Edna Ferber's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel left me with mixed feelings. I love historical fiction. What better way is there to learn about our ancestors, our country, and our customs than well-researched fiction?
I really enjoyed Ferber's descriptions of Selina's life at various stages. After the death of her father, a gambler who provided erratically for his motherless daughter, Selina is eventually forced to make her own way in life, choosing to become a teacher in the poor farming community of High Plains, just outside Chicago. Despite her intention to gain credentials and eventually move into a more prestigious teaching position, she ends up marrying a farmer (she fell in love with his hands) and embarking on a bone-wearying, spirit-crushing existence as wife to a man who does not share her enlightened ideas or ambitions for his business. The real love of her life is Dirk, also know as So Big, her only child with Pervus DeJong. While it is obvious that Selina loves and supports her husband, she has sacrificed her dreams for him and this hardscrabble life, placing all of her hopes for the future with So Big. When Pervus dies unexpectedly, Selina takes on running the farm by herself, meeting obstacle after obstacle because of her gender, but trying to make a life in a turn-of-the -century world that does not take kindly to a woman trying to do a man's work.
What bothered me about the novel were four things. (1) Why would Selina, in marrying Pervus, give up dreams, her love of art, beauty, and knowledge, so quickly and thoughtlessly, immersing herself in a life completely foreign to any of her previous aspirations? (2) Why has Ferber written what seem to be two entirely different books, moving swiftly from a story focused primarily on Selina, a strong and creative woman who single-handedly defies society and becomes a successful business woman, to the story of Dirk, whose life choices leave something to be desired (think wimp), leaving Selina as a minor background character? (3) Publisher William Allen White campaigned vigorously for So Big to be chosen for the Pulitzer Prize and, despite the fact that the other two judges preferred other novels, she won. (4) I wonder why Ferber called the novel So Big? It should have been called Selina!
Despite my many questions and issues with what has been described as Ferber's most important novel, it is well worth reading for the historical value alone.
BIBLIOPHILY
Sunday, July 31, 2016
TRULY MADLY GUILTY (Liane Moriarty)
The thing about Liane Moriarty is that her earliest books were her best. Her last two novels were enjoyable and both hit the best-seller list fairly quickly, but I feel that they lack something, some quirkiness or uniqueness, when compared to The Hypnotist's Love Story or What Alice Forgot. Maybe it's just me, or maybe I should be judging them on their own merit instead of comparing them to her previous books! I always feel bad when I'm disappointed, but I'm not THAT disappointed. I liked this novel, the story of three couples enjoying a barbecue when an "incident" changes everything, but something was frustrating me throughout.
Sam and Clementine Hart are a couple with issues and two adorable little girls, Holly, age 6, and toddler Ruby. Sam has recently landed his dream job, but finds himself bored and floundering, wondering when his new employer will realize that he is producing nothing and fire him. Clementine is a cellist, nervously preparing for the audition that could change her whole career. Sam and Clementine, devoted and loving parents, are as different from each other in temperment and habit as two people could be, yet they make their marriage work, or do they?
Erika is Clementine's best friend, or at least that's what they call themselves after years of being forced together by Clementine's overbearing mother, Pam. Erika's mother is a hoarder whose out of control collecting left little room or energy to provide a clean, flea-free home or decent clothes for Erika, who is now a very uptight, OCD adult married to Oliver, an equally rigid but loving man who grew up with alcoholic parents. Erica and Oliver live next door to boisterous Vid and his breathtakingly attractive (and also very nice and generous) 2nd wife, Tiffany, and their 10-year-old daughter, Dakota. When Vid decides to throw a spur-of-the-moment barbecue at his over-the-top home, he invites Erika and Oliver and asks them to bring the Hart family, who have been invited for tea at Erika and Oliver's house so they can discuss something "important."
Moriarty leads up to the "incident" through short chapters defining the couples, their marriages, and their friendship interspersed with other chapters titled "The Day of the Barbecue" This might be what bothered me. As with another novel I read recently, I kind of wish this one had been laid out differently. Maybe the reveal of the "incident" was a little bit too slow. I can say, though, that the characters and their relationships were interesting and well-defined, the story overall was good, and the ending was satisfying. I will always recommend Liane Moriary's novels. Just because it wasn't my favorite doesn't mean it won't be yours. The potential is definitely there!
Sam and Clementine Hart are a couple with issues and two adorable little girls, Holly, age 6, and toddler Ruby. Sam has recently landed his dream job, but finds himself bored and floundering, wondering when his new employer will realize that he is producing nothing and fire him. Clementine is a cellist, nervously preparing for the audition that could change her whole career. Sam and Clementine, devoted and loving parents, are as different from each other in temperment and habit as two people could be, yet they make their marriage work, or do they?
Erika is Clementine's best friend, or at least that's what they call themselves after years of being forced together by Clementine's overbearing mother, Pam. Erika's mother is a hoarder whose out of control collecting left little room or energy to provide a clean, flea-free home or decent clothes for Erika, who is now a very uptight, OCD adult married to Oliver, an equally rigid but loving man who grew up with alcoholic parents. Erica and Oliver live next door to boisterous Vid and his breathtakingly attractive (and also very nice and generous) 2nd wife, Tiffany, and their 10-year-old daughter, Dakota. When Vid decides to throw a spur-of-the-moment barbecue at his over-the-top home, he invites Erika and Oliver and asks them to bring the Hart family, who have been invited for tea at Erika and Oliver's house so they can discuss something "important."
Moriarty leads up to the "incident" through short chapters defining the couples, their marriages, and their friendship interspersed with other chapters titled "The Day of the Barbecue" This might be what bothered me. As with another novel I read recently, I kind of wish this one had been laid out differently. Maybe the reveal of the "incident" was a little bit too slow. I can say, though, that the characters and their relationships were interesting and well-defined, the story overall was good, and the ending was satisfying. I will always recommend Liane Moriary's novels. Just because it wasn't my favorite doesn't mean it won't be yours. The potential is definitely there!
Saturday, July 23, 2016
SEA CHANGE (Karen White)
Ava disappoints her family when she elopes with child psychologist Matthew Frazier and moves to his ancestral home on Saint Simon's Island, off the coast of Georgia. Despite their love-at-first sight, fairy-tale relationship, Ava is shocked to learn after their honeymoon that Matthew is a widower and that his first wife's family believes that he is responsible for Adrienna's untimely death. As Ava works to make the house her own, she is bothered by the secrets that seem to surround the Frazier family.
Ava has always felt incomplete and slightly like an outsider in her own family. The youngest child by many years, she is the only daughter of a devoted, but unaffectionate, mother who always seemed to keep her at arms length emotionally, and in fact refused to see her off to her new life after Matthew and she announced their marriage. Ava has always been hurt that photographs from her infancy seem to have disappeared and bothered by how disconnected she feels from her older brothers. Her high hopes for her new marriage are tempered by her worries about Matthew's past and the many mysteries lurking in his family tree. She joins family friend (and strangely, her brother's ex-wife) in the local historical society, investigating the local cemeteries and unearthing more questions than answers.
I love the connection between Ava and Matthew, their complete trust (with a few glitches) and devotion to each other. I would describe this as part romance, part historical fiction, part mystery, maybe with a little bit of ghost story and possible reincarnation thrown in. It was also completely enjoyable. I'm so glad that I discovered Karen White!
Ava has always felt incomplete and slightly like an outsider in her own family. The youngest child by many years, she is the only daughter of a devoted, but unaffectionate, mother who always seemed to keep her at arms length emotionally, and in fact refused to see her off to her new life after Matthew and she announced their marriage. Ava has always been hurt that photographs from her infancy seem to have disappeared and bothered by how disconnected she feels from her older brothers. Her high hopes for her new marriage are tempered by her worries about Matthew's past and the many mysteries lurking in his family tree. She joins family friend (and strangely, her brother's ex-wife) in the local historical society, investigating the local cemeteries and unearthing more questions than answers.
I love the connection between Ava and Matthew, their complete trust (with a few glitches) and devotion to each other. I would describe this as part romance, part historical fiction, part mystery, maybe with a little bit of ghost story and possible reincarnation thrown in. It was also completely enjoyable. I'm so glad that I discovered Karen White!
FULL OF GRACE (Dorothea Benton Frank)
Maria Gaziella Russo (Grace), age 32 and the daughter of old world, traditional Catholics, is living in sin (strike 1) with her true love, Michael, a young doctor involved with stem cell research (strike 2). Both have fallen away from their Catholic faith (strike 3) and, although she speaks about Michael frequently, Grace has never introduced him to her conservative Italian family nor have they invited him to any family functions. Since Michael's mother suffers from advanced Alzheimer's, requiring his frequent attention, and Grace travels frequently as a high-end trip organizer and tour guide, this lack of extended family togetherness has never been a big problem. Then one day, Michael unexpectedly suffers a seizure after a short bout with a flu-like illness.
Grace and Michael are deeply in love and very committed despite Michael's assertion that he isn't quite ready for marriage and family. Grace suspects that Michael may be an atheist, but with her own shaky faith issues, this doesn't really bother her. With the possibility of losing Michael to a devastating illness now in the picture, Grace's family and her boss rush to their support and she is given a serendipitous assignment, to take a local church group to a famous shrine, reputed to be a place of miracles. While planning the group's free tour (won in a raffle and which her boss is trying to provide at zero-cost to himself) with the wise and practical pastor of the parish, she and the priest form a sort of friendship/counselor bond that causes Grace to look at her life and faith from a different perspective.
Don't get the impression that this is a "religious" novel. It is a story of many different aspects of faith, love, and commitment, with splashes of comedy and over-the-top family relationships thrown in. Catholics WILL enjoy it, though! You'll love Grace and Michael and you'll warm up to the Russos with no problem. Dorothea Benton Frank has done it yet again! Highly recommended!
Grace and Michael are deeply in love and very committed despite Michael's assertion that he isn't quite ready for marriage and family. Grace suspects that Michael may be an atheist, but with her own shaky faith issues, this doesn't really bother her. With the possibility of losing Michael to a devastating illness now in the picture, Grace's family and her boss rush to their support and she is given a serendipitous assignment, to take a local church group to a famous shrine, reputed to be a place of miracles. While planning the group's free tour (won in a raffle and which her boss is trying to provide at zero-cost to himself) with the wise and practical pastor of the parish, she and the priest form a sort of friendship/counselor bond that causes Grace to look at her life and faith from a different perspective.
Don't get the impression that this is a "religious" novel. It is a story of many different aspects of faith, love, and commitment, with splashes of comedy and over-the-top family relationships thrown in. Catholics WILL enjoy it, though! You'll love Grace and Michael and you'll warm up to the Russos with no problem. Dorothea Benton Frank has done it yet again! Highly recommended!
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
AN UNQUIET MIND (Kay Redfield Jamison)
I think that most of us, no matter how compassionate or empathetic, have a tendency sometimes to want to view mental illness as some sort of character flaw. I don't think this is deliberate, but rather a subconscious effort to convince ourselves that it won't happen to us or to ours if we are aware enough, strong enough, determined enough. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. In this powerful memoir, which, in my opinion, should be required reading for evertone, Jamison relates in painful detail her lifelong battle with bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness.
I always wondered why people who are bipolar often seem to have problems with taking medication. Do you remember on the TV show ER, when Abby's mother, played by Sally Field, showed up for a visit? That character, who suffered severely from bipolar disorder, preferred not to medicate herself and the consequences were devastating to herself and her daughter? She missed the highs, the creativity, the soaring mood, the intense happiness, and hated the flat sameness of her life while on medication. What ER didn't tell us (being an entertainment show, albeit a medical one), is that bipolar will worsen over time, the manias becoming higher and the depressions deeper, unless controlled by medications. Jamison's struggle with the disorder is both heartbreaking and inspiring. She exhibits incredible bravery in sharing the story of her life, including her difficulties with adjusting to lithium, her attempt to commit suicide by overdosing on the drug that ultimately saved her life, the breakdown of her first marriage, the death of a man with whom she expected to spend her life, and her quandary over the ethics of possibly having bipolar children. Jamison exposes both the ugliness and beauty of being bipolar through her first-person account. After reading this I feel that I understand much more than I ever did about living with mental illness. It's scary to see it from the inside out, and family and friend support is essential to survival in many cases. If you know someone who is struggling to live with bipolar disorder, please read this book.
I always wondered why people who are bipolar often seem to have problems with taking medication. Do you remember on the TV show ER, when Abby's mother, played by Sally Field, showed up for a visit? That character, who suffered severely from bipolar disorder, preferred not to medicate herself and the consequences were devastating to herself and her daughter? She missed the highs, the creativity, the soaring mood, the intense happiness, and hated the flat sameness of her life while on medication. What ER didn't tell us (being an entertainment show, albeit a medical one), is that bipolar will worsen over time, the manias becoming higher and the depressions deeper, unless controlled by medications. Jamison's struggle with the disorder is both heartbreaking and inspiring. She exhibits incredible bravery in sharing the story of her life, including her difficulties with adjusting to lithium, her attempt to commit suicide by overdosing on the drug that ultimately saved her life, the breakdown of her first marriage, the death of a man with whom she expected to spend her life, and her quandary over the ethics of possibly having bipolar children. Jamison exposes both the ugliness and beauty of being bipolar through her first-person account. After reading this I feel that I understand much more than I ever did about living with mental illness. It's scary to see it from the inside out, and family and friend support is essential to survival in many cases. If you know someone who is struggling to live with bipolar disorder, please read this book.
BELLOWS FALLS (Archer Mayor)
If you are looking for a good, old-fashioned police procedural, look no further. Mayor is brilliant at drawing the reader right into the inside world of crime, corruption, and small-town politics in Vermont. His main character, Joe Gunther, is an older, somewhat world-weary cop with razor-sharp instincts and the persistence of a champion athlete. In Bellows Falls, Mayor explores the underworld of small-town drug dealing, complete with murders, spousal abuse, potentially bad cops, chases on land and on and in water, and general controlled mayhem. Mayor is an expert in the inner workings of Vermont crime, having long served in law enforcement there in varied capacities. If you love a carefully crafted crime novel, rip-roaring action, and Vermont, you'll love this series.
FIRST COMES LOVE (Emily Giffin)
Those of you who have siblings know that life would be unthinkable without them, despite the lifelong conflicts and competitions. If you have ever lost a sibling, you also know that the memories can unite you or tear you apart, but that life will never be defined in the same way again.
The Garland family faces tragedy when son Daniel, a brilliant medical student, is killed in a senseless automobile accident while out running a simple errand. Daniel was a shining star, full of promise and newly in love, and his death has ramifications that splinter the family and affect decisions and relationships for years to come: father's drinking increases, parents divorce, and sisters Josie and Meredith grow further apart.
Fifteen years later, Josie is a first grade teacher, single, free-spirited, and longing for a family of her own. Her most serious relationship was destroyed by her own guilt over the suspicions she has been nursing for years about her own possible role in Daniel's death. Meredith, seeming living a perfect life married to Daniel's best friend, Nolan, is a successful lawyer and harried mother barely coping with her marriage and motherhood. Meredith considers Josie to be irresponsible, self-involved, and inconsiderate while she herself is a martyr. When Josie, who adores her niece Harper, decides that the time is right to have a child of her own, family secrets and guilt come to the surface, threatening relationships and raising questions that have been beneath the surface for years.
If you've ever lost a sibling, or even if you haven't, this story might open up some wounds, but it might also inspire some growth and healing. Giffin knows how to get to the heart of family dynamics and the family love that can never truly be eradicated by tragedy.
The Garland family faces tragedy when son Daniel, a brilliant medical student, is killed in a senseless automobile accident while out running a simple errand. Daniel was a shining star, full of promise and newly in love, and his death has ramifications that splinter the family and affect decisions and relationships for years to come: father's drinking increases, parents divorce, and sisters Josie and Meredith grow further apart.
Fifteen years later, Josie is a first grade teacher, single, free-spirited, and longing for a family of her own. Her most serious relationship was destroyed by her own guilt over the suspicions she has been nursing for years about her own possible role in Daniel's death. Meredith, seeming living a perfect life married to Daniel's best friend, Nolan, is a successful lawyer and harried mother barely coping with her marriage and motherhood. Meredith considers Josie to be irresponsible, self-involved, and inconsiderate while she herself is a martyr. When Josie, who adores her niece Harper, decides that the time is right to have a child of her own, family secrets and guilt come to the surface, threatening relationships and raising questions that have been beneath the surface for years.
If you've ever lost a sibling, or even if you haven't, this story might open up some wounds, but it might also inspire some growth and healing. Giffin knows how to get to the heart of family dynamics and the family love that can never truly be eradicated by tragedy.
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