'The Garden of Last Days' Examines Evil Within

It took me a week to read Andre Dubus III's latest novel, The Garden of Last Days. For me, this is a lot of time to invest in one book -- normally I read two or three in that time frame. I found that The Garden of Last Days required my complete attention. It was a complex novel, full of side plots and deep characterizations. Was it worth the 500+ pages and the week it took to complete? While some reviews I have read would differ, I would say it was. It was interesting throughout its entirety, and even if some of the prose felt heavy and long, Dubus weaves a fanstastic story.

In The Garden of Last Days, Florida stripper April (stage name Spring) brings her toddler daughter to work with her after her landlady/babysitter winds up in the hospital. Also in the Puma Club that night is middle-eastern Bassam, one of the 9/11 hijackers. He has seen April before, and he pays large sums of money on this particular night to spend one-on-one time with her in the Champagne Room. As April dances for Bassam, her daughter goes missing. While the police and April's coworkers rush to find tiny Franny, other subplots abound. Dubus gives readers background information on all of the book's characters (important and not-so): April, Bassam, Lonnie the bouncer, Jean the widowed landlady, and Puma Club regular AJ, among others.

While Dubus is talented in his writing skills (for one thing, he writes each section in language that pertains to the character the section focuses on), there are too many tangents in the novel. It is difficult to remain concerned for April and her daughter while also feeling empathy for AJ's estranged wife and mother, Lonnie's broken dreams, and Jean's feelings of loss and loneliness. However, the short time period (primarily a Friday through a Monday, with some epilogue chapters several years later) heightens the sense of mystery surrounding Franny's disappearance and Bassam's plan for jihad. There were times I felt like skipping through long flashbacks to Bassam's muslim childhood or AJ's mother's memories. However, all in all, Dubus kept my attention. His characters are genuine -- you feel sympathy for them at the same time that you are cringing at their mistakes. This is not the blockbuster that House of Sand and Fog was, but it was both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Dubus reading an excerpt from the novel:

Sometimes I Fall Asleep While Reading...

Just thought I'd share a funny picture of myself, still holding a book in bed, but fast asleep. As you can see, reading before I go to sleep is something I do each and every night. From the time my dad brought home a robin's egg blue, clip-on reading lamp and the Carolyn Keene/ Nancy Drew book Trouble in Tahiti (published in January of 1991 -- I was 9 years old!), I've been an avid before-bed reader. Usually I read until my eyelids are heavy (and this is never a page-or-two occurrence -- it takes me an hour or more of reading to get sleepy). However, on this particular night I obviously couldn't hold my eyes open to lay down the book and turn off the light.

What is keeping me up nights these days, you might ask? Andre Dubus III's The Garden of Last Days. I'll save conversation about the novel for after I've finished it, but suffice to say it's holding my attention.

Some Quiet, Quality Library Time

I ran to the library today... Returned all those cookbooks (which I didn't make ANYTHING out of -- they had some good recipes, but the last couple of weeks I've done very little cooking). I also returned a novel or two that I started and didn't enjoy. I love new choices, though, and I checked out several that I have high hopes for. Among them:

• Kitchen Express: 404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes You Can Make in 20 Minutes or Less by Mark Bittman -- I know, I know. Another cookbook. This one is really neat, though, because all of the recipes are not really recipes. They are written in easy-to-read, conversational paragraph form. May be a bit difficult to go without an ingredient list, but I like the way the recipes read, as though Bittman is in my kitchen teaching me new techniques.
• The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly -- I've put off finishing the last three books in the Michael Connelly library, simply because I didn't want my reading of him to be over! I hate when I finish every book a particular author has read and then I have to wait until they write something new. Some of those writers are so darn slow! Then again, I don't think I'd be quite as happy with the end result if they hurried through (think Danielle Steel or other prolific but terrible authors). But now I've taken the dive, so I give myself a week or so to finish all of his books. (I've already read 80 pages into this one!)
• The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III -- I finally read his House of Sand and Fog years after it was written and the movie came out. It was wonderful in its true emotion and grit. I'm looking forward to this one which just came out last year.
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver -- Have you noticed a trend in my memoir/ nonfiction reading lately? I've been consumed by foodie writings... Well, you only live once. You've got to go with what you know (and like) sometimes.
• Wishin' and Hopin': A Christmas Story by Wally Lamb -- Lamb doesn't seem like the type to write a just-in-time-for-Christmas novel. He's only written three novels over a 15-or-so-year career. In other words, he's not popping off a new novel every 3-6 months to make millions. Nevertheless, this does have the words "Christmas" and "story" in the title... Even though I'm not big on seasonal books, I'm diving straight in because I have absolutely no qualms about reading anything at all written by Lamb. It'll be fabulous, and I'll let you know that it was after it's completed!

Happy reading!