Monday, May 25, 2020--San Antonio
The Testaments by Margaret Attwood, a sequel to her The Handmaid's Tale which I read a few years ago, won the Booker Prize in 2019 and was named by many reviewers as one of the best books, if not THE best book, of the year. It fills in information about both the rise and the fall of Gilead, the theocratic, male-centric government that was created in portions of the former USA after a coup. It is well written. The story moves quickly and keeps one's attention. I gave the book a rating of 4 1/2 stars out of 5.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Wednesday, May 20, San Antonio
I seldom read multiple novels by the same writers. That's partially due to writers often repeating a style. (After being excited by Hawaii, I burned out very quickly on books by James Michener!) But The Nickel Boys is the second novel I have read by Colson Whitehead within a month. That's because they have both been so well reviewed by major publications. Plus, they both have won Pulitzer Prizes for literature (which doesn't always mean much, but in this case does in my opinion). This novel is a riveting story that made me want to keep reading every time I picked it up to continue the story which is about a juvenile detention facility for boys (fictional story, but based on the stories of a real facility that existed in Florida) which mistreated the boys (the blacks far more than the whites), regularly hid the punishments administered and deaths that occurred there, had corrupted administrators who lined their pockets with money the boys earned and from selling much of the food to local businesses that was supposed to be served to the black boys, etc. It's a sad story that rings so true about corruption when it comes to justice related to black citizens in America. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I gave it 5 stars out of 5.
I seldom read multiple novels by the same writers. That's partially due to writers often repeating a style. (After being excited by Hawaii, I burned out very quickly on books by James Michener!) But The Nickel Boys is the second novel I have read by Colson Whitehead within a month. That's because they have both been so well reviewed by major publications. Plus, they both have won Pulitzer Prizes for literature (which doesn't always mean much, but in this case does in my opinion). This novel is a riveting story that made me want to keep reading every time I picked it up to continue the story which is about a juvenile detention facility for boys (fictional story, but based on the stories of a real facility that existed in Florida) which mistreated the boys (the blacks far more than the whites), regularly hid the punishments administered and deaths that occurred there, had corrupted administrators who lined their pockets with money the boys earned and from selling much of the food to local businesses that was supposed to be served to the black boys, etc. It's a sad story that rings so true about corruption when it comes to justice related to black citizens in America. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I gave it 5 stars out of 5.
Friday, May 15, 2020
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Friday, May 15, 2020--San Antonio
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is a beautifully written book filled with metaphors and similes and sometimes just simple statements that indicate very unique observations by the writer. It is written as a letter to his illiterate mother which means it was really written as a letter to his illiterate mother as a way to analyze and process what had happened in the history of his family and, in particular, in his life. The book was on the long list for the National Book Award in 2019 and has rave reviews from TIME, NPR, New York Times, etc. The central character is gay, but the book is about being gay only in the sense that it is a part of the author's telling about the life of an immigrant family and his part of it. I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong is a beautifully written book filled with metaphors and similes and sometimes just simple statements that indicate very unique observations by the writer. It is written as a letter to his illiterate mother which means it was really written as a letter to his illiterate mother as a way to analyze and process what had happened in the history of his family and, in particular, in his life. The book was on the long list for the National Book Award in 2019 and has rave reviews from TIME, NPR, New York Times, etc. The central character is gay, but the book is about being gay only in the sense that it is a part of the author's telling about the life of an immigrant family and his part of it. I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.
Saturday, May 9, 2020
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Saturday, May 9, 2020--San Antonio, TX
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead won the National Book Award three years ago and the Pulitzer Prize the same year. It is NOT a book about the Underground Railroad. In fact, the railroad, when a part of the story, is a literal railroad with rails--one of the aspects of magical realism Whitehead uses to tell his story which really dwells on how bad the treatment of slaves was and how the USA, no matter what the Declaration of Independence says, was founded by white people for white people and that its whole history has been built upon the premise that white people assume the right to take what they want from non-whites and get rid of who they want who is non-white. Therefore, the story, with asides of magical realism about attempts to deal with the "problem" of the blacks in different ways--a state in the South that puts up a front of caring for the blacks while giving them limited opportunities and sterilizing them to assure they will never become the majority or a threat to whites, another state in the South that declares the existence of blacks to be illegal and hangs them from trees outside of towns and leaves them hanging there forever as a warning, and a northern state where blacks build an ideal community that comes to an end when the local whites start feeling threatened by their success--shines a mirror on the fact that things today in the USA are not much better for blacks than they were back then even though slavery is now abolished. It's a fascinating book that held my attention throughout. I gave it 5 stars out of 5!
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead won the National Book Award three years ago and the Pulitzer Prize the same year. It is NOT a book about the Underground Railroad. In fact, the railroad, when a part of the story, is a literal railroad with rails--one of the aspects of magical realism Whitehead uses to tell his story which really dwells on how bad the treatment of slaves was and how the USA, no matter what the Declaration of Independence says, was founded by white people for white people and that its whole history has been built upon the premise that white people assume the right to take what they want from non-whites and get rid of who they want who is non-white. Therefore, the story, with asides of magical realism about attempts to deal with the "problem" of the blacks in different ways--a state in the South that puts up a front of caring for the blacks while giving them limited opportunities and sterilizing them to assure they will never become the majority or a threat to whites, another state in the South that declares the existence of blacks to be illegal and hangs them from trees outside of towns and leaves them hanging there forever as a warning, and a northern state where blacks build an ideal community that comes to an end when the local whites start feeling threatened by their success--shines a mirror on the fact that things today in the USA are not much better for blacks than they were back then even though slavery is now abolished. It's a fascinating book that held my attention throughout. I gave it 5 stars out of 5!
Sunday, May 3, 2020
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels
Sunday, May 3, 2020--San Antonio, TX
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels includes religious pomposity, community fears, efforts to enforce "community standards", school bullying, schools' tendency to punish the one who reacts rather than the one who instigates problems, maternal love, paternal difficulty showing affection, parents' pressures for children to be what they what they would prefer them to be, homophobia, etc., all built around the story of a young gay man who left home to escape all of this in the early 80s just as AIDS was spreading and returned home 8 years later to die. It is a well written book published just this year which received a grade of A- from Entertainment Weekly and a recommendation in TIME. I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.
The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels includes religious pomposity, community fears, efforts to enforce "community standards", school bullying, schools' tendency to punish the one who reacts rather than the one who instigates problems, maternal love, paternal difficulty showing affection, parents' pressures for children to be what they what they would prefer them to be, homophobia, etc., all built around the story of a young gay man who left home to escape all of this in the early 80s just as AIDS was spreading and returned home 8 years later to die. It is a well written book published just this year which received a grade of A- from Entertainment Weekly and a recommendation in TIME. I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.
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