book review – Ariel Sheen

Review of A Wizard of Earthsea

I’d first read Ursula K. LeGuin’s book The Dispossessed several years ago. Though I loved the book, I’d departed from my normal habit – once I’d find an author I like I read all their books – as I’ve never wholly resonated with fantasy literature. Despite my reservations and with some encouragement, I decided to read A Wizard of Earthsea.

The novella is in its essence a variant of the hero’s tale as described by Joseph Campbell as well as a journey story. Le Guin, however, expands upon Campbell’s model by making ingenuity and erudition as components of a heroes’ development. I resonate with this as despite its fantastical setting these are indeed the components required for modern heroes. Super strength, agility and other such brute qualities may make up the majority of the “hero” tales of Hollywood cinema, but such an emphasis in cultural production ignores the greater life conditions win by hard and social scientists.

The plot itself is rather simple. A “special” young boy, who earns the nickname Sparrowhawk, attracts the attention of an older, wiser magician following his use of a simple spell to save his village from invaders. He goes off for training due to a number of “innate qualities” that only the older magician is able to see and despite that latter’s reservations (Star Wars?). After a major accident that disfigures him and kills another, he adopts a new humility and gains a new sense of responsibility (Spiderman?).

This simple distillation of plot, however, ignores the imaginative descriptions of the various places and peoples that live on the archipelago of the Earthsea. Part of my aversion to fantasy in general was the supernatural elements – as I prefer social realism and science fiction – however the magical framework that Le Guin describes has an aura of basic plausibility to it that makes it easy to suspend my normally incredulous disbelief in the bizarre and paranormal.

One of the components that I enjoyed of the book was the good use of foreshadowing. Long before the main confrontation I’d figured out the symbolic meaning behind the evil that Ged had unleashed. Even prior to that specific incident there are many moments where the narrator make a brief assessment of Ged’s potentially problematic characteristics. Once the significance is revealed the prior instances of struggle – between Ged and a dragon, between Ged and another magician under the influence of a devious Old Power – take on more clearly moralistic characteristics that echo other instances of temptation.

I’d read in several reviews of Le Guin’s work that her dragons represent a meaningful divergence and complication of their normal depiction in literature. As I only read one brief exchange between man and dragon here and as I deeply enjoyed the story, the setting and the characters I am now interested in reading the rest of the saga.

Review of Billy Bathgate

E. L. Doctorow’s novel Billy Bathgate is a first person point of view account of a 15 year-old Bronx boy who has been raised by his mother as his father abandoned him. Set in the 1930s, Billy is distinguished from his peers by his cleverness and daring. While juggling one day, a metaphor for his dexterity and speed both physically and mentally, he comes to the attention of the most notorious local gangsters, Mr. Schultz, who is known colloquially as The Dutchman. Billy’s receipt of ten dollars for his skills starts him on a path away from his childhood friends into that gang soon even becomes Mr. Schultz’s protégé. Billy’s fondness for the criminal syndicate that he soon enters is clearly linked to his upbringing in grinding poverty, his lack of father and feelings of distinction from those in his neighborhood.

One of the things that I enjoyed about the book was the manner in which the narrator, Billy, is able to express a complexity of thought that is unlikely for him to have without it seeming unrealistic. It makes for more compelling introspective monologues and makes the other characters increasing reliance upon a child seem more believable. While this is part of his carriage as a character – someone smarter and more able than other – he is not some untouchable character on a wholly upward ascent. It is there, in those moments when Billy’s ego is hurt that allows him access to the greatest insight. He sees what’s going on as an outsider, a child not yet fully involved in the decision making apparatus that he’s attached himself, yet also as an insider for he has greater access to what’s going on than most. This tension is both a sort of anxiety for him and, in the end, a source of security.

If I were to give the book a feminist reading I’d say that the relationships that Billy and the other male characters have with women all fit into the category of plain objectification. But I would also qualify this as endemic to the time and complicated by a variety of circumstances. For instance Drew, the lover of Bo, Mr. Schultz and later Billy, presents a complicated case requiring more depth of analysis. While she does seem to be the typical rich party girl in the mix with the wrong crowd, she is also able to exercise a large degree of autonomy and prescience over her situation. Thus she knows that at times she is in danger, she still continues to stay amongst them out of an affected, privileged boredom until her position there is no longer tenable. Billy’s mother, in contrast, suffers from some mental derangement, is largely absent once he begins this new life and then is someone that needs to be taken care of rather than is able to take care of Billy. The brief “love” between an adolescent prostitute and Billy also bolsters this notion of women as objects but also is complicated enough so as to blur any clear classification.

One of the more interesting aspects of the novel to me is that as I’ve just finished writing my novel’s first part on Jesse, I see so many overlapping plot elements within our two works. Now there’s a number of major differences and the stylistic elements between my and Doctorow’s work is great – but I’m still amused by this. I think in a way it has to do with something that is propounded by Otto Berman in the book. When he is speaking with Billy he tells him how all the number in the books that he has with information related to Dutch Schultz’s various illegal doings could be thrown up into the air and then come back down on the page and tell a whole other story. I’m dealing with many of the same variables so there’s really only a limited number of ways that the interactions can come together. Additionally, that this story can be considered literature while having many of the same elements that I have in mine, though admittedly not in as graphic detail as I use, gives me premature hope against imagined future detractors.

Review of "The Five Love Languages"

The general content of Gary Chapman’s book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts is easily summarized. Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch are the five ways that people are able to perceive the love of their partner. The presence or absence of these acts within the love relationship will determine whether the emotions evoked from the daily exchanges are good or bad. A repeated metaphor that Chapman uses is that of the gasoline tank. Having a full tank means that one is filled from one’s partner expressing love in the manner that they expressed they preferred to their partner while a low tank means there is no expression of love whatsoever or they are expressing it in a manner that is not aligned with their partners wishes. This is a very important distinction not only as it determines the quality of the love relationship, but the entire perspective of each party involved. Writing on the wider effects of this love tank, Chapman writes on page 37:

“When your spouse’s emotional love tank is full and he feels secure in your love, the whole world looks bright and your spouse will move out to reach his highest potential in life. But when the love tank is empty and he feels used but not loved, the whole world looks dark and he will likely never reach his potential for good in the world.”

As such a powerful determinant of our perception of reality, Chapman strongly encourages his readers to become more fluent in their understanding of their own desires and the desires of their partner so as to increase their capacity for and ease in obtaining peace of mind and happiness. If psychologist William James is correct is stating that the deepest human need is that for appreciation – these are the means of expressing that appreciation.

In order to better do this Chapman distinguishes between being “in love”, which he says is more aptly classified as limerence, and loving someone. The feeling of being “in love” is a more or less temporary madness that other research has likened to a period of intense intoxication due to the mind-body’s ready release of various pleasurable neurotransmitters. Being “in love” is a dangerous state of being as it is one of almost total fixation that will cause someone to pay no heed to work, school other aspects of life. Research tell us that this feeling, however, lasts at most a mere two years and it is only with the practice of these interpersonal exchanges that it can grow to a love that it more mature and rewarding as it is predicated on choice.

Chapman’s valorization of choice moves beyond this into his description of the first love language, Words of Affirmation. This is not just to give encouragement, but to also bring attention to the manner in which we comprehend the relationship and share that understanding with our partner. For instance, by bringing in the option of choice in exchanges, ie. “Could you please..?” instead of demands “I want you to…” a sense of autonomy is emphasized that allows for agency to develop. He further emphasizes the power of words as it relates to the role of forgiveness. He states that we can either chose to be Judges, and thus gradually disrupt and destroy the relationship, or Forgivers. Once Judgment is kept a permanent distance is created. Emphasizing the power of it’s opposite he states: “The best thing we can do with the failures of the past is to let them be history… Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a commitment. It is a choice to show mercy, not to hold the offense up against the offender. Forgiveness is an expression of love” (47).

Chapman is clear that there is often more than one love language present spoken by our partner and that we must be open to listening to what it is that they say they want rather than expressing to them what it is that we want or what it is that we have learned that we are supposed to do based upon our familiar upbringing or cultural messages. Failing to be aware of them is, in essence, to fail the relationship as true love liberates and lacking such a mutually beneficial dynamic then it does not meet this standard.

Throughout the book, Chapman provides anecdotes based upon his counseling practice on how people’s increased ability to read their partner’s needs for Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receiving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch and giving it to them radically changed their relationship. The application of them, as the stories included by Chapman shows, is not always easy as a partner may be running on an empty tank and thus slow to register improvement – but over a long enough period the committed person is always able to accomplish their goal. Minor changes in inter-personal exchange can result in major changes for both the individuals and the relationship. There are plenty of short thought experiments in the form of questions directed at the reader to help them realize how it is to better obtain this knowledge about one’s relationship and they are in a format that does not break up the pacing of the book. For these and many other reasons I can foresee myself heartily recommending this book in my private practice to couples in search of counseling.