The Price of a Child - Lorene Cary
Although it starts slowly, The Price of a Child is a good read. It is the kind of novel that will, one day, be taught in classrooms alongside Frederick Douglass narratives. The main character is Ginny. She has one daughter with a ne’er do well man who escapes slavery, but leaves her behind – pregnant with his child. She later has two young sons. Their father is Pryor, her slave owner and master. Despite being advised otherwise, Pryor insists that Ginnie accompany him on an international trip. As security, she is forced to leave her youngest son at home. On the trip, Ginny receives the opportunity to become a free woman. Her dilemma is this: Be a free women with two of the three children, or remain a slave and have her family intact. Of course, I can’t tell you what she chooses, but I can say that in her journey, Ginny learns a lot about herself. She also learns how to judge others. There are a lot of characters in the book that have to be kept up with. If you can manage that, though, they evoke a range of emotions. There’s a stubborn father, a drunken aunt, a mistress, and Tyree, who is, apparently, hot stuff in the bedroom. Once I hit page 130, the book was smooth sailing. I definitely recommend it. At the book’s end, there is a conclusive answer to the question: What is the price of a child?
19 May 2008 @ 2029
The Glass Key – Dashiell Hammett
I’m a lover of all kinds of literature, including detective fiction. Last year, I took a Master’s level class studying detective fiction, and this year I joined a meetup bookclub group called Monday Night Mysteries Book Club in Cuyahoga Falls, OH. The novel to be discussed at our March meetup is The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett, who is apparently very well known. I give the novel four out of five stars. The plot was a little intricate, which I don’t mind, but there were a lot more characters than I cared to keep up with. Some of the enjoyment for me was lost when I had to make notes to remember who was who. The story had a big twist, which I love. Most importantly, however, I didn’t figure out who the culprit was before the narrator was ready to reveal it. It was someone I thought of, then briefly dismissed out of hand. The bottom line of this book is that it is a good read. It started slowly, then picked up and I could hardly put it down. It was also appropriate for my 14-year-old son who loves to read as much as I do.
28 Feb 08 @2015
Nineteen Minutes: A Novel – Jodi Picoult
Don’t be alarmed, I never reveal pertinent information of a good book. Thus, if you are interested in my thoughts of Nineteen Minutes, read on sans fear that my synopsis will spoil it for you. Nineteen Minutes is the chosen March novel for the Eclectic Readers Bookclub. I have a feeling that my opinions about the book might be in the minority. Most people are going to agree that the novel is incredibly well-written. I’ll concede that. Most readers are going to find parts of the book to be extremely emotional. I won’t argue that point either. Still, I finished the book more elated that it was over, than satisfied with the outcomes of the characters. Simplistically, the novel is about a high school shooting. Brilliantly, it is told from the points of view of various townspeople: the shooter, his friends, his enemies, teachers, police officials, victims’ families, etc. We get the nineteen minute shooting spree in a few pages ( broken up throughout the novel), but tons of background information on the aforementioned townspeople and the parents of the killer. We also read about the trial from beginning to end. I was warned that Picoult always throws a huge twist into each one of her novels. This one is no exception, though I won’t even hint at what it is. What I didn’t get, however, was closure. Sure I know who did it and what happened to him, but there were so many loose ends. The shooter’s relationship with his brother is explained to the readers, but never to the shooters parents who think their siblings adore one another. This is just one example of a loose end I wanted tied up, but it didn’t happen. Finally, my disappointment in the novel stemmed from the fact that when I was done reading it, I was just plain mad – at everybody. I was mad that some people didn’t get enough of what they deserved, that some people never got what they deserved, and mad that some of the characters were as clueless after the tragedy as they were before it. The bottom line is that it is a must-read. I didn’t care for it, but, as I said, I think most of you might. Happy reading.
28 Feb 08 @ 2038
