In a letter to his mother, Little Dog shares his story, his experience as the son of a Vietnamese woman who has lived through a terrible war, and has come to America with her own mother who has also suffered greatly. Little Dog communicates his own trauma, growing up in an abusive and impoverished household. When he falls in love with his coworker, as a teenager, it is the first time he feels seen, appreciated for who he really is. We learn how this both opens up his world and creates more heartache for Little Dog.
I am conflicted over this book. On one hand, the writing is extraordinarily poetic. The language is, at times, beautiful – creating images, experiences for the reader that are vivid and tactile. Little Dog relays tender moments with his grandmother, who seeks beauty where she can find it. He paints terrifying scenes of abuse at the hands of his mother.
On the other hand, the author also jumps from timeline to timeline, from narrative to narrative – occasionally within the very same paragraph – and it is incredibly confusing to follow. We never know if the next sentence will refer to a time in Vietnam or in Hartford, CT, if it will be describing a scene he has experienced or something his grandmother has survived. The subject/story line shifts as frequently as the pages turn. I appreciate a volley between perspectives, dates; but here it happens without any transition and much too often. It is just too confusing.
There is, underneath it all, a powerful story of generational trauma. But it is quite a bit of work to get there.
Sonia is a grad student at an elite college in Vermont. Sunny is an aspiring journalist, working as an editor of news articles in New York. Their lives cross when they each return to India, as their complicated families become connected. There is something of a spark between them – they both feel it. But will their respective demons continue to obstruct their being together?
Somehow, this novel has made it to multiple favorite lists of 2026 and I am a fair bit stunned as to why. Perhaps I am not literary or sophisticated enough to appreciate it, but I found this book to be simply too much work. I could not wait for it to be finished. At its core, there is a valuable story with relevant themes of identity, family, and the immigrant experience. But the author seemed to have sought a way to use 100 words to say what he might have said in 25 – over and over again. In reaching too high for the poetic and the symbolic, the author lost me with with what felt merely aspirational.
An example of this is a tool the author favored: writing a sentence followed by the expression of the opposite. This occurred more times than I could count. If he had utilized this once or twice, it might have carried more weight, might have been thought-provoking. The overuse of this negated its potential profundity. Similarly, the author utilized dreams to communicate the struggle of characters. But, again, overuse of this became tiresome. The reader is kept waiting for something to happen… anything.
The one positive aspect of this tome is that we are exposed to the Indian experience of battling the cultural contrast between their homeland and the US. This is portrayed as both vast and challenging. Both Sunny and Sonia have lived in both countries, but feel somewhat disconnected even as they strive to be more American. I believe their loneliness comes from not only not being with each other, but being away from their family, their home.
I am curious to hear other viewpoints, to know if I am alone in feeling as I do about this book. Any thoughts?
Johnson & Johnson is probably the most venerated pharmaceutical company in the US. They may not even be thought of as a pharmaceutical company (which we normally associate with prescription drugs), because most know them best for their baby products, bandages, and skin care lines. Their story, as they love to tell it, is more about how they are the most honest, most trustworthy, family-run company, having recalled their tainted Tylenol decades ago, at great cost to them. Well, this revelatory, painstakingly-researched book will call into question everything we have believed about this company, reducing their golden reputation to a mythology. Time and again, this company has chosen to spend billions of dollars on litigation defending their repetitive deceptions rather than admit that a product is harmful. They have released products before being tested, not tested enough subjects, hidden data that has not been favorable, and have falsified data on tests they have submitted for review. Their executives have lied under oath about their products. Even after seeing horrific harm result from their products, they have continued to conceal evidence in order to continue to make money. No matter the human toll (including deaths in the millions). Because, of course, it is always about the money.
This book is, of course, a MUST READ. It is relevant not only to anyone in the medical or pharmaceutical field. lt is relevant because it is a perfect example of how money and power are so inextricably linked. As J & J grew, so too did its influence and lobbying power. We see how the independence and integrity of the FDA, for example, has been compromised to the detriment of all of us – because those who make decisions on what drugs and devices are approved for use are also the ones who benefit financially from them being approved. How can anyone possibly be objective when these decisions affect whether or not they may keep their job? Or perhaps their future one? In addition, the company uses FDA approval (for what it’s worth) to shield them from litigation. And those medications and/or devices that are approved by this compromised agency will be used by you, or by your family member, or by your best friend. Are you comfortable with that?
I would encourage everyone to read this book. It’s distressing, yes, but so important to be informed. This “trustworthy” company may no longer be so. And there is much to be done to fix the system that has allowed it to become this way.
This non-fiction memoir by Robert Reich is an accounting of how America failed to maintain the middle class, from the boom of the post-WWII era to current times. Having grown up being taunted and abused by bullies because of his short stature, Reich was particularly sensitive to protecting the underdog, and since he could not do so physically, he did so with his economic wisdom and understanding. He taught at Harvard and he also served in the Department of Labor in the Clinton administration, advocating for policies that in his view would protect the middle class and thereby narrow the gap between the very rich and the very poor. Much to his dismay, he was undermined at each turn, and over the course of the ensuing years, regulations over high finance and banking only relaxed, the highest earners became taxed at a lower rate, and the gap only widened. We are now left with a country that has an enormous wealth gap in spite of his efforts and it is a dismal outlook ahead.
I have to confess that I did not complete this entire book. I usually do not blog when I’ve done that, but I felt that I’d read enough to 1) learn quite a bit from it already and 2)get the gist of what he is trying to say from what I did read. While it is definitely readable, and he makes the economic parts very accessible (even to someone like me who never studied economics for very good reason…!), it was also quite repetitive. Perhaps that is a function of his frustration with everyone who did not listen to his advice -as he tried over and over to push for more decency in the policies and laws that were being passed. It was also quite hard to see how so many leaders, including Clinton and Obama, both of whom I had admired, came under the spell of Wall Street and its powerful lobbyists, who led them to pass such irresponsible and dangerous legislation. Worse, this deregulation of Wall Street and the disaster of 2008 did not teach us anything at all. Deregulation has only continued – to the point where folks are now predicting another similar bubble from AI. Will we never learn?
In any case, I believe this book carries much insight, much wisdom and even a bit of humor as it guides us through the past couple of decades of economic downfall. It gives us a window into how we’ve narrowed the middle class and why billionaires exist when the rest of society has seen little to no increase in wealth.
I would have liked to see answers to what we can do about it – perhaps how we can make changes for a brighter future.
Maybe that will be his next book? Or that is the book for the next generation to write…
Ellie, aged 7, has just lost her father and feels as if her whole world has changed. She and her mother can no longer stay in their enormous home in the center of Tehran and must move to the “down” side of town. Nevertheless, while her mother is distraught over this and worries about their place in society, Ellie is actually excited to see children playing in the street, thrilled at the possibility of learning to play hopscotch, and dreams of meeting her ideal, best friend. When she walks in on the first day of her new school and is greeted by a spunky girl with dark, curly hair who shocks her with her outgoing nature, she thinks that this is not who she imagines will be her best friend. Ellie learns quickly that Homa, this warm, bright, honest, and fiercely loyal girl might just be that very friend.
This is a beautiful story of friendship, hardship, and loyalty. The two unlikely friends, Ellie and Homa, are as different as two girls might be – but perhaps it is because of this that they are amused by each other and get along. Ellie, self-aware in her materialism and superficiality, is nevertheless caught up in their friendship and feels a bond with Homa in spite of her absence of passion for the politics of the day. Nevertheless, she admires Homa – and is worried for her – for her passion and strength in seeking to promote human rights, particularly women’s rights. This is at the heart of both their friendship and their schism.
I actually love the way Ellie portrays herself as superficial, wanting what many want, and being self-aware about it. She is terrified of having to go back to being dependent on someone to pay her bills, to live in squalor, to have to need/want. She fears poverty, lack of power. And she admits to being afraid of being imprisoned, as we all are, at heart. So many novels are written with the main character as the brave one, the fighter, the hero. I love that in this one, the main character is the one who is the worrier, the caregiver, the friend. She is the one who has faults, is honorable, honest, and self aware, but who is supportive and can be helpful when the time is right. While many are brave and undertake righteous causes, fighting for freedom against oppressive and suppressive governments (such as that of the Shah’s and later that of the Ayatollah’s), not everyone is meant for that. I think that by creating an admirable, honorable, human and faulty main character for this tale, we can perhaps see ourselves identifying with that fear and relate to those that can help, those who support the heroes, the fighters.
This also gives a background to the story of the women of Iran. It is not only a historical context but a warning to all of us. It happened in Iran with extremists who toppled a democratically elected government, violently forcing themselves into power and overturning years of fighting for women’s rights in just moments. We in the US think we are so safe from this, but here we are, already fighting for power to make medical decisions over our own bodies. It starts there. Where will it end? If it happened in Iran, it can happen here as well.
I think this is an important read for not only women but men everywhere, and particularly here in the US and particularly now in this uncertain moment. We are experiencing no less than an undoing of our democracy in small (and not-so-small) steps. We need to pay attention and learn from other countries and other individuals’ experiences. Or there may be no where else to go…
Josie is not happy about her assignment in 1950’s Texas – enabling ex-Nazi scientists to be coddled within the secretive, US government research program – but what is she to do? Allow the Soviets to access their expertise first? She knows she must go along with it, given that her mentor, Karl, has been pressuring her to not let her past at Ravensbruck cloud her judgement as an agent. She finds she is truly missing her days working with her unlikely best friend, Arlette.
We then meet Arlette as she works alongside other Ravensbruck survivors in a tiny cafe in Paris, outwardly appearing content with her lot, just about making ends meet. But inside, she is still struggling day in and day out, not knowing if her son, Willie, lost to her in the camp, is dead or alive. When a handsome stranger walks into the cafe, promising information on her son, she is given a new hope that feels both unreal and terrifying.
This is a brilliantly written historical fiction novel about a time when those who committed some of the most heinous crimes of the twentieth century literally got away with (worse than) murder. Nazi war criminals responsible for the maiming and murders of thousands were given a pass by sympathizers across Europe who funneled them by way of Austria or Italy (sometimes even the Vatican) through the Alps, into hotels where they waited, often for months in plain sight, until receiving false papers to get to South America (often Argentina), to live out their days in peace. Even some of the most notorious, such as Mengele, known for his unconscionable experiments on humans, escaped justice in this way. There were many agents who did seek justice, however, to try to bring these gutless criminals to justice.
But even if the story were not about such a monumental topic, it would still be a standalone epic novel. The crafting of the plot, the gradual reveals in the “before” and “current” (with current being 1952) telling, the way we can’t help falling in love with both Josie and Arlette, and the way we are continuously surprised by the plot up to the very final page – all make for an outstanding, suspenseful page-turner of a book.
And yes, you’ve guessed it: this one is absolutely a MUST READ! Because although it is a painful subject, and some of it is truly hard to read, I feel you absolutely must read it. If not for the historical value, for the literary value alone!
1851 in Springfield, IL could be a terrifying time, depending on the color of your skin, your heritage, and your politics. While Illinois was a northern state, there was the constant threat of slave hunters prowling around, searching for the bounty they would earn for themselves if they tracked down runaways. In fact, having arrived into this country as a Portuguese refugee herself, Ana finds herself with her friend Cal, witnessing a frightening scene that she must keep to herself in order to protect those she has come to love and respect. This comes to help form her views as she moves forward through her life, becomes a nanny and cleaner for the Lincoln family and follows the rise and tragic fall of the most impactful presidents our nation has ever seen.
Told through the eyes of this young woman, we glimpse into the home of the Lincolns, seeing their experience of both personal and national tragedies. We view the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, who experienced loss after loss, and, understandably, struggled with her mental health because of it. Yet she still fought so hard to encourage her absent-minded but brilliant and kind husband to fight for what he felt was the best for the Black slave – emancipation. Through Ana, we see how he agonized, how he sought the argument, the magical words that would not only convince his enemies to join him, but how to bring the fractured country back together. Through Ana, we also view the backlash, so quick to happen, so easily sprung back. Even in the hometown of Abraham Lincoln, where he was beloved, or so one would think, there was an evil backlash of hatred.
Not only is this an important part of our history, providing details that one might not know, but it is frighteningly relevant to what is happening today. While we might have made some progress toward freedoms, there is much in the way of backsliding and backlash happening now as well. Not only from people in the streets, but it is being supported and legitimized by our Conservative legislators and the courts. The civil rights of marginalized people are being chipped away and the highest court in our land is jubilantly cementing this in. I fear it will take years to undo the damage they are doing now.
We are growing less and less the “land of the free and the home of the brave” our founders sought for us. Shame on those who are perpetrating this backlash (and the current conservative members of the Supreme Court). This is why it is so important to know what has happened in our past. So that we can do our best to prevent the extreme backsliding to this segregation, this hatred, this fear of the “other” for our future.
I believe it’s important to know that the full title of this book by the former, conservative Republican senator from Nebraska, Ben Sasse, is actually: Them; Why We Hate Each Other and How To Heal. I am not conservative, nor have I ever voted Republican – but this is exactly why I was curious about reading this book.
What Sasse observes in this book, and what we can all see quite clearly, is that our country is so painfully divided, so diametrically polarized. We are distrustful of the news outlets that are available to us either because 1) they are run by an intellectual elite or 2) they have become faithful only to the almighty dollar, dependent on the outrageous and extremism that is clickbait. Those who turn to social media for their news are even more vulnerable, because they are most likely getting their information from Russian bots or from some creative teenager in the basement of their midwestern parents’ home. Furthermore, the idea of community, from which we derive identity, security, – happiness even – has all but dissolved as we become more mobile in search of the perfect job, the ideal opportunity to earn more money, the next best thing.
Not to worry, though. There are answers. Of course, they don’t come easily and they don’t come quickly. The answers take time, effort, energy and lots of commitment. We have to want to heal. We have to want to come back together. We have to want to have those difficult conversations that will enable us to find what we have in common that will bring us together. We have to be able to say, “OK, I disagree with you on X and Y, but I agree with you on Z, so let’s start there.” We have to be able to come together with folks we have differences with and be in community with those people, because we are stronger together than we are apart.
The bottom line is that if we continue along this fractured, divided path – we become vulnerable to our real enemies. Putin is just sitting and watching with glee, noting all of our polarization and waiting for just the right moment to pounce. United we stand, remember?
So, I figured that reading literature such as this, written by someone who comes from a world so different from mine, with a political philosophy so opposite from mine, was a first step. And it was a good one. There was much more that I agreed with than I disagreed with, to my surprise. While I completely disagree with his opinions on abortion or the ACA, I agree with his overarching premises and I hope that others will read what he has to say here.
I think this is a MUST READ. I think work like this will do much to save our country. We are in deep need of more like this.
It is 1960 and Evelyn is terrified. She has no choice but to accommodate her parents’ wishes and move to the home for unwed mothers where she’ll work and live until she gives birth to the child that she is now carrying. It would have been completely different had her boyfriend not died of a heart attack just before she found out she was carrying his baby. But now, she is trapped. Literally.
Fast forward to 2017 and Angela, working in her aunt’s antique store, stumbles upon a letter received years prior, meant for the tenant in the upstairs apartment. She opens the letter, just to see how she might be helpful to the sender, and she sees a heartbreaking plea. How can she be helpful in this situation? Should she try to help in this situation?
Meanwhile, in the 1970’s, we meet Nancy, who is struggling to assert her independence from her overbearing mother. They frequently clash, given her mother’s overpowering personality and ability to ignore most of what Nancy actually says. So Nancy learns to hide her self in a way that is detrimental. She learns to keep secrets. When a cousin asks Nancy her for help in a crisis, she keeps that secret as well, in spite of the trauma that it leaves her with. But she also learns a tidbit of information at that time that will have an impact on her future in a way that she cannot possibly imagine.
This is a particularly relevant read for this moment. In a time during which access to safe, legal abortions is threatened in too many areas of our country, this book should be read by everyone. This book touches upon the issue of women forced to carry pregnancies against their will (and then forced to give up the babies when they do deliver), women compelled to undergo dangerous procedures that endanger their lives, and women and medical providers who are threatened with arrest for having life-saving procedures such as D&C’s for natural miscarriages. And ironically, as it is pointed out in this story repeatedly, it is generally men making these decisions about women’s bodies!! What an absurd world we live in! [Of note, this story takes place in Canada, but the situations can and do happen here all the time in the US as well. Fortunately for Canadians, their country has not reneged on their commitment to women’s health the way we have here.]
This is an intricately constructed story and the way in which these very realistic, very human characters are portrayed and come together will captivate and engage and surprise you until the very final page. I could not put this book down. I loved it not only for its relevance but for how personally connected I felt to these beautiful characters. They are each products of their times, their circumstances, and yet connected by the fact that they are women who love.
Already reeling from the death of the man she’s known to be her father, Joy has also just learned some shocking news about her mother, Pearl. These two events challenge Joy’s identity to her core. At the same time, as the 1950’s American government is targeting those suspected of being Communists, some, particularly those on college campuses, feel that Socialism can be the ideal of equality and fairness. Following this ideal, Joy makes the impulsive decision to leave the comforts of what she’s known as home to embark on a journey to find her true birth father, to seek her Chinese roots, to relinquish her capitalist excesses, and to enter Mao’s People’s Republic of China. What she finds there shocks her even more.
With her usual skillful style, Lisa See has managed to compose yet another beautiful family saga, depicting family relationships at both their worst and their best, while incorporating a significant historical moment that is not frequently highlighted. Her mother, Pearl, on learning that Joy has left for China, follows her daughter there, even if it may put her own safety in jeopardy. She knows that Joy is young, that does not understand the consequences of her actions to the fullest, that she has never experienced the heavy hand of Communist rule. And if she is being honest, finding Joy’s father is of interest to her to, as they have a complicated history as well. The relationships depicted here are tender, beautiful, and authentic.
History plays a large role in this saga as well. China’s “Great Leap Forward” is anything but — but this is the era in which Joy finds herself. Initially, she tries to find the grace in it: the idealism of the communal life, the simplicity of the farm, the romance in the hard work. She also finds meaning in the art she’s able to produce there through which she can express herself, at least within the confines of the dictated rules. As time progresses, however, she sees the rampant deception. She begins to see that even when the rules are failing the people miserably, they are forced to abide the whims of their dictator, even at the cost of their very lives. When Joy becomes responsible for the life of another, this is where she can no longer abide this lie.
There is much darkness depicted here, but it is a frighteningly timely and realistic story. We are now in a moment when so many are following another wannabe fascist – a worshipper of Putin, of Kim Jong Un, of Hitler – and these followers are ignoring the harm he has done and has the potential to continue to do. He has already threatened to imprison his enemies – a classic fascist move. People make excuses for him – but we’ve seen him do this already in his first presidency. It’s an authentic threat. We need to learn both from other countries’ pasts such as that depicted here and our own past. This can happen again and this can happen here. We have the power to stop it with our votes. But this may not be the case for long if he is elected…
I hope you will read this novel. It is a beautiful family saga as well as a harsh warning for the world and for our country in particular. A MUST READ for this moment!
kindread spirits 