The Extra

A.B. Yehoshua has written a novel that through the story of Noga, a woman who has returned to Israel from abroad illustrates the conflict between religious and secular Jews and with Arabs living in Jerusalem.  Yehoshua is one of the Israeli writers who is thinks Judaism cannot survive without Israel.  He sees Israel's future impossible as it is.  Jews are the uninvited guests who cannot leave because they are also among the hosts of the party.

Noga, a harpist, who grew up in the Jerusalem apartment she has come back to watch over, left when as a professional musician she could not find work in an Israeli orchestra.  She has come back to help her brother Honi with an experiment with their mother.  After a long very close marriage, her father has passed away.  Honi wants to move his mother out of the family apartment in a neighborhood section of Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, where he now lives with his wife and children.  His mother is not sure she is ready for assisted living.  She proposes an experiment that will bring Noga back from the Netherlands to live in the rent controlled apartment while she tries out assisted living.

Noga agrees to the experiment for three months.  Leaving her position in the orchestra, they promise to wait to play Mozart's Concerto for Flute and Harp until she returns.  She leaves behind her harp and does not arrange for a substitute which means she will not practice her instrument for three months.  Her brother arranges for her to be an extra in some television projects that are in production while she is in Israel.  This is to keep her busy and earn some money.  Now that she is back in Israel she is open to conversations about the experiment and also her personal life.  She is divorced and has no children.  Why people want to know doesn't she have any children?  Is it because she cannot?  No she tells people she is divorced because she did not want children.  Her music is her life.

Slowly the plot advances.  More and more information is released helping the reader understand Noga and her feelings.  Also we see her interactions with her mother and brother as they try to understand the woman who did not want children of her own.  At one point her mother,  who thinks that having a child is the answer to everything, says,  “Listen to what a wise woman has to say to a beloved daughter, hear me out and don’t interrupt. Give him that child, give it to him, and that way something real from you will stay in the world, not just musical notes that vanish into thin air. Make an effort, then go back to your music. Give birth to a child, and I will help him raise it.”

Noga has many interactions that bring her touch with children.   In her apartment building two Haredi children from downstairs break into her apartment to watch TV forbidden to them in their own home. An encounter with her ex-husband, who has remarried and has two children.  In her work as an extra she is apart of a greater story but not really a lead character in the moving the plot of those programs forward.   Always on the side or in the background.  Noga is trying to redefine her life and figure out who she really wants to be.


This is a story of every woman's dilemma, balancing children and work, family and career.  Also it is a story of balancing elderly parents and how much the children should be involved as caregivers and how long the parents can remain independent.   The reader and the family are all watching and wondering how the experiment will resolve itself.  it is quite a puzzling story, that the reader must follow closely as it develops to a slow crescendo.

Murder at the 42nd Street Library

A new mystery series has been launched by Con Lehane.  Ray Ambler, amateur detective and the curator for the mystery and crime fiction collection of the New York Public Library joins forces with NYPD homicide detective Peter Cosgrove to solve the murder of a fellow employee at the iconic library.

Con Lehane, who has written a series of mysteries that features Brian McNutley, an Irish bartender, who is along with mixing great drinks and telling Irish stories is a good listener.  He solves crimes in his own series and now appears in the neighborhood where Ray Ambler goes for his after work drinks.  Ambler calls on McNutley for his listening skills and assistance.

In this first mystery novel we are introduced to Ambler and some of the colleagues at the Library. The story begins when Harry Larkin, library supervisor who is sitting at the entrance to the second floor of the library narrowly escapes being shot as a murder is taking place right at the door.  Word spreads through the Library employees and Ambler who enjoys reading crime fiction decides to help investigate.  There is also Adele who works at the library and seems to be a romantic interest for Ambler.  She also is someone who gets involved with solving the mysteries presented in this book.

A new acquisition recently donated to the library of a famous writer's papers has many characters who are necessary to this particular plot line coming to the library to do research.  There is a controversy over who should be allowed to write the author's biography and the candidates for this position are arguing and using different methods to get access to the materials donated to the library. Could this be a incentive for murder?  The plot is further complicated by the disappearance of the famous writer's daughter many years ago and a search by these biographers to reach her first for added material for their books.  In the meantime, Adele has moved to a new apartment and is getting involved with a young boy and his mother and asks Ray for assistance helping out this young family.

This is a complicated set of events to follow, with many characters who are intertwined and a bit hard to keep straight.  Who is married to whom and who knew who in college?  There were a few times where as the reader I thought I had the mystery all figured out,  my killer was murdered.  Though I did realize one piece of the puzzle before it was explained the book itself and the main characters are interesting enough to make me want to see where things will develop in the next book of the series. So I am looking forward to meeting up with Ray Ambler, Adele, McNulty and Mike Cosgrove again.

Murder in Marais

Cara Black has written a terrific mystery set in Paris.  Her descriptions are wonderful and detailed. You can almost feel like you are in Paris.  Her plot line is in depth and keeps the reader guessing which direction the mystery will go to the end.  This is a thrilling quick-paced novel with plenty of red herrings and misdirection.

Le Marais is the historic Jewish district of Paris spreading across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris.  During World War II this area was targeted by the Nazis when they were occupying France.  Here many jews were rounded up and taken to concentration camps.

In this first in the series novel, Aimee LeDuc, a private investigator who usually only takes corporate security cases, is on the trail of killer, who has ties to the Nazis.  At first its seems she is being asked to find a missing person, but when that woman turns up dead, LeDuc is off on a much more violent, dangerous search. This search takes her into a Nazi supremacist group who are intent on creating violent disturbances around modern day Paris in hopes of disrupting a meeting of the European Union delegates attending the trade summit that is arranged to be taking place at the Place de la Concorde.

One man, Hartmuth Griffe, a German trade advisor, is returning to Paris for the first time since he served in the German army during the occupation.  He is staying at the Hotel Pavillion de la Reine in Marais with all the memories that stirs up for him.  He has a secret he is holding close to his chest.
There are others in the French government that are also hiding secrets.

As LeDuc investigates the murder of the woman she was asked to find, other people she speaks to are also dying unexpectedly. Then she is personally threatened.  Aimee is not one to give in to threats, so she just starts searching deeper.  When the Interpol Inspecteur Morbier , her mentor, is called of the case she knows she is on the right path.  The trail of violence and intrigue will lead all the way to the top of a corrupt government.

A story that intertwines the Holocaust and its violence with the human condition and love.  That balances the results of war with human life.  Aimee interviews older residents asking about their recollections of the war years, a time they would rather forget.  Clara Black intersperses the backdrop of the war and the round ups in Marais against the modern day City of Lights.  And just to add a bit of spice to the novel LeDuc gets involved with a Aryan sympathizer as she tries to unravel the complex circumstances that surround the murder of Lili Stern.

City of Secrets

Stewart O'Nan has written a captivating plot of espionage and intrigue that also gives the reader insight into what life was like when Jews escaped Europe to Jerusalem in 1945.  At this point in history, Israel was not yet a state flowing with milk and honey.  This is a story that gives the reader insight into the relationship between Arabs, Jews living in Palestine, Jews coming over from Europe and all the different groups interactions with the British.  The British rulers control Palestine and have strict quotas for immigration of Jews.  The Haganah and other underground groups are working to expel the British and make Palestine an open state that will welcome all Jews.

Israel is still called Palestine when our main character, Brand comes to escape the horrors of the Holocaust. He has survived but at the tremendous cost of losing his entire family.  He is constantly wrestling with the question; why did I survive when so many did not?  He takes on his false identity and joins the underground for the protection it offers.  He feels a need to give back and make a statement.  This time he tells himself he will not go like a sheep to slaughter.  So he joins a resistance group, the Irgun, a pro-violence, paramilitary organization.  As part of the Haganah their mission was to drive out the British and make Palestine a homeland for the Jews.  Brand is a man who has lost respect in himself. His contact, Asher, seems to believe in him. He starts to think they may be right as he drives members of the Irgun to destinations, also transporting guns and bombs, and taking part in raids.

Brand is not so sure he agrees with the resistance's theory of attacking as a means solving problems. He is entrusted with secret information about bombing buses, buildings and trains.  He is given a gun to carry.  Brand is given a old Peugeot, stolen and refitted with a false bottom to hold guns and bombs, using a false registration along with his false papers is a taxi driver.

He also is the driver for many of the cell's assignments. But there are many questions that cannot be asked.  There are so many secrets.  There are the secrets of identity, everyone has a false name and a new business.  There are secrets of the organization, who is involved or not. There are the secret missions.   He would prefer the Jewish Agency's method of nonviolent resistance.

One of his passengers is  Eva, now known as "The Widow", who meets with various men during the day.  Brand drives her to her appointments.  Eva is a Latvian survivor who also works for the Irgun and she explains, "You weren't around for the riots. They killed hundreds of us.  They broke down doors and cut children's throats.  It's like they went mad."  These weren't the same Arabs," he said. She says, "We're not the same Jews.  That's the point.  We won't sit around and be killed anymore. That's what they have to understand.  We'll fight."  ... "You have to remind them., otherwise they'll go back to their old ways."

He and Eva realize they have so much in common especially being lonely and missing the loved ones lost to the Holocaust.  Brand and Eva keep each other company on the lonely nights, when they are missing their families and their previous lives.

This is a story of the life in Palestine under the British Mandate.  O'Nan gives the reader an idea of what it was like trying to live in Jerusalem with the British and the Arabs, always going through checkpoints and watching out for yourself and others.  Not knowing who to trust, or when there would be an act of violence.  Never sure if one should step in to defend someone else or keep a low profile and avoid unnecessary personal questioning.  These are some of the moral dilemmas Brand wrestles with.

Also this is a story of one man's fight to maintain his principles after suffering such great loss. Caught up in a feeling of wanting revenge but also knowing that is not the right way to achieve inner peace.  Brand, caught in the web of the Irgun's dangerous missions, starts to realize this is not the way he wants behave.  He struggles with wanting to show strength but also wanting to be a righteous person.  This is a story of the complex morality of the people, their actions and intentions.  This is a story of personal change and growth.  In the end, Brand wants to reclaim the person he really is.

Goodbye, Ms. Chips

This is the first Ellie Haskell mystery novel I have read.  It is a fun entertaining mystery novel.  A good summer or beach read.  You do need to be able to concentrate a bit though because there seem to be so many characters.  it was a bit hard to keep them all straight, who was friends with who and who had had a run in with who.  this mystery takes place on a school campus.  It is the boarding school that Ellie went to as a young girl.  She has her own demons to release while she is again on campus after all these years.  As other women from her past come to join her at the school many old quarrels come to light.  The women now more mature and settled in their lives can work through the old arguments and let go of the past.  Well most of them can, but not all of them do.

Dorothy Cannell has written many more Ellie Haskel mystery novels before this one.   I cannot speak from experience about the main characters in her books, but Ellie Haskell seems to be an interesting amateur detective who is in real life an interior designer.  She is married to a restaurant chef, who must be a really great husband because he was very supportive in this book about letting Ellie go off and he stayed home with the two children.

What seems to start out as just a case of a missing trophy, turns to murder when a school girl prank goes desperately wrong.  As at most boarding schools there is a long held ghost story that travels through time from one class of girls to the next.  There are girls who are bullies and use the story to their advantage to scare the girls who are easily intimidated, homesick or not in the popular groups at school.

I will probably be looking into reading some of the other Ellie Haskell mysteries in the series in the near future.

Anna and the Swallow Man

Carried away on the wings of a bird, Gavriel Shavit takes his readers on a beautifully poetic journey
through a horrific time in world history.  The Swallow Man could be real or an allegory for someone or something that helps a young girl to escape the atrocities of the Holocaust.

This novel, Anna and the Swallow Man explains the horrors in a very shrouded way.  Anna is a young child at the start of the German takeover of Poland.  Her father, a professor, is rounded up during the purge of Polish intellectuals. A family friend takes her in for a day until it becomes clear that Professor Lania is not going to return.  Turned out into the street, Anna Lania must learn to take care of herself at the young age of seven.

She meets a man who reminds her of her father.  The Swallow Man has many talents, the gift of speaking many languages, how to survive in the wilderness, dodge bombs, tame soldiers and to make friends.  He can speak Polish, Russian, German and Yiddish.  He can even speak Bird, when he entices a swallow to swoop down into his hand.  There are many mysteries surrounding the man who leads Anna into the Forest.  Who he is, his background and what he escaping are all questions that follow us through the book.  But these seem to be unimportant to Anna as she follows him adnd learns how to live the life of secrecy needed to survive.

He takes Anna under his wing and they survive for years in the forest creating their own language, "Wood".   She becomes Sweetie and he is Swallow Man.  They do not talk about the reality they came from.  He explains that there is a different sounding word in every language for birds and other objects.  So he continues the logic, "The thing is, I'm trying to teach you a whole new language.  My language: Road.  And in Road there's more than one to say everything.  It's very tricky."

Wonderfully written this story touches on the terrible behaviors of human kind during World War ll, but in such a subtle way that it is readable by teens and those who do not want too much detail about the Holocaust.

The Story of My Tits

Jennifer Hayden has taken a very personal and painful story about her relationship both with her parents, especially her mother and her own body and made it into a snarky graphic novel.
This is the story of Jennifer growing up and learning how to appreciate your own body as it develops. This is a plot line that every girl and woman can relate to.  Who has not lived through the pain and trauma of not feeling like you are becoming a woman at the same rate as the other girls in your school class?  Who has not worried that you will never grow in height or develop in breast size to be attractive to the one you want to win over.  This is the story of first stuffing your shirt hoping for bigger breasts, and then when cancer strikes in later life, learning to live a full, happy life without those breasts.

Though Hayden tries to use the graphic novel with cartoon drawings comic book speech balloons, this is in the end a serious story about her family and how they deal with the trauma of breast cancer.
How her father sees her mother and their relationship.  How her mother sees her own self image and their mother/daughter relationship.  And finally how Jennifer Hayden deals with her own body image and her relationship with her husband and children.

I bought this book intending to pass it onto a friend with breast cancer, hoping it would be an uplifting, lighthearted story that would lift her spirits as she goes through breast cancer surgery and recovery, but I don't think I will pass this book along to her.  Maybe there will be someone else who will benefit from this book but I am not sure who will really find it uplifting or funny.