by Michael David Lukas
The story is about a young American man, born of a Jewish Egyptian mother and Muslim Egyptian father. His parents never married. His mother took him to America to raise him, his father remained in Egypt but they had occasional contact.
The man is notified that his father has died. Shortly after he receives a package in the mail from a friend of his father's. It is a ancient piece of paper with what looks like Arabic writing on one side and possibly Hebrew on the other. The man is puzzled as to why this is all he gets sent from his father and takes a leave of absence from his academic career to go to Cairo to try to find out more about his father and the document.
In another tale we learn hundreds of years ago a Jewish Synagogue hired a young Muslim Man to be a night Watchman. This job was then handed down to his son and other sons over the centuries.
We also learn about some British people, two sisters and a man who convince that Synagogue to let them take he contents of a storage area in the Synagogue to Cambridge for safekeeping. The women are convinced that someone is stealing from the stash of papers and selling them off in bits on the black market. They fear this will threaten the opportunities for biblical scholarship and historical analysis that the documents offer. The synagogue agrees and the papers are sent to Cambridge.
When the young man arrives in Cairo he visit his uncle and the uncle's family and tries to find the man who sent him the package from his father. After many attempts to find the man's address, there are several similar addresses throughout Cairo, he contacts the synagogue and meets the man.
We learn that the man's family were the one's who were the synagogue watchmen up until the man's father. Then a scandal occurred which caused the man's father to lose his job as Watchman. During the Yom Kippur war Egyptian soldiers come to the synagogue and insist on going through it to look for weapons. The boy's father insists there are no weapons but is forced to let them in. The soldiers don't find any weapons but they do take a way a Torah of historical sigificance. The watchman is ashamed at what he let happen.
The man is given a box of his father's possessions, it contains a number of letters between the man's mother and father so the man is able to piece together some of what happened between his parents.
The man's father had made friends with a young Jewish girl in his youth. She and her family moved to Paris but she kept corresponding with the Watchman. After the man's father resigns/is fired, the young lady invites him to Paris. They have an affair and she gets pregnant. When his mother discovers she is pregnant she leaves her academic studies in Paris and takes the boy to California. He sees his father occasionally and his mother marries another man.
The man learns about the documents in Cambridge and decides to give up his academic pursuits to become a clerk preparing documents from this collection for analysis, documentation by scholars.
This book was partly about the young man coming to understand his family's past. If his father had't resigned because of the scandal, he woud not have been born. Like the book Less, it seems this character was trying to find something meaningful for his life.... preserving documents his ancestors had guarded for centuries.
The book had interesting descriptions of Cairo, including of the City of the Dead and successfully portrayed the frenetic energy and confusion in that city.
Sunday, 8 July 2018
Less
by Andrew Sean Greer
This book won the Pulitzer Prize, interesting as initial reviews were apparently not very good.
It is the story of a lonely gay author. He receives an invitation to the wedding of a former lover, a young man. He knows that he cannot possibly attend the wedding and to avoid doing so books several engagements around the world so that he can say he is not available.
One of the events has him interviewing another famous author, one has him in South America speaking about his life/rememberances of a famous poet he was in a relationship with years before. Like him and the former lover he is currently trying to avoid, there was a large age gap between the main character and his poet lover.
He goes to an event in Germany where he is one of the authors nominated for a prize.
As he travels he bumbles along through various events and adventures, feeling very sorry for himself. All the while he is remembering his time with his young lover and marking the days as the wedding date approaches.
He is trying to reconcile himself to being alone for the rest of his life, and has almost convinced himself he can do it. He hears something went amiss at the weddingbut it is only when he returns home that he finds out the young lover has left his newly married husband and has decided he loves the main character and wants to live with him.
Throughout the book there is reference to the author's first book, a modern take on the Odyssey and also references to a second book on a Robinson Crusoe kind of theme which he hopes will be a success but keeps getting rejected. He realizes rather than having a serious, admirable hero he needs to explore one who is less than perfect.
It was an okay read but I am surprised it was considered worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. Maybe it just struck a nerve with people today... the idea of what is love, what is it worth, what does it take to be worthy, can one live without love in your life.
This book won the Pulitzer Prize, interesting as initial reviews were apparently not very good.
It is the story of a lonely gay author. He receives an invitation to the wedding of a former lover, a young man. He knows that he cannot possibly attend the wedding and to avoid doing so books several engagements around the world so that he can say he is not available.
One of the events has him interviewing another famous author, one has him in South America speaking about his life/rememberances of a famous poet he was in a relationship with years before. Like him and the former lover he is currently trying to avoid, there was a large age gap between the main character and his poet lover.
He goes to an event in Germany where he is one of the authors nominated for a prize.
As he travels he bumbles along through various events and adventures, feeling very sorry for himself. All the while he is remembering his time with his young lover and marking the days as the wedding date approaches.
He is trying to reconcile himself to being alone for the rest of his life, and has almost convinced himself he can do it. He hears something went amiss at the weddingbut it is only when he returns home that he finds out the young lover has left his newly married husband and has decided he loves the main character and wants to live with him.
Throughout the book there is reference to the author's first book, a modern take on the Odyssey and also references to a second book on a Robinson Crusoe kind of theme which he hopes will be a success but keeps getting rejected. He realizes rather than having a serious, admirable hero he needs to explore one who is less than perfect.
It was an okay read but I am surprised it was considered worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. Maybe it just struck a nerve with people today... the idea of what is love, what is it worth, what does it take to be worthy, can one live without love in your life.
Monday, 2 July 2018
The Death of Mrs Westaway
by Ruth Ware
This is another mystery book that has been getting a lot of acclaim and I have to say it is well deserved. Unlike McLaughlin's book which was plodding and uninteresting this one is an interesting, well written story with a well developed character we care about.
The story is about a young woman, around 18, whose mother was killed by a hit and run driver, leaving her destitute. She is deeply in debt, eaking out a living as a tarot card reader at an English seafront. She is threatened by a thug from a loan shark and is terrified about what will happen to her.
She receives a letter from a lawyer telling her that her grandmother has died and named her in her will. The girl only really knew her mother, nothing of any other family, so she is shocked to hear this news. When she looks at the details of the name of the beneficiary she thinks the lawyer has found the wrong person but she decides to go to the funeral and pretend to be the granddaughter to get some money, hopefully enough to get her out of debt.
She is totally shocked to find that she is the major beneficiary of the estate including the family home. The woman's son's are shocked at this news but as they had not had a good relationship with their mother they seem quite accepting of the will. The girl learns that there were two women with the same name living at the house in the past, the woman's daughter and a niece.
The girl evenutally confesses that she is not the woman's granddaughter, but it later turns out that her mother was not who she said she was. As the story develops the girls life is threatened and she finds out that it was one of her family (her own father) who killed her mother to hide the truth.
This was a well written story, it kept my interest throughout. This was a refreshing read after the McLaughlin book. This author knows how to write good description, dialogue and build suspense.
This is another mystery book that has been getting a lot of acclaim and I have to say it is well deserved. Unlike McLaughlin's book which was plodding and uninteresting this one is an interesting, well written story with a well developed character we care about.
The story is about a young woman, around 18, whose mother was killed by a hit and run driver, leaving her destitute. She is deeply in debt, eaking out a living as a tarot card reader at an English seafront. She is threatened by a thug from a loan shark and is terrified about what will happen to her.
She receives a letter from a lawyer telling her that her grandmother has died and named her in her will. The girl only really knew her mother, nothing of any other family, so she is shocked to hear this news. When she looks at the details of the name of the beneficiary she thinks the lawyer has found the wrong person but she decides to go to the funeral and pretend to be the granddaughter to get some money, hopefully enough to get her out of debt.
She is totally shocked to find that she is the major beneficiary of the estate including the family home. The woman's son's are shocked at this news but as they had not had a good relationship with their mother they seem quite accepting of the will. The girl learns that there were two women with the same name living at the house in the past, the woman's daughter and a niece.
The girl evenutally confesses that she is not the woman's granddaughter, but it later turns out that her mother was not who she said she was. As the story develops the girls life is threatened and she finds out that it was one of her family (her own father) who killed her mother to hide the truth.
This was a well written story, it kept my interest throughout. This was a refreshing read after the McLaughlin book. This author knows how to write good description, dialogue and build suspense.
Full Disclosure
by Beverly McLaughlin
This is a crime/mystery book by the former Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court. It has received much praise.
I read the book but have to say I wasn't much taken by it. It was written in first person narrative which I find too one-sided and uncreative. It is about a defense lawyer from a small law firm who takes on a case people warn her against. A rich man is accused of murdering his wife in their home with what appears to be his own gun.
The book was very he said this they did that, etc. etc. It does have a surprise ending when despite the odds the lawyer is able to clear the client (who ends up being her father).
That is about all I will say about it. It was an okay read, a quick read, but not memorable.
This is a crime/mystery book by the former Chief Justice of the Canadian Supreme Court. It has received much praise.
I read the book but have to say I wasn't much taken by it. It was written in first person narrative which I find too one-sided and uncreative. It is about a defense lawyer from a small law firm who takes on a case people warn her against. A rich man is accused of murdering his wife in their home with what appears to be his own gun.
The book was very he said this they did that, etc. etc. It does have a surprise ending when despite the odds the lawyer is able to clear the client (who ends up being her father).
That is about all I will say about it. It was an okay read, a quick read, but not memorable.
Love and Ruin
by Paula McLain
This book is by the author of The Paris Wife (which I think I liked) and Circling the Sun (which I hated).
It is the story of the life of Martha Gellhorn, an American woman who became a celebrated war correspodent and author. It takes place over the years that Gellhorn met Ernest Hemmingway, travelled in Spain with him during the Civil War, became his mistress and eventually his wife for five years.
It was a beautifully written, powerful story. She did a great job of depicting Gellhorn's experiences in wartime, how Hemmingway woed her, their few years of happiness together, before his ego and neediness seemed to doom the marriage.
It very skillfully portrayed the good times and the bad times, and did a superb job of showing how Hemmingway admired and then resented her independence. He liked here when she was succeeding but needed to be the centre of attention and the centre of her world. She also demonstrated the struggle Gellhorn had trying to live under the shadow of Hemmingway as an author. Hemmingway did help her and support her at times but he also seemed to drain her of her strength to write. The author does a wonderful job of portraying the wonderful life they built for themselves in Cuba and the affection Gellhorn felt for Hemmingway's sons.
The book portrays Hemmingway as very controlling, vindictive and moody.
I enjoyed this book very much and was sorry when it came to an end.
This book is by the author of The Paris Wife (which I think I liked) and Circling the Sun (which I hated).
It is the story of the life of Martha Gellhorn, an American woman who became a celebrated war correspodent and author. It takes place over the years that Gellhorn met Ernest Hemmingway, travelled in Spain with him during the Civil War, became his mistress and eventually his wife for five years.
It was a beautifully written, powerful story. She did a great job of depicting Gellhorn's experiences in wartime, how Hemmingway woed her, their few years of happiness together, before his ego and neediness seemed to doom the marriage.
It very skillfully portrayed the good times and the bad times, and did a superb job of showing how Hemmingway admired and then resented her independence. He liked here when she was succeeding but needed to be the centre of attention and the centre of her world. She also demonstrated the struggle Gellhorn had trying to live under the shadow of Hemmingway as an author. Hemmingway did help her and support her at times but he also seemed to drain her of her strength to write. The author does a wonderful job of portraying the wonderful life they built for themselves in Cuba and the affection Gellhorn felt for Hemmingway's sons.
The book portrays Hemmingway as very controlling, vindictive and moody.
I enjoyed this book very much and was sorry when it came to an end.
Sunday, 3 June 2018
Music Shop
by Rachel Joyce,
This is the story of a man who in 1980's England sets up a record shop and refuses to sell cassettes or CD's. He does seem to have the nack of finding the right music for people, even giving them stuff they might not normally like. He files his music by themes rather than genre, mixing classical with opera with Jazz at times.
A variety of people visit his shop but most visit and don't buy. He has a young man who becomes his helper. This young man seems to break things more than he helps. One day a German lady faints outside the store. The owner is intrigued by her and although he had abandoned romance in his life he is attracted to her. She disappears but shows up again later. She tells him she has a fiancee. He thinks he can still be friends with her and agrees to meet her once a week to discuss music.
While all this is going on the neighbourhood the store is in is in decline, many shops are closing and a developer is trying to buy people out. Eventually the man admits his love for the woman and she for him but they have a fight and she disappears. His store burns down and he too seems to disappear.
Twenty years later the woman is living in Germany teaching violin (it turns out she was a classical violinist who was force to retire because of arthritis in her hands). She realizes her life is empty and goes back to find the record store owner.
Eventually they are brought together at a mall in a crowd Mob singing the Hallelujah Chorus. They marry and rebuild a record store.
It was a "cute" story with lots of quirky characters but I really doubt the realism of the ending. Would anyone try to locate a former love after 20 years??
This is the story of a man who in 1980's England sets up a record shop and refuses to sell cassettes or CD's. He does seem to have the nack of finding the right music for people, even giving them stuff they might not normally like. He files his music by themes rather than genre, mixing classical with opera with Jazz at times.
A variety of people visit his shop but most visit and don't buy. He has a young man who becomes his helper. This young man seems to break things more than he helps. One day a German lady faints outside the store. The owner is intrigued by her and although he had abandoned romance in his life he is attracted to her. She disappears but shows up again later. She tells him she has a fiancee. He thinks he can still be friends with her and agrees to meet her once a week to discuss music.
While all this is going on the neighbourhood the store is in is in decline, many shops are closing and a developer is trying to buy people out. Eventually the man admits his love for the woman and she for him but they have a fight and she disappears. His store burns down and he too seems to disappear.
Twenty years later the woman is living in Germany teaching violin (it turns out she was a classical violinist who was force to retire because of arthritis in her hands). She realizes her life is empty and goes back to find the record store owner.
Eventually they are brought together at a mall in a crowd Mob singing the Hallelujah Chorus. They marry and rebuild a record store.
It was a "cute" story with lots of quirky characters but I really doubt the realism of the ending. Would anyone try to locate a former love after 20 years??
Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Ecstacy
by Mary Sharratt
This is the fictionalized story of the wife of Gustav Mahler. Alma who becomes his wife was an aspiring composer however her family scoffed at her desires and insisted she should marry. She falls in love with her piano tutor but her family sends him packing. When Mahler shows up and falls for her they urge her to marry him. She is in love with him or at least his presence and brilliance. They marry and she is very upset that he is so demanding including telling her she should not compose or even play the piano, that her job is to support him. She gets pregnat and eventually has two children but she remains unfulfilled and unhappy. Several times she is sent to spas or instituions to recover her health, mental state. Sometimes it is after miscarriages.
She struggles with her unhappiness. One of their children dies of diptheria, both she and Mahler are devastated and their relationship deteriorates, he seems to blame her when she has another miscarriage accusing her of wanting it to happen.
Mahler's popularity in Vienna wanes and he takes a job in New York as a conductor. She tries to give him advice about how to be more approachable re: the requests of his patrons but he is so self obsessed he chastises her for trying to tell him what to do.
They return to Europe for the summers and one year Alma is again at sanitorium. She meets Walter Gropius, the architect, and they fall in love and have an affair. Gropius wants her to run away with him but Alma Mahler needs her and she should stay with him. Alma's mother, who had a child out of an affair does what she can to allow Alma and Gropious to spend some time together. Gropius is furious that Alma will not leave Mahler for him and sends a letter by which Mahler discovers the truth. In a strange twist it seems that this knowledge brings Mahler and Alma closer together. He starts to realize how he may have harmed her and encourages her to compose again, even getting some of her pieces published. She stays with him until his death but finally feels really free once he has died.
The author did a great job of presenting the atmosphere at the time, the powerful emotions of Alma and Mahler. It was an interesting read focussing on how women's dreams are surrendered to the needs of the men in their lives. But not all women are subservient, Alma knows some women who are successful professional artists. She is surprised about the power and influence women of rich men have in America.
This is the fictionalized story of the wife of Gustav Mahler. Alma who becomes his wife was an aspiring composer however her family scoffed at her desires and insisted she should marry. She falls in love with her piano tutor but her family sends him packing. When Mahler shows up and falls for her they urge her to marry him. She is in love with him or at least his presence and brilliance. They marry and she is very upset that he is so demanding including telling her she should not compose or even play the piano, that her job is to support him. She gets pregnat and eventually has two children but she remains unfulfilled and unhappy. Several times she is sent to spas or instituions to recover her health, mental state. Sometimes it is after miscarriages.
She struggles with her unhappiness. One of their children dies of diptheria, both she and Mahler are devastated and their relationship deteriorates, he seems to blame her when she has another miscarriage accusing her of wanting it to happen.
Mahler's popularity in Vienna wanes and he takes a job in New York as a conductor. She tries to give him advice about how to be more approachable re: the requests of his patrons but he is so self obsessed he chastises her for trying to tell him what to do.
They return to Europe for the summers and one year Alma is again at sanitorium. She meets Walter Gropius, the architect, and they fall in love and have an affair. Gropius wants her to run away with him but Alma Mahler needs her and she should stay with him. Alma's mother, who had a child out of an affair does what she can to allow Alma and Gropious to spend some time together. Gropius is furious that Alma will not leave Mahler for him and sends a letter by which Mahler discovers the truth. In a strange twist it seems that this knowledge brings Mahler and Alma closer together. He starts to realize how he may have harmed her and encourages her to compose again, even getting some of her pieces published. She stays with him until his death but finally feels really free once he has died.
The author did a great job of presenting the atmosphere at the time, the powerful emotions of Alma and Mahler. It was an interesting read focussing on how women's dreams are surrendered to the needs of the men in their lives. But not all women are subservient, Alma knows some women who are successful professional artists. She is surprised about the power and influence women of rich men have in America.
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