Weather by Jenny Offill: A review

I had been looking forward to the publication of this book since I first read about it a few weeks ago. I had preordered it on my Kindle. When it was delivered this week, as luck would have it, I had just finished reading another book and so I pounced on it.

I read Weather essentially in one sitting, something I almost never do. True, it is a short book, just over 200 pages and it was raining outside that day and so my other preferred activities were limited. But the main reason for the quick read is that the writing is propulsive. Each paragraph or section leads one inexorably to the next. 

The format of the narrative is somewhat like a diary. Each entry could almost be seen as discrete, standing on its own, and yet each entry also encourages the reader to read on, to see what is coming next.

The narrator of the novel is Lizzie Benson, who abandoned her graduate studies to take care of her drug-addicted and depressed brother. She never returned to those studies, but with the intervention of one of her previous professors, she obtained a job as a college librarian, in service of which she becomes a fount of useless (or maybe extremely useful) information. For example, various survival strategies; such as did you know that you can use a can of oil-packed tuna to generate two hours of light if you don't have a candle? And you can still eat the tuna afterward! 

Lizzie is married to Ben, a gentle classics scholar, a PhD who makes educational video games for a living and who finds joy in reading the Stoics. Lizzie and Ben live in New York and they have a son named Eli who is in first grade at a predominately East Asian public school.

Also integral to Lizzie's life are her brother, Henry, who she is still trying to save and her mother who lives in another city but drops strong hints that she would like to live in the same city as her children, possibly in the same apartment with her daughter. Her hints are ignored. And then there is Sylvia, the professor who helped Lizzie get her job and who is now a well-known public intellectual for whom Lizzie does some work in dealing with social media. 

These are the people who mainly comprise Lizzie's universe. Her narrative addresses her relationships with them. That narrative is sardonic and insightful, darkly funny and often laced with paranoia. 

The time of the novel is the present. Much of the action takes place after the 2016 presidential election and the paranoia grows in direct proportion to national events and the feeling that the center cannot hold. There is anxiety about climate change and the rise of right-wing autocrats in the world, including in this country. Lizzie and Ben start looking for a "doomstead," some place where they can escape from the horrors that seem increasingly sure to overtake us. Canada, perhaps?

I find it almost impossible to sum up this novel or to adequately describe its sardonic humor. Maybe it's something that you just have to experience to appreciate it. All I can say is I loved the book and I highly recommend to anyone who may be feeling a little worried and insecure about the direction in which world events appear to be headed. Jenny Offill understands.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars      

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins: A review

Mexico is my next-door neighbor. I live in an area that is made immeasurably richer culturally by Mexican immigrants and people of Mexican heritage. My neighbors, friends, and, yes, employees are some of those people. For those reasons, I was particularly interested to hear about this book. And then shortly after I first heard of it, it seemed the book world exploded along a strict dichotomy of opinions; either it was a "new American classic" or it was a rank example of cultural appropriation and whitewashing.

At that point, I tried to distance myself from all the hoopla about the book. I wanted to read it myself and make up my own mind.

By now it seems that the plot of the novel is perhaps too well known to have to recount it here, but briefly: Lydia Quixano Pérez is a bookstore owner with a comfortable life in Acapulco, living with her husband who is a journalist and her beloved son, Luca. One day a man comes into her bookstore and purchases some books that are among her favorites. They get into a conversation about literature and eventually bond and become friends over their mutual love of books. What naive Lydia fails to realize is that her new friend is the head of a drug cartel that is terrorizing the city. Her husband writes about these people and as a result of that writing, members of the cartel invade a quinceanera celebration at their home and kill sixteen members of Lydia's family, including her husband and mother. Only Lydia and Luca escape the carnage by hiding in a bathroom. Realizing, somewhat belatedly, that their lives are in danger, Lydia makes the decision to head north to join the flow of migrants to the United States. The greater part of the novel relates that journey with all the horrors and tragedies experienced or witnessed by Lydia and Luca.  

The great objection to the novel, I gather, is that the author is not Mexican and does not seem to have any real connection to that culture. She even addresses this herself in her author's note, wherein she also details the research that she did.

I guess I don't really understand the cultural appropriation complaint. Isn't this what writers do? Yes, I do know the dictum "write what you know" but this would certainly limit the scope of many writers. Are they not allowed to use their imagination and research? Are white people not allowed to write about brown people? Are brown people not allowed to write about white people? Can one only write about something one has personally experienced? Can only survivors of the Holocaust write about the Holocaust, for example? That just seems like a specious argument to me.

What one can legitimately complain about is the quality of the writing which is plodding and uninspired. Cummins' research does not seem to have clued her in to the richness and complexity of Mexican society. It is a country that certainly faces social and political challenges, but it is not defined by those challenges. The drug cartels exist. Violence exists. But there is so much more to Mexico than that. It is a great and diverse country, our neighbor and friend. We would do well not to forget that.

I don't doubt that this writer made a good faith effort to tell a story that she felt strongly about. The fact that, in her storytelling, she relied on so many stereotypes is perhaps the best indication of the limits of her research and of her ability to truly identify with the characters about whom she is writing. The result is that the reader - at least this reader - can never really believe in and empathize with the characters.

So, in the end, I could not agree that this is "the new American classic". On the other hand, I didn't consider it completely awful. It had its moments. What I do consider appalling is that the publisher has apparently canceled the writer's book tour because of fears of violence! Really? Is that what we've come to? It's a book, people! Buy it or don't buy it. Read it or don't read it. There are a number of books out there that I would vociferously disagree with, but it would never occur to me to threaten violence even against the most odious authors or to try to get their book tours canceled. I guess I'm just too nice.

My rating: 3 of 5 stars       

Poetry Sunday: Where's that thing by John Kenney

I laughed out loud when I read this poem last week. It sounds so familiar. It's just like some of the conversations my husband and I have. Does anyone else have conversations like this?

Where’s that thing?

by John Kenney

Where’s that thing?
you ask me
looking in the cabinet above the stove.
The new one or old one, I reply,
fairly sure you know what I mean.
Old one.
Under the sink.
It’s not there.
Just look.
I’m looking.
Look under that stuff.
It’s not here.
The other stuff.
Nope.
Wait. You mean the green one?
No. Blue. I think it’s blue.
Oh. That’s in the drawer.
I checked the drawer.
Did you check behind the plastic thing?
We’re talking about the same thing, right, the one with the
   weird top?
Of course.
Wait. Here it is.

This week in birds - #388

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

It's bluebird season. This female Eastern Bluebird is checking out a potential nesting site. Pairs are already nesting or they are searching for a place to raise their chicks. They and the Carolina Wrens and Carolina Chickadees like to get an early start on nesting. Early birds get more caterpillars to feed their families.

*~*~*~*

Coming off the warmest January on record, Antarctica is now breaking heat records as well. On Thursday a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded, making it the hottest day on record for the continent. 

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More sad news from the Monarch butterfly sanctuary in Mexico: A second activist has been found dead there. He had disappeared on January 27 and his body was found on top of a hill this week. He was covered in bruises and had a serious wound to his head. The illegal loggers in the area are suspected of being implicated in this death as well as the earlier one.

*~*~*~*

The current administration has finalized plans to allow mining and energy drilling on nearly a million acres of land in southern Utah that had been protected as part of a major national monument. However, there does not appear to be much interest from energy companies in drilling or mining in the area.

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New research has shown that the backyard feeding of Eastern Bluebirds can have a major impact on reducing the parasitic nest flies that feed on their nestlings.

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A maker of the pesticide chlorpyrifos which has been linked to brain damage in children has announced that it will stop producing it by the end of the year.

*~*~*~*

Bumblebee on anisacanthus blossoms in my backyard.

Bumblebees just cannot catch a break. Already beset by the use of pesticides in the ecosystem and the loss of habitat, it seems that they are especially vulnerable as well to the effects of climate change. Hot temperatures are contributing to their decline.

*~*~*~*

Andean Condors are being illegally poisoned by livestock owners who incorrectly believe that the big birds are a threat to their living animals. Condors do not attack living animals; they are scavengers that feed on dead carcasses.

*~*~*~*

It's not only birds that are disoriented by bright lights at night. Fireflies are having a problem finding mates in areas that are lighted at night. The insects find their mates by responding to the potential mate's flashing light. The artificial lights interfere with that communication.

*~*~*~*

Europe has experienced a forest revival. Approximately 40 percent of the European Union's landmass is covered by trees. That's a good thing, except for the fact that it makes the continent more vulnerable to forest fires, especially in a climate that is heating up.

*~*~*~*

Overharvesting and habitat loss are contributing to the disappearance of many of the world's freshwater megafauna species.

*~*~*~*

In the Dominican Republic, an experiment involving playback of seed-eating birds' songs has shown that using such playbacks can bring the birds into an area and help with the dispersing of seeds and replanting of that area.

*~*~*~*

The platypus has certainly earned its title as the world's strangest mammal. It may also become one of the world's scarcest as it struggles against habitat loss, predation by feral cats, and now climate change and wildfires.

*~*~*~*

Chemicals released into Florida's Everglades by hurricanes, fires, and other disruptions can linger in the delicate ecosystem for years. 

*~*~*~*

Lonesome George was the name given to what was thought to be the lone specimen of a particular Galapagos tortoise. George died in 2012 and the species was thought to be extinct. But recently scientists have discovered about 30 of the giant tortoises that are at least partially descended from presumed extinct species, including that of George's.

*~*~*~*

Butterfly wings must have suitable temperatures in order to function properly. Recent research shows that the insects are able to regulate their wing temperatures through both structural and behavioral adaptations. 

*~*~*~*

Peru has pledged to create a giant new marine reserve of 19,300-square-miles around a range of 93 submarine mountains that are home to some 1,100 species.

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende: A review

"A long petal of the sea" is a phrase that Pablo Neruda employed in a poem describing his homeland, Chile. Isabel Allende appropriated it for the title of her book and she heads each chapter of it with a quote from one of Neruda's poems. Neruda even appears as a character in this historical fiction novel. At times, he seems to overwhelm the story.

At the heart of the narrative though is the story of Victor Dalmau and Roser Bruguera and it begins in Spain in 1939.

In the 1930s the Spanish Civil War is raging. Victor lives in Barcelona with his parents and brother, Guillem, and with Roser who is a poor child who was a piano student of Victor's father. She showed great promise and when she was abused by her family, the Dalmaus took her in. In time, Roser fell in love with Guillem, and by the time he joined the republican forces fighting against Franco, she was pregnant with his child. Victor was not inclined to join the fight. Instead, he was studying to be a doctor. But in time he was drawn into the fight anyway in order to provide medical care to the wounded. 

As the republican forces are inexorably vanquished, half a million Spanish refugees flee Franco and most of them head north to the French border. Among them are Victor, the heavily pregnant Roser, and his mother. By this time, his father is dead, and even though Victor hasn't told Roser and his mother, so is Guillem, having been killed in battle. Roser and the mother are in the care of a friend of Victor's who will guide them to the border, while Victor continues to tend the wounded along the way. Soon, the mother slips away, unwilling to be a hindrance to their escape. Roser and her guide continue.

France has set up concentration camps at its border to intern the refugees. Roser ends up in one of those camps, but she manages to get word out to a friend of Victor's who takes her to Perpignan to a Quaker family who provides shelter for her and her baby son. In the concentration camps, nine out of every ten children die.

Unknowingly, Victor is also trapped in another part of the same concentration camp where Roser was, but eventually, he escapes and traces her to her refuge in Perpignan. And there their fortune changes.

Pablo Neruda is a diplomat from Chile assigned to France. He is in sympathy with the refugees from Spain and he convinces the president of Chile to offer asylum to some of them, in spite of opposition from the Catholic church and other rightwingers in his country. Neruda ultimately arranges for the outfitting of a ship called the Winnipeg to carry 2000 Spaniards to his homeland. Victor, now married to Roser after finally telling her of the death of Guillem and learning that the only way they can travel together is if they are husband and wife, gains passage for himself, Roser, and the child.

The refugees receive a warm welcome in Chile and over time they become productive citizens of their new country. Victor completes his medical training and becomes an acclaimed and respected cardiologist. Roser's contributions are as an accomplished pianist and teacher and an organizer of musical societies and groups. Their marriage that began with fraternal obligation has evolved into a love match. They are happy.

Then comes the popular election of Salvador Allende, a Marxist, to the presidency and the subsequent plotting by fascists with the aiding and abetting by the C.I.A. to overthrow his government. A short three years later it happens and the country descends into chaos. And soon Victor is thrown into another concentration camp to be tortured. Roser, who was out of the country at the time of the coup, is spared.  

Isabelle Allende tells this story in a very straightforward, linear fashion (which frankly is a relief after so many of the books I've read recently have jumped around back and forth in time sometimes making them difficult to follow) and that somehow lends it more power. It reads almost like a journalist's report of events. After the brutal Pinochet comes to power in Chile, and Victor eventually is sprung from the concentration camp, he and Roser are refugees again, this time in Venezuela, where once again they receive a friendly welcome and are able to make a life for themselves. But they long to return to Chile.

Actual historical facts and people underlie Allende's narrative and it seems almost ripped from today's headlines. Once again we see countries, including our own, creating concentration camps at their borders to keep desperate refugees out. And yet, states and communities that actually are able to welcome refugees benefit greatly from their contributions. But that is an outcome that fascists will never accept.

I was swept along by the story of Victor and Roser, their two-time experience as refugees, and their ultimate triumph over all adversities. If I were a professional critic, no doubt I would find things to complain of concerning the book, but as an amateur in every sense of the word, I found it a very satisfying and rewarding read.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars  

The Body in the Castle Well by Martin Walker: A review

After reading a long and challenging book, I needed a quick and easy read so I turned to Martin Walker's Bruno, Chief of Police series. I generally enjoy these visits to the Perigord region of France with all the references to French history and the landscape of the region, plus, of course, the descriptions of all the delicious meals that Bruno cooks for his friends. But Walker lost me early on in this one and I was so irritated that I found myself nitpicking my way through the book. And I found a lot of nits to pick.

It was all because of the cat.

Claudia, a young American art student, is in the area to work with an aging art scholar who has a fabulous collection of paintings. In researching the paintings and their provenance, Claudia comes to suspect that some of the paintings have been falsely attributed by the scholar. 

And then Claudia ends up dead in a well.

Her body is found in the water at the bottom of the well and standing on top of her body is a kitten. Claudia was a cat lover - in a community that only seems to like dogs - and the initial speculation is that she was trying to rescue the kitten and fell into the well and drowned. The first inspection of the scene seems to bear that out.

The rescuer goes down the well and brings out the body and the kitten. He essentially tosses the kitten onto the ground and, of all the people present at the scene, no one picks the little creature up to dry it off and warm it after being in the cold well. As a cat lover myself, that pissed me off and put me in a bad mood for the rest of the book.

But after that, the investigation of the death just seems haphazard and only an excuse for bringing various characters back to St. Denis. Because you see, Claudia was from a rich and politically connected family, close to the "wayward" person in the White House and so the American ambassador gets involved and Claudia's mother comes to town to find out what's going on with the investigation and to claim her daughter's body. Soon, officials of the national police are also showing up to direct the inquiry.

Meanwhile, Bruno rides his horse Hector, plays with his cheerful basset hound's ears, feeds his chickens and ducks, gathers his gourmet vegetables from his garden, and cooks fabulous meals for his friends. Oh, and he resumes his affair with the luscious Pamela after she invites him back into her bed because he's just so irresistible. But, of course, he's still in love with Isabelle, who puts in a brief appearance just at the thoroughly complicated and unbelievable ending. And he finally seems to be noticing his neighbor Florence, who of all the women in his life seems the only one who could reasonably be a life partner. But even if he had a life partner, no doubt he would continue his affairs. C'est la vie!  

This was just a rehash of every plot in this series. As always, there was a World War II and Resistance connection. (Walker really needs to move on to another era of history.) There was just nothing especially new or particularly interesting here. Maybe the author needs to give Bruno a rest for a while.

Come to think of it, I probably need to give Bruno a rest.

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Tomorrow by Barbara Crooker

Barbara Crooker imagines a perfect day. A day when "For twenty-four hours, all politicians will be silent." And we might add that no postings to Twitter will be allowed.

Yes, it does sound like the perfect day. Let us dream that it could happen. Tomorrow. 

Tomorrow

by Barbara Crooker

there will be sun, scalloped by clouds,
ushered in by a waterfall of birdsong.
It will be a temperate seventy-five, low
humidity. For twenty-four hours,
all politicians will be silent. Reality
programs will vanish from TV, replaced
by the “snow” that used to decorate
our screens when reception wasn’t
working. Soldiers will toss their weapons
in the grass. The oceans will stop
their inexorable rise. No one
will have to sit on a committee.
When twilight falls, the aurora borealis
will cut off cell phones, scramble the internet.
We’ll play flashlight tag, hide and seek,
decorate our hair with fireflies, spin
until we’re dizzy, collapse
on the dew-decked lawn and look up,
perhaps for the first time, to read the long lines
of cold code written in the stars….