Category: book-review

Book Review

book-review, books, Family Drama, literature, reading

The redhead by the side of the road by Anne Tyler

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This is the story of Micah, a fortyish year-old man that lives in a basement apartment where he is the super, runs a free-lance computer tech business, and lives a regimented and predictable life. We see how Micah is in need of this structure, but yet his dreams and his visualizations tell you otherwise. When he is running each morning without his glasses, he believes that the fire-hydrant is a redhead child and that there are other objects that resemble people also. Then there is the dream of a baby being left at a store in an actual dream.

When a teenage boy shows up on his doorstep asking if Micah is his father, however, what Micah thinks is normal is turned on its head. He begins to examine his life, and his choices, that have left him alone (his girlfriend Cass of three years had just left him) and unhappy. This awakening, something that Anne Tyler writes about in such beautiful language, is how the book ends.

Similar themes as in most of Tylers books, this is yet another example of how living a small life comes at a cost. 

book-review, books, Family Drama, reading

Herring Cove Road Trilogy by Michael Kroft

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On Herring Cove Road: Mr Rosen and the 43lb anxiety

Still on Herring Cove Road: Hickory, Dickory Death

Off Herring Cove Road: The trouble with being Blue

This is a series that is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. In the first book you meet Ruth and Avriel Rosen. An older couple that has retired and recently moved to a new home on Herring Cove Road. In the first book you first meet Dewey Dixon, a ten year old boy that lives next door to the Rosen’s. Being unwelcome as Jews by the father, Mr. Rosen is a bit offended when addressed as Mr. Jew by the young child. Ruth, however, befriends Dewey’s mother Lisa, who is horrified to hear her son call them this, as she didn’t know her bigoted husband had impacted her son this way. Dewey, however, just thought it was their last name. 

As the friendship between the two families grow, Lisa and Dewey come to rely on the Rosen’s. Through death, poverty, drugs, and kidnapping, a family of choice emerges. They take care of each other, and put all on the line to ensure the safety, physical and mental, are taken care of for all. 

Over three books you see the back stories of these people, how they became who they are, and how they learn to rely upon each other. With the first book being my favorite, the other books give a satisfying if not joyful conclusion to the story. There is also a prequel in the series but I did not read that.

A fun and gentle story of how we all rely on each other; how we just need to be open to allowing others to help.

Black Experience, book-review, books, literature, reading

The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton

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This is a story told from many perspectives. Structured as notes for an article that will become a book, you hear from participants leading up to and after the fateful day when someone was killed during a concert – James “Jimmy” Shelton III, the drummer, the author of this book’s father. Through the interviews and research of the main players in the band we meet Neville “Nev” Charles, a white man from England – a decent musician but not spectacular. We also meet Opal, a black woman aware of her place in the world of 1970s America. Both are seeking a shot at something more. These two meet when Nev and his record label’s owner seek out a complementary voice at open mic nights across the mid-west. Sparks fly in the creative process. Opal & Nev start off imbalanced in power – Nev was the writer of the songs and Opal was to be featured – and Opal is aware she needs to bring something more. She does with her voice, her looks, and her anger. Nev and Opal begin to make some cutting=edge punk (not a term yet in the music world) music. During the studio sessions to record, however, Opal begins a relationship with the only other black person in the room – Jimmy Shelton, a gifted drummer respected in the industry. The duo, however, could not really find a following. In a desperate, move the record label decides to put on a showcase of the artists they have, anchored by a band that had hits but were racist, self-important, and part of an infamous motorcycle gang. During that concert tensions between races erupted and Jimmy is killed.

S. Sunny Shelton, the editor of a major music magazine and author of the book at the center of this story, has been chasing the participants to better understand why her father died that night. What she comes to learn through the process, however, is that she was focusing on the wrong thing. What was it that made Opal – the black woman that challenged the norms – the focus of the speculation for having started the riot anyway? What was she trying to say? Who was trying to stop her from saying it? And what is the cost you will pay for ensuring you are true to your own voice?

As the layers are pealed back, we see that the real culprits – those white people that instigated the riot and those that perpetrated the murder – avoid paying the price that the black people pay – literally and figuratively. As history begins to repeat itself during the much anticipated reunion of the duo, the truth of the deception is faced. The source of the “truth” is from a racist man that started the whole terrible thing. Assuming deniability because of stereotypes you hold – can keep you from the truth and from finding justice.

A powerfully written story, unveiled in a slow and meaningful way. This has been replaying in my mind since I finished it. I am looking forward to reading more by this author, as the pacing and underlying messages were brilliantly planned and executed.

book-review, books, Historical Fiction, literature, reading

Absolution by Alice McDermott

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Wonderful language and understanding of the role of women in the 1960s, the life of ex-pats in Saigon, and reflections on these events as time has passed.

A newly wed couple arrives in Saigon where wife Tricia and husband Peter begin their tour there. Devote Catholics, they are hoping to make Vietnam a better place – safe from communism. Tricia is painfully shy, from a working class family, who always feels a bit out of her element in the world. Charlene is a powerhouse organizer, who senses this timidity, immediately selects Tricia as the next person to help out with projects to do good in the world. These schemes are challenged by many throughout the community of Saigon, and in fact are referred to as a cabal by Charlene’s husband Kent.

The dual definition of this – not simply a group or club but also contrived schemes of a group of persons secretly united in a plot – that shows the duality of much of the story. Much of the book is exploring the motivation behind helping others. The women of the story believe they are there to help lesser nation, usually because their husband thought this. As with their husbands, however, their efforts to help create a different mess.

At its core, the book asks questions of these women that we ask of our country – does a good deed help those receiving it or those that are bestowing it? Is altruism real? What cost did the children of the countries of Vietnam and of the United States pay? How did we all allow ourselves to be led by others so easily?  

Black Experience, book-review, books, literature, reading

James by Percival Everett

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If you are unfamiliar with Percival Everett’s work, it will help you to understand that he focuses on the use of language before you start this book. This is the story started by Huckleberry Finn, but from with Jim as the protagonist. To believe this is simply a retelling of the Mark Twain tale is to enter the book from the wrong standpoint. In the original telling Jim is made a simpleton, with Huck saving him. In this telling, the story is about an intelligent man in terrible circumstances helping a boy survive an adventure of his own making while staying focused on the pursuit of justice for a family born in servitude.

Language – its acquisition and its use – is a symbol of expected intelligence. This novel shows it as another protection to survive. By using language to fool the white people into a false sense of safety and superiority allows for the slaves to build a rich life together under the noses of those that believe themselves better. When there is treasure found with Huck it is the books that Jim clings to. His simple request for a pencil, however, to write his story leads to tragedy for the man who brought him the pencil. As Jim puts his story down on paper, you see how much the pencil, and his ability to use this language, is dangerous. From the beginning of Jim’s “adventure” you see him switch between the poverty of language expected of a slave to the breadth of language when posing as a white man in blackface, never knowing how to speak to stay “safe”. The brutality in the book shown to those of color is jarring and explicit. The lengths taken to keep slaves in fear are extreme. Throughout Jim’s adventure, however, we begin to see him emerging from the fear and desire to simply survive into an angry man in search for true justice and action.

The structure of the book is itself part of the telling. You begin with the lyrics to derogatory songs made to make fun of the slaves, with more songs interspersed between the story. This is James’ journal of his feelings and thoughts. And the ending you learn of the structure further in the book, and upon reflection it makes perfect sense.

This book, in my opinion, needs to have multiple readings. I personally read it the first time, but have heard that the audio version highlights the language changes even more. The message is multi-layered and deserves many revisits to learn more about the time, and ourselves.

book-review, books, Family Drama, reading

Dinner at the Lakeside Supper Club by J Ryan Stradal

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This novel follows generations of women – matriarch Betty, her daughter Florence, granddaughter Mariel and great granddaughter Julia – as they live their lives in the north woods of Minnesota. This is a story of generational expectations, familial obligations, and family conflict. This story shows that those that know you best are the ones that hurt you the most.

The story flips back and forth between times and people, which at times can be confusing and difficult to keep track, especially if you are listening to this. The technique, however, is effective in revealing the story – as you are never really sure of the full history of life in a linear way as you hear the history and revisit it with different eyes of experience and maturity.

In linear fashion: Betty arrives with Florence in tow and finds a job, purpose and a future at the Lakeside Supper Club in Bear Jaw MN. Florence, in desperate need for love and acceptance creates that security for her mother with Floyd, while destroying it for him and his male partner. She is not formally banished from the place, but knows she is not welcome because of the price Floyd paid for her selfishness. Florence becomes a mother herself, and becomes preoccupied with keeping her daughter Mariel safe and close. When Mariel meets Ned, the heir to a family chain of restaurants, they fall in love and marry. After tragedy again strikes near Florence, impacting others deeply again, there is a distance between Mariel and Florence that keeps her from Bear Jaw again. Through a series of events when Florence waits to be picked up by Mariel at the church – for two months – Florence reveals that she was simply waiting for when Mariel was ready to let her in.

The complex relationships between these women also hides difficult realities. Betty is searching for security after she runs away with Florence from the Yellow House. The implication is that they fled abuse happening there, and Betty would do anything to make sure she didn’t face that again, including making Floyd give up on his secret love. Florence married and gave birth to Mariel, but couldn’t bear to let her out of her sight. She was doing the same thing that Betty did – trying to make sure she was secure, even at the cost of her daughter’s dreams of moving away. Mariel, having given up on her hopes, finds new ones with Ned, but again her mother’s focus on the wrong thing ruins everything for everyone else. After forgiveness has been found, and Mariel gives birth to Julia, there is little time for these two to get to know each other, for Mariel dies of lung cancer when Julia is four. Her father takes over the Lakeside Supper Club, but Julia knows that this has been saved for her future, as she will inherit it. She hates working there, loving nature instead. Ned allows her to strike out on her own at college in Ohio, and comes back to sell the Supper Club when she is 21. Julia had kept waiting for her mother to come to her to show her the way, but she never appeared. After she sells the place to someone local that will love it as her family did, her father then lets her in on the fact that her mother would be proud Julia was able to make her own destiny.

book-review, books, reading, YA Lit

Amy Sarig King:  “Attack of the Black Rectangles” and “Me and Marvin Gardens”

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Author Amy Sarig King (also published under A.S. King) writes about middle schoolers from their perspective – and does it with empathy and talent. Both of these books focus on pre-teen aged boys who are strong enough to know who they are and go against the social ethos of fitting in at any cost.

In Me and Marvin Gardens you meet Obe Devlin, an 11 year old boy living through the suburbanization of the farm land his Great-Grandfather drank away. He is getting nose bleeds daily, started by the sucker punch from his former best friend to prove Tommy was “cool enough” to hang with the new kids that moved in. Obe’s new best friend is “putrid Annie”, another person the new boys don’t like. Obe stands up for Annie when she is kissed without consent and calling it inappropriate as it should be, even when adults don’t get it. Obe goes on to find a surprise on his property that becomes his friend. As he works to save the new friend from encroaching modernization and society, Obe finds a way to stay true to himself while also learning to accept that time moves on.

In Attack of the Black Rectangles you again meet a pre-teen boy – Mac – who is dealing with a father that calls himself an alien, a crazy teacher that covers words in a book (as though the word “breast” would be something that boys will giggle at when in context of a girl being lead to a Nazi shower in a concentration camp), and a town with rules that creep in to meet one person’s view of how the world should think or act. Again, Mac stands up against the injustice of censorship even when adults don’t care. He finds a way to do the right thing without compromising his own view of right or wrong. And he learns to face the reality of what his father truly is.

Both books show determination and the strength of knowing right from wrong, and when to ask for help from adults. It also shows that adults don’t always get it right. Well written and engaging, with lessons for all ages.

book-review, books, Family Drama, reading

The Real Mrs Tobias by Sally Koslow

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This is the story of three generations of wives that have married into the Tobias family. Veronika, a survivor of WW2, married David; Melanie (Mel) married their son Jake; and Birdie married the grandson Micah. Veronika is a psychiatrist, Melanie is a social worker and Birdie is an aspiring author. Birdie and Michah have been having challenges in their marriage, which comes to a head when a drunk Michah hits a woman with his food truck and runs from the scene. The meddling and self serving interference of both mother Mel is annoying. If we are to have any compassion for her it is very hard. All revolves around what she wants – to have her granddaughter with her always, regardless of what is best for the child or her parents. She is also unethical by keeping a patient she has a conflict of interest with (it was her nanny that Micah hit) and her counsel to her patients was about how it made her feel for her own choices. Veronika, also a meddler, is not easy to care about either. Condescending and self-righteous, she too meddles to her family’s life. In the end, however, all seems clear that the meddling can do some good, even if it is misguided. While I never liked most of the characters, I did want to learn how it was all going to wrap up.

book-review, books, mystery, reading, romance

Two books at once: Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder and Red, White and Royal Blue

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanna Fluke

A baker, Hannah Swensen, in a small town where everyone knows you, finds her dairy delivery man dead behind her store “The Cookie Jar” one morning before she even opens. We meet Hannah’s mother, who is intent on getting her oldest daughter married to any eligible bachelor she can find; Lisa, who works at the Cookie Jar with Hannah; Andrea – Hannah’s sister – and Bill, her husband, as well as their daughter Tracey. As Hannah helps Bill find clues to solve the murder, Hannah gets to know Norman – the newly arrived dentist in town that their mothers have fixed up. We meet other colorful characters of the town, all on the way to finding a second murder and ultimately find out “who done it.” Fun, not difficult to figure out, but enjoyable to read.

Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

A standard love story, but with the two fair haired boys of UK and US as the romantic pair. Focus on what you need to do to maintain the status quo, and the cost of familial expectations, versus being true to yourself. A fun read.

book-review, books, Family Drama, Hispanic and Latinx Cultures, reading

Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

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Who would have said that the earth with its ancient skin would change so much? Pablo Neruda

The Neruda quote is a wonderful way to kick off this story. This is about what change can bring about – both good and bad – when you make choices in relations to that change.

Change always seems to happen at once. Luz is awakened by the crashing of demolition on the building next door. She heads out in her power suit to meet her boss, Raenna, who has said she has news. Luz is expecting to be promoted. She is, however, blindsided that she will be fired and is advised to quit before it happens. Luz is as shattered as the building. Even worse – Angelica, a former friend from school, was at her first day as a waitress at the exclusive restaurant where this happened – and heard the whole thing. How will Luz tell her parents, Vladimer and Eusebia, who had worked so hard to help her achieve this success?

As expected, Angelica tells the local gossips, The Tongues, before Luz can bring herself to tell her parents. Hurt about hearing the news from the Tongues, Eusebia is not paying attention as she is pulling a cart of dirty clothing to the laundry mat. She falls, hits her head and is shaken badly. The Tongues help her up and take care of her to make sure she is alright. But is she?

As the tenants around Northar Park are watching the destruction of the building, they all begin to receive notices from landlords of other buildings that the apartments they have lived in for decades will be converting to condos, and they can be bought out or just move. But where can they move that they can afford? What about all the time they spent building the community? What would become of them all? Eusebia, whose head continues to throb after the fall, becomes enraged at the prospect of being pushed out and hatches a plan to halt the building.

While the plan is being put in place, Luz attends a block party where she meets Hunter, the white developer that is leading the gentrification of the neighborhood. Undeniable attraction brings them together.  Just as with Luz’s career, there is a divide between where she came from and what she is defined as to be “successful”. She enters Hunter’s world of wealth and privilege with wariness and discomfort that she had shed at Harvard and in the NY law firm.  

We then hear the story from Eusebia. How she will make the area seem undesirable to those outside the community, orchestrating robberies, peeping toms, and assaults. All while Vladimer, her husband and Luz’s father, chases a suspect that killed a boy and wrote “Go Home” on the body for the NYPD. We eventually learn she had been reluctant to come to the US with a 9 year old Luz, and had always talked about moving back with Vladimer at some point. Unknown to her, he and Luz were building a dream home in DR as a surprise, but she no longer wanted to return.

The choices that everyone makes – to try to halt the building project, to participate in the schemes of Eusebia, or to build a home in DR, there are questions about what choices you make. How do you choose to support your family? How do you choose to react to a letter of eviction? How do you choose to react to those that choose a different reality? All these questions are the explorations of the members of the community.

The demolition was ahead of schedule, just like the dismantling of Luz’s career/identity and Eusebia’s definition of self. As the women begin to find themselves and their voices, the building begins to go up. Through shattering events, the world crashes in on the family again, and the community again embraces them and helps them move forward. Each woman is scarred, differently, but each will grow as they need.

There are many more ways in which the choices we make are shown, and how the culture of acceptable and not are bantered about. This book is a study of these themes, as well as the complexity of the relationships of women, especially mothers and daughters. The book Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair by Pueblo Neruda was quoted more than once in the book. This collection of love poems is an amalgamation of women he loved. This novel takes the name for the building, and I believe is the amalgamation of the many people we all represent to ourselves and the world.