10-03-14:Lawrence Wright 'Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David'
Suspension of Belief
Lawrence Wright does something rather amazing in his latest work of non-fiction, 'Thirteen Days in September: Carter, Begin, and Sadat at Camp David.' We all know how the talks ended; this has been the most enduring peace treaty in the Middle East.
But as we read Wright's tense re-telling of what happened, hour by hour, day by day, he manages to make us suspend our belief that we know what happened because we are so immersed in the story, as told from the perceptions of those who had no idea how it would all turn out.
The origin of the book might give a clue as to why it is so immersive. In the afterword, Wright tells his readers that he was originally approached to write a play, and he did. But in crafting the play, he found so much rich material, he found so much rich material, he knew he had to write a book, and the result is an amazing, informative, tense historical thriller.
What we take for granted now — peace between Israel and Egypt — seemed outlandish in 1978, and none of the men who accomplished it seemed adequate for the task. But Wright's story is bigger than the talks themselves; he weaves in the careers of each of the men and the longer story of the Middle Easter conflict, from Biblical times to the present. If this sounds like a big project, in other hands that might be the case. But Wright proves to expertly economical. He keeps you on the edge of your seat in part by bringing in the back-story only when it informs what is happening in the talks.
Driving the book are the three men at the center; Carter, Begin and Sadat. We're used to a smiling Jimmy Carter these days, but that's not the man we see in this book. He's alternately optimistic, furious, micro-managing and desperate. He'd expected that Sadat and Begin would meet, get to know and like one another and then intelligently discuss and discover a way to peace. That was his wildest bit of optimism. Begin and Sadat hated one another, and they were soon either shouting or making plans to leave.
Begin is revealed as a man with the gift to move audiences with his rhetoric — to move a nation. But Begin himself was not so willing to move and his intransigence threatened the talks from the beginning. He had nothing to lose if they failed. And while he was a man who spoke with great passion to the masses, as a negotiator, his inclination was to nitpick his counterparts into submission.
Sadat had already made the grand gesture before the talks, coming to Israel and speaking to the Knesset. He presumed that begin would be willing to make concessions and offered a plan that Begin couldn't possibly agree to.
Both men were accompanied by fascinating group of negotiators, from the Israeli war hero Moshe Day to Boutros Boutros Ghali, then Egypt's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. Though he is dealing with a huge cast of complicated characters, Wright makes every one shine and stand out. His ability to craft these men in a manner that readers can easily and enjoyably track is a key point of the book.
Wright's handle on the history behind this history is concise and encyclopedic. Whether he's talking about Biblical history or the creation of Israel after World War II, he knows how to keep everything in focus, in proportion and on point to contribute to the narrative at hand. 'Thirteen Days' is a great pocket history of the Middle East conflict that is as pertinent to this moment as it is to the 1978 peace talks.
And for all that this is a serious book about serious history, Wright has a knack for finding and evoking the peculiar political humor of these situations. You'll meet Sadat's astrologer and see Moshe Dayan in a beatnik wig. Carter's outbursts of frustration, Barbara Walter's bathroom stunt and more offer a well-rounded picture of modern diplomacy at its awkward, absurd best.
The main draw of 'Thirteen Days' is not just that it offers a gripping portrait of a vitally important event. Peace treaties, as Wright observes, are not common, and this one was created by men who at the time seemed uniquely unsuited to do so. But as you read 'Thirteen Days', your mind will be caught in the present. Every word, every sentence has meanings and implication for what is transpiring at this moment, across the entire Middle East. Suspend what you believe to be possible. This tense and gripping story about then, we come to realize, might quite easily become a gripping story about now.
09-30-14:Rebecca Alexander Will 'Not Fade Away'
A Memoir of Senses Lost and Found
We live much of our lives by happenstance. Only in retrospect are we able to see the decisions we make, and their outcomes. As readers, we can look to the lives of others for examples, for information and even for inspiration upon which to base our decisions.
It's easy enough to offer information, but crafting inspiration requires that the writer create an emotional connection with the reader. There's a paradox at the heart of this; the writer must be vulnerable and flawed and then overcome those flaws without disowning them.
In 'Not Fade Away,' Alexander makes a fateful decision as a writer. She tells us the unvarnished story of her life, putting her flaws up front. She was an insecure child, prone to jealousy, lies and even stealing. She had the making of an outstanding athlete but was a bit clumsy, a problem which became worse. Her siblings were smart, fast, and good-looking. By including a raw, unsympathetic vision of herself as a child, Alexander crafts herself as a character we can like because she is flawed in ways for which she is culpable. She's imperfect, like most of us, and she's also very funny.
From a very young age Rebecca's sight was not all it should be. Night vision was never her strong suit. Early on, she was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. But when her tinnitus kicked in, so loud that made it difficult for her to hear other sounds, her return visit to the doctor added a layer to inspire despair; the diagnosis of the quite rare Usher Syndrome Type III.
'Not Fade Away' starts with nineteen year-old Rebecca Alexander in a doctor's office in Michigan, where she learns that she suffers from Usher Syndrome III. By the age of thirty, she was told, she'd very likely be both blind and deaf. Shortly afterwards, after a night of teenaged drinking, she fell out of a second story window and broke almost every bone in her body.
But by now we, as readers, know Rebecca Alexander as someone who fights against what she is told. And her fight against her disease, the natural result of what had heretofore been seen as a fault, becomes authentically inspiring as a result. 'Not Fade Away' is a book that, as you read it, will make you appreciate the most taken-for-granted aspects of your life. Immersed in Alexander's unwillingness to give up, readers will find a ne and valuable perspective.
'Not Fade Away' unfolds as a series of nested stories, ricocheting back and forth between episodes in her life. Alexander's story is the stuff of epics, of someone fighting inner and outer demons, meeting bad luck with a bad attitude, sometimes to her good fortune, and other times bringing on disasters that challenge those she'd inherited from her Ashkenazi ancestors.
In a book about and overcoming self-imposed adversity, humor is a key ally for the writer who hopes to engage the reader, and Alexander's story and prose are often quite funny, greatly helped by her salty language. This requires a pretty delicate touch. If there's too much, it can seem jokey and heavy-handed. But Alexander knows when to play it straight and when to simply play. The upshot is that it's a fun book to read as well as being authentically inspiring.
'Not Fade Away' has a bit of information about the medicine, but not so much as to be overwhelming. Alexander let us know the basics, but keeps her human focus. She keeps her anecdotes short, and can effortlessly pull off poignant. Her markers of the "the last tie I heard" and "the last time I saw" have a simple clarity. And she explores her technological decisions (implants, etc) with an honesty that is never defensive. If you think that you're not the kind of person who cannot be inspired by another person's true story, then 'Not Fade Away' is the perfect way to find out just how wrong you might be. That in itself is a valuable life lesson. Shockingly, it seems that we, as readers, might have to learn to be, even that we can be, inspired.
New to the Agony Column
09-18-15: Commentary : William T. Vollman Amidst 'The Dying Grass' : An Epic Exploration of Simultaneity
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with William T. Vollman : "...a lot of long words that in our language are sentences..."
09-05-15: Commentary : Susan Casey Listens to 'Voices in the Ocean' : Science, Empathy and Self
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Susan Casey : "...the reporting for this book was emotionally difficult at times..."
08-21-15: Agony Column Podcast News Report : Senator Claire McCaskill is 'Plenty Ladylike' : Internalizing Determination to Overcome Sexism [Incudes Time to Read EP 211: Claire McCaskill, Plenty Ladylike, plus A 2015 Interview with Senator Claire McCaskill]
Agony Column Podcast News Report : Emily Schultz Unleashes 'The Blondes' : A Cure by Color [Incudes Time to Read EP 210: Emily Schultz, The Blondes, plus A 2015 Interview with Emily Schultz]
07-05-15: Commentary : Dr. Michael Gazzaniga Tells Tales from Both Sides of the Brain : A Life in Neuroscience Reveals the Life of Science
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Michael Gazzaniga : "We made the first observation and BAM there was the disconnection effect..."
04-21-15: Commentary : Kazuo Ishiguro Unearths 'The Buried Giant' : The Mist of Myth and Memory
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Kazuo Ishiguro : ".... by the time I was writing this novel, the lines between what was fantasy and what was real had blurred for me..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report : A 2015 Interview with Marc Goodman : "...every physical object around us is being transformed, one way or another, into an information technology..."
Agony Column Podcast News Report UPDATE: Time to Read Episode 199: Marc Goodman : Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It
