Zeitoun

I love reading because it gives me the opportunity to walk in other people's shoes. I learn about different ways of being, thinking, living, acting, and reacting. In Dave Eggers's Zeitoun, I learned firsthand what it was like to live through Hurricane Katrina. Unfortunately, the main character, Abdulrahman Zeitoun, and his family, do not survive unscathed.
     Not only are they victims of the lethal hurricane, they are victims of an unprepared, reactive government, of illegal arrest, and of the ignorance of racism. Instead of being lauded as the life-saving hero he was, Zeitoun was imprisoned as a terrorist in the chaos of post-Katrina New Orleans. This book tells his story, as well as that of his wife and children who had fled to safety in Arizona. Dave Eggers captures the anguish of not knowing the fate of those you love, as well as your own fate, when life is turned upside down.

Abdulrahman  and Kathy Zeitoun

The State of Wonder

     Ann Patchett's State of Wonder was one of the best books we've read and discussed recently. Having really enjoyed Bel Canto, I knew I would love this author's writing style and plot development. I wasn't disappointed. The momentum of the plot grew and grew so that I sped few the last few chapters, while simultaneously wishing the book wouldn't end.
      I don't know how she comes up with her ideas, but Ann Patchett creates very unusual worlds in her novels. I feel lucky, as a reader, to be able to enter them, think about them, and temporarily live in them. The setting of this novel is the Amazon jungle of Brazil, with its heavy air, frightening insects, dense foliage, and camouflaged animal predators.

     The protagonist, Marina Singh, enters this realm in search of information about her now deceased colleague, a fellow research scientist named Anders Eckman. Marina's experiences while in the Amazon jungle -- using a machete to decapitate an anaconda, performing a C-section with no anesthesiology or sterilizing equipment, discovering her maternal nature in a relationship with a young orphan, surviving each day in a vastly different climate and culture than that of her home of Minnesota, and reuniting with her former doctorate professor who can still cause her to doubt her abilities 13 years after graduation --  compose an inner journey in this 42-year-old character that rivals her physical one. This book is an incredible adventure novel, exploring both the adventures of life in the Brazilian jungle and the adventures of the heart.



Please go to the follwing link to hear Maureen Corrigan's rave review of this book on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/20/137172645/state-of-wonder-deftly-twists-turns-off-the-map

The Paris Wife

      The Paris Wife by Paula McLain is an amazing book! I loved it because it tells the author's interpretation of the "inside story" of Ernest and Hadley Hemingway's marriage. In life, we hear, read, and see so much about Ernest Hemingway that is was really refreshing to get to know Hadley so much better by reading this book. Paula McLain did a great deal of research to get the facts right, then she added her fictional account of the inner workings of the Hemingway marriage: their thoughts, private discussions, and emotions at the various stages of their relationship. 

      Hadley and Ernest Hemingway were married on September 3, 1921 in Horton Bay, Michigan. Their marriage lasted for six years. 

In this video clip, author Paula McLain discusses her book, and then lets the interviewer give her a 1920's makeover!

   

    

Defending Jacob

Our book group just finished reading Defending Jacob by William Landay. The part I found most compelling, being a parent of teenagers, is that Jacob's parents had no idea about the reality of his-day to-day existence. Jacob is a bit of an outsider, with a very small circle of friends, all of whom have seen  his explosive temper firsthand.  His mother acknowledges more than his father that Jacob is different, that he has a odd way of interacting with others. His father often brushes away his son's behavior as typical teenage acting out. When Jacob is accused of murder, his father staunchly defends his son, while is mother questions the possibility of his guilt more and more. This book was difficult to put down, and the plot and characters stay with the reader long after the last page.