David Schwinghammer's Blog, page 16
June 4, 2015
Missoula
Jon Krakauer's newest effort addresses a misunderstood public issue, date rape, using the University of Montana and the city and county or Missoula as an example.
Missoula's apparent disregard of rape accusations, especially those involving the University of Montana football team led to an investigation by the United States Department of Justice. In a five year period over 300 rape cases were submitted for investigation to the County attorney, and only .029% resulted in convictions.
Krakauer examines several factors and stereotypes. The first would be the mythology of rape. Most rapes, especially date rapes go unreported, probably because the victim is afraid of the hell she will be put through during the process. The mythology involves the
belief that most victims had consensual sex, then later changed their minds for whatever reason. Krakauer is especially critical of the Missoula County Attorney, Fred Valkenburg, and his assistant, Kirsten Pabst, who seemed to embrace the above stereotype. The Department of Justice developed a protocol for the police, the University and the County to be followed when confronted with a rape victim. They were to be treated with respect. Fred Valkenburg considered this a federal infringement and refused to cooperate.
Krakauer concentrates on two cases the Beau Donaldson/Allison Hueguet case and the Jordan Johnson and Cecilia Washburn episode. Both were University of Montana quarterbacks. Johnson was the star of the team. Hueguet was raped while sleeping on the couch. To compound the issue, Donaldson was a childhood friend. Washburn contributed to the stereotype by telling Johnson at one point that she wanted to have sex with him. She insisted, however, that she told him she didn't want to several times during the incident.
During the Johnson trial the prosecution brought in a expert witness, David Lisak, a Massachusetts clinical psychologist and expert on rape and its associated trauma. The defense derided this “liberal” intruder and his testimony, implying that he had little respect for the western zeitgeist. Krakauer makes a valid point when he insists that prosecutors are held to a higher standard than the defense where truth is concerned.
Over 80% of girls who are raped refuse to report the crime. Lisak insisted that many blame themselves for what happened. Others don't want to ruin the lives of their attackers. Date rape is an epidemic in this country. Women aren't treated with as much respect as a suspect in a B&E case. But the Department of Justice can have an impact, as it did in Missoula.
Missoula's apparent disregard of rape accusations, especially those involving the University of Montana football team led to an investigation by the United States Department of Justice. In a five year period over 300 rape cases were submitted for investigation to the County attorney, and only .029% resulted in convictions.
Krakauer examines several factors and stereotypes. The first would be the mythology of rape. Most rapes, especially date rapes go unreported, probably because the victim is afraid of the hell she will be put through during the process. The mythology involves the
belief that most victims had consensual sex, then later changed their minds for whatever reason. Krakauer is especially critical of the Missoula County Attorney, Fred Valkenburg, and his assistant, Kirsten Pabst, who seemed to embrace the above stereotype. The Department of Justice developed a protocol for the police, the University and the County to be followed when confronted with a rape victim. They were to be treated with respect. Fred Valkenburg considered this a federal infringement and refused to cooperate.
Krakauer concentrates on two cases the Beau Donaldson/Allison Hueguet case and the Jordan Johnson and Cecilia Washburn episode. Both were University of Montana quarterbacks. Johnson was the star of the team. Hueguet was raped while sleeping on the couch. To compound the issue, Donaldson was a childhood friend. Washburn contributed to the stereotype by telling Johnson at one point that she wanted to have sex with him. She insisted, however, that she told him she didn't want to several times during the incident.
During the Johnson trial the prosecution brought in a expert witness, David Lisak, a Massachusetts clinical psychologist and expert on rape and its associated trauma. The defense derided this “liberal” intruder and his testimony, implying that he had little respect for the western zeitgeist. Krakauer makes a valid point when he insists that prosecutors are held to a higher standard than the defense where truth is concerned.
Over 80% of girls who are raped refuse to report the crime. Lisak insisted that many blame themselves for what happened. Others don't want to ruin the lives of their attackers. Date rape is an epidemic in this country. Women aren't treated with as much respect as a suspect in a B&E case. But the Department of Justice can have an impact, as it did in Missoula.
May 22, 2015
The Daughters of Mars
Thomas Kenneally is best known for SCHINDLER’S LIST, but if you’re expecting more of the same from THE DAUGHTERS OF MARS, you won’t get it. For one thing DAUGHTERS is more fictionalized. It’s about the two Durance sisters, Naomi and Sally who enlist in the Australian nurses’ corps.
At first the two don’t seem to like each other. You see, they’re from “The Bush” and Naomi left to work in the big city, leaving Sally to take care of their parents. This proved to be more than she could handle when her mother came down with cancer. Her mother was in so much pain that she wanted to die. Sally began to save small amounts of morphine, which Naomi found. Sally assumed Naomi gave it to their mother, because she died. Sally can’t get over the guilt she feels.
The two girls wind up on a hospital ship helping the wounded men at the ill-conceived front in the Dardenelles, Gallipoli. Kenneally provides many twists and turns you won’t expect. One of the first is the torpedoing of the hospital ship. Their matron (head nurse) Mitchie loses her leg in the aftermath. She’s sent home as is Naomi for disobeying orders. There are several themes throughout the story that have little to do with war, and the reason Naomi is sent home is one of them. The orderlies and the colonel in charge of Naomi and Sally’s unit don’t respect women, making it harder to do their jobs. One of the good guys is an orderly named Sergeant Kearnan, a Quaker who will assume a larger role later in the story. He, along with Naomi, take charge of the lifeboat the nurses end up in.
Eventually the two girls are sent to France, Sally as a regular in the nurses’ corps, and Naomi as a volunteer in the hospital founded by Lady Tarlton, whose husband was a politician in Australia. One-legged Mitchie also makes it back working with Tarlton as one of her right-hand men. There’s another twist involving Lady Tarlton’s driver that results in the loss of one of our principal characters. There’s also a flu epidemic that affects the story. If you’ve studied WWI at all, you know that influenza killed almost as many soldiers as did bullets, bombs, and artillery. The girls, especially Sally, stick with pretty much the same clique of nurses throughout the novel. There’s taciturn Freud who can handle most anything except being raped by one of the young soldiers. There’s Honora, the funny one who suffers a loss that jars her sense of humor; Leonora, the pretty one, and Nettice who falls in love with a blind young captain. Both girls have a love life also, and both of their men are affected either physically or by war time idiocy.
Just when things look their worst, Australian divisions arrive to save the day. There’s very little mention of the Americans, and none of Black Jack Pershing. Perhaps the most perplexing part of the book is the ending. One of the sisters succumbs to influenza but one of the Australian papers gets it wrong; We don’t know which one died. Keneally begins to tell us which one survived, then pulls the old switcheroo, which might annoy the reader.
This book is not as good as SCHINDLER’S LIST, but it does support William Tecumseh Sherman’s saying, “War is hell.”
At first the two don’t seem to like each other. You see, they’re from “The Bush” and Naomi left to work in the big city, leaving Sally to take care of their parents. This proved to be more than she could handle when her mother came down with cancer. Her mother was in so much pain that she wanted to die. Sally began to save small amounts of morphine, which Naomi found. Sally assumed Naomi gave it to their mother, because she died. Sally can’t get over the guilt she feels.
The two girls wind up on a hospital ship helping the wounded men at the ill-conceived front in the Dardenelles, Gallipoli. Kenneally provides many twists and turns you won’t expect. One of the first is the torpedoing of the hospital ship. Their matron (head nurse) Mitchie loses her leg in the aftermath. She’s sent home as is Naomi for disobeying orders. There are several themes throughout the story that have little to do with war, and the reason Naomi is sent home is one of them. The orderlies and the colonel in charge of Naomi and Sally’s unit don’t respect women, making it harder to do their jobs. One of the good guys is an orderly named Sergeant Kearnan, a Quaker who will assume a larger role later in the story. He, along with Naomi, take charge of the lifeboat the nurses end up in.
Eventually the two girls are sent to France, Sally as a regular in the nurses’ corps, and Naomi as a volunteer in the hospital founded by Lady Tarlton, whose husband was a politician in Australia. One-legged Mitchie also makes it back working with Tarlton as one of her right-hand men. There’s another twist involving Lady Tarlton’s driver that results in the loss of one of our principal characters. There’s also a flu epidemic that affects the story. If you’ve studied WWI at all, you know that influenza killed almost as many soldiers as did bullets, bombs, and artillery. The girls, especially Sally, stick with pretty much the same clique of nurses throughout the novel. There’s taciturn Freud who can handle most anything except being raped by one of the young soldiers. There’s Honora, the funny one who suffers a loss that jars her sense of humor; Leonora, the pretty one, and Nettice who falls in love with a blind young captain. Both girls have a love life also, and both of their men are affected either physically or by war time idiocy.
Just when things look their worst, Australian divisions arrive to save the day. There’s very little mention of the Americans, and none of Black Jack Pershing. Perhaps the most perplexing part of the book is the ending. One of the sisters succumbs to influenza but one of the Australian papers gets it wrong; We don’t know which one died. Keneally begins to tell us which one survived, then pulls the old switcheroo, which might annoy the reader.
This book is not as good as SCHINDLER’S LIST, but it does support William Tecumseh Sherman’s saying, “War is hell.”
April 29, 2015
Dead Wake
My first experience reading Erik Larson was DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, which was about the Chicago World's Fair in the late nineteenth century. Coincidentally a serial killer was stalking the denizens of the “Hog butcher of the world” at the same time.
As you can tell from the bibliography of DEAD WAKE, Larson is a first rate researcher, never accepting established fact (such as Churchill's claim that two torpedos struck the Lusitania).
The big mystery as I see it, and as Larson hints, is why the Lusitania never got an escort when the Germans had warned Americans not to travel on the ship in the New York Times. The British also had information that there were submarines in the area; the Russians had stumbled over the German's wireless code book and had given it to Room 40, the British intelligence serve, led by Winston Churchill the First Lord of the Admiralty. They had also been tracking Unterseeboot-20, the sub that sank the great liner, led by Walther Schwieger, since it left port. One begins to wonder if the British were hoping the Lusitania would be sunk, thus bringing America into the war. There was also the rumor that the Lusitania was carrying badly needed munitions. The Germans certainly thought so as three German stowaways were captured prior to leaving New York.
Larson presents Churchill as a conniving sort of man throughout the book. For instance, he blames the captain, William Thomas Turner for not using a zigzagging pattern and staying in mid channel as directed by Room 40. The messages Turner received were ambiguous to say the least. If he had maintained his original course, Schwieger, who had given up and was on his way home when he stumbled across the Lusitania, Schwieger never would have a chance at the ship.
We also see President Woodrow Wilson, depressed after losing his wife, but determined to keep the United States out of the war. But he has a new love, Edith Galt, whom he's determined to woo. She's reluctant since it had only been a year since Wilson lost his wife.
Ironically, the most interesting character in the book is Turner, not your typical Cunard captain, who refers to the passengers as “bloody monkeys.” He would rather eat in his room than preside over the captain's table during lunch. It looked like Turner had planned to go down with the ship, as Captain Smith of the Titanic had, but his life jacket save him and he went on to captain other Cunard liners and was sunk a second time, surving that one too. Turner started as a cabin boy and worked his way up to captain; as a result the reader has a great deal of sympathy for the man.
Larson ferrets out other passenger stories, perhaps the most interesting is that of the spiritualist, Theodate Pope, whose body was found, apparently lifeless, until Belle Nash, a fellow passenger, noticed signs of life, as she was laid out among the dead. Pope returned the favor by putting Mrs. Nash in her will.
It's these little stories that make DEAD WAKE an enjoyable read. Upon reading the German warning in the TIMES passenger Dwight Harris had his own life jacket made. Seems like he knew what he was doing as many passengers died because they had their life jackets on wrong and entered the water head first.
As you can tell from the bibliography of DEAD WAKE, Larson is a first rate researcher, never accepting established fact (such as Churchill's claim that two torpedos struck the Lusitania).
The big mystery as I see it, and as Larson hints, is why the Lusitania never got an escort when the Germans had warned Americans not to travel on the ship in the New York Times. The British also had information that there were submarines in the area; the Russians had stumbled over the German's wireless code book and had given it to Room 40, the British intelligence serve, led by Winston Churchill the First Lord of the Admiralty. They had also been tracking Unterseeboot-20, the sub that sank the great liner, led by Walther Schwieger, since it left port. One begins to wonder if the British were hoping the Lusitania would be sunk, thus bringing America into the war. There was also the rumor that the Lusitania was carrying badly needed munitions. The Germans certainly thought so as three German stowaways were captured prior to leaving New York.
Larson presents Churchill as a conniving sort of man throughout the book. For instance, he blames the captain, William Thomas Turner for not using a zigzagging pattern and staying in mid channel as directed by Room 40. The messages Turner received were ambiguous to say the least. If he had maintained his original course, Schwieger, who had given up and was on his way home when he stumbled across the Lusitania, Schwieger never would have a chance at the ship.
We also see President Woodrow Wilson, depressed after losing his wife, but determined to keep the United States out of the war. But he has a new love, Edith Galt, whom he's determined to woo. She's reluctant since it had only been a year since Wilson lost his wife.
Ironically, the most interesting character in the book is Turner, not your typical Cunard captain, who refers to the passengers as “bloody monkeys.” He would rather eat in his room than preside over the captain's table during lunch. It looked like Turner had planned to go down with the ship, as Captain Smith of the Titanic had, but his life jacket save him and he went on to captain other Cunard liners and was sunk a second time, surving that one too. Turner started as a cabin boy and worked his way up to captain; as a result the reader has a great deal of sympathy for the man.
Larson ferrets out other passenger stories, perhaps the most interesting is that of the spiritualist, Theodate Pope, whose body was found, apparently lifeless, until Belle Nash, a fellow passenger, noticed signs of life, as she was laid out among the dead. Pope returned the favor by putting Mrs. Nash in her will.
It's these little stories that make DEAD WAKE an enjoyable read. Upon reading the German warning in the TIMES passenger Dwight Harris had his own life jacket made. Seems like he knew what he was doing as many passengers died because they had their life jackets on wrong and entered the water head first.
April 17, 2015
The Wilderness of Ruin
Ostensibly, THE WILDERNESS OF RUIN is about Jesse Pomeroy who tortured and murdered several children beginning in 1871 when he was only twelve, but the book also addresses whether great American author, Herman Melville, also might have been insane due to the stress he put himself under monetarily and intellectually while writing such literary works as MOBY DICK and PIERRE.
At first Jesse Pomeroy guilty of sadistic assaults against very young children. He was readily captured and sent to reform school, but his mother fought for his release, claiming she needed him to help run a small grocery and to help his older brother who ran a news stand and delivered newspapers. A charitable organization helped get him out, and the family moved to South Boston from Chelsea where he wouldn't be so well known. Shortly after he was freed, two children were murdered, and of course, Jesse was the principal suspect. Ten-year old Katie Curran wasn't found for months, although she was buried in the basement of his mother's grocery, which had been “searched” several times.
The reason Pomeroy is significant is that he was eventually found guilty and held in solitary confinement for over forty years. Jesse was quite adept at trying to escape. Once he drilled through the bars, made it into the passageway and might have escaped had it not been for a guard's cat who drew attention to him.
Melville did well as an author as long as his ambitions were in the popular vein. As a young man, Melville served on a whaling vessel; he wrote several novels such as OMOO and WHITE JACKET about his experiences Once he was introduced to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville aspired to more literary ambitions, culminating in MOBY DICK. Melville was also inspired by the Essex tragedy where a whaler was attacked by a whale, and he used books on that incident as research. Melville was also interested in insanity and read everything he could find on the affliction. Captain Ahab is symbolic of that fascination. The public hated MOBY DICK, especially the long encyclopedic information on whales. This led to money problems and Melville was forced to take a job working at the Custom Office for a miniscule salary. It's surprising that author Roseanne Montillo never mentions “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of our greatest short stories, which was obviously influenced by Melville's job.
It's surprising how similar issues surrounding mental illness and what to do with young offenders were in 1871 and 2015. Today, perhaps Jesse would have been declared an adult and tried for first degree murder. Pomeroy who taught himself the law while in solitary always argued he should have been given an insanity defense. What is really surprising is how many organizations and individuals fought to get either a pardon or a release for Jesse into the general population at the prison. I would imagine his record of over forty years in solitary confinement still stands.
At first Jesse Pomeroy guilty of sadistic assaults against very young children. He was readily captured and sent to reform school, but his mother fought for his release, claiming she needed him to help run a small grocery and to help his older brother who ran a news stand and delivered newspapers. A charitable organization helped get him out, and the family moved to South Boston from Chelsea where he wouldn't be so well known. Shortly after he was freed, two children were murdered, and of course, Jesse was the principal suspect. Ten-year old Katie Curran wasn't found for months, although she was buried in the basement of his mother's grocery, which had been “searched” several times.
The reason Pomeroy is significant is that he was eventually found guilty and held in solitary confinement for over forty years. Jesse was quite adept at trying to escape. Once he drilled through the bars, made it into the passageway and might have escaped had it not been for a guard's cat who drew attention to him.
Melville did well as an author as long as his ambitions were in the popular vein. As a young man, Melville served on a whaling vessel; he wrote several novels such as OMOO and WHITE JACKET about his experiences Once he was introduced to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Melville aspired to more literary ambitions, culminating in MOBY DICK. Melville was also inspired by the Essex tragedy where a whaler was attacked by a whale, and he used books on that incident as research. Melville was also interested in insanity and read everything he could find on the affliction. Captain Ahab is symbolic of that fascination. The public hated MOBY DICK, especially the long encyclopedic information on whales. This led to money problems and Melville was forced to take a job working at the Custom Office for a miniscule salary. It's surprising that author Roseanne Montillo never mentions “Bartleby the Scrivener,” one of our greatest short stories, which was obviously influenced by Melville's job.
It's surprising how similar issues surrounding mental illness and what to do with young offenders were in 1871 and 2015. Today, perhaps Jesse would have been declared an adult and tried for first degree murder. Pomeroy who taught himself the law while in solitary always argued he should have been given an insanity defense. What is really surprising is how many organizations and individuals fought to get either a pardon or a release for Jesse into the general population at the prison. I would imagine his record of over forty years in solitary confinement still stands.
April 9, 2015
A Spool of Blue Thread
A SPOOL OF BLUE THREAD starts Abby and Red Whitshank worrying about their son, Denny, who is nearing forty with seemingly no ambition, although,according to him, he has finished college. Abby takes him at his word, but we're not so sure. Is this guy just slow to mature or is he some kind of con man?
The Whitshanks have a lawyer daughter, Amanda, who has a thirteen-year-old daughter. She's having marital problems, with a husband similar to Denny. Jeannie, the youngest daughter, works with Red as a carpenter, and there's a youngest boy, Stem, who seems to be the family favorite.
Our first twist comes when Abby starts to become forgetful. For instance, she calls the family dog Clarence, when her name is really Brenda. And the neighbors find her wandering around the neighborhood in her pajamas, during a rain storm. The family wants to put them in an assisted living facility, but then there's the seventh member of the family, the house, which was built with lovely craftsmanship by Red's father junior. So Stem and Nora, his beautiful, languid wife, move in with them. But then Jeannie tells Denny what's happening and he decides to move in, too. That's when we arrive at another twist. Stem is not really Abby and Red's son. He's not even adopted.
Okay, then the flashbacks start. We find out how Abby and Red got together. She was going with, Dane, a bad boy type, but then she noticed what a nice boy Red was during a fracas with a neighbor, and it's all over but the shouting.
The next section deals with how Red's father Junior wound up with his wife, Linnie. He met her when she was only thirteen, but she was with two senior girls at the time. They have sex before he finds out how young she really is. Her father wants his head; Junior hears there's construction work to be had in Baltimore, and that's how he learns to be a master carpenter, eventually owning his own construction business. But it's during the Depression, so he isn't able to save much, but he does get a commission to build the Brill house, the seventh member of the family that Red and Abby still live in. The way he cons his way into buying the house will remind you of Denny. Somewhere in there, Linnie shows up in Baltimore. She's been in love with Junior since she was thirteen. She's eighteen now and she tracks him down like a bloodhound. We're not sure if Linnie and Junior ever do get married, but they have two kids, one of them Red.
There's another twist that made me want to cry, but I'll let you read that for yourself. Believe it or not, Red agrees to move into an apartment and the family hunkers down to moving him and Stem, Nora and their three boys start packing up to return home. Denny decides to leave, even before they get Red moved in. His sisters give him holy hell, but he insists he's got to help his landlady board up her house during a hurricane; he only has a tight window to avoid being stuck in Baltimore with his family. But all is not what it seems to be; it never is with Denny.
The blue spool of thread plays a role as does a French horn; Denny insists he's a changed man and some readers will believe him. He's decided to become a furniture maker; it's the family business after all. So . . . do you believe him or is forty too old to change your spots?
The Whitshanks have a lawyer daughter, Amanda, who has a thirteen-year-old daughter. She's having marital problems, with a husband similar to Denny. Jeannie, the youngest daughter, works with Red as a carpenter, and there's a youngest boy, Stem, who seems to be the family favorite.
Our first twist comes when Abby starts to become forgetful. For instance, she calls the family dog Clarence, when her name is really Brenda. And the neighbors find her wandering around the neighborhood in her pajamas, during a rain storm. The family wants to put them in an assisted living facility, but then there's the seventh member of the family, the house, which was built with lovely craftsmanship by Red's father junior. So Stem and Nora, his beautiful, languid wife, move in with them. But then Jeannie tells Denny what's happening and he decides to move in, too. That's when we arrive at another twist. Stem is not really Abby and Red's son. He's not even adopted.
Okay, then the flashbacks start. We find out how Abby and Red got together. She was going with, Dane, a bad boy type, but then she noticed what a nice boy Red was during a fracas with a neighbor, and it's all over but the shouting.
The next section deals with how Red's father Junior wound up with his wife, Linnie. He met her when she was only thirteen, but she was with two senior girls at the time. They have sex before he finds out how young she really is. Her father wants his head; Junior hears there's construction work to be had in Baltimore, and that's how he learns to be a master carpenter, eventually owning his own construction business. But it's during the Depression, so he isn't able to save much, but he does get a commission to build the Brill house, the seventh member of the family that Red and Abby still live in. The way he cons his way into buying the house will remind you of Denny. Somewhere in there, Linnie shows up in Baltimore. She's been in love with Junior since she was thirteen. She's eighteen now and she tracks him down like a bloodhound. We're not sure if Linnie and Junior ever do get married, but they have two kids, one of them Red.
There's another twist that made me want to cry, but I'll let you read that for yourself. Believe it or not, Red agrees to move into an apartment and the family hunkers down to moving him and Stem, Nora and their three boys start packing up to return home. Denny decides to leave, even before they get Red moved in. His sisters give him holy hell, but he insists he's got to help his landlady board up her house during a hurricane; he only has a tight window to avoid being stuck in Baltimore with his family. But all is not what it seems to be; it never is with Denny.
The blue spool of thread plays a role as does a French horn; Denny insists he's a changed man and some readers will believe him. He's decided to become a furniture maker; it's the family business after all. So . . . do you believe him or is forty too old to change your spots?
March 30, 2015
Brown Dog
Those readers unfamiliar with Jim Harrison's work should remember LEGENDS OF THE FALL, the popular movie based on his work. BROWN DOG is actually six interconnected novellas about an orphan raised by his grandfather who supposedly said he looked like a “Bown Dog” when BD showed up in his yard.
The Upper Peninsula features strongly in the six novellas. The UP is well known for its “characters” so to speak. Finlanders, Cornish, and Italians worked in the mines there and they all had their own unique personalities and mythologies. Mix in the Chippewa Indians and you've got a interesting mix.
Brown Dog doesn't have much ambition beyond three squares, where he'll get the money for his next six pack, and sex. He works for Delmar, who may be a relative or just a friend of his grandfather, cutting pulp. During the winter he repairs cabins in the woods for free rent. He loves the woods and fishing. He spends hours trout fishing, sometimes all day.
Brown Dog gets in trouble when he falls in lust with an anthropologist interested in Indian mounds BD has discovered. When she and a friend trick him into telling them where they are, they start a dig. Brown Dog and a younger brother of a friend of his who's a sort of pseudo AIM activist decide to bombard the dig with fireworks. The only one to pay the piper is Rose, one of Brown Dog's lovers, whom he may have actually married at one time. She gets two years in jail for biting off the thumb of a police officer, and BD is the temporary guardian of their children Red and Berry, a little girl who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Berry is the star of the show in my mind. She does bird impressions that fool the birds themselves, although she never says a word. Gretchen, a social worker who defends Berry when she's out of control, becomes the love of BD's life. Of course, she's a lesbian. Harrison paints himself into a corner with this romance. Are we supposed to believe that a lesbian will overcome her sexual preference and fall for BD? We want her to. The way Harrison handles this is nothing short of masterful.
These stories will remind you of Hemingway/s “Big Two Hearted River” in that Brown Bear loves the woods and fishing more than breathing, if that's possible. He moves from the UP to California to Montana and back to the UP, but he feels out of place anywhere but in the woods. Some will object to the stereotypical Indian in that BD is definitely an alcoholics and so are most of his friends, but the big lug is so lovable even they will appreciate the uniqueness of the character. He doesn't even objectify women, and he's a sex fiend. He genuinely loves all women, even three hundred pounders.
The Upper Peninsula features strongly in the six novellas. The UP is well known for its “characters” so to speak. Finlanders, Cornish, and Italians worked in the mines there and they all had their own unique personalities and mythologies. Mix in the Chippewa Indians and you've got a interesting mix.
Brown Dog doesn't have much ambition beyond three squares, where he'll get the money for his next six pack, and sex. He works for Delmar, who may be a relative or just a friend of his grandfather, cutting pulp. During the winter he repairs cabins in the woods for free rent. He loves the woods and fishing. He spends hours trout fishing, sometimes all day.
Brown Dog gets in trouble when he falls in lust with an anthropologist interested in Indian mounds BD has discovered. When she and a friend trick him into telling them where they are, they start a dig. Brown Dog and a younger brother of a friend of his who's a sort of pseudo AIM activist decide to bombard the dig with fireworks. The only one to pay the piper is Rose, one of Brown Dog's lovers, whom he may have actually married at one time. She gets two years in jail for biting off the thumb of a police officer, and BD is the temporary guardian of their children Red and Berry, a little girl who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome.
Berry is the star of the show in my mind. She does bird impressions that fool the birds themselves, although she never says a word. Gretchen, a social worker who defends Berry when she's out of control, becomes the love of BD's life. Of course, she's a lesbian. Harrison paints himself into a corner with this romance. Are we supposed to believe that a lesbian will overcome her sexual preference and fall for BD? We want her to. The way Harrison handles this is nothing short of masterful.
These stories will remind you of Hemingway/s “Big Two Hearted River” in that Brown Bear loves the woods and fishing more than breathing, if that's possible. He moves from the UP to California to Montana and back to the UP, but he feels out of place anywhere but in the woods. Some will object to the stereotypical Indian in that BD is definitely an alcoholics and so are most of his friends, but the big lug is so lovable even they will appreciate the uniqueness of the character. He doesn't even objectify women, and he's a sex fiend. He genuinely loves all women, even three hundred pounders.
March 6, 2015
Tesla: A Portrait With Masks
Nikola Tesla was born in Serbia, the younger son of an Orthodox priest. His older brother, Dane, was the star of the family. Nikola was jealous and blamed himself when his brother was killed in an accident. According to author, Vladimir Pistalo, Tesla was haunted, literally sometimes, by his brother for the rest of his life.
When Dane died, Nikola’s father expected Nikola to take Dane’s place and become a priest, but Nikola was always interested in science. Nikola attends college, but leaves early to work in Edison’s Paris laboratory, and from there in New York where Edison offers him $50,000 to work on 24 electrical motors. Pistalo claims Tesla had already formulated his ideas on alternating current. When Edison reneges on his contract, Tesla quits; ultimately, when he can’t find a job, he ends up a ditch digger, ironically working for Edison. Okay, here’s the problem I have with this kind of book, a literary novelist’s version of Tesla’s life. Believe it or not, Telsa works with the brother of a man who manages Western Union. He’s heard of Tesla, and he hires him to run their lab. He also eventually arranges a meeting between George Westinghouse and the scientist. As you may know, Westinghouse financed Tesla alternating current laboratory; Tesla eventually got the contract to light up Niagara Falls and the World Exposition in Chicago. Somewhere in there Westinghouse was in danger of bankruptcy and Tesla surrendered his patents for much less than they were worth.
Meanwhile Tesla builds a laboratory in Colorado Springs where Pistalo claims he discovered wireless electricity; he was able to create thunder and lightning. When J.P. Morgan, who created General Electric, and Bernard Baruch found out, their soul worry was how they could put a meter on Tesla’s process. Essentially Morgan cheated Tesla out of his discovery, due to some Wall Street chicanery. Tesla did build a laboratory in Long Island, but it was eventually torn down to pay off Tesla’s debt. It seems odd that a financier would trade profit for what might have been the answer to the clean energy conundrum. Carbon based fuels as an energy source are never mentioned in connection with Tesla’s process.
As I said above, this is a literary novel, and there’s quite a bit of metaphysical stuff going on. Tesla hires an unhinged young girl, whom he fires. I’m not sure if he fired her for stealing bread or eating on the job, but she tries to kill him, wounding him in the arm. As an older man Tesla is run over by a taxi cab and refuses to go to the hospital. He creates this weird concoction that he claims will let him live forever. Either Tesla was one strange dude or Pistola’s character was. Whichever, now I’m going to have to read a biography to find out if Tesla really did invent wireless electricity. By the way, he also invented a better version of the radio. which Marconi took credit for, and florescent lights. Edison also switched to alternate current, without being sued, because Westinghouse was using his light bulb.
When Dane died, Nikola’s father expected Nikola to take Dane’s place and become a priest, but Nikola was always interested in science. Nikola attends college, but leaves early to work in Edison’s Paris laboratory, and from there in New York where Edison offers him $50,000 to work on 24 electrical motors. Pistalo claims Tesla had already formulated his ideas on alternating current. When Edison reneges on his contract, Tesla quits; ultimately, when he can’t find a job, he ends up a ditch digger, ironically working for Edison. Okay, here’s the problem I have with this kind of book, a literary novelist’s version of Tesla’s life. Believe it or not, Telsa works with the brother of a man who manages Western Union. He’s heard of Tesla, and he hires him to run their lab. He also eventually arranges a meeting between George Westinghouse and the scientist. As you may know, Westinghouse financed Tesla alternating current laboratory; Tesla eventually got the contract to light up Niagara Falls and the World Exposition in Chicago. Somewhere in there Westinghouse was in danger of bankruptcy and Tesla surrendered his patents for much less than they were worth.
Meanwhile Tesla builds a laboratory in Colorado Springs where Pistalo claims he discovered wireless electricity; he was able to create thunder and lightning. When J.P. Morgan, who created General Electric, and Bernard Baruch found out, their soul worry was how they could put a meter on Tesla’s process. Essentially Morgan cheated Tesla out of his discovery, due to some Wall Street chicanery. Tesla did build a laboratory in Long Island, but it was eventually torn down to pay off Tesla’s debt. It seems odd that a financier would trade profit for what might have been the answer to the clean energy conundrum. Carbon based fuels as an energy source are never mentioned in connection with Tesla’s process.
As I said above, this is a literary novel, and there’s quite a bit of metaphysical stuff going on. Tesla hires an unhinged young girl, whom he fires. I’m not sure if he fired her for stealing bread or eating on the job, but she tries to kill him, wounding him in the arm. As an older man Tesla is run over by a taxi cab and refuses to go to the hospital. He creates this weird concoction that he claims will let him live forever. Either Tesla was one strange dude or Pistola’s character was. Whichever, now I’m going to have to read a biography to find out if Tesla really did invent wireless electricity. By the way, he also invented a better version of the radio. which Marconi took credit for, and florescent lights. Edison also switched to alternate current, without being sued, because Westinghouse was using his light bulb.
February 19, 2015
Winter People
When I first started reading WINTER PEOPLE, I was reminded of PET SEMETERY by Stephen King, and “The Monkey’s Paw” the great short story, but I had a jones for a good ghost story, so I kept reading.
With only a few qualms I wasn’t disappointed. It takes author Jennifer McMahon a while to introduce her characters. The main one, I guess, is Sara Harrison Shea who wrote the journal so important to the other characters. She’s famous in West Hall, Vermont, as a murder victim who was skinned alive; her husband, Martin, a hard scrabble farmer, who committed suicide gets the blame.
The next character to enter stage center is Ruthie whose mother disappears. She’s left to take care of her sweet little sister, Fawn. They live in Sara’s old house and soon find some clues as to what may have happened to their mother Alice.
Katherine then enters the picture. Her husband Gary was a photographer and an antiquer who discovered parts of Sara’s journal and photographed it. Gary is killed in a car accident. Katherine discovers a picture of Gary with a woman with a long gray braid, which turns out to be Alice. So, have patience, our characters get together after a while.
Okay, now for the weird stuff. Sara has an aunt who may be a witch, and she has a formula that can bring people back to life for seven days, providing they don’t kill somebody. If they do, they will live forever. Sara had a little girl named Gertie who stretches your suspension of disbelief, but I suppose if you can do it for Stephen King you can do it for Jennifer McMahon.
The qualm I have is that Jennifer leaves us hanging with Sara. I can’t say more without hatching a spoiler. McMahon also leaves room for a hokey sequel in what happens with Gary. I’m not sure if I liked the story because I hadn’t read a ghost story in a long time or if McMahon did such a good job with suspense. I had to go back to the beginning and reread Sarah’s journal, and I never do that; I’ll give her a gold star for that.
With only a few qualms I wasn’t disappointed. It takes author Jennifer McMahon a while to introduce her characters. The main one, I guess, is Sara Harrison Shea who wrote the journal so important to the other characters. She’s famous in West Hall, Vermont, as a murder victim who was skinned alive; her husband, Martin, a hard scrabble farmer, who committed suicide gets the blame.
The next character to enter stage center is Ruthie whose mother disappears. She’s left to take care of her sweet little sister, Fawn. They live in Sara’s old house and soon find some clues as to what may have happened to their mother Alice.
Katherine then enters the picture. Her husband Gary was a photographer and an antiquer who discovered parts of Sara’s journal and photographed it. Gary is killed in a car accident. Katherine discovers a picture of Gary with a woman with a long gray braid, which turns out to be Alice. So, have patience, our characters get together after a while.
Okay, now for the weird stuff. Sara has an aunt who may be a witch, and she has a formula that can bring people back to life for seven days, providing they don’t kill somebody. If they do, they will live forever. Sara had a little girl named Gertie who stretches your suspension of disbelief, but I suppose if you can do it for Stephen King you can do it for Jennifer McMahon.
The qualm I have is that Jennifer leaves us hanging with Sara. I can’t say more without hatching a spoiler. McMahon also leaves room for a hokey sequel in what happens with Gary. I’m not sure if I liked the story because I hadn’t read a ghost story in a long time or if McMahon did such a good job with suspense. I had to go back to the beginning and reread Sarah’s journal, and I never do that; I’ll give her a gold star for that.
February 9, 2015
Driving the King
DRIVING THE KING is primarily about an attack on the stage while Nat King Cole was performing in his home town of Montgomery, Alabama. A man is about to bash Nat’s head in with a pipe when his boyhood friend Sergeant Nat Weary, recently returned from WWII, comes to his aid, using the microphone as a weapon.
The white man is sentenced to three years working on a cattle ranch, a walk-in-the-park compared to what Weary got. He got ten years at a maximum facility where he chopped Kudzu plants, among other indignities. The charge was inciting a riot.
The main problem I had with the book was that Nat King Cole is such a bland character. The last time I checked his daughter was still alive, and there’s plenty of information out there, newspaper clippings and otherwise, about one of the greatest singers America ever produced. All we learn here is that Nat could’ve been a pro baseball player; he could pitch with both hands, due to his piano playing ability.
Ravi Howard centers on three other incidents in the book: the Montgomery bus strike and the Nat King Cole TV show, which he apparently financed himself due to his inability to find a sponsor. It was fifteen minutes long. I remember it, but I don’t remember it being that short. It was the first time a black man had his own television show. The third involves Nat King Cole’s return to Montgomery to finish what he started, put on a show for his people. That’s the trouble with using real life characters in fiction. This never happened. Yes, there was an attack, but Nat never performed in the South again.
Howard also centers on another real person, Almena Lomax, who covered the bus strike for her newspaper in Los Angeles, where Weary had moved after he got out of jail. We see the editor of the newspaper delivering her own papers , which is where Weary met her. There’s also a very short glimpse of Martin Luther King, more of a walk-on than anything.
Nat Weary also has a love life. He originally took his girlfriend Mattie to the show; they were planning on getting married, but when he got his jail sentence he cut off their relationship. There was always the chance his sentence might be extended in the Jim Crow South, and he wanted her to have a life. One of the conflict situations is when they meet again after he gets out. Actually they meet twice, once in Los Angeles and in Montgomery, and Mattie is married with a couple of kids. Meanwhile Nat has started a new relationship with a singer looking for her big break; she works part-time at a diner.
Ravi Howard is an established writer; he was a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PenAward; he is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other kudos. Ravi can do better than this; he already has with is first novel, LIKE TREES, WALKING. Fictionalizing a national icon is a hard enough challenge, but you’ve got to do him justice.
The white man is sentenced to three years working on a cattle ranch, a walk-in-the-park compared to what Weary got. He got ten years at a maximum facility where he chopped Kudzu plants, among other indignities. The charge was inciting a riot.
The main problem I had with the book was that Nat King Cole is such a bland character. The last time I checked his daughter was still alive, and there’s plenty of information out there, newspaper clippings and otherwise, about one of the greatest singers America ever produced. All we learn here is that Nat could’ve been a pro baseball player; he could pitch with both hands, due to his piano playing ability.
Ravi Howard centers on three other incidents in the book: the Montgomery bus strike and the Nat King Cole TV show, which he apparently financed himself due to his inability to find a sponsor. It was fifteen minutes long. I remember it, but I don’t remember it being that short. It was the first time a black man had his own television show. The third involves Nat King Cole’s return to Montgomery to finish what he started, put on a show for his people. That’s the trouble with using real life characters in fiction. This never happened. Yes, there was an attack, but Nat never performed in the South again.
Howard also centers on another real person, Almena Lomax, who covered the bus strike for her newspaper in Los Angeles, where Weary had moved after he got out of jail. We see the editor of the newspaper delivering her own papers , which is where Weary met her. There’s also a very short glimpse of Martin Luther King, more of a walk-on than anything.
Nat Weary also has a love life. He originally took his girlfriend Mattie to the show; they were planning on getting married, but when he got his jail sentence he cut off their relationship. There was always the chance his sentence might be extended in the Jim Crow South, and he wanted her to have a life. One of the conflict situations is when they meet again after he gets out. Actually they meet twice, once in Los Angeles and in Montgomery, and Mattie is married with a couple of kids. Meanwhile Nat has started a new relationship with a singer looking for her big break; she works part-time at a diner.
Ravi Howard is an established writer; he was a finalist for the Hemingway Foundation/PenAward; he is the recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, among other kudos. Ravi can do better than this; he already has with is first novel, LIKE TREES, WALKING. Fictionalizing a national icon is a hard enough challenge, but you’ve got to do him justice.
February 2, 2015
The Secret History
The first Donna Tartt novel I read was THE LITTLE FRIEND. Harriet Dufresnes reminded me of what Scout Finch might have been like during her teen years. Most of the reviews I read compared that book unfavorably to THE SECRET HISTORY, but I didn’t read it until after I’d read THE GOLDFINCH for which Tartt won the Pulitzer. Harriet was a likable character; you won’t find a likable character in THE GOLDFINCH or THE SECRET HISTORY, unless you count the furniture maker in THE GOLDFINCH who doesn’t have all that much to do with the story.
THE SECRET HISTORY is about a half dozen Greek students who devote most of their academic career to Julian, their guru of a teacher. He insists that they take most of their classes with him. The main character is Richard, a scholarship student at Hampden University in Vermont, who tries to hide the fact that he has little money. Henry is the obsessive leader who doesn’t care about much else except Greek. Bunny is the screw-up of the group; his parents won’t give him any money, so he basically leeches off everybody else, especially Henry, who’s supposed to be his best friend. Then there are the Twins, Camilla and Charles; something incestuous seems to be going on there. Francis is a homosexual who makes a pass at Richard. Francis also has lots of money, and they spend at lot of time at his grandmother’s palatial home a few miles from the college. One day during class, Julian and the class discuss the maenads, the wild women of ancient Greece who worshipped Dionysus, God of wine, with wild revelry. They were so unlike the rational view we have of such great intellectuals as Sophocles, Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Julian explains that you can’t be rational all the time; you need a recess of sorts, where you let it all hang out (my words, not his).
Henry and the others, except Bunny and Richard, decide to create their own Bacchanal, where they break free of reality. They fail repeatedly; a few times Bunny is with them, but he’s such a blabbermouth, Henry really doesn’t trust him. They finally succeed and they’re racing through the fields and woods outside Hampden when they encounter a farmer who owns the land. They’re dressed like the students from “Animal House,” so you can imagine how he reacts. Anyway, something terrible happens, and the Greek students spend the rest of the novel trying to dodge local authorities and even the FBI.
For some reason, Henry trusts Richard enough to tell him what happened in the woods. One is tempted to believe he does this because Richard is telling the story and Tartt needs Henry to tell Richard. Tartt does this with Richard’s background, too. He took two years of Greek in California before landing his scholarship at Hampden; he needs a foreign language and doesn‘t want to waste the two years he already has. At first Julian won’t take Richard as a student, until he helps the others with an assignment, and they vouch for him. Richard knows something about ancient Greek grammar that these wizards don’t know?
Anyway, Bunny is able to put two and two together, thanks to newspaper accounts of what happened in the woods, and he can’t keep his mouth shut; he’s constantly teasing the others about what they did. Henry isn’t the bosom buddy Bunny thinks he is. He’s more of a sociopath; so you can guess what happens next. Tartt isn’t really good at throwing in the unexpected twist. After the second “incident” Charles starts to lose it, drinking way too much, and Henry makes it worse by showing interest in Camilla. Richard is also drinking too much and Henry is acting like he’s “the boss of them”.
So then, what’s this story about? You could say it’s about obsession in that otherwise brilliant students like Henry and the others would try something so asinine as the bacchanal in the first place. You could say it’s about putting all your eggs in one basket as the Greek students do with Julian. Think Joseph Smith; think Reverend Moon. It’s obviously an ego thing with Julian; he takes only the best and the brightest, and he’s like a father to them, especially Henry. But like a lot of heroes this one has feet of clay.
THE SECRET HISTORY is about a half dozen Greek students who devote most of their academic career to Julian, their guru of a teacher. He insists that they take most of their classes with him. The main character is Richard, a scholarship student at Hampden University in Vermont, who tries to hide the fact that he has little money. Henry is the obsessive leader who doesn’t care about much else except Greek. Bunny is the screw-up of the group; his parents won’t give him any money, so he basically leeches off everybody else, especially Henry, who’s supposed to be his best friend. Then there are the Twins, Camilla and Charles; something incestuous seems to be going on there. Francis is a homosexual who makes a pass at Richard. Francis also has lots of money, and they spend at lot of time at his grandmother’s palatial home a few miles from the college. One day during class, Julian and the class discuss the maenads, the wild women of ancient Greece who worshipped Dionysus, God of wine, with wild revelry. They were so unlike the rational view we have of such great intellectuals as Sophocles, Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Julian explains that you can’t be rational all the time; you need a recess of sorts, where you let it all hang out (my words, not his).
Henry and the others, except Bunny and Richard, decide to create their own Bacchanal, where they break free of reality. They fail repeatedly; a few times Bunny is with them, but he’s such a blabbermouth, Henry really doesn’t trust him. They finally succeed and they’re racing through the fields and woods outside Hampden when they encounter a farmer who owns the land. They’re dressed like the students from “Animal House,” so you can imagine how he reacts. Anyway, something terrible happens, and the Greek students spend the rest of the novel trying to dodge local authorities and even the FBI.
For some reason, Henry trusts Richard enough to tell him what happened in the woods. One is tempted to believe he does this because Richard is telling the story and Tartt needs Henry to tell Richard. Tartt does this with Richard’s background, too. He took two years of Greek in California before landing his scholarship at Hampden; he needs a foreign language and doesn‘t want to waste the two years he already has. At first Julian won’t take Richard as a student, until he helps the others with an assignment, and they vouch for him. Richard knows something about ancient Greek grammar that these wizards don’t know?
Anyway, Bunny is able to put two and two together, thanks to newspaper accounts of what happened in the woods, and he can’t keep his mouth shut; he’s constantly teasing the others about what they did. Henry isn’t the bosom buddy Bunny thinks he is. He’s more of a sociopath; so you can guess what happens next. Tartt isn’t really good at throwing in the unexpected twist. After the second “incident” Charles starts to lose it, drinking way too much, and Henry makes it worse by showing interest in Camilla. Richard is also drinking too much and Henry is acting like he’s “the boss of them”.
So then, what’s this story about? You could say it’s about obsession in that otherwise brilliant students like Henry and the others would try something so asinine as the bacchanal in the first place. You could say it’s about putting all your eggs in one basket as the Greek students do with Julian. Think Joseph Smith; think Reverend Moon. It’s obviously an ego thing with Julian; he takes only the best and the brightest, and he’s like a father to them, especially Henry. But like a lot of heroes this one has feet of clay.
