The Invisible Bridge

Hm, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been reading slowly and gotten a bit behind, so let me try to catch up.

The Invisible Bridge is an historical novel by Julie Orringer that takes place before and during World War II in France and Hungary. Andras Levi is a Hungarian Jew who gets a scholarship to an architecture school in Paris in 1937. After enduring a train ride to Paris and managing to find lodging, he discovers that his scholarship has been lost. However thanks to a benefactor he secures funding and soon acquires a job at a local theater. Between dealing with his studies, his work, his friends, and anti-Semitic colleagues, he meets a woman over ten years older than him and falls in love with her. Klara is also from Hungary but is in hiding in France due to a mysterious history.

The first half of the book is the romance between Andras and Klara as they fall in love and deal with issues typical for young lovers. Andras must deal with jealousy and Klara must be able to open up to Andras after suffering loss in her past. Things are not helped by Klara teenage daughter, who becomes involved with a young American in Andras' group of friends.

The story takes a darker turn when Andras learns that as a Jew he cannot renew his visa in France and must return to Hungary where Nazi influence is growing. Klara insists on returning with him even though she would be in danger from the authorities. Andras' brother Tibor also returns from Italy with his young wife. They are dismayed to learn that not only can they not renew their visas, but they are conscripted into the military labor service, where Jews were forced to work since they were not trusted to carry firearms. Andras and Tibor suffer at the hands of cruel officers, facing starvation and cold. Yet during their suffering they take comfort from each other and their fellow conscripts. Andras and a friend from school create an underground newspaper for their unit. But when they go too far they are forced to eat the newspaper and end up in the hospital. Later, Andras watches as his friend is murdered for trying to sneak to a nearby village to trade for food.

In many ways, the war distills human nature into extremes. The harsh circumstances brings out the best and worst in the people the characters face. A cruel guard tortures Andras; a kindly doctor helps him recuperate. Some men are forced to work as mine sweepers; Andras lucks into a supervisor who wants to use his skills to help as a surveyor. But when you think that Andras has suffered terribly, he learns that a friend from Paris has suffered even worse at the hands of the Nazis. Yet this friend received great luck and kindness as was able to help Andras and his family. There are many times when they all come very close to being killed but nearly always manage to survive, yet having witnessed the torture or death of their friends and family.

The war shifts the relationships between the characters as their fortune changes. Klara's past comes back to haunt her in Budapest, and there is a feeling that fate is an unavoidable force. Her nephew Jozsef becomes jealous that his parents must make sacrifices for her. Jozsef eventually must join the labor service when bribes can no longer keep him out, and he and Andras form an uneasy alliance. The privileged Jozsef gets little sympathy from the others, and even though Andras feels a familial duty to him Andras also starts to resent his whining and self-importance.

I enjoyed reading this book. The characters grow and find an inner strength as they suffer uncertainty and a growing oppression. Andras has flashes of jealousy but discovers that his love for Klara is more important than her past. He and his family prove to be resourceful. The high and lows of the war are extremes: the joys of having a child are switched to the fear of its survival. The loss of loved ones is converted to the joy of an unexpected reunion. The emotions of the characters are put through the wringer, and we go through it with them. A-

Super Sad True Love Story

Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story is a romance set in a dystopian near future. Lenny Abramov is a nearly forty year old salesman for life extension services, which promises immortality to to High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI's). Yet he has little luck in Italy, except that he meets Eunice Park, a second generation Korean American in her mid twenties. She finds him endearing, despite calling him "nerdface", and he is completely smitten by her. When they return to New York, he pursues her and they become a couple, albeit an awkward couple. He keeps pushing to meet her parents, and she finally relents but introduces him as her roommate. He enthusiastically shows her off to his own parents, retired Russin immigrants.

The romance of Lenny and Eunice takes place against the backdrop of a strange sort of America, where credit poles line the street announcing the credit rating of passers-by, and the Chinese central banker is the most powerful person in the country. The nation is run by the Bipartisan Party, and controlled by a strong American Restoration Authority. American society has become Orwellian, with the eye of Big Brother in the form of a cartoon otter that asks about one's friends and acquaintances, and signs that warn is it a crime to awknowledge their very existence. There is a war in Columbia that no one is sure the cause of, and the soldiers have not gotten their bonuses. Authoritarianism and double-speak have taken over the public discourse, and citizens are trapped in a cycle of borrowing and spending which distracts them from the danger of their own government.

Lenny and Eunice's relationship is fragile. She is shallow and finds his books quaint. He can't quite understand her friends or her lack of ambition. He is eager to please her and do whatever it takes to keep her. Lenny introduces her to his supervisor Joshie, who becomes obsessed with Eunice and her youth. Joshie is in his seventies but determined to stay young through his company's treatments, which he believes will help him achieve immortality. Joshie insinuates himself into Eunice's life and tries to seduce her behind Lenny's back. In many ways he is more suited to her, since they are both shallow and youth-obsessed.

Yet the "super sad" and "true" parts of the story are not so much the romance between the three individuals as the American society that is falling apart around them. Civil liberties are being sold to the corporations, yet Lenny's parents are watching Fox Liberty Prime and worried about gays getting married. People like Lenny are more worried about their bank accounts and becoming LNWI's (Low Net Worth Individuals) like the citizens assembling at the park to protest their treatment. Joshie talks casually about "relocating" the undesirables so that America's new investors could enjoy Manhattan as a HNWI spender's paradise. Lenny seems lost in this rapidly changing world, and is genuinely astonished when his building is taken over by a corporation to be torn down, supposedly because it is in a flood plain.

This novel is a bit different than I expected but I still enjoyed it. The romance between Lenny and Eunice is pretty simple and straightforward, but it speaks volumes about generational differences and how American culture is becoming fragmented and shallow. The two of them have barely anything in common, and their relationship is an analogy for the relationship between generations. Lenny is earnest and sweet; his narrative is told via his diary. Eunice's side of the story is told in her messages to her family and friends, so it is closer to how her generation communicates. The sad, negative vision of America is the main part of the story. We see the country transforming and falling apart, and Lenny's romance with Eunice is a small part of it. A-

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Time Traveler's Wife is a fantasy novel by Audrey Niffenegger in which the main character has a genetic condition that forces him to randomly pop back and forth in time. Only his body travels, leaving Henry De Tamble at the mercy of the elements and other people. But the time traveling is just a device to provide conflict in the relationship between Heny and his wife Clare, and suggest a metaphor for the distance between them.

Henry first meets Clare when he is 28 and she is 20, yet she has known him her whole life. Older versions of Henry have traveled to visit her since she was a little girl, so she is accustomed to his condition. But she must get used to him leaving her a spontaneous times instead of arriving at predestined times. The novel is filled with amusing and suspenseful scenes when Henry travels at inoppurtune times. The story is great as fantasy or science fiction, throwing the main characters into strange and exciting situations.

But the story also works on another level. Henry's disappearances make him an imperfect boyfriend or husband. His previous relationship was a spectacular failure due to Henry's behavior, not only his time traveling but his general unreliability. With Henry jumping back in time, we see his literal and metaphorical failings juxtaposed. The time travel is another dimension of Henry's problems with women.

The title says the story is not about Henry but about Clare. Growing up, Henry is the ideal boyfriend to Clare. She can imagine a bright future with him. When she finally meets him in the present everything is fine at first, but eventually she becomes dismayed at the reality of his condition. She worries every time he disappears. At the same time, she knows that he will return, for he has visited her from the future. That is, until later in the story, when the visits get fewer and the disappearances become more harrowing. Clare knows that each time Henry leaves it could be for the last time. The jumps become more dangerous, like when Henry appears inside a metal cage inside the library where he works. The cage haunts Henry because he know he will not be able to get out of it.

The book works on all its levels. It is a touching romance, a science fiction thriller, and literary blend of the two. The story moves from fresh novelty, to troubled middle, to a troubled end. It becomes more more haunting as the end nears, Henry's jumps become more dire, and his health degrades. But we have glimpses of the Clare's future to see some hope. A-

Freedom

Jonathan Franzen's Freedom was on a lot of 2010 best books lists. It is a complex novel about a simple story. The story at the core is a love triangle. The center of the triangle is Patty, a woman who is strongly attracted to the musician and womanizer Richard Katz. Richard doesn't feel much for Patty but he has strong admiration and affection for his roommate Walter Berglund. Walter has noble ideals and sees in Patty something that she doesn't recognize in herself. In many ways, Walter is in love with an ideal of Patty, or perhaps he sees who she could be. His desire for her is strong enough to pull her to him, but only after Richard rejects her (knowing of Walter's feelings).

Walter convinces Patty to marry him, and the three of them ease into a relationship. Richard spends most of his time in New York or New Jersey while the Berglunds create a family in Minnesota. Walter is hurt by Richard's long absences, but Patty understands. Walter builds a successful career and manages to improve his life over that of his parents.

One of the themes in the book is the mistakes that parents make and how we try to avoid those mistakes while making completely new ones. Patty felt ostracized by her family, to the point where she hardly had anything to do with them after marrying Walter. So she smothers her children with love and attention, especially their son Joey. But Patty feels betrayed when Joey gets involved with their teenage neighbor, because she resents the girl's parents. Joey rebels against his parents and becomes a Republican.

Walter was the victim of his abusive alcoholic father and his mother would would not stand up for herself or for him. This is crystallized in the lake house that his mother inherits and his father wants to sell in order to pay off debts. When Walter can't convince his parents to fix it up, he decides to move there himself for the summer and fix it up. However, he is betrayed when his useless older brother shows up with the news that their parents are letting him "rent" the house. Walter has to give him the house and the peace that he enjoyed there.

The house remains central to Walter's life as he fixes it up when the brother leaves. The pivotal section is when Richard spends a summer there fixing it up and writing songs. When Walter heads home and leaves Patty there with Richard, they are faced with their old emotions again.

The parents' relationship is mirrored by Joey, who treats his girlfriend Connie like crap even though she is completely devoted to him. Like Walter, Connie is completely devoted to the love of her life; like Patty, she is depressed. Joey is worse to Connie that Patty is to her husband; he sleeps with several women at college while stringing her along.

The novel dramatizes the characters in depth, even going back to Patty and Walter's grandparents to illustrate the personalities that affected them through the generations. The plot thickens with Walter's and Joey's jobs, with both of them facing moral crises at the same time. The tension builds when Richard visits to discuss working with Walter, Walter's assistant making her feelings clear, and Joey calling his father for ethical advice. Somehow it all comes together for Walter, and in a few days his life has changed dramatically. The reader can really sense Walter's love and pain. But at the same time we can feel Patty's longing for her true love, something more than the admiration she feels for Walter. Somehow all together, the three of them combine with the elements of a complete relationship. A-