'Wave' by Sonali Deraniyagala

Wave, Sonali Deraniyagala (2)

I was very surprised that the NYT’s ranked this book in their top 10 for 2013. It is unique, but I did not think it was well written or particularly interesting after the first 35 pages. ‘Wave’ is the non-fictional account of the author’s tragic days during and after the Indonesian tsunami in 2004. She and her family were vacationing on the shores of Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. The first 35 pages recount how she survived, but tragically lost her parents, husband and two sons. In the rest of this slim book she talks us through how she tried to live during the next 8 years. What surprised me the most was how unlikable she is throughout this book. While I expected to have sympathy for someone who has experienced such pain and grief, and actually felt guilty disliking her, her actions during the crisis and after seemed shockingly self-absorbed. I was most surprised that she didn’t go look for her family in the immediate aftermath. I don’t have children, but I would not have let anyone take me anywhere till I searched the area for my husband and I imagine that is even truer of children. Her protection mechanism of denial (they couldn’t be alive, I can’t look at any dead bodies to identify them or it’s all real) seems to be the only explanation, but that wears thin after 160 pages.

'The Grapes of Wrath' by John Steinbeck

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (4)

This book could have begun: ‘It was the worst of times, and it was the worst of times.’ There was no respite from hardship and tragedy for the Joads, the book’s central family. That being said, this classic, which describes one family’s escape from the dust bowl in Oklahoma to the imagined riches of California during the late 1930s, is not entirely a tragedy. Through a simple family Steinbeck keenly illustrates the determination of a matriarch to keep her family together and alive. Sometimes it was hard to determine if they were ignorant or innocent, particularly when the advertisement of the end of the rainbow (i.e. jobs in California) was obviously a ploy with all evidence leading to an overabundance of workers for the few jobs available. But it is more likely that they needed to believe in that future, as there was nothing left for them in Oklahoma. Steinbeck effectively uses a unique jump cut narrative where he alternates chapters of the main Joad drama with smaller ones containing background pertinent to migrants as a group. At first this seemed awkward, but quickly felt poetic. While it is not likely that one family met with all the adversity thrown at the Joads, the story brings alive the history of events during the Depression with colorful characters that have survived the test of time. I should add that it has a somewhat controversial ending – both when first written and amongst my friends – though we all agreed it was well worth reading.

'Champion' by Marie Lu

Champion, Marie Lu (3)

The third and final book in the Legend series while not extraordinary was satisfying. I had one issue with a particular choice made by a main character towards the end, but will not give anything away. Basically I think the author made things somewhat complicated than necessary in order to generate conflict. Otherwise, the story progressed to a logical point – with June and Day trying to get support for their country while attempting to keep their loved ones safe (including each other). While I enjoyed reading the book – now a week after I finished- I realize I don’t remember the details particularly well and I am struggling to find real substance to the story. In this segment of the trilogy Ms. Lu opened the door with new countries and new technologies, but really did little with them. She stayed with the personal stories of the two main characters. If you like them, you will be drawn further into their plight, but you may (like me) be a little disappointed in the choices near the end.

'My Year of Meats' by Ruth L. Ozeki

My Year of Meats, Ruth L. Ozeki (3)

This book makes an interesting fictional companion piece to ‘Omnivore’s Dilemma’ and ‘Eating Animals’. The main character, Jane, is a half Japanese, half Caucasian woman who grew up in Minnesota. We meet her as she embarks on a year of producing a Japanese TV show depicting wholesome American’s cooking meat for their families. A beef company who hopes to inspire the Japanese housewives to run out and buy meat to reproduce the exciting recipes they see on the shows sponsors the show. We also follow Akiko, the unhappy wife of one of Jane’s bosses, as she attempts to appease her husband with duplicated recipes from the show. As Jane navigates her way through producing and directing what she feels would be entertaining and educational for the Japanese housewives, she often butts heads with her boss. As she gets deeper, she starts to see the dark side of meat production, which is obviously at odds with her sponsor’s views. Ms. Ozeki uses humor to highlight many of the more disturbing elements of this book to make the passages a bit more palatable (i.e. the bad guy wants to be called ‘John’ since his last name is Ueno, it is pronounced ‘John Way-no’). I liked the book – though I am not sure it would be to everyone’s taste, pun intended.

'Going Clear, Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief' by Lawrence Wright

Going Clear, Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, Lawrence Wright (4)

I had originally read Mr. Wright’s New Yorker article about Paul Haggis, the long time Scientologist screenwriter who recently left the church. This book is his full study of the church – from the origins with L. Ron Hubbard to the present day issues. While he had very little support of help from current members of the organization, Mr. Wright is a Pulitzer Prize winning author with the investigative and fact-checking resources of the New Yorker and therefore this book appears to be well researched, well documented and as unemotional as possible. That being said, until the epilogue, where he compares Scientology to older religions, it was hard not to be very biased against the wackiness that is this supposed religion. Most organized religions have something, when viewed objectively that comes across as hard to believe, which is what faith is all about. It is interesting that we tend to give the older ones (where we can’t prove something is untrue?) more credence. Regardless, the claims of Hubbard and his Scientologists are relatively easy to confirm and Mr. Wright shows many key points to be false. It is clear that Scientology has helped many people with taking control of their lives regarding personal responsibility and choice. I was slightly disappointed that this wasn’t investigated more. He spends a large amount of time on the atrocious behavior of the senior members and the ‘clergy’, known as the Sea Org. I was most discouraged with the philosophy of their current leader: always go on the attack, never defend, and how this has been used over and over against anyone who questions them in any way. This is a very interesting, albeit disturbing book.

'Want Not' by Jonathan Miles

Want Not, Jonathan Miles (3.5)

Mr. Miles’ second novel follows three stories of disparate, relatively unlikely people in and around New York City. They are all related to various types of waste in our culture and somewhat converge near the very end of the book. The first follows a young ‘freegan’ couple living off the grid in NYC. The book starts with one of them bemoaning the enormous amount of edible waste from society while dumpster diving and retrieving examples. In the second, we find a sad sap of a fellow, having just hit a deer on his way home from a late night out drinking, decides to pack it into his jeep, take it home and butcher it at 2am. This comes across as a symptom of the mid-life crisis he suffers, seemingly due to his wife’s recent affair and their subsequent separation. The last begins with a mother going through the belongings of her husband, who died several years ago in the World Trade Center 9/11 attacks. The twist is that immediately after his death, she discovered that he had been having an affair, which caused her conflicting feelings of betrayal and grief. This story evolves into more about her new husband (a questionable fellow who runs a more questionable business) and her daughter from the first marriage. Overall I found this book interesting. The characters are fresh and well written and the underlying message is important. There were a couple of points with regards to the messaging for the nuclear waste site that were particularly thought provoking. Given that, I was a little disappointed in the climax. It felt rushed and a bit thin compared to the rest of the story.