Recent Reviews
James by Percival Everett
Percival Everett’s most recent novel, James, is brilliant. The premise is provocative and perfect. Everett has reimagined Jim, the enslaved character from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and renamed him James. James’ intelligence and compassion burst from the pages. James can read and write and is more insightful than the white people with whom he must interact.
Most enslaved people were prohibited from reading and writing. James speaks with perfect grammar and erudition. His knowledge of other writers and philosophers is extensive. Yet to protect himself and his fellow enslaved friends, when white people approached, they reverted to “slave talk.” He said, “My change in diction alerted the rest to the white boy’s presence.”
As in Twain’s novel, Huck is running away from his violent father while James is fleeing upon learning he might be sold. He hopes to escape to a “free state” to earn enough money to buy his wife and daughter’s freedom. Huck and James embark on a dangerous, revealing raft ride on the Mississippi River.
There are gruesome scenes in the novel when white people sadistically inflict cruelty on Black people. The story illuminates the revolting behavior and attitudes of white people who often project their own inferiority onto the slaves they own. This powerful book should be read in conjunction with Huckleberry Finn or maybe instead of Huckleberry Finn. Highly recommend 5/5.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Women can be heroes is the theme of Kristin Hannah’s newest novel, The Women. Since men’s experiences dominate history books, women are often absent from the depictions of war. In this novel, Hannah seeks to acknowledge and highlight the courageous and competent women who served in the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War. With a few exceptions, these women who nursed and saved US soldiers have been relegated to the fringes of history.
This story focuses on 21-year-old Frankie McGrath, who enlisted in the Army Nurse Corps in 1965. Frankie is from San Diego, California, and decides somewhat impetuously to follow her brother’s example and serve her country in Vietnam. Had she stayed in her hometown, her conservative parents expected her to find a husband and have children. What Frankie experiences in Vietnam is gruesome and terrifying. But with the support of numerous nurses and doctors, she adapts to the barrage of injured and dead soldiers helicoptered into her evacuation hospitals in the jungle.
As harrowing as being a nurse in Vietnam was, her return to the United States was even more treacherous. Many Americans criticized enlisted soldiers for participating in a morally unconscionable war. Even fellow Army vets would not acknowledge that women served in Vietnam. Frankie was traumatized by what she saw in Vietnam, but the dismissive way she was treated when she returned was its own kind of trauma. Her family didn’t want to hear about her experience and even other Veterans refused to recognize her service. Months after her return, she descends into a dark place.
This novel is a quick and informative read. Hannah’s research brings the details of Frankie’s Vietnam experience to life. Unfortunately, many characters are not fully developed and the romantic ending is a bit unrealistic. But those facts don’t diminish the importance of chronicling and celebrating the contributions of the brave women who served in Vietnam and Hannah has done just that. 4/5
beyond that, the sea by Laura Spence-Ash
There is heart and soul in this beautiful novel by Laura Spence-Ash. Her writing is layered with astute reflections about familial love, conflicting loyalties, time passing, and the long road to understanding and forgiveness. The writing is warm and intimate, and there is no violence or treachery. As of April 2024, this is my favorite book of the year.
In 1940, when the German bombing of London became acute, Reg and Millie Thompson sent their only child, Beatrix, to America to keep her safe. After a two-week boat ride to Boston, an angry and frightened 11-year-old Beatrix meets Ethan and Nancy Gregory and their two sons, William and Gerald. She is warmly welcomed, assigned her own room and spends five formative summers with her new family on their private island in Maine. Nancy Gregory bathed her gently when she arrived. Ethan Gregory taught her to swim. William and Gerald seamlessly included her in their adventures. Her initial fear and loneliness gave way to feelings of comfort and inclusion. The Gregory’s come to love Beatrix, whom they now call Bea, and she comes to love them. Her life is changed forever, as is theirs.
Bea's parents hoped their daughter would be safe and happy and far from the danger in London. "They sent her away so she could have a childhood. They hadn't realized, though, that their decision meant that her childhood would, instead, be taken away from them." When the war ends, Bea is back on a boat to London. She doesn't want to return and would rather stay in this happy home with people who pay close attention to her needs. After five years away from London, Bea’s American family's warmth and emotional habits comfort her.
But to her London home, Bea returns.
Each of the Gregory family members feels Beatrix's absence. They leave her bedroom intact. After the war, the Gregory family members send Bea letters, and William visits Bea in London. As they move through their twenties and thirties, both sons miss Bea and struggle to find peace in their adult relationships. Meanwhile, Bea is angry with her mother and strives to establish her life in London as an adult. The war years were a formative and life-changing experience for Beatrix, her parents and the Gregory family. Each of these eight characters shares the narration, a testament to Spence-Ash's writing skills.
Gentle and warm, Spence-Ash combines descriptions of daily activities with an emotional log. The story is told over decades and illuminates the evolving bond between Bea and the Gregory’s, (especially the two sons) and the expanding distance between Bea and her parents. The past persistently hovers in each character's thoughts as they wrestle with their complicated and conflicted feelings. The novel reads like the journals of these eight characters as they each sort out their feelings about that monumental and influential time in their lives. This quiet novel is filled with grace. 5/5
