Reviews

Jenn Reads: A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

/ Jenn / Leave a comment

I love Japanese history. I loved it so much I wrote my senior history thesis in college on the court culture during Lady Murasaki’s time (Lady Murasaki wrote the first ever novel, Tale of Genji in the 900’s).

I was pleased therefore when my friend selected A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki as her pick for my girlfriend’s book club. A Tale For the Time Being takes place partially in Tokyo, with a 16 year old narrator named Nao and on a small island off British Columbia, with Ruth.

A Tale For the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki

A Tale For the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki

Ruth discovers while walking on the beach, a plastic bag filled a Hello Kitty lunchbox and other seemingly garbage-like items. Upon opening the bag, Ruth finds that these items are from Japan, and likely floated over after the 2011 tsunami. What ensues is a non-climatic story of Nao finding her place in the world, and Ruth figuring out if Nao was a victim of the tsunami.

There is a lot of word manipulation and double meaning in this book. For example, Nao’s name in English would be pronounced now. Time beings all happen in the now. It goes on and on like this, until you’re almost ready to scream at the book, “OK! I get it!”

It should be mentioned that this book was long-listed for the Booker Prize and is very literary. Perhaps almost too literary for the particular stage I was at in my life while reading this book. It should also be mentioned that everyone LOVES this book. I can’t say I loved it, but I didn’t hate it either.

Ozeki, a New Haven native, crams a lot into this book, which is over 400 pages. There is life in modern Tokyo, life on a small Canadian island, Zen buddhism, extreme bullying, Alzheimer’s, kamikaze, physics, time travel, philosophical theory… it just had too much. After a while there were so many issues and concurring themes I wanted to give up. There were several themes I thought could have been saved for another tale, another day.

There were times when I felt Ruth’s storyline was too personal. For me, it was a look into the real life of Ruth Ozeki, without this being an autobiography. Her husband, Oliver, is a secondary, but main character in Ruth’s narrative, and at times I wanted to cringe at the interactions between the two. It was almost a place for her to air her grievances, but not the right forum.

I did however love Nao’s narrative. Being almost the exact same age as her, I could relate to the pop culture references she referred to, and the difficulties of being a teenager in the 2000’s. Nao’s life was not easy, and she had no one, except her Zen Buddhist nun great-grandmother Jiko, who completely understood her. The scenes with Nao and Jiko are the best in the story- Nao is not judged by Jiko, who listens, provides guidance, and parental affection lacking in her life.

If this book had been just Nao’s story, or we found out what happened to Nao, which to me is the great mystery of the book, I would have rated it higher. I partially read and listened to this book, read by Ozeki herself. I enjoyed listening to her inflections and pronunciations, which can be difficult for those not acquainted with the Japanese language.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

See you in the stacks,
Jenn

Susan Reads: The Year Without Summer: 1816 by William Klingaman

/ Susan O. / Leave a comment

Think winter’s lasting too long?  Imagine 18 straight months of cold and snow.

I’ve always liked books on natural disasters, and exploding volcanoes are about the biggest you can get. They spawn earthquakes and tsunamis, send pyroclastic flows racing down hillsides to poison and bury entire towns (Pele, Vesuvius, Pinatubo), blow entire islands away (Thera, Krakatoa), appear overnight (Parícutin), or ooze for years (Kilauea). They can also create spectacular sunsets for months afterward, or, if they’re really determined and throw huge amounts of ash too high into the air, they can change the climate of the entire Earth in a matter of weeks. This is what happened in 1816, when Mount Tambora, a fiery grumbling volcano, blew up in Indonesia, with the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history. The Year Without Summer: 1816 tells how this single volcanic eruption in the tropics had far-reaching effects around the world.

Mount Tambora didn’t just explode, like Krakatoa. It blew like a fountain, throwing so much ash into the air that it blackened the sky for thousands of miles and created a cloud of dust that blocked out the sun. This just happened to occur while the sun was at its coolest point in its cycle anyway (the Maunder Minimum). The resulting cooling of the ground (a 7-degree difference) brought on dire climate changes (parts of New Hampshire didn’t receive a drop of rain for more than 3 months, while Switzerland experienced horrific flooding), wild swings in temperature (July temps would hit 95 one day and it would snow the next), but mostly an unrelenting cold that prevented seasonal changes and destroyed most crops as far south as the Carolinas. It created dire famines and unrest through most of the British Isles and western and central Europe that lasted through 1818, beginning a wave of immigration that helped spread America westward.

Klingaman explores in great detail the effects of the climate change on political structures  in America and Europe, from the election politics of young America to disruptions in France, England, and Ireland. He spends a great deal of time discussing the travels of  Lord Byron, Percy Bysse Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley through Europe and Switzerland, who all wrote oodles of letters fretting about the weather. The darkness and seclusion caused by the weather gave rise to Mary Shelley’s famous masterpiece, Frankenstein.

Myself, I did not care for the book. Unlike Winchester’s Krakatoa, Klingaman barely discusses the volcano; it’s a cause for the book, not a main character, more like a shadowy villain behind the scenes. Instead, most of the book is about the American and European political fallout because of the climate change. I understand most of the voluminous information comes from primary sources, and because it’s 1816 there is a lot of relevant written information of the time, but I picked up the book wanting to read about a volcano. If you like history and politics, or biographies of Mary Shelley, you might enjoy the book.  If you’re looking for stories of volcanic glory and the birth and death of islands, go read Krakatoa.

Louise Reads: The Good House by Ann Leary

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I happily dove into into The Good House. I’ve been a fan of Ann Leary (wife of comedian/actor Denis Leary) since her 2004 memoir, An Innocent, a Broad.  Her 2009 fiction debut, Outtakes From a Marriage, was equally enjoyable., and her blog, with peeks into her life with her family and menagerie of animals  in rural Connecticut, is a lot of fun to read. I am happy to report The Good House did not disappoint.

Leary’s second novel is told from the point of view of Hildy Good: 60-year-old realtor extraordinaire, alcoholic-in-denial, and lifelong resident of the quaint seaside town of Wendover, MA. Having lived more than half of my life on Massachusetts’ North Shore (where fictional Wendover is located), I was pleasantly surprised by how authentic the author’s portrayal of the area felt, the town is almost another character in the story.  As Wendover’s most successful businesswoman, Hildy knows how to work a room, bend the truth, and keep a secret. And there are secrets aplenty in Wendover. Soon, those secrets have Hildy drinking again (albeit alone, at home), and things spiral out of control from there.

As the novel progresses the story takes a dark turn, yet this book made me laugh out loud several times. Hildy’s voice has a dry wit that softens the sometimes difficult subject matter. Despite the fact that she gets less and less reliable as the novel progresses, Hildy can be quite a bit of fun (at first) when she’s off the wagon.  When she enlists a lonely newcomer in town as a covert drinking buddy, however, it sets off a series of events with dire consequences.

The Good House is a fantastic read, especially if you are partial to character-driven novels. The character portrayals in the book are so vivid you truly feel like you know this small town and its quirky but relatable inhabitants. Hildy is a fascinating, flawed character, and an interesting choice as narrator.  If you are an audiobook listener, I highly recommend the audio version read by Mary Beth Hurt – she was perfection as the voice of Hildy. On a related note, it’s been announced that The Good House is being adapted for the screen with Meryl Streep and Robert DeNiro set to star.  Not too shabby!

A recent review by The Examiner said of The Good House, “…humor meets harsh reality in this irreverent look at a non-recovering alcoholic navigating the murky waters of small-town Massachusetts. The Good House is a paragon of New England Fiction.” I would have to agree, it was wicked good – it gets 4 ½ out of 5 stars from me.

Jenn Reads: Main Street

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I am continually awed by the power of classics, a genre so often scoffed by those who think classics have no importance or relevance in our contemporary lives.

Main Street by Sinclair Lewis

How wrong they are.

Our September pick for the Cheshire Cats Classics Club was Main Street by Sinclair Lewis, not to be confused by Upton Sinclair, who wrote The Jungle. Main Street is the story of Carol Kennicott, a city girl who dreams of making over a small town. She has high ideals, lofty thoughts, and big hopes.

She marries Will Kennicott, a small town doctor and they move to the Midwest town of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota (based on Lewis’ hometown of Sauk Center). When Carol first see Gopher Prairie, she is horrified- it’s so small town, ugly, and provincial. She immediately hates her new home.

Main Street is essentially the story of Carol and her foibles, misdoings, and failed attempts at making Gopher Prairie more modern and less offensive, in her opinion. But more than that, it is the story of one young woman and her attempts at fitting in, a task she never accomplishes. In her efforts to modernize and bring culture to Gopher Prairie, Carol offends, bulldozes, and in general doesn’t understand the ways of the town.

There is a lot to Main Street, many characters and stories, all of which are rich and full. You know these people, because these people are in your town, your city, your village. Yes, Lewis does stereotype and characterize, but stereotypes so often have truth behind them.

Lewis writes in a contemporary voice, witty, and satirical in a way that is meant to hit you at your core. Which in Gopher Prairie are you? Are you Vida? The Red Swed? Mrs. Bogart? Lewis attacks the “perfect” small town lifestyle that people told still hold dear. The ideal that everything is SO much better in suburbia, nothing bad ever happens, and everyone just loves one another. Oh, how wrong we are to still believe this falsity. Lewis cleverly attacks gender roles, government and bureaucracy, religion, friendship, marriage, and the bonds that tie us together.

Lewis made me laugh, made me rage, made me think, and came pretty darn close to making me cry, when several main characters die (small spoiler alert!).
I haven’t been touched, angered, or thought so much by a book in a while. Highly recommend.

Rating: 5 stars (and you know how stingy I am with my 5 stars!)

See you in the stacks,
Jenn

Linda Reads: The Lemon Orchard by Luanne Rice

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luanne rice

Luanne Rice

Luanne Rice is the author of 31 novels, including 22 New York Times bestsellers.  Five of her books have been made into movies and mini-series.

Luanne was born in New Britain, CT and spent most of her life in Connecticut.  She currently divides her time between New York City and Southern California.  She is an avid environmentalist and advocate for families affected by domestic violence.  Her first published poem appeared in the Hartford Courant.  Her first novel, Angels All Over Town, was published in 1985.  Many of her books take place in or have a connection to Connecticut.

Ms Rice delivers another captivating book, The Lemon Orchard.  It’s a love story between two people from completely different worlds, but with a common bond from their pasts.  The story starts off in Connecticut and moves to Santa Barbara, California.

Five years after a family tragedy, Julia, an anthropologist who graduated from Yale, goes to Malibu to house-sit her aunt and uncle’s house located in their lemon orchard.  She hopes to start healing and move on with her life.  There she meets the handsome, illegal immigrant who oversees the orchard, Roberto.  She learns that Roberto is also trying to heal and move on from a devastating loss in his life.  Their relationship starts off as a comforting friendship and moves on to something more.  Julia then realizes that she might be able to help Roberto resolve the issue from his past.

Ms Rice is quite skilled in character development and sets a beautiful stage with her descriptive settings.  She deals deftly with grief and loss, love, forgiveness and redemption.  This book is also quite relevant as it explores the world of illegal immigrants and the struggle they endure to try to live a better life.