Loving Frank (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

This dramatic work of historical fiction is about the love affair between Frank Lloyd Wright and one of his clients, Mamah Borthwick Cheney. Both married with children, they were drawn together as they planned the house that he build for Mamah and her husband, and in spite of efforts to avoid an affair, they could not deny that they had fallen in love. The resultant relationship between the two was both poetic and tragic, as they both had to sacrifice most of what they treasured in order to have each other. As they strived for honesty in love, they had to endure the anger and the judgement of others.

Admittedly, I judged them/her too. I confess that as I sympathized with her yearning for true love and for the freedom she craved to be with the man she loved, I was angry with her too for leaving her children for months at a time. And when she missed them, I couldn’t help but think, “Well, what did you expect??” But she was also searching for her own identity, in order to see herself as an individual and not just a wife or a mother (or a mistress). For this, I respected her.

And of course there is the fun of learning more about the life of the most controversial and admired architect in the U.S. His struggle between his life and his art is apparent and is thread through the story as well.

The many layers and the many controversies make this book a solid read. Definitely a thumbs up!

The Kitchen House (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

If you are looking for a book that will grip you and hold you tight until you get to the very last page, this is the one for you!  This beautifully written, historical fiction novel is about a young white girl, Lavinia, who is raised among black slaves in the south at the turn of the 19th century.  Since she’s raised among a loving, close-knit black family, she feels deeply that they are her family, but as she grows older, she is thrust into the world of the white family she is serves.  We learn, along with her, how the intimate nature of the relationships that develop between the 2 races strongly conflict with the forced, artificial separation between them.  (They love but they are not allowed to love.)  And Lavinia is tragically trapped between the two.

What really pulled me in was the beautiful characters that are so poignantly drawn.  I lived with the characters and felt their pull even when I wasn’t reading the book.  I felt as though they were my family, they were drawn so artistically and deeply.  I HAD to know what happened to each of them and when it wasn’t good, I felt it in my heart.

These characters were genuine, the story was captivating, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened and didn’t want it to end at the very same time!  This is what the experience of reading should be!

The 19th Wife (migrated from bookblogger)

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The 19th Wife: A Novel by David Ebershoff

This historical fiction novel tells 2 stories:  one is a faux autobiographical/historical archival tale of a woman named Ann Eliza Young, who broke off from the Latter-Day Saints to speak out against polygamy.  The other is a modern-day murder mystery in which an outcast from a sect of Mormonism is called back to rescue his mother who is accused of killing his father, a polygamist.  As the author jumps back and forth between the 2 stories, the 2 become connected by their similar themes.  Each in its own way builds up its own suspense and keeps the reader guessing what will happen next.

The author’s use of various means and voices is interesting.  He not only switches voices but switches types of accounts of the stories.  He uses first person narrator for the current-day story.  He uses various “accounts” (fictional autobiographical, letters, diary entries) to give the story of what happened in the 1800’s.  And interestingly the story is based on actual memoirs of Ann Eliza Young and historical archives.

The real drama, though, is in the depiction in both of these story lines of the emotional toll that polygamy takes on the wives, the husbands, and worst, the children.  The women become obsolete in their own homes and are demoted as each next wife is taken, which of course breeds jealousy, hatred and fear.  The men who have a conscience are torn between their true love for their first wives and their lust for more. They struggle with the balance that is impossible to achieve.  And the children are basically anonymous numbers, unless of course, they distinguish themselves by being at all different and/or not following the “rules.”  Then they are banished from everything they know and love.

I learned so much about the origins of the Mormon religion — how it came to be and how it evolved into what it is today.  The issue of polygamy was crucial in its beginnings and while Mormonism has evolved beyond polygamy for the most part, there are sects that one can find throughout the U.S., evidently, that are still practicing this destructive lifestyle.  This book helps to articulate how difficult it can be to live in this cultish environment and again how difficult it can be to break away.

 

The Storyteller (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

So I have to share that this book was made all the more special to me because my daughter and I actually attended a reading of this book by Jodi Picoult herself!  I was of course expecting the worst (cynic that I am) — that it would be a mob scene and we’d wait and wait only to be at the back of a huge room at the Barnes and Nobles at Union Square where we’d only catch a glimpse.  But I was instead so pleasantly surprised!  It was so well-organized and easy and utterly enjoyable.  Ms. Picoult  is the ultimate storyteller!   She read from her book with the expression of a closet actress, she told us stories about the Holocaust survivors she interviewed during her research, and she so gracefully and with such humor answered many questions from the audience about herself and her writing.  She is a gracious presence — she is smart and funny and warm and the kind of person you just want to go out and have a drink with.  I could have listened to her for hours! After she signed our book and chatted with us for a minute or two, we walked away and my daughter turned to me and exclaimed, “Mom, I’m so star-struck!”  I have to admit:  I was too!

BUT on to the the book…  The book has an outrageously “Picoultian”premise.  A young, reclusive woman named Sage who has lost her mother, attends a grief support group where she befriends an old man in his 90’s.  This man, Josef, admits to her that he is a former SS guard at Auschwitz and asks her to help him die and to forgive him of his sins.  What he doesn’t know is that Sage’s grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.  In fact, Sage doesn’t really even know much about her grandmother’s history as her grandmother has kept the details to herself all these years.  This book is the resultant telling of stories — the recounting of history — by the two characters who lived it.  It is also the process of sorting out the ideas of evil and good as well as forgiveness and revenge.  Can someone who has committed  hideous deeds ever be forgiven?  And by whom?  Can a good person do bad things and get beyond that and/or compensate for it?  What is forgiveness?

As usual, Jodi Picoult gives the various perspectives on the story in her brilliant way and has the reader pondering yet another enormous, controversial issue.  This is why I love her writing and am already looking forward to her next book!

The Chaperone (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty

More than the beautiful writing and the wonderful character portraits drawn in this book, I loved the message contained in these pages.  In the telling of this story about Cora, a woman with grown children who volunteers to chaperone a bratty teenager, Louise Brooks, to New York City in her quest for stardom, the author so articulately writes the wisdom that the generations can learn from each other.  Cora begins as a fairly stodgy and righteous old coot who is very concerned about maintaining her charge’s reputation.  Louise, on the other hand, is determined to act out and rebel against all of this and does not care at all what anyone thinks.  As the story progresses, however, they both learn that they need to do what they can to make themselves happy and that staying with the status quo does not always accomplish that.

The reader cannot help loving Cora, who is very human and very wise.  There are dilemmas and difficulties in her life that are not what she ever anticipates, but she finds a way to cope and find happiness.  She, in her own way, becomes something of a rebellious one, and she accepts change more than even she would have ever imagined.

The book is also historical fiction, giving the reader a close-up of the small town perspective on the 1920’s through the second world war and beyond.  The social evolution that Cora is a part of is very reflective of the changes occurring during these radical times.  And while Cora is a victim of some of the early prejudices, she becomes something of an instrument of change in her later years.  Her understanding of the urgency for this change to occur is so beautifully summed up by my favorite quote in the book, “she would owe this understanding to her time in New York, and even more to Louise.  That’s what spending time with the young can do — it’s the big payoff for all the pain.  the young can exasperate, of course, and frighten, and condescend, and insult, and cut you with their still unrounded edges.  But they can also drag you, as you protest and scold and try to pull away, right up the the window of the future, and even push you through.”

The Paris Wife (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Paris Wife: A Novel by Paula McLain

This very elegant book is written from the fictional perspective of Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley.  McLain, in the voice of Hadley, tells of their brief courtship and their young marriage.  Early on, they moved to Paris and lived a very French life in the 1920’s, drinking and socializing with the artists and intellectual elite of the day.  Gradually, as Ernest becomes caught up in his upward climb to notoriety, he alienates his friends and eventually his own true love, Hadley herself.  And while the story is ultimately quite sad, it is also very beautiful in so many ways that the reader is left with a sense that things had to be as they were.

The story is told so smoothly that this reader felt she was reading the diary of a close friend.  It is hard not to love Hadley and have compassion for her and yet, at the same time, there is compassion for Ernest as well.  Even while the reader watches the demise of the relationship, each character in his/her own way is real and multidimensional and therefore sympathetic as well.

It also is a beautiful piece of historical fiction, with insight into the very real “roaring” that went on in the 1920’s.  Intellectual ideas and the search for beauty and truth seemed to have frequently been drowned in alcohol and lust.  The loneliness and emotionality of the artist personality was almost cliche, but was depicted very realistically.

It inspired me to want to read some of Hemingway’s novels.  I just might do that…

Beautiful Ruins (migrated from Bookblogger)

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Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

What a beautiful book, written so beautifully!  When a stunning American actress arrives at a tiny pension on a tinier island off the coast of Italy, Pasquale, the owner of the pension, cannot believe his luck.  Not only does he believe his father’s dream of their hotel becoming a hot spot for Americans may actually materialize, but he is also entranced by the beauty of this American.  As it happens, the American actress, Dee, of course has a story as does the naive but sincere Pasquale, but their lives are forever bound by this chance encounter.  The story is told in parts, bouncing back and forth between the time they meet in Italy, in 1962, and today, when Pasquale searches for her in America.  It also bounces from each of their stories to other characters that are woven into their tale, but it all works to keep the story moving and engaging.

The characters in this book are distinctive and each has a unique voice.  Each of them has been affected in some way by the 2nd world war and this shadows over some of their personalities.  In addition, the stories and the language of 1962 in the tiny village contrast so strikingly with those of the fast-paced action of the contemporary parts — and both are written with wit and an almost poetic rhythm.  I loved the writing in this book.

And it is one of the few books that give resolution and don’t leave you hanging at the end.  Thank you, Mr. Walter!

The Pillars of the Earth (migrated from Bookblogger)

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The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet

The words “saga” and “epic” cannot even come close to describing this almost exhausting tale of Phillip, the monk/prior and Tom the Builder and the lives touched by these 2 good people.  They are characters that live in the 1100’s in England, during a time when the Church and the king were always in a constant struggle for power and wealth, as were their underlings.  Phillip and Tom, shared a dream of building a large, beautiful cathedral in their priory of Kingsbridge.  Unfortunately, their efforts were constantly being thwarted by their rivals for power, the evil men, William (a knight battling for earldom and Waleran, Phillip’s devious senior in the church.  The many, many vicious and violent efforts to thwart the building of the cathedral were overcome by sheer power of will and political maneuvering that keep the story very suspenseful.  There are some very gritty scenes of violence, but there are also many scenes of love and valour and honor which may bring more than a tear to your eye.

This is a very long book and some parts stall a bit.  There is a lot of detail about the architecture and the construction of the buildings that might be a little drawn out.  At one point, I was ready to give up on either side even while the characters were not!  The near-misses and the almost fatal blows and the coincidences were just a bit contrived, but were very suspenseful nonetheless.

Best of all, this book really gives the reader the flavor of the hardships of life in the Middle Ages, when there was so much strife between the King and the Church and so much of the everyday life was influenced by the whims of either one.  Whether you were a peasant or a lord at this time, your life was changeable at a moment’s notice, depending on your alliances and how they shifted.  Power changed frequently and those in power were often ruthless.  The harsh conditions and gritty existence of their lives was highlighted as was the potential for abject poverty and hunger that many experienced.  But there was also good and kindness and even forgiveness and some of the goodness of the Prior Phillip was very heartening.

While I was exhausted from this book, I also didn’t want it to end.  It is an excellent book and I heartily recommend it.  I would just also recommend finding a light, fun book to read afterwards — that is just what I need right now!

The Lost Wife (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman

This is the beautifully written saga of Lenka and Josef who fall in love in the late 1930’s in the romantic city of Prague, just prior to the onset of WWII.  The war separates them tragically and the story tells the tale of their lives during and after the war.  Lenka is caught in the Nazi web of ghetto, deportation, and concentration camps.  The reader feels her hunger and filth and cold along with her, it is made so real.  Josef manages to escape to America, but the loss of his family is a silent ache that he secretly bears his whole life.  Eventually, life brings them together but only after they have lived thinking the other had died during the war.

This book is a love story but it is filled with well-researched historical fiction, with more history than fiction.  Some of the characters that the author has woven into the story were real people that the author learned about in her research of the Holocaust.  The author highlights, in particular, the artwork that was done by both the children and the adults in Theresin, the showcase camp set up by the Germans.  These brave souls depicted, in their art, the hideous conditions in which they were living and some of their paintings and drawings were able to be leaked out to the world for publication.  Many more were uncovered after the inmates were liberated.  This book celebrated the many brave souls, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who fought their own artistic battle with their Nazi captors.

What was also unique about this book was how the author highlighted the tragedy not only of those who lived through the concentration camps but also those who escaped but lost family, homes and all that was familiar to them.  While those who lived through the camps suffered unimaginable horrors, those who were forced to leave their homes, their possessions, their birthplaces, were also displaced and    traumatized in their own ways.  Those who came to America had to learn a new language, become familiar with an entirely different culture and learn to cope with the losses they inevitably endured.  In addition, the “survivors guilt” must have been overwhelming.  I love that this book brought this to light,  showing further how the Holocaust caused such far-reaching suffering and tragedy.

Once We Were Brothers (migrated from bookblogger)

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Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson

When Ben Solomon begins his tale of how Otto Piatek, taken in and cared for by Ben’s family, turned against all of them and became a Nazi war criminal, you have the sense of this being just another Holocaust tale.  However, as his tale unwinds, you also begin to get sucked in to the charges that he stole from Ben’s family and how a civil suit is the means by which Ben might expose his true identity.  Otto Piatek, alias Elliot Rozenzweig, has created a persona for himself, however, enmeshed in the highest society of Chicago and known for his generous philanthropy.  It takes the team of a gutsy PI named Liam and an attorney with high ethics and strong drive, named Catherine, to help Ben pursue his challenge.

Essentially there are 2 stories that intertwine, with the telling of Ben’s story that took place in Poland and the tale of the legal procedures.  While the beginning of the book focuses on Poland, the latter part focuses on the lawsuit and the suspense of the legal proceedings builds and builds and makes the book very hard to put down.  The author definitely draws you in to feeling such affection for Ben and wanting to see him win in his cause.  You are also drawn in to feeling sympathy for Catherine who is fighting a whole team of expensive lawyers singlehandedly.   Catherine is quoted as saying that this made “David and Goliath seem like a fair fight.”  While it is only fiction, when you are reading it, it feels very real and very true, I think because of how well you’ve come to know the characters.  By the end, you just can’t help cheering them on or booing the “bad guys.”

An essential read for anyone who is interested not only in the Holocaust, but in anything related to human rights and in justice being served.