King of the Armadillos
by Wendy Chin-Tanner
King of The Armadillos (8/9/2023)
A coming of age story that was completely unexpected. The novel gets off to a slow start that had me wondering if I had chosen a novel for which I wasn’t a match! Surprise! Victor Chen is living in NYC and is diagnosed with Hansens’s disease, aka leprosy. Victor is treated at a facility in Louisiana with others similarly afflicted (and at government expense), and we learn about the disease and cures. I had lots of misconceptions about the disease, but in the end, leprosy, was a gift for Victor. No Spoiler Alerts. But, in a surprise, music saves Victor and provides him with therapy, a new perspective on his disease and his life. A worthy read!
The God of Endings: A Novel
by Jacqueline Holland
Learn Patience and Learn Trust (10/14/2022)
Jacqueline Holland's first novel weaves an impressive journey covering over a century and a half and locations across the globe. The narrator- -Anna/Anya/Collette—is transformed into a vampire-like creature at age 10 at the hands of her grandfather. Anna's path takes her from the 1830's and continues to 1984 dreading the arrival of The God of Endings-- Czernobog—that exists in Anna's mind and may (or may not) actually appear in the novel. The novel brings up many questions that go unanswered, just as they do for Anna. A worthy read- -all 464 pages!
Activities of Daily Living: A Novel
by Lisa Hsiao Chen
A Tale of Two Projects (2/21/2022)
Lisa Hsiao Chen's first novel, "Activities of Daily Living," presents two projects. The first project, about Tehching Hsieh (The Artist), a New York-based performance artist who undertakes year-long projects (but art?) whom the main character, Alice, researches for a project with no seeming end. The second project is about caring for Alice's step-father (the Father), who descends into dementia with a definite ending. What ties the two projects together is the concept of time and how it is perceived by The Artist, the Father and Alice herself. Living a bi-coastal life between Alice's Brooklyn home and the Father's residence in the Bay Area from his home, to skilled nursing facilities to memory care units, the concept of time for Alice and the Father take on a devastating, thankless journey when the brain can no longer count on neurotransmitters, clocks and lacking the ability to undertake activities of daily living (ADLs), known as dressing, personal hygiene, toileting and remembering, demarcating the depths of dementia.
The Artist project is done at a distance although many opportunities presented themselves for Alice to speak with Hsieh, she demurs. The Father project is a deep-dive sort where love and closeness are a marked contrast to Alice's distance from The Artist. Then, there are all the other "ouvres" introduced in the novel providing dimension (albeit distracting!) with references to art and literature, however disjointed they seem. I am sure the "dots connected" for the author, but not for this reader. What did connect, however, is the pain of losing a loved one to the black hole of dementia and "the long goodbye". The novel is worth a read, slowly, re-reading chapters (get a highlighter) to ponder time and ADLs in your own life and others' conception of time, with whom you are close or from whom you are distant.
My Broken Language: A Memoir
by Quiara Alegría Hudes
Boriuca Soul (2/5/2022)
Divided into named chapters, the memoir is given shape and texture from the chapters’ names.
When you speak more than one language, you are enriched. Her journey wanders through English to Spanish, through literature, from Quakerism and Santeria to music, from her mother’s family history in Puerto Rico to Philly and its suburbs to Yale. How do you build bridges? Are they even possible? Of course, they are. ¡Por supuesto!
Ever heard “when it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” (cuando no está roto, no lo arregle)? But, Quiara tries… a fierce search for identity to make sense of herself and her divided world, embracing her Boriuca roots that have their own magic to sooth her soul and find magic as a writer of plays in Grad School. And, spoiler alert, she finds it! Mi heroína!
Trying to string beads that don’t seem to fit on the string. Maybe she didn’t know that there was even a string to connect the dots of her fractured existence. Good for you Qui Qui!
A real page turner, although, you don’t want to go too fast. I re-read passages over and over to see and feel what I was missing. Hudes has such richness and honesty in her words. And for those of you who are not bilingüe, you will need a Spanish American dictionary, or at least an app on your phone to gather the meaning and texture of what Hudes writes, hears and feels throughout her life.
Enjoy and gain a little Boriuca soul!
True Crime Story: A Novel
by Joseph Knox
True Crime- - fact or fiction (11/24/2021)
It's a unique format for a "true crime" novel. It almost drove me crazy at the start. I felt like I needed a whiteboard or a cork board to keep track of all the personalities interviewed. We will never know if the transcriptions are authentic or a little bit of fiction. So, I asked myself if any harm had been done to the reader if the transcripts were, indeed, fictionalized. But in the end, who cares? It was a great read, albeit a slow page-turner, as I was trying to see through the interviewees. I re-read a lot of the entries a second, even a third time. So, if you are a fan of crime novels, try your hand at this one! You won't see it coming! Great book club exercise if you use a whiteboard or cork board!
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager
Two Journeys (7/31/2020)
Sara Seagers' "The Smallest Lights in the Universe" is a beautifully written memoir about her two life journeys: outward toward space, as an Astrophysicist in search of other life in Outer Space and inward, finding her true self and then navigating marriage, motherhood, widowhood, and remarriage. The study of Astrophysics detailed in her outward journey: details, theories, and projects are made understandable by using analogies from everyday life. " Each star was, and still is, another chance for me to find myself…Somewhere new." Her inward journey is a "Guide to Life," which, for me, as a recent widower myself, found her writing both poignant and instructive. I almost felt like I was a member of The Widows of Concord, Sara's support group. A great, great read, so much so that my neighbors, one, an award-winning Astrophysicist and the other, an award-winning Biologist are in queue to read the book next!
Afterlife
by Julia Alvarez
Living LIfe After (3/1/2020)
Antonia struggles daily with the tragic death of her husband even nine months after his death. Not only has she lost her husband, but she has also retired from her job as a college professor, losing a second pillar of her identity. Her three sisters provide the third pillar, but as in all families support is often a double-edged sword. As a professor of literature, words are important to Antonia and rarely did she get the last word with her departed husband, Sam, nor with her sisters. As the challenges to Antonia's "life-after" her losses mount she is forced to undertake challenges that she never believed she could. Citing Tolstoy, Antonia contemplates her role in meeting these challenges by asking herself "When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? ". In a beautifully written novel, Julia Alvarez guides the reader through these questions with some of the best advice I have read in a very long time.
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