Nevermore: Overstory, Longevity Paradox, Wild Swans, Blowout, Beekeeper of Aleppo, In a Sunburned Country, Pursuit, None of the Above, The Dog I Loved

Reported by Laura 

Nevermore read a wide variety of books this week; some were enjoyed, some were not. The first was The Overstory by Richard Price. Each chapter is a new story about a different tree and the character’s unique experiences with them.  This book won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize, but the reviewer was not impressed. She found the stories a little weird for her taste.

          Our next book has been read by several members. Most did not like it. The Longevity Paradox by Steven R. Gundry outlines a nutrition and lifestyle plan that he says will support gut health and help people to live, not only longer, but well. Our reviewer felt it wasn’t scientifically sound and didn’t find it very helpful. There was no new useful information and the book could do with some editing. One food item (lentils) was on two lists: What to eat and what to avoid. Definitely not recommended.

          The Wild Swans by Jung Chang was a book that was recommended! This nonfiction book spans a century covering three generations of a Chinese family. The author tells the biographies of her grandmother and mother and then her own autobiography. The reviewer enjoyed the book and said she learned a lot about China and the Japanese invasion. The grandmother was a concubine with bound feet and the mother was strong in the Communist party, though fair. The family suffered a lot and Ms. Chang relates how the only time she ever saw her father cry was when he was forced to burn his books.

          Another nonfiction book read this week was Rachel Maddow’s Blowout. The reviewer found it to be a slow, dreary read and couldn’t finish it. She said it covered anything you might need to know about big oil and gas taking over the world and Rex Tillerson illegalities. If you are interested in those topics, give it a try.

          The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri is a fiction book based on the author’s experiences over two summers in Athens at a refugee center. It deals with the flight of refugees from Aleppo to Europe during the Syrian Civil War. Nuri, a beekeeper, and his artist wife, Afra, are faced with leaving everything they love behind as they embark on a journey to Britain where Nuri’s cousin and business partner has started an apiary to teach beekeeping to fellow refugees. The reviewer found it thought-provoking and a good read.

          In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson was deemed laugh out loud funny and highly recommended. In his usual style, he takes readers off the beaten path as he explores Australia and gives information not found in ordinary travel books. With all that is going on in the area at present, it was somewhat bittersweet to read about, but all in all, an excellent book.

          Our next book was a suspenseful offering by Joyce Carol Oates. Pursuit is told in flashbacks, alternating between present day and the terrifying childhood of the main character. Abby marries one day and is in a horrible accident the next. In and out of consciousness, she shares horrifying details of her past and her husband is faced with wondering what his new wife hasn’t told him. The reviewer enjoyed the book, but figured everything out halfway through.

          None of the Above by I. W. Gregorio is a YA fiction book that was sad, but very informative. The book centers around a young girl who is a popular high school student. She is an athlete and elected homecoming queen, but when she decides to lose her virginity, she finds it unbearably painful. A trip to the doctor reveals that she was born intersex, having both male and female parts. After she confides in her best friend, the secret is leaked to the entire school, the bullying begins in earnest, and her life is changed forever.

          The Dog I Loved by Susan Wilson was a beautifully written book that focuses on two different women and the dogs who saved them. Rose was a woman caught in the trap of a controlling boyfriend who ends up serving time in jail for a crime she didn’t intend to commit. While in prison, she becomes part of a program training service dogs. Meghan is a young woman severely damaged in the war and searching for a way to regain her freedom. A service dog may be the key to fulfilling her dreams. This book is a testament to the human (and canine) spirit.

Nevermore: Peach Keeper, Florence of Arabia, Overstory, At the Edge of the Orchard, Hand to Mouth, Poisonwood Bible

Reported by Kristin

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen provided a much-needed light, summery read for one of our Nevermore readers this week. Willa Jackson and Paxton Osgood have known each other for years, having grown up in the same small town although not necessarily running in the same social circles. When Paxton buys and restores the old Jackson family home in order to open an inn, history rises to the present in the form of a skeleton found beneath a peach tree. Allen weaves stories together from generation to generation, creating a captivating atmosphere of friendship.

Following with more fiction, another reader thoroughly enjoyed Florence of Arabia by Christopher Buckley. Clearly satire, this novel approaches Arab-American relations with a level of irreverence sure to enchant and/or offend its readers. In the country of “Wasabia,” a junior diplomat decides to try to fix the injustices of the Middle East by granting full citizenship and rights to women. Our reader found some references to other countries very obvious and some rather subtle, and altogether funny.

In somewhat more serious fiction, our next reader described The Overstory by Richard Powers, winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, as an awesome book. Beautifully written, this novel examines the natural world through a series of connected stories. As nine different characters are moving through their separate lives, they each discover a connection to trees. Our reader was enthralled by the relationships between the people and trees, and how the manner in which trees live, grow, and even communicate with each other mirrors the interdependency necessary for human survival.

At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier is a frontier story, with James and Sadie Goodenough settling in Ohio in 1838. Their son Robert escapes his difficult family by moving westward with the California Gold Rush. Trees popped up here again (as you might guess from the title,) as the characters were involved in shipping saplings and seedlings from the West Coast to England. Our reader said that it was a very enjoyable book about starting anew.

The discussion then turned to non-fiction with Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America by Linda Tirado. This is a real working poor memoir by a woman who details her struggles of maintaining multiple jobs while struggling to keep her family above water. Our reader felt that this was a perspective not usually seen, and that the author had done a good job of raising her children to learn for themselves and to be curious in life. Much discussion ensued, with various readers weighing in with their opinions on how the author had included a running commentary on how important cigarettes were to help her get through another long walk to work or to steal even a moment of

relaxation.

Lastly, another reader admitted that she was still in the middle of but still enjoying The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. This epic tale is spun from the perspective of a Baptist missionary’s wife. Nathan Price is dispatched to the Belgian Congo in 1959 along with his wife and their four daughters. Our reader’s main comment thus far was the fact that the wife sees how terribly her husband treats his family, but she still believes in his mission.