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?"