#avidreader – Page 2

Revisiting Elizabeth Berg, Sue Miller, Claire Messud

Grading my spring break reads.

I read a few quick books in succession this week while in Florida for the kids’ spring break. I had packed a few books for the trip; I finished Andrew Yang’s book (see last post) and started A State of Freedom by Neel Mukerjee but didn’t love it (see next post yet to be written LOL). So I hit up the library at Dad & Sue’s clubhouse and picked/read these books.

I probably should have planned more diligently before the trip but hey, live and learn. I definitely firmed up opinions about the authors, all of whom I thought I had previously read!

Open House by Elizabeth Berg (2001, 272 pages)… Elizabeth Berg is an author I have read previously and enjoyed. Although I just looked up her list of books and I’m not sure which I have read (will have to check my bookshelves!) I guess her books maybe are a little interchangeable? I didn’t love this book – thought it preyed on emotions and I didn’t relate to the main character at all. Spring Break Grade: D+ I won’t be reading Elizabeth Berg again, my tastes have changed since I first read her!

The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller (2008, 306 pages)… Sue Miller wrote the book The Good Mother which was a big hit way back in 1994. I recall reading it & enjoying it (though never saw the movie). I liked The Senator’s Wife because it delves into marital relationships though I didn’t buy how it ultimately ended. It was interesting and kept me reading but it wasn’t awesome. Spring Break Grade: C+: if I was on a deserted island and the only book was by Sue Miller, I would read it.

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud (2013, 272 pages)…I picked up this book because I knew I had enjoyed Claire Messud before but I was confusing her with Julia Glass. (Julia Glass wrote The Three Junes, A House Among Trees, The Widower’s Tail – all of which I read & liked!) OK – so this book was a little long and overly wrought with the relationship between the main character (38 year old unmarried Nora) with a family of 3 (international artist, scholar & 3rd grade son), but it surprised me with its depth of feeling, passion for creating art, and how it all ended. I will be thinking about this for a while. Spring Break Grade: B+/A-: I will definitely seek out another Claire Messud novel.

The War On Normal People

“Scarcity will not save us. Abundance will.”

Is Andrew Yang’s name familiar to you yet? If it isn’t it will be soon. He is in the large field of Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2020. I just finished his book titled The War On Normal People (2018, 244 pages) which presents his proposal for a Universal Basic Income (UBI) and human-based capitalism for our country.

It’s worth a read- it’s fast, compelling, and provides an alternate view of what the United States can look like in future years.

The first 1/3 describes his own experience as the child of immigrants and a successful entrepreneur whose focus was creating jobs. He is convinced we are in the beginning of huge economic and technologic change that has already eradicated millions of manufacturing jobs (it’s not the migrants or China, Donald!). Retail jobs are soon to disappear (how many places have self-check out now?), followed by truck driving jobs (driverless trucks are being tested), and then even white-collar jobs (computers can read radiology reports with greater precision than the human eye).

The second third describes what is happening to our society as the economy changes. We have “bubbles” in several areas in which there is thriving economy and society, but we have scarcity and poverty in cities where the manufacturing jobs have already disappeared. This part is depressing because if all the jobs are going as Yang predicts, then it’s easy to fear that our whole country will end up like Youngstown Ohio.

But don’t worry – there’s the final third which is much more optimistic and lays out Yang’s vision for our future. The bottom line need is that we need to shift from market-focused capitalism, which only values efficiency, to human-based capitalism, which values people, relationships and society.

A few of Yang’s ideas- he goes into more depth of course in the book:

The UBI would apply to every adult in our country and would take the strain off of regions that lose jobs as workers are displaced by automation.
People would earn credits for helping others that they could use for buying things or to pay others to help them.
The healthcare system needs to be re-vamped and should not be tied to employment.

If you don’t think these things can work please give the book a try – Yang presents studies and statistics that support his hypotheses. Happy to lend you our copy (Greg got it as a Christmas gift!)!

The Friend by Sigrid Nunez Wasn’t On My Radar…

Quick review of The Friend by Sigrid Nunez

…Should It Be On Yours?

Last Sunday evening a friend who reads a ton and who happens to be a published author (i.e. knows much more than me) offered me her copy of The Friend by Sigrid Nunez (2018, 212 pages). At some points in my life I’m more in tune with the NY Times reviews, news of literary awards and lists of best-of books, but now is not one of those times. So I totally hadn’t heard of the book even though it won the National Book Award for fiction in November.

(No, Rocket is not in the book but he’s cute and I needed some more visual interest.)

I found it very compelling and gobbled it up fast. Set in NYC, the narrator is mourning a very dear friend’s death by suicide. While confronting her own sorrow she is then asked to care for the dog he left behind…a Great Dane that weighs 180 pounds and is also seriously distraught over his master’s demise. And her rent-stabilized building does not allow dogs….

The dog, Apollo (the only named character in the book), and the narrator slowly grow accustomed to each other and in so doing, they both begin to heal. (Dog Lovers please note that the book is not solely focused on the dog so if you’re in it just for him you may be disappointed in spots.)

The writing style can seem quirky. Written in 12 parts with some sections written almost in snippets, it seems at times like Stream of Consciousness ramblings. However there are generally points to the streams that support the story, make a point, or inject humor. They didn’t bug me that much. Plus the entire book is slim, so if you find it annoying it’s only for 212 pages.

There are also many, many literary references. The narrator teaches writing and is an author, and her deceased friend was similarly a writer and a teacher. O’Connor, Simenon, Flaubert, Woolf, Keats, Auden, Coetzee, Ackerley, Kafka, Patterson… these are just a few of the authors whose words, works or ideas or mentioned or discussed in more detail. I knew some of them but had to look many up!

As we near the end of the book, tension mounts over the health of the aging, arthritic Apollo. There is a surprise in store for the reader which I didn’t see coming at all. It gives cause to more carefully contemplate the book title. To which friend is Nunez referring?

I recommend it! Give it a whirl! (Mine is a borrowed copy so unfortunately cannot lend out!)