Book Review: Detours

Detours. Emma Gates. Wells Street Press, January 15, 2014, Trade Paperback.

Reviewed by Vicky Edwards.

Detours is a book that bridges the changing times, and the changing world, from the political protests at Indiana University in the early 1970s to political unrest in Kuwait in 1983, focusing on the uneasy relationship between love and politics.

The story begins in 1983 with the protagonist, Clare, scanning a list of people she will see at an upcoming trade show. She sees the name of Lowell Goodenow, triggering an extended flashback to her meeting Lowell when she was an idealistic freshman co-ed and Lowell was a self-assured East Coast upperclassman. Sparks fly, both political and personal, but when Clare is involved in a political activity Lowell doesn’t support, their relationship is tested.

The social unrest of the intervening years unfolds before us: civil unrest in Mexico, a bombing in Beirut, the Iranian revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini. Gates has a good eye for vivid details and a good ear for the language of the times. Guitarists strum to Leonard Cohen and Cat Stevens, the Establishment is dissed, and bras go unworn. The descriptions of time and place ring true, although they are, in the end, backdrop for the romance of the two central characters.

The title refers to the detours the characters make before reconnecting in 1983, but more generally, to the way we try to create a path our lives will take when we are in college only to find a decade later that the path took far different turns than we could possibly have envisioned.

There are times when the detailed descriptions of characters and their settings overwhelm to the point that they are less human and engaging people than they might be, but overall the book is readable and, at times, even poetic. The opening page, for example, depicts an icy December sky in Chicago that is “spitting white dots and dashes” and later, Lowell looks at hills in autumn “where gold and scarlet were just staining the leaves.”

Gates knows the backdrops she has described in the novel well, having attended college in Bloomington, Indiana, and having worked in both Mexico and Saudi Arabia. She earned an MBA with a concentration in Arabic/Middle East studies and now lives in the Chicago area.

Book Review: Spartanica

Spartanica. Powers Molinar. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, November 12, 2013, Trade Paperback and Kindle, 388 pages.

Reviewed by Paige Doepke.

Spartanica is the first book in this young adult sci-fi series, The Survivors of Sapertys, which chronicles the accidental slip of the main characters, Marcus and Ty Mitchell, from their own earthly reality into a parallel reality on the planet of Sapertys. Each of the boys has their own strengths, physically and intellectually, that help them make sense of the strangeness that suddenly surrounds them. The brothers must use their wanderlust and excitement for the unknown to help restore some sort of rightfulness on the new planet that they come to realize as home. 

Author Powers Molinar’s true passion for the sci-fi genre oozes from the pages. The novel lends itself to comparison against other notable teen series—namely The Hunger Games and Harry Potter—but it really is an idea and a world all its own. The very descript scientific details of the story set it apart from others, and in fact, make the surreal concept of travelling between planets, with time virtually standing still back at home, feel incredibly real. A smart reader, even a smart reader of fiction, questions the likelihood of the story in front of them, and Molinar really covers his bases. That’s a sign of a great writer.

Part of what makes the story feel so real is how relatable its main characters are. Marcus and Ty have grown up in the care of their aunt and have never questioned the death of their parents when they were both very young. As we all know, the monotony of everyday life doesn’t always leave much room for questioning. However, when they wander into their aunt’s Archaeological study, they fall into a world of possibility. Oddly enough, that opportunity for possibility, Spartanica, the capital city of Sapertys, is in ruins. Therefore, the boys bring possibility with them, but also find it there for themselves. Spartanica, in all of its ruin, is a symbol of hope; what once was there is quite literally a foundation for what could eventually be. 

They boys learn that maybe life, here and back on Earth, is malleable. Maybe they aren’t who they have always thought they were. Maybe there’s more to the story about their parents and about where they came from than they had originally thought. While they learn about their history and the history of Spartanica, the brothers start to look past the annoyances of their relationship and realize each other’s value as well. 

The book also explores the relationships among people who are different from one another. Though the children of Sapertys—Bellona, Enmity’s, Yard, and Irina, to name a few—come from different backgrounds, languages, and cultures than each other and Ty and Marcus, the commonality of their passion, Sapertys, dissolves those differences. Connecting on a human level trumps cultural norms.

I’ll admit I was skeptical when I first started this book. Young Adult sci-fi series are becoming so popular and often the question arises: is any idea really novel anymore? I feel the need to answer “yes” to that question after reading Spartanica. It was fresh, smart, and didn’t feel too young. I’d recommend it for pre-teens and older readers who enjoy thinking outside the box and being surprised. I’m waiting with great anticipation to read the rest of the series.  

Book Review: The Tragedy of Fidel Castro

The Tragedy of Fidel Castro. Joa͂o Cerqueira. Translated by Karen Bennett and Chris Mingay. Austin, TX: River Grove Books, 2013, Trade Paperback and Kindle, 168 pages.

Reviewed by Caryl Barnes.

The Tragedy of Fidel Castro is the antic and deeply wise story of an imminent war between Fidel Castro and JFK with God, Jesus, Fatima, J. Edgar Hoover, and unnamed powerful advisers trying to prevent it. The story is at once alternative history, magical realism, and satire. The author tackles the biggest topics there are – religion, politics, economics, history, mythology, even ecology and, at the end, astronomy. 

The author, born in Portugal in 1964, has a Ph.D. in art history.  He has written seven books, three of them novels, the other four on different topics.  The Tragedy of Fidel Castro is his most recent and well-known book and has received strongly favorable, if sometimes perplexed, reader reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. 

From the outset this book baffled, intrigued, amused, bored, irritated, and awed me. Having such a mix of strong reactions made me respect the writer and keep reading even though sometimes I would have liked to quit. By the end, however, I was laughing aloud at the topsy-turvy way Cerqueira sees religion and politics.

An example of the author’s views on religion: God asks Jesus to return to earth to diffuse the looming war, reminding his Son that times had changed. “[H]e didn’t need to be born, reducing confusion about dogmas of virginity and metaphysical intercourse.” Cerqueira lists other differences: “[T]he Romans no longer ruled the world; …crucifixions had been abolished; prostitutes were no longer stoned in public; miracles had been considerably reduced; the price of treason was below thirty coins; ...plastic surgery had replaced transfiguration.”

Some things, however, are the same. “[T]he majority had identical resentment against men who wanted to change the established order; women continued to have more faith than men despite being excluded from religious functions; …using God’s name to wage wars continued to be highly effective; …prodigal sons returned home when their money ran out…”

With so much to admire I had to think about why The Tragedy of Fidel Castro didn’t affect me more deeply. The plot is ingenious, the ideas powerful, the writing style too ornate for my tastes but nonetheless well-wrought.  What the book lacks is heart. With novels, I look for fascinating, complex, emotional characters that change over the course of the book. Cerqueira’s characters may have names like Jesus and JFK, but the characters are personifications, not people. If stuck, they wouldn’t bleed.

My own take is personal and does not diminish the razzle-dazzle, the mirth, the insights, and the intellectual meatiness of Cerqueira’s book. He is a gutsy satirist with talent to burn.

See his website for more information:  www.joaocerqueira.com

Book Review: More Tomasewski

More Tomasewski. Del Staecker. Musa Publishing, Colorado Springs, CO, January 1, 2014, Kindle e-book, 185 pages.

Reviewed by Kent McDaniel.

More Tomasewski is a series of stories involving Jake Thompson, a.k.a. Jan Tomasewski, and the stories are great fun. Jake is good at catching crooks and bad at respecting authority, and it’s his lack of respect that got him exiled to the despised Administrative Investigations Unit (AIU) and forced out of the Chicago Police Department. Now he subsists on a meager pension and sleeps in a storage room of a Southside greasy spoon. His fondness for Old Jimmy Jack—a mix of Old Granddad, Jim Beam, and Jack Daniels—adds to his problems. If that’s not enough, the diner’s waitress, Earline, is bent on corralling him into an unwanted relationship.

On top of all of that, Lt. Mildred Foister, his former boss at AIU, calls him in for a sit-down one morning. She tells Jake that a clerical error, encountered when his father changed their family name from Tomasewski, has jeopardized Jake’s pension. Officially, he’s no longer retired and needs to start showing up for work again at AUI. He also owes the city for the pension checks he had received.

He returns to the diner, where his friend Dewey gives him some more news. Two days ago, one of their boyhood pals disappeared after winning four hundred thousand dollars at a slot machine over in Indiana. Immediately, Jake is enmeshed in police department politics and the underside of Midwestern casinos, not to mention a murder frame up. The story takes him across the Southside and its near suburbs. These settings ring true, and the same goes for the tale’s characters. The plot whisks the characters through increasingly complex twists until it culminates in an understated bittersweet ending.

Jake gets mixed up with a Southside urban legend, Resurrection Mary. The story may or may not feature the supernatural—you can decide—but definitely puts Jake through some intense changes, providing good, creepy fun. As Jake recovers from his challenges, his one time partner in crime fighting, Eddie Moocha, a.k.a. The Duct Tape Vigilante, comes to Jake for help. Eddie has retired from his career as a low-budget Batman, and he’s facing legal trouble over his new undercover crime-fighting project.

On Eddie’s behalf, Jake goes to a Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff at the Cook County D.A.’s office. The Deputy Assistant agrees to help Eddie only if Jake can solve two, tough, semi-cold cases for her. The first case centers on Internet blackmail and the second revolves around the murder of the owner of a string of Southside pizza parlors. Both cases lead to plot twists in spades, encounters with shady individuals, and trips into Chicago’s dark side.

Interspersed with all these tales are several shorter pieces that change the pace and reveal surprising aspects of various characters. Although the narratives also vary in tone and style, they do work together to form a larger whole. The Chicago settings are one unifying thread, as are recurring characters and Jake’s propensity for helping a friend.

But even more, the consistency of Jake’s voice as narrator unites the stories. It’s the wise-ass voice of a guy who cares about justice more than laws, hates seeing a friend shafted, and thinks of those traits as major character flaws. The voice was my favorite part of More Tomasewski, which is saying a lot because I enjoyed its characters, settings, and plots big-time.

Book Review: A Life Less Lived

A Life Less Lived. Eileen Ladin-Panzer. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Trade Paperback, May 1, 2013, 354 pages. 

Reviewed by Gail Galvan.

In this evocative and often disturbing novel, the author tells a story about a family of Jewish emigrants escaping to the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, leaving the “ghettos of Europe” behind. The author sets the opening scene referring to the year 1945, on a hot summer day in Chicago. “Outside, on the steep porches of weathered buildings, women fanned their bodies with casual hand movements, hoping that their simple cotton housedresses would not get too sweaty, and watched neighborhood children at play.”

Like the relentless Midwestern summer humidity that must be endured, the characters in the book often fail to escape the “stuffiness that lived within the walls” of their homes and lives. Initially believing in the hope for a better life, the Borsky family soon discovers that Chicago is not “the land of milk and honey” they had dreamed about. On the contrary, life in the United States during a turbulent postwar era is fraught with unfulfillment, thus the title: A Life Less Lived. 

“Eager anticipation” and sincere efforts to adjust quickly transform into daily problems and routines. Passages related to ancestors arriving in New York and Chicago, historical events, and the Jewish culture are interesting and intertwined within the story throughout the book, such as: the end of World War II, the death of President F. D. Roosevelt, kosher foods, specialty dishes, holiday celebrations, and customary rituals. Even the tradition of taking the first letter of a Jewish person’s name and changing it to a more “American” one. Although the displaced immigrants are initially hopeful, a fiery, deep sense of unrest and joylessness begins to burn on—page after page.

Mortie Borsky, the eight-year-old boy, is shot in the arm by an adult neighbor with a BB gun and a court case ensues. Attempting to find accountability and resolution, all the Borskys run into is partiality to their influential neighbor, the shooter. Rebecca, Mortie’s mother, is plagued by mental illness. Abe, the “man” of the house is haunted by a brutal, unhappy past and is simply a wounded, pitifully mean alcoholic and gambler. He makes life hell for his family. 

Then, there is Evelyn, Evie, a young girl we follow from childhood, to her romance with Sean, into her years of adulthood. Life is again “less lived” in unhappiness rather than ultimately enjoying life or fulfilling any true dreams of her own. Yet, this is the character who captures our heart, the one the reader begins to cheer for.

The author explores strengths in characters, occasionally, but does not hold back with regard to portraying humans with all of their ugliness, prejudices, flaws, and weaknesses. Like another Chicago writer, Sarajevo-born, Aleksandar Hemon, Ladin-Panzar delves right into unfortunate realities and the dark side of humanity with a stark frankness. Prejudices, I might add, sometimes by Jewish people, too, which I found ironic and yet another sad, disturbing fact within the story, since they came to America to escape such horrific injustices due to their own ethnicity. Yet, it’s obvious; this fact was simply another harsh reality and sign of the times.

With all of the tough times and disturbing sad events, it’s a wonder if Evie can eventually symbolize a sign of hope for immigrants who left their devastated homeland, transported to Chicago, and tried to capture the American dream. Many immigrants do succeed. But does Evie? You’d have to read the book to find out.

On another note, I could truly picture the Chicago neighborhoods, downtown stores, and markets, as well as other places and people in the book, because many descriptions were very detailed. The beautiful cover helped, too. However, occasionally, long drawn out sentences, paragraphs, and one lengthy, philosophical discussion, I felt, affected the flow of the story. Also, dialogue, and as thoughts were conveyed, sometimes, did not read or sound as natural as possible. Yet, the interesting storyline kept me reading. And the author noted that this is her first book.

So there is nothing in the writing style that can’t be improved since storytellers, writers who create books, only get better with time. Therefore, the author’s “lifelong ambition to be a writer,” should not be discouraged. Like Evie, the main character in her story, I hope the author keeps aspiring to a more, not less, fulfilling ambition. After all, she’s on her way with her first book.

Finally, I’ll close with one of the revealing passages by Mr. Borsky (Abe) from the book:

                             “Christmas music! He flicked the dial off in disgust.

                              All they play from Thanksgiving until January is

                              Christmas music. Who needs it? As if God, or

                              anybody, is going to help. What a man needs is luck,

                              plenty of luck. Christmas music. A joke. A lousy joke,

                              played on fools.”