Violeta

 

I usually enjoy epic family novels and Violeta by Isabel Allende was no exception. I especially enjoy when they are set in the context of real world events that are taking place over the course of the story.

In this novel, Violeta is born into a wealthy family in 1920 just as the Spanish flu is starting to spread throughout South America. Her family survives that intact only to suffer great losses during the Great Depression. Violeta lives through World War II and major political upheaval in South America. She manages to live long enough to die during the early days of Covid, from old age and not from the virus.

Violeta is writing the story of her life to share with Camilo, someone that from the start we realize is very important to Violeta. She wants him to have an entire family history. It's 2020, Violeta is 100 years old and it's time to get the story down on paper.

This is a novel full of love, passion, friendships, commitment and the struggles that people face. 

Allende's The Japanese Lover was the first novel of this author that I read. I really loved that epic novel, possibly a tiny bit more than I loved this one.

A Harvest of Secrets

Another waiting period for library books to become available so I once again I picked up my Amazon Prime First Reads. This one, A Harvest of Secrets by Roland Merullo, I believe was my August 2022 choice.

A Harvest of Secrets is another World War II novel. This one was set in Italy. Each book I read about the war experience in Italy gives me a totally different aspect of what the war must have been like. This novel focuses on the partisan network in Italy in a more in-depth way.

The main characters of the story are Vittoria, daughter of a prosperous vineyard owner, and Carlo, the vineyard keeper. Besides the usual problems when social classes fall in love, Vittoria and Carlo are separated during the war. She's at home with her father and brother keeping the wine business and farm going and Carlo has been conscripted and is off fighting the war. Old Paulo, the foreman of the vineyard is another key character, holding secrets from the past.

I spent a lot of time thinking as I was reading. How do you figure out (in real life) who is on what side? How do you trust anyone? And I wondered how those with different views on the war maintained their relationships.

I was on the fence over whether I should round my 3.5-star rating in my head to 3-stars or 4- on Goodreads and ultimately went with rounding up. It was a well-written, engaging story that made me think. A lot.

I'm going to leave you with the two quotes that struck me the most.

Mussolini will make us great again. Il Duce is creating another Roman Empire. A true man, he'll never let Italy be disrespected on the world stage!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  

"Your problem," Antonio went on, the words flowing out of him now, as if a dam had broken, "is that you want to be pure. A pure man. In war you can't remain pure and you can't remain neutral. You're fighting with us now. You've made your choice." 

 

Ella Minnow Pea

Perhaps if I had read Ella Minnow Pea, an epistolary novel by Mark Dunn, back in 2002 when it was first published, perhaps then I might have found it entertaining. Reading this in 2022, I was somewhat horrified.

The premise is somewhat cute. There's a fictional island nation off the coast of South Carolina called Nollop, named after Nevin Nollop, the person who penned the famous pangram, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." That pangram happens to be the sentence my dad insisted that I type as I was first learning to type. It is the sentence that includes all the letters of the alphabet, perfect to type while learning the keyboard. 

At the center of Nollop is a statue of Nevin Nollop with the phrase stuck in with individual letters. As each letter alls off the statue, the island's Council bans each letter. They can't be used in speech or in writing. Punishments are incredibly harsh. Nollop folks have always prided themselves on their interest in language. Banning letters is extremely difficult for most.

Ella Minnow Pea is an 18-year old resident of Nollop. She communicates with her family and neighbors by mail since Nollop hasn't had reliable phone service since some hurricane years earlier. She was very quick to realize that soon she will have no freedom of expression. That's what struck me reading this novella in 2022 - how easy it is to trample freedom of expression and what arbitrary punishments can do to a society.

This really jumped out at me.

    Yes, that is now the topic on every lip. This salient, impertinent, Hamlettian choice.

    To leave or not to leave.

    To waive claim to our homes. To renounce our mother soil. To give up everything to those who warrant only our lowest contempt - to those who aspire to reign in outright tyranny, who misperceive Nollopian thoughts in service to rapacious intentions. Can they not see that we see what is happening here?

That is how I feel about life in the United States about now. Slowly but surely our rights are being stripped away. Do we stay and fight? Do we leave?

Ella and her correspondents must come up with creative ways to express themselves once they can no longer use certain letters in the alphabet. She is disgusted. She is one of the few who remains to fight the fight and restore the freedom of expression to her nation.

Like I said, the premise could have been cute but to read this now, it was most disturbing.

The Old Man and the Sea

Maybe I am a truly unsophisticated reader but I did not enjoy reading Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. I read it for Books & Beer Club. If I make it to the book club meeting, I'm sure it will make for an interesting, fully engaging discussion. But this was a novella that I couldn't wait to finish.

I liked the story better than the writing style. Is it totally ignorant to say this? It's the story of Santiago, an old fisherman who, after a long string of bad fishing days, catches a marlin. The marlin is so big and for a few days pulls Santiago further and further away from the harbor and his home. Both Santiago and the marlin put up a good fight. The writing, though? Is this how all of Hemingway's books are written? 

On further reflection, I realized that Fredrik Backman's And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer is a similarly themed novel. Old age, place in the world, reflecting on the past. I much preferred And Every Morning...

Another classic I can say that I've read.

The edition that I took from the library included all sorts of notes, correspondence and a draft of a similar short story that Hemingway had written. I think I preferred the draft story.

 

Mazel

Mazel, by Rebecca Goldstein, was a hard copy novel given to me by a fellow book club member that I read at the same time that I was reading Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale on my kindle. It was interesting to be reading two books where Judaism is an important component at the same time. Yet the stories could not be more different. I wonder if reading them at the same time made me like Mazel less than I might have had I read it at a different time.

The novel starts with Phoebe's marriage to a traditional Jew in suburban New Jersey, a lifestyle that neither her grandmother, Sasha, or her mother, Chloe, can understand. Sasha's rejection of traditional Judaism and traditional women's roles is implied and easily comprehended as the story jumps back in time to Sasha's childhood in the shtetl in Poland. Sasha, then Sorel, is the daughter of a rabbi. She's one of six children. She and her two sisters are very close. One of their favorite ways to pass the time was to create stories together.

After tragedy strikes the family, Sorel and her parents move from the shtetl to Warsaw where her life changes when her aunt introduces her to the Yiddish theater. This takes Sorel's storytelling to a new level.

Sorel's mother's guiding force is mazel - or luck - and that becomes Sasha's guiding force as well. I felt that the author talked more about the mazel rather than showing it. I also wish that Sasha's story was shared directly with Phoebe rather than the story jumping back in time without the connection. For me, the story dragged a bit when dealing with he relationships amongst those in Sasha's original Yiddish theater group in Warsaw. For these reasons, this book was just an okay read for me. It would probably lead to a good book club discussion, but I doubt that I will recommend this as a title for my synagogue book club.

 

Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale

How Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale wasn't on my radar until recently is beyond me. I read about it recently in an email from the Jewish Book Council. Andrew Kane's novel is such a powerful read.

This story which spans about 40 years centers on Joshua, Paul and Rachel, three individuals whose lives intersect repeatedly over the time period covered in the book.

From the blurb: Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale views four decades through three lives. Andrew Kane's novel is a love story about loneliness, a reflection on the value of community that acknowledges that it takes a village to raise a mob, a tale of public dysfunction and personal demons, and an image of the frail beauty of humanity that somehow survives.

Themes in the book include religious identity, fanaticism, racism, segregation, women's roles, opportunity, and the bonds of friendship. There's romance, eating disorders and parental expectations.

Joshua is a young black boy when his mother moves him from Bed-Stuy to Crown Heights in an effort to increase his opportunities in life. Paul is a secular Jew living on Long Island with his assimilated parents who is exposed to Hasidic Judaism when he trains for his Bar Mitzvah with a rabbi from Crown Heights. Rachel is the rabbi's daughter.

I grew up in Brooklyn so was able to picture some of what was described in the book. There are also historical events that are fictionalized - somewhat - and I recall several of those as well. The book culminates with the Crown Heights riots in 1991 and sadly, much has not changed in those 30-plus years.

I highly recommend Joshua: A Brooklyn Tale and think it would make a great choice for my synagogue book club. We just selected a different book for our October book, but I might suggest this for our January title.

 

Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature

Perhaps if I was familiar with Zibby Owens' podcasts, I might have appreciated Bookends: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Literature a little bit more than I did.

I thought this was going to be a story about how books helped "save" Zibby during times of turmoil in her life. That wasn't the case. She'd write about a difficult time and would sprinkle in the titles of the books she'd read at the time. So was it the act of keeping distracted by reading that helped her out? She never really said. I know that's true for me.

Owens has lived a very entitled life and while she did express appreciation for all that she is, I found it irritating that her podcast and other essays are framed as "Moms Don't Have Time to..."™️ What does she really know about the struggle that moms who don't come from rich parents... or don't have a good education allowing them to have many choices... or don't have full-time help... or don't have a mother with her own full-time help living nearby... or... I can go on and on.

I also understand that Owens wishes to maintain the privacy of her ex-husband and her children, but it's like her four kids came to be through immaculate conception. She briefly noted, while talking about a difficult time, that "in the meantime I'd gotten married" but no mention after that of her marrriage. At all. Then, all of a sudden she's lusting after her tennis pro. It took a while for me to understand that she was no longer married. She also only briefly mentioned the agony of shared custody. Clearly, though, her ex-husband (or someone) had the kids quite regularly and for longer than a quick overnight since she and her new husband, Kyle, were able to jet off to Los Angeles or Europe or wherever it was they were jetting off to. 

I was a single mother. I know what that's like. Yet my single mother story was nothing like hers. And I truly didn't have time to read for the time period when I was working full-time, going to school at night, and doing most of the parenting on my own. After that, once I started reading again, I was the person friends would come to when they wanted book recommendations. I was still working full-time, still doing the bulk of parenting on my own, and no way would I have had time to become an influencer. Not that that was really a thing in the late 90s.

Her losses were pretty tragic and that's why I hold back on criticizing the book too much. I can't even imagine walking in her shoes as she lost friend after friend to tragic deaths. At one point, shortly after she lost a very close friend on 9/11, she drafted a novel about losing a friend on 9/11. An agent told her it was too soon for people to read novels about 9/11. Couldn't she switch up the story so her friend died in a car crash? Because I am a person who tries to make sense of things through reading, I would have appreciated a 9/11 book shortly after 9/11. I'm sorry she never wrote that book.

What I did like was Owens conversational tone. No doubt it works quite well for essays and on her podcast. I also enjoyed reading about Owens experience with Weight Watchers.

I only gave this memoir 2 stars on Goodreads. I think had I not had the preconceived notion that I was going to learn about what type of books helped her through different types of crises, if I didn't think she omitted personal information that might have helped give me context, I might have enjoyed the book a little bit more.

 

The Paris Apartment

You can add The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley as a book I wouldn't have selected on my own but enjoyed reading. It should be interesting to discuss at this week's book club meeting. (And pretty amazing that I finished reading a book club book just 4 days before we'll be discussing it. Maybe I'll remember a little bit more this time.)

The Paris Apartment is a mystery along the lines of Murder on the Orient Express. Jess arrives in Paris, planning to stay with her brother, Ben, while she regroups. She arrives at the posh building where Ben is living, only Ben is missing. Everyone in the building claims to not know him well when approached by Jess. Everyone in the building has a reason why they'd like Ben gone.

What I enjoyed about the book was the way Foley unfolded the story. It was told thru the perspective of several residents of the building. As I read more and more, my suspicions as to where Ben might be and who might have done it changed. The pieces did turn out to be what I'd guessed. I like when that happens, especially in a mystery thriller.

The Henna Artist

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi was another homerun when it comes to choosing an audiobook. What a wonderful listen. The story was wonderful and then narrator really added to the story.

Taking place in mid-1950's India, it's the story of Lakshmi, a 30-year old woman who escaped from an abusive marriage, moved from the countryside to the city, making her own way in Jaipur. She was advanced for her time, pursuing an independent life. She saves for an builds a house of her own.

Lakshmi had two means of income. She becomes the most sought after henna artist for Jaipur's elite. Her position gives her entrée into the finer homes of Jaipur, including the maharani's palace. She becomes a confidante to her "ladies" while never letting her secrets be known.

Her other business is one of her secrets. She provides herbal remedies to another part of Jaipur society, brokered by her friend Samir.

For years, Lakshmi had been sending money to her estranged parents back in her village, hoping they would eventually come to Jaipur, be proud of what she's accomplished and live with her in her new house. Instead, Lakshmi's estranged husband tracks her down with a sister she never even knew that she had, born after she'd run away. Having a 13-year old sister for whom she is responsible adds to the burdens of Lakshmi's life.
 
I'm not sure how true-to-life this book is. It is a fairly typical women's story set in a different locale. The arc was fairly predictable. That didn't diminish from what an enjoyable listen it was. I highly recommend.

The Candid Life of Meena Dave

The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel was another Amazon First Read selection. It was also one of the most enjoyable books that I've read in awhile.

Meena, a brown child, was adopted at birth by a white couple. She survives after their tragic death while she was in high school and goes on to have a career as a photojournalist. She's never settled down, but always keeps moving forward. In her mid-thirties, she inherits an apartment in the Back Bay section of Boston in a The Engineer's House, a house occupied by people who look just like Meena.

Meena starts to wonder why she inherited the apartment and how she fits in with the rest of  the occupants of the small apartment building. This is a book about identity and overcoming the odds.

I think what made this book so enjoyable was that I really liked the characters in the book. It's not necessary for a book to have likeable characters in order to appreciate a story. But in this case, I think the fact that I liked them so much increased my appreciation of the story.

I'd highly recommend this quick, thoughtful novel.
 

The Right Time

I don't remember the last time I read a Danielle Steel novel. For awhile, I consumed them. Then it got to the point that I listened to them. They were the perfect lightness to listen on my trips back and forth from NJ to upstate NY back in the day. There were a few people talking about Danielle Steel in Renee's Reading Club, the group on Facebook, but of course when faced with the library catalog, I couldn't remember which titles were recommended.

The Right Time is the story of Alex, abandoned by her mother at a young age, and then orphaned when her father died as she was starting high school. Alex had a special connection with her father through their shared love of crime mysteries. As a young child, she has dreams of being an author of crime mysteries. That's what gives her comfort after her father's death.

The plot takes us through Alex's rise as a crime mystery writer which I found very interesting.

I think if I'll read another Danielle Steel novel, I'll listen to it rather than reading it.
 

The Girl in His Shadow

I learned about Audrey Blake's The Girl in His Shadow when I went to the library catalog and saw that this was The Big Read, meaning it's always available for any patron at any time during The Big Read and library discussions would follow. I'm glad that it crossed my radar.

The story of Nora Beady takes place in London in the 1840's. She was orphaned as a young child during a pandemic and was taken in by a reknowned surgeon, Horace Croft. Croft originally takes in Nora almost as an experiment, to see how she will heal. He is convinced by his housekeeper to keep Nora. She is raised in Croft's home being curious about his work and eventually becomes his primary helper.

This was at a time when women were allowed to be nurses but were not allowed to be doctors. Yet Croft allowed her to do things that a student doctor would have done, running the risk of the two of them getting caught and both of them getting in trouble.

Things were going smoothly until a student comes to live with Croft and Nora. Nora is forced into the shadows.

I've done some cursory research to find out how much of this engaging story is real and the history of what it's based on. Sadly, my research is very lacking. Even not knowing how much is true and the actual history, I'd still recommend this book. It would probably be a good book club book.


 

The Good Left Undone

I always enjoy a good Adriana Trigiani novel so was excited when I learned about her latest, The Good Left Undone, and requested it from the library pre-publication. I was very happy to have it become available towards the end of my New York vacation.

The Good Left Undone has so many interesting themes told in two alternating timelines. We read about Domenica's story in the past, and then we read about Matelda and her granddaughter, Anina, in the present. Domenica's storyline has themes of women's opportunities, reproductive health care and several different World War II themes. Both timelines were set in Italy, but the timeline from the past included part of the story set in Scotland. I learned about the Italian population and their horrible treatment during the war in Scotland. The present storyline had an end-of-life theme as well as themes related to motherhood and women's choices. Both stories dealt with family legacy.

Domenica's father was a highly respected jewel cutter. The family business continues through to the current time.

As always, Trigiani novels have a good feel for life in Italy over the years as well as the dynamics as the Italian family.

There was one hanging thread regarding Matelda's brother. Reference was made to an estrangement between the two, but it was glossed over. Why bother including that little bit without resolving that part of the story.

Even with that, I'd highly recommend this for all fans of Adriana Trigiani.