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Category Archives: Books
Neverhome
Laird Hunt’s acclaimed 2014 novel “Neverhome” starts off simple enough. It’s narrated by a housewife and farmer named Constance from Indiana, who in 1862 decides to disguise herself as a man to enlist in the Union Army. She takes the name Ash Thompson and leaves behind her meek husband, Bartholomew, to care for the farm. The story follows her journey as she endures soldier life and harrowing battles of the war while trying not to be found out as a woman.
The novel’s prose is simple and stark but rich in its descriptions, especially of the battle scenes, and the syntax takes on the vernacular of the times, which seems a bit awkward at first, but gives a vivid feeling of being in the Civil War era and its settings.
The character Ash proves to be an excellent shot and sure fighter. She seems heroic and able to outmaneuver and shoot her way out of trouble. But there’s also baggage from her past that comes to her in dreams: her mother’s death haunts her, as well as the death, we learn in time, of her newborn son. There’s also letters from Bartholomew hoping for her return and fearing that she will not.
Along the way, Ash witnesses horrific bloodshed and is injured in battle. A nurse heals her, only later to give her over to authorities who chain her up in a prison, where she’s abused. The book is a bit of a page-turner as you wonder whether Ash will make it back home alive and what unfinished business will be awaiting for her once she gets there.
At first glimpse “Neverhome” appears to be a straightforward heroic story about a strong woman who overcomes great odds but not too far into it you become aware that Ash is carrying around secrets, which she doles out only here and there, and is talking to ghosts. Amid the war, her mind starts to unravel, too, and what is real or not real becomes hazy. She seems to undergo a transformation, and you have to wonder whether she’s telling the truth. The dark ending brings everything home, so to speak.
Judging by comments on Goodreads, quite a few readers thought the story’s ending went off the deep end, or they didn’t get it. I was one of those who had to reread it a few times to understand what it all suggested. I think I was lulled into the story going a certain way, and then it took a turn quite other than that, which left me a bit puzzled and not pleased. Ash is a character who definitely is more complex than she seems. Though I might not have wanted the story to go in that direction, I thought the novel’s writing was quite visual and beautiful in places. For a slim book, “Neverhome” wields a large takeaway.
It also makes me want to read more books about the Civil War, including last year’s nonfiction book by Karen Abbott called “Liar, Temptress, Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War.”
How about you — have you read “Neverhome” and if so what did you think? Or what books set in the Civil War era are your favorites? Continue reading
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Dark Rooms
I picked up Lili Anolik’s debut novel “Dark Rooms” at the library for a quick suspense read, a transition after a couple of denser books. I didn’t really know anything about it other than it appeared to be among the popular genre of crime novels set at private high schools. The publisher touted it as Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” meets Gillian Flynn’s “Sharp Objects” with twists of Megan Abbott’s “Dare Me” along the way. Okay, okay, I think I get the picture?! I snapped it up and read it quickly this past week ready for something a little berserk.
“Dark Rooms” takes place at a private high school in Hartford, Connecticut, where one morning student Nica Baker, age 16, is found murdered in a nearby field. Her parents, both teachers at the school, and older sister Grace, who recently graduated, are grief-stricken and foggy amid the media circus that follows. The police though are able to close the case quickly when a student commits suicide a couple weeks later, leaving what appears to be a confessional note to the crime. Grace though begins to have her doubts about it. She puts college on hold, stays at home, and becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about her sister’s murder. Though in the process, she opens a can full of worms about her family, herself, and those who knew her sister.
Nica, it turns out, was no angel; she was beautiful and also promiscuous — different than Grace, who sets out to tackle a long list of Nica’s admirers to find out what really happened. Meanwhile Grace finds herself pregnant after a drunken grief-laden escapade and with little time left to solve the murder. Oh my. One thing’s for sure: There’s considerable sleeping around going on at this high school: among the faculty, the kids, you name it. It’s a high school on hormones. The so-called adults or parents in the book aren’t exactly role models either; a few are downright creepy, so Grace must make her away through some pretty messed up, disturbing stuff to find out the truth. She’s a Nancy Drew of sorts. I can’t say much more though I’m sure I’d like to.
Admittedly the book held me till the very end. The author did a good job painting the scenes, giving vivid details, and moving the story along. It’s the kind of suspense story I was looking for when I picked it up. It’s done well, both the writing and plot as well as the twists kept me guessing, although there were a couple times I had to suspend my disbelief and I’m still wondering if the ending fizzled just a bit. Still if you’re on a flight from L.A. to New York, or even on a beach this summer, I’d say this is a suspenseful, well-done novel to hold your attention and pass your time with. Who knows, it might even make you a bit more grateful for the folks and family you have.
How about you — have you read “Dark Rooms” and if so, what did you think? Or what if any are your favorites in the genre of high school/crime novels?
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Us Conductors
“Us Conductors” is one of the more unusual novels I’ve read in a long while. It follows the true life story of a Russian scientist (Lev Termen) who I’d never heard of, who made among other inventions a strange musical instrument (the theremin), which I’d also never heard of. Lev came to the U.S. in the 1920s and 30s and was a big hit, especially in New York, and then he returned to Russia where he was imprisoned in various gulags till 1957. It’s not a book I think I would’ve picked up on my own, but I was curious since the author had won the Giller Prize for it last November for $100,000 — not too bad for a debut novelist.
In the first half, I struggled with “Us Conductors” as I didn’t feel very invested in the character of the scientist Lev. The novel jumps around, too, to different places in time — in flash backs as he’s telling the woman he loves about his life in two letters. The novel though is quite readable. The pages go by quickly as Lev at first arrives in New York and is the toast of the town with his patented musical box — the theremin.
Have you heard this instrument’s sound? Its eerie high-pitched notes make it seem straight from The Munsters or Star Trek. No one even touches the box to play it but uses their wavering hands in the air to manipulate the electrical field between its two antennas to make a shrill sound. Check out this example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U
Strange but true, I think companies once had big plans for making the theremin a popular instrument in homes everywhere, though in the end that didn’t really pan out.
Somewhere along the line “Us Conductors” crept up on me. As the book goes on there’s so much of this scientist’s life that turns out to be incredible — his successful inventions and work with U.S. companies, how he gets involved in being a Russian spy, his marriages and the one unrequited love of his life, and his imprisonment in the Soviet gulags. Wow. His life story encompasses the Bolshevik Revolution, the swinging night life and music of New York City in the 20s and 30s, and later the Soviet gulags under Stalin.
It’s quite a riches to bust story with an amazing scope that made me rush online the minute I finished it to find out if indeed certain parts of Lev’s life story were true. I especially found his involvement in espionage and the whole Cold War era to be quite captivating, as well as his lifelong love for this woman Clara (an expert theremin player) who he’s addressing throughout the book. Eventually I wanted to know everything about what really happened, which obviously is a sign of an engaging book.
Apparently, the author Sean Michaels kept to the actual biographical sketch of what happened in the scientist’s life, but then reimagined it by filling in the scenes, details, conversations, and people Lev came in contact with. As Michaels said on a radio show, he filled in Lev’s “emotional progress.” It’s not unlike other recent novels have done with the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway’s spouse, or Frank Lloyd Wright’s spouse.
It’s a bit weird because I’m not usually enticed by novels that use actual historical figures to put words in their mouths, but for “Us Conductors” I actually think it served a worthy or interesting purpose.
Not only does it bring life to the era, places, feelings of this scientist who has long since been forgotten by many (Lev only just died in 1993, at the age of 97), but I also liked how the espionage in the book raised questions of Lev’s patriotism, duty, and responsibility, which Michaels talked about on a radio program as being relevant today in such places as Russia and in America’s NSA/Snowden case.
It’s cool, too, that the musical instrument the theremin can be seen sort of as a metaphor in the book. As the theremin uses invisible forces to make players or listeners feel a particular way, so too does Lev feel an invisible force working, for instance, through Clara and him. He writes letters to her in his mind over time and distance as if it’s almost telepathy.
I was struck by the novel especially during the second half of the book. There’s a lot of different things at work in it, such as: love, music, inventing, spying, and surviving the gulags. The story of this scientist’s life is rather remarkable — he went through so much — and that’s what ultimately won me over. The book’s research into bringing his story to light is quite compellingly done and left me wanting to know what was fact or fiction about the scientist Lev Termin and the theremin long after its last pages.
What about you have you read Sean Michael’s book and what did you think? Or have you ever heard of a theremin before this novel?
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The Uninvited Guests
I was glad to fall into Sadie Jones’s 2012 novel “The Uninvited Guests” for my book club read this month as it’s a far cry from the mayhem of “American Sniper,” which I had just read before it. Alas, I found “The Uninvited Guests” to be a good remedy and a quick escape from today’s world.
It’s set in the early years of the twentieth century at a grand old manor house in the English countryside. (Think Downton Abbey era.) The lady of the household, who’s remarried after the death of her first husband, resides there with her new husband and three children, the oldest of whom (Emerald) is celebrating her twentieth birthday with a couple of friends on a rainy evening. But then a terrible train wreck nearby propels a group of survivors from the train’s third class to seek shelter at the house, throwing the household into chaos and mischief. The uninvited guests turn Emerald’s birthday upside down as well as her younger sister who decides it’s time for a dubious undertaking and a mysterious male survivor from the train wreck who divulges a shocking secret from their mother’s past. Shenanigans at the rickety old manor ensues with a touch of the supernatural thrown in.
What starts as a tale quite stuffy and amusing comes splattering down like the rooms and wall at the manor. The characters undergo a reckoning that although harsh seemingly does some good, shaking them from their lofty pedestals.
The writing reminded me of a Dickens tale and I found it quite enjoyable. “The Uninvited Guests” definitely makes me want to read other titles by the talented British author Sadie Jones in the future. Apparently Jones’s first novel “The Outcast” from 2008 is coming out as a television drama on the BBC sometime this year. I likely will have to pick up that novel before then.
It made me wonder what other recent novels take place in big spooky houses and I’m thinking perhaps of Sarah Waters’s novel “The Paying Guests” and Garth Stein’s novel “A Sudden Light.” Both of which are from last year and are ones I still have to read. Are there others? It seems spooky old houses are popular settings once again.
How about you have you read “The Uninvited Guests” or any others by Sadie Jones? And if so, what did you think? Continue reading
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American Sniper
A couple weeks ago before I heard about the hoopla surrounding what right-wing or left-wing people were saying about the movie “American Sniper,” I picked up and read Chris Kyle’s 2012 book of it because I was curious to get a glimpse of the war in Iraq from a Navy SEAL’s first-hand account. My brother had given the book to my husband for Christmas and it was lying around. I didn’t know much about it other than it seemed like a scary-ass war book from its title, the movie trailers, and the fact that Chris Kyle is credited with the most sniper kills in U.S. military history.
Indeed the book is scary and disturbing as war is. I’m sure no one can fully comprehend the reality or horrors of war who haven’t experienced it as our troops have. Chris Kyle’s account is quite blunt and candid. He tells of how he became a Navy SEAL and about his four tours in Iraq from 2003 to 2009. He takes readers along the way through the intense urban combat he experienced in the Iraqi cities of Fallujah, Ramadi, and Sadr City. Mostly Kyle was responsible for sniper overwatches, where he and his team set up in or on top of buildings, protecting Marines or Army troops on the ground by shooting anyone who posed them harm. He also did foot patrols with troops and went door-to-door, weeding out insurgents and weapons caches.
It’s heart-pounding warfare not for the squeamish. Kyle was shooting to kill each time and makes no bones about it in the book. He was doing his job, he says, before the enemy killed him or other troops. He was so good at being a sniper that the insurgents labeled him the “devil of Ramadi” and put a bounty on his head, while U.S troops referred to him as “the Legend.” He placed his priorities in God, country, and family in that order (despite his wife’s disagreement). And his moral clarity about protecting his Team by killing enemies never wavers in the book. He has no regrets about his service other than he couldn’t save more U.S. troops, or trade places with the three U.S. Navy SEALS who lost their lives during his time there.
I’m sure Kyle saved very many lives in the line of fire. He served four tours in Iraq in incredibly dangerous conditions, while at the same time missing out on his family when his kids were babies. I commend him and the troops for their service to the country and Allied mission. He says in the book he wasn’t doing it for the Iraqi people, who he doesn’t seem to put much faith in, but solely for the U.S. He doesn’t go into why we were in Iraq in the first place but simply went where elected officials declared war.
Kyle’s view is definitely a patriotic account but is it, as some say, propaganda? I think he lets readers decide what they will. Quite a few will find the book like I did disturbing in his love of war and killing — how he was concerned with the numbers and in getting the most kills, and how he refers at some points to the Iraqis as savages and details mowing down the “bad guys’” and delighting in their slaughter. It takes a toll just reading about it, much less doing it. Though I’m sure we need tough guys like Kyle to wage our dangerous battles and protect the country.
Apparently the latest edition of the book has been toned down a bit. Though candidly opinionated by Kyle, the book at this point has been vetted by the military, two co-authors, and lawyers alike. Such scenes as in the movie’s trailer that shows a mother and son moving toward the U.S. troops with an RKG grenade was redacted from the book says the movie’s screenwriter. Gone, too, is the subchapter apparently in which Kyle wrote about punching out Jesse Ventura, which Ventura said never happened and in which he won a $1.8 million defamation lawsuit against Kyle.
Despite that, Kyle’s account is informative in bringing insight into how the troops worked in Iraq, into weapons, rank, tactics, what the landscape and war was like, what factions they faced, what SEALS are like, and what they did. The book also highlights how hard deployments are on military families and returning veterans. It shows the war abroad as well as the war at home, where spouses often raise children on their own and vets can’t get the help they need. Kyle’s wife, Taya, writes passages throughout the book about what she’s experiencing and the relations between her and Kyle.
At one point, it seemed the stress of warfare would break their marriage apart, but the book relates how with great effort they held on. By the end, with his wife’s urging, Kyle leaves the war and eventually begins a security company (Craft Intl) and starts helping veterans return to civilian life. The war changed Kyle; it undoubtedly took a toll and affected him. He seems to grow from it by the book’s end. Tragically Chris Kyle was killed in 2013 while helping a vet at a Texas gun range. Now the murder trial of him is all over the news.
It’s prominent especially because the movie of “American Sniper” has been such an astounding blockbuster. I saw it on Sunday and would never have thought that it would become the top war movie of all time at the box office, nor the top movie of 2014, which it looks like it will be. The movie is effective and moving, rough to watch in parts, and in places powerful, but I wouldn’t pick it as the best war film ever.
It’s drawn controversy no doubt. Those on the right say it’s patriotic, heroic, and highlights the hardships of military families and vets, and also shows the toll the war took on Kyle. While some on the left see the movie as glorifying an unjust war, violence, and a gun culture run amok. Take your pick. I feel it’s more the former than the latter. It’s up for six Academy Awards. I’m still a bit puzzled by the huge success of it when other Iraq war films haven’t fared well.
The film differs from the book quite a bit, notably the movie has the U.S. troops trying to root out a couple of specific Iraqi bad guys, whereas the book describes the clearing out of insurgents in general. Other details differ as well and the script was revised after Kyle was killed. His wife Taya and their marriage troubles figure in both the book and movie. Bradley Cooper who plays Kyle and Sienna Miller who plays Taya excel in their roles. Cooper looks much huskier, and purposely bulked up for the part. I heard about the “fake baby” the filmmakers used in a scene and had to laugh a bit when it came up despite the scene’s seriousness. A rubber baby? C’mon Clint.
The book and movie I’m sure aren’t for everyone. For me I think it’s always informative to know what the country’s military is up to, or what is being asked of our troops, or to reflect on what has been done. I’m curious sometimes to read various perspectives, both military and non-military, about the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, even though they can be a harsh look at human existence. This particular story seems to have its lessons: about sacrifice, about family, and about showing that war is hell and should be the very last resort.
What about you — do you have any interest in seeing the movie or reading the book? And if you have, what did you think?
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The Jaguar’s Children
Author John Vaillant is best known for his two nonfiction books “The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed” and “The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival,” which were both very well received. So when his debut novel “The Jaguar’s Children” recently came out, I snatched it up quickly to read. I was lucky because John Vaillant (pictured above) gave a reading from it here on Jan. 19 where I also heard him give an interesting talk about the writing of the book and he signed my copy. He said the novel came about during the time he and his family were living for a year in 2009 in southwestern Mexico in the state of Oaxaca. And indeed Mexico figures prominently in “The Jaguar’s Children” along with its tangled ties to the U.S.
Specifically, the novel’s about two Mexican guys, friends who get trapped in a sealed water truck along with other illegal immigrants not long after they have crossed the U.S. border. The truck they are in has broken down somewhere amid the desert dirt, and the smugglers, who have taken their money, have not returned with the mechanic they promised. With little food and water, and not much air getting in, the occupants will likely live only a few days inside the truck if they don’t get help. Hector continually tries to leave messages (sound files) at an American number that he finds in his friend Cesar’s phone, hoping they can be rescued. But the cell phone coverage is very spotty and it doesn’t appear the messages are getting through.
Hell, five pages into “The Jaguar’s Children” and I felt clammy hands from their horrific situation. It’s as if you’re in the sealed truck with them where it’s very dark — like being buried alive. I’m very claustrophobic to begin with, even closed elevators make me a bit nervous. Fortunately the story veers off as Hector begins to leave cell messages hopefully to eventually go through at the American number about how he and Cesar came to be there, en route illegally to the U.S. He tells their different back stories that become as big a part of the book as the scenes in the truck, which are intermingled throughout. Hector’s story reveals a truth he comes to learn about his family, whereas Cesar’s uncovers a dark reality about his job researching corn production for the Mexican government.
Each of these tangential stories held my interest to a certain extent, but “The Jaguar’s Children” is not an easy read. While it does a great job depicting its Mexican atmosphere and the terrible struggles within the country, the novel does get confusing at times. Sometimes I had to reread parts just to figure out what was going on or which story was being described. It also uses a considerable amount of Spanish language, often without translation, which left me a bit lost. It took considerable concentration to get through everything in it, and at times I just wanted to cut to the end to find out if the two guys and people get rescued from the truck, but I held back and slowly plowed on.
In the end, I’m glad I stuck with it. It’s quite a rich portrayal of the Mexican experience, and quite dark. It cuts to the humanity really. And if a book can speak well to that then it must be good. Though I had to read “The Jaguar’s Children” quite carefully, it has stayed with me — its bleak depictions and ramifications. As for the guys and other people in the truck, you’ll have to read it to the very end to find out if they survive. I guess I’d give the novel 4 out of 5 stars if I had to rate it on Goodreads. Undoubtedly the author poured so much into it. You can really feel an immersion into the place and culture.
What about you — have you read any of this author’s books and what did you think? Continue reading
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Lean In and Wild
Sheryl Sandberg’s nonfiction book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” came out last March and has stirred up a lot of talk either favorably or unfavorably about it ever since. Some have also seen her TEDTalk titled “Why We Have Too Few Women Leaders,” which she did in 2010. Currently Sandberg, the chief operating officer at Facebook, has a four-part series with co-writer Adam Grant on women at work running in the New York Times. The series continues with views that are in her book.
I picked up and read “Lean In” because my women’s book group chose to discuss it later this month, though I had been curious to read it since it came out. I don’t normally read business or books about employment, but it raises some interesting issues and I’m sure it’ll be a decent book for discussion as everyone has different work experiences and personal lives and views that will touch on things Sandberg brings up in the book.
Her main concern is the dearth of women in top executive or leadership positions at the workplace and that fewer women are aspiring to senior positions. She is upset that highly qualified and educated women are dropping out of the workforce and argues for getting more women in powerful positions by focusing mostly on what women can do to overcome the internal barriers that hold them back.
Yep, women, she maintains, are often holding themselves back from getting the top jobs. I’m sure many aren’t really pleased to hear this from a privileged, rich woman who had very powerful mentors along the way. As if she’s saying, I did it so what’s wrong with you? But generally I liked her book and thought it made many valid points. I didn’t agree with everything in it, but I did think it added to the discussion of working women, and I’m not one to dismiss it just because it looks inward at what women can do better.
In “Lean In,” Sandberg talks among other things about: increasing self-confidence, getting over stereotypes, reaching for opportunities, taking risks, getting mentoring, negotiating more, not worrying about pleasing everyone, applying for promotions, setting goals, and choosing a spouse that will equally share in household chores and childcare. She wants more women to “lean in” to their careers and more men to “lean in” to their families.
Quite a bit of what’s in the book might not be totally groundbreaking, you’ve likely heard these kinds of female business or self-help acumens before, but the book’s also well integrated with personal anecdotes and statistical research. I found both the stats and anecdotes revealing — and I thought quite a few of her tips were good and made me reflect on ways I could do things slightly differently at home or at work.
A few things I think that could’ve been cut from the book or that I would avoid would be: crying at work especially in front of your boss, smiling endlessly when asking for promotions, and asking any prospective employees whether they plan to have children. I guess I wouldn’t feel comfortable with these.
But I do share her premise that a world in which more women held power would be a better place, and I think it’s helpful of her to explore why we aren’t there yet. It’s definitely based on an array of complex reasons (both internal and external). I’d also point out there’s many ways to contribute to society and make an impact, and many ways to lead successful and fulfilling lives. Her corporate way is just one of many. I think she’d argue that women must keep going, reaching for goals and opportunities whatever their path might be and despite fears and obstacles. I found her book was good food for thought.
Meanwhile my husband and I saw the movie “Wild” last week, which I think we both liked. Many of those who read Cheryl Strayed’s 2012 memoir won’t be disappointed I think by the film version. It sticks pretty close to the book and enhances it with the beautiful visuals of the landscape and the performances by Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl and Laura Dern as her mother, both of whom have been nominated for Academy Awards for their portrayals.
“Wild” chronicles a young woman’s solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert to Washington State undertaken after the death of her mother and the end of her marriage. On the journey she finds solace and begins to heal.
I’m a sucker for such hiking/journey-types of finding oneself stories, and while I liked but didn’t love the “Wild” book, I was moved by seeing her journey on film. During Cheryl’s trek, there’s various flashbacks to her childhood with her brother and her single mother and also flashbacks of the downward spiral her life took in her late twenties. You feel her anguish and grief and also her healing as she moves forward. It’s a quiet film that captures her strenuous hike and internal struggles. It reminded me a bit of the 2010 film “The Way” with Martin Sheen, which similarly involves a long hike and the grieving process.
What about you have you read “Lean In” or seen the film “Wild” and what did you think? Continue reading
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The Enchanted and Unbroken
So the first book I read for 2015 … drumroll please … was “The Enchanted” by Rene Denfeld, which came out in March 2014. It left quite an impression on me and would’ve been my pick for best novel of 2014 if I had read it just a few weeks back. It’s very dark and brutal in some places but beautifully written and very well done.
How to explain it? The novel takes place at an old stone prison where some of the inmates wait on death row. There’s a warden, a priest, and a lady investigator who visits trying to discover buried information about her clients’ pasts to save the soon-to-be executed. One part of the story is about her life and a case she is working on to save a prisoner named York. He doesn’t want to be saved though, but she pursues it, revealing some ugly truths about his past (and her own) while investigating in his hometown.
The other part of the story is about what goes on at the prison as told through the eyes of a reclusive death row inmate. All the awful things you hear about in prison and among inmates manifests themselves in the story in brutal ways. To escape his situation, the inmate disappears in his books and re-imagines the prison as an enchanted place where fantastical creatures rome. He’s fearful, living in his cell with covers over his head, but he’s able to sense what others cannot.
“The Enchanted” is an unusual and unsparing story about life on death row. It’s not too political (there’s characters in it on both sides), it’s not sentimental (definitely not Disney), it’s not forcing something down your throat, but rather by the end it gets to something of what it is to be human — both the violent and the good. You sense the humanity of those involved.
I can’t say I really realized what this book would entail when I picked it up. It’s quite harsh, so be forewarned. It’s not a light, feel-good book. It’s about the exact opposite of my last read “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry,” which I found too sentimental. This one is not anything like that. Normally I would not pick up a novel about a death row prison, but I’m very glad I did. Despite its darkness, I was taken by the beauty of the book — the author’s descriptions — and how well it is done — exploring such themes of the human condition. It pretty much blew me away.
Speaking of humanity, I did see the film “Unbroken” the other night, and while I did think the film was good in various respects, I’m sorry to say it didn’t fully capture the essence of Laura Hillenbrand’s book about Louis Zamperini’s incredible life story. Notably it misses quite a bit of the context of the history in her book, and what life was like for servicemen in the Pacific theater during WWII. It also misses Louis’s formative post-war years completely by just putting a postscript at the end of the film.
I liked the early parts of “Unbroken” best of Louie running, and the flying scenes of the WWII bomber plane. The scenes on the raft were also vivid and Jack O’Connell does quite a reputable job as Louis Zamperini. But the brutal scenes once Louie gets captured and sent to the Japanese POW camp take a toll. As my nephew said: the film felt like a long series of really bad stuff occurring to one person. And for me: who wants to watch a movie of two hours of torture? Without more historical context of the collective war experience, and Louie’s redemption later in life, the film misses out on being a lot more. I think Hillenbrand would stress that Louis Zamperini was just one among hundreds of thousands of Allied servicemen who sacrificed and was a hero during WWII. Through her book, we get to learn a little bit more about their service in the Pacific theater.
What about you — have you read (or plan to read) “The Enchanted” or have you seen (or plan to see) the film “Unbroken” — and what did you think? Continue reading
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Still Alice, A.J. Fikry, & Imitation Game
I haven’t posted lately as I have been busy with all things related to Christmas, but my husband and I had a lovely week at the beach in California visiting my folks. Now we are back to the snow in Canada, wondering how the vacation went by so quickly. It’s the last day of the year, so I want to wish everybody a very Happy New Year! I’m sure like many of you I’ll be setting new reading goals in 2015, such as mixing in more nonfiction and maybe classics and upping the number of books that I hope to read. I also want to review a book from each month that’s just come out, thereby staying more current and topical. Meanwhile I have a few mini-reviews of books and a movie I saw on break.
The first is Lisa Genova’s 2007 debut novel “Still Alice,” which I wanted to read as it is coming out as a movie with Julianne Moore and Alec Baldwin on Jan. 16. Much buzz has been talked about of Moore’s performance and whether it’ll be award-winning, so I was game for the book. Granted, it’s a bit of an odd choice at Christmas break, reading a story about a successful female professor at Harvard who gets diagnosed at 50 with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. It’s quite sad sort of like all the plane crash news of AirAsia on TV this past week. How much can one take that’s depressing?
Yet “Still Alice” doesn’t bog down in overly sentimental, emotional gush. It tracks Alice’s diagnosis and what happens to her professional and family life as a happily married working woman with three grown children. As the disease progresses, the bonds of the family are tested, as well as Alice’s own identity of who she is if not the brilliant professor she once was. The novel’s a compelling quick read and is informative about the disease and its genetic link and testing. I flew through it, wanting to hear more of Alice even though her prognosis isn’t good. Also having the book told from Alice’s point of view, as she struggles through, definitely makes it more unique from other Alzheimer’s stories I’ve read, which are often told from the caretakers point of view. It adds more value and understanding to her situation too.
I liked “Still Alice” though there were a couple times that strained my believability, particularly the part where Alice shows up to teach the next semester without having told the university what’s happening despite the disease’s evident progression. She’s in denial all right, but she should have just told them and taken a leave instead of having to be confronted by the department head. Still it’s a moving book about a terrible disease that’s touched so many people’s lives. I’ll be curious to see the movie.
I also liked Gabrielle Zevin’s “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry,” which has been quite popular this year. It’s a novel about a grumpy bookstore owner and widower on an island in New England whose life becomes transformed after a two-year-old baby is left abandoned at his store. Most of it takes place at the bookstore and captures a bit of the magic of books and bookselling so I was eager to read it having worked during my younger years in indie bookstores.
The novel starts strong and I immediately thought I was going to love it. There’s both humor and heart to it, and the first encounter between A.J. and the book sales rep Amelia is a funny exchange. The story also has a bit of intrigue when A.J.’s rare book of Poe’s poetry is stolen and the child is left at the store. The island clientele also makes for fun characters and a good book community.
“The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” seems to have all the right ingredients but then somewhere along the way it becomes too sentimental and I couldn’t shake it for the rest of the book. Just seems a bit sweetened. So I liked it but didn’t end up loving it. Drat. I also thought it would delve more into books than it actually does. Oh the stories I could tell about the bookstores I ended up at.
Last but not least, “The Imitation Game” is a movie I would highly recommend. The history behind the breaking of Germany’s Enigma Code during WWII is fascinating, and it stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, the real life mathematician who helped solve the code. What more do you want? It’s a race against time during the war, and not only do the code-breakers have to crack the code against a machine considered unbreakable, but once they do then they can’t let the Germans suspect they solved it. The film’s great and also involves the sad fate of what happened to Alan Turing after the war (no spoilers here). So far the film’s my favorite going into award season, but I still have plenty of others to see, so stay tuned.
What about you – have you read or seen any of these or do you plan to? And what did you think?
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Posted in Books, Movies
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Unbroken
I’m ready for the movie adaptation of “Unbroken” — at least I think I am — I just finished the 2010 bestselling book by Laura Hillenbrand. It’s incredibly powerful for sure, and one of the most epic war survival tales I’ve ever read — though I’m sure there are many grueling accounts I haven’t gotten to. Just this year, I read Eric Lomax’s book “The Railway Man,” which is another chilling account of life in a WWII prisoner-of-war camp. And a few years ago, I read David Howarth’s epic true story “We Die Alone” about a Norwegian resistance fighter who somehow survives a Nazi ambush and escapes to an arctic village. Check those out if you’re feeling brave, or if you want to read two other incredible World War II survival stories.
I think I’m nearly the last person on Earth to have read “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.” It sat on my shelf for four years, collecting dust, but I knew I’d get to it. I’d heard all the amazing things about it, and in the end, it lived up to it all. For being nonfiction, “Unbroken” is not a dense or heavy read. It’s a quick page-turner, and I plowed through it with zest, careful not to miss a word. I wanted to get to the bottom of Louis Zamperini’s fascinating life, and Laura Hillenbrand’s flowing narrative and amazing research perfectly led the way. Not only does Hillenbrand’s book lend insight into Louis’s own life, but it also captures what the war was like for so many servicemen in the Pacific, especially in the air battles.
Even without the war part, it’s incredible that Louis Zamperini, who apparently was a total hellion as a kid growing up in the 1920s and ’30s in Torrence, California, became an Olympic miler in the 1936 games, qualifying at only 19. He was expected to be the first ever to break the four-minute mile, but then WWII broke out and he enlisted.
“Unbroken” recounts Louis Zamperini’s service as a bombardier on a B-24 bomber, which eventually was shot down by the Japanese while on a mission over the Pacific. He miraculously survived 47 days lost at sea on a raft with the plane’s pilot before being picked up by the Japanese and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp. There, he was tortured and endured the wrath of one particularly sadistic guard nicknamed “The Bird.”
Ugh, The Bird is really difficult to handle in this book, and some of the violent and brutal parts inflicted on the prisoners by him are hard to read. The starvation and humiliation, as well, is stuff you can’t fathom. The POWs suffered through so much, it’s harrowing to imagine. I felt very vengeful toward The Bird and hoped he would be brought to justice after the war, but it doesn’t appear that’s what happened.
The book’s ending deals with life after the war for Zamperini and a few other POWs. Louis marries and becomes a devout Christian after hearing the sermons of Billy Graham, which ends up turning Louis’s alcoholic life around. Eventually he returns for a visit to Japan, forgives his captors, and is chosen as one of the carriers of the Olympic torch in Japan for the 1998 Nagano Games.
It’s quite an emotional ending, though the post-war years of the book feel a bit more rushed and seem perhaps not as thorough or as deep as what happens to Louis during the war. I’m sure I probably gave away too much of the synopsis of the book, but even knowing that, it doesn’t do justice to reading the story. You might know that “Unbroken” is about a prisoner-of-war’s experiences during WWII, but until you read the Hillenbrand book, you won’t really get the gist of how remarkable the story really is. I’m sure it is one of my favorite reads of the year. I plan to see the movie, but I know it might not have the same impact as the book, which I seemed to have lived through in my head, rooting for Louis to survive over all the intolerable hardships.
What about you — do you plan to see the movie? And did you read the book first — and what did you think? Continue reading
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