Quartet of Excellence  

The following works, two non-fiction and two fiction, are reviewed
by Dr. Susan K. Hedahl



Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate
by Terry Eagleton. (Yale University Press, 2009) Pp. 184.

This writer – a British literary critic and professor of English in both Ireland and England – offers another superlative book.  This one is based on his four lectures delivered at Yale in 2008 at the behest of the Dwight Harrington Terry Foundation on Religion in the Light of Science and Philosophy.

Eagleton is a committed Catholic Christian who deftly, humorously and with linguistic precision, takes on the neo-atheists such as Hitchens and Dawkins.  For convenience of polemics, he has termed them collectively “Ditchkens.” 

This work is well-argued and has so many brilliant passages, that I reluctantly leave the reader with only two quotes from them:  “The differences between Ditchkins and radicals like myself also hinges on whether it is true that the ultimate signifier of the human condition is the tortured and murdered body of a political criminal, and what the implications of this are for living.” (37)
“The New Testament is a brutal destroyer of human illusions.  If you follow Jesus and don’t end up dead, it appears you have some explaining to do.” (27)

Serious Men
by Manu Joseph.  (W. W. Norton, 2010).  Paperback

This novel is written by the deputy editor of Open, an Indian magazine. The author has been (according to the book cover) voted as “India’s Most Stylish Writer.” Indeed, the author deserves the prize!  His work is a humorous, loving, stark and philosophically inquisitive look at the characters who staff a scientific institute in Mumbai. Those who have the power (supposedly) are of the Brahmin caste and one assistant to the director, Ayyan Mani, is from the Dalit caste (‘untouchables’).  

The usual human shenanigans of illegal power moves, illicit sex and innocent efforts for betterment play through the book’s plot.  If you want vivid descriptions of India’s poor and their housing and lifestyles, Joseph provides superlative insights:  one is overwhelmed at the profound poverty that afflicts so many in the city.

Joseph’s work offers the reader a great deal to ponder about human nature and what it means to aspire to fame, riches and the good life.

Room
by Emma Donoghue.  (Little, Brown and Company, 2010).  Pp. 321

This novel has received a long assessment recently on NPR. Its author, a Canadian, has produced a work narrated from the perspective of a five-year old boy. Both he and his mother are held in captivity in a suburban location by a man known as ‘Old Nick.’ The little boy has known no other life.

In childlike fashion, he describes his life: “Tuesdays and Fridays always smell of vinegar. Ma’s scrubbing under Table with the rag that used to be one of my diapers I wore till I was one.  I bet she’s wiping Spider’s web away but I don’t care much….” (44)  He learns to sharpen his counting skills by listening to the number of times the parental bed squeaks on Old Nick’s occasional visits.

What makes the novel so gripping for the adult reader is the child’s insights coupled with his innocence about the horror and pain of the situation for his mother. The reader is taken through a before-and-after captivity sequence in this novel, which raises significant and poignant questions about what imprisonment and freedom mean in their many ambiguous manifestations.

Pearl Buck in China: Journey to the Good Earth
by Hilary Spurling (Simon & Schuster, 2010) Pp. 304

As a post –World War II child, I have memories of the parental bookshelf, which included two books by Pearl Buck. Spurling has an illustrious history as a biographer and she offers in this work a thoroughly-documented look at this daughter of a Presbyterian missionary who narrated China to the world.

Pearl grew up in China in the early years of the twentieth century.  The pictures, documents and remembrances of that era describe a poverty-stricken China engaged in political upheaval. They also feature a father who was obsessed with his rigid version of Christianity, which later caused Pearl to leave and even refute this version of faith. Married to an agricultural expert, Pearl had a mentally disabled child and over the course of a life time, divorced and adopted other children. After significant changes in China, she settled in the eastern United States to write, maintain a foundation related to China and espouse her views of the Chinese.

For a review which honors the superior quality of this book, I recommend to you the October 14, 2010 issue of The New York Review, in which author Jonathan Spence offers an excellent article entitled “The Pearl Buck Story.” If you want both a thorough look at a life and the enjoyment of reading an author who knows her business well, this is the book.