The Women by Kristin Hannah

It was surprising to me that I was able to get both a hardbound and Kindle copy of The Women so easily. They hype around this book for months was so omnipresent that it seemed unlikely that a copy would be available to read. Among my friends, who have read the novel, there were very diverse reactions. Some loved it and others couldn't finish it. I am probably right in the middle of those reactions. 

The main character, Frances Gracie McGrath, aka Frankie, decides to enlist in the armed forces as a nurse to join her brother, Fin, who was a graduate of the Naval Academy and was sent to Viet Nam. She lived with her parents on Coronado Island, CA where they enjoyed a very comfortable, if not lavish, lifestyle. Her father, a staunch male chauvinist, was quite supportive of his son's service. However, with the mantra, "Women can be heroes, too" stuck in her mind, he vehemently opposed his daughter going off to war. The depiction of what the nurses and all the men serving in-country was heart-wrenching, considering what the reaction back in the States was during their service and upon their home-coming. Frankie is thought of as an excellent nurse who becomes a major part of the surgical teams. The trauma that rockets, napalm, and close calls gives the reader pause as to what conditions were like in the jungle. 

As a major component of the novel, Frankie's romantic life is a roller coaster for sure. She has very strong feelings for Jaimie Callahan, a surgeon, who is severely wounded in an enemy attack. Then she falls head over heels in love with Rye Walsh, a friend of her brother's who was also serving. When Jamie and Rye are reported KIA, she is heartbroken and devastated. She is becomes engaged to Dr. Henry Avevedo, a psychiatrist who is working to help those Vets with PTSD, The relationships are filled with pain, trauma, and betrayal. 

When Frankie returns after her two years of active duty, she must deal with the realization that her service was not respected by those who spat at her in the airport or her parents who firmly believed that she should not have enlisted. Her life spirals into one of PTSD, addiction, and depression. The reader shoulders most of that tragedy with her as Hannah describes it in detail. 

Throughout the novel, there is one constant and that is the strong bond between two other nurses, Barbara and Ethel, who are there for Frankie in every crisis. This friendship was so deep and really the theme that impressed this reader the most. Women friends are the most faithful, dependable, devoted. They picked her up, tried  to give advice, but were nonjudgmental. They were in stark contrast to her parents who were so about show and acceptance with their country club friends.

With all the depicted horrors of war and personal crises, The Women really is not what one would call an enjoyable read, but it was enlightening, as far as the "behind the scenes" in Viet Nam. I empathized with Frankie in her PTSD, but not so much in her romantic choices. In some ways, there was the feeling that Hannah was checking off all the boxes to see how many crises a woman could endure. Unfortunately, Frankie McGrath, suffered them all.  

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

The selection for our February book group was the debut novel by Charmaine Wilkerson. It was hard to tell to what the title referred, but at first glance, we anticipated a more culinary offering than what was the actual focus of the novel. 

It is really a story of relationships, self-identity, coincidences, and a bit of mystery. Benny and Byron, sister and brother have been estranged for a number of years. They are brought back together by the death of their mother, Eleanor,  who leaves them a tape that she recorded that shed light on her life and a black cake. It was also a means to illuminate the trouble that begins the book when she was a small girl, Covey grew up on a Caribbean island in the 1950s. Her mother had left her and her father, driven away by his drinking and gambling. Covey and her best friend, Bunny were swimmers and enjoyed the waters together. In order to settle debts, Covey's father, Lin, arranges a marriage between Covey and "Little Man" Henry. From the wedding day on, the book details how Covey escaped and found a new life in London, where she went to meet the real love of her life, Gibbs Grant.  

The first part of the book was rough going for me as I tried to sort out the characters and their relationships to each other. When the tape recording revealed the true identities of the characters, it became much more enjoyable and ended up being a real page-turner. Wilkerson masterfully weaves the characters and their relationships together for the reader. As she does that she also amalgamates the themes of feminism, resilience, racism, homophobia, friendship and family ties. The chapters were short and both time-shifted as well as locality-shifted. Once the characters' true identities were revealed, it was not difficult to follow. The solution to the mystery was revealed slowly, but resolved in the last chapter, as was disposition of the black cake

A good and interesting read. 

Edge of Lost by Kristina McMorris

After reading the prologue and then continuing to the novel itself, I was not sure how the reader was going to get from Point A to Point B. The prologue, set in 1937, describes an apparent escape from Alcatraz, where a young girl has gone missing. As the  pages unfolded, it did become clear and proved to be a very good read. The Edge of Lost is an account of the life of Shanley Keagen, a young boy who is introduced as a young boy living with his uncle in Ireland. His uncle is quite taken with the drink and is eventually kicked off the dole. Shan tries to help make ends meet by performing comedy in some of the pubs. He has in his possession a photo of his mother and a man whom he thinks is his father, am American sailor. His desire is to go to the United States to find him. 

With no other recourse, Uncle Will decides that the two will leave for America to find Shan's father. However, on the voyage, Will dies and Shan is orphaned.  With a serendipitous piece of fortune, he is adopted by an Italian family, the Capellos, and begins his new life in Brooklyn as Tommy Capello. His brother Nick and sister Lina receive him into the family with just less than open arms. Shan/Tommy does will in school and begins to help out his father in the plumbing business while still pursuing the dream of meeting his father. Nick becomes mixed up in some of the criminal activities surrounding prohibition, although he was not really a criminal. Because of this Tommy Capello is sentenced to Leavenworth Prison. From there his is moved to Alcatraz, where he is a model prisoner and is assigned to work in the greenhouses and gardens. 

The intersection of the two story lines is what keeps the reader anxiously turning pages. McMorris skillfully blends the accounts of Italian and Irish immigrants with the hardships of life during the prohibition and depression in America. She has provided an intriguing glimpse into life in that period as well as what it must have been like to live on The Rock as both civilian and prisoner. The twist in the ending pages was one that was not telegraphed in the earlier part of the novel and was a surprise for sure. Good and interesting read.
 

The Nature of Fragile Things by Susan Meissner

 The Nature of Fragile Things engages the reader from the very first page and continues that straight through the last page. Set in 1906 in San Francisco it combines well-researched history with mysterious relationships and endearing characters.

Sophia Whalen, an Irish immigrant living in New York City answers an mail-order bride advertisement and makes her way to San Francisco. She is met at the train by Martin Hocking, who whisks her off to city hall where they get married. He explains that his young daughter, Kat,  was still recovering from his first wife, Candace's death. It is so traumatic to lose your mother at such a young age. They go to the caregiver's home to pick up Kat and then to the new home that Martin has bought for the family. Although a bit surprised at the sleeping arrangements, Sophia understands that it may take a while before an amorous relationship can develop. 

As the months pass Sophie and Kat begin to develop a bond and Kat begins to emerge from her silence. Sophie is puzzled by the mysterious comings and goings of Martin and his reticence to share his work details with her. She meets Libby, a neighbor across the street, and the two share some play-dates with their children. Libby has become used to an aristocratic lifestyle and seems to lord this over Sophie. 

And then one day a very pregnant Belinda appears at the door, looking for a man by the name of James. She reels at the sight of Sophie and Martin's wedding picture and recognizes Martin as her husband, James. The two begin comparing stories and plan what to do. Martin returns home to find the two of them and tragic events ensue - an accident in the house and the April 18th San Francisco earthquake. With detail that leaves the reader truly understanding the dire results of the earthquake and fire and feeling compassion for all those who had to flee their homes, the days in Golden Gate park come vividly alive.

In page-turning fashion, Meissner unfolds the story of all the relationships that soon embraces the third woman, Candace. It is a novel that accentuates the power and bravery of women, the love for their children, and the consequences of one's actions as innocent or harmful as they may be. There are twists to be sure and a very revealing and shocking ending to the book. It is a very enjoyable read, many times extremely emotional with much attention paid to the setting and events of the day. 

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

In a very creative way, Charles Yu presents a very disturbing picture of the life of Asian Americans in the United States. This was an October feature of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures Ten Evenings. Written as a screenplay, the novel focuses on the life of Willis Wu, cast as Generic Asian Guy. It is told in 7 Acts and culminates in a dramatic court room scene. 

Willis Wu's ambition is rise to the role of Kung Fu Guy,  the best role to which an Asian male can aspire. He lands a role on a TV detective series, Black and White (Yu in his lecture likens it to Law and Order) where helps a decidedly racist detective, Turner, and pretty white detective, Green, investigate the disappearance of Older Brother. Willis proves to be invaluable in the search and leads them to the whereabouts of the criminal, during which time Willis is shot and killed. In TV protocol, because he died on screen, Willis must wait out 45 days before appearing in another show.

 In the novel, this provides a means for Yu to show what Wu's real life is like. His aging father has a PhD and is relegated to work at the Oriental Palace, the ground floor of the apartment his family occupies. His mother, is also educated and works evenings at the restaurant. There are also very illuminating listings of the immigration laws that governed the Chinese arrivals into the United States. Willis also falls in love with Karen, a mixed race beautiful woman, who has set her sights on getting herself out of Chinatown. They hastily get married because Karen finds out that she is pregnant. 

In a not so subtle turn of events, the novel reaches its climax in a courtroom with Wu on trial. Through his lawyer's arguments, Yu presents his viewpoint that Chinese-Americans will always be considered foreigners no matter how long or through how many generations they reside in the United States. This is so atrociously and disturbingly true as we have witnessed so many attacks on Asians during the pandemic.  

To be sure, Interior Chinatown also provides some humor and some poignant scenes. Often these are in conjunction with each other  - why else would an elderly Old Asian Man be singing karaoke? The novel explores complex and emotional issues, while providing an entertaining read. It's hard to excel at both and Charles Yu does that.

  

 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

The Vanishing Half  has been critically acclaimed in many publications and on social media. I would concur that it is deserving of the accolades. 

The novel concerns the life of twins Desiree and Stella Vignes, who live in a small town, Mallard, Louisiana. The town was founded as a place for light skinned Negroes to settle. However, it is a place that still experiences violent racial divisions. When the twins were very young, their father was murdered by a white mob, which leaves their mother, Adele, left to raise the girls. Pulled out of school to help with the household expenses, the girls decide to run away from home in 1954. when they are sixteen. After a brief period of living together their paths diverge and the separation lasts for over twenty years. The paths that their lives take are also divergent. Desiree marries a dark skinned black man and has a daughter, Jude, who is also very dark. Stella uses her light skin as a way to pass, marries her white boss, Blake Sanders,  and also has a blue eyed blonde daughter, Kennedy. 

After Desiree can take the abuse doled out from her husband in 1968 she returns to Mallard with Jude and go to live with her mother. Her intention is that it is temporary, but leaving just doesn't work out. She stays to take care of her mother, who begins to show signs of Alzheimers, meets a male companion, Early, and raises Jude there. Jude decides that she wants to go to school at UCLA where she meets Reese, a transgendered male. Stella moves to Los Angeles and  raises Kennedy there with a silver spoon in her mouth. Their subdivision must deal with the racial tensions of integration when a black family moves in across the street from the Sanders. Stella lives in fear that she will be found out and she tries to shield Kennedy from the family.

The reader has a distinct feeling that the paths of these two sisters and the cousins will cross somewhere and sometime during the pages that follow. This increases the tension in the novel and makes the book a page turner. Despite some fast forwarding and flashbacks, the book is an easy read, but an uneasy one at the same time. It is a unsettling examination of race relations, stereotyping of individuals, and the effects that lies have upon the human condition. At every turn prejudice screams out from the pages, whether it is the rich vs. poor, white vs. black, or straight vs. the LGBTA+ world. In the end, familial ties are underscored and the idea of going home emphasized. Bennett is a gifted storyteller and the ending of the book leaves a quiet understanding those themes.
 

The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen

The critical acclaim for The Sympathizer is well earned and deserved. From the onset, the reader knows that this is a book that is an important contribution to the collection of world literature. To be sure, it is not the easiest of books to read, but a story that will resonate well into the future. 

In a trend for books today, the novel is told by an unnamed narrator who is writing his confess for the commandant. It begins as Saigon is about to fall and so many are trying to escape as quickly as they can. The Narrator lives with the General, on whom he is to spy,  and is given the task to compile a limited list of names of those who could be evacuated with the General. The escape is not without peril as the Narrator's best friend's, Bon, wife and son are killed on the tarmac. The Narrator's handler, Man, is likewise a communist, while Bon is a patriot. 

Escaping to Los Angeles, Bon and the Narrator share an apartment and Bon works for the General who opens a liquor store. The Narrator goes to work for the Department of Oriental [sic] Studies at the university where he meets Ms. Mori, with whom he begins a relationship. From this point the narrative turns into a cat and mouse espionage adventure.  The General believes that there is a mole in his organization as he begins to reorganize an army to return to Viet Nam to fight the communists. The Narrator informs the General that, indeed, there is a spy and it is the crapulant major, who is handled.

The Narrator returns to Viet Nam as a consultant on a movie that is being produced and the plot thickens as to explosions, torture, the revelation of who exactly Man is, and the final statement in the book, "We will live!"

The writing is exquisite and sophisticated. The sentences are crafted so well and the characters developed to a degree that is not often seen in fiction today. Sympathy, is the underlying theme of the novel, hence the title. The Narrator shows sympathy at nearly every turn in his life. He is able to understand people and their beliefs, even though they might not align with his. He is a communist, to be sure, but also can sympathize with the General and his desire to reclaim his native country. 

It was an interesting talk that Nguyen gave for the Ten Literary Evenings. One point that really came through was his life as a Vietnamese man in America - you never quite feel at home in your life. When you are with your family in a typical Vietnamese home, you feel as an outsider to the American way. When you are on the outside in the midst of American culture, you are not at home with your heritage. A good point for all of us to remember as we deal with refugees in our country.