A Few More Titles

 The Vixen by Francine Prose

This book was sort of strange, but intriguing. It was set in the early 1950s when the protagonist, Simon Putnam, was given a job at a major publishing firm following his graduation from Harvard (with an essentially useless degree in folklore and mythology). Simon's flamboyant uncle helped him get the job.

At first he is only responsible for rejecting all the unsolicited manuscripts that were sent for review. But eventually the head of the firm, who is also his uncle's friend, gave him a top secret job - to edit the manuscript for a "bodice ripper" based on the lives of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Simon's problem is that his mother knew Ethel in childhood and was very shaken by what she saw as her wrongful conviction and execution. And Simon can't tell anyone that for fear of being denounced as a Communist so he has to play along with the terrible manuscript that paints Ethel as the mastermind of her fate as well as a sex goddess.

While editing the manuscript Simon insists on meeting the very reclusive author and falls for her - they enter into a strange sexual relationship where they only have sex on her demand in very public places. As Simon gets to know her, he becomes increasingly suspicious about whether she actually wrote the book. So much of the narrative surrounds Simon delving into that issue.

There are also side stories about Simon's parents, his relationship with an employee who was fired to make room for him, his crush on one of the other women in the office and, of course, McCarthyism and the continuing efforts of the US government to denounce Communists and justify the execution of the Rosenbergs.

Again - weird but interesting.

The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther

This is another book that I read mostly because it was set on Martha's Vineyard. It was essentially a light, easy to read young adult romance with lots of Martha's Vineyard content so I enjoyed it.

Meredith travels to Martha's Vineyard with her extended family to celebrate her cousin's wedding. It is the first time the family has gone back to their regular summer cottage since she lost her older sister in a car accident.

In past summers the extended family has always played a game of assassin, and Meredith's sister was always the winner. So Meredith vows to win in her honour. But, since this is a romance, she gets distracted by her alliance with one of the groomsmen.

This is no great literature but it was a fun read - there was plenty of humour as the family and friends fight to win their game. And the typical narrative romance arc of meeting, falling for each other, falling out and getting back together.

The Strangers by Katherena Vermette

I loved this sequel to The Break as much as I enjoyed the first book. Again it takes place in Winnipeg and deals with the women in a Metis family. In particular, the story deals with Elsie and her two daughters, Phoenix and Cedar. The chapters are told from each of their perspectives - and they are all very strong and interesting characters.

Elsie has struggled with addiction for years and thus lost custody of her daughters and she tries so hard to clean herself up so she can see them. Phoenix is incarcerated in a youth detention centre, where she gives birth to a child who is immediately taken away from her. And Cedar bounced around between foster homes where she had mixed experiences before she goes to live with the father she's not seen since she was a baby and his new wife and her daughter. Cedar desperately misses her mother and sister even though she barely remembers them.

The women are also united in their grief over the death of the youngest sister, Sparrow. In addition to these women we also learn more about Elsie's mother, Margaret, who went to law school but had to give everything up when she got pregnant with Elsie and was abandoned by her white, middle class law school boyfriend.

While there is not a lot of action, the story is carried by the fantastic character development and the strength of these different, but all admirable women. Despite their less than perfect circumstances, including the racism they continually endure, I was left with hope for them at the end of the novel.

Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I loved the unconventional style of this book. It was written as if it was a tell all biography of Daisy Jones and the other six members of her band. Each entry is an "interview" with one of the band members or others in their lives. It is written in such a convincing way that once I googled it just to confirm it really was fiction. And at the end the identity of the interviewer definitely caught me by surprise.

Daisy Jones is a teenager caught up in the sex, drugs and rock and roll of the Los Angeles music scene. When she is 20 she hits the big time and a producer realizes she could gain even more fame if she joins with the band "The Six" which is also on an upward trajectory. While they clicked on stage, Daisy and the bands lead, Billy, did not get along at all behind the scenes.

So much of the book follows the trajectory of the band, Daisy's dependence on pills, Billy's dependence on alcohol and then his wife and family and the other band members who are along for the ride (with differing degrees of interest in the life and patience for being in Billy's shadow).

The book purports to tell us what the public didn't know about what was going on behind the scenes of this popular band. I just loved both the story and the clever style.

What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

I loved this book, though I may have missed some of the subtleties. I recently heard the author speak and he said he intended to write a modern-day Peter Pan - I completely missed that. Either I'm not familiar enough with Peter Pan or I just don't read subtexts all that well.

But, on whatever level I understood the book, it worked for me. It tells the story of a 9 year old boy, Amir. When we first meet him he has just washed up on the shores of the Greek island of Kos. He is the only survivor in a smuggler's boat full of refugees. When on the run from the scene, Amir is lucky to encounter a local teenaged girl, Vanna, who makes it her mission to save Amir.

In alternating chapters we learn Amir's backstory - his family were refugees from Syria living in Egypt when he followed his stepfather onto a smuggler's boat, unaware that he would be leaving behind his mother and step brother, possibly forever. The chapters which describe Amir's time on the boat, and the characters making the journey with him, are incredibly vivid and well written. You could feel the tension. The scenes between Amir and his step-father - as his step-father realizes the grave danger he's put them in - are particularly poignant.

The other chapters chronicle Vanna's efforts to keep Amir out of the hands of a dogged police officer who is trying to track him down and pen him in with all the other illegal immigrants on the island. She has been told that if she can get him to a remote area of the island someone will come with a boat to take him to the mainland. And she does everything she can to make it happen. The communication between the two children, who do not speak the same language, is fascinating.

I definitely recommend this one - even if you aren't a Peter Pan person!

Yours Cheerfully by A.J. Pearce

I wish I had gone back to my own review of the first book in this series, Dear Mrs. Bird as I didn't remember I actually didn't like it. And I didn't really like this one any better. I find the writing style quite simplistic, but the biggest problem is the main character, Emmy Lake. I just don't like her - I find her naive to the point of stupid, self-absorbed and just plain annoying. It's a wonder her boyfriend, Charles, and her boss (and Charles' brother) put up with her at all.

This book picks up where the last one left off. Mrs. Bird has left the women's magazine that Emmy works for and Emmy continues to help respond to letters asking for advice, under the direction of a more sympathetic woman this time. In addition, to her work on the column Emmy has been asked to help further the government's agenda of encouraging women to join the wartime work force.

Emmy meets a woman, Anne, on a train who is about to start working in a munitions factory so she arranged to interview the women working there so she can promote the lifestyle. But through her interviews of Anne and her friends, Emmy learns that everything as not as rosy as the government would have women believe. So she sets out to try to change things for the women - of course at risk to not only her job, but theirs as well. And almost missing her wedding in the rush to solve the world's problems.

I don't really recommend this book and I hope I remember my own recommendations if there is a third instalment in this series.

Unreconciled: Family, Truth and Indigenous Resistance by Jesse Wente

On the surface this is a memoir, but it's really far more than that. Jesse Wente, whose mother and grandmother are Indigenous, but whose father and grandfather are not, was raised in Toronto. He only visited his family's lands in Serpent River on vacations.  He remembers with perfect clarity the first time he realized he was an Indian - and how he was viewed not as Anishinaabe or Ojibwe, but as a cartoon Indian as seen on TV of the day (and probably still not - hello Atlanta Braves fans...).

Wente works through his history and that of his family, including his grandmother's experiences in residential schools, to try to develop an understanding of his urban Indigenous identity. I found the details of his upbringing fascinating - his experiences in very white, upper class private schools, his early love of movies which he shared with his mother and eventually turned into a career, his attendance at U of T (on an Indigenous scholarship that he struggled to feel deserving of), his early work at CBC radio and his time at TIFF. It was particularly jarring to hear how even when he was quite established at TIFF he realized he had become just a "token" and had to leave the job because of his discomfort with that role.

The later chapters are more political than memoir as he talks about his current activist work as well as what he hopes to ideally eventually achieve. However, they are no less interesting.

Another work about the Indigenous experience that should be required reading for all Canadians.

The Singing Forest by J.A. McCormack

I must confess I didn't always understand what was going on in this book - and I'm not sure if it's because I was often tired when I read it so I might have missed or forgotten some things, or if it was just confusing.

The novel really tells two intertwining stories. The first is that of Stefan Drozd who is the subject of Canadian extradition proceedings for the role he played in war crimes as part of Stalin's secret police in Belarus. The second is that of the young lawyer, Leah, who is representing the Canadian government in the extradition proceedings.

In alternating narratives we learn of Drozd's miserable childhood in rural Belarus (he was both abused and neglected), his escape to Minsk where he does odd jobs until he ultimately ends up as an errand boy for the secret police, and then his escape to Canada where he starts a new life based on lies about his past. Drozd is no doubt a miserable character - he is anti-semitic, cruel, beats his wife and is convinced he is owed the life he has build in Canada.

Leah is convinced of his guilt, but struggles to find the evidence she needs to support his deportation. She even travels to Belarus to interview witnesses, but she is uncomfortable about payments an investigator made to the star witnesses for their testimony. We also learn about her difficult childhood. Her father abandoned her when she was a toddler, her mother was killed in a car accident when she was 6 and she is taken in by her very ill, maternal aunt on the weekdays and three of her father's brothers on the weekends. The aunt is Jewish and tries to teach her some of her heritage, but she is left with more questions than answers when her aunt dies. The uncles are not Jewish and have no idea about child rearing either, but somehow they muddle through and she is very attached to them at this point.

The narrative takes us through the conclusion of the extradition proceedings, but somehow there still isn't a lot of resolution.

There were parts of this book I quite liked, and the story showed great promise, but in the end I didn't love it.