Fiction
For a writer/editor who as a child thought that being a twin with a secret language would be unbelievably cool, picking up Cathleen Schine's The Grammarians was a no-brainer. After all, it's about identical twins Laurel and Daphne (oh, did I mention my name is Laurel) who are obsessed with language. Their closeness and idiosyncrasies set them somewhat apart from their families and prevent them from forming other close friendships. Yet, after attending college together and sharing an apartment in New York, they both marry, have a daughter, and eventually carve out language-based careers. Daphne becomes an editor and columnist who writes snarky pieces about writers whose language is insufficiently precise while Laurel is a teacher who writes poems and short stories based on the language of historic letters to the Department of War whose English does not live up to the standards of the pedantic Daphne. Other than the sisters, the characters are not particularly well developed and there were some inconsistencies in the narration that bothered even me (this is the kind of thing my son the literary scholar usually has to point out to me). But I enjoyed the sisterly relationship, the word play, and the philosophical discussions of language and its uses enough to let me ignore any problems I saw. And, by the way, I no longer think being a twin would be that great.
I pick up every Elizabeth Strout book as soon as I can, so I certainly wasn't going to miss the new sequel to Olive Kittredge, titled Olive, Again. Like its predecessor, Olive, Again is a a collection of linked short stories. In some, the irascible Olive Kittredge, a retired math teacher who was widowed near the end of the previous book, is the central character; others feature her neighbors in Crosby, Maine, with Olive making a cameo appearance. Together, the stories in this collection add up to something not quite a novel but equally rewarding--an exploration of "coming into age," of loneliness, of friendship. Olive as a character continues to fascinate--she seems here to be gaining some degree of self-reflection, yet she continues to offend with her abruptness and condescension; perhaps that is why she feels so authentic. My favorite story is "The Poet," in which Olive sees a former student sitting in a coffee shop and joins her for breakfast; the student happens to be a former poet laureate but Olive is perplexed by her ratty sweater, bad teeth, and apparent sadness. When the woman later writes a poem that eviscerates Olive, the pain comes not only from the poem but from the fact that someone left the poetry magazine at her door, knowing how it would affect her. While there is much that is sad in Olive, Again, it is balanced with humor and the humanity Strout gives her characters.
I thought I had already posted about Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys, but either the post was imaginary or it has disappeared, so . . . The Nickel Boys is based on facts about a horrific school for boys in Florida, The Dozier School, renamed the Nickel School for this novel. The main character, Elwood Curtis, is a good student who is looking forward to better things in the future when he accepts a ride from a man who happens to be driving a stolen car; though an innocent passenger, Elwood is sent to the Nickel School, where he and other African American boys are hideously abused, sometimes killed. Although there is a novel-ish twist near the end, when we are learning about Elwood's post-Nickel School life, most of the time I felt like I was reading a nonfiction account, which was somewhat disappointing given the creativity of Whitehead's earlier works (particularly The Underground Railroad). Nonetheless, I am glad I read the book.
If you are a beer aficionado or are just looking for a "feel good" novel, you might enjoy The Lager Queen of Minnesota, by J. Ryan Stradal. I don't like beer and I thought the story was quite unbelievable, so didn't really care for it but can see that some people would feel differently.
I listened to Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein because the editors on the podcast Audicted recommended it. It's the story of two friends, Julie and Maddie, who are involved in war work; they are assigned to a secret mission behind enemy lines in France. Julie is captured and the first part of the book is structured as her confessions; the second part is a more straightforward narrative from Maddie's perspective. It's an intense story that not only educates about the work women did during World War II but also explores loyalty, friendship, and courage. Although I am somewhat tired of World War II stories, I nonetheless enjoyed Code Name Verity.
My friend Colleen recommended Problems with People, a collection of stories about the difficulty of connection. While I admire author David Guterson's writing style, the stories mostly left me feeling dissatisfied.
Some reviews I'd read of Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire had led me to believe it was a more serious book than I found it to be. Essentially, it's a romance with some serious social issues--sexual assault, misogyny in certain professions--thrown in to give it some depth.
Classic
I have struggled with Margaret Atwood in the past (I think Alias Grace is the only of her books I have made it through), but all the attention to The Handmaid's Tale convinced me that I should read it, and I'm glad I did. The dystopian tale of women's subjugation is a terrifying look at what could happen in a religiously-oriented state run by people who hate women (does this now seem more possible than it did a few years ago?). The epilogue, which purports to be the minutes of a presentation at a historical association meeting, is both encouraging (Gilead no longer exists) and very funny, perhaps especially if you're an academic or even a semi-academic (as I might call myself). I am now looking forward to reading The Testaments and might even try some other Atwood.
The Ongoing Binge
In case you think I might have abandoned mysteries, such is not the case. Here are this month's time-stealers:
- The Liar's Girl, by Catherine Ryan Howard. This book about a young woman who returns to Ireland when the police ask her to talk with her former boyfriend, a convicted serial killer, has been nominated for some big prizes in the genre and I thought it was okay but not great.
- All The Wrong Places, by Joy Fielding. At the end of this book, I felt the author was asking us to be happy about the protagonist's nasty cousin being the victim of a serial killer--don't think I'll read any more of Fielding's work.
- Here to Stay, by Mark Edwards. In-laws from hell come to stay with young married couple and bad stuff happens. Ugh.
- Leave No Trace, by Mindy Mejia. A counselor at a psychiatric facility becomes involved with a patient's efforts to escape and help his father in ways that strain credulity. Totally unbelievable.
- Bloody Genius, by John Sandford. I liked this latest title in the Virgil Flowers series better than its recent predecessors, perhaps because there was less womanizing (after all, Virgil's girlfriend is pregnant with twins).
- 17th Suspect, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. What you'd expect from this series.
- Heaven, My Home, by Attica Locke. I like that Locke brings issues of race into the mystery genre, but this particular book had a kitchen-sink feeling to it--Locke threw in so many plot elements (a cover-up of a previous crime, problems in the marriage, exploitation of Native Americans, protection of squatters who have set up on property owned by African Americans) that I wished for a bit more simplicity. Still, I will continue to follow her work.
- Still Midnight, by Denise Mina. This is book 1 in Mina's Alex Morrow series; I'm not sure I'll try another.
Will I staunch the mystery binge in November? Stay tuned.
Favorite Passages
There were no words for what she felt, the depth of the emptiness, the breadth of the emptiness, the emptiness of the emptiness. Words could only cloak what she felt. Words were supposed to illuminate and clarify.Words were meant to communicate information and feelings from one person to another. But today words stood numb and in the way. We are alone, Daphne thought, words can't change that.
--Cathleen Schine, The Grammarians (these were Daphne's thoughts following her father's funeral)
"When you get old," Olive told Andrea after the girl had walked away, "you become invisible. It's just the truth. And yet it's freeing in a way."
--Elizabeth Strout, Olive, Again
Make a career of humanity. Make it a central part of your life.
--Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys
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