A Fall of Marigolds

 A Fall of Marigolds describes a scarf that is at the center of two different tragedies, taking place nearly 100 years apart. Susan Meissner use this to connect a story of loss at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911 and the terror attacks in 2001 that brought down the World Trade Center towers.

In 1911, Clara is a nurse in New York City when she witnesses the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and suffers what she perceives as a great loss. She signs up to be a nurse on Ellis Island, so she can be in New York, but at an in-between place, that doesn't hold the meaning of Manhattan. There she meets an immigrant wearing the beautiful scarf. Clara learns that the scarf holds many secrets.

In Manhattan in 2011, approaching the 10 year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Taryn learns that there's a photo of her in People magazine wearing a scarf (the scarf) that she had just picked up from a client earlier that morning. Had she not picked up the scarf, more than likely she would have perished in the attack.

The dual story lines sounded very much up my alley, and even as I read the novel, I was interested to see how the two stories would be connected. In the end, the novel fell flat for me. It was more romance than historical fiction. There wasn't much to Taryn's story and while Clara's story was more compelling, it lacked something for me that I can't really specify. As to how the two stories connected in the end, I think I expected more.

This novel has gotten high praise in Renee's Reading Club, the group I belong to on Facebook, so it does hold a lot of appeal for others. But for me, it was just okay. A quick, easy, fluffy read. Which makes me wonder - how can a book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and 9/11 seem fluffy?

The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street

I don’t know where I first heard about The Crazy Ladies of Pearl Street (and why do I often see it written as The Crazyladies...), but it’s been on my radar for quite a long time. Probably since it first was published. I guess I had an interest in reading it because my husband spent part of his growing up time living on Pearl Street. I really had no idea what to expect about this Trevanian autobiographical novel. No idea when it was set or who the characters were. And Trevanian? A mononymous author? What was up with that?

Turns out that this novel is set on North Pearl Street, Albany, in the 1930s. The mostly Irish part of Pearl Street. My husband lived on the other end of Pearl Street, the Italian part of Pearl Street in the late 1950s or early 60s. I envisioned relaying anecdotes from the novel to my husband about the place where he had called home. That turned out not to be the case.

I’m not really sure where the word crazyladies comes in to play. Yes, there were some crazy ladies living on Pearl Street. But the story wasn’t about them. They were merely the supporting characters in the story of Jean-Luc’s time on North Pearl Street. Were his experiences unique to unique to Pearl Street? Or could this story have been set in any poor immigrant neighborhood in the time after the Depression until shortly after World War II?

I liked the snarkiness of the first person narrative, and I loved the use of language. Otherwise, the novel dragged on and I pushed myself to read it quickly… so I could be finished with it. It was good enough that I didn’t want to drop it, but it was keeping me away from books that I imagined I’d like a lot better.

In reading reviews, it seems that fans of other works by Travanian seem to appreciate this one a little bit more. But after slogging through this novel, I have no intention of slogging through another by him.

 

Sima's Undergarments for Women

There's a kind of random story about Sima's Undergarments for Women. For years, I'd been hearing about how great our library's biggest fundraiser each year, the library book fair, is. If you get there early, there are great books available at reasonable prices. If you go later into the book fair,  you can fill a bag with books for just $5. I'm really a library kind of person so I was torn. Did I really want to buy any books? Did I want to support the library? Wanting to support the library won out. I showed up with bag and browsed the mostly picked off selections. I didn't find any books that I really wanted to read, imagining those got scooped up the first day. However, I found a few books that I wouldn't mind reading and then kept on browsing in an attempt to fill my bag. I'm not sure what attracted me to Sima's Undergarments for Women. Not a book I'd ever heard of. I was unfamiliar with the author. I must have scanned the back of the book and read the blurb, saw that it took place in Brooklyn, my hometown, and took it home. Now, remember that I live in rural central Florida. Kind of random that this book was at our library book fair.

The bag of books sat around for almost a year! Then, the photography prompt for one of my daily photo groups on Facebook was books or stack or something like that. I headed towards the book fair bag. (This is when I picked up Letters for Emily, part of this same book fair haul. I also took out The Violin of Auschwitz and Sima's Undergarments for Women.) I read Letters for Emily and The Violin of Auschwitz almost immediately. But for some reason, Sima just sat on the table in the family. And sat. And sat. Until the other day.

I added Sima to my goodreads that night. The next morning, I got a message from a Brooklyn friend of mine. Did I realize that the author, Ilana Stanger-Ross, was a graduate of the same high school that I graduated from? Nope. I had no idea. Then I wondered, will this make me enjoy the novel more? Since my mother identified so much with our high school (she graduated from the same high school, too), if anything, it made me think of my mom. And that's always good.

Sima is a 60-something secular Jew living in Borough Park, Brooklyn, the neighborhood where she'd grown up. She runs a lingerie store out of her basement (which is a thing in Borough Park). In walks Timna, a beautiful Israeli, who just happens to need a job that Sima happens to have open. Once Timna is in Sima's life, it really stirs up memories of when Sima first found out that she and her husband, Lev, weren't going to have children and all the feelings associated with that.

I don't often read novels about 60-somethings in Brooklyn so I felt the connection. I enjoyed Stanger-Ross' writing style and enjoyed the book.

Red at the Bone

I'd read some Jacqueline Woodson as a fifth grade teacher so thought I'd give this novel a try. Red at the Bone is the story of a family, told from the perspective of each of the family members. It is about how one action leads all involved to a certain lifetime. The timeline of the story is disjointed, with each family member reflecting back to moments in the past, moments that are defining and dictate the future of them all. But that's okay. That's how the reader is able to get to the heart of each of the characters.

The novel starts with Melody celebrating her 16th birthday which is a milestone in her family. She's surrounded by her mother, her father, her grandparents and dear friends. Melody is wearing the dress that was bought for her mother 16 years earlier, that her mother, Iris, was unable to wear because of her unplanned pregnancy.

Woodson includes significant historical moments. The Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921. The attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. She includes themes of race, coming of age, self-discovery, poverty, education, commitment to family, and life choices.

It was a very deep book. It might not be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

The Orphan Collector

In my current obsession with pandemic books, I chose to read Ellen Marie Wiseman's new historical fiction, The Orphan Collector. It was highly recommended in Renee's Reading Club on Facebook and it had great reviews on goodreads.com. I had high hopes. They were somewhat dashed.

The Orphan Collector takes place in Philadelphia in 1918 during the flu pandemic. German-born 13-year old Pia lives in the Fifth Ward with her mother and infant twin brothers. Her father, in a desire to show that he stands with his adopted country, is in France fighting in World War I for the United States. After Pia's mother is struck down by the flu, she is determined to care for her brothers until her father comes home. She leaves to get food for her brothers, leaving them at home. When she eventually returns, her brothers are missing. The novel is about Pia's guilt over her brothers' disappearance and her search for answers.

I'm not sure what it was about this book that I didn't like all that much. It was a page turner. I read it quickly and I did feel somewhat invested in Pia. Finn was definitely my favorite character in the book. I picked up one little Philadelphia geographical "error." When Pia was being taken to the orphanage, I could have sworn they were heading west. Yet she was able to see the Delaware River from the play yard at the orphanage. Small thing, and maybe I'm remembering incorrectly. That's not a reason for me to not like a novel, though. Maybe it's because there was no context given to the "orphan trains." Or because of the way the author handled Pia's "special gift." I wish I could pinpoint what the issue was.

Even with that, I would recommend you read this is if you want pandemic fiction.

The Book of Lost Names

 

As I was reading Kristin Harmel’s latest historical fiction, The Book of Lost Names, I kept feeling like I’d read this book before. Which would be impossible since it was just published in July of this year. It’s based on a true story so there’s a definite possibility that other novels with similar story lines were based on similar true stories. Overall, the book was unique. I felt like a snippet here was like one novel, another snippet reminded me of another novel. None of that, however, kept me from finishing the book in just a few days. It was a very engaging story.

 Eva Abrams is an 80-something year old librarian in Florida when she spots a New York Times article about books confiscated by the Germans during World War II that are now being returned to their rightful owners. The book pictured with the article is a book that Eva claims as her own. During the war, after escaping from Paris to the Free Zone, Eva falls into a job as a forger of documents to help refugees escape to Switzerland. As she creates new identities for children, she finds a way to record the actual names of the children too young to remember who they really were need to be recorded somewhere so their true identities can be preserved.  She and her fellow forger, Remy, create a code within a religious tome. Hence, “the book of lost names.”

 I highly recommend The Book of Lost Names.

The Saturday Wife

At our last synagogue book club meeting, one of the members suggested a Naomi Ragen novel for our next book. She described the plot line and it sounded interesting. 

“Beautiful, blonde, materialistc Delilah Levy steps into a life she could have never imagined when in a moment of panic she decides to marry a sincere Rabbinical student. But the reality of becoming a paragon of virtue for a demanding and hypocritical congregation leads sexy Delilah into a vortex of shocking choices which spiral out of comtrol into a catastrophe which is as sadly believeable as it is wildly amusing.”

Until I went to enter The Saturday Wife into goodreads.com, I had no recollection of reading the book. None at all! I had written just one comment as my review that first time, simply that the main character reminded me of a friend of my mom’s.

The Saturday Wife is Delilah’s story. From her days in college looking for an Orthodox Jewish husband to her life with Chaim, her husband, the rabbi. I don’t get the sense that Delilah was raised in a completely traditional Orthodox household. I wish Ragen had given us a little bit more of a backstory about Delilah. She seemed knowledgeable about the laws and customs, but it didn’t seem to come naturally to her. It seemed like she was always, from high school thru the last page of the novel, always on the sidelines, waiting to be picked to play on the cool girls' punchball team.

Chaim’s first job after his ordination as a rabbi was at his grandfather’s Orthodox shul in an aging community in the Bronx. At first Delilah thought she could be happy in that life. But then she realizes that she wants more. Chaim and Delilah take an interesting route to get from the Bronx to a wealthy, younger community somewhere in Connecticut. Ragen infuses some humor by using caricatures as the supporting characters. Although maybe they aren’t caricatures. Maybe the supporting characters are pretty authentic in a sadly ridiculous way. I’m guessing that I didn’t appreciate the humor the first time I read this since at the time I was in the member of a congregation that could have been the Conservative version of Swallow Lake. Since I can't recall reading the book, I'm exactly sure what I thought about the book, but maybe I was too close to it. I’m so far removed from that in my rereading that I did find the humor less biting and more funny.

It can’t be easy being the wife of a rabbi (or the spouse of a clergy). You become the unpaid employee of the congregation and you’re expected to live to a much higher standard than a mere congregant while living your life under a magnifying glass. This second time around, I was once again reminded of my mom’s friend, the rebbetzin. Her life could not have been easy. Heck, I know that her life wasn't easy!

I look forward to discussing this with my synagogue book club next month.

The Vanishing Half

 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett has appeared on so many different lists of books to be read since it came out in early June. It’s the story of twins, Desiree and Stella, and their respective daughters.  Desiree and Stella grew up in the 1960s in rural Louisiana. The town they lived in wasn’t even on the map or in any atlas. Desiree couldn’t wait to leave. It took more to convince Stella that it was time to go.

 

The twins lived in a “colored town” where everyone was light-skinned. Did that impact the way they understood race? They witnessed something pretty traumatic in their young lives which shows itself in their later lives in small ways.

 

After running away to New Orleans together, Stella next runs away from Desiree. At that point, the two sisters who had always been two halves of a whole, Desiree’s and Stella’s lives go in totally different directions. Stella marries a very dark-skinned man and has a daughter who is described as “blue black.” Stella decides to pass as white which she does quite successfully. She marries a white man who has no idea about Stella’s past.

 

The plot is a bit contrived. There are lots of unlikely coincidences. However, this novel about being true to yourself – and what that means – gives the reader so much to think about. It would be a great book for a book club to discuss. There’s that much there, not all directly tied to the plot line.

 

I only gave this novel 4 stars on goodreads.com. However, I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to think about how he or she thinks about race and identity.

The Pull of the Stars

 

The Pull of the Stars was my third novel by Emma Donoghue. (I first read Room, and more recently, in 2017, read Hood.) I think that The Pull of the Stars is my favorite. Donoghue started writing this novel, about 3 days in a maternity ward in a Dublin hospital for women suffering with influenza during the 1918 flu pandemic, in 2018. She submitted it to her published right about the time that the world learned that we were at the start of yet another global pandemic. Talk about being prescient!

 

What really astounded me were things that Donoghue wrote about 1918 Dublin that could be written about “Anywhere, USA” right now. Wacky treatments, conspiracy theories, propaganda. Patients being treated in storage rooms. Giving credit to frontline healthcare workers for going the extra mile.

 

All that was set against the backdrop of 1918 Dublin, in the midst of World War I and Ireland’s political upheaval.

 

This, however, is really a novel about women. Women’s lives, women’s friendships. The central character is Nurse Julia who lives with her brother, Tim, who was left mute by what he had seen during his combat days. She’s put in charge of a makeshift maternity ward, just for those women who have been diagnosed with influenza. The mothers-to-be had varying degrees of symptoms and came from a variety of  social circumstances. On Julia’s first day in charge, a young woman, Bridey, who thinks she’s “about 22” years old, appears out of nowhere and  becomes an amazing help to Julia in keeping things going in the ward.

This book might not be for everyone, but I enjoyed this well-written, totally engaging novel.

New York: The Novel

I can't honestly say if I would have loved New York: The Novel as much as I did if I wasn't born and raised in New York City. But I couldn't help thinking that I was reading about my history and not just the history of a city. I loved it. When I got to the end, I wished the book went on to cover the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. (Which takes me back to my big question - how does this crisis end?)

Edward Rutherfurd's massive tome takes us from the Dutch New Amsterdam of the 1600s to New York City after the fall of the World Trade Center. This was truly accessible history. Rutherfurd tells the story of the history of New York by following the stories of just a few families through the centuries. There's a Dutch family, a Native American family, an English family, an African slave family, an Irish family, an Italian family and a Jewish family. The histories of the families, in many cases, intersect on more than one occasion, making for an interesting saga. There's old money, new money, no money. There's business history and art history. The characters live through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the building of the railroad, Tammany Hall, The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and, of course, the terror attack of 9/11/2001.

As much as the exact details of the history over the ages is different, so many things remain the same. I highlighted many passages from the book that ring so true to today. Haven't we learned anything from the mistakes and misuses of power that have gone on in the past?

The characters are authentic, the dialogue is authentic, the history matches what I've learned before. I'd highly recommend this novel.