Thank You For All Things by Sandra Kring

Before I write anything here, I usually look around the internet to see what other people have said. While it doesn’t ever change my opinion of a book, it does let me know if my opinion is in the majority or minority. Given the heavy drama that takes place in Thank You For All Things, the subhead beneath the title on Salon.com seemed appropriate, “A messed-up Midwestern family grapples with buried secrets in Sandra's Kring's gripping saga Thank You for All Things." But the review’s opening line surprised me, when they referred to Sandra Kring’s “delightful” novel...

Gee, given the tremendous pain and suffering, overwhelming sadness, and despicable behavior, “delightful” is not a word I would have chosen. Lucy is the novel’s 11-year-old narrator, who, despite the acknowledgement that her twin brother Milo, (not her) is the “profoundly gifted” one, seems to have a little edge in that area herself. While the portrait of Milo follows typical aspergers’ type intelligence, i.e. poor social skills, genius mathematician; Lucy describes herself (many times) simply as “people smart”. I honestly didn’t hate this book, but the incessant harping on their high intelligence was tiresome. Got it, they’re gifted. Oh, and of course, they’re home schooled. (Here’s my small jab at home schooling – Tess, their mother, never graduated college, but came close. What is it in our culture that makes us think we have the skills necessary to teach when we have studied only a narrow range of topics? Do you remember seventh grade science well enough to teach it to your child?) Also, didn’t know you could support two children on the income of a Christian romance writer. That’s the official end of my teensy rant.

The story begins with an unforeseen series of events that leads Tess to drive her mother and kids from their home in Chicago back to the house in Wisconsin where she grew up. Her father is dying, and Oma, Tess’ mom, long ago promised to care for him when he died. It is a little surprising, given the events we learn about in their past, that she would feel any obligation at all to this man, who abused her for many years. Unfortunately for them, he was a man who showed a kind face to his community, so their hatred for this abusive, philandering man is a puzzle to the town they return to.

Everyone is looking for something in this novel, and the beauty of the story is that they get what they need only in varying degrees. Lucy is desperate to know the identity of her father. She goes to great lengths to discover who he is, but the truth is not nearly as satisfying as the mystery. I felt that the final unveiling of this deep family secret was almost anticlimactic. Milo, while most times a stereotype, does have his moments. Having brothers who are twins, I felt the understanding between Milo and Lucy, both spoken and not, was true to the special bonds between twins. Oma is happy to return to the town, because she has reinvented herself as a strong, new-age woman. I found her quirky character to be the most honest and I think I cared about her most of all. Tess, is just a mess, easily categorized by her psychoanalyst daughter, but pretty two-dimensional for her endless bad humor and relentless self-medication. Needless to say, there were very few heart-warming mother-child scenes.

But there are wonderful minor characters here: Oma’s friend Marie, Tess’ friends Peter and Mitzy, and of course, the wicked old sister you will love to hate. There’s even the wise old town madame, and the tragic ex-girlfriend (who we somehow pity because she was the woman he really loved; oh, and, she’s lost her mind). Despite its flaws, this is still a good read. You will expect a happy ending, and you will get one, but it’s not going to be pretty along the way.

Operating Instructions by Anne Lamott

Am I the very last person in our group to read this book? Seriously? I couldn't wait to pick it up this summer when we had escaped the craziness of school and things finally slowed own.

So much of my kids' first years of life have escaped me in the wake of twin infant craziness and the 9 years that have passed but Lamott does a wonderful job of chronicling her son Sam's childbirth and those first few weeks and months of his life. While their family isn't conventional ('dad' wanted nothing to do with his child) her sleepless nights and small joys of motherhood translate to every mom's experience.

Loved it and thanks Sandy for encouraging me to read this one...

Stitches by David Small

This is my second grown-up graphic novel, and, I have to say, while it was quick, it was extremely moving and even painful to read. I cannot really do this book any justice. David Small can certainly convey in a tiny line drawing much more than my 1000 words ever could. In a wonderful interview he gave to Powell’s Books, he relates the idea that he is not a writer, so he couldn’t imagine sitting down and writing his autobiography. But, when he began to draw, the words flowed naturally. In this case, they seem effortless.

If you are thinking this is going to be a fun little comic book adventure, let me give you a brief outline. David Small grew up in a house filled with noise where nobody ever really talked. His mom communicated with coughs or slamming doors, his dad came home from work to thump his punching bag, and his older brother spent his energy locked away playing the drums. Despite the fact that he is looking back at this from the vantage point of his sixty-plus years, Small has captured the sounds and fears of a six year old in a dramatic way. After a childhood spent being sick with his radiologist dad using radiation “therapy” on him, David finds himself, at age 11, with a “growth” on his neck. A concerned friend of his parents (married to a doctor) discovers it, and makes them promise to have it checked. They take him — three and a half years later. When they discover it is cancer, David is never told. Instead, he wakes up in the hospital after multiple surgeries with a huge scar running down his neck and only one vocal cord. He has been officially silenced.

If the drawing of him at his first therapy appointment doesn’t rip your heart out, I’m sorry, you don’t have one. Unbridled emotion is packed into even the simplest of drawings in this book. Reading it, I had the very same feeling as I did reading Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, when I had to keep checking the back flap to make sure she lived through her horrendous childhood. The idea that David Small was able to walk away from that life and make something of himself (illustrator of more than forty children’s books, including a Caldecott winner, husband, etc.) is simply astonishing. To learn more about the story behind the story, read the excellent interview on the Powell’s site: http://www.powells.com/blog/?p=7543

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

Short and sweet again. Hard to say how much I enjoyed devouring the 3 books in this series (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Girl Who Played With Fire and Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest). I won't be quoting beautifully written text from these or for that matter recommending this series to one and all as it isn't everyone's 'cup of tea'. These are spy thriller novels which take place in Sweden and detail places and government agencies and historical references which I have no clue about but the writing is so tight and precise and the many, many characters (esp the women.. Larsson has some incredibly strong and smart women in his books) so well developed that you have to appreciate the effort put into his books..

LOVED them. If you're a fan of fast paced books, with some violence thrown in , intrigue, twists and turns give these books a try, though they must be read in order. Promise that if you stick with them it will be worth the effort~

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

I loved this book. I read it in just over a day, and, while I am hesitant to write anything since at least one narrator is a grammar fanatic, I will try not to say too much. It is the kind of book you can’t stop reading, but you don’t want it to end. If I had to explain the plot, you might think it sounds ordinary and dull; but the very ordinariness of the characters, beautifully written, is what elevates this novel. I waited for the explanation of the title, and, when I read it, I was so satisfied with it that I read the entire paragraph to my eight-year-old daughter, (who loves hedgehogs, and was wondering about the book).

You can go to Amazon or any number of other places and read a nice summary of this and even some mediocre reviews, and you may wonder why I loved it so much. I can’t explain it. The two narrators, one, the frumpy concierge of an exclusive Paris apartment building, and the other, one of it’s younger and more precocious tenants, made me feel ignorant of the classics, and even, at times, of pop culture. Sort of like a Woody Allen movie, but nicer. I did not care. I made a mental movie-to-watch list, looked up words, and went along with them. There were, I admit, some rambling passages and philosophical meanderings. But how bad could these be, if I finished it in just over a day, on a holiday weekend that I spent with my husband and two small children, barely neglecting them all as I read? Give yourself an unexpected treat, and travel to Paris with Muriel Barbery for a little vacation.

Tallgrass by Sandra Dallas

I’m not really sure what it says about us as people, the fact that we find so many books about war so fascinating, yet, as a rule, proclaim to abhor the concept. I read The Street of a Thousand Blossoms a few months ago, and appreciated the unique perspective of a Japanese family during WWII, and soon after I was given this book as a gift. Gail Tsukiyama is the author of the blurb on the cover of Tallgrass, so I considered that a good sign.

Sandra Dallas was originally a Business Week bureau chief in Denver, and she learned about the real life internment camp Amache from a friend who took her to see the remains of it in 1961, only 15 years after the camp had closed. The story stayed with her, until, years later, she read another book on the topic. By then, America was at war with Iraq, and the story had a new resonance for her. Being sensitive to the victims’ point of view, she chose instead to write it from the perspective of Rennie Stroud, the thirteen-year-old girl whose family owns the farm next door to the fictitious camp, Tallgrass.

Rennie and her dad are a cross between Scout/Atticus Finch and Half Pint/Charles Ingalls (in a good way.) In fact, there were moments in the story that were just so moving, the emotions so rich, that I considered reading it to my kids. Then, I remembered the premise: Japanese Americans, sent from their homes to an internment camp halfway across the country, are blamed for the rape and murder of a thirteen year old girl. Oops, forgot about that.

But there is so much more to this story. Unlike many books of this genre, there is an unabashed undercurrent of hope. Rennie’s constant questioning, as she struggles to understand a new moral code, is honest and true to her age and the time. I did feel there were moments in her thoughts that were just a bit too self-aware for a girl her age; but this was more a nuisance than a distraction. Despite her father’s constant defense of the people in the camp; Rennie is slow to understand them as fellow humans being treated despicably by her self-righteous neighbors.

I really don’t want to say more about the story. Just read it. It will frustrate you, and it may even shame you, but it will also make you think and, in the end, make you hope.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Writing the next bunch of reviews from the beach so they'll be short and sweet. This one broke my heart from start to finish. It takes place in some sort of post-apocolyptic America where gray ash is every where, the sun never really comes out and most of the population has been brutally exterminated. A man and his young son are traveling to the coast in near winter. They have no idea what will await them there and all of the food and shelter they have is carried on their backs.

The father has a gun with one bullet left and he has promised his son that they will die together. He will not leave him alone. What they see is so terrible and horrifying that death is preferable to being caught or captured.

Their travels are long and cold and food is scarce. When the father becomes injured and lays dying he makes a choice which left me in tears and heartbroken. A highly recommended book.
(anyone know how to post pictures from Amazon on a Mac?)