Review: The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book chilled me to the bone. I had some trouble at the beginning in the reading as it did not immediately appeal - stylistically. I got past this, as the story, lord the story, was just so powerful.

Science fiction is not my go-to genre, but here we have a tale that is just believable enough, just imaginable enough that it falls a bit outside the fantastic. That's why it terrified me. It was the money. Denying women access to their own money. I mean, how hard would that be in the age of technology? I think, not very.

No one can move about freely in a modern life without access to money. And once crippled in this way, the rest....well it wouldn't be so very hard.

The many different costumes of totalitarianism are all invoked. The feeling of helplessness the reader shares with the victims of the trap is palpable throughout.

I have not yet watched the show. That is next!

Two thumbs up.

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Review: The End of the Affair

The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I miss the characters in this book already and I only just finished it hours ago. Beautifully imagined; beautifully written. The End of the Affair is a love story, of course. But I found it was more a book about God and faith. Believing or not believing is front and center in every chapter. I don't think I've ever experienced a character like Maurice, who twists himself into every conceivable angle of the horrorstruck in order to be able to say, There is no god.

Was his affair with Sarah or with the idea of God?

And dear, sweet, steady Henry. I wanted to keep watching his life, but I wonder why. It was so awfully dull. But, I had a sense that he had a secret power - the ability to be satisfied?

The end of the storm inside Maurice was hard to read. I felt sick on his behalf as the truth about Sarah emerged.

A very good read this was.

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Review: Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy by Cathy O'Neil
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a powerful book in that it reveals the way we are all duped by data. I hope that the content is part of data and technology study programs because it truly matters. You will shake your head throughout and think: Wow. Numbers do not lie, but give those numbers to people and they lie like hell.

Data dupes all and it does it daily. Whether you are reading liberal news, conservative news, or middle-ground news....you can be 100% sure that there is some kind of misrepresentation or twisting done, either unwittingly or deliberately. Who among us, when learning of a friend's divorce, actually believes that there is only ONE side of the story? Why do we not bring this sensibility to the table when digesting content about any hot social justice issue. Why don't we automatically think "I bet there's another side to THIS story!"

False assumptions, bad data and lying numbers infect all. Like rain that falls on the just and unjust evenly, so do false impressions pushed by slanted data visualizations and biased studies fall upon the eyes of us all.

This book was very well-organized and well-written. I learned so much from it.

This author disparages certain studies from the outset and reveals the flawed assumptions and biased designs in such studies. Therefore, I think it is even more important when setting the record straight (which she does) - when telling us why the disparaged studies are poorly designed and why the results are biased - that the new and correct information be thoroughly supported with facts, references and numbers that are proven as true. I wanted more information on why and how the correct info can be counted upon as being completely clean.



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Review: O Pioneers!

O Pioneers! by Willa Cather
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they had never happened before.”

I loved this tale of the rugged life of the American frontiersmen. I loved imagining the windy plains, the cornfields and the big pastures. Cather voices so much wisdom through the heroine in this story, Alexandra Bergson. It's wisdom that lands on you hard. In a way, O, Pioneers is a book about being patient and calm; it's about taking the long view of things, rather than fuss and complain and cast aspersions every which way.

It is so refreshing to consider the hardships and sacrifices others have endured while feeling very fortunate all the while.

Cather lived in Red Cloud, Nebraska and knew of what she wrote. This comes through. There is love, death, jealousy, and redemption. And the rock through it all is Alexandra Bergson, who, like the rugged land, never actually goes anywhere. She stays and she works. It's such a simple formula for success.

Some more of my favorite quotes from Alexandra:
“Freedom so often means that one isn't needed anywhere.”
“I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do."

Two thumbs up!

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Review: A Separate Peace

A Separate Peace by John Knowles
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read this book over 45 years ago. I just re-read it and (no surprise) years of life have helped reveal so much more than my first walk through these pages at age 15.

Knowles helps up focus intently on the two young men, Gene and Phineas. We never "meet" their parents, they have no girlfriends, we don't become familiar with their teachers -- there are no other sub-stories or peripheral dramas playing out. The entire book is singularly wrapped up in the friendship and in the personalities and the motivations in these two young men.

The event which darkens the pages of this story is just as relevant to young men and women today, as it was when this book was published in 1959. It is a close examination of rivalry in friendship, of impulsivity and regret, of love and war.

It is a beautiful story and an urgent reminder to all to err on the side of kindness. Always.

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Review: Once Upon a River

Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Setterfield's storytelling is divine, even virtuosic.  What a gift she has for weaving together multiple strands of an epic tale so that both breadth and depth are an unmatched symphony.

In Once Upon a River it is, in fact, a river that holds the heart of this magnificent once upon a time.... a river with many tributaries, spurs, meanderings and floodplains. A river with secrets. A river that takes life and delivers it, too.

You will read about children - lost and found. About a scholarly pig (yes, the animal). About injustices too long-endured. And, about the river - how it courses on yet not entirely indifferent to the history it has absorbed. What a very clever cast of characters.  It many ways this is a story about storytelling.

From the community living on the banks of this river, Setterfield has rolled up all of the conditions of humanity - into a dark mystery sprinkled generously with true love. There is tragedy and redemption and, of all things, a poignant backdrop of the supernatural. You will not be able to walk away from these pages. You will not be able to guess what will happen next. This is one-of-a-kind storytelling at its best.



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