Review: The Bee-Loud Glade by Steve Himmer

The Bee-Loud Glade
Steve Himmer
224 pages
Atticus Books
Published April 4, 2011



I had some serious misconceptions about this book.  The start of the blurb mentioned that the main character of the book worked for a corporation as some kind of marketing blogger that maintained a dozen or more online identities, all aimed at promoting a certain brand of artificial plant.  I didn't read the rest of the blurb, I got myself a copy because I thought that sounded amazing.

The Bee-Loud Glade is really about a guy named Finch that loses his corporate job and gives up on life.  When he's offered a job by the super-rich Mr. Crane to become an ornamental hermit in Crane's garden, he jumps at the offer.

"Hermits, Mr. Finch.  Any respectable estate had a hermit in residence on the grounds. Visible from the windows, in the background as estate holders and their guests strolled the lawn, that sort of thing. Usually for a term of seven years, subject to evaluation, of course.  How does seven years sound to you, Mr. Finch?"
How did it sound?  I didn't know - it sounded perfect, and it sounded absurd, and it sounded like an elaborate practical joke in which I'd been ensnared. So I just asked, "As a hermit?

The rest of the book is concerned with Finch's life in Mr. Crane's garden.  Finch is given an uncomfortable tunic, a cave in which he can sleep and seek shelter, and three meals a day.  He must take a vow of silence, stop cutting his hair and shaving his beard, and cease bathing.  Mr. Crane occasionally gives him instructions or inserts objects in his life.  Finch is instructed to paint, to sit in trees, to meditate, to keep a small garden.  He is given a wooden flute until it is taken away and then given back.  A river is installed.

Yes, a river.  Installed.

There's a certain amount of absurdity in The Bee-Loud Glade, but it fits so cleanly into the world that Steve Himmer has built that it's easy to be like Finch and just go with the flow.  There's very little spoken dialog and most of the novel is made up of Finch's internal dialog.

When I had gotten through about a quarter of the novel I started to become concerned about how this hermit story was going to hold my attention for another 150 pages.  I had nothing to be worried about because Himmer is up to something here.  The Bee-Loud Glade isn't just a silly story about a hermit, but it's about being alone, religion, the absurdity of money and power, the nature of work, the distortion of fame, and the impossibility of true independence.  With all of those big ideas, Himmer never gets preachy.  He allows Finch naturally grow from a sad, gray little man to a man at peace with life and his surroundings.

The Bee-Loud Glade is Steve Himmer's first novel and I hope there will be many more to come.  The writing is light and fun and while full of ideas, it never feels like he's beating you over the head.  The ideas are not unique, but the way in which they are presented is fresh and with a dash of humor.  I really enjoyed The Bee-Loud Glade and I'm looking forward to seeing what Steve Himmer does next.



Book Source: NetGalley

Bonus Links!

• Steve Himmer's Website
• Atticus Books (publisher)
• Steve Himmer on Twitter

What I'm Reading

I have been a reading multi-tasker recently.  This is a new thing for me since I typically read only one book at a time, but since I've got books in a variety of formats, I've switched up my reading habits.  So here's a look at what I'm currently reading and a sneak peak of some upcoming reviews.

Carry the One
Carol Anshaw
I've already mentioned this book once and now that I'm a bit over a hundred pages into it, I can confirm that it's pretty good.  It's essentially about a group of people that climb into a car and end up hitting and killing a young girl.  The rest of the book is about how these people get on with the rest of their lives.  The prose is excellent and it's both funny and sad at the same time.  If the rest of the book is as good as this first third then I think this one may end up on a lot of top ten lists at the end of 2012.  Published by Simon & Schuster and available March 6th.

The Devil All The Time
Donald Ray Pollock
This one is part of the 2012 Tournament of Books.  I don't even know what to say about this.  It's really, really dark and full of twisted backwoods people.  At the same time it has a lot of heart and I think that's what keeps me from putting it aside. There is so much brutality and violence and sadness but there's also a sliver of humor and some of these characters are so tragic.  Most of the book takes places in the 1960's in rural Ohio and Pollock does a fantastic job creating a distinct sense of place.  Published by Doubleday back in July 2011.  Read an excerpt here.


These next two books are queued up to be reviewed next:

Flatscreen
Adam Wilson
Flatscreen is about Eli Schwartz, a young man who seems to have dropped out of life.  Eli is adrift among drug addicts, his divorced parents, various women and his older brother.  This is Adam Wilson's debut novel and will be published February 21, 2012 by Harper Perennial.

The Bee-Loud Glade
Steve Himmer
A man named Finch is hired by a man called Crane to be a full-time hermit in Crane's garden.  Kind of a modern Walden, but not. The Bee-Loud Glade was published in 2011 by Atticus Books

Mailbox: Varamo by César Aira

I love it when books arrive in the mail!  I had a nice Valentine's Day surprise from the fine folks at New Directions - Varamo by César Aira.

Have a blurb:

Unmistakably the work of César Aira, Varamo is about the day in the life of a hapless government employee who, after wandering around all night after being paid by the Ministry in counterfeit money, eventually writes the most celebrated masterwork of modern Central American poetry, The Song of the Virgin Boy. What is odd is that, at fifty years old, Varamo “hadn’t previously written one sole verse, nor had it ever occurred to him to write one.” 

Among other things, this novella is an ironic allegory of the poet’s vocation and inspiration, the subtlety of artistic genius, and our need to give literature an historic, national, psychological, and aesthetic context. But Aira goes further still — converting the ironic allegory into a formidable parody of the expectations that all narrative texts generate — by laying out the pathos of a man who between one night and the following morning is touched by genius. Once again Aira surprises us with his unclassifiable fiction: original and enjoyable, worthy of many a thoughtful chuckle, Varamo invites the reader to become an accomplice in the author’s irresistible game.

Here, have some pictures:

I like the cover

This book is TINY

The content is radically different, but they're the same size

Blog Tag

Meg over at The Terrible Desire tagged me in this thing and I guess it's only proper that I do my part and keep it going.  I'm watching the Grammy's while I do this, so let's do this thing.

*edit* my brain got so tired that I couldn't finish - so the second part of this was finished on Valentine's Day

FIRST - 11 Supposedly Fun Facts that May Or May Not Be True

1. My favorite writers are David Foster Wallace, Stephen King, and John Steinbeck.  And Stephanie Meyer, of course.*
    
2. In the mid-late 90's I followed Phish and one night we broke down in Junction City, Kansas.  We left the car and took a Greyhound bus to Denver, which was in the middle of the Terry Nichols trial.  Since we didn't have a car and had spent our last cash on bus tickets, we were homeless in Denver that night after the show.  It was November, very cold and I was jealous of the professional-homeless that were sleeping on the steam-grates.  That Phish concert was later released as Live Phish Volume 11.  I'm an indie-rock kind of guy these days.  That Bon Iver guy that just won the Grammy - I love that guy.
    
3. Way back in 1996 I met my future wife at a freshman part.  I boogied up next to her and did my best moves - she took one look at me and walked away in disgust.  A year and half later I convinced her that I was funny, if not disarmingly handsome, and thus we started kissing on each other. The rest, as they say, is history.
    
4. I grew up on the south shore of Massachusetts and was shipped out to boarding school in St. Louis when I was 16.  I decided that the Midwest was more my speed and stuck around after finishing school.
    
5. I have three kids.  Maddox is two and a half and the twins (Camden & Sierra) turn two next this week.  The twins are adopted and they've been with us since they were about five months old.   My house is super-chaotic and a super-mess, but a lot of fun.
    
6. I used to leave notes around my house that said "Brooks is awesome!"  My wife would change them to say "Brooks is awkward!" which is probably closer to the truth.  When we painted the living room, I painted a big "Brooks is AWESOME" on the wall before I painted over it.  If you look at that wall today at just the right angle and in just the right light, you can still faintly see a my message of self-empowerment.
    
7. When speaking at a construction technology conference a few years ago, I logged into an application using "brooks is awesome" as my login name.  This got a log of laughs (expected) but also branded me as "awesome guy" (unexpected) for the rest of the conference.
    
8. The wife and I owned a coffee shop for three years.  It turns out that despite the high cost of quality coffee products, it's very hard to make any money.  Not recommended unless you hate yourself.
    
9. I played french horn in high school and college and I was pretty good at it!  I used to play the trumpet pretty well too.  I also play the guitar, badly.
    
10. I accidently minored in English.  I was getting ready to graduate and I looked up the requirements for an English minor and it turned out that I had taken all the required classes - just for fun!  A bit of paper-work and I had an instant English minor.
     
11. If I come to your house I'll judge you based on your bookshelf.  And if not on your books, then your music.

SECOND - Answer these questions from Meg:

1. Are you a city mouse or a country mouse?
   I'm a city mouse living amongst the corn fields of western Illinois.  I think that just makes me confused.
    
2. Where in the world would you live if you had the choice?
   Hawaii.  I absolutely hate winter.  Also, Austin.
    
3. Zombies are attacking, what one book do you take with you when you flee into the wilderness?
   Infinite Jest because it's super-long and my favorite book ever.
    
4. Do you have any unusual hobbies (e.g., collecting butterflies, building model cars, searching for Big Foot)?
   Nope.  This book-blogging thing is the closest I've got to a hobby.
    
5. What's your favorite book of those you own, based on cover design only?
   John Sayles - A Moment In The Sun
   
6. What's your favorite Disney character (come on, everyone has one)?
   Buzz Lightyear, of course.  Innocence + Total Confidence = Best Evs.
    
7. What's your favorite comic book character?
   Spider-man.  I'm so lame.
    
8. What is your dream car, and what would you name it?
   My grandmother used to name her cars.  She had a Volkswagen Rabbit named "Hazel."  Look, at this moment, my dream car is one that is reliable and gets decent mileage.
    
9. Team Edward or Team Jacob? JUST KIDDING. More seriously, Team Angel or Team Spike?
   I have no idea what you're talking about.  This is some kind of paranormal erotica, right?  Like Spock and Kirk slash-fiction?
    
10. What is your favorite piece of artwork (you don't have to own it)?I'm not really an art guy, but whenever I see this thing at the St. Louis Art Museum, I stop and look for a long time.  I think it's all the broken glass that I find so interesting.
    
    Anselm Kiefer Breaking of the Vessels
    
11. Have you ever performed anything in front of an audience?
    Orchestra concerts from elementary school through college.  Drama club in high school.  I have been known to speak at the occasional conference, but that's a different kind of performance, I guess.

THIRD - Make up new questions

1. Pets.  Tell me their name(s).  If you don't have a pet, make up a name.
2. What book do you love but you are totally ashamed of?  
3. You have the opportunity speak with your best friend from elementary school.  What do you say to that person?
4. Why can't I wear gray with khaki?  I think it looks good.
5. What's the last book you abandoned?
6. Pick your super-power - super-strength or invisibility
7. What's the last book that made you shed real tears?
8. What's your favorite movie?
9. Ernie or Bert?
10. The Cat In The Hat movie, starring Mike Meyers - is it a crime against humanity or a feel-good family movie?
11. What is something you hate doing as much as I hate making up these questions?

FOURTH - Tag people and make them do this thing too
It turn out that because I am so slow that the entire internet has already been tagged and there's nobody left. Unless you're a new site or whatever.  I just can't lay this down on anybody and feel good about it.  BUT if you want to tag yourself and just answer my stupid questions - please feel free.

As a consolation, I've attached two pictures.  One of yrstruly and the other is the actual Valentine's Day card I got from my wife.  She is addicted to the lady-crack that is Pinterest. I'm pretty excited about the message this card conveys because I was really getting worried...

Look, it's me!

Actual Valentine Rec'd Today

* - Not True.

In The Mailbox: The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits

Just arrived - The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits.

Here's the blurb:

From the acclaimed novelist and The Believer editor HEIDI JULAVITS, a wildly imaginative and emotionally intense novel about mothers, daughters, and the psychic damage women can inflict on one another. Is the bond between mother and daughter unbreakable, even by death?     Julia Severn is a student at an elite institute for psychics. Her mentor, the legendary Madame Ackermann, afflicted by jealousy, refuses to pass the torch to her young disciple. Instead, she subjects Julia to the humiliation of reliving her mother's suicide when Julia was an infant. As the two lock horns, and Julia gains power, Madame Ackermann launches a desperate psychic attack that leaves Julia the victim of a crippling ailment.     Julia retreats to a faceless job in Manhattan. But others have noted Julia's emerging gifts, and soon she's recruited to track down an elusive missing person—a controversial artist who might have a connection to her mother. As Julia sifts through ghosts and astral clues, everything she thought she knew of her mother is called into question, and she discovers that her ability to know the minds of others—including her own—goes far deeper than she ever imagined.      As powerful and gripping as all of Julavits's acclaimed novels, The Vanishers is a stunning meditation on grief, female rivalry, and the furious power of a daughter's love

Street date: March 3, 2012 - Published by Doubleday

Review: The Odditorium by Melissa Pritchard

The Odditorium
Melissa Pritchard
252 pages
Bellevue Literary Press
Published January 10, 2012



Melissa Pritchard's new collection of short stories draws on the deep well of history to produce stories based on characters both famous and obscure.  This collection of eight stories, told in a variety of ways, is inventive and satisfying on a number of levels.

I graduated from college in the year 2000 with a BA in History from a teeny-tiny liberal arts school.  I've always loved history because I think of it as formalized gossip.  You can have all of the primary sources you want, but there's always some wiggle-room in history.  There are embellishments and straight-up fictions - some we catch later and others that will probably persist forever.  It makes history juicy and somewhat mysterious.  Melissa Pritchard takes advantage of the flexibility of history to craft her stories.

My absolute favorite stories from The Odditorium are based on the strangest historical figures.  "Pelagia, Holy Fool" is based on a woman named Pelagia, born in 1807 during the reign of Tsar Alexander I who was a Fool-for-Christ.  In short, she was so dedicated to God and receiving the Word of God, that she acted as if she was totally insane and lived a hard, filthy life.  People came from far away to receive her spiritual guidance, although it was often came across as gibberish.

The story is told as if it is a sermon.  A great example is this part from early in the story, which discusses her early marriage before she got turned on to God:

Clap hands over ears, little devils! From this disastrous union, Pelagia bore two sons in quick succession, each of whom perished. Rumors flew through Arzamass that she had first squeezed and smothered the infants between her gargantuan breasts, then flung them, salted and boiled, no better than suckling runts, into Sergei’s favorite pork and parsnip porridge.

Like any good sermon, "Pelagia, Holy Fool" ends with three morals, each a short story that touches on insanity in a different way.

Another fantastic story is "The Hauser Variations," which details the story of Kaspar Hauser, a "feral boy" found on the streets of  Nuremberg, Germany in 1828.  Each of the eleven "variations" contain a note on how it is to be performed.  For example, the first variation is to be performed "in a narrative tone, not too fast," while the second variation is to be performed "with poetic sobriety."  The variations shift in tone and voice, making the whole story playful and exciting and amplifying the mystery behind the very strange Kaspar Hauser. The story is a lot of fun - one variation is presented in the form of a play, complete with stage direction.

What I found most interesting about Melissa Pritchard's stories was that I didn't feel like there was really a subtext to any of the stories.  I often felt like the emphasis was more on how the story was being told than the actual story itself.  This is obvious in "The Hauser Variations," but other stories like the chilling "Patricide" and the stoic "Captain Brown and the Royal Victoria Military Hospital" are each told in a very unique voice and style.  The glue of The Odditorium is history and not a cohesive style, where each story is a unique reading experience.

As I read the stories of The Odditorium, I repeatedly looked up the characters on Wikipedia or other online resources.  This made the reading rather slow, but also really enhanced my experience.  Checking the colorful characters that Pritchard puts on the page against the stark black and white of a Wikipedia entry only enlarged my appreciation of what was being done with the characters and how they were being fleshed out in the stories.  Each new story had me trying to work out where the historical "truth" ended and where the fiction began.

Overall The Odditorium is a rewarding read.  Spending time discovering the historical figures put new light on the characters, illuminating clever details and embellishing Pritchard's own embellishments.  Some of the characters I encountered in The Odditorium will stay with me a while and other's will fade back into the shadows of history, but I'm glad they got to come out and play for a while.


Recommended? Yes

Book Source: Provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Why I Review

Over at The Blue Bookcase, Ingrid posted about why she reviews and how her reviews have changed over time.  It got me thinking about what made me start to blog more and why I decided to start reviewing the books that I was reading.

About eight years ago I was traveling between St. Louis and Minneapolis every week.  This went on for three years and during that time I did a lot reading in airports, airplanes, hotels, cars and public transportation.  Sometime in the second year I bought a moleskin notebook and started taking notes about the books that I was reading.  I did this mostly to keep track of the books I'd read and to capture a general impression of the book.

When GoodReads came along, I started tracking what I was reading, but not really reviewing anything.  I liked having a pretty list of all of the things I'd read along with a star-rating.  I'd followed a few book blogs on and off, but never thought it was something that I could do or that I wanted to do.

Last year for Christmas, my wife surprised me with a Kindle.  For the past four or five years, I'd read fewer and fewer books, mostly due to the small business we ran and then later because I became a parent.  I still read a few books a year, but it was nothing compared to the volume I used to consume in my younger years.  But this Kindle changed everything!  I read the first book within a week.  And then another and another and another.  I found myself wanting to keep track of everything I was reading and I started looking around for places to talk about these books.  That's when I started reading a lot of book blogs.

I started trying to write about the books that I had read.  These first reviews weren't great and I was working out my voice as a writer and reviewer.  There are several unpublished reviews that read a lot more like something Alice, Meg or Amanda would have written.  It's a fun (and funny!) way to write, but in the end it wasn't me.  Since then I've just worked to honestly talk about what I've read and the voice has just sort of matured and become its own thing.

But why do I review?  I review because I like to have my opinion out there in the world.  I review because I love the discussion with other readers that agree and disagree with my assessment.  I review because I love the community that I've entered.  Finally, I review because it forces me to think critically about books.  I love books and I want to have a thoughtful relationship with the books that I read.

I've noticed a few things about the books I've reviewed.  For the most part they've been pretty good and even the books I didn't like so much weren't all that bad.  They have all been fairly well written.  The quality of the prose of just about everything I reviewed was pretty top-notch.  I've also fallen in love with the smaller indie presses like Atticus Books, Bellevue Literary Press, New Directions and Melville House.  I've become very publisher-aware - and that's a good thing!

I've loved writing on this blog and having the opportunity to share my reviews with all you.  I've enjoyed meeting new people (hi Mary Beth!) and becoming part of a community of readers and writers.  Thanks to the readers and the commenters for reading this blog and thank you to the authors and publishers for getting these great books out into the world.

I've two reviews in the pipeline for next week!  Stay tuned!

Finally, here's a silly picture: