American Taliban

BOOK: American Taliban

AUTHOR: Pearl Abraham

GRADE: C+

In my mind, it’s never a good sign when I finish a book wondering “did I miss something?” Abraham’s well meaning novel follows John Jude Parish as he slowly slips off the beaten path for American teens and delves into Islam. His decision to move from the waves of North Carolina to the trenches of Pakistan is intriguing to watch - especially as his choices take him on a path ending in drastically unforeseen consequences – but significantly under-explained. His motivation for the choices he makes is never made clear through the writing – making it hard to sympathize with him when he finds himself embroiled in crisis. The premise of “American Taliban” is ripe with potential; but unfortunately Abraham’s writing never quite lives up to it. Adding insult to injury, the ending is so abruptly thrown together that I found it impossible to walk away with anything other than annoyance and confusion. I would be hard pressed to recommend “American Taliban” to anyone. My advice – skip it entirely.

A Girl Made of Dust

BOOK: A Girl Made Of Dust
AUTHOR: Nathalie Abi-Ezzi

GRADE: B+

Set in a Christian village in Lebanon during the 1982 Israeli invasion, Abi-Ezzi’s debut novel details the ravaging effects of war as told through the brutally honest eyes of eight-year-old Ruba. Struggling to make sense of a world in which her father has all but gone mute and her beloved older brother joins up with a militia of young men; Ruba discovers a curse placed over her family years prior. Believing this curse is responsible for the ills that befall her family, she sets out to find and break the curse. Her journey forces her to understand things that no eight year old should be forced to comprehend. In the end, she learns that she cannot put together the pieces of other people lives and must let them heal their own wounds.

The loyalty to family and the spunkiness of Ruba is indeed something to behold. “A Girl Made of Dust” is the story of one girl and her family confronting the demons of their past in order to create a new future. Abi-Ezzi manages to create a moving story without falling prey to clichés or to the desire to wrap it all up in a happily-ever-after ending. The result of which is a story that leaves you lost in thought and deeply grateful for the peace this country is currently experiencing. I recommend this highly to all.

American Supernatural Tales

BOOK: American Supernatural Tales
AUTHOR: Penguin Classics

GRADE: B

Allow me to begin with an explanation of how someone with very little interest in supernatural/fantasy writing came across this book: I have embarked on a challenge to read the entire fiction section of my local library from A to Z without skipping a single title – and this happened to be the first book on the shelf. That being said, I cannot tell you how surprised I was by the enjoyment I found in these “American Supernatural Tales.”
Penguin Classics put together this anthology of tales from a variety of well known authors in a chronological manner beginning with “The Adventure of the German Student” by Washington Irving in 1824 all the way up to “Demon” by Joyce Carol Oates in 1996. Despite the fact that many of the authors are well known and highly regarded for their works in other genres, few have received much attention for their work with the supernatural (Edgar Allen Poe and Stephen King would be the two notable exceptions).

My two favorites of the collection are: “Old Garfield’s Heart” by Robert E. Howard and “The Lonesome Place” by August Derleth. “Old Garfield’s Heart” tells the chilling tale of a heart that simply wont stop beating – even post-mortem. Howard’s use of realistic dialogue and vivid imagery make this story a page turner from beginning to end. “The Lonesome Place” is rendered so chilling because of the highly relatable theme of childrens’ fears of dark forests at night. What goes down in such places is a fear most people have shared as a youngster – and Derleth’s answer to the question is haunting to say the least.

This collection gets my enthusiastic recommendation for all - especially those uninterested in science fiction or fantasy. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter

BOOK: Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches From The Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
AUTHOR: Peggy Orenstein

GRADE: B

Fun Fact: Barbie was modeled after a German sex toy!

Orenstein’s exploration into the effects of growing up in the era of sexualized girlhood is both thoroughly researched and intensely personal. As a mother of a three year old daughter, Orenstein brings an understanding of just how hard it is to constantly be saying no to your daughters at an age when they are not cognitively developed enough to understand the complex reasoning behind your scorn for the “princess culture.” As a sociologist, she brings a methodology to her research which allows the reader to follow along with ease. The combination makes “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” highly readable and intensely fascinating.

The thread that binds the entire book together is the pervasiveness of this culture on girls and women: not just those under the age of ten. Orenstein looks into the world of toddler beauty queens and highlights the incentives that trick young girls into wanting to pursue that lifestyle. She looks intensively into what she calls the “princess culture” and demonstrates how Disney princesses have become a cult following even without the movies attached to them. These dolls and costumes sell off the shelves even before the actual movies are released. Proving that it’s the culture the kids are buying into – not the movie or storyline attached. Orenstein demonstrates how even the seemingly more philosophically advanced dolls such as the “American Girl” series characters are at the very base still eroded with the same message of looking good and behaving well. She explores the way in which boyness and girlness is learned implicitly by the age of six from peers and shows how that continues right up to high school with the advent of facebook, twitter and the like. And she ends with the confession that the majority of parental decisions in this arena fall into the category of picking ones battles – fight those which are most important to you while giving in a buying your screaming three year old a doll here and there.

I enjoyed Peggy Orenstein’s book thoroughly. She writes with wit, humor and honesty. She also writes with zero judgment – just a skeptical look into a pervasive phenomenon. I would highly recommend this to all – but especially to those parents of young girls.

What The Dog Saw

BOOK: What The Dog Saw and other adventures
AUTHOR: Malcom Gladwell

GRADE: C+

As a satisfied customer of Gladwell’s three previous books – The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers – I was excited and optimistic at the start of his latest collection of essays. This excitement, however, died down with each chapter. While I still found his signature explorations into the meanings behind seemingly obvious (yet mostly unexplored) situations to be of interest, the delivery in What the Dog Saw held my fascination less steadily than his previous works. I found myself, at times, struggling to keep moving through chapters that were frequently dense and requiring of more focus than I cared to exert. His usually reader-friendly prose were slightly more technical and dryer than in the past. That being said, there were still the typical Gladwell chapters that captivated my interest and imparted social commentary worth additional thought. Those chapters, however, had a hard time making up for the less enjoyable ones.

Though I was glad, in the end, that I saw it through to completion, I put it down more relieved to be finished than with excitement over what I’d read. I wouldn’t say that I recommend it exactly – unless you are a true Malcom Gladwell fan – in which case you may find the redeeming chapters enough to pull you through.

Unbearable Lightness

BOOK: Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain
AUTHOR: Portia de Rossi

GRADE: A+

“Unbearable Lightness” tells the harrowing of actress Portia De Rossi’s descent into the almost unimaginable horror of severe anorexia (weighing a mere 82 pounds at her worst) and her unlikely climb back to sound mental and physical health. De Rossi describes how unlivable life becomes when food, weight and body image take control of every single thought or action. She meticulously recounts the endless daily rituals kept to feed the weight obsession and the unbearable shame felt in response to the obvious fear, frustration and pain displayed by others. We watch as she achieves material success but loses all spark in her soul and route for her as she takes baby steps towards recovering that spark to show others how to do the same.

“Unbearable Lightness” is one of the most unflinchingly honest memoirs I’ve read. De Rossi’s ability to pull the reader inside her world and insist that we feel the pain and anger she feels in order to fully grasp the need to contain these feelings at any cost is nothing short of astonishing. Her ability to articulate the insanity inside her head in a way that makes total sense even to those not struggling with an eating disorder is admirable and I was incredibly impressed with her craftsmanship.

De Rossi succeeds in coming across as an author; rather than an actress publishing a book with the help of a ghost writer (a trap most other celebs fall into). Her word choice is impeccable and her sentence structure is exemplary. The scenes she paints with her words are clear as day and the anguish she conveys can almost be felt on a visceral level. I was moved and would recommend this for all – especially for those suffering from the unrelenting

A Summer Affair

BOOK: A Summer Affair

AUTHOR: Elin Hilderbrand

GRADE: C-

An ending can save or kill a book. In this case, the ending kills the already limited merit of “A Summer Affair” by leaving all the loose ends just hanging there with no conclusion. A technique that was surely intended to leave the reader deep in thought manages to elicit disappointment and aggravation instead. Hildebrand would have done well to tie up all her loose ends in any fashion – to leave the reader with a sense of conclusion (no matter how unfulfilling).

After reading a number of high brow tomes, my brain felt like it needed a little silly fluff to rest on. Hence: “A Summer Affair.” Being a self-proclaimed book snob, this is not one of the many genres I find myself drawn to and unfortunately my judgments were confirmed with this read. The main problem – as I see it – is Hildebrand’s attempt to incorporate far too many plot lines into one tale. At the hands of a more skilled writer this may well have produced a richly filled multi-dimensional read – Hildebrand is not that writer however and the book just flounders. The few and far between amusing chapters can not save this sinker.

My recommendation: skip it entirely. You’re not missing anything.