Book Review

Balali, Mehrdad. Houri. Sag Harbor, NY: Permanent Press, 2009.

Shahed, the main character in this book, grew up in Tehran but now lives in California where he is unhappily employed as a gas station attendant. After the death of an on and off girlfriend in California, he returns to Tehran to confront the ghosts of his past, most particularly those concerning his father who died three years earlier.

Shahed's father was a gadfly who squandered any money that the family acquired on “friends” who conveniently appeared to enjoy his largesse and on his many girlfriends, leaving his family impoverished and leaving his wife to have to provide for the family with what little she could successfully keep from him. Houri is the object of Shahed's childish affections, a friend of his mothers who eventually becomes yet another one of his father's conquests. Eventually Shahed is able to realize his dream of leaving his father behind and moving to the United States. This is in the late 1960's when Iran is still a secular nation.

When Shahed returns to Tehran in the early 1980's, he returns to a much different city, one ruled by Islamic fundamentalists. The contrast from the Tehran of his youth to the Tehran under fundamentalist rule actually causes him to be sentimental for the father who tortured him so in his youth.

I found this book to be very well written. The account of being an immigrant to the United States of Iranian descent in the late sixties and early eighties is much grittier and more realistic than other similar books, from the unsatisfying choice of employment to the overt racism which Shahed encounters. In contrast, Shahed's former life in Iran is by no means idealized. From the poverty of his background, to the the account of his father's selfishness, to his encounters with cruel headmasters and his Opium addicted uncle E, this is a much earthier depiction of pre-revolution Iran than one usually encounters. Highly recommended.

Book Review

Adrian, Chris. A Better Angel: Stories.
New York: Picador, 2009.

This collection of nine stories is written by a fellow in pediatric oncology who is also a student at Harvard Divinity School. All nine stories deal on some level with themes of grief, sickness and dying, and very often the protagonists are bereaved or ill children.

In Stab a young twin bereaved by the loss of his brother befriends a homicidal girl and joins her in a killing spree of animals in the neighborhood in hopes that she can bring him closer to her brother. In The Sum of our Parts a woman who has recently attempted suicide haunts the halls of the hospital where she lays dying and divines the innermost thoughts of the staff members. In A Child's Book of Sickness and Death, a teenaged sufferer of short gut syndrome becomes a hospital regular and writes about animals suffering from unique and horrible diseases. In Why Antichrist, a bereaved teenager is befriended by a popular classmate whose father died in the 9/11 attacks who becomes obsessed with the idea that he is the Antichrist.

Adrian's stories are beautifully written and engaging and very very dark. The strangeness of his stories as well as the religious undertones present throughout are reminiscent of the short stories of Flannery O'Connor. I enjoyed reading them and would be interested in reading his previous books.

Book Review

Jones, Sherry. The Sword of Medina: A Novel.New York: Beaufort Books,2009.

This book is set in the eighth century in Saudi Arabia right after the death of Muhammed. Before Muhammed died he left his jewelled sword, al-Ma'thur, to his favorite wife Aisha, telling her to use it in the jihad to come. Aisha's father Abu Bakr takes over as Kalifa but quickly succumbs to the same illness which took Muhammed's life, creating yet more turmoil over the who will be the next Kalifa. The turmoil created fissions in the Islamic religion which still continue to this day. Another candidate for the position of Kalifa is Ali, a relative of Muhammed, who is Aisha's sworn enemy due to unkind comments he made years ago. Aisha does all she can to prevent this from happening.

This book of historical fiction is told alternately between the point of views of Ali and Aisha both of whom express increasing dismay at the changes developing in the Islamic religion since Muhammed's death. Eventually Aisha and Ali come to respect each other and Aisha come to see that Ali is the best choice for Kalifa but Ali is murdered before he has a chance to serve.

I very much enjoyed this book. I found Jones' writing style to be engaging from the very beginning despite not being sure what to expect from this book. I have read books before that are set in the contemporary middle east but nothing from around the time of the beginning of Islam so I did not know most of the history. I like the fact that although Aisha and Ali are initially enemies that time and wisdom erases their differences and they begin to see how alike they really are. I would like to read the prequel The Jewel of Medina.

Book Review

Soctomah, Donald. Remember Me: Tomah Joseph's Gift to Franklin Roosevelt. Gardiner, ME: Tilbury House Publisher, 2009.

Remember me is set in Campobello Island New Brunswick where Franklin D. Roosevelt's family had a summer home. Remember me is a fictionalized account of the story of Roosevelt's friendship with Tomah Joseph starting at age 10. Tomah Joseph is a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe who was hired by Roosevelt's father to teach him how to paddle a canoe.

Along the way, Tomah Joseph teaches Roosevelt a lot about the history of the Passamaquoddy Indians and their traditions. There is also a lot of information about Franklin D.Roosevelt's early life.

This is a sensitively written story about a friendship which lasts until Joseph's death when Roosevelt is a young man and tells about how Roosevelt came to acquire his canoe (a gift from Joseph) which is still on display at the Roosevelt's family home. This book would most likely be interesting for children around grade 3 to 5.