Category: fiction

COMMUNITY

Steinbeck’s stories show what makes capitalist America a melting pot of the world.

Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough

(Blog:awalkingdelight)
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Cannery Row (A Novel)

By: John Steinbeck

Narrated by: Jarry Farden

John Steinbeck (1902-1968, author, Nobel prize winner who wrote 25 novels.)

John Steinbeck’s ability to vivify the lives of the middle and lower classes make stories like “Cannery Row” clear and poignant visions of America. Though published in 1945, “Cannery Row” focuses on a segment of working-class people in Monterey, California, a community about 120 miles south of San Francisco. It is located in an industrial waterfront area lined with boat docks and fish canneries.

Cannery Row as it was in the 1940s.

Image of Monterey's Old Fisherman's Wharf | 2052168

As a community of people who are mostly manual laborers with immigrants and a few professionals, Steinbeck paints a picture of America that resonates with the 21st century; i.e., at least before the current government administration. The sardine industry, like ocean harvesting today, is teetering on collapse in the late 1940s because of overfishing and environmental change. However, Steinbeck shows the human truth of how an industry grows out of the value of immigrants and the middle class in capitalist America. He offers a historical snapshot of the importance of both immigrant and born-in-America citizens that demonstrate the best of what capitalism offers working families.

Working in America.

Working families in the era of midcentury America came from all over the world. Steinbeck paints a picture of a Chinese immigrant who measures the worth of human beings and makes the best of what they offer by recognizing “no” is often the wrong answer to those who try to take advantage of others. This Chinese American opens a grocery store and measures his success by working within the limits of Americans’ ability to pay for what they need to survive. He offers credit, with limits, to his customers and works with them to maintain his livelihood and invest in other properties when opportunities present themselves. He is approached by homeless laborers about living in a warehouse property that has been vacant for some time. He has purchased the property as an investment. They offer no payment for the shelter, but he reasons if he says no, they will take what they are not given, damage his building, and ruin its potential value. On the other hand, if he says yes, they will occupy the building, be customers of his store, improve his income, and take care of his property that will increase in value over time.

Community leaders.

A highlight of Steinbeck’s insightful story is a doctor who is the center of the community’s stability who exemplifies the best of what American life offers. The doctor is a highly respected, vociferous reader of books and a music lover, who cares for the health of those who live in Cannery row. Whether a woman who is working in a house of prostitution, a delinquent who breaks the law, or a fisherman who brings his crew to stir up a fight, the doctor is the glue that holds the community together.

America is and always should be a melting pot if one takes Steinbeck’s view of America as relevant.

Steinbeck’s stories show what makes capitalist America a melting pot of the world. Whether an immigrant, working person, delinquent juvenile, or community leader, every human being has value. Life in America is not easy, but it is worth everything that a sense of community can offer.

SOCIETAL CHANGE

H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

“The War of the Worlds”

Author: H. G. Wells

Narration by: Christopher Hurt

H. G. Wells (1866-1946, English novelist, journalist, sociologist, and historian.)

“The War of the Worlds” is an odd book. Published in 1898 when the British Empire was near the height of its global power and prestige. It shakes the foundations of world hegemonic ambition. Listening to the book in the 21st century, it has relevance but in today’s hearing it seems too long and melodramatic. Giant fighting machines, heat rays, black smoke chemical weapons, city panic, and refugee flight are too familiar in today’s world. The shock value of a Martian invasion is lost. However, in the reality of a horrific war by Russia on the Ukrainian people, America’s bombing of Iran’s citizens, and Iran’s brutalization and torture of its people make “The War of the Worlds” as important and relevant today as when it was written.

H.G. Well’s Martian Invasion

Most of Wells’ book appears to say an invasion by technologically superior Martians will dominate the earth. What Wells shows is that technological superiority is not enough to conquer the world. As the British army and its weaponry fail to defeat the Martians, Earth’s natural pathogens and environment is shown to seriously challenge Martian’ survival. Technological superiority is not enough to win a war. A combination of nature’s pathogens and human resistance are challenges that suggest, despite technological superiority, singular societies ultimately prevail. History shows that eternal domination of an independent distinct society is unlikely to prevail. A distinct society may change from the influence of an invasion, but it does not disappear, it adapts. Glasnost is evidence of that truth when the former nations that were part of the U.S.S.R. reestablish themselves as independent societies that do not entirely abandon the influence of Russian domination. Native tribes that lived in what became the United States retain much of their social identity despite America’s English occupiers.

H.G. Well’s interesting message is that human beings may not be able to save themselves from a technologically superior foreign invasion, but established societies and culture are more enduring than technological superiority. Wells is suggesting an invasion by a technologically superior force does not eradicate a society but changes it.

A WRITER’S JUDGEMENT

“There is Simply Too Much to Think About” is a time-consuming read with a depth of understanding about writing that gives one “…Too Much to Think About” because of its author’s humbling intelligence. The fundamental point Bellow makes is that art is as important as science for the advance of society.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

There Is Simply too Much to Think About (Collected Nonfiction) 

Author: Saul Bellow

Narration by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Saul Bellow (Author, Canadian-American novelist who has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and the Pulitzer Prize.)

This is a daunting book by an accomplished novelist who explains what makes reading fiction and nonfiction worth one’s time and attention. The range of subjects Bellow covers is immense. He not only writes about literature but politics, philosophy, Jewish identity, American culture, history, and other subjects that overwhelm a reader/listener. Bellow suggests good nonfiction and fiction are about characters who write about life that makes them important enough to have meaning to readers and purpose for writers. A writer creates an understanding of characters in the context of a society in which they live. A good writer’s attention is given to the contradictions and complexity of living life. What Bellow means by nonfiction writers is those who witness life unfolding and relate that understanding from a perspective which may or may not resonate or at least be understood by a reader.

Though Bellow mentions few female authors, he shows strong opinions about famous male authors.

Bellow offers a tour of twentieth century writers he believes are examples of good nonfiction writers. He notes Ralph Ellison, Phillip Roth, and J.D. Salinger as examples of great nonfiction writers. At the same time, Bellow explains how deeply his life feeds into his writing. He reveals his own strengths and weaknesses. He acknowledges being drawn into trendy ideas of others that gloss over truth and mislead readers with contradictions. Like all human beings, Bellow can be misled by second-hand assertions about historic events and characters that lack verifiable truth. The result may be misrepresentation and sometimes cruel judgements about private lives and the history of humanity. Written misrepresentations reveal as much about the writer as the subject.

Ralph Ellison (Author of “Invisible Man”)

Bellow offers some warnings to readers of both good and bad writers. He suggests a reader should be careful about reading too much into writer’s characters or experience in a story. One thinks of Ellison’s “Invisible Man” and how it reshaped many readers understanding of race and identity. Ellison is not writing a protest novel. It is about social invisibility, Black identity, politics, and the meaning of life. Phillip Roth’s Colman Silk is accused of racism and forced to retire but he is not a racist. He is obviously falsely accused because he is secretly African American passing as white. Truth of a story is revealed in detail created by good writing.

Though not having personally read Bellow’s books, he notes that his writing is largely based on episodes from his own life.

Being born in a Montreal Jewish slum and raised as an immigrant in Chicago he experiences discrimination as a baby born in a Montreal slum and as an immigrant on Chicago streets. The working-class environment of Chicago streets gave Bellow a level of freedom and exposure to life as just another young boy finding his way in life. He could measure himself against more diverse life experiences in Chicago without losing his Jewish identity. As an immigrant, it added to his identity and broadened his understanding of life as a human being. He became streetwise in responding to the world.

The experience of life.

Bellow clearly illustrates a personal belief and understanding about life. He is an obvious master of American language. His intellect and curiosity are overwhelming. There is an emotional and moral seriousness that is sometimes funny and at others quite confrontational. He masterfully turns lived experience into art. There is a level of overconfidence in his judgement and personal contradictions crop up in his writing. On the one hand he distrusts ideology but writes a highly ideological view of writing. He defends the importance of art but criticizes culture. He lauds intellectual independence while insisting on his own beliefs. He is a bit combative toward academics, critics, and seems somewhat dismissive or impatient with those who struggle with his opinions. The title of Bellow’s book says it all–“There is Simply Too Much to Think About”.

Bellow believes the arts are the essential ingredient of what Martin Luther King’s quote depends upon.

Bellow is very judgmental about the writers he reviews in his “…Much to Think About” book. His greatest praise goes to Ralph Ellison, Phillip Roth, James Joyce, and Franz Kafka. His sharpest criticism is of Updike, Hemmingway, T.S. Eliot, Salinger, and James Baldwin. Updike is called too polished, Hemingway too emotionally shallow, Eliot too culturally conservative, Salinger too mystical, and Baldwin too damaged by ethnic prejudice. Despite his criticism, Bellow finds their works have power and meaning implying they are worth reading. Most who recognize or have read some or all of these authors will likely find them worth the time and effort to read them and come to their own conclusions.

“There is Simply Too Much to Think About” is a time-consuming read with a depth of understanding about writing that gives one “…Too Much to Think About” because of its author’s humbling intelligence. The fundamental point Bellow makes is that art is as important as science for the advance of society.

OUT OF CONTROL

Ahab reminds one of a leader who wishes to impose meaning on a meaningless world. Ahab refuses to see the limits of his power over the unknown, a feeling one can see in errant leaders of the world today.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

Moby Dick

Author: Herman Melville

Narration by: Anthony Heald

Painting of Herman Melville (1819-1891, American novelist, short story writer, and poet.)

Interestingly, Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” is a reflection of his personal experience on the sea between 1839 and 1844. He first sailed on a merchant vessel in 1839. Between 1841 and 1843 Melville sailed on long voyages seeking sperm whales and right whales on the Acushnet which sailed out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. He chose to join the Navy on the USS United States and served from 1843-1844. He had an intimate understanding of what he wrote about.

Sperm Whale

An interesting side bar to “Moby Dick” is information about whales. Whale hunting and harvesting is important in the 19th century for the collection of the spermaceti organ in a Sperm whale’s head. Spermaceti is taken out of the organ by men dipping buckets into the head cavity of the whale. The sperm whale roamed the Pacific, Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic, and offshore grounds of the equator. Other whales had spermaceti but not in the quantities of the Sperm whale. Aside from spermaceti harvesting, whalebone is collected for corsets, umbrella ribs, buggy whips, fishing rods, and for the carving arts, for tools, furniture accents, and sailor scrimshaw works. Whale steak, and fried whale scraps became popular for some consumers. In sum, Melville shows how whaling offered the global economy a boost in the 19th century.

Whale spermaceti.

The value of spermaceti is for candles, ointments, and cosmetics because of its waxy, crystalline purity. Spermaceti value declined for two reasons. One, intense whaling in the 19th century killed nearly 200,000 sperm whales and their species decline made it more expensive to hunt and, as it always was, dangerous to kill. Along with the cost and danger of hunting whales, a significant reason for change is that industrial substitutes like kerosene, petroleum lubricants, and synthetic waxes and oils replaced spermaceti’s utility. In 1946, an International Whaling Commission is formed to regulate whaling. Finally, in 1982, the IWC created a global moratorium on commercial whaling.

The main characters of “Moby Dick” are Ishmael, Captain Ahab, Queequeg, Starbuck, Stubb, Flask, and of course, the great white whale.

Ishmael is like Melville, a novice on a first voyage with Captain Ahab. Queequeg is a native islander whose father is a chief or king of an island from which Queequeg came. Melville describes Queequeg as a calm self-possessed whale harpooner who is a former cannibal who worships (in long trances) a wooden idol called Yojo. He is powerfully built, beautifully tattooed, and graceful in his movement. Queequeg’s character shows generosity and quiet wisdom and becomes a close friend and confident of Ishmael. They become brothers who are neither subordinate nor superior in their relationship.

As the story progresses, listeners become acquainted with Starbuck, Stubb, Flask and finally, Captain Ahab. They sale together on a ship out of Nantucket called the Pequod. Starbuck is the first mate, a Nantucket Quaker who is deeply religious, principled, and brave while being suspicious of Captain Ahab’s behavior. In contrast, Stubb and Flask are mates who follow Captain Ahab wherever and however he leads. Stubb and Flask believe life is “meant to be”, without fear or favor because they are whaleman who obey their orders.

Captain Ahab, as acted by Gregory Peck in 1956, is an imposing, and enduring figure with a scarred face and ivory leg.

Ahab appears later as he comes from his cabin on the Pequod several chapters later in the book. He is pale, gaunt, and storm-beaten with a fierce intensity of purpose. Ahab has charisma but he is monomaniacal and terrifying because of his fierce desire to find and kill Moby Dick, a white whale that severed his leg in an earlier voyage. He views Moby Dick as a malevolent force in the universe that can only be subdued by the American will to conquer, dominate, and transcend the limits of the human condition, i.e. a condition imposed by nature, fate, God, or the inscrutable forces of life.

Ahab, to some, is a symbol of ignorance.

Ahab refuses to recognize his fallibility and the randomness of living in a world over which he has limited control. Ahab finally harpoons Moby Dick but the rope of his harpoon wraps around his neck and drownds him in the sea. He is bound by his obsession for control over a universe’s indifference. Ahab reminds one of a leader who wishes to impose meaning on a meaningless world. Ahab refuses to see the limits of his power over the unknown, a feeling one can see in errant leaders of the world today.

CHILD ABUSE

The complexity of Freida McFadden’s character relationships diminishes its appeal, but the point of the story is that child abuse takes many forms which often repeat themselves in future generations.

Books of Interest
 Website: chetyarbrough.blog

THE INTRUDER 

Author: Freida McFadden

Narration by: Joe Hempel, Patricia Santomasso, Tina Wolstencroft

Freida McFadden (Author, practicing physician, specializing in brain injury.)

Freida McFadden’s book is a mess. The story is burdened by too many relationship complications. On the other hand, it reveals the hardship children face when raised by parents who lose control of their minds. The base story is about a 12- or 13-year-old girl named Ella. She is being raised by her mother who is a hoarder struggling to cope with life. As a single mother with a young girl, her hoarding complicates her daughter’s life. The house in which they live is a pigsty because of the hoarding. The odor of spoiled fruits and food permeates the clothing that Ella wears to school. Her mother often locks her daughter in a closet when she leaves the house. The closet is dark, cramped, and smelly from the mother’s hoarding mania. She punishes her child with the lit end of a cigarette when her daughter complains about anything.

Child abuse statistics.

Ella dreams of escaping to a better life while coping with school and hiding the trauma she endures with her mother’s mental instability. Ella fantasizes the idea of finding her father who she does not know. She makes friends with a young boy of her age who has anger issues because his father drinks too much and is abusive toward his son and wife. As Ella and the boy become closer, a serious assault incident at school results in the boy being permanently expelled. Ella has lost the support of her best friend and is faced with the instability of her mother’s behavior. Ella wishes for a better life and searches for evidence of her father as a way of escaping and improving her life. That search appears to be a dead end.

Ella’s mother hooks up with a man who becomes a boyfriend with a violent temper.

A fight between the two leads to Ella’s mother being stabbed. Blood from her wounds splatters her daughter from head to foot. Ella sets the house on fire and runs to the woods near her neighborhood where she cowers in a shed. The shed is next to a house rented by a teacher who has been fired by the school that had hired her. There is a storm brewing as Ella cowers in the shed next to the former teacher’s house. The former teacher named Casey, sees a light in the shed and cautiously approaches it to find Ella, a bloody mess lying on the shed floor. Ella is the intruder of McFadden’s story.

The value of this story lies in the reality of children being raised in families that abuse their children through neglect, psychological, or physical abuse.

McFadden’s story is of a neglectful and deranged mother who is incapable of caring for herself, let alone a child. Every child that survives their childhood is impacted by parents whether sane or mentally unbalanced. Most children are raised by single or married parents. Others are taken away by State sponsored childcare facilities or escape abusive parents to live on the street.

How a child responds to their parents or the way they deal with life is like the predictive quality of quantum physics.

How a child responds to how they are raised is unpredictable. That is the substantive meaning of “The Intruder”, a story that keeps one in suspense but does not appear likely to end well. It is a story that many children live in America and presumably in other countries of the world. The complexity of McFadden’s character relationships diminishes its appeal, but the point of the story is that child abuse takes many forms which often repeat themselves in future generations.