Karen
This is a good old fashioned melodramatic thriller set mostly in the fictional town of Ruffano, Italy. Armino Fabbio, a tour guide for a Genoan tour company, has a chance encounter with an old woman who reminds him of the nurse who took care of him as a child in Ruffano. When she is later murdered, he leaves his job and sets off for Ruffano to see if he can verify if it really was Marta, his old nurse. As he comes back to the town he left as an 11 year old boy in the chaos of the end of World War II, he is drawn into the intrigues between factions at the university that threaten to engulf the whole town, and he finds that his family drama is at the center of them.
I was instantly drawn in and read this compulsively in two sittings. The melodrama hit the spot. I especially appreciated the mirroring of the town's (fictional) historic drama between medieval Dukes Claudio and Carlo that is essential to the plot.
This is a good old fashioned melodramatic thriller set mostly in the fictional town of Ruffano, Italy. Armino Fabbio, a tour guide for a Genoan tour company, has a chance encounter with an old woman who reminds him of the nurse who took care of him as a child in Ruffano. When she is later murdered, he leaves his job and sets off for Ruffano to see if he can verify if it really was Marta, his old nurse. As he comes back to the town he left as an 11 year old boy in the chaos of the end of World War II, he is drawn into the intrigues between factions at the university that threaten to engulf the whole town, and he finds that his family drama is at the center of them.
I was instantly drawn in and read this compulsively in two sittings. The melodrama hit the spot. I especially appreciated the mirroring of the town's (fictional) historic drama between medieval Dukes Claudio and Carlo that is essential to the plot.
I appreciate this novel for giving me the opportunity to put "spontaneous combustion" in my tags.
Fallon Kazan and her two brothers, Ovid and Terrence (sometimes known as Cosmo), are adults dealing with the fallout of their mother's apparent spontaneous combustion in the Chilean desert when they were on a family trip as children. Their relationships with each other are turbulent, and Fallon and Ovid have trouble building lives for themselves in the world. Their father, Walter, is a passive man who doesn't know how to help them and may not even think it is his role to help them. This is the state of things in the beginning of the novel. When Ovid has a crisis, things begin to shift in the story. Fallon is led to set off on a journey of discovery in the very car her family was driving in Chile when her mother disappeared in a flash of fire.
In many ways this is a conventional story of adult siblings navigating the aftermath of trauma from their childhood, coming to new understanding of what happened to them, and learning to trust themselves and each other. It was the unexpected elements of the story that made it fun to read. The hints of magical realism in Blue Woman Burning add to the sense that the world of the Kazans is seriously off kilter. Eustacia's over the top personality repeating itself in Ovid, her obsession with him, and his behavior after her exit from their lives suggests not just family drama, but family horror. Fallon's experiences and the people she meets on her epic journey are imaginative and build meaning within the story. I really liked being surprised over and over by what happened next.
I do wish that the character of Walter, their father, had more development. I had so many questions about him. He had enough of a personality to persuade Eustacia not to name her daughter Fallopia and her son Ovum, but almost nothing is said about his reaction to Eustacia's fiery exit. Is his passivity and helplessness in later life because of that or something else? Despite these questions, I really enjoyed the book.
I appreciate this novel for giving me the opportunity to put "spontaneous combustion" in my tags.
Fallon Kazan and her two brothers, Ovid and Terrence (sometimes known as Cosmo), are adults dealing with the fallout of their mother's apparent spontaneous combustion in the Chilean desert when they were on a family trip as children. Their relationships with each other are turbulent, and Fallon and Ovid have trouble building lives for themselves in the world. Their father, Walter, is a passive man who doesn't know how to help them and may not even think it is his role to help them. This is the state of things in the beginning of the novel. When Ovid has a crisis, things begin to shift in the story. Fallon is led to set off on a journey of discovery in the very car her family was driving in Chile when her mother disappeared in a flash of fire.
In many ways this is a conventional story of adult siblings navigating the aftermath of trauma from their childhood, coming to new understanding of what happened to them, and learning to trust themselves and each other. It was the unexpected elements of the story that made it fun to read. The hints of magical realism in Blue Woman Burning add to the sense that the world of the Kazans is seriously off kilter. Eustacia's over the top personality repeating itself in Ovid, her obsession with him, and his behavior after her exit from their lives suggests not just family drama, but family horror. Fallon's experiences and the people she meets on her epic journey are imaginative and build meaning within the story. I really liked being surprised over and over by what happened next.
I do wish that the character of Walter, their father, had more development. I had so many questions about him. He had enough of a personality to persuade Eustacia not to name her daughter Fallopia and her son Ovum, but almost nothing is said about his reaction to Eustacia's fiery exit. Is his passivity and helplessness in later life because of that or something else? Despite these questions, I really enjoyed the book.
Sometimes you're in the mood for a book about a woman marooned on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, battling bears, starvation, and her own demons. If that's you right now, this is your book. Best of all, this novel is based on a true story.
In the novel, Marguerite de la Rocque's parents die when she is a young girl, and her care is left to her unscrupulous kinsman Roberval. Roberval speculates with her inheritance and loses it, so Marguerite's house and lands are rented out and she and her small household are packed off to live in an outbuilding. Roberval's moods are unpredictable and he seems to take pleasure in keeping Marguerite off balance, so we quickly understand that he isn't just unscrupulous with money, he's an all around bad guy. There's no recourse for Marguerite. She's at his mercy and no one is going to hold him accountable for taking her money.
When Marguerite comes of age, Roberval brings her and her nurse Damienne to his house in La Rochelle, and from there on board his ship sailing to New France, where he has been declared viceroy. On the voyage, Marguerite falls in love with his secretary, August, and when Roberval discovers this, he maroons the pair of them (and Damienne) on an island there, with their belongings and some supplies. The story moves from maddening injustice to Robinson Crusoe, as the castaways figure out how to take care of themselves alone on the island, and then to heartbreak as hardships set in.
The theme of religious faith and questioning in this book is handled so well. Marguerite compares her faith to that of her companions and finds herself lacking because she doesn't passively accept her lot, but chafes against her restrictions and tries to make things better for herself. She feels unhappy, complains, and asks for what she wants, while her closest female companions pray much more, and don't complain. Marguerite does experience a dark night of the soul in this book, and while she doesn't come out of it behaving more like those companions, she has more maturity and steadiness than she did before.
A really worthwhile read!
Sometimes you're in the mood for a book about a woman marooned on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, battling bears, starvation, and her own demons. If that's you right now, this is your book. Best of all, this novel is based on a true story.
In the novel, Marguerite de la Rocque's parents die when she is a young girl, and her care is left to her unscrupulous kinsman Roberval. Roberval speculates with her inheritance and loses it, so Marguerite's house and lands are rented out and she and her small household are packed off to live in an outbuilding. Roberval's moods are unpredictable and he seems to take pleasure in keeping Marguerite off balance, so we quickly understand that he isn't just unscrupulous with money, he's an all around bad guy. There's no recourse for Marguerite. She's at his mercy and no one is going to hold him accountable for taking her money.
When Marguerite comes of age, Roberval brings her and her nurse Damienne to his house in La Rochelle, and from there on board his ship sailing to New France, where he has been declared viceroy. On the voyage, Marguerite falls in love with his secretary, August, and when Roberval discovers this, he maroons the pair of them (and Damienne) on an island there, with their belongings and some supplies. The story moves from maddening injustice to Robinson Crusoe, as the castaways figure out how to take care of themselves alone on the island, and then to heartbreak as hardships set in.
The theme of religious faith and questioning in this book is handled so well. Marguerite compares her faith to that of her companions and finds herself lacking because she doesn't passively accept her lot, but chafes against her restrictions and tries to make things better for herself. She feels unhappy, complains, and asks for what she wants, while her closest female companions pray much more, and don't complain. Marguerite does experience a dark night of the soul in this book, and while she doesn't come out of it behaving more like those companions, she has more maturity and steadiness than she did before.
A really worthwhile read!
The lifelong friendship of Leah Hanwell and Natalie (Keisha) Blake takes place against the backdrop of Willesden, a working class borough in the Northwest of London that is home to Irish, South Asian, and African immigrants. The two girls lived there with their families as children, did well enough in school to go to university, and have both made it "out" of the neighborhood as adults, but are still very much rooted there. Although the action of the novel centers around Leah, Natalie, and a young man named Felix, Willesden itself is arguably a character in its own right. Its shops and restaurants, alleys and bus stops, parks and churchyards are populated with people who are struggling, joyful, weary, gentle, violent, philosophical, etc. There are some truly delightful scenes that depict the character of the place.
Although I enjoyed the novel, I didn't understand the structure of it. The central section (and the longest), called Host, tells the story of Leah and Natalie's friendship from its beginning when they were girls to a point where Natalie comes to a crisis in her adult life, in 178 sections ranging from as short as one sentence to as long as several pages. The sections before and after Host are fairly traditional narratives, so this read to me at first like notes for the backstory of the novel. After a while I got used to the different pace and structure of that section and it didn't feel so disjointed anymore, but I still wonder about the reason for the style change.
Anyway, if you like novels about female friendship, give this one a try. The two main characters are excellent and their friendship is real.
The lifelong friendship of Leah Hanwell and Natalie (Keisha) Blake takes place against the backdrop of Willesden, a working class borough in the Northwest of London that is home to Irish, South Asian, and African immigrants. The two girls lived there with their families as children, did well enough in school to go to university, and have both made it "out" of the neighborhood as adults, but are still very much rooted there. Although the action of the novel centers around Leah, Natalie, and a young man named Felix, Willesden itself is arguably a character in its own right. Its shops and restaurants, alleys and bus stops, parks and churchyards are populated with people who are struggling, joyful, weary, gentle, violent, philosophical, etc. There are some truly delightful scenes that depict the character of the place.
Although I enjoyed the novel, I didn't understand the structure of it. The central section (and the longest), called Host, tells the story of Leah and Natalie's friendship from its beginning when they were girls to a point where Natalie comes to a crisis in her adult life, in 178 sections ranging from as short as one sentence to as long as several pages. The sections before and after Host are fairly traditional narratives, so this read to me at first like notes for the backstory of the novel. After a while I got used to the different pace and structure of that section and it didn't feel so disjointed anymore, but I still wonder about the reason for the style change.
Anyway, if you like novels about female friendship, give this one a try. The two main characters are excellent and their friendship is real.
I was in middle school when Ronald Reagan was elected and a teenager when AIDS was an epidemic. I remember Angels in America coming out and people talking about it, but this is the first time I've read it. Reading and talking about drama is not my forte, but this play (these two plays?) put me back in those times. Although I remember that expectations around masculinity and femininity were rigid and the stigma against being gay was absolute, it's easy to intellectualize it now and forget the feeling of airlessness and stricture the sexual politics of the time had. Not that these issues are all in the past....
In 2025 putting these issues, and the intimate details of the lives of gay men with AIDS, on stage doesn't seem daring, however relevant it might still be. But in the early 1990's it must have been radical. Reading this play now, I am thankful to Tony Kushner and everyone else who insisted on talking about the lives of gay men during the AIDS epidemic, about the lives of gay and lesbian and transgender people in general, and on putting those issues in front of Americans. This play brings the hypocrisy, denial, shame, and racial and sexual bigotry that lurked behind the US's official policies toward gay men in particular out into the light of day, and let some air into the room for everyone to take a breath and see a little more clearly. If we were willing.
I was in middle school when Ronald Reagan was elected and a teenager when AIDS was an epidemic. I remember Angels in America coming out and people talking about it, but this is the first time I've read it. Reading and talking about drama is not my forte, but this play (these two plays?) put me back in those times. Although I remember that expectations around masculinity and femininity were rigid and the stigma against being gay was absolute, it's easy to intellectualize it now and forget the feeling of airlessness and stricture the sexual politics of the time had. Not that these issues are all in the past....
In 2025 putting these issues, and the intimate details of the lives of gay men with AIDS, on stage doesn't seem daring, however relevant it might still be. But in the early 1990's it must have been radical. Reading this play now, I am thankful to Tony Kushner and everyone else who insisted on talking about the lives of gay men during the AIDS epidemic, about the lives of gay and lesbian and transgender people in general, and on putting those issues in front of Americans. This play brings the hypocrisy, denial, shame, and racial and sexual bigotry that lurked behind the US's official policies toward gay men in particular out into the light of day, and let some air into the room for everyone to take a breath and see a little more clearly. If we were willing.
This is a great anthology of folktales from around the world and many different cultures featuring women and girls as heroines who solve problems and rescue others with their wisdom, intelligence, and courage, and who make their own destinies instead of having them made for them by others. Each story has a brief commentary (1-2 short paragraphs, half a page at most) by the author at the end. I found the commentary a little uneven, but it's a small enough part of the book that it's easy to ignore. There are end notes and an index in the back, along with a list of selected "further reading," including picture books, young adult books, and secondary literature.
Overall, I really enjoyed this!
This is a great anthology of folktales from around the world and many different cultures featuring women and girls as heroines who solve problems and rescue others with their wisdom, intelligence, and courage, and who make their own destinies instead of having them made for them by others. Each story has a brief commentary (1-2 short paragraphs, half a page at most) by the author at the end. I found the commentary a little uneven, but it's a small enough part of the book that it's easy to ignore. There are end notes and an index in the back, along with a list of selected "further reading," including picture books, young adult books, and secondary literature.
Overall, I really enjoyed this!
This murder mystery set in a upper class girl's school in Dublin has a poignant portrayal of friendship and solidarity among a group of four girls as they navigate high school and teenage social pressures together. Although they are at an all girls' school, the corresponding all boys' high school is right next door and they interact with the boys regularly. When one of the students from the boys school turns up dead on the grounds of the girls' school and the police fail to find the murderer, it leaves everyone at the school uneasy. This story starts when one of the girls brings a postcard that announces "I know who killed Chris Harper," which she found posted in her school, to an ambitious detective in the Cold Case division of the police. The framing of the story is that this Cold Case detective brings the postcard to the detective in the Murder division who was in charge of the case when it first was investigated and the two of them revive the investigation.
The investigation aspect of the story was the least compelling to me. I really wasn't interested in the dynamics between the two detectives, and I found it hard to swallow the idea that the entire investigation portrayed in the book took place over the course of one long day. But I truly enjoyed the part of the book that focused on the friendship between the girls, and the hostilities with a rival group headed by their archnemesis Joanne. If Tana French had left the cops out of it and let the girls figure it all out amongst themselves, The Secret Place might have been really interesting. As it was, it was a pretty good mystery.
This murder mystery set in a upper class girl's school in Dublin has a poignant portrayal of friendship and solidarity among a group of four girls as they navigate high school and teenage social pressures together. Although they are at an all girls' school, the corresponding all boys' high school is right next door and they interact with the boys regularly. When one of the students from the boys school turns up dead on the grounds of the girls' school and the police fail to find the murderer, it leaves everyone at the school uneasy. This story starts when one of the girls brings a postcard that announces "I know who killed Chris Harper," which she found posted in her school, to an ambitious detective in the Cold Case division of the police. The framing of the story is that this Cold Case detective brings the postcard to the detective in the Murder division who was in charge of the case when it first was investigated and the two of them revive the investigation.
The investigation aspect of the story was the least compelling to me. I really wasn't interested in the dynamics between the two detectives, and I found it hard to swallow the idea that the entire investigation portrayed in the book took place over the course of one long day. But I truly enjoyed the part of the book that focused on the friendship between the girls, and the hostilities with a rival group headed by their archnemesis Joanne. If Tana French had left the cops out of it and let the girls figure it all out amongst themselves, The Secret Place might have been really interesting. As it was, it was a pretty good mystery.
I was a fan of Alison Bechdel's comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For back in the early 90s, but this is my first book length Bechdel. I liked it! This is at once a memoir and analysis of Bechdel's relationship with her mother from childhood to the present and a mini course on the life and psychological theories of D. W. Winnicott, who is known for his insights into children's psychological development.
Bechdel is open about her struggles with not feeling loved and valued by her mother (or, secondarily, by anyone else), depicting herself in therapy sessions, in conversations with her mom where she looks for affirmation and doesn't receive it, and in relationships with women who are ambivalent about committing to her. Her use of WInnicott's theories to analyze what might have been going on between her and her mother is a little technical and dry for someone not used to reading psychology texts, but her illustrations and the bits of information about Winnicott's life that she provides helped me through. Virginia Woolf and her novel To the Lighthouse also figure in this book. My favorite parts were when the text of the comic was about something from Winnicott or To the Lighthouse, but the illustration showed Bechdel and her mother having an interaction.
Overall, I'd recommend this if you already like Alison Bechdel or if you struggle with your relationship with your mom. Either way, it's insightful, compassionate, and the illustrations are great.
I was a fan of Alison Bechdel's comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For back in the early 90s, but this is my first book length Bechdel. I liked it! This is at once a memoir and analysis of Bechdel's relationship with her mother from childhood to the present and a mini course on the life and psychological theories of D. W. Winnicott, who is known for his insights into children's psychological development.
Bechdel is open about her struggles with not feeling loved and valued by her mother (or, secondarily, by anyone else), depicting herself in therapy sessions, in conversations with her mom where she looks for affirmation and doesn't receive it, and in relationships with women who are ambivalent about committing to her. Her use of WInnicott's theories to analyze what might have been going on between her and her mother is a little technical and dry for someone not used to reading psychology texts, but her illustrations and the bits of information about Winnicott's life that she provides helped me through. Virginia Woolf and her novel To the Lighthouse also figure in this book. My favorite parts were when the text of the comic was about something from Winnicott or To the Lighthouse, but the illustration showed Bechdel and her mother having an interaction.
Overall, I'd recommend this if you already like Alison Bechdel or if you struggle with your relationship with your mom. Either way, it's insightful, compassionate, and the illustrations are great.
Marx for Cats
Almost 300 pages into this book, author Leigh Clare La Berge describes Carl Van Vechten's 1920 book The Tiger in the House with this sentence: "Indeed, the reader can never be entirely sure whether she is reading a proper academic study or a farce." I might describe La Berge's book the same way. In Van Vechten's case, La Berge cites the lack of politics in the book that takes away from its gravitas. In La Berge's case, it isn't a lack of politics that causes the confusion, but the inclusion of puns, playful metaphors, and a distinct sense throughout the book that the author had a twinkle in her eye as she wrote it. In fact, I feel sure that she wrote the sentence above knowing that it applied to her book as well.
Ostensibly about the way that cats have served as symbols for different elements or forces in political life from feudal times to the present, the book also asks whether Marxism can expand to include non-human animals in its scope. The style is academic, but also a bit mischievous, and includes tiger's leaps of imagination. Nerdy fun for left leaning animal lovers.
Almost 300 pages into this book, author Leigh Clare La Berge describes Carl Van Vechten's 1920 book The Tiger in the House with this sentence: "Indeed, the reader can never be entirely sure whether she is reading a proper academic study or a farce." I might describe La Berge's book the same way. In Van Vechten's case, La Berge cites the lack of politics in the book that takes away from its gravitas. In La Berge's case, it isn't a lack of politics that causes the confusion, but the inclusion of puns, playful metaphors, and a distinct sense throughout the book that the author had a twinkle in her eye as she wrote it. In fact, I feel sure that she wrote the sentence above knowing that it applied to her book as well.
Ostensibly about the way that cats have served as symbols for different elements or forces in political life from feudal times to the present, the book also asks whether Marxism can expand to include non-human animals in its scope. The style is academic, but also a bit mischievous, and includes tiger's leaps of imagination. Nerdy fun for left leaning animal lovers.
This story of a schoolgirl friendship that grows complicated in cultural revolution era China is short, but powerful. The difficulty of retaining your humanity in a totalitarian society is a major theme.
This story of a schoolgirl friendship that grows complicated in cultural revolution era China is short, but powerful. The difficulty of retaining your humanity in a totalitarian society is a major theme.
An accessible book which attempts to establish which of the Mary stories in the four canonical Gospels are about Mary Magdalene, based on biblical evidence, and then interprets the significance of those stories for people in the modern world. I read this book just at Easter, so the story of Mary Magdalene at the tomb was fresh in my mind. I find methods of interpreting ancient texts fascinating, so this topic was interesting to me. Dr. McNutt doesn't think the "woman taken in adultery" or the sinful woman washing Jesus's feet and wiping them with her hair are Mary Magdalene, and offers compelling arguments to support her case. I'd love to see the best arguments on the other side. It's hard to imagine that they would measure up.
An accessible book which attempts to establish which of the Mary stories in the four canonical Gospels are about Mary Magdalene, based on biblical evidence, and then interprets the significance of those stories for people in the modern world. I read this book just at Easter, so the story of Mary Magdalene at the tomb was fresh in my mind. I find methods of interpreting ancient texts fascinating, so this topic was interesting to me. Dr. McNutt doesn't think the "woman taken in adultery" or the sinful woman washing Jesus's feet and wiping them with her hair are Mary Magdalene, and offers compelling arguments to support her case. I'd love to see the best arguments on the other side. It's hard to imagine that they would measure up.
