Room by Emma Donoghue

     A couple of people in the Valley Book Club suggested this book to me, and its central idea was very intriguing, so I gave it a try.  From the first chapter, I became totally engrossed, fascinated by the little boy who tells the story and by his love of a place he knows only as "Room."

     Jack, the narrator, is a five-year-old boy who lives with his "Ma" in Room. He has never known any other world because he has never left Room - it and his Ma are the whole world. They are the world because Jack and his Ma are prisoners, kept hidden and enslaved by a man they call Old Nick, who abducted Ma when she when was 19.

     You would expect such a story to be almost impossible to read because of its horror and brutality, right? But because of the secure little world that Ma has painstakingly created in Room for Jack, it is just not that kind of story. She makes Room seem normal so that Jack can stay with her and live a life free from the kind of fear and abuse that she herself lives with when Old Nick comes to "visit" her at night. She creates a structured day for him and teaches him what she can, like how to read and count and measure and all the names of things, which become like real, human names to Jack. His lamp is called Lamp and a wall is Wall.  She teaches him about hygiene because if they get sick, they're on their own. But most of all, she teaches him about a love so strong, that even Old Nick cannot touch it.

     Okay, now comes the spoiler alert. If you already love this premise and don't want to know anything else, stop reading here. But eventually, Jack and his mother find a way to escape Room, and the rest of the novel is about surviving Outside. How does a woman who has been a sexual slave and prisoner for seven years go back to life in the world as a daughter, a mother, and a friend? How can she cope with those who have the unmitigated gaul to criticize her parenting skills?  How does a boy who has never seen grass or a tree and thinks that those things only live inside the TV deal with relatives, playgrounds, media attention, and the biggest of horrors - the mall?

     Is this a happy, happy, everyone survives and all is great in the end story? Not really. But amid the horror and struggle is enough humor, strength, and beyond all, love, that it is a story you will not be able to put down or walk away from. Jack and Ma are characters you will remember for a lifetime. And that's a lifetime that from now on, I will be more grateful for.

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman

     Every time I head to the beach (which is never quite often enough), I need an Alice Hoffman book to take me away from it all. Her stories are mesmerizing works of fiction filled with engrossing detail and usually some kind of spiritual element that ties all the threads together. I hadn't read this one yet, and I became totally lost in the intertwining stories.

     The book is like a continuing history and beginning of a small town in Massachusetts, the founder of which is a woman with undeniable spunk who is afraid of nothing but the prospect of not surviving the brutal wilderness she finds herself in. From her and her stock come the citizens of Blackwell, where bears roam freely in the woods and people survive family secrets, doomed loves, war, unjustified rumors, and an enthralling list of other obstacles. These stories weave together into the history of a place that, in the end, seems mystical and somewhat magical, but that could be any small town in America.

     If you have never read a Hoffman novel, you need to give one a try. You'll be transported, if not on a beach day, then any day you choose.

    

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

     The Postmistress is a story of war: the one at home in America where citizens of quiet, little towns go on with life until the war peeks in. It's also the story of war abroad, where violence and destruction are a daily occurence, one that citizens deal with and learn from or somehow make fit into their lives. It is also an infinitely interesting character study of people who live on both sides of this impossible scenario.

     Iris James is the postmistress in Franklin, Massachusetts, and as such she is practical, orderly, prompt, and a stickler for detail. But when love comes her way from both a personal direction and in the form of a Franklin couple torn apart by war, her unfailing order comes crashing down, and she must decide between right and wrong, love and duty.

     Frankie Bard is a news reporter for Edward R. Murrow in a war-torn London where she must tell the story of the war while dodging not only bombs, but the harsh limits of the media censors. She is terrified both of what is happening to the world and of not telling the story completely. When the paths of Iris and Frankie finally collide, both must make a choice about what is really necessary to stop a world from breaking apart.

     The Postmistess has intrigue, love, war, secrets, and characters that are real enough to make the reader feel they are there with them, struggling to survive. It has beautiful detail and a style of writing that creates an interesting world that is easy to get lost in. In short, it has everything a good novel should have. So, give it a try and let me know what you think of Iris and Frankie's final decision. Did they make the right one?



I have been waiting for this third book in the Child 44 series for a long time. I don' t really know what is so captivating about these books about a disillusioned secret service agent in Cold War Russia, but it's probably a combination of the great characters and this part of  history that is so little used in fiction today.

In this one, Leo Demidov must let go of his family. His wife Raisa is asked, as a teacher, to take their two adopted daughters to America for a propaganda/publicity tour, and Leo is not allowed to leave the country because of his former job with the secret service. But unbeknownst to her parents (big surprise from a teenager) their oldest, Zoya, has become involved with a Russian officer who convinced her to become involved in a dangerous propaganda plot.

There isn't a lot more that I can tell about the story without giving away the shocking turning point for Leo. Leo's life, for the most part, has not been his own throughout the books. It has been mercilessly manipulated by the government and his own, very lowly, ideals for himself. But it is his character, loving yet hard, weak yet intelligent, that makes the reader want him to win in something, whether it be war, or love, happiness, or simple safety. He is a mess, just like his Russia, and we want to save him from it.

So, take a shot at rooting for Leo through the twists and turns of his life. You won't be sorry.



The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen by Thomas Caplan

Movie stars, espionage, nuclear weapons, love triangles - what more do you need in a spy thriller, I ask you? Nothing. And Thomas Caplan delivers them all in a nice glossy package in The Spy who Jumped Off the Screen.

Ty Hunter used to be an average looking, patriotic, dangerous, covert operative for the American government. But an one mission left him with a new, surgically enhanced face and a desire to be in the movies, where his good looks and macho nature paid off for him, making him a big star. But his expert spy skills are equally handy when the FBI comes looking for him to help them take down two nuclear arms dealers, Ian Santal and Phillip Frost, who travel in sophisticated circles. Ty uses his acting plus all of his cool spy skills to help the government catch the bad guys. But is his pursuit of  Frost's lovely fiance, Isabella, part of the act? You'll have to read to find out!

This was a fun yet sophistocated thriller with lots of twists, great characters, and a timely plot that, along with Bill Clinton's plug at the beginning, will make readers think about nuclear proliferation more closely.

How would you feel and act if your worst sin were painted on your face for the rest of your life for all the world to see at a glance? Would such a thing deter sinning? This is the time-honored yet timely premise behind When She Woke by Hillary Jordan, which has been called a modern retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic, The Scarlet Letter.

Hannah Payne (yes, pretty close to Hester Pryne and some of the parallels in the book may be a bit too close) is in love. But her love is forbidden by the ultra-conservative Christian society that is her America. She is in love with a minister and has become pregnant. She chooses to have an abortion, although it is illegal and she is putting herself, her abortionist, and others in danger. When her crime is found out, she is sentenced to "chroming" which means because she has committed murder in the eyes of the law, her skin will be dyed a dark red so that everyone who sees her will know her crime (other crimes are dealt with in different colors). She must return to a clinic periodically to update this dying process to stay red, and if she does not, she will "frag" out and die. Hannah feels terrible about her abortion, as she still deeply loves the minister, but she also loves God and wants to return to Him. Her struggle lies in how she will survive in a society that can outwardly see her crime and thus, is prejudiced against her. How, if ever, can she return to God who she feels has forgotten her because of the radical Christians who try to reprogram her and in the end, abuse her?

My fascination with this story began a long time ago. In high school, thanks to my perfectly wonderful and brillliant English teacher Mrs. S, a couple girlfriends and I became just a little obsessed with The Scarlet Letter. Weird, yes, but the storyline of an ostrasized woman, a captivating illegitimate child, and a handsome, untouchable priest were just too intriguing. Throw in the movie version with a young, handsome John Heard and you've got a teenager's reading dream. Jordan takes this basic storyline and truly makes it both her own and our own by testing the reader's ability to imagine a not-too-far future and using some issues that are critical in American society today.

In Hawthorne's time, his book was controversial obviously because of the love affair with a priest and the resulting illegitimate child. Perhaps those are still very much controversial issues to some. But in this "futuristic" tale by Jordan, we're no longer looking at the issue of the child, but the issues of abortion and crime an punishment. As I said in my last review of The Confession, I do not believe in debating issues that fall into the "morality" category. But I ask you as a reader, if you choose to delve into this what I would call important book for our time, that you don't judge quickly the issues that have been debated for centuries, but stop and really think about them. Tear them apart with your mind and ask yourself questions beyond what you consider "moral." I challenge you to think about what America was and is, what it was meant to be for all people, for this is a very American story.

In a review, you should always give your opinion of the book, so here is mine. I think Hillary Jordan is brilliant and her book could not have come about at a better time. I believe it is an important book for women and for all who seek spirituality and healing. While hitting some very controversial issues that will make many readers squirm uncomfortably in their easy chairs, it holds a vision of God and spirituality that should also give hope in the face of any dispair. I found the character Simone's version of God to be particulary thought provoking and well-written. I believe that sometimes we all see moral issues as black and white and shut out people who think differently than ourselves.  But to do so means we are not sufficiently looking at our history or our present to see what can happen to societies that do so.

That said, it is my hope that no matter how you feel about the issues presented in this fictional story, if you choose to read the book, you will read it for the same reason you would read any other book - to learn. From all literature we should be able to learn either something about ourselves or something about others, but hopefully both of those at the same time. Enjoy!

The Confession by John Grisham

When I was a high school English teacher and would teach the kids how to write a persuasive essay or how to debate, I would always tell them to stay away from issues that were based solely in morality and/or religious beliefs. To me, these issues were not effectively debatable - there would always be good points on both sides, with no clear winner.  Capital punishment, to me, is one of those issues, but Grisham does an interesting job of covering it in his novel, The Confession.

In almost every Grisham novel, there is a lawyer. In this book, that lawyer is Robbie Flak. Then, there has to be a crime. That crime this time is the rape and murder of a high school cheerleader named Nicole Yarber. Then there must be a murderer, and this is where it gets tricky. There is an African American boy named Donte' who has been convicted of the crime after a seemingly coerced confession. There was no other real evidence other than that confession, which Donte' recanted because later he realized that no one was going to figure out the real truth, his last ditch hope after he was mercilessly bullied into signing the confession. Now enter the real killer, a convicted rapist named Travis Boyette (am I wrong or has Grisham used this last name in another novel?)who has had a pang of guilt as he suffers from a brain tumor. He finds a minister to hear him out, and as planned, gets involved in saving Donte' from death by lethal injection.

Is The Confession a twising tale that keeps you reading? Yes. An interesting, fictionalized look at the death penalty? Maybe. Contain wonderfully, deep characters different from any of Grisham's others? Nah.  Does the novel make you think about the virtues or moral pitfalls of the death penality in America today? It certainly did for me. It made me ask myself the question: If even one innocent man could die this way, is it worth it to get rid of all the other terrible criminals that seem beyond "redeption?" And another: "How do we decide which rapist, which murderer, which crime is worthy of such a punishment?" So, to sum it up fo me, it was a very good read but contains a lot of stereotyped characters that are a bit blah in my opinion. Robbie Flak, while superbly likable, was not very realistic to me. The others characters sort followed that same path.

Does the novel give an answer to these time-worn questions? Of course not. Because as I said, the death penality is a moral issue,one comtemplated only in the realms of religion or faith, not politics, in my opinion. And that's the only opinion of mine worth mentioning here.

I can't wait to get to the book club discussion we will have on this book in February. Come join us, or if you're not near Elgin, please make a comment!

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

This was our January Valley Book Club selection, and I think everyone in the club would say they thoroughly enjoyed it. It tells of the long-time love and hardships of two people, one Chinese and one Japanese, both during the time right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and in the present day.

Henry Lee was born Chinese in America to a domineering, old-fashioned father and a helpless, traditonal mother. Keiko Okabe was born Japanese in America to parents who spoke only English and cherished their new country. Henry and Keiko become friends, and then more than friends, during their time at an all-white school. When all of the Janpanese are forced to move and live in "relocation camps" and Keiko is one of them, Henry struggles with his love of family, his love of country, and his undying first love of Keiko.

Will circumstances tear them apart or pull them together? This is the question that drives this powerful story home. While the book is a bit on the sticky sweet side for me, it was a quick, enjoyable read that led to some excellent discussion about the war and our nation's prejudices, both in the past and today. Check it out, and let me know what YOU think!

I apologize for being so behind on posting. So, it's been a little while since I read this beautiful historical piece by one of my favorite authors, Alice Hoffman. 

Based on historical events in 70 C.E., The Dovekeepers is the story of four extraordinary women who much fight against their circumstaces to survive after escaping different kinds of persecution only to come together in a place called Masada. This place is a stronghold that evenually comes under seige by the Romans.  Their loves, secrets, and perseverance in the wake of much adversity makes this tale a remarkable work about the strength of women.

If you enjoyed books like my favorites, The Red Tent by Anita Diamont or Pope Joan by Donna Cross, then you will love The Dovekeepers.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana deSosnay

This historical novel has been on book club reading lists all over the country, and I was so excited to have it on our list. The beautiful writing and intertwing historical stories make it easy to see why readers everywhere are talking about this book.

The present day story is about an American journalist in Paris who, through her research, discovers that her own apartment used to be the home of a Jewish family who were involved in the French "round-up" of Jews during WWII. In this particular family were a young girl named Sarah and her even youger brother named Michel.

It is Sarah's heartbreaking and unbelievable story that drives Julia not only to find out the truth and remind the public of past atrocities, but also to find her true self-as a wife and a mother.

For me this book hit home and made me think about many issues in our lives today - from motherhood in middle age to how we often compromise our values and ethics in order to protect a way of life. The tragedy of Sarah's life is a hard thing to read and contemplate when we know that although the story is fiction, the context was absolutely real. I hope hat the old adage is true: that by learning from the past, we can prevent it from happening again.Check this one out for a thought-provoking, enjoyable read.