Intense, unflinching, brutally honest

Book Review: Crossings: A Doctor-Soldier's Story by Jon Kerstetter

It is seldom that one encounters a book that encompasses such power and passion as Jon Kerstetter's Crossings. Which, as a book reviewer, is perhaps a fortunate thing.

The problem is not that there is a scarcity of laudatory terms to describe such a book, but in finding adjectives that have not already been over-used to the point of being cliches. Everything from automobiles to cellphones is described at length in glowing superlatives: unique, ground-breaking, and essential products abound. Thanks to the efforts of marketing professionals, there are virtually no second-rate, average, or superfluous objects to be had; everything is bigger, better, faster than its competitors.

Crossings is a product of a different stripe. It is not shiny, or technologically advanced. In clear, concise language, Kerstetter tells the story of his life, from his beginnings on the Oneida Indian Reservation, on through medical school, to his deployment as a combat surgeon. It is not glossy, or highly polished - it is gritty, honest, and free of artificial additives.

Crossings is an immersive experience. Kerstetter walks us through his journey, telling us not only what happened, but how he felt about it. The result is neither new nor improved. The events are recent, the language is contemporary, but the tale is as old as humanity. What sets Crossings apart is the way that the story reaches out to us, and touches us in that ineffable way that a new car or cellphone cannot approach. This is not a technological "marvel", this is a human being who has fought his way through trials and tribulations. It reaches deeper than any material object possibly could.

The true measure of a culture is not in what it produces, but rather in what it values. Jon Kerstetter's journey opens the door into a world that many of us will never experience, and yet does so in a way that makes it universally accessible. By relying on the quintessential qualities of humanity, no matter what the setting may be, Crossings reveals fundamental truths that may just get you to put down your cellphone.

A Blog's-Eye-View

Book Review: Raised Right: How I Untangled My Faith from Politics by Alisa Harris

"I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another" - Thomas Jefferson

Even well into into its third century, the United States continues to debate whether the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution is, or was meant to be, absolute. In the black and white mindset of Christian Conservatives, there is no doubt that the founders of our country meant freedom of Christian religion, under the umbrella of conservative politics.

Alisa Harris was raised in that belief, and in the absolutist dogmas that define the world of the Christain right. In Raised Right, she describes her move into the continuum of life outside Pleasantville , where the lines are not clear cut and the elusive truth is found in an infinite gradient of colors; a world that is "a more complicated place than a culture warrior's sound bite." On her journey she was confronted not only by her own doubts and misgivings, but by the censure of those around her who branded her at best as simply misguided; at worst a heretic.

My criticism of her work is not philosophical, but mechanical (as in writing mechanics). I personally dislike the growing tendency to "bloggify" our literature, turning novels into keywords that can gain ranking on Google. Ms. Harris' background as a blogger and magazine contributor clearly shows in Raised Right; the chapters are like feature articles that often have minimal continuity with one another. There is a common theme that runs through the different sections, but from one chapter to the next the stories veer across time and location in a dizzying manner.

I truly admire the effort that Raised Right makes in raising the questions of faith and politics in America today; but it comes away feeling like a loosely-linked book of blog posts. I feel that the message gets lost in the delivery.

Entertainment for the Whole Family

Book Review: You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) by Ruth White

The Blues are a typical American family. Mom is a single parent, a university professor who really wants to do the best by her kids. Her father, who everyone calls Gramps, likes to paint and does his best to fill in the gap left by his late son-in-law. The children, Meggie and David, like going to school and making friends. They live on a small farm in North Carolina, grow some of their own food -- life is good.

Good, but not perfect. The Blues aren't from around here. Like many Americans, English is their second language. And its possible they are not in this country legally. They came to the U.S. seeking refuge; not political asylum but ecological asylum. The environment in their native land is actually dangerous to their health. Oh, and sometimes their hair turns blue.
The Blues REALLY aren't from around here.

In You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does), Ruth White puts us into the lives of aliens not just from another country, but from another world. In doing so she gives us some basic lessons in tolerance and cultural awareness, and a view of an alternative world where uniformity is literally the rule.

Forced by an unruly mob to flee their comfortable North Carolina lifestyle, the Blues end up in Fashion City, a town in a parallel America. Everyone likes Fashion City, or so it seems. The 'Fathers' provide everything: housing, jobs, security. The price is conformity and the sacrifice of those basic rights that even the alien Blues regard as ... well, inalienable.

Author Ruth White confesses, "This book is unlike anything else I've written." It is unlike anything else I have read. While it contains thematic links to adult works ranging from Stranger in a Strange Land to 1984, it does it in a way accessible to kids, using emotions and ideas my 12 year-old daughter could understand. Without being preachy, You'll Like It Here underscores the true value of friendship, loyalty, and individuality through the eyes of a child, and reminds us as parents how simple yet profound those truths really are.

When Characters Speak for Themselves

Book Review: The Automobile Club of Egypt by Alaa Al Aswany (Author), Russell Harris (Translator)

The Automobile Club of Egypt opens with the author being visited by two of the characters from his novel. They inform him that, "Some of our thoughts and feelings are absent from the novel." He dismisses them, but not before they leave him with a CD containing THEIR version of the story. What follows is an intricately woven novel that is equal parts political history, social commentary, and interpersonal relationships. There may not be a lot of action of the "Die Hard" variety, but there is plenty going on.

Henry Ford saw the automobile as the great equalizer - his goal was to produce cars that his own workers could afford. And yes, in truth he was driven more by money than social altruism. At the other extreme lies the Automobile Club of Egypt, where the possession of a car is a mark of high social status, of being above the rank and file. At the Automobile Club the average person exists solely to serve those with means. Colonialism (and slavery) is predicated on the idea that those in servitude are less than human, that they require masters because they are unable to take care of themselves. The attitudes of the English founders of the Automobile Club are not much different than those of any ruling class in any society.

What sets the novel apart are the characters that populate it, and the relationships that evolve between them; in other words, the very character development that some seem to find so dreary. In my experience life is a process of gradual change, not grandiose gestures. Heroes and villains evolve over time, and often have contradictory motives; all is not black and white. Al Aswany allows his characters to speak for themselves, and they have plenty to say on every subject, from love and marriage to political and social inequality.

At some point we have accepted the dumbing-down of our art and literature. We have come to believe that action should be explosive, literally and figuratively. Characters should speak in easily digestible sound bites, and not complicate our thinking by having doubts and desires of their own. Alaa Al Aswany has given us a book about real life in all its glory: often messy and convoluted; ultimately beautiful and powerful. This is not the Reader's Digest version, something you can read in between texting; this is life as it actually is. The Automobile Club of Egypt is more than worth whatever time it may take, frankly I thought it ended all too soon.

The Loneliness of Being Human

Book Review: Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes

It actually takes more skill to write a good short story than one might think. It takes a fair amount of linguistic skill to pack a complete story into a small space. It is not simply a matter of condensing a novel, a la "Reader's Digest"; such stories read like book reports and are as enlightening. Other authors appear to simply lift a chapter from an incomplete novel, starting you off in the middle of a story and then leaving you there as well.

I suppose the best analogy is that if a novel is the equivalent of a full color oil painting, then the short story is a sketch; all the main points are there - the subject is clear, but the background details are left to the reader's mind to fill in. The rest of the picture is suggested, but not fully drawn.

Barbara the Slut and Other People supplies several examples of short story writing at its best - if not yet at a master level then certainly a journeyman. We are presented with ten sketches of individuals, mostly young women, who are doing their best to cope with the demands of the lives that they find themselves in. In some cases these are the results of choices they have made, and in others simply the circumstances of life.

In either case, the subjects of Ms. Holmes' literary efforts must make the same choice we all must make: accept their lives as they stand, or make an attempt to change them. Therein lies the crux of the human dilemma, the "to be or not to be" that is the source of, as Ms. Holmes puts it, "the loneliness of being human." For all the guidance we may get, for all of the well-meaning advice from family and friends and books, it falls upon each of us individually to make that decision.

Despite this common theme, the examples in Barbara the Slut are as different as they can be, providing a cross section of individuals from various backgrounds, and they each deal with their individual circumstances in individual ways. A solid debut work.

Nothing to Hang Your Cowboy Hat On

Book Review: Sierra Skullduggery by Jerry S. Drake

I find that writing a three star review is the most difficult of any as a reviewer. It is much easier to write either really positive reviews, or really negative ones - the strong emotions that the book has provoked make the words flow effortlessly. I find myself at a loss when the book hasn't touched a chord in me. What do I say?

There is nothing inherently wrong with "Sierra Skullduggery". Author Jerry S. Drake is an able enough craftsman to keep the story moving, literally and figuratively. As a native Californian, I enjoyed the staging of the story in the historic Gold Country in the western Sierras. For the most part Drake is accurate in his details, and since this is a novel that is more than enough. There is sufficient action, and the characters have some depth.

There is just something missing from "Sierra Skullduggery". Being a fan of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey, maybe I set the bar too high. I really wanted to like this book. I even re-read it, thinking I must have overlooked some key point.

Finally, it occurred to me: I couldn't FEEL the story. If I closed my eyes and tried to envision the main characters, it was mostly a blank. The hero is "tall and lean", his wife is "a pretty blond woman." No clear picture evolves in the course of the story. I have spent time in the Sierras, but the scenery I know doesn't come across in "Skullduggery". Instead I see a sort of generic Western landscape that doesn't do the real setting or the story any justice. When you read a Louis L'Amour story you can smell the creosote bushes, and you can taste the dust of the trail. It's the difference between a Western movie filmed on location, and one that was shot on a sound stage. It's a matter of atmosphere.

"Sierra Skullduggery" is a good enough story on the face of it, but a Western is more than just a tall, lean man wearing a six-shooter. With some minor changes this story could be happening in Los Angeles, or Chicago, or Timbuktu, in a variety of time periods. A painless way to kill an afternoon, but not much more than that.

Steven Martin's Pipe Dream?

Book Review: Opium Fiend: A 21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction by Steven Martin

While I have no doubt that Steven Martin is an expert in opium smoking paraphernalia, after reading Opium Fiend I have serious misgivings on his experience with smoking it himself.

While it may be romantic to picture oneself as a "21st Century Slave to a 19th Century Addiction", our picture of addiction in the 21st century is anything but romantic. Martin's descriptions of the effects of smoking opium (and of withdrawing from it) are sufficiently realistic - but also very close to those of the references he cites throughout the book. Compared to the loving and detailed descriptions of his pipes and accouterments, the portrayal of his actual smoking activities are so much dross. The devil is in the details, and a lot of them are missing.

Martin admits to researching his subject thoroughly in old books and on the Web, and he quotes them frequently. Well, what of that? Well, there is this passage:

"I had spent the previous week ... using the Internet to update as much of the 'Rough Guide to Cambodia' as possible. My submission was way overdue ... Just a few years before it would have been impossible to get reliable information solely from the Net, but coverage of Cambodia had expanded and it was no longer absolutely necessary to visit in person. Of course this wasn't something I'd be telling my editors ..."

Is Opium Fiend a genuine collectible textile, or is it whole cloth, another Internet research project? It struck me as being like an American opium den in the 1800s, a pastiche of vaguely Oriental elements, a 21st century interpretation of a 19th century addiction which it wasn't necessary to visit in person. Like a brass bell, this just didn't ring genuine to me.