Nevermore: Olive Again, Constitution, Symptoms of Being Human, This Is How It Always Is, Historian, Less

Reported by Jeanne

Nevermore opened with praises being sung for Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout.  The first book, Olive Kitteridge, was greatly enjoyed by the group (indeed, someone was currently reading it) and this second one is deemed a most worthy sequel. As with the first book, there are a series of connecting stories about the lives of ordinary people in the small town of Crosby, Maine.  Olive Kitteridge, a retired school teacher, is the link between them.  Olive is a wonderful creation. Blunt, stubborn, curmudgeonly, Olive is still very relatable.  Strout has a gift for creating characters who feel real and for infusing her stories with a deep humanity.  One reader commented that she found it amazing that Ms. Strout, who appears so young could write so movingly and realistically about old age.

How to Read the Constitution and Why by Kim Wehle is a very thorough examination of the U.S. Constitution.  Very. Thorough.  Word by word thorough. And not just the current meaning of some of the words but the historic meanings as well.  Our reader said it was good but slow reading.  She had heard the author speak and found her to be lively and interesting, but that didn’t really show up in the book.  It’s an important book on an important subject, but it was not engaging.

The next reviewer has been reading about the changing concepts of gender and sexuality.  In The Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin, Riley is a fourteen year old who is gender fluid.  Some days Riley feels more masculine, sometimes more feminine.  Riley dresses in a neutral style, but that doesn’t stop bullying by classmates.  To complicate matters further, Riley’s father is a congressman who is running for re-election in a very conservative district, so Riley’s questions of identity must be kept secret. This is a YA novel, so there is a good bit of teen angst but our reader still found it entertaining and informative.

Her second book was Laurie Frankel’s This Is How It Always Is which centers around a family with a child with similar issues, but at a younger age. Rosie and Adam have four sons—or so it seemed, but their youngest child, precocious Claude insists that he wants to be a girl when he grows up and wants to wear feminine clothing.The family accepts this, but problems arise as Poppy becomes old enough to attend school. (Kristin reviewed this book back in 2017.)

A new Nevermore attendee was enthusiastic about The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  As the story opens, a young woman finds a dragon-emblazoned book which contains a collection of letters that seem to indicate the legendary Dracula is very real.  This launches a search across countries, with flashbacks to earlier time periods.  The reader said that the book bogged down somewhat in the middle, being packed with well-researched historical information.  There are some genuinely chilling scenes as well--another Nevermore member said she had put it down at times because it was so frightening.

Another character who sets out on an international adventure isn’t so much searching for something as avoiding a situation.  Andrew Less is a middle aged man whose younger lover has decided to marry someone else.  In a desperate attempt to avoid the ceremony, Andrew accepts every professional invitation he can and sets out on what will become an international journey and a voyage of self-discovery.  Our reader called Andrew Sean Greer’s novel Less funny and satiric, but also a poignant book about love.

Nevermore: High School, Physics, Waking Lions, Laurie Frankel, Flower Moon, and Chimney Sweep

Reported by Ambrea

Nevermore started out with a look at Lindsey Lee Johnson’s debut novel, The Most Dangerous Place on Earth.  Johnson’s novel is a “kaleidoscopic narrative [which] exposes at every turn the real human beings beneath the high school stereotypes,” according to the book jacket.  The Most Dangerous Place on Earth tells the story of Abigail Cress, an Ivy League bound student who has an inappropriate relationship with her teacher; Dave Chu, a decent student being crushed by his parents’ expectations; Emma Fleed, a gifted dancer who parties as rigorously as she practices; Damon Flintov, a student just back from rehab who has something to prove; Calista Broderick, a popular student who shaped herself into a “hippie outcast”; and Molly Nicoll, an English teacher who struggles to connect with her richer, more privileged students.  Our reader said she found Johnson’s novel eye opening.  She thought it might be slightly exaggerated, given the obscene wealth of the characters; however, she considered it a very honest presentation of high school life and adolescent relationships.

Next, Nevermore switched to nonfiction with Storm in a Teacup:  The Physics of Everyday Life by Helen Czerski.  Czerski, a physicist who specializes in bubbles, offers a unique and unexpected perspective on daily phenomena, like how trees manage to “drink” water and why milk looks like it does when added to tea and why raisins cause carbonated lemonade to bubble.  Our reader thought Czerski’s book was very interesting.  He thought it was fascinating how the author was able to link complex concepts of the physical universe to the simple, almost humdrum daily routine most people lead.  He liked the simple discovers and, as a special treat, he showed his fellow readers how he was able to turn a glass upside down without spilling a single drop of water.  Using surface tension and a simple piece of cardboard, our reader was able to turn the fully filled water glass upside down and hold it, never spilling a drop.  Needless to say, we were all very impressed.

Nevermore also looked at Laurie Frankel’s latest novel, This is How It Always is.  Rosie and Penn have five children—all boys, all rambunctious—but, as time goes on, they discover that Claude, their youngest son, has dreams of being someone different.  He wants to be a girl.  Rosie and Penn are supportive of Claude, because they want him to be whoever he wants to be; however, they’re just not sure if they’re ready to share his secret with the world—and then, one day, it’s no longer a secret.  Our reader liked Frankel’s novel.  She wondered if this novel was slightly autobiographical, as the author also has a transgender child; however, she thought it was an interesting novel regardless.  She said it would make an excellent book club recommendation, because it would be so easy to find different perspectives on such a charged subject.

Next, Nevemore visited Ayelet Gundar-Goshen’s latest novel, Waking Lions.  A gripping story from beginning to end, Waking Lions tells the story of neurosurgeon Eitan Green and a deadly mistake that may cost him his family, his reputation, and, quite possibly, his life.  While speeding along a dusty, moonlit road after an exhausting day, Eitan hits someone, an African migrant, and then he leaves the scene.  The next day, the victim’s widow shows up on his doorstep with his forgotten wallet.  She doesn’t want money—she wants help, and she’ll have his if no other.  Although she hadn’t finished reading Waking Lions, our reader said it was an interesting novel.  It’s complex and it’s jarring; however, she did note that she’s “had it up to ‘here’ with all the guilt and angst.”

Nevermore revisited Killers of the Flower Moon:  The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann.  During the 1920s, the richest people in the world were the Osage Indian nation in Oklahoma after they received an unforeseen windfall from the oil discovered beneath their land.  But, one by one, the wealthy Osage were being picked off and investigators were murdered, before J. Edgar Hoover and a fledgling FBI became involved.  Our reader, like many others before her, thought Killers of the Flower Moon was interesting and unexpectedly captivating.  Written well and researched just as thoroughly, Grann’s book was an immediate hit with our current reader.  She said she was particularly entranced by the formation of the FBI.  She found it fascinating to see how more modern, according to the time, investigative techniques were used and how forensics—and Texas Ranger Tom White—influenced the floundering Bureau.

Last, Nevermore picked up Death of a Chimney Sweep, a Hamish Macbeth mystery by M.C. Beaton.  Set in isolated villages in northern Scotland, Death of a Chimney Sweep features Constable Hamish Macbeth investigating another mystery—this one the mysterious murder of Pete Ray, the affable, itinerant chimney sweep of the Scottish highlands.  Our reader loves Hamish Macbeth mysteries, and she was glad she had a chance to dive back into Beaton’s novels.  She said the story was “so light, so fast” and re-reading it was a “wonderful refresher.”  She highly recommended Death of a Chimney Sweep—or any other Hamish Macbeth mystery by M.C. Beaton—to her fellow mystery readers, especially if they were looking for an enjoyable, light mystery that borders on not-too-grisly.

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Reviewed by Kristin

Rosie Walsh didn’t expect to fall in love with Penn Adams.  Set up by a friend of a friend, Rosie was a first year resident in the Madison, Wisconsin ER while Penn was a struggling writer working on what he would eventually call the “DN”—his damn novel.  Fast forward several years and they find themselves parents to five little boys.  They are a loving family who embrace the peculiarities of each and every child: Roosevelt, or “Roo”; Benjamin; twins Rigel and Orion; and lastly, Claude.

From the time that Claude could express himself, he was different from his brothers.  He spoke his first word at nine months: “baloney.”  (Not that the pediatrician believed them, but Claude did indeed form coherent syllables about a brother’s favorite lunchmeat.)  He was speaking in complete sentences by his first birthday and communicating his thoughts, feelings and desires to anyone who would listen.  A bright and precocious child, Claude rounded out the Walsh-Adams family perfectly.

There’s just one little unexpected bit—when Claude grows up, he wants to be a girl.

Penn and Rosie are supportive of all of their children; they are perfectly willing to let Claude choose his own clothing and accessories, even if those choices might be a dress fashioned out of an older brother’s long t-shirt, sparkly barrettes, or a red patent leather purse made into a lunch tote.  As Claude’s Pre-K year stretches on, he becomes more aware of the gender norms to which he is expected to conform while at school, and withdraws into himself.  Rosie and Penn become concerned as Claude grows sadder and sadder as he struggles to reconcile external expectations with how he, or possibly she, feels.

After much soul searching, the family decides to relocate to Seattle, which they believe will be a more liberal and accepting town.  Claude goes to Kindergarten as Poppy, a bubbly and happy little girl.  As Poppy blooms, her family struggles not with loving her as she is, but with the secrets kept from the outside world.  Where is the line between what is nobody’s business, and the truth about who someone is?  The Walsh-Adams family finds that it hurts to keep secrets, and secrets cannot be kept forever.

Frankel wrote this story of a family with a transgender child in a loving and sensitive manner, based on her real-life experiences.  Frankel has commented in interviews that This Is How It Always Is is not a retelling of her family’s story but that it does incorporate elements of her daughter’s experience.  At the time of publication in 2017, Frankel’s daughter was still much younger than Poppy is by the end of the book, so it is not entirely biographical, but looks ahead to the choices that must be made when a child’s gender identity does not match their outer appearance.

Frankel’s writing is fluid and moves the narrative along in a way that kept me completely involved in the story.  I appreciated the love of parents who cared infinitely more about the safety and stability of their children than about what other people thought.  As a writer, Penn created a bedtime tradition with all the children piling onto one bed or another, telling a story that never ends, fashioning princes, witches and night fairies living in the forests and hillsides.  This sense of magic is imbued in Frankel’s latest, and I look forward to reading more of her work.