Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey
by Florence Williams
The Heartbreak of Love (11/29/2021)
I was intrigued by the premise of this book, having gone through my own heartbreak and, in fact, there are numerous similarities between my own situation and that of the author's, including the length of our marriages and going on river rafting trips to help assuage our grief and move forward. I enjoyed the many literary and scientific references throughout and was fascinated by the science on how heartbreak can affect your physical health. However, overall, the entire work together is a mixed bag. The sections outlining the author's specific dating relationships were kind of cringe-inducing, especially regarding the physically (and emotionally) masochistic relationship she had with boyfriend "Ennis". The author's journalistic exploration into the scientific research of grief and her references to nature and literature by other authors addressing the topic are really compelling and soothing, frankly, to someone who has experienced deep heartbreak. Unfortunately, I felt some of the memoir portions of the book were somewhat self-indulgent, even if well-written.
Honor
by Thrity Umrigar
Brutality and Love (9/18/2021)
The story is engrossing but the subject matter brutal and brings to mind real news stories about horrible violence against women in India and religious bigotry leading to disfigurement and murder. This book is a quick read but the events that result in a journalist investigating a story about a so-called honor killing in a small town in India and subsequent events at the conclusion of the court case against the killers are horrifying and may be triggering to some readers. While the author ultimately offers a glimmer of hope for a few of the characters, I felt that it came at great cost and could not completely overcome what is ultimately a very depressing and ugly story of hatred and violence.
All the Water I've Seen Is Running: A Novel
by Elias Rodriques
The past is never dead. It's not even past. (6/13/2021)
The narrator of this so-so novel, Daniel, breaks up with his boyfriend and takes a trip back to his Florida hometown after learning of the untimely death of his high school girlfriend. Author Rodriques' novel is mostly very well written, although punctuated at times with weird staccato-like sentences that stutter quickly past multiple events to move the action forward quickly and other times with languid descriptions of events and friends. This is not a plot-driven novel, more a meditation on the narrator's upbringing, family, and high school friends. The major event is his confrontation of the man driving the car during the crash that led to his girlfriend's death and any tension there peters out quickly. The second to last chapter is a moving natural end to this pensive novel but an additional chapter is added on unnecessarily, with a completely different narrator, which is jarring. The lack of quotation marks for conversations makes it sometimes difficult to discern whether the narrator is speaking aloud or thinking instead. Altogether, this novel is a mixed bag. If you like mostly well-written slow-moving meditations on life in a racist Florida backwater town where the narrator seems not to have matured at all in the time that he left and returned, then this is book will hit your sweet spot.
When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical that Changed the World (aka Footnotes)
by Caseen Gaines
Shuffle Along to the Bookstore and Buy This Book (4/1/2021)
The extent of my knowledge about the history of Broadway is very limited so "Footnotes: The Black Artists Who Rewrote the Rules of the Great White Way" by Caseen Gaines is a revelation. Narrowly, this is the story of “Shuffle Along”, the first all-Black musical to succeed wildly on Broadway in 1921, but Gaines uses the story of the production to journey through history and discuss the pernicious racism in the United States, the service of Black soldiers and musicians in France during World War I, the Harlem Renaissance, and the lives of the performers, musicians, and creators who participated in or had an effect on the musical. Gaines starts his story at the 1921 opening night premier of the musical, with the team of four incredibly talented men, Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, anxiously waiting to see if white audiences would embrace the musical or start a race war after realizing it broke social taboos. He then travels back to the origins of the collaboration and takes the reader on a rollicking journey of success and heartbreak through the years. While I was familiar with Josephine Baker, Al Jolson, and Langston Hughes, and had heard of Eubie Blake and Paul Robeson, I was unfamiliar with many of the artists and was riveted by their stories, especially James Reese Europe, bandleader extraordinaire who was killed by a crazed drummer, and Florence Mills, beloved comedian, singer, and dancer whose career was launched by “Shuffle Along”. While reading, I was so interested that I found myself searching Google to look for clips of performances by the people discussed by Gaines, and to seek additional information about events or individuals that Gaines could only touch on peripherally. This is a well-researched and well- written history – highly recommended.
Daughter of the Reich: A Novel
by Louise Fein
Forbidden Love (3/21/2020)
"Daughter of the Reich" is the story of teenage forbidden love between the daughter of a high-ranking Nazi and a Jewish boy and, probably, I would have loved reading it as a teenage girl. However, I did not enjoy the first person, present tense exposition (mostly because the naivete and stupidity the narrator exhibited in certain situations was frustrating to experience in "real time" and also because it just wasn't written very well. I'm pretty sure the author did not intend for me to laugh out loud at some of the 'serious' actions taken by the narrator but I did because they were so dumb.) I wasn't a fan of the constant repetition and lovesick proclamations made by the narrator, although I understand that teenagers can be idiots. And there was a 55-year gap at the very end that skimmed over decades of events that, frankly, I probably would have preferred to read about than the love story between two teenagers. However, I was very interested in the parts of the book not focused on the love story - the takeover by the Nazis of everyday German life, the newspaper run by the narrator's father, the narrator's relationship with her parents, the various Hitler youth groups, the creation of the Lebensborn facilities, etc. If this book interests teenagers in life in Nazi Germany and informs them of the hatred of the Jews leading to diaspora and their state-sanctioned murder by couching them within a soppy love story, then it is successful. It should probably be marketed to the young adult market. It is not a literary masterpiece but it is interesting, especially if you just skim over the goofy teenage love bits which are so repetitive. To be honest, I found the Note from the Author about her father's family and the List of Sources at the end of the book very interesting, more so than the fictional story preceding it. I went through some of the things experienced by the narrator (not Nazi Germany but the teenage issues, including the event toward the end that drives the conclusion) so I should have appreciated the dilemma and drama experienced by the narrator but I just couldn't get past the prose. The book is a fast read and parts were very interesting to me - others may find it more enjoyable.
Creatures
by Crissy Van Meter
A Good Yarn to Sink Into - Ignore the Shoals (10/12/2019)
The cover of the ARC is absolutely beautiful, the title intriguing, and the blurb on the back made me want to "plunge" in. (Get it? It's a pun on the heavy-handed ocean metaphors in which the author "swims".) I really wanted to love this book - the premise about a child raised by less than ideal parents seemed to me to be the fictional and island version of "The Glass Castle", which I thought was amazing. This book is beautifully written for the most part. However, some of the imagery is silly and unrealistic and it took me out of the story. (Two teenage girls sat outside in a hot tub all summer during hailstorms until they bled? Really?) I felt that the writer sometimes sacrificed logic for the sole sake of beautiful writing and ocean and island imagery. There are also annoying bullet-pointed asides randomly sprinkled throughout: "Whales evolved because they had to", for example. The symbolism and metaphors are oppressive at times. This writer has real talent and the story itself is interesting once you "navigate" around all of the "deep" and too obviously-made links to oceans and sea creatures and islands and get past what appear on first glance to be lyrically written sentences but on second turn out to make no sense ("he's sorry for hiding so long in the light and the dark"; "she was firm around her rib cage, which protects her middle things", etc). Overall, despite my criticisms, the story is good and the writing at times very lyrical. The writer is talented. I liked the ocean/island setting; I just felt that perhaps some judicious editing and tamping down of the too-obvious metaphors would make a good book great. Overall, I recommend "Creatures" with the caveat that the reader should "sail" past the nonsensical bits so as not to get "scuttled" before finishing.
Mighty Justice: My Life in Civil Rights
by Dovey Johnson Roundtree , Katie McCabe
Mighty Woman (9/18/2019)
This memoir is alternately inspiring and disquieting, as the author relates her childhood with her formidable grandmother, her school years being mentored by other great women, including Mary McLeod Bethune, her groundbreaking work in the military during WWII, and her career as a civil rights lawyer and later minister, always giving credit to those that helped her. She fought against Jim Crow her entire life, and was one of two lawyers who eventually won the landmark case "Sarah Keys v. Carolina Bus Company", ending Jim Crow practices on bus routes in the South. I had never heard of Ms. Roundtree prior to reading this book, which is a great shame considering that I'm a lawyer myself. She experienced and fought misogyny and racism throughout her life, persevering despite periods of ill health and great grief. Ms. Roundtree took on some truly interesting cases, including the successful defense of a man accused of killing a Washington socialite (it was later revealed that the woman had been JFK's mistress), and the representation of a man in a divorce matter who later killed his ex-wife and a doctor and shot others in a jealous rage. While I had studied "Brown v. Board of Education" in law school, never have I read such an inspiring description of the impact of the Supreme Court's ruling on the lives of black Americans. There are certain great people who pave the way for others and make life better for many and Ms. Roundtree is one of those people. And, boy, can she write! Katie McCabe is the co-author and the two have created an important work that has relevance to today's events. One cannot read this book without thinking of the racism still prevalent, including the white supremacist march in Virginia in 2018 and the countless other indignities and crimes against people of color. (My reading copy lacks the foreword by Tayari Jones, who wrote "An American Marriage" - I'm really looking forward to reading that when the book is published!) Highly recommended.
Travelers: A Novel
by Helon Habila
Timely and Poignant Stories of Refugees (5/25/2019)
"Travelers" is a timely and poignant account of immigrants, emigrants, and refugees in a series of six interconnected sections, each individual seeking happiness and safety but encountering loss and trauma along the way. An ex-pat Nigerian grad student travels from the US to Berlin with his wife and later becomes involved with African refugees fleeing war and poverty. Their stories are deeply affecting and Habila writes in a matter-of-fact but beautiful way.
However, it's a bit of a frustrating read because certain things create a distance between the reader and the characters. For example, the grad student remains nameless throughout the book, although he is the connective tissue for the rest of the characters. And a refugee on a hunger strike is seen almost completely through the prism of others and through the refugee's written account of his travails instead of actual interaction with him, although it is his account that propels the grad student to make a life-changing decision. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this novel. Each refugee carries a story of tragedy, grief, love, and hope that speaks to the human condition.
The Volunteer: One Man, an Underground Army, and the Secret Mission to Destroy Auschwitz
by Jack Fairweather
A Secret Mission Inside Auschwitz (4/11/2019)
Fairweather's account of Polish resistance fighter Witold Pilecki's harrowing mission inside Auschwitz is well told. Based on previously unavailable records and assiduously researched, the writer informs the reader of the brutally evil events that led to the start of the Third Reich's Final Solution from the vantage point of an individual who voluntarily joined the other prisoners in the death camp with the hopes of leading an insurgence there and informing the allies of the horrors of the camp. Against all odds, Pilecki survived there for over two years, creating a network of spies, and later participated in the Warsaw Uprising against the Nazis in 1944. This is not a feel good story of heroics - it is a depressing but necessary tale of one man and his compatriots who idealistically sought to make a difference in the world against the horrors of man's inhumanity to man. Fairweather does a good job of explaining the events and of helping the reader keep a handle on the multiple people involved in the story. (There is a handy list of the characters in the back.) This book is not for the faint-hearted. Many horrific acts are committed and recounted - just one example: during a visit by Heinrich Himmler to the camp, an inmate was discovered to be missing a button on his uniform was noisily beaten to death by kapos behind a block. Even more horrors are described in detail. While depressing to read - the reader will be amazed at how heroic people can be in the face of extreme danger. One inmate declared that he and others planned to fight back: "I inform you that since we must soon become nothing but puffs of smoke, we shall try our luck tomorrow during work. ..We have little chance of success. Bid my family farewell, and if you can and if you are still alive, tell them that if I die, I do so fighting." Ultimately, a well-recounted and important story.
Courting Mr. Lincoln
by Louis Bayard
Young Lincoln in Love (2/16/2019)
Louis Bayard's novels are wonderfully well-written and interesting and this latest, about the triangle between a young Abraham Lincoln and two of the most important people in his life - his wife, Mary, and his good friend, Joshua Speed - is no exception. While there are references to the childhoods of each of them, and a coda at the end covering their later years, the book focuses on the time period immediately prior to Lincoln's marriage, when he was a young practicing lawyer out of Springfield, Illinois, sleeping in the same bed as his roommate, Joshua. The book is a revelation - Mary Todd is not the crazy harridan political rivals and some historians painted her but a charming and thoughtful young woman interested in politics who falls in love with the somewhat uncouth Lincoln. And Bayard's rendition of the relationship between Speed and Lincoln is fascinating - an deep yet unspoken love exists that is emotionally resonate. As an Illinoisan, I grew up going on school field trips to Springfield and New Salem and was fed Lincoln lore from his time in the state and I loved this novel. I would consider Bayard's novel a lighter companion piece to George Saunders' masterpiece, "Lincoln in the Bardo" - both books cover periods in Lincoln's life when he was affected by deep emotions, grieving and loving the people in his life. As an aside, I recently read Michelle Obama's "Becoming" in which she discusses her life with an up and coming Illinois politician and I noted comparisons between the accomplishments of Michelle and the sorts of things Mary Todd could have accomplished if she had not been limited by the historical period in which she was born. Bayard's book is superb - highly recommended.
House of Stone
by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
A Masterful Tale of Zimbabwe History (12/11/2018)
The word Zimbabwe is thought to be Shona for House of Stone and this novel is a recounting of the cataclysmic events that formed the nation under Robert Mugabe as told through the personal tragedies of Abednego, his wife Mama Agnes, and their lodger Zamani, who narrates the story. Zamani is a cipher - he wants to be a member of the family and will go to frightening lengths to ingratiate himself, leaving the reader to wonder at his end game. I loved this book; it's wonderfully descriptive and, as Zamani's actions become increasingly disturbing, breathtakingly gripping.While often humorously told, the story is not for the faint of heart - it includes rapes, murders, ethnic cleansing, and wife beating, among other things.But the author's word play is impressive and her creation of Zamani, a great deceiver who is determined to succeed in his goals, is a great literary achievement. Highly recommended.
A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel
by John Boyne
An Engrossing Tale of Dark Deeds (9/3/2018)
An engrossing tale of literary theft and darker deeds, John Boyne's latest novel is a look into the twisted mind of a master manipulator. Like Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley, Maurice Swift is a social climber but he seeks literary fame rather than simply wealth and status, and he will do whatever necessary to achieve his goal. The book is divided into three sections, each told by a different narrator, and two interludes, told in the third person, which provide different perspectives of Swift's rise in the literary world. It's a narrative structure that really works - the reader is swept along from 1988 to the present, only slowly becoming more and more aware of Swift's true nature and the lengths to which he will go to ensure success. Real-life literary figures, such as a skeptical Gore Vidal, make an appearance, which adds to the novel's verisimilitude. I found the book quite funny at times - Maurice has a way with words and doesn't hesitate to take down a rival, although he also respects those who challenge him. This is a fast-paced and captivating read; Maurice Swift is an unforgettable character. Highly recommended.
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