CHILDREN OF THE DAYS:A Calendar of Human History

By Eduardo Galeano. Nation Books. 432 pages. $26.99.

Reviewed by Michael L. Ramsey

MICHAEL L. RAMSEY is president of the Roanoke Public Library Foundation.

Eduardo Galeano lives in Uruguay where he works as a journalist and writer of books. He has won awards for his writing.

Now he has written a collection of stories and commentary. Each of the entries is associated with a day of the year. The entries are varied in subject and tone.

Here are two excerpts:

“June 6

“THE MOUNTAINS THAT WERE

“Over the past two centuries, four hundred seventy mountains have been decapitated in the Appalachians, the North American range named in memory of the region’s native people.

“Because they lived on fertile lands the Indians were evicted.

“Because they contained coal the mountains were hollowed out.”

“June 28

“HELL

“Back in the year 960, Christian missionaries invaded Scandinavia and threatened the Vikings: if you persist in your pagan customs you will end up in hell where eternal fires burn.

“The Vikings welcomed the news. They trembled from cold, not fear.” Read more »

THE SIX GUN TAROT

By R.S. Belcher. Tor Books. 368 pages. $25.99

Reviewed by Jason Barr

JASON BARR is a teacher in Harrisonburg.

People who will discuss Roanoke author R.S. Belcher’s “The Six-Gun Tarot” will most likely sprinkle the phrase “if that’s what you’re into” liberally throughout the conversation. That’s because Belcher has taken a genre already famed for its weirdness — steampunk — and ramped that weirdness up to another level.

Belcher’s desire to tweak the conventions of steampunk — a sub-genre of science fiction — even more than usual leads to an unusual cast of characters: psychic and aged Chinese men, angels, a child who carries his father’s artificial eye, and a talking coyote all populate the work, and give it a certain colorful verve that is often lacking in steampunk.

Even so, there are so many characters and so many unusual circumstances that I sometimes lost track of who was who, and what their motivations were. Read more »

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

By Therese Anne Fowler.

St. Martin’s Press. 371 pages. $25.99

Reviewed by Ellen Aiken

ELLEN AIKEN is a licensed professional counselor from Roanoke.

Most marriage counselors will agree that in relationships fraught with controversy, the perception of reality is devilishly complicated — for each partner as well as any impartial observer. Separating fact from myth was an early goal for Therese Anne Fowler while researching one of the most famous literary couples of the 20th century: F. Scott Fitzgerald and his beautiful wife, Zelda.

Fowler was particularly invested in presenting an objective view of the oft-maligned Southern debutante, but discovered conflicting reports at every turn. Rather than a dry recitation of the he-said/she-said/they-said accounts, “Z” offers a highly readable, freshly painted fictional portrait, which the author contends is faithful in spirit if not completely, or consistently, in fact. She leaves readers to judge the merit for themselves.

Fowler covers what is well known to Fitzgerald fans through the eyes of Zelda Sayre, the willful, spirited youngest child of an Alabama judge. Fully cognizant of her beauty and charms, she met the young novelist in 1918 at a country club dance; the attraction was immediate, electric and mutual.

Her parents were skeptical that a writer could support their daughter, and Zelda had reservations of her own. She insisted that Scott demonstrate his ability to earn a respectable living before agreeing to marry him, which she did in New York one week after “This Side of Paradise” was published. It was a best-seller, and the newlyweds were thrust into a post-World War I whirlwind of artistic, social and political upheaval neither was prepared for. They cultivated a lifestyle of lavish indulgence: at nightly parties lasting until all hours, the money, liquor and VIPs mixed freely.

On a fast track to success and notoriety, no publicity stunt was too outrageous for either. There was a competitive edge to their antics; neither wanted to be outperformed, a theme that encompassed their entire relationship. Scott frequently sold short stories to the “slicks” (e.g., The Saturday Evening Post) until he could complete his next novel. Zelda dabbled in art, dance and took her own turn at writing. Even after their only child was born, they moved wherever the beautiful people were, ending up in Paris where they joined an expatriate community including such cutting-edge artists as Pablo Picasso, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein, Cole Porter and perhaps most significantly, Ernest Hemingway.

Though Scott initially took the role of mentor to the younger but worldlier writer, Hemingway soon became successful in his own right and began to question Scott’s loyalty to Zelda, whom he saw as a distraction and liability. Meanwhile, she had her own concerns about her husband’s devotion to a man she regarded as having marginal talent and false bravado.

As the women’s movement gained traction, Zelda sought her own path and voice in the face of conflicting messages regarding the proper role for a modern female. Scott struggled with balancing a desire to write for the popular press and support his family with his overriding need to achieve literary acclaim. When his productivity dipped, the cash flow stopped but the alcohol never did. Conflicts escalated, and though both spiraled downward with the mental strain, Zelda was the first to crack. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital where she was diagnosed with schizophrenia (now generally accepted as an incorrect diagnosis), and she suffered with episodes of mental illness the rest of her life.

Despite the incessant turmoil, “Z” is a surprisingly refreshing book that invites the reader to jump in, hang tight and enjoy the ride knowing full well it will be bumpy and end tragically. The writing is crisp and energetic, with dialogue full of quips and repartee that puts the reader right at the edge of the Fitzgeralds’ sizzling relationship and social scene.

Zelda emerges as mercurial yet likable. Confident, traditionally Southern and remarkably resourceful at times, she is heartbreakingly vulnerable at others, with insecurities and fears most readers can relate to — and forgive. Fowler draws from numerous biographical and scholarly works, but comments in the acknowledgements section that a sizable collection of letters between Zelda, Scott and others was most valuable in fleshing out her characters.

She inserts her own versions of many missives, modeled after the original correspondence and signed simply “Z.”

Though Fowler clearly wants to set the record straight regarding popular culture’s view of Zelda, what the reader is left with is a nonjudgmental portrayal of the relationship. It is as plausible a rendering of two talented but troubled individuals as any analysis of the “facts” might be. Should Fowler tire of writing, she would likely make a good therapist.

SUSPECT 

By Robert Crais. Putnam Adult. 320 pages. $27.95

By Nona Nelson

nona.nelson@roanoke.com, 981-3402

Types of novels I seldom purchase: procedural cop dramas and noble dog stories.

I spent many lunch hours poring over John Sanford’s “Prey” series in the 1990s, until I couldn’t tell one book from the next, so I gave up crime fiction. I have bawled over many volumes where an amazing dog touches the lives of his/her people and, since it seldom ends well for the dog, I avoid most dog books.

Yet somehow I felt compelled to read Robert Crais’ newest book, “Suspect,” a novel about a cop and his canine partner.

Rules are made to be broken.

Read more »

THE ACCURSED
By Joyce Carol Oates. Ecco. 669 pages. $27.99

Reviewed by Lawrence Wayne Markert
LAWRENCE WAYNE MARKERT is an English professor at Hollins University

Last year, when Joyce Carol Oates’ previous novel “Mudwoman” appeared, Hermione Lee, the British literary critic, stated in the New York Review of Books that the Oates literary landscape, which is superhumanly abundant and often correspondingly populated, becomes cluttered with “murk and junk, dark water, mud, trash and detritus and debris, desolate woods, rickety bridges over ugly rivers, rust and barbed wire.”

Oates’ new novel, “The Accursed,” literally resurrecting her fascination with the gothic genre, follows suit.

A list of Oates’ publications would take up more space than allotted to this review. Her novels, not including nonfiction and literary criticism, range from “With Shuddering Fall” (1964), an exploration of the nature of innocence in the mythical and fictional Eden County of upstate New York, through “Bellefleur” (1980), an overtly gothic novel (and ancestor to “The Accursed”), to “Blonde,” a fictional exploration of the troubled and cursed life of Marilyn Monroe, “The Gravedigger’s Daughter” (2007), and “Mudwoman”.

“The Accursed” takes place within a time frame of 14 months in Princeton, N.J., from 1905 through 1906, focusing on white, Anglo-Saxon privilege and the grandchildren of Winslow Slade, the family patriarch.

The gothic, which Oates returns to in this work, has remained at the heart of much of her work and temperament. She knows well the geography of both place and genre, for she has taught creative writing at Princeton since 1978 and actually began writing “The Accursed” in 1984 but abandoned the project until now. The book includes a 1905-06 map of Princeton so that readers can trace the character’s steps.

We quickly learn that the novel is narrated by M.W. van Dyck II, a “historian” who claims to have access to new and verifiable information about a series of notorious incidents, precipitated by the Slade family curse, which occurred in the early years of the 20th century in Princeton. Read more »

COVER OF SNOW
By Jenny Milchman. Ballantine Books. 320 pages. $26

Reviewed by Lori McAnnally
LORI MCANNALLY, an avid reader and writer, resides in Roanoke.

In the middle of a typically brutal winter in upstate New York, Nora Hamilton wakes up one morning in the farmhouse she shares with her police officer husband with the feeling that something is terribly wrong.

Nora’s instincts are right on target: her husband has committed suicide.

In the weeks that follow, Nora tries to put the pieces of her husband’s death together in an attempt to find an answer to the unanswerable question: Why? In looking for clues to her husband’s motive, Nora uncovers information that only compounds the mystery and leaves her questioning whom she can trust — if anyone.

“Cover of Snow” is Jenny Milchman’s first novel. I really wanted to like it, so I feel sorry to have to give it a less than glowing review. The author had a potentially great story, but what ended up on the page is disjointed and contrived. Read more »

HERE I GO AGAIN

By Jen Lancaster. NAL. 320 pages. $25.95

Reviewed by Nona Nelson

nona.nelson@roanoke.com

In author Jen Lancaster’s second work of fiction, she takes the reader “Back to the Future” with a protagonist  —  one of high school’s “Mean Girls” — that is suddenly “Seventeen Again” and caught in “The Matrix” of time travel on a mission of self-discovery and redemption.

“Here I Go Again” is a breezy read with a story that gives a wink and a nod to classic time travel movies, with a lot of teenage — and middle age — angst mixed in.

Melissa “Lissy” Ryder has spent her life as spoiled, self-centered wretch. As the head cheerleader/prom queen of her suburban Illinois high school, she took pleasure in inflicting pain and humiliation on her classmates. Her personality and attitude do not improve as she becomes an adult.

Suddenly, as a 37-year-old woman who chronically takes advantage of her friends, family and employer, she finds her world crumbling. Fired from her job, asked for a divorce from her husband and kicked out of her Chicago condo, she ends up sleeping in her childhood bedroom, waking up each morning to the vision of her faded David Coverdale poster.

She wallows in self-pity, piles on 30 pounds, whines to her enabling mother and cajoles her long-suffering dad into paying off her credit cards.

Lissy hopes to change her fortune by attending her 20-year class reunion, but she does not get the reception she envisioned. She is verbally slapped with the truth of how atrocious she was in high school and learns how much the members of the class of 1992 despise her — both then and now. Read more »

CENTERVILLE

By Karen Osborn. West Virginia University Press. 242 pages. $16.99

Nona Nelson

nona.nelson@roanoke.com

On a hazy, hot, August afternoon in 1967, a small town in the Midwest explodes — literally, as a homemade bomb is detonated in the town’s drugstore, and figuratively, as the residents deal with the tragedy and its aftermath.

The novel “Centerville,” penned by Karen Osborn, the 2013 Louis D. Rubin Jr. Writer-in-Residence at her alma mater Hollins University, follows the lives of several townspeople as they try to make sense of a senseless act. The book’s time frame is confined to the day of the crime and the first few days following, when emotions are raw and many of the characters are in a state of anger, disbelief and shock.

With her hand on the door of the drugstore, 14-year-old Sandi Edwards suddenly has the urge to not enter the store. Her companion, Bert Greeley, the daughter of the store’s owner, is perplexed at her friend’s suggestion that they head to the nearby bowling alley, but reluctantly follows. Minutes later, the once sleepy town is rocked when George Fowler, the husband of one of the store’s workers, delivers an explosive device that will kill nearly everyone inside and turn the quiet main street into an inferno. Read more »

THE NEXT TIME YOU SEE ME

By Holly Goddard Jones. Touchstone. 384 pages. $24.99

Reviewed by Jason Barr

JASON BARR is a teacher in Harrisonburg.

“The Next Time You See Me” will no doubt be compared to Russell Banks’ “The Sweet Hereafter,” primarily because the structure is the same: the author portrays the change in town relationships in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy.

Yet, because of the depth of characterization and literary skill, Holly Goddard Jones’ novel would better be compared to Dennis Lehane’s “Mystic River,” which is probably one of the best literary mysteries of the past few decades.

Jones uses the disappearance of Ronnie Eastman, a freewheeling woman of somewhat ill repute in the town, to examine a series of characters.

Jones provides the reader with the usual suspects: the sister of the victim, the girl who found her body, the cop on the case, and the murderer himself, but she also expands the narrative dramatically to include the young girl’s teacher, her parents, the girl’s crush (who also happens to be her bully), the sister’s husband and so on.

As Jones expands her scope to include a wide array of figures in the town, the author sometimes struggles to keep the underlying plot — the disappearance and death of Ronnie — at front and center. Read more »

THE AVIATOR’S WIFE: A Novel

By Melanie Benjamin. Delacorte Press. 402 pages. $26

Reviewed by Linda Rimel

LINDA RIMEL is an author and playwright.

In “The Aviator’s Wife,” Melanie Benjamin makes no excuses for narrator Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who acknowledges that she had been “shaped … just like every other eager young wife of my generation, by her husband, but I was a wife who had wanted to be shaped, had willingly put herself in his hands and demanded he make her over in his superior image.”

When Charles Lindbergh accepts a medal from Nazi Germany and leads the America First campaign for isolationism despite reports of German atrocities, the Lindberghs’ good friends, the Guggenheims, Jewish, quit returning their telephone calls. Decades later, the Guggenheims’ daughter asks Anne if her husband had believed what he’d said.

“If you knew him,” Anne says, “you would know Charles Lindbergh never said anything he didn’t mean.”

Anne had written an America First tract of her own, lending her status as ambassador’s daughter to her husband’s dubious politics, views that Benjamin intimates were not Anne’s own.

The novel begins in 1974, with Anne accompanying the dying Charles on his last flight — as a passenger. She would rather, “despite all the pain, the bitterness, the betrayal,” remember him as “an intense yet hopeful figure so finely chiseled he is almost part of the machinery of the plane itself, willing it across the ocean with a couple of sandwiches, a thermos of coffee, and unwarranted arrogance. … Everything will be ahead of him, including — especially — me.” Read more »