Books

Well, I finished my first book of 2018 this week! This was another Book of the Month selection, this one curated by Anthony Bourdain. The book is A Gambler’s Anatomy, by Jonathan Lethem.

A Gambler’s Anatomy tells the story of Anthony Bruno, a gambler who is incredibly skilled at backgammon. Wealthy folks from around the world want to try their hand at a game with him, and he kindly lets them…then takes their money. Our story begins on a trip he’s taken to Germany. He meets the lovely Madchen on a ferry on the way over, and then proceeds on to his game. However, the visual distortion he’s been having for months proves to be more than a “blot”, as he’s called it — he passes out and has to go to the hospital.

Bruno finds out that he has a very serious condition, but can do little about it. As it stands right now, he’s completely broke. His last game out for his game-pimp Edgar Falk didn’t go so well, and Bruno’s chance to make everything up to him is fading fast. Instead, he reaches out to a high school friend named Keith Stolarsky, who happens to be particularly wealthy, albeit annoying. Keith flies him back to Berkeley to see the only doctor that might be able to save Bruno’s life.

Once he’s returned to his hometown, he has to navigate a totally different life — connecting to his past, losing his identity, and regaining parts of himself he’d tried to push away. Alexander Bruno has to figure out who he is and who he isn’t, and decide from there who he wants to be.

When I started this book, I began making assumptions about where I thought the book might go — but it had me guessing every step of the way. I hadn’t really read an in-depth synopsis of the book, and figured from a few chapters in that I knew what type of story it was. I was completely wrong. I had no idea what to expect from one chapter to the next. On the one hand, I was thrilled that the book could pique my interest. But on the other, I was sometimes left slightly confused, and unsure whether or not the narrator was reliable.

The more I think about the book, the more I like it. I struggle with wanting more story on Alexander, but maybe that’s a good thing. It means Jonathan Lethem has done a good job of creating a character — in that he feels real enough to me to believe that there is more of a story to tell. (But it’s kind of Bruno alone — the other characters, in my mind, seem to orbit him like a sun. Madchen, Stolarsky, Tira — they’re all a bit confusing to me, just in a way that I don’t quite understand their motivations or their humanity.)

I do recommend the book, it’s a solid read — but be aware ahead of time that this may not feel fully satisfying when you complete it. If you’re okay with that ahead of time and want to read just for a very complex story, then pick this guy up!

Today I’m reviewing the book I finished just at the end of last year – The Wonder.

The Wonder was my first Book of the Month subscription book, and I was excited to check it out. I’m not sure I would have picked it up off the shelf in a bookstore, but having had it directly recommended to me from the BOTM curators was a big help. Once I read the synopsis, I couldn’t wait to dive in.

The book starts us out as English nurse Elizabeth (Lib) Wright arrives in Ireland. She’s been tasked to keep watch over a young girl named Anna O’Donnell, who has been rumored to have taken no food in several months. Lib and a nun will split shifts to make sure that Anna is monitored 24 hours a day for two weeks.

Still recovering from the recent Potato Famine, the devout Catholics in the small Irish town are ready for a miracle. This includes Anna O’Donnell’s family doctor as well as the local priest. Any ties to religion Lib once had were lost after her tour in Crimea, so she maintains a healthy suspicion of the holy child. Lib’s aversion to religion causes a pretty solid level of suspicion from the O’Donnells in her direction, as well.

We follow Lib as she documents Anna’s every move, wards off the press, and navigates life in a small town. And as we follow the story, we trust her judgment when things start to take a dark turn.

This story is basically a mystery, so the reader begins in the same place Lib does — trying to determine whether or not Anna truly is living off “manna from heaven”, as she calls it. And things are revealed to us as they are revealed to Lib, though there are some small hints. As a reader, I’m not sure if there was an opportunity to figure out entirely what was going on before the author tells us, but I don’t find that to be an issue. I sure as hell love my foreshadowing, but there’s something to be said for being surprised.

I enjoyed this book. I was happy with the ending, though it was rather unexpected. In general, it was unlike any book I’d read in a long time, but I’m really happy I read it. The story is very character-driven, and they’re well rounded and interesting. It was an easy read, smooth, and not difficult to comprehend. Though — it’s not so glaringly obvious that you’ve mentally laid out the plot-line before you get all the way through. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery story, and is okay with not figuring out the solution until the author reveals it.

Grab the book and sail through it — would love to hear your thoughts!