A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

This book has been in my "to read" pile for a long time.

Years.

I had heard of, I had heard good things about it, I knew it was an important book in terms of literature and such....

Heck, I even referenced it in an article I wrote about a tree dedication a few years back.

But I had never read it.

What a mistake to wait!

This book was excellent. The writing style is classic, at once easy to read but full of gems of prose not often found in contemporary lit. The characters were well rounded and full of life. The description of New York in the 19-teens is beautifully done. It captures the mundane bits of everyday stuff that adds up to a life of memories and holds these fragile moments of time up to the light to be studied.

Yes, there is symbolism. Yes there is metaphor and prose that could be dissected in literature classes. But there is also a story, a compellingly simple story, of a girl growing up in Brooklyn and a more complicated story of the American dream acted out in perfection by the tragedies and achievements of her family.

Nestled in the stories of the family members, allagories and character sketches alike, are tiny chapters that shine like unexpected treasures.

Such as Chapter 22 in which Smith shows us Frannie growing up, discovering books but also showing us how her imagination still personifies numbers (making them into little families in her sums). The juxtaposition is perfectly balanced. Frannie, on the cusp of reading, a pastime which will shape her life, is still a little girl full of dreams and a child's sweet innocence. If there was a doubt in the reader's mind that Frannie is something special, a tree growing where no one expects it to and then thriving on the dirty concrete in a tenement yard, this chapter makes it crystal clear with examples that resonate with subtle meaning.

A triumph of literature, "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" is a wonderful book that I highly recommend. It is well worth the time (a bit long for some readers is isn't a book one would want to skim.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaleo Hosseini

This book, which could be seen as a companion read to The Kite Runner, is a masterpiece of plot, passion, and profound prose. The characters are deeply human and their struggles are heart breaking. Rarely do we see a story come full circle as this one does. Rarely do we get a chance to see into the hearts and minds of another culture in a way that does more to connect us than to create a sense of difference.... and that is how this novel shines, it bridges the connections of characters to the human experience, and it does so beautifully.

Not for the faint of heart, this novel tells of the plight of generations of women in Afghanistan. Be prepared for stomach clenching tension and frustrated tears at the injustice that is faced. 

But it is worth it, deeply worth it.I highly recommend this book. But have your tissues handy.

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale
By Margaret Atwood



Timeless
Riveting
Frightening
Profoundly crafted
Perfectly paced
Chilling.

This is a story of a dystopian future where we are no more than the sum of our parts and where the religious extremes are followed through to insane levels. It is compelling and haunting, full of nameless and socially named characters that will stay with you far past the final pages. And those final pages are essential. The "Afterword" adds so much to the story, it would be a travesty to skip it.

This book takes the notion of class, of gender, of rights vs privilege, of hierarchical systems, and of cultural xenophobia to some very frightening logical conclusions. It will make you think. It might give you nightmares. It is, understandably, one of the most important allegorical stories of our time.

The fact that it wasn't written in 2008 is shocking and a testament that there really is nothing new under the sun.

I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone... but especially those who like to think outside the box, who want to be challenged a bit in their beliefs, and who harbor a well placed mistrust of organized religions / systems.

Things Fall Apart

The titan of African literature, Chinua Achebe, has died at the age of 82. We know him as the writer of Things Fall Apart (although that was only his first book).

I read Things Fall Apart as part of my 501 Project / Goal.

But then I didn't write about it. I have no idea why. I remember reading it, I remember typing about it... I even remember a few turns of phrase that I used... but I can't seem to find a blog post about it anywhere... so let's blame internet gnomes and move on.

I really liked Things Fall Apart. It was a relatively quick read but it packed a wallop of an emotional punch. Published in the late 50s (and thus at the end of British colonial expansion) it tells the story of British colonial expansion in Nigeria through the eyes of not the colonist, but the African people who get colonized, namely a tribal leader named Okonkwo.

Not only is it a gripping foray into a part of history and a population that is often overlooked in both literature and politcs, but the story itself is well told and full of fascinating characters. 

Yes the book is significant because it humanizes the plight of the African people, but it is more than that... this glimps into the lives of the tribal people is at once a history lesson and a reminder that there are such things as universal human emotions: love, fear, greed, hope.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it. Read it for its cultural significance, read it for its well crafted pose, read it for the history lesson... but read it.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo

The title warns you: this is a book that is going to deal with big seriously depressing stuff.

And WHAM, right off the bat we jump into squalor and grime and a wrongly accursed youth afraid for his life, his ability to scratch out a living, and the the health and well being of his family.

On the surface, this is the book that follows a few of the inhabitants of an Indian slum but like the slum itself, that is just the surface. Really, this is a book about people struggling in a corrupt world, people acting out their baser instincts towards each other, and people overcoming their dismal situation

Or at the very least trying to make the best of a bad, very bad situation.

Boo's treatment of the inhabitants of the slum is interesting. She neither makes them into caricatures of themselves nor paints them as totally blameless angels... she shows us complicated people who's motivations are the same as those of us not living in slums even if their actions are different. It is a fascinating and perspective changing look at a portion of society that is at best ignored and at worst used for political traction.

I strongly recommend reading this book. Feel the weight of oppression  the kindle of revolution, the despair of life's traps and the hope shared by the children that someday things will get better.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

We picked this for book club.

Another WWII book.

Le Sigh

And yet...

Calling it another WWII book is wrong. Very very wrong.

Because that is oversimplifying it. Yes, the story takes place during World War Two, but the story is about more than that... it is about some of the people who played the accordion and loved and fought and cried and read and stole books while World War Two thundered down upon them and changed their lives forever.

I didn't want to read this book.

I didn't want to think about world wars, or dead Jews, or little girls hiding in basements while bombs dropped from the sky. I didn't want to cry when characters I loved died.... because you know that in a book set during World War Two, a book about a German girl living in Nazi Germany, a book narrated by Death himself.... when you read a book like this, you know that people are going to die. A lot of people.

And yet...

I am so glad I read this book.

I'm glad I pushed past the first chapter when the voice of Death as narrator being almost pretentiously literary threatened to drive me up a wall.  I'm glad I became swept up in the life of a little German girl who's love of reading leads to her stealing books. I'm glad I was introduced to her adoptive father who simply must be one of the best parents in all of literature. I'm glad I had an excuse to add a few choice German words to my vocabulary. I'm glad I got to watch Ruby play soccer and meet Max, the skin and bones Jew who lived in the basement and wrote stories on repainted pages of Mien Kampf.

The story is gripping, tragic, bittersweet, and unforgettable  The writing is crisp, literary, magical, and haunting. The pace is both quick enough to keep your attention and slow enough to build the drama of the unavoidable climax into a fervent tension... Death teases us with glimpses of the future as a way of at once warning us (giving our hearts time to harden) and making us quake with anticipation.

This is one of those up-all-night-reading-instead-of-sleeping books that will trouble your heart, challenge your mind, and enrich your life.

Don't be daunted by the length.

Read this book.

The Wednesday Sisters

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

This book has a video preview!



Clayton's novel about a sisterhood of housewives in Palto Alto California in the late 60s is everything a book about a sisterhood should be.

We have five different women who while being distinct enough that almost every female reader can find someone to identify with also have enough in common to make their eventual bonding not only believable but encouraged.

We have the end of the 60s and the turmoil of the US in terms of Civil Rights, Women's Rights, and the world at large changing.

We have the theme of empowerment that ties the Miss america pageant into the quest for self expression and drive.

We have a shared dream that is illustrated in a variety of ways... but is no less powerful for being done differently  (This, is perhaps my favorite bit about this book... the focus is following your dream, not anyone else's  So what if your dream is to write something no one else might ever see.... if your goal was to write it and you did, then you succeeded!)

We have female bonding over typical "female" issues of children, marriage, etc... and then we have female bonding through cancer. Through it all we have the focus being on the bonding itself andthe challenges play second fiddle to the strength that the women find in each other.

If the ending is a bit cavity inducing, well we can forgive it because sometimes, even in the midst of drama or turmoil, we cna find a moment to laugh with our friends and in that freeze frame second, we are living in someone's happily ever after.

Clayton does a great job of bringing five different women to life and making each one someone to root for. All in all, the book is a quick read with messages of hope, perseverance , and above all, the importance of close friendships, a funny and mostly light hearted read that is well worth the time.