Of Women and Salt

 Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia, 207 pages.

Winding from Cuba to Miami, from 1866 to 2016, this book follows a line of mothers and daughters through terrible choices and awful men. Intersecting this family line are Gloria and Ana, a mother and daughter from El Salvador with a very different relationship to immigration. 

I thought this book had a really interesting premise and absolutely beautiful writing. Garcia's writing reminds me of poetry, and her images were often sharp and striking. However, I don't think that this book was long enough to deal very meaningful with the many women it introduced—a problem that is exacerbated by the fact that I believe around half of the book is instead following Gloria and Ana, giving them individually far more "screen time" than any member of the family that is meant to be the center of this family saga. I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure it quite lived up to its own potential. 

The Summer Seekers

The Summer Seekers by Sarah Morgan, 378 pages

For years, 40-year-old Liza has put family first, doing everything she can to be ever-present in the lives of her husband and daughters, worrying constantly about their needs and those of her 80-year-old mother, Kathleen. Kathleen, however, wants Liza to lay off the nagging and let her live on her own. When a prowler surprises Kathleen one evening, Liza takes it as a sign that assisted living is a necessity for Kathleen; unsurprisingly, Kathleen disagrees, arguing that it's high time for her dream road trip on Route 66. Unmoved by Liza's protestations that the road trip is dangerous and problematic — Kathleen doesn't drive, after all — Kathleen hires 25-year-old Martha to escort her across the U.S. in a convertible. Naturally, adventures ensue.

Oh, this was such a fun book! The relationships between Liza and Kathleen, and between Kathleen and Martha are so real and believable, despite some questionable plot points (particularly when Kathleen convinces Martha to pick up a hitchhiker in Oklahoma). I absolutely loved this story, and I would have happily read more about this trio of strong yet flawed women. Highly recommended.

Patsy

Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn (2019). 419 pages.

Patsy grew up in the shadow of her best friend Cicely, coming of age in an impoverished Jamaican town and learning about her own sexuality. When Cicely moves to America, Patsy decides to join her and create a life with her that they would not have been able to live in Jamaica...a decision that does not include Patsy's young daughter Tru. The novel alternates between Patsy's life as an undocumented immigrant in New York City and Tru's childhood in Jamaica, motherless and struggling with her own identity, following the two for over a decade as they learn difficult lessons about themselves, find new joys they never anticipated, and try to find a resolution in their estrangement.

Patsy was a sweeping novel, full of so much tenderness I was left feeling breathless by the end. Dennis-Benn develops complicated characters, most of whom were never dealt a fair hand in life, and it was brilliant to follow them all on their journeys over the course of the novel. Sharon Gordon narrates the audio, reading in a lilting Jamaican cadence that really put me right into the story. I loved Dennis-Benn's first book, Here Comes the Sun (2016), and am so happy that Patsy followed up as another powerhouse of a novel. I can't wait to see where she takes us next.

The Poet X

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, 361 pages.
Xiomara Batista, daughter of immigrants, high-school student in a tough school, twin, a young woman trying to get comfortable with her new larger self, and the self-named Poet X of the title, tells in a long beautiful series of poems the story of herself. She fights with her mother, does her best to protect her twin brother, questions her faith, and tries to navigate encounters with male classmates and grown men and their unsolicited and often crude comments regarding their desire for her. The Poet X emerges slowly, after her break-up with her boyfriend, after her move away from the church, and after she feels the loosening of the lifelong bond with her twin, as Xiomara starts to read and perform her poems in public. A very well-written, engaging and moving book written for a young-adult audience.

Everything I Never Told You

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, 297 pages.

I think this was Ng's first book, not sure, too close to midnight to fact-check. Lydia is the middle child of Marilyn Walker and James Lee. Marilyn feels forced into her role of stay-at-home mom and puts all her hope in Lydia's academic success. As Lydia dies in an apparent suicide as the book opens, this was obviously not the best plan. The book moves backward and forward, exploring how Lydia's parents met, following her and her older brother in the events leading up to the tragedy, and showing how the family copes with the aftermath.

Leaving the world

Leaving the world / Douglas Kennedy, 480 pgs.

Jane Howard's parents are a horrible example of a marriage and of parenting.  At 13, she announces she will never get married or have children.  Soon after, her father leaves and her mother blames her for his departure.  After a rough childhood, she ends up at Harvard and has a long term affair with her married adviser.  He ends up dead and she is at wits end.  Working now as a professor, she meets Theo and ends up pregnant.  Motherhood is a blessing but Theo is a bit of an ass and Jane ends up bankrupt.  After tragedy hits again, Jane "disappears" from her former life and ends up in Calgary.  She becomes obsessed with a child abduction case and gets involved, mush to the chagrin of the police who are running the investigation.  Although well written, I found the character of Jane to be mostly infuriating.  She is smart and accomplished but continues to make some of the dumbest choices. When events occur, her reactions are bizarre and don't seem the least bit possible.  Can't say I would recommend this book.

The tea girl of Hummingbird lane

The tea girl of Hummingbird lane / Lisa See, read by Ruthie Ann Miles and others, 380 pgs.

Li-Yan lives with her family who are tea farmers in the mountains of  China.  She is being trained as a midwife but doesn't have a lot of interest. She does well in school and may be able to be the one in her village who continues on to higher education (AKA secondary education).  Instead, she falls in love and ends up pregnant, a state that is unacceptable for an unmarried woman.  Her boyfriend has left for Thailand to make money so they CAN get married but the baby is coming too soon.  Despite thinking that her mother will make her "get rid" of the baby (kill it after it is born and bury it in the forest), she instead helps Li-Yan hide her pregnancy and deliver her new born to an orphanage.  The baby is adopted out to an American couple.  Li-Yan's life seems to be going down hill fast but then takes a turn when her teacher helps her get into a training program to become a tea expert.  She moves to the big city and starts a business.  Now she is interested in tracking down the daughter she gave up.  The story goes between Li-Yan's perspective and her daughter in America.  Will they ever be able to find each other?  Listen to this great audio book and find out.

Before We Visit the Goddess

Before We Visit the Goddess by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni  225 pp.

This is the story of three generations of strong, determined, and headstrong women and the effect secrets had on their mother-daughter relationships. Sabitri learned the art of making spectacular Indian sweets from her mother. After she successfully sues a company for the wrongful death of her husband she opens a sweets shop which becomes immensely successful. But her workaholic ways and strident rigidity with her daughter, Bela, leads to abandonment when her daughter elopes to America with her shady boyfriend. Even after the birth of her daughter, Tara, Bela has very little contact with her mother until she enlists Sabitri's help when Tara drops out of college. Bela is a survivor, coping with a divorce and estrangement from her own daughter. She is befriended by Ken, a young gay man who lives in her apartment building. With his help she regains her self-confidence and begins a successful food blog and cookbook writing career. Tara tries to distance herself from her Indian heritage until a job puts her in contact with a visiting Indian businessman who takes her to the temple. Tara has her own problems and secrets that keep her away from her mother. By the end of the book multiple secrets are revealed that caused the behavior that created wedges in their relationships. Even Bela's dishonest ex-husband's secrets come to light and explain much of his behavior. There is a lot packed in this short novel and it's characters are fully fleshed and interesting.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman  372 pp.

Elsa is a bright seven year old who people call "different." She is bullied at school and tries to hide it from her parents and her grandmother. Elsa's grandmother is her best friend, companion, and protector. Grandmother is also quite bonkers and does things like climbing the zoo fence after hours and throwing poo at a policeman and shooting people with a paintball gun from her balcony. She has also led an amazing life that Elsa knows nothing about. Grandmother also regales Elsa with tales of a mysterious land where everyone is "different" and no on has to act normal. When Grandmother dies she leaves Elsa a mission to deliver letters to people she has wronged in some way. While delivering these letters Elsa learns much about the people who live in their apartment building and how they are connected to her, her grandmother, and each other. There is sadness, humor, and much that is touching in this story that mostly turns out well.

Flying Couch

Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir by Amy Kurzweil  291 pp.

As the title says, this is a memoir in graphic novel form. Parts of the book are about the author's life, education, career, and her relationships with her mother and grandmother, But much of it is about her grandmother's life and how, as a young Jewish girl, she managed to hide from the Nazis and not get sent to the camps where the rest of her family died. Because of the grandmother's blonde hair and blue eyes she was able to escape the Warsaw ghetto and by pretending to be a gentile, she survived. The black and white art is full of motion and helps to convey the author's tale. This book was previously reviewed by Patrick.

Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir

Flying Couch: A Graphic Memoir by Amy Kurzweil, 298 pages.
Kurzweil tells the story of her anxiety-laden childhood, of her relationship with her mother and with her grandmother. As Kurzweil grows, travels to Israel, and to Stanford, she relates more of her grandmother's story. Grandma Lillian Fenster was born Luba Skorka, and was confined to the Warsaw ghetto when the Nazis came. She had blonde hair and could pass for a gentile, and was able to sneak out of the ghetto to find food for her family. She alone of her family survived the Holocaust.
Kurzweil's art is interesting and moves the story along well.

The perfect comeback of Caroline Jacobs

The perfect comeback of Caroline Jacobs / Matthew Dicks 216 pgs.

Caroline Jacobs is a mouse.  She is quiet, she avoids conflict, she is shy, she is living a life of avoidance.  Caroline is the mother of a teenager, Polly, with whom she barely speaks.  She has an unsatisfying job but is a great photographer who has no faith in her talent.  And all of this might continue forever until one night at a PTA meeting when the former prom queen president is mean to another shy, quiet woman, Caroline tells her off.  Now, with some new found backbone, she decides to go back to her hometown and tell off her former best friend.  This woman dumped her in a humiliating way in the middle of the lunch room in high school.  Caroline and her daughter Polly bond on the trip but things don't work out as planned.  Turns out Caroline has some other issues to confront.

This book is written by a man but features women characters almost exclusively.  I'm not sure he gets it perfect but does a pretty good job, especially with the school memories.

Lunch with Charlotte

Lunch with Charlotte by Leon Berger  404 pp.

Charlotte Urban nee Goldberger had lunch with the author every Friday for the last 25 of her 91 years. In that time she told the story of living through the rise of the Nazis in her home city of Vienna and surviving Kristallnacht with her mother. Through contacts of her father who was trapped in England when the borders were closed, the Rothschilds, and lying about her age, Charlotte gains a place on the Kindertransport which evacuated Jewish children out of the Nazi territories. Charlotte reveals what her life during the war was like, not as a concentration camp prisoner, but as young Jewish woman living through war-time on the side of the Allies. Her story is one of strength and sorrow offered in an honest, straight-forward way.

The Boston Girl

The Boston Girl: a novel by Anita Diamant  322 pp.

Eighty-five year old Addie Baum answers the question put to her by her granddaughter: "How did you get to be the woman you are today." With a lot of humor and honesty she relates her life from about age 15 through her marriage. As the daughter of Jewish immigrants growing up in the tenements of Boston in the early 20th century she lived a hard life with until her eyes were opened to the world around her by joining a club for young women. Soon she learns to stand up for herself against her unhappy, domineering mother, survives man trouble, World War I, and the flu epidemic, to become a true "Boston Girl", working and supporting herself with the help and encouragement of other strong, modern women. It's a touching picture of a time when the roles of women began to change drastically and Addie revels in it.  I listened to the audiobook read by actress Linda Lavin (tv's "Alice") and she gives Addie the perfect voice. This book is as enjoyable as The Red Tent but in an entirely different way.

Dear Daughter

Dear Daughter / Elizabeth Little 365 pg.

Janie Jenkins is found with her murdered mother in a room full of evidence against her.  But did she do it?  Even she doesn't know.  No fan of her mother, she blacked out and has no memory of the incident itself.  Now, after a decade in prison, she is released on a technicality.  She goes looking for the truth and ends up discovering the small town where her mother grew up.  Everyone there seems to have secrets too so she sort of fits right in.

I had some fun reading this book but the plot holes are big enough to run the truck through that Janie steals to get her to where she needs to go.  Why steal a vehicle when you are filthy rich (the inheritance from her mother)?  So many things don't make sense but I guess sometimes that is a good description of life.

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The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus

The Hunchback of Neiman Marcus by Sonya Sones  421 pp.

This novel in verse is about the life of a woman at fifty with a daughter going off to college, a seriously ill mother living across the country, a looming book deadline, a husband she alternately adores and wants to strangle ("Being married makes me feel like a miner trapped in a shaft."), a changing body, and hot flashes ("I am the roar from the oven door that melts the glasses right off your face."). As she navigates her life the poems are touching, angry, funny, heartbreaking, sweet, and all have a wonderful ring of truth. This is a book that will be most appreciated by women who are in the late 40s-mid 50s. However, men should read it also since it may serve as an explanation/warning of what is going on with the women in their lives.

The Winter People

The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon  336 pp.

This is a good creepy story that covers a century of multiple generations of a family that lived on a small New England farm. A strange rock formation called "The Devil's Hand" is the centerpiece of the odd goings on along with a book written by a former resident Sarah Harrison Shea. Strange deaths and the existence of a "Sleeper", an undead little girl named Gertie is involved in the creepy happenings. I don't want to say too much because of spoilers. I found the story intriguing and spooky but was somewhat disappointed in the ending. It seemed to lose momentum during the modern day sections.

The execution of Noa P. Singleton

The execution of Noa P. Singleton / Elizabeth L. Silver 310 pgs.

Noa P. Singleton is on death row but the mother of the girl she murdered (who is a powerful lawyer) says she has had a change of heart and will try to save Noa's life.  The death penalty carried out will not bring back her daughter and it seems wrong to her 10 years later.  This novel is told in sections leading up to the execution date starting 5 months out.  Many chapters are flashbacks and memories of how Noa ended up where she is...waiting to die.  It is obvious early on that there is more to the story than meets the eye.  As it all unfolds, you are thinking this could be the greatest book you ever read. Then when it is done, you realize it didn't meet that mark but still interesting and well written.  Since I could not come up with a better ending, I'm not trying to dis the author, I just wish she could have come up with something that equaled the hype that developed as I read the story.

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The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd  302 pp.

This was on my "one of these days I need to read that" list. In the early 1960s fourteen year old Lily runs away from her abusive father with Rosaleen, their housekeeper who is in trouble with the law after being beaten while trying to register to vote. Lily's mother died by Lily's hand in an accidental shooting when Lily was four. The only place she can connect to her mother is the town of Tiburon, South Carolina, the place that is written on the back of a Black Madonna picture that belonged to her mother. Lily ends up at the home of a family of black women beekeepers who teach her about life, love, the problems of southern African-Americans during the Civil Rights battles, standing up for oneself, and bees, of course. It's a good story although there were times when the predictability of the story nearly stopped me from reading it. 

Where'd you go, Bernadette

Where'd you go, Bernadette / Maria Semple 330 pgs.

Bernadette Fox is kind of a classic genius but she is kind of in a rut and maybe not having the best life right now.  She adores and is focused on her daughter Bee but the rest of her energies remain, shall we say, unfocused.  Over time, this can only get her into trouble...which it does.  She has a bit of a disagreement with her neighbor and maybe it is actually everyone.  She doesn't like living where she lives and she and her husband seem to be losing touch with each other.  So what is the answer to these doldrums?  I don't want to spoil anything but an exotic trip is a good start and a rushed exit is sort of required during the "intervention" that is being staged at her house with the hopes of getting her to voluntarily enter a "treatment facility".  No way that is acceptable to Bernadette so she goes on the lam with the unexpected aid of a former enemy.  This book is a lot of fun and hard to put down once you start.  Bernadette is a very interesting character as is her daughter.  This is the second book I've read this month that features employees of a recognizable high tech company...is this becoming a "thing" in literature?

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