Book Report April, 2024
I spent much of April writing a Bible Study through the book of Jonah. If I included all the resource books I read, this report would be far longer!
Brit Bennett (2020) The Vanishing Half [Audible]. Narrated by Shayna Small, Penguin Audio.
This book has an intriguing premise: what would happen to identical twin sisters from a town of light-skinned Black people who chose different identities: one choosing to live as white and the other deciding to reintroduce melanin-enhancement to the community through a relationship with the darkest man she can find?
That story would have been sufficient to encourage plenty of book club discussions about racism, colorism, and privilege from the 1960s to the 1990s. The author, however, decided to add a level of feminism, transgenderism, activism, and anti-capitalism to the story. All the white people in the book are racists or guilty of the colorblind fallacy. The only "good" men are either transsexual or drag queens. Wealthy people are self-centered and racist. The "good" sister returns home and ultimately sacrifices her dreams to care for her aging mother. The "vanished" sister remains lonely. It's too bad because the extra progressive points of view sideswipe the essential conflict of embracing an identity, and how those choices drive a life and impact future generations.
The narrator spoke well, although all the male characters sound the same.
Michelle McNamara (2018) I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer [Audible]. Narrated by Gabra Zimmerman, with Gillian Flynn and Patton Oswalt. HarperAudio
I remember the Golden State Killer from growing up in the Central Valley. Not well, mind you, but well enough to pick up this audiobook. The book would be better in hard copy. The narrator did an adequate job, but much of the book is transcripts of interviews and McNamara's notes. Like any investigation, this one is mostly tedium, near misses, and dead ends. Most people working the case died before Joseph James DeAngelo was identified, tried, and sentenced, including McNamara herself. It's a sad book from every angle, from the way the killer hunted his victims to the way his crimes haunted authorities.
The author died before finishing the book, so the last section was compiled by two of her associates. They clearly knew the case but did not share McNamara's obsession with it, which is probably a healthy thing. After McNamara's untimely death by prescription drug overdose (Adderall, fentanyl, and Xanax) and undiagnosed atherosclerosis, her family revealed that she was also addicted to opioids. McNamara's obsession may well have kept the story alive long enough for the rapist/murderer to be caught, but she paid a high price
Freida McFadden (2022) Never Lie [Kindle] Hollywood Upstairs Press.
This is my kind of escapist read. As with other McFadden books, I can't really say much about it because of spoilers, but this book is brilliant. I took notes as I read to track my suspicions, but my final note reads, "Did not see that coming." And then, the epilogue. Oy.
Albert Mohler (2020) The Gathering Storm. [Kindle]. Thomas Nelson.
As the current president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, I expected many of Mohler's positions on culture. I didn't expect to agree with so many of them. The theme of the book reflects what I see in the culture around me:
The secular storm we face undercuts all notions of authority, placing on the throne the subjective self -- a false notion of liberated humanity freed from the shackles of theism and biblical worldview. The gathering storm we face threatens nothing less than a regime change -- to inaugurate a new empire under the guise of human freedom and autonomy" (15).
I wrote about the dangers of this very idea in my post about dignity and death on April 9. This book was written pre-2020 (published in 2020), so a lot has changed. In some ways Mohler's projections were on target (particularly regarding family and culture) and in other ways, way off base (repercussions on Georgia after passage of the heartbeat bill.) Some of the material is dated; things change that fast. Business practices regarding LGBTQ morphed into ESG/DEI which now seems on track to become something else. Other parts of the book are more relevant now than four years ago; even Dawkins now admits that liberty is "premised upon an affirmation of human dignity and human rights that only makes sense and and only be sustained by a worldview that is based on at least an inherited Christian conception and an affirmation of natural rights" (164).
Andy Weir (2017) Artemis. [Audible] Narrated by Rosario Dawson
Weir is the master of world-building, snark, Shakespearean-level insults, and creative uses of profanity. A few of my favorite lines:
“If my neighborhood were wine, connoisseurs would describe it as “shitty, with overtones of failure and poor life decisions”
“Important note: Do not pee in a graywater-reuse shower.”
“Yes, collapse. An economy is a living thing. It's born full of vitality and dies once it's rigid and worn out. Then, through necessity, people break into smaller economic groups and the cycle begins anew, but with more economies. Baby economies, like Artemis is right now."
"Huh," I said. "And if you want to make babies, somebody's got to get f**ked.”
“I left without further comment. I didn’t want to spend any more time inside the mind of an economist. It was dark and disturbing.”
“Will you stop whining about your problems during my murder?!”
“I pulled up next to the workshop of Dad’s colleague Zsóka Stróbl, who was apparently named during a severe vowel famine.”
“It's important to vary your profanities. If you use the same one too often it loses strength.”
“Five a.m. was a largely theoretical concept to me. I knew it existed, but I rarely observed it. Nor did I want to.” SAME!
Rosario Dawson narrates brilliantly. The story doesn't pack the same punch as Hail Mary or The Martian, but with the right narrator and the perfect balance of sarcasm, I'll go along with it.
Laura Spence-Ash (2023). Beyond That, the Sea. [Kindle]. Macmillan Publishers.
It's beautifully told, but I don't know the story's purpose. Bea, a child during the London bombings of World War 2, is sent to New England for safety. She finds herself in a happy family with property off the coast of Maine. For five years, she becomes the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gregory, living a life full of adventure and memory-making as the war draws to its conclusion. At 17, she falls in love with the elder of the brothers, but he is troubled, despite movie-star good looks and an offer from Harvard that he doesn't want to take. Bea's mother, back in England, harbors guilt for sending Bea away, even though it was at Bea's father's insistence. Bea's father takes a position in a neighborhood watch for the war effort, and he exchanges letters and chess moves with Bea's American host father, Mr. G. until he dies suddenly of a heart attack in his early 50s. Bea misses the funeral (there's a war on) and responds by withdrawing for a time, talking to her father near a local chapel. Bea's mother moves, marries a much younger man, and appears to move forward. Eventually, Bea's life with the Gregory family returns to equilibrium.
Bea returns to England where she fights with her mother, takes a job at a nursery school, and struggles to be independent. She takes on a few lovers but pines away for William, the golden boy. Several years later, Mr. G. also dies young of a heart attack. Bea also misses this funeral. William, however, is on holiday with a friend, and so makes his way back to New England via London, where he and Bea reconnect long enough for him to admit he is engaged and his first child will be conveniently born prematurely, just to ensure the math works for the neighbors. Bea is crushed but carries on, stiff upper lip and all.
William marries and has two children, whom he adores, but the marriage is not happy—
And that is enough summary. The scenery is lovely, and the characters are well-rounded, especially considering how many there are in the story. But what's the purpose? There are too many scattered plotlines for a single message. If I had to decide on one, I might say that the author wanted to explore the effect of London's dispersed children in the 1940s over time and among all participants. Spence-Ash covers at least 40 years of normal family events across two countries, each affecting Bea differently. Spence-Ash includes major U.S. events: the admiration for the Kennedys, the Civil Rights movement, and desegregation, but the political events don't serve the plot in any meaningful way. More than anything, they serve to note the passage of time.
The story skips decades, which is probably good considering how many years and characters are involved. I kept waiting for the AHA moment, but the book ended at the Maine house with the family gathered for the summer. I'm sure there's a sense of what makes a home involved somewhere, but the central character, Bea, didn't seem much altered between her teen self and her mid-life self; she still had family on both sides of the pond, so, is she really home for good?
Or will she again find herself longing for more?
“Five a.m. was a largely theoretical concept to me." Haha...totally.
I was gonna ask you how you liked the Vanishing Half, but I think this review is clear lol