Book Review: House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

Long listed for the 2023 Booker, The House of Doors is a novel that tries to do a lot of things, and mostly succeeds in doing them well. It is a tragic tale of colonial society in Malaysia, with a dash of true crime and a side helping of if literary fan fiction based on the life of Somerset Maugham.  The Guardian calls it a “morality play,” but I think that phrase is too reductive.  Morality plays tend to be flat and call for a particular conclusion.  The House of Doors offers the reader many options and shades of gray among the morality or lack thereof in its characters.

The House of Doors asks a lot of difficult questions without directing the reader to answers.  Tan’s cast arrive at different conclusions with varying degrees of success, but because they are ultimately human, with human frailties, the reader will empathize and identify with them, riding the wave of the story to see what happens.

The setting is historical, with a dual timeline, one in the 1910s, and another in 1921, with a frame in the 1940s.  Told in alternating POV from Lesley and “Willie” (Maugham), Tan has shown great care in managing to portray the attitudes of the time period without alienating the modern reader. The members of colonial society are not to be forgiven so much as understood for their flaws.  The reader is by turns horrified and fascinated by the lives of Tan’s characters.

The novel is, as one would expect in a Booker nominee, beautifully written.  It will make the reader think about society, colonialism, and questions of identity long after they close the book.  One thing it does not do is hit the reader between the eyes with Inequality! Unfairness! Colonialism!  The story lets the reader peek behind the curtain and see inequality, unfairness, and colonialism for themselves.  No preaching required.

Book Review: The Dutch House

Ann Patchett is a member of American literary royalty, so I am probably not going to say anything surprising in this review.  I recently listened to The Dutch House in preparation for recording a podcast episode.  I will admit that it started a little slow.  However, since it was read by Tom Hanks, I stuck with it, and I am glad I did.

Books that are more literary, typically require more commitment and more engagement than your average genre fiction, and this is true for The Dutch House. The story starts when the protagonist is a child and moves fluidly through the timeline of his life, sometimes in childhood, sometimes in adulthood, without a lot of explanation or transition.  As a structure, it is challenging.  But it also pays off, because by seeing Danny’s life from various vantage points, Patchett is able to reveal and hide information about Danny, Maeve, their father, and especially their mother in such a way as to keep the tension high in this quiet novel.  There are no explosions, no kidnappings, no action sequences—this is the story of a dysfunctional, but loveable family.  The reader immediately feels empathy for Danny and Maeve, and this bond, though tested, stays strong for the length of the novel. 

The emotional connection is what separates this story and elevates it—well that and the beautiful writing. Because the reader cares so much what will happen to these two characters, they keep turning the pages, or in my case listening to Tom Hanks read.  It is a moving story that will leave the reader with some unanswered questions, another hallmark of literary fiction.  Nothing is really tied up in a bow, but the story and the characters will stay with you.  You will be thinking about The inhabitants of The Dutch House long after you close the book.

If you are looking for a book to enjoy for beauty and emotional connection, give this one a try.

Book Review: Miss Austen by Gill Hornby

I approach Austen fan fiction cautiously.  Sometimes it is quite good, but there are many cringeworthy examples out there.  Happily for readers, Miss Austen takes a more original turn than most. 

Hornby imagines a possible answer to a question that tortures the Austen aficionado… “Why did Cassandra burn the letters?”  Okay, I am assuming she did, when it is not actually known for a fact that Cassandra burned them, but the conventional wisdom in Austen circles is that Cassandra did away with the letters to protect her sister’s reputation.  No one knows for sure what was in them, but based on her surviving letters, there may have been some biting humor which could have been viewed as “unladylike” at best.  It is endlessly fascinating to muse about, but I digress.

In Hornby’s novel, the reader gets a possible answer to the question along with some backstory on Cassandra’s own life and loves. There have been several fictionalized biographies/novels about famous writers’ helpmates in the last few years (The Paris Wife, Zelda, The Other Einstein to name just a few) and this novel falls easily into that category.  There is nothing unexpected here, but it is satisfying in the way a comfortable sweater and a good cup of tea are.  If you are an Austen fan looking for a fun read, why not? Don’t expect to be surprised, but do expect to have your heartstrings pulled a few times.

Not quite a guilty pleasure, but not earth shattering either. Enjoy it with your tea. 

What Beethoven has to do with writing…

Not too long ago, I was able to attend a live performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony here in Tallinn.  Full disclosure, I have sung this opus many times as part of a chorus and it never gets old!  It is joyful, it is uplifting, it is a transcendent experience, each and every time.

This time, I was a member of the audience.  I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, because the performance was masterful. The tempo was a little faster than usual (and it usually has a pretty quick tempo) and the players were smooth and professional.  The singers, especially the Baritone soloist, were fantastic!

Here’s what I noticed.  In music, just like in writing, there are  themes.  These are bits of melody or leit motivs that reappear throughout a work. There is an inciting incident, it’s called the first movement! There are  complications/variations on the themes which build until almost a climax, but then the music goes back and begins again building on the theme.  Just like subplots, all the sections are working to complicate and support the main theme/plot.  And just when you think you’ve reached the high point, you haven’t until finally after you can almost not stand the tension anymore—there is a resolution at the end and you are a satisfied listener (or reader).

Next time you are writing, consider putting on some Beethoven, and think about how you can keep that tension flowing, use themes subtly, and bring the reader to the edge of the high point before building the rising action again. Give them a satisfying resolution only after making them suffer (in a good way!) through the rising stakes and reversals for your main character. Vary the tempo (pacing) to keep them interested the whole way through.

How is Group Coaching Different to a Critique Group?

Are there too many voices in your head? 

Lots of writers are members of critique groups, and they can be extremely helpful.  If you listen to interviews with authors, or sometimes read the acknowledgements in the front of a book, you will see plenty of evidence that when a critique group works well, it can be gold.

But, the truth is that they don’t always work well for a variety of reasons. 

Here are a few comments I’ve heard from writers:

  • They give contradictory advice—different members of the group focus on different things, and they don’t always agree, so it gets confusing.
  • They give advice that isn’t helpful—even great writers are sometimes at a loss to explain how they do what they do. They may think that the focus needs to be on language, but early in the drafting process the focus needs to be on writing a basic draft, AKA Draft 0, so that you have something to work with. Correcting your grammar isn’t helpful until the very last step of the revision process.
  • They only see snippets at a time and never have the whole plot for your novel in their head, so they tell you to do things that won’t work in the plot of your novel, or that a character wouldn’t do. Or they try to get you to fix non-existent problems or throw in extra stuff that doesn’t need to be there.
  • They encourage you to rewrite the opening for the 500th time.  Just don’t.  I will tell you a secret…it will probably change by the time you get to the end and you will rewrite it anyway, so move on and stop trying to perfect the opening before you have a completed draft.

If you’ve experienced any of these, or maybe something else, send me a message, I would love to hear from you.  

If you are interested in discussing a small group coaching experience, schedule a chat.  Even if your critique group is wonderful, you might want more to make real progress on your novel.

New Podcast Episode: The Book Thief

Take a listen to hear Terry and I discuss the novel. Here are some discussion questions to use in your own Book Group.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How did the narrator change the way this story was told?
  2. Did knowing which people were going to die make it less interesting?  Why or why not?
  3. Who was the hero of the tale? Why?
  4. If you were going to write the plot in a paragraph, what would it say?
  5. What message did you take from the book?  How did that message come through?