Anca Segall
Great setting and research into the “backdrop” of the story. Terrific story, interesting and engaging characters. The noir went a little overboard at times, and the lead character, Miranda, had self-control around men that was superhuman. Still, those are relatively minor quibbles - the plot story moved along at a fast clip and kept me engaged and reluctant to put the book down. I look forward to her next one.
This book opened my mind to and challenged “old saws” that I hadn't even realized were myths—the Ellis Island renaming was foremost here. Another deep dive and retake was Horn's treatment of the place Anne Frank's Diary holds in literature, and of more recent books about the Holocaust in general—there's a coyness to the way some of these books treat the issue, almost a romanticized view that turns away from the blood and guts and real human tragedy of it. This is extended into her analysis of various shooting incidents, and the difference in how they are treated by the media when they affect Jewish communities versus non-Jewish ones—as if the media is “mansplaining” the horror of the violence and smearing the victims with justifications that are irrelevant and worse.
I happened to read Dara Horn's book just after finishing a fictionalized account that based on Varian Fry's efforts to smuggle artists out of Nazi-occupied and Vichy France: The Postmistress of Paris, by Meg Waite Clayton. That book led me to a blog about Varian Fry, and to Ms. Clayton's credit, she hewed closely to the historical facts. What Dara Horn opened my eyes to, in addition to adding more detail about specific artists rescued by Fry and his group, was frankly deeply embarrassing and nearly incomprehensible: when Fry, after returning home, reached out to some of his famous “rescuees” to ask for their support in the form of their voices and to a lesser extent their financial help for continuing the effort to help refugees, he was ignored. How inexcusable!
Unlike Ms. Horn, I am 100% Jewish by birth, tradition, and culture, but not by religion. I was raised atheist in Romania, by atheist parents who believed (at the time) that atheism and the socialist dream would save their Jewish community. They were wrong, but I haven't seen any reason since then to revoke my atheism. I still hold religion as more of a problem than a solution, though fully support, in all wa, everyone's right to their own religious beliefs. However, although I don't resonate with Dara Horn's religious echoes, I feel pulled in by the threads she makes to Judaic culture and traditions, and feel less disconnected from them than she might think (or I suspect, give me credit for). I feel indebted to her and this book, and appreciate so many lessons in it. We are still not part of the greater community around us, and we forget or ignore that at our own peril.
A very nice collection of stories revolving around a place, the pedestrian mall of downtown Charlottesville, VA. The stories range from warm to poignant to funny, and most make you feel as if you were standing right next to the characters going about their lives. Some, deceptively no doubt, even make you feel close to the author. Among my favorites are Where There's a Will, Sad Eyes, War Souvenirs, and The Present. Decision Point reads as if it were a page out of a real life.
This book is a lovely, easy-to-read introduction in the exploration of what might be killing coral reefs. The scientists who do the exploring are also brought to life with affectionate, tongue-in-cheek anecdotes. Not surprisingly to this microbiologist, it's the microbes! But it's a little more complicated than that. Dr. Rohwer shows the connection between top predators like sharks and the smallest, seemingly most innocuous denizens of reefs. The lesson, simplified: don't let what you don't know kill you, or destroy nature's beauty.
I liked this book and its premise of weaving fascism and “bad” vampires with an adventure set, for much of the story, in Prague - a city I love and know well, and whose beauty and sad notes resonate with me. The book had some editing issues, but I very much enjoy Mabeuse's writing.
Love stories come in many flavors. This novella is not only about the love story of two youngsters growing up in the hardships of Appalachian country, but a tender love letter to Appalachia itself, with its hardscrabble life clawing at the characters, keeping them rooted in place. The characters are vividly drawn, and the setting comes alive - I felt I was there on the river, looking on the abandoned trucks that double as a kind of balcony for our Kentuckian Romeo and Juliet. The story made me smile, cringe, laugh and cry. It felt real and immediate, like a snapshot album sitting on the shelf next to the non-fiction writings of Joe Bageant (Deer Hunting with Jesus) and Vance (Hillbilly Elegy). Kudos to Mr. ADAMS for this beautifully written, well-realized novella. I highly recommend it, and look forward to his next books.
This anthology is a smorgasbord - it provides a little for every taste. Some of the highlights for me were Steve Williams' mature romance between two people re-finding each other in adulthood after having met as kids and Freya Lange's tale of a young adult coming into her sexuality and the realization that sexual compatibility and romantic passion are absolutely necessary when choosing that “forever” mate. TT Tales, a long time writer of erotica, is at his expert best, regaling us with a sweet but extremely playful tale of achieving marital bliss. And, while I'm not a die-hard fan of F/F stories, Patient Lee's tale is a moving and very realistic story of a straight woman's discovery of passion in a lesbian relationship. But the pièce de résistance, for me at least, in this particular collection was M.S. Tarot's heart-wrenching tale of sweet and passionate but tragic coming together of two young neighbors, one white, the other black - a true Romeo and Juliet kind of tale. This is a great collection with which to enjoy your summer. I'll go back to dip into it again and again - a bit of a guilty pleasure, a little like skinny-dipping in a cool pool.
We are just now coming back and taking to heart the lessons Jane Jacobs tried to teach us over 50 years ago; too bad it's taken so long.
A different take on LA noir
The characters definitely make this tale, spun in the streets of LA as the city and its denizens come alive - imperfect, most down and out but striving toward their dreams, whatever they may be and however unattainable. The writing isn't perfect but it's evocative, sincere and true - in all senses of the word. A good read. I look forward to reading the next one in the series.
A mix of realism with magical realism from Eastern Europe
I was drawn to this book because it is about a place that is close to me—Romania—and about leaving it during the Communist dictatorship of Ceausescu. I wanted to see another take on the subject, and this gave me what I looked for. I wasn't entirely fond of the magical realism aspect, which seemed tacked on, not fully woven through the story. The novella (novel?) switches between very realistic parts and a more folkloristic look at old Romanian folkways that were submerged under Ceausescu. I couldn't quite figure out whether the magical realism was covering up parts that couldn't be addressed by the author, or whether it was added on as a way to beef up the story and add interest for Western readers. Others I'm sure will love this aspect of the book (I do not dislike magical realism—read One Hundred Years of Solitude and thought it beautiful). The tone of the realistic parts sounded more honest and heartfelt to me. Because the book nevertheless delivered on the promise that first drew me to the book, to show me the life of an ordinary couple under Ceausescu and what happens when life in Romania becomes unbearable, I rounded up to 4 stars.
I really enjoyed this book. There were the occasional writing missteps but the story made up for it. Palestine is not your usual mystery location, but it's a great one, and the genre, when well done, is a great way to convey an atmosphere and character, and the manner in which real people live their lives. I look forward to more ( and even better) from the author; he certainly left this book at a great place to carry on.
I read it on my own, and glad I did. I would not have appreciated it anywhere as much had I read it in high school.
I enjoyed this, had been missing a good le Carre read. It isn't my favorite (I've read all his Cold War novels), and doesn't compare to Smiley's People, but I enjoyed the story and characters and the mood. Of course, it had to end in a typical le Carre way...
The story is sad and fascinating and maddening, but the writing is repetitive after a while, making it hard to finish. I think everyone even remotely connected to molecular biology should read it.
Paris Requiem, set in 1940, successfully weaves the dark tapestry of Nazi-occupied France, particularly Paris, through characters that are gritty, realistic, and frequently hopeless. Many are venal, ready to take advantage of those weaker than themselves. Some cling to their humanity with all they can muster. Others are stuck between a rock and a hard place, and find that doing any good deed is risky not only to themselves but to their loved ones. Eddie Giral, the detective at the center of the novel, is fully realized, fallible and self-aware and sometimes very vulnerable.
Chris Lloyd has done his research. Occasionally his writing can get a bit bogged down, but there were plenty of surprising turns and twists to pull me along, together with the atmosphere and characters. I enjoyed this book enough to look forward to reading the other two in the series (I started with the second by accident; the third is due out soon).
In a sort of postscript, Nick Cornwell, le Carre's (David Cornwell's) son writes that his father had made him promise to finish any novel le Carre may have left unfinished. On le Carre's recent death, the son was puzzled that his father had left unpublished a manuscript that was essentially finished, barring minor editing, and which had been written several years prior.
Darwin8u calls this a novella, and at roughly 44-45K words, maybe that's the best description for it. I finished it in a few days while traveling, and as much as I liked it, I wished several of the characters and events of the back story had been much more fleshed out.
The language was fluid and fleet, but the lyricism and depth of his earlier books, like Smiley's People, was lacking. It was beautifully polished but I can't help but think that had he lived, le Carre would have added several layers of complexity, and made this a fuller treat. It is a good and drinkable wine, but not as complex as we have become accustomed to.
I am grateful for this last gift from this magical author whom I frankly adore. He set such a high bar for himself that I grieve that there will no longer be new le Carre books. Luckily, rereading his books is providing as intense a pleasure as reading them the first time around, and so his work will continue to keep me company.
You shall be sorely missed, Mr. Cornwell.
I don't normally read this type of book but I really enjoyed Nights in Rodanthe ($1 at a library sale) and wanted a follow-up. This was a good one, a major feel-good love story with sufficient heartbreak and hard decisions to make me think, what would I have done? Plus I love Travis, even he is too good to be true.
I enjoyed this novel but it is not in the same class as many of my favorites. I'm not sure exactly why. Perhaps I found Nat, the protagonist, a little smug compared to Smiley and some of his other spymasters. Perhaps also the novel touches only on the cynicism of the British versus Putin and the American Putin wannabe. Is it possible that he couldn't really find, or delve into, the complexities of the current political chaos in the US? Was he too close in time to the events? Or too disappointed? At any rate, it was easy to sympathize with the earnest and naive Ed, and the much more sophisticated and deeper Florence. It's unfortunate that he did not center the book more around Florence.
Someone earlier mentioned that this might be a good introduction to Le Carre's more intricate novels. Had I started with this one, I'm pretty sure I would not have continued: nothing special here, move on. If you have limited time and wish to choose, you could safely skip this one. I do very much wonder if he had been ten years younger, how he would have treated these same events/characters.
Two interwoven story lines several hundred years apart, one about the intellectual and personal journey of a young Jewess who serves as a scribe to a blind rabbi at a time when women were not permitted entry into the realm of the mind, the other about an elder historian, suffering from Parkinson's, who works with and barely suffers a graduate student to untangle the mysteries of centuries old papers found in a cupboard, which give insights into the
Jewish community of London in the mid 1600s. There is much to appreciate in this novel, particularly in the history of the scribe Ester Velazquez and her trials but also in the delicate treatment of the aging historian and the challenges women face in the competitive largely male world of scholarly pursuits and publishing. If I have any qualms about the book, it is that the long-windedness of many descriptive passages does the novel a disservice and makes it more difficult to enter—shortening it by 20% would make it much crisper while losing neither substance nor flavor. I would recommend it especially for its journey into an under-explored community.
I assumed I would not like this book, since “monster” books don't appeal. But it was a good deal at Oxfam in Cambridge, and I wasn't finding anything else appealing, so I bought it (plus the author, a woman in fact, is a professor of archaeology, so I thought I might learn something). What a nice surprise! Well-rounded, interesting characters, intelligently and sympathetically drawn, and a great mystery. The book is very well-written. I'll definitely look for more of her books. I'd definitely recommend it for mystery lovers looking for something a bit different.