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Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition) Review

In 1960 John Steinbeck decided to reacquaint himself with America after being away because, in his own words, "I've lost the flavor and taste and sound of it. I'm going to learn about my own country." So he set out on a 3+ month journey with his dog to do just that. Along the way, he met people and made conversation, observed the state of the country, and let his mind wander as he made his journey. Then he returned to his mobile cabin at night and recorded the day's events. These journal entries became "Travels with Charley."
Overall, Steinbeck seems to paint a pretty picture. While driving through New England in the fall, he is taken with the brilliant foliage on display. He is much impressed with Wisconsin, and says about Montana, "I am in love. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." Later, Steinbeck also speaks glowingly of the California Redwoods.
Steinbeck also has nice things to say about the American people - sometimes. He notes that midwesterners are openly friendly, and again praises Montana, for its inhabitants "had time...to undertake the passing art of neighborliness." However, interspersed throughout his journey, Steinbeck encounters many things which are not so delightful. In fact, some were quite upsetting. He talks of waste - "American cities are like badger holes, ringed with trash" - and of miserable people - "(some people) can drain off energy and joy, can suck pleasure dry and get no sustenance from it. (They) spread a grayness in the air about them." (This was his opinion of a waitress Steinbeck had just met in Maine.) And the waitress wasn't the only one.
Along his journey, he met many close-minded, opinionated, bigoted and rascist Americans, and it made for depressing reading. I don't think Steinbeck was quite prepared for it. I believe he had an idealized vision of a great trip, but in reality, it wasn't, and it took a lot out of him. By the end Steinbeck was burned out and wanted nothing more than to get back home. After California he went straight through to Texas, and then to New Orleans, where he encountered rascism at its worst. That seemed to be the last straw for him. After that, he blew off the rest of the southeast US and went back to New York. He had had enough.
Jay Parini, who wrote the introduction, notes this ominous feeling. He states that the book is filled with "whimsical vignettes, charm, etc., but beneath its surface there is a sense of disenchantment that turns to anger." He goes on to say that Steinbeck "is never quite able to bring himself to say that he was often disgusted by what he saw." But there's no question that he was.
Still, this was a very good book. And it's not demoralizing from start to finish. There are many humors adventures as well - his discussions with border guards near Canada being the most memorable. But one can't help but feel that Steinbeck was sorry he'd gone. He had a pre-conceived notion of what America was, and when it didn't meet his expectations, he was crushed. "Travels with Charley" brilliantly captures what Steinbeck reluctantly learned - that you can't go home again.
Four stars.

Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition) Overview

With his dog Charley, John Steinbeck set out in his truck to explore and experience America in the 1960s. As he talked with all kinds of people, he sadly noted the passing of region speech, fell in love with Montana, and was appalled by racism in New Orleans.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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The Black Echo Review

This was Michael Connelly's first novel (of 6 to date) featuring LAPD detective Hieronymous "Harry" Bosch. Matters begin innocuously enough when Bosch discovers that a dead body found in a drainage pipe is a one-time Vietnam comrade of his named William Meadows. It appears to be a simple drug overdose, but Bosch suspects foul play, and when he determines he is right, he is plunged into an investigation that develops into far more than a single murder case.
The "iceberg" plot where a complex scheme is only gradually exposed is a crime fiction standard. Connelly is, even in his first novel, a master at this type of plot-line. His characters are three-dimensional and interesting, especially Bosch and his uneasy ally, FBI agent Eleanor Wish. Best of all, Connelly knows his territory--a former Los Angeles Times reporter, he knows LA and the LAPD (I suspect he still has sources in the department). The Black Echo is a superb novel.

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Riptide Review

More than two years is a long time to wait for a new novel by Michael Prescott. While Final Sins, his last book, was not quite up to the standards to which I hold him accountable, his newest, Riptide, certainly is. This is one meticulously researched book and I felt like I was in on the original Jack the Ripper investigation. I do not want to give away any of the suprises that Mr Prescott has in store for you. Suffice to say the novel is a book that steadily gains momentum up to the time when that final satisfying page is turned. All of the Michael Prescott novels have been well written and suspenseful. If you can find any of them, by all means snap them up. Just as gratifying are the six novels he wrote under the pen name of Brian Harper. Make Michael Prescott a name you look for. Hopefully, all of his books (even the Brian Harper titles) will be made available on Kindle soon! Well done, once again, Mr. Prescott.

Riptide Overview

From New York Times bestselling author Michael Prescott comes RIPTIDE, a powerful new novel of psychological suspense. Jennifer Silence reads between the lines. A psycholinguistic analyst, she studies documents written by murderers, teasing out hidden clues. But nothing in her life has prepared her for the document that is now in her hands. A leather-bound diary from a crumbling crypt.The diary of Jack the Ripper.If it is genuine, it suggests a troubling connection between Jennifer's family and history's most infamous serial killer. A connection that may explain her father's suicide ... and her brother's mental illness. A connection that may implicate her brother in a new rash of killings, and prove that the Ripper's spirit still prowls dark streets and alleys, taking lives ...And the next victim may be Jennifer herself.RIPTIDE is the newest thriller from Michael Prescott, whose novels have been hailed as "brilliant ... chilling ... unrelentingly suspenseful" (Publishers Weekly), "harrowing ... intense" (Jeffery Deaver), "irresistible, un-put-downable" (Crescent Blues), and "stunning ... far above the usual offerings for the genre" (New Mystery Reader).

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The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts Review

The Woman Warrior, by Maxine Hong Kingston, captures readers with her own interpretation of what it was like to grow up as a female Chinese American. As a little girl, she came to America with her family. Despite being in a new country, she had to deal with the old traditions from her homeland. Kingston hears different legends which she pieces together to create her woman warrior. It becomes her source of strength in a society that rejected both her sex as well as her race. The book, divided into five interwoven stories, is at times confusing as it jumps around. Nevertheless she does a great job explaining her life while growing up. The first story, called "No Name Woman," tells of her paternal aunt who bears a child out of wedlock and is harried by the villagers and by her family into drowning herself. The family now punishes this taboo-breaker by never speaking about her and by denying her name. However, Kingston breaks the family silence by writing about this rebel whom she calls "my forebear." The next story is called "White Tigers." It is a myth about a heroine named Fa Mu Lan, who fights in place of her father and saves her village. This story became the Disney movie, Mulan."Sharman" is a story of Kingston's mother. It explores what it was like to study as a woman to become a doctor in China. "At the Western Palace" is about Kingston's aunt who comes to America and discovers that her husband has remarried in America. Finally, the last story, "A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe" is about Kingston's own experience in America when she first arrived. She explains what it was like to be a newcomer in a strange culture. Kingston constantly mentions that her friends and she are ghosts because they are American. All of the people who surround her family are ghosts, except for the Chinese people who live on the Gold Mountain, a section of Chinatown in San Francisco. Kingston feels like a ghost herself, " .... We had been born among ghosts, were taught by ghosts, and were ourselves ghost-like. The Americans call us a kind of ghosts" (p.183). The interpretation of what ghosts mean in this book is difficult to figure out. It could show how some people view a person from a different culture with ignorance as if she doesn't exist. Kingston's The Woman Warrior has some similarities with The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. First of all, both stories are written by Chinese American authors about their cultural heritage. Both novels deal with major concerns faced by Chinese American women. Living with their traditional culture in American society, Chinese-American women suffer problems of cultural conflicts. However, there are differences that make each work distinct. The Joy Luck Club is fiction and is not personal. It is also more likely to be read for pleasure. The Woman Warrior portrays a first hand view of the cultural differences between the United States and China. Also, Kingston succeeds in combining her emotions with her experiences. The Woman Warrior is a fascinating book. One of the most amazing aspects of this book is Kingston's ability to show how silence is a form of communication and how it shaped her being. Her mother tells her to be silent, yet she goes against her cultural standards by talking about her aunt. This act of will on Kingston's part offers the readers her ancestry. The expectation of silence can be simplified into a symbol of oppression. As a Korean-American, I felt the emotions and understood how Kingston felt for being a stranger to a new culture. Her internal struggle to fit into two different societies is difficult. I personally recommend this book to anyone interested in reading about the experience of one Chinese-American woman. It is not the definitive story of Chinese-American women's experience, but it is a very vivid and well-written account of one woman's life. Pg. 209. Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York

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