The Cue Card

I hope everyone is enjoying these pretty summer days and the flowers in bloom despite our trying Covid times. Hard to believe: we just passed the summer solstice and the longest day of 2020. How are your reading goals looking at the midway point of the year? So far I’m on track to reach mine but still remain a bit distracted by virus spikes, crazy political news, and wondering if the economy will come back. The U.S./Canadian border remains closed for another month, flights out of here are pretty minimal, and plans to see my folks in California are on hold till I figure out a safe way. I will continue to assess the situation for August and stay put in the interim.   

Meanwhile in book news I was really sorry to see that famous Spanish author Carlos Ruiz Zafron, age 55, passed away last week from cancer. What a terrible loss as his four-part series “The Cemetery of Forgotten Books,” which started with his 2001 novel “The Shadow of the Wind” was much beloved globally.

My husband enjoyed it and I still have it on my TBR backlist. This should be the year for it. Judy over at the blog Keep the Wisdom just finished all four in the series, which ended with Zafron’s 2016 novel “The Labyrinth of Spirits,” and had great things to say about it. Thankfully his books live on in the wake of his sad passing. Have you read his 2001 bestseller? And now I’ll leave you with a couple of reviews of what I finished lately.

Prairie Fever by Michael Parker / Algonquin Books / 336 pages / 2019

Synopsis: This novel, which came out last year and is just out now in paperback, is about two dissimilar sisters, ages 15 and 17, who are closely bound to each other by their isolation growing up and going to school by horseback on the desolate prairie in Oklahoma in the early 1900s. They have a strong reliance on one another … until a cataclysmic blizzard has tragic consequences, and their interest in the same man comes between them. Uh-oh. 

Lorena is the older one who’s practical and pretty and dreams of attending college, while the younger Elise likes to recite newspaper articles by rote and is driven by flights of fancy and jesting with her sister. She’s fond of the family horse and has an ear for piano playing. Neither at first thinks much of the young inexperienced teacher Gus McQueen who arrives from out of town to work at their school … but later when the blizzard hits … their lives become entangled and changed forever.  

My Thoughts: The story, which spans from 1917 to 1940, drew me in little by little to the hardships of their lives on the prairie — with their preoccupied parents who lost sons to illness — and the strength of their bonds … as the chapters alternate among the three main characters: Elise, Lorena, and Gus. Their lives are drawn together … and then later due to events are abruptly altered irrevocably and diverge. You wonder as the years pass what will become of them … as they marry and move away and whether there will be a reconciliation of sorts or if their paths will cross again. 

It’s a story that reminded me a bit of a Willa Cather kind of rural tale of two sisters whose lives and hearts are tested. I could relate to Lorena more … as at times Elise’s flighty actions lead to trouble. The language and the landscape transported me to their days on the prairie and delivered a kind of reckoning at the end in which it seemed the passage of time had helped. I liked how the author captured the time and place of this bittersweet sisterly tale and will watch for whatever he writes next. 

In disclosure: I received an e-galley of this novel from the publisher Algonquin Books to read and review.  Thanks for making it possible. 

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins / Flatiron Books / 2020  / 16 hours, 43 minutes on audio read by Yareli Arizmendi

Synopsis:  When a drug cartel operating around Acapulco massacres members of a family, a woman (Lydia) and her 8-year-old son (Luca) flee and make a plan to try to escape to safety over the southern border of the United States. 

My Thoughts: It seems most know if they intend to read this novel, which received so much press, by now. It won’t be for everyone. But I was curious by the uproar over it and a friend said she couldn’t put it down. So I took the plunge. My initial reaction after finishing the lengthy audiobook of it was: Whoa it’s a long hellish journey that Lydia and her son Luca endure along with others, particularly two sisters Soledad and Rebeca, fleeing circumstances in Honduras, whom they meet and befriend on the run. All will face endless hair-raising hurdles that’ll set you on edge and grind your teeth. It’s exhaustive and harrowing in places and you’ll need a good breather after. 

In many ways it’s typical thriller fare … and does not exactly rise much above that. So it’s not too surprising to hear the criticism that it exploits migrants and perpetuates stereotypes. Thrillers on the whole are pretty manipulative and are meant to turn pages. To its credit I will say its story made me think of migrants’ plights in a visceral way and unmoored me. Oprah didn’t make it her book club choice for nothing. It’s a strong cup of coffee that bears witness to a lot of suffering and desperate people fleeing violence.

From the story, you’ll get a sense of why caravans of people travel thousands of miles to arrive at the U.S. border with the hope of escaping something horrible in their homeland: whether it be from gangs, murder, drug cartels, relentless oppression and violence. You’ll also get a sense of the many dangers they face along the way to get there: whether jumping on top of trains, fleeing authorities, getting robbed and raped, existing without shelter or food or water in punishing conditions. It’ll drain your blood being in Lydia’s and the others’ shoes. Is it really any wonder you’ll feel or show them some compassion (which seems the purpose of the book). Some of the people along their route do and help them … while others prey on them. You’ll be wary to figure out whom to trust. 

Some parts of the story might not seem totally believable … like how the protagonist Lydia — might know and be friends with the head cartel guy in Acapulco and not know this about him … or not have her family go into hiding after her journalist husband writes an expose of his crimes. But other parts of the dangerous journey will seem perhaps all too believable and real in one’s head.

I’m sure there are various migrant or Latino authors who have written about such treks and issues in more substantial or nuanced ways. And I will look to read their works and in general to read more from authors of diversity and from different countries. Diversity and other nationalities are where we can learn so much about other lives and viewpoints. In ways this thriller — and the furor it’s caused in the publishing and reading world — points readers to other books and authors to pick up and explore. Therefore I’m not all against Jeanine Cummins or what she’s written and obviously researched. She raises hair-raising events about issues you’ll think about long after. Read or don’t read it at your own whim. The audiobook is read convincingly by Mexican actress and director Yareli Arizmendi, who felt realistically like the character of Lydia.  

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these novels or authors and if so, what did you think?

Hi. I hope everyone is staying well. It appears re-openings and activities are picking up and summer could be busy after all. We’ve had some nice days but also quite a bit of rain, which has made the foliage here go crazy. The lilac bushes are in full bloom and the smell is lovely, even Stella, at left, thinks so.

It’s high pollen time, so if I come down with headaches and sniffles I’ll try not to immediately think of Covid-19. I’m still social distancing … though I’ve been hitting some tennis with friends, which I’m finding is a sport that’s relatively safe, if you only touch the ball with your racket and use the hand sanitizer before and after you play. The virus cases here have dropped off significantly.

Meanwhile I was considering whether to put out a summer reading list this year for myself, but I sort of like to pick up whatever is on my mind at the time. I’m an avid mood reader and tend to keep my reads under wraps till I post about them … as if it’s a big surprise, ha. Will you be making a summer reading list this year?

Meanwhile, it’s almost prime back-deck reading season here and I’ll likely be mixing in faster plot-based reads with slower literary fiction. It’s a kind of mix that usually works at this time of year. Though have you ever noticed that e-readers aren’t the best for reading in the sunlight? I can’t see a thing on the screen. So it’s back to print books for the deck. And now I’ll leave you with reviews of a few books that I finished lately.

The Falling Woman by Richard Farrell /Algonquin Books /out June 23, 2020

Synopsis: This debut novel tells the story of a middle-age woman — Erin Geraghty — who plans to attend a retreat for cancer patients in California but the plane crashes en route and the NTSB investigator, Charlie Radford, is tasked in the aftermath with identifying the 123 bodies and figuring out if a lone survivor at the hospital is indeed for real. But before he can interview the woman, she checks out and no one knows where she’s gone. 

My Thoughts: I enjoyed this quick read, which I’d describe as thoughtful suspense lit. It’s told in alternating chapters from the two main protagonists’ viewpoints, describing in interesting detail their backstories. Erin is the woman scheduled to take the flight who’s been through many rounds of chemo for the past year for pancreatic cancer. She’s a lawyer in the DC area with a husband and two grown kids. But under her ordeal with cancer, she’s become tired of her marriage and recalls an affair she had years ago. Charlie, meanwhile, is a former pilot who loves flying but no longer can due to a heart ailment. His wife wants him to commit to having kids and buying a house, but he’s been resisting, and when the crash happens, he becomes consumed with his job of investigating his first big crash site.

These two characters held my interest, especially Charlie who seems so earnest and wants to do right by those who lost their lives, but then is hampered by rumors of a lone survivor. Eventually Charlie and Erin’s stories intersect and the suspense builds well … as to whether Erin was on the flight and survived and whether Charlie will get to the truth of what happened and announce it at the crash hearing. The ending is a doozy that will have you turning the pages quickly to get to. 

I liked the novel’s themes of fate, randomness, privacy … and the miracle of life, which it offers up with an enticing sensibility. You might not like or agree with everything these characters do … but I found it was their decision to make. My only minor critique is there’s a bit of repetition of Charlie’s work manta to follow the evidence and be objective. But I was okay with the premise — not fretting too much over whether the crash situation seems implausible … you’ll likely need to suspend some disbelief … to see other points it’s making. Such a miraculous kind of premise reminded me a bit of Stephen Kiernan’s novel “The Curiosity” about an ancient man trapped in ice who comes to life … you just go with the possibility of it and see where its wonder will take you.

In disclosure: I received an e-galley of this novel from the publisher Algonquin Books to review. Thanks for making it possible.

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld / Random House / 432 pages / May 2020

Synopsis:  This is an alternative history kind of novel in which the life and political career of Hillary Rodham Clinton is re-imagined as if she and Bill had gone their separate ways instead of marrying.

My Thoughts: I’m probably in the minority about this novel, which I listened to as an audiobook, as I was expecting to like it much more since I usually really like Curtis Sittenfeld’s novels as she is a great storyteller. But I guess I’m in the camp who liked the first part of the novel with the young grad school age Hillary and Bill together at Yale and then in Arkansas … but when they split and the alternate history of their lives in the story starts … I thought as it went on …. it went sort of off the rails. Some of the plot turns become a bit ludicrous … how she knocks off Carol Moseley Braun’s run for the Senate … and then near the end does a stump speech with Trump at one point …  and how she asks to sleep with a scoundrel-version of Bill decades later when he asks her to a private dinner … then gets angry when he doesn’t. 

Some parts seemed believable as Hillary and other parts not so much. Surely the ending is good and Hillary’s strong independence, her smarts and her stance on issues … but having her let Trump give an endorsement speech in her run for the presidency threw me into the DTs. I was a bit surprised too how it differed from real life political events and sequences and didn’t care too much for all the personal stuff … but I did like how the story highlights the double standards female political candidates endure in the U.S. compared to their male counterparts. It’s just crazy the sexism in politics and in running for U.S. office and the presidency. Hillary faced it all when she ran in 2016 … awful stuff, which the novel really re-affirms. You realize once again the almost impossible threshold for a woman to become president, due to underlying sexist notions, that the country is still awaiting its first … here embarrassingly in the twenty-first century.

All in all, it’s a semi-sympathetic portrayal of Hillary … not fully, there are mistakes. But the portrayal of Bill Clinton is pretty damning, as a narcissistic  predator. He comes off seemingly worse than even Trump. It’s a bit awkward … such a biographical fictional sketch of Hillary who’s still an active public figure these days. Some parts in the novel I liked about Hillary’s thoughts and how she affects people’s lives around the country (there’s a woman she befriends who’s going through cancer treatments) and yet other parts I didn’t like as much … and thought better of Hillary in reality. So you decide if this one is for you. 

Sea Wife by Amity Gaige / Knopf / 270 pages / 2020 / April 2020

Whoa this is a marriage-on-the rocks kind of story between a husband — Michael — who suggests that his family of 4 (with kids ages 7 and 3) take a year away from their home in Connecticut to sail around the Caribbean near Panama. His wife — Juliet — has had problems with depression (stemming from issues in her childhood) and feels rotten for not completing her PhD dissertation on the poetry of Anne Sexton. While the husband Michael, who’s a sailing enthusiast from childhood, is eager to have the family go, and seems like a libertarian in his political views and a Trump supporter … which is one of things that causes he and his wife to argue. Still they seem to love each other from their college days (as well as their cute kids) … just not at the same time.

As the family begins their sailing trip, it becomes interesting with them voyaging among islands and encountering various people and nature along the way. They also experience their fair share of troubles: with weather and the boat. It’s a story told in alternating paragraphs between Juliet (while on the boat and also at times looking back later on what happened) as well as Michael’s views from his sailing logbook entries. So from fairly early on you know something wrong has happened on the trip … but you don’t know exactly what till near the end. 

You get Juliet’s and Michael’s backstories too and it shines a light on all the nooks and crannies of their marriage and the nuances as it sort of combusts. The young creative daughter Sybil also plays a pretty playful role in the story (not to mention the baby Georgie) and their sailing adventure, whose outcome affects everyone on the boat. Needless to say, the family doesn’t end up making the trip to the one year mark. Kudos to the author — who cleverly intertwined the dialogue of the husband and wife and made it into an engaging story. After giving this 4.5 stars on Goodreads, I will have to go back and read the author’s 2013 novel “Schroder” sometime in the future. 

Ps. I read both the print copy of Sea Wife and listened to the audiobook of it, which is superbly done by Cassandra Campbell (as Juliet), Will Damron (as Michael), and Emily Eiden (as Sybil). I especially recommend the audio version as the back and forth segments from the characters are excellent; they really play off one another’s conversations in interesting ways.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these and if so, what did you think? 

I hope everyone is having a great weekend … and not getting too close at the beach or the barbeques :-). We had a very rainy past week here so we could use some fresh air and Vitamin D from the sun … though at least the leaves on the trees are out, see Stella modeling at left. And it should be sunnier tomorrow for a bike ride outing and next week too.

Meanwhile have you been contemplating Biden’s shortlist picks for VP? (I’m watching too much news, right?) Here are the possible candidates: Sen. Kamala Harris (Calif.), Sen.Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Rep. Val Demings (Florida), Stacey Abrams (Georgia), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.). Do you have a favorite of these, or who are you picking as the VP choice?  It’s all under wraps for the moment, but vetting is being done night and day as we speak. 

As for this week I think I’ll check out some of the BookExpo Online event happening May 26-29. Perhaps they’ll have some good virtual chats. And I hope they’ll be recorded because who knows if I can make it at the times they have listed. And it just so happens that it’s almost June — can you believe it — and that means that Summer Reading is on the way and Summer Reading lists too, so perhaps start jotting down titles you’d like to get to while enjoying your summer months. It’s such a great time of year … we need to stay positive amid these trying times, right? And for now, I’ll leave you with a few reviews of what I finished lately. 

The End of October by Lawrence Wright / Knopf / 400 pages / 2020

Why I Picked It Up: Whoa who reads a pandemic novel during a pandemic? I guess I was curious to pick it up to find out how similar it is to what’s currently going on now … and for sure some things in it are eerily on target about the disease, the contagion, and the political response. Apparently author Lawrence Wright began writing the novel in 2017 and finished it before our current situation got underway. Though it’s crazy timing, right?

Synopsis: It’s about a hemorrhagic fever outbreak at a camp in Indonesia, where epidemiologist Dr. Henry Parsons travels to investigate a group who’ve died. Soon he learns that an infected man is headed to Mecca to join millions at the annual Hajj. From there, despite a massive quarantine lockdown, the disease spreads becoming a global pandemic that unleashes havoc on the world, which Dr. Parsons and others try to race to slow and stop … while his family in Atlanta awaits his return. 

My Thoughts:  If you’re looking for a fast page-turner, this one doesn’t seem to get really going quickly until after 200 or 250 pages. The first part is filled with background info about diseases, terrorist plots, characters, and this and that. If you’re not into learning a bit, or wading into the mire of pandemics, it might lose your interest a bit … but I held on and found it interesting info to what we’re undergoing now. 

Though at first it seems Dr. Henry Parsons, the main protagonist, working on behalf of the World Health Organization, makes a couple of dubious moves that might be a bit hard to fathom: such as letting his driver into the infected Indonesian site … and getting trapped, working for months on the opposite side of the world away from his wife Jill and their two kids, whose lives in Atlanta play out as they await his return, trying to cope as things begin to deteriorate.

Ohh shouldn’t Dr. Parsons have found a military flight back? Good grief, there’s some real terror to the story as the virus spreads around the globe and deaths begin to mount. Whoa this is a tale that becomes much darker than what we are experiencing now. It’s rough and turns bleak. Hopefully our world won’t become like this … even if the next wave of the virus heads in our direction. It’s all the more reason to remain vigilant to staying safe and following the rules … despite what some might tell you. 

Another protagonist in the book Tildy, a director at Homeland Security, isn’t as fleshed out as the main story, yet her side plot is equally as scary in its imminent threat of an all out war with Russia and how it plays out. Good grief, western democracies begin to collapse and the alternative is: chaos and the worst side of human nature … it’s not exactly a pretty picture.

Apparently director Ridley Scott had suggested the book idea to author Lawrence Wright after reading Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 novel “The Road,” from which he wondered how its unrevealed apocalypse came about … giving Wright the impetus to research and write this scenario. It seemed to me Wright’s research for the book was pretty extensive and his plot prescient, I just wish some of his storytelling and character fulfillment could’ve been a bit better. A few of them felt hung out to dry. Still I’m glad I read it, but it likely won’t be for everyone. 

The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa / Pantheon / English translation 2019

Synopsis: It’s about an unnamed female novelist who lives on an island (perhaps off of Japan) where an authoritarian government makes everyday objects (such as bells, ribbons, perfumes, harmonicas) one-by-one disappear, not only physically but also in the minds and memories of the islanders. The government has its Memory Police enforce these object disappearings and arrest the few islanders who are able to retain these items and not forget them. The Memory Police patrols the town, taking away suspects and trying to find potential safe houses.  

The narrative alternates between the female novelist’s life — her friendship with an Old Man living on a boat and how she comes to hide her male editor called R (who has memory recall) in her house — as well as the novel she’s writing that tells the story of a typist who becomes imprisoned by her teacher. 

My Thoughts: I listened to this novel as an audiobook … and though it’s simply told, there’s a lot about it which makes it meditative and unsettling. It’s a bit of an unusual dystopian story that comes off being fairly credible … at least to a certain degree… you come to believe it is happening to these people on the island, which makes it all the more alarming. 

Apparently the book was originally published in Japan in 1994 but just came out in English in 2019, since it was deemed relatable to authoritarian times. I liked how the book’s theme played with memory and the novelist’s creative process … and how I came to care about the safety of the woman, the Old Man, and the editor R, who lives and hides in a cell underneath her floorboards. 

Apparently one of the author’s favorite books is “The Diary of Anne Frank” and you can tell with R’s small hiding place and the interaction with the two hiding him. It’s also telling how as such daily things are taken away, the characters begin to dissipate physically and mentally over time. Hmm there’s much food for thought in this unique Japanese novel.

Heft by Liz Moore / 354 pages / W.W. Norton / 2012

Synopsis: This 2012 novel has dual narratives that eventually connect: between a retired 550-pound professor living in a Brooklyn brownstone named Arthur Opp … and a 17-year-old high school boy named Kel Keller in Yonkers who has hopes of becoming a pro baseball player and cares for his mother Charlene Turner who has lupus.

Charlene was once a college student of Arthur Opp’s and they were friends and pen pals for years after but then lost touch …. until a call many years later by Charlene to Arthur to tutor her son sets things in motion. To prepare for this, Arthur hires a cleaning lady named Yolanda … who opens up his closed world ever so slightly. 

My Thoughts: Oh this is a story about three lonely, pained people. My goodness “the despair of loneliness” is a main theme of the story. I was really drawn into the audiobook … especially by Arthur’s voice at the beginning and how his life unfolded … to such a point that he hasn’t left his home to go outside in 10 years. His heft and loneliness have folded in on themselves, making Arthur basically a recluse to the world. And Kel’s upbringing has been sad as well. He’s not sure of his father and his mother is sick and he’s on his own a lot. Baseball has been his one hope … and perhaps connecting with Arthur since he once knew his mother. 

I liked Arthur’s narrated chapters a bit more than the boy Kel’s but the backstories of both characters pulled me in — as well as how the narratives came together. The author is an excellent storyteller … and propels you along despite it being quite a drawn out character kind of (saddish) story. I won’t forget the inimitable Arthur Opp anytime soon.

This is my third novel by Liz Moore and my favorite of hers is still “Long Bright River” … but this one did not disappoint. Although the author makes the novel end a bit abruptly before you’re ready for the story about Arthur and Kel to conclude. The future outcome is left a bit to one’s own imagination, which will either make you dreamy, or upset it was left like that. By then, I wanted to know more! 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these — and if so, what did you think?  Cheers for now.

I hope everybody is hanging in there. The number of daily virus cases here has dropped quite a bit, which it seems is due to the two months of lockdown and distancing and hand-washing procedures. But now things are about to open up gradually in stages, so we will see if we can keep the cases from spiking too much.

Tennis friends are asking to hit again as the City has given the green light to outdoor singles play albeit with new guidelines. So I will try tennis today, which will feel strange after life in lockdown. Meanwhile at left is a sign I saw while on my morning dog walk recently. I agree with the sentiments: Thanks to our frontline workers of nurses, doctors and staff, who have saved lives fighting this terrible disease … many of whom have lost their own lives in the process. So tragic. Our hearts go out to them.

As for book news, I see that the annual BookExpo, which was scheduled to be held at New York City’s Javits Center, will instead be made virtual this year and free to the public from May 26-29, so stay tuned to the Expo’s Facebook page for more upcoming information.

I have only gone to one BookExpo, which was in Chicago in 2016, but it was a lot of fun and quite informative. For those who don’t know: BookExpo is the publishing industry’s biggest trade event where those who are connected to the biz come together to find out about upcoming titles, authors, new technology, and trends. It’s one big book industry / marketing /sales and blogger fest. 

It reminds me there’s so many events going on virtually these days. You can find live concerts, lectures, classes, gym training, book talks and other online streaming things on top of all the podcasts you were already trying to hear each week. It’s a smorgasbord out there. Your favorite bookstore is likely streaming a live event even as we speak. I’ve checked out a few virtual book talks via D.C.’s Politics & Prose bookstore and Denver’s Tattered Cover bookstore. It’s neat when you can watch them streaming live, though you can also catch them after they’ve passed too. Have you checked out any? And now I’ll leave you with a couple of reviews of books that I finished lately. 

Writers & Lovers by Lily King / 320 pages / Grove Press / 2020

Why I Picked It Up: I liked the author’s last book in 2014 — “Euphoria” — which  was historical fiction and based on the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead. 

Synopsis:  The novel’s protagonist is named Casey, age 31, who waits tables at a restaurant in Harvard Square where she bikes to from across the river … and who works hard despite various stresses in her life to finish her debut novel, which has taken six years of her life. She struggles financially (under college and grad school debt) and is still grieving the loss unexpectedly of her mother. She also has health concerns, is writing daily early in the mornings, working double shifts late into the night, and needs to decide between two guys she’s seeing on the sly. 

My Thoughts: Ohh to be young … without much cash and on the go …. in the setting of Boston and the Charles River. I always seem to fall for coming-of-age tales and this one is endearing enough to root for Casey, who’s having a few crises all at once. Are these the best kinds of stories or what? It reminded me slightly of Laura Zigman’s new novel “Separation Anxiety” — since I read it recently — which is also about a writer on the brink of chaos and breakdown. I was glad for the ending of both novels … they aren’t all downward spiral … which I was so thankful for. I can’t be worrying about Casey forever, but I liked and was glad to spend time with her.

There’s quite a bit in the story about Casey waiting tables, which reminded me a bit of Stephanie Danler’s novel “Sweetbitter” since I finished that one recently. These are two restaurant, coming-of-age writer stories I read in the same month. I better bus my own tables after this. Also it was my second read by Lily King … whose novel “Euphoria” is quite different than this. “Writers & Lovers” is lighter and has some amusement to it. It isn’t as serious in tone as “Euphoria,” though it still has conflict and anxiety to wade through. 

Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel / Unbridled Books / 256 pages / 2009

Why I picked it up:  Because it’s the debut novel of Emily St. John Mandel, the author extraordinaire of the 2014 novel “Station Eleven.” She’s also originally a Canadian and I need to read more from Canadian authors since I live here now. This novel reminded me slightly of author Heather O’Neill since her novels are often set in her hometown of Montreal.

Synopsis: The story centers around a child abduction case … Lilia, age 7, is taken by her father away from her mother and out of the country. She is raised as a fugitive on the go from town to town, trying to elude a private detective named Christopher that her mother has hired.

She has made a life for herself on the road with her father … and later even in her 20s, Lilia, who is talented at languages, is still traveling about, leaving relationships in her wake — her last being Eli in Brooklyn — a graduate student unable to finish his dissertation (about dead languages) and working at a boring security job at an art gallery. Eli’s bereft that Lilia has left and so when he’s contacted months later by the detective’s daughter Michaela informing him that Lilia’s in Montreal, Eli leaves to try and find her with the help of Michaela. Along the way, they piece together information concerning Lilia’s abduction. 

My Thoughts: This slim debut novel had some of the same trademarks as Mandel’s National Book Award finalist “Station Eleven” from flashbacks in time, to themes of art and languages, and traveling, circuses, and Shakespeare quotes. Mandel seems to like to make her novels like jigsaw puzzles that circle around and back in time and reveal mysteries about a tragic event … after various stops and starts. 

All of the characters in this are impacted by the unique fugitive Lilia … and Michaela’s life sort of parallels Lilia’s … with her detective father away on the road and her mother absent. So it held my interest on how it unfolds … with Eli chasing leads via Michaela around Montreal on Lilia’s whereabouts.

It’s not as compelling or creative as “Station Eleven” is …. but yet it’s a debut novel that shows some of the spark and talent about where such a novel came from. It’s a building block with similarities in which you get a feel for the characters, the abduction, and its aftermath. I’m still wondering about the ending, which surprised me a bit and left me on a ledge. 

That’s all for now.  What about you — have you read either of these and if so, what did you think?  And how is your area’s opening going? Stay well my friends.

Hi. How is everyone doing?  I think it’s been about a month now that lockdown life started. It was the week around St. Patrick’s Day that things really began shutting down quickly. My husband and I have adjusted fairly well — sheltering in place — and luckily he still has his job and is able to work from home. My part-time work officiating provincial and national tennis tournaments has been wiped out, but the organization is still meeting online once a week to see where we go from here. It’s hard to imagine how many nonprofits and small businesses are going to be able to survive the pandemic … and not without much financial help I think. I hear that some areas are thinking about “opening up” the economy and easing restrictions soon … but will it work … or is it too soon? What do you think for your area? 

At least the weather here looks to be improving. (The photo above was taken on Easter, April 12, so we have less snow now.) And our first spring temps should hit this coming week with a forecast reaching the lows 60s, which means we’ll see a lot of snowmelt ponds and muddy conditions outside. But I look forward to seeing my yard … and getting back out there, prepping the garden and cleaning it up from last fall. Can’t wait for spring here! Meanwhile I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler / Knopf (first edition) / 368 pages / 2016 

Synopsis:  It’s a coming-of-age novel about 22-year-old Tess who’s newly arrived in New York City and lands a job as a server at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. There, she learns her way … thanks to the staff friends she meets, experiencing a lot about life in the City, punishing work, food and wine, friendships, love, and drugs.

My Thoughts: Oh yes, what’s it like to be a young adult — inquisitive, working hard to earn a living, wild, free, and self-destructive again. This was a backlist read for me as Danler’s next book — a memoir called “Stray” is due out May 19 and I wanted to read this one first. I’m not sure why I didn’t read the novel when it came out in 2016. Perhaps it was because I’m not really a foodie or a restaurant connoisseur … which this one has quite a bit of … and it didn’t call out to me at the time, but it should have. Whoa. The staff friends Tess meets at the restaurant: Ariel, Sasha, and Will, not to mention Scott, Nick, Simone and Jake teach her the ways of the world, about upscale food and wine, life in the City, and the after-partying of late night restaurant work. It gradually gets pretty dark, bone-tired, and wasted: so beware, but ohh the writing! 

I like coming-of-age tales and this one is a doozy … it’s a little like Jay McInerney’s “Bright Lights, Big City” mixed with Salinger’s sad Holden Caulfield and Donna Tartt’s hazy drug days in “The Goldfinch” … tossed into a salad bowl. That’s almost all you need to know … but okay, it’s also got a love triangle too that Tess gets herself involved in and keeps you guessing a bit till the end. Tess falls hard for the bartender Jake! And has trouble reigning herself in … when trouble is on the wall … but that makes it all the more hard to put down. 

So yeah it’s a novel more than just about restaurant life and food — but from that setting you get a lot of atmosphere, various staff personalities, and the allure of great tastes. Tess’s restaurant mentor Simone — wise and world-traveled — is quite a beguiling character who plays a major role in testing and teaching Tess throughout. She’s hard to miss or forget in this … and Jake is well Jake — he’s alluring, a bit mysterious … and a bad boy too. 

I noticed that a few criticisms of “Sweetbitter” on Goodreads said that it felt whiny and pretentious in places, but I didn’t notice that too much. It seemed pretty real to me from the author’s restaurant days in NYC, which she’s obviously based the story on. As I read on, I gradually fell into young Tess’s rabbit hole little by little and kept on trying hard to pull her out. 

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid / Putnam / 307 pages / Dec. 31, 2019

Synopsis:  This debut novel, which I listened to as an audiobook, revolves around a 25-year-old black babysitter (Emira), her white privileged employer (Alix), and Kelley, a tall white man who videos an incident that Emira has at a grocery store while babysitting Alix’s daughter Briar late one night, near the novel’s beginning.

My Thoughts: There are various positive things about this novel — don’t get me wrong. The writing is active and moves the story along nicely … delving into a plot surrounding race, privilege and privacy that are worthy, interesting explorations. You also come to know the three main characters fairly well: there’s Alix Chamberlain known for her PR letter writing workshops; her black babysitter Emira, a Temple University grad who has some doubts about still babysitting after college; and Kelley, a capable techie who ends up having links to the two. 

There were other things that I didn’t like as much … such as the plot relies on a couple of coincidences that are perhaps a bit hard to believe such as their ties to Kelley and how things spin out of control. Also I wanted a bit more of Emira taking care and playing with Alix’s child Briar, showing Emira’s good, endearing sides … and showing why both busy, rich Alix and Kelley are so drawn and consumed with Emira. I wasn’t as drawn to her personality as they were and wanted her to step up more and say things directly, though I felt she probably did care and like taking care of the kids.

To me all three, weren’t really that likable … though Alix does indeed come out the worst. Though I liked how the author tried making them nuanced characters (both flawed and capable) at least at first … who revolve around a situation and life that explores subtle (and not so subtle) acts of racism. It’s a theme that reminds me slightly of some of Thrity Umrigar’s novels if you’ve read them.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these novels — and if so what did you think?  And more importantly, how are you doing? 

Greetings. I hope you are all staying well, sheltering in place. It’s not easy, but it’s the best thing we can do for the foreseeable future. Have you been able to concentrate enough to read much, or have you been too distracted by the news? It seems to come and go with me. Some days are more conducive to reading than others. I try to tell myself to keep a handle on the anxiety, while doing other things. 

Lately, I’ve turned off the TV news and have been tied up doing taxes, applying for Canadian citizenship (yea! I could get dual citizenship if this works out), doing my boot camp class virtually, going for dog walks, and talking with family and friends via Zoom. Oh it’s a new world out there, but it’s best to try and adjust. I’ve enjoyed keeping in touch with blogging friends during this time and knowing how each of you are doing in your part of the world, so write when you can. 

Now I’ll leave you with reviews of a few books I’ve finished recently. (Two were e-book reads, and two were audiobook listens.) 

Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA by Amaryllis Fox / Knopf / 240 pages / Oct. 2019

Why I Picked It Up: I think I first saw this memoir on Kathy’s blog over at Bermuda Onion and then found it as an audiobook at my library. The author narrates the audio and does a pretty good job of it as I was drawn in from the get-go. I’m also a fan of the show “Homeland” — and the movies based on the John le Carre novels — so all of the true-life books coming out recently by female CIA agents who signed up after 9/11 are sparking my interest.

Synopsis: This is a memoir by a woman who was recruited while she was doing graduate studies at Georgetown University, at age 22, into the CIA. It describes her youth, her college years at Oxford and abroad, where she met and interviewed Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma; her recruitment by the CIA while at Georgetown and training at “the farm”; and her eight years as an agent in the field tracking and trying to infiltrate terrorist arms networks to thwart nuclear attacks. 

My Thoughts: The author’s life certainly makes for fascinating material. And her book is quite revealing even for its little tidbits into life at the very secretive CIA. How did she even get to publish it?  Well apparently she gave the manuscript to the CIA for a year and when they didn’t do much with it …. she made their minor changes and went ahead and had it published without their final approval, Whoa. 

It’s a memoir that’s pretty engrossing for its glimpses into her training at the CIA and for her years as a spy in the field. The main mission she describes in the book is her contacts in various overseas locations with a Hungarian arms dealer who has links to al-Qaeda and its intentions to detonate a nuclear device. You’ll want to stay tuned to find out how her interactions with him play out, but thankfully a detonation of such a device is averted.

It’s one of those books that will make you worry with its descriptions of what goes into a nuclear bomb and how nuclear materials are missing from the former Soviet Union, and how terrorists around the world are trying to get and use them. A few parts of the memoir come off a bit CIA insider-y and flew by me, but other parts are about her personal life (two marriages during these years) and her work, which takes a big toll on it. Towards the end she has a baby with husband #2 in China and continues to do dangerous work even with the baby by her side (yikes!)… until eventually she gives up the job. 

I thought it was interesting though scary to think about. It’s a slim book and I felt a bit of it was padded and just filled with her thoughts about trying to gain trust and peace and how her attitude about the work changed over time. It could be construed in places as thin on material or lacking in more detailed missions but apparently the author has said that it was meant more as a coming of age story than an operational CIA one. So you might take that into account. Despite these caveats, I still found it pretty eye-opening and worthwhile. 

Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman / Ecco / 288 pages / March 2020

Why I Picked It Up: The cover made it look light and fun (yes I’m a dog person) and something maybe easy to read during Covid-19 … though I think it ended up being darker than I expected.

Synopsis:  This is one of those woman-on-the-brink kinds of stories. And when we first meet middle-aged Judy Vogel — she indeed seems to have gone through a lot in a short time. Her parents’ recent passings have taken a sad toll on her as well as her teenage son’s need to be free and independent of her, and the separation with her husband, who still lives in their house because they can’t afford to get a divorce or live separately. 

Her best friend is also sick with cancer, and Judy — once an author of a successful children’s book (made into a PBS series) — struggles from writer’s block and hasn’t written anything meaningful in years. Instead she writes for a living small, infomercial-like pieces for a health/happiness website that she can almost do in her sleep. So when Judy finds a baby sling in her basement … and ends up putting the family sheltie in it … and caring her around like a therapy dog, can you really blame her? 

My Thoughts: This sad, pained, and angry woman is undergoing a crisis and depression … but her daily misadventures are told in a pretty snarky amusing way, which reminded me very slightly of the humor in Maria Semple’s 2012 novel “Where’d You Go, Bernadette.” At times it’s a little whiny and other times right on. 

Judy’s life continues to snowball downwards … leading to run-ins at her son’s Montessori school and at a writer’s retreat seminar … but it ends after an event with a hopeful upturn that put a smile on my face. Maybe Judy is finally able to appreciate what she has …. and of those people she meets and has around her. And while it features a dog slung around her throughout the story … it’s not much about the dog. 

The German House by Annette Hess / Translated by Elizabeth Lauffer / HarperVia / 336 pages / Dec. 2019 (in Germany in 2018)

Why I Picked It Up:  I think I heard about this German debut novel through the blogosphere and it looked alluring. I listened to it as an audiobook and the narrator has a pretty strong German accent, but it seemed to fit well with the main character of Eva Bruhns. 

Synopsis: “The German House” is a coming-of-age story about 24-year-old Eva Bruhns who lives with her parents (who own the German House restaurant), and her sister who is a nurse, and her younger brother Stephan and their dog. It’s 1963 and Eva is offered a job to work as a Polish translator at the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, which she doesn’t know much about and which her family and fiance don’t want her to get involved with. But Eva accepts the job and comes to learn plenty during the long trial about the atrocities committed there and secrets from the past. 

My Thoughts: It’s an engaging slow-reveal-kind-of story that explores complicity, guilt, and justice — and also has quite a few side plots going on too: about whether Eva will marry her fiance, her sister’s relationship with a doctor at the hospital, the prosecutor David Miller’s life, her parents, and even fires that are being set in the city. 

Much of it kept me interested … though at times the novel’s abrupt transitions between the characters and side plots made it feel clunky and some character turns perhaps require some suspension of disbelief. Eva is at times annoyingly naive at first …. though her character undergoes quite a rough coming of age during it. At the end, some character side plots are resolved while others are more left up in the air. All in all the parts about the real-life trial and its testimonies seemed well researched and were effectively brought to life.

The Cactus League by Emily Nemens / Farrar, Straus and Giroux / 275 pages / Feb. 2020

Why I picked It Up: It should be baseball season right now but sadly it isn’t. Still I thought I’d give this short novel a whirl to get some old baseball, spring season spirit going. It’s also a debut novel by a promising writer who’s the editor of The Paris Review and was reviewed favorably by Susie at the blog Novel Visits.  

Synopsis: The novel’s nine chapters — or nine innings I suppose — delve into various characters all having to do with a major league baseball team’s spring training in Arizona. The chapters interconnect in a way showing various sides of the star player — Jason Goodyear — during preseason. There’s chapters involving the team’s batting coach, a baseball groupie, a sports agent, a team owner, an injured pitcher, baseball wives, the stadium’s organist, a rookie, and a 7-year-old fan. 

My Thoughts: The structure of “The Cactus League” reminded me a bit of Elizabeth Strout’s novel 2008 “Olive Kitteridge.” Its chapters feature the lives of separate characters … but interconnect in a way involving the team and the player Jason Goodyear. In that way it’s like interconnected short stories yet it is a novel.

I found “The Cactus League” pretty easy to jump into and thought it captured a picture of the competitiveness of spring training, the atmosphere, and a glimpse into these various people connected to the team’s spring training in Arizona, but it all seemed a bit dark or shady. Most were not really likable to me, and it didn’t exactly conjure a sense of baseball’s excitement or goodness. 

It felt more like the seedier side or greedier side of a ball club, though there were tinges of redemptive aspects to it. I also didn’t care for a prelude by a sports reporter that came at the start of each chapter. These parts didn’t jibe for me. I liked some character’s chapters better than others, so in that way it felt a bit uneven. But by the end you certainly get a sense of how flawed Jason Goodyear is … and yet how also human and good as well.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these books or authors — and if so, what did you think?