BOOK REVIEW: "On Chesil Beach"

On Chesil Beach
By Ian McEwan
Copyright 2007
Doubleday
Adult Fiction
2.5 Bookmarks

Imagine, if you will, a man and a woman on their wedding night. Now, although it may be hard to imagine for those of you out there who aren’t Mormon, try to imagine what it would be like if that wedding night were your FIRST night together. And so begins the story of Chesil Beach, by Ian McEwan.

It is 1962. Florence and Edward are in love and this is their wedding day. McEwan guides the reader through the emotions of each of the characters in turn. Edward, who has waited for this moment since the first day he laid eyes on beautiful Florence. In fact, it is for this moment that he has waited his whole life. And then there is Florence. Florence, who is filled with fear and dread and disgust. Florence who acknowledges her obligation and tries as hard as she might to swallow the bile that seems to creep up her throat whenever she even thinks about what is to occur after the wedding ceremony.

The happy couple sit in their honeymoon suite at a hotel on Chesil Beach and slowly pretend to eat their wedding dinner. Small talk is the order of the day. Edward contemplating how he might begin the…ahem….proceedings. Florence contemplating how she might avoid them.

The author flashes back through the couple’s courtship; from the moment they first meet, through every moment that Edward attempts a physical advance toward Florence, through every moment that Florence grants Edward a token reward for his efforts. By the time their wedding day has arrived, they really are nowhere near the level of intimacy one would normally assume in this situation. It is a recipe for disaster.

The characters of this book were quite intoxicating. Each manages to be narcissistic and eager-to-please at turn. The alternating selflessness and selfishness of each of them clearly demonstrate that neither character really knows who they are. If this book weren’t so well-written, I would tell you to avoid it merely to avoid the horribly sad and depressing ending. But McEwan’s storytelling ability is quite thought-out and it is, generally speaking, worth the read just for the quality of that.

BOOK REVIEW: "The Good Life"

The Good Life
By Erin McGraw
Copyright 2004
Houghton Mifflin Co
Short Story Collection
2 Bookmarks

Hmmm…I’m really not even sure what to say about this book. Normally, I really like short stories. They are usually detailed, and yet pithy, and then have a dramatic surprise at the end. This collection of short stories fell short of my expectations by quite a bit.

As the title of the book indicates, these stories are about “life”. However, I really felt like instead of the “good” life, the stories were more about people who are trapped in a life they don’t really want.

I think that my favorite was a story called “A Whole New Man”, about a man named Frederick who is somehow talked into going on a makeover show with his wife. The author describes Frederick’s lack of opinion on the issue in such an amusing way. And then when Frederick actually gets his makeover and he must deal with the feelings he experiences as a result, I did feel quite a bit of empathy for him (me who HATES to get my hair cut and feels a sense of loss for days and days whenever I can no longer avoid it).

In reading other stories, I think I just totally missed the point. I would get to the end of a story (which usually wasn’t an “end” at all), and wonder exactly why the author had written it in the first place. Some of the characters were oddly….well, odd. Like the woman who falls in love with her priest. Or the young girl who is sent to live with a woman her mother admires but whom she’s never met. Or the recovering addict who finds peace from her mother by attending early morning mass. Some of the concepts to the stories were interesting, but they really fizzled in the end.

There were a few good moments in the book, but not enough to justify the time I spent reading it.

REAL ESTATE: New Carbon Monoxide Detector Law

Starting on July 1st, 2009, real estate law in Colorado is changing. The new law taking effect requires all Home Sellers and Landlords to have Carbon Monoxide (CO) Detectors installed within 15 feet of any bedroom or sleeping area if the home has a gas-fired heating source, appliance, fireplace or an attached garage. There is a link to the actual State House Bill 1091 below. The alarms are available for purchase at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, etc., and can cost anywhere from$15 to $50. The goal, obviously, is to keep the population of Colorado safer by ensuring that (eventually) all homes will have CO detectors installed.

The law comes a little too late for one local family. In December 2008, the Murphy family, who had recently moved into a rental home in Manitou Springs, became ill with what they thought was the flu. They stayed home and rested, but when Joel Murphy awoke one morning to discover he couldn't walk, he called 911. He saved his own life and the life of his 2-year-old son, but tragically, Joel's wife Kelly was already dead.

Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches, dizziness and nausea. The gas is produced by fuel that is incompletely burned, from fireplaces, furnaces, or even barbecue grills. This new law will help prevent senseless tragedies like the tragedy suffered by the Murphy family in Manitou Springs.

You can read the law and some general information below:

Carbon Monoxide Bill Signed into Law: Colorado's Governor Bill Ritter signed HB 1091 into law recently. The new law will cover all new residential construction and existing single-family and multi-family housing units offered for sale, transfer or rent. Beginning July 1, 2009, a seller or landlord of residential real property containing a fuel-fired heater or appliance, a fireplace, or an attached garage will be responsible for assuring that a carbon monoxide alarm is properly installed within 15 feet of the entrance to each room lawfully used for sleeping prior to the sale or lease of the property. No person shall have a claim for relief against a property owner or their authorized agent if a carbon monoxide alarm is installed in accordance with the manufacturer’s published instructions.

POEM: "Us" by Andrea Rowley

US

I saw it in your eyes
The day we met
I knew you knew
For I knew, too

Perhaps it was your smile
Or the way you held my glance
Or maybe it was nothing
But a comfortable realization

So natural
So synchronized
Each day is a year
Each moment, an eternity

Nothing breaking
Ever together
Hand in hand
Walking towards forever

By Andrea Rowley, for my dear husband Justin.

14 years ago today we met,
and each day we get to begin

the rest of our lives together. With love...

(print by Alfred Gockel, one of my favorite artists....)

BOOK REVIEW: "How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life"

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life
By Mameve Medwed
Copyright 2006
HarperCollins Publishing
Adult Fiction
4 Bookmarks

Okay, so I’ll admit it. I’m a sucker for a good chamber pot story. How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life is a well-written novel about Abby Randolph, a “professional” antiques dealer, who doesn’t always seem so professional. Especially when she stumbles upon a chamber pot with some unique features. She doesn’t think much of it herself, but when a colleague urges her to take it on Antiques Roadshow, she is surprised to learn of the pot’s origins.

Wait a minute. Let me back up. Really, this isn’t a story about a chamber pot at all. Really it’s about how sometimes life IS a chamber pot that we may find ourselves wallowing in. And somehow, we have to find a way to crawl out of it. This book is about the main character doing just that.

Abby has just broken up with her boyfriend Clyde, a man she somehow always knew wasn’t really her soulmate, even though he seemed to fit into her life okay. She is pining away, but not really for him; more for the idea of togetherness. A part of Abby is also pining away for Ned, her childhood crush, and someone more suited to meet the needs of her soul. Unfortunately, Ned has done something totally idiotic that Abby simply cannot forgive.

So through these relationship ups and down, through her visits to flea markets and tag sales, through her antique discoveries, through a lawsuit mired in bitter selfishness, Abby Randolph slowly but surely climbs her way out of that chamber pot. It is a fun journey.

Definitely more geared for the female crowd, but I would recommend this book if you’d like a lighthearted read, if you are an amateur antiquarian, or if the Cambridge area is of interest to you. Lots of historical and geographic references, not to mention a fun title, and just plain readable!

BOOK REVIEW: "Bitter Milk"

Bitter Milk
By John McManus
Copyright 2005
Picador Publishing
Adult Fiction
1 ½ Bookmarks

Weird, weird, weird. This entire book is written from the perspective of an invisible friend (or maybe it’s a dead twin, or a multiple personality…it’s never really clear which one it is), which was kind of interesting. But the flow of the book really bothered me. It’s written as sort of a stream of consciousness exercise. No breaks in the story at all (read “no chapters”!) And the dialogue is not offset with quotation marks, which was really odd to me at first, but since it’s the invisible friend relaying the entire story including who said what, I suppose that explains why.

This is a story about Loren, a young boy facing some very interesting issues in his everyday life. His mother wishes she were a man, he is very overweight due to the fact that for 11 years he’s been feeding his insecurities with the world (not helped by the narrator of the book, Luther, who is constantly demeaning and belittling Loren), and he doesn’t know what is wrong with his mother. Loren doesn’t fit in at school and he doesn’t fit in with his eclectic (at best) extended family. When his grandmother dies and then his mother disappears without a word, Loren is forced to find his way on his own for the first time in his life.

The best part about the book was watching Loren transform into a person of substance. He decides to do something about his weight. He decides to ignore Luther’s rumblings in his brain. He goes on his own looking for his mother. He decides to choose who he will associate with in his very, very messed-up family. You almost had to like the kid for a few pages there. Set in the backwards hills of East Tennessee, this book is a glimpse at what lack of education could do to a person.

The worst part about this book was that it really had no point. In the end I asked myself “why in the world did I just read this?” I hate it when that happens.

BOOK REVIEW: "Madame Mirabou's School of Love"

Madame Mirabou’s School of Love
By Barbara Samuel
Ballantine Books
Copyright 2006
Adult Fiction
4.5 Bookmarks

What a fun book! Particularly fun because it is set in Colorado Springs so I know all the little nooks and crannies that are mentioned. This is a story about a recent divorcee who is trying to discover what she wants to be when she grows up. It is a story of rediscovering how to love someone else, as well as discovering how to love yourself.

The story starts out with Nicole trying to come to grips with the fact that she has just accidentally blown up her house and now has to find another place to live. Nicole finds comfort in smells, her “Scents of Hours” as she calls them (by the way, I think that would have been a much more appropriate title for the book); perfumes that she concocts related to certain experiences in her life. Some of the perfumes she creates are “Winter Suppers”, “The Apartment on Academy”, “Picnic in Cheyenne Canyon” and “The Man at the Bar”.

The book gracefully walks the reader through Nicole’s trials of living on her own, missing her daughter (who is living with her ex-husband), meeting new people, finding work, and finding meaning in her life. The story flows from page to page, occasionally interspersed with Nicole’s wonderful perfume journal entries that bring to mind scents of my own past.

I really enjoyed the story and didn’t want to put the book down. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a pleasant read.