As I’ve mentioned often here lately, I have been reading
books in preparation for Booktopia, a weekend event in Vermont that brings
authors and readers together. Author Jessica Shattuck will be there, so I
listened to her latest novel, The Women
in the Castle, on audio. This moving story of three widows coming together
after WWII kept me captivated.
The novel opens in a Bavarian castle in 1938, where Marianne
von Lingenfels is hosting a party with her husband, Albrecht (whose family owns
the castle). Her childhood friend, Connie, is there, with his new – very young
– wife, Benita, whom Marianne is meeting for the first time. Despite the
frivolity, guests are distracted by the Nazi regime and the new war, as Hitler
sets his sights on Poland.
From there, the narrative jumps to 1945, after the war has
ended and Germany is left in piles of rubble. Marianne and her children are
back in the castle, which is also in poor shape after the years of fighting.
Albrecht and Connie were both killed in the war, after a failed attempt to
assassinate Hitler. For her part, Marianne promised the brave men involved in
the resistance movement and the assassination plot to do her best to protect
their wives and children. So, she goes about the difficult task of trying to
locate them, from a list she has kept.
She first tracks down Martin, Connie and Benita’s son, in an
orphanage and then finds Benita herself, who was in the hands of the Russian
army in Berlin. With those two in tow, they head back to the castle and set
about trying to make a new life for themselves and heal from their various
traumas. Soon, Marianne also locates Ania and her two sons, and the ragtag
group forms something of a family.
The story follows each of the women and their children in
those post-war years, as they try to move forward while hiding shameful secrets
from the war. Some chapters flash back to their earlier lives so that the
reader gradually gets a more complete picture of each woman. Marianne herself
starts out as a very confident and certain woman, seeing the world in black and
white, but gradually, her views are softened a bit by her experiences with the
other women. The audiobook was very well done, with a German-accented narrator
adding authenticity, though you have to pay careful attention to the changes in
location and date.
This is an engrossing novel that follows the women and
children from 1938 all the way through to present day. Like any war novel,
there are many horrifying things that happen to the characters, but the story
is mainly focused on healing and moving forward. With its focus on women and
WWII and its span of many decades, The
Women in the Castle reminded me somewhat of The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, which I just read in November,
though that book concentrates on women’s roles during the war, while this one
mainly deals with the years after the war. It was an eye-opening and engaging
look at the different ways that women in Germany coped with the aftermath of
the war and put their lives back together – a perspective not often examined. I'm looking forward to meeting the author.
368 pages, William Morrow
HarperAudio
You can listen to an audio sample at the Amazon link below:
If you are a regular reader of my blog, you already know
that my reading this month is focused on getting ready for Booktopia, a unique
event that connects readers and authors in an intimate setting for a weekend in
early May. My first Booktopia read for the season was a good one: The Impossible Fortress by Jason
Rekulak, a fun, warm, and very funny novel about a teen boy in 1980's New
Jersey who wants to be a computer programmer.
Billy Marvin is a fourteen-year old boy who lives in
northern New Jersey in 1987. He is something of a nerd and not very popular at
school, but he doesn’t mind much because he has his two best friends, Clark and
Alf, who are also each social outcasts in his own way. The three friends have
fun eating junk food, watching TV, and riding their bikes around town. In his
spare time, Billy creates his own video games on his Commodore 64, a relatively
new pastime that his mother and teachers don't understand.
Life is fun and simple until the day that Alf breathlessly
reports to his two friends that he has seen Vanna White's naked butt on the
cover of Playboy at the local
newsstand, inside an office supply store. What follows is a desperate quest for
the three underage boys to get themselves a copy of the issue that everyone is
talking about, through several poorly thought-out schemes that get more and
more outrageous. A local troublemaker who is a senior at their school offers to
help them, with a plan even more extreme than the ones the boys thought up.
In the process of carrying out these schemes, Billy meets
Mary Zelinsky, the daughter of the owner of the office supply store/newsstand.
Mary is the first person Billy has met who is as obsessed as he is with
computers and programming. Not only is she a girl but she's an even better
programmer than he is. Mary shows Billy a flyer for an upcoming programming competition
for teens at Rutgers and suggests they pool their talents and enter the
contest. With a first prize of a new IBM PC – with far more power than Billy's
little Commodore 64 – Billy agrees.
As Billy and Mary spend hours after school programming and
working on their joint video game, the boys move forward on their plan to not
only obtain a copy of the coveted Playboy
magazine but to sell the photos to their classmates and make a profit in the
bargain. As the two storylines collide and intersect, disaster threatens, and
things get worse and worse for Billy.
There is plenty of suspense here, as the boys get pulled
deeper into the complicated plan with the older boy, and the deadline for the
programming competition draws closer. Adding to the entertainment are ample
80's pop culture references - video games, computers, movies, and music - that
make this novel a nostalgic ride for anyone who was young during the 80's (I
graduated from college in '87 but could certainly still relate to all that).
Topping off the fun is a wonderful sense of humor, as the teen boys act like
typical teen boys. I laughed out loud frequently during this novel and was
tempted to read passages aloud to my husband, but I knew he'd want to read it,
too. He also liked the novel very much and also laughed out loud throughout; we
enjoyed sharing the funniest parts with each other once we'd both read it. I
absolutely loved this fun and compelling novel, filled with warmth, humor, and
a bit of romance.
285 pages, Simon & Schuster
P.S. Although this book is marketed for adults, older teens and young adults should enjoy it as well.
Busy week last week! Our oldest college son headed to the Outer Banks for spring break, while our youngest came home. We helped set up our camper at a local state park for him and his friends - for the few days mid-week when the rain stopped! It was still pretty cool out, but they had a lot of fun, hiking and making s'mores around the campfire. It was nice to have our son around a bit last week, and I cooked a lot.
I had a nice unexpected treat this weekend when one of my cousins, who lives in North Carolina, came up here to visit with her mom (my aunt) and daughter. We quickly arranged a last-minute lunch gathering, and my other cousin (her brother) came down from Allentown with his wife and son. So, we had an unexpected mini family reunion! I rarely get to see these cousins because they don't live in my hometown, Rochester, NY, so this was a special treat, and we had a great time catching up.
At home, we all enjoyed our books:
I have been ramping up my reading for Boooktopia, an awesome annual event in Vermont, where book lovers get together
with authors for an intimate weekend of discussing and celebrating books
- so much fun! My mom and I went two years ago and are going again the
first week of May. So, in preparation, I read The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak, one of this year's Booktopia authors. I absolutely loved this novel about a fourteen-year old boy in New Jersey in 1987 who is obsessed with computer programming and wants to design his own games, at a time when that was not a typical thing to do! It's filled with fun 80's pop culture references (there is a whole subplot about he and his friends trying to get a copy of the infamous Playboy Vanna White issue!), suspense, friendship, and romance, too. I really enjoyed it. If you liked Ready Player One (one of my favorite books!), you'll like this one, too.
I just started a non-Booktopia book - I have to fit in my book club read for this month! - Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. It's a memoir by a woman scientist, starting with her childhood playing in her father's lab at the local college. I'm enjoying it so far, especially as a woman who majored in chemical engineering!
In between, I am fitting in additional chapters of Books for Living by Will Schwalbe, another Booktopia author. I haven't read his first book yet, The End of Your Life Book Club,
but I REALLY want to, and I can't wait to meet the author. This is a book celebrating
books - what's not to like?
On audio, I finished another Booktopia book, The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck, another of the
authors who will be at the event. This novel is about widowed women
living in a castle in Germany with their children after WWII ends. Although I've kind of overdosed on WWII fiction lately, this is a unique look at the aftermath of the war and the women who were left. I liked it very much, and it was good on audio.
My husband, Ken, is reading The Red Hunter by
Lisa Unger. As best as we can remember, he and I have only read one
other Unger novel, Beautiful Lies. I incorrectly stated last week that she is from Baltimore and sets her novels there - I think I had her mixed up with Laura Lippman! Lisa Unger is a thriller writer, and we enjoyed the first
one we read. Ken is liking this one so far, too.
Jamie, 22, is reading The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin, book 2 in the Dreamblood series. He loved book 1, The Killing Moon, a few years ago and is happy to have finally gotten to book 2 (which we gave to him for Christmas last year). I doubt he had much reading time last week, in a beach house with 11 other young people!
What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.
Continuing my tribute to National Parks and other federally managed lands, inspired by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads, this week we travel to New Mexico! This was an amazing trip (I know I say that about all our trips) where we went to Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque, Jemez Falls in the Santa Fe National Forest (north of Albuquerque and Santa Fe), Bandolier National Monument, and the Jemez State Monument and Soda Dam in the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway. So many unique sights in this small region! Besides these places within the National park system, we also enjoyed Albuquerque and Santa Fe - I want to go back.
My family and I at Petroglyph National Monument, NM
One of many of the namesake petroglyphs
Our gorgeous campsite in Jemez Falls Campground in Santa Fe National Forest
Jemez Falls, Santa Fe National Forest, NM
Our sons climbing into cliff dwellings at Bandolier National Monument, NM
Looks like a sand castle but these are life-size cliff dwellings!
Jemez State Monument along Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway
Soda Dam along the Jemez Mountain Trail National Scenic Byway
Amazing views from a hiking trail in Santa Fe National Forest, NM
My husband & sons hiked to a natural hot spring in Santa Fe National Forest!
I enjoyed the middle-grade novel Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood a few years ago, so I was excited
to read her latest book for young readers, Making
Friends with Billy Wong. I listened to it on audio and enjoyed this warm novel
about friendship, family, and race.
Like Glory Be, Making Friends with Billy Wong is also
set in the past in the South. It’s the 1950’s, and Azalea is not happy about
leaving her Texas home for the summer to help care for a grandmother she barely
knows in tiny Paris Junction, AR. Grandmother Clark has hurt her foot and needs
help in the house and caring for her garden. Azalea just wants her to heal up
quickly, so she can go back home to get ready for 6th grade.
In a small town like Paris Junction, everyone pitches in
when help is needed, so there are several other kids who also come by to help
Mrs. Clark with her large garden. Azalea doesn’t feel comfortable meeting or
talking to new people, but here she meets a whole bunch: troublemaker Willis
DeLoach, who is working in the garden to work off his shoplifting crime;
Melinda Bowman, a prissy girl who likes to gossip; and Billy Wong, a
Chinese-American boy whose family runs the local grocery store down the street.
At first, Azalea is especially shy about talking to Billy
Wong. She’s never met a Chinese person before and thinks he won’t speak English
well. She soon learns her assumptions are completely wrong, though. Billy’s
family has lived in the United States for generations, and he speaks as well as
she does. The two gradually become friends, exploring together, riding bikes,
and talking for hours. Billy is also from out-of-town, living with his aunt and
uncle so he can attend the regular middle school in the fall because in his
(even smaller) hometown across the river, he would have to attend the Colored
school, and they don’t have the advanced classes and extracurricular activities
Billy wants due to lack of funding. Azalea narrates most of the book, but there
are short sections written by Billy, who wants to be a reporter for his new
school newspaper. The audio was excellent, with two perfect narrators reading
the parts of Azalea and Billy.
As always in her immersive novels, Scattergood tells a warm
story of childhood while also addressing important issues of race, poverty, and
justice. I think this novel will be eye-opening for many modern children, whose
classrooms today include plenty of Asian-American kids, to find out about this
particular form of racism that was prevalent so recently. That is, of course,
just one thread of this engaging story about friendship and family, as Azalea
not only makes a new friend but also gets closer to her grandmother and learns her
family history.
I am a sucker for anything with a time travel plot. I think what intrigues me so much is how thought-provoking it is - the idea that you could travel through time, to any point in the past or future. My husband and I both enjoyed the new NBC TV series last fall called Timeless, about a ragtag group traveling through time to try to stop a villain from changing the past, visiting all kinds of incredible historical events. So, I was very excited to learn that ABC was getting into the time travel game with its own series this spring, Time After Time, which is based on a novel and 1979 movie by the same name (which I've heard is pretty good).
The main characters in Time After Time are quite famous - or infamous, as the case may be. The story begins in the late 1800's in London, where a young H.G. Wells, played by Freddie Stroma, is entertaining friends one evening and telling them about his time machine prototype in the basement. A late arrival to the party, Dr. John Stevenson (played by the hunky Josh Bowman), arrives, followed quickly by the police who are tracking Jack the Ripper. A bloody knife in John's doctor bag, left at the front door, confirms their suspicions, much to H.G.'s shock. To escape from the police, John heads to the basement to try out his friend's time machine. It works and transports him to present-day New York, where the time machine is on display in a museum. Horrified by what his friend has done (and is), H.G. quickly follows him to 2017 New York to stop him.
When H.G. arrives at the museum, he meets a lovely assistant curator named Jane Walker, played by Genesis Rodriguez. He tries to hide his identity at first, but before long, he has to take her into his confidence. H.G. is desperate to find John before he can kill again. That is the main thread of the show - H.G. and Jane trying to find Jack the Ripper in modern NY, to stop him from killing women - but the plot gets more complicated. Additional characters are added to the mix, included a descendant of H.G. and various people who want the time machine for their own purposes (including John so he can escape).
We have watched four episodes so far and are enjoying this fast-paced thriller with a sense of humor. There are the expected (and fun) fish-out-of-water situations, as both H.G. and John adjust to life in 2017. Can you imagine how fascinated H.G. Wells would be, with all his prognostications, by what the future really did bring? The chase gets more action-packed and complex as more people get involved. And, of course, there is the time travel, which is just starting to ramp up a bit several episodes in.
I've heard some criticisms of Time After Time (and also Timeless) by science fiction buffs, and yes, their arguments are valid - neither of these shows really sticks to the accepted rules of time travel in science fiction (and obviously the science of the machine is complete fantasy!). My husband and I, though, have been able to suspend disbelief and just go with it, enjoying the show for what it is. And what is it? Time After Time is a fun show, above all, with action, suspense, and humor, that puts two well-known historical figures into an intriguing situation. We'll see where it goes from here, but for now, we are enjoying it.
Time After Time is currently airing on ABC Sundays at 9 pm, so you can catch up On Demand or at the ABC website (episodes 2 - 4 are available there now for free) or for $1.99 an episode on Amazon, link below (so you could watch the first episode there & the rest on the ABC website).
For more time travel fun, some of my favorites (besides Timeless) include:
Frequency - TV show (not technical traveling through time but communicating across time so similar themes
12 Monkeys –
movie - post-apocalyptic time-travel thriller - SO GOOD!
Predestination –
twisty time-travel movie - a major mind-bender!
Project Almanac - fun, fast-paced movie of teens who time travel
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch - amazing sci fi thriller my husband and I both LOVED.
To Say Nothing of the Dogby Connie Willis - a modern classic with plenty of humor set in Victorian England (and the present)
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes - a chilling thriller about a time-traveling serial killer
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells! - a classic and the inspiration for this show
Time and Again by Jack Finney - a classic time travel novel, set in 1970 and 1882 New York
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - romantic time travel novel from 1945 to 1700's in Scotland
Last week was a bit better for me, even though I was still mostly housebound (I can't wear shoes or walk much due to a painful medical condition with my feet). My husband was on a business trip and both sons were busy at college finishing up their work before spring break, so I enjoyed a few quiet days to myself. If you have to be stuck at home, it's nice to have some time to yourself to chill out and catch up...not to mention very little cooking or dishes! I only ran the dishwasher once all week.
I cleared stacks of papers off our coffee table and counters (finally), got some writing done, and generally caught up. And, although our weather continues to be unseasonably cold (40's with rain and fog this morning!), we did have a couple of days last week when it was warm enough that I could sit on the deck. I am really missing my daily walks, so that helped a lot. Now, one son is in the Outer Banks for spring break and the other is here at home for now but going camping locally with friends once the rain clears out for a couple of days.
As always, we all enjoyed our books last week, no matter where we were!
I finished my next review book for Shelf Awareness, How To Be Human by Paula Cocozza (due out May 9). This novel is set in suburban London,
about a woman recovering from a recent break-up who is fascinated by a
fox in her backyard. Actually, "fascinated" doesn't really explain it - she falls in love with a fox. Yup. It's a pretty weird book, but I did end up enjoying it. It's well-written and takes an interesting look at human relationships (in addition to the less common fox-woman relationship).
Now, I am reading a book for Boooktopia, an awesome annual event in Vermont, where book lovers get together
with authors for an intimate weekend of discussing and celebrating books
- so much fun! My mom and I went two years ago and are going again the
first week of May. So, in preparation, I am reading Books for Living by Will Schwalbe. I haven't read his first book yet, The End of Your Life Book Club, but I REALLY want to, and I can't wait to meet the author. I just started this one, but it is already wonderful. It's a book celebrating books - what's not to like?
On audio, I am listening to another Booktopia book, The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck, another of the
authors who will be at the event. This novel is about widowed women
living in a castle in Germany with their children after WWII ends. I'm enjoying it.
My husband, Ken, finished another of my review books (he is really benefiting from my new job!), Marshall's Law by Ben Sanders, which looks like part of a thriller series - right up his alley! He enjoyed it.
Now, Ken is reading another review book, The Red Hunter by Lisa Unger. As best as we can remember, he and I have only read one other Unger novel. She's a thriller writer who is somewhat local and sets most of her novels in and near Baltimore, and we enjoyed the first one we read.
Jamie, 22, is reading The Shadowed Sun by N.K. Jemisin, book 2 in the Dreamblood series. He loved book 1, The Killing Moon, a few years ago and is happy to have finally gotten to book 2 (which we gave to him for Christmas last year). I doubt he'll have much reading time in a beach house with 11 other young adults on spring break this week!
What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.
What are you and your family reading this week?
Enjoying some much-appreciated time on the back deck last week!
Continuing my tribute to National Parks and other federally managed lands, inspired by Melinda of West Metro Mommy Reads, this week we travel to Colorado. Back in 2009, after our annual summer visit to see my husband's parents, we traveled further west to Colorado. The highlight of the trip (and most of these photos) was Rocky Mountain National Park, but we also visited Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado.
My son at Great Sand Dunes NP
See the sled tracks on the dunes? My boys took a sled up there & slid down!
These huge sand dunes just rise out of the surrounding countryside.
Rocky Mtn NP - reflections in the lake
Sunset in Rocky Mtn NP from our campsite
My fave pic! My sons with a mountain lake at Rocky Mtn NP
South end of a northbound elk - Rocky Mtn NP
Hiking above treeline in the tundra at Rocky Mtn NP
These photos make me want to go back!!! I am really itching to travel, but medical problems, family stuff, and bad weather keep getting in my way....soon!
Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend - it is WARM here finally, so I am going out on the deck to enjoy it before the temperature plunges again tonight.
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One of my book groups recently read and discussed Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson,
and I was thrilled for the chance to read another book by this remarkable,
award-winning author. I loved her memoir in verse, Brown Girl Dreaming (which won the 2014 National Book Award), and Another Brooklyn, though a novel and
prose, employs similar themes and spare writing style as it explores the lives
of adolescent girls in Brooklyn in the 1970’s.
As the novel opens, August, a woman anthropologist who
studies death rituals around the world, is in Brooklyn at her father’s funeral
with her brother. This trip home brings all kinds of memories back, some good
and some difficult, as she grapples with her father’s death, with seeing her
brother again, and with a brief glimpse of a childhood friend. Much of the rest
of the novel takes place in the past, as she recalls images and scenes from her
childhood and adolescence.
She and her father and brother moved to Brooklyn when August
was eight years old and her brother just four. That move formed a boundary in
her life, with her childhood in Tennessee with both parents on one side and her
growing-up years in Brooklyn on the other. She remembers bits and pieces with
her brother and her father, but many of her brightest memories are of her three
best friends, Gigi, Sylvia, and Angela. The four girls bonded and went through
those tender and tough years of adolescence together.
Although this is a novel, it is a brief book, told in spare,
lyrical prose that reminded me somewhat of the loose verse in Brown Girl Dreaming. As in that memoir,
here Woodson has a rare talent for imbuing a few words with intense meaning,
painting a brilliant picture of childhood and adolescence. For instance, in
this brief passage, she describes her childhood home in Tennessee in a way that
makes you feel what she felt:
“We ran through it laughing, slamming out of and into it,
closing our eyes at night then waking in the bright morning inside the pure joy
of Home.”
If you had a happy childhood home, as I did, then she
perfectly captures the feeling of an entire childhood in that single sentence.
Although her childhood was by no means carefree and had
plenty of challenges, including the loss of her mother, she also describes the
ups and downs of adolescence beautifully, remembering the joys of having best
friends, giggling together at sleepovers and walking arm in arm down the street,
as well as the devastating agonies of lost love and betrayals:
“When you’re fifteen, pain skips over reason, aims right for
the marrow.”
I loved this slim novel and the way that the author
perfectly captured the experiences of being a child and a teenager, even though
my own upbringing in the suburbs (also in the 70’s) was entirely different from
hers in Brooklyn in so many ways; she captured the essence of growing up. Of
our group of about eight in our book discussion that evening, most also enjoyed
the book and appreciated its unique prose style, though two members didn’t like
it as well and would have preferred a more straightforward, traditional
narrative.
For me, Woodson’s writing style in this novel matched the
framework of the book – brief, vibrant vignettes presented in the way that
memories are often recalled, bringing to mind the highs and the lows of a life
that is both ordinary and extraordinary. Despite my very different childhood, I
found her portrayal of adolescence perfectly captured that joyful, rocky, uncertain
time between childhood and adulthood. The story told in those vivid memories,
combined with the spare and lyrical prose, made Woodson’s warm and tender novel
of growing up a captivating adventure that ended much too soon.
My neighborhood book group selected one of my choices for
our March meeting: The Sympathizer
by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, along with
seven other literary awards. This is one of those books that I might never have
chosen on my own – a spy novel set in and after the Vietnam War – but the
avalanche of rave reviews (and that stack of awards) convinced me I should give
it a try. I’m glad I did – it’s a remarkable book, a combination of historical
fiction, political thriller, and spy novel, with a hefty dose of humor and
substantial emotional depth.
The novel opens with this line from its unnamed narrator: “I
am a spy, a sleeper, a spook, a man of two faces.” He is a Vietnamese man,
working for a General in the South Vietnamese army, but his sympathies lie with
the communists. It is April 1975, and the Americans have warned the South
Vietnamese army that they are about to pull out, causing chaos in the country.
His General has asked him to make a list of those who will be allowed to leave
on the last flight out, supplied by the Americans for the General who they’ve
worked closely with throughout the war. Our narrator, the Captain, would much
prefer to stay behind and share in the glory of a communist victory, but his
superiors have told him to put himself on that plane and accompany the General
to America, so that he can continue to report to them from there.
As you may remember or have read, the Fall of Saigon was
horrible, violent, and indeed chaotic, and that plane filled with the General,
his family, and his men and their families is the last one that makes it out in
one piece.The Captain and his friend,
Bon, both make it to America with other refugees and begin to try to put their
lives back together, though it is not an easy life. Their other childhood friend,
Man, stayed behind in Vietnam. The Captain knows he is also a communist, but
their loyalties are unknown to Bon. After a while, the General settles into
American life, still devoted to the Vietnamese cause, but he suspects there may
be a communist spy among their community of refugees.
The entire novel is told within the framework of a
confession that the Captain is writing to someone called the Commandant
(clearly a communist, from his title), as he describes exactly what happened to
him, from those last days in Vietnam through the refugee camps and onto the U.S.
Wondering how he came to be writing this confession – and its circumstances –
is one of the sources of suspense in the novel, as well as wondering whether
any of his American or Vietnamese colleagues will suspect his true loyalties.
Describing the plot of this novel doesn’t even begin to do
it justice because the writing is absolutely brilliant. It is clever, supple,
and sometimes even funny, despite the serious circumstances surrounding the
story. For instance, in his written confession, the Captain refers consistently
to one particular fat and unimpressive Major as “the crapulent major.” In other
cases, the author just expresses something so perfectly, with an amazingly apt
metaphor, that you feel compelled to mark the passage, like where he explains
as he listens to a colleague with a false aura of relaxation, alert for
information, “I laughed, even though inside me the little dog of my soul was
sitting at attention, nose and ears turned to the wind.”
He just has a way with words and a way of encapsulating
human experience perfectly, and much of our book group meeting was spent
reading sentences out loud to each other appreciatively. This passage was a
favorite:
“The only problem with not talking to oneself was that
oneself was the most fascinating conversational partner one could imagine.
Nobody had more patience in listening to one than oneself, and while nobody
knew one better than oneself, nobody misunderstood one more than oneself. But
if talking to oneself was the ideal conversation in the cocktail party of one’s
imagination, the crapulent major was the annoying guest who kept butting in and
ignoring the cues to scram.”
There are other sources of humor mixed in among the
horrifying and difficult events of the novel. A big one is when the Captain is
hired by a Hollywood producer to be an advisor on a film about the Vietnam War
(a thinly veiled reference to Apocalypse Now),
to ensure authenticity. Of course, the Hollywood bigwig is more interested in
pleasing his American audience than in actually portraying the Vietnamese
people accurately (or even giving them any speaking parts), but the filming of
the movie in the Philippines has many amusing moments.
There is so much meat to this novel – its beautiful writing,
its historical setting, its political context – that our book group had plenty
to talk about. Most of us agreed it was an incredible book and rated it between
7 and 9 out of 10. Some felt it moved along at a good pace, while others felt
it was a difficult book to read, though ultimately worthwhile. One member only
got about 50 pages in and decided not to finish it. We certainly had an
in-depth and entertaining discussion, though we weren’t entirely sure we
completely “got” the ending.
The Sympathizer
is not just a novel about the Vietnam War. It is also about personal identity
and the refugee experience, a topic of vital importance today. The narrator’s
two faces, mentioned in the opening sentence, have multiple meanings. He is not
only an undercover agent, serving two opposing political forces, he is also a
refugee, with one foot in Vietnam and another in America, and he is also a
bastard child (a big part of his identity), born of a Vietnamese mother and a
French priest father. This deep emotional context along with a gripping and
suspenseful story and the author’s beautiful prose make this a truly
exceptional novel and well deserving of its many awards.
384 pages, Grove Press
Fresh Air's Terry Gross interviewed Viet Thanh Nguyen. He discusses the book, as well as his own history and experiences growing up in Vietnam and in the U.S. as a refugee. It's an excellent interview and very interesting. You can listen to this 35-minute interview online, download it, or read the transcript at the link above.
Here is a brief clip of the author on Late Night with Seth Meyers. He talks about his own experience as a refugee...and his wonderful sense of humor comes through as well.
When my mother was visiting a couple of weeks ago, my husband and I exchanged TV recommendations with her. We told her about Sneaky Pete (which she and her husband are loving) and Good Girls Revolt, and she told us about a unique comedy called Lilyhammer. It was a good recommendation - we are now hooked on it, too!
Lilyhammer
features a set-up pretty much guaranteed to bring plenty of laughs. An
infamous New York City mobster named Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano, played
by Steven Van Zandt of The Sopranos, agrees to testify against
his former boss and colleagues, if the FBI will protect him and relocate
him. He says he won't be safe anywhere in the U.S., but he remembers
enjoying watching the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, so that's
where he goes, with a new name, Giovanni Henrikson.
Giovanni,
or Johnny as he asks his new acquaintances to call him, is a little
disappointed when he first sees his modest home and tiny car in
snow-bound Lillehammer, but he immediately begins to make the town his
own. He joins classes for new Norwegian citizens, where he meets an
attractive and out-of-work teacher named Sigrid, played by the lovely
Marian Saastad Otteson. Right from the start, Johnny does things his own
way, which is quite different from the way Norwegians typically do
things. He is very polite but doesn't take no for an answer and believes
there is no problem that can't be solved with money or the proper
"motivation." From setting up a business to making friends to getting
his driver's license, Johnny makes his way through Lillehammer in a most
un-Norwegian way. A local Barney Fife-type police officer, bored with
the tiny town's lack of crime, suspects something is up with
Johnny...but he is way off-base in what he suspects, adding another
dimension of humor.
My husband was skeptical at first.
He is from Oklahoma and is really not into most mob-related TV shows or
movies - just not his thing. However, Johnny has quickly won us both
over. The entire cast (mostly Norwegian with no big Hollywood names
beyond the lead) is excellent and fun to watch, the laid-back atmosphere
of Lillehammer is welcoming, and Johnny's fish-out-of-water escapades
are a lot of fun. Besides having plenty of humor, the show is also
surprisingly warm, and you soon find yourself rooting for Johnny,
despite his unorthodox methods.
We've only watched three
episodes so far, and there are three seasons of the show on Netflix, so
we look forward to a lot more fun with Johnny. You can also watch
Lilyhammer on DVD or streaming on Amazon for $1.99 an episode or $12.99
for the entire first season (links below).
Doesn't feel much like spring. We still have quite a bit of snow on the ground (rare for this time of year), though I do see blue sky this morning.
I had kind of a rough week. The weird cold snap & snow/ice storm made a very painful medical problem flare up badly. I thought it was gone for the season, so this was extra-frustrating. Despite my chronic illness, I don't normally deal with much pain, and I am finding it very difficult. By this weekend, I was in a pretty dark mood and exhausted, too. I have a lot of admiration for those who contend with chronic pain all the time - it's a tough road.
Trying to plan spring break also got me down this weekend - our sons' spring break from college is next week, and the weather is still supposed to be cold (and very wet) all week, quite a ways down the east coast. We just can't travel far enough in the limited time to get to nice weather for camping! I think our younger son is going to settle for choosing the best 2-3 days to go camping with his friends locally (with our camper which has heat!). My husband and I still need to decide what we are doing the following week...or maybe we'll wait for better weather. I hate everything being up in the air like this when our plans don't work out.
In the midst of that dark period, I heard the news that a favorite author, Amy Krouse Rosenthal, died of cancer. Besides liking her writing, I felt a connection to her because we were the same age, had similar childhoods, and were both parents and writers. I had exchanged e-mails with her a couple of times, and her death really hit me hard. Besides being an excellent writer, she lived an admirable life of warmth, kindness, and creativity. Take a look at my post about her and help me to honor her memory by spreading her writing and her kindness.
Books provided a welcome escape for me last week, as always! Here's what we are all reading:
I finished my first book for my new review job at Shelf Awareness: The Last Neanderthal by
Claire Cameron, due out April 25. This novel is about a Neanderthal girl, with
alternating chapters set in present day as a woman archeologist uncovers
her remains. I loved this novel! It reminded me a bit of Clan of the Cave Bear, but I also really enjoyed the connections and parallels to the modern world. Now I need to write my review.
I am now reading my next review book for Shelf Awareness (in case we do end up going away sometime in the next two weeks), How To Be Human by Paula Cocozza (due out May 9). This novel is set in suburban London, about a woman recovering from a recent break-up who is fascinated by a fox in her backyard. It's especially interesting to me since we have a lot of foxes in our area!
I finished a middle-grade audiobook, Making Friends with Billy Wong by Augusta Scattergood. Like her earlier novel, Glory Be,
this one is set in the South in the past (1950's Arkansas this time) and deals
with racial tensions, in this case prejudice against Asian-Americans. It was very good.
I have started a new audiobook and my first Booktopia book for this season. Boooktopia is an awesome annual event in Vermont, where book lovers get together with authors for an intimate weekend of discussing and celebrating books - so much fun! My mom and I went two years ago and are going again the first week of May. So, I just started The Women in the Castle on audio by Jessica Shattuck, one of the authors who will be at Booktopia. This novel is about widowed women living in a castle in Germany after WWII ends. It's good so far.
My husband, Ken, is still reading another of my review books (he is really benefiting from my new job!), Marshall's Law by Ben Sanders, which looks like part of a thriller series - right up his alley!
What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.
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