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Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation is the book you wait for.
By any standard, reading for pleasure is an exciting business. You have so many options in front of you: do you want to delve back into an old favorite, challenge yourself with a classic you could never quite get through in school, expand your understanding of a specific writer, maybe kick back with something breezy and light? That all of those things can be equally valid quite literally thrills me to no end.
But what thrills me the most is what lies in the unexpected. When you pick up a book you have little to no foreknowledge of, and it grabs you by surprise, and enthralls you from beginning to end. The type of book you don’t just want to share, but feel the need to share; a book that is a sudden imperative for everyone to stop what they’re doing and just get absorbed. Bill Bryson did it to me when I
read A Short History of Nearly Everything, and made me somehow care about science. It happened when I read Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, and was so overcome by its style and substance I wrote a whole novel inspired by it. And now here comes Assassination Vacation, for which hyperbole doesn’t quite cover it.Am I interested in history? Some. For me, it needs to be delivered in a certain way for me to really dig it. Usually that way is in a series of bulleted factoids that I can easily absorb and discard at will. How about US presidents? Well, I did a report on Jimmy Carter once, whose only salient point I can now recall was that Carter used to grow peanuts. Even the whole assassination angle kind of stopped at my late-teens obsession with the Kennedy shooting, when JFK came out and made conspiracy theorists of all of us.
So why did I even pick up Assassination Vacation? Mainly because I had some extra money at the bookstore that day and I’d heard it was good. Also, the author was the voice of Violet in The Incredibles, and sometimes that’s reason enough.
The reason for liking it is even simpler: Sarah Vowell is obsessed with her subject, and she wants you to be obsessed with it, too. It never comes across as a history project because Vowell is so giddily in love with what she’s doing. Assassination Vacation is to presidential murder what Word Freak was to Scrabble, what Mr. Know-It-All was to the Encyclopedia Britannica, what Crossworld was to crossword puzzles. Because it is the uncommon author who decides to write, headlong, about the thing which interests them the most (and because it is the even more uncommon author who does it so well that the reader is as compelled as they), a book like this is rare indeed.
It’s easy to be fascinated by Abraham Lincoln, and the circumstances surrounding his death. It’s a lot harder to be into Garfield or McKinley, but Vowell manages to make both they and their assassins thrilling to read about. Did you know that McKinley’s assassin, Charles Guiteau, belonged to a weird sex-cult until he got too crazy for even them? Did you know that Garfield would have much rather just stayed at home and read than be President? Did you know that Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln was connected in one way or the other with each of these first three presidential assassinations (the nickname Vowell gives him near the end of the book made me actually laugh out loud; you’ll have to read it to find it, because there’s no way I’m spoiling that moment for anyone else.) I didn’t know any of those things either, and coming away from Assassination Vacation, I can say that I’m glad I know them now.
Are there quibbles? Sure. Occasionally – and I do mean occasionally – Vowell tends to let her own politics get in the way of the prose. That’s not to say that politics doesn’t have a place in this book; quite the opposite, in fact. But it’s the tone that changes whenever she wants to drive home a point about the current administration: you’re freewheeling in history with her, soaking up her information in her almost-conversational style … and then wham, she compares the past to something in the present, and her voice grows smug and sarcastic. Takes you right out of the rhythm. Now, I’m all for illustrating the old adage that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. But because it is my opinion that everyone should read this book – from far-left Democrats to conservative Republicans – showing rather than telling might have been a better tactic.
Still, I cannot recommend this book enough. To paraphrase Roger Ebert, it doesn’t matter what the book is about, it’s how it’s about it. My favorite type of nonfiction is the type where the author is so excited about a subject, he or she just can’t wait to write it all down and share it with you. Assassination Vacation was that book for me, and it’s one of my favorite books of the year.
Back to what has become an unexpected pleasure of mine as my Year of Reading hits its halfway mark: the graphic novel du jour this month isn’t a novel at all, per se (not that any of the trade paperbacks I’ve read this year truly count as graphic novels; every one of them has been a collection, more than anything, usually five or six chapters of a much larger epic. Probably I should refer to them as trades, but that’s kind of misleading, as that’s what they call the “quality paperback” size of prose novels. So, for want of a better term: graphic novels. Gotta love em.)
My friend Dave gave me Common Grounds for Christmas a couple years back, and because I’m
currently having fun perusing all this stuff I own but haven’t read, I picked it up one day. Here’s the basic premise: Common Grounds is a donut and coffee shop chain throughout the country that services the superhuman community – both heroes and villains. At any time of day or night, you can wander in and see good guys, bad guys, and in-between guys shoulder-to-shoulder, knocking back cups of coffee and gulping down fresh-baked pastries. That’s pretty much it. But that’s like saying that Batman is simply the story of a rich guy with hang-ups who’s sad because his parents are dead. Common Grounds is awesome.Dave suspected I’d like it because I’ve long been about taking the classic tropes of superheroes and finding new ways to tell stories about them. That’s why Astro City has gotten me so fired up. It’s superheroes, good guys versus bad guys … with just enough twist to make everything seem completely fresh.
There’s a story about arch-enemies sitting in bathroom stalls next to each other, just talking to each other about their respective careers on both sides of the law. There’s a story – nominated for an Eisner! – about giant radioactive monsters from the past who decide that they don’t necessarily need to be giant radioactive monsters anymore. There’s a character nicknamed the Acidic Jew who, believe it or not, features in a terrific, subtle story. My favorite, though, is the story of a woman without any superpowers at all … but the man holding her hostage doesn’t know that.
The only real problem with Common Grounds is that it’s too short. It’s unfortunately not an ongoing comic – at least, not yet – so until there’s a new venture into this world, we’ll have to be content with these thirteen short stories.
And now, with fanfare, we come to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Not only is this the final Harry Potter novel, but it represents a personal milestone for me, as well: this was my fiftieth book of the year.
When I started out in January, promising myself to read fifty books this year, I had the slightest twinge of doubt. See, I haven’t read fifty books in a year in, well, any year. At least not since I was ten and read fifty books for the MS Read-a-Thon, and got a gold medal. Some may look at my list this year and say, “Well, hey, that’s not really fair. A good amount of those books are graphic novels. Or, you know, trades. Or whatever.”
Perhaps, but keep in mind that I’ve been reading graphic novels every year since 2002, and still I wasn’t coming anywhere close to fifty. So this is a big deal personally – I strove for a goal and I met it head-on … with still half a year to go. And I’m so glad I met my achievement with Deathly Hallows in my hands.
Did I line up and wait for the book at midnight? Did my partner come with me and get an orange wristband, signifying our place in line? Did my friend Jay show up at 11:30, as excited to delve into the book as we were, the three of us talking giddily about the series until the countdown began? Oh my God, yes.
I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in a record four-day stretch, the shortest time it’s ever taken me to read a book 700+ pages long. Part of it was that I wanted to avoid spoilers if I could (four days is also the longest time I ever remained voluntarily away from the internet; another personal victory for me). But part of it was simply the implacable pull of the narrative drive. Nearly all the other books in the series require a lengthy setup before the real meat of the book starts. Not this one; it hits the ground running and barely stops to take a breath.
I’m not really giving anything away when I say that something I’ve been waiting to happen for since book one finally happened in the second chapter of book seven. I’ve never, ever been a fan of absolute characters, preferring shades of gray in my mix. I was glad that one character in particular finally got a chance to show those shades, and early on.
From there, though, the niceties stop. Deaths pile on almost at once … and, boy, do they just keep piling. Some shock – the first major death was a weird, out-of-left-field moment I could scarcely believe. Some happen frustratingly off-screen, so that chapters later, one still wonders if the person’s still alive or not. And some, like the one smack-dab in the middle of the book, are so unbelievably painful to read, it’s hard to imagine kids even getting through this.
The structure of the book is interesting: it starts out very strong, and ends with two hundred pages of J.K. Rowling’s best writing … but there’s a portion in the middle that simply dragged. The problem with complaining about this is that that might kind of be the point. If the characters are lost and frustrated and confused, might it not make sense that the reader be, as well? This slow portion doesn’t threaten the book, really. By the time you run into it, the momentum is built so strongly that it doesn’t really bog the reading down. It’s frustrating but it’s not deadly.
I also found the solutions within occasionally convenient, calling to mind some of the easy plot-fixes in earlier fantasy books for children like A Wrinkle in Time … but I didn’t come away feeling as if I’d been cheated. No, in the end, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows accomplishes what it set out to do, what the entire series set out to do: it tells the story of a boy who becomes a man, with a little help from his friends. That’s all I ever really needed from it.
You might have noticed that I’ve only read three books this month. Don’t let that fool you! In my desire to have my favorite novel, It, be book #50, I did some juggling this month, and came up a little short. Right after Assassination Vacation, I started Steinbeck’s Winter of Our Discontent. Then, when I knew my replacement copy of It was coming in the mail, I put down Steinbeck and rushed through Common Grounds. I had thought I’d be done with It before Deathly Hallows came out, but alas, it was not to be. And none of this makes any sense at all to you, does it? That’s okay. Just know that
I’m starting August with two half-finished books, and then we’ll move on from there.
July was my birthday month, and I got a heck of a lot of new stuff to read. Let the second fifty begin!
Comments
I can say hands down Sarah Vowell is my favorite writer now.
It was SUCH a strong end to the series, I really have to give her kudos on that. And you're totally right - the last 200 pages were SO well-written. Especially That One Chapter before the last two (I think). Just, wow, JKR. Way to step up to the plate.
Fifty books! That is damn impressive! \o/
I'm curious about what you found to be convenient plot fixes in both DH and Wrinkle in Time (though I may have a fuzzy memory on the latter...I did read it in 5th grade!), because I kind of thought a few of them were as well, and am curious to discuss :)
I also was thrown off by the gigantic religious overtones, which I'd never picked up on when I was a kid.
Did that happen? See I know he showed up again but yeah, fuzzy memory on how that came about.
Well, "liked" isn't the right word. "Didn't mind" is perhaps a better way to phrase it.
Still, I wasn't moved by the death.
Don't know what it is.
Somewhere...
Strangely, this does not apply to episodic television or cheesy movies.
However, I can't seem to flip past Beverly Hills Cop Any# or Princess Bride without watching.
that's EXACTLY it. Honestly, the book would have been better off without all of the recent political stuff - it took away from the flow of it and was, honestly, unnecessary, making it about HER, personally, instead of about her and Lincoln, McKinley, and Garfield, you know?
yay for reading! yay for books! yay for pictures (the only one that looks as though you are ACTUALLY reading in it is the HP one - is that accurate?).
I'm glad you enjoyed "Common Grounds." The only reason I bought the trade for myself was one of the stories was drawn by George Perez(one of the best comic book artist---ever!!!!!) and I really liked the stories and concept behind the book. I thought it would make a good read for you because, like "Astro City" -or even "Invincible" on "Walking Dead"- it exists in its own universe and isn't weighed down by continuity. The stories stand on their own.
Kind of like "Preacher" or "The Masked Man." (hint...hint)
By the way, did you read Shawn's Astro City trades because I think I gave him the first one of two trades for Christmas a few years ago.