Book review – Page 14 – Finding My Wings

Grab a copy of Jessamyn Hope’s debut novel

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Safekeeping by Jessamyn Hope (Fig Tree Books, 2015)
In 40 words or less: An array of seekers volunteer at a kibbutz in the throes of change. The kibbutz’s elder holds tight to 50 year-old secrets as the community she created crumbles. A young, troubled New Yorker arrives desperate for redemption.
Genre: Fiction
Locale: Primarily Israel
Time: 1994
Read this if you enjoy complex characters dealing with the life choices they have made. The plot lines are enhanced by the detailed descriptions of kibbutz life which were under great upheaval at that time. Fig Tree Books is a new press and this is a beautifully put together paperback. It would be a great discussion title.

A confession. I was given advance access to this wonderful book in April. Life happened and I didn’t finish before my electronic copy disappeared. The story so grabbed me that this was the book I bought when I reached Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, NC. An excellent decision.

Adam is a mess. Drug addicted and bereft after the death of the grandfather who raised him, he assaults a jeweler and escapes New York for Israel, his goal to fulfill his grandfather’s lifelong wish and deliver an antique brooch. With this inauspicious start, he is not the ideal volunteer for Kibbutz Sadot Hadar. He hopes to quickly locate Dagmar, his grandfather’s true love, and get on with his life.

Times are tough in the kibbutz. Young people are moving away, the original Socialist Zionist principles are falling by the wayside. Without volunteers and workers from the neighboring Arab villages, the kibbutz’s survival is in jeopardy. Ziva, the last remaining founder, is insistent that the original path is the only true path for Sadot Hadar. And she will devote every last breath to have that as her legacy.

Volunteers have come to Sadot Hadar from the unlikeliest of places. Ulya, a survivor of Chernobyl, sees the kibbutz as a way station on her path to New York. Claudette arrives from Quebec, her OCD and Catholic faith complicating her acclimation to the kibbutz. She is on a personal pilgrimage with an unknown destination. Subject to assignment by Eyal, the kibbutz secretary, they all remain on the periphery of the controversy about the future of the kibbutz. Ofir, a talented teenage musician on the kibbutz and their only peer contact, was badly injured in a terrorist bus attack.

Adam’s quest propels the story. His dealings with both the bureaucracies trying to locate Dagmar and the rules of the kibbutz test his commitment. Throughout the book he is challenged to heal physically and emotionally, and that can’t happen alone. Only through the actions of others is a richer portrait of life on the kibbutz and Adam’s challenges seen. From a historical standpoint, Jessamyn Hope captures the kibbutz movement at the crossroads. The changes that Ziva works to stave off were occurring across Israel and marked a dramatic shift in the country’s social and economic history.

Grounded in 1994 but with clearly delineated departures to the past, Jessamyn Hope weaves a novel filled with life’s successes and missteps. For each of the characters family, or the absence thereof, helps set his/her path. Each is broken and sees Sadot Hadar as a step on the road to redemption. This is a wonderfully crafted debut novel and I look forward to reading more from Jessamyn Hope in the future.

House of Thieves brings 1880’s New York to life

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House of Thieves by Charles Belfoure (Sourcebooks, September 15, 2015)
In 40 words or less: Belfoure brings to life high society and “these mean streets” in 1886 New York. His architect’s eye details the glitz of the Astors and the grit of street urchins in a story of family, crime and a living, breathing city.
Genre: Historical fiction
Locale: New York and Newport, RI
Time: 1886
Read this if you enjoy vivid historical fiction, an architect’s view of the world and/or are a fan of New York. This is easy read, perfect for a vacation or a rainy weekend at home.

Those who love cities and their histories glory in the opportunity to wander the streets looking at varied buildings that tell stories of many who came before. In New York there is small industry of urban historians providing walking tours on the waves of settlement and the life created. In his second book, House of Thieves, writer and architect Charles Belfoure paints a vivid picture of New York in the mid-1880’s and the tour is included.

John Cross is a well-respected and innovative architect with birthright into the upper echelon of New York society, known collectively as the Knickerbockers. Think Astors, Cabots and the like. He is equally passionate about his family and his profession. It is with pride he celebrates his son’s graduation from Harvard and his dedication to teaching the less fortunate children of newer immigrants living in the tenements of Lower Manhattan. His pride is tempered when approached by James Kent, a man of refinement and connections. Despite appearances, Kent is the head of an underworld gang, Kent’s Gents, who informs Cross that his son’s extraordinary gambling debts can only be erased by Cross using his knowledge to rob the mansions, banks and finer buildings of the city. Kent quickly proves that death is the only alternative to compliance.

Cross keeps his moonlighting from his children but his wife learns his secret. Beyond saving his son’s life, keeping the family from scandal is vital. His daughter is about to make her debut, with all the fashion finery and societal rules that entails. Any hint of impropriety would dash hopes of a good marriage and ruin Cross’ professional connections. All three Cross children find out how the other half lives in New York through escapes from the strictures of their class.

As in his prior novel, The Paris Architect, Belfoure’s eye for detail and storytelling come together well. Those familiar with New York neighborhoods can picture the streets as his characters traverse the City. Aficionados of this heyday of women’s fashion will appreciate the descriptions of the finery and the lavish events. Reading descriptions of the latest building innovations is like taking a mini-course in the evolution of modern architectural techniques.

While at times I found some of the plot twists farfetched, I was happy to ride along all the way to the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, the shining event of 1886 and the climax of the book.

The Seven Good Years – Keret’s wisdom packs a punch

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The Seven Good Years by Etgar Keret (Riverhead Books, 2015)
In 40 words or less: Keret captures life’s small moments and profound truths in the period from the birth of his son through his father’s death. An extraordinary writer, his brilliance is seen in his brevity.
Genre: Memoir
Locale: Israel and travels
Time: Current
Book Group Potential: Each short piece (4 or 5 pages) focuses on a specific aspect of life. There is truly something for everyone.

From the moment I started the first page of Keret’s wonderful book I tried to ration my reading to make it last longer. Each of the seven years between the birth of his son, Lev, and the death of his father has its own section, providing natural breaks to savor. The book is a compilation of essays, most originally appearing in a variety of well-respected publications. Some poignant, others laugh-out-loud funny, taken together they bring to mind Joni Mitchell’s song The Circle Game.

As those who have become parents know, there is a cosmic shift in one’s world view as soon as your child is born. One’s sense of responsibility grows, the dangers in the world may seem more profound and there is often a much greater respect for the intelligence and sacrifice of one’s own parents. In this regard, Etgar Keret is like most of the rest of us but has the knack for conveying these messages through the quirky details of daily life.

Beyond his reputation as a writer of absurd, wry and ironic short stories and screenplays, Keret is a voice of modern life in Israel. There is a flavor in many vignettes that is uniquely Israeli, with a fatalistic humor born of decades of conflict. Reading about a conversation among parents of toddlers regarding the compulsory military service of their children fifteen years away would seem ridiculous were there not such a sense of foreboding, since every Israeli family has been touched by the wars and attacks. On the flip side, the reporting of the ongoing exchanges with the telemarketer from the satellite TV company has a small town feel unlike any spam calls I’ve received this century.

Throughout the book we meet other members of Keret’s immediately family. His wife, an acclaimed artist in her own right, is seen as his partner and the mother of his child. Maintaining a relationship with his ultra-orthodox sister mirrors the complexity of the religious and secular conflicts in Israeli daily life. His childhood friends and the people on the street fill out the picture of life he paints.

Bit by bit, Keret shares his admiration for the way his father has chosen to live his life. Born in Poland, Keret’s father was forced into hiding in a hole for over a year during WWII. He shares his father’s audacity in Italy prior to heading to Palestine. Despite the trauma he suffered, he is described as a man who cultivated an attitude of gratitude for all things in his life. The final sections of the book follow family shifts as his father is diagnosed with cancer and makes choices on how to spend his remaining time.

Whether at home or speaking or writing while abroad, Keret’s love for and impatience with Israel are clear. Nowhere is it more poignant than when he walks along the Mediterranean in Italy and realizes both share the same sea but very different feelings of security. And he is more than a dutiful son when he visits the area of Poland his family called home before it was taken away by the Nazis.

Buy The Seven Good Years as a gift for yourself. It is a book to keep on your nightstand for a brief refresher course in what it means to be human.

The Marriage of Opposites – A Novel of 19th Century St. Thomas

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The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman (Simon & Schuster, August 2015)
In 40 words or less: The island of St. Thomas was far more than a magical paradise in the early 1800’s. Hoffman’s story of Camille Pissarro’s mother, her strengths, challenges, loves and unfulfilled dreams, are all a prelude to her son becoming an Impressionist great.
Genre: Historical Fiction
Locale: St. Thomas and Paris
Time: 19th Century
Book Group Potential: The history and biographical material are ripe for discussion.

Tomorrow Alice Hoffman’s latest work of historical fiction hits the bookstores. What could be a better setting for The Marriage of Opposites than the magical island of St. Thomas? In the early 1800’s St. Thomas was a flourishing center of commerce for goods being shipped from Europe and Africa to the western hemisphere and back. Much of the merchant class are refugees exiled during the Inquisition. And the earliest settlers of the island believe their people arrived on the island from the moon and continue to have a strong spiritual connection with the natural elements of the island.

Rachel Pomié is a young woman far ahead of her time. She has a strong sense of business, encouraged in her thinking by her father. Disinterested in the ladylike niceties followed by her mother and the other women in the small Jewish community, Rachel spends her free time with the daughter of the family’s housekeeper. She appreciates and understands the customs and stories of the island’s natives.

Marriage in the community is strictly governed, often to enhance business opportunities. And in families with no male heirs these arrangements are of particular important. In order to save her father’s business, Rachel is betrothed to widower with three young children. While not a love match they develop a partnership ended by his death. Rachel and her growing family are then at the mercy of her husband’s young nephew, Frédéric, who comes from France to manage the business inherited by his family. And Rachel finds the true love of her life.

Hoffman is well-known for bringing elements of the magical into her stories. The spirit world enters into the lives of both island natives and those that see themselves above such superstitions. Rachel is not above seeking out local healers to help save the lives of those she loves.

Were The Marriage of Opposites entirely fiction it would be an interesting story. But it’s not. Rachel Pomie Petit Pizzarro and her family really did exist. And as the latter part of the novel shifts to the story of Rachel’s youngest child, Camille, we learn about the life of the boy who Camille Pissarro, one of France’s greatest Impressionist painters. Camille was taken with the colors and sounds of his birthplace though wanted to leave for Paris from a young age. Paris was always his mother’s dream, though never within reach.

Hoffman includes an afterword detailing the factual and fictional elements of the novel. Whether you are attracted to historical fiction in exotic settings, stories of strong women tested by the times or the back stories of well-known people, there will be something for you in The Marriage of Opposites. Certainly, Alice Hoffman fans won’t want to miss it.

Mermaids, tarot cards and an antique book

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The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler (St. Martin’s Press, June 2015)
In 40 words or less: An enchanting debut novel of families past and present, shaped by magic, tarot and traveling circuses. A mysterious antique book and young librarian enrich the story.
Genre: Literary Fiction
Locale: USA East Coast
Time: Now and 1780’s
Book Group Potential: An unusual story with an interesting construction. Good for those interested in structural analysis as well as plot.
Extra: Indiebound.org has made this title one of its Indie Next Great Reads!

Erika Swyler’s debut, The Book of Speculation (St. Martin’s Press), is the latest novel featuring carnival mermaids, psychics and freaks. Just last year Alice Hoffman had The Museum of Extraordinary Things about a freak show in Coney Island at the turn of the 20th century. The Book of Speculation has many appealing features that set it apart from many carnival stories.

In the present, Simon Watson is hanging on by his fingernails to the disintegrating family home on the edge of Long Island Sound and his job as a research librarian in the local library. The son of a traveling circus mermaid who drowned in the Sound and a father who fell into a deep depression and died, Simon was left to care as a teen for his sensitive younger sister, Enola. With Enola off in parts unknown, a book from an 18th century traveling circus arrives at his door, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who believes it related to Simon’s family.

An omniscient narrator tells the story of Hermelius H. Peabody’s 1780’s traveling show. Entrepreneurial, but with great affection for his company, Peabody takes in a young, mute boy with unusual skills who appears one night. Alternately serving as a surrogate father and putting him to work as the “Wild Boy”, Peabody recognizes the boy’s intelligence and has the tarot card reader teach him the secrets of the cards and elevate him to her assistant. Amos, as he is named by the troupe, is a favorite of all until a young woman with an unknown past joins the circus as a mermaid. And from there, as the cards will tell, bad things continue to happen.

Back in the present, Enola and her tattooed, electric boyfriend arrive at the house just as it is about to fall over the cliff. They are part of a traveling show where Enola reads cards. Simon’s early reading of the antique journal leads him to believe his mother’s drowning may be familial and Enola is likely at risk within the next few seeks. Using his research skills, Simon tries to connect the 18th century volume to the current history of his family. In the process he discovers disturbing truths about his family and the neighbor family who play such a significant role in his life.

Swyler tells a wonderful story, painting vivid pictures of the characters and surroundings. Each major character is well-drawn and consistent within his/her time. Since the local library and Simon’s librarian contacts figure in the unveiling of connections, the reader is reminded of the tenuous nature of library funding in the present economy.

Many recent novels have suffered from great length and abrupt endings. The Book of Speculation continues naturally to its end in less than 350 pages. If you prefer visiting traveling shows between the pages of a book to walking the midway, this may be the book for you. I enjoyed it far more than I had expected.

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