Recent Reviews
Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
Elizabeth Wetmore’s Valentine is one of the best debut novels I have read.
I am in awe of her descriptions of the topography of West Texas, and the people that live there. Wetmore transports us to this barren land of oil rigs and cattle ranches. We see the tumbleweeds, the changing colors of the sky and the creatures that populate the plains. We hear snakes rattle, oil shafts burst and the rustling of the wind as it gathers strength.
Into this bleak and beautiful landscape, we meet several women who live in the town of Odessa. The novel begins in 1976 when Dale Strickland rapes Gloria Ramirez, a fourteen-year-old high school student, in a deserted oil patch. Wetmore spares us from Strickland’s brutal assault, but we comprehend the level of cruelty. After the attack, Gloria staggers to a farmhouse three miles away. When Mary Rose Whitehead opens the door with her rifle raised, she is surprised to see a traumatized young girl not much older than her daughter.
The sheriff arrests Strickland. One might expect the people of Odessa would be outraged when they learn of the rape. Instead, they direct their vitriol at Mary Rose, who agrees to testify against Strickland. Men in town leave messages on Mary Rose’s answering machine, “You going to stand up for that spic? You going to take her word over his?” But Mary Rose is incensed by the violence inflicted on Gloria. “Gloria could be any of our girls.” Even Mary Rose’s seemingly benign husband, Robert does not want Mary Rose to testify against Strickland. His bigotry emerges, and Mary Rose and her daughter move to town.
We meet several women who live on the street where Mary Rose now lives. We learn each character’s perspective about her life. Corrine Shepard, a retired English teacher whose terminally ill husband, shot himself, is depressed. Suzanne Ledbetter, the town’s Avon saleslady and do-gooder, is anxious. She tells her daughter, “Never depend on a man to take care of you. Even a good one like your daddy.” We meet Ginny who can’t tolerate the narrow mindedness and indifference of Odessa and leaves her daughter.
Wetmore’s novel shows the subjection of women irrespective of social class. Women are second class citizens, not by law, but by custom. And sadly, many of these women participate in their diminishment by protecting the norms and traditions of Odessa. Even women who are married to nice men doubt the young Mexican-American, Gloria Ramirez. Women are often dependent on men for survival and become trapped by motherhood and economic survival. Corrine says, ‘If we were lucky, we made it to twelve before some man or boy, or well-intentioned woman who just thought we ought to know the score, let us know why we were put on this earth. To cheer them on. To smile and bring a little sunshine into the room. To prop them up and know them and be nice to everybody we meet.”
Wetmore’s stunning novel quivers with rage. At one point, Mary Rose exclaims to Corrine, “Why don’t we give a shit about Gloria Ramirez?” Though these women help each other, their racism toward Mexican-Americans festers. In the end, Dale Strickland receives justice. But his punishment is not delivered through the courts. Instead, the good ole boys of Odessa beat him after he harasses a waitress. This informal system of retribution allows white males to maintain their “official” dominance of women and minorities. Wetmore has delivered a blistering and compelling novel about one community in Texas. With lyricism and vision, she shines a Texas-size light on the second class status of women.
The Giver of Stars Jojo Moyes
Thanks to my fantastic DJKKS book club, I recently read Jojo Moyes’s historical novel The Giver of Stars. This uplifting story is about the power of books to change lives. Set in Baileyville, a small Kentucky mining town, the story celebrates five women who stand up to patriarchy. Moyes has developed wonderful characters that uniquely and collectively fight against the sexism, racism and hypocrisy of their time. Despite their struggles or maybe because of their efforts, I found the novel gratifying and inspiring.
During the Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration to improve the lives of suffering Americans. The WPA provided jobs and income to the unemployed. (Something to consider during this time of COVID-19). Under the auspices of the WPA, Eleanor Roosevelt led the effort to create the Pack Horse Library Project. From 1935-1943, the government paid women to deliver books to families in rural communities.
Into this history, Jojo Moyes begins her story. The year is 1937, and the five women librarians in Baileyville are grateful to have jobs that bring knowledge and joy to impoverished families. On horseback, they traverse beautiful landscapes, but the lives they witness are bleak. They learn that poor folks don’t want charity, but they do want books. The leader of the library ladies is Margery O’Hare, a feisty and determined woman who doesn’t pay attention to social conventions or listen to men. Her lover, Sven Gustavsson, wants to marry her, but as much as she loves him, she “won’t be owned by nobody. “ Margery’s father was an alcoholic who beat her. After Margery’s father dies, the town exhales with relief. Yet, soon their small-town hypocrisy is revealed. Few folks attend his funeral. But Margery is mocked as the girl who did not cry at her father’s service.
Another wonderful character is Alice Van Cleave, an English woman who marries a local man, Bennett Van Cleve. Alice thought leaving London would give her more freedom, but Eastern Kentucky proves just as provincial. Her unctuous father-in-law, with whom they live, manages the Hoffman Mining Company, the largest employer in town. Obsessed with his reputation and indifferent to injustice, he is a loathsome person. Aligned with one of the pastors in town, the senior Van Cleve attempts to shut down the library, arguing that domestic life is where women should find contentment. But Van Cleve’s opposition also derives from his greed An educated workforce might unionize. An educated populace might resist the paltry amounts offered for their valuable land. Alice and her fellow librarians know what is at stake and courageously resist attempts to stop their work.
The book is layered with themes and sub-plots. There is a love story, a trial, friendships, betrayals, an environmental catastrophe, redemption, reconciliation and enriching references to specific books and poems. Moyes has captured the way books can change how people feel and think. The Giver of Stars is also a testament to the power of women to make lasting change.
interpreter of maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for her collection of stories titled interpreter of maladies. These beautifully written narratives focus on the joys and sorrows of immigrants from the Bengalese region of India as they navigate their new lives in Boston. They feel grateful for the opportunities they have been given to live and work in America. While adapting to American culture, they still cling to their customs from home. They long for the familiar food, smells and sounds of India. Lahiri captures the intimate feelings of both the mundane aspects of their new lives as well as the significant milestones of living in the diaspora.
All the stories are strong. Perspectives vary as we hear from people of different genders, class and abilities. The Blessed House is about a married Hindu Indian couple who move into a suburban Connecticut house and discover that the prior owners left various Catholic trinkets. The husband wants to discard the items and the wife wants to display them. The husband realizes that he agreed to an arranged marriage because he thought his life lacked love. However, as he and his new wife discuss the Catholic knickknacks, he realizes he does not understand who he married and what love entails.
The stories crescendo to my favorite and final story of the book, The Third and Final Continent. After studying in London, a nameless young man returns to India. With his consent, his brother and his wife have arranged for him to marry before he moves to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to work at an MIT library. His wife, Mala, whom he barely knows, will soon join him. He rents a room from Mrs. Croft, a 100-year-old woman. His tender, patient response to her diminishment gives us many clues to his empathic character. This man’s gentleness and compassion grace the story. Thirty years later, he reflects on his physical and emotional journey from his Bengalese roots to his life in suburban Boston. He says with awe, “Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary, as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination.”
Lahiri’s gorgeous collection of stories allows readers to understand the experience of another culture and its people. With an abundance of historical, social and political context, she transports us into the hearts and minds of Indians living in America in the 1970s. Due to her writing skills and deep humanity, she interprets the maladies of those we meet with insight and compassion.
