November 22, 1963 is a day that many will not soon forget. That is the day that President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Tx. Ask anyone who was old enough that day to remember where they were when they heard the news and they can tell you. Harvey Oswald was arrested as the shooter, but before he could confirm that he acted alone and fired the fatal shot, he was gunned down by Jack Ruby. There was an intense investigation by the Warren Commission and still some of those files have never been released to the public. The speculation about what happened that day in Dallas has led people to create their own conspiracy theories and details for the actions that took place there between the green and the book depository.
So Lou Berney has joined the group of authors using the historic events of November 1963 to create another theory on . what could have happened in Dallas and its ramifications on the people involved.
Back in the '60s the Mob and organized crime loomed large. Berney brings us the New Orleans mob boss, Carlos Marcello. Could it possible that he was responsible for the assassination of a president? Frank Guidry has been a loyal street lieutenant of the mob boss for years, but he know that if anyone person gets too much information they are expendable.
When the country hears the news reports of a shooter in the Book Depository in Dallas, Guidry connects it to a getaway car he left in a local garage. He realizes that his time may be up.
Charlotte is feeling suffocated in her small town, her failing marriage and dead end job. On an impulse she gathers her two daughters, Rosemary and Joan and the epileptic dog in the car after Sunday dinner and drives off from her Oklahoma town toward an aunt she vaguely remembers in California. Leaving her alcholic husband behind, she plans to start over and live "the future she might have had". She thinks to herself as she watches her daughters playing, "The tornado might have blown Dorothy from Kansas to Oz, but Dorothy was the one who'd had to open the front door of the farmhouse and step outside."
In an uncharacteristic move Charlotte gathers the children and heads out the door. Her path crosses with Guidry and their interactions and relationship are the meat of this plot. Watching each character grow and change. The love story developing as they both are hiding some facts from each other and trying to save themselves. Each person caught in their own personal moral dilemma. How a chance meeting can change the course of your life. How the one action can affect so many different lives in unknown ways.
This is an enticing story and entertaining read. Guidry is on the run to save himself. Charlotte is heading to California to save herself. When their lives interconnect at a small run down motel in New Mexico both of their lives are taking a new unexpected path. This is a love story and a very interesting new way to imagine the Kennedy assassination.
Monday, August 20, 2018
Wednesday, August 15, 2018
My Lady's Choosing
This is so much not my usual genre of reading material, and I only picked it up because a friend pointed it out to me. Written by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris who are creative and must be very organized to have curated this.
Though, I have always enjoyed the kids interactive books when they were younger, so I was definitely curious to see what this was about. The most intriguing part of the book is how it is written and organized. I think the most amazing part of this is how they arrange the pages and keep everything straight. That must be more complicated than writing a straight novel. So are never reading this book in a linear fashion, you are always skipping around depending on whether you want to follow love interest A or leave the country with character B.
Of course it is a very light read and corny but interesting to see how at the end of a page you are offered a choice of how you want to proceed with the story line and taken to another page which changes depending on the storyline you follow. I will not even outline it and there is no character development at all. The plot is designed around regency characters looking for romance and of course there is a family scandal that is presented at a formal ball. There is some sexual innuendo and a visit to a brothel. But only if you take that path. There is also travel to Egypt if you choose a different path. So in the end it is more the fun of the puzzle than the plot that matters.
Though, I have always enjoyed the kids interactive books when they were younger, so I was definitely curious to see what this was about. The most intriguing part of the book is how it is written and organized. I think the most amazing part of this is how they arrange the pages and keep everything straight. That must be more complicated than writing a straight novel. So are never reading this book in a linear fashion, you are always skipping around depending on whether you want to follow love interest A or leave the country with character B.
Of course it is a very light read and corny but interesting to see how at the end of a page you are offered a choice of how you want to proceed with the story line and taken to another page which changes depending on the storyline you follow. I will not even outline it and there is no character development at all. The plot is designed around regency characters looking for romance and of course there is a family scandal that is presented at a formal ball. There is some sexual innuendo and a visit to a brothel. But only if you take that path. There is also travel to Egypt if you choose a different path. So in the end it is more the fun of the puzzle than the plot that matters.
Saturday, August 11, 2018
Gentlemen Formerly Dressed
Sulari Gentil has written another great mystery novel! Each novel builds on the previous one and each one is better than the last. Gentil had me captivated . with the first of this series but I must say I did not realize how much better they would each get. I look forward to each one and luckily for me there is no wait because the whole series has been written and it is just a matter of having them published in the Unites States.
I will not go into too much detail because I have reviewed this series a number of times here.
Needless to say, Rowland Sinclair and his unusual group of associates, Edna the sculptress, Clyde, the painter and Milton, the plagiarizing poet are now in Britain. Traveling home from Germany they have stopped on the way back to Australia. They run into trouble, when they want to share with people in authority what they have learnt is happening in Germany.
A body is found and Rowland is there when the young girl who discovers the body needs to be taken home. Ever the chivalrous gentleman he gets involved in trying to find the real killer so this young girl will not spend too much time as the accused killer.
Gentil wraps her story around the history of what was happening in the world in 1933. Bringing in many real events; The London Economic Conference, and so many real people, some of them very scandalous, including; H.G. Wells, Winston Churchill, Wallis Simpson, Josslyn Hay and the author, Evelyn Waugh.
Again I say these books are a wonderful way to while away some time lost in the past and enjoying the scandals of this historic moment.
I will not go into too much detail because I have reviewed this series a number of times here.
Needless to say, Rowland Sinclair and his unusual group of associates, Edna the sculptress, Clyde, the painter and Milton, the plagiarizing poet are now in Britain. Traveling home from Germany they have stopped on the way back to Australia. They run into trouble, when they want to share with people in authority what they have learnt is happening in Germany.
A body is found and Rowland is there when the young girl who discovers the body needs to be taken home. Ever the chivalrous gentleman he gets involved in trying to find the real killer so this young girl will not spend too much time as the accused killer.
Gentil wraps her story around the history of what was happening in the world in 1933. Bringing in many real events; The London Economic Conference, and so many real people, some of them very scandalous, including; H.G. Wells, Winston Churchill, Wallis Simpson, Josslyn Hay and the author, Evelyn Waugh.
Again I say these books are a wonderful way to while away some time lost in the past and enjoying the scandals of this historic moment.
Friday, August 10, 2018
Carnegie's Maid
Marie Benedict has wowed me yet again. I loved her book, The Other Einstein. I find that these historical fiction novels bring you pieces of history that may never have come to light in a very entertaining format. Carnegie's Maid follows a similar pattern. Though Benedict does point out in Author's Note that this is a research based fictional story, there is actually no basis in fact that there was a maid who influenced Andrew Carnegie to become the man he was.
So to start with the facts that are true, Andrew Carnegie started out an impoverished immigrant, who was bright but had no access to education. He did travel across the United States to New York City from his home in Pittsburgh, PA. He did go on a Grand Tour of Europe and wrote The Gospel of Wealth. It is also thought that he pledged in December of 1868, at the age of thirty three, to focus on education and "improvement of the poorer classes" in a letter he wrote to himself. Andrew Carnegie became the world's first true philanthropist.
So Benedict uses the historical setting of Irish immigrants coming to America looking for a better life and interweaves it with the life of the Carnegie family living in Pittsburgh. She imagines the relationship between Mrs Carnegie and her lady's maid. The reader is there with Clara Kelley as she sails on the boat, in steerage class, from Ireland to America. Kelley is given a lucky break when she ends up in the Carnegie home, walking from the kitchen to the front parlor, "As the decor grew more elaborate - the molding changing from simple blond pine to intricately carved mahogany and the window glass shifting from clear to stained glass in vivid patterns of cobalt blue, persimmon and citrine - the air grew colder."
She writes home through out the book keeping in touch with her sister, who along with cousins living a very different lifestyle in the "Slab Town" area of Pittsburgh, keeps the reader up to date on the famine and political unrest in Ireland. While here in America, the Civil War is ending and the industrial revolution is growing. Andrew Carnegie is there taking full advantage of the changing landscape of our country.
There are many similarities between our main characters, Clara and Andrew, and there are many similarities between the lives of the rich and poor. One example that stands out is that in Ireland, as the Kelley family is losing their farm land, they want to marry Clara's sister to a local young man to take over the farm. In the United States, Andrew's brother, Tom, is also marring for convenience.
His father-in-law raises a glass and toasts the couple, "We feel blessed to be joining the Carnegie and Coleman families and would like everyone to raise a glass to our fruitful union." The two men were joining the iron manufacturing and oil drilling businesses.
This wonderful novel gives insight into a part of history, leads the reader to want to find out more about the characters, and the history, while providing a very entertaining story.
So to start with the facts that are true, Andrew Carnegie started out an impoverished immigrant, who was bright but had no access to education. He did travel across the United States to New York City from his home in Pittsburgh, PA. He did go on a Grand Tour of Europe and wrote The Gospel of Wealth. It is also thought that he pledged in December of 1868, at the age of thirty three, to focus on education and "improvement of the poorer classes" in a letter he wrote to himself. Andrew Carnegie became the world's first true philanthropist.
So Benedict uses the historical setting of Irish immigrants coming to America looking for a better life and interweaves it with the life of the Carnegie family living in Pittsburgh. She imagines the relationship between Mrs Carnegie and her lady's maid. The reader is there with Clara Kelley as she sails on the boat, in steerage class, from Ireland to America. Kelley is given a lucky break when she ends up in the Carnegie home, walking from the kitchen to the front parlor, "As the decor grew more elaborate - the molding changing from simple blond pine to intricately carved mahogany and the window glass shifting from clear to stained glass in vivid patterns of cobalt blue, persimmon and citrine - the air grew colder."
She writes home through out the book keeping in touch with her sister, who along with cousins living a very different lifestyle in the "Slab Town" area of Pittsburgh, keeps the reader up to date on the famine and political unrest in Ireland. While here in America, the Civil War is ending and the industrial revolution is growing. Andrew Carnegie is there taking full advantage of the changing landscape of our country.
There are many similarities between our main characters, Clara and Andrew, and there are many similarities between the lives of the rich and poor. One example that stands out is that in Ireland, as the Kelley family is losing their farm land, they want to marry Clara's sister to a local young man to take over the farm. In the United States, Andrew's brother, Tom, is also marring for convenience.
His father-in-law raises a glass and toasts the couple, "We feel blessed to be joining the Carnegie and Coleman families and would like everyone to raise a glass to our fruitful union." The two men were joining the iron manufacturing and oil drilling businesses.
This wonderful novel gives insight into a part of history, leads the reader to want to find out more about the characters, and the history, while providing a very entertaining story.
Monday, August 6, 2018
Questioning Return
So many of my American friends have said that when their plane landed in Israel and they stepped off into the Holy Land for the first time they would kiss the ground. They found the experience extremely moving. Since the end of World War II, the Jewish people and the Land of Israel have had a special relationship that seems different than citizens of any other country have with a physical place. To add to the connection, the tie between the location and a religion. So the Jewish person is connected to Israel not only by nationality but also by religion.
Beth Kissileff explores the concept of baalei teshuvah, Jews who are discovering a tradition once lost to them in her new novel, Questioning Return. The story of the intense pull both the State of Israel and the Jewish religion can have on a person. The protagonist in this novel, Wendy Goldberg, is a Princeton University graduate student writing her dissertation. Her plan is to interview American Jews who have come to connect more intensely to the Jewish religion. They are captivated by the ultra orthodox Judaism that has never been apart of their lives before. Wendy plans to question their motivations and write her thesis on the road to her academic and career success.
Beth Kissileff explores the concept of baalei teshuvah, Jews who are discovering a tradition once lost to them in her new novel, Questioning Return. The story of the intense pull both the State of Israel and the Jewish religion can have on a person. The protagonist in this novel, Wendy Goldberg, is a Princeton University graduate student writing her dissertation. Her plan is to interview American Jews who have come to connect more intensely to the Jewish religion. They are captivated by the ultra orthodox Judaism that has never been apart of their lives before. Wendy plans to question their motivations and write her thesis on the road to her academic and career success.
We watch as Wendy lands in Israel and finds her way around Jerusalem. She is meeting people, learning how to speak Hebrew at Ulpan, using her new knowledge of the language as she buys groceries and handles day to day life. As Wendy becomes emerced in the lifestyle the novel becomes more of a personal exploration as the plot develops. Wendy finds herself alone in Israel, learning about herself as she questions others. Her own introspection becomes part of the storyline. Wendy explains to others that her impetus for writing her dissertation about baalei teshuvah is because of never understanding her friend's sister who became religious, but as the book moves along we see that it may be Wendy working out her own questions of where she fits into the Jewish religion. As she meets potential friends in Jerusalem she explains her story to them, "I've always wondered how people can change? This is my chance to find out. I have this friend Nina whose sister Debbie, now Devorah, became religious. Debbie was always worried about her looks and what people would think of her. When she became religious, she was still the same, except now she worries about how her sheitel looks and if her sleeves are long enough."
Wendy has questions about her own place within Judaism and about her career. She is concerned with being in control of her destiny. She is questioning the ability of a person who makes radical changes to their lives. Wondering if they can still retain the core beliefs and personality of who they really are. Control is an underlying theme throughout the book. Wendy is always vigilant to make sure she does not give up her goals of academic success and thoughts of a career when she gets involved in a relationship. She is always questioning whether she can have love and a career at the same time. While she is anxious to be successful with her dissertation, looking for love and marriage is very much on her mind.
Meeting Uri, a religious student of psychology, at a party and starting a romantic relationship takes Wendy through self examination. Could she give up something of herself to fit in another person?
Can she compromise on religious practice and maybe stay in Israel for another person?
Wendy and Uri explore their friendship, she wonders, can she safely soften her expectations and protective shell, "It's tough...I prefer being analytical observer to emotional and vulnerable participant. I want my dissertation to be like that - precise, rigorous, carefully etched, solid, but with reticulations of nerves and emotions running through, to keep it from being completely hard." As she is speaking the reader may be wondering if she is just describing her thesis paper or really her own personal feelings of protection, afraid to get to close to another person or religious belief for fear of losing herself.
In an interview with baalei teshuvah, Rachel, Wendy receives some very good advice including the thought that life is not an all or nothing proposition, "some people ...can't allow themselves the slightest chink in the armor of their faith, because they think it will make the entire suit crumble."
Wendy and Uri explore their friendship, she wonders, can she safely soften her expectations and protective shell, "It's tough...I prefer being analytical observer to emotional and vulnerable participant. I want my dissertation to be like that - precise, rigorous, carefully etched, solid, but with reticulations of nerves and emotions running through, to keep it from being completely hard." As she is speaking the reader may be wondering if she is just describing her thesis paper or really her own personal feelings of protection, afraid to get to close to another person or religious belief for fear of losing herself.
In an interview with baalei teshuvah, Rachel, Wendy receives some very good advice including the thought that life is not an all or nothing proposition, "some people ...can't allow themselves the slightest chink in the armor of their faith, because they think it will make the entire suit crumble."
As Wendy interviews her subjects she gets some great advice for herself, though some people are afraid of weakness, we can all take heed from interviewee, Rachel’s words; "To get to certainty or understanding, you need questioning and not knowing. If you don't bring up those doubts, you can't proceed beyond them.", one of her subjects informs her.Throughout the book there are beautiful descriptions of Israel. Kissileff takes the reader on a tour of Jerusalem as she describes in detail the streets of the city, Machane Yehuda Market, the Old City and the cobblestone streets of the German Colony. As her characters walk through the city you feel you are right there encountering the tastes, smells and sounds of the market and city with them. Jerusalem plays almost as important role in shaping each of the characters as the people they interact with. Could there really be something different about Israel that draws people to it?
Life is all about balance. You need to be able to feel confident in who you are, so that you can accept others. You need to create a balance in life. To welcome in different ideas and beliefs. To enjoy the religious life with the secular. Be careful not to cut yourself off from experiences out of fear, but to embrace every opportunity that comes along and enjoy it in the moment. Start with reading about Wendy and her tribulations and triumphs.
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