First, can anyone recommend which book to read by Henry James?
The Soccer War is repeatedly described by its author as "less than a plan of a book." He won't even call it the "beginning of a book" and this sheds light on its strange form: it is more like cliff notes to a life (a life that is similar to Robert Capa's). Mr. Kapuscinksi was a journalist from Poland who focused on colonialism in Africa and Latin America. The chapters have nothing to do with one another other than that they snippets from one man's life. This man faces execution by rebels, scorpion stings to the face, and even being burned alive for the lack of 10 dollars, so the book is pretty hardcore. Unfortunately, a narrative never evolves from the book as a whole.
What it does: It takes you inside the life of a foreign correspondent during the 1940s-1970s. This correspondent seems to have a death wish, which is exciting. It also gives an insider perspective into Africa and Mexico, with a lot of semi-informative stuff on the development of the Congo and Ghana.
However, unless you adore living vicariously through a foreign correspondent or learning very narrow aspects of the history of these places, I wouldn't read this book.
---------Mattie
If memory serves, there's a great scene with a city floating away in that book.
ReplyDeleteThe Emperor is a great Kapuscinski book, if you wanted to give him another go (and if you haven't read it already).
Re: James, I'm currently reading The Bostonians, which I'm enjoying. The only other I've read is Portrait of a Lady, which I paid less attention to than I should have, but I liked it, and there is one amazing scene that is burned in my memory.
Yo S,
ReplyDeleteI heard that Kapuscinski verges on the magical, but he keeps it pretty clean in The Soccer War. More exaggeration than imagination, I think. The Emperor sounds cool.
Thanks for the James suggestion! In Bostonians vs. Portrait, who wins?----Mattie
I can't say, not having finished Bostonians, but aren't all his novels the same?
ReplyDeleteI kid, sort of. They're both about a young American woman who has people trying to coopt her, so they basically are the same, with slightly altered surrounding situations.