Perfectly Titled – Onlookers: Stories by Ann Beattie

These somewhat-connected stories are set in Charlottesville, VA in the aftermath of the 2017 White Supremacist riot and during COVID. The privileged characters that inhabit them are mostly unlikeable and feel almost entirely one-dimensional. 

I was interested in reading this book since the setting is a familiar one to me from multiple visits during business trips of the 80s and 90s, and what happened there in 2017 was especially shocking against that cultured, liberal environment. 

That being said, I have never been a fan of Ann Beattie, but I thought after so many years I might change my opinion. I had always found her writing to feel very detached and cold, filled with people who don't seem to connect, but now I get the feeling that that is reflective of her worldview, and I find that very sad.  

Trapped in Their Own Web – Hope by Andrew Ridker

This novel by Andrew Ridker was one of my choices to read and rate for this year's Mark Twain American Voice in Literature award. Our group of readers was presented with a lengthy list of nominations. Each person must choose several books to read and rate (rather than review). Once this reading period is over, the selections that garnered positive ratings will go on to the next round. 

This book captures a unique cultural segment of American society – the contemporary secular Jewish family...not about the Orthodox or the various groups of Hasidim in Crown Heights, Williamsburg, or Borough Park, not about the Holocaust, not about mid-twentieth century Brooklyn or the Lower East Side of Manhattan, or about the immigration of Eastern European Jews in the late 19th and early 20th century, which are subjects that have been endlessly covered by many authors over the years, and are usually what we find in books about Jewish people.

While the milieu of upper middle class Brookline, a close-in suburb of Boston, will not be familiar to many, Ridker gets inside it so thoroughly that we feel we know these people, nearly all of whom are Jewish. The author very skillfully takes the characters from what first appeared to be clichés to something much deeper and more profound. The writing is exemplary. It addresses the moral ambiguity of modern American life without preaching. 

In brief, the book covers one year in the life of the Greenspan family. Husband and father Scott is a respected cardiologist, wife and mother Deb is a former dancer who is devoted to liberal causes, daughter Maya works in publishing in New York, and son Gideon is a pre-med student at Columbia. Each of them is faced with a personal crisis that threatens the entire family's status quo and shakes their stability, but the chain of events is set off by financial problems that Scott tries to solve by falsifying the information he provides for clinical trials, which he thinks will pay him the money he needs to extricate himself and his mother, Marjorie, from poor financial choices...until he gets caught.

Almost Clueless –The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

A book club choice that received mixed reviews in our discussion: I would normally have returned it to the library after the first 25 or so pages, but I like to honor my book club reading commitments. I've enjoyed many works of historical fiction that are written around the life of real-life person, but this one felt a bit flat. To me, it was clear that Agatha Christie's staged disappearance in 1926 was partly a publicity stunt, and partly a move of revenge against her husband, who had just demanded a divorce. It generated a vast amount of publicity so Christie was successful in grabbing the attention of the public while she dealt with her husband's infidelity and what comes across as his mental cruelty towards her.

The author, Marie Benedict, specializes in bringing the lives of obscure or somewhat-forgotten women to light in her novels. I previously read her book about Albert Einstein's first wife, which claimed that she (also a physicist) was responsible for the Theory of Relativity. I recall that I didn't care much for the book, and found it somewhat unbelievable. Benedict also wrote a novel about the actress Hedy Lamarr, who was also an inventor and scientist – and much more interesting to me. I haven't decided as yet whether or not I'll read it.

Insight into a Distant Time and World – Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See

A fascinating look into the lives of (mostly) upper-class women during the Ming Dynasty (15th century) in China. Tan Yunxian lost her mother at an early age and was raised by her wealthy maternal grandparents, who were both doctors, and were training her in their profession. Chinese medicine was far more advanced in many ways at this time than Western medicine, and this well-researched novel brings us into a world where male and female doctors (who existed, but were rare) played very different roles. Women were also midwives but this was not a profession practiced by upper-class women, though midwives played an important role in all women's lives.

Yunxian was "married out" at 15, to the son of another even more wealthy family, who lived in a vast compound. Not only did she have to leave her beloved grandparents, but also her only friend, Meiling, the daughter of a midwife. While women played subservient roles to the men in their lives, and men could take multiple wives, concubines, and consorts, when a young wife moved into her husband's family home, she soon learned the hierarchy of the women in that household, which would be headed by the wife of the most senior man.

The societal roles and rules of China, especially of the upper classes, were extremely rigid, especially for women and girls. Every aspect of appearance and behavior was scrutinized.

In this novel, we follow Yunxian through all of her life stages, her marriage and children, her medical studies and eventual practice, her relationships with her mother-in-law, the other women in the household and so much more. The writing is so rich, exploring her physical, emotional and mental states, and we are introduced to the Chinese terminology used for the female body, its functions, and development through the stages of aging. The author includes highly-detailed descriptions of the settings, the furnishings, the foods, clothing, and of the herbs and materials Yunxian uses in her medical analysis and practice. The reader is immersed in all aspects of Yunxian's inner and outer life.

It was fascinating to look through this window into such a sophisticated culture, which was amazingly advanced, elaborately structured, and so far beyond what most of Europe would have known at the time. At the same time, the author creates a deep feeling of sympathy and understanding for Yunxian and the challenges she faces and confronts.

A satisfying and illuminating book – highly recommend!

Sister Saga – Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

This is an affecting novel that examines a family of four sisters, their parents, and William, the man who first marries Julia, the oldest sister. There are references to Little Women, as the sisters occasionally try to cast themselves as Meg, Jo, Amy, or Beth, in their conversations, but their mother is definitely no Marmee, and their father no Mr. March. William is nothing like Laurie, in terms of his personality, though he is an orphan, if not literally, then in the sense of his complete estrangement from his own family (and no kindly grandfather figure to take him in).

The Padavano sisters grew up in Pilsen, a working-class area of Chicago. Their father, Charlie, is a kind-hearted man with the soul of a poet, but he is a poor provider and too much of a drinker, so the family constantly struggles to make ends meet. Rose, their mother, is a devout Catholic, who throws herself into tending her backyard garden to help grow food to help feed the family. Her wish for her daughters is that they all attend and graduate from college, something she didn't manage, as she became pregnant with Julia before her marriage.

Julia is a true go-getter, organized, ambitious, and determined to create a successful life for herself with help from William, whom she meets in college at Northwestern. William is an unusually tall, thin young man who loves and plays basketball, which was his escape from a loveless childhood. William had an older sister who died as a toddler, when he was an infant, and his parents never recovered from the loss, leaving him to grow up feeling that it was he who should been the one to have died. At first he is all too willing to let Julia take over his life and decide what he will become. They marry and Julia sets the course, but eventually it all falls to pieces when William suffers a serious breakdown.

Sylvie, the second sister, is the apple of her father's eye. She loves books and reading, and works at the local library branch. She and Julia are so close that they fall asleep in each other's arms on the sofa when Sylvie visits Julia and William during Julia's pregnancy.

The other two sisters are twins: Cecilia and Emmeline. Cecilia becomes a mural artist and sculptor, and Emeline is the nurturer of the family.

When William walks out on Julia and their baby daughter, he is in the depths of depression. His suicide attempt is thwarted at the last minute by Sylvie and his basketball friends who find him in Lake Michigan at the last moment. He and Sylvie had already found a bond which both had suppressed, but they ultimately marry after Julia and William divorce, and Julia moves to New York with their daughter and cuts contact with her family.

It is Sylvie's love that saves William, but it is ultimately William who brings the family back together. Love, family bonds, and caring are the crux of this novel, and while this review may cast it as a soap opera, it is far more than that. It is an enjoyable and moving story, despite the sadness of certain events. Highly recommend!

Out of Brooklyn – Neil Diamond: His Life, His Music, His Passion by Laura Jackson

Neil Diamond is one of the most successful singer-songwriters in American popular music, the winner of multiple Grammy awards, a Kennedy Center honor, and a Golden Globe. He's been inducted to Songwriters and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame. Some of his songs, including "I'm a Believer", and "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" were huge hits when covered by other artists. 

As a long-time fan, I was interested in reading this book that takes him through about 2010. There wasn't a lot of new territory covered, but it did make me want to revisit his music catalog with the hope of hearing some  albums and watching some videos that were new to me. 

I wouldn't call this biography particularly insightful, but it was a quick and easy read, and includes some attractive photos. 

 

Rest in Peace – Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death by M.C. Beaton

This is the first in a series that introduces a character beloved by many, Agatha Raisin, a 50-ish London career woman who sells her successful PR agency and purchases a cottage in the picturesque Cotswolds, near Stratford-on-Avon, the home of William Shakespeare. 

I liked Agatha quite a bit, relating to her as a fellow career-minded woman who worked in a similar profession. But, and this is a big but: Unfortunately, the plot and cliché-ridden descriptions of village life kind of left me cold. If I hadn't been reading this book for my online mystery book club, I would have returned it to the library. Having spent a fair amount time in England with relatives, and having visited the Cotswolds, Stratford, and many other areas of the Midlands, especially around the time this book was published, 1992, I was not particularly taken by this overly cozy novel. It was just too much "cute" for me.

My library copy was a First Edition, which must have been rushed out, because it was chock-full of egregious editing errors. On several pages, in multiple places, Agatha somehow became Angela, and there were similar goofs. So distracting!

PS: During my mystery book club discussion of this book, which had a mixed reaction, other members shared that their later editions were just as sloppy – the errors had not been fixed. Really? Wow...