Book Review: The Dovekeepers

The Dovekeepers
by Alice Hoffman
4/5 stars

This historical fiction novel uses actually historical events at Masada after the Romans sacked Jerusalem to explore the lives of four women and how their identities revolve around men in their society. Alice Hoffman is  Jewish by blood, Spritualist by religion. She has written many books with a common theme of magic; in this case, it is the mysticism of the Moabites and Hebrews. 

I came across this book because I had read other historical fiction novels set in the same general time period (same century), and I thoroughly enjoyed them because of their historical accuracy. Hoffman began this book after a visit to the museums at Masada and based her characters on real people. The story is based on what actually happened at Masada when it was taken after the destruction of Jerusalem. According to the historian Josephus, two women and five children escaped; this book provides you with an imaginary tale about the people that might have survived. 

In general, I liked the book. Her writing style is lovely and captivating, encouraging to you to delve deeper into the story. There were a few passages that I tagged because I thought they were beautiful. 

page 272: "I heard the voice of God all around me, but I was unafraid...But now I understood that, although words were God's first creation, silence was closer to His divine spirit, and that prayers given in silence were infinitely greater than the thousands of words men might offer up to heaven. 
   I listened to the wind that had risen in the desert to follow us here.
   I heard what it had to say."

page 488: "That was why the Almighty had given us prayer, to distinguish men from animals, to leave the beasts inside of us locked away, as demons are locked in lead jars."

As a Christian with a reasonable understanding of the Bible it was difficult to read about that idolatrous worship of Ashtoreth, but many of the passages reminded me of the voodoo worship that I encounter living in Haiti. The amulets, potions, spells, etc. are very similar to many practices here, giving me a little more perspective on how people who believe in these items think and understand the world. It was also difficult sometimes to distinguish the voice of each character. By the end of the book, I felt like all of their voices were so similar that I wouldn't have been able to read a passage and tell you who was speaking right away. I wanted a more stark contrast between the voices of these very different characters. 

Each of the book sections for the four women was entitled using that woman's relationship to a man in her life. It illustrated how difficult it was for a woman to exist outside of a man's protection at the time. It provided a a notable contrast to the characters themselves who each managed to create something of their own identity without the help of a male overseer. 

This was an interesting read that I would highly recommend to people who enjoy reading about historical events and learning about different cultures. I'm intrigued to read more of her books, because many of them have a magical or mystical undertone. I am also looking forward to the TV mini-series recently aired to see if it follows the book closely. 

Book Review for Derrick Storm Shorts

A Brewing Storm, A Raging Storm, and A Bloody Storm
by Richard Castle
3/5 Stars

I read each of these in about a day. They are great if you don't have time to read a novel but want a little more excitement in your life. These espionage thrillers are also great, obviously, for fans of the TV show, Castle, especially if you are clinging to hope that they may continue with season 8. I'm hoping they set everything up well for the next two books in the series: Storm Front and Wild Storm.

Princess Diana

For this assignment, we were asked to describe a historical event and its impact on our personal lives. I would have written about 9/11, but pretty much everyone was going for that, so I decided to talk about Princess Di. Eventually I will write about my reaction to 9/11 because I think it important for the historical community to gather people's responses from across the nation. I think we should all write down our personal responses to historical events to chronicle our time. 

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Being a princess is a typical dream for a seven-year-old girl. Boys strive to be ninjas or cowboys or superheroes. Most young girls train unceasingly in plastic high heels and fluffy dresses to parade as a pretend princess. Once upon a time I was a princess in training, along with my best friend, Kristen*.

Today most PITs (princesses in training) desire to emulate Elsa and Anna from Frozen. The best part about growing up when we did was that we had a real princess to follow through the news: Princess Diana. The fact that she was no longer a princess due to her recent torrential divorce didn’t matter much. She had been married to a prince and she had two royal  children; that was enough for us. She was glamorous and lovely and elegant, everything you want in a princess. And she had married in to the royal family, so it gave us hope that one day we could be a princess, too. 

Kristen’s seventh birthday party was a Princess Di party. We rode around town in a limousine waving at our royal subjects and had a massive royal tea party in the back yard. We stayed up all night playing with makeup in our royal castle made of sheets and pillows. If Princess Di ever needed a helper, we were ready for her call.

Then tragedy struck on August, 31, 1997. Kristen’s mom sat us down on the couch and explained to us as gently as possible, “Princess Di was in a car crash in Paris. Girls, she didn’t make it. Princess Diana is dead.” Kristen and I squeezed each others hands, dumbfounded. My stomach rose into my heart and hot tears pressed into my eyelashes as I struggled to understand. Princesses can’t die, can they? Princesses are supposed to be saved from disaster in the nick of time by a knight in shining armor. They are supposed to live happily ever after forever with their prince, their one true love.

The mystery around the cause of her death just made it worse. Was it the paparazzi’s fault? Were drugs or alcohol involved? Why wasn’t Princess Diana wearing her seat belt? Didn’t all princesses know to wear their seat belt? Daddy always told us they did.

Kristen and I couldn’t even be around each other for a few weeks. All we talked about were princesses and the only one we knew was gone. Our princess parties just weren’t the same after that. Our princess, the one that belonged to us, had left us. A hole gaped in my seven-year-old heart. Not only was my role model gone, but my idea of perfect fantasy evaporated with it. Life is not a fairy tale, as I had hoped. There weren’t always picture perfect endings. Happily ever after could end in divorces and car crashes.

*name changed for identity protection

Cowardice

For this assignment, we were to choose something we hate and write about it. Ranting was allowed...which led to this piece, for which I do not apologize. In my future non-fiction work entitled Ye Brood of Vipers, you can expect a lot of this. Please reply with critiques, questions, etc.

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I abhor cowardice. I especially despise when cowardice stops people from acting as they should, doing what they are called to do. I have a friend who could be a great leader. She could run for president but she can’t imagine leaving the confines of her home town. What is she so afraid of? Why is the thought of living outside the norm so terrifying for some? Most people like little adventures. They like to get tipsy, spend all night partying, vacation in a different city, etc. But they can’t stand the idea of exiting their known realm. It’s too…uncontrollable. Too many variables could change the way they see the world. And that’s just unreasonable. 

I especially hate Christian cowards, people who say they follow Jesus but really only want to do so if it is convenient. They like to remember Jesus’ kindness and generosity and love, but they skim over the verses that talk about him eating with sinners and prostitutes and cleansing the temple of money changers with a whip. That would require genuinely caring about other people and then doing something about it. That would require taking a stand about something one believes in. And that’s unspeakable. What an uncomfortable idea!

Jesus’ last words before His ascension were “Go into all the world and preach the Good News.” He didn’t say, “Go to church and don’t do too many bad things.” He didn’t say, “Go…treat yo’self because you really deserve everything. You’ve earned it.” He didn’t even say, “It’s ok, you don’t have to go. Just send some money.” He said to get out of your comfort zones and find people who are lost and sick and hungry and naked and imprisoned for the purpose of taking care of them and sharing with them in times of grief and happiness. 

Many Christians cower behind security systems in their fancy houses. Only two live in an eight-bedroom house. (Yes, Brentwood, TN, I’m talking to you.) The idea of interacting with people who are different is just too ghastly to endure. They couldn’t possibly be expected to invite homeless people into their home for the night. How absurd! They would get something dirty! These “Christians” hoard food in pantries larger than some houses and only share on Christmas when they feel guilted. They can’t imagine giving money to people on the streets because those people haven’t earned it like I have. 

The comfort zones that console Christians have become prisons that we don’t even realize enclose us. And we cage in others, too, not just ourselves. Christians now create homelessness through vanity. We create starvation through selfishness. We create poverty through laziness and greed. Christians now create everything that Jesus stood against. Jesus who was himself homeless and poor and hungry and dirty. We would not know Him.

I refuse to be this. I stand against this hypocrisy. I loathe being near people like this. My blood churns and roils when I think about how many “Christian” cowards there are. I contend mightily with this cowardice within myself. Jesus was not a coward. He is a Lion, a fierce and mighty lion with so much love that He cast aside fear for our sake. To be a Christian, we must emulate Him in all respects, especially this one.

--“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don't want to do it.” —Stephen Colbert

Loretta and Mick

My assignment was to rewrite the below paragraph exactly, showing instead of telling. I hope you like it. PLEASE post feedback. This type of exercise is the flesh of writing, so I need to know if I need to make changes in my writing style to improve.

    Loretta and Mick were driving down a lonely highway one winter night. The car hit something, making a loud noise. Loretta and Mick bickered about whether he was driving drunk or not, then they got out to see what was hit. They peered into the darkness, seeing nothing.

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 Mick was beginning to doze. They were still a two-hour drive from home and the wedding’s atmosphere had left him in a daze. The drinks, the dancing, and the gaiety all swirled into a night of mirthful relaxation leaving him exhausted after only forty-five minutes of driving. He was operating the only gas pedal on a hundred-mile stretch of interstate, and his girlfriend, Loretta, was zonked in the passenger seat. 

Mick loosened his tie and tugged his sports coat tighter around his body. It was near freezing outside, and the cold permeated through the windows even with the heater on full blast. 

He took a quick glance at Loretta. The hairspray from her bridesmaid up-do was blending with the sickening-sweet smell of alcohol, threatening to give him a massive migraine. But she looked so peaceful slumped against the middle-console. Mick smirked. He loved that mess of a girl. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of tawny fur in the lower right corner of the windshield. Instinctively, he swerved left but not before a squeal erupted from whatever he just hit outside. Bones crunched beneath the right tires. Loretta gasped and shot upright, eyes wild as she flailed about in her drunken stupor trying to make sense of what just happened.

Mick eased on the brakes and began to pull his truck over. Finally aware of her surroundings Loretta moaned, “Oh, I swear I should not have let you drive! Not after that last shot of whiskey.”

“That last shot of whiskey was about two hours ago and three margaritas fewer than what you drank. You stay in the car. I’m going to go see if we need to pull whatever animal that was off the road.”

“I’m going with you. I need to pee anyways, and since we are in the middle of nowhere, this is probably just as good a place as any.”

“It was just a rabbit or something. I just hope it didn’t mess up my new tires. I just had them put on,” Mick groaned as he opened his car door. A blast of frosty wind slapped him in the face as he got out. Loretta adjusted the straps on her heels and rifled through the backseat in search of her coat. Mick jetted around the vehicle and opened her door. He attempted to shield her bodily from the whipping gales. The wind nipped at their ankles and noses like an angry puppy. 

Snowflakes were just beginning to flurry in the sky. The couple peered back through the frosty haze, scanning the pavement for the roadkill they had probably just created. The red tail lights on the car weren’t putting out much of a glow. 

 “Maybe I should back the car up or at least put the reverse lights on,” Mick offered. The dark void beyond the truck’s lightbulbs draped over them like a thick blanket. Mick and Loretta surveyed the mirky black surrounding them, both feeling lonely and vulnerable. The oppressive darkness weighed heavily on their waning spirits. Something just wasn’t right… 

Book Review: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards is one of the most extraordinary works of fiction I have read in a long time. This book is a beautiful exploration of depression, sadness, hiding, and decisions through a heartrending tale. This story had a special place in my heart because my husband's uncle had Down Syndrome and they were given a similar prognosis when he was born. He unfortunately did have a heart condition, so he died just before I met my husband, but the love that the entire family had for him is the glue that bonds them together. The struggles that his family endured to give Johnny opportunities were very similar to those of Caroline in the story. This is a real story, even if it is fiction. 

The voice and language of this book is phenomenal. This book is the epitome of enjoyable descriptive writing. The fluidity of this book entices you to continue reading. Each person in the book makes questionable and often obviously wrong decisions, and she uses the freedom of this story line to explore the effects of those decisions on the family unit and all the characters, individually. It is a story of secrets and how damaging they can be for a family, especially secrets of this magnitude. I would describe Kim Edwards as one of the best authors of our time. I can't wait to read her other book and anything she will publish in the future. 

If you have a heart for people with special needs, you should read this book. If you don't, you should read this book and let your heart grow inside of you. This book would be great for book clubs or people dealing with depression. I don't want to ruin this book at all so I will leave my review brief. It is great. Everyone should read it. This is worth your time.

Book Review: Gone with the Wind

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

I was very conflicted with this book, as I think anyone who reads it should be.

I definitely understand why it is one of the most widely read books in American literature. Margaret Mitchell created a protagonist that I can barely stand (Scarlett O'Hara), but somehow I still needed to know what happened to her and wanted good things for her. Not many writers can do that. Her writing style is enticing, always looping me in to reading more. Each of her characters, even with their blatant faults, make me want to be different. Melanie makes me want to see the good in all people. Ashley creates a need in me to want to enjoy the culture that I am now a part of because it will change very soon. Scarlett's character inspired me to find true meaning in life through her failure to understand how to find happiness outside of money. Her ineptitude at reading people and judging character makes me desire more perceptiveness when characterizing a person's demeanor. Even the rogue Rhett Butler inspired me with how he gave his love freely, even if it did hurt him because he put others (granted, others that he actually cared about) before himself.

However, in issues of race, this book was a painful read. Her constant affiliations of all "watermelon-tongued" black characters (yes, that is a direct quote) with labradors and monkeys and children who need guidance definitely tell you that this book was written in another time. I was more surprised by how recently it was written. I now understand why this book has been banned by different organization over time. Her glorification of house slaves who chose to remain with their masters was shocking. Her "Mammy" character was the personification of her desire for blacks to be accepting of and understanding about slavery. That's an entire other discussion right there. If you are black and you read this book, it will make you straight up angry. Considering how angry I got at times, I can't imagine what it would make you feel, so I apologize for this horribly racist book. I didn't write it but I feel like someone should apologize for it.

Her glorification of the South was very interesting because history is always written by the winners. And while Scarlett isn't exactly a loser because she didn't really support the cause, she falls into a category of others that identify with the South. What I learned during my schooling of the Civil War was that the South lost and was upset about it and did everything possible during Reconstruction to change back to their old ways. That was true to the book. Most teachers, however, always made Reconstruction out to be a huge flop that was never very successful or overbearing. Mitchell describes it as a horrible time of foreign invasion, starvation, and human atrocities by Scallawags, Carpetbaggers and blacks. I never really heard that side before. You learn that terminology in school, but I always somehow felt distant from it, as though only a few people felt that way about them. She concentrated a lot on black-on-white rape. Most history books mention this fear, but they don't come close to painting the picture of the terror she describes. Her insistence that the "Lost Cause" was states' rights was laughable because she often stated that it was upsetting that the southern "way of life" was disappearing. That way of life could have only existed through slavery. I think the most disturbing part was the way in which she didn't outright agree with the Ku Klux Klan because she thought it extreme, but she obviously understood and agreed with the reasoning behind it. Once again, that belief is NEVER held in history books. I think this books should be read with Civil War/Reconstruction units just so people know how racist people could be at that time period.

Her stance on women's rights was most intriguing throughout the book. Near the beginning of the book she briefly brushes aside lunatics like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a women's rights activist. No southern girl would ever support her. She constantly points out that women should be strictly under their husbands' guidance at all times. However, she uses the rest of the book to show that Scarlett O'Hara is a better businessman and thinker than many men. She adds figures in her head, a feat not even her beloved Ashley can accomplish. She may have been dull about interpersonal relations, but she had business sense. I later read that Mitchell's mother was a women's rights activist, so you can see how she used this book to further the idea that women can be just as good or better than men at many jobs.

I felt that this book was one of the best and worst books I have ever read, which is why I gave it four stars. I recommend it to most readers (definitely not all) because there is a point of view in the book that is nowhere near what most of us know and agree with. I think that because I so strongly disagreed with her on so many points, I was able to ensure my exact position on these topics. A very odd and challenging book, but for the most part worth the read.