MINARET by Leila Aboulela (fic)

I enjoyed reading this beautifully constructed and lyrical novel by Leila Aboulela.  It isn't often that I have read a fiction work that helps one understand the cultural difficulties encountered by a young Sudanese girl. Najwa is forced to move to London when her father's corruption is exposed in Khartoum where he was a government official.  The story doesn't dwell on the differences between Najwa and  the English, as much as it does between Najwa and other Sudanese ex pats she encounters in London.

In 1984 Najwa and her family lived in a large home with many servants; they had an opulent life in Khartoum.  They also maintained an expensive apartment in London.  Najwa didn't think much about her countrymen who lived in poverty.  Her family were not religious, lived a western life-style, and traveled to Europe frequently.  She took much for granted including her University education.  She largely ignored the fundamentalist factions at school as she dressed in latest fashion and cultivated other wealthy friends.  Najwa's brother, Omar, ran around with a fast crowd and early on was addicted to drugs.

At school, Najwa falls in love with Anwar, a radical socialist and student leader.  She admired his cool demeanor and agreed with his criticism of religious traditions and clothing like the hijab.  She even ignored his attacks on her father until a coup forces the family to flee when her father was jailed and executed.

At first things remained much the same for Najwa and her family in London.  But, after her mother dies everything changes.  Family money begins to run out, and Omar is arrested for stabbing a policeman during a drug raid.  Before long there is another political upheaval in Sudan, and Anwar's faction is no longer in favor, and he washes up in London.  Najwa and Anwar resume their relationship, and they quickly go through much of the money that Najwa has left.  Alas, their love doesn't survive this downturn in fortune.  Najwa is on the cusp of despair when she meets a woman who convinces her to begin attending the Mosque in Regent's Park.  Najwa slowly rediscovers her Islamic religion, and as she finds support and friendship at the Mosque, she begins to find peace with her situation.

Years go by and we see that Najwa's life changes dramatically as she finds herself taking a job as a Nanny in a rich Muslum household.  She has a complicated relationship with this secular family, and she is drawn to the much younger son who is, like Najwa, a devout Muslum.

As the story evolves, the reader, like Najwa, is not sure what her future holds.  While she finds comfort in religion, Najwa begins to realize some of the binding and claustrophobic rules keep women down and curtails freedoms.  The weakest part of the novel is the number of questions it leaves the reader with regarding Najwa's future and her relationships.  Nevertheless, I enjoyed this book and the way it caused me to see life through the eyes of a young woman as she struggles to understand her family, her background and her culture.  It offers a good opportunity for a book group discussion.

FALL OF GIANTS by Ken Follett (fic)

Reading this long long novel, I felt like I was binge-watching Downton Abby.  It was part---"this is silly, I can't read another word, and part--gimme more...more."  Follett spins a good yarn. His stories are magnificent period-piece soap operas.  The plots are often contrived and the characters outsize.  But, we keep reading anyway.  I find his formula works for different periods of time, characters from different books slip into convenient plots in other stories, just as they do their period costumes.

This is the first of a trilogy (the second and third books, equally long, have already been published).  This book begins the saga of several families, whose paths converge over and over, just as World War I is about to begin.  The Dewar Family are American and Gus Dewar, the son, seems to miraculously rise in power until before the reader can digest it, he is advising Woodrow Wilson, who seems to always take his advice.  Then there is the Williams Family,  poor Welsh miners.  Once again, miraculously, the children are gifted beyond belief.  How is it that a 16 year old boy, on the first day of his job in the mines, is soon giving seasoned veterans advice when a crisis arises.  Similarly, his sister, Ethel who plays a major role in the novel and begins as a parlor maid, within days is soon running the household as the head housekeeper.  If we learned nothing else from Downton, we know there is a pecking order in grand country houses.  From parlor maid to housekeeper in a matter of days----never!

Other main characters are also soon giving orders: the son of the German Ulrich Family is equally sought out for his advice. The brothers Peshkov, Russians, are spearheading the revolution.  Well, you get the picture.  The English Fitzherbert family whose fortunes cross all these characters, seem not quite as gifted as the others, but they hold power and position.  All these families and characters meet, separate, and implausibly meet again. The book ends as World War I ends, and the Women's Movement is in full gear. There is a lot of history to digest withing these pages, and all the characters are movers and shakers who impact that history.  Come to think of it, amongst them all, they seem to be running the world with their timely advice to the powers that be.

Did I enjoy this book?  Of course--it was addictive like candy.  It is not great literature, but it is great escapism.  Will I read the other two volumes?  Possibly.

VIRGINIA WOOLF: A PORTRAIT by Vivianne Forrester (non-fic)

Originally published in French, this biography was translated by Jody Gladding.  It won the Prix Goncourt for biography in France before Vivianne Forrester died in 2013.  This is an intensely researched book and Forrester turns around some well entrenched perspectives of Virginia Woolf.  What Forrester does is to intensely scrutinize Virginia's relationships with her family, her husband, Leonard Woolf, and her nephew Quentin Bell.  Most of the accepted scholarship of Woolf up to this writing was largely based on memoirs written by Bell and accepted as gospel.  He portrayed Virginia as frigid and emotionally fragile.  A good example is the recently reviewed fiction book "Vanessa and Her Sister."

Forrester begins her study with Virginia's traumatic youth and her strange relationship with her overbearing father, Leslie Stephen.  What a dramatic fierce upbringing Virgina and her sister Vanessa had, along with her step-siblings, the Duckworths and their mother, Julia.  All of Virginia's work is influenced by her childhood experiences which were filled with secrets and lies.  According to Forrester the most tragic lie was the myth fostered by her family of "Poor Virginia," who can't help herself as she is touched with madness.  Even Quentin Bell's mother, Vanessa who was closest to Virginia comes in for her share of the blame.  This infantilization of Virginia has slipped in to all her previous biographies.  It was further nurtured by Leonard, her husband, who fussed and over-protected her.

Leonard Woolf is really hit hard by Forrester.  What she accuses him of doing is taking his own compulsive weaknesses and fostering them in Virginia and then bullying her into helplessness.  Problems that Leonard had with his own sexuality and anxieties became the very problems that he accused Virginia of possessing.  Virginia indeed had bouts of mania which the author believes could have been managed in a way that would lead to a more wholesome view of her illness.  Typical of the family's handling of Virginia is a quote from Vanessa to her sister at the height of fears of the German invasion during World War II.
"You must not go and get ill just now.  What shall we do when we're invaded if you are a helpless invalid?"  Such cruel misunderstanding of Virginia's condition, Forrester claims eventually pushed Virginia over the edge to her suicide.

I found this book difficult to read.  There was a great deal of material at times presented with complicated sentence structure.  I am not sure if this was the interpretation of the translator or the author's style.  At times it was almost a Woolfian stream of consciousness.  Since the author takes a different approach and viewpoint of Virginia Woolf's tragic life, it is best read as a comparative study.  It is certainly a book of great importance in the study of Woolf and her literature.

A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY by Lauren Grodstein (fic)

I am unfamiliar with this author, but I found Lauren Grodstein's novel compelling reading.  The reader learns early in the story that something horrible has happened that has torn apart a family that seemingly had it all.  Grodstein never lets us know what that something is until the climax of the novel. Because of this, the plot buildup is slow and measured.  The novel goes back to the recent past gradually building up the suspense of this suburban tragedy.  The main character, Pete Dizinoff, who has suffered this tragedy, is complete and well-drawn; some of the minor characters, are less so.  Grodstein does an excellent job of giving voice to Pete, which can be a pit-fall when a female author inhabits the soul of an important male character. 

When the story opens, Pete has been banished from his home to a bedroom above the garage. What he has done to merit this is the mystery which through flashbacks is eventually exposed to the reader. Pete is an internist with a successful practice in Round Hill, New Jersey.  He has a lovely wife, Elaine, and a 20 year old son, Alec.  Alec, a sensitive boy of artistic nature, has dropped out Hampshire College.  Gradually we learn that Pete has lost his practice, his friends, and worse of all, his son.  

Intruding on what had been a seemingly normal family life, is Laura, the beautiful 30 year old daughter of the Dizinoff's best friends.  Laura's tragic and sad past is the catalyst which leads to Pete's downfall.  It isn't long before Alec falls dangerously in love with Laura, and we are left to ponder if she uses Alec or in fact loves him in return.  Pete who sees disaster around every corner sets out with good intentions to squash the romance.  It becomes clear that Alec is the only child Elaine and Pete had been able to conceive.  Possibly because of this, Pete is an overly protective parent, the kind which we have labeled "helicopter parent."  Pete has always had a plan for Alec's life without ever taking into account Alec's needs which would allow him to grow into a complete adult.  Pete is well-meaning, loves his son dearly, but is clueless about giving space and allowing his son to develop a sense of self.  Now along comes Laura, ready to spoil all of Pete's hopes and dreams for his son.

Grodstein writes well, and though the story is tragic, I enjoyed reading her well-plotted novel.  The characters are interesting and one feels they could be any neighbor down the street, living in desperation, but seemingly having the best of lives.

TULIP FEVER by Deborah Maggach (fic)

Deborah Maggach's book "Tulip Fever" is about to be released as a movie this fall.  I thought it would be interesting to read the book first, especially as it is about an interesting period in Dutch history when speculation in the market for tulips was wild and crazy.  Of course, like all Ponzi-like schemes, it came crashing down with horrible consequences for many people of the rising bourgeois including the protagonists of the Maggach fictional account.  The book is not new and was written at the turn of the 21st century.  Maggach is also the author of "The Best Marigold Hotel," which was such a huge hit several years ago.

Maggach brings Amsterdam and its citizens to life and does a creditable job of leading the reader into a Dutch-master-like painting turned into the written word.  Indeed, the author has said in interviews that the paintings of Vermeer and Jan van Loos were her inspirations.  Jan van Loos becomes a character in this book and falls in love with the subject of one of his paintings.  She is Sophia Sandvoort, the wife of the wealthy merchant, Cornelis.  Sophia and Jan begin a passionate affair, that is filled with foreboding and darkness.  To bolster this, the book is filled with lovely illustrations of the paintings of the Dutch masters.  Many of the paintings deal with mortality and death using symbols such as succulent fruit resting near a worm or a skull lurking in the background of a seemingly happy couple.  As they become more deeply entwined, the lovers become more reckless.  Grave and dire consequences arise when they begin to speculate in tulip bulbs and become part of the financial bubble that is engulfing Holland.  Sophia is the mastermind of a scheme using the money raised from speculating that will help her escape from her loveless marriage to the much older Cornelis.  Soon Sophia has ensnared her maid, Maria and Maria's lover, Whillem into her plan which leads to a tragic conclusion.

Maggach does an excellent job of presenting 17th century Amsterdam and paints her descriptions as if on canvas.  The moodiness of the Dutch interiors with their bright rays of sun intruding upon the darkness of the background reminds the reader that along with good, evil is able to threaten the subject at any given moment.  The story is interesting and a good one, although one must suspend logic when falling in with the intensity of Sophia's scheming.  I recommend the book as a beautifully written story that is also a 17th century thriller.

THOMAS CROMWELL by Tracy Borman (non-fic)

Having feasted on Hilary Mantel's two fascinating fiction books on Thomas Cromwell, which have dominated the best seller lists for the last few years, I thought it a good time to delve into a biography of the man and his love/hate relationship with Henry VIII.  Luckily for us, there is plenty of documentation on Cromwell.  With his sharp lawyer's mind, he recorded much of his prolific correspondence and noted all of his transactions including bribes.  Borman's account of his life is as fascinating as Mantel's fiction.

Cromwell loyally served Henry for ten years, all the while enriching himself and practicing the fine art of graft.  He consistently used bribes and called in favors.  Borman reminds us that in the medieval world with power comes corruption.  There is a wonderful portrait of Cromwell painted by Holbein.  Cromwell is dressed in black which heightens the contrast with his pale fleshy face and small eyes.  His only concession to his status is his fur color, strictly deemed to be worn by persons of rank and power alone.

Cromwell was a protege of Cardinal Wolsey whose service he entered in 1524.  Cromwell was a blacksmith's son; he instinctively understood power (honed by his years spent in Italy absorbing the politics of Machiavelli).  His background was always the thorn which pricked at his aristocratic enemies at the court of Henry led by the Duke of Norfolk and his faction.  Henry's court was, "an arena ridden with intrigue, betrayal, treachery and deceit.  Attack was not just the best, but the only means of defence."

In trying to extricate Henry from his numerous and disastrous marriages, Cromwell became interested in the reformation as he studied Martin Luther.  He may have ideologically wished to devolve the monasteries because of their rampant corruption, but he also rapaciously enriched himself and political allies with their spoils.  Cromwell was possessed with energy, ambition, ability and determination.  He was a distinguished orator, able to sway and frighten others. He was close to complete domination of king and country before his enemies gained the upper hand and accused him of having designs on the throne.  He was arrested and beheaded in 1540, a death he had condemned others to, including Anne Boleyn.  True to his fashion, it was not long before Henry bemoaned the fact that others had caused him to lose the most faithful servant he ever had.

One of Cromwell's great achievements was to strengthen the power of Parliament.  Never again would a monarch be the only determiner of the law of the land.

Tracy Borman has written an interesting and readable biography of a complex man of contradictions.  She has been criticized for relying on some Victorian sources instead of using original material.  This point might be more important for one doing deep research, but for the general reader I would highly recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about the man we were introduced to through, Mantel's fiction.

HOTEL FLORIDA by Amanda Vaill

"Hotel Florida" was chosen as one of the ten best books of the year by the New York Times.  It tells the story of the Spanish Civil War which took place in the late 1930s, just before World War II.  It  presaged the rival ideologies of communism and fascism as if in a horrible preview of what was to rent the world in a few short years.  Eventually the reporters, who flocked to the war to make their reputation and fortune, became famous even as the war was forgotten in the greater conflagration which followed.

Vaill masterfully tells the history of the war through the eyes and writings of three couples who worked with and fell in love with each other.  Robert Capa was a Hungarian photographer who made his reputation there by being one of the first embedded reporters, following the troops from battle to battle.  He was joined by his Polish lover, Gerda Taro, a beautiful, brave and daring photographer whose shots depicted the human side of the residual misery war brings.  Gerda's photos became world famous before she died at age 26, crushed by a tank.  Their story is exciting and heartbreaking.

The Spaniard, Arturo Barea, loyal to the Loyalist government and his girlfriend, the lovely Austrian, Ilsa Kulcsar were press officers for the Republicans.  They worked in constant danger, hated by the Germans and Franco's rebels, and likewise by the Russian communists, who were meddling and carrying out large sums of money from the government coffers. Barea who lost friends and family in the war, had little use for the foreign reporters who hounded his office looking for dispatches they could send back home.

Finally the most famous of all, Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, equally fearless and hungry for the story and publicity of front page reporting.  Hemingway, especially, is revealed to be a blustering ego-driven blow-hard who was the center of the social scene at the Hotel Florida where reporters and spies gathered nightly to exchange war stories heady with drink and bravado.

The war went on for three years and 400,000 lives were lost, among them young idealistic volunteers from all over the world who came to fight for the Loyalist government which was being crushed by Franco's Italian and German backed money and weapons.  Through it all the Hotel Florida remained standing, a bastion of intrigue, drama, passion and gossip.  Our three couples met and separated here and met again.  We see the war through their eyes and history comes alive thanks to Vaill's precise and interesting writing.  I highly recommend this book to all readers, especially those who would like to learn more about a time in history when young men and women from around the world, fueled by the stories of these reporters, flocked to defend an idealistic government which was doomed from the start.