Great Young Adult Read For All Ages

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was a really excellent book that I highly recommend. It was very real, and I loved the author's note at the end:

"This is meant to be a historical note, and it pains me to admit that Code Name Verity is fiction--that Julie Beaufort-Stuart and Maddie Brodatt are not actually real people, but merely products of my adventure-obsessed brain."

This book is not just about these two women and their friendship, but also about the role women played in the war. It's not just about the role women played in the war, but about doing the hard, but right thing (something that is sadly lacking in our society today). It is also a story about mixed identities and loyalty. It's about Cruelty and Courage, and yes, I mean to capitalize those words.

I read Code Name Verity twice, and it is reluctantly on it's way to the library now.

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Family: Do We Know the Real Story?

Three Daughters by Consuelo Saah Baehr
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book, covering three generations of mothers and daughters. It covers as well, an expanse of history highlighting the changes and choices that women have encountered over the years.

This book surprised me in the experiences that each of the women faced. In my limited experiences with women from the Arab Palestinian culture I pictured the women as being more submissive, more restricted . . . more, cautious I guess. This is not the case with the three women in this story. Miriam, Nadia and Nijmeh each have their own story to tell.

Miriam is strong, traditional, smart, and enticed by the opportunities that wars (yes, multiple) bring to her as a woman in her country. Although her marriage is arranged, she and her husband form a marriage partnership that works for them. Even so, Miriam falls in love with another man and begins a relationship that could put her in real danger. She knows, however, that she can never, or will never, leave her husband. Eventually, she will come to realize that she deeply loves him.

Nadia, Miriam's daughter, is rebellious. Conventional marriages and the conventional life are not for her. She resists the arranged marriage her parents desire for her, and would rather be out riding horses than living out the traditional role a woman plays in her tribe. Nadia falls in love with an older man, but is tricked into a marriage with a person from her tribe and culture. She soon realizes that Samir loves her, and she loves him too. The only thing lacking in their relationship is children. Nijmeh,their daughter, ends up being their only child.

Nijmeh's story was my favorite. She is innocent and naive, but at the same time tough and smart. In preparation for her role as next in line when the Sheikh, her father dies, she learns to live on her own in the desert. Her father wants her to learn to love the land and traditions of her family. Nijmeh also falls in love, but her father disapproves and intervenes. Through a controlled circumstance, Nijmeh ends up marrying a doctor whose family is from her tribe, and then moves to America. Once Nijmeh is in America,we begin to see the real Nijmeh emerge.

The story of each of the daughters is different than the story that their families know. I enjoyed how the author allowed us to see what other characters in the book were thinking. Some of the descriptive paragraphs were a little long for me, but overall I really enjoyed this book.

Love shines through in the end, because family is, after all, more about heart than blood. The ending, which highlights this thought, was perfect!  



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Never Home: A Fitting Title

Neverhome by Laird Hunt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Death was the underclothing we all wore."

I wonder if soldiers everywhere have this feeling tugging at their souls? War, and stories of war, never seem to go away.

Neverhome is a civil war story, told from the perspective of a woman soldier, who goes by the name of Ash Thompson. Ash left her husband home to take care of the farm, saying she was the better shot, and therefore the more logical one to fight.

I want to say, that as a woman, there is no sense in that to me. However, that is clearly not the case of the 700 or so women who fought in the civil war, and the women that fight in the military today.

Ash is very pragmatic about her duties, and about what has to be done to win the war. She's clever about hiding her femininity, and poignant in her thoughts about the husband she left behind.

As in all wars, there are sights and sounds never to be forgotten. The memories seem to weave their way into the bones of the survivors, and how they live normal lives after serving their countries is something that is beyond my capability of understanding.

How is it that civil war stories, which seem to be the war stories I read, are also strangely beautiful in language and thought? I found this to be true for this story as well, and when reviewers say a story has fiercely gorgeous prose, who can resist picking it up? Perhaps it is true, as a character in the story states

"You say something one way instead of the other often enough and maybe the thing quits crawling into your bed with you and stroking its claws at your cheek."

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Speak or Stay Silent

The Plum Tree by Ellen Marie Wiseman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"For seventeen-year old Christine Bolz,the war began with a surprise invitation to the Bauerman's holiday party."

This isn't as much a story of love, as of grit. Webster defines grit as mental toughness and courage, traits that Christine exhibits throughout the book. Yes, she loves too, deeply loves, but courage and grit are necessary to survival.

Do you ever wonder, what you would have done had you lived in war torn Germany during the holocaust? Would you have hidden a Jew in your attic? Would you have spoken against the injustice being done to your Jewish neighbors? What about your disabled neighbor, or the gypsy? Would you have said, this is wrong? Would you have stayed silent to protect your family?

Although I would like to think I would have the courage to speak out, I think I would have stayed silent. Why? to stay under the radar. Because, there is always the fear, if you speak out, your family would be harmed, perhaps even killed.

The story of Christine and Isaac will will make you ponder these questions.

We are so quick to judge other people's actions, but fear, whether out of intimidation or the desire to protect, can make us respond in unjust ways.

For me, I am not only pondering those questions for Holocaust times, but for these times. As ISIS is intimidating and killing to expand their power and territories, where will people get the courage to resist?

In a recent news story, a villager who had welcomed ISIS into their village, did so because he thought they would improve things. Evil came disguised as Hope.

Christine is aware, throughout the story, that how she chooses to react will affect not just her, but her family. Sometimes, her sense of justness, or rightness, has her acting impulsively, and there are consequences. Sometimes, as she ponders a situation, she agonizes over the thought that she may put her family in danger. Sometimes, she lies, in order to survive.

There are many stories about the holocaust, and many of them are very good. I can't really say I enjoyed this story, because it seemed full of truth to me, and truth is very hard. People were treated cruelly. People did things they would never  normally do to survive. I felt this book was written in a way that made that very clear, and that is what made this story valuable to me.


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Nuclear Poetry?

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is not a feel good book, but you will learn a lot about nuclear waste and meltdowns, and you may feel a renewed interest to visit Emily Dickenson's poetry. One of the more interesting facts was that you can sing her poem's to the Gilligan's Island tune.

This story kept me wondering where it was going. I like that in a book--I don't want to be able to anticipate the plot, and the author did a good job keeping that wondering factor alive.

The main character, Emily is writing the story, and although you can easily follow the story line, she does jump around in time. Emily is smart, but, like many teens, makes some bad choices. She is a survivor, and pragmatic about her situation. I don't think I can say that Emily is hopeful about her situation, but she is a survivor all the same.

I really enjoyed how the author wove the Dickenson poems throughout the novel, and the thoughts that the main character Emily had about them. I am intrigued to learn more about Emily Dickenson's life, and to revisit her poetry.

For me, the best books are those that have a compelling story, but still teach us something,or compel us to learn more. This story accomplished those traits for me.



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A Swashbuckling Pirate Tale

Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you want a swashbuckling tale similar to The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo, then you should like this book. I enjoy the writing style of books published in earlier eras, and am always struck by how much more sophisticated the language was. I needed a dictionary for words such as this: pusillanimity (lack of courage), depredations(plundering), execration (great loathing) and invidious (act or situation likely to incur resentment). For years, when I've read books, I just inferred the meaning of words with the story--who wants to take the time to look them up in the dictionary? However, the kindle has changed all that for me, and I love being able to find the exact meaning with the touch of a finger.

Peter Blood has been unjustly accused of murder and ordered to hang. Fate intervenes, and instead he is sent to an island in Barbados as a slave. As a physician, Peter fares better than most, but, when freedom comes in the form of capturing and commanding a Pirate ship, he takes it. Although Captain Blood is a pirate, he gains a certain respect for the way he and his men treat the crews of the vessels he captures. Peter is always mindful of his behavior, and how it might appear to a certain lady he holds in high regard.

This was a fun story, and as stated earlier, I enjoyed the language and the setting. It was a nice escape during a rainy afternoon.


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An Enticing Prequel to a New Jodi Picoult Novel

Larger Than Life by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novella was sad, but interesting.

As always Jodi Picoult has done her research, and woven a story into the facts. The story weaves between a researcher (Alice), an elephant calf (Lesego)and Alice's relationship with her mother. You will flip between present time (Alice in Africa researching elephants) and past time (Alice's memories of growing up with her mother). There are some nice connections between elephant memory and human relationship.

You will learn so much about elephants while reading the novella. It was really very fascinating, but also so sad how we disrespect the animal kingdom for the sake of greed.

A favorite passage comes from a reflection Alice has on motherhood, which is oh so true for young mother's everywhere:

"There is a reason people say being a mother is the hardest job in the world: You do not sleep and you do not get vacation time. You do not leave your work on your desk at the end of the day. Your briefcase is your heart, and you are rifling through it constantly. Your office is as wide as the world, and your punch card is measured not in hours but in a lifetime."

I was in the mood for a brief, but interesting read, and this fit the bill.

I will be looking forward to the sequel Leaving Time: A Novel.



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