The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman

April's mid-week meeting was held at Diana's home.  We were all treated to a staple part of the local culinary heritage of many Eastern and Central European nations including Poland, the setting of our book: Borscht.  I must admit that I have wanted to try borscht for some time now since reading a magazine article in which this red soup was so positively shared.  I was not disappointed!  It is a most pleasant tasting soup with beets, cabbage, potatoes, red wine vinegar, tomatoes and chicken.  Healthy, delicious, and apt to be recreated in my own kitchen sometime soon. Along with the borscht, we enjoyed deviled eggs, multi-grain bread, fresh fruit and chocolate dessert.  We also delighted in Diana's creative inclusion of the book title through her decorated lunch table -- animal cookies scattered around the tablecloth!

Synopsis:
Antonina Zabinski and her husband, Jan, are the zookeepers for the Warsaw Zoo when Germany invades their country and city in 1939.  Despite the loss of their beloved animals, the Zabinskis continue to protect what they can while living at their villa inside the zoo, which includes not only a handful of animals but many Jews.  Through Jan's work with the Underground, the zookeeper and his wife manage to save over 300 lives during World War II, including their own.

Comments:
As a whole we agreed that this story gave a different, or perhaps more indepth look, at the strength and organization of the Polish Resistance.  By the author's account, it would appear that much more of Warsaw fought against the Germans and their evil schemes to rid the world of the Jewish race than we had previously thought.

However, we were all disappointed with the style of writing.  Ms. Ackerman includes a large amount of facts, some fascinating, some irrelevant, and some discussed with numerous, mind-numbing details.  The pages where the author describes the entomologist's collection of insects was akin to the Chinese water torture!  With the inclusion of so many facts, we found the storyline lost or characters pushed aside and the timeline compromised in order for the author to completely immerse us in one "interesting sidenote" which sometimes possessed only a thin thread of connection to the main storyline. 

 Although most likely a result of the culture of that time period and his own father's attitude, Rys was depicted as a youthful male chauvinist.  It was infuriating to hear him make such disparaging remarks in regards to women, especially when he was referring to his own mother.  Antonina was a remarkable woman whom we found fascinating as she was a protective and loving mother to both humans and animals.  She was courageous, resourceful, and strong.  She was also very insightful in her observations of humans taken from the animal kingdom: "Antonina wondered if humans might use the same metaphor and picture the war days as 'a sort of hibernation of the spirit, when ideas, knowledge, science, enthusiasm for work, understanding, and love--all accumulate inside, [where] nobody can take them from us.'" and "Why was it, she asked herself, that 'animals can sometimes subdue their predatory ways in only a few months, while humans, despite centuries of refinement, can quickly grow more savage than any beast'?" 

Heinz Heck, a German zoologist, provided an interesting dichotomy as a lover of animals in the form of both hunter and preserver of them.  While he and his brother worked hard on the back-breeding project intended to bring back extinct species, he also arranged a private hunting party with his SS friends right on the zoo grounds, a killing spree of caged exotic animals.  This man aligned himself with the Third Reich, justifying sterilization, euthanasia, and mass murder, and yet, Heck made the following statement on page 82: "the thought that if man cannot be halted in his mad destruction of himself and other creatures, it is at least a consolation if some of those kinds of animals he has already exterminated can be brought back to life again."  Heinz was a man of many contradictions!

Most Memorable Quote:
"The Poles claim Korczak as a martyr, and the Israelis revere him as one of the Thirty-Six Just Men, whose pure souls make possible the world's salvation.  According to Jewish legend, these few, through their good hearts and good deeds, keep the too-wicked world from being destroyed.  For their sake alone, all of humanity is spared.  The legend tells that they are ordinary people, not flawless or magical, and that most of them remain unrecognized throughout their lives, while they choose to perpetuate goodness, even in the midst of inferno." page 186.

FAB Rating:
*** (3 out of 5 stars)
Despite our frustration with the large amount of detailed facts and lack of continual storyline and characters, we agreed that this story of remarkable courage found in the unremarkable citizens of Warsaw should be told. Perhaps, as one FAB gal suggested, the story would have found a more comfortable home in the "based on a true story" genre where the author could have written it in a more free-flowing style without having to continually make note of whether Jan wrote this in his notes or Antonina wrote that in her diary.

The Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory

JoAnn was kind enough to accommodate for those of us traveling during Spring Break week so that we met a week later than our normal date.  The Lady of the Rivers' main character, Jacquetta, is originally from France, so JoAnn treated us to some flavorful quiche: ham/cheese and spinach/cheese.  They were both sampled and both deemed delicious, along with the salad which was tasty au naturel or with the plethora of dressing choices she offered.  The pièce de résistance was the baked brie and strawberry cream cheese bread along with fresh fruit to satisfy our sweet tooth!

Synopsis:
Jacquetta is of the House of Luxembourg in France and at the age of 17 she is married to the Duke of Bedford, an Englishman.   Her life as his wife is most unconventional.  The duke only wants Jacquetta to scry (foretell) for him, and in doing so, she must remain a virgin, so their marriage is never consummated.  After the duke dies, Jacquetta and the duke's squire, Richard, admit their love for one another and begin a love affair filled with joie de vivre which leads to a marriage blessed with 14 children through the years.  During that time they find themselves deeply embroiled in the ongoing war and many battles fought to retain lands and King Henry's throne in both England and France.  Despite their many separations and uncertain finances or loyalties during all those years, the couple remain steadfastly in love.  It is a love story of a squire and his maiden while history leaves its mark with battle scars cut across the English landscape.

Comments:
Having previously read "The White Queen" where Jacquetta is one of the main characters, this book had a strong feeling of déjà vu at times.  However, we did find a portion of her personality to be quite changed from restrained humility when she was a younger wife to a force majeure by the time her daughter was queen.  Jacquetta learned to use her inherited sixth sense born of the house of Melusina, some magic, and herbal knowledge to her benefit much more frequently and freely in her later years.

The health of King Henry as he lay in a coma-like state, made us question whether he had suffered a stroke or had a psychotic break-down.  When he came out of the deep sleep after 18 months, he was child-like, fragile, and easily startled.  He never quite recovered and remained a puppet king with his wife, Margaret, a veritable tour de force.  It bothered us that the queen was so demanding of Jacquetta and callous to her needs and desires.  Jacquetta's life as the queen's lady-in-waiting meant leaving her newborns to be cared and raised by the nursery maid while she lived wherever the queen was staying at the time.  We also noted the change in Margaret's personality as she became power-hungry, defiant, and vengeful in the quest to ensure her son's placement on the throne in the midst of the coup d'état.

En masse, we agreed that the underlying message in this book was highlighting the repressment and role of women during the 15th century, where they are denied carte blanche.  We gathered a pot-pourri of quotes to support this idea:

p. 29 - "Men command the world that they know," she says.  "Everything that men know, they make their own.  Everything that they learn, they claim for themselves.  They are like the alchemists who look for the laws that govern the world, and then want to own them and keep them secret.  Everything they discover, they hug to themselves; they shape knowledge into their own selfish image.  What is left to us women but the realms of the unknown?"
p. 118 - "Any woman who dares to make her own destiny will always put herself in danger..."
p. 140 - "The law of men always puts women in a bad place!"
p. 290 - "Though their own wives may run their lands when they [lords] are away, their own wives are given no title and draw no fees. They don't like to think of women in power, women as leaders. The ability of women is not acknowledged; indeed, it is concealed. Wise women pretend that all they are doing is running a household when they command a great estate..."
p. 347 - "When a man wants a mystery, it is generally better to leave him mystified.  Nobody loves a clever woman."

Most Memorable Quote:
Jacquetta to Queen Margaret:  "Your Grace, every woman is a mad ugly bad old witch, somewhere in her heart. The task of my life is to conceal this. The task of every woman is to deny this." p. 342
We thought this quote was funny, and true!

FAB Rating:
**** (4 out of 5 stars)
As usual, Philippa Gregory has written a historically accurate novel while drawing us into the personal life of Jacquetta, whose savoir-faire managed to keep her involved with the English royal court while remaining in good graces with the people of London.  We anticipate that her next novel revealing the inner life of the daughters of the Earl of Warwick will be another crème de la crème in the historical fiction genre. 

Personal note: I sincerely hope that my attempt to include a sufficient amount of relevant French phrases in this review was not a faux pas.  If so, this may be the coup de grâce to bring about a new blog writer...C'est la vie!  Au revoir, madames!!

The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman

It was my turn to host our FABulous ladies' meeting for the month of February.  There were five of us in attendance and a table heavy-laden with food.  (I tend to cook more when the weather is chilly outside!)  We feasted on rosemary chicken roasted with carrots and potatoes, almond-roasted green beans, homemade Challah bread, spinach and goat cheese salad, purple grapes, and an assortment of olives.  With a tribute to the book's Jewish background found in the almonds, olives, Challah bread, and goat cheese on the table, the homemade cake pops and chocolate dipped marshmallows for dessert were an early celebration of the upcoming Valentine's holiday, along with the "Dove" chocolate candies.

Challah Bread

This is the table and ladies after we had devoured the food ..... We may be stuffed, but not the chicken!

Synopsis:
The Dovekeepers is a fictional story based upon the historian Josephus' written account of the 900 Jews who held out for months against the Roman armies in 70-73 C.E.   They lived in what was once the palace of King Herod, an impenetrable fortress set upon sheer cliffs.   It is written that 2 women and 5 children were the only survivors.   Ms. Hoffman has taken that information and created a story around it.  This story follows the lives of four women who work together caring for the doves while each of them carry their own secrets, dreams, and guilts.  In their daily struggles, some will find themselves drawn more closely together, while others will find their relationships strained or lost forever.  No matter which road they have taken or will choose, these women are strong, independent, and each have an intriguing tale to share with their modern readers.

Comments:
Of the four women who told their tale in separate accounts, we considered which one we most admired or with whom we experienced a connection.  Aziza, the warrior, was chosen by a few of us due to her strength, her courage, and her loyalty to her step-father and the values he taught her.  She forged her own path and was willing to risk her life to save the lives of those she loved.  She loved and fought with abandon.  Revka was mentioned because of her devotion and selfless love for her grandsons.  She lost her husband and daughter to the enemy, but did not quit or turn her back on those little ones who needed her, even though their own father in his grief turned his back on them.  She was the strong and loving grandmother.  Revka was quiet and cautious to trust others, but she was loyal and true to those she called friend.

As for the other two women, Shirah and Yael, we found them less admirable for various reasons.  Shirah was the witch who practiced magic and divination incongruently along with worship of God Almighty.  She was fascinating, strong, and controlling.  She believed what her mother had told her had been written for her, that love would bring about her undoing.  When her mother told her, "Here is the riddle of love:  Everything it gives to you, it takes away," Shirah believed that in order not to bring her curse upon her own children, she had to try her best not to love them.  Although, Shirah feels that she failed to prevent that curse, it appears that she did create a self-fulfilling prophecy as each of her daughters forged their own destiny with no desire to maintain or strengthen the mother-daughter bonds.  In the end, Shirah delivers an infant daughter and in her own death leaves Yael to raise this child.  Yael has this to say of the witch who acted as a surrogate mother to Yael: "She gave her life so that Yonah would have hers.  For those who say that the Witch of Moab never loved anyone, that she was selfish, concerned with her own fate alone, I can only say that she was ruined by love and delivered by it and that she left something glorious to the world, a child who loves to stand in the rain." p. 378.

Yael was a submissive and traitorous young woman at the beginning of this book.  She showed no remorse for her adulterous lifestyle and the betrayal of her only friend.  However, as JoAnn reminded us, "A child will find love somewhere when no love is shown to her at home."  Yael's father did not show any love to his daughter and abused her both emotionally and physically.  Is it any wonder that the first time a man showed her any attention, Yael held tightly to it no matter the circumstances or consequences?  However, Yael did grow up in those few short years and displayed both strength and tenderness when needed, becoming a friend to all the women, despite any initial mistrust on their part.  She also befriended the slave from Wales and risked her own life to give him his freedom.  By the end of the story, Yael is the wise, strong leader and protector.

Although Nahara was not one of the main characters given her own narrative section, we found her character worth mentioning.  It was intriguing that she stubbornly chose to leave her mother and sister and live with the plain and peaceful Essenes.  We found her decision both naive and admirable.  Seeing as she lived with a mother who took her from her father's presence and snuck around sleeping with a married man, Nahara may have found the Essenes way of living appealing for security reasons and for the open and trusting attitude they adopted.  Her love for Malachi sealed the deal.

Most Memorable Quotes:
"There were times when those around you can see your fate but you yourself are blind, stumbling toward a coil of mistakes." page 169 said by Revka in reference to Nahara's following the Essenes.

"But now I understood that, although words were God's first creation, silence was closer to His divine spirit, and that prayers given in silence were infinitely greater than the thousands of words men might offer up to heaven." page 213 said by Revka.

"...for some secrets bring you closer in the sharing, just as others break you apart." page. 245 said by Aziza.

"We were no different from the doves above us.  We could not speak or cry, but when there was no choice we discovered we could fly.  If you want a reason, take this:  We yearned for our portion of the sky." page 302 said by The Witch of Moab.

FAB Rating:
*** (3 out of 5 stars)
This was a great story of women: their faults, strengths, loves, devotions, hurts, betrayals, choices, and struggles.  The historical background is interesting even with the controversy surrounding the authenticity of this account by Josephus.  However, there were serious distractions which negatively impacted our reading enjoyment. 

One problem we noted was the narration of Aziza in "The Warrior's Beloved" section.  She begins her narration addressing her sister, Nahara, on page 215 and then abruptly changes on page 230 to a normal narration of her tale.  There is no closure or segue to indicate an end of the 'letter' to her sister.

The story was filled with magic, prophetic dreams, ghosts, and other mystical elements.  We understand that this is a common theme found in Ms. Hoffman's other books, but it diminished the authenticity of the historical background.  It was especially implausible to believe that Shirah was able to make it immediately rain on demand in the midst of a severe drought.  I know some weathermen and Texas farmers who would give their eye-teeth for that talent!

The story itself is written in a poetic sense with beautiful, descriptive language.  The downside to that for all of us was that it bogged down the storyline and forced the reader to wade through line after line of details which were not significant to the storyline.  We were drowning in descriptions and just wanted to get back to the meat of the story so many times!  When we were able to get back into the meaty parts, we found some good stuff to chew on.

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

On an unusually warm January day we gathered at Michele's home for our meeting.  Unfortunately, we were minus a couple of members so it was a small group.  Michele set up a taco bar and we piled on the cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and all those other wonderful toppings to create our chicken tacos.  We also enjoyed a hominy and green chilis dish, bowls of fresh fruit, and a crumb apple pie drizzled with white icing for dessert.  Nothing 'fancy' as Michele told us, but certainly filling.

Now let the peculiarities begin!  How about this photo from the book?! Yikes!

Synopsis:

As a teenage boy growing up in a well-to-do Florida family, Jacob Portman had come to accept that his life would be ordinary.  However, extraordinary things began to happen following his grandfather's death.  He journeys across the ocean to a tiny island off the coast of Wales where he learns more about his grandfather and more about himself.  The more he learns, the more his life becomes peculiar.

Comments:
Created from vintage photos found in attics, trunks, and yard sales, this story is imaginative, original, and fascinating.  We agreed that the storyline grabbed our attention from the beginning.  We definitely can see this book as a movie and we were pleased to read online that a movie is currently in the works, along with a sequel to this first book with new peculiar photos.  Perhaps in the sequel Jacob will be able to meet back up with his grandfather in a time loop?

The time travel loops were an interesting concept.  The whole idea of time travel makes one of our FAB girls giddy with excitement over the possibilities!  On page 62 we found a new meter by which to measure visitors in our own homes: “Oggie sat facing us in a threadbare blazer and pajama bottoms, as if he’d been expecting company – just not pants-worthy company…”  Thank goodness, we were all deemed ‘pants-worthy’ company at Michele’s home! 

Once we had read the entire book, it was enlightening to return to the beginning of the story and see some foreshadowing and relevant information we had missed the first time around.  On page 6 Jacob laments that, "I couldn't become an explorer because everything in the world had already been discovered.  I'd been born in the wrong century, and I felt cheated." By the end of the story, we know that Jacob will explore beyond country and time boundaries.  On page 14 Grandpa Portman in a full meltdown mode regarding monsters yells, "I'll be fine -- cut out their tongues and stab them in the eyes, that's all you gotta do!"  Jacob will later use that method to defeat a monster.  Grandpa Portman is considered gun crazy, according to his family, even shown in a photo sleeping with his pistol in his hand.  Jacob remarks, "I guess that after everything my grandfather had been through, he never really felt safe anywhere, not even at home." As it turns out, Grandpa was not safe in his own home and that is where he was found and murdered by the monsters.

The characters were varied, quirky, and entertaining.  The peculiar children each had their own distinct personality along with their unique talents.  One of the story's main characters in particular, Jacob's father, touched us as he tried to connect with his son in a way he never felt connected to his own father.  Franklin was a sad, unfulfilled character. His relationship with his own father had been strained and distant due to Abe's frequent absences and the alleged adulterous affair. Then Franklin married into a wealthy family and found himself unable to successfully complete any of his work projects so that he was always dependent upon his wife's wealth and felt that his wife would one day leave him. Those broken and hurt relationships in his life seemed to create an unconfident man and father who appeared to be floundering through life still trying to find his own success.  Ironically, Jacob was forging on doing a better job than his own father of finding and fulfilling his purpose in life, which, unfortunately, required severing their father/son relationship for an unknown amount of time.

We did have one common complaint among us...the monsters! The monsters had an old-Hollywood feel about them: silly and disappointing. We felt that it cheapened the storyline.  We also agreed that the convoluted explanation of how the hollowgast and wights came about lacked clarity and authenticity.

Most Memorable Quote:
"I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary.  I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was." said by Jacob on page 220.  One of the FAB ladies shared, "This is so me, I don’t realize how much I’ve done until my nieces and nephews start asking me questions about my life and then I realize – wow, I’m pretty interesting!"  We all need to be reminded that we are extraordinary women leading extraordinary lives!

FAB Rating:
***1/2 (3-1/2 out of 5)
The author took a collection of interestingly odd photos and created a very imaginative story around those photos.  His descriptions of the island, retirement community, tavern, and children's home were so vivid as to paint a colorful portrait in our minds.

Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

On Wednesday the 14^th we met at Marcia’s smartly decorated home.  There were Christmas decorations tucked in corners and on shelves all intermingling beautifully with her antiques and collector items.  While the classy holiday atmosphere filled our visual senses, our hostess filled our stomachs with hot stuffed chicken served on a bed of wild rice and mushroom gravy, and a broccoli and cauliflower salad.  Our dessert offerings were a pecan shortbread and in the spirit of our book’s theme, the Forgotten Cookies.  We also sampled some of the homemade peanut brittle JoAnn so graciously gifted each of us.  It was noted that the Fiction Addiction Bookclub ladies have now been together for two years.  What a fun time we have had and what a lot of books we have read!  And so I lift a glass of holiday cheer and offer a toast to my fellow bibliophiles and dear friends, “May your spine be strong, your pages many, your storyline scintillating and may you live happily ever after!”

 Before we parted we stopped to pose in front of Marcia’s sparkling Christmas tree.

Synopsis:

Christine Lucas suffered a tragic accident twenty years earlier which damaged her capacity to retain her memory.  As an amnesiac, once Christine goes to sleep at night, her memory is erased and when she awakes in the morning she is always shocked to find that she is married and 47 years old.  In her mind, Christine believes herself to still be in her twenties or younger.  Her husband, Ben, patiently explains things to her each morning helping her to adjust to the reality of her current life.  Or is it truly her reality?  With the help of her journal, Christine begins to recover lost memories and unravel the mysteries surrounding her current life.

Comments:
This storyline was reminiscent of the movie 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, but without the comedic relief.  Another FAB member remarked that this book was the woman’s version of the movie Fatal Attraction. 

We liked that the story was interesting enough to hook us in from the beginning and keep us reading as we tried to solve the mystery along with Christine.  Although not a deep, thought-provoking story, it still managed to keep the final mystery a secret from all of us until the end.  However, we did have some questions about some of the plot.  How come no other doctors ever suggested the journaling idea during her twenty years of being under the daily care of medical professionals?  And would a single man really have stuck around for 20 years waiting for his chance to be with a woman who is already married and has no recollection of him?  We also questioned the reality of Christine being able to meet with Dr. Nash without being detected.  And so for some of us there was the nagging thought as we were reading that this was just too unrealistic.

We did find a commonality with Christine when she spoke about being shocked each morning to see how she had aged.  Despite none of us having amnesia, we find it difficult at times to adjust the image of how we look in our mind’s eye to what our mirrors reflect back at us!  “I reach for the soap, but something is wrong…The hand gripping the soap does not look like mine.  Its skin is wrinkled…The face I see looking back at me is not my own….the skin on the cheeks and under the chin sags; the lips are thin; the mouth turned down.” (Christine on page 8).  We laughed along with Brenda when she shared that she looks in the mirror and says, “That’s not my face!  That’s my mother’s face!”  We also confessed that we understood the disappointment Christine felt in the following quote:  “A young man wearing jeans and a T-shirt comes in and glances over to where we sit, before ordering a drink and settling at a table with the newspaper.  He does not look up at me again, and the twenty-year old me is upset.  I feel as though I am invisible.”  (p. 26)


Most Memorable Quote:
“I cannot imagine how I will cope when I discover that my life is behind me, has already happened, and I have nothing to show for it.  No treasure house of recollection, no wealth of experience, no accumulated wisdom to pass on.  What are we, if not an accumulation of our memories?” p. 115

FAB Rating:

*** ½ (3-1/2 stars out of 5)
It was a good first book for a new author.  The plot hooked you and made you want to keep reading.  It was amazing when we went back and figured out that the elapsed time was actually just one day as Christine re-read her 3 week old journal.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

With a slight breeze whispering through the screen door on a beautiful Texas Fall day, we met in Diana's home.  We gathered around her cozy kitchen table enjoying each other's company and a satisfying lunch of chicken salad pitas, fresh honeydew melon, and samosas.  Samosas are a stuffed pastry and popular snack in the Indian Subcontinent, and were mentioned in our book this month.  The samosas were a first-time experience for most of us and proved to be quite tasty.  Our taste buds were then delighted with a limoncello cake and some actual limoncello to drink along with it...for digestive purposes only, of course!  

How To Make LIMONCELLO:  Finely grate the zest of 12 lemons. In a large jar, combine the zest and one 750 milliliter bottle good vodka. Seal tightly and place in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks.  In a small saucepan over medium heat, dissolve ½ cup sugar in ½ cup water. Let chill.  Using a sieve lined with cheesecloth, set over a bowl, strain the vodka mixture. Stir the sugar syrup into it. Use a funnel to pour into a 1-liter bottle and seal. Place in a cool, dark place for 1 week, then chill in the freezer until ready to serve.


  Synopsis:
Major Pettigrew is a retired, older gentleman who appears to be complacently set in his ways.  However, when the Major's only brother unexpectedly dies, in steps Mrs. Ali to shake up his world and set the Major on an adventure he could not have anticipated.  New and interesting characters enter his life and the Major finds himself stretching beyond his usual stiff and proper British response to handle these new people and the situations they create within his village life.  It is a story of romance, but also a lesson on tolerance, true friendship, and the value in taking a risk when necessary.

Comments:
The majority of us agreed that this book started out rather slow and so we had some difficulty motivating ourselves to continue to read.  Perhaps it was because the main character, Major Pettigrew, himself was rather slow moving, dry, and more of an observer in his own life in those beginning chapters.  However, as the Major became more involved and the characters began to develop and grow, we found ourselves lured into this story.

As stiff, regimented, judgemental, and proper as the Major was at the start of this book, it was a delight to see him transformed into a more tolerant, forgiving, bold, likeable man.  It is amazing what a woman can do to a man!  Mrs. Ali was a lovely woman, but her intellect was what we felt made her most attractive as the Major fell in love with her.  She was a kind and humble woman who strove to peacefully exist in two different cultures:  British and Pakistani.

In sharp contrast to the Major, we were not any more pleased with Roger's character at the end of the story as we were at the beginning.  We found the Major's son to be self-centered, greedy, and quite plainly a jerk.  He did not treat his father with respect and as it turns out, he was not too respectful of the women he dated, either.  It appeared that he used women to help better his position in life or to impress others.  We agreed that the following quote was an apt summation of the difference between the father and the son:  Roger - "It's called the real world.  If we refused to do business with the morally questionable, the deal volume would drop in half and the good guys like us would end up poor.  Then where would we all be?"  Major - "On a nice dry spit of land known as the moral high ground?"

We truly liked Grace's character.  Although timid and unsure of herself when around Daisy, Grace had her moments of boldness.  She showed genuine love for the Major when she urged him to go after Jasmina even as he was awkwardly attempting to claim his intentions to Grace of settling down with her.  As one of the FAB girls stated, "Grace saved the Major from himself!"

The Churchills and the family feuding and friction they created was an interesting topic of discussion for our group.  Although we could not fathom putting material possessions ahead of relationships, a few of us had familial stories to share of similar incidents.  (Now any relatives of ours who read the blog will be extremely curious, but I will say no more!)

As a group we objected to the interjection of the old lady who stabbed Amina with the knitting needles.  We laughed in agreement when Diana said it reminded her of one of Disney's evil characters.  She appeared to be out of character with the story and setting.

Most Memorable Quotes:
Humorous / p. 168 - "You are a most astonishing man," [Jasmina] said, and [the Major] realized he had inspired a sense of trust and indebtedness that would make it entirely impossible for an honorable man to attempt to kiss her anytime soon.  He cursed himself for a fool."

Serious / p. 341 - The Major talks to Abdul Wahid on the edge of the cliff: "I think we wake up every day with high intentions and by dusk we have routinely fallen short.  Sometimes I think God created the darkness just so he didn't have to look at us all the time."

FAB Rating:
**** (4 out of 5 stars)
There was great variation in the characters and their development throughout the story.  With so many characters in the story, the author still managed to make even the minor ones such as Brian and Alice interesting and memorable.  The descriptions of the English countryside and cottages were vividly beautiful.

"Dreams of Joy" by Lisa See

If you detect an unfamiliar hand in this month’s account, firstly, you are very sharp! And secondly, you’re quite right.  Jonetta, our resident blogger, had so many other demands on her this week that she asked me if I would report on our activities.  I am a poor substitute at best, but don’t despair, Jonetta will be back.

October 12 was a beautiful day here, a hint cooler, and perfect for a drive into Austin for a gathering of the FABs.  Beverly has moved so we assembled from three different directions to help celebrate her beautiful new home with lunch and a discussion of our latest book.  Of course we pre-ordered Chinese take-out, so there was a table full of delicious choices.  I sampled everything, had seconds on the Beef and Broccoli, and topped it off with Beverly’s cake, fresh fruit and fortune cookies. 

Synopsis:

“Dreams of Joy” is the second Lisa See book we’ve read; it continues the story of the Chin sisters which began in “Shanghai Girls”.  May and Pearl’s life was picture book perfect; they were the pampered daughters of a well to do family, famous as models for a series of “Beautiful Girls” posters, and they were both in love with Li Zhi-Ge, the artist who painted those posters.  Then the world collapsed around their ears: Z.G. only loved May; they had an affair and she learned she was pregnant just as her father announced that he was bankrupt and had sold both girls into arranged marriages with “Gold Mountain Men”, that is, Chinese men working in California.  As they are preparing to leave China  the Japanese invade and they make it to the United States only after much suffering, the death of their mother, and the birth of baby Joy.  Before they meet their new husbands, May tells Pearl that she isn’t capable of raising a baby and Pearl agrees to present Joy as her baby.

The second book begins in l957 with Joy, now an idealistic college girl, caught up in a movement that supports Communist China.  That involvement brings about a family tragedy and when she also learns that she is May’s child, rather than Pearl’s, she runs away.  She is seeking her father and the purer life that Communism promises in China.  This book tells the dramatic story of her trip into the cities and villages of that vast country during Chairman Mao’s reign.  Although Joy reconciles with her father, and makes a place for herself among the people of the Green Dragon Commune, she ends with most of her dreams destroyed.  Ultimately she finds that the only person she can completely rely on is the one she ran away from, her adopted mother.  Pearl followed Joy to China, and she is an important part of the story, in fact, alternating chapters are from her point of view.  She endures hardships and danger, but she saves her daughter and brings the family back together.

The author has obviously done a lot of research and draws her pictures in great detail.  We end this book knowing a lot about l950's China, from the planting practices in the communes to the menus of the lavish banquets of the Party officials.  The decimation of the countryside under Mao’s ill-conceived “Great Leap Forward” is vividly portrayed, and heartbreaking.  Ms. Lee lists a lengthy bibliography in the Acknowledgments; she may realize that many of the horrible stories from the time of the famine are almost unbelievable and we need to confirm that human beings would behave as she describes.

Comments:

The majority of the FABs liked this book very much, several even more than “Shanghai Girls”.  Marcia mentioned that she liked learning the history about that time in China added to an interesting story.   Brenda agreed, saying that it gave us insights into a time few Westerners knew much about.  Several members believed this book, like the first, was deliberately left open-ended, and expect a continuation of the story in another book.

Favorite Quotations:

“I’m going to have a baby, I’m going to launch a Sputnik (commune term for “do a bold thing”), I’m going to right things with my husband, and along the way I hope to protect myself from the peasants and find my true self.”  Joy, p. 229

“...in acting as Joy’s aunt for nineteen years.  She (May) kept the secret.  She honored her daughter and me by keeping that secret.”  Pearl, p. 43

 "Life is what it is, and she's living it as a Dragon should -- never accepting defeat." Joy, referring to her mother, Pearl.

Ratings:

(****) 4 out of 5 stars