Book Thirteen: A Reliable Wife

Book Thirteen: A Reliable Wife
Pages: 304
Date Finished: February 4

Book club finished about an hour ago, so here is my review.

I am surprised that the cover of this book was not a picture of a woman with heaving bosoms and a shirtless man with abnormal abdominals. Once the author ceased to explain the raving lusts of our main characters, and settled down to the mystery of would she or wouldn’t she kill her husband, I rather enjoyed the book. Certainly it was full of detail, and description and everything else that a good historical mystery romance needs. Did the husband kill his first wife? How much of this was planned ahead of time? How did the son manage to find the father’s advertisement?
But there were many things about the book that I didn’t appreciate. I understand that a man wrote the book. I also understand that men think about sex a lot of the time. I do not really need this illustrated so violently or graphically. I don’t want to read about someone else’s dirty thoughts for a hundred pages. Or if I did, I would go to the romance section. I did like the reason behind his lustful thoughts; his mother was a crazy person. To not love a child because you can see the sin inside them, or to stab them with a pin to illustrate the suffering waiting for them in hell: that is just plain crazy. I can understand his predisposition towards sin with memories like that to begin his life with.
I can certainly admit that the writing in the book was captivating. I don’t have to like the story itself to appreciate the skill involved with writing something with that level of description and detail. And there were portions of the book where I was impressed by the insights that he was able to draw in these characters. For example, and the beginning of the book our heroine has this thought, which struck a chord with me, as well as many of the women in my book club:
“She believed in the miraculous. Or she had, until she reached an age when, all of a sudden, she realized that the life she was living was, in fact, her life…it shocked her now, like a slap in the face" (17).
However, when there are sections of text like this on page 151:

He put her hand on his sex and held it there. She felt it move beneath her hand, now soft, pliant as a fish, rising and falling like breath, “Swear.”
“I promise you.”
He got up, grabbed a towel and began to clean himself off. There was a wet pool in the bed where he had been. He never came inside her. He was terrified of children.

The twists and turns of the book are very transparent. You can see each revelation, and I didn’t find very many of them shocking even when they occur. I am glad that I read the book until the end, but the ending of the book is flat, and feels very rushed. I would have liked the book better if there had been more time given to the part of the story after Catherine’s return from St. Louis, and less given to the sexual repression and then sexual exploits of these characters.
I also think it would have been interesting to have the book narrated by different characters, rather than only Ralph and Catherine. Just an idea. It incited a lot of discussion from the book club, which to me is the mark of a good book club book, if not necessarily a book that I would give to other people.
As a side note, I just want to mention that I hate the interview portion in the back of books these days. It is dumb. I don’t really want to know these things about the author, and quite frankly often the author comes off as either pompous and self-absorbed, or they sound much less eloquent than their book. Both of these things are understandable, and I can’t blame the author either way. If someone cam to interview me right after I found out I was publishing a book I would be very excited to talk about my book and my ideas. And if I was put on the spot I would certainly sound less intelligent than I would in a book that I spent tons of time revising and fixing. Nevertheless, I wish that publishers would stop doing this. If I wanted to read more things from the author I would go to their website, or read other books.

Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Fifteen: Regeneration

Book Fifteen: Regeneration
Pages: 252
Finished: February 18

I suppose you could place this book in a similar category as Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo, for I was certainly reminded of that many times throughout the novel, but only in the consistant antiwar message of the novels, and the medical jargon used.
This novel explores the experiences of antiwar poet Siegfried Sassoon during the time when he was forced into a mental hospital rather than simply being court martialed for writing a declaration that the war "has become a war of aggression and conquest" rather than "a war of defense and liberation." He is declared insane and sent to a hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, where he becomes a patient of Dr. William Rivers. While a patient there, he meets Wilfred Owen, who obviously worships Sassoon. I did like that the novel is told from several points of view, including Sassoon and Dr. Rivers.
Although well researched and very accurate of the times, I was at many different moments appalled at the techniques and opinions of the day. The idea of masculinity and duty and honor, and the stiff upper lip of Britain, in the face of such torturous experiences as those faced by the men who fought in the trenches made me feel a great deal of pity for these men, and the men who were trained to make them better and send them back to the place that broke them in the first place.
An interesting insight that Dr. Rivers had about the officers who were under his care and their relationships with the men in their command:

Rivers had often been touched by the way in which young men, some of them not yet twenty, spoke about feeling like fathers to their men. THough when you looked at what they did. Worrying about socks, boots, blisters, food, hot drinks. And that perpetually harried expression of theirs. Rivers had only ever seen that look in one other place: on the faces of women who were bringing up large famillies on very low incomes...It was the look of people who are totally responsible for lives they have no power to save.

I also enjoyed this quote by Ruth Head when Rivers is staying with she and her husband. Rivers is asking her advice about something, as well as the advice of her husband, a fellow psychiatrist,
"Is that what Henry thinks?"
Ruth laughed. "Of course not. You want perception, you go to a novelist, not a psychiatrist" (164).
I agree whole-heartedly that a novelist has greater insight into the human psyche than a psychiatrist, or at least the best novelists are also keenly aware of human interactions and motivations.
Since the book was supposedly about Sassoon, I don't feel that it did enough of a job focusing on his life and experiences; more than half the book was about Rivers, and most of the book was from Rivers' point of view. I also felt that the relationship between Owen and Sassoon was not focused upon hardly at all. I would have liked to see more from Sassoon's point of view about how he was inspired to write his poems, and the influence that he had upon Owen. I also would have liked for Sassoon's sexual proclivities and his relationships with Graves to have been more on the surface of things. Having the relationship so much an undercurrent rather than anything open made Graves' later announcement against it fall very flat. I understand the time didn't think much of homosexuality, and that the British are very reserved about romantic situations, but comparing their relationship to the relationship of one of the other patients at the hospital just makes it seem even more heartless.
I liked the book, but I can't say that I loved them. I'll probably read the other two books in the series: The Eye in the Door and The Ghost Road. My hope is that perhaps the other two books in the series will focus more on the poet and less on the psychology.

Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Fourteen: Outlander

Book Fourteen: Outlander
Pages: 627
Finished: February 6

While on a second honeymoon in Scotland following the end of World War II, Claire Beauchamp, an army nurse, takes a walk through the wilderness, finds a standing stone circle (think Stonehenge), and magically travels back in time 200 years. While stuck in the past, she falls in love with a young Highland warrior, and adventure ensues. This is a well written book, if a bit wordier than I would have liked. The historical accuracy is, as far as I can tell, pretty spot on. I did really enjoy the storyline. It was definitely in some ways a very stereotypical romance novel: the hero does have a delightful habit of showing up to save the day at the last possible moment, and without difficulty; the heroine is capable of saving many deathly illnesses without the modern conveniences of medicine or technology; and I can’t imagine that her more modern speech patterns (and Army nurse cursing) would be accepted quite that easily as they seem to be.
Claire’s husband, Frank, is also in Scotland to research his genealogical heritage, rooted in the area, and including a young Army Colonel named Jonathan Randall. Claire’s uncle, who raised her, was an anthropologist, which you think would make her ore interested in her husband’s scholarly work, but Claire instead decides to spend her time wandering over hill and dell looking at plants. In retrospect, when Colonel Randall becomes the main villain of the book, you curse Claire for her inattention to details that might have helped her out. What time she and Frank don’t spend talking about his ancestors, or quaint Scottish tradition, is spent in bed, reacquainting themselves with one another. This portion of the book seemed, when I was reading it, to take up quite a bit of the first section of the book, but upon re-examination, it turns out to only be about 30 pages before she travels back in time.
Claire spends much of the first few months in the past trying to get back to the stone circle that magically transported her, but when she is finally taken there, she suffers a few hours of internal struggle that seemed much less of a struggle than I anticipated (a few hours of soulfully staring at the rocks), and decides to stay in 18th century Scotland with her young Scottish hottie rather than return to her scholarly and loving husband.
I don’t know that I agree with Claire’s choice. Perhaps I have never been in this kind of love. Perhaps I couldn’t truly visualize how attractive and loving Jamie Fraser was. Maybe my imagination ran wild with the lack of proper sanitation and the violent tendencies of the people. Maybe the danger and romance of the situation made it more likely that Claire would choose to stay. I just don’t know that I would make the same choice, and that makes me less likely to appreciate the book as much as I wanted to.
All that aside, it was a well-written book. The description of the locations, characters, and action, as well as the character development was everything a girl could hope for in a time-travel romance novel. I enjoyed it, and might even read the sequel; even though it looks to be just as long, and I’m not really sure I’m ready for that yet.

Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Twelve: Gwenhwyfar

Book Twelve: Gwenhwyfar
Pages: 404
Finished: January 30

Mercedes Lackey’s answer to The Mists of Avalon is an interesting look at the Arthurian legend through the eyes of Gwenhwyfar, a young Celtic warrior. I say interesting because Lackey found some interesting poetry that suggests that King Arthur actually married three different women over the course of his reign who were all named Guinevere. While the Welsh spelling of names drove me a little batty because I do not know how to pronounce them at all, the book itself was quite entertaining.
The premise, that Arthur had many wives with the same name, instead of one woman who did lots of different things, was a good idea. Chock full of facts about weapons, horses, battle strategies, and pagan beliefs, it was obviously well researched. I liked the narrative choice of a girl growing up during Arthur’s reign, and I liked the mystical additions. I don’t really like the Arthurian books that make it historically accurate, removing all vestige of romanticism and magic. I think that Arthurian legend isn’t worth reading unless there is a little magic in it. Even the movie, The Sword in the Stone, has magic in it, and you love Merlin for it.
Some of the characters were quite a bit more different than I was expecting and I didn’t like that. Was it sad to see the Merlin made into a bad guy, or at least a not so perfect wise man? Certainly. I also love this quote from the Afterword by the author “I think every fantasy writer decides at one point or another to tackle ‘the matter of Britain,’ otherwise known as the legend of King Arthur” (402). I think this is often the case, many authors seem to have spent some time with “the matter of Britain” these days.
Although I am partial to The Mists of Avalon myself, I did find this an interesting take on the subject.
Is the book perfect? Certainly not. I found many of the characters to be confusing to compare with the stories that I know, mostly due to the Welsh names, but also since the main character didn’t actually meet Arthur until late in the book, she doesn’t actually see many of the things that I would have recognized. Another problem that I had was the stereotypical characterization of many of the characters; evil characters are all evil; the heroine knows the bad guy from an early age; the good characters are wise and make astonishing, world-altering decisions.
Overall, I found the book an enjoyable romp through medieval Britain. A new idea, and a new way of looking at Arthur. I’d probably only recommend it to people who liked The Mists of Avalon and other books of it’s ilk, but I would recommend it, which is saying something.

Good Reading,
Caitlin

Book Eleven: The Last Olympian

Book Eleven: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian
Pages: 381
Finished: January 29

Here is the best way to describe this series: think Harry Potter, but instead of wizards and witches, you have the Greek gods and goddesses to contend with, and all the monsters and scary stuff that you have in The Odyssey, and The Iliad, and all those other stories that I never read, though I do love the old movies, like Jason and the Argonauts, and The Clash of the Titans.
Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon, is born out of wedlock like all the other demigods and spends his summers at Camp Half-Blood learning how to be a hero like the legends. In this concluding novel, Percy must defend Mount Olympus (now situated above the Empire State Building) from the recently released Titans. Prophecies have been given, adventures have all led to Percy’s eventual battle with Kronos, Lord of Time.
Here is what I can say, whole-heartedly, about this series as a whole: it’s no Harry Potter. It tries, I mean, it really tries to fill that gaping hole, and it certainly is accessible to a younger audience, but the complexity and increasing maturity of the characters and plot are not evident.
That is probably what bothers me the most about the books, Percy doesn’t really seem to have grown up any during his five years knowing “the truth” about his past. Even when he saves the day, even with all the twists and turns, he’s still a kid, a kid that can do no wrong, a kid that always saves the day.
I recommended this book to some of my students, and I still will recommend it to them, especially if they like The Odyssey or any of the other Greek myth stories. The voice of the narrator is pretty true to a teenage boy: the slang, the cadence, and tone are pretty spot on. Just don’t expect too much from the series and you’ll be perfectly happy.

Book Ten: Red Glass

Book Ten: Red Glass
Pages: 288
Finished: January 28

I read Renau’s other book, What the Moon Saw, when I found it at the Scholastic Book Fair this summer. It was subsequently “borrowed” by one of my students. I like to pretend that they borrowed it because it’s that good, and they didn’t want to give it back, and that they didn’t just steal it to sell at Half Price Books. Needless to say, I was excited to see this book in the library this week.
This is a book reminiscent of Isabel Allende and other authors that deal with mystical realism, but with the added twist of being a truly young adult book. While it doesn’t pull too many punches, it is written with a younger audience in mind.
Let me see if I can get the basic plot out. Late one night, Sophie, her mother, and her step-father Juan are called to the hospital, where a five year old boy has just been found wandering in the desert near Tucson, Arizona with Juan’s business card in his pocket. Having crossed the border with his parents, who died, he is taken in by Sophie and her family, until, after a year of muteness, the little boy Pablo, regains his ability to talk, and he and Sophie embark of a trip of legendary proportions to reach Pablo’s home village, joined by her crazy great-aunt Dika, her “boyfriend” Mr. Lorenzo, and Mr. Lorenzo’s mysterious and good-looking son, Angel.
Were there parts of the story that annoyed me greatly? Certainly. No self-respecting mother should allow her 15 year old daughter to go in a van to Mexico without going along for the ride. I don’t feel that allowing Sophie to go to Mexico with your great-aunt to be really that reliable. Certainly no intelligent person would have purposefully traveled into Guatemala 10 years ago, even if it was with a close family member. The characters were interesting, but had the quality of being the best or worst that they could be.
Parts I love: Each part of the book begins with a quote from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery, one of my absolute favorite children’s books. I also love the insights of the narrator. Sophie sees the world in occasionally naïve and trusting ways that defy her initial characterization as being a worry-wart and a wallflower.

My favorite quote is the beginning of Part Six: “When you look up at the sky at night, since I’ll be living on one of them, since I’ll be laughing on one of them, for you it’ll be as if all the stars are laughing. You’ll have stars that can laugh!” –The Little Prince
My favorite quote from the actual book:
“In English class, we read a book with a passage I underlined that said when it comes to explaining to other people what’s deepest and truest and most important to us, each person is trapped in her own tower and everyone speaks a different language, and the only words we share are things like ‘It’s going to rain. Bring an umbrella.’ How can you express your heart’s deepest feelings with words like that?” (82)

I do also like the fact that she uses real Spanish, and not just the words that most gringos know, but the words that have real meaning in Spanish, but you don’t see too often, like chispa, and limpia, and comadre. I like that she threw real Mixteco into the mix, so that you get a real sense of the fact that even in Mexico, Spanish is not always everyone’s first language.

Overall, I found this book to be a delightful romp through a teenage girl’s bildungsroman, a coming of age in a mystical land where eventually everything can be set right.