Review of The Good Earth

This is the second time that I've read this book and I've enjoyed it thoroughly both times. I love the underlining message of the book about keeping oneself busy. An idle mind belongs to the devil, isn't that right? This is what the book teaches us. It's about a man living in China named Wang Lung; he is a poor farmer and he is getting married to a servant from the rich man's house. The earth and his farm are his world. He buys land from the rich man and having this land and remembering this land is what carries him through a horrible famine. They have to leave their farm and go south, otherwise they would have all died. While living in the south they have to beg for food and he runs a rickshaw through the city. When a riot happens and the city's peasants storm the rich man's house, Wang Lung and also his wife, Olan, come across money and jewels; they can't wait to get back to their farm and their land.

Since Wang Lung is now rich, he can hire people to work his land and care for his animals. He adds rooms onto his house and wears better clothes, but he is bored. He feels too rich for the normal tea house and so he goes to a more upscale tea house and gets into trouble. He never thought his wife, Olan, was beautiful but he meets a concubine who is beautiful and he falls in love with her and buys her and moves her into a wing of his house. He is a rich man and all rich men have concubines. Poor Olan who has done so much for Wang Lung and his house is forced to live with this woman, but she refuses to wait on her or cook her meals or anything of the sort.

Wang Lung soon realizes that he can't make everyone happy. His sons cause problems for him and his uncle and family move in with them and are not good people, but he feels under pressure to take them in or else the local gang will rob him and take all his possessions. Soon his oldest son who is so concerned about appearances talks his father into moving into the rich man's house, where Olan used to work. He buys the house and they fix it up. Before they move though Olan dies. This woman has been through so much. She did so much for Wang Lung, but he never appreciated her. He only felt a small amount of grief when she died. As time goes on he begins to realize that riches aren't what make you happy. His family who all lives together in the big house are bickering and his concubine has grown fat and he doesn't go to her anymore. He does have a last fling with a very young servant girl, which makes my stomach turn and my anger boil: can't he control himself? Seriously. After their little affair he looks to her as a daughter (weird) and he only finds solace in her and his daughter who has mental problems because of the famine she survived.

Soon he grows old and feels he is going to die. All he wants to do in the end is get back to the earth. He moves back out to his little house with his daughter and the young girl to live out the rest of his days. As I mentioned earlier I love the underlining theme of the book, which is to keep thing simple. Money doesn't buy you happiness, what brings you happiness is work and providing for oneself, not being idle. This book will always be a classic because of its timeless theme and message.

Review of Years of Grace

I connected with the main character, Jane Ward, so many times in this book. The author must have been a little older in life before she wrote this (I need to look into that) because she is able to write her story from the point of view of the main character, Jane, from age 14 to age 51 and in each stage in her life the writing makes sense. At one point when she was in her mid 30s, her kids come running in from the bus and one of them needs new shoes, another wants to take his rabbits to school and the other wants friends over and they are all asking her at once. The dialog at this point really rang true to me: "'Hush!' said Jane. 'Pick up your coat, Jenny, and hang it in the closet. Steve - your books don't belong on the floor. Yes Cicily, you can telephone Aunt Isabel tonight and ask them.'" Then she sends them upstairs and sighs and goes in the other room, sits down and thinks "they were terrible noisy. They never seemed to behave like other people's children." I think that anyone who has children has had this conversation on a daily basis when they come home from school. Reading her viewpoint of motherhood, I totally related to her.

This book is about a girl, Jane (as I mentioned before) and it starts out when she is 14 years old and has fallen in love with a young boy, Andre, who is sixteen. Before long, Andre is moving to Paris to study to become a sculptor and asks Jane to marry him (at this time she is seventeen and he is nineteen). She of course realizes that she is in love with him and wants to marry him, her mother freaks out, but her father (I think he is my favorite character in the entire book) handles it well. They decide that it wouldn't work out and that they shouldn't have any contact with each other until Jane is twenty one. This is in contrast when Jane's own daughter, Cicily, wants to marry at the age of seventeen and Jane and her husband are not able to stop it, a difference in parenting and loss of influence, I suppose.

Jane and Andre obey her parents wishes and in the mean time Jane meets another young man, Stephen, who falls in love with her and pursues her for a couple of years and asks her to marry him at least a dozen times. When Jane is actually twenty one she gets a letter from Andre and he tells her that he won't be able to come to Chicago because he has a once in a lifetime opportunity to go to Rome for two years to study with the best instructors. She apparently felt betrayed or offended; if it were me I think I would have understood. But she decided then and there that she would marry Stephen. If Andre couldn't make the effort to come to Chicago to see her then he must not care; I think it was a rash decision and not entirely a wise one, although I did like Stephen a lot.

This book is divided into three sections, the first is named Andre, second is Jimmy, and third is Cicily, Jenny and Steve. The second book is where it kind of started to disappoint me and the whole theme of the book comes out in one little sentence that her father says to her out of concern, "Avoid the appearance of evil". This is something that I think Jane doesn't understand. She agrees to help her old college roommate's husband to feel welcome in Chicago. As she does this she spends entirely way to much time alone with him and he is far too flirtatious with her. If she would have thought to heed her father's advice, she probably never would have fallen in love with Jimmy and avoided a difficult time in her life. She doesn't seem to mind Jimmy's attention though, she thinks it is all a bit of a game and before she knows it she has fallen in love with Jimmy and he asks her to run away with him, which she agrees to do. When she wakes up in the morning, however, she realizes that she can't do it and tells him so. He then runs off to travel the world, joins the army and dies in the war in France. She never tells her friend about her love affair with her husband, but instead lets her friend believe he died an honorable and faithful husband. I'm not sure if that was the right choice or not.

The last book is all about her children and who they become. Her daughter Cicily marries young, as mentioned before, and then she begins a love affair with her cousin's husband. She acts just as her mother acted, but I don't think that Jane is aware of it. She thinks Cicily is horrible for her actions. Her other daughter Jenny doesn't want to marry, she wants to run a dog kennel in New York with her college roommate. Her son moves to Boston (where her husband's family is living) and works at a bank. I don't want to give the whole book away for those of you who want to read it, but it does end up well. One warning: you have to understand French in order to understand the ending. She finally does meet up with Andre in the end and goes with him to his studio and he says something to her in French and it offends her and she cares no more for him. I don't speak French and so therefore I didn't get what was going on. I did look it up on Google translation and this is what he said, "Love makes time pass, time makes love pass". I guess she was offended because after all this time his love had passed or maybe he thought her love for him had passed. I don't know.

One other thing that bothered me about this is how nonchalant her husband was about everything. Once they got married Stephen's character took a back seat. The night Jimmy asked her to run away with him she tried to get Stephen to go walking with them (I do have to admit that she tried really hard not to be alone with Jimmy and she was very faithful until the night she said she would run away with Jimmy) but Stephen just told her to go with out him. He was a little unaware of what was going on. His wife was spending all this time with Jimmy, going to lunch with him, having him come out to their house for long periods of time, etc. Even the nurse and the maid had an idea of what was going on. Maybe he just had a lot of trust in his wife and was never concerned about it.

All in all this book was enjoyable to read and quite interesting. I enjoyed it for the most part. I do have to admit that it kind of dragged on in the end and a lot of the book was her thoughts instead of conversations, but it was still good.

Review of Laughing Boy

This book was in the Young Adult section of my library. This surprised me because I thought most Pulitzer Prize winning books were written for adults and I think this one was, but was in the wrong section. As I read it I felt strongly that I wouldn't want my young adult reading it. It wasn't a bad book at all, but the underlying theme was questionable.

This book is about a young Navajo boy named Laughing Boy. He fell in love with a girl named Slim Girl. Their meeting and courtship was unusual to us, but it must have been common at that time for their culture. Slim Girl had been taken away from her parents as a young girl to California and raised to be white. At the time of their meeting she is trying to get back to her roots and needs Laughing Boy to help her. I think that initially that's why she wanted to marry Laughing Boy. She saw that he had interest in her and she thought he could help her, but she does fall in love with him.

While she was living in California with the white folks she met a rancher that she fell in love with, had relations with and became pregnant. He of course left her, because in this book white people are bad people. She was lonely and pregnant (she did loose the baby) and came to a small town and was helped by the local prostitutes who of course were white. They taught her their trade and she realized that she could use rich men to get what she wanted. She continued this practice so that her and Laughing Boy could have lots of money before they returned to live with his family. Unfortunately, she was caught in the act and Laughing Boy had to do the honorable thing for their culture and that was to kill her, but he loved her so much he couldn't and just shot her in the arm with his bow and arrow.

When he returned to their house to pack up and leave she was there and told him her whole story. He forgave her and they decided to go back to be with his family. Unfortunately on the way a jealous Navajo sees them and kills her.

It was good for me to read this story because I grew up in a town surrounded by Native Americans and I never really gained an appreciation for their culture. Through this book I was able to see into their early culture and gain an admiration for the Native Americans. The main theme of Laughing Boy is a love story. It's set in a place where true love seems unlikely, but these two do truly love each other and find joy in building their world. Many times Slim Girl wants to change, but she is able to get money and other things that made their life simpler. She does try to get back to her roots by weaving Navajo rugs, she learns to do it well enough she is able to sell them and make money with them. After she is killed Laughing Boy has his mourning period and travels on to a new village where he is unknown and decides to settle there. He decides that Slim Girl wants him to live on and be happy and that's what he does.

Scarlet Sister Mary Review

This book is about an African American girl, Mary, who lives in a community that is an old plantation, several decades after slavery is abolished. The big house of the plantation is run down and not in use anymore but there is a community that lives in the old slave quarters. Overall it seems like a happy life they have. They work hard and care for one another. Mary lives with an old lady, Maum Hannah, and her son Budda Ben (who is crippled because his mom dropped him when he was a baby). I don't think she's related to them, but something happened to her parents and so she comes to live with them. At the start of the book Mary is around 15 or 16 and she is getting ready to marry the man she is in love with, July. She is also a member of the church and is a good person, but on her wedding night she sins, by dancing, and is kicked out of the church. She is also pregnant before she gets married and this is where she becomes Scarlet Sister Mary. She and July are happy for a while, but then he gets lured away by another woman who is in love with him, Cinder, and July leaves Mary. Mary becomes bitter and just begins to sleep around with whatever man she can get (with the help of a love potion given to her by a witch doctor). She begins to have many children, in the end I think she ends up with 9. She doesn't seem to care too much for doing what's right and kind of laughs at people who thinks she is sinning. In the end of the book she has twins and her grown daughter also has a baby girl, who she hides in the corner and is ashamed to claim, but Mary takes her in and cares for her like she's her own. July comes back after many years and tries to get Mary to take him back, but she refuses him and sends him away. Also her oldest son, Unexpected or Unex for short (and the only one who is July's), comes back and he has a baby with him. The baby's mother died (he was married to her, which I thought was nice) and he just couldn't care for it alone. He gets sick shortly after arriving back home and dies. Mary is so sad and realizes that she is really a sinner. After they bury Unex, she has a vision of nine white cloths (one for each of her children, because they were all conceived in sin)and they all have scarlet stripes on them. She has to pray and pray for forgiveness until they all become clean and she is forgiven. She then joins back up with the church and is baptized again, because she is the worst sinner any of the other church members have seen.

The ending of the book is the only reason I gave this book two balls of yarn. I liked the overall message of the book. That although she lived in sin she could be forgiven, but only after she humbled herself and prayed for forgiveness all day and night. Otherwise the book kind of drags on and often repeats itself. When she is upset after July leaves it goes on and on about her sorrow and her despair. I got to a point where I thought, "just move on, girl!". I liked the characters and the story line, but the book would have been half the size if the author didn't repeat the same emotions and the same situations over and over. I did like how industrious everyone was and how they all helped each other. If someone was sick or needed help, a neighbor or friend was there immediately to help. This helped me to care about the characters, especially Mary who took in all those babies. She had twins and then her daughter's daughter and then her son's daughter. She had four babies all at once and didn't even think twice about how she was going to care for them and if she was going to get any breaks, she just took them in. I didn't however like her philosophy of men, that they would stay until the next great thing (or in other words, woman) came along and then they would move on, so a girl should just please him one time and let him move on, this I don't agree with - for obvious reasons.

Bridge of San Luis Rey Review

So just when I thought I had the Pulitzer books figured out, I came to this book. All the books until now have been about the shaping of America, the wars, politics, and social issues. This book so far is the exception.

The book centers on a bridge (obviously The Bridge of San Luis Rey) in Peru. It is a very old and sacred bridge that the people in Lima love and respect. One day the bridge suddenly falls and no one understands why. There is a priest who witnesses the bridge falling and decides it is an act of God. Five people were on the bridge and fell to their death. The priest wonders why these five people were chosen to die by this act of God and so he does great research into each of these people. That is what the book is about, it's about the lives of the five people and what was happening in their lives leading up to their death. It ends with a look into the life of the priest.

When I understood what the book was going to be about, I was excited. I love learning about people's lives. Unfortunately, the writing was a little abstract for me and a bit hard to understand. I got most of the stories, but I failed to feel a connection with the characters because the writing didn't flow for me. I felt that the writing was supposed to be deep and make you ponder and think about life and death and if there really are accidents or acts of God. I did think about it, but not long and hard. It didn't move me to do that, it just made me wonder.

It was an interesting book and a good way to have a look into the Peruvian culture, something I don't know a lot about; maybe if I did know more about it then I would appreciate this book more. It's a short book and one I would recommend, but not highly.

Early Autumn Review

I actually finished this book about a week ago and I've been struggling with what to write about it. It wasn't a bad book, in fact I enjoyed reading it very much, but it also wasn't a memorable book. As I've remembered I need to write this review I had to stop and think, "What was it about?"

This book reminds me much of other romantic mystery type books I've read in the past. It centers around a woman named Olivia Pentland. She marries into the Pentland family and is in a very unhappy marriage. Her husband, Anson, appears to be self centered and self involved. He doesn't see what's happening around him. Olivia and her father-in-law, John, have a special bond; he only trusts Olivia with his concerns and when he passes away leaves everything to her instead of his son. He also confides in Olivia and tells her things that no one else knows. There is of course a meddling old aunt, Aunt Cassie, who tries to make everyone's business her own and also a cousin of the family, Sabine, who left and went abroad, had a failed marriage, and a daughter, and came back to make fun of the family and try to make their lives miserable. One of the themes that I liked in the book was between these two women. They both disliked each other and disapproved of each other's way of life, but in the end they were very similar. As John Pentland points out, Sabine is Aunt Cassie turned inside out.

Olivia is miserable and unhappy. She wants to escape from the routine of her life. There are many things that keep her there though. One is her son, Jack, who has a heart problem and eventually dies; another is her daughter, Sybil, who has just returned from school abroad and is looking for a husband. Another is her mother-in-law who is crazy. She lives in a wing of the house under the constant care of a nurse and doesn't come out. Most people can't visit her, but Olivia can talk to her and can sooth her. There is a reason that the woman is shut up, but for those of you who want to read the book I won't tell it. I don't want to completely give the book away. However, she and Olivia also know some family secrets;only they know them and they're bad enough that they could ruin the Pentland family.

There is another man who is an outsider to the Pentland family who buys up some of the property. His name is Michael O'Hara. Michael is an Irishman and was raised in the streets and lived a rough life, but he has fought his way through and came into some money and is now trying his hand at politics. However, he has a problem: he is in love with Olivia. They begin riding together and eventually she falls in love with him, too. Now, just an observation, but 9 out of 10 of the Pulitzer books I've read have had something to do with an affair happening. I don't know if this is a requirement, or just a coincidence, but it's just sad. Anyway, he asks her to run away with him and she wants to. At this point in the book your not sure what to root for. You want Olivia to be happy and to have a happy life, but you don't want her to be unfaithful to her husband - even though he's kind of a loser.

Olivia decides to wait until her daughter, who has fallen madly in love with a young man, elopes and then she is going to run off with Michael. Somehow her husband comes out of his hole long enough to notice that something is going on between Olivia and Michael and approaches his wife. She asks for a divorce and he refuses so she tells him she is unhappy and that Michael could make her happy. The next day after her daughter runs off to get married, she goes out to find Michael to tell him her decision. While she is doing this she sees the stable man carrying someone on a gurney and she knows that Mr. Pentland is dead. (I forgot to mention that Mr. Pentland had a long time mistress or I guess you could say a long time good woman friend, because he shares with Olivia that he has never been unfaithful to his wife. ) At this point Olivia knows what she has to do. She tells Michael O'Hara he has to leave and she decides she has to stay. She has to be the glue to hold the family together. She also looks at John Pentland and how he has stayed faithful to his wife under hard circumstances and realizes that she admired him for this and feels that in the end she wouldn't be happy with herself if she didn't follow his example.

I'm glad that she stayed. It made me proud of her and glad that a book took that approach rather than the approach of instant gratification. Maybe she would have been happier with Michael, but she needed to stay with the Pentlands.

This book had a great story line and kept my interest. I was concerned for some of the characters and annoyed by the annoying ones. It just didn't seem as memorable and dynamic as you would expect an award winning book to be. This book will be on my like list, but not at the top.

A Break From Books

I will probably post my review for Early Autumn this coming week so look for that. Right now we're going to take a break from my book reviews for a recipe review. The other day my husband saw a post on CNN.com about a vintage recipe. You can read the article here http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/11/vintage-cookbook-vault-franks-a-lot/?hpt=Sbin. The recipe is for Frank and Corn Crown.

Now my husband and I love to cook and try new recipes so when we saw this we decided we had to try it. I was convinced that it wouldn't be too bad, my husband on the other hand was a little concerned and my kids were just plain excited. I mean, come on a crown made of hot dogs! What could be better? It was easy to make and kind of fun too (as a side note we omitted the green peppers as I have a complete dislike for cooked peppers ever since my second pregnancy).

What did everyone think of it? Well, the kids LOVED the hotdogs, each of them ate at least 3 of them but I'm not sure they liked the corn stuffing in the middle. What did the adults think? It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't that good. My main problem with it was the texture of the corn stuff in the middle, it was a little mushy and so I had a problem eating it. So my final thoughts - I think that this recipe is better if it was kept in the vault for good.