BOOK REVIEW: Never Change

Once in awhile a book comes along that turns out to be very personal. A book that makes you want to sit down with a good friend and a good glass of Pinot Grigio to talk about the book and life in general. NEVER CHANGE by Elizabeth Berg was one of those books for me.

Fifty-one years old Myra has never married. She explains herself as the girl in high school who sat on the folding chair selling tickets to the prom, but never having a chance to attend it. Her only relationship seems to be with her dog Frank.

Myra works as a home nurse, visiting patients who need help with changing dressings, giving insulin shots, and similar medical situations. Her new assignment is a former classmate who has been her secret love since their high school days. Chip was the perfect young man, handsome, popular with the girls as well as the boys, a star athlete; the boy who would do well all of his life.

Chip has been diagnosed with brain cancer and has come home to die. Myra and Chip are now in a situation where their roles have done a reversal.Now they share old memories and new discoveries, sometimes from very different points of view.

Elizabeth Berg takes what could have been a very trite plot and weaves a beautiful story. The book's strength is mainly in her cast of characters. Myra should be a pathetic, lonely, middle-aged woman. Instead she shows that she is a hero, a quiet hero full of warmth, wisdom and capabilities. Her attitude keeps us from seeing her as a pitiful creature, instead, we find ourselves admiring her.

We also see the depth of the golden boy Chip. Their memories of high school remind us how we neglect to look beyond the surfaces of our classmates.The perfect person in our English class may have things going on that would surprise us.

I loved how well Berg created Myra's patients. There was a feeling of honesty in their depiction. We met Grace, a fourteen-year-old new mother, DeWitt, a bitter, middle-aged black man who does some dealing in drugs, Rose, a victim of dementia who lives in poverty, blind Fitz who likes to go to the strip clubs. Each of Myra's patients become very real to the reader and as important to us as they are to Myra.There is a mini story in each person.

Author Elizabeth Berg has taken a simple story and fleshed it out with a sharply drawn wry observant eye. Her use of language, her pull on the readers' emotions, her character sketches are all done beautifully without  being over sentimental. NEVER CHANGE is a book that you will want to share.

BOOK REVIEW: The Weight of Water

Author Anita Shreve's THE WEIGHT OF WATER captures the reader's attention in much the same way that watching a train accident does. It is hypnotizing and you know from the start that all is not going to end well.

Jean is a photographer who has become obsessed with the 1873 murder of two women on Smuttynose Island, a small, barren island off the coast of New Hampshire. Jean has been given the assignment to take the photographs that will illustrate a magazine article on the horrific murders.

Jean, her husband Thomas, their five-year-old daughter Billie, and Rich, Thomas's brother, with his new girlfriend, Adaline set out in Rich's boat to help with the photographic assignment planning on a leisurely vacation. The tension on the boat becomes evident very early. Jean and Thomas are having marital problems and Jean believes that Adaline may be involved with Thomas. The best thing on the boat is Billie.

While searching for documents on the murder trial during one of their land excursions, Jean finds an old letter written by Maren Hontvedt. Maren had been on the island the night of the murders and, as an old woman, near the end of her life, she feels obligated to tell the whole story.

This is a novel written as a story within a story. Jean has become so immersed by Maren's letter that it colors everything that is happening in her own life. At one point she asks, "I wonder this: If you take a woman and push her to the edge, how will she behave?" This question may overlap the centuries and apply to Jean as well as Maren.

Each woman's story is told in the first person, giving the book a very intimate feel. The author is excellent at capturing the moods of the people as well as the locations. We feel the cramped quarters of the boat that holds four adults and one little girl as well as the isolation of Smuttynose Island and the small house that at times held too many people.

Author Anita Shreve dovetailed the two stories together perfectly. At times we could see similarities between Jean and Maren and it was easy to see why Jean became so fascinated by Maren's life and the murders. This is more than a murder mystery, but more a study of people, people of 1873 as well as today.

This was my first Anita Shreve book. She really does pull you in until you can not look away. Her characters are complex, her moods compelling, her plots complicated.  THE WEIGHT OF WATER was an excellent choice as a title. The water plays many parts in each of the character's lives.

I have heard so many mixed comments on Shreve as an author that I will have to try another book by her. I would be interested in hearing which book you think it should be. Let me know. Good or bad.

BOOK REVIEW: Black and Blue

BLACK AND BLUE is not my normal type of reading. Domestic violence is rarely the subject for light, romantic novels, but author Anna Quindlen is such a skilled writer that I picked it up. The main character, Fran/Beth so captured me that I read straight through the night.

Fran Benedetto is married to a local policeman. When the beatings started she felt that things would change, besides, she loved him. Then she told herself that having a baby would change things; then she felt that their son deserved a family, a father. The police were no help. He was one of their men. Plus, she loved him.

One day, after a particularly bad beating, she saw the look in ten-year-old Robert's eyes and knew that she had to get the two of them away. At the hospital where she worked, she had listened to a woman who worked with an organization that helped women find a new identity in a new place.
Now, know as Beth, she and her son have started a new life, always aware that one slip up and her husband has the resources to find them.

Anna Quindlen does an excellent job of getting us into Beth's head. Her son does not understand why his father is no longer part of his life. It is difficult for Beth, let alone Robert, to keep her new story straight and the difference in their new lifestyle is difficult. On top of the new hardships, there is always the fear that they will be found and the death threats will become real.

This is not a happy book. Domestic violence is not a happy subject. It takes an author of Quindlen's skill to keep it human and suspenseful. This is not a story that the more lurid talk shows would appreciate. It is a study of a woman with a terrible secret. It is a book to be shared with girlfriends with the prayer that none of them need it.

BOOK REVIEW: Go Set a Watchmanl

It is impossible to talk about Harper Lee's GO SET A WATCHMAN without referring to To Kill a Mockingbird. In fact,if it has been awhile since reading Mockingbird, it might be a good idea to watch the movie at least. The background is important.

GO SET A WATCHMAN finds a twenty-six- year-old Scout returning to Maycomb, Alabama to visit her aging father Atticus. She has been living in New York City and now prefers to be called by her real  name, Jean Louise. Again we meet most of the well known characters from Maycomb, with some sad and surprising changes.

The almost twenty years have brought political tensions to Maycomb. Especially the race situation has become ugly and  Jean Louise is not prepared to find people that she thought she knew filled with bigotry and hatred. When she learns that her father is a member of an organization that is associated with the Klan, she is sick. She feels that this makes everything that she believed that he had taught her to be a lie. The man who stood for fairness and honor has betrayed her.

I do not agree with the many reviews that vilify Atticus. He was and is a man who lives for the fairness of the law. Again, he is willing to defend a black man who is accused of murdering a white man. Although it was an accident that was more the white man's fault, Atticus knows that it will bring the NAACP and national attention to the trial.

Considering that GO SET A WATCHMAN was supposedly written in the mid-1950's, Harper Lee had a very good understanding of the time and place of her characters. The ladies at Aunt Alexandra's Coffee Social and their cliche statements on the blacks were so well drawn that the scene gives us a glimpse of how far Jean Louise has grown from her home town. Henry, Jean Louise's old boyfriend, knows that he has to go along with the current feelings of white superiority in order to fit in. Even Calpurnia is now a stranger and not willing to cross black/white lines.

But it is Atticus and his feelings on the racial situation that make Jean Louise feel that she has been lied to and betrayed, that all that she believed Atticus had stood for has been a lie.

GO SET A WATCHMAN is not a particularly good book. Lee's style of writing is more appropriate for Scout than for Jean Louise. The flashbacks to Scout, Jem and Dill in their Mockingbird days are the only spots of charm in the novel. I can not picture it becoming required reading or of being made into a classic movie.

The publisher that had originally turned the manuscript of GO SET A WATCHMAN down and told Harper Lee to write  about Scout as a young girl was right. Because of his insight we have To Kill a Mockingbird, a book that stays on top of my list of all time best books written. I have always felt that if an author has decided that one of his works is not good enough to be published, we should listen to him. GO SET A WATCHMAN will never get the acclaim that To Kill a Mockingbird so richly deserved, but it still makes for an interesting quick read if only to see how life changes in a small Southern town from the 1940's to the 1950's and what happens to some of Scout's old friends.

BOOK REVIEW: Flowers from the Storm

The downsizing of my library is complete. I now have a better understanding of Hercules and the Augean Stables. The difference is that he probably did not find some hidden gems nor have I ever heard that he hid those gems under his bed.One of the gems that I found is FLOWERS FROM THE STORM by Laura Kinsale. Kinsale has taken the Regency Romance to a slightly different level.

Maddy Timms is a quiet Quaker living with her blind father. Her only contact with the Duke of Jervaulx is when she delivers her father's mathematical paper to the Duke's home. The brilliant duke and Mr. Timms have been working on proof of an obscure mathematical solution with hopes of presenting the paper to the Analytical Society of the  Royal Institution on Albemarle Street.

Unfortunately, before this important meeting, the Duke, while leaving the bedroom of his present mistress, feels an unpleasant tingling and numbness in his right hand and a weird overall feeling. As he descends the staircase in his mistress' home he meets her husband at the foot of the stairs.

The next time Maddy goes to the home of the Duke, she finds the place in an uproar. The Duke has become a dangerous lunatic and is being taken to an institution for the insane. What follows is Maddy's attempts to save Jervaulx against his family's insistence that he be found incompetent so that his vast wealth can be turned over to them. So far, we have the makings of a typical romance novel.

What made this book so fascinating was the Duke's illness and how it was treated. Naturally, it was never stated that he had suffered a stroke. Little would have been known of aneurysms or hemorrhaging of the brain during the early 1800's.  All that the people around him could see was that he had lost his ability to communicate and that he became violent when his attempts were frustrating.

The conditions of the "hospital" where Jervaulx was institutionalized was probably better than most, but still filled with what a modern reader would only see as inhumane treatment. The fact that a duke would expect very special privileges did not help his relationships with his caretakers.

It also was to the author's credit to be able to keep Maddy true to her Quaker beliefs. Her conflict of her attraction to Jervaulx, her horror of his life style, and her loyalty to her father and the Society of Friends were never glossed over. Instead, we worried for her and her Calling to help this man who was so far out of her experience.

FLOWERS FROM THE STORM appeared on my nightstand at the perfect time. I needed a read that was not too deep of a medical study and yet, not too fluffy. Thanks to author Laura Kinsale, I found a little gem.

THEATER REVIEW: The Marvelous Wonderettes

Millbrook Playhouse is closing the season on a high note. THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES is a feel good show full of fun, talent and four young ladies briming over with personality.

Asked to be the entertainment, at the last moment, for the class of 1958's senior prom, Missy, Suzy, Cindy Lou and Betty Jean bring their four part harmony to fill in. They also bring their boy problems. As the girls wow the audience with their music, the individual personalities become distinct and love situations become tricky. In the second act, their ten year reunion shows us the changes in the young women as well as the changes in the music over a ten year span.

If you had seen Samantha Carroll as Mary Poppins and as General Cartwright, you would not have recognized her as Missy. Well, maybe you would have recognized some of her high notes. Her  straight, dark hair, the black framed glasses and the conservative gown made Missy the picture of 1950's nerd. The love of her teen years is her high school choir director. The fact that his name is Mr. Lee gives her a chance to sing not only the song "Mr. Lee" but of course "Teacher's Pet", which works into the plot nicely. In the second act we learn that his first name is Bill and we hear "Wedding Bell Blues" ( "Won't You Marry Me, Bill?")

Kate Keating as the gum chewing Suzy captured the sound of the 50's very well; she had the slight, rather sweet voice that could break when needed. After the slightly screw ball of the first act, we were not quite prepared for the change in her in the second act. When she started on Aretha Franklin's "Respect" I had my doubts. Kate nailed it! In fact she, to use an old theatrical phrase, ate up the stage.

Man stealing Cindy Lou, was played by Katrina Diehn. My biggest disappointment this summer was that we did not see more of Katrina. She is such a delight, no matter how she is cast, but she does shine as the pretty girl who is accustomed to getting her own way - including her best friend's boyfriend. She proved that she could do some scene stealing as well when she did "Son of a Preacher Man" and "Leader of the Pack".

Shannon Agnew has been thrilling Millbrook audiences all summer. As Cindy Lou's best friend, Betty Jean, Shannon had many opportunities to show her comedic side. I suggest that when ordering tickets  you always sit where you can see Shannon's facial expressions. But, do not ever forget that this young woman can sing. Her medley around "It's my Party and I Can Cry if I Want To"  hit on all levels.

Dax Valdes has been one of my favorites over the years at Millbrook. He sings, dances and acts with the best of them, but he shines as a director and choreographer. His touch as both with THE MARVELOUS WONDERETTES was obvious. The stage movement was energetic and the dance numbers were well coordinated - after all this was a show about back up singers as well as leads. Any time that you see Dax's name in a program, get you ticket as fast as possible.

This is such a fun show and I heard more than one member of the audience say that it was the best show of the season. If fact, the run of the show is a sell out and an extra week has been added to the schedule, now running through August 28th. For time and seat availability, call 570-748-8083. Good luck or visit their website.

PS. If I have a complaint about this year, it is the program insert. Very small, black print on colored paper is very hard to read. Using one main program and then the insert for individual plays is practical, but I want to be able to read credits.

Our group is always a bit sad when Millbrook's summer season is over, but we will be watching to see what happens next. Thank you David E. Leidholdt for having the talent to gather all of these great people to Mill Hall, Pennsylvania again this year.

BOOK REVIEW: Whistling in the Dark

There is something about an author using a ten-year-old protagonist that attracts a reader. It has been done often. Maybe it is the combination of innocence and wisdom that captures our imagination; or maybe it is that loss of innocence itself. Whatever the reason, Lesley Kagen has done it beautifully in her WHISTLING IN THE DARK. It is impossible not to get involved in young Sally O’Malley’s life.

Sally’s beloved father has died causing Sally, her two sisters, Troo and Nell, and their mother to move from their farm into town. Shortly after the move, the mother remarries. She becomes ill and has to go into the hospital. The new stepfather proves to be a cruel drunk who leaves the girls to fend for themselves.

Thus starts Sally’s story. She had promised her father before he died that she would take care of Troo and would tell their mother that he forgave her. Older sister Nell is busy making out with her boyfriend and stepfather Hall is soon out of their lives. This leaves Sally and Troo on their own.

The year is 1959. A time when children were free to play outdoors until after dark, neighbors’ doors were always open, two extra mouths at the dinner table was accepted and winning a coon skin hat was a big thing to a young girl. It was also the year that people on Vliet Street started locking their doors. Someone was molesting and killing young girls. Sally is not only sure of who the murderer is, she is sure that she is going to be the next victim.

The plot of WHISTLING IN THE DARK sounds as if it would be fairly straightforward, but author Lesley Kagen has some neat surprises for the reader. The residents of the town came very much alive and as we learned about them we felt that we also were residents of a small town in the late 1950’s.

My idea of who was the guilty person kept changing (though I never agreed with Sally’s choice). No sooner would I have my suspect than the author would throw a new twist  into the plot.

The identification of the murder is only one of the reasons that you will have trouble putting this delightful book down. The underlying secrets of people that you thought that you knew are revealed slowly throughout the story making this a warm page-turner. It also gives me a new author to keep my eye out for.