Nevermore: Great Migration, Barracoon, Jane Seymour, R.D. Lawrence, Playing for Pizza, Dance for Emilia

Reported by Kristin

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson received rave reviews from our first reader, as well as fans around the world.  Illustrating the movements of African Americans who left the American south for the north and the west, Wilkerson tells the stories of three migrants who left their familiar territory in hopes of a better life but encountered some level of continued racism and segregation.  Reading this book, our reader recognized some things she had seen, (but not recognized as segregation,) on public transportation in the mid-1960s.  She found the stories enlightening.

Another reader picked up Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston.  Although researched and written in the late 1920s, Hurston’s project was not published until 2018, nearly 60 years after her death.  Cudjo Lewis, the last known survivor of the last illegal slave ship to come to America in 1860, was living in Plateau, Alabama in 1927, in the area where many of the native Africans settled after emancipation.  Our reader noted that the book uses dialect to keep the story in Cudjo’s own words, but that it was easy to read.

Next up was Jane Seymour: The Haunted Queen by Allison Weir.  Part of the Six Tudor Queens series, this volume of historical fiction would have benefited from a little editing, says our reader.  Even though very few facts are known about Jane, the third wife of King Henry VIII, Weir has built up quite a story, topping out at 576 pages.  Our reader appreciates so much of the author’s non-fiction, and commented that she really writes popular history well.

The Green Trees Beyond: A Memoir by R.D. Lawrence enchanted our next reader, as the author was born into a difficult time and place, as the Spanish civil war broke out in 1926 when he was fourteen years old.  Lawrence’s friends taught him how to use a gun, and the war emotionally shaped him, as he learned to hold in his emotions and grief as friends died in the fighting. After years of fighting in Spain and in World War II, Lawrence migrated to Canada, and became a naturalist and wildlife author, writing more than thirty books before his death in 2003.

Our next reader decided to read Playing for Pizza by John Grisham, but soon regretted her decision.  Rick Dockery, a minor professional football player in the United States, decides to make a fresh start with a new team:  The Mighty Panthers in Parma, Italy.  Culture shock abounds, although Rick makes a home for himself, finds his spirit renewed, and of course falls in love with a beautiful woman.  Not all books are for all readers, and this time the verdict presented to Nevermore was, “This book is ridiculous!”

Another somewhat fantastical book reviewed was A Dance for Emilia by Peter S. Beagle.  Jake and Sam have been friends since childhood, until a sudden tragedy leaves Jake alone.  Our reader enjoyed this novella, which is centered around friendship and love.  Plus, there’s a cat not only on the cover, but deeply entwined in the plot.  You can find a review that Jeanne recently wrote here.

Nevermore: Plains Across, Martian, North Korea, and More!

Reported by Ambrea

Our Nevermore Book Club journeyed far and wide this week.  Our readers revisited the Oregon Trail with The Plains Across by John D. Unruh Jr. and traveled to Mars in The Martian by Andy Weir, and even stopped over in North Korea in Without You, There is No Us by Suki Kim.  Although our group only was missing some regulars this week, there were still plenty of books and opinions to share.

One of our members has been reading a number of books about the Oregon Trail. This week it was The Plains Across:  The Overland Emigrants and the Trans-Mississippi West, 1840-1860 by John D. Unruh Jr. In this book, our reader said she had a unique opportunity to witness the activities of travelers and study what really happened on the Oregon Trail.  Unruh, who wrote The Plains Across as part of his doctorate dissertation, spent an entire decade compiling information on travelers and pioneer transportation and major trail events, compiling an incredible amount of information into a single, accessible volume.  Our Nevermore readers said it was more of a textbook than recreational reading, but she found it interesting even if she left it unfinished.  She has since decided that her curiosity with the Oregon Trail has been satisfied.

Next up was Without You, There Is No Us:  My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite by Suki Kim, an English teacher who spent six months in North Korea under the leadership of King Jong-il in 2011.  In her memoir, Kim reveals her experiences at Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.  Three times daily, students would sing praises of the country’s leaders, which is where Kim finds the inspiration for her title:  Without you, there is no motherland.  Without you, there is no us.  Between extreme censorship guidelines and rigid religious/political regulations, the university was utterly claustrophobic for Suki Kim—and her memoir portrays these struggles of everyday life.  According to our reader, Kim’s memoir provided great insight into the educated social classes of North Korea; however, our reader couldn’t enjoy Without You, There Is No Us for the simple reason that it was going to have or did have grave repercussions for the individuals involved.  It cast everything into a negative light and North Korean officials don’t take kindly to any perceived criticism.

The first novel of the meeting was Buried Angels by Camilla Lackberg.  When Ebba was a baby, she was abruptly abandoned by her family in 1974; now married with children of her own in mind, she and her husband have returned to her hometown to make a fresh start—until an arsonist targets her house.  Detective Patrik Hedstrom and his wife, crime writer Erica Palck, are introduced to the case and discover that Ebba’s family might not be missing after all.  Our reader, who was a little more than halfway finished with the novel, said Buried Angels was “quite good.”  Filled with a multitude of characters—which made our reader wonder, “Is anyone in Sweden not in this book?”—and laced with intrigue, danger, and mystery, Buried Angels was highly recommended by our reader.

Likewise, The Martian by Andy Weir (which was just released as a movie on October 2) received some very positive reviews from our readers.  Chronicling the odyssey of Mark Watney, as he fights to survive the inhospitable terrain of Mars and return to Earth, The Martian is a tale of survival that reaches into the depths of the solar system—think of it as Castaway on Mars.  Our readers seemed to enjoy Weir’s novel.  Marvelously detailed and full of real theoretical physics, all made accessible by Mark Watney’s colorful explanations, The Martian was a thrilling ride.  It kept one of our readers on the edge of her seat.

Having read Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, one member decided to explore Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places.  Like her previous books, this novel is a psychological thriller that plays upon the darkest parts of human imagination.  The story, which our reader described as “pretty dramatic,” begins with Libby Day:  she was seven when her two sisters and her mother were murdered and, as the sole survivor, she testified in court that her brother, fifteen-year-old Ben, was the killer.  Twenty-five years later, she’s brought back to the case only to discover that the facts she believed as a child may no longer be true—and a killer may still be on the loose.  Our reader said she enjoyed Dark Places, much better than Sharp Objects; however, she still believes that Gone Girl is still Flynn’s best book.

Last, our readers discussed Descent by Tim Johnston.  Descent, which follows the disappearance of Caitlin Courtland and the disintegration of her family, was incredibly popular at one of our prior meetings.  Two of our Nevermore members really enjoyed Johnston’s novel, having only positive comments to make; however, our latest reader said she just couldn’t stay with it from beginning to end.  It had the potential to be a great novel, but she felt she just couldn’t sink into the story and stay hooked like some of our other readers.