Stone Yard Devotional

Charlotte Wood

Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood is a quiet novel in which very little happens. Set in Australia, it unfolds in the first-person voice of a middle-aged woman who leaves her marriage and career as a species conservationist to live in a convent where she prepares food, cleans, and occasionally attends mass. She is not religious and has not experienced a religious conversion. Her decision to live in the convent is simple enough: she wants to escape life and lead a quiet existence punctuated by regular routines.

The novel proceeds at a slow, leisurely pace. The narrator’s quiet, meditative life is interrupted by three events: a horrendous plague of mice; the return to the convent of the skeletal remains of a murdered nun; and the reappearance of a childhood figure from her school days for whom the narrator harbors guilt for her participation in taunting and bullying the girl.

The narrator’s interiority includes flashbacks from her life; her assessment of her relationship with her mother; her mother’s death; her thoughts on guilt, forgiveness, redemption, and death. Her interiority is frequently interrupted by graphic details of the mice infestation. Mice show up everywhere: inside shoes, beds, pantry, hallways, and rooms. They can be heard scuttling under floorboards and in walls. They leave traces of their ubiquitous presence everywhere. Traps are set and mice carcasses are tossed into a ditch for burial. This plague of rodents is described in vivid, gruesome details.

The return of the nun’s skeletal remains and the delay in obtaining permission for her burial sets the narrator on a course of contemplating death and the meaning of sacrifice. The visit from her former school mate triggers feelings of guilt as well as an interrogation of political activism, grief, penance, atonement, and redemption.

The novel is restrained and meditative. The narrator has escaped from the world in a state of despondency. Withdrawn from the outside world, she explores her interiority, interaction with others, and with the factors which keep intruding in her seclusion. Although very little happens in terms of plot, and although it doesn’t offer any answers to some of life’s enduring questions, the novel leaves a strong, lingering impact after the final pages have been read.

Land

Maggie O’Farrell

Land by Maggie O’Farrell blends historical fiction, Irish folklore, and magical realism in an epic family saga which includes the family’s encounter with a mysterious copse imbued with other worldliness. The novel is ambitious and complex with several narrative threads. Set in the post-famine Ireland of 1865, it focuses on Tomas and his family.

Tomas works for the British as a map-maker, mapping the physical terrain and learning the place names from the locals. He is determined to ensure the map reflects the devastating impact of the great famine by recording abandoned homes and graveyards. The novel opens with Tomas and his ten-year-old son, Liam, stumbling into a wooded copse surrounding an ancient spring in rural Ireland. Tomas emerges from this encounter babbling incoherently and announcing his determination to stop working for the British and to map the land as it really is. His family convince him to return to work because they need his income to survive.

The novel’s progression is non-linear. It shifts back in time to Tomas as a young boy in the workhouse, his meeting with a young girl who later becomes his wife, their children, and their relocation to land near the mysterious copse. The novel then shifts further back in time to Ireland’s original inhabitants which tells of a young girl being sacrificed to appease the gods. She is buried in the copse with her dog. She wears her father’s ring, which is discovered years later by Tomas’ youngest son, Eugene. Eugene never speaks but seems to be endowed with a mystical understanding that transcends the material world.

Tomas’ children forge different destinies over the decades. Liam abandons the priesthood and returns from India to continue his father’s work as a map-maker. The eldest daughter runs away to Quebec to be joined years later by her sister. And Eugene lives a solitary life in the copse.

The narrative unfolds as a series of episodes shifting from one character to the next. The pacing is uneven. The diction is detailed, dense, and immersive. The perspective shifts from people, to animals, and to the land, itself. O’Farrell imbues the land with a life-like presence, describing it in luminous detail and capturing its enduring power of survival. The characters are drawn as distinct individuals. But we get to know them primarily through their interiority as there is minimal dialogue. This has the effect of distancing the characters.

O’Farrell’s disparate threads explore the themes of the exploitation of Ireland and its people by British colonialism; the suffering of the Irish; the conflict between Catholicism and indigenous beliefs; the subordination of women; the people’s connection to the land; and the land as a physical custodian of historical events. There is so much going on in this complex novel that the focus becomes muddled and confusing. The writing is lyrical at times, but at others, it is too dense and slows down the narrative.

An ambitious undertaking and, perhaps, not as successful as O’Farrell’s other novels.

Mother Mary Comes to Me

Arundhati Roy

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy is her memoir exploring her early love/hate relationship with her mother, her education in architecture, her writing, the success of her debut novel, and the political activism of her later years.

Roy’s mother was a pioneering feminist who advocated for women’s rights, supported women, provided them with protection and gainful employment, fought the establishment, started her own school, and was adored by the many people whose lives she touched. Unfortunately, she lacked the skills or the interest to be a good parent. She abused her two children, and subjected Arundhati to horrendous cruelty and verbal abuse.

Her mother’s cruelty toward her scarred Arundhati and had a lasting impact on her life. She leaves home at eighteen to forge her own path. Much of the memoir consists of a two-pronged approach: showering praise on her mother for her staunch advocacy of women and for her bravery in challenging legal restrictions on women; simultaneously struggling to understand why her mother withheld the same love and support from her own children.

Arundhati’s progressive political views thread the memoir. She is unafraid to take risks while speaking truth to power. She has been threatened and has even served a short time in jail for her political views. But she continues to speak loudly and clearly through writing that confronts the injustice, discrimination, othering, and violence perpetrated by the Indian government as it launches into fascism and Hindu supremacy. Her explication of the violence in Kashmir is especially disturbing.

The memoir charts the influences on Roy’s life and on her writing. It forms a rich tapestry of memory, her emergence as a writer, her political activism, and her complex relationship with her mother. She portrays the characters who drift in and out of her life with realistic detail. Many of them serve as inspiration for the characters in her novels. The narrative meanders at times, and the timeline is scrambled. But it is emotionally strong, rich in detail, and provides intriguing insight into the makings of an award-winning novelist.

Nonesuch

Francis Spufford

Nonesuch by Francis Spufford, set in London during the Blitz, blends magical realism with historical fiction.

The central figure is Iris Hawkins, a financial secretary with ambitions to transcend her class and a range of socially-constructed gender barriers. Iris gets sucked into a macabre plot to assassinate Winston Churchill with the goal of altering the course of history. The bizarre plot involves time travel, crossing boundaries in which time and space are warped, deciphering cryptic manuscripts, and releasing supernatural beings trapped in London’s statues. The plot, hatched by a fascist group harboring sympathies with Hitler, is led by Lady Cunningham (Lall). With the help and support of her love interest, Geoffrey, Iris finds herself in the unlikely position of being the only individual able to thwart the plot.

Against the background of London during the Blitz, Iris climbs rooftops, leaps on to statues, dodges entities/angels trying to capture her, and gingerly walks in a topsy turvy terrain where one misstep can lead to death.

The writing is densely packed, especially when Iris enters the fantasy realm. The magical/fantastical elements are hard to follow and feel overworked, making it confusing to keep track of what is happening. The characters are not particularly engaging or compelling. But where the novel shines is in its depiction of London during the Blitz. Spufford reconstructs London with the sounds, sights, and smells of relentless bombing, destruction, food shortages, and an exhausted population in immersive detail. The cliffhanger ending with its “To be continued” is disappointing.

Bad Bad Girl

Gish Jen

Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen began as a memoir, but, as Jen explains, because her mother withheld information about her life and kept little records of herself, Jen was obliged to fill the blanks in her mother’s life by using her imagination. The end result is a blend of memoir and fiction—in Jen’s words, “a forged truth.”

Jen writes about her mother’s early life in China, her move to the U.S., her education, her marriage, and her role as a mother of five children. The narrative is peppered with dialogue and commentary she imagines having with her now deceased mother. Her mother’s constant refrain of “Bad Bad Girl” is in reference to Jen and gives the book its title.

The heart of the novel is the mother/daughter relationship. Jen had a contentious relationship with her mother who not only withheld love and support from her eldest daughter, but also physically, emotionally, and verbally abused her, venting all her anger and frustration at her. Jen’s success and the many accolades she receives as an author are either ignored by her mother or dismissed in a perfunctory manner. At times Jen is angry, loving, forgiving, compassionate, and understanding of the challenges her mother faced as a new immigrant in a country which was so different from the country she left behind.

Although Jen has made a success of her life as a wife, a mother, and an author, she continues to be haunted by her history of trauma as she struggles to come to terms with her mother’s abusive behavior. She witnesses her mother’s favorable treatment toward her other children and wonders why she is denied even a modicum of affection and support. She oscillates between understanding her mother and seeking her acceptance and love while bitterly resenting her for the beatings and verbal abuse.

Jen acknowledges the possibility that writing her book is an attempt to make sense of her mother’s treatment. She attributes much of their dysfunctional relationship to the gulf between Chinese immigrants and their Americanized children. Unfortunately, she was the child to shoulder much of that tension. But through this blend of memoir and fiction, Jen manages to distance herself somewhat from her childhood trauma, contextualize her mother’s behavior, and elicit understanding and empathy for all the characters involved, including her mother.

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder

Nina McConigley

How to Commit a Post-Colonial Murder by Nina McConigley is a coming-of-age story of an Indian American girl in the mid 1980s. It unfolds in a series of brief vignettes told in the first-person-voice of Georgie Ayyar who lives in Wyoming with her American father, Indian mother, and older sister, Agatha Krishna. As a young brown girl growing up in America, Georgie has to contend with racism, childhood sexual assault, mockery, and marginalization. 

Newly arrived from India, her uncle Vinny, with his wife and son, move in to Georgie’s home for what is supposed to be a temporary stay. Georgie and Agatha are forced to share a bedroom. With their father’s extended absences working in oil fields, and their mother’s strong attachment to her brother, Vinny, the two girls remain silent when their uncle begins sexually assaulting them. Because the sisters want the abuse to stop and feel they cannot rely on adults to help them, they decide to take matters into their own hands and murder their uncle. When their uncle Vinny dies and is cremated, the girls assume their plan was a success.

Georgie’s voice throughout is irreverent, funny, and honest. She addresses the reader directly, weaving historical facts into her narrative, including the Challenger explosion, the Cold War, and President Reagan. She maintains a conversational tone throughout, peppering her narrative with quizzes readily available in teen magazines for girls. She builds suspense by announcing plans to murder Vinny Uncle before explaining why. Although she doesn’t dwell on describing the sexual assault, she depicts its long-term traumatic impact: it splits her in two with one part of her dissociating from the part experiencing the abuse; it severs her close bond with Agatha after the death of their uncle. Instead of this shared secret bringing the sisters closer together, it drives a wedge between them with Agatha increasingly distancing herself from Georgie. The surprise twist at the conclusion suggests the sisters have re-established their close bond.

Georgie’s interiority and the sisters many conversations about the deleterious impact of colonialism on the colonized suggests they see parallels with the sexual abuse they experienced from Vinny Uncle who “colonized” their bodies. They fight violence with violence. That they have survived the trauma and are shown as resilient adults at the conclusion of the novel suggests that although the scars of colonialism can never be erased, it is possible, nevertheless, to move beyond them.

Unfolding in a witty, confessional narrative voice, the novel takes an innovative approach to exploring the bond between sisters, racism, otherness, child sexual assault, and trauma.

Home

Marilynne Robinson

Home by Marilynne Robinson is #2 in the Gilead series. It is a stand-alone although it contains the same characters as those in Gilead. The novel is told from the perspective of Glory, the thirty-eight-year-old woman who has returned to Gilead to take care of her dying father. She is joined by her prodigal brother, Jack, whom the family has not heard of for twenty years.

The narrative consists of Glory’s flashbacks of her childhood; her conversations with Jack; her tender care-giving of her father; her attempts to nurture healing and reconciliation between friends and family; and extensive discussions about faith and the role it plays in our lives.

A very moving portrayal of unconditional love, familial relations, regrets, and forgiveness. Just as is the case with Gilead, this novel should be read slowly and savored.

This is Where the Serpent Lives

Daniyal Mueenuddin

This is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin is structured as four interlocking novellas with common characters threaded throughout. The setting is Pakistan.

The novel opens with a young child abandoned by his family at the bazaar in Rawalpindi in the 1950s. The child, Yazid, is taken in by a tea stall owner where he lives and works for several years. Enterprising and intelligent, Yazid gains in popularity with customers who teach him to read and write. School boys from the privileged classes seeks his friendship. When the sister of his friend Zain is compromised, Yazid takes matters into his own hands. As a consequence, he has no option but to leave town, finding employment with an army colonel turned politician in Lahore.

The second novella tells the story of the colonel’s nephew Rustom as he attempts to revive the fortunes of the declining estate he inherited from his playboy father. He has to rely on local gangsters to enforce boundary disputes on his estate. He seeks advice from his cousin Hisham.

The third novella focuses on Hisham, his glamourous wife, and Yazid, who has become their trusted chauffer. This section includes the backstory of Hisham and his brother while studying in America, and the meeting with Shahnaz who initially dated Hisham’s brother but then set her sights on and married Hisham.

The final novella recounts the story of Saqib. Taken into Hisham and Shahnaz’s household as a young boy, Saqib is mentored by Yazid and gradually earns the trust of his employers. They assign him to grow cucumbers on a portion of their land. His use of modern technology is successful. His success makes him greedy, leading him to steal from his wealthy employers and to betray Yazid, who has been like a surrogate father to him. The novel ends with calamity for Saqib and his young family.

Spanning decades, the novel offers a panoramic view of Pakistan, exploring class, power, and corruption within all segments of society. Mueenuddin portrays bribery, theft, extortion, violence, and moral turpitude as norms. The setting is immersive, with its sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of Pakistani food, market places, villages, squalid huts, and luxurious homes. The characters are vividly drawn. However, the four novellas, although linked together by some of the characters, may have been better suited if considered as short stories. Put together, the novel seems to lack cohesion and presents a disjointed narrative structure.

Gilgamesh: A New Verse Translation

Simon Armitage

Gilgamesh: A New Verse Translation by Simon Armitage is not a translation, per se, but a reimagining of the epic in beautiful, rhythmic verse that breathes life into this very ancient poem.

Prof. Armitage’s intention, articulated in his introduction, is to “balance linguistic and historical frameworks against literary expectations of the present day.” In other words, he wants to translate the epic as a poet, not as an Assyriologist. He aims to render the scholarly word for word translations into a language that is vibrant, accessible, and readable.

Included in the introduction is a brief history of the poem’s evolution; the different translation and how each translator handled the issue of gaps in the existing tablets; an exploration of some of the major themes of the poem; and an acknowledgement of its continued relevance. Prof. Armitage eschews blank sections or rows of dots to indicate gaps in the material. Instead, he bridges the gaps in the tablets by using prose as fillers. That technique, coupled with a brief outline at the beginning of each chapter, allows for easy comprehension and smoother readability. Included at the end is a helpful glossary of the characters in Mesopotamian mythology, detailed notes, and a bibliography.

Prof. Armitage opens the section “A Note on the Translation” with an image of a clay jigsaw, thousands of years old, scattered over several thousand miles. His image reinforces the challenge facing any who wish to embark on translating Gilgamesh. Fortunately, scholars remain undeterred since there are several scholarly translations of the epic by Assyriologists, the most memorable being Sophus Helle’s Gilgamesh: A New Translation of the Ancient Epic.

The number of translations begs the question do we really need another translation? The answer is a resounding, yes! This remarkable epic continues to sing to us after four thousand years. Each translation or rendition adds a new layer of meaning, a new interpretation, a new way of seeing. And in the capable hands of Simon Armitage, we have the opportunity to read this ancient epic through yet another new set of lenses, this time in a powerful and mesmerizing verse rendition that captures the haunting beauty and poignancy of the original.

Highly recommended.

The Fox Wife

Yangsze Choo

The Fox Wife by Yangsze Choo is a historical fantasy novel unfolding in two parallel threads. Set on 1900s Manchuria, the first thread is the story of Snow, a mother seeking vengeance against the murderer of her child. The second thread is of Bao, a private detective initially hired to discover the identity of a dead woman found at the doorstep of a business. The threads unfold separately in alternating chapters. Although the same characters are mentioned and/or appear separately in both threads, the two threads don’t merge until close to the end of the novel.

The novel blends Chinese mythology; folk tales; mysterious, shape-shifting fox spirits that can assume human form; and disappearing shadows. Although it had a lot of potential, it failed to meet expectations. The slow start and dragging momentum made it a challenge to sustain interest. The characters seem directionless and lackluster as they drift from one episode to another. The plot meanders. The dialogue frequently smacks of hackneyed phrases and cliches. The writing is somewhat simplistic; the conclusion, predictable. And although we are told Snow is a shape-shifting fox, she is never shown as a fox.

On the whole, a disappointing read.

The Stone Diaries

Carol Shields

Winner of the 1995 Pulitzer Prize, The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields is a character-driven, semi-autobiographical novel depicting the life of Daisy Goodwill. Daisy was born in Manitoba in 1905 and died in Florida in the 1990s. Although the primary focus of the narrative is Daisy, Shields skillfully intertwines Daisy’s story with the stories and interiority of her friends and family. The segue from one character’s story to another is artfully executed.

The narrative alternates between first-person and third-person. It opens with Daisy describing the day of her birth and her mother’s death while giving birth to her. Raised by a neighbor and her son until the age of eleven, Daisy moves back with her father when the neighbor (Aunt Clarentine) dies. Her first marriage to Harold Hoad ends abruptly when Harold falls out of a hotel window in Paris during their honeymoon. Daisy returns home a widow. Several years later, she marries Aunt Clarentine’s son, Barker, with whom she has three children. After Barker’s death, she moves to Florida where she dies.

The shifting points of view portray Daisy as others see her—her friends, family, children, grandchildren, and niece. Occasionally, Daisy speaks for herself. But more often than not, others speak for her or about her or about each other. After her husband’s death, Daisy writes a column as Mrs. Green Thumb for a local paper where we also see her through a series of letters from her editor. She suffers from a severe depression when her employment is terminated. This is followed by a sequence of conflicting views from friends and family as to the cause of her depression. Conflicting views resurface after Daisy’s death in the form of a series of lists itemizing the bland facts of her life.

The novel’s strength lies in many areas. Through its elegant prose and prolific use of detail, Shields immerses the reader in minute details of time, place, and character. Her dazzling display with words captures the essence of a thing or person with layer upon layer of intricate detail, primarily focusing on domesticity. The complex structure, alternating as it does with different voices in the form of letters, diaries, lists, and newspaper entries, allows Shields to leap in time by inserting a brief comment to bridge the intervening years.

What emerges from this complex and arresting novel is a composite, multifaceted portrait of Daisy but one that fails to pin her down definitively. And that may be the point. How others see Daisy—or us—may not be entirely accurate. Just like the novels’ characters, we project on to others our own biases and perspectives and see in them what we are predisposed to see. How we really are may remain a mystery—even to ourselves.

This complex novel is elegantly written, skillfully executed, and highly recommended.

Life in the Garden

Penelope Lively

Life in the Garden by Penelope Lively is an atypical book on gardening. Lively eschews delving into the how-to of gardening. Instead, her exposé of the garden is part memoir, part history, part social commentary, and part personal musings on life. Lively explores gardening in its many aspects. Included is a personal journey into her engagement with gardens, beginning with her childhood in Cairo followed by the various locations where she lived in England.

Lively interprets artistic renditions of gardens and discusses the role they play in literature and how they serve the narrative either by creating atmosphere or providing insight into a character. She cites examples in literature to demonstrate her point and plunges into the gardening exploits of literary and artistic figures. She is able to recognize writers who know first-hand about gardens and those who don’t. She critiques gardening manuals and garden designers, re-counting how gardening and garden fashions have evolved over time. Her exploration of gardens as indicators of social standing was eye-opening. Peppered throughout are descriptions of memorable gardens laced with splashes of colorful flowers. Lively elaborates on the physical and psychological benefits of gardening and the impact gardening has on our concept of time. Asserting the importance of green space in our lives, she argues gardens provide a much-needed refuge from the hustle and bustle of daily existence.

Lively sprinkles English and Latin names of flowers and shrubs, describing their appearances and vibrant colors. As an experienced and passionate gardener, she demonstrates an almost encyclopedic knowledge of gardening, inserting her knowledge with smatterings do’s and don’ts. She freely shares her garden likes and dislikes, her successes and failures. She seamlessly zips in and out of describing actual gardens and fictional gardens in a voice that is engaging, witty, entertaining, and conversational.

A glorious celebration of the garden and the therapeutic role it plays in body and soul. Lively’s exuberance for gardening sings on every page.

The Correspondent

Virginia Evans

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans unfolds in a series of letters to and from Sybil Van Antwerp, a retired septuagenarian who served as a judge’s chief clerk for thirty years.

Sybil dedicates certain days and times during the week to write letters. She prefers writing letters to sending emails. She corresponds with friends, family, neighbors, authors, newspaper editors, a university dean, and individuals from her past. In short, she sends letters to anyone and everyone.

The letters gradually reveal Sybil’s background and personality. She emerges as a no-nonsense, quirky, stubborn, caring individual who speaks her mind, and who is haunted by mistakes and regrets she made in the past. The novel includes some of the replies she receives. All the letters reflect the unique voices of the letter-writers, each of whom appears as a well-rounded individual and who, in one way or another, also face some of life’s challenges.

Virginia Evans handles the epistolary format with consummate skill. She adds layer upon layer of information, gradually revealing details until the full picture materializes. The letters are poignant, tender, and emotionally moving. Taken as a whole, they articulate the search for identity, the pain of losing a loved one, the importance of personal connections, the challenges of aging, the necessity of self-reflection, and the healing power of making amends with those whom one has wronged.

An engaging, gem of a book. In Sybil Van Antwerp, Virginia Evans has given this reader a character who will not soon be forgotten.

The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science, and the Crisis of Belief

Richard Holmes

The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of Belief by Richard Holmes charts Tennyson’s early years until he became poet laureate. The biography captures Tennyson’s loneliness and feelings of isolation during his early years and the crisis of faith he experienced in his later years. Tennyson is described as a tall, handsome, imposing figure, unkempt, with a scruffy beard, enveloped in smelly tobacco smoke, and sporting his signature black Spanish coat and sombrero.

Holmes portrays the early Tennyson as a conflicted individual struggling to reconcile his faith with new scientific discoveries. His early adult years coincided with rigorous debates about the emerging theories of evolution and the discoveries in geology and astronomy. Tennyson read heavily the works of geologists and astronomers and was an avid astronomer, incorporating cosmic imagery in many of his poems. He questioned humanity’s role and importance in a universe that pre-dated the existence of human beings by millions of years. Holmes explores how Tennyson’s crisis of faith is reflected in his poetry. He explicates Tennyson’s poems, showing how the theories of evolution and scientific discoveries of the day influenced his thinking and his writing. His marriage and the birth of his two sons brought stability to his life.

The biography is well-researched and engaging. Holmes covers a wealth of information about Tennyson’s early years. He describes his friendships with leading political figures, authors, artists, and scientists of the day. He analyzes the diction, rhyme, and meter of some of Tennyson’s poems. He cites excerpts from what others have written about him, as well as the critical reception his poetry received.  Extensive notes, bibliography, index, and color plates are included.

Holmes masterful biography vividly breathes life into one of the giants of English literature. The young Tennyson emerges as a flesh and blood figure, reserved, solitary, prone to fits of melancholy, plagued with existential anxieties, and thoroughly brilliant. He had the capacity to channel these qualities into some of the most beautiful poetry in English literature.

August Blue

Deborah Levy

August Blue by Deborah Levy explores the interiority of Elsa M. Anderson, the central figure in Levy’s novel.

The novel opens with Elsa, a world-famous pianist, escaping to Greece after she had abruptly walked off the stage in Vienna in the middle of a performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. No one knows why Elsa abandoned the concert, least of all Elsa. She drifts around in Greece and then hops off to other European cities. She gives private piano lessons, interacts with friends, and goes to Sardinia to be at the side of her former piano coach/surrogate father who is terminally ill.

The plot is skeletal, consisting mainly of scenes frozen in time. Flashbacks of Elsa’s past pepper the narrative. She is abandoned by her mother for reasons unknown. At the age of six, she is adopted by Arthur Goldstein, her piano coach, who raises her as if she were his daughter. He changes her name and molds her to his specifications. Elsa continues to be haunted by amorphous, fleeting images of her mother.

What makes this novel fascinating is Levy’s ability to conjure up an almost a dream-like atmosphere as Elsa drifts from one episode to the next, from one European capital to the next. It is as if she sleep-walks through her life. While in Greece, she encounters a woman she is convinced is her double or better half. This doppelganger appears to Elsa intermittently in various European cities. Assuming the role of an alter-ego, the double confronts and challenges Elsa in imaginary conversations.

The novel grapples with questions of identity, gendered power dynamics, abandonment, love, and grief. It also tackles the issue of female agency in a world in which Elsa’s life has been dictated to her by men. She colors her hair blue to assert her freedom of choice and independence. Her refusal to continue with the public piano performance is an act of defiance. She openly rejects the path pre-planned for her by others. The narrative follows her as she struggles to find her own path and articulate her identity and self-expression.

A slow, meandering novel that is both mesmerizing and atmospheric.

Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History

Moudhy Al-Rashid

Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History by Dr. Moudhy Al-Rashid explores the 5,000-year-old ancient artifacts of Mesopotamia. Each chapter examines a specific artefact and formulates what it reveals about life in Ancient Mesopotamia and the people who inhabited the region.

Among the wealth of artefacts examined are a clay drum, a brick, a statue of King Shulgi, school tablets, the cone of Kudur Mabuk, a boundary stone, and a mace head. Dr. Al-Rashid concludes her research with a chapter on Ennigaldi-Nanna, a high priestess and the daughter of King Nabonidus. Ennigaldi-Nanna was possibly the first ever curator of a museum of ancient objects since many of the artefacts located in her “palace” pre-date her by many centuries.

Dr. Al-Rashid is an honorary fellow of Assyriology at the University of Oxford’s Wolfson College, specializing in the languages and history of ancient Mesopotamia. Fortunately, she writes in a style that is accessible and engaging, avoiding academic jargon. By comparing ancient artefacts with modern day equivalents, Dr. Al-Rashid humanizes the past, making the material relatable and drawing connections between those who lived 5,000 years ago and ourselves. She shows how the era laid the foundation for our understanding of astronomy, mathematics, and the spread of diseases.

Dr. Al-Rashid’s expertise and knowledge of the subject matter is clearly evident. Her scholarship is impressive. Her enthusiasm for the material is contagious. She shares some fascinating details about the lives of not only kings, nobles, and priestesses, but also the lives of ordinary people. Her excitement is palpable as when, for example, she translates a lullaby found on a tablet thousands of years old. This triggers memories of her own attempts to lull her crying infant to sleep with a soft lullaby. And, not surprisingly, some 5,000 years ago, women’s complaints about the challenge of juggling child-care with full-time employment resonates with women today. And some will relate to the merchant who suggested his couriers smuggle goods in their underwear to avoid paying taxes. The methods may differ, but the desire to avoid taxes is, apparently, thousands of years old.

A fascinating, thoroughly engaging, and accessible study of a time and place in history that gave birth to civilization. An extensive bibliography and notes are provided for further reading.

Highly recommended.

A Mask the Color of the Sky

Bassem Khandaqji; trans. Addie Leak

A Mask the Color of the Sky by Bassem Khandaqji, translated from the Arabic by Addie Leak, won the 2024 International Prize for Arabic fiction. It is a complex novel in which a Palestinian man from the Ramallah refugee camp interrogates his identity.

Nur al-Shadi, an archaeology student, has aspirations of writing a novel about Mary Magdalen based on her portrayal in the Gnostic Gospels. He discovers an Israeli identity card for Or Shapira in the pocket of a second-hand leather jacket he purchased. Nur’s knowledge of Hebrew, light-colored skin, and fair hair enable him to adopt the identity of Or and pass as an Ashkenazi Jew. His fluid identity alternates between Palestinian or Israeli depending on the circumstances. As Or, he travels to a kibbutz to participate in an archeological dig with the hope of conducting research for his upcoming novel. His situation is exacerbated when he meets two women on the team, an Israeli Zionist and a Palestinian Muslim. The two women clash and Nur/Or finds himself caught in the middle as he interrogates his identity.

The novel’s structure is layered. It alternates between third-person and Nur’s first-person point of view. Peppered throughout are Nur’s thoughts on how to construct his novel and his attempts to grasp the nature of Mary Magdalene’s transformation after her interaction with Jesus. He records his thoughts in letters to his close friend imprisoned in an Israeli jail—letters he knows will never be sent. His internal conflicts are manifested in the form of dialogues between Nur and Or, Self and Other.

The novel also explores the dynamics between inanimate objects and identity. Nur’s fake Israeli identity card and the star of David he wears around his neck give him access to places he would never be allowed to enter as a Palestinian. They endow him with a power denied to other Palestinians and provide him with insight on the lives of those he sees as enemies. The mask he assumes acts as the catalyst for his journey of self-discovery. Although externally he passes as an Israeli, internally, he remains a Palestinian, highlighting the tension between external appearances and internal truths.

Connected to this is Nur’s exploration of the different texts written about Mary Magdalene. He considers how objects—in this case, the written word—can be manipulated to promote a specific agenda. This idea is reinforced when the archaeological team unearths artefacts or encounters remains of Arab villages that are now occupied by Israeli settlers. How is this material interpreted and who gets to interpret it? These issues force Nur to interrogate his fake identity vs. his true identity. At the end of the novel, he liberates himself from the oppressive mask he had maintained. He discards his Israeli identity card and the Star of David necklace and embraces his authentic Palestinian identity.

A complex, challenging narrative that articulates the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of displacement and occupation while exploring the interplay between objects and identity.

No Friend to this House

Natalie Haynes

No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes unfolds as a series of alternating vignettes in multiple first-person and third-person voices. Most of the speakers are women who tell their stories of use and abuse perpetrated by humans and/or gods. Some of the goddesses also speak in their voices as they bicker and scheme to help or thwart their favorites.

The first half of the novel focuses on the story of Jason and his adventures as he embarks on his quest for the golden fleece. Peppered throughout are stories of women who narrate how they were deceived, raped, abandoned, and/or died. Medea does not appear until nearly half way through the novel and only after Jason arrives in Colchis. She is completely besotted with Jason thanks to Cupid’s arrow. She helps him overcome a series of challenges until he is able to abscond with the fleece. In exchange, Jason promises to make her his wife. Theirs is a bumpy relationship which spirals downwards when Jason decides to marry the princess of Corinth. Medea tells her side of the story. Angry at the betrayal and the injustice, she plots her revenge against Jason by killing the princess, her father, and murdering her own children.

Haynes is to be commended for giving voice to female characters, some of whom barely receive a tertiary mention in Greek mythology. But because there are so many voices, Medea is reduced to one voice among many. Her rage and anger are presented in intermittent stops and starts interrupted by the constantly changing points of view. This leads to an unfortunate consequence: the fierce female rage we are familiar with from Euripides’ Medea is diluted. Medea appears as a feeble shadow of her original self.

Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater

Peggy Orenstein

Unraveling: What I learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater by Peggy Orenstein is part memoir; part an exploration of life during the COVID pandemic; part anxiety over climate change and sustainability; part a meditation on grief, aging, family; and part a reflection on the meaning of home. Orenstein works all of these elements into her journey of making a sweater from scratch.

When the COVID pandemic hit, Orenstein wanted to find solace by making something with her own hands. She had always been a knitter. Because the lockdown brought her book tours to a screeching halt, she decided to take advantage of her free time by learning the steps involved in knitting a sweater, beginning with shearing sheep, through to spinning yarn, dying wool, and knitting a finished product.

Orenstein describes each step in the process with vivid detail. She solicits the help of experts along the way to guide her in performing specific tasks and to educate her on the past and current status of textile production. Included in her journey are segments on the history of textile creation, the various technological developments associated with it, the pivotal role played by women throughout, and the ubiquitous influence textiles has had on history and culture.

Peppered throughout the memoir are anecdotes about Orenstein’s personal background, including her upbringing, education, and marriage. She reflects on her role as a parent and the changes she will have to navigate with her daughter’s upcoming entrance to university. She threads political commentary throughout. And she does it all with humor and informal diction.

Using the process from sheep to sweater as the platform to explore broad social issues and to reflect on her life’s journey, Orenstein’s memoir is entertaining and educational. However, a glaring omission is her failure to acknowledge her quest is predicated on her position of class privilege. She has the means, resources, and the contacts to organize her sheep to sweater enterprise. Most people are not so fortunate.

The Space Between Us

Thrity Umrigar

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar is the story of two Indian women in Bombay who are separated by caste. Bhima, the maid, has worked for the Dubash family for decades. In many ways, she supported and comforted her upper-class employer, Sera Dubash. Their relationship has been mutually beneficial. Bhima soothed Sera’s physical wounds each time she received yet another beating from her husband. She helped to raise, Dinaz, Sera’s daughter, and sympathized with her after her husband’s death. In turn, Sera came to the aid of Bhima when her husband was hospitalized, and she paid for the college tuition for Bhima’s granddaughter.

The novel opens with Bhima learning her granddaughter has shamed the family by becoming pregnant and dropping out of college. By way of contrast, Sera is excited at the prospect of becoming a grandmother since Dinaz and her husband are expecting their first child. In spite of the fact Bhima and Sera have known and supported each other for decades, the class distinction remains prominent in their lives. Sera will not permit Bhima to sit at the table with her or use the same utensils as the rest of the family. And Bhima has internalized her subordinate status, convincing herself her illiteracy and poverty make her worthless and that she has to tolerate injustice if she is to survive. Their relationship ends with a resounding clash when Bhima confronts her granddaughter’s oppressor.

The novel portrays the deep-seated structural inequities of caste stratification and gender discrimination and oppression in modern India. As women, Bhima and Sera are abused by a system that privileges the male. They are victims of systemic male oppression and deception. But instead of working together to fight a common oppressor, each is rooted firmly behind her class lines. Sera emerges as the more morally and ethically culpable. When given a choice to believe a woman who has served her loyally for decades or to accept a harsh reality that threatens the status quo, she insists on her class privilege and sides against Bhima, effectively perpetuating a system that abuses them both.

Alternating between the perspectives and backstories of Bhima and Sera, Umrigar treats her characters with sympathy. Her diction is elegant; her setting, immersive. Through her characters, she illustrates the complexities of challenging class, power, and gender oppression, a daunting task requiring considerable courage.