The Handmaid’s Tale

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by Margaret Atwood, originally published in 1985, Audiobook read by Claire Danes, released in 2012, Audible Studios

As we began listening to this audiobook, I initially didn’t think I was going to like it.  The beginning of the book is a series of short, low-key sentence fragments amid a few complete sentences.  Claire Danes, a very accomplished actor, reads the book in a very subdued voice, not generating much emotion or  excitement.  As the story unfolds, however, the mood is in keeping with the creepy dystopian society that Atwood has created.  It was a little difficult for me to piece together all the events that had occurred as there are many flashbacks, but eventually the full picture comes together.  When it does, it is horrifying.

Many years ago we had listened to an audiobook that Margaret Atwood had authored.  I believe it was The Blind Assassin but I don’t remember the story.  What I do remember is the excellent command of the English language that Atwood displayed in that novel.  I often thought I should partake of another of her works, but I felt that the themes of some of her books were either too depressing or too fantastical.

Lately, there has been renewed interest in  The Handmaid’s Tale due to the release of her sequel,  The Testaments, so I decided to pick up it up so we could listen to it in the car on our trip.  I later discovered from an article in my college alumni magazine that there is a TV series on Hulu (which we don’t get) that is written and produced by Bruce Miller, a Brown University graduate.  The article also indicated that some of the renewed interest is related to our current political environment which some feel is beginning to feel like a dystopia.

In contrast to my previous experience with one of Atwood’s novels, when I was impressed with the writing, in the case of the  Handmaid’s Tale, I was mostly impressed with the story itself and the world that Atwood creates.  The book definitely lends itself to a sequel as it left so many questions unanswered in the end.  I look forward to reading  The Testaments.4.0 stars

The Last Days of Night: A Novel

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by Graham Moore, 20167, Kindle Version, Random House LLC

This is an interesting book as it depicts the war between George Westinghouse and Thomas Edison over the future distribution of electricity.  We all know that Westinghouse’s system won in the end and we use alternating current instead of Edison’s direct current plan.  This book is a fictional account of how the war was fought and the central character is a young lawyer that Westinghouse hired to defend him against Edison’s lawsuits.

The story is interesting and the book is well-written.  At the end of the book, however, there are voluminous nn otes that describe every deviation in the novel from what actually occurred.  I was amazed at how much Moore altered the facts, even to the extent of altering the timeline when various things occurred.  There didn’t seem to be a reason for many of the alterations other than fitting the events into the timeline of his story.  It seems to me that an equally interesting story could easily have been told without nearly as much alteration from true historical facts.  After I put down the novel I wondered a bit if I had read either a gigantic conspiracy theory or an outright hoax.

Another questionable aspect of the novel was the totally negative portrayal of Edison.  I have visited the Edison Museum in Fort Meyers twice and walked away with the impression that Edison was a pretty amazing individual.  This book portrayed him pretty much as a greedy, low-down thief.  While the Edison Museum might stretch a bit far on putting Edison on a pedestal, I still think my opinion leans toward their portrayal versus what I read in the novel.3.5 stars

The Invisible Bridge

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by Julie Orringer, 2010, Kindle Edition, Random House LLC

I read this book while on vacation overseas when I had some long airplane flights to read it.  It is a long, long book (786 pages).  I think it would have taken me many more weeks if I hadn’t had the time to kill on the flights (the movie selections weren’t that great).

The book proceeds at a somewhat slow, but reasonable pace.  The author does a great job with the characters, particularly the main character, Andras, who, at the beginning of the book, is young and somewhat foolish.  Events transpire so that, by the end of the book, he has developed into an entirely different person.  The book starts out in Hungary prior to WWII and proceeds until the end of the war with devastating accuracy in accord with the actual history of the times.  The author did a great job in researching the events and places that surround the story and that is perhaps the most outstanding aspect of her writing.

The book does require some patience on the part of the reader, particularly in the first half of the book as the author sets the tone for the book.  I am glad that I read it and even somewhat happier that I finished it. 4.0 stars

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption

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By Bryan Stephenson, 2014, Speigel and Grau

This is the story of a young man who founded a non-profit organization in Atlanta to fight for overturning prison sentences for individuals who were unfairly convicted or sentenced in the South.  The book relates many instances where the justice system failed because the police, court system or the prison system was focused on getting a conviction and sentence rather than meting out proper justice.

There are many cases in the book where the individuals affected weren’t entirely blameless, but the system, because of racial bias and community pressure, ignored the facts of the case and proceeded to obtain a conviction and also subsequently ignored facts to grant an appeal.  The author also provides statistics and numerous instances where juveniles were given unduly harsh sentences.

The book provides numerous instances that should cause the reader to respond with outrage.  It’s unfortunate that in today’s world these situations are mostly ignored as there is so much injustice that it makes it difficult to fully engage with these situations unless someone close has been affected.

This book is definitely worth reading to understand the extent of the abuse that our justice system can impose on individuals in our society.3.5 stars

The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism

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By John U. Bacon, audiobook narrated by Johnny Heller, 2017, Harper Collins Publisher

This is a detailed account of the disaster that occurred in 1917 when a ship, loaded with ammunition to be sent to Europe, blew up in Halifax Harbor, killing about 4,000 people.

I wasn’t aware of this event so it was interesting to hear the story. I was surprised at the level of support and disaster relief that the City of Boston provided and that Halifax in thanks has sent a Christmas tree for display on Boston Common every year since the mid-1970’s.

The book goes into great detail regarding the stories of many individuals who were impacted by this disaster. While this level of detail seems too much at times, it helps relate how so many of the residents were affected. The book also analyzes the factors that led up to the explosion and how the results could have been prevented.

The narration of the audiobook was well done. I believe that the author is a great supported of Canada and I felt that the narrator conveys the same spirit.

Overall, I am glad I listened to this as it gave me an appreciation of the ties that bind our two countries, but I am not sure I would enthusiastically recommend the book to others. 3 stars

Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past

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by David Riech, 2018, Vintage Books, A Division of Penguin Random House, New York

This is a totally fascinating book about a subject I knew very little.  This is not to say that I didn’t know anything about DNA; it’s rather that I didn’t know anything about the research being done on ancient DNA whole genome and what the implications are.  I was amazed at the sheer volume of tests that are being conducted on DNA of individual remains that are thousands of years old.  The book outlines how these ancient DNA data are extracted and how they are compared to the DNA data that is being collected from current populations around the world.

In addition to learning about the origins and migrations of “modern” humans, I learned about what these finding might tell us about our behavior.  For example, the author has a whole chapter devoted to “The Genomics of Inequality” which sheds some light on the prevalence of misogamy in our current society. He also provides some background on the prohibition of Native American Indian tribes to undergo DNA testing as evidenced in Elizabeth Warren’s can of worms she experienced when she had her DNA tested to prove Native American ancestry.  Reich also has something to say about the political pushback he has experienced when he has shared the results of his research when that information suggests there may be genetic differences between the races.

Much of this book is not easy to follow, however. In fact, I totally missed most of the math and logic of how the DNA is analyzed. I even attempted to read and reread some of these passages several times but to no avail.  I even hesitate recommending this book to some other individuals as I fear they may no longer wish to include me in their close friends.  Nevertheless, I am glad I persevered through the entire book, even though I may have understood less than half of its contents.  As the author pointed out, this is just the beginning of the eventual knowledge that testing of ancient DNA can uncover.  It will be interesting to see what else comes of it in the future.3.5 stars

Warlight: A Novel

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by Michael Ondaatje, narrated by Steve West, 2018, Random House Audio

This is a story about a young after World War II in England who does not know why his mother and father abandoned him during the War.  He gradually comes to understand that his mother was engaged in the intelligence service during the war and this is what took her away from her family.  She made every attempt to protect her children but she was eventually found out after the war and murdered.

The book tends to meander about but the author manages to pull the disparate parts together at the end.  It was okay to listen to but I didn’t think it was really special. 2 1/2 stars

Bear Town

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by Fredrik Backman, 2016, Washington Square Press

This book is supposedly about a small hockey town in Sweden, but it’s much more than that.  It is about how groups and families interact with one another when something really bad happens.  It’s about self-interest, pride, avarice, and basically how people are.

I won’t get into what transpires in this novel, but I will focus on the construction of the story and the writing.  It’s extremely slow at the beginning as Backman introduces the characters and describes the setting.  He uses a great deal of the book to develop the characters and set the stage for what occurs later in the book.  There is a large cast of characters and he devotes quite a few pages in developing each of them.  I liked some of the characters and detested others but there were also some surprising aspects to some of them.  There were situations where some of the characters where conflicted because of the choices they were faced with

The book, fortunately, picks up the pace later in the book and takes the reader all the way to the surprise ending. I would recommend the book to everyone, but especially if you have ever lived in a small town that’s nuts about hockey. 4 stars

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love

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by Dani Shapiro, 2019, Knopf

The subject of this book is the author’s discovery, via a DNA test, that the person she thought was her father was not, in fact, her biological father. Through research she finds her real biological father who, it turns out, is a sperm donor, and that she was conceived through artificial insemination. This discovery creates a huge identity crisis for her as she was brought up as an Orthodox Jew and her biological father is not Semitic.

The subject of this book is extremely interesting to me as I know individuals who have experienced similar situations (although not exactly the same). I have a distant cousin whose father is Jewish and her mother converted to Judaism. She has a family tree that is both Jewish and non-Jewish branches. I don’t know her well but it seems she is totally comfortable with her Jewish faith and heritage as well as that of her non-Jewish relatives. I suspect that some of Dani Shapiro’s identity crisis stems from the fact that she is no longer practicing her Jewish faith, but her upbringing is strongly embedded in the traditions of that faith and culture. I plan to contact my distant cousin to see if she has any insights regarding this book and the fact that she stems from both traditions but doesn’t seem to have the same problems reconciling the two cultures. It’s obviously not the same situation, but there may be something to glean from my relation.

I have a first cousin who is not a blood relative, but is adopted. She recently discovered her biological parents through an Ancestry.com DNA test. She, like Dani Shapiro, has begun to establish a relationship with her biological family and, for the most part, it seems like a rewarding effort. I will also check in with her to see if she has read the book and can offer any insights.

Lastly, I know another person who discovered that she is the result of a relationship that her mother had with another man and that she is not the offspring of the man she thought was her father. She has expressed the same shock and feelings as the author felt upon making the discovery. Unlike Dani Shapiro, however, she has not revealed this information to her biological relatives nor has she attempted to contact them. She has also experienced some of the same feelings of not belonging to her family while growing up as well as feeling that her whole life was a lie.

While all three of the above situations are not exactly like the author’s situation, the book provided a lot of context to what an individual might feel going through this discovery. In an age of DNA technology that was never anticipated by previous generations, there are more and more similar situations that are occurring and will likely occur in the future.

I thought the book was well written, although it was very repetitious as the author came back over and over again to the same theme … primarily her struggle to determine her identity and the emotional toil it was taking. Some of her problem, I think, was her difficulty in coming to terms with her Jewishness. She was raised in this culture with a strong relationship to her Orthodox Jewish non-biological father. Her biological mother was also Jewish. Acceptance of her Jewish faith and heritage (despite having a non-Jewish biological father) would, I feel, go a long way in helping her resolve her identity. 3 stars

The Chessmen: The Lewis Trilogy

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by Peter May, 2016, Quercus, Reprint Edition

This is the final novel in The Lewis Trilogy which is a series of mysteries that occur on the Isle of Lewis in the Hebrides.  This book is perhaps not quite as good as the other two, but it is still a good story.  May’s descriptive passages are poetic and his characters are very well developed.  This book lags a bit in places and is not as suspenseful as the other two.  It, however, seems to provide a bit more history and background of the island than the other two.  If you have read the other two, it is almost mandatory that you finish up with this one. 3.5 stars