The Center of Things (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

Rating:
Summary: A Little Bit Technical
Review: I think that it was a really good book, but was a little hard to follow. If your into science and the whole idea of quantum mechanics (im not) then I think your would understand it a little more than I did. It's not evening easy reading, however, once you start reading, you get really into the book and can really relate to the main charater.

Rating:
Summary: Celebrity death and Cosmology
Review: If someone told me that an author would seamlessly incorporate obituaries, quantum cosmology, the public library and sibling separation into a captivating work of fiction, I would never have believed it.

But that is exactly what Jenny McPhee has done. In her debut novel, McPhee tells the story of tabloid obituary writer Marie Brown. Marie has three obsessions. She loves golden age movies to the point of memorizing their dialogue. She spends copious hours at her local public library doing research on a quantum science paper that she never finished before dropping out of graduate school. And she can't stop thinking about her estranged brother.

When her favorite golden age femme fatale actress lies in iminent death at a hospital, Marie decides to take a big chance and volunteers to write her biography/obituary for the tabloid. That decision turns into a crash course of self-discovery.

McPhee deftly weaves the disparate aspects of Marie's life into a satisfying and believable whole. Marie is the perfect antihero, a conglomeration of self-doubt, confusion and boldness whose humanity never grows old. The secondary characters, from the quirky library denizen Marie befriends to the celebrity's brassy sister, are equally human.

Despite all the elements McPhee wraps into her story, the plotline never loses direction and surprise twists and turns keep the reader on his/her toes. Though the author changes time frames frequently with little warning, these switches are logical and clear enough that confusion is minimal. Most gratifying to me is the novel's lack of explicit sex and gratuitous obscenity.

The biggest drawback to this novel is that the plot slows in the middle seemingly to spend more time with character development and background establishment. The heavy discussions on quantum cosmology may also put off readers unfamiliar and disinterested in quantum science and philosophy. But neither criticism should discourage readers who appreciate well-written, quality fiction. This novel is a piece of art and Jenny McPhee is an author to watch.

Rating:
Summary: A Book to Linger Over
Review: Marie Brown is a tabloid writer in search of the explosive story about a dying movie star idol. Marie Brown is a too-tall half-deaf woman who hasn't spoken with her brother Michael in fifteen years. And Marie Brown is an aficionado of quantum mechanics who has been writing her philosophy of science paper for over a decade. How Marie centers her uncentered life makes for interesting reading in Jenny McPhee's The Center of Things, a unique novel about anthropocentric applications of theoretical science.

The chapters are arranged by topic: time, truth, beauty, jealousy, etc. Movie quotes, scientific theories, Marie's conversations with Marco Trentadue, Freelance Intellectual, and the plot itself all serve to explore the topic. Throughout the book, Marie develops her career-breaking tabloid scandal. The juxtaposition of her shallow aim with the depth of her approach demonstrates the potential of popular culture to capture real human experience.

There are some weak spots in this book. In some places the story becomes subsumed by its devices. Readers with not much science background will need to take it slowly to understand large portions of Marie and Marco's dialogue. Readers with lots of science background may find the anthropomorphizing of theoretical physics preposterous rather than whimsical. And in some places Marie almost gets lost as the dialogue takes over, but those spots make for the most fascinating reading.

To say that this book is unusual doesn't quite do it justice. This is a book to linger over, and read tidbits of aloud. It is a wonderful postmodern novel.