Review of Gendarme

The Gendarme by Mark Mustian

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Very different and very deep. Hard to tell what is real and what is a dream of the past. Either way it doesn't matter. It deals with the Turkish removal of the Armenians during WW1 (the Armenian genocide), but puts a human face to both sides.



In the story of the past, a young Turkish soldier is ordered to escort a group of Armenians into Syria. Along the way he comes to love and want to protect a very bright-eyed Armenian girl. This story seems like a dream, and is juxtraposed against the main character who is about 90 years old and lives in the US. He has a brain tumor, and has not remembered his past from WW1 at all. However, he keeps dreaming about this march which he is part of, and begins to wonder if it actually happened. Even near the end, we are uncertain what is real and what is a dream. A bit heavy in places, and a bit surreal, but also very entertaining and intriguing, and somewhat believable with that backdrop.



If you don't know much about this part of history, it might be worth a read. I certainly learned a great deal....I guess you could say I'm a historical fiction fan. And it has led me to read another book on the subject from a more modern perspective -- The Bastard of Istanbul. They are very different, and I think this one is more readable as an introduction to what happened and to an understanding of the suffering of the Armenians.



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Review of Bastard of Istanbul

The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This in some ways was a very difficult and slow book to get through, and yet I really wanted to finish it. The characters are so eclectic and weird and the mysteries in the book were what kept me reading, but the writing style and pace at times bogged me down. I also wanted to see how the book would treat the Turkish-Armenian connection that extends back to the time of the genocide.

The book does a very good job of juxtraposing the two views of (1) the past needs to be remembered and is part of who we are and (2) we need closure instead of the past-is-over-and-done-with, we-need-to-move-on, and focus-on-the-future. I think compared to Gendarme, you get an ever greater sense of the Turkish view and the Armenia view as it is in the present day. You can also see how strongly the modern Turkish culture is really embracing a multicultural feel in Istanbul.

The colorful women of the Turkish family and their lack of males makes an excellent contrast and foil to the overwhelming and equally eccentric Armenian family. I was fascinated by how Asya and Armoush developed their friendship over the second half of the novel, but the surprises in their identities and their pasts were something I had NOT expected....that's why I say there are mysteries. Where I think the book is perhaps too kitchy is the characters in the cafe who are supposed to be stereoypes, but are almost TOO much so. However, in Asya's family I feel that the characters are both three and two dimensional at the same time. With Armoush's family, the most vivid character is really Rose...and I had a hard time relating to her.

The end was in some ways very unsatisfying and in other ways very satisfying. I wish there had been more resolution on the part of Armoush and finding her identity or her returning to her family after losing her grandmother. (That does not give away the ending though.) I also wish I could know more about Asya's response and how she deals with the revelations made to her near the end. And what happens to Banu's djinn? There are plenty of cultural identity issues unresolved...I guess like real life, but when a book goes so far, I wish it would go just a little bit further. Did Banu ever explain what she learns in her visions? How does the pomegranate get received? These questions don't actually give away the mysteries, so no spoilers. However, I have to say I would not recommend this book to people who want everything well-resolved. At the same time, this book would be a very discussable book to a book club if you can get over the slower sections and humps in the book. Overall, I can only give this a 2 out of 5.



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Review of The Help

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This contains spoilers, so if you don't want to know things, stop reading here.

The Help is set in 1962-1964 in Jackson, Mississippi and focuses on the lives of Southern women -- the black maids who work in middle and upper class homes and the white women who employ them. The setting of Jackson is during the early stirrings of civil rights, but after Rosa Parks made it possible to sit anywhere on the bus. The story is told from the point of view of three women, Aibaleen and Minny, two maids, and Skeeter, a college-educated journalist who thinks that the traditional attitudes about segregation need to change. The three women come from very different backgrounds and ages, but their lives intertwine around the project spear-headed by Skeeter, to write a book telling the story of what maids go through -- the good and the bad. In particular, the story focuses on Aibaleen's trying to raise her employer's little girl to be less racist and to be more confident in herself, on Minny's trials as an opinionated woman whose mouth often gets her fired, and on Skeeter's rejection by her former friends for even thinking about desegregation. There are other sidelines in the stories of Hilly, the most racist and superior of friends, Elizabeth, the friend who can't quite leave Hilly's orbit, Celia, the white "trash" beauty who just can't get anyone in Hilly's crowd to call her back or embrace her socially, and the other maids who first refuse to share their stories and then whole-heartedly embrace it after Hilly arranges for her maid to have an all-too-speedy trial over the theft of a cheap garnet ring.

I believe that the characters of Minny, Aibie, and Skeeter are well-developed, believable characters who come together in unlikely circumstances. It might seem unbelievable at first, but someone had to be first to cross the race barrier; otherwise, we would still have some form of segregation. I think overall it is Aibie who is the most memorable and believable and who really illustrates the struggle and dilemma of black women of that time. She puts up with much from Hilly and just bites her tongue -- but would doing otherwise have benefitted her? As we see, Minny loses her job and can't get another, and another maid goes to jail for a relatively minor theft. Hilly even manages to frame Aibie for the theft of her silverware...thankfully, Elizabeth decides not to press charges. This shows the precarious nature of the jobs of these maids and why so few of them spoke up. However, the danger of their meeting with Skeeter so regularly is seems underplayed.....I applaud what they do, but I wonder if they really would have been able to meet so often without many noticing Skeeter there. Overall, though the character of Aibie is an inspiration.

I also feel strongly about Minny and her struggles with her abusive husband and her concern for her children and her pride and unwillingness to take so much abuse from her employers. I think that her circumstances working for Celia are a bit unrealistic, but adds a sense of comic relief at points and shows that the rigidity of the southern white social structure also excluded white trash. I think though that the main point of Celia is to show that not all women then were so rigid in the segregation. Celia insists on eating with Minny at the same table, and the women each save the others life at some point. (Celia saves Minny from the crazed naked white man, and Minny saves Celia from hemmorhaging after her fourth miscarriage.) The final satisfaction of having Celia's husband appreciate and thank Minny is the ultimate pleasure in a book otherwise showing mostly ungrateful employers. Also I am sure am glad Minny finally left Leroy after that final showdown and beating. Enough is enough.

I have less to say really about Skeeter, though she is the impetus for all the interviews to even happen. She writes, she submits, and she publishes the book under anonymous. Her mother wants her to marry, and she does fall twice for Stuart, but ultimately has to lose him instead of giving up her ideals. I like Skeeter, and I think her great love for Constantine is a real plus in the plot and her character's development. I think she really endures a lot by losing her childhood friends, the respect of all the Women's League members, and Stuart. At the same time, she gains the great friendship of Aibie and also of Minny. She finally is able to let go of home and go to follow her dream job. Most of all, she accomplishes an almost impossible task of getting the black maids to share their stories and getting so many people to actually read about it. Also I think she helps in some way to transform her mother from a "I need my daughter to get married at any cost" to a woman who has some resilience and appreciation for her daughter after all. Personality-wise, I think Skeeter is really the least developed of the three main characters.

Overall, I must say that this book still has me thinking about the times of segregation and the ultimate unfairness of it. I see Hilly, who seems to have few redeeming qualities aside from the great love for her children, to be the personification of this racist attitude and the idea of separate but equal thinking. Her drive to set up separate bathrooms for the help is the central point of what makes Skeeter perhaps so wanting to change things. It is Hilly who makes Aibie feel shame over having her own bathroom built in the garage, and it is Hilly who is the nemesis of both Minny and Celia. So despite her rather shallow and "evil" qualities, I think putting a human quality on Hilly would not serve any good purpose. Hilly needs to be this evil, unlikeable, one-dimensional character. Elizabeth in some ways is even less developed and has virtually no thoughts outside of Hilly's thoughts -- that seems to be the point... What I don't understand is how Hilly could become the leader of the Women's League when she is so young, has been married only a few years, and is a young mother. I would have thought in reality that the older women would have more of a role in a group like this. However, without this role as president, Hilly would not have the power and the "pulpit" and the influence to get both Minny and Skeeter rejected like they are. All coming back to the unfairness of segregation.

I'll end here with this thought -- if you have to choose only one book to read, choose THE HELP. You will have a new understanding of why civil rights was so needed and why MLK gave his life to see it happen.




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Review of In the Time of Butterflies

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a very powerful book on the Dominican revolutionary movement against their dictator, Tujillo. It is loosely based on the fact of three sisters who were attacked and killed after visiting their husbands in a mountain prison. The story alternates narration between all the sisters, so you get all 4 perspectives. The narrations take the form of first hand, diary, and "thought process-flashback" for the sister who survived. Altogether, this style narration works here to give an overall impression of the events. Most of the time the dates do NOT overlap, but occasionally they do.



Although this book is set during a revolution of sorts, the book is really just as much about the every day lives of these women before and after the revolution and during their prison stay, for the two that were jailed. The guts of Marioposa1/Minerva is amazing, and the evolution of characters like Patria and Dede over time is quite intriguing, and worth the read alone. I think the character I had to most trouble connecting to was Mate/Maria Teresa/Mariposa2. I'm not sure why though. In the end, I guess we are all meant to connect most strongly to Dede who was the surviving sister in real life, as well as in this fictional account. However, I think the very DIFFERENCES of all 4 sisters is what makes this book work overall. It's like a real family, so you get a real sense of how these sisters played off of each other, fought against a dictator (or didn't), and lived their lives both so separately and yet so closely. The bonds between these four was unshakeable. An amazing testament to the strength of family over the turmoil of prison and revolution.



The historical climate in which this book is set, the time of the revolution in Cuba, from the 40's to the 90's, is an integral part of the book. In real life, it dictated the conditions of the story, and in this fictionalized account you cannot escape Tujillo's portrait, reach, or ghost. He dominates the lives of the Mirabel family from the beginning to the end. It really gives you a sense of how a dictator can put fear into people, and WHY the dominated people don't rebel. If you wonder why the North Koreans are not yelling for freedom, this book might give you a glimpse of the terror machine employed by a dictator. The tortures here seem "mild" compared to others I have heard of, but the conditions of suppression and control and terror seemed very real. It takes a real courageous and idealistic person to rebel against a dictator.



If you enjoy historical fiction, like other books by this author, or like strong-spirited characters, I would recommend this book. The first time I started it, I only got a few chapters in, and I set it aside for several years. It starts out a little bit slow, but I am glad I returned to it! It is a remarkable book, and I had to force myself to put it down to live regular life, like go to work, walk the dog, water the garden, or grade papers. Enjoy!



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Review of Heretic's Daughter

The Heretic's Daughter by Kathleen Kent

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this book for a book discussion group, and I am so glad I did. Since the Crucible, I have been very interested in the black mark on early American history -- the Salem Witch Hunts and Trials. Martha Carrier is the mother of the narrator, and she is a historic figure who was actually one of the 19 men and women hung during the Salem Witch Trials. The writer does a good job of bringing through the voice of a child as narrator without making us feel it is totally childish. The realities of the prison and the paranoia and fear as well as jealousy that prevailed during this time are thoroughly described. However, it is the prison that I find the most disturbing and gut-wrenching. I believe this is how it really was. The reaction (and this is not a spoiler since the historic record already indicates the girl's mother will be hung) of the young girl to her mother's hanging is very believable and really makes you want to hit somebody up the side of the head. How could people behave this way, how could so many people be imprisoned on the weight of spectral evidence, and how could they believe a confession under torture was really a confession seems amazing given our modern age, but the author gives us a glimpse into the superstition of the time. For more fiction on this historical era I would suggest the
young adult fiction "Witch of Blackbird Pond" and the play by Arther Miller "The Crucible". Now the Crucible also connects to the political climate of the McCarthy hearings -- or what I call the McCarthy Witch Hunts. However, that is another review.



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Who are your favorite authors?

I do definitely have favorites where I'll read anything they write, but may not always be overwhelmed with joy or enthusiasm.

Among the classics, I fall into the great legion of Jane Austen fans, except for Mansfield Park. I haven't been able to get through that one yet. I really like Emily Bronte, though she only really has the one book.

For more modern writers, I really like Victoria Holt/Phillipa Carr/Jean Plaidy; I was a big fan of her Daughters of England series though I never finished it. As well, I am a a very big Anne Rice fan. I really like the Mayfair Witches series as well as the Vampire Chronicles and the other Vampire books she wrote. However, I think I like some her other older, non-porn fiction the best -- like Servant of the Bones, Mummy, the book about Quadroons in New Orleans, and Cry to Heaven. I've also read her first in the series of Seraphim books -- mixed feelings there.

Other writers I have enjoyed are Toni Morrison -- I've read Tar Baby, Song of Solomon, Sula, Beloved, and at least one more. I also intend to read the Bluest Eyes. Similarly, I enjoy Alice Walker -- the Color Purple and what I've read so far of Meridian and a few others. These are books I want to read and re-read.

Next entry maybe I'll talk about some of my all time favorite books.

Review of Hannah's Daughters

Hannah's Daughters by Marianne Fredriksson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book is about three generations of Swedish women starting from the tough life of a farmer's wife to the city transplant and the development of modern urban life and socialism in Sweden. I am not so much interested in Swedish history and farm life as I am in Norwegian farm life, but the setting for the first generation turns out to be on the Norwegian border and to be not far away from the town my mother was born in.

The book is framed by Anna, the third generation who is writing a book about the mother and grandmother. When she is writing the book, her mother is in a nursing home and has lost most of her faculties. Actually, this part of the book is not so interesting in my opinion as the story of Hannah. The life on the farm, the mill that she eventually moves to, and even her moving and adapting to the city is quite gripping at times. Hannah is very stoic and accepting of life -- it is what it is, and death and hard times are just part of the way things are for most farmer's wives. It gives a real glimpse into the world of my ancestors -- probably my father's father's family and their farm life in northern Norway.

The story of Johanna "told in her own words" brings us a view of what life is like through the Depression and World War 2 in Sweden. We also get a sense of how things are starting to change for women -- though ironically not enough. I found this part to be up and down in keeping my interest, but to be fair it was in its own way as compelling as Hannah's part. I'm sure not everyone would find the daily life of farm women to be gripping.

Anna's story - the interlude or frame of the story -- is the least interesting. I think I find Anna the hardest character to relate to and also we start getting more and more in to psychology. A little too much of that whereas Hannah was perhaps the polar opposite with her superstitions.

Anyway, it is not an action or plot oriented book, and I would not even call it character-driven. It is a "study" of how time, location, and history shape three generations of women without all the drama of a Sidney Sheldon or Jackie Collins or Nora Ephron novel might offer.
Overall, I would call this a 3 star effort.



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City of Light review

City of Light by Lauren Belfer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Although this book is just shy of 500 pages, I read it in 3 days, and I also managed to grade stack of essays and read part of another book. I also made myself slow down to enjoy all the description and really try to soak in some of the history. I have always enjoyed historical fiction, but rarely do I pay much attention to the details of the place since I don't really KNOW the place personally. However, City of Light takes place at the turn of the last century when Buffalo hosted the Pan-American exhibition. The streets and places the characters go are places I know now, and many of them still bear the unmistakable brand of the era they were built in. This is historical fiction at its best when you realize truly the research that went into the book and the accuracy of many of the details and even some of the people. The behavior of many of the tycoons of that era seem in someway so believable to me. I can just imagine the behavior of Grover Cleveland just as described. I can imagine that Albright was as eccentric as depicted, and that Rumsey was the benevolent and arrogant father-figure. Now what I have figure out is if the Love estate is still there in part. I know the Albright mansion was torn down, but what of the Rumsey estate or the Love estate? Now I have a new "search" to add the next time I'm on Delaware Avenue.
The character of Louisa Barrett is one of the more three-dimensional characters in the book, and she is a very believable narrator. She tells the story about 10 years after the final events in the story take place, 10 years after the McKinley assassination. You never really know what is going to happen -- the suspense is kept, the surprises (with one exception) are not really foreshadowed, and even the more predictable surprise doesn't seem predictable until you look back a bit. Louisa seems sometimes wound a little too tight, but when I think about the times and the fact that she was in society without being married...well, then I think I understand the reason: survival.
One of the things that I think makes the book also a "pleasure" besides the story line and the narrator is the way I actually could get just as furious as she did at the arrogance of some of these tycoons. I could see the slums and the charity hospitals and compare them to the opulence of the rich, and I got angry. I understood why the unionists were striking for better wages and especially the better safety and working conditions. I am appalled at the expendability of working class men.
I got mad about the racism too! Mary Talbert was a real person, and having visited 1st Michigan Baptist Church just 6 months ago, I already know quite a bit about her -- a black woman fighting for justice in a very racist country. I loved the relationship that developed between Louisa and Mary, the true rockiness of it, and yet the gradual understanding the two had.
I could go on, but I want to save some for the book club discussion on this, and anything else would include spoilers.



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What is an immergent reader?

The emergent reader is a young reader who is developing their skills. Immersion is when you are completely immersed in something. Hence, I have decided that I am an immergent reader. As an adult, I am fully literate, and yet I am coming back to books in a way I never probably read since my late elementary school days or even my English lit major days. I credit my book club for reawakening my passion for reading. I also love to post my books on Goodreads. However, I think a reading blog is just the thing for posting reviews and communing with the larger reading world. From time to time, I'll be posting my thoughts on books as I read them, and sharing the final reviews that I post on Goodreads.