OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout

This was on the Times  book review list http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/books/review/Thomas-t.html, somebody recommended it to me recently, and it also carries a Pulitzer Prize — so I thought why not order it from the library? Takes place in Maine in a small New England town where people know each other, they gossip, they meet and stay away from each other. Sounds good to me —I always  thought of living in a little town in Maine, Vt.  My selfish way of approaching a book!

Very laid back and very slow but a good read. Not a continuous story of Olive Kitteridge;  the plot sort of hops around in time and location with  descriptions of her. In thirteen chapters there is a portrait of the woman: sometimes she is in the background, or she is observed by other people in town, or she is reflected in just uttering one of her strong remarks, or a whole chapter revolves around her. And so on! But it is fascinating and one gets curious and wants to know her better. Believe me,  she is not easy, not pleasant, rather irritating and completely in her own world. A big woman with a husband who is very loyal and mellow. Her only child, a son, withdraws from her early and later lives his own life far away from Olive where she is unable to intrude and she suffers! When she was younger, her husband and her had this vision of growing old, having many children and living and breathing with their grand children. Olive does not have the slightest talent for understanding herself nor does she have any sense for diplomacy. She does not seem to realize how hurtful her strong remarks are to others. On the other hand, this seventh grade math teacher is remembered by the the children in her classes later in life very well. They remember her roughness and they also consider her a compassionate caring woman. She is feared by many, liked by some, and respected by all. 

There is a constant back and forth in her character; she is moody many times and not very happy; or she can break out into this deep laughter. “Hell. We're always alone. Born alone. Die alone,” says Olive Kitteridge and that’s how she lives. To me she appears to be a real Mainer, maybe unnaturally cold, but she reads very real to me.

At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, I liked her a lot. And the book is not depressing. Believe me.

THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD by Marget Atwood

Science Fiction —  I never had a great love for it.  I remember how it saddened me when Doris Lessing switched over to it. A year or so ago I had read THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy and was surprised that I liked it a lot; it was later followed by a movie.  Movies are mostly disappointments to me after reading the book and after having established these fixed images in the mind.  Now I noticed that for many years Margaret Atwood was writing scifi! I was ready to try it again.  But sorry to report,  I was completely lost with this  story: the characters  were strange and I realized they were a follow up from her previous book, ORYX AND CRAKE which was hugely acclaimed. I should have started with that.  And the imaginary world did not become clear to me for a long long time. Well I admire Atwood, her poems, her style, the diversity of her books, her imagination,  but I cannot get excited about scifi, I just don’t get it. 

It’s an epic and very strange. Two religious groups devoted to living under the command of the natural world. They wear beige cloth-sacks, cultivate mushrooms, harvest honey and curse each other by shouting: Pig-Eater! Their community is only tolerated by the CorpSeCorps, the ruling power, because they are not perceived as threatening. But, this is a world where gene-splicing is the norm; where lions and lambs have become Liobams and pigs have human DNA. The times, and species, are changing at a rapid rate, and with loyalites as thin as environmental stability, the future is a dangerous place. And, if the Waterless Flood does indeed arrive, as predicted by the Gardeners, will there even be a future to contemplate? Ren is a trapeze dancer at Scales and Tails, and can work a plank just as well. After a rip in her biofilm she is placed in solitary confinement until they can guarantee she is without disease. Her story is one part of our gateway into this uniquely constructed world. The other is Toby, an ex-counter-girl at SecretBurger ('Because we all love a Secret'), a natural cynic and source of extensive homeopathic knowledge; she knows her aminatas from her puffballs. Their stories weave beneath the holy teachings and saintly-songs of Adam One to create a truly apocalyptic vision, a world that harnesses Atwood's wit, dystopic imagination and sharp insight. 

As I said, I lost it. Sorry.

The good soldiers, author: David Finkel — winner of Pulitzer Prize

Ok, to read about war was always one of my favorite topics in the past ten years, or better the insides of a war, what it does to to the people, and maybe how to avoid it, if possible. I know what the war did to my country (deservedly so) but the kids growing up in a country after the war do not deserve so. But this is called fate. To me, somehow, it has been an education and I am quite a different person than I would have been without this experience. Basic examples are that I eat what there is on the plate; have learned to be resourceful — if something not available you find something else to substitute it; be flexible and learn how to fix things with very little resources. Enough of this, it sounds like self-praise, but I mean this whole new generation who grew up with absolutely nothing somehow gained in the long run. So I tend to read stories of wars, of unfortunate people, how bad is bad, and how one can make the best with nearly nothing.  By the way, my first impression of meeting as a kid American soldiers after the war was just warm and fuzzy; they handed you candies! They handed you the first chewing gum! They were kind and helpful! They sent CARE packages that contained coffee that produced an exciting smell ‑ a smell that I was completely unfamiliar with! Or I received a brown  dress with ruffles (too big but oh so pretty)! I thought. 

I picked this book to read more about the war in Iraq, mainly about the soldiers and their lives and what one might not read in the daily papers: the maiming of Iraqis, the “surge” and hopelessness. Each chapter carries a headline of one of Busch’s conciliatory remarks about winning the surge to be followed by the “real” story. Sneaking in is the slow doubt in the soldiers’ realization that what they are doing might not be the right thing to do. The leader of this battalion is Colonel K — a “believer” to the out side world and a serious doubter inside. Colonel K was educated at West Point; the soldiers came from various ways of life and had picked the Army as an escape to find a way out from their present situation. Entering and signing up, nobody seriously thought of ever dying or to get terribly injured. The average age is 20-25 years. A good part of the soldiers end up with no arms, or no legs, or no legs and arms, or blind, or horribly depressed. I feel everyone should read this book, regardless of whether you're for or you are ambivalent about the war in Iraq, or for that matter: any war!  It’s just a very harrowing chronicle of modern combat based on the eight months the author had spent with an Army battalion in Iraq.

The Soloist, A lost dream, an unlikely friendship, and the redemptive power of music

Author is Steve Lopez, a columnist for LA Times; he met the main character, Nathaniel Ayers,  while he was on his his search for a topic for his next column. And he found Nathaniel Ayers, and combined in many columns which were read by lots of people. All these columns are more or less combined in this book. It carries a corny subtitle, doesn't it? Probably a line like sells more copies?

When the author meets Nathaniel, he meets a homeless person who is playing the violin on the streets in a decrepit condition, but his playing is beautiful and makes people stop. He learns that N. had been a promising student at Julliard playing classical bass. He was then charming and ambitious and one of the few black musicians at the school, approx. 30 years ago. Due to mental illness he slowly looses his ability to function, overcome by a mental breakdown. He is now a loner, deeply suspicious of everyone and very troubled, sleeping outside, with a shopping cart full of things. Every here and there is a glimmer of his old brilliance.  As it is in this country, there is no governmental help for these sick people. The author tries to befriend him very very slowly to write another column and there is eventually some communication. Their bond takes a long time to grow and he keeps writing about the musician i and also wonders how he can change Nathaniel's life. It all  goes slowly, first finding him some lodging, reconnecting him with his family (he objects to every step strongly.) The author does not give up, reconnecting him with his old life with crushing disappointments. At the end Lopez find that not only his own life is profoundly changed but Nathaniel's also. Nathaniel will  never be a "regular" person, he will also  be sick,  but he is able to function in a certain better way. It's a true story and also it is also true is that are many many "Nathaniel's" in the streets that never get hospitalized or get help in this glorious America. Bad, sad, unforgivable.

Half The Sky by NicholasD. Kristof and Sheryl DuDunn

The book is titled after an ancient Chinese proverb: Women hold up half the sky. Of course I liked that. 

The authors are a married couple, he is a Pulitzer prize winner for his op-ed columns in the Times. There is a bonus feature at the end, an appendix about Organizations Supporting Women in Developing Countries Worldwide,  and  websites with this headline: Four steps you can take in the next ten Minutes. In short it is about human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. 

An intensive and good read, giving perfect insight and also optimism! Yes. There are many stories, they are all based on interviews in a grim world! Telling the lives of women and girls abroad. Many stories. The lowly Pakistani girl who was raped by men from a higher caste. They expected her to go home and kill herself, as was the custom in her village, but she applied for redress and caught the attention of then-President Pervez Musharraf, who sent her $8,300 in compensation. Instead of being eternally grateful and shutting up, she started a school, learning to read and write along with her students. The attention she brought to the issue of rape in Pakistan sent Musharraf into fits, and she was hounded mercilessly by the government. But Musharraf is gone now, and the school still thrives. An Cambodian girl eventually escaped from her brothel and, with assistance from an aid group, built a thriving retail business that supports her family. An Ethiopian woman had her injuries repaired and in time became a surgeon. A Zimbabwean mother of five, counseled to return to school, earned her doctorate and became an expert on AIDS.
Through these stories, the authors help us see that the key to economic progress lies in unleashing women’s potential. They make clear how so many people have helped to do just that, and how we can each do our part. Throughout much of the world, the greatest unexploited economic resource is the female half of the population. Countries such as China have prospered precisely because they emancipated women and brought them into the formal economy. It can be done!

The Road of Innocence by Somaly Mam

There are quite a few books that I have read this winter, and they are all piled up next to my desk or I gave them away if somebody was interested. And I want to pass them on to others instead of just sitting there. All of them I liked very much, they were not only inspirational but  increased my curiosity about yet another country. So I will write just a few lines since there are other things to do and I tend not to pay attention while I think about book,  like i.e. looking for a job, thinking of how to improve my graphics business, or just go hiking! And of course as a side matter, I don't want to forget any of these.

This book was given to me also and first I rolled my eyes … another book of a woman writing about her life. But then again I don’t know much about Cambodia, except vague memories from TV descriptions, so why not read it. Stunned after reading the first sentences I could not put the book down before  the end

These are facts taken for granted in Cambodia: women are worth less than a penny. Somaly grows up as ethnic minority, her mother+grandmother just walked away from her life which did not seem so unusual there. She is taunted because of her darker skin, has to work for her relatives, eats whatever she finds. She meets a so called “grandfather” and follows him, thinking he is taking her to a new family, but he really is a monster, and she is sold by him like a slave to work as a prostitute,which she does with no way of escaping.  After years of horrendous rapes, beating and cruelty, Mam has saved some money to escape from her horrific life when Cambodia opens up to tourism and aid workers from Europe and the United States and acquainting wealthier patrons. She is always struggling and what makes her never stop. She  founds AFESIP (Acting for Women in Distressing Situations and dedicates her life  and helps as many girls as she can escape their harrowing situations. The story is told direct and simple and without display of pity.  She is remarkably restrained and controlled in her storytelling.  She sets out to explain what she thought at what were the worst moments of her life and the result is incredibly shocking and moving.  Even though the circumstance Mam endured are brutal she is of the opinion that the girls being sold into slavery today have it even worse.  They are found chained and tortured in despicably grim living situations, lacking cleanliness and protection from disease.  The trafficking of very young girls- as young as 5- has exploded into big business, and tourist hotels have been so that men who travel to Cambodia on vacation can spend time with young girls.

The story is told directly, simply and without displaying any pity for herself.  She is remarkably restrained and controlled in her storytelling which swings between horror and inspiration. What a way to force a life. For me it was a must-read! Somaly Mam is able to creep up from the bottom, become "successful", never forgets her upcoming and how women are still treated. She is able to found AFESIP and provides help, education and hope. 

Winnie and Wolf by A.N. Wilson

Who is Winnie, who is Wolf? Well the first one is Winniefried Wagner, Richard Wagner’s daughter-in-law, and Wolf is Adolf Hitler who visited the Wagner home frequently from the beginning of the ‘20’s to 1930. This is fiction, but great, with wonderful insights into Wagner family and their feeling of their own superiority. Hitler was an ardent devotee of Wagner’s music, and he acted like a pussycat whenever he visited and in the beginning he visited a lot. Tender to the kids  they loved him; he read stories to them and was gentle. Winnie according to this had a relationship with Hitler, maybe bore him a child. Something I never heard, but ok this is fiction. There are fascinating stories about raising monies for the Wagner festivals after the only son of Wagner, Fidi, died and Winnie became a widow and was now running the Festival with a great sense of recognition and according to this Hitler’s regime also gave financial support to the continuation of the festival.

By 1933 rumors abounded that the two were having an affair. None of this has ever been proved. Hitler’s letters to Winnie remain the property of the Wagner family, and scholars have been denied access to them. But in a bold act of the imagination, the British novelist A. N. Wilson has decided not only that the relationship was sexual and that it produced a child.

Various high Nazi gargoyles are also on show, including Göring, Goebbels, Streicher, the niece who committed suicide, Hitler’s flatulence, the composer’s widow Cosima. Oh it’s so gossipy but it follows the known lines of history. Here we have anti-semites in love. Imagine that.  I liked this book immensely, could not put it down,  and immediately listened to a Wagner CD once I finished. 

Life and Death in Shanghai by Nien Cheng

January 2010:
Here came this book from one of my friends and I thought, o.k, let's read another book written by a woman who publishes her own story (I just had finished reading THE ROAD OF LOST INNOCENCE BY SOMALY MAN) and expected something similar. But here it was, another book that I couldn't put down, and it is quite an amazing story. I started reading because it dealt with the Cultural Revolution in China in 1966 and the author, Nien Cheng, was a woman whose husband had been working for Shell. When he died she served as an assistant to the new Gen. Manager until Shell stopped operating in China. She had money, education, traveled around and had one daughter and was very comfortable. Anyway, one day her house was ransacked by the Red Guard and she ends up in solitary confinement for 6 1/2 year. All her property, her money, her collections are confiscated and disappear in the hands of the very very young wild Red Guard. Her crime was to be a spy. She refuses to feel guilty and to confess, she constantly argues with her interrogators, she gets sick, sent back to her cell, gets sick again, continues to argue, gets tormented and accused again, under the worst conditions. But she resists and does not give in in spite of all of this. And so she lives, or barely lives,  for 6 1/2 years in her solitary cell. It's extraordinary. The country is torn apart by the savage fight of power Mao Tse-tung launched trying to topple party moderates, there is his wife, the Gang of Four. Other prisoners and friends break down and confess things they did not do. She finally gets released, not rehabilitated, in 1972. This ends Part I. The second part shows the new China where property belongs to everybody, where people have no pride, food is scarce, black markets exists — it's extremely poor and distressing to live there. Her daughter, an actress, died in the meantime, apparently having committed suicide, which is not so, she was murdered. But Nien Cheng goes on living, surviving again and again. One asks why she can do it and others can't! Somehow she is able to put her hands on her money in Switzerland, is able to leave China finally and move to Canada and lives now in Washington DC. She is highly intelligent and unable to give up. Vow. As the guards say when she gets released: We never had anybody like you.

Somehow this story was not only good to learn more about conditions in China during the Cultural Revolution, but more than anything it is just astounding to meet this woman's incredible courage. I looked at her photo on the cover where she has such a friendly smile wearing this very elegant gray dress and it  shows absolutely no relation to the terrible conditions she endured during that time. The picture doesn't give a clue about her. Strange.

I liked it a lot.