From the 17th Floor: Rajasthan, For Example

April 12, 2013

By JENNIFER ACKER

To reach Kumbhalgarh, one drives two hours north from the charming lake city of Udaipur through the Aravalli Mountains. Until the end, the climb is gradual, and the countryside is rock-strewn and brown, save for the flames of the forest, the shocking orange flowers blooming from dead-looking branches. (When the rains come, the flowers will fall, and the trees’ wide green leaves will be used for plates.) But just when the roadside rhythms have slowed to match the bullock-pulled wheels drawing water from the wells, a throng of pink and orange and yellow saris jump into the road and halt the car. It’s the week of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, and these women extract a few rupees in exchange for a fierce bit of dancing.

From the 17th Floor: Rajasthan, For Example
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Review: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment

Review: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment

April 11, 2013

Book by JENNIFER CODY EPSTEIN
Reviewed by PARKER BLANEY 

The Gods of Heavenly PunishmentJennifer Cody Epstein’s The Gods of Heavenly Punishment is a sprawling novel, traversing the era of World War II from 1935 to the air-attack of mainland Japan in 1945, with an epilogue set in the early sixties. The time frame of the story is large, as are many of its scenes, such as Tokyo being firebombed or in the cockpit of a B-25 during Doolittle’s raid. This is a generous novel with heart.  Epstein uses the simple device of a ring with a green stone to pull together the lives of characters from two sides of the Pacific Ocean, but the ring symbolizes a hope for a broader reconciliation. Though the two main combatants in the war for the Pacific have been allies for many decades, neither the U.S. or Japan have ever fully accounted for the devastation they wrought on each other: the U.S. decisions to firebomb and, ultimately, to drop atomic bombs on the civilian population of Japan and force its capitulation, as well as Japan’s choice to attack Pearl Harbor and commit war crimes in the Philippines and Manchuria.

Review: The Gods of Heavenly Punishment
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A Loophole in Time (Part 1)

A Loophole in Time (Part 1)

April 9, 2013

By JUDITH HERTOG

When I was four years old, my father decided it was time for me to learn my address and phone number, so I’d be able to identify myself and find my way back if I ever got lost. He taught me the following ditty:

A Loophole in Time (Part 1)
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Review: Speedboat and Pitch Dark

Review: Speedboat and Pitch Dark

April 8, 2013

Books by RENATA ADLER
Reviewed by SARAH MALONE

Speedboat and Pitch Dark

Renata Adler dedicated Speedboat (1976) and Pitch Dark (1981) for “A.” and “B.,” and like two LP sides, the novels, newly reissued by New York Review Books, are variations in a radical approach to fiction. They diametrically oppose E.M. Forster’s formulation that narrative is causation—not “merely” A happened, then B happened, but A caused B. Adler puts A next to X, with no apparent causal connection or temporal sequence. Many characters appear only once. But episodes’ consistent sentence structure and types of characters create a coherent tone. Its effect is hypnotic.

Review: Speedboat and Pitch Dark
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Manoa Lo’i

Manoa Lo’i

April 5, 2013

By STEVE BULL 

Leaves by studio walls.

New media artist Steve Bull creates augmented reality installations by adding three-dimensional graphics and sound via global positioning satellites onto real life places. The result can only be seen through a free Junaio browser downloaded to smartphones or tablets. Using the browser as a window, the viewer wanders through the augmented reality construct in any direction. Touching the object, the viewer can hear an associated audio recording. The browser can also be used to capture a still image of this combined world of the virtual and real.

Manoa Lo’i
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