April 2016

Into the Beautiful North

By Luis Alberto Urrea

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea was our community Big Read in April and May 2016, as part of the National Endowments for the Arts (NEA) Big Read Program.  Free copies, in both English and Spanish, were available at our local public library.  It was a perfect selection for our community, as we have an expanding Hispanic community.  I liked the book and felt that it was a ‘just right’ selection, as it took the very serious subject of illegal immigration and looked at it from a moderate and, at times, humorous point of view.  The book is written in a way that will appeal to a broad audience.  I felt very comfortable recommending Into the Beautiful North to my fourteen-year-old granddaughter.  At the same time, I enjoyed attending two very different adult discussions of the same book.  The book and the topic can be approached on many different levels.  The characters are quirky.  The topic is currently hot news.  It provided a good read and stimulated great discussions.  I’m now listening to Into the Beautiful North (in English) and then plan to attempt to read it in Spanish.  Into the beautiful North is a book worth exploring.  Definitely a good read!

An interesting note, although a native Spanish speaker, Urrea wrote the book in English.  This was discovered at one of the book discussions.  The Spanish edition has “Traducido del ingles por Enrique Hubbard Urrea”.  I love the use of Spanish throughout the English edition of the book.  It adds a flavor and depth that would not exist with only the use of English. 

The Girl Waits With Gun

By Amy Stewart

The Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart was a historical fiction/mystery combo, based on the story of one of the first female sheriff’s, Constance Kopp.  I loved her strong female character and the New Jersey setting.  It was very interesting to read about the northern part of New Jersey in the early 1900s.  It seemed more like the Wild West than the New Jersey of twenty-first century.  The details of the story were woven into a good mystery, making it enjoyable, as well as educational.  Definitely a good read!

The End of All Things

By John Scalzi

Narrated by Tavia Gilbert, William Dufris and John Scalzi

I have to say that The End of All Things was a disappointing end to The Old Man’s War series.  Maybe it was because I was listening to an audio version, but I found the story confusing and hard to follow at times.  The narration switched between male and female narrators and was from the point of view of several different characters.  Using four different novellas did not work. There was too much talking, not enough action, and sections didn’t seem to flow together.  I’m not sure why the alternate version of one of the novellas was added to the end.  Perhaps Scalzi was paid per word???  As an Old Man’s War fan, this book was definitely a huge disappointment.

The Japanese Lover: A Novel

By Isabel Allende

Translators: Nick Caistor & Amanda Hopkinson

Narrator: Joanna Gleason

The Japanese Lover: A Novel is the second Isabel Allende book that I’ve read.  I was hoping that I would find more of the deeply emotional writing and authentic Hispanic culture that made Daughter of Fortune so enjoyable.  Unfortunately, I found neither.  The setting fluctuated between 1939 and 2013 and involved characters of Polish and Japanese descent.  The major themes of relationships, aging, and families were dealt with superficially.  Characters were two-dimensional.  The topic of Japanese internment camp during WWII has been explored in greater depth and with more sensitivity in other books.  There was an undercurrent running throughout the book that was not developed until the last two sections of the book.  This made two issues introduced at that point seem shocking and out of place.  I’ve been told that this is not a typical Isabel Allende book.  Based on the first book I read, I will try another.  I listened to the audio version of The Japanese Lover: A Novel.  The narration was good.  The book was OK, but not as good as I had anticipated.