Carol's Comments December 2019

Carol’s Comments December 2019

Hello Everyone! Welcome to another issue of Carol’s Comments. When I posted my last column in August, I thought I wouldn’t write another blog until next spring. However, after reading three incredibly irresistible books this autumn, I knew I had to share them with my readers before the Christmas holidays.

While browsing the St. Joseph County Public Library’s web site in early September, I noticed an intriguing feature which matched books to a person’s astrological sign. I’m a Pisces so I wanted to discover what books might correspond with my artistic, sensitive, intuitive and incurably romantic nature. The only two books that interested me were Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus which I already reviewed in 2015 when it was the featured selection for St. Joseph County Public Library’s One Book, One Michiana campaign and the 2010 National Book Award winner  Just Kids by Patti Smith. I quickly put a hold on Smith’s autobiography and had to wait awhile since the library only owned one copy. It was definitely worth it.

Smith’s fascinating memoir lovingly chronicles her unconventional relationship with avant garde artist Robert Mapplethorpe in 1960s and 1970s New York. 

Born only a month apart in 1946, they meet each other accidently in 1967 in the East Village, where they soon live together leading a bohemian hippie lifestyle as “starving artists.”  Mapplethorpe’s artistic focus becomes very controversial as his art, sculpture and photography trend toward a fascination with death, freaks and his own homosexuality.

Smith’s and Mapplethorpe’s luck dramatically changes when they move to the Chelsea Hotel.  To make a living and support Mapplethorpe through his artistic endeavors, Patti Smith, a voracious reader and poet, works at Scribner Books on 5^th Avenue which gives her tremendous access to the literary and artistic minds of the late 1960s and early 1970s.  For instance, the couple’s neighbors at the Chelsea Hotel included such rock and roll greats like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin along with Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane.  

Unfortunately, Mapplethorpe’s homosexuality and excessive and reckless psychedelic drug abuse eventually alters their relationship, However, after Smith begins her own career as a poet and rock musician in the 1980s , she continues to support Mapplethorpe after his AIDS diagnosis and until his tragic death from the disease at age 42 on March 9, 1989. Ultimately, Just Kids is a very unique, poignant and devastatingly heartbreaking tribute to an unconventional friendship between star-crossed artists.

While visiting the River Park Branch Library a few weeks later, I found my next book accidently when I picked up the current issue of BookPage which featured Lara Prescott’s debut novel The Secrets We Kept on the cover. After reading a very insightful interview with Prescott where she described her motivation for writing her first novel, I knew I must read and review it,

Primarily set in Washington D.C. during the Cold War 1950s, Prescott’s new novel vividly depicts how the CIA secretly attempted to smuggle Dr. Zhivago into the Soviet Union as a propaganda tool to influence Russian minds about the reality of the Soviet political system and its subversive effects on Russian society. 

The narrative alternates between the West (Washington D.C.) and the East (Russia) where the plot focuses on Boris Pasternak and his longtime mistress/lover Olga Ivinskaya, Pasternak’s inspiration for Lara Antipova in his Nobel Prize winning masterpiece.

In the Washington D.C. subplot, the storyline revolves around Irina Drozdova, a young CIA typist of Russian descent. Because of her ethnic background, the fledgling typist is later recruited to become a spy and learn how to clandestinely transport secret documents around Washington D.C. (and later internationally) without suspicion. Her supervisor assigns seasoned former OSS operative and propagandist Sally Forrester to train Irina. Sally and Irina’s professional relationship soon develops into a deeper friendship which will have a profound effect on them forever.

Although the Washington D.C. section of the book dealing with CIA typists turned spies was a bit melodramatic, the plot was still very riveting especially the ingenious ways CIA operatives smuggled copies of Dr. Zhivago back to Russia attempting to use literature as a weapon against communism. For example, the CIA needed Russian language editions to appear to be published in Europe so Soviet officials wouldn’t suspect it was American propaganda when Pasternak’s novel was distributed to Russian readers at the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels or the 1959 Vienna World Youth Festival.

My favorite part of Prescott’s novel centered on Boris Pasternak’s mistress Olga Ivinskaya and her fervent attempts to protect Dr. Zhivago and the man she loved from the KGB/Soviet regime. I thought these chapters realistically captured the Soviet Union during the Cold War period in the 1950s particularly the three years she spent in the Gulag prison system.  I highly recommend this absorbing novel (and a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick) to anyone who enjoys 20^th century historical fiction or spy thrillers.

Shortly after the new Downton Abbey movie’s September 20 release date, the Masterpiece online newsletter announced that Elizabeth McGovern (aka Lady Cora Grantham) would be starring in the film adaptation of The Chaperone, Laura Moriarty’s 2012 novel. I definitely knew I wanted to read Moriarty’s book before the movie aired November 24 on PBS.

The Chaperone  takes place in 1922 Wichita, Kansas  where future silent film star teenage Louise Brooks needs a chaperone to attend the prestigious Denishawn Dance School for several weeks during the summer in New York City. 36 year old Wichita matron Cora Carlisle eagerly volunteers to accompany her as her chaperone. 

Cora hopes this adventure will help unearth a secret from her past that she has revealed to no one for over 30 years. Through flashbacks, the reader learns that Cora was an orphan in New York City who was transported on an orphan train by the Children’s Aid Society and adopted by a kind childless couple in rural Kansas.

While mischievous Louise Brooks perfects her dancing skills at the Denishawn studio, Cora has whole afternoons to rediscover and explore her origins, even possibly locating her birth parents. Although the book’s main plot is supposed to center on Louise Brooks, it is really more about Cora Carlisle’s unique journey of self-discovery by revisiting and reconciling her past with her present life. 

After finishing Moriarty’s captivating book, I couldn’t wait to see the film version. Fortunately, I discovered that I didn’t need to wait until November 24 to view it. As an Amazon Prime member, The Chaperone was available as a 7 day free subscription on Prime Video’s Masterpiece channel. I signed up immediately in mid-October.

The movie version of Moriarty’s novel directed by Michael Engler and a screenplay written by Julian Fellowes stars Downton Abbey’s Elizabeth McGovern as (now re-named) Norma Carlisle and Haley Lu Richardson as the vivacious and charismatic Louise Brooks.

The film begins in 1942 when Norma Carlisle visits 36 year old Louise Brooks at her mother’s home after she learns that the former actress has returned to Wichita desolate and discouraged. 

Told in flashback, the movie jumps back twenty years to 1922 when Norma accompanies Louise to New York for a few weeks so the unruly but talented 16 year old can attend dancing classes at the Denishawn  Dance Studio. Unlike the book, the film concentrates more on the 1922 New York adventure and shows Norma’s earlier life as an orphan in subtle mental flashbacks and dreams during Norma’s travels with Louise. 

Although the movie’s set and costume design authentically depicted New York and Wichita during the 1920s, I thought Moriarty’s novel more realistically portrayed Louise Brook’s scandalous, impetuous behavior befitting a free spirited flapper. The movie seemed to downplay these aspects. Richardson’s portrayal was very enchanting but appeared more vulnerable than uninhibited.  I recommend reading Moriarty’s novel first to fully appreciate the film version. Despite these flaws, The Chaperone is an excellent addition to the Masterpiece lineup.

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 sjcpl.lib.in.us for additional information. Thanks for reading! Merry Christmas and see you all next time in 2020!