Dark Diversions by John Ralston Saul

In Dark Diversions acclaimed author John Ralston Saul stages a black comedy of international proportions that takes the reader from New York to Paris to Morocco to Haiti in the 1980s and 1990s. When he’s not encountering dictators in Third World hot spots, Saul’s narrator moves in privileged circles on both sides of the Atlantic, insinuating himself into the lives of well-to-do aristocrats. Through his exploits we experience a fascinating world of secret lovers, exiled princesses, death by veganism, and religious heresies. The emotional fireworks of these inhabitants of the First World are sharply juxtaposed with the political infighting of the dictators and the corruption, double-dealing, and fawning that attend them. But as he becomes further enmeshed in these worlds, his outsider status grows more ambiguous: Is he a documentarian of privileged foibles and fundamental inequity, or an embodiment of the very “dark diversions” he chronicles?

I think the marketing for this book is not as efficient as it could be. If you look it up on Goodreads or Amazon, the blurbs all make it seem as if this is one complete novel, when in fact it would have served the book better to publicize it as a collection of interconnected stories with the same protagonist in all of them.

Since I was expecting a coherent story, beginning, middle, and end, the first half of the book was in parts amusing and boring, since nothing really fit together. If I’d known they were all separate stories, maybe I would have read it more like a short story collection. It just felt incredibly disjointed to me. The writing itself is good and the characterizations for the most part are handled well, but the reader is left feeling with a hollowness while we are reading it which, at least, for me, does not make it one that I can recommend to other people. If taken by themselves a few of these chapters, or stories, are quite interesting, but as a whole, the book disappointed. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t anything I’ll remember after a couple of months, either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


From Night Film by Marisha Pessl

"Maybe your next door neighbor found one of his movies in an old box in her attic and never entered a dark room again. Or your boyfriend bragged he'd discovered a contraband copy of At Night All Birds Are Black on the Internet and after watching it refused to speak of it, as if it were a horrific ordeal he'd barely survived."

from the ARC

Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.


I started reading another book I got from NetGalley called Interstate by Stephen Dixon. It's an interesting read. The book tells about the shooting of a little girl on an interstate from many different points of view. Definitely a masterfully done study on character and a very compelling read.

Follow Friday

Q: Today’s is the US’ Independence Day. Share your favorite book with a war in it, or an overthrow of the government.

I'm tempted to say the last Harry Potter book, but I think I'll stick with one my original answer, which is the Dragonlance Chronicles. It's a trilogy that takes place during the War of the Lance, and it is just awesome. The book is high fantasy, which is not my usual genre, but I absolutely love these books.

A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle

This classic tale from the author of The Last Unicorn is a journey between the realms of the living and the dead, and a testament to the eternal power of love.Michael Morgan was not ready to die, but his funeral was carried out just the same. Trapped in the dark limbo between life and death as a ghost, he searches for an escape. Instead, he discovers the beautiful Laura...and a love stronger than the boundaries of the grave and the spirit world.

This was definitely a quirky, delightful book that is shockingly perceptive and nuanced for having been written when the author was only nineteen years old.

It’s hard to describe just what genre it fits in, with its touches of fantasy, Gothic sensibilities and incisive character development. Maybe a Gothic literary novel? But never mind its genre. The writing is stellar, really beautiful. The dialogue in particular is written with such an ear for conversation that it makes the characters leap off the page. Especially Ms. Klapper, one of the protagonists. Her New York accent comes right through the pages and into the reader’s ear.

There are some scenes that could have used with a little editing, I feel. Some of them ran a bit too long without really moving the story or character development along, so it would have made the story quicker-paced if they’d been truncated just a teensy bit.

It’s a tough one to recommend because it is so different. It’s fantasy elements are pretty strong (there is even a talking raven) but there is also lots of existential worries in all the characters, so it is hard to know if everyone will like it or not. I enjoy it a lot, so I’ll take the chance and recommend it.

 

 

 

Teaser Tuesdays

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


From Lungs Full of Noise by Tessa Mellas

"The first day the sky is white, nobody is suspicious. Every so often this happens."

pg. 22

Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.


It seems like I'm in a bit of a "weird" book mood, because I just started reading Lungs Full of Noise by Tessa Mellas and I am really enjoying it. It's a short story collection with such scathing honesty that it is hard to put down. Definitely one I recommend so far.