WHAT I’VE READ RECENTLY
Nicole Mones is an engaging writer. Her background includes running a textile business importing wool from China, something she did for 18 years which means she writes knowledgeably and convincingly about that society and its culture. Several years ago I read her novel, The Last Chinese Chef. I absolutely loved this book, recommended it to friends and gave it as a gift. It combined complex characters, food, and an exotic setting in an intriguing mélange of history and romance. Like a good meal, it was very satisfying.
Recently, I immersed myself in the music scene of 1930’s Shanghai. In Night in Shanghai, her newest novel, Mones portrays the African American musicians who were lured from the U.S. to be a part of the jazz craze in that more racially tolerant environment. The central character, Thomas Greene, has his own black jazz orchestra and a big house, but falls in love with an indentured Chinese woman who is also a member of the Communist Party. Events unfold as Hitler’s tyranny is devastating Europe and Shanghai becomes a safe place for Jews.
There are more minor characters in this novel and more political strands (parties and officials) to keep straight so I had to pay closer attention to the details while reading. In the process, I learned a great deal about some of the lesser known aspects of this time period (including a grand plan to harbor Jewish refugees) and am now poised to read another of Mones’ earlier works. You can see and hear her talk about how this book came about at a recent appearance at the Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Scottsdale, AZ.
Song, (note her name) the love interest in Night in Shanghai is trapped and bound to her master with no ability to come and go as she pleases. In Smith Henderson’s novel, you might say that all the characters are trapped by something, be it poverty, addiction, or a dysfunctional home scene. And yet, within these constraints, they exercise what they perceive to be their rights, be it flaunting authority, distrusting the government, abusing someone, or just plain drinking to excess, again and again. Fourth of July Creek is a long and challenging novel set in 1980 in the small towns and woods of rural Montana.
Pete Snow, a social worker, grapples with families and children whose lives are messed up and messy. His own life is in pieces too —his wife took up with another man, his 13 year old daughter who lives with her has run away, his brother is out on parole, and he finds solace in drink. Two of Pete’s cases take center stage as he monitors brother and sister Cecil and Katie’s foster home placement and struggles to get proper help for Benjamin, the untamed son of fundamentalist Jeremiah Pearl. Father Pearl distrusts everyone, is half crazy, and seemingly has been acting out on the wrong side of the law. Running in parallel and underneath these situations are Pete’s multi-state search for Rachael, his missing daughter, and a series of interviews with her. One can debate if these interspersed interviews add to or detract from the novel as a whole.
Henderson is sympathetic to all his characters. I found I liked Pete despite his shortcomings and eventually saw another facet of the angry, violent Jeremiah that provided some explanation for his behavior. This is Henderson’s first novel. While I think it is longer than it needs to be, in language that is painstakingly crafted and honed, it paints a grim and graphic picture of rural poverty and desperation. The book is on the New York Times Book Review’s “100 Notable Books 2014” as well as being named the best book of the year by several critics. I wouldn’t go as far as they did, but I cared enough about Pete and the fate of Cecil and Benjamin to plough through.
