The Fairbanks Four: Murder, Injustice, and the Birth of a Movement
by Brian Patrick O’Donoghue
The Fairbanks Four (4/7/2025)
This book was engaging from the beginning, and mostly stayed that way. The author's journalistic skills were necessary to tackle a tale that covered so many years and so many people. I did find the wrongly accused It is a tragic story most of us have heard before: jumping to quick and wrong solutions that scapegoat marginalized people, and unrelenting resistance to finding the truth until it could not be stopped. I will not say more about the ending and risk tainting expectations for other.
I found this book too long, which is rare for me. Perhaps the author's very personal and extensive involvement in the search for the truth made editing more difficult. I could follow the legal intricacies and the bureaucratic self-protection in the law enforcement agencies. However, keeping track of the many student co-investigators and other players distracted from staying with the flow of the story.
Over the many years of the story, individuals came and went, and then returned in different roles. If there is a made-for-TV miniseries, that might be a good alternative for many. Including me.
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Royalty reigned in a corner of North Carolina's Reconstruction (10/31/2024)
Historical fiction helps me learn about history and events I know very little about. This time I learned about a part of Reconstruction that I had truly never heard about. The story line links the early times and founders of HappyLand in North Carolina, with their modern descendants. The author created a convincing sense of a very separate and protected land, where dreams and royalty reigned. The current event in this book are not protected by the magic of a little known history, and were not as intriguing for me. However, they fit the story and served to unwrap the early days of Happy Land. The struggles, victories, changing relationships, and setbacks for the members of this unique community were interesting throughout the book. I found myself thinking about other attempts to form better communities, and not about the stilted communities that can occur with royalty.
I would recommend this to anyone interested in this era of American history.
The Witches at the End of the World
by Chelsea Iversen
Who doesn't want some magic now and then? (8/10/2023)
As a New Englander, I may be particularly open to books about magic and witches, This tale set in Norway was surprisingly fun to read while dealing substantively with issues of "outsiders" and villages full of suspicion and rigid loyalty to their church's authority. It is a tale of "life below the surface," on many levels. Themes of loyalty, love, rage and evil permeate this tale of two very different sisters, the daughters of a witch burned in the village they fled as young girls. A good read, and I will recommend it to friends who enjoy stories that include a bit of magic we could all use.
Banyan Moon: A Novel
by Thao Thai
Easy to forgive the flaws in these basically good women, trying their best (5/3/2023)
First the book intrigued me, then it didn't. Then it pulled me back in and held my attention until the end. The story of three women covers mothers and daughters, parenting, family lies, family tensions—common themes in many family-based stories. I found the overlay of "inheritance" -- personal traits, cultural stories, and actual material inheritance-- was an effective vehicle for telling the stories of these women. Spanning the Vietnam War era until present time in Vietnam and the United States, the range of this book is ambitions, and Thai manages it smoothly.
I can see this book appealing to many people.
Sisters of the Lost Nation
by Nick Medina
Two Sisters and All of Their People (10/26/2022)
I liked this book even more than I expected. The ambitious mix of folklore, telling new stories, and coming of age when you don't fit in, actually worked quite well. Medina created a compelling setting and characters that I cared about, especially the two teenage sisters. Their conflicts and love were very believable. The time shifts in the story could have been annoying, but they were not. The real story of a missing girl from the Blackfeet reservation provides somber context for this modern story, a context that is probably not well known.
I was pleased to see that Medina has written several books and story collections, and I may give one a look, though I do not generally like horror stories. Sisters of the Lost Nation has some elements of a horror story, but is too serious and real to be labelled as such, at least in my opinion.
In the Time of Our History
by Susanne Pari
Interesting Iranian family struggling just like us, yet in their own way (9/5/2022)
This is a very readable book from a wonderful storyteller. Although this book tells the story of an Iranian family in the US, pre 9/11, the themes are familiar and somewhat cross cultural: gender stereotypes held and shattered, traditions and transition to a new culture, traditions that hide and cover abuse, the role of "protectors" in families and communities. I found it easy to empathize with a number of the characters, despite their shortcomings. A few characters and relationships seemed to be less developed and more about them would have enriched the story.
A good read and I will look for Pari's earlier work. I would recommend to readers who are interested in Iranian culture in the US and those who like stories about interesting families.
What Ben Franklin Would Have Told Me
by Donna Gordon
Heartwarming and human, great storytelling (7/11/2022)
I loved reading this book, starting with the first page. The implausible meeting of the main characters, Lee and Tomas, is totally believable thanks to the author's careful rendering. All of the characters are compelling, and their humanity is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. The story line covers topics I knew a bit about, while educating me in the service of the story line, not in a heavy handed manner.
Some books are mostly a personal pleasure. This is one I will enjoy discussing with the friends who are currently reading it, and those who are now off to get their own copy.
On a Night of a Thousand Stars
by Andrea Yaryura Clark
Such a promising stoy line, but..... (2/3/2022)
I love historical fiction and Argentina's Dirty War has generated several books I have loved and that taught me a lot about this era. This book is about a love story, the aftermath of the Dirty War, and some useful to know history about the Dirty War. The characters were easy to like and the storytelling moved along at a good pace.
So…. Why only a "good-average" review? Somehow, this just was not a book I felt I must recommend to friends who like historic fiction, or the ones that are students of political activism South America. A story about big events has to make tradeoffs unless it plans to be a very long book, but a bit more depth on some characters and the general state of Argentina could have illuminated the struggles of the main characters in a compelling way. For example, I found the treatment of the mothers of the disappeared on the plaza to be oddly cavalier-- they are little more than a prop in this story.
Overall, a fine read—and it would probably be a "good beach read" for people who like historical fiction.
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn
An engaging memoir with honesty, but a few guardrails. guardrails (7/7/2021)
I typically like memoirs, and it is tough to be critical as the authors are writing their own story. Carrot's story has some unique elements, as she is a current day version of the romanticized freight train riders of years past. Her writing is engaging, and she makes the scenes visible to me , though I cannot "feel" them as I do in the best memoirs. I was left with questions about the years living with her grandparents and the development of her writing interest and talent. Just how did she get from all the early trauma to her current state? It took more than dangerous trips on freight trains and the few sister/fellow travelers she introduces.
Comparisons to "Educated", "Wild" and other recent memoirs came to mind as I read this.
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