Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

    "Someone should do something" is a common refrain in a world where conflict, terrorism, discrimination and economic hardships prevail.  Whether the "someone" is the government, the police, parents, politicians or teachers the "something" that they should do is not quite certain.  Clearly, finding a solution is age old problem.  Jonathan Swift satirically suggested in his essay "A Modest Proposal" that the children of the poor should be eaten to solve the crisis of famine in Ireland in the early 18th century.  Obviously, this proposal was extreme but it highlighted the impotence of people to really solve huge issues.  So what should we do?  Throughout history there have been attempts to do something to control social issues but usually these programs have had horrific results.  Diane Chamberlain in her book, Necessary Lies, exposed a real life scenario that was in effect for many decades.  A law was written to lesson the burden of caring for institutionalized patients by allowing for their sterilization.  In North Carolina this strategy was expanded to allow social workers to petition to have welfare recipients who were deemed "imbeciles" or those with medical problems such as epilepsy to be sterilized in order to reduce the burgeoning roles of individuals and families who lived on government assistance.  This solution was called "eugenics."  From 1929 to 1977 the Eugenics Board of North Carolina systematically sterilized people who "qualified" according to the social workers who petitioned for this procedure. The argument was made that the state had the right to eliminate further drags on the welfare system by permanently taking away people's ability to procreate.  Chamberlain told her story through the experience of families who were under the power of the welfare workers who handled their cases.  Through the sad story of Ivy, her sister Mary Ella, her grandmother Nonnie and her nephew Baby William along with their interactions with their "employer" Mr. Gardner, we are shown the power that the Eugenics Boards had over people's lives.  Choices were made for clients, decisions that had lifetime implications were taken out of their control and often times these people were not even told the truth about what was happening to them. An example of this was seen in Mary Ella who was told she was having her appendix out when in fact she had her tubes tied.  It was a "frightful thing" Ivy tells us to know someone has power over your whole life. 
    So perhaps Swift's proposal was not so farfetched.  Perhaps the social stratum will always find ways to keep power and control in the hands of those who believe they are more qualified to decide  The problem however is that there will always be people who question, who sees the flaws in any manmade solution.  Perhaps in the end we will resign ourselves to the reality that there is no one universal answer, no complete fix.  Sometimes we will be left with the knowledge that "even though we may have done the right thing we can still feel sick with doubt."  Chamberlain captured the reader's desire to find answers but left us with the clear understanding that no one solution fits every situation.  This was a fiction book based on factual evidence taken from cases in North Carolina.  The author reveals this tragic time in the history of NC and leaves you wondering how the people in charge could possible believe that "eating the babies" was a good idea.

Idaho by Emily Ruskovich

I have always been a fan of mysteries.  Strange as it may sound, I especially like murder mysteries where I can insinuate myself into the role of detective in order to solve the case.  That being said, the murder mystery, Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, was not a book that lent itself to this pursuit.  Ruskovich wrote this novel as an omniscient narrator who jumped from character to character in a stream of consciousness prose style that was mesmerizing in its ability to pull the reader in without really giving any answers away.  The storyline is built around three characters:  Ann the primary storyteller; Wade her husband who suffers from dementia and Jenny, Wade's first wife who murdered their daughter, May.  Throughout the novel Ann's love for Wade never wavors even though she is plagued by his inability to or reticence to tell her what happened on that fateful day on the mountain when May was killed and June, his older daughter, disappeared.  We as readers are dragged along looking for clues, extrapolating information from the tiniest of references, trying desperately to figure out what happened.  Did Jenny know that Wade had fallen in love with Ann causing her to snap?  Did her long periods of isolation on the mountain drive her slowly insane?  Was Wade culpable in anyway?  Ruskovich's writing was intentionally vague and yet we are drawn to these characters and their sad stories.  I cannot say I enjoyed this book, but I was impressed with the writing and involved in the story from the beginning.  This is not your typical mystery, but it is a mystery you will think about and talk about long after you finish reading.  That is a credit to the author.  I look forward to other books by her.

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

We have all heard the expression "if life gives you lemons, make lemonade" but Amor Towles takes this idea to the maximum in his novel A Gentleman in Moscow.  The story centers around Count Alexander Rostov a privileged, aristocrat in 1922 Moscow during the Bolshevik revolution.  Unable to establish a crime worthy of the death sentence (as was the case with many of the aristocrats of this era), the tribunal court sentenced the count to house arrest for life in the Metropol, a grand hotel across the street from the Kremlin.  The count who had never worked a day in his life and who had never really thought of anyone or anything except his pleasures, was suddenly faced with endless days of nothing.  The novel cleverly, humorously reveals the life that the count creates during the 30 years that he lives in the Metropol.  He found a real life with real people who worked in the hotel and who became his "family."  This family circle includes the irrepressible young Nina who shows the count that the whole world is inside the hotel if you just know where to look.  This young girl and later her daughter help the count gain a deeper connection to life and to what it means to love and protect and to have a real purpose in life.  If you read and enjoyed The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, you will love this gentleman.  He is charming and so is this book.

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

    Love and marriage are tried and true plot lines for writers.  Telling a story about two people who meet, fall in love, marry and then weather the storms of their lives generates a tale that is often a blending of truths from the two people involved.  Lauren Groff in her novel, Fates and Furies, takes a much different approach to telling about the love and marriage of Lancelot (Lotto) and Mathilde.  This story is told through two entirely separate sections.  Lotto's story of love and life with Mathilde is found in the "fates" half of the book.  Lotto, the charming, handsome, wealthy young man who glides through life with ease is madly in love with his wife and lives in supremely blissful ignorance of any real problem.  Chance and "magic" take care of most of Lotto's success and he floats along, happy and content.  The second section, "furies," is a counterbalance to Lotto.  In this section Mathilde reveals many truths that Lotto never knew or never acknowledged about his wife and their life together.  Mathilde is much darker, much more filled with needs for revenge and retribution toward most of the people in her life except for Lotto.  These two damaged souls found each other and lived happily together in a kind of crazy dance on a ledge.  Lotto did not realize the danger he was so close to and Mathilde kept the demons at bay for Lotto's sake.  This is not a typical "marriage" story but perhaps that was Groff's plan, She says through Mathilde, "she was so tired of the old ways of telling stories, all those worn narrative plots...she needed something messier...something like a bomb going off."  This is not a feel good, pat yourself on the back, happy marriage book.  It is a beautifully written, thought provoking work that leaves readers with more questions than answers.  Kind of like real life.

These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

Growing up and watching shows like "Little House on the Prairie" I remember thinking I would never have survived that life.  Just cooking or doing the laundry looked like a monumental undertaking and this was a television show!  Undoubtedly, the reality of life as a settler or homesteader was certainly more difficult and intense than anything Hollywood could dream up.  Nancy Turner gave us just such a story in her novel These Is My Words a semi-biographical retelling of her relative Sarah Prine.  Based on the diary Sarah wrote between the years of 1881-1901 the life of this extraordinary young woman was given to us in her own words.  The tale begins as Sarah and her family traveled across the southern regions of the Arizona territory seeking a new life.  The trials they faced were daunting to say the least--Indian attacks, harsh weather, wild and dangerous animals, criminal and amoral men and few if any friendly people were their reality.  The resilience of Sarah is the heart of the story.  We watch her grow from a backwards girl to an entrepreneurial frontier woman.  She taught herself through reading any book she could find and was eventually able to earn the equivalence of a high school degree.  She created a business that allowed her to buy land and cattle and eventually a luxurious life for the time.  She protected her family fiercely and earned the respect of all those she encountered and the love of a rugged, Army captain.  Sarah's life was not easy, but she met it with enthusiasm and determination and she never bowed down to forces that could easily have caused her give up or break down.  I truly admired this pioneer woman.  She is the woman I would want to be if I had lived in this wild, untamed time in our country.

Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

Loneliness is something we have all felt at one time or another in our lives, but usually it is a short term condition.  But as we get older the likelihood of finding ourselves alone becomes more of a reality.  We would all like to have a quick, surefire fix to this problem, but it is not that easy.  When we find ourselves without a partner or a confidant we sometimes face a soul wrenching loneliness that seems to have no solution or end.  Kent Haruf in his last novel, Our Souls at Night, writes of this very situation in the lives of his character, Addie and Lewis.  Both of their spouses have passed away and they have been alone for some years.  In an act of sheer determination to change her life and a kind of defiance of cultural norms, Addie suggest to Lewis that they change their plight, that they choose not to be alone.  She ask him to come to her house and sleep with her every night so that they would not have to face those long, dark hours by themselves.  This decision sets into motion the plot of this story.  The happiness that grows between the characters is wonderful to see.  The healing that it brings to their lives and to others with whom they interact (like Ruth the elderly neighbor and Jamie, Addie's grandson) make for warm feelings and uplifted souls.  Unfortunately, Haruf's novel also highlights the realities of dealing with adult children and family dynamics.  The outcome of these conflicts in the story leave readers amazed by the cruelty of people who have inflexible ideas of how people should act as they age regardless of their desires or their happiness. The ending of this novel is not what most would want it to be, however, it is interesting to note that as Haruf was finishing the novel his wife persuaded him to soften the ending to some extent.  We readers are left with some hope.  Interestingly, Haruf wrote this novel in a few short months after being diagnosed with terminal cancer; it seems this book was his parting message to those he left behind.  We are lucky to have this last piece from a prominent America writer to remind us of what we should stand firm for as we age.  Happiness is a gift that is not to be taken lightly or put aside just because it might not be what others' preconceived ideas demand.  Time is short so we must "seize the day."

Crow Lake by Mary Lawson

Most people's lives run a normal course.  We move through our youth with normal growing pains but nothing too overwhelming.  We walk through adulthood with trials and strains, but generally with little tragedy that is unexpected.  We reach our senior years and reflect back on our lives and for the most part feel a sense of satisfaction and even pride in our achievements.  We know, however, that not every life unfolds without problems.  Some people have tragic stories to tell.  Mary Lawson's, Crow Lake,  is such a tragic tale.  What began as a normal childhood is shattered into near chaos for Kate, the narrator of the novel.  When Kate is 7 years old her parents are killed in a car accident and she and her three sibling's life path is forever altered.  The story of Kate's life is framed by her two brothers and her baby sister but also by her small Canadian farm community.  Kate's trauma colors her every decision.  She clings desperately to her brother, Matt, and bases her life choices on her belief in the grand plan that Matt designed for their lives. Unfortunately, when this "plan" falls apart, Kate pulls away from her family believing that she can never truly connect with them again because they have all been left behind in their small world and she has gone on to earn an education and position in the outside world.  In the end she discovers that her life and her family's lives have actually become "normal" despite the trauma of their early years.  The tragedy of their youth did not in the end destroy them. Life has a way of working out the problems that seem to be insurmountable.  Lawson deftly draws us to the realization that we can make the choice to accept the ups and downs that we encounter, that we can find joy in our circumstances and that we can love the time we have with our loved ones instead of struggling to find answers to questions that will certainly confront us.  It seems in the end, she wants us to choose happiness and let go of what we cannot control.  Good advice for us all!