A Review of Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

This is a "ripped from the headlines" type story about a Senator's wife who finds out her husband has cheated on her by hearing it on the news. Sylvie, a lawyer herself, has given up her entire life, even given up taking much of an interest in her two girls, for her husband and his career.
The story is told from the perspective of these three women, Sylvie and her two daughters. Diana, an emergency room physician who can't stand her own husband, and is having a torrid affair herself with a younger man. Her son, Miles, is really what she cares about, and on whom she would prefer to focus. The third daughter, Lizzie, is the mess-up. Newly out of rehab, she is making the best of her wasted life by caring for Miles and trying to become a "normal" person.
While this story was an interesting one, it was largely forgettable. The characters were well-developed, as was the story, but it didn't hold my interest past the last page. Unlike other books I've read and reviewed here, Fly Away Home, flew right out of my head as soon as I finished it. It was a decent story, but not one I enjoyed all that much. I would still recommend it to others, as it was well-written and the characters were not one-demensional or cliched, which they could have been. But I was not wowed.

Are Celebrities Entitled to Private Lives?

This is an article for my writing class:

We see the pictures every day: a female celebrity getting out of a chauffeured car flashing a body part best left to the imagination; a male celebrity casually running shirtless on the beach; a celebrity couple leaving the most current trendy L.A. restaurant, not holding hands, protesting the idea that they were on a date, and then driving away together in a large, black sedan.
It begs the question, are celebrities entitled to be left alone when they are not working? But this is not the first question we should ask. Why are we as a culture so obsessed with celebrities? This question is one that has been bounced around by many writers in recent years, its importance rising exponentially in direct proportion to how many tabloid magazines there are in circulation. Celebrities have become the de facto representation of the American dream. So it is only natural that we would want to know what their “real lives” are like outside of movies and television.
But are we entitled to know? Many would argue that when a person chooses to live this sort of life, they should accept giving up their privacy in exchange for money, fame and the perks they receive.
I find this to be a strong case of sour grapes. Just because someone else has money, beauty, fame and ostensibly everything that Americans want in life, does not mean that everyone else is entitled to know their business, or that they are required to “give up” their privacy to have these things.
As a teacher, I could argue that in many ways I am also not afforded a “private life”. If I choose to go to the supermarket in my gym clothes without makeup (something I am sure a celebrity would never do), it is likely I will run into at least one student with his or her family, who will then pin me down for a 20 minute conversation. If I go out to a restaurant or bar and order an alcoholic drink, I am always aware if a student’s parent is around, and limit myself accordingly. There are situations in which I could get into trouble, or even fired, if it is witnessed that I have engaged in a certain behavior publicly. Alas, I am also not compensated monetarily for the loss of this privacy, nor do I get many perks, other than those intrinsic inspiring moments I have from day to day and the fulfillment I get from my career.
So, as for the celebrities private lives? I think they should be left alone. However, it seems that the rest of the country doesn’t necessarily agree. Now, where’s my People Magazine?

Coming Soon!

A Review of The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

This is the sequel to Oryx and Crake, reviewed previously on this blog. In this part of the continuing tale in the MaddAddam trilogy, we meet Ren (short for Brenda) and Toby, two of God's Gardners, neither of whom feels worthy of being in the greenie sect, mostly organized by Adam One, but truly and more honestly by Zeb. All of the leaders of GG are named Eves or Adams, and Adam One has missives that begin each chapter, or each change of narration between Toby and Ren. Each of these ladies has survived the Waterless Flood, foretold by Adam One to be forthcoming. Ms. Atwood weaves in Jimmy and Glenn/Crake from the first story, but deepens the story and adds more narration of the time after the virus has wiped most of humanity out. We discover that there are quite a few survivors, other than Jimmy/Snowman, who only emerges at the end of this book.
This tale has a lot less of the originality of the first one, but in many ways is more satisfying, as a story of a terribly fragile, SeksMart worker (Ren) and an extremely resilient Eve Six (Toby). Amanda Payne, Jimmy's girlfriend from the first book, is Ren's best friend, and quite an interesting character in this story. We learn her origins and her survival afterward, mostly from Ren's tale.
While this book was enjoyable, I liked it both more and less than the first book. At the beginning of each section, Ms. Atwood writes Adam One's sermon for each "saint" that the Gardeners worship. Everyone from Dian Fossey to Karen Silkwood is a saint to the Gardeners. These "sermons" followed by a hymn from The God's Gardeners Oral Hymnbook, were abundant, and quite boring. I stopped reading them halfway through, except to skim in case I missed any narrative detail. I didn't enjoy that part of this story. I understand that it was important to understanding the God's Gardeners, but it was uninteresting and irrelevant, except to sermonize.
Overall, I liked this story. It was different and similar to Oryx and Crake, but less depressing with a lot more hope at the end, and truly all the way through. In this tale, we are given more narration and understanding of all that has occurred, and less of the hopelessness of the situation. Not all of humanity is dead; many have survived, and other humans besides the Crakers.
I do intend to read the final tale in the MaddAddam trilogy.

Update

Hello all,

I recently began another school year (I am a public school teacher for any of you who don't know me personally). I also switched grade levels. It's been interesting and quite busy. I have not had as much time to read, so it may be a while until I get to something I can review. My writing class begins again on the 30th, so I should definitely have some things to post then. Looking forward to it....

Regards,

GBG

A Review of The Passage by Justin Cronin

Funny enough, The Passage is a post-Apocalyptic tale in much the same vein as Oryx and Crake- life after a virus has destroyed most of the world. Unlike Oryx and Crake, the virus in Mr. Cronin's book is one that changes human beings into vampires with one bite. These are not the typical suave and sexy vampires that have been depicted since Bram Stoker wrote Dracula, these are beasts. Mindless, bloodthirsty, rip people into literal pieces beasts.
This book was interesting on several levels. First, it was nearly 800 pages long. That's a lot of set up, and a lot of post-virus world. This story is apparently part of a trilogy as well, although this first story was just published. The story is broken into many sections, and written in many different formats, which was both interesting and annoying. The story is not narrated by any one character, perhaps because their lives are often so fleeting. There are sections written as journal accounts, written by different characters.
The best part about that is that the story doesn't get boring because you are only hearing from one character. The "main" character in the story, if there is one, is Amy. Amy is both from the "Time Before" (our time now- the story begins about 8 years from now) and the "Time After". Before and After refer to the virus wiping most everyone out. Amy is young girl purposely infected with the virus in the Time Before and who is still around in the Time After. She is the one piece that gives the story its continuity and she is the least understood character.
I know I normally write a summary of the story, but I find that the scope of this book is such that I would have to write quite a lot- too much really- to explain adequately without giving things away that the reader should find out for him- or herself.
I will say that the second half of the book was better than the first. I enjoyed the characters and the story better in the Time After than the setup for how the virus has come to be and how it escapes.
There are clear good and bad guys in this story, and truly, it is a tale of good versus evil. But the last third contains a group of friends who set out on a mission and this is the part that was the most entertaining.
I feel it is necessary to point out a few specifics about this story. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the author's writing style. His writing is truly beautiful. He has a real talent for making it easy to visualize his world and for making you feel the intense pain and suffering his characters feel. He is an extremely talented writer. However, this story borrows heavily from quite a few other books I've read, and while this is an original story, it is also not original. There was quite a bit of The Stand, Lord of the Rings, A Game of Thrones and even The Lottery, for those of you who remember that short story from high school English syllabi. While Mr. Cronin makes the story work, it also feels like he borrowed too much at times.
I really can't explain much more than that. I do intend to continue whenever the next book comes out (too much suspense not to!). I would recommend it, but be prepared.

In Progress