Win a Copy of Unnatural Selection!

I have exciting news! Unnatural Selection, by Thomas Pryce, is now available to the public. In case you don't remember, I wrote a review of this science fiction thriller last August (to read it, click here).

Reading the work of Pryce was such a pleasure, I'm thrilled to share it with my own readers. That's why you can WIN your very own copy of Unnatural Selection! To enter the drawing, simply leave a comment on this blog. In one week I will randomly select one of the commenters via a very high tech method that involves dropping all your names into a hat :) I will then notify the winner and ship a copy of the book directly to you.

For those of you who don't win, don't worry: you too can enjoy Unnatural Selection by purchasing it here.

Thank you to Thomas Pryce for sharing your book, I'm psyched to support you and can't wait to read your next piece.

The Good Earth

The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck
1931

Prior to reading and immensely enjoying The Good Earth, I hadn’t heard of Pearl S. Buck or realized the magnitude of her talent and fame. Throughout the 357 pages my brain marinated in Chinese culture and traditions, farming, landowning and family dynamics. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became not only by the story itself but also by the writing style of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author.

The Good Earth is about a peasant farmer named Wang Lung who cherishes the land and works in his fields in Northern China for most of his life. His wife, O-lan is described on the back cover as selfless and that couldn’t be more correct. One of the more startling moments in the story is when O-lan toils beside her husband during the harvest, heavy with her second child. The book describes the birth and illustrates her selflessness in the following sentences:

“…she laid down her hoe one morning and crept into the house…Later, before the sun set she was back beside him, her body flattened, spent, but her face silent and undaunted.”  

Buck uses unpretentious language to describe Wang Lung as he changes throughout his life; the reader watches his transformation from humble farmer to a privileged, rich landowner who becomes restless with increasingly expensive taste to match his rising social status. The great thing about his transformation is that the character himself is taken aback by these changes such as when he sits awkwardly his first time in the great tea house looking about with wonder. Or his reaction when he learns that the portraits painted on large scrolls and hung from the walls are in fact of real women who are available at a price and not “dream women” as he’d naively thought. Slowly some of his humility is replaced with entitlement, even more so on the occasions he’s disappointed in his own actions and must compensate for his shame with anger. For me, this put flesh on his bones and made him three dimensional enough to jump off the page and walk into the very room where I sat reading. Characters are all the more real when they do things that the reader doesn’t like.

Famine, lust, war, riches and injustice - this book contains potent ingredients for entertainment while offering a stunning depiction of peasant life in China. Add to this the author's accomplishments and humanitarian work and you can see why I plan to read more of her books as soon as possible. My only disappointment is that it took me this long to find her. 

The Help

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

2009

The Help is a fictional up-close look at the tension between races in Jackson, Mississippi from 1962 through 1964. Eleven of the thirty-four chapters are told from the point of view of Aibileen, a matronly black maid who has faced the heartache of raising seventeen white babies until each grew big enough to adopt the unjust social norms and common racial boundaries of the day.

Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is not like the other white ladies who are served by Aibileen in Miss Leefolt’s dining room, certainly not like Miss Hilly who has introduced a new initiative in which the help is required to use a separate bathroom. Inside, Aibileen is shaken when Skeeter has the nerve to ask her if she ever wishes she could change things. Her initial response is, “Oh no ma’am, everything’s fine.” But the question nags at her and after a dear friend’s son is beaten blind for using a white bathroom, she agrees to help Skeeter with a project that will endanger their lives as they shed light on the astounding ignorance so prevalent in Jackson.

Skeeter Phelan narrates thirteen chapters in the book and is an endearing character with her awkward height and frizzy hair although not quite as loveable as Aibileen. She is determined to become a writer and begins by writing a housekeeping column in the local newspaper before a bigger, much riskier project becomes her obsession. Without fully realizing the potential consequences, she embarks on a quest to write a book using real stories from black maids serving white families all over Jackson. She documents their most touching and most disturbing stories, inviting them to cross the racial divide and speak the truth to a white woman they have no reason to trust.

One of the most reluctant of Skeeter’s story tellers is Minny, best friend to Aibileen and narrator of nine chapters. She’s big in every sense of the word – round and loud with no sense of when to keep her mouth shut. She’s the comic relief in this serious book with her wit and audacity; I found her stubborn honesty and unpredictability captivating. Yet she's only one of a whole cast of unique characters who each contributes something personal and fascinating to this rich book.

Stockett’s writing is superb except for one small glitch: chapter twenty-five is narrated by an omniscient voice which feels random and strange given that every other chapter in the book is narrated by characters with whom the reader has become well acquainted. The book is three quarters done at this point, making a sudden shift in point of view that much more jarring. Yet I haven’t seen this mentioned in any other review I’ve read so maybe no one else cares besides me. In any event, I got past this quirk and remained absorbed in the scene despite the fly-on-the-wall third person perspective.

Anyone ever ask you the exact moment you knew that you were in love? Well I knew I was in love with this book on page thirty-four. These words are the thoughts of Aibileen, after being introduced to her new bathroom in Miss Lefolt's home. They not only showcase the author's poignant writing but sum up the central theme of bitterness, broken communication and ignorance.

“My face goes hot, my tongue twitchy. I don’t know what to say to her. All I know is, I ain’t saying it. And I know she ain’t saying what she want a say either and it’s a strange thing happening here cause nobody saying nothing and we still managing to have us a conversation.”

I leave you with this quote and hope you'll enjoy reading The Help as much as I did.

The Other Boleyn Girl

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

2002

Set in sixteenth century England, The Other Boleyn Girl is a fascinating piece of historical fiction about the rise and fall of an aristocratic family during the Tudor era. Told from the point of view of Mary Boleyn, the considerably more famous Anne Boleyn’s sister, it is the story of vicious sibling rivalry set on a backdrop of suffocating courtier life where pretty daughters are currency for ambitious families. Gregory’s keen attention to detail envelopes the reader in rich velvet and lace and opens the doors to a privileged life of royal feasts, jousts and masquerades.    

I enjoyed Gregory’s portrayal of Mary Boleyn and I rooted for her independence from the court as well as the demise of her sister Anne, even if both characters weren’t completely true to their real life namesakes. The story was beautifully told and gave me a new understanding of the culture and customs of old England; I especially liked the fiery infatuation between Henry and Anne which the author executed with precision.  

As a writer, there was one “no-no” I caught in the book. When choosing a point of view, it is important to stick with that point of view for the duration of the story. Gregory chose to write from Mary’s point of view however she sometimes almost slipped into an omnipresent POV in which Mary narrated about things she wouldn’t have known. Such as intimate moments between the king and Anne. That said it could be assumed that Anne revealed these details to Mary herself, which would make sense as she was quite open. In any event, it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book or distract from the development of the plot. All in all it was an incredibly interesting read and I would recommend it to other historical fiction fans. After reading The Other Boleyn Girl, I fully intend on checking out more of Philippa Gregory’s work particularly the several other books in the Tudor Series.

The Hunger Games

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

(Series: The Hunger Games, 2008; Catching Fire, 2009; and Mockingjay, 2010)

Not many books catch my interest the way the Hunger Games series did. When I first heard about it I was both horrified and curious about the books that graphically describe teenagers murdering each other – a theme that, although may seem inappropriate for youngish readers, has worked quite well in the history of the Young Adult genre. Take The Outsiders, for instance.

The series depicts a future morally bankrupt North America, called Panem, which is divided into twelve mostly-impoverished districts that must submit to the brutal authority of the controlling Capital. Every year Panem has the Reaping in which two tributes between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen from each district and placed in an arena where they are forced to fight to the death. The annual Hunger Games are a televised event the districts are required to watch to remind them of the Capital’s power over them as well as the devastation caused by the last uprising seventy-five years ago. In a nutshell, children are sacrificed as a clever manipulation tactic by a government with no regard for human life.

Katniss Everdeen is an extremely likeable heroine for three reasons: First, because she’s badass. The girl can shoot targets with her bow and arrows from one hundred feet away. Second, because she has a tragic back-story. Her father died in a mining explosion when she was only eleven. Shortly thereafter she became the sole provider of food via hunting and gathering for her grief stricken mother and younger sister, Prim. Third, well I guess I lied. There are a lot more than three reasons why Katniss rocks including her immediate willingness to volunteer for the Hunger Games in place of her sister, her survival instinct, and her humility just to name a few.

The author did an amazing job building the chemistry between Katniss and the prominent male characters of the story, Peeta and Gale. Subplots of maybe-sort-of-unrequited love are skillfully woven through adrenaline inducing fight scenes against fellow tributes, Capital-created mutations and eventually the Capital itself. Although far fetched, the story becomes believable in its telling and draws the reader into the thoughts and challenges of our protagonist until you see what she sees, feel what she feels and understand why she does what she does. Ultimately, The Hunger Games is edgy, addictive and almost made me want to take up archery. The books are as close to a “ten” as I am willing to give. Suzanne Collins, I genuflect before your genius.

Sunflowers

Title: Sunflowers

Author: Sheramy Bundrick

2009

Sunflowers was eye opening, despite the liberties Sheramy Bundrick took in building Rachel Courteau's character out of a real person about whom very little is known.  Fact and fiction were intricately laced but the author was careful not to leave the reader clueless as to what was what. The Author’s Note at the end of the book explains which characters truly existed, which ones were made up and which events were created or skewed to aid in the telling of the story. Not all historical fiction novels I’ve read provide this kind of helpful information.

The story is told from the perspective of Rachel, a prostitute who becomes the object of Van Gogh’s desire. He begins frequenting her brothel and bringing her small gifts and tokens of his affection shortly after meeting her in a garden. Before long the two fall in love against the advice of Rachel’s Madam and fellow prostitutes. 

I was surprised that the ear-chopping happens relatively early in the story, about a third of the way through the book.  I had expected it to be the climax of the book which only shows how ignorant I was to Vincent’s real story. He lived almost two years after the incident though he suffered from hallucinations and increasingly long “attacks” which some modern doctors now label as bipolar episodes. Other theories on his condition range from epilepsy to lead poisoning.

Using quotes from Vincent’s own letters to open each chapter, Sunflowers not only tells an entertaining story but provides a glimpse into what may have been Vincent’s true personality. The reader is invited to fall in love with Vincent along with Rachel and it's easy when he is revealed as an endearing artist rather than simply that crazy guy who chopped his ear off. With each interaction between he and Rachel, Vincent became more human and I found myself rooting for his recovery despite my knowledge of the outcome. For those who know little about art history, like me, or just those enjoy a sad love story, this book is a great read.