My New Friend, "PIRANESI" by Susanna Clarke

 

Me and my new friend, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. So, for example, if I were in a mysterious, magical house where I only ever talked to statues and birds, so long as I had books, I would probably be fine. 

Probably. 

Which brings me to my new friend, Piranesi by Susanna Clarke. This was a long-awaited comeback novel for Clarke, since her very successful (and very big) Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell arrived in 2004. Piranesi, for most folks, was worth the wait. Much slimmer than her previous novel (Piranesi clocks in at 245 pages), but not less magical. For me, it created a different impact I wasn't expecting. 

ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

It is difficult to talk about Piranesi in heavy detail without giving too much away. It concerns our narrator, who tells us his story through journal entries marked in a calendar he created, who lives in a strange, magical house that is his entire world. To his knowledge, there is only one other living person in this universe who he calls "the Other". The Other calls him Piranesi, but our narrator is pretty sure this is not his name. 

This magical house is filled with statues, but it also has an Ocean and Tides, and Clouds and rain. Piranesi, as he is called, survives by fishing, gathering seaweed both for food and fuel, and spends his days wandering the almost infinite rooms and hallways, keeping notes. He meets with the Other twice a week, who he believes is a scientist, and who is working on cracking the code for the Great and Secret Knowledge. 

The house, like the book, is a labyrinth and a puzzle. The book engages the reader by slowly and precisely unravelling the mystery of the House, and of the man called Piranesi. 

TAKEAWAYS

Piranesi won the Women's Prize for Fiction, and I can understand why. It is brilliantly written, incredibly smart and creative, and Clarke is both a top notch storyteller and writer (which, yes, are two different things). 

I was told that the book was very enjoyable and magic and fun and that I should read it. And yes, I found it magical in many ways, and enjoyable in many places... 

But I think it hit me differently than it did many people. Stop reading here if you don't want to hear my emotional response to the ending. I will not spell out what happens, but I am going to be very specific about how it made me feel.  Okay? So stop reading if you worry this may spoil things for  you---

I ultimately found Piranesi to be a tragedy in a way. Not a full-blown tragedy. There is hope, I suppose, and there isn't a bit ol' body count or anything. But the ending made me incredibly sad. The message, for me, ultimately was about how sometimes people must completely disassociate to survive, completely lose themselves and their very identity, as well as their memories. That in specific, traumatic situations, you must almost start over with a blank slate if you are going to make it. In short, you get lost. And even if you're found, you are never completely the same. There is a part of you that is still lost, and will always be lost. 

And that made me sad. 

Still, it is a masterful book and you should read it if you get a chance. 

My New Friend, "CONCRETE ROSE" by Angie Thomas

 

Me and my new friend, Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

Hi. I'm Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. Don't feel bad about that. Books always got my back. 

And today, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. Published in 2021, Concrete Rose  is a companion piece to Thomas's brilliant The Hate U Give. I say companion piece, though one would be correct to call it a prequel--- I just truly think people should read The Hate U Give first.  

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

Like so many other humans, I read The Hate U Give and was blown away by the writing, the characters, and, of course, the importance of the topic. When I heard Angie Thomas had written a book about Maverick Carter, the father of Starr Carter from Hate, I knew I had to check it out. Maverick is a great father to Starr, and while we learn somewhat about his past in Hate, it is a whole new experience to go through the events of his life with him in this first-person narrative as he navigates the rough waters of being seventeen, a reluctant gang member, and a young father. 

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Angie Thomas proves once again that she is a master of creating a compelling first-person narrative voice, as well as humanizing characters that many people would simply leave as stereotypes. In this book, she also evokes a precise sense of time and place. 

It is so easy for us --- especially white politicians is seems---- to condemn the choices of poor communities populated by people of color. These same people making judgements project expectations, and label people as though they were nothing but a product to sort. What Thomas does with Maverick is give a us a very human view of what causes the desperation that leads to choices that others so easily judge with a dismissive wave of the hand. Thomas show us how society creates the very mold of these stereotypes and willingly shoves a large portions of the population into it.

In many ways, this story is about Maverick Carter starting to believe he has worth, starting to believe he does not have to fulfill the expectations that the outside world has thrust upon him. We see him understand what it means to become a father, even as a teenager, and how that gives him a sense of purpose. We see his reaction to death and tragedy, and to the hope from those willing to give him a chance. 

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

Go to the bookstore, or your local library, and pick up both The Hate U Give and Concrete Rose and read them back to back. Both books are likely to be challenged in several areas of our United States, which should tell you just how important it is to read them. 

Thank, Angie Thomas, for using your gifts to change the world one reader at a time. 

My New Friend, "PLAY IT AS IT LAYS," by Joan Didion

 

Me and my new friend, Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion, and what a brutal, relentless friend it is!

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. That's right. I have seen the nothing, but I keep on playing. So... there's that. 

Speaking of such things, let's talk about my new friend, Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I have read Didion's brilliant book of essays The White Album, and her memoirs The Year of Magical Thinking  and Blue Nights. I have only read one other of her novels, A Book of Common Prayer. 

Joan Didion passed away in December of 2021, and in her honor, I started keeping a notebook, something I have never really been able to do with any regularity before, and by some miracle, have actually written in it every night. 

Play It As It Lays was published in 1970, and was made into a movie in 1972 starring Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins. Didion and her husband John Gregory Dunne wrote the screenplay. Interesting, sine the books is unquestionably scathing in terms of L.A., the movie business, and the 1960s. Some compare Didion to Nathanael West with this book, which I think is apt. I can also see how it must have influenced a writer like Bret Easton Ellis, a vocal Didion devotee (he even quoted the opening line of this novel during an interview with Larry King). 

So how about I introduce you?

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

As I said above, I am already a Joan Didion fan, and have made it a point to try to make friends with as many of her books as I can get. This novel was at my local library, The Thompson Free, so I happily grabbed it. 

ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Play It As It Lays is told in a series of short, electric, and often cutting chapters. There are 84, to be exact, some not even a full page in length. I have mentioned how I like this technique, how, for me, it tends to make every moment pop, seem very alive, and this novel is no different. If anything, Play It As It Lays is even more "relentless" as Library Journal described it. 

It tells the story of Maria (pronounced Mar-eye-ah) Wyeth, who we meet in a mental hospital. There are a few short first person accounts, and then the novel dives into a third person narrative as we take the journey to learn how Maria ended up in the hospital. The journey includes her upbringing in the desert with her failed father, her becoming an actress on the East Coast, marrying film director Carter Lang and appearing in a few of his movies (including a documentary about her, unreleased), her Hollywood lifestyle, her hospitalized daughter Kate who she desperately loves, and her eventual divorce. 

What I did not know going in was that an underground, illegal abortion and its subsequent complications plays a huge role in the narrative. It hit me in a big way, especially since the SCOTUS may very well be overturning Roe v Wade, making humiliating, dangerous abortions like the one depicted in the book a very real possibility in this country again. And that makes me sick. 

I am not going to lie: this book is rough. Rough. But, goddamn, Didion writes so very well, and the prose simply crackles. 

IMPORTANT TAKEAWAYS

I am not going to spoil the book, but I will say that one of the major themes of the book deals with the question, "What does anything matter?"  And often, one can't help but think that our characters here, and the 1960s themselves, leads to a very chilling answer---

Nothing. 

Nothing at all. 

But this book matters. It's unflinching honesty matters in a big way. 

Thanks for reading my take on Play It As It Lays. Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

My New Friend, "THE WONDER" by Emma Donoghue

 

A picture of me with my new friend, The Wonder, by Emma Donoghue

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. Don't believe me? Then maybe you should hire a nurse and a nun to come and watch me to see if it is true....

Which brings me to my new friend, The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, a piece of historical fiction that is also a real page turner. 

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

Though I had read Emma Donoghue's brilliant novel Room and seen the film adaptation, I hadn't heard of The Wonder until I became a fan of a YouTube channel called Books and Things, hosted by Katie Lumsden, who recommended it. You can learn more about her YouTube channel by CLICKING HERE.

Fortunately, my home town library had a copy I was able to check out. 

ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

The Wonder is about a young, widowed nurse named Lib (short for Elizabeth) Wright, who was trained by Florence Nightengale in the Crimean War. The novel takes place half a decade after her service there, so in the Victorian period. She has been hired to go to Ireland to watch an 11-year-old girl named Anna O'Donnell, who claims to have taken no food for four months. Lib has been hired by the local physician to keep a constant watch on the girl (splitting watches with a nun named Sister Michael) to see if it is true that she is taking no nourishment. 

Lib figures the job will be easy. She immediately assumes the whole thing is a hoax and that the girl is somehow faking it. After all, no one can live without food for four months, can they? But things aren't so simple (they rarely are in books). Lib, no matter how skeptical she is, cannot find any traces of subterfuge or sneaking food. Anna is a bright, friendly girl, who carries a heavy sense of piety. People are coming from all around to see her, believing her to be a miracle. But Anna is humble, sincere, and, though she tries to keep a professional distance, Lib begins to care for the girl. 

The mystery is compelling. So is the final act of the book, when all is revealed, yet Donoghue somehow manages to still build suspense. 

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Both Lib and Anna are wonderfully drawn characters, in no small part because neither is perfect. Lib can come across as a bit narrow-minded when it comes to the Irish, and admits her complete ignorance of the terrible horror that was the potato blight. Still, we see this world through her eyes, and she is very smart and resourceful. She becomes more and more complex the closer she feels toward Anna, and it is this closeness that draws the reader in as well. 

Anna is captivating. A sweet, calm, bright child. It is almost impossible to believe she could be faking the fast. She is so very devout. Like Lib, there are times when reading that I just wanted to should, "Eat! Please!"

There are some wonderful side characters who also populate this novel. A favorite of mine is Kitty, a servant or "slavey" or cousin in the house, who I like because she withholds a bit of mystery in herself, too. 

There is even a little romance, with an Irish journalist named William Byrne, who knows a thing or two about starvation, who spent his early years writing about it for the paper. As someone who has done quite a bit of research about Ireland during the terrible famine, I know how terrible it was, and how the English did nothing to stop it at the time. 

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

I recommend The Wonder, particularly for those who like historical fiction with a bit of mystery involved. It is a unique tale, well told. It shows that Emma Donoghue has a great deal of versatility, following up a contemporary, heartbreaking novel like Room with another brilliant, yet markedly different, novel like The Wonder. 

My New Friend, "HEAVEN" by Mieko Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd

 

Me, Bobby Keniston, with my new friend "Heaven" by Mieko Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and, as the name of this blog suggests, my only friends are books. You might be thinking, "Huh, that's sad," but it's not really. Books don't bully you or one day just disappear...

Which brings me to my new friend, Heaven by Mieko Kawakami, translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd. But before I get into the details of my new friend Heaven, I would like to share a quote from author Mieko Kawakami:

"We have to confront and examine our mistakes, and write stories to pass down our folly and ignorance. Literature should not just portray our ideals. We have to examine our past mistakes, our past ignorance, without turning our eyes away." (from an interview/conversation between Kawakami and Fernanda Melchor for "Broadly Speaking" through the Wheeler Centre. You can watch the full interview on YouTube by CLICKING HERE... I highly recommend it). 

Kawakami certainly does not turn her eyes away from harsh realities in Heaven. The word "unflinching" really had no solid meaning to me until reading this book. It is indeed a work of art, so let's talk about it. 

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

I heard about Heaven from a booktube channel called Books and Bao, hosted by Willow Heath, and they had so much praise for the novel and Kawakami (you can watch their video review HERE). I would like to think I would have heard of the book when perusing the International Booker Prize longlist and shortlist, but, who knows? Willow's recommendation certainly encouraged me to check it out sooner. I am glad to have read the book before the winner of the prize is announced. 

ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Heaven is a first-person narrative of an unnamed fourteen year-old protagonist who is bullied. Constantly. In myriad, painful ways. Please believe me when I say this. The bullying is graphic, but often told in a simple, almost understated manner to highlight just how tragically normalized it has become for our narrator. Though perhaps understated isn't the best way to describe it-- perhaps it is better to say that it is presented flat-out as a fact of our narrator's life. His tormenters, led by a cool, beautiful boy named Ninomiya, call him "Eyes" because of his lazy eye, and they punch him, kick him, and hurt him, and he waits for it to be over with. 

But the novel actually begins with our narrator receiving a note in his desk at school, a note saying "We should be friends." It turns out that the note is from a girl in his class, Kojima, who is also bullied. When they meet up, they do become friends, and though they can never intervene to help each other at school (indeed, they never even really talk at school), the secret notes they share offer a great deal of comfort to each other. 

This is a short novel, and I don't want to give too much away, but I will say this: to suggest that the book is simply about bullying is like saying Moby Dick is just about trying to catch fish. Kawakami uses bullying to look at the bigger picture behind power structures, and the meaning, if any, behind them. 

Short and sleek, but absolutely painful and beautiful. 

BULLYING

I know I have already said it, but I cannot stress enough how unflinching a portrayal of bullying resides within these pages. If you were someone who was bullied (as I was), this book will bring up the memories and the pain (at least it did for me). Kawakami captures the constant stress, anxiety, fear and shame that comes with the territory of being bullied. Please do not misunderstand me here--- I don't mean to suggest that is like some afterschool special about bullying for a YA or middle grade audience. It most certainly is not. Kawakami delves deeply into the philosophy behind bullying, truly exploring what it means to have power, what it means to be weak, and whether that weakness can really be a strength. 

It is not easy to read sometimes, but still an important read, in my opinion. 

If you are someone who had no experience with being bullied, and that's really great if that's the case, you may think it is perhaps exaggerated here. I don't know. Maybe a little. But it felt very real to me. I didn't have it exactly as bad as our narrator, but there were some similar moments. 

Things you never forget. Things that, many years later, your realize are permanently a part of you. 

Special note: if you are being bullied, do not make the same mistake I did. There are things I kept to myself, never told my parents or a teacher, not even my closest friends. I know, believe me, I know, there is shame attached to being bullied and it is not easy to talk about. But please try to talk to someone, even if it is anonymously. There is support out there. CLICK HERE for some resources. 

BEAUTY

And yet, amongst all the pain, there is still beauty. And Kawakami's writing is absolutely beautiful, and lovingly translated by Sam Bett and David Boyd. 

"His eyes shifted, the way the shadows of clouds pass the sun on windless days."

I can't even tell you how much I wish I could write a description so beautiful in its simplicity and precision. 

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

This book hurt my stomach at times, and I mean this as the highest compliment. Great writing does hurt sometimes, great writing should be unflinching and honest. I am so happy to have finally read Mieko Kawakami and can't wait to read her other works in translation, like Ms. Ice Sandwich, Breasts and Eggs, and the recent release, All the Lovers in the Night. Clearly Kawakami is a writer at the very top of her powers, and she has a brand new fan. 

Thank you for reading my thoughts on my new friend Heaven.  Come back Monday to meet a whole new friend, and please feel free to comment any thoughts below. 

My New Friend, "KINDRED" by Octavia E. Butler

 

Me and my new friend "Kindred" by Octavia E. Butler. This is the 25th Anniversary Edition

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. And sometimes books have to tell you hard truths. Sometimes friends have to hold you accountable. Sometimes friends need to make you look at an issue with empathy, shock, and, yes, sometimes even guilt, to help you grow and change. 

I am talking about my new friend, Kindred the late, but certainly great Octavia E. Butler, who helped redefine what science fiction for a new era. Kindred may be her most celebrated standalone novel. Written in 1976, writer Walter Mosely said, "It is everything the literature of science fiction can be," while Harlan Ellison called the book, "That rare artifact... the novel one returns to, again and again, through the years, to learn, to be humbled, and to be renewed." 

I think my new friend is truly great. Let's talk about why. 

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

I have been meaning to read some Octavia E. Butler for quite some time. And then a YouTube channel I enjoy watching called "Books and Things" had a video about a Historical Fiction Readathon for the months of May--- and here we are. One of the challenges in this readathon is to read a piece of historical fiction that has a speculative element, and the host, Katie Lumsden, recommended Kindred. That felt like a nice bit of encouragement to finally discover this brilliant author, and I am very glad I did. 

(If you want to watch the video about the #HistoricalFictionReadathon, you can do so by following THIS LINK)

I was happy that my local library, The Thompson Free Library, had a copy of my new friend Kindred. I am a little sad, though, that it looks like I'm the first person to ever take it out. 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Kindred tells the story about woman a black woman in the 1970s who, after moving into her new house with her white husband Kevin (I only mention their races because they are imperative plot points and thematic points in the book), inexplicably finds herself getting dizzy, losing, fading away from her new home and arriving in the antebellum south on a plantation in Maryland. Here, she finds her path intersected with Rufus Weylin, the son of the plantation owner, who, we learn early on, is an ancestor. She is clearly coming back to save his life time and again, protecting her very bloodline, though at the expense of becoming an enslaved person and confronting the violence of the time. Each time she is pulled back, the stakes are higher, and she loses not only more months and years of her life, but also is threatened with losing the very foundation of who she has always known herself to be. 

SOME THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Kindred is simultaneously a difficult book to read because of its unflinching portrayal of the inhumane treatment that white Americans inflicted upon the people they enslaved, while also being a suspenseful page turner. That is a huge testament to Butler's remarkable skill as a storyteller. 

I also love that Butler doesn't waste time. She comes right out of the gate, hooks you, then continues to keep kicking it up a notch as the pages fly by. For example, her are the first two sentences of the book:

"I lost an arm on my last trip home. My left arm."

If that doesn't grab a reader, then let's just say it is the fault of said reader and not the writer. 

You will notice based on these first two sentences that the story is told as a first-person narrative, another brilliant stroke by Butler. For this story in particular, a first-person narrative heightens the idea of empathy as we the reader see things through Dana's eyes, and hear her every thought. And Butler gives us a thoroughly complex, but relatable, and oh-so-strong narrator. Dana is brilliant, resourceful, and with compassion that I believe very few people could have in her circumstance. She is put through a great deal in this book, and we are put through it with her. It is impossible not to root for her (unless you are an awful person, but more on that later). 

Butler gives every character (with the exception of maybe one or two very minor ones) a complex humanity. This is what could be truly brilliant about the book, and the very thing that makes it as philosophically complex as it is flat-out entertaining: Butler recognizes that, like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, dark, grotesque inhumanity is still part of being human. The enslavement of a race of people would not be possible if it wasn't. 

Try to let that sit with you for a moment. As much as we try to separate ourselves from the very idea of inhumanity by calling it inhumanity, it is simply not true, but just another way for humans to avoid accountability. These vicious deeds SHOULD NOT be part of the human experience. But, dammit, they are, and acknowledging it is the first step to maybe trying to actually do something about it. 

I also love Butler's depiction of the relationship between Dana and her husband Kevin. They are both writers, and, while they do have fights, their love is strong. When Kevin is sucked back in time with her (perhaps a mild spoiler, but it happens early on--- sorry), we really get to see how it affects their relationship and what they feel about one another. 

It is also worth noting that, since the novel takes place in the 1970s, Butler's present day is historical now, too. A history story that goes into a deeper history story. Clearly, one of the messages here is that, even for present day Dana, there are still issues (especially her marriage to a white man). One can look at the novel as very prescient in the idea that for ever advancement, we are always being pulled back by the wrong people. 

Sad that it is still true even 46 years after the novel was published. 

RANT

Which leads me to a little rant. 

Kindred, in my opinion, should be taught in every high school in America. The fact that it is one of several books that, even recently, have been banned in my country at certain schools, proves Butler's point completely. 

We make progress but are pulled back. 

This book should be taught because it tells the truth. 

White people enslaved back people in this country. In a very real and horrifying sense, it is part of how this country managed to be built. This needs to be discussed openly and honestly and often. 

I will not lie--- I am sickened by the many arguments against CRT, the arguments that ban books by Toni Morrison and Octavia E. Butler and many others--- sickened and honestly exasperated.  No one is saying that any of us white people today are responsible for enslaving black people in the 1800s. But here is the simple truth:  we white people have benefited and continue to benefit from the white supremacy that help build this country. This is not opinion, It is fact. And white people are the only ones who can really fix the problem of white supremacy, because we are the ones who made it and continue to benefit from it. 

And it starts by taking this accountability of our history AND our present. 

Rant over (for now). 

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

Read Kindred. It is enriching as well as being absolutely exciting and gripping. Fiction can make a difference and it is writers like Octavia E. Butler who can remind us. 

Please feel free to tell me your thoughts about my new friend Kindred in the comments., and join me next time with a while new friend. 

My New Friend, "SEA OF TRANQUILITY" by Emily St. John Mandel

 

A photo of me and my new friend, Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. This isn't such a bad thing. There are many dashes in the "Pro" column, in fact. Books don't have to stay away from you during a pandemic, for one thing, right? No nasal swabbing a book before you can invite them to your party or to share your home...

My newest friend I want to talk about today is Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Mandel has blown up on the literary scene, especially since her fourth novel, 2014's Station Eleven was a finalist for the National Book Award and a recipient of the Arthur C. Clarke award. Station Eleven, which centers around a pandemic, has been discussed widely again these last few years (wonder why?) and has been made into a critically-acclaimed limited series for HBO Max. Mandel's most recent novel was The Glass Hotel, one of my favorite novels of 2020, which centers around a Ponzi scheme and a kind of ghost story. 

Before I get into many details about Sea of Tranquility, my new pal, I should start by saying that Emily St. John Mandel is quickly becoming one of my favorite novelists, along with the likes of Jesmyn Ward, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Neil Gaiman. True, I have only The Glass Hotel and my new friend, but both novels are just that good. 

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

As I mentioned above, I read Emily St. John Mandel's previous novel, The Glass Hotel, back in 2020. I picked that book up at the Thompson Free Library. It became such a good friend, that I anxiously looked forward Mandel's next book, and, well, here it is. I purchased a copy, and have since ordered Station Eleven as well. It is my intention now to go back and get her first three novels, too. 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Sea of Tranquility doesn't have an easy "elevator pitch," as Mandel has said herself in an interview. But here is a basic rundown:

Sea of Tranquility goes through different time periods, beginning with 1912, where we follow Edwin St. John St. Andrew (yes, a young man with two saints in his name) who ends up "exiled" after anti-colonial remarks at a dinner party to the forests of Canada in the fictional Caiette (also seen in The Glass Hotel). It is here that the young man has a strange experience in the forest, as if being transported and surrounded by violin music. He also meets a mysterious man pretending to be a priest who calls himself Roberts. 

Next, Mandel transports us to 2020 for a section called Mirella and Vincent who were both characters in The Glass Hotel ( don't worry--- you don't have to read The Glass Hotel  to understand this book, though I do highly recommend it just the same). Mirella's husband was a victim of Vincent's husband's Ponzi scheme and lost everything. Vincent disappeared years ago, and Mirella wants to know what happened to her, so she goes to a concert being held by Vincent's brother Paul. Paul shows an old video tape of a strange occurrence videotaped by Vincent when they were children. It is a brief moment, and very similar to what happened to Edwin in 1912. After the concert Mirella meets with Paul, who is also being spoken to by a strange man named Gaspery. But Mirella seems to remember Gaspery from somewhere...

From here, we can (literally) fly to the moon when we meet Olive Llewelyn in the year 2203, a writer on a book tour, currently on Earth. Olive lives in the second colony on the moon, and is overwhelmed a bit by the tour, missing her husband Dion and their young daughter Sylvie. Olive wrote a very successful novel about a pandemic and may be close to finding herself in a very real pandemic of her own. After meeting a "journalist" by the name of Gaspery Roberts, named after a character from her book, she wonders if it may not be wiser to cut the book tour short. 

And this brings us to the very heart and crux of the book, which is why I don't really want to say anything more. Clearly, Gaspery is the unifying character of these three threads in time. 

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

Sea of Tranquility packs the richness of an epic into 255 quick-turning pages. Mandel is skillful at weaving plot threads into a beautiful tapestry--- so skilled, in fact, that I find myself succumbing to this completely unoriginal metaphor. But I'm not the great writer, here. That would be Emily St. John Mandel. 

Everyone is talking how this is Mandel's most speculative fiction to date, and while that may be true, it is still, at its core, a very human story and one we can all relate to, especially now. 

Olive Llewelyn, the writer, while not a complete stand in for Mandel, was clearly written with a deep knowledge of what it is like to be a successful writer of a pandemic novel who is now living during a pandemic. These insights are some of the most poignant in the book. 

"I suppose anything written this year is likely to be deranged," a character says of a piece being written during the pandemic lockdown. I am sure Mandel said the same thing time and again, but make no mistake--- Sea of Tranquility is only deranged in the most relatable way for those of us who have survived 2020 and 2021. This novel could not or would not have been written without the pandemic, at least not in the way it is given to us now. 

I suppose we can chalk that up to a little bit of bright side. 

FINAL TAKEAWAY

Enough of this. Just go get the book. 

Thanks for reading my thoughts on my new friend, Sea of Tranquility. Come on back when I make a new friend! 

My New Friend, "THE SWEET RELIEF OF MISSING CHILDREN" by Sarah Braunstein

 

Me and my new friend, The Sweet Relief of Missing Children by Sarah Braunstein. I'm the one in the hat. 

Hello everyone, my name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. Don't worry about me--- perhaps there is a sweet relief that comes with being friendless except for stories, perhaps even like The Sweet Relief of Missing Children, the new friend I will be talking about today. This is the debut novel of Sarah Braunstein, an MFA alum of the distinguished Iowa Writers' Workshop who currently lives in Maine, and, according to her website (which you can visit by CLICKING HERE), teaches at Colby College. She has also been the recipient of a "5 Under 35" award from the National Book Foundation and a Ronna Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. So, yeah, she is far too accomplished to be my friend, but at least I have her book. 

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

Constant readers of my blog (Hello?! Hello?! Do you exist?!) know that I started this project with a number of Maine authors, as I am a Maine writer myself, and wanted to read more from Maine voices that didn't belong to Stephen King. When I was doing some research about writers based in Maine, Sarah Braunstein came up. I was completely captivated by the title The Sweet Relief of Missing Children, found it dark yet lyrical, a mite unsettling. The book proved to live up to these initial feelings about the title. 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

My new friend was the recipient of the 2012 Maine Literary Award for Fiction, and deserves a higher rating on Goodreads (though many great books are divisive). 

The Sweet Relief of Missing Children begins with a short passage about Leonora, a 12-year-old girl who is taken. This is not a spoiler--- this is how the story begins and is mentioned directly on the jacket. We do not know right away how she was taken or by whom, only that she has been taken. Leonora and her story becomes the structural foundation on which the many wings of this house are built, and meant to be the device which connects them all. In this regard, it mostly succeeds. 

The several threads of the novel, which Bitch magazine called "akin to the film Magnolia (if Saul Bellow had written the novelization)", include Paul, who we meet as a young, serious boy, ditched by his mother "Goldie" on his birthday, who goes out with a photographer in hopes of becoming a model. Unbeknownst to Paul and Goldie, they are often spied on by a genuine Peeping Tom--- Tom Grant, an abortion nurse with a daughter, Jade, Paul's age. The reader will meet Paul and Jade when they are teenagers in what turned out to be my favorite section of the book. 

Other threads include Sam, the only survivor of an "accident" after his mother drove their family into a train. He is adopted by his Uncle Joe and his wife, Constance. Joe is great friends with Hank and his wife Grace, who have a daughter named Judith who one day goes missing. Sam, who would rather be losing his virginity to his high school girlfriend Helen, becomes instrumental in bringing Judith home. 

My friend jumps around in time and in perspective frequently. I am a fan of stories that are not afraid to be non-linear, and was happy to take the journey. There are a few other threads I feel I can't get into without distinct spoilers, but we do see Paul, Sam, and Judith grow up (sadly, I felt that Jade was kind of written away in just a few sentences), and, in-between, we learn more details about Leonora's life, a strange encounter she has with an adult, and, ultimately, her abduction. 

I understand that some people are frustrated by non-linear novels. I understand this fact, but don't quite get it. Novels should stretch your mind at least a little, don't you think?

FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

I like the dark, unsettling feel to much of the novel. Braunstein does well at creating emotional reactions with clear, yet lyrical prose. I wrote down many lovely quotes from the book, sentences that say far more than the number of words would suggest. When a character thinks how he "felt a desire to smash love into his body, to smash love into the world, to allow love to be the violent act he'd always suspected it was," I was struck by the beauty and darkness of the image, and impressed by the very mechanics of creating such a sentence. 

SOME CHALLENGES WITH MY NEW FRIEND

Even the best of friends can sometimes overstay a visit a little bit. After the major threads are resolved, including Leonora's, there are another fifteen pages to the book or so. And while they are not completely out of place, I would be lying if I didn't say they felt a tiny bit anticlimactic. 

FINAL TAKEAWAY

I am very happy I discovered this book. I had to get it on interlibrary loan from the Bangor Public Library. But I am happy I found it and read it. Sarah Braunstein's website says a new novel is in the works, and I will definitely read whatever she puts out next. 

I need as many friends as I can get. 

Come on back to my next post and meet the new friend I have made. Please feel free to comment below about your favorite friends, too. 

My New Friend, "MILL TOWN: Reckoning with What Remains" by Kerri Arsenault

 

Me and my new friend, "MILL TOWN" by Kerri Arsenault. It should be YOUR new friend, too.

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. You may not believe me, in which case, you have probably never met me. And if you did, you would probably say, "Yeah, books are probably your best bet." 

That's okay. 

Today I want to talk about a new friend I made, a new friend that I think is very important and one you should all make friends with, too. Not only make friends with, but talk about with other friends and your local and state representatives. 

My new friend's name is "MILL TOWN: Reckoning with What Remains" by Kerri Arsenault. My new friend is Kerri Arsenault's first book. Within the pages, she describes the many, many jobs she has undertaken over the years, but on the book jacket, it mentions how she is the book review editor for Orion magazine and a contributing editor at Lit Hub. Saying this is a stunning and accomplished debut book is an understatement.

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

In the town of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, where I live, the hometown library is called the Thompson Free. It is run by people who are constantly trying to bring events to the community. There is also a book club, and one of the selections was my new friend "MILL TOWN". I am not part of the book club (see the name of the blog or the old Groucho joke about not belonging to any club that would have me as a member), but I was interested to join in on a Zoom event with author Kerri Arsenault, as I had heard nothing but good things about the book, and I always find it interesting to hear writers talk. Especially writers who grew up in Maine. 

I had only read two chapters when I logged on to the Zoom event, but still enjoyed every moment of it, and was even able to ask her a few questions. Regardless of having had dental work that day, Ms. Arsenault was very generous with her time, very encouraging of conversation, and clearly passionate about her work, while still being easygoing. If you've got a little over an hour to spare, you can actually catch this book talk on YouTube by CLICKING HERE.

A BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

"MILL TOWN: Reckoning with What Remains" tells the personal story of Kerri Arsenault growing up in Mexico, Maine, near the paper mill in Rumford, responsible for the economic survival for the area. Unfortunately, as we should all know, economic survival and public health do not always go hand-in-hand. This area in Maine became nicknamed "Cancer Valley" by its own residents because of the truly shocking inordinate amount of certain types of cancers that claim both men and women in the region. Many seem to inherently understand that the Mill and its pollution are at the heart of this public health issue, but no conclusive evidence can be drawn. More to the fact, one wonders if even conclusive evidence could change things. The area recognizes that the smell that permeates their town is the smell of pollution, the smell of potential sickness. But they also understand that it is the smell of money. 

My new friend is part memoir, and partly a call to environmental action and discussion. As the great Jonathan Lethem blurbs on the back cover, Arsenault's "pursuit of truth is as compassionate as it is relentless."

I am not lying when I say this project is personal for Arsenault:  both her grandfather and father died like so many others do in "Cancer Valley". And one need only read the book and acknowledgements to see how many people she talked to for the book died throughout the writing or before publication. 

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

I love that my new friend is not just a lecture. I find Arsenault's account of growing up happy in her mill town to be an interesting memoir. Her prose is exquisite, as fine as in any literary novel, which is important, I think, in nonfiction. 

What I love most is that Arsenault's scope is wide and holistic. This is not just an environmental treatise. Her discussions of the working class and the anti-union politicians who could care less about them are just as important as the dioxin levels and chlorine gassings--- because it is the anti-union politicians and the notion of profit over public health which makes such horrors possible. Kerri Arsenault knows these people, knows Maine, because she grew up here. You can't fake that, even if people do make you feel like an interloper at times after you have left. But she knows what drove Mexico to go from overwhelming support to Obama to overwhelming support for Trump, and understands it was hope for change both times, because the working class sees very little change that has an effect on their lives. 

We all have to learn, as Arsenault lays out, that environmental health is directly related to public health, sure, but also related to poverty and grossly unchecked capitalism. 

It is literally killing us. 

PERSONAL CHALLENGES FOR ME

I read through this book slowly (twice). The reason I my readings were slow is because I live with what some call Illness Anxiety, some call Health Anxiety, and yet others simply call being a Hypochondriac (exacerbated by the pandemic, but that's another story). Reading about the levels of dioxins not only in our water but in our bodies, the levels of pollution in a place called "Cancer Valley", and the fact that it can't be addressed without major economic upheaval, makes me anxious. I can't lie. This is no fault of the book, and it is important to know these things. I just have to work hard to stay out of my head. 

And I need to buy a heavy-duty water filtration system. 

PERSONALLY FUN FOR ME

While this book is not just for Maine readers, Maine readers (especially in the rural communities) will have extra insight. I was especially glad to read a brief section calling out former Congressman Bruce Poliquin's phoniness. He comes around my area to events like County Fairs, smiles his fake smile from his face that looks like Millhouse's dad from The Simpsons, then disappears. He is running for his old seat, and hope he will be thoroughly defeated again. 

Arsenault also has a section on her fight against Nestle and I remember much of that from the news. 

More personally, her brief section on Roxanne Quimby, Burt's Bees, and Quimby's National Park made me smile. I went to school Roxanne's son and daughter, Lucas and Hannah. But I first met them when Roxanne was in a community theater production of Blithe Spirit by Noel Coward with my parents, and us kids would hand around waiting for the rehearsals to be over. 

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

There are too many beautiful quotes to begin sharing here. 

I do not read a ton of nonfiction, but I loved this book because it is an important book that speaks to the working class, and to everyone who cares about public health, the environment. What the working class feels forced to submit to is not only dangerous for them, but for all of us who can't afford to live upstream of the pollution. 

Seriously:  read it. 

Thanks for checking out my thoughts on my new friend. Come back soon and you'll meet another new friend of mine, every Monday and Thursday. 

My New Friend "GOD IS DEAD" by Ron Currie, Jr.

 

A photo of me and my new friend. I met my new friend at the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine

Hi everybody. My name is Bobby Keniston. My only friends are books. But don't feel sad for me--- after all, a book has never called me up at 2 in the morning wanting to talk about something bad that has happened in their life, causing me to feign interest and empathy while my eyelids keep wanting to close. So... there's that. 

Today, I am going to introduce you to my new friend, "God is Dead" by Ron Currie, Jr. 

QUICK DISCLAIMER

I realize the title alone will activate the blasphemy radar for certain readers. These readers will not even want to go past the cover or title page, and probably shouldn't. While there is challenging content within the book, I would not consider it blasphemous or immoral or anything of the sort. But then, I like to read critically and think about what I've read, and am not the type of person to hide my narrow-minded world view and prejudice behind an appearance of morality and righteousness. That's just me. If you are that type of reader, you may want to skip this post altogether. 

HOW I MET MY NEW FRIEND

For the many, many readers who have been following along with my posts (is there anybody out there?), you know that I have been trying to discover more Maine authors. One of those authors has been Carolyn Chute, and when I did a search about her, I found a YouTube video of Ron Currie, Jr. interviewing her about her latest book, "The Recipe for Revolution" for the Portland Public Library. You can actually watch the video if you like by CLICKING HERE--- it's a long interview, but worth it. It may be the least pretentious interview between two authors you will ever see. This is what piqued my curiosity about Mr. Currie and his work. 

In full disclosure, I read Mr. Currie's first novel "Everything Matters!" before I read "God is Dead," which is his debut book, though a collection of thematically-linked short stories and not a novel. I may write about my friend "Everything Matters!" in a different post. 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

As I mentioned above, "God is Dead" is a collection of short stories, starting with the title story in which God comes to Earth as a Dinka woman in the North Darfur region of Sudan. God has come, it seems, to apologize to humanity, but can do very little except sympathize and provide endless amounts of sorghum. God runs into Colin Powell, who, in the world of the story, has come back into contact with his childhood and the racism he faced, and it has made him a "foul-mouthed race warrior" as Lydia Millet said in her blurb for the book. Indeed, Mr. Powell practicing his best Samuel L. Jackson glare is a moment that made me laugh at loud, which I don't do too often when reading. 

In any case, God, while in this human form, dies, and is subsequently eaten by a pack of feral dogs, who have no idea that they are eating the "Creator", and it gives them a strange consciousness, though this  isn't fully revealed until later in the book, the sixth story, titled "Interview with the Last Remaining Member of the Feral Dog Pack Which Fed on God's Corpse", which, despite a title that will turn off readers I mentioned in the disclaimer above, is actually a fascinating tale about meaning and existence, through the eyes of a changed feral dog, who, for all its consciousness, is not deified. 

Indeed, every story after the first is an examination of how our society would change if we had distinct and definite proof that God had somehow died. Suicides for the clergy sky rocket. There is a mass panic for a time. New idols (including children) are put in place to fill the need to worship. New philosophies, the Postmodern Anthropologists and the Evolutionary Psychologists, form, indoctrinate, create zealots and war on each other (these names were another deep chuckle--- I laughed out loud when a popular country song, "Proud to be a PoMO" is played at a parade). 

Basically, the world changes completely, but not really at all. People simply scramble to look for meaning. 

Which is funny. 

But really sad. 

FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

There are three stories that connect into one big story:  "False Idols," "The Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit" and "Retreat". It was nice to follow these characters. 

I also like how Ron Currie's theme here, and in "Everything Matters!' is how meaning can exist if we make it so. We often try too hard, or depend on outward forces, real and imagined. But Currie seems to be telling us that we don't need to do this. There's plenty of meaning within if we just look for it in the simplest of terms. 

FUN FACT

When my new friend was first released, many compared its author to Vonnegut. Mr. Currie himself has said that he doesn't find the comparison an apt one. Neither do I. 

FINAL TAKEAWAY

I recommend it for those who want to think about our world and its quest for meaning. Be prepared--- despite some humor, it can be a big downer and isn't for those squeamish about dark comedy. 

Thanks for reading my thoughts on my new friend and its author, Ron Currie, Jr. 

Come on back to hear me talk about a new friend...

My New Friend "DEVIL HOUSE" by John Darnielle

 

Here's the cover of my new friend. I like retro feel. But don't let this cover convince you this is a horror story--- it is not. 

Hello. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. Don't feel sorry for me. Though if you can't help being sorry for me, at least pronounce "sorry" like Canadians do, so that it will rhyme with "story."  I love a good story. That's why books are my only friends. 

I know that all of the readers following this blog... wait... I need a break for laughter....it's just funny imagining that there are any people actually following this blog....Sorry.  

I know that all of readers following this blog are probably tired of my little project consisting only of Maine authors, so I thought I would talk about my friend "Devil House" by John Darnielle, who is not a Maine author. "Devil House" is also the newest of my new friends. Its birthday was January 25th of 2022. I was happy to find it at my local library, where I meet many of my new friends. 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

My new friend "Devil House" is the third novel from the multi-talented John Darnielle, following his second novel "Universal Harvester" (which I have read and enjoyed) and "Wolf In White Van" (which I have not read, but which was nominated for a National Book Award merely days after its publication date--- not bad, eh?). "Devil House" tells the story of Gage Chandler, a true crime writer who was always told by his mother that he was descended from kings. He wrote a very successful true crime book about "The White Witch of Morro Bay", which dealt with Diana Crane, a school teacher who killed two young men who broke into her house and then tried to dispose of the bodies. Chandler's book, much like "Devil House", deals with the mythology a community constructs around murders and tragedies, while the complexity of the truth seems to fade away. 

Gage Chandler, on a tip from his agent, moves into what the locals of Milptas  call "Devil House", the scene of a double homicide. Milpitas is also where the events depicted in the book and film  "River's Edge" took place, and that true crime story hangs over the book in some ways. Once in the "Devil House", Gage works meticulously to recreate the crime scene, to do his best to get into the nooks and crannies, every inch of the house, looking for the story... and the "truth". 

MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

My friend has many things going for it, not least of which is being written by John Darnielle. Darnielle is the songwriter and singer behind The Mountain Goats, and his songs are very creative, powerful and lyrical. His prose here is also impressive, and the way he writes the first section as a true crime book itself is intriguing and effective. Reading about Gage's methods keeps the pages turning. The second section about Diana Crane, the "White Witch" is also a page-turner. Darnielle does well humanizing not only the teacher, but the two young men who attack her. In fact, he is quite good with teenage characters, which serve him well for the sections about the "Devil House." 

I also appreciate how Darnielle touches upon the "Satanic Panic" of those days, and how the Devil House murders could have fallen into that hysteria had the folks of Milpitas not worked so hard to squash the story after the sensationalism of "River's Edge". 

CHALLENGES WITH MY NEW FRIEND

There is an interlude in the book about a medieval boy becoming king, complete in medieval font, which, while well-written and entertaining, did not fully convince me that it was necessary. Perhaps this is my failing and not my friend's, I don't know. The surprise twist ending is bold and brave (and something I wouldn't even think about spoiling here), but I am still not 100% sure how I feel about it. Still, in its defense, it makes Gage confront how, no matter how well-researched and well-intentioned, "true crime" is only ever partly true and never complete. 

FINAL TAKEAWAY

Readers, if they are like me, will want to make friends with "Devil House". But, I must reiterate my warning from the caption below the above picture: do not go into it expecting a horror novel, or you may well be disappointed. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. Come on back to see who I make friends with next...

My New Friend "THE POLICE KNOW EVERYTHING" by Sanford Phippen

 

The author and the book. Photo from the Digital Commons @UMaine, Sanford Phippen's Literary Papers

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. Before you get to feeling sorry for me because of my lack of human friends, just remember that books don't mind if you wake them up at 3:00 AM because you feel like laughing or crying and don't want to be alone. So... yeah. 

If you have read my previous posts--- a prospect I find highly unlikely as generally my blogging reaches the exact same audience I would have as simply talking into a mirror--- you know that I have been reading a great deal of Maine writers lately, as I am a Maine writer myself, and want to have a wider knowledge of authors from my neck of the forest (or my shoulders of the woods, if you prefer). 

That is why my new friend is "The Police Know Everything" by Sanford Phippen. I have mentioned Mr. Phippen in my two previous blog posts because, aside from being a writer and a teacher, he also hosted interviews with Maine authors in a segment called Good Reads on Maine Public Broadcasting. This was back in the early 2000s I believe, but can be found on YouTube. On this show he interviewed the likes of Stephen King, Richard Russo, and Carolyn Chute to name a just a few. For the fun of it, you can catch his interview with Stephen King by CLICKING HERE. 

This is why the new friend I made for this post was "The Police Know Everything", which is a collection of Downeast Stories.

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

"The Police Know Everything" is a quick read, originally published in 1982 by Puckerbush Press, a small publisher based out of Orono, Maine, where Phippen taught school for many years. The stories are all short and compact, but with an overarching connective tissue in its exploration of class, the art of storytelling itself, and of place and time. The title story starts off the collection, named "The Police Know Everything" because it deals with our narrator's elderly aunt and her friends as volunteer police officers. Our narrator is Andy (or "An-day!" as he is called in the vernacular of his family and friends), clearly a stand-in for Phippen himself. Many of the stories are of Andy asking questions to his friends and family and then being told the story--- kind of a story within a story vibe. Some of the stories are humorous, some of them deeply sad, and some of them upsetting in their depiction of people's ignorance (including the use of racist and homophobic words). But Phippen was trying to show "the real Maine," the kind the tourists don't see at the fancy places on the coast. He wanted to show the truth. And I feel he succeeds. 

On another note, my understanding is that "The Police Know Everything" was considered a "small press bestseller" for a number of years. I found the copy I read in my local library. 

Oh--- and Stephen King blurbed another one of Mr. Phippen's books, calling him "a Maine treasure."

WHAT I LIKE BEST ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

It was a strange, but after reading a few stories, there was such a feeling of familiarity, and I wondered where it was coming from. And then I realized--- the way the Downeast characters in this book were telling stories is the exact same way my Grandfather, Jesse I. Keniston, used to tell me, and all of his family, stories. The details, the manner of speaking, practically seeing the yarn spinning--- it all hit me with a surprising emotional payoff, thinking about being a little kid and listening to him talk. 

Next to this wonderful feeling of honest nostalgia, my other favorite thing was the story, "The Returned Native," about someone who left Maine but is back for a visit. It brings up a lot of the conflicting feelings I have about this state. How it keeps me here, but how I see its flaws (and they do feel like unique flaws), and how the flaws make me often wish I could get out--- but how long would I stay out? Phippen writes with clear honesty here, and it is worth considering. 

WHAT I FELT COULD HAVE MADE ME NEW FRIEND EVEN MORE FUN TO BE AROUND

While I did enjoy the collection, I do feel some of the stories were perhaps a bit too short, and ended abruptly at times. I also feel like my new friend could have perhaps had just a tiny bit more connective tissue for a stronger, clearer arc for the collection. But these are small complaints. 

FINAL TAKEAWAY

If you can find a copy--- and I believe a new press has taken over its distribution and that it is available on e-book as well--- I would recommend giving it a read. That is, if you are interested in looking at more of the "real Maine" instead of what you see in the travel brochures. Do not be fooled by the title and the cover artwork and think this is just a fun, silly, slice-of-life Maine humor read, a kind Tim Sample routine in book form. It is much more than that. 

Thanks for reading my thoughts on "The Police Know Everything". 

Come back soon to hear about another new friend!

My New Friend "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" by Carolyn Chute

 

The original hardcover edition of "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" by Carolyn Chute

Hi. My name is Bobby Keniston, and my only friends are books. You might think this is sad, but as Emily Dickinson said, "There is no frigate like a book." Or, as a thirteen-year-old boy in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, might simply say, "Frig it."

In any case, the first new friend I want to write about here on this little piece of the internet that will likely only have an audience in the single digits, is Carolyn Chute's brilliant second novel "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts." Carolyn Chute came to wide public recognition with her first novel, "The Beans of Egypt, Maine," and as she told Sandy Phippen in an interview for Maine Public Television, her subsequent book tour and speaking engagements made her a kind of "specimen," a "trained tiger," if you will. If you are interested in this terrific interview, you can watch it by CLICKING HERE. 

Perhaps instead of treating her like a specimen, more people should have listened to her and read her books closely. Carolyn Chute may be one of the finest writers about rural, white poverty in the last 50 years. Though I don't intend for this to be a political blog per se, I can't help but say that if Democrats want to understand working people and rural poverty, they would do well to read a book like "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" and take copious notes. 

I have been having a Maine-author theme for my reading of late, since I am a Maine writer myself. Carolyn Chute not only expertly evokes class, but a sense of place as well. Her voice is fiercely all her own, somewhat minimalist, character-driven, and packs a punch. 

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

My new friend "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" takes place in Egypt, Maine, and centers around Big Lucien Letourneau, who doesn't appear very much in the novel, but has an almost mythological feel about him. We hear about his "heart of gold," his terrible headaches that lead to screaming, and mostly, his many, many women and many, many children. Everyone in this book is somehow attached to Big Lucien and his business. And as more and more people lose their homes, Big Lucien and his heart of gold keeps them in trailers on his property, which is a thorn in the side of the local selectmen who believe it looks trashy. 

Chute, as I mentioned, is a character-driven writer, and the characters jump off the page. I have seen these people. I know them. I live in small town Maine, and I have seen this poverty (and lived it) and the rage and shame and hopelessness that comes from it. My favorite character is Junie, one of Big Lucien's daughters from a previous relationship, though he has never been a father to her directly. We meet Junie at 15, as she tries to get money any way she can (most humorously by telling futures to tourists for a dollar) because she wants to have a sports car some day. 

Ms. Chute gets into the heads and lives of her characters and never judges them. 

SOME QUOTES FROM MY NEW FRIEND

"'In the old days, somebody tried to take your home, you'd put one of these inside their head.' He holds one of the shells toward the light. 'But nowadays...' He sighs, his clear green eye fixed to Severin. 'Nowadays when they come to make you go, you take a shell like this one here...' He rolls it between his fingers. '...and you put it in your own head.'"

Some folks are reacting to a suicide, and many are shocked to hear about it. One deputy is not. The reason he gives for not being shocked still haunts me:

"Kids n' bills. Kids n' bills."

MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT MY NEW FRIEND

As I have said, I appreciate Chute's unflinching look at poverty. It isn't always easy to take, but it is important. Her minimalist language and rich characters also make for a truly engaging read. 

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

Not always an easy read. Often hard to take, but that doesn't mean it isn't important to read. Friends aren't always uplifting, but the good ones always leave an impact for the better. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts about "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" by Carolyn Chute. I will have a new post very soon about a whole new friend!

In the meantime, I recommend getting "Letourneau's Used Auto Parts" at your local library, or ordering it from your favorite independent bookstore.