Category: Books

Carolina Capers: Novels & TV Series

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INDIAN FAMILY SAGA

The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

(lithub.com)

Abraham Varghese does not write short novels.  His earlier work, Cutting for Stone, which I read and enjoyed was also a tome.  The Covenant of Water is more than 700 pages; one must persevere, and one must endure, but it is worth the effort.  I do believe it could have been edited down some, but I felt that about the earlier novel also.

Covering the years 1900 to 1977 and set mainly in Kerala, India, and somewhat in Madras and Glasgow, it begins with a 12-year-old girl marrying a 40-year-old widower, father of one son, JoJo.  Over the years, she becomes Big Ammachi, the matriarch of the family, presiding over and nurturing three generations at Parambil, the family seat.  Threaded through the generations are an uncommon number of deaths by drowning.  Those who drown have a fear of water and work to avoid contact with any water.  This affliction is known as The Condition, and for decades, no one knows what causes it or why.  

Dense with descriptive prose, detailed descriptions of unusual medical procedures (Vergherse is a physician and a professor), and a host of characters, intriguing individuals seemingly unrelated to the main story, The Covenant is rich and engrossing.  As is his wont, Verghese brings these characters together, connections are made, and the strands become a cohesive whole.  For readers with patience, it’s a rewarding journey! (~JWFarrington)

MAISIE DOBBS REFLECTS

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear

(harpercollins.com)

I have read all of Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs’ series and have been a big fan of this author.  About fifteen years ago, a good friend and I went to a small bookstore lunch in Marin honoring Winspear.  It was to celebrate the arrival of her latest Maisie Dobbs.  Not surprising, Winspear was gracious and warm. She chatted with us individually during lunch and then read a selection from the book.  It was a memorable affair. 

In addition to the Maisie Cobbs series, Winspear has written two standalone novels and a poignant memoir, This Time Next Year, We’ll Be Laughing. I recommend these works as well.

The Comfort of Ghosts is the 18th novel in the series and a fitting end to Maisie’s career. It is 1945 and the war is over, but London folk are suffering with bombed out buildings and a lack of suitable housing.  Food is in short supply, some homeless become squatters in vacant homes, and demobbed soldiers are haunted by what they have witnessed.

In her last case, Maisie becomes protector and investigator for four young squatters who believe they’ve seen a murder.  She must call upon all her sources and friends for assistance, while simultaneously reflecting on her own part in both world wars, and on the deaths of friends and spouses.  As always, Maisie is determined, detail-oriented, and perceptive; these traits all come into play.

For anyone who hasn’t read the early works, this one is a valedictory to Maisie’s career and personal life, providing glimpses and explanations about how she rose from lowly household maid to investigator and psychologist. Along the way, readers are reintroduced to Maurice Blanche, her mentor and friend; Pris her longtime friend since college; her father and stepmother Brenda; and Julian and Rowan Compton, parents of her first husband James.  It’s a trip down memory lane, shadowed by old ghosts, and yet reflective of the challenges Maisie and her compatriots face in moving on past the terror and damage of WWII.  

Winspear convincingly portrays both the postwar climate in Britain and the mental struggles those who served must overcome to function again in peacetime.  Maisie Dobbs has her own regrets and concerns, but she is a stalwart, and her first response is usually to provide help.  I found this a very satisfying conclusion to the series, but I will, nonetheless, miss Maisie.  (~JWFarrington)

REGENCY ROMANCE

Bridgerton, Season 3 (Netflix)

Colin & Penelope (eonline.com)

Bridgerton, first viewed during Covid, has now advanced to its 3rd season.  For those who’ve read Julia Quinn’s novels on which it’s based, it’s a logical viewing choice.  Created by the talented producer Rhonda Shimes and Quinn, it’s a romance lover’s delight—complete with lavish costumes, fancy balls and intrigues, frustrated and beleaguered lovers, and, of course, the redoubtable Lady Whistledown’s gossip sheet.  

This season focuses on Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton.  She is the youngest and an overlooked sibling in her family, while Colin, the Bridgerton brother she has been friendly with and adored for years, has recently returned from Europe.  This is Penelope coming into her own as a woman alongside Queen Charlotte’s ongoing quest to learn the identity of Lady Whistledown.  The season is steamy and sexy with plenty of couplings, engagements, and even an incipient attraction between Lady Violet Bridgerton and a certain lord.  

It’s fun, it’s poignant, and the women have their day!  I think it’s the best season thus far with greater depth than the previous two.  Enjoy!

OTHER DOINGS

This week we participated in a Juneteenth celebration which included commentary about the holiday, music, and some tasty African-inspired nibbles. Another day, we lunched out with the Adventurous Eaters at La Victoria, an attractive Mexican restaurant in Cary. The waitstaff was friendly, the guacamole fresh with a punch, and the enchiladas verdes I ordered delicious. Add in an afternoon performance of songs from the 1950s, 1960s, and 70s by the BackFence Duo; it was a full week.

Note: Header Juneteenth graphic courtesy of Vecteezy.com

Carolina Capers: Reading & Art

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From Unravelling the Threads by Vera Weinfield

RECENT READING—D DAY

June 6th this week marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day when Allied troops landed on the Normandy Beaches and changed the outcome of the war.  Two recent novels I’ve just completed are concerned with the Holocaust.  One is set in France and has been a bestseller in France and Europe, and the other is set in Italy.  

The Postcard by Anne Berest

Author Berest (Wikipedia.com)

French novelist and writer Anne Berest was intrigued by a postcard her mother, Lelia, a noted scholar, received in 2003.  Written on the card in an unfamiliar hand were the names of four members of their extended family, Lelia’s grandparents and her aunt and uncle, all of whom were deported and killed in the concentration camps.  With her mother’s assistance, Berest goes on the hunt to find out who wrote and mailed the card and to learn more about her great grandparents, Ephraim and Emma, and her great aunt Noemie and her great uncle Jacques.  

Although the work is a novel or autobiographical fiction, it reads like nonfiction since so much of it is factual.  Berest does, however, create dialogue and flesh out situations based on the archival information the two women discover.  Central to the story is Myriam, Ephraim and Emma’s oldest child, and Leila’s mother.  Myriam survived the war and Anne Berest knew her and visited her in Provence as a child.  

The book goes back and forth in time and is an absorbing and poignant journey into family history as daughter and mother share experiences, but don’t always agree on what should be pursued or what is too painful to revisit.  The book is translated from the French.  Highly recommended!  (~JWFarrington)

Our Darkest Night by Jennifer Robson

Robson (Amazon.com)

The Postcard, published in 2023 in English, was on my summer reading list.  Having finished it on my Kindle, I discovered this related novel by Canadian author Jennifer Robson.  Robson’s historical novel portrays the experiences of one Jewish woman, Nina, taken into hiding by a Catholic family in 1942.  

Nina’s physician father is determined that she should be protected and makes arrangements with a friend. Having enjoyed a comfortable and sheltered childhood in Venice, Nina must now masquerade as farmer Nico’s wife. She earns her place in his family through hard work on their farm, but later is arrested, beaten, and transported to a camp in Poland. 

Nina is a fictional character, but her story was partly inspired by Robson’s son asking whether it was true that his Italian grandparents had hidden Jews during the war.  Robson’s novel reflects the extraordinary amount of research she did about real events—massacres, hangings, deportations—and is both graphic and extremely compelling.  It is a fitting companion to Berest’s book, and I recommend it. (~JWFarrington)

READERS’ RECOMMENTATIONS

Our Swedish friend is deep into Fresh Water for Flowers by Valerie Perrin and calls it a must read.  It’s translated from the French and was a bestseller all over Europe.  I read it in 2022 (see blog of 4/3/22) and found it slow to get into and then fascinating and memorable.

(amazon.com)

The Chief Penguin’s Colorado cousin belongs to an international book club which meets every other month. She shared their 2024 list.  Two titles on it are:  The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese and River Sing Me Home, a historical novel about a mother’s journey to find her stolen children.    

ART OUTING

CAM Raleigh

From Samantha Everette’s Crowning Glory

The Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) is located in downtown Raleigh in a former produce storage building in the Warehouse District. Opened in 2011, it’s a non-collecting museum that offers bold and innovative exhibits from local and national contemporary artists as well as educational programming.  

On a recent visit, I surveyed a photographic study of Black women and hair, Crowning Glory, an exhibit of UNC-Chapel Hill MFA student thesis projects, and a collection of works from emerging artists in rural Robeson County, part of a project called CAMERA.  Overall, a wide diversity of styles and media here. Shown at the very top, the Vera Weinfield collage is one of her thesis works on Jewish identity.

Joyful Mysteries
Collage by Molly English (UNC MFA student)
Detail, Cleft, by Jeffrey Geller

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Note: All unattributed photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Header painting is Still by S. K. Chavis-Bullard.

Summer Reading 2024

JWF 3 Comments

READING GOALS

Each June, I set myself the goal of reading a set list of books over the summer.  Most years, I read some of them, but seldom all.  Along the way, I purchase or borrow books, and they end up taking priority.  This year’s list is a mix of notable books and bestsellers, both fiction and nonfiction. 

I’ve read many of Verghese’s earlier works and almost all Toibin’s and Strout’s novels; they are favorite writers of mine!  Years ago, I read Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips for my book group and then later her Quiet Dell.  

Claire Keegan is a recent discovery, and as part of becoming a Tar Heel, I will read Wilmington’s Lie.  Sadly, Jacqueline Winspear is giving up Maisie Dobbs, detective, and the title here is her last appearance.  Overall, this list includes many writers whom I’ve read previously.  

MY SUMMER READING LIST

The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear (#18, end of the Maisie Dobbs series)

Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

The Demon of Unrest by Eric Larson (Abraham Lincoln & the months before the Civil War)

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Long Island by Colm Toibin (return of Ellis Lacey of his earlier Brooklyn)

Master Slave Husband Wife by Ilyon Woo (2024 Pulitzer Prize winner in biography)

Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

North Woods by Daniel Mason

Tables for Two by Amor Towles (stories)

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

The Marriage Question by Maggie O’Farrell

The Postcard by Anne Berest (autobiographical fiction, Holocaust family)

Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin (life & politics in the 1960’s)

Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan (stories)

Wilmington’s Lie by David Zucchino

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Manhattan: Looking, Dining & Reading

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WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

The Whitney Biennial is held every two years and brings together the works of contemporary painters, sculptors, video artists and the like.  This year there are 70 artists represented and the works can be abstract, challenging, and occasionally accessible.  I find the experience of viewing this exhibit interesting and yet somewhat off-putting.  But I feel it’s a good exercise to be exposed to art I don’t necessarily like or understand.   Here are several works from the Biennial. Luger’s inverted tipi echoes his Native American heritage while stating that the world is upside down.

from Future Ancestral Technologies by C. H. Luger

Philadelphia artist Karyn Olivier uses found objects as reference points for the past or loss. Anyone who’s spent time in Maine will recognize these lobster trappings.

How Many Ways Can You Disappear, 2021

We also spent time in a gallery of works from the Whitney’s permanent collection.  Here are two pieces that spoke to me, one visually appealing, the other disturbing and powerful. I like the vibrancy and beauty of the Gullah woman in Dry Clean.

Dry Clean, Eldzier Cortor, c.1945-46

Norman Lewis’ stark black and white oil painting is chilling with its masks, skulls, and echoes of Klansmen and would easily have fit in the Biennial exhibit.

American Totem, Norman Lewis, 1960

DINING AROUND—THAI STREET FOOD 

Up Thai (Upper East Side)

We had walked by Up Thai in the past, but never eaten here before.  I read a recommendation for it and decided to book. It’s a very popular place and while an attractive space, it’s jammed packed with tables and there is very little space for the wait staff to navigate.  Granted, we were here on a Friday night, but it was crowded with families with children as well as 30 and 40 somethings.  

Our waitress was smilingly pleasant and efficient, and we loved what we ordered!  UP spring rolls with shrimp and crabmeat with plum sauce to start. 

UP spring rolls

Then a medium spicy green curry with chicken, string beans, bamboo shoots, bell pepper, and basil leaves, along with pad krapraw, an entrée of Thai chili, onion, peppers, shitake mushrooms, more basil leaves, and pork.  Both dishes came with white rice. 

On a return visit, we sampled the curry puffs and a vermicelli dish with shrimp.  The vermicelli with ginger and other spices was especially good. In addition, we ordered pad krapraw, this time with chicken. We had more than enough to share.  It was all so good that we will be regulars here!

GUT WRENCHING & HEARTRENDING NOVEL

In Memoriam by Alice Winn

Author Winn (theguardian.com)

In her first published novel, Alice Winn depicts the mostly unspoken love between two young men, schoolboys together, and then soldiers in the front lines in France. Ellwood (Elly or Sidney) and Gaunt (Henry) are classmates at an upper-class English boarding school.  When Britain enters the World War, they and most of their classmates enthuse about joining up as soon as they are old enough.  Their view of war is one of glory and excitement on the battlefield.  Little do they envision the carnage and the gruesomeness they will experience in the trenches at Ypres, Loos, and the Somme.  

The novel alternates in time and space between Ellwood and Gaunt and their experiences together and separately (Henry becomes a German prisoner of war) and those of their closest friends and classmates.  Besides this group, Gaunt’s sister Maud is the other principal character.  She serves as a nurse during the war years, giving her some perspective on what these young men have suffered. The years covered are 1913 to 1919.

The battle scenes are extremely graphic and some of the most gut wrenching I’ve ever read.  Bodies are blasted apart and pile up.  These scenes are contrasted with and redeemed by tenderness and shared forbidden love.  Despite all the deaths that litter these pages, the reader is left with a sense of hope in the years after the war.

Inspired by war remembrances in the historical archives of her own college and enriched by extensive research, Winn has crafted a powerful, moving, and ultimately beautiful work of art.  Highly recommended! (~JWFarrington)

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Header photo is Deep Calls to Deep by Maja Ruznic at the Whitney Biennial.