The Daughters of Mars
Thomas Keneally, 2013
Atria Books
528 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476734613
Summary
New York Times, Editor's Choice
From the acclaimed author of Schindler’s List comes the epic, unforgettable story of two sisters whose lives are transformed by the cataclysm of the First World War.
IN 1915, Naomi and Sally Durance, two spirited Australian sisters, join the war effort as nurses, escaping the confines of their father’s farm and carrying a guilty secret with them. Though they are used to tending the sick, nothing could have prepared them for what they confront, first on a hospital ship near Gallipoli, then on the Western Front.
Yet amid the carnage, the sisters become the friends they never were at home and find themselves courageous in the face of extreme danger and also the hostility from some on their own side. There is great bravery, humor, and compassion, too, and the inspiring example of the remarkable women they serve alongside. In France, where Naomi nurses in a hospital set up by the eccentric Lady Tarlton while Sally works in a casualty clearing station, each meets an exceptional man: the kind of men for whom they might give up some of their newfound independence—if only they all survive.
At once vast in scope and extraordinarily intimate, The Daughters of Mars brings World War I vividly to life from an uncommon perspective. Thomas Keneally has written a remarkable novel about suffering and transcendence, despair and triumph, and the simple acts of decency that make us human even in a world gone mad. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October, 7 1935
• Where—Sydney, Australia
• Education—St. Patrick's College, Strathfield
• Awards—Man-Booker Prize
• Currently—
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. The book would later be adapted to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St. Patrick's College, Strathfield. Subsequently, a writing prize there has been named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest. Although he was ordained as a deacon while at the seminary he left without being ordained to the priesthood. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist and was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the award-winning Fred Schepisi film The Devil's Playground (1976). More recently he featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama Our Sunburnt Country.
In 1983 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
Keneally was a visiting professor at the University of California, Irvine, where he taught the graduate fiction workshop for one quarter in 1985. He taught, again, at UCI, from 1991-1995, this time as a visiting professor in the writing program.
In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's biography Lincoln to President Barack Obama as a state gift.
The Tom Keneally Centre opened in August 2011 at the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, housing Keneally's books and memorabilia. The site is used for book launches, readings and writing classes.
Schindler's Ark (Schindler's List)
Keneally wrote the Booker Prize-winning novel in 1982, inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. In 1980 Pfefferberg met Keneally in his shop, and learning that he was a novelist, showed him his extensive files on Oskar Schindler. Keneally was interested, and Pfefferberg became an advisor for the book, accompanying Keneally to Poland where they visited Krakow and the sites associated with the Schindler story.
Keneally dedicated Schindler's Ark to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written." He said in an interview in 2007 that what attracted him to Oskar Schindler was that "it was the fact that you couldn't say where opportunism ended and altruism began. And I like the subversive fact that the spirit breatheth where it will. That is, that good will emerged from the most unlikely places."
The book was later made into a film titled Schindler's List (1993) directed by Steven Spielberg, earning the director his first Best Director Oscar. Keneally's meeting with Pfefferberg and their research tours are detailed in Searching for Schindler: A Memoir (2007). Some of the Pfefferberg documents that inspired Keneally are now housed in the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney. In 1996 the State Library purchased this material from a private collector. In April 2009 a copy of the list (including 801 names) was found in the documentation Thomas Keneally used as research material for his novel. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/27/2013.)
Book Reviews
Poignant...masterly...epic.... [Keneally] has rescued forgotten heroines from obscurity and briefly placed them center stage.
New York Times Book Review
A burly, captivating saga of Australian nurses on the front lines of World War I.... Inscribed with the stately, benign authority of an eminent tale-spinner.
Wall Street Journal
An epic, sweeping book.
LA Times
Magnificent… a stunning performance, full of suspense, searing particulars, and deep emotion.... The huge talents of Thomas Keneally are everywhere on display.
Guardian (UK)
The Daughters of Mars is the work of a master storyteller, sharing a tale that is simultaneously sprawling and intimate.
NPR
May be the best novel of Keneally’s career...a book that aims for, and achieves, real grandeur.
Spectator (UK)
Superbly exciting to read.... An unmissable, unforgettable tribute.
London Times
Not only is The Daughters of Mars one of the most ambitious novels in a career that stretches back to 1964, but it might even be the best… The result is something few other authors would aim for, let alone achieve: genuine grandeur.
Telegraph (UK)
A big and brutal book, a new prism through which to think about World War I...breathtaking...magnificent and almost magical. There are moments of joy, of pleasure, that make you look up from their page for a while to arrest and savour their sensation.
Australian
The horrific butcher’s bill of WWI trench fighting, which took a toll not only on the wounded soldiers but on the doctors and nurses who tended to them, is at the heart of this moving epic novel from the author of Schindler’s List. The story is told through the experiences of two sisters, Sally and Naomi Durance, both nurses.... By again using individuals to humanize a larger story, Keneally succeeds in conveying the experience to his readers in a manageable way.
Publishers Weekly
Australian sisters Naomi and Sally Durance volunteer as nurses at the beginning of World War I.... [T]heir service is a testament to the scope of war, as the number and nature of casualties they treat range from shrapnel and bayonet wounds to gassing, trench foot, shell shock, and finally the Spanish flu. Along the way we meet an unforgettable cast of supporting characters.... Highly recommended. —Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Library Journal
Sally and Naomi Dorrance, grown sisters, aren’t particularly close. Personality differences nudge them apart.... Their world is opened drastically as they volunteer as nurses during WWI.... Their ship is torpedoed off the Greek islands, and the sisters’ survival of a sinking ship is perhaps the most compelling—and longest—scene in this lengthy novel.... [I]n the end, it is their nursing experiences, their having to face countless horrors of loss of life and limb, that become the true meaning of their sisterly bond. —Brad Hooper
Booklist
[A] Winds of War–like epic.... Naomi and Sally Durance are two sisters who join the Nursing Corps in 1915 and sail off to Gallipoli, where they witness terrible things... [O]n arriving at the Western Front....they discover "a dimension of barbarity that had not existed on Gallipoli...," namely the terror of gas warfare.... Keneally is a master of character development and period detail, and there are no false notes there.... [Fans will find] much to admire in Keneally's fast-moving, flawlessly written pages.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In writing The Daughters of Mars, Thomas Keneally drew inspiration from actual wartime diaries, historical hospitals, and real hospital ships. How does the novel reflect the author’s diligent research? Which scenes and characters feel especially life-like?
2. Consider the differences between Naomi and Sally Durance at the beginning of the novel. Why has Naomi left home, and why has Sally stayed? What feelings does each sister seem to have for the other? What causes their relationship to strengthen?
3. Consider the impact of their mother’s death on the Durance sisters. How do they express their grief differently? Were you surprised when Naomi contradicted Sally’s version of their mother’s death at the end of the novel? Why or why not?
4. The Daughters of Mars focuses on Naomi and Sally’s experiences, but it also features colorful secondary characters, including brash benefactors, stern hospital matrons, thoughtful doctors, rude orderlies, and nurses of all dispositions. Who was your favorite character of the novel, excluding Sally and Naomi, and why?
5. Revisit the nurses’ first experience of battle: treating soldiers from Gallipoli on the Archimedes. How do Sally, Naomi, Freud, Honora, and Elsie react to the first rush of patients? Which of the nurses seems energized by their nursing duties, and which are overwhelmed?
6. Consider the traumas of battle that the Durance sisters experience, from hearing the bombings of the Dardanelles at a distance to aerial attacks in the French countryside. Which of these scenes conveys the sights, sounds, and feelings of war most effectively? Explain your answer.
7. Aborad the Archimedes, Ian Kiernan comments on Naomi’s last name, Durance: “I think that’s a pretty fine name, he said. I mean, if you put an ‘en’ in front of it, you have one of the most flattering of words” (88). Consider the signs of endurance in Naomi. What traumas can she endure, and when does her strength falter? Why does Kiernan admire her enduring spirit?
8. Naomi tells Sally, “Our cold hearts are what we inherited. That’s not to blame Mama and Papa” (122). Why do Naomi and Sally believe they have “cold hearts?” When does each sister begin to realize that she has another warmer and more vulnerable side after all?
9. As Naomi takes charge of the rescue raft after the sinking of the Archimedes, Sally observes, “Naomi was in the water but superior to it…. It was a grateful wonder. It was a light shining through ice” (151). Revisit Naomi’s heroism during the disastrous events in the Aegean Sea. Which of her actions, gestures, and attitudes helped the soldiers, doctors, and nurses of the raft survive?
10. Consider the challenges that the nurses face on the island of Lemnos, after the Archimedes sinks. Why does the hospital administration treat the shipwrecked nurses differently? Which nurses suffer the most during their stay on the island? How do Naomi and Sally react to the persecution of their companions?
11. As they are leaving Lemnos, Naomi and Sally take stock of their strengths in the war–Sally notes Naomi’s courage, while Naomi praises Sally’s “calmness and valour” (218-219). What evidence of these characteristics has each sister displayed? What weaknesses go hand-in-hand with their strength?
12. Consider the character of Lady Tarlton, who single-handedly founds the Australian voluntary hospital in Boulogne. In what ways is she a victim of her social station? How do gossip and convention hinder her?
13. Naomi remarks that the war has acted as “a machine to make us true sisters” (331). Consider how Naomi and Sally’s relationship evolves during the long years of the war. When do they seem closest? What keeps them apart? When can they finally be considered “true sisters”?
14. The Daughters of Mars has an unconventional double ending, narrating Charlie Condon’s art opening from two perspectives: with Sally as a survivor of the flu epidemic, then with Naomi. What does this dual ending add to the novel? How do the Durance sisters remain connected, even in death? - See more at:
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Daughters of the Dragon: A Comfort Woman's Story
William Andrews, 2014
MADhouse Press
354 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780991395859
Summary
Winner, 2014 Ippy Award for Historical Fiction
During World War II, the Japanese forced as many as 200,000 young Korean women to be sex slaves or “comfort women” for their soldiers. This is one woman’s riveting story of strength, courage and promises kept.
In 1943, the Japanese tear young Ja-hee and her sister from their peaceful family farm to be comfort women for the Imperial Army. Before they leave home, their mother gives them a magnificent antique comb with an ivory inlay of a two-headed dragon, saying it will protect them.
The sisters suffer terribly at the hands of the Japanese, and by the end of the war, Ja-hee must flee while her sister lies dying. Ja-hee keeps her time as a comfort woman a secret while she struggles to rebuild her life. She meets a man in North Korea who shows her what true love is. But the communists take him away in the middle of the night, and she escapes to the South. There, she finally finds success as the country rebuilds after the Korean War.
However when her terrible secret is revealed, she’s thrown into poverty. In the depths of despair, she’s tempted to sell the comb with the two-headed dragon that she believes has no magic for her. Then one day she discovers its true meaning and her surprising heredity. And now she must find the only person who can carry on the legacy of the two-headed dragon… someone she abandoned years ago.
Set within the tumultuous backdrop of 20th century Korea, Daughters of the Dragon by award-winning author William Andrews will make you cry and cheer for Ja-hee. And in the end, you’ll have a better understanding of the Land of the Morning Calm.
Daughters of the Dragon is inspired by The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, Memiors of a Geisha by Arthur Golden, the books of Amy Tan and Lisa See..(From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 28, 1953
• Where—Racine, Wisconsin, USA
• Education—B.A., St. Olaf College; M.B.A, St. Thomas University
• Awards—Ippy Award for Historical Fiction
• Currently—lives in Edina, Minnesota
Visit the author's website.
Follow William on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Daughters Of The Dragon - A Comfort Woman's Story is set during World War II, when the Japanese forced some 200,000 young Korean women to be sex slaves (i.e. “comfort women”) for their soldiers, and centers around one Ja-hee and her sister who are taken from their family for such a purpose....
Daughters Of The Dragon is no easy read, so don't expect a light leisure story of survival and endurance. Ja-hee's world is gritty, dark, and filled with struggle; and so readers are swept along into her encounters with Japanese brutality and wartime events....
And being based on actual historical fact, [the events of the story] hold all the more impact and importance not just for Daughters Of The Dragon, but for a deeper understanding of modern-day Asia and why the Japanese are still viewed with caution and anger throughout much of the rest of the region.....
William Andrews has taken a nearly-buried historical fact and used it to create a masterpiece of fictional encounters cemented by a strong central character in Ja-hee.
Readers who look for authentic historical meaning, strong protagonists, believable and involving dialogue, and a gripping saga will find Daughters Of The Dragon just the ticket. Anticipate brutal scenes, revelations, and struggles for survival and post-traumatic stress that follow the realistic paths of life in a powerful story of dignity, atrocities and roads to recovery.
D. Donovan - Midwest Review
Discussion Questions
1. How aware were you of the comfort woman atrocity before you read Daughters of the Dragon? Research shows that fewer than 30% of educated Americans know about comfort women. Why do you suppose that is?
2. What did you learn about Korea and Korean history that you think is important for Americans know?
3. Rape is a difficult topic. Do you think the author handled the rape scenes well? Why or why not?
4. Ja-hee has three main men in her lives—Colonel Matsumoto, Jin-mo, and Colonel Crawford. Do you think they all loved her? How were they different and how were they the same?
5. The author seems to compare the Japanese comfort stations to the American kijichons (brothels outside the military bases). Is this a fair comparison? How do you think Ja-hee felt about it?
6. How do you feel about the United State’s relationship with Korea after reading this book? Was/is the United States good or bad for Korea?
7. Do you think Ja-hee made the right decision to make Soo-bo have her baby?
8. Do you think Ja-hee made the right decision to put her granddaughter (Anna) up for adoption?
9. We learn that Ja-hee is royalty. Did she act accordingly? How important is her duty to Korea, her ancestors and her descendents? Was it all a wasted effort?
10. What is Anna’s duty going forward?
11. Ultimately, this book is about… what?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
David Copperfield
Charles Dickens 1849-50
Modern Library
700 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780679783411
Summary
Charles Dickens’s most celebrated novel and the author’s own favorite, David Copperfield is the classic account of a boy growing up in a world that is by turns magical, fearful, and grimly realistic.
In a book that is part fairy tale and part thinly veiled autobiography, Dickens transmutes his life experience into a brilliant series of comic and sentimental adventures in the spirit of the great eighteenth-century novelists he so much admired.
Few readers can fail to be touched by David’s fate, and fewer still to be delighted by his story. The cruel Murdstone, the feckless Micawber, the unctuous and sinister Uriah Heep, and David Copperfield himself, into whose portrait Dickens puts so much of his own early life, form a central part of our literary legacy. (From the Everyman's Library edition.)
More
Hugely admired by Tolstoy, David Copperfield is the novel that draws most closely from Charles Dickens's own life. Its eponymous hero, orphaned as a boy, grows up to discover love and happiness, heartbreak and sorrow amid a cast of eccentrics, innocents, and villains.
Praising Dickens's power of invention, Somerset Maugham wrote: "There were never such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens's exultant imagination...you can never quite forget them. (From the Modern Library edition. Cover image above.)
Author Bio
• Birth—February 7, 1812
• Where—Portsmouth, England, UK
• Education—Home and private schooling
• Died—June 9, 1870
• Where—Kent, England
Born on February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens was the second of eight children in a family burdened with financial troubles. Despite difficult early years, he became the most successful British writer of the Victorian age.
In 1824, young Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work at a boot-blacking factory when his improvident father, accompanied by his mother and siblings, was sentenced to three months in a debtor's prison. Once they were released, Charles attended a private school for three years. The young man then became a solicitor's clerk, mastered shorthand, and before long was employed as a Parliamentary reporter. When he was in his early twenties, Dickens began to publish stories and sketches of London life in a variety of periodicals.
It was the publication of Pickwick Papers (1836-1837) that catapulted the twenty-five-year-old author to national renown. Dickens wrote with unequaled speed and often worked on several novels at a time, publishing them first in monthly installments and then as books. His early novels Oliver Twist (1837-1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841), and A Christmas Carol (1843) solidified his enormous, ongoing popularity. As Dickens matured, his social criticism became increasingly biting, his humor dark, and his view of poverty darker still. David Copperfield (1849-1850), Bleak House (1852-1853), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-1861), and Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865) are the great works of his masterful and prolific period.
In 1858 Dickens's twenty-three-year marriage to Catherine Hogarth dissolved when he fell in love with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. The last years of his life were filled with intense activity: writing, managing amateur theatricals, and undertaking several reading tours that reinforced the public's favorable view of his work but took an enormous toll on his health. Working feverishly to the last, Dickens collapsed and died on June 8, 1870, leaving The Mystery of Edwin Drood uncompleted. (From Barnes & Noble Classics edition.)
Book Reviews
(Older works, have few, if any, mainstream press reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)
There were never such people as the Micawbers, Peggotty and Barkis, Traddles, Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick, Uriah Heep and his mother. They are fantastic inventions of Dickens's exultant imagination...you can never quite forget them.
Somerset Maugham
The most perfect of all the Dickens novels.
Virginia Woolf
Discussion Questions
1. Critics have noted that David Copperfield is less a character who makes things happen, and more one who witnesses things happening. Do you agree or disagree? How might this notion relate to David's profession as a writer? Consider David Gates's claim that David's "colorlessness" makes him a convincing representation of a writer.
2. David Copperfield, the narrator, begins his story by claiming that the succeeding pages will show whether he-or somebody else-will be the hero of his own life. Discuss the ways in which the notion of the hero is invoked throughout the novel. Who do you suppose might be David's hero?
3. Discuss the role of coincidence in David Copperfield. Specifically, discuss the novel's re-introduction of characters (such as Mr. Micawber in Chapter XVII, Tommy Traddles in Chapter XXV, and Uriah Heep in Chapter LXI) who were seemingly forgotten. To what extent do you think Dickens represents the normal coincidences of everyday life? Consider John Lucas's idea that the re-introduction of characters helps measure David's growth as an individual.
4. In David Copperfield, Dickens presents several relationships that fall outside traditional categories. For instance, the relationship between Betsey Trotwood and Mr. Dick; that of David, his mother, and Peggotty; and that of Mrs. Steerforth and Rosa Dartle. Discuss the role these relation-ships play in the novel. How does the novel define "family"? What makes up a family? Indeed, must the members of a "family" be related by blood?
5. In William Wordsworth's poem, "My heart leaps up, " Wordsworth posits, "The Child is father of the Man." Discuss this notion in relation to David Copperfield.
6. Discuss the role of female characters in David Copperfield. Compare David's relationship with such women as his mother and Peggotty, Agnes and Dora. How are they similar? Different? Historians have noted that middle-class Victorian culture relegated women to the private world of the home and imagined that women provided a moral center for the family, offsetting a husband's exposure to the amoral marketplace. In what specific ways do you think Dickens might be constrained by this idea of woman as "angel of the house"?
7. In the beginning of Chapter II, David finds "the power of observation in numbers of very young children to be quite wonderful for its closeness and accuracy." He then stops himself to say: "I might have a misgiving that I am 'meandering' in stopping to say this, but that it brings me to remark that I build these conclusions, in part upon my own experience of myself; and if it should appear from anything I may set down in this narrative that I was a child of close observation, or that as a man I may have a strong memory of my childhood, I undoubtedly lay claim to both of these characteristics." Discuss the significance of this passage. Why might David need to claim "a strong memory" for himself? Consider David Gates's assertion, in his Introduction to this volume, that David's lapses in memory help make his story more believable.
8. Discuss David's relationship with Steerforth. In what specific ways is Steerforth a foil for David himself?
9. David Copperfield offers, among other things, a critique of the nineteenth-century English prison system, in part through Mr. Micawber, Uriah Heep, and Mr. Creakle. What are David's attitudes to the prison he visits in Chapter LXI? Do the prisoners seem repentant to him? Compare nineteenth-century attitudes toward incarceration with contemporary ones. How is the prison David visits similar to and different from prisons today? Discuss Chapter LXI's relevance to the novel as a whole. What does Dickens accomplish by re-introducing Mr. Creakle, Uriah Heep, and Mr. Littimer?
(Questions from the Modern Library edition; cover image, top right.)
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Day After Night
Anita Diamant, 2009
St. Martin's Press
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780743299855
Summary
Just as she gave voice to the silent women of the Old Testament in The Red Tent, Anita Diamant creates a cast of breathtakingly vivid characters — young women who escaped to Israel from Nazi Europe — in this intensely dramatic novel.
Day After Night is based on the extraordinary true story of the October 1945 rescue of more than two hundred prisoners from the Atlit internment camp, a prison for "illegal" immigrants run by the British military near the Mediterranean coast south of Haifa. The story is told through the eyes of four young women at the camp with profoundly different stories.
All of them survived the Holocaust: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist; Leonie, a Parisian beauty; Tedi, a hidden Dutch Jew; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor. Haunted by unspeakable memories and losses, afraid to begin to hope, Shayndel, Leonie, Tedi, and Zorah find salvation in the bonds of friendship and shared experience even as they confront the challenge of re-creating themselves in a strange new country.
This is an unforgettable story of tragedy and redemption, a novel that reimagines a moment in history with such stunning eloquence that we are haunted and moved by every devastating detail. Day After Night is a triumphant work of fiction. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 27, 1951
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Washington University; M.A., State University of New York, Binghamton
• Currently—lives in Newton, Massachusetts
Anita Diamant is an American author of fiction and non-fiction books. She is best known for her novel, The Red Tent, a New York Times best seller. She has also written several guides for Jewish people, including The New Jewish Wedding and Living a Jewish Life.
Early life and education
Diamant spent her early childhood in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to Denver, Colorado, when she was 12 years old. She attended the University of Colorado Boulder and transferred to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she earned a bachelor's degree in Comparative Literature in 1973. She then went on to receive a master's degree in English from State University of New York at Binghamton in 1975.
Career
Diamant began her writing career in 1975 as a freelance journalist. Her articles have been published in the Boston Globe magazine, Parenting, New England Monthly, Yankee, Self, Parents, McCalls, and Ms.
She branched out into books with the release of The New Jewish Wedding, published in 1985, and has since published seven other books about contemporary Jewish practice.
Her debut as a fiction writer came in 1997 with The Red Tent, followed by the novels, Good Harbor and The Last Days of Dogtown, an account of life in a dying Cape Ann, Massachusetts village, Dogtown, in the early 19th century. Day After Night, is a novel about four women who survived the Holocaust, and find themselves detained in a British displaced persons camp. The Boston Girl, published in 2014, is the story of a young Jewish woman growing up in early 20th century Boston.
Diamant is the founding president of Mayyim Hayyim: Living Waters Community Mikveh and Education Center, a community-based ritual bath in Newton, Massachusetts.
She lives in Newton, is married, and has one daughter. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 12/9/2014.)
Book Reviews
Anita Diamant's new novel offers all the satisfactions found in her previous works The Red Tent and The Last Days of Dogtown: rich portraits of female friendship, unflinching acknowledgment of life's cruelty and resolute assertion of hope, enfolded in a strong story line developed in lucid prose. She ups the ante here, chronicling three months in the lives of Jewish refugees interned in Atlit, a British detention center for illegal immigrants to the Palestinian Mandate. Based on an actual event—the rescue of more than 200 detainees from Atlit in October 1945—Day After Night demonstrates the power of fiction to illuminate the souls of people battered by the forces of history.
Wendy Smith - Washington Post
Diamant's bestseller, The Red Tent, explored the lives of biblical women ignored by the male-centric narrative. In her compulsively readable latest, she sketches the intertwined fates of several young women refugees at Atlit, a British-run internment camp set up in Palestine after WWII. There's Tedi, a Dutch girl who hid in a barn for years before being turned in and narrowly escaping Bergen-Belsen; Leonie, a beautiful French girl whose wartime years in Paris are cloaked with shame; Shayndel, a heroine of the Polish partisan movement whose cheerful facade hides a tortured soul; and Zorah, a concentration camp survivor who is filled with an understandable nihilism. The dynamic of suffering and renewed hope through friendship is the book's primary draw, but an eventual escape attempt adds a dash of suspense to the astutely imagined story of life at the camp: the wary relationship between the Palestinian Jews and the survivors, the intense flirtation between the young people that marks a return to life. Diamant opens a window into a time of sadness, confusion and optimism that has resonance for so much that's both triumphant and troubling in modern Jewish history.
Publishers Weekly
Diamant tenderly portrays four women in transition, from the killing fields of Europe to the promised land of Eretz Yisrael. In August 1945, however, they're stuck in Atlit, a British detention center for illegal immigrants to the Palestinian mandate. "Not one of the women in Barrack C is 21, but all of them are orphans," the author tells us on the first page. Zorah lost her entire family in the first concentration-camp selection. Tedi spent two years hiding in the Dutch countryside, then escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz. Shayndel, a prewar Zionist, fought with the partisans. Leonie was saved from a roundup of Parisian Jews and forced into prostitution. These memories are their constant companions, but people at Atlit avoid talking about the past: "It was all about Palestine." The underground Jewish fighting force plans to break out the detainees and lead them to the kibbutzim. Meanwhile, the camp is riddled with intrigue. The Jewish cook is sleeping with the British commander to gain information, but she also happens to love him. Leonie spots an SS tattoo under the armpit of a crazed new arrival. Shayndel spars with a swaggering Jewish soldier and wonders if all the men in Palestine are this arrogant. Zorah becomes the fierce protector of a Polish gentile who rescued her Jewish employer's son and is raising him as her own. The novel climaxes with the breakout (an actual event), but the real story here is about healing, about being able to love again and to believe in the future. Diamant quietly leads us into her characters' anguish, guilt and despair, then gently shows them coming to renewed life almost in spite of themselves. A moving epilogue traces the four protagonists' paths after leaving Atlit, reminding us that their wartime ordeals and internment were "just the beginning."A warm, intensely human reckoning with unbearable sorrow and unquenchable hope.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Shayndel “was overcome by the weight of what she had lost: mother, father, brother, friends, neighbors, comrades, lovers, landscapes.” Reflecting on her past Leonie remembers a vision in which “her own voice, [said] yes to life, as miserable as it was.” Although loss and suffering are primary forces for each character, they still have remarkable resilience. How might the thoughts of what one has lost actually keep one going? What else does the book tell us about the resilience of the human spirit?
2. What is the significance of the book’s title? How can it be interpreted in various ways?
3. How do food and celebration play an important part in the novel? How is this ironic?
4. How do both Tirzah and Bryce’s similarities and their differences influence and enhance their love for each other? How do they both show how seemingly small gestures can have a great impact?
5. As Zorah’s feelings for Esther and Jacob change, she reflects that “the world was an instrument of destruction” but that “the opposite of destruction is creation.” How does this idea reflect the novel as a whole? Diamant also writes that “‘luck’ was just another word for ‘creation,’ which was a relentless as destruction.” What does this mean?
6. All of the characters have strengths that helped them to survive the war. How do their strengths and weaknesses influence each other? How might one person’s weakness help to develop another person’s strength?
7. “Everyone in Atlit had secrets… Most people managed to keep their secrets under control, concealed behind a mask of optimism or piety or anger. But there were an unfortunate few without a strategy or system for managing the past…” How do secrets play a role in all of the women’s experiences at the camp? How have each of them been shaped by secrets?
8. Discuss the theme of identity. How does it play an important role in the characters’ lives? Consider Esther and Jacob’s story, Shayndel’s memories of her skills as a fighter in contrast to the way others at the camp view her, Leonie’s past, etc.?
9. What does Tedi’s keen sense of smell symbolize? How does her sense of smell provide insights into the other characters?
10. How do the characters find surprising common ground despite seemingly impossible circumstances? Consider the relationships between Shayndel and Nathan, Leonie and Lotte, and Zorah and Esther, among others.
11. “Leonie’s skin was unblemished. She had not hidden in a Polish sewer or shivered in a Russian barn. She had not seen her parents shot. Atlit was her first experience of barracks and barbwire. She had survived the war without suffering hunger or thirst. There had been wine and hashish and a pink satin coverlet to muffle her terrors.” Discuss this passage. What does it say about the nature of fear and horror? How would you compare Leonie’s experiences during the war with those of her friends? How can internal and external horror be equally destructive?
12. How did you feel about Lotte’s story? Did the way it ended surprise you?
13. On their last night together each of the women has a vivid dream. How would you interpret these?
14. What did you think about the epilogue? Was it satisfying?
15. How would you compare Day After Night with other World War II-era novels that you’ve read?
16. What are some of your favorite passages from the book? What were some of the most difficult parts to read?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The Day the Falls Stood Still
Cathy Marie Buchanan, 2009
Hyperion Books
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781401341367
Summary
1915. The dawn of the hydroelectric power era in Niagara Falls. Seventeen-year-old Bess Heath has led a sheltered existence as the youngest daughter of the director of the Niagara Power Company. After graduation day at her boarding school, she is impatient to return to her picturesque family home near Niagara Falls.
But when she arrives, nothing is as she had left it. Her father has lost his job at the power company, her mother is reduced to taking in sewing from the society ladies she once entertained, and Isabel, her vivacious older sister, is a shadow of her former self. She has shut herself in her bedroom, barely eating—and harboring a secret.
The night of her return, Bess meets Tom Cole by chance on a trolley platform. She finds herself inexplicably drawn to him—against her family's strong objections. He is not from their world. Rough-hewn and fearless, he lives off what the river provides, and he has an uncanny ability to predict the whims of the falls. river rescues render him a local hero and cast him as a threat to the power companies who seek to harness the power of the falls for themselves.
As the paths of Bess and Tom become entwined, Bess must make a painful choice between what she wants and what is best for her family and her future. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 23, 1963
• Where—Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
• Education—B.S., and M.B.A., University of Western Ontario
• Currently—lives in Toronto, Ontario
Cathy Marie Buchanan is the author of The Painted Girls and The Day the Falls Stood Still. Published January 2013, The Painted Girls has received enthusiastic reviews (Kirkus, The Globe and Mai, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today) and has garnered favourable notices in Vanity Fair, Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Chicago Tribune, Costco Connection and Chatelaine. Also an IndieNext pick, The Painted Girls debuted on the New York Times bestsellers list and is a #1 national bestseller in Canada.The Day the Falls Stood Still, her debut novel, was a New York Times bestseller, a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and an IndieNext pick.
Born and bred in Niagara Falls, Ontario, the setting of The Day the Falls Stood Still, Buchanan grew up "awash in the lore of William 'Red' Hill, Niagara’s most famous riverman," as she explains in the Author's Note that concludes her book. Like her character Tom Cole and his grandfather Fergus before him, the historical Red Hill could read the river with preternatural apprehension, anticipating shifts in the weather and sensing when people would be trapped by winds and water. In all, Hill saved 29 people and countless animals from drowning. The Day the Falls Stood Still was inspired by two of Hill's heroic rescues, which Buchanan thrillingly recreates.
The author’s fascination with the lore and legends of the falls is complemented by her interest in the economic and industrial forces at work in the region at the dawn of the hydroelectric era. Also prevalent is Buchanan's meticulous research into the apparel, furnishings, and customs of the social milieu Bess Heath is forced—by circumstance and for love—to leave behind.
A recipient of grants from both the Toronto and the Ontario Arts Councils, Cathy Marie Buchanan is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers. She has published fiction in the Antigonish Review, Dalhousie Review, New Quarterly, Quarry, and Descant. She currently lives in Toronto with her husband and three sons.
The Day the Falls Stood Still—is Buchanan's first novel. Her second, The Painted Sisters, was issued in 2013. Another work of historical fiction, it tells the story of the girl behind the famous Edgar Degas sculpture "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen." (From the publisher and Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Few first novels exhibit the mastery, maturity, and majesty of Buchanan’s riveting fictional debut, a heart-wrenching, soul-racking, spellbinding tale interwoven with guts, anguish, and glory guaranteed to remain in readers’ minds.
The Globe and Mail (Canada)
[The Day the Falls Stood Still] stands on its own elegant prose and the vibrant voice of its narrator.
USA Today
Set against the backdrop of WWI and Niagara Falls, this debut tells the story of young Bess Heath and her struggle to navigate a quickly modernizing world. A child of privilege, Bess sees her fortunes change when her father loses his job. Cast into poverty, her family disgraced, Bess tries to hold things together while her sister slips into depression, her father drinks and her mother withdraws. After another tragedy strikes, Bess finds comfort in the love of Tom Cole, a river man with a mysterious connection to the falls. Overcoming the deep privation of the war and their own limited means, the two begin building a life together and renew their commitment to each other and their family. Based loosely on the history of Niagara river man William “Red” Hill, the book incorporates mock newspaper articles with limited success, but does integrate some detailed depictions of domestic life and fascinating natural history into an otherwise uneventful romance.
Publishers Weekly
Buchanan's first novel illuminates the beginnings of hydroelectric power in Canada during World War I. Fortunes are made and lost on electricity supplied by Niagara Falls, and Bess's family suffers particularly—her father loses his job at the local electric powerhouse, and her sister Isabel loses both her rich fiancé and her life, drowning in the river. Bess and her mother turn to tailoring to make ends meet, and Bess continues with her work when her naturalist husband, Tom, goes off to fight. Returning from the war, Tom goes to work for the electric company to support the family, although he deplores the effect of the generators on the Niagara River. In the end, this conflict between the natural world and progress leads to tragedy. Verdict: Historical fiction readers will appreciate the excellent period detail, especially the depiction of the era's social mores, and the romance between Bess and Tom is also a high point. —Amy Ford, St. Mary's Cty. Lib., Lexington Park, MD
Library Journal
First novel offers a romantic take on Niagara Falls life in the early 20th century, complete with old photographs to buttress the nostalgic mood. In 1915, Bess Heath's father is fired as director of the Niagara Power Company and the family finances crumble. Her mother supports the family with dressmaking. Bess must leave her private school. Worst of all, Bess's sister Isabel is dumped by her fiance and sinks into a serious depression. Financial salvation seems at hand when Edward, the dull brother of Bess's best friend, comes courting. Isabel flirts outrageously, but Edward proposes to Bess. Under parental pressure she accepts, although she has already begun a shy romance with Tom. He is deemed inappropriate not only because he's working-class but because of the nature of his work; he's a river man who retrieves "floaters"-drowned bodies. Shortly before Bess's wedding, Isabel drowns herself. When Tom finds the body, he helps Bess hide Isabel's pregnancy. Propelled by grief and flaunting convention, Bess breaks off with Edward to marry Tom, who shortly thereafter goes off to World War I. These early scenes are the novel's most engrossing. Once Tom returns the book moves more quickly and shallowly. Tom recovers from his traumatic war experience by performing acts of bravery at the Falls. Although he takes a job at the Hydro-Electric Power Commission to support their growing family, he doesn't believe the progress electricity offers is worth the price to the environment and eventually quits to become an activist. Meanwhile, Bess and Tom's little boy Jesse is as drawn to the river as Tom. The spiritual connection Tom, Jesse and Bess feel to the river takes on mystical dimensions. After tragedy strikes, the uplifting ending has a decidedly religious tinge. Buchanan's prose is elegant, but sentimentality limits her achievement.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel is set against the backdrop of Niagara Falls. Is it accurate to say that this natural wonder is a character in the novel? Why or why not?
2. In early-20th-century Ontario, distinctions in social strata created insurmountable boundaries between different groups. Yet Bess, her mother, and several other characters act against the conventions of their time. What compelled them? Would they face the same challenges today?
3. Edward's proposal presents both a challenge and an opportunity to Bess and her family. What did you think of her decision? What would you have done in similar circumstances?
4. The title of the book invokes a rescue made by Fergus Cole, Tom's grandfather, shortly after he arrived at Niagara Falls. Did you find Buchanan's decision to post newspaper clippings of Fergus's heroism effective? Was the force of his legend felt throughout the novel?
5. Although Bess and her family are Methodists, she and her sister attend a Catholic school for girls. What role does religion or belief play in the book? As the novel unfolds, how does Bess evolve spiritually?
6. A secondary theme in the novel pits the idea of conserving natural resources against the quest to harness them for economic and industrial development. Informed by her father's work experience at the power company and by Tom's allegiance to the river, Bess begins to understand both sides of the argument. Did her vote on the ballot measure surprise you?
7. Why is Tom able to predict the whims of the Niagara River? What would Bess say about his mysterious abilities? Does her explanation change over the course of the book?
8. Bess is angry with Tom after the ice bridge rescue, and lashes out at him after the scow rescue. Is her anger warranted? Why or why not?
9. Before abandoning the rope tethered to Jesse and plunging into the waters, Tom says, "Believe in me, Bess." What does he mean by this? Does he know how the events of the day will unfold?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Days of Awe
Lauren Fox, 2015
Knopf Doubleday
262 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307268129
Summary
Days of Awe is the story of a woman who, in the wake of her best friend’s sudden death, must face the crisis in her marriage, the fury of her almost-teenage daughter, and the possibility of opening her cantankerous heart to someone new.
Only a year ago Isabel Moore was married, was the object of adoration for her ten-year-old daughter, and thought she knew everything about her wild, extravagant, beloved best friend, Josie.
But in that one short year her husband moved out and rented his own apartment; her daughter grew into a moody insomniac; and Josie—impulsive, funny, secretive Josie—was killed behind the wheel in a single-car accident. As the relationships that long defined Isabel—wife, mother, daughter, best friend—change before her eyes, Isabel must try to understand who she really is.
Teeming with longing, grief, and occasional moments of wild, unexpected joy, Days of Awe is a daring, dazzling book—a luminous exploration of marriage, motherhood, and the often surprising shape of new love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1976
• Where—Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
• Education—M.F.A., University of Minnesota
• Currently—lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Lauren Fox is the author of Days of Awe (2015), Friends Like Us (2012), and Still Life with Husband (2007). She earned her MFA from the University of Minnesota in 1998, and her work has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Seventeen, Glamour, and Salon. She lives in Milwaukee with her husband and two daughters. (From the publisher.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
What's wonderful about reading a novelist's books in back-to-back sequence is that you witness the writer grow not gradually, but seemingly overnight.... Fox's latest novel, Days of Awe...treads on new territory: parenthood, loss and death.... Fox paints touching portraits of the bonds between mothers and daughters. Helene has a wonderful verve.... Iz wins the reader's sympathy by continually putting herself out there.... Careful and nuanced.
Patricia Park - New York Times Book Review
Darkly hilarious…. Fox is a master of emotional misdirection, and what she presents here tastes like carbonated grief, an elixir of sorrow gassed up with her nervous humor… With Days of Awe, Fox has created a winding internal monologue as Isabel tries to catch her bearings in a world that suddenly seems out of kilter…. Leavened with wry silliness that fans will remember from Fox’s previous novels, Friends Like Us and Still Life with Husband… [Isabel is] an extremely endearing narrator, the kind of woman who makes straight-faced jokes that her uptight colleagues don’t get, and then feels both superior and mortified…. There are veins of Anne Lamott running through these pages, a sweet blend of sentimentality and wit… And Fox is a great comic on the subject of aging, too. Her narrator wears sweatpants that are "a blend of cotton and self-loathing." She could be channeling Nora Ephron…. Surprisingly buoyant.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
The hands of time stop for no one, not even Lauren Fox. With each new novel, the characters of this irrepressibly comedic chronicler of friendship, marriage and romantic foibles among white Milwaukeean Generation X-ers advance and mature in concert with their author. And yet her prose remains as fresh as if it spritzed from the wordsmith’s fountain of youth. With Days of Awe, however, Fox’s insouciance is tempered by an omnipresent awareness of "that cold lick of mortality...." The fearlessness with which Fox frees her women to behave badly heightens both the credibility and the pleasure of her fiction.
Jan Stuart - Boston Globe
As Fox deconstructs the myth of perfect womanhood, her humor and humanity remind us that love’s the only lifeboat through grief. (Book of the Week)
People
Days of Awe will keep you reading… Fox's previous novels, Still Life With Husband and Friends Like Us, were celebrated for witty and intelligent examinations of friendship and marriage. Days of Awe is no exception.
Mary Ann Grossman - St. Paul Pioneer Press
Her latest work explores the ever-shifting landscape of a woman in her 40s with the same sly humor and snappy dialogue that has made Fox one of my favorite novelists to recommend… Days of Awe is an examination of grief and how one can move past it, or at least make it through each day without succumbing to its persistent demands.
Meganne Fabrega - Minneapolis Star Tribune
Lauren Fox ... takes women who are falling apart and pulls wit, snark, pith, and occasional insight out of them. No contemporary novelist makes me stop as often to mark or admire one of her sentences. Plenty of people can write limpid or fancy prose, but Fox ladles out one flavorful reduction ... after another.... Days of Awe draws its title from the period of the solemn introspection urged upon Jews between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, though Fox's narrator, Isabel Applebaum Moore, also experiences gentler moments of wonder and appreciation.... Were Days of Awe the pilot script for a TV series, elderly actresses would throw elbows to audition for Helene... Poignant.
Jim Higgins - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
[A] tale about a woman’s attempt to piece her life together following the death of her best friend.... Isabel’s nuanced character is relatable—her struggles are universal and the reader will root for her to succeed. Raw and darkly humorous at times, Fox’s novel is a winner.
Publishers Weekly
An insightful novel by Lauren Fox that explores how grief can make every arena of life feel suddenly disorienting… Humor brings levity to Fox's frank, thought-provoking story that adds surprising depth and meaning, layer upon layer, page by page… Fox once again explores, with a smart and refreshing perspective, the underside of friendships, marriage, love and loss—and the range of emotions that can plague and liberate the human heart.
Kathleen Gerard - Shelf Awareness
[Fox] has such an offbeat way of looking at things that you'll eagerly keep reading just to see what she's going to say next. Read it for the magnetic voice and Fox's ever interesting perspective on work, love, friendship, and parenthood—because, really, what else is there?
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. This novel touches on multiple themes—friendship, marriage, loyalty and betrayal, parenting, responsibility, and blame. Which emerges as the most important? What larger points is the author making?
2. What does the title mean?
3. Before Josie’s funeral, Mark tells Isabel that his wife’s death is his fault. She thinks, "Of course it was his fault. And it was my fault, and possibly Chris’s, and most definitely Josie’s, and some other people’s faults, too: we were all guilty, to varying degrees..." (page 4) Why does Isabel believe this? How were they responsible?
4. Josie’s death ripples through the relationships of her friends and family, whose lives change dramatically in the following year. How does one event set so much in motion?
5. Discuss the episode at the Lake Kass Wetlands Preserve. Why does Isabel think, "Some darkness descended on Josie that weekend, and it never quite lifted"? (page 63)
6. Josie’s theory of art: "...when you see a work of art flipped on its side, you ask questions of it that wouldn’t have occurred to you otherwise." (page 77) How does this figure into what happens after her death?
7. When Mark tells Isabel he’s dating one of the Andes, why does she take it as such a betrayal?
8. Discuss Isabel’s relationship with Hannah. Why doesn’t she notice that Hannah isn’t sleeping?
9. The concept of loss weaves through the novel—Josie’s death, Isabel’s miscarriages, Helene’s family in the Holocaust. Helene would say, "The worst has already happened to us." (page 103) How do these losses influence Isabel?
10. What do we learn about Cal when he takes Isabel on a visit to his mother? What do we learn about Isabel?
11. When Josie confesses her relationship with Alex, Isabel immediately takes Mark’s side. Why? How does this affect her friendship with Josie?
12. During a session of couple’s therapy, Chris says to Isabel, "You’re not who I thought you were." (page 157) What does he mean? What has Josie’s death revealed?
13. After Isabel suggests that Cal take her back to his place, why does she change her mind? What is she afraid of?
14. Mark and Andi’s holiday party marks a turning point in several relationships. How might things have gone differently if Isabel had subdued her discomfort?
15. Why does Isabel meet with Alex? What does she learn from his story about Josie threatening to tell his wife?
16. In retrospect, Isabel recognizes several signs that Josie was unraveling: calling a student a bitch, stealing a coat, bringing a rum-laced soda to school. If she had put the pieces together sooner, what might she have done?
17. When Hannah asks to move in with Chris for a while, why does Isabel say no? Why does Hannah accept that decision so readily?
18. Does the idea that Josie committed suicide make sense to you? Why does it suddenly occur to Isabel?
19. Is Cal "the kind of person who would hide us in an attic"? (page 45)
20. The novel closes: "It’s a shock of nerves, embarrassed thrill, and it is also the saddest story I’ve ever heard. It sounds like this: goodbye, goodbye, goodbye." (page 256) What does this mean?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Days of Blood & Starlight
Laini Taylor, 2012
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
528 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780316133975
Summary
Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and dared to imagine a world free of bloodshed and war.
This is not that world.
Ar student and monster's apprentice Karou finally has the answers she has always sought. She knows who she is--and what she is. But with this knowledge comes another truth she would give anything to undo: She loved the enemy and he betrayed her, and a world suffered for it.
In this stunning sequel to the highly acclaimed Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Karou must decide how far she'll go to avenge her people. Filled with heartbreak and beauty, secrets and impossible choices, Days of Blood & Starlight finds Karou and Akiva on opposing sides as an age-old war stirs back to life.
While Karou and her allies build a monstrous army in a land of dust and starlight, Akiva wages a different sort of battle: a battle for redemption. For hope.
But can any hope be salvaged from the ashes of their broken dream?. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Laini Taylor is the author of four other novels: the forthcoming Days of Blood and Starlight, the Dreamdark books Blackbringer and Silksinger, and the National Book Award finalist Lips Touch: Three Times. She lives in Portland, Oregon, USA, with her husband, illustrator Jim Di Bartolo, and their daughter, Clementine. (From the publisher .)
Book Reviews
Any book that opens with "Once upon a time" is inviting high expectations. It's a phrase that inevitably evokes fairy tales and leather-bound classics about epic adventures, setting up the anticipation that readers will discover worlds filled with magic.... In this case, the story that follows...is a breath-catching romantic fantasy about destiny, hope and the search for one's true self that doesn't let readers down. Taylor has taken elements of mythology, religion and her own imagination and pasted them into a believably fantastical collage.
Chelsey Philpot - New York Times Book Review
Blue-haired Karou is 17, and, in addition to her unusual tresses, has other intriguing aspects to her personality. She supports her life as an art student in Prague by running errands for her foster parent, a supernatural chimera named Brimstone. These errands, which take Karou through strange portals to strange places to meet with even stranger individuals, reap rewards not only of money, but also wishes. Taylor builds a thoroughly tangible fantasy world wherein a complex parallel universe competes with far-flung geographic locales for gorgeously evoked images. Karou herself is a well-rendered character with convincing motivations: artistic and secretive, she longs for emotional connection and a sense of completeness. Her good friend Zuzana goes some way toward mitigating Karou's solitude, but a sour breakup with beautiful bad boy Kaz has left her feeling somewhat bereft. Taylor leads readers from this deceptively familiar trope into a turbulent battle between supernatural species: angel-beings seek the destruction of demonlike chimera in revenge for the burning of the archive of the seraph magi. The more Karou discovers about the battle, however, the less simple good and evil appear; the angels are not divine, the chimera are not evil, and genocide is apparently acceptable to both sides in this otherworldly war. Initially, the weakest part of the story appears to be the love story between Karou and Akiva, an angel of "shocking beauty"; there is little to support their instant bond until their true connection is disclosed. The suspense builds inexorably, and the philosophical as well as physical battles will hold action-oriented readers. The unfolding of character, place, and plot is smoothly intricate, and the conclusion is a beckoning door to the next volume. —Janice M. Del Negro, GSLIS Dominican University, River Forest, IL
School Library Journal
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Specific discussion questions will be added if and when they are made available by the publisher.
Days Without End
Sebastian Barry, 2017
Penguin Publishing
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525427360
Summary
Winner, 2017 Costa Book of the Year Award
From the two-time Man Booker Prize finalist Sebastian Barry, “a master storyteller” (Wall Street Journal), comes a powerful new novel of duty and family set against the American Indian and Civil Wars
Thomas McNulty, aged barely seventeen and having fled the Great Famine in Ireland, signs up for the U.S. Army in the 1850s. With his brother in arms, John Cole, Thomas goes on to fight in the Indian Wars—against the Sioux and the Yurok—and, ultimately, the Civil War.
Orphans of terrible hardships themselves, the men find these days to be vivid and alive, despite the horrors they see and are complicit in.
Moving from the plains of Wyoming to Tennessee, Sebastian Barry’s latest work is a masterpiece of atmosphere and language. An intensely poignant story of two men and the makeshift family they create with a young Sioux girl, Winona, Days Without End is a fresh and haunting portrait of the most fateful years in American history and is a novel never to be forgotten. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—July 5, 1955
• Where—Dublin, Ireland
• Education—Catholic University School and Trinity College
• Awards—Costa Book of the Year; James Tait Black Memorial Prize;
Cezam Prix Litteraire Inter CE (France); Walter Scott Prize
• Currently—lives in Wicklow, Ireland
Sebastian Barry, an Irish playwright, novelist and poet is considered one of his country's finest writers, noted for his dense literary writing style. Born in Dublin, his mother was the late Irish actress Joan O'Hara. He attended Catholic University School and Trinity College, Dublin, where he read English and Latin.
Barry's literary career began in poetry before he began writing plays and novels. In recent years his fiction writing has surpassed his work in the theatre in terms of success, having once been considered a playwright who wrote occasional novels.
He has twice been shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize for his novels A Long Long Way (2005) and The Secret Scripture (2008), the latter of which won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. His 2011 novel On Canaan's Side (2011) was longlisted for the Booker, and his most recent novel was published in 2014, The Temporary Gentleman.
Novels and plays
Barry started his literary career with the novel Macker's Garden in 1982. This was followed by several books of poetry and a further novel The Engine of Owl-Light in 1987 before his career as a playwright began with his first play produced in 1988 at the Abbey theatre, Boss Grady's Boys.
Barry's maternal great-grandfather, James Dunne, provided the inspiration for the main character in his most internationally known play, The Steward of Christendom (1995). The main character, named Thomas Dunne in the play, was the chief superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police from 1913–1922. He oversaw the area surrounding Dublin Castle until the Irish Free State takeover on 16 January 1922. One of his grandfathers belonged to the British Army Corps of Royal Engineers.
Both the play The Steward of Christendom (1995) and the novel The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty (1998) are about the dislocations (physical and otherwise) of loyalist Irish people during the political upheavals of the early 20th century. The title character of the latter work is a young man forced to leave Ireland by his former friends in the aftermath of the Anglo-Irish War.
He also wrote the satirical Hinterland (2002), based loosely on former Irish Taoiseach Charles Haughey, the performance of which caused a minor controversy in Dublin. The Sunday Times, called it "feeble, puerile, trite, shallow, exploitative and gratuitously offensive", while The Telegraph called it “as exciting as a lukewarm Spud-U-Like covered in rancid marge and greasy baked beans.”
Barry's work in fiction came to the fore during the 1990s. His novel A Long Long Way (2005) was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and was selected for Dublin's 2007 One city one book event. The novel tells the story of Willie Dunne, a young recruit to the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the First World War. It brings to life the divided loyalties that many Irish soldiers felt at the time following the Easter Rising in 1916. (Willie Dunne, son of the fictional Thomas Dunne, first appears as a minor but important character in his 1995 play The Steward of Christendom.)
His novel The Secret Scripture (2008) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction (the oldest such award in the UK), the Costa Book of the Year; the French translation Le testament cache won the 2010 Cezam Prix Litteraire Inter CE. It was also a favourite to win the 2008 Man Booker Prize, narrowly losing out to Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger.
Barry's most recent play is Andersen's English (2010), inspired by children's writer Hans Christian Andersen coming to stay with Charles Dickens and his family in the Kent marshes.
On Canaan's Side (2011), Barry's fifth novel, concerns Lily Bere, the sister of the character Willy Dunne from (the 2005 novel) A Long Long Way and the daughter of the character Thomas Dunne from (the 1995 play) The Steward of Christendom, who emigrates to the US. The novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the 2012 Walter Scott Prize.
His most recent novel, The Temporary Gentleman (2014), tells the story of Jack McNulty—an Irishman whose commission in the British army in WWII was never permanent. Sitting in his lodgings in Accra, Ghana, in 1957, he’s writing the story of his life with desperate urgency.
Academia
Barry's academic posts have included Honorary Fellow in Writing at the University of Iowa (1984), Villanova University (2006) and Writer Fellow at Trinity College, Dublin (1995–1996).
Personal
Barry lives in County Wicklow with his wife, actress Alison Deegan, and their three children. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retreived 5/8/2014.)
Book Reviews
A haunting archeology of youth.… Barry introduces a narrator who speaks with an intoxicating blend of wit and wide-eyed awe, his unsettlingly lovely prose unspooling with an immigrant’s peculiar lilt and a proud boy’s humor. But in this country’s adolescence he also finds our essential human paradox, our heartbreak: that love and fear are equally ineradicable.
Katy Simpson Smith - New York Times Book Review
Mr. Barry’s frontier saga is a vertiginous pile-up of inhumanity and stolen love: gore-soaked and romantic, murderous and musical.… The rough-hewn yet hypnotic voice that Mr. Barry has fashioned carries the novel from the staccato chaos of battle to wistful hymns to youth.… [A]n absorbing story that sets the horrors of history against the consolations of hearth and home.
Sam Sacks - Wall Street Journal
Alternately brutal and folksy.… Barry’s prose can take brilliant turns without sounding implausible coming out of Thomas’s mouth. A mordant vein of comedy runs through the book.… [T]he "wilderness of furious death" his characters inhabit has a gut-punching credibility.
Michael Upchurch - Washington Post
The novel comes close to being a modern masterpiece. Written in a style that is as delicate and economical as a spider’s web, it builds to a climax that is as brutally effective as a punch to the gut.
Times (UK)
Days Without End is a work of staggering openness; its startlingly beautiful sentences are so capacious that they are hard to leave behind, its narrative so propulsive that you must move on. In its pages, Barry conjures a world in miniature, inward, quiet, sacred; and a world of spaces and borders so distant they can barely be imagined. Taken as a whole, his McNulty adventure is experimental, self-renewing, breathtakingly exciting. It is probably not ended yet.
Alex Clark - Guardian (UK)
A crowning achievement.
Justine Jordan - Guardian (UK)
Some novels sing from the first line, with every word carrying the score to a searing climax, and Days Without End is such a book. It has the majestic inevitability of the best fiction, at once historical but also contemporary in its concerns.… Days Without End is pitch-perfect, the outstanding novel of the year so far.
Observer (UK)
For its exhilarating use of language alone, Sebastian Barry's Days Without End stood out among the year's novels. Epic in conception but comparatively brief in its extent, this brutal, beautiful book also features the year's most beguiling narrator.… A great American novel which happens to have been written by an Irishman.
Times Literary Supplement (UK)
A lyrical, violent, touching book that is a war story, and a surprising love story.… Barry, the Irish author, presents his tale in language that recalls great American writers, from Walt Whitman to Stephen Crane to Cormac McCarthy.… Barry’s lyrical prose is full of fire and tenderness, violence and compassion, providing a sweeping and intimate vision of America’s conquest and its continuing search for identity.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Days Without End is suffused with joy and good spirit.… Through Barry, the frontiersman has a poet’s sense of language.… If you underlined every sentence in Days Without End that has a rustic beauty to it, you’d end up with a mighty stripy book.
Sarah Begley - Time
An absorbing novel.… By making all of his characters rounded, full-blooded human beings, [Barry] has accomplished that thing—inclusion, I think we call it now—that art, particularly fiction, does best.… The writing is unflaggingly vital; sentence after sentence fragment leaps out with surprises.
Bay Area Reporter
Despite moments of humor and colorful metaphors, Thomas’s inconsistent, occasionally unconvincing narrative voice wavers between lyricism and earthiness. Thomas’s trail of woe, though historically accurate, makes for onerous reading.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) An unlikely love story … set on the American frontier in the mid 1800s, and its depth and beauty bring to mind the great prairie novels of Willa Cather..… A beautifully realized historical novel. —Patrick Sullivan, Manchester Community Coll., CT
Library Journal
(Starred review.) A tour de force of style and atmosphere.… Evocative of Cormac McCarthy and Charles Portis, Days Without End is a timeless work of historical fiction.
Booklist
(Starred review.) A lively, richly detailed story of one slice of the Irish immigrant experience in America.… Barry writes with a gloomy gloriousness: everyone that crosses his pages is in mortal danger, but there's an elegant beauty even in the most fraught moments.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available.)
Deacon King Kong
James McBride, 2020
Penguin Publishing
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780735216723
Summary
One of the most anticipated novels of the year: a wise and witty tale about what happens to the witnesses of a shooting—from James McBride, author of the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird.
In September 1969, a fumbling, cranky old church deacon known as Sportcoat shuffles into the courtyard of the Cause Houses housing project in south Brooklyn, pulls a .38 from his pocket, and in front of everybody shoots the project's drug dealer at point-blank range.
The reasons for this desperate burst of violence and the consequences that spring from it lie at the heart of Deacon King Kong, James McBride's funny, moving novel.
In Deacon King Kong, McBride brings to vivid life the people affected by the shooting: the victim, the African-American and Latinx residents who witnessed it, the white neighbors, the local cops assigned to investigate, the members of the Five Ends Baptist Church where Sportcoat was deacon, the neighborhood's Italian mobsters, and Sportcoat himself.
As the story deepens, it becomes clear that the lives of the characters—caught in the tumultuous swirl of 1960s New York—overlap in unexpected ways. When the truth does emerge, McBride shows us that not all secrets are meant to be hidden, that the best way to grow is to face change without fear, and that the seeds of love lie in hope and compassion.
Bringing to these pages both his masterly storytelling skills and his abiding faith in humanity, James McBride has written a novel every bit as involving as The Good Lord Bird and as emotionally honest as The Color of Water. Told with insight and wit, Deacon King Kong demonstrates that love and faith live in all of us. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—September 11, 1957
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Education—B.A., Oberlin College; M.A., Columbia University
• Awards—National Book Award
• Currently—lives in New York City and Lambertville, New Jersey.
James McBride, an American writer and musician, was raised in Brooklyn's Red Hook housing projects. His father, the Rev. Andrew D. McBride (1911–1957), was African-American and his mother, Ruchel Dwajra Zylska (1921–2010), was a Jewish immigrant from Poland. McBride was the last child Ruth had from her first marriage, and the eighth of 12 children in all.
I'm proud of my Jewish history,...Technically I guess you could say I'm Jewish since my mother was Jewish...but she converted (to Christianity). So the question is for theologians to answer.... I just get up in the morning happy to be living.
Two of his older brothers, Dennis and Billy, graduated with doctorates in medicine, but medicine had no appeal for James. Instead, he attended Oberlin College and received an undergraduate degree in music composition, followed by a Master's in journalism from Columbia University.
Journalism
As a journalist, he was on the staffs of many well-known publications, including Boston Globe, Washington Post, Wilmington (Delaware) News Journal, and People. He has also written for Rolling Stone, Us, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Essence, New York Times, and others. Mr. McBride is a charter member of the Clint Harding Network, a group of well-known journalists, writers and musicians who periodically have appeared live on a Missouri radio program for the last two decades.
Author
McBride is best known for his 1996 memoir, the bestselling The Color of Water, which describes his life growing up in a large, poor African American family led by a white, religious, and strict Jewish mother, whose father was an Orthodox rabbi, but converted and became devoutly Christian during her first marriage to Andrew McBride.
The memoir spent over two years on the New York Times bestseller list, and has become an American classic. It is read in high schools and universities across America, has been translated into 16 languages, and sold more than 2.5 million copies.
In 2002, he published a novel, Miracle at St. Anna, drawing on the history of the overwhelmingly African American 92nd Infantry Division in the Italian campaign from mid-1944 to April 1945. The book was adapted into the movie Miracle at St. Anna, directed by Spike Lee, released in 2008.
McBride's 2008 novel, Song Yet Sung, is about an enslaved woman who has dreams about the future, and a wide array of freed black people, enslaved people, and whites whose lives come together in the odyssey that surrounds the last weeks of this woman's life. Harriet Tubman served as an inspiration for the book, and it provides a fictional depiction of a code of communication that enslaved people used to help runaways attain freedom. The book, based on real-life events that occurred on Maryland's Eastern Shore, also featured the notorious criminal Patty Cannon as a villain.
In 2012 McBride co-wrote and co-produced the film Red Hook Summer with Spike Lee, and in 2014 he published The Good Lord Bird, a comic novel recounting the life of notorious abolitionist John Brown. It won the National Book Award.
Musician
McBride is the tenor saxophonist for the Rock Bottom Remainders, a group of best selling authors—Mitch Albom Dave Barry, Amy Tam, Scott Turow, to name a few—who are lousy musicians. "Hopefully," according to McBride, "the group has retired for good." However in 2013, along with the with the rest of the group, he co-authored Hard Listening: The Greatest Rock Bank Ever (of Authors) Tells All.
He has also toured as a saxophonist with jazz legend Little Jimmy Scott and has his own band that plays an eclectic blend of music. He has written songs for Anita Baker, Grover Washington Jr., Pura Fé, and Gary Burton.
In 2005, he published the first volume of The Process, a CD-based documentary about life as lived by low-profile jazz musicians.
McBride composed the theme music for the Clint Harding Network, Jonathan Demme's New Orlean's Documentary, Right to Return, and Ed Shockley's Off-Broadway musical Bobos.
McBride was awarded the 1997 American Music Festival’s Stephen Sondheim Award, the 1996 American Arts and Letters Richard Rodgers Award, and the 1996 ASCAP Richard Rodgers Horizons Award.
Personal
McBride is currently a Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at New York University. He has three children and lives between New York City and Lambertville, New Jersey. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 4/7/2014.)
Book Reviews
Cracking…Terrific…Deeply felt, beautifully written, and profoundly humane.
New York Times Book Review (Cover story)
McBride’s hilarious dialogue and an attention to detail reveals a complex local history. Capturing humanity through satire and witticisms, McBride draws everyday heroes.
Time
McBride returns with an improbably hilarious tapestry of late '60s Brooklyn, and an eclectic group of individuals that bore witness to a fatal shooting.
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review) With a Dickensian wealth of quirky characters, a sardonic but humane sense of humor reminiscent of Mark Twain…, McBride creates a lived-in world where everybody knows everybody’s business. This generous, achingly funny novel will delight and move readers.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) Much is unpacked by the time the book reaches its lovely and heartfelt climax, as McBride shows what can happen when people set aside their differences. Highly recommended, especially for fans of Jacqueline Woodson and Spike Lee. —Stephen Schmidt, Greenwich Lib., CT
Library Journal
(Starred review) While historical fiction fans will appreciate the richly detailed approach to Brooklyn’s grittiness, McBride's neighborhood saga ultimately sets a new standard for multidimensional fiction about people of color.
Booklist
(Starred review) McBride has a flair for fashioning comedy whose buoyant outrageousness barely conceals both a steely command of big and small narrative elements and a river-deep supply of humane intelligence. An exuberant comic opera set to the music of life.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Dead Behind the Eyes
Brock Car, 2014
Prairie Wind Publishing
300 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780983676164
Summary
Max Riley is a charismatic CEO of a large corporation headquartered in Denver. Everyone loves him. Well, not everyone. When he is found dead on the corporate jet en route to Omaha we discover Max has more than a few enemies.
Max’s family hires private investigator Claudia Sullivan to assist the police in their investigation. She digs deep into the cast of suspects to uncover what might drive them to murder while unraveling how a person’s past shapes their future.
Filled with sexual tension and erotic encounters, Dead Behind the Eyes examines the power of the human sex drive and the toxic waste it can spill on innocent victims.
As much a whydunit as a whodunit, Dead Behind the Eyes weaves a patchwork of compelling stories and relatable characters that explore why some of us are strengthened by adversity while others fold. Readers will question how well any of us really know those we hold close. (From the publisher.)
Watch the book video.
Author Bio
• Birth—October 20, 1949
• Where—Omaha, Nebraska, USA
• Education—B.S., University of Kansas
• Currently—North Hutchinson Island (Ft. Pierce) Florida, and Omaha, Nebraska
Brock Car was communications director for a telecommunications corporation prior to establishing her own marketing firm. She has written for periodicals and literary journals and covered murder trials and police investigations. Brock divides her time between Omaha and Hutchinson Island, Florida where she swims with the manatees and walks the beaches daily. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Book Reviews
The Omaha author has written a dandy mystery about an executive who boards a plane from Denver to Omaha only to be murdered inflight. Private investigator Claudia Sullivan finds plenty of secrets and suspects in her search for the truth.
Omaha World Herald
Ordinary people caught at their worst...I dare you to guess who did it.
Alex Kava - New York Times Bestselling Author of Maggie O'Dell series
...A wonderful message that what seems so perfect may not be as perfect as it seems. This is a book I couldn't let go. I hope there will be more books to follow. I want more. To me that is the sign of a good book.
Gayle's Reviews
Dead Behind The Eyes isn't bogged down with mindless conversation to bulk up the story. Instead, readers are thrown straight into the middle of characters' lives and the nitty-gritty of what we all want to know. A great read from a promising new writer. I quite enjoyed it.
UK Girl -Relaxing Reading
A worthy and exciting read which weaves together the central theme and a host of other topics...the whodunit genre at its best.
Babus Ahmed's Reviews
Psychological Mystery that Delivers! I bought this book with the expectation of reading a psychological mystery with focus on motive. Dead Behind the Eyes delivered! I can’t get the characters and their stories out of my mind. They have stayed with me for weeks — the mark of a good book. Brock Car has written a multi-layered yet tight story with well developed characters you come to understand and care about. I hope there will be a follow-up novel soon. I look forward to seeing which fork in the road Claudia chooses. A great read—summer or winter! (5/5 Stars).
DBWojo33 - Amazon customer Review
Real people, real relationships and there's murder. Dead Behind the Eyes' true to life characters kept me going from first page to last. I felt I had met these people—or at least people just like them—along my life's journey. While the intriguing cover suggests a murder mystery, that's almost secondary to the overriding theme of real people and their relationships. That said, I had no clue as to "whodunnit."
Christopher Alan - Amazon customer Review
Discussion Questions
1. Did Trish's commitment to her marriage make her appear strong or weak? Did your opinion change by the end of the book?
2. After learning about Leah's history did you find her to be a more sympathetic character?
3. Do you know a man like Max? Do you like him? Can you understand his actions?
4. Characters are sometimes revealed to be other than they appear. Which characters were "what you see is what you get"? How likely are we to really know another person?
5. Is there an absolute deal-breaker that would cause you to end a relationship? Has that changed over the years?
6. What are your thoughts on allowing non-Native Americans adopt Native American children?
7. Do you think Claudia is empathetic or guilt driven? Trusting or gullible?
8. Were you surprised by Max's response to the pilots when he was caught in a compromising position?
9 Do you agree that women of a certain age share Ruth's super power?
10. At the end of the book Claudia has some big decisions to make. How would you advise her? Could you take your own advice?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Dead Letters
Caite Dolan-Leach, 2017
Random House
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399588853
Summary
A missing woman leads her twin sister on a twisted scavenger hunt in this clever debut novel that will keep you guessing until the end—for readers of Gone Girl and The Girl Before.
“Ahoy, Ava! Welcome home, my sweet jet-setting twin! So glad you were able to wrest yourself away from your dazzling life in the City of Light; I hope my ‘death’ hasn’t interrupted anything too crucial.”
Ava Antipova has her reasons for running away: a failing family vineyard, a romantic betrayal, a mercurial sister, an absent father, a mother slipping into dementia. n Paris, Ava renounces her terribly practical undergraduate degree, acquires a French boyfriend and a taste for much better wine, and erases her past.
Two years later, she must return to upstate New York. Her twin sister, Zelda, is dead.
Even in a family of alcoholics, Zelda Antipova was the wild one, notorious for her mind games and destructive behavior. Stuck tending the vineyard and the girls’ increasingly unstable mother, Zelda was allegedly burned alive when she passed out in the barn with a lit cigarette.
But Ava finds the official explanation a little too neat. A little too Zelda. Then she receives a cryptic message—from her sister.
Just as Ava suspected, Zelda’s playing one of her games. In fact, she’s outdone herself, leaving a series of clues about her disappearance. With the police stuck on a red herring, Ava follows the trail laid just for her, thinking like her sister, keeping her secrets, immersing herself in Zelda’s drama and her outlandish circle of friends and lovers.
Along the way, Zelda forces her twin to confront their twisted history and the boy who broke Ava’s heart. But why? Is Zelda trying to punish Ava for leaving, or to teach her a lesson? Or is she simply trying to write her own ending?
Featuring a colorful, raucous cast of characters, Caite Dolan-Leach’s debut thriller takes readers on a literary scavenger hunt for clues concealed throughout the seemingly idyllic wine country, hidden in plain sight on social media, and buried at the heart of one tremendously dysfunctional, utterly unforgettable family. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Finger Lakes region, New York, USA
• Education—Trinity College (Dublin); American University of Paris
• Currently—lives in Paris, France
Caite Dolan-Leach is an American writer and translator currently living in Paris, France. Born in a small town in the Finger Lake region of upstate New York, she studied French in high school; by her senior year, as she claims in a Paris Review Daily interview…
French was the only class I bothered to attend with any diligence. I was too busy organizing my escape to far-flung climes; a foreign language was the most likely thing to help me secure this imagined, overseas future.
In her first "escape to farflung climes," Dolan-Leach attended Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. She has since lived in Italy, South Africa, and France, where she attended the American University of Paris and now lives.
Dolan-Leach's first novel, Dead Letters, was published in 2017, and she has co-translated of two other novels: Orphans (U.S., 2014) by Hadrien Laroche and Newspaper (U.S., 2015) by Edouard Leve. (Adapted from various online sources.)
Book Reviews
Dolan-Leach’s clever thriller explores the fraying ties that bind twin sisters.… When it comes, the answer may feel somewhat contrived, but on the way to it readers will enjoy this full-bodied novel about a family of vintners.
Abigail Meisel - New York Times Book Review
Ava, the star of this atmospheric debut, isn’t convinced her calculating twin sister, Zelda, is really dead—especially after she starts getting enigmatic emails from Zelda’s account, propelling her on a complicated hunt for the truth (The Must List).
Entertainment Weekly
The disappearance of Ava’s wild-child twin is just the beginning of this roller-coaster read that’s as enthralling as it is WTF?!
Cosmopolitan
(Starred review.) [A] smart, dazzling mystery with a twist that…leaves the reader hunting for the next clue. Dolan-Leach revels in toying with both Ava and her audience, placing small hints and red herrings throughout her text, and the result is captivating.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [A] compelling mystery with only hints of murder…that centers on family and particularly on the power of genetics, sisterhood, and loss. A story as compassionate and insightful as it is riveting. —Michele Leber, Arlington, VA
Library Journal
Considering questions of identity, loyalty, and reliance, Dolan-Leach’s tautly crafted crime debut will resonate with fans of Gillian Flynn’s and Paula Hawkins’s domestic psychological thrillers.
Booklist
Ava discovers a burner phone that Zelda left behind, and soon she's getting messages from beyond the grave.… Dolan-Leach nimbly entwines the clever mystery of Agatha Christie [and] the wit of Dorothy Parker.… A sharp, wrenching tale of the true love only twins know.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use these LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Dead Letters…then take off on your own:
1. In what ways are the twins different from one another, and how are they similar? Describe their relationship, as well as the different path in life each has followed. Why, for instance, did Ava run off while Zelda stayed put?
2. What do the "dead letters" tell us about each of the young women?
3. What role does Nadine play in all of this? What do you think of her?
4. At what point does Ava suspect that her sister is still alive, and why? What about you—did you think likewise?
5. What red=herrings (false leads) does Caite Dolan-Leech set out for readers to lead us off track.
6. Did the ending catch you off guard? If not…when did you begin to suspect the truth? Go back over the text and suss out the hints that were there all the time. Did you pick up on any of them…or skip right over them (come on, be honest).
7. How does the twist change your understanding of the novel's title?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Deafening
Francis Itani, 2003
Grove/Atlantic
378 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802141651
Summary
Winner, 2004 Commonwealth Writers Prize
Frances Itani's lauded and award-winning American debut novel has been sold in sixteen countries, was a Canadian best seller for sixteen weeks, reaching #1, and has been awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize Best Book Award for the Caribbean and Canadian Region.
Set on the eve of the Great War, Deafening is a tale of remarkable virtuosity and power.
At the age of five, Grania emerges from a bout of scarlet fever profoundly deaf, and is suddenly sealed off from the world that was just beginning to open for her. Sent to the Ontario School for the Deaf, Grania must learn to live away from her family.
When Grania falls in love with Jim Lloyd, a young hearing man, her life seems complete, but WWI soon tears them apart when Jim is sent to the battlefields of Flanders. During this long and brutal war of attrition, Jim and Grania's letters back and forth—both real and imagined—attempt to sustain the intimacy they discovered in Canada.
A magnificent tale of love and war, Deafening is also an ode to language-how it can console, imprison, and liberate, and how it alone can bridge vast chasms of geography and experience. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 25, 1942
• Where—Belleville, Ontario, Canada
• Raised—Quebec
• Education—Commonwealth Writers Prize
• Currently—N/A
Frances Susan Itani is a Canadian fiction writer, poet and essayist.
Itani was born in Belleville, Ontario and grew up in Quebec. She studied nursing in Montreal and North Carolina, a profession which she taught and practised for eight years. However, after enrolling in a writing class taught by W. O. Mitchell, she decided to change careers.
Itani has published ten books, ranging from fiction and poetry to a children's book. Her 2003 novel Deafening won the Commonwealth Writers Prize, Caribbean and Canada region, and has been published in 16 countries. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[D]espite all the pleasures Itani is able to deliver, her decision to split the book into Grania's and Jim's chapters ends up causing a fatal falling-off in momentum. It is as if three books—one concerning Grania's childhood, another concerning her life on the home front and the third detailing Jim's army experience—were uneasily trying to coexist within one cover. The conversation Itani is able to create among these three narratives is insufficient to the task of calling them into unity. Though Deafening flows admirably in the early going, it ends up being more memorable for its failures than for this early success. —Mark Baechtel
Washington Post Book World
War and deafness are the twin themes of this psychologically rich, impeccably crafted debut novel set during WWI. Born in the late 19th century, Grania O'Neill comes from solid middle-class stock, her father a hotel owner in Deseronto, Ontario, her mother a God-fearing daughter of an Irish immigrant. When Grania is five, she loses her hearing to scarlet fever. When she is nine, she is sent to the Ontario Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in Belleville and given an education not only in lipreading, signing and speaking but also in emotional self-sufficiency. After graduating, she works as a nurse in the Belleville hospital, where she meets and falls in love with Jim Lloyd. They marry, but Jim is bound for the war as a stretcher bearer. His war is hell on earth: lurid wounds; stinks; sudden, endless slaughter redeemed only by comradeship. Itani's remarkably vivid, unflinching descriptions of his ordeal tend to overshadow Grania's musings on the home front, but Grania's story comes to the fore again when her brother-in-law and childhood friend, Kenan, comes back to Deseronto from the trenches in Europe with a dead arm and a half-smashed face, refusing to speak. Grania, who was educated to configure sounds she couldn't hear into words that "the hearing" could understand, brings Kenan back to life by teaching him sounds again, and then by making portraits of the people in the town whom she, Kenan and her sister Tress know in common. As she talks to Kenan, she reinvigorates him with a sense that his life, having had such a rich past, must have a future, too. This subplot eloquently expresses Itani's evident, pervasive faith in the unexpected power of story to not only represent life but to enact itself within lives. Her wonderfully felt novel is a timely reminder of war's cost, told from an unexpected perspective. Itani's first novel is reminiscent of Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy and has a good chance of striking a similar popular chord.
Publishers Weekly
Scarlet fever robs Grania O'Neill of her hearing when she is five years old. After learning to sign and read lips, she is sent, at nine, to the Ontario School for the Deaf. Determined to make a life for herself without becoming a burden to her family, Grania works at the school hospital after graduation until she meets and marries Jim Lloyd. Shortly after their wedding, he heads off to the Great War as a stretcher bearer. Award-winning Canadian writer Itani does a good job of presenting her considerable research into education for the hearing-impaired in the early 20th century, small-town Canadian life, and World War I trench warfare, without allowing the details to overshadow what is essentially a character study and romance. Lorraine Hamelin reads with both sensitivity and humor and handles Grania's dialog well, making it sound realistic and intelligible. Sections of Deafening could easily have come across as too sentimental or too grim, but Hamelin keeps the emotional elements under control. Recommended for all collections. —Michael Adams, CUNY Graduate Ctr.
Library Journal
Jim and Grania pine as wartime separated lovers do, but their story's real strength is their separate, if parallel, struggles to deal with their unforgiving surroundings. Her original treatment of classic wartime romance will make Itani's readers want more. —Brendan Driscoll
Booklist
An impressively daring first novel from Canada—storywriter Itani's US debut—immerses us in both the world of the deaf and the world of WWI trench warfare. Grania O'Neill is a lucky little girl. Even though her scarlet fever brings on incurable deafness, she is encircled by her family's love. Yes, she is smart and strong-willed, but it is the love of grandmother Mamo and big sister Tress that pulls her through (Mother's love is obstructed by guilt). It's a new century; this family of Irish immigrants owns a hotel in a small Canadian company town on Lake Ontario. The practical Mamo becomes Grania's mentor, but realizes that Grania must leave the charmed circle to attend a boarding school for the deaf. Institutional life has Grania crying for two weeks until she takes control. We learn along with her: how words can be felt; how to concentrate on whatever moves; how to "look for the information" by developing "an extra eye." Grania stays on after graduation, working in the school hospital, where she meets Jim Lloyd. The attraction between deaf and hearing person is immediate. Even though Jim will soon be headed over there (it's 1915), the two decide on marriage, a wedding blessed by Mamo. At the front in Belgium, Jim is a stretcher-bearer. We tumble into a pit of horrors. The noise is relentless. Some of the boys, though uninjured, will become deaf. They work together with the enemy in No Man's Land, soundlessly, miming their search for the wounded. Artful links, these, to Grania's odyssey, which could have been overwhelmed by the frontline gore. There is grim news on the home front, too, as Grania nearly succumbs to the great influenza epidemic of 1918; Mamo sacrifices her own life to save her. Jim returns home unharmed, but with "old eyes." Husband and wife embody Itani's theme: the power and reach of love—love that falters only in the face of the unknowable. Itani never loses control of her tricky material: the result is an artistic triumph.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. How well does Itani's novel convey the world of the deaf, specifically that of Grania? Are we persuaded that we are inside Grania's silent world?
2. In drawing a character who is profoundly deaf, an author might be tempted to overstate her virtues and triumphs. Is this so in Deafening? How is Grania depicted realistically? Do you find her subject to anger, resentment, and brooding? In other words, isn't she human? We learn about Grania's deafness primarily from the narrator, with Grania herself as a prism. But we also learn about it from other multiple sources. What are they? Does Grania's deafness serve as a litmus test for other characters' humanity?
3. What makes Deafening a work of consequence? Certainly it teaches us about both the limitations of deafness and the possibilities open to a person of inner strength and determination. What are other concerns of the novel? It is clear that enormous research has informed the book. Do you find that references to public events like the sinking of the Lusitania or Alexander Graham Bell's research into deafness connect the story to a larger context?
4. Are there advantages to deafness? Consider the pleasure of a fireworks display without the racket: "a display of Roman candles, fire balloons and sky-rockets, pin wheels and fountain wheels. The night exploded silently before their eyes while, tired and excited, they leaned into each other's warmth, their skirts tucked beneath them as they sat on the grass of the school lawns that were lighted all around with electric lights hidden inside Japanese lanterns. All of this, she tried to convey to Tress" (p. 90).
Are there times when you have experienced a remarkable quiet? Think of a deep snowstorm in the city when the noise is absent. Do you sympathize with people who buy earphones, not for music but to block sound. Is there a special pleasure about silent movies? Even though we have elaborate technology for sound, isn't it often abused? Would a film like Winged Migration be more effective without its music soundtrack?
"She stood at her bedroom window and peered out. In all of the winter whiteness, perhaps silence was everywhere. She would ask Mamo. Beneath the window she saw undisturbed snow in the street, and a glistening over the new layer of ice. When snow covered the earth, did it also absorb sound? She felt safe during snowstorms, although this was something she could not have explained. Perhaps hearing and deaf people were joined in the same way for a brief time in a silent world" (p. 261). Is Grania's speculative turn of mind a major component of her learning language?
5. From the time Grania insists on earless paper dolls, she asserts her will as well as the reality of her deafness. (In contrast one thinks of the black child in Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye who despaired because she didn't look like her blond doll.) Grania dreams with decision: her earless girl will go to the C-shore and play safely in the waves (p.45). . Can you think of other times when Grania uses her deafness for her own purposes? With the odious Cora, for example?
An ironic footnote is that later in her life when Grania and others are living "inside a feeling of terrible necessity (endless war, loss, crumbling business because of Temperance) Grania "pressed her hands to her ears as if, by doing so, she would silence the flow of her own thoughts" (p. 246).
6. How can we trace Grania's learning process? We know she retains a few random shreds from actual pre-deaf experience, and she has a phenomenal memory. How does she accumulate the information and skills she needs to become a fully functioning person? What is the role of Tress? Of Mamo? (" the gift of pictures and words, learned and remembered and stored" p. 42). Other characters who contribute to her growth? How do Itani's images help us enter Grania's thinking? C-shore. "She says 'C' and 'shore' over and over again. She twists the word into yellow rope and stores it in her memory" (p. 44).
7. Do you see an identifiable moral sense in Deafening? If so, what would it be? What behavior is condemned, what is extolled, and what merely condoned or tolerated? What do Cora (who seems to resent Grania's very existence) and her daughter Jewel represent? You recall it is Jewel who pins the white feather on Bernard. When we enter the world of the war, the moral senses are both sharpened and made ambiguous. One moment that is clear is the sinking of the Lusitania: "The drowning of those women and babies was a cowardly act. A brutal act by cowardly men" (p. 101) . How is history made vivid and relevant? For Grania it is "one hundred and fifty dead babies floating in the sea off the coast of Ireland" (p. 109).
8. What are we to make of Grania's mother? She prays for miracles, makes pilgrimages, including the doctor in America and the shrine in Quebec, hoping to cure her daughter's deafness, to no avail. Guilt assails her. Why? Even when Grania wants to share sign language, her mother resists. "I have too much work to do" (p. 92). Is the work a pretext? What is the result in their relationship? Grania "felt the hard wall that was Mother's will, Mother's intent. Three years after she finished school she could still feel Mother's will" (p. 116) . Is there ever a time that things change for them? Consider Mother's startling act when Kenan is injured (p. 249).
When Jim enters Grania's life, how does Mother respond? Remember "No announcements"? In clinging to her guilt and prayers, is Mother dismissing Grania? Does her intransigence further distance her husband? Would it shake Mother's reality to think Grania might be not only independent but also perhaps happy?
9. The love story: are there times when the necessity for a private language turns into a delight? " they had begun to create a language of their own. It arose as naturally as the love between them, an invented code no one would ever break" (p. 123). Is it partly their challenges that keep them from taking their love for granted? "He brushed a fingertip over his lips and signalled across the room Grania's cheeks reddened furiously when he made the public-private display .He had never known a language that so thoroughly encompassed love. She had never felt so safe" (p. 124) . When are other times that the special language links between Jim and Grania become almost enviable?
10. How do Grania and Jim survive their years-long separation and the fear that attends it? As he leaves for war, "he took her hand and held it firmly inside his own and she felt only the pressure of his skin on hers. Don't let go. The war is close. The war is closing in. Against her will, a part of her was shutting down. It was happening to him, too. He is leaving before it's time to go. And though she hated what was happening to both of them, she knew that in the same way he was pulling away, she was pulling back, searching for the safe place inside herself. If she could find it, she would stay there until he returned (p.140).
Do we regard this pragmatism as somehow counter-romantic? Could it be that part of their strength as a couple is based on their strong sense of survival as individuals? These are not immature young people, either one. Jim has been orphaned, twice really, counting his grandparents.
11. If deafness in the novel becomes a world of possibility, a triumph of human ingenuity, then can war be seen as a thematic opposite? At first the war is seen by leaders and soldiers alike as a theater for grand achievements: patriotism, courage, adventure, manhood, and brotherhood. What happens to these dreams of glory both on the large scale and the personal? What do you think is Itani's purpose in writing the war scenes? It was Irish who said, "These are the sights the mind gorges on in horror forever, Jimmy" (p. 213).
The destruction is made vivid in this scene: "It was one of the horrors of the war — the terrible waste of living creatures. Thousands upon thousands of horses and mules were buried and unburied across the scarred landscape in these corners of Belgium and France" (p. 214). And then the human toll.
One scene in particular is memorable, powerful in its understatement, when Jim meets his German double, also assigned to help the injured. What does Jim take away from the encounter? In this case it is a German who gives first aid to a wounded Canadian and helps load him onto a stretcher. No words are exchanged. Jim tries to hate his enemy "but there was only coldness, no other feeling. Coldness and the hatred of war" (p. 216). Do we deduce that the young German, same age as Jim, same filthy uniform, feels the same?
12. Jim's need to communicate with Grania is so strong that he writes letters in his head he will never be able to send.: " the fear in the eyes of the horses. My own jostling comrades, as tightly packed as the horses the stench of being close together..the feeling of stagnation. We are ready to go but we are squashed onto a cattle boat that keeps us in England and brings us no closer to the shores of France. A monoplane appears out of nowhere. The buzz in the sky hovers overhead like a portent. It is a wonderful machine to see. I try to imagine the thrill of freedom a man unknown to me must feel up there, sailing through the sky, looking down on us, a luckless clump of men trapped within the confines of an old cattle boat" (p. 155).
The perils of war, the fears, courage, brutality, brotherhood and waste of war are perhaps universal from Troy to the Somme to Vietnam. How does Itani create simultaneously a specific time, World War I, and the timelessness of all wars?
13. War takes center stage for much of the novel. But the issues at the front and those at home often echo each other. Think of isolation, fear, friendship, and the need for communication. How does Itani create a counterpoint between home and "over there"?
14. How would you compare or contrast Deafening with other war books you have read. Think of some titles. Did those works glorify or at least justify war? Do any of them seem like out-and-out antiwar books? How would you characterize Itani's novel?
15. How would you describe Itani's narrative method? How does she structure the novel? Would you say the device of interweaving memories and the Sunday book throughout is a fair evocation of Grania's thinking process? Of anyone's?
16. It stands to reason that some things will always be difficult for Grania. What are some of these inevitables? "As always, in a group, words jumped the circle quickly and could not be read. When Mamo and Tress were with her, Grania was included. She had only to cast a sideways glance at either to follow their familiar lips — lips that formed words without creating so much as a whisper, lips that supplied silent commentary as they had been doing since she was five years old. Keeping her inside the circle of information" (p. 226). Do you sense that she will always need dependable allies to help her navigate?
We recall the poignancy of her instinct that "for her, alone is best" and yet her need to reach out to children in the hearing school. She succumbs to the hope of playing their game unaware that she is the game, the butt. She watches and tries to capture their words, but fails. "Whatever it is bounces from one child to another, erupting the way mayflies erupt on the surface of the water, quick, impossible to catch The children keep it in front, overhead, behind, to the side. But behind does not exist. Not for her. Behind is the darkness outside of thought. It's the place where sound gathers, sound that she is not meant to hear" (p. 55). Do you find language like this, imagery close to poetry, effective in capturing Grania's world?
17. Memory translates into smell for Grania often. As she leaves school in June, "Grania's nose sniffs carbolic acid when she thinks of the trunk; her own and everyone else's will be fumigated, clothes and all, when they return in the fall" (p. 88). What other smells are particularly important for her? Think of Mamo and her scent, one that comforts Grania after her grandmother's death. In a parallel way, how is Grania's understanding of the world heightened in a visual way?
18. Are secrets important in the book? Think of Tress, Aunt Maggie, Mrs. Brant, Mamo, Kenan, Grew, and Father. In this book discuss how secrets are used for connection or exclusion or simply to maintain privacy.
19. Someone has sprung the question: "Can the deaf think?" Why not ask a few more: "Can the deaf eat?" "Can the deaf sleep?" "Can the deaf breathe?" It strikes us that the fool-killer misses a good many possible swats with his club. The Canadian (p.336)
The absurdity of the passage is blatant to us after reading Deafening. Are there other "differences" that distance us from people until we get to know them? What are some of these? Ethnic, religious, sexual, social, racial? We think of Shakespeare's Shylock saying, "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands affections, passions? If you prick us, do we not bleed?" (Merchant of Venice) In your experience can you remember getting over a hump of similar ignorance? Do you believe that literature can help us in this regard?
20. Do you identify with Grania in some ways? Isn't the world view of any person necessarily limited? Cobbled together from bits and pieces learned and observed? Relating ideas, thinking, may be as instinctive as the senses, but the raw data to some degree remains random and partial. Do you agree? Discuss examples in your own life or that of others.
21. How does Canada per se assume importance in Deafening? How does Itani establish a sense of place? Is it a frontier, a place of fresh starts, of self-creation? Is it hard for Americans to comprehend "We are coming, Mother Britain, we are coming to your aid. / There's a debt we owe our fathers, and we mean to see it paid" (poem in The Canadian, p. 120).
Are there ambiguous feelings about the war in Grania's community? At one point, Grania, observing the piano player for a recruitment concert wonders "with his son in France, what Grew thought of tonight's show of patriotism" (p. 135). On the other hand, "the thrill of being part of this moment could not be denied. Jim and all of these men were leaving to serve their country" (p. 140). Do you see analogies in recent days in America, conflicting ideas about patriotism?
It is just as pleasant and grand a thing to die for Canada and the British Empire today as it was for Rome in the brave days of old. The Canadian (p.243).
"Was she the only one who was angry?" wonders Grania. It is worth recalling Wifred Owen's poem, "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" from 1920. Does Itani create the same tone of bitter irony?
22. In the novel music assumes definite importance. What are some examples? Think of Mamo and Grania, and Grania sitting on the step singing to Carlow. For Jim music is bred in the bone; he plays the piano, the harmonica, and he sings. How does music begin to make sense to Grania? "Grania believed that music and song were everywhere. Not only in clouds but in flights of birds, in oak leaves that brushed the dorm window, in the children's legs as they raced across the lawns. 'It's silly, isn't it,' she signed. 'My memory of sound is gone for all those years — fourteen years — but I feel as if my brain remembers music'" (p. 115). Does music, paradoxically, become a bond for Grania and Jim? How do they make this bond?
23. Sound and silence knit the disparate elements of the book together. Can you think of examples? Some of the severely wounded stop speaking: Kenan, for example. Others become deaf without evident cause. Jim, as a musician, has a keen sensitivity to sound, and the relentless clamor of war makes it a circle of Dante's hell for him. Sound bombards them, terrifies them, blocks out thought. When it's not the bombs and guns, it is the screams of pain and constant complaining. Do you find that Itani is as effective in describing the horrors of war noise as she is the silent world of the deaf? "Sound was always more important to the hearing," said Grania (p. 127). How does Grania later communicate to Jim the joys of Armistice? (p.327). Do you find it ironic that it is the hearing administrators who dictate the Canadian''s description? Is it Grania's love for Jim, her understanding of his sensitivity to sound and music that leads her to share details denied to her?
What does it mean when Grania opens the floodgates of memory to Kenan, her sharp observations of their shared childhood? What is the significance for Grania? For Kenan? He, too, can finally break through with war memories. " it was so dark. So much noise. There was no silence in that place. The boys went mad from the sound. Some tried to dig their own graves" (p. 282).
24. How is teaching a major force in the novel? Consider the teaching that works and that which doesn't, such as Grania's first experience in hearing school where the teacher turn her head away or otherwise ignores her. When does Grania show her remarkable talents for teaching? How does the teaching work both ways with Tress, Mamo, and Jim? Mamo at one point puts down the Sunday book, that breakthrough miracle book for Grania. "Grania begins to teach Mamo the hand alphabet — which the old arthritic hands delight in learning. M-a-m-o, Grania spells, and she creates a name-sign, tapping a three-fingered 'M' against her cheek"(p.91). Think about the extraordinary bonds that are created between students and teachers when it really works. After reading Deafening, what do you think are the relative merits of signing versus "oral method"? Do you think either should be used to the exclusion of the other? We recall Fry's saying " As long as we permit hearing teachers to disapprove of our language, we will always be made to feel ashamed" (p.338). Do you find a persuasive picture of some of these issues in the play or film Children of a Lesser God?
25. How does illness figure as a major motif? Consider Grania's two serious diseases, as well as the results of the epidemic of influenza. As we read of SARS, do we feel we have made progress since 1918? As debates rage about civil liberties versus Draconian measures to protect against a Typhoid Mary threat, what are your thoughts?
26. How is Mamo crucial in giving Grania a strong sense of herself? As Mamo relates Grania's own history, she underscores the momentous day of her birth. What happened on that day in Deseronto? "Mamo falls silent and contemplates the miracle of new life in the midst of destruction" (p.33). Indeed it is Mamo who serves as midwife to help deliver her granddaughter, a lifelong sustaining connection between them. In what other ways does Mamo provide lifelines for Grania?
27. Frances Itani sees this novel as being about love and hope-despite loss and sickness, war and devastation. She has worked thematically with "emptiness as source." Do you think she has achieved this, even partially? Discuss.
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Dear Daughter
Elizabeth Little, 2014
Viking Adult
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670016389
Summary
Former "It Girl" Janie Jenkins is sly, stunning, and fresh out of prison. Ten years ago, at the height of her fame, she was incarcerated for the murder of her mother, a high-society beauty known for her good works and rich husbands.
Now, released on a technicality, Janie makes herself over and goes undercover, determined to chase down the one lead she has on her mother’s killer. The only problem? Janie doesn’t know if she’s the killer she’s looking for.
Janie makes her way to an isolated South Dakota town whose mysteries rival her own. Enlisting the help of some new friends (and the town’s wary police chief), Janie follows a series of clues—an old photograph, an abandoned house, a forgotten diary—and begins to piece together her mother’s seemingly improbable connection to the town.
When new evidence from Janie’s own past surfaces, she’s forced to consider the possibility that she and her mother were more alike than either of them would ever have imagined.
As she digs tantalizingly deeper, and as suspicious locals begin to see through her increasingly fragile facade, Janie discovers that even the sleepiest towns hide sinister secrets—and will stop at nothing to guard them. On the run from the press, the police, and maybe even a murderer, Janie must choose between the anonymity she craves and the truth she so desperately needs.
A gripping, electrifying debut novel with an ingenious and like-it-or-not sexy protagonist, Dear Daughter follows every twist and turn as Janie unravels the mystery of what happened the night her mother died—whatever the cost. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—St. Louis, Missouri, USA
• Education—B.A., Harvard University
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
A graduate of Harvard University, Elizabeth Little is the author of the nonfiction books Biting the Wax Tadpole and Trip of the Tongue. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.. (From .)
Book Reviews
Little keeps you guessing until the end—and then closes her book with a final, twisted flourish.
Daneet Steffens - Boston Globe
Engrossing.... The unlikable protagonist with a biting personality and outrageous actions, but who is fascinating at the same time, has never been more popular. Just think of Gone Girl. In her confident fiction debut, Elizabeth Little puts a fresh spin on this character in the form of Jane Jenkins, a young woman famous for being famous until she was sent to prison for the murder of her wealthy socialite mother. Little also makes Dear Daughter a parable about the cult of the celebrity stoked by a relentless press and a ruthless public’s thirst for details of a woman it loves to hate.
Associated Press
This is not your mother’s mystery. The clever, prickly and profane heroine is, after all, a former It Girl whose aim as a teen was to be the next Paris Hilton, only better.... Sassy and lively.... The book’s satisfying conclusion somehow manages to tie things up while also providing a cliffhanger, a pretty neat trick for a debut novel.
Colleen Kelly - Minneapolis Star Tribune
[A] fun and riveting debut mystery.
San Diego Union Tribune
When former It Girl Janie Jenkins is released from prison, she embarks on a mission to discover if it was really she who murdered her mother. The debut novel’s twists will easily hook you, but it’s the narrator’s dark wit and sharp observations that make this a truly fun read.”
Entertainment Weekly
A former It Girl hunts down her mom’s murderer in this can’t-put-down thriller.”
Cosmopolitan
In prison for her mother’s murder, L.A. socialite Jane Jenkins is released on a technicality. To track down the real killer Jane gets plain, goes underground and stirs up dangerous amounts of dirt in her mom’s South Dakota hometown.”
Good Housekeeping
[An] assured fiction debut... Little effectively intersperses outside perspective in the form of emails, text messages, and other communications in Jane’s entertainingly caustic first-person narrative.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Little makes a thrilling debut with this gripping read. Fans of Tana French and Gillian Flynn are going to enjoy the smart narrator and the twists and turns in the case. —Robin Nesbitt, Columbus Metropolitan Lib., OH
Library Journal
Stunning and chilling.... A harrowing story that will keep readers on the edge of their seat. The ending is like a punch in the nose, coming out of nowhere and leaving readers breathless. Whether you take this mystery to the beach or relax in front of your air conditioner, this is a novel you should not miss.
Bookreporter.com
Agatha Christie meets Kim Kardashian in this sharp-edged, tart-tongued, escapist thriller.... The town is like one of Christie’s closed rooms—someone who lives there holds the key.... This is breezy reading: nothing too deep or disturbing, and stronger on style than plot.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they more one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you, the reader, begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers are skillful at hiding clues in plain sight. How well does the author hide the clues in this work?
4. Does the author use red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray?
5. Talk about plot's twists & turns—those surprising developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense? Are they plausible? Or do the twists & turns feel forced and preposterous—inserted only to extend the story.
6. Does the author ratchet up the story's suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? How does the author build suspense?
7. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Is it probable or believable? Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 2). Or does the ending come out of the blue? Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out? Or perhaps it's too predictable. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Dear Edward
Ann Napolitano, 2020
Random House
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781984854780
Summary
What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?
One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles.
Among them are a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured veteran returning from Afghanistan, a business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband.
Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.
Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a part of himself has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers.
But then he makes an unexpected discovery—one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do you find the strength to put one foot in front of the other? How do you learn to feel safe again? How do you find meaning in your life?
Dear Edward is at once a transcendent coming-of-age story, a multidimensional portrait of an unforgettable cast of characters, and a breathtaking illustration of all the ways a broken heart learns to love again. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Ann Napolitano is the author of the novels A Good Hard Look (2011), Within Arm’s Reach (2004), and Dear Edward (2020). She is also the associate editor of One Story literary magazine.
Napolitano received an MFA from New York University. She has taught fiction writing at Brooklyn College’s MFA program, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and Gotham Writers Workshop. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[A] haunting novel that's a masterful study in suspense, grief and survival…. Napolitano's fearless examination of what took place models a way forward for all of us. She takes care not to sensationalize, presenting even the most harrowing scenes in graceful, understated prose, and gives us a powerful book about living a meaningful life during the most difficult of times.
Angie Kim - New York Times Book Review
There’s something brutal about killing a planeload of people and then introducing a handful of them and killing them all over again. But the cruelty of this aspect of the novel’s structure is countered by the astonishing tenderness of other sections.… Napolitano captures the subtle shades of Edward’s spirit like the earliest intimations of dawn… [and] in Napolitano’s gentle handling, it’s persistently lovely.… [Dear Edward is] one of the most touching stories you’re likely to read in the new year.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
Make sure you have tissues handy when you read Ann Napolitano's Dear Edward, a sure-footed tearjerker about the miraculous—but troubled—survival of a 12-year-old boy…. [M]oving…. Dear Edward is in part a tale of survivor guilt, which is fueled by the weight of oppressive, often bizarre expectations on the miracle boy, especially from the families of victims who want him to fulfill their loved ones' dreams and plans.
Heller McAlpin - NPR
Exquisite… an insightful and moving testament to the indomitability of the human spirit.
People
A sort of willful tearjerker…. The first chapter, an ode to the mundane routines of air travel, contains real bite and an authenticity the novel loses hold of; subsequent airborne revelations (She’s pregnant! He’s gay!) feel indulgently mawkish. But Edward’s path to finding purpose and connection is realized with an affecting, quiet empathy. You’ll sob to the end.
Entertainment Weekly
The potent prose brings readers close to the complex emotional and psychological fallout after tragedy.… [B]ut by the end, readers will feel a comforting sense of solace. Napolitano’s depiction of the nuances of post-trauma experiences is fearless, compassionate, and insightful.
Publishers Weekly
[P]enetrating…. [W]hat makes this narrative so effective is its alternating between the ordinary events unfolding on the flight and the aftermath of the crash, which keeps the sense of loss and the significance of what has happened fresh in readers' minds. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal
(Starred review) With its expert pacing and picture-perfect final page, Dear Edward is a wondrous read. It is a skillful and satisfying examination of not only what it means to survive, but of what it means to truly live.
Booklist
For some readers, Napolitano's premise will be too dark to bear…[with] our inability to protect ourselves or our children from the worst-case scenario…. Well-written and insightful but so heartbreaking that it raises the question of what a reader is looking for in fiction.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Dear John
Nicholas Sparks, 2006
Grand Central Publishing
352pp.
ISBN-13: 9780446567336
Summary
An angry rebel, John dropped out of school and enlisted in the Army, not knowing what else to do with his life—until he meets the girl of his dreams, Savannah. Their mutual attraction quickly grows into the kind of love that leaves Savannah waiting for John to finish his tour of duty, and John wanting to settle down with the woman who captured his heart.
But 9/11 changes everything. John feels it is his duty to re-enlist. And sadly, the long separation finds Savannah falling in love with someone else. "Dear John," the letter read...and with those two words, a heart was broken and two lives were changed forever.
Returning home, John must come to grips with the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love—and face the hardest decision of his life. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 31. 1965
• Where—Omaha, Nebraska, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Notre Dame
• Currently—lives in New Bern, North Carolina
Nicholas Charles Sparks is an American novelist, screenwriter and producer. He has published some 20 novels, plus one non-fiction. Ten have been adapted to films, including Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John, The Last Song, The Lucky One, and most recently The Longest Ride.
Background
Sparks was born to Patrick Michael Sparks, a professor of business, and Jill Emma Marie Sparks (nee Thoene), a homemaker and an optometrist's assistant. He was the middle of three children, with an older brother and a younger sister, "Dana", who died at the age of 33 from a brain tumor. Sparks said that she is the inspiration for the main character in his novel A Walk to Remember.
His father was pursuing graduate studies at University of Minnesota and University of Southern California, and the family moved a great deal, so by the time Sparks was eight, he had lived in Watertown, Minnesota, Inglewood, California, Playa del Rey, California, and Grand Island, Nebraska, which was his mother's hometown during his parents' one year separation.
In 1974 his father became a professor of business at California State University, Sacramento teaching behavioral theory and management. His family settled in Fair Oaks, California, and remained there through Nicholas's high school days. He graduated in 1984 as valedictorian from Bella Vista High School, then enrolled at the University of Notre Dame under a full track and field scholarship. In his freshman year, his team set a record for the 4 x 800 relay.
Sparks majored in business finance and graduated from Notre Dame with honors in 1988. He also met his future wife that year, Cathy Cote from New Hampshire, while they were both on spring break. They married in 1989 and moved to New Bern, North Carolina.
Writing career
While still in school in 1985, Sparks penned his first (never published) novel, The Passing, while home for the summer between freshman and sophomore years at Notre Dame. He wrote another novel in 1989, also unpublished, The Royal Murders.
After college, Sparks sought work with publishers or to attend law school, but was rejected in both attempts. He then spent the next three years trying other careers, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone and starting his own manufacturing business.
In 1990, Sparks co-wrote with Billy Mills Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding. The book was published by Random House sold 50,000 copies in its first year.
In 1992, Sparks began selling pharmaceuticals and in 1993 was transferred to Washington, DC. It was there that he wrote another novel in his spare time, The Notebook. Two years later, he was discovered by literary agent Theresa Park, who picked The Notebook out of her agency's slush pile, liked it, and offered to represent him. In October 1995, Park secured a $1 million advance for The Notebook from Time Warner Book Group. The novel was published in 1996 and made the New York Times best-seller list in its first week of release.
With the success of his first novel, he and Cathy moved to New Bern, NC. After his first publishing success, he began writing his string of international bestsellers.
Personal life and philanthropy
Sparks continues to reside in North Carolina with his wife Cathy, their three sons, and twin daughters. A Roman Catholic since birth, he and his wife are raising their children in the Catholic faith.
In 2008, Entertainment Weekly reported that Sparks and his wife had donated "close to $10 million" to start a private Christian college-prep school, The Epiphany School of Global Studies, which emphasizes travel and lifelong learning.
Sparks also donated $900,000 for a new all-weather tartan track to New Bern High School. He also donates his time to help coach the New Bern High School track team and a local club track team as a volunteer head coach.
In addition to track, he funds scholarships, internships and annual fellowship to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame. (Adapted from Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
It isn't hard to picture John Tyree. We can simply imagine his predecessors, men in uniform staring pensively from earlier wartime romances. Apart from the occasional detail—e-mail, cellphone, Outback Steakhouse—Dear John could take place in any modern American era. For Sparks, weighty matters of the day remain set pieces, furniture upon which to hang timeless tales of chaste longing and harsh fate. Only in a novel such as this could we find our political buzzwords—peacekeeping, IEDs, hurricane relief—interspersed with these sentiments: "And when her lips met mine, I knew that I could live to be a hundred and visit every country in the world, but nothing would ever compare to that single moment when I first kissed the girl of my dreams and knew that my love would last forever."
Margaux Wexburg Sanchez - Washington Post
Hot on the heels of True Believer and sequel At First Sight, Sparks returns with the story of ne'er-do-well-turned-army-enlistee John Tyree, 23, and well-to-do University of North Carolina special education major Savannah Lynn Curtis. John, who narrates, has been raised by a socially backward single postal-worker dad obsessed with coin collecting (he has Asperger's syndrome). John bypasses college for the overseas infantry; Savannah spends her college summers volunteering. When they meet, he's on leave, and she's working with Habitat for Humanity (he rescues her sinking purse at the beach). John has a history of one-night stands; Savannah's a virgin. He's an on-and-off drinker; she's a teetotaler. Attraction and values conflict the rest of the summer, but the deal does not close. Savannah longs for John to come home; her friend Tim longs to have a relationship with her. On the brink of John and Savannah's finally getting together, 9/11 happens, and John re-ups. Savannah's letters come less and less frequently, and before you know it, he receives the expected "Dear John" letter. Sparks's novel brims with longing.
Publishers Weekly
Sparks, a perennially popular novelist whose name is synonymous with romance and bittersweet endings and whose work translates so readily to movies, lives up to his reputation with his latest novel, a tribute to courageous and self-sacrificing soldiers. —Patty Engelmann
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. In the first sentence of the prologue, John asks: "What does it mean to truly love another?" How does John’s answer to this question change over the course of the novel? How would you answer this question?
2. Savannah and John meet when John is on a furlough from the military and they fall deeply in love after only a few days. Is their love believable? Do you think it is possible to have such an intense connection with someone you’ve only just met?
3. Trying to explain her interest in John’s dad’s coin collection, Savannah says, "The saddest people I’ve ever met in life are the ones who don’t care deeply about anything at all. Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand." Do you agree with Savannah? Do you think John’s father is a satisfied man?
4. Why does John get so angry when Savannah suggests what she does about his father and how, in the end, does this revelation change John’s life and his relationship with his father?
5. Savannah is described by both herself and Tim as being somewhat naïve. Do you think Savannah is naïve? Why or why not?
6. When John goes back to Germany after his furlough, he and Savannah vow to stay in touch and to marry when he returns. Do you think it’s possible to stay in love with someone without seeing them for months or years at a time? How does being apart affect Savannah and John’s relationship?
7. John eagerly awaits his discharge from the military so he can begin a life with Savannah, but John also has a deep sense of duty and loyalty to his country and fellow soldiers. After September 11, John makes a decision that will change his life and Savannah’s life forever. Do you think John made the right decision? Does Savannah think he made the right decision? Given the outcome, do you think John regrets his decision?
8. Do you think Savannah should have waited for John to come home or do you think it was understandable that she moved on with her life?
9. After fighting in the war in Iraq, John has a hard time telling people about his experience there. Instead, when asked what it was like, he responds with a harmless anecdote about the sand because doing so “kept the war at a safe distance” for other people. What does John mean by this? In what ways does the Iraq War change John and what are his feelings about his role in the war?
10. After John’s father dies, he goes to visit Savannah. How has their relationship changed at this point? Is Savannah different from who she was in the beginning of the novel? Do you think Savannah is still in love with John?
11. How do you think John views Tim, and how do his perceptions change by the end of the novel?
12. What do you make of John’s actions at the very end of the novel? Would you have done what he did if you were in his position?
13. How do you interpret the novel’s ending? How do you imagine John’s future?
(Questions issued by publishers.)
top of page (summary)
Dear Life: Stories
Alice Munro, 2013
Knopf Doubleday
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307743725
Summary
In story after story in this brilliant new collection, Alice Munro pinpoints the moment a person is forever altered by a chance encounter, an action not taken, or a simple twist of fate. Her characters are flawed and fully human: a soldier returning from war and avoiding his fiancée, a wealthy woman deciding whether to confront a blackmailer, an adulterous mother and her neglected children, a guilt-ridden father, a young teacher jilted by her employer.
Illumined by Munro’s unflinching insight, these lives draw us in with their quiet depth and surprise us with unexpected turns. And while most are set in her signature territory around Lake Huron, some strike even closer to home: an astonishing suite of four autobiographical tales offers an unprecedented glimpse into Munro’s own childhood. Exalted by her clarity of vision and her unparalleled gift for storytelling, Dear Life shows how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth— Birth—July 10, 1931
• Where—Wingham, Ontario, Canada
• Education—University of Western Ontario
• Awards—Nobel Prize for Literature; Man Booker Prize;
3 Governor General's Literary Awards; Giller Prize;
National Book Critics Circle Award; Trillium Book Award;
Marian Engel Award; Lorne Pierce Medal; Foreign
Honorary Member, American Academy Arts & Letters
• Currently—lives in Clinton, Ontario, and Comox, British
Columbia
Even though Alice Munro is known for her love stories, don't mistake her for just another romance writer. Munro never romanticizes love, but rather presents it in all of its frustrating complexity. She does not feel impelled to tack happy endings onto her tales of heartbreak and healing. As a result, Munro's wholly credible love stories have marked her as a true original who spins stories that are as honest as they are dramatic.
Alice Munro got her start in writing as a teenager in Ontario, and published her first story while attending Western Ontario University in 1950. Her first book, a collection of short stories titled Dance of the Happy Shades, would not be published until 1968, but when it arrived, Munro rapidly established herself as a unique voice in contemporary literature. Over the course of fifteen short stories, Munro displayed a firmly focused vision, detailing the loves and life-altering moments of the inhabitants of rural Ontario. Munro takes a gradual, methodical approach to unraveling her stories, often developing a character's perspective through several paragraphs, only to demolish it with a single, biting sentence. Yet she also explores those heartbreaking delusions of her characters with humanity, undercutting the bitterness with genuine compassion.
Munro was instantly recognized for her debut collection of stories, winning the prestigious Governor General's Award in Canada. Monroe would then spend the majority of her career writing short stories rather than novels. "I want to tell a story, in the old-fashioned way—what happens to somebody—but I want that 'what happens' to be delivered with quite a bit of interruption, turnarounds, and strangeness," she explained to Random House.com. "I want the reader to feel something is astonishing—not the 'what happens' but the way everything happens. These long short story fictions do that best, for me."
Munro would write only one novel, Lives of Girls and Women, a coming-of-age tale about a young girl named Del Jordan, which is actually structured more like a collection of short stories than a typical novel. Throughout the rest of her work, she would continue to explore themes of love and the way memories shape one's life in short story collections such as Friend of My Youth, Open Secrets, the award-winning The Love of a Good Woman, and Runaway
Because her stories are so unencumbered by cliches and speak with such clarity and truthfulness, it is often assumed that Munro's work is largely autobiographical. The fact that she chooses to set so many of her tales in her hometown only fuel these assumptions further. However, Munro says that very little of her material is based on her own life, and takes a more creative approach to inventing her finely developed characters. "Suppose you have—in memory—a young woman stepping off a train in an outfit so elegant her family is compelled to take her down a peg (as happened to me once)," she explains, "and it somehow becomes a wife who's been recovering from a mental breakdown, met by her husband and his mother and the mother's nurse whom the husband doesn't yet know he's in love with. How did that happen? I don't know."
As Munro grows older, her themes are turning more and more toward illness and death, yet she continues to display a startling vitality and youthfulness in her writing. A writer with a long and celebrated career, Alice Munro's work is just as compelling, honest, and insightful as ever.
Extras
• Munro dropped out of college in 1951 to marry fellow student James Munro. The couple opened a bookstore in Victoria, had three children, and divorced in 1972. Munro continues to live in Canada with her second husband, geographer Gerald Fremlin.
• Munro wrote on a typewriter for a good part of her career, calling herself a "late convert to every technological offering" in a publisher's interview. "I still don't own a microwave oven," she says. (From Barnes and Noble.). (From .)
Book Reviews
One of the great short story writers not just of our time but of any time.
New York Times Books Review
Wise and unforgettable. Dear Life is a wondrous gift; a reminder of why Munro’s work endures.
Boston Globe
Unquestionable evidence of her unfaded abilities.... Reading these stories will tell you something about Alice Munro’s life, but it will tell you more about Alice Munro’s mind—and, not entirely surprisingly, this proves to be even more compelling
New Republic
Alice Munro is not only revered, she is cherished.... Dear Life is as rich and astonishing as anything she has done before.
New York Review of Books
There is no writer quite as good at illustrating the foibles of love, the confusions and frustrations of life or the inner cruelty and treachery that can be revealed in the slightest gestures and changes of tone. . . . The stories of Dear Life violate a host of creative writing rules, but they establish yet again Munro’s psychological acuity, clear-eyed acceptance of frailties and mastery of the short story form.
Washington Post
Alice Munro demonstrates once again why she deserves her reputation as a master of short fiction.
O, The Oprah Magazine
Exquisite.... No other author can tell quite so much with quite so little. The modest surfaces of Munro’s lapidary sentences conceal rich veins of ore.
Chicago Tribune
Munro’s wonderfully frank and compassionate stories suggest that perseverance, the determination to keep at the work of living, can invest a life with dignity through the end of one’s days.
San Francisco Chronicle
Absorbing.... Most haunting of all are the four autobiographical sketches that end the book, which display Munro’s gift of observation and ability to trace big emotional arcs in short brushstrokes.
Entertainment Weekly
Munro’s best collection yet.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Remarkable.... Masterfully evokes the relationship between people and the places they inhabit.
Time Out New York
Munro has an uncanny knack of convincing the reader that the characters have real lives before the stories commence and continuing existences after.... This is simply a good writer doing what she loves.
Guardian (UK)
In acknowledging Alice Munro’s pre-eminence in the world of contemporary short fiction it’s become fashionable to describe her as the ‘Canadian Chekhov,’ but that title barely hints at the scope of her literary influence. Dear Life, her 13th collection, only serves to burnish her reputation for creating intelligent, sophisticated stories out of inarguably humble materials.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Virtuosic.... Encompass a wide variety of always-unpredictable characters—young, old, middle-aged—caught in circumstances that have the bright erratic flow of life itself.
Seattle Times
Munro is who she is, and we are fortunate to have her. No other author can contain so much life, and so many lives, in such few pages.... They can be read over and over, dependably revealing more with each reading
Miami Herald
Alice Munro has long been acknowledged as one of Canada’s literary treasures. This new volume, with its historical slant, its autobiographical material, its impressionistic descriptions of scenery, its occasional nostalgia and pleasing irony, confirms her reputation.
Washington Times
How does Munro manage such great effects on a relatively small canvas? It’s a question that most anyone who has seriously attempted to write a short story in the last 20 years has pondered.... Munro has a genius, no empty word here, for selecting details that keep unfolding in the reader’s mind.
Los Angeles Times
Reading Alice Munro is like drinking water—one hardly notices the words, only the marvel at being quenched.... Behind each sentence is a world, conjured more distinctly than in many an entire novel.
Plain Dealer
Alice Munro...has earned every bit of her reputation as being one of the best living short story writers, in English if not in the entire world.... This collection represents fiction at its finest—captivating, complex, lifelike.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
These stories are perfect.... Dear Life is a collection as rich and surprising as any in Alice Munro’s deep career.
National Post
Alice Munro has always been the poet of the unexpected passion that comes seemingly out nowhere and changes a character’s life.... She is, and has been for decades, one of our most important writers, one whose work represents all the most essential and pleasurable aspects of literature, and which reminds us of what great literature is: You know it when you see it.
Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Munro can depict key moments without obscuring the reality of a life filled with countless other moments—told or untold. in her 13th collection, she....feature[s] the precision of her fiction with the added interest of revealing the development of [her] eye and her distance from her surroundings, both key, one suspects, in making her the writer she is.... [R]ead together, the stories accrete, deepen, and speak to each other.
Publishers Weekly
Every new collection from the incomparable Munro...is cause for celebration. This new volume offers all the more reason to celebrate as it ends with four stories the author claims are the most autobiographical she has written.... In every story, there is a slow revelation that changes everything we thought we understood about the characters. Verdict: Read this collection and cherish it for dear life. —Barbara Love, Kingston Frontenac P.L., ON
Library Journal
A revelation, from the most accomplished and acclaimed of contemporary short story writers. It's no surprise that every story...is rewarding and that the best are stunning. They leave the reader wondering how the writer manages to invoke the deepest, most difficult truths of human existence in the most plainspoken language.... The author knows what matters, and the stories pay attention to it.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
I. “To Reach Japan”
1. What are Greta’s feelings toward her husband and her marriage as she is leaving for Toronto? What remains unspoken between them? 2. Discuss what Katy understands and experiences on this journey (see especially the description at the bottom of page 26). What does Katy feel about Greg, and then about Harris Bennett? Why does Munro end the story as she does, with Katy pulling away from her mother? Does the story suggest that there is an inevitable cost when a woman attempts to break through the limitations of her life?
3. Discuss the paragraph beginning, “It would become hard to explain, later on in her life, just what was okay in that time and what was not” (6), in light of Greta’s actions. She is a poet: How troubling is the gap between her identities as wife and mother, and as poet and artist?
II. “Pride”
1. What do Oneida and the narrator have in common? How are they very different? The narrator is embarrassed that she has taken care of him when he was ill, and assumes that he is “like a neuter to her” (146–147). Why does he misunderstand Oneida’s willingness to care for him, and her desire to live with him (148)?
2. What does the sight of the baby skunks evoke, at the end of the story? What light does the narrator’s preface (133-34) bring to your sense of what has happened between him and Oneida?
III. “Corrie”
1. As in “Pride,” a man underestimates a woman who is attached to him: discuss what is different about the motivations and desires of the characters in the two stories.
2. How surprising is it when Corrie realizes that Howard has been keeping the money supposedly meant for Lillian’s blackmail payments? How does Corrie figure this out? How do you interpret the final paragraph?
IV. “Train”
1. After the removal of a tumor, Belle is in a strange state of mind and tells Jackson about what happened on the day her father stepped in front of an oncoming train (196-98). She is relieved to have spoken about this memory. What effect does this conversation have on Jackson? What makes Jackson decide not to return to the hospital, or to Belle’s house, which he stands to possibly inherit?
2. Do the story of Jackson’s relationship with Ileane Bishop, and what we learn about his stepmother’s abuse, offer an adequate explanation for Jackson’s transient life? What are the human costs, in this story, of what Belle calls “just the mistakes of humanity” (198)?
V. “In Sight of the Lake”
1. At what point do you understand that the narrator is having a dream? What strange details indicate this? What is dreamlike about the narrator’s efforts to find the doctor’s office?
2. In what ways does the story most accurately represent the disorientation and confusion that come with aging and memory loss?
VI. “Dolly”
1. Franklin wrote a poem about his passionate affair with Dolly just before the war, and now, when he is eighty-three, Dolly turns up selling cosmetics. Is the narrator’s reaction overblown?
2. What is comical or incongruous about this story? What does it say about the intersection of aging, memory, and passion?
VII. “The Eye”
1. What aspects of the mother’s behavior are troubling to her daughter and make her welcome an alliance with Sadie? What is admirable about Sadie, especially given the time period?
2. What is strange or uncanny about the idea that Sadie, in death, might have moved her eyelid? The narrator thinks, “this sight fell into everything I knew about Sadie and somehow, as well, into whatever special experience was owing to myself” (269). How do you interpret this moment and its meaning?
VIII. “Night”
1. The narrator attributes the strangeness of her thoughts that particular summer to a special status, “all inward,” conferred on her by learning that during a routine appendectomy, the doctor had removed a tumor “the size of a turkey’s egg” (275, 272). She says, “I was not myself” (276). What do you make of the narrator’s efforts to explain the reasons for her state of mind and the worry that she could strangle her little sister (277)?
2. How does the encounter with her father help the narrator to deal with her fear about her thoughts? Why is it significant to the impact of this encounter that in this family, emotional troubles or worries usually go unexpressed?
IX. “Voices”
1. How is the mother’s character revealed in her reaction to the presence of a prostitute at the dance, as channeled through the daughter’s observations? Why does the narrator find the voices of the soldiers so intriguing and so comforting?
2. What does the story express about the difficult relationship between mothers and daughters, especially regarding the mother’s supposed role as model and mentor in her daughter’s adolescence?
X. “Dear Life”
1. The title of this story comes from the account the mother gives the narrator of hiding her, when she was an infant, from a strange and threatening woman who used to live in the family’s house (318). This and other salient memories combine to create a picture of an often difficult family life: the mother’s physical decline, the failure of the father’s fox farm and his later work in a foundry, the failure of the narrator to return home for her mother’s funeral. Does this story seem to embrace the idea that a significant task for the writer is to extend understanding, imagination, and empathy into one’s own past, and to make amends for errors, cruelties, and misjudgments there? See question 4 below.
XI. Questions about Dear Life
1. What is the effect of the collection as a whole, given the order, pacing, and content of the stories? What view of life does it project?
2. Compare the treatment of women by men in “Train,” “Amundsen,” “Haven,” and “Corrie.” Why do these women allow themselves to be lied to or taken advantage of? What is the dynamic that permits an uneven power relationship?
3. Compare the endings of several stories. Do they end in a state of suspension or resolution? Think about how the endings invite questioning, reflection, and interpretation.
4. Discuss the last four stories in light of Munro’s brief introduction of them as “not quite stories,” as “autobiographical in feeling, though not . . . entirely so in fact,” and as “the first and last—and the closest—things I have to say about my own life” (255). Should they be read as if they were fictional stories, or somehow differently? If you were to tell four important stories from your own life, what would they be?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Dear Mrs. Bird
A.J. Pearce, 2018
Scribner
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501170065
Summary
An irresistible debut set in London during World War II about an adventurous young woman who becomes a secret advice columnist— a warm, funny, and enormously moving story for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Lilac Girls.
London, 1940.
Emmeline Lake is Doing Her Bit for the war effort, volunteering as a telephone operator with the Auxiliary Fire Services. When Emmy sees an advertisement for a job at the London Evening Chronicle, her dreams of becoming a Lady War Correspondent suddenly seem achievable.
But the job turns out to be working as a typist for the fierce and renowned advice columnist, Henrietta Bird. Emmy is disappointed, but gamely bucks up and buckles down.
Mrs. Bird is very clear: letters containing any Unpleasantness must go straight in the bin.
But when Emmy reads poignant notes from women who may have Gone Too Far with the wrong men, or who can’t bear to let their children be evacuated, she is unable to resist responding.
As the German planes make their nightly raids, and London picks up the smoldering pieces each morning, Emmy secretly begins to write back to the readers who have poured out their troubles.
Prepare to fall head over heels for Emmy and her best friend, Bunty, who are gutsy and spirited, even in the face of a terrible blow. The irrepressible Emmy keeps writing letters in this hilarious and enormously moving tale of friendship, the kindness of strangers, and ordinary people in extraordinary times.
Show More (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Hampshire, England, UK
• Education—B.A., University of Sussex
• Currently—lives in the south of England
AJ Pearce grew up in Hampshire, England. She graduated from the University of Sussex with a degree in American Studies—and spent her junior year in the U.S., at Northwestern University in Illinois.
Back in the U.K., following a career marketing, Pearce came upon an issue of Woman's Own, a 1939 women's magazine—it was a chance discovery that became the impetus for collecting vintage magazines and … the inspiration for her first novel, Dear Mrs. Bird. She lives in the south of England. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Charming and funny.
New York Post
Pearce’s clever debut follows a plucky Londoner during the Blitz who dreams about becoming a war correspondent. … The novel has a wonderfully droll tone.… Headlined by its winning lead character, who always keeps carrying on, Pearce’s novel is a delight.
Publishers Weekly
Fans of Jojo Moyes will enjoy Pearce’s debut, with its plucky female characters and fresh portrait of women’s lives in wartime Britain.
Library Journal
Set against a backdrop of war-torn London, this is a charming and heartfelt novel. Pearce brings to life a tale of true friendship, and how love will outlast even the most challenging times.
Booklist
Pearce's novel lays a light, charming surface over a graver underbelly.… Although the jauntiness and feel-good tone can grate on occasion, especially during the farcical wrap-up, this is a readable, well-intentioned, very English tribute to the women of the homefront.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. "There’s nothing that can’t be sorted with common sense and a strong will," (page 36) begins the description of Mrs. Bird’s column, Henrietta Helps. In theory, that’s not such a bad approach, but how does it fall short of addressing her readers’ concerns?
2. Why does the memory of her friend Kitty’s experience affect Emmy so strongly? How does it inform her actions?
3. Author AJ Pearce incorporates charmingly old-fashioned expressions to help convey a sense of the time period. What were some of your favorite terms? Did the language help your understanding of the era and the characters’ personalities?
4. Mr. Collins advises Emmy, "Find out what you’re good at…and then get even better. That’s the key," (page 54). Is this good advice for Emmy? Does she follow it?
5. Why does Emmy hesitate to tell Bunty about writing to Mrs. Bird’s readers? Is she only worried about Bunty’s disapproval, or is it more than that? How do secrets affect their friendship throughout the novel?
6. Do you think Emmy was right to confront William after he rescued the two children? Was his reaction warranted? Why do you think they took such different views of the event?
7. One of the major themes of the novel is friendship. Discuss Emmy and Bunty’s relationship, and all the ways they support and encourage each other over the course of the novel.
8. After the bombing at Café de Paris, Bunty is distraught and angry, but is some of her critique of Emmy fair? Does Emmy interfere too much?
9. Whether it’s readers writing in to Mrs. Bird, Charles writing to Emmy, or Emmy writing to Bunty, letters are of great importance throughout Dear Mrs. Bird. How does letter-writing shape the narrative?
10. The letter from Anxious on page 239 strikes a chord with Emmy. She thinks, "How often did we say well done to our readers? How often did anyone ever tell women they were doing a good job? That they didn’t need to be made of steel all the time? That it was all right to feel a bit down?" (page 243). How did the book make you think differently about women’s experiences in wartime?
11. Emmy’s mother says to her, "Once this silly business is all sorted, you and Bunty and all your friends will be able to get on and achieve whatever you want" (page 86). How much do you think expectations have changed for young women since World War II? What careers do you think Emmy and Bunty would aspire to if they were young now?
12. In the Author’s Note (page 277), AJ Pearce describes how reading advice columns in vintage magazines inspired her to write Dear Mrs. Bird. She says, "I found them thought-provoking, moving, and inspirational, and my admiration for the women of that time never stops growing.… It is a privilege to look into their world and remember what incredible women and girls they all were" (page 278). Discuss how magazines, then and now, provide a unique window into people’s lives.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Dearly Beloved
Cara Wall, 2019
Simon & Schuster
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781982104528
Summary
Charles and Lily, James and Nan. They meet in Greenwich Village in 1963 when Charles and James are jointly hired to steward the historic Third Presbyterian Church through turbulent times. Their personal differences however, threaten to tear them apart.
Charles is destined to succeed his father as an esteemed professor of history at Harvard, until an unorthodox lecture about faith leads him to ministry. How then, can he fall in love with Lily—fiercely intellectual, elegantly stern—after she tells him with certainty that she will never believe in God? And yet, how can he not?
James, the youngest son in a hardscrabble Chicago family, spent much of his youth angry at his alcoholic father and avoiding his anxious mother. Nan grew up in Mississippi, the devout and beloved daughter of a minister and a debutante.
James’s escape from his desperate circumstances leads him to Nan and, despite his skepticism of hope in all its forms, her gentle, constant faith changes the course of his life.
In The Dearly Beloved, we follow these two couples through decades of love and friendship, jealousy and understanding, forgiveness and commitment.
Against the backdrop of turbulent changes facing the city and the church’s congregation, these four forge improbable paths through their evolving relationships, each struggling with uncertainty, heartbreak, and joy.
A poignant meditation on faith and reason, marriage and children, and the ways we find meaning in our lives, Cara Wall’s The Dearly Beloved is a gorgeous, wise, and provocative novel that is destined to become a classic. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Cara Wall is a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and Stanford University. While at Iowa, Cara taught fiction writing in the undergraduate creative writing department as well as at the Iowa Young Writer’s Studio in her capacity of founder and inaugural director.
She went on to teach middle school English and History, and has been published by Glamour, Salon, and The San Francisco Chronicle. She lives in New York City with her family. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The Dearly Beloved is most compelling on romance, friendship and familial love…. Although the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement tug occasionally at the margins of the book, its attention is on the personal, not the social…. But it is delightful to see male friendship taken so seriously, and love handled so tenderly; some of the most stirring scenes in The Dearly Beloved are the ones that dramatize the love one spouse feels for another or that parents feel for their children.
Casey Cep - New York Times Book Review -
An unusually assured debut, the book examines faith with revelatory nuance…. The beauty of this slow burner will stay with you, religious or not.
People
The Dearly Beloved is a superb exploration of faith and marriage. Of all the books on this list—maybe this year—it’s the gentlest, a wise and searching story of purpose and passion, spanning decades and filled with empathy (Best Debut Novels of 2019)
Entertainment Weekly
A rare and intellectually stimulating outing…. By creating such well-defined characters, [Wall] is able to all the more effectively explore the role of faith, or its lack, in dealing with the pressures of marriage, child-rearing, and work
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) Finely drawn and written with compassion and care, and every word is precisely chosen...This story will be beloved by book clubs and fans of literary fiction.
Library Journal
Underlying the very readable, honestly human propulsion of her characters' lives in their near-entirety, Wall does a tricky thing quite well, exploring the facts of faith and love at both their most exalting and most trying.
Booklist
(Starred review) [C]ombining the viewpoints of a quartet of characters across multiple decades and events. Finely drawn and paced and written with intense compassion...A moving, eloquent exploration of faith and its response to the refining fire of life's challenges.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Dearly Beloved opens with the scene of James grieving Charles’s death. In what ways does grief frame this novel? How do each of the characters respond to the feelings of abandonment that accompany grief? In whom or what do they choose to put their faith after loss? In whom or what do you put your faith in difficult times?
2. In the prologue, Nan says that "she was soft, and Lily was straight. She wavered; Lily was plumb" (2). Describe Nan and Lily. Do you agree with Nan that she and Lily are opposites? If so, how do they overcome that to become the kind of friends Lily refers to as "her stitches, her scaffold, her ballast, her home" (338).
3. Early in the novel, Charles’s father tells his son that "Obligations are the fuel of life, Charles. Reputation is their reward" (5). Do you agree? To what do each of the four characters obligate themselves, and what reputation do they receive in return? What are the obligations in your life, and what do you gain by fulfilling them?
4. When Charles and Lily first meet in the library, Charles notices that she looks "entirely sad" (9). And after their first fight, he acknowledges that he "could not bear the fact that she would always be sad" (102). What does Charles hope for Lily, and how does it feel for him to know he can’t heal her? Why do you think he married her, knowing he could never make her happy?
5. James is anxious about the difference between his upbringing and Nan’s, describing it as a chasm that loomed "dark and large" (87). What are the geographic, religious, and class differences in their upbringings? Why do they feel unbridgeable to James?
6. Love seems to come easily to Nan and Charles. Why? Conversely, James and Lily are wary of love: James has a "look of distrust… the look people had when they needed to be treated with dignity after so much of life had been unfair" (60) and Lily believes that "the prerequisite for love was trust; and Lily did not trust anything" (81). Why do James and Lily struggle to trust, and therefore, love, their partners? How does love relate to trust? And how does trust relate to faith?
7. Nan and Charles come to very different conclusions about what they can accept regarding their partners’ faith. Nan realizes that "of all the things she thought she could give up for [James], she could not give up her faith in God" (61). What would Nan’s life have been like if James had decided not to be a minister? How does his decision to become a minister enrich her life and faith? Conversely, Charles decides that he doesn’t need Lily to believe in order to marry her— "I don’t need you to believe in God, I just need you to believe in me" (105). Does Lily’s rejection of Charles’s religion diminish or enlarge his life and faith?
8. After Nan helps Lily with her twins, she realizes that "every right action begets another; every extension of a hand forms a rope and then a ladder" (249). When have you seen this play out in your own life? Are there actions your book club could take to help your community like coordinating a book drive or volunteering at a library?
9. In the beginning of the book, Charles’s college professor Tom says that "only empathy allows us to see clearly. Only compassion brings lasting change" (14). How does this statement apply to the struggles Charles and James encounter while leading their church? What values are they trying to engender in their congregation? To what extent do they succeed?
10. After their first meeting, Nan says that Lily makes her feel "invisible" (169) and later says that just being in proximity to her makes her feel "brittle and resentful" (183). Is there anyone in your life who makes you feel this way? Lily’s reasoning is that she "knew that she could not give Nan one inch, not one conversation. Even one gesture of friendship would lead to the expectation of more…." (161). Do you feel that way about anyone in your life? Why?
11. Nan desperately wants to have a child—she calls it her "fondest dream" (215)—but suffers two miscarriages over the course of the novel. Lily doesn’t want to have children, but gives birth to twins. Why is Nan hesitant to seek treatment for her infertility? What does it mean to Nan to be a mother? What does it mean to Lily?
12. After Charles’s controversial sermon, Marcus says that "these people need a good disaster. They need to know what it means for life to be hard. And I’m not talking about death hard. I’m talking about suffering" (288). Will’s diagnosis brings hard suffering into the lives of the four main characters. Were you surprised by Charles, Lily, James, or Nan’s response to Will’s diagnosis? Could you relate to the suffering it produced in them? Did you agree or disagree with the courses of action they took in response to his condition?
13. Marcus and Annelise only appear toward the end of the book. What role do each of them play in the lives of the Barrett and MacNally families? How would the book be different without them?
14. In many wedding ceremonies, the pastor welcomes the attendees with the greeting "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…." Toward the end of the novel, Nan notes that "they were, the four of them, married to each other" (287). In what ways are the various couples tied to each other? How do they learn to love each other? Overall, why do you think Wall chose this phrase as the title of her novel?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Dearly Departed
Elinor Lipman, 2001
Knopf Doubleday
288 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780375724589
Summary
With her latest work, Elinor Lipman expertly serves up her usual delicious dish of entertainment. When the story opens, the not-so-sunny Sunny Batten has just received news that causes her to be even more morose than usual: her mother, Margaret Batten, has died in a freak accident with Margaret’s alleged fiancé, Miles Finn. Thus Sunny returns to the small New Hampshire town of King George and to the charity bungalow on the edge of the country club’s golf course where Margaret raised Sunny by herself. While at the funeral, Sunny catches her first glimpse of the brash Fletcher Finn, Miles Finn’s son and self-described possessor of “a heart of plutonium.” And who can’t help but notice, as they sit together at the graveside, the resemblance between Sunny and Fletcher, “the flagrant display, wherever one looked, of Miles Finn’s genes” [p. 79]?
But mourning does not become Sunny. Bitter memories of her childhood come flooding back, triggered by encounters with her high school golfing teammates—all boys—and her embarrassment at discovering what her mother’s new midlife hobby had been: acting. To Sunny’s mortification, Margaret had blossomed from a divorced wallflower to a much-admired amateur actress in the town’s local theatre troupe, the King George Players, and, as her daughter discovers, the object of widespread affection.
Sunny’s return to King George proves that one can go home again, as her grief segues into pleasant alliances with the townspeople, in spite of past grievances and perceived slights. Among the hilarious, realistic, and endearing cast of characters with whom Sunny becomes reacquainted are Joey Loach, the detention hall high schooler who has become the town’s heroic police chief; Emil Ouimet, the town physician who wears his love for Margaret on his sleeve; and Randy Pope, the golf-team-captain-turned-respectable-lawyer. Even the wealthy Emily Ann Grandjean, who hired Fletcher to promote her unattainable political aspirations, seems to sympathize with Sunny, and she soon comes to learn that maybe King George is not such a bad place after all. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 16, 1950
• Where—Lowell, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—A.B. Simmons College
• Awards—New England Books Award For Fiction
• Currently—lives in North Hampton, Massachusetts, and New York, New York
Elinor Lipman is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist, known for her humor and societal observations. In his review of her 2019 novel, Good Riddance, Sam Sacks of the Wall Street Journal wrote that Lipman "has long been one of our wittiest chroniclers of modern-day romance."
The author was born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts. She graduated from Simmons College in Boston where she studied journalism. While at Simon, Lipman began her writing career, working as a college intern with the Lowell Sun. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, she wrote press releases for WGBH, Boston's public radio station.
Writing
Lipman turned to writing fiction in 1979; her first short story, "Catering," was published in Yankee Magazine. In 1987 she published a volume of stories, Into Love and Out Again, and in 1990 she came out with her first novel, Then She Found Me. Her second novel, The Inn at Lake Devine, appeared in 1998, earning Lipman the 2001 New England Book Award three years later.
Lipman's first novel, Then She Found Me, was adapted into a 2008 feature film—directed by and starring Helen Hunt, along with Bette Midler, Colin Firth, and Matthew Broderick.
In addition to her fiction, Lipman released a 2012 book of rhyming political tweets, Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus. Two other books—a 10th novel, The View from Penthouse B, and a collection of essays, I Can't Complain: (all too) Personal Essays—were both published in 2013. The latter deals in part with the death of her husband at age 60. A knitting devotee, Lipman's poem, "I Bought This Pattern Book Last Spring," was included in the 2013 anthology Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting.
Lipman was the Elizabeth Drew Professor of Creative Writing at Smith College from 2011-12, and she continues to write the column, "I Might Complain," for Parade.com. Smith spends her time between North Hampton, Massachusetts, and New York City.
Works
1988 - Into Love and Out Again: Stories
1990 - Then She Found Me
1992 - The Way Men Act
1995 - Isabel's Bed
1998 - The Inn at Lake Devine
1999 - The Ladies' Man
2001 - The Dearly Departed
2003 - The Pursuit of Alice Thrift
2006 - My Latest Grievance
2009 - The Family Man
2012 - Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus
2013 - I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays
2013 - The View From Penthouse B
2017 - On Turpentine Lane
2019 - Good Riddance
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/27/2019.)
Book Reviews
The Dearly Departed contains a core of dark and mordant wit that distinguishes it, in delightful ways, from the norm.
Washington Post
Almost nobody writes serious entertainment with more panache.
Chicago Tribune
Nothing short of brilliant.... A story so funny and so pleasurable that the reader can only wish it did not have to end.
Booklist
Lipman sets her breezy, workmanlike novel in King George, N.H., a small town where the sudden accidental deaths of a secretly engaged couple summon their two grown-up children to sort out the conundrum of their relation to each other. Both the dead woman's stoical daughter, Sunny Batten, and the man's cranky son, Fletcher Finn, possess an identical corona of satiny gray hair; both are 31; and neither has ever met the other, although their parents have been on-and-off lovers for years. Sunny, who lives in New York, grew up with her mother in King George, and as a girl was a serious golfer. Fletcher, who grew up in Pennsylvania, has just gotten himself fired as campaign manager to Emily Ann Grandjean, an annoying, anorexic rich-girl candidate in a New Jersey congressional race. One look at Sunny and Fletcher's resemblance to each other at the funeral and the town is abuzz with conjecture and benign gossip. Novelist Lipman, who knows from smalltown, confidently enters the head of everyone worth meeting in King George: chief of police Joey Loach, who survives a gunshot thanks to his mother's insistence that he wear a bulletproof vest; Sunny's former best friend, Regina, who married the captain of the golf team; and the waitress at the Dot, Winnie, who keeps tabs on everyone. After the initial plot is pleasantly sketched out, the work feels thin, and Lipman resorts to repetitious dialogue and switches in narrative voice to keep the action moving. Major characters like Sunny and Emily Ann begin to sound alike, and Fletcher's initial, endearing prickliness smoothes out predictably to allow Lipman to tidily tie up the ends of this unremarkable, occasionally humorous, mostly conventional light comedy.
Publishers Weekly
Readers can count on Lipman for stylish, sprightly novels imbued with a deep affection for her all-too-human characters. Her newest offering continues the high standard set by her first novel, Then She Found Me. When Sunny Batten, now in her early thirties, returns home to tiny King George, NH, following the accidental death of her mother and her mother's fiance, Miles Finn, she is thrown back into a milieu that she had gladly left years before. Sunny, the most talented golfer in high school, has nothing but unhappy memories of her adolescence, when she and her mother braved the displeasure of the town by forcing the school administration to make her a member of the previously all-male school golf team. The caring and sympathy that she now receives from everyone she meets comes as a shock, as does meeting Miles Finn's son, Fletcher. Fletcher could be her twin: he has the same facial structure and the same flyaway, prematurely gray hair. Were there pockets in her mother's past of which Sunny was unaware? In this delightfully breezy novel, Sunny learns that you can go home again, with surprisingly happy results. —Nancy Pearl, Washington Ctr. for the Book, Seattle
Library Journal
Another sharply observed, if avowedly romantic, comedy of manners from Lipman, an unreconstructed Janeite. Sunny Batten gets jolting news from the King George, New Hampshire, police. Her mother has died of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning, thanks to a faulty furnace. "She and her fiancé didn't suffer," the police chief tells her gently over the phone. Sunny—short for Sondra but unreflective of her general outlook on life—is devastated. Though they'd been living apart (college, a series of jobs), she and her mother had always been emotionally close. Or so she'd thought. But when she recovers enough to contemplate something other than her horrific loss, she finds that little in her mother's actual world corresponds to her own idea of it. Fiancé? How could there possibly be such a person when Sunny knew nothing of his existence? In the days that follow she learns much about Margaret Batten that comes as a surprise. Miles Finn, the putative fiancé, had in fact been her mother's secret lover for well over 30 years. In addition, there is every likelihood that his relationship to Sunny herself was weightier than she had at first been led to believe. And that being the case, certain ancillary conclusions are unavoidable. At the funeral, for instance—the double funeral, that is—Fletcher Finn, son of the deceased Miles, a brash young man only slightly younger than 31-year-old Sunny, materializes—disconcertingly. Which is to say that his resemblance to her is so striking that the assembled King George folks gasp collectively, leaving Sunny to consider the sudden, unnerving possibility of siblinghood. But not every revelation is disquieting. This is Lipman, after all, and the sensitive, kind police chief turns out to be Joey Loach, who sometimes sat behind Sunny—rather yearningly—in high school study hall. Austen would have approved: astringency with a happy ending.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What physical characteristics or personality traits did Sunny inherit from her mother and father, who was presumably Miles Finn?
2. Regarding Fletcher and Sunny, Emily Ann observes, “Appearances aside, you two seem like complete opposites” [p. 190]. Do Sunny and Fletcher share any similarities other than their physical resemblance? How does each feel about discovering a new sibling? Does it mean more to Fletcher or Sunny? Why?
3. How does Lipman use physical surroundings to create a presence for Margaret and Miles despite their being deceased before the novel begins? [See, for example, the description of Miles’s cabin in Chapter 14 and the contents of Margaret’s house in Chapter 15.]
4. Sunny asks Joey: “Would a truly grief-stricken daughter go directly from the cemetery to the golf course? Or, between the wake and the funeral, give herself a pedicure” [p. 228]? Given the treatment of death and grief in the novel, how might these questions to be answered? Does Sunny handle her grief in an appropriate manner? A realistic manner?
5. A reviewer in the Atlantic Monthly noted, “Sunny learns a universal truth: Things get better after high school.” Do the memories of her high school harassment loom larger in Sunny’s mind than the facts support?
6. Is the grudge that Sunny holds against the high school boys’ golf team justified, or is Randy Pope fair in asserting that “some ladies roll with the punches. Some even laugh instead of carrying a grudge” [p. 137]?
7. In the small town of King George, everyone knows everyone else. This is highlighted best by Dr. Ouimet’s infuriating yet comical dilemma as he searches for someone in whom he can confide his feelings for Margaret: “Who in this town, be they counselor or clergy, wasn’t a patient?” [p. 215] How does Lipman paint life in King George and small town life in general?
8. About the golf course that was her backyard, Sunny says, “I know all the loopholes. All the best times to sneak onto the King George Links, virtually invisible” [p. 96]. And Sunny also comments about Margaret to Fletcher, “She was very conventional, and very worried about what other people thought. Above all else, she wanted to fit in” [p. 163]. As Sunny discovers, she was, and is, hardly invisible to the residents of King George. Moreover, her mother was somewhat less than conventional. In what other ways does The Dearly Departed explore this theme of appearance versus reality?
9. Joey’s mother hovers over and clearly adores her son. What does their relationship say about Joey, and how do his mother’s regular appearances advance the plot?
10. Despite their completely different upbringing, do Emily Ann and Sunny have anything in common? What significance do people’s socioeconomic backgrounds have in King George?
11. Who is the central character of The Dearly Departed? Do the actions of any one character dominate the plot? Does any one character’s viewpoint pervade the narrative?
12. Compare the characters who actively engage in life, such as Margaret, Randy Pope, Emil Ouimet, to those who choose to remain more passive, such as Regina Pope, Emily Grandjean, and Billy and Christine Ouimet. Into which category might Sunny, Fletcher, or Joey be placed? In The Dearly Departed, do people actually change, or is it just perceptions that change?
13. What role does dialogue play in The Dearly Departed? How do conversations reveal feelings and promote both character and plot development? What makes the conversations in the novel realistic?
14. Lipman has been called “a queen of verbal economy” (Boston Magazine). An example might be when we are told that Randy Pope, Sunny’s former archenemy, tracked down Margaret’s personal effects “in person, and found it misfiled in Concord” [p. 252]. Can you think of other examples of the author’s narrative shorthand?
15. Reviewer Maggie Galehouse writes, “If the cast of NBC’s Friends beamed into Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, the result might well be Elinor Lipman’s latest novel. Set in King George, N.H. (a town that rivals Grover’s Corners in size and sensibility), The Dearly Departed has the charm and economy of Wilder’s play, along with the quick-witted, intently quirky characters of a successful sitcom” (The New York Times Book Review, July 15, 2001). Is the comparison between The Dearly Departed and a television sitcom apropos? If you are familiar with the Thornton Wilder play Our Town, how is it similar to The Dearly Departed?
16. To what genre of literature does The Dearly Departed belong? Is there a theatrical or dramatic style to the novel?
17. Neal Wyatt remarks, “It is a rare treat to read a book that is at once utterly modern but also evokes the world of Wooster and Jeeves” (Booklist, May 15, 2001). What elements of The Dearly Departed bring about this dichotomy of modernism and quaintness in prose, plot, descriptions, and characters?
18. Is the ending of The Dearly Departed a happy one? Is it satisfying or anticlimactic? Why might Lipman have chosen to end the novel where she does and leave certain questions unresolved? For example, what happens to Billy? Were Miles and Margaret actually engaged or not? Will Fletcher become romantically involved with Emily Ann? Based upon the ending, would you characterize Lipman as an optimist? A romantic?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Death at Wentwater Court
Carola Dunn, 1994
Kensington Publishing
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780758216007
Summary
No stranger to sprawling country estates, wealthy Daisy Dalrymple is breaking new ground at this particular manor house, having scandalously traded silver spoon for pen and camera to cover a story for Town and Country magazine. But her planned interviews with the inhabitants of Wentwater Court give way to interrogation when suave Lord Stephen Astwick meets a dire fate on the tranquil skating pond.
Armed with evidence that his fate was anything but accidental, Daisy joins forces with Scotland Yard to examine an esteemed collection of suspects—and see that the unlikely culprit doesn’t slip through their fingers just as the unfortunate Astwick slipped through the ice.
In the first installment of this cozy mystery series, Carola Dunn transports readers back to the bygone era of 1923 Britain, where unflappable flapper and would-be journalist Daisy Dalrymple daringly embarks on her first writing assignment—and promptly stumbles across a corpse. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—November 14, 1946
• Where—London, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Manchester University
• Currently—lives in Eugene, Oregan, USA
Although born in London, Carola Dunn grew up in the Buckinghamshire village of Jordans, known to Americans only as the burial place of William Penn (over whose gravestone, along with Penn's wives, Carola and her siblings played leapfrog). At 11 years of age, she attended a Friends boarding school, Saffron Waldon, and eventually headed to Manchester University, where she received her B.A. degree.
After university, Dunn set off to travel around the world, making it as far as Samoa and Fiji, then to Southern California in the US to be married. Her first book appeared in 1979 after varied careers in childcare, market research, construction, building design, writing definitions for a sciene and technology dictionary. Dunn now lives in Eugene, Oregon, with her Black Lab/German Shepherd, Willow, who walks Carola along the Willemette River every morning. She is close to her grown son and two grandchildren.
Carola Dunn, best known for her Daisy Dalrymple mystery series—numbering 17 (as of 2008)—is the author of 50 books, including her Regencies series and a new Cornish mystery series. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
A murder-of-manners (if there is such a thing)...neat and sharp... This one is heaven for those who miss Allingham and Sayers—a country house puzzle par excellence with a setting that cries out for the BBC to film it... Perfect hammock reading that never insults your intelligence or twists your brain—a neat trick to pull off...a portrait under glass of another era.
Courier-Gazette, Rockland, Maine
This polished cozy...hits all the bases and has a good time doing it...excellent characters...a vivid picture of life ...in post WWI Britain.
The Oregonian
This lively mystery debut introduces the Honorable Daisy Dalrymple, who has taken a job to ensure her independence—an unusual step for the daughter of a viscount in 1922. Her first assignment for Town and Country takes her to Wentwater Court at Christmastime to write about the Wentwater family. Her visit is disrupted by unwelcome guest and—according to Lady Josephine—"utter cad" Lord Stephen Astwick. When Astwick's body is found floating under the ice in the estate's lake, attractive Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Alec Fletcher arrives on the scene. Daisy's photos of the victim, showing ax marks in the ice, suggest the death is murder and prompt Fletcher to enlist her as his stenographer during his investigations. With the entire family, from the earl to his grandchildren, under suspicion, Daisy takes on the role of liaison between landed and working classes. Astwick's indiscretions come to light and disclose more motives for murder at Wentwater Court. Inquisitive and sympathetic, Daisy identifies the murderer, suggests a solution pleasing to most of the family and secures the possibility of romance in her future.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Death at Wentworth Court:
1. Mystery stories are all about withholding information from the reader in order to deliver a surprise at the end. Were you surprised by the ending...in other words, did Carola Dunn deliver a good mystery?
2. It's fun in to trace the clues, which authors drop surreptitiously, like bread crumbs, along the way. What are the clues Dunn provides? In other words, as a reader, what do you know...and when do you know it?
3. Good mysteries also dish out red herrings—false clues to divert attention from the real solution. What are the red-herrings in Wentwater Court...and did you fall for them?
4. Readers find Daisy a particluarly likeable herion. Do you agree; if so, what makes her such a delightful character?
5. Do you find the other characters believable? Are they well-developed, complex personalities?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Death Comes to Pemberley
P.D. James, 2011
Knopf Doubleday
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307950659
Summary
A rare meeting of literary genius: P. D. James, long among the most admired mystery writers of our time, draws the characters of Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride and Prejudice into a tale of murder and emotional mayhem.
It is 1803, six years since Elizabeth and Darcy embarked on their life together at Pemberley, Darcy’s magnificent estate. Their peaceful, orderly world seems almost unassailable. Elizabeth has found her footing as the chatelaine of the great house. They have two fine sons, Fitzwilliam and Charles. Elizabeth’s sister Jane and her husband, Bingley, live nearby; her father visits often; there is optimistic talk about the prospects of marriage for Darcy’s sister Georgiana. And preparations are under way for their much-anticipated annual autumn ball.
Then, on the eve of the ball, the patrician idyll is shattered. A coach careens up the drive carrying Lydia, Elizabeth’s disgraced sister, who with her husband, the very dubious Wickham, has been banned from Pemberley. She stumbles out of the carriage, hysterical, shrieking that Wickham has been murdered. With shocking suddenness, Pemberley is plunged into a frightening mystery.
Inspired by a lifelong passion for Austen, P. D. James masterfully re-creates the world of Pride and Prejudice, electrifying it with the excitement and suspense of a brilliantly crafted crime story, as only she can write it. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 3, 1920
• Where—Oxford, England, UK
• Education—left school at 16
• Awards—member, International Crime Writing Hall
of Fame (see below for awards)
• Currently—lives in both Oxford and London, England
Phyllis Dorothy James, Baroness James of Holland Park, commonly known as P. D. James, is an English crime writer and Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, most famous for a series of detective novels starring policeman and poet Adam Dalgliesh.
James was born in Oxford, the daughter of Sidney James, a tax inspector, and educated at the British School in Ludlow and Cambridge High School for Girls.
James had to leave school at age sixteen to work: her family did not have much money and her father did not believe in higher education for girls. She worked in a tax office for three years, and later found a job as an assistant stage manager for a theater group. In 1941, she married Ernest Connor Bantry White, an army doctor, and had two daughters, Claire and Jane.
When White returned from World War II, he suffered from illness and James was forced to provide for the whole family until her husband's death in 1964. She studied hospital administration, and from 1949 to 1968, worked for a hospital board in London, England.
James began writing in the mid-1950s. Her first novel, Cover Her Face, featuring the investigator and poet Adam Dalgliesh of New Scotland Yard, named after a teacher at Cambridge High School, was published in 1962. Many of James's mystery novels take place against the backdrop of the UK's bureaucracies, such as the criminal justice system and the health services, arenas in which James had worked for decades starting in the 1940s.
Two years after the publication of Cover Her Face, James's husband died and she took a position as a civil servant within the criminal section of the Home Office. James worked in government service until her retirement in 1979.
She is an Anglican and a Lay Patron of the Prayer Book Society. Her 2001 work, Death in Holy Orders, displays her familiarity with the inner workings of church hierarchy. Her later novels are often set in a community closed in some way, such as a publishing house or barristers' chambers, a theological college, an island or a private clinic. Over her writing career James has also written many essays and short stories for periodicals and anthologies, which have yet to be collected. She revealed in 2011 that The Private Patient was the final Dalgliesh novel.
James 2011 book, Death Comes to Pemberley, is a "sequel" to Jane Austen's classic, Pride and Prejudice.
Film and television
During the 1980s, many of James's mystery novels were adapted for television in the UK. These productions have been broadcast in other countries, including the USA on its PBS channel. These productions featured Roy Marsden as Adam Dalgliesh. The BBC has since adapted Death in Holy Orders (2003) and The Murder Room (2004) as one-off dramas starring Martin Shaw as Dalgliesh.
Her 1992 novel The Children of Men was the basis for a 2006 feature film of the same name, directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. Despite substantial changes from the book, James was reportedly pleased with the adaptation and proud to be associated with the film.
Awards
1971 Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction (Crime Writers' Association): Shroud for a Nightingale
1975 Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: The Black Tower
1986 Macallan Silver Dagger for Fiction: A Taste for Death
1987 Cartier Diamond Dagger Lifetime Achievement Award (Crime Writers' Association)
1992 Deo Gloria Award: The Children of Men
1999 Grandmaster Award (Mystery Writers of America)
(From Wikiipedia.)
Book Reviews
[James's] innovation has been to transplant the dramatis personae from Austen into her own suspenseful universe, preserving their likenesses and life force…The greatest pleasure of this novel is its unforced, effortless, effective voice. James hasn't written in florid cod-Regency whorls, the overblown language other mimics so often employ. Not infrequently, while reading Death Comes to Pemberley, one succumbs to the impression that it is Austen herself at the keyboard.
Liesl Schillinger - New York Times Book Review
While many writers have composed sequels to the various Austen masterpieces, James manages to preserve the flavor of Pride and Prejudice while also creating a fairly good whodunit…This is a novel one reads for its charm, for the chance to revisit some favorite characters, for the ingenious way James reworks—or resolves—old elements from Austen…It is a solidly entertaining period mystery and a major treat for any fan of Jane Austen.
Michael Dirda - Washington Post
(Starred review.) Historical mystery buffs and Jane Austen fans alike will welcome this homage to the author of Pride and Prejudice from MWA Grand Master James, best known for her Adam Dalgliesh detective series (The Private Patient, etc.). In the autumn of 1803, six years after the events that closed Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Darcy, the happily married mistress of Pemberley House, is preparing for Lady Anne's annual ball, "regarded by the county as the most important social event of the year." Alas, the evening before the ball, Elizabeth's sister Lydia, who married the feckless Wickham, bursts into the house to announce that Captain Denny, a militia officer, has shot her husband dead in the woodland on the estate. Darcy and Colonel Fitzwilliam, who purists may note behaves inconsistently with Austen's original, head out in a chaise to investigate. Attentive readers will eagerly seek out clues to the delightfully complex mystery, which involves many hidden motives and dark secrets, not least of them in the august Darcy family. In contrast to Pride and Prejudice, where emotion is typically conveyed through indirect speech, characters are much more open about their feelings, giving a contemporary ring to James's pleasing and agreeable sequel.
Publishers Weekly
Readers of Pride and Prejudice know that Wickham is a thorough scoundrel, but can he really have murdered his only friend?... Most of [the] developments, cloaked in a pitch-perfect likeness of Austen's prose, are ceremonious but pedestrian. The final working-out, however, shows all James' customary ingenuity. The murder story allows only flashes of Austenian wit, and Lizzy is sadly eclipsed by Darcy. But the stylistic pastiche is remarkably accomplished, and it's nice to get brief updates on certain cast members of Persuasion and Emma as a bonus.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Death Comes to Pemberley:
(Dear Reader: Some questions, though not all, assume a knowledge of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Also, there are a few spoiler questions at the end. Be careful.)
1. Compare the "Prologue" of Death Comes to Pemberley with the "Epilogue" of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Are the two similar? Different? In what ways does James expand on Austen's version of the several years following Elizabeth and Darcy's marriage?
2. Can you point to some echoes of the original language from Pride and Prejudice in the descriptions and/or dialogue of James's sequel? Start, perhaps, with the first lines of both books.
3. What about the characters of Death Comes to Pemberley? Has James maintained their essential natures and personalities...or changed them in some way? How consistent are they with Austen's originals? Consider Elizabeth and Darcy, the Bingleys, the Wickhams, Colonel Fitzwilliam, and Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
4. Follow-up to Question 3: James provides greater access to Fitzwilliam Darcy's state of mind than Austen permitted her readers. What do you learn about Darcy that you didn't know before? Does your opinion of him change...or remain the same as it did after reading Pride and Prejudice? If you haven't read P & P, what conclusions do you reach regarding Darcy's character?
5. When the murder is first discovered, Wickham utters, "I killed him.... It's my fault." How did you interpret his confession? Were you ready to believe in his guilt?
6. Good crime writers like P.D. James embed clues early on in their stories. What seemingly inconsequential clues are dropped that later turn out to be decisive in solving the mystery. How cleverly does James bury her clues?
7. Mystery writers also like to throw in red-herrings. Are there any false clues in Death Comes to Pemberley that fooled you, leading you to expect a different outcome?
8. In what ways does P.D. James highlight class distinctions in this work? Why, for instance, does the Magistrate Selwyn Hardcastle not wish to waste his time at Pemberley? How are servants treated at Pemberley; compare that to how they're treated at Mrs. Hurst's in London?
9. Why does the colonel speak to Elizabeth rather than to Darcy about his desire to marry Georgiana?
10. Elizabeth watches Georgiana and Alveston interact and realizes the two are in love. She reflects on "that enchanting period of mutual discovery, expectation and hope. It was enchantment she had never known." Why does Elizabeth think this? Is she not in love with her husband?
11. Follow-up to Question 10: When Elizabeth gazes down at Wickham, who is sleeping with "his dark hair tumbled on the pillow, his shirt open to show the delicate line of the throat," she thinks he looks "like a young knight wounded in battle." Is Elizabeth a bit in love with Wickham? She wonders whether she would "have married him if he had been rich instead of penniless." This is the second time Elizabeth has questioned her motives for marrying Darcy: wondering if she had been attracted to Darcy primarily for his wealth and position. What do you think?
12. Why does Darcy never wish to speak of the incident in which Wickham had attempted to elope with Georgiana? Why does Georgiana wish the two of them would talk about it?
13. Darcy knows that this latest scandal will threaten the family reputation. Yet he seems almost relieved that, as a result, his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, will not make an offer for Georgiana's hand. Why is he relieved? It would be a brilliant marriage for Georgiana; she would eventually become a countess.
14. An existential dread hangs over the characters at Pemberley even before the murder takes place. Elizabeth, especially, feels a deep unease, a "turmoil in her own mind." Looking from the vantage of historical hindsight, how might James be using the violent wind at the beginning of the novel as a symbol of something threatening the aristocracy?
15. How are women generally viewed in this society? How does Alveston's ideas challenge those views? Alveston mentions Mary Wollstonecraft. Who is she? You might do a little research on Wollstonecraft—a vital figure in the 18th century, whose ideas influenced future generations. (You also may be surprised to learn the identity of her daughter.)
16. Why is Lydia Wickham never questioned about what happened in the carriage between her husband and Captain Denny? Might the fact that she isn't questioned have anything to do with Questions 8 and 15?
17. Aside from ignoring Lydia, what other holes occur in the investigation—gaps that seem like missteps to modern readers steeped in police procedural novels and TV-serials? (Don't neglect the ironic quip regarding 18th-century science's inability to distinguish blood types.) What about the inquiry and ensuing trial—how does the justice system fail there? What safeguards, present today, seem to be missing in Wickham's court trial?
18. How does Darcy see his role as a great landowner? What responsibilities do the upper classes have in his society? As Darcy reflects back on his decision to marry to Elizabeth, does he believe it was a wise choice for a man in his position? How might his marriage have undermined his family's position?
19. When Darcy meets Wickham at the Gardiner's London house, what conflict does he hold with regards to proper social behavior vs. his own feelings toward Wickham? Why, in Darcy's mind, is social etiquette necessary? What was his mother's explanation for good manners? What role do manners play in modern society? Has today's culture dispensed with, or maintained, good manners?
20. What is Louisa Bidwell's chance for happiness? Is her fate a fair one? The Reverend Oliphant considers her "a highly intelligent" girl" who...
had been given a glimpse of a different and more exciting life, but undoubtedly the best had been done for her child and probably for her.
Do you agree? Why does Elizabeth, a few lines later, feel "a twinge of regret" when she considers Louisa's future as parlormaid at Highmarten?
21. What do you think the future holds for Wickham and Lydia?
22. Can you pick out the allusions to two other Austen novels—Persuasion and Emma?
23. Were you surprised by the revelations at the end of the mystery?
24. Is Death Comes to Pemberley a good mystery? Is it a good sequel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Death in Her Hands
Ottessa Moshfegh, 2020
Penguin Publishing
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781984879356
Summary
From one of our most ceaselessly provocative literary talents, a novel of haunting metaphysical suspense about an elderly widow whose life is upturned when she finds an ominous note on a walk in the woods.
While on her daily walk with her dog in a secluded woods, a woman comes across a note, handwritten and carefully pinned to the ground by stones.
"Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body."
But there is no dead body. Our narrator is deeply shaken; she has no idea what to make of this. She is new to this area, alone after the death of her husband, and she knows no one.
Becoming obsessed with solving this mystery, our narrator imagines who Magda was and how she met her fate. With very little to go on, she invents a list of murder suspects and possible motives for the crime. Oddly, her suppositions begin to find correspondences in the real world, and with mounting excitement and dread, the fog of mystery starts to fade into menacing certainty.
As her investigation widens, strange dissonances accrue, perhaps associated with the darkness in her own past; we must face the prospect that there is either an innocent explanation for all this or a much more sinister one.
A triumphant blend of horror, suspense, and pitch-black comedy, Death in Her Hands asks us to consider how the stories we tell ourselves both reflect the truth and keep us blind to it. Once again, we are in the hands of a narrator whose unreliability is well earned, and the stakes have never been higher. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 20, 1981
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College; M.F.A., Brown University
• Awards—Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award (more below)
• Currently—lives in New England
Ottessa Moshfegh is an American author and novelist who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a Croatian mother and Jewish-Iranian father. Both parents were musicians, who taught at the New England Conservatory of Music. Moshfegh herself learned to play piano and clarinet as a child.
Education and Career
Moshfegh received her B.A. from Barnard College in 2002. After graduation, she moved to China where she taught English and worked in a punk bar. In her mid-twenties, she moved to New York City where she worked for Overlook Press and then as an assistant to the author Jean Stein. After contracting cat-scratch fever, she left the city and earned an M.F.A. from Brown University.
Ottessa's first work of fiction was the novella "McGlue," published in 2014. Her debut novel Eileen was released in 2015 and won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. The novel was also shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize and selected as a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
n 2017 Moshfega published a collection of stories, Homesick for Another World. Her second novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, was published in 2018, and Death in Her Hands, her third, came out in 2020.
Moshfegh is a frequent contributor to the Paris Review; she has published numerous stories in the journal since 2012.
Awards and honors
2013–15 Wallace Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University
2013 Plimpton Prize for Fiction (Paris Review) - "Bettering Myself" (story)
2014 Fence Modern Prize in Prose - "McGlue"
2014 Believer Book Award winner - "McGlue"
2016 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award - Eileen
2016 Man Booker Prize (shortlist) - Eileen
2018 The Story Prize finalist for Homesick for Another World
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 8/29/2018.)
Book Reviews
When it comes to evoking the jagged edge of contemporary anxiety there might not be a more insightful writer working today than Moshfegh. That is, if the boundless dark potential of the human psyche is your thing. If it’s not, this atmospheric, darkly comic tale of a pathologically lonely widow and the thrills lurking in her sylvan retreat might not be for you. But, sophisticated reader that you are, you’re not afraid of the dark. Right?
The Millions
It all starts with a note that reads, "Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body." An elderly widow finds it in the woods and her horror and curiosity soon turns into an obsession. But just as her investigation begins to take shape, we begin to doubt our narrator's grip on reality. This is part crime thriller, part dark comedy, and totally delightful.
Good Housekeeping
[C]hilling…. A self-contained horror story that takes place inside the mind of an alluringly unreliable narrator…. When shhe finds a handwritten note that implies a murder has taken place on her property, she works to solve it as best she can. The narrator’s dark fantasies and less-than-pure thoughts work especially well if you think of Death in Her Hands as a sequel to Moshfegh’s deliciously gross and grotesque debut novel, Eileen.
Vulture
Perhaps the most jarring genre of fiction is the kind that takes you deep into the gradual unraveling of a person's mind. Moshfegh does a masterful job with Death In Her Hands, which follows a protagonist who believes she's solving a murder. The book moves seamlessly from suspenseful to horrifying, retaining the reader's attention all the while.
Marie Claire
Moshfegh is a novelist I will follow pretty much anywhere, even if this story’s winding path raised as many questions as it answered.
Vogue.com
There’s an intriguing idea at the center of this about how the mind can spin stories in order to stay alive, but the novel lacks the devious, provocative fun of Moshfegh’s other work, and is messy enough to make readers wonder what exactly to make of it.
Publishers Weekly
This unnerving latest from Moshfegh offers a truly creepy murder mystery while commenting on our relationship to the genre itself.
Library Journal
A fractured, startlingly human narrator in Moshfegh’s… inimitable style, Vesta quickly reveals a relentless imagination matched only by her desire to uncover the truth…. Cleverly unraveling… the limits of reality… this will speak to fans of literary psychological suspense.
Booklist
You simultaneously worry about Vesta and root for her, and Moshfegh’s handling of her story is at once troubling and moving. An eerie and affecting satire of the detective novel.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for DEATH IN HER HANDS … then take off on your own:
1. When Vesta Gul finds the note about a murder that kicks this narrative off, why doesn't she call the police? What would you have done?
2. How does Vesta come up with "Blake," the supposed identity of the supposed murderer? Does she use random association, research, logic, imagination? Is the author poking fun at mystery novels?
3. What do we come to learn about Vesta as she begins to determine the plot and characters of her "murder mystery"? Is she writing a mystery… or living within one?
4. Talk about Vesta's marriage to her late husband, Walter Gul. What kind of man was Walter?
5. Vest recalls how Walter playing chess with himself--that by switching chairs, as he told her, "the psyche confronts itself.” He goes on: "The mind must be spoken to, Vesta, otherwise it starts to atrophy.” Vesta doesn't buy it: "But if the mind talks to itself… isn’t it just saying what it wants to hear?” Is Vesta suggesting that our attempts to understand our own lives and selves are simply efforts in delusion or illusion? Does this rule apply to Vesta herself?
6. At what point do you come to think that Ottessa Moshfegh is writing a novel within a novel. Or is she? How do you untangle this?
7. Is any of this real? Has Vesta dreamed all of this? Has she even fabricated Walter? What about her dog Charlie? Does he exist?
8. Is this book a mindfuck?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Death of a Dowager (Jane Eyre Chronicles, 2)
Joanna Campbell Slan, 2013
Penguin Group USA
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425253519
Summary
In her classic tale, Charlotte Brontë introduced readers to the strong-willed and intelligent Jane Eyre. The Jane Eyre Chronicles pick up where Brontë left off, with Jane married to her beloved Edward Rochester and mother to a young son. But Jane soons finds herself having to protect those she loves
While extensive repairs are being made to Ferndean, their rural home, Jane and Edward accept an invitation from their friend Lucy Brayton to stay with her in London. Jane is reluctant to abandon their peaceful life in the countryside, but Edward’s damaged vision has grown worse. She hopes that time in the capital will buoy his spirits and give him the chance to receive treatment from an ocular specialist.
Once in London, the Rochesters accompany Lucy to the Italian Opera House. But there is more drama in the audience than on stage—Jane not only unexpectedly finds herself in the presence of King George and his mistress, Lady Conygham, she also encounters an old nemesis in the form of Lady Ingram (whose daughter, Blanche, once hoped to wed Edward herself). The aging dowager deals both Jane and Lucy a very public snub; hoping to mitigate the social damage caused by this, Lucy insists on visiting the Ingrams the next day. The visit goes poorly from the start—and ends with Lady Ingram dropping dead in the midst of taking tea. It soon becomes clear that the dowager’s death was an unnatural one, and Jane must set her considerable intelligence to the problem of solving it—and why the throne appears to have an interest
. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth— June 22, 1953
• Raised—Vincennes, Indiana, USA
• Education—B.A., Ball State University
• Currently—lives in Jupiter Island, Florida
Joanna Campbell Slan started storytelling—and winning awards for her writing—at an early age. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Joanna grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, and graduated cum laude from Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana) where she majored in journalism. Today she's the author of eleven non-fiction books, a mystery series featuring Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who loves to scrapbook, and a new series featuring Charlotte Bronte's classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth.
Joanna's first novel—Paper, Scissors, Death—was a 2009 Agatha Award finalist. The Kiki Lowenstein series has been praised by the Library Journal as "topically relevant and chock-full of side stories." Publisher's Weekly calls them, "a cut above the usual craft-themed cozy." RT Book Review has said that Kiki Lowenstein is that she is "our best friend, our next-door neighbor and ourselves with just a touch of the outrageous." Once you've met Joanna, you can guess where the outrageous comes from.
Ready, Scrap, Shoot, the fifth book in the Kiki Lowenstein series, was released in 2012, along with short stories featuring Kiki. A sixth book in that popular series has been scheduled. In addition, Joanna is writing a new historical mystery series featuring Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. Death of a Schoolgirl, released also in 2012, marks the first entry in The Jane Eyre Chronicles; it was followed by the second, Death of a Dowager in 2013.
In her ongoing quest to never see snow again, Joanna lives with her two dogs and her husband on a nearly deserted island—Jupiter Island, Florida. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
This book has few, if any, mainstream press reviews online yet. We'll add reviews as they become available. In the meantime, see Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.
Discussion Questions
1.In this book, as in Death of a Schoolgirl (the first book in The Jane Eyre Chronicles), we are presented with the question: “How much do we owe other people?” In various ways, characters either take or refuse to take responsibility for how their actions might harm others. Discuss this theme.
2. In various ways, characters in this book try to show their love for other people, only to create troublesome situations. For example, John has shown his love for his master Edward, Lucy has shown her love for her friend Olivia Grainger, and King George IV has shown his love for Maria Fitzherbert. Compare and contrast what love means to each of these pairs. How successful are they are showing their affection?
3. Compare and contrast the relationships of parents with their children in the book. Consider: Dowager Countess Ingram with Blanche and Mary; Jane with Ned; the King and his daughter Princess Charlotte. Discuss how parents try to guide their children, and how sometimes parents do not see their children clearly. Is it possible that on occasion their assumptions about what is “right” for their children might be terribly wrong? How is this shown in the book?
4. Jane’s friend Lucy Brayton worries that she will fail in her desire to be a good mother to her adoptive son. She believes that a natural mother would have instincts that are more in tune with her child’s needs. Do you agree? Why or why not?
5. Jane and Edward face the looming problem of his worsening vision. We see how it has an impact on his moods. Is Jane responsible for keeping Edward happy? What if that comes at the expense of her own happiness?
6. King George IV is shown as a complex character in this book. What did you know of him before reading Death of a Dowager? Has your opinion of him changed as you learned more?
7. Maria Fitzherbert, Queen Caroline of Brunswick, and the Marchioness Elizabeth Conyngham were all real people, and their relationship with the King is accurately described. Consider these in light of modern day royal pairings such as Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Wales, and Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. In what ways have the responsibilities of modern British royalty changed? In what ways are the responsibilities the same?
(Questions found on author's website.)
Death of a Salesman
Arthur Miller, 1949
Penguin Group USA
144 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780140481341
Summary
Ever since it was first performed in 1949, Death of a Salesman has been recognized as a milestone of the American theater.
In the person of Willy Loman, the aging, failing salesman who makes his living riding on a smile and a shoeshine, Arthur Miller redefined the tragic hero as a man whose dreams are at once insupportably vast and dangerously insubstantial. He has given us a figure whose name has become a symbol for a kind of majestic grandiosity—and a play that compresses epic extremems of humor and anguish, promise and loss, between the four walls of an American living room. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 17, 1915
• Where—New York, New York, USA
• Death—February 10, 2005
• Where—Roxbury, Connecticut
• Education—B.A., University of Michigan
• Awards—Tony Award (twice); Pulitizer Prize; New
York Drama Circle Critics Award; National Medal
of the Arts; Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize;
Jerusalem Prize; Principe de Asturias Prize (Spain)
Arthur Asher Miller was an American playwright and essayist. He was a prominent figure in American theatre, writing dramas that include plays such as All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (one-act, 1955; revised two-act, 1956).
Miller was often in the public eye, particularly during the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, a period during which he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee, received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Principe de Asturias Award, and was married to Marilyn Monroe.
Early life
Arthur Asher Miller was born, in Harlem, New York City, the second of three children of Isidore and Augusta Miller, Polish-Jewish immigrants. His father, a mostly illiterate but moderately wealthy businessman, owned a women's clothing store employing 400 people. The family, including his younger sister Joan, lived on East 110th Street in Manhattan and owned a summer house in Far Rockaway, Queens. They employed a chauffeur. In the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the family lost almost everything and moved to Gravesend, Brooklyn. As a teenager, Miller delivered bread every morning before school to help the family. After graduating in 1932 from Abraham Lincoln High School, he worked at several menial jobs to pay for his college tuition.
At the University of Michigan, Miller first majored in journalism and worked as a reporter and night editor for the student paper, the Michigan Daily. It was during this time that he wrote his first play, No Villain. Miller switched his major to English, and subsequently won the Avery Hopwood Award for No Villain. The award brought him his first recognition and led him to begin to consider that he could have a career as a playwright. Miller enrolled in a playwriting seminar taught by the influential Professor Kenneth Rowe, who instructed him in his early forays into playwriting; Rowe emphasized how a play is built in order to achieve its intended effect, or what Miller called "the dynamics of play construction." Rowe provided realistic feedback along with much-needed encouragement, and became a lifelong friend. Miller retained strong ties to his alma mater throughout the rest of his life, establishing the university's Arthur Miller Award in 1985 and Arthur Miller Award for Dramatic Writing in 1999, and lending his name to the Arthur Miller Theatre in 2000. In 1937, Miller wrote Honors at Dawn, which also received the Avery Hopwood Award.
In 1938, Miller received a BA in English. After graduation, he joined the Federal Theater Project, a New Deal agency established to provide jobs in the theater. He chose the theater project although he had an offer to work as a scriptwriter for 20th Century Fox. However, Congress, worried about possible Communist infiltration, closed the project in 1939. Miller began working in the Brooklyn Navy Yard while continuing to write radio plays, some of which were broadcast on CBS.
On August 5, 1940, he married his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, the Catholic daughter of an insurance salesman. The couple had two children, Jane and Robert. Miller was exempted from military service during World War II because of a high-school football injury to his left kneecap. Robert, a writer and film director, produced the 1996 movie version of The Crucible.
Early career
In 1940 Miller wrote The Man Who Had All the Luck, which was produced in New Jersey in 1940 and won the Theatre Guild's National Award. The play closed after four performances and disastrous reviews. In his book Trinity of Passion, author Alan M. Wald conjectures that Miller was "a member of a writer's unit of the Communist Party around 1946", using the pseudonym Matt Wayne, and editing a drama column in the magazine The New Masses. In 1946 Miller's play All My Sons, the writing of which had commenced in 1941, was a success on Broadway (earning him his first Tony Award, for Best Author) and his reputation as a playwright was established.
In 1948 Miller built a small studio in Roxbury, Connecticut. There, in less than a day, he wrote Act I of Death of a Salesman. Within six weeks, he completed the rest of the play, one of the classics of world theater. Death of a Salesman premiered on Broadway on February 10, 1949 at the Morosco Theatre, directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman, Mildred Dunnock as Linda, Arthur Kennedy as Biff, and Cameron Mitchell as Happy. The play was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics' Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was the first play to win all three of these major awards. The play was performed 742 times.
In 1952, Kazan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC); fearful of being blacklisted from Hollywood, Kazan named eight members of the Group Theatre, including Clifford Odets, Paula Strasberg, Lillian Hellman, Joe Bromberg, and John Garfield, who in recent years had been fellow members of the Communist Party. After speaking with Kazan about his testimony Miller traveled to Salem, Massachusetts to research the witch trials of 1692. The Crucible, in which Miller likened the situation with the House Un-American Activities Committee to the witch hunt in Salem in 1692, opened at the Beck Theatre on Broadway on January 22, 1953. Though widely considered only somewhat successful at the time of its initial release, today The Crucible is Miller's most frequently produced work throughout the world and was adapted into an opera by Robert Ward which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1962. Miller and Kazan were close friends throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, but after Kazan's testimony to the HUAC, the pair's friendship ended, and they did not speak to each other for the next ten years. The HUAC took an interest in Miller himself not long after The Crucible opened, denying him a passport to attend the play's London opening in 1954. Kazan defended his own actions through his film On the Waterfront, in which a dockworker heroically testifies against a corrupt union boss.
1956–1964
In 1956, a one-act version of Miller's verse drama A View from the Bridge opened on Broadway in a joint bill with one of Miller's lesser-known plays, A Memory of Two Mondays. The following year, Miller revised A View from the Bridge as a two-act prose drama, which Peter Brook directed in London.
In June 1956, Miller left his first wife Mary Slattery and on June 25 he married Marilyn Monroe. Miller and Monroe had met in April 23 1951, when they had a brief affair, and had remained in contact since then.
When Miller applied in 1956 for a routine renewal of his passport, the HUAC used this opportunity to subpoena him to appear before the committee. Before appearing, Miller asked the committee not to ask him to name names, to which the chairman agreed.
When Miller attended the hearing, to which Monroe accompanied him, risking her own career, he gave the committee a detailed account of his political activities. Reneging on the chairman's promise, the committee demanded the names of friends and colleagues who had participated in similar activities. Miller refused to comply, saying "I could not use the name of another person and bring trouble on him." As a result, a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller was sentenced to a $500 fine or thirty days in prison, blacklisted, and disallowed a US passport. In 1958, his conviction was overturned by the court of appeals, which ruled that Miller had been misled by the chairman of the HUAC.
Miller began work on The Misfits, starring his wife. Miller later said that the filming was one of the lowest points in his life; shortly before the film's premiere in 1961, the pair divorced; 19 months later, Monroe died of an apparent drug overdose.
Miller married photographer Inge Morath on February 17, 1962 and the first of their two children, Rebecca, was born that September. Their son Daniel was born with Down syndrome in November 1966; he was institutionalized and excluded from the Millers' personal life at Arthur's insistence. The couple remained together until Inge's death in 2002. Arthur Miller's son-in-law, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, is said to have visited Daniel frequently, and to have persuaded Arthur Miller to reunite with his adult son.
Later career
In 1964 Miller's next play was produced. After the Fall is a deeply personal view of Miller's experiences during his marriage to Monroe. The play reunited Miller with his former friend Kazan: they collaborated on both the script and the direction. After the Fall opened on January 23, 1964 at the ANTA Theatre in Washington Square Park amid a flurry of publicity and outrage at putting a Monroe-like character, called Maggie, on stage. That same year, Miller produced Incident at Vichy. In 1965, Miller was elected the first American president of International PEN, a position which he held for four years. During this period Miller wrote the penetrating family drama, The Price, produced in 1968. It was Miller's most successful play since Death of a Salesman.
In 1969, Miller's works were banned in the Soviet Union after he campaigned for the freedom of dissident writers. Throughout the 1970s, Miller spent much of his time experimenting with the theatre, producing one-act plays such as "Fame" and "The Reason Why," and traveling with his wife, producing In The Country and Chinese Encounters with her. Both his 1972 comedy The Creation of the World and Other Business and its musical adaptation, Up from Paradise, were critical and commercial failures.
Miller was an unusually articulate commentator on his own work. In 1978 he published a collection of his Theater Essays, edited by Robert A. Martin and with a foreword by Miller. Highlights of the collection included Miller's introduction to his Collected Plays, his reflections on the theory of tragedy, comments on the McCarthy Era, and pieces arguing for a publicly supported theater. Reviewing this collection in the Chicago Tribune, Studs Terkel remarked, "in reading [the Theater Essays]...you are exhilaratingly aware of a social critic, as well as a playwright, who knows what he's talking about."
In 1983, Miller traveled to China to produce and direct Death of a Salesman at the People's Art Theatre in Beijing. The play was a success in China and in 1984, Salesman in Beijing, a book about Miller's experiences in Beijing, was published. Around the same time, Death of a Salesman was made into a TV movie starring Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman and John Malkovich as Biff. Shown on CBS, it attracted 25 million viewers. In late 1987, Miller's autobiographical work, Timebends, was published, in which he talks about his experiences with Monroe in detail. During the early 1990s Miller wrote three new plays, The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1992), and Broken Glass (1994). In 1996, a film of The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder opened. Miller spent much of 1996 working on the screenplay to the film. Mr. Peters' Connections was staged Off-Broadway in 1998, and Death of a Salesman was revived on Broadway in 1999 to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary. The play, once again, was a large critical success, winning a Tony Award for best revival of a play.
In 1993, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. In 2001 the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) selected Miller for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. Miller's lecture was entitled "On Politics and the Art of Acting." Miller's lecture analyzed political events (including the U.S. presidential election of 2000) in terms of the "arts of performance", and it drew attacks from some conservatives such as Jay Nordlinger, who called it "a disgrace," and George Will, who argued that Miller was not legitimately a "scholar."
In 1999 Miller was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the arts, given annually to “a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.” On May 1, 2002, Miller was awarded Spain's Principe de Asturias Prize for Literature as "the undisputed master of modern drama". Later that year, Ingeborg Morath died of lymphatic cancer at the age of 78. The following year Miller won the Jerusalem Prize.
Miller died of heart failure after a battle against cancer, pneumonia and congestive heart disease at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut. He had been in hospice care at his sister's apartment in New York since his release from hospital the previous month. He died on the evening of February 10, 2005 (the 56th anniversary of the Broadway debut of Death of a Salesman), aged 89, surrounded by Barley, family and friends.
Legacy
Miller's career as a writer spanned over seven decades, and at the time of his death, Miller was considered to be one of the greatest dramatists of the twentieth century. After his death, many respected actors, directors, and producers paid tribute to Miller, some calling him the last great practitioner of the American stage, and Broadway theatres darkened their lights in a show of respect. Miller's alma mater, the University of Michigan opened the Arthur Miller Theatre in March, 2007. Per his express wish, it is the only theatre in the world that bears Miller's name.
Christopher Bigsby wrote Arthur Miller: The Definitive Biography based on boxes of papers Miller made available to him before his death in 2005. The book was published in November 2008, and is reported to reveal unpublished works in which Miller "bitterly attack[ed] the injustices of American racism long before it was taken up by the civil rights movement."
Miller's papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
(Pre-internet works have few mainstream reviews online. See Amazon and Barnes & Noble for helpful customer reviews.)
By common consent, this is one of the finest dramas in the whole range of the American theatre. Humane in its point of view, it has stature and insight, awareness of life, respect for people and knoweldge of American manners.... [I]t is virtuoso theatre. It brings the whole theatre alive.
Brook Atkinson - New York Times (2/20/1949)
What accounts for Mr. Miller's continuing appeal? Perhaps some of the very aspects of his work that seem so old-fashioned--his moral seriousness and fondness or mythic intonations...--are refreshing anomalies in this age of relentless irony and cynicism.... Mr. Miller's assumption that "life has meaning" appeals to our vestigial belief (or hope).... [H]is efforts, however ham-handed, to addres the larg questions of right and wrong suggest that the theater still matters, that it can still provide a venue or intellectual debate.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times (2/7/1999, 50th anniversary production)
Discussion Questions
1. Why does Willy kill himself?
2. What does Linda mean when, at the end of the play, she says repeatedly, "We're free"? (p. 112)
3. Why does Willy refuse Charley's numerous offers of a job?
4. Why is Willy's perception of Biff consistently inaccurate?
5. Why does Biff steal Bill Oliver's pen?
6. After Biff insists that he and Willy both acknowledge the truth about who they are, why does Willy then say of Biff, "he likes me!"? (p. 106)
7. What does Charley mean when he says, "No man only needs a little salary"? (p. 110)
8. Why does Happy insist that Willy "had a good dream"? (p. 111)
9. What does Willy mean when he says to Linda, "some people accomplish something"? (p. 5)
10. Why is it so important to Willy that he be well liked?
11. Why does Willy plant the garden after his dinner with Biff and Happy?
12. To what is Biff referring when he says to Willy, "will you let me out of it," while trying to tell Willy about his meeting with Bill Oliver? (p. 85)
13. At what point does the pursuit of dreams turn into a harmful denial of one's actual circumstances?
14. Can Willy be called a tragic figure in the same way that this term applies to various characters in Greek drama?
15. Do American ideals exalt the freedom of the individual at the expense of the welfare of the community?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Death of a Schoolgirl: (Jane Eyre Chronicles, 1)
Joanna Campbell Slan, 2012
Penguin Group USA
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780425247747
Summary
In her classic tale, Charlotte Bronte introduced readers to the strong-willed and intelligent Jane Eyre. Picking up where Brontë left off, Jane’s life has settled into a comfortable pattern: She and her beloved Edward Rochester are married and have an infant son. But Jane soon finds herself in the midst of new challenges and threats to those she loves.
Jane can’t help but fret when a letter arrives from Adele Varens—Rochester’s ward, currently at boarding school—warning that the girl’s life is in jeopardy. Although it means leaving her young son and invalid husband, and despite never having been to a city of any size, Jane feels strongly compelled to go to London to ensure Adele’s safety.
But almost from the beginning, Jane’s travels don’t go as planned—she is knocked about and robbed, and no one believes that the plain, unassuming Jane could indeed be the wife of a gentleman; even the school superintendent takes her for an errant new teacher. But most shocking to Jane is the discovery that Adele’s schoolmate has recently passed away under very suspicious circumstances, yet no one appears overly concerned. Taking advantage of the situation, Jane decides to pose as the missing instructor—and soon uncovers several unsavory secrets, which may very well make her the killer’s next target. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth— June 22, 1953
• Raised—Vincennes, Indiana, USA
• Education—B.A., Ball State University
• Currently—lives in Jupiter Island, Florida
Joanna Campbell Slan started storytelling—and winning awards for her writing—at an early age. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Joanna grew up in Vincennes, Indiana, and graduated cum laude from Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana) where she majored in journalism. Today she's the author of eleven non-fiction books, a mystery series featuring Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky single mom who loves to scrapbook, and a new series featuring Charlotte Bronte's classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth.
Joanna's first novel—Paper, Scissors, Death—was a 2009 Agatha Award finalist. The Kiki Lowenstein series has been praised by the Library Journal as "topically relevant and chock-full of side stories." Publisher's Weekly calls them, "a cut above the usual craft-themed cozy." RT Book Review has said that Kiki Lowenstein is that she is "our best friend, our next-door neighbor and ourselves with just a touch of the outrageous." Once you've met Joanna, you can guess where the outrageous comes from.
Ready, Scrap, Shoot, the fifth book in the Kiki Lowenstein series, was released in 2012, along with short stories featuring Kiki. A sixth book in that popular series has been scheduled. In addition, Joanna is writing a new historical mystery series featuring Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. Death of a Schoolgirl, released also in 2012, marks the first entry in The Jane Eyre Chronicles; it was followed by the second, The Death of a Dowager in 2013.
In her ongoing quest to never see snow again, Joanna lives with her two dogs and her husband on a nearly deserted island—Jupiter Island, Florida. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Fans of historical cozies will best appreciate Slan’s first in a new series featuring Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Soon after the birth of Jane and Edward Rochester’s first son, Jane receives a troubling plea for help from her former pupil, Adele Varens, now at London’s Alderton House School for Girls. Jane travels from Yorkshire to London, where she poses as a German teacher to gain entry to Alderton House, which she discovers is a hotbed of bullying, theft, laudanum drugging, and long-held grudges. The death of one of Adele’s schoolmates and a possible connection to George IV add to the intrigue. Slan (Ready, Scrap, Shoot and four other Kiki Lowenstein mysteries) captures neither the voice of Jane Eyre nor the timeless appeal of its heroine, but she credibly recreates Regency London and the era of the Bow Street Runners.
Publishers Weekly
In 1820, Mr. Rochester and Jane Eyre Rochester have settled into the Yorkshire countryside and welcomed a son. Their quiet retreat is shattered when Adele, Mr. Rochester's ward who is now enrolled in a London boarding school, sends a desperate plea for help.... Verdict: It's difficult to know why the author of the Kiki Lowenstein "Scrap-N-Craft" cozy series chose Jane Eyre as the basis for this amateur sleuth mystery.... Readers without strong feelings about Charlotte Bronte's classic may enjoy this spin-off but should be prepared for a slow-paced investigation and out-of-the-blue solution. —Stacey Hayman, Rocky River P.L., OH
Library Journal
(15 to Adult.) This piece is a work of fiction, based upon the work of Charlotte Bronte. The novel begins when Jane and her husband, Rochester, both happily in love, take care of their infant son. Rochester has a daughter named Adele who is living in a girls’ boarding school. A strange letter arrives from Adele, containing cryptic messages of a foreboding nature.... Jane decides she must embark on an important quest to the boarding school.... Will she be able to save Adele from the strange circumstances at her school? This is a wonderful novel for young adults who are interested in the classics of Great Britain in the 1800s. For readers who love Jane Eyre, she lives on through Joanna Campbell Slan.
VOYA
A cry of distress from a schoolgirl takes Jane Eyre Rochester far from her sheltered life.... Although Jane may seem meek, the formidable intelligence behind her demure exterior stands her in good stead as she attempts to uncover a murderer. In a radical departure from her scrapbooking series (Ready, Scrap, Shoot, 2012, etc.), Slan refashions a beloved heroine as a surprisingly canny detective. Her stylistic imitation of Charlotte Bronte is seasoned with a dash of social commentary and plenty of suspects to mull over.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Charlotte Brontë called her work “a plain tale,” but 165 years later, her novel Jane Eyre still enchants readers. What do you think is the secret to this book’s popularity? Do you think it is still relevant today? Does Death of a Schoolgirl make you want to re-read the classic?
2. The author begins Death of a Schoolgirl close to where Jane Eyre left off, with Jane and her beloved Edward Rochester happily married. But while Jane is still the same person—curious, cerebral, observant, and unobtrusive—in some important ways she has changed. The struggling orphan of the classic is now a wealthy wife of a country squire and the mother of a little boy. It what other ways has Jane changed? Do you approve of these changes? Why or why not?
3. At various times in the book, Jane has different motivations for staying at Alderton House School for Girls. At first, she is there to see to Adèle. Then she feels she must protect the other schoolgirls. Later, she worries about Miss Miller being accused wrongly. What other motivations does she have? What is it about Jane’s past that makes her feel so strongly that she must do something? Do you think she should have just taken Adèle and left the school?
4. Jane is less than truthful in many ways. One is the manner in which she dresses. Another is allowing herself to be mistaken for an errant German teacher. These are only two examples. Can you think of other ways in which she is duplicitous? How about the other characters? Is dishonesty ever justifiable? Why or why not?
5. Lucy Brayton is a new addition to the original cast of Jane Eyre. How does she serve as a foil to Jane? What strengths does Lucy bring to their friendship? What weaknesses in Jane’s personality does Lucy spotlight? What do you learn about Jane because their interactions?
6. The author has a bit of fun with the reader by locating the home of Captain and Lucy Brayton at #24 Grosvenor Square. What is the symbolism of that address?
7. Lucy Brayton understands how to use her social standing and wealth to achieve her aims. Can you give examples of this? Do you think she is right or wrong to take advance of her position?
8. Bruce Douglas is also a new character to the original Jane Eyre cast. What does he add to the story? How does he help Jane in her quest? How does he contrast with Edward Rochester?
9. Characters in the book show their prejudices toward others in a variety of ways, such as bias regarding national origin, social pedigree, education, age and gender. Did you notice them throughout the text? Do these still exist today?
10. Throughout Death of a Schoolgirl, there are many subtle themes. One is how we judge people by outward appearances; a second is responsibility to others; and a third theme is how our assumptions about others can be wrong. There is also the question of what accommodations marital/romantic partners make for each other. What other examples can you find of these themes in the text?
11. On the trip into Millcote, Jane sees her role as Edward’s wife differently. At the end of the book, Edward views his position as country squire in a new light. What events cause the Rochesters to re-examine their responsibilities?
12. In the original Jane Eyre, the imagery of birds is very important. Can you point to places where birds or bird-like behavior is likewise woven into Death of a Schoolgirl?
13. Jane seems ideally suited to understand and employ the science of ratiocination. What makes her such a good amateur sleuth?
14. Many of the characters in the book are seeking redemption or trying to rebuild their lives in one way or another. Which of them have your sympathy? Which do not? Why?
(Questions from author's website.)
The Death of Bees
Lisa O'Donnell, 2013
HarperCollins
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062209849
Summary
Winner, 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize
Today is Christmas Eve.
Today is my birthday.
Today I am fifteen.
Today I buried my parents in the backyard.
Neither of them were beloved.
Marnie and her little sister, Nelly, are on their own now. Only they know what happened to their parents, Izzy and Gene, and they aren't telling. While life in Glasgow's Maryhill housing estate isn't grand, the girls do have each other. Besides, it's only a year until Marnie will be considered an adult and can legally take care of them both.
As the New Year comes and goes, Lennie, the old man next door, realizes that his young neighbors are alone and need his help. Or does he need theirs? Lennie takes them in—feeds them, clothes them, protects them—and something like a family forms. But soon enough, the sisters' friends, their teachers, and the authorities start asking tougher questions. As one lie leads to another, dark secrets about the girls' family surface, creating complications that threaten to tear them apart.
Written with fierce sympathy and beautiful precision, told in alternating voices, The Death of Bees is an enchanting, grimly comic tale of three lost souls who, unable to answer for themselves, can answer only for one another. (From the publisher.)
Read the Interview with Lisa O'Donnell
Author Bio
• Birth—1972
• Raised—Bute, Island of the Firth of Clyde, Scotland
• Education—B.A.,Glasgow Caledonian University
• Awards—Orange Prize (screenwriting); Commonwealth Book Prize
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California, USA
Lisa O’Donnell winner of The Orange Prize for New Screenwriters with her screenplay The Wedding Gift in 2000. Lisa was also nominated for the Dennis Potter New Writers Award in the same year.
Her first novel, The Death of Bees, published in 2012, won the 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize. Her second novel, Closed Doors, was released in 2014. Lisa had moved to Los Angeles, California, as a screenwriter but has since returned to live in Scotland. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The Death of Bees is compelling stuff, engaging the emotions from the first page and quickly becoming almost impossible to put down.
Herald (Scotland)
As the action reaches a feverish climax…dark comedy is replaced by nerve-shredding tension…the reader is thoroughly caught up in the emotional trials and tribulations of two unlikely heroines….Warm without being cozy, explicit without being shocking, and emotive without being schmaltzy…a powerful coming-of-age tale.
Scotsman
This vibrantly-imagined novel, by turns hilarious and appalling, is hard to resist.
Daily Mail (UK)
O’Donnell adeptly balances caustic humour and compassion.
Guardian (UK)
The Death of Bees steadily draws you into its characters’ emotional lives.
Financial Times (UK)
When 15-year-old Marnie Doyle finds her father’s body on the sofa of their seedy Glasgow home and her mother hanging in the garden shed, she and her younger sister, Nelly, decide to bury them both in the back garden.... The sisters and [neighbor] Lennie narrate alternating chapters, moving the story along at a fast clip, but the author’s decision to give precocious Nelly a prissy vocabulary and a stilted, poetic delivery (“A white syringe. The coarsest cotton. It’s abominable”) makes her a less believable character, especially as Marnie’s voice is rife with expletives and vulgar slang. The difference between the sisters in terms of personality and maturity puts them at odds despite their shared fear of discovery. But their resilience suggests hope for their blighted lives.
Publishers Weekly
Quirky characters with distinct voices enliven this sometimes grim and often funny coming-of-age story in the vein of Karen Russell's best seller Swamplandia! 'Donnell's debut is sure to be a winner with adults and young adults alike. —Nancy H. Fontaine, Norwich P.L., VT
Library Journal
(Starred review.) O’Donnell’s finely drawn characters display the full palette of human flaws and potential. Told in the alternating voices of Marnie, Nelly, and Lennie, this beautifully written page-turner will have readers fretting about what will become of the girls.
Booklist
From its first line to its last, The Death of Bees is unapologetically candid and heralds a brazen new voice in the literary world…. This is a dark and mordant novel, yet despite its fighting words, a tender heart beats deep at its center. Although undeniably bleak at times, Marnie and Nelly’s story is not devoid of hope and has much needed punches of humor throughout. The result is a riveting and rewarding read.
BookPage
An unusual coming-of-age novel that features two sisters who survive years of abuse and neglect. The story is set in Scotland, written with a distinct Scottish flavor, in very brief chapters told from the alternating points of view of the two girls and a neighbor who takes them in and ultimately covers for them when their dark secret is uncovered.... The two girls also go through the more mundane trials of female adolescence—peer pressures at school, menstruation and the confusions that accompany awakening sexuality. The author's experience as a screenwriter is most definitely apparent, as the reader always hears the voices and can visualize the dramatic, sometimes appallingly grim scenes.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What was your initial reaction reading these few paragraphs? What did it tell you about the person who wrote it? How does the prologue set the tone for the story that follows?
2. Talk about the title. What does "The Death of Bees" signify?
3. What were your first impressions of Marnie and Nelly? Would you call them typical fifteen- and twelve-year-old adolescents? Compare them with other children, both those you may know as well as the girls' classmates and friends. Did your impressions of the sisters change over the course of the novel?
4. Contrast Marnie and Nelly. How do they see themselves, each other, and the world around them? What accounts for the things they see differently? How would each fare without the other? Marnie explains that Nelly is "just not like other people and can't fake it, which is more than can be said about me. I've been faking it my whole life." Why does she believe this about herself? How is Marnie faking it?
5. How do their parents' deaths affect the girls? Is Marnie right to keep their deaths a secret? Why does she do this? Are her instincts about adults and the system correct?
6. Think about their parents, Gene and Izzy. What kind of parents—and people—were they? Do you think they loved their daughters? If so, why did they behave as they did? What did the girls learn about life from them? How much was Izzy's background influential in who she was as an adult? Why are Marnie and Nelly so different from their parents?
7. If it were possible, do you think we should have laws determining who can have children and who cannot? Why do some people have children when they cannot or do not want to take care of them? How might the girls be different if they had been born to different parents?
8. What role does class play in the story? Several of Marnie's friends come from more privileged backgrounds. What are they and their parents like? How does class often blind us to reality?
9. Describe Lennie and his role in the girls' lives. How has his past shaped his life? What draws him to Marnie and Nelly? Why does he notice them and why does he care? What about the girls' other neighbors—why don't they care? Is Lennie a good paternal figure, and if so, why? What does he give the girls that Izzy and Gene did not? What do the girls think about Lennie? Why do they trust him? Why does the fact that he cares for them scare Marnie?
10. What role does Vlad play in Marnie's life? Describe their relationship. What do they offer each other? What do you think of Vlad? Is he a good person? We hear about Vlad before we meet him. How does what we first learn about him color our impressions?
11. What happens when Robert T. Macdonald appears? What is his relationship to the girls? What does he want from them? Why are both Marnie and Lennie suspicious of Robert? Has he really changed, as he professes?
12. The novel is told from the viewpoints of three characters: Marnie, Nelly, and Lennie. Why do you think the author chose this form of narration? How does it add to the unfolding story? How might it be different if it had been told from one of the three viewpoints?
13. Would you say the book had a happy ending? What do you think will happen to the girls in the future? What about Robert and Vlad?
14. What drew you to read (or suggest) The Death of Bees? Did it meet your expectations? Were the characters and the situation believable? Did you have a favorite character, and if so, why?
15. What did you take away from reading The Death of Bees?
(Questions issued by publisher.
top of page (summary)
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
Ruth Ware, 2018
Gallery/Scout Press
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501156212
Summary
On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.
Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased … where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the center of it.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, this is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1977
• Raised—Lewes, Sussex, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Manchester University
• Currently—lives in London
Ruth Ware is the British author of mystery thrillers. She grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before returning to the UK. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language, and a press officer. She now lives in London with her husband and two small children.
After her debut In a Dark, Dark Wood was published in 2015, Ware was asked by NPR's David Greene about mystery writers who had influenced her:
I read a huge amount of it as a kid. You know, Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Dorothy L. Sayers, Sherlock Holmes. And I didn't consciously channel that when I was writing, but when I finished and reread the book, I did suddenly realize how much this kind of structure owed to...Agatha Christie. And it wasn't consciously done, but...I would say I definitely owe a debt to Christie.
Indeed many have noticed Christie's influence in both of Ware's books, including her second, The Woman in Cabin 10, released in 2016. Ware's third novel, The Lying Game, came out in 2017, and her fourth, The Death of Mrs. Westaway in 2018. (Adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
[A] tense, twisty modern gothic.… Evocative prose, artfully shaded characters, and a creepy, claustrophobic atmosphere keep the pages of this explosive family drama turning.
Publishers Weekly
Since blasting onto the scene with In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ware has come up with some pretty intriguing premises, and this sounds no different.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) [T]his is a very human mystery. The isolation of Trepassen House, its magpies, and its anachronistic housekeeper cultivate a dull sense of horror. Ware's novels continue to evoke comparison to Agatha Christie…. Expertly paced, expertly crafted.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, please use our GENERIC MYSTERY QUESTIONS to start a discussion for THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY … then take off on your own:
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they flat, one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers embed hidden clues in plain sight, slipping them in casually, almost in passing. Did you pick them out, or were you...clueless? Once you've finished the book, go back to locate the clues hidden in plain sight. How skillful was the author in burying them?
4. Good crime writers also tease us with red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray? Does your author try to throw you off track? If so, were you tripped up?
5. Talk about the twists & turns—those surprising plot developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray.
- Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense?
- Are they plausible or implausible?
- Do they feel forced and gratuitous—inserted merely to extend the story?
6. Does the author ratchet up the suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? A what point does the suspense start to build? Where does it climax...then perhaps start rising again?
7. A good ending is essential in any mystery or crime thriller: it should ease up on tension, answer questions, and tidy up loose ends. Does the ending accomplish those goals?
- Is the conclusion probable or believable?
- Is it organic, growing out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 3)?
- Or does the ending come out of the blue, feeling forced or tacked-on?
- Perhaps it's too predictable.
- Can you envision a different or better ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son
Pat Conroy, 2013
Knopf Doubleday
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385530903
Summary
In this powerful and intimate memoir, the beloved bestselling author of The Prince of Tides and his father, the inspiration for The Great Santini, find some common ground at long last.
Pat Conroy’s father, Donald Patrick Conroy, was a towering figure in his son’s life. The Marine Corps fighter pilot was often brutal, cruel, and violent; as Pat says, "I hated my father long before I knew there was an English word for 'hate.'" As the oldest of seven children who were dragged from military base to military base across the South, Pat bore witness to the toll his father’s behavior took on his siblings, and especially on his mother, Peg. She was Pat’s lifeline to a better world—that of books and culture. But eventually, despite repeated confrontations with his father, Pat managed to claw his way toward a life he could have only imagined as a child.
Pat’s great success as a writer has always been intimately linked with the exploration of his family history. While the publication of The Great Santini brought Pat much acclaim, the rift it caused with his father brought even more attention. Their long-simmering conflict burst into the open, fracturing an already battered family. But as Pat tenderly chronicles here, even the oldest of wounds can heal. In the final years of Don Conroy’s life, he and his son reached a rapprochement of sorts. Quite unexpectedly, the Santini who had freely doled out physical abuse to his wife and children refocused his ire on those who had turned on Pat over the years. He defended his son’s honor.
The Death of Santini is at once a heart-wrenching account of personal and family struggle and a poignant lesson in how the ties of blood can both strangle and offer succor. It is an act of reckoning, an exorcism of demons, but one whose ultimate conclusion is that love can soften even the meanest of men, lending significance to one of the most-often quoted lines from Pat’s bestselling novel The Prince of Tides: “In families there are no crimes beyond forgiveness.” (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 26, 1945
• Where—Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• Education—B.A., The Citadel
• Currently—lives in San Francisco, California, and Fripp
Island, South, Carolina
Pat Conroy was born in Atlanta, Georgia, to a young career military officer from Chicago and a Southern beauty from Alabama, whom Pat often credits for his love of language. He was the first of seven children.
His father was a violent and abusive man, a man whose biggest mistake, Conroy once said, was allowing a novelist to grow up in his home, a novelist "who remembered every single violent act... my father's violence is the central fact of my art and my life." Since the family had to move many times to different military bases around the South, Pat changed schools frequently, finally attending the Citadel Military Academy in Charleston, South Carolina, upon his father's insistence. While still a student, he wrote and then published his first book, The Boo, a tribute to a beloved teacher.
After graduation, Conroy taught English in Beaufort, where he met and married a young woman with two children, a widow of the Vietnam War. He then accepted a job teaching underprivileged children in a one-room schoolhouse on Daufuskie Island, a remote island off the South Carolina shore. After a year, Pat was fired for his unconventional teaching practices—such as his unwillingness to allow corporal punishment of his students—and for his general lack of respect for the school's administration. Conroy evened the score when he exposed the racism and appalling conditions his students endured with the publication of The Water is Wide in 1972. The book won Conroy a humanitarian award from the National Education Association and was made into the feature film Conrack, starring Jon Voight.
Writings
Following the birth of a daughter, the Conroys moved to Atlanta, where Pat wrote his novel, The Great Santini, published in 1976. This autobiographical work, later made into a powerful film starring Robert Duvall, explored the conflicts of his childhood, particularly his confusion over his love and loyalty to an abusive and often dangerous father.
The publication of a book that so painfully exposed his family's secret brought Conroy to a period of tremendous personal desolation. This crisis resulted not only in his divorce but the divorce of his parents; his mother presented a copy of The Great Santini to the judge as "evidence" in divorce proceedings against his father.
The Citadel became the subject of his next novel, The Lords of Discipline, published in 1980. The novel exposed the school's harsh military discipline, racism and sexism. This book, too, was made into a feature film.
Pat remarried and moved from Atlanta to Rome where he began The Prince of Tides which, when published in 1986, became his most successful book. Reviewers immediately acknowledged Conroy as a master storyteller and a poetic and gifted prose stylist. This novel has become one of the most beloved novels of modern time—with over five million copies in print, it has earned Conroy an international reputation. The Prince of Tides was made into a highly successful feature film directed by Barbra Streisand, who also starred in the film opposite Nick Nolte, whose brilliant performance won him an Oscar nomination.
Beach Music (1995), Conroy's sixth book, was the story of Jack McCall, an American who moves to Rome to escape the trauma and painful memory of his young wife's suicidal leap off a bridge in South Carolina. The story took place in South Carolina and Rome, and also reached back in time to the Holocaust and the Vietnam War. This book, too, was a tremendous international bestseller.
While on tour for Beach Music, members of Conroy's Citadel basketball team began appearing, one by one, at his book signings around the country. When his then-wife served him divorce papers while he was still on the road, Conroy realized that his team members had come back into his life just when he needed them most. And so he began reconstructing his senior year, his last year as an athlete, and the 21 basketball games that changed his life. The result of these recollections, along with flashbacks of his childhood and insights into his early aspirations as a writer, is My Losing Season, Conroy's seventh book and his first work of nonfiction since The Water is Wide.
South of Broad, published in 2009, 14 years after Beach Music, tells the story of friendships, first formed in high school, that span two decades.
In 2013, Conroy published his memoir, The Death of Santini, in which he revealed in greater detail his childhool and family life, especially the brutality of his father. Eventually, however, before his father's death, Pat and his father achieved peace, and Pat learned to forgive.
He currently lives in Fripp Island, South Carolina with his wife, the novelist Cassandra King. (Adapted from the author's website and Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
The Death of Santini instantly reminded me of the decadent pleasures of [Conroy's] language, of his promiscuous gift for metaphor and of his ability, in the finest passages of his fiction, to make the love, hurt or terror a protagonist feels seem to be the only emotion the world could possibly have room for, the rightful center of the trembling universe.... Conroy’s conviction pulls you fleetly through the book, as does the potency of his bond with his family, no matter their sins, their discord, their shortcomings.
Frank Bruni - New York Times
Despite the inherently bleak nature of so much of this material, Conroy has fashioned a memoir that is vital, large-hearted and often raucously funny. The result is an act of hard-won forgiveness, a deeply considered meditation on the impossibly complex nature of families and a valuable contribution to the literature of fathers and sons.
Washington Post
Conroy remains a brilliant storyteller, a master of sarcasm, and a hallucinatory stylist whose obsession with the impress of the past on the present binds him to Southern literary tradition.
Boston Globe
Conroy has the reflective ability that comes only with age. He has a deeper understanding of his father and the havoc he brought to his family.…But against the backdrop of ugliness and pain, Conroy also describes a certain kind of love, even forgiveness.
Associated Press
Conroy writes athletically and beautifully, slicing through painful memories like a point guard splitting the defense….It is a fast but wrenching read, filled with madness and abuse, big-hearted description and snarky sibling dialogue—all as Conroy comes to terms with what he calls "the weird-ass ruffled strangeness of the Conroy family."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
A heady, irresistible confusion of love and hate, "one more night flight into the immortal darkness to study that house of pain one more time," to prove how low his princes and princesses of Tides can sink and how high they can soar. True Conroy fans wouldn’t have it any other way.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In several of his 12 previous books, bestseller Conroy mined his brutal South Carolina childhood—most directly in the book that became a 1979 hit movie, The Great Santini, about a violent fighter pilot and his defiant son. In this memoir, the 68-year-old sheds the fictional veil, taking "one more night flight into the immortal darkness to study that house of pain a final time." The result is a painful, lyrical, addictive read that his fans won’t want to miss. (3.5 stars out of 4.)
People
While the intent may have been to paint a more honest picture of his parents, Conroy only shows himself to be insecure about the legacy of his books.... [and this one is] rendered in histrionic sappy prose. In the end his picture of the Conroy clan is one of deeply flawed people convinced the world is against them.
Publishers Weekly
In spite of the pain and cruelty [in his growing up years], there was forgiveness, and a mature friendship was realized between Conroy and his father before the latter’s death. Conroy’s eulogy concludes the book and is a fine summing-up of a compelling and readable portrait of a dysfunctional family.... Conroy’s many fans...will welcome it for its honesty, power, and humor. —Jay Freeman
Booklist
(Starred review.) In this memoir, Conroy unflinchingly reveals that his father, fighter pilot Donald Conroy, was actually much worse than the abusive Meechum in his novel.... Although his father's fearsome persona never really changed, Conroy learned to forgive.... It's an emotionally difficult journey that should lend fans of Conroy's fiction an insightful back story to his richly imagined characters. The moving true story of an unforgivable father and his unlikely redemption.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.)
The Death of Vivek Oji
Akwaeke Emezi, 2020
Penguin Publishing
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525541608
Summary
What does it mean for a family to lose a child they never really knew?
One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son’s body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet.
What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family’s struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious.
Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, Vivek finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men.
But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens—and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis—the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.
Propulsively readable, teeming with unforgettable characters, The Death of Vivek Oji is a novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations—a dramatic story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1987
• Where—Umuahia, Nigeria
• Education—M.P.A., New York University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Akwaeke Emezi is the author of The Death of Vivek Oji, a New York Times bestseller, published in 2020.
When Emezi's first novel, Freshwater (2019), was published, it was named a New York Times Notable Book and shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize, and longlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award, the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the Brooklyn Public Library Literary Prize, the Wellcome Book Prize, the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Freshwater was also awarded the Otherwise Award and named a Best Book of the Decade by BuzzFeed and a Best Book of the Year by The New Yorker, NPR, and the Chicago Public Library.
Emezi's second book, Pet (2019), was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature.
Selected as a "5 Under 35" honoree by the National Book Foundation, Emezi has been profiled by Vogue (photographed by Annie Leibovitz) and by Vanity Fair as part of "The New Hollywood Guard." Freshwater has been translated into ten languages and is currently in development as a TV series at FX, with Emezi writing and executive producing with Tamara P. Carter. (From the author.)
Book Reviews
[A] dazzling, devastating story…. A puzzle wrapped in beautiful language, raising questions of identity and loyalty that are as unanswerable as they are important.
New York Times Book Review
Remarkably assured and graceful…. Emezi has once again encouraged us to embrace a fuller spectrum of human experience.
Washington Post
Instead of getting flattened by death, Vivek becomes more vivid on each page. He glows like the sun, impossible to look at directly yet utterly charismatic. I missed him when the novel was done.
NPR
Powerful…. [A] slim book that contains as wide a range of experience as any saga—a little bit like Vivek’s brief yet gloriously expansive life.
Los Angeles Times
Electrifying.
Oprah Magazine
[A] brisk tale that whirs around the mysterious death of a young Nigerian man…. While Emezi leans on cliches…, they offer sharp observations about the cost of transphobia and homophobia, and about the limits of honesty…. Despite a few bumps, this is a worthy effort.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred Review) How [Vivek Oji] came to his untimely end is the focus of this haunting novel… [T]his achingly beautiful probe into the challenges of living fully as a nonbinary human being, is an illuminating read. —Sally Bissell, formerly with Lee Cty. Lib. Syst., Fort Myers, FL
Library Journal
(Starred Review) [A] deeply unsettling yet ultimately redeeming story about one young man’s struggles in Nigeria in a society which too often straitjackets one’s identity.… This is another knockout performance from a writer who… refuses to color within the lines.
Booklist
(Starred Review) There’s something heartbreaking about the fact that his story can only be told by others, especially since some of them never saw [Vivke] as he wanted to be seen.… Even so, the novel ends on a note of hope. Vividly written and deeply affecting.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. "They burned down the market on the day Vivek Oji died." The novel begins in the aftermath of Vivek Oji’s death, despite his being the titular character. How did knowing that Vivek has already died shape your reading experience? What is suggested by framing the book in this way?
2. In the second chapter, the narrator tells us that this story could be told through a stack of photographs. Near the end of the book, Osita and the girls visit Kavita with a stack of photographs to tell Vivek’s story. How are these stacks of photographs connected? Did you draw any meaning from the use of photographs, as opposed to words or physical mementos?
3. As Vivek grows more uncomfortable with his family at home, he finds solace with the daughters of the Nigerwives. What actions do the girls take to make Vivek feel comfortable and secure? If a biological family is unable to accept a child, can friendships be a sufficient replacement?
4. When the boys are in school, Osita does not comprehend Vivek’s fugue states, and these ultimately lead to the cousins' falling-out. How did you interpret Vivek’s fugues? Could Osita have dealt with these and his relationship with Vivek better, or is he excused because of his age? Were you surprised when Osita and Vivek become intimate later? How does their relationship change in the intervening years?
5. After Vivek’s death, Kavita is very concerned with finding his Ganesh necklace, and at the end of the book, it is the one item of Vivek’s that Osita keeps. What does the necklace represent about Vivek’s identity and ancestry? What does it mean that he wore it until the end of his life, despite the alterations he made to his appearance?
6. When she was younger, Juju expressed skepticism about the community the Nigerwives had built around their shared identity, but when she is older she falls into easy community with Vivek, Osita, and the girls. What is most important in building a group of friends? How does the Nigerwives’ shared identity as outsiders bring them together despite their individual differences?
7. After Vivek’s death, Osita, Kavita, Chika, and Juju all cope with their grief differently—by running away to party, by pushing for answers, by hiding in bed, or by falling silent. How do these varied responses pull them apart, and how are they ultimately able to push past these tensions?
8. When they were younger, Osita and Elizabeth were an item, and later Osita is with Vivek and Elizabeth is with Juju. Vivek and Juju share a kiss, and after Vivek’s death, Osita and Juju sleep together. What did you make of the many ways the friends are enmeshed? How does the author present a wide spectrum of expressing feeling and affection through physical touch?
9. In the chapter featuring Ebenezer, we learn of a girl with long hair who previously walked through the market and whom Ebenezer sees arguing on the day of the riots. Did you have any sense in that moment that the girl was Vivek, and if so, what made you think that? If not, when did it become clear? In what way did this method of storytelling inform your ideas of how Vivek presented and how acceptable it was to others?
10. "You keep talking as if he belonged to you, just because you were his mother, but he didn’t. He didn’t belong to anybody but himself," Somto tells Kavita when the group of friends goes to visit her. Do you think Somto is right in saying this about Kavita, and if so, is she right to bring it up then? How does possessiveness play into our relationships with the dead? How about our relationship with our friends?
11. After meeting with the "children," Kavita decides that Vivek’s gravestone should display the other name he was going by, Nnemdi. Does this prove Kavita’s acceptance of Vivek, even if it comes too late? How did this shape your understanding of Vivek’s identity? Did the connection between Ahunna and Vivek resonate with your beliefs on family, inheritance, and reincarnation?
12. At the end of the book, we learn that Vivek died after fighting with Osita, not at the hands of rioting strangers. Were you surprised by this final reveal? Do you agree with Osita that Vivek would have stayed safe and alive if only he had kept his dresses within the "bubble" of Juju’s room? How does this last bit of information shape your feelings about Osita and your ideas of whom Vivek was most under threat from?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Deceit and Other Possibilities: Stories
Vanessa Hua, 2016
Willow Books/Aquarius Press
150 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780997199628
Summary
In this powerful debut collection, Vanessa Hua gives voice to immigrant families navigating a new America. Tied to their ancestral and adopted homelands in ways unimaginable in generations past, these memorable characters straddle both worlds but belong to none.
These stories shine a light on immigrant families navigating a new America, straddling cultures and continents, veering between dream and disappointment.
From a Hong Kong movie idol fleeing a sex scandal, to an obedient daughter turned Stanford pretender, from a Chinatown elder summoned to his village, to a Korean-American pastor with a secret agenda, the characters in the collection illustrate the conflict between self and society, tradition and change.
In "What We Have is What We Need," winner of The Atlantic student fiction prize, a boy from Mexico reunites with his parents in San Francisco. When he suspects his mother has found love elsewhere, he fights to keep his family together.
With insight and wit, she writes about what wounds us and what we must survive. Deceit and Other Possibilities marks the emergence of a remarkable new writer. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Vanessa Hua is an award-winning journalist and writer. Her short story collection, Deceit and Other Possibilities, received an Asian/Pacific American Award in Literature, was a finalist for a California Book Award, and O, The Oprah Magazine called it a "searing debut." Her novel, A River of Stars, is forthcoming in August, 2018.
She received a Rona Jaffe Writers' Award, and is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. For nearly two decades, she has been writing about Asia and the diaspora, filing stories from China, Burma, Panama, South Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Ecuador.
Hua began her career at the Los Angeles Times before heading east to the Hartford Courant. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, San Francisco Magazine, Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Newsweek, among other publications.
A Bay Area native, she received the San Francisco Foundation’s James D. Phelan literary award and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. A graduate of Stanford University and UC Riverside’s MFA program, she works and teaches at the Writers’ Grotto in San Francisco.
Achievements include the Dr. Suzanne Ahn Award for Civil Rights and Social Justice coverage; the Asian American Journalists Association’s National Journalism Award — online/broadcast, print, and radio; the Society of Professional Journalists, the James Madison Freedom of Information Award, and the Best of the West. In 2017 she served as the Featured Literary Artist at APAture, an Asian American arts festival in San Francisco, and her short story collection is El Cerrito's pick for One City, One Book.
Her fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, ZYZZYVA, Guernica, and elsewhere. She received an Emerging Writer Fellowship from Aspen Words, a fellowship at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and a writer's residency at Hedgebrook, among other honors. She is a contributing non-fiction editor at the Asian American Writers' Workshop's The Margins. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
The men, women and children in Hua's moving debut often find themselves straddling the volatile fault lines between desire and shame, decorum and rage.… She has a deep understanding of the pressure of submerged emotions and polite, face-saving deceptions. The truth comes out, sometimes explosively, sometimes in a quiet act of courage.
San Francisco Chronicle
A great writer, and subversively funny.… [W]icked absurd sense of humor…readable and human.
Buzzfeed
Exactly what we need to be reading in this country right now; and probably always. Zeroing in on a myriad of different immigration stories.… [T]his collection is funny and sad, quick-witted and thought provoking.
Bustle
Heart-wrenching, implacable.… [T]he characters within feel so human and in need of being heard.… Hua draws the reader in with her power of perception.
Huffington Post
Shrewd…hilarious.
Vice
Rare and generous.
Bitch Magazine
An intriguing collection.… [E]ach of her protagonists is never quite grounded, caught between multiple cultures and countries. Each hides beneath layers of deceit, clinging to lies that enable survival.… Hua is a writer to watch.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. Deceit and Other Possibilities is, as the title suggests, a short story collection about secrets and lies, about what remains hidden. In "Line, Please," Kingsway Lee is a Hong Kong movie star who flees scandal by retreating to his hometown in the San Francisco Bay Area. Do you agree or disagree with how he tries to explain to his mother what happened? "I understand she has resigned herself to such behavior from her irredeemable son," he says. "I envy my nephew’s bright blank future." Does he think he’s capable of changing?
2. In "Loaves and Fishes," Prophet Alex Chan seeks redemption after the apocalypse he predicted failed to come to pass. He returns to making up prophecies to the passenger sitting beside him on the airplane. "Even the most godless youth were hungry for miracles that might rescue them from a future that held melting ice caps, polluted air, chool shootings, a sinking economy, zombies and vampires bursting through their frontdoors." Is deception ever justified, if in pursuit of a higher cause, or does that it inevitably corrupt?
3. In "What We Have is What We Need" presents the image of a seemingly united family: a father slips his arm around a mother’s waist, while their son, Lalo, watches. "From behind, they looked happy," Lalo says. "But you can never see all angles at once." How does fiction offer the opportunity to explore otherwise invisible angles of the human experience?
4. "For What They Shared" pits two women against each other: Lin, a Chinese immigrant, and Aileen, an American-born Chinese, camping beside each other in the redwoods. "Traitor, Lin wanted to tell her. You will always be Chinese. You are not one of them." In what ways are the two women alike, in what ways are they different, and how does that subvert the notion that communities are monolithic?
5. In "The Responsibility of Deceit," Calvin has not yet come out to his immigrant Chinese parents. "As much as I concealed from my parents, I needed them to be there to hide from. Worse than any rejection would be their absence from my life." Do you have a secret you’ve kept from your parents, and if you did eventually decide to tell them, why did you? How did it impact your relationship, for better or for worse?
6. "Accepted" illustrates conflict between generations, featuring a high school graduate struggling with the weight of expectations placed upon her by her immigrant parents. "I was supposed to become a doctor," Elaine Park says, "and buy my parents a sedan and a house in a gated community." Discuss the tension between generations, and how that may be heightened if there are gaps in language and culture?
7. In "The Shot," Sam Radulovich has lost ties to his father’s family, but "never lost the longing for that which made him different." He memorizes curse words and sips traditional plum brandy, but do these actions bring him closer to Serbian culture? Or is he looking for something that he can never find—a sense of belonging? Do you think about your ancestral culture, and in what ways, if any, do you wish you knew more?
8. In "The Older the Ginger," Old Wu muses: "Who didn’t want a rich American uncle,who filled you with a sense of possibility, prosperity close enough to touch? In your dreams, you escaped the prison of your circumstances and danced on the streets paved with gold." Though Old Wu is willing to maintain the illusion of American possibility for others, he himself has grown cynical. Are notions of the American Dream shifting, compared to the past? In what ways is this country still a land of possibility?
9. In "Harte Lake," Anna Murata blames her husband for not teaching her how to build a fire. "She had been a poor student, following without understanding or memorizing. She hated him for undermining her. For acting like he would always be there." What is the root of her anger towards him? How does gender, race, and history shape their relationship?
10. In "The Deal," Pastor David Noh never tells his wife that he used to gamble. "Keeping the secret allowed him to cherish certain memories, jewels he could admire in private rather than submit for public reckoning. God already knew." How do you feel about this paradox? Does he seem like a reliable narrator, and to what degree do you sympathize with him, or do you feel repelled?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Deep Creek
Dana Hand, 2010
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
308 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780547237480
Summary
Idaho Territory, June 1887. A small-town judge takes his young daughter fishing, and she catches a man. Another body surfaces, then another. The final toll: over 30 Chinese gold miners brutally murdered. Their San Francisco employer hires Idaho lawman Joe Vincent to solve the case.
Soon he journeys up the wild Snake River with Lee Loi, an ambitious young company investigator, and Grace Sundown, a metis mountain guide with too many secrets. As they track the killers across the Pacific Northwest, through haunted canyons and city streets, each must put aside lies and old grievances to survive a quest that will change them forever.
Deep Creek is a historical thriller inspired by actual events and people: the 1887 massacre of Chinese miners in remote and beautiful Hells Canyon, the middle-aged judge who went after their slayers, and the sham race-murder trial that followed. This American tragedy was long suppressed and the victims nearly forgotten; Deep Creek teams history and imagination to illuminate how and why, in a seamless, fast-moving tale of courage and redemption, loss and love. A dazzling new novel for fans of Leif Enger, Lisa See, and Ivan Doig. (From the publisher.)
Author Bios
Dana Hand is the pen name of Will Howarth and Anne Matthews, who live and work in Princeton, NJ. Under their own names, they have published eighteen nonfiction books on American history, literature, and public issues. Deep Creek is their first novel.
• Will Howarth is an authority on the history and literature of travel, places, and nature. He served as editor-in-chief of The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, chaired The Center for American Places and, in over forty years at Princeton, explored nature-culture conflicts in courses ranging from pre-colonial America to postmodern fiction. As historian and critic, he specializes in trans-Atlantic romanticism, literary nonfiction, and the environmental humanities. As free-lance writer, he has covered assignments for many national periodicals. He first learned of the events at Deep Creek in 1981, while on assignment in Idaho for National Geographic.
• Anne Matthews writes about American places facing sudden and often unwanted change. Where the Buffalo Roam, on the depopulating Great Plains, was a Pulitzer finalist in nonfiction. Bright College Years, a New York Times Notable Book, examines the American campus. Wild Nights: Nature Returns to the City describes the wilding of urban spaces and was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. She served on the Library of America editorial board for the two-volume collection, Reporting World War II. A contributing editor for American Scholar and Preservation, she has lectured and taught at Princeton, Columbia, and New York University. (From the authors' website.)
Book Reviews
Deep Creek is a gripping, spooky historical novel...highly ambitious and compelling, much more complex than it might appear from paraphrase. The dual authorship of this novel [Dana Hand is the pen name of Will Howarth and Anne Matthews] may have something to do with the fact that it's twice as good as it might have been otherwise
Carolyn See - Washington Post
The 1887 massacre of more than 30 Chinese gold miners in a remote area of the Idaho territory provides the real-life foundation for this engrossing look at racial prejudice and the settling of the West, the first novel from Hand (the pen name for William Howarth and Anne Matthews). After police judge Joe Vincent and his 10-year-old daughter, Nell, find a body while fishing, more brutally mutilated bodies turn up along the Snake River. The Sam Yup Company, a Chinese labor exchange, hires Vincent to find the culprits. Lee Loi, an ambitious investigator, and Grace Sundown, a Metis mountain guide who shares a past with Vincent, join the hunt. The three track a murderous crew through remote canyons and towns. The plot soon evolves into an insightful look at how Chinese immigrants and American Indians became the targets of rage and violence. The subsequent capture and trial of the killers illustrate that how the West was won was neither simple nor fair to minorities.
Publishers Weekly
Chinese gold miners are massacred in the Wild West, and the pursuit of their killers proves arduous. Writing under a joint pseudonym, nonfiction authors Will Howarth and Anne Matthews base their first novel on "actual events" (per their epigraph). The miners' bodies, horribly mutilated, are carried down the Snake River to Lewiston, Idaho Territory, in June 1887. Joe Vincent, the 56-year-old county judge, is asked to investigate, a tough assignment because feeling against Chinese immigrants is running strong. But Joe is a decent guy, and the case assumes new urgency when Lee Loi offers him $1,500 to pursue it. The young, Westernized Chinese man is an emissary of the Sam Yup, the powerful San Francisco company that had bankrolled the miners' expedition. Joe and Lee venture upriver with mysterious, exotic tracker Grace Sundown, the child of a French father and a Nimipu (Nez Perce) mother. They quickly identify the killers: seven white horse rustlers living in a cabin near the mining operation, led by a criminal psychopath named Blue Evans. The versatile Joe goes undercover to gather evidence and barely escapes with his life. This much is straightforward, but the story has more eddies and cross-currents than the Snake. What is the connection between the Sam Yup and John Vollmer, the county's biggest landowner? Between Vollmer and Evans? What intrigue is Joe's estranged wife Libby up to, and what has transpired between Joe and Grace? There are exciting moments for the odd trio of investigators as they elude Evans and the angry spirits of several dozen dead miners, but then the narrative sags disastrously with an account of the 1877 war against the Nez Perce, in which Joe participated. Two-thirds of the way through, we're still getting his back story. The authors' clipped prose works well for the action passages, much less so for the complex, see-sawing relationship between Joe and Grace. The makings of a fine novel, obscured by poor pacing and plotting.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
(Be sure to check out the authors' website for additional information—maps, historical profiles, and more.)
1. The story emerges from four actions: Lee asks Joe to lead an investigation; Henry asks Grace to come and help; after a ten-year absence, Grace agrees; and Joe consents to let Grace serve as river guide. What motives, evident and secret, impel these events?
2. Joe is a lawyer and investigator, able to examine bits of evidence and find cause-effect patterns. But certain liars can fool him entirely. Why?
3. Grace is quick, intuitive, learned, and bitter. What are the sources of her frustrations?
4. At first, Lee Loi is cheerful, self-centered, and cocky. What are the sources of his confidence? Why are his views so conventional?
5. A refrain in Joe's life is How much of that is true? The recurring answer: As much as you want it to be. Why are the crimes at Deep Creek so important to him?
6. On the return journey to Deep Creek, we learn that Grace has second sight and strange abilities. How does this side of her affect relations with others, especially Joe?
7. When and why does Lee begin to change? What role does he play after the river trips?
8. When do the three investigators truly become a team?
9. How do the Chinese miners behave, as individuals and as a group? Are they strange, alien, or clannish, as their detractors claimed? What aspects of their lives are most surprising?
10. Duty and honor take many forms. Is Joe a patriot? Is Jackson? Is Grace a good daughter? Is Nell? Why will Dow and Yap never break their promise to Elder Boss?
11. Why is Libby Leland so calculating and controlling? Why is she so successful?
12. Why is Blue Evans such a natural leader of men? What were his motives at Deep Creek?
13. How would Vollmer tell this story? How would Libby?
14. Why are so many of the characters wanderers, or exiles? What makes a family?
15. After the trial, each character experiences a process of compensation. Explain.
(Questions courtesy of authors' website.)
Deep River
Karl Marlantes, 2019
Grove Atlantic Press
725 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780802125385
Summary
Karl Marlantes’s debut novel Matterhorn has been hailed as a modern classic of war literature. In his new novel, Deep River, Marlantes turns to another mode of storytelling—the family epic—to craft a stunningly expansive narrative of human suffering, courage, and reinvention.
In the early 1900s, as the oppression of Russia’s imperial rule takes its toll on Finland, the three Koski siblings—Ilmari, Matti, and the politicized young Aino—are forced to flee to the United States.
Not far from the majestic Columbia River, the siblings settle among other Finns in a logging community in southern Washington, where the first harvesting of the colossal old-growth forests begets rapid development, and radical labor movements begin to catch fire.
The brothers face the excitement and danger of pioneering this frontier wilderness—climbing and felling trees one-hundred meters high—while Aino, foremost of the books many strong, independent women, devotes herself to organizing the industry’s first unions. As the Koski siblings strive to rebuild lives and families in an America in flux, they also try to hold fast to the traditions of a home they left behind.
Layered with fascinating historical detail, this is a novel that breathes deeply of the sun-dappled forest and bears witness to the stump-ridden fields the loggers, and the first waves of modernity, leave behind.
At its heart, Deep River is an ambitious and timely exploration of the place of the individual, and of the immigrant, in an America still in the process of defining its own identity. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1945
• Where—Seaside, Oregon, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; M.A., Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar)
• Currently—lives in Woodinville, Washington, USA
Karl Marlantes is the author of Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War, a New York Times Top 10 Bestseller published in 2010. The New York Times declared Matterhorn "one of the most profound and devastating novels ever to come out of Vietnam." Matterhorn received the 2011 Washington State Book Award in the Fiction category.
The novel is based on Marlantes' experiences in the Vietnam War, where he served as a lieutenant and received various meritorious service awards from the United States Marine Corps. Marlantes first received a National Merit Scholarship to attend Yale University and was then a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. The decorations he was awarded while serving in the Marines include the Navy Cross, two Navy Commendation Medals for valor, two Purple Hearts and ten Air Medals.
Marlantes was awarded the Navy Cross for an action in Vietnam in which he, as a company commander, led an assault on a North Vietnamese bunker complex on a hilltop. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Marlantes conveys the… dangerous romance of logging superbly. His descriptions of logging itself—the ingenious mechanics of taking down trees and the skill of experienced loggers—are wonderfully detailed, dramatic and exhilarating…. Mighty physical, social and economic forces operate the plot of this novel, buffeting its characters, raising them up, flinging them down, twisting their fates together. Deep River is a big American novel.
Wall Street Journal
Deep River is an engrossing and commanding historical epic about one immigrant family’s shifting fortunes…a feat of lavish storytelling.
Washington Post
As a portrait of a complicated American era, and one family’s mighty struggle against it, the novel is both fascinating and fierce. And well worth the hours it asks of its reader.
San Francisco Chronicle
Deep River is an engrossing and commanding historical epic about one immigrant family’s shifting fortunes.… [The novel is] alert to the resonances between the past and present… [and] a feat of lavish storytelling…. [But] Marlantes' big-picture storytelling can come at the expense of its line-by-line prose…. [It] could use some better sentences. But we could also use more spirited novels like Deep River.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Inspired by family history, Marlantes offers a sprawling, painstakingly realistic novel about Finnish immigrants in the Pacific Northwest during the first half of the 20th century.… Marlantes’s epic is packed with intriguing detail…, making for a vivid immigrant family chronicle.
Publishers Weekly
Following the eye-catching debut novel Matterhorn…, Marlantes shifts his attention from the Vietnam War to the early 1900s [and an immigrant family of] loggers… along Washington’s grand Columbia River…. A welcome publication, with Matterhorn published nearly a decade ago.
Library Journal
(Starred review) Marlantes poignantly depicts the intimacies of personal dramas that echo the twentieth century’s unprecedented political storms and yet in surprising ways reprise Finland’s oldest mythologies…. An unforgettable novel.
Booklist
Marlantes moves from the jungles of Vietnam to the old-growth forests of Washington in this saga of labor and love.…The story is long and has its longueurs, but Marlantes carefully builds an epic world…. A novel that sometimes struggles under its own weight but that's well worth reading.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Deepest Secret
Carla Buckley, 2014
Random House
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780553393736
Summary
Part intimate family drama, part gripping page-turner, exploring the profound power of the truths we’re scared to face . . . about our marriages, our children, and ourselves.
Twelve years ago, Eve Lattimore’s life changed forever. Her two-year-old son Tyler on her lap, her husband’s hand in hers, she waited for the child’s devastating diagnosis: XP, a rare genetic disease, a fatal sensitivity to sunlight.
Eve remembers that day every morning as she hustles Tyler up the stairs from breakfast before the sun rises, locking her son in his room, curtains drawn, computer glowing, as he faces another day of virtual schooling, of virtual friendships. But every moment of vigilance is worth it.
This is Eve’s job, to safeguard her boy against the light, to protect his fragile life each day, to keep him alive—maybe even long enough for a cure to be found.
Tonight, Eve’s life is about to change again, forever. It’s only an instant on a rainy road—just a quick text as she sits behind the wheel—and another mother’s child lies dead in Eve’s headlights. The choice she faces is impossible: confess and be taken from Tyler, or drive away and start to lie like she’s never lied before. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Washinton, D.C., USA
• Education—B.A., Oberlin College; M.B.A., University of Pennsylvania
• Currently—lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Carla Buckley is the author of The Good Goodbye (2016), The Deepest Secret (2014), Invisible (2012), and The Things That Keep Us Here (2010), which was nominated for a Thriller Award as a best first novel and the Ohioana Book Award for fiction.
She is a graduate of Oberlin College and the Wharton School of Business. Before turning to fiction, Buckley worked as an assistant press secretary for a U.S. senator, an analyst with the Smithsonian Institution, and a technical writer for a defense contractor.
She now lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband and three children. She is almost always at work on her next novel. (Adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A harrowing story.
New York Daily News
Exceptionally moving and unrelentingly suspenseful...everything a great novel, and thriller, should be.
Providence Journal
A taut family drama . . . smart and thrilling.
People
(Starred review.) Superb.... The story offers the intricate suspense and surprise of a thriller, along with rich characterizations and nuanced writing.... A gripping read and a memorable reflection on the conflicting imperatives of love.
Publishers Weekly
[A] masterful thriller....as winding and treacherous as a slick road.
Library Journal
[A] mother’s desire to protect her child from the dangers of the outside world at any cost. Eve, her husband, and Tyler narrate the story in turn, weaving personal bias and suspicion into the overarching drama. [A] unique blend of poignant emotion and thrilling suspense. —Stephanie Turza
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. How do you think Melissa’s and Tyler’s involvement in the crime (Melissa as a suspect and Tyler planting evidence) impacted Eve’s actions? Would she have confessed if her children had not been involved?
2. Eve’s efforts to guard her son from light are sometimes considered excessive—by her son, her husband, and her neighbors. Notably, Eve’s determination to prevent Sophie from installing outdoor lights on her house leads to a neighborhood fight. What do you think of Eve’s protective instincts? Does she take things too far, or is she behaving as any concerned parent would?
3. At one point, Holly asks Tyler "Do you think it’s better to have dreams and lose them, or not have dreams at all?" How would you respond? What do you make of Holly and her relationship with Tyler?
4. David wants to move the family to Washington, but Eve -considers this impossible given Tyler’s condition. Is David’s desire to move selfish, or is he looking out for the family’s best interests?
5. What sacrifices does Eve make for the sake of her family? Are they necessary? Is it worth it?
6. Describe the relationship between Tyler and Eve. In the end, Tyler’s desire to protect his sister led him to make questionable choices. How are his choices similar to Eve’s? How are they different?
7. Discuss the nature of secrets. Is it human nature to keep secrets? Do our secrets define us? Is it human nature to want to know the secrets of others and to confess our own? Do you believe that all secrets eventually come to light? What is The Deepest Secret?
8. Tyler learns some surprising truths about his neighbors during his nighttime wanderings. How do people change in the moments during which they believe themselves to be alone? During unobserved moments, are people more themselves? How much of life is a performance, and to what extent are we defined by the external perceptions and behavioral expectations of others?
9. How much did you sympathize with Eve? Would you feel differently about her actions if she had not been texting at the time of the accident? What if Tyler had not been burned while playing basketball with David? Would you have felt differently about Eve’s behavior if Melissa had been the one to hit Amy?
10. How would you describe Eve’s relationship with Melissa? Melissa’s needs in her family are often viewed as secondary to Tyler’s, given his illness. How do you think this attitude impacted her psychologically? How did it affect her relationships with Tyler, Eve, and David?
11. It seems clear by the end that a number of people played some role in Amy’s death, including Charlotte, Robbie, and Eve. Who, if anyone, do you hold responsible?
12. What do you consider appropriate punishment for the driver in a hit-and-run accident? Can there ever be extenuating circumstances, such as Tyler’s condition, that justify fleeing the scene of a deadly accident? If so, what are those circumstances?
13. Toward the end of the novel, Charlotte says, "If it were my Amy—I’d have done just what Eve did." What do you think of this statement? If you had been in Eve’s position, how would you have acted on the night of the accident? In the weeks following?
14. What did you think of the conclusion of the novel? Did it end as you expected it to? Were you satisfied?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Defending Jacob
William Landay, 2012
Random House
616 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781594136238
Summary
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob.
But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student. Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father.
Yet as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.
Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis—a suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying speed at which our lives can spin out of control. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1963
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Yale University; J.D. Boston
College
• Awards—New Blood Dagger by British Crime
Writers Assn.
• Currently—lives in Boston, Massachusetts
William Landay is an American novelist, whose novel, Mission Flats, was awarded the 2003 John Creasey Dagger (now called the New Blood Dagger) as the best debut crime novel of 2003 by the British Crime Writers Association. His second novel, The Strangler, was shortlisted for the Strand Magazine Critics Award as the best crime novel of 2007.
Landay graduated from Yale University and Boston College Law School. Prior to becoming a writer, he served for eight years as an Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Andy Barber, a respected First Assistant DA who lives in Newton, Mass., with his gentle wife, Laurie, and their 14-year-old son, Jacob, must face the unthinkable in Dagger Award–winner Landay’s harrowing third suspense novel. When Ben Rifkin, Jacob’s classmate, is found stabbed to death in the woods, Internet accusations and incontrovertible evidence point to big, handsome Jacob. Andy’s prosecutorial gut insists a child molester is the real killer, but as Jacob’s trial proceeds and Andy’s marriage crumbles under the forced revelation of old secrets, horror builds on horror toward a breathtakingly brutal outcome. Landay (The Strangler), a former DA, mixes gritty court reporting with Andy’s painful confrontation with himself, forcing readers willy-nilly to realize the end is never the end when, as Landay claims, the line between truth and justice has become so indistinct as to appear imaginary. This searing narrative proves the ancient Greek tragedians were right: the worst punishment is not death but living with what you—knowingly or unknowingly—have done.
Publishers Weekly
Andy Barber has been the top district attorney in his small, middle-class, Massachusetts town for 20 years. When a teenage boy is murdered, Andy focuses on a neighborhood pedophile as the chief suspect. There are concerns about a conflict of interest since Andy's teenage son, Jacob, attended the same school as the murdered boy and the investigation seems to be lagging. But after Jacob's best friend provides evidence against him, Jacob is arrested. Andy is taken off the case and suspended, but he is determined to prove his son's innocence. Verdict: This brilliant novel by the author of The Strangler (2007) and the earlier award-winning Mission Flats (2003) is equal parts legal thriller and dysfunctional family saga, culminating in a shocking ending. Skillful plotting and finely drawn characters result in a haunting story reminiscent of Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent. —Stacy Alesi, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL
Library Journal
Discussion Questions
1. How would you have handled this situation if you were Andy? Would you make the same choices he made? Where would you differ the most?
2. Before and during the trial, how would you have handled the situation if you were Laurie? Do you feel she made strong choices as a mother and a wife?
3. Is Andy a good father? Why or why not?
4. Do you believe Jacob is guilty?
5. Is Jacob a product of his upbringing? Do you think he is he a violent person because his environment makes him violent, or do you think he has violent inclinations since birth?
6. Bullying is such a hot topic in today's media. How did the author incorporate it into the story, and do you think its role had anything to do with Jacob's disposition? How do you think people should stop adolescent bullying?
7. How much of a factor did Jacob's age play into your sympathies for him or lack thereof? If Jacob were seventeen, would you view him differently? What about nine?
8. Do you think Neal Logiudice acts ethically in this novel? What about Andy? What about Laurie?
9. What was the most damning piece of evidence against Jacob? Was there anything that you felt exonerated him?
10. If Jacob hadn't been accused, how do you think his life would have turned out? What kind of a man do you think he would grow up to be?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Deja Dead (Temperance Brennan Series #1)
Kathy Reichs, 1997
Simon & Schuster
560 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780671011369
Summary
Rarely has a debut crime novel inspired such widespread excitement. A born storyteller, Dr. Kathy Reichs walks in the steps of her heroine, Dr. Temperance Brennan. She spends her days in the autopsy suite, the courtroom, the crime lab, with cops, and at exhumation sites. Often her long days turn into harrowing nights.
It's June in Montreal, and Tempe, who has left a shaky marriage back home in North Carolina to take on the challenging assignment of director of forensic anthropology for the province of Quebec, looks forward to a relaxing weekend.
First, though, she must stop at a newly uncovered burial site in the heart of the city. One look at the decomposed and decapitated corpse, stored neatly in plastic bags, tells her she'll spend the weekend in the crime lab. This is homicide of the worst kind. To begin to find some answers, Tempe must first identify the victim. Who is this person with the reddish hair and a small bone structure? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1950
• Where—Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.S, American University; M.A., Ph.D., North-
western University
• Awards—Arthur Ellis Award, Best Novel (1997)
• Currently—lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Montreal,
Quebec, Canada
Kathy Reichs burst onto the fiction scene in the late 1990s with her first novel, Deja Dead, a thriller rooted in an expert knowledge of science and medicine and powered by a strong female protagonist, Temperance Brennan. Since then, Reichs has been a regular feature on bestseller lists and is often mentioned in the same breath as the chief of the autopsy whodunit, Patricia Cornwell. (From the publisher.)
More
Both a forensics expert who has seen—firsthand— the aftermath of murderers and a novelist whose heroine tracks villains like the "Blade Cowboy," Kathy Reichs has some ideas about what the face of evil looks like: ordinary. "I see the perpetrator across the courtroom when I'm testifying. Generally, I'm underwhelmed," she said in a 2000 interview published on her web site." I'm always shocked by how totally normal they look. They look like my Uncle Frank, usually."
Reichs mulled over those experiences for about seven years before deciding to apply her ideas to fiction. Out came Déjà Dead in 1997, introducing mystery fans to a new but, more likely than not, recognizable heroine: forensics expert Temperance Brennan, a fortyish, recovering alcoholic on the run from a wobbling marriage. Brennan—a sort of mix between Nancy Drew and Quincy—is also something of a hothead, prone to marching off on her own when she runs afoul of a sexist male cop. This is the kind of woman who would sit down to brunch with Vic Warshawski, Kay Scarpetta, or Jane Tennison, if any of them did brunch.
As a forensic anthropologist for the state of North Carolina, as well as the province of Québec, Reichs draws heavily from her own experiences standing over the autopsy table. Her novels—Death du Jour, Deadly Decisions, Grave Secrets and the like—are packed with the kind of well informed clinical details that make critics take notice. "The doctor clearly knows a hawk from a handsaw," wrote the New York Times about one of her books.
She also built some parallels to her own biography when creating Tempe Brennan. Both women are forensic anthropologists with the unlikely dual addresses of North Carolina and Canada. But Reichs rolls her eyes when asked about the comparisons. "Personally, she's completely her own person," Reichs told USA Today in 1997. "She gets physically involved. She takes risks I've never been tempted to take."
Reichs was editing forensics textbooks when she began toying with writing a novel. The initial result, she said, was a dud: slow, boring, and in the third person. But it picked up steam when she came up with the Brennan character. Inspired by friend and medical examiner Bill Maples, author of Dead Men Do Tell Tales, she sat down to write, meticulously drafting an outline of her story and getting up early to write before teaching classes at the University of North Carolina. It took her two years.
The effort paid off when her manuscript made the rounds of the Frankfurt Book Fair. A heated auction won Reichs a million-dollar, two-book deal.
Critics and readers alike loved Tempe. Wrote the Library Journal, "Despite her ability to work among fetid, putrefying smells that 'leap out and grab' and her 'go-to-hell attitude' with seasoned cops, Tempe is as vulnerable as a soft Carolina morning." And People magazine said, "Reichs not only serves up a delicious plot, she also brings a new recipe to hard-boiled cop talk."
Over chicken salad lunches with newspaper reporters, Reichs will casually talk about dismembered bodies, maggots, and concerns for her children's security in light of some of the unsavory characters she'd testified against. But then she'll confess her true idea of a waking nightmare. "[My] idea of horror would be to sit in a little gray office all day and add up columns of numbers," she told USA Today. "I say to people, 'How do you do that?"'
Extras
• When she was a child, Reichs loved both the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys mysteries, as well as books about such far-flung places as Easter Island.
• One of the reasons she is Quebec's forensics anthropologist is because she is one of the few in the profession who is fluent in French.
• Among her favorite books are the science fiction series the Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams. "It's one of the few things I re-read because it's just nothing to do with anything I do," she has said.
• She avoided college literature courses to concentrate on science.
• In 2005, Fox TV launched Bones, a forensics/police procedural inspired by Reichs's life and writing. In a neat twist, the main character, Temperance Brennan, is a forensic anthropologist who, as a sideline, writes thrillers about a fictional anthropologist named Kathy Reichs!
• Kathy's daughter, Kerry Reichs, made her literary debut in 2008 with the romantic comedy The Best Day of Someone Else's Life. ("More" and "Extras" from Barnes & Noble.)
Book Reviews
Great, suspensful fun.... A fascinating inside look at the workings of a coroner's office.... Temperance Brennan is the real thing. That's because her creator, Kathy Reichs, is the real thing.
New York Newsday
With fast action, a great lead character, impeccable writing, [and] a perfect setting.... Deja Dead is a keeper.
New Orleans Times-Picayune
With this assured and intelligent debut, Reichs introduces herself as a prodigious new talent in the crime game. Someone is murdering and dismembering women in Montreal, and forensic anthropologist Temperance "Tempe" Brennan, a middle-aged North Carolina transplant, is having a tough time convincing the Canadian version of the old boy network that the grizzly slayings are the work of a single killer. Since no one believes her theories, Tempe is left pretty much on her own to track the killer, following a trail that leads through demimondes of prostitution, religion and animal research. When a spreadsheet listing past victims and including Tempe's name is discovered in the home of a suspect, even the dyspeptic Constable Claudel is forced to admit that Tempe might be on the right track. Reichs handles the tension between Tempe and the men deftly, allowing the reader to despise their unfair treatment of her while understanding that an expert in such a field can be intimidating. A master of nimble phrasing, Reichs herself entertains readers even as she educates them in some of the finer points of forensics. Tempe is as comfortable negotiating the meaner streets of Montreal as she is talking about the myriad types of saws available to those with a penchant for dismembering their fellow human beings. The final confrontation scene is as gripping as anything in recent suspense fiction, and it is impossible not to like the vulnerable, observant and competent Tempe, who refreshingly admits to never having "gotten used to" the maggots that abandon corpses on the cutting table: "the seething blanket of pale yellow...dropping from the body to the table to the floor, in a slow but steady drizzle." FYI: Reichs, like her heroine, is a forensic anthropologist in North Carolina and Canada, and a professor.
Publishers Weekly
A superb new writer introduces her intrepid heroine to crime fiction. Dr. Tempe Brennan, a trowel-packing forensic anthropologist from North Carolina, works in Montreal's Laboratoire de Medecine Legale examining recovered bodies to help police solve missing-persons cases and murders. It's clear to Tempe that the remains of several women killed and savagely mutilated point to a sadistic serial killer, but she can't convince the police. Determined to prevent more brutal deaths, she sleuths solo, tracking her quarry through Montreal's seedy underworld of hookers, where her anthropologist friend Gabby, doing her own scary research, is being stalked by a creep. Despite her ability to work among fetid, putrefying smells that "leap out and grab" and her "go-to-hell attitude" with seasoned cops, Tempe is as vulnerable as a soft Carolina morning. When a grinning skull is planted in her garden, her investigation turns personal and escalates to an intense and satisfying conclusion. Except for imparting an excess of lab information, Reichs, also a forensic anthropologist, drives the pace at a heady clip. A first-class writer, she dazzles readers with sensory imagery that is apt, fresh, and funny (e.g., "fingers felt cold and limp, like carrots kept too long in a cooler bin").
Library Journal
Dr. Temperance Brennan, the forensic anthropologist transplanted from North Carolina to Montreal, hopes the bones found at Le Grand Séminaire are too ancient to fall within her purview. No such luck. Not only has Isabelle Gagnon been recently and horribly killed, but Tempe's memory of another grisly discovery in a bunch of trash bags marks this death as the work of a sadistic serial killer who's far from finished. To catch this monster, Tempe and her colleagues at the Laboratoire de Medicine Legale take a long look at several sets of teeth, compare the traces left on human bone by different kinds of saws, and consider exactly what it means to find a bathroom plunger, or a statue of the Virgin Mary, inside a rotting rib cage. As a break from her exhaustive lab sessions, Tempe spars with Sgt. Luc Claudel, the homicide cop who has a problem with interfering women, and hangs out with her grad school friend Gabby Macaulay, whose study of the mating habits of prostitutes is bound to be more closely connected to Tempe's case than she realizes. Tempe is an appealing new heroine, and the forensic detail is gripping, but because Reichs—whose resume sounds a lot like her heroine's—lacks the whiplash control of Patricia Cornwell at her best, the story seems overlong, over peopled (more lifeless walk-ons than the phone book), and overwrought. (The hysterical scenes between Tempe and Gabby, who keeps babbling about the unspeakable secrets she just can't share with her old friend, are especially annoying.) But readers ravenous for ghoulish detail and hints of unfathomable evil, spruced up by the modishly effective Quebec setting, will gobble this first course greedily and expect better-balanced nutrition next time.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Deja Death:
1. Talk about Temperance Brennan. What kind of character is she? Which of her personality traits do you admire...or dislike? Does Reichs do a good job of fleshing (pun?) her out?
2. How has Tempe's struggle with alcohol affected her life and career? How does she cope with her addiction? What are the demons she has to face? Has Reichs painted a realistic picture of a recovering alcoholic? Does this dark side of Tempe add to...or detract from...the plot?
3. What is a forensic anthropologist? In what ways is it different from a forensic pathologist?
4. What convinces Tempe that the five murdered women are connected? Why don't her colleagues buy her theory? Consider the differences between intuitive vs. empirical approaches to solving crimes?
5. Does Claudel have a legitimate reason to dislike Tempe? Is it fair of Tempe to overstep the boundaries of her job (putting herself—and her daughter—in jeopardy in doing so)? Or is she right in following up her hunches when the detectives dismiss her theories?
6. How does Reich depict the difficulties Tempe faces as a female in two professions ( homicide work and forensics medicine) typically dominated by men?
7. Do the lengthy technical descriptions of Tempe's work enhance the novel...or do you find them distracting, off-putting, or overly detailed? (Opinions only...no one point of view is right.)
8. What about the secondary characters: Gabby; Detective Ryan; Tempe's daughter Katy? Talk about each one in turn ... and the role each plays in the story?
9. Were you thrown off track by the red-herring Reichs put in your way—the connection between Gabby's work on prostitution and the Tempe's search for the serial killer?
10. Does this mystery thriller deliver in terms of suspense and surprise? Or is it the storyline and the ending predictable?
11. Kathy Reich has been compared to Patricia Cornwell and her heroine, Dr. Kay Scarpetta. If you've read Cornwell's books, how do the two writers (and their heroines) compare? Do you plan on reading other installments in Reich's series?
12. Have you watched any of the TV episodes of Bones, which are based on Reich's books? How does the series stack up to the book (or books)?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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A Delicate Truth
John le Carre, 2013
Viking Adult (Penguin Group USA)
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780670014897
Summary
Nearly five decades ago, John le Carre became an international sensation with the publication of his third novel, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold. His last novel, Our Kind of Traitor, won unanimous critical acclaim and hit the New York Times bestseller list just as the Oscar-nominated film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy introduced a new generation to his chillingly amoral universe.
A Delicate Truth opens in 2008. A counter-terrorist operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar. Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms-buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, a private defense contractor who is also his bosom friend, and a shady American CIA operative of the evangelical far-right. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister’s personal private secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it.
Cornwall, UK, 2011. A disgraced Special Forces Soldier delivers a message from the dead. Was Operation Wildlife the success it was cracked up to be—or a human tragedy that was ruthlessly covered up? Summoned by Sir Christopher (“Kit”) Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely observed by Kit’s beautiful daughter Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and duty to his Service. If the only thing necessary to the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, how can he keep silent? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 19, 1931
• Where—Dorset, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Oxford University
• Awards—Somerset Maugham Award
• Currently—lives in St Buryan, Cornwall. England
David John Moore Cornwell was born to Richard Thomas Archibald (Ronnie) Cornwell (1906–75) and Olive (Glassy) Cornwell, in Poole, Dorset, England. He was the second son to the marriage, the first his brother Tony, two years his elder, now a retired advertising executive; his younger half-sister is the actress Charlotte Cornwell; and Rupert Cornwell, a former Independent newspaper Washington bureau chief, is a younger half-brother.
John le Carre said he did not know his mother, who abandoned him when he was five years old, until their re-acquaintance when he was 21 years old. His relationship with his father was difficult, given that the man had been jailed for insurance fraud, was an associate of the Kray twins (among the foremost criminals in London) and was continually in debt. A 2009 UK Guardian-Observer profile recounts:
The family swung between great affluence and bankruptcy. The boys were often called upon to help their father evade creditors during an upbringing that le Carre has referred to as "clandestine survival." He and his brother, he has said, "were conspirators from quite an early age...."
His troubled relationships with each of his parents proved instrumental in shaping his fiction. Duplicitous father figures crop up regularly in his work and, more obviously, the question of trust is at the centre of le Carre's fictional world.
The character Rick Pym, the scheming con-man father of protagonist Magnus Pym in his later novel A Perfect Spy (1986), was based on Ronnie. When Ronnie died in 1975, le Carre paid for a memorial funeral service but did not attend.
Education
Cornwell's formal schooling began at St Andrew's Preparatory School, near Pangbourne, Berkshire, then continued at Sherborne School; he proved unhappy with the typically harsh English public school regime of the time and disliked his disciplinarian housemaster so withdrew.
From 1948 to 1949, he studied foreign languages at the University of Bern in Switzerland. In 1950 he joined the Intelligence Corps of the British Army garrisoned in Austria, working as a German language interrogator of people who crossed the Iron Curtain to the West. In 1952, he returned to England to study at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he worked covertly for the British Security Service, MI5, spying upon far-left groups for information about possible Soviet agents.
When Ronnie declared bankruptcy in 1954, Cornwell quit Oxford to teach at a boys' preparatory school; however, a year later, he returned to Oxford and graduated, in 1956, with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Arts degree.
Intelligence work
He then taught French and German at Eton College for two years, afterwards becoming an MI5 officer in 1958; he ran agents, conducted interrogations, tapped telephone lines, and effected break-ins. Encouraged by Lord Clanmorris (who wrote crime novels as"John Bingham"), and while an active MI5 officer, Cornwell began writing Call for the Dead (1961), his first novel. Lord Clanmorris was the inspiration behind spymaster George Smiley.
In 1960, Cornwell transferred to MI6, the foreign-intelligence service, and worked as a Second Secretary cover in the British Embassy at Bonn; he later was transferred to Hamburg as a political consul. There, he wrote the detective story A Murder of Quality (1962) and The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1963), as "John le Carre" (i,e., John the Square, in French), a pseudonym required because Foreign Office officers were forbidden to publish in their own names.
Cornwell left the service in 1964 to work full-time as a novelist, as his intelligence officer career was ended by the betrayal to the KGB of numberous British agents and their covers by Kim Philby, a British double agent (of the Cambridge Five). Le Carre depicts and analyses Philby as the upper-class traitor, code-named Gerald by the KGB, the mole George Smiley hunts in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974). Credited by his pen name, Cornwell appears as an extra in the 2011 film version of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, among the guests at the Christmas party seen in several flashback scenes.
In 1964 le Carre won the Somerset Maugham Award, established to enable British writers younger than thirty-five to enrich their writing by spending time abroad.
Personal life and recognition
In 1954, Cornwell married Alison Ann Veronica Sharp; they had three sons—Simon, Stephen and Timothy. The couple was divorced in 1971. The following year, Cornwell married Valerie Jane Eustace, a book editor with Hodder & Stoughton. They have one son, Nicholas, who writes as Nick Harkaway. Le Carre has resided in St Buryan, Cornwall, UK, for more than forty years where he owns a mile of cliff close to Land's End.
In 1998, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Letters) from the University of Bath. In 2012, he was awarded the Degree of Doctor of Letters, honoris causa by the University of Oxford.
Writing style
Stylistically, the first two novels—Call for the Dead (1961) and A Murder of Quality (1962)—are mystery fiction in which the hero George Smiley (of the SIS, the "Circus") resolves the riddles of the deaths investigated; the motives are more personal than political.
The spy novel œuvre of John le Carre stands in contrast to the physical action and moral certainty of the James Bond thriller established by Ian Fleming in the mid- nineteen-fifties; the le Carre Cold War features unheroic political functionaries aware of the moral ambiguity of their work, and engaged in psychological more than physical drama. They experience little of the violence typically encountered in action thrillers, and have very little recourse to gadgets. Much of the conflict they are involved in is internal, rather than external and visible.
Unlike the moral certainty of Fleming's British Secret Service adventures, le Carre's Circus spy stories are morally complex, and inform the reader of the fallibility of Western democracy and of the secret services protecting it, often implying the possibility of East-West moral equivalence.
A Perfect Spy (1986), chronicling the boyhood moral education of Magnus Pym, as it leads to his becoming a spy, is the author's most autobiographic espionage novel—especially the boy's very close relationship with his con man father. Biographer Lynndianne Beene describes the novelist's own father, Richard Cornwell, as "an epic con man of little education, immense charm, extravagant tastes, but no social values"; le Carre reflected that "writing A Perfect Spy is probably what a very wise shrink would have advised."
Most of le Carre's novels are spy stories set amidst the Cold War (1945–91); a notable exception is The Naïve and Sentimental Lover (1971), an autobiographical, stylistically uneven, mainstream novel of a man's post-marital existential crisis. Another exception from the East-West conflict is The Little Drummer Girl that uses the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
With the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, le Carre's œuvre shifted to portrayal of the new multilateral world. For example The Night Manager, his first completely post-Cold-War novel, deals with drug and arms smuggling in the murky world of Latin America drug lords, shady Caribbean banking entities, and look-the-other-way western officials.
As a journalist, he wrote The Unbearable Peace (1991), a non-fiction account of Brigadier Jean-Louis Jeanmaire (1911–92), the Swiss Army officer who spied for the USSR from 1962 until 1975. In 2009, he donated the short story "The King Who Never Spoke" to the Oxfam Ox-Tales project.
Political views
In January 2003 The Times (London) published le Carre's article "The United States Has Gone Mad," which condemned the approaching Iraq War. He observed in this essay, "How Bush and his junta succeeded in deflecting America's anger, from Bin Laden to Saddam Hussein, is one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history." He contributed the same article to a volume of political essays entitled Not One More Death. The book is highly critical of the war in Iraq. Le Carre's contribution was entitled "Art, truth and politics." Other contributors include Harold Pinter, Richard Dawkins, Michel Faber, Brian Eno, and Haifa Zangana. (Adapted from Wikipedia, retrieved 5/8/2012.)
Book Reviews
A career’s worth of literary skill and international analysis…..No other writer has chartered…the public and secret history of his times.
Guardian (UK)
Remarkable….[A Delicate Truth] displays the mastery of the early and the passion of late Le Carre.
Robert McCrum - Observer (UK)
Writing of such quality that…it will be read in one hundred years….[Le Carre] found his canvas in espionage, as Dickens did in other worlds. The two men deserve comparison.
Daily Mail (UK)
The narrative dominoes fall with masterly precision…and by the time [Toby's] joined by Kit's alluring daughter the story settles into classic conspiracy thriller territory, the two of them racing to assemble evidence before they can be silenced by the men who pull the strings. As ever, le Carre's prose is fluid, carrying the reader toward an inevitable yet nail-biting climax. This is John le Carre's 23rd novel, and neither prolificacy nor age…has diminished his legendary and sometimes startling gift for mimicry. More than the inventory of closely observed outfits, chronicles of public schools and slumped, bookish frames, it's the voices that give the characters in A Delicate Truth their most immediate claim to three-dimensionality.
Olen Steinhauer - New York Times Book Review
What makes A Delicate Truth work is that the story powers the writerly flourishes and, after a while, vice versa. This is popcorn reading—you can shovel buckets of it into your mouth as you turn the pages. At the same time, the narrative and temporal shifts enhance your sense of the complex choices that men like Paul, Jeb and especially Toby—he is our real hero in a three-man race—have to make, which in turn suggest choices we make as readers. In the case of A Delicate Truth, the rewarding choice is to follow le Carre down the labyrinthine corridors of a novel that beckons us beyond any and all expectations.
Colin Fleming - Washington Post
Loyalty to the crown is tested; consciences are checked; and nothing is more terrifying than, as this novel’s protagonist puts it, ‘a solitary decider’ asking himself how on earth he talked himself into this mess.
Daily Beast
State-sanctioned duplicity drives bestseller le Carre’s entertainingly labyrinthine if overly polemical 23rd novel.... In 2008, a cloak-and-dagger plot to capture an arms dealer in Gibraltar under the mantle of counterterrorism goes awry.... As usual, le Carre tells a great story in sterling prose, but he veers dangerously close to farce and caricature, particularly with the comically amoral Americans. His best work has been about the moral ambiguity of spying, while this novel feels as if the issue of who’s bad and who’s good is too neatly sewn up.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Le Carre, the author of such 20th-century classics as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, has nothing left to prove except that he can still be stung into turning out suspenseful, totally convincing political object lessons.... His target of choice here is the mendacity of the British government and the easy camaraderie between the public and private sectors. Verdict: This is a guaranteed hair-raising cerebral fright, especially for anyone who enjoyed Robert Harris's The Ghost or who just knows his or her email account has been hacked. —Bob Lunn, Kansas City, MO
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Le Carre further establishes himself as a master of a new, shockingly realistic kind of noir.
Booklist
(Starred review.) A colorless midlevel civil servant is... packed off to Gibraltar, where he's to serve as the eyes and ears and, mainly, the yea or nay of rising Member of Parliament Fergus Quinn, who can't afford to be directly connected to Operation Wildlife. On the crucial night the forces in question are to disrupt an arms deal and grab a jihadist purchaser, both Paul and Jeb Owens, the senior military commander on the ground, smell a rat and advise against completing the operation. But they're overridden by Quinn.... Quinn's Private Secretary Toby Bell...becomes painfully aware of irregularities in the official record.... [K]eeping potential action sequences just offstage, le Carre focuses instead on the moral rot and creeping terror barely concealed by the affable old-boy blather that marks the pillars of the intelligence community.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher.
Delicious! A Novel
Ruth Reichl, 2014
Random House
388 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781400069620
Summary
Ruth Reichl is a born storyteller. Through her restaurant reviews, where she celebrated the pleasures of a well-made meal, and her bestselling memoirs that address our universal feelings of love and loss, Reichl has achieved a special place in the hearts of hundreds of thousands of readers. Now, with this magical debut novel, she has created a sumptuous, wholly realized world that will enchant you.
Billie Breslin has traveled far from her home in California to take a job at Delicious!, New York’s most iconic food magazine. Away from her family, particularly her older sister, Genie, Billie feels like a fish out of water—until she is welcomed by the magazine’s colorful staff. She is also seduced by the vibrant downtown food scene, especially by Fontanari’s, the famous Italian food shop where she works on weekends. Then Delicious! is abruptly shut down, but Billie agrees to stay on in the empty office, maintaining the hotline for reader complaints in order to pay her bills.
To Billie’s surprise, the lonely job becomes the portal to a miraculous discovery. In a hidden room in the magazine’s library, Billie finds a cache of letters written during World War II by Lulu Swan, a plucky twelve-year-old, to the legendary chef James Beard. Lulu’s letters provide Billie with a richer understanding of history, and a feeling of deep connection to the young writer whose courage in the face of hardship inspires Billie to comes to terms with her fears, her big sister and her ability to open her heart to love. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 16, 1948
• Where—New York City, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Michigan
• Awards—4 James Beard Awards
• Currently—lives in New York City
Ruth Reichl is an American food writer, perhaps best known as the editor-in-chief of the former Gourmet magazine. She has written more than 10 books, including several best-selling memoirs. These include Tender at the Bone: Growing Up at the Table (1998); Comfort Me with Apples: More Adventures at the Table (2001); Garlic and Sapphires: The Secret Life of a Critic in Disguise (2005); Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir (2019). Her first novel, Delicious!, was published in 2014.
Born to parents Ernst and Miriam (nee Brudno), Reichl was raised in Greenwich Village in New York City and spent time at a boarding school in Montreal as a young girl. She attended the University of Michigan, where she met her first husband, the artist Douglas Hollis. He graduated in 1970 with a M.A. in Art History.
She and Hollis moved to Berkeley, California, where her interest in food led to her joining the collectively-owned Swallow Restaurant as a chef and co-owner from 1973 to 1977, and where she played an important role in the culinary revolution taking place at the time.
Reichl began her food-writing career with Mmmmm: A Feastiary, a cookbook, in 1972. She moved on to become food writer and editor of New West magazine from 1973 to 1977, then to the Los Angeles Times as its restaurant editor from 1984 to 1993 and food editor and critic from 1990 to 1993. She returned to her native New York City in 1993 to become the restaurant critic for the New York Times before leaving to assume the editorship of Gourmet in 1999.
She is known for her ability to "make or break" a restaurant with her fierce attention to detail and her adventurous spirit. For Reichl, her mission has been to "demystify the world of fine cuisine" (CBS News Online). She has won acclaim with both readers and writers alike for her honesty about some of the not-so-fabulous aspects of haute-couture cuisine.
Though an outsider's perspective, she harshly criticized the sexism prevalent toward women in dine-out experiences, as well as the pretentious nature of the ritziest New York restaurants and restaurateurs alike.
Despite her widely-celebrated success, and hilarious tales of how she used to disguise herself to mask her identity while reviewing, she is quite open about why she stopped. "I really wanted to go home and cook for my family," she says. "I don't think there's one thing more important you can do for your kids than have family dinner" (CBS News Online).
She has been the recipient of four James Beard Awards: in 1996 and 1998 for restaurant criticism, one in 1994 for journalism and in 1984 for Who's Who of Food and Beverage in America; as well as several awards granted by the Association of American Food Journalists. She was also the recipient of the YWCA's Elizabeth Cutter Morrow Award, celebrating the accomplishments of strong, successful women.
Reichl served as host for three Food Network Specials titled "Eating Out Loud" which covered cuisine from each coast and corner of the United States, in New York in 2002, and Miami and San Francisco in 2003. She is also frequents Leonard Lopate's monthly food radio show on WNYC in New York. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2014.)
Book Reviews
Reichl has clearly done a great deal of research, but its results are never deployed in a heavy-handed fashion.... Her New York is a fairy-tale town where beautiful food abounds, purveyed and cooked and grown by passionate cognoscenti; a town where singular eccentrics are surrounded by loving communities of friends who save them when they need it and where a newcomer with the right attitude is sure of success.
Kate Christensen - New York Times
Former New York Times restaurant critic and Gourmet editor Reichl’s first foray into fiction is like an iced white cake. It follows a traditional recipe, it is really sweet, and it is dull.... Though Reichl is a marvelous food writer, the language used here is often cloying.
Publishers Weekly
[T]his first novel is still drenched in food lore and love. Billie Breslin is thrilled to find work at New York's upscale foodie magazine Delicious, then devastated when it is shut down. Left behind to answer the magazine's public relations hotline, she finds a letter that makes her rethink her own life.
Library Journal
Tragedy, war, fairy-tale makeover, trauma resolution, romance and—of course—food are just some of the ingredients in dining critic and celebrated memoirist Reichl's first novel, a bittersweet pudding with some lumps in the batter.... Reichl's first fictional outing is something of a curate's egg—good in parts.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Billie eventually writes about Sal's as if it's "a way of life." Do you have a favorite establishment that you would describe similarly? What is it like, and how does it make you feel?
2. Mrs. Cloverly’s disastrous concoctions are even funnier because she’s unfazed by failure. She seems to keep trudging forward, turning ever-less-palatable dishes out of her kitchen. Have you encountered such a cook? What is the most astonishingly—and hilariously—unappetizing dish you’ve ever been served?
3. Diana and Sammy's friendships help the formerly-contained Billie become more confident. Has a friend ever given you the courage to be more fully yourself? What did you reveal?
4. Try to imagine a story that Sammy might have written for Delicious! Where in the world is he, and what is he writing about?
5. Lulu’s letters teach Billie about the relentless uncertainty endured by the people on the homefront during World War II. She learns that Lulu finds solace in cooking with Mrs. Cappuzzelli and for her mother. Can you remember a meal that helped get you through a particularly painful moment? Where were you? Who were you with? And what was the meal?
6. Rationing changed the way Americans ate. Lulu throws herself into this new food landscape, experimenting with unfamiliar vegetables like milkweed and pumpkin leaves. What would you make if you had no butter, meat, or dairy? What would you forage for?
7. If you had a victory garden, what would you grow?
8. Do you have friends or family who remember what it was like to eat during World War II? What stories have they shared with you?
9. Lulu writes: “When Mother, Mr. Jones and I were walking through those strange, crowded downtown streets, where people were sticking their hands into pickle barrels, pointing to smoked fish, and eating sliced herring, I saw the scene in a whole new way. They weren’t buying food: They were finding their way home.” What foods feel like home to you?
10. As the book closes, what does Billie discover she owes Genie?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Dept. of Speculation
Jenny Offill, 2014
Knopf Doubleday
192 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385350815
Summary
Dept. of Speculation is a portrait of a marriage. It is also a beguiling rumination on the mysteries of intimacy, trust, faith, knowledge, and the condition of universal shipwreck that unites us all.
Jenny Offill’s heroine, referred to in these pages as simply “the wife,” once exchanged love letters with her husband postmarked Dept. of Speculation, their code name for all the uncertainty that inheres in life and in the strangely fluid confines of a long relationship.
As they confront an array of common catastrophes—a colicky baby, a faltering marriage, stalled ambitions—the wife analyzes her predicament, invoking everything from Keats and Kafka to the thought experiments of the Stoics to the lessons of doomed Russian cosmonauts. She muses on the consuming, capacious experience of maternal love, and the near total destruction of the self that ensues from it as she confronts the friction between domestic life and the seductions and demands of art.
With cool precision, in language that shimmers with rage and wit and fierce longing, Jenny Offill has crafted an exquisitely suspenseful love story that has the velocity of a train hurtling through the night at top speed. Exceptionally lean and compact, Dept. of Speculation is a novel to be devoured in a single sitting, though its bracing emotional insights and piercing meditations on despair and love will linger long after the last page. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1968
• Where—Massachusetts, USA
• Education—University of North Carolina-Chapel HIll
• Currently—New York, New York
Jenny Offill is an American author of three novels. Her first, Last Things (1999), was a New York Times Notable book and a finalist for the L.A Times First Book Award. Dept. of Speculation (2014), Ofill's second novel, received highly favorably reviews, as has her third, Weather published in (2020).
Offill is also the co-editor with Elissa Schappell of two anthologies of essays and is the author of several children's books. She has taught in the MFA programs at Brooklyn College, Columbia University and Queens University.[ She currently resides as the Writer-in-Residence at Vassar College. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/24/2020.)
Book Reviews
Offill’s unnamed heroine...is observant and literary minded, given to seeing the odd connections (or lack of connections) among the things that make up her day-to-day life and the more subterranean thoughts that jitter around in her head. She also has a lot in common with Joan Didion’s heroines... A genuinely moving story of love lost and perhaps, provisionally, recovered.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
[C]harts the course of a marriage through curious, often shimmering fragments of prose…Dept. of Speculation moves quickly, but it is also joyously demanding because you will want to keep trying to understand the why of each fragment and how it fits with the others…Offill is a smart writer with a canny sense of pacing; just when you want to abandon the fragmented puzzle pieces of the novel, she reveals a moment of breathtaking tenderness…Dept. of Speculation is especially engaging when it describes new motherhood—the stunned joy and loneliness and fatigue of it, the new orientation of the narrator's world around an impossibly small but demanding creature.
Roxane Gay - New York Times Book Review
Riveting.... Unsentimental.... Combines eclectic minutia with a laser-like narrative of a family on the edge of dissolution.... Paragraphs shatter, surreal details rise up and into the narrative.... A jewel of a book, a novel as funny, honest, and beguiling as any I have read.
Los Angeles Times
Hilarious, poignant.... So beautifully written that it begs multiple reads . . . Soul-bearing fiction at its best.... Dept. of Speculation doesn’t just resign itself to the disappointment of failed dreams that crop up in middle age. Instead, endurance to the end of a crisis generates wisdom, hope, and, perhaps, even art.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Marvelously huge in insight and honesty. Rich with humor, and deep with despair, Dept. of Speculation paints a masterful portrait of the nuts and the bolts and the warts and the silky splendor that defines commitment—the commitment to live in close quarters with other humans.... A quick, beautiful read that will draw out joy just as quickly as sadness, and may even cause one to pause and then wonder, and then to finally embrace both the misery and the magic of marriage.
New York Review of Books
Absorbing and highly readable.... Offill has successfully met the challenge she seems to have given herself: write only what needs to be written, and nothing more. No excess, no flab. And do it in a series of bulletins, fortune-cookie commentary, mordant observations, lyrical phrasing. And through these often disparate and disconnected means, tell the story of the fragile nature of anyone’s domestic life.... Intriguing, beautifully written, sly, and often profound.
Meg Wolitzer - NPR
Audacious.... Hilarious.... Dept. of Speculation reveals a raw marital reality that continues to be expunged from the pervasive narrative of marriage.... Offill moves quickly and poetically over deeply introspective questions about long-term partnerships, parenthood, and aging.... From deep within the interiors of a fictional marriage, Offill has crafted an account of matrimony and motherhood that breaks free of the all-too-limiting traditional stories of wives and mothers. There is a complexity to the central partnership; Offill folds cynicism into genuine moments of love. It may be difficult to truly know what happens between two people, but Offill gets alarmingly close.
Atlantic
Dept. of Speculation is a startling feat of storytelling—an intense and witty meditation on motherhood, infidelity, and identity, each line a dazzling, perfectly chiseled arrowhead aimed at your heart.
Vanity Fair
Offill somehow manages to pack the sprawling story of an ordinary marriage, both the good bits and the bad, into a small, poetic book. Rendered entirely in a series of staccato vignettes, Dept. of Speculation is told from the point of view of the bookish, funny wife.... Yes, there’s joylessness here, but there’s also real joy. (Grade: A-)
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review.) Popping prose and touching vignettes of marriage and motherhood.... Clever, subtle, and rife with strokes of beauty, this book is both readable in a single sitting and far ranging in the emotions it raises. The 46 short chapters are told mostly in brief fragments and fly through the life of the nameless heroine.
Publishers Weekly
Offill's lean prose and the addition of astute quotations prevent the text from becoming just one more story of an infidelity. The author's debut, Last Things, was a Los Angeles Times First Book Award finalist, noted by the New York Times; here, her writing is exquisitely honed and vibrant. This would be an enlightened choice for a reading group. —Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH
Library Journal
A magnetic novel about a marriage of giddy bliss and stratospheric anxiety, bedrock alliance and wrenching tectonic shifts.... So precisely articulate that [Offill's] perfect, simple sentences vibrate like violin strings. And she is mordantly funny, a wry taxonomist of emotions and relationships.... She has sliced life thin enough for a microscope and magnified it until it fills the mind's eye and the heart.
Booklist
Scenes from a marriage, sometimes lyrical, sometimes philosophically rich, sometimes just puzzling.... The fragmented story...is sometimes hard to follow, and at times, the writing...is precious.There are moments of literary experimentation worthy of Virginia Woolf here, but in the end, this reads more like notes for a novel than a novel itself.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. This novel is written in a fragmentary, elliptical style. Why do you think it is structured this way? 2. How would the story change if it were told in a more straightforward fashion?
3. The epigraph for the novel is a quote from Socrates: “Speculators on the universe are... no better than madmen.” Where else in the book does the narrator talk about madness?
4. Is this a book about loneliness?
5. Have you ever known an art monster? Have you ever been one?
6. On pages 43 and 44, the narrator includes a “Personality Questionnaire.” What phobias or fears would you include if you wrote your own?
7. The narrator says, “I would give it up for her . . . but only if she would consent to lie quietly with me until she was eighteen.” What do you make of this passage?
8. What does it mean to throw off ambition “like an expensive coat that no longer fits?”
9. When the narrator’s sister tells her, “You have a kid-glove marriage” (page 81), does the narrator agree?
10. Why does the POV change midway through the book? Why does she become “the wife” and he, “the husband”?
11. What reaction did you have to the soscaredsoscaredsoscaredsoscaredsoscared chapter?
12. If someone asked you, “When were you the happiest?” what would you say? Would you say the same thing no matter who asked you?
13. The narrator says at one point, “The truth about getting older is that there are fewer and fewer things to make fun of until finally there is nothing you are sure you will never be.” Does this seem true to you?
14. Why does the narrator want to meet the girl? Why is this section framed as if it is a student paper she is grading?
15. The wife says “(So ask the birds at least. Ask the fucking birds.)” Who is she speaking to? Why is this placed in parentheses as if it is an offhand comment?
16. Chapter 46—the last chapter in the novel—switches the point of view of first person plural, “We.” Why do you think this change is made?
17. Is this a happy ending? Do you want it to be?
18. Discuss what matters most to you.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Descendants
Kaui Hart Hemmings, 2007
Random House
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780812977820
Summary
Fortunes have changed for the King family, descendants of Hawaiian royalty and one of the state’s largest landowners.
Matthew King’s daughters—Scottie, a feisty ten-year-old, and Alex, a seventeen-year-old recovering drug addict—are out of control, and their charismatic, thrill-seeking mother, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat-racing accident. She will soon be taken off life support.
As Matt gathers his wife’s friends and family to say their final goodbyes, a difficult situation is made worse by the sudden discovery that there’s one person who hasn’t been told: the man with whom Joanie had been having an affair.
Forced to examine what they owe not only to the living but to the dead, Matt, Scottie, and Alex take to the road to find Joanie’s lover, on a memorable journey that leads to unforeseen humor, growth, and profound revelations. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1975
• Where—Hawaii, USA
• Education—B.A., Colordo College; Sarah Lawrence
• Currently—lives in San Fransisco, California
Kaui Hart was born and raised in Hawaii. She attended Colorado College, earning a B.A., and later, Sarah Lawrence College. She was also awarded a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University.
Hemmings first novel, The Descendants, released in 2007, was an expanded version of a story from her 2005 collection, House of Thieves. The novel became a New York Times bestseller, was published in twenty-two other countries and adapted in 2011 as an Oscar-winning film, starring George Clooney.
Her second novel, Possibilities came out in 2014. Her third, the young adult novel Juniors, was published in 2015 and her fourth (adult) novel, How to Party with an Infant, in 2016. Hemmings lives in San Francisco, California. (Adapted from the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The narrator of this audaciously comic debut novel, the scion of the last Hawaiian landowning clan, has floated through his privileged life: marriage to a model given to "speedboats, motorcycles, alcoholism"; children getting into trouble (cocaine, bullying) at elite schools; membership at a century-old beach club that rejects those with "unfavorable pedigrees." But when a catamaran accident leaves his wife in a coma he must wake from his own "prolonged unconsciousness," reacquaint himself with his neglected daughters, and track down his wife’s lover. Meanwhile, his cousins are urging him to sell the family’s vast landholdings for development—to relinquish, in his eyes, the final vestige of their native Hawaiian ancestry. Hemmings channels the voice of her befuddled middle-aged hero with virtuosity, as he teeters between acerbic and sentimental, scoffing at himself even as he grasps for redemption.
The New Yorker
[B]ittersweet.... Matt's journey with his girls forms the emotional core of this sharply observed, frequently hilarious and intermittently heartbreaking look at a well-meaning but confused father trying to hold together his unconventional family.
Publishers Weekly
As smart, perceptive, and evocative as Hemmings' premiere literary offering was, (the superlative short story collection House of Thieves, 2005), her irresistible debut novel is light years beyond.... Evincing a sublimely mature style and beguiling command of theme and setting, Hemmings' virtuoso performance offers a piquantly tender and winsomely comic portrait of a singular family's revealing response to tragedy. —Carol Haggas
Booklist
Hemming's first novel expands on a short story...about a self-consciously privileged Hawaiian family in crisis.... Hemmings pulls off a remarkable feat in making the Kings' sense of loss all the more wrenching for being directed at a woman who was neither a good wife nor a good mother.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What do you think of Joanie? Is she a harmless thrill-seeker or a well-meaning but self-absorbed mother?
2. At first Matt struggles to engage his daughters in a meaningful way; the family’s shared tragedy eventually brings him closer. How are father-daughter relationships different than those between mothers and daughters?
3. What role does Sid play in this novel? Do you think he impedes or facilitates Matt King’s renewed relationship with his daughters?
4. What do you think of Scottie’s journal? How can you analyze her strange behavior—why do you think she acts out the ways she does?
5. How would you describe Matt as a father? Do you think it’s irresponsible of him to include his kids on the journey to find the man that his wife was having an affair with? How does he evolve over the course of The Descendants?
6. In what ways is the depiction of Alex realistic in terms of the ways teenagers cope with crisis? Were you surprised she was aware of her mother’s infidelity? Do you think young adults more aware of the adult world around them than we give them credit for?
7. Who is at fault for Joanie and Matt’s marriage falling apart?
8. What was unique about the Hawaiian setting of the book and how did it enhance or take away from the story?
9. What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel? What do you think she is trying to get across to the reader?
10. Do the characters seem real and believable to you? Can you relate to their predicaments?
11. Do you believe the Kings will have a better life without Joanie? How do you feel about the ending of this book? How do you picture the family’s future?
12. Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?
13. In what ways is The Descendants a survival story? A love story? An adventure story?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Descent
Tim Johnston, 2015
Algonquin Books
384 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781616203047
Summary
The Rocky Mountains have cast their spell over the Courtlands, a young family from the plains taking a last summer vacation before their daughter begins college.
For eighteen-year-old Caitlin, the mountains loom as the ultimate test of her runner’s heart, while her parents hope that so much beauty, so much grandeur, will somehow repair a damaged marriage.
But when Caitlin and her younger brother, Sean, go out for an early morning run and only Sean returns, the mountains become as terrifying as they are majestic. Ssuddenly this family find themselves living the kind of nightmare they’ve only read about in headlines
or seen on TV.
As their world comes undone, the Courtlands are drawn into a vortex of dread and recrimination. Why weren’t they more careful? What has happened to their daughter? Is she alive? Will they ever know? Caitlin’s disappearance, all the more devastating for its mystery, is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths until all that continues to bind them together are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point will a girl stop fighting for her life?
Written with a precision that captures every emotion, every moment of fear, as each member of the family searches for answers, Descent is a perfectly crafted thriller that races like an avalanche toward its heart-pounding conclusion, and heralds the arrival of a master storyteller. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1962
• Raised—Iowa City, Iowa, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Iowa; M.F.A., University of Massachusetts
• Awards—O. Henry Prize (see more below)
• Currently—lives in Memphis, Tennessee
Tim Johnston is the author of the debut adult novel Descent, the story collection Irish Girl, and the young adult novel Never So Green.
Published in 2009, the stories in Irish Girl won an O. Henry Prize, the New Letters Award for Writers, and the Gival Press Short Story Award, while the collection itself won the 2009 Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction. In 2005 the title story, “Irish Girl,” was included in the David Sedaris anthology of favorites, Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules.
Johnston’s stories have also appeared in New England Review, New Letters, Iowa Review, Missouri Review, DoubleTake, Best Life Magazine, and Narrative Magazine, among others. He holds degrees from the University of Iowa and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He currently teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Memphis. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Johnston's descriptive prose attains a level of visceral brio…While the author periodically checks in on Caitlin's desperate plight, it's the men—bullies and stymied heroes alike—who power this engulfing thriller-cum-western, which is at its most potent in the adversarial banter of a couple of guys, sniffing around each other like pit bulls
Jan Stuart - New York Times
I’ve read many variations on this theme, some quite good, but never one as powerful as Tim Johnston’s Descent.... The story unfolds brilliantly, always surprisingly, but the glory of Descent lies not in its plot but in the quality of the writing. The magic of his prose equals the horror of Johnston’s story; each somehow enhances the other.... Read this astonishing novel. It’s the best of both worlds.
Washington Post
This is much more than your typical thriller. Tim Johnston has written a book that makes Gone Girl seem gimmicky.... Johnston is an excellent writer. You want to set this one down so you can take a breath, and keep reading--all at the same time.
Alan Cheuse - NPR
[A] twisty thriller about a family grappling with loss
Oprah Magazine
Outstanding ... The days when you had to choose between a great story and a great piece of writing? Gone.
Esquire
An original and psychologically deep thriller.
Outside Magazine
(Starred review.) Johnston has a poet’s eye for the majestic and forbidding nature of the Rockies, and a sociologist’s understanding of how people act under pressure. He also has a knack for creating characters that the reader will come to care about.... Combining domestic drama with wilderness adventure, Johnston has created a hybrid novel that is as emotionally satisfying as it is viscerally exciting.
Publishers Weekly
Johnston tracks the dissolution of a family following the disappearance of the teenage daughter during a Colorado vacation.... Neither Grant nor Sean—Angela barely registers for the reader—makes for a compelling lead character, both laconic to the point of annoyance, and while Caitlin's ordeal is chilling, it's not enough to buoy this overwritten yet occasionally poignant tale.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they more one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you, the reader, begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers are skillful at hiding clues in plain sight. How well does the author hide the clues in this work?
4. Does the author use red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray?
5. Talk about plot's twists & turns—those surprising developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense? Are they plausible? Or do the twists & turns feel forced and preposterous—inserted only to extend the story.
6. Does the author ratchet up the story's suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? How does the author build suspense?
7. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Is it probable or believable? Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 2). Or does the ending come out of the blue? Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out? Or perhaps it's too predictable. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Desire's Dilemma: Elizabeth's Story (New Girl Series, 1)
K.T. Moore, 2015
Maddox & Moore Publishing
157 pp.
ASIN: B015HVN3BY (ebook)
Summary
Elizabeth thought she had a pretty good life; a good husband, wonderful son, nice house and a job she really enjoys.
When her husband announces however, he wants a divorce and that his mistress is pregnant, the shock of hearing this shakes Elizabeth to her very core and in the process of trying to escape the overwhelming flood of emotions bursting out of her, she runs straight into handsome stranger Daniel Rushton, who will have a key part to play in her future.
The insatiable attraction she feels for Daniel almost from that first encounter makes it hard for her to resist him and soon she no longer wants to fight it. Whilst she might be a woman in her mid-thirties, her inexperience sexually has her feeling out of her depth with this titan of industry and of the billionaires’ social circuit, but she is more than a willing participant and is a very fast learner in the bedroom, and everywhere else they find themselves.
Daniel couldn’t avoid the desire he felt from the moment the blonde goddess ran into him. There was something so sad in her eyes that it touched his soul and created an undeniable urge in him to be with her.
Trouble was, he was new to the city and didn’t know anything about her, including her name. All he knew for certain was he wanted to see her again so when fate made them collide once more, he knew it was a sign they were destined to be good together. He liked her quirkiness and how she reacted to him, especially when she got flustered.
Most of the women he met were pretty sure of themselves and came across shallow and self-absorbed. Elizabeth, his Elizabeth, however, was someone who honestly had no idea how amazing she was and it made him want her even more.
There is however, something she is holding back and this act of omission, if not handled properly, may just be the thing that unravels their whole love affair. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1978
• Where—St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
• Education—B.A., Memorial University (Newfoundland); Northeastern University (Boston)
• Currently—lives in the U.K.
K.T. Moore is a Canadian author who has lived in several countries by the time she was 23 years old and settled the United Kingdom with her now husband. Her three published romance novels: Desire's Dilemma - Elizabeth's Story, Desire's Dilemma - Jean Luc's Story and The Arrangement - A Playboy's Proposal.
Early life
Moore was born in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Both of her parents were hard working and instilled that strong work ethic in Moore. Her mother was a school teacher for thirty-one years before retiring after having brain surgery and her father owned his own business.
Moore attended Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she received her undergraduate degrees. She spent a year in Boston attending Northeastern University and interning at State Street Bank in their Foreign Exchange Division.
Career
Initially, Moore interned for the Canadian Federal Government, for Marketing firms, helping to coordinate technology transfer conferences in the Netherlands and Germany, before moving into the foreign exchange markets in the United States. Once she graduated from University, she went on to work as a Commercial Manager for one of the largest banks in the world. It was through some foreign clients that she met her husband and moved over to the UK after a year’s long distance relationship. Not knowing the city and without a job to go to, Moore had really given up her life and taken a leap of faith for their relationship and thirteen years later, she still resides in the UK with her husband and son. She has managed to form some strong bonds with a number of great people who she is lucky to count as close friends.
Books
Moore began writing novels during her the small amount of free time she has had since late 2014. Her three current books are:
♦ Desire's Dilemma - Elizabeth's Story (2015) which revolves around a woman's fight to regain control when her husband announces he is leaving her. She becomes entangled with a gorgeous stranger who soon becomes her boss and tries to fight the growing feelings of desire she has for him. She has a secret though that could threaten everything if she doesn’t handle the situation correctly. What is the etiquette in the dating world today for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
♦ Desire's Dilemma – Jean Luc's Story (2015) centers on Elizabeth’s shock after Daniel’s surprising confession and Jean Luc is sent in to ‘handle’ the aftermath. His mission is to get close to Elizabeth and uncover her secrets. Jean Luc has no issue with doing this but suddenly, he finds himself in unchartered territory. In his pursuit of opening her up, he has somehow opened himself to her instead and now he has to decide whether his feelings of desire are enough to risk potentially destroying his family over. Is this woman worth the risk?
♦ The Arrangement – A Playboy’s Proposal (2016) centers around Emily, a young woman caught in spot of work trouble who decides a night out on the town is just what she needs to forget all about those pesky work issues. What she hadn’t banked on was waking up naked in a mystery bed, completely blank on the previous evening’s events... especially the ones that led her there.
Feeling hugely embarrassed and slightly worse for wear, she tries to make a run for it but is cornered by a rather irate looking older woman demanding answers. Fearful didn’t begin to explain what Emily was feeling but when stranger Blake appears in the mix, she is momentarily distracted by his good looks and too close for comfort proximity. None of that prepares her for the arrangement he proposes and she is amazed when she actually accepts.
Never one to go back on her word, Emily starts to struggle as she second guesses whether she should go back on her word and walk away from this playboy’s proposal but that would mean walking away from Blake, or if she should see it through and most likely end up hurt as her feelings for him are growing more intense the more time she spends with him.
Will their arrangement be a step too far for her or can she walk the tightrope of carnal want without falling into the depths of despair? (From the author )
Discussion Questions
1. How did you experience the book? Were you engaged immediately, or did it take you a while to "get into it"? How did you feel reading it—amused, sad, confused, bored?
2. Do you think it was too soon for Elizabeth to get involved in a relationship so soon after finding out about her husband?
3. Do you think she made the right call regarding Lucas’ schooling? What would you do in her situation?
4. Why do you think Elizabeth didn’t come clean about Lucas and do you think it was the right call? How honest should we be when we meet other people? Should we tell prospective dates all our secrets or are some topics okay not to share straight away? Who should decide that?
5. How did you find the plot? Was it fast paced enough or would you have preferred more scene setting and character interaction?
6. How did you find the ending? Were you satisfied or has it left you wanting to read the next installment straight away?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
The Devil All the Time
Donald Ray Pollock, 2011
Knopf Doubleday
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307744869
Summary
In The Devil All the Time, Donald Ray Pollock has written a novel that marries the twisted intensity of Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers with the religious and Gothic overtones of Flannery O’Connor at her most haunting.
Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, The Devil All the Time follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his “prayer log.”
There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial killers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.
Donald Ray Pollock braids his plotlines into a taut narrative that will leave readers astonished and deeply moved. With his first novel, he proves himself a master storyteller in the grittiest and most uncompromising American grain. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1954
• Where—Knockemstiff, Ohio, USA
• Education—M.F.A., Ohio State University
• Awards—PEN-Robert Bingham Fellowship;
Guggenheinm Fellowship
• Currently—lives in Chillicothe, Ohio
Donald Ray Pollock is an American writer, who has lived his entire adult life in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he worked at the Mead Paper Mill as a laborer and truck driver until age 50, when he enrolled in the creative writing program at The Ohio State University. While there, Doubleday published his debut short story collection, Knockemstiff, and the New York Times regularly posted his election dispatches from southern Ohio throughout the 2008 campaign.
Pollock is the recipient of the 2009 PEN/Robert Bingham Award. He also won the 2009 Devil's Kitchen Award in Prose sponsored by the English Department of Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His work has appeared in various literary journals, including Epoch, Sou'wester, Granta, Third Coast, River Styx, The Journal, Boulevard, and PEN America.
His second book, The Devil All The Time, published in 2011, was listed by Publisher's Weekly as one of the top ten books of the year. He was recently awarded a 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship. (From Wikipedia.)
Book Reviews
Pollock knows how to dunk readers into a scene and when to pull them out gasping, and the muscular current of each plot line exerts a continuous pull toward the engulfing falls. Important as well, and welcome, is the native intelligence he grants each of his characters. While many of them may be backwoods, none are backwards; and almost all are rich with a fatalistic humor that is often their sole redeeming feature.
Josh Ritter - New York Times
You'll want to lock your doors. Donald Ray Pollock's first novel…is pretty much what the title predicts: a literary tsunami of pure evil…The book is grotesque, violent, haunting, perverse and harrowing—and very good. You may be repelled, you may be shocked, you will almost certainly be horrified, but you will read every last word.
Robert Goolrick - Washington Post
Pollock's first novel, The Devil All the Time, should cement his reputation as a significant voice in American fiction.... [He] deftly shifts from one perspective to another, without any clunky transitions—the prose just moves without signal or stumble, opening up the story in new ways again and again...where any prime-time television show can incite nail-biting with a lurking killer, Pollock has done much more. He's layered decades of history, shown the inner thoughts of a collage of characters, and we understand how deeply violence and misfortune have settled into the bones of this place. The question is much more than whether someone will die—it is, can the cycle of bloodletting break? This applies both to the people Pollock so skillfully enlivens as it does to the place he's taken as his literary heritage.
Carolyn Kellogg - Los Angeles Times
The Devil All the Time...fulfills the promise in [Pollock's] 2008 short-story collection, Knockemstiff, named after his real-life hometown, where life as is tough as its name suggests. His fictional characters find ways to make it tougher. Devil, as violent as the bloodiest parts of the Old Testament...invites comparisons to Flannery O'Connor and Raymond Carver, who mined the grace and guilt in the hopeless lives of lost souls....But it's not so much what happens as how Pollock, with the brutal beauty of spare writing, brings it all together
Bob Minzesheimer - USA Today
As Arvin grows up—The Devil All the Time's narrative arcs from the end of World War II to the late 1960s—life's twists and turns provide him with a measure of salvation from his own past, and from the people whose soul-damaged lives Pollock has set down so indelibly on the blood-red altar of his incendiary imagination.
Lisa Shea - ELLE
(Starred review.) If Pollock’s powerful collection Knockemstiff was a punch to the jaw, his follow-up, a novel set in the violent soul-numbing towns of southern Ohio and West Virginia, feels closer to a mule’s kick, and how he draws these folks and their inevitably hopeless lives without pity is what the kick’s all about.... [H]appiness is elusive... Pollock pulls [his characters] all together, the pace relentless, and just when it seems like no one can ever catch a break, a good guy does, but not in any predictable way.
Publishers Weekly
Pollock first triumphed with his story collection, Knockemstiff, about the Midwestern town of that name where he grew up and its sad but tough residents. Here he moves on to full-length fiction with a terse examination of America's violent underbelly. Lots of in-house excitement; watch.
Library Journal
This debut novel occasionally flashes the promise that the author showed in his highly praised short-story collection, [Knockemstiff], but falls short of fulfilling it.... Set again in rural, impoverished Knockemstiff and nearby Mead, the novel opens with the relationship of young Arvin Russell and his father, Willard, a haunted World War II vet who marries a beautiful woman and then watches her die from cancer.... Though there's a hard-bitten realism to the character of Arvin, most of the [other characters] seem like gothic noir redneck caricature.... Pollock remains a singular stylist, but he has better books in him than this.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Devil All the Time:
1.Why does religion play so prominent a role in this book? Does the novel present a single religious vision...or a number of different visions? Talk about each character's preoccupation with God and Jesus, sacrifice and pain, hell and salvation.
2. What role does poverty play in the characters' lives? In what ways are they also shaped by sense of place, the land itself?
3. Talk about each of the characters. Do you feel sympathy or revulsion for any of them? Are you overwhelmed by their violent deeds...or are you able to eek out some sense of their humanity? What motivates them to commit the brutality they perpetrate on their victims?
4. Does redemption exist for these people? In what way does Arvin Eugene Russell point to its possibility?
5. The deputy sheriff says, at one point, "some people were born just so they could be buried." What do you make of that statement? Do you believe there is truth in it—a great deal...some...or none at all?
6. What does the book's title mean?
7. How did you experience this novel as you read it? What were your emotional reactions? Did you want to put it down and walk away...or were you compelled to keep turning pages?
The Devil in the White City
Erik Larson, 2003
Random House
464pp.
ISBN-13: 9780375725609
Summary
Two men, each handsome and unusually adept at his chosen work, embodied an element of the great dynamic that characterized America's rush toward the twentieth century. The architect was Daniel Hudson Burnham, the fair's brilliant director of works and the builder of many of the country's most important structures, including the Flatiron Building in New York and Union Station in Washington, D.C.
The murderer was Henry H. Holmes, a young doctor who, in a malign parody of the White City, built his "World's Fair Hotel" just west of the fairgrounds—a torture palace complete with dissection table, gas chamber, and 3,000-degree crematorium.
Burnham overcame tremendous obstacles and tragedies as he organized the talents of Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles McKim, Louis Sullivan, and others to transform swampy Jackson Park into the White City, while Holmes used the attraction of the great fair and his own satanic charms to lure scores of young women to their deaths. What makes the story all the more chilling is that Holmes really lived, walking the grounds of that dream city by the lake."
The Devil in the White City draws the reader into a time of magic and majesty, made all the more appealing by a supporting cast of real-life characters, including Buffalo Bill, Theodore Dreiser, Susan B. Anthony, Thomas Edison, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, and others. In this book the smoke, romance, and mystery of the Gilded Age come alive as never before. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 3, 1954
• Where—Brooklyn, New York, USA
• Raised—Freeport (Long Island), New York
• Education—B.A., University of Pennsylvania; M.S., Columbia University
• Awards—Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime, 2004
• Currently—lives in New York City and Seattle, Washington
Erik Larson is an American journalist and nonfiction author. Although he has written several books, he is particularly well-know for three: The Devil in the White City (2003), a history of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition and serial killer H. H. Holmes, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and An American Family in Hitler's Berlin (2011), a portrayal of William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany, and his daughter Martha, and Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (2015).
Early life
Born in Brooklyn, Larson grew up in Freeport, Long Island, New York. He studied Russian history at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated summa cum laude in 1976. After a year off, he attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, graduating in 1978.
Journalism
Larson's first newspaper job was with the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown, Pennsylvania, where he wrote about murder, witches, environmental poisons, and other "equally pleasant" things. He later became a features writer for the Wall Street Journal and Time magazine, where he is still a contributing writer. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Harper's, and other publications.
Books
Larson has also written a number of books, beginning with The Naked Consumer: How Our Private Lives Become Public Commodities (1992), followed by Lethal Passage: The Story of a Gun (1995). Larson's next books were Isaac's Storm (1999), about the experiences of Isaac Cline during the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, and The Devil in the White City (2003), about the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and a series of murders by H. H. Holmes that were committed in the city around the time of the Fair.
The Devil in the White City won the 2004 Edgar Award in the Best Fact Crime category. Next, Larson published Thunderstruck (2006), which intersperses the story of Hawley Harvey Crippen with that of Guglielmo Marconi and the invention of radio. His next book, In the Garden of Beasts (2011), concerns William E. Dodd, the first American ambassador to Nazi Germany and his daughter. Dead Wake, published in 2015, is an account of the sinking of the Lusitania, which led to America's intervention in World War I.
Teaching and public speaking
Larson has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State University, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, and the University of Oregon, and he has spoken to audiences from coast to coast.
Personal
Larson and his wife have three daughters. They reside in New York City, but maintain a home in Seattle, Washington. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/17/2015.)
Book Reviews
(Audio version) This is a steady performance of a book that, while gripping in its content and crisply paced, isn't quite a gold mine for an audio performer. It relies on journalistic narration and includes almost no quotes, so there isn't much chance for interesting characterization. But it is excellent nonfiction, chronicling the hurly-burly planning and construction of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair (which did, as the title suggests, include building what amounted to an entire city) and a cruelly calculating sociopath who used the event's tumult and crowds to serve his homicidal compulsion. Goldwyn is an experienced narrator with a keen dramatic sense, and his resonant voice is well-suited to the project. Music is used only sparingly, but the few subdued, creepy bars Goldwyn reads over in the beginning do an excellent job of creating atmosphere for a tale that is subtle but often genuinely unsettling. Listeners will also be fascinated by descriptions of the sheer logistics of the fair itself, which serve as not only carefully crafted and informative history, but also as welcome breaks from the macabre and relentless contrivances of the killer. In all, it's a polished presentation of an intriguing book that outlines the heights of human imagination and perseverance against the depths of our depravity.
Publishers Weekly
Before the turn of the 20th century, a city emerged seemingly out of the ash of then dangerous Chicago, a dirty, grimy, teeming place ravaged by urban problems. Daniel Burnham, the main innovator of the White City of the 1892 World's Fair, made certain that it became the antithesis of its parent city, born to glow and gleam with all that the new century would soon offer. While the great city of the future was hastily being planned and built, the specially equipped apartment building of one Herman Webster Mudgett was also being constructed. Living in a nearby suburb and walking among the hundreds of thousands of visitors who would eventually attend the fair, Mudgett, a doctor by profession more commonly known as H.H. Holmes, was really an early serial killer who preyed on the young female fair goers pouring into Chicago. Using the fair as a means of attracting guests to a sparsely furnished "castle" where they ultimately met their end, Holmes committed murder, fraud, and numerous other crimes seemingly without detection until his arrest in 1894. Both intimate and engrossing, Larson's (Isaac's Storm) elegant historical account unfolds with the painstaking calm of a Holmes murder. Although both subjects have been treated before, paralleling them here is unique. Highly recommended. —Rachel Collins
Library Journal
A vivid account of the tragedies and triumphs of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and the concurrent depravities of America’s first serial killer. In roughly alternating chapters, former Wall Street Journal reporter Larson (Isaac’s Storm, 1999, etc.) tells the stories of Daniel H. Burnham, chief planner and architect of exposition, and Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, whose rambling World’s Fair Hotel, just a short streetcar ride away, housed windowless rooms, a gas chamber, secret chutes, and a basement crematory. The contrast in these accomplishments of determined human endeavor could not be more stark--or chilling. Burnham assembled what a contemporary called "the greatest meeting of artists since the 15th century" to turn the wasteland of Chicago’s swampy Jackson Park into the ephemeral White City, which enthralled nearly 28 million visitors in a single summer. Overcoming gargantuan obstacles--politically entangled delays, labor unrest, an economic panic, and a fierce Chicago winter--to say nothing of the architectural challenges, Burnham and his colleagues, including Frederick Law Olmsted, produced their marvel in just over two years. The fair was a city unto itself, the first to make wide-scale use of alternating current to illuminate its 200,000 incandescent bulbs. Spectacular engineering feats included Ferris’s gigantic wheel, intended to "out-Eiffel Eiffel," and, ominously, the latest example of Krupp’s artillery, "breathing of blood and carnage." Dr. Holmes, a frequent visitor to the fair, was a consummate swindler and lady-killer who secured his victims’ trust through "courteous, audacious rascality." Most were comely young women, and estimates of their total ranged from the nine whose bodies (or parts thereof) were recovered to nearly 200. Larson does a superb job outlining this "ineluctable conflict between good and evil, daylight and darkness" Gripping drama, captured with a reporter’s nose for a good story and a novelist’s flair for telling it.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In the note "Evils Imminent," Erik Larson writes "Beneath the gore and smoke and loam, this book is about the evanescence of life, and why some men choose to fill their brief allotment of time engaging the impossible, others in the manufacture of sorrow" [xi]. What does the book reveal about "the ineluctable conflict between good and evil"? What is the essential difference between men like Daniel Burnham and Henry H. Holmes? Are they alike in any way?
2. At the end of The Devil in the White City, in Notes and Sources, Larson writes "The thing that entranced me about Chicago in the Gilded Age was the city's willingness to take on the impossible in the name of civic honor, a concept so removed from the modern psyche that two wise readers of early drafts of this book wondered why Chicago was so avid to win the world's fair in the first place" [p. 393]. What motives, in addition to "civic honor," drove Chicago to build the Fair? In what ways might the desire to "out-Eiffel Eiffel" and to show New York that Chicago was more than a meat-packing backwater be seen as problematic?
3. The White City is repeatedly referred to as a dream. The young poet Edgar Lee Masters called the Court of Honor "an inexhaustible dream of beauty" [p. 252]; Dora Root wrote "I think I should never willingly cease driftingin that dreamland" [p. 253]; Theodore Dreiser said he had been swept "into a dream from which I did not recover for months" [p. 306]; and columnist Teresa Dean found it "cruel . . . to let us dream and drift through heaven for six months, and then to take it out of our lives" [p. 335]. What accounts for the dreamlike quality of the White City? What are the positive and negative aspects of this dream?
4. In what ways does the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 change America? What lasting inventions and ideas did it introduce into American culture? What important figures were critically influenced by the Fair?
5. At the end of the book, Larson suggests that "Exactly what motivated Holmes may never be known" [p. 395]. What possible motives are exposed in The Devil in the White City? Why is it important to try to understand the motives of a person like Holmes?
6. After the Fair ended, Ray Stannard Baker noted "What a human downfall after the magnificence and prodigality of the World's Fair which has so recently closed its doors! Heights of splendor, pride, exaltation in one month: depths of wretchedness, suffering, hunger, cold, in the next" [p. 334]. What is the relationship between the opulence and grandeur of the Fair and the poverty and degradation that surrounded it? In what ways does the Fair bring into focus the extreme contrasts of the Gilded Age? What narrative techniques does Larson use to create suspense in the book? How does he end sections and chapters of the book in a manner that makes' the reader anxious to find out what happens next?
7. Larson writes, "The juxtaposition of pride and unfathomed evil struck me as offering powerful insights into the nature of men and their ambitions" [p. 393]. What such insights does the book offer? What more recent stories of pride, ambition, and evil parallel those described in The Devil in the White City?
8. What does The Devil in the White City add to our knowledge about Frederick Law Olmsted and Daniel Burnham? What are the most admirable traits of these two men? What are their most important aesthetic principles?
9. In his speech before his wheel took on its first passengers, George Ferris "happily assured the audience that the man condemned for having 'wheels in his head' had gotten them out of his head and into the heart of the Midway Plaisance" [p. 279]. In what way is the entire Fair an example of the power of human ingenuity, of the ability to realize the dreams of imagination?
10. How was Holmes able to exert such power over his victims? What weaknesses did he prey upon? Why wasn't he caught earlier? In what ways does his story "illustrate the end of the century" [p. 370] as the Chicago Times-Herald wrote?
11. What satisfaction can be derived from a nonfiction book like The Devil in the White City that cannot be found in novels? In what ways is the book like a novel?
12. In describing the collapse of the roof of Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building, Larson writes "In a great blur of snow and silvery glass the building's roof—that marvel of late nineteenth-century hubris, enclosing the greatest volume of unobstructed space in history—collapsed to the floor below" [p. 196–97]. Was the entire Fair, in its extravagant size and cost, an exhibition of arrogance? Do such creative acts automatically engender a darker, destructive parallel? Can Holmes be seen as the natural darker side of the Fair's glory?
13. What is the total picture of late nineteenth-century America that emerges from The Devil in the White City? How is that time both like and unlike contemporary America? What are the most significant differences? In what ways does that time mirror the present?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre (A Novel)
Max Brooks, 2020
Randdom House
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781984826787
Summary
The #1 bestselling author of World War Z returns with a horror tale that blurs the lines between human and beast, and asks, What are we capable of when we’re cut off from society?
Set in the wilds of Washington State, Greenloop was once a model eco-community—until nature’s wrath made it a tragic object lesson in civilization’s fragility.
Offering a glorious back-to-nature experience with all the comforts of high-speed Internet, solar smart houses, and the assurance of being mere hours from Seattle by highway, Greenloop was indeed a paradise—until Mount Rainier erupted, leaving its residents truly cut off from the world, and utterly unprepared for the consequences.
With no weapons and their food supplies dwindling, Greenloop’s residents slowly realized that they were in a fight for survival. And as the ash swirled and finally settled, they found themselves facing a specter none of them could have predicted—or even thought possible.
In these pages, Max Brooks brings to light the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own investigations into the massacre that followed and the legendary beasts behind it.
If what Kate saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us—and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.
Part survival narrative, part bloody horror tale, part scientific journey into the boundaries between truth and fiction, this is a Bigfoot story as only Max Brooks could chronicle it—and like none you’ve ever read before. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 22, 1972
• Where—Los Angeles, California
• Education—B.A., Pitzer College;
• Currently—lives in Venice, California
Maximillian Michael Brooks is an American actor and author, best known for his novel World War Z (2006) and its related "survival guides." More recently he published the thriller/suspense novel, Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre (2020). Brooks is also a lecturer at the Modern War Institute at West Point, New York.
Early life
Brooks, the son of actress Anne Bancroft and director, producer, writer, and actor Mel Brooks, is dyslexic. In a 2017 interview with NPR's Terry Gross, Brooks recalled what it was like growing up in the 1970s before dyslexia was understood:
[T]hey didn't even call it a disability back then; it was just "laziness," "goofing off…." And my mother, one of the greatest, most successful actresses of her day, gave up her career… to be my educational advocate and to teach herself about dyslexia.… She… had [my school books] all read onto audio cassette, so I could listen to my reading list. And if I hadn't been able to do that, I wouldn't have graduated from high school.… [N]ot only did my mother give me my life, she saved my life.
Brooks earned a BA in history from Pitzer College in Claremont, California, and he also pursued graduate work in film at American University in Washington, D.C.
Career
From 2001 to 2003, Brooks was a member of the writing team at Saturday Night Live.
In 2003, Brooks published his first book, The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, which describes the origin and lives of zombies. In 2006, he released World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War. The novel was later adapted to film, starring Brad Pitt. Brooks's third book, in 2009, was a graphic novel, The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, which depicted several events detailed in the first book's latter section.
Devolution came out in 2020, a thriller written through diary entries, news transcripts, and Brooks's own research. The novel is a fictional account of the legendary Bigfoot in the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
In addition to his writing, Brooks has also acted in and done voice-overs for more than a dozen films and TV series. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 6/10/2020.)
Book Reviews
With Devolution, Brooks brings his considerable investigative powers to a cryptozoological controversy that has been raging in the Pacific Northwest for decades…. The results are uneven ... for far too many pages, Devolution plods along a dull middle ground, not so much building suspense as venting it…. Part of the problem is the diary format. We’re stuck in Kate’s limited perspective trudging through her flat prose…. There’s probably a great horror novel about Sasquatch out there somewhere, but I won’t believe it till I see it.
Ron Charles - Washington Post
[A] substantial and suspenseful case for the existence of Bigfoot in this thriller, told via diary entries, news transcripts, and Brooks’s own research.… Brooks packs his plot with action, information, and atmosphere, and captures the foibles and heroism of his characters.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) Brooks, back with his first novel since his seminal World War Z, employs a similar style here, but the scope—and resulting terror—is significantly more concentrated and immediate. The narrative is framed as an investigation…. [C]reative and well-executed.
Library Journal
(Starred review) [A] terrifyingly realistic survival encounter…. The escalating alarm of naive people…give[s] insight into weaknesses humanity blithely ignores every day. The story is told in such a compelling manner that horror fans will want to believe and, perhaps, take the warning to heart.
Booklist
(Starred review) Are we not men?… [A]sk Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn…. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes…. [Still], it puts you right there on the scene. A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
1. Max Brooks writes: "I will let you judge for yourself if the following pages seem reasonably plausible." Do they? Does the premise of the novel—that Bigfoot exists—feel plausible to you? Why or why not?
2. Who, or what, are the Sasquatches, as portrayed in Devolution? Do you believe they exist? Does Max Brooks?
3. What was your experience reading Devolution? Did you find it suspenseful, frightening, gory, instructive? Something else? Or were you left, well… unmoved?
4. Talk about the tech-pioneers who formed the utopian community of Greenloop? What is their hope moving into a primeval rain forest—while still remaining linked to civilization by internet? Do you sympathize with their idealism, find them naive, or maybe hypocritical?
5. Whom in the novel are you most irritated by or impatient with? Which character do you most admire?
6. After Rainier's eruption, how and why does Mostar begin preparing for catastrophe—even though Greenloop is miles from the volcano and undamaged? Why is she the only community member who worries, while the rest remain blissfully unaware and unprepared?
7. What do you think of Brooks's use of Kate Holland's diary. Along with the fact that is the "first-hand account" mentioned in the book's subtitle, what else does it add? Does the diary enhance the story? Do you feel it builds suspense or does it drag down the pace? Also, what do you think of Kate, herself?
8. Brooks is known for his zombie survival guides. How does this book double as a survival manual? What is the advice it offers people living through cataclysmic events?
9. The novel also takes pot shots at society—at bad behavior, not just on the part of the Sasquatches but also on the part of humans. What social criticism does Brooks offer about the larger society?
10. Should this book be classified as fiction or nonfiction? Joke there… though not to some: Bigfoot has a devoted following, people who are absolutely convinced Bigfoot exists. Why such intensely passionate followers? Why do people continue to insist on Bigfoot/Yeti's existence? Any ideas? Are you a devotee? Do you know people who are?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Diary of an Ordinary Woman
Margaret Forster, 2003
Random House UK
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780099449287
Summary
Millicent King is an "ordinary" woman living through extraordinary times in this brilliantly conceived piece of fictional memoir writing.
Diary of an Ordinary Woman is the edited diary of fictional woman Millicent King (1901-1995). From the age of 13, on the eve of the Great War, Millicent King keeps her journals in a series of exercise books. The diary records the dramas of everyday life in an ordinary English family touched by war, tragedy and money troubles in the early decades of the century. With vividness, she records her brother's injury, her father's death from pneumonia, the family's bankruptcy, giving up college to take a soul-destroying job as a shop assistant.
Millicent struggles to become a teacher, but wants more out of life. From Bohemian literary London to Rome in the twenties, her story moves on to social work, the General Strike, the Depression Era of the 1930's and the build-up to the Second World-War in which she drives ambulances through the bombed streets of London. This is followed by her experience of the Swinging Sixties and Maggie Thatcher's Britain.
She has proposals of marriage and secret lovers, ambition and optimism, but her life is turned upside down by wartime deaths. Here is 20th-century woman in close-up coping with the tragedies and upheavals of women's lives. Her ordinary life proves unexpectedly absorbing and, at times, extremely moving showing that, above all, the most ordinary lives are often extraordinary. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 25, 1938
• Where—Carlisle, England, UK
• Education—Oxford University
• Currently—lives in London and the Lake District, England
Margaret Forster was born in Carlisle, England, in 1938 and educated at the Carlisle and County High School for Girls. From here she won an open scholarship to Somerville College, Oxford where she was awarded an honours degree in History. After her exams she married the writer Hunter Davies, whom she met and fell in love with at the age of 17.
She became a schoolteacher in Islington, North London (between 1961-63) briefly before embarking on a writing career. She first achieved fame in 1965 with her second book, Georgy Girl which was made into a film starring Lynn Redgrave and Michael Caine. Since 1963, Margaret Forster has worked as a novelist, biographer and freelance literary critic, contributing regularly to book programmes on television, to radio 4 and various newspapers and magazines. She was a member of the BBC Advisory Committee on the Social Effects of Television from 1975-77 and of the Arts Council Literary Panel from 1978-81, as well as the chief non-fiction reviewer for the London Evening Standard from 1977-80.
She is the author of the bestselling memoirs, Hidden Lives (a memoir of her own family) and Precious Lives. Her acclaimed biographies include the biography of Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Among Forster's many successful novels are Lady's Maid, Private Papers, Diary of an Ordinary Woman, and The Memory Box.
She and her husband, the writer Hunter Davies, have three children. The couple lives half the year in London and half the year at their cottage in the Lake District. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A highly enjoyable read: well-informed, gripping...an overview of the period seen from the underside
Sunday Telegraph
Not only is the background of social and political change meticulously accurate...but there is everything one would expect from a well-kept diary. This is fiction: yet it is true
Guardian
A beautifully crafted novel about the cost of war... Forster is as distinguished a biographer and memoir - writer as she is a novelist. She is an old hand at making a story out of the fragments of a life
Daily Telegraph
We believe in Millicent whole-heartedly and come to love her - she has a heroism that George Eliot would recognise. It may be fiction, but it's also - convincingly, tragically and often exhilaratingly - real life
Independent on Sunday
A richly textured, skilfully structured and highly enjoyable novel by an experienced writer at the peak of her powers
Times Literary Supplement
Discussion Questions
1. "I'm always writing about family relationships, what family means and the way duty and love are all mixed up."
Forster's novels often reveal the theme that love within the family becomes blurred with a sense of duty for her female characters. Discuss the idea that family pressures put a sense of obligation upon Millicent's life and that her life is restricted by her sex and the period in which she grows up (and the limitations upon women in this period).
2. A 98-year-old woman contacted Margaret Forster to propose that Forster edit her diaries for publication. She had kept a continuous record of her life from 1914-1995. Margaret Forster never did meet the woman in question, she cancelled their meeting because of family objections. Forster decided to pretend she had obtained and read the diaries. The result is a fictionalised memoir. How authentic do you find Forster's diary in light of the fact it is a "fictionalised memoir"? You may wish to look at the diary in terms of both the private life of Millicent (ie her fears, worries, joys and insecurities — do these seem real?) and the public life beyond her world. Does the social, political and historical background of change within the novel seem realistic?
3. After the first few diary entries, Margaret Forster describes Millicent as "outspoken, quite selfish, restless, ambitious and inclined to self-pity." How much does Millicent's personality change throughout the years? Do events and circumstances change her character? Discuss Millicent's personality and how it develops from her earliest diary entries and life as a young girl, right up until her last entries as an old woman.
4. Discuss the difference between Millicent and other women of her time. Do you see her as a modern woman with both her career and her views on pre-marital sex? You may wish to compare and contrast her with other women in her diary, perhaps above all with her sister, Tilda. How do their views differ?
5. Discuss the diary method as a form of narrative structure. Does it provide us with the necessary elements to create an interesting and absorbing story? What is your view of Margaret Forster's authorial interventions between the entries? Are these necessary to give us another viewpoint and voice aside from Millicent's own? What do these add to the novel?
6. "There was nothing ordinary about this woman. Indeed, I now wonder if there is any such thing as an ordinary life at all."—Introduction to Diary of an Ordinary Woman, Margaret Forster .... Forster's work cast light upon depths of difficulties of apparently ordinary lives. Discuss how Millicent's life is both ordinary (in that she goes through many of the same experiences of other women living in the war years) and extraordinary. Is Millicent herself extraordinary, or is it simply that the events she lives through make her so?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
Diary of an Oxygen Thief
Anonymous, 2006 (2015, U.S.)
Gallery Books
160 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501157851
Summary
Hurt people hurt people.
Say there was a novel in which Holden Caulfield was an alcoholic and Lolita was a photographer’s assistant and, somehow, they met in Bright Lights, Big City
He’s blinded by love. She by ambition.
Diary of an Oxygen Thief is an honest, hilarious, and heartrending novel, but above all, a very realistic account of what we do to each other and what we allow to have done to us. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Ireland
• Education—N/A
• Currently—lives in New York, New York USA
In Anonymous's words
"Being anonymous is part of the story. I love that there’s no cheesy photo on the backcover and that we don’t have to hear about how the writer lives in Connecticut or San Francisco or Brooklyn or wherever with his two dogs and a cat. Fuck all that. In this case the story is the hero.
"Also writing anonymously allows me to inhabit the reader more effectively. Because we can’t Google anyone we’re forced to make up our own minds about what’s happening in the narrative. It actually makes for a more satisfying experience." (Excerpted from EV Grief.)
Book Reviews
Kinky, artsy, and swoon-worthy.
New York Magazine
First he steals the oxygen from you, then he spits it right back in your face. One of the most interesting and controversial encounters I’ve made through a book.
Lorenzo DeRita - COLORS magazine
Discussion Questions
These questions were developed by Jennifer Johnson, Reference Librarian for the Springdale (Arkansas) Public Library. Thank you, Jennifer, for sharing them with LitLovers!
1. Given his country of origin and the overall candidness of many British persons, do you think this contributes to his tendency to be more direct and vulgar in Chapter 1?
2. Despite current trends, many professions still have a designated stereotype attached to them. Do you think his language and writing style are typical of what society perceives as a male advertising executive?
3. Publisher’s Weekly recently published an article discussing how this book broke the standards of self-publishing works in terms of marketing and overall success. Do you think the author attempted to push all societal boundaries with this book such as in content, language, and marketing?
4. According to Anonymous, “The more they confided and invested in you, the deeper the shock and the more satisfying the moment at the end.” Given that he has a lot of experience in art, advertisement, and the business realm, can we see any similarities between the advertisement world and his personal life?
5. In reflecting on his relationship with Penny, Anonymous states, “But she’s the one I regret hurting the most. Why? Because she didn’t deserve it. Not that the others did, but she wouldn’t have left me if I hadn’t ripped her apart. And I needed her to leave me because she was getting in the way of my drinking.” What can we learn about Anonymous from this specific statement?
6. Anonymous’ logic consisted of “If someone hurts you, then you automatically want revenge. It doesn’t matter how long it takes, you want revenge. I thought if I hurt her enough, she would want revenge… And while I flattered myself that she’d seek revenge, I didn’t realize that leaving me to stew in my own paranoid juices was revenge enough.” Is his logic flawed? If so, how?
7. Anonymous “…invited Catherine and some of the others to my thirtieth birthday party, to be held in my back garden… all my ex-girlfriends were to gather in one location… these separate personalities, unified by the pain I had caused them, would at last understand the devilish mind that now controlled their futures.” On what level is Anonymous really inflicting the pain on himself with his girlfriends as collateral damage?
8. Given his brief discussion of childhood sexual abuse by a De La Salle Brother, lacking familial relationships with his parents and siblings, and discovering his only friend and father did not appear to care about him, what could Anonymous have done to prevent becoming a damaged, alcoholic abuser?
9. After becoming a recovering alcoholic, Anonymous stated that his “…parents were excited for me but sad for themselves. Since I’d stopped drinking, they really did like having me around.” Considering his lack of familial relationships, do you think alcohol was a primary factor in his abusive personality?
Anonymous, the author
1. The author was brutally honest and wrote in a manner that has been described by some as “beautifully horrid.” What are your thoughts on his style and presentation?
2. In some instances, the author uses blunt, embarrassing vulgarity to describe how badly he hurt women, which is visible present in the dialog sections. Do you think this was an exaggeration of his actions as a means to get extreme emotional response from the reader?
3. While the monograph was written in a “diary” style format, do you think the author takes advantage of self-reflection and critiques of his actions?
4. Compare chapters 1 and half of chapter 2 to the rest of the book? What differences and similarities can we identify?
5. Did anyone listen to the audiobook? How could we interpret this book differently if we listened to it instead of reading it?
Society & Culture
1. How does this book defy your societal standards and norms for relationships, romance, and abuse?
2. How has this book changed our view of abuse and the cycle of hurting people?
3. Does this book portray abusive relationships in an accurate manner? Are abusive relationships overly exaggerated?
4. What taboos does this book break and why?
5. Why are news sources and book stores labeling this book as a bestseller and excellent piece of literature?
6. According to Anonymous, “I started to realize something was wrong when I began to get beaten up. My mouth always got me into trouble, of course.” Based of your experience, do you think Anonymous would have realized the true extent of pain of his mental or emotional abuse without having gone through it himself? In terms of mental and physical pain, why is one socially acceptable while the other is not?
7. According to Anonymous, “…I felt better when I saw someone else in pain.” Is the author relatable in this statement?
The Oxygen Thief and his CO 2
1. What are the characteristics of an Oxygen Thief?
2. According to Anonymous, “Don’t worry, I got my comeuppance. That’s why I’m telling you this. Justice was done. Balance has been restored. The same thing happened to me, only worse. Worse because it happened to me.” Which Oxygen Thief is worse –Anonymous or Aisling?
3. Do you feel differently about Anonymous knowing that he switched from being the Oxygen Thief to being the recipient of mental abuse?
4. What are the characteristics of the CO 2 ?
5. Can a person solely be one or the other? Can they be both?
6. What creates an Oxygen Thief and why do they continue the cycle of hurting others?
7. Why is this book titled the Diary of an Oxygen Thief?
8. Do you agree with the author’s statement, “hurt people hurt people”?
9. Anonymous described needing to leave London as means to escape the creative partner he desperately hated. Do you think Anonymous was solely an Oxygen Thief in his romantic relationships?
10. According to Anonymous, reflecting on being rejected by Aisling, “I was in a lot of pain, you see. But it had been caused by an abstract blade. What I mean is, the pain was physical, the cause wasn’t. I suppose some people would say I was suffering from a broken heart.” Do you think, before his relationship with Aisling, he ever equated mental abuse as being physically painful?
Supplemental Articles
"Q-and-A with Anonymous, author of Diary of an Oxygen Thief—and East Village Resident." EV Grieve (blog), November 30, 2012.
“Unknown Oxygen Thief author becomes self-published success.” CBS News (online), May 24, 2016.
Deahl, Rachel. “How Diary of an Oxygen Thief went from self-published obscurity to bestsellerdom.” Publisher’s Weekly (online), July 8, 2016.
(Questions submitted by Jennifer Johnson. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution to Jennifer and LitLovers. Thanks.)
The Diary of Mattie Spenser
Sandra Dallas, 1997
St. Martin's Press
229 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780312187101
Summary
No one is more surprised than Mattie Spenser herself when Luke Spenser, considered the great catch of their small Iowa town, asks her to marry him. Less than a month later, they are off in a covered wagon to build a home on the Colorado frontier. Mattie's only company is a slightly mysterious husband and her private journal, where she records the joys and frustrations not just of frontier life, but also of a new marriage to a handsome but distant stranger.
As she and Luke make life together on the harsh and beautiful plains, Mattie learns some bitter truths about her husband and the girl he lieft behind and finds love where she least expects it. Dramatic and suspenseful, this is an unforgettable story of hardship, friendship and survival. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 11, 1939
• Where—N/A
• Education—B.A., University of Denver
• Awards—numerous, see below
• Currently—lives in Denver, Colorado, USA
Award-winning author Sandra Dallas was dubbed “a quintessential American voice” by Jane Smiley, in Vogue magazine. Sandra’s novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship, and human dignity have been translated into a dozen foreign languages and have been optioned for films.
A journalism graduate of the University of Denver, Sandra began her writing career as a reporter with Business Week. A staff member for twenty-five years (and the magazine’s first female bureau chief,) she covered the Rocky Mountain region, writing about everything from penny-stock scandals to hard-rock mining, western energy development to contemporary polygamy. Many of her experiences have been incorporated into her novels.
While a reporter, she began writing the first of ten nonfiction books. They include Sacred Paint, which won the National Cowboy Hall of Fame Western Heritage Wrangler Award, and The Quilt That Walked to Golden, recipient of the Independent Publishers Assn. Benjamin Franklin Award.
Turning to fiction in 1990, Sandra has published eight novels. She is the recipient of the Women Writing the West Willa Award for New Mercies, and two-time winner of the Western Writers of America Spur Award, for The Chili Queen and Tallgrass. In addition, she was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award, the Mountain and Plains Booksellers Assn. Award, and a four-time finalist for the Women Writing the West Willa Award.
The mother of two daughters—Dana is an attorney in New Orleans and Povy is a photographer in Golden, Colorado— Sandra lives in Denver with her husband, Bob. (From the author's website.)
Her Own Words:
• Because of my interest in the West—I wrote nine nonfiction books about the West before I turned to fiction—I’m a sucker for women’s journals of the westward movement. I wanted The Diary of Mattie Spenser to have the elements of a novel but to read as much like a 19th century journal as possible. Mattie is a woman of her time, not a current-day heroine dressed in a long skirt, and the language is faithful to the Civil War era.
• I added dialogue to keep the diary entries from being too stilted for contemporary readers. Making the diary believable has had an unforeseen consequence: Many readers believe it is an actual journal. They’ve asked where the diary is kept and what happened to the characters after the journal ended. One reader accused me of rewriting some of Mattie’s entries because she recognized my style. Another sent me a copy of an early Denver photograph, asking if the man in the picture was one of the characters in the book. (Author bio from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
A wonderfully vivit portrait of frontier life...Mattie is a marvelous creation...It's a story that's genuinely moving and impossible to put down.
Rocky Mountain News
One of the bright new voices in historical fiction…Dallas’s authentic period details, her colorful characters, and most of all Mattie herself lend charm and emotional truth to this appealing marital and pioneering adventure.
Publishers Weekly
With the convention of finding a diary in an elderly neighbor's attic trunk framing her story, Dallas creates a ripping good read from this fictional journal.... If some of the hooks in the tale, which include wife beating, incest, miscegenation, and adultery, are a bit contrived, the pace is lively and engaging. —GraceAnne DeCandido
Booklist
The buoyancy and simple, uncloying sweetness of spirit of Dallas's appealing protagonist—the young wife of a homesteader in Colorado Territory—give a bright, fresh shading to the tragedies and small sharp joys of 19th-century frontier life. Again, as in The Persian Pickle Club (1995), Dallas has caught the lilt and drift of regional speech. At 22, plain Mattie is astounded that handsome Luke Spenser desires to marry her—he has been keeping company with pretty Persia. Nonetheless, he chooses her, and they head out from Iowa in May 1865 to the homestead Luke has already planted in Colorado Territory. There are pleasures along the way: nice folks, and quiet days spent with Luke, her "Darling Boy." But Luke, who doesn't smile at her jokes, works very hard and doesn't like her to flirt with him. As for the marital act: "I still think it's overrated." Danger comes soon enough, and it's Mattie's quick shooting that saves two lives, although she doesn't seriously contradict Luke's dismissive observation that it was a "lucky shot." Once they arrive in Colorado, though, Mattie is disappointed by the homestead (out on the plains, she finds, there is "too much sky"). Her education in the real travails of people, particularly women, separated from the cushioning platitudes and quick-step judgments of home, begins immediately. A despised "slattern" proves herself a true friend; Mattie witnesses women weakened by too many births, another abused and horribly killed, and murder and torture by both whites and Indians. She also experiences wild joy and then tragedy, suffers many dangers, and is rocked by Luke's sudden betrayal. ("How could he ever again be my Darling Boy?") Yet torment yields to endurance and a kind of compassion. Tragedies and sad little domestic dramas are muffled within the decency and humanity of a character whose understanding—but not essence—changes with events. A modest, appealing novel with a convincing reach into Colorado's plains and skies.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Diary of Mattie Spenser:
1. We learn that Luke seemed attracted to lovely Persia at first. But he chose Mattie instead. Were you initially suspicious? Why didn't Mattie question his motivations? Why was Luke considered such a catch?
2. At the heart of this pioneer story of hardship and adventure is the marriage of Mattie and Luke. Talk about that relationship and the difficulties of a husband who remains distant, sometimes dismissive. Do you like Luke...or admire him...or what?
3. Luke says to Mattie that if "one had to write down such happenings, they weren't worth remembering, and that diary keeping, like writing poetry, used up time that might be put to better use." How would you have answered Luke had you been Mattie?
4. Reading of the dangers and travails Mattie and Luke (and others) faced, which would have been the hardest for you to cope with—Indians, loneliness, childbirth, illnesses, brute hard work?
5. What are some of the codes of "civilized society" that Mattie realizes don't apply to life on the frontier? Do those broken rules suggest that the rules were were meaningless to begin with? Or do different places/times require different standards?
6. The Diary of Mattie Spenser can be seen as a coming-of-age story in which a young, naive girl full of illusions develops into a mature woman. How does Mattie grow into her adult self—in what ways does she change and mature?
7. Is the novel's end satisfying? Or Would you have preferred a different conclusion? Given all that happens, could the story have ended any other way?
8. Dallas says that although this is a fictional journal, some readers have asked her where the journal is kept—in other words, they believe it is real. Did you have that sense, too, as you were reading The Diary—that you were reading the voice of a "real" 19th-century pioneer woman? Does Dallas's voice as a late 20th-century author, writing of 19th-century characters, ring true?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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Did You Ever Have a Family
Bill Clegg, 2015
Gallery/Scout Press
304pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476798172
Summary
A powerful story about a circle of people who find solace in the least likely of places as they cope with a horrific tragedy.
On the eve of her daughter’s wedding, June Reid’s life is completely devastated when a shocking disaster takes the lives of her daughter, her daughter’s fiancé, her ex-husband, and her boyfriend, Luke—her entire family, all gone in a moment. And June is the only survivor.
Alone and directionless, June drives across the country, away from her small Connecticut town. In her wake, a community emerges, weaving a beautiful and surprising web of connections through shared heartbreak.
From the couple running a motel on the Pacific Ocean where June eventually settles into a quiet half-life, to the wedding’s caterer whose bill has been forgotten, to Luke’s mother, the shattered outcast of the town—everyone touched by the tragedy is changed as truths about their near and far histories finally come to light.
Elegant and heartrending, and one of the most accomplished fiction debuts of the year, Did You Ever Have a Family is an absorbing, unforgettable tale that reveals humanity at its best through forgiveness and hope. At its core is a celebration of family—the ones we are born with and the ones we create. (From .)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1970
• Raised—Sharon, Connecticut, USA
• Education—B.A., Washington College
• Currently—lives in New York, New York
William Robert Clegg is an American literary agent and author who grew up in Sharon, Connecticut, the son of William Clegg, Jr., a TWA pilot, and Kathy Jeanne (nee Ruscoe). He has two sisters and a brother.
Publishing
In 1993 at the urging of a friend, Clegg took a Radcliffe publishing course, which led to an entry-level position at the literary agency, Robbins Office. In 2001, he and Sarah Burnes cofounded their own agency, Clegg and Burnes. The firm's roster of clients grew to include Nicole Krauss, Susan Choi, Anne Carson, Heather Clay, Nick Flynn, and Andrew Sean Greer, among others.
In 2005, however, Clegg and Burke closed abruptly under mysterious circumstances. It was later revealed that the closing was due in part to Clegg's disappearance on a drug binge.
One year later, after getting sober, Clegg returned to publishing. He was hired by Jennifer Rudolph Walsh of William Morris Endeavor (WME), who took him on, according to Clegg, when no one else would. Many of Clegg's former clients returned to him. It was during his time at WME that he began writing his two memoirs.
In 2014 Clegg left WME to launch his own firm, the Clegg Agency. Jennifer Rudolph Walsh later represented him when he pitched his 2015 debut novel, Did You Ever Have a Family.
Writing
Clegg's first two memoirs, detail his addiction to crack cocaine. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, published in 2010, recounts his descent into addiction, while Ninety Days, released two years later, details the difficulties of recovery.
His debut novel, Did You Ever Have a Family, came out in 2015 to great anticipation and solid reviews. The book was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award.
In addition to his books, Clegg has also written for the New York Times, Lapham’s Quarterly, New York magazine, The Guardian, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Personal
Clegg, who is gay, was in a long term relationship with filmmaker Ira Sachs. Sachs based his film Keep the Lights On on their relationship. In 2013, Clegg married Van Scott Jr., a communications manager at CNN. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 9/23/2015.)
In his masterly first novel, Did You Ever Have a Family, Bill Clegg…has created characters who…are riddled with secrets and betrayals they've only just begun to unearth. They have complicated pasts, and it is these—far more than the immediate concerns of the present or the obvious burdens of grief—that the novel is most interested in exploring…Therein lies the quiet heartache of this novel. It's only natural for these people—for any people—to rue their missteps and unspoken words, yet only through the accident could their secrets be released, their better selves emerge, their lives begin.
Kaui Hart Hemmings - New York Times Book Review
How do you continue if all at once, everyone you love has been wiped away? With crosscutting perspectives and a voluminous cast of characters, Clegg constructs a layered narrative with some dexterous plot twists.
Boston Globe
Illuminate[s] how grief, guilt, regrets and the deep need for human connection are woven into the very flammable fabric of humanity…. Clegg's emotionally direct, polished novel is at once heartrending and heartening. It's a gift to be able to write about such dark stuff without succumbing to utter bleakness, and to infuse even scorching sadness with a ray of hopefulness.
Los Angeles Times
This isn’t your typical mystery, it’s something better: a real-life thriller in which resolution takes the form of acceptance. While [Clegg] never suggests anything as simplistic as closure for these tormented souls, he manages to find ways for them to move forward from this tragedy, making it seem a little less random than it did at the beginning, and that in and of itself is a kind of mercy.
San Francisco Gate
Clegg is a gimlet-eyed observer and is masterly at deftly sucking in the reader as he fashions an emotional tsunami into a profound, mesmerizing description.
Sunday Times (UK)
Clegg has produced a moving, clever novel that subtly dissects the relationships between mothers and their children, lovers, neighbors and strangers. Did You Ever Have a Family is an unpretentious work about how a life can be salvaged from the ashes. Bill Clegg is an author to watch.
London Times (UK)
A quiet novel of devastating power. Clegg has drawn a tale of prodigious tenderness and lyricism.... that reveals the depths of the human heart. [Did You Ever Have a Family] is a wonderful and deeply moving novel, which compels us to look directly into the dark night of our deepest fears and then quietly, step by tiny step, guides us towards the first pink smudges of the dawn.
Guardian (UK)
A quiet, measured and engrossing piece…. a poignant portrait of fractured family lives. Clegg’s prose conveys the numbed grieving state of mind, its quietness fitting its subject of deep clear-eyed sadness…. It approaches grief gently and, in the end, its gentleness is its triumph.
Daily Telegraph (UK)The sharp writing and haunting characters had me glued.
Glamour
[An] unexpectedly tender fiction debut.
Vogue
Bill Clegg’s Did You Ever Have a Family limns the far reaches of grief.
Vanity Fair
[An] incisive first novel.
Harper’s Bazaar
This first novel arrives with a shout…Clegg covers the full spectrum of human emotion in this beautifully nuanced story.
BBC
In trying to tell the faceted story of a single moment as seen by a hundred different eyes, Clegg has attempted something daring. And the wonder of it is how often his experiment succeeds.
NPR
In measured prose, Clegg unspools the stories of June and the other survivors as they face unimaginable horror and take their first halting steps toward hope and community.
People
Did You Ever Have a Family is the first full-length foray into fiction for Bill Clegg... but it reads like the quietly assured work of a veteran novelist.... it’s rare to find a book that renders unimaginable loss in such an eloquent, elegant voice.
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review.) [S]orrowful and deeply...a story of loss and its grueling aftermath.... But it's Clegg's deft handling of all the parsed details—missed opportunities, harbored regrets, and unspoken good intentions—that make the journey toward redemption and forgiveness so memorable.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Clegg is both delicately lyrical and emotionally direct in this masterful novel, which strives to show how people make bearable what is unbearable, offering consolation in small but meaningful gestures. Both ineffably sad and deeply inspiring, this mesmerizing novel makes for a powerful debut.
Booklist
(Starred review.) [O]n the eve of her daughter's wedding, June Reid's house literarily explodes, killing ex-husband Adam, lover Luke, daughter Lolly, and Lolly's fiance, Will. What follows is a propulsive but tightly crafted narrative....[wilth] stellar language and storytelling. Highly recommended. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal
(Starred review.) [A] fire kills the bride, the groom, her father, and her mother's boyfriend. "When something like [that] happened..., you feel right away like the smallest, weakest person in the world. That nothing you do could possibly matter."... [E]legantly written and bravely imagined.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. After June has had an argument with her daughter, Lolly, the night before Lolly’s wedding, "Pru asked if she was okay, and June answered with a question that seemed to Pru more of a comment on June’s struggles with Lolly: Did you ever have a family? " (p. 131) Why do you think Clegg choose this line as the title of his novel? What does being part of a family mean to each of the characters in the novel? Do any of their perspectives change?
2. When a particularly pushy news anchor asks June how she is "surviving" the loss of her loved ones following a house fire, she answers, "No one has survived." (p. 12) Explain June’s statement. Do you agree with June that, although she is alive, she has not survived? How are June and the others affected by the tragedy are coping with their grief?
3. Rebecca says "Funny how you think people are one way or the other and most of the time you end up completely wrong" (p. 66) when describing her initial assessment of Cissy. What causes Rebecca to change her mind? Apply Rebecca’s statement to the other characters in Did You Ever Have a Family. Were you wrong about any? If so, how?
4. Discuss the structure of Did You Ever Have a Family. What is the effect of having multiple narrators? Do the differing points of view help to deepen your understanding of the main characters, particularly June and Lydia? If so, how? Why do you think that June’s and Lydia’s sections are told in the third person?
5. At a local bar, Lydia remembers hearing a patron say "Some trees love an ax," and "something in what he said rang true, but when she later remembered what he’d said, she disagreed and thought instead that the tree gets used to the ax, which has nothing to do with love." (p. 78) How does this statement apply to Lydia’s relationship with Earl? Are there any other relationships in Did You Ever Have a Family where this statement could apply? Compare and contrast Lydia’s relationship with Earl to the other relationships in the book, taking a look at June’s relationships with Adam and Luke.
6. What did you think about June and Lydia’s friendship? When Lydia sees June on the morning of the fire "June turned her face away as if avoiding a hot flame and . . . flicked her hand toward Lydia, the way you wave away an unwanted animal, or a beggar." (p. 80) Why is this so hurtful to Lydia? Were you surprised to learn the reasons for June’s actions? What were they?
7. Of Lydia, George says "though she was troubled, she was also tough in ways that let me know she’d be okay." (p. 174) Do you agree with George? Discuss Lydia’s relationship with George. Why are the two of them drawn to each other?
8. When the narrator first introduces June it is with the line "She will go." (p. 9) Does this introduction affect how you think of June? In what ways? Why is June so set on severing all ties with Wells? Do you agree with her decision to do so? Why or why not?
9. Of Lolly, Dale, her future father-in-law, says "Lolly seemed unformed to us." (p. 129) Did you get a sense of her character, and, did you think, like Dale "that despite her girlish manner, something was broken in her." (p. 210) Explain your answer. What is the effect of including Lolly’s letter to June in the story? Did it help you understand both Lolly and her relationship with June? Explain your answer.
10. George says of his son Robert that when his wife Kay would "tell me it wasn’t [his son’s] job to be interested in me, it was my job to be interested in him." (p. 170) Do you agree with Kay? What role do you think a parent should fill in his or her child’s life? Do you think that Lydia and June are good mothers to Luke and Lolly respectively? Give examples to support your answer.
11. Cissy says, "Rough as life can be, I know in my bones we are supposed to stick around and play our part." (p. 289) What part has Cissy played in the lives of those around her? Talk about the way each of the characters in Did You Ever Have a Family affects the lives of those around them. Was anything particularly surprising to you? What?
12. Who is Winton? Although Lydia distrusts him, "she’s still not ready to step away," (p. 143) she continue to take his calls. Why? What prompts Lydia to share her life story with Winston? Were you surprised by what she revealed? How do you think Winton’s presence has changed Lydia?
13. When June finds Lolly’s notebooks she remembers cataloging canvases by a deceased client and finding an old Boy Scout manual of his filled with drawings. "Very likely no one had ever seen these drawings, and she remembers having the fleeting instinct to steal the book and keep it herself." (p. 179) Why does June think about hoarding the book? Why do you think finding Lolly’s notebooks has triggered this memory for June? How does June react to Lolly’s work?
14. Almost every one in Wells has an opinion of Luke, particularly after he dies. Edith calls him "that doomed Luke Morey" (p. 28), Rick remembers him as being "too big, too handsome, too something for the likes of us" (p. 52) and many of the locals gossip that he was a "local thug." (p. 40) What did you think of Luke? Why do you think he was such a controversial figure in Wells?
15. Silas "thinks of himself as [Lydia’s] guardian, her shadow." (p. 265). Why does Silas think that Lydia needs protecting? Silas ultimately decides to tell Lydia the truth about the role he thinks that he has played in Luke’s death. What makes him confess? What is the effect on Lydia?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Did you See Melody?
Sophie Hannah, 2017
See our Reading Guide for Keep Her Safe — the book's U.S. title.
Dietland
Sarai Walker, 2015
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780544704831
Summary
The diet revolution is here. And it’s armed.
Plum Kettle does her best not to be noticed, because when you’re fat, to be noticed is to be judged. Or mocked. Or worse.
With her job answering fan mail for a popular teen girls’ magazine, she is biding her time until her weight-loss surgery. Only then can her true life as a thin person finally begin.
But when Plum notices she’s being followed by a mysterious woman in colorful tights and combat boots, she finds herself falling down a rabbit hole into the world of Calliope House, a community of women who live life on their own terms. Reluctant but intrigued, Plum agrees to a series of challenges that force her to deal with the real costs of becoming “beautiful.”
At the same time, a dangerous guerilla group begins to terrorize a world that mistreats women, and as Plum grapples with her own personal struggles, she becomes entangled in a sinister plot. The consequences are explosive.
Part coming-of-age story, part revenge fantasy, Dietland is a bold, original, and funny debut novel that takes on the beauty industry, gender inequality, and our weight loss obsession—from the inside out, and with fists flying. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Rasied—States of Utah and California, USA
• Education—M.A., Bennington College; Ph.D., University of London
• Currently—lives in New York City area
Sarai Walker received her M.F.A. in creative writing from Bennington College. As a magazine writer, her articles appeared in national publications, including Seventeen and Mademoiselle. She subsequently served as an editor and writer for Our Bodies, Ourselves, before moving to London and then Paris to complete a Ph.D. She currently lives in the New York City area. Dietland is her first novel. (From the publisher.)
In her words:
First things first: My first name is pronounced sa-RAY, not Sarah or sa-RYE or Sari or Sherry or Sarie or Sierra.
I'm a writer and part-time English professor living in the New York City area.
I grew up in California and Utah. Fun fact: In high school, my short story “Pink Champagne” won first place in Sassy magazines’s fiction contest.
I moved to NYC to attend college and began writing for women's and teen magazines such as Mademoiselle and Seventeen. [At Seventeen, I liked to look up Sylvia Plath’s articles in the archives.] I moved to London for a year, earned a master’s degree in English, then moved back to NYC and continued writing for magazines and living the glamorous life of an office temp in the publishing industry.
In my late twenties, I moved to Boston to do other things, including working as a writer at Harvard and then working as a writer and editor on the 2005 edition of Our Bodies, Ourselves. During this time, I also earned an M.F.A. in creative writing and literature from Bennington College.
In my early thirties, I sold almost all of my belongings and moved to London to complete a Ph.D. in English at the University of London. I actually lived in Bloomsbury during much of my time in London. Yes, Bloomsbury. I now have a fancy title and a lot of student loans. During my Ph.D., I spent periods of time living in Paris, and used to speak French pretty well, but now I’ve lost most of it. I wrote most of Dietland while living in Europe.
My Ph.D. research focused on normative femininity of the body; the fat female body; consciousness-raising and the "personal is political" in feminist practice and as a literary aesthetic; American second-wave feminist history and fiction; "chick lit"; critical theory, particularly Michel Foucault. I read a lot of amazing books during my Ph.D., but if I had to choose the one that influenced me the most, I’d choose this one.
I’ve recently begun work on my second novel. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Walker’s first novel leaves chick lit in the pixie dust, treading the rougher terrain of radical critique and shadowy conspiracies — territory closer to Rachel Kushner than Helen Fielding
New York Magazine
If Amy Schumer turned her subversive feminist sketches into a novel, dark on the inside but coated with a glossy, palatable sheen, it would probably look a lot like Dietland—a thrilling, incendiary manifesto disguised as a beach read...It’s a giddy revenge fantasy that will shake up your thinking and burrow under your skin, no matter its size. (Grade A.)
Entertainment Weekly
I've never dropped anyone out of a helicopter. But Dietland resonated with the part of me that wants, just once, to deck a street harasser. At the very least, I wish an incurable itch upon everyone who has catcalled me on the street. I wish food poisoning and public embarrassment on everyone I've heard make a rape joke. I wish toothache and headlice and too-small shoes upon every stranger who has told me to smile. Which is to say, sometimes I forget I'm angry, but I am. Dietland is a complicated, thoughtful, and powerful expression of that same anger.
Annalisa Quinn - NPR.org
Plum Kettle, a ghostwriter for a popular teen mag, is lured into a subversive sisterhood in this riotous first novel. Finally, the feminist murder mystery/makeover story we’ve been waiting for.
Oprah Magazine
[Ms. Walker's] writing can spit with venom, at the rigid expectations of women’s weight and sexuality...As a social commentary, Dietland is no shrill tirade. Ms. Walker captures the misery of failing to fit in, to fit into the right clothes, to fit in with the right people and their expectations.
Economist
At 300 lbs., Plum Kettle lives for the days when gastric bypass will help her shed her extra girth—until she's challenged to shed her misery instead. Witty and wise.
People
Sarai Walker deftly marries body insecurities and humor in her satirical debut. At 300 pounds, Plum declares a diet fail and concedes to weight-loss surgery. But when she meets a radical feminist, she begins to try on confidence for size.
US Weekly
[Dietland’s] message resonates…It’s vanishingly rare to see a novel that looks like the much-maligned "chick lit"—and sometimes reads like it—so gleefully censorious of rape culture… If you’ve lived in this culture—if you’ve ever been a young woman who is trying to eat so little or eat so much that she disappears…you may take some cold comfort from Dietland, and its opportunities for vicarious revenge.
Guardian (UK)
In a confident, daring first novel, Sarai Walker mixes satire and mystery as she holds a magnifying glass over Western culture's objectification of the female gender. The result is combustion of enormously entertaining and thought-provoking proportion...Walker's brazen approach to Dietland carries a strength that will ignite readers' passionate responses. The novel is unflinchingly blunt, depicting raw emotion and uncomfortable realities. Walker writes beautifully, with natural dialogue and powerful characters. Her first-rate entrance into fiction is sure to spark the conversation she--and Plum--feel their audience needs to have."
Shelf Awareness
(Starred review.) Plum Kettle likes living under the radar—pretty hard to do when you're 300 pounds or so.... But someone's onto her—someone who pushes back against Plum's efforts to be invisible, who anonymously leaves Plum a book that challenges all she's ever thought to be true about women and weight loss. —Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY
Library Journal
Through her protagonist, debut novelist Walker gives a plaintive yet powerful voice to anyone who has struggled with body image, feelings of marginalization, and sexual manipulation. Her robust satire also vibrantly redefines what it means to be a woman in contemporary society.
Booklist
(Starred review.) Hilarious, surreal, and bracingly original, Walker's ambitious debut avoids moralistic traps to achieve something rarer: a genuinely subversive novel that's also serious fun.... Part Fight Club, part feminist manifesto, an offbeat and genre-bending novel that aims high—and delivers.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
Also, consider these talking points to start a discussion for Dietland:
1. In an NPR interview, Sarai Walker said that fat bodies are "politicized bodies."
I don't mean political in terms of a political party; I mean structures of power—certain people having power and privilege. And so Plum comes to realize that her fat body, the mistreatment she receives because of it, is a political issue.
What exactly does Walker mean? Do thin people have more prestige than fat people; are fat people less empowered? Do you agree with her?
2. How does Plum allow her body size to determine her identity? Is that common for most of us, men as well as women? Consider this statement by the author, in same the NPR interview:
I think young girls are taught from a very young age—there's a lot of emphasis placed on "You look pretty," "You look cute." ... [A] tremendous amount of your value and your worth as a person is how you look.... [I]f we just look at our culture—we look at advertisements, we look at magazines, TV shows, movies—I mean that's really what's in our face all the time.
3. Talk about the ways in which Plum changes by the novel's end?
4. Do you consider Dietland a feminist novel? Is it a serious novel? Why or why not? Is Walker's message: "accept your body size and move on"? Or is it something, well, more subversive? Does humor make a difference in the book's seriousness (or lack of it)?
5. Other than appearance and body size, what else does Walker's satire take aim at in this book?
6. What part, if any, of Dietland resonates with you personally?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)