Book Review: Cranford, by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell (1851)

Let me start by saying I had no idea this was mid-1800s chick lit when I started reading it.  I plead ignorance.  But I will try to give it an honest review, although I hold the "man card" in reserve to say something "ignernt" as we go on.

Elizabeth Gaskell is a fine writer.  When I pick up a modern novel, half the time it leaves me wondering how the author got through high school.  But with older novels I never see that.  Most published 19th century authors knew how to write.  They knew their grammar, they understood sentence structure, and they were familiar with style.  I don't think my own writing stacks up to most of the 19th century writers I've read.

Book Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy (1891) - Society and End Game

Now I want to talk about society at large, and how this book was accepted.  When I read this I kept thinking how crazy it was that people would really treat Tess so badly.  Hardy seemed to be overdoing it.  But then it turns out that this book was actually turned down by several publishers "on the grounds that it was immoral in its sympathetic depiction of a fallen woman."  What?  I double checked that source and its true.  That was a quote by Professor Patrick Allitt, Historian at Emory University.

Book Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy (1891) - Tess's Parents

Tess's parents were classic white trash.  They, more than anyone, were responsible for Tess's downfall.  I would blame her family far more than Alec because her family allowed her to go in harm's way - actually placed her there - and then blamed her for the consequences.  They were awful parents.  After Tess got pregnant, they thought of her as a blight on their family name, when she was actually the best of the bunch.  The father rarely worked, and Hardy gave a comical description of him.

Durbeyfield was what was locally called a slack-twisted fellow; he had good strength to work at times; but the times could not be relied on to coincide with the hours of requirement; and, having been unaccustomed to the regular toil of the day-labourer, he was not particularly persistent when they did so coincide.

Book Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy (1891) - Angel vs Alec

I finally finished this book.  I won't say it was an enjoyable task, probably because this book is just a single story, a straight shot at a predetermined end that the readers guess very soon into the novel.

It was a story of a young woman, not much more than a girl, with two men who "love" her.  Both are villains.  Now wait, hold on.  Let me explain, before the mob masses with their pitchforks.  This is what I mean when I say I "tear down the idols of literature".

Book Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy (1891) - Quaint Traditions and Culture Shock

Something Thomas Hardy gives us in this novel is a look at the culture of the outlying villages.  It reminded me a bit of how some modern books give you that weird glimpse of a backwoods culture.  Andy of Mayberry gone bad.  The Waltons meet the Deliverance rednecks.  But occasionally, that old culture will have a brush with the new.

Dance, You Crazy Daddy-O

We used to hang out in Buckhead - club central of Atlanta.  We'd go to the clubs, go dancing with friends.  Chillin', lookin' hot. We had it going on.

Then we got married.  And moved to the suburbs.  Kids.  Cub Scouts.  Soccer practice.  Bake sales.

My 10 year old daughter put Just Dance 4 into the Wii, and I figured this is a good chance to show her my old moves.

Book Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy (1891) - Rural England

Thomas Hardy is a master of bringing rural England to life in literature.  He is one of the best writers of agrarian culture found in Victorian literature.  When I read Tess, or Jude, or Far From the Madding Crowd, there are parts of it that flow smooth as silk, giving beautiful descriptions of everyday rural life.

Like, Stop Saying That, Dad!

I've been told to stop.

"I was like, what are you talking about?" 

"Dad, you're not allowed to say 'like'."

My 10 year old informed me that "old people" can't use "kid words".  Well, I told that young lady a thing or two!  I grew up in the 70's and 80's.  We invented half the slang they use today.

"I know, right?" 

"Dad, you can't say 'right' anymore, either."

Book Review: Tess of the d'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy (1891) - First Thoughts

Even after just a few chapters, I could feel this thing driving forward with a single purpose, to a predetermined end that left no room for conjecture - the destruction of a young girl.

Well this is it.  After all the ranting and raving I've done about uptight Victorian prudence and backwards views towards women, I'm finally reading the end-all, be-all book on that very subject.  It's all about how mean society is towards "fallen women".  Yep, that's this book in a nutshell.  From that, you can guess the entire premise of the book as well as the ending.  And even though I'm only half-way through, I can guess everything that will happen.

Book Review: Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) Part Two

Several characters in this book are worth mentioning.  Uncle Tom, of course.  He's the hero.  I know, I know, we've all been told he is not the hero, that he was weak.  We've been told the heros of the book are the ones that ran away, that escaped to Canada.

Well, I'm here to tell you that is not true.  Anyone willing to die for their faith and for the protection of others is a hero.  Uncle Tom was a hero.

But I can't discount the part Eliza and George played in this book.  That was exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat.  Early in the story, she took her son and ran away.  One of the most dramatic moments of the book was when Eliza picked up her son and ran across the Ohio River, jumping from ice patch to ice patch.  To be honest, I really thought she was going to die.  I thought that Harriet Beecher Stowe planned to kill her off as an example of the brutality of slavery.  But she didn't.  I'm so glad!  We were all in her corner, rooting for her!  Go Eliza!!

Book Review: Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852) Part One

I felt this book.  Not as much as I wished, but I felt it.

I’m not surprised that it’s unpopular today.  It shows racism in its bleakest form.  It shows how slaves lived and how they acted and the things they said - not from a modern day viewpoint, but from the viewpoint of people who saw it happening at the time, who experienced it.

There is a strong possibility you will never read this book.  I'll give spoilers here, and I'm going to tell you how it ends.  Got it?  Okay.

It's All in the Details

We can accept a book about vampires.  Or how about a search for Atlantis?  Or better yet, the Holy Grail?  From Dracula to dinosaurs, we don't mind reading these books.  We take them at face value.

But what we can't accept is poor research into the real world.  You'd better know your stuff, and make it believable.

Lessons on Writing from Downton Abbey

Raise your hand if you thought it was Downtown Abbey.  Yeah, me too.

If you like that show, you may have something in particular about either the format or storyline that keeps you watching.  I noticed something that is so obvious yet so subtle that many people might have overlooked it.  It's something that's well worth remembering, and is worth applying to my own writing style.

Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) Conclusion

Poor Richard!  He spent all his time worrying over that dreaded court case.  When it finally went wrong, he just wasted away and died within hours.  Really?  I mean, is it that easy to die in Victorian Britain?  Well, if you’re not in the “working class”, the answer is yes.  Those leisured classes were dropping like flies, swooning away for this and that at the drop of a hat.  When the court ended, Richard couldn’t even yell at the judge because he had blood in his mouth.  What?  Did he bite his tongue?  They kept alluding to him wasting away for months before this under the care of the good and wise Woodcourt.  Wasting away?  From worry?  Are they going to stamp that on the official certificate of death, signed by the coroner?  Cause of death – worry.

Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) Wacky Characters Part II

Esther and her mother.  Okay, not so wacky, but wacked out, maybe.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm not here to throw mud on these people.  But let's be honest, the idea that Esther spends her whole life longing to do things for other people just to be loved is a bit hard to take.  At some point she's got to realize she is not the person her evil aunt told her she was.

Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) More About Those Wacky Characters

There's a particular character I want to discuss, because she is one of Dickens' finest drawn characters.  Mrs. Jellyby is just horrible.  So terrible you will just love her.  When we switch back to one of her scenes, you cringe to read it, but read it you must.

A Book's Beginnings

It happened again.

The first time was on March 6, 2009.  I woke up from a dream.  It was wonderful and terrible.  It consumed me as I lay in bed, thinking about it over and over.  I relived it as I drove in to work.  I pored over the details again and again while sitting at my desk.  During my lunch break I began writing.  I continued writing when I got home.  I wrote 10,000 words that day.  I wrote 10,000 words the next day as well.  And the next.  In fact, for 16 days I wrote 10,000 words every day.  On days 17 and 18 I wrote 5,000 words each.  That included editing and rewriting.  After 18 days I was staring at the completed first draft of a 170,000 word novel.

Ripping the Heart Out of Your Book

Step one, spend an untold amount of time pouring your soul into your book.

Step two, reach in with both hands, grab a big hunk of words, then yank them out and throw them away.

When your novel is 112,000 words and no one will read it over 100,000, you can either leave it as is, your pride and joy, your child, and keep art for art's sake.  Or you can strip it down, sell out to "the man", give in to commercialism, trade in your artistic roots and make the darn thing salable.

That is your choice.  Good luck!

The Perfect Pitch

That's what I'm doing.  Working on that perfect pitch letter.  You may write a great novel, but unless you can play salesman and convince someone to publish it, no one will know.  I can't believe how much time I'm spending on this.  Draft after draft, just trying to get the wording right.

There are actually entire books about how to write a "query letter".  The query letter contains your pitch.  You send it to an agent or publisher.  If it's stupid, or doesn't follow the exact format, they won't read your book.

Plus, I have this terrible fear of rejection so I've never submitted anything to anyone, ever.  And guess what?  I've never been rejected.  How many other writers can say that?

Book Review: Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853) Continued...

This is not the first time I've waded through this book.  I remember feeling bogged down like a wanderer in a misty wood, wondering who these characters are and how I should feel about them.  This time was better, although it helps to write names down.

Dickens was a master of pulling in a variety of characters who hover on the fringe of a storyline, each adding their part at the right time.  That's even more interesting considering how Dickens wrote.  You probably know his books were serialized.  Each month another chapter would be published in a magazine.  But wait, here's the catch.  He wrote them as he went along.  When he published chapter 12, chapter 13 wasn't written.  Pretty cool, right?  But I'll talk more about that in a post about Dickens.