A Hologram For the King by Dave Eggers

Dave Eggers has become one of the most popular writers of the last few years. Having not read any of his books I picked this, his most recent book, up at the library and gave it a go.

The premise of the book is the story of Alan Clay. Clay is a 54 year old career salesman who has fallen on hard times. From Jonathan Franzen to Dave Eggers and everyone in between it seems that there are no characters in modern American literature that are confident and well. Perhaps that is because the truth is that a full bodied success is not that interesting. We like are characters to be broken, it makes us feel better about ourselves.

Alan Clay has problems. He is divorced and his ex wife is the definition of a shrew. His daughter is at college and he loves her fiercely, wants to provide for, but he does not have enough money for her next semester's college tuition.

In an attempt to fix all this Alan has taken a job leading a consulting team to Saudi Arabia to, hopefully, gain a contract for Reliant, a technology company, to provide all things technological for a new city the King is building.

When Alan arrives in The Kingdom he is joined by a group of young workers who do not think too much of him. He knows that he gained the job mostly primarily due to a previous friendship with the King's nephew. Upon arriving in Jeddah Alan begins to meet a few people. A woman from Denmark who works in the company's offices at the new city, a Doctor who helps Alan deal with a ball sized growth at the top of his spine and most importantly a local named Yousef who becomes Alan's unofficial tour guide to all things Saudi.

As Alan and his compatriots attempt to get set up for the demonstration for the King, a demonstration that will happen when it happens with no warning of the King's arrival, nothing seems to go right. They have been placed in a tent outside the large office building which, when Alan takes a tour , seems to have more than enough room for them to be inside.

It seems that everything in Saudi Arabia is a mystery, nothing is as it seems and no one follows the rules. As Alan spends his days doing little more than waiting on the arrival of The King he reflects on his life, his marriage, his relationship with his daughter and his general feelings of incompetence in dealing with the world. As he becomes Yousef's friend and wingman he meets Yousef's father, sees his home village and even helps strangers build a cement wall. An act that of itself seems of little import but to Alan has overwhelming significance.

The turning point for Alan comes when he goes on wolf hunt with Yousef and some of his villagers from his hometown. The wolf is a menace a local farmers sheep and Alan, feeling thrilled to be part of a group, is sure he will be the one to bring it down.

Soon thereafter Alan arrives at work to discover that the King is on his way. The presentation is done and everything goes perfectly but Alan soon learns that in Saudi Arabia nothing is as it seems and in everything there are levels of the onion that you never know exist.

The book was good, one felt for the characters. Alan is likable and recognizable for many of us. I felt that the relationship that Alan has with his father is very easy to relate to. Alan's decisions in his corporate success have been symptomatic of the withering away and hollowing out of American business and as his father never fails to point out to him Alan and his companies planted the seeds of their own destruction when they attempted to make more and increasing profits by abandoning their principles and skilled labor. It is a a cautionary tale for any businesses that today send jobs overseas.

The ending is not perfect, one looking for a crisp and clean resolution will be disappointed. That said I plan to read more Eggers. His perspective is one I look forward to learning more about.

Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen has been one of, if not the most, popular fiction writers of the the past decade. Franzen has had two best sellers, first The Corrections and the more recent Freedom. I have read both books recently and found them both entertaining and well written but also bothersome.

Bothersome because I am not sure that any of the characters in Franzen's books are likable and it is tough to invest five or six hundred pages in a book with no characters one can identify with.

Franzen's most recent book is a small collection of essays. Some of them are very good but the book also contains a significant amount of literary criticism. First and foremost I must admit that I do not have a great predilection for criticism and I might well and in fact most likely do not know the ethics of the practice. Franzen for the most part writes essays on works he has enjoyed and wants to bring the public light to again such as The Man Who Loved Children. This cannot be criticized. For me I wonder though if a writer of two popular fiction books becomes immediately one who is best suited to offer advice and criticism on the work of other authors, notably classic authors. I simply am not sure. The problem I have with this is that Franzen writes very strong modern books but he does not, in my opinion, measure up with a classic author known for criticism such as John Updike. Presumptuous? I do not know the rules but from this layperson's opinion it would seem likely.

Yet when you get away from the essays and read a piece in the book which talks about his friend David Foster Wallace, actually the speech he gave at Wallace's funeral you see what an incredible writer and essayist he is. Another essay, the title essay, tells the story of Franzen's visiting the island thought to be the setting for Robinson Crusoe. Interestingly Franzen is here to spend time alone, to see a rare bird that he wishes to see, but his mind continues to visit his confusion and conflicted feelings over Wallace's suicide. Both are very moving and affecting.

An essay on the killing of songbird's in the Mediterranean is well written, with some surprising details and offers a thorough look at the passion with which Franzen has discovered and embraced bird watching.

A small story from his childhood called Our Little Planet is very well done, something I would be incredibly proud to write. The story delves into a return trip home after a vacation with family in Minnesota.

The highlight might well be a story called I Just Called to Say I Love You in which Franzen bemoans how often he goes into what is called Grampa mode , one in which he complains about modernism's. In his major complaint however he talks about cell phones, specifically the invasive nature of people's conversations with their loved ones that end in I love you. This allows him to visit his relationship with his parents and the non expressive nature of their relationship. It made me think of how expressive I am with my kids and wonder if indeed the overuse of the phrase I love you lessens it's impact. I am sure it does. It is a different world. My father might have never told me he loved me, yet I never doubt that he did, as much as he knew how.

All in all an interesting book, a very good author, if indeed one a little over full of himself.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

This 2010 novel by Jonathan Franzen was his long delayed follow up to his famously popular novel of 2001 The Corrections. For all the wait this book delivers. For me this book actually surpasses it's predecessor and hit home in ways for me that the fist book did not.

Franzen returns to the Midwest to the suburbs of Minnesota, suburbs that are fast becoming his known place and setting as much as Faulkner and Cheever traditional settings that appeared over and over.

The story centers around Walter and Patty Berglund a couple who has raised two children, and now as the children are almost grown see their marriage disintegrating. The book is told in several flashbacks and time settings.

Much of the book is told under the section heading " Mistakes Were Made" an autobiography written by Patty at the urging of her therapist. We learn of Patty's problems growing up, her escape from her emotionless family and her meeting both Walter her future husband and his best friend, the cool as a cucumber narcissitic futire rock star Richard Katz. Attacted to Richard and comfortable in the knowledge that Walter adores her she wiggles on the hook of both until she takes the easy route and marries Walter.

Walter is a good man. He is a feminist, a proto typical liberal in everyway. He rides a bike to work, even in snow, to reduce his carbon footprint. Despite these eccentries Walter is a genuinly good person. His displeasure with good old boys can be traced to his childhood and his being invisible to his father and older brothers, none of whom could Walter be described as being remotely like.

Richard is the man we all know. He treats women like objects. He runs from success like it compromises his vision of a struggling future. Richard and Patty share a passion for each other that is kept at bay until way too late. Richard and Patty also share a love for Walter and his inate goodness that makes their passion for each other shrink.

We also meet Jessica and Joey, the children of Patty and Walter. We see Walter's passion for the environemnt lead him into the employ of a wildlife orgainziation run by a rich oilman who plans to use mountaintop mining to pave the way for a wildlife preserve. Truth to say that Walter is conflicted.

In the end Walter is a hermit living at his family's secluded camp in upstate Minnesota watching himself be fenced in even here by development and the enemies of his beloved songbirds, doemstic cats.

Patty is in New York having effected a settlement of her feelings with her family and at the same time her father's estate.

This book is too wide ranging to describe easily. For me the relationship between Walter and his son and Walter's struggles to deal with his son's differences from him felt like I could have wrote it. One has to be happy in having those feelings seeing the eventual resolution of that heartache for Walter and his son. It gives one hope.

In the end this novel Freedom is about hope, and second chances, and third chances, getting what you want and finding out you really want what you had and didn't want. It is the story of the emotions we all feel.

This is a monumental book.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections was a 2001 book written by Jonathan Franzen that received rave reviews, multitudes of awards, and is often cited as the greatest work of fiction of the first decade of the new century.

Over the last week I have read this book and must admit that I enjoyed it, parts of it were extremely well written and affecting, and that the story itself was very strong. The story is also unsettling.

Albert Lambert is a retired Railroad Engineer. In his late seventies he now suffers from Parkinson's disease and dementia. As his personality and physicality crumble from what they were his wife Enid endures but suffers as well.

The books features a section on each character, in these sections we travel back and forth in time from the characters childhood through some of the their major life events. Interestingly some of the characters relate the same event through different viewpoints.

Alfred the patriarch of the Lambert family is dignified and correct. He also has been a bit tyrannical in his administration of his house. To me his character represents old America, perhaps even how I feel seeing the technology of cell phones, texting and constant engagement that I sometimes am shocked in seeing. His loyalty to his company, even after he is discarded, is typical of people from that era. His battle with dementia is uncomfortable to see. He keeps his shotgun handy and we pray he does not use it. He suffers with bathroom problems, enemas, and bladder control, adult diapers and conversations with illusory feces. He is a man breaking apart mentally and physically. Near the end of his ability to speak begging his son Chip to, in a moment of final clarity, help him end it he says I and we are told of all he wishes to say. He wishes he could say he is scared, he is in pain, he wants to die, he loves his family, he did his best. Al is a man who has come to the end of his sanity, his clarity, and in that final moment of clarity rages against the world whose rules he has tried to follow.

His wife Enid is a sympathetic character. Raised in the Depression she is constantly concerned about money and finds fault with her husband, her children and like many people we may know is a good person who is too caught up in appearances.

Oldest son Gary is the most unlikable character. A weak willed character he lives in Philadelphia. Rich beyond his dreams, with a wife and kids who have nothing good to say about his family, indeed ridiculing his parents and their Midwestern lifestyle one can sense he has given in so long when he attempts to be the man it is not taken seriously. Perhaps his attitude is explainable as his way to deal with the fear of what is taking place with his father. His desire to control, to make sense, leads to outbursts and cruelty to his parents that is tough to witness. His miserly hounding of his Mother for $4.46 tells much about his character.

Middle Son Chip has made many mistakes. Gaining a Doctorate he is teaching on tenure track at a small collage but in his last year before tenure he self destructs by having an affair with a student. Soon he is working on a screenplay, proofreading for a law firm, dressing too young and too cool for who he is, and placing studs in both ears. When this falls apart he is Lithuania being the marketing and computer muscle in a scheme to defraud investors, mostly American. For all that however Chip becomes a sympathetic character. His ability to understand and accept his father's frailties without judgement show why Alfred over the last year has called out for Chip before asking for anyone who was there. Alfred, losing traction on reality, knows who Chip is.

Lastly we have Denise the baby of the family. A woman of confused sexuality who has made multitudes of mistakes in relationships with both men and women is a Chef of very chic restaurants written up for reviews in the Times and other papers. She is however a wreck, having left her parents hometown of St Jude as long as possible she is haunted by her parents and their mundane lives in contrast to hers. Her discoveries of her father's knowledge of a mistake she committed years ago, known by him since it happened, but never discussed or the knowledge disclosed, feeds her guilt to new levels and fuels her desire to protect her Dad from her older brother's sanctimonious efforts to help.

HBO is currently at work in a series adaption of this book. It should be powerful viewing. It certainly was powerful reading. More like Updike than Cheever, two of the authors I have most seen him compared to Franzen is very very good. If a bit too modern for some of my tastes that is a reflection on me not him.

A book highly recommended.