In Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, author Amanda Montell examines groups, companies and individuals, and the way they use language to build commuIn Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, author Amanda Montell examines groups, companies and individuals, and the way they use language to build communities, sometimes for harmless purposes and other times for more sinister.
"We need a more versatile way to talk about communities that are cult-like in one way or another but not necessarily connected to the supernatural. Which is why I like the word "cultish." pg 39, ebook
Before I read this book, I believed language was powerful. Montell showed me I had no idea about the life and death reality that carefully constructed words can have over people.
"Year after year, we ask: What makes people join cults like Jonestown and Heaven's Gate? ... Here's where the answer starts: Using systematic techniques of conversation, conditioning, and coercion, with language as their ultimate power tool, Jones and Applewhite were able to inflict unforgettable violence on their followers without personally laying a finger on them." pg 77, ebook
And the people affected by this language are not just vulnerable people, which is what some folks believe about the others who join cults. The targets of cultish organizations can be just like you and me.
"A common belief is that cult indoctrinators look for individuals who have 'psychological problems' because they are easier to deceive. But former cult recruiters say their ideal candidates were actually good-natured, service-minded, and sharp." pg 96, ebook
It was rather scary thinking about how anyone might become prey to a cultish organization.
It was also eye-opening to see how common place this is as Montell talks about so many different organizations. There's fitness groups, multi-level marketing groups, spiritual and new age groups, as well as more religious organizations. Once you know the tricks of language that are commonly used, you see this type of manipulation almost everywhere.
"A cult is like porn: You know it when you hear it." pg 219, ebook
I picked up this read for my local book club- it wasn't something that I would have necessarily chosen on my own. There's plenty to talk about in here, from the different groups to the various types of language techniques they use.
After awhile, all of Montell's examples begin to feel repetitive, which wasn't that fun to read. Still, I'd recommend this book if you're interested in cults or cultish language....more
In The Mountain Between Us Ben Payne and Ashley Knox are in a plane crash in the middle of nowhere. As they fight to survive, the reader learns about In The Mountain Between Us Ben Payne and Ashley Knox are in a plane crash in the middle of nowhere. As they fight to survive, the reader learns about their pasts and probable futures.
It is a survival story and also a romance.
"I dumped the bottle and looked around as best I could. Nothing but snow and mountains." pg 65, ebook
I picked up this book because my book club is going to be discussing it on Monday. It's not my usual type of read, which veers strongly towards science fiction and fantasy.
That being said, I expected more from this book- more adventure, more near death moments.
At first, I was reminded strongly of Hatchet by Gary Paulson, which I read in grade school. I remember enjoying that book quite a lot and learning about survival techniques along with the protagonist.
The Mountain Between Us has some of that, it's true, but it is mainly about what's going on in Ben's mind. I found the story to be repetitive after the first hundred pages or so.
The romance in this story is way over the top, which I suppose romance readers may like. As for me, an occasional romance reader if at all, I found myself cringing at some of Ben's revelations.
There's a twist at the end which I won't spoil here, but I saw it coming from the way author Charles Martin wrote some of the passages. I wish it had been sign-posted a little less.
Overall, there's quite a few things for book clubs to dissect. There's the survival aspect, relationships, the beauty of the outdoors, the disconnect between modern society and nature, and what it means to be human. I think we'll have a lively discussion.
Recommended for readers who like their romances syrupy with a wilderness aspect thrown in....more
Quackery taught me that people have been desperately seeking cures for ailments, real and perceived, for ages. Sometimes that search takes them into dQuackery taught me that people have been desperately seeking cures for ailments, real and perceived, for ages. Sometimes that search takes them into disgusting or deadly treatments peddled by others who are taking advantage of that desperation for their own gain.
These human vultures have been called "quacks," among other things.
"But quackery isn't always about pure deception. Though the term is usually defined as the practice and promotion of intentionally fraudulent medical treatments, it also includes situations when people are touting what they truly believe works." pg 1
Unfortunately, even those selling the "remedies" with the best of intentions still managed to kill people.
There seemed to be no end to the creative ways we've poisoned each other with various metals or concocted deadly and addicting brews in the name of health. We've burnt and blistered suffering unfortunates, taken pieces of their skull out to let the evil spirits out of their brains, or ground up human bone and ingested it.
The most disturbing chapter of this book, and there were some serious contenders, was the part about the development of anesthesia.
"Several chapters in the annals of anesthesia were written by some hard-partying, borderline sociopathic characters. So the next time you blissfully awaken from a surgery, remember to thank the child-stranglers, sponge-huffers, and ether frolickers of the past."
Yeah, there have been some awful things done to both animals and people in the name of medicinal research.
The most amusing anecdote in Quackery goes to a section about creative uses of tobacco.
"You know the phrase 'blowing smoke up your ass'? Well, you can disgust your next blind date with the true life medical origin of that phrase. Because literally blowing smoke up someone's ass was a sanctioned resuscitation method in the eighteenth century."
And now you know.
Recommended for readers with a strong stomach who are interested in strange and forgotten medical history.
My book club read this for our June pick but I missed the meeting. I expect an extraordinary conversation was had by all because this book is full of fascinating and disturbing topics of all sorts....more
A strange and confusing ride through a world seen through the eyes of a grieving widow. A short time prior to attending a film festival in Cuba, ClareA strange and confusing ride through a world seen through the eyes of a grieving widow. A short time prior to attending a film festival in Cuba, Clare's husband Richard was killed. Now, she sees him on the streets of Cuba.
"Clare had never before seen her husband operate a motorbike, but he navigated it like he had been riding one all his life, like he had been riding one in Havana all his life, like he had not been struck by a car and killed in the United States of America some five weeks ago." pg 13
What is going on? The reader isn't sure what's real and what's only in the mind of Clare. Laura van den Berg raises mammoth questions and leaves the interpretation to the reader.
My book club picked a heck of a read for March. Reactions to this book ranged from the disgusted to the mystified to the fascinated. I'd put myself somewhere in between.
I like having complex symbolism to pick apart and magical realism to consider in a story. I like having an open-ended mystery. I don't need to have all the answers.
But I do like to have more hints at the possible interpretations than van den Berg gives us.
"She might have said, I am not who you think I am. She might have said, I am experiencing a dislocation of reality." pg 3
Or she might have said, I have no idea what's going on in this story. A character in the novel itself explains this confusion (in the guise of talking about horror films), suggesting it's purposefully created by the author, and says it is designed to create a sensation of "eels under the skin." This book definitely had that type of impact on me.
"Besides, he added, raising a finger, the foundation of horror is a dislocation of reality, a dislocation designed to reveal the reality that has been there all along, and such dislocations happen all the time." pg 9
As I said, it's weird, but there's something genius about it too. Van den Berg's words are beautiful, but they don't always make sense. I turned the last page and was infuriated at how confused I was.
"She wondered what the eye would see and what she would see in what the eye saw. She imagined the suspension transforming into a warm flood of inevitability as the gate swung open and she stepped into whatever new dislocation of reality lay ahead." pg 32
In conclusion, it's a hard book to read, but perfect for groups who are looking to spur a literary discussion. There's so much to unpack.
Is she in an alternate reality or having a psychotic break? Or is she just grieving the whole time? What does her life now have to do with her childhood? What is the secret Clare shares with her father? Is there hidden meaning in her trip to the southern part of the island?
That's just what pops into my head when considering the title of this book. Recommended for readers who don't mind being totally confused and left with eels under their skin....more
Dead Letters is a mystery and psychological thriller about a dysfunctional family and two unhealthily entwined twins. It is also about how relationshiDead Letters is a mystery and psychological thriller about a dysfunctional family and two unhealthily entwined twins. It is also about how relationships with those closest to us can be an unending source of unhappiness, if that is what we choose.
Ava has felt stifled by her family. Her mother has dementia, her father left them to start another family and conflict with her twin sister, Zelda, has dominated her existence. She now lives in Paris, when she receives an unexpected email from her mother... Zelda is dead.
The whole thing was so very Zelda. Too Zelda. When I finally reached my mother on the phone, she slurrily told me that the barn had caught fire with Zelda trapped inside. pg 8
From the very beginning, Ava has her doubts about Zelda's "accidental" death. Then, when the police reveal evidence that points towards a murder, things begin to spiral out of control.
Adding to the confusion, Ava and Zelda are/were identical. The whole community confuses one sister for the other. Even their own mother, whose mind is slipping away, calls Ava by her dead sister's name.
Alcohol contributes its own fog to this story as Ava deals with her childhood demons while tangling with some new ones.
Not wanting to acknowledge consciousness in that desperate, dry-mouthed morning-after horror, I'm eventually forced to crack open my eyes. Jolted awake in suddenly sober distress, I blink owlishly and struggle to open my exhausted, quivering eyes, which are agonizingly dry, filched of liquid. ... I should quit drinking, I reflect. It's not the first time I've had this thought. pg 170
And, of course, there's the highschool sweetheart hanging around and the relationship that ended very badly, as if Ava doesn't have enough going on.
The mystery of this story isn't all that mysterious, but the characters and the slow unwinding of the past are superb. I read this book almost in one sitting the day before Thanksgiving and it made me appreciate my own fairly-functional family much more.
Our mother had started her mimosas somewhat earlier, and I knew from her glassy eyes and gingery steps that Nadine was approaching the danger zone, the state between mildly and mindlessly drunk wherein she could marshal enough sobriety to do real damage but was uninhibited enough to not care how much damage was inflicted. pg 116
We can't control what's happened to us in the past, but moving forward, our lives are what we make of them. Look at the stories you tell yourself and examine why you do the things you do. You wouldn't want, like the characters in this tale, to be controlled by incessant competition, booze or your weight on a scale, would you?
Caite Dolan-Leach doesn't turn over every stone, leaving some of the characters' pasts foggy. But she leaves hints everywhere and allows readers to fill in the blanks.
A criticism: some of the twists in the story are too perfectly orchestrated, and I doubted that such things would be possible, even with intricate planning and if you knew someone as well as you know yourself.
I'll certainly have plenty to talk about at book club tonight. It was a good pick and I'd recommend it for other groups who read psychological thrillers. There's a lot to unpack: the family dynamic, mystery, thrills, romance, layered characters and alcohol, so much alcohol....more
A cute coming-of-age novel about a boy, a computer, a Playboy magazine and first love.
Billy and his awkward friends are in love with Vanna White, the A cute coming-of-age novel about a boy, a computer, a Playboy magazine and first love.
Billy and his awkward friends are in love with Vanna White, the girl-next-door who flips the letters on Wheel of Fortune. When some pictures of Vanna appear in Playboy, they know they have to get that magazine, at any cost.
One problem, none of them are even close to eighteen years old.
This was the moment of truth- the moment I'd rehearsed with Alf and Clark again and again. They'd coached me to keep my pitch exactly the same- to speak the words like I used them all the time: "Just some Tic Tacs," I said, "And a Playboy." pg 29
Part of this story is enjoying the humor and innocence of the boys in an era before the internet. The other part of this story, the one that occupied my book club, was reminiscing about technology and early computers.
We spent most of the time at book club talking about what our first computers were, who knew coding, and what were our favorite early games.
"If I was serious about Planet Will Software, I couldn't work on a Commodore 64 much longer. Newer computers offered more memory and better graphics, and C64s would be obsolete in another year or two. I needed to upgrade to the latest technology, and the contest was my best chance to do it." pg 43
That part of the evening seemed to entertain the older members of our book club more than me. It's not that I didn't have an early computer, I did, I was more interested in the coming-of-age part of this story and the heist-type scenarios the boys go through to get their dirty magazine.
I also enjoyed Billy's struggles to understand Mary and the cute dynamic between them. I liked learning about his loyalty to his friends and his dreams for future computer programming greatness.
"I'm going to make video games," I said. "I'm going to start my own company, and I'll only hire cool people." pg 81
If I ever start my own company, in whatever business sector that it may be (not computer programming), I'll only hire cool people too.
Recommended for book clubs or if you just want a sweet, light read by the pool, The Impossible Fortress just may fit the bill....more
Half a dozen characters live lives focused on death, aging or managing the same. The Dark Flood Rises is an unflinching examination of end-of-life issHalf a dozen characters live lives focused on death, aging or managing the same. The Dark Flood Rises is an unflinching examination of end-of-life issues.
This book has very little action but plenty of details for book clubs to unpack, if you can get through it. I was only one of three, in a club of a dozen or so members, who managed to finish the read.
Readers may only want to tackle this one if they have plenty of patience and interest in complex allusions to art, history and literature.
The leader of my group, who likes to research every little thing related to the book club picks, found much to enjoy in The Dark Flood Rises. I, like the majority, didn't really care for it.
It's funny, book club leaders picked this read because they thought it had something to do with an actual flood.
The title is actually a poetic way to describe death. Don't be fooled :) like we were....more
Jazz lives on Artemis, the first city on the moon. She delivers packages to eek out a living as well as other, more shady, methods of income.
"I live iJazz lives on Artemis, the first city on the moon. She delivers packages to eek out a living as well as other, more shady, methods of income.
"I live in Artemis, the first (and so far, only) city on the moon. It's made of five huge spheres called "bubbles." They're half underground, so Artemis looks exactly like old sci-fi books said a moon city should look: a bunch of domes." pg 5
One day, one of the richest men on the moon makes her an offer far too lucrative for her to refuse... all she has to do is something very dangerous and illegal. No problem, right?
"I'm sorry, but this isn't my thing," I said. "You'll have to find someone else." "I'll give you a million slugs." "Deal." pg 46.
Andy Weir's follow-up to The Martian was disappointing to me.
Unlike his first book, the science is watered down. It's not as educational and quirky. In my mind, the exceptional science was what separated The Martian from other science fiction offerings.
The characterizations are one dimensional, like The Martian, but it was less of a problem in the first book. In that one, you were mainly dealing with one person, alone.
In Artemis, Weir tries to build a city of characters and I didn't buy into it.
The main character, a female narrator, is particularly problematic. She just didn't sound like a woman to me.
"I landed like a sack of sh*t. But I landed on the other side of the alcove and didn't break anything. ... Whatever. A clumsy, awkward success is still a success." pg 124.
But beyond those small problems, Artemis is still enjoyable.
Weir put a huge amount of thought into how an economy on the moon would work. It is the most realistic I've ever read.
He also nails the human condition, the drive for novelty and tourism.
Weir describes the trouble with travel: Even when it's a once-in-a-lifetime vacation. You leak money like a sieve. You're jet-lagged. You're exhausted all the time. You're homesick even though you're on vacation." pg 152.
Word.
Members of my book club voiced the opinion that Weir wrote this book as if he was prepping it for the screen. I agree.
If you're going to read one Weir book, go with The Martian. Borrow this one from the library....more
A layered and subtle historical fiction about a family in Burma and how they make it through all sorts of terrible things that happen there.
This is anA layered and subtle historical fiction about a family in Burma and how they make it through all sorts of terrible things that happen there.
This is an incredibly dark book based on the true family history of Charmaine Craig. My book club had a tough time discussing it.
"Your problem is that you believe in right and wrong. Don't you know evil will find you no matter what?" pg 11.
First of all, the introductory portion doesn't make sense until the last half of the book. The pacing is glacially slow. A few of our club members couldn't make it through the first couple of chapters.
Secondly, the constant warring and torture of innocents by the conquering forces is really difficult to read.
"We welcomed them because we'd been persecuted by the Burmans for centuries, we'd been their slaves - our villages perpetually attacked, our people perpetually preyed upon, stripped of everything from our clothing to our lives." pg 37.
It is an important history, certainly, but the darkness of it made me feel sick.
A third problem club members had with Miss Burma is it feels disjointed.
At first, readers thought Khin and Benny were the focus of the book. But then, the point of view drifted around to Louisa, their beautiful daughter, and her story took over.
We must find a way to rejoice in our circumstances. We must find a way to do more than endure." pg 145
Basically, the Karen are an ethnic minority in Burma, now Myanmar. For centuries, the Karen have been enslaved by the Burmese. The underlying story is about how the Karen tried to unite against the ruling government to create a federation.
"Our modesty that runs so deep it is almost self-annihilating. But now.. our relative invisibility strikes me as very sad. ... If you stand for a moment behind their eyes- behind the eyes of anyone for whom modesty is not an ultimate virtue- we appear to value our lives less than they do." pg 168
Against this background, the family of Khin and Benny tries to survive and do what they believe is right.
This story is full of flawed characters and whole passages where most of the action takes place in people's minds.
There is fairly graphic torture, rape and violence. If any of those are triggers for you, beware.
Recommended for patient readers and those who can handle a very dark history. The book club certainly learned a lot about Burma from this book. And bullets still fly in Myanmar today....more
I See You is a tense thriller with fairly good execution that stumbles on its ending.
It takes place in London. The scary parts mainly take place on thI See You is a tense thriller with fairly good execution that stumbles on its ending.
It takes place in London. The scary parts mainly take place on the public transport system.
"...I don't know how you do this every day." "You get used to it," I say, although you don't so much get used to it as simply put up with it. Standing up on a cramped, malodorous train is part and parcel of working in London." pg 42.
Zoe Walker sees her photo, or what she believes is her photo, in the papers on her way to work. It's weird and scary because she didn't submit her photo to the press.
"Routine is comforting to you. It's familiar, reassuring. Routine makes you feel safe. Routine will kill you." pg 51.
Kelly is a member of the police. She has secrets in her past and reasons to prove herself.
"Kelly thought of all the crime prevention initiatives she'd seen rolled out over her nine years in the job. Poster campaigns, leaflet drops, attack alarms, education programs... Yet it was far simpler than that; they just had to listen to victims. Believe them." pg 83.
When Zoe comes to Kelly with her concerns and her photo in the paper, she sounds crazy. But she finds a sympathetic ear with Kelly.
Can they figure out what is going on before its too late?
I read this title for book club. And even though I was disappointed in the ending, this story scared me. It also scared some members of the club.
I was frightened partly because I don't usually read this type of book. But, it also felt so real to me.
We are creatures of habit, after all. It certainly made me consider taking a different route to work. You never know who could be watching...
Recommended for brave readers who don't shy away from unsatisfying endings....more
Dark Matter is a fantastic, sci-fi read about regret, love and quantum mechanics.
My book club picked this wild ride of a book and everybody took sometDark Matter is a fantastic, sci-fi read about regret, love and quantum mechanics.
My book club picked this wild ride of a book and everybody took something different out of it.
We all enjoyed it, which is weird for us. Usually, we have opinions across the spectrum. This one, though, was universally loved. That's saying something.
"In the shadow of this moment, my life is achingly beautiful. "I have an amazing family. A fulfilling job. We're comfortable. Nobody's sick." pg 28. And then, something truly surprising happens. No spoilers!
I think that, as time passes, we grow comfortable in our lives, our marriages and relationships. Part of this book is about appreciating what you may take for granted. "He says, "It's like we get so set in our ways, so entrenched in those grooves, we stop seeing our loved ones for who they are. But tonight, right now, I see you again, like the first time we met, when the sound of your voice and your smell was this new country." pg 67.
The leader of my book club picked quotations that had to do about self-knowing and quantum mechanics. It was no surprise that mine were all about love. I'm one of the hopeless romantics of the group.
And one of the most open-minded: "We all live day to day completely oblivious to the fact that we're a part of a much larger and stranger reality that we can possibly imagine." pg 96. I truly believe that.
A local physics professor joined our circle and gave a short lecture on basic quantum mechanics and wave theory. But, you don't have to be an expert on the subject to enjoy this story. It's approachable science, like The Martian.
Recommended for book clubs, especially, but also anyone who wants an unbelievable story will probably love this too.
I heard that this is going to be made into a film- read the book anyway. It's always better....more
A so-so mystery with an unreliable narrator that takes place, for the most part, on a boat. It was ok thriller, but I would never have read it withoutA so-so mystery with an unreliable narrator that takes place, for the most part, on a boat. It was ok thriller, but I would never have read it without the encouragement of my book club.
In the desperate search for "the next Gone Girl", The Woman in Cabin 10 was put forward as an option. I think that's unfair. The next Gone Girl or Hunger Games will be so clearly original and ground-breaking that it couldn't be titled the next fill-in-the-blank.
And, with that sort of hype, it put an expectation on this story that it didn't live up to. But, that's not The Woman in Cabin 10's fault.
It was clear to me that Ruth Ware had experience as a journalist. Her character, Lo Blacklock, is completely believable in that regard. But, I found that I didn't like her much. She puts too much pressure on herself to succeed.
"I had to get myself together before I left for this trip. It was an unmissable, unrepeatable opportunity to prove myself after ten years at the coalface of boring cut-and-paste journalism. This was my chance to show I could hack it..." pg 20.
But, if she had taken the time to stay home and recover from her PTSD, what sort of thriller would that be? So, off she goes, onto a billionaire's exclusive boat.
"...it was pretty nice. I guess you had to get something for the eight grand or whatever it was they were charging for this place. The amount was slightly obscene, in comparison to my salary- or even Rowan's salary." pg 47.
Then, in classic thriller fashion, she hears a scream in the night, sees something that no one, even she, believes and is now stuck in an enclosed space with a potential killer.
Even with that set-up, I didn't get into the story. Lo is overly-dramatic and doesn't take the time to think things through. I found myself wishing that she would slow down and start keeping a complete written record rather than running from one disastrous encounter to the next.
"I lay there, cudgeling my battered brain to try to work it out, but the more I tried to ram the bits of information together, the more it felt like a jigsaw with too many pieces to fit the frame." pg 242.
She jumps to conclusions and accuses or dismisses people nearly on a whim. I'd read a passage and then say to myself, "Come on, is that really the best you could do?" Now, that's hardly fair as she's exhausted, terrified and traumatized. But still. That's what I thought.
Plus, the "unreliable narrator" thing has been done. In this story, Lo's unreliable because she has anxiety and drinks a lot to forget that fact. That sounds like almost everyone I know.
Recommended for fans of mystery. It is enjoyable, but don't make my mistake and expect too much complexity from The Woman in Cabin 10....more
I enjoyed the conversation with my book club about The Deepest Secret more than I liked the book itself. Buckley has written a world in which everybodI enjoyed the conversation with my book club about The Deepest Secret more than I liked the book itself. Buckley has written a world in which everybody has secrets. Discovering what those secrets are is the point of this thriller about a cul-de-sac and its occupants.
Tyler, one of the main characters, has XP, a disease in which his skin can burn at the slightest exposure to UV rays. So, most of his portion of the story takes place at night, when he can safely go outside: "He goes over to the bridge and shines his flashlight down into the water. Minnows dart in every direction, shivery brown shapes. Rosemary had once told him that fish stayed awake all night, just like him. That had comforted him, knowing that someone else was awake besides him and the crickets." pg 19 He sees all sorts of crazy stuff.
Tyler's mom, Eve, has gone into mothering overdrive because of her son's illness: "She misses the carefree person she used to be, that joyful girl. Being Tyler's mother has turned her into someone who's endlessly vigilant. She tortures herself with horrifying scenarios just so she can come up with a plan." No fun.
Eve's relationship with her husband is understandably screwed up because of the way she behaves about her son. He is generally absent and works in another city. Tyler has an older sister who doesn't get the attention she needs because her bro is sick all the time.
And that's just one family. Now add about a dozen other characters and you begin to get the feel of The Deepest Secret. I never had trouble keeping anyone straight, but there are a lot of characters.
The best part of the conversation with the book club centered around the idea of secrets and "normalcy." One of our members said that if we could point to one person who was normal, then he could show us someone else who was not. The point being that "normal" doesn't really exist. It's just some sort of pie-in-the-sky ideal that we tell ourselves about each other.
The Deepest Secret had me questioning the unseen lives of those around me from others in my neighborhood to the people next door. It was an unnerving feeling but not necessarily unpleasant. Pick this one up if you want to shake your view of reality a bit. Or if you want to feel like someone is peeking through the windows of your home at all of your mundane moments. Because, it's not like you have anything to hide... do you?...more
Well, that was different. A Good American is, at its heart, a story about a family who immigrates to America before World War I and how successive genWell, that was different. A Good American is, at its heart, a story about a family who immigrates to America before World War I and how successive generations handle life, love, and what comes after. It strongly reminded me of the film, Fried Green Tomatoes, because of the family drama and some of the subject matter. This is an epic tale. Parts of it, I loved. Other parts... I could have lived my life without reading.
I loved Frederick's attitude towards his new country. It's exactly what I imagine my great-great grandfather was like when he came over from Poland. "...Frederick loved America. He loved its big open spaces, the sunsets that drenched the evening sky in blistering color. He loved the warmth of the people. Above all, he loved smell of promise that hung in the air. Europe, he could see now, was slowly suffocating under the weight of its own history. In America the future was the only thing that mattered." pg 57. Frederick throws himself into the American Dream- earning money and providing for his family to the detriment of his relationship with his wife, Jette.
I also loved the parts about music. In this portion, Joseph, Frederick's son, is taking voice lessons from a rather conservative side character named Frau Bloomberg: "...Bloomberg did not approve of most of opera's greatest female characters, who were (in her opinion) either hysterical hotheads or dissolute fornicators. She was determined to protect Joseph from all that depravity. Whenever he asked the meaning of a particular foreign word, Frau Bloomberg said the first thing that came into her head. As a result, when Joseph wistfully sang about the imminent return of a long-lost lover from overseas, he believed that he was telling a touching story about penguins." pg 70
We don't really get to meet the narrator of the story until much later in the book and, I think, that's where the story line became unfocused. A couple chapters deal mostly with young men's coming-of-age and burgeoning sexuality, so there's a lot about masturbation. Everyone does it, I get that, but really, did it have to be such a theme? As I read it, I was wondering what some of the more elderly members of my book club are going to say about it.
In my mind, the first part of the book was the strongest- the origin story of Jette and Frederick. "My grandmother's life had been one long opera. There had been drama, heroes, villains, improbable plot twists, all that. But most of all there had been love, great big waves of it, crashing ceaselessly against the rocks of life, bearing us all back to grace." pg 329. There is a sweetness to their story that the rest of the book is missing.
It may be that this story simply goes on too long, but the author was clearly caught up in his own tale. "Telling stories was still a means of escape. And so I put a fresh sheet of paper into the machine, ready to flee once again. This time I no longer thought about getting published, but just wrote for my own amusement. The journey, not the destination, became the thing, and I rediscovered the simple satisfaction of seeing my ideas materialize before me, sentence after sentence." pg 344 Even though he was speaking through his character, I'm convinced that that bit right there was all Alex George- a manifesto of sorts, written right into the story.
A Good American is also about race, religion, brotherhood, honesty, marriage, fidelity and more. Plenty for a book club to take part and chew over. Recommended for folks who like their historical fiction long and meandering with, sometimes shocking, turns in the road....more
Extraordinary and true story about how Gil and Eleanor Kraus saved fifty Jewish children from the Nazi Holocaust. I watched the HBO documentary after Extraordinary and true story about how Gil and Eleanor Kraus saved fifty Jewish children from the Nazi Holocaust. I watched the HBO documentary after I read this and, though similar and emotionally powerful, I enjoyed the book more because it provides a detailed history for each child (that Pressman was able to locate). My only complaint about the book is that, though the story is gripping, it moves very slowly. My book club had a fascinating and educational discussion about 50 Children and, all said, I am very glad that it was the final club pick of 2016.
Did you know about this episode from US history?: "The fifty boys and girls whose lives were saved by Gil and Eleanor Kraus comprised the largest single known group of children, traveling without their parents, who were legally admitted into the United States during the Holocaust." pg 9, ebook. I didn't realize that in the late 1930's, that Jewish people were allowed, and even violently encouraged, to leave the Third Reich. The trouble was that, like other large displaced populations more recently, no country on earth was prepared to let that many people in or provide the social services required. Fortunately, Gil Kraus was a well-connected lawyer who was willing and able to work within existing immigration and labor laws to find a way to bring the children into the US.
I knew that the situation was awful for Jewish people in Europe before and during World War II, but, until I read this book, I didn't realize the complete hopelessness that was experienced even before concentration camps became the 'final solution': "Within the first ten days of the Anschluss, the Viennese police reported nearly one hundred suicides throughout the city, virtually all of them Jews. By the end of April, the number of suicides had jumped to at least two thousand. Among the victims was Henny Wenkart's pediatrician, who took his life by jumping out a window." pg 42, ebook.
The American diplomats in Austria and Berlin had a front row seat to the horrors that the Jewish population were experiencing, but their hands were tied by national policy and immigration caps. George Messersmith and Raymond Geist helped the Krauses as much as they could, within the law: "The Jews in Germany are being condemned to death. Their sentence will be slowly carried out, but probably too fast for the world to save them," Geist (US foreign service officer in the Third Reich) wrote in a private letter to Messersmith (State Department secretary, stationed in Washington D.C.) in December 1938, less than a month after Kristallnacht." pg 61, ebook.
Why was the American publication so anti-immigration?: "The United States still bore the scars of the Great Depression, and restricting immigration was seen as a way to protect jobs for Americans, who for years had been plagued with staggering unemployment rates. But challenging economic considerations were not the only factors at play in the immigration debate. The American public simply was not moved by the dire situation in Europe." pg 68, ebook. And, antisemitism was far more prevalent than it is today. All of these things made it difficult if not impossible for the Jewish people who were trying to escape the Nazis.
Even after the Krauses were able to get the children to the United States, they faced harsh criticism from other Jewish charity groups for their actions. I was absolutely blown away by that. You'd think that people would have banded together and said, "Look what's possible!", but instead, they fractured and accused the Krauses of breaking immigration laws. "Was it envy that prompted others to criticize what had clearly been a stunningly unique and successful rescue? Whatever their motivation, some of these same people now wondered if they might simply duplicate Gil's strategy. pg 201, ebook. But, since this was the largest group to get out, clearly the others didn't succeed.
At book club, we talked about how the 1939 situation is similar to what the world is facing today with the Syrian refugee crisis and, though we all thought that immigration policy needs to be re-examined, that the real tragedy is that the world still hasn't found a way to respond to the wars and conflicts that cause such displacement in the first place. Is humanity ever going to figure out a way to either co-exist peacefully or provide sanctuary for those displaced by the fighting? I don't know, but it's a question that we should think about.
Recommended for anyone interested in the Holocaust, immigration, or testimonies from World War II- as uplifting as it is unsettling, 50 Children is a timeless lesson for everyone about the evils that happen when those able to help choose not to or look away....more
The Sound of Gravel is in the running for my favorite book club read this year! (Bull Mountain is the other pick I really enjoyed.) It is Ruth WarnierThe Sound of Gravel is in the running for my favorite book club read this year! (Bull Mountain is the other pick I really enjoyed.) It is Ruth Warnier's memoir about her poverty stricken childhood in a polygamist cult in Mexico, her dysfunctional mother, abusive step-father, and struggle for survival along with her many siblings.
She pulls you in, first line: "I am my mother's fourth child and my father's thirty-ninth." pg 10, ebook. I read that sentence to my husband and his reaction was, "Are you reading a book about royalty?" Unfortunately, no. Ruthie's father was a founding member of the "Firstborns", a polygamist group that broke away from the Mormon church. He believed that, in order to live in the manner that God intended, men are supposed to have multiple wives and as many children as possible, to become like gods in the next life. He lived what he preached. But, unlike members of royal families, Ruthie's father, and later her stepfather, did not have the resources available to allow his wives to live in houses with running water or electricity. It is a hard existence but Ruth's parents live it because of their faith.
"After all," she said, "it is better to have ten percent of one good man than to have one hundred percent of a bad one." The women of LeBaron (the colony in Mexico) were always saying that..." pg 12, ebook. But what about ten percent of a bad man...
At first, Ruth's stepfather seems almost normal: "Everyone in the colony was always saying how Lane had a strong work ethic. He spent every day milking cows, planting and baling hay, fixing tractors, trucks, and other equipment- all of which broke down regularly. But in spite of all his hard work, he never made enough money to provide for his eleven kids and stepchildren." pg 21, ebook. And his family grew larger than that quite quickly. But, after a short time, he begins to show his true self.
It's hard to imagine the level of poverty that Ruth and her family endured. Every month, her mother and all of her brothers and sisters made their way by bus from Mexico to the US to collect government assistance. The trip took all day and when they got back, if stepfather Lane did not show up at the bus stop to pick them up, they had to walk a mile home. "The rest of us followed silently, watching and listening as Mom took a wide step over the highway shoulder and onto the dirt road, the gravel crunching beneath her footsteps, the sound of home." pg 29, ebook.
Ruth's mother tries to do what she can for her children but there's only so much a perpetually pregnant, struggling mother of five (or more) can do. (view spoiler)[Though, when she wouldn't leave Lane after he started to sexually abuse her child, I lost most of my respect for her. (hide spoiler)] Some of Ruth's siblings suffer from disabilities that make it dangerous for them to be left alone with any of the younger ones. After reading what her childhood was like, I am simply amazed that Ruth survived to write this book.
**spoiler alert** The Given World gave me a headache. Why is it that when "serious" fiction "examines" life that it only focuses on the bad stuff?
Rile**spoiler alert** The Given World gave me a headache. Why is it that when "serious" fiction "examines" life that it only focuses on the bad stuff?
Riley is a young girl in Montana who worships her brother. He's drafted and shipped off to war in Vietnam. It breaks her heart and she systematically begin to ruin her life, because she can't get past it. She eventually leaves home, gets lost in worlds of drugs, domestic violence, and alcoholics on the California coast. Everyone she meets is as dysfunctional as she is or on their way to dysfunction. Personal opinion here: if society was only composed of people like that, it would have fallen apart a long time ago.
Riley is a character that I tried to like but just couldn't. She always made the worst decisions and if there was a way to improve her situation, she didn't choose it. It was like she had blinders on to the possible goodness in life and jumped enthusiastically into the darkness. She turns her back on her family, blames everyone else in life for her problems, and consistently isolates herself from anyone who could possibly lend comfort or stability. In this passage, she's talking about her father: "The way they smoke, so casually oblivious, reminds me of my father- on the porch, maybe, or out in the yard at night, looking up at the sky, for weather, but it's not as if he could miss the stars. I hear my name in his voice: "Riley..." Never loud or angry, just gentle reminders: try to grow up with some degree of intentionality and grace; try to believe the world is more benevolent than not. I wonder if he knows I did hear him." pg 10, ebook. Riley, I don't think you did.
I did grow to feel sorry for Riley. She didn't ask for her family to be ripped apart by war. I guess, after experiencing that sort of emotional turmoil at an early age, that it might be almost impossible to put your life on track to begin with. "She reminded him of a deer who knew you weren't out to shoot it. Like she'd let you get just so close, and then bolt to the edge of the clearing; the forest nearly impenetrable behind her where she knew you couldn't easily follow. pg 40, ebook. But, I just couldn't get over the fact that she didn't use her intimate knowledge of pain to help other people. (view spoiler)[She never, for example, starts a non-profit to help grief stricken people move on or work with other returning soldiers to help them fit back into society. She just uses losing her brother as an excuse to abandon her newborn child, seek oblivion in drugs, and ignore her family for years. It's awful and there were so many other paths she could have chosen. (hide spoiler)]
Riley's mother was a hot mess too, but she managed to raise two children fairly successfully. I was surprised that Riley didn't use her as a role model, even for a moment. In this passage, Riley's mother writes her a letter, trying to connect with her wayward child: "And lost as you already are these days, or as I think you must be, you still probably understand, maybe better than most, that kids don't necessarily hold you steady. Even if they do, somehow, hold you in place." pg 97, ebook. (view spoiler)[So, Rose (the mom) was not Mother of the Year material, but it still didn't explain why Riley completely imploded. (hide spoiler)]
Rather than continue on in this vein, I will end this review with acknowledging that The Given World was not for me. But, if you enjoy reading coming of age stories with multiple flawed characters and plenty of bad decisions, you may want to pick this one up. Some trigger warnings for sensitive readers: domestic abuse, racially motivated violence, and drug use....more
**spoiler alert** Bullying is a very serious issue. I felt that Lewis' treatment of it was over the top, her characters were either unlikeable or unbe**spoiler alert** Bullying is a very serious issue. I felt that Lewis' treatment of it was over the top, her characters were either unlikeable or unbelievable, and the whole story was far too negative. Lewis claims that she wrote it this way to show the real struggle that many young people go through, but it turned ridiculous and then repetitive. The only reason that I finished this book is because it is the club pick for this month. If it had not been, I would have set it aside.
I believe that the group the author talks about at the end of her book is doing some really good things, but this book is not worth the read.
If you're looking for more books on this topic try Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon or Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picault....more
If you've ever thought that your family is too dysfunctional and you can't, just can't even, with them anymore, Bull Mountain is the book for you. YouIf you've ever thought that your family is too dysfunctional and you can't, just can't even, with them anymore, Bull Mountain is the book for you. You'll read about the Burroughs family down in Georgia, and how through generations of crime, abuse, and out-right violence, they owned and ran everything that happened on their mountain, and you'll think to yourself... maybe my family isn't so bad after all.
For sensitive readers, there's a lot of tough material in here. It runs the gambit from alcoholism to drug abuse, rape to mutilation, extreme poverty, prostitution, and physical violence of all kinds. Actually, I was surprised that I enjoyed it at all, but I really did. Panowich writes characters that I cared about and, when they were misbehaving in various ways, I kept yelling at the book in my head. "You're better than that!" I kept telling them, but they didn't listen to me...
The mystery, though not all that mysterious, was quite enjoyable as well. I think that the main point of Bull Mountain is the multi-generational struggle between nature vs nurture. Are people born a certain way, trained by their family to be that way, or is it a magical combination of both? What would it take to produce a good man from a mountain of bad ones? Read Bull Mountain to find out.
To the Burroughs, family is everything. Here, Rye is looking at Cooper's (his brother) son: "As they ate, Rye studied Gareth's face.... His eyes were set deep and narrow like his father's. ... They were Cooper's eyes. It was Cooper's face, without the calico beard, or the grit, or the anger. Rye remembered when his brother looked like that. It felt like a hundred years ago. pg 11, ebook. I was reminded of myself in that passage. When I look at my various sisters' children, I see them in the child's face. It's just like that too, in that I'm transported to thirty years ago when we were all so young and carefree. None of us were/are what I would call angry though.
Another of the main story arcs is that Clayton (one of the Burroughs) is the town sheriff and the rest of his family are the people that he's supposed to be protecting the rest of society from. They've had a big falling out and now, Clayton is no longer welcome on the mountain: "This place was his home, no matter how unkind it had been to him. Clayton knew he would always be welcome, but the badge had no business here at all. If a thing existed up here (on the mountain), it was because it belonged here. And if it didn't belong, the people who lived here made damn sure it didn't stay." pg 109, ebook.
This part reminded me of my family too: "No hugs or small-talk sentiment, just a hand on a shoulder and a respectful nod made it obvious to anyone watching that these men were family. It wasn't necessary to catch up. They were both thankful to be there now." pg 127 ebook. That's what it's like to hang out with my father, a painfully shy introvert. But, you know he cares, because he's there and he'll sit with you if you're family.
Finally, this moment between Clayton's wife and Big Val captured the general feeling of reading Bull Mountain for me: "They shared a moment of crushing sadness that tightened her chest and suddenly made it hard to breathe. It was the kind of sadness brought on by turning corners that led you to places there was no finding your way home from. They had both looked deep within themselves and found an ugliness that couldn't be stuffed back inside. She'd seen that look on the faces of people before, but now she understood it. Now she owned it. pg 225 ebook. And boom! Panowich breaks your heart. Consider yourself warned....more
Kevin Hazzard's memoir about being a paramedic. It is shocking, but I learned a lot about the physical and emotional toll the job takes on these profeKevin Hazzard's memoir about being a paramedic. It is shocking, but I learned a lot about the physical and emotional toll the job takes on these professionals.
Frankly, I'm surprised that anyone is able to do this job. I know that I couldn't.
A Thousand Naked Strangers invites the reader to examine their own mortality or, if not examine it, just remember it like a literary memento mori.
I, like most other people, want to pretend that I'm going to live forever when I know I'm not. A Thousand Naked Strangers doesn't allow room for that.
Hazzard's stories can be ridiculous, gruesome, or uplifting. This book has a little bit of everything.
Why Kevin decides to become an EMT: (his first day of class) "...Alan (the instructor) tells us, right out of the gate, if we're not sure we can handle this, now is the time to leave. A couple of people laugh as though the mere suggestion is ridiculous, but I'm not one of them. I didn't grow up wanting to be an EMT, nor do I know if I'll like it. What I do know is I want to get hip-deep in things that matter." pg 19 ebook.
He certainly manages to do that.
Learning the ropes: "It's all so new, so foreign, so much like that period of childhood- first or second grade, maybe- when you're old enough to know you're alive and one day will die, yet young enough to still believe that a thin vein of magic runs just beneath the surface." pgs 26-27 ebook.
I still feel like that, most of the time.
Why Kevin stays: "Every word the radio breathes into the stale air of the station sets me on fire. EMS is the greatest show I've ever seen, except it's not a show, it's all real. No, it's more than that- it's reality distilled and boiled down to its essence." pg 59 ebook
At times, I had trouble connecting with this memoir. He almost felt too excited to be out there... inviting disaster because he was going to be the one to pick up the pieces. I've never felt like that.
Why it's so hard to read A Thousand Naked Strangers: "In a job where it's possible to scoop up a stranger's brain, it's important to have levity. But after a while, I lose the ability to judge which stories to tell my friends and which go beyond the limits of good taste." pg 90 ebook. That's it- in a nutshell.
Finally, how Kevin's job is sort of like everyone else's: "Like a recurring dream, every working day holds the same frustrations, and the working days never change, they just stretch out for all eternity. For months I've wondered how it will end. Maybe I'll reach my limit and quit." pg 206 ebook
I think, anyone who works a job for any amount of time, feels like this at some point or another. Kevin's job was simply more intense and invited that type of introspection more quickly.
My book club picked this memoir as its monthly read. I'm not certain I would have ever chosen to read it otherwise. But, I'm glad I did....more
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