#218 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Friday December 10)
Good morning,
BOOK TIME—THE SUCCESSORS TO GREAT BOOKS
We all are familiar with the idea that “the sequel is rarely as good as the original,” when discussing movies. With books, where the stakes might not be as high, that also can be true. In the past year I have been anticipating the next book by a great writer whose prior book was outstanding. Here’s a list and where I stand on each:
James McBride, with Deacon King Kong following up on National Board Award winner The Good Lord Bird. While the Good Lord was the greater, Deacon King Kong did not disappoint.
Amor Towles, The Lincoln Highway, following up on The Gentleman in Moscow. It’s hard to follow a nearly-perfectly constructed book as The Gentleman in Moscow. Towles nonetheless does a great job of bringing post-war America to life through the picaresque travels of young boys released (or in certain instances escaped) from a juvenile facility, following the historic Lincoln Highway east to New York City and, ultimately, back west toward San Francisco and new lives. It is a very different book and different style, a similar page-turner. Great in its own way.
Colson Whitehead, The Harlem Shuffle. How does one follow up on the the National Book Award and Pulitzer winning Underground Railroad and the Pulitzer winning Nickel Boys? Very well is the answer. I actually felt that The Harlem Shuffle was the great follow-up to Underground Railroad. Nickel Boys was an “afterthought” that drove Whitehead to write about the tragic story of boys’ reform schools after he learned of their legacy. That he was able to squeeze in Nickel Boys in-between two carefully imagined and executed books that were planned out well in advance is a tribute to his brilliance.
Anthony Doerr, following the Pulitzer winning All the Light We Cannot See with Cloud Cuckooland. Here he is discussing the two books and their eventual adaptations:
. I have just begun Cloud Cuckooland. Early indications are that I will not finish this book. While interesting, its flipping around among characters, story-lines and centuries is too smart by half.
Lionel Shriver, Should We Stay or Should We Go? as a follow-up to The Mandibles. The Mandibles offered a study in post-apocalyptic fiction that is based upon no aliens, no disease and no massive planet-wide calamity. It is about the decline of the United States resulting from economic ruin. The sequel is a contemplation of mortality and whether it ever makes sense to “end it all.” With a simple premise that an otherwise rational and healthy couple would choose a date in the future to end their lives, this book explores the build-up to the “known” end and offering multiple possible scenarios under which their earlier desires interact with their growing dread, changes of heart, the idea of endless life, and the onslaught of science.
Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven follows up with The Glass Hotel. Read both. You’ll thank me.
THE COMING DISASTER—THE PREVIEW STORY
While we’re discussing sequels, let’s remember that there is a sequel coming our way soon, as the Trump machine prepares not to make the mistakes it made last time in securing a coup. This was not a riot, not a protest, and certainly not spontaneous. With death threats, pipe bombs at other locations, weapons and zip-ties, this is a precursor to the next election and political violence that is coming:
https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/10/hbo-four-hours-at-the-capitol-january-6-documentary-review/620464/?utm_source=facebook&utm_term=2021-10-22T16%3A15%3A39&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_medium=social&utm_content=edit-promo&fbclid=IwAR0N6bFQHSnAJh4bILAGy0fgG8eDvUL2OBvt6wOyOAeBJ7Erv_ptnKQ9stU
Have a great day,
Glenn
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