The Book of Lies

There are lots of different kinds of lies–half lies, lies of omission, living a lie, lying to yourself, downright lying through your teeth and everything in between. Every lie contains a secret, every secret is a burden, and when you live on a tiny island like Guernsey in the Channel Islands, the truth is bound to rear its ugly head sooner or later.

Fifteen-year-old Cat Rozier begins her story by revealing that she has killed her friend/enemy/object of obsession, mean girl Nicolette. Cat is top of the class smart, but not pretty or “cool” and so is very flattered when beautiful and popular Nic befriends her. Cat’s father has recently died and her mother buries herself in work and reading; Cat is ripe for the picking by anyone wanting to take advantage of her vulnerabilities.

There is another story here of the German occupation of Guernsey during the Second World War. Alternating chapters tell the story of Charlie Rozier, Cat’s father’s brother, who was about Cat’s age during the German occupation and also was involved with a conniving “friend” who came to mean disaster for Charlie and his family. Both stories involve isolation of young people from their families, as well as a lot of deceit among the adults in their lives.

Author Mary Horlock lived in Guernsey as a child; the historical facts about the island are fascinating, as its occupation was pretty much ignored by the British government and the Germans could do as they liked, resulting in much hardship for the natives. Also interesting is the use of many words in Guernsey patois, derived from French and, according to Horlock, a language that divided the young and old and was used by the islanders during the German occupation because the Germans could not understand it.

I had to fight to keep Nic as my special friend, and I had Lisa, Anne-Marie, and Shelley all yap-yap-yapping at my heels. Even Vicky wanted in. I always felt outnumbered. After the War was over the Channel Islanders were heavily criticised for not resisting the Germans. The thing is, people never realise how many Germans there were on the Island. In occupied Norway there were about 1,200 Norwegians for every German occupier, and in France there were 120 French people to each German. In Guernsey the ration was almost one to one! There was nowhere to hide or run to, and who was to know it wouldn’t stay like that forever?

–cary

The Art of Fielding

After years of trying to get me to be as avid a baseball fan as he is, my husband was pleased to see me reading The Art of Fielding. There’s a lot more than baseball in this intelligent and absorbing novel, but don’t tell him that! The Art of Fielding is the story of Henry Skrimshander, whose remarkable talent as a shortstop catches the eye of college sophomore, Mike Schwartz. Mike gets Henry into his small Michigan school, Westish College, and proceeds to turn the scrawny young man into a promising athlete with potential in the major leagues. But Henry’s bright future is destroyed at the top of the ninth by one flukish throw to first base that ends up hitting his roomate Owen in the dugout.

In Chad Harbach’s debut novel, baseball  is the vehicle for exploring the journeys that young adults–as well as older ones– must make in finding their way in the world: dedication and purpose, getting outside of oneself, exploring new paths and taking chances. Played through a handful of characters who help and hinder one another along the way, and with ample references to the type of philosphical and literary works that only college students and teachers remember, The Art of Fielding is both highly readable and entertaining.

Henry played shortstop, only and ever shortstop–and the most demanding spot on the diamond. More ground balls were hit to the shortstop than to anyone else, and then he had to make the longest throw to first. He also had to turn double plays, cover second on steals, keep runners on second from taking long leads, make relay throws from the outfield. Every Little League coach Henry had ever had took one look at him and pointed toward right field or second. Or else the coach didn’t point anywhere, just shrugged at the fate that had assigned him this pitiable shrimp, this born benchwarmer.

Bold nowhere else in his life, Henry was bold in this: no matter what the coach said, or what his eyebrows expressd, he would jog out to shortstop, pop his fist into Zero’s pocket, and wait. If the coach shouted at him to go to second base, or right field or home to his mommy, he would keep standing there, blinking and dumb, popping his fist. Finally someone would hit him a grounder, and he would show what he could do.

–cary

Working in the Shadows: A year of doing the jobs (most) Americans won’t

Author Gabriel Thompson spent 2 months working at each of 3 jobs that are generally held by immigrants: in the lettuce fields in Arizona, in a poultry processing plant in Alabama, and as a bicycle delivery person for a Manhattan restaurant.

The first obstacle he had to overcome was getting hired. Employers seemed confused that a young white man would, for no apparent reason, want to work in any of these positions. Thompson toils, mostly alongside Hispanic immigrants, in some of the most grueling, physically demanding jobs around. Pay is low, benefits are nonexistent, and supervisors often demanding and unfair. Workers are stuck doing whatever they can in order to survive; there are no options. Yet these jobs are the very backbone of the American food industry and touch on the everyday life of each of us.

What Thompson points out in his book is the dangers of unregulated work places, where employers can treat their laborers however they like–workers have no recourse and are easily replaceable. Whether those employees are undocumented immigrants or U.S. citizens, the problem remains. What also struck me was that the many problems with factory farms, as expounded in Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals, is underlined in Thompson’s book as well.

The break room is mostly empty, but I notice Ben sitting alone in a corner booth. We’re both struck by how disorganized everything seems to be. Like me, Ben has been hired for one department (debone), transferred to another (DSI), and then relocated once more, with unclear instructions along the way. He doesn’t even know the name of the department that he’s in. “Whatever it is, they have me standing and watching chickens go by.”

“That’s it?” I ask. “Are you suppposed to do anything?”

“Uh, I think like maybe they said to look for mold.”

“Mold? The chickens have mold?”

“Not yet anyway. I haven’t seen any. I’m looking for green stuff.”

“And if they have mold, what do you do?”

“I dunno.” Ben pushes his sliding glasses up, beginning to look concerned. “I hope that’s what I heard. I’m pretty sure somebody said something about mold.” He looks at his watch and stands up. “I gotta go.”

–cary

Man In The Woods

Sometimes a single moment in our lives– a loss of control, a blinding passion, a second when that part of ourselves we hadn’t known existed erupts in violence–changes not only the course of our lives but our whole perception of ourselves and the world. Paul Phillips has such a moment one day in the woods, when he attacks a man who is beating a dog; now his life will never be the same.

Paul is a good and decent man. He lives with Kate Ellis and her daughter Ruby. Kate is a recovering alcoholic who has used her experiences in overcoming her addiction to write a book, “Praying Well With Others”, which has become a blockbuster inspirational title; meanwhile, daughter Ruby is increasingly showing signs of mental disorder. The murder of the man in the woods casts an ominous shadow on the lives of this loving family as they wait, not knowing whether Paul will be discovered–and Paul wondering if he should turn himself in.

Author Scott Spencer is a wonderful writer, with multi-faceted characters whose sincerity and introspection are refreshing. Questions of guilt and punishment, good and evil, faith and religion abound; Spencer’s characters ask the questions but leave it to the reader to find the answers– if there are answers.

In this, her religious forties, she has sometimes agonized over why people of advanced intelligence often do not believe there is a supreme being, why it is they, and not the high-school dropouts, who are the ones to insist that logic and all the available proof show that religion is a compendium of rumors and fables and outright bullshit strung together by committees of ancient sun-baked men deprived of all scientific knowledge. Kate has sometimes despaired that the average intelligence in the nation of nonbelievers is drastically higher than the intelligence in the devout community; surely a convention of atheists would be able to run intellectual circles around the membership of most churches. Yet if Christ and his message are real, then the dumbbells win and the chrome domes lose.

Man in the Woods is a downloadable ebook on our North Texas Libraries on the Go site, and can be read on your computer, mobile device, or e-reader, including the Nook and Kindle.

–cary

Eating Animals

Jonathan Safran Foer is one of my favorite authors. I loved his other two books, Everything is Illuminated and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. By the way, please read the latter book first if you’re planning to see the coming movie. The movie has not gotten great reviews but I was very impressed with the book!

Eating Animals begins with Foer talking about family culture and food. Food, and especially meat, is so ingrained in our traditions and customs that is seems almost sacriligeous–and certainly un-American–to not eat meat. The book is his journey to come to a philosophical, political and moral stance on meat eating, both as an ethical matter and as a matter of ecology–the health of the planet and everyone on it.

Foer’s research is extensive, including visiting factory farms (at times in the dead of the night , as they are not usually open to visitors) as well as visiting the increasingly hard to find traditional farmers and ranchers. The list of disturbing findings is very long, but, to mention only a few, Foer found that tha vast majority of animals bred for consumption were genetically malformed, routinely fed antibiotics, kept in cramped, unsanitary conditions, abused, degraded and cruelly slaughtered. Why should this concern us? Apart from the horrors of these animals’ lives, factory farming is a major contributor to global warming and pandemic disease.

I’ve been a vegetarian for most of my life–a personal decision that I haven’t tried to force on others (although after reading this, my family may be on their own for buying and cooking meat!) I do think, however, that it’s important for people to know exactly where their food comes from, how it gets to their plates, and what impact this will ultimately have on their lives and the lives of their children and grandchildren.  Eating Animals is not a pleasant book, but one that anyone who eats should read in order to make informed decisions about what they consume and serve to their families.

“The worst it got was near the end. A lot of people died right at the end, and I didn’t know if I could make it another day. A farmer, a Russian, God bless him, he saw my condition, and he went into his house and came out with a piece of meat for me.”

“He saved your life.”

“I didn’t eat it.”

“You didn’t eat it?”

“It was pork, I wouldn’t eat pork.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

“What, because it wasn’t kosher?”

“Of course.”

“But not even to save your life?”

“If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save.”

–cary

The Litigators

Everyone loves John Grisham. For one thing, it’s fascinating to see how the legal system works–or doesn’t work–in this country. The bad guys, whether they are sleazy lawyers, corporate bigwigs or corrupt politicians, usually get their due. In The Litigators, a couple of ambulance chasers and their associate who has gone AWOL from a large, prosperous and demanding law firm, are way over their heads in a lawsuit against a huge pharmaceutical company. 

The law firm of Finley & Figg resides on a busy intersection, where the sound of an automobile accident sends the staff running out to the street to drum up business. When Wally Figg hears about potential problems with the cholesterol medication, Krayoxx, he jumps at the chance to sign up Krayoxx victims  and their families for what he believes is everyone’s chance at the big money. As you might expect, it’s a lot harder than any of Finley & Figg’s attorneys envisioned to fight  a drug giant successfully.

Grisham has fun with his lawyers in this novel, both the quirky, incompetent, seat-of-their-pants type like F & F, and the polished,  confident, overworked $500 an hour type. He also pokes a bit of fun at expert witnesses, federal judges, and clients who dream of getting something for nothing.

The two lawyers were sitting in the car talking, as if they did not want to get out. Only a couple of FBI agents in black suits and a black sedan could have been more conspicuous.

“So, why are we here?” David asked.

“Krayoxxx, my friend, Krayoxx. I want to talk to Iris and see if by chance Percy had been on the drug when he died. If so, then voilà! We have another Krayoxx case, worth somewhere between two and four mill. Any more questions?”

Oh, dozens of questions. David’s mind was spinning as he realized they were abou to cold-call Ms. Klopeck to inquire about her dead husband.

–cary

Guilt by Association

Prosecutor Rachel Knight is pretty shaken when her friend and close associate Jake is found dead in a seedy motel with an unfortunate young man, seemingly a murder-suicide situation. Rachel is warned off getting involved in the case by her superiors, so she and her detective friend Bailey have to do a lot of sneaking around to find out what was really going on. Meanwhile, she’s put on one of Jake’s old cases, the rape of a prominent physician’s daughter in her home. As she delves deeper into both cases and into the seedy side of L.A., Rachel fears not only for her job, but also for her life.

Author Marcia Clark–yes, the Marcia Clark of O.J. Simpson fame–obviously has a lot of experience dealing with criminals. Her first novel, however, is actually a light and droll mystery rather than a legal thriller, revolving around tough but likeable women who can wisecrack with the best of them. I suppose lawyers do have to be able to write, and Clark has shown she can write a fast-paced, intriguing story as well as  she can write a legal brief.

“So you kidnapped a DA,” I said, “in order to explain that?”

His brow wrinkled in consternation. “What was I gonna do? Walk into the cop shop, tell ‘em I didn’t rape that girl? What you think they gonna say? ‘Oh, sorry, man, have a nice day’? You and I both know it don’t work like that.”

I looked at him, my eyes narrowed. He twisted around to face me full on and continued.

“They throw me in the slammer first, ax questions later. Then I sit there and rot while they drag their feet checkin’ out my story. Meantime, someone else moves in on my turf. Or I get shanked by some Peckerwood or Crip in the joint.” He paused, giving me time to absorb the intricacies of his dilemma.

I said nothing, but I privately figured he was “prally” right.

–cary