POTLATCH

The author sent me his novel to read and review:

I read this funny novel and still don’t know what Potlatch is. Is it what scam artist Ray Coggins says it is? “It’s...a word I’ve heard the Boss use sometimes...it means the organization - you know, the Gallaher organization (South Philly’s answer to Tammany Hall’s Boss Tweed). The well oiled machine that keeps us all alive and well.” Or is it what the homeless man extraordinaire, Randolph, thinks it is? “It’s something the Indians out West used to do, until the white man put a stop to it. I read about it in National Geographic. It was a kind of pow-wow where the big chief gave lots of stuff away to keep the tribe happy. He later said, “Course the white man put an end to all this, just like everything else the Indians did. The white man didn’t want those Indians giving away trinkets to each other. He wanted them to sell the trinkets to the white folks who gambled at the casinos.” Welcome to the silly world of super-rich tax-dodgers who run non profit companies for a profit by being a nonprofit company. Of course, most of the college graduate employees have unpaid internships. That’s why they go to UCLA (University on the Corner of Lancaster Avenue) run by a college president known as “Half Nelson”. I told you that this an absurd novel. Nothing in this novel makes sense (obviously on purpose). It is a somewhat silly novel, sometimes a bit absurd in the same way Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series was. Haha’s are good but keep the level of hilarity down to a dull roar every now and then. In other words, everything Seinfeld said wasn’t meant to be funny. Relax, come up for air once in awhile. That’s my only criticism of a otherwise humorous avant-garde novel. Okay, What’s the story about? I’m not sure; let’s talk about Bruce Hartman’s characters instead.

The first character your going to meet is the narrator, Alice Coggins. She is twenty four years old and single. Her family wants her to marry Judge Rotundo’s son, Kyle. She knows that Kyle is a dope, but he happens to be Alice’s father’s probation officer. A neighbor named Hector Lopez (an intern in a all-woman bank, haha) also wants to marry Alice. Again not a match for Alice. Will she find the right guy while interning as a waitress for Gallaher Catering? Her sister Tiffany is two years older and considered by Alice to be slutty. Tiffany aspires to latch on to a lawyer. Alice’s father, Ray Coggins, is a scam artist who is serving a life sentence under house arrest (yea, that’s right). He wears a ankle cuff and can go as far as his front stoop before the alarm will go off. Alice’s mom has the best job in the world. “When he (Ray Coggins) went under house arrest, he pulled some strings to get mom a no-show job in the Motor Vehicles Department.” Ray can get out of the house whenever Boss Gallaher, who seems to own every business in South Philly, needs him for a job. Then we have the local loan shark, “Baby Boy” Backocy, who owns a butcher shop. “The butcher shop was a front for his loansharking business. Eventually he opened a branch “downtown”- meaning in South Philly -where he could expand his customer base.” “South of South,” Dad said, “you’re in Gallaher territory. Baby Boy’s clients know what they need to keep their lines of credit open.” Otherwise they would meet Baby Boy’s muscle...Howie. By the way, UCLA’s president “Half Nelson” owed Baby a half a million dollars. Ouch! Ray Coggins would get released for the day (authorized by Boss Gallaher) so he could facilitate this problem between Baby Boy and Half Nelson. I still haven’t told you anything about the story...and I ain’t gonna.

Incidentally, when I was talking about Ray Coggins, I forgot to mention that Ray was going to start a new political party...The Neanderthal Party. Yes, that’s right, he is going after the Neanderthal vote! Alice explains how it started, “Dad pulled out a Q-tip, asked me to open my mouth, and he took a swab of DNA from inside my cheek to send to the National Geographic ancestry project.” He said, “You might find out you belong to some group that’s entitled to benefits...maybe you can open a casino.” Well, lo and behold, the results came back saying Alice was 2.6% Neanderthal. Anyway, a man of interest for her and her sister was Andrew Ogleby, who recently passed the bar exam and was now working as a non-paid intern (of course) for the law firm “Stark Raven”, a firm “dedicated solely to non-profits.” Andrew lived with his dad, David, and his mom, Patti, in a high-end condominium building. His dad is a “white-haired blue blooded elder statesman of the local non-profit community.” His mom is much younger and a real looker. She sells condos in her building and seems to be looking for a new mate ever since she found out that David lost his money some time ago. Andrew’s parents want him to marry the ugly Melissa Forepaugh, a pet food heiress. Oh well. Did I mention Randolph, the homeless man? He chats with Ray Coggins every morning while doing his tour of the neighborhood. Randolph is an artist in the new social rage, Homeless Art. Andrew Ogleby was invited to the gala opening of the Museum of Homeless Art. Andrew’s boss, Mr. Wolf of Stark Raven said to him, “The museum,” Mr. Wolf had explained, “was the brainchild of the Stark Raven tax department, conceived and executed as “Operation Shelter” for Bob Baskerville, one of their most important clients. The shelter in question was a tax shelter, not a homeless shelter.” Who is Bob Baskerville...really?   

Okay, enough of the cast of characters. There still is a lot of the persona that I haven’t mentioned...too many for me to go on any further. Cormac McCarthy’s theory of three to five main characters in a novel has been blown to bits by author Bruce Hartman. If you are in the mood for a silly story...read this one, in-between brain-twisters. I think this is only the second review out of the 325 published by me that I didn’t talk about the actual story.   

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: My all time favorite comedy novel is Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel, Catch 22 (see my review of 2/17/2013). It’s the only novel that I actually laughed out loud as I was reading it.

It became a hit movie in 1970 with a spectacular cast: Alan Arkin, Art Garfunkel, Martin Balsam, Orson Welles, Richard Benjamin, Buck Henry, Anthony Perkins, Jon Voight, Martin Sheen, Bob Newhart, Paula Prentiss, Jack Gilford, Norman Fell and Charles Grodin to name a few. What a cast...are you kidding me?

the WOMAN in the WINDOW

The author, A. J. Finn, has weaved a Alfred Hitchcockian type tale that reminds me of the 1954 movie, Rear Window, but is distinctly different. In Finn’s novel we have a 39 year old child psychologist, Anna, who has agoraphobia (in her case-a fear of being outside) and who witnesses a murder from her window...or did she? Can a witness be reliable if she is on a diet of merlot wine and numerous self-prescribed pills? Basically, she is a mental mess after a recent horrible car accident. She is also freshly separated from her husband, Ed and her daughter, Olivia. She is a recluse who sleeps late, talks to her family (who aren’t there), communicates on the internet site, Agora, with others that have her phobia and then watches old black and white movies all night...mostly mysteries. Oh yea, she also spies on her neighbors with her Nikon D5500 camera. The author got my attention immediately with excellent prose (with a touch of ergodic literature thrown in) that kept me guessing throughout the 427 pages. The only minor flaw was the author’s repetitive time spent writing about Anna’s addictions to pills and merlot wine. But like I said that was minor compared to the constant drama and tension that built up as I read each short (which I’m a big fan of) cliffhanging chapter. I did try to figure out the ending, but with so many surprises along with the many twist and turns, I failed to solve this gripping whodunit because I was never sure a murder even happened.  

Anna lives in a four story multi-million dollar home in NYC with her cat, Punch and a basement tenant, David. The story starts out with Anna spying on her neighbors across the street in #212. She sees Dr. Miller almost catch his wife in bed with their contractor. While she is having a discussion with her daughter and husband (who aren’t there), she sees new neighbors moving into #207 across the park. “The deed of sale posted yesterday. My new neighbors are Alistair and Jane Russell (and their teenage son, Ethan); they paid $3.45 million for their humble abode. Google tells me that he’s a partner at a midsize consultancy, previously based in Boston. She’s untraceable-you try plugging Jane Russell into a search engine.” During the day, Anna logs on to the internet site, Agora, with the code name of thedoctorisin. She tries to help various people that have agoraphobic fears similar to hers, which…"includes being outside the home alone; being in a crowd, or standing in a line; being on a bridge.” One of the newcomers emailed her. Anna directs her to a survival manual she whipped up in the spring. It explains how to get food and  medicine without leaving the house, et cetera. The doorbell rings...it’s the Russell’s boy, Ethan. He gives Anna a gift of a lavender candle from his mother. Ethan seems to be a shy boy. He ask where her family is. Anna tells him that Ed and Olivia don’t live with her, “We’re separated.” She tells him that she is a psychologist who works with children. He leaves. Is he as delicate as he appears?  

On Halloween, Since Anna doesn’t answer the door for trick or treaters, her house is egged. The kids will not stop. “I jolt the door open. Light and air blast me.” She is hit with eggs and falls, “I taste concrete. I Taste blood. I feel my limbs pinwheeled on the ground. The ground ripples against my body. My body ripples against the air.” Suddenly someone chases the kids away and helps Anna back into the house. Anna looks at the woman and says, “You’re Jane Russell.” She stops, looking at me in wonder, then laughs, her teeth glinting in the half-light. “How did you know that?” Several days later, Anna has her camera on the Russell’s house…"then the doorbell rings.” It’s jane Russell, “You must be bored as hell”, she says when I open the door. Then she folds me into a hug. I laugh, nervously. “Sick of all those black and white movies, I bet.” “I brought something for you.” She smiles, dipping a hand into her bag. “It’s cold, too.” A sweaty bottle of Riesling. My mouth waters. It’s been ages since I drank white. “Oh, you shouldn’t…” They drink and play chess for two and a half hours before Jane leaves and says, “I’ve got very important things to do.” What is so important? The next day, after Anna finishes playing chess on the internet and was deciding on what Hitchcock movie to watch, she hears from #207, “A scream, raw and horrorstruck, torn from the throat.” Okay, I hope I was able to arouse your interest. I just wanted to give you the flavor of what’s ahead. There is no way you can anticipate what happens in the next 312 pages. Get your own copy of this New York Times bestseller...soon to be a movie.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I think (that) it’s funny that two of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies are my favorites and one of them that isn't one of my favorites are all adapted from Daphne du Maurier (5/13/1907 to 4/19/1989) novels. The favorites are the 1940 movie, Rebecca (written in 1938) and the 1963 movie, The Birds (written in 1952). The classic novel Jamaica Inn (written in 1936) was a horribly done Hitchcock movie in 1939.

But my all time favorite Hitchcock movie was the 1944 movie, Lifeboat. It starred Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix (remember him in the hit 1953-1958 TV series, The Life of Riley), Walter Slezak and Hume Cronyn. It is a classic black and white movie. I’ll bet A. J. Finn’s Anna has seen it.

GONE ON SUNDAY

The author sent me a copy of her novel to read and review:

As I was nearing the end of this twofold mystery, a murder archetype came to my mind...Who killed Cock Robin, twice? Once in 1932 and again 1972. Tower Lowe cleverly melded two related murders forty years apart by alternating the chapters by the year of the crimes. Not only are the murders related, but so are most of the characters. The minor flaws (that) I detected in Tower’s novel were the amount of characters (too many) and a prose that was not as colorful as it could have been...where was the southern drawl? I also thought that the vernacular spoken in 1932 would be a little less modern than the language spoken in 1972. But somehow the writer made it work. The first hundred pages or so were a little confusing trying to remember all the character’s names. Once that was accomplished, I was able to track what was happening easily. This novel has more twists than Carter has Liver Pills. I defy any reader to solve both of these mysteries (I didn’t guess right on either murder). Writing alternating chapters, while also reminiscing within them, is a hard task for any author and somewhat confusing for the reader, but it was manipulated smoothly by the writer. Tower Lowe is a proficient storyteller...just needs to do a better job with her composition.

The novel starts out with twenty three year old Cotton Lee Penn investigating the murder of her cousin, Little Mary. Cotton was working for a local attorney, Max Mayfair, who was hired by Little Mary’s fiance, Walker Kane. Walker was afraid of being arrested because Little Mary was beaten to death and he was known to have beaten her before. Did he do it? Apparently, Little Mary was working on a memorial scrapbook to honor her mother who died two years ago. She was also trying to clear up the murder of her grandmother, Bead Baker, who was also beaten to death forty years prior. Cotton is a pretty lady, but limps around with a gimpy leg from a earlier bout of polio. The novel has a touch of southern discriminations of 1932 and 1972 Virginia. Both blacks (Wilson in 1932 and Muddy in 1972) faced unjust suspicion because of their color. Are they murderers? What about the mean Reverend Samuel “Sharp” Dorn? He hated Bead Baker because she was spending too much time with his wife Verdie (teaching Verdie how to cook and be independent). Rev. Dorn was also known to smack his wife around. Bead was rumored to be a witch or at least someone with a great sixth sense. Did he beat Bead Baker to death? Many more suspects emerge with good reasons to murder Bead...too many to mention in this review. I couldn’t figure out who did it.

 

Little Mary was also known as a woman with great intuition in 1972 Virginia. Many people  worried that their secrets would be revealed by Little Mary. This novel had similarities to Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place (1956) at times. Did the local school teacher, Sally Hampton, who had a secret affair, kill Little Mary? Why did Cotton’s sister, Sydney, who was married to a state senator, want Cotton off the investigation? Did she kill Little Mary? On page 51, she says to Cotton, “Little Mary knew secrets about me, and I don’t want them exposed.” The Reverend Ron Dorn (yes, the son of the 1932 Rev. Dorn) hated Little Mary...why? Cotton Lee’s college black friend, Muddy, tells Cotton that his grandmother, Grace (Bead’s maid), had three pages that she tore out of Bead Baker’s cookbook the day she was murdered. Did Bead write clues on those pages before she died? Can Cotton put the mysterious writings together? What does, One more hour at most. Remember Sugar. Sugar is sweeter than needed. Sharp, bitter-Sugar does not mask it. Sugar turns sour and rises-leaving, mean? There are two more cookbook pages with similar notes that are puzzling, but one page is missing. The pages have dried blood on them. Can Cotton Lee find out who murdered Bead Baker in 1932 and Little Mary in 1972? I’ve only mentioned a fraction of the intrigue still to come in this novel...there are no humdrum chapters.

I thought Tower Lowe’s novel could have been less perplexing if she would have trimmed down the many characters to a reasonable amount, but then I thought, maybe it would have been too easy to figure out who the murderer or murderers were... being they occured forty years apart. Whatever...she did a good job fooling me. If you think you could solve these murders, buy your own copy of Tower Lowe’s whodunit.  

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: I know that I am being picayune when I constantly complain about the vernacular of a novel. But the novel comes alive when you use the proper slang, punctuation or accent of a particular time. Just read Mark twain, for example, and you will get what I’m saying. Here’s a quote from Twain’s 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (see my review of 12/17/2012):

“Yes-en I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns mysef, en I’s worth eight hund’d dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn’ want no.”

How about a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel, Treasure Island (see my review of 8/23/2016):

“Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

Okay, you want an example of a more modern novel? How about Erskine Caldwell’s 1933 novel, God's Little Acre:

“Mr. Ty Ty, you oughta’ be out raisin’ cotton. You’re a good farmer-that is, you USED to be. Why, Mr. Ty Ty, you can raise more cotton on this land in one season than you can find gold in a whole lifetime. It’s a waste of everything, Mr Ty Ty, diggin’ them holes all over the place.”

Do you see why these writers are legendary?

KIM

Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (published in 1901) was rather educational to read, although somewhat trying in deciphering the English/Indian language of the late 1800s British controlled India. Kim O’hara was a orphaned white boy running around India thinking and acting like he was a Hindu Indian when he meets an aged and possibly mad Tibetan lama, who is on a pilgrimage. I didn’t read Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote (1605), but I am familiar with the novel and the story of Kim reminded me of that classic tale. In Kim, a Tibetan lama was on a pilgrimage to find a holy River while Don Quixote was on a  knight-errant search for chivalrous adventures...a perfect match. Both seemed ‘mad as a hatter’ (were they really?). Kim became the lama’s chela (disciple), while Sancho became Don Quixote’s squire. Like Sancho, Kim is forced to deceive his master (?) at times. Anyway, both novel’s are not an easy read. I keep reading the classics, because I believe it makes me a better reviewer who can then authoritatively compare modern novels with the distinguished novels of yesteryear. Does that make sense? So what’s Kim all about? I’m glad you asked...or did you?

Kim is a poor orphaned white boy who wears Hindu garb and is loosely watched over by a half caste woman. His father, a British soldier, and mother are both dead. Around Kim’s neck is a amulet that explains who he is. He gets his meals where he can and does odd jobs for the local merchants of Lahore City, including the horse trader, Mahbub Ali. One day Kim meets a lama from Tibet in front of the Wonder House Museum, who says that he is on a pilgrimage to Benares to find a holy river that absolves one of all sins. The lama tells the Curator of the Wonder House of Lahore about his quest on page 13, “Listen to a true thing. When our gracious Lord (Buddha), being as yet a youth, sought a mate, men said, in his father’s Court, that He was too tender for marriage. Thou knowest?” The Curator nodded, wondering what would come next. “So they made the triple trial of strength against all comers. And at the test of the bow, our Lord first breaking that which they gave Him, called for such a bow as none might bend. Thou knowest?” “It is written. I have read.” “And, overshooting all other marks, the arrow passed far and far beyond sight. At the last it fell; and, where it touched earth, there broke out a stream which presently became a River, whose nature, by our Lord’s beneficence, and that merit He acquired ere He freed himself, is that whoso bathes in it washes away all taint and speckle of sin.” “So it is written,” said the Curator sadly. Now you might think that I made a lot of mistakes in the above text in punctuation and capitalization, but sorry...I only put it down exactly the same way Rudyard Kipling wrote it. And who can question his writing ability?

Since the lama was on a holy quest, he only brought his begging bowl with him. It was up to Kim, now the lama’s chela, to find food and shelter each night after their day’s walk. At the end of the first day’s walk, they end up at a large courtyard for overnight caravans. Kim has had previous dealings with the local horse trader, Mahbub Ali. Kim ask for money for food from Mahbub on page 23. And Mahbub says to Kim, “And if thou wilt carry a message for me as far as Umballa, I will give thee money. It concerns a horse-a white stallion which I have sold to an officer upon the last time I returned from the Passes. But then-stand nearer and hold up hands as begging-the pedigree of the white stallion was not fully established, and that officer, who is now at Umballa, bade me make it clear.” The message will prove the pedigree of the white stallion. Kim agrees to take the message, but “He knew he had rendered a service to Mahbub Ali, and not for one little minute did he believe the tale of the stallion’s pedigree.” Who really is Mahbub Ali? After a short sleep, Kim said to the lama, “Come. It is time-time to go to Benares” The lama rose obediently, and they passed out of the serai (caravansary) like shadows. I hope my 23 page recap whet your appetite for the rest of the novel. There is a lot of adventure ahead if you can fist fight your way through the tough vernacular of late 1800s India. This novel is not for everyone. It will test your mettle, but make you feel like you accomplished something noteworthy...and you did.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I’m glad that I finally read a Rudyard Kipling (12/30/1865 to 1/18/1936) novel (some literary experts say that it was his best novel) as I continue my quest to read at least one novel from each of the classic writers (I could only hope to live so long).

Kipling is famously quoted as saying, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” and “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Is he on the money, or what?

Besides Kim, Kipling's other works are highlighted by The Jungle Book (1894), The Man Who Would Be King (1888) and Gunga Din (1890), which was originally a poem. Gunga Din became a major motion picture in 1939 starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Sam Jaffe as Gunga Din (the waterboy).   

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW

What a wonderful novel. What marvelous prose. I likened Amor Towles’ writing style to the writers of yesteryear. I can’t remember when I read a modern novel that matched his artistry as a wordsmith. Add his storytelling ability to the above talents and walah, you have his second New York Times bestseller. The story is well thought out: In 1922, an aristocrat, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, returns to Moscow after a four year stay in Paris. He finds himself now a enemy of the ruling party of Bolsheviks (the Worker's Party) led by Vladimir Lenin. The last Tsar, Nicholas II, is dead and so is the conception of royalty and their privileged lifestyle. It seems the Count wrote a poem, Where is it now? in 1913 (four years before the fall of the Tsar). The poem had nothing to do with Lenin’s revolution, but the Emergency Committee of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs accused the Count of writing against the Worker Party. The party’s prosecutor wants to know if the Count “came back with the intention of taking up arms and, if so, whether for or against the Revolution.” The Count says, “By that point, I’m afraid that my days of taking up arms were behind me.” The prosecutor wants to know what Rostov’s occupation is. Rostov says, “It is not the business of gentlemen to have occupations.” The Prosecutor then asks, “Very well then. How do you spend your time?” Rostov says, “Dining, discussing. Reading, reflecting. The usual rigmarole.” I’m only on page five and I was hooked already.

Later on on page five and six, the Committee decides the Count’s fate after a twelve minute recess, “Alexander Ilyich Rostov, taking into full account your own testimony, we can only assume that the clear-eyed spirit who wrote the poem Where is it now? has succumbed irrevocably to the corruptions of his class - and now poses a threat to the very ideals he once espoused. On that basis, our inclination would be to have you taken from this chamber and put against the wall. But there are those within the senior ranks of the Party who count you among the heroes of the pre-revolutionary cause. Thus, it is the opinion of this committee that you should be returned to the hotel of which you are so fond. But make no mistake: should you ever set foot outside the Metropol again, you will be shot. Next Matter.” It’s obvious that the Bolsheviks want the remaining royalty silenced. By the way, The Metropol is a real luxury hotel in Moscow. Is this a great idea for a novel or what? Can the Count live in a hotel for the rest of his life with no hope of enjoying his customary stroll around Theatre Square? After his sentencing, he is escorted back to the hotel, but not to his luxury suite. His new living quarters will be a small attic room that will not fit all his stuff (for the lack of a better word). He takes some of his furniture and possessions up stairs...the rest of his belongings are now the property of the people.

On page 16, the Metropol Hotel employees were bewildered: “When he had been carted off that morning, they had all assumed that he would never return. He had emerged from behind the walls of the Kremlin like an aviator from the wreckage of a crash.” Since the Count had already resided in the hotel for four years, he knew all the employees by name. “My dear friends,” said the Count, “no doubt you are curious as to the day’s events. As you may know, I was invited to the Kremlin for a tete-a-tete. There, several duly goateed officers of the current regime determined that for the crime of being born an aristocrat, I should be sentenced to spend the rest of my days...in this hotel.” Everybody cheered! So at this point (page 16), the novel starts for real. The author turns the Count’s next 30 plus years in the hotel into an exciting and intriguing filled drama. You will become familiar with the hotel’s restaurants, bars and employees; it’s famous and not so famous guests, but most of all you will get the flavor of communism’s early years. It’s almost like the movie, Casablanca, but not played out in Rick’s bar (do you remember the bar’s owner, Humphrey Bogart?), but played out in the Metropol Hotel with the undertones of communism instead of Casablanca’s Nazi atmosphere. Overall, I was mesmerized by Amor Towles’ story and extraordinary prose. Get your copy now...you will not be sorry.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I got my copy of A Gentleman in Moscow in December 2016 at a Barnes and Noble store during their annual “signed copy” sale (it took me a year later to finally get around to read it). If you haven’t visited that signed edition December sale...you should next year.

I was amazed how a tyrant like Joseph Stalin could be mourned by so many after he died on 3/3/1953. The man also known as Dear Father, Vozhd, Koba and Soso ruled Russia with a iron fist for about thirty years was surprisingly bewailed by the Russian population. An excerpt from page 349 of Towles novel examines the reasons why:

“On the sixth, Harrison Salisbury, the new Moscow bureau chief of The New York Times, stood in the Count’s old rooms to watch as members of the Presidium arrived in a cavalcade of ZIM limousines and as Soso’s coffin, taken from a bright blue ambulance, was borne ceremoniously inside. And on the seventh, when the Palace of Unions was opened to the public. Salisbury watched in some amazement as the line of citizens waiting to pay their respects stretched five miles across the city.”

“Why, many Western observers wondered, would over a million citizens stand in line to see the corpse of a tyrant? The flippant said it must have been to ensure that he was actually dead; but such a remark did not do justice to the men and women who waited and wept. In point of fact, legions mourned the loss of the man who had led them to victory in the Great Patriotic War against the forces of Hitler; legions more mourned the loss of the man who had so single-mindedly driven Russia to become a world power; while others simply wept in recognition that a new era of uncertainty had begun.”

Whatever the reason was, it didn’t matter to Nikita Khrushchev, who watched the spectacle on the sidelines...while he waited for his turn to abuse the Russian people.   

Rafe Rebellius and the Clash of the Genres

The author sent an autographed copy of his novel to my fourteen 
year old grandson, Kai O to read and review:

Rafe Rebellius never stays in one place for long. His parents are scientists and constantly need to move because of their research projects. On their latest move, Rafe's parents say that they are staying put for good. This time they have moved in with relatives, but it doesn't take long before Rafe's parents need to move again. Rafe is left on his own with family members he has never met. 

When Rafe's new home and family members are threatened, he has to travel into the books that are in the house's large library to try to find the money to pay off the family's debt. Rafe needs to navigate through many different genres of books in order to attempt to get the money. Rafe Rebellius will meet many different characters throughout his journeys, including Two Gun, Fem and Whic. 

Overall, I thought this was an interesting read, but the one thing I didn't like was that the dialog seemed forced in some places. This was a different book from anything I've ever read. I would recommend this novel to the 7 to 12 age group.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: Kai seemed to struggle with this novel because it seemed babyish to him. I will not ask him to review a book below his age group again. 

Bird of Prey

The author sent me a copy of his novel to read and review, the review was done by Book Review contributor, Pat Koelmel:

Most days, I get my exercise from a brisk, five-mile walk, and along the way, I sometimes see roadkill. It isn’t often I see a dead cat, but when I do, it breaks my heart even more than seeing a dead squirrel or opossum. So I usually find a way to pull the cat’s body off the road to spare it further insult from passing cars. Therefore, I admit I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the thought of reading a book about a sadistic, kitty-killing seagull.

And once I started to read Bird of Prey, I wasn’t thrilled with its execution either. The seemingly never-ending sentences (the one I chose to add up totaled a whopping 131 words) were distracting as well as the bunching up of the dialogue of multiple characters into a single paragraph rather than separating it out as it is traditionally done. On top of that, there were a lot of grammatical errors. I also initially had a hard time getting into the story. In fact, the first pages left me wondering if there was ever going to be one. I was actually ready to slap a two-star rating on this novel and call it a day (which I now wonder, after finishing the book, if that could have been due, in part, to all those distractions).   

But, lo and behold, with the onset of Chapter 3, a story did appear to emerge with a character by the name of Mrs. Crick, an elderly, arthritic bird lover. Unfortunately, Mrs. Crick’s fascination with birds is described in too much detail and goes on way too long for my taste. And again, I started to wonder if a real story was ever coming. And, yes, Virginia, not only is there a Santa Claus, it turns out there is a story too … and a pretty good one at that. (Sorry, but I couldn’t resist the Christmas reference. ‘Tis the season after all.)

So how could a story about a seagull bent on killing cats be so good? Well, first of all, there’s a bit more to this 128-page novel. Set in the English seaside town of Bexhill-on-Sea, public outcry over the discovery of one dead cat after another soon gets the police involved and on the hunt for the killer, assumed to be a man. But it is Mr. Ryan’s droll British wit, vivid imagination, and talent for creating a range of unique and quirky characters that truly hooked me.

    

I was also impressed with Mr. Ryan’s knowledge of gulls and how he incorporated facts about them throughout the storyline. For instance, did you know that a gull can drink sea water and expel the salt through its eyelids? (It’s true; I googled it.) Additionally, Mr. Ryan provided some excellent visuals of the gull’s attacks on the cats. For example (after dropping a cat into the sea to drown): “He [the gull] fancied diving down and grabbing the cat by the face so he could bring it back up to the surface again, to watch it sink for a second time, but he’d done this before and was captured in the clutches of two desperate paws with sharp protracted claws and nearly dragged down by the weight of the desperate, tired and dying creature.” (I do wish, however, that the author took more care to not use a word like desperate twice in one sentence.)

So you can see that, while it is difficult to forgive the grammatical issues, the further I got into this book, the more I enjoyed it. Intricately woven, Bird of Prey is a rare bird and well worth the read.  

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: After reading Bird of Prey, I couldn’t help but be reminded of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller The Birds. Based on a story by Daphne du Maurier and set in the California seaside community of Bodega Bay, it tells the story of the sudden and unexplained onset of invading flocks of homicidal birds.

Here are some interesting “behind-the-scene” facts from a list of 25 posted by Moviephone:

  

1. Daphne Du Maurier's novella, on which the film was based, was originally published in a 1952 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Hitchcock had adapted two previous films from Du Maurier's work: 1939's "Jamaica Inn" and 1940 Best Picture Oscar winner "Rebecca."


2. The director had long had an interest in birds. He'd been a bird-watcher as a boy. He also took inspiration from a newspaper article he read in 1961 about hordes of dead birds washing up onto the streets in the seaside California town of Capitola.



3. Hitchcock initially wanted his 1950s leading lady Grace Kelly for the role of Melanie Daniels, but after she married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, she retired from acting and declined all offers to return to Hollywood. He'd also sought Anne Bancroft for the role, but even with his expansive budget, he couldn't afford her. Others on his wish list included starlets Sandra Dee, Carol Lynley, Yvette Mimieux, and Pamela Tiffin.



4. He discovered his eventual leading lady, Tippi Hedren, a model with no acting experience, when he spotted her in a TV commercial for a diet drink during NBC's "Today" show. He would eventually groom her into one of his classic icy blondes (a la Kelly, Novak, Eva Marie Saint, and Janet Leigh), choosing her clothes, hairstyle, and even her lipstick for her role as Melanie Daniels.



5. Hitchcock took his customary cameo at the beginning of the film; he can be seen outside the pet shop, walking two dogs, which were the director's own pets.

the NEGLECTED ONES

The author sent her novel to me to read and review:

This novel was mainly a dissertation on today’s atrocious nursing home conditions. I was made to believe that this novel would be comparable to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw (see my review of 6/15/2015). The author presented her novel to me as a suspenseful, psychological thriller with sinister overtones. That statement is flawed at best. It starts out as an ordinary story that suddenly mutates into a ridiculously zany and bizarre ending. But none of it was  suspenseful or thrilling for me. The author’s promise of ghosts haunting the nursing facility initially seemed to be an afterthought. Zelda (the main character’s mother who calls ghosts...spooks) saw a spook on page two and didn’t see another one until page 108. And when they finally appeared, they were more preposterous than scary. So what did the author do correctly? She kept the main characters down to a reasonable number. Her prose, while mostly rudimentary, seemed mistake free. It boils down to the fact that the story wasn’t electrifying nor groundbreaking. I felt no empathy for any of the characters, including the patients and the trapped ghosts. We already know that nursing homes are notoriously uncaring for a variety of reasons, which the author (to her credit) identified in her novel, but I don’t think (that) it is possible to have a catastrophic event happen every time you drop by to visit your relative (which was the case in this novel). I think the author has a feasible future in literature, but please come up with a better tale sans the fantasy part. This story is not comparable to Henry James’ classic short story. 

The story starts with a rain storm off the coast of Maine. David Reed is painting in his studio when he gets a call from one of the few good nurses from the Haven Nursing and Rehabilitation Center where his mother, Zelda, is a patient recovering from a broken hip. The nurse asks David if it’s okay for them to give his mother a drug to calm her down. David says “no” to that idea and gets in his car and drives down to the nursing home. As it turns out, his mom was being verbally abused by a mean nurse named Taylor Hanson. David arrives and calms his mom down. Zelda says, “David, please get me out of here.” David says, “Once you finish your therapy, I’ll take you home.” David explains to Zelda that the doctor will not release her until her therapy is finished. She says, “But I’m afraid.” David says, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Zelda says, “Yes there is. There’s spooks in here.” This is the first mention of ghosts, or spooks, as Zelda calls them. As the weeks go by, David realizes what a abusive place this nursing home is. His mom says she is refused showers, made to pee in her pants and abused every day. Kevin and Edgar Fitzgerald are friends of the Reeds. Their father (they call him Da) is also an abused patient at the Haven’s center. The abuse gets worse. David threatens to sue the doctor for reckless endangerment to no avail. David takes his grievances to the State Health Department. He gets nowhere with them, “I’m sorry. But the results of our investigation show that the staff at Haven has done nothing wrong.” Suddenly, the Fitzgerald brothers say that the Haven staff killed their Da...will the poop hit the fan? (so to speak). 

This is where the story moved into the fantasy genre. It’s kind of like when the movie, The Wizard of Oz went from black and white to color. Like when King Kong left the jungle and arrived in NYC, or when Alice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland fell through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world. Why C. L. Salaski switched from a drama to a fantasy is something only she knows. But all is not lost. If the novel was awful, I wouldn’t have finished the book. I finished the book. Strong evidence of what I said in my opening sentence in the first paragraph is presented at the end of the novel. On the last page, the author list eight things you can do to end neglect and abuse in nursing homes. If this is a subject you are interested in, then by all means, read this novel...it could motivate you to do something good.

RATING: 2 out of 5 stars

Comment: I wonder if this novel could be considered portal fantasy. Basically, it’s about moving from our world (in this case at Haven Nursing) to another world (the angels taking the ghosts to heaven). It might be stretching the definition, but it does fit. B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog say that one of the best portal fantasy novels is Neil Gaiman’s, Coraline :

“One of Gaiman’s earlier novels, with a successful movie adaption from Laika Studios, Coraline is one of those deceptively terrifying books that draw you with mysterious descriptions, and then hold you tight as the scares and the creeps come faster and faster. Coraline and her family move to a new house, and young Coraline is pretty fed up with it; it’s old, it’s boring, and her parents do not give her the attention she wants. But when she discovers the key to a locked door in the living room, she goes through into a different world: a big, beautiful, lavish house, with parents who shower her with attention and treats, with entertainment around every corner. It is perfect. So perfect, she doesn’t even mind that her other Mother and Other Father have buttons for eyes. And that they don’t like when she leaves. And, in fact, don’t want her to go at all. Gaiman’s spooky story is a prime illustration of how sometimes, an imperfect world is a perfectly fine thing, and that what you journey to find may have been in front of you all along.” 

The ELIXIR

The author sent me an autographed copy of his novel to read and review:

Bud Hutchins is back and better than ever! JB Michaels, writer of middle grade YA novels, introduces his young inventor/detective to another wacky case to unravel. Is JB Michaels starting to lean towards the personas of one of my favorite writers, Terry Pratchett (4/28/1948 to 3/12/2015)? While there isn’t a Discworld, there are some familiar characters. Missing are wizards, dwarfs, trolls and of course...DEATH. Will they start to appear in book three? The author’s latest Hutchins adventure almost had a comic book feel about. During the various fights in the novel, I could almost visualize the Batman fight words: BAM!, KAPOW!, WHACK! and POW! Is this novel restricted to young adults? I don’t think so. Any reader who enjoys Rick Riordan novels or J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels will enjoy the Bud Hutchins’ series. If I keep writing, I’m going to give the author a swollen head. Nevertheless, I do need to mention that Bud Hutchins has the ability to transport to different destinations a la Star Trek. The difference being that Bud leaves markers in different places and then transports to them later. Okay, enough of what I liked (did I mention that I loved the short chapters?). What didn’t I like? The novel was too short. What else? Well, I was hoping that the Frankenstein experiment on top of the Sears Tower would have been successful (just kidding). The only other flaw (that) I found was minor. It's customary when writing a novel to write in italics when a person is thinking something. A example of what I'm saying is in my last paragraph...the author wrote, Bud thought, "perhaps I should intervene." I changed it to, Bud thought, "perhaps I should intervene." I know it's picayune, but it's a pet peeve of mine.

The story opens with Bud (a PI) and Bert (an android built by Bud) filming a Dr. Covington of the Chicago Met University with his teacher’s assistant, Tricia Pazinski. Bud was hired by Mrs. Covington to find out if her husband was having an affair. Bud’s drone films the couple in a passionate kiss. Bert says to Bud, “We should have enough evidence to convince Mrs. Covington of her husband’s foul behavior.” Bud and Bert head back to their office in Bud’s missing grandfather’s home. The house also billets the undead Maeve (remember her in book one?) in a basement freezer. A werewolf monk had torn out her throat previously and now she has a artificial voice box. Is this story a trip or what? Maeve and Bud (a semi-member) are members of the Order of St. Michael, who are pledged to protect the Earth from evil spirits. Since the house is for sale and a realtor has an appointment to show the house to a couple, Bud leaves the house a mess on purpose, but more importantly forgets to lock the freezer (and there is a full moon tonight). Obviously the realtor and her clients run out of the house after encountering Maeve, who has now turned into a full-blown werewolf (HaHa). Maeve also runs out of the house and races (following a strong scent) towards a cemetery. Bud and Bert pursue Maeve. Don’t worry, I’m not giving the story away...I’m only on page 19. I’m just whetting your whistle for what’s ahead.

“She (Maeve) entered the Mt. Olivet cemetery with a single leap...the scent grew stronger. She reached the top of the hill and down the path saw a police squad car. Parked...the squad car’s passenger door and rear passenger side door were open...there was an unconscious police officer inside...another officer’s head rested on the steering wheel...their sidearms were missing….the shotgun missing. The source of the odor had to have been here. It was the strongest in this area.” Suddenly shots rang out towards her. “Then she saw him - a man dressed in a cream trench coat and a suit that matched the jacket. He wore a fedora cocked to the left. The man’s face bore a large scar. Al Capone had risen from the dead.” A ferocious fight ensued. Bud thought, "perhaps I should intervene." After the fight was over, "The ghostly Capone was a blue bloody mess. His face was literally covered with scars. Maeve's shoulders and chest raised and lowered quickly. She stepped back from the mess of Al Capone. She looked up at Bud then fell to the ground in a growl." All right, you had your 25 page taste of this novel. Are you ready to buy your own copy of this action-packed novel or what? I think JB Michaels’ age target is probably 12 to 18 years old, but seniors (like me) can also enjoy a fast-moving YA novel sans profanity and sex every so often...can’t we? I guess you realize that I loved this novel. I highly recommend it to any age group.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I mentioned in the first paragraph, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. For quite a few years I read his extraordinary novels until I decided to move on to other genres and authors. He wrote 41 novels in the series and sold 85 million copies in 37 different languages. He was known to wear a large (usually black) fedora hat. He died at the young age of 66 (I say young because I’ll be 73 this month) from Alzheimer’s Disease. When he died, his assistant, Rob Wilkins, wrote from Pratchett’s twitter account, “AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.” In Pratchett’s Discworld series, DEATH was a (once in awhile) character and you knew when he appeared, because he always spoke in CAPITAL LETTERS. Scary, isn’t it?

My two favorite novels from the Discworld series are: His first novel, 1983’s The Colour of Magic and his 1999 novel, The Fifth Elephant. If you have never read a Discworld novel, do yourself a favor and read one...he was a great writer.