Book Review: *A Long Way Down* by Nick Hornby

A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

Publisher: Riverhead Trade (May 2, 2006)

Paperback: 352 pages

ISBN-10: 1594481938

ISBN-13: 978-1594481932

One’s real life is so often the life that one does not lead.

–Oscar Wilde, as quoted by JJ in A Long Way Down

 

A Long Way Down is a piece of contemporary fiction that opens on New Year’s Eve in a neighborhood of London.  Four people have independently made their way to the roof of an apartment building with the intent to commit suicide.

 

The characters, in order of appearance, are: 

 

Martin: in his mid-40s, a former morning television host whose career and marriage came to an abrupt end when he admitted to an affair with a minor.  His life is now fodder for the tabloids; he assesses it as having “not enough regrets, and lot and lots of reasons to jump.”

 

Maureen: the eldest of the group, in her early 50s.  Maureen had a one-night stand about 20 years ago, the result is her severely-disabled son, Matty, whose need for full-time care has allowed Maureen to build a wall around herself.

 

Jess:  the youngest of the group, about age 18.  Jess has an extreme case of adolescent rebellion coupled with extenuating troubles within the family structure at home.

 

JJ:  The only American on the roof, JJ is in his early 30s.  He has recently suffered a final break-up with his girlfriend and the dismantling of his band.  Music is his life, and without it, he wonders how he’ll continue.

 

The novel is divided into three parts, clearing delineating major turning points – Part One ends as the four come down from the roof and make a pact to “not do anything” about their suicide plans until they meet again six weeks later on Valentine’s Day; Part Two ends back on the roof on Valentine’s Day.  Have all four returned to the rooftop that evening?  What does the future hold?

 

Hornby uses a series of honest first person narratives, with each character telling the story in turns.  We have insight to the speaker’s thoughts as he or she comments on the events that unfold.  Like witnesses to a traffic accident, each sees the situation from a different angle and thus offers a unique perspective and analysis.

 

Some examples of passages that resonated with me include:

 

Martin: To describe prison as the worst three months of one’s life is like describing a horrible car crash as the worst ten seconds.  It sounds logical and neat; it sound truthful.  But it’s not, because the worst time is afterward, when you wake up in hospital and learn that your wife is dead, or you’ve had your legs amputated, and that therefore the worst has just begun.

 

Maureen: If you spend day and night looking after a sick child, there’s very little room for sin, and I hadn’t done anything worth confessing for donkey’s years.  And I went from that, to sinning so terribly that I couldn’t even talk to the priest, because I was going to go on sinning and sinning until the day I died, when I would commit the biggest sin of all…And why is it the biggest sin of all?  All your life you’re told that you’ll be going to this marvelous place when you pass son.  And the one thing you can do to get you there a bit quicker is something that stops you getting there at all …

 

Jess:  I suffer from a failure of imagination…telling me I can do anything I want is like pulling the plug out of the bath and then telling the water it can go anywhere it wants.  Try it, and see what happens.

 

JJ:  Once you stop pretending that everything’s shi**y and you can’t wait to get out of it…then it gets more painful, not less.  Telling yourself that life is sh** is like an anesthetic, and when you stop taking the Advil, then you really can tell how much it hurts, and where, and it’s not like that kind of pain does anyone a whole lot of good.

 

It’s a bit awkward to say that I enjoyed a novel about four people whose intent at the opening was to kill themselves, but, I truly enjoyed the novel! Simply put, this book isn’t so much about ending one’s life as it is about living it.

 

Award-winning author Nick Hornby has published several novels, a memoir, and a collection of short stories.  More information about Hornby and his books, including the bestsellers High Fidelity and About a Boy can be found at his website.  Hornby shares a brief essay about the writing process and some background for A Long Way Down at the Penguin website.

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Children’s Book Review: The Rabbit and the Snowman

The Rabbit and the Snowman by Sally O. Lee

Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (June 19, 2008 )

Reading level: Ages 4-8

Paperback: 36 pages

ISBN-10: 1419656252

ISBN-13: 978-1419656255

The Rabbit and the Snowman is a sweet picture book that came into our house this week.  Written and illustrated by Sally O. Lee, the book tells the story of a snowman who was built by a group of (multicultural) children one winter day.  The children leave the snowman, presumably to head home;  the snowman feels sad and wonders if he did something to offend them, or if he was perhaps not good enough to be their friend.  “Maybe his carrot nose wasn’t straight enough … maybe his stick arms were too skinny.”

Shortly thereafter, along comes a rabbit who befriends the snowman.  The two spend the rest of the winter together, talking about all the wonderful sights and sounds of the forest, “how the sun trickled through the trees to make streams of light … how the stars lit up the sky when it was dark.”  As winter turns to spring, the snowman disappears.  Rabbit is left wondering, as snowman did earlier, if he has done something wrong. 

Rabbit manages to enjoy the next few seasons, but the ache for his friend snowman comes again when other forest animals leave in the fall.  Winter arrives, and rabbit finds the snowman back in the field.  The two pick up their friendship right where it left off in the spring, and “talked until the sun went down and all the stars sparkled in the sky.”

The text is accompanied by pen and ink and watercolor illustrations.  The colors are vibrant and engaging, allowing a non-reader to re-tell the story after only a few readings.  Aside from detailed pictures that mimic the text, Lee adds nice filler and background drawings around blocks of text (a frame of carrots, or sticks and coal for example).  We like the detail of “the end” written in sticks on a field of snow at the end of the story.

This is a lovely story about the ebbs and flows of friendship.  Children learn that it’s OK to feel sad when a friendship fades, and that it isn’t a reflection of a personality flaw.  Having moved with young children several times, I appreciate the reminder that people come in and out of our lives; some we stay connected to, other relationships fade away.

Takeaway from my 6-year-old “Little Woman”: It’s cool to read about a snowman on such a hot day.  You don’t have to read this book only in the winter.”

Takeaway from my 3-year-old “Little Man”:  I like that the snowman hugs the rabbit; how does he do that with stick arms?”

Sally O. Lee segued into writing after many years of painting and drawing.  She has authored 18 children’s books and two novellas.  More information about the author/illustrator and her work can be found on her website.

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Book Review: Shining City

Shining City by Seth Greenland

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA (July 8, 2008 )

Hardcover: 320 pages

ISBN-10: 1596915048

ISBN-13: 978-1596915046

Marketing copy:  When good guy Marcus Ripps takes over his black sheep brother’s lucrative dry cleaning business, he has no idea what he’s in for. Before long, he is running one of the most popular escort services in West Hollywood. As the money starts pouring in, he revitalizes his marriage, buys a new Mercedes, and gives his son a bar mitzvah he’ll never forget. But, when his conscience—and the law—starts to catch up with him, Marcus must decide if his sudden financial windfall is worth all the risk.
A wild, clever, consistently hysterical romp, Shining City is an L.A. adventure that will keep you guessing to the very end.

One of the lessons I learned from Shining City is “don’t judge a book by its cover” (or its prologue, in this case!).  I was a bit concerned when the book opened with the rotund Julian Ripps cavorting in a hot tub with two of the “ladies” from his escort service; like a cliche, the girls head for home and Julian suffers a heart attack and dies alone, fat and naked.  As the novel progressed, I was pleased to see far fewer descriptions of enhanced breasts and much more of Seth Greenland’s witty, sharp and cynical writing style. 

The protagonist, Marcus Ripps and his wife are suffering from a ho-hum love life after nearly 15 years of marriage.  Ripps refers to his wife’s choice of an unflattering flannel nightgown as her “bedtime burka”.  When Ripps is offered the opportunity to take over his brother’s “dry-cleaning” business and learns that it’s a front for a call-girl ring, he decides to make a go of being “the pimp who cares” and is a “family-values one…the girls have health coverage and retirement plans and everything” (even a book club!).  The business runs smoothly, Ripps and his wife rekindle the romance, and the family moves up on the social ladder.  For a while anyway … Marcus eventually has to face the consequences for the choices he has made; and the twists and turns continue.

The cast of characters is well-developed (no pun intended!) and extreme.  From his mother-in-law Lenore, who smokes pot to relieve her suffering from glaucoma, to Tommy the Samoan, a bodyguard for a competing service who offers Marcus an unlikely “mozel tov” on his son’s Bar Mitzvah; the reader will chuckle at Greenland’s detailed descriptions.  The plot is amusing and unexpected; just when I thought we were hitting a predictable patch, the story dipped into unknown territory.

Seth Greenland is a novelist, playwright and screenwriter; his first novel, The Bones, was published in2006.  I enjoyed the dark humor of Shining City and will be adding The Bones to my reading list.  More information about Greenland, and a short trailer about Shining City, can be found on his website.

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Children’s Book Review: The Postcard

Guest Post by a “Little Woman”, age 12

The Postcard by Tony Abbott

Reading level: Ages 9-12

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers; 1 edition (April 1, 2008 )

Hardcover: 368 pages

ISBN-10: 031601172X

ISBN-13: 978-0316011723

• “She died today.” Those seemingly simple three words change a boy’s life … forever.

   

  In Tony Abbott’s newest teen mystery, The Postcard, 13-year-old Jason Haff discovers a family secret that includes everything from burglars to a heavily accented German stranger. Starting with the above-mentioned phrase, the Haff family gets a phone call; Jason’s grandma had just had a stroke and passed away. Devastated, Jason’s dad goes down to Florida to pack up her house and sell it. When his dad wants Jason to come with him, Jason has no choice but to leave Boston and head down to sweltering, sticky, Florida.

   

  As Jason and his dad are working on packing up, the teenager finds an old, yellowed postcard and a mystery magazine from the same era. What is weird though, one story in the book seems to almost perfectly match up with Jason’s grandma’s secret life.

   

  Mystery magazine aside, Jason finds an almost invisible clue on the postcard. This hunch leads him all over Florida on what seems to be a wild goose chase.  With the help of the “lawn-mower girl-next-door,” and more postcards they pick up along the way, Jason finds the rest of the mystery story and puts his family history together, piece by piece, and page by page.

   

  I would definitely recommend this book.  I usually stay away from mysteries, but I found Tony Abbott’s newest addition to be an addictive book. Abbott uses tons of description, many allusions, and really takes on the personality of a 13-year-old. Read The Postcard; you’ll be glad you did!

“Little Woman” wants to know:  Has the pre-teen in your life read any other Tony Abbott books (The Secrets of Droon, The Time Surfers, Kringle, etc?) any favorites to recommend?

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Book Review: The Genizah at the House of Shepher

Click here to enter a giveaway for a copy of The Genizah at the House of Shepher!

 

The Genizah at the House of Shepher by Tamar Yellin

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin; 1st St. Martin’s Griffin Ed edition (July 22, 2008 )

Paperback: 368 pages

ISBN-10: 0312379072

ISBN-13: 978-0312379070

The Genizah at the House of Shepher opens in the 1850s with the marriage of the narrator’s great-grandfather, and his subsequent move from Lithuania to Jerusalem.  The narrator, 40-something Shulamit Shepher, tells his story and that of the next two generations of Shepher men – her great-grandfather’s search for the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, her grandfather’s political ideals which clash with his religious beliefs, and her father’s quest to find his true self.  She also, of course, examines her own life and her role in this family.

This epic tale is skillfully woven into the framework of Shula’s return to the family home in Jerasalem to visit with relatives one last time before the humble abode is released to developers for a new apartment complex.  Memories of her childhood are around every corner in the neighborhood, and the more time she spends with her various aunts and uncles, the more she hears stories of generations past.  Yellin moves between present-day and the past as she carefully allows the story to unfold; the shift of setting is smooth and our understanding of each character grows as we return to visit them again and again. 

Tamar Yellin’s skills as a writer allow a reader unskilled in biblical history to engage and enjoy this novel.  Her prose explain without condescending; a genizah is repository where worn and unusable sacred documents are stored; the genizah in this case is the attic of the small home which has housed generations of Shephers in Jerusalem.  Shula’s uncle has recently unearthed an ancient bound document from the attic, which may, or may not have been brought back by great-grandfather Shalom Shepher during his search for the Ten Lost Tribes.  The book is a Codex, possibly an ancient bible; one that may offer an alternate view of the Holy Word.  In-fighting among the relatives, curiosity from the public, and a mysterious stranger add to the secrets of the genizah. 

With Yellin’s beautiful descriptive language, Shula describes herself poetically as “tidy Dr. Shepher who was aging into dull midlife, who lived alone and marked essays until midnight … who had no past and no secrets, who skated primly, smoothly on the surface.  Now the ice had cracked and I had fallen through, down, down to the wreck of the past … the air in the attic was warm, like underwater, and I could hardly breathe for the history it held … and the questions flooded me, filling up my lungs … Inhaling deeply I took my last leave of the surface, as with firm fingers I turned the next brittle page.”

 The genizah becomes symbolic of Shulamit’s personal storage system – burying herself in her work as a biblical scholar, wondering what might have been if her failed long-term relationship had turned in a different direction, and ignoring the truth about her family’s history.  As she works to unravel the mystery of the Codex and struggles to decide to whom it rightly belongs, she also faces her personal history head-on.

 I highly recommend The Genizah at the House of Shepher as an interesting and leisurely read.  The novel was intriguing with its use of language, history and Shula’s personal story.  It was extremely satisfying that, although Yellin solved some of the mysteries presented, other items were left up to the interpretation of the reader.

 The Genizah at the House of Shepher will be released in paperback later this month; it won the Jewish Book Council’s 2007 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, the Ribalow Prize and was on the short list for the Wingate Prize.  More information about author Tamar Yellin can be found at her website.  Book group discussion questions and an author interview are online at St. Martin’s Reading Group Gold.

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Children’s Book Review: Yankee Doodle

I’m introducing Children’s and Young Adult book reviews to She Is Too Fond of Books.  Some will be authored as guest posts by my older children, I’ll collaborate on others with my younger children.  In keeping with the theme of my blog, loosely based on Louisa May Alcott, we’ll refer to them as “Little Women” and “Little Men”.  The reviews will appear on this home page, and will be indexed on a separate “Children’s Book Reviews” tab at the top of the page.

We start today, appropriately for the U.S. Independence Day, with a review of a children’s picture book titled Yankee Doodle.

Yankee Doodle by Mary Ann Hoberman, illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott

Reading level: Chidren’s Picture

Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (April 28, 2004)

Hardcover: 32 pages

ISBN-10: 0316145513

ISBN-13: 978-0316145510

SheIsTooFondOfBooks Rating: 5 stars

Like a fractured fairytale, Mary Ann Hoberman’s rendition of Yankee Doodle modifies a traditional story with unconventional twists and turns.  Hoberman creates several new verses for the familiar song, which add a girl, a poodle, a toad and a rooster to Yankee Doodle’s entourage.  They open a restaurant, aptly named “Yankee Doodle’s Noodles” which serves yummy apple strudel along with oodles of noodles.  Hoberman’s new verses flow with an even rhythm and cadence.  The revised lyrics offer a fun and funny adventure.

This is one in a series of “Sing-Along Stories” that Hoberman has collaborated on with Nadine Bernard Westcott.  Westcott’s pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations delight the young reader with action-packed details that  expand on Hoberman’s lyrics – the poodle balances a dozen bowls as he serves the hungry customers in the macaroni-shaped restaurant while Yankee Doodle and the others cook up steamy vats of tasty treats.

 

Each book in the series opens with a copy of the musical score; readers are encouraged to sing each verse to the melody.  Following the story is a page of activity ideas that continue the fun – simple counting and rhyming games, craft suggestions (in this case, make a feathered cap), gross motor games (plan a parade, march to the rhythm), and questions that stimulate further exploration (why is the Fourth of July important to our country?).

 

This is an excellent book that I didn’t tire of reading to my children when they asked “one more time?”.  During the second reading they joined in reciting some of the rhymes with me, and were “reading” to themselves soon after.  Highly recommended.

 

Are there patriotic-themed children’s books that you’d recommend?

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Book Review: Mrs. Lieutenant, A Sharon Gold Novel

Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel by Phyllis Zimbler Miller

Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (April 7, 2008 )

Paperback: 494 pages

ISBN-10: 1419686291

ISBN-13: 978-1419686290

 

 

 

 

In Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel, Phyllis Zimbler Miller tells the lives of four young women who accompany their husbands to Ft. Knox, Kentucky, as the men attend a nine-week Armor Officers Basic (AOB) school.  Set in 1970, in the midst of the war in Vietnam, the couples live with the very real possibility that each man might be sent to fight, and might not return.

 

The women come from vastly different backgrounds:  Sharon is a Jewish girl from the North side of Chicago who holds liberal social and political views and is accepting of those of other races, religions or family history.  Kim is a Southern Baptist from North Carolina; raised in foster homes, she has been trained to be suspicious of those who are different than she.  Donna was born in Puerto Rico, and grew up as an “Army brat” while her father, an enlisted man, moved the family from one post to another.  Wendy is a black woman from South Carolina; her mother and father, a doctor, have sheltered her from the rampant racial discrimination that has plagued the country.

 

With the men busy during the days, and with the expectation of the Army that the women will exhibit behavior becoming an officer’s wife, the four struggle to find their place in their new lives.  The realities of off-post housing, one car families and the need to work together on committee bring the four women together for practical and social reasons. 

 

As they spend more time with each other their relationships gel, they learn to trust one another with their secrets and to rely on the friendships that develop.  Each woman faces a crisis at some point during their time at AOB, and they realize how much they depend on, and appreciate, this support network.

 

Each chapter is narrated in the third person, in the perspective of one of the four officer’s wives.  Sharon is the thread that binds them together; almost twice as many chapters are devoted to her perspective as to any of the other three women.  In this way, their individual stories blend together into one cohesive novel.  Ms. Miller provides relevant character history as memory or flashback scenes; we get a very clear picture of the experiences that have shaped these women.

 

The title of the novel, Mrs. Lieutenant, is from a guidebook of the same name, written in early 1970 by Mary Preston Gross.  This booklet was “an invaluable guide for an officer’s wife,” detailing expectations such as proper use of calling cards, acceptable dress for any occasion, and how to host a tea.  Ms. Miller includes a quote from the booklet as well as a true news headline at the start of each chapter; this adds authenticity to the narrative, as well as a sense of urgency as the Vietnam conflict escalates and the casualty rate rises.  

 

The author herself was a Mrs. Lieutenant at the same time as the fictional Sharon Gold.  Clearly her own observations have added rich detail to the emotions shown by the four main characters.  There are many parallels to our current conflict in Iraq, which will resonate with the general reader, and especially with a reader in a military family.  The book’s website offers discussion group questions, information about how the reader can support military families, copies of authentic documents from Ms. Miller’s time at Ft. Knox, and a glimpse of each main character in out-takes from the book.  Read the first four chapters online; you’ll want to buy the book and read more!

 

Ms. Miller has previously written a non-fiction Jewish holiday book, Seasons for Celebration, as well as Flipping Burgers and Beyond: Find Your Own Path Through High School, College, and Life.   I was pleased to read in an interview on Fiction Scribe that she is currently at work on not one, but two sequels to Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel; the first, Mrs. Lieutenant in Europe detailing Sharon’s time during her husband’s assignment in Germany, the second about her return to civilian life.

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Book Review: Admit One: A Journey Into Film

Admit One:  A Journey Into Film by Emmett James

Publisher: Wheatmark (January 15, 2008 )

Hardcover: 220 pages

ISBN-10: 1587369141

ISBN-13: 978-1587369148

SheIsTooFondOfBooks Rating:  3 1/2 stars

 

 

Emmet James spent his childhood in a small town near London, creating mischief and pulling pranks while he fantasized about becoming a Hollywood actor.   In the introduction to his memoir Admit One: A Journey into Film, he explains that the “environment, mood, personal history and circumstances in which a person sees a film changes that film in a necessary, unique and exciting way.  It creates a whole new story – a living, breathing film.  The film of one’s life.” 

Thus, James shows us the film of his life, illustrating various events from childhood until the present, using a specific film as metaphor in each chapter.  Reminiscing about Star Wars Episode IV leads to a story about the must-have movie tie-in toy of the Christmas season, and how James responded to the department store Santa who disappointed him; he discovers that his mother shows an uncanny resemblance to Margaret Hamilton’s wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz; a viewing of ET leads James to rig up his bike to more efficiently transport aliens.  As James grows older, the connections become even more intriguing – after a particular distasteful brush with juvenile delinquency, his parents move the family to the country, to a haunted house straight out of The Amityville Horror.  The tales continue as James finally comes to America to pursue his acting dream.

 

Admit One is a quick enjoyable read, within a unique framework.  Aside from a bit of unnecessary crass language and an oddly angry letter addressed to Steven Seagal, I found it pleasantly entertaining.  James neatly connects the various films to his personal narrative without stretching the relationship. The writing is witty and colorful, including many humorous anecdotes and descriptions.  I could imagine a narrator doing a voice-over in a 1930s gangster movie as I read “the only things on the girls were the eyes of every man around them.”

 

It is a good selection for a reading group during the summer months when seeking a “lighter” book.  Aside from James’ personal story, it leads the way to discussion about our personal connections with movies, and the comparison of our childhood dreams to the reality of our adult lives.

James concludes with another truth, illustrated within the pages of his book, “film holds the power to alter a person’s thinking, juxtaposing the huge world and one’s small place in it.”  It seems this talented actor and writer has found his place in the world.

 

 

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Book Review: The Space Between Us

• The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 6, 2007)
• Paperback: 352 pages
• ISBN-10: 006079156X
• ISBN-13: 978-0060791568
• SheIsTooFondOfBooks Rating:  4.5 Stars

 

 

 

 

 Thrity Umrigar, author of The Space Between Us, is a native of Bombay (now Mumbai) who came to the US for graduate school, and has worked here as a journalist for many years.  She was raised in a middle-class family, painfully aware of the class difference between her family and those of the domestic servants who came daily to help with household chores.  Umrigar has stated in interviews that her discomfort with these arrangements strongly influences her writing.

 

 

Her first novel, Bombay Time, visits the residents of an apartment building in Bombay, exploring not only their relationships with each other, but also their relationship to the city in which they live.  The Space Between Us tells the story of two interconnected families in Bombay; Umrigar continues to examine the connections and contrasts between the middle-class Parsis and the lower-class living in extreme poverty.

 

The story is set in contemporary Bombay, where Bhima, a domestic servant who lives in the slums, travels daily to the home of Sera (Serabai), a middle-class Parsi for whom Bhima has worked for twenty years.  As the novel unfolds, Umrigar volleys between these two main characters, parceling out bits of their separate pasts, as well as the history they share.  Bhima is raising her granddaughter, Maya; Sera has taken Maya under her wing and is funding her college education.  This education will help Maya break free from the oppressive poverty that her family has lived in for many generations; she will not work as a servant in another woman’s house.

 

Umrigar is a skilled storyteller, she creates beautiful flowing language and metaphors to illustrate.  When Maya wants to hear more about her past, Bhima carefully edits the information she reveals, “She sifts through her memories, as if she is sifting through the rice at Serabai’s house, removing the stones and the hard pieces, leaving behind what’s good and shiny.”  Similarly, Sera protects her own daughter when speaking of her father, “Sera went through the purse of her memory, hunting for a few gold coins.”  We see the similarities between the two women, and the efforts they make to put family first.

 

As in our own lives, the characters find that their lives don’t always follow the plans we have made for them.  Umrigar’s novel shows us the seemingly impenetrable “space between us” that can be caused by differences of class, gender or religion.  Bhima proves that in times of desperation, humans are resilient.  We are often able to draw inward and pull out the strength and courage we need to move past barriers set in our path.

 

The themes explored in  The Space Between Us are universal, not unique to the setting of Bombay.  It’s a book that we can all identify with, perhaps women more so than men.  I highly recommend it for the top-level storyline, the substructure of the motifs, and the skillfully-crafted writing that Thrity Umrigar offers.

 

Note:  The paperback Harper Perennial version I read has additional resources in the P.S. appendix.  These include additional background notes and an interview with the author, Umrigar’s writing tips, and an excerpt from her upcoming novel, If Today Be Sweet. 

 

I read this book as preparation to participate in an author interview with Thrity Umrigar on Book Club Girl.  During the interview, Umrigar answers readers’ questions, discusses how her early years influence her writing and talks about her current projects including the re-release of her memoir and an upcoming novel.  

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Book Review: Blink

Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Back Bay Books (April 3, 2007)

Paperback: 320 pages

ISBN-10: 0316010669

ISBN-13: 978-0316010665

SheIsTooFondOfBooks Rating:  3 Stars

 

 

We’ve all suffered the consequences of poor decision-making, and celebrated when we’ve made a judgment that led to a positive outcome.  I’d like to enjoy more of these favorable results, so I eagerly picked up Malcom Gladwell’s Blink:  The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, which promises to show “how we can all become better decision makers”.  I really appreciated Gladwell’s The Tipping Point:  How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference which explained how three distinct personality types can help spread the acceptance of an idea, trend or product.  Based on the cohesive thesis in this first book, I had high hopes that Blink would do the same in the realm of decision-making; unfortunately, it didn’t completely deliver.

 

Blink contains a large collection of anecdotes and studies; the vignettes are certainly interesting.  The first chapter focuses on a purchase of purported ancient Greek kouros purchased by the Getty Museum .  The museum commissioned many studies to analyze the style and material of the statue.  The results of these studies overruled the “feelings” that several art experts expressed, that something was off.  Enough questions were raised that today the statue is labeled “about 530 BC, or modern forgery.” 

 

If we are able to extract a central theme to the book, it might be that gathering a large amount of data before making a decision is not as crucial as gathering the few essential points of important data.  But … Gladwell doesn’t show us to distinguish between crucial and extraneous data.

 

There are thorough footnotes for each chapter, and an index to all names and topics mentioned.  The later paperback editions of Blink include a 20-page afterword in which Gladwell distills the lessons learned in each chapter; bringing a semblance of much needed cohesion to the book.  Overall, a good and interesting read, but not one to lead us to make better decisions. 

(note:  our neighborhood book group chose to read Blink.  We all agreed that there were many interesting anecdotal stories about instinctive decision-making, but that we weren’t shown the tools to hone this skill ourselves.  Several of us explored the Implicit Association Test described in the book and found online here.  Give it a try, you might be surprised at your results!

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