Currently Reading

Reading: My Two Polish Grandfathers, by Witold Rybczynski.
Listening to: Blasphemy, by Douglas Preston.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Mary Reviews: The Book of Night Women


James, Marlon. The Book of Night Women. (New York: Riverhead, 2009)

Lilith is born on a sugar plantation in the West Indies just before the turn of the 19th century. She believes that her green eyes, the legacy of a white father, prove that she is better than the other slaves, destined for a different life. She spends her youth and young adulthood pushing against a world that refuses to allow her to realize her limited dreams. Barred from the world of the white masters and mistrusted by slave society, she alternately suppresses and unleashes the anger, violence, and darkness within her.

A summary of this novel can sound trite and timeworn: The unspeakable treatment of slaves is set against the luxurious lifestyle of the masters. A forbidden love affair grows between Lilith and a white overseer. Rebellion is fomented by the Night Women, a group of female slaves.

However, nothing about this novel is what you might expect. The daily life of slaves -- hard work, tedium, horrific and random punishment -- is depicted in a way rarely seen in fiction. The thoughtless cruelty of the white ruling class stuns the reader at every turn. The captivating use of patois creates a strong and rhythmic narrative that holds up from the first page to the last.

The characters in this novel, whether white masters or kitchen slaves, are all too human. None is perfect, and it is difficult to root even for the protagonist, as the author follows her mental and emotional shifts from loyalty to cruelty, from obedience to treachery.

Moving swiftly, pulling the reader into a world of heat, hatred, and dreams of freedom, the novel can, at times, be hard to read, because of its relentless focus on the terror of slavery. It is well worth the effort, though, because this remarkable and disturbing book will change the way you look at the history of slavery in the Americas.

Nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Highly recommended.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Review: Noah's Compass


Noah's Compass, by Anne Tyler. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009)

Noah didn't need a compass, Anne Tyler tells us, or sails or other navigational tools, because he wasn't going anywhere. In fact, there was nowhere to go.

Liam Pennywell has been drifting throughout most of his adult life, marrying, having children, taking jobs, but not holding on to anything very well. He has a philosophical attitude about life events, like divorce and job loss, that would be upsetting to others.

When he loses his most recent job, as a fifth grade teacher in a second-rate private school in Baltimore, he thinks about retiring. He's 60 years old, and he believes he can get by if he moves to a smaller apartment and economizes. He pictures spending the last part of his life reading all day in a comfortable chair.

On his first day in his new apartment, he is assaulted by a would-be burglar. He wakes up the next morning in the hospital with a head injury and no memory of the incident. His ex-wife and somewhat distant daughters move back into his life as he begins his recovery, and he comes to realize that he has casually lost hold of memories all his life -- memories of his marriages, of his children, of his ambition.

Liam, like so many of Anne Tyler's characters, tries to maintain his sense of self, even as incidents and individuals outside his control push him to react in uncharacteristic or uncomfortable ways. As she opens up Liam's life to the reader, Tyler shows how we can learn about hope, relationships, and happiness, even from someone like her seemingly rudderless protagonist who is trying only to stay afloat, like Noah.

Recommended.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Review: The Wife's Tale


The Wife's Tale, by Lori Lansens. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2009)

Obeast.

At the age of nine, Mary Brody overhears the doctor telling her mother that the child is seriously overweight. As she hears it, it is the "obeast" living inside her that causes her to eat and eat and eat. In her new novel, author Lori Lansens again examines the life of someone whose physical self makes her different, outside the norm.

Mary loses weight in high school and attracts tall, smart, hunky basketball player Gooch. When a pregnancy scare drives them to marry right out of high school, Mary begins to build a wall of food and fat around her insecurities. Gooch, who gave up his college scholarship when Mary became pregnant, is devoted to his ever-growing wife, urging her to explore the world outside their small Canadian town with him. Mary's clandestine eating binges and lack of "clothes that fit" lead to her increasing isolation. Finally, on the day of their 25th anniversary, Gooch disappears.

This event proves to be cataclysmic for Mary, who sets out on a journey to find her missing husband and to make up for her unwillingness to participate in the life he dreamed of. An innocent of sorts, she sets out for California and meets agents of help and change everywhere she looks. As she searches for Gooch, she also learns to live in the world without him. She begins to lose weight, along with a lot of other emotional baggage.

In some ways, this novel is a "makeover." The reader almost hopes that Mary will find happiness and accept herself without having to lose her weight, but the author handles the transformation gracefully, without applying overly positive or negative labels to Mary's varying body sizes.

The author is an appealing storyteller. While her storyline sometimes seems a little too pat, she nonetheless brings Mary to life and creates a compelling narrative.

This book is a natural for book clubs. Highly recommended.