The Chicken Runs at Midnight by Tom Friend

This book was selected for the November discussion of the Gables Book Club. We had planned a trip to Kentucky and at the suggestion of a number of members who tend to listen to audio books, I downloaded a copy of the book to play on the drive. Listening to a book was something I had never done before, but felt that this would be a good one and of interest to my husband. What a great decision that was. 

The Chicken Runs at Midnight is a bit of a memoir of Rich Donnelly, a former MLB player and coach. That he was associated with the Pittsburgh Pirates was an added bonus. But more than Donnelly's story, it is the touching narrative of the life of his daughter, Amy, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 18. Donnelly was born and raised in Steubenville, Ohio, just about an hour from Pittsburgh. He was the son of an abusive father and loving mother. His only desire in life was to be a major league player and then to coach third base for the Pirates and win a World Series. When he was young, he lost his older brother, his coach and mentor to cancer, an event that indelibly marked his adolescent years. While at Xavier College, he met his wife Peggy. From there he became a MLB catcher with the Minnesota Twins and in the Washington Senators organization. His coaching career with the Texas Rangers saw him associated with Billy Martin, and then joined forces with Jim Leyland and the Pirates and eventually the Florida Marlins. During this time he was often the absentee father and at one point a partying baseball player/coach whose affair with a dental hygenist led to a messy divorce. His reminiscences about his days growing up listening to KDKA, Bob Prince and the Pirates' games brought back, for this reader, the fondest memories.  The description of the euphoria when Bill Mazeroski hit his 9th inning, game 7  walk-off home run in the 1960 World Series was palpable. 

But the most dramatic moment of the book occurred when his daughter, Amy, called and said, "I have a brain tumor. I'm sorry." Nothing could change the life of a parent more than hearing those words. Amy was a delightful child who idolized her father, without him reciprocating the feeling. Donnelly was more interested in his sons becoming the star athletes in the family. However, she did love baseball and when Donnelly was coaching for the Pirates developed a strong relationship with some of their superstars like Barry Bonds, Sid Bream, and Doug Drabek. She would often babysit the players' children in the "green room." As she watched her father coach 3rd base, cupping his hands and shouting to players, she wondered what he was saying. After one game, she asked, "Dad, what are you telling them? That the chicken runs at midnight, or what?" The phrase became a family catchphrase, often signalling a hello, goodbye, or an I love you. Little did anyone know that it would mark such an auspicious occasion as the winning of the 1997 World Series. Craig Counsell, one of my least favorite managers in baseball, is the central figure in fulfilling Amy's prophecy. I will look at him in a different light as he manages the Brewers.

Although the book has very strong religious overtones in its conclusion, it chronicled baseball and the realization that family and those relationships are meant to be of the utmost important basis of our lives.  This was just the best "listen" for bringing back all those wonderful baseball moments which I have seen and heard. 

 

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.

  

 

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.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

There are so few books that a person reads in a lifetime that leaves such a lasting impression and are candidates for a re-read. Hamnet is one of those books. What a joy Maggie O'Farrell's account of the son of William Shakespeare was to savor. Although not much is known about the life of William in Stafford-on-Avon, Farrell bases her novel on those facts of which we are sure and creates as accurate an historical account as an author can with liberty taken to fill in the missing details.

The title of the novel gives only a hint of the scope of the book. It is much more than chronicling the short life of Hamnet. Rather it is a depiction of the relationships within the Shakespeare family. The beginning chapter of the novel sets a stage of panic as a young Hamnet searches for help for his sister, Judith, who has been come seriously ill with what seems to be the plague. He looks for any adult, especially, his mother, to come to her aid. He races furiously around the house on Henley Street and in the town and is the target of his grandfather John's abuse.

Shakespeare's Birthplace, Henley Street

 Abruptly, the next chapter transitions to fifteen years or so before the first and gives the reader the background information necessary to establish the relationships of the characters and it is in this next part that William Shakespeare is introduced. Throughout the book Shakespeare is never named, but only referred to as the Latin tutor, the husband, or the father.  Farrell has chosen to identify his wife as Agnes, rather than the Anne that many more will recognize. In her father, Richard's will she is named Agnes and it is from that document she is identified. A young Latin tutor comes to her house in the Hewlands for educating young boys as a repayment of some debt owed to the tutor's father. In the apple shed, the two kiss, eventually fall in love and plot to circumvent their families' disapproval of their union. 

Agnes' home in Hewlands

Agnes' home in Hewlands

 

In what was probably one of the most sensual scenes of lovemaking without portraying it graphically they consummate their union which results in Agnes' pregnancy. They are married and six months later, their first child, Susannah is born. Following her birth is the arrival of the the twins, Judith and Hamnet.

In alternating flashback and present timelines, the novel becomes a fascinating depiction of the life of Agnes, her children, and the effect that the death of Hamnet at age 11 has upon her and the family.

It is hard for all of them to understand and deal with his death. The Father and Husband leaves the household to seemingly help his father set up a market for his gloves. Predictably, this fails and the Father pursues his love of writing and the theatre. When word reaches Agnes that the Husband has written a play, Hamlet, she and her brother Bartholomew take off for London to glean an explanation. The last chapter of the book is poignant, tear-inducing, and heart rending. It leaves the reader to pause and consider how Agnes and the Husband will go on. 

Maggie O'Farrell's writing is so lyrical and emotional at every turn. Many times she eschewed dialogue for description, which led to an even more rhapsodic writing. A sheer gem of a book and one that bears reading again and again. It will be interesting to hear O'Farrell's talk on 22 November 2021 when she addresses the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures 10 Literary Evenings program.