I had high hopes for this story of an old man, Prophet, who lives alone in a backwoods cabin in the mountains on the border of Alabama and Georgia. PrI had high hopes for this story of an old man, Prophet, who lives alone in a backwoods cabin in the mountains on the border of Alabama and Georgia. Prophet is a fascinating character, a fire and brimstone Pentecostal believer who sees visions which he then paints on the walls of his cabin, a cabin hevshares with Two-Step, a skinny devil in a cowboy hat and boots. After chancing upon a teenage girl in the company of a grown man who punches her, Prophet is convinced this girl, named Michael, has been sent for him to rescue so she can take a message to the US president about impending wars, and rescue her he does.
I was a bit disappointed in this book. Prophet is a fantastic character, but Michael is not a well developed character, Two-Step has only a few lines, and the questions posed about good and evil aren't original. I don't know if it's even an examination of faith since the only person with faith is clearly delusional, unless the author's message is that anyone with faith is delusional and I don't think that's her message. Still, it's a good story about how kindness can impact a troubled person and meeting someone where they are is a generous, loving act. ...more
This coming of age story of the daughter of a Bedouin father and village mother is simply written, but important. Asmaa tells the story looking back aThis coming of age story of the daughter of a Bedouin father and village mother is simply written, but important. Asmaa tells the story looking back at how she escaped from a world dominated by men and from the “outdoor prison” of occupied Gaza, her struggles as a very young immigrant in Spain, then France, who did not speak the language and is completely alone in these foreign countries, and back to her childhood in the African Quarter of Gaza and in an outpost in an emirate desert. Asmaa relates the daily humiliations and the relentless struggles of parents trying to provide for their families and the toll that took on family relationships and friendships. She also recalls the mischief she and the neighbor children got up to, the smell of roses and jasmine in family gardens, the foods and clothes and family life during moments of peace just after the Oslo Accord.
Reading about the humiliations and extreme violence experienced by Arab kids at the hands of Israeli authorities, violence that turned deadly as they grew into teens and young adults, the fear and anxiety families experienced trying to get through checkpoints to rejoin their relatives, and the unrelenting terror of IDF guns, tanks, and soldiers on their neighborhood streets and in their homes is hard, but recognizing names of refugee camps and villages referenced by Asmaa as places we have seen reduced to rubble in the last 12 months and knowing the families Asmaa grew up are likely dead drives home even more that what we are seeing in the news and on social media is happening to real people in real time.
This should be an inspiring story and it is, but more than that it is a testament to what Israel has destroyed and is intent of obliterating completely.
I wish there had been a bit more about how the Palestinian people felt about Hamas, PLO, and Fatah, but this is one woman’s story of her escape from a violent father, from a life of fear and deprivation; the story of a woman who, more than anything, yearned for peace and, “a few square meters of my own where I could put a bed and a table.”
My last book, Queenless, was about the intense love between mother and daughter told from the daughter's pov, this novella is about a stepmother and sMy last book, Queenless, was about the intense love between mother and daughter told from the daughter's pov, this novella is about a stepmother and stepdaughter, told from the stepmother’s pov. Both books were told in the form of journal entries or letters, but that is where the similarities end.
The stepmother, identified only as J, sits in her enviably gorgeous NYC apartment looking out at the spectacular views composing letters in her head. Her husband Arnold has left her for another woman and moved to France and J has realized that the apartment and his very generous settlement are meant to pressure her into keeping and raising Arnold's unattractive 13 yr old daughter, Renata. All of J's fury, humiliations, and pain are heaped onto Renata, Arnold, and the French au pair Arnold arranged for J and their 4 yr old daughter, in these letters. J never says or does anything abusive to Renata, J's revenge is in her neglect of the lonely, unloved girl.
What kept me reading 90 pages of venomous letters was the sharp wit of the author, Caroline Blackwood, heir to the Guinness fortune, and the insight into the values of mid-20th century aristocracy. Neither J nor Renata are one dimensional, they are honest with themselves and each other, especially J who makes no excuses for her misplaced rage, so this brilliantly written, blistering critique of negligent caretaking was hard to put down. Another 5 ⭐ book from McNally Editions! Highly recommended. ...more
Eva Baltasar is brilliant and fierce, and along with her translator Julia Sanchez, grab you and don’t let go until the final sentence.
In these three nEva Baltasar is brilliant and fierce, and along with her translator Julia Sanchez, grab you and don’t let go until the final sentence.
In these three novellas, the other two are Permafrost and Boulder, an unnamed protagonist subverts our assumptions about female desire, female bodies, and women’s roles in relationships, families, and society. In Mammoth, the 24 year old protagonist, a bored and directionless lesbian, wants to get pregnant and raise a child alone. Bored with her job in the city, she finds herself in a remote town, in a dilapidated farmhouse, caring for lambs, bartending, and cleaning house for her neighbor, a shepherd in his 60s who has another job for her to do. Still looking for a man to impregnate her, she builds a life focused on survival: food, fuel, safety, and sex.
In this book Baltasar explores the concept of pregnancy, consent, desire, and connection.
I was shocked when I discovered this is Noémi Kiss-Deáki’s debut novel. This is brilliant.
The style is mesmerizing, folding back on itself, while propI was shocked when I discovered this is Noémi Kiss-Deáki’s debut novel. This is brilliant.
The style is mesmerizing, folding back on itself, while propelling the story forward, mirroring the forward motion of the events in the life of young Mary Toft, “poorest of the poor” in 1726 Surrey, England, in a time when only the very wealthy could farm rabbits for food and clothes, and catching a rabbit was considered poaching and punishable by law.
After Mary suffers a miscarriage, her formidable mother-in-law conceives of a fraud, a fraud that pitches Mary into the orbit of powerful, wealthy men, none of whom care about Mary, all of whom see something to be gained for themselves at the expense of Mary’s dignity and suffering. And she does suffer. Some men are complicit in the fraud, some are determined to prove it true, some are determined to prove it false, and caught up in all their machinations is a young women with no power, no agency, no freedom to decide who can question her, look at her, touch her, or examine her. Mary is merely a body to be exploited.
This story is based on real events and I could not put it down. I strongly recommend it....more
As an homage to Virginia Woolf this was written in a stream of consciousness, however, this Mrs. Dalloway is Winona, not Clarissa, and Winona DallowayAs an homage to Virginia Woolf this was written in a stream of consciousness, however, this Mrs. Dalloway is Winona, not Clarissa, and Winona Dalloway’s busy day is measured by the phone calendar shared with her husband, referred to only as He or Him, who inputs all that she must get done and when.
Like Clarissa, Winona wakes to a feeling of anxiety and foreboding and as we follow her throughout her day we begin to see that all is not right for Winona and why that is becomes more clear.
For fear of spoilers I won’t say more, other than I loved Winona and I loved this book. Recommended.
Another exceptional “forgotten gem” from McNally Editions. This novel was nominated for the Booker in 1981.
Charlotte Morrison has always been defined Another exceptional “forgotten gem” from McNally Editions. This novel was nominated for the Booker in 1981.
Charlotte Morrison has always been defined by her relationship to others-sister to the Reverend Charles Morrison, sister-in-law to Marion Morrison, and aunt to Charles and Marion’s daughter Ellie, and until recently the live-in caretaker of Mr. Ransome, who left Charlotte his fortune allowing her an independent life. This newly acquired freedom has created a sense of being unmoored for Charlotte who now has no job and no home. Will she make her home with her brother’s family and be a help to the often ill Marion and a companion/governess to her niece, and be under her brother’s supervision? These questions are on her mind as Charlotte embarks on a trip to Baden Baden with her family.
At the start of the journey, while boarding the ship, Charlotte thinks she sees a lost love, and although she immediately realizes her mistake this sudden, painful memory throws Charlotte into an existential crisis and puts her at odds with her brother and sister-in-law who sent her away when they discovered her feelings for the man they felt was unsuitable for Charlotte. That the mistaken man is taking the same trip with this family, forcing him often into Charlotte’s company sparks dreams and fantasies of a relationship with this married man.
This story of a repressed Victorian “spinster” weighing the risk of loneliness against a life of her own choosing reminded me of Lolly Willowes and All Passion Spent, however, this story is more dreamlike at times and more psychologically probing.
Setting the story in the dramatic beauty of Rhineland with crumbling castles and the churning river, and the political dangers of 1850s created a sense of anxious anticipation that mirrors the inner turmoil experienced by Charlotte.
The language and societal, cultural mores of this beautifully written novel feel very much like it was written in the 1920s, with the Victorian era a recent memory, and not in 1980. Highly recommended!...more
This is not a biography of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, it’s far more interesting than that, although Margaret is a fascinating historicaThis is not a biography of Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle, it’s far more interesting than that, although Margaret is a fascinating historical figure. This book captures what it might have felt like to be Margaret, to be part of the social circle of 17th century English royalty with all the constraints and expectations that entails, with a burning desire to converse with the great minds of England, although she had little to no education as a child, to publish her own thoughts on philosophy, science, the abilities and roles of women, to be famous, to be her own unique person, writing, “I endeavor to be as singular as I can…for my nature is such, that I had rather appear worse in singularity, than better in the Mode.”
Biographical accounts of Margaret Cavendish report that she did acquire the fame she wished for: her many books were read and discussed, as were her controversial clothes, hair styles, and makeup. Margaret was much in demand among society in London, but many people that met her thought she crazy, earning her the nickname Mad Mage, and these opinions got back to her.
Margaret’s husband, William Cavendish, was thirty years her senior and Dutton imagines for them a warm, supportive marriage in which Margaret was by her husband’s side through his political exiles and William was supportive, encouraging, and proud of his wife’s fame as a writer. I would like for this to be true.
This is a great read and Margaret deserves her fame for the courage to be unapologetically herself and for writing what she wanted to write in spite of the criticism of her contemporaries.
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