Book 42 An American Marriage

 

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones fulfilled the category “Book that Has Won the Woman’s Prize for Fiction” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. It won in 2019.

This book illustrates the reason I do not read literature. It was good but didn’t seem deserving of such an honor. Let me give you some background.

The novel follows a newly married couple (about eighteen months) who are thrown into terrible circumstances beyond their control. Roy is falsely accused and convicted of a crime and sent to jail. Celestial, his wife, is tasked with helping with her husband’s defense and keeping the marriage together. They face a long and bumpy road.

I won’t give away spoilers, but honestly, I didn’t care for either of these characters. Roy, though in terrible circumstances, seems to take out all his problems on his wife. He accuses her of things she didn’t do and is crushed as the marriage falls apart. Celestial, on the other hand, does not stand by her man. She tries to keep living her own life, find new love, and pursue her dreams. She’s a limp fish. These two were doomed from the start.

I don’t love best sellers and these literature-type books. The genre seems to sacrifice good story for drama. They focus on the wrong part of the tale, giving the audience a false sense of the importance of the narrative.

In An American Marriage, we never get deep into the characters’ conflicts and feelings. We stroll along through the novel with half-confessions and hints of a deeper situation. I never connected with the characters.

Roy was in prison. There’s a story. Focus on his trials and survival. Make me feel for Roy. Don’t just throw in later that he was stabbed. I want to see that event, feel his pain and fear. Not hear it as an afterthought.

I don’t understand why this won a prize for women’s fiction. It’s not Celestial’s story. We have little connection with her. She acts like no woman I know. She’s cold, distant, seemingly unfeeling unless she’s being denied what she wants. Why are we celebrating that woman? She cheats on her husband, does not grant her husband a divorce, and she just lays there when Roy breaks into her house and tries to have sex with her. I can’t sympathize with this woman.

I’m not saying this is a terrible story. There are many good things about it. I was more interested in the healing at the end. When things came to a head, there was this “Well, it’s over. Here’s the epilogue.” I would have loved to hear their struggle, growth, and change from the climax to the epilogue. Anyway, it’s well-written and compelling but so not for me.

I give An American Marriage by Tayari Jones Four (or fewer) Historical Hickory Trees.

 

Book 41 Ninth House

 

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo fulfilled the category “Book with a Black and White Cover” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. The title fills half the cover with white outlined black letters on a black background. A black snake slithers through the letters of the title and author’s name.

It was not my first choice, but I’m so glad I picked it. I started The Splendid and the Vile by Eric Larson because Devil in the White City is one of my all-time favorites. My interest petered out about halfway through. It seemed to be just another WWII book. Then I started (again) The Rook by Daniel O’Malley. A friend recommended the novel. And I’m trying to read it.

Ninth House caught me right away. It’s a better version of The Magicians. Basically, in Ninth House, Yale is a school for magicians but an enormous secret. Eight colleges within the ivy league campus also teach various types of magic and use the knowledge to gain fame, fortune, and success. The ninth house, Lethe, was founded to be a check, a policing force for the ancient eight, in case they got out of control. And they certainly do.

Enter Galaxy Stern (Alex), a young woman who turned to drugs and alcohol to blind her to her visions and contact with the supernatural. Yes, ghost exists, and they won’t leave Alex alone. She’s tough, has been through so much trauma, and is the perfect person to be the new assistant at Lethe. But she’s not. She’s no Yalie. (I can use that word because I went to UCONN. The book is rather nostalgic for me.) Alex is the right person to push through the bullshit and solve a murder on campus.

This book has it all—adventure, magic, trauma, love, hate, Yale snobbery, crime, and treachery. The pace was quick and exciting. And we, like Alex, are outsiders looking in going, “WTF, Yale?” Why are these college kids doing this kind of magic unchecked? It’s like college Harry Potter but every house is Slytherin. I loved it.

Alex’s journey in the novel is compelling as well. It’s not just about her learning to use and control her powers to see and communicate with the dead. More importantly, it’s about her journey out after suffering a horrible childhood at the whim of the supernatural world. She must learn to embrace her true self to do the impossible job given to her.

Yes, it’s a series, with book two’s release date a huge mystery. But buck up, readers. Leigh Bardugo has tons of other books (most of which are on my TBR list) such as The Six of Crows and The Shadow and Bone trilogy.

I give Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo Five Giant Black Mambas Ready to Strike.

 

Book 40 Into the Wild

 

Into the Wild by John Krakauer fulfilled the category “Work Set Mostly Outside” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. The nonfiction title follows the story of a man determined to live off the land.

It wasn’t my first choice. Again, I had a hard time finding one I loved. I started Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (I loved her Diviners series), but the novel didn’t catch my interest. Then I read Nerd in Shining Armor by Vicki Lewis Thompson. But I considered how many “older” books I had on the blog (that TBR list thing) and opted not to blog that one. It felt dated for romance.

Then I requested Into Thin Air by the same author as the chosen title. I’m still waiting for Libby to send it. LOL Instead, we have the tragic story of a young man who never made it home. (Not a spoiler as they tell us right away.)

Chris McCandless decides after college to change his name to Alex, travel and see the country, and live with less commercial, political, and conventional restrictions. He was a brilliant student but needed to live his life his way and not settle for a desk job.

The book goes back and forth between Alex’s journey and his final days in Alaska. He lived off the land for two years, making friends from Baja California, South Dakota, Nevada, and all the way to Alaska, where his life ended. He wanted to go “into the wild.” (Hence the book’s title.) Alex never seemed to live in a conventional house or apartment for long. In most of the narrative, he’s described as living outside in a tent or with other like-minded individuals. He held jobs from time to time, always working toward his big journey to Alaska.

In the end, he found his way to Denali National Park and Preserve and the Stampede trail. He discovered lodging in an abandoned city bus, converted to house miners. He lived there from April to August 1992, when some minor mistakes caused him to starve to death.

I’ve been back and forth with other readers about this one. Many of the “parents” I spoke to talked about his selfishness, his shortsightedness in prepping, and his stubbornness in not getting help.

I can’t say I feel the same. I loved his spirit of adventure. (Not that I even like to go camping, eww bugs.) But he embraced his choices and lived his life. It made me sad he passed, but I don’t believe he regretted his choices. (Probably lamented his mistakes, but I’d never fault him for that.) What young person (or just adventurous person) doesn’t trip along the way? Unfortunately, Alex’s stumble about food cost him.

It was not my usual read, but I was fascinated by the story. (I love a good narrative nonfiction.) I cried a bit, but sometimes we need to read the tale with the sad ending.

I give Into the Wild by John Krakauer Four Bags of Rice.