The Cue Card

Hi all. I hope you’ve had a good week. I’ve been busy with yard work and officiating a junior tennis tournament lately, so things have gone by in a whoosh. But now I’m back to chat about books. Last week’s post about my summer reading list drew great thoughts and input. I agree with those who said it’s a pretty ambitious list. I’m not sure I realized that many books I picked were over 400 pages. What was I thinking? Especially since I have Publishers Weekly reading to do too. But it will give me perhaps some focus and direction of what I want to read.

This week I have a slew of reviews to post since I haven’t in awhile. These are ones I read or listened to before my summer picks. Let me know if you know any of these, or have any thoughts about them.

Welcome Home, Stranger by Kate Christensen / Harper / 224 pages / 2023

3.5 stars. The protagonist of this novel divorced 53-year-old Rachel Calloway is a bit of a hard-nosed piece of work. Still she’s a bit sympathetic too when things start to fall apart. She’s worked like heck for decades as a science journalist to get where she is at her D.C. job … but when she’s called back to her hometown of Portland, Maine after her estranged mother dies, leaving her her townhouse, things begin to combust.

Rachel hasn’t returned home in 10 years, even while her mother, an attention-seeking alcoholic, was ill and dying. Her sister Celeste took care of her and holds resentments that she did all the work. Now as the two sisters reconnect with Rachel back in town … they find themselves mostly fighting rather than getting along. While there, Rachel must deal with old memories of her mother who she wasn’t close to; her hometown boyfriend who’s just been married; as well as her sister Celeste, her brother in law who’s turned alcoholic and their kids. Meanwhile her ex in D.C. is terminally ill and she’s being pushed out of her beloved job.

Independent Rachel, who seems to eschew her working-class digs, begins to feel a snowball effect upon her. Will she be able to pull it together and turn over a new leaf? There was some good writing in this, though I was at times at odds with the tempestuous characters and yet still I rooted for them to iron things out. This was my first novel by this author and another Maine novel whose setting I seem to be reading this year with other novels such as The Road to Dalton and Beyond That, the Sea.

The General and Julia by Jon Clinch / Atria / 272 pages / 2023

3.75 stars. I quite enjoyed the audio of this historical novel narrated by Gibson Frazier, which captures significant moments in the life of Ulysses S. Grant while he comes to write his memoirs at the end of his life in 1885. It took me awhile at the beginning to get accustomed to the narrative and the jumps it takes here and there in time (chapters seem a bit like vignettes). But as it went on I found it a fascinating look into the man whom the Confederacy surrendered to at Appomattox and who held the presidency twice. I learned quite a bit more about him than I knew before.

The prose is well done and it captures Grant’s mind-set, the times, and how his thoughts changed about slavery. It also tells about how he met his wife Julia (and later having a family of four kids), his meeting with Lee at Appomattox, his time as a St. Louis farmer at his farm Hardscrabble, his move to New York and his turn to business, his massive financial loss in a swindle, and his friendship with Mark Twain who helped Grant with his memoirs and offered to publish it.

Grant’s life was full of hard work, loss, and hardship. I had no idea he struggled so financially before the Civil War as a farmer, and later when he lost most of his money in an epic business scheme. I also didn’t know much about his friendship with Twain or his relations with slaves. Who knew he was such an interesting figure — pivotal yes, but also with such a variety of opposite aspects about him. I finished the novel wanting to know more about Grant. Should I read his memoirs, or the 1,100 page tome Grant by Ron Chernow? Ha. It could be a desert island book someday.

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl / Milkweed / 248 pages / 2019

3.5 stars. The chapters altered between lyrical nature writing and poignant essays about her family. I liked both quite a bit, though they were often quite brief and I sort of wanted the essays to go on longer … or the book to be written as an ongoing memoir. Though it has aspects of that.

Renkl, a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, talks much about the cycle of life and death in nature and caring for her elderly parents and their sad passings, which were tough on her. The parts about her loving parents really spoke to me and I found them touching. The joys of nature and family resound in the book … as well as growing up in a rural spot in Alabama before they moved to the city.

I think when I picked it up I didn’t realize it’d be short essays instead of a memoir, which isn’t my preferred reading format, but I liked her sensibilities and her honesty in thoughts about herself and her life. She is a keen observer of the natural world and the ties that bind family.

The Lost Americans by Christopher Bollen / Harper / 352 pages / 2023

3.2 stars. When a man named Eric working as a weapons technician for a defense firm in Egypt is found dead fallen from his balcony and it’s ruled a suicide, his sister Cate in New York begins poking around sure that her brother didn’t commit suicide. She flies to Cairo and enlists the friend of a friend — Omar — who’s hiding his life as a gay man from the oppressive regime. The two work together uncovering some leads about the nefarious firm Polestar, which offers a settlement of $4 mil to Eric’s parents back in Massachusetts.

Around and around the plot goes as Cate tries to make headway in finding out the truth about her brother’s death … trying to discover: what he was involved in and who he was associating with. Some of the threads are interesting in Egypt and others go round and round and I lost momentum caring too much about what was what. But then it gets dangerous for Cate and Omar and the ending was a bit of a surprise and a little shocking so it came to a head in a direct way. I listened to this on audio while I was weeding the yard.

King Nyx by Kirsten Bakis / Liveright / 320 pages / 2024

3 stars. I wanted to really like this one since I remember liking the author’s first novel Lives of the Monster Dogs long ago, but I could not stomach this one the same. Basically it’s about Anna Fort who in 1918 accompanies her husband Charles, a crypto-scientist, to an isolated island off northern New York state where Charles can finish his book at his benefactor’s island mansion. Soon we’re alerted that Anna has bouts of hysteria and had been in a sanitarium for awhile.

She was a maid when she met her husband and stands by her man since he helped her and is trying to earn a living with his book. But when they get to the island weird stuff begins to happen as they’re put in quarantine (since it’s the days of the Spanish flu), such as seeing foragers in the woods, having an oddly absent benefactor, and Anna’s being put under hypnosis by another guest who uses a machine. Then later dead bodies begin popping up.

It seemed a bit like goth on steroids … with life-size human dolls to boot. But did it really make any sense? Around and around it goes with its happenings and feminist themes. It wasn’t really for me — but it might be for you. Others on Goodreads liked it. I liked some of the Upstate New York locales it mentions such as Clayton and Alexandria Bay, where I’ve visited before. Otherwise I was ready to leave the island early on.

That’s all for now. What about you — do any of these ring a bell? And what are you reading these days?

Greetings. I hope everyone in the States has a very happy and safe Memorial Day weekend. We had our long weekend last weekend in Canada, which was rainy. Actually it’s been rainy here for about 10 days now, which should help the drought a bit, but it’s been hard to do any planting, golfing, or bicycling, lol. I guess it’s the unofficial start of summer. Yay!  It’s very green outside right now … and soon the clouds will clear and it will turn hot and dry.  

I was debating about whether to make a summer reading list. Sometimes they are more fun to make than to follow, lol. I usually like to be free to pick up whatever books happen to suit my mood at the time or that I can access from the library. But still making a summer list is fun and I like linking up with Cathy’s blog at 746 Books who hosts the lovely Summer Reading Challenge each year and to see what others are reading. I will tip off my summer reading now and end after Labor Day and see how far I get. 

This year instead of choosing many light summer beach reads and thriller type books, which at times don’t live up to the hype, I’ve picked a list of my usual kinds of reads that have gotten past me, or that I haven’t been able to pick up just yet. Many of these I’ve talked about before on previous Preview posts. Do any of these below look good to you? Only two are nonfiction books and the rest are recent fiction, except for Octavia Butler’s 1979 novel Kindred, which I’m reading for my July book club discussion. I tried to get books from an equal amount of female and male authors. And I’m sure that there will be other books that slip in as I go about my summer, but here is an outline of the 15 books I’m aiming for.

• James by Percival Everett / Doubleday / 320 pages / 2024
• Clear by Carys Davies / Scribner / 208 pages / 2024
• The House of Doors by Twan Eng / Bloomsbury / 320 pages / 2023
• How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair / 37 Ink / 352 pages / 2023
• My Friends by Hisham Matar / Random House / 416 pages / 2024
• The Women by Kristin Hannah / St. Martin’s / 480 pages / 2024
• Long Island by Colm Toibin / Scribner / 304 pages / 2024
• A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda / Mariner / 256 pages / 2024
• The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson / Crown / 592 pages / 2024
• River East, River West by Aube Rey Lescure / Morrow / 352 pages / 2024
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon / Doubleday / 448 pages / 2023
• Prophet Song by Paul Lynch / Atlantic Monthly / 320 pages / 2023
• The Road to Dalton by Shannon Bowring / Europa / 250 pages / 2023
• Kindred by Octavia E. Butler / Beacon / first published 1979
• My Beloved Life by Amitava Kumar / Knopf / 352 pages

Also I looked ahead to see what novels are coming out this summer that are on my radar, and these below fit the bill. They’re written by authors whom I’ve read and liked before, or whom I’m looking to read. Do you see any that appeal to you?

• Bear by Julia Phillips / Hogarth / 304 pages / June 25
• The Cliffs by J. Courtney Sullivan / Knopf / 384 pages / July 2
• The God of the Woods by Liz Moore / Riverhead / 496 pages / July 2
• Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner / Random House / 464 pages / July 9
• Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa / Pantheon / 288 pages / Aug. 13
• Burn by Peter Heller / Knopf / 304 pages / Aug. 13

And now it’s time for me to get cracking. I look forward to getting out the sunscreen, the hat, the deck umbrella and to plopping in a deck chair when time permits and enjoying my summer reading. What about you — will you make a list, or simply wing it?

Greetings. How’s everyone’s May going? It’s getting pretty busy here. We are trying to whip the yard into shape and put in some tomato plants and vegetables now that our snowstorms appear to be over. And we are looking into putting some fencing around the lower garden to keep out the deer since they especially liked the zucchinis and cucumbers last year. The good news is the leaves on the trees are coming out and everything is turning green right now. Unfortunately we had our first gray “smoke day” on Saturday from wildfires in the north, which I hope will be helped by rain later this week. Cross your fingers. It seems so early to be starting with the dreadful fires again.

I joined a ladies golf league once a week and I took this photo above while I was on my way to the course. It features the beginning of the splendid Canadian Rockies with a bit of snow on them.

My reading sputtered last month with everything, but after we arrived back a couple weeks ago, I took my library holds off pause thinking that they would come in as usual sporadically, but no, they came in all at once!

So I have much library loot to behold. What do you think of these novels to the left? Which ones would you read first? I hate to lose some of these and have to go back on the library wait list … but that’s the brakes. I’ve actually started the novel Welcome Home, Stranger since it seems shortest and I can move onto others after, but I have no idea where I heard of it from. They all look pretty enticing.

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately.

The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook / Doubleday / 432 pages / 2024

My husband and I listened to the nonfiction audiobook of this narrated superbly by Peter Noble on the 1,600 mile road trip we took to California in April, and it didn’t disappoint. Over hill and dale, we closely followed the legendary explorer Captain James Cook as he took his third and final voyage, which started in 1776 in England, with his crew arriving back in 1780.

The purpose was ultimately to find the elusive Northwest Passage. The expedition took two ships — one called the Resolution with Cook onboard — and the other the Discovery with Charles Clerke in command. Interestingly William Bligh, who later commanded the ship the Bounty when it was mutinied, was one of the officers aboard. Perhaps that was an omen?

Cook’s third expedition was a long, hair-raising voyage as the ships set sail from Plymouth stopping in Cape Town before going onto New Zealand and the islands in the Pacific then up along the North American coast all the way to the Bering Strait and Alaska until they encountered sea ice and turned back. I won’t spoil the particulars for you of where and what misfortune exactly took place, but the return trip is where things took a troubled turn for the legendary explorer.

Up until then, I was struck by how well things went for Cook. His encounters with the Indigenous peoples were usually friendly and he was making great progress on discovering and mapping new lands. But there were also a handful of dangerous times when he was unbelievably lucky to get out of situations alive and when he was harsh to the crew. Though all in all, he seemed well respected for the great explorer he was. The Indigenous Hawaiians saw him as the god Lono, which apparently might have contributed to his fate … as well as other lapses Cook made late in the journey.

I was caught up in the epic voyage as told by Hampton Sides — who uses many of the diaries and sea accounts of the times to recount what happens. Despite them, Sides remarks how you never really see the inner Cook or his emotions, rather he emerges more as a “navigational machine.” In addition to Cook, various chapters delve into a Polynesian man named Mai — the first in England — who Cook was commissioned to return to Polynesia. Mai is quite a colorful character and his cultural foray into London life and on the expedition with the crew is quite an interesting side thread.

Hampton Sides is an elegant writer who breathes life into the adventures of Cook and what the crew face along the way. Cook had a big impact on the places he landed and named many of them too. I think I was looking for a little more analysis at the end in the epilogue, but otherwise I found it a fascinating sea voyage to think about. It certainly was epic.

PS. My family lived in Oahu in the late 1960s since my Dad worked at Tripler Army Medical Center, so that is why I’ve always been a bit curious of the history of Cook and what happened to him amid the islands.

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty / Holt / 474 pages / 2021

The novel features an Australian tennis family — the Delaneys — and was a read recently for my book club. The parents Joy and Stan have been married 50 years and are unhappy in their recent retirement. Their four adult kids grew up playing competitive tennis and are still shaped by those days. Then a young female stranger ingratiates herself into the parents’ lives, staying at their house and cooking for them, while later Joy goes missing and various suspects from within and out come to light.

This novel is sort of a doozy. Moriarty’s storytelling abilities are full of quirky details about the family and their relations … where “apples never fall far from the tree” (hence the title). And when the mother goes missing, the family takes a turn. You begin to look at cracks in the retired couple’s marriage, their adult kids, and who the damaged stranger is who comes to stay with them. Moriarty keeps you invested enough in the plot and characters with only an eye-roll or two, but it does go on a bit too long. Like other of Moriarty’s novels, a bit less would have been better. But I was happy enough with the ending and glad it veered positive.

I’ve only read one other of hers — Big Little Lies — as well as watched the TV series of it along with Nine Perfect Strangers. The plots all get a bit crazy — but that’s supposedly some of the fun of it. Her next novel Here One Moment is coming in September, and it’s another 512 pages. So I guess she’s not going any shorter.

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

Hi all. Thanks for your well wishes about our trip. We had a nice drive from Canada and arrived in California four days later. The dogs enjoyed our overnights at hotels from their dog pillows, lol. We took an interesting tour at the Hoover Dam and saw Lake Mead and various sights along the way. You can see SoCal, at left, still has some nice snowpack in the mountains … and less so in the desert of Nevada, photos below. It’s nice to be back in my hometown, where I’m checking in on my parents. Today my Dad is waging war with his weeding tool on the dandelions in the yard. He’s keeping them at bay.

I have taken a bit of a blogging break while being here. Still I hope to visit your sites when I can. Currently I’m reading Liane Moriarty’s 2021 novel Apples Never Fall for my book club discussion in early May. It’s a bit long at 469 pages and is about an Australian family whose mother goes missing. The story keeps you guessing a bit. I will see where it goes. I’m also just starting an audio of Scottish writer Muriel Spark’s 1988 novel A Far Cry From Kensington, which seems pleasing. I have not read Spark before, but she appears to be a gem of a writer and received much acclaim during her life (1918-2006).

For a survey question this month, I am wondering when is the preferred time you do the majority of your reading and where do you like to read most?

I will start us off with an answer. For some reason, I really enjoy reading when I first wake up, early morning I’ll stay in bed and read for a while before the day starts. Then I get up and conquer the day, lol. It’s a quiet time that I like. I also like to read at night right before I go to sleep. My audio listening happens during the day, mostly on walks, while doing yard work, or driving. What about you — where and when does most of your reading take place? Do you have a comfy chair, sofa, or a patio you like to sit in while reading?

And now I’ll leave you with a few short reviews of what I finished lately.

True Grit by Charles Portis / Simon & Schuster / 215 pages / 1968

I liked the main character 14-year-old Mattie Ross from beginning to end. Her voice looms large in this classic Western set in the 1870s in which she goes after her father’s killer into Indian Territory with the help of Marshall Rooster Cogburn and Texas Ranger La Boeuf.

I listened to the audio version read by author Donna Tartt who is part Mattie Ross I think. So good. This one is a keeper. You could finish the story and then start it again from the beginning. Donna Tartt is an enthusiastic reader and the audio includes a postscript essay by Tartt, which talks about her family’s love of the novel and her thoughts about it. I only lament that Tartt has not read for more audios. She has a Southern accent, which is perfect for this tale, which starts in Arkansas.

But for some reason, I never saw the movie True Grit — either the 1969 version with John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, or the 2010 version with Jeff Bridges as Cogburn and Hailee Steinfield as Mattie Ross. I’d like to go back and watch both, if I can find them. Did you see them?

The Caretaker by Ron Rash / Doubleday / 252 pages / 2023

I seem to be in the minority on this novel, which received many high marks. Some of the writing is really well done, but I didn’t really believe or warm to the premise too much. It’s hard to say more without giving away the story, but it’s a sticky situation.

Set in the 1950s in rural North Carolina, a boy (Jacob) gets involved with a poor girl (Naomi) who is a seasonal maid who his parents don’t want him to mix with. They elope anyways and his parents pretty much disown him. Then he’s drafted into the Korean War and asks a friend (Blackburn) to watch out for his pregnant wife while he’s away. Jacob spends a year or so there and gets into a dangerous firefight. Meanwhile things at home take a turn due to a dubious secret plot that upends their lives. Only time will tell if they find out about it.

This is my second novel I’ve read by Ron Rash whose novel Serena I read years ago. I often like his Appalachian settings, and while I have liked his books and characters, they haven’t been a total home run for me yet. Still his books are worth checking out.

The Last Days of Hitler by Hugh Trevor-Roper / 288 pages / 1947

This book is often cited on lists of the top nonfiction of the past century as a significant historical work. First written in 1947, the author was appointed by British intelligence in Germany to write a report investigating the final days of Hitler and those around him at the end of WWII in April 1945 and how his death was confirmed and what happened in the underground Berlin bunker where he was and the months leading up to his suicide at 56 with Eva Braun, 33. They were married 40 hours before their deaths.

The book also offers a bit of a sprawling picture of the Nazis, their party ranks and power plays among potential successors to Hitler in the final days. Some where deluded in thinking they could continue on even as the Russian and Allied forces were closing in … that the Allies would allow the Nazis even to exist after surrender. They were nuts in various ways.

The book focuses quite a bit on Nazi architect Albert Speer and his thoughts on Hitler, as well as evil Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goring, and it made me feel a bit sick listening to the audio about the totalitarian regime. But for historical purposes and other reasons needs to be known about so it can be avoided at all costs. It’s a dark time and lesson in history.

That’s all for now. Sorry to end on such a grim thing. I hesitated about whether to include a review of such a book here, but if we never study past history and its horrors then how do we know and learn and get beyond such dark events. I was a history major in college and then went into journalism, but I mostly read fiction now, lol. Fiction is the antidote.

I hope you all are having a nice April. The roses are starting to burst here so the next post will likely include colorful roses. What about you — have you read any of these books or authors, and if so what did you think?

Hi all, I hope you are well. It’s a bit crazy how much things can change in a week right? If you saw last week’s picture of the yard and this week’s, you might notice that the white stuff is back. I think we have about three to five inches of snow now with more to come through Sunday. It’s okay, we can always use the snowpack in the mountains. I’m not sure if this is winter’s last stand or not. Often we get one more storm in April, but it’s usually just light spring flakes. 

No big news in the reading department. I returned most of my “library loot” back to the library sadly … since our trip is coming up. I still have Ron Rash’s novel The Caretaker and Rita Bullwinkel’s novel Headshot as well as an Irish novel I’m reading for PW. So those will keep me busy till we leave along with the audio of Donna Tartt reading Charles’s Portis’s 1968 novel True Grit in her Mississippi accent. Tartt did this narration back in 2006, but heck it’s one of the few things we have of the elusive slow-working author, so I’ll give it a whirl. You might recall it was 2013 when her last novel The Goldfinch was published and usually it takes her about ten years between books. So where is the next? LoL. No word so far. 

And now for my survey question of the week, I’ll pose the blogging question: do you have a set day of the week that you post on, or does it vary? Do you plan ahead with blog posts on timing and content, or is it more spontaneous and sporadic? I will say I try to post once a week, but it can vary on what day. I’d like it to be — perhaps every Friday but then things come up and the plan goes sideways. I often have things in mind for content a bit ahead of time but nothing is really engraved in stone. What about for you?

And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately. 

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain / 1884 

I revisited this classic on audio in all its vernacular language since I wanted to get a handle on it before reading Percival Everett’s new novel James, which reimagines the novel from enslaved Jim’s perspective. 

You might recall the story about Huck Finn is a first-person narrative told by him around age 13 during the 1830s and ’40s in a small town in Missouri along the Mississippi River. It’s a sequel to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in which Tom and Huck end up getting a good sum of money and that follows Huck into this story. Huck’s alcoholic, abusive father “Pap” tries to get the money and locks him in a cabin. In time, Huck fakes his own death and escapes running away to Jackson Island, where he reunites with his guardian’s slave, Jim, who has run away after hearing he was about to be sold. 

Huck and Jim find a raft and decide to go downriver on a journey that turns out to include various close calls with thieves, slave catchers, natural dangers, and con men. They often find themselves in dicey situations, which has Huck coming up with schemes, plots, and getaways. Even friend Tom Sawyer gets involved towards the end when Jim is captured and they try to get him back. 

Often referred to as the “greatest American novel,” The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been one of most banned books of all time. I’m against banning any books or changing any words of classics, but I admit I struggled with its vernacular and things. I didn’t struggle with The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but this novel with its elements about race and racism is more complex. 

In the novel, Twain is satirizing some of the society of the day — and people’s racist beliefs. During the journey, Huck learns much and becomes closer to Jim as it goes along. He sees his humanity and saves Jim at various times. But the language — 219 uses of the N-word — and the stereotypes are tough to navigate. The story also prattles on in places, particularly the section involving the con men — the King and the Duke. Their long section drove me pretty crazy, and in various parts the story has a lot of shenanigans afoot, which tried my patience.

My favorite part is just they’re floating downriver on the raft … while escaping bad guys and injustices. This I could completely understand. So all in all, it was mixed for me. I still admire the talents and gumption of Twain for his day … and think Percival Everett’s tale might be a worthwhile look too.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read Twain’s books and what did you think?

Hi all. Does it feel like spring where you are? It probably is. It’s even feeling a bit like spring up here. Most of the snow has melted away once again, and we are enjoying balmy temps. We might even go for a bike ride this weekend, which is a bit unheard of here in March. And the month is flying by, isn’t it?

We are gearing up for our road trip to California in April, just about two weeks away. It’s hard to believe. I’m getting together a few audiobooks for the trip, which include mostly historical nonfiction ones for my husband. Sorry to say, I will be leaving fiction behind for a while on the journey, then fling open my beach bag of novels once we get there, lol. Is it almost time for the beach?

Good news is I saw a pileated woodpecker this past Wednesday when the dogs and I were at a wooded park near the river. They are fun to see, but we don’t get to see them often. Their red heads make them easy to spot. I didn’t take this particular photo as I couldn’t get a good shot of him bobbing around, but I recorded the bird’s sound, which my Merlin Bird app recognized as the pileated woodpecker. Apparently the bird is the largest woodpecker species in North America and likes to eat carpenter ants, among other things. Its strong bill can chip large holes into trees searching for insects. Do you have these birds where you are?

And now you can see my “library loot” for this week. I still have several remainders from the weeks prior. Ann Napolitano’s novel Hello Beautiful just came in for me. I need to jump on it quickly since it’s long, but I think I’m going to start Ron Rash’s novel The Caretaker next. It looks like a quick, good read set in a small Appalachian town during the Korean War years. I read the author’s 2008 novel Serena, which was turned into a movie with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, but I think the new one looks a bit better.

And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished lately.

Absolution by Alice McDermott / FSG / 336 pages / 2023

4.4 stars. This is a story about a woman named Tricia looking back on her life and her friendship with a woman, Charlene, whom she meets in Saigon in 1963. Tricia is corresponding decades later with the woman’s daughter Rainey and telling her things that happened there.

In the ’60s, Tricia and Charlene are “helpmeets” to their husbands’ careers in Vietnam early in the war, giving parties and supporting them. Newly arrived and married Tricia, 23, meets Charlene at a garden party when her baby throws up on Tricia’s dress. From this incident, Charlene comes up with a plan to sell Barbie dolls to help fundraise for toys and things for children in the local hospitals.

Soon Tricia is part of Charlene’s “cabal” to try to do good around Saigon, helping with the Barbie sales and traveling to a leper colony to measure the people for new clothes there. It turns out Charlene, a mother of three, is a “dynamo” of altruistic schemes, trading on the black market, pushing people around, hanging at the country club, popping pills, and doing what needs to be done for her causes. Meanwhile Tricia and her husband are trying to start a family, but she’s having trouble with miscarriages. These worlds collide sometime down the line.

This might not sound like much, but in Alice McDermott’s hands with all the things at play she turns it into gold. A lot of things going on mix: with the Vietnam backdrop, early feminism, faith, war, morality, friendship, children. The novel’s structure too is pretty cool as it looks back and is also in the present. There’s a nostalgia looking back and a naivete of one’s life at age 23 amidst a war zone.

I think Alice McDermott said she was wondering about the wives in Graham Greene’s 1955 novel The Quiet American — what their lives were like — and came up with this novel. The time and place came alive for me with these characters in the 1960s. I have not read McDermott before, but I picked up her novel Charming Billy once when it came out in 1997. I’d like to read more of her books, which mostly have Irish Catholic characters and themes from McDermott’s background.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these authors and what did you think? Have a great weekend.