Lou’s reviews received this
September (2002) can be accessed below by AUTHOR or TITLE.
The reviews
immediately follow the title list.
AUTHORS
Barr,
N.; A Superior Death, 1
Bradbury,R.; Dandelion Wine, 2
Bragg,
R.; Ava’s Man, 1
Clapp,N.; The Road to Ubar, 11
Cross,A.; Honest Doubt, 5
Flagg,F.; Welcome to the World, Baby Girl, 13
Folsom,A.; Day of Confession, 2
Greeley,A.M.; Fall From Grace, 3
Greenfield,M.; Washington, 13
Griffin,W.E.B.; Under Fire, 12
Grisham,J; Skipping Christmas, 7
Harvey.M.; The Island of Lost Maps, 10
Johnson,H.; Sleepwalking Through History, 8
Kaplan,R.D.; Soldiers of God, 8
Krentz,J.A.; smoke in mirrors, 8
Larsen,E.; Isaac’s Storm, 5
Liliuokalani; Hawaii_s Story, 5
Malone,M.; Time’s Witness, 11
Mesce,B.; Officer of the Court, 6
Michaels,A.; Fugitive Pieces, 4
Miles,J.; God: A Biography, 4
Norton,E.M.; We Band of Angels, 13
Ondaatje,M.; The English Patient, 10
Paretsky;S; Total Recall;, 12
Parker,R.B.; Death in Paradise, 3
Parker,R.B.; Gunman’s Rhapsody, 5
Pearson;R.; Parallel Lies, 6
Perry,A.; Funeral in Blue, 4
Rooney,E.B.; Morning Song, 6
Trigiani,A,; Big Stone Gap, 1
Trillen,T.; Tepper Isn’t Going Out, 9
West,M.; The Navigator, 10
Williams,K.B.; Secret Weapon, 7
Wright,P.; Spycatcher, 9
TITLES
A
Superior Death; Nevada Barr, 1
Ava’s
Man; Rick Bragg, 1
Big
Stone Gap; Adriana Trigiani, 1
Dandelion
Wine; Ray Bradbury, 2
Day
of Confession; Allan Folsom, 2
Death
in Paradise; Robert B. Parker, 3
Fall
From Grace; Andrew M. Greeley, 3
Fugitive
Pieces; Anne Michaels, 4
Funeral
in Blue; Anne Perry, 4
God:
A Biography; Jack Miles, 4
Gunman’s
Rhapsody; Robert B. Parker, 5
Hawaii’s
Story: By Hawaii’s Queen; Liliuokalani, 5
Honest
Doubt; Amanda Cross, 5
Isaac’s
Storm; Erik Larson, 5
Morning
Song; Elizabeth B. Rooney, 6
Officer
of the Court; Bill Mesce, Jr., 6
Parallel
Lies; Ridley Pearson, 6
Secret
Weapon; Kathleen Broome Williams, 7
Skipping
Christmas; John Grisham, 7
Sleepwalking
Through History; Haynes Johnson, 8
Smoke In
Mirrors; Jayne Ann Krentz, 8
Soldiers
of God; Robert D. Kaplan, 8
Spy
Catcher; Peter Wright, 9
Tepper
Isn’t Going Out; Calvin Trillin, 9
The
English Patient; Michael Ondaatje, 10
The
Island of Lost Maps; Miles Harvey, 10
The
Navigator; Morris West, 10
The
Road to Ubar; Nicholas Clapp, 11
Time’s
Witness; Michael Malone, 11
Total
Recall; Sahah Paretsky, 12
Under
Fire; W.E.B. Griffin, 12
Washington; Meg Greenfield, 13
We
Band of Angels; Elizabeth M. Norton, 13
Welcome
to the World, Baby Girl; Fannie Flagg, 13
A Superior Death; Nevada
Barr
(pb)
Nevada Barr is a U.S.
Park Ranger who writes first class mystery stories that star her possible alter
ego, Anna Pigeon, a widowed Park ranger. Anna's first love is the desert, but
she moves around, and in this one finds herself in Michigan. She spends the
winter in Houghton, Michigan, where she works at the Park Service headquarters,
and shares a house with her friend Christina and Christina's 5 year old
daughter. In the summer, she is stationed on Amygdaloid Island, on Lake
Superior. The story is of her adventures during a summer on Superior. The wife
of an unpleasant coworker disappears from the scene, and two VERY offbeat
Student Conservation Volunteers (their best friend is a cigar smoking Teddy
Bear!) decide that her husband has killed her and eaten her! Two men dive to an
old wreck, and discover that instead of five corpses that are part of the
wreck, there are now six! Anna has to take part in the dangerous dive to
investigate, and it turns out the new corpse is that of a newly married Ranger.
Anna meets and becomes friends with a number of local people, including a woman
who manages a lodge at a nearby resort, and despairs of raising her teen aged
daughter. The tale moves through the summer, with the various characters moving
in and out of a story that is headed toward a solution of the seemingly
motiveless mystery of the body in the wreck. Anna talks regularly by phone with
her sister, a psychiatrist, becomes increasingly friendly with the two
Volunteers, and Oscar, their bear, and shares lots of wine with the lodge
manager. There are apt descriptions of the Park Service, the lives of the
workers, and the camaraderie that develops. There are wonderful
characterizations, and a fascinating and complicated story that has surprises
along the way to a stunning conclusion. A masterful tale, a wonderful outdoors
yarn, and touching aspects of love that includes Oscar, the bear, who saves
Anna's life!
Barr,N,; A Superior Death; $5.99; 303pp; Avon Books;NY;1994 ISBN
038072362X
Ava's Man; Rick Bragg
(pb)
Ava’s
man was illiterate Charlie Bundrum, of the Alabama-Georgia Bundrums; the name
corrupted from Bondurant, a French Huguenot name. He lived in the foothills,
farmed, fished, fought, roofed houses, made corn likker, and married Ada
Hamilton. Ava, a black-haired blue-eyed member of a Congregational Holiness
family, was well schooled. She fell for Charlie when she was sixteen, and he
was seventeen. He had few prospects. Her daddy didn’t think much of him. His
reputation, for drinkin, and flirtin, and fightin, was not good ... Ava’s
family just said no to Charlie Bundrum and sent him away, and figured he would
disappear. He did. They both did. They lied about their ages, and got married
in 1920. Ava walked away from the life she had been raised in, and followed an
illiterate boy into a strange world. Charlie was the author’s grandfather, a
grandfather he never knew. Bragg picked up bits and pieces about his
grandfather, and decided to learn all he could about him, and write a book.
This is the book, and it is a beautifully told, poignant story of Charlie
Bundrum’s life as Ava’s man, of Ava as Charlie’s woman, and of life and times
in, and the sociology of a vanished South. They had eight children, lived an
unbelievably hardscrabble life much of the time, especially during the Great
Depression, loved each other and fought intensely with other, and were both
loved deeply by their children. Charlie was a hard working, hard drinking,
often drunk, hard fighting man, whose clothes were tattered overalls. Yet he
made a wonderful difference in people’s lives, and when he died of liver damage
the memorial service attendance was the largest that could be remembered. This
fascinating, gritty, touching, recounting of his life, and that of Ava’s, is a
remarkably told, unlikely story that held me glued to the pages. And I confess
to a large lump in the throat at the end. Again, I am indebted to our middle
son for this find.
NOTE: It appears that Bragg has recounted the story of his mother in an
earlier book: All Over But The Shoutin. I will certainly read that one too.
Bragg, R.; Ava’s Man;$?; 259pp; Alfred A. Knopf; NY, 2001; ISBN
0375724443
Big Stone Gap; Adriana Trigiani
(pb)
In the
Blue Ridge Mountains, almost as far southwest as you can get in the state of
Virginia, there is the town of Big Stone Gap, a village of Appalachia. This is
a first person novel about an Italian woman who grew up in the town in the
seventies. It is written by an Italian woman who grew up in the town in the
seventies. It is the author’s first novel, but by no means her first writing.
She is a recognized creator of TV scripts and plays. Here she has created an
interesting character, Ave Maria Mulligan, whose mother was from Italy (Ave
speaks Italian reasonably well,) and whose father was Fred Mulligan, who owned
the Mutual Pharmacy in Big Stone Gap. When we meet her she is 35 years old, her
mother has been dead for a month, and she is a pharmacist who owns Mutual
Pharmacy. She is an ardent reader, and great friends with the driver of the
local bookmobile. Her life is about to change dramatically. She decides she wants
to become a love interest for her very close and dear platonic friend, Theodore
Tipton, and is stunned to find that Tipton doesn’t want such a change. Then she
discovers that there are many of her mother’s family alive and well in Italy
(she had assumed that they were dead). And she finds that a friend, Jack Mack,
the boyfriend of Sweet Sue Tinsley is at odds with Sweet Sue, and becoming very
interested in Ave Maria. The story follows Ave Maria as she gets entangled with
these things, with an unexpected, and startling letter that her mother has left
for her, and with a variety of problems in the little mining town. It
follows her as she decides to make a drastic change in her life, and as part of
the change decides to attempt to meet her mother’s family. It is a delightful
story. It shows some first-novel rough edges, and is a bit unbelievable at
times. And of course this world of small-town, Appalachia stories has Fannie
Flagg as its queen, and Trigiani has far to go along the road to that castle,
but she has started very well.
NOTE: Book Club people may be interested (I think) to find two very
different addenda. One is a delightful _interview_ of Triagiani by one of her
interesting characters, the town librarian and Bookmobile operator, Iva Lou
Wade Makin! The other is a set of Reading Group questions and topics for
discussion.
Trigiani,A.; Big Stone Gap; $12.95;272pp.; Ballantine;NY;2000; ISBN
0345438329
Dandelion Wine; Ray Bradbury
I hope that you know Bradbury:
Poet, teller of magical tales, weaver of fantasy, and writer of science
fiction. And I hope you like him. If so, you will probably know this old book
which was written in 1945, and you will be able, as I was, to read it again
with the perspective that age can bring. It is a look back into a summer of
growing up in Waukegan, Ill. - Greentown in the book - in the late twenties. It
is the world of 12-year-old Doug Spaulding. As the book starts, Doug, in a
private ritual, brings the town to life on the first day of summer, 1928, and
later he realizes with amazement that he is alive! He has a mutually wonderful
encounter with shoe storeowner, Mr. Sanderson, centering on a brand new pair of
sneakers. He plays with his brother and his friends, and he crosses paths with
many of Greentown's inhabitants. Leo Auffman tries to invent a Happiness
Machine. Old Mrs. Bentley tries desperately to convince two girls that she was
once young, and they absolutely refuse to believe it. Miss Fern, and Miss
Roberta, are horrified about what they see as a hit and run that they were
responsible for when they were driving their electric cart, the Green Machine.
Young Bill Forrester, and 95-year-old Mrs. Loomis, develop an unexpected
friendship that is magically rewarding for both. Mrs. Goodwater takes up witchcraft.
And of course Doug and his brother help pick dandelions so that Grandfather can
make dandelion wine. I think the reader will be entranced as she moves from
vignette to vignette, and the golden remembrances pile up with an occasional
sprinkling of fantasy. All is not idyllic however, and there are several scenes
that are chilling. In one, Doug is late coming home, and for good reasons his
mother becomes terrified that something has happened to him. When I read this
as a young man, that was not of much impact. Now, as an old(er) man having
experienced parenthood, I found it a terrifying experience. All in all,
Bradbury expresses it best (naturally) in the Introduction written in 1978:
"Dandelion Wine is nothing if it is not the boy-hid-in-the-man playing in
the fields of the Lord on the green grass of other Augusts..."
NOTE: (apropos of nothing) I think that the most enchanting title I have
encountered is that of one of Bradbury's books: The Golden Apples of the Sun.
Bradbury,R.; Dandelion Wine;$15;267pp;William Morrow;NY;2001(reprint);
ISBN 0380977265
Day of Confession; Allan Folsom
566 pages of suspense, surprise, and violent action that
tells a riveting, complex story that held this reader captive to the end. Harry
Addison is a successful lawyer in Hollywood. His estranged brother, Daniel, is
a priest in the Vatican, assistant to the Cardinal who heads the finance group.
Harry finds a desperate message on his voice mail from Daniel, but is unable to
reach his brother. Then he is informed that Daniel was killed in the explosion
of a tour bus in Italy. He goes to Italy to bring back his brother for burial,
and finds that Daniel is believed to have carried out the recent assassination
of the Cardinal Vicar of Rome. Then he discovers that the body he is to
identify is not that of Daniel, and he ends up captured and kidnapped.
Ultimately, by luck, he escapes, finds himself wanted by the police, and with
unexpected help changes identity, and sets out to find his brother. The police
of Rome, the Vatican Police, and a psychopathic killer employed by a Vatican
Cardinal (yes, there is an evil plot in the Vatican) are also anxious to find
Daniel. The novel follows the twists and turns of finding Daniel, evading the
police, trying to stop the poisoning of millions of people in China, and
rescuing, from the Vatican, the Cardinal for whom Daniel had worked, and whose
confession to Daniel had started the whole thing. I told you it was
complicated! It is also a great yarn if you like the type. I do. Mind you,
there is a HOST of characters; in fact the author starts the book with a list
of 28 of them! There are too many bits and pieces of extraneous action, one of
the sins of a relatively new author (one successful previous novel). In
essence, a good editor would have helped I think. I liked it regardless.
Folsom,A.; Day of Confession;$25;566pp;Little Brown;NY;1998; ISBN
0316287555
Death in Paradise; Robert B.
Parker
This
is the latest in Parker’s series starring Jesse Stone, former L.A. Detective,
an alcoholic, and currently chief of police in Paradise, Massachusetts. A young
girl is found shot, and floating in the nearby lake. The story is about the
investigation of the murder. It is also about the struggles that Jesse has with
alcohol and with his feelings about his ex-wife who is a local TV person. It is
also about his ex-wife. Parker is getting really gung-ho about psychotherapy,
and he has two pretty disturbed characters here in Stone and his ex-wife. Lots
of two line dialog; a fast read. Fair story. The last one I shall read in the
series.
NOTE: There is a new picture of Parker on the back cover,. He is getting
a tad heavy.
Parker,R.B.; Death in Paradise;$23.95;294pp;G.P. Putnam’s
Sons;NY;2001;ISBN 0399147799
Fall From Grace; Andrew M. Greeley
I would not normally have included this book in these comments. I (a
non-Catholic) read, and thoroughly enjoy the Chicago-Irish stories of Father
Greeley, and his incisive, often acerbic comments about politics and infighting
in the Catholic Church, but I don’t note them unless they are very different.
This is an old book that I have read before, but as I reread it during a recent
illness I was struck by the prescience of the writer. This novel was written in
1993, and an important element in the story is the legal attempt by two parents
to have the Chicago Archdiocese admit to the molestation of their child by a
priest, and the tremendous efforts of those in charge to cover the whole thing,
even by denigration of the parents! It is clear from the book that the problem
in the Church was widespread even nine years ago. During the period I was
reading the book, the TV was busy with the current, mushrooming Church scandal
concerning pedophilic priests, and what seems to be the Church’s unfortunate
reactions to the occurrences. The story is told, as is common in Greeley’s
stories, via chapters that are first person accounts by the characters in the
tale. There are, again as usual, several stories that interweave. There is the
story of unrequited love that involves Kathleen Donahue and psychiatrist Kieran
O’Carrigan; the account of the disintegration of Kathleen Donahue’s
marriage when she finds her very abusive husband, Brien, has a male lover; the
story of Bishop James Leary, brother of Kathleen, and best friend of Brien; and
the story of the attempts of two parishioners to have the Archdiocese set up a
review board to prevent pedophilic priests from being transferred from parish
to parish. The latter story could have been written yesterday; ALL the
ingredients that are currently under discussion are recounted in this nine
year old book, including _cover up at all cost_ reactions, and the hardball
strategy of legally trying to put the blame on the victims. The novel is basically
a good, if sometimes distressing, love story. There are several
superficial bits, including one on Satanism, that contribute nothing to the
story, and should have been left out, but the tale does not suffer from them.
Greeley,A.M.; Fall From Grace;$22.95;367pp;G.P. Putnam’s Sons; NY; 1993;
ISBN 0399137238
Fugitive Pieces; Anne
Michaels,
(pb)
Michaels is a poet who has here written an unusual novel that seems to have won
six (lower scale) awards and is described as _THE #1 INTERNATIONALLY
BESTSELLING NOVEL._
It starts as a first person narrative by Jakob Beer, who tells of the Germans
killing his family in 1940, in Poland, when he was seven, and of his hiding in
the bogs near Biskupin. He sees a lone individual, and approaches him. The man,
Athos, a Greek geologist, smuggles the boy out of Poland in his car, and they
finally end up at Athos’ place in Greece. That too is under German occupation.
In an almost randomly directed, rambling account, we are told of the horrors of
the atrocities committed by the Germans, of the continuing thoughts of Jakob
about his family, especially his sister, Bella, and about his life with Athos
who becomes his mentor in language, science, and life. We follow them to
Canada, and again experience Jakob’s exposure to a new environment, his
marriage, his activities, Athos’ death, his divorce and remarriage, and his
completion of a book that Athos was writing about the Holocaust. Beer becomes a
writer, and poet. In the midst of the book, with no warning, another first
person narrative, by a different writer, takes up a story that begins after
Beer and his wife are killed by a car in Athens. The writer goes to Greece, to
Athos’ family home where Beers had also spent time. There is no plot to this
story, which is called a novel, but which is rather a series of retrospections
and introspections, combined with a description of the feelings that developed
upon exposure to new environments while still suffering from emotional trauma.
It is very different. It is remarkable prose indeed that of a poet. It is
fascinating, and disturbing. I had difficulty reading it emotions can run
high. It is not light reading, nor is it entertaining in the casual sense. It
is powerful, and not for everyone; in fact, not quite for me.
Fugitive Pieces; Michaels,A.;$12;194pp; Vintage Books; NY; 1998; ISBN
0679776591
Funeral in Blue; Anne
Perry
(series)
The
latest in her Victorian London crime series starring William Monk, private
investigator, and his wife, Hestor, a nurse. Two women are found murdered in
the studio of a well-known artist. One is an artist’s model; the other is the
wife of a well-known surgeon, Kristian Beck, who emigrated from Bohemia. He is
quickly the main suspect. Hestor knows Beck; she has assisted him in operations
at a hospital where she is a volunteer. Her best friend, also Monk’s good
friend, Lady Callandra Daviott who also acts as a volunteer in the
hospital, is deeply in love with Beck, but has never disclosed it to him. Lady
Callandra asks Monk to look into the case, and Monk, to his distress, finds
himself back in contact with an old police colleague, once a friend, but the
friendship broke off abruptly, and acrimoniously, some years before. Runcorn
realizes that Monk may have contacts that he could use, so there is a very
uneasy truce as the two men begin to work together again gingerly. Beck is
charged with the crimes, and his wife’s father, also an _migr_, and an
attorney, agrees to defend him. The story follows Monk and Runcom as they
investigate the case, and tells of the trial of Kristian Beck. The story is
taut and interesting, with a surprise ending. The interplay between Runcom and
Monk is very well done, as are the other characterizations. Another first rate
yarn about Monk and Hestor.
Perry,A.; Funeral in Blue;$25;344pp;Ballantine;NY; 2001; ISBN
034544013
God: A Biography; Jack Miles
(NF)
A truly mind
boggling book that took me eons to read through and think about. Miles is a
former priest, an erudite scholar, and a writer with a fascinating approach to
a discussion of God. In his words: “I write here about the life of the Lord God
as - and only as - the protagonist of a classic of world literature; namely the
Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. Much as people have analyzed Hamlet. And so he
does. He follows the development of God in the books of the Hebrew Bible, his
developing awareness of mankind, his changing of interests in man, his
various personas through history, the feelings of the Jews for God, and
the varying feelings of God for the Jews. It is a step-by-step travel through
the books of the Bible, with fascinating detail and fascinating views of the
stories being told. The protagonist is God, the Lord God, the God of Abraham
etc., and each persona is a different one. His love for, and quarrels with
Moses and the Israelites, is outlined with fascinating viewpoints. Many ‘true
Christians’ will be appalled by the book, because they will totally
misunderstand what the author is doing, and may also be taken aback by what the
Bible says. And relative to the current battles in the Mid East - read the
author’s account of Numbers, then go back and read the complete text! The
author is very kind toward the reader: he regularly summarizes, pithily, points
he has made earlier, before extending them in his current text. I found it hard
going, and utterly fascinating. I am indebted to John Hood for drawing it to my
attention. There are good notes, and a good index. It is an impressive work.
Miles,J.; God: A Biography; $27.50;446pp; Alfred A. Knopf; NY; 1995; ISBN
0679418334
Gunman's Rhapsody; Robert B. Parker
Parker
has been writing private eye and police stories, and he is good at it, most of
the time. He writes the Spenser novels for example. He seems to have had a deep
desire to write cowboy stories, or at least this cowboy story. It is the story
of the adult Wyatt Earp, and his brothers, and their stay in Dodge. I violated
my own rule: I did not read 100 pages. It didn’t connect with me at all. I
don’t even know if the story includes the corral shoot out! Sorry. I do
understand the compulsion that might have driven Parker to this theme. I hope
it is out of his system.
Parker,R.B.; Gunman’s Rhapsody;$22.95;290pp; G.P.Putnam_s Sons;NY;2001;
ISBN0399147624
Hawaii's Story: By Hawaii's Queen;
Liliuokalani
pb (NF)
Queen
Liliuokalani wrote this book in 1898. It was her plea for justice as she
saw it - a restoration to Hawaiians of their country, which had been annexed by
the U.S.A. She died in 1917, still waiting for justice. The book is a
fascinating historical autobiography that details life in the Islands in the
19th century, the actions and problems of the monarchs, and the overthrow of
the monarchy. All of it is the first person view of events from the author’s
point of view. The reader must bear in mind that this may not be a
dispassionate account of events! History disagrees with Liliuokalani at times,
but one must also bear in mind that History is written by the winners. I must
say that I mostly side with the Queen. I find this a sad book, and a sad
commentary on the history of relations between Hawaii and Washington. There are
detailed appendices that include long genealogies
Liliuokalani; Hawaii's Story ;$6.95;409pp;Mutual Publishing; Honolulu;
1990 (orig. 1898)
Honest Doubt; Amanda Cross
Touted as a 'Kate Fansler' novel. Fansler is the academic
detective in the erudite murder mysteries written By Professor Caroline
Heilbrun under the name Amanda Cross. This novel is a VAST change from all the
others I have read in the series. The first-person narrator is Estelle
Woodhaven. Woodie, as we are told
she is called, is a fat, motorcycle-riding, private investigator. She has been
hired by the Clifton College English Department to look into the death of
Professor Haycock, an authority on Victorian Literature. Somebody put an
overdose of his heart medication in his drink at a faculty party in his home.
Woodie discovers she is out of her league in dealing with academe, and gets
Kate Fansler as a consultant. She - they - work through the problem, with lots
of passing jabs at academic peccadilloes. I found it not a good change in
format, and not a very interesting book. Never thought I’d put down an Amanda
Cross book, but you can skip this one.
Cross,A.; Honest Doubt;$22;259pp; Ballantine Books;NY; 2000; ISBN
0345440110
Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in
History; Erik Larson
The book was recommended
by an Internet, book-forum friend. The storm is the September 8, 1900 hurricane
that wrecked Galveston, killed 6000 people, and wiped out the potentially
brilliant economic future of the city. In Galveston, Isaac Monroe Cline was the
head of the Texas Section of the U.S. Weather Bureau. The latter was a
relatively new government organization. Cline was an amazing man, not only
widely read in the world of meteorology, and the ‘science’ of storms, but an
MD. who worked for his degree in his spare time! The unbelievably powerful
September storm had begun developing intensity in the Caribbean, touched Cuba,
and then passed Florida on its way to the Gulf, and to Galveston. The storm did
not behave like any other storm, and it was missed by every U.S. group
responsible for tracking and predicting storms. Isaac and his brother Joseph,
who worked for Isaac in Galveston, also missed it. This first class historical story
details the technical development and maturation of the storm, the actions and
inactions of the Weather Bureau as well as the horrendous bureaucratic politics
there, and tells of Isaac, his wife and children, Joseph, and a number of
specific individuals and families that the storm affected. It is also a
carefully detailed examination of the development of meteorology, and the increasing awareness
of the great danger in powerful storms. There is a fascinating account of the
crucial role of a major hurricane in the life of Columbus! It is a powerful
story about a powerful storm, about weakness and courage, about hate and love
as the author tells it. The reader is caught up in the inevitable tragedies,
and suffers with the people who experience them. The author is meticulous in
describing the geophysics of the storm, and the almost minute-by-minute
development of the weather in the area. He is more speculative about the
perceptions, feelings, and some actions of his characters. Much is chosen from
after-the-fact reports, including a special report by Isaac, and a good story
is woven on the loom of the author’s imagination. The author includes copious
notes, and a bibliography, and he has done a great deal of research (an index
would have been a nice addition.) I would be interested to hear any reader’s
impression of the author’s picture of Isaac and his brother. Let me also
observe that the subtitle is essentially misleading. The storm was the worst in
the US, but certainly not the worst cyclone by far. It MAY have been the worst
storm labeled ‘hurricane’, but that seems hair splitting.
Larsen,E.; Isaac's Storm;$?; 445pp [large print]; Crown Publishers; NY;
1999; ISBN [large print] 0783889321
Morning Song; Elizabeth B.
Rooney
(pb)
A friend loaned this
little volume of poems to Bette. I generally do not read poetry, but at Bette’s
suggestion I read this and was greatly taken by it. In fact I have ordered a
copy. It is privately printed, so it is not to be found (generally) in a
bookstore. Check the Internet. It is a collection of small, short poems,
many of which are clearly religious, many of which are subtly so, and some of
which are sheer exuberance. They center on the world around us. I enjoyed them.
Elizabeth Rooney seems to have found her talent late in life, and while the
poems are not in the category of Great, I would be delighted if I had Rooney’s
gift. Inspiring - and even a little fun at times. Note the first stanza of
Epitaph: "I hope it will be said/ When I am dead, /"She wrote good
poems/ And she made good bread"
"
Rooney,E.B.; Morning Song; $12.95; 105pp; Brigham Farm Publishing;Blue
Mounds, WI; 2001
Officer of the Court; Bill Mesce, Jr.
As the cover says, this is a novel of WWII, and it is dandy,
taut novel of suspense and action. An American legal officer, Armando Grassi,
is found dead in the Orkney Islands, off Scotland, when he should have
been at his duty station in Greenland. The Army's Criminal Investigation
Division assigns a young Captain to investigate the death, and the Captain asks
the aid of Maj. Harry Voss, who knew Grassi in London when they were both with
the JAG there. Voss is home, on leave, but decides to help the Captain
investigate the case. The realistically described quest takes them to
Greenland, Scotland, London, and Italy. Joining them in the quest is a British
newsman, and an American officer on leave from combat in Italy. Gradually it
appears that the death is related to secret night flights between Greenland and
the British Isles, and that there is a very high level desire to quash the
investigation. It is good story telling, and a good story. Almost all the story
is in the third person, but there are occasional, unannounced, first person
commentaries by the newsman. These seem to me to be irritating, and avoidable.
I was impressed by the author's knowledge of arcane details of combat
conditions in WWII, but the back of the book contains an impressive research
bibliography, and a list of people he interviewed. Nice piece of work.
Mesce,B.; Officer of the Court;$23.95;431pp; Bantam Books;NY; 2001; ISBN
0553801783
Parallel Lies; Ridley Pearson
This is a smart cat and
smart mouse chase. Umberto Alvarez is a man whose wife and child were killed by
a Northern Union Train. Convinced that the rail line was at fault, he sued. His
attorney was then found murdered, and Alvarez was a suspect. He vanished, but
developed a plan to cause vast trouble for the head of Northern Union. Part of
the plan involved causing derailments, and as the story opens, Alvarez is busy
at a successful derailment program. He is riding a boxcar when another man
climbs on, and attacks him. Alvarez kills the attacker, and dumps him off the
train, leaving a boxcar with lots of blood. Peter Tyler, an ex homicide cop who
lost his job for beating a suspect, and who was offered a job by the National
Transportation Safety Board to check the bloody boxcar, shows up at the scene.
So does Nell Priest, a high-ranking female investigator for the railroad's
security division. The story follows the two as they work the problem with very
different agenda, find the body, gradually learn that the railroad people are
concealing things from both of them, pick up a trail to Alvarez, and get
romantically entangled. The story also follows Alvarez as he moves toward his
final coup de grace for the railroad, which makes for a riveting climax. The
story alternates between the two story lines. It is a suspense thriller, with
interesting characterization, and a somewhat off-beat ending. Another of Pearson’s
entertaining yarns.
Pearson,R.; Parallel Lies;$23.95;356pp; Hyperion;NY;2001; ISBN
0786865644
Secret Weapon: U.S. High-Frequency Direction Finding in the
Battle of the Atlantic; Kathleen Broome
Williams
(NF)
This
is a technical history, and is a specialist’s book. There are several readers
who might like to know of it, so I write this brief note. High frequency (HF)
means here 3 to 30 megahertz. Direction finding (DF) is locating the direction
(bearing) to a radio transmitter. The equipment used was labeled HF/DF, and
known colloquially as ‘Huff Duff’. Ms. Williams, who is said to be a Naval
Historian, and who teaches at a college of Criminal Justice, believes that the
HF/DF technology played an important, unrecognized role in the Battle of the
Atlantic against D'nitz's U-boats, and she narrates the problem, the
development of the technology, the implementation of the technology, and the
results. The story ranges over several countries, several inventors, and
several equipment manufacturers, and discusses the development, acquisition,
and training problems involved with respect to the U.S. Navy's use of the gear.
It is an interesting story, not told very well, of what I feel was a relatively
minor contribution to the North Atlantic war against the U-boats. I shall leave
it to the reader to decide if the author's many statements about how valuable
it was are borne out by her evidence. The story is reentrant at times, repetitive,
and could have used quite a bit of rewriting and editing. I am surprised
at the Naval Institute Press. There is no glossary; one would have been helpful
I feel. There is a list of interviews, references, and a good set of
notes. There is a somewhat shoddy index, which, among other things, lists Sam
Tucker, who was then a Lt. Cdr. as a Lt. Col. Surely not the author's best
work.
Williams,K.B.; Secret Weapon; $?; 289pp; Naval Institute Press;
Annapolis; 1996;ISBN 1557509352
Skipping Christmas; John Grisham
Hard to believe: Another no-lawyer-in-sight book by Grisham.
This small book is the story of what happened when Luther and Nora Krank
decided to skip Christmas activities. Luther is a tax accountant. He and Nora
live on Hemlock Street, in a small city, and as the story starts they have just
put their daughter Blair on a plane that will take her to Miami, thence to Peru
as a member of the Peace Corps. Back home, Luther examines the money they spent
on the activities associated with last Christmas. When he sees it was more that
$6000, he decides that this year he and Nora should simply forgo all the
Christmas stuff, including a Christmas tree, and go on a cruise. He convinces
Nora, and they get cruise tickets - departure on Christmas day. Then the story
wryly skewers all the commercial and social frenzy, which has become attached
to Christmas, by simply recounting all the problems that the Kranks encounter,
in a fairly close community with established traditions, when they decide to
opt out. It is funny, and it strikes a bit close in spots. Then, having
canceled everything, at the last minute they hear from Blair that she is coming
for Christmas with her new, Peruvian fiancé, and she wants him to see how
traditional Christmas is. How to cope?
A light, brief story that does a good job on the enveloping customs of
Christmas, but also a bit weak otherwise. Grisham can do much better.
Grisham,J.; Skipping Christmas;$19.95;177pp;Doubleday;NY; 2001; ISBN
0385505833
Sleepwalking Through History: America in the Reagan
Years; Haynes
Johnson
(NF)
An eleven year
old, very perceptive, morbidly fascinating account of the Reagan Years, the
people involved, and the disasters of that period, by a Pulitzer Prize winning
journalist. In these Enron days, it is depressing to see that many of the
current problems are essentially traceable to the type of atmosphere that
Reagan brought to Washington, and the crippling of the SEC that he
permitted. Those years were the period of extensive efforts in
deregulation, and a vanishing of corporate ethics. Johnson gives, I think a
good picture of Reagan, a man of limited intellect, a few strong beliefs, and a
disinterest in anything beyond those beliefs. It was that disinterest that led
to the scandals that rocked his administration, and to the fact that people
forgave him! His comment was that he "didn't know!" The book
discusses in detail the major problems, including the almost unbelievable
ability of Oliver North to con the whole country. Discouraging
reading about a man whose tenure in Washington is still causing major troubles.
Be sure to read Johnson's summary at the end, and think back over the
intervening eleven years.
Johnson,H.; Sleepwalking Through History; 524pp; W.W. Norton & Co.;
NY; 1991; ISBN 0393029379
Smoke In Mirrors; Jayne Ann Krentz
A tad different from most of Krentz's Romances. It involves
more than one couple, and it is a particularly interesting murder mystery. Krentz
has expanded from her more classic Romances that feature two protagonists who
are vastly different, often initially antagonists, usually estranged from
their families, and involved in a mystery whose resolution leads them together.
In this one, Leonora Hutton has come to town to bury her friend Merideth, a con
artist, who was killed in an accident. While cleaning out Merideth's apartment,
she is accosted by Thomas Walker who says that Merideth had embezzled one and a
half million dollars from the Bethany Walker Fund; a college endowment fund set
up by Deke Walker, Thomas's brother, in honor of his wife who had been killed
some years earlier in an accident. Walker wants the money back, and feels that
Leonora was probably an accomplice of Merideth's. Leonora gets a delayed letter
from Merideth with information about the money, and returns it to Walker in
return for a promise to help her look into Merideth's death, which she feels
was not just an accident. Deke Walker also feels that the death of Merideth was
not an accident, nor was Bethany's, but no one will take him seriously.
Gradually a complicated story unfolds, as it seems that both Bethany and
Merideth had been examining the years-earlier murder of a professor at Eubanks College.
The novel neatly follows several stories as the various characters unravel the
threads connecting several murders. I enjoyed it. Maybe Krentz is moving more
toward novels than classical Romances although she clings to many of her
Romance set pieces including steamy love scenes, although they are somewhat
toned down. She could have skipped Leonora's aunt, and placed less emphasis on
a creepy house with mirrors, but it is an intriguing yarn.
NOTE: I confess. Ever since discovering the prolific Krentz about six
months ago, I have become addicted to her Romances! Possibly a sign that the
old man has finally gone round the bend. More likely (I hope) that in that
period, I really needed escape, and these are well told, guaranteed
"happily ever after" stories, with mystery thrown in.
Krentz;J.A.; smoke in mirrors;$23.95;321pp;G.P. Putnam_s Sons;NY;2002;
ISBN 0399147926
Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and
Pakistan; Robert D. Kaplan
(pb)
(NF)
Kaplan is a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, and writes travel books,
but not the type you immediately think of. He writes of his travels to very
different parts of the world. He wrote this book when he was fairly new at the
business. It was finished in 1988, published in 1990, and is here republished
(in a somewhat different form) with a new Introduction, and a long additional
chapter written in 2000 (with slight modifications added in 2001). The book is
concerned with the Mujahidin, their composition, and their war against the
invading Russians, as well as the significant role that Pakistan played in the
scenario. The author spent time in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan, and describes
the country, the tribes, tribal relationships, and a large number of the people
he met. I found it hard, at times, to keep track of the large number of
players. He met, and spent time with Hamid Karzai, who is currently trying to
put Afghanistan together again, but he spends much more time discussing other
leaders, most of whom I have not heard of in the present time. He was very
bitter about his impression that foreign journalists, including Americans,
pretty much ignored making an effort to understand what was going on in
Afghanistan. He comments that America ignored the war, except to secretly
supply a vast amount of arms for use against Russia. The long, last chapter he
wrote in 2000, and published it in the Atlantic Monthly. It too is very
interesting; I had not realized that Pakistan set up the Taliban to take over
Afghanistan. It is not easy reading, and is at times just a bit confusing, but
it is a great portrayal of the country, its problems, its mindsets, its various
tribes, and levels of Muslim beliefs and attitudes towards the West. Very
informative for anyone interested in the background of much of what is going on
in that part of the world today. He notes that there are opinions that Pakistan
is a potential Yugoslavia - becoming ripe for a possible implosion. Scary
thought. There is a fairly good Index, which does not cover the last chapter.
Kaplan,R.D.; Soldiers of God;$14.95;278pp; Random House; NY; 2001; ISBN
1400030250
Spy Catcher:The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence
Officer; Peter Wright (NF)
This relatively old book is Wright's story of the activities
of the British Security Service (MI5) and the British Secret Intelligence
Service (MI6) during the period 1945 to 1976. He was a technology specialist in
MI5 from 1955 to his retirement in 1976, and was for a while the Assistant
Director of that agency. The book is interesting, but perhaps only to those who
are somewhat familiar with that arcane history, which includes efforts in the
Cold War. It probably contains more information than the reader ever wanted
to know. It is certainly a self-serving narrative, and the problem is as in all
such accounts that the reader has no way of knowing the real facts of the
matter! It is an account of how pitifully incompetent both MI5 and MI6 were,
and their difficulties in cooperating, and a scary account about how
"appearance" was more important than security. Admitting that people
like Philby and Blount could be spies was more than the Brits could stomach. It
is a somewhat non productive rehash of old things, with some new things thrown
in, and Wright continues his belief that the most important mole in MI5
was Sir Roger Hollis, head of MI5! There are some interesting comments on
relationships with the CIA during the time when Angleton was active. A
specialist's book, noted here because of a personal interest.
NOTE: Although there have been a large number of "revelations"
about the "third or fourth or fifth" man associated with the
Cambridge spy nest, there is (as far as I know) no other book that can be
compared to this one. I think Wright is the only one who got to such a high
level, and then wrote a book. So, unfortunately, there is no way to judge
the historical veracity of this account.
Wright; P.;Spy Catcher; $1995;391pp;Viking Penguin;NY;1987 ISBN 0670820555
Tepper Isn't Going Out; Calvin Trillin
Trillin is, of course, the
quintessential New Yorker, and he has here written a very short novel about a
quintessential New York problem: Parking. I called it a novel because that is
what the cover and title page say. The reader will find it to be a seemingly
plotless narrative about events that happen to and around Murray Tepper, who
spends a lot of time parked on the streets of New York, reading a newspaper until
the time on the meter is up. People, looking for a space, stop only to find
Tepper is 'not going out. They are infuriated. Tepper's daughter begins to
worry about him, and communicates the concern to friends, who begin to worry
too, and try to get him to take some counseling. Then a fledgling reporter
hears about Tepper, and writes an article about him in a neighborhood
publication. A number of people who have read the article look for Tepper, and
want to talk to him. Gradually the number increases until there is quite a line
at his car. At one point a disturbance occurs, and the police come. The mayor,
a dead on version of Giuliani in the early days, decides that this has to stop,
and takes action. Pretty soon Tepper is front page, and has an increasing
number of supporters. He ends up in court. One follows the story from Tepper's
point of view, and via the perception of a close friend, the viewpoint of an
advisor to the mayor, and the observations of newspaper columnist. We find that
Tepper has a wife, and we see her briefly, but she is mostly absent. There is
what is clearly a satisfactory conclusion, and then the reader is brought up
short in the last few pages, and may even read back through parts of the book!
An interesting, ambiguous end note that may make the reader suspect that there
really is a plot! Uneven in spots, but good fun.
Trillin,C.; Tepper Isn't Going Out; $22.95;213pp; Random House; NY; 2001; ISBN
0375506764
The English Patient; Michael
Ondaatje
(pb)
This
well known book is one of the most hypnotic reads that I have encountered for a
long time. The scene is a damaged and abandoned monastery in Italy. The time is
near the end of WWII, and the Germans have been driven from the area. The monastery
was, for a while, a hospital operated by Canadian nurses, but the British
withdrew, and moved the hospital. One of the patients, 'the English patient,’ refused
to leave, and his Canadian nurse, Hana, refused to leave him. So when the story
gets underway, Hana and her patient are the sole occupants of the place. The
patient was very badly burned in an aircraft crash in the desert, and his
identity is unknown. He is believed to be English, but that is not provable. He
is lucid, and talks, and has a phenomenal memory for locales and literature. To
the monastery comes an unexpected visitor: Carravagio, former thief, a friend
of Hana's father in Toronto, and a man who has known her as a child. A bit
later, there appears Kip, a Sikh, an ordnance expert who is serving as a sapper
and munitions defuser. The story circles around and among these three in the
present and the past. I thought it a breathtaking exposition of unusual
and familiar situations and emotions. It is almost lyrical at times, and when I
saw that the author is also a poet I was not surprised. It is a very emotional
read, with complicated depths, and left this reader enthralled to the last
page. I felt somewhat wrung out emotionally. Be sure to read the
Acknowledgments in the back. I was startled to find a portion of the story
involved a lost Oasis whose name I had encountered in a book about the Queen of
Sheba. Small world. Good story. It was a Booker prizewinner. I shall read more
of Ondaatje’s works.
Ondaatje,M.; The English Patient;$13;305pp; Vintage Books; NY; 1992; ISBN
067974520
The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic
Crime; Miles Harvey (pb) (NF)
I heard an
interesting review of this book several months ago, and put it on my ‘read
someday’ list. Serendipity and our middle son combined to provide the
book, and I read it. I found it spellbinding reading. Harvey, a magazine
correspondent, tells of a thief, Gilbert Bland, a mild, unnoticeable
individual, almost chameleon in appearance and persona, who was (is still,
probably) a stealer of rare maps from books in rare book libraries. Harvey
became aware of the man’s existence in 1995 via a newspaper article that
mentioned the man’s apprehension at the Peabody Rare Book Library in Baltimore.
The book, starting with that event, chronicles the life, activities, and
personas of Bland as Harvey gradually uncovered them, and depicts also the author’s
gradually developing, very deep obsession with Bland, who would never meet with
him. Along the way, the author notes fascinating and remarkable facts about the
development of cartography, his growing fascination with maps and the world of
collectors, a number of key players in the world of collecting, rare book
libraries, librarians, historical commentaries on the use of maps by past
explorers, etc.. It is remarkable how rare book librarians almost uniformly don’t
want to know about losses from their collections! All of this could have been a
real mishmash, but Harvey seamlessly integrates the themes into his narrative.
I learned many things I did not know about many explorers, including Columbus!
I was a tad distressed at Harvey’s gradual candid evaluation of himself and his
obsession, with lots of comments that border on pop psychology, but do seem
pretty valid. It is an intriguing, complex, deceptively deep book that kept me
riveted to the pages. And to think that I might have missed it!
NOTE: The book has a very good index, and superb notes. The reader should
note the latter, because otherwise she might be unaware of them, and they are
very interesting. They are listed with page headings, and are readily accessed.
The title of the book is extremely clever, and neatly divulged about halfway
through the story. There are interesting, but relatively poor quality illustrations.
Harvey.M.; The Island of Lost Maps;$?; 405pp; Random House; NY; 2000;
ISBN 0375501517
The Navigator; Morris West
To my surprise, I found
that I did not know this old book of West’s. My son loaned it to me, and I read
it slowly with interest. It is a fascinating tale. Gunnar Thorkild, Ph.D., and
expert on Polynesia, its language and its culture, is the son of a
Norwegian sailor, and a Polynesian woman, and teaches in Hawaii. His
grandfather is Kaloni, The Navigator. From Kaloni, Thorkild has heard of the
lost island, the island where Chiefs and Navigators go to die. He convinces a
local millionaire to make his ship available for a trip during which they will
pick up Kaloni, who is going to the lost island to die, and will guide them
most of the way to the island. They set sale with a very diverse group of men
and women, pick up Kaloni who transfers his mana to Thorkild, as his
successor, and after sending Kaloni off alone in a canoe, they begin to follow
him to the island. They are wrecked there by a bad storm. They have no
available communications. The bulk of the tale then follows the group, which
essentially becomes a tribe with Thorkild as chief. West, as usual, portrays
strong pictures of his characters, and the interactions, problems, loves, hates
and tragedies are very real, and even painful at times. Life on the island is
pictured strongly for the reader. There is a running thread of mysticism which
becomes quite normal in the tale. Mind you, this is neither a classic derring-do
adventure tale or a ’happily ever after’ story. This reader found anguishing
moments with the group of castaways, but it was impossible to put it down.
West,M.; The Navigator; 304pp; William Morrow, & Co.; NY; 1976
The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands;
Nicholas
Clapp
(pb)
(NF) I bought
the book because of the title. I am a pushover for quest yarns, and when
the quest yarn involves the desert, and an archaeological attempt to determine
the truth of a legend, I am putty in the author’s hands. I was also somewhat
aware of the successful efforts and discoveries of the author and his
colleagues. Clapp is a maker of documentary films, and he and Kay, his wife,
ended up on a plane delivering several oryxes to the Sultan of Oman from the
Wild Animal Park in San Diego. The Oryx had vanished from its natural habitat -
Oman - and the Sultan wanted to try restoring the creatures. Clapp was filming
the odyssey, and he and his wife were utterly fascinated by the desert world of
the southern Arabian Peninsula. As Kay said later “A reason, we need a reason,
a way to go back.” Clapp found it as he became obsessed with the legendary
vanished city of Ubar. The book recounts the author’s initial interest in the
few historical and many legendary discussions of Ubar, his seeking of
archaeological information via satellite mapping by the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JAL), the developing interest of experts in the various fields, the
search for funding, and the expeditions to a still very unexplored part of the
world in Yemen and Oman. The author is a very good storyteller, and this reader
was caught up in the spell cast by his words. He and his colleagues were, in
fact, successful in locating Ubar or let me say that their arguments convince
me they were. And I’ll bet you will be convinced too after reading this
magical, exciting, unusual story. Great story ( if you like this sort of thing
of course!) This scholarly work has a good set of notes, a good bibliography,
and a just adequate index. I was intrigued to find that the animal (Oryx) that
brought the Clapps to Arabia in the first place, is not indexed. I DO have a
critical _thing_ about indexes!
Clapp,N.; The Road to Ubar;$14;342pp.; Houghton Mifflin Co.; NY;1998;
ISBN 0395957869
Time’s Witness; Michael
Malone
(pb)
Until, by
chance, I picked up a paperback copy of this thirteen year old novel, I
had never heard of Michael Malone. I have been missing a striking writer. This
is formally a police procedural, but that structure is used to tell a far
broader and deeper story. The first person narrator is Cuddy Magnum, chief of
police in the quiet, upscale, Piedmont town of Hillston, North Carolina.
Cuddy, as he says, has no ‘class’, i.e. an old family tree and good looks; but
he has brains. On the other hand, his very close friend, and chief of Homicide,
Justin Savile V, is one of the upper crust in Carolina society. But he has
brains too. As the story starts, George Hall, a black man whom Cuddy had
arrested in a homicide case seven years ago, was to be executed, but the
governor grants a 4 week stay of execution. Shortly after that, Hall’s brother,
Cooper, is murdered, and Magnum and Savile start to work the case, which has
strong racial overtones. In the meantime, Isaac Rosethorne, Hillston’s legal
genius, and Cuddy’s longtime friend and mentor, sets out to obtain a new trial
for Hall, and ultimately gets one. The story gets complicated as two more
killings occur, the Comptroller of the town kills himself, an ex cop, released
from prison, stalks Cuddy, and gradually appears to be involved in the
killings, Cuddy has an affair with the wife of the man who is going to run for
governor of the state, and the new trial for George Hall gets underway. The
story is compelling. Not only is the complicated plot unfolded well, but there
is remarkably convincing characterization, and an impressive, panoramic
presentation of Southern society in the late eighties, including racial
problems and prejudices, and politics. Cuddy, a seeker of justice, is not part
of the Southern upper class, but is accepted by it, and the reader sees it
through the eyes of a knowledgeable observer. Malone is a gifted storyteller,
and a remarkable observer of his native Southern culture, its structure and its
mores. There are a large number of characters, and that, as well as the
content, makes this a book to read, not skim. And it is truly worth reading. As
one _cover_ reviewer says: It is a novel _... of time, of place, of history,
and of hope..._
Malone,M.; Time_s Witness; $5.95; 581pp; Pocketbooks; NY; 1991; ISBN
0671703188
Total Recall; Sahah
Paretsky
(series)
This book is the
latest one starring V.I. Warshawski (Vicky), the private eye with a Polish
name, and a fluency in Italian! As usual, there are really several stories
here. One has to do with an insurance case that Vicky is hired to investigate.
When a woman tries to claim her husband’s insurance, she is told the claim had
already been paid. A second has to do with the concept of the restoration of
childhood memories by a psychologist; her client is a young man whose ‘restored’
memories revealed that his ‘father’ was in fact a Nazi war criminal. And the
third is the past history of Vicky’s friend and mentor, Dr. Lottie Hershel, who
was transported to London as a child refugee, before WWII and the Holocaust.
The latter two stories are intimately entwined. Lottie almost goes into shock
by some things the young man talks about, and there are periodic flashbacks to
her story during the war years and after. The young man says there is a
connection of his past life to Lottie’s. Warshawski tries to determine whether
the young man’s memories are real or ‘implanted’ by his therapist, and to find
out what are the memories that are about to drive Lottie around the bend. And
of course she has to work the insurance problem, which, gradually, as she looks
into the business of the insurance company, comes to be somewhat related to the
other two cases, in the time frame if nothing else. It is an involved, somewhat
disjointed, but gripping story, that is also a powerful comment on past and
present society, and far more sweeping in scope than this short note might
indicate. The Holocaust looms over the stories, and can be uncomfortable in its
presence. A good, and different one in the series, but not for everyone.
NOTE: I am impressed with the research that went into this book and is
described at the beginning. I think, however, that some of this caused the book
to be considerably longer than it might have been.
Total Recall; Paretsky;S.; $25.95;414pp; Random House; NY; 2001; ISBN
0385313667
Under Fire; W.E.B.
Griffin
(series)
The latest in Griffin’s
series about the Marine Corps. It is his ninth in this series, and that is the
number that he wrote in his _Brotherhood of War_ series. It is another good
historical novel of men at war. The war in this case is the Korean War, and the
characters are all those we have come to know very well during the series.
However, you can read this book and enjoy it without having read any of the
others, because he spends a great deal of time cleverly bringing up things in
the past that help the reader understand the relationships and the characters.
But that does add to the pages! All the familiar characters, from Brigadier
General (Ret.) Pickering, through Capt. ‘Killer’ McCoy, to ex Master Gunner
Zimmerman, appear again, older and perhaps wiser. They all end up back in
uniform, and working for the newly created CIA! The story ranges from
Washington, and the President’s Office, to Tokyo, and Douglas Macarthur’s
headquarters, to Korea, and to the Channel Islands off Inchon. The
title is somewhat misleading; there are very few firefights in the story. The
title refers more than likely to the stresses that many of the characters
endure! The thing is really leading up to the historical military actions in
the Channel Islands, without which the brilliant Inchon invasion might have
foundered. The story ends with the invasion, and with some loose ends that will
undoubtedly be cleared up in the next book. He certainly will not quit before
he recounts how MacArthur threw away the brilliant invasion by moving into
North Korea, and thus into the Choson Reservoir debacle. Griffin’s perceptions
of the key players in Washington, and the politics and vendettas there are
sound, as is his portrayal of the military situation. Good story. As always
with Griffin’s tales, I enjoyed it a great deal, but not quite as much as some
of the others in the series.
Griffin,W.E.B.; Under Fire; $26.95; 576pp; G.P. Putnam’s Sons;NY;2002;
ISBN 0399147888
Washington; Meg
Greenfield
(NF)
Greenfield, for those who live
outside DC, was the outstanding editor of the Editorial Page of the Washington
Post, as well as a columnist for Newsweek. She was writing this book secretly
during her last years, and died before she finished the last chapter. Even
unfinished, it is an impressive work that gives a striking portrait of the
legendary culture and subcultures of the nation’s capitol, and very perceptive
opinions on how these cultures are now changing. She discusses her experiences,
her learning, and her perception of the various levels of action and influence
in and out of politics, and the various relationships that the press has with
the major players. She has several striking analogies, one being the perception
that in a (persuasive) way the milieu seems like that in high school!
Greenfield outlines her early attitudes and her changes in thought, and tells
her tale in elegant prose. A very worthwhile rumination on that small but
important world on the Potomac. There is an Index, a forward by Katherine
Graham, and an after word by Michael Beschloss, who was her literary executor.
The latter two are wonderful, loving pieces about this remarkable woman
who was very much a loner, and yet seemed to move effortlessly in the social,
political, and journalistic worlds of
Washington.
Greenfield,M.; Washington;$26; 241pp;Public Affairs; NY; 2001; ISBN
1586480278
We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses
Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese; Elizabeth M.
Norton
(pb) (NF)
In the
Introduction, Norton, an R.N., tells of interviewing military nurses who had
been in Vietnam (she wrote a book about them) and hearing about nurses who had ‘fought’
in WWII in Bataan and Corregidor, in the Philippines. She looked into it, and
discovered the nurses and the events that are told of here. Fifty years after
the fact she began tracking down those that were left of the original 97 Army
and Navy Nurses who were in the Philippines when the War began in 1941. She
ended up interviewing twenty of them. She combined the interviews with
voluminous research into historical records, archival material, and published
articles, and wrote this book, an outstanding testimony to that group of women.
Most of the nurses ended up trapped on Corregidor, and captured by the
Japanese. Some were evacuated just before the Japanese took over, and a few
escaped. The author tells of all of them, their experience on the mainland, the
times on Corregidor, the brutal realization that they were _expendable_
(as MacArthur and his family escaped to Australia) and then the times in the
prison camps, where they still served as nurses. Those were grim, hard,
depressing times, and the devotion, loyalty, honor, compassion, and suffering
of those diverse women, who banded together, are wonderfully described.
Although they were initially very honored, the military pretty much forgot
them, and in fact later treated many of them fairly shabbily in many respects.
It is a realistic, powerful tale, and the last two chapters left me with an old
man’s tears. There are impressive references, a bibliography, extensive notes,
and a good index. A scholarly work as well as a first class, compelling
narrative.
NOTE: The women never referred to themselves as ‘Angels,’ and never thought
of themselves as such. On the last page, the author notes why she used
the term, and why she used the collective ‘We’. The latter is the ‘we’
from Shakespeare's Henry V: ‘We band of brothers...’. The more one reads,
the more one realizes how very apt the title is.
Norton,E.M.; We Band of Angels; $?; 327pp;Pocket Books;NY;2000; ISBN
0671787187
Welcome to the World, Baby Girl; Fannie
Flagg
(pb)
Baby Girl
is Dena Nordstrom, a tall, blue-eyed, blond New Yorker, and a
famous TV personality, who is the network’s premier anchor person and
interviewer. She comes from Elmwood Springs, a small town in Mississippi. Her
father was the son of the Nordstroms, and met her mother when he was in
service. He married her just before he shipped out. He was killed in action,
and his wife came to live in Elmwood Springs with Dina, who became ‘Baby Girl’
to Norma and Macky Warren, and Aunt Elner. However her mother abruptly left
Elmwood Springs with Dina, and later, when Dina was 15, her mother left her and
was never heard from again. The story spans 40 years, and bounces back
and forth in time, with the year specified at the head of each section. A tad
jumpy, but try to stick with it. We see Dina as a child, then as a successful
woman who is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She sees a psychiatrist, who
has to refer her to another psychiatrist because he falls in love with her, and
ethics will not permit him to treat her. The story is about Dina’s attempt to
understand herself, to find out why her mother deserted her, and to discover
what happened to her mother. It is also about deep love, in many forms. Flagg
also provides another of her stunning portrayals of the people and character of
a small Southern town, and a _right on_ portrayal of the TV world. It is
funny in spots, tender and very touching in spots, with a very surprising
turn at the end. And when the reader is finished, I’ll bet she will have a warm
glow. Flagg at her best, and she is very good, a superb storyteller. I found it
a delight.
Flagg,F.; Welcome to the World, Baby Girl; $7.50; 396pp; Ballantine
Books; NY;1998 ISBN 080411868X