"The Forgetting Time" an Uninspiring Reflection on Reincarnation

What if we had chance upon chance to love the people we love, to redeem ourselves and make things right?  This is the reiterated core of Sharon Guston's debut novel "The Forgetting Time."  This hogwash remains a sentimental bore. "And tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death."  (Shakespeare)  Guston references to Shakespeare & to documented cases of conceivable accounts of reincarnation are not suffice to make for a compelling story or strong argument for reincarnation.   Guston has written & produced a documentary "On Meditation."  The book is overflowing with cornball cliches that are meant as profound reflections.  "I can't hold on to hope and I can't hold on without."  And, "You had to be where you were.  The life you're living, the moment you're in."  In retrospect, these alternative truisms are shallow.  Still, this substantively light novel is a swift read due to the mother/son bond driving the narrative.  Janie is a single mother of an emotionally disturbed 4 year old, Noah.  Noah has extreme night terrors, water phobias, unexplained knowledge and a relentless plea with Mommy-mom (Janie) to take him back to his Mama.  Janie's frustrations out of love & concern for her son are understandable.   Help from professionals only offers psychotic medication which she is reluctant to use.  Searching the internet she comes across research by a Dr Anderson purporting evidence of reincarnation.  Desperate to help her tormented son, she reluctantly agrees to meet with the Dr who himself is suffering from degenerative aphasia.  The Dr seizes the opportunity to meet with Noah as his last chance to leave a legitimate legacy of his life's work.  Together they search for answers that lead them to another family & an unsolved murder mystery.   Guston's novel contemplates notions of reincarnation.  More interesting is the focus on the brain: who knows why it remembers what it does.  Also fascinating are glimpses of human nature.  It's a human trait to disregard & dispute evidence.  As an engaging, easy read, Guston succeeds.  As lofty philosophical prose, it sinks.  

"The Wangs v the World" Wacky Asian/American Family Road Trip

"The Wangs v the World" is about an Asian/American family with patriarch, Charles Wang.  Wang left his native Taiwan for CA where he prospered as a cosmetics entrepreneur & raised his 3 children: Saian, an artist in upstate NY, Andrew an AZ college student & aspiring comic and Grace, at boarding school, a self-obsessed fashion blogger.  Self-obssessed with overblown egos is a shared family trait.  It is infuriating in Charles but less so with his offspring.  Their wealthy, privileged & vain lives have not deterred a fondness for one another that is endearing.  Author & journalist, Jade Chang (b America of Asian heritage) makes her debut with this off-beat & outlandish parody of the American dream as seen by Charles, the Asian immigrant with indefatigable drive.  His relentless work ethic & overblown ego lead to immense wealth & then to financial ruin.  Chang also lampoons contemporary life in the U.S. through the eyes of all 3 siblings and their step-mom, Barbra.  Barbra had her eye set on Charles as a young man in Taiwan.  When she learned of his beautiful wife's untimely demise, she hustled herself to the states & became his bride.  Greed is an overriding theme in this entertaining & unconventional novel.  This funny & perceptive novel lambasts human traits as we hitch a ride with this zany brood on a desperate, cross country road trip. Charles & Barbra take an old mercedes (back from their housekeeper) after everything they previously possessed; businesses, property & bank accounts have been repossessed by the bank.  He's a man that can't be derailed from his plan.  The couple get Andrew & Grace from their schools (where tuition is overdue) and set their route from CA to NY where Saina may prove to be their sane, saving grace.  Andrew sums it up "my family's bankrupt and I'm in the middle of a cross-country road trip in my dead mom's car because my dad might be delusional."  Dad is quite mad and he's filled with rage & envy for all that was once his.  Saina gained early fame in the contemporary art world in NYC which just as quickly turned against her.  She retreats to an old farmhouse where her family is about to descend upon her.  Chang exposes the art world for its alchemy "every successful artist is the product of mythmaking."  The pratfalls of pride are priceless.  So too is  the hypocritical idealism of Communist China.  Charles travels to China to reclaim his families' rightful land & legacy.  Charles' views are often astute.  He believes there are 2 types of people, passive or  those who seize opportunities.  This is an impressive first novel that is unique with tongue in cheek.  But the sentimental ending is rather meek. "In the end all we had were the people whom we were beholden."

Canadian Author & Humanist Margaret Atwood's "Hag-Seed" Literary Fiction at its Finest

Margaret Atwood (b Canada 1939) has received numerous literary awards for her novels (Oryx & Crake & The Blind Assassin; Man Booker Prize winner.  Atwood is also highly regarded for humanitarianism.  Her newest novel, "Hag-Seed" is a literary novel that swirls around Shakespeare's "The Tempest."  Felix, a thespian has just been unceremoniously thrown overboard from his artistic directorship of a Shakespearian CO. by his plodding nemesis.  Felix is drowning in an enormous black  boiling cloud of sorrow & self-castigation after his firing & deaths of his wife & daughter, Miranda.  He banishes himself to the bleak countryside to live a parsimonious & hermit-like existence.  An ad for a theatrical teacher for inmates draws hims out of his self-imposed prison to an actual prison where he teaches inmates whose worlds contain few freedoms from which to choose.  The opportunity to participate in a Shakespearian production appeals to some of the prisoners.  "Hag-Seed" is derived from the "Tempest'" a name that represents all that is evil in the play.  "I'm two times evil and I ain't sorry, cause I'm Hag-seed," raps one of Felix's students. Atwood's eloquent & poignant novel contemplates many of Shakespeare's themes:  revenge, remorse, redemption, insanity, power & love.  These themes are encased within Felix & the inmates in his theatrical group.  Felix is the king of retribution.  He manipulates his powerful educational opportunities as a means of vengeful payback.  He cunningly & obsessively plods how he will strike-back at the villain who deposed him.  Theater is a persuasive tool & the redemptive power of art often cathartic.  The inmates & Felix discover the strength to call forth light from darkness.  "The rare action is in virtue than in vengeance."  The keynotes of the novel are prison reforms, power & clemency; from  revenge to forgiveness.  The prisoners discuss & collaborate on Shakespeare's Tempest.  The profundity they gained is liberating.  "Despite the crap they did, he {Caliban} feels sorry for the bad guys and what they're being put through once they've suffered enough, so we take that it's okay to change our minds."  Atwood again proves her exceptional literary finesse.  I applaud her writing and her thoughtful call for social reform.

Amy Schumer's Auto-bio "The Girl with the Lower Back Tatoo" Too Funny & Too Much Info

"The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo" is Amy Schumer's auto-biography.  In it she shares everything (well how would I know that?) & anything about her childhood, family, sex life, comic personna, introvert personna (huh?) and did I mention sex life.  Schumer's writing is self-deprecatingly hilarious especially her footnotes of her own earlier journal entries.  Her writing has a comic timing you don't see coming which is LOL (don't you hate that?)  It seems Amy gives us a full disclosure, full dose dossier of her life from infancy (yep) through adolescence, parental relationships, boyfriends & sexual relationships and her penchant for the spotlight & making people laugh.  There are serious, somber reflections on sexual abuse, self-doubt & sensible gun controls.   Her pontificating on finding your inner strength is palpable mixed with her dry wit & wisdom.  "Know what it is to depend completely on yourself in life." "What's wrong with being alone anyway?  Being alone is sometimes a great place to be but people are always trying to correct this problem for you."  Amy's upbringing was unique (whose isn't?)  But really, her mother made a lot of mistakes by sharing way too much information & being too permissive rather than being a responsible parent.  (Perhaps, Amy gets her sharing of TMI from her mom.)  Amy's father's alcoholism & degenerative muscular disease are an open book.  Again, more shit than I needed to know.  However, whenever 2 sisters are as close as Amy & her sister, there was something unerring in the home.  And, Amy's outlook on life is resplendent. "Life is full of pain & disappointment.  I've made a whole career out of pointing this out and reliving it in ridiculous ways so everyone can laugh and cry along with me."  Amy's never ending lust for the comic hustle under the spotlight is surprisingly at odds with her inner introvert core.  (Is this part of her ultimate hustle at being funny?)  Amy grasps that making people laugh allows her to dismantle power structures (albeit to her advantage.)   Schumer does what comediennes do best, they push boundaries allowing us more space to examine the ludicrousness in life with humor & a sense of kindred-ship.  Schumer's "…Lower Back Tattoo" has too much intimate info but this is what makes it the most entertaining & rewarding autobiography I've read by a comic.  "Sitting & writing & talking to no one is how I wish I could spend the better part of everyday."  Schumer's on-stage talents are rooted in her embracing of the mundane to the insane.  HEY LADY!

"Humans"-British Author Matt Haig-An Alien's Mindful View of Mankind

Matt Haig (b. Britain 1975) is a novelist who writes for both adults & children.  "Humans" is a sci-fi novel appealing for adults & Y/A alike.   An alien is sent to earth to prevent Prof Andrew Martin, a mathematics genius, from sharing his knowledge gained solving the most significant mathematical puzzle ever faced.  The consequences for this achievement pose dire consequences for the entire universe.  Humans' scientific advances will hasten an apocalyptic demise of the universe.  Hence, an alien is assigned the task of killing Martin and anyone he shared his discovery & destroying all traces of his research.  The alien assigned the task, does so reluctantly, but it's only a temporary mission.  To begin, the alien assumes the life form of Martin by erasing the brain matter that mattered in making Martin the man he was.  Now, Martin is a martian with superhuman abilities.  But he is a 43 year old newborn to earth; a stranger in a strange land.  The "new" Martin has to blend into his alien existence with his estranged wife Isobel, disengaged son, Gulliver  and the family dog, Newton.  Everything is a new experience for the E.T.  He's baffled by mankind's childlike harboring of hope for happiness & meaning in their lives.   This brilliant conceit of viewing humanities' foibles, follies and passions with an innocence & wonder is not original but Haig's writing is off beat, insightful, poetic and otherworldly.  His observations are hilariously insightful & heartfelt.  Humans are ruled by their desires which leads to suffering.  Where Martin originated there is no love, no hate - only the purity of reason.  Martin's epiphanies are miraculously eye opening.  "Love is about finding the right person to hurt you.  Two life forms in mutual reliance."  Martin's pitiful dissociation with earthlings becomes transformed by the infinite wonders that abound: books, music, art, poetry; especially Dickinson, canine company, wine, food; especially peanut butter and laughter.  "Humans" is so disarming & touching that presumptive platitudes transform into a black hole of celestial splendor.  Martin leaves his "son," Gulliver sage advice that elicited fluid from my ocular formations.  "Dog's are geniuses of loyalty.  And that is a good kind of genius."  "Don't worry about your abilities.  You have the ability to love.  That is enough." "You have the power to stop time.  You do it by kissing. Or listening to music."  "The things you don't need to live - books, art, cinema, wine and so on are the things you need to live."  "Peanut butter sandwiches go perfectly well with a glass of white wine.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

British Writer Zadie Smith's "Swing Time" Another Brilliant Novel from this Talented Writer

Zadie Smith (b Britain 1975) is an accomplished writer with numerous honors.  She received the Whitbread 1st Novel Award for "White Teeth" ('00) and her novel "On Beauty" earned an Orange Prize.  Smith's latest novel "Swing Time" is another literary achievement that strives to strike a balance between serious social issues: race, class along with astute social parodies.  This is a craftily written contemporary novel that swings for the fences but doesn't always score.  The nameless, bi-racial narrator shares the millenials' search for a substantive life, yet she's fairly self-consumed.  "We felt we had our place in time." Smith uses music & dance as a metronome for racial, economic, social & power divides.  The hierachy pits blacks at the bottom.  "Sometimes at the top, white man, Jew, Arab, Chinese, Japanese - depend.  But your people {Black} at the bottom - always they lose."  Smith observes "Tribes stick together - it even goes by shade."  The novel leads with a heavy foot regarding power struggles.  "Power preys on weakness, local, racial, tribal, royal, national, global, economic - on all kinds of weaknesses. "  People are placed into categories & a pecking order.  The narrators' black mother felt what mattered was culture & color.  Her white father defined by their labor.  There's striations of esteem related to skin tone; lighter skinned blacks being considered superior to darker skinned.  "Tribes stick together - it even goes by shade.  Everybody goes with their own is the point and it's natural."  Musical styles are rigidly divided: black music, white music.  The narrator ponders if there exists a world where the two combine.  She believes dancers are the best type of people.  "Their bodies tell them what to do."  The novel does a scorching parody of Madonna a.k.a. "Aimee."  She's an int'l (white) rock star who drops in on Africa trolling money behind and leaving with her a young lover & infant.  Smith returns to dance & time, time & again. These themes lead the rhythm of the book.  "A great dancer is eternal, has no time, no generation, he moves eternally through the world so that any dancer in any age may recognize him."  Smith tips her top hat to Astaire, Michael Jackson & Nijinsky.  Smith loves the ephemeral qualities dancers posses & the absence of ties to any one people.  Our narrator loved watching older dance movies like  "Swing Time" with Fred & Ginger.  These movies are distractions from one's own problems.   Zadie Smith's "Swing Time" is a charming & diverting novel which moonwalks towards preachiness.  During London's Bohemian 60's, "At that time, there was no black, there was no white - Nothing so banal.  We were brothers, in art, in love."

Melinda's Top 10 List for Books Read in 2016

My list for the year pertains to books I've read this past year.  The following books are listed in alphabetical order by author.  I've been leaning more towards Non-Fiction than I have in the past.  Moving forward into 2017 - "One Never Knows - Do One?" (Fats Waller)

1.  "Heroes of the Fontier" David Eggers (b American) - Previous winner of the Pulitzer Prize for
      Non-Fiction and finalist for the Nat'l Book Award for Fiction

2.  "The Moor's Account" by Laila Lalami (b Morocco) was a Pulitizer Prize Finalist for Fiction

3.  "13 Ways of Looking" by Colum McCann (b Ireland) previous winner of the Nat'l Book Award

4.  "Nutshell" by Ian McEwan (b Britain) previous Man Booker Prize winner (and 6 nominations)

5.  "The Fisherman" by Chigozie Obioma (b Nigeria) received the Man Booker nomination

6.  "The Sympathizer" by Than Ngyuen (b Viet Nam) winner of this year's Pulitzer Prizer

7.  "Swing Time" by Zadie Smith (b Britain) previous Man Booker nomination

8.  "Doors" by Magda Szabo (b Hungary) received the French Prize Femina Etranger Award

9.  "Hillbilly Elegy" by J D Vance (b American) Autobiography

10. "A Man Without a Country"  by Kurt Vonnegut - Memoir

I'm awarding two razzie awards for the most self-indulgent non-fiction works this year to:

"Tapesty of Fortune" by Elizabeth Berg (b American)

"Superficial" by Andy Cohen (b American)

"Sally Mann's" Memoir "Hold Still"-Her Life, Her Art & Family History

Sally Mann's memoir "Hold Still" written with exceptional prose & candor is at its most fascinating when discussing her photographic subjects and her objectives for a shoot.  The things/people Mann  (b. Amer 1951) focuses her lens on range from her children, the rural southern landscape, human form "…and the ineffable beauty of decrepitude, of evanescene, or mortality."  Mann's most enlightening  perspectives were regarding the photos taken of her 3 young children.  I was stunned by the furor & accusations of child abuse levied against Mann.  The photo series of her offsprings are transformative expressions of love, affirmation and hope.   Mann admits there is an exploitive nature of photography at the root of every great portrait.  "Taking the picture is an invasive act, a 1 sided exercise of power."  What is taboo to one generation is often viewed as the norm if not genius in another era.  Mann speaks of arts' capacities & potencies with gravitas.  The fear of the elusiveness of her gifts is a constant worry.  "Each good new picture always holds despair within it, for it raises the ante for the ones that follow."  There's mention of the endearing friendship & admiration between Sally & the artist Cy Twombly.  Sally dismisses the concept of artistic potential limited to the gifted few.  "Art is seldom the result of genius; rather it is the product of hard work and skills learned and tenaciously practiced by regular people."  Sally's memoir drifts from her artistic pursuits to puruse her family history, that of the south and her macabre fascination with death.  Sally's family tree are considered the genetic threads for her factiousness, and unrest.  Sally's misgivings for her blind eye towards the racial divide she grew up in disturb her.  "It's that obliviousness, the unexamined assumption, that so pains me now:  nothing about it seemed strange, nothing seemed wrong."  Perhaps this motivated her  to capture both the southern landscape; its beauty tinged with sadness  & its "abiding human spirt of slavery."  She asks us to "weep for the great heart of the South; the flawed human heart."  Mann proclaims death as "the modern form of prudery."  She explains her preoccupation with death. "For me, living is the same as dying, and loving is the same as losing.  I believe it can make me better at living and better at loving, and just possibly, better at seeing."   This is an engrossing &  splendidly written memoir .  Mann is highly regarded for her skills as a photographer & writer. Her love for photos harbors some disdain.  "They diminish our ability to remember and what memories we have are impoverished."  "Hold Still" made and indelible imprint on me.  

Paulette Jiles' "News of the World" is a Nat'l Book Award Finalist

Paulette Jiles (b. Amer 1943) is a Canadian novelist & poet.  Her new book "News of the World" is a finalist for this year's Nat'l Book Award.  This news is amiss regarding such a high accolade. The adventure & kinship between a retired army captain & 10 year old girl through the unsettled & lawless Texas territories in 1870 is engaging.  Capt. Kidd, an educated & honorable soldier had fought through several wars, including the Civil War.  Kidd now maintains an income by giving public readings of news of distant lands.  His readings provide locals current events & amazing glimpses of information from across the Atlantic.  His services are highly regarded. He's offered payment to accompany the young girl recently "rescued" from the Kiowa Indian Tribe & return her safely to her relatives.  The Capt realizes his young charge, so alone & twice captured, is being coerced through 2 creations.  She's an anomaly; not belonging to any one world.   Considered a "savage" among her own race, she must adapt & transform to norms which she is unaccustomed. Varying cultures contain their own minefields.  Johanna's resilience, resourcefulness and courage are admirable & endear her to the Capt.  He is the only human being she now knows & trust.  Their journey is fraught with harrowing dangers.  They are pursued by both Native tribes, lawless hooligans and must survive nature's unforgiving harshness.  Jile's cunningly conveys the era & lay of the land. The storyline is driven by the Captain's & Johanna's & their billowing bond.  "The baseline of human life is courage." "News of the World" is a worthwhile read but it belongs to the young adult genre. It's too tame & maudlin for mainstream readers.    

Andy Cohen's "Superficial" - The Macher of Bravo Scores a Zero with New Auto-Bio

Andy Cohen, known to millions for his seemingly endless, but entertaining reality shows, including the continuously expanding Housewives genre, generated his 3rd book, "Superficial."  I was at the 92Y where Andy was interviewed by his friend & fellow NYC icon, Sarah Jessica Parker to promote his latest self-indulgent droll diary in the guise of an introspective reflective read.  I enjoyed the vivacious dialogue between Andy & SJP, two inviting & interesting friends with whom I would love to be in  their inner circle.  Perhaps, the next best thing would be to read "Superficial" to garner a titilating tell-all of real celebs & then real reality TV celebs.  (Note:  there is a vast difference.)  There's also a huge chasm between literature and "People" magazine.  There's also an abyss between a fun read & a dull, quotidian diatribe of Andy's activities.  Don't bother with this boring, obsessive Bridget Jones malarky. Don't believe me?  The daily grind apprises you mostly of what he ate, how he slept & pooped on any given day.  We're relentlessly barraged with his beloved dog, Wacha.  Andy notifies us of Wacha's  weight, vet visits and doggy runs.  I'm glad for the faithful companionship between Andy & man's best friend but it's not of interest to this devoted dog lover.  The book should appeal to Andy's people, "older Jewish women"& younger gay men.  No, I did not read past Novemeber 2014, I've got my own life.  I found "Superficial" subpar & a waste of my time.  Darn, I've probably blown my chances of becoming bff's with SJP & AC.  Oh well… Meanwhile, Andy should stick with his day/night job on TV and keep his love for writing for himself.  

Irish Author Paul Murray's "Skippy DIes" A Cerebral, Poetic Coming of Age Novel

Paul Muray (b Ireland 1975) is a very enchanting & clever storyteller.  His 1st novel "An Evening of Young Good Byes" (03) was shortlisted for the Whitbread Award.  "Skippy Dies" (10) was long listed  for the Booker Prize.  In Murray's engaging & beguiling novel "Skippy Dies" we learn Skippy, a teen at Seabrook School for boys, dies at the onset and thrust into a mindset of flashback storytelling leading to this cataclysmic tragedy.  This proves false. Forging this coming of age novel into a finite genre is futile.  Skippy is likable kid with an geeky, genius roommate.  Skippy is love struck by beautiful Lori, out of his league at the nearby girl's school.  Skippy is NOT the sole main character of this craftily constructed story.  Skippy's dismal life & sexual awakening parallel that of Howard, a former alum & Seabrook teacher.  The cast of classmates are all colorful as well as a slew of parents, teachers & priests all contending with their own worldly matters.  Coping skills vary among the crew along with numerous complications ailing across generational divides: self-confidence, peer pressure, abuse, drugs, over-eating, dyslexia and the ubiquitous quest to find love & understanding of one's place in the universe.  The chapters oscillate from one fascinating character to the next.  Murray's drives the multilayered plot with an amalgam of alarming incidents, compelling historic context, ponderings of theoretical & philosophoical ideas and persuasive poetry.  The possibility of multiple universes is a common thread throughout.  The import being everyone too preoccupied trying to find their way somewhere else they miss out on the world they're in.  Murray is a masterful writer of wisdom & wit. "Stories make things make sense, but the way they do that is to leave out aything that doesn't fit."  "Skippy Dies" doesn't skimp on many of the things that matter in life.  "There is another world, and it is in this one." (P Eluard)

Israeli Author Amos Oz's Autobio "Tales of Love & Darkness" His Life and Israel's Birth as a Nation

Amos Oz, (b Jerusalem 1939) is a world renown writer, journalist & lecturer.  Oz has received many literary & humanity awards.  He's extolled by many as Israel's most famous living author.  Oz's autobiography "Tales of Love & Darkness" (now a movie starring & directed by Natalie Portman) is a very dense, verbose, erudite account of his entire life, commencing from age 2.  Oz's memory for detail & literary prowess are incredulous.  Yet, I assume the minutia of material he draws from his life to be factual and contend his literary skill as omnipotent.  Although, the over abundance of flotsam and jetsam makes its reading laborious.  What carries the tenancious reader to enriching & enlightening historical discoveries are his boyhood, 1st hand accounts of the birth and near destruction of Israel.  Just minutes after Israel is voted its sovereignty in 1948, without war being declared, the infantry & artillery of the Arab nations poured into the country intending to raze the entire population.  Four years later, having survived, the State of Israel consisted of more than 1,000,000 citizens.  A 1/3 of the population were penniless refugees.  Oz contends the Israelis were proud of their victories and felt entrenched in the justice of their cause and their feelings of moral superiority.  He also considers the plight of hundreds of thousands of Arabs who lost their homes & became refugees.  Many of whom, and for generations, have remained refugees today.  Oz eloquently recounts his coming of age alongside the multitudes of lifestyles & growing pains in the nation of Israel.  These miraculous & embattled years were also shrouded by his mother's lengthy mental illness & suicide.  Amos shares his bibliophilic zeal, proclivity towards writing & literary epiphanies for contributing to his literary career.  I admired Amos' sagacious & melancholic writing.  "Tales of Love & Darkness" is a treasure trove jewels floating amongst a somber ocean of history.  Within a ubiquitous feeling of oppressiveness there are glimmers of optimism. "People will always go on making plans because otherwise, despair would take over."  

British Author Ian McEwan's "NUTSHELL" is an Embryo's Analytical Outlook on Life

Ian McEwan (b. UK 1948) is one of the most celebrated and contemporary creative writers.  He's been nominated for the Man Booker 6 times, winning it for "Amsterdam" ('98) & received the Sommerset Maugham Award for his short story collection "First Love, Last Rites" ('75.)  His prolific body of works vary greatly in style & substance from one to the next.  This novel has a newbie hero who is quite an intellectual,  He has a sardonic wit & sagacious insights into the world to which he has yet to enter.  And yet, he's capable of perceiving the world that envelops his mother from her womb.  He tells us "The womb, or this womb, isn't such a bad place."  But, something is rotten in the state of Denmark.  The nameless, unborn reminds me of Stewie from the TV sitcom "Family Guy."  A precocious pipsqueak who converses to us from mom's uterus.  He loves his mom & shares her taste for fine wine.  He's biding time by talking to himself & to the reader.  "I want my life first, my due, my infinitesimal slice of endless time." A "Hamlet" storyline is revealed; the mother & uncle plotting to kill his corporeal father.  This causes quite a ruckus & numerous rebellious kicks to his mother.  "Don't let your incestuous uncle & mother poison your father.  Don't waste your precious days idle and inverted.  Get born & act!"  At first, I was cynical of McEwan's clever contrivance "Nutshell."  At inception, I thought the gimmick a fickle trick.  But I grew to love the "Stewie" fetus, the fiendish Hamlet plot and found myself reading with mounting anticipation.  To thine own self be true… I say to you, McEwan hit "Nutshell" out of the ballpark.  

Phillip Roth's "DECEPTION" Proves Repeatedly His Literary Prowess

Phillip Roth (b. Amer 1933) is one of, if not the, most highly awarded living writer.  He is a consumate master of of the written word, be it fiction or nonfiction.  His writing is so deceptively clever, the barrier between fact/fiction is confusingly & cunningly fused.  Roth has received the Pulitzer Prize & mulitiple Man Booker Prizes, Nat'l Book Awards & Pen Faulkner awards & numerous multiple nominations for the echelons of the literary sphere.  DECEPTION, published in 1990, is a prime example of his genius at making art out of life by deriving out of his own life & lives of those whom he knows.  Nathan Zuckerman, Roth's doppelganger is the writer alluded to in DECEPTION as he has repeatedly alluded to in other works.  Although, perhaps never with such perplexity & guile has Roth sucessfully deluded his readers as to what is to be taken literally & what is contrived.  There are common themes in this novel which he has woven throughout many of his other books:  anti-Semitism, adultery, class barriers, cultural differences, detachment, deceit & conceit.  Roth is full of hubris for his own brilliance but he's honed his talent to write such sharp observations that his ego is earned.  DECEPTION is written in dialogue in multiple conversation formats.  A device that proves Roth's mastery of writing about the human condition.  When the unamed protagonist is pressed by one of his previous lovers regarding her  characterization in his book he responds, "What difference does that make.  I write fiction and I'm told it's autobiography, I write autobiography and I'm told it's fiction, so since I'm so dim and they're so smart, let them decide what it is or it isn't."  Touché Mr. Roth & with regards to your other point "I cannot and do not live in the world of discretion, not as a writer, anyway," I say, please keep writing away - I will read everything you write, and that includes your dirty laundry list.

J.D. Vance's Autobio HILLBILLY ELEGY is Self-Congratulatory & Lacking Resourecfullness

A lot of buzz about HILLBILLY ELEGY is due thanks to presidential candidate Trump's rousing the white lower middle-class with proferred promises of making American great, again.  Vance, a self-proclaimed Hillbilly (b. KY 1985) & raised mostly in Middeltown, OH, is a self-made success story despite the overwhelming odds thrust upon him.  Stop me if you're heard this before, he was raised by an abusive single mother (with revolving men in her life) with an alcohol & drug-addiction, prone to psychotic episodes.  Nevertheless, JD defied the odds with little social capital, no social graces and a quick fire temper, yet, still managed through OH State & Yale Law School.  Bravo, and kudos to the saving graces in his life: a steadfast older sister, steely grandparents & military training where he 1st learned self-empowerment.  Vance's stance was to enlighten us to how it feels to deeply love your family despite how deranged & destructive.  More importantly, to convey the feeling of helplessness & need to blame others for one's sad situation.  Admittedly, I was intrigued with uncovering the "Hillbilly culture" which remains socially & economically stagnant.  The disenfranchisement of the lower middle white class continues under a nebulous cloud of scrutiny & cynicism.  However, HILLBILLY ELEGY reads as grandiose self-testament to the author's own resiliency & tenacity.  I was dismayed with Vance's own life story & self-proclaimed love for those he surpassed (to his own amazement.)  I recommend instead reading the auto-bio THE OTHER WES MOORE.  Interestingly, both attribute military training as a launching pad for their future life successes.  JD doe not purport to provide answers.  I suggest mandatory military training for 2 years for all American youths (within ages 17-24)  This should prove not only beneficial for the individual, but act as a cohesive melting pot for the corrosive social divisions in our nation.

Swedish author Katrina Bivald's "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" I would NEVER Recommend it to be Read

Katarina Bivald is a Swiss author & book store junkie. Her novel "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend" is meant to be a charming bibliophile's dream but it's maudlin drivel that doesn't deserve your time.  I found it annoying & so farfetched it made me retch.  Why then did I spend so much time reading this novel I deplored?  Because my bookgroup in my small town chose it.  I was determined to complete the book before I condemned it as crap at the next book meeting.  I can understood how the selection was misconstrued as being a worthy selection.  It proved worthless.   Sarah from Sweden, the heroine in the novel, travels to visit Amy, an elderly widow in a small town in IA with whom she's built  a pen pal relationship.  Meek Sarah stood her ground vs. the town's self-righteous officiando who proclaimed erotica writings as filth.  Sarah questioned how can a person judge a book without having read it.  I proclaim this book as unoriginal, poorly written & unappealing.  Sarah (Bivald's wishful avatar) had little to anchor her to her  home town in the way of friends, family ties or interests (except reading.)  The bookstore she worked in closed leaving adrift.  The invite to visit Broken Wheel seems ideal to Sarah.  This book is intended as a tribute to the transformative powers of reading and an essay extoling the virtues of community, relationships & life experiences.  Are you retching now, too?   Can't say I didn't warn you. Sarah saves the small dying town, brings out the best in everyone & finds true love.  Bivald believes her book is an amalgamation of "Bridges of Madison County," Pride & Pejudice," & "The Shipping News."  I knew this book was bunk from beginning to end.  I urge you not to waste your time reading "The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend."

Dave Eggers' Novel "Heroes of the Frontier" a Delusional Mother Caravans to Alaska with her Kids

Dave Eggers (b. Amer 1970) is a novelist, and award winning non-fiction author.  He wrote the award winning non-fiction works: "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" ('00) and "Zeiton" ('09.)  In Zeiton, Eggers covers the plights of a muslim man held prisoner in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  The book covers both the war on terror and our failure to deplore aid to victims of Katrina.   "A Heartbreaking Work… is Egger's poignant memoir of raising his kid brother after their parents died though only in his early 20's.  Eggers is a crafty writer and in "Heroes.." Josie our heroine life's is unraveling & she's having a major mid-life crisis.  Her troubled youth led to her emancipation at 17, a relationship with a feckless, spineless younger man, the father of their children Paul (8) & Ana (4) and a major drinking problem.  Compounding her self-worth & mundane life in OH as a dentist is a lawsuit v her practice & the death of a young patient she encouraged in his plans to join the military.  Perhaps, Eggers was purging his years as the put upon adult who assumed responsibility for his kid brother.  Josie's complex & self-destructive tendencies are credible and cringe worthy.  The irony here is 8 year old Paul acts as the responsible adult in this misfit family of 3.  Josie splits from ex & decides to flee OH for Alaska; the vast frontier.  Her antics are appalling, surprising & pathetic.  I was along for the journey in the broken winnebago with anticipation as to their next madcap adventure.  Eggers captures  the needy & most likely bi-polar Josie as well as the wise, kind Paul and wild child Ana.  Eggers also wrote the book "A Hologram for a King" which was adapted into a movie starring Tom Hanks ('16.)  I marvel at the broad genius of Eggers writings.  "Heroes of the Frontier" is an enjoyable read that addresses topical social issues in an earnest & exotic fashion.

S Korean Author Han Kang's THE VEGETARIAN Wins Man Booker

This year's Man Booker Prize went to Han Kang (b. S Korean 1970) for her disturbing, thought provoking novel about a young wife who suddenly refuses to stop eating meat.  This would not seem enough of a banquet from which to draw but, surprisingly, the piquant characterization and family dynamics branch out into a turbulent brew that is philosophical, pornographic and dreamlike. Yeong-hi, is the woman who refuses to eat meat after her arousing dreams of carnivore imagery.   Her life is soon to becomes a living nightmare.   Prior to Yeong-hi's vegetarian stance, her husband "…thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way."  Kang's writing may not appeal to the masses.  The plot is gnarly like massive roots & as mystifying & ephemeral as the dream you can't recall.  Dreams & their interpretations are eminent throughout this beguiling book.  Yeong-hi's unorthodox switch to vegetarianism leads to a permanent rift in her marriage to a mostly absent husband.  The extended family dynamics are peeled off revealing anger, agony, terror & abuse.  Yeong-hi's sole support comes from her older, responsible sister, In-hye.  In-hye's husband lures his sister-in-law Yeong-hi into an exploitive & lurid sexual scandal.  Nonetheless, In-hye could not abandon her sister.  In-hye's culpability gnaw at her, "Could I have prevented those unimaginable things from sinking so deep inside of Yeong-hye."  In-hye assumes full financial & emotional support for sister as her descent into insanity  escalate.  Dreams & reality are blurred in a melancholy assessment of life.  "Life was no more than a ghostly pageant of exhausted endurance."  "Life is such a strange thing, she thinks, once she has stopped laughing."  THE VEGETARIAN is a rare work of literary excellence that is an acquired taste that should be required reading.          

"Tapestry of Fortunes" by NYT Best Selling Author Elizabeth Berg is Motivational Malarky

Elizabeth Berg (b. Amer 1948) is a best selling author, whose book "Open House" ('00) was an Oprah pick catapulting sales to astronomical figures.  This is because there are so many numskulls who consider Oprah as the end all to wisdom.  Elizabeth Berg spouts Oprah's language.  This is a thinly disguised novel written more in the motivational, self-help genre.  Cecile "Cece" (see how clever) is the central character and her vocation just happens to be as a motivational speaker/writer. (She also volunteers at a hospice facility where she seems to be some kind of saint.)   Cecile's best friend Penny has just died but that doesn't interfere with the two friends communicating continuously.  Hold on - there's more in store: Cece refers to "fortune teller" paraphernalia to guide her.  Berg's veiled attempts to contemplate the road not taken hits the reader relentlessly and annoyingly, "…life is always changing, right?  And I think it's human nature to be fearful of change.  Even if the changes you dread most end up being the ones that are best.  That's what happened to me" Cece tells us.  Cece sells her home, moves into a home with 3 other women who become best fast & furious friends.  They all decide to go on a road trip with their own agendas to reconnect with past loves, lost family & start afresh.  How charming…NOT!  I found this touchy/feely book by Berg tedious & preachy.  It was one large bumper sticker of smiley faces.  Oprah would applaud Berg's ah hah moments: "Once you start making decision in which your heart, mind, and soul are congruent, you'll feel it as a kind of life, if not liftoff."  This book made me want to throw-up from saccharin, cringe worthy sayings. "Tapestry of Fortunes" fooled me to take the time to read it.  But, I will never again bother with Berg's books.  

Paula McLain's "Circling the Sun" Makes the Historic Maverick Beryl Markham's Life a Bore

Paula McLain (b. Amer 1965) is a historic fiction writer.  She wrote "The Paris Wife" ('11) a dull read which dallies around the notoriety of Hemingway through the eyes of his 1st wife; unceremoniously pushed aside before his literary acclaim.  In McLain's novel, "Circling the Sun" ('15) the heroine, Beryl Markham (b. UK 1902) is a women who led a fascinating life & accomplished incredible feats.  Markham is the 1st woman to successful navigate a solo flight across the Atlantic.  She was a also a maverick in the all-male equestrian arena.  Beryl, along with her father, pioneered in the barren, treacherous & wild lands of Africa (now known Kenya.)  The onset of the novel had me in its grips. Beryl forages her way in 2 worlds: her father's struggling farmlands & the indigenous Kip African tribe.   Beryl is accepted by the tribal women after her mother abandoned her at age 4.   Beryl befriends a native tribal boy, Kibii.  Together they hone hunting, & preservation skills.  Beryl & Kibii form a lifelong friendship & partnership. Beryl's father left her to run wild & fend for herself.  As a young woman, her father & society try to impose conventions on the free-spirited & fearless upon her.  An attack by a lion almost cost Beryl her life as a girl.  This story seemed enthralling & exotic.  I was taken aback by her unique & unpredictable childhood.  However, McLain plummeted the novel after Beryl turns 16.  She chose an unsuitable 1st marriage without foreseeing another option to remain in Africa.  We're in the cockpit with Beryl flying across the Atlantic in what seems an imminent crash.  The disaster comes with McLain's writing which trudges through years of infidelities, lust & boredom. In addition to the little account of her flying there were interesting gallops into her skills at horse training. But, McLain fails to focus on pioneering achievements in Beryl Markham's life.  The tedious book reads as a dated gossip dossier of a woman noteworthy for her audacious sexual indiscretions.  Isak Dinesen, ("Out of Africa" 1937) a.k.a. Karen Blixen, a friend & rival of Beryl's factors a great deal in Beryl's life.  Dinesen is a gifted writer who makes life in Africa in the early 20th C come alive.  McLain's "Circling the Sun" should be shunned.

Non-F "Why Not Me" by Mindy Kaling - A Project Worth Reading

Mindy Kahling, Emmy nom actress & star/creator of "The Mindy Project" has written 2 auto-biographies.  Her 1st indulgent foray, "Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me?" ('11) was without interest to anyone other than her parents.  However, her most recent auto-bio "Why Not Me?" ('15) is a likable, candid & inspirational book; both entertaining & endearing.  There is an abundance of numbing narcissism, still, there's a lot of charm, wisdom & wit.  "Why Not Me?" picks up on her adult life (whereas her earlier work) reflected her ho-hum doldrum childhood: TMI because it was Tedious, Meandering Indulgences.  There's something about "Why Not Me" that makes Mindy relatable, lovable, neurotic, needy and fabulous.  Mindy lays it on the line "This book is basically an expose {of my} character flaws."  I found her directness disarming, "Please like me."   She strikes universal themes of seeking acceptance "Every kid wants approval, but my desire to be well-liked was central to my personality."  Mindy's anecdotes into the hard work & insecurities that comprise the majority of what may be assumed star status lifestyle - or for a B lister are enlightening.  All joking aside (and there was plenty LOL moments - Mindy's rise to fame is owed to her hard work & creative, comedic writing skill.  The book breaks a lot of rules & marches to its own beat.  As Mindy claims, "I'm such a rule breaker."  Chosen to give a graduation speech to a Harvard's Law School class (which she wrongly assumed meant being given an honorary doctorate) Mindy is riotously funny & sagacious.  "If you got it, flaunt it.  If you don't got it?  Flaunt it.  Cause what are we even doing here if we're not flaunting it."  I really liked "Why Not Me."  Mindy, if you're reading this - please like me.  I'd really want you as my friend.

Le Divorce - Life & Drama for American Sisters in Paris by Diane Johnson

Diane Johnson (b. Amer 1938) lives in the U.S. & France.  Her 1997 Nat'l Book Finalist "Le Divorce" is a satirical & astute observation of culture clashes between Americans & French as noted by a CA co-ed, Isabel "Izy.'  She goes to Paris (in the 1970's) to help her step-sister, Roxanne "Roxy" in her distress.  Izy at loose ends, a college drop-out without focus.  Roxy, is a published poet & older step-sis to Izy.  Roxy moved to Paris & married a French man from a pedigreed family. They have a young daughter & expecting an enfant.  C'est la vie - her husband left her for another woman.  Izy & Roxy are step-sibs by their parents 2nd marriages and have formed a sisterly bond.   Roxy is excited to come to Paris & help care for her neice & her sis in distress.  Delegated to a tiny alcove on the upper floor with a toilette down the hall, Izy will not be put a the corner.  Roxy is the one going through the turmoil of heartbreak, pregnancy & divorce with its disruptive divide of family & possessions. A prized possession, a valuable painting belonging to Roxy's step-dad leads to a major legal battle.  Egad, the French & their snobbery, affectations, infidelities & family loyalties.  Johnson, a Pulitz Prize finalist (Persian Nights '1988) is a gifted writer with wit & guile.  While entertained by the flighty Izy & her illicit affair with a much older, distinguished Frenchman (Roxy's uncle by marriage) we perceive a hilarious & insightful culture clash. The French have their orderly manners, domestic decorum & devotedness to their nation.  The Amer are thought of as blunt, naive, self-indulgent & foolishly optimistic.  A colorful portrait of Parisian life as seen from Izy's eyes adds delightful charm.  Still, there are more serious topics than cultural clashes such as sexism & war.  The Vietnam war is lambasted by an ex-pat "Our men in Vietham died for nothing, an immoral war."  War in Bosnia & Rwanda are also topical.  Mais, the heart of this contemplative novel is le coeur.  "Woe to the man who in the 1st months of a love-affair does not believe that it will last forever." (Adolphe)      

"The Sympathizer" 2016 Pulitz Prize for Lit by Viet Than Nguyen

This year's Pulitz Prize for Lit has been awarded to Viet Nguyen (b. Viet Nam 1971) for his brilliant historical/philosophical novel “The Sympathizer.   In addition, Nguyen received an Edgar Award for best 1^st novel.  Despite this being a major coup, these honors are duly bestowed for such powerful & creative writing.  Nguyen examines the Vietnamese war from a ½ Vietnamese, Capt/interpreter.  The protagonist is an illegitimate child born of a Vietnamese mother & a French priest.  He is of two worlds, of 2 faces, of 2 mindsets. He is a spy for the Viet Cong airlifted out of Saigon on the last day of evacuations. The novel presents duplicitous, provocative & disturbing insights from American viewpoints & a Vietnamese’s perspective vicariously straddling both worlds. This erudite & challenging novel demands a great deal of its reader but victors to those tenacious & courageous enough to endure this rigorous read.  It begins with the downfall of S Viet Nam during the chaotic & terrifying airlifts.  The anti-war sentiment harshly depicts an inhumane & obscene involvement by America in the Vietnamese Conflict from multiple, startling accounts.  This heroic novel is an anti-war & Viet Nam Conflict condemnation but to classify “The Sympathizer” as merely that would sell this brilliant story short by a land mine.  The graphic depiction of battle, torture, barbaric behavior & the capitalization on human suffering is rampant & atrocious.  Nguyen's writing also poses numerous philosophical conundrums.  “Should not the things that count, like ideology & political belief matter more than the unripe ideals & illusions of youth.” Revolutions are born by people willing to fight when fearing nothing to lose.  The author  provides a palatable comprehension of communism as a response to total anarchy & the righteous outcome of a society that takes for granted that "...NOTHING IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN INDEPENCE AND FREEDOM."  The dogma of this belief is emblazoned on the communist red party banner.  This novel bears comparison to another Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “The Orphan Master’s Son” (’13.)  Both deservedly won their accolades for their gifted writing as well as their meaningful & provocative content.  “The Sympathizer” is a profound, esoteric novel that evokes strong emotional responses and coerces the reader to consider unconventional & varying thinking.  Nguyen tells us, “…we haven’t eradicated all elements of anti-revolutionary thinking and we must not forgive antirevolutionary faults.  We must be vigilant, even of each other, but mostly ourselves.”  Be wary of untruths as all sorts of situations “…exist when one tells lies in order to reach an acceptable truth.” 

Melinda's Top 10 Recommend Reads for the Year

The following list of my favorite books I've read so far this year are listed below in alphabetical order by title.  This is an international mix of award winning writers of both fiction & non-fiction:


1.  "A Man Without a Country" Kurt Vonnegut's by memoir.

2.   "Deafening" by Canadian author Frances Itani - short listed for the Int'l Dublin Award.  She is
       Member of the Order of Canada.

3.   "Doors" by Hungarian author Magda Szabo - French Prix Femina Etranger Literary Award ('03.)

4.  "Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng - Goodreads Choice Award Best Debut Novel ('14.)

5.   "Family Life"autobiographical novel by Indian author Akhil Sharna - Folio Prize "'15.)

6.   "Life Only Better" by French author Anna Gavalda winner of the Grand Prix for short stories ('00.)

7.   "The Fisherman" by Nigerian author Chigozie Obioma - nominated for Man Booker ('15.)

8.   "The Other Wes Moore" An autobiography by Wes Moore & biography of another Wes Moore.

9.   "The Moor's Account by Morocan author Laila Lalami - Pulitzer Prize nom. ('15.)

10.  "Thirteen Ways of Looking" by Irish author Colum McCann - received a Nat'l Bk Award ('09.)

Currently I am reading "The Sympathizer" by Vietnamese author Viet Thanh Nguyen which won the Putlizer Prize for Fiction this year.  This will be added to my best picks for 2016.

"The Girl with all the Gifts" by Brit writer M R Carey-Copies Copiously from Others

British writer (b. 1959) M R Carey's novel is touted as "The most original thriller you'll read this year." But, this gore & adore lore is an appropriation of ideas galore.  Mainly it features zombie creatures called "the hungries" that comb the not too distant, dystopian world.  I discovered in this sci-fi monstrous mix Ray Bradbury's  "All Summer in a Day," &  Margaret Atwood's "Oryx & Crake."  The heart of the novel is ripped from Raold Dahl's "Matilda."  Melanie (our young heroine) is held captive. i She is harnessed, muzzled and rarely released from her cell except to attend class with other students.  These students are also restrained in their wheelchairs in cuffs and neck restraints.  The days are dismal and isolating.  The only ray of sunshine is when Helen Justineau teaches.  Sgt. Parks is the commander  of this menacing & nebulous facility. (Note:  Justineau - Parks, names with a Jurasic Park intonation.)  Sgt Parks routinely "keeps his gun pointing at her {Melanie} while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair."  What is this world coming to where a seemingly innocent & intelligent young girl, along with other youngsters are so severely treated?  Exactly - a world that has come apart at the seams.  It seems these children are "hungries" and are fodder for dissection & inspection.  Melanie, oblivious to her infectious nature of cannibalism, develops a strong affection for Miss Justineau; the only one whose shown her compassion.  Justineau is devoted & protective of Melanie.  The world as we knew it comes crashing down.  The walking dead "hungries" are on a mission to consume anything & everything with  a heartbeat.  The fortunate few (for now) include, Melanie, Justineau, Parks, pvt. Gallagher and the mad scientist Dr Caldwell who manage a harrowing & hasty escape. With a sociopathic Dr called Caldwell, you know little will end well.  Carey is a writer of novels, screenplays & comics.  He attempts a nature v. nurture theory & pays historic homage to British scientist & Greek myths.  "The Girl with all the Gifts" is nothing special. Warning: it's a Pandora's box.  Once you open the book, you're hooked.  

Indian Author Akhil Sharma's Semi-Autobiographical Novel FAMILY LIFE

FAMILY LIFE is as an endearing coming of age story of a young immigrant boy from India.  It is also  a heart wrenching tale of family tragedy.  Akhil Sharma (b. India 1971) immigrated to the US with his family at 8.  The author writes mainly in the voice of Ajay, the younger brother of the Mishra family who move from Delhi to the US in the late 1970's.  This story mirrors Sharma's life.  Sharma embraces earnest plights concerning immigration/assimilation, family tragedy/dysfunction and loneliness & alienation.  Ajay's candor & innocence provide the reader a lightheartedness with which to bear the family's overwhelming hardships.  I developed a fondness for Ajay.  Originally, Ajay believes his family fortunate for the opportunity to live in an affluent, modern country.  But, his expectations for an elevated lifestyle are drastically diminished. His epiphany of his permanency in America, severing his origins is both tender & melancholy. "The realization disturbed me.  I saw that one day I would be nothing like who I was."  Sharma's eloquent writing is filled with emotional truths that resonate throughout this stirring novel.  All hopes & attentions were placed on Ajay's older brother Bijru, to succeed.  Disaster strikes.  Bijru becomes brain dead from a near drowning. From now on he requires full care. The envy Ajay had felt towards Bijru was natural as his grief. "I sobbed relentlessly and was amazed at how much I loved my brother.  I had not known he mattered so much to me."  The family is faced with finding happiness amidst the most unbearable situation. Ajay has feelings of guilt, "No part of me could deny how much luckier I was than my brother."  His parents struggles are insufferable.  The father turns to drink and the couple quarrel relentlessly. "My parents fought so much that the walls would vibrate."  FAMILY LIFE earned the Pen/Hemmingway & Whiting Award.  Ajay discovers  Hemmingway's novels as an escape & source of inspiration.  To battle loneliness, he tosses love notes into girls' hair.  I wholeheartedly recommend this touchingly somber literary work.

John Williams' "Stoner" (1965) is Reissued to Fanfare-Beware

Amer novelist John Williams (b. 1922-94) received the Nat'l Book Award for "Augustus" (1972.)  His novel "Stoner" is about a lackluster professor of literature.  It has been reissued with acclaim from numerous contemporary authors.  Tim Kreiden in the  NEW YORKER ('13) declared "Stoner" "The greatest novel you've never heard of" and compares Williams work to that of James Salter & Richard Yates.  Yikes!  The title "Stoner" refers to William Stoner & is ironic because the novel reads under a fugue of passivity.  Since its reprinting in 2006, the novel has been declared an American classic - although not by me.  Besides faulting the author with misogynistic attitudes, the novel is a bore.  Granted, there is something to be said for Williams skill as a writer.  Williams was an English Prof & editor.  Stoner becomes a lifelong teacher of Lit. at a small Missouri Univ having found a passion for prose after leaving the family farm for the world of academia.  I fault the novel for the imbecilic integrity of its hero.  He fails to summon the courage to live a life with meaning & passion.  Stoner's sole purpose was imbuing his student's with knowledge.  Still, he allows his insane, shrew of a wife, Edith, to emasculate him & constrain him from interacting with their daughter.  His only revolt is against an incredulous  nemesis, a fellow professor and brief affair with an undergrad.  Stoner lives out his days numbing himself against the nothingness his life become; a "slow death of the heart, the bitter attrition of feeling and care."  "He could see nothing before him that he wished to enjoy and little behind him that he cared to remember."  I give the author an F on his novel and don't understand the resurgence of interest in his novel which bears none.

Irish Author William Trevor's LOVE and SUMMER, Great Reading Anytime

William Trevor (b. Ireland 1928) is a highly regarded novelist & short story writer.  Trevor has been nominated for the Man Booker 5 times and honored with the Bob Hughes Life Achievement Award in Irish Lit ('08.)  His earlier novel "The Story of Lucy Gault" ('02) won both the Man Booker & Whitbread Prize.  His more recent novel, "Love and Summer" ('09) is an eloquent story told from multi-protagonists all bound by logistics in a small Irish town after WWII.  The voices of each character emits despair with all its bitterness.  The 1st voice comes from the grave belonging to the recently deceased Mrs. Connulty.  Mrs. Connulty carries her disappointment with her daughter & husband with her to the grave.  The banal lives of the villagers of Rathmoye are fractured by the town's dilapidation & the dereliction of the townspeople's wasted lives.  Unrequited love is a prevailing theme which ripples around the illicit sexual awakening of Ellie.  Ellie was raised by nuns in an orphanage and considered fortunate to have found home & husband.  Nonetheless, Ellie shares feelings of abandonment, guilt & disillusion with various others in the village.  Trevor's talented writing presents various perspectives on similar predicaments which evoke deep pathos for his characters.  "Love and Summer" captures universal  yearnings & dismay in a timeless, unforgettable way.  "The time for pain was over, yet her wish was that it should not be, that there should always be something left."

Richard Power's ORFEO-Over Reaching & Pretentious

Richard Powers is a gifted novelist that combines storytelling with contemporary social issues.  His novel, "The Echo Maker" won the Nat'l Book Award '06 & was a Pulitzer finalist.  His most recent novel "Orfeo," a musical term favored in opera and early Baroque music, Powers offers a masters class in musical history & composition.  Powers over reaches too broad a discourse on all means of creativity in arts & science; including bio-technical developments & terrorism.  "Fear no art," a good place to start, but this erudite novel is grandiose, pretentious and never-ending.  Powers himself admitted, "…this is in one sense a very self-indulgent book."  Peter Els, the main character finds himself at 70, alone and at odds with where his life has led.  Peter questions the road not taken.  He teetered between a career in chemistry but chose a life devoted to creating transcendental music.  While in college, Peter fell in love & married Maddy & met his friend Richard (hmm.)  Richard is a manic narcissist & maestro of manipulation; able to pull Peter's strings into an avant-garde venture of musical composition without having to contribute a note.  Peter succumbs to Richards' influence & his own overwhelming desire to compose divine music leaving behind his wife & young daughter.  The novel starts with Peter at 70, a fugitive fleeing after his home grown bacterial lab is nabbed by the FBI.  While on the lam, Powers proselytizes on man's compelling drive to originate and leave a lasting legacy.  Despite the novel's esoteric proclivities, the sentimental epiphany is love of family & friends is omnipotent.  I suggest reading "The Echo Maker."  With "Orfeo" I kept waiting (& wanting) the fat lady to sing.

Non-F QUIET by Susan Cain-Quite a Lot of Nonsense

Susan Cain's "Quiet - The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking" has an intriguing premise but the book tuned me out with her garrulous gobbledygook.  Cain (b. Amer 1968) is a writer with degrees from Princeton & Harvard Law School.  Her impressive credentials do not include psychoanalysis and her premise proves as heedless as a horoscope.   As a self-acknowledged Aquarian introvert, I felt her epiphanies were harmless but not helpful.  Her revelations are merely self-congratulatory & aimless flattery.   For those who enjoy seminars for building confidence and public speaking skills, the ranting in "Quiet" is for you.  Otherwise, I found this book a waste of valuable solitary, introvert time on my dime.  I don't recommend investing your time or money.   If you have "Quiet," I suggest you shut it.

Nigerian Author Chigozie Obioma's "The Fisherman" Man Booker Nominee

Chigozie Obioma's (b. Nigeria 1986) 1st novel, "The Fisherman" received a Man Booker nomination.  This amazing debut novel pays homage to Chinua Achebe (b. Nigeria 1930-2013) considered the patriarch of the contemporary African novel.  Obioma references Achule's world renown "Things Fall Apart." Both novels are eloquently written possessing an African cadence and an overwhelming melancholy for the demise of their indigenous culture & inherent way of life.  "The Fisherman" tells the story of a tight knit family of 4 boys with 2 more siblings soon to join the fold.  The youngest of the 4 brothers is Ben, the narrator of this memorable coming of age tale set in Nigeria in the 1990's under a violent, military dictatorship.  Obioma's prose unfolds unhurriedly.  The terror which mounts is woven into a tapestry of natural landscape and intrinsic tongues.  The novel is a melange of African history, cultural clashes, familial bonds, grief and mythical fables.  Ben & his brothers defy their parents by fishing in the local river.  There they encounter the town's homeless imbecile who prophesies tragic events for Ben's family.  These predictions rupture the bonds of brotherhood & become self-fulfilling.  Ben's older brother explains "the people of Umuofia were conquered because they were not united.  The white men were a common enemy that would have been easily conquered if the tribe had fought as one.  {The people were destroyed} - because there was a division between them."  Loyalty & trust are prevailing themes.  Grief is a common thread throughout.  The father tells his sons, "We cannot continue to grieve forever.  We cannot bring forward what is behind, nor can we bring what is forward back."  Obioma's brilliant & powerful literary skill may prove him to be the heir apparent to Achebe.

EVERYBODY'S FOOL by Pulitzer Prize writer Richard Russo

Richard Russo (b. Amer 1949) has a gift for the written word & credible characters that are endearingly absurd.  Russo won the Pulitzer Prize for "Empire Falls" ('02.)  His latest novel "Everybody's Fool" captures lovable and befuddled small town citizens.  The novel takes place in Bath, upstate New York. Bath is a dying town alongside its neighboring thriving & sophisticated city of Schuyler.  Bath maybe be small but it has a broad range of quirky & mainly likable locals ranging from the buffoons, to the sensible & sensitive to the loathsome villain.  The anchor of the city is Chief Douglas Ramsey whose heart is grieving over the death of his wife Becka.  Ramsey knew he married up with this beautiful, femme fatale who takes a fatal fall down the stairs after leaving Douglas a Dear John note and a mysterious garage remote.  Ramsey is relentlessly called upon to maintain order amidst chaotic mayhem. He is also obsessed with finding his wife's lover by finding the garage the remote can open. Thankfully, the Chief has cohort Charice at the station; always a voice of reason with some sass in her say.  Ramsey also has a fumbling "Barney Fife" officer.  Sully, another major fixture in town possesses  a strong disposition but a failing heart that is waning.  The town's mayor is constantly at odds with Ramsey and a menacing ex-con has returned causing havoc.  The Chief has a lot on his plate of late.  Russo spins a toothsome tale with odd-ball characters we love or love to hate.  You can't wait to see what lightening bolt will strike next.  There is a bounty of foolish & irrational behaviors, love being the most irrational of all.  "Why do people fall in love?  Nobody knows.  They just do."  This is an enjoyable read where everyone plays the fool sometime. "I mean, look around.  Who's not a damn fool most of the time?"

Laura Nicole Diamond's SHELTER US Goes from Luster to Dust

The award winning novel "Shelter Us," by Laura Nicole Diamond tackles issues of grief and social responsibility but fumbles badly midway into a sophomoric soap opera.  Sarah Shaw is wife to Robert and mother to 3 children, Oliver, Izzy and daughter Ella.  Ella died at 6 weeks. Sarah was instructed in her grief support group to name her daughter & speak of her death when asked about her children  The support group proved futile.  Both Sarah & Robert disband but become isolated in their own sorrow. Despite the insurmountable stupor of pain they still needing to care for their children & themselves.  Diamond evokes our empathy for Sarah who valiantly strives amidst the murkiness of self-doubt, grief & loneliness.  "Shelter Us" also takes a profound look at the homeless who remain invisible to those fortunate to have a roof, food & stability. "There's so much need, it becomes easy to ignore people.  That's terrible, isn't it?"  Sarah is drawn towards a young mother & her small child who are homeless & vulnerable.  Her acts of kindness & generosity towards them confront us with our own behavior.  Sarah questions her own motives.  Is she using them to help heal the hole left by Ella's death?  Regardless her motives, we admire Sarah's heroic efforts to help this family.  Robert prohibits Sarah from becoming  involved.  Sarah's strategy to be of aid twists the focus onto a tattered & unwinding marriage caused by deceit, breakdown in communication & adultry.  The integrity of a novel that addressed coping with grief & commitment to those less fortunate needed protecting from morphing into the angst of a rocky marriage.

Non-F THE OTHER WES MOORE

"The Other Wes Moore" tells the divergent paths of 2 young men of the same age, both from the Baltimore area and both named Wes Moore.  Their lives' outcomes may serve as a cautionary tale. But,   this is much more a contemplative work to reflect upon.  What part does our circumstances play over one's own responsibilities in determining the paths our lives will lead?  The thought provoking author of "The Other Wes Moore" is a successful entrepeneur, Rhodes Scholar, decorated army veteran and married family man.  To clarify, I will refer to the author as Wes1.  The other Wes Moore I will refer to as Wes2.  Wes2 is serving a life sentence in prison for a robbery that resulted in the shooting death of a police officer.  Wes2 had an arrest record early on for drug trafficking and was a teen parent to 4 children.  I am not going to make excuses, or place blame - nor am I going to extol the virtues of either man.  I will suggest as does Wes1, there are factors, opportunities, and influential people who can have a major impact on another person's life.  Decisions are to a great extent based on what we are exposed to in our limited world.  However, the word "limited" is a term in constant flux.  One must take accountability of our own decisions, actions, for expanding our horizons and ultimately, for our own lives.  "The Other Wes Moore" tells a compelling & insightful history of both men.  Wes1 reached out to Wes2 in prison and we learn Wes2's story through their visits and correspondences.   Wes1 credits family & people who provided support, strong mentoring, encouragement & opportunities for his achievements.  Still, Wes1 is ultimately responsible for having committed himself to doing the work required.  Moore's reporting on both lives is a catalysis for the conversation surrounding personal responsibility.  This includes the responsiblity we have to others to provide opporutunities and compassion.  Wes1 informs the reader that everyone's mission "has to be to pull up others behind us." The potent message of these 2 men with shared similarities is painfully clear, "The chilling truth is that Wes's story could have been mine, the tragedy {including the officer's death} is that my story could have been his."

What is Not Yours is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi-Not Worth Your Time

The best thing about this novel by Helen Oyeyemi is its clever title.  Nigerian born author, Helen Oyeyemi's novel "Boy Snow Bird" was a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize in 2014.  I was very taken with this beautifully written, bewitching interwoven tale of myths, familial bonds and reverse discrimination.  In Oyeyemi's new collection of short stories, the author maintains a crafty writing style that is so mysterious I felt left out in the dark.  I'm also at a loss for the signifigance of its taunting title and fail to find the thread that ties the stories together other than they all contain locks & keys.  I understand the metaphors for new pathways but the stories themselves are without spirit or intent.   Reading Oyeyemi's short stories felt to me like passing through the looking glass.  I'd pass on these peculiar and uninspired stories & pick up one of her former novels.

L Lalami's Pulitz Prize Nominated Novel The MOOR'S ACCOUNT

I strongly recommend THE MOOR's ACCOUNT by Laila Lalami  (b. Moroco 1968) which won the Amer Bk Award & was nominated for the Pulitzer ('15.)  This is a historical novel of slavery in its many ugly forms. The novel begins with the slave trade business in Moroco under the Spanish King in the 16th C and then sets off on Spanish expeditions to conquer new lands & riches.  The Castilian explorers set sail for "La Florida" Apalachia & the Aztecs.  This is a brutal tail of the enslavement & destruction of mass populations of Native American Indians & Moors by the Spanish aristocracy.  Esteban, our narrator, is a young Moor from a loving Muslim household with a rebellious nature.  He chooses not to follow his father's guidance.  When his family falls into a financial ruin, Esteban commits the selfless but foolish act of selling himself into slavery to provide his family money. "To go from freedom to slavery was a fate worse than death with its strange customs & unbearable rules."  "Esteban is a masterful storyteller.  He is also resourceful, indomitable, adaptable, affable & an astute observer. These skills enable him to survive in the harsh & life threatening new world.  The master/slave relationship breeds bonds of brotherhood during their years of reliance on each other.  It resorts back once they're reunited with other Spanish colonizers.  As enriching a tale of adventure, this is a reckoning with morality.  We are reminded of the brutal ruination of races, cultures, histories,  traditions and ways of life by white oppressors.  The MOOR's ACCOUNT is a rich novel of 16th C expeditions that changed history through the abuse of power.

Katie Roiphe's Consumption with Death in THE VIOLET HOUR Doesn't Deserve Your Time

I found Katie Roiphe's obsession with confronting death through the lives of 6 famous writers self-indulgent and regrettable.  The 6 people whose lives she dissected under a fractured microscope are:  Sigmund Freud, Dylan Thomas, Susan Sontag, Maurice Sendak, John Updike and James Salter.  Other than Salter, Roiphe (b. Amer 1968) relies on 2nd hand information and doles out tertiary dolts of mundane philosophy.  Her infatuation with death stemmed from her near fatal illness at the age of 12 when she spent a year in & out of the hospital.  There is a disingenuous attempt at drawing parrallels amongst her subjects in regards to their embracing both life & death.  Her summations & insipid observations seem written prior to writing THE VIOLET HOUR.  It reads as a posthumous piece that does not dignify her subjects or provide substantive material to contemplate mortality.  The only person she interviewed was James Salter.  This interview is the most compelling section in the book.  Salter passed last yera at 90.  Roiphe was rewarded with an interesting, intelligent interview.  With regards to death, Salter tells her "Let's not talk too much about this...Don't dwell on it."  Roiphe tells her readers  "Maybe I need to find a way to be less afraid {of death.}"  Take Thomas' poem  "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night" to heart and make better use of your time than reading minutia of how these famous people spent their waning days.

Rafael Yglesias' novel A HAPPY MARRIAGE is Scripted from His Married Life & Death of His Wife

Rafael Yglesias (b. Amer 1954) is a novelist & screenwriter.  In his latest novel A HAPPY MARRIAGE, Yglesias writes about a young novelist, Enrique, who meets a beautiful young woman, Margaret, whom he falls madly in love.   The novel mirrors his own life.  Yglesias met his wife Margaret when they were in their 20's, married, had 2 sons and were together until Margaret's death from cancer at 50.  We are voyeurs to the couple's lust, loveless marriage and a rebirth in the grace that comes of a longterm commitment.  There are astute observations of what people bring to a marriage, their expectations and what morphs from coupledom.  "So many illusions dispelled.  So much strength revealed. They had sworn love; they had endured hate." Yglesias best captures Enrique's feelings of inadequacies regarding his writing & his wife.  I liked being a peeping tom in the marriage counselor's office as Enrique's ruse to absolve the marriage for his mistress while knowing their union prevails. The novel deals with the inability to confront mortality.  "No warning of the incredible fact of mortality could adequately prepare the primitive brain nature had given him to comprehend its finality."  And while I was fine being a voyeur to sexual exploits in the bedroom, I was extremely disturbed being in Margaret's hospital room & hospice care.  The sum of a marriage comes from the ability to see the world through the other's eye.  A HAPPY MARRIAGE was more than an eyeful of happiness.  It was also morbid & macabre.          

The NEST Familiy Ties that Bind & Unravel Over an Inheritance

Cynthia Sweeney's debut novel is a family dysfunctional dilemma embedded in a lair of interesting quirks & a major jerk.  The Plumb family is meeting to discuss their waning inheritance they're about to receive on the 40th birthday of the youngest sibling.  Melody is the youngest of 4 siblings, and the only parent with teenage twins.  Leo is the leader of the Plumb pack which includes Jack, the gay brother who deals in antiquities & Bea wanna be writer.  Their father prudently put aside a trust to ensure his offsprings a tidy sum to supplant their financial security.  Leo is a self-serving narcissist who oozes charm.  He is the reason for a major debit from the fund.  The novel begins with a catastrophic car crash caused by Leo. Leo lures a young waitress with supposed music connections to abscond in his porsche.  Extremely intoxicated & distracted while driving he runs into an oncoming van.  The accident results in an amputation of the girl's foot and a major cut from the "nest." Their widowed mother, the executor of the estate, thought best, to pay off Leo's indiscretion to avoid scandal.   A familiar familial cry of not fair embroils the others.   All parties had plans for their anticipated & direly needed windfall.  Leo cons his siblings into giving him a few months to adjust for the incremental reduction to their shared nest.  This is a frothy, fast read as we discover the hidden secrets of each siblings' sequestered stash or lack of cash.  We're intrigued by the siblings who are drawn into Leo's commanding orbit & remain tied to one another.  There are plenty of side characters, such as the twin sisters and love interests that keep this novel enticing.  The NEST is a light read of family bonds.  Some fall away and others are sustained.        

Writing My Wrongs: Life, Death and Redemption in an Amer Prison by Shaka Senghor

"Writing" My Wrongs, Shaka Senghor's auto-biography has resounding messages and disturbing accounts of life in prison and on the streets of Detroit as a drug, dealing thug.  I'm going to take a hardline with aspects of Senghor's soul bearing account of his Hellish ordeal & road to redemption.  Senghor was sentenced to 40 yrs in prison for the 2nd degree murder resulting from a drug deal turned deadly.  Senghor bears his gut wrenching life dealing crack & becoming a drug addict as a juvenile.  This candid account is a severe wakeup call for making poor choices and for holding oneself accountable.  What compelled me to continue reading Senghor's life depicting the underbelly of  Dante's Inferno?  Senghor discovered a penchant for writing that proved a turning point. His writing has a clear, inescapable prose.  However, I agree with his 1st parole officer who seemed predetermined to keep him behind bars and did not credit his writings with absolving him of the murder & the severe beating of a prison guard.  I dislike the wordplay "Writing" my wrongs.  It discredits the seriousness of  his heinous & fatal actions.  On the other hand, our nation must reaccess & rectify our inhumane incarceration practices.  Solitary confinement is torture & must be rectified.  Senghor is correct "isolation causes a disconnect in the deepest part of the human psyche."  I do not agree with the death penalty, life without the possiblity of parole or solitary confinement.  "We can never know the power that a word of indness or an act of forgiveness will have on the person who needs it most."  (SS)

"Everything I Never Told You" by Celeste Ng Named Amazon Book of the Year 2014

Celeste Ng's melahcnoly family drama is a poignant portrait of grief, misguided love and missed opportunities.  "Everything…" is Ng's 1st novel.  It garnered numerous Best Book of the Year Awards in 2014.  "Girls at Play," Ng's short story collection received the Pushcart Prize 2012.   The matriach of the family, Marilyn, is one of the few co-eds in 1960.  She finds herself drawn to her history prof. James, the only Asian on campus.  Feeling sympathetic by the shameful bigotry towards the young prof., Marilyn seeks him outside class.  She makes a pass.  An affair ensues and the two marry despite  Marilyn's mother warnings.  She beseeches her not to marry James as "it's not right and she'll regret it."   What Marilyn regrets most is abandoing her medical studies to care for James & their 3 children.  Themes of feeling ostracized as an outsider are prevalent.  The bi-racial family live in a small, all-white,  midwest town.  Yet, it's the dynamics within the family that are most moving.  Ng's novel is both a gripping mystery and a poignant family drama.  The bonds between siblings: Nath, Lydia &  Hannah are each other's life-lines.  But, parental love becomes suffocating & toxic as it tilts towards a favored child.  Marilyn's resentment for her own shortcomings cause her to over burden Lydia.  For Lydia, it was hard to inherit her mother's dream.  "How suffocating to be so loved."  Ng's haunting novel navigates the grief and recriminations felt by parent's and siblings for what was left unsaid that may have prevented the tragedy of Lydia's death.  Happiness is fragile & easily shattered.  "Slowly, they will piece together other things that have never been said."  I'll tell you, read Ng's formidable debut.  

The IMPROBABILITY of LOVE-The Heartless Art Infused Game by Hannah Rothschild

Hannah Rothschild (b. Britain 1952) knows about aristocracy, art and philanthropy.  Born with a silver spoon in her mouth as the eldest child of Baron Rothschild IV,  she has made a name for herself as a writer, doc filmmaker and as Chair of the London Nat'l Art Gallery.  Her pedigree adds to the hilarity of the high end art world and all its alchemy.  As a flippant retort to the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The GOLDFINCH, Rothschild lascivious look at the escapades in the art world, especially high end art  auctions and its incumbent, eccentric players.  This novel is a hidden treasure; albeit a guilty pleasure.  Many a true thing is said in jest and whose to say what constitutes the best.  Serious contemplation of art's transformative power put aside, ("how does one value a work of art?")  The novel is a pure joyride mixed with intrigue.  Who will capture the crown jewel on the auction block?  An embellished element of surprise & delight is the inanimate, animate painting as a  central character.  Who knew objects were endowed with the power of communication, observation and pretension.  As Lumiere in Beauty & the Beast would say, "be our guest, this is never 2nd best.  Don't believe me?  Ask the dishes."

Irish Author Colum McCann's "Thirteen Ways of Looking"

Colum McCann (b. Ireland 1965) won the Nat'l Bk Award for "Let the Great World Spin."  In his newest work "Thirteen Ways of Looking," this masterful Irish writer chose NYC for the location of 2 of the 4 stories in this collection.  Surprisingly and quite cunningly, "13 Ways…" is written from the vantage of an elderly, widowed Jewish man living on the UES.  (This story sounded more like Philip Roth.)  The title story from this collection is the most intriguing.  McCann captures the ravages of aging along with the contemplative reflections on one's life & legacy. "The years don't so much arrive, they gatecrash, they breeze through the door and leave their devastation."  Before the story becomes complacent with the ramblings of an old curmudgeon, the novel takes a swift spin into a fractious family drama & a baffling murder mystery.   Ominous & solemn poetic stanzas eerily preface each chapter."  McCann's writing is in a class with Joyce and Updike.  He utilizes the happenstance of individuals from vastly different backgrounds colliding with one another.  McCann has received critical acclaim & numerous literary honors.  In "13 Ways…" he captures convincingly a broad spectrum of characters that evoke strong response from the reader.  McCann muses "We probably remember things as more beautiful than they actually were."  McCann is an exceptionally gifted writer who knows how to spin a great yarn.  "The past emerges and re-emerges.  It builds its random nest in the oddest places."

Pulitzer Prize Author Elizabeth Stout's Novel "My Name Is Lucy Barton"

Stout (b. Amer 1956) is a skillful Pulitzer winning writer (Olive Kitteridge '08.)  "My Name is Lucy Barton" is a deceptively insightful novel.  In a fleeting, ephemeral form, we envelop the life of Lucy Barton.  She is born into a poor, rural family who are stingy with effusive, demonstrative shows of emotions & affections.  Lucy rises above her impoverished midwest upbringing through her studies, scholarships and diligence to become a successful writer living in NYC with her husband & 2 daughters.  "Who would have guessed me living in NYC," marvels Lucy at her fortuitous situation.  Distance from her family does not entirely sever her familial bonds, nor does she desire to dissolve these ties.  While in college, Lucy lands a wealthy husband.  At the wedding, her mother-in-law thoughtlessly tells a guest "Lucy comes from nothing."  No offense is taken by Lucy who understands  "No one in this world comes from nothing."  Stout's sly story about a small town girl rising above her station in life is deceptively a master class in writing and a poignant grasp on the value & precariousness of every individual's life.  Stout's lofty writing is miraculous.  Her character absorbs the beauty that surrounds her "the land is still available to the eye with such softness…the sky lingering, lingering, then finally dark.  As though the soul can be quiet for those moments.  All life amazes me."

Canadian Author Frances Itani's novel DEAFENING

Frances Itani is a Member of the Order of Canada (b. Canada 1942.)  She is a novelist, poet, essayist and has been awarded the Int'l IMPAC Dublin Literary Prize.  The title DEAFENING refers to the young heroine, Graina, who is rendered deaf resulting from scarlett fever.  Graina is born into an Irish-Canadian family at the turn of the 20th C.  This thoughtful & expansive novel contemplates in a pensive manner, the isolation borne in a world without sound.  We discover how Graina breaks through the silence & how others broach her world.  Graina's story is entwined with that of her sister Tress.  The two share an immense bond of love that is profound & inspiring.  Tess is Graina's liaison & champion.  When Graina is taunted or pitied Tress explains "There's nothing wrong with my sister.  She's my sister, that's all."  There are other heartwarming relationships between friends & family.  DEAFENING is an ambitious & admirable novel that spans Graina's life from her childhood home, to boarding school for the deaf and as a young newlywed whose husband is sent overseas in WWI.  The book encompasses the atrocities of war & the calamitous fallouts on loved ones.  Itani paints a vivid portrait of life in a quaint, bucolic Canadian town.  There is much to recommend in this expansive novel although it moves slowly & becomes redundant.  Its greatest strengths came from the relationship between the sisters.  They "created a language of their own.  It arose as naturaly as the love between them."

Hungarian Author Magda Szabo's THE DOOR

Magda Szabo (b. Hungary 1917-2007) is a world renown novelist, poet & essayist whose works have been translated into more than 40 countries.  Her prolific work has earned her the French Prix Fremina Estranger Prize ('03) and the Baumgarten Prize (1949) for her political views. THE DOOR deserves a Pulitzer & Nobel Prize for her immensely gifted writing and piercing social commentary.  This is a fascinating story about the relationship between a female writer, Magda, and her elderly housekeeper Esmerence.  Once Esmerence deems Magda & her husband acceptable people to work for, she ingratiates herself & becomes indispensable in their lives.  Furthermore, Esmerence, ("her eminence") is a reliable, permanent fixture in the small town in which they reside.  Esmerence appears endowed with supreme physical attributes & sagaciousness.  She dispenses both rewards & punishment liberally as she determines appropriate.  Magda, discerns her feelings for Esmerence have become imbedded in love and dependency.  The details of Esmerence life as a young girl during the Russian Revolution & WWI are both fascinating & horrifying.  For the most part, the mysteries of her life are kept locked away until she chooses to dole out any information. Esmerence keeps her small home hermetically sealed behind a closed door that she very rarely permits anyone access.  This moving story of an enigmatic & irrepressible woman touches on theology, human dignity, 20th C history, compassion & cruelty.  While Esmerence has many admirable qualities, including strong convictions, she can be excessively harsh & vindictive.  "Love is a commitment of endless concessions and is irrational.  But life is not worth living without having love to give and receive."  This brilliant novel questions religious faith & seeks to make sense of our world.  THE DOOR is a must read that leaves you with many ideas to contemplate & discuss.

The CHILDREN'S HOME by British Author Charles Lambert

The CHILDREN's HOME begins with intrigue & mystery but takes a nasty turn.  Charles Lambert (b. Britain 1976) is a prolific writer and recipient of the O'Henry Prize ('08) for his short story collection.  Lambert is a gifted writer but his story becomes muddled and bizarre.  Morgan is the main character who lives as a hermit life in his massie mansion.  The reason for his self-imposed isolation resulted from an accident leaving his face grotesquely disfigured and blind in one eye.  I felt sympathetic towards Morgan.  His monstrous face belies a kind & gentle man who is racked with loneliness.  The accident & his personal history are a mystery until he divulges in a Dr. who came to adminster to the children & befriended Paul.  A steadfast housekeeper, Engle, is the only other adult with whom he interacts.  Engle cooks, cleans & cares for Morgan & the children.  Shortly after her arrival, the 1st of numerous children turn up at the estate where they are well cared for and loved. The relationships between Morgan, the Dr. & the children had me under their spell.  One child, David, is especially precocious & enchanting.  Unfortunately, the plot curdles into a twisted, creepy incredulous series of regrettable events.  David morphs into a leader that is part E.T., prophet & "child of the corn."  The CHILDREN'S HOME began as a gift of love & revelation.  Sadly, the nightmarish & philosophical ending made this a story not worth beginning.

The MATHEMATICIAN'S SHIVA by Stuart Rojstaczer Is Deathly Dull

The premise & formula for this novel resulted in a frigid story with little warmth & stiff characters.  Set on the wintry college campus of Madison, WI, a weeklong memorial is being held for the world renown, mathematician, Prof. Rachel Karnokovitch (RK.)  Born in Poland, RK & her father made every effort to survive in an Arctic Circle work camp where he was sentenced to hard labor for being an enemy of the people.  Their survival & escape & immigration to the U.S. was compelling.  I gained  an interesting perspective into the hard driven & brilliant woman.  The novel is a fractured account of 20th C Eastern European history, Judaism, assimilation, family dysfunction and the mysticism of mathematics.  Rojstaczer, (b. Milwaukee) was himself a student at UW-Madison.  The MATHMETICIAN'S SHIVA received the Jewish Book Award in '14.  Rojstaczer reveres academic intellectuals, "leaders in the intellectual field are celebrated & envied like rock stars."  This theory proves faulty and the quest to solve an elusive, enigmatic math problem is excruciatingly tedious. This esoteric book was a bore.  It left me out in the cold.  Time spent reading this novel felt like detention.      

The BOOK of JOAN by Melissa Rivers-A Daughter's Swan Song for Mom

It's been more than 2 years since the tragic & untimely death of Joan Ribers which robbed us of a fearless & funny entertainer & mother unlike any other.  Time flies with laughter and Joan's energy & audacity made time ripple in her quake.  I was delighted reading about the close bond between mother & daughter although contentious, was smothered in unconditional love.  The defining moments & devastating setbacks are well known as was her relentless tenacity, drive & courage to overcome all obstacles.  What makes this memoir by he daughter so warm & touching is that it is told by the only one who knew her as mom & loved her most.  Like a good comedy routine, some jokes hits, some missed & some senarios pushed the border line.  For me, the most off-putting thing was the ediotr who prewssed her card in Melissa's hand at the funeral.  (Of course, had she not, we may may not have this insightful, stirring perspective of someone whose life touched so many.)  Melissa's upbringing was unconventional providing fodder for hilarity and aspersions.  What struck home were the anecdotes all children agonize over with one's own parents.  "She instinctively knew what buttons to push - she installed."  Joan's view of being a celebrity, "No downside fo fame - it's all great."  Mom's mantra, "If you really want something, you'd better be prepared to work hard for it."  I recommend thi candid, loving tribute to a maverick & a great dame.  I especially admire Joan's modus operandi to life, "Say yes to everything."

The REVENANT -The Book the Movie is Based Upon Which Tells of Our Nation's Early History

Michael Punke's relentless exploration of the unsettled & unchartered terrorities west of the Mississippi, west of Missouri trapping, tracing & trying to survive in the wild is an amazing tale of our nation's early history in all it's glory & shame.  Punke's novel based on historical facts and individuals. The story is driven by the irrepressible Hugh Glass.  His eminent skills as a survivalist, hunter & innovater made him a valuable travelling companion.  The time frame is the 1820's.  The book captures the wanderlust and awe of chartering unknown terrority and the indomitable & resourceful skills Glass possessed.  Both the novel (it is a fictionalized account) and the movie reveal the natural beauty of the landscape, the unknown civilizations & wilderness.   The harsh environment & weather made life almost impossible to bare.  The bear attack in the film is factual and Glass' survival miraculous.  His nemesis, Fitzgerald, is a historic figure and was the motivating drive of Glass' journey.  "With the confidence of a relentless predator, Glass knew that his quarry {Fitzgerald} lay somewhere before, nearer & nearer…Glass would find Fitzgerald, because he would never rest until he did."  The unknown civilizations were numerous native Indian tribes whose way of life would meet their demise at the hands of the barbaric & insatiable white men in the not too distant future.   Punke is a writer and Depty of US Trade Rep.  His childhood in Wyoming was filled with outdoor wilderness activities; canoeing, fishing & hunting.  For Punke there were done for sport.  In the early 19th C they were a matter of survival.  "Don't look too far ahead.  The goal each day is tomorrow morning.