HOME FROM ITALY
Our trip to Italy (Rome, Tuscany, and Umbria), was a wonderful break from our real world. Lots of historic art and architecture, charming hill towns, more pasta, pizza, and bruschette than one should consume, dense crowds in Rome and Florence, great traveling companions, and a wealth of new places to discover. After a week and finally over jet lag, we have time to reflect on and process all that we saw and did. Travel is an expansive experience. I always find myself challenged, and my horizons broadened, as I engage with a new locale, a different culture, and new people.
RECENT READING
While I was away, I did find time to read two books, one highly touted novel and one political memoir.
RACE AND CRIME IN 1970’S BOSTON
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane
This is the first novel by Lehane I’ve read; although I did see and appreciate his craft in the movie, Mystic River. Small Mercies is a devastating story set in Boston in 1974, just after Judge Garrick ordered forced busing between South Boston and a Black neighborhood. It’s a story about racism played out as hate with strong emotions on both sides. Rallies are planned by the Southies and tension is high.
When a young Black man dies on the train tracks and four white teenagers appear to be involved, more violence is almost inevitable. The key characters are Mary Pat, mother of 17-year-old Jules, and Detective Michael Coyne, known as Bobby. Mary Pat has been raised to hate Blacks and lost two sons to drugs. Early on, she seems to question some of her basic assumptions about these others.
Bobby is a voice of reason and, when appropriate, empathetic to Mary Pat. Underneath and underpinning life in poor South Boston is a very active network of bad guys who rule with an iron grip and don’t hesitate to kill.
I found the novel slow to rev up, but when it did, I was caught up in how crime played out. Bobby Coyne is the most positive character, and I wanted Mary Pat to be better than she was. I understood, but didn’t approve of, her motives. Losing one’s children in senseless violence is a pain most of us can’t begin to imagine. An excellent book, but not for the faint hearted! (~JWFarrington)
LIFE IN THE TRUMP WHITE HOUSE
Enough by Cassidy Hutchinson
Cass Hutchinson’s live testimony before the January 6th Select Committee, which many of us watched, was a profile in courage, but not an experience she arrived at lightly, quickly, or without qualms. She was poised and articulate and revealed many details about life in the Trump White House and the behavior of both the president and her immediate boss, Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, that had not been made public before.
Now, in Enough, she has written her story about her upbringing in a working-class family with an abusive, controlling father, and being the first in her family to go to college. From a young age, she was drawn to the idea of public service, was moved by her first visit to the Capitol in D.C. and was ambitious and determined enough to apply for and land internships with the Office of Legal Affairs during college summers. After graduation, she returned to work with the House of Representatives staff and congressmen including Kevin McCarthy, Meadows, and others.
When Meadows became Trump’s chief of staff, he quickly hired Cassidy to be “his person.” In the beginning, she reminded him that she worked for him in his role as serving the president, not personally. But she was attracted to Trump and his views and liked Meadows.
I think she let herself be subtly manipulated. At the same time, Meadows gave her lots of responsibility, sent her in his place to some meetings, and had her travel with him on Air Force One and the like.
From the outside, it appeared to be a heady life with lots of access to senior staff and the president, coupled with hard work and exceedingly long hours. She accepted a lot of what was going on in the White House as just part of the normal work environment and as part of being loyal to Mark. For a long time, she felt she was still being true to her oath to serve the constitution.
While others in Trump World continued to circle the wagons, so to speak, she wrestled with her conscience, sought a pro bono lawyer without success, and then agreed to work with a Trump-sponsored lawyer. She did her first committee interviews with this lawyer’s direction and instructions. Finally, and ultimately, she chose to tell the complete truth to the committee.
I found this a compelling memoir. It was mesmerizing. Of course, I knew the ending, but all the political machinations and how that administration worked behind the scenes, I found fascinating. Once I started reading, I couldn’t put it down! (~JWFarrington)
Note: Header image of cypresses in Val d’Orcia and Perugia photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)
