Book Review - Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen

Crossroads, Jonathan Franzen

Farrar, Straus & Giroux - 10/2021

Crossroads, is the story of a mid-western family from New Prospect, Illinois.  As Christmas 1971 approaches we meet The Hilderbrant family: Russ is 47 and is the associate pastor of The First Reform Church, a liberal suburban church who is at odds with the Crossroads youth group minister, the younger and more popular, Rick Ambrose.  Russ also finds himself attracted to an attractive woman who is a recent widow. Marion feels the cracks in their marriage as well and has her own secrets.  Clem is the eldest son of the Hilderbrants, he is in college but the war in Vietnam is always on his mind. Becky is popular in high school and has a crush on Tanner Evans, a boy active in the Crossroads youth movement.  Perry Hilderbrant is 15 and probably the smartest of the siblings but he is involved in drugs.  The youngest child is nine year old Judson.

As the Vietnam war is still going on each of the characters seems to struggle with religion, morality issues and/or the concept of goodness.  I can't say I loved any of the characters but, I did feel invested in each and every one enough to care about what happened to them.

Crossroads, the 1st of a planned trilogy, was everything I love in a well written novel. It's a story about family with flawed, well-explored characters who grapple with real life dilemmas.  What was really satisfying for me was the dialogue. I also loved feeling like I knew these characters better than they seemed to know each other. 

The hardcover (which I purchased) was nearly 600 pages and the audio (downloaded from the library) was nearly 25 hours. The combo read/listen worked beautifully for me and the audio narration by David Pittu was excellent as well. Highly recommended.

Rating - 5/5 stars

Book Review - Everything That Rises Must Converge; Flannery O'Connor

 

TITLE/AUTHOR:  Everything That Rises Must Converge; Flannery O'Connor

PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

YEAR PUBLISHED: 1965

GENRE: Fiction / Literary / Short Stories

FORMAT:  Trade Paperback LENGTH: 269 pp

SOURCE:  My shelves

SETTING(s):  US, (New South)

ONE SENTENCE SUMMARY:  A short story collection that might shock you as well as make you smile with some hot topics like race, faith and morality.

BRIEF REVIEW:   This was an enlightening collection of (9) short stories that I was easily captivated by. The writing and subject matter in most stories was so different from anything I've read in a long while. The collection was written in the early 60s and published after the author's death.  With themes like faith, race, morality and death.  Six of the nine stories speak of dying and death and most exhibit some form of prejudice or downright racism.  Despite the serious topics, O'Connor's writing style and scenarios she created often made me smile.

My favorite was the title story: Everything That Rises Must Converge.  In this story, Mrs. Chestny and her son Julian live in 1960s New South,  and have conflicting views on desegregation now that the laws have begun to change.  Mrs. Chestny has a weight problem and takes the bus to the YMCA in an attempt to exercise and trim down but, now that integration is in effect she is nervous about riding the bus.  There is a scene where she wears a big fancy hat and is all prim and proper riding the bus to go to the YMCA when a black woman on the bus is wearing the exact same hat.  There is an incident when they get off the bus where Mrs C. insults the black woman and her young boy and the offended hits her with her purse in retaliation causing Mrs. C  a fatal medical event.   I loved the writing style where the reader got to see the happenings from a 3rd party POV but, is also privy to son Julian's outrage of his mother's behavior.  One final thought was that although Julian, a college graduate, saw himself as more progressive in thought when it came to how times were changing, deep down he wasn't very self-aware and actually pretty small-minded and rather petty.  

Most all of these stories seem to feature characters who were racist yet fail to see this in themselves.  I thought that the author had an amazing gift of pointing out irony and the absurdities of life. I definitely plan to read more by this author and, I actually own a few more of her books. Here is a LINK to my review of another of her short-story collections: A Good Man is Hard to Find and other stories which I read and reviewed in 2012 and also enjoyed.

Flannery O'Connor grew up in devout Catholic family in rural Georgia. Sadly she passed away at the age of 39 in 1964 of a form of Lupus, the same disease that took her father's life when Flannery was a teen. I wonder how her writing style might have changed after Civil Rights had she lived.

RATING:  4.5/5 stars

MEMORABLE QUOTES:  

"Will you for God's sake get off that subject?" Julian said. When he got on a bus by himself, he made it a point to sit by a Negro, in reparation as it was for his mother's sins.

"Mrs. May winced. She thought the word Jesus should be kept inside the church building like other words inside the bedroom."    

"She was a good Christian woman with a large respect for religion, though she did not, of course, believe any of it was true."   

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Violent Bear it Away; Flannery O'Connor

Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers post the opening paragraph(s) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. 

The Violent Bear it Away; Flannery O'Connor

Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 2007 edition

1.

FRANCES MARION TARWATER'S uncle had been dead for only half a day when the boy got too drunk to finish digging his grave and a Negro named Buford Munson, who had come to get a jug filled, had to finish it and drag the body from the breakfast table where it was still sitting and bury it in a decent and Christian way, with the sign of its Saviour at the head of the grave and enough dirt on top to keep the dogs from digging it up. Buford had come along about noon and when he left at sundown, the boy, Tarwater, had never returned from the still."

What do you think -- read more or pass? 

(I've long loved the way Flannery O'Connor wrote so, this year I'm hoping to catch up on some of her novels that have been on my shelves as unread.)

On Division; Goldie Goldbloom

TITLE: On Division

AUTHOR:  Goldie Goldbloom

PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

PUB. YEAR: 2019

SETTING: Brooklyn, NY
FORMAT: audio/library

RATING - 4.5/5

Suri Eckstein, the protagonist of this insightful novel, is a Chasidic Jew who finds herself pregnant with twins at age 57.  She and her husband, Yidel, who is 62, have 10 children between the ages of 13 and 39. Her fears about what her husband will say and what their tight-knit community will think prevent her from talking about the pregnancy.  The couple lost a son who was gay to the AIDs epidemic, a few years earlier, so she feels as if she will be forever disgraced. Ashamed of her situation, the only ones who knows Suri is expecting is the staff at the community clinic where she also volunteers and checks in for her health checks.

I thought the author did a great job exploring the internal dilemma Suri is dealing with. The story was both serious and funny. I loved the sweet, loving relationship Suri and Yidel had, yet she still felt unable to confide in him. The story is rich in detail and Chasidic tradition. The language, early on , felt very foreign to me but, it didn't take long for me to just read and enjoy. The ending felt somewhat like a convenient wrap up, but, I liked it. Even though this was a work of fiction, I feel like I learned a lot about Chasidic culture and taboos. 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - On Division; Goldie Goldbloom

Each Tuesday, Vicki, from I’d Rather Be At The Beach hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers post the opening paragraph(s) of a book that they are reading or plan to read. 

On Division; Goldie Goldbloom

Farrar, Straus and Giroux-2019

The midwife said to the Chassidic woman, "your due date will be the thirteenth of July. Isn't that exciting?"  

Surie hesitated, "No", she said. "I was looking forward to having a little time to myself at last."

"Don't you already have grandchildren? You must be busy anyway.  What's one more child to a family like yours?"

Surie answered gently that a single child is a whole world

I forget where I learned about this book, but, it's getting good reviews. I'm hoping I can focus and read it soon.

Read more or pass?

Severance, Ling Ma

TITLE: Severance

AUTHOR: Ling Ma

PUBLISHER: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

PUB. YEAR: 2018

SETTING:  NYC
FORMAT:  - eGalley

RATING: 4/5 stars

Candace Chen is a millennial daughter of Chinese immigrant parents who are recently deceased.  She spends her days in a NY office tower doing routine work at a publishing company that is producing the Gemstone Bibles which are manufactured in China to cut costs. She doesn't mind going to work, it fills her days since her parents have died and she looks forward to spending evenings with her boyfriend watching movies.

When Shen Fever, a plague of biblical proportions, hits NY from China, at first Candace barely notices. She soon becomes one of the last few employees as victims soon become zombie-like creatures as a result of their mundane jobs.  While survivors like Candace know they won't be able to make it on their own forever, she and others must decide whether "The Facility", a place to escape to and begin anew is the right thing for them.

First off, this book is not the kind of book I would normally be drawn to, but, I liked the premise and wanted to try it. The writing is excellent. The author does an amazing job of weaving the story of Candace's parents immigrant experience, their life and beliefs with what she is experiencing in the present.  The writing is so funny at times as well, from office satire to apocalyptic tale, it's a quirky look at alternatives to rote office jobs.  I thought the first person narrative worked well and fell in love with Candace and the social and political aspects of this story.  If you are up for something a bit different, be sure to try this one.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Ninth Hour; Alice McDermott

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph, maybe two, of a book that I'm reading or plan to read soon.  

 The Ninth Hour; Alice McDermott

Farrah, Straus & Giroux - 2017

These Short Dark Days

"FEBRUARY 3 WAS A DARK AND DARK DAY altogether: cold spitting rain in the morning and a low, steel-gray sky the rest of the afternoon.

At four, Jim convinced his wife to go out to do her shopping before full darkness fell.  He closed the door on her with a gentle wave.  His hair was thinning snd he was missing a canine on the right side, but he was nevertheless a handsome man who, at thirty-two, might still have passed for twenty.  Heavy brows and deep-set, dark-lashed eyes that had been making women catch their breath since he was sixteen.  Even if he had grown bald and toothless, as he seemed fated to do, the eyes would have served him long into old age."

Does this intro make you curious for more?

Please feel free to join in each Tuesday with your own "First Chapter, First Paragraph Intro" by linking your post from the book you are reading below. 

Books Read - Week in Review - 4/29/2017

Everything I Never Told You; Celeste Ng

Penguin - 2014

(April Book Group Read) - This was a reread for me (audio both times) and, my opinion remains unchanged - I loved this book as did everyone in my book group even though it's a sad story.  Here is my review from a few years ago----

"Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet." is how this story begins. As the Lee family sits together for breakfast mother, Marilyn, father, James, oldest child and brother Nathan, and youngest child, Hannah, Lydia is absent, but they expect Lydia to be down any minute. When she doesn't join them, they discover her bed has not been slept in and Lydia isn't around. It isn't until two days later that her body is discovered in a nearby lake. So what happened to sixteen year-old Lydia and why? The year is 1977 and the Lee's live in a college town in Ohio. The father, James is a Chinese American and teaches History at the college in town, and his wife, Marilyn is a white stay at home mom. Lydia and her siblings are the only children in their school of Chinese descent, and have been the subject of taunts and slanted-eye gestures from some unkind classmates over the years. Both parents have different wants for their daughter Lydia, andthey pressure her in different ways to become what they what their daughter to be. Brother Nathan will be heading off to Harvard in the fall, and he believes a neighbor may have been involved in Lydia's disappearance and drowning. The story is told in the third person, and from that we learn a great deal about the family background, a short separation of the parents, and the way the children handled that. And, although this story is certainly part mystery (what happened to Lydia -- murder, suicide or accidental drowning), it is much more a story about the Lee family dynamics and how that impacted not just Lydia, but the other two children as well. What happens when parents try to see their unrealized dreams materialize through their offspring? The audio version was read by Cassandra Campbell and so well done. This is an impressive debut novel that will appeal to readers who enjoy well written stories about family dysfunction, while mystery fans might be a little disappointed. 4.5/5 stars

The Dark Flood Rises; Margaret Drabble

Farrah, Straus & Giroux - 2017

(My Thoughts) - Fran Stubbs, 70 - something is still an active working woman,  her job involves housing for the elderly, traveling to various locales and conferences keeping abreast of housing options for British seniors.   Fran does, however, read the obits and can't help thinking about her own death and that of others she has known as she drives long distances for her job. Her best friend from childhood is terminally ill and her son's girlfriend died way too young. Drabble makes the topic of death and dying touching, entertaining and thought provoking at times as she talks about the way old age has a way of "thinning our emotions.".  I loved the writing and the story, and, even though it meandered along at times, it was never boring or depressing.  There was much about Drabble's writing that spoke to me and, I found myself highlighting various passages as I read. Highly recommended for readers of a certain age -- Drabble is a master at writing about aging and death. (4.5/5 stars)

The Hideaway; Lauren Denton

Thomas Nelson - 2017

(My Thoughts) - The Hideaway, a debut novel, was a nice light read with two story lines -- one storyline features Sara Jenkins who runs a popular antiques shop in New Orleans. The other story like is that of her grandmother, Margaret (Mags) Van Buren who ran a B& B in Sweet Bay, Alabama where Sara grew up.  When Sara receives word that her grandmother has died she heads to The Hideaway and learns that she has been willed, B&B provided she refurbish it, as it had fallen into a state of disrepair.  Sara agrees and is surprised by the emotions that are stirred from her childhood and even more surprised by what she learns about her grandmother while sorting through items she left behind.  Although the story has been done before, it was still an enjoyable, easy read.  I liked the quirky cast of characters and how the Mags story was slowly revealed.   A nice choice for your summer reading list. (4/5 stars)

(8) Books read in April - (40) Books YTD

1. How To Be Human; Paula Cocozaza - 3.5/5 - April/2017
2. The Inner Life of Cats; Thomas Macnamee - 4.5/5 - April/2017
3. Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty; Ramona Ausubel - April/2017
4. Born A Crime; Trevor Noah (NF) - (audio) 5/5 - April/2017
5. White Fur; Jardine Libaire - (ARC) - 5/5 - April/2017
6. Strays: A Lost Cat, a Homeless Man, and Their Journey Across America; Britt Collins - 4.5/5 - April/2017
7. Everything I Never Told You; Celeste Ng - (audio) (book group) - 4.5/5 - April/2017
8. Dark Flood Rises; Margaret Drabble - library - 4.5/5 - April/2017
9. The Hideaway; Lauren Denton - (arc) - 4/5 April/2017

Favorite Read in April

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine; Gail Honeyman (Penguin Audio)
• Woman No. 17; Edan Lepucki (Hogarth - Amazon Vine)
• Jane Austen the Secret Radical; Helena Kelly (Knopf)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Dark Flood Rises; Margaret Drabble

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph, maybe two, of a book that I'm reading or plan to read soon.

The Dark Flood Rising; Margaret Drabble

Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 2017

"She often suspected that her last words to herself and in this world will prove to be you bloody old fool or, perhaps, depending on the mood of the day or the time of the night, you fucking idiot.  As the speeding car hits the tree, or the unserviced boiler explodes, or the smoke and flames fill the hallway, or the grip on the high guttering gives way, those will be her last words.  She isn't to know for sure that it will be so, but she suspects it.  In her latter years, she's become deeply interested in the phrase call no man happy until he is dead. Or no woman, come to that. Call no woman happy until she is dead. Fair enough, and the ancient world had known women as well as men who had met unfortunate ends: Clytemnestra, Dido, Hecuba, Antigone. Though of course Antigone, one must remember, had rejoiced to die young, and in a good (if to us pointless) cause, thereby avoiding all the inconveniences of old age."

Would you read more or pass on this one?

Feel free to join in by linking your INTRO Post below.

Someone; Alice McDermott

Someone; Alice McDermott

Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 2013

Our October book group read was Someone by Alice McDermott.  We had a full house for this discussion and, for the most part everyone enjoyed this novel on some level. (I really liked it a lot - a 4.5/5 stars for me. This book had me requesting one more of McDermott's books: After This, which I hope to get to this month).

Amazon Description

An ordinary life-its sharp pains and unexpected joys, its bursts of clarity and moments of confusion-lived by an ordinary, but unforgettable woman: this is the subject of Someone, Alice McDermott's extraordinary seventh novel.

We first glimpse Marie Commeford as a child: a girl in thick glasses observing her pre-Depression world from a Brooklyn stoop. Through her first heartbreak and eventual marriage; her delicate brother's brief stint as a Catholic priest and his emotional breakdown; her career as a funeral director's "consoling angel"; the deaths of her parents and the births of her children-we follow Marie through the changing world of the twentieth century and her Irish-American enclave. Rendered with remarkable empathy and insight, Someone is a novel that speaks of life as it is daily lived, with passion and heartbreak, a crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today.

Book Group Comments

• A quiet enjoyable novel, character driven, but not much action
• A couple of readers thought it was reminiscent of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
• The writing was great and so descriptive; read it in 2 sittings
• Strong brother sister bond was special
• I loved Marie the main character; she was real yet ordinary but just so likable. The story begins when Marie was 7 and follows her through the end of her life in an assisted living facility
• Marie's first boyfriend, Walter was a cad. He was no prize physically yet he broke up with her and said he was going to marry someone "prettier and whose family had more money".
• A story of life, love and heartbreak

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Someone; Alice McDermott

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros sharing the first paragraph or two, from a book I'm reading or will be reading soon.  "Someone" was my book group pick for October, I read it over the weekend and enjoyed it a lot (review coming after our group discussion).

Someone; Alice McDermott

Farrah Straus and Giroux - 2013

ONE

"Pegeen Chehab walked up from the subway in the evening light.  Her good spring coat was powder blue; her shoes were black and covered the insteps of her long feet. Her hat was beige with something dark along the crown, a brown feather or two. There was a certain asymmetry to her shoulders. She had a loping, hunchbacked walk.  She had, always, a bit of black hair along her cheek, straggling to her shoulder, her bun coming undone.  She carried her purse in the lightest clasp of her fingers, down along the side of her leg, which made her seem listless and weary even as she covered the distance quickly enough, the gray sidewalk from subway to parlor floor and basement of the house next door."

Based on this intro, would you read more or pass on this book?

Feel free to join in by posting your own First Chapter First Paragraph Intro and linking below.

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros ~ Purity; Jonathan Franzen

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where I share the first paragraph sometimes two from a book I am reading or thinking about reading soon. (Planning to start this one this week)

Purity; Jonathan Franzen

Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 2015

"Oh pussycat, I'm so glad to hear your voice," the girl's mother said on the telephone. "My body is betraying me again. Sometimes I think my life is nothing but one long process of bodily betrayal."

"Isn't that everybody's life?" the girl, Pip, said.  She'd taken to calling her mother midway through her lunch break at Renewable Solutions.  It brought her some relief from the feeling that she wasn't suited for her job, that she had a job that nobody could be suited for, or that she was a person unsuited for any kind of job; and then, after twenty minutes she could honestly say that she needed to get back to work."

What do you think -- keep reading or pass? 

(Feel free to join in this week by posting your intro below?

Valley Fever; Katherine Taylor

Valley Fever; Katherine Taylor

Farrar, Straus & Giroux - 2015

INTRO---"I don't return to places I've lived.  I avoid my high school dorm by not going back to all of Massachusetts.  In London, I'll avoid Holland Park so as not to be reminded of the basement flat on Addison Road.  The furnished two-bedroom on Via Annia in Rome, the bright studio in the white brick building on West Eighty-fourth Street with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the two bedroom in Prenzlauer Berg I shared with a publishing-heiress insomniac who would speak only Russian: some of those places were good for a while. Still, whole neighborhoods, whole cities can be ruined by the reasons you left."

It's probably not a good sign when you move across the country from NY to CA to be with your significant other and less than a year later he tells you, "I think I only love you when I'm drunk."  Such is the situation for Ingrid Palameade who hasn't had the best of luck with relationships. 

With her sister Annie coming to her rescue at the airport after this latest breakup, she takes Ingrid back to her home to think about her life over the last (10) years since she finished college. Why has she moved from place to place and relationship to relationship?  With some hesitation Ingrid decides to return home to her family and their 20,000 acre vineyard around Fresno.  Her father's health is failing, her mother is stuck in a rut and her uncle drinks a bit too much (wine goes well with every me

al).  With her father's illness,  Ingrid soon begins running the family business, and even connecting with friends from her past.

I had a tough time with this novel. The writing is mostly dialogue driven with almost no character development. It could have been so much better if there was more of a plot progression and subsequent resolution.  One of the best features of the story was the way the story appealed to senses when the author describes the perfect conditions for wine making, facts about growing and harvesting almonds and CA agriculture in general. I thought the cover was pretty cool as well, but overall, this novel didn't work well for me.

2.5/5 stars

(eGalley)

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - Valley Fever; Katherine Taylor

Every Tuesday I host First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where I share the first paragraph (sometimes 2) of a book I am reading or thinking of reading soon. 

Valley Fever; Katherine Taylor

Farrar, Straus and Giroux - 2015

1. 

"I don't return to places I've lived.  I avoid my high school dorm by not going back to all of Massachusetts.  In London, I'll avoid Holland Park so as not to be reminded of the basement flat on Addison Road.  The furnished two-bedroom on Via Annia in Rome, the bright studio in the white brick building on West Eighty-fourth Street with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, the two bedroom in Prenzlauer Berg I shared with a publishing-heiress insomniac who would speak only Russian: some of those places were good for a while. Still, whole neighborhoods, whole cities can be ruined by the reasons you left."

What do you think -- keep reading or pass?
(feel free to join in by posting your link below)