book-review, books, mystery, reading

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

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A murder mystery told by Ernest Cunningham, the writer of “how to” books on how to write murder mysteries, is a fun and interesting way to set up this book. You are given clues along the way, but never enough to fully put the pieces together – and sometimes things are thrown in that are a bit interesting, but the writer uses them to throw you off.

The story starts with Ernest being awakened late one night by brother Michael for help – he hit someone with his car and thinks he’s dead. Turns out the person is alive, but Michael ends up actually killing him. After turning his brother in for killing this man, three years have passed and Michael is leaving prison. Aunt Katherine arranges a reunion for the family at a ski resort for his return. We begin to hear sordid stories of a family plagued by bad luck, some brought by themselves and some brought by others. As these stories play out, we see that everyone has secrets and motives for not telling the truth.

As the layers of the onion are peeled, we get closer to learning the full truth. Remember to read through to the end, because all it not reveled when you think it is.

This was a fun telling, with good twists and turns.

book-review, books, Non-Fiction, reading

Fever in the heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Timothy Egan

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This is a true story. The actions happened one hundred years ago.

What happened is abhorrent.

That it happened is unconscionable.

That history may be repeating itself is terrifying.

I even hesitated to write this book review because of fear. But if I learned anything from this book, it is to speak when you need, because no one else will.

This is a book of how men feed on the fears of others to profit for themselves. After reconstruction the South found ways to intimidate the slaves that they had once owned. Even if emancipated, there continued to be groups that believe Blacks were inferior to Whites. Men took to wearing white sheets to imitate ghosts to scare those that are different from them. Thus, the Ku Klux Klan was born. The federal government just after the war was able to dampen this fervor, but after Lincoln was assassinated, pressure from the Southern states to keep the parties together led to an easing of the concerns. Hiram Evans, head of the Klan, looked to expand its influence north. At the same time D.C. Stephenson landed in Indiana. With no real known history, he was able to charm his way into the Klan while finding ways to enrich himself along the way. This money, as well as his charm, led to a huge increase in Klan membership in Indiana – a state that had sent the most men to fight the South in the Civil War. Fear was used openly to prey on “others” to ensure a pure race of “true Americans” – White Protestant Men – who would use this fear to buy politicians, police, store owners, bankers, priests and more to create structural walls to keep these “others” from economic, educational, and social gains. Money helped to hide that D.C. Stephenson, and many others such as Daisy Douglas Barr, helped build this empire of fear. They created a shadow police force that was above the law, and thought of themselves above it too. They were, however, practicing the drinking and debauchery they were deriding in others.

D.C. Stephenson, specifically, threw huge parties flowing with alcohol during Prohibition. Naked women were available to men. People showed up and were photographed in compromising positions that D.C. used against them to get what he wanted. All along, D.C. was assaulting women – something that he had done to a few of them that he married but didn’t tell anyone about. Then one day he decided that Madge Oberholtzer was his next victim. He lured her to his mansion, drugged her, forced her to board a train to Chicago where he brutally assaulted her – not only raping her but biting out chunks of her flesh. She was able to buy poison to kill herself to escape, but decided after she had taken half a dose that she needed to stay alive to make him pay. Her mother’s presence at the Stephenson mansion led to Madge being abruptly taken home, ill and badly beaten. There Madge was able to dictate and correct a testimony of what happened to her. It is through this testimony, and that of the coroner and doctor that treated her, that brought about D.C Stephenson’s indictment.

D.C. was not concerned about losing the murder case brought against him. He had people owing him, all the way up to the governor’s office. What he didn’t count on was that the men of the jury had seen through his charade and were only concerned about the penalty he would pay. If not for these men, D.C. would not have turned on those that did not save him, spilling the whole sordid story – memberships and secrets – to make these men pay for the betrayal. The whole of the plan to land D.C. in the white house would never have come to light otherwise. As he said himself – he would have been a dictator.

What truly scares me of this entirely true story is the comparisons of today: 

D.C. Stephenson, a drifter and con-man, arrives in Indiana. He has tried his hand at a number of enterprises that failed, has left wives and a child along the way. His personal history was ever shifting. He began to peddle hatred – of Blacks, Catholics, Irish, Italian and Jews. Anyone that is not “fully Americanized.” This meant white, protestant, born here – no disabilities or mental challenges allowed. He rises quickly through the ranks of an organization – the Klu Klux Klan – as he enriches himself through cutting deals to take cuts of membership fees, robe costs, bootlegging (during prohibition) and more. He gets people to fear others. He begins to bring politicians, police, and priests into the fold, helping propel a reign of terror in Indiana while giving a group think of “being right”. He claims “I am the law.” After multiple assaults on women, one finally speaks out on the cannibalistic and brutal assault she endured. He is indicted, but his slate of politicians still wins. 

Donald J Trump, a con-man, arrives on reality tv, trying out his latest enterprise by saying he’s so successful. To my recollection there has been an airline, a university, a board game, a vodka, steaks, water, magazines, casinos, winery, and cologne businesses that have failed. He has left wives and children. He has peddled hatred – of outsiders from other countries, people with disabilities, veterans, and women. He talks about bringing back America to those that deserve it – the White Protestant Americans that make up his political base. He has been known to put a price on loyalty to him above anything else. Women have claimed he has slept with them (e.g. Stormy Daniels) or raped them (E Jean Carroll). He has claimed he can shoot someone on Wall Street and get away with it. He is indicted, but he still has the nomination of the Republican party. He has said he would be dictator.

Who will be today’s brave soul that will stand against the fear to do what is right? Only time will tell.

book-review, books, literature, Middle Eastern, read around the world, reading

Fencing with the King by Diana Abu-Jaber

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This story is a fictional telling of a family from the middle east, with roots throughout the region. The author starts and ends the book with assurances that the story, while similar to her family’s, is a true fictional tale.

As the story opens, Amani and her father are at an exhibition of falconers for the King of Jordan’s 60th birthday. Falcons had been used by the Bedouins to hunt as they migrated throughout the middle east. These falcons have become symbols of good luck, excellence and inner strength. They are seen as spiritual messengers, asking you to pay attention to your intuition and focus on what is important.  They remind you to look at things from a different perspective and forgive yourself for your past. Being on the alert for possibilities, to be decisive in decisions and actions, and to adapt to change are especially important to the context of the story. These lead the way into the heart of Amani’s story.

Amani is a woman living in two cultures – America of her birth and upbringing, and Jordan of her ancestry. Her father Gabriel (Gabe) came to America by chance to work with his hands in carpentry and construction, while his brothers stayed in Jordan. His older brother Hafez has become a trusted adviser of the King of Jordan after studying in Syracuse, NY. He has risen in power and is in charge of arranging the King’s 60th birthday celebrations. He asks his brother Gabe to return to the land of his birth after 40 years to reprise his role as fencing partner to the King. Gabe does not want to return, but his daughter Amani wants to return to learn more about her grandmother, whom she has been told she resembles by all in the family. She persuades him by with a letter she finds from her grandmother.

Amani and Gabe stay at his brother Farouq’s guest home. Her cousin Omar becomes a close confidant. As she searches for answers about her grandmother, you see she is enamoured with Hafez. He and his wife try to take her in hand as if she were their heir. But when Amani begins asking questions, they put her off. Unknown to Amani, Hafez has ulterior motives for asking Gabe to come. Hafez believes that a family heirloom knife that his father gave to Gabe should be his and has asked that it be brought on the trip for him to see it one more time. The more complicated reason is not revealed until later in the story.

As the falcon introduction suggested, Amani comes to accept her past and looks to her own future. She searches for the family’s past, and is able to find joy and forgiveness in doing so. It also brings truth to the family and consequences for the person that started the family down a dark path. 

Throughout this family story are facts about those that settle in Jordan – and what makes a real Jordanian. It outlines the refugees from the Ottoman empire to the present, including the fact that the King was selected by the French. It is with true compassion that these are facts interwoven in the story but not used to accuse anyone person or culture.

This was a truly beautiful book about family, self-awareness, consequences, and forgiveness.   

book-review, books, mystery, reading

Thursday Murder Club #1-4 by Richard Osman

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Thursday Murder Club; The man that died twice; The bullet that missed; The last devil to die

Please read this series in order. You lose too much if you don’t. 

At a peaceful retirement village in Kent, England, four friends meet Thursdays to solve cold case murders in the puzzle room. As these four friends work to solve these murders they make friends with two police officers, and many other friends, new and old, that help them solve the murders.  Through the course of these books, you learn of each of these senior’s strengths, and how each fill needs in the overall group. It is through the lived experiences that they are able to accept themselves for what and when they can help the others achieve the group’s goals. They learn to rely upon each other to help open themselves up to the world they are facing, including challenges of aging and identity.

Joyce, narrator to her diary in between the chapters that helps the story move forward, or stay confused, is a former nurse who is the glue that keeps everyone together with her chattering, baking and sunny disposition, but she is struggling to maintain a connection with her adult daughter.  Elizabeth, a former spy, takes control of each situation due to her experience in the thick of surviving life, but when it comes to saving her husband from dementia, she is out of her element. Ibrahim is a retired psychiatrist, with an analytical mind and a protective demeanor, who the group relies upon for a cool head and clear insights.  Ron, a former union leader, is a staunch Ham football supporter and a bit rough around the edges. His heart is shown when Ibrahim is hurt when he refuses to allow Ibrahim to be alone in the hospital.  Add in two Kent detectives, a news caster, a makeup artist, a Polish handyman, a teacher, a KGB operative, a drug dealer, an art forger and a diamond thief and a couple of dead bodies and you have a series of mix ups and intrigue that will keep you and the pensioners on their toes.

The story keeps building upon itself, so the characters are revealed over the arc of the stories, thus the need to read them in order. I am looking forward to seeing where else the group can go, but I am satisfied with the current ending. The last installment showed how the core four friends are understanding of each other and have helped each person be where they needed to be to survive. The gentleness of which they care for each other was so real that I wept.  If the story follows only a few, I would be afraid the charm of the group would be sacrificed.

Spend the time getting to know these pensioners – you will not regret it.

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.