50 Book Blog: Reviews 1 & 2

For those unaware, this year I pledged to read 50 books as my literary New Year's resolution. I'm on target so far, having read two and finishing my third today or tomorrow (depending on whether I watch the new Terminator show on Fox tonight, which looks kinda dope). So here is my quick-and-dirty assessment of the first two of fifty in 2008.

THE BLIND SIDE, by Michael Lewis

I picked this one up because my brother, Mike, was quoted in the "More Praise" section after writing a short review in an early 2007 edition of my former literary venture, Void Magazine. He said The Blind Side was "a brilliant investigation of what determines success in American football and, separately, American society." I agree in part, though I know my brother was extrapolating from Lewis' observations his own beliefs about our culture. The story is pretty straightforward: unhumanly large kid from the ghetto part of Memphis draws the attention of an incredibly well-off white family, who adopt him and create a star athlete and good-enough student out of him. Michael Oher, the 350-pound left tackle prospect, then gets the attention of every college football program and recruiter in the country thanks to his new family's high profile. Without their help, Lewis makes it clear that Michael Oher was likely to become a criminal, drug addict, gang banger, or some other form of American reject.

In spite of such scathing (though nevertheless accurate) conclusions, I found it to be (if this is at all possible) a very objective indictment of American inequality, and an exploration of how great an effect football has on both the rich and poor in our country. Lewis does a good job illustrating the circumstances and letting the reader draw his own conclusions -- meanwhile doing so in vivid and compelling prose. On top of all that, I learned a ton about football, which is typically of little interest to me.

WAITING, by Ha Jin

This is, hands-down, the most dubious winner of a National Book Award I've ever encountered. It reads like it was very poorly translated from its original Chinese -- the kicker is that it was written in English. Comparisons to Hemingway abound in the praise, but are few and far between in the actual writing. No doubt a linguistic minimalist, Jin lacks the kinetic and hard-hitting prose of Big Papa. Further, the story is down-right boring and none of the characters were compelling enough to keep my attention very long. I apologize for having not much to say about this book, but the only impact it really had on me was to create further doubt in my mind as to the relevance of book accolades like the NBA.

Coming up in a few weeks: Johnny Mad Dog by Emmanuel Dongala, and Print is Dead: Books in Our Digital Age by Jeff Gomez. If I can get back in touch with him, an interview with the latter author will follow. If you have more suggestions for my 50 in 2008, please feel free to comment below.