Nevermore: Triple Agent, Sam Houston, Kristin Lavransdatter, more

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore began with a serious book: The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole who Infiltrated the CIA by Joby Warrick.  Humam Khalil al-Balawi was a Jordanian who had worked his way to the inner circles of al-Qaeda as well as into the CIA.  Published in 2012 by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Warrick, this chronicles a betrayal of the CIA at a time when they were most focused on avenging 9/11.  Our reader was very surprised by the façade that al-Balawi was able to maintain, fooling even his own father.

Another reader was currently enjoying the story of Sam Houston: The Life and Times of the Liberator of Texas, an Authentic American Hero by John Hoyt Williams.  With only about a year of formal education, Houston read law and passed the bar to become an attorney.  A military man and politician, he held such titles as the Governor of Tennessee, the 1^st and 3^rd President of Texas, a United States Senator from Texas and the Governor of Texas.  Our reader exclaimed about Houston, “What a conman!” and also “A fascinating life.”  Another history buff in the room responded, “You have been too kind to him.”

Kristin Lavransdatter, a classic trilogy written by Sigrid Undset, is about a 14^th century Norwegian woman.  Kristin, a devout Catholic, nonetheless falls in love with Erlend, although she has already been promised to Simon.  Our reader loved the imagery presented in the prose; the snow and the sky seemed so vivid.  Although written in the 1920’s, the books have had periodic resurgences and are popular still today.  Undset received the 1928 Nobel Prize in literature, partially for this Middle Ages saga.  The trilogy is sometimes published separately as The Wreath, The Wife, and The Cross.

Continuing in fiction, another reader enjoyed The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka.  Private investigator Roxane Weary is digging fifteen years into the past to when teenager Sarah Cook’s parents were brutally murdered, and Sarah disappeared the same night.  Sarah’s African-American boyfriend Brad Stockton was convicted of the murders and is still awaiting his sentence of execution.  Our reader said that it was a very good book and that it fooled her because it didn’t end the way she thought it would.

October Sky (aka Rocket Boys) by regional author Homer Hickam has been read and enjoyed by several readers, and also was a BPL Book Club pick in October.  A story of a young West Virginia boy dreaming of space in 1957, Hickam decided that he wanted to build rockets.  He eventually became a NASA engineer, fulfilling his childhood dream.  Our reader said that she loved this book and that there were many poignant moments.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne duMaurier is the BPL Book Club’s pick for December, but our reader found the classic novel exhausting.  Set in 1832, young lady Mary Yellan is traveling to live with her Aunt Patience at the titular Jamaica Inn in Cornwall.  However, the crossing of the moors with everything black and raining distressed our reader.  Not every book is for every reader!  For a new selection every month, join the BPL Book Club on the 3^rd Thursday at 6:00 p.m in the Frances E. Kegley Conference Room.

Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier

Reviewed by Jeanne

The year is 1820.   Mary Yellan, twenty-three year old woman, has been left an orphan by the recent death of her mother. With few options left, Mary takes a stage to Cornwall to stay with her Aunt Patience at Jamaica Inn, an establishment run by her uncle, Joss Merlyn. When she arrives at the inn, after attempts by passengers to dissuade her, she is accosted by a brute of a man.  She warns him that her uncle will deal harshly with him, then discovers that the brute IS her uncle.  Even more shocking is the change in her aunt:  the once vivacious woman seems a shadow of her former self, cowed by her bullying husband.  It doesn’t take long for Mary to realize there is something very wrong at the Inn—there never seem to be any overnight guests, but there are locked doors and strange sounds in the night. Mary is determined to discover the truth about Jamaica Inn, but the cost may be more than she is willing to pay.

I’d heard of this novel for years, usually mentioned as an after-thought to the better known Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel.  My expectations were upended from the start: while Mary is young, she’s no sheltered child.  After her father’s death, Mary and her mother continued to run the farm, eking out a living.  It was hard, backbreaking work. Mary’s load increases when her mother falls ill, and eventually dies.  The farm, never particularly fertile, has become barren.  Mary has no choice but to seek out her aunt and try to make a life for herself.  Most tellingly, she has no illusions of grand romance.  Raised on a farm and observing human nature, her views are more than a bit cynical. She’s tough, practical, and strong-willed.

Once at Jamaica Inn, Mary’s options are limited, not that women of that era had much in the way of options to begin with.  She’s in the wilds of Cornwall, with the wind and the moors and the sea.  Du Maurier’s descriptions of the countryside are vivid, the isolation and bleakness seep through every page. I can understand why tourists still seek it out to see if the reality matches the literary portrait.

The dark secrets—a gothic staple—are truly dark.  One scene in particular chilled me to the bone, when her uncle reveals his true occupation and what that entails. 

Of course, another standard gothic feature is an element of romance.  Much against her will, Mary finds herself attracted to Jem, her uncle's younger brother. However,  Jem's trustworthiness is in doubt.  He says he's nothing like Joss-- but is he telling us the truth? Or is this just a lie to draw Mary in?

The ending was well done, although I’m not sure if I consider it a happy one or not.

Although the book was published in 1936, it feels as if it could have been written this year.  Du Maurier’s work still feels fresh and modern, from the descriptions of the characters to the awareness of social conditions. She upends our expectations of a genre while seeming to follow convention.

 It’s a shame that this novel isn’t more widely read today, and I give it my highest recommendation. (Note:  the cover image used in this blog is a reprint edition which makes it look like a sweet little romance novel.  It isn't.)

Nevermore: Gaiman, Vowell, Du Maurier, Perotta, Bergner

Reported by Ambrea

Nevermore kicked things off with Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.  In Neverwhere, readers meet Richard Mayhew, a plain man with a good heart and an ordinary life—until he helps an injured girl he finds bleeding on a London sidewalk.  Now, Richard is caught up in a world he never knew existed, a dark and shadowy world beneath the streets of London.  A world that could be the death of him.  Our reader admitted he didn’t care much for Gaiman’s novel, noting “it’s totally fiction, purely fantasy.”  While he thought Gaiman was a decent writer, he simply wasn’t a fan of the content.  Since he enjoyed Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, he decided he had probably read the wrong author—and he would soon pick up a book by Terry Pratchett to see how they compare.

Next, Nevermore checked out Lafayette in the Somewhat United States by Sarah Vowell, which explores the history of the Marquis de Lafayette—General Lafayette to a fledgling America—and his incredible contribution to the Revolutionary War.  Vowell also explores the roots of the United States, shining a light on both the bickering and infighting of America’s past and the unexpected friendships that developed between the Americans and their French allies.  Our reader praised Vowell’s book highly, saying, “[The author] tells it so well, writes so well.  She is just so witty.”  She recommended it to her fellow historians, calling it a delightful and insightful look at the United States that is “on target” for historical accuracy.

Nevermore also looked at a classic tale of romance and suspense by Daphne Du Maurier:  Jamaica Inn.  Mary Yellan travels to the cold, rainswept Cornish coast on a mission to honor her dying mother’s wish that she join her Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss Merlyn at the Jamaica Inn.  But when Mary arrives, she has a sinking suspicion that the Jamaica Inn will only bring her trouble.  Our reader, who received Jamaica Inn as a recommendation, had nothing but praise for Du Maurier’s novel.  Darkly gothic and chillingly suspenseful, Jamaica Inn is an incredible novel by an author who has a real talent with descriptions—and ways to keep readers on their toes.  Our reader said of this novel, “You can tell who is bad, but not who is good.  So who can you trust?”

In The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, the world is in the midst of a crisis.  Reeling from the “Sudden Departure,” in which thousands of people simply disappeared—suddenly and with no explanation, no rhyme or reason—the citizens of Mapleton are struggling to repair the damage.  Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to help his community; however, he’s not sure where to begin now that his family lies in ruins.  His wife, Laurie, has left him to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, has dropped out of college and taken off to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne; and while his daughter, Jill, remains in town, she’s not the happy young girl she used to be—and Kevin fears he’ll soon lose her too.  Uncertain what to do or where to turn, Kevin tries to make the best of a very bad situation and heal the wounds that the “Sudden Departure” has left on all of them.  Our reader said The Leftovers was an interesting, if slightly bizarre, novel.  Although she didn’t love it, she liked it enough to finish the story and find out what happens to Kevin and his family as they struggle with their own personal demons.

Last, but certainly not least, Nevermore shared Sing for Your Life:  A Story of Race, Music, and Family by Daniel Bergner.  Bergner’s book tells the story of Ryan Speedo Green, who, despite the hardships he endured as a child, eventually became a member of the New York’s Metropolitan Opera.  In Sing for Your Life, Bergner chronicles Ryan’s incredible journey from an abusive childhood in southeastern Virginia to his winning performance, at the age of twenty-four, for the Metropolitan Opera.  Our reader definitely enjoyed learning about Ryan Green.  She said it was “such an uplifting, [inspirational] story,” and she gushed that Bergner was a wonderful writer.  She highly recommended it to her fellow Nevermore members.

Nevermore: Earthquake, Brothers of the Sea, Lizzie Borden, Jamaica Inn, Down Among the Dead Men, Sing for Your Life

Reported by Kristin

Nevermore began with a big disaster:  not Hurricane Harvey, but the 1964 Alaskan earthquake that was the strongest earthquake ever recorded in North America.  In The Great Quake: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet, author Henry Fountain describes how the earth shook for over five minutes and how some pieces of land dropped ten feet.  Our reader had toured Alaska a few years ago and found this a very interesting depiction of places she had seen.

Our next reader was charmed by a small novel published in 1966, Brothers of the Sea by D.R. Sherman.  In the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean off the coast of southern Africa, a foundling with a limp is left on a doorstep.  Taken in by a kind man, fifteen year old Paul helps his adoptive father in his fishing boat, and one day meets a dolphin.  Our reader found this simple story quite meaningful and appreciated the respectful relationships between the characters.

Continuing in fiction, See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt takes another piece of history—the Lizzie Borden case—and speculates what actually happened in the brutal ax murders of Andrew and Abby Borden Fall River, Massachusetts in 1892.  The Bordens were a wealthy family, and Lizzie had a bit of a reputation for bossing around her family members.  Although acquitted on the murder charges, Lizzie did spend ten months in jail and many people still believe that she was guilty.  This high profile case has spurred the imagination of many, including our reader.

Next up was Down Among the Dead Men by Peter Lovesey.  Between a missing art teacher and a cold murder case, Detective Peter Diamond seems to be running all over England.  As he travels, he becomes tangled in a variety of situations, but eventually figures out the “whodunit.”  Our reader said that this is a part of a series and was kind of a fun read, but not the best book she had ever read.

The classic Jamaica Inn by Daphne Du Maurier is sometimes overshadowed by her better known novel Rebecca, but Nevermore readers have been passing it around and enjoying it quite a bit.  The main character is Mary, a young woman whose mother dies and thus is sent to live with her aunt at Jamaica Inn.  On the surface all seems well, but there is evil lurking beneath.  Our reader proclaimed this an excellent story with excellent writing, and that it was intriguing to see what life was like in 1820’s Cornwall.

Sing for Your Life: A Story of Race, Music, and Family by Daniel Bergner inspired our next reader to ask “What choices do you make in your life?”  Ryan Speedo Green, a young African American man, grew up in southeastern Virginia, struggling to achieve his goals in a poor single parent family.  From there Green went on to become a well-known opera star and continues to inspire others with his voice.  Our reader was impressed with Green’s achievements.

Lastly, Divisadero by Michael Ondaatje was brought to the table.  Set in Northern California in the 1970’s, a father and his daughters make their living from the land, until violence forces change upon them.  Our reader commented that there were very intense situations between lovers, and that her takeaway was that we all have to get past saying that others are at fault, and we must find something that we can do personally to make things better.