Speaking Volumes

    

Great House, by Nicole Krauss
 
There has been a lot of buzz about this latest novel from Nicole Krauss, author of The History of Love, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you have already read a number of reviews or heard it reviewed on NPR. If you have, you know that in Great House, Kruass writes about the lives of seemingly unrelated people, their only tie being that they have all, at one time or another, been the owners of this large, old, wooden, desk.
 
As the stories move on along from desk owner to desk owner you can see another factor that ties all the characters together; they are all lonely. In this way the book has a depressing feel, but in spite of that I am really enjoying it. Each of the characters stories says something bigger about life, loneliness, and human nature. Krauss’s writing is smart, and the stories she weaves together are creative and interesting. She has managed to turn a large wooden desk into a character itself, so much so that just describing it as a ‘large, old, wooden, desk’ like I did above, doesn’t do it justice.
 
I should add that I have not finished the book yet, but I think I can see where the story is going. I don’t know that all the ‘loose ends’ of the book will get neatly wrapped up but that doesn’t bother me. If you want happy endings and no questions left unanswered I don’t think Great House is the book for you, but if you want to read meaningful, well crafted writing then stop by the library and give this book a try.
 
 
     
 
The Ape House, by Sara Gruen

I waited until a few weeks ago to read Sara Gruen’s novel Water for Elephants, which has been recommended to me more times than I can count. The main reason I was finally motivated to read it was that Carol was talking about the new book out by Sara Gruen, Ape House, where a group of apes that know sign language get stolen from the lab they live in and put on a reality TV show where they continue to communicate to the lab scientists over the airwaves. Great premise right? Weeeell, it could have been great, but in my humble opinion the story was executed poorly. Without giving too many spoilers, here are a few of my complaints:
 
The events following the ‘ape theft’ seemed really unrealistic to me for a number of reasons. Many of the characters are stereotypes and fall flat. And, there are a bunch of cheesy side stories, one being that the main characters seem like they are falling in love, another about a possible estranged child, and a story line where the reporters wife has a stint writing for a TV show in Hollywood, all of which seem to detract from the main story and fizzle out instead of being resolved. I liked (not loved) Water for Elephants, so I was pretty disappointed with Ape House.
 
I would love to hear someone else’s opinion of these two new books. If you have read either one please jump in and tell me what you think!