Books Reviewed in 2005

Quicksand by Nella Larsen (first published 10/07/2005)

Quicksand : Helga Crane does not know where she belongs. As you read Quicksand you will feel the frustration and confusion of trying to decide which race to belong to. This novel is a product of the Harlem Renaissance and well worth the read.

As a character I do not like Helga. She is always telling the reader that she knows what she wants but people around her will not let her achieve what she wants. I personally think that
Helga has no idea what she wants and she does not realize that she could have had what she wanted earlier on if she had not been so anxious to leave each place that offered her some peace.

Presumed Ignorant (first published 07/16/2005)

Presumed Ignorant!: Over 400 Cases of Legal Looniness, Daffy Defendants, and Bloopers from the Bench!

Funny,Funny, Funny! This book will make you laugh. It is 200 pages of the crazy laws and legal cases. Some of my favorites are:

“Cats are forbidden to ride on a public bus in Seattle, Washington, if there is a dog already on board. Also any dog weighing greater than 25 pounds must pay the full adult fare.”

“South Dakota has decreed it illegal to fall asleep in a cheese factory.”

“It is illegal in Los Angeles, California, for infants to dance in public halls.”

“It is illegal for any driver of an automoblie to be blindfolded while operating the vehicle in Birmingham, Alabama.”

So many funnies, if you want to laugh at goofy laws and cases pick this little baby up!

The Keepsake (first published 04/14/2005)

Keepsake

This is another book where gloom overcasts the book. We are taken along as a young woman remembers her life with her mother. Through remembering she is able to deal with the loneliness she has grown up with and see how it affects her romantic relationships.

She remembers how her mother would have he call for drugs when she was feeling “ill.” How she would take her toys into the bathtub and sing as loud as she could to drown of the sound of her mother “paying” for the drugs. She remembers staying in their room all day so her mother could sleep.

As we are being told the story of the mother and daughter we are also shown the much too intimate relationship between her mother and her mother’s father.
Perhaps one of the oddest and most disturbing parts of this book is the relationship our protagonist has with her lover. He completely dominates her life, so much so that she is imprisoned in a room and waits sometimes for weeks or months for food or water.

The book is not all gloom. In a way the book has a happy ending. as she returns to a small cafe that is the reoccurring “good” memory of her childhood she begins to realize that her father is gone, her mother is gone, the room they shared belongs to someone else and soon the man who controls her life will be gone.

Although it is uncomfortable to read, I do recommend reading this novel, the prose alone is worth it.

Quotable Quote:
“This is my memory, my own story with pale eyes. It is simple to tell the story made for me, the story I make in turn to pass on. Nothing in these pages is lost in sleep, or in a bandage of pain. It is lived out in words and spaces between the lines that are linked like breath, a life formed as one word comes up behind the others, joins sentences that curve and change and turn back to face me on the page.”

The Woman Destroyed by Simone De Beauvoir (first published 04/01/2005)

The Woman Destroyed

This is a collection of three short stories. They are all about women whose lives are suddenly destroyed (how they see it anyway) by different events in their lives. All three women are older women who have some crisis in their lives.

In “The Woman Destroyed” the heroine finds out that her husband is cheating and suddenly her whole life is destroyed.

In “The Age of Discretion” a woman takes it much too hard that her son has changed his political affiliation and that his wife has seemed to take his mother’s place. She also finds out her work for the last couple of years is exactly the same as all her previous works.

In the “monologue” a rich, self absorbed woman is alone on New Years and takes out all her rage from her whole life on the reader.

This book is a little depressing and after reading it you will definitely be in a gloomy mood so pick it up on a day when you can handle some gloom.

Quotable Quote:
From: The Age of Discretion
“Pictures lose their shape, their colors fade. But words you carry away with you.”

The Da Vinci Code (first published 3/16/05)

The Da Vinci Code

When I first started hearing about this book I kept thinking to myself what the heck can that book possibly saw to upset so many people. After listening to it (all 16 hours of it) I now realize why people might be upset, everything you may have known about Christianity is questioned in this novel, not to mention Da Vinci becomes even more complex. Hidden messages in painting about the reality of the “Holy Grail” ( I will not go into too much details for those who have not read or heard it).

Besides tons of lessons on art history, Da Vinci, new theories on Christianity, there is also a pretty good fictional story surrounding it all. Langdon an American scholar suddenly finds himself a suspect of murder Saunière the grandmaster of a very important organization “The Priory of Sion”. His granddaughter and Langdon are thrown together in a wild and riveting journey to find the much sought after “Holy Grail.”

I absolutely loved this novel and since first listening to it I have put it in again and started the journey all over. There is no way you can absorb everything in this novel with one read or listen, and trust me it is worthy of multiple reads.

For more info on this book or Dan Brown you can head over to this site

More 2005 Reviews:
The Plot Against America
The Time Travelers Wife
Mansfield Park
The Namesake
The Bonesetter’s Daughter
The Devil Wears Prada