I am sure you are all getting mighty tired of my fixation with World War II books. So, I am going to touch on some other wars...I know, I know...why so much war? But battle, or the fear of battle, teaches people to find strength they didn't know they had. We all fight battles, every day. Some are important. Some only seem important at the time. We may have to fight a battle to control our emotions after the death of a loved one. A battle to control our tempers when that person at work you want to depend on calls in sick yet another day. A battle to conquer our fear of death. A battle to be patient with elderly parents who will not listen to our good suggestions. A battle with a teenager who wants to do something you know is unsafe (because it was back when you tried it, too).
When I visited Ypres, Belgium, there was a wonderful bookstore devoted to writing about WWI. I chose a non-fiction book there, "Thirty-odd Feet Below Belgium", edited by Arthur Stockwin. After the death of his mother, and his father's relocation to a nursing home, Stockwin found a chest full of letters. To his surprise, they were not his parents' love letters, but correspondence between his mother and a WWI officer named Geoffrey Boothby. These are innocent and sweet letters between a couple who barely knew each other. When Boothby is first in France, he is brave and excited, but the horror of the conditions and the loss of so many brave friends changes him, as it did all of the men who fought. Although these letters were simply meant as a way for a young man and woman to court, they provide many facts about the danger and hopelessness of life in the trenches.
David Sears, who has written two superb books about World War II, has just published "Such Men as These", which is about a war I know far to little about: Korea. I would guess that most of my generation shares my embarrassment at our lack of concern about this war. Sears takes the story of Michener's "The Bridges at Toko-ri" (who doesn't remember the wonderful movie with William Holden and Grace Kelly?) and helps us understand the truth behind it. He locates the incredible pilots who had to fight in this far away place, risking their lives for a cause many Americans didn't even understand. While Sears' knowledge of the Navy, the ships, and the planes all help the reader understand a forgotten war, the book would not succeed but for his ability to humanize the courageous men in battle. We feel their loneliness and isolation. We understand their fears and feel their pride in their flying accomplishments. At the end of the movie about Toko-ri, a question is posed: "where do we get such men?" David Sears gives us the answer in "Such Men as These".
Most of my generation can tell you where they were when the numbers were called during the draft lotteries to determine who would have to fight in Vietnam. I remember hearing the numbers called in the TV lounge at Ithaca College. Back in those strange college days of the seventies, I never thought of myself as growing older. Perhaps that was just what we baby boomers were like. I certainly never imagined myself becoming a homeowner...and the "mother" of two dogs. Now that I am, I cannot imagine myself without my beloved animal friends. I had no idea that dogs were used by our troops in Vietnam until I read Toni Gardner's book, "Walking Where the Dog Walks". Gardner takes us through the beginning of the partnerships between man and dog, their training, and the incredible bond that develops as these amazing animals learn to save the lives of soldiers in peril. However, the cost to both men and dogs is great. When one soldier loses his dog Gardner writes:
"...Jim could feel the thread they'd formed between them, man and dog. It was as fragile as air, but as strong as a force of nature. It would entwine them forever, and it was now a pain so heavy he wished he'd never known the dog at all. At that moment he swore he would never allow himself to care that much for another living thing...."
For all of us who love their pets far too much, Gardner's words about these brave men and animals touch our hearts.
Men in filthy trenches in Belgium, men flying over the frigid seas in Korea, men and dogs in the jungles of Asia...all three of these books are really about the battle to conquer fear and the hope that this war will be the last.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Shelf Life
Did you ever notice that some authors write a whole lot of books? In the library or bookstore their offerings take up shelf after shelf. When I see that many titles, I tend to ignore them. How can these authors really produce work that is deep, meaningful, and fills the heart and mind? I have, of course, read a book or two by these "best selling" authors. I cannot recommend any of them. I discovered one author because she wrote a book with a snappy, fun title "The Hot Flash Club". The author is Nancy Thayer and her "hot flash" books are now a series. The first one wasn't bad, but the sequels are just terrible. Yet, I went to the library shelves and read all of Thayer's older novels and they are just wonderful, especially her earliest ones. I am glad Thayer is a "best-selling author" now, and I hope somebody makes a "hot flash" movie, but I would much rather see a film of "An Act of Love" or "Morning", two of her books I loved.
There are other authors whose books do not take up a lot of room at the library or bookstore. The three I mention next have only written, between them, eleven novels. However, all eleven books are beautifully written and will stay with you for years. Like me, you will wait and hope for the next offering by these three gifted people.
I don't know which book by the amazing Jane Hamilton I discovered first. I have never been disappointed by any of her novels. "A Map of the World" is one of those heartbreaking stories that starts out with a tragedy and just gets worse for Alice, a school nurse trying to care for her family. A child drowns while in her care, and as she tries to comprehend that loss, her community turns on her. This story of an everywoman who has to deal with unspeakable events resonates because of Hamilton's considerable skill. Hamilton has written only five novels, and each is worth reading more than once.
If you have not read Ken Haruf's books, you have missed some of the best American writing of this century, in my humble opinion. Of course, judging by the many awards he has already won, I am not alone in my opinion. Haruf has written only four novels, but I think he is about due to publish another. I keep searching the library "new book" shelf and hoping. His first was "The Tie That Binds", written in 1984. The life story of Edith Goodnough begins at the end of her life as she is lying in a hospital bed. She has endured loneliness and poverty and has lived her life stoically and with deep strength. All of Haruf's novels paint vivid portraits of people you think you might know. You want to stay in his world long after you finish the last word.
Finally, I urge you not to miss "Fall On Your Knees", by Canadian Ann-Marie MacDonald. This is the story of four amazing women, one of those multi-generational sagas that twists and turns and keeps us breathless. MacDonald has written only one other novel, "As the Crow Flies", which I also could not put down.
So, the next time you need a book, look for the authors who work for years, not months, on each novel. I guarantee you will be rewarded.
There are other authors whose books do not take up a lot of room at the library or bookstore. The three I mention next have only written, between them, eleven novels. However, all eleven books are beautifully written and will stay with you for years. Like me, you will wait and hope for the next offering by these three gifted people.
I don't know which book by the amazing Jane Hamilton I discovered first. I have never been disappointed by any of her novels. "A Map of the World" is one of those heartbreaking stories that starts out with a tragedy and just gets worse for Alice, a school nurse trying to care for her family. A child drowns while in her care, and as she tries to comprehend that loss, her community turns on her. This story of an everywoman who has to deal with unspeakable events resonates because of Hamilton's considerable skill. Hamilton has written only five novels, and each is worth reading more than once.
If you have not read Ken Haruf's books, you have missed some of the best American writing of this century, in my humble opinion. Of course, judging by the many awards he has already won, I am not alone in my opinion. Haruf has written only four novels, but I think he is about due to publish another. I keep searching the library "new book" shelf and hoping. His first was "The Tie That Binds", written in 1984. The life story of Edith Goodnough begins at the end of her life as she is lying in a hospital bed. She has endured loneliness and poverty and has lived her life stoically and with deep strength. All of Haruf's novels paint vivid portraits of people you think you might know. You want to stay in his world long after you finish the last word.
Finally, I urge you not to miss "Fall On Your Knees", by Canadian Ann-Marie MacDonald. This is the story of four amazing women, one of those multi-generational sagas that twists and turns and keeps us breathless. MacDonald has written only one other novel, "As the Crow Flies", which I also could not put down.
So, the next time you need a book, look for the authors who work for years, not months, on each novel. I guarantee you will be rewarded.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Mamma Mia!
When you think about great mothers in literature, who comes to mind? Marmee in "Little Women"? Ma in "Little House on the Prairie"? That mom bunny who always wants her baby bunny to come back to her in "The Runaway Bunny"?
I wish! But the moms I seem to relish are those who are not so nice. Every year or so I re-read the classics..."Peyton Place", "Moll Flanders", and, of course, "Valley of the Dolls". What a story! Suicide, mental illness, bust-enhancing exercises, virgins, a wig flushed down the toilet, Broadway, Hollywood, this book has it all.
It is the story of three young women who come to New York to find their fortunes. Anne is a classic beauty from New England. After graduating from Radcliffe, she naturally becomes a secretary. Luckily Anne finds work for a show biz attorney...and the moment she meets his partner, Lyon Burke (LYON BURKE!!!) she falls madly, wildly, completely, in love. She must have Lyon, she must lose her virginity to Lyon, she must marry Lyon...but he is not the marrying kind!
In her rooming house, Anne meets seventeen year old Neely. Neely is brash and bold, a minx with an amazing voice...her talent knows no bounds. She is in love with press agent Mel, but once Neely gets her Hollywood contract, Mel is nowhere-ville and she falls for Ted Casablanca, a costume designer.
And finally, Jennifer, the goddess. Her body, face, hair are all perfection. She knows she has no talent, but all she wants is to be safely in love...with a man who can provide her with all the fur coats she wants. She falls hard for singer Tony Polar, but what's with his overly protective sister, Miriam?
Who are these girls' mothers? Why don't they ever have to go home for the holidays? Why don't their mothers ever come to visit to tell them their apartments are a mess?
Well, Jackie Susann does give us some information on the barely seen moms of our heroines. Anne's mother is a stern, cold woman who tells twelve year old Anne not to cry in front of people and later that "...unfortunately kissing isn't all a man expects after marriage..."
"There is no such thing as love, the way you talk about it," Anne's mother warns her before she leaves for New York City. After Anne's mother dies, Jennifer says, "I take it you didn't love your mother." Anne agrees.
Neely doesn't even seem to even have a mother. She is in a singing/dancing act with her brothers as a teenager.
Jennifer's mother is financially dependent on her beautiful daughter. "Damn all mothers," Jennifer says, realizing that she has forgotten to send her mother the weekly check. Jennifer's mother is never appreciative of her daughter's efforts, however. She simply demands more and more.
Miriam, who is much older than Tony and has raised him, is at least protective of her brother. She alone knows that Tony has the intellect of a ten year old child, but pushes him and protects him so that he will be happy and financially secure. Miriam and Tony's real mother is described as a drifter who slept with any man, and placed little Miriam in a foster home.
When Jennifer outwits Miriam, marries Tony and becomes pregnant, Miriam finally tells her the whole story...that Tony has a genetic disease that will be passed on to their child...that Tony will probably be insane by age fifty. So, Jennifer, who is loving and kind, loses her chance to become a mother.
Neely has twins, but her life as a Hollywood star is all-consuming. When the studio orders her to take off weight, her battle with pills ("dolls" in Susann-lingo) begins. The twins are never mothered by Neely; she is just an overgrown child herself. After a pill and booze binge, Neely realizes she has missed Bud's and Jud's first birthdays. Neely explains motherhood to Anne by saying, "...a good nurse can handle a new baby better than you..."
Anne finally gives birth to Lyon's baby, but by this time, Lyon is having affairs and Anne, like her friends, has turned to the "dolls" for company.
So, in addition to the pills and booze, these three women get no love from their mothers and don't seem to love their own children. What kind of a woman would write such a book?
Jacqueline Susann.
Susann was born in 1918 and died of breast cancer at the age of 56. In her short life, she was an actress, singer, model, and finally an author. She married press agent Irving Mansfield, though she wasn't any more faithful, according to reports, than characters in "Valley of the Dolls". When Susann was 28, she gave birth to her only child, Guy. He was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 3. Susann placed him in an institution, and never told anyone his true condition or diagnosis. If alive today, he would be 64.
Susann was not a gifted writer, but she was a boffo storyteller who keeps the reader glued to the page. I carry around an old battered paperback copy of "Valley" and have often loaned it to younger women who have never heard of the book (which has sold over 30 million copies).
Today, we are all used to family and friends who have autistic children. We see these kids going to school, in restaurants, playing in parks, and in the malls. We watch parents re-direct the difficult behavior of their autistic children. They are simply part of our communities.
But in 1946, what did anyone really know about autism? Was Susann given any options to institutionalizing her only child? Did she feel guilt over leaving him? Did she miss him?
I think Susann makes her pain about motherhood very clear in "Valley". Her guilt at abandoning her own child is poured into the bad mother characters she creates. There is no motherly love for Anne, Neely or Jennifer. Jennifer aborts the baby who she is told will suffer from a genetic disorder. Anne, despite her desire for a baby, turns to pills. Neely can't be bothered with her twins at all. Tony's mother was a tramp.
But Miriam...plain, fat-fingered Miriam who only owns three dresses and goes to Hollywood parties in white orthopedic shoes...she is the only "mother" who shows her
"child" any warmth or real love. She fights for him, she protects him fiercely, she makes him believe he is smart and important.
To me, Miriam is the mother to Tony that Jacqueline Susann wishes she could have been to Guy.
I wish! But the moms I seem to relish are those who are not so nice. Every year or so I re-read the classics..."Peyton Place", "Moll Flanders", and, of course, "Valley of the Dolls". What a story! Suicide, mental illness, bust-enhancing exercises, virgins, a wig flushed down the toilet, Broadway, Hollywood, this book has it all.
It is the story of three young women who come to New York to find their fortunes. Anne is a classic beauty from New England. After graduating from Radcliffe, she naturally becomes a secretary. Luckily Anne finds work for a show biz attorney...and the moment she meets his partner, Lyon Burke (LYON BURKE!!!) she falls madly, wildly, completely, in love. She must have Lyon, she must lose her virginity to Lyon, she must marry Lyon...but he is not the marrying kind!
In her rooming house, Anne meets seventeen year old Neely. Neely is brash and bold, a minx with an amazing voice...her talent knows no bounds. She is in love with press agent Mel, but once Neely gets her Hollywood contract, Mel is nowhere-ville and she falls for Ted Casablanca, a costume designer.
And finally, Jennifer, the goddess. Her body, face, hair are all perfection. She knows she has no talent, but all she wants is to be safely in love...with a man who can provide her with all the fur coats she wants. She falls hard for singer Tony Polar, but what's with his overly protective sister, Miriam?
Who are these girls' mothers? Why don't they ever have to go home for the holidays? Why don't their mothers ever come to visit to tell them their apartments are a mess?
Well, Jackie Susann does give us some information on the barely seen moms of our heroines. Anne's mother is a stern, cold woman who tells twelve year old Anne not to cry in front of people and later that "...unfortunately kissing isn't all a man expects after marriage..."
"There is no such thing as love, the way you talk about it," Anne's mother warns her before she leaves for New York City. After Anne's mother dies, Jennifer says, "I take it you didn't love your mother." Anne agrees.
Neely doesn't even seem to even have a mother. She is in a singing/dancing act with her brothers as a teenager.
Jennifer's mother is financially dependent on her beautiful daughter. "Damn all mothers," Jennifer says, realizing that she has forgotten to send her mother the weekly check. Jennifer's mother is never appreciative of her daughter's efforts, however. She simply demands more and more.
Miriam, who is much older than Tony and has raised him, is at least protective of her brother. She alone knows that Tony has the intellect of a ten year old child, but pushes him and protects him so that he will be happy and financially secure. Miriam and Tony's real mother is described as a drifter who slept with any man, and placed little Miriam in a foster home.
When Jennifer outwits Miriam, marries Tony and becomes pregnant, Miriam finally tells her the whole story...that Tony has a genetic disease that will be passed on to their child...that Tony will probably be insane by age fifty. So, Jennifer, who is loving and kind, loses her chance to become a mother.
Neely has twins, but her life as a Hollywood star is all-consuming. When the studio orders her to take off weight, her battle with pills ("dolls" in Susann-lingo) begins. The twins are never mothered by Neely; she is just an overgrown child herself. After a pill and booze binge, Neely realizes she has missed Bud's and Jud's first birthdays. Neely explains motherhood to Anne by saying, "...a good nurse can handle a new baby better than you..."
Anne finally gives birth to Lyon's baby, but by this time, Lyon is having affairs and Anne, like her friends, has turned to the "dolls" for company.
So, in addition to the pills and booze, these three women get no love from their mothers and don't seem to love their own children. What kind of a woman would write such a book?
Jacqueline Susann.
Susann was born in 1918 and died of breast cancer at the age of 56. In her short life, she was an actress, singer, model, and finally an author. She married press agent Irving Mansfield, though she wasn't any more faithful, according to reports, than characters in "Valley of the Dolls". When Susann was 28, she gave birth to her only child, Guy. He was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 3. Susann placed him in an institution, and never told anyone his true condition or diagnosis. If alive today, he would be 64.
Susann was not a gifted writer, but she was a boffo storyteller who keeps the reader glued to the page. I carry around an old battered paperback copy of "Valley" and have often loaned it to younger women who have never heard of the book (which has sold over 30 million copies).
Today, we are all used to family and friends who have autistic children. We see these kids going to school, in restaurants, playing in parks, and in the malls. We watch parents re-direct the difficult behavior of their autistic children. They are simply part of our communities.
But in 1946, what did anyone really know about autism? Was Susann given any options to institutionalizing her only child? Did she feel guilt over leaving him? Did she miss him?
I think Susann makes her pain about motherhood very clear in "Valley". Her guilt at abandoning her own child is poured into the bad mother characters she creates. There is no motherly love for Anne, Neely or Jennifer. Jennifer aborts the baby who she is told will suffer from a genetic disorder. Anne, despite her desire for a baby, turns to pills. Neely can't be bothered with her twins at all. Tony's mother was a tramp.
But Miriam...plain, fat-fingered Miriam who only owns three dresses and goes to Hollywood parties in white orthopedic shoes...she is the only "mother" who shows her
"child" any warmth or real love. She fights for him, she protects him fiercely, she makes him believe he is smart and important.
To me, Miriam is the mother to Tony that Jacqueline Susann wishes she could have been to Guy.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Something borrowed, something new!
For avid readers, there is no greater moment than finding out that one of our favorite authors has written a new book. In my wonderful library, there is a section that looks like a bookstore where all the new "best sellers" are displayed, shiny and ready to borrow. They can be taken out for a week only, which is more than most of us need to read a book we love. You will not find me borrowing crime novels or romance, which seem to be the REAL best sellers. When our library held its book sale this weekend, certain authors like John Grisham and Danielle Steele even had their own sections! But I was content to browse the crowded fiction tables and hope I had missed some older novel by one of my favorite authors. I hadn't, of course. Still, a few of them have been hard at work, and here are some wonderful new books to enjoy.
"Every Last One", by Anna Quindlan. You may remember the touching film made of her novel "One True Thing", with Meryl Streep as the mom and Renee Zellweger as the daughter. This new novel has the same layers of depth. I found myself racing to finish it while being sorry I was racing. I strongly urge you not to read the description on the dust jacket, or any reviews. This is the kind of story about which a reader should have no expectations. I think Diane Lane would be wonderful as the mom, when they make the film.
"The Lake Shore Limited", by Sue Miller. Miller never seems to strike a wrong note, and in this, her latest, she gives us complex characters and weaves in the horror of 9/11. I love Miller's descriptions of homes, rooms, restaurants, even bouquets of flowers. She gives us flawed people, but people we want to know.
"The Last Time I Saw You", by Elizabeth Berg. I had told some of my friends about this one, because it concerns a group of people attending their 40th high school reunion, which many of us will be doing in October. I think of Berg as a very accessible author, warm, friendly, and fun to read.
"A Change in Altitude", by Anita Shreve. Do you remember the first book you read by Anita Shreve? Do you remember how late you stayed up because you absolutely had to finish it THAT NIGHT; your eyes all red and scratchy the next day? I have not found her last few books as compelling as many of her earlier ones, but in this one, she gives us rich characters, an absolutely amazing setting, and a frightening challenge. I found it as wonderful as her earliest books and I am glad she has given her readers a new location.
"Remarkable Creatures", by Tracy Chevalier. Chevalier has brought history to life in
"Girl With a Pearl Earring", which was a beautiful film as well. (Although I have yet to see Colin Firth in anything I didn't love. I hope you didn't miss "Easy Virtue". If you did, get the DVD). This time, Chevalier tackles fossils. Her heroines are both fossil hunters, separated by class, but united in their passion for discovery.
"Secrets of Eden", by Chris Bohjalian. I am so happy to see Bohjalian return to New England and this century. I appreciate that many people enjoyed "Skeletons at the Feast", but I thought it lacked the drama and difficult questions his other books address so beautifully. His latest is about religion, domestic violence, and some very unlikely angels.
So, there are a half dozen wonderful new reads. If you haven't been to the library lately, walk, bike or drive to the closest one and ask for one of these books. Librarians aim to please.
"Every Last One", by Anna Quindlan. You may remember the touching film made of her novel "One True Thing", with Meryl Streep as the mom and Renee Zellweger as the daughter. This new novel has the same layers of depth. I found myself racing to finish it while being sorry I was racing. I strongly urge you not to read the description on the dust jacket, or any reviews. This is the kind of story about which a reader should have no expectations. I think Diane Lane would be wonderful as the mom, when they make the film.
"The Lake Shore Limited", by Sue Miller. Miller never seems to strike a wrong note, and in this, her latest, she gives us complex characters and weaves in the horror of 9/11. I love Miller's descriptions of homes, rooms, restaurants, even bouquets of flowers. She gives us flawed people, but people we want to know.
"The Last Time I Saw You", by Elizabeth Berg. I had told some of my friends about this one, because it concerns a group of people attending their 40th high school reunion, which many of us will be doing in October. I think of Berg as a very accessible author, warm, friendly, and fun to read.
"A Change in Altitude", by Anita Shreve. Do you remember the first book you read by Anita Shreve? Do you remember how late you stayed up because you absolutely had to finish it THAT NIGHT; your eyes all red and scratchy the next day? I have not found her last few books as compelling as many of her earlier ones, but in this one, she gives us rich characters, an absolutely amazing setting, and a frightening challenge. I found it as wonderful as her earliest books and I am glad she has given her readers a new location.
"Remarkable Creatures", by Tracy Chevalier. Chevalier has brought history to life in
"Girl With a Pearl Earring", which was a beautiful film as well. (Although I have yet to see Colin Firth in anything I didn't love. I hope you didn't miss "Easy Virtue". If you did, get the DVD). This time, Chevalier tackles fossils. Her heroines are both fossil hunters, separated by class, but united in their passion for discovery.
"Secrets of Eden", by Chris Bohjalian. I am so happy to see Bohjalian return to New England and this century. I appreciate that many people enjoyed "Skeletons at the Feast", but I thought it lacked the drama and difficult questions his other books address so beautifully. His latest is about religion, domestic violence, and some very unlikely angels.
So, there are a half dozen wonderful new reads. If you haven't been to the library lately, walk, bike or drive to the closest one and ask for one of these books. Librarians aim to please.
Monday, April 26, 2010
We are family....
Literature seems filled with bad parents. So many first novels, the ones we read and forget about quickly, are stories of the trials and tribulations of a person trying to overcome his or her difficult childhood. Spare me.
If you want to read a story about a family, and problems, and how love can soothe almost anything, try "The Risk Pool" by Richard Russo. Russo is now a Pulitzer prize winning author, but this was only his second published work. I still love it more than anything he has written. It has heart, humor, and a coating of love like the perfect frosting on a cake. It is the story of Ned, whose parents were never meant to be together. Neither of Ned's parents is even close to being perfect, but he loves both his mom and dad with all his heart. I have read this book over and over, and I always find a new line to tug at my heart. However, part of the reason I love it so is because it is set in Gloversville, the home town of Richard Russo.
Gloversville is old-fashioned. In Gloversville, extended families still have Sunday dinner together. A Mary Kay party is a huge event, with lots and lots of women, lus their daughters, grandchildren, laughter, and so much food you could skip the next three meals. When you have good friends from Gloversville, as I do, you will get a card for each holiday. If you say "no presents" to a friend from Gloversville, you can count on her bringing you a plate of homemade cookies or candy, telling you food doesn't "count" as a present. A Gloversville person will open her home to you, no questions asked. She will cook you a turkey dinner just because you said you felt like having one. In Gloversville, at the holidays, homes are decorated with themes, and presents are wrapped to match the decor. Coffee is not sipped without a piece of cake on the side. Neighbors say hello just because they live near each other.
When Gloversville people go to the malls in Albany, about an hour away, they call it going "down the line", like their grandparents did. There is plenty of poverty, alcoholism, crime, and sadness, just like everywhere else in America. But, in Gloversville,when a new store opens, people support it. When the high school has a football game, people of all ages go to cheer. When people grow old, their families care for them. I was lucky to have known two great women from Gloversville ...Margaret and Martha. Between them, they raised ten amazing children. They were never famous. They didn't write or paint or get elected to the City Council. They didn't need to. They were happy and strong women. Old-fashioned women.
When you begin to read "The Risk Pool", I hope you will see the world of Gloversville as clearly as I do. I hope you will find a character exactly like someone you once knew. And I hope, for just a few hours, you will let yourself live in this old-fashioned world. It surely wasn't perfect, and Russo acknowledges that. But he gives the reader a sense of belonging to a place you just might want to linger in. At least until the next Mary Kay party.
If you want to read a story about a family, and problems, and how love can soothe almost anything, try "The Risk Pool" by Richard Russo. Russo is now a Pulitzer prize winning author, but this was only his second published work. I still love it more than anything he has written. It has heart, humor, and a coating of love like the perfect frosting on a cake. It is the story of Ned, whose parents were never meant to be together. Neither of Ned's parents is even close to being perfect, but he loves both his mom and dad with all his heart. I have read this book over and over, and I always find a new line to tug at my heart. However, part of the reason I love it so is because it is set in Gloversville, the home town of Richard Russo.
Gloversville is old-fashioned. In Gloversville, extended families still have Sunday dinner together. A Mary Kay party is a huge event, with lots and lots of women, lus their daughters, grandchildren, laughter, and so much food you could skip the next three meals. When you have good friends from Gloversville, as I do, you will get a card for each holiday. If you say "no presents" to a friend from Gloversville, you can count on her bringing you a plate of homemade cookies or candy, telling you food doesn't "count" as a present. A Gloversville person will open her home to you, no questions asked. She will cook you a turkey dinner just because you said you felt like having one. In Gloversville, at the holidays, homes are decorated with themes, and presents are wrapped to match the decor. Coffee is not sipped without a piece of cake on the side. Neighbors say hello just because they live near each other.
When Gloversville people go to the malls in Albany, about an hour away, they call it going "down the line", like their grandparents did. There is plenty of poverty, alcoholism, crime, and sadness, just like everywhere else in America. But, in Gloversville,when a new store opens, people support it. When the high school has a football game, people of all ages go to cheer. When people grow old, their families care for them. I was lucky to have known two great women from Gloversville ...Margaret and Martha. Between them, they raised ten amazing children. They were never famous. They didn't write or paint or get elected to the City Council. They didn't need to. They were happy and strong women. Old-fashioned women.
When you begin to read "The Risk Pool", I hope you will see the world of Gloversville as clearly as I do. I hope you will find a character exactly like someone you once knew. And I hope, for just a few hours, you will let yourself live in this old-fashioned world. It surely wasn't perfect, and Russo acknowledges that. But he gives the reader a sense of belonging to a place you just might want to linger in. At least until the next Mary Kay party.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Chick-lit(erature)
Today,I went to Bon Ton Department Store to spend a gift card a dear friend gave me. Bon Ton is always filled with little old ladies, and today was no exception. Two adorable women were trying to figure out the mysterious price checker and I helped them. We began to chat while they were in and out of the dressing rooms, trying on "bargains" and having a ball. One was 88, the other 92. The 88 year old made sure I knew SHE was younger. We talked about weight, clothes, makeup, hair... the things women of all ages discuss. I loved their spunk and interest in life. I was sure that one of the reasons they seemed so young was because they had each other. I left the store with a smile on my face, and a longing to have a friend at my side.
I feel that same kind of smile take over when I read any of Barbara Pym's unique novels. I also find, in her novels, the kind of women I would love to have as friends. Pym's heroines would love Bon Ton.
Barbara Pym was born in 1913 in England. She completed her first novel when she was only 22. In addition to writing, Pym had to work at other jobs to support herself. Her first book was not published until 1950, and then they were regularly published. However, in 1963, her publisher, and all others, refused her latest offering. It wasn't until 1977 that her next book was published. By this time, Pym had had a double mastectomy and a stroke. She died in 1980. For 27 years, from the age of 37 to the age of 64, Pym did not have one book published although she continued to write, always hoping that the next one would be the book that would be accepted again. It is difficult to imagine a person today keeping his or her dreams alive for 27 years! It seems that many of us give up our dreams far too quickly in this age of cell phones, match.com, and instant messages.
I am reading a brand new "chick-lit" book now. The name and author are unimportant. The story is very dramatic; the characters scream, lovers meet, a death is faked. Two well-known chick-litters sing its praises on the dust jacket. As soon as I finish it, I will forget it. But from the first moment I read a Barbara Pym book, I knew that I had discovered something wonderful. No one shrieks in Pym's world. When hearts break, they do it quietly, usually over a solo cup of tea. If the next day happens to be Sunday, the broken-hearted person gets up, fortifies herself with another strong cup of tea, and attends church services.
When Pym is mentioned, two of her books are usually praised, "Excellent Women", published in 1952 and "Quartet In Autumn", published in 1977, the book that finally earned Pym the praise of literary critics. The heroine of "Excellent Women", Mildred, is a quiet churchgoer. She is alone, she has very little money, is not beautiful, and her days consist of helping others and hoping she has a "bit of cake" should someone drop by at tea time. Sounds dull, doesn't it? Let me assure you otherwise. Every time I read it, and I have done so at least twenty times, I laugh out loud at Mildred's observations of those around her. She is a wonderful person; someone I would love to have as a friend.
"Quartet In Autumn" is the story of four lonely people; two men, two women, all at retirement age. They have worked together forever, yet, they have not forged any bonds. None of the four is physically attractive, wealthy, or even educated. However, as they navigate through loneliness and illness, and even face death, they discover that they have, after all, become friends.
While the reader can laugh while reading "Excellent Women", she might cry at "Quartet in Autumn". Barbara Pym gives us real women, who fall in love with the wrong men, who take the bus to save money, who find themselves alone as twilight comes on summer evenings.
I thought of the two women I met today at the Bon-Ton. Both are widows. I pictured them having their suppers...I felt sure they would cook a real meal, not simply nuke a Lean Cuisine like one woman I know. And after dinner, perhaps, a cup of nice, strong tea. And maybe a bit of cake.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Why did we say no?
Every young woman remembers the first time she read "The Diary of Anne Frank". We all feel that we personally know Anne. Those huge brown eyes look out at us from the picture on her book saying...hey, I'm just like you! I laugh, I cry, I get upset with my annoying mother, I like a boy...all the things that every thirteen year old girl feels, Anne does as well. Except Anne does it in a cramped hiding place, where to even walk across the room during the daylight hours is fraught with danger. Just because she is a Jew.
We also know the end of Anne's story before we read the diary. We know Anne does not survive. We know that only her beloved father returns to the hiding place above his business in Amsterdam, Holland, where he picks up the pieces of his own life and endures, and then triumphs as a Jew, and as a father, by giving the world the gift of his daughter's words.
A new book, "Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife" was written by Francine Prose in 2009. For me, who began reading about the Holocaust around the time I was Anne Frank's age, this book offered new insights. And, when read along with the astounding 2008 book by Nicholson Baker, "Human Smoke", more questions than answers are found.
The story of World War II is not the story of bombs, battles, and strategy, but the story of human lives. Who lives, who dies? A man dives into his foxhole just before machine gun fire hits where he had just stood. He lives. His pal turns an ankle and misses the foxhole by an inch. He dies. A concentration camp victim gets a bite of soup, just one bite, the day before liberation. She lives. Her bunk mate is too weak that day to swallow the soup. She dies. War is deliberate, of course. But the deaths can be so random.
Anne Frank's paternal grandfather founded the Michael Frank bank in Frankfurt, Germany, where Anne's father, Otto, was born and raised. Otto came to the United States and lived for two years, before World War I, with a friend from school whose family just happened to own Macy's. Like all good Germans, Otto Frank fought for his country in World War I. In 1933, far earlier than most Jews felt it necessary to leave Germany, Otto Frank moved his family to Holland. In 1938, two of Anne's uncles were able to emigrate to the United States.
The Dutch tried to remain neutral, but Germany overpowered them. Even so, the Dutch people never completely gave up, as other Europeans did. Many wore the yellow Star of David, in solidarity with the Jews, but again, the force of the Nazis overcame the Dutch. Still, as we know from Anne's story and others, many Dutch people demonstrated remarkable courage and hid Jews. Otto Frank had planned well. The family was about to go into the annex to hide when Anne's older sister, Margot, was ordered to report to a camp. This put the entire plan on the fast track, and the Franks moved into their hiding place in July, 1942. They remained hidden for the next two years and one month. On August 4, 1944, they were taken to concentration camps, where all but Otto Frank were murdered by the Nazis. All who read the diary are in anguish once they learn that Ann and Margot died amid the horrors of Bergen-Belsen merely weeks prior to the British liberation. What would it have taken for Anne Frank to survive a matter of weeks? One more more crust of bread? A different temperature outside? Less rain?
Of course, there was one way that Anne Frank and thousands like her could have lived. Otto Frank knew very well what that was, and he tried his best to save his family. In 1938, before the war began, Otto Frank tried to get permission to bring his family to the United States. In 1941, Otto began to ask for help from his friend, Mr. Strauss, the owner of Macy's. Anne's uncles, already settled in the United States, promised to pay for the boat passage and sponsor the family in America. Where was the harm to this country? Otto Frank had lived in the United States for two years. He was a husband and a loving father of two girls. He spoke more than one language and had built a successful business in a new country. But the United States said no. The words on the Statue of Liberty say,..."give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free....". But we said no to the Frank family.
"Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization" by Nicholson Baker is not like any other history book I have read. It has received plenty of negative press, mostly due to its negative portrayals of Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt. One Roosevelt anecdote has the future president worried that the freshman class of Harvard Law School is comprised of 25% Jews...he helps suggest a way to get that number down to 15%. Throughout the 30's and 40's, as the Jews are targeted, stolen from, moved, bullied, denied basic freedoms, and finally killed, the United States continued to deny entrance to most Jews begging to come. Our quota system could not, or would not, be changed.
When I visited the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam I was able, for a few moments, to stand absolutely alone in her room. Anne's pictures of American movie stars are still on the wall. Anne loved those Americans. But America said no to Anne.
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