The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

There is little doubt as to why this book has become a classic.  Not only does it exemplify brilliant writing, but the story itself reaches down into your soul and twists your heart so that it hurts.  Steinbeck follows the Joad family, a typical “Okie” family of the 1930’s,  as they lose their farm and are enticed by all the flyers posted to move out West.  Heeding the promise of work and beautiful land and opportunity, they leave everything that is familiar to cross the plains and the desert to go to California.  Tragically, what they find there is that hundreds of thousands have also been enticed there as well, leaving very little work actually available and what is available is paid in cut wages because of the very glut of workers that the flyers have accomplished.  So while the large farmers reduce their cost, the thousands of workers have reduced wages, not even enough to feed themselves and their families.  It is a slice of history about which our country should be deeply ashamed.

The writing is powerfully authentic.  Steinbeck’s chapters alternate between a description of the general state of affairs in the country and what is happening with the Joad family on a personal level.  The more general chapters broaden the scope of the story and remind the reader that this is not just happening to the Joads but to thousands of “Joads” throughout the middle of the country.  The personal chapters bring it down to the individual and remind the reader that these are real people to which these tragedies are occurring — real people, with children, and parents, and love for each other who have personal dignity to lose.

Steinbeck makes a heartfelt plea in this story for the unions and it is clear why they were essential at this time.  It was a very brave move on his part and this book is a testament to his courage and brilliance as an historian and an author.

If you haven’t ever read this book, you are missing out on an important piece of literature and history.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

This book is excellent, the author a well-deserved recipient of the Pullitzer Prize.  On one hand, it is the story of Oscar, an overweight, gaming, fantasy book-writing nerd to the nth degree, who is obsessed with his goal of losing his virginity.  Oscar is also Dominican, which gives his whole nerdiness a more complicated cultural context.  On the other hand, it is the story of the Dominican Republic and its complicated, bloody history.  As the setting of the story travels back and forth from New Jersey to the DR, the reader develops an understanding of the culture and the people surrounding poor Oscar.

Most poignant is the character development in this book.  Oscar and his family members become intimately understood by the reader and their often tragic experiences shape who they are and how they behave.  Lola, Oscar’s sister, was a favorite character of mine because she was cool and yet always and  unapologetically stood by her nerdy brother.  She even assigned her boyfriend, one voice in the telling of this story, to protect him when she could not.  Her fierce loyalty was a shining light in this sometimes brutal and raw tale.

The writing is colorful and vivid.  The voice changes from section to section but each voice becomes one you hear whispered in your ear, it is so authentic.  And I would encourage you to read the footnotes (there are probably too many of these).  In the footnotes, you will find important historical explanations that give meaning to what is happening in the story.  I admit I did not read every word in every one, but they are often amusing.

The only complaint I have is that I did not understand the Spanish that is written into the flow of the book and not translated.  Unfortunately since I took French instead of Spanish in high school, I was screwed on that front.  I am sure I missed out because of this.

 

Beach Music (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

You must read this book!  Whether you like historical fiction, or suspense, or comedy, or tragedy, you must read this book, because it has it all.  In developing the story, Conroy creates stories within the story, which enriches both the plot and the character development.  The basic story is about a young Southern father named Jack, whose wife has committed suicide and he’s made a new life for himself and his daughter in Rome.  He’s vowed to separate himself from his family because of their layered, painful past, but he receives a call that his mother is dying of leukemia and that he must come home.  This initiates a journey into his past as well as the past of others who have surrounded him since his youth.

Pat Conroy is a genius — a magician with words who can create such imagery that you feel you are seeing what he’s seen, even if it’s in his imagination.  The dialogue between the characters is brilliant, rapid-fire sarcasm at its best.  The dramatic stories of the characters’ pasts are so vividly drawn that it’s hard to believe they are not real.  And the characters are all so beautiful that when you finish the book, it’s quite sad — you have to say goodbye to these loving and lovable people.

 

I loved this book and I’d recommend it heartily.  A MUST read!

And the Mountains Echoed (migrated from bookblogger)

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And the Mountains Echoed: A Novel by Khaled Hosseini

     Once again, Mr. Hosseini (author of the Kite Runner) has demonstrated his brilliance in telling a story.  The central story is about a brother, Abdullah, and his sister, Pari, who live in a small village outside Kabul and are separated by dire circumstances.  What is unusual is how the story is told:  sometimes through letters, sometimes through first person narratives, changing subtly and smoothly so that the story unfolds over the years of their lives.  Sometimes there is a break and the connection to the story is not known for a few pages, but always it is captivating, warm and moving.  When you do realize how each part is connected, there is that “aha” moment and you feel like you’ve found the most important piece of a large puzzle.

   In the telling, there is also a subtle history of Afghanistan and the impact of its history on its people.  It is not something that hits you over the head, it is more quietly told.  But it is there in a way that is more human and more inner-reaching.  Because the characters are very human and likable, the reader has an easy attachment to them and you find yourself caring so much about what happens, feeling their pain and their joy.

   This is a beautiful, tragic, and real-life story and in my opinion, a must-read!

Loving Frank (migrated from Bookblogger)

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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)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

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!

Me Before You (migrated from bookblogger)

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I accepted this book from a friend a little reluctantly…  who really wants to read a book about a woman who, desperately seeking a new job after her job at the coffee shop was terminated, is hired to care for a 35-year old quadriplegic?  I imagined it would be terribly depressing and predictable.  I was pleasantly surprised at how wrong I was.  This book was solidly written, delved into issues of class and love and the value of living life to its fullest, whatever that means.

The main character, Louisa Clark, is refreshingly unique and strong and struggles with her ward, Will, even as she is determined to push him to want to live in spite of his devastating injury.  In fact, each of the characters is sympathetic in his or her own way.  We briefly hear from the voices of each of the other main characters in the book, with the noted exception of that of Will.  Everyone is trying to read Will and understand his thinking and through the story we get to know him and what he struggles with on a day to day basis.  But the story is more about the development and growth of Louisa as she is exposed to him and this makes it more interesting, actually.

What I loved about this book is the juxtaposition of one who is limited in how he can live with those who are near him who, as he sees it, do not take advantage of living and do not live to their fullest potential.  I think there is a lesson for all of us AB’s (able-bodied) to think about…

 

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!

Wonder (migrated from Bookblogger)

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Wonder by R. J. Palacio

This is the tender story of August, a 10 year old boy who is normal in every way except for his face, which had been devastated by a facial deformity called mandibulofacial dysostosis.  This genetic abnormality gives August the kind of face that scares small children and adults alike.  Up until the book begins, August has been home schooled, but before he starts 5th grade, which is middle school in his New York City district, his parents decide that he should begin to attend regular school.  This book carries August through this first year, which is fraught with the expected difficulties and made beautiful by moments of bravery and true friendship.

The themes of this book are universal, as they champion the ideal of inclusion and tolerance of others.  Anyone who has ever survived middle school knows that this is a harrowing time for even the most attractive, smart, or athletic individuals, but anyone with anything that is not perfect is screwed! August has to confront the involuntary reactions that everyone has to initially seeing his face, but he also has to endure the alienation of the children who are both afraid of him and mean to him.  On the contrary, he also learns that there are some children who do not worry about what others think of them and those children are the heroes of the story.

The story is also told from different voices, which adds so much to this book.  We hear from August, from his sister Via, and from others in the book who give their account of what is happening to August.  I love having these other narratives because it gives that much more depth to the story.

Some would argue that it is silly to read this book because it’s meant for children.  It is true that I am reading it because my 10-year old son asked me to.  But this book is absolutely for adults as well.  Who among us can say that they cannot be more tolerant and inclusive of others?  Who needs not be reminded of the difficulties of others and how important it is to be sensitive to what others need?

This book speaks to us all.