Tag: Fiction Review

Books

The Caregiver by Samuel Park

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 288
Quick Review A novel about the desire to understand people and situations. The desire is rarely satisfied, but you don’t have to understand to connect and care.

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The Caregiver by Samuel Park was published posthumously. He passed away from stomach cancer at the age of 41. It is hard to read this novel without seeing it as being written out of a place of hope and sadness.

Mara Alencar is a young woman living in the United States sans documents after a childhood watching atrocities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is the caretaker to a woman dying from cancer. She reminisces about her childhood home and her mother, Ana. Mara is both caretaker and child to her mother. Like most children there is a duality to her. She understands more than the adults around her realize, but she also is only able to accept the world as it appears to her without perceiving the nuance, complexity, and difficulty that is being human.

The writing style is very beautiful. Park allows Mara to witness situations as a child she cannot understand, but the reader, with adult experiences, sees what she cannot. Lacing the present with the past, brings a fullness to Mara’s adulthood that would otherwise result in a flat character. Park uses lexical foreshadowing to create emotional space between characters without giving away any events to come. The use of Portuguese words brings the reader closer to Mara’s cultural heritage.  

Park captures the experience of trying to understand a situation from the outside. There is a yearning for understanding in Mara, which comes to fruition through her connecting with those around her.  

Title: The Caregiver
Author: Samuel Park
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9781501182426
Books

Putney

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 384
Quick Review A novel that will stay with you as it explores the intricacies of sexual assault from several points of view.

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I’m not going to review this book like I normally would. In my teen and adult years, I was raped. For me, this book struck some nerves hitting close to home because there were several similarities between my story and this one. I will be doing two reviews as an unbiased reviewer and a personal review.

Unbiased
Putney by Sofka Zinovieff is an incredibly interesting look into the psyches and motivations behind predators, victims, and observers in cases of sexual abuse. Dividing the book into three perspectives brings the reader into the complexities of these situations because they are never cut-and-dry.

Ralph is a young, up-and-coming composer in London in the mid-1970’s when he enters the Greenslay and meets the seven year old daughter, Daphne. He is immediately taken by her, but not in a pedophile way. He loves her. Beginning a secret friendship with her, it evolves over time until one day, when she’s thirteen: a young woman. Daphne is now a grown woman with a twelve year old daughter when she returns to London. She reconnects with her childhood friend, Jane. Daphne had been through a marriage, drugs, loss, and more in her time away, but her life is better, and she begins reflecting on her love affair with Ralph. Jane is sickened by her friend’s remembrances, and pushes Daphne to see what obviously happened in the past. The three embark on personal journeys of discovery, healing, and more on their own and together.

Zinovieff does a remarkable job writing a compelling story from all sides. Although, I don’t really like any of the characters, they are rounded, complex, and interesting. Ralph, though a disgusting old pedophile, is presented as captivating character, which makes the story far more realistic. Daphne is a mess with a whole bunch of inner turmoil. Honestly, I hated Jane from the get-go, but her character fulfills a needed role within the plot.

The writing is wonderful. It feels like an accessible Lolita, which I enjoyed very much. The book utilizes British spelling instead of American, which matches the content nicely. Putney is difficult to put down once you start reading.  

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Personal
I don’t have any problem reading books about rape. It’s not a trigger for me. I spent too much of my life having it be a part of my norm, and – in a fucked up way – reading about it is incredibly cathartic.

So much of Putney irritated me. Ralph is an asshole. I very much appreciated his misogynistic, arrogant, egotistical ways. I wish all rapists were so dislikable. Jane pissed me off the more I knew of her story. For as much as she researches sexual abuse, she handles it all wrong. She is the exact opposite of what Daphne needs; she puts her own needs ahead of the “victims.” Daphne was not exactly my favorite, but I could understand her journey.

There were a lot of really well done things about the novel. Although, I found a lot of the parts including the police completely idealistic. I don’t know anyone who has ever involved the police to have had such an easy and non traumatic experience. The healing journey was ridiculously easy in comparison to reality.

I appreciated the ending, but I didn’t love it. The ending isn’t happy, but it’s much happier and wraps up nicely. It kind of feels like Zinovieff wraps it all up with a nice bow to make an uncomfortable topic palatable.     

Memorable Quotes
“I wasn’t some Humbert Humbert obsessed with nymphets.”
“Now the trauma was not only hers.”

Title: Putney
Author: Sofka Zinovieff
Publisher: Harper
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780062847577

Books

The Forty Rules of Love

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 358
Quick Review When an unhappy, Jewish mother in Massachusetts begins reading a novel by a wandering, Sufi man, she embarks on a personal journey for love, self, and truth.

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This was suggested to me by one of my followers, and I was hesitant to say the least. I am not into romance or mushy-gushy love stories. This one has love in the title. I was pleasantly surprised. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak is not so much about romantic love as it is about being a good person and walking through the world with love in your heart.

Ella is newly 40 with a romantic daughter in college, tweenaged twins with troubles, and a dallying husband, but if she ignores it and focuses on her new job, maybe it will all go away. Ella focused on her family for many years, but now she has a new job as a reader for a literary agent. She must read Sweet Blasphemy and submit a report. The book is so drastically different from her own life, and, yet, she is drawn in to the story and the author, who she begins a correspondence with.

Sweet Blasphemy is about the friendship between Shams of Tabriz and the exalted poet Rumi. Told from many perspectives, it is a tale of friendship, love, trust, wandering, destiny, and mysticism. Shams of Tabriz is a wandering dervish, who enters Rumi’s life and Konya, Turkey changing both forever. Shams has forty rules for the religion of love. Although, I don’t necessarily agree with all of them, there are a lot of truly poignant moments and quotes.

Several people told me the ending is heartbreaking. Honestly, I thought it was the most appropriate ending. It isn’t shocking, but any other ending would be a disservice to the novel and the meaning.

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Shafak writes a novel within a novel. It’s not a new story framework, but she does it exceedingly well. Everytime the story would shift from one to the other, I would always be wondering what would happen next. Shafak has an incredibly deep belief in love and humanity as she explores prejudice and malice and blind religiosity among other things. The narrators are not always good people, but they all have a perspective that bolsters the main theme.  

Elif Shafak is a Turkish author, and her native language is Turkish. However, she writes her novels in English. As a linguist who has learned several languages, I CANNOT imagine writing novels in another language. It is incredibly hard, and she does it so well. I would have never been able to tell from reading The Forty Rules of Love that she is not a native speaker.

Memorable Quotes
“When you speak the truth, they hate you. “
“Finally I understood that whenever people heard something unusual, they called it a dream.”
“Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of the process.”
“These codes of honor had less to do with the harmony God created than with the order human beings wanted to sustain.”

Title: The Forty Rules of Love
Author: Elif Shafak
Publisher: Penguin Books
Copyright: 2010
ISBN: 9780241972939
Books

The Water-Babies

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 198
Overview A Victorian children’s classic addressing themes and issues reaching far beyond a basic children’s fairy tale.

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I read The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley in a Victorian Lit. class in college. I really loved it, but I was confused at how it could possibly be a children’s fairy tale. Yes, it’s engaging and interesting and full of wonder, but it has really deep meanings, which cannot be ignored partially because they’re constantly smacking you in the face.

Basics of the story: Tom is a poor chimney sweep, who has no knowledge of God or cleanliness or any type of kindness. Through a small bout of craziness and an old Irish lady, Tom runs away from his hyper abusive master. He ends up being turned into a water-baby, which is the water equivalent of a land-baby. There are other water-babies, fairies, and characters with names like Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. How can you not love it?

Like many Victorian novels, it is, at its core, a truly moral fable. There is a stark moral code set out within the novel – Charles Kingsley was an Anglican minister. One thing that I was absolutely taken with in college was the fact it is such a female centric novel. The women are good, strong, honest, and resilient and the men are fools, abusive, or a combination thereof.

There are so many layers and lenses in which The Water-Babies can be read. Kingsley’s opinions are pretty evident throughout for the good and the bad. He did not support child labor, and it can be read as a satire. Throughout the story science is evident. Darwin is mentioned kindly on several occasions. Other scientific topics are pollution, method, geology, education, and biological debates prevalent at the time. Kingsley heavily criticizes close-minded approaches to life and knowledge.   

One of my favorite things about the narration, is how the narrator speaks directly to the reader. This isn’t unusual, especially at the time, but the way he does it is not terribly common. There are full on discussions, where the reader is answering questions posed by you, the reader. It is highly amusing as it can go on for several pages.

Anyways, The Water-Babies is a fun little novel. You can read it for a fun, light read, or you can deeply read it. I’m not a science person, so I would love to hear your sciency takes on it!

Memorable Quotes
“The most wonderful and the strongest things in the world, you know, are just the things which no one can see.”
“Do as you would be done by.”
“…children always wake after they have slept exactly as long as is good for them…”

Title: The Water-Babies; A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby
Author: Charles Kingsley
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Copyright: 2008
ISBN: 9780143105091

Books

Fruit of the Drunken Tree

RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 304
Quick Review In the midst of Colombia’s struggle, three girls, two from privilege and one from poverty, share experiences.

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Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Roja Contreras has already stirred up quite a lot of good buzz this summer before its release. GoodReads has already called it a must read of the summer. I do not disagree. It is one of my favorite books I have read this year. I know it will stay with me for quite awhile.

Cassandra is older than her younger sister, Chula. Petrona comes into their family’s home as a maid. Their father is away most of the time working, so the house is run by their mother. The rules change when their drunkard father is home, but the girls adore him anyways. Chula is the main protagonist throughout the majority of the novel. She is young and curious with little understanding of the political upheaval going on around her. Her older sister, Cassandra, is a little more aware, but feigns wisdom around her younger sister. They both have a fascination for their new maid Petrona, who is quiet and mysterious.

Contreras pulls the reader in from the very beginning. The novel starts giving clues to what happened before telling the story from the beginning when Chula was a child. Every other chapter tells Petrona’s story, which gives a fuller picture of Colombia’s landscape and culture at the time. There are a lot of Spanish words and phrases incorporated throughout. I speak Spanish, so I understood. I don’t think this would hinder anyone’s understanding, however. There is a lot of talk about politics, elections, guerilla warfare, death, sexual assault, and more.

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The Drunken Tree, from which the novel takes its title, is a real tree. Known scientifically as brumansia arborea alba. It is a tree whose flower is used to create date rape drugs. If the flowers are eaten, people can go into a hysteria. When the drug wears off, they remember nothing from the experience.

I found it to be an absolutely fabulous novel. Colombia has a reputation for drugs, specifically cocaine. About the only other thing the country is known for may be Shakira. The country has so much more culture and history than these two facts. I love the novel focuses on neither. I am hoping it helps bring more attention to this oft forgotten country.

*If you’re interested in reading another Colombian author, take a look at Veins of the Ocean by Patricia Engel.

Title: Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Author: Ingrid Roja Contreras
Publisher: DoubleDay (Penguin Random House)
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9780385542722

 

Books

Kitchens of the Great Midwest

RaeAnna

Read Meh
Length 310
Quick Review Through the eyes and flavors of many, the story of a great midwestern chef, Eva Thorvald, is told from her childhood to success. I enjoyed it because I’m a Midwestern girl.

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I snagged Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal because I am a born and raised Iowa girl. I lived in the Midwest for 25 years. It was on the title alone. It was an enjoyable read. Many of the cities mentioned I have spent time in. The recipes, culture, and flavor were all familiar.

Eva Thorvald has good food in her blood. She moves throughout the Midwest collecting flavors along with experiences that contribute to her culinary success. Only the second chapter is told from Eva’s point of view. The other chapters are told from people who encounter or are close to her. The plot begins before Eva’s birth with each chapter jumping years into the future. I did enjoy how each chapter was left on a cliffhanger leaving you wondering. Though, the cliffhangers were on the predictable side.  

There were a lot of interesting aspects to the novel. I’m not sure if I liked it or not. I thought the ending was nothing special and largely guessable. It was interesting the Midwestern foods Stradal chose to highlight. Throughout the novel there are classic recipes most of us middle-americans are familiar with.

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Though Eva is the main protagonist, she plays a minor role in most of the stories comprising the novel. The other characters range from likeable to abhorrent. Each character plays a role in Eva’s journey whether she is aware of it or not. Overall, the book is a lesson in someone being a sum of all of their parts, as well as, it’s a small world. I think it’s a state of mind most Midwesterners share.  

I suggest reading it. Although, I wish there were a few Midwestern recipes he left out.

Memorable Quotes
“Iowans knew how to appreciate the two most precious things in life – family and warm weather.”

Title: Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Author: J. Ryan Stradal
Publisher: Penguin Books
Copyright: 2015
ISBN: 9780143109419