Review: Witness

 


Whittaker Chambers was an American communist and Soviet spy who broke with the Communist Party in 1938 and later denounced the other members of his underground cell to the House Un-American Activities Committee and a New York grand jury. His testimony eventually lead to the 1950 perjury conviction of Alger Hiss and launched a decades-long battle between the Left and Right over which man was the real villain. The controversy seems to have petered out, at least in the mainstream, since both the US Russia released formerly-classified Cold War records identifying Hiss as a Soviet agent.

In 1952, Chambers published Witness, his autobiography and apologia. Starting with his childhood, Chambers explains his attraction to communism, his involvement in the communist movement in America – first in the open party as an organizer and writer for the Daily Worker, later in the underground – how his growing Christian faith lead to his break from the party, and how his Quaker principles lead to his testimony against his former fellow-travelers.

Chambers spent ten years as a writer and editor for Time Magazine, so he knew how to wield a pen. His story is organized, his arguments persuasive, and his writing is moving, sometimes even beautiful. The drawback is that Chambers took his serious subject seriously – there is not a glimmer of humor in the whole 800 pages. Still, it is an amazing story and much of it reads like a spy thriller, well, an egg-heady spy thriller. 

Witness isn't a quick or easy read, but as a first-hand account of a fascinating episode in American history, it is worth the effort. Christopher Caldwell summed it up well when describing the book:

Confession, history, potboiler -- by a man who writes like the literary giant we would know him as, had not Communism got him first.

OTHER REVIEWS

Cindy Simpson for American Thinker (2010)
Brothers Judd (2001)

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Witness is on the National Review list of Top 100 Non-Fiction Books of the 20th Century.  It counts for several of my 2012 challenges: Chunkster, Tea & Books, Mt. TBR, Off the Shelf, TBR Pile, and Memorable Memoirs.

Review: Mr. Sammler's Planet

 

There's a reason why Mr. Sammler's Planet doesn't spring first to mind when making a list of favorite or best known Saul Bellow novels. People tend to mention The Adventures of Augie March, Herzog, Seize the Day, or Henderson the Rain King, but not Mr. Sammler's Planet, even though it won the National Book Award in 1971.

Mr. Sammler's Planet is not an easy novel, either to read or review. It has a typical Bellow plot, simple, funny, and shaggy, and a typical Bellow collection of wonderful, overblown characters. Here, Artur Sammler is an elderly, one-eyed Holocaust survivor and former minor member of London's Bloomsbury Set, living in Manhattan on the largesse of a nostalgic nephew, under the haphazard housekeeping care of a loony daughter and a couple of nieces, and attracting the attention of screwball hucksters, an Indian professor with theories of colonizing the moon, and a sharply dressed pickpocket with a peculiar method of intimidation.

But, also typical of Bellow's books, it is a novel of ideas – in this case dense and unrelenting ideas about the degradation of social mores, the philosophical underpinnings of human suffering, and the existence of God. That's a lot to get through in 285 pages.  And it is difficult to know how Sammler's ideas fit together or where they end up.  As the 1970 New York Times review noted:

There is something appealingly elegiac about Sammler. The book is not only his swan song, but civilization's as we once knew it. With his minutely articulated ideas as his only tools, Sammler is something like a watchmaker tinkering with the huge and faulty mechanism of modern life. And though he may not succeed in putting it back in working order, it is both moving and instructive to see him try.

Dedicated Bellow fans may end up adding Mr. Sammler's Planet to their personal list of Bellow's best, but newcomers may want to start with one of his more accessible books.

OTHER REVIEWS

Commentary Magazine (1970)
New York Times (1970)

If you would like your review of this book listed here, please leave a comment with a link and I will add it.

NOTES

Mr. Sammler's Planet counts as one of my National Book Award choices for the 2012 Battle of the Prizes, American Version.   With this one, I've now completed the challenge. Woo hoo!

It also counts for the Mt. TBR and Off the Shelf challenges, the TBR Pile challenge, and my "sky" choice for the What's in a Name challenge. 

Teaser Tuesday: Swan Peak

He was standing at the far end of the bar, knocking back shots from a bottle of Jack Daniel's, chasing it with a can of Bud. The customers who come back into the club were avoiding him, and so was the bartender.

-- Swan Peak by James Lee Burke. Sounds like Dave Robicheaux's buddy, Clete Purcell, is heading for trouble. Again.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event. 

Mailbox Monday

Thanks for joining me for Mailbox Monday! MM was created by Marcia, who graciously hosted it for a long, long time, before turning it into a touring event (details here).

The team at 5 Minutes for Books is hosting in August.  Please stop by this eclectic group blog to find dozens of reviews and several giveaways.

A new LibraryThing Early Reviewer book showed up last week:




Meat Eater: Adventures From the Life of an American Hunter by Steven Rinella.  I asked for this one because it sounds fascinating.  Rinella's essays look at the role of hunters in American history and argues that hunting is "one of the most ethically responsible things a carnivore can do."  I can't say I'm ready to start shooting my own food, but he may have a point.

The author grew up in Michigan, so as a big Jim Harrison fan, I am looking forward to seeing if this non-fiction overlaps with Harrison's hunting themes. 

Author Interview: Michael Murphy

Michael Murphy is an Arizona author with eight novels under his belt. He loves deserts, mountains, lakes and Arizona's "wacky politics"; raises urban chickens; and tries to weave humor through the stories he tells.

Murphy's newest book, Goodby Emily, is the roadtrip adventure of a middle-aged professor and his two buddies going back to Woodstock to scatter his wife's ashes where they had met decades before.

Goodby Emily is available for pre-order now and is scheduled for release in January.  But since this is the anniversary week of the original Woodstock festival, it seems like a good time to interview the author!

How did you come to write Goodbye, Emily?

I wanted to write a novel that realistically portrays people Baby Boomers in a realistic manner, funny, sexually active and optimistic about the future. Each of the main characters has problems to address, but they maintain an idealism rooted in the roadtrip they took to Woodstock. Sure there’s sex, drugs and rock and roll, but mostly it’s a tender look back to sixties.

Do you have a personal connection with Woodstock? What led you to write a novel centered on returning to Woodstock?

I worked with a woman named Louise Castro for ten years. I never knew she’d attended Woodstock until her last day at work after she’d come down with cancer. I wrote the novel for Louise.

How much of your novel is based on true, historical events? 

About a third of the novel is told in flashback to Woodstock, the music, the mud—I’ve apparently painted a realistic portrayal as two Woodstock icons, Country Joe McDonald and Wavy Gravy read advance copies and loved it! Joe said:

Michael Murphy's novel, Goodbye Emily is an entertaining and poignant adventure. Well written and easy to read. The book revisits the Woodstock Music Festival through the minds and lives of several men who were there and plan to return to the original site. All characters have their own reasons for the journey but it is easy for anyone of that generation to identify with them and their struggle to deal with present and the past. A very enjoyable and timely and fun read. It is a great book but would also make one hell of a great movie.

Wavy said, “What we have in mind is a sweet look back at the good old days. We must have been in heaven, man.”

What did you learn from writing your book – either about the subject of the book or the writing process – that most surprised you? 

Surprisingly, perhaps, it wasn’t about Woodstock. I learned a lot about Broken Heart Syndrome, an actual medical condition that one of my characters is dealing with. The medical term is stress cardiomyopathy that often leads to death after one has dealt with a tragic loss in their life. The other thing I learned a great deal about was Alzheimers.

What is the most valuable advice you’ve been given as an author? 

Enjoy the ride. We often get involved in marketing and promoting our books (that’s work) and forget about the joy of portraying a world we created. I advise other writers not to neglect the work of selling their books, but never forget why you became a writer.

What do you do to promote your books? Do you use social networking sites or other internet resources?

Social networking is important. I’m active on Facebook and Twitter and I started a Goodbye Emily blog that will focus on different Woodstock performers and where they are now. I also teach novel writing workshops with my mentor Toby Heathcotte called You Too Can Write a Novel.

Do you have any events coming up to promote your book? 

Goodbye Emily was written about and for Baby Boomers, so I wrote a recent where-are-they-now? article for a Boomer magazine, Boomer Café. I’m focusing on putting together a list of book reviewers who attended Woodstock and hopefully a few more performers. And as the release date draws near, I’ll begin a blog tour.

Who are your three (or four or five) favorite authors? Is your own writing influenced by who you read? 

My favorite author is Nelson DeMille. I try to emulate his humor in my writing. I love Dennis Lehane for his characterizations and Dean Koontz for his ability to visually capture scenes.

THANKS MICHAEL! And good luck with your new book!