ENORMOUS WINGS-Septuagenarian Gets Pregnant and All Hell Breaks Loose

Laurie Frankel uses humor in her novel ENORMOUS WINGS to pontificate on a woman's right to choose which has been eradicated in our country. A septuagenarian, Pepper, is a senior with still a lot of spunk whose family decides it's time for her to stop driving and move into a senior living facility. What's funny or even preposterous is the premise that she finds love with her next door neighbor and becomes pregnant. It gets explained (but not credible) as a result of her special trial cancer treatment. Nevertheless, she wants to terminate the pregnancy for both her health and state of mind. There's a media circus surrounding Pepper and a myriad of protestors on both sides of the abortion issue. Making matters more complex is Pepper resides in TX which comes down hard on anyone wanting an abortion or abetting the patient. Pepper's family who all add their delightful two cents along with their support includes an ex-spouse living at the same senior center, two daughters, a son and four grandchildren. One 15 year old grandchild, Lola, is especially close with Pepper. Oops, coincidentally, Lola became pregnant at the same time as Pepper by her high school boyfriend. The light comedy at the onset after the first trimester in the pregnancy turns didactic.  Most all the fallouts of not having free choice whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy are presented heavy handedly. It can be argued that ENORMOUS WINGS is a palpable format for discussing the demise of Roe v Wade. I maintain that the novel just doesn't fly right. It's an enormous stretch as it becomes labored under a bloated, melodramatic soap opera plot. The bumps along the way include an elderly friend who passes away and a clandestine road trip to get Lola across state lines for an abortion. As well intentioned as Frankel may be in providing a sensationalized story of a septuagenarian conceiving, the delivery needed a lifeline to make it worth your time.  I much preferred Frankel's "This Is How It Always Is," Here Frankel delivers a sensitive and realistic depiction of a child transitioning within a family and its impact on all family members. 

The END of MY LIFE IS KILLING ME-A Gurwitch Finds Funniness with Stage 4 Lung Cancer

Having listened to Annabelle Gurwitch's audio book "You Say Potato and I Say Shut Up" co-written with her husband, I was expecting a clever and comedic insight into the ravages of dealing with stage 4 lung cancer. Gurwitch and her husband bicker back and forth over the same scenario from their separate,  scintillating points of view. This had me laughing out loud to their annoyances in their marriage which were regrettably relatable in other relationships. Gurwitch is an articulate, no nonsense, no holds barred broad. Their bantering belied deeper resentment eventually leading to a divorce after nearly 2 decades of being together. Sadly, I learned of Gurwitch's latest memoir which is about being a divorced mother with a college age son while living with stage 4 lung cancer. At the start of Covid, while getting tested for it, she mentioned a persistent cough which led to the discovery of her lung cancer. Gurwitch handles her dismal diagnosis and debilitating illness with the same aplomb and wry wit as in "You Say..." but here the humor does not provide the same carapace of an omnipotent facade as the realities of her treatment, capabilities and prognosis are challenging both her physical and mental well being.  Still, for anyone who may have a terminal illness, knows of someone dealing with a fatal disease, this part bio, part guide book for dealing with cancer, it's helpful when dealing with fiduciary wrangling, searching for support networks and maintaining a positive outlook. Pervasive throughout is Gurwitch's candor and ability to be uplifting. She's  funny and vulnerable, resilient and overwhelemed. This was not breezy listening but neither was it a pathos picnic. There's much to be gained and even entertained by when listening to Gurwitch stalwart swagger and vivid descriptions. She depicts herself realistically at her weakest and most noxious. I wish her only the best.  I thank her for her bravado dealing with her devastating prognosis. In fact, in addition to lung cancer, Gurwitch also developed breast cancer.  This irrepressible, social commentator and cancer patient is still kicking up her heels, finding love, enjoying friends and family and living life with fervor.  But, unless cancer is close to home, do yourself a favor, listen to "You Say Potato and I Say Shut Up" instead.  

MARTYR-Dazzling Debut Novel-An Obsession with Dying that Makes Life Trying

Award winning Iranian/Amer poet Kaveh Akbar's debut novel, MARTYR is a Nat'l Book Award Finalist (2026). The protagonist/anti-hero, Cyrus Sham, is an infant when his mom gets on the infamous commercial flight in Iran to visit her brother which is short down by the US Govt. Akbar blends historical events, as with this fatal flight in 1988. Cyrus' dad wants to leave Iran. He finds an ad for work in Iowa at a chicken factory and decides to immigrate to give his son a better life as in many immigrant families.  In the states, Cyrus' dad has no life outside work except watching sports on TV and drinking gin nightly to fall asleep. Cyrus is an outsider at school but becomes a good student earning a scholarship to IA Univ. Totally abstemious until then, Cyrus finds his major outside poetry in drink, drugs and sex. This is a tale of queer man's search for sobriety, his place in the world and his families legacy. Dealing with AA meetings and his sponsor is as engaging as the amazing family saga that dazzles as it unravels. At odds with with no career, obsessed with his mother's senseless death and martyrdom, Cyrus learns of a performance artist, Okediah, who casts herself as an exhibit in the Brooklyn Art Museum to speak with visitors during her final days from cancer. The novel's macabre fascination with death is actually confronting the absurdities of living. "living happened till it didn't. There was no choice in it. To say no to a new day would be unthinkable. So each morning you said yes, then stepped into the consequence." Cyrus tells Okediah, "I've been wanting to write about how to make a death useful." Cyrus realizes, "the mortal sin of the martyr must be pride, the vanity, the hubris to believe not only that  your death could mean more than your living, but that your death could mean more than death itself-which because it is inevitable, means nothing." Through Akbar's skillful writing we garner the story of Cyrus' family.  His uncle rode the battle fields of fallen soldiers disguised as a martyr. We delve into tangents of Cyrus dreams with odd celebrity pairings in conversation. We also learn alongside Cyrus of his mother's startling life. The story weaves among the lives of Cyrus and family.  From his family we garner the hardships and degradations of life in Iran in the 80s. Throughout, Cyrus remains steadfast in his pursuit of art which proves somewhat futile. Cyrus realizes "He was not made for the world in which he lived, that art and writing had gotten him only trivially closer to compensating of that fundamental defective ness, the way standing on a roof gets on only trivially closer to grabbing the moon than standing in the dirt."  This is an astonishing novel that grapples with the search life's meaning written in a style that is unremitting and unforgettable. Make MARTYR a must read.

SHAMPOO EFFECT-Pleasant Palette Cleanser on a Social Clique in a small Coastal Town

Jenny Jackson's novel, SHAMPOO EFFECT is about a close group of young adults who've been friends since high school if not longer and no longer find the same things as amusing as they once did. Basically a light beach read with a setting on the idyllic, MA shore. It's easily digestible, forgettable but not much more. The central character is Caroline Nash, the daughter of a successful writer but not insightful mother, Caroline is left on her own to pursue her own literary aspirations. This brings her from a promising start to a writers' residency in a cozy cabin where she meets Val and his coven of close knit friends. Val is an environmentalist and the two hit off a lovely romance that brings Caroline into the fold where she's not exactly welcomed with open arms. In the group is the gorgeous Bailey. Val and Bailey have been together off and on since high school, "I love her but we're not together and I'm not in love with her," he assures Caroline. Except for one small detail, they recently slept together and Bailey is intending to keep the baby. Believing him, Caroline remains open minded and accepting of the situation hoping to maintain her relationship with Val without interloping in their family ties. Despite Caroline's best intentions on her part, Val breaks Caroline heart after his son is born by choosing Bailey and the baby over her. The dynamics in the group beside Val and Bailey include two other married couples with young kids, a gay couple wanting to have a child and all the shenanigans and stress that comes with couples learning to cope and communicate with each other. For some it's the fraternity like behaviors that drives one wife crazy, or the unknown dalliances and desires outside the marriage or the pressures from work and families. What works well here is Jackson's tackling of millennial's midlife crises in an intelligent and engaging manner. The novel explores the transitions from care free adults into responsible adults dealing with parenting, shifting priorities and commitments. The longterm relationships among the local clique offers a fun, social net which is enviable. Caroline was only an outsider looking in on the group but once shunted aside by Val, vengeance fuels her writer's fire and she writes an explosive tell-all about the group's private lives. Jackson is no Updike, still l like what she wrote. SHAMPOO EFFECT is a cleansing space between literary fiction in a refreshing style that makes it an enjoyable change of pace.  

Walter Mosley Mostly Pleases But Pass on "Ghalen: A Romance in Black"

I've been a fan of Walter Mosley's writing in the crime fiction genre. He's received numerous literary awards including the Nat'l Book Fdtrn. Medal, and Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers' Assoc. It's a sheer mystery to me what Mosley had in mind when writing his most recent novel, "Ghalen: A Romance in Black." I don't recognize any of Mosley's writing in this novel which is a confusing coming of age novel. The novel begins with a serendipitous spark between Robert and Jamilah who share an umbrella which leads to romance. Their idyllic love affair is only marred by a Jamilah's misaligned mother who finds Robert "retarded". Jamilah is studying medicine and Robert is learning to be a chef in a vegan restaurant. They're married and have a son Ghalen. Ghalen is only 10 when his mother dies and steadfast Robert raises his son with the help of friends he's made at the restaurant. Ghalen is incredibly bright and ready to head to Berkley college at 16. This is the last vestige of a cohesive plot which turns to black and becomes muddled in a plot filled with potholes. Numerous people come in and out of Ghalen's life and his sense of obligation to them is unclear. Because he's been a childhood friend of Bruno and slept with Lovely, Bruno's girl (also Ghalen's childhood love) he takes a bullet to the head from him and the fall for a drug conviction by not turning Bruno to the police. It makes no sense going forward, including that he survived being shot in the head at short range. The plotting becomes deranged. Robert's mother is imprisoned in a psyche ward for killing his father. Jamilah's father Night comes back from the dead (Viet Nam) after 20 years and takes his place in the family. The year and a day Ghalen spent in prison is a hellish tale of sexual abuse and mayhem from which Ghalen comes out as if a class valedictorian with a prison graduation.  Only Mosley must know what he intended the reader to glean from this story unconventional of a non-conventional hero who flounders but finds support from his dad, his dad's cohorts and seems to land on his feet. Ghalen: A Romance in Black" was too rambling, too convoluted and too dark for me to recommend.  

TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE by Shuang-zi Yang-Narrow Niche for Foodies

This year's US National Book Award for Translated Fiction went to TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE. The complicated, twisty rediscovery of this historic novel gives the story an introductory intrigue. The payoff goes to those who love exotic, indigenous food that is hidden from tourists or foreigners. Our heroine Chizuko is a celebrated writer who is brought from Japan to Taiwan to speak about her lauded book. Chizuoko, gargantuous in size has an even larger appetite for food - especially that which is not readily available. So goes this culinary quest that is abetted by Chizuoko's Taiwanese interpreter, Mishima, turned confidant, close friend and indigent mentor.  Despite their bond, Chizuoko's impervious behaviors and expectations are put into perspective by Mishima. "There is nothing in the world more difficult to refuse than self-righteous goodwill." Yet, it's hard not to like Chizuko exuberance as she enters each new providence with her proverbial "Is there something good to eat around here?" The social parody of cultural insensitivity and oppressive colonization is an under current that is basted over in a pastiche of cultural differences and cuisine that will appeal to curious food lovers. I appreciated the intent of the novel to bring some historical lore but at its core is food, and more food. For me, I lost my appetite after my first bite in TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE. For others, it may induce salivations for ingesting this Taiwanese food to table tale.

Maggie O'Farrell's LAND A Sweeping Epic that Lost Me

Maggie O'Farrell's LAND has been heralded as a sweeping epic of Ireland in the 19th C. O'Farrell's ambitious storytelling mixes in Celtic fables, coming of age story, love story and historic fiction that turned the novel into a blight for me. The coming of age story. where an orphaned boy makes good against all odds by learning the skill of map making and falls for a girl amidst their harsh working conditions in the same orphanage came off as predictable and trite.  The Celtic lores became a bore. Add, the love story between the two would make an addicting PBS series. But, seriously there was too many diverting plots that you get lost.  The historic fiction could have dealt more with the British colonization into their lands and the devastating years of the famine. O'Farrell proclaimed often on the power of maps.  "Maps can be read for many things-geography both natural and man-made-and Tomas made sure that the Great Hunger was inscribed on his drafts, and in his name books, that it was recorded, in symbols and writing, that its effects and scars would be seen, its evidence and testimony unmissable, for all times." O'Farrell should have steered closer to her point instead of veering all over the map making it into a convoluted novel that loses its way.  I hope that PBS does pick up this novel making it into a mini-series.  I'm sure they'll do an  excellent job of editing and producing a lush epic tale that would be appealing to watch.  Wait for the series and pass on the book.