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.

Book Review

Wall Carolyn, Sweeping up Glass. New York : Random House, 2009.

Olivia Harker Cross lives in the mountains of Kentucky during the time of the great depression with her elderly and insane mother and her young grandson, abandoned by a mother with dreams of “making it” in California. Olivia has not had an easy life. She lost her beloved Pap at an early age and has been left with her mother Ida who is crazy and abusive. Furthermore her life has been marred by extreme poverty especially since the impoverished residents of her community have not been able to pay for items from the store she runs nor for the “doctoring services” provided by her Pap to local animals. Olivia also has dangerous enemies who are making life treacherous for her and now her enemies are killing her beloved wolves.

Carolyn Wall writes Olivia's story in a fast paced and engaging way which is tinged with mystery. Her style is reminiscent of other Southern writers such as Harper Lee and Dorothy Allison. This book was an engaging read and I would highly recommend it.

Book Review

Hopgood, Mei Ling. Lucky Girl: a Memoir. Chapel Hill, Algonquin Books, 2009.

In 1974 Mei Ling Hopgood was adopted from Taiwan by Rollie and Chris Hopgood in what was to be one of the first international adoptions. After about seven months of bureaucratic red tape, Mei Ling was finally able to join her American family. Growing up in Taylor Michigan ( a suburb of Detroit) with parents whom she loved and who loved her dearly and with two younger brothers who were adopted from Korea, Mei Ling lived an all American girlhood and barely gave a though to the family who gave her up. But her birth family showed up out of the blue wanting to meet her and would not take no for an answer.

Her birth family turned out to be a middle class family of Chinese ancestry living in Taipei, defying Mei Lings expectations of a poor peasant family living in the country. Along the way she also met her sister Irene Hoffmann, also given up at birth by their birth parents to a couple from Switzerland.

Mei Lings memoir deals sensitively with the conflicting emotions she has felt about meeting a family who is so different culturally from her in ways she can't ignore. She also deals with how she felt growing up in the seventies near Detroit as one of the few people of Asian descent and facing barely disguised anti Asian discrimination while at the same time considering herself to be fully American.

This was a wonderful book which was hard to put down. I would highly recommend it.

Book Review

Mintle, Linda Dr. Press Pause Before You Eat. Howard Books : New York, 2009.

I will begin by saying that Dr. Mintle is a well known author of Christian self help books. I did not know this before reading the book and mention it only because this book will not speak as well to a non-Christian audience. Indeed many Librarything reviewers were suspicious of this book because it was Christian.

That being said, the topic of this book (mindless eating) is a timely one which affects so many of us. Her book is very conversational and includes many anecdotes from her personal life and from the lives of her friends and the patients she encountered in her years as an eating disorders specialist. Dr. Mintle is very knowledgeable and her suggestions are very sound. Her book was very easy to read because of her conversational tone. I have struggled a lot myself with mindless and emotional eating and I definitely recognized myself in many of her stories. I also learned some tricks that might help me in my own struggles with weight. I also found her use of scripture to be very insightful and inspiring and not at all heavy handed.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a Christian perspective on overcoming struggles with emotional and mindless overeating.