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THE steady stream of posthumous publications of David Foster Wallace's work since his tragic death by suicide in 2008 (aged just 46) has left me increasingly conflicted.

As it stands, there may be two camps of Wallace fans: those who are perfectly content with these releases as a way of keeping their love for the writer burning, and the junkies who are beginning to suspect that some cynical marketing machine is cashing in on their fandom.

With Both Flesh And Not, I am starting to lean towards the more cynical group.

The collection opens with possibly one of Wallace's most famous journalistic works, Federer, Both Flesh And Not, a love letter to tennis player Roger Federer and the sport itself. The piece is a crystalline example of Wallace at his finest, straddling both earnestness and a steady stream of factoids, meticulously detailing why he feels Federer is a top player – from his "liquid whip" of a forehand serve, to his "eel-like all-body snap at the moment of impact".

Vivid descriptive abilities aside, the reason I love Wallace's non-fiction is the same one that makes my teeth grind when reading his novels – his unabashed love of footnotes.

While his laborious marginalia can be a bit much to take when trying to follow a fictional plot, the footnotes work beautifully for the most part in his essays and journalistic writing, because they make you feel like you're part of a real conversation.

Here is footnote number 37 from Democracy And Commerce At The US Open, appearing after Wallace describes an older gentleman in the tennis crowd pointedly ignoring the "sweet burnt-pine" smell of marijuana hanging in the air: "New Yorkers also have an amazing ability to mind their own business and attend to themselves and not notice anything untoward going on... that always seems to lie somewhere on the continuum between Stoicism and catatonia."

All the little digressions, sometimes informative and sometimes little more than clever punchlines, circle around the main essay to not just solidify its arguments but also add a down-to-earth feel to the ideas put forth.

Apart from the first essay, the rest of the collection is arranged chronologically by when they were published, and touch on topics ranging from prose poetry to criticism of the special effects in Terminator 2.

While this juxtaposition may show the evolution of Wallace's writing style, some of the pieces seem to be included just because they were written, and these drag the stronger pieces down.

Overlooked: Five Direly Underappreciated US Novels > 1960 for instance, nothing more than a collection of short blurbs about Wallace's prefered books, is glib and uncharacteristically flat. Meanwhile, all Back In New Fire did was give me a petty writer's Schadenfreude over the fact that Wallace was not born a genius writer.

A moralistic screed about the HIV/AIDS epidemic being a "gift" to remind us that there is "nothing casual about sex at all", the essay itself is nowhere near as sinister as this summary makes it seem. Instead, it is the kind of hipster-intellectual argument that one can imagine a young and precocious writer making as a theoretical thought exercise.

Most annoying of all, however, is the inclusion of Wallace's "vocabulary list" that is interspersed throughout the book, which apparently "highlights his ferocious love of language".

Perhaps laundry lists like these are aimed at hardcore fans who would devour any tidbit of the writer's inner workings, but the exercise seems tired and cynical to me. I wonder if, by the time this review is published, there will be a new Wallace book that compiles the doodles he made in the margins of his notes, coupled with scanned images of his Post-It notes from his desk!

What tenuously holds Both Flesh And Not together are Wallace's recurring criticisms of the shaping of popular culture and thought.

The essay in which he rather unexpectedly pounces on this is his introduction to The Best American Essays 2007. Entitled Deciderazation – A Special Report, Wallace slyly draws parallels between his role as a "decider" of the essays in the book and becoming an informed citizen in an age of information overload.

Going through a barrage of essays of "high-quality description" of all manner of topics, he writes, is "a kind of Total Noise that's also the sound of our US Culture right now, a culture and volume of info and spin, and rhetoric and context that I know I'm not alone in finding too much to even absorb, much less to try to make sense of or ogranize into any kind of triage of saliency or value".

While Wallace was theorising about the increasingly divisive nature of American politics, his warning of the temptation to "retreat to narrow arrogance, pre-formed positions, rigid filters" can readily be applied to the current Malaysian context as well.

In the end, Both Flesh And Not is nowhere near as strong as Wallace's previous non-fiction collections such as A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again (1997) and Consider The Lobster And Other Essays (2005).

Perhaps if the editors of this collection were a bit closer to being as transparent as Wallace was, in his own assessment of selecting essays to be compiled, I would be a whole lot less cynical.

Hard Twisted

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BASED on real-life events, and inspired by C. Joseph Greaves' inadvertent discovery of two skulls in the Utah canyon, Hard Twisted is the story of drifter Clint Palmer and Lucille Garrett (Lottie), and Palmer's killing spree across the American South during the Depression era.

Homeless and on the road with her father Dillard, 13-year-old Lottie meets charming Palmer on a hot afternoon in Oklahoma, and both father and daughter move to Texas with him on the promise of work and a home. When her father mysteriously disappears, Lottie is forced to depend on Palmer for everything. What follows is told from her perspective – her life on the road with Palmer, and the subsequent discovery that Palmeris not what he portrayed himself to be.

The great thing about this book is that Greaves successfully manages to tell a story while giving the reader a minor history lesson. Basing it on true historical events, Greaves draws on real happenings, and stays true to the local lingo of the time, which makes Lottie's experience more real to the reader.

Furthermore, Greaves didn't have to create fictitious characters; Palmer actually was a man with a torrid past.

As Greaves' notes, "Clint Palmer was a sexual predator and a career criminal who, when he first encountered young Lottie Garrett in May of 1934, was only four months removed from his latest incarceration, a three-year stint in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, for kidnapping, statutory rape, and violating the Mann Act." A real gem, this Clint Palmer was.

Lottie and her father Dillard were both real people as well, and while Greaves does take liberties with the characters, dialogue and interactions, he remains true to their history and the case.

One of my biggest issues withHard Twisted is the non-traditional dialogue. This makes it difficult for the reader to engage properly with the characters, especially Lottie, who is not only the main protagonist but also the one whose voice is telling the story.

Another thing that could potentially put readers off is the book's sheer density. Greaves has packed much information in practically every page that there is a real possibility of information overload, and I found myself flipping back pages to refresh my memory at several points.

This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the reader gets a free history lesson of a timewhen the socioeconomic and political environment was rapidly changing, with many people struggling to adapt to a world that was different from what they grew up in.

On the same vein, this is not a book that you can read in small parts, or take some time off before continuing. If you do that, you might as well start all over again. It would be a better idea to spend a couple of hours to read the book to its end. It is the only way to appreciate Greaves' writing, the thoroughness of his research, and the history of the time.

With this book, he has proven himself to be a strong voice in the literary world, one who can narrate history, including the violent and gory details, with grace and without detracting from the story.

To conclude, Hard Twisted is a novel that engages and challenges the reader, and one that will compel you to think. It is one of those books that, at its conclusion, makes you want to give it to the next person you come across, with a "You have to read this."

Until I Say Goodbye

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WHAT would you do if you had only one year left to live?

It's a frightening question. But it was a question that journalist Susan Spencer-Wendel was forced to ask herself when she was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease (also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) at 44 years old.

Spencer-Wendel was told her health would slowly deteriorate, leading to her inevitable death. Lou Gehrig's disease is irreversible, systematically destroying the nerves powering your muscles, resulting in every movement being difficult and painful.

It would have been understandable to despair. But Spencer-Wendel refused to give up. Quitting her job, the courageous woman decided to spend that last year the way she chose: spending time with her loved ones, discovering her roots, and seeing the world.

Until I Say Goodbye is the bittersweet story of Spencer-Wendel's last year of good health. Profound, moving and inspiring, the book is a poignant reminder of life's ephemerality, and of never taking anything for granted.

Spencer-Wendel worked as a court reporter for twenty years before her illness. She wrote her book on an iPhone – unable to walk or even lift her arms due to the disease, she tapped out her story letter by letter with her right thumb, the last finger she had working.

Until I Say Goodbye is the fulfillment of her final wish: "To make people laugh and cry and hug their children and joke with their friends and dwell in how wonderful it is to be alive."

Spencer-Wendel describes how she took seven trips with the seven most important people in her life, journeying to Hungary, Cyprus, and the Bahamas, among other places. While her travel accounts are delightful, the narrative is most magical when the author expresses her feelings about her companions.

"That's our thing. I realize now," she writes about a cruise she takes with her sister. "Something special between the two of us. The thing fully realized on that trip. Not travelling. Not adventure. But being there for one another, so that we may unburden our hearts. Uncrowd our minds. And hear what our souls are saying."

Family is clearly important to the author; much of her last year is spent bonding with her husband, John, and three children. An adopted child, Spencer-Wendel also manages to track down her family, resulting in several whimsical chapters of reunions and reminiscing in her birth country of Cyprus.

Indeed, certain parts of this story are rather rib-tickling. What is amazing is how well Spencer-Wendel blends honesty and humour, speaking frankly about the pains of her condition, while consistently remaining upbeat.

The most poignant part of the story, however, is undoubtedly when Spencer-Wendel takes her 14-year-old daughter Marina to Kleinfeld's bridal shop in New York, so the author can see her in a wedding dress.

"I simply wanted to make a memory," she writes. "I wanted to see my beautiful daughter on her wedding day. I wanted to glimpse the woman she would be. Maybe I would cry. Mothers cry, right? But I knew I would laugh, too. Because I would be with my Marina. I would be imagining her happy."

Until I Say Goodbye is not a fairytale adventure; there are parts of the story where Spencer-Wendel's plans go awry, once even failing completely. What is inspiring, however, is that at no point is the author bitter about any of these snags, always choosing to look on the bright side of things.

And perhaps that is the main theme of the book. Nothing goes according to plan. Life is an ocean with an ever-changing tide, and no matter how much we struggle, it often overwhelms us, carrying us to strange shores we do not expect.

The trick however, is in enjoying the dip.

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Ahad, 7 Julai 2013

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf

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