Evensong by Stewart O'Nan

 In Evensong, the reader is introduced to the Humpty Dumpty Club, a group of Pittsburgh women who get together socially and also help members of the community by running errands, visiting when ill, and helping with chores. The focus of the novel is on a few of those women, including Emily Maxwell, who figured prominently in Wish You were Here and Emily Alone. 

Joan, one of the instrumental leaders of the group, falls down the stairs and is not discovered until the next morning. The members of the HD are thrust into the job of finding someone who can take her place as she recovers for the broken leg and arm, hospitalization and rehabilitation. In addition, someone needs to temporarily adopt Oscar, her cat and deal with Darcy, her out of town daughter. 

Other members of the group include Kitzi, who assumes the role of leader, Emily Maxwell, Susie, who for lack of companionship, starts dating and gets involved in a relationship, Arlene, Emily's sister-in-law, who is starting to show signs of dementia or Alzheimer's Disease and Jean, married to Gene, who is a hoarder with oodles of cats. Again, as in his other books, O'Nan is a master of character development. The reader knows these characters in and out and can sympathize with them on how they are approaching old age.  

The book creates a quiet arena for reading. It is serious, but witty, especially the scenes with the pets. It feels good to read it and get a glimpse of the goodness of people, their kind acts, and their strong motivation of living each day to the fullest, even when it is hard. The scenes around Pittsburgh are familiar, their concert attendance, and church activities. Especially of interest was the description of Calvary Methodist Church where the Allegheny City Society holds its meetings:

Calvary United Methodist on the North Side hosted their annual Messiah Sing-along, a Christmas treat Emily and Arlene never missed. Though the other Calvary’s choir wasn’t the juggernaut Viv’s bunch was—the paid soloists were graduate students, the organist a guest—the church boasted exquisite Tiffany windows gifted by an otherwise forgotten robber baron. The concert started at four, doors opening an hour early so music lovers could enjoy the late-afternoon sun flooding the sanctuary with color. (p. 219)

I am in awe of O'Nan's writing and will strive to read as many more of his books as I can fit into my reading time. 

 

 

This is Happiness by Niall Williams

WOW! What a read. Our March Book Club took place on St. Patrick's Day and the hostess chose Niall Williams book, set in Ireland, as an appropriate selection. I have a friend who is an enthusiastic fan of Williams' books so this one had been on my TBR list for a while. I can say now, that I have also joined that group of fans. 

Set in Faha in County Kerry, Ireland This is Happiness is the account of electricity coming to the village in 1958. It is told through the eyes of Noel (Noe) Crowe, now 78 years old as he reflects on the summer when he was 17. After one of the most descriptive and poetic passages in literature about the village and the rain that has been pelleting it for days, the action begins close to Easter when Christy MacMahon, who is supervising the laying of cables to the village, becomes a lodger in Noe's grandparent's (Goady and Ganga) home and shares a room with Noe. 

The reader is brought into the Easter season with the rituals of Spy Wednesday and the remainder of the Holy Week. Noe had been attending seminary, but decided to take a break. Description of the parishioners and the Mass bring the Catholic rites full front. Williams through Noe provides enough of character traits that really entices the reader to learn more about them. 

As the plot develops, the reader discovers that the real reason for his arrival in Faha is to ask forgiveness of the chemist's wife, Annie Mooney Gafney for leaving her at the altar. That plot is really one of three in the novel. Second, Noe has his romantic feelings awaken as he becomes infatuated with all three Troy sisters. Finally, central to Christy's arrival are the lengthy descriptions of the actual installation of electricity from cutting the logs in Finland to getting them installed as poles in Faha.

There are really no words that accurately describe the lyrical prose that permeates this novel. Rarely do I highlight so many sentences and add so many bookmarks to an eBook as I did this novel. Williams writing is an ode to description and the feelings that are derived from the beautiful combination of words that evoke a time and place for a reader. I cannot wait to read his next book, Time of the Child, which I understand is even more poetic and poignant than this novel.

None Of This is True by Lisa Jewell

Generally characterized as a suspense novel, None of This is True, can be at times a good read, a frustrating read, and a depressing one. The novel opens as Josie Fair and Alix Summer, a podcaster, meet each other at a restaurant where each was celebrating her 45th birthday. They discover that, not only, were they born on the same day, but also the same hospital in London. Using this, Josie integrates herself into Alix's life by coming up with an idea for a podcast based on Josie's life. She indicates that having reached the age of 45, she is about to move on from her loveless marriage and family. 

Alix embraces the idea and begins a series of interviews with Josie. As she discovers more about Josie's life, she feels it necessary to meet Josie's husband, Walter, and to learn more about Josie's daughters, Roxy and Erin. Roxy ran away while she was still in high school and Erin is a gamer, who stays in her room, eats nothing but soft or baby food, and has ADS. Alix is also not without strife in her marriage as she deals with a husband, Nathan,  who has a drinking problem. After an awkward dinner party at which Nathan is a no-show, Josie decides to confront Walter about her plans to leave. She then appears at Josie's doorstep, beaten and tattered. 

Alix offers Josie a room for the night, but Josie has different ideas and stays with her. During this time the reader gets an inside glance at some of her odd behaviour. She borrows Alix's makeup and clothes. steals a bracelet, and stashes a key underneath the mattress. These are the actions that lead to the suspense of what is really the background story of Josie and what are intentions for Alix and Nathan? 

The narrative is interspersed with clips from a Netflix documentary, complete with interviews with the main players, as well as the podcast interviews Alix conducted with Josie.  As the title suggests, the reader knows that someone is lying and the truth will be hard to ferret out. The end has some interesting plot twists that make for an explanation of the actions of Josie, Walter, Roxy, and Erin. A quick read for the month of January and one that will keep you turning the pages until the end.

Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes

This novel by Moyes was a bit different than her previous trilogy, Me before You, in that it really explores the relationships among women. The issue that gives the title its context is that a very middle class London women mistakenly picks up the wrong bag at the gym that belonged to a very wealthy New Yorker. Nisha, the American has a pair of very expensive Christian Louboutin red heelsin her bag, which Sam, the Londoner, discovers when she reaches for her shoes as she changes out of her flip flops on her way to a work meeting. The event sets into motion the moves that both try to recover their own bag and the shoes that were in them.

Despite their differences in background and monetary status, it becomes obvious that both women are desperately trying to hold their lives together. Nisha is a trophy wife whom her husband, Carl, is trying to shove out of their marriage and Sam is trying to hold it all together with a husband who is living in a depressed state and who, as breadwinner, is fighting a misogynistic boss who is looking for every reason to fire her. In addition she is a supporting friend to Andrea, who has been battling cancer and mother to Cat, a nineteen year old who has maturity beyond her age and can give a voice to her mother. 

After the mix-up at the gym, Nisha returns to the luxury hotel penthouse where she finds that Carl has locked her out holding her clothes, credit card, and passport hostage and is served divorce papers. As she is ejected from the hotel, she is befriended by Jasmine, a housekeeper there and is given a chance for employment. She has to clean toilets, which is a foul task to a woman used to the finer things in life. When Nisha is evicted from the budget hotel in which she had been staying, she moves in with Jasmine and her daughter, Gracie. A cold, self-centered woman, when confronted with her present circumstances, Nisha begins to soften a bit as she has to rely on others. 

Sam is beyond wit's end as she tries to deal with her boss and her husband as she is watching her marriage deteriorate. When Nisha confronts her at work and accuses her of stealing the shoes, Sam's boss has the ammunition that he needs to fire her. Eventually, the two become set on finding the shoes that Cat has delivered to a charity shop and alliances and friendships are formed as Andrea, Jasmine join the alliance. 

This was a complex novel that had at its heart many themes that are so important to the women - friendship, treatment of women, and contrition and change. The characters are well developed and layered. The reader witnesses how they change and how they influence change around them. It is complex and even thought there are some predictable and implausible happenstances, it is a great read.

Long Island by Colm Tóibín

Long Island  is the sequel to Tóibín's Brooklyn. At the end of that novel Eilis Lacey had decided to leave her native Ireland at the end of a sojourn there from Brooklyn.This was despite the fact that she would miss her mother, her best friend, Nancy, and the man with whom she had rekindled romance despite the fact that she was secretly married.

Nearly twenty years later Tóibín's latest novel picks up her life in New York with husband, Tony, in their Lindenhurst home on Long Island. They are the parents of two teenagers, Rosella and Larry. But then Tóibín drops the bomb that will change the course of her life. A man appears at her home alleging that while on a plumbing job at his home, Tony has had an encounter with his wife who is now pregnant with his child. It is the man's intention that when the baby is born, he will be dropping it on the doorstep of her home. Eilis will have not part of this and the scheme that her mother-in-law and Tony have devised. 

She needs time to mull over this situation and decides to head back to Ireland and the comfort of Enniscorthy. It will be time to spend with her mother and after a few weeks to bring Larry and Rosella over to meet their Irish grandmother. In that time she reconnects with Nancy and Nancy's planning of her daughter's wedding. And of course in that vein, she also rekindles her friendship with Jim Farrell, owner of a local pub. Long Island actually becomes a novel, not only about Eilis, but of her friends and the people of Enniscorthy. There are secrets that are exposed and secrets that are kept. At times we know their innermost thoughts and at other times, we can only guess.

The novel engages the reader from the get-go and doesn't let go until the end. It was a read that immerses a person in a place faraway with people who struggle with ordinary life and tragedy. It is one of those books that a reader can't wait to see the plot resolved, but at the same time does not want it to end. It bodes well that there might be another Eilis Lacey work to come.

 What a delightful evening it was on 16 September when Colm spoke. He has an incredible sense of humor and really gave insight into his books. 

 

Trust by Hernan Diaz

There are reasons that books are awarded prizes - they stand out as exceptional pieces of writing. Trust is a perfect example of this outstanding prose. It is a novel divided into 4 parts that recounts the life of Andrew Bevel from 4 perspectives. It is ironic that contrary to the title, if the reader puts "trust" into the narratives, s/he will be rudely awakened. 

In the first section, Bonds, the life of Benjamin Rask is related. He is a Wall Street tycoon. totally focused on the stock markets and money. As he amasses money during the Roaring Twenties, he shrewdly avoids suffering from the Crash of 1929. He married a woman, Helen, who is a patron of the arts and who eventually is hospitalized in Switzerland for psychiatric and physical maladies. As the reader trusts these biographical portraits, it is revealed that this is a novel by Howard Vanner. 

Despite its veiled attempts to portray Andrew Bevel as Benjamin Rask and its rousing reception by critics, Bevel takes exception to it and Trust continues with Bevel's own recounting of his life in My Life, an autobiography. Bevel begins his book with his lineage back to his great-grandfather, details his college life, and subsequent marriage to Mildred and her philanthropic endeavors. 

The third section is told in the first person by Ida Partenza who revisits the mansion of Bevel that has been turned into a museum. When she was younger she had been his employee who was to help him finish his autobiography. The reader sees that his motive for this is to counter the Vanner's portrayal of Mildred and the ruthlessness of his financial successes. Ida is intrigued by his his desired characterization of her. This section also gives insight into Ida's personal life and her relationship to her father with whom she lives and Jack, her boyfriend and a journalist who becomes very jealous of Ida's relationship with Bevel.

Finally, in Futures, Ida gains access to the diary of Mildred and the reader granted insight into the real Andrew Bevel and her financial acumen that results in his business decisions. It reveals Mildred's personal thoughts and is, therefore, the closest account to the truth in the novel.

What an incredible read that validates Trust as the 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Admittedly, I am a fan of mysteries and "who dunnits." I Have Some Questions For You is an unconventional murder mystery with twists and turns that also deals with the social climate of our country in a very pointed way. Bodie Kane is the narrator of the novel, written in the most part as a letter to a high school music teacher, Mr. Bloch at the Granby School in New Hampshire. 

Just months before graduation in 1995, Thalia Keith is murdered after the performance of Camelot given at the school. The murder is investigated and a black man, Omar Evans, is arrested, convicted, and jailed for the crime. Evans had the opportunity and motive, so the police thought for committing the crime. Students were interviewed and the crime scene examined in a very perfunctory manner. 

After 20 years in 2018, Bodie is invited back to the school to teach a short class on film and another on podcasting, both of for which she has been acclaimed. Her students in the podcasting class are to come up with a topic of their own for the class. One young woman chooses the murder of Thalia and as Bodie helps her, she becomes obsessed with the crime and eventually thinks that Evans was not the murderer. In chapters that follow Makkai creates a scenario for anyone who had been with Thalia the night of her death as to possible motives and opportunity for each to kill her. It was a fascinating way to explain the way that Evans could not have been the perpetrator of the crime. The reader becomes convinced that each of the many characters could have been the murderer. The conclusion is a bit of surprise in some ways, but the manner in which it is proven is ingenious!

The men in the novel are, for the most part, all seemed to have demanded Thalia acquiesce to their demands. Writing at the beginning of the Me Too movement, Makkai has made a strong statement as to what situations such predators demand of women, while at the same time acknowledging the facts that in 1995, women were ill-equipped to handle such advances, let alone bring charges up on those men.  Concurrent to her time back at Granby, Bodie is going through her own marital struggles and at times the reader feels she should just cut that cord!

 

I Have Some Questions for You is a brilliant book and a page turner. It has appeared on almowt all the Best Books Lists for 2023 and understandably so. Hearing Rebecca Makkai speak on the book for Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures added another layer to the understanding of some of the characters and the process by which she wrote the book. 

The Candy House by Jennifer Egan

The Candy House is somewhat of a sequel to A Visit from the Goon Squad, which was my previous book to wade through. It has been an interesting few weeks trying to understand the hype around these two books. It could be that I am just not as intelligent as the vast majority of readers/critics who have been so laudatory.

Many of the same characters from the Goon Squad reappear in this novel. The reader gets a closer insight into Sasha, Drew, their children, the children of her uncle, Ted Hollander, Bennie, Bix, and Dolly. Lulu, Dolly's daughter has grown up and has twins.

Again, the novel is a series of seemingly unconnected narratives told from the perspective of various characters, some of which appear and disappear with no logical explanation. Often one scratches his or her head trying to recall if that character had ever appeared before and what the connection is to the other characters. Central to the theme of the book is the role social media and technology play from circa 1990 until the futuristic 2030. Bix Bouton, trying to recreate his college days has developed a small glowing cube, Mandela, that is called “Own Your Unconscious.” This devise allow people to upload and store their memories or to share them with "Collective Consciousness. Of course there are people who do not embrace the idea and they are named "eluders" who are being sought by the "counters."

The novel is divided into 4 parts with different chapters in each part. It would seem that Egan is attempting to show the inter connectivity of human life and experiences. The characters, many of who are children of the Goon Squad characters are really connected, not only by the Mandela, but also in real life. As the reader moves from chapter to chapter bits of the history of the featured narrator are presented with those connections. One has to be aware of the point of view that changes as each character's story is unfolded. Egan reprises the unconventional writing structure of her previous novel with one chapter as a series of text messages and another as an aphoristic journal.

It will be interesting to hear the reaction of our book club and Egan's presentation on The Candy House. I am glad I read it, but it is not one of my favorites.

The Transcendent KIngdom by Yaa Gyasi

Three fold in its themes, Transcendent Kingdom is told by a young woman, Gifty, narrator who is pursuing a PhD in neuroscience at Stanford University. Gifty was born in Alabama to Ghanaian parents who moved to the United States shortly after her older brother, Nana was born. The novel is told in chapters that move back and forth from her youth to her life as a scientist and are multi-leveled as she struggles to put together a coherent look at her life and family. 

As she attempts to complete the PhD and work with the mice whom she is studying with regard to the neural circuits of reward seeking behaviors and who are being shocked or given an energy drink to see which respond to not pushing a lever, her mother arrives in town. In the throes of depression she moves in with Gifty and becomes a recluse in her bedroom. Gifty remembers this same behavior occurred after the death of Nana from an overdose. So intertwined are these reminiscences with the struggles of her life, including her religious upbringing and the racial slurs that she and her family endured. The abandonment by her father, "The Chin Chin Man" has also contributed to those painful memories. 

Throughout the novel Gifty attempts to work through all the conflicts she feels and is able to accept that just because she is a scientist, she need not give up her religion. She becomes open to friendships and even a romantic relationship with Han, her colleague at Stanford. The depiction of the addiction of Nana is both realistic and also forgiving. and enlightening. It is a condition that should not be viewed as a source of shame or criminalized. Through Gifty, Gyasi reminds us of the anguish that the addicted and his or her family suffer. It is heart-wrenching. 

The Transcendent Kingdom was one of the deepest books for its multi-themed approach that I have read recently. To hear Gyasi's lecture added to the complexity of the topics and themes. I have put Homegoing on my "to read list" for sometime in the future.

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Although many have previously read Haruf's previous books in the Plainsong trilogy, I have not. Rather than reading the 2nd book in that series, Our Souls at Night was chosen for October's book club selection. It was relatively short and a very easy read. It is also set in Holt. Colorado as his previous books have been

Ardie Moore and Louis Waters are neighbors, both widowed and both in their seventies. Addie has come up with a plan to stave off the loneliness of living a solitary life. She invites Louis to come to her house and to sleep with her in a very platonic way. She feels that just the company of someone in her bed will be a comforting scenario. Of course, this arrangement stirs up the town gossips, who do not realize what the arrangement actually is. The evenings provide a time for the two to talk about their families and the relationships that each had with his and her spouse and the death of Addie's daughter. 

Out of the blue, Addie's son Gene, appears with his six year old son Jamie. Gene and his wife have separated and he feels that Jamie would be better off with his grandmother for the summer. This was quite the surprise for Addie and for a while it interrupts the nightly routine of Louis' visits. Louis takes to Jamie, buys him a baseball glove, and eventually decides the young lad needs a dog. They also become friends with another neighbor, Ruth, who is much older than Addie and Louis. 

The relationships grow until Gene gets wind of the arrangement and is furious that Addie would entertain a man at night under the same roof as his son. He becomes indignant and removes Jamie and eventually threatens Addie with never seeing her grandson again as long as she is in a relationship with Louis. This creates quite the dilemma for her and she has a tough decision to make. 

The novel is told from a third person omniscient point of view. Haruf uses no quotation marks for conversation, but the writing still feels choppy, almost like entries in a diary or journal. It was pleasant enough plot, but not one that this reader felt was terribly original or one in which the characters felt more than two dimensional. It was only Gene that piqued my interest and consternation. His treatment of his mother was despicable and totally disrespectful. It was a quick read, accomplished during waiting time at PT appointments. There are better reads out there.

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.
 

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

 There are some novels that hook a reader from the start. Such was the case of  Cummins' American Dirt. On the opening pages the reader witnesses the massacre of nearly an entire family who was celebrating a quinceañera with a backyard barbecue in Acapulco. Everyone was murdered except for a mother, Lydia, and her son, Luca, who were hiding in a bathroom. Realizing that their lives were in danger, they must flee the city to avoid being discovered by the drug cartel that was responsible for the murders. Fleeing means leaving the country undetected. This sets the plot line for the novel. 

When Oprah announced this as her book club pick, there was a major controversy surrounding its selection. The book tour by Cummins was canceled, but I never had read any of the debate regarding the subject matter. Consequently, I read the book without that knowledge or bias one way or the other.  I cannot judge the book by anything other than its story, realizing that it is a work of fiction. 

The reason for the massacre is revealed to be linked to an article that Lydia's husband, a journalist, has written that details the workings of the cartel's leader, Javier. Ironically enough, Javier is a friend of Lydia and the two have enjoyed conversations about book at the bookshop Lydia owns. With money that she has stashed away and her late mother's debit card, Lydia feels that they can make their way to El Norte and so the journey begins. They seek out a former roommate of her husband's and manage to get to Mexico City where they should be able to take a flight to the United States. However, without any identification for Luca, that plan is thwarted and they are forced to become migrants.

The journey that ensues is fraught with danger, uncertainty, and the necessity of courage. The two learn to hop trains, The Bestia, and to accept help from willing strangers. They become friends and companions with two sisters, Rebeca and Soledad, who are escaping a horrible sexual assaults because of their pulchritude. Other whom they meet during their escape are Lorenzo (possibly one of Javier's operatives), Beto, a ten year old suffering from asthma who is orphaned, and El Chacal, the coyote who will help them across the border for a hefty fee.

The writing is simple, but elegant in American Dirt. It is narrated in the third person, although occasionally Cummins interjects Luca's thoughts in to the telling. He is so precocious and it is the reader's good fortune to see how his brain is working. There is no way a reader can leave this book without feeling the horrific pain that must be endured for those who seek to come to the United States for asylum or to escape a life filled with fear and violence. There are two sides to every controversy and it is more than likely true about that debate regarding this book. It is fiction, but there need to be elements of truth for it to be read and believed. It is a story that will remain with the reader long after the last page is turned as the memory of the struggle and love of a mother for a child resonate in one's mind.

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate

In The Book of Lost Friends, Wingate weaves the stories of seemingly unconnected characters, one set in 1875 and another in 1987. The stories, in alternating chapters, are narrated by Hannie Gossett and Benedetta (Benny) Silva. Hannie is a slave who was cruelly separated from her mother and Benny a teacher, who goes to Augustine, Lousiana to teach in a rural and poverty stricken area in order to help pay off student loans. Although at times confusing, the novel speaks to the racism that has existed throughout the history of our country.

 The premise in Hannie's narration is a long and arduous journey to find her half-sister, Juneau Jane's father. It is a perilous trip in 1875  that involves kidnapping, stowaways, murder, and illness. Along the journey Hannie and Juneau Jane collect names of people who are searching for family members. These names come from a church newspaper that publishes letters. Before her mother, Mittie, was taken and sold as a slave she gave Hannie a necklace of blue beads that came from her grandmother. Each family member had been given a strand so that if they ever were to meet again, they would know each other as a family member. The inheiritance of the Gossett plantation - Goswood Grove is central to the plot and the journey. 

Fast forward to 1987 and Benny's story. As an unwelcome outsider to the small town of Augustine, she tries to win over her classes who have a distrust of their teacher by interesting them in the stories of their town and heritage. She knows that many come to class hungry and she tries to win them over with cookies and treats. She notices that one of her students, LaJuna is interested in reading and learning and the two find themselves bonding as they organize the books in the old plantation home next to the cottage that Benny is renting. The story comes full circle as the owner of the plantation, Goswood Grove, Nathan becomes involved with their project of discovering the names of the slaves buried on the property. Through research the group discover the Book of Lost Friends hidden in a chest outside the town's library. In a newspaper article, Hannie and Juneau Jane were identified as the two women who played a significant role in the establishment of the library. As a culmination to this discovery and project, the school staged a pageant celebrating the history of the plantation in which LaJuna plays Hattie. Nathan, once disinterested in his family's history, is won over and establishes the plantation as a genealogy and history center. 

Wingate's writing is rich, descriptive, and elegant even when describing the hardships of Hannie's journey. She introduces a copious amount of characters that at times can be difficult to place in the context of the novel. However, all play a vital role in Hannie's odyssey. The premise of knowing one's history comes through so many of the stories that are critical to the plot. One quote resonates loudly even today: 

"Just because we’re not always happy with what’s true doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know it. It’s how we learn. It’s how we do better in the future. Hopefully, anyway.”

Wingate, Lisa. The Book of Lost Friends (p. 221). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

 
 

Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce

Miss Benson's Beetle is a curious novel with some very serious themes. It was chosen as the June selection for the book club and met with mixed reviews at the book discussion. Moments of sheer humor and joy were countered with the tragedy of loss and despair. 

As a young child Margery Benson was fascinated as her father shared with her a book on beetles. She was intrigued by the Golden Beetle of New Caledonia, which no one had been able to find. Fast forward 30 years and she is a frumpy spinster domestic science teacher at a private school. She had lost her brothers to World War I, her father to suicide after he learned of their deaths. At that point she was raised by her mother and two aunts, who in 1950, the time of the novel, had all passed away. After an incident in one of her classes where she intercepted a student's note calling her "Virgin Margery." she decides to take matters into her hands and set off in search of the Golden Beetle. She posts an ad for someone to accompany her on the journey and expedition. After meeting the responders, she dismisses them, especially a Mr. Mundic, a former POW, who seems to have some serious issues probably from suffering from PTSD.  In the end she decided on a woman, Enid Pretty, who could not spell and whom she never met. 

The two women begin their journey in a comedic and nearly unbelievable way from the train station outside London to the ocean liner, Orion, to Brisbane and then New Caledonia. It is then on to the quest for the Golden Beetle, referenced by Darwin, but never found by him or other scientists. From the very beginning there is something extremely suspicious about Enid Pretty who is quite protective of a red valise with the initials N.C. on it. Through sea sickness, lost luggage, missing equipment, eels, cyclones, and a spiteful consulate's wife, the two persevere and become better friends than either could have imagined. Enter Mr. Mundic into the equation and the situation becomes more suspenseful and traumatic. 

In the end, the reader is impressed by the growth and resilience of the two women as they survive in the jungles of New Caledonia. The women realize early on that they are on their own and do not owe anything to men, a truly feminist theme throughout. Margery does not want to be that woman who waits hand over foot on men. She is feeling her own worth, as many women started to do in the post-war years. She had a dream and she meant to fulfill it at all costs. Rachel Joyce gives Margery Benson the fortitude to be a "woman who is ready for adventure. I’m not here because I am someone's wife or sister. I am here because this is what I want, and now I have a place for my work." With the strength of writing and development of each of the main characters' personalities, it is not likely that a reader will forget Margery and Enid, almost as a movie goer will not forget Thelma and Louise. 

 
 

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

It is always so interesting to hear an author discuss his or her book. This was most especially true when Lily King discussed Writers & Lovers. There were so many similarities between her life and that of Casey (Camilla) Peabody's, the protagonist of this novel. As the book opens the reader is told of the death of Casey's mother, who was vacationing in Cuba. This life altering event permeates the entire novel and weighs on her everyday of her life. King, in her virtual lecture to the subscribers of Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures' Ten Literary Evenings, relates most of those same feelings that her protagonist felt. 

Struggling to finish her novel, Casey finds herself living on a shoestring in the potting shed adjacent to a friend of her brother, Caleb. She works double shifts at the Iris Restaurant in Harvard Square, traveling to and back on her bicycle. She has had many and varied life experiences like living abroad in Spain, completing a writing residency in the Berkshires, and relationships with men who leave her life a void. 

During the Red Barn residency she meets an attractive man, Luke, with whom she nurtures a relationship only to find out that he is married and ends the liaison. When attending an author's reading and book signing, Muriel, Casey's very close friend, introduces her to Silas, also an aspiring writer and the two seem to connect, but Silas strangely leaves town and breaks their upcoming date. Enter Oscar Kolton, who is seated at Casey's table at Iris with his two young sons. He is 47, widowed,  and is strongly attracted to her, as she is to him. They beginning dating and Casey enjoys the time the two spend with his sons. During this time Silas returns to the area and the two resume their conversations and dating. 

The reader pulls for Casey at every turn as so many events throw her life into turmoil - abusive patrons at Iris that result in her being fired, an accident on her bicycle, the possible diagnosis of breast cancer, and endometriosis, and the search for an agent for her book. She seeks help from a therapist and is encouraged to face her grief and fears. Steadfast in the novel is the theme of the geese that Casey passes everyday on her bike. They represent peace in her life and home. It is not until the end of the novel that Casey relates their plight with hers. King expresses it so beautifully.

"A book in the library said that some Canada geese may travel as far as Jalisco, Mexico. My mother will like that, the long exhilarating trip, the foreign landing. But others, the book said, will stay where they are for the winter. Those geese are already home."

And so was Casey as she became at peace with herself.

Told in the first person, King's writing is exquisite and expressive. Her sentences make the reader want to reread them for the poetic feeling of them. Casey is a character with whom one empathizes and loves because of her hurt and determination to plod on. She allows the reader to see hope in the direst of situations, a lesson for all in 2020.

 

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

The first lecture of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lecture series (virtual only because of the pandemic) featured Susan Choi and Trust Exercise. As I started reading the novel, I was immediately reminded of A Chorus Line with a group of performers who were attending a rehearsal. The setting for this novel is the CAPA school in a city that is not identified and its main characters are high school students, not yet 16 and unable to drive at the onset of the novel. 

As the novel begins, so does the story of Sarah and David. They aren't a couple quite yet, but the reader senses that they will be as the sexual tension builds and they begin sleeping together the summer before their sophomore year.  The theatre teacher, Mr. Kingsley picks up on this relationship and, to the discomfort of the two, begins pairing them for class exercises creating tension and frustration. In the spring of that year a group of students under the tutelage of Martin. arrives from Bournemouth, England. At this point Sarah is attracted to Liam, one of the visiting students, but she still has feelings for David. Surrounding all this drama are the relationships with other students: Joelle, Manuel, and Karen, whose mother bails out Sarah after a party at the Kinsley home. 

At this point in the novel, the reader realizes that s/he has been tricked and that the first part is really a part of the book that Sarah has written. The point of view switches to that of Karen, who provides a different spin to the events that have occurred. The time has fast forwarded until the characters are in their thirties and Karen meets Sarah in Los Angeles for a book-signing event and brings her up-to-date with the happenings in their hometown. David is an owner of a theatre and staging a play written by Martin. Karen reveals her relationship with him and Sarah returns to see the play. In some shocking twists, the reader is again transported another fifteen years into the future and the point of view changed again.  

This is quite a complex novel that is layered in the points of view of its protagonists, but throughout, the overriding theme of sexual predation comes through. Adolescents, women, and even possibly a young male student fall victim to a patriarchal society that victimizes the young and female. And until Karen takes matters into her own hands, all go unpunished. Confusion, confirmations, and contradictions are revealed through the various points of view as Choi challenges the reader to reflect on interpersonal relationships between her characters and the relationships in her readers' lives. Worthy of a reread fully knowing the structure of the book.

Her lecture on 14 September 2020 was enlightening and thought provoking, giving a perspective to her approach to writing and the process that follows.

 

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorrris

Inspired by a real life story, Sold on a Monday is a novel of despair, hope, and justice. Ellis Reed, a reporter for the Philadelphia Examiner, while out on an assignment, happens upon a sign that reads "2 Children for Sale." The year is 1931 when people are still feeling the effects of the depression and in the time of prohibition. He snaps a photo because he was so taken by their innocence. In a series of events, some propitious and another unfortunate, Lillian Palmer, secretary to the editor, of the paper sees it in the darkroom and shows it to the editor of the paper who assigns Ellis to write a feature story based on it. However, somehow before it can be used, it is destroyed. So Ellis needs to get back out in the country to get another one. However, when he reaches the home, he finds the sign in a heap and no children around. And so he recovers the sign, finds two children and stages a photo shoot.

Upon returning to the scene, he finds that the Dillard children, Ruby and Cavin, have actually been sold when their mother received a dire health diagnosis. As the novel progresses, Lily and Ellis feel responsible for the sale of the children and they concentrate their efforts to returning them to their mother, who has been informed that the health diagnosis was wrong. Along the way there are depictions of speak easies, heart-to-heart talks with Ellis' parents about what happened to his younger brother, romantic involvements for Lily, a brush with the mob, and self-realization for both Lily and Ellis. After an escapade that begs the reader to suspend reality, the novel comes to a satisfying and emotional conclusion. 

The characters are well drawn and elicit emotions from the reader: Clayton, Lily's romantic interest is kind, the Millstones are not what they appear to be, and the Palmers are understanding, kind and supportive. 

Kristina McMorris has penned a poignant and telling novel about how perseverance, guilt, and family ties influence the acts of individuals. It is a very good read and deserves the praise that it has garnered. 

Testimony by Anita Shreve

In the months of the pandemic, Covid-19. I have been reading off my to be read shelf. Not sure how far I will get, but depending on how long this thing lasts, I hope to make a bit of a dent. One of my favorite authors has been Anita Shreve. I enjoy her character development and her setting descriptions, as well as the plot lines. Testimony was not your typical Anitia Shreve book. To be honest I had a bit of a hard time getting into it until I managed to understand the flow of it. 

The novel begins with Michael Bordwin, headmaster of Avery Academy, a private school in Vermont, viewing a very sexually graphic tape of an incident in one of the student dorm rooms. 3 male students were visibly raping a 14 year old student. What ensues in the novel are accounts of the people who were close to the students involved: parents, roommates, girlfriends, policemen, journalists, and other members of the Avery Community. Each of those affected by the incident gives his or her own viewpoints as the novel unravels. At times the reader feels empathy toward the parents, who really never saw their sons in the way they were portrayed. Sienna, the victim, is not particularly likeable and is blamed by at least one of the males, as well as, it seems Shreve. The chapters are named for the person who is giving the viewpoint, but not in any chronological order. Until the reader grasps that this is the case, it is a bit confusing. During the course of the book, in almost a domino-like effect, the lives of all those involved changed dramatically. It is not until the very last chapter that we get a full accounting of how the incident happened and the time immediately before that precipitated it. 

The way that Bordwin handled the incident upon receiving the tape is reminiscent of how something similar (not a rape or an alcoholic induced one) was dealt with when I was teaching. The ramifications of responding to situation in a manner to keep it quiet in stead of turning it over to authorities outside the institution can backfire and back one into a corner. 

The prevailing theme from Testimony reminds us that in one impulsive moment lives can be derailed or destroyed. The consequences are far-reaching and irreversible. This would  very well be a book that could be included in a high school English syllabus. It is dramatic and gripping as you work through it and at times the reader just wants to shout NO, that is not the best decision to make. Not my favorite Shreve, but a good one.

Warlight by Michael Ondaatje

In one of the most complex books that I have read, Warlight is the latest of Ondaatje's novels. I had looked forward to reading it from the time Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures announced Ondaatje was the speaker for the last 2020 lecture. Its subject matter concerned two of my favorite topics - World War II and London. 

Narrated by Nathaniel, the book opens with the statement:

“In 1945 our parents went away and left us in the care of two men who may have been criminals” 

It snags the reader in what would seemingly be a tome of young children and their existence in the post war London years. But it, like a good part of the book, is merely a fragment of a puzzle that poses a challenge for those who try to piece it together. When Nathaniel (age 14) and his sister, Rachel (age 16), are left by their parents, to go to live in Singapore where the father has been promoted to run a Unilever office. Their mother, Rose, entrusts their keeping to a friend, Walter, whom the children name The Moth because he is so quiet. With The Moth running some shady business, the children are virtually left on their own. The first half of the novel relates their lives there as they meet and interact with other adults who comprise The Moth's group of acquaintances, including the Pimlico Darter (Norman) and Olive Lawrence who is an ecologist and ethnographer. Despite some criminal leanings The Darter becomes a surrogate guardian to Nathaniel as they smuggle dogs into London for illegal racing as does The Moth to Rachel. The two grow up quickly as they experience life in London, all the time wondering where there mother has gone. Nathaniel works for The Moth at the Criterion, a banquet hall where he meets Agnes, named for the street where she lived and who is first sexual experience. When a kidnap attempt is made on the two children, the realization that there is something more to the disappearance of Rose. 

In the second part of the book, Nathaniel, now a grown man, reflects on those years, his mother's whereabouts, and the covert activities that kept her at a distance from her children. Working at the British Classified Archives, he discovers documents that help him discover what Rose's part was. Ondaatje reveals bits and pieces of that action to the reader over the course of the second half chapters. There are clues and innuendoes that need to be assembled before a clear vision of Rose's life is understood. A seemingly unimportant incident of a thatcher falling from the roof of Rose's parents home escalates into a critical time in her life. 

Warlight references the light that, even tho dimmed, guided emergency traffic in London during World War II. But it also takes on an added meaning of the secrecy and shrouded surreptitiousness of espionage, smuggling, codenames, and interrogations. This is not a book for the faint of heart, but for those who appreciate the complexities of a nuanced novel that reveals its own secrets in measured increments.   

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

This book has sat on my "to read" shelf for a few years because of the reviews that had been published and the reputation of Ian McEwan. I was spurred to finally make time to read it after I watched the movie. I then recommended it to the Gables Book Club for the March meeting. 

McEwan has a penchant for hooking his readers from the very first sentence in a book and On Chesil Beach  is no exception.

They were young, educated, and both virgins on this, their wedding night, and they lived in a time when a conversation about sexual difficulties was plainly impossible. But it is never easy. 

The novella takes place in 1962 on the wedding night of Edward Mahew and Florence Pointing at a hotel on Chesil Beach in Dorset in southern England. It is a shingle beach that is characterized by the curve of the land and the arrangement of the pebbles by wind and rain.  It is there they will enjoy the wedding night and a stroll on the beach drinking wine and examining the pebbles. 

Providing some comic relief to the tension that the reader fills building is the description of the waiters and the dinner ordered. There was no real room so the waiters stayed and observed as the two tried to eat the melon, plates of beef, cheese board and trifle. But it was not to be finished as the couple midway through made their way to the four-poster bed. 

In a scene that was a bit reminiscent of Ravel's Bolero, sensual and innocent the reader stands witness to what surely will be a night of bliss. Edward fumbles with Florence's dress and, ultimately, decides to proceed without removing it. But the thought of intimacy so frightens Florence that she bolts from the hotel room in a desperate move to avoid being suffocated by the act and heads to the beach. After a time, he follows and the two engage in a conversation that evolves into argument as they both admit that they are so in love with each other. 

Intermixed between the action of the wedding night, McEwan writes beautifully crafted chapters of the details of Florence and Edward's meeting and courtship. The reader is mesmerized by his words and sentence structure. It is with these chapters that we understand more about the two young people and the worlds from which they came - she from a privilege family but with an abusive father, he from a middle class and hardworking one in which his father has had to assume roles as mother and father since a traumatic accident to his mother. 

At the book's conclusion one is left with a feeling of poignancy and regret for Edward and Florence and the thought of what could have been. Again, the book with all of McEwan's artistry surpasses the movie. Read and enjoy.