Automatic autobiography

I've been thinking much more often lately about the authors of the books I read, and not just the books themselves. I suppose this started consciously with The Kite Runner, because I spent most of the book preoccupied with wondering how much of it was autobiographical. Khaled Hosseini is an excellent storyteller but not really, I think, a very good writer, so you aren't completely swept up in the story--you have time to wonder if it's true. Then, in Senior Lit, we were talking about how some people wondered all the way through Bastard Out of Carolina which bits were autobiographical, and having trouble differentiating Bone from Dorothy Allison. But I didn't think of that at all. It never occurred to me to wonder what was autobiographical, and I think it's because Dorothy Allison is a better writer. She's a good writer not just in making even the most unpleasant descriptions sound poetic, but also in simple shape--she's good at putting things together.

The Pursuit of Love also comes to mind--everyone knows it's pretty heavily based on the Mitford family. I'm looking forward to reading The Mitford Girls, to see how much they relate to each other.

And anyway, all fiction has hints of autobiography. There are people I won't show my writing to, not because the story is particularly autobiographical but because I feel like the story will say who I am--and if it didn't say something about me, it wouldn't be any good.

One could not count the moons...

I've just finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, and before that The Kite Runner. They are two very splendid books.

Khaled Hosseini is a wonderful storyteller. He's not the best writer, but I couldn't tell you what I don't like in his writing style because the story and the characters are so overwhelming. I think that's probably what defines most of the really popular books these days--J.K. Rowling, for example, is not that great a writer (some writers of fanfic are better at romance than she is), but she's a great storyteller, and is therefore loved.

One has the sense, in both these books, that the author knows exactly who his characters are. He knows who they are and what they want and what all their faults are. That last is especially true of Amir, in The Kite Runner, and Baba too.

The Kite Runner is more satisfying in terms of a well crafted plot coming together. A Thousand Splendid Suns is more satisfying in terms of the characters and their interweaving lives. The Kite Runner is simply so perfectly circular. Everything has its consequence, and the consequences are often played out in ways that are really very ironic. It has a good sense of poetic justice. That was what impressed me most about this book. The thing I spent the whole book wondering was how much of it was autobiographical. I'd be interested to learn a bit more about Khaled Hosseini's own life.

I didn't much like the structure of A Thousand Splendid Suns. It was too broken up--first the entire long section about Mariam, then the long section about Laila, and there weren't enough hints that their stories were going to come together. (That's something I've noticed generally about this author--I never expect what's coming.) That said, I loved these characters. Mariam not so much until she was older, but Laila always. I'm a hopeless romantic, so I was always rooting for Laila and Tariq. All the characters go through so much, the entire goal of the book has to be to make things come out more or less all right, and that's what keeps you reading.

Reading these books has made me much more aware of the fact that all the cultures of the Middle East are really very fascinating, and I was especially interested in all the hints of the languages.

Anyway, I'm glad to have read them. Next I'm reading Mansfield Park. Now for something completely different.

An Update

School's started, so I've been a bit distracted from doing much blogging. I have been reading, though.

I read my first Evelyn Waugh, Vile Bodies, an utterly bizarre and rather circular little thing. It was quite enjoyable, really, though something one only wants one of at a time.

I also finished Three Men in a Boat, which I've been working on from DailyLit for ages. That was lots of fun.

I'm working on The Kite Runner and Don Quixote, both for classes, and just this evening I started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer). I already love that one. It reminds me a lot of 84, Charing Cross Road, only wonderfully fatter! I can already tell I'm going to positively guzzle it down. If it's sunny tomorrow I'll sit outside, and probably read the whole thing at once.

The Kite Runner is interesting. While I do like it, I'm not entirely sure what all the fuss is about. It does have some very pretty moments, and some very sad ones, but I remain solid in my opinion that a good first person novel is extremely difficult to pull off, discounting ones in diary or letter form. I rarely truly like them. And I do like this one, but the fact that it's written in first person is a huge drawback, which keeps me from loving it. Anyway, I don't really see why it's such a big deal, apart from the topic.