WATCH ME by Anjelica Huston (non-fic)

I wouldn't want a steady diet of it, but every-once-in-a-while, it is fun to be a voyeur into the lives of the rich and famous Hollywood royalty.  Certainly, Anjelica Huston is such royalty.  She is the daughter of the enormously talented John Huston who directed such gems as The African Queen and The Misfits.  This is the second volume of an autobiography by Huston who seems to have written it without the aid of a ghosting hand.  The first volume, "A Story Lately Told" tells of her childhood in the rural and verdant Irish countryside.

I began the book with high hopes of being entertained, knowing Huston's relationship of 17 years with Jack Nicholson was a turbulent one.  He was the great love of her youth, and she was with him through his most prolific and talented years when he was at the top of his game, handsome, svelte, and entertaining.  Unfortunately for Anjelica, whom he affectionately called Toots, he was also an inveterate womanizer and consistently unfaithful to her, though he seemed to care for her as much as it was in his nature to do so.  "He done her wrong!," though why she put up with this and allowed it to go on for so long, is never clearly explained.  Perhaps it was that he was a reflection of her dearly loved father who was also an intensely masculine presence in her life, equally involved with a string of women.  She also had two other destructive relationships, an earlier one with Bob Richardson, the fashion photographer, during her modeling days and another with the actor, Ryan O'Neal, who was physically abusive.

Anjelica and Nicholson broke for good in 1990, but she holds no bitterness toward him.  In 1992, she met and eventually married the great love of her later life, Bob Graham, a well-known and respected sculptor.  Huston and Graham had a loving relationship and enjoyed many of the same activities and travel.  The marriage was seemingly a happy one, until Graham died after they had been together for 16 years.  Huston's description of her life with him, is touching and she does her best writing in this section.

While I enjoyed the parts of the book devoted to Huston and Graham's life together, the earlier section of the book was disappointing.  The reader has to wade through lists and list of famous people without much substance or depth.  For example she was in the house with Roman Polanski the night he was accused of raping a young girl; she glossed right over this with a non-descript paragraph or two.  One wonders where the reflection is during her life with Nicolson.  Did she really jump from party to party listing the famous faces in her diary perhaps and just regurgitating them for us?  Was life really just drugs, sex and rock and roll?  Since she turned to acting during this time and won an academy award for her role in "Prizzi's Honor" there must have been periods of hard work and self-reflection that do not come across in the book.

If you are looking for a read about the Hollywood life of privilege mixed with tidbits from the lives of the famous whose paths cross Huston's, read away.  There is the bonus of the book becoming a better read after Huson marries Bob Graham, who was a well-grounded partner for her.  One thing that does come through is Anjelica Huston is a genuinely nice woman who is not given to whining about the messy turns her life took.

WILSON by A Scott Berg (non-fic)

This comprehensive and marvelous biography of Woodrow Wilson at over 800 pages consumed most of my reading time this month.  A. Scott Berg who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of Lindbergh has written a masterful book about another interesting and multi-facited man.  Woodrow Wilson, America's 28th President is a fascinating study of one of the most brilliant minds to occupy the White House.  His progressive policies and idealistic philosophy of government changed the direction of American policy and her place in the world.

The book can roughly be divided into two parts.  The first begins with Wilson's early life and the effect the Civil War had on his development as a son of the south.  It tells of his education and upbringing and his road to the Presidency of Princeton University.  From Princeton, he had a meteoric rise in politics.  The New Jersey political machine mistakenly thought it could control Wilson when it chose him to run for Governor.  He initiated massive reforms, among other things, ending the strangle hold cronyism and corruption had on the state. He only served two years as governor and his fame as a reformer catapulted him into the national spotlight and eventually into the Presidency.  It ends with his very loving and happy marriage to Ellen Axon with whom he had three daughters and his energetic control in enacting his progressive programs on a national scale.

The second section of the book begins with Ellen's death, Wilson's deep bereavement, and the path of America's involvement in WWI and the end of isolationism. Edith Bolling Gault, his second wife, plays a huge role during this time and up until Wilson's death.

It is said of Woodrow Wilson, ....."probably in the history of the whole world there has been no great man of whom so much has been written but of whom personally so little has been correctly known." ....."Stern and impassive, yet emotional;  calm and patient, yet quick-tempered and impulsive;  forgetful of those who had served him, yet devoted to many who had rendered but minor service....precise and business-like, and yet, upon occasion, illogical without more reason than intuition itself."

Wilson was the first democratic President since Andrew Jackson to serve two consecutive terms.  A strong electrifying speaker, he ran on his legislative success and the powerful message that "He kept us out of war."  Despite all this it wasn't long before it became impossible for America to remain neutral as WWI escalated out of control and spilled over affecting shipping and independence on the seas. With the torpedoing of the passenger ship Lusitania,Wilson found himself unable to deny help to his European allies.  It wasn't long before his forceful personality caused him to assume leadership on the world stage.

Wilson's life is enormously interesting and I enjoyed each part of this book equally. Wilson's influence on the peace process and the Treaty of Versailles ending WWI, and his frustration on returning to the United States and being unable to convince the fractured and partisan Congress to pass on the treaty which included a section of forming a League of Nations, was especially enlightening.  His failure to influence Congress and his political enemies, led by Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, eventually led to his death. There are numerous parallels here the reader may draw with the partisanship in today's Congress and its relationship with the Presidency.

In his lifetime Wilson accomplished so much it is impossible to catalog his triumphs here.  To name just a few, he slashed tariffs, instituted a federal income tax, championed the Federal Reserve system, enacted anti-trust laws, instituted the eight hour work day and passed laws against child labor; he also passed woman's suffrage laws endearing him to women reformers; he was the first President to hold regular news conferences.  He adored woman, movies and golf.  He had a huge personality and huge faults.  He was fascinating.

There is enough material in this book to occupy a book group for two months.  I highly recommend it to all readers.  Do not be put off by its length.  I read it slowly going back and forth between other books.  It was thoughly enjoyable and readable.

THE FLAMETHROWERS by Rachel Kushner (fic)

"The Flamethrowers" is as exhilarating as the wild motorcycle ride with which the book opens.  Rachel Kushner uses more similes and metaphors in her writing than any other author I have read.  She uses them with skill and all the power of reality that words can give. The title comes from the flamethrowers that motorcycles hurled during WWI.  They were deathtraps for their riders as well as the enemy. The novel opens at the time of World War I and tells the story of the founder of the Valeria motorcycle company and his romance with motorcycles--motorcycles, speed and sex, the thread carries on throughout the book.

Valeria is only a piece of the story of Reno, a young girl whose real name we never know.  She begins her odyssey on a Valeria motorcycle in Nevada and heads to New York City where she enters the gritty downtown art world of the 1970s.  Kushner is too young to have experienced the lower Manhattan of those days, yet she is spot on in her setting and the eccentric characters who roam in and out of Reno's story.  Reno's coming of age story begins and ends in New York City.  Sandwiched in between is a very realistic portrait of Bellagio and later Rome and the violence that erupted out of the youth movement and union unrest in Italy, a latent response to Fascism and big business.

After arriving in New York, Reno meets Sandro Valeria, an artist, the son of the Valeria patriarch. Shortly after meeting him, Reno returns to the West and realizes a dream of racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.  We already know Reno is a risk taker and a recognized talented skier.  On her way to becoming the fastest female rider in the world, setting a record at 140mph, she crashes her bike but escapes serious injury.

Sandro had escaped the confines of his family by settling in Manhattan.  He wants nothing to do with bikes and his sharp tongued mother and entrepreneurial brother.  Somehow Reno convinces him to return to Italy with her where the Valeria company has offered her a chance to compete and become an advertising icon for the company.  First she must meet the family, and this where the story becomes dark and threatening to Reno who will soon lose her naivety and sense of direction.  Sandro's mother is nasty and bitter, and she still has a hold on her sons.  Reno flees to Rome after an eye opening scene at the Valeria factory.  In Rome, she becomes involved with a group  of young terrorists and has a close call with the law. The characters she meets in Italy are as memorable and colorful as those she was involved with in New York.

The ending of the book is somewhat loose, and it is not completely clear where Reno is headed. Nevertheless it is a satisfying ending.  I enjoyed the book very much and Kushner is an accomplished and gifted writer.  She is deserving of the accolades received as well as the honor of being chosen as one of the 10 best books of the year by the NY Times.  I recommend "The Flamethrowers" to all readers.

NORA WEBSTER by Colm Toibin (fic)

Very few male authors are able to inhabit so thoroughly the minds of their female characters as Colm Toibin.  Having done this so admirably in "Brooklyn" Toibin again does it in "Nora Webster."

Nora Webster, newly widowed lives with her two sons (two older daughters are away at school) in Enniscorthy, County Wexford in southeastern Ireland.  The story is set in the late 1960s and is uncomplicated by today's modern conveniences.  Things move slowly in this little town where everyone is part of everyone's business.  It is a quiet story of an everyday life. There is one large factory, a flour mill, which Nora left 25 years before, when she married Maurice, a respected schoolteacher.  Class consciousness is centered around the lives of the managers and workers in the mill.  A workers strike reflects the politics of the times.  The clergy and nuns also play a role in the life of the town.

As we read, we fall into the rhythms, the ups and downs of real life.  Nora and Maurice had a small circle of friends, but after his death, Nora finds herself isolated from many of her neighbors.  This is the story of Nora finding herself in the midst of grief.  She is strict, severe, and stoic, a woman who doesn't show her feelings despite her rich inner life which Toibin documents so well for the reader.  Nora is not an easy character to like.  She often appears cold and unfeeling. While she loves her children fiercely, alone in her suffering, she has no idea of what is going on in her children's lives.  Her older son, Donal, has developed a worrying stutter, and daughter, Aine, is involved in the struggles in Northern Ireland.  This is just after the Bloody Sunday riots and Toibin's characters are concerned and political in their allegiance with the Catholics in the north.  Nora, though seemingly casual in caring for her children, becomes a fierce Celtic woman when she senses they are in trouble.  There is a terrific scene when she challenges the head Brother of Donal's school when she realizes he is being treated unjustly.
With the help of her sisters and concerned friends, Nora slowly becomes part of her community again.  She returns to the mill where she proves necessary and efficient, she finds pleasure and comfort in singing and music and gives in to her dormant musical talent.  This section of the book is wonderfully developed.  Nora's personality doesn't change, she remains prickly, but her willingness to accept that she must let go of her grief and move forward is presented in a realistic way.

I enjoyed this quiet read and highly recommend it to all readers.  It would be an interesting discussion for a reading group as an exploration of a fully developed character.

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins (fic)

It seems Paula Hawkins hit the jackpot with this book which is an international best seller and is currently on the top of the list of best sellers in America.  Hawkins was raised in Harare, Zimbabwe and now living in England.  While she has written other novels, this is her first big success. "The Girl on the Train" is being compared to "Gone Girl" and has been optioned for an upcoming movie.

I had high hopes for this book as I enjoy a well-written suspense novel.  Hawkins is a decent writer and the plot is clever.  The story is told with three interwoven story lines, each told by the main female characters:  Rachel, Megan and Anna.  All three women have secrets and fibs are told and a threatening atmosphere runs through to the end.  The time frame slips back and forth also.  It seems to me that a number of popular books today use time frames which move back and forth and stories related by multiple characters.

Most of the story centers on Rachel; she is the girl on the train.  Rachel is a complicated mess.  She is an alcoholic and her drinking is out of control.  It is responsible for the loss of her husband, Tom, and her job.  She continues to ride the train to London each day and carries on the pretense that she is still working.  It is unclear what she actually does with her time in London.  Each day on the ride, the train passes the back gardens of the homes in her old neighborhood, including the house she lived in with Tom and which he still lives in with his wife and baby. Rachel fortifies her self with drink, most often cans of pre-mixed gin and tonic.  The trip home takes 4 cans.  Along the way she often sees a glamorous and seemingly loving young couple on their patio, and Rachel invents a life for them.  She calls them Jess and Jason.  They live several doors down from where she lived.

Megan is the real name of the woman Rachel calls Jess.  Megan is also a conflicted character which Rachel discovers as the plot thickens.  Megan is married to Scott, and their life is far from ideal.  Megan's disappearance is the catalyst of the story.

The third woman is Anna who is married to Rachel's ex-husband, Tom.  Anna's character is a foil to Rachel's.  She reacts to Rachel's stalking of her and Tom and their new baby.  In her drunken state, Rachel seems unable to stay away from Tom and Anna.

Rachel suffers from serious blackouts.  She is trying to unravel the mystery of what happened to her on the night Megan disappeared.  On that night, Rachel arrived home scratched and bloody, and she knows something happened in an underpass after she got off the train.  She knows there is a woman involved and a man, but does not know who they are.  She also has a shadowy remembrance of a man with red hair who helped her up when she fell on the station stairs.

To find these answers you will have to read the book.  I am not as enthusiastic about this book as other readers or critics have been.  It has a similar format to "Gone Girl" in which the suspense builds and the ending might or might not surprise.  I was not surprised.  Like "Gone Girl," I did not find the characters in this book likable or empathetic.   For my money Nicci French's books, "Blue Monday" and "Tuesday's Gone" are better thrillers.

TUESDAY'S GONE by Nicki French (fic)

This is the second of a series by the husband and wife writing team known as Nicki French.  The first book is "Blue Monday," both books crime thrillers involving Frieda Klein, a psychoanalyst who becomes enmeshed in the solving of a series of gruesome London murders.

It is dicey to write a review of a mystery novel keeping the plot minimal without giving away too much of the story.  This series of books should be read in order, and I would not recommend reading this book without reading the first.  A review of "Blue Monday" can be read elsewhere in the blog.  I rated it highly and have found I enjoyed "Tuesday's Gone" even more.  Both books are stylishly written with well-drawn characters.  The solving of the crimes is cleverly done and well-paced, keeping the reader's interest right up to the last page.  The mystery is always challenging and compelling.  The city of London  plays a large part in Nicki French mysteries, and the sense of place is strongly drawn.

Many of the same characters from the first book reappear in "Tuesday's Gone."  The novel opens with the discovery of a naked corpse of a man in the home of a deranged woman who has staged his decaying body in her living room as if he had dropped in for a spot of tea.  Because of the woman's mental state, the police bring Frieda into the case, having worked with her before.  It turns out the corpse has a name, but it is an assumed name, and by the end of the book his real identity remains unknown, as well as the whereabouts of his hefty bank account balance which had disappeared. It is a foreshadowing perhaps of the next book in the series.  It soon becomes obvious to Frieda that Poole was a con artist who bilked needy and lonely women out of their savings.  A bizarre mystery ensues and Frieda unravels it bit by bit until the intriguing end.

In this particular book, there is a clue that Dean Reeve the elusive killer from the first book, will continue to plague Frieda Klein and remain her chief antagonist.  If you were frightened by Dean Reeve in the first book, you will continue to be spooked  by knowing he is walking the streets of London lying in wait for Frieda. You will also know that Frieda Klein obsesses over her cases and finds relief by walking though various London neighborhoods after dark.

As before, I highly recommend Nicki French mysteries to all who like a well-written crime thriller.  This book is much better than the wildly popular "Gone Girl."

THE STORY OF A NEW NAME by Elena Ferrante (fic)

"The Story of a New Name" is the second book in Ferrante's Neapolitan trilogy.  You can find a review of the first book, "My Brilliant Friend" in an earlier posting. I can only repeat all I said about Elena Ferrante's first brilliant book.  All the accolades can again apply to this novel.

The story picks up where the first book ends.  The setting is now in the 1960s and covers the years when Elena and Lila, the two main characters, are now aged 16 until 22.  The book again opens in Naples, and Elena Greco is preparing to go to university in Pisa, while Lila Cerullo is stuck in a disastrous marriage.  Before Elena parts for Pisa, where she has been accepted at the prestigious Scuola Normale, the girls spend a summer together on the Island of Ischia.  Most of the story centers on what happens to both girls in this disastrous summer.  Nino Sarratore, Elena's crush in the first novel, plays a large role in the lives of both girls during their holiday.

As Elena's fortunes rise and Lila's fall, the girls remain connected by Elena's failure to break loose from the dominance that Lila has always had over her.  Language and dialect play a large part in the novels of this series.  As Elena becomes more educated, she begins to use the classic Italian of the north, while Lila remains in Naples, where the characters speak in a local Neapolitan dialect filled with the coarseness and brutality of the life they are living.  Though Elena is unable to break from Lila, she also has used her as a spur to better herself and move away from the class she was born into.  The contrast between her and those she grew up with is sharper than ever on her infrequent visits to home.  In Pisa Elena meets and becomes engaged to an intellectual classmate, the son of a famous socialist professor.  She writes a novel that is a huge success, yet when she returns to Naples, she finds no one there has read it or seemingly cares about it.  She has no part in her old world.

What both the reader and Elena knows is that she, Elena, has a strong interior life that we have privy to, but she has little exterior life that she can call her own.  Almost all she has accomplished, she had done under the influence of Lila, including her writing.  The opinions Elena holds are taken from cues of those around her, whether in Naples or in the intellectual community in Pisa.  She comes to recognize that she does not think for herself.  She is as much a prisoner as Lila is in her failed marriage to an abusive husband.

Again Ferrante writes brilliantly.  I felt like I was reading an autobiographical novel.  The characters are all alive.  There is not a fake amongst them.  They are as real as real can be.  I put the book aside when I was reading of the summer on Ischia.  It seemed those languid days went on and on, and I was waiting for something dreadful to happen.  I think I knew what was going to happen, but it was taking a while to get there.  About half way through the book, things came to a head, and I found I could not put the book down.  I began to read non-stop and finished the second half of the book in a few days.

I highly recommend this book to all readers, but it should not be read before reading the first book in the series.