Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024--San Antonio

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry was an exciting book to read.  It deals with so many topics--conservative religion vs. science, unrequited love, what makes a worthwhile life, the difficulties of women to be recognized for their accomplishments, righting wrongs from the past, being able to both hate and love the same person, researching to resolve a mystery, living two lives at one time, whether ghosts from the past are really ghosts or just tricks of the dwelling mind, etc.   It's the unrequited love stories that make this a heartbreaker.  It's the slow discovery of clues to a mystery from the past that make it hopeful.  It's the affects of conservative religion on people's lives that make it heartrending.  It's all of those together that make it exciting from beginning to end.  Longlisted for the Booker Prize, it is well written with a number of interesting characters including the following:  Nathan,  who is the son of a deceased pastor of the Baptist church, who continues to attend services although he questions the teachings, who writes a regular column for the local newspaper, and who escapes the village (and the church) for multiple days at a time in London to live more freely.  Grace, who has become essentially the voluntarily adopted god daughter of Thomas, who falls in love with a young man early in her life and can never get past the relationship not continuing, and who has rebellious tendencies against the teachings of the church while not being able to avoid condemning others for their religious transgressions.  The ghost from the 1800s, who was a  Bulgarian woman with a great scientific mind, who was in an unhappy marriage to the owner of the local manor house, and who hid various clues to in the house and on the grounds of the estate that reveal her story.  There were a few times I became confused and had to backtrack to determine who was "talking" or what was really happening, but overall I give the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner

Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024--San Antonio

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner is one of the most in-demand books this year (I waited for about 9 weeks on hold to get it on my Kindle from my library) and has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize and longlisted for the National Book Award.  It is also the most complex story I have read recently.  The central character is a former U.S. government operative who is now doing private contract undercover work around the world.  During the time covered by the book, she is in France.  She is infiltrating a cult-like commune by becoming the lover of the childhood best friend of the leader of the group. While her lover, a film producer, is in southern France on his latest project, she volunteers to go to his family's unoccupied estate near the commune and, while there, to assist the best friend and other members of the commune in translating their writings about how life should be organized and lived.  (She is fluent in several languages.)  But it is all a plan by her employers for her to determine whether this is a group intending to lead insurrection against the government.  And eventually, with the approval of a great increase in pay, the plan involves her being expected to arrange an attempt to assassinate a government official whose planned projects for the area are of concern to local citizens because they will promote huge agricultural farming (putting the local small farmers out of business) and have the potential for creating a water crisis.  Tied in with all of this is the background story of a writer/insurrectionist whose writings and counselings have led to the establishment of this particular commune she is infiltrating.  I gave the book 4 stars out of 5.