Review: Elders by Ryan McIlvain

Elders: A Novel by Ryan McIlvain

Reviewed by Ingrid 

Published: 2013

It's about: Here's the official, back-cover description.

Elder McLeod—outspoken, surly, a brash American—is nearing the end of his mission in Brazil. For nearly two years he has spent his days studying the Bible and the Book of Mormon, knocking on doors, teaching missionary lessons—“experimenting on the word.” His new partner is Elder Passos, a devout, ambitious Brazilian who found salvation and solace in the church after his mother’s early death. The two men are at first suspicious of each other, and their work together is frustrating, fruitless. That changes when a beautiful woman and her husband offer the missionaries a chance to be heard, to put all of their practice to good use, to test the mettle of their faith. But before they can bring the couple to baptism, they must confront their own long-held beliefs and doubts, and the simmering tensions at the heart of their friendship.

I thought: Being both a Mormon and a person quite serious about books, I was thrilled to learn that there exists a "Mormon book" published by a major publisher (Hogarth, an imprint of Random House,) that is written for and marketed to a general audience (not just Mormons.) Also, how great is the cover? I can't get over that his little missionary tag says "A Novel."

So, the book was excellent. It was not an exposé, nor was it necessarily faith-promoting, which was a relief to me. I've found that both of these approaches tend to flatten out, polarize and oversimplify a subject, which in my opinion does not make good literature. In fact, this book is forthright in a way that would make devout Mormons uncomfortable; there is quite a bit of language, for example, and candid portrayal of masturbation and some sex, things that I think would be unnatural not to include in a book about 20 year old males trying to understand themselves and their place in the world.

But actually, I think that the real-ness of the story made the faith parts stand out in a gritty, authentic, lovely way. I very much admire McIlvain's ability to write about difficult-to-describe emotions without sounding...forced. His writing shows an acute understanding of the complicated-ness of imperfect people trying to live up to an ideal in an imperfect world. Both Elder McLeod and Elder Passos find their mission isn't nearly as easy and straightforward as they had hoped, even expected it to be. Elder McLeod feels pressure from his father, a church leader, to develop a strong conviction and testimony he isn't sure he has, while Elder Passos feels guilty for leaving his family in poverty while he serves as a volunteer for two years. Add to that the simmering anti-American and anti-Bush sentiments held by many Brazilians at the time, misunderstandings between cultures, and disappointment at not finding anyone interested in hearing the message. Of course, all kinds of wonderful messiness ensues.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf. 

Reading Recommendations: If you are interested in how people relate to faith traditions and how personal faith grows, evolves, is questioned, and changes, this is a book for you.

Favorite excerpts: "'I want to start doing something my first companion used to do with me,' Passos said, looking McLeod straight in the eye. 'We'd grip hands every morning before we left, and bear testimony to each other, remind each other why we were doing what we were doing. I'll start. I know this is the true church of Christ, Elder McLeod. THat this is the Lord's work we're engaged in, and that we are His duly ordained ministers on this earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
     'Amen,' McLeod said. He hesitated. I know that too, Elder Passos, I know that . . .'
     McLeod waited for alighting hands, something, and for a moment he thought he might have felt it, or maybe not. The confirmation of the Spirit. Saint John's litmus test. Was he imagining it? Did he want it too badly? His senior companion drew his attention back to him, dipping his head.
     McLeod said, 'And . . . that's all. For today anyway. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.'"

What I'm reading next: The Dinner by Herman Koch

Review: The House Girl by Tara Conklin

Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2013

It's about: Josephine is a house slave in Virginia in 1852. When she realizes that her owner, Missus Luanne is dying, she decides to run.

Meanwhile, 150 years later, Lina Sparrow is a young lawyer working on a lawsuit seeking reparations for slavery. (This girl is 24 and working for a major law firm in New York City. Way to make me feel like I'm behind in the world, Tara Conklin. I'm 24 and making just above minimum wage at a bookstore. :/ ) Through her father, who is a well known artist in NYC, Lina discovers Josephine when a controversy takes over the art world - is the late artist and feminist icon Luanne Bell the true talent behind her now famous paintings? Or are they actually the work of her house slave Josephine?

Moving back and forth between the two stories, we discover all kinds of crazy/exciting/depressing things about Josephine as Lina tries to find her descendent to act as plaintiff in her case.

I thought: I need to say, the annoyingly feminine cover put me off when I first saw this book. I think it is a shame that a book written by a woman with a female protagonist is, once again, only being marketed towards women. This needs to change.

I was hesitant, but curious as to how Conklin would approach such a controversial/difficult/complicated subject matter. I'm generally skeptical of majorities writing from the POV of minorities. It can occasionally be done well, but it must be done very, very carefully. In this case, I think it worked because Josephine's voice was balanced with Lina's, which broadened the focus of the story to the relationship between the two characters. It is clear that the crux of the novel is the action of a white woman reaching beyond her own experience and trying to learn about the life of a black woman, not only for her reparations case but also to allow Josephine's character to be properly attributed for her own achievements. Obviously nothing can really "repair" slavery, but because the reparation stuff is clearly delineated to certain aspects of the story, I think it would be hard to accuse Conklin of being revisionist.

The writing had some small problems for me. Some of the minor character voices (Parker Scales, the art critic, for example) were not convincing, and some of the allusions too obvious. There is the obligatory description of a dog barking in the distance (which always amuses me), and quite a few characters muttering back-story "half to themselves." Despite these things, Conklin's style was not sentimental and not overwrought, which I consider an achievement in itself.

The story, though, was absolutely fantastic. Conklin took up a lot of threads and made them all work without being distracting. I was caught up in the emotional catches and dilemmas of the characters right away, without even thinking about it. I cared about them and I felt I understood them. The structure of the book made it exciting to make little discoveries and connections when something comes up in one narrative that points to the other. It was satisfying.

The book lasted me through two extremely long baths, leaving me with painfully pruny skin and water long gone cold. It was wonderful. Besides the few little things, this book was an absolute delight to read and I would definitely recommend it (to men and women alike!)

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf, but maybe after it comes out in paperback (and hopefully has a different cover.)

Reading Recommendations: You'll fly through this one. It's a great one to pick up when you want something you know will be exciting all the way through.

Favorite excerpts: "Missus kept a set of books on the study of art that sat on a tall shelf in the studio. One of these was called Artistic Technique and the Mastery of Painting and in it Josephine had seen a portrait of Mr. Thomas Jefferson. He stood in his presidential office, his posture straight, his face solemn, and in the back was a tall chest, the wood burnished and gleaming in the soft oil light of the painting. The chest contained many drawers small and large, and each was fronted with a curved brass handle shaped like an elegant letter U with tendril ends. Josephine had studied this painting and found in it something of use, not for evidence of technique or artistic rendering but for the chest itself, a tall keeper of secrets. It was inside these drawers that Josephine put the feelings she could not have, the rage that would drown her or the disappointment that would crush her. Over the years she had learned to fold down rising emotion just as she would fold the clean bed sheets, the sheet growing smaller and tighter with each pass until all that remained of that wide wrinkled expanse of cotton was a hard closed-in square.
     Each wrapped tight, packed away, corners folded over, a small firm bundle."

What I'm reading next: Elders by Ryan McIlvain

Ingrid's Top Ten of 2012 & Reading Stats

Mmmmm. 

I read 104 books in 2012! This was the first full year I was not in school, so I made reading a priority. (In other words, I used reading as a way to avoid other priorities...) I downloaded this spreadsheet and had all kinds of fun meticulously tracking all my reading details. Here's what happened in 2012:

I read 104 books. 66 written by women, 33 written by men, 5 written by both men and women. I read a total of 30,353 pages averaging 82.9 pages per day. I read 34 books on my Kindle, 18 free review copies, 13 books from the library, 32 books I bought for myself. The rest were either borrowed or given to me as a gift.

I did not count any books in my final count that I did not finish. There were a few duds that I forced myself through, but I liked the majority of books I read in 2012. Here are my top ten favorites:

1. The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch (my review)
2. Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me by Javier Marias
3. Blue Nights by Joan Didion (my review)
4. Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
5. A Tale For the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
6. Possession by A.S. Byatt
7. The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
8. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters
9. Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset (my review)
10. The Book of Mormon Girl by Joanna Brooks (Christina and Connie's review)

Honorable mentions: Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet by John G. Turner, The White Album by Joan Didion, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, The Round House by Louise Erdrich

I did a fairly good job actually writing reviews at the beginning of the year, but once I moved to a new place and started working for a bookstore in August, my reviews tapered off. In 2013 I hope to push myself to read challenging books and actually write about them!

What were your favorite books you read in 2012?

Review: The Summer Before the Storm by Gabriele Wills

Gabriele Wills 

Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2006

It's about: From the publisher's website:
"It’s the Age of Elegance in the summer playground of the affluent and powerful. Amid the pristine, island-dotted lakes and pine-scented forests of the Canadian wilderness, the young and carefree amuse themselves with glittering balls and friendly competitions. The summer of 1914 promises to be different when the ambitious and destitute son of a disowned heir joins his wealthy family at their cottage on Wyndwood Island. Through Jack’s introduction into the privileged life of the aristocratic Wyndhams and their illustrious social circle, he seeks opportunities and alliances to better himself, including in his schemes, his beautiful and audacious cousin, Victoria.

But their charmed lives begin to unravel with the onset of the Great War, in which many are destined to become part of the 'lost generation.'"

I thought: Lots and lots and lots of stuff happens in this book. Because the story moves so fast and there is so much drama all the time, I enjoyed reading for the story. However, the best part of the book were the delightful historical details; it's clear that this book was meticulously researched. I loved Will's descriptions of women's dresses and bathing costumes.

Unfortunately however, the characters felt very one-dimensional and artificial. Many suspiciously felt like 21st century characters who dressed and spoke like Edwardians, quite a few female characters were independant-minded and frustrated with the confining gender norms of their time. I was also disappointed with how much the author explained the characters' actions and motivations. Nothing was left for me to think about! This was disappointing. I like an author to trust me as a reader to understand underlying threads and work things through for myself.


Lastly, the book ends with an abrubt "to be continued in book 2..." which made me feel a bit cheated, although I suppose it did make me a little bit curious about book 2 of the series. Many threads were left hanging.

Verdict: I think I'll put this one (on the lower end of) in between. 

Warnings: Quite a lot of sex and swearing, which I admit felt a bit strange in a novel about the Edwardian era.

*I received a copy of this book to participate in Virtual Author Book Tours in exchange for an honest review. Follow the tour for this book here.

Review: How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

Caitlin Moran

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran

Reviewed by Ingrid

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[A quick one this time!]

Published: 2012

It's about: This memoir is structured around typical female experiences (with chapter titles like, "I Start Bleeding!" "I Need a Bra!" "I am Fat!" "I am in Love!"), with (often very funny) stories from Moran's life sprinkled with feminist critique.

I thought: Moran's humor is a bit ... strong. She uses lots of capitalized words and exclamation marks. However, I think her chatty, enthusiastic, funny voice made her feminist critique easy to digest. It's like ... Pop Feminism. Is that a thing?

Verdict: In between. I loved the idea, but delivery was a bit much for me. I'd probably give it something like a 7 out of 10.

Warnings: Language, some sexual content.

Caitlin Moran, with her Glamour Women of the Year 2012
award for Best Writer

Favorite excerpts: "I distrust this female habit of reflexively flagging your own shortcomings. Not the breezy, airy witticism in the face of a compliment--'Lost weight? No. We're just in a larger room than usual, darling.' 'You think my children are well mannered? I have wired them with small electrodes, and every time they misbehave, I punch the BAD KID button in my pocket.' That's fine.
     No--I'm talking about the common attitudinal habit in women that we;re kind of...failing if we're not a bit neurotic. That we're somehow boorish, complacent, and unfeminine if we're content."

What I'm reading next: Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on love and life from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed

Review: The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch

via

The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2011

It's about: This is a tough one to summarize. Here's the goodreads description:

"This is not your mother’s memoir. In The Chronology of Water, Lidia Yuknavitch expertly moves the reader through issues of gender, sexuality, violence, and the family from the point of view of a lifelong swimmer turned artist. In writing that explores the nature of memoir itself, her story traces the effect of extreme grief on a young woman’s developing sexuality that some define as untraditional because of her attraction to both men and women. Her emergence as a writer evolves at the same time and takes the narrator on a journey of addiction, self-destruction, and ultimately survival that finally comes in the shape of love and motherhood."

I thought: Cheryl Strayed called this book "a brutal beauty bomb and a true love song." I like that description. This book is brutal and sometimes difficult to digest, but it is beautiful. I was stunned by Yuknavitch's writing - I read almost the whole thing sitting on my bed in the same position. I reveled in it. I read and reread sentences and paragraphs that impressed me. I laughed at Yuknavitch's clever and funny chapter titles. I dog-eared pages I liked even though the copy I was reading was from the library. I absolutely DIED over this book, I loved it so much. I told Derik that, hands-down, this is the best book I've read all year and perhaps one of the best books I've read, ever.

a still of Yuknavitch from the book trailer

While I don't usually like very experimental, poetic-ish writing, Yuknavatitch does it well in a way that feels real and is convincing. Yuknavitch figured out how to shape her experience into a narrative that makes sense to her while still keeping her voice and her story authentic. This is sort of hard, because our lives never play out in a way that fits nicely into a little memoir. There's just so much stuff that happens to us, all the time, and depending on how you look at it, all those things can be interpreted in millions of ways. It's difficult to write down our stories without imagining our audience and wondering, what will they think of me? Do they even care about this or that? Is this entertaining, or beautiful, or important? How can I make it seem like it is?

Yuknavitch's writing breaks down all these barriers. Her narrative flows in many directions without losing its center and its force. Like the nature of water, her writing style is flowing, moving, all encompassing. It is heartbreakingly honest and mindbendingly beautiful. My edition contained a short interview with Lidia Yuknavitch that gave me some great insight into her writing. She talks about bodies - "I think bodes are the coolest thing in ... ever. Your body, Mine. All the different kinds. What glory bodies are" - and how she tries to bring language closer to corporeal experience - "To bring langauge close to the intensity of eperiences like love or death or grief or pain is to push on the affect of language ... I want you to hear how it feels to be me inside a sentence." This is what I think makes Yuknavitch stand apart.
And speaking of bodies .. yes, that is a boob on the cover. The book is sold in stores with a charcoal band around the front covering the boob. I chose to show you the real cover, though, because I think the human body should more often be seen as something beautiful without having to be sexualized. Yuknavitch wrote about the image on the cover here.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf. This is by far my favorite book I've read this year.

Warnings: There is a lot of rough language and content in this book. I would not recommend it to everyone. In fact, because of the content I would recommend it to very few. If it sounds like something you would like, I would suggest flipping through and reading a few pages at your local bookstore or library and see if it is something that appeals to you.

Favorite excerpts: "I used to watch Miles fall asleep from drinking boob milk late into the night. I'm guessing all mothers do this. But I bet not all mothers were thinking of Shakespearean sentence structures when they watched their babies drunkenly drift into sleep...when I watched Miles go from mother's milk to burp to deep and frothy dream, his body heavy in my lap, the blue-black of night resting on us, I thought of Shakespearean chiasmus. A chiasmus in language is a crisscross structure. A doubling back sentence. A doubling of meaning. My favorite is 'love's fire heats water, water cools not love.'
     As a motif, a chiasmus is a world within a world where transformation is possible. In the green world events and actions lose their origins. Like in dreams. Time loses itself. The impossible happens as if it were ordinary. First meanings are undone and remade by second meanings.
     I didn't sleep much the first two years in the forest house. Miles, bless his hungry little head, wanted more milk than any man alive. All night. I thought of my mother--and my own unquenchable, milkless mouth. If this boy wanted milk, I would give it to him. Maybe all our lives were being reborn in the forest. ...
     The exhaustion of new parents is absurd. Beyond absurd. But I'm not about to get all righteous about that. In fact, it's something else altogether I want to tell you. I think our exhaustion in the green world brought us to our best selves. Listen to this: the first two years of Miles' life? When I was supposed to be depleted? I wrote a novel and seven short stories. Andy wrote a novel and three screenplays. Read that again. How is it that so much writing happened inside the least amount of time or energy?
     Green world.
     We had no time. We had no energy. We had no money. What we had was making art in the woods. So when Andy turned to me one night over scotches and said 'We should invent a Northwest press that isn't about f-ing old growth and salmon,' and I laughed my ass off, and then said, 'Yeah, we should,' we just...did. Which is how the zenith of our depletion changed into the zenith of our creative production. Andy and me, we had anther child. An unruly literary press, which we named 'Chiasmus.' Turned out, there were lots of writers in the Northwest who were tired of old growth and salmon. Our first publication was an anthology called Northwest Edge: The End of Reality. Because, you know, it was. Everything we were before we were this, utterly transformed.
     Shakespeare.
     In our forest we gave art to life, and art to life made us."

What I'm reading next: The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Double Review: Beyond the Sling and Why Have Kids?

Beyond the Sling: A Real-Life Guide to Raising Confident, Loving Children the Attachment Parenting Way by Mayim Bialik

Why Have Kids? by Jessica Valenti

Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2012

They're about: While both Beyond the Sling and Why Have Kids? would be shelved in the "Parenting" section of your local bookstore, they are two very different books.

Mayim Bialik has the more "traditional" parenting book; using stories of her own experience, she describes specific parenting techniques and explains why they work. Bialik advocates Attachment Parenting, a parenting style whose major tenants are co-sleeping, breastfeeding, baby wearing, and gentle discipline. Bialik claims that this is the most natural and intuitive style of parenting.  Much of the book is written like a memoir, with very short sections explaining the science (Bialik has a PhD in neurobiology) and statistics. She hits on all those things listed above as well as her experience with natural birth, breastfeeding into toddlerhood, elimination communication, and natural home remedies. Bialik argues that you should always do what's best for baby.

Jessica Valenti, however, isn't interested in telling you the best way to parent. She is more interesting in exploring how the messages about parenting within our society are often harmful to parents and children. Valenti challenges her readers to think critically about the choices they make and how they affect their children, their lives, and the rest of society. Interestingly, Valenti goes through a list of almost the exact same issues that Bialik writes about and directly challenges them with lots of statistics. Valenti argues that you should NOT always do what society tells you is "best" for baby, because often those things may not actually be best, and because doing those things reinforces the expectation that women need to sacrifice pretty much all of their time and energy to raise a happy, healthy child when that is not necessarily the case.

Mayim Bialik via

I thought: I don't have kids. But I like reading parenting books, because I'm cool. I also really like Mayim Bialik, because she's smart, articulate, funny, and I like the soothing sound of her voice. The thing that intrigues me most about her, though, is that she is both a Modern Orthodox Jew and a feminist. Women who identify as feminists AND as members of strongly patriarchal religious groups always stand out to me, because I am one myself - I identify as a Mormon feminist. A lot of people think these things are conflicting. They often are. But I think that having a strong stake in two conflicting communities provides more opportunites to explore questions pertaining to both communities in new ways.

Case in point: in Beyond the Sling, I was specifically interested Bialik's point of view regarding the intersection of feminism and the strong family values that stem from her religious views. The principles behind her parenting techniques were very appealing to me. She claims that attachment parenting encourages children to make strong emotional connections with their parents that will later translate into strong, healthy relationships with other people, as well a healthy sense of self-confidence. Those are certainly things I want for my future children, things I think most people want. This parenting style takes some MAJOR, commitment though, and I mean MAJOR. Bialik is literally involved with her children 24 hours a day - whether she's breastfeeding (on demand, day and night, until the child no longer shows an interest,) watching her child's body language to be able to discern when the child needs to be taken and held over the toilet to "eliminate," (sometimes this is every 15 minutes,) sleeping next to your child (and thus waking up every time they wake up,) watching them for any signs of sickness or discomfort, carrying them around every where you go in a sling, etc, etc. That is exhausting just to think about. However, Bialik seems to imply that the strong emotional connection to create with your child when you make this sacrifice is empowering to both mother and child.

While I still had Bialik's book on my mind, I saw Rebecca's review of Why Have Kids? a few days ago and borrowed a copy on my kindle right away. The first thing I noticed is that Valenti has a much more polemic tone to her writing. Bialik wants to gently suggest what might work best for you, and constantly reminds you that she knows there are many different kinds of parents with different circumstances and blah blah. Valenti wants to force you to confront the implications of your choices. A little jarring at first, but definitely effective. This is important stuff, after all. And it worked on me. By the end, I was all fired up and eager to explain to my husband about all of the unfair, unrealistic expectations put on mothers in our society.

Interestingly, both of these books were written by mothers who identify as feminists. I think this points to the fact that feminism is growing and evolving to encompass many different possible life choices and points of view, while still holding to the principle that women should hold an equally-valued place within society. I think this is a very good thing.

Jessica Valenti via

Obviously it's up to each parent to decide how to raise their child. I think it's worth reading both books and thinking carefully about which issues are most important to you and can benefit you and your child the most. However, these arguments can get a little exhausting. If you need something to lighten things up a little bit, I like this article.

Verdict: Stick them both on the shelf. Or maybe check them out from the library.

Reading Recommendations: Since these book address many of the same issues from different perspectives, it's quite enlightening to read them together.

Warnings: None.

Favorite excerpts:
"What I have discovered, and what I seek to share with you, dear reader, is this: you already know the majority of what you need to know to be an incredible parent. It was only when I believed this and began to apply it consistently to my growing family that my anxiety, worry, and exhaustion began to lift. It was then that I truly began to enjoy being a parent and to see myself as a successful parent; not a perfect parent, and not always the most patient parent, but a sensitive, loving, and confident parent who truly loves this life I have chosen." -Bialik

"Families that don’t force independence encourage children to grow at their own pace, fully express their needs, and feel truly understood. This style of parenting is not the only way to guarantee a securely attached child, but in my experience and observations, I would hedge my bets that this path, broad though it can be, is a great way toward a smooth and minimally complicated relationship with children." -Bialik

"This is a book about how the American ideal of parenting doesn’t match the reality of our lives, and how that incompatibility is hurting parents and children. Because the expectation of a certain kind of parenthood—one where we’re perfect mothers who have perfect partners, where our biggest worry is whether or not to use cloth diapers—makes the real thing much more difficult to bear." -Valenti

"My pump, which came in a jaunty little nylon purse that looked like a 1990s Kate Spade knockoff, made a rhythmic sound when operating that sounded a little too much like House music for my comfort. There’s something about a club kid beat set to your breasts being tortured that makes the whole ridiculous scenario feel even crueler." (Haha!) -Valenti

"Vast amounts of research show that children do best when they’re raised by a community of people—parents, grandparents, friends, and neighbors. It’s in our DNA—we are social beings, and we should be raised as such. Yes, mothers are important, but not because we are women or because we’re biologically related (or not) to our children. We’re important because we’re one of the people that love and care for a growing human. But if we want to take some joy in that experience, we need to let go of the notion that we are the only ones who can do it correctly, and that if we are doing it right, it should mean some sort of suffering or tremendous self-sacrifice." -Valenti

What I'm reading next: Possession by A.S. Byatt

Top Ten Tuesday: Ingrid's TBR for Fall 2012

It's been a long time since we've done a Top Ten Tuesday post, but obviously I had to show you my exciting TBR list for Fall 2012, because TBR lists are the most fun lists to write. 

Possession by A.S. Byatt. Derik and I recently moved to Colorado, and sadly I had to leave my wonderful book club behind. This month they chose to read Possession, a book I've owned for awhile now and keep having recommended to me. I figured that even though I won't be able to make it to the meeting, now is a good a time as ever to read it. I started it a few days ago. 

Modernism: A Very Short Introduction by Christopher Butler. I'm working on applying to grad school right now, and in my personal statement I have to outline my specific academic goals. I think I want to focus on some aspect of Modernism, so I plan on brushing up a bit. 

In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower by Marcel Proust. The apartment we moved into is very tiny, so we only brought one box of books. Derik insisted on bringing the entire In Search of Lost Time series he just finished reading last spring. Proust is hard, but he writes about emotion in the most beautiful and complex way. Plus I like reading Derik's annotations. 

How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran. Harper Perennial kindly sent me a review copy to write about on this blog. I've been hearing a lot of hype about this one. I'd like to know how to be a woman. 

Only a Promise of Happiness: The Place of Beauty in a World of Art by Alexander Nehamas. One of my nerd-ish books I've been wanting to read for awhile. I don't read a lot of academic books, but there are a few scholars out there like Alexander Nehamas that I like to keep on my radar. 

Orlando by Virginia Woolf. One of the few books I packed in my small box. Connie LOVES Virginia Woolf, and I want to love her too! I've only read To the Lighthouse and A Room of One's Own and was impressed with both. I'm ready for some more Virginia. 

The Financial Lives of the Poets by Jess Walter. After reading Jess Walter's newest book Beautiful Ruins a few weeks ago, I'm eager to read some of his earlier stuff. 

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. After seeing that stupid Miracle Whip commercial about a million times on Xfinity on demand while watching Breaking Bad, I realized I should probably read The Scarlet Letter at some point in my life. I don't like that left-out feeling I get when I see a parody of a book I haven't read. Gotta fix that. 

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Picked up a used copy of this one at the Boulder Bookstore recently. After watching a beautifully made French adaptation of this book made in the 1960's called Purple Moon, I'm curious about the book. 

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed. Wild is by far one of my favorite reads so far this year. I've been a fan of Dear Sugar for awhile, so I know that when I eventually get ahold of this book I'll love it too. 

Have you read any of the books on my list? What did you think? Any suggestions for where I should start once I finish Possession?

Review: Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

childen in the Lodz ghetto (via)

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2006

It's about: Written in simple free verse, this is the fictionalized, first person account of a young girl named Sylvia who survived WWII hidden in the Lodz ghetto.  The story is based on extensive interviews with the author's aunt Sylvia, one of only twelve children and 800 survivors to come out of the ghetto at the end of the war.

I thought: A wonderful woman named Shauna who works with my dad gave me this book. Shauna told me that her younger daughter loves this book and rereads it every year, and knowing that I also read a lot of holocaust books when I was younger, she thought I would enjoy it.

And I did! The author did a great job of presenting an unsettling, emotionally heavy story in a way that is accessible to young readers and doesn't whitewash. Because the narrator is only 4 1/2 when the story begins, the writing is very simple. While written in verse, the story is clearly meant to be read primarily, if not solely as a narrative. I wasn't sure what to make of this at first, but as I finished the book I realized the verse form was fitting and worked quite well - it simplified the text down to the basics without making it feel dumbed-down. It truly made the narrative feel as if it were told by a child. I loved how Jennifer Roy was willing to risk using free-verse in a rather unconventional way. It worked beautifully.

I would highly recommend this book as a good introduction to WWII for young readers. While it does have some violence, it isn't anything that older children couldn't handle. For example, Sylvia tells us that people are shot in the street, but she never witnesses it directly and so it isn't described in detail. This book is a good introduction to questions of morality as played out in the real world.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf.

Reading Recommendations: While anyone could enjoy this book, I especially would recommend it to elementary/middle school aged readers. (Ages 6-12)

Warnings: Some violence.

Favorite excerpts:

"Dora feels bad for me
having to stay inside all the time,
so she brings home funny stories and jokes
to cheer me up.
We sit together on her bed in the evening
and talk.
She tells me about the factory.
Now they are making munitions.
Bullets and weapons
for the Nazis to win the war.

The Nazis want to take over the world,
Dora believes.
They think that they are better than everyone else,
and they especially hate the Jews.

'Why do they hate us so much?' I want to know.
I have asked this before, but maybe
I'll understand better,
now that I'm older.
'They think we killed their God,' replies Dora.

This makes little sense to me,
because no on I know ever killed anyone.
Then I become worried.

'God is dead?' I say.

'Not our God, their God,' Dora says.
I'm still confused but I'm relieved.
God is still alive.

Then I have a new worry.
If God dies, who will run the world?
I hope it's not the Nazis.
I want to ask Dora about this,
but she has fallen asleep."

Review: Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch

Nina Sankovitch via

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2011

It's about: After the death of her sister, Nina Sankovitch decides to read one book a day for a year. She hopes that daily reading will bring a new organization to a life scattered by grief. Each morning, Sankovitch writes a review on her blog of the book she finished the day before. Jumping between memories of her sister, themes that stand out to her in the books she reads, and specific passages that touch her, Sankovitch works through her grief by throwing herself into the alternate worlds and new lives in her books.

I thought: One of the first things I noticed about this book is that its subtitle is a play on the phrase "magical thinking," probably a reference to Joan Didion's famous memoir about mourning the death of her husband, The Year of Magical Thinking. Some people were surprised that there was so much about Sankovitch's sister in this book, but I think it may have been the best part of the book - it held together the narrative and gave purpose to Sankovitch's reading. I think one of the best things about reading is how subtly literature can weave itself into our lives, opening our eyes to new intellectual and emotional understanding. Sankovitch definitely captured this.

I thought this book was a beautiful monument to the author's sister, and the writing was authentic and deeply felt. Some parts were great. But I just couldn't get behind the formula of it. I'm not a huge fan of this whole "I did ___ for a year a found myself" memoir thing going on. Ultimately I'm just not going to love anything that's formulated to sell. I know, I suck. I'm one of those art for art's sake kind of people. Another problem with this formula is that it immediately alienates anyone who doesn't have the resources to go about the same project. Sankovitch obviously needed to have the money to be able to sacrifice eight or so hours a day to reading and writing. She also needed someone (in her case, her husband) to take care of her four children while she read. She is obviously privileged in comparison to many, if not most Americans who can't sacrifice that kind of time. This is the most common criticism I've heard of these one-year memoirs, and I think it's legitimate. Sankovitch recognizes this, but I think it still gets in the way of her point. I would have appreciated a more organic, authentic memoir about a working mother who still found time to have the same experience with books in her spare time - even if (especially if) she didn't have time to finish a whole book in one day. It would have felt more real.

I also suspect that Sankovitch had her conclusion in mind when she started the project (otherwise why would she do it?) Maybe it's just memoirs in general that are difficult for me to love. I recognize though that writing about one's own experience is much more difficult than writing fiction. The memoirist doesn't control over the events of the story, only the way those events are framed and interpreted. I imagine it is difficult to make a memoir feel completely authentic and still have an acceptable beginning, middle, and end. I don't think I've found that perfect ("perfect"?) memoir yet. If you have, please direct it my way.

Alright, so while I didn't love this book, it was still a fun and worthwhile read. I took it to the beach with me while I was in California and we had a nice time together. It brought some great reading memories. But ultimately, it's the reading that's the thing - not the reading about the reading. You can't truly appreciate it until you experience it. So I say, read this book - but also read Tolstoy, Edith Wharton, Louise Erdrich. Maybe take a few recommendations from the great list at the back of the book.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf. I couldn't bring myself to put this one in-between. So put it on your shelf, but put it amongst a bunch of other really great books. This is a good time-out from all your other reading. ;)

Reading Recommendations: This book feels like it was written with book bloggers in mind. It appeals to all those things we love: reading for long periods of time and writing about the books we love. If you love reading, you'll like this book.

Warnings: None.

Favorite excerpts: Sankovitch on reading Kevin Canty's story "Burning Bridges, Breaking Glass" -

"I finished reading that story with my own 'green fuse lit,' my own youth recovered. I remembered lying in bed at night with the windows opened to let in the warm summer air. From the bed, I could hear the traffic on Gold Road and the radio playing on the neighbor's porch. I smelled the dankness of freshly turned earth in our garden, the sweet scent of cut grass, and the smoky smell of barbecues. The smells and sounds were like an invitation to me, a summons to run out and join the universe. I was older then, beyond hide-and-seek games and waiting for the ice-cream truck, but I still believed my future was limitless. I knew that the breeze coming in from the window was full of promises of adventure and love and fun, promises just waiting to be fulfilled."

On memory -

"It is a gift we humans have, to hold on to beauty felt in a moment for a lifetime. Suddenly beauty comes to us, and gratefully we take it. We may not be able to recite time and place, but the memories can come flooding back, felt full force without warning or brought on purposefully by a triggering event. The smell of pinecones, the whiff of popcorn, the taste of a cold beer, or the bite of mint: a jumble of feelings, and then a sudden clarity of beauty or joy or sadness. Beauty is in the moments that endure, the moments that enliven us again and again. We stand on memory's sturdy pilings. We thrive on the nourishment provided by the past."

What I'm reading next: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

*I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Secrets & Wives by Sanjiv Bhattacharya

Secrets and Wives: The Hidden World of Mormon Polygamy by Sanjiv Bhattacharya


Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2011

It's about/I thought: British-born journalist Sanjiv Bhattacharya is the U.S. correspondent for British Esquire and has written for magazines and newspapers including GQ and The Los Angeles Times, and holds a degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge. Bhattacharya says that he first became interested in polygamy when he heard about the scandal with Warren Jeffs and subsequently produced a documentary for Channel Four in the U.K. called "The Man With 80 Wives."

In this book he visits the polygamist groups throughout Utah and exposes the abuse and manipulation that takes place within these communities.

Bhattacharya has strong opinions about polgamy and religion, and he isn't afraid to show it. This book is very much a subjective account. He explains that he uses his own experience as a thread to weave stories together. As a very clear outsider with darker skin and a funny accent, he believes that the way he was treated said a lot about the subjects. He also explains that the personal discussions he was having with these people included discussing his own experience, a giving much of himself that he felt necessary to develop trust and mutual understanding. He says that religion touches on a deep, personal place in peoples lives, and it seems dishonest to exempt himself from this. 


Faith and religion can be a difficult topic to write about, because faith functions on a different plane than rationality and thus is difficult to analyze objectively. Bhattacharya overcame this obstacle by being as frank as possible about his own subjectivity. I thought this was quite clever of him. 


So, this book is not meant to explore whether these groups are justified are correct in their faith, but rather is a sort of exposé of unethical practices done in the name of faith. Because of this, Bhattacharya believes strongly that polygamy should be decriminalized. At the beginning of chapter 8, "Legalize It," Bhattacharya quotes Louis D. Brandeis: "Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman." If polygamy is legalized, (or at least decriminalized, which means that a man can't legally marry more than one wife, but he can't be charged for bigamy if he cohabitates with one legal wife as well as another spiritually-married wife,) manipulative polygamist leaders like Warren Jeffs will no longer have an excuse to demonize the law and use it to control their followers. Bhattacharya explains,

Sanjiv Bhattacharya (via)

The Warren Jeffs saga illustrates that poygamy's status as a felony makes true criminals harder to prosecute. Illegality is a bogeyman that polygamist leaders use to control and terrorize their followers--it's an excuse for secrecy, a cover for real crimes. 

The real crimes that take place in these communities are wide-spread and often quite shocking; the worst cases involve sexual abuse of young girls and sometimes boys, and in the case of the Kingston group, incest. 


While Bhattacharya does a great job uncovering these issues, he still lets the people within these communities get their word in too (though often framed by Bhattacharya's snarky commentary.) Throughout his time in Utah, Bhattacharya met many unique and interesting people with diverse experiences; some are shocking, inspiring, pathetic, sad, and some are noble. While he clearly has a subjective view, this author does a good job presenting both sides. He helps us understand why many people choose this lifestyle and why it is important to them. This is why I think this is the best book I've read on polygamy. Bhattacharya lays everything out on the table to be considered by the reader (as opposed to Love Times Three, which has a much more carefully controlled representation of the lifestyle.) It was also very, very funny. 


Verdict: Stick it on the shelf.

Reading Recommendations: I first heard about this book on Radio West; you can listen to the episode here. Sanjiv Bhattacharya was also interviewed on the podcast Mormon Expression, which you can find here.

Warnings: A few swear words, descriptions of incest and sexual abuse.

Favorite excerpts:

I'm there at ten sharp. It's me and two sixteen-year-old boys, Jacob and Matthias, sitting at a cleared table in the middle of Merrill's living room, our notebooks out and pens at the ready. Merrill wipes the white board clean and introduces me.

     "This is Sanjiv, he's from London. He's writing a book about polygamy and he wants to see how polygamists do trigonometry!" We all laugh. "I told him that our lives are pretty boring, but he doesn't believe me. So let's see if I can't prove him wrong!" He's loving it. It's the Merrill show. "I was explaining to Sanjiv last night that we don't usually let media report on us because they're so prejudiced. We've been quite badly burned by the media. That's why you've never read anything about the TLC for the last eight years. But I met with Sanjiv last night and we've spoken on the phone, and he's genuinely interested to see what our lives are like. So let's just have a normal class. Just pretend he's not there. Does that work for you?"
     The boys nod. I nod. Everyone nods. Then the phone rings and Merrill stops. "Hold on a second." And he retreats to the rear of the house to take the call. When he returns, minutes later, he's glaring at me. "Okay, we're going to have to stop this whole thing right here. You have to leave."
     "What?"
     "No more interviews. We can't continue this. You have to leave."

(read more of this excerpt here.)

What I'm reading next: Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Top Ten Tuesday: Ingrid's TBR for Summer

I'm tired. This Top Ten Tuesday is gonna be a quick one. Here's the 10 books on my to-be-read list for summer. And yes, I'm making this post a large font so it fills up more space. Sue me. 

1. Ulysses by James Joyce. I just started last Saturday.
2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Excited to read this again for my book club.
3. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
4. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank: Stories by Nathan Englander
5. Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis. See Christina's beautiful review here.
6. Favorite Wife by Susan Ray Schmidt
7. Once Upon a River by Susan Jo Campbell
8. Canoe Trip: North to Athabaska by David Curran 
9. The Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
10.  Pragmatism by William James


Feel free to click this banner to buy or look at any of these books, because this time I'm too tired to link each title ...

Post: Reading Ulysses on Bloomsday

Our Man 

Post by Ingrid

That's right, I'm going to read Ulysses today! (Well, part of it.) o from delaissé is hosting a little Ulysses-reading event today to celebrate Bloomsday. As you may or may not know, Ulysses takes place within a single day, June 16, 1904. And because we're cool like that, we're going to try to read as much of the book today, June 16, 2012.

I'm not sure how many of them plan to read the entire book today, but that seemed to be the goal. I know that o reads insanely fast, so go check out her blog and see how she's getting along. She's also provided a wonderfully helpful breakdown of the novel here. Also, go check out the sign up post to see the other participants.

I found a cheater version of Ulysses on my Kindle that has summaries and explanations at the end of each chapter, so maybe that will help with smoother sailing ... I'll update this post as I read and let you know how it goes.

Wish me luck!

10:30 am: Well hi. So I started last night by reading some of the extra material in my Shmoop ebook edition (Oh look, here it is online.) It was a nice, easy introduction to what I know will be extremely difficult reading. I like how the writer(s?) of this guide encourage different interpretations of the text instead of only presenting one, as if that is the definitive interpretation (like Sparknotes does.)

This morning I've read about half of the first section, Telemachus. It is quite difficult but the Kindle dictionary is helpful (prepuces=foreskin? Nice.)

Here's a quote from the Shmoop guide about Joyce's difficult writing that I quite liked:

[S]ome of Joyce's sentences can be quite hard to process. You read the same sentence over and over again and you really have no idea what he's saying. Frustrating as these may be, you have to realize that as you struggle with the sentence, Joyce has forced you to bring much more attention to his words than you would have otherwise. Your eyes can't just move idly over the page in Ulysses. It's an active book, and as a reader you have to put in a great deal of effort in order to figure out what the sentence is saying. One way to think of these sentences is as Gordian knots, seemingly impenetrable riddles. But once you undo the knot and make the sentence go flat, you'll often find that the realization inside is pretty remarkable and probably couldn't have been communicated any other way.

Now back to reading!


4:15 pm: Alrighty. So I just finished the second section, Nestor. I'm starting to realize what makes Joyce's writing so difficult - he doesn't explain what is happening really at all. When he writes in stream of consciousness, he's just inserting all of these random bits without writing something like, say, "Stephen thought." It's just ... there. This forces you to read the book differently, and it's uncomfortable at first. (Well, it's still uncomfortable for me, but I'm hoping that as I get used to it that will change.)


It's also difficult to tell when people are making fun of things. I didn't catch on that those Latin phrases in the first section were there because Mulligan was making fun of the Catholic mass until the nice Shmoop guide explained it to me. It seems like it would be impossible to read this book without some help! 

Review: Total Memory Makeover by Marilu Henner

...Get it? (via)

Total Memory Makeover by Marilu Henner


Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2012

It's about: The back of this book trumpets: LIVE THE UNFORGETTABLE LIFE YOU WERE MEANT TO HAVE! LET YOUR MEMORIES BE YOUR GUIDE! Yep, it's a self-help book about how to improve your memory.

I thought: I was willing to deal with this hyperbolic silliness because I was fascinated by Marilu Henner when I heard her interviewed on the Diane Rehm show. Henner has Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, which means she can remember every single day of her life since she was a child.

Henner's premise in this book is that, if you make a more conscious effort to improve your memory by following the steps she provides, you will better recall past mistakes and successes and thus make better decisions in the future. I found that most of Henner's tips where not that helpful - not anything that you couldn't think up yourself if you were to try to think of ways to improve your memory. Keep a journal. Use all your senses to instigate remembering. Focus on one object from your past and let it guide you to more memories you have buried in your subconcious. Etc. etc.

I kept wondering throughout the book if Marilu Henner is really in a position to offer advice about how to improve your memory. She really doesn't know what it's like to have an imperfect memory! She claims that her memory is a combination of nature and nurture, but how can she really know that? (She can't.)

Ultimately Henner's book left me with so many more questions about memory and how it functions than it answered. Most people's memory is imperfect, including my own. How much does interpretation play into what and how we remember? At times I think that memory is way too subjective to be of much use. How are we supposed to know in the more ambiguous situations of our past whether we were interpreting our actions or the actions of others correctly? Or how can we possibly know that what we are remembering isn't in fact an interpretation of the past that will best serve us in the present?

When I was in Paris for the summer of 2009, a particularly difficult time in my life, I discovered Nietzsche. I remembered while reading this book that Nietzsche makes an argument quite opposite to Henner's which begins to answer some of these questions. Nietzsche argues that, because we have no will over it, thinking of the past can disturb and weaken us. In order to have active control of our lives we must constantly take part in a process "active forgetting," a process of molding our past according to our will in the present. Because the past never follows one clear narrative, it can constantly be reinterpreted to fit our present needs. This process of reinterpretation is not self deception. To be "creators" of our past does not mean that we make up facts to comfort ourselves; it means that we take up our past narrative in a new form. There is never a final, true narrative since we are constantly adding to our narrative through life experience.

Nietzsche explains that active forgetting enables us to cope with the hardships of life by suppressing suffering and bad experiences in favor of good ones. It also gives consciousness a paramount place in one's identity in how he/she relates to him/herself as a thinking, rational, exceptional being. Nietzsche claims that it is the "lower" functions of the body and willing that sustains mankind. For example, we actively suppress our bodily functions and instinctive powers and forget them in favor of deliberate actions and knowledge.

Nietzsche writes in On the Genealogy of Morals, "The man in whom this apparatus of repression is damaged and ceases to function properly may be compared (and more than merely compared) with a dyspeptic [see both meanings of the word]--he cannot 'have done' with anything."

Certainly Marilu Henner would disagree that too much remembering has made her gloomy and pessimistic (or constipated ...). But we must realize that Henner and Nietzsche have different ideals in mind when they make their arguments. Henner's ideal is to gather the largest possible pool of information from which we can draw from in the present - the more, the better. For Nietzsche, the act of favoring certain knowledge and discarding other knowledge works to perfect our will and experience in the world. And, of course, Henner is writing a self-help book and Nietzsche is writing philosophy. So there's that.

Marilu Henner didn't explore memory as much in depth as I hoped, but I don't think her book was completely worthless. I liked how she encouraged the reader to live consciously and deliberately in the present. This, she claims, will help us to better remember the present when it becomes the past. As to how to do that, though, she doesn't specify enough to satisfy me.

Verdict: In between. It's worth a skim but I don't think it will really change your life.

Reading Recommendations: If you want to explore memory more in depth, I recommend digging into some Nietszsche (On the Genealogy of Morals) and Proust (In Search of Lost Time.) Both write extensively about how remembering (and forgetting) can make our lives rich, meaningful, and purposeful.

Warnings: Cheesy humor. Too many pop culture references. Catch phrases.

Favorite excerpts: "Opening up your receptors now will not only allow you to recreate great past experiences; you will also develop new ones with greater detail. When you go through a first date or something equally exciting, you are in a heightened state of awareness, and as a result you will relive it in your mind several times--whether it was good or bad! You will be able to turn a lot of average days into something more special, because you will go into every experience with a more sharpened level of awareness, which will undoubtedly lead to better recall."

What I'm reading next: The Man Who Quit Money by Mark Sundeen

Review: Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? by Henry Alford

Would It Kill You to Stop Doing That? A Modern Guide to Manners by Henry Alford

Reviewed by Ingrid 

Published: 2012

It's about: Despite the subtitle ("A Modern Guide to Manners,") this is not your traditional etiquette guide. A lot of reviewers on Goodreads were quite put off that this book wasn't the straightforward, how-to-have-good-manners guide they thought it would be. The summary provided by the publisher is a little bit less misleading - "A laugh-out-loud guide to modern manners." This is humor. Look, it has a toilet on the cover.

Henry Alford via

So, "guide." What does that mean anyway? I don't think a "guide" necessarily has to be purely informative. This book is mostly a series of short stories and example of good and bad manners that Alford has observed and etiquette experiments and consequently, mistakes he's made himself. It;s more like a journey.  Imagine yourself on a Disneyland ride through the world of manners with Henry Alford as your enthusiastic chaperone and narrator.

I thought: I like it. It was fun. In my opinion, Alford's wandering style and random thoughts and stories about the wonderful world of manners is far more exciting than an Emily Post-style guide. Alford's style of humor is, yes, a little too self-inflated at times, but mostly funny. I like learning about manners, I like laughing at people with horrific manners, and I like laughing, so I enjoyed this book. It wasn't earth shattering-ly entertaining or significant to me, but it was fun.

Verdict: In between. A good library check-out, but I don't know if I'd buy it.

Reading Recommendations: Henry Alford was interviewed on Radio West earlier this year. Listen to a bit to see if you like his sense of humor.


Warnings: Some swear words.

Favorite excerpts: "Most people prefer to be complimented on something they've done (painted a room, closed a deal, raised a child) rather than on something they are (beautiful, adventurous, smart, scrupulous). A compliment wants to be specific, but not so specific that it's hair-splitting and seems calculated. If you tell a friend you love her new haircut, she'll probably smile; but if you tell her instead that you love the way her hair now curls around her ear when she's standing in a strong wind, she may start. She will spend more time than she ought to thinking about this comment. Too many compliments (or too strong a compliment) is just as bad as no compliment; one rarely wants to verbally fellate. Maybe the analogy to employ here is flowers: Compliments should be a single sunflower set on a windowsill for her to walk up to and admire, not three dozen roses delivered by an exhausted-looking bike messenger in an angel costume."

What I'm reading next: Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Review: The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry

Mary Pauline Lowry via

The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry


Reviewed by Ingrid

Published: 2012

It's about: "The Earthquake Machine tells the story of 14-year-old Rhonda. On the outside, everything looks perfect in Rhonda's world, but at home Rhonda has to deal with a manupulative father who keeps her mentally ill mother hooked on pharmaceuticals. The only reliable person in Rhonda's life is her family's Mexican yardman, Jésus. But when the INS deports Jésus back to his home state of Oaxaca, Rhonda is left alone with her increasingly painful family situation.

Determined to find her friend Jésus, Rhonda seizes an opportunity to run away during a camping trip with friends to Big Bend National Park. She swims to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande and makes her way to the border town of Milagros, Mexico. There a peyote-addled bartender convinces her she won't be safe traveling alone into the country's interior. So with the bartender's help Rhonda cuts her hair and assumes the identity of a Mexican boy named Angel. She then sets off on a burro across the desert to look for Jesus.

Thus begins a wild adventure that explores the borders between the United States and Mexico, adolescence and adulthood, male and female, English and Spanish, and adult coming-of-age and Young Adult novels." (From the back cover of the book.)

I thought:

I included the summary above because I love how it mentions the many of the social boundaries explored in this story. Typical coming-of-age novels are about the crossing of many boundaries between youth and adulthood. However, beyond this,  "typical" is the last word I would use to describe this lovely book. Maybe "groundbreaking" would be more appropriate. Beyond the story, the topics in the book itself cross some major boundaries - the first, and probably more important of the two is the fact that this is a coming-of-age adventure story about a girl. This girl embraces her girlhood (or womanhood,) while also defying many gender boundaries and stereotypes. Part of Rhonda's journey involves coming to accept her newly growing woman's body instead of not eating to try to stunt its growth. She meets all kind of wonderful, strong women role models along her journey, including a woman carpenter and a band of women banditos who call themselves Las Verduras. She also develops a special veneration for and her own, personal style of worship of the Virgin of Guadalupe instead of the bearded male God she grew up being taught to worship. In the end, Rhonda finds and creates  her own meaning from life and affirms her value as an individual - a value that isn't tied to a husband, boyfriend, lover, parents, or children. Her worth comes completely from within herself. This is a valuable and necessary message for young girls today.

The second major boundary that this book crosses is one of sexuality. Mary Pauline Lowry guest posted about this at Dead End Follies a few months ago. A lot of YA bloggers who read this book were offended by the sexual content. Sexual content in literature and the media in general is a topic that comes up often and has been widely written about elsewhere, so I won't go into to much detail, but I do want to quickly differentiate between gratuitous sexuality and sexuality that deepens and enriches a story. The sexual content in this book is not gratuitous. It illustrates the development of Rhonda's character and the extent to which she has control and appreciation for her female body. Affirming one's sexuality is a radically important part of becoming a mature adult and, in Rhonda's case, in becoming a woman.

If sexual content makes you a little uncomfortable, I think this is a good book to take you outside your comfort zone. Unfortunately, in western culture female sexuality is still much more taboo than male sexuality. The positive expressions of female sexuality in this book is a small but important step toward  gender equality.

Verdict: Stick it on the shelf.

Reading Recommendations: This literary fiction/YA crossover book will appeal to both girls and boys, and would be a worthwhile and fun read for both.

Also, here's a great review of The Earthquake Machine from The Huffington post.

Warnings: Strong sexual content, some swear words.

Favorite excerpts: 'Cúidate, niña,' Jésus replied. 'You are talking like a Mexican. That won't do at all.' But his eyes looked pleased. For the first year he'd been there, Rhonda sat with him while he told her stories about his people. Rhonda could hear the homesickness in his voice, but the language was only a flush of sound. But words had begun to pop out at her, and then whole phrases, and then Rhonda began to distinguish how the words flowed together into stories. And now she was not just speaking fluently herself, but having thoughts formed by the new language."

What I'm reading next: Would It Kill You To Stop Doing That: A Modern Guide to Manners by Henry Alford

* I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.