I have been having a very strange book year. This could be due to my new habit of picking up deeply discounted books from Target or Amazon.   This combined with my new obsession for Young Adult fiction has led to many, many mishaps and mistakes in my reading list. My latest mistake was A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly.

This seemed, on the surface, to be a historical fiction about a teenage girl from upstate New York in the Victorian era. Mattie Gokey is a sharp, deep young woman who had the misfortune of being born into a poor farm family from a rural community. Therefore her dreams of college balance on a high wire, as her family copes with the death of her mother, departure of her brother, and emotional unavailability of her father. Mattie is left to raise her younger sisters and care for the farm. One summer she decides to get a job at a local resort and finds herself in the middle of a murder mystery. Sounds charming on paper, doesn’t it?

Well folks, if you pick up this little number, you are in for a rude awakening. It is crude, vulgar, and oddly written, leaving the reader to feel as if they have been hit by a taxi cab. At points, Mattie’s voice is poignant and lovely, and then she is drowned in scenes that are as ludicrous as they are bawdy. The murder mystery, which seemed to be the essence of the story, takes a back seat…no I’m sorry, it gets put in the trunk so Donnelly can focus on Mattie’s sad life. The sad life was great, why did she have to go and mix in a murder into the plot if she was never planning on dealing with it? The author seemed to have no clear perspective on what kind of story she was writing.

No character was developed beyond Mattie, leaving us with a flat story filled with two dimensional characters. What was the author doing beyond a lame attempt at trying to create a feminist perspective of the oppression of women in the early 20^th century? And as for being labeled in the young adult genre…look publishers: just because a book has a 16 year old in it, does not make it a young adult book! I would not give this to anyone under 16. The strange situations she places her characters in make this absolutely inappropriate for young girls. This is definitely a miss!

Grade: D

Thanks to chasidar, I discovered a beautiful book on the essence of Southern culture: the race issue. Now I know some of you are going to say, “hello The Help has been on the NY Times bestseller list for 66 weeks”, but let’s just say the bestseller list is not how I gage what is actually good…if it was, then why is James Patterson on there? No offense to you Patterson-philes…just to Patterson himself.

The Help by Katheryn Stockett is set in the deep South as the Civil Rights movement is finding its wings. Our main characters are Skeeter Phelan, a young white debutante, Aibileen, a middle aged black maid/nanny who is good at her job, and Minny, a younger black maid who has a temper that sometimes lands her unemployed. Skeeter, a naïve fledging writer, stumbles upon the idea of writing a book about the “Help” of the South. Enlisting the help of a reluctant Aibileen and Minny, the three women embark on a journey to discover themselves in a time when a culture unwilling to change is being turned upside down.

All of the characters, with the exception of Skeeter, are fascinating. From the racist dictator like Junior League president, to the silly white trash Cinderella, to the perfect maid willing to commit a crime for her family, Stockett creates a full portrait of the complicated world that made up the female side of the pre-Civil Rights South. In addition to wonderful characters, Stockett, in the great tradition of Mark Twain, recreates with stunning clarity the vernacular of both the black and white characters of the novel.

My least favorite aspect of the book was the character of Skeeter, who unfortunately a narrator for a third of the novel. She is just a weak character, with very little gumption and a whole lot of naivety. She is used by Stockett as a tool to show the perspective from the white world, but her confusion and her sympathies make her waver between a two dimensional and three dimensional character, which makes her weak and wan in the novel.

Overall, despite one flaw, the book is a gem. It is an engaging and engrossing portrait of a by-gone era.

Grade: A-

Once a year, give or take, I decide I would like to relive my childhood through books. This usually happens during the summer when the bookstores begin to display all of the popular summer reading requirements. I reminisce over The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Bridge to Terebithia, The Giver, and other childhood classics. Inevitably, I always discover one classic that had the gall to sneak past me in my early years. This year’s perpetrator was The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi. Have you ever noticed when you re-read children’s books as an adult, things that didn’t bother you back then, really bother you now?

The year is 1832. 13 year old Charlotte Doyle is the only passenger on a ship bound to America from England. She is a proper, well brought up, somewhat spoiled English girl, making this journey to reunite with her family. From the very beginning of the voyage, when her caretakers cannot meet her, the reader knows something is “fishy” about this particular ship, this particular crew, and this particular captain. As mutiny, murder, and treachery run rampant on the decks of the Seahawk, Charlotte must decide between the rules she has always relied on, and the ones that will keep her alive.

There are several problems with this book. The first is Charlotte’s characterization of her father. She spends the entire book mentally idolizing him, she chastises herself based on what he would say to her, and she becomes this new person because of what her father has taught her. So when we finally meet Mr. Doyle, we are sadly disappointed. This man is not at all the person Charlotte has described, and thus forces her hand for the “shocking” end. I feel that the blatant discrepancy lay in the author’s desire to make this character into a feminist hero, and not in the character flaw of Mr. Doyle. This gaping hole left me feeling unsettled.

A more uncomfortable problem for the contemporary audience, is Charlotte’s proximity to more than twenty unsavory men over the course of three months, several of whom she develops close relationships with. Women will understand why this made me uncomfortable throughout the book. I mean honestly, the girl is thirteen. 19^th century sailors were criminals of all sorts, and the characters on the ship are described as such. Hence, my discomfort.

Overall, the book is a slow read. I think this is because the standards of young adult fiction twenty years ago and the standards today are a bit different, so the pace wasn’t quite what I have been used to reading in YA fiction lately. I was interested enough to keep reading, but by the end, my annoyances with the book overrode any entertainment value. It may have won the Newbury Medal, but it was not one of my favorite recipients of the award.

Grade: C-

I love the Civil War. I mean, to be honest, I love history in general, but I really love the Civil War. This could be because I’m Southern bred, and like all good Southerners, the Civil War is a part of our DNA, like sweet iced tea or fried chicken. And any other Southerner who tries to tell you this is just a stereotype, like our supposed love of Nascar, is simply a self-loathing Southerner (probably living in California or New York by choice).  So when I discovered All Other Nights sitting on the coffee table of my friend’s parents, with a picture of the Rebel flag waving behind a tragic looking young couple, I of course picked it up. Yes, I am that person who peruses the books on your shelf and coffee table and judges you by what I find there. At least now you are forewarned.

All Other Nights was a fatal attraction for me. It’s the story of Jacob Rappaport, a young Jewish soldier in the Union Army who is given two impossible missions in quick succession. First, he must assisinate his uncle, a known spy, then he must woo and marry Eugenia Levy, a Jewish Southerner also thought to be a spy. This is the story of worlds divided by nothing more than the Mason-Dixon line, and the incredible loyalties such a line created, and in doing so, the worlds it destroyed.

Right, so between the Jewish angle and the Civil War angle, this book was getting bought, didn’t matter if James Patterson wrote the thing. Needless to say, the book had serious expectations to live up to.

The characters were interesting, because they were so deeply flawed. The main character, Jacob, is hard to sympathize with, until you remember he really is only nineteen, and he really thinks he doesn’t have a choice. He thinks he has to do whatever his superiors tell him, and this is his tragic flaw. Eugenia isn’t even as interesting as some of the other secondary characters Horn sets up, such as a war widow and the father of a spy ring, both of whom steal their respective scenes. The history of Jews in the Confederacy and Jews during the Civil War is fascinating (did you know that the 2^nd in command of the Confederacy was Jewish man named Judah Benjamin?). Unfortunately for the book, the plot gets weighed down by espionage, Jacob’s self-loathing, and too much coincidence (which is slightly more believable if you know how Jewish geography works).

Overall, the book was an interesting read, and the flawed characters enhance the tragic scene set by the fact readers know how the Civil War ends. The Southern Civil War buff in me was not terrible disappointed, but the ending did leave something to be desired.

Grade: B-

“A kiss on the hand might be quite continental/ But diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

Remember that famous scene with Marilyn Monroe in her bright pink gown singing about the joys of Cartier and Harry Winston? Well, I have learned that “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, the 1953 classic starring Marilyn and Jane Russell was based on a 1925 best seller by flapper Anita Loos. This was brought to my attention by a young lady at my book club, who recommended it to us as the book we read for December (thanks Ruthie!), and may I say it was quite a delight.

Written by a smart, savvy screenwriter and flapper of the Jazz Age, Anita Loos used the infamous Lorelai to explore the social scene of America during the roaring 20’s. Written in a diary format, complete with misspellings and Lorelai’s own unique parlance, Loos explores the inner workings of a cut throat social climber and gold digger. Lorelai was inspired by several “blondes” Anita Loos met during the Jazz Age who men seemed to fall all over, while Loos would be left shlepping the luggage despite that fact she could carry on a decent conversation.

Lorelai’s adventures take her from New York to London to Paris (all financed by her friend Mr. “Daddy” Eisman, for her education of course). Along the way she meets millionaires, their wives or mothers, and diamonds in all shapes and size. While Lorelai is not exactly a sympathetic character, you have to admit she is a crafty one. The novel is short, and some may say she rambles a bit, but I found the style innovative and refreshing. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is a short, delicious glimpse at a society drinking and spending its way to its own demise only a few short years later.

Grade: B+

The White by Deborah Larsen

The White is a first effort at a full length novel by poet Deborah Larsen. The story is that of Mary Jemison, an Irish teenager growing up in 18^th century Pennsylvania who witnesses the brutal slayings of her family and is sold to a Seneca Native American Family as payment for their lost brother. The book is a fictional account of the real Mary Jemison, and it is a first person narrative that covers from the time of her abduction by Native Americans until the end of her life.

Deborah Larsen, whose poetry I have never read, definitely has a way with words. In each short chapter she weaves a tale of an emotionally scarred young woman trying to decide between a life she cannot imagine living (living as a Seneca woman) and a life she barely remembers (her youth as the daughter of an Irish pioneer family in the Pennsylvania frontier). A reader cannot help but sympathize with Mary as she struggles to find the will to live, and she finds possibility in a life she never wanted.

The story is told in beautiful, ethereal language. The characters are deep and fascinating. Her life is quite a journey. My one criticism is that the book is just too short. The chapters range from 2-7 pages each, and the whole book could be more accurately described as a novella (weighing in at 240 pages in double spaced 14 size font). Just when you start to get a feel for the scene, and detail, which is richly imagined, is coming to life, the chapter is over, and the reader is swept into the next phase of Mary’s life.

While it is quite the easy read, it is not quite filling. As opposed to a main course, The White is more of a mouth watering appetizer. But, it is a short intense burst that should not be missed.

Grade: B

I am Rembrandt’s Daughter by Lynn Cullen (not related to a certain sparkling vampire) is an innocuous young adult novel about Cornelia, the 14 year old daughter of Rembrandt van Rijn. The book explores about a year in Cornelia’s life and her struggles with poverty, being the illegitimate daughter of a mad genius, and finding her place in the world. Plague, young love, and art are the backdrop for the novel, set in 17^th century Amsterdam.

(more…)

The Scandal of the Season is the first novel by Sophie Gee, a PhD in English who teaches at Princeton. With such a resume as Ms. Gee’s, even a book snob such as myself has to be impressed. The story is set in London, 1711. The young poet Alexander Pope comes to London to be inspired, and with his friends with Blount sisters, becomes witness to the scandalous affair between Arabella Fermor and Lord Robert Petre. This event becomes the inspiration for Pope’s famous poem, “The Rape of The Lock”. Seduction, political intrigue, and the glamour of aristocracy all set the back drop for a weary attempt at “sexy history fiction”.

(more…)