Spring . . .New Beginnings with

THEBOOKJEANIE

This photo by Zeb Andrews, taken in the spring tulip fields

of Holland brings back memories of driving across the border from Germany and suddenly finding ourselves surrounded by vast swathes of color, in every hue you could imagine. As we were stopped by the side of the road to admire the tulips in full bloom, we heard a loud clunk and turned to see a young woman lying stunned on the ground behind our white Volvo station wagon. Beside her lay her still-intact bicycle and as we helped her to her feet she seemed stunned and unable to explain what happened. Coincidentally, an ambulance driver had seen the accident on the main road and had pulled off to assist. It appeared that the young Dutch bicyclist was so amazed herself at the beauty of this spring morning amidst the thousands of brillantly colored tulips that she was not watching where she was going and ran full speed into our car.  "That was very dumb!" said the ambulance driver in amusement while at the same time insisting that he give her and her bicycle a lift home (at no charge, national health care!) 

New and Notable

Lily King borrowed her characters and setting from the real lives of Margaret Mead, Reo Fortune, and Gregory Bateson but imagined their story very differently from the diaries, letters, biographies, and other writings of these famous individuals. In King's novel Nell and her husband Fen have given up studying the remote tribes of New Guinea and have booked passage to Australia, but Fen decides before they leave that they should visit Andrew Bankson, another respected and established anthropologist. Fen has always been envious of Bankson, who arrived earlier and established camp at a village of notable ethnographic interest.  Reluctantly, Nell joins Fen on a long hot boat trip upriver, winding through the sluggish waters surrounded by thick jungle. Nell was in ill health with numerous tropical maladies and gratefully collapsed in the relative comfort of Bankson's house, surprisingly touched by his warm welcome and attentive concern. Their short visit extends into a prolonged stay as Fen becomes obsessed with acquiring a sacred relic from a neighboring tribe and spends more and more time away from camp. In his absence, Nell comes to know and respect Bankson, who recognizes her genius in the field, unlike the resentful and jealous Fen, and they spend hours discussing their research and theories about the various tribes they have studied. Tension develops amongst the threesome and eventually Fen's reckless actions result in tragedy for the village and a narrow escape for the scientists. King's  narrative is elegant as well as sensual: the heat, the humidity, the sweet rankness of rotten vegetation and sewage, are a constant and oppressive presence in this story of tangled relationships and questionable research practices.  Incorporating passages from Nell's diary as well as Bankson's recollections, allow the reader an intimate view of how it all went so wrong.

A Hello Kitty lunch box has washed up on the shore of a small island off British Columbia. Inexplicably it contains a packet of letters written in Japanese, a diary written in English, and an antique wristwatch, all wrapped and sealed in a plastic bag.  As Ruth, a writer, and her scientist husband, Oliver, muse over how and from where the lunchbox appeared, the reader is introduced to Nao Yasutani, a sixteen-year-old schoolgirl in Tokyo who is contemplating suicide after being the target of sadistic bullying by her classmates. Nao stands out in a culture that venerates conformity, simply because she grew up in California and struggles with reading and writing Japanese. After her father, Haruki, lost his prestigious, high-paying job in Silicon Valley, the family hastily returned to Japan and took up residence in a small run-down apartment in Tokyo. Nao's mother becomes the sole support of the family while her father drifts around the city and sinks into depression. Nao begins to skip school and spends her days at a French-theme cafe, writing in her diary and eventually acting on her self-loathing by accepting "jobs" with strange men. Unaware of what his daughter is experiencing, Haruki takes Nao to a remote village on the northern coast of Japan to stay the summer with her great-grandmother, Jiko, a 104-year-old Buddhist nun who tends a small temple overlooking the sea. Despite her skepticism, Nao loves Jiko and begins to understand the teachings of this wise woman who tells her,"Everything in the universe is constantly changing and nothing stays the same and we must understand how quickly time flows by if we are to wake up and truly live our lives. . . that is what it is to be a time being."  As Ruth reads Nao's diary,  she wonders if she is still in danger of killing herself, or if perhaps she disappeared in the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northeast coast of Japan several months before. Could these artifacts be all that was left of Nao and her family?  The letters in Japanese prove to be the writings of Nao's great-uncle Haruki, who died as a kamikaze pilot in World War II, another revealing element of the mystery; the wristwatch was his, a gift to his mother before he left on his mission.  Using Nao's diary, Uncle Haruki's letters, and the internet, Ruth attempts fit the pieces together to discover the identity and fate of this troubled girl. Ozeki is an masterful storyteller, examining elements of Japanese pop culture and history, Buddhist philosophy, theoretical physics, and moral ethics, creating a complex web of characters in a mystery that slowly unfolds layer by layer. 

   

Key West Literary Seminar 

January 10-16, 2016

During the years Tennessee Williams lived in Key West, he swam at South Beach every morning before sitting down to write. “I work everywhere,” Williams said of Key West, “but I work best here.”

http://www.kwls.org/

Short Takes

Lucy Knisley's Displacement: A Travelogue is a memoir of a Caribbean cruise that the young author took with her elderly grandparents. It is tender, irreverent, and ultimately a testimony of love. Lucy sets off on her journey with enthusiasm that quickly dwindles before they even leave for the airport. "The Grans" are more fragile than she remembers and her grandmother, Phyllis, is slipping into dementia and at times doesn't even recognize her. Lucy wonders how her parents, aunts and uncles could have encouraged her to chaperone this disoriented pair (many treasured comments about this) but her humorous take on the numerous stressful moments lighten her narrative and endear her to the reader. She brings along her grandfather's war memoir to reread on the trip and his reflections on the horror of war help to put Lucy's own fears and insecurities in perspective for her. After finally delivering the Grans back home, her grandfather gives her a hug saying,"Really it's just made this all so special, to have you along." And Lucy replies, "I was so glad we could do this together, Grandpa. I love you."

If you are a fan of Donna Leon's atmospheric mysteries set in Venice, you will gladly pick up her latest: Falling in Love. Opera singer Flavia Petrelli appeared in one of Leon's earliest novels, Murder at La Fenice, and Commissario Bruno Brunetti is delighted to be of assistance once more to his favorite soprano. This time it's a case of stalking, unusually manifested in mysterious floral bouquets that appear in her dressing room and outside her apartment door while at the same time her closest friends are being viciously attacked by a knife-wielding stranger. The plot is somewhat improbable and rambling but Brunetti still delivers his philosophical musings about crime and politics in Venice and as he winds his way through the narrow cobblestone passages and over the many historic bridges, I'm happy to be in his company once again.

Two lovers meet many years after their affair has ended, far away from the their clandestine CIA careers in Vienna. Henry has emailed Celia, casually suggesting they meet for dinner when he is in the area. Celia, with equal nonchalance, suggests a Carmel-by-the-Sea restaurant aptly named The Rendezvous. Celia Favreau abruptly left the agency after a bungled airline hostage crisis in which all hostages were killed by poisonous gas and now lives quietly along the California coast with her much older husband and two children. Henry Pelham, still working for the CIA, has been assigned to reinvestigate the incident after an informant at Guantanamo Bay has suggested that a traitor within the agency compromised the rescue operation, resulting in many deaths including an agency source aboard the plane who was shot and dumped onto the tarmac. When the two meet they both know that this is no casual dinner and that the events of the past cannot be forgotten. This suspenseful novel proceeds like a carefully choreographed dance but at a certain point the reader becomes suspicious of both characters, the pace quickens, and all the reader's suppositions are blown sky high. 

Happy Reading!