The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

Ok, the last of the 4 reviews from this weekend.  Note to self, DON'T LEAVE YOUR CHROMEBOOK AT SCHOOL!

I wanted to like this.  I really, really did.  And I loved the first part.  Second part, I found so depressing.  And the thing is, it honestly reads like two completely separate books, as if two different people wrote them and the publisher thought, well here's two stories about Minneapolis, let's forge them together!

Part 1 is an amusing ghost story.  Tookie, a recently released inmate, works at her local book store.  She was arrested after stealing a dead body for a friend, that was actually hiding drugs.  Said book store is modeled on Erdrich's actual one, with a fictional Louise as the boss.  The store features books by, about, and for Native American Indians.  Flora, a white female ghost, haunts the store.  The writing is sarcastic, witty, and entertaining. It's almost perfect October reading. 

Then part 2 is 2020.  The pandemic and George Floyd/BLM.  The story turns incredibly dark, as would be the case.  The writing style changes too.  Riots and looting occur around the store, as happened in real life.  It's heartbreaking.

And I do not feel they actually go together well.  They absolutely could have been two separate novels, and would have been successful I think.  Or even a series.  But as one continuous novel, it does not work.

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.   

My Name is Jason. Mine Too. By Jason Reynolds and Jason Griffin

This is an incredibly unique book.  It's a hybrid graphic and in-verse memoir told in both simultaneous and alternating viewpoints of two best friends, both named Jason. 

The first Jason in Reynolds.  We know him as an author and poet.  He is black.

The second Jason is Griffin.  He is an artist.  He is white.  

And they tell their story, from college to poverty as starving artists/authors to success.  It ends with them reflecting on the project, 13 years later.  

It's hard to review this.  I can't explain it.  It is just. so. moving.  There are definite Mrs. W. tear stains!  From the words to the visuals, this is a book you MUST read.

Find this on display in memoir as a "Mrs. W.'s Favorite".

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

The Saints of Swallow Hill by Donna Everhart

My family does names out of a hat for adults for Christmas.  We each get one person to buy for, and we choose a theme.  We've done flat gifts only, A Blue Christmas, picnic baskets, socks and jammies, hoodies, surprise interest-based, and this year: Want, Need, Wear, Read.  We each had to list 4 items, 1 per category, and the giver chose any combo up to $50.  This was my Read choice from my cousin-in-law Juliet. 

This was recommended to me by Amazon.  I'm guessing since your phone tracks basically everything, and there is a lot of NASCAR between North Carolina and Georgia...

This was a fairly easy read with nothing major happening.  I know that sounds strange.  It was NOT boring, but there was no OMG plot twist.  There were a couple of tough scenes--Black workers face much harsher treatment, women are treated as property, all as one would expect in the early days of the Depression in these locations.   

Rae Lynn is a turpentine farmer in NC, married to a bumbling idiot who falls off a ladder.  She shoots him in the head to end his pain, but doesn't know his friend sees it.  She goes on the run, ending up in Swallow Hill, a labor camp.  Del, a womanizing farmhand, gets caught being naughty with his wife's boss.  After the boss tries to kill him in revenge, he leaves and ends up at Swallow Hill.  Rae, disguised as Ray, and Del work together until Rae's is found out.  The camp owner's wife Nellie falls in love with Rae, and the 3 escape to Del's sister's home.  Del and Rae marry and have children, helping out Del's family and Aunt Nellie.  

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.   

Trejo by Danny Trejo

I read every day over this long weekend, but I forgot my Chromebook at school, so I'll be typing up these 4 reviews as time permits today.

My next book in Book a Day January is Danny Trejo's memoir.  I have to say I only recently became aware of the actor after his appearance in The Book of Boba Fett as the rancor handler.  His guest appearance was a surprise and everyone went kinda bonkers about it.  I recognized him from commercials, but didn't really know a lot.  A student asked if we had this shortly thereafter and I added it to our wish list. I am so glad I did.

Danny Trejo was a womanizing, drug addicted, hard core criminal in California.  While serving time, he attended a charity baseball game at which a riot broke out.  He and 2 other inmates were accused and faced the death penalty.  Trejo made a pact with God if his life was spared, he'd turn things around. And he did.  He became an advocate for the homeless, the addicted, and the poor.  He worked with recently released prisoners to secure housing, employment, and treatment.  For a time, he struggled greatly as a husband and father.  It was not until much later his children were able to turn their own lives around.  Now he is a successful actor, author, and activist.

I cried several times reading this.  It isn't easy.  But is an amazing story of redemption and faith. 

Find this on display in memoir as a "Mrs. W.'s Favorite".

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.    

The Final Revival of Opal and Nev by Dawnie Walton

Book 10 of Book a Day January.  Yes, I'm a little behind.  I had some home stuff to handle Tuesday and Wednesday evening that took precedence.    

This is the adult selection for All CT Reads 2023.  Last night I attended the state-wide launch for this year's program and heard from the author Dawnie Walton about her process and motivation.  As a Black female punk rock fan, she wanted to write about a Black female rock icon.  The entire recorded webinar will be available to view in a few days on the CT State Library website.  The Teachers and Friends Book Club have made this their selection for March.  Since I'm moderating, I get to choose the restaurant.  I am actually thinking of having our meeting be at a local music venue to hear a local singer of band. 

Opal and Nev were a 70s rock duo: an unlikely combo of a gritty, tall, bald Black woman from Detroit and a scrawny White man from England.  I kept picturing them as Tina Turner mixed with a little Cher and Paul McCartney mixed with a little Liam Gallagher (Oasis).  In 2016 Sunny Shelton decides to interview Opal and Nev as they contemplate a reunion show for her magazine and possible book deal (really got some 7 Husbands vibes from this).  Sunny is the daughter of Opal and Nev's drummer Jimmy, with whom Opal had a known affair.  Jimmy was killed during race riot that erupted at a music festival.  Opal and Nev performed, as did their label's rival band.  Said rival band hangs a Confederate flag up before their performance, which Opal then protests.  A single picture taken as Opal and Nev leave the festival becomes their infamous historical image.  

As I was reading this, I was strongly reminded of VH1's Behind the Music.  The story is told in alternating bits from the characters: Opal, Nev, their label owner and producer, former band mates, Opal's stylist, Opal's sister, etc.  I also was casting it in my head, and I'm pretty sure we will see this in visual format someday.  I thought of Sweetwater and Eddie & The Cruisers as model pieces.  One of the questions I intend to pose is who should play Opal and Nev, past and present.

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.      

If We We're Villains by M.L. Rio

Book 9 of Book a Day January.

I am honestly not sure where this came from.  It doesn't have a Follett sticker, so it's not from our book vendor.  It's not donated from the Amazon Wish List, nor do I remember buying it at BN.  If you gave it to us, and I'm blanking, thank you!

Either way, I wasn't a fan.  

The premise is that 7 theater major seniors at an elite arts college are about to put on Julius Caesar.  This particular theater program only focuses on Shakespeare, putting on a comedy or history in one's 3rd year and a tragedy 4th year.  They also do scenes from Macbeth at Halloween and Midsummer Night's Dream in December. You can be kicked out if you're not up to snuff on the stage.  And you do not earn an actual degree. 

The theater students also seem to look down on the music, visual art, and dance majors. Their descriptions of these students are downright mean.

I am sorry to say I found the characters annoying, whiny, stuck-up brats.  I didn't find any of them worth my sympathy.  As a parent considering to costs of college very soon, I found myself more aligning with the Dad saying "I'm not paying for this nonsense".  I rolled my eyes at least half a dozen times and groaned once so loud it woke my dogs up.  

Perhaps someone interested in theater, particularly Shakespeare might want to read this, or even someone reading Caesar for English II as a companion novel, but for me, it's a no.

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W. 

Daughters of a Dead Empire by Carolyn Tara O'Neill

This is book #8 in my Book a Day January.

I wanted to like this.  I REALLY did.

In 2020 I reviewed Romanov. This is another fictionalized account of what might've happened to Anastasia Romanov.  From that earlier review:

"Every once and while you hear a claim made by an elderly woman that she is the long lost Anastasia Romanov. It was even a joke of Betty White's character Elka on "Hot In Cleveland".  I had a childhood friend who claimed to be Anastasia's granddaughter (she wasn't--I knew both sets of her grandparents, and they were 100% Italian.).

So who exactly was Anastasia Romanov? 
Read here from Wikipedia:

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастаси́я Никола́евна Рома́нова, tr. Anastasíya Nikoláyevna Románova; June 18 [O.S. June 5] 1901 – July 17, 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria, and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918.

Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of Communist rule. The abandoned mine serving as a mass grave near Yekaterinburg which held the acidified remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991. These remains were put to rest at Peter and Paul Fortress in 1998. The bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007. Her possible survival has been conclusively disproved. Scientific analysis including DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918.^[1][2]

Several women falsely claimed to have been Anastasia; the best known impostor is Anna Anderson. Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984, but DNA testing in 1994 on available pieces of Anderson's tissue and hair showed no relation to the Romanov family.

So despite proof of Anastasia's murder, stories that she survived and fled to Siberia or America persist."

This was a much more violent version of the story though.  I found the frequent Russian, English potty language, and graphic violence a little too much.  This is will be the first of my attempts at Book a Day January that I simply cannot finish. 

All opinions expressed on this blog are solely those of Mrs. W.