Even those who hate her novels usually admit: Alice McDermott has a ton of raw talent.  For me, this made After This worthwhile.  The environments are fully realized, thought the characters for the most part are not.  I actually liked this.  Rather than give us every minuscule detail about her characters, McDermott chooses to be an observer, giving us a fully and poetically described setting and documenting how these people move around within it; and allowing us to judge if we like them or not based on that and that alone.  McDermott has a skill that most authors would kill for: she is a virtuoso with subtlety.

As with The Catcher in the Rye, I did not “like” most of the characters I encountered in After This.  McDermott doesn’t want us to feel for or pity her characters.  She merely wants to tell us what happened.  There is no moral, just pure humanity.  After This strips plot down to its barest essentials—cause and effect.  I definitely understand why many readers find this frustrating to read.

What is the plot?  After This is basically the story of a normal family in the baby boomer era, watching their children spiral out of control.  I have no problem revealing plot elements to you.  This novel is about the writing, not necessarily any plot.  Two of the older children leap right into the psychedelic movement.  Michael indulges freely in alcohol and a number of idiot friends. Annie goes off to an esteemed college, and encounters the free love community.  Jacob is drafted into Vietnam, where he is killed in action.  One of the book’s greatest accomplishments is that Jacob’s death is merely implied throughout by his disappearance and a very subtle change in tone.  And there is Clare, the youngest and most symbolic character.  Her life begins on her living room couch, when her mother suddenly begins labor and delivers her baby with the help of their neighbor Mr. Persichetti.  The book ends with Clare herself pregnant and about to marry her boyfriend.  There is no resolution.  We never find out “what happens”.

In many respects, the book is insensitive and uncomfortable.  An abortion scene racked my body with sickening chills.  Thankfully not too much surgical detail is given, but the descriptions of the cold steel are enough.  The hippie life is not romanticized.  Michael’s friends are never portrayed as anything more than oversexed lowlife losers.  Another major literary accomplishment in the novel is that McDermott renders the reader almost completely unaware of just how much time passes.  Only by the end did I realize that the girl who wasn’t even born at the beginning was now nineteen and with her own child.

The book also contains some very beautiful and witty passages.  The description of Mrs. Keane and the young Clare standing in line to see Michelangelo’s Piétà is almost perfectly written.  The barely described abortion manages to be so disturbing that its power alone could be an effective tool against the Roe v. Wade tragedy.  The description of a windstorm at the beginning as “worthy of Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton” is one of the more sophisticated quotes, and a clever description of a nun holding her finger under three light switches “as if to keep three tiny noses from sneezing” shows McDermott’s interesting sense of observational humor.  It could be seen as self-effacingly pretentious by some.  I don’t think so. Alice McDermott simply isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.  She doesn’t even attempt to be.  It is this quality in her writing that I deeply respect.  She is absolutely fearless, but too intelligent to go in for shock tactics.

It’s hard to say that Alice McDermott has really achieved something major here.  At the same time, it’s impossible to say that she hasn’t.  I can’t say that I “love” the book, and I am not necessarily “recommending” it.  Like McDermott herself, I can only say what happens in this novel and how it has affected me.  And it has definitely affected me.  Similar to Eudora Welty, McDermott is a writer for multilevel thinkers.  The more I think about it, it makes perfect sense why many can’t stand her.

In his autobiography Beyond Belief, Josh Hamilton tells his readers the whole story. Amazingly enough he didn’t hold anything back and just laid everything out. What I appreciated most was during the whole story he never once blamed another person. In fact, as he discussed visits with psychiatrists and AA groups, he mentioned they always wanted to blame “his parents” or “his upbringing”, but Hamilton kept insisting he was the only one responsible, it was all his own doing. That is refreshing, especially when so many public figures tend to not want to be held accountable for their actions.

Most importantly, Hamilton not only mentioned he relied on Scripture and a relationship with Christ to overcome his “demons”, but provided references to specific passages that makes this book a great study for anyone facing similar problems. While reading the book, I immediately thought of many people who could benefit from reading this book, not because they were facing addiction, but because the book relayed such a strong message to aspiring athletes and believers facing tough issues.

The book was a fast read (I read it on a plane ride back from Tennessee) and did a great job allowing me to relive some of my favorite moments in baseball, including the 2008 home Run Derby in which Josh Hamilton was larger than life. The writing style, I have to admit, was fairly choppy and remedial, but that just added to its sincerity.

As a baseball fan, the number thirty-two has always held a special place in my heart, as it is the number of my all-time favorite Dodger – Sandy Koufax. But, now thirty-two has even more meaning to me as it is the number of an example of how a reliance on God and a focus on Scripture could overcome any challenge. Josh Hamilton, number thirty-two, is an inspiration.

Lakshmi is thirteen-years-old. She lives a simple, albeit impoverished, existence with with her Ama, infant sibling and gambling-addicted stepfather in a Nepalese village buried deep in the Himalayan mountains. She is a loving and obedient daughter and the best student in her class and promised to a local boy in her village but when a monsoon comes, devastating her family’s home and the crops they rely on for sustenance, her simple life takes a catastrophic turn. In order to compensate for the family’s crippling loss, Lakshmi’s stepfather – who likens little girls to goats, “Good as long as she gives you milk and butter..but not worth crying over when it’s time to make stew” accepts 800 rupees from a woman who promises to take Lakshmi to the city to find work, Lakshmi has no idea of the appalling future that awaits her.
The book SOLD is about Lakshmi’s final destination which is not even in Nepal; instead, she is bound for Calcutta, India, where she becomes one of the 12,000 Nepalese young women sold into sex slavery in India each year.

Early in the novel, Lakshmi’s Ama gives her this warning, “it is a woman’s fate to suffer,  simply to endure is to triumph.”
Lakshmi finds momentary reprieves from her nightmare when she enters into uneasy and short-lived friendships with the other girls at Happiness House and with a boy who helps her learn Hindi and English words. As Lakshmi keeps a running total of her earnings to determine when she can repay her debt and return to her family, she is too frightened even to allow herself to hope for escape, “This affliction , hope,  is so cruel and stubborn. I believe it will kill me.”

Written in a free-verse style from Lakshmi’s own perspective, SOLD is a demanding and at times painful book to read. These challenges, however, only serve to heighten the impact of this powerful and important novel that sheds light on a global crisis that is unknown to most.

Author Patricia McCormick who also tackled the subjects of self-mutilation in her book CUT and drug abuse in My Brother’s Keeper, conducted extensive research in Nepal and India, passing down the road these women travel into slavery and hearing their stories firsthand. This story is a National Book Award Finalist. Every page found a new way to break my heart but the easy prose made it a short read and the poetic format manages to describe with beauty events that are horrible and unthinkable. I admired Lakshmi’s and yet, the horror and grief throughout the book was palpable.  The truth of this book it that it is an ugly story, beautifully written. Appropriate for grades 9 and higher,

GENRE: Realistic Fiction

Link to discussion questions here

The Ring

The various storylines throughout the book ask the reader to accept each of the characters for who they are; whether it be female boxer, gay brother, or handicapped horseback rider.
The Ring is a quick read that might open up new possibilities for those looking for something out of the ordinary. There is quite a bit of language peppered throughout the book but all the “scenes” handled sensitively.  Definitely not appropriate for younger readers.

Since being published, it has been nominated for the American Library Association’s Rainbow Project list and author Bobbie Pyron has written her second novel, A Dog’s Way Home.

GENRE: Realistic Fiction

Link here to read an excerpt!

It’s hard to know if you’re reading a “good” translation of a foreign book because, well, you don’t speak the native language. You trust the translator as an artist in his or her own right to do justice to the book’s aesthetic in its original language. I don’t speak Chinese, so I am assuming that Michael Berry did a great job of translating, since he knows Yu personally and because I loved the book so much. Maybe someday I’ll become fluent in Chinese, read To Live the way Yu wrote it, and it may be a completely different experience. But that will probably not happen. Regardless, To Live is a fantastic and powerful read. I don’t want to reveal too much plot, but I’ll start at the beginning. Fugui is a horrible person. Trust me, you’ll hate him. He cheats on his wife and gambles away the fortune of his dying father, eventually turning up broke. In many ways the story follows the fundamental line of the prodigal son parable crossed with the Book of Job. The way this fairly short book covers the entire life of one man is a major feat, and Yu goes above and beyond what I thought a book could be. It moves like a beautiful piece of ambient music by Eno or Budd, captivating your attention completely yet also moving you through by its own will. But rather than just being a beautiful tone poem, Yu’s novel is also rather political, with Mao and Chiang looming presences throughout. In fact, the book was banned in its home country for these themes, giving the book a reputation it didn’t deserve. But Yu does not push any agenda or ideal. The historical context is just that, a historical context.

By the final page, you will have encountered some of the most powerful writing you will ever read in your life, and you will love the man you hated so much in the first pages. His tragic life is, by the end, a life you will wish to live. You will not want to turn away from the incredible painting that Yu has composed, I guarantee you. I cannot sing its praises enough. This extraordinary writer has done something absolutely monumental here, and not enough people are going to read it. Flags: Many s- and f-words, fairly brief mention of sex and prostitutes, not much else is offensive otherwise. Definitely not for children or even most teenagers.

Link here

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A follow up to the profound message of Crazy Love, Pastor Francis Chan offers a compelling invitation to understand, embrace, and follow the Holy Spirit’s direction in our lives. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We pray in the name of all three, but how often do we live with an awareness of only the first two?

As Jesus ascended into heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit–the Helper–so that we could be true and living witnesses for Christ. Unfortunately, today’s church has admired the gift but neglected to open it. Breakthrough author Francis Chan rips away paper and bows to get at the true source of the church’s power–the Holy Spirit. Chan contends that we’ve ignored the Spirit for far too long, and we are reaping the disastrous results. Thorough scriptural support and compelling narrative form Chan’s invitation to stop and remember the One we’ve forgotten, the Spirit of the living God.

Meyer thought the manuscript might work well as part of The Twilight Saga: The Official Guide, a tome still awaiting a pub date, but at nearly 200 pages, it was something her publisher thought worked better on its own. Meyer liked the idea of publishing it before Eclipse hits theaters, to give fans an introduction to Bree. She also considered the novella a gift to devoted Twilight readers, which is why she asked her publisher to make it available for free online.

GENRE: Fantasy

In the story, Haruko is born in Japan to a well-off family. She attends private school and a prestigious college, and she rejects the arranged proposals of a handful of successful and prestigious Japanese men. Called “Gazelle” by her high school track friend, she remains active throughout her young adult life by playing tennis as a semi-professional hobby. When the Crown Prince is set to be her opponent, she wins the match. This victory making her an intriguing woman in the eyes of the Crown Prince. It took many attempts on the prince’s behalf, and her father cautions her: “More than a man, he’s an institution and a symbol,” but she agrees to become the Princess of Japan.

Once inside the closed world of the palace, however, Haruko cannot be protected by her family. Even her new husband cannot shield her from the sharp tongue of Mrs. Oshima, her aristocratic chief lady-in-waiting, although he defies much tradition to do so in a very subtle way. Haruko’s sole duty is to produce a male heir, and she duly becomes pregnant. But soon after her son’s birth, she realizes that she will have to give him up. “He may be yours,” Mrs. Oshima icily reminds her, “but he does not belong to you.” There are many haunting scenes where her son is weaned from her at just a few months old and how she is reprimanded for just picking the child up out of his pram that the reader is not surprised when Haruko eventually has a breakdown and stops talking. Though she regains her voice, she is unable to fully regain her spirit. As the years pass, she achieves a fragile emotional balance, only to watch in pain when, a few decades later, her son meets a beautiful commoner called Keiko and the dreadful pattern is repeated.

The story is told in vivid detail and imagery that slowly unfolded the story.  This led some of the women in my book club to want the story to hurry up and get going.  Even the dramatic moments revolved around her walking ahead of her husband or supplying witty banter with her antagonist in the palace that was told in a quiet lilting way.

The theme of freedom, flight, and gilded cages was woven throughout the story.  I was especially touched by Haruko’s relationship with her father who was so moving as he loses access to the daughter he so loved.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and recommend if you would like to know more that you pick up Ben Hill’s biography, Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne.

GENRE: Historical Fiction

Link Here for discussion questions

Link Here for Reading Group Guide

Also, like millions of viewers, by the time I got halfway through the first season, I theorized that the island was some sort of purgatory and all of the passengers on Oceanic Flight 815 truly did die in the crash. Of course, at the time, I seem to remember the creators of Lost and the viewers say that is just too much of a cop out.

Lost was fraught with so many storylines, so many great characters, (Mr. Eko being my personal favorite), so many mysteries -  that each week got me more and more addicted.

Fast forward to Season Six. News came out  this would be the final season of Lost and we all watched every episode with a Sherlock Holmesesque attention to detail. We hung on every word, watched every image, and read every blog trying to figure out which small morsel of information would help us solve the mystery of the island.

Well, on a night when we had assumed all mysteries would be solved, all questions would be answered, and we could finally sleep at night without wondering what was going on with these characters, we basically get told that we were right all along.

Sure there are two conclusions that could be drawn from last night’s episode and both are a serious let down.

1) All of the events on the island really happened and that the “sideways” storyline was really a place of “purgatory” in which everyone was brought back together to reach their final destination, the afterlife. That Jack’s dad, was truly a Christian Shephard, shepherding his people to Heaven. The assumption here is that the sideways was “timeless” as Christian described and people could have died at different times. Some got off the island, some died on the island. And apparently Ben may still be alive as he was not ready to move on after serving as Hugo’s “number two” for an undefined period of time.

This leads to several problems, the most of which it does not answer anything about the mysteries of the island, just that they truly happened as described.

2) The island was purgatory and the people truly did die on the crash. Once their time at purgatory was completed, they were able to gather together and ascend to Heaven.

This leads to just more questions, the most important one being why in the world did we sit through six seasons of Dharma, the Others, Jacob and M.I.B, light sources, candidates, polar bears and a smoke  monster. Were they just trials and tribulations designed to have the people realize there need to repent so they could finally move on to their final resting place?

Either way, so many key questions were not answered and I was personally disappointed at the absence of Walt. I really thought we would see him and find out why he was so important.

So it is time to move on from a series I truly enjoyed and all I could say is that the creators of Lost left their fans with exactly what kept them glued to their television sets each week, a mystery.

Also similar is his formula including children suddenly discovering god-like powers, a missing parent who needs to be saved, a battle against evil forces that want to end the world, and a mission that must be completed by a specific deadline.

Riordan tells his story through two narrators — mixed-race siblings Carter and Sadie Kane. The two alternate detailing what happened after their father, Julius Kane, blew up the Rosetta Stone and unleashed five Egyptian gods before disappearing himself.

As the story begins, 14-year-old Carter and 12-year-old Sadie hardly know each other. Since their mother’s unexplained death several years ago, Sadie’s been living with grandparents in England while Carter has traveled the world with his father, an archaeologist.

The text is presented as the transcript of an audio recording done by both children, alternating every two chapters between character perspectives. Early on, Sadie uses her British accent heavily, but as the book progressed it almost completely was lost and it became difficult to differentiate between the two voices.

As the story unfolds, Carter and Sadie discover the secrets of their family heritage and their ability to work magic as they realize that their task will be to save humanity from Set, who is building a destructive red pyramid at Camelback Mountain in Phoenix.

Sadie, it turns out, is a godling for Isis; the goddess of fertility, who is on a quest to locate the god of the lower world, Osiris. Carter is Horus, the son of Osiris, who has to defeat Set, the god who is imprisoning his dad.

Riordan does a masterful job concocting an explanation of why Pharaoh’s in history would have considered themselves actual gods and legitimizing the historical context with scenes readers may be familiar with like Moses showdown in Egypt.

Riordan again does a great job of pulling ancient mythology into the modern world. He really grounds his story and makes it believable. By the end of the book the characters are realistic and engaging and the reader is eagerly anticipating the next adventure.

Riordan is proposing the Kane Chronicles will be at least a trilogy and he’s also working on a second five-book series, this one featuring a mainstay of the Percy series, Camp Half-Blood. The first book will be published in October.

GENRE: Fantasy

Link here to read the first chapter of The Red Pyramid