Mudbound by Hillary Jordan

I purchased Mudbound for the library some time ago, and I actually started reading it, but then I put it down because some new book that I'd been waiting and waiting for came out, and I just couldn't help it and had to read that one. Now, I wish I would have continued with Mudbound because it turned out to be a wonderful book full of carefully crafted characters thrown together  to create a compelling story of prejudice, love, family, and sacrifice. 

The book is told in alternating chapters from the points of view of Laura McAllan, her husband Henry, her charming brother-in-law Jamie, and a neighboring share-cropper's son named Ronsel Jackson. Laura is a woman in danger of becoming an old maid until she meets Henry, an aging war veteran with a limp and the deep desire to become a farmer. He drags Laura away from her family and friends and plops her on a piece of ground she aptly names "Mudbound" because of its general lack of appeal. Henry's brother Jamie eventually returns from war also, becoming the light in the muddy world for Laura and her little girls. Jamie also befriends Ronsel, a war veteran himself who struggles with life after war and after love. But because Jamie is the son of a southern, white, farmer, and Ronsel is the son of a southern, black share cropper, the friendship becomes the center point for conflict both within and without the families. All these characters at some point have to deal with Jamie and Henry's volatile, ultra-prejudiced father, Pappy, who tries to rule the roost that Laura tends to, and who loves to stir up any trouble he can simply to have something to do.

This mix of characters along with the intermingling issues of prejudice, race, sibling rivalry, and farming as a lifestyle all make for a fabulous read. Reading Mudbound was a shocking look at how many Americans seem to love prejudice and feeling superior to others. Although I'd like to think much of this kind of deep ignorance has been wiped out by societal pressure, good leadership, and conscience, I know that, in reality, it still exists. People (and I include myself at times) hide their prejudices behind things like religion or law, saying that there are rules, and we simply have to follow them because someone wrote them down for us and interpreted them for us. To accept rules that are unjust or inhumane simply because they are written seems supremely ignorant to me. After all, segregation rules were law in this country at one time. Where would our country be if no one stood up against the injustice? There are still religions where women can have very limited roles or no role at all because they are inferior beings in the eyes of God. Now, I'm not saying we can be lawless or usurp the law anytime we want to, but when we see injustice, it needs to be challenged. People are people, equals in their rights to humanity and Mudbound does an excellent job of illustrating this in vivid writing and voice.

I encourage you to read Mudbound for a lesson in prejudice, freedom, equality, and good writing. Enjoy!

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Giver is a book some say that everyone should read. It's a book that brings up ideas of what life could be like if mankind gave up on certain ideas that so far most people believe are essential. Ideas like personal freedom, creativity, and human rights are nonexistant in the world of The Giver. What would life be like without these most basic things? Well,  Lowry tries to tell us in her novel.

This is the story of Jonas, a 12-year-old boy who is chosen to be the receiver of all the memories of all the ages. The Giver is an old man who has held these memories for the people so that they do not have to experience things like war, illness, loneliness, greed, or many other unpleasant, painful emotions and physical weaknesses. But by taking away memory for all, this also means that the Giver is the only one who holds the good memories, too; memories of pleasure such as sledding down a hill on a wintry day, feelings of love and companionship, feelings of joy or success. All of these have been given up by the people for all time so that their society can be "happy" and "productive" without any conflict whatsoever. Jonas, then, is to be the new holder of all of this, good and bad. The question becomes this: once Jonas knows the fundamental truths of life, such as how the people of this community are "released" from society, can he handle it? Will he see utopia as just that, or will he wish to put back all the memories so that the people can once again feel all that there is, and be all that they can be?

Lowry's book is a fascinating study in society that made me eternally grateful for things like free will, democracy, religion, individual creativity, and the joy that can come from daily living. In Jonas' world, people can't even see in color, their job is chosen for them, they don't choose their own clothes, and they don't keep their own babies to raise. There really is nothing except for the community and its ongoing peacefulness. When someone loses his usefulness or is not seen as a good addition to the community, they are "released" by the others.

Some find the book too ambiguous because it does leave almost everything up for interpretation. This didn't bother me too much until the end. The ending, too, is ambiguous, and this always bothers me a lot. I like a novel to "end." I like to sit and wonder about characters and places, but I don't like to wonder about what the author thinks happens to them. The author should know, right, so why can't she tell us?

To me, the big question in the book is this: If we know nothing of pain or sorrow, can we really feel joy to its fullest? If there is no evil, can we clearly see the good in people? If the plan is a contant status quo, can there ever be improvement? My answer to all of these is "no." What would your answer be?

The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum

     A friend of mine told me years ago how she loved the Bourne books by Ludlum so much, that she kept them by her bedside and would read them over and over. She told me that if I loved the show "Alias" as much I did, I would love them. But I never went to pick them up. So, recently, I decided it was time, and I was not disappointed.
     You may think you know the story of Jason Bourne because you have seen the blockbuster movies with Matt Damon. Think again. Many people have told me that the books barely resemble the movies, and they were so right! While the general premise that Jason is hurt, found on a ship and nursed to health, only to find he has one heck of a case of amnesia, is all intact, that is where all similarities between the book and movie stop. In this complicated espionage thriller, the plot to destroy Bourne is not just undertaken by the government agency he worked for, it's perpetrated by many other criminal aspects as well, most especially by a notorious assassin named Carlos. All Jason remembers is that he is a killer and that he must kill Carlos, even though he has no idea who that really is or who, he himself, really is.
     The people and places in the plot swim smoothly together, creating a huge web of mystery, and you question your logic at every turn. The only thing I really disliked in the book was the woman love interest, Marie, who is so unlike the sexy, unfortunate woman that Bourne borrows the car from in the movie, that it was pretty distracting to me at times. The Marie in the book, while extremely intelligent and loyal, seemed too much like a '70's romance novel heroine to me. The romantic dialog between she and Bourne seemed very forced, and pretty unoriginal. "Oh, Jason,  my love, I can't bear to live without you," and that kind of thing. While the whole exciting plot kept me on the tips of my toes, holding my breath, I would then sigh when Marie would say this kind of inane drivel and think, "Geez, Jason, can you just dump her for someone with a little more savvy?" I so love the tattooed girl with the choppy hair and broken down car in the movie, that I just kept wishing it was her at Jason's side in the book.
   But that is a small flaw in a wonderful thriller full of detail and twists and turns. While I enjoyed The Millenium trilogy more, the Bourne books are classics in the thriller genre. So, don't be a late bloomer like me, and pick up a Bourne today!

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

     Ugh! How can it be over? I hate it when I'm done with a wonderful series like this one and there just seems to be nothing to read afterwards. This third book in the Hunger Games trilogy, while slightly darker than the rest, was a satisfying end to the story, even though I'm always left wanting more.

    Beginning right where Catching Fire left off, Katniss recovers from the Quarter Quell competition, finding herself in a hospital deep inside District 13. This is the district that the Capitol obliterated once upon a time, but as it turns out, there were survivors who went underground, literally. While you may think they just want to live in peace in their new underground world, District 13 is also filled with rebels who want nothing more than to defeat the Capitol and free Panem for good. Their plan? To promote the survival of the "Mockingjay" and use her as a symbol to the people, urging them to rise up and fight in a revolution.

     But what of Peeta? What about the other tributes we have come to love and hate in equal measure, and Katniss's beloved Gale? Well, they are all here in Mockingjay, each playing a role in the rebel plan. But Peeta did not escape the Capitol like the others, being used as well as the Capitol's symbol of power, urging Katniss to give up the rebel cause. Is he for real? Is he really on President Snow's side, or does he continue to try to save Katniss from afar?

   While I found Mockingjay to be quite sad and dark throughout, it's that sadness and desperation that lend reality to the fantasy world of Panem. If, indeed, our own country were taken by the government and turned into a sort of Communist state, wouldn't mankind be disheartened? Would we fight with everything we have to be free again? Of course we would.

     The thing I found the most disheartening, though, was that the leaders of District 13, while having the right ideals and the right end game in their hearts, were just as ruthless and politically minded as those in the enemy camp, the Capitol. It's just one more realistic train of thought within the novel; we need to be careful of our leaders, no matter what type of institution they lead. There are corrupt people in all walks of life, in every group and geographic area, in every religion and political party. It is our job to question logically what is right and what is wrong, no matter what our leaders say. Like Katniss, we should understand our own personal weaknesses, acknowledge them, and let others with better knowledge and skill fill in the gaps. But when we know what is truly right, we have to follow our own moral compass and step into the arena and fight for what's right, which ultimately is our freedom.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

   

     This second book in the Hunger Games trilogy read so quickly, I hardly knew what hit me. It continues the story of Katniss Everdeen and her friend Peeta as they return from the bloody Hunger Games, a reality show/punishment put on by the government of Panem.

     The world of Panem created by Collins is a kind of post-apocolyptic country of 13 Districts, one of which has been blown to bits by the Capitol as punishment for revolution there. This book takes place after the Hunger Games in which Katniss and Peeta have won an unprecedented dual victory because of a seemingly innocent stunt pulled off by the presumed in-love couple. Now they must begin a life together and yet apart, a life where they must pretend they are happy with their fate and not forever changed and disheartened by the cruelty of the Capitol.  But the nation of Panem now sees in Katniss a true inspiration for revolution: she is someone who could save them all. But the Capitol is not full of dummies, and they threaten Katniss and Peeta to help squelch the seeds of rebellion before they begin to grow in the Districts and pose a problem forever.

     Eventually, though, the only thing the Capitol feels it can do to punish the Districts once again for their disobedience to their power is to schedule a new kind of Hunger Games for the "Quarter Quell". The new scenario is that the tributes, or players, will come from the pool of former winners of the games. Because there are only 3 former winners from District 12 and one of them is an old, out-of-shape drunkard, Peeta and Katniss are once again sent into the arena to fight to the death others who have already won the games at some point in Panem's history.

     Again there can only be ONE winner. Will Peeta once again protect Katniss from certain death, sacrificing himself? Or will Katniss now protect Peeta, a charismatic speaker and all-around wonderful human being, so that he can lead Panem into revolution? What of the other equally interesting characters/tributes Collins has created for this special Games? Will one of them be the sole survivor? You'll just have to read to find out.

The Color of Water by James McBride

     Memoirs are really not my thing, or so I keep telling myself. But maybe I'm wrong because I really enjoyed this one by James McBride. It's a touching, gut-wrenching, beautifully told story of how one black man grew up in a huge family led by a Christian-reformed Jewish mother. Yeah, imagine the stories.
     McBride's mother grew up an Orthodox Jew with an abusive, rabbi father and a handicapped, ridiculed, silent mother. All she ever wanted was to be loved, and she finally finds this love in the American South among the blacks who were just as poor and persecuted as her own family. She eventually falls in love enough to marry one black man, McBride's father, and she willingly moves into a black neighborhood, a primarily black Christian church, and a life where she simply refused to see the colors or religions of others around her. McBride says that before he went to public school, he never even realized his mother was white or different from him. She was simply his mother. This was simply their life.
     This idea that 10 children of mixed heritage living in the heart of New York City could grow up colorblind and committed to God is so wonderfully refreshing and soul-warming that I just couldn't stop reading this memoir. Alternately told in the words of McBride and his mother, the book unfolds easily, almost like a good fairy tale because it is so unbelievable yet real, so lovely and yet so heart-breaking at times, but always full of the great truths that I am trying so desperately to teach my own children. That truth is that all people are equal in the eyes of God, and we are all capable of great things no matter what our backgrounds. If we all took that idea with us to church or to meditation or to silent introspection, we would be better people indeed.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The premise of this book is absolutely terrifying to think about. As a lesson to society about the evils of bucking the system, the country of Panem's government has decided to sacrifice 11 of its children each year as atonement for  . . . I don't know or remember; I got so caught up in the action of the book, I really don't care about the why.

In this first book of an exciting YA series by Collins, each year there is a lottery from which one boy and one girl are drawn from each of the 12 districts of Panem. These 24 "tributes" are then put into a kind of "game show to the death" called The Hunger Games,  where 11 will die, and only one can survive. They are all ages from 12-18 with all different skill levels and economic backgrounds. The main characters, Katniss and Peeta, are from the poorest district, 12. All 24 are plunked down in a life-sized "arena" where they will have to hide, fight, hunt, and survive until there is only one left. And I thought "Survivor" was tough! I thought Jack and Kate had it hard fighting smoke monsters and polar bears on "Lost." Those people are all a bunch of pansies compared to the kids in The Hunger Games.

Collins has created a wild but believable world in Panem, where kids are tougher than their parents, government is scary, life is a struggle, and people are really into their reality shows. Huh . . . that sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it? The battle that goes on in the arena and the emotions that play out before, during, and after are intriguing to say the least and totally engaging. I can't wait to read the two sequels, Catching Fire and Mockinjay very soon. Let me know what you think!

Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

Being a lover of books and all things literary, I was immediately sucked in to the story of Arcadia Falls.  It is told from the point of view of the main character, Ms. Rosenthal, a teacher who has recently lost her husband. While she and her daughter Sally reel from the tragedy of his death, they discover themselves poor and in need of a change from their lives filled with memories and grief. So, Rosenthal acquires a position with an artsy prep school called Arcadia where she will teach classes on myths and fairy tales and finish her thesis on the artist/author of a children's book called The Changeling Girl, which was written by the school's founder, Lily Eberhart.

As Chris Bohjilian does in The Double Bind with F. Scott Fitzgerald, Goodman intertwines the fairy tale of The Changeling Girl and its mysterious and tragic history with the more modern main story of Rosenthal and her daughter at the Arcadia school. What results is a mystery, a romance, a family history drama, and a ghost story all rolled into one very engrossing novel.

One other nice touch in the book is that the theme of the fairy tale of The Changeling Girl becomes like a metaphor for the life of the main character, and we as readers are drawn to the question of how we see ourselves and how others see us. Like the ending of the book, we discover that sometimes the answer to these questions is surprising and mysterious.

The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva

This latest intelligence thriller featuring Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon, took me from a stolen painting, to the camps of the Holocaust, to the world of high finance, through the realm of high tech gadgets, and to a satisfying, if somewhat predictable retirement of Mr. Allon. It's like my all-time favorite TV show "Alias" with lots of action, politics, spying, computer-ese, and kick-butt characters to love.

The plot is fairly complicated, but I'll try to sum up. A little known Rembrandt is stolen from one of Allon's friends, Isherman, who own a gallery. He will face ruin if it's not found, and Allon, being a world-renowned art restorer in addition to a dangerous spy, could not turn down the challenge to find it for his friend. What he uncovers in looking into the history of owners of the painting is that it was also "stolen" by a Nazi criminal from a Jewish family so that one of its two daughters would not be sent to the camps. Hearing the surviving woman's war story is too much for Allon, and he makes it his mission to find the painting. In so doing, he uncovers a list of old Jewish bank accounts that were also stolen by the Nazi and used to start up a multi-national financial conglomerate run by Martin Landesman. Landesman hides his unscrupulous tendencies by giving vast amounts of money to charities, and so is seen as a "saint." Allon eventually finds a connection from this Saint Martin to enriched uranium plants throughout the Middle East, and it becomes imperative for the security of others like America and Britain to somehow find proof and eradicate the nuclear threat. Impossible, you say? Well, you don't know Gabriel Allon.

Gabriel Allon. What a wonderfull name to trip off your tongue. Gabriel. An angel indeed. Thank you Daniel Silva for creating such an exciting and divine character. And while the storylines in the Allon books are getting a bit repetitive, I really just don't care.  Check it out yourself,  and let me know if you think Gabriel is an angel.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

So, having now ridden the bandwagon and finally read this hugely popular memoir, was I impressed? Do I get it? Am I now ready to chuck my mundane life and head for parts unknown to "find myself" and all I am? Well, the answers are yes, yes, and probably not.

I am impressed with the book as a whole and with Gilbert's writing style. While I didn't read the book but listened to it on audio, it was read by the author, and she truly seemed to be reading it just to me - kind of like we were having this really long conversation about life and our vacations. It was a very enjoyable, if one-sided, conversation. I am impressed by the fact that Gilbert realized what a mess she was. I am impressed that she found a way to finance such a trip and then turn it into such a huge success for her career. I am impressed by how much work it had to be, albeit fun also, to learn so much about her life and lives of people as a whole.

Yes, I get it. As I said when I first started listening to it, I resisted this book for a long time. I hate people who say the word "guru" in a serious tone, and I hate the term "out of body experience." When I hear these phrases, I immediately think words like "crazy," "kooky," "out there," or "whoo-hoo" while twirling my index finger in a circle near my head. But now? Well, now I am beginning to see that all religions and their practices are valid in all our lives and that they really are not that contradictory in their philosophies, but only in their everyday practices and in those who try to interpret them. I totally get Gilbert's need to indulge and try to relax in Italy. I get the learning Italian thing, and I think how much I'd love to learn French. I get the spiritual awakening thing, and so much of what she said about meditation and how it changes people has me searching for cheap ways to learn how to meditate (I haven't found any yet, as classes on true transendental meditation are very expensive to take.) The only thing I didn't get was the need for a man in the end. Although, when I was listening to Gilbert talk about Phillipe, I was kind of comforted with visions of Edward Cullen rising out of her descriptions. Some of those same qualities I've talked about here in terms of the "perfect man" that Edward so embodies sure seemed to be in Phillipe. Hmmm. . .

Lastly, while I doubt whether I will ever be able to afford or find time for a journey such as Gilbert's, I can live vicariously through her. I can use her words to help me become the most self-actualized person I can be. I'm ready to read books about Hinduism and Buddhism. I might be ready to learn to meditate. I know I'm ready to find the perfect cappucino, gellato, and spaghetti around. So, maybe a guru is in order? Did I just say "guru?" Or was it you?