I’ve read a lot of books lately. It’s a great way to escape reality and deal with someone else’s problems, albeit fictional.
This is my list:
- The Silence of the Girls, Pat Barker
- The Caregiver, Samuel Park
- The Preacher’s Son, Paul Doiron
- The Surgeon, Tess Gerritsen
- Necessary Lies, Diane Chamberlain
So, let’s get to it…
The Silence of the Girls
This book tells about the of Troy from Briseis’ perspective. Once a valued married Trojan woman, she become Achilles’ concubine. In a powerplay, Achilles gives her to Agamemnon, a known pederast. She makes a joke of it later. Young by today’s standards, Breseis’ maturity and compassion amidst the degradation and squalor of camp life ring true. She remains strong and becomes a healer, as the woman around her are abused and killed as if objects.
This book shows the powerless of the women as their men battled each other over Helen and land. When Breseis begs the gods and the rats multiply, she watches and heals, her contempt building. The clothing she’d made for her father is on the back of her enemy. Before his death, Achilles ensures her future by marrying her off to his friend.
This book was depressing. I felt bogged down by the powerlessness of the women and felt contempt for the selfish men who did battle over nothing. It was a powerful read that I will not forget.
The Caregiver
This story switches from past to present in the story of Mara Alencar, a cancer patient’s caregiver in Southern California. The patient, a young woman dying of cancer, reminds her of her mother. Mara was the only child of a single mom, growing up in Rio de Janiero during the brutal 1980s. In California, she comes to an understanding of her mother’s role and that of the brutal Police Chief who’d terrorized them.
This is about parents and children, and how far we’ll go to protect the people we love. This was a tender book, despite the brutality. I liked that Mara didn’t know the truth until the end. I liked that she found someone with compassion, though it cost her her job. Who knows what books we would have enjoyed if Sam was still among us. Thank you, Curtis Sittenfeld, for getting this one published!
The Poacher’s Son
This book was written by a Maine author and recommended by my mother. It’s about a young game warden, who learns that his estranged father is being hunted as a primary murder suspect. A lot of research went into this smooth-reading book–about Maine, the game warden job, and wildlife. My daughter has been hearing the call of the same owl that Mike Bowditch tried to imitate.
This was a fast read, with both primary genders well represented. The verbal and highly professional female game warden balanced the distant mother and the pretty messed-up tramp. The girlfriend was characterized as a clone of his mother. Then there was that Maine stereotype about outsiders from Revere, Massachusetts of Italian descent. Can’t get away from New England boundary wars that make us special–not that I agree or disagree on many levels. You gotta write what you know.
Good job Paul! I’ll be reading more of your work. I really liked the twist at the end.
The Surgeon
This one was out there with the violence against women. The perp is a sick bastard who likes to cut the uterus out of women who’ve been raped. His inner voice talked about Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter. I got the women’s point of view of this same murder in “The Silence of the Girls.” That was weird.
The perp had no reason to be that way, except he was in love with another surgical student who got kicked out of medical school for perform this butchery on cadaver. The perp had a perfect childhood. So, he went bad for no reason? It’s a chilling thought that any one of us can turn evil.
I couldn’t stop reading, though. It was like watching a bad accident. I truly felt Jane Rizzoli’s depression in response to the misogyny at work, at home. She wasn’t valued by anyone, even herself. Dr. Catherine Cordell was well-depicted as an unrecovered rape victim. The little romance with detective Thomas Moore added a light touch that dissipated some of the horror and heaviness. Two men wanted her because she was smart and pretty. No one wanted plain Jane. Even her name defined her. So, she had pretty eyes–and that redeemed her? How annoying.
Catherine having steaks on hand to cook for him was beyond belief. A woman living alone wouldn’t have steaks in her apartment. Man food? Really?
The other female victims were stick figures. I’ll read more by this author, but my mysogeny censors will be on high alert.
Necessary Lies
The two main characters, Jane Forrester and Ivy Hart, were wonderfully characterized. I’ve read other books about the Eugenics program. I can’t believe the program just ended 1974.
Jane was newly married to a doctor who expected her to be his lovely homemaker and the mother of his children. She told him she wanted more, but he refused to listen. He was all about himself, and she had to subvert herself to please him. You can’t hide who you are. He never bothered to learn who she was and dismissed many of her finer qualities as part of her past.
Ivy’s life was matter of fact. The farm owner was in power over everyone and abused his power by forcing two of the women to have sex with him. The powerlessness of being black and poor and white and poor was well-described in the intimate relatiuonships. Anger andfrustration could not quell Lita’s strength and dignity, or Ivy’s demand for a life with her beloved.
Jane, a naive new social worker, was assigned to Ivy’s family. When Charlotte, her supervisor, broke her leg on the job, she had to see clients alone and make her own choices. She took Ivy and her family to the beach and got electric fans for them, breaking several rules. When she told Ivy’s sister that she’d already been sterilized and took her toddler away from her, there were tragic consequences.
Jane was fired for telling Ivy that she’d be sterilized, too, and then fought for Ivy and gave her a voice.
This was an amazing book. I couldn’t put it down. The ending was perfect.
