Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabakov

The story opens with the main character, Cincinattus, receiving his death sentence and then returning to his prison cell. One very important thing that no one tells Cincinattus is when he is scheduled to die. Through a good portion of the novel he is trying to acquire this piece of information while being subjected to absurd, theatrical behavior of those around him such as the prison guard, prison director and a fellow prisoner. Furthermore, they continuously scold him and shoot him dirty looks for being apathetic towards their services.

This novel has a very dream-like element reflecting the absurdity of those around Cincinattus, ultimately a metaphor for society. Everyone knows what is happening, even what day Cincinattus is due to be beheaded, but they don’t let him in on it.

A very powerful scene that shows someone with some kind of understanding of Cinncinatus’s character is when his mother comes to visit him. Although he categorizes her with everyone else, in a world made of “tarbrush time”, she attempts to make sense of him unlike the other characters. Seeing her son in his prison cell she makes an apt connection to a toy from her childhood,

“Well, you would have a crazy mirror like that and whole collection of different nonnons, absolutely absurd objects, shapeless, mottles, pockmarked, knobby things, like some kind of fossils – but the mirror which completely distorted ordinary objects, no you see got real food, that is, when you placed one of these incomprehensible, monstrous objects so that it was reflected in the incomprehensible, monstrous mirrors, a marvelous thing happened… everything was restored, everything was fine, and the shapeless speckledness became in the mirror a wonderful, sensible image” (pg 105).

It is clear that Cinncinatus is one of these “absurd objects” but when put in front of a crazy mirror, he becomes a “sensible image”. His mother recognizes that there is beauty in her son. But she doesn’t see it, nor does she let him know when his execution will take place, so in Cinncinatus’s head she is no better than anyone else.

For such heavy material, this book is read at a quick pace. Things move quickly and everything is dreamlike. At one point, when they are whisking Cinncinatus away to his execution they clear out his cell as if it were a stage. Everything turns out to be a prop, even the little spider that kept Cinncinatus company. At one point, I had to put the book down because I reached a point where the psychological twists and turns were too upsetting. Oddly enough, I have done this with a book before, Lolita, also by Nabakov. No matter how disturbing it can be, it is a worthwhile read. Nabakov successfully takes his readers to another world, unknown to us and makes it completely realistic.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America by Barbara Ehrenreich

Over the years, a teacher that I once had and now have the pleasure of working with has repeatedly recommended this book to me. She explained that it is written by a woman who takes low-wage paying jobs in different States to come to a better understanding of how the poor scrape by through life. Although I thought it was a clever idea I didn’t jump at the opportunity to read this book until recently I thought, if she has recommended it to me so often, I’ll probably like it!

I did enjoy the read very much. For one, I find the subject relevant to today’s society. While her book is concerned with only three states: Florida, Maine and Minnesota there is a consistent pattern that I think extends beyond the U.S. and throughout the Western world (we all know that working conditions are far worse in some other regions). It is clear that Ehrenreich and I are on the same page on many social issues such as poverty, racism and rights in the work place. I found myself in full agreement with just about everything she says but I was also quite shocked at some of her observations, some jobs sounding like borderline slavery. Furthermore, it is really does help put the reader in the shoes of people who depend on such work for a living. Even if you pride yourself on being understanding towards those who serve you in restaurants, hotels, retail, etc. you still don’t know how much they go through and how rewarding a customer’s kindness can really be.

Generally, I’m more drawn to literary texts which is probably what kept me from reading this book. However, Ehrenreich’s voice reminded me a lot of Joan Didion’s, one of my favorite female writers. Both writers have a feminine voice but there is that sincerity which keeps the voice from becoming strictly feminine alienating male readers. Also, Ehrenreich takes on some pretty grimy jobs where some things she describes have no room for femininity. For example, she goes into detail about the different kinds of shit she had to clean off toilets as a cleaning lady in Maine.

If you are looking for a quick and interesting reading, maybe you want to take a break from all that heavy duty literary shit you often find yourself reading, this is a nice, intelligent break!