A Word About Awards

THE BARRACKS THIEF by Tobias Wolff   Award: PEN/Faulkner Winner 1985   Date Read: September 28, 2020   In clean and simple prose, Wolff delves into the minds of several recruits who are being trained for the Vietnam War. In a mere 100 pages, he wrestles with the ills of American society and the broader implications of a war no one wanted to fight and knew we couldn’t win. On the other side of the spectrum, we see another character, Keith, being absorbed into the counter-culture of the 60s.   The young Army recruits, Philip, Hubbard and Lewis, are faced with ambiguous instructions, blind obedience, protesters and a pervasive loneliness and desire for belonging that propels them to actions they most likely would never have taken if the circumstances were different. I have a certain amount of compassion for these young men, who try to honor the commitment they made in such an uncertain time.   In Lewis’ case, he makes a disaster of his brief military career, becoming the barracks thief, e

BLOOD TIE by Mary Lee Settle   Award: National Book Winner 1978   Date Read: September 27, 2020   The bloody hand print on the cover belies the depth and intricacy of this novel. I thought it would be about a simple murder, however, Settle’s insight into Turkish culture and the behavior of ex-pats made for a rich and engaging novel.   Essentially, Blood Tie is about a disparate group of ex-pats who descend on a small seaside town in Turkey and the impact their behavior has on the land and locals. This is a tale told globally as places that were once charming and serene are developed into unrecognizable money-making machines. The sum of these characters is unlikable; their behavior towards the locals and one another is appalling.   The American and European ex-pats all seem bored with the lives they have left behind and are searching for some way to fulfill themselves that lies anywhere but in themselves. They look to Ceramos to entertain and divert their privilege, considering themselv

ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan   Award: LA Times Winner 2002, National Book Critics Circle Winner 2002   Nominations: Booker Finalist 2001, Dublin Longlist 2003, James Tait Black Finalist 2001, NY Times Finalist 2002   Dates Read: June 1, 2005 & September 24, 2020   McEwan is a brilliant writer and it’s no wonder that Atonement received the recognition it did. Essentially, this novel is about the mistakes of youth and how they follow us into adulthood. In this case, the mistake was egregious with lasting consequences.   Briony is a precocious 13 year old who has just begun to hone her craft of writing. She lives in a largely imaginary world, and lives in a very real world of privilege and rules. She has been harboring a crush on the charwoman’s son, Robbie, who she has professed her love to.   Perhaps out of jealousy and decidedly out of a desire for drama, Briony accuses Robbie of raping her cousin. The only problem is that none of the other characters in this charade speak up in his def

THE FAMISHED ROAD by Ben Okri   Award: Booker Winner 1991   Date Read: September 19, 2020   I wanted so very much to enjoy this book but I found all 511 pages excruciating. I tend to actually like Magical Realism but for some reason, page after page, humans kept turning into animals or spirits, Azaro’s father is unhinged (yet again), and, wait for it, there’s yet another riot or party gone out of control.    After the first few pages, I was enthralled as Okri described Azaro in the spirit world and how difficult it is to agree to become incarnate. Trust me, I understand. This world is full of pain, injustice, despair, hate. But there is also beauty and love and moments of magnificence that make it all worthwhile.   I found the way the people here treated one another, particularly children appalling. Rarely did these characters offer each other compassion or even basic love. There wasn’t much for me to embrace and perhaps that’s the biggest problem. I want to hug this book and then plac

THE MAMBO KINGS PLAY SONGS OF LOVE by Oscar Hijuelos   Award: Pulitzer Winner 1990   Nominations: National Book Finalist 1989, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1989   Dates Read: February 22, 2007 & September 18, 2020   I absolutely love this novel. If someone were to ask me what it’s about, I would say love, beauty, music, living life to the fullest and a whole lotta sex. Hijuelos creates this palpable world of Cuban mambo that makes me yearn to have lived during this New York heyday.   Two brothers, Cesar and Nestor, arrive in the 1950’s New York Cuban music scene. Cesar is outgoing and gregarious, drinking everything in sight, hitting on anything with two legs and loving every minute of his prime. Nestor is much more reserved and introspective, never having recovered from a woman in Cuba who broke his heart. The two brothers could not be more different.   After Nestor dies in a questionable car accident, Cesar is left on his own, losing the tether that held him to an accoun

SEIZE THE DAY by Saul Bellow   Award: Nobel Prize Winner 1957 Nomination: National Book Finalist 1957   Date Read: September 16, 2020   Wilhelm is a man just nearing the end of his rope, a shambles of nerves and ambition. He is a perfect example of someone who never can quite pull it together, failing at just about everything he tries. As Wilhelm begins his day, he knows he is in financial trouble but he has yet to realize that this is the day it will all come crashing down.   Matching his disposition, Wilhelm is ill-kempt, leaving dust and filth in his wake. He is a disappointment to his father, his wife, his children and, ultimately, himself. He has never quite risen to the challenges required of modern men and feels the world has spurned him, even though he was raised a child of privilege.   With nothing left to spare, Wilhelm invests his last $700 with a shady fellow resident of the hotel at which Wilhelm and his father reside. This Dr. Temkin asks for and receives a power of attor

BLAME by Michelle Huneven   Nominations: Dayton Literary Peace Longlist 2010, Dublin Longlist 2011, LA Times Finalist 2009, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2009   Date Read: September 12, 2020   Blame is an easy and entertaining read but to say that it stands out in any significant way would be an overstatement. Patsy is a professor with a blackout drinking problem. On one of these blackout sessions, she runs over two people – mother and daughter Jehovah’s Witnesses- while entering her driveway. She gets shipped off the prison for two years where she is forced to become sober.   I have to pause and say that her sentence is shocking. I can guarantee that if she were not a privileged white woman, she would have had a much longer sentence. Even still, she took two lives and gets paroled after two years. I just cannot let this sink in. Further, she is returning home after a night of drinking so why would Jehovah’s Witnesses be out that late pamphleting? I find it very difficult to sw

VANISHED by Mary McGarry Morris   Nominations: National Book 1988, PEN/Faulkner 1989   Date Read: September 11, 2020   Vanished is like reading about a train wreck that you know is going to happen and you keep reading knowing it’s all going to crash. Throw in a man that is clearly cognitively impaired and a woman who is most likely mentally ill, plus one kidnapped child and there’s a recipe for disaster. And disaster is what it indeed becomes.    The premise is unique – what happens if you meet someone who’s draw has power over you in a way you can’t overcome? Aubie doesn’t mean to leave his life behind, he just gets so distracted and loses track of time. I will never understand why Dotty kidnaps the child, but she quickly learns how much work and effort raising a child is.   The entire way through my heart breaks for Canny, who has to live with these two parental figures who don’t have her best interests at heart. Sleeping in a truck, not taking her physical health seriously, not unde

THE CHANEYSVILLE INCIDENT by David Bradley   Award: PEN/Faulkner Winner 1982   Nomination: National Book Finalist 1983, NY Times Finalist 1981   Date Read: September 9, 2020   The Chaneysville Incident is a powerful novel that addresses the history of slavery and the byproducts of racism in this country. John Washington, a historian, returns home to help his childhood mentor, who is gravely ill. While his mentor dies, John is confronted with the legacy of slavery that courses through his family’s history.   The interconnectedness of each character and the dire situations they are forced to confront are tragic and abominable. I will never understand how humans could justify owning other humans or how being owned would challenge any sane human’s sense of self. It boggles the mind, yet Bradley succeeds in offering a glimpse of a variety of ways to deal with these concepts.   John’s live-in girlfriend, Judith, eventually comes to John’s childhood home, even though he had expressly insisted

THE TRANSIT OF VENUS by Shirley Hazzard   Award: National Book Critics Circle 1980   Nominations: National Book 1981 & 1982, PEN/Faulkner 1981   Date Read: September 7, 2020   The Transit of Venus follows two sisters through their lives and loves. The sisters are orphaned at a young age in Australia and eventually move to England, then to parts beyond. Hazzard weaves a beautiful tale of falling in and out of love, love being the driving force behind life.    Caroline is the more adventurous of the two, having an affair with Paul while he is engaged and then continuing again after he’s married. Ted is in love with Caroline but his love is not returned until much later in life. Caroline seems to move from relationship to relationship, loving deeply and richly, her life at its fullest when she is in a relationship with a man.   Grace is more subdued and is married to Christian at a young age and remains faithful to him throughout. She doesn’t fully experience the depths of love until

MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT by Elizabeth Taylor   Nomination: Booker 1971   Date Read: September 3, 2020   This novel is absolutely charming, yet utterly sad. In England, apparently, as one becomes single again, some are obligated to take up residence in a hotel. The hotel becomes a part of the slow cascade downward from one’s own home to a hotel occupied by other elderly people until the final rung of a nursing home. This is merely a sad progression through the various stages of disappearing. The aging process is even less civilized in the U.S. where actually having the funds necessary for these steps is hardly assured.   Mrs. Palfrey’s fate is one day changed by falling in the right place at the right time and she lands in the lap of Ludo, the grandson she actually has but his indifference precludes a relationship. Ludo becomes an enchanting friend and they fulfill needs in one another – her to save face by having a stunt-double grandson and Ludo for providing the content for his n

THE SECOND COMING By Walker Percy   Award: LA Times Winner 1980 Nominations: National Book Finalist 1981 & 1982, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 1980, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 1981   Date Read: August 31, 2020   The Second Coming was terrifically disappointing. To be honest, I couldn’t get past this novel’s gut-wrenching racism, particularly as the world is on fire from protests against police brutality (read: executions) of black lives. I would love to say we have come far since this book was written, but I believe the racism so flagrantly displayed here has just gone more underground.   The Second Coming is about two people who find a second chance at life. Both Will and Allie are in worlds of their own as they struggle with mental challenges – Allie due to mental illness; Will due to a brain lesion. The world is out of sync for both of them until they discover one another and they fit together like puzzle pieces.   Will’s journey is amplified by his realization that he hasn’t