"Tell Me Everything" by Cambria Brockman is a Beach Read that's Not All That

"Tell Me Everything" is the first novel by Cambria Brockman.  The novel's protagonist is college freshman, Malin who leaves home in TX to attend a 2nd tier Ivy League school in NH.  The novel reflects Brockman's peripatetic upbringing in TX, NH, the UK & Scotland.  These locales are all in keeping with Malin & the college friendships/roommates she acquires while studying literature & living away from home for the first time.  This first time novelist may mature into a richer author but this novel reads like a loose script for a B movie.  Malin makes allusions to her upbringing with an older brother, her tormentor and sociopath who died when they were both young & living at home.  The novel skips from her present days in college back to her youth in TX.  She paints an opaque picture of herself as a loner but not in a self-sufficient, admirable manner.  Never having had friendships growing up, given in part to the fact that her older brother died when they were young, Malin is on a mission to make friends, get top grades and fit in.  Malin takes to heart her father's words of wisdom when leaving her on campus freshman year, "pretend."  Malin narrates her own story which reveals her triumphant acceptance by a band of friends (not unlike the popular TV show "Friends") which include a girl from London, Gemma, and Ruby.  Ruby is the golden best friend who allows Malin as her best friend and has been in a 4 year relationship with her boyfriend John, one of the 3 guys with whom the 3 girls share a home and ongoing bond with for all 4 years.  If this novel seems reminiscent of Donna Tart's intriguing murder mystery set amongst a group of friends on a New England campus, it's due to a deja vu premise.  But, while Tart's novel is an intriguing, literary mystery Brockman's novel is a Y/A coming of age heroine that is sophomoric with a twisted ending that most adults would have seen coming before Malin moves in with her classmates.  For young adult readers, there is a public health warning for toxic controlling relationships which require terminating and perhaps with help from peers & family.  "His hobbies became her hobbies.  Her life had become his.  He had sucked her dry. draining her body of all life and personality." And, be wary of a friend who crosses creepy boundaries.  Malin confides to the reader "I knew reading her diary was wrong.  It was a fucked up, creepy secret of mine."  "Tell Me Everything" gets a passing grade but barely.

Philiip Roth's The Ghost Writer - Whiney Writing at Its Wittiest

Philip Roth is one of America's finest and highly bestowed authors.  NY Magazine named him the greatest Amer. writer ('13).   He's received the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, the Man Booker and Named Commander of the Legion d'honer.  Pres. Obama honored Roth in 2011 with the Nat'l Humanities Medal.  Roth (b 1933-2018) is a literary giant with a legacy that will likely label him a writer whose memes portrayed Jewish life in American, Jewish self-loathing, Anti-semitism, Jewish assimilation, self-congratulations to his literary & sexual prowess and perhaps, masturbation.  I laud Roth as an extraordinary writer with a fierce, clarion voice.  His style is defiant, irreverent, unapologetic and astutely aware of the pulse of social & cultural conundrums.  "The Ghost Writer" was published in 1979.  It is his 1st work in which he introduces the young Jewish writer Nathan Zuckerman (a.k.a. a nom de plume for himself).  The novel spans two days in the rural home of a renown author E. I Lonoff for whom Nathan worships and is flattered beyond measure to receive his praise & attention.  There are other intriguing storylines that include a rift with his family who are appalled he intends to publish a short story that casts aspersions on Jews.  Lonoff is married to an uppercrust gentile, Hope.  Hope is fed up with their marriage and Lonoff's houseguest, a young co-ed Amy with whom his is having an affair.  Nathan is besotted with Amy & her nebulous, delusional claim to be Anne Frank.  This early work of Roth's prolific career portends a skillful writer with a brilliant gift for self-revelation and societal accusations.  Roth will remain one of the most talented & significant writers of the 20th C.  His clever & prolific works created in the 21st C do not mitigate his luminescence but they tend to focus heavily on himself; his despair with aging and his disconnect from today's technically advanced younger & vital youth.   I recommend reading Roth's novels.  "The Ghost Writer" is a paradigm of the phalanx of his many notable novels.

Austrian Author Robert Menasse's Novel "The Capital" Wins German Book Prize '17

Menasse's complex, confusing and astute social commentaries make "The Capital" an ingenuous prescient work of profound insights.  It's a compilation of self-serving characters that are mistrustful, perfidious, non-committal and as such, unable to bridge meaningful connections.  The confusion & absurdity in Menasse's writing argue the futility of establishing a functioning European Union.  Progress towards a social union, a fiscal union, the formation of common European alliance with the goal of turning competing European nations into a united Europe of sovereign citizens all enjoying the same rights is ephemeral.  The unification of the EU is unachievable in lieu of the persistence of nationalist ideology indigenous to one's country of citizenship and is likely to underly all criminalities.  Menasse argues nationalism has a proclivity towards evil as it's used as the justification of ethnic purging & genocide.  Menasse points towards Nazi Germany's extermination of 6 million Jews during WWII.  The novel is set in Brussels, the capital of the European Union which hosts the headquarters of the main EU institutions.  The tale begins with a murder mystery that becomes totally effaced in sinister bureaucratic manipulations.   A pig runs rampant down the streets of Brussels setting the tone for an absurdist black comedy imbued with many political innuendos hidden within this wickedly convoluted novel.  The police cover-ups appear benign betwixt the Catholic Diocese control and bureaucratic back-stabbing for climbing the corporate ladder.  There is a plethora of characters:  a police detective, a hired hitman, Holocaust survivor, a Catholic priest and multiple executives that exchange double-talk divulging little that would assist another.  "The Capital" is clever & abstruse. It's both amusing & disconcerting and particularly relevant at present.  Menasse argues that today the world has selected a new scapegoat slated for vehement anathema, not the Jews or the communists but immigrants in general.  Specifically the Islamic nations and individuals who would threaten to lord over everyone with austerity, misogynistic rule & religious fanaticism as justification for barbarities inflicted on all infidels.  There is a harshness to the debilitating preparedness the individuals take which proves stifling & deleterious to functioning in society.  And yet, there is a lyricism for pondering how history is recorded.  What do we remember, what do we forget or chose to forget and why we forget.  "For the living, death is always the death of others."

"Be With" Forrest Gander Wins Pulitzer Prize ('16) for Poetry - Elegant & Melancholy Eulogy

Forrest Gander is a novelist, professor & poet.  His poetry collection "Be With" earned the Pulitzer Prize in 2016.  It's no wonder - "Be With" is a compilation of poems that are deeply felt reflections on life, mortality and love.  "Be With" begs to be read & treasured.  Gander is a national treasure and deserving of the Presidential Medal of Honor.  "Be With" is packed with poignancy and tenderness.  "Such fervid love entwined the two together in one voice both possessed.  A plenum of the world.  The more that love was one, the more of love there was."  Gander's gentle & pensive wisdom weave into one's conscience.  "Forgive yourself, they say, but after you forgive what you have lived, what is left."  And regrets rain upon one's psyche, "I gave my life to strangers.  I kept it from the one's I love."  "Be With" is overflowing with life affirming homages.  There are also keen harbingers warning us of legacies laden with maleficence.  "Though I also wear my life into death, the ugliness I originate outlives me."  I have high praise for Forrest Gander's exquisite lyrical gift with words.  "Be With" should be read, revered and re-read.

Mary Robison's Novel "Why did I Ever" - Ever Wonder What It's Like Living with ADD?

"Why did I ever" is a cleverly written novel that gets inside the head of a very smart, but very troubled and erratic woman, Monica.  Forget the name, because she only mentions it once; a quick wink while delving into the psyche and stress of a mother with rapid fire acerbic comments (many directed to herself) and a prolonged magical regard of serious issues plaguing her adult son & daughter.  Robison's (b Amer. 1949) novel is very crafty & creative with her writing style.  There's an intriguing blend of Didion's "Year of Magical Thinking," Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," Haddon's "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night?" and Kennedy's "Confederacy of Dunces."  The  storytelling unwinds through the mind of a very intelligent, quirky outsider.  Monica is aware of her porous filter but her diatribe just flies much to our amusement and disconcertment.  "I just regret everything and using my turn signal is too much trouble.  Fuck you!  Why should you get to know where I'm going?  I don't."  She's a loving mother who intermittently reveals her son & daughter's heartbreaking ordeals.  She is often the smartest person in the room, "Bit of a wonder that my mind can house such a melange."  Being so edgy doesn't make for smooth sailing at work.  Her forlorn travails in love & friendship& oddities ingratiate or irritate (depending on the reader.)  Her only female friend is a homeless woman she calls the deaf lady.   Her male companion teaches drivers ed to teens and has little direction in life.  The genre falls somewhere in the absurdist, comic-tragedy genre.  Robison suffered from serious writer's block for years in the 90s.  During this period she scribbled fragmented thoughts on thousands of scraps of paper which evolved into "Why did I ever" which received the 2001 LA Times Book Prize.  I've nEVER read anything quite as beguiling, bothersome & brilliant.  It gets a strong recommendation from me with the caveat it's not for EVERyone.

Luis Alberto Urrea's Novel "House of Broken Angels" Patriach's Mexican Social Critique

"House of Broken Angels" is both a social commentary of envy & resentment felt by Mexican's south of the US border towards the ease of the white gringo's on the US side of the border.   Luis Alberto Urrea (b Tijuana 1955 - an American born abroad) is the son of a Mexican father and American mother.  In Urrea's sprawling novel that spans only a few days covers a life-time of resentment, envy, regrets and ephiphanies for its protagonist, Big Angel (BA), the patriarch of his Mexican family.  This arduous and antagonist novel depicts the struggles & familial binds of Big Angel's family living in Tijuana.  The novel starts with the family gathering for the funeral of BA's mother.  The following day is planned for a celebration of Big Angel's 70th (and final) birthday.  Weazened and immobile, BA is aware (as is most of his family) he's at death's door.  The novel reflects Urrea's upbringing allowing for what could be considered subversive or at the very least, politically incorrect stereotypes of Mexicans "...border peasants, feeling sorry for {themselves}."  There is an overriding resentment of BA's 1/2 brother, Little Angel (LA) born to the woman his father left his mother.  LA is raised in a San Diego suburbs with "...the ease that world of fancy pale bastards up north" are entitled. Urrea claims "Each side has something to prove, and none of them knew what it was."  This is a complex and excruciating look at a dysfunctional family and ethnic generaliztions all centered around BA at the precipice of his death.  BA is reckoning with his mortality and legacies.  "All BA ever wanted was to inspire awe." BA's birthday celebration is broken down by interminable minutes and takes  trajectories into the lives of BA and his immediate family. The cultural status and comparisons are most clearly drawn between BA & LA; brothers who love each other but who've had very different upbringings.  BA is an undesirable wet-backs and LA the pampered white gringo.  Even BA admits "he was ashamed of his father, what a beaner."  And he says to LA "Pink nipples are more intoxicating than brown."  There is plenty of self-pity, self-loathing measured against omnipotent love for family and life itself.  "A life was a long struggle to come to terms with..."  A lyrical voice rings through an oppressive saga from BA.  He recently started jotting down what things to be grateful for "...rainy days, when shadows make their mysterious way around corners."  The unflattering & unapologetic look at the pathetic quotidian Tijuana lives resonate with universal awakenings for what's valued most.  Urrea notes when confronting one's mortality this incurs regrets, one's stupidities and the acceptance of continual learning especially when it comes to loving others.    

Melinda's Top Ten Pick Best Reads for the First Half of the Year

The following list in alphabetical order by author and is a mix of fiction, non-fiction, memoirs & short story collection from international writers (American writers where not indicated):


1.   James Brinkley short story collection "A Lucky Man" - Nat'l Book Award '18

2.   Anna Burns, Belfast-UK, "MILKMAN" Man Booker Prize 2019

3.   Nathan Englander's novel "Kaddish"

4.    Father Gregory Boyle's memoir "Tattoos on the Heart"

5.    Hisham Matar, Libyan-British "The Return". Pulitzer Prizer 2017

6.    Sy Montgomery's "The Soul of an Octopus" Nat'l Book Award for Non-Fiction 2015

7.    Tommy Orange's "There, There" short-listed for Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2019

8.    ZZ Packer's short story collection "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" PEN/Faulkner Finalist 2013

9.    Sally Rooney, Irish "Normal People"

10 .  Yoko Tawada - Japanese-German "The Emissary" Nat'l Book Award 2018

Meg Wolitzer's "The 10 Year Nap" Feminism and the Generation Gap

Meg Wolitzer (b Amer 1959) is an acclaimed novelist.  Three of her novels have been made into feature films including "The Wife" with Glenn Close & Jonathan Pryce.  Meg's memes tend to deal with feminism as in "The Wife" and "The 10 Year Nap."  Wolitzer writes about a world that feels dated and obsolete.  As for feminism, it's obscure as to what (if any) debt is owed to women from the 50s & 60s who claim credit for liberating future generation to the luxury of infinite opportunities & choices heretofore denied before the 70s.   Regardless, Wolitzer's wonderful writing creates a world that reflects modern women's wonderland & dilemmas.  Praising past generations for paving the way doesn't seem relevant.  Reading "The 10 Year Nap" (' 08) does awaken multiple topics: generational divides, longterm marital demise, female friendships & intimacies, women aging, children separating,  financial woes and working moms versus non-working (particularly in NYC.)  The novel outlines its  thesis "...the women were startled awake, they sometimes took a momentary dip into the memory of what they had left behind and then, with varying degrees of relief or regret, they let the memory go."  Wolitzer goes on to support her thesis as though her novel were a term paper striving for accolades from mentors.  The novel dallies in the dilemma of bright co-eds for whom their college years cast a lustful sheen upon their glory days.  Without the structure of assignments & grades, the waning years mark an evanescent life before marriage & family.   The usage of interchangeable adjectives for luminescence cannot be overlook and lowers the grade of this (interminable) paper from an A- to a B-.  The 4 main female characters connect through their sons who attend the same elite upper west side private school.  These women offer intriguing insights into women's psyche.  The observations are best made as voyeuristic revelations as when the women came upon their husbands & sons unobserved on their camp out or one friend feeling privileged to share in another's secret tryst.   Most poignant is the central character Amy when she evaluates her marriage.  "Married for 13 years and in the middle of their life together, they often lay in bed at night like two tired prehistoric animals that had individually been out in the world for many hours fighting for survival."  The coffee shop, the Golden Horn, is where the ladies all stop after drop-off.  It became their common foddering ground.  The summations for each of these women are too tidy.  The Golden Horn owner realizes this group is no longer gathering at his establishment.  He didn't think they abandoned his place for another but realized "{it} had held them in place over such a long stretch of time...But now the world, he thought had taken them.  One day you just woke up, and there was somewhere that you needed to be."