B8
B Jonathan Yardley
native of Montana, he has worked as a reporter, editorialist, rancher and magazine editor. He has lived in Seattle for many years, but Montana remains the central preoccupation of his writing. He has published a dozen books, nine of them novels, most of them dealing in one way or another with his home state: its lusty past, its natural beauty, its endangered environment. Though he has a tin ear for speech and really should stop writing dialogue, his descriptive powers can be acute, as in this portrait of Butte in 1919, as painted by Morrie
Morgan, the narrator of “Work Song”: “Everything about Butte made a person look
twice. My train journey had brought me across the Montana everyone thinks of, mile upon hypnotic mile of rolling prairie with snowcapped peaks in the distance, and here, as sudden and surprising as a lost city of legendary times, was a metropolis of nowhere: nearly a hundred thousand people atop the earth’s mineral crown, with nothing else around but the Rocky Mountains and the witnessing sky. The immediate neighborhood on the skirt of land out from the depot, as my gaze sorted it out, seemed to hold every manner of building from shanty to mansion, church to chicken coop, chop suey joint to mattress factory, all mixed together from one topsy-turvy block to the next. Butte stood more erect as the ground rose. In the city center, several blocks on up the slope, lofty buildings hovered here and there waiting for others to catch up, and the streets also took on elevation, climbing the blemished hill until workers’ cottages mingled with mines and dump heaps along the top of the namesake butte. Up there, the long-legged black steel frameworks over the mineshafts populated the skyline like a legion of half-done miniatures of Eiffel’s tower.” That’s not poetry, but mercifully it doesn’t try to be. Instead, it’s good, solid descriptive prose
A sweet tune but woefully off-key I
WORK SONG By Ivan Doig Riverhead. 275 pp. $25.95
van Doig, who turned 71 three weeks ago, has had an interesting, productive life. A
that conveys a strong sense of place. Doig is also a trained historian — he has a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Washington— and he has deliberately set “Work Song” in a troubled, dangerous hour: “The immeasurable shadow of the 1914-1918 war still lay over the affairs of nations; Europe’s old jealously held boundaries were being torn up and rewritten, for better or worse, at the Paris peace conference. Russia already had shaken the political firmament by doing away with the Czar and yielding to the new fist of the Bolsheviks. America’s habit of throwing a fit to ward off contagion was at high pitch; activists with a leftist tinge were being hounded by government agents, even jailed or deported. Alongside that, the laboring class started at a deep disadvantage whenever it challenged the masters of capital. Strikes were its only effective tool, the way things were, but the powers that be resisted those with force if necessary. It added up to a jittery period of history, did it not?” That’s History Lite, to be sure, but it does put in context the story Doig tells about labor troubles at the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, which owned Butte in those days the way DuPont owns Wilmington. Unfortunately, though, having quoted these two paragraphs as evidence of the good to be found in “Work Song,” I can no longer put off getting around to the bad. Not to put too fine a point on it, “Work Song” is the worst work of fiction to cross my desk in years. I don’t keep a chronological record so cannot cite chapter and verse as to which was the last novel I found as bad as this one — it may have been Joan Didion’s “Democracy,” published a quarter-century ago, or Erica Jong’s “How to Save Your Own Life,” published in 1977— but it is my unhappy duty to report that “Work Song” is a world-class dud, a sequel to Doig’s popular “The Whistling Season” (2006) but hardly its equal. “Work Song” is not set in corn country, though
Lord knows there’s plenty of corn in it, and it’s full of what an old-time North Carolina newspaper editor delighted in calling “shucks and nubbins,” roughly defined as folksiness so posed and artificial that the reader is left not charmed but nauseated. It’s jes’ chock full o’ characters so quaint ’n’ cute you want to execute them on the spot. Chief among these is the aforementioned Morrie Morgan, whose “rightful name” is Morgan Llewellyn but who had to shed it after a run-in with Chicago gangsters. Now, he has made his way to Butte, running from a failed romance in a town where he had worked as a schoolteacher. First, he finds a room in a boarding house run
by a fetching widder lady, Grace Faraday, the other boarders being two miners, Wynford Griffithand Maynard Hooper, a.k.a. Griff and
LITERARY CALENDAR JULY 20-25, 2010
20 TUESDAY | 7 P.M. William Powers, a former staff writer for The Washington Post, discusses and signs his new book, “Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age,” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 202-364-1919. 7:30 P.M. Donald Illich joins Marie-Elizabeth Mali for a reading of their poetry as part of the Joaquin Miller Cabin Poetry Series held at Miller’s Cabin, Picnic Grove #6, Beach Dr. at the Military Road overpass in Rock Creek Park, 703-820-8113. An open reading
(sign-up at 7 p.m.) will conclude the program.
22 THURSDAY | 7 P.M. Allison Hobbs, author of “Stealing Candy,” joins Zane, author of “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” for a signing of their new novels at Borders Books, 931 Capital Centre Blvd., Largo, Md., 301-499-2173. 7 P.M. Historian Eric Jay Dolan discusses and signs “Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America” at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.
Bookshop DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
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23 FRIDAY | 7 P.M. Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, the couple whose story inspired Michael Lewis’s book “The Blind Side” and the subsequent feature film, discuss and sign their new memoir, “In a Heartbeat: Sharing the Power of Cheerful Giving,” at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, Central Branch, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, Md., 410-396-9454. 7 P.M. Bill Yosses, the executive pastry chef at the White House, discusses and signs his new book, “The Perfect Finish: Special Desserts for Every Occasion” (written with Melissa Clark), at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919. 8 P.M. Busboys and Poets and the poetry organization Split This Rock are hosting a special event, “Howl in the City,” to celebrate the photography exhibition “Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg,” on view now through Sept. 16 at the National Gallery of Art. Celebrated poet Anne Waldman, a friend of Allen Ginsberg, presents two performances of his legendary poem “Howl” that evening, first at 8 p.m. and again at 10 p.m., with a third reading at 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 24, all at Busboy’s Fifth & K St. location, 1025 Fifth St. NW, 202-789-2227. Inspired by the spontaneous nature of the Beats, Matthew Hemerlein will lead a string quartet in a musical improvisation to accompany the poem (the quartet is comprised of Matthew Hemerlein, violin; Matvei Sigalov, violin; Janel Leppin, cello; and Karin Kilper, viola). Waldman will also perform her original poems and will be preceded each evening by local poets Chris August, Kenneth Carroll, and Venus Thrash. Tickets may be purchased for $10 at
www.busboysandpoets.com. Also, on Saturday, July 24, at 10 p.m., Kyp Malone, of TV on the Radio, closes “Howl in the City” with a performance on the store’s K Street patio. Matthew Hemerlein will open with a solo set. For complete details, visit
www.busboysandpoets.com; for information on the National Gallery exhibition, visit
www.nga.gov/ginsberg.
24 SATURDAY | 1 P.M. Valencia Campbell, a consultant on educational topics and women’s issues, discusses and signs her recent book “Advice from the Top: What Minority Women Say about Their Career Success” at the Kingdom Living Book Store, 10907 Livingston Rd., Fort Washington, Md. For details, e-mail
campbell@advicefromtopwomen.com. 2 P.M. Renee Kelahan reads from and discusses her new children’s picture book, “Água, the Mysterious Portuguese Water Dog” (illustrated by Penny Hauffe), at Books & Crannies, 19 E. Washington St., Middleburg, Va., 540-687-6677. 6 P.M. Investigative journalist Kim Eisler discusses “Masters of the Game: Inside the World’s Most Powerful Law Firm,” his look at the firm Williams & Connolly, at Politics and Prose Bookstore, 202-364-1919.
For more literary events, go to
washingtonpost.com/gog/ and search “book event.”
Hoop: “Although they looked enough alike to be brothers, I figured out that they had simply worked together so long in the mineshafts that the stoop of their bodies and other inclinations had made them grow together in resemblance as some old married couples do.” They are meant to be a mixture of comic relief and miners’-union solidarity, but they aren’t in the least amusing, and their rhetoric is stale. For his part Morrie has no desire to go down into the mines, so first he takes a job as a “representative of the Peterson Modern Mortuary and Funeral Home,” which is to say designated “cryer” at local wakes, but then he gets lucky and lands a job as master of all trades at the incongruously grand public library. He is taken on by the imperious major domo of the library, Samuel Sandison, a former rancher whose splendid book collection is the jewel in the library’s crown. Sandison likes Morrie because he loves books, and takes him on ostensibly to manage the schedule of meetings held in the library, but soon enough Morrie has his hands full: “Day by day, besides my juggling act with the meetings schedule, it had been gruffly suggested to me that I organize the disorganized subscription list of magazines and newspapers, find someone to fix the drinking fountain, deal with [the librarian’s] complaints about squeaky wheels on book carts passing through her sanctum, respond to a stack of letters from people with the kinds of questions only a library can answer — in short, I was tasked with anything Sandison did not want to do, which was very nearly everything.” On and on the novel drones. A couple of
Chicago goons show up, again ostensibly for comic relief, but if you want funny goons, I recommend “Kiss Me Kate” and “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” because every attempt to make these guys funny falls flat. The radical International Workers of the World — the “Wobblies” — loom ominously in the background, but all their looming doesn’t amount to a thing. Instead, Doig places Morrie —whom he clearly finds charming, clever and pixyish — at the head of a truly ludicrous competition to compose a battle hymn for the miners of the Hill, in the spirit of “Onward, Christian Soldiers,” behind which they can march into battle against the feared and hated Anaconda.
All in all, take away a couple of modestly quotable paragraphs and “Work Song” is mawkish, corny, clumsy and uninviting. It is an utter mystery that Doig, who should know better, wrote it and that his newpublisher, who should know better, agreed to issue it. But you, dear reader, who most certainly know better, are under no obligation to read it.
yardleyj@washpost.com
KLMNO
SUNDAY, JULY 18, 2010
WASHINGTON BESTSELLERS PAPERBACK
FICTION 1 THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
2 THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE 55
(Vintage, $14.95). By Stieg Larsson. First book in the late Swede’s “Millennium Trilogy”; basis of new film.
16
(Vintage, $15.95). By Stieg Larsson. Sex trafficking between Sweden and Eastern Europe is exposed.
3 LITTLE BEE (Simon & Schuster, $14) 4 UNDER THE DOME (Pocket, $19.99) 5 KNOCK OUT (Jove, $9.99) 21
By Chris Cleave. This wry second novel from a British journalist explores the state of war and refugees.
1
By Stephen King. An invisible force field surrounds the Maine hamlet of Chester’s Mill, wreaking havoc.
2
By Catherine Coulter. A young girl with psychic gifts telepathically contacts FBI agent Dillon Savich.
6 SWIMSUIT (Grand Central, $14.99) 4
By James Patterson & Maxine Paetro. A supermodel vanishes from a shoot in Hawaii.
7 TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (Warner, $7.99) 1
(HarperPerennial, $15.99). By Harper Lee. The Pulitzer Prize-winning tale set in the Depression-era South.
8 FINGER LICKIN’ FIFTEEN (St. Martin’s, $8.99) 3
By Janet Evanovich. A Plum adventure replete with a beheaded chef and a string of break-ins.
9 ONE NIGHT (Avon, $7.99). By Debbie Macomber. 10 THE DEFECTOR (Signet, $9.99) 2
A radio station’s offbeat morning deejay annoys one of its newscasters to no end—or could it be love?
1
By Daniel Silva. The Russian agent who aided Gabriel Allon in his last outing has gone missing.
NONFICTION/GENERAL 1 EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN’S SEARCH FOR
136
EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA (Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert. Forthcoming film.
2 THE OFFICIAL SAT STUDY GUIDE (SECOND EDITION) 3 THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN’S MISSION
TO PROMOTE PEACE (Griffin, $19.95) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.
4 SCHOLASTIC SUCCESS WITH 1ST GRADE
(Simon Spotlight, $16) By Chelsea Handler. Irreverent essays.
3
WORKBOOK (Teaching Resources, $16.99) By Jon Buller. Tackling the three R’s in grade school.
5 ARE YOU THERE, VODKA? IT’S ME, CHELSEA 6 HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR:
A LIVELY AND ENTERTAINING GUIDE TO READING . . . (Harper, $13.99). By Thomas C. Foster
7 MENNONITE IN A LITTLE BLACK DRESS: A MEMOIR 8 MY HORIZONTAL LIFE: A COLLECTION OF
ONE-NIGHT STANDS (Bloomsbury, $14.95) By Chelsea Handler. A litany of assignations.
9 THE TIPPING POINT: HOW LITTLE THINGS CAN
MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE (Back Bay, $14.95 ) By Malcolm Gladwell. Fads and their origins.
10 THE BLACK SWAN: THE IMPACT OF THE HIGHLY 7
IMPROBABLE (Random House, $17) By Nassim Nicolas Taleb. The book’s second edition.
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended July 11, 2010. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright © 2010 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The bestseller lists in print alternate between hardcover and paperback; the complete list can be found online.)
6
Hardback Bestsellers @
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
WEDNESDAY IN STYLE: Ayelet Waldman
122 12
OF GOING HOME (Holt, $14). By Rhoda Janzen Coping, all at once, with a stray husband and car crash.
9 23 2 32
(College Board, $21.99). This revised manual offers 10 practice tests and loads of tips.
165
REENIE RASCHKE
BOOK WORLD THIS WEEK
COMING IN STYLE
MONDAY Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens, is a thriller about a woman held prisoner in a remote cabin.
TUESDAY In No Place for Heroes, a novel by Laura Restrepo, a mother and son cope with the aftermath of Argentina’s “Dirty War.”
WEDNESDAY When the bride and groom are killed in a car accident, their mothers must deal with each other in Ayelet Waldman’s Red Hook Road. A politician’s philandering forces his wife and daughters to reconsider their lives in Jennifer Weiner’s Fly Away Home. And three adventures on the high seas.
THURSDAY The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto, by Bernard DeVoto. This book by a critic and historian first came out in 1951, when drinking was practically the national pastime.
FRIDAY In Fiona Mountain’s novel Lady of the Butterflies, an Englishwoman of the 17th century becomes a renowned scientist.
SATURDAY At the start of Susan Isaacs’s comic novel As Husbands Go, the heroine’s plastic-surgeon spouse is found dead in a call girl’s apartment.
voices.washingtonpost.com/political-bookworm
Join us as we debate the issues and authors making news today.
6
Read our blog, Political Bookworm, which focuses on books that stir the national political conversation.
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