The Elena Ferrante Series Reviewed (The Story of the Lost Child)

I recently completed The Story of the Lost Child, the fourth (and final) book in what has become known as the purposely mysterious Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Series.  The books explore the decades long friendship between two Italian women who met as children in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Naples.  My Brilliant Friend, first published in 2012, seemed to come from nowhere as it became a 2015 bestseller in, I suppose, anticipation of the publication later in the year of the fourth book in the series, The Story of the Lost Child.  Between these two came 2013’s The Story of a New Name and 2014’s Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay.

With the exception of a few brief moments in the books during which Elena, the book’s narrator, addresses the reader about her current feelings regarding her old friend Lila, the books offer a chronologically linear progression of the pair’s more than fifty-year relationship.  Seldom has a relationship between literary characters been more deeply explored than this one.  Each book in the series comes in at around 400 pages, but the Neapolitan Series is easier to read than one might imagine.  My Brilliant Friend, beginning as it does (after a brief word from the sixtyish Elena) when its two chief characters are preschoolers, is both charming and intriguing - and when it ends, some four hundred or so pages later, most readers will want to know more.  And Elena Ferrante has a lot more to say about Elena, Lila, their working class families, their friends, their lovers, their children, and the lives the two little girls will live during the next six decades. 

Bottom line, this is a fictional study of the kind of longtime friendship that can shape – for good or for bad - a person’s entire life.  Even as children, Elena and Lila recognized in each other the best that their neighborhood had to offer.  They were among the very brightest in their local school, they were often the most adventurous, and neither was much willing to put up with the foolishness of those around them.  They simply could not imagine staying in the neighborhood forever, and they looked forward to the time when they could finally begin living their real lives.

It would not, however, be easy for either of them to make their escape from the neighborhood.  Elena and Lila were, as it turns out, as much rivals as they were friends.  At times, it can even be said that they were more rival than friend to each other.  Their competitiveness drove each of them to achieve more than likely would have been possible if they had never met, but it may have been at too great a cost for them to enjoy what they achieved.  Only they can answer that question.

Elena and Lila are two of the most memorable characters I have encountered in a long time, and their often-tragic relationship leaves the reader with a lot to ponder about life, fate, and trying to go home again after living in a bigger world.

So now Common Core schools are junking classic literature? What's next?

As someone who tutors a middle school student on a daily basis, I can tell you that I am not a fan of Common Core, that perhaps well intentioned, but often misguided, attempt to rewrite (and standardize) educational standards and teaching techniques across the country.   Without even getting into the ludicrous way that simple math solutions are taught under Common Core, there are way too many unintended consequences associated with the program to allow to be comfortable with the movement.

Here's one of those unintended consequences that make me particularly sad (as presented in today's Hartford Courant):

Many schools are eliminating the classics of literature, the backbone of any self-respecting English language arts class, in favor of "choice" books such as pulp fiction that offers comparatively little challenge.

Anyone with affection for reading and the study of literature has to wonder how this could happen, why school officials would allow it to happen and why there isn't more outrage.

In part, the cause of this terrifying trend is the Common Core State Standards emphasis on short articles and excerpts of nonfiction, particularly historical and scientific documents, which are easily assessed on a standardized test. The Common Core website indicates that "fulfilling the standards requires a 50-50 balance between informational and literary reading."

This translates to fewer works of great literature, more nonfiction.

The article is not all doom and despair, so take a look at it's suggested solutions to the problem...and it is a problem.

I know that I am fast approaching the dinosaur stage of my life, but it is getting more and more difficult for me to watch silently as so much that I hold dear gets carelessly tossed into history's trash bin. I wonder if common sense will ever be applied to Common Core.

Saturday Morning Book Browsing

I spent almost three hours this morning in a large Barnes & Noble store near me...just wandering the shelves, marveling at the large number of people inside the store, and even snagging one of the three or four comfortable chairs in the store for a few minutes.  Regular B&N shoppers will know how hard it can be to find a nice out-of-the-way place in any of the stores these days to rest the legs and back for a few minutes.  I spent those "resting" minutes wisely going through the seven or eight books I was carrying around so that I could choose the two or three I could actually afford to buy today.  

It wasn't easy to put so many books back on the shelves, but I did remember to create a written want-list that I will be revisiting sometime next year.  For some reason, I found myself particularly intrigued by the Science Fiction section of the store, something that hasn't happened to me in a number of years.  Lately if my SciFi reading doesn't pertain to time travel, it doesn't happen.  But I stumbled upon a book called The Sand Men by British author Christopher Fowler that promises to be something special.

I did the usual: read the cover information, flipped over to the backside of the paperback to read the publisher description of the plot, and started reading the first chapter.  The Sand Men is set in a Middle Eastern gated community for ex-pat families of foreign workers there (a lifestyle I've experienced firsthand), so that is a good sign.  And it seems to be mixing the elements of science fiction, political thriller, and fantasy novel into a package that can lead in countless directions.  But it was when a Muslim handyman froze to death in the sand of a resort beach so hot that tourists had abandoned it in favor of the hotel's air conditioned bar, that I was all-in.  Escapism, here I come.

I also left with a copy of the Tin House "magazine" edition dedicated to essays, short stories and poems that have "theft" as a common denominator.  I can tell you that it is a brilliant and entertaining collection - as vouched for by whomever it was in a local coffee bar who walked away with the first copy that I carelessly turned my back on while getting a refill.  Rest assured that I will be more careful with this copy, even though I can still chuckle at the irony of having someone steal a book in public that includes the word "theft" in its title.  Heck, I'm even a bit impressed that anyone steals books these days...

Movies for Readers: 45 Years

45 Years appears to be a really good literary movie, and that means it will probably play in a limited number of movie theaters.  Let's face it, if it is not Star Wars No. 16 or another darn movie based on a comic book super hero, that's what happens to movies nowadays. But movies for literate adults are really out there...and it is well worth driving a little out of the way in order to support and enjoy them.

This one is based on a David Constantine short story and stars Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay as a married couple approaching their forty-fifth anniversary.  

I don't know the short story, but the trailer is intriguing enough to keep 45 Years on my radar.  And the clincher came near the end of the trailer when "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" by the Platters is used as part of the soundtrack.  Perfect, just perfect, that was. 

Release date: December 23, 2015

Movies for Readers No. 9

The Opposite of Everyone

Joshilyn Jackson has been on my radar for a few years now via two of her previous six novels, gods in Alabama and The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, and those two were enough to make me want to read her latest, The Opposite of Everyone.  This one features one of the least likable heroines (at least as the story begins) that I’ve encountered for a while…a divorce lawyer who is every bit as cutthroat as her real world counterparts. 

To her credit, Paula learned to play that kind of legal hardball the hard way.  She never knew who her father was, and her mother was a shape-shifter who changed her own name and occupation to more closely fit into the environments of a stream of live-in lovers.  Bad as that may have been, things got even worse for Paula and her mother when the cops busted one of Kai’s men.  While her mother served time for a related offense, Paula’s lessons into the ways of the world continued in the state-run school for parentless girls that became her new home.

So, all things considered, Paula has turned out pretty well.  She’s now a prominent Atlanta divorce attorney, partner in a three-attorney firm that appears to be doing quite well from the pain of others (is that too cynical on my part?).  But, like Kai, Paula is unable to sustain long-term relationships of her own – even with Kai, it seems.  And now, in a rather cryptic note (even that much communication between the mother and daughter is rare) Kai announces that she has a very few weeks left to live.  Oh, and by the way, she does not want Paula to come to her in San Antonio, thanks very much.  As it turns out, Paula has no intention of visiting her dying mother anyway, so her mother’s instructions are not exactly a crushing disappointment to her.

Kai, though, has a couple of big surprises for Paula, and when the first one shows up in her office, Paula’s world – and her way of looking at that world – begin to change for the better.  Via alternating flashbacks from the present to Paula’s childhood experiences, The Opposite of Everyone tells an intriguing story of a grown woman who in every sense is still struggling to figure out who she is.  And she is in for a big surprise.

Author Joshilyn Jackson

Joshilyn Jackson is a good storyteller, an author who places believable characters into unusual situations that will test what is at their core.  My only quarrel with The Opposite of Everyone is that near the end of the novel, the flashbacks really began to slow the plot’s momentum – even to the point that I was tempted to skip the flashback and read the next real-time chapter instead.  In two or three instances, I found that to be particularly frustrating.  My anxiety to find out what happens next probably speaks well for plot’s effectiveness, but not for how the flashback device itself was executed.

Bottom Line: The Opposite of Everyone has a good story to tell, and if you are a little more patient than me, you’re really going to like this one.  Look for this one in February.

Book Chase 2015 Fiction Top 10

2015 was a good year for new fiction.  My fiction reading ended up being a nice blend of some of my favorite fiction types: serious westerns, baseball stories, detective fiction, literary fiction, and great series additions from a couple of longtime favorites.  

2015 Fiction Top 10

1.  The Essential W.P. Kinsella - W.P. Kinsella - It is a difficult concept to explain to non-fans of the game of baseball, but there is a strong feeling of kinship between hardcore lovers of the game.  Kinsella is one of those people,and it shows in the beauty and sweetness of his baseball stories.  The man is a master short story writer and, thankfully, many of his stories are about baseball.  This collection covers the entire Kinsella range of writing - and it is wonderful.  Not just for baseball fans.

2.  Epitaph - Mary Doria Russell - I doubt there is a more familiar story from the Old West than that of the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral."  It has been written about almost since the day it happened and has been the subject of successful movies from time to time.  Russell's Epitaph offers the story behind the story by humanizing the main players on both sides of the gunfight.  Readers may be surprised to learn that almost everything they "know" about the incident is wrong...the truth is even better.

3.  House of the Rising Sun - James Lee Burke - Burke is one of the masters and his new addition to the Holland family saga is destined to stand as one of his best.  Hackberry Holland is a good man who sometimes does some very bad things while trying to correct the ills of the world.  House of the Rising Sun is his story, the story of a man right on the cusp of old age who wants to undo some of the wrongs he has done to others before it is too late to salvage some of the good he deserves.

4.  The Hot Countries - Timothy Hallinan - This latest Poke Rafferty novel is an especially nice addition to the series for fans who have followed Poke's adventures from the beginning.  What makes the Rafferty series special is how Hallinan has allowed Poke and numerous supporting characters to evolve naturally over time.  Readers know them so well by now that reading a new Poke Rafferty novel is like catching up with old friends.  This one, though, features an unlikely cast of heroes that may surprise even longtime readers.

5.  Fates and Furies - Lauren Groff - Groff is a darling of the critics and it is easy to see why.  Fates and Furies tells the story of two people who seem to have always been destined to find each other.  Almost from the moment the two university students meet, they know that they will spend the rest of their lives together.  But that is only the "fates" portion of the story.  When Groff turns to the "furies" part, the reader is forced to wonder whether any two people ever really know each other.  Certainly, these two did not.

6.  The Fifth Heart - Dan Simmons - Simmons has done it again.  This one is another blending of fact, fiction, and magical realism that combines real life literary figures, like Henry James and others, with fictional characters like Sherlock Holmes.  James reluctantly works with Holmes in an attempt to find the truth behind the apparent suicide of the wife of Henry Adams.  But there's more, much more to this literary thriller.

7.  Twain's End - Lynn Cullen - Based upon historical fact, Twain's End speculates about the mistress who was so important to Twain in the final years of his life - and why he and Clara, his daughter, suddenly decided to do everything they could to destroy the woman's life.  Mark Twain was a carefully constructed persona that Samuel Clemens constructed to sell books and keep the money rolling in.  Twain's End offers some insight into the real man behind that fictional character.

8.  The Hummingbird - Stephen P. Kiernan - The Hummingbird is a beautifully crafted story that combines three separate storylines to illustrate the impact that wars have on those forced to endure them.  While a hospice nurse tries to ease  the pain of an irritating old man, her husband struggles with the memory of what he did in Afghanistan.  But it is when the nurse begins to read a short book to the old man that it all makes sense to her - and to us. 

9.  Beautiful Trees - Nik Perring - This is the second book in a trilogy that will eventually include Beautiful Words, Beautiful Trees, and Beautiful Shapes.  It is so "beautifully" illustrated that it can be described as a picture book for adults, one that tells of the lifetime love one couple has for each other and the trees which so marked their time together.

10.  The Nature of the Beast - Elizabeth Penny - This is the eleventh Inspector Armand Gamache novel and it just may be one of the best in the whole series.  Gamache is struggling with his retirement and finds himself tempted to go back to work, maybe even to rejoin his policeman colleagues in Quebec.  But, in the meantime, the world will not allow him to rest.  Now, practically at his own doorstep in tiny Three Pines, he is faced with solving one of the most horrifying crimes ever.