James McBride's The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store-Regardless of Race Religion a Humane Connection

James McBride's is a Renaissance man.  His novel, The GOOD LORD BIRD won the 2013 National Book Award for fiction.  His best selling memoir The COLOR of WATER describing his upbringing as a son of an African American and white Jewish mother received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award as did his novel, Deacon King Kong.  He's a talented saxophonist and composer.  In 2016, Pres. Obama awarded McBride the National Humanities Medal.  McBride's creative talents and spellbinding story telling are superlative. His flair for interweaving comical and colorful characters within convoluted plots is frankly, beyond compare.  Keeping the storylines for the many, multifaceted characters who appear within ("Heaven and Earth") pose a challenging venture.  The diligent reader is rewarded along a twisting journey of the melting pot brewing ini America while the winds of WWII are stirring.  Moshe is a Jew who fled Europe for America as a teen with his cousin Issac for its promises of freedom and opportunities.  He settles in a small town outside Pittsburg, home to impoverished Jewish immigrants alongside a poverty stricken community of blacks residents who've recently migrated from the deep south.  Parallels are cleverly drawn of shared dreams, struggles, assimilation and contentions of racism and anti-semitism wrought from the more settled, affluent white society.  There's mistrust and ill-will between the different races and religions.  Within these tribal groups there are construct hierarchies.  And within all societal groups, there are individuals both good and evil.  It's hard pressed to find such a spellbinding cornucopia of individuals all scraping to survive while relishing what they have.  At the center of this chaotic world McBride so cunningly crafts is a love story between benevolent Moshe and his kindhearted wife Chona.  Chona refuses to sell their floundering grocery store or move as most of the Jews already have to a more upscale location.  The neighborhood has evolved into a predominantly black community.  Moshe's reliable right hand man is Nate and Nate's wife Addie, works for Chona in their store.  A bond of respect and trust is forged between the couples.  Moshe and Addie agree to shelter Nate and Addies' deaf nephew to save him from being taken away and institutionalized.  A terrifying ordeal involving Dodo's capture spins into a heartbreaking sage and harrowing rescue tale.  The parade of unconventional individuals makes this novel unique and unforgettable.  At its core, McBride finds inspiration in acceptance.  Yet, there remains a cynical but understandable syntax.  As McBride states towards the end "in all that American mythology of hope, freedom, equality, and justice.  The problem was always, and would always be, the niggers and the poor-and the foolish white people who felt sorry for them."  

John Green's N/F The Anthropocene-Profound Pondering Worth Perusing

Known for his literary, young adult novels The FAULT in our STARS and LOOKING for Alaska, John Green took a darker turn in TURTLES ALL the WAY DOWN, where the young protagonist struggled with compulsive disorder and anxiety.  Green admitted to sharing these issues in his life at the time of the book's release.  In his recent non-fiction collection of essays, The ANTHROPOCENE, Green shares his dark days of depression and his reflections during the oppressive epoch of our recent pandemic.  Unable to construct his thoughts into a cohesive novel, Green allowed his thoughts to ebb and flow, and followed them where they would go.  With his churning mind, candor and eloquence, Green gathered his thoughts into a compelling read with profound observations that inspires readers to reconsider our circumstances and the ripples we leave inn our wake.  "What you're looking at matters, but not as much as how you're looking or who you're looking with."  Green often refers to author's and philosopher's quotes and then expounds upon them.  After quoting Alec Soth who said, "To me, the most beautiful things is vulnerability."  Green added, "I would go a step further and argue that you cannot see the beauty which is enough unless you make yourself vulnerable to it."  I was dazzled most by the pleasure and awe that registered for Green whether eating a hot dog with the works,  watching leaves rain down from a ginkgo tree, admiring the first artwork comprised in space, or listening to whispered confidences from his daughter.  "What really thrills the human soul is to be in the presence of astonishment, I am thrilled by everything that makes me feel alive within myself.  Alive in my smallness, and alive in my fragility and alive in my wondrousness."  Green also took issue with humanity's noxious naivety and ego.  He contends, "in the age of the Anthropocene, humans tend to believe, despite all available evidence, that the world is here for our benefit."  Nonetheless, the overriding reminder throughout is we live in hope that life will get better, life will continue and love will continue to survive.  Moreover, I'm left convinced of the consequence to pay attention, to wonder, "and to know and to not know."  

Richard Osman's The THURSDAY MURDER CLUB-Octogenarian Sleuths

The THURSDAY MURDER CLUB is one in a series of mysteries by British writer, comedian and TV producer, Richard Osman.  Four octogenarians residing in a somnolent retirement home in the British countryside occupy their time by reviewing unsolved mysteries weekly in the jigsaw puzzle room. Incredibly, they prove adept at gaining inside information.  Their conniving, unofficial leader Elizabeth, garners the reluctant cooperation from local, police officials.  The other three self-appointed sleuths consist of new resident Joyce, and dapper gents Ron and Ibrahim.  Joyce fills the vacancy left by Elizabeth's close friend Penny since being in a coma has put a pall on her participation.  Joyce is happy to fill the void in the group and the void left by the passing of her beloved husband.  Joyce keeps a diary that serves to keep the reader apprised on the foursome's escapades in her jaunty style.  The mystery oozes coziness over macabre murders.  What fortuitous luck though, a timely murder falls in their lap.  Recently there's been a tumult over plans to build a development on the open terrain surrounding the peaceful retirement villa which includes an old cemetery.  This first dead body (there are more to follow) was Tony, the nefarious handyman found bludgeoned,  Tony did odd jobs around the villa and worked for the duplicitous,  developer, Ian.  Ian had just fired Tony to shave expenses and the two were spotted by arguing earlier the day he was killed by Ron and his son, Jason.  Ian is the likely suspect until he becomes the second stiff murdered.  A major clue found next to Tony's remains was of an old photo of Tony with a young Jason and a third, mystery man called Bobby.  The crime solving becomes convoluted but secondary to the resourcefulness of the omnipotent Elizabeth whose able to pull several aces from her sleeve.  It's delightful seeing seniors learning to adapt to new technologies  The hesitant but symbiotic relationship Elizabeth developed is with female officer Donna and her chief, Chris.  Chris is the stodgy but endearing veteran and Donna a young, savvy officer.  One red herring is whether Chris and Donna will move pass their  professional working relationship.  A trajectory that should've stay buried is Father Matthew who has his own reasons for objecting to exhuming the cemetery coffins.  Seniors finding fulfilment actings as sleuths over tea (or sherry) fireside is pleasantly amusing albeit, plot confusing.  Ron and Ibrahim serve as ornamentation or to serve the two ladies.  Loose ends are tied up near the end past the point where The Who Done becomes besides the point. The THURSDAY MURDER CLUB would entice me as a viewer on the BBC mystery channel given a captivating cast.  As a mystery novel I fail to become indoctrinated. Although, it's nice to know there's plenty of life kicking for those close to kicking up their heels.   

STING RAY AFTERNOONS-Steve Rushin's Memoir of 70s Childhood in MN

Steve Rushin is journalist, novelist and sportswriter.  His articles have been finalists for the Nat'l Magazine Award.  His sports writing earned him recognition as Nat'l Sportswriter of the Year (2005.)  In his 2017 memoir, STING RAY AFTERNOONS, Rushin recalls his boyhood days growing up in the midwest in a typical, middle-class family of five kids, two parents, in a predominately white community that could pass for the "Happy Days"sitcom of the 70s.  Rushin's childhood could be described as carefree, mainstream and without trauma.  Except for the brotherly torments, covetous pleas for status welding consumer items and typical, hazardous pursuits.  Steve's upbringing is complacently mundane endowed with a winsome nostalgia for more innocent times.  This charming time capsule of Rushin's childhood serves as a zeitgeist which will appeal to a narrow niche; those sharing a similar upbringing and members of his familial clan.  Taken in fragments, Rushin's recollections are appealing and informative; perhaps more than necessary regarding background history on various products, popular cultural and events indigenous to Minneapolis and Steve's personal life.  Too much intimate information gets shared as when Steve describes having shat himself playing ice hockey or the perpetual urine flow contests and endless prank phone calls (now obsolete stunts.)  This memoir should extort chuckles from Steve's childhood friends and his own children, but fares poorly to otherwise pique curiosity.  However, Rushin is a skillful writer with incredible recall for details and pleasing paraphrasing to hold the reader ensconced at a remote distance.  "Childhood disappears down a storm drain.  It flows, then trickles, then vanishes, leaving some olfactory memory-of new tennis balls, Sunday-morning bacon, a chemical cloud of Glade-to prove it ever existed."  The book is a softball memoir that feels lightweight when seen through percipient eyes that witness brutal killings as the murder of George Floyd that occurred in Rushin's hometown.  Perhaps, in speaking of gentler times Rushin captures something deemed refreshing and for cherishing as an anecdote to our present  apocalyptical times.  There is a resonating, universal theme about the ever changing family that can never be the same as when we grew up under the same roof.  The forlorn observation of his family's irrevocable evolutions expresses a longing for days past.  "Our family of seven, our aluminum sided house {bursting at the seams}: (in Mom's words), will never again be as loud, the kids' bathroom will never again be as crowded. diners will never be so chaotic." "They {parents}want to preserve this time in a locket, freeze us as we are now and will never be again".