I wouldn’t call this the best novel Toni Morrison has ever written, but given how high she has set the bar, God Help The Child is still a powerful read that I would highly recommend. It is about the abuse of children, and about damaged adults. It is full of Morrison’s characteristically spare but lyrical prose and disconcerting magical realism. It is full of pain and rage, but also redemption and resolution. Her main character is a little girl named Mary Lou, born with “blue-black” skin […]
A cautionary tale of middle-class entropy
My first response to this book, published in 1959, was to praise it as an early contribution to what was soon to be launched as the modern-day feminist movement, as it is a penetrating study of a woman trapped by her own outdated middle-class conventions. But then I realized that it would do this book an injustice to define it so narrowly, as Connell in his understated way brilliantly strips bare the racist, classist, xenophobic and intolerant mindset that afflicted much of middle and upper-class […]
On marriage, betrayal, independence and forgiveness
A Thousand Pardons is a sharp-edged yet surprisingly funny view of mid-life crisis, complacency in marriage, teen-age angst, and the dramatic turns these can taken when least expected. A privileged family in suburban upstate New York suddenly discovers serious fault lines in their lives when Helen realizes that the man she married so many years ago no longer exists. Oh, Ben drives to his law practice every day, sleeps in her bed, and eats her food, but interaction with her or their adopted teenaged daughter […]
Five Ishiguro tales about the human experience…and music
These are five lovely stories which all deal with very vulnerable individuals and the critical role of music in their lives. Ishiguro’s tales embrace a wide range of life’s challenges, from loss and loneliness to romance and recovery, to friendship and fulfillment. The recurrence of certain characters from one story to another lends a hint of continuity, almost like a piece of music with five movements and an occasionally recurrent theme. In one story, an aging singing legend takes his beloved on a final trip […]
A Mystery Wrapped in a Theological Tour of the Gospels
As a life-long non-believer, I went into this novel with a slightly jaundiced eye. Familiar with Caldwell’s capable writing from a previous novel and intrigued by the many positive reviews, I nonetheless was wary of the strong religious context of this mystery. Unfamiliar as I am with the history of the Gospels, I wasn’t sure what to expect but I must confess (no pun intended!) that I came away with a more profound appreciation for the history of Christianity and a fair degree of satisfaction […]
Not the best in the Outlander series, but still fun
The 7th in the Outlander series, this book begins where the last ended, with the full outbreak of war between Britain and the colonies, the loss of Jaime and Claire’s new home in the Americas, and our hero’s decision to bring his nephew Ian back to Scotland while simultaneously recovering his printing press. Too old to fight for the American Revolution, Jaime plans to use the printing press to assure the outcome of the war with England while avoiding any possibility of coming face to […]
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