Patternist #3-4

Clay's Ark by Octavia E. Butler (1984) 241 pages

Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler (1976) 208 pages

I continued the series with audiobooks on Libby. I did not like this second half of the series as much as the first. Both have a tenuous connection to book 1 and 2 of the series. Clay was a character introduced in Mind of My Mind. I expected Clay's Ark to continue his story. That expectation was totally wrong. Instead we are in a near future dystopia when a father and his two daughters are kidnapped from their car and taken to a strange isolated colony of people living in the desert. The people appear to be diseased and, in fact, are contaminated with an alien organism that gives them telepathic abilities and strength that is vaguely similar to the powers of Doro's ancestors in the earlier part of the series. The organism is clearly extraterrestrial though and the people give birth to children that are physically described like cats or sphinxes. I'm reminded of the shift in zombie movies. There are early movies with zombies based on Haitian voodoo customs. Then Romero's 1968 movie Night of the Living Dead shifts most future zombie movies to giving a possible alien virus explanation. I'm not saying these books are about zombies. It just seems odd that a foundational shift happened in the middle of this series from something ancient to something alien. Butler's Clay's Ark approaches closest to the horror genre, which I don't read often. Patternmaster pushes further into the future with barely any un-powered humans left alive. The Patternist and Clay's Ark groups fight for resources and power. It is mainly about two sons of a distant old Patternmaster competing to rule. Butler, I think, is using speculative fiction to explore concepts connected to slave narratives, which is a noble pursuit. To "flip the script" and make readers consider the impact of slavery is worthwhile. However, again there wasn't enough connecting this book to the first two. In both books 3 and 4, I was not captivated by any characters. I struggled with the lack of intriguing character development too. I'd recommend just reading the first two books of the series unless your goal is to read Octavia E. Butler's complete works.

Dad Camp

Dad Camp by Evan S. Porter, 353 pages

John has always had a good relationship with his daughter, Avery. He's coached her soccer and softball teams, and they've always had fun together, but now she's 11 and starting to pull away, and John's starting to worry that their relationship is disappearing. His solution to solidify that relationship: a week at a summer camp for dads and daughters. Of course, when Avery learns that the camp is during the week that she should be trying out for the elite soccer team, which is ALSO the last week before school starts (and thus her last chance to hang out with her friends for the summer), she's furious, and the camp becomes that much harder to handle. When they're put in a cabin with a workaholic dad, an "alpha bro" dad, and a former-chef-turned-stay-at-home dad and their respective daughters, "dad camp" seems like the worst idea ever.

So many books of this nature have focused on moms and daughters or fathers and sons, so it's refreshing to find such a fantastic funny, heartwarming book about father-daughter relationships. I love that it examines what it means to be a good dad — and it's not just one thing — while still keeping the plot moving and the laughs coming. And I loved seeing the growth of the characters in the book, especially as they learned to support each other. Highly recommended.

Sophie's World

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy by Jostein Gaardner (1991) 523 pages

This novel is about a high schooler in Norway, named Sophie, who begins receiving mysterious letters offering a course on Philosophy. I've had it on my reading list since before I used Goodreads. It was a nice review of the Intro to Philosophy course I took in college. About half way through you find out an officer working for the United Nations in Lebanon has written this work of fiction and has sent it home to his daughter Hilde, who is the same age as the fictional Sophie, for her birthday. By this point, I had become invested in the story of Sophie and her Philosophy teacher, so it was a bit frustrating that Sophie's story becomes more and more fantastic, and Hilde's story is about her reading what we have just read. My college course ended with Kant, so I was interested in an overview beyond that period of philosophic thought. The Philosophy teacher in the story begins pulling in other sciences with discussion of Darwin and Freud. More and more mythical and fairy-tale characters strangely pop up in Sophie's world as well. It really leans in to the dual worlds of grounded reality and mysterious fantasy, but I don't think the author mixes them particularly well.
 

The Descendants

The Descendants / Kaui Hart Hemmings, 283 pgs.

Matt King has big stuff on his plate.  He is the descendant of Hawaiian royalty and has, with many cousins, inherited a large amount of land.  Somehow he has the biggest vote so the decision rests with him.  A lot of money is at stake.  At the same time, his wife is in a coma following a boating accident.  He realizes he has no idea how to manage the household or his two daughters who he barely knows.  Oh yea, and then he discovers that his comatose wife had been cheating on him. Lots to deal with along with the stark realization that he certainly hasn't been the best husband or father. Now decisions have to be made.  His wife is not going to recover and will be taken off life support. The deadline for dealing with the land is looming.  Can he reconnect with his daughters and let go of the anger at his wife?  I really enjoyed this book which shows Matt struggling yet aware of his issues. 

In an absent dream

In an absent dream / Seanan McGuire, read by Cynthia Hopkins, 204 pgs.

Katherine is the principal's daughter, she is a good student, a reader and a future librarian.  One day on the way home from school, she encounters a magical tree with a doorway into an alternate world. Lundy in the alternate world, makes friends and learns the rules.  She associates with others and creates a family for herself.  The goblin market, the economics are fairly clear, everyone bargains for goods and services.  Other rules are not so clear.  She has the ability to go back between her "earth" family and this world until she is 18, then she must decide where she will stay.  Even though some rules are easy, others are a little vague and mysterious.  Lundy makes some choices that she doesn't fully understand.  An interesting book well narrated by Cynthia Hopkins.

Ghost Wall

Ghost Wall / Sarah Moss, read by Christine Hewitt, 132 pgs.

Sylvie, a teenage girl who spends two weeks in the north of England, reenacting ancient British civilization in the Iron Age. Sylvie is joined by her father, a bus driver who is obsessed with ancient history, and whose abuse and aggression run throughout his every word. Also on the trip is a college professor, his students, and Sylvie's hapless, rabbity mother. An unsettling story about how far a reenactment can go and how little her father values her, as if they are actual Iron Age dwellers.  Perfectly narrated by Christine Hewitt who captures all of Sylvie's moods and charms. 

Small Fry

Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs  383 pp.

Lisa Brennan-Jobs is the daughter of Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs (yes, that Steve Jobs). Born during their "hippie" days and at first unacknowledged by her father, Lisa grew up in a very California-esque life. While in high school, dissension with her mother led her to move in with her father, always hoping for a life with a loving parent. Jobs was a difficult man to live with and even harder to know. Despite his millions he was tight with his money and Lisa earned her right to live there by babysitting her younger half-siblings. Eventually her hard work in high school (criticized by her father who urged her to smoke pot and have sex) gained her admittance into Harvard which he reluctantly paid for until he stopped during her senior year. Eventually he repaid the family friends who paid for her last year of college. And there was the death bed forgiveness although I am skeptical of Jobs' true feelings about the daughter he didn't want. The book is well written but I don't know if the author's motive in writing it was to look for sympathy or make her father look bad.  Personally, I don't think any of them are people I'd want to know.

My Sister, the Serial Killer

My Sister, the Serial Killer / Oyinkan Braithwaite, 226 p.

Korede is a strait-laced, no-nonsense nurse at St. Peter's hospital in Lagos.  Her younger sister, Ayoola, is gorgeous, flighty, and self-centered.  They have a powerful bond that involves the serial killing of Ayoola's boyfriends and Korede's excellent skills at cleaning up the mess.  Sounds implausible, but Braithwaite's fresh and assured prose brings the reader in so close that it all makes perfect sense.  Why does Ayoola kill?  And why does Korede believe that she has no choice but to help cover up?  That's the question, and I greatly enjoyed getting to the answer.  I will definitely be on the wait list for Braithwaite's next work. 

West

West / Carys Davies, read by Robert Fass, 149 pgs.

Mule breeder John Cyrus Bellman is itching to find the large animals he has read about.  Bones have been found.  Bellman is a widower and single father of Bess, a 10 year old girl.  She can not join the adventure so is left with Bellman's sister.  Bellman takes out west in a quest that covers uncharted territory and Bess stays home to her own adventure...that of becoming a woman.  The story goes back and forth between the two main characters.  As things go along, we see Bellman as a bit foolish and Bess rightfully wary, but then it all comes together boldly.  I enjoyed the audio book but much is made of Bellman's English origin, I'm not sure this reader captured his essence. 

The Parking Lot Attendant

The Parking Lot Attendant by Nafkote Tamirat, 225 pages.

Told from the viewpoint of a 16 year-old, unnamed Ethiopian-American girl, living in Boston with her father (well, for most of the story, anyway), This story is strange, compelling and beautifully odd. The narrator has lived with her mother and with her father, but never with both at the same time. As the story opens, she hasn't seen or heard from her mother in the last several years, and her relationship with her father is very strained. One day after school, upon hearing Amharic spoken at a local restaurant, she becomes acquainted with Ayale, the man described in the book's title. Besides the parking lot, Ayale tends to many other hidden enterprises, dispenses favors, delivers odd packages and argues with the narrator's father.
Tamirat writes beautifully and keeps the plot twisting enough so that everyone, reader and character alike of off-balance and a little confused.