Resistance

Rating:
Summary: Superb prose, one voice
Review: For anyone old enough to know the difference between Joe and Jenny McCarthy, the vernacular of Homeland Security might seem like deja vu all over again, merely substituting the word "terrorist" in the verbal cranny formerly occupied by "communist."

And while Barry Lopez certainly doesn't argue the clear and present danger real terrorists pose to Americans, he goes to great lengths in "Resistance" -- neither a novel nor short-story collection, but a fictional dossier of distress -- to point out the cure might be almost as abhorrent as the pox.

It is nine personal tales of disaffection, pain and flight. A blinded Vietnam veteran grapples with the horror of war and his own participation in it. A lame carpenter wandering through India meets some attackers with uncommon ferocity and his existence is transformed. A young woman contemplates ancient ways and human evolution on a camel trek across an Asian desert.

Each fictional autobiographical essay -- also presumably left in plain sight as the writer flees a different foreign city ahead of faceless American authorities -- is accompanied by a haunting monotype by artist Allen Magee. The imaginative blend of words and art, especially the wounded faces of Magee's unique portraits, is rare in fiction and, in this case, evocative.

For all its imaginative value, "Resistance" is not above a few small criticisms.

Primarily, the passionate and post-modern Lopez -- the National Book Award-winning author of "Arctic Dreams" and "Light Action in the Caribbean" -- doesn't differentiate the voices of his nine characters enough to give them the uniqueness of humanity. They all seem to share Lopez's voice, and as singular as it is, the reader encounters them more as nine version of the same individual rather than nine distinctive people.

Moreover, while most have extraordinary moments of personal discovery, they all come off as occasionally self-obsessed, overthinking and understimulated depressives. If the vanguard of a new utopia is led by people like these, somebody better remember to pack the Prozac.

Nonetheless, Lopez's writing is as stunningly original as his passion. The sheer poetry of his storytelling alone is worth the effort it would take to read this modestly slim volume.

Rating:
Summary: Irresistible Lopez in dangerous times.
Review: If you don't have a vigilant populus, Thomas Jefferson warned, anything can happen. National Book Award-winner, Barry Lopez (ARCTIC DREAMS), understands that finding meaning in and surviving difficult times is not easy, and RESISTANCE is his provocative response to the current administration's war on terrorism and what it really means to be a patriot. With his unique insights into what it means to be human, like Jefferson, Lopez encourages his reader to "pay attention" (p. 78). In the opening piece, "Apocalypse," an American curator, Owen Daniels, living in France receives a disturbing letter from the Department of Inland Security, advising him that the government would like to interrogate and possibly punish him and his fellow writers, scholars, and artists for "terrorizing the imaginations of our fellow citizens" (p. 13) with their antidemocratic books, paintings, and performances. As a result, the group decides to simply vanish, leaving behind this collection of nine haunting testimonials opposing their country's policies on war, globalization, wealth and consumption, the environment, conformity, and political and cultural intolerance. Each of these fictional testimonials tells the story of a powerful awakening. In Rio de la Plata," Lisa Meyer, an artist and landscape architect, looks to Viktor Frankl's MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING to find meaning in her own troubled life. In "Mortise and Tenon," Gary Sinclair, a cabinetmaker, land activist, and a victim of childhood abuse, responds to a random act of violence with excessive violence. In "The Bear in the Road," Edward Larmirande, an attorney and writer, searches for meaning in the form of a grizzly bear. Nine mesmerizing monotypes by Alan Magee compliment these testimonials. RESISTANCE is Lopez at his astonishing best.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Irresistible Lopez in dangerous times.
Review: If you don't have a vigilant populus, Thomas Jefferson warned, anything can happen. National Book Award-winner, Barry Lopez (ARCTIC DREAMS), understands that finding meaning in and surviving difficult times is not easy, and RESISTANCE is his provocative response to the current administration's war on terrorism and what it really means to be a patriot. With his unique insights into what it means to be human, like Jefferson, Lopez encourages his reader to "pay attention" (p. 78). In the opening piece, "Apocalypse," an American curator, Owen Daniels, living in France receives a disturbing letter from the Department of Inland Security, advising him that the government would like to interrogate and possibly punish him and his fellow writers, scholars, and artists for "terrorizing the imaginations of our fellow citizens" (p. 13) with their antidemocratic books, paintings, and performances. As a result, the group decides to simply vanish, leaving behind this collection of nine haunting testimonials opposing their country's policies on war, globalization, wealth and consumption, the environment, conformity, and political and cultural intolerance. Each of these fictional testimonials tells the story of a powerful awakening. In Rio de la Plata," Lisa Meyer, an artist and landscape architect, looks to Viktor Frankl's MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING to find meaning in her own troubled life. In "Mortise and Tenon," Gary Sinclair, a cabinetmaker, land activist, and a victim of childhood abuse, responds to a random act of violence with excessive violence. In "The Bear in the Road," Edward Larmirande, an attorney and writer, searches for meaning in the form of a grizzly bear. Nine mesmerizing monotypes by Alan Magee compliment these testimonials. RESISTANCE is Lopez at his astonishing best.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: excellent sketches
Review: It does not try for the attainments of great literature, but this little book is well worth reading. It may remind you of Ursula K Leguin - the loving attention to various traditional ways of life, attention to how perceptions and relationships can mature a long time, then shift to a new level - if people are willing to let anything mature for a long time, in this new age of instant insights and inexorable progress. A chilling little dystopian framework holds the chapters lightly together, putting everything in an ominous light.

But all the threat comes from very far away - they would be serious stories, rather than just sketches, if some of the characters themselves showed some greed or selfishness, or any of the other faults of Mordor (I mean, Washington). Like when we used to say, the battle line runs through the human heart. But, they are excellent sketches (one of the characters makes sketches), altogether a very nice addition to Lopez's work.

Rating:
Summary: White Man's Burden
Review: Nine short stories, each told in first person, and each about a traveler to a foreign culture which they find both fascinating and baffling. These take place all over the world -- in China, France, Japan, Brazil, a First American reservation and others -- told with a long litany of unfamiliar place-names.

There's a certain air of cultural imperialism in the stories though, as the protagonist of each describes his or her reactions to the indigenous culture without ever adopting or accepting the culture. It is assumed that the culture will adapt to the central character rather than vice versa. In this way the stories are never about 'fitting in' but more about 'sticking out.' The central voice, a sincere but somewhat hardened personality, varies little from story to story, despite wildly varying circumstances. In the end I found the 'resistance' of the real author to any kind of role-playing somewhat off-putting.

Rating:
Summary: Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, 1984, Resistance
Review: Resistance, a collection of nine character sketches, begins with references to terrorism, Inland Security . . . that ensure the reader recognize the sketches as a call to vigilance, a call to assuring that the past violations of human rights / dignity / values not be repeated under the guise of protecting ourselves from terrorism. The following sketches broaden the scope to an indictment of our culture with the normal concerns of my generation - Vietnam, environment, "aboriginal" rights, religion, etc. While I share many of Lopez's concerns, I found the volume unsatisfying.

First, the characters despite coming from different backgrounds and traveling different paths never develop distinct personalities. Rather, all nine characters leaving their testimonies are drawn with the same strokes. I could get more genuine differentiation by selecting nine of my friends - and get the same dissatisfaction with contemporary American culture and similar "exotic" rebellions against it.

Second, the world-view, mind-set of the characters is so firmly set in the fallout of the 60's that the book never reaches the universality of the best fiction. Nonetheless, it does maintain the usual high standard of prose I associate with Lopez.

Finally, with the philosophical musings of the characters in their testimonies, the volume often slides into preaching rather than showing. I much prefer Animal Farm's "all animals are equal but pigs are more equal" showing; the reader is less apt to argue back that the presentation of (Christianity, consumerism, divorce, activist art) is over simplified or biased.

Nonetheless, if you are a fan of Lopez or of activist literature, this volume is worth a read.

Rating:
Summary: Nicely Written but No Closure
Review: Well written and many thoughtful passages. The first "chapter" sets the scene of scattered dissidents fleeing into absolute anonymity in response to threat from homeland security forces. But the author never ties these together otherwise. Neither my wife nor I could find any common thread through the several "accounts" that would lead to some kind of closure. It was just a ploy to present a number of otherwise disconnected sketches. This left us feeling cheated of a larger story. It might be the way real-life works (things happen and people disappear without any discernable meaning) but it generally makes for poor fiction. My advice is to read the first vignette last and don't expect more from this book than several interesting but largely unconnected vignettes.