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.

Book Review: Had A Good Time by Robert Olen Butler

Had a Good Time

Author: Robert Olen Butler

Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

Date of Publication: August 9, 2005

Pages: 288 (Trade Paper Edition) 

     This is another stellar set of stories from a terrific writer.  Robert Olen Butler won a Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his story collection A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain.  Had a Good Time is another intriguing book of expertly crafted short stories, each with a very interesting starting point.  The author collects vintage, turn of the century post cards.  He uses the photo and greeting from a different card from his collection as a jumping off point for each story.  This is reminiscent of his collection Tabloid Dreams, in which he used a bizarre but actual headline from a supermarket tabloid as a starting point for each story. 

    In each story the author recreates a vignette of early 1900s America, from small towns in the South to remote farms in desolate South Dakota.  Each story is a carefully constructed character study with many poignant as well as humorous moments.  My personal favorite is “The Ironworker’s Hayride” where a very shy young bachelor is convinced to go on a blind date with a girl who has a wooden leg.  The ensuing hayride and this man’s internal debate with his conscience are hilarious.  This one story alone is worth the purchase price of the book.

     While the author describes scenes with realism and creates memorable characters, the best parts of these stories are the dialogues.  Several of the stories, set in the South with children as main characters, evoke memories of verbal exchanges in Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn.  In others, the plots move along solely through dialogue.  In others, the spoken words set tone and create atmosphere. 

     Robert Olen Butler teaches creative writing at Florida State University.  If you are interested in how a truly masterful writer creates a short story, visit his web-site “Inside CreativeWriting”.   He has a day by day posting of his work on a story, from inception to completion, including edits and revisions.

     This is a very entertaining collection.  The stories themselves are very interesting, but the thought processes behind each one are even more so.  Had a Good Time by Robert Olen Butler is available in hard back from Grove Press.

Book Review: Pieces of Light by Charles Fernyhough

Pieces of Light

Author: Charles Fernyhough

Publisher: HarperCollins 

Date of Publication: January 7, 2014

Pages: 320

"Memory has its own special kind of truth.  It selects, eliminates, alters, exaggerates, minimizes, glorifies and vilifies also, but in the end it creates its own reality, its heterogeneous but usually coherent version of events;  and no sane human being ever trusts someone else's version more than his own."
- Salman Rushdie

     Developmental psychologist Charles Fernyhough begins the final chapter of Pieces of Light by saying: "I set out to write about some science, and I ended up by telling a lot of stories."  Indeed he did.  In a little over 200 pages this author has concisely summarized current  memory research.  He enlivens the anatomic and statistical facts with colorful anecdotes and stories which help the reader comprehend what all of this research means on a practical level.  In the process, the author encourages us to think differently about memory and : "Thinking differently about memory requires us to think differently about some of the 'truths' that are closest to the core of our selves."

     In his introduction, Fernyhough states "We need our memories, and we find ways of hanging on to them.  According to the conventional 'possession' view of memory, we do that by filing them away in a kind of internal library, ready to be retrieved as soon as they are needed."   He then goes on to say that "The view that I want to explore in this book is that memory is more like a habit, a process of constructing something from its parts, in similar but subtly changing ways each time, whenever the occasion arises."  It is this reconstructive view of memory that he explores throughout the book.

     In successive chapters the author explores how reconstructed memories are very susceptible to distortion by information provided after the event and by bias.  He distinguishes between semantic memory (memory for facts) and episodic memory (memory for events) and how memories from our own lives involve an integration of these two types of memory.

     He also writes about the evocation of memory by certain stimuli.  In particular, he talks about how certain sensory stimulation can evoke very strong memories (or "involuntary memories").  The classic example of this in literature is Proust's memories of his grandmother which were brought about by the smell and taste of Madeleine cakes in his book In Search of Lost Time.  

     This concept of memories as reconstructions has many critical implications.  The legal system is taking this into account.  More and more, the courts are discounting the reliability of eyewitness testimony in favor of more verifiable evidence.  Memory manipulation is a great concern, especially in the arena of child abuse.  There is great interest in this concept of memory reconstruction in the treatment of memory disorders including amnesia, dementia and post-traumatic stress syndrome.  The chapter on PTSD is particularly interesting, especially since this is a relatively new diagnosis (first included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in the 1980s).  The successful use of therapy to refocus the memory of  PTSD patients is fascinating.  

     This book is reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell's books in that both authors use data and facts which then are augmented by "real world" narratives.  Fernyhough goes further, however, using many personal anecdotes and family stories.  The chapter which describes his interviews with his 90 year old grandmother are touching as well as enlightening.  I also really enjoyed the segments in which Fernyhough uses literature (Proust, of course, as well as many more contemporary authors) to show how different views of memory are portrayed.  Fernyhough also has the advantage over Gladwell in the fact that he is a scientist and a practitioner in the field rather a reporting journalist.  This author obviously had a thorough command of the information and has a real talent for explaining it on a level that the non-psychologist and non-neuroanatomist can comprehend.  

     This is a very enjoyable study of modern memory research which deserves a wide audience.

Book Review: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

David and Goliath

Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

Author: Malcolm Gladwell

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Date of Publication: October 1, 2013

Pages: 320

     Malcolm Gladwell has produced another wonderful book of counter-intuitive thinking.  I marvel that all of his books seem to make so much sense and yet they scoff at the politically correct or majority opinion way of thinking.  

     In David and Goliath, Gladwell takes us on fascinating statistical surveys which underscore his main point which is that much of what we would normally perceive as hindrances or handicaps may actually be advantages.  From physical limitations to adverse socio-economic circumstances he shows us how many have been motivated by these life circumstances to become super successful.

     He opens the book by re-examining the fabled Old Testament story of David and Goliath.  While this story is traditionally understood as the classic example of the triumph of the underdog, Gladwell presents cogent reasoning to convince the reader that things aren't always the way they seem.  David, in Gladwell's vision, is actually the favorite in this lop-sided battle.  The author sums this premise:

"We have, I think, a very rigid and limited definition of what an advantage is. We think of things as helpful that actually aren't and think of other things as unhelpful that in reality leave us stronger and wiser."  (Page 20)

     He then uses multiple studies and statistical surveys to examine everything from sports to classroom size.  He introduces the concept of the "inverted U" phenomenon.  This refers to graphical analysis of data where at some point more of something produces the opposite of the desired effect.  There comes a point where there can indeed be too much of a good thing.  He applies this principle to wealth and states: "Wealth contains the seeds of its own destruction."  (Page 38)

     He then relates several more interesting stories.  The first tells of the Impressionists in France and their difficulty finding acceptance in the traditional Parisian art world.  The second is more contemporary and introduces a college student who went to an Ivy League school and couldn't finish in her field of choice because of the high level of competition.  The point of these stories according to the author is "that there are times and places where it is better to be a Big Fish in a Little Pond than a Little Fish in a Big Pond."  The Impressionists were successful because they operated outside of the expected behavior and the student would more likely have been able to pursue her original dreams in a less competitive environment.

     The next section of the book relates how many with handicaps defy odds and become successful.  Gladwell reasons that their handicap may actually be perceived as an advantage because of the psychological benefits of overcoming their handicap.  Their resolve may be the ticket to their achievement.

     The last three chapters deal with legitimacy of authority.  According to Gladwell, the principle of legitimacy relies on three principles.  First, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice.  Second, the law has to be predictable and, finally, the authority has to be fair.  He applies this test to several examples, including positive parenting, an effective police program in Queens, New York and military action against civilians in Northern Ireland.  He further explains that "when law is applied in the absence of legitimacy, it does not produce obedience.  It produces the opposite.  It leads to backlash."  The author then explores how this applies to misuse of power.  He spends a lot of time discussing the California "three strikes" law  and how the extension of prison sentences over a long period of time actually led to the opposite of the desired effect (lowered crime rates).  He has compelling explanations for this, again using his "inverted U" principle.  The logic is that the same strategies that work really well at first stop working past a certain point. He concludes with a story from Nazi occupied France.  This story illustrates his point that "the powerful are not as powerful as they seem - nor the weak as weak."  Gladwell points out that "the excessive use of force creates legitimacy problems, and force without legitimacy leads to defiance, not submission.

     Gladwell's books are always entertaining, well written and thought provoking.  I admire his contrarian view of the world.  Some may argue with his statistics and others may carp about his conclusions, but no one can claim that Mr. Gladwell is not an original thinker.