Book Review: Paint It Black by Janet Fitch

Ok I get it, Josie. You're small, pretty, ...whorish. Yes and your little brat boyfriend killed himself...and his mother is moody...blah blah blah. Your car is a piece of crap, you go to punk clubs, you cry alot, every little thing reminds you of Michael and you spend 2 freaking pages describing it, just before devoting another 4 pages to more of the same.

I've been skipping pages 2 or 3 at a time, scanning for something lurking in a paragraph somewhere that may be in any way different from the 2 chapters before it. All I've found is bits and pieces of plot here and there, and more redundant blabbering about her poor poor dead boyfriend and her pathetic little life.

While I really tried to like this book, I only made it to page 176 and finally gave up. Maybe I'm too old for this type of story...but all the booze-swilling, drug activity and other drivel really got on my nerves.

Usually I hate putting down a book without at least finding out what happens in the end, but for this one I could honestly care less. I need likeable characters (I can only really get into a book if I can either identify with or find interest in at least ONE character), I need an actual plot!

This book has offered neither. I loved White Oleander...but I wonder what Fitch was thinking with this one.

Anna Quindlen - Rise and Shine

Rise and Shine by Anna Quindlen opens with the sentence, "From time to time some stranger will ask me how I can bear to live in New York City." The rest of the novel is like an exposition answering this stranger's question. Sure, there is a plot. There is a story about two sisters and how one's fame and public mistake affects the other. There are romantic relationships. Things happen. But there is so much commentary on life in New York City between the action that I am not sure which fills more pages. If you live in New York, and especially if you are around people in Manahattan who are extremely preoccupied with professional success, you may love this book. I didn't.

The main character in Rise and Shine, Bridget, is interesting. I enjoyed the parts about her job in the Bronx a lot. I also liked her assistant, Tequila. The parts of the book when Bridget was dealing with work, her romantic relationship or her surrogate mother role to her nephew, Leo, were good reading.

The novel revolves, however, around Bridget's famous sister, Meghan. I was never convinced that Meghan's on-air mistake would be as huge a deal as it is written to be. Meghan also was underdeveloped, making her impact less than it needed to be in order to understand Bridget's transformation.

The passing of time in the book is also confusing. It sometimes read as if a day or two had passed and then suddenly someone would mention it was a month later. This made it hard to follow.

This is not Quindlen's best.

Book Review: Snow Falling on Cedars

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson is the story of a small community on an island off Washington state, about ten years after the end of WWII. Though the island is isolated, its population is ethnically diverse. The main action of the story, however, takes place between Caucasians and Japanese, as a Japanese man, Kabuo Miyamoto, is standing trial for the murder of a fellow fisherman. Adding to this conflict is the tension between the local newspaper owner, Ishmael Chambers, and his boyhood sweetheart, a Japanese girl named Hatsue, who is now the wife of the accused Kabuo. Snow Falling on Cedars has several themes and elements that readily commend it to be read.

First, the book is a story of how racism affects a small, isolated community. Both Ishmael and Kabuo fought for America during WWII, and both men are crippled by the war, but in different ways: Ishamel by the loss of an arm, Kabuo by the distrust immediately after WWII that whites held against anyone of Japanese descent. The story deals with the unfortunate internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, portraying (evidently accurately) what internees (prisoners) experienced in the camps.

Second, Snow Falling on Cedars is an intense love story, as Ishmael has never resolved his lost romance with Hatsue. As the community's newspaper man, he is in the awkward position of having to deal fairly, as a news man, with the very man who denied him a life with the girl he loves.

Third, the story is well-crafted. The prose is such that the reader feels the cold from the ubiquitous snow that sets the mood for most of the story. One feels the stuffiness of small rooms heated by over-active steam radiators. The reader will feel the frustration of the courtroom drama, as the opposing attorneys seem unable to arrive at the truth. And one wonders if Ishmael will go forth with the evidence that will determine the fate of Kabuo and the possibility of his own relationship with Hatsue.

The main narrative technique of the story is the memory, as the narration alternates between past and present (seamlessly, most of the time), and the reader is shown how the horrors of WWII has affected the lives of the ordinary men who went to fight.

Snow Falling on Cedars is a very good read, but I recommend it for more mature readers, as some of the scenes, though tastfully done, are nonetheless unsuitable for young readers. Disturbing and bittersweet, Snow Falling on Cedars forces us to confront racism and to ask ourselves what we would do in the same situation.

Book Review: Plainsong

Plainsong is a brilliant story about normal people dealing with normal people's problems. Kent Haruf's prose creates a comfortable feeling allowing the reader to imagine being a friend to the character they most relate to. No matter who you are you can relate to any one of the characters. Guthrie's ordeal with facing single parenthood and a bout with loneliness, Victoria finding herself pregnant, out of wedlock, with seemingly no one to turn to and who could forget the sweet McPheron brothers. They are old, crusty, hard working ranchers who find it hard to relate to anything outside of the family business, let alone a 17 year old girl.

Haruf wonderfully arranges this story around the one character we knew the least about: Maggie Jones. The two main things we know about her is that she is loving because she takes care of her senile father and that she has a fiery side through her declaration that she would not compete with Judy, the school secretary, for Guthrie. Maggie Jones is the tie that binds and brings every one together on Memorial Day at the McPheron ranch.

The reader isn't left with a sweet, feel good story but one where we applaud the characters for their change, maturity, acceptance of responsibility. We watch them face and handle their problems. We are allowed to imagine a future for the characters. Ike and Bobby have accepted their mother's decision, Victoria is now a mother and more than likely will seek to achieve bigger and better things for her and her daughter. Maggie and Guthrie just might get married and the McPheron brothers now have a family to fill the void they had from the loss of their parents. Life is good.

Book Review: The Fourth Queen

"The Fourth Queen" is a fascinating study of what life may have been like in the harem of the Emperor of Morocco in the 18th century. The author based the character of Helen Gloag on a real Scottish girl of the same name who is supposed to have become the wife of the Emperor after being taken into captivity by pirates.

Debbie Taylor's Helen is actually a composite figure of several women, about whom little is actually known. Due to this lack of knowledge about Helen's personality, character, and ultimate fate, Ms Taylor was able to create Helen as one would a totally fictional character. Helen is a flawed heroine in many ways (uneducated, unsophisticated, and basically self-centered). She is an interesting contrast to the character of Batoom, who is one of the four wives of the emperor. Batoom is older, as independent as one can be in the confines of the harem, and a woman of great compassion. The other main character is "Microphilus," a male dwarf based upon a real man named Jeffrey Hudson, who lived a century earlier than the setting of this novel, but who also for a time lived as a captive in a North African harem. Microphilus fell almost instantly in love with Helen, even though he was having a relationship with Batoom.

The most fascinating parts of this book include the rise of Helen from a bewildered, and pregnant, captive to one of the four wives of the emperor, and the wonderful depiction of harem life. The harem is shown in all of its decadence -- these women have nothing to do but eat, groom themselves, eat, spend money on useless trinkets, plot against each other, practice sex with each other, and eat some more. There are a couple of scenes of explicit sex, a violent execution of a runaway, and a mystery involving a plot against one of the four queens. While much of the novel is told in third person, the parts of the book seen from Microphilus' point of view are taken from his hidden journal (the author states that the journal entries are based upon the writings of Jeffrey Hudson). Although the character of Helen was a bit of a problem for me, I enjoyed the book and recommend it to those who like something a little out of the ordinary.

Book Review: Ms. Hempel's Chronicles

Ms. Hempel's Chronicles is a story about Ms. Hempel, who teaches seventh grade. She is new to the school and newly engaged. She is young so her teaching style differs from what an older teacher might do. She finds it acceptable to talk frankly with her students about anything and everything.

Truthfully, for me, I did not enjoy this book. I didn't hate it but I didn't really like it either. I found it jumped around way too much. It goes to Ms. Hempel's childhood and then back to her teaching. What I found most and didn't like was that a whole jumble of characters is introduced and I felt you really didn't get a chance to know any of them except for Ms. Hempel. As a character, I would have to say I liked her. She is funny in her teaching methods and her descriptions of her childhood were interesting in that she didn't exactly have a normal childhood. Her whole family seemed a bit off to me.

The wrting of author, Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum is not really my style of writing to enjoy but still good. For some, they may really enjoy it. As I said for me the novel was too choppy. I did finish reading it because I was interested in what happened to Ms. Hempel in the end and unfortunately the end didn't really leave me completely understanding where she was at in her life at that point. Would I recommend this book-not likely. As I said this book could definitely appeal to others, just not to me.

Book Review: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I finished Eat, Pray, Love last night. Apparently, a sensation that swept the land revolved around this book.

Okay, I knew that already. That's one of the reasons I avoided it up until now. There's also the fact that I thought it was a Christian memoir of a book, about how someone ate, prayed, and loved themselves into a devout state of being.

Instead, it is one woman's odyssey through three countries, a divorce, meditation, a relationship with God, three or four languages, and a few tons of pasta. I was surprised to find myself liking it.

The writing style opens a window into Elizabeth Gilbert's mind. We follow her through her divorce and into the realization that she needs to do something drastic to keep going. She's having a hard time coming to grips with her post-divorce relationships and love life. What better way to get over heartache is there than to eat your way through Italy and delve into a love affair with the Italian language, then head to India and Bali for more serious pursuits?

She makes friends, gabs up a storm, and ignores the historical sites and museums the tourists flock to in Italy. Instead of intellectual stimulation, she's looking for the crispiest calamari and the plumpest gnocci in town.

After gaining a few pounds (or a few dozen) she heads off to India to live in an ashram run by her guru. She makes friends, gabs up a storm, and muddles her way through spiritual enlightenment. Vicariously watching her work towards a still mind and compassionate heart makes it all seem like good fun, not the hard work I'm sure was actually involved in her transformation.

After losing a few pounds and gaining a world of inner happiness, she heads off to Bali, where she has sketchy, by-the-seat-of-her-pants instructions about possibly working for a local healer. In Bali, she makes friends, gabs up a storm, and finally finds love again.

By the end, I was rooting for her, but I was also unsure how long her new enlightenment would last when she was faced with the real world she'd left a year earlier- the world of New York publishing and business, where it's easy to get stressed and burnt out in a short matter of time.

All in all, Eat, Pray, Love made me want to go out and see the world. It's too bad I'm not a well-to-do writer from New York with a healthy savings account.