The Brief And Frightening Reign Of Phil by George Saunders (2005)

Finished: 4/8/21

Grade: A

The Nation of Inner Horner is so small that only one of its non-human residents can live within it at a time. One day Inner Horner shrinks, and the Inner Hornerite in residence begins to jut out into Outer Horner. The Outer Hornerites, believing they are under attack and guided by an emotionally unstable non-human named Phil, begin to retaliate against the defenseless Inner Hornerites.

A darkly comic minimalist deconstruction of a nation’s decent into fascism. (and I mean DARKLY comic, like 90% darkly and 10% comic).

At its core this is a book about power. The exponential way that power begets more power, and the frustrating ways that power can corrupt justice, ideas and even the truth.

People on the internet call this book “a parable” and I know it’s a successful parable because I was reading it like: “Ok. I get it. This is about Trump” but then I realized that this book was written 14 years before old DT was elected president. Wow! History sure repeats itself, huh?

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (2006)

Finished: 3/21/21

Grade: A

A memoir documenting Jeannette Walls’ tumultuous childhood.

Her father, a charismatic genius, is crippled by alcoholism, and her mother, an artist who sees the best in everyone, suffers from chronic depression.

With both parents unwilling or unable to take care of the family, Jeannette and her sibling have to take care of themselves, relying on their own hard-won ingenuity and perseverance in the face of poverty and starvation.

At times romantic, at times horrific. This is one of those books that you read and go “Wow. That’s crazy.” A truly exceptional tale of American poverty. Big ups to Lauren Vogel for recommending this bad boy!

Acceptance by Jeff Vandermeer (2014)

Finished: 3/3/21

Grade: B-

The sequel to Authority and the final installment in the Southern Reach Trilogy that began with Annihilation.

In Annihilation, the limited first person perspective creates a claustrophobic tension, shakes the reliability of the narrative, and gives you the feeling of being so close to something enormous that you can't even tell how big it is.

In Authority, the limited first person perspective makes you feel trapped and bored. The character you are stuck in has so little information, and is wildly ineffective at getting any. By the end of the book you are desperate to get into someone, anyone, else's head. Acceptance grants that wish. The narrative bounces around in perspective and time,

giving you all the different camera angles of the enormous thing, and generally unravelling the mysteries developed in the first two books.

Each book in this trilogy is well-written and readable, but nothing in the second two books even comes close to the excitement and horror of the first novel. My advice to anyone who is thinking about reading these books is to stop with Annihilation. At the end of that book you don't have all the answers, but that's kind of the point. And anyway the answers are less exciting than the questions.

(The movie is good too! It's different enough from the book to still be enjoyable if you've already read the book, and vice versa.)