Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Obviously, I cannot review Uncle Tom's Cabin; it's a literary classic that almost everyone had heard of. The best I can do is offer a few comments.

I decided to read UTC because I'd never done so before, and it seemed like something an educator should have read. In case you haven't had the chance, the basics of the plot are this; readers follow the paths of two slaves from a single plantation who are to be sold to make up the owner's debts; Eliza, who runs away with her son after hearing that he is to be sold, and Uncle Tom, who is in fact sold to a trader.

Because it was written approximately 120 years ago, the language and writing style are what we would consider now to be extremely flowery and overdone, but the story itself transcends the language. At the time Stowe was hailed as being extremely anti-slavery, and her work was used to narrate the horrors of the practice long after its writing. Of course, with the benefit of over a century of time passing, her writing makes it obvious that her concepts of black people were still incredibly racist (although obviously still far ahead of her time), but when read in context this does not overcome the importance of the work as a landmark statement against a trade that had been in place for two hundred years. Her work as an abolitionist stirred millions in the north to stand up and cry out, and infuriated the southern plantation owners. She is widely credited for bringing an understanding of the horrors of slavery to millions of people, and with providing crucial ammunition to the anti-slavery feelings of the country.

I'll be honest; at times, it was a slow read, and at almost 500 pages it took me quite awhile to get through it. Skimming some of the more flowery descriptions made the going easier. Regardless of the work it took to get through it - this is obviously not vacation reading - I would still recommend that anyone take the time to at least peruse the work and get the general feel for the story. It's an important part of American history in and of itself.

Review: The Family Man, by Elinor Lipman

Before you ask, no, this novel has *nothing* to do with the movie starring Nicolas Cage that came out several years ago.

Lipman's newest novel, The Family Man, is utterly delightful. I could not have enjoyed this book more. You don't even need to read the rest of the review, unless you really enjoy listening to me prattle on. Seriously, just go and get it.

OK, since you insist on reading more, I'll fill you in. Henry Archer is a long-divorced, recently-retired gay lawyer who lives alone in a lovely NYC townhouse. Due to his questionable decision to contact his ex-wife to express sympathy on the recent death of her husband, he becomes re-entangled in her life. When Denise drags him to her apartment, he sees a recent photo of the long-lost step-daughter that was stolen from him in the divorce and whose memory he spent years in therapy guiltily bemoaning; he recognizes her as the coat-check girl at the salon where he has his hair cut, but due to his long-held anger, he says nothing when Denise confides in him that she has no idea where the girl is, that she hasn't spoken to her since the funeral. Henry re-connects with the girl, who is (of course) a starving actress, and instantly the two bond over lunch. Within days he is caught up in her newest job - pretending to be the girlfriend of a strange young actor who needs to be 'seen'. Between somewhat reluctantly helping Denise with the odd legal entanglements of her late husband's will (her stepsons are trying to enforce a defunct pre-nup that cuts her out of her home and fortune entirely), trying to look after his newly-reacquainted step-daughter, and fielding phone calls from men who have gotten his number from Denise, Henry suddenly finds himself up to his ears in craziness. Predictable, yet delightful, hilarity ensues.

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly knows that I hate vapid, uselessly convoluted stories, so rest assured that Lipmans' novel is neither. She manages to write a lighthearted story while still giving the characters depth, and the plot moves along effortlessly. There are no contrived arguments, no ridiculous 'no one would EVER do that' moments. The choices the characters make are realistic, even if the circumstances are slightly inflated for fiction. Most importantly, all of them are very likable; even the over-the-top Denise is ultimately someone you wouldn't mind knowing. Also - and this is always a winner with me - the ending is lovely, AND there's a bit of an afterward so you know what happens to everyone and can imagine them going forward in your mind.

I enjoyed this story so much that I would be happy to read a sequel, if one were appropriate. It is the rarest of books - a work that's amusing, light, and yet simultaneously emotionally present. As it is, I will content myself with putting Lipman's other novels on my to-read list.

Rating: five stars. Witty, charming fiction that possesses style and lighthearted substance.

Review: Brain Rules, by John Medina

I picked up Brain Rules after a session in one of my education classes about new research into how people learn. I was interested in the topic, but didn't want to get a subscription to some neurological magazine, so I got on Amazon and looked through their selection before heading off to B&N with a short-list of what to look for.

Brain Rules won *by far* in the selection process. It's not at all "sciency" in the way that makes people like me either a) run screaming for the hills or b) start snoring. It's conversational, and split into mid-length sections which are again further split into topics. Examples of section topics include Wiring, Attention, Short- and Long-Term Memory, Sleep, Stress, Sensory Integration, and Gender. There are no illustrations, charts or graphs, except for the summary sections at the end of each chapter that helpfully remind you of the key points for each topic. It's got a Discovery Channel approach to science - fun, informative, and easily digestible. Each new section starts with a personal story (either Medina's or someone else's), and anecdotes are liberally sprinkled throughout, providing both examples and comic relief for complex ideas.

This style is right out of Rule #4: Attention - We Don't Pay Attention To Boring Things. Medina discusses the fact that audiences (classes, meeting attendees, etc) check out after ten minutes, and after that point you have to recapture them with another 'hook' or major point, using something that they can relate to personally, such as an amusing story or example. He applies this technique exceptionally well in the book; just as I started to drift away, get a little tired of brain information, he drew me back in with another tale, which was then followed with details about why the brain utilizes information more efficiently when it's encased in stories that the listener can become emotionally involved in, then he explained how the pathways and information storage work, and then suddenly I was back at the story again, seeing it all get tied together.

The other most interesting and applicable sections, for me, were sensory integration (if we learn something while smelling, say, roses, we will recall that same information at a much higher rate if roses are again present), vision (the brain will see what it thinks it should see, rather than what is actually there, and we will remember what we think we saw based on that subconscious judgment), and gender. I found this great nugget - women are much more genetically diverse than men, because the X chromosome has 1500 genes, whereas the Y has less than 100; therefore, women have 3000 chromosomes, and men have 1800. Since the X chromosome has the overwhelming majority of cognitive-development chromosomes, and women have two... you can take it from there. Medina isn't inferring that the female brain is better, just that the processing is completely different, and that's important from an instructional standpoint, but I got a lot of enjoyment out of it myself, anyway.

I have to recommend this book for parents, educators, and anyone who has a part in relaying any kind of information in a formalized way. Even if you are casually interested in how you might help your brain to age better, this would be a good read for you. It might make a good Xmas gift for a boss or teacher, too, since they're notoriously hard to buy for, because it's something applicable and different (ie not a mug or potpourri). I am not a huge scientific reader, but I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was completely painless, and most of the time actually quite enjoyable.

Rating: five stars. Educational, jovial, mainstream presentation of otherwise potentially complex material

Review: Labor Day, by Joyce Maynard

When you were a kid, did you ever feel like *nothing* ever happened to you? Like anything, anything at all, would be a huge improvement over the nothingness you are currently experiencing?

Thirteen year-old Henry, the main character of Joyce Maynard's new novel, Labor Day, has felt that way for years. After his parents' divorce, Henry's mother, Adele, transformed into quite nearly a hermit, ordering even basic necessities from catalogues, and Henry's life slowed to an isolated crawl during the summers. Just before school starts, at the beginning of a steamy Labor Day weekend in his small NH town, Henry's life changes when a bleeding man in the local big-box store asks him for help; he needs Henry and Adele to take him to their house. Hours later, sitting in their kitchen, Frank admits to being an escaped prisoner from the local penitentiary, but rather than turn him in, Adele lets him stay, and the two begin a strange and seemingly-fated relationship. Henry also takes strongly to Frank, and the house at the end of the cul-de-sac becomes a strange shangri-la for all three lost souls until Henry runs across a strange new girl in town whose paranoid outlook puts fearful ideas of abandonment in his head. It is then that Henry has to choose - does he save Frank, and his mother's newfound happiness, or does he save his own familiar life?

While the acceptance of a single woman taking a bleeding mad to her home is a bit of a stretch, I was willing to buy into it for two reasons: one, the novel takes place in the mid-80's in a small town, where people would be less paranoid about helping a stranger, and two, the town is in NH, where I grew up, so I can tell you that people tend to keep to themselves and out of other people's business. That Adele wouldn't have asked first what was wrong with Frank isn't all that surprising, particularly 20 years ago.

As long as you can accept Adele's decision, the rest of the book is an easy swallow. Right from the start, the reader roots for the scenario to somehow end well. Aside from a very few moments at the beginning when you wonder what Frank's real personality might be, it is evident that his arrival is a huge turning point for all involved. For his part, Frank almost immediately becomes the man of the house, fixing what's broken in more ways than one. Adele blooms in the newfound attention Frank showers upon her, and Henry comes into his own, out of his shell even when the inevitable occurs.

The characters are quite likable, and easy to identify with. When the stories finally begin to emerge - Adele's tale of guilt and despair that explains her hermit-like ways, and Frank's revelation of the horrifying coincidence that led to his imprisonment - it becomes apparent that the two are, in fact, fated for each other, and it's easy to see why each would be willing to bet everything on each other. Henry's unique situation - young enough to be jealous of his mother's attentions, old enough to be jealous of sexuality in his home, damaged enough to accept even this tragic figure as a father-substitute - is played very well. The young girl he meets, and her strange issues, are a little too conveniently introduced, but her exploitation is necessary to bring about the inevitably approaching storm. The epilogue ties the tale together in a very satisfying way; I was extremely happy with how things turned out, even with the initial heartbreak for all involved.

Rating: four stars: interesting premise, likable characters, heartfelt denouement

Review: Ophelia's Mom, by Nina Shandler

Nina Shandler is the mother of Sara Shandler, the nineteen year-old author of 'Ophelia Speaks', in which teenagers speak out about their lives and relationships with parents, friends, and others; Sara's book was itself a response to the widely popular Reviving Ophelia, a study of teenage girls. Nina Shandler (referred to going forward as simply Shandler) is herself a psychologist, and saw that a piece was missing from the Ophelia puzzle, that of the mothers' perspective on adolescence. Her work, Ophelia's Mom, is subtitled, 'women speak out about loving and letting go of their adolescent daughters', and that is exactly what it is.

Shandler sent out 23,000 fliers both online and on paper for mothers of teenage girls to submit thoughts and be interviewed for her book; she received only 350 responses, far less than her daughter had two years prior from the teenage contingent. Her explanation of this difference is partly that women are more secretive about family strife because they still generally bear the responsibility for running the family, and are humiliated by any perceived failure. Shandler used roughly half the responses she received in the book, but gave no information on how these particular responses were selected for use, or reasons why others would have been rejected. The responses she does use seem very homogeneous, and while I can't be certain whether this indicative of the larger response or a bias in selection of the responses for use, the copy of the invitation she used that is included in the forward could be a clue as to why; it is strongly geared towards a certain type of respondent. The wording of the invite uses fairly elevated diction, assumes that the person reading the flier has read Hamlet or at least has a working knowledge of who Ophelia is, and has either read at least one of the other two 'Ophelia' research works or knows enough about them to understand why this new work is pertinent. Although it attempts to be folksy, it's a fairly formal invitation, and not one that would appeal to very educationally or economically diverse audience.

Still, Shandler doesn't claim to have done a scientific study, merely to have gathered a series of anecdotal tales provided by women who have had experiences in typical, general teenage parenting categories - body image, parent-teen relationships, adult relationships surrounding teen issues, and letting their daughters go to graduation and life. The stories themselves are very absorbing, and swerve between heartwarming and heartbreaking. Walking through adolescence the first time was for many women difficult at best, and going through it a second time, this time as a bystander watching a beloved child struggle, is sometimes torturous. The women's experiences are told with humor and affection, and flow well into one another. Shandler limits herself to writing short personal stories at the beginning of new sections or where appropriate to bridge gaps between others' stories, which is a major bonus to the book; she understands that her role is not to judge failings or extol virtues, but rather to report experiences in the hopes that other women will relate and find comfort in not being alone. She does this very well, and seemingly without holding back her own embarrassment.

I'm not sure about Shandler's claim about women not writing in because they were shy or embarrassed. People not having problems wouldn't have written just to say, 'hey, everything's great over here, thanks for asking', so it's still hard to support her claim. However, as she also says, there is almost nothing out there like this book, stories from mothers about parenting their daughters in adolescence, and the book's true value stems from that. It's a well-written, extremely engaging book that provides insight and, importantly, hindsight into parenting ideas and struggles, particularly for those of us who are teetering on the edge of the adolescent phase for our second time around.

Rating: four stars; Well-written, chatty, touching look into parenting girls through the most difficult part of childhood

Note

Hi There:

For those of you who don't know, I started a 12mo graduate program at the end of May that will give me my master's in education next year. We do two courses a month, so an entire semester in eight four-hour sessions per class. It's pretty intense, and I haven't had much time for anything else, reading-wise. But, I do have a little time off here and there, and there will be other books that I'll be reading for the class that I will be able to post about (such Porcupine, which I just posted, and Ophelia's Mom, which will be up in a few minutes). So, it may get a little sparse around here from time to time, but I haven't abandoned it! :)

Astarte

Review: How To Hug a Porcupine: Negotiating the Prickly Points of the Tween Years, by Julie A. Ross, M.A.

In Porcupine, Ross discusses several ways to approach common problems of adolescent behavior and its effects on the family. Her primary assertion is that parents should take a ‘relationship’ approach, because at this stage they will no longer be able to physically control him or her, and must now rely on the quality of the relationship they have with the child to provide the basis for all interaction. Parents must understand that hormones and social changes make the tween years especially sensitive, and to control their reflexive responses of anger, worry and overprotection and work towards interactions that are less reflexive and more constructive. In order to foster open communication, parents should have family meetings, avoid blocking children’s expressions via unhelpful emotional reactions or overhelping (problem solving) that displays a lack of trust or enables childish behavior. It is vital for a parent to be engaged in the child’s interests in order to have a basis for a solid relationship. Finally, a child’s self-esteem should be fostered with encouragement of the effort used rather than generic praise of an outcome, such as praising hard work rather than an easily-won good grade.

Although they were obviously fictitious, the ‘personal stories’ are helpful because they break up the advice sections and give examples of behavior in a non-clinical manner. The writing is very accessible to the average person, and doesn’t require any particular knowledge of psychology. Particularly for the less well-read parent, many of the ideas and concepts may be fairly new or different from what they have experienced or tried in the past.

While the author includes many examples of different ‘brands’ of bad behavior – defiance, moral ambiguity, slacking off at home and school – many of the examples seem much the same, just with a slightly different twist. In the ‘coffee group’ the author has created, only mothers participate, which I found to be disappointing, because that implies that only women are expected to be involved in parenting. In fact, in several examples, the father is another drag in the mother’s life, by either being non-supportive or downright blaming the mother for the child’s behavior. That seemed strangely behind the times for a book that dictates such new-age parenting. My main complaint, though, is that the author exemplifies tolerance for all but the most extreme mouthing off, which I find completely untenable; she preaches respect for the child, but yet doesn’t demand it for the parent.

Ross makes several useful points that seem obvious, but in the heat of the moment may get thrown by the wayside: self-esteem has to come from the inside; children need to be allowed to learn on their own and deal with the consequences of their actions; parents should act interested in their children’s activities even if they’re not so they can be aware and involved in their child’s life. Core nuggets of advice like these are highlighted by separate placement and font from the rest of the writing, making a skim-through easy for those looking for particular sections or a simple refresher.

Rating: 3.5 stars: a decent starting place for basic challenges of tweenage parenting problems

Review: The Last Child, by John Hart

John Hart's latest novel, The Last Child, centers around a child named Johnny Merrimon, whose sister disappeared a year earlier, and whose father vanished not long after. Far from the idyllic life he once had, Johnny and his mother now live in a rundown house owned by the violent town bigwig who now controls their lives. His mother rarely gets out of bed, and Johnny spends his days on his bike, combing neighborhoods and tracking known pedophiles in a dogged attempt to find his sister rather than attending school. When Johnny witnesses a murder, and is himself briefly grabbed by a stranger in the woods, the story of what really has happened in the town begins to unravel.

There's a lot about this story that's a rerun of other novels: the despairing mother who falls apart and turns to the violent man who abuses her child but turns a blind eye, the rebel child who rises to adult level and takes on the role of caretaker, the cop who is obsessed with the case and also, of course, is in love with the distraught mother, the lurking uber-religious mentally handicapped well-meaning felon. However, the plot itself moves along fairly quickly once it gets going, and the questions are interesting. What really did happen? Will Johnny's father return? Who killed the motorcyclist, and what does the man in the forest have to do with anything?

Hunt does a good job of concealing the answers to most of these questions until the end of the story. I was honestly surprised at some of the revelations. While this is one of those stories where you know that things are going to work out in the end for everyone, it was nice to not know exactly how it was all going to wind up until the proper time.

The use of mysticism and historical tie-ins with Johnny's ancestors was somewhat interesting, if a little heavy-handed towards the end of the story. The story's flow stutters a bit entering into the climax events because of it; while there was some foreshadowing as to its importance, it wasn't integrated into the story enough previously for there to be a seamless transition to a more mystical resolution.

Rating: three stars: Tired character stereotypes, sometimes difficult to buy into, but interesting plot

Review: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith

Do you hate history? Does nonfiction leave you sleepy? Are you bored to tears with hearing the same tired stories about our sixteenth president? Author Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, has a cure for you, as he once again visits the world of historical horror fiction with his newest work, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

Smith takes a different tack with his newest work, creating something entirely original rather than choosing a previously published work to embellish. He addresses Lincoln's entire life, dividing the work into three sections - boyhood, manhood, and president - and lays the basis of Lincoln's interactions with the hungry undead early on. It turns out that Lincoln's grandfather, beloved mother, and other relatives died not from common malaise but from exposure to the blood of vampires, who attacked their family in retribution for an outstanding debt Lincoln's father owed to a bloodthirsty banker. This, it becomes clear, is the source of the animosity between Lincoln and his father, and is the beginning of Lincoln's career as a vampire hunter. Once begun, his journey brings him into the company of a vampire turncoat who advises him which of his kind need to die. Their relationship, and the alliances formed because of it, bring Abe to the highest office in the land. There, he battles slavery not only as a human evil, but for its underlying truth; southern vampires use the slave trade for food, and mean to take over all of humanity.

ALVH is does not have the dry wit of Prejudice, but does possess its own dark character that grows increasingly absorbing with each chapter. Smith strays from the action of the main story occasionally, and some sections are a bit dry, but on the whole the tale is well worth reading. At times, the tale seems a bit Ann Rice-y, but the addition of the vampires to Lincoln's life, especially in the political realm, seems fairly organic. The characters themselves are well-written, and the idea of slavery being in reality a massive food supply chain for the undead is genius. Abe's personal tragedies have always seemed almost unrealistic in their scale even in their actual fact, so the weaving in of vampires as a common thread of explanation for the long trail of sorrow almost makes more sense than the real stories behind them. The forward, which slyly mirrors one that would be seen in an actual work, sets the tone of a serious work of nonfiction, which Smith maintains throughout the story. The ending, though, has really captured my imagination. I finished this book about two weeks ago, and am still thinking about it, imagining what would come next.

It did take me a few chapters to actually get into the story, and occasionally the tale was a bit slower than I would have liked, but overall, ALVH is another success for Smith. I was impressed previously with his talent for seamlessly weaving zombies into a classic, and am glad to see that he possesses the dexterity to create his own original works as well. I look forward to reading whatever he comes out with next.

Rating: four out of five stars. Very imaginative, with intriguing characterizations.

Review: Flood, by Stephen Baxter

In Stephen Baxter's Flood, a group of four scientists and military members from around the world emerges from a years-long hostage situation to find the world around them rapidly changing. Waters around the world are rising, not because of anything humankind has done but rather because of natural circumstances; the earth's plates have been hiding subterranean oceans that are finally bursting free, flooding London even as the hostages are being freed. Billionaire entrepreneur Nathan Lammockson, who had a hand in the hostage's discovery and release, entreats the former hostages to help him in his quest to conquer the new challenges humanity faces. Fraught with socio-political strife and greed, Flood tells the tale of humanity's last stand on Earth, of our final forty years on dry land.

Unfortunately, while the premise, and potential, of this concept is fascinating, Baxter's execution is not up to the task. The characters are flat, predictable caricatures of what they could be. The story alternates between dragging and flashing forward, skipping years and important character developments. The entire undertaking begins to feel like a made-for-TV movie, where there are snippets of interesting events, but really nothing to keep you from heading for the kitchen for a snack or answering the phone.

I wanted to like this book. I really did. The concept was so interesting! I stuck with it to the end, hoping for more, but the whole thing just unraveled more as time passed. I know there's a sequel, which I have to admit piques my interest just enough that I might check it out, because again, the idea had so much potential, that even if the end result wasn't what I hoped for, I at least had fodder for my own imaginings of what the world would be like and how I could have done it differently than the author, and that's worth something. Besides, even with the worst of the Lifetime movies, the action scenes can still be worth tuning in to gawk at.

Rating: two stars. Cool idea, interesting action scenes, but little more than TV-movie quality.