GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS

“THAT TO BE SEEN – IS ALL I EVER WANTED; TO BE MORE THAN JUST A FLEETING GLIMPSE, A TWELFTH MAN IN THIS GAME OF GENTLEMEN AND PLAYERS.”

Whoa. That about sums up Harris’ novel in one word. All I have is praise for her truly spellbinding and totally convincing creation.

To begin, I will try not to give any of its secrets away. This is the fourth novel by Harris that I have read. Although the writing remains flawless, it has a different tone than the others that is both refreshing and surprising. Gentlemen and Players, is captivating from page one. The English boys school premise is absolutely intriguing. Sort of reminiscent of movies such as Taps and The Emperor’s Club. Harris’ lineup of characters is very Dickens-esque. In fact, the whole text is a great mix between Dickens and M. E. Braddon in regards to character development, cunning and mystery. I am amazed at the themes that run smoothly throughout the text. The concept of life/school as a game is not new, but Harris puts her own twist on it that makes it equally enticing, begging the reader to eat up every word. The way each section of the book is named after a chess piece is pure genius. Not only that, but several of the characters surnames clearly relate to the chess undertone.

I especially like her creation of Ron Straightley, the Classics professor. It is all just so perfect. In a sense, it is sad to see the world moving away from a classical education, eliminating language and other humanities programs in place of information technology and Spanish. While both of those subjects are necessary in today’s world, they are not the end-all in education.

Whether it is pure coincidence or not, I also see traces of a Pink Floyd influence in Harris’ language. In fact, the phrase “fleeting glimpse” is hauntingly close to that in Comfortably Numb, “When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse.” A raving fan perhaps? There were a few others that I can’t think of off hand.

Overall, Gentlemen and Players is one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time. It doesn’t have the seriousness that the majority of modern “classics” possess, but it is a smart, well –written novel that has a lot to offer the world. It may even benefit a high school literature class – something they could relate to perhaps.

Reviewing Potter...

Well...I feel I must join the masses and comment on the upcoming release of the final chapter of the life and times of Harry Potter and his courageous cohorts. I am proud to add this fantastic series, created by J.K. Rowling, to my list of Literature for a Lifetime. In January, I reread books 1-4 in an attempt to refresh myself for the "The Deathly Hallows" release in July. I'm always surprised how enjoyable the books are to read. The world Rowling created is both fantastical and realistic. She has a lot to say about courage and strength of all forms, yet instills it in such a subtle way that both children and adults remain a captive audience. I'm not going to review the previous books, because I don't need to - they've been reviewed, analyzed, scrutinized, interpreted, translated and deciphered unlike any other book this side of Eden.

As a future librarian, and lifetime bibliophile, I have a great respect for Rowling and what she has done in the world of literature. Rowling made reading cool again. She made it acceptable to dress up like your favorite Potter character and wait in line at bookstores across the world to buy a BOOK at midnight. She brought us a magical world that's easy to get lost in, but doesn't let us forget about the everlasting battle between good and evil. Countless parallels can be drawn between that world and our own, but I digress. The point is that in this super high-tech, internet obsessed, cell-phone carrying, blog-writing, podcast listening jumbo jet world that we live in, reading is not always the first activity that comes to mind when we have free time. If a series like this can introduce a world of new people out there to the magic of reading, I'm happy.

Finally, I also think that in in situations like this, it is important not over analyze the nature of Harry Potter. It is a book, fictional at that. Remind yourselves and your kids that fiction "describes imaginary events and people." In other words, IT IS NOT REAL. So, let's not get all WASP-esque and instead, let our children decide for themselves what is or is not good literature. Learning to evaluate material for themselves is far more beneficial than being told what they can or cannot read. The only thing banned books ever did was increase their desirability.

The Heiress of Water

“Can he change the world? Deliver justice? Can he save what’s precious? Can he bring exceptional beauty to the world, or at the very least, relief of pain? If the answer is no, then move on.”
The Heiress of Water,
- Sandra Rodriguez Barron

In this moving, first-novel Sandra Barron delights us with her fluid prose and captivating cross-cultural tale. Barron sets the story with two little-used backgrounds: El Salvador and seashells. It is refreshing to read about a topic and locale that is not the subject of every other mass-market book published. The seashell obsession, though a little academic for the casual reader, acts as an introduction to the enigma of both the ocean and Monica’s mother, Alma.
Like any good mother/daughter journey, Monica is searching her past for answers to explain Alma’s carefree behavior, unnerving disappearance and most importantly, to assuage Monica’s guilt at betraying her mother. This journey parallels that of Will and Sylvia’s search for a treatment for Yvette’s coma. While the whole Yvette sub-plot is a little cheesy, it gives the seashell fascination a purpose and connects the characters to each other permanently.
The one major disappointment within the text is Barron’s explanation for Yvette’s car crash. Who uses their left foot to help pump the breaks when a cars slides, and then accidentally hits the accelerator? All of this with the left foot! Not only is it a long reach for the left foot, Barron was really stretching when she came up with that extreme sequence.
Will’s character is also a little wishy-washy. He likes Monica, doesn’t really want Yvette to come out of the coma, but falters at the end of the novel and sort of evaporates into oblivion. Realistic? Maybe. Satisfying? Not so much. The reader never really gets to know Will or Yvette. So, it makes feeling compassion for them very difficult. The same goes for Monica’s dad, Bruce. It’s hard to believe that he is the same person who fell in love with Alma years before. I guess that’s what love does to a person?
Again, it Barron’s writing style that really gives the text its originality and appeal. Her writing is pretty and descriptive and peacefully carries the reader from page to page. Overall, there is a lot to like about this novel. Unfortunately, the majority of the characters are not as well developed as they should be. I don’t know that this selection will be one for the best novel of the century list, but I would give her another try on her sophomore attempt.

-- Heidi