Four More!
Books 8 - 11
It’s so hard for me to catch up once I get out of sync between finishing a book and posting the review, but in a moment of tranquility I am inspired to make it happen.
Book 8: The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
My husband’s book club picked this novel, and while I am not invited to be in said book club, I decided to read it anyway so that Mr. K and I could talk about it. Have we talked about it? Not really, but that’s beside the point, right?
The Sisters Brothers, Charlie and Eli, are assassins in the 1850s sent on a mission by a man known only as the Commodore, their mysterious employer. They traverse the Old West, encountering a variety of interesting characters along the way, which takes them all the way to San Francisco and the ongoing gold rush. As they track their quarry, it becomes clear that the brothers have some notoriety. Eli faces some existential questions as his horse Tub sickens during the journey, questioning whether he wants to continue as a hitman after the job is done. Charlie, meanwhile, is convinced it’s the best job he could ever have. Tub is as much a character as the two brothers; I’m not entirely sure if that was the author’s intent. I found myself caring more about what happened to him than several other characters. It was an engaging read apart from one chapter on a different character’s backstory that abruptly switched styles. I do think there are better books about the Old West. (See Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry).
Book 9: A Fate Worse than Hell: American Prisoners of the Civil War by W. Fitzhugh Brundage
Andersonville, in Georgia, was the most notorious POW camp during the Civil War, but Brundage’s meticulously researched book makes it very clear that prisoners held by both the Confederates and the Union suffered mightily. He uses first person accounts, contemporary journalism and photographs/artwork from the 1860s to illustrate the conditions in POW camps and how the prisoners were used as bargaining chips in a much larger conflict. POWs routinely died from starvation due to meager rations and poor nutrition, from exposure to the elements (in some cases, they had no choice but to burrow into the ground for cover), and from dysentery and other gastrointestinal illnesses as there was basically no separation between living areas and “sanitation” areas for bathrooms. Prisoners were forced on long marches between prison locations, railway stations and boat departures as advancing armies approached and necessitated movement away from preestablished camps. Prisoner exchanges, initially occurring with some frequency, wound down as Union generals insisted that Black soldiers captured by the Confederates were indeed citizens of the Union and most be included in exchanges. The Confederates were loath to part with the Black soldiers in their camps; re-enslavement was their preferred treatment. Many of the men who survived the camps remained ill, mentally and physically, until their deaths months or years later. The book is excellent, but a difficult read emotionally. I would recommend some familiarity with the major battles/events during the war as a prerequisite.
Book 10: Departure 37: A Novel by Scott Carson
I don’t recall where the recommendation for this book came from, but I’d like to send it back with my regrets. Part science fiction, part revisionist history, all pretty lame, Departure 37 feels like it was written by a college student using AI. It starts with a promising mystery that immediately turns into the story of a plucky 16 year old girl who is somehow more clever than the entire US government. The story alternates between two timelines that eventually converge in a completely unsurprising way. Why did I read all 400 pages. Just so you won’t have to! Consider this an anti-recommendation.
Book 11: Shattered: A Memoir by Hanif Kureishi
I read Intimacy: A Novel and Midnight All Day: Stories years ago, so the author’s name looked familiar to me when it popped up on Substack. I discovered Kureishi journaling (via dictation) the aftermath of a terrible accident that left him a tetraplegic. It occurred while he was on vacation in Italy - a bout of dizziness, a bad fall, a life completed changed. Shattered is a collection of those early writings. In retrospect, I never should have purchased the book. It just could not compare to reading the posts in real time. They are profane, full of graphic depictions of medical procedures and the indignities one suffers when no longer in control of one’s body. The memoir felt sanitized, perhaps an attempt to appeal to a larger audience. As a regular consumer of medical memoirs, I appreciate his bluntness. I would highly recommend subscribing to his Substack, “The Kureishi Chronicles”. He posts about a variety of things beyond his health, revealing an astute mind trapped inside an as yet unhealed body.