'Dead Man Walking' by Sister Helen Prejean

Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean (3.5)

Many people know this story from the movie starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon.  The book is a drier, more matter of fact account of Sister Prejean’s experiences with the death penalty both as a spiritual advisor to multiple convicts on death row and as a champion for the abolition of the death penalty. I appreciated her ability to look at both sides of the argument, but stay focused on her religious convictions. She admonishes herself often for not spending enough time with the victim’s families and she does not condone what the convicted felon has done. But, she continues to reiterate that if killing is wrong, why does the government get to do it? She also discusses at length the powerful statistics of the lack of efficacy of capital punishment as a deterrent, the costs compared to life imprisonment and most sadly the somewhat random way it is administered (i.e. a black person killing a white person in the south is far more likely to be prosecuted for the death penalty than visa versa for the same crime). Overall the book is interesting and thought provoking, though it is sad and a bit dry. It was written in 1993 based on a lot of facts in the 80’s. I would be interested to hear how things have changed since that time.

'The Sunshine When She's Gone' by Thea Goodman

The Sunshine When She’s Gone, Thea Goodman (2.5)

For such a bright and cheery book cover, I found this to be a depressing book. The married main characters narrate a weekend in alternate chapters. I don’t mind giving away the main plot point – as it happens quickly in the book and hopefully none of you will read it anyway. They have a baby and are dealing with new parenthood. The book begins with the father deciding to take the baby for an early morning trip to a diner (they live in NYC) on the corner to let the mother sleep in. He grabs their mail to read over breakfast. Once he finds the diner closed, and finds their passports in the pile of mail, he decides to take the baby on an adventure – and jumps on a plane for Barbados- without telling the mother! That the mother wakes up sees the note that they’ve gone to breakfast, gets a voicemail later in the day that they are visiting grandma and doesn’t actually talk with the father the ENTIRE WEEKEND is really unimaginable to me. As the weekend unfurls the mother parties it up and the father realizes taking care of a baby is not really as easy as he thought – they both do unforgivable things and eventually reconnect, but by that time you despise them both and frankly don’t care what happens. The ending is more of an aside than anything else. A comment on the back of the book indicated that the book was funny and had a lot of truths about parenting. I hope that is not true – and I can’t imagine who would find this book at all funny.

'Red Harvest' by Dashiell Hammett

Red Harvest, Dashiell Hammett (3.5)

If you like a Humphrey Bogart gumshoe-type character solving a complicated mystery involved gambling, drinking and a lot of shooting, you’ll enjoy this book. It is a typical Hammett yarn with an unnamed detective trying to clean up a small town in Northern California. The cadence of the dialogue is tough – it helps if you read some of it aloud. Lot’s of phrases like: ‘My chinch and Dick’s are together at your client’s joint. Mine’s been generally busier than a hustler with two bunks, though I don’t know what the score is yet.’ I enjoyed this book more for the ambience than the plot. It was complicated and the ending was not entirely satisfying – unless you like numerous shoot-outs and dead gangsters. I do plan on reading the rest of his novels, particularly ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and ‘The Thin Man’ as they are two of my favorite movies.

'Beta' by Rachel Cohn

Beta, Rachel Cohn (3.0)

‘Beta’ is another book in my Young Adult research list. In this story the protagonist is a clone, albeit one of the first teenage clones. She was ‘made’ to serve as a companion to the wife and children of a rich family. They live on an island, which is too wonderful for servants (can’t get them to work?), so they’ve used a cloning technology to reproduce the bodies of dead people (sans soul) to use as basically slaves. While that is an interesting concept, it seems to be faulty from the beginning (too wonderful for servants, but ok for slaves?). I put my concerns aside and started to enjoy the story – which follows the Beta clone as she finds out more and more of what a clone really is – and what lies in store for her as she seems to have memories from her original. This was quite interesting and though provoking. Unfortunately the ending seemed a bit rushed and cobbled together. Although some of it was very predictable, there were elements that were surprisingly abrupt and were either odd for a YA book (the treatment of drug use and rape) or out of character (the rape itself). I found the very end weak scientifically and will have to wait for the sequel to see how Ms. Cohn explains herself.

'The Accursed' by Joyce Carol Oates

The Accursed, Joyce Carol Oates (3.0)

This book was a bit of a roller coaster for me: didn’t like it, liked it, and didn’t like it. Since it’s over 600 pages, it was a long ride and annoying as it ended with a ‘didn’t like it’. The thing I like most about it (let’s start on a good note) was the setting – turn of the century (~1905) around Princeton University in New Jersey. The cast of characters who lived there at the time was memorable. They include Upton Sinclair, Woodrow Wilson and ex-President Grover Cleveland. That brings me to one of my complaints. Each of these real-life characters is written as quite unlikable. The behavior of Woodrow Wilson in this book (and he’s a main character as the University President) is quite shocking and, if true, completely disqualifies him to be a president of the country. He is described as weak, both mentally and physically, disliked and generally not socially aware. The book describes a few years surrounding a ‘Curse’ of one of the main families of Princeton. It hints at the impetus of the curse as it reveals the hideous effects on the family and other families of the area. The fantastical nature of the curse aside, the writing was creative and able to conceive a dreamy time and place. I recognize the skill of the writer, but I surmise this book is just not written for readers like me –who like more concrete structures in their historical fiction. Overall it reminded me of a woman with the vapors.

'Killing Lincoln' by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Killing Lincoln, Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (3.0)

Not being a big fan of Mr. O’Reilly’s in general, I stayed away from this book for some time even though it has gotten generally good critiques as a readable telling of a real event. After finishing this book, I realized my concerns about an author like Bill O’Reilly (provocative, sensationalistic, prone to exaggeration, etc.) were likely what made many readers find this more readable than a typical non-fiction book. The story describes the assassination of President Lincoln starting with the planning, through the execution and finally ends with the capturing of those involved. Throughout the authors use relatively melodramatic phrases: largely unnecessary as the drama speaks for itself. Unfortunately there are no footnotes to allow one to understand where specific information comes from; the books used as reference are lumped into a general list at the end. While it is interesting to read the details – as an important part of our country’s history – the lack of specificity with regard to the source material made me unconsciously focus on the basic plot and disregard specific feelings and motives. Just in case my predisposed feelings for the author are affecting my opinion, I will say that it is a fast-paced telling of an interesting historical event – though my warning will be to those who like to know the strength of all facts in their historical fiction this is not a book for you. The basic facts are indisputable, but it is not clear where the motives and emotions described originate.