Several years ago, just after Barack Obama was elected president, a good friend of mine remarked to me, "Don't talk to me about Michelle Obama. I despise her." I was quite taken aback, both by the vehemence in her voice and the use of the word "despise." I don't believe many people feel that strongly about a First-Lady. Coward that I am (or peace keeper, to give it a more favorable slant) I backed away from the subject. I didn't ask her why she felt that way. I suspected we had voted for different candidates, and I didn't want politics to interfere in our friendship. I wish now I had asked, because our friendship died anyway.
At the time I knew little about Michelle Obama, certainly not enough to know if I liked or disliked her. I knew that she was a lawyer, that she was attractive, and that she had a certain air of dignity which seemed appropriate for a FLOTUS. As the years of the Obama administrations passed, I was aware of her efforts to promote good nutrition and to fight childhood obesity. I was aware that she was criticized by some because school children didn't like their newly revised meals. Well, kids don't like to study history or English as much as they like to play video games. It's logical that they wouldn't like carrot sticks as well as they like tater tots. It seemed to me that people were looking for reasons to criticize.
This autobiography informed me of the multitude of things I did not previously know about Michelle Obama. For example:
*She grew up on the South Side of Chicago, which is not an affluent neighborhood;
*Her parents were working-class, not professionals;
*She graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law School;
*She held a prestigious position at a major law firm before resigning to accept more rewarding work for non-profit agencies;
*She apparently always put her children first when considering any career decision;
*She is 5'11" tall. (I am always fascinated by tall people.)
After reading this book, I would consider Michelle Obama as entirely admirable. Of course, an autobiography invariably presents a favorable impression. I would also consider this to be well written. Of course, famous people sometimes employ ghost writers, but her education would lead one to believe that she actually did the writing herself.
I have long believed that most of the criticism of the Obamas stemmed from closet racism. I may be wrong. I hope so.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Sunday, July 21, 2019
AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by TAYARI JONES (2018)
This is the story of a marriage in trouble. It is not solely because of some of the more commonplace stressors that face young couples, such as a lack of honesty or a difference in life goals. This couple's seemingly upwardly mobile lives are interrupted by events beyond their control.
Roy and Celeste, a young black couple, have journeyed to Louisiana to visit his family when he briefly interacts with a fellow guest at the motel where the couple is staying. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, they are awakened by police who tell them that the guest has accused Roy of rape. When he is subsequently convicted, Roy and Celeste must each face life alone while struggling to maintain their marriage tie despite the obvious obstacles.
The novel in narrated mostly by Roy and Celeste in turn, allowing the reader to understand the background and state of mind of both. A friend to both of them, Andre, narrates briefly about his involvement in their lives.
The questions to be answered, by Celeste and, by extension, by the reader: what is the right thing to do when familial and societal expectations contrast with hopes and desires; is self-sacrifice a product of pity or love; what do you do when you love two people, in different ways?
An American Marriage is written in sparse and straight-forward prose which flows well. The situations are emotionally charged and the plot is suspenseful. However, it had minimal impact, for me, at least. For someone who reads many books a year, it was not a waste of time, but for anyone who reads a limited number of books a year, I believe many other 2018 books would be more enjoyable and/or worthwhile.
Roy and Celeste, a young black couple, have journeyed to Louisiana to visit his family when he briefly interacts with a fellow guest at the motel where the couple is staying. Suddenly, in the middle of the night, they are awakened by police who tell them that the guest has accused Roy of rape. When he is subsequently convicted, Roy and Celeste must each face life alone while struggling to maintain their marriage tie despite the obvious obstacles.
The novel in narrated mostly by Roy and Celeste in turn, allowing the reader to understand the background and state of mind of both. A friend to both of them, Andre, narrates briefly about his involvement in their lives.
The questions to be answered, by Celeste and, by extension, by the reader: what is the right thing to do when familial and societal expectations contrast with hopes and desires; is self-sacrifice a product of pity or love; what do you do when you love two people, in different ways?
An American Marriage is written in sparse and straight-forward prose which flows well. The situations are emotionally charged and the plot is suspenseful. However, it had minimal impact, for me, at least. For someone who reads many books a year, it was not a waste of time, but for anyone who reads a limited number of books a year, I believe many other 2018 books would be more enjoyable and/or worthwhile.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
WARLIGHT by MICHAEL ONDAATJE (2018)
This is yet another novel I bought because of the writer, not because I had read glowing reviews. Michael Ondaatje is the author of The English Patient, recipient of England's Booker Prize in 1992, an extraordinary novel of the aftermath of battle in World War II. Warlight returns to that time period to examine the effects of war on one family, effects which linger long after "peace" has been declared.
Nathaniel, as an adult, remembers the time in 1945 when his mother and father left him and his sister, ostensibly to go overseas for the father's work, in the care of the enigmatic man they called The Moth, As a teenager, he experiences a strange coming-of-age through the odd acquaintances of The Moth, who seemingly take him under their protection. When their mother returns following an episode when Nathaniel and his sister are kidnapped and then rescued, she offers no explanations for the absence of the father or for where she has been.
Nathaniel is recruited by the Foreign Office when he is in his 20s, and begins to research records to gain some sense of what his mother had been involved in during and after the war. Through actual records and his recollections, filled in by his imagination, he arrives at a semblance of the truth of his mother's double life.
This is a very low-key novel. Despite being beautifully written, its emotional impact is negligible. It is definitely a "head" novel, to be appreciated intellectually.
Nathaniel, as an adult, remembers the time in 1945 when his mother and father left him and his sister, ostensibly to go overseas for the father's work, in the care of the enigmatic man they called The Moth, As a teenager, he experiences a strange coming-of-age through the odd acquaintances of The Moth, who seemingly take him under their protection. When their mother returns following an episode when Nathaniel and his sister are kidnapped and then rescued, she offers no explanations for the absence of the father or for where she has been.
Nathaniel is recruited by the Foreign Office when he is in his 20s, and begins to research records to gain some sense of what his mother had been involved in during and after the war. Through actual records and his recollections, filled in by his imagination, he arrives at a semblance of the truth of his mother's double life.
This is a very low-key novel. Despite being beautifully written, its emotional impact is negligible. It is definitely a "head" novel, to be appreciated intellectually.
Tuesday, July 2, 2019
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by DELIA OWENS (2018)
If I were going to vacation at the beach or on a cruise this summer, this would be a great book to take. It reads smoothly and does not take much concentration, and its plot is interesting and somewhat suspenseful. It has a who-done-it mystery toward the end, but it is essentially a romance novel, albeit of a more literary cast than most. The descriptions of the Outer Banks of North Carolina are extremely well done. What a reader must needs overlook is that the plot is highly unlikely, almost unbelievable.
The protagonist, Kya, is abandoned by both parents and all her siblings at the age of nine in an isolated area on the edge of the marshes. And she survives. Grown to young adulthood, she is, of course, breathtakingly beautiful, and attracts the attention of not one, but two, of the "town boys." When one of them is found dead, possibly murdered, she is the first suspect.
In the midst of all this Kya has turned herself into a best-selling author and illustrator of books about the flora and fauna of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Who would have thought it?
I don't want to be too critical of a book that is quite entertaining as it is being read (though quite forgettable afterwards). It is a pick of Reese Witherspoon's Book Club. That may or may not be a recommendation for potential readers, depending on how one views Reese Witherspoon's literary judgment.
The protagonist, Kya, is abandoned by both parents and all her siblings at the age of nine in an isolated area on the edge of the marshes. And she survives. Grown to young adulthood, she is, of course, breathtakingly beautiful, and attracts the attention of not one, but two, of the "town boys." When one of them is found dead, possibly murdered, she is the first suspect.
In the midst of all this Kya has turned herself into a best-selling author and illustrator of books about the flora and fauna of North Carolina's Outer Banks. Who would have thought it?
I don't want to be too critical of a book that is quite entertaining as it is being read (though quite forgettable afterwards). It is a pick of Reese Witherspoon's Book Club. That may or may not be a recommendation for potential readers, depending on how one views Reese Witherspoon's literary judgment.
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