Book Report

Old Men at Midnight is not one of Potok's masterworks. It was his last book before succumbing to brain cancer in 2002 and it feels a little like a last gasp. Rather than being one whole novel, it's three linked novellas. I don't mind that necessarily. I like separate but linked stories - it's a pleasure to see how they accumulate, how they relate. However, the linkages between The Ark Builder, The War Doctor, and The Trope Teacher are thin. The man at the center of each story meets Davida Dinn. She's a young, soon-to-be college student in the first, an ambitious grad student in the second, and an established, famous author in the third. The problem is, Davida serves only to allow these men to tell their stories. She doesn't really do anything. She's just the frame - and, as such, she's kind of superfluous. It's as though Potok had these three stories that were too short to publish on their own, too short to publish in a journal or magazine and said, "well, maybe if I connect them somehow..."

This is not to say it's a bad book. I enjoyed it and read through it quite quickly. "The War Doctor," in particular, is quite good. It's sort of like a slice of Doctor Zhivago as told from the side of the bad guys. All three stories borrow from some of Potok's earlier, more successful stories, particularly "The Ark Builder." That one centers on a young man who is a combination of Asher Lev and his Holocaust-survivor wife.

Seeing too much repetition from a writer in terms of subject matter is a little sad. I get the idea of wanting to explore a world, a set of characters, certain thematic concerns, etc. but, at the same time, I feel like - you've done it, you've been there. Move on. Orson Scott Card, the science fiction, did some really wonderful stuff in his career but, in the last several years, it's just seemed like all he can do is return to the same well over and over again. I'm sure these third and fourth generation stories that take place in the same universe as Ender's Game are okay but, after a while, who cares?

Anyway, Old Men At Midnight was worth reading but certainly isn't on par with Potok's earlier books.

P.S. But I still have a signed copy of it. Nyah nyah.

Spring

I know the first day of spring officially already happened. But for me, the actual first day is when it hits 70 degrees or above.

Guess what?

If the National Weather Service is on its game (and I have every confidence it is - they hire all the real rock star meteorologists, I've heard) tomorrow is the first day of spring here in Tonica, Illinois.

74 degrees tomorrow and, crazily enough, 81 the next day.

Yay for us.

In other news, as it turns out, watching Kate Gosselin try to ballroom dance is actually just as excruciating as it was to watch her parent. I kind of wanted her to be good on Dancing With The Stars. I don't know why - I really don't like her on any level. Maybe it's because I wanted to find something to like about her. Alas. She's super bad. It's embarrassing to watch.

Other thoughts? You bet. Buzz Aldrin? WTH? The man is a legitimate American hero. WHY is he on this show? I'm all in favor of the unexpected contestants but I also believe some people are just above it. Buzz Aldrin ought to be one of them.

Also, the girl from Pussycat Dolls? She's a professional dancer for crying out loud. Lord knows, no one likes that bunch because of their singing. Why is she on this show that is supposed to be for amateurs? She got two tens on the second week of competition when others are getting fours and fives. Doesn't that sort of suggest an imbalance of some sort?

Anyway, I have things to say about recent revelations on Lost but they will have to wait. The newest episode is starting in less than five minutes. Can't write and watch at the same time.

Meow Mix

It's not that I'm anti-pet. We had dogs, parakeets, turtles, Guinea pigs, and a cat when I was growing up. I loved them and enjoyed having them around. The Dennis Brown family's last two dogs - Lionel the poodle and Buck the doofus - are legendary among the brothers.

So our absence of pets in the Mark Brown family has not been because I don't like them. I do. The real reason I've been hesitant about pets is that I'm too much of a softie. I don't like the idea of becoming attached to something that I know will probably die before I will. I don't like loving something that can get run over in the street, you know?

We had a cat in Twin Falls - the infamous Jackie Joe Johnson, the world's most psychotic, angry, inexplicable cat. One moment, he was sweet and friendly and affectionate. The next moment, he had his fangs sunk into our couch, our comforter, our feet, our HEARTS!

Our relocation to Michigan necessitated Jackie going to live with a nice family in the country. (I am not kidding. I'm not speaking figuratively. We found a nice family that lived in Hagerman and they needed a cat.) Since then, we've been pet free except for a series of fish I killed with startling regularity in Westland. (I named them all after members of 80s hair bands - Tico Torres, CC DeVille, etc. Maybe that's why they died.)

Well, that's all changed. A lady in our ward is moving to Colorado and needed to find a good home for her mellow, three-year old cat. We figured it already had its shots, its neutering, training in being around a baby, etc. and so why not?

So now we have a large, jet-black, sort of intimidating cat named Charlie stalking around our house, sniffing everything, alternately coming to us for affection and then bolting off in fear. He seems pretty kind and good-natured so that's good. He hasn't started destroying anything yet so, for now, our tender hearts are intact. Wish us luck with the new addition to our little family. Mark, Suzy, Maryn, Avery, Parker, and now Charlie Brown.

Spring Break Levity

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Nerd

(Celebrity?)

If I ended up standing in line at McDonalds behind Brad Pitt, I'd probably be excited. I'd tell friends and use the story at parties. If I shook Barack Obama's hand at a rally or something, I'd think of it as a big deal. I'm as interested in celebrity culture as the next kid raised on Entertainment Tonight.

However, for me, the people that I consider "famous" are writers. If I stood in line at McDonalds behind Kurt Vonnegut (which would be something considering the fact that he's dead), I'd be freaking out. If I got to shake Jeff Smith's hand or Brian K. Vaughan, I'd consider it a huge, huge deal. Because I'm a nerd.

When I attended the National Undergraduate Literature Conference at Weber State the first time as a college student, I went around for weeks telling people I met the 1993 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. The Pulitzer freaking Prize!

Later, when I met Norman Mailer and Tess Gallagher and Robert Hass and Alan Cheuse and Alice Sebold and Glenn David Gold and Antonya Nelson and Chitra Divakaruni and whoever else, I just felt fancy. Unless you're an English major, you probably haven't heard of half of the names I just named - but to me they were celebrities!

Even when some no-name, random poet would pass through Pocatello or Boise, I was always excited to go to their reading and buy their book just because - they were writers! They had written a book that someone had published! It all just seemed so glamorous to me.

So anyway, imagine my pleasure when, while browsing the cruddy selection of books at the Goodwill in Bloomington earlier today, I came across a signed, hardcover copy of Chaim Potok's Old Men at Midnight. Now, I'd never even heard of this book of his - but his Asher Lev books, The Chosen, and Zebra are among my very favorite in the universe. I love his work and was sad when I found out he'd passed away in 2002. I was sad because I knew he wouldn't be writing any more books for me to fall in love with. So to come across his signature (I assume it's his, the copy had one of those Barnes and Noble "Signed Copy" stickers on the dust jacket) in a book for a dollar twenty five was just sort of too good to be true. I'm excited to read it and my day was made a little bit brighter with this small, nerdy brush with fame.


(Celebrity!)

So here's a roll call question for you: who would you most like to find yourself standing next to in the line at McDonalds?