AJ Dunn Reads

  The Things They Carried By Tim O'Brien   This book was excellent, the writing superb and affecting. On the surface, and at the beginning, the story tells us about the physical things the grunts in Vietnam carried, their weapons, ammunition, supplies, and personal items. Then the story delves into the deeper emotional things they carried. Tim O'Brien recounts his experiences with the members of his platoon and specific stories that circle back and fold into one another. His own story about the man he killed are constant refrains woven into the narrative of the other stories. The different personalities of the young men in the platoon are extremely interesting. Some seem to enjoy the war, while others are horrified by what they see and do. Some can't handle the way it has changed them when it's over. The stories themselves are engrossing, but it's the writing that elevates them. This is the only book I've read by O'Brien, but I find his style to be moving an

  Gerald's Game By Stephen King   If this had been a short story, it would have worked better for me. Gerald's Game is about a woman named Jessie who is at a remote cabin on the off-season with her husband Gerald who can only get it up now if he shackles Jessie to the headboard with handcuffs. Jessie is fed up with these sex games and when she tells Gerald she doesn't want to do it anymore and to uncuff her, and he refuses, Jessie kicks him and gives him a heart attack. This, of course, leaves her shackled to the bed with no means of freeing herself with her husband dead on the floor. While she's stuck and trying to devise a way to free herself, Jessie is confronted by the voices in her head (people from her past, people she has imagined) with an incident that happened with her father during an eclipse when she was little. Recalling these memories she has been repressing makes her think about her father, Gerald, and herself in different ways. She was always a meek pers

  The Power of One By Bryce Courtenay   I thought this book would be about something entirely different based on what I read on the back cover. Peekay is an English boy growing up in South Africa during the end of World War II and the apartheid. When very young he is bullied at school to the point where he learns to close himself off from others, but he meets a few people who give him lasting life advice. The main person being a welterweight boxer who tells him to think with his head before thinking with his heart. As he grows he has the goal of being a world welterweight boxing champion and that driving goal drives the decisions he makes. Peekay is extremely intelligent beyond his years and is doted on by teachers outside of his schooling, but he also becomes the project of a German pianist named Doc. Peekay grows up around racism and benefits from apartheid, though he makes friends with several Africans throughout his life, and is a more liberal thinker than most of the people that s

  Eileen By Ottessa Moshfegh Eileen is a 24-year-old living with her alcoholic father in a run-down hoarder house, and working at a youth prison where she spends her time fantasizing about a guard named Randy in between her tedious duties. She has no friends, is taunted by her coworkers, emotionally abused by her father, abandoned by her mother, and has a terrible self-image.  Eileen gets through the world by pretending to wear a disinterested mask, while her inner life is fraught with judgements about herself and everyone she meets. She dreams of running away from it all and becoming a new person. When a new employee named Rebecca comes to work at the prison, Eileen finds a new obsession. Rebecca pays attention to Eileen and makes her feel like she actually has a friend for the first time in her life. Rebecca takes an interest in the story of one of the young boy prisoners and learns the boy's story, which she believes, telling Eileen that the boy's crime of killing his father

  Much Ado About Nothing By William Shakespeare   This is a play about misunderstandings and also about love. Hero is set to be married to Claudio, but two others decide to set her up as a wanton so the marriage will not happen. It works, but the set-up is uncovered and they end up marrying. The side plot of Hero's lady Beatrice who is constantly picking on Benedick, and vice versa, is the better story. The two are set up in a different way by Hero and her maidservant. The bickering and jibes back and forth between Beatrice and Benedick are fun and funny. I liked the play a lot. I think Shakespeare's comedies might be preferable to his tragedies for me.

  My Brilliant Friend By Elena Ferrante The first book in the Neapolitan Quartet. This begins the story of Elena and Lila as they grow up on the streets of Naples, where the two become friends as little girls in the 1950s amidst a world that is changing. Elena idolizes Lila and looks up to her, even though she knows Lila is sometimes mean. Yet, the girl is sure of herself and everyone admires her, despite the fact that Elena outdoes her in educational attainment and (as she cites) her maturing faster than Lila. The story is a coming of age that is full of misogyny and competition, where the girls both help each other to get along and work against each other in little ways that force them to better themselves. We learn about the several families in their circle, as well as the importance of how you look to others. As neighbors do, they gossip and talk behind each others' backs, but they also help each other when necessary. I can't say I loved it, but I'm curious to see where