6 posts tagged “bpp”
But if you are a fan, please call in!
Update: Comments I sent into NPR and their ombudsman:
I am dismayed to hear that The Bryant Park Project is being cancelled by NPR. The BPP has been a less sedate way than Morning Edition to kick off my mornings at work. I've enjoyed most of the stories that the show has focused on (the power outages in Alaska, the investigation into murders at the childrens' home in Britain, for example) and the book club. Whenever I had a question about the show, I could easily reach Laura C. on Twitter. I think this easy communication between listeners and NPR is beneficial on all sides. It is disappointing that NPR is giving up on such an engaging program.
When the Bryant Park Project's Book Club started, I attempted to read the book chosen, but it didn't work out. Then I skipped the next month's book and had already read last month's pick. But I really wanted to give this month's book a try.
Petropolis, which I at first got confused with Persepolis, is a darkly humorous tale about the coming of age of Sasha Goldberg, a Jewish Siberian girl on a quest to find her father. Her story includes that of her passive-aggressive mother, her first lover, her delinquent father, and all the people she comes to know in America. It's definitely not all sunshine and lollipops in this book, but I found it a very enjoyable read. Once I got into it, I was really into it, cramming reading time into my lunch breaks and staying up late in bed to finish it.
Tomorrow author/BPP Book Club maven Sarah Goodyear and I will chat about the book's endearing qualities. Or something like that. I'll let you know when it's posted (I think the audio will go up on the blog rather than on the air).
Good stuff!
The unreliable narrator - a man looking back on a year of his childhood - bugged me. We know he's recalling his past, but some things he understands as a man, and some he remembers as a child. My main annoyance - his continuing reference to his mother's alcohol as "medicine". We get it, we get it; I felt like I was hit over the head with it.
A more patient reader may have been able to get something deeper from this novel, but I couldn't do it. I really tried, honest!
