The Headmaster's Wager: A Novel
by Vincent Lam
The Transformation of a Self-centered Businessman (8/1/2012)
I enjoyed Vincent Lam's book and highly recommend it. His characters are complex people who are trying to survive in a hellish war-torn country where "man's inhumanity to man" is part of daily life. I should mention there were some violent scenes that were gut wrenching.
The main character- Percival Chen- is the Headmaster of a Chinese-run English school in Cholon, a suburb of Saigon, South Vietnam and is a wealthy businessman who is detached from Vietnamize culture and the conflict spreading between North and South Vietnam. He is very effective in obtaining favors from his political contacts through the skillful use of bribes. Additionally, he is a womanizer who is addicted to the thrill of gambling. His complacent life changes when his son angers officials by refusing to speak Vietnamize and is incarcerated. Chen's life then begins to change during his struggles to free his son.
The Starboard Sea: A Novel
by Amber Dermont
The Rich are not Immune to Suffering (3/8/2012)
Amber Dermont, as other graduates of the Iowa Writers Workshop, has written a captivating first novel. I frequently reread many sentences to better digest the story and its characters. She clearly portrayed Jason Prosper's intense emotional pain, guilt and loneliness and vividly described how his self-absorbed family was clueless to his emotional pain. I cringed when I read the section where Jason's father hit him in the head with a folded copy of The Wall Street Journal as Jason was speeding on the highway.
Buried memories of my college experiences surfaced as I was reading the book. I remembered similar actions, not as intense and violent however, of fraternity brothers who had wealthy parents.
My only critcism is since I know very little about sailing and boats, I kept looking up nautical terms in the dictionary, interrupting the flow of my thought processes. I frequently regretted there was not a glossary in the back of the book and recommend one be in the next edition.
The Orphan Master's Son: A Novel
by Adam Johnson
The Orphan Master's Son (11/15/2011)
I have mixed emotions regarding Adam Johnson's book. He is an excellent writer and thoroughly researched his subject - the clandestine country of North Korea and its people. He artfully portrayed the effects of living in an autocracy (e.g., the people became like robots.) I was reminded of the purges that occurred in the USSR under Joseph Stalin when I read about the torture the main character endured in prison and then had the unsettling realization that this country has a nuclear capability.
It took me a while to get accustomed to the lack of continuity between chapters especially the differing time periods and the incredible changes in the main character. I also keep reviewing what I had already read to keep on track.
The Daughter of Siena: A Novel
by Marina Fiorato
The Daughter of Sienna (5/14/2011)
I enjoy historical fiction especially if it is well-researched as this novel. Since I am interested in this period of history and was captivated by the plot, I finished the book in a few days. Ms Fiorato is a good writer and her lyrical description of Sienna and the surrounding countryside was very enticing. ( I'll definitely visit Sienna the next time I travel to Italy). The main issue I had with the book was the characters lacked any complexity (e.g., were either good or evil).
Original Sin: A Sally Sin Adventure
by Beth Mcmullen
Too Much of a Good Thing (2/26/2011)
This is a difficult book to evaluate. I enjoyed Ms. McMullen's sense of humor and was chuckling while I was reading it, but I reached a point where I was satiated with the incessant humor and needed a break. Since I was interested in the story, like spy novels and wanted to see how it ended, I eventually finished it. I believe this is a good first effort. This type of book is difficult to write.
The Beauty of Humanity Movement: A Novel
by Camilla Gibb
The Perfect Pho! (1/3/2011)
I enjoyed this book. Ms Gibb is a good writer. (Actually, I have been browsing Amazon.com to select another of her books.) Her characters were very well developed. I was pleasantly surprised by how knowledgeable she was about the conflicts the Vietnamese people engaged against the French and the Americans to regain their country. I lived during those years and was aware of the later conflict since I was a member of the US Army Reserve. However, this book refreshed my memory that people were basically alike regardless of their language, color of their skin, and so forth. As I was reading her book, the statement, "War is Hell", kept surfacing and that common people (like you and I) came to mind for we truly suffer during war time.
I have been reading recently about other Asian countries who have revolted successfully against repressive governments which have become repressive themselves. Having absolute power is very irresistible and addictive.
I would recommend this book to book clubs since it raises many interesting discussion topics.
The Tenth Song
by Naomi Ragen
The Tenth Song (10/24/2010)
I liked the book by Naomi Ragen and do recommend it despite its pat ending.
The "idyllic" life of a wealthy upstanding Jewish family in Boston is suddenly shattered by a startling event. To add to their legal and financial misfortunes, many people within their Jewish community began treating the family members as outcasts.
The daughter Kayla who is a third-year student at Harvard Law, is upset by her fiancee's demand to delay their upcoming wedding. She's also getting strange looks by her classmates and professors. She leaves school and travels to Israel. She coincidentally ends-up at a spiritual community near the Dead Sea practicing Jewish mysticism. Many of the people there have temporarily "dropped-out" of conventional society for various reasons. They are engaging in a spiritual search with the help of their wise teacher.
Kayla begins realizing what's really important in her life from the spiritual teachings and her self- healing process and becomes a more self-directed person. Her changes are eventually accepted by her reluctant mother and father.
Your Republic Is Calling You
by Young-ha Kim
Your Empire is Calling You (7/29/2010)
I liked this book. The plot-line, surprising ending and the in-depth portrayal of the main characters made it a worthwhile read. The author focused on the anxieties each member of a family was experiencing: the husband, his complacent lifestyle for the past ten years was abruptly shattered by an urgent email from his former country; the wife, who was undergoing an intense mid-life crisis filled with regrets of her past choices; and the daughter, who is struggling with teenage angst. As often happens, painful truth hastens the dissolution of an empty marriage.
As I was reading the book, I realized how little I knew about North and South Korea and how different the societies were, especially since they are neighbors.
I found my enthusiasm waned during the middle of the book. Of course, I was re-energized at the end. Some Korean words were not translated which was annoying.
An Eagle Named Freedom: My True Story of a Remarkable Friendship
by Jeff Guidry
An Eagle Named Freedom (5/13/2010)
I admit I am biased about this book since I am a volunteer board member of a wildlife center having a similar mission as the wildlife center named in the book.
What an inspirational story! I found An Eagle Named Freedom to be a love story between a man and a bald eagle. It is clearly written and about 200 pages. I doubt if I will ever forget Jeff Guidry's metaphor, "...cold ball of fear in my belly..." when he was diagnosed as having stage 3 non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I was touched about many of the episodes in the book such as the first time Freedom, a mature eagle, embraced him with both wings when Guidry was undergoing the agonies of chemotherapy.
The Bricklayer: A Novel
by Noah Boyd
The Bricklayer (12/15/2009)
I enjoyed this book and couldn't set it aside. Although this is Noyd Boyd's ( a pseudonym) first novel, the main character, Steve Vail, should rank in the top tier of literary action heroes. I enjoyed the bantering between him and Kate Bannon, the main female character. I hope this relationship continues in future episodes. The plot, despite many twists, turns, and dead-ends smoothly came together. I agree with other reviewers that the undefined acronyms were unsettling and detracted me from the story. ( I finally resorted to googling them).
I am looking forward to the next episode.
The Lieutenant
by Kate Grenville
The Lieutenant (9/23/2009)
Kate Grenville is a terrific writer who writes elegant, simple prose. Many sentences clearly describing the dilemmas Lieutenant Rooke, the main character, experienced were short and contained words that were less than eight letters. (If only Carl Jung could write like that).
I enjoyed the book - yet I was left with ambivalent feelings about the widespread colonization that has occurred throughout history. In how many countries were the lives of the indigenous people improved after they were colonized? I'll leave that discussion to book clubs.
Cutting For Stone
by Abraham Verghese
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (2/22/2009)
I liked this book! I especially admired how Verghese vividly described the primary characters' unvarnished gut feelings and urges: love and hate, unrequited love and betrayal, excessive self-centeredness, compassion toward others, necessary self-survival actions and the resulting guilt and fear and a willingness to give up one's life for the sake of another. I will definitely remember the humanness of these characters.
Much of the book takes place in Ethiopia. Verghese describes the political turmoil which took place in that country throughout much of the twentieth century. He also realistically describes how honorable people had to "play politics" with despots to protect themselves and their non-government organization (in this case a hospital for the poor) in a third-world country. I gained a greater appreciation for the work Doctors Without Borders, Catholic Charities and others are doing.
The Crow Road
by Iain Banks
The Crow Road (9/30/2008)
This book is a coming-of-age novel. The main character and narrator of much of the book is a college student possibly in his early twenties undergoing a difficult transition to adulthood. Members of three generations of his family also play significant roles in the book.
I enjoyed the book. Some parts of it are hilarious and others are tragic. The writing is excellent and the characters are very real. I recommend a reader take his/her time to read it, just like sipping a fine wine.
I was confused in the beginning as the author abruptly shifted backward and forward in time to other characters in a different generation. I adjusted to this after about 50 pages. Since the book was a British edition, there were Scottish words I did not understand so I spent some time in the dictionary to understand some of the words. I assume much of this will be translated in the U.S. edition. Similarly, since I have never been to southern Scotland, I studied my world atlas so I could locate where the towns in the story were located.
I will read other books by this author since it was a pleasure to read this book.
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