Recent Reviews
The Altar of the Dead by Henry James
Recently, a friend recommended Henry James’ short story, ‘The Altar of the Dead.’ Once I began, I was riveted. James knows his way around the tunnels and labyrinths of the human psyche. And his skill at translating these insights into the written word is stunning. In under 50 pages, he illuminates the raw and complicated emotions dwelling inside his characters.
Written in 1895, the story opens in London. The mood is melancholy, the setting dark and the protagonist’s character pensive. George Stransom’s wife-to-be Mary had died many Decembers past. Their wedding day never happened. George is haunted by her loss and the fervent desire to keep her alive in his memory. In a moment of inspiration, George conceives of an altar lighted with perpetual candles for Mary and his other friends who have passed. As a balm for his soul, he assigns an altar candle to each friend who had died. “He had perhaps not had more losses than most men, but he had counted his losses more; he hadn’t seen death more closely but had in a manner felt it more deeply. This suited his inclination, it satisfied his spirit, it gave employment to his piety.”
One day, he notices the presence of a woman at his altar who appears to be in mourning. They eventually speak and their intricate story unfolds. The story’s suspense derives more from the internal turmoil experienced by George and this woman more than any external event.
Though this book is about the rituals of remembering the dead, this story reveals how people navigate the steep hills of forgiveness and redemption among the living. “The Altar of the Dead’ is writing at its best. 5/5
THE POSTCARD by ANNE BEREST
I have read dozens of books about the Holocaust and WWII. Meticulously researched and deeply profound, ‘The Postcard’ is among the best. Anne Berest has written an autobiographical novel that details the emotional wounds and persistent pain of Holocaust survivors and their progeny. The story describes how France’s Vichy government, in collaboration with the Nazis, sent tens of thousands of French Jews to die in concentration camps, including the author’s great-grandparents. The book also explores religious identity, family secrets, persistent silence, intergenerational trauma, and the healing power of stories.
In 2003, the narrator’s mother, Léila, receives a postcard in her Paris home. On the front is a photo of the Opéra Garnier. Four names are written on the back: Ephraïm, Emma, Noémie and Jacques. These are the names of Léila’s grandparents and two of their three children. They all died in the crematoriums of Auschwitz in 1942. The sole survivor was Noémie and Jacques’ older sister, Myriam. Myriam is now deceased and shared almost nothing with her daughter Léila about her wartime torment.
When this faded postcard arrived in 2003, Anne Berest was in her twenties and not interested in determining the postcard’s sender. Fifteen years later and now a mother, Anne and her mother Léila decide to investigate. Who sent this postcard? And why now, 58 years after WWII’s end? Due to their forensic level of research and professional help, Anne and her mother, Léila, discover letters, forms, applications, diaries, names, addresses, and logs from government entities, allowing them to learn the story of their family’s deportation from France to Auschwitz. Meanwhile, their search for the sender of the postcard continues.
This novel explores intergenerational trauma. Myriam did not speak of her murdered parents and siblings. This does not appear to have been a conscious decision but rather a survival mechanism. Anne says of her grandmother, “I think she kept silent out of guilt for being alive.” And though Myriam did not share any details, Anne and her mother, Léila, discover the dates, places and people involved in Myriam’s escape from the unfathomable terror of that time.
As a child, Anne Berest was conscious of not tripping on the invisible barbed wire when people spoke of the war. So much about her family’s prior lives was unspoken. And yet, despite missing the mayhem and murder, Léila and Anne experienced their own fear and anxiety for all that was unspoken and unknown. Research now shows that trauma can be transmitted cellularly in the womb. Berest quotes Alejandro Jodorowsky: “There are, in the genealogical tree, traumatized, unprocessed places that are eternally seeking relief. From these places, arrows are launched toward future generations. Anything that has not been resolved must be repeated and will affect someone else, a target located one or more generations in the future.”
Anne Berest’s superb storytelling makes the book compelling. She writes with passion, love and curiosity about her family. Not only is the mystery of the postcard solved, but she also uncovers in granular detail what happened to her great-grandparents, aunt, uncle and grandmother during the war. Knowledge of her family’s past makes her present life and the lives of her mother and grandmother more understandable. Berest’s references to intergenerational trauma are intriguing and thought-provoking. ‘The Postcard’ shows us how a seemingly civilized society allowed the murder of their fellow citizens. Antisemitism is still rampant. And books like ‘The Postcard’ show us what can happen if bigotry is not contained. I highly recommend this book. 5/5
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
I have read every book written by Ann Patchett. Her impressive works delve into her character’s inner lives and offer insight into family and group dynamics. Of her eight works of fiction, her most recent Commonwealth and The Dutch House are my favorites. I hoped her newest novel, Tom Lake, would deepen this exploration of family dynamics. But Tom Lake seemed to float more than dig.
Tom Lake is about family stories and secrets. Three twenty-something sisters return to their family’s Michigan cherry orchard during COVID to help their parents harvest the cherries. To make the long and laborious days of picking cherries pass more quickly, the young women goad their mother Lara to tell them about her life before they were born. Specifically, they want to learn more about her short acting career and relationship with Peter Duke, now a famous movie star.
Over several days, Lara tells her tale with occasional contributions from her husband, Joe. Lara explains to their daughters how she became an actress in high school when she landed the role of Emily Webb in Thornton Wilder’s play Our Town. Lara returned to the role of Emily in summer stock theater in Tom Lake, Michigan. There, she had met Peter Duke, who played her husband-to-be, George Gibbs. Lara’s daughters, Emily, Maisie and Nell, knew that their mother professionally acted in her early twenties. They had seen her in her sole Hollywood movie. But her relationship with Peter Duke was foremost on their minds.
Lara’s narration is dreamy and wistful as she travels back in time. She is calm as she describes her younger self’s thoughts, feelings and interpretations. As she talks, she develops new insights about the story she had told herself and the story that emerges in the telling. Playing Emily in Our Town profoundly affected her life. At the end of Act 3, Emily dies and is allowed to leave the graveyard and visit the living one last time. Emily now sees both the monotony and magic of living. In Emily’s case, it is too late to appreciate life’s gifts. But embodying Emily night after night, Lara had internalized Thornton Wilder’s message. Four decades later, Lara thinks, “Ask that girl who left Tom Lake what she wanted out of life, and she would never in a million years have said the Nelson farm in Traverse City, Michigan, but as it turned out, it was all she wanted.”
As Lara shares her story of summer theater with her daughters, she decides what parts she will disclose and what details she will withhold. Readers are privy to the events not said out loud. Patchett creatively captures the innocent days of youth when choices are made on impulse, not reason.
Though Lara is a complex character, her daughters and husband pale by comparison. References to Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Wilder’s Our Town enrich the story. However, the primary strength of Tom Lake is that Lara learns more about her younger self’s choices than she had understood in previous contemplations, provoking readers to ponder their own life decisions. Even though I had hoped for more, Patchett’s lush and lyrical writing made Tom Lake a pleasure and even a comfort to read.
