A Word About Awards

THE COURTS OF MEMORY by Frank Rooney Nomination: National Book Finalist 1955 Date Read: March 25, 2020 The Courts Of Memory takes us back to a time I never lived in and visit the Griffith family, completely dysfunctional, completely relatable, even in the present. Focusing mainly on two of the three siblings, Dick and Brace, from their teenage years through their middle age. The relationship between these two is strange from the get-go. I found their intimacy crossing the boundaries of brother/sister appropriateness (e.g. changing in front of each other, kissing on the lips, having each other's backs more than they do their spouse's, etc.). Brace is a deeply feeling, deeply thinking and muddled character, who, I believe, is never quite certain exactly what she wants. She is continually searching but doesn't know what she's searching for. There were traces throughout that their father was slightly shady, slightly abusive but I didn't buy it. Beyond havin

ALL SOULS' RISING by Madison Smartt Bell Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1997, National Book Finalist 1995, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 1996 Date Read: March 17, 2020 I started All Souls' Rising with an open mind, interested in Haitain culture and the slave uprising. All I can say is that I endured this book. I found some parts of it fascinating, some parts so brutal I wanted to quit, and some parts confusing. At times I felt like this novel meandered to the point of pointlessness. Further impeding my enjoyment was there was no real attachment between the characters. There was some loyalty, some sex but none of the individuals displayed overt emotion. There were touching moments between fathers and children but nothing I could sink my teeth into.  The complexities of the French influence on the uprising were somewhat lost on me. Although I did appreciate that humans treated with cruelty learn to be cruel. The brutality with which the blacks treated their captured white slav

TIME OUT OF MIND by Rachel Field Award: National Book 1935 Date Read: March 13, 2020 Time Out Of Mind is a beautifully written novel that places you directly on the coast of New England. You can taste the salty air and feel the breeze blowing off the harbor. Field's prose is vivid and inviting. Kate arrives in Main at Fortune's Folly at 10 years old. The Folly and its environs become enmeshed with who she is. Growing up beside her are Rissa and Nat, companions yet not exactly peers, their power balance is off even before they recognize it themselves. Kate's mother has been hired as a housekeeper, which makes Kate, by proxy, essentially a servant's child. I found it difficult to continually experience Kate giving up everything of herself for two people who treat her as a person on the periphery. Rissa and Nat venture off to live their lives, free of the Captain's control at last, while Kate remains behind, caring for the house and those that serve it. Wh

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders Award: Booker Winner 2017 Nomination: Carnegie Finalist 2018, Center For Fiction Longlist 2017, Dublin Finalist 2019, Goodreads Finalist 2017 Date Read: March 7, 2020 Lincoln In The Bardo is written in a unique style, with a multitude of voices pondering the significance of death. Based on a historical fact, President Lincoln loses his son Willie to an illness, Saunders uses this historical moment to convey the varying responses to the permanence of losing someone dear to you. Instead of wandering away after the funeral, Lincoln returns to the crypt to hold his boy again and again, unable to let go. These scenes are heart wrenching. Behind the scenes, the cemetery is made up of a host of characters, some good, some bad, that are forced to co-exist (yes, I understand the humor in this word choice) for eternity. These souls believe they are sent to this place to recuperate from their varying illnesses and must live in their "sick

MIDDLE PASSAGE by Charles Johnson Award: National Book 1990 Nomination: National Book Critics Circle 1990 Date Read: March 3, 2020 I honestly did not expect to enjoy Middle Passage as much as I did. A black ne'er-do-well New Orleans man attempts to escape his debts and commitment to marry by stowing away on a cargo ship. The ship turns out to be far worse than the entanglements he's attempting to escape. The ship turns out to be a nightmare. First, the ship is comprised of a raggedy crew with a penchant for drinking and violence. The captain notoriously takes advantage of young deck hands for his own sexual pleasure and runs off with priceless antiquities from every port they dock. Second, the ship's main purpose is a slave ship, sent from New Orleans to Africa. Third, the ship itself is on its last legs and threatens to break apart from every gale and gust. Rutherford Calhoun, our trusty protagonist, is has burned several bridges in New Orleans and belie

THE WAY WEST by A.B. Guthrie Award: Pulitzer 1950 Date Read: April 1, 2012 & February 29, 2020 The Way West is an engaging take on the rush to settle Oregon. I am still baffled why people chose to abandon the comforts of home and pack their entire life to embark on a journey with an uncertain end. The offer of free land and the promise of natural bounty aside, the siren song of Oregon compelled these characters to do just that.  Guthrie artfully describes the beautiful landscape, the hardships they encountered along the way, the lives lost and the mile after tedious mile of a relentless journey that can be accomplished in a single day now by plane. I just cannot imagine the exhaustion, boredom and daily packing and unpacking of a wagon that serves as an entire home. Each of the characters that embarked on this journey came with their own difficulties and personalities, yet they formed a family of sorts, supporting one another along the way and taking care of their own.