WARHOL IN THE GARDEN 
Continuing their annual tradition of presenting several of an artist’s works and interpreting them in the garden, Selby Gardens this year is focusing on Andy Warhol. Throughout the garden there are large white square planters filled with magenta and pink impatiens as well as a divided window display of plants against a multi-colored screen and some oversize acrylic red and yellow blooms. In the conservatory there are other treatments of Warhol’s love of repeating shapes or patterns, and in the house museum, four of Warhol’s flower paintings. It’s always fun to go to Selby Gardens, always something new to see, and I never tire of visiting. This time we took our Philadelphia friends Ellen and Bob.
READING
Tomorrow, April 23, is World Book Day. Established in 1995 by UNESCO, it aims to promote reading, copyright, and publishing. April 23 is the day Shakespeare died, but in the U.K, World Book Day is celebrated the first Thursday in March.
TIMELY NOVEL
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
What happens to the relationship between an educated middle class black couple when he is found guilty and sentenced to twelve years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit? Roy is an up and coming 30’s executive living in Atlanta and his wife, Celestial, is a talented artist whose business making dolls (poupees) is getting attention and making money. Their mutual friend Andre, a computer programmer who introduced the couple to each other, also harbors fond feelings for Celestial. The novel alternates chapters between the three of them, Roy, Celestial, and Andre, initially with the letters Roy and Celeste write to each other as time unfolds and as Roy’s sentence is served. In prison, he meets his biological father, his mother gets cancer, and Celestial finds it harder and harder to maintain their brief marriage.
Andre’s uncle Banks works the justice system on Roy’s behalf and when Roy is cleared and released early, the situation becomes a crisis as all parties grapple with what comes next. With empathy and clear-sightedness, Jones creates the world as it exists for a black man in Atlanta from small town Louisiana. To her credit, you, the reader, feel something for each one of them, Celestial, Roy, and Andre. They are not bad people, just humans with good intentions, aspirations, and shortcomings.
Our island book group enjoyed the novel and had a thoughtful discussion about what it must mean to be a black man in today’s society. We also thought that Roy’s meeting his father in prison was unconvincing and too pat. This is Oprah’s Book Club pick for 2018 and it’s a worthwhile investment of your reading time. (~JWFarrington)
HISTORICAL MYSTERY
No Comfort for the Lost by Nancy Herriman
In her debut mystery, Herriman takes on old San Francisco in a manner reminiscent of Victoria Thompson’s Gaslight Mysteries set in old New York City. The year is 1867, anti-Chinese sentiment is on the rise, and nurse Celia Davies runs a medical clinic for women. One of her Chinese patients dies in suspicious circumstances. Celia is a transplant from Britain who initially came to the U.S. with her Irish husband. He has since left, and she lives with her housekeeper and her half-Chinese cousin Barbara. Detective Nick Greaves is assigned to the case, but keeps encountering Celia who is doing her own investigating in some of the shadier areas of the city. I know San Francisco so enjoyed this book for its setting and appreciated its basis around real events of the time, but found the pacing a bit slow. There is a second title in this series, No Pity for the Dead (2016) which I’ve not read. (~JWFarrington)
CHALLENGING PLAY
Gloria, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a comic-tragic piece of theater that was a 2016 Pulitzer finalist. I didn’t love it, but I thought it was very well acted and staged. It’s about a group of millennials, office colleagues, and their relationships with each other and their feelings toward their much older boss. The first act is jokey and sarcastic with lots of colorful language until there is violence. The second act is a whole different mood as these individuals deal with the aftermath of a horrible event. Seen at the Asolo Repertory Theatre, it runs through April 29th.
Note: Tayari Jones photo from Wikipedia. Other photos by JW Farrington.
