Author du Jour Archives - Page 8 of 12

Author du Jour: Saul Friedländer

10/21/2016 by Frederic Colier

“Where Memory Leads” by Saul Friedländer.

(Other Press, pp 284, $24.95)

If you remember the Pulitzer Prize winning book, “The Years of Extermination,” you will know at once that this review refers to Saul Friedländer. If you also know that he spent sixteen years writing his magnum opus, you could claim that he spent 80 years writing his new memoir “Where Memories Leads.” It is riveting account, the coda marking a life intertwined with the Holocaust, a project already initiated with his first memoir “When Memory Comes,” published more then thirty years ago (a book re-released at same time). Besides from the heart-wrenching topic depicting the trauma of a childhood spent during the Third Reich, watching his parents being deported, the memoirs have a different tone. The former deals with a man struggling with comprehension and uncertain answers about his life, at the peak of it, while the second has the feel of a man looking at his journey, with the mindset that he has reached the sunset of his life. The questions have been fulfilled, unless he is now reluctant to open new paths. With resignation comes insight.

Friedländer’s life has been defined by his “monumental” contribution to Holocaust Studies. The book spans his whole life, from his birth at the worse possible time, the beginning of WWII, to present day, fitting perhaps the cliché that most Jews encountered after the war: finding a home, moving from country to country, if not continent to continent. The book clearly stipulates that Friedländer found a home in the intellectual journey of his own childhood and destroyed Jewish heritage, by building a defense and knowledge that could not be taken away from him. It ultimately cemented his strong Jewish identity. This makes for a different stance, more confident, accepting, resigned, engaged and engaging.

Author du Jour: Charlotte Wood

10/19/2016 by Frederic Colier

“The Natural Way of Things,” by Charlotte Wood

(Europa Editions, pp 233, $17.00)

Though not her first novel, “The Natural Way of Things” is Charlotte Wood’s first print in the States. Better late than never, and it is wholly deserved. It is an intriguing book to come out at the time of perhaps the strangest presidential campaign ever, where one of the candidates is plagued with accusation of sexism and sexual misconduct. And this makes it hard to avoid the metaphorical subtext of Wood’s novel, reminiscent of Atwood’s “Handmaid’s Tale,” since we are dealing with women and sexuality in a repressive and controlling corporate-like society. Though I do not believe that women have anything to do to prove their competence and rights in this world, the protagonists of Wood’s novel are women deprived of rights and live a Kafkaesque nightmare.

Yolanda, the heroine of this dystopian novel, wakes up one morning in the middle of Australian desert, dressed in rags, and not remembering how she ended locked up into a ward. She however quickly learns that along with her roommate, Verla, that they are now captives of a strange repressive system, exercising a systematic corporate control on their every move. The reason that binds them is the scarlet letter they wore, a past sexual scandal. Very quickly, rather than accepting their fate in a place where women are drudged and subjugated to fear, they escape into the wild. More than a story where the hunted becomes the hunter, they must develop the skills of survival and trust. In a world fraught with violence, the women of “The Natural Way of Things” must find resilience and seek redemption.

Author du Jour: Anne Korkeakivi

10/18/201610/17/2016 by Frederic Colier

“Shining Sea,” by Anne Korkeakivi

(Little, Brown and Company, pp 282, $ 26.00)

Sophomore novels have the reputation to be always the hardest one to produce, especially if the breaking-out novel was a success or generated buzzing reviews. Self-pressure being often the cause as the challenge to recapture the lengthy feat, embedded in the first published novel, is insurmountable for authors. It is not the case for “Shining Sea.” Though not a fan of multi-generational novel, I tip my hat to Anne Korkeakivi’s second novel. Recapturing she managed indeed, and with verve and energy. Recapturing here acts a crucial word, since I was reminded at once, and not to a detriment, to Woolf’s obvious “To the Lighthouse,” where the protagonist spends her day looking out the window, but rather at “Moments of Being,” her long essay on the creative process. Something today, we refer to as being present in the moment. By being completely present in an experience, we expose ourselves to possible epiphanies. And the most trivial moments are elevated in “Shining Sea,” Korkeakivi’s use of the present tense going a long way to invite the readers to connect immediately with the emotional plights of her characters.

Written in a sparse, unaffected, style, this family saga takes us straight into the universe of the Gannon’s family. Following the death of Michael Gannon, Barbara, his widow, is left alone with four kids and one still gestating, and must now confront a major readjustment in her life. The time is 1962. Rolling back the clock to post WWII, Korkeakivi displays her true talent in her ability to show how lives cross paths and disperse again in other parts of the country, while keeping all the threads intriguing. Where an amateur’s schema would have lost us, Korkeakivi’s spontaneous prose delivers a thoroughly compelling story of personal struggles in the face of grief, held together by the endless hope for self-renewal.

Author du Jour: Diane Shainberg

10/17/201610/14/2016 by Frederic Colier

“Chasing Elephants, ” by Diane Shainberg

(Book Case Engine, P 190, $4.99)

Fifteen years have elapsed since the first publication of “Chasing Elephants.” With insight, it is always easy to see the remarkable achievement of overlooked if not often the consistent neglect and plight of before-their-time books. It is a delight to see this book reprinted today, not so much to bring justice to a groundbreaking work but also to disseminate the importance of Diane Shainberg‘s ideas.

What are those precursory ideas? Fifteen years is not a long time and, yet it is a good benchmark to be able to accept, dismiss, or follow the evolution and impact of one lifework. Given the demonstrated climate, economic, and humanitarian crisis already unraveling at our doorsteps, the work appears properly time to exercise its wisdom. More than ever a new global consciousness is needed if we want to avoid, once again, catastrophic decisions and outcome, based on outdated models. We must think in terms of totality, implying that it is paramount that we create a new global awareness and consciousness. We must write the integral trends for the future, the complex nexus of interrelatedness, cross-fields and pluri or multi-disciplines. The elaboration of this new consciousness however starts with each of us. Before going global, we must not only think local but learn to develop this awareness ourselves, on our own. No one but our self is responsible, and no one can bypass this work. No shortcut exists. After the work is done, the multiplicity of our new single consciousness will create the totality the world needs. An ambitious program from which we cannot turn a blind eye.

While “Chasing Elephants” does not aspire to such a broad scope, Shainberg‘s writing clearly points into this direction. It advocates for the first step necessary for personal healing, a crucial step if we want to contribute to the new consciousness without reliving or reenacting the wounds of the past in complete blindness, falling back into our personal trenches. The Elephants only stay in the room as long as we need them. Once we see them, they are no longer needed and take a leave of absence. This is the inspiring journey Diane Shainberg takes us on. With heart-wrenching anecdotes, case-studies, first-row testimonies, without shying away from her own struggles and suffering, she ushers us on the road to freedom and peace. Without forgetting that along the way, during her long journey into the world of Buddhist, she reminds us that compassion stands as our best companion.

Author du Jour: Jennifer Noonan

10/12/2016 by Frederic Colier

“No Map to this Country” by Jennifer Noonan.

(Da Capo/Life Long Books, p 316, $19.99)

This book is about the “A-Word.” A could stand for Atomic, since explosion is implied, but in this case it is about autism. Autism is a trend that keeps on gaining momentum, and its label, once inflicted on a child, reverberates as a social suicide for families. The merit of Jennifer Noonan’s journey is precisely to expose the daily struggle families with autistic children must live through, bringing her resourceful personality to the front.

When her son was diagnosed, like most parents, she found herself entering a world, she was unprepared for, a world laden with misinformation and guidance. Her struggle was not to investigate the whys but rather to locate the unique abilities and challenges of her child to change his plight.

“No Map to this Country,” captures the initial sense of despair watching her child scream and spin, while feeling powerless to help, to her decision to put a stop to it. Gathering her own information, leading an endless crusade, she tackles the world of dietary, immunology, and metabolic research, and so to unveil a treatment fit for her son. She began experimenting with alternative diets, supposed to be beneficial to autistic children. I will not reveal whether she succeeded, but her journey allowed her to sound her limitations. With stark frankness and uncanny humor, Noonan narrates how through a six-year ordeal and with determination, she managed to rescue her own family from implosion. Autism not only impacts children but families above all.

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