A Word About Awards

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson   Award: PEN/Faulkner Winner 1995 Nomination: Dublin Longlist 1996   Date Read: September 3, 2021   I remember long ago watching the film they made of this book and being mesmerized. The book is just as beautiful and since I don’t remember the film all that well, even better. Guterson is able to captivate all your senses from the snow softly falling, to the smell of wet cedar, to the mist that surrounds their island, to the taste of ripened strawberries. All of this adds up to perfection.   Ishmael and Hatsue unexpectedly and scandalously fall in love just before the beginning of WWII. Ishmael knows better than to associate with a Japanese girl and vice versa. The Japanese in the U.S. are notoriously deprived of rights (e.g. not able to own land, to vote, to marry anyone other than a Japanese, etc.) and their situation is made all the more precarious once Pearl Harbor is bombed. From there, Hatsue’s life goes from bad to worse...

INDEPENDENCE DAY by Richard Ford Awards: PEN/Faulkner Winner 1996, Pulitzer Winner 1996 Nominations: Dublin Longlist 1997, National Book Critics Circle 1995, NY Times Finalist 1995 Dates Read:  February 21, 2009 & July 22, 2020 In Independence Day, we see Frank Bascombe move from his "Fugue Period" to his "Existence Period." Yet, he still remains for me the shallowest deep character I've ever encountered. For all his attempts to "be", Frank still maintains a laissez-faire attitude about his relationships, just letting them play out how they will. He fluctuates from minute-to-minute ready to jump in with both feet to rationalizing why the relationship is doomed to failure. The hardest part is watching this behavior with his son. Frank has such a hard time being real with his son, Paul. They use humor and innuendo to communicate but cannot lay their feelings bare. I think Paul is hungering for real human connection and wants to relate to his father a...

CALL ME ZEBRA by Azareen Van Der Vliet Oloomi Award: PEN/Faulkner Winner 2019 Nomination: PEN/Open Book Longlist 2019 Date Read: April 16, 2020 For those that loved this book, I get why you loved it. For those who hated this book, I get why you hated. Unfortunately, I find myself in the latter camp. Call Me Zebra is at times touching but it's mired in prevention, madness and condescension. I wanted so much to identify with Zebra and find compassion for her but could never quite identify with her. Zebra, having been told that the only safe and solid place to exist is within the confines of literature. This belief isolates and alienates her from forming relationships and she exists in the world only through her thoughts. When she meets Ludo Bembo, she refuses to let him really "in" and treats with disdain. When he leaves her for the first time, she realizes he is the only thing truly anchoring her to the world. Zebra has no true sense of self. She is unable to ...

THE MARCH by E.L. Doctorow Awards: National Book Critics Circle 2005, PEN/Faulkner 2006 Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2007, LA Times Finalist 2005, National Book Finalist 2005, Pulitzer Finalist 2006 Date Read: June 4, 2019 The March follows the Union Army during the Civil War, as they march through the south, gaining displaced slaves, prisoners of war, and service members as they go. As time progresses, the march almost becomes an organism unto itself, ever growing and ever moving forward, self-healing and marching toward an uncertain end. As with all human constructs, the march is comprised of noble acts and the worst humanity has to offer. Through Doctorow's brilliant storytelling and ability to construct vivid realities nearly a century after they occur, we are reminded of the waste that is war - waste of property, waste of life and waste of spirit. War has a tendency to place people's morals on pause and the most egregious behavior becomes accepted, if not just...