Tales of the South Pacific Review

I was really excited to read this book.  I love the South Pacific and have some ties to it.  My Grandpa served a mission for our church there and then later in their lives my Grandpa went back with my Grandma and served again.  At the same time my Grandpa was there my husband's Grandparents were there serving a mission.  It is a place I feel a connection to and that I want to visit some day.

Tales of the South Pacific are short stories of WWII and people serving in the South Pacific Islands (obviously).  Each story isn't  completely disconnected from the others because there are a few characters that pop up in several of the stories.  One soldier makes appearances through the whole book. 

The stories that tell about army life and what they had to go through to fight battles during the war are so interesting. Those stories speak of what they ate and how many of them didn't have enough to do to pass the time and were very bored and had to find other things to keep their minds sane.  Some of the chapters talked about battles that they fought and how many lost their lives.  Other stories share the personal struggles that some faced as they were away from their families and had seen so much sadness and a different part of the world so foreign to the one they came from.  I think one of my favorite stories is about a small island that they need to build a landing strip on.  The officer who is sent out there to inspect the island and find the right spot gets to know the people there and the history.  It was really neat to hear about these people and how they live on this isolated island away from civilization.  Also on this island there used to be prisons from a previous war and you get a little glimpse of the island's history.  If the book only contained these types of stories I would have given the book 5 balls of yarn, but it didn't.

The stories that shared how men couldn't control themselves with the native women, how they had to clear an entire island of all the women and move them to a separate and more secluded island to save them from the American soldiers raping them, how some soldiers fell in love with the women and then after being intimate with them flat out refused to marry them because of the color of their skin (I know it was a different time and era, but if they could just keep it under control…) and left them behind with a broken heart.  It's these kinds of stories that made me not enjoy the book.  It made me think of something that my Father-in-law shared about the time when he was waiting to be shipped out for the Vietnam War.  The chapel on the base in Southern California where he shipped out from had a sign that said, "War is Hell.  Leave your conscience here and we will keep it safe for you".  I understand that these men were on a secluded island far from their wives or their girlfriends for many, many months, but it did seem that they left their conscience behind and lived for the moment.  I was rather disgusted with these stories and they left a bad taste in my mouth.

All The King's Men Review

I started this book knowing I was going to hate it.  I don't enjoy politics or I should say politics turn me into an ugly, angry person and so I just stay away.  Knowing this book was all about politics made me not anxious to read it and I knew I would not like it.  But as you can see from the number of balls of yarn I gave it I ended up liking it. 

I thought it was going to be mainly about politics but I think it was mostly about human nature and how choices lead our life.  Politics was an underlying theme and did have a lot to do with the book, but I felt that the people in the book and the choices they made were the strong parts.

One of the main characters (Jack Burden - he's the one that is telling the story) began his career as a newspaper journalist and met Willie Stark when he was just beginning his career as a politician.  Willie Stark was kind of a good 'ol boy and was used in an election to distract votes from another candidate.  It fired him up and he became completely involved in politics.  He hired Jack Burden as his right hand man and made it all the way to governor.

You begin to learn about Jack Burden and his view of life.  He tells of a love affair he had with a girl he grew up with and how they were practically engaged and then it just fell apart.  She comes back into the story in a huge way and because of choices made, tragedy happens.

As I said in the first paragraph, the small part of politics that it talks about in the book is the dark side of politics.  Lots of bargaining and threatening so that those on top can get what they want.  I think we all know deep down that this is how politics work, even if we don't want to.  But mostly this book is about people getting caught up in their career and forgetting who they are.  Willie Starks made some rotten choices when he thought life was easy, but when something hard happens to their family he realizes the error of his ways but it's a little too late. 

I did enjoy this book and even though the characters weren't endearing to me like in other books I've read, I was interested in them and their actions made me think.  I think this was and continues to be a pivotal book in American history.

Bell for Adano

This was another of the Pulitzer prize books in the Young Adult section and besides the language I think it is a good one for the genre.  This book is set in a little town in Italy called, Adano.  The United States army comes into the town to help restore it after World War II is over.  Major Victor Joppolo comes into the small town and calls a meeting of the town leaders who stuck around.  The country was led by a fascist, Mussolini, who ran away as their side was loosing the war.  When he asks them what the town needs most to recover there are opposing ideas.  One man says they need food and the other says they need a new bell for the town.  Everything in the town is run by this bell, it is their clock.  The Major decides to try to get them a bell (he also makes sure they have food, of course) to help bring up the moral of the town.  While he is there he meets many people in the town who are great characters; this book has a lot of those.  You really come to love this small town and the people in it.  I think mostly you come to really care about Major Joppolo or as the people in Adano call him, Mister Major.  He is truly full of compassion and wants to help this town so much.

At one point, a man who had had too much to drink was driving his cart along a major road.  This town lived by their carts.  They had carts bringing in food and water, and taking away waste; anything that this town needed was brought on these carts.  Well, this poor man was going so slow he made a US army jeep carrying a man by the name of General Marvin go really slow.  The General has a very bad potty mouth and demands that they kill the mule and so his soldiers have to carry the order out.  The Italian is very confused by this, he knows the Mister Major who everyone in the town comes to love, and yet another person in the same army did a very cruel thing.  The General also demands that no more carts can come on the road anymore.  When Major Joppolo hears of this he overrides the General's orders and allows the carts to come in, otherwise the people of Adano could not survive.

Major Joppolo does so much for this town.  He gets the men fishing again and overall just helps the town become restored.  The people truly loved him.  They threw a big party for him and had the local artist paint a picture of him.  The other officers of the army saw what a great guy he was and tried to hide the fact that the Major didn't follow the General's orders, but the General eventually hears of it and orders Major Joppolo to be relieved of his duty.  This was very sad.  I really admired Major Joppolo and saw that he had a big heart and a strong desire to do his job and help these people.  It was disheartening that the General won out in the end, but not before the Major finds a new bell for the town and hears it ringing as he is driven out of town.  You gain mixed feelings for these two men who are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  The General is a hard, ornery man who cares for no one but himself and Major Joppolo is a kind, generous man whose only care is what he can do for others.  I think this is one of my favorite Pulitzer Prize books that I have read.  It was overall light-hearted and as I mentioned before full of great characters; I just wish that there wasn't so much swearing in it.

Journey in the Dark

.....and I'm back.  Sorry about the absence, it isn't because I haven't been reading, just not posting.  I have several reviews to post on here so keep checking back here often!  Now on to the book review...

  

This book was good.  That's about all.  It was a nice story of a man who came from nothing and built up his wealth, married (and divorced) the girl he had always been in love with, married a girl he had loved for years but never realized, had a son, a big house and then lost it all and realized how he had taken it for granted.  It was an enjoyable story, but for me it was not life changing.  The man made some poor decisions, but it was great to see how he rose above the tough situation he came from to make something of himself.

He was raised in a home with a very loving mother and a strict, unloving father.  He always thought that they were well enough off but one Christmas he wants a nice sled and his sister tells him he won't get it because they're poor.  When he realizes this he feels embarrassed, especially around the girl he is in love with who comes from a wealthy family in the town.

He leaves high school because his mother dies and he has to help support the family. He works his way up to receiving telegrams at the railroad station and delivering them.  He moves on to become a paper salesman and then joins up with a guy who runs a wallpaper factory and makes it a great company.  He retires a multi-millionaire. 

All his life he just wants to be rich and thinks that is all there is to life, but as he looses his second wife and his son leaves him to marry a Jewish girl he realizes that his big house and his property are not important.  After his home burns down, he moves in with his sister and begins to work at an airplane factory building things with his hands and finds great satisfaction in this job.  He reconciles with his son just before he dies in the war, when his plane gets shot down. 

Overall, it was an enjoyable book but neither did it really move me or make me think too deeply.

Dragons Teeth

I have put off writing this review for a couple of weeks because I've been unsure what to say about it. The first half of the 600+ page book seemed a little pointless and drawn out. I think that the author was trying to build the relationship between the main character, Lanny Budd, and his Jewish friend, Johannes Robin. It is a story of a well off American man, the before-mentioned Lanny Budd, who marries the richest woman in America, though I can't remember her name. They live in Europe and know lots of famous and rich people; one of them is Johannes Robin who is a wealthy Jewish businessman who lives in Berlin. The first half of the book tells of them going on a cruise with the Robin family (he has two sons, one is married to Lanny's sister, and they all have different political views which they talk about a lot). It also tells about parties they go to and people they meet. One of the people they meet is Adolf Hitler. This was the only interesting part of the first half: to learn a little bit about where Adolf Hitler came from and the kind of person he was. When they met him he was building up the Nazi party and starting to get a lot of support in Germany. He eventually does gain power and takes over Germany and then that's where it gets interesting.

They plan on taking a cruise on the Robin family yacht to get away from the terror of Germany and how the Jews were being treated, especially the sons of the Robin family. One of the sons was a Communist and the other a Socialist, both of which the Nazis hated, besides the fact that they were Jews. They waited a long time for Johannes to arrive with his yacht but he never came. They soon found out Johannes had been arrested and taken to a prison camp. Lanny and his wife decide to go into Germany and use their many contacts within the Nazi party to get Johannes out.

He meets with two high power Nazi officers, Paul Goebbels (these Nazi leaders were real men) and also Hermann Goring two of the most evil men on earth. He gets in good with them, even going on a hunting trip with Goring. He finds out from Goring that Johannes didn't submit the correct paperwork to take money out of Germany (which in fact he did) and that was why he was arrested. In order for Lanny to get Johannes out he had to give all his money, his palace and his yacht and Johannes would leave Germany with nothing but his life. They agree to this (they didn't have much of a choice) and got him out safely. While they were trying to free Johannes they were in contact with Freddi Robins, Johannes' son. They soon lost contact of him and found out after getting Johannes out of the country that Freddi had been arrested and taken to Dachau, one of the worst pre-war concentration camps there were.

Lanny felt a need to get him out. As he talks about it with his wife you find she is sort of a Nazi sympathizer and doesn't like the Robin family because they are Jews. She doesn't understand Lanny's hatred of the Nazi party. She is kind to the Robin family, but when it comes down to it she doesn't like them as much as her husband, even to a point where she doesn't want Freddi's son to play with their daughter. Lanny feels responsible and decides to go back to Germany and get Freddi out.

He gets in contact with some of his Nazi friends, those on the lower levels, and makes a plan with one of them to get Freddi out. I don't want to give the details in case you want to read the book, but their plan goes awry.

I enjoyed the second half of the book very much. I am not a history buff; to show my ignorance I didn't realize that Communists and Nazis weren't the same thing. This book was fascinating to me. I've read other books about WWII and concentrations camps, but they have all been from the Jewish point of view and usually they take place during the war. This book is from a complete outsider and ends before the war even begins. I learned a lot and even though at times I felt it was pointless to read, I'm glad I stuck with it, in the end it was worth it.

In This Our Life Review

I'm not quite sure what to say about this book. It wasn't the best or the worst book I've ever read, it was just so-so. It's a story of a family told from different points of view. Mostly it is from the viewpoint of the dad, Asa. He has been stuck in a loveless marriage for over 30 years and all that he wants is to escape from it and move out to a farm with his friend, Kate. His wife, Lavinia, is an overweight hypochondriac who delights in making her husband's life miserable. She never leaves her bedroom and complains and talks all the time. Asa feels that he needs to stay with her so that someone is there to take care of her and bring her food and medicine. The other thing keeping Asa around is his children. He has two daughters, Stanley and Roy, (yes that is right) and a son named Andrew. Andrew is married to Maggie and they have three kids. They have a great marriage and are fine and really aren't a big part of the book at all. When the book starts out Roy is married to Peter and Stanley is engaged to Craig and their wedding is coming up. A couple of days before the wedding Stanley and Peter run off together leaving Roy and Craig both heartbroken. They each take it in a different way. Roy is very strong and doesn't want to be pitied. When she is working or at home with her family she is fine, but at night she cries and doesn't sleep because of her dreams of Peter. Craig just kind of loses it, he becomes a wreck. When Roy and Craig meet up a few months later they begin to help each other over come their heart ache and soon fall in love.

Meanwhile, in Boston Stanley and Peter aren't doing so well. Stanley writes her mother telling her that she and Peter fight all the time. Soon Peter commits suicide and leaves Stanley heartbroken for a short time. Stanley is the kind of girl that demands things. She wants the best of everything and expects it to be handed to her. Lavinia (Stanley's mother) has an uncle, William, who is the wealthiest man in town and he kind of doted on Stanley and bought her whatever she wanted; this is where Stanley gets it. Stanley is a beautiful young woman and gets lots of attention for her good looks and she knows how to use them to get what she wants. She doesn't mourn long for Peter and is soon restless and wanting to go somewhere besides their city of Queensboro.

I don't want to give the book completely away but other sad and hard things happen with Stanley. The night Asa decides he's going to leave Lavinia and move out to Kate's farm something terrible happens with Stanley and Roy that makes him change his mind.

It was a good story, but the people in the story just think way to much. They can't get over things or move on with things because they just think and analyze WAY to much. I just wanted to say "stop thinking and go do something!" It kind of drove me crazy.

There was a paragraph in the book I wanted to quote only because it was funny and doesn't in any way reflect how I feel about my marriage. It is Uncle William's wife, Charlotte, who is analyzing her marriage and life. This is what it says "Charlotte, who knitted without looking at her needles, did not answer immediately. At the moment, she was busily wondering how women could have survived marriage throughout the ages if knitting had not been invented…" I just got a kick out of that. Again it doesn't reflect how I feel about my marriage or why I knit, just so we're clear on that.

I enjoyed the book but I am not anxious to read it again and like I said earlier there was too much thinking and analyzing and not enough action.

Grapes of Wrath

Yes, I only gave this four balls of yarn. Why? Because it is really sad. I've read this book before and honestly I think I enjoyed it more the first time. It was hard for me to read this time around.

It's a story about a family, the Joads, whose farm is taken away from them and they are forced to move on. They hear that workers are needed in California and how great it is there so they plan on leaving. When they start out there are 13 of them on their truck. Along the way they loose four of their family to death or other ways. Two of the family members are Rose of Sharon and her husband Connie, and Rose of Sharon is pregnant. Connie is one of the people they loose along the way, he wandered off and never came back. After many days on the road they finally make it to California. Along the way they meet people who are leaving California and warn them that there are too many workers and not enough work and that the wages that are being paid are not enough to feed a family on. They discover this for themselves and can't find work. For part of the time they live in this great government run camp where they have hot water and toilets and people are kind to them, but they run out of money and there is no work so they have to move on.

Lots of sadness follows them and they try to stick together as a family, but can't. One son, Tom, who was just released from prison for killing a man at the beginning of the story is hiding out because he killed a man to defend his friend. To keep his family safe he runs off. Their other son, Al, meets a girl and decides to marry her and he wants to work in a garage, which let me sidetrack a little bit here. This is something I thought a lot while reading this book. Why don't they go to the city and find a job in a garage. Both Tom and Al are really good with fixing cars, they both could get a job there I'm sure and have some money come in. It wasn't until the end that I realized that these people were farmers and working on the land was the only thing they knew to do, that's why.

Alright, back to the story. In the end, well I don't want to tell you the end. You'll have to read it for yourself and if you have read it, you understand, don't you.

One thing that stuck out to me that didn't before, was that these people were people. Let me explain. The first time I read it I think they were just characters and I didn't connect with them, this time I saw them as people. I could almost see their faces and realized that they were just trying to do what was best for their family. They were treated worse than the animals by the people in California (I do understand why, in a way) but they were just people trying to make their way. I try to imagine if that were me and my family and I'm amazed by the strength that their mother showed through all their trials, trying to feed their family, her daughter being pregnant and her husband running off, trying to find a place to live. Just trying to find the basic necessities in life. I feel that sometimes I take these things for granted. Or I drive by homes that are bigger than mine and I think "my life would be better if I lived there" (which it wouldn't be because then I would have to clean more!). I have everything I need right here in my home, to take care of my family. We have a roof over our heads, food in the fridge and cupboards, clothes to wear, a heater in the winter and a cooler in the summer. I think sometimes we focus on the fancy things that we don't NEED, we just WANT. One thing the Joad family had, thanks to their mother, was love for each other and I think that is what got them through the trials.

This book has made me realize how blessed I am. Yes, I don't have a large closet full of designer clothes, or a big fancy car, or a fancy phone that I can get on the internet with or listen to music. I don't even own an iPad! But I have what I need and that's good enough.