The Big Box Door Prize by M. O. Walsh

 

 

Reviewed by Laura

            Douglas Hubbard and his wife, Cherilyn, are well-loved by the people of Deerfield, Louisiana. Douglas teaches history at the local high school and Cherilyn, though unable to have children, is always busy with crafts and odd jobs around town. Their relationship is the envy of many, but most especially Deuce Newman, a former high school football star turned town photographer, who has pined for Cherilyn since their high school days. With the town's bicentennial coming up, Deuce is in great demand taking pictures of all the townspeople to use in a mosaic to be displayed for the occasion. Needless to say, avoiding him will be an impossible task for the Hubbards.

            Everything goes along pretty smoothly in this small town until a new machine appears at the local grocery store. For $2.00 and a Q-tip swap of your DNA, the DNAMIX will tell you your greatest potential and calling. The machine turns out to be wildly popular as residents stand in line to discover what their talent really is and what they should do for the rest of their lives. Sounds like a fun way to spend the afternoon and have a chuckle about “what might have been”, but unfortunately, most of the townspeople take the printouts as gospel. Before long, all around town, you might see someone doing magic tricks in their front yard, spending their retirement money on expensive bicycles and hitting the road, or a myriad of other activities. Even the mayor appears to be transitioning into a cowboy! Douglas has avoided the craziness thus far, but then Cherilyn discovers she was meant for royalty and things go downhill from there.

            While the book’s main characters are Douglas and Cherilyn, the book also follows some of the town’s other residents, including a darker subplot relating to some of Douglas’ colleagues and students from the high school. Though the book is definitely not a mystery in the normal sense of the word, there were several twists and turns that I certainly never saw coming. This is a wonderfully told story of intertwining relationships and the curves life throws at us along the way. It wasn’t the type of book that I couldn’t put down, but rather more like a comfortable robe that I wanted to ease into at the end of the day. Comforting and heartwarming…just the thing I need right now.  I highly recommend it.

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro

Reviewed by Kristin

Genealogy was the first word which caught my eye on the cover of this book.  The background picture is unassuming, a short, aged, ivory dress, such as one which might be worn to a baptism or a bat mitzvah.  Opening the cover, I read that the author, Dani Shapiro, had a big surprise when she decided to have her DNA tested as part of an ancestry kit.  Her unusual blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair complexion had never quite fit in with her dark haired Jewish family, and suddenly those features seemed a lot more significant.  Only about half of her DNA pointed to being Eastern European Ashkenazi, (Jewish,) so what about the other half?

Shapiro made this personally earth-shattering discovery in 2016, in the modern era when DNA testing is rather commonplace, and where the internet is a treasure trove of information if you just know where to look.  Very quickly, Shapiro was able to figure out the bare bones of how she came to be, and even found a YouTube video of the man she suspected was her biological father.  Suddenly, her life was turned upside down.  If the father she had always known was not related to her genetically, how had this come about?

Within a surprisingly short period of time, Shapiro was able to reach out to a man who she had so much in common with and yet had never known.  Treading lightly, she began to explore the possibilities of forging a connection with the man who played a tiny part in her creation, while still holding tight to the family heritage which had encompassed her very being from the moment of her birth.

Shapiro’s parents had both passed away.  Searching for clues in remembered conversations was one way that she tried to understand what her parents had gone through five decades earlier.  A box of papers in the basement provided some clues and also sparked memories of the uneasy relationship she had with her mother over the years.  Seeking peace and answers, Shapiro continued talking to family members and friends.  The discovery brought her closer to some, but created distance with others.

Shapiro has written several other memoirs and works of fiction, often focusing on the intimacy of family relationships.  This memoir explores family identity, larger ethnic distinctiveness, and the human capacity for love.

DNA of You and Me by Andrea Rothman

Reviewed by Kristin

Emily is more comfortable dealing with a microscope than with people. If she could just sit in a lab and analyze how DNA controls the sense of smell and never ever talk to anyone, she would be quite content. Of course she wants to work on a project which could make a huge difference in olfactory neuron research, but she would be fine working on it by herself. The problem is, Aeden and Allegra are already working on a set of genes and it would really help to know if the genes Emily is searching for in the database are the ones already identified.

One day in the lab Aeden reaches out to Emily, and she opens herself to him in a way she did not know possible. They become friends, then something more, but Emily is not sure what it is. She just doesn’t know how to process the possibility of a relationship. Genes are so much easier to read than people.

Andrea Rothman’s language is beautiful and elegant, giving shape to a sparse life blooming into something more. Emily must decide what is most important to her. The path she chooses will change her direction in life, exposing her to experiences she never anticipated.

More than just two science nerds falling in love, The DNA of You and Me examines the importance of human interactions for those whose brains are wired just a little differently. This book reminded me of How to Tell Toledo From the Night Sky by Lydia Netzer, reviewed here. The characters in both books seem to have the same kind of disconnect from the world around them, as so much of what matters to them is the science.

Rothman is a scientist who has done significant research on the sense of smell. She clearly understands the workings of genetic sequences and has translated the concepts into language that non-scientists can understand. This is her debut novel.

Nevermore: Red Clocks, Calypso, Love and Ruin, Lincoln in the Bardo, Evolution’s Captain

Reported by Jeanne

Red Clocks by Leni Zumas imagines a world in which the United States has banned both abortion and in-vitro fertilization, granting personhood to every embryo.  The book follows the lives of five women who must make choices based on this new reality. Our reader compared it to A Handmaid’s Tale, saying that fertility (or lack thereof) determined class, and that the book seeks to address the concepts of identity, motherhood, and freedom.  The characters are fully developed and the book is alternately compelling and chilling.

A new David Sedaris book is cause for rejoicing among some members of Nevermore, and Calypso met their expectations.   Sedaris is known for his storytelling and wit, spinning satiric gold out of his everyday interactions. While Calypso retells some of his adventures from earlier collections, our reader said that these are from a different perspective so the repetition didn’t bother her at all.

Paula McLain’s first novel, The Paris Wife, was a fictionalized version of Ernest Hemingway marriage to Hadley Richardson.  Her new book, Love and Ruin, explores the relationship between Hemingway and Martha Gelhorn, a young journalist who is trying to break through in what has been a man’s occupation.  Our Nevermore member described it as “fiction based on fact” and noting that Hemingway was not a sympathetic character.

The next reader had not finished Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders but he said that the first 60 pages “will grab you SO hard.”  He explained that a bardo is a Tibetan term for a place after death, and that Lincoln has just suffered the loss of his young son.  The book has had very good reviews, but is not to everyone’s taste.

Evolution’s Captain by Peter Nicolas reveals the man behind Charles Darwin’s expedition which resulted in his theory of evolution: Robert Fitzroy, the captain of The Beagle, who invited Darwin to accompany him on the voyage.  Five years later, the two find themselves with divergent views on the natural world. Our reviewer was particularly intrigued by the descriptions of early weather forecasting which played a vital role in sea travel.

Our last reader was intrigued by Joseph Wambaugh’s The Blooding, a non-fiction account of the first use of DNA to catch a criminal.  The English village of Narborough was the site of two brutal murders and rapes over a three year period.  The police questioned various suspects but were unable to conclude the identity of the murderer.  Then a researcher at the nearby Leicester University devised a way to identify a person from “genetic fingerprinting.” It was a riveting account, and our reviewer recommended it highly.

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Reviewed by Ambrea

Don Tillman is a brilliant but socially awkward professor and geneticist—and he has decided it’s time he found a wife.  Thus, he designs the Wife Project:  a sixteen-page, scientifically validated survey which will help him weed out the smokers, the drinkers, the late arrivers, the vegetarians, and other individuals ill-suited to his search.  Like Rosie Jarman.

Rosie smokes, she drinks, and she always arrives late.  Don quickly dismisses her as a candidate for his Wife Project, but he’s quickly pulled into her life when Rosie asks him to help her identify her biological father.  Set on completing the Father Project, Don and Rosie begin a crazy and dysfunctional quest that takes them across the country—and even across the world—as they search to find matching DNA…and something extraordinary:  a deeper attachment that neither of them saw coming.

The Rosie Project is an unexpectedly adorable romantic-comedy with endearing characters and hilarious situations that left me laughing.  Don is a wonderful narrator.  Socially awkward, but incredibly bright, Don weaves an intelligent and thoughtful story about the concepts of friendship, family, and love.

Don is brilliant, an absolute genius, and he’s such a quirky lovable character that his faults, such as they are, become part and parcel of who he is.  Don is sometimes difficult to understand, seeing as how his IQ is rather astronomical and he’s still learning “social protocols,” but he’s a wonderful character and an excellent narrator nonetheless.  Moreover, he’s candid, thoughtful, and oblivious to the obvious, but he’s a stickler for the rules.

Until he meets Rosie.

I absolutely loved the dynamic between them—how they interact, how they manage to make the other laugh—and I loved that Rosie was able to coax Don out of his shell and that they were able to grow together in a relationship.  Don, in particular, undergoes a startling change in his efforts to help Rosie:  he’s willing to break the rules and put social convention aside just for her.

It’s romantic, it’s sweet.  And, as they proceed with Rosie’s Father Project, it’s an epic adventure of comical proportions.  They get into some crazy situations (even going so far as to fly to New York City!), and they make mistakes; however, they develop and learn and discover—and, more importantly, they fall in love.

Some aspects of Rosie’s search are incredibly sad, such as the fate of her mother and Geoffrey Case. Similarly, Don’s quest (i.e. his Wife Project) is silly, but it’s sad at the same time.  Like Rosie, he’s searching for a sense of belonging, a feeling of community and closeness—and love—that he’s never quite encountered.  Truthfully, it’s a little heartbreaking.