News-Letter

Let's face it: Chances are that we at Hopkins don't have much
free time to read books for pleasure. Between class readings, studying
and writing papers -- not to mention the mad dashes to class -- there
isn't all that much time to cuddle up with a book on M-level.

I had reviewed John Updike's novel Terrorist
(Knopf, June 6, 2006), at the beginning of the semester; I recommended
it then and I recommend it again now. A tale about the clash of two
different cultures, Updike pits an Islamic fundamentalist teenager
against his family and community. It might not have been the most
hopeful or open-minded book to read, but despite whatever bothersome
aspects of the plot are present, Updike's prose makes reading this
novel worth it, however unsettling certain sections are. The alarming
reality of the world in which his characters exist adds an element of
foreboding to the tale, making the reader see the necessity of the
existence of a writer like Updike who isn't afraid to portray life as
it is.

Is there a secret slowly gnawing at your gut? Or are you just interested in the juicy tidbits of other's lives? My Secret: A PostSecret Book by Frank Warren (Regan Books, Oct. 24, 2006) is the answer to your prayers. Sequel to his first book, Postsecret, My Secret
operates on the same model: Strangers mailed the author their deepest
secrets through collages of photographs, postcards and letters. But
this time around, the souls bared are those of teens and college
students. Not lacking in the originality of the first book, My Secret
is fascinating to examine with the gravity of serious secrets coupled
with more light-hearted fare. More of a novelty than anything else,
this book is an interesting social experiment and a reassuring sign
that somebody, somewhere not only has something to say, but someone to
listen.

What happens after we graduate college and end up in the real
world? Hopkins students grapple with this question on a regular basis.
Such questions jump-start the action in The Emperor's Children by
Claire Messud (Knopf, Aug. 29, 2006), a novel about three
thirty-somethings trying to get a clue post-9/11 New York City. Marina
Thwaite is the daughter of a successful Vietnam-era journalist, who
just can't seem to finish her own book about children's fashion. As a
result she spends a lot of time doing yoga while living in her parent's
lavish Upper West Side apartment. Her two best friends -- one a TV
producer and the other a freelance critic -- fare no better, and the
three of them decide to use sex as a means to aggrandize themselves. As
a snooty cousin comes and tries to assert his views on the correct
course of action, things for these yuppies, understandably, fall apart.
Acclaimed for the author's mastery of the narrative technique, The Emperor's Children provides comic relief while offering satire of the life that all too soon, some of us will live.

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