The Grand Design

Thinking. Philosophers, theologians and physicists all ask the really big questions, like why do we exist? In the new book, The Grand Design, Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present a brief and readable perspective on the theories that lead them to conclude that we expect because our planet is in just the right location to support life, and that this could have occurred without any divine intervention. The authors explore the developments in M-theory, a unified set of theories that answer the questions about why the universe behaves the ways it does. As a non-physicist, I found this book readable, although I expect that while I understood the words, I still don’t quite get it. Nonetheless, it’s rewarding to be exposed to the thinking of these scientists in an accessible way, and to think along with them about those really big questions.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality

Grave. I was unaware of the extent of longevity research until I read Jonathan Weiner’s entertaining new book, Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality. I found myself recalling the daily remark of a high school teacher who began each class with the glooming, but accurate, statement: “Here we are, one more day closer to the grave.” Weiner presents how some scientists are exploring ways to dramatically extend human life spans. The eccentric British scientist Aubrey de Grey provides much of the color in this story, and I found myself alternating between thinking of him as a visionary or a crackpot. Any reader who would like to ponder some of the what-ifs about extending life spans will find a lot to think about on the pages of this interesting book.

Rating: Four-star (Highly Recommended)
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Star Island

Celebrity. Carl Hiaasen is back with a funny novel titled, Star Island. This book is packed with odd characters, who over the course of a few hundred pages remain unlikeable but become sympathetic. Hiaasen focuses his attention here on the cult of celebrity, and in the case of character Cherry Pye, talentless celebrity. The antics of a full cast of characters lead to laughter and the satisfaction that so many characters receive exactly what they deserve. Skink, the former governor turned swamp rat returns in a heroic role, and Cherry Pye’s body double, Ann DeLusia, steals the show through the ways in which her behavior rises above all those around her. This is escapist fiction that intends to entertain, so those readers ready to laugh are the ones most likely to enjoy the outsized characters and zany plot.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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The Passage

Dystopia. Justin Cronin asks readers to stay with him on many journeys over almost 800 pages in his new novel, The Passage. I remained on board for the entire trip, but felt by the end that the journey could have been shorter by at least half. The novel presents science run amok, as a virus creates mutants who destroy most of the population. A remnant of people escaped the virus, and it is their story of survival that consumes the energy of the book. The novel is absorbing and engaging, and Cronin’s writing style kept me engaged, but for far longer than I would have wished. Readers with the patience to enjoy an 800-page novel may love this novel, but others may find the commitment too large for the value derived from the experience.

Rating: Three-star (Recommended)
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Three Stations

Survival. Martin Cruz Smith has reprised his popular Russian detective Arkady Renko in a new novel titled, Three Stations. Set in modern Moscow, Renko is hanging onto his job by a thread, and many fellow Muscovites are struggling to survive corruption and crime while trying to eke out a living. Renko injects himself into a murder case, which is followed by what appears to be serial homicides. Gangsters are trying to pursue a runaway prostitute, whose child was stolen upon her arrival in Moscow. For her and for others, Renko works to get to the bottom of everything, and along the way, he’s willing to sacrifice his job and himself, since he seems to have nothing else to lose. Smith has continued to deepen his development of the Renko character with this novel, and his plot pacing and descriptions of Moscow make for quick and enjoyable reading.

Rating: Four-star (Highly Recommended)
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Freedom

Incarceration. Jonathan Franzen’s new novel, Freedom, is a great big sweeping novel that attempts to capture the early part of the 21st century in America. While the key dynamic in his previous novel, The Corrections, involved inter-generational conflict, this novel focuses on marriage and love relationships. While I found the characters in the previous novel to be unappealing in a distracting way, in this novel, the characters are sympathetic and nuanced enough to become appealing, no matter how they behave. The theme of freedom takes on multiple forms throughout the novel, and readers are led to reflect on the ways in which we become handcuffed by some aspects of freedom, and that free markets aren’t necessarily good. The bird on the cover makes its first appearance on page 210, which I found amusing, given that I was waiting to see where it would fit into the novel. Franzen’s writing is sometimes so finely done that it becomes overdone. Overall, I found this novel to be enjoyable and the writing was outstanding.

Rating: Four-star (Highly Recommended)
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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Isolated. David Mitchell uses each of the almost 500 pages of his new historical novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, to draw readers into the setting, characters and plot. The setting is Nagasaki, Japan at the beginning of the 19th century when that country was cut off from the rest of the world by its own policies. Protagonist de Zoet arrives as a clerk at the Dutch trading outpost on a quarantined island named Dejima in 1799. His first job is in forensic accounting to uncover fraud against the Dutch East India Company by its local employees. His principled, but isolated stance against his new boss leads him toward personal setbacks. Instead of spending six years in Japan, he lives there for twenty. The supporting cast of characters is rich, and Mitchell develops each with precision and skill. The plot has enough twists to keep readers alert, and the poetic writing makes the scenes come alive. Any reader who likes historical fiction and fine writing will find much to enjoy in this novel.

Rating: Four-star (Highly Recommended)
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