HORSE Geraldine Brooks-Tracks Slavery through the Lens of a Racehorse

 Pulitzer Prize winning author, Geraldine Brooks' latest novel is a sweeping saga that spans the 19th C on the cusp of Civil War to the present.  Both the tragedies of slavery and heinous murders of men of color by authorities that continue without retribution are told.  Brooks' divergent fractions are connected by a factual racehorse, Lexington, and surmised stories of his caregiver, Jarrett, and an itinerant painter who captured his regal likeness for posterity.  The ambitious novel is best paced when delving into the tumultuous history of the US on the precipice of Civil War.  These years pertain to Lexington's prodigious winnings at the racetracks.  The horse flourished under the unwavering care sown by Jarrett, a young, slave.  The story unfurls and then flounders in the present by the discoveries unearthed.   Jess is a young white,  osteologist and Theo, a black, Phd candidate in art history with an equestrian connection.  The coincidences pile up like manure but are necessary fodder for depicting the depravity of slavery.  Brooks unbridles an enveloping story of love between a man and a horse.  Jarrett bestows unwavering care for the horse Lexington whom he was attached from the time he was foaled.   The dignity Jarret musters throughout his enslavement is ennobling.  Theo stumbles across an oil painting of a horse his racist neighbor discarded.  Jess is researching the bones of a horse at the museum that couldn't possibly be that of the same, actual horse in Theo's painter?  Could Jess and Theo possibly fall in love as they both unravel the histories to their biological and artistic mysteries?  Hold your horses.  There's plenty worth biting into, especially the years enveloping the crumbling of our nation and the last vestiges of slavery clung to with blind hatred.  The grace Jarrett mounts throughout his ordeals displays humanity at its finest amidst humanity's cruelest.  The pan quotidian in the antebellum south are illustrated; the sufferings and indignities of slavery, the grandeur of plantation life for the elite, and the paces of racing in its heyday.  The present day storytelling lags while luster leaps from the historic pages when Lexington is brought to life.  Brooks paints a stunning portrait of Lexington, a horse so noble and beautiful we can picture him ourselves.  The love story devised between the interracial couple, Jess and Theo feels contrived to provide  a "Black Lives Matter" protest.  My cheers herald the historic horse tale but pale within the present day structure devised in HORSE.  

OPEN BOOK-Jessica Simpson's Autobiography Not for Me

The petite blonde singer/actress, business woman extraordinaire shares many intimate, dicey details with her readers for whom she feels will benefit from the lessons learned through her journey.  Yes, Jess delves into her failed marriage with Nick, sex abuse as a child, religious fervor, problems with her dad as manager, her fraught relationships with John Meyer and Tony Romo prior to her happily ever after with husband Eric Johnson and their three children.   The beautiful, successful pop star suffers from insecurities and low self-esteem.  Boo hoo hoo!  Who is this book for?  Jessica tells the reader in her introduction "If you feel like I wrote this book for you, it's because I did."  I believe Jessica wrote this book without help from a ghostwriter but her lofty ideals for sharing her life's wisdom to benefit "you" feels, ignoble and ridiculous.  "...my intention with this book:  To pack all I'd learned the hard way into something I could give you as you start-or restart-your own journey... something to help as you make your own way."  All I can say, is...Jessica's life never sounds anything other than one whose many advantages, talent, good-looks, financial success and golden opportunities far outweigh her woes.  I admired Jess and her family for getting her career off the ground with little know how, only faith in their daughter and hard work.  Ashlee and Jessica share a wonderful sibling relationship which is nice to know.  But, the blow by blow of the extravagant life-style, personal assistants and make-up artists, exclusive parties, private jets makes her struggles seem like poppycock.  Jessica was not selected as a Mouseketeer when she auditioned as a child although she came very close.  Those she met who made the cut were:  Justin Timberlake, Ryan Gosling, Christina Aguilera   and Brittney Spears.  At the end of Jessica's book, when it's time to say good-bye to all who read her book (including me) she writes, "Leaving you now, I feel the way I do seeing my children off to school...And, most important, I love you."  Although readable, I find the time spent doing so regrettable.  Perhaps this is geared for fans of hers which I was not.

The CANDY HOUSE-Jennifer Egan's Follow-up to Goon Squad I Gobbled It Up

Jennifer Egan revives her panoply of characters from her Pulitzer Prize winning novel A VIST FROM the GOON SQUAD and creates another seminal work.  Having read both and finding both clever social satires, I admit I was hopelessly lost mired in convoluted and interwoven storylines.  Still, I was thoroughly absorbed in my sojourn.  Egan's earlier novel introduced a fresh format to storytelling reflective of new means for communicating via computers and email.  CANDY HOUSE is even more resourceful and inventive having introduced a futuristic method for recalling memories and culling personal data.  A Pandora box of perplexities this technology poses are unleashed.  A roadmap of characters may be warranted but not crucial.  One reads Egan's novels for its odyssey and all its surprising sidebars and mysteries.  I compare Egan's characterizations to Jonathan Franzen's.  Both authors construct vivid characters with dark, underlying flaws, grotesque traits and cringeworthy behaviors.  Mindy Klein is back as Miranda having divorced her record mogul husband with whom she shares two daughters.  Miranda is a highly respected anthropologist.  She's developed algorithms that are utilized by media tech genius, Bix Boulton, a minor character in Goon Squad now at the apex of CANDY HOUSE.   The beguiling gifts the conglomeration of a collective conscious that reveals people's memories poses a tempting, Faustian bargain.  Hence a "Candy House" analogy to Hansel and Gretel.  Should one partake of the goodies, what are the hidden perilous pratfalls? "Huge eruptions to the music industry due to advancing technology stir the plot auguring a perpetual imperative to adapt in a constantly evolving world.   The CANDY HOUSE is both haunting in its moral conundrums and delightful in its gentler depictions of many of its characters.  A young girl navigating popularity and a young boy at bat with bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th are jarringly real and relatable.  The novel gets interjected with a seemingly inexplicable espionage escapade that renders into a hilarious email chainmail devising deals satirizing the film industry and its narcissistic individuals.  CANDY HOUSE breaks any and all house rules for storytelling and in doing so, takes home the jackpot. I urge you to partake of this bewitching novel with its many treats.  "Knowing everything is too much like knowing nothing; without a story, it's all just information."  

RENEGADES:Born in the USA-Obama/Springstein Share Their Thoughts

RENEGADES is a transcript of the conversations these two remarkable men shared on their groundbreaking Podcast which first aired on Spotify Feb-April 2021.  Despite coming from two very divergent upbringings, they find they share more in common in terms of values, families, interests and outlooks on where our country is headed.  Listening to the banter affords the opportunity to eavesdrop on two great minds being candid, jocular and profound.  The exchange of confidences portends intimate and revealing conversations.  We learn their life stories from what they tell each other about being teens in the 1960s and 70s.  Springstein managed to evade the Viet Nam when most peers were culled into service. Obama's childhood took him from HI to Kenya and Indonesia.  They discuss how their friendship began and the connection their wives developed.  Obama and Springstein (O&S) credit their wives for their strength and support. The topic of race relations are discussed.  They speak of their close ties with John Lewis and Clarence Clemmons.  Other topics include income inequality and their lack of economic privilege growing up at home.  Relationships with their fathers as well as how they see their roles as fathers were especially earnest and thoughtful.  Balancing booming careers and families was an issue they both were intent on focusing.  Pres. Obama set dinner time with Michelle and their girls whenever in the White House.  Springstein took Patti's advice to wake early to spend time before school with their kids.  He found this time to be the most rewarding.  Their discussions pertaining to favorite artists and tastes in music was delightful.  Both believed narrowing the parameters of cultural appropriation doesn't work.  "The nature of humanity.  That is the nature of culture.  That is how ideas migrate. That's how music gets created." (Obama). Regarding the 'Born in the USA' Springstein maintains "The song has been appropriated because, one, it was so powerful, and, two its imagery was so fundamentally American..you hold two contradictory ideas in your mind at one time, that you can both be vey critical of your nation and very proud of your nation simultaneously."  Included are photos, speeches. lyrics and handwritten notes of historic and personal significance. The intelligent questions asked of each other were probing.  Springstein questioned the decision to run.  "...when I questioned my decision, it was not the enterprise itself. it was my seeming inability to rise to the occasion...running for president is not actually about you. It is about finding the chorus, finding the collective."   I highly recommend RENEAGADES.  These are the most engaging and revelatory interviews garnered from both.  

Stephen King's FAIRY TALE-Horrors of Cannibalism of His Own and Other Stories

Stephen King is known as the "King of Horror" dabbles in cannibalism. Cannibalism of his own past storytelling.  While not culpable of plagiarism in his latest creation FAIRY TALE, King's homage to other great sci-fi writers such as Bradbury, fantasy tales such "The Wizard of Oz" and to other great innovators and movie makers such as Disney and Spielberg, there's little room left for anything new under the sun or two moons for that matter that is intriguing or sparks the imagination.  Perhaps this true for fans of Kings early works delving into the supernatural.  By early fans (which include yours truly) there's a demarcation line in King's novels written post-horrific van accident.  King was struck down in the summer of 1999 leaving him with severe injuries.  Most serious damages were to his lung and right leg. Drs. considered amputating his leg, but fortunately an external fixator saved his leg along with grueling physical therapy.  Howard Boditch, a main character in the novel shares a similar fate as King resulting from an unlucky fall from a ladder.  Boditch's fall serves as a crutch for connecting Charles Read, our likable 17 year old hero.  Howard requires an external fixator, a torturous looking contraption dating back 2,000 years.  Many critics contend the magic of concocting of a riveting novel disappeared following his injuries.  His sense of suspense became muted and the rehashing of his formulaic frameworks derail spine tingling thrills.  King often uses small town settings and similar character tropes.  It's no mystery that FAIRY TALE has worn increasingly thinner on creativity.  King's proclivity to tip his hat at the brothers Grimm becomes burdensome and obsequious name dropping makes you want to barf.   Despite Charlie's  appealing allure, his odyssey within another worldly plane combating evil is dreary not eerie.  The venture draws Charlie down a dark staircase in the 'Psycho House' where he finds a beautiful princess and her emerald city inhabitants turning grey; their faces melting away.  Charlie is determined to save his beloved dog, Radar, not to be confused with Cujo, regardless of the risks. If only Charlie can reach the sundial that can turn back time, uncover buried treasure and perhaps be a savior, there will be a happy, fairy tale ending.   Going where so many others have gone before though is just fe, fie, foe tedium.  

Becoming a Warrior-Catherine Hand's Memoir of Bringing "A Wrinkle in Time" to the Screen

Catherine Hand's own memoir "Becoming a Warrior" tells of her life as the child of prominent parents in both the political and entertainment arenas, coming of age amidst a family of 5 siblings living in Beverly Hills and the suburbs of D.C., her six years in the entertainment industry as a receptionist for TV pioneer Norman Leer, and of a happily married mother of three until the tragic, unexpected death of her beloved husband.  Hand's deft writing style is engaging but too often belabored within the frame of her 50 year struggle to see her life-altering young adult novel, "A' Wrinkle' in Time" made into a major motion picture.  At the suggestion of the school's librarian, where Catherine, age ten, and "not a book reader," was in a "time-out" first began to read Madeline L'Engle Newberry Medal Y/A fiction, (1962).  The rest as they say is history or as Oprah (who is cast in the film) would call it, an ah hah moment. This moment persists off/on through her life as a driving mission. "Wrinkle" covers more genres than merely a Y/A novel with a strong heroine.  It fits into categories of sci-fi, fantasy, high fantasy and children's literature; perhaps the demographic for whom the book is intended as discovered by Catherine.  Also true, "Wrinkle' was never put on the shelf for long by Catherine.  Although, the unrelenting, life-long commitment for this pummels the reader who can't help but ask why this particular, omnipotent pull.  Catherine's memoir reads as an odyssey in this pursuit which harkens its mystery as to why.  As the memoir winds down quickly post mission accomplished, Catherine ponders the profundity of time and energy devoted to this one goal.  "I decided it was time to finally face why I stayed so committed to bringing 'Wrinkle," to the screen."  Catherine's epiphany to write about her arduous labor of love returns her to her ironclad attachment to the book as she decides to write about this quest.  I applaud her advocacy for reading as empowering yet, I ponder the positive impacts her efforts may have achieved had they been channeled towards enhancing literacy.  The overdue question is whether this became an unwarranted obsession.  Those who enjoy reading about tenacity, tedium and rejection essential to getting film projects produced will find this read inspiring.  The years spent working with Norman, benefitting from his mentoring were among the highlights of this saga.  So too, were the collaborations and burgeoning friendships developed with Madeline and other amazing individuals.  Should Catherine decide upon honing her writing skills per her next great venture, her life provides plenty of spellbinding fodder.  Hand's experiences in entertainment, politics and perseverance through personal tragedies is material only she could tell and make it resonate well.