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Tragedy and triumph
By Steven M. ThomasPublished: April 01, 2010
The grandson of an Armenian immigrant who arrived in California straight from the genocide with dreams of becoming a poet, Mark Arax finds poetry in unlikely places in the 10 essays that make up “West of the West.” Aiming to capture modern California, the former L.A. Times reporter is drawn to stories of mysterious loss, and he tells them so beautifully that his writing rises above the often tragic subject matter, lending mythic value to little-known lives.
Ranging from O.C. to the Humboldt pot fields, he writes of business success and broken dreams, the latest Mexican immigrants and the last of the Okies. His own story – growing up in the Central Valley, where his father’s unsolved murder gave him the sense of failed justice that a reporter needs, his marriage and divorce, and his departure from the Times – is woven through the essays. Along with his distinctive voice and observational skills, his personal history helps weld the scattered stories together into a weighty whole.
‘West of the West’
By Mark Arax
Public Affairs, 2009, $26.95
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Ranging from O.C. to the Humboldt pot fields, he writes of business success and broken dreams, the latest Mexican immigrants and the last of the Okies. His own story – growing up in the Central Valley, where his father’s unsolved murder gave him the sense of failed justice that a reporter needs, his marriage and divorce, and his departure from the Times – is woven through the essays. Along with his distinctive voice and observational skills, his personal history helps weld the scattered stories together into a weighty whole. ‘West of the West’ By Mark Arax Public Affairs, 2009, $26.95 MORE ENGAGING READS • ‘California’s Best: Two Centuries of Great Writing from the Golden State’By Tom McNeal Farcountry Press, 2009, $18.95 Santa Ana native McNeal has put together a potent mix of poems, memoirs, essays and stories that awaken a new appreciation of California. • ‘My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family, and Big Sur’By Romney Steele Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2009, $35 This memoir combines the history of a family and a famous restaurant along with celebrity tidbits. For more than 50 years, Nepenthe has been a social and culinary fixture in Big Sur. • ‘Lost on Planet China: One Man’s Attempt to Understand the World’s Most Mystifying Nation’By J. Maarten Troost Broadway, 2009, $14.95 Troost’s travelogue conveys a vivid sense of a China that remains steeped in tradition as it strives to become the world’s economic power. |
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