My Policeman by Bethan Roberts

Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023--San Antonio 

My Policeman is a bestseller by Bethan Roberts which has been made into a popular film with middle-of-the road reviews.  In the book, it is a sad story, but one that represents what happened very often in Britain (and elsewhere) in the 1950s and 1960s.  It is the story of a gay man who felt he had to marry a woman to hide his natural proclivity.  By doing this, he trapped a woman into an unhappy marriage who is questioning why it is less than she desires.  At the same time, he becomes the lover of another man living life as a single person.  Because of the marriage, the gay lover is also trapped into a life that is less than desired, too.  There is misogyny; the married man expects his wife to put up with him being the boss and accepting that he may not be home when she wants him home which makes the wife even more miserable.  Everyone makes mistakes, though, and their lives fall apart.  One other side character is a single female teacher who becomes a friend of the wife.  She expects nothing, but friendship.  All suffer sad lives in a way, but there is some hope at the end of the story.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken

Friday, Feb. 24, 2023--San Antonio

I gave up on this book, The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken, after reading 60% of it.  I understood the concept of the novel--an adult author in sorrow from the loss of her mother remembering all she could to write a memoir of the experiences she had shared with the mother.  That all becomes obvious quickly.  By 60% of the way through, there were still just more mundane stories:  the mother had a small, wide foot and had trouble with footwear, the mother was not concerned about being on time except when going to the theater, the mother refused to let pain keep her from walking and lived another 7 years or so (after having had surgery) after it looked as if she would never walk again but she did, etc.  I just couldn't enjoy the book further.  It is well written, but boring.  I gave the book 3 stars out of 5 which seemed generous since there was nothing about it that grabbed my interest.

If I Survive You by Jonothan Escoffery

If I Survive You by Jonothan Escoffery is about the lives of the members of one family in Miami--a family of Jamaican immigrants (except for the youngest son who was born in the US).  The first half gives the impression that the whole book will remained focused on that one boy who is obsessed with trying to come to grips with who he is.  His family tells of having ancestors who were European and West African.  His skin is colored, but light.  His hair is wavy, not kinky.  He is intelligent and speaks English like a "White person."  Blacks don't consider him to be Black because of his looks.  Jamaicans don't consider him to be Jamaican because of the way he talks.  Those whose families are from other parts of the Caribbean don't accept him because he doesn't speak or understand Spanish.  Whites don't accept him because he is obviously a person of color although it is hard for them to determine what kind of person of color.   His encounters with these groups are often hilarious.  When he does begin to befriend someone, he often spoils the relationship because of his search for trying to understand how he should be classified.  He goes to a Midwestern university and majors in English.  He can't get a job back in Miami afterward.  His father (who is now separated from his mother who has returned to Jamaica) has always considered this son to be "difficult" or "strange" for having no motivation and for being shy, quiet, not learning to speak within the family and neighborhood in Jamaican patois, kicks him out of the house a few weeks after he has returned to Miami from college due to his not showing any initiative in moving on in life--getting a job, planning for the future, etc.  But the book then starts having sections featuring the mother, his father, and his brother in which the reader learns their perspectives on all that has been happening within the family.  The young son lives a year in his car as a homeless person.  But he eventually gets a job working in a low-income housing development and eventually a better one more suited for him teaching at a private preparatory school.  His life continues to be plagued, however, with self-doubts, poverty, family problems, etc.  The book ends at a point where things can either turn around or continue to be bad.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.

The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger

Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023--San Antonio

The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger is set in the near future.  It both references recent world disasters (hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires, floods) that are a part of man-made climate change and presupposes the looming consequences for the world as disasters increase in strength and consequences.  The story is about a hurricane that is so large and so strong that it is beyond the scope of the present rating system for hurricanes-- causing scientists to have to expand the system to have a higher rating.  Not only is it the biggest and strongest hurricane ever, but it is on a path to create the greatest possible damage--a direct hit on Miami and then again, after regaining strength crossing the Gulf of Mexico, on Galveston and Houston.  The result is cities that are almost totally destroyed.  Miami beach becomes an archipeligo.  Downtown Miami and its near suburbs are near totally destroyed by the combination of winds and flooding--skyscrapers turned into twisted metal frames, homes and buildings torn to pieces and floated away, etc.  Although not described as thoroughly, the damage in Texas is almost as bad.  But the story is mainly set in Oklahoma where FEMA has set up a huge tent city, one of a dozen or so sites for "internally displaced citizens" (not refugees, because they are U.S. residents).  The book traces the story of various characters who end up at the Oklahoma camp--the disaster relief specialist who is in charge of setting up the tent city; one family from Miami that, although wealthy and prosperous before the storm, ends up destitute and taken by bus to there; an insurance salesman from Houston who also has a sideline job of being in charge of an illegal drug distribution ring and comes to the camp as a volunteer to assist those who are displaced while escaping the damage in Houston and stealing the latest shipment of drugs sent to him from the kingpins in Kansas City (a million doses peel-of films to be dissolved under the tongue) which allows him to continue his sideline job at the camp; and various other minor characters.  The story seems both realistic and plausible given the direction the world seems to be moving.  It's exciting and scary to read.  Yet another larger-than-normal natural disaster occurs toward the end of the book to reinforce that what had happened so far was not a fluke, but a sign of other, worse things to come.  Yet the main characters continue to strive to leave the shelters and create new lives for themselves in new locations in the meantime.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.  

Nuclear Family by Joseph Han

 Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023--San Antonio

After spending two weeks and getting only 40% of the way into Nuclear Family by Joseph Han, I abandoned it.  I just never was eager to get back to it, although I kept returning to it every 3 days or so.  There were too many characters.  And not much was happening so far that was really interesting.  It is about an immigrant family in Hawaii that came from Korea years ago and has work hard to build up a reputation for having 3 restaurants that serve the best Korean food in Honolulu.  But when a son leaves to go to Korea to teach English so he can "find his roots," the ends up trying to cross the DMZ into North Korea.  The news of that event causes the Hawaiian Korean community to start questioning whether the family is really South Korean as they have said or if they are North Korean, and the gossip causes almost all the customers to start boycotting the restaurants.  The family struggles again just as they had thought they had accomplished the American dream of building a successful business and doing a good job of raising their two children (the son who went to Korea and a daughter who has always taken a lead role at the restaurants).  The book was named a best book of 2022 by TIME, NPR, and others and has good reviews and ratings, but I just couldn't continue with it.  No rating.