Loved this book. Entertaining on the surface, but quite a whole lot more beneath. An examination of the workings of our society, and how it treats women, and of the media and its way of twisting the truth. Social media and politics are also examined, and their foibles, and power, revealed.
The backstory: college student Aviva Grossman finds her way into love and politics by becoming an intern to a Florida congressman and then falling into an affair with him. It is, obviously, a disaster for her reputation and future, as her name is dragged through the mud on that then new medium, the Internet.
Already vulnerable and self-doubting, Aviva is stuck. While the congressman manages to emerge from the scandal, she is criticized high and low. She can't get a job, can't get into grad school... what to do?
When you read this book, you'll find out.
Aviva's story is woven into the lives of several other women – her mother, her daughter and the congressman's wife – and also told from their points of view, as women of different generations and experiences in a changing, but not always forgiving, America.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Thursday, July 13, 2017
A World Most of Us Will Never Know – The Last Days of Café Leila by Donia Bijan
Such a fascinating and touching novel, set mainly in Tehran. Noor, an immigrant from Iran, returns to her childhood home with her teenage daughter, Lily, after she realizes her husband (an immigrant from Barcelona) is having an affair.
What Noor finds in her home and in Tehran is not pretty, while she tries to cope with her feelings about her marriage, her relationship with her daughter, and the poor health of her father, who sent her to America for college and a less restrictive life.
It is hard to imagine how one would cope with the restrictions and deprivations in Islamist Iran, after experiencing the freedoms of American life. I have Iranian friends who left after the revolution, and are now citizens of the US, and I worry about them whenever they travel back to visit family and friends. At the same time, I know how they miss those they left behind.
The author does not spare the reader from the dangers of life in Iran, though she lyrically describes the beauty of the country, and the warmth of its people. I know this is a place I could never visit... so sad.
It is very moving to read Noor's story, her struggle with her identity, and the dichotomy of her life. The character I wanted to know most, however, was her father, Zod, a gentle and complex man who is facing his final battle and is resolved to his fate. His tale is a tribute to devoted fathers everywhere.
What Noor finds in her home and in Tehran is not pretty, while she tries to cope with her feelings about her marriage, her relationship with her daughter, and the poor health of her father, who sent her to America for college and a less restrictive life.
It is hard to imagine how one would cope with the restrictions and deprivations in Islamist Iran, after experiencing the freedoms of American life. I have Iranian friends who left after the revolution, and are now citizens of the US, and I worry about them whenever they travel back to visit family and friends. At the same time, I know how they miss those they left behind.
The author does not spare the reader from the dangers of life in Iran, though she lyrically describes the beauty of the country, and the warmth of its people. I know this is a place I could never visit... so sad.
It is very moving to read Noor's story, her struggle with her identity, and the dichotomy of her life. The character I wanted to know most, however, was her father, Zod, a gentle and complex man who is facing his final battle and is resolved to his fate. His tale is a tribute to devoted fathers everywhere.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Remember the Ladies – Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts
Cokie Roberts is a journalist who is known for covering the political scene in Washington, DC. Her voice is familiar to many due to her commentaries on National Public Radio (NPR) and her years working for ABC News. She comes from a leading political family, the Boggs. Both her parents served as US Representatives from Louisiana, and her ancestry includes a number of prominent lawmakers reaching all the way back to the period of the Louisiana Purchase.
She has written a number of books with a political and/or historical focus, but this is the first for me. I found it to be an enlightening, lively account of some of the leading ladies of the Revolutionary Period, with special attention paid to Martha Washington and Abigail Adams. There has been so little attention paid to the women of the time, who generally stayed behind the scenes due to the conventions of society, that it is not easy to find a non-fictionalized account of their lives that is truly readable.
I enjoyed the audio book as read by the author, but I would have liked to have heard even more about the remarkable women who were the subject of her book. I will be researching and adding some biographies of them to my reading list soon.
She has written a number of books with a political and/or historical focus, but this is the first for me. I found it to be an enlightening, lively account of some of the leading ladies of the Revolutionary Period, with special attention paid to Martha Washington and Abigail Adams. There has been so little attention paid to the women of the time, who generally stayed behind the scenes due to the conventions of society, that it is not easy to find a non-fictionalized account of their lives that is truly readable.
I enjoyed the audio book as read by the author, but I would have liked to have heard even more about the remarkable women who were the subject of her book. I will be researching and adding some biographies of them to my reading list soon.
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