The Fraud by Zadie Smith

Saturday, May 25, 2024--San Antonio

The Fraud by Zadie Smith was not an easy read for me.  Parts of the book were very interesting, but I ran into comprehension problems due to two factors: 1)  Chapters are designated by dates and they jump forwards and backwards over and over again.  I couldn't keep the dates in mind as to what was happening when, so with each jump I had to try to figure out from text what story I was returning to.  2)  So many names (characters) to remember made it difficult to keep track of who was who.  This was further complicated by similar names such as Emily and Eliza within the same family/home.  Written around the life of a real-life novelist from the 1800s who is unknown today and was mostly a disappointment to himself then (although he thought more highly of himself than most others did), the book is really mostly about his female cousin by marriage who came to live with him when her husband (the author's brother) died at a young age.  Among other things, she was a feminist and enjoyed "scandalous" sexual activities which included S&M and more.  She sat in the parlor with her cousin/author and his follow authors and friends (including Charles Dickens) and participated in their intellectual discussions at a time when most women were expected to be in another room with only woman and to leave the men to be only with men.  She had affairs with both her cousin by marriage and with his wife with neither of them realizing it.  She was apparently bisexual, but she wondered at times if maybe she was a lesbian (which she referenced as being a "Lady of Llangollen" because of a town in Wales where lesbians apparently were known to live).  There is so much more to this book, however--the story of a trial of a man who was thought to have drowned when his ship sank but has returned from Australia claiming to be the heir of an estate (or was he a butcher from a lower class area of London?).  The story of a former slave from Jamaica and his son.  The stories of the jealousies between authors of the time.  Etc.  I gave the book 3 stars out of 5.

Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo

 Thursday, May 30, 2024--San Antonio

Lost on Me by Veronica Raimo reads like a memoir, but is referenced as "auto-fiction" because the protagonist of the story has grown up her whole life making up stories about her life to the point that she has trouble distinguishing between what stories are true and which are false.  It was long-listed for the International Booker Prize (for books written in other languages and translated into English) and won several Italian (the original language) prizes.  It is easy to read.  It is often funny.  Unfortunately, there were aspects (which are likely true parts of her life story) that I couldn't enjoy: 1)  She is not a logical thinker and repeatedly makes bad decisions in her life while casually acting as if they were unimportant.  2)  She's got a nagging mother no one would ever want to be around, much less keep hearing from--a woman with no boundaries who just keeps going on and on like the Energizer bunny (except in a grating way without being funny at all).  It's a short book, but it took me about 5 days to read because I had to take the silliness (stupidity?) of the protagonist and the constant harassment by the mother in small doses.  The author is intelligent even though she constantly makes bad decisions in life; somehow she has blundered her way into making it as a prize-nominated and winning author.  I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Silver Bone by Andre Kurkov

Sunday, May 5, 2024--San Antonio

The Silver Bone by Andre Kurkov was longlisted for the Booker International Prize.  It is a crime story that takes place in Kiev during the the political turmoil of 1917-1918.  Samson is a young man whose mother and sister have already died and he and his father are attacked on the street by Cossacks.  The father dies having his head split in two by a sword while also saving his son by pushing him as a sword goes toward his head.  Samson loses only an ear and faces life alone.  He needs to find a job.  This is a period of high crime due to the turmoil, and he writes a report of another crime and takes it to the police which are very shorthanded.  Because Samson's report is well written with good details, he is hired on the spot to join the police force if he is interested and is immediately assigned to follow the case he has reported which involves two soldiers who have apparently stolen items, pushed themselves into Samson's apartment claiming the right to live there, and are planning to desert the Red Army to go home for planting season.  It is a rather simple detective story--the first of a series that is planned.  It seems to have been shortlisted for the prize because it includes an aspect of magical realism; Samson can hear things happening wherever the severed part of his ear is placed.  As a detective story, it is lacking, I believe.  For instance, with crimes happening daily, Samson is allowed to pursue just two crimes over a period of what seems to be several weeks.  I gave the book 3 1/2 stars out of 5.

The Male Gazed by Manuel Betancourt

Thursday, May 16, 2024--San Antonio

The Male Gazed by Manuel Betancourt is a memoir in essays.  I checked it out because it was on a number of lists of top books in 2023.  I don't see how it got there.  It is very boring for anyone who isn't familiar with Colombian soap operas, the "Colombian Liberace," specific TV series in the US, the details of Madonna's Vogue album, the excitement discovered by gay men from the lower east side going to Harlem to experience voguing, minute details of every season of Ru Paul's Drag Race, etc.  The author, only about 39 years old, has written it as if what has happened in his life and how he has lived his life is of great importance, so important that he had to write page-after-page of details as if everyone has had the same experiences in life as he has--not as a story, but as essays that describe exactly what happened in detail, his thrill of discovery from those experiences, etc.  Reading on a Kindle, I often thumbed through multiple pages at a time rather than waste time on details that were meaningless to me.  It's obvious that the author thinks he is very enlightened and is living a fabulous life of discovery and understanding.  I'm just glad I got this through the library and didn't waste any money on it.  I gave it 2 1/2 stars out of 5.

And There He Kept Her + Where the Dead Sleep by Joshua Moehling

Saturday, May 11, 2024--San Antonio

And There He Kept Her and Where the Dead Sleep are both by Joshua Moehling are the first two books in a series of crime stories with a third book currently being written.  The former was a finalist for the Lambda Mystery Award earlier this year, and the latter was just recently published. Both take place in a summer lake vacation resort near the Canadian border in Minnesota.  Both also revolve around members of the Gherling family--the wealthiest local family.  Ben Packard, a deputy detective, has recently been named acting sheriff by the man who hired him and is on leave to be treated for cancer.  When Ben was young, he and his family spent summers with his grandparents who had a cabin on the local lake.  One of Ben's brothers disappeared one winter during the Christmas holidays.  No body was ever found; just his snowski and a single glove he was wearing were found in the edge of the lake.  Ben had never returned until recentl--to take the job as a detective after growing up in the Twin Cities and serving as a policeman there.  When Ben's romantic partner,who was also a policeman dies, he wants to leave the big city to get away from the memories there and just happens to find the job available in the lake resort he remembers from his childhood.  In the first book, two young teenagers have disappeared and Ben is the lead detective in trying to find them.  Solving the mystery involves learning about a local drug ring run by one of the young grandchildren of one branch of the Gherling family and solving several cold cases related to missing persons.  The small-time drug ring dealer and his addict sister are spoiled teenagers and major disappointments within the family. In the second book, there is a robbery and murder that involves the adult children of the other branch of the Gherling family.  There is a mother and 3 female children who are what might be called hellcats who are resentful and have been fighting among themselves throughout the lives of the 3 daughters.  Ben Packard is again the lead detective in solving the crime in this book.  He is also running for election to serve as permanent sheriff in the second book.  Both books are well written.  The stories are complex, but not unnecessarily so.  There are critical details that are only revealed toward the end of each book.  Although Ben is gay, they are not gay stories; that just happens to be a part of the life of the man who is the central investigator in these two mystery stories.  I gave both books 4 stars out of 5.

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

Wednesday, May 1, 2024--San Antonio

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and named a Top Ten book of the year by the New York Times and the Washington Post.  It is a long (650+ pages) and complicated novel filled with secrets, lies, high expectations on others, abuse, business failures, crimes, failed relationships, etc.  Readers who do not enjoy a story that spirals downwards from the beginning to the end, should probably skip this one.  It is filled with moments that will create tension for the reader more and more as time passes.  It takes place in Ireland and spans approximately 20 years with occasional moments of memories from earlier than that.  All the characters have their flaws (although often hidden) and as the reader you will likely want to yell at them when they are making poor decisions in life.  It is built around the lives of a wealthy family who owns the Volkswagon dealership in the town.  The owner is at retirement age.  He has two young sons--the younger one who is the star football player and a promising salesman because of his personality and the older one who leads a quieter and more studious life with plans to go to Trinity College in Dublin.  The younger son actually takes care of his older brother in school when he is teased or bullied.  The father has chosen the older one to eventually take over the business.  But there is another family, a very poor one, in town with a daughter who is the most beautiful of the secondary school female students and is scheming to live a more glamorous life.  Unfortunately, life in her home with an alcoholic father and 3 older brothers is not easy, so she lives with an aunt.  The book follows the lives of the members of two families.  It tells the same stories from different perspectives so that what you have learned happened at one point in the book is altered later with input with someone else.  It is a fascinating and interesting story, but I did not find it to be an enjoyable read.  The downward spiral of the lives of the characters through poor decisions just created too many tense moments for me as the reader.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.