Carol's Comments December 2015

Carol’s Comments December 2015

Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of Carol’s Comments. After spending the whole summer with Harper Lee, I wanted to take a leisurely getaway reading an assortment of fiction that would magically transport me to many of my favorite places.

I first selected Dream Lover, the new novel by Elizabeth Berg which chronicles the unconventional life of 19^th century French writer George Sand. The book begins in 1831 when Aurore Dupin (later known as George Sand) leaves her husband and two children to pursue a bohemian lifestyle as a writer in Paris. The narrative alternates between the author’s avant- garde life from1831 through her death in 1876 and her childhood mainly spent at Nohant, her grandmother’s family estate.

Berg’s sensuous writing style vividly captures Sand’s fascinating romantic relationships and friendships with both men and women notably Frédéric Chopin, actress Marie Dorval, poet Alfred de Musset, Gustave Flaubert and Victor Hugo.

Although I usually prefer novels under 600 pages, I thought that for this book, Berg should have delved deeper into Sand’s later life. These final chapters especially those dealing with her affair with Chopin and friendship with Flaubert seemed rather rushed and sketchy. I expected more from a fictional biography about such a unique writer like George Sand and felt very disappointed after I finished it.

As many of my readers know, I absolutely adored The Paris Wife, Paula McLain’s bestselling book about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson .So when I read positive reviews in the New York Times and Entertainment Weekly about her current novel Circling the Sun, it really piqued my interest.

Set mostly in early 20^th century Kenya, East Africa, McLain’s historical novel focuses on Beryl Markham, famous aviatrix and author of West With the Night, her autobiography published in 1942.

In 1906 when Beryl is 4 years old, her father uproots his family from England to start a horse farm in Kenya called Green Hills. Shortly afterward, her mother abandons her husband and young daughter and returns to England with Beryl’s younger brother Richard.

Raised by her father, Beryl grows up into a rebellious, headstrong and passionate young woman. When her father loses Green Hills due to bankruptcy, at sixteen she impetuously marries local landowner Jock Purves which turns into a disastrous mistake. To escape from this loveless marriage, Beryl becomes the first licensed female racehorse trainer in Kenya.

Most importantly, Beryl’s life would profoundly change forever when she becomes good friends with Karen Blixen (also known as Isak Dinesen) author of Out of Africa). Their lives would strangely intertwine because of both women’s complicated love for nonconformist adventurer Denys Finch Hatton.

Through Hatton’s strong encouragement, Beryl learns to fly airplanes after her second marriage to British aristocrat Mansfield Markham crumbles. Eventually she becomes the first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean from east to west on September 4, 1936, the most crowning achievement in aviation history.

Although this novel was somewhat entertaining at times, McLain’s narrative seemed too condensed and rather melodramatic. I wish the author would have concentrated more on Markham’s remarkably successful career as an aviator. The reader only gets a glimpse of this achievement in the book’s prologue and epilogue. I would have preferred more adventure than soap opera.

After reading two very bland, mediocre novels, I hoped I could find some very imaginative fiction to lift my spirits. After browsing the New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller List online one weekend, I read a synopsis of The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. This marvelous book turned out to be exactly what I yearned for.

Set in 2013, The Little Paris Bookshop centers on Monsieur Jean Perdu, an eccentric bookseller who owns the Literary Apothecary, a bookstore located on a barge floating on the Seine River. Perdu has an uncanny, intuitive ability of selecting the perfect book that will ease a customer’s particular emotional malady. Unfortunately he cannot find a remedy for his own heartbreak of losing his true love Manon twenty one years ago.

After reading a long forgotten letter that explains the real reason why his lover left him so abruptly, Perdu sets out on a personal journey of both self-discovery and healing on the book barge to Southern France (specifically Manon’s hometown Bonnieux in Provence). He reluctantly lets his friend the young bestselling author Max Jordan ( who’s currently suffering from severe writer’s block) to join him.

Before he arrives at his final destination in Provence, Perdu spends the summer emotionally healing in Sanary, a town near Marseilles. Only then can he reconcile his past with Manon and finally move forward.

In an imaginative twist, the author intersperses entries from Manon’s diary throughout the story so the reader can learn her view about the love affair.

At the end of the novel, Nina George includes two unexpected treats that will delight food enthusiasts and book lovers alike. First, she compiles a small recipe collection of cuisine unique to Southern France. It features such scrumptious offerings as Pistou, a Provencal vegetable soup, Lamb Cutlets with Garlic Flan and Lavender Ice Cream. Yum!

Being an ardent bibliophile, my favorite section is Jean Perdu’s Emergency Literary Pharmacy. This quirky and rather eclectic glossary comically suggests books that will alleviate particular emotional ailments. For instance, Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is effective in large doses for treating pathological optimism. Its primary side effect is an aversion to owning things and a tendency of staying in your robe all day.

I think the funniest book remedy is for reading the short story, The Machine Stops  by E.M. Forster. The story needs to be carefully handled in small doses because it’s an effective antidote for blind faith in iPhones and cures Facebook addiction.

Of all the books I read for this blog, The Little Paris Bookshop was an unexpected pleasant surprise. It offered emotional comfort to me when I needed it the most. This charming novel is a bittersweet modern fairy tale of love, loss and the healing power of reading. I enthusiastically recommend it to anyone who needs a literary hug. You will not be disappointed.

Ironically, I finished reading The Little Paris Bookshop a few days before the Paris terrorist attacks on November 13^th. I’d like to dedicate this blog to Paris, my favorite city. Although I’ve never personally visited the City of Light, I’ve enjoyed studying French language, history and culture my whole life by mentally traveling there through books and film. I absolutely love this city! Je t’adore Paris!

All the books reviewed in this column can be found at most local public libraries. My readers in St Joseph County, Indiana can visit the St Joseph County Public Library’s web site at libraryforlife.org  for more information. Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas and see you all again in 2016!

Carol's Comments September 2015

Carol’s Comments September 2015

Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of Carol’s Comments. Just like every avid reader in America, I eagerly awaited the publication of Go Set a Watchman, the recently discovered first novel by Harper Lee. Although I’ve seen the 1962 film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird starring Oscar winner Gregory Peck many times, I confess that I’ve never read Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning book – not even when the St Joseph County Public Library chose it for the first One Book, One Michiana event in 2010. So after watching the movie again one Saturday evening on Turner Classic Movies, I decided to read To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time before Go Set a Watchman “debuted” on July 14^th.

Set in Depression era Alabama, Lee’s marvelous coming of age novel focuses on young Scout (Jean Louise) Finch who acts as the story’s principal narrator. Scout, a feisty, headstrong tomboy vividly recalls childhood adventures with her older brother Jem and her friend Dill Harris, modeled on her real life friend Truman Capote. The children’s main preoccupation for three years revolves around finding a way to make neighborhood recluse Arthur “Boo” Radley come out of the mysterious Radley home.

More importantly, Scout’s central and most revered person in her life is her father Atticus Finch, the town’s well respected lawyer. When Atticus defends Tom Robinson, a black man unjustly accused of raping a white woman, the townspeople ridicule him. However, he believes he must defend him due to legal principle that all people deserve justice despite their race.

Unfortunately, the racially biased jury unjustly convicts Robinson of raping Mayella Ewell without any credible evidence. Because of this bigotry, Atticus cannot even appeal the verdict because this undeserved sentence leads to a tragic outcome for his client. By witnessing their father’s struggles during Tom Robinson’s rape trial, Scout and Jem learn firsthand about the gravity of prejudice.

The children’s fascination with Boo Radley and the trial’s ramifications eventually converge when Boo saves the Finch children from Bob Ewell’s revenge on Halloween night. Through this heroic act Scout meets her secret friend for the first time.

Filled with memorable characters along with serious themes about social injustice, racism and empathy, To Kill a Mockingbird still remains the most important and controversial book in modern American literature.

After finishing Harper Lee’s classic novel, I took a leisurely literary journey to Louisiana and re-read my favorite coming of age novel from the 1990s, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. 

The novel begins in 1993 when Siddalee (Sidda) Walker, a successful theater director becomes estranged from her vivacious and extremely unconventional mother Vivi Abbott Walker after a New York Times interview article calls her mother a “tap dancing  child abuser” Very hurt and perplexed by her mother’s rejection, Sidda retreats to a remote cabin outside Seattle to reassess and reflect on her complicated relationship with her mother as well as her upcoming marriage to her fiancé, Connor McGill. 

After many futile attempts to contact her mother, Vivi finally sends Sidda her treasured scrapbook, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Vivi hopes the memorabilia, letters and keepsakes found in this album will help her daughter understand how her mother’s secrets, sorrows and personal relationships during her childhood and adolescence profoundly shaped her.

Alternating between the present (1993) and flashbacks from the 1930s through the 1960s, the novel consists of pivotal episodes from Vivi’s past. For instance, in 1937 when Vivi was eleven, she and her three girlfriends created the Ya-Ya Sisterhood which would form an unique and lasting bond between them. Together the four friends would share many fun adventures together such as attending the 1939 premiere of Gone With the Wind in Atlanta and participating in a Shirley Temple lookalike contest in 1932.

By reviewing these items in her mother’s scrapbook, Sidda begins to realize how past events in her mother’s life had a significant impact on their complex and tumultuous relationship. Both Sidda and the reader learn that nostalgia can blur traumatic events from the past. 

Published in 1992, Rebecca Wells’ first novel Little Altars Everywhere also featured the Walker family, I suggest reading this book after Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood because  Little Altars Everywhere is a companion rather than a prequel to the second novel.

The book consists of two parts. The first section includes Sidda Walker’s and her family’s recollections about living in the 1960s. These vignettes told from different viewpoints describe funny as well as more somber memories.  For example, one of the more comical ones describes Vivi Walker’s stint as a very unconventional Girl Scout troop leader.

The novel’s second half dramatically shifts in tone. Set in the 1990s, Sidda Walker and her siblings recall incidents in their childhood as they actually happened.  Every testimonial focuses on the emotional, physical and sexual abuse each child endured from their mentally unbalanced, alcoholic mother. Little Altars Everywhere gives the reader a realistic and deeply disturbing look at family dysfunction.

When July 14^th finally arrived, I was extremely excited that Go Set a Watchman was now available. I had put a hold on the book at the library back in May so I’d be one of the first patrons to read it. When I received an email the next day informing me that a brand new copy was ready for pickup, I rushed over to the River Park Branch to check it out. When I started Harper Lee’s “new” novel, I believed I could evaluate it more objectively because I had no preconceived notions or youthful sentimentality toward To Kill a Mockingbird or its iconic characters because I just recently read the 1960 classic for the first time.

Set in 1952, Jean Louise (Scout) Finch now 26 returns home to visit her ailing father Atticus Finch, In the first 100 pages, Go Set a Watchman is a rather ordinary story mainly centering on Jean Louise’s indecisiveness about marrying her childhood friend Henry Clinton. 

Fortunately, the novel does include several whimsical sketches that flashback to Jean Louise’s childhood and teenage years. Here are my favorites: Shortly after a 12 year old Jean Louise starts her period, a boy French kisses her. She’s convinced she’s pregnant. Then at her first high school dance, a teenage Scout wears falsies to make her figure look more alluring. When these enhancements start wandering on the dance floor, her date Henry Clinton quickly saves her from embarrassment. These funny episodes give the reader a glimpse of what To Kill a Mockingbird would later become.

Then exactly on page 100, the plot completely changes when Jean Louise discovers the racist pamphlet The Black Plague on her father’s table. After learning from her Aunt Alexandra that her father has also joined the Maycomb County Citizens Council, she hurries to the courthouse where a meeting has convened. 

Totally disillusioned by these startling revelations, she feels utterly betrayed by the father she always adored and tried to emulate. Jean Louise believes she can never forgive him for his views on segregation and racism.

After her Uncle Jack explains how Atticus’ unknown secrets in his past as well as the Southern culture surrounding him have shaped his character, only then can Jean Louise  accept that her father is still a decent and honorable man regardless of  his flaws. Finally her uncle gives his niece some very wise advice: “Every man’s island, Jean Louise, every man’s watchman is his conscience.”

Despite its literary inconsistencies and rather rambling writing style, the thought provoking Go Set a Watchman is To Kill a Mockingbird’s essential companion.

To learn about Harper Lee’s remarkable life, I highly recommend Charles J Shields’ well researched 2006 biography Mockingbird: a Portrait of Harper Lee. The most fascinating chapters explore Lee’s life as a struggling writer in New York during the 1950s specifically her editor’s thoughtful guidance with the 2 ½ year transformation of her first manuscript Go Set a Watchman into To Kill a Mockingbird.

The books reviewed in this blog can be found at most local public libraries. My readers in St Joseph County, Indiana can visit the St Joseph County Public Library’s web site at libraryforlife.org for more information. Thanks for reading! See you all next time.

Carol's Comments June 2015

Carol’s Comments June 2015

Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue  of  Carol’s Comments. I have to admit that although I thoroughly enjoyed the supernatural themed novel Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore a few years ago, I much prefer watching fantasy than reading it. So when the St Joseph County Library announced that The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern would be the featured selection for 2015’s One Book, One Michiana event, I approached the 2011 best seller cautiously yet curiously. 

Morgenstern’s enchantingly surreal novel begins when a strange, mysterious circus which only opens at night, suddenly appears at an undisclosed location anywhere in the world. Set mainly in late nineteenth century London and New York, Morgenstern’s book is actually the unconventional love story between competing young illusionists Celia Bowen and Marco Alisdair. The Night Circus (aka Le Cirque des Reves) primarily serves as the arena for their magical battle.

Through a non-linear episodic plot, the reader learns how Celia’s father, magician Hector Bowen (aka Prospero the Enchanter) and Marco’s mentor, the elusive and menacing grey suited Alexander train their pupils for the impending contest.

Celia and Marco aren’t conventional magicians. They both possess incredible supernatural powers. For instance, at age six, Celia could move and transform objects with her mind and has self-healing abilities. By age sixteen, her father insisted that she work as a spiritualist so she could strengthen her clairvoyant gifts.

Conversely, Marco has more subtle powers. For example, he can create alternate realities anywhere. The most extraordinary way he displays this illusion is by creating intricate models that would suddenly appear at the Night Circus as spellbinding attractions within dream-like inter-connecting tents. Finally, his most amazing achievement is allowing all the circus’s performers and its organizers (except Poppet and Widget Murray who were born at the circus’s inception) to never age.

Marco first meets Celia in April 1886 when she auditions as an illusionist for Marco’s benefactor, the illustrious and eccentric Chandresh Christophe Lefevre who created the circus at one of his opulent Midnight Dinners in London. Both unaware of their opponent’s identity, complications ensue when Celia and Marco fall in love.

When the circus debuts in October 1886, it becomes wildly popular. Le Cirque des Reves seductively exudes a hypnotic ambience that is very tantalizing to anyone who patronizes it.

For instance, Herr Friedrick Thiessen (the man who designed the elaborate black and white clock which soon becomes the circus’ beckoning centerpiece) forms the Reveurs. These obsessive fans who wear black clothing and red scarfs to match the circus’ motif, religiously follow the circus wherever it goes. Eventually this group plays a pivotal role in the circus’ survival.

Ultimately, the circus, along with all of its performers and supporters cannot exist without Celia and Marco’s mystical and intensely emotional connection.

The Night Circus’ macabre and occult elements reminded me of a cross between the Harry Potter book series and my favorite childhood gothic TV show Dark Shadows.

Just a quick side note: I personally met Erin Morgenstern at a public lecture/book signing during the One Book, One Michiana festivities. I’ve never talked with a famous New York Times bestselling author, so I will always treasure my autographed copy of The Night Circus. Thanks for writing such a bewitching story Ms. Morgenstern! I’m really looking forward to reading her next book.

After finishing The Night Circus, I still had a craving for another magical realism novel. Then I remembered how I absolutely adored Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel. I loved it so much that I actually bought myself the hardcover edition - something I rarely do. So a few weeks ago, I quickly raided my own bookcase and re-read it after twenty years.

Set against the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution, Esquivel’s beguiling novel focuses on Tita, a young woman whose emotions magically affect every recipe she prepares.

When Tita’s father dies suddenly after her birth, Tita’s mother Mama Elena has to run the family ranch. So Tita grows up under the loving tutelage of the family cook Nacha who helps her perfect her culinary skills.

Being the youngest daughter, family tradition dictates that Tita can never marry. Instead she must take care of her mother until the day she dies.

Then when Tita turns fifteen, she falls deeply in love with Pedro Muzquiz who desperately wants to marry her. Despite Tita’s fervent pleas, Mama Elena won’t allow her to marry him. Much to Tita’s dismay, she forces Pedro to marry Tita’s older sister Rosaura instead. Pedro reassures Tita that by doing this, he will always be near the sister he truly loves.

As the wedding day nears, heartbroken Tita helps Nacha prepare the wedding feast. While making the wedding cake, Tita’s tears blend into the batter. At the wedding banquet, everyone who eats the cake (including the bride) develops an intense longing for a lost love and vomits violently.

As the years progress, Tita and Pedro can only communicate sexually with each other through her scrumptious concoctions. For instance, when she prepares Quail in Rose Petal Sauce which contains roses from Pedro’s bouquet tainted with Tita’s blood when the thorns prick her fingers, this meal causes a profound sexual response in anyone who tastes it.  The dish has the most dramatic effect on Tita’s sister Gertrudis. She becomes so sexually aroused that while taking a shower outside to quench the burning desire inside her, the wooden shower bursts into flames. As she runs naked in the fields, the roses’ aroma attracts one of Pancho Villa’s rebels. His uncontained lust compels him to lift Gertrudis up and make passionate love to her on horseback.

Ultimately, Esquivel’s erotic fairy tale paints an exquisite portrait of forbidden, star-crossed love. This wonderfully enchanting story was so fascinating that I read it in one weekend.

For my readers who enjoy foreign films, I highly recommend watching the Spanish movie adaption of this book Como Agua Para Chocolate produced and directed by Alfonso Arau.

Despite minor plot changes made for continuity and dramatic effect, Laura Esquivel’s screenplay beautifully captures the sensual atmosphere of her original novel. In fact, Lumi Cavazo’s emotional portrayal of Tita was just as I imagined; something that doesn’t ordinarily happen in film adaptations.  Just like Babette’s Feast, Chocolat and Big Night, Como Agua Para Chocolate, in its luscious simplicity, ranks as one of the best food oriented films ever made.

The books and movie reviewed in this blog can be found at most local public libraries. My readers in St Joseph County, Indiana can visit the St Joseph County Public Library’s web site at libraryforlife.org for more information. Thanks for reading and have a great summer! See you all next time!