MARTRY-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. 

 

E Stout's The THINGS WE NEVER SAY-Has Lots to Say on Lack of Communication

In "The Things We Never Say" Elizabeth Strout expands the theme of human isolation and the improbability of honest, open communication. Artie is a high school history teacher who cares about his family, his students and the state of the world. The story takes place under Trump's first administration. Yes, Artie's a kind, thoughtful man who is loved by those who know him. But the question remains, how well can we really now someone. "His {Artie} study of history, he learned about the leaders, and the various groups involved, but he had somehow missed this fact about every single person that they held within themselves a vast, unknowable universe." The political tension that has polarized our country is a backdrop that magnifies secrets being kept to sustain a status quo and prevent turbulent relationships. Artie's greatest pleasure comes from his weekend sail where he steers himself through turbulent waters. If only he could maneuver himself freely and share with his wife of 30 years, Evie, what is weighing on his mind. Evie became a therapist after a girl was killed in car accident in which their son was driving. Her career highlights the hypocrisy of keeping major secrets from both spouses."Artie was aware for the first time how much people lied to one another." Strout is very direct in her condemnation of Trump. Artie and his new"best friend" Kevin who rescued him from drowning formed a friendship in which he felt at peace. With Kevin he was able to share his feelings and felt heard (as long as they didn't discuss politics.) The story becomes somewhat muddled among the layers of clandestine behaviors (shoplifting), various affairs and careers (espionage). Strout makes the point that when communication is open and trust is built, people can positively impact other's lives. Artie influence on two of his students' lives is heralded ad nauseam. However, the futility and rarity of open dialogue is rare. "Why don't people ever say anything real? Ands now he knew why. Because to say anything real was to say things that nobody wanted to know." The overall melancholia and suicidal ideations makes this a bleak novel. One can argue that Strout made her hero likable enough to engage the reader. One can argue, as Artie pondered, there is no free. So why should we care? The delicate balance between personal agency and outside forces is examined. So too is the inability to truly communicate which is truly depressing. "So blind we humans are-so blind. To each other and to ourselves moving through life as through shadows, putting out a hand in the dark and thinking we have touched someone...grasping only the smallest details of one another's selves, including our own. Thinking all the while that we can see." 

Anne Patchett's WHISTLER-Whistle Loudly for this Blissful Proud Family Drama

The award winning author, Anne Patchett has written another novel about family ties over time and generational divides. Her latest novel, WHISTLER, explores the the connections between Daphne and her mother Abigail's second husband Eddie Triplett. Though the marriage lasted only two short years, the impact the relationship made on both their lives was lasting. The novel begins in the NY Metropolitan Museum where Daphne, now a Lit teacher in a private girls school is spending the day with her husband, Jonathan. It's Jonathan who notes an older dapper. man who seems to be tailing them.  When confronted by Jonathan, the gentleman reveals his identity hoping that Daphne will remember him. The serendipitous reunion invokes a torrent of tears from Daphne. "Why did I cry when I realized Eddie was Eddie? Why was I so close to crying again now? Because I had loved him and I had ruined his life" Daphne tells us which draws us into this beguiling novel. Eddie and Daphne reminisce about the years in which he was stepdad to her and her younger sister, Leda. So reignites a bond that was forged between Eddie, so kind and caring at a time when the sisters and their mom were unsettled and struggling following their mom's divorce from their father. It doesn't take long for Daphne to find herself enraptured by the erudite and charming editor. As Eddie brings Daphne into his social whirl and work place, he proudly introduces her as his daughter to her own delight. Leda, now a family therapist is married with a family on the UWS. The girls mother has been remarried to her third husband for decades with two grown sons. The end of the marriage between Eddie and the girls mother ended abruptly following an enigmatic accident which looms over the story. The remarkable details of the cataclysmic car accident involving Daphne and Eddie are revealed towards the end of this irresistible novel as Eddie hosts a brunch in his Chelsea apartment for the sisters, their spouses and their mother. So too is the story of a horse named Whistler revealed as told by Eddie to nine year old Daphne as a distraction from their dire situation. Patchett uses her adroit skills for conjuring up fully fleshed characters whose lives we're eager to embrace. From most characters there exudes compassion and kindness bestowing the novel in a feeling of benevolence. There's a story of Eddie's repressed love due to the social norms of homosexuality in his earlier years. Nonetheless, the pervasive memes of WHISTLER are acts of human kindness and intriguing familial ties told within an ingratiating novel that is impossible to put aside. Leda gives Daphne her professional and personal assessment of their upbringing. " Our parents, Leda said, did not depend on us for their sense of identity. They had their lives and we had ours. Bless them." 

Ben Lerner's Transcription-Transporting Transforming Terrific Tale at Time of Covid

Ben Lerner's slender novel, "Transcription" packs in a lot of punch in a short time that transports the reader through various topics including anorexia, academic life, the COVID pandemic in an intricate style that is irresistible and hard to put down. The novel begins with an unnamed narrator who's on his way to interview Thomas, a famous, favorite professor/film maker. Getting organized in the bathroom just prior to his schedule meeting mayhem ensues when his cellphone gets dropped into the sink and goes on the blink. When there's not enough time to get to an Apple Store he goes to meet his professor and tries to coax him into a casual conversation and put the actual interview off until the following day when he will have time to get a new phone for recording. The octogenarian nevertheless is formidable and draws the man into his office eager to ensue the interview. Unfortunately, the elaborate meandering conversation which is  engrossing is not recorded for posterity. Our narrator assures Thomas, his interviewee, that he is being recorded knowing this is not true. What's true is this slender, original work of fiction provides plenty of clever depictions of character's, the COVID nightmare, parental struggles, failed love affairs and journalist integrity. Our narrator does get his comeuppance at a future gather where his interview is discredited upon his own admission of embellishment. The surprising connection between our nameless narrator and his best friend from college, Max, after going through their separate journeys is revelatory if not credible. But everything else is captured in crisp clarity to illicit strong feelings of past Covid phobias, parental nightmares with a child who refuses to eat, utter reliance on technology and life altering heartbreak. At the end there's a final farewell from Max to his father who is flailing via phone where nothings left unsaid. The father recuperates and the chance to redress matters is passed. Thomas diverts conversation into arcane tutorials which are little jewels throughout despite his failure to register the significance of what was being said to him. For example, "Your brain adds the voice to the tones based on what it believes is there from listening to the first file. You see, we all hear phantom voices. It is a question of the right conditions. Or the wrong ones. Unconscious inference, our brain guessing." "Transcription" is teaming with insights not unlike all his other books. Anything Lerner transcribes I'm reading. 

Anne Enright's "the wren, the wren"-Famous Irish Poet; Bad Dad and Family left Behind

The plot of Anne Enright's novel, "the wren, the wren" can be easily outlined as a three generational story stemming from a famous Irish poet, who leaves his wife and two daughters to fend for themselves. What follows in the wake of an all too common scenario though, leaves much to marvel written with verve and artistry by an uncommonly gifted writer.  Enright (b. Ireland, 1962) is the first Irish Laureate of Fiction and Man Booker Prize winner. In the wren, Enright gives us glimpses of patriarchal poet, Phil McDaragh, whose ascertain of his own consummate talent is above that of all the critics who extol his poems. Phil's self-absorption gives him license to rewrite history and absolve himself of any wrong doing or fallout to his wife Terry, and his two daughters. His admittedly favored daughter, Carmel. Nonetheless he abandons Carmel, her sister and mother without regret after marrying a young, American ingenue except to send a few brief letters. Carmel has a daughter Nell, from a short, loveless relationship. It is mainly through Nell's eyes, the granddaughter whom he never knew, that we get a picture of the man, his poetry and chicanery. As an inspiring writer, Nell finds herself drawn to uncovering Phil's poems and persona. The disparity between the beauty of the Phil's love poems comes in stark contrast to the coldhearted detachment he had for his wife and girls when Terry became terminally ill. Phil's writing has a penchant for restating events to best suit him. However, the collateral damage left behind by Phil is manifested in Carmel who chooses single motherhood rather than experience her mother's abandonment and later dismisses a boyfriend who becomes too needy. Yet, growing up under Phil was overshadowing to his offsprings. "Her father was bigger than the world and a lot less wonderful." Nell is diametrically different in her relationships from her mother. She completely gives herself over to her lovers. First, to the fickle Felim. And then to a man she meets on her travels and brings home to mother. "Everything speaks to me of his safety, his proximity-time is a mechanism to measure how long we are apart. It's not that I think about him constantly, he is my way of thinking. His mind is my compass, his eye my only mirror."  The expanding generations branch off into their differing and despairing life choices but find an inherent connection that circuitously unites them. Considering her grandfather's poems and interviews Nell concedes, "more than a strand of DNA, it is a rope thrown from the past, a far twisted rope, full of blood. Intertwining the lives in the novel are poems, an errant letter, a single childhood memory of Phils and all these elements add deeper meaning and melancholia to the vividly drawn characters. "The wren, the wren"' is a work to return to and admire again, and again.  

Lena Dunham's Memoir FAMESICK-Sickness Torment Overshadow Fame

While fame came early on for Lena Dunham with her first independent film TINY FURNITURE (2010) which lead to being noticed. Judd Apatow thought wow, this girl's got talent and entrusted her to draft a TV series to pitch. The pitch's promising premise of a 20 something, present day SEX and the CITY was picked up and made into the HBO hit show GIRLS (2012-2017). Dunham wrote, stared and directed in this series which earned her two Golden Globes and several Emmy nominations. Despite never having watched the show, I was not oblivious to the phenomenon and notoriety it created. I was curious as to the creative ingenuity inherent talent for developing and maintaining this masterful conception. This compelling and often times off-putting bio left me with key takeaways. Firstly, I was disappointed there was little to glean from inventive process. Perhaps Lena was limited in dissecting her innovative mind. Still, writing is definitely her labor of love, her calling, her passion. But she drones on about writing alone in bed. Granted, her ability to imagine and draw out stories is a solitary endeavor. Getting GIRLS up and running was not and the gravitas for susstaining the quality and functioning of the show was not loss on Lena. She grasped the magnitude of people reliant upon her which was anxiety producing. Secondly, she did have a partner and bestie, Jenni Konner; the conduit for keeping the show on track. Konner kept Lena grounded until their relationship fell apart.  Lena laments relentlessly on the loss of their friendship. She had Konner agree to therapy to see if they could reignite their chemistry.  Thirdly, Lena's shared her lurid sexual encounters with TMI. Perhaps this was on par with GIRLS. Putting it out there was never meant to be filtered but felt of morose. Overall, the major focus of this candid and deftly written bio were the litanies of debilitating, excruciating maladies having to do with her uterus and endometriosis crises. It doesn't seem feasible for Lena to have had time between her hospitalizations and chronic ministrations to accomplish any work.  Recuperating and mainly ministered to by her parents, who were preternaturally supportive, their familial bond was stringent. Lena tells her mother her reason for writing FAMESICK. "I want to write this book, I told her. Everything I've been through. How random it was but how all of it needed to happen." Her mom replies, "Oh, Lena, she moaned. It just sounds so sad." Mom knows best. Lena's life felt like an unrelenting state of anxiety, depression and pain. Lena admits the only connection left with Jack, her former long time love, "the biggest thing we now had in common was the shared sense that neither of deserved to be happy." This memoir is an introspection of depression. Fame in all its glory is not Lean's whole story. It's mired in mental health issues and sickness. 

BORN on a BLUE DAY- Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant; Interesting to Visit Not Reside

Daniel Tammet's 2006 memoir details his life in early with undiagnosed Asperger's and savant syndrome. The book takes the reader into a mind that there is very little insight into which is an extraordinary empathetic and excruciatingly detailed as to derail any interest to learn more. Too much information is not an issue for Tammet, the first born in a household of 9.  There's much to be said for his parent's unwavering support which he credits for encouraging him to pursue his peculiar or precise interests. Of particularly fascination to Daniel was his interest in numbers. His memoir explains what he finds so fascinating which is slightly more exciting or for that matter informtional to the lay person than hearing a phone directory read. Of course, no one has the door stopper phonebooks anymore and his explanations are somnolent and obsolete. The appeal of Tammet's memoir come from his emotional insights as to how he felt and how he felt himself perceived. "It's not true that we don't want to make friends. I was terribly lonely but I didn't know how to fit in." Tammet is not oblivious to the frustration of his parents, teachers and classmates.  He's just didn't understand what was being asked of him or his anxiety would become crippling and render him unable to conduct himself as warranted. Happily, he was able to develop friendships with 2 other loners at different times during his school years.  These boys shared his passion for mathematics or chess, One friend opened his world up to the many cultural advantages within London and exposed him to being around large groups of people. Still, the cruelty he suffered at the hands of most classmates was deeply painful. Tammet's memoirs offer an understanding of the many difficulties which make social interactions so hard to understand or impossible to partake for himself and other's on the spectrum. Perhaps, this insider's insight will shed light on understanding leading to more compassion. It's gratifying to know from the start Tammet is a successful adult.  As a prodigious savant and polyglot he has a prominent career as a writer and creator of educational language websites (French and German.)  Tammet's penchant for finely detailing how his mind fixates on what many would find mind numbing minutia makes reading the memoir in its entirety, a bore.  Less would have been more. 

Poetry Readings at Malibu Public Library Courtyard

All were invited to a free poetry reading in the courtyard of the Malibu Public Library on Saturday.  Being outdoors and being free was good enough for me and my dog Bowie to attend. The librarian/host for the event opened by addressing, "Why poetry?."  She followed her rhetorical question with other why questions. These were cheesy in their assessment of value fond in - say, life. She then read from Walt Whitman's famously life-affirming poems. While her comments were overall, trite - they laid a foundation for appreciating the following poets and Shakespearian thespian. There was a set theme assigned the three poets invited. One got the memo whose poems "had never before addressed the meme of joy." Her poem was in keeping with the day's sugary theme. She ladled it on heavy with the cream. The male poet started off by taking the liberty of speaking on his favored topic of philosophy. Before he went on to his more macabre v. joy poems, he said, "I hope I wasn't being too esoteric."  He was, and it was arid. His poetry along the lines of romantic mysticism; a werewolf attacking his victim was anything but staid. It was cleverly chilling. I got a flavor for what the werewolf was going for. The last invited poet didn't do her homework. She said "I'm going to ad lib". She brought a book of Khalil Gibran's poetry and read random poems as she riffled through the book until the audience called out stop. This didn't win her any accolades from me but surprisingly, her great aunt had a friendship with the famous Lebanese-American poet and she happened to have a correspondence her aunt had written to him. (How she had the poem when it was written to Gibran I'd have liked to know.) However, her aunt "Joy" (how's that for irony) was an amazing writer whose epistolatory correspondence waved poetically of her bucolic surroundings and her yearnings. Aunt Joy's letter was the highlight for Bowie and me as Bowie sat up and paid attention. The last arranged speaker shared her passion for language as conveyed through Shakespeare's mastery of words. She performed "Hamlet's" famous soliloquy and emoted his turmoils exquisitely. The courtroom oration from "Merchant of Venice" was lacking having not failed to adequately set up Shylock's brutal treatment prior in the play. Afterwards, the floor was opened to anyone wishing to share their own poetry. Hats off to the young lady who bravely shared her heartfelt writing. And, regardless of any criticisms I had, Bowie and I very much enjoyed gathering with others outside to listen to the intrinsic beauty of prose and poetry.  This I knows.   

Tana French's THE KEEPER-Murder Mystery Amidst Small Irish Community

Tana French's new novel, "The Keeper" is the third and final book in her Cal Hooper mystery trilogy. Not having read the previous two, I don't think it's something you need to do. But, reading or listening (as I did) to her unhurried storytelling of a small rural town in the Irish countryside is highly recommended. The town that hasn't changed much in generations.  Everyone's family lore is intertwine in the fabric of its hardworking farmers and small business owners.  Cal is the only outsider to ingratiate himself into the long established ties and tribulations of its townsfolk.  Having been born and raised in Chicago, Cal became one of Chicago's finest; a cop turned detective working the arduous and complicated beats of the Windy City. Having retired, the idea of moving to Ireland, the country of his forefathers with its expansive green countryside's appeal to Cal for the simpler, less demanding lifestyle it offers.  Cal was correct in  assuming Ireland would provide the fresh air and solitude not afforded him in the states. What Cal didn't foresee was the deep attachment he would feel for many of the locals. Nor did he expect to find himself immersed in unraveling the events surrounding an apparent suicide of Rachel, a local young woman. Rachel's fiancee is the son of the town's unofficial magistrate and has the local authorities at his beck and call. French is a gifted writer, known for creating mysteries. I find her craft most captivating with her vivid characterizations and natural descriptions of the majestic oftentimes dank surroundings and cozy, fire lit homesteads. Cal is engaged to the level headed Lena, a lifelong resident, longtime widow. Both Lena and Cal prefer to keep to themselves but this proves impossible in a town where everyone is related to someone else in some way or other.  Lena is the last person to have seen Rachel, Eugene's beautiful girlfriend before her body is found in the local river.  Listening to the languid story unfold, told in thick Irish accents along side Cal's clear American intonation made the investigative journey especially enjoyable and engaging. The local pub and general store are the watering holes and meeting places where everyone knows your name, your family, your business and and your connections to everyone else. The varied colors and charms of the town's locals will warm your heart and the nefarious wrangling of the town's wealthy bully will keep you captive and looking to Cal to outwit the villain. Cal has rightfully found himself in a community where friendship holds value and loyalty has meaning.  THE KEEPER is an assured pleasure; an intriguing mystery mired within the well intentioned keepings of its Irish kinfolk.  Enhance your reading pleasure with a pot of tea, a scone with jam by the warmth of a fire.  

David Sedaris' THE BEST oF ME-Might be His Best Collection Yet

Writer, raconteur and rakish vivant, David Sedaris, possesses a never ending gift for gab. His recent collection of fiction and memoir in "The Best of Me" culled from his proliferate body of work maybe his most blistering, bodacious and introspective yet. These compiled sporadic stories seem at first to be at odds with one another till you find they all share profundities and a sense for the bizarre.  Sedaris' self-irony is rampant throughout his reflections and self-perception. In the somewhat grotesque story "Leviathan" Sedaris went in search of an ideal gift and heads to a taxidermist. The taxidermist identifies in seders a kinship for a macabre fascination and shares some body parts stored. At home, Sedaris goes on line to devour more torrid findings. "It's a kind of pornography, and after sitting for 20 minutes, watching one poor animal after another being eviscerated, I erase my internet user history, not wanting to be identified as the person who would find this sort of thing entertaining-yet clearly being that person." There's an ongoing obsession with other people's perception of him and his family. The family may consider themselves declasse' but that's not for anyone outside the family to say.  Sedaris' piquant curiosity and perpetual need to be perceived as worthy are delightfully funny and incredibly relatable. In "Standing By" Sedaris' observations on the trials and tribulations of traveling amongst the masses speaks to acting like asses in transit. "We're forever blaming the airline industry for turning us into monsters: it's the fault of the ticket agents, the baggage handlers, the slowpokes at the newsstands...But what if this is who we truly are, and the airport's just a forum that allows us to be our real selves, not just hateful but gloriously so? Sedaris has hubris but also a lot of humor, candor and self-deprecation that make his work a cause for celebration. This collection was picked by the author himself. I can't but feel the stories are among his most heart-wrenching and disturbing.  He writes about his mother's alcoholism which the family contended and defended. He writes of the fallout from their youngest sister's suicide. Despite the family's problems and squabbles, there's an enduring love that is enviable.  In the story "Now We Are Five" he  reflects on the painful loss of his sister and the family's dynamic as a whole. "Though I've often lost faith in myself, I've never lost faith in my family, in my certainty that we are fundamentally better than everyone else. It's an archaic belief, one I haven't seriously reconsidered since my late teens, but still I hold it. Ours is the only club I'd ever wanted to be a member."  The tender humor, keen writing style and perpetually surprising material, "The Best of Me" will be a favorite read for fans and new ones alike.    

Emma Staub's AMERICAN FANTASY-Is a Fiasco from the Get Go

Emma Staub is an American author in her mid 40s who is touted as a voice for middle aged women. In her latest novel, AMERICAN FANTASY has garnered a lot of good buzz as being a beacon for older women's fantastical fantasies of rejuvenation on a mini-vacation featuring the heartthrob rock band of their youths.  This benign if not jovial premise quickly sinks off-shore.  Annie agreed to go with her younger sister on this short cruise following her recent divorce as an opportunity to recharge.  The cruise features the favorite rock group from their youth and the chance for their fans known as "The Talkers" to co-mingle with the band members who are also in their 40s and 50s.  "Human connection-the hole weekend was supposed to provide. It was to give the middle-aged women the vacation they always dreamed of, with the boys they'd always dreamed of." Sadly, Annie's sister broke her leg leaving Annie adrift; to sail solo.  Not a huge fan of either the rock group Boy Talk or cruises, Annie is game anyway for a getaway that's already  paid for. Annie's roommate, Maira is an old pro on board. Knowing all the ropes, Maira steers Annie affably around the ship. The story's setup seemed benign if not lighthearted. But, truth be told, the 50 somethings with extra skin folds and flabby limbs, dressed in prom outfits or peignoirs for pajama party night were pathetic. Annie, along with the other women on board were seeking a break from their bored, mundane lives and and an escape back to a time in their prime.  So too are the aging boy band members whose heyday has passed and are looking for more pay days using their glory days.  The combustible combination of tensions amidst the bandmates and calculating competition among the women to grab the attention of the bandmates becomes grating. Annie's unassuming demeanor wins her notice from Keith in the band who is struggling with his brother also in the band  Keith was dealing with strains in his marriage and finding meaning in his life. Annie/Keith's happenstance heart-to-heart and lingering farewell kiss on are enough to make everyone on board seasick. Sarah, the managing director on board has numerous knots to secure and plenty of problems to unravel to keep things running smoothly. However none of these tales of behind the scenes or aging in a youth conscious society sustain wind.  Instead, everyone and everything feels shallow. The intended depth falls fathoms short of any profundity. And, its anchoring message didn't proffer an insight of any heft.  "Annie didn't know what was going to come next, and neither did The Talkers, for all their theories and message boards.  There were no guarantees in life. Annie knew that now.  She hadn't when she was younger."  The cruise was mired in a morass of whining and yearning for years since passed.  Don't bother signing up for this tedious journey that is neither titillating, entertaining or clever.  You'll just be stuck in the doldrums.     

Christina Applegates Reads Her AutoBio which was Arduous Listening

There is nothing fun, funny or for that matter, enjoyable from listening to Christina Applegate read her own unflinching account of abuse and self-loathing.  Granted, Applegate's own redemptive purging is purported for sharing and belaboring years of sexual abuse starting at age 5, through her controlling and brutal boyfriend and her painful struggles with multiple sclerosis (MS).  Christina was diagnosed with MS in 2021 while working on the third season of "Dead to Me".   Ironically, working on "Dead to Me" was the happiest and most rewarding work experience of Applegate's five decade acting career.  "You with the Sad Eyes" is the understatement title of Applegate's just released autobiography.  A subtitle should read: You who dares read this will be devastated to learn all of the suffering the pert blonde who become a household name as the bumptious teen Kelly Bundy on the groundbreaking show "Married with Children."  The unquantifiable love Christina has for he daughter Sadie and the single mom who raised her are boundless.  The love she has for her current husband, father of Sadie, doesn't garner the gushing or final acknowledgements paid Sadie - but hey, "you're doing it" you're way Christina.  And, you took the blows and still you did it your way and shared in ways that are not only disturbing and upsetting, it's TMI. And, too much intended for whose benefit?  I finished listening (although I bore it out over two weeks) out of a sense of respect once I commenced to listened.  Congrats Christina on the longevity of your career which have earned you an Emmy and additional Emmy, Golden Globes and Tony nominations.  I'm sorry for your MS diagnosis and the ravages to your physique.  I'm especially sad for the loss of your ability to love life through dance.  I sense you've unburdened a heavy heart.  But, your troubled life  story is not one I recommend for gaining life lessons.  It serves to lessen one's sense of a life having been well-lived but sadly. merely survived.

The WITCH On Shortlist for Booker Is Embedded with Magic but Enigmatic all Told

French author Marie Ndiaye's bewitching but ultimately befuddling novel, "The Witch" was on this year's shortlist for the Int'l Booker Prize.  All the women in our heroine Lucie's family tree inherit the gene for witchery.  The gift was inherited by Lucie from her mother whose power outshone Lucie's but whose powers fell short of her granddaughters; Lucie's pre-teen, twin girls.  The telltale sign for when magic has been utilized is the blood tinged, telltale tears that befall after its use.  For Lucie, this power was limited  to an ability to see the past/future or present of an individual she chooses to focus on; a talent to be coveted by covens to be sure.  However, the tween-twins' prowess is potent.  It manifest in flight quite literally.  The girls use their powers to transform into crows and fly far from home, bonding their doting  mother's nest. This follows soon after Lucie's husband flees the family abode with a sizable inheritance that was owed to Lucie.  Lucie uses her tracking skill to find the feckless fiend who found himself a new wife and family.  The men in this bewitching novel are all shady, lazy or secondary at best.  Ndiaye's writing is beguiling, depicting characters with warts and all and her descriptive prose sets the scenes for  the frenetic pace of Paris and for doldrums outside Paris in torpid small towns.  Magic is manifested as an  aside to the ambiguous plot.  There are no predictable paths and the plot meanders with a melancholy atmosphere with dreamlike frustrations.  Lucie's nosey, domineering neighbor is a side character that plays a major unexpected role in her life.  "The Witch" is for readers looking for something out of the ordinary even though the story itself is less than extraordinary.  I was whisked away in a nebulous cloud while looking for meaning in this surrealistic novel that I found unique and utterly mystifying. 

THINGS in NATURE MERELY GROW-Pulitzer Prize Memoir Gardening Sorrow

Yiyun Li's moving autobiography, "Things in Nature Merely Grow" deservedly received this year's Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction.  Do not envy Li of her honor wherein she unfurls the unimaginable pain of both her teenage sons' suicides.  For those who've read Joan Didion's haunting memoir "The Year of Magical Thinking" and found it unforgettable as did I, Li's lyrical prose will resonate with you.  For those who've read Joyce Carol Oates' "A Widow's Story" and were put off by the "TMI"and cool depiction of her husband's corpse as did I, Li's sensitive and thoughtful reflections will have substance.  Both her sons lives, their personae, her life before their untimely deaths and the forever forward life without them is bared.  Li's candor and sensitive relinquishing of her grief are borne bearable and made compelling in her layered telling of her own battle with depression and earlier suicide attempt.  Amid the years the brothers shared and the years when younger brother James lived on without the friendship of his beloved older brother Vincent.  The mundane quotidian of life's essential requirements and Li's chosen distractions: piano practice or lap swimming to mitigate her consuming unease provided her sustenance and succor.  There is snide humor in the cynicism Li finds in platitudes and fatuous fortitudes offered by intended,  benevolent well-wishers.  The unusual and poetic title "Things in Nature Merely Grow" is itself fodder for curiosity and understanding.  "...weeding, weeding, weeding and then one day giving up because weeds are part of nature, too, and things in nature merely grow."  The juxtaposition of merely grow - the burden to comprehend one's loved one's will no longer grow older, experience more or surpass the abyss of misery bears gravitas. "Things in nature merely grow.  There is no suicdeal or angry rose, there is no depressed or rebellious lily.  Plants have but one goal: to live, in order to live they grow when they can."  Li's sobering and contemplative book took me outside my self-contained orbit.  "Sometimes a mother and a child are like two hands placed next to each other: only just touching or else with fingers intertwined.  Then the world turns, and one hand is left, holding on to everything and nothing that is called now and now and now and now."  Li does not sugarcoat or succumb to her moroseness. "Death, particularly suicide, cannot be softened or sugarcoated."   "I don't want an end point to my sorrow.  Thinking about my children is like air, like time.  Thinking about them will end when I reach the end of my life,"  I will carry Miyun's "Things in Nature..." in my psyche for as long as I am sentient.  "No matter how long we get to parent our children, there are only limited numbers of 'I love you' we can say to them.  That too is a fact."  

YESTERYEAR-Prescient Novel with Lots to Say About Today and the Tradwife Way

Caro Claire Burke's debut book, YESTERYEAR is an incredible work of fiction with the depiction of life in the early 19th C as currently interpreted in the 21st C as it's perceived by "tradwives".  Tradwife is the term used to describe today's married women who live under the guise of of a roles wherein women are subservient to men and household roles are clearly designated and subjugated.   Women are to assume   all household and child raising duties.  The view I see of tradwives is skewed to extol only virtues of domesticity and simplicity in lifestyle.  In other words, back to basic cooking/baking by scratch, gardening, homeschooling and home births eschewing medical attention or intervention.  Why this way of life has taken an upsurge in public interest and submission by numerous women to this antiquated, outdated, zealot ideation is worth questioning.  The fanaticism in which our hero Natalie succumbs to romanticized notions of living off the land with a "cowboy" husband makes for a page turning novel with surprising tangents.  We get to understand our heroine Natalie as a young woman in her freshman year at college.  Natalie lived a very sheltered, "religious" upbringing with her single mother and younger sister.  The rather naive Natalie is put off by the drinking and sexual escapades of her roommate and peers.  The classmates at her school are equally put off by Natalie's squeamish behavior. "Amish" style clothing and unshorn hair.  A social pariah, Natalie meets Caleb her sophomore year attending a Quaker like sect of students and the two are smitten with their mutual infatuation.  Both Natalie and Caleb are unbearably vacuous and desirous of admiration.  Burke parodies the abounding absurdities within our self-absorbed society's quest for fame via the internet, fortune derived from being an influencer and the ultimate drive for notoriety; running for top political office. YESTERYEAR's incisive writing brilliantly bends the genres of satire, sci-fi and psychological warfare, creating a cunning world which drives the story full-throttle ahead in search of what's in store.  To read YESTERYEAR again would likely yield additional lambasting of our litigious society, religious fanaticism, feminism and more.  Three cheers for YESTERYEAR which may be the best novel of the year so far and soon to be made into a movie starring Anne Hathaway from Amazon MGM Studios.  

Belle Burden's STRANGERS-Unburdens and Examines the Unexpected End of Her Marriage

STRANGERS is Belle Burden's non-fiction book of the shocking and abrupt end to a 20 year marriage and three children together, leaving her cold and alone at the onset of COVID in 2020.  Burden's book struck a nerve with me along with millions of other readers who are probably wondering what was he {James, her husband} thinking and thinking how fortunate we are the bell didn't ring for me or thee.  It's a clarion call of what not to do to not get financially screwed by your spouse.  Burden tells the reader why she unburdened her heartbreak maintaining it was not as revenge.  "I'd wanted James to  understand what happened after he left, to see the impact, to see me.  But isn't that different from revenge?" Was she airing her dirty laundry? Yes, and rightfully so as it's her's air out. I related to the situation she put herself into (for the most part.). We had no need for a prenup agreement as neither of us were bringing any money or property into the marriage aside from our incomes.  Burden's family lineage is one of notoriety and high society as her beloved maternal grandmother Babe Paley was a wealthy, well-known New York socialite. Prior to her wedding, Burden failed to heed the advice of her attorney and it proved to be a financial travesty.  Despite being an attorney, Burden succumbed to James requests at the behest of her best interests and legal advice.  "I put both our names on the deeds.  I chose not to be involved in our financial life. "  What makes this open book divorce so authentic and empathetic is her graceful navigation of this excruciatingly painful period with a sensibility many of us share.  "I failed to think about what would happen if our marriage ended...I was agreeing to all of it, trusting my husband. I did it for love.  There is nothing shameful about that."  The shared joyful parenting events became gut wrenchingly distressful as the longing to be connected had not abated and the close proximity was very uncomfortable. Many of us in long relationships take comfort in delegating responsibilities we'd rather not take. Burden spoke for me and probably a lot of partners when she stated, "I was spared, for a time, handling it all myself, having to understand it, having to face the reality of my financial life." There's also the shared epiphany, "I could see that the cost for feeling safe was being controlled.  They were two sides of the same coin-protection and control."  It's not accurate to say Burden was just airing her dirty laundry.  I was moved by the loving picture she painted of their courtship, marriage and life together.  This caused me ache for the love she had that was gone.  Following Burden's rebuilding of her life, her strength from despair to self-reliance,  her gratitude for her three children and for her future was a poignant journey I'm glad to have held.  "I had to shift, again, in my understanding of the man I'd been married to. He was not a benign stranger wandering out of my life.  He was an adversary."  Belle Burden was no stranger to immense emotional distress but and no stranger to resilience, wonder and new found fulfillment.