Tom Darby

Disorderly Notions is a good title for this work. It bounces back and forth between several different stories, all of them different points in the history of the Benjamin family. The oldest starts with Judah P. Benjamin. Judah was the the Secretary of State of the Confederate states. The most recent story is from a descendant of Judah’s brother. Judah ran off to Britain after the war, his brother wandered around central America for a while before coming back and settling in southern Georgia and founding a town.

Hamilton West is a college professor and is the primary person all the action centers around. His mother moved to Canada with his father and that is where he was born and grew up. He and his mom made frequent trips to visit the family back in Georgia and that is how he became great friends with his cousin Jud. The main story is Hamilton and his ‘uncle’ Andy have decided to travel Asia for a few months while ‘Hambone’ lets his college settle down after a bad decision came back to haunt him.

This review is kind of meandering like the book. I really don’t know if it can be described with a nice and easy a paragraph or two for a synopsis. It covers a lot of ground and each story is interesting in it’s own right. Racism is a topic that flows through the whole book with a bit of light politics. On top of that it is all tied together pretty tightly by the end of the book. I would say almost too tightly. It was interesting in that parts of the book felt like it was ready to be over, while the actual ending felt rushed. There were a couple surprises at the end and if you aren’t paying attention you might miss the significance.

In general I would say this is not the kind of book I would normally pick up. I think it would fall close to the ‘literary fiction’ which I usually avoid. I will say I actually enjoyed this book. I found it to be well written. I think the meandering telling was a fun way to bring the story to life. I don’t think everyone will like the way the story is told but that’s true of any book.… (meer)

DISORDERLY NOTIONS, Tom Darby

A great title for this book! Disorderly Notions is several stories in one. In no particular order: a travelogue, a family history, a biography of a reasonably famous family ancestor, each told as part of one of the others and then a current and continuing timeline. Confused? Okay. I'm not going to reveal any spoilers of major events in this novel but hopefully this review won't be too vague. It still might not make much sense because sometimes the book doesn't.

The main story is of an eccentric professor who takes grant money from his college and goes on a tour of part of the world with his even more eccentric uncle who served in WWII but is a not-too-closet socialist - all because of a bet with a cousin - a cousin from the part of the family that lives in England. The cousin is trying to write a story of their mutual ancestor who was the Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America until he had to high-tail it to England to keep from being tried and possibly executed. However, since the cousin is more of a poet than a writer, he gives the professor cousin all his notes and research and asks him to write the biography, so the professor takes these notes and copies with him on his journey.

The two travelers meet a number of interesting people with whom they become entangled, changing their itineraries to go places they had not considered with these odd individuals. During their travels, the professor falls in love (which is reciprocated) with a US ex-pat who works as a tennis pro in Singapore, but who ends up traveling with them. She has a laptop. In his unoccupied hours, the professor writes the biography based on his cousin's notes and research on her laptop but saves it onto a floppy and won't let anyone else read it until he is finished.

The professor espouses a theory that history has ended; in reality, of course, history ends every day - with that day. And history will end tomorrow - on that day. For some reason, other academics are outraged and incensed at this notion. The professor gives a speech at a conference in India (as a result of having met one of those "interesting" people I mentioned earlier) . The conference is actually about how to change the world to be a greener, friendlier, more peaceful place, by getting everyone on the planet to understand that it is in everyone's best interests to be environmentally responsible and stop making weapons and fighting constantly.

The professor has some kind of epiphany as he gets up to speak and proceeds to speak to the reality of what would result if everyone on the planet actually followed the first two speakers' ideas to their logical conclusions. Both speakers are outraged, leading to nasty letters to his college on the order of accusing him of academic heresy. The conference actually ends abruptly after the professor's speech, mostly due to the Fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie, who is thought to be in the general vicinity of the conference, causing everyone to start running around in a panic, but it is really bad timing for the professor.

All during these travels, the story both switches back to the childhood of the professor and the story of his family in a small town in rural Georgia from the mid-19th century forward, and to the biography the professor is writing about his semi-famous ancestor from the civil war. Oddly, the famous ancestor meets many interesting people after relocating to England and traveling in Europe, including some Russian members of royalty, some of whom are business associates but at least one is a Rasputin-type character that seems to be crazy and/or a genius, has no social skills (or hygiene) and, coincidentally(?), espouses the theory that history has ended.

After even more adventures, the two travelers make their way back to England, via Russia (which had refused a visa to the professor, so to return to England through Russia by train is imminently amusing to him) then the main thread of the professor continues as he returns to Canada, with more flashbacks to the history of some of the characters.

I'm quite sure the author had all of these stories organized in his head in a manner that made perfect sense. Unfortunately, that information is never quite communicated to the reader. This book could easily have rivaled "War and Peace" in length if all the information necessary to tie these disparate threads together had been included. The writing is in a style reminiscent of old-style travelogues, at least the part regarding the journey.

There are a very few jarring, unpleasant, violent (but realistic) incidents related in the various threads of these stories that are disturbing due to their infrequency and abrupt appearance but which fit in with the histories that are being woven together. I'm trying not to ramble but it is difficult to describe this book without following its lead. In good conscience I can't really recommend this book because I actually feel, unfortunately, like I wasted the time I spent reading it. When it feels like a chore to finish a book, there is a problem.

I received a copy of this book free in exchange for a review. Per the agreement with NetGalley.com, it will be posted on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, Library Thing and, eventually, on a blog I am constructing of reviews.… (meer)