American Dirt

 

Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt is one of the most controversial, hyped books of our time. People seemed to either love it or hate it. I had it on my list but felt that I'd need a good reason to actually pick it up to read it. I'm not sure if I wrote about being invited to participate in my old book club. Since they're meeting via zoom, being in Florida is no reason why I can't participate in their NJ book club meeting!

I requested the book from the library. The wait was pretty long. So long that there was a good chance that I wouldn't get it in time. I decided that if I got it before the book club meeting, I'd read it. If I got it after, I probably wouldn't. Book came with plenty of time to read it. I finished it the day before the meeting. And then I had a scheduling conflict. For the past year, I've been sitting here doing practically nothing - and on the afternoon of this particular book club meeting, I had a scheduling conflict???? Quite disappointing.

In case you are unfamiliar with the book, it's the story of Lydia and her nearly 9-year old son, Luca. One day they were part of a happy family living in Acapulco. Lydia was the owner of a small bookstore, her husband, Sebastian, was a journalist, and Luca was just an awkward kid. Then everything changed. Sebastian was killed, as were 15 other members of Lydia's family, and Lydia and Luca were on the run from the local cartel. The story follows their trek to el Norte, the United States. 

Much of the controversy about this book is that while Cummins is Latina, she's not Mexican and she was never a migrant. Is it possible to right a good, fair story about someone that you're not? Even if you do lots of research? Even if you have people who might be more culturally attuned as pre-publication readers? I'm really not sure where I sit on this controversy.

I can only assume that much of what Cummins wrote about the migrants is close to being accurate. Perhaps that's naïve of me. I now have a better idea of what the migrant houses along the way might be like. How the migrants traveled. What the last part of the journey might be like. For me, for right now, it's close enough. To me, the power of the story was in the strength that a mother can find within herself to save her child.

What was especially eye-opening, too, was thinking about a middle class mother and her son fleeing. They were heading toward the unknown because they knew how frightening not fleeing would be. As an "American" (hmm, aren't Mexicans and Hondurans and and and... Americans, too?) I often wondered what would make a person risk making the journey. These aren't people seeking a better life. They are people running for their lives. (Which then made me wonder about my relatives leaving the Ukraine in the times of the pogroms. Is this how they felt?)

The novel left me with more questions than answers which is why I'm really sorry that I missed yesterday's book club meeting. I will have to find someone with whom I can discuss this book.

Next Year in Havana

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton is part historical fiction, part romance, and part political commentary on present-day Cuba. What I most liked about this novel, though, is that it made me think. A lot.

Growing up, spending vacations in with my cousin in Miami, I was familiar with a lot of Cubans. Looking back, though, I kind of lumped the Cubans that I knew with all the other immigrants that I knew. And I knew many of  those. Granted, I was a little kid and wouldn't have understood the details of how these Cubans ended up in Miami. But now that I do... wow!

Cubans did not come to the United States because they thought life would be better here. That's the reason why my husband and his family came  to the United States in the late 1950s. Many of the Cubans who came to the United States in the late 1950s came because life was intolerable, dangerous for many, and they had to get away. Okay, so that sounds like my family members who left Russia at the time of the pogroms. But even that's different. Because eventually all the Jewish people left the parts of Russia where my family had lived. Many Cubans, however, opted to stay. And the view of the  Cubans who stayed of the Cubans who left is quite interesting.

In some ways I compare it to the Italians who look at my husband as being someone who fled. That wasn't really the case. His parents made the decision to bring their sons to the United States for a better life. But they weren't fleeing. And the decision was not my husband's. Then again, the Cuban situation is totally different.

When travel to Cuba first opened up, my cousin (mentioned above) and I had plans to take a trip there, before all the tourist came back. Sadly, my cousin got sick and passed away and we were never able to make the trip. Reading this novel, for now, will have to suffice.

Two stories are being told here. One is the story of Elisa Perez, the daughter of a sugar baron, coming of  age. Times are turbulent, but she is extremely protected until she and her sisters sneak out of the house to attend a party of "a friend of a friend." Elisa and her family get swept into the politics of the time.

The modern story is that of Elisa's granddaughter, Marisol, who after Elisa's death travels to Cuba for the first time to scatter Elisa's ashes. And to learn about her grandmother's secrets. She was also forced to reflect upon the huge gulf existing between the Cubans who stayed in Cuba when Fidel Castro came into power and those who left.

This was a very interesting read and I believe I learned a lot.

West with Giraffes

One of the nice benefits from being an Amazon Prime member is their monthly first reads program. Every month Prime members are offered 6 to 8 titles that they can purchase for free. I'm not sure how these are selected. Some are new books, some are older. Some months there's nothing that appeals to me. Other months, I have trouble deciding which book to select.

In January, my sister-in-law texted me a recommendation to West with Giraffes, by Lynda Rutledge. I hadn't yet selected my first read title and this was one of them. My sister-in-law have pretty similar tastes in reading so off I went to download this one.

What a different tale this tells. Woodrow Wilson Nickel is an elderly man in a nursing home when he learns that giraffes are going extinct. He had an experience with giraffes back in 1938. He's over 100 and is now determined that his story about his time with the giraffes doesn't end with him.

This is a coming of age story, a story about the benefits that animals bring to the lives of the humans who interact with them, a story about remembering... and about passing along stories to those who might care about the stories being told.

Woody is a survivor of the Dust Bowl. He finds himself in New York facing yet another tragedy when he first spots the giraffes. He learns that they are traveling across the country to go live at the San Diego Zoo. This is based on a true story of the giraffes cross-country trip. It's an eloquent time piece and heartwarming to watch the way Woody grows up and develops as the story moves along.

West with Giraffes is based on a true story of the first San Diego Zoo's giraffes cross-country journey. I highly recommend.

The Lions of Fifth Avenue

 

I really, really wanted to love The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis. I mean, I love libraries. I love the look of the library on Fifth Avenue, although I was only inside once, back when I was in college. And I really love books that are set in New York City. Now, I really, really want to get back to New York City to go back into the library to explore. I spent a good amount of time hanging around outside with Patience and Fortitude, the two marble lions.

My photo taken in August 2014

The Lions of Fifth Avenue contains two mysteries, one taking place in 1914, shortly after the library first opened and the other taking place in 1993. In 1914, Jack Lyons was the superintendent of the library building and one of the perks was that his family got to live in the apartment inside the library. How cool would that be? In 1993, Sadie is working in the library as a curator. Sadie happens to be the granddaughter of Jack Lyons.

Both mysteries involved thefts of rare books, missing children, family secrets. Mystery is not my genre. Davis' characters felt very flat to me and the dialogue seemed to not be the way people were speaking in 1993. Perhaps it was true to 1914. To me, it felt inauthentic.

This novel got rave reviews in Renee's Reading Club on Facebook. So I might still recommend it, but probably only to folks who like reading mysteries.