The author leaves her Mid-Western home at age 19 to be married but after 12 years, financial constraints forces her and her husband to return to the parental home. This gives her the opportunity to remember an unconventional upbringing: a flamboyant and charismatic guitar-playing father usually (un)dressed in only his underwear, who, by the way, is a Catholic Priest with a wife and 5 children (how can that be, you may ask?); and a long-suffering over-protective mother. There are some eye-popping childhood experiences like attending an anti-abortion rally at a very young age. Ms. Lockwood also takes this opportunity for reflection, producing a memoir that is often comic but also poignant. And for a published poet, her writing is wonderful such as this description of a church space: “The ceiling is low and the lights flicker fluorescently and emit an insect whine. The whole place smells like where coffee goes to die”. Highly recommended; thanks to Sarah’s friend Elizabeth for this recommendation.
Category: Female author
The Woo Woo – Lindsay Wong
Canada Reads contender. This is an extraordinary memoir about a Chinese-Canadian family in a Vancouver suburb. The Wong family is remarkably dysfunctional; Lindsay regularly received the following comments as a child: “you are fat, lazy and retarded”! She describes her upbringing with candour and does not flinch from castigating her own poor behaviour. Her mother is consumed by fears of demonic possession by malevolent ghosts, the woo-woo. This fear means that mental illness is treated as a woo-woo possession and thus is not treated except with ineffective exorcism attempts. And unfortunately there is a clear family history of untreated mental illness: a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother, a mother and aunt who may be bipolar. When Lindsay is afflicted by a rare medical condition (migraine-associated vestibulopathy), her woo-woo fears reappear. This is a disturbing story with harrowing details of abnormal psychology, interspersed with some splendid examples of comic relief. How does someone overcome such an upbringing? A challenging book, an uncomfortable read but worthwhile.
Eligible – Curtis Sittenfeld
This delightful novel is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. The Bennett family lives in Cincinnati and Pemberly is an estate near San Francisco. The descriptions of the Bennett family antics are divine, especially Mrs. Bennett and the two youngest sisters, Lydia and Kitty. To underscore the modern context, a reality TV show plays a prominent role in the plot progression. Ms. Sittenfeld is a very fine writer (American Wife); her ability to construct vivid characters reminds me of Lionel Shriver. The shift from acute antipathy to love for Liz and Darcy is described wonderfully; this book is a real joy to read.
Dear Evelyn – Kathy Page
Simply put, this is a great book: the story of Harry and Evelyn, their wartime marriage and subsequent long time together. Ms. Page writes with beautiful detail producing an intoxicating richness: learning poetry in school, the song of a thrush. Harry is accommodating, too accommodating. Evelyn is an intense wife and an even more intense mother. And slowly, their relationship disintegrates – nothing dramatic, just a slow progressive loss of civility, less forgiving, cumulative resentment, more impatience. Eventually Evelyn realizes that Harry is not the man she married. Overall, this is a thoughtful and wistful look at long relationship – highly recommended.
Feel free – Zadie Smith
Ms. Smith writes superb novels (most recently, Swing Time) but this book is a collection of essays, reviews of books and music, and other writings. She writes with a refreshingly candid and breezy style about art, music, books and social justice issues. She is self-deprecating, describing her and her friends: “we stood around pointlessly, like the Luddite fiscally ignorant liberals we are, complaining about the inevitable”. There are enchanting digressions in the essays like a description of an epiphany regarding Joni Mitchell music while in Tintern Abbey which eventually segues into a discussion of Kierkegaard! Given the diversity of topics, some essays inevitably are less engaging but collectively this is a must-read book for ZS fans.
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness – Arundhati Roy
A sweeping saga of India, mostly in contemporary times (1984-2014). Part of the book is set in Delhi but much takes place in Kashmir (topical given today’s political events). Ms. Roy’s writing is exceptional; impeccable detail means that the reader can feel the sensations of noise, heat, pollution and misery, violence and ethnic cleansing. Her vivid writing captures the chaotic complexity of India. And the main characters are women.
Grief Cottage – Gail Godwin
Sometimes a book can provide a perfect reading experience, a confluence of literary merit and also the receptivity of the reader. Godwin’s book was a perfect read for me. Marcus, an 11 year-old boy, has to live with his Great Aunt after the accidental death of his mother. His Great Aunt is a stranger, a painter who lives on a beach in South Carolina. Given the circumstances and his inherent inclinations, Marcus is wildly self-absorbed and introspective despite his young age. His journey through the summer, largely left to his own devices, is remarkable, both compelling and profound. This is a great read, see also Godwin’s previous book Flora.
Big Island,Small – Maureen St. Clair
This is a relationship story of two women with shared Canadian (Big Island) and Caribbean (Little Island, Grenada) backgrounds. The relationship is complex and complicated; there are some cases of persistent poor choices even though the person is conscious of this reality. Secrets and personal history are revealed slowly. This is excellent writing which deservedly won an award for social justice literature.
The Thinking Woman’s Guide to Real Magic – Emily Crow Barker
This is really excellent speculative fiction. Nora, an English graduate student, inadvertently crosses a portal into another remarkably different world, a world that is less technologically advanced but with MAGIC. This is an imaginative story of a truly different world. And we learn the difference between a wizard and a magician and how to distinguish real magic, with Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice having a prominent role in the story. Very entertaining.
What David Read 