This is the first book I have read by Stephen King and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am not a fan of horror or supernatural and have stayed away from King's writing in the past. However, the subject matter of this book, along with the publicity it was again receiving because of the mini-series based on it, made me pick it up one rainy day. I was hooked and found it hard to put it down. You may know the story's premise, a man goes through a worm hole into the past, and he is determined to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Once you accept that such a thing is possible, then the book becomes so much more. The devil is in the details.
The story begins in current time in Lisbon Falls, Maine. Al Templeton, dying of lung cancer convinces Jake, a burnt out teacher, newly divorced, to finish a job that he had begun. Al runs a diner with a back pantry which contains a portal to the past. Through a series of events, Jake finds himself thrust into the year 1958. Two stories ensue. First he embarks on a mission to right a wrong done to a friend of Al, whose future was inadvertently messed up by Al's well-intentioned meddling. When Jake returns to the past a second time, he is on a mission to assassinate Lee Harvey Oswald. Before he can do this, he must solve the mystery of whether Oswald acted alone or was part of a conspiracy. Since the year he returns to is always 1958, he must live in the past until 1963. This may not be your cup of tea, but rest assured, the story becomes very interesting quickly and works its way to a climax that is full of suspense.
Stephen King presents these years of Eisenhower's 50s so perfectly, that if you were alive in those times, you would feel you are in a time machine yourself. His writing is perfectly paced for the times. Everyday life moved slowly as you may remember. It isn't long before you begin to feel the creeping nostalgia of familiarity. Grocery stores stock long forgotten products. Cars still have fins and guzzle cheap gas. People are not suspicious and welcome strangers. For readers not familiar with this period, the book provides a wonderfully accurate social picture of the past of your parents and grandparents. King struggled with this book for 30 years. It was a labor of love, and historically he does not take liberties.
Our hero gets a job teaching in Jodi, Texas, despite the suspicions of his colleagues, and he falls in love with a delightfully drawn character named Sadie, the school librarian. It isn't long before he discovers the ease of living in this slower paced life full of simple pleasures. But, our hero has a problem to solve. How does he pull off an action without disturbing what will come in the future. He struggles with the "butterfly effect." Is it possible to change history without disastrous consequences. There is the rub and the theme of the book. There is a strange character called the Yellow Card Man who seems to guard the portal back to real time. He appears only briefly but is the personification of the obdurate past, the past which refuses to be changed as our hero soon finds out.
I recommend this book to all who are looking for an entertaining imaginative book which cleverly whisks the reader through the portal of time. Life was sweeter then, or was it??
Monday, February 29, 2016
Saturday, February 20, 2016
OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk. (Fic)
"Outline" was picked one of the 10 best books of 2015 by the NYTIMES. There is much to like in this book. It is unusual stylistically, and the author has put a lot of philosophical thought into her characters. Because of its placement in the TIMES as one of the five best fiction books, it must have resonated and spoke to its many readers. Cusk is given to long sentences and paragraphs, which go on for pages, as if the character in question is not going to let go of that thought. It is a book you must devote some thought to about the characters and their motives.
The book opens with a writing teacher who is waiting to board a plane to Greece where she is to teach a summer seminar on writing. Not much is given away about this woman, Grace, but we learn that she teaches in London and is divorced and the mother of two boys. As one reads it seems likely that Grace has much in common with the author, Rachel Cusk, and that it is the author who is speaking to the reader, perhaps about something she has experienced herself.
While waiting to board the plane, Grace meets an old acquaintance, and it isn't long before he is telling her about his problems. The plot of the book is set. Grace boards the plane and, the passenger seated next to her is soon telling his story of love and divorce. We only know this man by the name she gives him, "my neighbor." She meets up with this man again soon after she arrives in Athens and spends a day with him on his boat and later one other day. He makes a pass at her, she is not interested, and that is that. The rest of the book is made up of the stories of the students in her writing class. Rather than have them write their stories, she asks each student to relate a tale of a recent event. Only one student becomes indignant and leaves the class, because she was expecting to write, not converse.
Although the characters are connected by place, each tells an interesting and unusual story, thus the format becomes a loosely connected book of short stories. Like a therapist, without inserting herself into the book, Grace inspires confidence in her students to talk about their families, lovers, careers, and travels. What ties the book together is the idea of how people form relationships. Besides the students, three other characters pop up, and each seems sufficiently self-absorbed to let us in on their thoughts about life and friendships, or perhaps loneliness.
It seems to me that what Cusk, a creative and original writer has done, is to let us in on written portraits of various people she has come across in life and invent stories around them. Her characters are lively and colorful. I recognize Cusk's talent as an exceptional writer, but I cannot say I enjoyed the book that much. Perhaps I was looking for more from the characters; I wasn't feeling connected to them the way I wished to have been.
The book opens with a writing teacher who is waiting to board a plane to Greece where she is to teach a summer seminar on writing. Not much is given away about this woman, Grace, but we learn that she teaches in London and is divorced and the mother of two boys. As one reads it seems likely that Grace has much in common with the author, Rachel Cusk, and that it is the author who is speaking to the reader, perhaps about something she has experienced herself.
While waiting to board the plane, Grace meets an old acquaintance, and it isn't long before he is telling her about his problems. The plot of the book is set. Grace boards the plane and, the passenger seated next to her is soon telling his story of love and divorce. We only know this man by the name she gives him, "my neighbor." She meets up with this man again soon after she arrives in Athens and spends a day with him on his boat and later one other day. He makes a pass at her, she is not interested, and that is that. The rest of the book is made up of the stories of the students in her writing class. Rather than have them write their stories, she asks each student to relate a tale of a recent event. Only one student becomes indignant and leaves the class, because she was expecting to write, not converse.
Although the characters are connected by place, each tells an interesting and unusual story, thus the format becomes a loosely connected book of short stories. Like a therapist, without inserting herself into the book, Grace inspires confidence in her students to talk about their families, lovers, careers, and travels. What ties the book together is the idea of how people form relationships. Besides the students, three other characters pop up, and each seems sufficiently self-absorbed to let us in on their thoughts about life and friendships, or perhaps loneliness.
It seems to me that what Cusk, a creative and original writer has done, is to let us in on written portraits of various people she has come across in life and invent stories around them. Her characters are lively and colorful. I recognize Cusk's talent as an exceptional writer, but I cannot say I enjoyed the book that much. Perhaps I was looking for more from the characters; I wasn't feeling connected to them the way I wished to have been.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
BLACK DIAMONDS by Catherine Bailey (non-fic)
The subtitle reads: The Downfall of an Aristocratic Dynasty and the Fifty Years That Changed England. This is a true tale of what could happen to the fictional characters on Downton Abby which has become a national pastime as the program nears its long and successful run. But, there is no happy ending to the story of the Fitzwilliam dynasty or to the fate of their magnificent home which should have been a national treasure. Wentworth House, the largest familial home in England was larger than Buckingham Palace. The story of its history and that of the Fitzwilliam Earls and their heirs could be turned into its own t.v. serial. Catherine Bailey amazingly finds much to mine in her telling of this ill-fated family, despite the fact that the heirs systematically destroyed most family records, and what they didn't destroy, the war did. Nevertheless, Bailey writes a fascinating account of the history of this great white elephant of a house with its five miles of corridors, its 1000 windows and its hundreds of servants necessary to cater to the comings and going of the hoi-pollloi who lived and entertained in such splendor. Guests were regularly given bowls of confetti to spread behind them, like Hansel and Gretel, so they could find their way back to their rooms. There was no indoor plumbing for many years, so pity the poor servants whose job it was to carry vats of hot water back and forth through that labyrinth, along with other unmentionables.
Concomitant with the story of the Earls Fitzwilliams, is the story of the wretchedly poor mining community which was part of the great Yorkshire holdings of the family. Half of the book is devoted to their daily life and the hideous conditions under which they lived. Leading up to World War I, the threat of miners striking was constant, and sadly the government whether Tory or Labour sided with the mine owners which by this time were no longer the old aristocracy but rather coal owning corporations. It was unfortunate that the public equated the Miners' unions with communism and there was little sympathy in Parliament for the striking miners. By 1926 they were driven by starvation and poverty to return to work, but by this time, dependence on imported coal insured that many miners never worked again. Childhood mortality during this period totaled 250 out of 1000 died from disease and poor nutrition.
One of the last Fitzwilliam earls was Peter, an only son who after a wild and profligate youth became a well-respected and daring hero in World War II. His involvement with Kick Kennedy, sister of President John Kennedy is part of the story of the final days of the Fitzwilliam family and Wentworth House. Katherine Kick Kennedy was an Anglophile whose husband, the Marquis of Hartington and Devonshire heir, was killed in the war. Her relationship with his friend, Peter Fitzwilliam, fills the final chapters of the book. Their story along with the sad travails of Wentworth House and it's fate after the war meld to illustrate the demise of the aristocratic way of life that had existed throughout the Victorian era. While Wentworth House remained in the family after the stock market crash while many other estates were being sold off, it could not survive the War years and the vendetta carried out by the Ministry of Fuel and Power to break the family's ties to the house. Unnecessary strip mining consuming all in its path including the famous Fitzwilliam gardens, put a final end to an era and way of life that is only left to the ghosts of the past or avidly watched programs like Downton Abby.
I highly recommend this book to all who have an interest in the social history of England between 1902 and the 1950s.
Concomitant with the story of the Earls Fitzwilliams, is the story of the wretchedly poor mining community which was part of the great Yorkshire holdings of the family. Half of the book is devoted to their daily life and the hideous conditions under which they lived. Leading up to World War I, the threat of miners striking was constant, and sadly the government whether Tory or Labour sided with the mine owners which by this time were no longer the old aristocracy but rather coal owning corporations. It was unfortunate that the public equated the Miners' unions with communism and there was little sympathy in Parliament for the striking miners. By 1926 they were driven by starvation and poverty to return to work, but by this time, dependence on imported coal insured that many miners never worked again. Childhood mortality during this period totaled 250 out of 1000 died from disease and poor nutrition.
One of the last Fitzwilliam earls was Peter, an only son who after a wild and profligate youth became a well-respected and daring hero in World War II. His involvement with Kick Kennedy, sister of President John Kennedy is part of the story of the final days of the Fitzwilliam family and Wentworth House. Katherine Kick Kennedy was an Anglophile whose husband, the Marquis of Hartington and Devonshire heir, was killed in the war. Her relationship with his friend, Peter Fitzwilliam, fills the final chapters of the book. Their story along with the sad travails of Wentworth House and it's fate after the war meld to illustrate the demise of the aristocratic way of life that had existed throughout the Victorian era. While Wentworth House remained in the family after the stock market crash while many other estates were being sold off, it could not survive the War years and the vendetta carried out by the Ministry of Fuel and Power to break the family's ties to the house. Unnecessary strip mining consuming all in its path including the famous Fitzwilliam gardens, put a final end to an era and way of life that is only left to the ghosts of the past or avidly watched programs like Downton Abby.
I highly recommend this book to all who have an interest in the social history of England between 1902 and the 1950s.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
THE BEAUTIFUL AMERICAN by Jeanne Mackin (f)
Mackin has written a novel about a couple of American ex-pats living in France spanning the years from the 1920s through World War II. In "The Great Gatsby," the story is about Nick Carraway, but he is not the main character, Gatsby is. In Mackin's book, the story is about Nora Tours, but in the same way Gatsby is the main character, Lee Miller is the focus of most of this book. This makes the Nora's story somewhat awkward, as Lee is the more central and interesting character. The action of the story flows around her. Nora's story pales in comparison with Lee's. Lee Millar was a real person, famous in her lifetime, first as a model for Vogue, then as the mistress and inspiration for Man Ray. Like Gatsby, she was living in the fast lane. Lee Miller was a talented photographer in her own right and became famous for her war photos during World War II. Some say her experiences during the war had a direct effect on the tragic turn her later life took. During the 20s and 30s she ran around with Picasso, Charlie Chaplin, Jean Cocteau and was inspirational in the surrealist movement of the art world. She was incredibly beautiful and brilliant men seemed unable to resist her charms.
Whenever an author inserts real people in her fiction, she runs the risk of that character being the center of attention, and the main character of the story takes on a secondary role, which is what happens in this book. Nora Tours and her high school sweetheart, Jamie run off to Paris to realize their romantic dreams of making a splash in the art world and Paris is where it is all happening. Mackin has her two lovers come from the same small New York town that Miller was from, thus the connection is made when they run into her in Paris. The twosome becomes a threesome and Miller introduces them to her inner circles. Jamie goes to work for Man Ray, but he just doesn't have the talent that the art world recognizes and he becomes a sort of go'fer for the great photographer. Nora is more interesting than Jamie, but cannot seem to get out from under Lee's shadow.
As the plot moves along toward the invasion of France in World War II, the characters' lives take different turns and Nora finds herself living in Grasse, the famous perfume center of France. It turns out Nora has a particular talent for identifying perfumes and a nose for what works. Nora has a child, Dahlia, and her fate moves the story along to its climax and the reuniting of the main characters.
I found the most interesting thing about this book is that it spurred me on to find out more about Lee Miller and a biography written by Carolyn Burke. Miller was a fascinating woman living in an era when success wasn't always guaranteed to a talented female in the art world. As for this novel, it was interesting enough to keep me reading, but may have been even better with Miller as the central character.
Whenever an author inserts real people in her fiction, she runs the risk of that character being the center of attention, and the main character of the story takes on a secondary role, which is what happens in this book. Nora Tours and her high school sweetheart, Jamie run off to Paris to realize their romantic dreams of making a splash in the art world and Paris is where it is all happening. Mackin has her two lovers come from the same small New York town that Miller was from, thus the connection is made when they run into her in Paris. The twosome becomes a threesome and Miller introduces them to her inner circles. Jamie goes to work for Man Ray, but he just doesn't have the talent that the art world recognizes and he becomes a sort of go'fer for the great photographer. Nora is more interesting than Jamie, but cannot seem to get out from under Lee's shadow.
As the plot moves along toward the invasion of France in World War II, the characters' lives take different turns and Nora finds herself living in Grasse, the famous perfume center of France. It turns out Nora has a particular talent for identifying perfumes and a nose for what works. Nora has a child, Dahlia, and her fate moves the story along to its climax and the reuniting of the main characters.
I found the most interesting thing about this book is that it spurred me on to find out more about Lee Miller and a biography written by Carolyn Burke. Miller was a fascinating woman living in an era when success wasn't always guaranteed to a talented female in the art world. As for this novel, it was interesting enough to keep me reading, but may have been even better with Miller as the central character.
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
NAPOLEON, A LIFE by Andrew Roberts (non-fic)
Many books have been written about Napoleon Bonaparte, and he is a familiar yet still controversial figure when it comes to assigning his merits and failings. Roberts's account of Napoleon's life is very readable and lengthy. It is complimented with many illustrations and maps of battles, as well as portraits of the various principals of the story. Roberts did a massive amount of research on his subject. He portrays Napoleon in a positive light, particularly for his military genius and his reorganization of the French government and laws. Much of the Napoleonic Code is still in use today, including the state of Louisiana and Quebec. Roberts writes a very complete account of Napoleon's many campaigns and battles and reveals his personal life through the many letters he wrote, 33 thousand or more. Apparently Bonaparte didn't sleep much and did a lot of his planning and writing throughout the night. He was a great micro-manager. Often during a campaign, he would digress to make sure his soldiers were well equipped, fed, and cared for. Or he would dash off a letter advising his aides or wife to tend to an issue of minor importance in the light of the battle which was raging around him.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in Corsica and early on demonstrated he had a genius for military planning. He was an indefatigable worker and quickly rose through the ranks with his brilliant mind and courageous daring. He attended the exclusive Ecole Militaire in Paris, which was quite impressive given his humble background. During the time of his ascendancy France was a failing country which he eventually turned into a super power in Europe. He became Emperor in 1804 until 1814 when he was defeated by the coalition of England, Prussia, Austria and Russia and exiled to Elba. He made a daring escape from the island and again regained the imperial crown for a short time in 1815. We all know he was then sent to the remote Atlantic Island of St. Helena on which he died in 1821 of stomach cancer. He was 51 years old.
Applying today's standards, Napoleon live a short life, but his accomplishments were mighty. Roberts doesn't spend a lot of time on his personal life. It is hard to know if Napoleon was able to form strong bonds with women. His letters and relationships seem to be somewhat sophomoric. He had many mistresses and one-night stands. Josephine, famous in her own right, was the love of his life, yet he readily divorced her to marry Maria Louise of Austria when it seemed politically expedient to do so.
The alliances with and against Napoleon were constantly shifting. For all his successes, Bonaparte had some spectacular defeats--in Egypt, on the sea (he was no match for Nelson's superior knowledge of sea battles), his failed "Continental System" for blockading English goods, and his extricating his armies from Russia after his failed attempt to lay siege to Moscow. The Russians burned the city and abandoned it leaving him and his troops to freeze and starve their way through the frozen and desolate Ukraine. The wily Prince Metternich of Austria and Tsar Alexander were on and off again adversaries. His once trusted advisor Talleyrand turned on him while enriching himself. The brilliant tactician Wellington finally and for all time defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. In the end Napoleon's reach exceeded his grasp. He just could not stop "playing soldiers."
I highly recommend this biography of Napoleon to all who have an interest in him and his times, as well as to the general reader who would like to know more about the great battles for supremacy in Europe in the early 19th century.
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 in Corsica and early on demonstrated he had a genius for military planning. He was an indefatigable worker and quickly rose through the ranks with his brilliant mind and courageous daring. He attended the exclusive Ecole Militaire in Paris, which was quite impressive given his humble background. During the time of his ascendancy France was a failing country which he eventually turned into a super power in Europe. He became Emperor in 1804 until 1814 when he was defeated by the coalition of England, Prussia, Austria and Russia and exiled to Elba. He made a daring escape from the island and again regained the imperial crown for a short time in 1815. We all know he was then sent to the remote Atlantic Island of St. Helena on which he died in 1821 of stomach cancer. He was 51 years old.
Applying today's standards, Napoleon live a short life, but his accomplishments were mighty. Roberts doesn't spend a lot of time on his personal life. It is hard to know if Napoleon was able to form strong bonds with women. His letters and relationships seem to be somewhat sophomoric. He had many mistresses and one-night stands. Josephine, famous in her own right, was the love of his life, yet he readily divorced her to marry Maria Louise of Austria when it seemed politically expedient to do so.
The alliances with and against Napoleon were constantly shifting. For all his successes, Bonaparte had some spectacular defeats--in Egypt, on the sea (he was no match for Nelson's superior knowledge of sea battles), his failed "Continental System" for blockading English goods, and his extricating his armies from Russia after his failed attempt to lay siege to Moscow. The Russians burned the city and abandoned it leaving him and his troops to freeze and starve their way through the frozen and desolate Ukraine. The wily Prince Metternich of Austria and Tsar Alexander were on and off again adversaries. His once trusted advisor Talleyrand turned on him while enriching himself. The brilliant tactician Wellington finally and for all time defeated Napoleon at Waterloo. In the end Napoleon's reach exceeded his grasp. He just could not stop "playing soldiers."
I highly recommend this biography of Napoleon to all who have an interest in him and his times, as well as to the general reader who would like to know more about the great battles for supremacy in Europe in the early 19th century.
Monday, January 18, 2016
FRIDAY ON MY MIND by Nicci French (fic)
This is the fifth book in the Frieda Klein series of mystery thrillers by the husband and wife team of writers known as Nicci French. One should begin with the Monday book of the series, to make sense of Frieda Klein and what moves her single mindedness in tracking down her nemesis, Dean Reeve. The other books in the series have all been reviewed in previous postings.
The Nicci French team is particularly clever at building suspense and this book is no exception. I read it in two sittings. I won't say why, but once again, I felt let down when I finished the book. To know whether this is the end of the series or it is to be continued, you must read the book yourself. I can say that once you begin this series, you feel obliged to soldier on until the mystery is finally solved, good for the authors, but can be tiresome for the reader.
The Nicci French team is particularly clever at building suspense and this book is no exception. I read it in two sittings. I won't say why, but once again, I felt let down when I finished the book. To know whether this is the end of the series or it is to be continued, you must read the book yourself. I can say that once you begin this series, you feel obliged to soldier on until the mystery is finally solved, good for the authors, but can be tiresome for the reader.
A GOD IN RUINS by Kate Atkinson (fic)
This richly written book is a sequel of sorts to Atkinson's wonderful "Life After Life," which was reviewed in a previous posting. This time, Atkinson focuses on Teddy Todd the brother who also appeared in the previous novel, though his sister Ursula was the subject of that book. Again, four generations of Todds hold our attention and interest. The setting is post World War II England and Teddy, the god of the title is now married to his former sweetheart Nancy. Since war is man's greatest fall from grace, Teddy muddles through life trying to make sense of the part he played in the war and reconcile it with his placid post-war life. He has one child, a spoiled daughter named Viola who grows into a nasty piece of work. It is only at the end of the book that one can scrape up a bit of sympathy for this unpleasant character, who seems to work overtime to ruin the lives of her two children.
The story first takes us back to Fox Corner and Teddy's childhood in the 1920s and leaves us in the 1980s of Teddy's grandchildren. Atkinson has an amazing knowledge of World War II aircraft and their capabilities, and she presents bombing raids conducted over Germany in the most realistic manner. Teddy made 70 bombing runs over Germany as an ace RAF pilot. The chapters dealing with Teddy's part in the war are exciting and admirable in their depth. In this she rivals another of my favorite authors, Pat Barker, who writes realistically about the First World War and its affect on the combatants in a post-war world.
Teddy's relationship with his beloved wife, his grandchildren, and the Todd family reveal him to be a complex and caring man doing his best in a changed society. As for his daughter, Viola, who bubbles and simmers with anger, it is only at the end of the book that the reader discovers the secret of the discontent that colored her life.
The last section of the book which covers Teddy's old age with all the aches and pains of adapting to modern mores and society's treatment of the elderly, is particularly moving. As he nears death, Teddy realizes that he has lived his life along the lines of advice his father had once given him as a child, "neither sink nor float, just sort of paddle about in the middle."
The final chapter in the book comes full circle and leads the reader to an understanding of the author's purpose in writing this novel as well as "Life After Life." It all becomes clear in the Author's note. As Atkinson says, "It's about fiction and how we must imagine what we cannot know."
I highly recommend this book. It can be read alone, but is more enjoyable if one has read "Life After Life," first. When the reader finally realizes what Atkinson has been about in these two books, it leaves one admiring of her creative ability and writing talent.
The story first takes us back to Fox Corner and Teddy's childhood in the 1920s and leaves us in the 1980s of Teddy's grandchildren. Atkinson has an amazing knowledge of World War II aircraft and their capabilities, and she presents bombing raids conducted over Germany in the most realistic manner. Teddy made 70 bombing runs over Germany as an ace RAF pilot. The chapters dealing with Teddy's part in the war are exciting and admirable in their depth. In this she rivals another of my favorite authors, Pat Barker, who writes realistically about the First World War and its affect on the combatants in a post-war world.
Teddy's relationship with his beloved wife, his grandchildren, and the Todd family reveal him to be a complex and caring man doing his best in a changed society. As for his daughter, Viola, who bubbles and simmers with anger, it is only at the end of the book that the reader discovers the secret of the discontent that colored her life.
The last section of the book which covers Teddy's old age with all the aches and pains of adapting to modern mores and society's treatment of the elderly, is particularly moving. As he nears death, Teddy realizes that he has lived his life along the lines of advice his father had once given him as a child, "neither sink nor float, just sort of paddle about in the middle."
The final chapter in the book comes full circle and leads the reader to an understanding of the author's purpose in writing this novel as well as "Life After Life." It all becomes clear in the Author's note. As Atkinson says, "It's about fiction and how we must imagine what we cannot know."
I highly recommend this book. It can be read alone, but is more enjoyable if one has read "Life After Life," first. When the reader finally realizes what Atkinson has been about in these two books, it leaves one admiring of her creative ability and writing talent.
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