"Levels of Life" FirstReads Review

I recently won an advanced reading copy of Julian Barnes' new book "Levels of Life" through a Goodreads giveaway. I decided to post my review here as well as on the site.) But first, the book's back cover description:

Part history, part fiction, part memoir, Levels of Life is a powerfully personal and unforgettable book, and an immediate classic on the subject of grief.Levels of Life opens in the nineteenth century with balloonists, photographers, and Sarah Bernhardt, whose adventures lead seamlessly into an entirely personal account of the author's own great loss.  

"You put together two things that have not been put together before. And the world is changed..." Julian Barnes's new book is about ballooning, photography, love and grief; about putting two things, and two people, together, and about tearing them apart.

I received an ARC of "Levels of Life" through a Goodreads giveaway. I was excited to read the book due to positive reviews I'd read of Barnes' other works, especially "The Sense of an Ending" (on my to-read list.) The book was split into 3 parts, which I'll break down my impressions of here:

I, "The Sin of Height": This part didn't meet my expectations. It included various historical details about ballooning which I found curious but ultimately pointless. 

II, "On the Level": This part was an improvement from the first, as it read more like a biography in its focus on Fred Burnaby's brief romance with Sarah Bernhardt. However, though I wanted to enjoy reading Part II, I still couldn't understand the point Barnes was attempting to make in his portrait of Burnaby. I know that he intended ballooning as a metaphor for love, but it never quite worked for me.

III, "The Loss of Depth": I immediately liked Part III, which reads like a memoir, as Barnes discusses coping with the death of his wife. Some of his observations and reflections on grief struck me in their eloquence and truthfulness. As I read, I even underlined several quotes.

Overall, I'm glad I read "Levels of Life." Though I struggled through Parts I and II, "The Loss of Depth" made up for them. I would rate the individual sections:

"The Sin of Height": 1/5
"On the Level": 2/5
"The Loss of Depth": 4.5/5

"She's Still Alive?!"

Well, it's been a while... by which I mean over two months.

Believe me, I'm not happy about the break. However, I've been busy in the past month. If you follow me on Tumblr or Twitter, you'll know I graduated from a school I attended for 5 years, said goodbye to good friends, had to put down a dog I've had for 10 y
ears, and dealt with various anxieties and family issues.

Did I mention that I also flew to Boston to attend Harvard University for the summer? It's now been a week since classes started, and I've had to make several adjustments. Due to my educational history, I'm unused to being surrounded by so many people. In the past two weeks, since beginning the program, I've met as many people as I did for four years.

My courses are also very different. My first one, on Mondays and Wednesdays, is an English class focusing on tragedies. We've been reading Sophocles' Theban plays and will cover Shakespeare, Ibsen, Beckett, and Tennessee Williams. My second class, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, is a Creative Writing course focusing on short stories. We've been reading and analyzing stories from The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, and our first story is due on Tuesday.

In this post, I thought I'd discuss my experiences in the CREA class.

So far, classes have consisted of some writing and some discussion. Discussion has focused on stories vs. anecdotes (and how stories include a central conflict) and flat vs. round characters. I haven't found the discussions to be especially illuminating yet, as it's covered devices I'm already familiar with, but they'd probably make a good introduction for someone who doesn't read writers' blogs for fun.

Lamont Library

Writing exercises, meanwhile, have been more rewarding. In the first exercise, the class was given 15 minutes to write a story beginning with the words "once upon a time." The results were interesting. About half the class wrote fairy tale-like stories, others wrote about past societies (I wrote about a boy surviving the destruction of a Makah village in the 1500s), and a few students came up with various other topics. In a few cases, it was obvious that classmates deliberately tried to avoid cliche in their subjects, to varying degrees of success. The fellow high school students especially preferred the last approach, writing stories about dystopias, anthropomorphic rocks, and the old "I was given a writing prompt in class when..." premise.

In the second writing exercise, our instructor gave the class about 30-45 minutes to begin a story which we'll complete in class (with revisions following.) I definitely didn't prefer writing in class (due largely to a lack of inspiration.) However, it did force me to write when I normally wouldn't choose to, which I think is a positive experience for any writer. Unless you're very lucky, it's important to learn how to write in less-than-ideal conditions, or you'll never write regularly. Most nights during the school year, I'm exhausted from homework, extracurriculars, and life in general, but I need to learn to quit using tiredness as an excuse. I can't if I want to be a writer. Hopefully by the end of the course, I'll have built more self-discipline!

A note: it's definitely much easier to write by finding your personal ideal environment. Mine is a desk in the back corner of Harvard's Lamont Library. Desks are very private and are located next to wall outlets. I can set up my laptop, turn on some indie music (I've recently been loving this mix), and write. I used to never write with music, but found that it's actually best for me. If I'm familiar with the lyrics (so don't feel the need to listen and analyze them), the sound allows me to block out critical thoughts.

Over the next few weeks, I'll conference with my CREA instructor re: two of my short stories and have another workshopped. I'll blog again then (I promise!)

I thought I'd end this post with a little nerd humor, captured on an MIT visit today:

P.S.: I recently became much more active on my weheartit account. If you use the site, feel free to check out my profile! I heart pretty places and art, interesting characters and ideas, and anything else that strikes my fancy. 

How was your Fourth?

TCWT: Ultimate Goals

Sorry for posting this so late. I arrived home late and was busy with homework until 10.

This month, I decided to participate in Teens Can Write, Too!'s blog chain.

The prompt was: What is your ultimate goal as a writer?

The most common answer to this question is probably getting published. Others might include fame, awards, or financial success. I've definitely dreamt of each of these over the years, and even developed detailed interview responses. (It's good to prepare, right?)

As I've gotten older, my dreams of grandeur have definitely decreased. Lately, I've even begun to fear sharing my work with others. I'm my toughest critic, and my inner editor sometimes questions whether writing's for me at all.

It's a topic I've discussed before. Are the sacrifices I make for writing really worth it? But time and time again, I've discovered that they are. Writing is my tool to make sense of the world. For that reason - because I write for myself - it isn't important to me to become published.

That's not to say becoming published isn't a goal. I'd love to make money off my writing someday. However, I'm certainly not going to rely on luck (which seems to be a large component of success as a writer.) I don't need my mother's weekly reminders to realize that writing isn't a reliable career path.

I'm reminded now of an incident several weeks ago. My mother and I were in Seattle, visiting my sister at a robotics competition. We left soon, so decided to give our parking ticket to a family which had just arrived. The father, who was driving, thanked us with a copy of his CD.

As we drove home, I listened to the CD. It was a collection of piano pieces, most classical. A biography of the artist was featured on the back cover. As it happened, he had loved music all his life. He was born to a musical family in Lebanon, and has performed with his brothers several times since they moved to the US. Though he's most likely profited little financially, his passion for music is as strong as ever.

I share the story first because I find the musician's pursuit of his dreams inspiring. I'm also hoping for a similar outcome - the eventual distribution of my work, with a well-paid job as support.

The last topic I'd like to address is the question of audience. That is, what type of story I want to write, and which readers I'd like to attract.

My stories tend to be realistic, but not edgy, and deal with young people. Usually that means young adults (actual ones.) However, my most recent protagonist has been a teen, and her story is one of my favorites I've written. Though I'd hate to classify myself as a strictly YA writer, it's a genre I'd like to explore more.

(Labels make me feel cramped, so I'm envisioning pulling off a John Green-type literary position: as a YA writer whose books are popular with many adults, and are as critically acknowledged as general fiction.)

My ideal reader is a young person who's interested not just entertainment, but in considering stories on a deeper level. That's not to say I'd want too much time dedicated to my works' themes/message; subtlety is generally a much better approach. Message shouldn't interfere with the enjoyment of a story - for example, think The Hunger Games. The novel is exciting and engaging, but also includes lots of serious discussion material. (This applies to books 2 and 3 as well.)

A while ago, I read a quote (I believe) by Joss Whedon, the creator of one of my favorite TV shows: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." He didn't care if the series was necessarily widely viewed, but wanted it to be loved by its fans. I'd hope the same for anything I publish. (Critics' love wouldn't hurt either.)

Thoughts?

If you'd like to follow the blog chain:
April 5th – http://miriamjoywrites.wordpress.com/
April 6th – http://www.inklinedwriters.blogspot.com/
April 7th – http://www.paulinaczarnecki.wordpress.com/
April 8th – http://insatiablebeforedeath.wordpress.com/
April 9th – http://musingsfromnevillesnavel.wordpress.com/
April 10th – http://avonsbabbles.wordpress.com/
April 11th – http://theloonyteenwriter.wordpress.com/
April 12th – http://insideliamsbrain.wordpress.com/
April 13th – http://kirstenwrites.wordpress.com/
April 14th – http://creatingtherenaissance.wordpress.com/
April 15th – http://charactercentral.wordpress.com/
April 16th – http://realityisimaginary.blogspot.com/
April 17th – http://www.novelexemplar.wordpress.com/
April 18th – http://charlieeatmybook.blogspot.co.uk/
April 19th – http://zarahoffman.tumblr.com/
April 20th – http://thelittleenginethatcouldnt.wordpress.com/
April 21st – http://theangelicauburn.wordpress.com/
April 22nd – http://eatwritedie.blogspot.com/
April 24th – http://veewhoa.wordpress.com/
April 25th – http://www.alwaysweavingwords.blogspot.com/
April 26th – http://anqiyu.wordpress.com/
April 27th – http://bloodoverithaca.wordpress.com/ 
April 28th - http://incessantdroningofaboredwriter.wordpress.com/

Inspired by the Wiser

I meant to write a post on Sunday, but didn't get around to it. This whole week's been plagued by fatigue, the result of studying for a difficult Biology test and an attenuated version of the flu.

I also spent some time creating a 7" album cover design for HAIM's song "Better Off." Though I consider myself a writer, I love visual art and music, so submitted a design. Additionally, I liked the cause: to support Art Against Knives, a youth-led initiative against violence, via Secret 7". You can view my submission here.

In other news: last night, I had a major revelation as to the format of one of my current projects (the Ines story, set in Brazil.) As you'll remember from this post, I've been struggling to write the story for knowledge/research reasons. However, I think my new format, inspired by Sandra Cisernos' "The House on Mango Street" (one of my favorite books, a collection of poetic vignettes) better fits the story's character and is more readable.

Between the two projects - "Better Off" and Ines' story - I've noticed a pattern. In both cases, I struggled for weeks to create a work .I spent hours researching and creating drafts, but for each, I was eventually inspired by works I already loved and admired. (In the visual art case, I was inspired by the cover of Gregory Alan Isakov's album "This Empty Northern Hemisphere.")

So what have my experiences taught me? That a new artist of any sort - whether her medium of choice be written, visual, audiovisual, you name it - must enthusiastically study her craft and seek inspiration in the work of artists older and wiser than herself.

Think "kung fu flick" - pretend you're the young hero of a martial arts movie, trying to become great through a master's tutelage:

Or maybe not.