The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish - The Hunt for Historical Fiction is Fascinating

Rachel Kadish's historical novel brings to life the story of Ester Valesquez, a Jewish woman living in the 1660s during the time of the Spanish Inquisition who immigrates to London and becomes the unlikely scribe for a Rabbi received the National Jewish Book Award ('17).  This multi-layered theological & philosophical tale is set in the milieu of life in London for the Jewish community amidst the perils of anti-semitism, societal norms and pestilence.  Ester's life is revealed through a trove of papers discovered in a home 3 centuries old.  The story within a story is framed around contemporary London through the pursuit of priceless historic correspondences in a race for time for deciphering.  Prof. Helen Watt & her American cad, grad. student Aaron, are desperately trying to unlock the trove's mysteries that should prove to be historically revelatory if not revolutionary in significance.  This construct has been done with literary flair by Wallace Stegner in his brilliant novel "Angle of Repose."  Both enlightening works depict important epochs expounding from a strong female heroine.  Ester is allotted the rare (and frowned upon) opportunity to scribe for a blind Rabbi.  Both the Rabbi & Ester have fled religious prosecution as Jews to London.  Ester's exceptionally gifted mind & pursuit for intellectual discourse is honed by the Rabbi's mentorship.  The Rabbi's sight was destroyed for refusing to foreswear his faith.  He's not blind to the societal constrictions limiting gender equality and heretical questioning. Both Ester & the Rabbi covertly enrich each other's lives.  Ester becomes wiser without pulling the wool over the Rabbi's eyes. "Why forbid woman or man from questioning what we are taught, for is not intelligence holy?" is one of Ester's many contemplations considered contemptible. The novel is at its best when submerged in the historic events & figures of the 1660s in London & Europe.  Kadish's serendipitous foray into the past elucidates the past in a palatable fashion much as Manuel's "Hamilton."  One's knowledge is enriched and intrigue for further study & consideration are piqued by Kadish's perspicacious writing.  The present day story (and past love story)  of Prof. Watts and Aaron's love life are essential impediments to the endlessly fascinating conveyance of the quotidian as perceived by a free-thinking woman living in an oppressive era with multiple strikes against her.  Among Ester's radical thoughts: "the impulse toward life to be of surpassing value.  Therefore all imperatives that oppose it, chief among them martyrdom, are in error," were punishable by death.  "The Weight of Ink" is worth more than its weight in gold.

"Look Both Ways" a Y/A Novel Well Worth Reading by both Teens and Adults

"Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks" by Jason Reynolds was a finalist for the Nat'l Book Award ('19).  Reynolds' clever & disarming writing combines 10 short stories interconnected by the students who live within 10 blocks of each other and attend the same school.  Each winning story intersect and connect by a school bus falling from the sky unobserved and a crossing guard ensured with the safe passage home of her awarded charges.  This magical work finds the humor, vulnerabilities, wisdom and fervor amongst adolescent friendships that surmount all else.  The friendship between 2 misfits, Simeon the gentle giant and Kenzi, one of the tiniest students comprises "a kingdom full of princes...no one ever bet on anyway.  Their earnest & unflappable excuses charm their way out of trouble. Simeon tells Kenzi "We family."  The other smallest student in school is Bit,  big on cunning and leader of 4 friends dubbed the "low cuts."  "The way they were-a braid of brilliance and bravado-concerned everyone."  The most timid & diffident girl at school is Fatima.  Fatima developed a tool for maneuvering a safe sojourn home.  She makes a checklist of things noted on her journey home. "28.  Look both ways. 29. One-way sign.  Right at the beginning.  Always there.  I still look both ways."  There's a fast & steady friendship between Jasmine and TJ.  They leave each other "friendship flags" in each others' lockers; empty snack bags; the litter of love, basically notes that said I've missed you.  In Cheeto dust."  Even though Jasmine is a girl and TJ a boy, they're best friends anyways because he'd always get her to laugh whether she wanted to or not.  "He was always there to chip some of the hard off."  Bullies seem to thrive on humiliating others until someone with temerity stands up to them.  Ty is often prey to his classmates' cruelties. That ended when Bryson, one of the coolest kids at school interjects in the lunchroom.  Bryson sat himself next to Ty and "pointed at all the jokesters.  Like my father always says 'Those that scar you are you.'"  But, Bryson could tell they had no idea what he meant.  "A gem dropped in the mud."  "Look Both Ways" is a trove of stories that sparkle with sagacious hindsight and keen insight into the mindsets of today's youngsters.  Look for this dazzling collection of tales.  It was a to begin with a school bus falling from the sky.  But this improbable event went overlooked.  Don't miss out on this delightful detour.  It's enjoyable through both the eyes of young people and those who recall being young, once.

Ocean Vuong's " On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" a Semi-biographical Novel

Ocean Vuong (b Viet Nam 1988) is American poet & essayist.  "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" is Vuong's debut novel which is a semi-biographical pastiche of poetry, family history and self-awakening.  "Little Dog' (as he's called by his grandmother) narrates a coming of age tale told in hindsight as a young man in his 20s. Vuong, like Little Dog (LD) were both born in Viet Nam & immigrated to Hartford, CT in the 90s with family after spending a year in a Philippine refugee camp.  LD's mother Rose is loving & brutal, overbearing and neglectful, demoralized and omnipotent.  As a young boy just learning English, LD becomes the voice for the household.  He struggles to fit in at school while yearning to be accepted.  His grandmother is schizophrenic and an artful raconteur for  folklore & life in Viet Nam.  Lan's daughter Rose is the daughter of an American soldier and mother to LD.  This elegiac novel reads as on-going dialogue LD maintains with his mother in attempt to bear his soul to her, reckon with his own life and mostly with the hope of bridging the chasms that set them apart.  In so doing, Vuong becomes a conduit for reflecting deeper into one's own innermost being.  This is achieved through Vuong's revelatory gift for unmasking beauty born of hardship and  pondering connections between irreconcilable forces.  LD writes hauntingly of his first love and sexual encounters with Trevor one of several young men who die from a drug over-dose.  We learn  of LD's physical abuse at the hands of his mother and the brutality his mother suffered by his father who remains apart of the family.  Vuong's memories are viewed with an innocence that paint an amber glow over the indignities and hardships he & his family endured & flourished from as refugees struggling for a foothold. "An individual life is so short, a blink of an eye, as they say, then to be gorgeous, even from the day you're born to the day you die, is to be gorgeous only briefly." LD's reconciles the lives he & his mother shared as a phoenix rising from ashes.  "All this time I told myself we were born from war-but I was wrong, Ma. We were born from beauty.  Let no one mistake us for the fruit of violence-but that violence, having passed through the fruit, failed to spoil it."  Vuong's novel is overly ripe with loveliness rendering a contemplation of serenity.

Ford Fdtn Pres. Darren Walker's "From Generosity to Justice - A New Gospel of Wealth"

Ford Fdtn.'s Pres. Darren Walker heads a $13 Billion int'l social justice philanthropy.  In his revelatory & contemplative manifesto of how we as a society can approach charitable giving in a self-less & meaningful way to wrought efficacious change by establishing equality in access to opportunities, education, creative expression, health care & acceptance.  Walker expounds on how philanthropy is about more than financial giving, it's about an inclusive, humbling process for achieving equality of basic human rights.  Andrew Carnegie noted "some people have a fuller experience of basic human rights than others do."  Walker is transparent with his oversights at Ford and the institution's tax breaks.  He challenges himself and everyone to acknowledge our allotted privileges.  "Privilege blinds because it is the nature of privilege to blind."  (C Adichie). Identifying the inequalities that philanthropy attempts to realign and examining the root causes in order to stop  perpetuating the needs for assistance will achieve significant change.  Walker's honest & insightful thinking are progressive & inspiring.  So too are his intimate interviews with business leaders, heads of philanthropic organizataions and quotes from major seekers of justice.  "Those of us who are willing to position ourselves in proximity to the poor, who understand how we're creating new narratives, who are willing to do uncomfortable things, who will endure some challenges and hardships-these are the ones, you are the ones, who will honor what it means to create a truly just community."  (Bryan Stevenson).  "From Generosity to Justice" allows everyone has abilities to contribute; time, money, experiences, skillsets or networks towards creating a better and more just world. This meaningful and graceful call for justice shifts the focus from outcomes to systemic issues.  It requires grappling with the past that impacts our present & future.  It necessitates investing in markets to keep funds flourishing with the intent of investing back into the undeserved community. The more fully we include people the fuller we reconcile liberation as the means that binds humanity together.

Kristin Hannah "The Great Alone" - Don't Go There!

Kristin Hannah (b US 1950) is a prolific novelist of historic, romantic adventures.  Hannah's novel "The Nightingale" ('15) was made into a feature film.  "The Great Alone" is a young adult novel, filled with adventure on the harsh & untamed Alaskan frontier.   Hannah's depiction of life on the Alaskan tundra for our young heroine Lenora, "Leni" is what's great in the novel.  The spectacular otherworldly beauty of Alaska was magical in its vast expanse, and incomparable landscape of soaring glacier filled white mountains that ran the length of the horizon.  Leni came to live in Alaska in the 1980s with her  parents Cora & Ernt.  Up until this fatal move Leni & her parents led a peripatetic lifestyle.  Ernt was a former Viet Nam POW.  Nothing seemed to work out for Leni's dad.  He was unable to sleep or hold a job.  Leni knew as a child of a PoW how fragile & easily broken people were.  Ernt was bequeathed land in Kaneq, AK from a friend who served in Viet Nam.  Cora hopes a fresh start in Kaneq will be the panacea for Ernt's deteriorating mental health and escalating, violent outbursts.  The cabin the family moves into has no electricity or running water.  Winters are long & unforgiving.  Cora seems endlessly forgiving of Ernt's brutal attacks tending to blame herself.  Leni perceives something is seriously wrong with her family &  felt like the only adult but as the child unable to confront her folks.  The family does learn to fend mostly for themselves growing their own vegetables, hunting, fishing and overcoming the harsh & severe environment.  There are other rugged settlers willing to help.  And, there's Matthew, one of 6 students in the town's makeshift one room schoolhouse.  Matthew & Leni are the same age, of the same mind & become each other's "one true thing."  Matthew is the son of Ernt's nemesis and their forbidden love must remain hidden fearing what harm Ernt would inflict on either Leni, Matthew or both.  Here's where "The Great Alone" left me out in the cold.  Their star crossed love story was obtuse.  I'm captious of glossing over issues of teen pregnancies.  The tales & means for survival in AK are enchanting.  But, the survival story of a daughter caught in the line of fire of a mentally ill, menacing parent was repugnant. .  Leni harbors numerous regrets.  If only she had broken free, asked for help - anything but remain in the purgatory of an alcoholic & abusive dad & mom who failed to shield her.  "Were you ever out in the Great Alone when the moon was awful clear."  Veering from the wild frontier into domestic abuse and an overly sentimental love story put the novel on thin ice.  "The Great Alone" becomes muddled and loses its appeal for young readers, adults or anyone.  Don't go there!