The House of Broken Angels
by Luis Alberto Urrea
Two Funerals and Life In Between (3/4/2018)
House of Broken Angels starts with a death and ends with a death. Between is the preparation for death of the family patriarch, who has incurable cancer, confined to a wheelchair, who needs his diapers changed by his wife and daughter. It is populated by members of an extremely dysfunctional mixed family, who travel back and forth over the border between the U.S. and Mexico, marrying, divorcing, abandoning children, fighting, getting even and creating a world of hurt for each other. There is a brother who has escaped to Seattle to get away from his extended step family. This story includes hunger, extreme poverty, infidelity, alcoholism, drug abuse, gang violence, child abuse, immigration fears and every other calamity imaginable.
And yet, this book that could be so grim is one of the most joyful, messy, lively, chaotic, energetic, silly, humorous, philosophical books I have ever read, where dogs are "scuttling around like animated empanadas on meth".
There is such beauty in the language and in the musings of a man who is dying, who is sad that he will never see geraniums, touch his face again or make love to his wife. (I would recommend that non-Spanish speaking readers have a Spanish to English dictionary handy. There were many words and phrases I needed to look up). The extended family members fight, accuse, insult, reveal secrets but finally there is forgiveness and understanding. Finally, there is so much love. As Big Angel says "All we do, Mija"….."is love. Love is the answer. Nothing stops it. Not borders. Not death."
I wept at the end at the wonderful, sad bittersweetness. How can you not love a book with mariachis and a character named La Gloriosa!
The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway
by Doug Most
Moving People Forward Into the Future (1/5/2014)
I have ridden subways to work for many years, but never before I read The Race Underground by Doug Most, did it occur to me to wonder how it came about. This wonderful book explains the history of mass transit, from the beginning of an idea by futuristic thinker Alfred Beach in Scientific American to the reality of the subways in Boston and New York around the turn of the century. More exciting than any fiction, there is an amazing cast of characters, including engineers, scientists, businessmen, politicians, bankers and the laborers themselves, and included some of the brightest, most imaginative minds of the past two centuries. The development of the subway systems in these cities, as well as the rest of the Country and Europe depended on economy, the recessions and banking troubles, availability of renewable energy, political infighting, corruption, immigrant labor, population growth in the cities, environmental questions, protests and even the weather.
This exciting book conveys a constant sense of motion, a dizzying energy going forward, the growth of new science and technology at a faster pace into the future. I loved the vivid descriptions of the city streets in the horse and carriage days, and can only imagine the joy when finally the cleaner, faster way of moving people was finally in place. This book is so rich and full of history and was much more satisfying than a novel. I believe this could lead to rich discussion in a book club - there were so many fascinating facets to the story, but there are a lot of issues also about growth, government's duty to the citizens and the future of mass transit versus the automobile.
I don't usually comment on the format of the book, but wanted to mention that this book was so well organized, with sections of 2 to 3 pages on a certain topic, within the chapters. This made it very easy to put the book down and pick it up again, without re-reading many pages., unlike many books on history.
I would have liked to see maps of the streets of Boston and New York, to get a true picture of types of plans that were being discussed
To the Moon and Timbuktu: A Trek through the Heart of Africa
by Nina Sovich
Yearning for Timbuktu (8/4/2013)
I thought this book was the most wonderful memoir on solitary travel by a woman since Robyn Davidson's "Tracks". This is the first account I ever read of someone who is not enamored of life of a young married woman in Paris - the author needed to be on her own, to challenge herself and to find the world. Her journey was enthralling on every page - this is not the fluff of Wild or Eat Pray Love, but difficult travel through some of the harshest areas of the world, in terms of climate and politics. While the author does look within, examining her own life and goals, she is also directed outward toward the people she meets. Her plan of action is to find the women, and follow them, for safety and their stories. The conditions of western Africa, the poverty, aridity, lack of amenities, human rights and amenities are unimaginable to me, yet she uncovers and describes the beauty and the remarkable stories of everyone she meets.
This book spoke strongly to me about the need for a woman to make it on her own, to find her own strength and to discover the world through her own eyes. I loved her stories of the Victorian traveler Mary Kingsly and other travelers in this remote region in the past. This book made me want to follow in her footsteps and moved me so much. Every year, I try to find one remarkable book to give to my friends at holiday time. I have already ordered several copies of this one to share.
Fever
by Mary Beth Keane
Rough Beginnings of the American Public Health System (4/14/2013)
I have a bookshelf of books on various diseases, both non-fiction and fiction and I understand the causes of typhoid, but I never thought of what it might feel like to be a healthy carrier of such a deadly disease until I read Mary Beth Keane's chilling and moving novel about Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary". I felt I could relate to this amazing, scrappy, intelligent, hard working woman, who fought to develop a career and rise above poverty by becoming a talented and innovative cook for wealthy families. The author so achingly described the shunning and ostracism of Mary and how bewildered she was, knowing she was a good, moral, talented and healthy woman who couldn't imagine she could be the cause of death of those around her.
The author's vivid description of early 1900 streets of New York were amazing. The portrayal of medical science at the turn of that century, fumbling it's way to an understanding of the cause of disease and the beginning of the public health system was well researched and well drawn. But as the men around Mary were so dismissive and arrogant and unable or uninterested in helping Mary to understand the transmission of typhoid, I think the author also did a poor job of explaining typhoid's history and transmission.
Apart and separate from the typhoid, I think this book stands as on of the best books about Irish immigrants that I have ever read. The characters were wonderful and believable and Mary's story was truly heartbreaking.
I want to recommend this book to my book club and think there are interesting medical issues that would make for a delightful discussion.
The Spy Lover
by Kiana Davenport
Beautiful Story from a Unique Perspective, but with a silly title (1/1/2013)
On this sesquicentennial of the Civil War, I thought no author could come up with anything new, but Ms. Davenport did just that. I have never read about Chinese soldiers, but apparently there many who honorably fought for both sides. This story is heartbreaking, from the point of view of the Chinese father fighting for the north and his daughter, of Chinese and Native American working as a nurse for the south, sharing secrets with the Northerners in order to find her father and avenge her treatment by the confederates who killed her mother, raped her and burned their village. Neither Johnny Tom or Era had any reason for loyalty to any aspect of America, and the cruel treatment of Era, as a non-white continued from coast to coast long after the war ended. The author does not sugarcoat the war, the battles or the horrific conditions in the field hospitals and the book is painful and disturbing to read. The authors depiction of how the war and the act of killing changes a man is especially well wrought in the character of Warren, the confederate soldier that loves Era. The three characters are grievously damaged by their experiences yet the author makes clear that underneath there is still an inner core of honor, decency and even a faint hope of beauty and meaning in the world. There is a wonderful section about Era and other southern women working in poppy fields hidden in the fields to make opium to treat the sick and injured soldiers. I was deeply moved by this story about inhumanity, the purported fight to end slavery, the cost of loyalty, the love and solidarity of soldiers taking care of each other, honor and love.
I do think however that the title is unfortunate. If I hadn't heard of the author, I would never look
at a this book, assuming it would be a cheesy romance or Bond type thriller instead of the lovely, profound, moving story that it is.
I think this would be a wonderful book for a discussion.
Live by Night
by Dennis Lehane
Feel the Heat and Taste the Rum (8/26/2012)
Live By Night follows Any Given Day in the saga of the Coughlin clan, a powerful family with history in Boston police department and some of the characters of the earlier novel make an appearance here. Joe Coughlin is the youngest brother and seeing the corruption around him chooses a less than honorable profession as an outlaw and gangster during prohibition, in the early days of the mafia before World War II. The story moves from Boston to Florida and Cuba, the pace is fast and descriptions extraordinarily vivid. Reading this, I could feel the heat and humidity and feel the smell and taste of rum on my tongue. As one might expect from a book about the mob, there is much killing, gunplay and violence. None of the characters have clean hands or morals that can be admired. I think it’s due to Lehane’s talent as a writer that I really cared about these unlikable people. The world portrayed is a man’s world and there is only one believable and well drawn female character. That said, I couldn’t put it down, and I look forward to Lehane’s next historical novel involving the Couglin clan.
My book club read Any Given Day and enjoyed discussing the historical aspects of the book. Live By Night has less history and doesn’t deal as much with the major political issues of the day, so I don’t think there would be much to discuss as a book club.
Paris in Love: A Memoir
by Eloisa James
Unsatisfying look at Paris. (4/1/2012)
I was very disappointed in the book which turned out to be a series of blogs about the year the author spent in Paris with her husband and two children. The author does write well, the descriptions are colorful and she has a sense of humor, but there is no connecting narrative.
Reading it was like reading a facebook description of a vacation. The book does contains a handful of narrative chapters that are much more interesting and show more thought than the blog entries. There is one chapter about the death of a friend I found quite moving. The author writes a lot about her children, ages 15 and 11, and while some of those relate to attending school in a foreign country, most would be the reactions of teenagers anywhere.
I found these blog entries to be very superficial, the writer doesn't seem to be interested in understanding the country she's living in or it's people. Even after a year, she can't communicate fluently in the language. Throughout the book, her major concern seems to be food, fashion and her "bad hair year".
I read every book I can find on living and traveling in Paris - and this is the most unsatisfying. I could not recommend this book and probably would not read anything else by this author, especially since I learned she writes romance novels.
Arcadia: A Novel
by Lauren Groff
Arcadia - Best Book read in 2011 (1/2/2012)
This book follows the story of Ridley Stone "Bit", the first child born in Arcadia, a commune founded by his parents and other vividly drawn, quirky, idealists. Bit is one of the most delightful and endearing characters I've ever come across and I enjoyed the journey from the magic of his childhood to his much later life as a father and caring son to his parents. Arcadia was a very flawed and imperfect place despite the efforts of the utopians who created it, but the values Bit grew up with caused him to become an intelligent, gentle, compassionate artist who finds a way to live with grace and sensitivity in a world that becomes increasingly dark, scary and threatening.
Lauren Groff's language is beautiful and I found myself underlining sentences and phrases. I was moved by the tragedies and losses but felt uplifted by the kindness and connections of the characters.
I truly enjoyed every minute of this luminous, offbeat and lovely book. If it had been published earlier, it would have been my holiday gift to my closest friends.
The Daughter of Siena: A Novel
by Marina Fiorato
I wasn't expecting a fairy tale romance (5/22/2011)
I expected a story that used Dante's Purgatorio, Le Morte d'Arthur, the story of Romulus and Remus and the excesses of the Medici family, as source material, and set in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, would be literate, captivating and intriguing. The author's vivid and beautifully drawn descriptions of Siena, the buildings and the countryside, and even the horses racing in the Palio did transport me momentarily to Siena of the past.
However, I thought the characters were one dimensional and unrealistic - Pia was incredibly beautiful, intelligent and good, Riccardo was incredibly handsome, skilled and good, the conspirators and men of the Eagle contrada were so unabashedly evil that they didn't begin to resemble real people. Even though the future of Siena was at stake, these characters seemed consumed by their romance and personal problems. And at the end of the book, matters resolved themselves in circumstances so bizarre, contrived and unbelievable that I could only laugh out loud at the silliness.
I thought this book might be more suitably recommended to young adults who are looking for romance novels.
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