end so I would be done with these characters.

As a side note, is the List determined to try to make me asexual with its depictions of intercourse? 

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

In 2000, she was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

UP NEXT: Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis

916. The Hours

The Hours
Michael Cunningham
1998
Around 230 pages

We are on a seriously good run of novels lately, even if we have to take a hit every so often with a Pynchon or Self read. Virginia Woolf is one of my favorite authors, so I was excited to read a novel that was so obviously written in reverence of her.

The Hours focuses on three main characters, and switches between their perspectives. In 1923, Virginia Woolf writes Mrs. Dalloway and struggles with her mental illness. In 1949, Laura Brown is reading Mrs. Dalloway while planning a birthday party for her husband. And in 1999, Clarissa Vaughan plans a party to celebrate a major literary award received by her good friend and former lover, the poet Richard, who is dying of an AIDS-related illness.

The entire novel is sweet homage to Mrs. Dalloway, and I just personally love stories that unfold over the course of one day. The three perspectives were brilliant and represented the three figures of literature: the writer, the reader, and the character.  Even if you are not a Woolf fan, each storyline is captivating and I didn't want to leave the characters I was with every time the chapter would end.

And the movie is brilliant too, how could it not be with that cast?

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize.

Adapted to film in 2002.

The Hours was Mrs Dalloway's working title. 

UP NEXT: Another World by Pat Barker

915. Veronika Decides to Die

Veronika Decides to Die
Paulo Coelho
1998
Around 285 pages

Anything that is remotely related to Buffy the Vampire Slayer gets an automatic A. The great SMG herself starred in the film adaptation, and the lady has good taste. Most of the time. I really enjoyed this one, and bought my own copy because I liked it so much.

This one is a little self explanatory. Veronika decides to die, and attempts to commit suicide with sleeping pills. Her plan doesn't work, but she is told that her heart was damaged from the overdose, and she only has a few days to live.

When men write about women with mental illnesses, it can be a bit weird. I think about The Virgin Suicides, where the suicidal girls were treated like mythological creatures who don't belong in this world. This novel was not like that, and Coelho had true empathy for all of his characters.

Happy to see this isn't the last Coelho on the List!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2009.

UP NEXT: The Hours by Michael Cunningham

914. The Poisonwood Bible

The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver
1998

Around 550 pages

This is a novel that broke my heart, and turned my mild ant aversion into a full blown phobia. But I respect it when the List authors terrorize me well, so I have to hand it to Barbara Kingsolver for breaking my heart so skillfully.

This is the story of the Prices, a missionary family who moves from Georgia to the Belgian Congo in the 1960s. The Price family consists of Orleanna and Nathan, and their four daughters Rachel, Leah, Adah, and Ruth May. They must acclimate to the cultural dissonance, as well as face threats to their safety that they've never seen before. Did you know that ants consume babies in cribs? Why aren't we mobilizing against these things?

The events of this novel really tug at your heartstrings. She's an emotional writer but she never crosses the line into melodrama, although this was selected for Oprah's Book Club so make of that what you will. The idea of missionary work freaks me out in general, so it was fascinating to get an inside look at the family and explore their place in the world. Kingsolver's writing is magical and has that Isak Dinesen ability to transport you with her prose.

Essential reading.

 

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

In 2019, it was announced there would be a television adaptation.

UP NEXT: Veronica Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

913. Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden
1997
Around 450 pages

Even the non Western novels on this List are secretly Western, as this was an intimate portrait of a Japanese Geisha, written by a white American guy. Oh well, I still enjoyed it, and for whatever reason this has stuck with me ever since I first read it.

This is the story of Nitta Sayuri, who is sold by her father to a geisha house in 1929. I haven't seen the film version, although I am unsurprised that Steven Spielberg produced it, he always seems to be butting his head in. You can tell Golden really did his research (likely to the detriment of his interviewees; see below), and you really get a sense of the day to day life of a geisha. 

Well, Golden's prose saves this novel from rotting in literary hell for being such a Western romanticization of the Japanese culture. And in that way, the story really fits the theme; it seduces you into forgetting the ugly realities of the moment. I thought Chiyo/Sayuri was a strong character who it was impossible not to fall in love with, and she made me glad that the story had a somewhat sappy ending.

Maybe not an essential novel, but I still had a blast reading it.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2005.

Golden was sued for defamation of character by Mineko Iwasaki, who told him about her life as a geisha.

UP NEXT: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

912. Great Apes

Great Apes
Will Self
1997
Around 420 pages

We just had a novel where everybody was an insect, now we get a novel of ape people. One was much more enjoyable than the other.

Simon Dykes is an addict who wakes up one morning to discover that chimpanzees are now the dominant species. You might think this was already covered by Planet of the Apes, but I guess the gross sexual aspect hadn't been fully explored yet.

I feel like the gimmick wore thin after about 100 pages, as it stood in the way of plot and character. I suppose this humor will appeal to some people, but definitely wasn't for me. This would have worked well as the premise of a Twilight Zone episode, but instead is a bloated satire.

Skippable.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

Self has been shortlisted for the Booker prize.

UP NEXT: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

911. Enduring Love

Enduring Love
Ian McEwan
1997
Around 250 pages

I love novels that start out with one very dramatic event, and the rest of the novel is dedicated to the fall out. And the master of this technique is Ian McEwan, who remains one of my favorite writers. If I give this four stars, it's only because it's not quite up to the level of other McEwan works, but he's still always on form no matter what.

Joe Rose is enjoying a picnic with his partner Clarissa, when they see a hot air balloon with a ten-year-old trapped inside, and the boy's grandfather being dragged along. Joe joins other men in the rescue attempt, which costs somebody their life. One of the other men becomes obsessed with Joe, because life is a nightmare, and looking at the wrong person once can mean you have lifelong stalker.

I have been on a hot air balloon, and it does feel like you are one light breeze away from total annihilation. This is a fascinating topic and McEwan understands character so well that he can craft a compelling narrative out of the most mundane events. It's no surprise that this is an exciting and well-paced novel. 

This wasn't as emotional as A Child in Time, thank the heavens, but was still a moving read. Highly recommended.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2004.

UP NEXT: Great Apes by Will Self

910. Underworld

Underworld
Don DeLillo
1997
Around 830 pages

It might surprise you to learn that I am not the biggest sports fan, and if I were going to name the most boring sport, I would probably say baseball. So of course that's the one that DeLillo chooses to write his magnum opus on. We have not been clicking from the start, so this is not a surprise. Of course, I still managed to like Willard and His Bowling Trophies without liking bowling, so I didn't give up hope right away.

So baseball fans will probably have heard of the home run by Bobby Thomson, which forms the basis of this novel. In DeLillo's version, the game winning ball was caught by a black fan named Cotter Martin. The remainder of the story is told in reverse chronological order and details the life of Nick Shay, who ends up in possession of the baseball.

DeLillo's structure and style are too chaotic for me, and the subjects explored here just did not interest me in the slightest. Which of course is not a fault of the writing, not everything is for everybody. Unfortunately for me, this is not the last DeLillo on the List. 

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize.

DeLillo said that the front page of The New York Times on October 4, 1951 inspired Underworld.

UP NEXT: Enduring Love by Ian McEwan

909. Jack Maggs

Jack Maggs
Peter Carey
1997
Around 400 pages

There's a Jack Maggs Agency near me which is kind of weird, although I wouldn't fault anybody for not making the connection to this rather odd Dickens fan fiction. We've had no shortage of reimaginings on this List, but only a few actually stand out on their own as literary triumphs. I'm not entirely sure this falls under that category.

Carey comes up with a reworking of Great Expectations, where Jack Maggs stands in for Magwitch, and is on a quest to find his son Henry, or Pip. He meets Tobias Oates, aka Charles Dickens, who decides his story would make a swell plot line for his next novel.

This one dragged a bit, maybe due in part to pacing which was slowed down by the old-timey style. I felt like the narrative was bogged down with exposition and letters, although it did feel true to Dickens with its somewhat soppy story. 

But our man Carey has a penchant for melodrama, which I enjoyed more in Oscar and Lucinda. This was skippable.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Publishers Weekly wrote "Carey's memorable characters can stand proudly in the pantheon beside those of Dickens."

UP NEXT: Underworld by Don DeLillo

908. The Life of Insects

The Life of Insects
Victor Pelevin
1993
Around 180 pages

I love that literature can still surprise me, even in my List twilight years. I was not expecting A Bug's Life: Russian Genius Edition, especially after Pelevin's last work.

All the characters in the novel are both insects/people, although thankfully not in the creepy Jeff Goldblum way. The book contains 15 unrelated short stories, and the characters represent distinct archetypes of the time. For example, a father and son scarab beetle pair that are obsessed with dung (or as we humans see it, money). 

I really liked the structure and how the stories read as digestible fables. It took me back to our Aesop days, and felt like something a Buddhist philosopher might have come up with. An enjoyable and unique collection.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts: 

First published in the magazine Znamya.

UP NEXT: Jack Maggs by Peter Carey

907. Mason & Dixon

Mason & Dixon
Thomas Pynchon

1997
Around 775 pages

I find Thomas Pynchon tedious and exhausting, and he really outdid himself here. Not only is this a 775 page work, but it also earns extra annoyance points with its frequent capitalization and overly stylized diction. 

Well, if you ever wanted to read a fictionalized account of the collaboration between Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, this is the book for you. I'm not sure why you would be fixated on perhaps the most boring partnership in American history, but that's your business.

If I had to come up with a positive to say, I guess I would point out that it is more readable than Gravity's Rainbow, and there wasn't any disturbing imagery that is going to haunt me forever. So that's something I guess. What a yawn.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

Mark Knopfler wrote a song about the book called "Sailing to Philadelphia,” originally performed as a duet with James Taylor.

UP NEXT: The Life of Insects by Victor Pelevin

906. The God of Small Things

The God of Small Things

Arundhati Roy
1997
Around 320 pages

Well, that was disturbing. This is a quality novel, but I still ultimately wish I hadn't read it so I could erase some images from my brain. And I always find disjointed multigenerational novels a bit hard to swallow anyway.

Our main players here are fraternal twins Estha and Rahel, their abused mother Ammu, and the man she has an affair with, Velutha. The story is told non chronologically. I get why you would tell this type of story in this way, as a sort of patchwork quilt of family memories. But personally, I don't like this style, or the childlike perspective she employed to represent the twins' point of view. 

This is one of those novels that is technically very well put together, but doesn't fit my tastes and isn't an enjoyable read. It's still interesting that she took on the caste system, just not my cup of tea.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Roy didn't release another novel until 2017.

UP NEXT: Mason & Dixon by Thomas Pynchon

905. American Pastoral

American Pastoral
Philip Roth
1997
Around 435 pages

Philip Roth is one of those authors whose works are always going to be heaped with literary prizes, regardless of the variance in quality. He just rubs me the wrong way, and seems like a pretty shitty human being. But I did enjoy this more than Sabbath's Theater, so that's something.

Our narrator is Roth's alter ego, Nathan Zuckerman, who has appeared in other Roth's works, although he hasn't been featured in any of our List novels. He attends his 45th high school reunion, which reminded me that my 10 year graduation anniversary came and went, and I haven't heard anything about it. If only Zuckerman's student council was similarly lax, we could have been spared 435 pages. Anyway, Zuckerman's former classmate Jerry Levov describes to Zuckerman the tragic life of his older brother Seymour, whose daughter was involved in a political bombing.

Okay, it sounds like I hated this novel more than I did. I actually like it when authors really get in the weeds of obscure professions, in this case, glove manufacturing. The themes in this novel didn't feel particularly groundbreaking, but American literary critics tend to eat them up anyway. And Zuckerman's presence in the novel felt more ego driven than necessary to the plot.

This is the novel that really seemed to solidify Roth as the great American novelist, but I still prefer my man John Updike. 

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Won the Pulitzer Prize in 1998.

Adapted to film in 2016.

UP NEXT: The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

904. The Untouchable

The Untouchable
John Banville
1997
Around 370 pages

I really like John Banville, although so far I've been unsuccessful in getting anybody in my life into this author. Oh well, maybe I'll have better luck pushing Julian Barnes on my unsuspecting loved ones. 

Basically, this novel is a roman a clef from the point of view of Victor Maskell, an art historian and double agent based on Anthony Blunt. Banville said that the motivation to write the book came from seeing Blunt smile to himself when not aware of being on camera, just before giving a press conference following the announcement by Margaret Thatcher of his role as a Soviet spy. Inspiration comes from the unlikeliest sources.

Even if you don't click with the character of Victor, Banville's prose is always easy and flowing, and can make deeply flawed characters much more bearable than they have any right to be. Personally, I was much more interested in Victor's sexuality before homosexuality was decriminalized than I was in his dealings with the Soviet Union. 

So in the end, the novel feels like if Evelyn Waugh wrote The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The book was added to The New York Times Notable Books list and the Library Journal Best Books list for 1997. 

UP NEXT: American Pastoral by Philip Roth

903. Silk

Silk
Alessandro Baricco
1996
Around 90 pages

It's always nice when we get a shorter novel to balance out the Infinite Jests on this List, although it will take more than this to repair the damage to my psyche from David Foster Wallace. Anyway this was a quick and fun read, and Keira Knightley should star in all literary adaptations.

In the 19th century, a French silkworm merchant turned smuggler travels to Japan to buy more silkworms, as his town's supply was wiped out due to disease. He becomes obsessed with a concubine there, and his relationships are strained due to the growing anti Western sentiment of the time.

The brevity of this story, combined with Baricco's style, really makes this seem like more of a fairy tale or fable than a full blown novel. So it's more of an over the top romance (we have love at first sight) than a deep historical exploration of the time, which I'm fine with.

Lyrical prose that washes over you, and can be read in one sitting. What more can we ask for?

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2007.

UP NEXT: The Untouchable by John Banville

902. Cocaine Nights

Cocaine Nights
J.G. Ballard
1996
Around 340 pages

J.G. Ballard is one of the most overrepresented novelists on this List. If we had to trim the fat, I would definitely remove this one. I think we get the picture with Crash, Empire of the Sun, High Rise, and The Atrocity Exhibition. Which is a shame, because you would hope an author would just keep getting better and better.

Charles Prentice travels to Estrella de Mar in order to rescue his jailed brother, Frank, who has been arrested for an arson attack that killed five people. Upon arriving, Charles discovers his brother has confessed to everything, and has no interest in trying to escape his plea. In a matter of days, Charles becomes immersed in the strange world of Estrella de Mar, which is a strange, distinctly Ballardian place.

Ballard portrays such ugly worlds, that I never want to stay in his novels very long. I felt like this novel was frenetic and directionless, which I guess is what doing cocaine feels like. I wouldn't know, nobody has ever offered me any. Ahem. Anyway, like other Ballard novels, this was pulsing with anger and cynicism, and I found the reading experience draining. 

Only one more Ballard to go!

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Ballard never remarried after the death of his first wife.

UP NEXT: Silk by Alessandro Baricco

901. Hallucinating Foucault

Hallucinating Foucault
Patricia Duncker

1996
Around 200 pages

I was ready to back away from this novel slowly based on the title alone, but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. What can I say, I'm a sucker for homosexual love stories with literary references.

A postgrad student goes to France to meet the author he is writing his thesis on, Paul Michel. They end up hooking up. This is the kind of fan fiction I can get onboard with. 

There is some interesting commentary here on the nature of academics and how little grasp we actually have on the lives of well known historical and contemporary figures. Personally, I enjoy novels about writers, though I know other people find those stories masturbatory and exhausting. This story does get layered and complicated, but I think Duncker's style and brevity prevents this novel from being unbearably pretentious.

100 left!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Won the Dillions First Fiction Award.

UP NEXT: Cocaine Nights by J.G. Ballard

900. Fugitive Pieces

Fugitive Pieces

Anne Michaels
1996
Around 300 pages

900! Goodness. 101 more to go! I actually think it's more dramatic when we get to the "100 left" milestone, but we can celebrate this as well. Is the end actually nigh? 

The story is divided into two sections, one concerning Jakob Beer, a Polish Holocaust survivor and orphan who is taken in by a Greek archaeologist, and one involving the son of two Holocaust survivors.

This List is skewed toward more recent novels, and I think I am getting that sense as we work through the 90s. Which I maintain is recent, dammit. It just feels overstuffed with okay, inoffensive novels that don't leave much of an impression. And I would definitely place Fugitive Pieces in that category.

It has all the makings of Oscar winning drama, so I was unsurprised that it was adapted to the big screen. I had some trouble getting into this one, with the disjointed narrative that didn't have as much emotional resonance as the author intended.

Hoping we get out of this slump soon, although maybe the List now is like a sitcom on its ninth season, an unfunny parody of its former self. Or wait, maybe that's just me.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2007.

BBC News listed Fugitive Pieces on its list of the 100 most influential novels.

UP NEXT: Hallucinating Foucault by Patricia Duncker

899. The Ghost Road

The Ghost Road
Pat Barker
1995
Around 290 pages

We come to the third novel in the Regeneration trilogy, having only read the first entry in the series. I'm obsessive enough that I have to finish this List, but not obsessive enough that I have to read The Eye in the Door to fill in the gaps. Maybe I'm relaxing in my old age. Also, I didn't really like this much.

Our main characters this time are Billy Prior and the real life psychoanalyst William Rivers. Prior is "cured" of shell shock but not really of course, and engages in a risky lifestyle, which concerns Rivers, who has a deep bond with his post war patients. 

As with our previous Barker work, it's interesting to explore how psychology was understood at the time, particularly in regards to PTSD. But once again, I didn't find the narrative too compelling. The ending was predictable, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I had a hard time getting that invested in the characters' journeys with such an inevitable ending looming over the story. I guess that's part of the point, that the young men of this era were just doomed from the start.

So another one to throw in the middling pile, which seems to be our primary pile these days. 

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

In 2012, The Observer named the Regeneration Trilogy as one of "The 10 best historical novels".

Won the Booker Prize.

UP NEXT: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels

898. Forever a Stranger

Forever a Stranger

Hella Haasse
1996
Around 130 pages

I believe this is only the third Dutch novel on the List, so this is a rare treat, emphasis on the rare part. I had a hard time finding this novel under the Forever a Stranger title, and had better luck searching for an English translation with the original Dutch title, Oeroeg.

Our narrator grew up as the child of a white Dutch family in Indonesia, with Oeroeg, a native young man. As high-school students, they live together in a boarding house. One crucial event is the death of Oeroeg's father, who was saving the narrator from drowning.

Once again, we get a story about colonial rule from the perspective of the colonists. This is a short novel that I don't think fully explored the themes that it promised, but apparently it's a much lauded mainstay of Dutch literature. So I might chalk this up to cultural dissonance, and not blame the writer too heavily.

Also, anybody named Hella is at least a little cool.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

In 1988, Haasse was chosen to interview the Dutch Queen for her 50th birthday after which celebrated Dutch author Adriaan van Dis called Haasse "the Queen among authors."

UP NEXT: The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

897. Infinite Jest

Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace
1996
Around 1100 pages

Okay, I may have said this before, but I didn't really mean it until now. This is my least favorite entry on the List. Yes, I have hated other novels before, but the revolting earlier entries weren't this long, and the complicated and boring entries weren't this disturbing. It's like Gravity's Rainbow, meets American Psycho.

You can't really summarize a novel like this, or at least, I can't. There are many interweaving narratives, and he uses a lot of footnotes, and those footnotes have footnotes. I wish I could wash my brain and forget one horrific rape scene in this novel, but that one unfortunately is going to stay with me. 

Obviously, this guy was not well, so I don't want to read this book to filth, as upsetting as it was. It's hard for me to believe anybody sincerely enjoys this novel, but it's definitely something you either hate with a passion, or love enough to mention on any and all dating profiles you have.

Absolutely grueling.

RATING: -----

Interesting Facts:

Playwright Ken Campbell worked on an adaptation of Infinite Jest for the Millennium. His concept was to have 1,000 performers who each paid $23 to take part in the event, which would last a week. It did not come to fruition. Commence eye roll sequence!

UP NEXT: Forever a Stranger by Hella Haasse

896. The Clay Machine Gun

The Clay Machine Gun
Victor Pelevin
1996

Around 345 pages

If you are having trouble finding this one, don't despair. This novel goes by a few aliases, and I had better luck tracking it down as Buddha's Little Finger. If you're still having trouble, try Chapayev and Pustota. I'm advising for List purposes of course, I wasn't that impressed with this as a novel.

The novel is written as a first-person narrative of Peter Pustota and set in two different times, the October Revolution and modern Russia. Pustota is a poet who has fled from Saint Petersburg and assumes the identity of a Soviet political commissar. He meets Vasily Chapayev and spends his days drinking samogon, taking drugs, and talking about the meaning of life. Every night Pustota has nightmares about him being locked up in a psychiatric hospital.

It's strange to read a novel for the List that references Pulp Fiction and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm still stuck in the 1800s, hoping that epistolary novels make a comeback. This novel is intentionally all over the place, and it's hard to tell what's real and what's a dream. Not exactly my go to recipe for literary euphoria. 

This is one of the novels where the writer seems to hate everyone and everything. More Bulgakov than Gogol, so not really my thing.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Pelevin is known for not being a part of the literary crowd, rarely appearing in public or giving interviews.

UP NEXT: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

894. Alias Grace

Alias Grace
Margaret Atwood
1996
Around 470 pages

Margaret Atwood will never cease to amaze me with her range. Here she blends historical fiction and true crime, completely transforming her style to fit the gothic style of the story. She's a witch, in other words.

The novel fictionalizes the 1843 murder of Thomas Kinnear and his housekeeper/lover Nancy Montgomery. The two servants, Grace Marks and James McDermott were convicted of the crime. While serving her life sentence, Grace tells the story of her life to psychiatrist Dr. Simon Jordan.

I think we all have that dash of morbidity that makes novels based on real murders utterly fascinating. Grace is such a mysterious character that the reader can formulate many theories on how much of a victim she is, which is mirrored in Dr. Jordan's insatiable curiosity. Grace is able to captivate Dr. Jordan while sewing and patching together the broken memories of her past. God, it's so good.

Atwood once again shows off her deep understanding of character, and manages to provide social and political commentary at the same time. Put her in charge of all the things.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to a miniseries in 2017.

UP NEXT: The Clay Machine Gun by Victor Pelevin

893. The Unconsoled

The Unconsoled
Kazuo Ishiguro
1995
Around 535 pages

Kazuo Ishiguro is a great writer, and while this didn't entirely fit my personal tastes, I can still appreciate it as an outstanding work teeming with captivating prose. 

Ryder, an acclaimed pianist, arrives at a city for the most important concert he has ever given, except he doesn't know where he is, and he can't remember agreeing to perform the concert in the first place. In other words, it's your standard issue nightmare. My dreams love taking me to airports, only to realize that I can't find my passport. They're classics for a reason.

This is a very Kafka-esque story, although Kafka was briefer than this. Personally, I don't love dreamlike or hallucinogenic narratives. I feel like the stakes are pretty low if any moment our main character can just wake up and declare it was all a dream, not that Ishiguro was guilty of this. His writing is always a little slow, but contains so many brilliant observations about humanity that I don't mind that much.

Not my favorite, but it's fair to say that our streak continues!

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Received strong negative reviews upon publication, but has come to be known as one of Ishiguro's best works.

UP NEXT: Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood

892. Morvern Callar

Morvern Callar
Alan Warner
1995

Around 240 pages

Well, that's a relief. We were in a definitive slump, and on my birth year no less. Thank you Alan Warner for writing an unusual and entertaining novel.

This is such a strange one that I don't want to give almost anything away. Suffice to say, Movern's boyfriend kills himself and she uses it as an opportunity to change her boring life as a supermarket clerk. Apparently, Warner originally conceived this as a narrative from the point of view of Movern's boyfriend, but decided that POV was too limiting. Which is a good lesson to us aspiring writers out there. Sometimes changing the POV is all you need to jumpstart a stalled story. 

This is an atmospheric novel that follows a very strange character. It reminded me of The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark, although the ending wasn't quite as satisfying. Still a welcome change of pace and I wish we saw more of him on this List.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Adapted to film in 2002. 

Won the Somerset Maugham Award in 1996.

UP NEXT: The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

891. The Information

The Information
Martin Amis 
1995
Around 500 pages

Ah yes, the novel that the library let me keep, because it had been so long since anybody attempted to check it out. Not exactly the honor you want for yourself as a novelist, but it sounds like Amis was doing pretty well for himself by this point, so I don't think he would mind.

Our two main characters are both writers, one successful, one not. Amis based them both on himself, because narcissism runs in his family. Oh, Marty, you know I kid. Gwyn Barry is a literary darling, Richard Tull is not. This could lead to a very interesting story, but unfortunately, Amis has other ambitions rather than laying out a compelling tale about literary rivals. Although if you are looking to scratch that itch, I would highly recommend The Black Prince.

But sadly, we are not talking about Iris Murdoch right now. Amis is showing off for us with his prose. At times, it's impressive. At other times, it's so self-indulgent that it's physically impossible not to roll your eyes. And once again, I'm left with the impression that the Amis family just has contempt for all of us, especially women.

And I usually like novels about mid-life crises. Oh well, this is part of my collection now.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Amis dropped his agent, Pat Kavanagh, wife of Julian Barnes, and had signed up with Andrew Wylie, perceived to be a more aggressive agent. Amis and Barnes had been friends but this caused a rift that was played out in public. 

Amis received an almost unheard of advance for a literary novel (approximately £500,000 according to most sources) which caused resentment and envy amongst his peers.

UP NEXT: Morvern Callar by Alan Warner

890. The Moor's Last Sigh

The Moor's Last Sigh
Salman Rushdie
1995
Around 435 pages

Rushdie is one of those authors that I just don't enjoy, but the List will continue to set us up on dates together, like some sort of hellbent cupid who can't pick up on body language. So I must keep ragging on a guy who was stabbed over his writing, which doesn't feel entirely righteous. Sorry Salman.

Moraes Zogoiby, who is called "Moor," is an exceptional character, whose body ages twice as fast as normal and also has a deformed hand. Rushdie actually kept fixating on the deformed hand and as someone with a deformed hand myself... shut up about the deformed hand.

In Rushdie's strange worlds, I never feel like any character behaves in a believable way, but I guess that is part of his unique appeal. It is also jam-packed with allusions that I don't get (who on Earth is William Babington Macauley?). 

Still, I found this more enjoyable than his previous works, so I guess we are moving in a positive direction? 

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Won the Whitbread prize for Best Novel.

UP NEXT: The Information by Martin Amis