Lewis Scooter Libby's weird novel - The Apprentice
Written: Nov 05 '05 (Updated Feb 13 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Um.. it's a book set in Japan.
Cons: It's not a good book set in Japan.
The Bottom Line: Only read it if you want to check out what Scooter Libby's written. Don't read it because you're interested in stories set in Japan, like I did. You'll be disappointed.
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| Jellyn's Full Review: The Apprentice Books |
No, Scooter Libby isn't joining forces with Mark Burnett to make a reality show. He wrote a book called The Apprentice. And I've read it.
I believe I picked it up at Bookcloseouts.com after a keyword search for 'Japanese'. It sounded interesting for the price (wicked cheap), so I added it to my cart. This was back in January or February and I had no idea who Lewis Libby was when I selected it. Just some author I'd never heard of.
The book made sure I didn't remain ignorant, however, as the author blurb at the back reads: "Lewis Libby is the current Chief-of-Staff and National Security Advisor to Vice President Cheney and Assistant to President Bush. He previously held positions at the U.S. Departments of State and Defense. The Apprentice, originally published by Graywolf in hardcover, is his first novel."
Not exactly the author blurb you expect to see for a Japanese quasi-historical novel. Where's his writing credentials? Japanese history credentials? Maybe that community college course he took on Asian culture? No? Okay. Who more qualified to write a book set in Japan in 1903 than a US Vice President's Chief of Staff?
The Plot
Japan, 1903, winter (at least so the back of the book says). The innkeeper is away and the apprentice is in charge. And frankly, he hasn't much of a clue how to run an inn. Performers of some sort arrive, a man, an older girl, a younger girl, and a dwarf. Or a hunchback. Or something. It's impossible to say if this is a human with a deformity or some strange animal. The apprentice is attracted to the older girl.
Meanwhile the inn is full of travelers and laborers who are holed up there as a storm moves in. A man arrives from the storm, catches one look at one of the inn's guests and runs back out into the storm. Some people follow, including the apprentice, to bring the guy back to safety. The apprentice runs across the man burying something mysterious in the snow, but holds back, not wanting to be seen watching. The man then runs into him later and cuts one of his snowshoe straps. Then the apprentice stumbles upon a dead man and is forced to take his snowshoe.
And what follows is a lot of intrigue. What was the mysterious package? What happened to it? Where'd that dead guy come from? What's going on? What does that performing troupe have to do with it? The apprentice is caught up in all of this, but of course has his thoughts more on the girl.
The Writing
If you were confused by that plot summary, I don't blame you. If you were annoyed I didn't use any names for the characters, I don't blame you. The author does give a few of the characters names, although far from immediately, but then he doesn't use them most of the time. The main character is 'the apprentice' or 'the youth' when all you really want is for him to be given a name and be called by that name. Well, I'd like him to not be so ignorant, naive, ineffectual, and stupid too, but we can't have everything.
For some reason the maid is the first person named, but even once you get a name, she's as likely to be called the maid or 'the woman Matsuko' as anything else. It's incredibly confusing when you're trying to get into this story and this setting and you don't even have names to pin onto the characters.
There was also nothing uniquely Japanese about the style. If you read Kij Johnson's The Fox Woman or Fudoki, there is a definite Japanese feel to the writing and some Japanese words used when an English one just won't do. I have to say that I don't even know why this book had to be set in Japan. It didn't feel very Japanese to me.
Utterly Forgettable
I had to skim through the book to write this review. I hadn't remembered anything at all about it without jogging my memory with cues. I even saw the name on my list of books I've read and couldn't figure out what book it was. I only knew it was not about the reality show in any of its forms. (UK version of The Apprentice is awesome, by the way.) A more unique title would definitely have helped. Maybe 'The Innkeeper's Apprentice' for a start?
Bottom Line
I'm going to have to say that this is as close to a waste of time reading a book as you can get and still finish the book. I don't think I pulled anything away from it except that endless scenes in snowstorms are incredibly dull. If you want to see what I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has written for a novel, that's the only reason I can recommend reading the book. You can satisfy your curiosity as to the novel behind the man, complete with sex scene.
Details
My version is paperback, ISBN 0312284535. The cover price is still a whopping $12.95, but that's less than you can buy it for right now. It's much harder to find than it was a year ago when I bought it.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
Jellyn
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Location: New Hampshire
Reviews written: 210
Trusted by: 48 members
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