Book Review: Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English

Calendar May 13, 2010 | Posted by Heather

Do you remember that magic moment when you first open a book and realize you’ve met what will be an old friend, one of those books you know you will think about for ages, that you will reread over and over again (if you read like that, which I do), and that stands a chance at actually changing your life?  Do you get all tingly inside?  Do you walk around with a goofy grin on your face?  Do those feelings of new love make you glow?

Yeah, that might be a bit much, but my feelings for Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English are pretty extreme.  I have met my favorite book of the year my dears and… well…  I’ll try to keep the gushing to a minimum.

Jack Rosenblum, his wife Sadie and their daughter Elizabeth have fled Nazi Germany for the safety of England before World War II.  Upon their arrival, they are given a pamphlet on how to fit into England’s world.   Jack is a diminutive man, standing only five feet three and a half inches, but don’t let his size fool you.  Inside there is the heart of a lion-hearted Englishman and Jack is determined to prove it.  So he takes the list, takes it to heart, and begins to live by the list.  So when Jack is arrested as a “Class B Enemy Alien” and thrown into prison, Jack’s hopes for life in England are almost crushed.

Lucky for Jack, his friend Edgar gets him declared a “Class C Alien,” which means he is no threat to the country, and he is released.  Jack, feeling more exposed and threatened than ever, begins to add new items to the list.  Jack’s list grows and grows, until it is well over 100 items of What it Takes to be English.  He obtains all these items except one.  The last item on his list is membership in an English golf club.

For Jack membership of a golf course was the rebuilding of Jerusalem, Atlantis and the perfect salt-beef sandwich all at once-but it was proving troublesome.

They wouldn’t admit him because he’s Jewish and German to boot.  So he decides he will build one himself.

If you couldn’t get milk from someone else’s cow, you had to get your own.  No golf course would admit him and so he must build his own.

So Jack takes Sadie and moves her to Bulbarrow Hill, the new acreage and cottage Jack build for his golf course.  A Jewish business man with a thick German accent is an anomaly, to say the least, in their new village and, not surprisingly, the village folk don’t know what to think of Jack.   Jack is so desperate to change, to fit in, to be safe, that he will move mountains.  He wants assimilation, to “seep unnoticed into village life, like rain into the damp earth, and he did not like” the “scrutiny” of the village folk.  However, he doesn’t let this deter him and he begins to work on his course alone.

Sadie doesn’t know what to think of Jack.  She is stuck in the past, with the mother, father and beloved brother she had to leave behind in Germany.  She cooks, day in and day out, from her Mutti’s cookbook.  All the recipes she grew up with are her way of remembering; of saying I love you, to those who are dead and gone.

Once Sadie tried writing down her memories, attempting to preserve them in a nice book to pass on to her daughter but it did not work.  The meaning kept disappearing in the spaces between the words, and her story was written was never quite how she remembered it.  Now Sadie wondered whether it would be better for her to cook her way home to them.  Perhaps she would find them in the smell of slowly simmering cholent or cinnamon rugula.

One cake in particular, a baumtorte, that Sadie bakes, takes time, patience, and love and remembrance for those gone, and was bittersweet to read about.

Sadie has so much patience for her cooking, but very little for Jack.  When Jack declares that he will build the course by himself, Sadie retorts:

My mother warned me that craziness ran in your family.  I should have listened but no, I was young and foolish and easily impressed by your red bicycle and your thick hair.

Isn’t that great?  I hope you can tell how much I adored these two characters.  I am absolutely in love with Jack.  He reminds me of my grandmother’s family; small, short, and furiously stubborn.  And Sadie.  Oh, how I just want to scoop her up and give her a hug.  Knowing that Solomons based these characters on her grandparents makes me adore them all the more.  The writing is utterly charming.  Solomons does an excellent job of shaping these characters, of presenting their flaws and their strengths, their humor and sadness, their complete will to survive, to thrive!  It’s simply gorgeous.   This book made me laugh, cry, scream in frustration for these two people, and hug myself in rapturous contentment at their successes.  I feel as proud of Jack and Sadie as I’m sure Ms. Solomons does for her own grandparents.

I hope I have convinced you that reading Jack and Sadie’s story is something you want to do.  The book will be out June 21st.  Thank you, Reagan Arthur, for sending me this unexpected treasure.

This book is called Mr. Rosenblum’s List in England.

Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English
Author: Natasha Solomons
Category: Historical Fiction
Published by: Reagan Arthur Books
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
On Sale: June 21, 2010
ISBN: 978-0316077583
This book was provided by the publisher.

Challenges: The Reagan Arthur Books Challenge.

Visit Natasha Solomons at her blog.

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The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Calendar April 27, 2010 | Posted by Heather

I admit; it seems a trifle pointless to review this book now. I am obviously the last person in the whole wide world to read it. So I’m not going to tell you what it’s about. If you don’t know by now, I know of many candidates who wrote stellar reviews and, in fact, I’ll link to some in a bit. My main intent in actually doing so is to say that if you have put off reading this book because of the hype, ignore yourself and go read it anyway. Trust me. I put it off and put it off, thinking it CAN’T be as good as everyone is saying! I’m so silly, right? So many of my favorite bloggers had told me it was good. I read their reviews, like this one, and this one, oh, and THIS one and still, I didn’t read it. Then two things happened. One, Rebecca at The Book Lady’s Blog, who lately is convincing me to read all kinds of interesting stuff, posted her review and she sold me. And two, Lesley at Lesley’s Book Nook and my friend on Facebook, told me that the audio was excellent. She sold me on it again. Here is her review of the audio.

So I downloaded it from Audible.

And it is absolutely the best audio production of a book I think I have ever heard.

The story is told by multiple narrators and each voice gets its own reader. The publisher obviously took great care in who was picked to read for Minny, Aibileen and Skeeter and each reader was perfect for her part. Octavia Spencer was perfect for the cheeky Minny, I loved the way she acted her part. Minny was my favorite character, even though I loved them all. Jenna Lamia, the voice of Skeeter, provided just the right hit of hesitation, of uncertainty, to a character full of both. And Bahni Turpin, the voice of Aibileen, has a voice like warm honey, which I thought fit the nurturing, loving Aibileen to a tee. The added bonus of having Cassandra Campbell narrate the one section that is told in the third person was just perfection.  She’s one of my favorite narrators ever.

As for the story itself, well. I’m Southern. I’m young, compared to the events in this book…I didn’t even exist yet. My parents didn’t even exist yet. But I have been around since 1978 and I can say I’ve seen the racism, the ridiculous persecution, and the indifference; which seems the cruelest of all. But I’ve also been a part of a Fortune 500 company that promoted its first black, woman to CEO last year. I work in the town where the sit-ins occurred and see that celebrated every year.  I am surrounded by the history of this book and I rejoice that freedoms have been, and continue to be, established, celebrated, and honored.  And The Help falls into line with the likes of To Kill a Mockingbird, to further the cause of equality and the end of racism in the 21st century. 

So, like I said, if you’ve been holding off on reading The Help because of the hype, because you think you won’t like it or simply because you are ornery, do yourself a favor and get a copy.  It. Is. Excellent.  It is important.  It is a must read.  Just have your hankies ready, because that last chapter?  It is a gut-wrencher.  I was totally unprepared and was crying in my car on the way home from work.

Funny story: So, as I said, I’m from the South right? And though you’ve never heard me talk, let me tell you, my accent is very obvious. Very…pronounced. And while I was listening to this book? It was thicker that molasses going up hill in winter. I was getting LOOKS, people. Like, “Why the hell are you talking that way?” looks. I was very tempted to do a vlog of this book, just so you could hear me. Reason won out, however. I am a big chicken.

The Help
Author: Kathryn Stockett
Category: Historical Fiction, Southern
Published by: Penguin Group
Format: Audio
On Sale: February 2009
ISBN: 9780143144182

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The Wives of Henry Oades by Johanna Moran

Calendar March 3, 2010 | Posted by Heather

As soon as I heard the story BEHIND this novel, I knew I had to read it.  Many years ago, Moran’s father (who was a law professor) gave her mother an abstract about the Oades case.  Moran’s mother had taken up writing in her spare time, but she never got around to writing about Henry Oades and his two wives.  Years later, Moran reads the copy and begins to work on it right away.  I can easily see why; it’s a story begging to be told.

English accountant Henry Oades moves his wife Margaret and their two children to Australia (edit, it’s actually New Zealand, thanks Aarti for reminding me! Oops!) for a job transfer.  Margaret doesn’t want to go, but dutifully follows him out of love and devotion.  They are there a few years, long enough for Margaret to conceive and have twins, when the worst thing happens.  Margaret and the children are kidnapped by Maori and made into slaves.  Henry goes mad trying to find them, but after months of searching he finally gives them up for dead.  The grief is hard, pure and angry.  It’s heart-shattering.

Eventually he moves to California and takes up with dairy farming. Six years pass. He lives a solitary life, one of simplicity and loneliness.  He misses his wife and children with a palatable ache but as time passes, so does the grief.  He meets Nancy, a very young widow with a child on the way and is smitten.   They marry.

Meanwhile, Margaret and her children have managed to escape and find him in California.  Can you imagine?  You’ve mourned your entire family, finally move on with your life and began to start again with a new love, only to find your old family on your doorstep years later, very much alive?  And still married to you?

Johanna Moran takes the story of the Oades and fleshes it out.  She gives it life, heart and soul and she did a marvelous job with it overall.  The Wives of Henry Oades is very easy to read; it hooks you immediately, from the very first page.   She has a poetic way with words, something I appreciated from the start.  She did a great job with the characters, they all have their strengths and their weaknesses, but the thing I admire the most is how Moran made me feel sympathetic to each character’s own part in what could only be a sad story.  I felt like there should be someone in this triangle to hate, but I never could quite bring myself to dislike any of the characters.

If you haven’t read the book yet, you may want to stop here, as there will most likely be spoilers as I have to get this off my chest.

I have a few problems with this book.  Like how HENRY COMPLETELY DISAPPEARS as a narrator in the second half of the book.  By that point, I had become emotionally invested in his character, I was excited about his reaction to his family showing up on his doorstep, and we get nothing.  Zilch.  He never speaks to us again.  That really, really bothered me.  I can understand that he was now in love with Nancy.  I get that.  But he had to feel SOMETHING when he saw Margaret.  Right?  I mean really, the man didn’t even embrace her until she found out her parents had died while she was in captivity and then it was emotionless and awkward.  I wanted to know what HE was thinking, from his own mouth, and it just wasn’t there.  I’ve read where the author said she did this on purpose, for story reasons, and I guess I can understand it.  But it didn’t leave me very happy.

Also, Margaret.  Grow a backbone already.  She was entirely, unreasonably, attached to that man.

Okay, spoilers over.

Despite my few problems with the narrative, this is a wonderful piece of historical fiction.  You can tell Moran did her research.  It’s rich in detail, amazingly, beautifully written, and very hard to put down.

The publisher has agreed to giveaway one copy of this book to my readers.  Please fill out the following form (US and Canada only, please) and I will pick a winner this coming Sunday.  Good luck!

More about the author:

Interesting guest post by Johanna Moran, on the birth of her novel, at BethFishReads.
Johanna’s website, which features the ‘story behind the story’:  http://www.johannamoran.com/
Interview and Reader’s Guide:http://www.johannamoran.com/ReadersGuide.html

Johanna Moran’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

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Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis

Calendar January 25, 2010 | Posted by Heather

There are a few books left over from last year that I didn’t manage to get reviewed.  Unfortunately, Mare’s War, which was on my favorite reads of 2009 list, was one of them.  I’m rectifying that situation right now.

There are a great many things I find fascinating.  Family history.  WWII history.  Teenagers.  (No really, they are!) And road trips, for a start.

Mare’s War features all of these, so there was no way I wasn’t going to love this book.  And I did, I sooooo did.

Going on a road trip with their… unusual grandmother Mare is the last thing teens Tali and Octavia want to do with their summer.  At the insistence of their mother, the girls reluctantly get in the car and take off to a mysterious family reunion on the other side of the country, in Alabama.

The girls, like most teenagers, don’t know how they will survive the trip with Mare.  Before they have even left the driveway, their grandmother is getting on their nerves with her smoking and Mare is annoying with Tali constantly listening to music on her MP3 player.  The two make a pact; Mare will not smoke if Tali will give up the music.

To make the time go faster, Mare begins telling the girls stories, stories of her younger years.  The girls are astonished to hear about Mare’s youth in Alabama, about how she grew up during the Great Depression, the lengths she went to to protect her own sister and her differences with her mother.  The biggest surprise of all is learning how Mare ran away from home to join the WAC (Women’s Army Corp) and served during World War II.  Mare’s struggles at home with her mother and her mother’s abusive man make joining the army feel like a piece of cake.  It gives her a safe place to live, three meals and day and gives her strength and a belief in herself that could never be bought.

Yet, even though the WAC gave immeasurable help to their country while fighting the Nazi’s in Europe, the segregation that Mare and all the other colored soldiers in the 6888th Battalion, Company C, face is much harder to defeat.  Mare’s tough spirit and pride in her Company and all the women she served with  remain with her and become a huge part of who she is. After all she’s been through, is it any wonder she thinks Tali and Octavia are a little bit spoiled?

The girls are fascinated.  Who knew their grandmother had done such amazing things?  Mare’s stories are eye-opening to say the least.  By the end of their trip, the three have grown closer and the girls have a new respect for Mare – and Mare for them.

Tanita S. Davis has written a thoughtful, powerful tale about women, African-Americans, and the struggles they have faced in, not only the racist past, but in the still racist present we live in now.  Not only that, but it fills in a blank part of all American’s history of World War II, the brave way the women of the 6888th Battalion, Company C, helped end World War II.  And it’s powerful message of family, of history, of knowing your place in the world and the sacrifices of those who came before us, help shape every reader’s perception of themselves.  I hate to admit that I knew next to nothing about the 6888th Battalion, Company C, so I was so happy to learn more about these amazing women.  It’s a shame that their story has been so hugely lost to history and many props to Ms. Davis for bringing their story back to the light.  This is a book everyone woman, no matter their color, should read.

As for whether a teenager will sit through a book about history, I love what Liz B at A Chair, A Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy has to say about that:

Oh, and if you have teens who you know will like this book but may be turned off by the history, because some teenagers eyes glaze over when you say “and it’s about women soldiers in World War II!” Simply say, “and then Mare went after her mother’s boyfriend with a hatchet.” Imagine hearing THAT about your grandma.

Not to mention Tali and Octavia do a lot of growing up during the course of their road-trip.  Octavia especially, a quiet, shy girl, learns to find courage within herself and that is always fun to read. And the dynamic between the two girls, typical sisters, friends and fighters, is well written and felt true to life.

Mare is one tough grandma and I couldn’t help but come to adore her (and the girls!) over the course of this book and is definitely why this was one of my favorite reads last year.

Mare’s War
Written by: Tanita S. Davis
Category: Young Adult
Published by Random House Children’s Books
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
On Sale: June 2009
ISBN: 9780375857140

Author’s blog

Other Links:

More on the 6888th

Other Opinions:

Colleen Mondor’s Bookslut in Training review | Reading in Color |  The Happy Nappy Bookseller | Jen Robinson’s Book Page review | Reading Rants! | Charlotte’s Library | The Reading Zone | everything distils into reading | A Patchwork of Books |

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Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

Calendar January 19, 2010 | Posted by Heather

A a child, there was little I loved more than playing in the dirt. Mudpies, drawing in the sand, rolling around in it… okay, I’m kidding on that last one.  But still, I loved to play in dirt and rock and once even dug quite a few holes in my backyard looking for fossils.

My grandmother was not amused.

Now that I’m grown, obviously I don’t play in dirt much any more.  Yet, I still love to look at fossils and wouldn’t really mind it if one of my children, who now love dirt and rock and fossils like I did, were to find one now.  Needless to say, Remarkable Creatures, the new historical fiction novel by Tracy Chevalier, definitely piqued my interest from the first moment I heard of it.

Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning a young working-class girl, who, along with her brother discovered what they thought was might be crocodile fossil in 1810 on the cliffs in southern England.  What they found, however, was an ichthyosaur, and this discovery shakes up the scientific community and their thinking about the creation of the world.  And it changes Mary’s life forever.

This book is also about Elizabeth Philpot, a transplanted London spinster who also has a fondness for fossils.   She strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mary and helps Mary and her family negotiate this new scientific arena dominated by men who would use Mary to further their own names and careers.  Elizabeth helps protect Mary from rivalry and ostracism, but can’t help protect Mary from her own heart.  Or from Elizabeth’s own jealousies.  

I loved this book.  I knew next to nothing about the way fossils were discovered.  To my mind, they had always been there, at the museum! It never occurred to me to wonder who first started discovering them and categorizing them, who was first curious enough to wonder where these monstrously large bones came from and what they were.  Honestly, I feel kinda stupid for not wondering, but there you are!  Remarkable Creatures definitely enlightened me, not only of the roles of men, but the roles women too played in this great age of discovery.  To know that a woman, a poor, uneducated, young woman no less, was one of the pioneers in fossil discovery is so empowering!  And to know her story is was all but lost to obscurity is horrifying.  Tracy Chevalier has done a masterful job of breathing life into these two women, these two very different women, and making them come alive again to tell their story.  I loved the way she alternated between their voices and how she was able to make each voice so unique.  It was easy to tell which woman was telling her story, just by the way she ‘spoke.’  Their lives, their loves, their work and friendship are alive again and such a pleasure to read.  This book isn’t only for those who might be interested in fossils, in history, in dirt; it’s also the story of friendship, love, and acceptance.  It’s a powerful story that any one should be proud to read.

Remarkable Creatures
Tracy Chevalier
Category: Historical Fiction
Published by Dutton Adult
Format: Hardcover, 320 pages
On Sale: January 5, 2010
ISBN: 9780525951452

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