Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

This book was a difficult read. At first I thought it was just me, since I was trying to work on my own project at the same time I was reading this group selection for the month. Then I saw others in the group were having the same problem.

The writing is slick, but it seemed the story wasn't going anywhere, plodding around in circles. Some in the group concluded Ms Ward was mirroring the activty of the storm in the Gulf, Katrina. As the storm gained strength, so did the story, vicious and brutal as the dog fight.

It is the story of the Batiste family, survivors of a mother who died giving birth to Junior, leaving one girl Esch with three brothers and an alcoholic father. Even as the action picked up, it was still a difficult read. Esch, a name like a whisper (hush), trying to find her way through the storm of life without a female role model.

If there ever was a character I wanted to slap straight, it was Esch. The story tore at my heart, the same way that storm did.


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (the movie)

I should have read the book first. It's on my to-read list on Goodreads, at the bottom with a bunch of other books I can't seem to get around to. Books that are best sellers, but I don't know anybody personally reading them.

I didn't expect it to become a movie so soon. I probably wouldn't have seen it, if not for Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, even though I knew from interviews they each spend less than 15 minutes on the screen. But they sold it to me.

They didn't sell it to Tinker. Anything about 9/11 has to be depressing. The reviews said it was uplifting. I asked him if he wanted to go to see it with me. He said, I don't want to, but I'll go with you.

I expected a story about a precocious nine-year-old in search for something about his father who had died on that "worst day." The boy turns out to be a little "Monk, the detective." Obsessive Compulsive, Aspergers, Savant, you name it. If you watch "Monk" you know how Trudy's death affected him. Halfway into the movie, I looked at Tinker, and I knew he hated it. I started thinking, "shoulda read the book first."

Then something changed (no spoilers here). The movie became uplifting. Hint: Max von Sydow received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor in this film.

Tinker still hated it. I give it four stars.

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Moloka'i

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The good thing about being a member of a book club is going out of your comfort zone and reading books you wouldn't have chosen. Some of my favorite authors I never knew about until I learned about them through a book club. And the other side of the coin is sometimes I feel obligated to read a genre I don't really like.

I don't like historical fiction, but I read this book to the bitter end. Moloka'i is an island of Hawaii that became a leper colony in the 1800's. The story follows the life of Rachel who developed leprosy at the age of seven through over fifty years of living on Moloka'i. The story covers the history of Hawaii as it unfolded in the secluded lives on Molokai, through changes in government, war, tsunami, clinical trials and an eventual cure for what is now called Hansen's Disease.

Rachel leads a productive life in spite of being separated from her family and having little contact from them for many years. It is a very sad story.

The author weaves in some of Hawaiian tradition that ran counter to the teachings of the Catholic missionaries who taught and nursed the residents of the colony. I found the burial traditions most poignant when carried out by Rachel in spite of her Christian upbringing.

I didn't hate this book, but it did seem to go on and on and on.



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