Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: Books about Women
Today
I'm thankful for a lovely weekend: the rain ended and cooler weather
came in behind it, just in time for a neighborhood outdoor get-together
on Friday night.
I spent the the rest of the weekend
doing a little work, some gardening, and some chores, but I sneaked in
some reading time on the deck whenever I could.
I'm watching season 2 of Anne with an E on Netflix. I'm still undecided how I feel about this show, which is inspired by Anne of Green Gables but not very faithful to the books. The acting is good, though.
I'm
in a slight panic that it's just about August . . . not much time left
before my final travel for the summer, and I have so, so much to do
before I go. Yikes! Here's what I read last week.
Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras
(Doubleday, July 31): Through the alternating viewpoints of young Chula
and her family's teenage maid, Petrona, we learn how Pablo Escobar's
hold over Columbia affected the entire country, even
the children. Seven-year-old Chula lives in a gated community, but the
neighborhood guards cannot stop the kidnappings and car bombings.
Petrona's family, living in Bogota's slums, has already been victimized,
and it's up to the thirteen-year-old to provide for her ailing mother
and hungry younger siblings. Each girl does what she can to hold on to
hope and to find security, especially as violence and danger comes ever
closer to home. It's heartbreaking to witness the girls' maturing
realization that their choices shrink with each passing year, and the
cost of their unlikely bond is unthinkable. Although entirely fiction,
the novel was inspired by events from Rojas Contreras's own childhood.
When a drug culture gains power in a community, children, families, and
women are particularly vulnerable. The unabridged audiobook (Random House Audio; 12 hr, 26 min) is read in alternating chapters by Marisol Ramirez and Almarie Guerra.
Their performances highlighted the emotional impact of the novel and
strengthened my connection to Chula and Petrona. (Review copies from the
publisher; more at AudioFile magazine.)
Bad Girls by Alex de Campri; art by Victor Santos
(Gallery 13; July 17): This graphic novel is set in Cuba on New Year's
Eve 1958. Three women, linked only by their association with a night
club, each have a reason to flee their current lives before the dawn of
the new year. A night of traditional celebrations mixed and the last
hours before Castro takes control of the country offers them their only
opportunity. Will a "convenient" murder, a cache of dirty money, and
street smarts be enough to help them find freedom, safety, and second
chances? The women's plights and situations, their clothing, the
background music, and the political situation all rang true to me.
Through both the words and the art, I felt the women's desperation, and
the action scenes gripped my attention. I loved the hour-by-hour setup
of the story, and the dark colors of the panels set the mood well.
Gunshots were shown by spiderwebbed windows and splashes of light, and
the pace was accelerated by overlapping panels within panels. This is
the first graphic novel I've read from the Gallery 13 imprint, but it
won't be my last. (review copy from the publisher)
Lush by Kerry Cohen
(Sourcebooks; July 17). I know there have been a number of memoirs
about addiction, and you might feel you don't need to read yet another
one, but Cohen does offer something new into the mix. A growing number
of women in their forties and above are finding the lure alcohol to be
harder to resist. There seems to be no break in the daily burdens of
politics, job pressure, children, and marriage. Cohen, who didn't drink
much in her youth, started with one glass of wine to unwind in the
evening; gradually that one glass became a whole bottle or more. All the
while, she took care of the kids, brought in money, and tried to keep
her second marriage from dissolving. What makes her story different is
that there was no AA and no rock bottom. Her addiction, as it turns out
is not alcohol, and I was interested in how she learned to
control her drinking and make progress with her true problem. Cohen
tells her story with humor and honesty, and much of what she has to say
was easy to relate to. I don't have the relationship issues she has, and
my glass of wine a night and occasional Sunday afternoon extra have not
escalated, but I can certainly see how easily someone could find
themselves overdrinking on a regular basis. This is the story of
today's women. The unabridged audiobook (Tantor Audio; 5 hr, 40 min) was read by Allyson Ryan. I loved Ryan's performance, which was so conversational that I had to keep reminding myself that this was not
an author-read book. She got the humor and the self-evaluation just
right. I'm sure her narration elevated my general reaction to this
memoir. (galley from the publisher; audiobook personal collection)
Read Me by Leo Benedictus
(Twelve, August 7): I started this book for two reasons: it's published
by Twelve, which is an imprint I generally trust and it was compared to
John Fowles's The Collector, a book I remember loving. Read Me
is the story of a man who becomes suddenly very rich and spends his
days stalking women. In the first chapter, we see what I think is the
near culmination of a stalking; then the narrative jumps back to fill us
in on the background. While I didn't hate this book, I found myself
uninterested after the first few chapters and began skimming and spot
reading just to see what happened. At no point was I compelled to start
reading carefully, and I'm still unclear of the outcome of the book. The
writing style was fine, but nothing clicked enough to draw me in.
Reviews have been mixed, and you may be one of the readers who loves it.
(review copy from the publisher)
