Book Review: Landline by Rainbow Rowell

Landline

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Date of Publication: July 8, 2014

Pages: 320

     Landline is a pleasant read.  This is not the kind of book I usually read, but it was the quarterly recommendation on Riot Read, so I read it.  The premise of the story is pretty routine:  a thirty something working woman named Georgie McCool has trouble balancing work and home life.  She makes an egregious error in sending her husband and two children to his home in Omaha for Christmas while she stays in L.A. and tries to make a script deadline for a new situation comedy.

     What ensues is a poignant and often humorous self-examination of Georgie's life choices and whether it is too late to rescue a floundering marriage.  The plot device here is an old-fashioned landline in her childhood bedroom that enables her to call her husband in the past.  The landline conversations lead to flashbacks of college and the early days of their relationship.  Serious second thoughts and self doubts ensue.
 
     The book handles the new social dynamic of the working Mom and stay at home Dad with all of its ramifications.  The main characters are well developed and the plot moves along quickly, mainly through the use of dialogue.  The secondary  characters are superficial and are mainly props for the main story line.  The resolution of the couple's dilemma, although predictable, makes the reader happy for all involved.   

     This is a quick read which raises some interesting family dynamic questions in this rapidly changing world in which we live.  Landline by Rainbow Rowell is a perfect beach read.  Enjoy.

John Hiatt and The Combo with The Robert Cray Band

John Hiatt, Richmond, VA
July 23, 2013

John Hiatt and The Combo

The Robert Cray Band

Innsbrook After Dark

Richmond, Virginia

July 23, 2014

The Robert Cray Band

John Hiatt and The Combo

     This was a blistering hot show on a muggy evening in Richmond, Virginia.  It was a night we Southerners call "close".   It was 98 degrees when the gates opened and besides an occasional breeze, it remained warm all night.  Fortunately both acts weathered the heat well and gave outstanding performances.

     The Robert Cray Band was a revelation to me.  I have a couple of the band's CDs, but never have had a full appreciation for what a fantastic guitarist Robert Cray is.  He weaves jazz chord progressions, effects, melody lines and bass runs together and creates blues masterpieces.  He also does this full chord vibrato thing that is something to behold.  He had the crowd with the opening chords of "Phone Booth" and never let go.  His voice is soulful and fine and complements his guitar stylings.  The band is very tight with drummer Les Falconer and bassist Richard Cousins keeping a steady groove and keyboardist Dover Weinberg adding plenty of blues with his piano and organ accompaniment.  The Robert Cray band opened early at about 6:20 PM and played a full hour and twenty minute set.  

                                                      

     John Hiatt is one of my all time favorite singer-songwriters and someone I travel to see frequently.  I love his lyrics, his funky rhythms and his aw-shucks charm.  I have seen him solo, backed by the North Mississippi All-Stars and now with several iterations of "The Combo".  John Hiatt is like your favorite pair of sneakers or sweatshirt - the more you have them and the more "broken in" they get, the more you never want to part with them.   Each John Hiatt show is unique but each show guarantees fabulous entertainment.  This show was near the beginning of this tour supporting a new CD entitled "Terms of My Surrender".  He played three of his new songs including the title track which includes the instant classic Hiatt lyric "Love can go so very wrong, like a fat man in a thong."

     The highlights for me were the opening number "Like Your Dad Did", a rousing "Cry Love" featuring guitarist Doug Lancio on the mandolin and a super funky "Memphis in the Meantime."  The rendition of "Feels Like Rain" was also fantastic, starting with a Hiatt monologue about snuggling and spooning while a summer rain hits a tin roof.  He finished the song whispering the lyrics.  John Hiatt was at his funky best at this show, his voice in fine form and his band hitting on every note.  A noise ordinance limited his encore set to a wonderful full-band rendition of "Have a Little Faith in Me."

    It was a great night, despite the heat, in Richmond.

Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Publisher: Random House

Date of Publication: September 11, 2007

Pages: 235 (Nook Edition) 

     I resisted reading this book because I thought that there couldn't be any World War II/Nazi Germany/Holocaust stories which haven't been told.  I was very wrong.  The Book Thief tells the story of Liesel Meminger, a pre-teen living with foster parents in Nazi Germany.  The effect that this war has on this young lady, her foster family and her neighbors is excruciating.  Portraying Germans as victims is not common but certainly here the characters are indeed sucked into a vortex which they don't understand and aren't complicit with.  Acts of defiance occur despite the risk of dire consequence.  They are swallowed by the machine of war.

     The book is told by an omniscient narrator who is Death himself.  This allows the reader to be present on battlefields, in concentration camps and in Liesel Meminger's town of Molching which is caught in the cross-fire of a hellish war.  The characters are extremely strong, most notably Liesel and her foster father Hans Hubermann.  The pair work together to educate Liesel and she grows in appreciation of the power of the written as well as the spoken word.  Liesel's books, purloined from multiple sources, are her only solace.  Words and books take on even more significance when the Hubermanns elect to hide Max Vandenburg, a Jew, in their basement.  Words and books become the bond of friendship for Liesel and Max.  Words eventually even become sources of solace as Liesel reads to her neighbors in bomb shelters during air raids.

     This is a powerful book which deserves its accolades and status as a long-running New York Times bestseller.  It is a potent statement regarding the effects of war on average citizens, particularly children.  I am very glad that I read it and look forward to seeing the recent movie adaptation.   

Book Review: The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

The Sparrow

Author: Mary Doria Russell

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Date of Publication: September 28, 1997

Pages: 405

     The Sparrow is this author's first novel and was published in 1996.  She has subsequently published a sequel and three more novels.  Mary Doria Russell earned a PhD in biological anthropology from the University of Michigan.  She was raised as a Roman Catholic and has converted to Judaism.  Her science background as well as her religious heritages are readily evident in this novel.

     The Sparrow has a fascinating premise.  What if an intelligent alien species was found and before earthly governments could respond, a religious order organizes an expedition to meet and greet these celestial neighbors?  Ms. Russell uses the Jesuits as that order since they have a long history of missionary work.  Francis Xavier, for instance, was the first Christian missionary to travel to China and Japan in the 1500s.  A team of scientists and Jesuits is assembled and launched on an asteroid to the planet Rakhat in Alpha Centauri, the closest solar system to our own (4.37 light years away).  The mission is a success on some levels but eventually accidents occur, conflicts arise and Father Emilio Sandoz, S.J. is the only survivor who returns.

    This is science fiction of the highest order, suffused with a heavy dose of Ignatian spirituality.  Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the Society of Jesus (the Jeuits) after an early life as a soldier.  A mystical experience during convalescence from an injury lead Ignatius to a life of service to the Pope and to his fellow man.  As the author states in the prologue: "The Jesuit scientists went to learn, not to proselytize.  They went so that they might come to know and love God's other children.  They went for the reason Jesuits have always gone to the farthest frontiers of human exploration.   They went ad majorem Dei gloriam: for the greater glory of God."  

     Father Emilio Sandoz is the main character, but there are many excellent secondary characters as well.  One of the many strengths of this novel is the depth of all of the characters.  The main purpose of The Sparrow, though, seems to be as a platform to look at difficult theological questions.  Early on Sandoz is asked "How do you experience God?"  to which he gives a straightforward Jesuit response: "I would have to say that I find God in serving His children."  Russell also asks how do humans respond when confronted directly with the presence of God in their lives and what does it mean to find God?  How do you reconcile the concept of God with evil that surrounds us as well?

     The ending of The Sparrow was unexpected and disturbing.  The Sparrow is a challenging read but very well researched and tremendously well written.  The inclusion of basically a primer in Ignatian spirituality was unanticipated but appreciated.  I'm glad I read this, I'm still thinking about it and I look forward to reading the sequel Children of God.