BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK REVIEWS BY JENN
Gabriela Garcia’s debut novel is beyond brilliant. She weaves the stories of multi-generational Cuban women into an empathetic and eye-opening tale that reveals the varying misunderstandings and kept secrets women often pass down within a family. Garcia’s time span starts with a woman who worked in a cigar factory during the Cuban revolution all the way down to her great-great-great-granddaughter in present-day Miami.
She masterfully includes correspondence between exiled Women’s movement leader Emilia Casanova de Villaverde and French author Victor Hugo. Personally, I love the idea of a piece of literature or novel with personal notes being passed down through women from generation to generation. Some ideas and thoughts do transcend the barriers of time.
Women shouldn’t hold back their thoughts or words. As Garcia points out, “are we weakness? No, we are force.”
William Kent Krueger’s novel ‘Ordinary Grace’ is an extraordinary tale of trauma and loss seen through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy. Almost like a memoir, Krueger’s main character, Frank, describes the summer of 1963 with fascinating detail. His use of reflection to reveal the passing of time is quite unique. His novel covers racism, suicide, and murder among other heavy issues set in a small Minnesota town.
Within 307 pages, he takes us there as well. We’re able to hear the stuttering little brother, see the eccentric blind piano virtuoso with a special needs adult sister, and feel the sadness of experiencing loss as a child. The reader is able to witness a naive adolescent mature into a sterling young man through his own diction. Without any spoilers, it’s safe to say Krueger’s poignant tale reminds us that we never truly lose loved ones. As an adult, Frank describes this eloquently, “They’re in our hearts and on our minds and in the end all that separates us from them is a single breath.”
In Jenny Colgan’s novel, “The Bookshop on the Corner, ” she reminds us why reading books is important. Colgan enlightens us on why film and video games suffer in comparison when compared to a day in the life of a fellow bibliophile. Throughout this journey of self-discovery, she meets many interesting characters while pursuing a bookseller’s dream. “You plug straight into the writer’s brain. It’s just you and them. You experience what they experience,” she tells the little boy hanging around her book trailer. Colgan’s characters are unique, yet oddly familiar. Her diction is jointly humorous and wistful simultaneously. Each character exemplifies a different benefit of the written word, but I think the brief encounter between her protagonist, Nina, and a book shopping elderly man sums everything up the best.
Like many of us today have noticed, he informs Nina, “I think I just stopped seeing books around. You know, on the bus, everyone used to read books…but then they were fiddling with their phones, or those big phones, I don’t know what they’re called…I couldn’t see what they were reading or ask them if it was good, or make a mental note to look for it later.” Often in today’s tech-savvy world, we forget the joy received from the sharing of books through friends and fellowship. Colgan forces a needed introspection on all of us to question why, “as if suddenly, one day, all the books simply disappeared.”
Kristin Hannah eloquently recaptured the desperation and excruciating sadness that embodied Americans of the Great Plains during the Depression in her newest novel, “The Four Winds.” As someone who has only heard about President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps and New Deal programs through history class, I found Hannah’s fictional farming family and mother/daughter duo, in particular, inspiring. The notion that we, as a people, can rise in spite of adversity is nothing new, but sometimes it helps to remember history shows us this isn’t the first generation to experience suffering, nor is it the first to overcome it.
Elsa, Hannah’s 25 year “old maid” who considers herself too old to marry is a refreshing tribute of just how far we as women have come over the last century, yet manages to reveal all the ways we are still the same. She reminds us about the power of friendship with Elsa and Jean’s relationship. How many times do we forget “the difference a friend can make. How one person could lift your spirit just enough to keep you upright.” Most of us haven’t lived through dust storms or probably have not experienced poverty, but, yet, can still relate to the mirror in the eyes of family and husbands Elsa discusses that we each carry with us from place to place. Hannah’s Jean also reminds us a good girlfriend can “break that mirror... with a dang rock,” anytime we feel oppressed. Her tale is also a fabulous description of the tumultuous and life-altering mother/daughter relationship. It seems appropriate with Mother’s Day around the corner.
Jeanine Cummins’ novel, American Dirt, is a riveting, thought-provoking read. This tale of a mother and child's journey to America is harrowing and breathtaking. It shatters all stereotypes of migrant people. Some might consider it difficult to envision a college-educated business owner having to flee her home country for her life. As an American, it’s hard to imagine anyone unknowingly befriending the head of a major drug cartel. It seems ludicrous, but Cummins makes you see the reality of Lydia Perez. Her fear becomes the reader’s fear. The surprising and intricate details of Lydia and Luca’s trek reveal challenges most never know. Describing the pros and cons of train-hopping is more than enlightening. Stalwartness, determination, and incredible fortitude are just a few adjectives that describe any folks who travel the migrant road.
Optimistically, we all want to feel we understand and appreciate the risk taken daily by migrants trying to reach ‘American dirt,’ but Cummins’ novel forces me to realize I truly know nothing about living in an unsafe country with arbitrary customs and unfair laws enforced and upheld by corrupt government officials. This also forces me to question if I ever did feel unsafe at home would I have a place to go...and am I doing everything I can to prevent that from happening.
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This is the best memoir I've ever read. Hands down. I wrote down so many of Knight’s quotes. It will take me a while to process the magnitude of his story. He was humble, raw, and unapologetically honest. An amazing story of the American spirit. He sums up his interpretation of his life journey toward the end, “Oneness, in some way, shape, or form, it’s what every person I’ve ever met has been seeking.”
His tale is poignant and couldn’t be more inspirational for everyone. Personally, I’ve always thought Nike shoes were a little narrow, but I WANT to wear any and everything Nike now just because I have a better understanding of its conception and the everyday folk who not only created it but nurtured it along the way. Knight’s original team of self-proclaimed misfits included a chain smoker, an alcoholic, an obese accountant, and a wheelchair-bound former runner. Most would be hard-pressed to find a more authentic and real-life story of inclusion. I can only hope I will be able to look back on my life someday with as much clarity and self-awareness as Knight.