Witness

Witness: A Novel by Karen Hesse

This book is not a traditional narrative. Rather, it is a collection of stories and reflections upon events that are related to the reader from the characters' differing perspectives. The setting is a small, 1924 Vermont town that has recently begun to see an influx of KKK members. The storyline follows a number of community members as they take various roles in dealing with the Klan. While some resist involvement completely, some join its ranks and still others are found somewhere in the middle.

The reading of this book was a breeze. As each character shares only a short stanza of their story at a time, it goes rather quickly. I managed to read this story in its entirety in a sitting of just over an hour. The only thing that slows it down is that the reader must constantly refer back to the character description page at the beginning of the book to keep the characters straight.

Overall, I would consider this book to resemble more a short story than anything else. Although I didn't necessarily find the storyline to be ultra-engaging (a lack of character and/or storyline development keeps the reader from becoming too attached), it is a quick and enjoyable read.

Appearance: 4/5 The cover makes you wonder who these people are and what their role is. I like that.

Readability: 4/5 As I said, this book can easily be read in an hour or two. The only hold up is having to flip to the character page.

My Points: 8/10 Overall I liked it, but I wouldn't necessarily put it on my must-read list.

Total Points: 16/20

A Mapmaker's Dream

This story contains a number of elements that I usually enjoy. It intertwines historical fact and fiction, which I generally find exhilarating. It is fairly academic, which I like to think keeps me sharp. It is divided into short chapters, which generally make a story seem to flow more quickly. Somehow, though, this story just never capitalizes on these elements.

Ultimately, the story never really seems to go anywhere. Each chapter is the same as the previous one, without the narrative moving forward. Most of the text is made up of Fra Mauro's reflections on the experiences that are shared with him. These reflections also appear to go nowhere. I found some solace in the fact that Fra Mauro is able to finish his map in the end, although I'm not really sure if he was happy about it or not (it was hard to tell!)

Appearance: 5/5 The appearance of the book is what originally drew me in. The background picture works well. The inside of the dust jacket  really draws the reader in, describing things like Fra Mauro experiencing the "adventure of a lifetime" and such. Unfortunately, the story doesn't fulfill these claims.

Readability: 1/5 It was just downright difficult to power through, despite the short chapters.

My Points: 3/10 Overall I have to give the author James Cowan props for originality. I can't say I've ever read a book quite like this one. Unfortunately I can't say that it was an exceptionally enjoyable experience.

Total Points: 9/20

A Mapmaker's Dream

A Mapmaker's Dream: The Meditations of Fra Mauro, Cartogropher to the Court of Venice by James Cowan.

This is a true story that's fake.  And I had a really hard time grasping that. Basically, the author claims he found Fra Mauro's journals and transcribed it for us to enjoy. Fra Mauro was consumed with a need to create a map that is not altogether geographically perfect but perfectly represents each region per disclosures of personal experience of anyone who shared their experience with him.  Confined by to his cell by vow (and fear of truly living in my opinion), Mauro longs to experience the world but settles for stories.  

This book is filled with every '-icals' and it was slightly exhausting. I thought reading C.S. Lewis was hard on the mind!!  I am confident that there were more sentences than not that contained a word that I didn't recognize or isn't exactly colloquial for me. The pages are filled with the philosophical/theological/geographical ramblings of a monk who needed to just go see the world for himself if he was going to worry so much about reporting it correctly. For a man of God he questioned a lot. He was not content. I think he could have had a deeper and more honest relationship with God if he would have never taken the vow and went around for himself to see what the Lord created.

I had two takeaway quotes. The first from page 80 "you have become addicted to the observations of men. You are not your own man but a composite of others." And later on page 107 "no man should learn the meaning of life from another: he must seek it somewhere else..."

Appearance: 3/5 It looks old which is appealing. On the inside covers there is a map that Fra Mauro created (not the one described in the text) and that was cool!

Readability: 1/5 I don't even remember when I put this thing down but when I picked it back it was on page 75 and I skimmed until chapter 20 to finish it up. It was hard to maintain interest when the text was about events that are not current or relevant, and at one point there was a lot of extra information at the bottom of the page to help the reader understand but it was like work. Too many big words. It made me want to sleep every time.

My Points: 4/10 I like the concept of this book. If it were only the beginning and the end I would think 'huh, that's interesting', but there was so much in between. Even the in between would have been more bearable if it were not for the intense language and lack of any building plot. I suppose that is a journal for ya. But no wonder he couldn't stand to be in that cell!!  He just needed to give it a rest!

Total Points: 8/20 

Pudd'nhead Wilson

Zack did a wonderful job below of describing the fashion in which this story was relayed to the reader. I have not read a lot of Mark Twain but even from this short work I can tell he is a master storyteller. I have to agree that while I enjoyed this book, I also did not struggle to putting it down. At times, especially early to mid-way through the book it was hard to tell where it was going and I felt like I couldn't lend much more interest to it if I did not see some form of payoff coming. I was impressed, though, with how everything tied together in the end and reaffirmed that my time was well spent. It was a good bounce back from the last book we read!

Appearance 4/5 - I was drawn to this book because of the cover and the title. The combination of name plus men on display aroused my curiosity enough to make a purchase. At least the title had something to do with the book.. Can't say the same for the picture but that man in the center looks hilarious.

Readability 3/5 - At the beginning of each chapter there would be some quotes from one of the characters and I really enjoyed that. And there were aspects of the story that I'm glad I invested in and enjoyed. There was another great portion that never really had a direct impact to the plot and, eh, made me feel like it was whatever. Also, the slave dialect slowed my progress.

My Points 7/10 - It just wasn't a personal favorite. I wasn't able to really attach to any specific character because for the most part it was kept at a pretty superficial level. The things I found interesting, like the social system of the time or Pudd'nhead's interest in finger prints were not even highlighted enough for you to invest in. There just weren't a lot of takeaways. I don't regret reading it, I wouldn't discourage others from reading it; I also would probably never reread it.

Total: 14/20