Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 4, 2004, Winnipeg, Manitoba B8 Winnipeg free press editor Morley Walker / 697-7307 sunday july 4, 2004 email books thriller implied not delivered forty signs of rain by Kim Stanley Robinson Bantam Spectra 358 pages $37 reviewed by Joe Wiebe in his acclaimed Mars trilogy Cali fornia writer Kim Stanley Robinson showed How we could one Day terraform Mars ? that is add enough Green House gases to its thin atmosphere so that the red planet would be warm enough to support life. Ironically forty signs of rain focuses on How the same procedure per formed unintentionally Over 200 years of Industrial development might cause catastrophic climate change Here on Earth. Robinson is one of the big names in the science fiction world a multiple win Ner of the genres highest awards but this novel is billed As a techno thriller. While the Story is torn from today a headlines even Hollywood agrees ? see the summer blockbuster movie the Day after tomorrow this is just a straight Forward novel set in the near future with scientists for main characters. The thriller that is implied by its dark and Stormy cover however is not delivered though excitement does Start to build in the books last pages when Washington d.c., is flooded by storms and unusually High tides. Revealing the Stormy ending of this novel is not going to spoil it for anyone who will see it coming before Page 2. If anything readers May wonder Why Noth ing exciting has happened by Page 100 or 200, or ? believe it or not ? Page 300. Though there is no mention on the cover this is the first Book in a trilogy which explains the Lack of action. It is unfair to say nothing happens before Washington is flooded. Robinson introduces Charlie and Anna Quibler. He is a stay at Home dad and part time staff assistant to the Only senator who cares about the environment and she is a full time administrator at the National Sci ence foundation. Most of Charlies scenes Are spent with toddler Joe in a Backpack and much of his thought process is about How he has become or. Mom. Anna meanwhile becomes involved with a group of tibetan monks whose Island country in the Bay of Bengal is being flooded due to global warming. Also at the psf is Frank Vanderwal a microbiologist who is glad his year run Ning peer review committees is Over so that he can return to san Diego where he teaches at a cd. He also has a stake in a biotech com Pany there called Torrey Pines. In spite of the conflict of interest Frank steers the company towards hiring a scientist who applied for funding through the psf. Batters at the same time that Washington is flooded the hyper i of that was now into its 42nd month had spun up another tropical system in the East Pacific North of the the resulting storm batters san Diego causing coastal Bluffs to collapse and threatening houses built there including one owned by a chief scientist at Tor Rey Pines. All of this is really just setup for what is yet to come along with a potential Romance that is starting to brew for Frank and the hint that the tibetan monks might think two year old Joe Quibler is the reincarnation of their spiritual Leader. Though it is Well written and the characters Are believably Complex and imperfect it certainly is no thriller at least not yet. Perhaps taken As a whole the trilogy will live up to the Billing. Deliciously satirical look at a Brave new world thinner than thou by kit Reed Tor books $32 reviewed by Owen Mcnally kit Reeds deliciously satirical thinner than thou is a mor Dant vision of a Brave new world where Reli Gion is rooted in the worship of ones body As a sacred Temple utterly free from the Fleshy sins of flab. Reed who teaches at a Connecticut University has cooked up a Zesty Send up of our contemporary obsession with attaining eternally svelte self images As we merrily botox Lipo suck and nip and tuck our Way toward bodily Bliss. Mixing social and cultural satire the authors sardonic parable is set in a repressive materialistic society presided Over by the perversely Charis Matic Rev. Earl a profit making Prophet who thunders against the evils of obesity. A charismatic Silver tongued Dema Gogue Earl soared to Power on the wings of rousing Jeremias against jowls Dew laps and love handles. Utopia his visceral new gospel of the thin has driven traditional religions under ground. With their depressing concerns about morality mortality and decay the old faiths Are Downers in an upbeat Utopia in which body has banished soul. Rev. Earl promises the huddled masses yearning to be thin not some ancient fuzzy concept of heaven in the hereafter. Instead he guarantees the modern Par Adise of the after fat a heaven on Earth where you become ecstatically thin and Celesti ally Young and gorgeous. With Rev. Earl As their Messiah and supreme deity of dieting americans exult in the cult of the body. Happily even fervently the metabolically challenged submit Martyr like to every thing from facelifts to tucks and saplings mortifying their flesh with surgeries promising salvation. If god in to dead he a probably too old too fat and out of Date to really mat Ter much. Houses of worship have been converted into health clubs. Girth control is mandatory. And the Rev. Earl is the new divinity who shapes our ends As Well As our Flat tummies glistening Abs and perfect pecs. Most insidiously Rev. Earl has hooked the nation on his secret organic health formula. His miraculous potion allows you to Gorge like a pig while retaining the Ideal figure of a greek god or god Dess. Obviously its More euphoric than even Soma the state dispensed drug that keeps the masses Happy and submissive in Aldous Huxley a Sci i satire Brave new world. Rev. Earls Power base is Syl Phania a luxurious diet spa a Mecca for Porky pilgrims longing to purge their bodies of the mortal sin of fat. Well heeled fat ties and food Holics pay fortunes to achieve Sylph like bods at Syl Phania. Likewise Earl worshipping parents who Are ashamed of their anorexic bulimic or Pudgy teenage children righteously ship off these unsightly heretical defectives to the reverends nationwide network of convents. In this secret gulag the sadistic secular order of dedicated Sisters reprogram these Little ingrates to eat and think properly. Keeping the satire sizzling Reed lets Loose a Small band of rebellious charac ters who unite against the Viper us sexually perverse Rev. Earl. Much like such dark mocking works As Nathanael West a the Day of the Locust and Gore Vidal a Kali Reeds plot careers hell Bent toward an apocalyptic ending. Always her prose is lean fat free and frequently seasoned with Zesty turns of phrase. Right from entree to final course when villainy gets its just desserts Reed serves a feast of enter Taining food for thought. Its nourishing tasty ? and leaves you wanting More. ? Hartford courant Mideast observer pessimistic Over peace How Israel lost the four questions by Richard Ben Cramer Simon & schuster Canada 307 pages $35 reviewed by Harold Buchwald t he title of this Book should More accurately be How Israel lost its moral but that might make it less of a grabber and lose a lot of its deliberately intended Shock value As the author spouts Many wide ranging and mostly unproven heresies in his assessment of what has happened to the jewish state and Why there will not Likely be an Early Resolution of the israeli Palestin Ian conflict. The Book is a Patchwork quilt of vignettes of current and recent israeli and palestinian experiences intended to illustrate All the horrible things that have happened to israeli society and the palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza since the six Day War in l967 and the ensuing occupation. Writing in a glib facile and often loosely structured style of course the israelis Don to want pm palestinian refugees ? they need More arabs like a Hole in the head Richard Ben Cramer frequently makes outrageous and largely unsubstantiated allegations of cruelty corruption arrogance stupidity and self interest by the Vari Ous groups and factions that make up each of these Complex societies. A native of Rochester n.y., the pulitzer prize winning journalist says he was prompted to write this Book when a few years ago the new York times in its news columns started to Tombstone . Matched Side by sideway after Day two concurrent stories. One Story would Tell about the latest terrorist suicide bomb in Israel the other would report on what sort of killing the israeli army did in response in some West Bank town or Gaza. The stories were equal and no moral distinction was drawn Between them. And this from the former House Organ of american zionism the Book seeks to find out what happened Cramer acknowledges he will be Likely be labelled a self hating jew his words for his brutal Candor. Some examples. If the jewish state is about jewish Law then How is that different ? in any moral sense ? from an islamic Republic the real problem is a disintegration and a tribal nation of israeli society. ? israeli Kasbara Public relations is engaged in a paranoid Circle of proof that is satisfying to zionist Hawks because it confirms their deepest beliefs the whole world is against us so it does to matter what we do. It helps make the Case to americans that Blind support for Israel is a blow against religious zealotry and Cramer does to spare palestinian leadership his invective describing it As brutal and without conscience. We see a kid who is sent off with dynamite stuffed in his shirt ? sent off by his handlers in the palestinian movement ? because they hold his life not to mention he holds his own life to be of no value except insofar As its thrown away to kill jews any jews nearby does to matter who ? in other words we get exactly the libel the israelis have been trying to Plant on the palestinian people for the last 50 Richard Ben Cramers final lament is that he does not see peace looming on the horizon. He does note that not withstanding his lengthy and pessimistic polemic in Over 25 years of observing the scene at close quarters i a always wrong about the Middle East in this Case i would love to be wrong Harold Buchwald is a Winnipeg lawyer with an abiding interest in Middle Eastern affairs. unimpressive spy spoof lacks timelessness of Bridget Jones Olivia Joules and the overactive imagination by Helen Fielding Viking 352 pages $36 reviewed by Connie Ogle Bridget Jones could Tell you that desperation is not attractive. But this message seems to have eluded Helen Fielding in her first Post Bridget novel a wan unimpressive spy spoof notable Only for one doozy of a misstep. Olivia Joules and the overactive imagination should to necessarily stand As proof that Fielding is a one note wonder ? it is not quite unread Able merely unappealing ? but it does to provide encouragement that the British writer has confidently moved on from her monster hit. You can feel her trying too hard to leave Bridget behind willing the lesser Olivia to capture readers hearts. Spy stories have been spoofed to death on film ? the Austin Powers trilogy Johnny English even the spy kids and agent Cody Banks movies ? and so Fielding has made her Story topical. Probably too topical while the Brid get books feel timeless Olivia Joules will be dated pretty quickly thus her protagonist a fluff journalist who dreams of one Day working on a serious Story travels to Miami Beach to cover the launch of a face Cream. There she meets tall dark handsome Pierre Ferraro to whom she is immediately and Gushin Gly attracted. Inexplicably she remains besotted even when she realizes he reminds her of Osama bin Laden. Fielding understood the lasting uni Versal Appeal of the English languages most romantic hero or. Darcy of Pride and prejudice and yet she now makes this baffling unappetizing error. He really was the most Beautiful Man gentle charming gracious kind Olivia thinks. You think where the hell was this Bimbo on 9/11? its not possible to care much about her after that because clearly she san idiot. Olivia does find a More suitable love interest practises her spy techniques and becomes embroiled in a plot to uncover Ferraro a link to Al Aida but the plot never really recovers from Fieldings lapse into bad taste. Olivia is set up for further adventures but really what could be next cuddling up with Saddam Hussein after All one of her rules for living is nothing is either As bad or As Good As it regrettably Fielding proves just How wrong she is. ? Miami Herald author presents Point gracefully if not decisively resistance by Barry Lopez Alfred a. Knopf 163 pages $26 reviewed by Tony Palmyn this latest Book by american nature writer Barry Lopez the Patron Saint of the . Ecology movement is presented As a work of fiction in nine Short Sto Ries. In the first Story titled Resis Tance the narrator Owen Daniels is a curator and writer part of a Loose International group of writers artists and scholars. They receive a letter from an Agency called the office of Inland Security denouncing them for terrorizing the imaginations of their fellow citizens. While Lopez does to mention the infamous . Senator Joe Mccarthy he invokes an atmosphere of cultural War by american corporate interests against Art nature history and indigenous cultures in the name of safety profit and Progress. The group decides to disappear leaving autobiographical stories to explain what led them to resist the conventional and the comfortable. The eight stories that follow resistance Are polished meditations on interesting lives in strange and wonderful places filled with a sense of mis Sion and purpose written with erudition and ele Gance. However the narrative voices Are indistinguishable from one another. All the characters Are introspective self centred self righteous and bitter. They opted out of the conventional path and led the lives they wanted but they Are upset that they Arent being applauded for it. Indifference As Owen explains he and his friends cannot Tell our people a Story that he attributes the indifference of America to his kind of Story to a mass addiction to mediated entertainments and pop culture. Lopez manages perhaps inadvertently to Illus trate the ponderous self importance of the Ameri can new left its contempt for the Good judgment of Ordinary people and its fear of being regarded As marginal. Resistance is worthwhile. Lopez is a wonderful writer. He challenges his readers and while he May not have made his Point decisively he presented it gracefully. He was honoured for his nature writing with an american National Book award for Arctic dreams in 1986. His Talent and Power Are indisputable. He Cap Tures nature scenes with visual and sensory Preci Sion and sheer Beauty. He takes that work seriously. Tony Palmyn is a Winnipeg writer ;