Category: What I’m Reading

My Goodreads and Amazon reviews of Hunchback: A Novel by Saou Ichikawa (Rated 5) – Invitation to Voyeurism. Hunchback, the award-winning Japanese novel written by Saou Ichikawa (and translated by Polly Barton), robs readers of breath in the same way that myotubular myopathy, the congenital muscular disorder that afflicts Shaka, the protagonist, clogs her lungs. An heiress, whose late parents left her the group facility where she lives, Shaka’s alert mind is the antithesis of her crippled body. She connects to the world by pursuing university degrees and writing website porn. Not having experienced sex herself, she relies on her imagination, and an astute understanding of what her readers want, to create steamy erotic scenarios. Ichikawa, who suffers from the disease herself, is matter-of-fact describing the daily rituals necessary for survival. She is equally down-to-earth detailing sexual fantasies. Reading them felt voyeuristic, and yet my guilt was assuaged by the fact that I was doing so at her invitation. More than her invitation — her insistence! She demands that readers not look away, but instead acknowledge that people with disabilities exist and have the same desires as able-bodied people. A novelist myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I create atypical characters who seek comparable recognition. Ichikawa makes this plea in a short and intense book that is initially unsettling but ultimately settles into a portrayal of basic human nature.

A disabled woman demands to be seen

Why writers read: “To find words for what we already know.” – Alberto Manguel

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Tick … Tick … Tick … by Steve Zettler (Rated 5) – Clever Countdown. Tick … Tick … Tick … by Steve Zettler is a masterful montage of literary genres and contemporary themes: a spy novel with aliens, a dire environmental warning, a satire of governmental (in)competence, and a mystery with white hats lurking in noir shadows. Zettler addresses a serious problem — global warming — in a highly entertaining way that includes an over-the-top narrative, wild imaginative leaps, belly laughs, and even puckered lips. As a novelist myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Zettler’s ability to juggle so many elements in this meticulously plotted thriller. Suspense mounts as readers worry whether U.S. agents will turn around the world’s wasteful ways before the clock ticks down to the aliens’ final plan to destroy the “disease” that is planet Earth. Sit back, or perch on the edge of your seat, as you read Tick … Tick … Tick … to discover our fate. It’s a boom of a book!

A giddy romp through global warming

Why writers read: A book can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” – Madeleine L’Engle

My Goodreads and Amazon review of The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey (Rated 5) – New Deal’s Midwife. The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’S Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience by Kirstin Downey comprises multiple historical narratives in a single biography: the personal history of a pioneering woman committed to social and economic justice; a legislative history of the Roosevelt era during the Great Depression and Second World War; a post-suffrage but pre-second-wave feminist account of the stereotypes and discrimination that held back women; and an inside view of the rivalries and in-fighting among the elites of New York and Washington, DC. What emerges from this thoroughly researched volume is a portrait of a complex woman, whose determination served her well in overcoming roadblocks, but whose domineering personality could also work against her in a male-dominated society. Perkins was further hampered by the fact that her own husband and daughter were plagued my bipolar disorder, conditions she hid from the public as a matter of political survival as well as personal pride and shame. Perkins also adapted to her fickle boss, the “midwife” who birthed FDR’s most significant policies while being left behind as a battlefield casualty. Downey admits when her subject’s own prejudices and naivete led to her defeat. As a writer of character-driven historical fiction (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Downey’s forthright presentation of her subject’s flaws as well as strengths. What is remarkable is how, despite many personal and societal setbacks, Perkins succeeded in pushing through legislation that changed the face of government in her time and that persists, albeit now under threat, in the U.S. today.

A pioneering woman fights for social and economic justice in the halls of government

Why writers read: “Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.” – Anne Herbert

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Home for the Bewildered by Michelle Tobin (Rated 5) – Doctor, Heal Thyself. Set in a Michigan state psychiatric hospital in the mid-1970s, Home for the Bewildered by Michelle Tobin captures the confused minds of its residents and the personal floundering of Dr. Dorothy Morrissey, the young psychologist who is better at helping them than working through her own dilemmas. Tobin skillfully creates a diverse group of patients, each dealing with trauma, often originating in childhood, that interfere with their ability to function as adults. With compassion and competence, Dorothy helps her charges take steps toward insight and improvement. In the process of treating them, she also faces her own difficulties with her strict Catholic family and her ambivalence toward a boyfriend they deem unacceptable. As a novelist myself, who likewise delves into the human psyche from multiple points of view (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page, I admire Tobin’s ability to endow each character with a distinctive voice, and to evoke empathy for them, no matter how challenging their personalities. With engaging storytelling and emotional honesty, Tobin’s Home for the Bewildered leaves readers with a clear vision of how the past leaves an indelible mark on us and how we can nevertheless move forward to live satisfying and meaningful lives.

Facing the past to find a way forward

Why writers read: “If you want to learn something, go to the source. Dogen, a great Zen master, said, ‘If you walk in the mist, you get wet.’” – Natalie Goldberg

My Amazon and Goodreads review of Beautiful World, Where Are You? by Sally Rooney (Rated 5) – Ruminative People. In Beautiful World, Where Are You? Sally Rooney introduces readers to four flawed but engaging characters: Eileen, Alice, Simon, and Felix. At times they connect; at others, they glance off one another. Their behavior is kind, but sporadically cruel. They are competent, even talented and successful people, who are nevertheless self-doubting and dissatisfied. Hence the title. Rooney captures the emotions we unleash on ourselves and others, whether calculated or beyond our control. As a novelist myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I’m a big fan of Rooney’s signature style, that is, ruminative characters. Here she portrays them through obsessive interior monologues and most notably in the correspondence between the two women. Beautiful World is a deep study of love and friendship. How we depend on them, how we question their sincerity. The answer to the title’s question isn’t belabored but quietly emerges in the pages of Rooney’s honest and thoughtful book.

Interior monologues and epistolary dialogues answer the book’s title question

Why writers read: “Think before you speak. Read before you think.” – Fran Lebowitz

My Goodreads and Amazon reviews of Disconnected: Portrait of a Neurodiverse Marriage by Eleanor Vincent (Rated 5) – Ticket for One. Disconnected: Portrait of a Neurodiverse Marriage, Eleanor Vincent’s memoir of her late-in-life marriage to an autistic spouse, is a roller coaster ride of emotions. From a fairytale beginning that literally and figuratively dances on the page, Vincent plummets back to earth when the relationship abruptly ends, soars when it’s reignited, and then settles into the hard work of navigating a trip for two when only one person holds a ticket. With honesty, she recounts her excitement and frustration, hope and anger, and eventual acceptance that the gaps in wiring between her neurotypical brain and his neurodivergent one cannot be bridged. Although she writes from her perspective, Vincent is as fair-minded and nonjudgmental as she can be toward her ex-spouse. As a fiction writer who aims to elicit empathy for even the most challenging characters (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Vincent’s ability to enhance the reader’s understanding of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The final emotion as the roller coaster comes to a stop is regret for the inevitable. Her husband is who he was born to be as surely as she must be true to her own nature. And after she unstraps and exits the carnival car, hope returns that the next ticket Vincent buys will take her on a rewarding journey, whether or not she’s with a fellow traveler.

Differently wired brains cannot run on the same circuit

Why writers read: “Read to make yourself smarter! Less judgmental. More apt to understand your friends’ insane behavior, or better yet, your own.” – John Waters

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout (Rated 5) – Surreal Reality. With the pandemic in the rearview mirror, my memories of lock down and social isolation have blurred. Reading Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout brought the strangeness back with clarity. In sparse prose, Strout captures the discombobulating effect of not knowing when the weirdness will end. We’re thrown together with people we may not choose to be with, and separated from those we do. We’re stuck at home and dreaming of escape, or far from home and longing for its familiar comforts. Authors, myself included (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), are typically advised to wait before writing about current events, allowing temporal distancing to give us the wisdom of hindsight. Yet, there is also something gained by writing as events are unfolding. Given that Strout’s novel was published in 2022, she wrote it “in the moment.” And, given her literary gifts, she nails it. Lucy by the Sea blends visceral immersion with detached observation, replicating the surreal qualities of the pandemic itself. Perusing it now, readers cannot only recollect those days, but also prepare for the next pandemic that will assail us in the foreseeable future. I choose to be with Strout.

What we hold onto when everyday life is swept away

Why writers read: A book can be a star, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe.” – Madeleine L’Engle

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney ((Rated 5) – The Roz Chast of Prose. Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo is the first book by this acclaimed author that I’ve read. Suspicious of hype, I heretofore resisted, but now conclude the praise is justified. “Rooney reading” is slow going. I mean this literally but not at all negatively. Her writing is intense, characterized by what my fellow fiction writers and I call “interiority.” (See my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page.) Rooney readers don’t zip through pages of dialogue or plot points. Rather, from the perspectives of the novel’s three neurotic protagonists, she takes us inside their heads to eavesdrop on their jumbled, obsessive, occasionally self-content, but more often self-doubting, ruminations. Rooney is the Roz Chast of prose. We recognize ourselves in her characters. We too have felt insecure, fearful of judgment, wronged by others, and guilty about how we’ve wronged them. Delving into the antagonistic relationship between two brothers grieving their father’s death, and the murky entanglements of their respective romantic affairs, Rooney sets our neurons atingle. Intermezzo is a quiet book about the cacophony inside our heads as we strive to appear capable to the outside world. That is, until an intermezzo — a threatening move unexpectedly played in the middle of a chess game — disrupts our defenses. The novel’s endgame isn’t obvious, but it’s very satisfying.

Unrelenting and absorbing internal monologues

Why writers read: “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” – C. S. Lewis

My Goodreads and Amazon review of The Sparkler by Alan Humm (Rated 5) – Dancing with Dickens. Some authors claim their characters write themselves. In The Sparkler, by Alan Humm, Charles Dickens’s characters write the famous author. Dickens takes on the personae of the figures — especially the colorful lower class ones — that he strives to put on paper. They bring him to life as much as he gives life to them. Humm’s entertaining fictional biography takes an imaginative dive into the head of the esteemed writer who wants to add “sparkle” to his own circumstances as he navigates the seedy streets of London, juggles his responsibilities to his expecting wife and her younger sister, and indulges his obsession with his mistress. In scenes as vivid as Dickens’s writing, Humm evokes a character who is often clever, sometimes pitiable, and equally baffling to himself and others. As an author myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), who has also written fictional biographies, I admire Humm’s ability to create a false yet wholly believable narrative about a public figure. The Sparkler will delight readers and, were Charles Dickens still alive, the novel would greatly amuse him too.

A “sparkling” fictional biography of Charles Dickens

Why writers read: “Readers live a thousand lives before they die. Those who never read live only one.” – George R. R. Martin

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Playground by Richard Powers (Rated 5) – Tug-of-War. In Playground by Richard Powers, the characters choose their fields of play and master their respective games. The fields inhabit three domains. At the lowest level, oceanographer Evelyn Beaulieu cavorts with teeming sea creatures. In the middle tier, land-dwelling philosopher Rafi Young writes while artist Ina Aroita makes monumental sculptures with trash washed up on the shore. Hovering above, in the cloud, Todd Keane develops the ultimate game — the book’s title — with the planet’s most sophisticated AI. Yet the novel is far from playful. No environment escapes the wreckage of human meddling. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page, my primary focus is the arc of human nature. However, character development is not why one reads Powers. Rather, his interpersonal conflicts embody bigger social tensions: environmental and human degradation; discontent and death. This tug-of-war is epitomized in a decision that the Pacific island residents of Makatea must make about whether to approve a plan to develop offshore floating cities, bringing promised wealth to their impoverished home while possibly destroying its already fragile ecosystem. The plan was masterminded by Todd, creator of the ultimate AI application, Profunda. The answers Profunda offers the divided islanders raise more questions, much like advances in today’s technology generate both awe and an endless of web of further questions about its potential benefits and dangers. “Death is the mother of beauty,” Rafi quotes a long-dead philosopher. Mortality goads us to appreciate the time we have. Powers asks: If AI defeats death. does it kill beauty? Or, does the infinite game of creation play on?

A cautionary tale

Why writers read: “People without hope don’t read novels. The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience.” – Flannery O’Connor