The Hummingbird’s Daughter By Luis Urrea

Often when I go on vacation, I like to read a novel set in the area we will visit.  I’m just a geek like that.  It’s a great way to learn about the people, the culture and the voice of a region.  This summer our family is visiting Mexico.  We will be in an old colonial town in the central part of the country - a place that I don’t know that much about.  I decided to read a Mexican novel to get in the mood for our trip.  I really haven’t read too much Mexican literature…Like Water for Chocolate not withstanding.  I decided to give The Hummingbird’s Daughter a try.  It turned out to be the perfect book for the job.

The Hummingbird’s Daughter is a novel set in the pre-revolutionary days at the turn of the 19^th century.  It’s the story of a girl named Teresita who is born to an illiterate Indian mother in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. She has no idea that she is daughter to Don Tomas Urrea, the rich ranch owner.   As a small girl, Teresita is taken in by the ranch’s curandera or healing woman and taught all about how to heal the sick and pray for those who can’t be healed.  Pretty soon, it becomes evident that Teresita has the healing touch and is able to work miracles among the sick.  Before long the ranch is overwhelmed with pilgrims who want to be healed and the Mexican government feels the need to step in to control what they don’t understand. 

Teresita is a true historical figure in Mexico.  She is known as The Saint of Cabora.  She is also Luis Urrea’s real relative.  He grew up hearing family legend about her and decided to hunt down her story all over the Mexico and the American Southwest and write a book about it.  He then breathed life into Teresita and the real characters of her story with the voices of Mexico’s people and the gritty, bloody landscape of her country. 

I think that often books about Mexico give a one dimensional view of a people and culture that is so rich and beautiful.  With the plethora of “Mexican” restaurants and news stories about drug wars around, we Americans get a flat view of Mexican culture.  Urrea expanded that view and brought it to life.  Because his novel takes place in the past, we learn about all the different Indian groups and factions that make up the present day Mexican.   I learned about the culture of the vaqueros and the rich landowners, their servants and the bands of bandits and rurales that rode the countryside in those days.  Through Teresita’s eyes we learn about the folk medicines and remedies that saved people and the strict Catholic theology that ruled the lives of those who lived on the ranches. 

I liked the book very much, however the ending left me sort of cold.  I think Urrea could have woven his characters together better to build suspense for the climactic ending,   I thought that once Teresita became the Saint of Cabora, her story was less interesting and her voice became muted among others.  Her relationship with Huila the curandera, was my favorite part.  I really liked the voice Urrea gave Huila and liked how she wielded her power and femininity over the bull headed men she took care of.  Meanwhile Teresita herself is not the pasty-faced haloed saint that we think about, but one with lice in her hair and dirt under her nails.  I like that. 

In the end, my takeaway from this book is how enjoyable it is to read a novel in preparation for a vacation.  If you’ve never done it before, I highly recommend it.  Whether it’s a trip to the beach two hours away or to another country halfway across the world, an author’s researched snapshot into a place or subject, can give you a primer on what to expect when you get there.  You will have a greater understanding and appreciation for the place, not to mention, it goes a long way to helping you get excited for your big trip.  

The Cove by Ron Rash

A few months ago, I reviewed a book called Nightwoods by Charles Frazier. It is a lovely book set in the North Carolina Mountains.  As I said in the review, I have an affinity for that landscape and I think Frazier portrays it with a gentle hand. Rash portrays it with a blunt force trauma.

Ron Rash’s new novel, The Cove, also takes place in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Set during WWI, it is the story of a young girl named Laurel who lives with her brother, a wounded war vet, on the family farm located in a backwoods cove near small town Mars Hill North Carolina.  People think the cove is bewitched and, because of a large birthmark, Laurel is too.  One day Laurel finds a young mysterious injured traveler hiding out on their property and brings him home to recuperate.  The man is mute, but a very talented flute player.  He decides to stay and help the family, soon falling in love with Laurel.  The town, which has always shied away from the cove and its inhabitants, is skeptical.  Led by a pompous and bigoted Chauncey Feith, the town is out to expose any “unpatriotic” people hidden in the backwoods or at the local college.  When the townspeople find out the man’s true identity, all hell breaks loose in the cove. 

While The Cove is a good read and Rash writes beautifully, the story isn’t as strong as his last book, the gothic and brutal Serena.  I definitely was interested in the story and kept reading, but was not as enthralled as I hoped to be.  I thought the story was really great, but the romance between Laurel and Walter did not ring so true.  I thought her wishes and daydreams for romance and normalcy was a little trite.  I did think the plotline was interesting and the history behind it was intriguing.  His set up of good verses evil is done beautifully and with rising suspense. Rash does have a way of bringing the book together at the end in a gritty and horrible way.  

Rash’s mountains are those of Cormac McCarthy rather than Charles Frazier.  They are more brutal and mean than kind.  I suggest you try Rash’s other books – especially if life in the NC mountains appeals to you.  All three are very good and are probably more true to life than other’s more idealistic accounts, but if you do, make sure you hold on tight, they are not for the faint of heart.  Start with Serena and finish with .  You’ll see what I mean.

Shadow of the Wolf Tree By Joseph Heywood

About 8 years ago I stumbled onto one of my favorite authors, Joseph Heywood.  I was in the library and picked up a book with intriguing cover art called The Snowfly a book about fly fishing that I have loved and given as a gift to many of my fishing friends.  Much to my delight, I found that Mr Heywood writes a series of mystery books set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.  Heywood’s hero is a conservation officer named Grady Service and the crimes are those against the environment.  I was in heaven. 

I started my husband reading the books, and soon he was hooked too.  Four years ago, we took a family vacation to the Upper Peninsula because we were so curious about the landscape and people that play such a big part of Heywood’s novels. 

Recently I realized that Heywood has been busy and we haven’t been paying attention.  I decided it was time to catch up.  Heywood’s novel Shadow of the Wolf Tree does not disappoint.  Grady is back in the U.P. and his quirky cast of characters is with him.  This time he’s fishing with his buddy Treebone and his dog uncovers 2 human skeletons that have lain buried in the woods for decades.  Pretty soon there are more bodies and one of Grady’s own officers gets caught in a brutal wolf trap.  Service goes on the hunt to find out what’s going on. 

Of course I love a mystery involving environmental crimes and conservation officers hiking around out in the woods.  What is fun about these novels is that Heywood keeps us on our toes and sends us all around the U.P. trying to figure out the mystery along with our hero.  We meet a variety of characters that represent the hearty folks living on the U.P., from wealthy businessmen from Chicago, to Service’s arch nemesis, an old redneck poacher who runs a family crime ring.  Heywood weaves a tale with craftsmanship and grace and breathes life into his characters that is not always seen in the world of mystery writing.  The only thing that doesn’t ring true is Service’s amazing ability to travel from one town to another in record time – something we found out while visiting the area.  It’s a big region and it takes longer than Heywood claims to travel the distance. 

If you’re looking for a new mystery writer to follow, I can’t think of a better one.  Heywood may be one of the secret jewels in the crown of the mystery genre.  He’s written 8 books in the series (called the Woods Cop Series) and all of them are really great.  I have two more to read to get caught up and one is already on my bedside table.  Stay tuned, you’ll be reading about it soon….

Coming of Age in the Middle Years

Thousands of books have been written about becoming an adult.  So many so, that there is a genre for these books – “Coming of Age” novels.  They usually have to do with  anxious teen years and first loves, rebellion and realization.  They’ve been made into movies too, we know them all, and in fact John Hughes made a very successful career telling this story over and over again on the big screen. 

There are several “coming of age” times in a person’s life in addition to that one so talked about in novels.  You can name them: first job, marriage, birth of first child, retirement etc.  One of the more subtle ones I’m finding out about takes place in middle age when you’re facing 50 and trying to figure out what you want to be when you grow up. 

Recently, I read two novels on this subject.  I didn’t plan to read them together, but it just worked out this way.  One from a woman’s perspective and another from a man’s.   

Contents May Have Shifted

By Pam Houston

Pam Houston is one of my favorite quiet authors.  She has written extensively for magazines and has penned a few wonderful novels that I have loved.  She lives the life I think of in fantasy terms: a beautiful ranch in Colorado, a life traveling the world and teaching at writing programs.  She’s in her late forties and I find her writing poignant and her perspective timely. 

This book chronicles a mostly autobiographical character through her midlife transition from dating to monogamy, from nomadic life to a grounded one.  It’s a series of vignettes from her (or the character’s) life as she works through this time while traveling all over the world, experiencing heartache and love and healing her soul on her way to a new way of living.

While I enjoyed the book, its not my favorite of Houston’s.  Her short story collection Cowboys Are My Weakness and her book about her dogs, Sight Hound are much better.  This one was entertaining in her stories of far off lands and adventures, but the psychological journey she took is not so well told.  In the end, she does reach a sort of peace with herself but the reader is left to wonder about whether it’s temporary or not.  Maybe that’s the real truth here…that we never know. 

The Book of Joe
By Jonathon Tropper

Now for the male perspective.  Jonathon Tropper’s book is about a guy, raised in small town Connecticut that writes a tell-all, scathing book about a terrible incident that took place his senior year in high school.  Joe, is summoned back to the town to say goodbye to his distant father as he lays in the hospital and is confronted by the angry townspeople who haven’t forgiven him for his literary portrayal.  He reunites with old friends and family, puts the incident that so shaped his young life to bed, and learns how to redefine his life as he moves forward.

Jonathon Tropper has won my literary heart.  His plot is interesting and well crafted.  His prose is snarky and real and his characters ring so true.  While Joe is younger (late 30’s) he has done a lot of living for his age and is realizing that his life as a self proclaimed asshole is not a fulfilling one. I think an important lesson for many men in midlife.  Tropper confronts a lot of issues in the book and brings them to a real and unexpected conclusion.  The book flies from cover to cover and makes a great vacation read.  

Reading John Irving

In One Person
By John Irving

I have loved John Irving’s books since I was in college.  It started with Hotel New Hampshire and with one exception; I’ve read all the fiction he has written in the past 30 years.  It is a happy day in our house when I find out that Irving has written something new, given us another gift of a great novel to enjoy.  His books are always wonderful and weird and thought provoking, regardless of the subject matter.  Quite simply, in my opinion, John Irving is a master American storyteller. 

When you read Irving’s books, you can bet that there’s characters that live on the edge of mainstream, you know that there will be bears in some form, wrestling will play a part in the book, and that no matter what bizarre things happen, you will end up taking them in stride like they happen to people you know every day, and who knows, maybe they do.

I just finished Irving’s newest novel, In One Person.  Like all his others, I loved it and was sad to see it finish.  In One Person follows Billy, a young preteen who finds himself attracted to his stepfather and the town librarian at the same time.  As Bill grows up his “inappropriate crushes” help he and his family realize that he is bisexual.  We watch Bill graduate college, become a writer, have relationships with both women and men, and survive the AIDS epidemic.  Through it all, his stalwart friend Elaine provides him the support and friendship he needs to figure out how not to be lonely as he lives his life in between.

One of Irving’s gifts is his ability to get the reader to sympathize with characters that might otherwise not be sympathetic.  We end up loving Bill’s cross dressing grandfather and the transgender librarian that Bill falls for.  Irving has always tackled controversial subjects, from abortion in Cider House Rules, to God’s plan for people in A Prayer for Owen Meany (on my top 5 list of all time).  Irving says that he felt compelled to write this book because of the controversy around the legalization of gay marriage.  It is a novel about tolerance in the grandest sense of the word – tolerance of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation.  And a beautiful one it is.  Billy’s story is one that explores tolerance across generations, cultures and even among groups in the LBGT community.  I find the subject matter very timely. 

Irving has a true gift in writing stories about families, even the most seemingly dysfunctional.  Bill’s family culture is based on secrets and closed doors while he spends most of his life trying to find out the answers and expose the lies.  Meanwhile there are some very endearing members to the family that truly love him and help him become the man he does. 

If you’ve never tried a John Irving novel, you really should.  His books are funny and wry, irreverent and beautifully written. Just know that his books may shock you and will stretch your comfort level, but in the end, will open your eyes and your heart to new kinds of people.  In today’s world, that’s a gift we should all receive.

An interview with John Irving as he discusses In One Person.  

Running the Rift by Naomi Beneron

When you read the word “Rwanda” and the year 1996 in the jacket summary of a book, you just know that the book will be hard going.  The war and genocide in that conflicted country is too brutal and too hopeless a subject to navigate in a novel that you read for fun.  I wasn’t sure what I was getting into and not completely sure if I wanted to tackle this emotional rollercoaster.  I decided to give it 25 pages and see if I was up for it.  Boy was I glad that I did. 

Running the Rift is the story of Jean Patrick Nkuba, a young boy from the country near Lake Kiva whose dream is to compete for Rwanda in the Summer Olympics.   He is a gifted runner and aspires to run the 800 on the world stage.  Unfortunately, he is of Tutsi descent and struggles with discrimination that he and his family endure at the hands of an oppressive Hutu government.  Jean Patrick is extremely gifted academically which gives him the leg up he needs to make it into the schools with the right track coaches.  During the killing, he finds himself running for his life instead of for glory. 

With the impending Summer Olympics, this story resonates.  We Americans can’t understand the barriers that some of the athletes from small African countries have to jump in order to make it to that one day of competition at the Olympics.  Beneron tells a wonderful story of Jean Patrick’s rise in his sport and his politically exploited fame as he is held by the government as the Tutsi hope for Rwanda.  We understand the conflict that Jean Patrick feels as he is given a Hutu ID card that will help him travel about the country and his hopeful naivety that Rwandans could possibly coexist and let him run without issue. 

At the core of this story is a young man who loves his family, his home and his girlfriend and who just wants to move forward in his life.  This is what saves the book from becoming one that is just too hard to read.  We fall in love with Jean Patrick and his beloved family, friends and country.  Beneron writes with the lyrical imagery of Africa and describes it in such a way that we find ourselves loving the landscape and the people as much as Jean Patrick does.  Even through the difficult parts (and there are definitely difficult parts!) we find ourselves rooting for Jean Patrick and trying hard to understand an incomprehensible war. 

This book was nominated won the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, a prize given by Barbara Kingsolver to books that address issues of social justice.  It is a worthy recipient. This summer when we are watching the track and field events in London, I, for one, will have a new-found respect for those young runners from small, and often war torn African countries.  My eyes have been opened.  But isn’t that what books are supposed to do? 

When Fishing Goes Bad

Choosing books to read is sort of like fishing.  Sometimes you go out with the intent to fish.  You have your recommendation lists or your starred reviews to help you decide what to get.  Like having researched fish populations and behaviors then boarding the boat with the best lure for the kind of fish you want to catch.  Other times you stop by the library and scan the shelves with no idea what to look for at all - the fisherman's version of stopping by the side of the road and pulling your rod out of the trunk of your car to throw in a line for half an hour.  Both can yield big keepers. Sometimes the best unknown book is just waiting for you there on the shelf.  Other times you get skunked no matter how much you research. 

Last time I was at the library, I stopped by the "new book" section to see what was there.  I found several books that looked good and showed promise so I picked them up.  In my pile of 4, I've read 2 and so far my picks are in the skunked category.  Here they are.

The Red Garden by Alice Hoffman
In the past, I've loved Alice Hoffman.  Her books have been usually good stories peppered with the magical realism that I am drawn to.  While not dense or deep, Hoffman usually likes strong women and a well plotted narrative.  When I saw her book on the shelf I decided to try her again.  Bad move.  I think she's phoning it in.  The Red Garden is the story of many generations of people living in a small town in Massachusetts from the 1700's to modern day.  One of the matriarchs of the town has a garden that only grows red flowers and food.  I think Hoffman wrote a bunch of short stories on one of her summer vacations while she tried to decide what to write next and when she couldn't decide, she convinced her publisher to combine all of them and sell it as a novel. This book did make it past my 100 page rule but just barely and only because I expected more of Hoffman.  I kept expecting something to happen to bring everything together, but it didn't.  Each story was loosely based on the one before it, but in character name only and the red garden didn't seem to serve any purpose at all except that a bear was buried there and gets exhumed in the end.  I think Hoffman has written some wonderful books, but I think more recently, she might be pressured by her publisher to get words on the page.  See what you think.

The Quest for Anna Klein by Thomas H. Cook
Spies, Nazis, resistance fighters, international art dealers, New York society - sounds good doesn't it?  I thought so.  And actually it did keep my interest until about two thirds the way through, but Thomas Cook's newest novel didn't do it for me in the end.  The story is interesting.  A young socialite son of an international art importer gets recruited to provide his country house as a place for a young Jewish woman to learn the skills needed to infiltrate and spy on the upper level Nazi government. Guy falls in love with Girl and follows her to Germany where her plot becomes foiled at the last minute. Girl disappears and Guy spends years in and out of prisons and camps across Europe trying to find out what happened to her and who the double agent was who blew her cover.  While the story does move along, we spend a lot of time listening to the Guy pine away for the Girl and not really find the answers he's looking for.  There is a nice plot twist in the end but its just not enough to carry the story you've slogged through so far.  Its a good example of an author who either needs a good editor or to go back to school for brush up on plot development.  I should have been alerted when I read that two of Cook's most recent books were called The Last Talk with Lola Faye and The Fate of Katherine Carr.  It appears that Mr. Cook is either working out some issues he has with enigmatic women or he's got a formula that he thinks works for him.  Either way, it doesn't work for me.