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Hola!  It’s been a while!!!  Thanks for hanging on with me while I deal with life and finally get caught up on the fun business of reading.  I hope you’ve noticed that although my reviews have not been kept up to date, I am at least still reading and keeping you in the loop on my monthly selections for our book club.  I hope you’ve enjoyed them as much as I have!

For September, I am going back to one of the authors that we all seemed to enjoy.  I will be reading Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (author of Everything I Never Told You).  It has wonderful reviews and has made it to several “must-read” lists.

I will do my best to get caught up on all of the reviews that I have neglected and respond to your awesome comments.

Happy Reading y’all!

My book selection for August is Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad. 

I have been on a WWII kick lately and I feel like I need to spend some time on the history of the United States.  My knowledge of the Underground Railroad is limited to Harriet Tubman’s story, so I am looking forward to this book.  Also, I currently live in Georgia so a story set in Georgia is right up my alley.  Maybe this will lead to some exploring!

Hope you’ll read it with me!

 

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware is my selection for March.

It’s a thriller!  It’s a hold your breath and can’t figure it out but you think you figured it out kind of book.  I really enjoy the suspense genre and am not always impressed with the story line and find the loop holes fairly quickly.  But this one is a good one!  Its Agatha Christie on a boat and you’re wondering how you can’t figure out who the bad guy is.

Hope you’re are craving a suspense filled book.  Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on this one!

My August reading selection is The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin.  It is based on the life of Ann Lindbergh, wife of Charles Lindbergh.  As the wife of a pilot, I am interested in her perspective of living with a person who was so enthralled with aviation and was at the front lines of aviation in its earliest days.

It should be a very interesting story based on the fact that she was successful in her own right, just not as notorious as her husband.  In light of our current political struggle, she was pivotal in the criticism of the US during WWII and she had strong public views on politics.  It will also be interesting to see the dichotomy of these two notorious people.

I don’t know very much about this strong woman but I’m looking forward to learning more!

Summer is almost over…Read with me!

 

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

Unexpected!  This story of historical fiction describing the events of the Holocaust through the survivor’s tale was brilliant!  This book was amazing in every aspect of the word so my review is a long one!  The story was haunting, hopeful, scary and moving.  It reminded me of the first book we read together, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.  Not only do they have the same historical base but they are stunning in their portrayal of morality and survival.

The Storyteller is a story within a story within another story.  The intricacies of the characters was evident from the first page.  Sage’s character had me invested in her story from the beginning with the mystery of her scar and the mystery surrounding her grief.  The introduction of Josef only added to the intrigue with his saintly demeanor and request to die.  But to review this book, I feel that I need to address the characters individually because they are each written with substantial, intricate and complicated details.  They each deserve our attention.

MINKA:

Oh Minka!  This character really doesn’t make her presence known in this book until almost halfway through.  But her story is rapturous and beautiful, even at its worst.  I imagine her story is more common in this ugly history of our world than we can imagine.  A smart and educated young Jewish girl who becomes enveloped in the fight between good and evil, life and death.  Minka is the candle that burns brightest and they all follow her lead.  She reflects on her survival of the Holocaust in Poland as if it happened to someone else:  “When I got here, to America, this is when my life began…Everything before …well, that happened to a different person. (page 67)”   Because really, all of those horrid events happened to a young innocent person.  Freedom happened to the starved prisoner who did everything she could to survive.

Two of the best quotes in this book come from Minka and they are two things that should be contemplated.  First, she says “It is probably the hardest thing to understand: how even horror can become commonplace. (page 259)”  It is in her description of the Upior (Polish for vampire), or Nazi regime, that she makes this statement that seems to encompass all bad things…we get used to them.  Minka makes this statement as the Polish people begin to see Nazi brutality on a daily basis and begin to no longer be shocked by its existence.  The second quote that impacted me was when Minka asks the reader: “If you had to pack your whole life into a suitcase…what would you take? (page 270)”  It’s a question I cannot answer.  I think the obvious things but then I think, my memories are what would carry me through, just like Minka’s did.

Minka’s tragedies are many.  Her family is moved from their home to the Polish ghetto for the Jews.  Her mother is taken away and killed.  Her brother in law is killed.  But there are two scenes that took my breath away.  One was when the Nazis are searching for children to kill and she hides her sister and nephew.  This sliver of the story was heartbreaking because just as you think that they have dodged death, it comes right back to them.  “Majer wasn’t coughing anymore.  He wasn’t screaming. But my sister, looking down at her son’s blue lips and empty eyes, was. (page 263)”  I did not see this coming at all and it shocked me so much to read the words that I went back several times to make sure I read it correctly.  I couldn’t believe that this tragic story could get worse, except to have Minka’s sister commit suicide.  The second scene that was emotionally charged was when Minka is sorting through the suitcases and finds her father’s.   She had described him as: “He was tall and strong and invincible.  The real joke was that my father was too full of life to ever die. (page 197)”  And Minka had believed that after they were separated, that he was still alive until she opened his suitcase and realized he was truly gone.  “There is a reason the word history has, at its heart, the narrative of one’s life.  I buried my face in the wool and started to sob, rocking back and forth, even though I knew I was going to attract the attention of the guards.  My father had trusted me with the details of his death, and in the end, I was too late….Do it, I thought.  Take me, too. (page 287)”  Everyone was gone.  It would be hard to imagine a reason to keep living if everything had been taken from you.

 

JOSEF/FRANZ/REINER:

The beginning of the book introduces us to an old German man who has been a pillar of the community.  He has given back to his town in America as a Good Samaritan and neighbor.  His reputation is virtuous.  Then there is the juxtaposition of the Hartman brothers who are growing up in a time of German patriotism and loyalty.  They are forced into a world that they cannot avoid, one brother is more accepting of this fate, while the other is reluctant but knows he must comply in order to survive. “Any military man will tell you that the way to pull a divided group together is to give them a common enemy. (page 113).  While one brother, Reiner says: “I was only following orders. (page 138)”  Franz reminds him:  “Don’t forget where you came from…you don’t have to listen to what they say.  Well, maybe that’s not true.  But, you don’t have to believe it. (page 146)”

There are three haunting scenes from the Hartman brothers stories.  The first is when Reiner commits his first killing.  He is not remorseful or apologetic.  He is merely forthright and justified.  “Say what you will about the inhumanity of the SS-TV during the invasion of Poland, but I gave that woman her baby before we marched her off. (page 148)”  The second scene is a description of the firing squads: “To look down and see your friends and your relatives, dying an instant before you.  To take your place between the twitching limbs of the wounded, and wait for your moment.  To feel the blast of the bullet, and then the heaviness of a stranger falling on top of you.  To think like this was to think that we were killing other humans, ad to us, they could not be humans.  Because then what did that say about us? (page 156)”  The poignant moment is the description of the young man who “lifted his hand and pointed at himself.  In perfect German, he said, neunzehn.  Nineteen. (page 149)”  Nothing could be more haunting except for the third scene.  When Reiner describes the killing of the mother and child.  He tells us that the mother consoles her daughter by singing to her and as they are shot: “That’s when I heard the little girl, still singing. (page 160)”  Was it his imagination?  Was it his guilt?  Or was she still alive?

 

THE UPIOR:

In Polish, Upior means vampire or ghost.  The Upior is Minka’s tale about a vampire who doesn’t want to kill contrary to his brother who needs to kill.  It is a metaphor for what is happening Minka’s world.  Could it be that Minka has been describing Franz and Reiner in her tale?  She calls the Upior: “A monster with remorse. (page 317)”  Isn’t that what Franz is to Minka?  Doesn’t he treat her with kindness in a relationship where she is the prisoner and he is her guard?  He imprisons her and others but also rescues her on two occasions from being killed.  Is it for his own sake?  Yes, but also I think that he is intrigues by her and she reminds him of when he was a young, normal, and educated German boy.  And Minka states that she also must remind herself that he is the bad guy.  “Sometimes all it takes to become human again is someone who can see you that way, no matter how you present on the surface. (page 350)”  Both Minka and Franz are in this conundrum.  Minka is the victim and Franz is the trapped antagonist.

 

SAGE:

Sage is a person trapped in her own self-effacing world.  She is introverted in the beginning but her relationship with Josef brings her courage out just in time to discover a history and truth that lived within her own family.  This story of good versus evil encompasses her family and includes Josef, whether by coincidence or by design.  As Minka begins to tell her story, Sage becomes an empowered protagonist and ally to her grandmother.  She seeks to protect her and understand her.  “When a freedom is taken away from you, I suppose, you recognize it as a privilege, not a right. (page 366)”  Through Minka’s story, Sage is able to recall her grandmothers actions in the past and she can now reconcile them to actions of a survivor.

Sage has a profound choice to make in this book.  She becomes her grandmother’s protector but she is also Josef’s confidante.  She has an inner struggle to keep the two separated despite their obvious conjoined history.   When Josef confesses to Sage that “I knew you would be upset…But you were not my first choice. (page 408)”  It seems that Josef has pursued Sage’s family to seek forgiveness and peace.  But, the question becomes: is Sage qualified or willing to give Josef/Franz the forgiveness he seeks?  Sage’s boss gives the best rationale for forgiveness when she states: “What he did was wrong.  He doesn’t deserve your love.  But he does deserve your forgiveness, because otherwise he will grow like a weed in your heart until it’s choked and overrun.  The only person who suffers, when you squirrel away all that hate, is you….I don’t know what this person did to you, and I am not sure I want to.  But forgiving isn’t something you do for someone else.  It’s something you do for yourself.  It’s saying, you’re not important enough to have a stranglehold on me.  It’s saying, you don’t get to trap me in the past.  I am worthy of a future. (page 451)”  Forgiveness is not something to withhold unless we want it to bind us forever.

 

The book begins with these two lost people who need each other to move forward.  “Loneliness is a mirror, and recognizes itself. (page 37)”  Josef has no one left in his life and neither does Sage.  They are two humans who are truly alone even though they still seem to maintain their façades.  Loneliness is what binds them and brings them together but it is history and forgiveness that set them free. “Nobody who looks at a shard of flint lying beneath a rock ledge, or who finds a splintered log by the side of the road would ever find magic in their solitude.  But in the right circumstances, if you bring them together, you can start a fire that consumes the world. (page 434)”  Minka says it best when she explains why she has kept this secret and never published her story: “I know how powerful a story can be.  It can save a life.  But it can also be a sinkhole, a quick-sand in which you become stuck, unable to write yourself free…Truth is so much harder than fiction. (page 357)”  The story was never published but how many people did it save as she retold it during the war?  “Sometimes all you need to live one more day is a good reason to stick around. (page 299)”  And, a reason to ask “WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?”

 

Who is the “Storyteller”?  Minka?  Sage?  Josef?  Why?

Who was Josef?  Did you think he was Franz or Reiner or both?  Were you convinced in the end?

Why did Josef choose to be Reiner instead of Franz?

There is a point in the book where Minka says she never saw Franz again after he shipped her away from Auschwitz, do you think he looked for her so he would know how the Upior story ends?

Is it really possible that Josef kept his true identity from his wife?  Is it possible to keep a secret this great from your family?  Do you equivocate Josef keeping his past hidden to Minka keeping hers hidden?  Why or why not?

Do we try to reinvent ourselves after catastrophic events in our lives?  Why?

Why do you think that Josef chose Sage to confess to and to ask for help in dying?  Was it coincidence?

What do you think is the symbolism in Sage baking God into a loaf of bread?

Is Minka’s turning point the kiss with Josek at the café right before the SS soldiers take him away?  Or was it before that?

What did you think when Josef presented his SS photo to Sage?  Is this his dramatic explanation for why he should be dead?  Did you believe him?

How devastating was it that Minka finds Darija in Auschwitz only to have her killed in front of her?

Did learning fluent German help or hinder Minka’s survival?

What was the purpose of Minka’s boots given to her by her father and what was the purpose of the Christian papers from Josek?  Why didn’t she use them?

The deaths of Minka’s mother and sister are incredibly dramatic, why?  Why was her father’s death so lackluster?  Was Minka immune to the devastation or had he been preparing her for it inevitability?

What do you think was the purpose of the story of the Upior?  What was it mirroring?

So, if you had to pack your whole life into a suitcase, what would you take?

As we head into the long 4th of July weekend, I thought I would post my reading selection for the month of July a little early.  This month’s selection is Jodi Picoult’s The Storyteller.

This is the author’s 20th book and, surprisingly, I have never read one of her novels before!  This book piqued my interest because it received very good reviews and because of the conflicted heroine.    It always intrigues me to find stories where characters are out of their comfort zones and where there is a moral conflict.

I am looking forward to this story (which I also think will be a great beach book)!  I hope that you will join me for the month of July.

Happy 4th of July and Happy Reading!

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

This book was emotional and written with true heart from the perspective of a dying man.  He was not only a man, but a physician.  I cannot fathom understanding terminal illness as the doctor and then experiencing it as the patient.  What a difficult understanding of death this man must have gone through.  He says: “Death, so familiar to me in my work, was now paying a personal visit (page 121).”  I don’t know if I would have been as noble and brave knowing exactly what was happening to my body. “I hadn’t ever considered that I could release myself from the responsibility of my own medical care.  I’d just assumed all patients became experts at their own diseases (page 182).”

I loved Paul Kalanithi’s insight as to how he dealt with giving bad news and dealing with losing a patient.  I also liked that he was honest about his cockiness and showed a boundless desire to be the best.  I feel like it gave me a better understanding of the doctor’s bedside manner because they aren’t trying to be rude or aloof but they are trying to be the best at getting you the care needed to treat your disease.  However, I did feel like he was treating the diseases over the patients.

His ability to convey what it’s like to be in medicine and to be on the receiving end of medicine is insightful and educational.  I really learned so much about the process of determining who needs chemo and why and at what stage in their individual process.  It’s not just chemo across the board.  His vulnerability at becoming terminally ill is sudden and it seems to hit the reader quickly, just as it hit the narrator.  He muses that “…without the duty to care for the ill pushing me forward, I became an invalid (page 125).”

Enlightened is how I feel after reading this book.  Paul states that “We would carry on living, instead of dying (page 144),” when he and his wife, Lucy, decide to have a child during his illness.  They had released the pause button on their life and decided to continue to live instead of dwelling on his impending death.  This moment where he chooses life over dying is paramount to what we need to do in our own lives, whether we are ill or not.

I was enlightened by a physician’s work. “Doctors, it turns out, need hope, too (page 194).”  I was enlightened by the acknowledgement of death.  I was enlightened by Paul’s story of life.  I was enlightened by what this story taught me. In his hour of uncertainty, Paul states that he has stopped dwelling on his illness and embraced the fact that he had time left “…to return to neurosurgery, to return to life (page 150).”

Although this story ends with his death, I felt like his life had a beginning, middle and end.  I feel like he lived the time he had to the best of his ability and he was surrounded by his loving friends and family.  Nothing was left unsaid or undone.  After all, he did have his novel published just as he wished.  I love that his wife wrote the Epilogue to his story.  She was good at filling in some of the gaps and telling us what happens to the people we leave behind.

Was this story enlightening to you?  In what way did it give knowledge or understanding to death?

How did the perspective of the author affect your understanding of healthcare/death?

Was it more/less emotional because of the technical jargon used by Paul?

After diagnosis, he drastically declines in health but is because he knows he is sick or that he finally has nothing else to distract him?

Did you feel that Paul spent his remaining time doing what he loved?

What would you do if you knew you had a terminal illness?

The December book is so goooood!!!!!  There’s still time to get on board and read with us.  Its a page turner and I am headed over to my sofa right now to get back to this story of a troubled young girl.  Any one else feeling that its reminiscent of The Lovely Bones?