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My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young

July 10, 2012 by

My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young is a WWI novel and love story that illustrates the toll that war takes on couples from mere recruits to the officers that give them orders.  Young’s novel examines social and monetary class distinctions, even providing slight nuances to the “poshies” in how they treat the working class.  Truly, this is a love story — the story of Riley Purefoy and Nadine Waveney, childhood sweethearts separated by more than the war.

The narration sets it up so that readers get to know Nadine and Riley in their early years and the timid beginnings of their love, which helps not only anchor the emotional arc of the story but the connection readers feel to them both.  Nadine is from an upper class family with artistic roots — her father is a famous conductor — and Riley is from a working class family.  Both end up under the tutelage of Sir Arthur, a famous artist, who sees potential in Riley and Nadine.  Eventually, they are separated by her parents who refuse to send her to Sir Arthur’s for lessons if Riley is still working there, which ultimately pushes Riley to see his fortunes through a different lens and join the military.

“He had to pull the bayonet out again, which was strange.  And that wasn’t an end:  it was just a moment on a long line of moments, and time went on, and they went on.  He stepped away in a mist of red, a numbness spread across him, a sense of capacity.  He smelt the blood, and took on the mantle of it.  He ran on, screaming, til he found himself alongside Ainsworth, and felt safer.”  (Page 40-1)

The introduction of CO Peter Locke, his wife Julia, and his cousin Rose serve as a juxtaposition to the love of Riley and Nadine, but although Locke’s story is of interest in how the war can change a man, his wife Julia can be trying and insipid — wearing on readers’ nerves.  Julia is self-absorbed to the point that she finds her actions for self-improvement as a way to “do her bit” for the cause by becoming the perfect wife in looks and caring for the household, rather than volunteering to care for the soldiers.  Locke, himself, is more in the background providing support for the soldiers and holding in the horrors and losses he’s experienced, but eventually, his story jumps to the forefront and readers see a broken man wallowing in women and booze.

“If no one won that, after all that, that — if neither side won that, then neither side can win. The war won, and goes on winning.” (Page 125)

Young has the skill and detail to capture the horrors of war from the adrenaline rush of battle to the devastation of losing one’s companions and comrades. She also captures in realistic and devastating description the medical procedures used to reconstruct faces and other body parts of wounded soldiers — so much so, that some readers may squirm in their seats.  The war itself becomes a character taking over all that is good and twisting it, shoving the best bits into the waste bin.  However, the overarching themes celebrate the perseverance of the human spirit and its ability to recover from even the most devastating injuries — no matter if they are physical or emotional.  My Dear I Wanted to Tell You by Louisa Young is by turns endearing and horrifying, and WWI is ever-present in everything these characters face and endure.

About the Author:

Louisa Young grew up in London, England, in the house in which Peter Pan was written, and she studied modern history at Cambridge. She was a freelance journalist and has written ten books, including the Orange Prize–longlisted Baby Love. She is the co-author of the bestselling Lionboy trilogy, which has been published in thirty-six languages. She lives in London and Italy with her daughter and the composer Robert Lockhart.  Check out her Website.

This is my 50th book for the New Authors Reading Challenge 2012.

 

 

This is my 13th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Harper Collins, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2012, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , ,

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

July 4, 2012 by

Happy 4th of July, Everyone!

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway is an emotionally draining novel about Tenente Frederic Henry, an American serving in the ambulance corps of the Italian army during World War I, and the impact of war on its soldiers, displaced populations, and others.  Some critics say that the novel is semi-autobiographical given that Hemingway did indeed serve in the Italian Army as an ambulance driver during the Great War; learn more about the autobiographical elements here.

While WWI and the front is always in the background and weighing heavily on the characters, much of the focus is on Henry and his relationship with Nurse Catherine Barkley of Britain.  When they meet, it seems as though both are contriving a romance out of thin air, and when Barkley’s past is revealed readers understand her desperation, though they may not like it.

“‘This is the third day. But I’m back now.’
She looked at me, ‘And you do love me?’
‘Yes.’
‘You did say you loved me, didn’t you?’
‘Yes,’ I lied. ‘I love you.’ I had not said it before.
‘And you call me Catherine?’
‘Catherine.’ We walked on a way and were stopped under a tree.
‘Say, “I’ve come back to Catherine in the night.”
‘I’ve come back to Catherine in the night.’
‘Oh, darling, you have come back, haven’t you?'” (page 30)

Henry is another matter, with the distant, first-person account of events in the past, readers will know little of how he makes decisions or how he feels unless he speaks aloud.  In many ways, the reader must focus on what is not said to catch a glimmer of the hopelessness of his situation and the conviction he has in remaining with the Italian army even as it appears that they are losing the war.  The silences of his mind and the things left unsaid in conversation make a surface reading of this novel inadequate (please check out Jeanne’s posts on this book from the read-a-long with War Through the Generations).

“I was afraid we would move out of the eddy and, holding with one hand, I drew up my feet so they were against the side of the timber and shoved hard toward the bank. I could see the brush, but even with my momentum and swimming as hard as I could, the current was taking me away. I thought then I would drown because of my boots, but I thrashed and fought through the water, and when I looked up the bank was coming toward me, and I kept thrashing and swimming in a heavy-footed panic until I reached it.” (Page 227)

There are moments where the supply shortages are noted, but there seems to be a never-ending supply of alcohol, which Henry uses to deal with the pain in his leg and the war that continues to rage on without an end.  He loses friends, he loses his way, he must escape the enemy, and he must survive.  There is desperation and scrambling for comfort and a sense of normalcy, but the hopelessness pervades everything in the novel and highlights the truth of war.  Hemingway’s terse sentences, little insight into his main character, and the over-the-top antics and subservience of Barkley to Henry can get overwrought.  However, in the latter portion of the novel there are moments of tenderness between Barkley and Henry are good to see and temper the uneasiness readers may feel about their relationship and its lack of depth.

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway is a stark look at the emotional and psychological effects of war on soldiers, residents, and nurses, but it also raises questions about courage and bravery, whether peasants are beaten before they even enter the war, and how everyone, even the most dedicated, have a breaking point.  Readers may find the novel plodding and ridiculous, and the characters distant and obnoxious at times, but with the threat of war at the backdoor, it must be hard to remain rational and unemotional.  However, in this way, Henry’s actions often seem super-human, particularly during his knee surgery and other events.

Check out the read-a-long discussions for week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4 at War Through the Generations.

This is my 12th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, historical fiction, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews, Simon & Schuster, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , ,

Guardians of the Gate by Vincent N. Parrillo

June 14, 2012 by

Guardians of the Gate by Vincent N. Parrillo is a historical fiction novel about Ellis Island between 1893 and 1902 as immigration to the United States increases, particularly from Italy and other non-northern European nations, and sentiment in America turns against immigrants.  Dr. Matt Stafford and his wife have moved to New York City and are living the high life with a very busy social calendar as he works at Presbyterian Hospital.  After losing a child in a miscarriage, their relationship fractures and each seeks satisfaction in life through different means — Peg through social activities and Matt through his job as a surgeon and ultimately as a doctor at Ellis Island.  Stafford is a likeable doctor and clearly cares about his patients and learning different languages and cultures, but his morals become more flexible when his wife’s ailment takes a turn for the worse and he spends more time with a lovely nurse at Ellis Island — a relationship that starts too quickly given the set up of the nurse’s character as aloof and consummately professional, even shying away from small talk with co-workers.

Meanwhile, nearly half of the book is spent with Ellis Island’s lead administrator Dr. Joseph Senner, whose heavy handed management style rubs personnel the wrong way, but endears him to his kindred German immigrants.  Senner expresses his concerns about the operations at Ellis Island openly and sets about making changes.  Senner is aloof to his workers and his German accent remains thick, even after 13 years in America.  Parrillo’s adherence to the use of “v” rather than “w” and other typical German-American accented English words continue to pull the reader out of the story and could have been phased out early on after the cadence had been well established.  Given the aloof nature of Senner’s character from his employees, the relationship in the latter half of the book between him and Dr. Stafford is surprising.

“The impact of this grand hall was striking.  The hall was virtually the full size of the building itself.  Its vastness was enhanced by the cathedral ceiling and the light — even on this overcast day — that filtered through the tall, eave-high windows.  A wide-planked pine floor, resembling a sailing ship’s deck so familiar to the arriving ocean voyagers, set off the woodwork.  The place even seemed to have the scent of a ship.  Ten parallel aisles, framed by railings, marked where the immigrants began the screening process.  Potted plants, American flags, and red, white, and blue bunting festooned the hall.”  (Page 5)

However, Parrillo is clearly a student of Ellis Island history as details about the island, the immigrants, the inspection procedures, and even the buildings themselves pour into the dialogue between Senner, who is a new administrator, and his assistant Ed McSweeney.  The facts and figures, plus the inclusion of photographs from the real Ellis Island provide this historical fiction novel with a unique style, mimicking a piece of nonfiction.  There are good and bad workers on Ellis Island, but the story is less about them and the immigrants than it is about Stafford and his troubled love life.

While Parrillo does include fictionalized accounts of immigrants coming to Ellis Island and their histories, the prose merely tells and does not show the emotion of these characters, as it does when the immigration officials interact.  While the plot and Dr. Stafford anchor the story and keep the pages turning, readers may want greater depth from Parrillo’s characters who at times are wooden in their actions and conversation.  With that said, the historical details of the bureaucracy related to Ellis Island, the corruption of immigration officials, and the procedures that had to be put in place to accommodate an influx of immigrants is interesting.  Through carefully selected details, Parrillo ensures that Ellis Island comes to life, nearly becoming a larger-than-life character of the book and stealing the show from Dr. Stafford and others.

Guardians of the Gate by Vincent N. Parrillo is a satisfying look at Ellis Island’s struggles in the beginning of the 1900s as immigrants began flooding America’s shores.  Parrillo is adept at blending in historic details and data into his prose, bringing to life the historic buildings and struggles of those entering the country and those helping them enter.  Those interested in Ellis Island’s history (complete with photos) and immigration will enjoy the historic parts of the novel.

About the Author:

VINCENT N. PARRILLO is a professor of sociology at William Paterson University of New Jersey. An internationally recognized expert on immigration, he is the executive producer, writer, and narrator of the award-winning PBS television documentary, Ellis Island: Gateway to America (1991). He currently lives in northern New Jersey.

This is my 45th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2012, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Queen’s Vow by C.W. Gortner

June 13, 2012 by

The Queen’s Vow by C.W. Gortner, published June 12, is another historical fiction powerhouse about a strong, young royal who cares for her family and her country more than herself.  Isabella of Castile is the daughter of the ailing Juan II and his second wife Isabel of Portugal, and she has a younger brother Alfonso, on whom she dotes.  Her relationship with her half-brother Enrique IV is tenuous at best, and when he is poised to takeover the crown when their father dies, her mother believes it is best to flee to Arevalo.

“I slowly reached up to take my mother’s hand.  I had never dared touch her before without leave.  To me, she’d always been a beautiful but distant figure in glittering gowns, laughter spilling from her lips, surrounded by fawning admirers — a mother to be loved from afar.”  (Page VIII)

Like most royal families, children rarely spend intimate time with their parents, though often they will spend more time with their mothers if they are girls.  Isabella spends little informal time with her mother until they are removed to Arevalo, and she has virtually no relationship with her father, Juan II.

“I was not yet four years old.  My father had been ill for weeks with a terrible fever, shut behind the closed doors of his apartments in the alcazar of Valladolid.  I did not know him well, this forty-nine-year-old king whom his subjects had dubbed El Inutil, the Useless, for the manner in which he’d ruled.  To this day, all I remember is a tall, lean man with sad eyes and a watery smile, who once summoned me to his private rooms and gave me a jeweled comb, enameled in the Moorish style.  A short, swarthy lord stood behind my father’s throne the entire time I was there, his stubby-fingered hand resting possessively on its back as he watched me with keen eyes.”  (page III)

Isabella knows that of all her siblings she is the last in line and as a female heir to the throne of Castile, she will likely be sold off into marriage for political or monetary reasons.  But as a young girl sent with her mother outside the company of the crown, she has the freedom to just enjoy her family.  Her and Alfonso have a great relationship, and she has a great relationship with Beatriz, her lady in waiting, but her respite from court intrigue does not last long.  Unfortunately, there are many times throughout the book that Isabella finds herself moving from place to place, fleeing those that would do her harm even her brother Enrique, whom she remains loyal to even though he is easily swayed by others.

Readers will experience the sorrow Isabella feels about her relationship with Enrique and how finally she must break that familial bond, if she plans to survive and marry the man she loves, Fernando of Aragon.  She is often tugged in more than one direction either between her family bonds and destiny or her duty as heir to the Castile throne and the pull of her heart. In a nation pulled this way and that by different powers and political interests attempting to usurp royal power outright or through the shadows, Isabella has many demands on her time and heart, and she’s pushed to the brink more than once. She’s a stronger woman than she realizes, and with Fernando at her side, they are a force to contend with.

The Queen’s Vow by C.W. Gortner is about a promise of a better tomorrow not only for Isabella and her loved ones, but also for the country she’s seen toil with her own eyes and hands. It is a novel of perseverance, following one’s heart and instincts, and justice, but it also is a novel of family and how it can be not only nurturing but also devastating if animosities and jealously are allowed to fester. Gortner is a master at historical details, weaving them throughout a narrative that is highly emotional, tense with drama, and at times poetic in its description of the Spanish landscape. Another winning novel from this author.

About the Author:

C.W. Gortner is the author of The Last Queen, The Confessions of Catherine de Medici and The Tudor Secret. He holds an MFA in Writing with an emphasis in Renaissance Studies from the New College of California.

In his extensive travels to research his books, he has danced a galliard in a Tudor great hall and experienced life in a Spanish castle. His novels have garnered international praise and been translated into thirteen languages to date. He is also a dedicated advocate for animal rights and environmental issues.

He’s currently at work on his fourth novel for Ballantine Books, about the early years of Lucrezia Borgia, as well as the third novel in his Tudor series,The Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles (US) or Elizabeth’s Spymaster (UK).

Half-Spanish by birth, C.W. lives in Northern California.

Filed Under: historical fiction, Publishers/Publicists, random house, Read in 2012, review copy, reviews Tagged With: , ,

Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War 1914-1918 by Marcia Williams

May 29, 2012 by

Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War 1914-1918 by Marcia Williams is the story of ten-year-old Archie Albright, who receives a scrapbook from his uncle Colin.  Archie is a boy living in East London, England, who’s in love with drawing and comics, and he’s a got a best friend named Tom and a dog named Georgie.  In the book he explains a little bit about his family, particularly his 16-year-old sister’s interest in voting.  Once talk about Austria declaring war on Serbia begins, Archie’s house becomes divided with his grandmother and father in favor of Britain entering the war, and his sister against the war and eager for peace to remain.  Once Germany invades Britain’s ally Belgium, Britain has little choice but to enter the war.  Archie’s scrapbook includes a nice break down of which countries were allied with Germany and which were allied with Britain, and it includes copies of news articles reminiscent of the time period.  Plus, there is a running body count, which is something that young boys would likely keep track of.

Unlike other scrapbooks that merely use memorabilia and newspaper articles, etc. to depict the time period and the events in the story, Williams has incorporated comics as a young boy would draw them, complete with images of his family in hilarious poses, slapping and biting of siblings, and other typical family events of the time period.  Even in spite of Archie’s jokes and comics, it is clear that the war has him rattled as adults talk about German residents as if they could be spies.  He even pees out the window of his room rather than go to the outside bathroom to avoid a German attack, though when his grandmother finds out about his antics, he’s scolded and yet resolved to continue peeing out the window rather than go outside.

There are other more serious moments, like when Archie’s father goes off to war with his Uncle Derek and his mother and older brother begin working outside the home.  Nurse Edith Cavell‘s story is depicted in comic form as well, with Archie saluting her bravery.

Archie’s War: My Scrapbook of the First World War 1914-1918 by Marcia Williams is a fun way to introduce WWI to kids and provides parents an interactive tool to teach history to children in a way that will not bore them.  The colorful drawings are things that children can easily relate to, and the newspaper clippings provide the book a nuanced historical accuracy.  Williams does well including letters and mementos as well as stories that accurately depict the times of rationing, women heading to work outside the home, soldiers dying or returning shell shocked, and more.  Archie’s world changes before his eyes, and he can do little else but roll with the punches and record his family’s history.

About the Author and Illustrator:

Marcia Williams is famous for her retellings of classic stories. From Shakespeare and Dickens to the Canterbury Tales and Greek Myths, her humorous comic-strip illustration is hugely popular all over the globe. She lives in London.  Visit her fun Website.

This is my 11th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

This is my 43rd book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, children's fiction, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , ,

City of Thieves by David Benioff

May 14, 2012 by

City of Thieves by David Benioff, which was the May book club selection, is set during WWII on the Western front of the war between 1942 and 1945, though mostly during the nearly 900 day siege of Leningrad, which was cut off from supplies of food and more.  Lev and Kolya are thrown together by circumstance when Lev is arrested as a looter when a dead German is found in his neighborhood and he’s discovered taking items off the body and is sent to the Crosses.  Kolya a Red Army deserter is thrown in the Crosses where he meets Lev.  The dynamic between these characters is full of initial paranoia, which morphs into irritation and finally camaraderie.  Kolya loves to chat about anything and everything, but he’s particularly boastful about his sexual exploits and his experience with just about everything related to war.  He’s pompous but in a comical way, and he reminds me of those wise jesters in the king’s court who uses humor to slice to the root of truth, even at times when it could be fatal.  Lev is a young boy who often portrays himself as an older young man or younger as it is convenient to the situation.

“There was something oddly comforting in Kolya’s consistency, his willingness to make the same jokes — if you could call them jokes — over and over again.  He was like a cheerful senile grandfather who sat at the dinner table with beet soup splattered on his collar, telling once more the story of his encounter with the emperor, though everyone in his family could recite it now from memory.” (page 161)

The beginning almost sets it up as a framed story in which the author or someone with the same name as the author hears the story from his grandfather, the knife fighter.  It’s not a far stretch to imagine the beginning chapter sets the story up to read similar to a memoir of David’s grandfather, Lev Beniov.  However, the frame is never closed literally by the end of the story, which is good in this case because it provides the story with a greater emotional impact.

“Wick lamps lit the small apartment and out long shadows crept across the walls, across the frayed rugs on the floor, the brass samovar in the corner, and a white sheet hanging on the far side of the room — partitioning off the sleeping area, I assumed.  When the giant closed the door, the sheet billowed like a woman’s dress in the wind.  In the moment before it settled down I saw what lay behind it — not a bed, no furniture at all, just slabs of white meat hanging from hooks, suspended from a heating pipe by heavy chains, with a canvas drop cloth on the floor to collect the drippings.”  (page 59)

Lev and Kolya embark on a journey to find eggs — yes, that is a chicken in the far snowy distance on the cover — to save their own hides, a deal offered by a powerful Soviet colonel.  They mean cannibals, partisans, and of course Germans bent on killing them.  While there is darkness, mystery, and suspense, there also is a quaint feeling to the setting and the interactions between Lev and his new friend.  The absurdity of their situation is never lost on them, and it attempts to mirror the absurdity of war.  Despite the danger they find themselves in, they often joke and rag on one another as if they are playing baseball in the streets of Leningrad.

City of Thieves is a well written coming-of-age story at a time when the world was at war, but in spite of the danger, Lev and Kolya form an unbreakable bond.  It’s easy to see their tentative interactions blossom into true friendship, a bond that keeps them alive and watching each other’s backs throughout the novel.  While in the midst of German attacks, in the rural farmhouses appropriated by Germans as whorehouses, and even in a remote hunting cabin, the journey they are on is not only one in search of eggs, but in search of the faith and strength they need to survive.  Another for the best of list.

Here’s what Book Club thought (Caution may contain spoilers):

We actually had a rather long discussion about this book from the prologue and the interjection of the author in the prologue as the grandson of one of the main characters to what the eggs symbolized.  One of the members thought that the eggs symbolized the absurdity of war, while another thought it was the fragility of human life.  As for the prologue, most said that they had forgotten about it, while two others (including myself) thought it was the author’s ego leading him to place himself in the story.  Although it’s an interesting device, it also seems to make the story appear true when it is not — given that in interviews the author has said he was never able to ask his grandparents about their time in Germany during WWII before they died.  And the prologue is not the only instance of the author interjecting his family subtly into the novel — i.e. Lev Beniov is one of the main characters, a close last name to David Benioff.

There also was quite a lot of discussion about the “Courtyard of the Hound,” which was talked about as a great work of Russian literature by Kolya and whether it was a great work of literature, could be a great work of literature, or was merely a boring story about a shut in who finally leaves his apartment because of a dead dog.

Other elements we discussed is the lack of care with human life by the generals on both sides of the war — whether the Russian colonel sending Kolya and Lev on an absurd journey to find eggs when all Russians are starving or the callous way in which the Germans used Russian women as sexual play things.  One member also highlighted the seeming lack of outrage regarding the cannibals compared to the outrage displayed against the women who were being used as whores by the Germans and acquiesced so that they could survive — why was one form of survival better than another or at least more acceptable.  Another interesting point was made about the cinematic feel of the latter half of the book where there were dramatic scenes lumped together one after another from the dogs used to carry bombs under tanks to the German whorehouse and the showdown with the German elite assassins.  It seemed to be very packed in and gave the reader little time to breath or be deeply impacted by the events at hand, which I did notice that this half of the book read more like a screenplay (haphazard of the author’s screenwriting occupation perhaps?).

Also, please read Diary of an Eccentric‘s review.

About the Author:

David Benioff worked as a nightclub bouncer in San Francisco, a radio DJ in Wyoming and an English teacher/wrestling coach in Brooklyn before selling his first novel, The 25th Hour, in 2000.

He later wrote the screenplay for Spike Lee’s adaptation of Hour starring Edward Norton and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. In 2005, Viking Press published Benioff’s collection of short stories, When the Nines Roll Over.

Benioff’s screenwriting credits include Troy (2004), directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and Stay (2005), directed by Marc Forster, and The Kite Runner (2007). Jim Sheridan produced Benioff’s screenplay Brothers, and Hugh Jackman reprised his role as the clawed mutant in Benioff’s Wolverine. Viking published his most recent novel, City of Thieves, in May 2008.

Benioff is married to actress Amanda Peet; the couple has one daughter, Frances Pen. Also check out his interviews.  And another interview.

This is my 39th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Penguin, Publishers/Publicists, purchased, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: , ,

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah, translated by Geoffrey Strachan

May 3, 2012 by

The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah, translated by Geoffrey Stachan is a quiet novel that hits the heart, twisting it until tears pour from the reader’s eyes.  Beginning slowly with the main character awaking from a dream, the novel builds to a crescendo, followed by still powerful diminuendo of reflection.  Appanah and Stachan’s translation provide a sense of distance from the characters at first, but pull readers in through the magic of the dreams and the jungle, generating the sense of hollowness and fullness of love in tension.

Set in Mauritius, Raj is in his 70s and is looking back on his time as an abused child in a poor family and the one friend he made following a major disaster that struck his small village of Mapou, which forced his family to leave and live near the island’s Beau-Bassin prison.  Raj’s family is poor, but happy as his two other brothers — Anil and Vinod — look out for him, even though he is the middle brother.  He is the one chosen to attend school, which he gladly shares with his brothers when he returns home to share the chore of obtaining water from the well.

“. . . in the old days at Mapou we used to crouch down, eating our mangoes with both hands, with the juice trickling down our forearms, quickly catching it with our tongues.  In the old days at Mapou we ate the whole mango, the skin, the little, rather hard tip that had held it to the branch and we sucked the stone for a long, long time until it was rough and insipid, good only to throw on the fire.” (page 44)

The connection between the brothers is severed and Raj is forced to leave his home with his parents as his father begins working as a guard at the Beau-Bassin prison, where in 1940 Jews were exiled during WWII.  Raj is still a child by modern standards at age 9 when he discovers the true wrath of his father and the world around him.  His father is easily displeased, particularly when drunk, and he often beats his children after taking whatever displeasure he has out on his wife.  In many ways, this rage shapes the boy that Raj becomes — secretive and imaginative.  He spends afternoons in the jungle, hiding and observing, especially once he learns of the prison and the bad man his father says are imprisoned there. It is his father’s rage and beatings that send Raj to the hospital inside the prison to recover and where he meets David.

Much of Raj’s life after leaving Mapou has been empty, but meeting David awakens in him his childhood and renews feelings of brotherhood.  The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah and translated by Geoffrey Stachan is stunning in its double entendre as the story of the last brother Raj and his own last “brother” David.  Raj is a deeply complex character as he looks at the past, his regrets about the choices he made and promises he could not keep, and his hope that the future will learn about the past so as to maintain the memory of those who have been lost.

About the Author:

Nathacha Devi Pathareddy Appanah is a Mauritian-French author. She comes from a traditional Indian family.

She spent most of her teenage years in Mauritius and also worked as a journalist/columnist at Le Mauricien and Week-End Scope before emigrating to France.

Since 1998, Nathacha Appanah is well-known as an active writer. Her first book Les Rochers de Poudre d’Or (published by Éditions Gallimard) received the ” Prix du Livre RFO”. The book was based on the arrival of Indian immigrants in Mauritius.

She also wrote two other books Blue Bay Palace and La Noce d’Anna which also received some prizes for best book in some regional festivals in France.

***I read this because of Anna’s glowing review at Diary of an Eccentric.

This is my 35th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, Graywolf Press, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2012, reviews Tagged With: , , ,

The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey & Read-a-Long

March 30, 2012 by

The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey, which is her first novel, is an incredible, sweeping novel set in Ireland during the beginning of the nation’s struggle for freedom from Britain, the rise of the IRA, and WWI.  Eileen O’Neill, our heroine, comes from a long line of warriors or so her Da tells her, and she revels in his folklore and his stories about how the O’Neills stole back the yellow house from the Sheridans who had once stole it from them.  The dynamics of the family often mirror the political situation in Ireland as her father is struck down and her mother looses her moorings and drifts.  Eileen’s brother Frank becomes even more angry and distant, mirroring the heightened angst over Ireland’s freedom and the dedication of its people to the Cause.

“Secrets are the cancer of families.  Like tumors, they grow ever larger, and if they are not removed, they suffocate the mind and spirit and spawn madness.  As long as they remain, they cast a shadow on every truth that is uttered, clouding it, constricting it, distorting it.  Secrets hurt the secret keeper as much as the poor souls from whom the secret is kept.  And even once the secret is out, its shadow echoes into the future, the remnants of its memory leaving us vigilant and fearful.”  (Page 241)

A young woman with a dreamer for a father and a mother keeping secrets is bound to get into trouble, and Eileen is no different, especially since she’s such a headstrong and stubborn girl to begin with.  Her family falls apart when times get financially troubling for them and their father, who is a poor farmer, is forced to mortgage their home.  Their mother sets about turning things back and begging for her own family’s forgiveness and pity to save her own family.  As the dominoes begin to fall heavily and quickly around the O’Neill family, some members fall apart, some rise up and hold onto their anger and resentments, and others hold onto their dreams.

“As we strolled along the promenade, I looked down at the gold wedding band on my left hand.  It felt heavy and strange, as if this new identity were crushing me.  I tried to smile.”  (Page 138)

Eileen meets James and is swept away by his passion for a free Ireland and a comeuppance for the Protestants who continue to save all of the jobs for their own kind.  Readers will be swept away by Eileen’s passion and dreams as she struggles against forces beyond her control and even against her husband, whose dreams are no longer her own.  WWI intervenes in the struggle for independence and forces many of the characters to reassess their priorities, including Eileen’s friend, Owen Sheridan, and even Eileen herself as she begins working with the injured soldiers at the hospital.

Reuniting the O’Neill family becomes a driving force in the novel, and Falvey’s prose is at once haunting and steeped in its own lore.  Her characters are flawed, frustrating, and forgivable, but the gem here is the symbolism and the history she weaves into Eileen’s story from the yellow house and the mountain Slieve Mullion to Ireland’s historic struggle for independence.  The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey is excellent.  It will sweep readers off their feet, whisking them off to the Irish countryside, into the workhouse slums, and back again.  Fast-paced, deep, heartbreaking, and romantic — Falvey is a writer to watch light up the shelves with her prose.

Another winner for 2012.

***Here are the final week’s Ireland Reading Challenge read-a-long questions and answers.  These may contain spoilers, so if you don’t want to read them, skip to the giveaway!***

Check out part one, two, and three of the discussions.

Were you as angry as I was when Eileen slept with James while pregnant with Owen’s baby, in order to pass the baby off as his?

I expected it as a “good” Catholic girl in a bind and already plagued by talk of the affair at the mill, etc.  Plus, she’s impetuous and does things without thinking about the consequences until later.

Was Owen’s reaction to that justified, in your opinion?

Yes.

Did you understand why Eileen was so torn about reporting what she knew about James’ plans for the mill?

Yes, but I’m glad she did.  James is her husband, though that matters little, but it does matter that he’s the father of her daughter and no mother wants to have to explain to their child why their da is in jail or dead.

What about her hesitancy to marry Owen?

I agree that she should wait and take some time to sort through those events that hit her boom, boom, boom…from the injury of her brother, seeing Billy killed, and finally reuniting with her sister, plus informing on her husband and nearly shooting James, that’s a lot for a person to process.  I think it showed maturity that she knew she needed more time to think about things and sort it all out, rather than her usual rash decisions that ruled her life.

What did you think of how things ended for the following characters: Frankie, Lizzie, Terrence, Fergus, and, of course, James?

I’m glad that Lizzie and Eileen were reunited and that her return even seemed to perk up their mother.  Terrence must still be living with a lot of guilt, and while I don’t like that Frankie was injured so badly, I think returning him to a happy child is a good ending for him.  He was far to angry, and its tough to come back from that even if you have an epiphany.  Fergus….ah, Fergus…not sure what to say about him.  I like that he was taking matters into his own hands, but I don’t like that he put Eileen in the position she was in.  James got his just desserts.

Were you satisfied with the way things ended for Eileen’s mom?

Yes and no.  Maybe there is hope for her yet.

And, lastly, were you happy with how things ended for Eileen?

Eileen needs to now learn how to be happy and not wallow in self-pity and all of that.  She deserved her happy ending.

About the Author:

Patricia Falvey was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. She was raised in Northern Ireland and England before immigrating to the U.S. at the age of twenty. She currently divides her time between Dallas, Texas and Northern Ireland.

 

 

This is my 2nd book for the 2012 Ireland Reading Challenge.

 

 

This is my 9th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

 

 

 

This is my 21st book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Hachette Books, historical fiction, Ireland Challenge, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2012, review copy, reviews, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , , ,

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear

March 22, 2012 by

A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear is the eighth book in the Maisie Dobbs series of cozy mysteries, but can be read as a stand-alone novel.  Set between the end of WWI and the beginnings of WWII, Dobbs is called upon by the British Special Branch to be their eyes and ears inside the College of St. Francis about events that would cause concern to the Crown.  Once installed as a junior lecturer of philosophy, a murder occurs that sets events in motion and tangles Dobbs in yet another mystery.

Dobbs runs her own private investigation agency in London, but she’s called away to a college in Cambridge on special assignment, leaving the office in the capable and reliable hands of Billy Beale.  Beyond the murder mystery and the search for anything that threatens national security, Dobbs is concerned about her father and her friend Sandra, who has just lost her husband in a freak accident.

“She wound down the window and gave a hand signal to indicate that she was pulling over to the side of the road, thus allowing an Austin Seven behind to pass, followed by the motor car that had been shadowing her for at least half an hour.  As soon as they passed, she turned back onto the road again and began to drive as close to the vehicle in front as safety would allow.” (page 3)

Winspear crafts an intricate novel of mystery that resonates with the reader as Dobbs is a strong woman making her way in a man’s world just after the war has ended and women are struggling to maintain their new found freedom.  Dobbs is a strong woman, though scarred, who is intelligent and observant.  Interestingly, Winspear demonstrates how idle gossip can provide just the nugget of information investigators need to close in on a killer.  While Dobbs is kept in the dark about the knowledge held by government officials, she manages to uncover their secrets and those of other government officials who view her as an inconsequential lecturer.

Although there are three or more stories going on at once, Maisie is always central and she juggles so many tasks with ease — almost like she is superhuman.  Pacifism, the treatment of conscientious objectors, and whether someone’s heritage plays a role in their loyalties are just some of the issues addressed in this novel.  A Lesson in Secrets by Jacqueline Winspear raises questions of how much should we idolize our mentors — after all they are just human — and whether we should vilify those that do not see the world in quite the same way that we do.  Moreover, she tackles the power of the written word and its impact on political parties, soldiers, and average citizens, plus how words can inflame already volatile situations.

About the Author:

Jacqueline Winspear was born and raised in the county of Kent, England. Following higher education at the University of London’s Institute of Education, Jacqueline worked in academic publishing, in higher education, and in marketing communications in the UK.

She emigrated to the United States in 1990, and while working in business and as a personal / professional coach, Jacqueline embarked upon a life-long dream to be a writer.  Find out more about Jacqueline at her website, www.jacquelinewinspear.com, and find her on Facebook.

This is my 19th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

 

 

 

This is my 8th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: challenges, Harper Collins, historical fiction, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2012, review copy, reviews, tlc book tours, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , ,

The Yellow House Read-a-Long, Part 1

March 11, 2012 by

As part of the 2012 Ireland Reading Challenge, we’re reading The Yellow House by Patricia Falvey.  For the first week, we read pages 1-90.  I’m going to answer the read-a-long questions here.  Please be aware that the answers could have spoilers in them.

1.  What do you think of the writing?

Falvey’s writing is very in step with other Irish writers I’ve read in the past where the diction and the style resembles the time period and the very mythical Irish culture.  I’m enjoying the detail and the description a great deal; it gives me a sense that I am there in the valley below Slieve Mullion, the mountain looking down on the O’Neill house.

I had a hard time stopping after the second section in the book when I hit page 90.

2.  What do you think of Eileen’s parents?

Eileen’s parents have secrets, and these secrets are well hidden from the children, as to be expected during that time.  Parents did not openly talk about their courtships or previous relationships with their lovers and/or parents to their children.  I’m surprised at how lively Eileen’s mother talked of the past once it was revealed where their grandfather lived.  It seemed a bit incongruous to me that she would suddenly want to reminisce with her kids about a past she had kept so hidden and one that was fraught with despair and heartache.  I really was disappointed that such a strong woman was unable to bounce back after tragedy to help her other children!  It saddened me to think that she would withdraw so much, and after the death of the father, she became an unrecognizable woman…that seemed a bit extreme to me.

Eileen’s father is a typical dreamer, which has been seen in other Irish novels, but what’s intriguing here is that he is not a drunkard and does not make foolish monetary decisions that leave his family out in the cold for the most part.  He does make a go of farming, though eh fails miserably at it, but rather than gamble away the future, he takes the reasonable road and sells a portion of the land…at least until he takes out a mortgage on the house.

3.  It seems that the book is heading in a romantic direction when it comes to Eileen and Owen Sheridan. What do you think of this potential romance?

Eileen and Owen have a sort of forbidden love, which can be tempting, but for now it seems that Eileen is being level-headed…however, there also is the wild card of James, whom she is determined to hate.  But will she really, and will he really become a priest?  That remains to be seen.  It also seems to be a similar set up going on here that may mirror her mother’s past when she became pregnant with Frank and instead of marrying his father, she marries Eileen’s dad.

4.  As we closed the second section, the world is on the brink of the First World War, and Ireland is being torn apart by the fight for Home Rule. Have you learned anything about Ireland or the world at this time period that was new to you?

I finally understand the difference between the Unionists and the Nationalists!  These were mentioned in A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry (my review), but it was so confusing given the main character, Willie had little knowledge of politics related to WWI or the Irish struggle for Home Rule.  I hope there is more of the politics behind the wars in this one.  It’s fascinating to me, though I don’t want the book to lose its pace or its dynamism.

***Some Other Observations***

I really love how Falvey has used nature here to demonstrate the struggles of the Irish, and her descriptions of the Music Men are fantastic at demonstrating the power of music and how it became a safe heaven for many Irish.  I’m also getting curious about the significance of yellow here; it seems to be recurring in the house paint, Eileen’s dress, and other events.  I cannot wait to see how that ties into the overall novel.

For next week, we’ll be reading pages 91-164 or sections “War, 1914-1918″ and “Insurrection, 1919-1920.”

Filed Under: challenges, Hachette Books, historical fiction, Ireland Challenge, New Authors Challenge, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2012, review copy, reviews, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , , ,

A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry

March 6, 2012 by

A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry is a historical fiction novel in which the main protagonist, Willie Dunne, joins the military to prove to himself and his father that he can be more than a short teenage boy.  As a young Irish boy, he dreamed of joining his father in the police force, but he never grew to the required height.  After disappointing his father, Willie meets a young woman, Gretta, and falls in love, just before he leaves for the front lines in Belgium.  Willie is a bit dull when it comes to the politics behind WWI, but he’s also dull about the politics and struggle facing his home country of Ireland.

Barry’s prose meanders is a storytelling fashion that dates back to the old days in Ireland, and is likely to remind readers of Frank Delaney’s storytelling style.  Willie’s mind wanders into his past as a boy to the present situations he finds himself in at the front lines, with a variety of men who are as young as he is.  It is clear that these men he mentions are names that will either be soon forgotten as the ravages of war take them or who are men that make an impression on Willie’s psyche, such as Father Buckley.

“Four men killed that day.  The phrase sat up in Willie’s head like a rat and made a nest for itself there.”  (Page 21)

“As they approached the war, it was as if they went through a series of doors, each one opened briefly and locked fast behind them.” (Page 37)

“The first layer of clothing was his jacket, the second his shirt, the third his longjohns, the fourth his share of lice, the fifth his share of fear” (Page 43)

Barry’s prose is clipped when necessary to demonstrate the immediacy of war-time battles, but also it slows down the action as Willie reflects on the battles, the gas attacks, the deaths of his comrades, and more as he attempts to process all that he’s seen.  There are gruesome gas attack scenes as the mustard gas inches its way across no-man’s land and down into the trenches, filling every open crevice with its nasty poison, including the open mouths of men caught in the trenches without gas masks or even well-secured gas masks.  Barry’s work not only demonstrates the physical trials of war, but also the mental hardships that accompany the loss of friends and people you didn’t even really have time to get to know, as well as deal with the bureaucracy that is the military and the perceptions of others about your commitment to the cause and battles that happened in the past that you witnessed first hand and may not be retold in the way in which they actually happened.  There is a battle that rages inside each soldier about when to speak up and when to keep quiet, and Willie struggles with that daily.

Willie can be a trying character in that he has little knowledge of the politics around him and has little opinion on the matter, and this can keep readers at an emotional distance.  However, Barry has crafted a novel that demonstrates the ins and outs of war at a time when modern mechanisms were just coming into play, even though much of the combat was still hand-to-hand and the troops conditions saw little improvement.  Additionally, it seems that Barry is attempting to comment on “authority” whether it is in the parent-son relationship, the soldier-military relationship, or the citizen-country relationship, but the message becomes quite muddled.  It would almost seem as though the narration is trying to tackle too much in the way of the “authority” figure relationship, making it harder for readers to clearly make out the purpose of so many “father” figures in the narration.

A Long, Long Way by Sebastian Barry takes a while to get into, but once you begin the journey with Willie, you’ll want to see if he returns to Ireland knowing his own mind — the one requirement Gretta has made of him before she will agree to marry.  While Willie thinks of her often, he also has to contend with the daily trials of war and military service.  The novel is does not gloss over the gruesome aspects of trench-life and warfare, so be warned.  In fact, some of the best and most suspenseful scenes were those involving mustard gas, which Willie and his fellow soldiers had never seen before; Barry did well in describing how it crept across the battlefields.  Overall, a worthwhile look at WWI from the point of view of an Irish soldier caught between his loyalties for Ireland and the British army.

About the Author:

Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955. His play, The Steward of Christendom, first produced in 1995, won many awards and has been seen around the world. His novel, The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, appeared in 1998. He lives in Wicklow with his wife and three children.

This is my 7th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

 

 

This is my 15th book for the 2012 New Authors Challenge.

 

 

 

This is my 1st book for the 2012 Ireland Reading Challenge since the main protagonist is Irish and must cope with being away during WWI while uprisings are occurring in Ireland for independence from England.  The author also was born in Dublin.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, historical fiction, Ireland Challenge, New Authors Challenge, Read in 2012, reviews, WWI Reading Challenge 2012 Tagged With: , ,

The Harlem Hellfighters: When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers and Bill Miles

March 1, 2012 by

The Harlem Hellfighters:  When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers and Bill Miles is a book for ages 9-12 and chronicles the exploits of the “Harlem Hellfighters,” who were African-American soldiers of the 369th Infantry Regiment of World War 1.  Miles writes the preface to the book and talks about his personal connection to the unit and Harlem, eventually becoming the unit historian.

“Hundreds of black men laid down their lives in France because they refused to believe that they were anything but men, worthy of being Americans and representing their country.” (Page IV)

Myers chronicles the presence of African Americans throughout military history starting from the French and Indian War through WWI.  It also discusses the politics in Europe at the time, especially the desire of European nations to colonize developing countries and those nations rich with resources.  Eventually, a division of partners arose, with Britain and France on one side and Germany and Austria-Hungary on the other.  There are detailed accounts of trenches — how they were dug and how many sets of trenches there were and why — and the rise of modern mechanized weapons and warfare.

Once the foundation is laid down, Myers begins to discuss the problem of race in the United States, beginning in 1896 with the Supreme Court decision in Plessy vs. Ferguson, which enabled companies, counties, states, etc. to segregate whites and blacks so long as the facilities are “equal.”  Not only was segregation a problem, but within the black community, men were reluctant to join the National Guard and possibly fight for the United States when they were unable to vote or have the same rights as their white counterparts.  This reluctance was only overcome when a famous black composer James Reese Europe agreed to volunteer for the 15th New York National Guard or 15th Infantry Regiment.  It took organizers in New York at least one year — between 1916 and 1917 — to reach peacetime size of 1,378 men to obtain federal recognition and additional funding.

The true gems of The Harlem Hellfighters:  When Pride Met Courage by Walter Dean Myers and Bill Miles are the historic photos of those volunteering for the regiment, tenement farmers, and more as well as copies of War Department letters, newspaper columns, telegrams, posters, and other documents.  Although some of the military background can be dry, the story Myers tells about the black soldiers and their struggle against segregation and the solidarity they found as part of the Harlem Hellfighters is inspiring.  The stories of Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts offer additional perspective on how black men became soldiers and how they fought once abroad.  There are other stories like theirs as well, and these personal accounts humanize these historical figures.  The struggle against racism and segregation and early war and political background takes up most of the book, with only the remaining third telling the story of the Hellfighters in WWI France.  For the younger age group that this book is aimed at, Myers does well to pinpoint individual soldiers’ stories, but readers of that age would likely pay closer attention to the historical aspects if there were more of these stories.

About the Author:

Walter Dean Myers is a New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed author who has garnered much respect and admiration for his fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for young people. Winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award, he is considered one of the preeminent writers for children. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, with his family.

William Miles was born in Harlem, New York, and has used his deep knowledge and experience of that borough to produce films that tell unique and often inspiring stories of Harlem’s history. Based at Thirteen/WNET in New York City, William Miles produced many films dedicated to the African-American experience that have been broadcast nationwide.  Miles’ interest in creating historical documentaries was nurtured through 25 years of restoring archival films and early feature classics for Killiam Shows, Inc. and the Walter Reade Organization in New York City.

This is my 6th book for the WWI Reading Challenge.

Filed Under: borrowed copy, challenges, Harper Collins, historical fiction, Publishers/Publicists, Read in 2012, reviews, WWI Reading Challenge 2012, young adult fiction Tagged With: , ,