The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

The Wilderness was not a book for the faint of heart or for those whose minds work in a linear fashion. Following the friendships of four women with distinct personalities through two and a half decades of their lives, the novel is craftily and creatively written. Flournoy is a master of that style and at times leaves the reader scratching his/her head. 

The first friend to whom we are introduced is Desiree, who is accompanying her grandfather to Switzerland because he has made plans to end his life in a dignified way. They spend a couple of days in Paris before the journey to Switzerland giving him a chance to live out some dreams before his death. Desiree has a sister, Danielle, who had been kept in the dark about those plans and as a physician was not pleased at all. 

The other friends are Nakia, who has climbed the ranks to become a chef with her own restaurant, January, who spends a good deal of her life trying to find some direcion and who becomes a graphic designer with a financial backgroud. Finally, there is Monique, a librarian who has turned blogger and who preaches against book banning. There are also myriad characters who come in and out of their lives.

The book's setting goes back and forth between New York and Los Angelos and the time periods span 2002 through 2027, an interesting look into the now not too distant future. The women support each other through life-changing highs and lows, and confront the changing world sometimes successfully and other times not. Flournoy does not hide her contempt for those who are not sympathetic to the conditions in American cities, medical care, or attitude toward the LGBTQ+ community or those whose skin color is black or brown.  

 Although those themes play out through the book, the theme of friendship is the paramount one Florunoy expounds upon. The women rally around through the birth of children, award ceremonies and marital relationships. The ending is totally unexpected as Flournoy moves her novel to 2027. It was worth re-reading to understand its compelling action. 

 It was interesting to hear Angela Flournoy on 23 March 2026 when she spoke to the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures audience. Her explanation of how her brain works and how she can write a book with so many shifts in time and place, was enlightening. It does baffle one whose mind travels along a more linear route. 

Angela Flournoy

 

Angela Flournoy autographing my book

 

The Jailhouse Lawyer by Calvin Duncan and Sophie Cull

Calvin Duncan was incarcerated at age 19 for crime - murder - which he did not commit. He served 28 years before this wrong was finally righted. This narrative recounts his day at Louisian Parish Prison and the infamous Angola Prison. A young white mail was murdered on the streets of New Orleans. His girlfriend after much coaxing and nearly a month later identified Duncan in a line-up. What was never brought up in the trial was that she couldn't really be certain that Duncan was the murderer. But she was white and Duncan was black. That explains his conviction. 

Duncan had such drive to prove his innocence that he immersed himself in law books and judicial review. He worked hard to get his GED while in prison and became a jailhouse lawyer or jailhouse counsel. These were inmates who had knowledge of law who would help other prisoners to appeal sentences or offer writs to decrease their sentences, even to being released. Duncan's detailed accounts of how he tried to work the system to recognize his innocence is truly incredible. The fortitude that made him press on was a characteristic that not many in his position, especially after all the defeats, would embrace. 

Throughout his accounting, the reader meets many of the inmates he helped and they become the characters in the drama. The courts are shown as racist and for the privileged. Duncan is assigned less than able lawyers or indifferent ones. Judge Julian Parker who plays a significant role in denying appeals is a reprehensible man who does not five Duncan a fair trial. His family also come in and out of his life, especially his sister Mamie, his Aunt Gail and his daughter Ayana. 

The result of Calvin Duncans successful final appeal is for him to accept the guilty plea but be released for time served. He admits that this is the only time he every lied under oath. Upon his release from prison he worked for his bachelor's degree and eventually a law degree - the occupation for which he had always believed he was destined. Eventually, he was exonerated of the crime and his record expunged. 

Throughout the book the reader gains incredible knowledge about the appeal process, the conditions in prison and the availability of jailhouse lawyers. It was a fascinating discourse and eyeopening. Duncan's resilience and fortitude serve as an example for all who find themselves defeated by their current station in life. 

He spoke in dialogue with Sophie Cull for the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series on 9 February and conveyed his hope for our country and the judicial system as long as our population will vote!

 

Paper Girl by Beth Macy

 Paper Girl is a reflection on life in a small town and the current state of affairs of the United States by journalist and Congressional hopeful Beth Macy. She relates life growing up in a small town to poverty stricken parents, her father called the town drunk in Urbana, Ohio. She weaves this growing up into comments about the political divide that has darkened the history of the United States. 

In recounting her formative years she draws comparisons and contrasts to the works of JD Vance's Hillbilly Elegy  and Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperfield. She has no issue in presenting herself as a liberally minded democrat as she revisits some of her hometown acquaintances and relative who do not share her views or ideals. She is thankful for being able to attend college because of Pell grants, that have been so diminished at the present. She relates this to a recent graduate of Urbana High School, Silas James, a trans, is trying to go to college, get his welding certificate and provide care for his siblings after their father's death. Silas is woven in this memoir and it creates a moving thread with how unforgiving the attitude of so many are in this day of nonacceptance.  

She advocates kindness, forgiveness, and grace as she witnesses the results of the 2024 election. As a journalist she is a truth teller who is an acute observer and listener. As such she regrets that true journalism is floundering today with so few getting information from factual sources and relying on social media for their information.

 The book was a real eye-opener into the life of rural poverty and a meaningful read. I marked many statements as I was reading. Beth Macy spoke on 8 December 2025 for the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series. She was impassioned and hopeful that our citizenry will find their way in the near future. She has announced her candidacy for Representative for the 6th District of Virginia. May she win!

Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures

My copy of Paper Girl  signed

 

So Far Gone by Jess Walter

This book has gotten a lot of very good reviews and I was pleased that Walter was one of the authors for the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures series. So Far Gone's protagonist is Rhys Kinnick, a retired journalist, who takes to the woods and leads a very reclusive life after a major familial blowup in 2016 between him and his son-in-law. His life changed immensely when his grandchildren, Leah (13) and Asher (9) appear on the porch of his cabin in 2024. 

Rhys' daughter, Bethany, has seemingly abandoned her children and taken off. Even her husband, Shane, appears not to know where she has gone and Bethany was somewhat at odds with him because of his embracing the beliefs and practices of a right wing, religious extremist group, the Army of the Lord, a wing of the Church of the Blessed Fire. Shane had advocated moving the family to the compound known as The Rampart and had even tried to betroth Leah to the pastor's son who was nineteen. 

The children bring Rhys up-to-date with all that happened to the family in the eight years of his self-imposed exile, including the death of his ex-wife, Celia Asher was a good chess player and that evening Rhys got into his beat-up car and took him to his chess tournament in Spokane. However, they find out that the tournament is not that evening and when arriving at the abbey where the tournament was supposed to take place the children are kidnapped by Brother Dean Burris, one of the Army of the Lord members. He also breaks Rhys' jaw in the process. 

Through flashbacks and action in the present, the novel then focuses on the recovery of the children. It brings into view and motion a number of people from Rhys' past, including an old flame, Lucy Park, his retired police officer, Chuck Littlefield, and Brian and Joanie a Native American couple with whom Rhys reconciles as he asks for help in navigating some of the Native American lands around the area in an effort to find Bethany from a clue that Leah had given them. 

As the novel begins to come to a resolution, the reader is hit in the face with a WHAM bit of action. The characters are well developed in a style that is a bit unique with chapter titles What Happened to....? Rhys earns the readers' sympathy as he tries to reconnect with a world that seems to have left him behind, but Walter also adds a bit of wit and levity to the story. The themes of Christian Nationalism, the sorry state of journalism created by today's reliance on social media for news, and the abandonment of environmental protection initiatives resonate through the novel. Perhaps, Rhys foreshadows the novel in his preface in quoting Thoreau, "Not till we are lost… ‘till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves.”
 

Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

This novel immediately grabs the reader with the sudden death of a young author as another author friend looks on. Athena Liu was a trending Asian author whose death gave June Hayward, aka Juniper Song, the opportunity to steal Liu's manuscript and embellish the story of the contributions of Chinese Laborers during World War I. 

June convinces her publisher and the reading world that she is the author of the book and assumes the persona of an Asian woman to make it more convincing. The book, The Last Front, becomes a NYT Best Seller and June reaps all the rewards of editing the book in which she skews the actions of the white people in the book to make them more sympathetic. She fears that if she tells the real story she may alienate those white readers on whom books depend for success. 

With the success of the book, attention is drawn to the origin of the manuscript. June finds herself defending her authorship as well as struggling with her inner sense of morality. She endures criticism from social media that haunts her, even as her publishers stand behind her. To thwart this she undertakes the publishing of another book, the premise of which also comes from Liu's notebooks.


The fact that she may be a white woman writing about the experiences of Asians is a platform for racism. Kuang's point comes across with satiric vitriol of the publishing world as she is an Asian writing a white woman's story. 

This was a gripping novel with depth beyond the stories of June and Juniper. The lecture by R.F. Kuang was erudite as she explained the role the publishing world has played in racism, diversity, and cultural appropriateness.

April 28, 2025  - R.F. Kuang

April 28, 2025  - R.F. Kuang

April 28, 2025  - R.F. Kuang signing my book

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger

It is difficult to really put a label on this book. Yes, it is a dystopian novel set sometime in the future, but it is also a story of compassion, fortitude, love and hope. In the beginning the reader is introduced to Rainy and his wife, Lark, who live near the shore of Lake Superior. Rainy plays the bass guitar in a small band and Rainy is the owner of a bookstore. They often rent out a small part of their home to travelers or those who are trying to flee from the wealthy who are increasingly making life more difficult for the laborers. The latest boarder is a young man, Kellan. Kellan warns Rainy that a many named Werryck is evil and that he should run when he arrives. It is a bit mysterious warning, but one that sets the tone for the novel

As the plot moves forward, after her birthday party, Lark is murdered, their house ransacked and Rainy is beside himself with grief. He realizes that among the crowd, Werryck was the old man who was asking him questions. He flees the town on his small boat, Flower, just in the nick of time. He believes that he can track down Lark and so he sets off on Lake Superior with its rough seas and dangers to find her. It is and Orpeheus and Eurydice like adventure for sure. 

 Along the way as he docks in various towns, he meets strangers willing to help him and some who are down-right mean spirited. He finds Sol, a girl trying to escape her nasty uncle, King Richard, hiding in the boat as he leaves the dock. He protects her and they sail together trying to make it to Canada. After a storm they find their small boat shipwrecked next to Werryck's large cruiser - a medicine ship. Rainy spends many nights in a cell with little to eat or drink, but remains hopeful that he will persevere. 

I Cheerfully Refuse touches on so many of the issues of the world in which we live: climate change, the rule by the wealthy who pay no attention to civil liberty, medical inequalities where the poor are not treated,  It was a bleak time and many of the citizens turned to Willow, a drug that induced a peaceful suicide as they tried to get to a "better" place. The writing is eloquent and descriptive. Rainy is a strong narrator and the reader witnesses his desperation and hope as he seeks to find Lark and a community for himself. 

Enger was a soft-spoken speaker who gave pertinent background to the novel as he related its development during the pandemic and the life experiences that contributed to the plot of the novel.

Leif Enger - 7 April 2025

Leif Enger - 7 April 2025

Leif Enger - 7 April 2025

 

James by Percival Everett

As the novel that has been perched at the top of the New York Times reading list for weeks on end, James has been on my TBR shelf since its publication. As part of the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures Ten Evenings series and also a selection for the Gables Book Club, it was time to move from TBR to Reading.

What an incredible novel Percival Everett has crafted. James is the re-imagination of Mark Twain’s Hucleberry Finn told from the point of view of Jim, Huck’s runaway slave companion. Jim is a husband to Sadie and father to Lizzie and is well respected among the other slave s to Judge Thatcher and Miss Watson because he can read and write. When he learns that he is going to be sold and shipped to New Orleans, he runs away. Huck is being abused by his alcoholic father and fakes his death and likewise runs away. The two meet up serendipitously on an island and from there the adventures begin as they encounter a couple of con artists, a minstrel group who appear with black face, One of that group, Norman, has been passing escapes with Jim. The two concoct a plan for Norman to sell Jim and help him escape and sell him over and over again. The owner of a mill, Old Mr. Henderson, buys Jim, and he escapes with another slave, Sammy, whom he witnesses being raped.

The adventures are harrowing, the cruelty and violence are disturbing, but it is history told through fiction. It is difficult to pinpoint what is the most outstanding feature of this novel. It is remarkable for the point of view and language from which Jim relates it. It is told in the first person by Jim who is trying to define what freedom is and how it can be gained outside enslavement. Everett uses a code switching technique, that Everett ini his lecture, sometime questions. When talking to superiors, he uses the “slave filter” and when he is talking with those on equal ground, uses an erudite proper language. He steals a leather notebook where he records his thoughts and where he develops a sense of self. Words are important to him.  During his lecture he read a part of the novel where James was instructing children on the way to talk to the enslavers 

The children said together, “And the better they feel, the safer we are.” “February, translate that.” “Da mo’ betta dey feels, da mo’ safer we be.”

Throughout James the overlying motive for his actions to to get back to Hannibal to free his family and move to where they can enjoy their life. It is what keeps him going. He came to the realization that if he didn’t have them in his life, freedom was meaningless.

Sadness, irony, humor, the myth of racial identity and so many other attributes come together to make this a book for all ages. It should be taught along its companion, Huckleberry Finn in all English curricula. I am not sure that would happen in Florida, After all, as Everett said, “Reading is subversive.”

Percival Everett at Carnegie Music Hall - 24 March 2025

Percival Everett at Carnegie Music Hall - 24 March 2025

Percival Everett at Carnegie Music Hall - 24 March 2025

Madness: Race and Insanity at a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

A Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures selection, Madness  was a tough read because of the brutality of the treatment to those who were virtually incarcerated at the Crownsville State Hospital in Maryland, known as the Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland. Antonia Hylton's recounting of the treatment of blacks who had or supposed to have had a mental illness is heart-rending. Spurred by the dialogue with a relative who was so fearful of the treatment by white supremacists, she researched this institution for nearly 10 years. 

Through a series of case studies, she described the establishment of the hospital in 1911, built by those who would occupy it, through its closure in 2004. Prevalent throughout the history were some common threads of an understaffed and overcrowded facility, despicable conditions of the facility, and abusive behavior toward the black patients. It was an emotional read that makes the reader shake her head as to how any human being can be treated as such. However, when one looks around at our contemporary society, this history doesn't seem that far removed. 

One of the more saddening stories was that of Elsie Lacks, daughter of Henrietta Lacks. Elsie was born in 1940 and suffered from epilepsy and cerebral palsy as a result of a head injury at birth. Because of this she needed constant attention and Henrietta and her husband. Day, were advised to send her to a hospital, that being Crownsville. She was only 10 years old. Her mother visited her religiously for a few years before she, herself, became ill with cervical cancer. At her death, no one seemed to think that it was necessary to tell Elsie or bring her to her mother's viewing. Elsie died in 1955 at fifteen. Just like her mother, Elsie was subjected to many unauthorized and unorthodox treatments, including aggressive forms of shocks to the brain. It was her younger sister, Deborah, and author Rebecca Skloot who dug to the bottom of the hidden files to find out how Elsie was treated without any informed consent. 

Antonia spoke on 10 February 2025 and beautifully articulated how she wrote her exposé of the Crownsville hospital. The book is a well-researched work of journalism that details the tragedy of treating the mentally ill in the United States and the civil rights, or lack thereof of black citizens. 

 

Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson

One of my friends introduced me to Heather Cox Richardson a couple of years ago and I have become one of her most ardent fans. Her Letters from an American each morning is one piece to which I look forward before doing most anything else. I was ecstatic when it was announced that she would be speaking at the Ten Evenings programs of Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures. 

Democracy Awakening is a fascinating history of the United States in terms of how we have viewed and practiced democracy since the Founding Fathers gathered all their thoughts and expressed them in the documents that have formed the basis of our laws and culture. She contends that throughout our history there have been crossroads between authoritarianism and pluralism. As we approach this Presidential election, it has become even more obvious and she feels that we are "teetering on the brink" of authoritarianism if the election of Republicans comes to pass. 

Richardson is a scholar and professor of U.S. History at Boston University. Her research for this book traces the rise in the right wing ideology back to the New Deal of the 1930s through the Nixon presidency, Reagan and most recently most outstandingly personified by Donald Trump. There are no fewer than 10 chapters that delineate how he has moved to secure the position which sets him in direct comparison to the leaders of European fascism and Nazi Germany. She describes how in his term as President, one of the first actions were executive orders that began to dismantle the government and install his cronies and family members into interim positions to avoid needing Congressional approval. Of course his installing 3 ultra conservatives on the Supreme court has lead to the repeal of Roe v. Wade and the eradication of a women's right to have control over health decisions. 

Richardson has such an incredible way of writing that is learned and academic, but truly understandable by the non-academic. Her explanations illustrate give the lay reader a means to understand not only the past, but also the what is happening now and how we need to heed the warning signs that have been posted by the vile rhetoric of the evangelical conservative wing of the Republican Party. A must read for every citizen who does not want to be accused of having his or her head buried in the sand. 

I cannot wait to hear her speak.

The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer

The Half Known Life is a slim book with so much between its covers. In some respects it is a travelogue and in others a look into the theology and philosophy that men seek to understand. Iyer was born in Oxford England and has lived in San Francisco and Japan. This book recounts his travels to Iran, North Korea, Northern Ireland, Kashmir, and Sri Lanka. He seeks to discover what Paradise means to the inhabitants of those places in addition to himself.


Central to the book is Iyer's relationship to the Dalai Lama with whom he has been friends for over 40 years. As he has traveled the world with the Dalai Lama, he has become accustomed to the people who search out paradise here on Earth and beyond. In response to that, however, the answer lies more in the experiences on Earth rather than theoretical explanations of eternal life.

Traveling from place to place is illustrative of the human condition where people struggle for a meaningful existence, especially in the midst of chaos and violence. Although Iyer is not a Buddhist, he tends to look at the calmness that is central to that religion and suggests that a reliance on it will provide a quiet that leads to introspection.


He comes to the conclusion "I decided that I would no longer seek out holy places in [a] city of temples I would just let life come to me in all its happy confusion and find the holiness in that.”

Iyers conveys a sense of peace, wanderlust and even some strife as he travels to all the places. It was a book that I probably would not have picked up except that he will be speaking on 29 September 2024. I am anxious to hear him. I do wish that there had been a map within the book that detailed his journeys. 

Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures - 30 September 2024

Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures - 30 September 2024

 

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. 

 

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

Let Us Descend was the final selection for the Pittsburgh Arts and Lecture series in 2023-2024. What a way to end the season. It is always hard to read about enslaved people and their struggles to gain freedom, but this book was probably the most brutal account that has been written. 

The novel begins pre-Civil War North Carolina as Annis, the protagonist, learns from her mother that her father is the owner of the plantation on which they live. Anxious to learn, she listens in to lessons that are being given to her half-sisters. From instruction on Dante's Inferno she hears the phrase that becomes the book's title. Concomitantly, her mother instructs her in self-defense, that she has learned from her mother who was one of the wives of the King of Dahomey. Not too far into the novel Annis' mother is sold. Annis is comforted by Safi, her lover, and the two women enjoy a brief but deep relationship. After Safi runs away, Annis herself is sold and she begins a grueling trek with other men and women to New Orleans. It is on the journey that she is encouraged, comforted, and buoyed by the spirit of Aza, a grandmother-like spirit. 

She is sold to a wealthy man and his wife who own a sugar plantation. Spending her time on inside duties and also harvesting the cane, Annis becomes friends with two others who are enslaved, Mary and Esther. The life that all three must endure tears at the heart and soul of anyone who reads this book. From the harshness of The Lady, to the repulsiveness of her husband, it is hard to read. After a brief tryst with Esther's brother Bastien, she finds her self pregnant and sets to make a different life for herself and the baby. 

As harsh as the action is in this book, the writing is lyrical. Ward is a gifted story teller who can paint a picture with well-chosen words and metaphors. The reader is entranced. This book was written after Ward lost her husband to lung disease. She alludes to this in the acknowledgement and thanks those who have supported her in her grief. The readers are grateful also as it shows the power of hope just as Annis finds in the novel.

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.

Rough Sleepers by Tracy Kidder

In this world there are people who will make a direct difference in peoples' lives and in the lives of those who only know them through the words of those who write about them. Tracy Kidder has written the most incredible book about Dr. Jim O'Connell and his effort to mitigate the homeless situation in Boston. It is an eye-opening account of O'Commell and his almost saintly devotion to helping those who are in desperate need, physically, mentally, and socially - those who make their homes on street corners, ally ways, and door fronts - Rough Sleepers.

O'Connell has led the Boston Health Care for the Homeless since its inception in 1985. Harvard educated, he had completed his residency and was going to take a position in NYC when he was approached to become associated with the BHCFTH. He deferred his appointment at Sloan Kettering for a year. After that year, he realized where his true calling was. He had gone out 2 nights a week on the program's van and saw the wretched conditions under which so many were living. He and his colleagues treated disease, provided blankets, and gave food to those who were on the streets. 

Kidder also immerses himself into the life of O'Connell as he shadowed him for nearly three years. It is through Kidder's eyes that we are swept into the lives of the homeless and their plight. The reader meets those whom the doctor has helped and whose lives were firmly touched by him, especially Tony Colombo, who, despite being charged with attempted rape and being a drug addict, tries to help others in his same predicament. 

At times this is a very tough book to read. However, it is so uplifting to see what a difference one person can make in the lives of others. There is no one solution that will help alleviate the problem of the unhoused. Aa O'Connell and Kidder say it will require the devoted work of many agencies, especially the educational community. Without a well-compensated teacher's corps, there will be no end to it. Beyond that affordable housing, mental health care, and a shift in political focus all need to converge to help the plight of those Rough Sleepers. 

We were delighted to hear both Kidder and O'Connell speak at the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures 10 Evenings program. Their strong passion as evident from the stage as it is in the book. READ IT.

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 Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

A sweeping novel of 3 generations of an Indian family, The Covenant of Water,  is one of the best books that have been written in the last years. At 765 pages, it is definitely not a fast read, but a read that will provide the reader one of the most pleasurable hours that can be spent with a book. Verghese is a masterful storyteller and possesses the gift of understanding how to craft words into a literary masterpiece. 

The novel opens a young 12 year-old girl, who will be known as Big Ammachi marries a man over 20 years her senior. She leaves her home and travels with him to Kerala and his estate, Parambil. He had been married before and has a son, JoJo. After about 7 years she delivers a baby girl, Baby Mol, who is developmentally challenged. Her husband's family has been afflicted with The Condition, a predisposition to a fear of water that is borne out by the drowning of a member of the family in each generation. Through the birth of her son, Philipose, and then, the granddaughter, Mariamma, the Big Ammachi establishes herself as the patriarch of the family. Through her eyes, the reader feels her joys and pains and is privileged to her wisdom as she guides the family.  

Part Two of The Covenant of Water introduces Digby Kilpour from Glasgow, Scotland. He has been raised by his mother, Gwendolyn, after his father disappeared when he was very young. She suffers from depression, which causes her to take her own life. Digby decides to leave Scotland and join the Indian Medical Service, where he studies to be a gifted surgeon. His story is told parallel to that of Big Ammachi's and the reader knows that their families' lives will cross paths at some point in the novel. 

To detail the intricate story lines would take about as many pages as the book itself. No character is exempt from grief and loss, one of the major themes of the novel. It is the way each character deals with tragedy that gives insight into all aspects of the human condition. In many books, the reader feels disconnect from the people about whom the story is centered. This is not the case in Verghese's book. There is joy as new babies are born and good deeds are accomplished and tears are shed as death invades the families. But Verghese also gives glimmers of hope as the characters evolve and grow.  

Added to this theme is the glimpse into the world of India from 1907 through 1977 and how it has grown from moved from primitive to modern with the advances made in home amenities, sanitation, and medical breakthroughs. It is fascinating and compelling. Not only is the reader engrossed, but s/he is also educated and enlightened. The Covenant of Water should be on everyone's To Read List. 

On 13 November 2023 we were so lucky to hear Abraham Verghese speak on his book. Without a note and in front of the podium. What a treat!

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

There are some books that beg to be reread and The Fraud by Zadie Smith is one of those books. Based on historical events surrounding the Tichborne trial of 1873, the novel is meticulously researched and craftily written.  Eliza Touchet is one of the central figures of the story and is a cousin of William Ainsworth, a nearly obscure writer of the 19th century, and also his housekeeper. In flashback and concurrent narration, it is also the story of Andrew Bogle, a Jamaican who was taken to England by Edward Tichborne. 

Throughout the novel as the events of the trial unfold, Eliza becomes the readers' eyes and ears to 19th century literary society where she entertains for her cousing, the likes of Dickens and Thackeray. Her dinner parties are renowned and anticipated. She knows, however, how dreadful her cousin's works of literature are and it is the one part of his life she does not manage. She even manages his wedding to Sarah Wells, his maid, with whom he has fathered a child. 

Although not a courtroom drama, the scenes at the trial are fascinating and show how Sarah, who is obsessed with the man who has claimed to be the the rightful heir of Sir Roger Tichborne and Eliza are on opposite sides. The Claimant has a very weak case in that he couldn't remember classmates, know how to speak French, and the presence of a tattoo, or absence of one. Eliza befriends Andrew Bogle and through him is able to decry her abhorrence of slavery and how the Americans vs. the English are handling that institution.

 Written in a serialized style, as Dickens would have,  The Fraud moves backward and forward through Eliza's life and also that of Andrew Bogle. The many locations in England often time necessitated having a map by my side to understand the travel and journeys made by the characters. It is a masterpiece of writing. Zadie Smith whom we were privileged to hear speak in September, 2023.

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.

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Both Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures and the Gables Book Club are reading The Candy House so in the interest of continuity I picked up the earlier book that featured the same characters. Visit was probably the quirkiest book I have ever encountered. It won the Pulitzer Prize min 2010 and has received exclamations as the perfect book.  Many critics have written how it haunts them as they revisit the myriad of characters introduced in the novel. Actually, it reads more like a collection of interlinked short stories. It is hard to describe as the stories move back and forth in time (1970s to 2020), place (New York to California to Africa), and connection with each other. 

The reader is introduced to Bennie Salazar and Sasha in the first chapter and they weave their way in to succeeding chapters of the novel. Bennie is a member of a Punk band that gets a break from Lou, who is a record producer and eventually a tragic figure. Sasha is introduced as a kleptomaniac, stealing a wallet in a woman's restroom before she meets with her therapist. Both incidents give insight as to how their lives will change through the decades.

Throughout the novel various scenes give hints to tell the story of the lives of the characters. Bennie moves up through the recording scene and eventually has his own record label. He marries twice, obsessed over his impotency to the degree that he ingests gold flakes to help improve it. Sasha had a sad life that finds her running away with a rock star and traveling all over the world. One of the most stereotypical characters is LaDoll, a slutty publicist in New York City, who is also mother to Lulu. The novel, in chapter 12, projects into the future as it is a series of PowerPoint slides called "pointers" and is written by Sasha's daughter, Alison. 

At times this was a very frustrating read because of how the novel shifted time, place, and characters. It perhaps is worth a second read, but I am not sure I could do that. I found it hard to connect with many of the characters and was even repulsed by a few. I sure hope that The Candy House is a more satisfying read.

 

River of the Gods by Candice Millard

 Candice Millard takes history and makes it entertaining, informative, and illuminating. She is a master of the obscure happenings in our world and has an incredible gift of researching and then revealing to the reader what she has discovered in a very approachable way. 

River of the Gods is the account of Richard Burton and John Speke, friends who would eventually become adversaries, and their quest to discover the origin of the White Nile. Until their adventure in the mid-1850s the mapping of Africa was void of the where the While Nile's headwaters were. Consequently, the answer to the puzzle was on the agenda of many of the geographers of the time. The two men's talents would seemingly complement each others. Burton, as Millard relates was the first Englishman to travel to Mecca. He was a natural linguist and pulled off the feat disguised as a Muslim. He was courageous, adventurous, and dedicated to finding the source of the river. Speke, on the other hand, was more of the typical aristocratic Englishman, who had served in the military and was distracted by his love of large game hunting. However, the two eventually became at odds with each other and tried to undercut each other's successes and discoveries.

In the book, the reader is immersed in the pains and agonies of the exploration of the African land. Millard describes in depth the illnesses and pains that the two and their caravans of hundreds suffer. Many times one thinks that no one will survive the expeditions. There is also the side story of Burton and the woman who loves him with all her might, Isabel Arundell. There is brief mention of Stanley and Livingston, but Millard stays singularly focused on the quest of Burton and Speke. Each had his own opinion, and were to debate it in Bath, but Speke died the day before. For the most part Speke was correct in identifying Lake Nyanza, a.k.a Lake Victoria as the source. 

In her lecture to the Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures group , Millard emphasizes that she really wanted to tell the story of the formerly enslaved guide,  Sidi Mubarak Bombay. He is seldom given credit for all that he did to enable Speke's journey, as are most of the enslaved Africans who make up the expedition party. Millard brings to the forefront how the men were grossly mistreated and how slavery and mistreatment were so prevalent. 

 

To conclude the book, much of Burton's later life in consulates and as a writer and husband was recounted.  For an historic person about whom I had so little knowledge, this was a great read and so informative. Millard has a gift for making history come alive and writing in a way that the reader is immersed in that history.