The Crucible

I've completed another of my infamous "WOE" readings ("While Otherwise Engaged"...i.e. bathroom reading). This time it was The Crucible, the classic play by Arthur Miller. I chose this one because my high school son had performed the role of Thomas Putnam in the school play last year and the story was intriguing enough for me to pursue reading the actual source material. He also had to read it for school and since I like to read the great classics for WOE reading, it seemed the perfect option.

This, I believe, is the first play I've read since my own high school years. I think I prefer normal prose. I don't especially care for reading the character name in front of who is saying what all the time...it messes up the illusion of what the characters are saying. Plays also tend to be almost entirely dialogue (duh) with only some minimal stage direction so anything that is not said aloud is left to the imagination. I don't "see" where the characters are standing or moving in relationship with each other, etc. and my mind tends to picture a stage instead of a room, or village, or gallows, etc. It therefore introduces an artificiality that wouldn't be present in a normal story. And finally, I had just seen the play itself so I was picturing those actors (all high school students) in the major roles. Once again this makes it more difficult to suspend disbelief.

So, I have determined that when reading a play one should not compare it to the experience of reading a novel or short story. One should appreciate it for the medium that it is. The story itself, for those who don't know, concerns the era of the Salem Witch Trials, and it exposes the hipocracy and downright absurdity of such a thing. Mr. Miller wrote this play in the early 1950's as a response to McCarthyism, and the parallels are intriguing. In fact, Mr Miller, himself, was to be questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities and was actually found in contempt of Congress for failing to identify others at meetings he attended. Such is the central theme of this play as well. It isn't enough that the character of John Proctor bows to the pressure and confesses to his own involvement with "witches" but stops short of confessing for others.

I found the play a fairly quick read but absorbing none-the-less. (No Charmin jokes here please). It has taken me quite some time to complete, however, due to my 3-week trip to Africa as well as a slew of Reader's Digests and my new subscription to "The Smithsonian" Magazine. Alas, my WOE reading productivity may will suffer in future months.

What's next for WOE? If history is a guide then it will be Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing because my son has the lead role in that this fall. However, since I've already read the complete works of William Shakespeare (yes, WOE), it will have to be something else.

Stout-Hearted Seven

Today I completed a young-adult story, Stout-Hearted Seven, by Neta Lohnes Frazier. This is the true-story of the Sager Children who were orphaned during their trek along the Oregon Trail in 1844. It is written for 5th-6th graders I would suspect but older students (and even adults like me) will enjoy it as well.

The story is truly a tragic one. It begins as the family is preparing for their westward journey along the Oregon Trail and we come to know both parents as well as their six children, (a seventh would be born along the route). The story is told in third person, but mostly from the point of view of Catherine, the oldest girl at 13, and the third oldest child. This is primarily because in later years Catherine is the one who wrote of their ordeal in great detail, an account that today is considered one of the best historical references of the time period. As the family proceeds along their journey we get to enjoy the fun times, but more often, experience the truly difficult moments and day-to-day struggles to maintain their time goals and stay somewhat healthy. However, both parents die along the route, and the children are taken in by other members of the wagon teams. Eventually, the children are taken to and adopted by the Whitmans, missionaries that are trying to work with Indians. After only about three years there, the Indians massacre the Whitmans as well as several of the children. As I said, truly a tragic story. Eventually the surviving children make it to Oregon, and fulfill their father's dream.

The story is written for children and I congratulate the author for be historically accurate. The tragic parts are not glossed over but neither are they dwelled upon. All in all, this is an accurate account and is a great method for teaching children about life on the Oregon Trail.

I also completed the next entry in Harlan Ellison's The Essential Ellison. It was an essay this time, simply titled "My Father" and is a poignant look at the author's relationship with his father, who had died decades before. It was good to read, and timely, as this morning I had read Piers Anthony's newsletter/blog about the death of his daughter on September 3. That was truly heartbreaking and so Ellison's piece was a good balance.

Next up is the second Star Wars book in the "Black Fleet Crisis" trilogy.

The Talbot Odyssey

The Talbot Odyssey by Nelson DeMille was the final book I had selected for my trip to South Africa. I know I can always count on a DeMille novel in case any of the others weren't keeping me going. This is also the one I read in two parts, the first 3/4ths on the 18 hour plane ride back home (plus connection times and airport waiting times), and the last 1/4th after completing the prior novel. If that isn't clear as mud then you haven't been paying attention.

Nelson DeMille novels, as I mentioned, are always at least good, if not great. I can count on them to be a good read and they can hold my attention despite distractions such as nearby conversations, people constantly walking by in airport waiting areas, and the horrible current trend of bluetooth cell phone overuse, especially by people who don't realize, or don't care that there are 50 people listening to their private conversations. But I digress.

This novel is a fairly early DeMille, about the 4th of his bigger publications. He had several novels published before he hit it big, some of them under pseudonyms. This one was first published in 1984 and is essentially a Cold War era spy novel. "Talbot" is the code name of a deep cover Soviet mole in the US. There are a handful of point-of-view characters who attempt to flush him out (or activate him, depending on what side they are on). This was written and takes place way before 9/11 obviously so the nature of the terrorism involved is quite different than we might think of today. This time, unless stopped, a satelite will set off a nuclear blast above Omaha, Nebraska, transmitting an electronic pulse (EMP) which would destroy the US' electronic infrastructure (phones, radios, etc.) and also preventing a nuclear response.

The book was, frankly, not one of DeMille's best. I would still call it "good" and I enjoyed reading it but it was not without flaws. Lots of main characters compete for the reader's attention making it hard to identify the main protagonist. Once I did, I wanted to hear more from his point of view but kept getting shuffled off to other characters. DeMille does spend time in most of his books on character development but there just seemed to be too many characters to really identify who was important. During the climactic scenes at the end, several of the good guys get killed but I really didn't care because I hadn't come to know them well.

Still, this is worth the time to read and enjoy, especially for fans of Cold War politics and themes. I believe this is the 7th DeMille novel I've read so far and I plan to read them all. I include him as one of "my" authors on the left column of this blog and I probably tend to be more critical of "my" authors than others. I'm not sure why, other than I feel like I know them personally and I expect a lot from them. I must also add that Nelson DeMille's newsletter is among the funniest I've ever read; his sense of humor is fantastic. His more recent novels tend to incorporate that humor more than his earlier works, usually in the form of a wise-cracking protagonist. I saw evidence of that in this book as well, with the protagonist cop, Tony Abrams having quite a few witty remarks to his associates. With DeMille's trend of writing sequels to many of his novels, and hinting that they are all related in the same "DeMille Universe" I can't help wondering if there might be a sequel to this book as well, featuring Mr Abrams. We'll see.

Now it's back to new, non-trip material. I plan to read a young adult novel next but haven't yet selected the title. Stay tuned...