Recent Reviews
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy
‘Migrations’ was one of my favorite novels of 2022. Charlotte McConaghy published this exquisite story in 2019. Suspenseful, gripping and atmospheric, the novel stunned me with its ability to immerse the reader in a different world. Characterized as a CLI-FI (climate fiction) McConaughy certainly comprehends the implications of climate change, but she is also an insightful interpreter of the human soul.
The protagonist of the novel, Franny Stone is a thirty-year-old Irish woman with a troubled past. The details of that past slowly reveal themselves in each chapter, like puzzle pieces that create a full picture by the end of the story.
The novel take place in the not-too-distant future where most wild animals are extinct. No food for one species means no food for the animals up the food chain. So now animals are bred in farms for food, but the natural world as we know it has ceased to exist.
Though not formally educated, Franny’s knowledge about birds is voluminous. Scientists in the story believed that the Arctic Wren a species of bird was still alive and making their long migration from the Artic to Antarctica. Franny wants to follow the Wren to their destination. She talks her way onto a fishing vessel where the crew hopes to take in one last big catch. At some level, she thinks that if she saves the birds, maybe she can save herself.
As we learn about Franny’s life, we can see she is running toward the natural world and away from her traumatic past. Like her mother, she is restless soul who wanders during the day and sleepwalks at night. She says, “It isn't fair to be the kind of creature who is able to love but unable to stay.” It feels like she is punishing herself for some unnamed transgressions which we lean in a slow cadence of revelation. Franny’s painful experience of her younger days has nestled into her soul and she feels that she cannot change and must be punished,
‘Migrations’ is heavy and heartbreaking, raw and wrenching. It is a character driven story about a woman wrestling with her past while living in an eerie world without the sound or sight of animals. No fish, no birds, no mammals. This story aches with the fallibility and majesty of human choices both individually and globally. McConaghay is not didactic, just factual. if we don’t make changes The world we know will no longer exist. 4/5
The Fortnight in September
‘The Fortnight in September’ by R.C. Sherriff beautifully portrays the emotions of an English family anticipating their annual holiday by the sea. Written in 1931, RC Sherriff captures the slowness of a time without technology. The plodding plot might not appeal to every reader, but after a few chapters, I was hooked. R.C. Sherriff takes us to an era before televisions, computers, and cell phones and reveals the beauty and dignity of a simpler life.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevens and their three young adult children are in a state of high anticipation about their upcoming trip. After two decades of making this journey, their travel plans have evolved with military precision. Each family member knows his or her responsibilities for their departure and happily visualizes the Inn where they will stay and the beach where they will wade.
Like layers of paint, the memories of this year’s trip will be coated onto prior trips, and their sparkling recollections will sustain them in the coming year. The novel offers insights, observations and reflections about what the family members see and feel. One theme is that when they are on Holiday, they have time to reflect on their lives. For example, Mr. Stevens likes to take solitary walks on vacation, “He liked to have a good think – a good, connected think without anything to disturb him, and almost always he came back from his lonely walk with a firmer grip upon himself, and renewed confidence for the future.”
The young adult children contribute to the family’s finances as money is scarce. As a middle manager, Mr. Stevens’s mobility is limited. His children are on a similar path, an understood but unspoken truth. Yet, the Stevens make the most of what they have. Their carefully prescribed routines are a way to anticipate every Holiday expenditure. Spontaneity, after all, is a luxury of the upper classes. When the family is invited to the grand home of a wealthy work associate, the children of Mr. Stevens more clearly comprehend the stellar moral character of their father.
The trip goes off without a hitch and nothing bad happens to any of the characters! Not a common theme in today’s novels. Though I don’t want to romanticize the limits of this family’s life, they have created a sacred space from the sameness of their daily routines. There is a quiet dignity to these characters. R.C. Sherriff’s ‘The Fortnight in September’ is both time travel and writing at its best. 4/5
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
I confess I was initially skeptical about Bonnie Garmus’ wonderful debut novel, ‘Lessons In Chemistry.’ I was put off by the bubble gum orange and pink cover. But thanks to my DJKKS book group, I not only read the novel but couldn’t put it down. ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ is witty, quirky, and wise. Garmus has created unforgettable characters who are authentic to themselves and others.
The novel’s protagonist is Elizabeth Zott. She has a master’s degree in Chemistry from UCLA, and her sole goal is to be a research scientist. But the year is 1952, and at every step of her academic journey, men hold power over her progress. They copy her work, call it their own, demean her and suggest she make coffee or take dictation. And, of course, they would not promote her. “Men wanted to control her, touch her, dominate her, silence her, correct her, or tell her what to do. She didn’t understand why they couldn’t just treat her as a fellow human being, as a colleague, a friend, an equal, or even a stranger on the street.”
Elizabeth Zott calls out the absurdities of a social system that resists using half the population’s talents. As women internalize their second-class status despite their equal capabilities, they psychologically internalize this externally imposed inferiority. But Elizabeth Zott’s brash and determined personality shows us what it could be like when women didn’t cower in the face of oppressive systems or align with their male oppressors. The book makes profound observations with humor and wit. A few times, I laughed out loud. But underneath wacky incidents and whimsical dialogue, Garmus exposes the absurdity of sexism in the 1950s, an era that many in our current political climate would like to replicate. ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ pleads with women to call out discrimination and act with courage rather than conform to the patriarchal system. I recommend this unique book. You will probably laugh while thinking about the perniciousness of sexism.
4.5/5.0
