OPEN THROAT-Quips that Don't Quit from a Mountain Lion's Mouth Makes Quite a Tale

The short and satisfying tale whipped up from inside the mind of an LA mountain lion's dishes up quite a stir. This cougar, puma or mountain lion, our anthropomorphic hero has heard all these names for him, lives beneath the Hollywood sign. Hibernating during the daytime, he haunts hikers, vagrants and other colorful pedestrians, he's a particularly savvy survivor and connoisseur of people. He's cunning, curious and exceedingly ingenious. Henry Hoke's inventive fabrication of a precocious feline delivers a clever perspective from an overlooked creature living outside of society.  Parodies for the piranhas of society are fierce and biting.  Living hidden from the public's view in order to survive, the mountain lion delivers his lines with a wry, razor sharp edge. "There are so many hikers who go by and talk loud, '...this is not a big deal but right now I need you to listen to me...they say yeah of course the project is gay everything is gay now...they call everything a disaster..' I want to devour their sound. I have so much language in my brain and nowhere to put it." Hoke creates a sympathetic character by bestowing him human traits only to yoke us back to a startling reality as to the true nature of the beast. The reader slinks alongside the animal's hide as it makes itself invisible or when it hides out in the open. The happiest place on earth is parodied in a hilarious scenario where the mountain lion is paraded freely out in the open. Our lion is puzzled why here, he's not feared.  "...inside the gates there are other animals, big animals with soft fur and faces and they stand upright and hug and blend in with the people, all the people...and no one thinks I'm strange at all and some of the kids come over and pet me." The animal's realizations become even more human-like and disconcerting when he experiences feelings of guilt and self-loathing as he considers how well off his living conditions have become while his companions suffer in poor, confined spaces. "I feel more like a person than ever because I'm starting to hate myself. I look around at all the space I have and I think of all the other spaces in this house...and I think how the people of my town could be here too. " OPEN THROAT reads like a roller-coaster ride;  exhausting and exhilarating. Just when you're settled in,  prepare for a big drop or an unexpected twist. Don't let our friendly foe fool you. Lest you forgot, a leopard never changes his spots.  "I can smell his blood on the pavement and I'm not at all hungry, this is not about need - no this is want - it's a terrible choice but I'm making it just like a person." Make the wise choice to read OPEN THROAT. This sharp-witted social commentary is outrageously fulfilling.  

HONOR by Umrigar Honor Killing in India is Still Happening

Arranged marriages are still prevalent in many cultures, particularly in India. In fact, there's a lot to be said for this custom which is viewed by modern society as outdated and obsolete. However, "honor killing," a family's condoned murder of their daughter/sister who marries outside her culture, caste or without approval. As modern, liberated Americans who've only recently abandoned abolished eugenics, we tend to judge others freely and dismiss forced marriages, mutilation of female genitalia, and honor killings as far from our shores and as becoming remote. Thrity Umrigar's novel HONOR is a contemporary story taken from recent news article on the barbaric torture and murder of a newlywed couple, a Hindu woman and a Muslim man. Umrigar (b. India 1961) is an Indian-American journalist, critic and novelist. HONOR is written from the point of view of a journalist, Smita. Smita was born in India where she was raised until she moved with her family to the US at 13. Smita, now in her mid 30s, accepts an assignment inIndia to cover the verdict in a murder trial. Meena, a Hindu, accused her brothers of setting fire to her home, killing her husband and leaving her to die. Meena was pregnant at the time. Her daughter, Abru, was delivered by C-section. Meena was left maimed and horrribly disfigured. Meanwhile, Smita begrudgingly accepted the help of Mohan to drive and protect. As a single woman she would face harassment and  be barred access to interviews. The significance of Umrigar's novel doesn't arrive until midway when Smita finally meets and speaks with Meena, her brothers and the village's corrupt shaman. Still, she experiences harsh misogynistic treatment and caste discrimination. The poignant full-story of Meena's life, love and convictions are revealed only in Meena's mind; not in interviews. Smita becomes swept up in Meena's turbulent life, India's corruption and its caste system as she confronts her own suppressed ties with India.  Smita's journalistic integrity and drive are measured against her unsurprising attachments to Mohan and Abru. The novel's integrity is diminished given within Smita's story.  The construct of using Smita's modern lifestyle was needed to place events in the present and shine a light on abhorrent practices, societal constraints and cultural traditions in India. Unfortunately, Umrigar journalistic skills would serve these factual cases better reported as news rather than mitigate the horrors within a melodramatic romance story that is uninspiring and unworthy of the serious issues being considered. These so-called "cultural norms and traditions need current attention in order to be abolished immediately; chief among them are horrific and unlawful "honor killings."  

Alderton's GOOD MATERIAL-Comedian Coping Badly from Breakup-Not Funny Not Clever Not Ever Not Even...

GOOD MATERIAL is a novel that will help pass the time on a long airplane ride. It's an innocuous diversion of a breakup and heartache.The breakup is between a successful career woman; the type who'd usually have an aversion to a narcissistic, mid 30s, struggling comedian. Voiced by Andy's for the most part, his whininess wears thin along with his hairline. Perhaps, author Dolly Alderton considers her hero somewhat likable and appealing. He's not an awful person, but his lack of ambition and self-centeredness made me question why Jen spent four years in a relationship before his inertia got her to get out. Andy was an affable guy in college, fun to hang out with. He still clings to his old school chums. But his chums have moved on to careers and families. Getting together takes more planning, is less appealing and less likely to last into the wee hours cause of wee ones at home. Andy has kept his best pal from school but he is now  happily married with 2 kids and one on the way. Which by the way, is how Andy met Jen. Jen is best friends with Andy's best friend's wife. It felt comfortable for both Jen and Andy to slip into their  relationship and convenient for all four. However, this is not reason enough for Jen to stay with Andy. So, Jen said adios amigo and Andy said hello heartbreak. Sticking with this lugubrious and laborious read was made easier with some relatable observations. The resolve to see if there would be a makeup to the breakup was also a driving force. Andy drags us through his drinking, drudgery, career fiasco, poor decisions, odd jobs and obsessions. As someone who'd  like a do over on time wasted on a loser, too much time was lost on this sad saga of a 35 year old male who considers himself an artist and hard working adults as sellouts. Andy went to extremes to glean why Jen would end things. He set up an alias to meet with Jen's psychiatrist hoping to gain insight. Andy would use a kick in the rear, get himself in gear and  grow-up. His self-realization towards the end fails to ignite him to make any changes. "I know that I have power in the world just being a man, I know that, but I also don't really have any-I'm a balding failed comedian with no savings who lodges with a seventy-eight year old."  GOOD MATERIAL lacks humor or wisdom and is never more than slightly amusing. "It's all so random and unfair-the people we want to be with don't want to be with us and the people who want to be with us are not the people we want to be with." You can do better than spending your time with Dolly Alderton's droll novel about a Peter Pan Man hashing over his heartache. 

M Bertino's novel BEAUTYLAND Alien Assigned to Report on Earth Unoriginal but Disarming

"NahNew NahNew BEAUTYLAND doesn't uncover new ground but there is charm to be found from an alien's point of view in the guise of a baby girl. She's assigned to observe and report back on earth's habitat and inhabitants. Robin Williams' hilarious antics on the 70s TV sitcom, "Mork and Mindy" had Mork reporting to his leaders his rye commentaries on human behaviors. On the TV sitcom, "3rd Rock from the Sun" the zaniness of aliens inhabiting human forms and cohabitating with earthlings highlighted the inherent absurdity of life. Marie-Helene Bertino's comical and morose philosophical sci-fi novel uses a tried and true formula but adds a unique spin in the form of a nascent foreign being who matures aligned with earthly revolutions. Adina's raised by her single working mother outside Philly. Her mom makes ends meet by stretching a dollar by serving cheap boiled chicken, diluting her Jean Nate spray, scavenging dumpsters and praying her VW will make it uphill. Adina instinctively knows she's from another galaxy. She corresponds by faxing her superiors reports of life as she sees it. Her reports are wise and humorous with her questions and observations. She asks, "What would these people say instead of I love you? I'm scared. I worry I will never recover. I love you is a can of soda that comes free with every meal. Yet every day humans suffer from lack of hearing it." Pop culture references are plentiful, mentioning Carl Sagan, ET, "Lost in Space" and adding sparkle. Adolescent female angst is a major bright spot and right of passage as in wanting to belong to the alpha girl group. Combining an alien and coming of age story provides enough poignancy to fill a blackhole. Feelings of grief and loneliness are the predominate emotions Adina experiences with regards to her lifelong friend Toni and her beloved dog. "Loneliness is a composite feeling: ironically unable to exist alone. It can contain anger, hunger, fear, jealousy. Adina had misidentified it for homsickness but it also meant restlessness when one is not in the place they long for. The most content she ever felt was with Toni and her little dog." BEAUTYLAND is smart, lyrical and tender; a delightful journey into being alive. The references to Wilder's "Our Town" transcend the wake up and smell the roses trope as if under a microscope. Above all, Adina's outside perspectives resonate throughout. "When they are in pain, human beings sing 'Amazing Grace'. It has transcended religious, cultural and racial context and is about the bases of human cultures, which is suffering." 

E Shafak's THE ISLAND of MISSING TREES Ambitious but Misses the Mark

Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British novelist and activist whose writings and outspoken activism have led her to emigrate from Turkey to the UK to avoid prosecution. Her writing style is eloquent and extraordinary in the narrative voices she creates. In "The Island" the heroine is voiced by a fig tree. The tree was at the center of a pub in Cyprus that was the social center for the village in the 1970's and oversaw the social divide between the Turkish and Greeks.   Also set in the UK in the 2000's, a sapling of the fig tree is transplanted by Kostas whose story is rooted in his love for Defne which began as a secretive tryst between young lovers circumventing their families' forbiddance to meet due to their cultural hatred. Separated by Kostas' "temporary" move to the UK and then civil unrest in Cyprus, the two become reconnected many years later, marry and have their daughter Ada.  At first, I was charmed by the patient and omnipresent tree whose wisdom and melancholy discourse lay the foundation of what transpires over the years. However, the sedentary oration grew stiff and tedious.  Her (the tree is definitely a she) commune with animals and nefarious insects became officious as if leafing through the non-fiction work, "The Hidden Lives of Trees". Kostas and his teenage daughter Ada, with whom the novel begins are likable characters but the divergent timelines, numerous characters and the fig's anthropomorphism bear such sharp schisms as to dice the plot in different stories that felt coerced together and disjointed.  Kostas and Defne's love story was touching but Defne's struggles once they married and living safely abroad felt ambiguous. Ada was drawn as an intelligent, fierce young woman coping with the loss of her mother and estrangement from her father. However, her life in the 21st C in which she gains enlightenment from her mom's sister whom she hadn't met til a year after her mother's death, was undercooked.  And, the turbulent years in Cyprus seemed unclear and insignificant.  While I admire Shafak's ambitious novel, every time I came back to it, I felt tangled in a different story. I didn't enjoy this novel as much as her other works. Still, I appreciate her pleasing writing style with its unique voices.  But in the stump, the fig was given too much say and too many other branches did not bear sufficient fruit.