Red’s Book Reviews: We Were the Lucky Ones by Gloria Hunter

I have to be honest I spent so much of this book thinking about the line in the Beatles song “A Day In the Life,” that states “A crowd of people turned away, but I just had to look, having read the book.” This compelling account of a Jewish family in Poland during World War II just creates that feeling in reverse. We’ve all seen the “movie” of this story. The plight of Jewish people under the Nazis and even those under Stalin in Russia is well-documented, so when you read a story like this that provides real characters and narratives it’s easy to be scared to turn the page because the fact is that the stories didn’t end happy for most Jews in this time and place. This is a remarkably well-researched and well-told story, and I’d recommend this to anyone to read.

Up Next: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

Red’s Book Reviews: The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs

The Know-It-All details Jacobs’ educational endeavor of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from start to finish. His narrative takes us through the alphabet while relating entries to his own life. He takes up the challenge to recapture the confidence he had as a ten-year-old who felt he was the smartest boy in the world along with conquering a task that his father failed to complete. He has always been intellectually competitive with his father, a lawyer who has a number degrees and written numerous books on law. Driving the story is the pursuit of intelligence, the definition of intelligence, and the way knowledge shapes the relationships each of us make.

I admire the dedication this took, but I won’t lie that at times I felt like the narrative and its lessons were done a bit heavy-handedly. While I am a fan of creative non-fiction, I always grow somewhat uncomfortable with books like this because I spend a lot of the time wondering how much of the writer’s goal was shaped by the idea that he’s going to write about it later. Once that enters my mind, it’s hard to forget, making some of the neat connections between entries and his life seem less genuine because he created the connection to fit his narrative. Still, it’s a fun read and I recommend giving it a chance.

Up next: We Were the Lucky Ones by Gloria Hunter

Red’s Book Review: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

This is a romance cloaked in the science fiction trope of time traveling. The genre might be perfect for the trope because it allows the author to gloss over some of the icky specifics of how the time travelling occurs. Her approach is to make it a genetic disorder, one the traveler cannot control. The chaos this creates leads to his relationship with Clare. She meets him first, she as a child and him as a man in his thirties and forties. In his linear timeline, he doesn’t meet her until his mid-to-late twenties. This allows for a book in two halves where first he has the advantage of knowing all the things to come in their relationship, and then she reverses that advantage as he experiences her childhood moments while they are married. Eventually this leads to a point – clearly the conclusion. I thought this was an original book, but one that finished with a cliché. That’s where the romance genre probably hurts this for me. Romances often end with a cliché. I was hoping for a little more.

Up next: Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin

Red’s Book Reviews: Straight Man by Richard Russo

The most impressive thing about Richard Russo is his ability to write serious literature with so much humor. It’s like he’s able to grab real people off the street, turn them into characters for a book, and mix in all the real-life irony with the various personal and professional trails and heartbreak we all confront. Straight Man is the story of a middle-aged creative writing teacher at a middling university. He holds the interim title of Department Chair, a position he neither really wants nor wants to lose. The politics of a department ring true, at least from the professional experience I have dealing with people and power. Of course, it’s higher education so budget issues are part of the issue. Throw in the return of his estranged father – an academic of high regard despite his penchant for sleeping with his students, consoling his grown daughter through marriage problems, being temporary separated from his wife, who is out of town for a job interview, and a handful of other side issues, and Straight Man turns into a hysterical page turner. Oh, he also threatens on Live TV to kill a duck a day until his department receives a budget. Just awesome all over here. Read it. Trust me.

Up next: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Red’s Book Review: Emily, Alone by Stewart O’Nan

I finished this book at about 4 A.M. the other day as a cold refused to let me get some sleep. The setting fit the mood of the book, a look into the isolation of the elderly in our society. Emily, a widower, lives alone and is confronting both her own mortality and the solitude created by her ever-diminishing social circle. With this book coming from Emily’s perspective, it provides an accurate depiction of the clash of beliefs and styles between generations. Emily has a contentious relationship with her two children and longs to have a closer relationship with all her grandchildren. I think when you’re young it’s hard to understand that perspective, and it becomes difficult to imagine why a grandparent worries about this or that. I think this book lifts that vale.

Up Next: Straight Man by Richard Russo

Red’s Book Reviews: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

With the backdrop of the plight of the Monarch Butterfly, Kingsolver weaves a tale that intermingles the behavior of insects to a changing environment and the behavior of humans reacting to their environment. The main character is Dellarobia, a young wife and mother struggling in her marriage, her career (or lack thereof), and her place within in her husband’s family. A major theme being the role of conversation. The mystery of how Monarch’s communicate with one another to continue and change their yearly migrations. The communication that happens and doesn’t happen within a family and how that influences behavior. The bigger scope conversation between scientists and the public, as one side thumps the climate change narrative to a population that greatly ignores it. It’s hard to sum up a Kingsolver book in so few sentences because she is always so nuanced in making her points. I recommend this one, and recommend pretty much all of her books.

Up next: Emily, Alone by Stewart O’Nan.

Red’s Book Review: The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

The setup for this book is a civil suit against a tobacco company and the ways that both sides of the suit go to extremes to manipulate the jury. This was written in 1996 before big tobacco lost any major suits concerning liability for smoking-related health problems. That alone makes it interesting as we’ve gone nearly two decades since tobacco lost and the myriad changes both legally and socially against smoking since then. It’s easy to forget the concept of a smoking section in restaurants or bars where people could smoke anywhere. I remember having to quarantine bar clothes in college because they reeked of cigarettes that I didn’t even smoke. The other thing to contemplate is the extent that big business goes to maximize their profits even to the extent of harming the public. The tentacles of these companies reach into every part of our society, manipulate it, and, many times, damage it. Something to consider as regulations and regulatory groups are stripped away by the current administration.

Up next: Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

Red’s Book Reviews: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Such a wonderfully written book that effectively continues to find ways to make the reader feel horrible. This nonfiction account of McCourt’s childhood in an impoverished family living through depression era conditions in Limerick, Ireland. The story makes you angry as his father drinks away his wages time and time again, ultimately never keeping a job long, before abandoning the family. Heartbroken for a mother battling depression after losing at least four children, having an alcoholic husband and four remaining children to feed and clothe. To empathy for Frank, who is staving off starvation and typhoid, interpreting Irish Catholic mores, and dealing with the average issues young people face while growing up. As things get worse and worse, it’s difficult to keep reading, but it is worth it. America becomes the symbol of freedom, prosperity, and hope for McCourt. When he reaches America, he does with a heart already missing Ireland, but embracing the wild hope of the future. It’s a reminder of why for the last few hundred years people from all over the world have traveled here to start new. It’s a reminder of the place we’ve held in this world. It’s a reminder of the symbol America once was, but unfortunately we no longer strive for the values we set when this country was formed.

Up next: Runaway Jury by John Grisham

Red’s Book Reviews: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

The premise of this book drew me in when I picked it up at a garage sale. A couple, unable to have children and alone as the lighthouse keepers for a tower on an island near Australia, discover a boat with the body of a man and a living baby washed up on the beach. The moral dilemma becomes should they report the body and baby, or raise the baby as their own.

Of course they choose to keep the baby, but guilt overwhelms the husband once they discover the mother of the child is living in the hometown of the wife.

I really want to say that I liked this book, but at times, it veered too close to being an average romance for my tastes, and the resolution was almost too tidy. These are all personal preference things. It reads fast and the plot motivates the reader to plow through the pages to find out what happens. I guess part of me wanted more, I am not sure what, but a deeper story maybe.

Up next: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Red’s Book Reviews: The World According to Garp by John Irving

One thing that rings true about John Irving books is that you really never know what you are going to get when you crack open the first page. The only thing I knew about this book other than reading the back cover was that it involved high school wrestling in some way. I learned about that in Frank Deford’s sports writing memoir “Over Time” where Deford mentioned that Irving sent complaint letters to Sports Illustrated about its lack of wrestling coverage.

Garp is a book that at times seems preoccupied with sex and other times with the frustration of writing/publishing. Mostly, one seems to interfere with the other. The other jarring thing is the number of lost limbs and appendages. Just off the top of my mind, characters in this story lost: eyes, arms, and a penis (two actually – one bit off, the other by choice), numerous tongues, probably part of a head, and most of the people seem to battle with keeping their minds.

Irving’s books are never dull, and he always takes risks. He blends humor with tragedy brilliantly. He even prints full versions of a short story and a first chapter of a novel written by the fictional Garp. I’ve read two other Irving books and have two more in my to-read stack. I’d place this one above “A Widow for A Year” and below “A Prayer for Owen Meany” in terms of my preference.

Up next: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Red’s Book Reviews: The Likeness by Tana French

Okay, I am going to break the premise of this book down to a couple points.

1.  A female detective recently removed from the Murder squad in Dublin and still recovering from a botched case (read Into the Woods by Tana French) that essentially cost Det. Maddox her partner and best friend, her preferred career, and her identity.

2. A murder victim that in fact passes as Det. Maddox’s doppelganger and even had been assuming one of Det. Maddox’s undercover aliases prior to her death.

3.  Det. Maddox is able to infiltrate the victim’s life and social network by not disclosing the death to anyone and crack the case. In that time, you learn a little about the provincial politics of Ireland that persist through generation.

4.  Det. Maddox survives an identity crisis created by her previous case and catalyzed by taking the identity of her murder victim.

I generally like French’s writing – it’s always a bit haunted and deceptive – but I always find that I struggle to retain what actually happened in the book. I read Into the Woods a few years ago, and I spent half of the time I was reading this one, trying to remember what happened. A week after putting down The Likeness, and I can already feel it slipping away. Still, if you like detective stories, this is a pretty good one. I have one more on the shelf to read from French, and hope to do so before the end of the year.

Up next: The World According to Garp by John Irving

Red’s Book Review: Pontoon by Garrison Keillor

Keillor’s public image has taken a hit over the last 6 months, but with that being said, this book redeemed him as a writer to me after a disappointing Lake Wobegon Days novel that I read a few months ago. This was more of a traditional novel with a basic plot, and it contained the anecdotal folksiness and small-town humor I had expected in Wobegon Days. Pontoon is a quick 250-page read detailing the quirks of about a half-dozen characters with everything tying together in a farcical conclusion.

We picked up about a half dozen Keillor books over the summer, so I am glad that I liked this one, because it gives me motivation to read the others.  

Up Next: The Likeness by Tana French

Red’s Book Reviews: North Toward Home by Willie Morris

This is the autobiography of former writer and editor, Willie Morris. Born in the Deep South (Yazoo City, Mississippi), Morris became a voice of the progressive south during the 1950s and 1960s. As editor of the student newspaper, he took on the University of Texas and its administration on a bevy of topics including civil rights and integration. The book is divided into three parts. His boyhood in Mississippi, his time spent in Texas, and then his time as an editor for Harper Collins in New York. As a reader, the first two parts were riper with anecdotes and color, making for an easy read. The final part was a discussion on a southern boy in the northern city. His shortcomings, and the shortcomings of the Eastern intellectual elite. This was denser material and more abrasive to a casual reader.

What struck me is the bevy of statements made in the book that are applicable to today, despite being directed toward the social scenarios of the 1950s and 1960s.

The clearest themes were the divide between North and South that persisted in America nearly a hundred years after the Civil War. The realty being that the two sides still understood very little about each other, and on one side, you had a the southerner with a bitter inferiority complex that was exorcised in part with increased hatred of African Americans, and on the other, a snotty intellectual class that placed the big label of hick to everything and everyone not on the east coast. Considering our current national climate, it’s clear that little of this has changed.

Racial tensions, integration, civil rights and reconciling our brief yet brutal history of conquering and controlling rather than welcoming and cooperating. The ruling class in this country still behaves as if granting rights to all is a privilege they have to dole out at their leisure.

It even comments (remember this was wrote decades ago before school shooting were common) on the threat of mass shootings, and the helpless nature of our society to prevent disturbed individuals from inflicting massive damage.

Political corruption. Boy, was the Texas legislature a mess.

I’d recommend this one to those interested in society, American history, journalism, politics, and so much more.

Up next: Pontoon by Garrison Keillor

Red’s Book Reviews: While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

When Eli reenters Jo’s life thirty years after the two lived together as part of a 60s commune, she is forced to confront her past and that one summer where she threw off the shackles of her first marriage for the freedom of youth. The experience proved eye-opening, but ended tragically with the murder of another roommate and her closest friend in the house, Dana. We jump forward thirty years, and Jo is a wife, a mother (with three grown daughters) and veterinarian. Eli’s entrance into her life sparks a wistful longing for her youth, and his presence tempts her to commit adultery.

The conflict of Jo trying to manage a longing to reach back in time while maintaining her grasp on the family life she’s built drives the book. The mystery of Dana’s death haunts it.

Ultimately, this book delivers a gripping tale. All of us look fondly back upon different times of our lives, and sometimes long to return to those days. When we get a glimpse, usually through the return of someone from that time period, it often muddles our present. The questions of this book is what should be forgiven, and who holds that power of forgiveness? And if the answer to the second question is you or I, would we have that power within our being?

Up Next: North Toward Home by Willie Morris

Red’s Book Reviews: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

This is the third Robert Langdon adventure offered by Brown. I’ve also read Angels & Demons, but by chance, have not read the most controversial of the bunch, “The Da Vinci Code.” Generally, I steer clear of the spy-conspiracy theory genre (Langdon is basically a less cool Indiana Jones), but this was a nice change of pace. Things to remember about the Langdon stories is that they almost always occur within a 24-hour window, so the action of the story is fast. That produces the page-turning style that works with the masses. I enjoy the mixing of history and myth in his stories, and he does enough research and tells enough truths to make you wonder if the conspiracy aspects that drive the stories are plausible. I did suspect the “Scooby-Doo” style reveal well before the end, but having a predictable end doesn’t necessarily make a story bad. If you’ve built to something and the reader catches on before you get there, it is still logical to follow it to that conclusion. If the story is told well, the lack of surprise isn’t necessarily bad. A lot of stories are ruined by writers trying to catch the reader off guard with the result being a nonsensical ending.

The thing I wanted to point out, since I am a fellow working on his writing, is the style. Brown is great at matching his writing style to the pace of the story. It doesn’t make sense to write a thousand page book for a quick-paced story. He delivers short chapter (2-3 pages) after short chapter. The paragraphs are generally short, and likewise so are the sentences. When he does stray from that style, it is usually to provide the dense background information of the places, people, and myths and so on. Those denser sections are fed a spoonful at a time, which makes them easier to digest.

If you are simply looking to be entertained then this is a good book to pick up.

Up Next: While I Was Gone by Sue Miller

Red’s Book Reviews: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

This story follows the recently paroled and recently widowed Shadow Moon, as he is recruited into the service of the enigmatic Mr. Wednesday, who turns out to be the American version of the Norse deity Odin. The charm of the book is the marriage of the mythological with the setting of modern America. With this combination, Gaiman is able to create a fresh American myth borrowing from the folktales of the world. The underlying theme being that these Gods never survive in America because those that believe in them are eventually assimilated into the melting pot culture. The fantastic elements complement the haunted main character. I am struggling to pinpoint how much I actually liked this book, but having done a few Google searches on Odin and other “Old World” Gods like Loki, I am starting to appreciate the richness of the tale more. If I had a stronger background in that area, I’d probably have been even more amused by the book.

Up next: The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Red’s Book Reviews: Christine by Stephen King

I spent the first half of this book trying to decide if I had read this book before. The conclusion I came to is that I had, in fact, not read this book, but read ones pretty similar to it by King. I haven’t taken the time, and don’t really have the inclination to look into this, but I’d say the first dozen years of King’s career were books with pretty similar pacing, plot devices, and writing style. It wasn’t until maybe the mid-80s that he started to expand his toolbox.

That’s not to say it wasn’t entertaining. A possessed car. A bit of sex. A bit of childhood friendship gone bad. A taste of 1950s culture. Overall, pretty standard stuff and easily accessible to the reader.

I didn’t read this as fast as I should have, basically because I’ve been overwhelmed by a side project I’ve been working on and have forfeited one night a week to a return to journalism.

I think what King does best is tug on the average American’s heart with nostalgia. In this one, it’s the snapshots of young friendships. We can all relate to hanging out with the best friend, watching the tube, and eating junk food. Heck, I spent part of the book with my mind jogging back in time. This use of nostalgia puts us in the characters shoes. We understand their experiences. It’s an effective writing device.

Overall, this is an easy read, has some fun parts, and includes a song quote at the beginning of each chapter, which I know Snake would love.  For me, I am through a stack of King books now, so it’ll be nice to check out some other writers.

Up next: American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Red’s Book Reviews: Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison Keillor

I have to admit that I felt disengaged to the text while reading much of this. I am not sure what it was, but I found myself re-reading passages because I went glassy-eyed through a page or two. Part of the problem was the start. The first hundred pages or so are a historical account of the founding of the fictional Lake Wobegon. Not having the background from listening to his radio program (Prairie Home Companion), the history just didn’t grab my attention. The second half of the book was more entertaining, presenting short clips of various characters (including a fictional version of Keillor) generally reacting to the mundane nature of everyday events. I am usually a sucker for such homespun fun, and don’t mind shifting of the point of view (heck, I tend to write that way), but I struggled with it here at times. Mostly, I didn’t figure out why different sections were supposed to lock together, and suspect that they all don’t as much as I would like. Keillor’s humor also was just lost on me. Perhaps it’s better on the radio where the inflection of his voice can insinuate things not as easily picked up on in print. Overall, I can’t help but feeling disappointed. A Keillor short story appeared in an anthology I read awhile back, and it was the highlight of the anthology. I guess that sort of built up the expectations for me, and it didn’t deliver.

 

Up Next: Christine by Stephen King

Red’s Book Review: Me, the Mob, and the Music by Tommy James (with Martin Fitzpatrick)

This was a quick 220-page read, written pretty much chronologically starting with Tommy’s musical roots at about 10-years of age while living in Monroe, Wis. The allure for me, as I’ve written before, is that Tommy James and the Shondells were probably my first favorite band. Starting as early as pre-school, I’d put his greatest hits album on our Fischer Price turntable and listen to it while playing pretty much every day.

Considering that early interest, I have to admit to knowing little or nothing about Tommy James or any of the Shondells before reading this book, other than some vague memories of seeing him be one of the pitch men on one of those late-night Time Life album infomercials several years back during my journalism/drinking days.

This is an interesting look at the 60s music scene through the eyes of a guy that I guess probably fits on the second-tier of stars from that era. It’s hard for me to judge that because I do have such fond nostalgia for his music, and I sensed he might be overstating the success of his songs some in the book. He’s not on the level of the Beatles, Stones, or Beach Boys. He’s below that, but I am not sure where he fits in the lexicon of popular music. Maybe Snake could assess that better.

Because Tommy was instrumental in almost all parts of his career, you get a good peek into the business aspects of the music industry during that era, and also the technical aspects of making a record. Looming over the story is Roulette Record’s kingpin Morris Levy, who ran the label like a crime family because, well, it was a crime family. It’s an interesting relationship between Tommy and Morris. It’s almost father-son like in many aspects, just that the father is skimming money from the son to the tune of about $40 million over a five-year period and the father has a history of having people killed. Just an FYI, Morris and other members of his “family” became the inspiration for key characters in the Sopranos.

If you dig that musical era, I’d recommend this one. It’s filled with interesting behind-the-scenes stories, and it has a very easy-to-read style.  

Red’s Book Review: Rose Madder by Stephen King

I figured I’d churn out short reviews of books as I finish them. I sped through the last 100 pages of this on Tuesday, and generally speaking, I doubt I’ll give it much more thought after writing this. It’s a Stephen King book. Not one of his best, and perhaps one of his worst in the sense that it seems like he is following a template, making sure to hit all the obligatory Stephen King plot points and gory details. He does that, so if you haven’t read anything else by King, it probably seems super original.

I did like the idea of entering a painting and interacting with the people within. As usual, there were slight references to his other books including the Dark Tower series and Misery. It satisfies on the surface level by punishing the bad guy, and rewards the good guy. It also includes the usual King epilogue where it seems the good guy has lingering issues and makes you wonder about the future, but that epilogue went on too long. This was one where I was ready for it to be over when the bad guy was vanquished.

I want to finish this off by taking a tangent. Lately I’ve been thinking about coincidences and connections. The root of which probably starts with the nonfiction piece I wrote “Simulating Success,” and continued with Snake’s comments and my response. Anyways, I always find it interesting when a book I am reading somehow connects to something I either just read or plan on reading. You know, like there's some magic in it speaking specifically to me.  In this book, there is a reference to the Tommy James and the Shondells song – Hanky Panky. Now, King almost always includes popular music references in his stories, and more often than not, he includes songs from the 50s and 60s, as those were the songs he most likely listened to growing up. It’s coincidental here because I knew that I was going to read, Me, the Mob, and the Music, next, which is the autobiography of Tommy James. Also coincidentally, James mentions early in his book that his family goes to live near his Aunt Gert (probably short for Gertrude) in Michigan. This was funny because there is a character in Rose Madder named Gertrude, who goes by the name of Gert. If the name had been Bill or Jenny, I probably wouldn't have made a connection, but Gert just isn't one you hear very often these days. Does any of this matter or mean anything? No, probably not, but it’s an interesting idea – maybe one for a story where someone discovers some sort of clues or solves some sort of problem by connecting seemingly meaningless dots in random pieces of literature.