History of a Suicide My Sister's Unfinished Life by Jill Bialosky This book has been on my list for awhile. Unfortunately I couldn't find it at my local library (grrrrr) so I finally bought it. I had forgotten, or perhaps didn't realize to begin with, that it took place in the same city I grew up in. It is the true account told from the perspective of a woman who's sister completed suicide. The youngest sister in a family of four sisters and single mother took her own life and years later the author is trying to convey how this has shaped her adulthood, and made her rethink her childhood. It was very fitting to my profession, particularly my current job, and also struck a personal note in the familiarity of the childhood memories at least as far as setting. The sisters in the book are decades older then me but it was so easy to picture everything that took place on streets in the same neighborhoods I grew up in. I learned a lot and though I am a mental health professional, it was very educational to hear from the perspective of a stable family member who had suffered this loss. The book is well written but also pretty sad, possibly not for the average reader looking for something light.
Some great information I learned and some favorite quotes: "in patients who had committed suicide, they had 30 percent more of the specific serotonin receptor called the 5 HT 2 A receptor" "How are we to know why at one moment someone's anguish is so overwhelming she can't get out of bed? Why on the next day that same person seems to have found the spark of life again?" "Time doesn't really heal, it only makes living more bearable." "Fear that if we do not locate the time and place, the exact moment along the way where our loved one became unhinged, someone else we love will end his or her life and once again we'll be blindsided?"
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult The best part about March for me is that it means a new Picoult book is out. Didn't get my copy until this month instead but it was worth the wait. I must say though she is one of my favorites, I had been a little disappointed with the last few novels of hers that I read. I am very glad I didn't give up on her though. This one was incredible. It tells the story of a young woman who has suffered a personal tragedy and has since taken to being a loner. She finds a friend in a much older gentleman who then confides in her the reason he became friends with her was so that he could ask her to assist in killing him. He also confesses he was a Nazi in WWII. To complicate this matter the girl's grandmother is a concentration camp survivor. The book is divided up, as most of Picoult's are, and we hear from many narrators. The middle section of the story is told from the grandmother's point of view and goes into harrowing detail of the terrible events that she endured. I'm still, almost a full moth later, uncertain on the ending of the story but I also see why the author left it the way she did. Overall a very powerful and emotional story and well worth reading.
Quotes:" 'It's a great city,' I say automatically, although I do not entirely believe this. The traffic is insane, and there's a protest every other day about some cause, which quickly stops being idealistic and starts being a pain in the neck when you need to get somewhere in a timely fashion and all the roads are blocked off." "How dare you tell me this, when I lived it? How dare you erase my life just like that?" "When you are too young to think for yourself, you are baptized and taken to church and droned at by a priest and told that Jesus died for your sins, and since your parents nod and say this is true, why should you not believe them?" "You can struggle against the isolation, or you can give yourself up to it." "I do not believe in God. But sitting there, in a room full of those who feel otherwise, I realize that I do believe in people. In their strength to help each other, and to thrive in spite of the odds. I believe the extraordinary trumps the ordinary, any day. I believe that having something to hope for- even if it's just a better tomorrow- is the most powerful drug on the planet." "You do not understand... You are asking me to poke a hole in a dam, because you are thirsty, even though I will end up drowning in the process." "It's as if, now that they have something good in their lives, they cannot bear to see it go." "...even when she became collateral damage, she believed in the power of the human spirit. She gave when she had nothing; she fought when she could barely stand; she clung to tomorrow when she couldn't find footing on the rock ledge of yesterday... She became whomever she needed to be to survive, but she never let anyone else define her." "But forgiving isn't something you do for someone else. It's something you do for yourself. It's saying, You're not important enough to have stranglehold on me. It's saying, You don't get to trap me in the past. I am worthy of a future." "If you end your story, it's a static work of art, a finite circle. But if you don't, it belongs to anyones imagination. It stays alive forever."
When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe What a book. This story takes place in the Philippines at the end of WWII with the Americans and Japanese still fighting on the land. The story begins with a family and community members taking shelter in the family's basement and trying to survive with little to no food. Several family members leave the shelter and risk their lives to find food. In between pages of absolute horror and violence during the war, there are chapters woven in of folklore legends told through narrators in the basement and sharing lessons of courage and hope to keep everyone going through such a terrible time. I loved the graphic details the author wrote about the outside world, and the tender magical story telling that took place in between. They provided such a unique contrast that kept me turning the pages. Though the story has many tragedies along the way, you root for the family and the community in hiding throughout and even knowing there will be tragedy I was still saddened by the losses they endured.
Night of Many Dreams by Gail Tsukiyama This is the story of two young sisters living in Hong Kong as WWII breaks out. The story follows the lives of the girls from young adolescence during the war to
young adulthood. We as readers get to follow the girls through a variety of cultures as the move, first for safety and then later on along the paths their lives take them. We follow the family as the parents and close aunt grow older as well and how their lives change based on what happens with the girls. I liked the book enough though I didn't feel like it matched with what the jacket said. I also didn't like that in parts of the book a new piece of the plot would be opened up but then closed up immediately and not really explored which made it seem then that it wasn't really necessary to the story.
Water Witches by Chris Bohjalian Very interesting story. One of this authors shorter novels but I enjoyed it as I usually enjoy his writing. The narrator is a father with a young daughter who inherited the ability to find water sources underground. Though his wife/her mother is also able to do this his sister in law is talented with additional abilities in tune with nature. The story takes place in a small Vermont town which thrives on it's ski industry. The narrator is an attorney working for the ski industry to be able to expand and continue to grow but caught between his job and his family since this expansion would cause environmental concern in the area. Since his wife, daughter, and most of the wife's family are so in tune with nature/environment this causes conflict. I learned a lot about the practice of water divining that I did not know even existed. I also really liked that throughout the book you got a strong sense of the characters love and affection for his young daughter. This father's love is what gives the story direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment