The Princess of Las Vegas, Chris Bohjalian, author; Sadkia Maarleveld, Grace Experience, narrators

Crissy Dowling is a star in Las Vegas, the gambling mecca of Nevada. It is the end of the summer of 2022, the pandemic is over, life is returning to normal. Early in the novel, the plot is hinted at when the reader is informed that “someone has been taken”, but that is pretty much all the foreshadowing they get. The reader learns that Crissy impersonates Diana Spencer, once the wife of Prince Charles, who is now King Charles. His infidelity with Camilla Parker Bowles brought heartache and tragedy to the royal family almost three decades ago. Princess Di suffered from bulimia and Crissy identifies with her because she does, as well.
Crissy is a permanent performer at the Buckingham Palace Casino where she literally becomes the Princess of Wales for her audience, an audience that is always sold out. Although it is not a first-rate hotel like the Bellagio or the Venetian, and it is not on the main strip, it holds its own; she is a major draw, portraying the princess with such perfection that people believe, temporarily, that she really is Princess Di. She has been doing it for so long, that she almost believes that is who she is, and she cannot even lose the British accent or princess persona when she is offstage.
Partially estranged from her sister Betsy, whom she believes murdered her mother, she is nonplussed when she learns that Betsy is moving to Las Vegas with her boyfriend Frankie and her adopted daughter Marisa. Which sister is at fault for their faulty relationship? Are both misinterpreting each other’s behavior? Is one more malicious? Is one more unhinged? Their childhood was competitive.
Formerly a social worker, Betsy now has a job with a company involved with crypto currency, called Futurium. It seems that it is possibly a front for laundering money since that seems to be an obvious reason to have a digital wallet in Las Vegas. In addition, there are fingerprints of the Mastaba, a crime syndicate, all over the company. It is owned by Tony Lombardo. His grandfather started the crime syndicate Mastaba, and he is now the custodian of that mob. They seem to have infiltrated many areas of business, the government and law enforcement. There are suspicions that they use strong arm methods to achieve their goals but have been unable to prove anything.
Wound tightly, Crissy gets through most of her days with a cocktail of various tranquilizers and alcohol. When the owner of Futurium, Tony Lombardo, asks Crissy to perform on his private island, assuming the arrogance of a princess, she puts him off. Tony has the reputation of a man who does not like getting rebuffed or being refused anything that he wants. Has Crissy crossed a line that will jeopardize her show or worse?
All of a sudden, a rash of supposed suicides occur in Las Vegas. The first suicide is Richie Morley one of the owners of the Casino. Then his brother Artie hangs himself. What will now happen to the Buckingham Palace? When her current heartthrob the Russian Yevgeny Orlov falls off a cliff while visiting her there, she becomes very suspicious and discovers they are all connected in some way to Futurium, the company employing her sister. She finds out that Futurium is interested in purchasing the Buckingham Palace Casino and remaking it into a more world class venue.  Could the Mastaba be behind these “suicides”? She wonders if Betsy is in danger. Crissy and her sister, not even two years apart, look so much alike that they are often mistaken for twins. When her sister begins to show up in places in her stead, but without admitting she is Betsy, she wonders if Betsy is in danger? Is she being framed? Has Betsy unwittingly involved Crissy in a murder that might have mob written all over it? Is Crissy the one being framed?
The story plays out in the alternate voices of Crissy, Betsy and Marissa. There are a lot of characters, but my favorite character is the precocious Marisa, Crissy’s tech genius niece. A teenager, she is sometimes naïve, but more often, she is far more aware and mature than many of the adults. There are times when it is impossible not to suspend disbelief, because the naïveté of the sisters seems more appropriate for the previous century than this one. Although the women were raised in a rural area, they were literally not born yesterday. Both are in their thirties.
This is not Bohjalian’s finest hour, but the narrative does keep the reader engaged enough to keep on reading in order to find out how it will end. It is a bit too long, a bit too contrived and a bit too like a fairy tale, but perhaps that was the intent of the author. Princess Di had the epitome of the fairy tale life. She married her prince. Unfortunately, did not truly want to marry her, and he dishonored her.

Women, Kristen Hannah, author; Julia Whelan, narrator

This book does one thing very well. Using the women who served their nation as nurses during the Vietnam War, and also including the soldiers who served with valor and great courage, Kristin Hannah has exposed the trials and tribulations of all wars. Everyone suffers from the consequences of war, though to different degrees. It is the combat soldier, however, that I believe, suffered the most, often resulting in their own unfortunate behavior for which some were held accountable, rightfully or not, like the soldiers at My Lai and those who were not accountable, like those who took advantage of the women they believed were weaker and indispensable, leaving them at the altar, so to speak.
Focusing on three nurses from different backgrounds, Frankie, Barb and Ethel who volunteered for service, and describing their interaction with the men, explaining their motives for the way they all conducted themselves in combat and socially, the book illustrates their bravery, their sacrifice, and sometimes their shameful unethical behavior. It also exposes the shameful, unethical and dishonest behavior of our government that, with their lies, betrayed the men and women who fought this useless and unwinnable war. Their courage went unrecognized for a long time; the brave nurses, because they did not carry a weapon, were ignored and rarely honored. There were far fewer nurses than soldiers and because only one nurse actually died in combat, with a total of eight fatalities, some from illness or accidents, they were not considered heroines, nor were most of the men considered heroes, because we lost the war; the men were still heroes, because they fought and honored the country. The men and women, however, came home from Vietnam in the shadow of a shameful failure.
I found the character of Frankie a bit too naïve, especially since she so easily or quickly seemed to morph into the drug addicted, promiscuous characterization of the veteran, male or female. Still, the nurses, regardless of their number, suffered through the brutal enemy attacks on their medical facilities, witnessed the most gruesome injuries, and had to assist in medical procedures and surgeries far beyond the normal duties of a nurse stateside where they were simply expected to do clerical work, carry bedpans and clean up after others.
In Nam, they saved many lives and comforted those soldiers they could not save. They forged friendships and bonds that were not easily broken. Because of the fragile situation, in which someone was here today and gone tomorrow, and death and catastrophic injuries were part of every day, often morality went out the window and self-preservation and immediate gratification became their primary goal. Frankie often found herself and her service dismissed by her family, or she felt betrayed in romantic situations, or unappreciated at a stateside hospital, which was the opposite of her experience during the war.
In order to insert the pertinent facts, to put the story into an authentic environment, the author includes themes like the lack of respect for women, the lack of opportunity for success, the napalm, the protest marches, the camaraderie that crossed color lines even when the very shameful racism that existed at the same time reared its head, the promiscuity and the drugs and alcohol, and every other line that existed; some scenes seemed contrived.
When the war ended and Frankie’s reality was supposed to return to normal, it did not. Her family did not think she was a hero, they had lied about her service, never telling anyone she is in Vietnam. Only her brother could be a hero there. Her own family life and her own personality flaws caused most of her trauma and inability to adjust when she returned. To help her sleep without nightmares, her mom gave her the pills that caused her initial drug addiction, but the need for alcohol was introduced to her in country while she served and it continued afterwards to calm her nerves. The VA hospital ignored her need for help. The system failed many then. Sadly, still today, not all, but some of the VA hospitals still fail the men and women who serve our country. So does our government, and often, our own American citizens abandon them and show them little respect even though their own lives would be quite different, absent the men and women who preserve our freedoms.
Moving on, when Frankie came home, her experiences mirrored those of the men who came home, but in reality, I am not sure her reactions or her treatment were as extreme as described in our real world during or post-Vietnam. Still, the description served to show, overall, how the Vietnam Vets were received, even if it was exaggerated a bit. It did happen the way the author depicted it. I knew of people who left the country to go to Canada to avoid service and until amnesty, could not return home. I knew of couples who married quickly and then had children immediately to avoid service. They took jobs that exempted them. No one wanted to go, and those who did go were not wanted when they came home. It was a sad time in our history and it was self-inflicted by our government and by the American citizens who did not appreciate their sacrifices.
It was President Johnson who entered that war, and President Nixon exited it. There was no welcome home for the men and women, no parade, and few joyous families proud of those who served. There was just shame, because they had failed to win. They had come home broken. They were ignored and there was very little concern for their adjustment or mental health, or for their futures, if truth be told. The streets filled with the homeless vets and their suicide rate rose. Using the real veteran Ron Kovic, as a character in the novel, lent authenticity to the various themes presented. PTSD was not the focus of medicine then. Unemployment, alcoholism, depression, nightmares and the inability to return to normal life were largely played down or ignored.
I don’t remember the nurses being spat upon or ridiculed, but I know that the soldiers were.
So, while I think it is true that the author has exaggerated some, she has painted a largely accurate picture of what went on during the years of the Vietnam War, a time of protest, unrest, perhaps unpatriotic behavior, as well. Men left America to avoid service, but I am not sure anyone has the right to blame them, in hindsight. The Vietnam War went on too long and was unsuccessful. Perhaps America had no business being in that war at all. What business was it of ours? The protests and marches were disruptive, but they illustrated the mood of the country. The men did not want to die for a cause that had nothing to do with them. Those that joined up did so because they loved their country and believed their leaders. They were led down the garden path by those who knew they were lying to them. They were fed drugs so they could control their fear and their exhaustion.
Today, we know that there is a reason that soldiers are 18 when they can enlist or are drafted. It is because the frontal lobe of the brain is not developed yet, and the ability to make sound judgments is impaired. They follow orders, largely respecting their commanding officers and their purpose. They don’t think too much about anything but their country. The leaders of the country lied to them about what was happening on the ground in Vietnam, simply enlarging the killing field and not the democracy. Perhaps the Pro-Palestinian demonstrators today, supporting terrorists, are the same target audience. The protesters of the Vietnam era did not see Communism as an existential threat, and perhaps, the results over time have proven that they were wrong in part, because those threats morph but still exist today/ Perhaps it is because of our weakness and lack of resolve to do what was necessary to win and to shut down our enemies.
The tools of war are horrific, though, and in retrospect, we now know that our war efforts even caused grave illnesses to our own soldiers and their families. Agent Orange had lasting effects eventually causing many kinds of cancer. The drugs freely distributed created addicts. The emotional problems the soldiers had to deal with were often insurmountable. In every confrontation, when lives are in danger and there is a war, there are unintended consequences.
Are the people who conduct the war at fault? After all, they are charged with winning the war. Is that there first responsibility? Does the mental and physical health of the people in the trenches really effect judgment about policy? I doubt it, because the overall effort is to win at any price, I think. It is evident today in America’s interference in the war between Ukraine and Russia, between Hamas and Israel. Often, we are on the wrong side of history. We have allowed hate to fester unconditionally by trying to make everything equitable when that is an impossibility. There is only equal opportunity, but we are not all equal. Some are taller, fatter, smarter, braver, etc. Those distinctions affect our success or failure. I think if we do not come around to understanding that fact, we will continue to fail in our efforts to create a peaceful, united country and world.

Count The Ways, Joyce Maynard, author and narrator

When Eleanor was just a teenager, her parents, always kind of distant with her, were killed in an automobile accident. Though they were not close, her life was upended. While living at the home of an acquaintance/friend, Patty, so she could finish school, Patty’s brother Mathew, who only cared about money and drink according to Patty, took advantage of Eleanor, a 16-year-old who was confused and weak at the time. She dreamed of revenge against him, and years later, when he remade himself into a right-wing patriotic politician against abortion, transgenders, and the LGBTQ+ world, she had her opportunity. She knew him when he tried, among other things, to get out of Vietnam and took a girl for an abortion. She punished him with a “me too” moment. Did this prove no good deed of the family went unpunished? Was it vengeance or justice?
She eventually went off on her own but left college after a couple of years. She was an artist and a creator of stories. When her first submissions were published, one about an orphan named Bodie, she left her education behind and bought a farm in a quiet place where she could work on her drawing and find peace. That home became her center of gravity. She loved the property. She believed she would live and die there. She bought a dog and named him Charlie. He was chasing a deer and was shot by a hunter. A policeman with a brusque demeanor brought his body home to her.
Then Eleanor met the handsome, red-headed Cameron. He made beautiful wooden bowls and read poetry to her, specifically, Browning’s “How do I love thee”, she married and settled down with him. He seemed like a warm, gentle giant of a man. Soon they had a family. Eleanor believed she had found nirvana. Her three children, Alison, Ursula and Toby were her life. Ursula was the peacemaker with hidden anger, Alison was a girl who decided at age 8, that she wanted to be called Al and felt more masculine. Web-footed Toby was the light of everyone’s life with his deep voice and serious remarks that often sounded like they should have come from someone far older.
Eleanor spent her days creating cartoons and wonderful pastimes for the children. They created cork people, boats they sailed in their pond, and a time capsule they buried under their beautiful ash tree. They ice skated in the winter and went to Cam’s baseball games in the spring where she met her first close friend, Darla. Darla was in an abusive marriage. When her husband Bobby got hold of a gun, life did not come to a good end.
Eleanor began to create a cartoon that was soon syndicated. It was about her family. Using her son Toby as the main character of the cartoon called Family Tree, to honor their ash tree, the very tree that later caused a disaster, she kept them fed. Cam continued to carve his beautiful bowls, but there was no mad rush to buy them. She was the major breadwinner and was occasionally resentful. Cam was not ambitious. He was a man who loved his life and his environment. He planted a garden and worked in his wood shop. On the surface, all of the characters’ lives were wonderfully simple. Everyone was down to earth, passionate and as happy as they could be. Eleanor had accomplished her dream and was truly content.
Then, there was an accident that changed all of their lives. Eleanor could no longer create her syndicated cartoon based on Toby, her precocious toddler. He was now brain injured. Eleanor’s temper often showed itself. She referred to it as “crazyland”. and would say things she would be sorry for later. In the past, life had been so good. She had created activities for the children, made home cooked meals and loved her husband. They were, for all the world to see, a very happy family, but now they grew apart.
Although he was still a good father, Cam and Eleanor no longer had a robust and passionate relationship. Eleanor blamed him for Toby’s accident and found it hard to forgive him. As the only breadwinner, since Cam now spent all of his time trying to help Toby improve with Yoga exercises, in order to make ends meet, Eleanor began writing and illustrating greeting cards as she had done before she became successful. She was content to seethe in her anger and live together, but Cam was not content. Then she discovered that he was cheating on her. He was unrepentant. They were divorced. Neither of them ever told the children who wanted the divorce. They vowed not to make the children blame either one of them.  
Eleanor moved to Boston and left the children in the house with their father to keep their lives stable. Therefore, she was the one they ultimately blamed. Soon, she was finding solace in an affair with a younger man who had always “loved” her, Timmy Puliot. He catered to her, and with him she found some peace. Years before, as a small child, he had told her of his father’s suicide. She had understood, since both of her parents had died.
Coco was the 16-year-old teenager who was the babysitter. She kept the children’s lives and small world whole and intact. When Eleanor moved away she filled the gap. The kids had no idea about their father’s other relationship. Did Cam ever tell them of his prior affair with Coco? Did the children ever understand the simple fact that Eleanor had moved to protect them? Time passed. Many tragedies unfolded.
Coco and Cam had children, one of whom, Elijah, asked to live with Eleanor for a while. As a teenager, he had quit school to pursue his fortune with his band that was growing in popularity. Eventually, he went to Europe to tour. Soon, however, there was another divorce and then a terrible accident involving a drunk truck driver, and Timmy and Coco who were riding together on his motorcycle. Why was Coco with Eleanor’s Timmy? How did Elijah handle this this traumatic event?
Moving on, when Al went off to school, she said she would not be returning. After years, however, Eleanor received a wedding invitation and returned to the home at the farm for the wedding. The wedding service, in both English and Spanish, had an assortment of guests who were described by the author. On that day, another truly unexpected tragedy unfolded during a thunderstorm. Oddly, everyone was able to ignore the devastation as they proceeded to enjoy the wedding food and festivities. The ash tree and the house were no longer. Did it foreshadow a different future for all of them? Could they finally let go of the past?
Eleanor noticed that Cam had grown older and was not well. She felt true affection and compassion for him and was finally ready to forgive him, but could she? Could he relate to her? How would they all go forward? All their lives were in the throes of change.
The book is about shame, blame, guilt, irresponsibility, immaturity, anger management, devotion, infidelity, forgiveness and loyalty, motherhood and the environment and every other social issue on G-d’s earth. There are so many characters and themes, but they all merge together well and are well developed. The story is placed in the present and the past, going from things like the Vietnam war to baseball’s Carl Yastrzremski, to Princess Di’s death to John Lennon’s assassination, to the Challenger explosion. When I read the final word of the novel, I thought that the author had inserted every progressive theme possible into this book, but I enjoyed the novel, even when at times it felt like some of the scenes were contrived to subtly present a political position.
The timeline and the thread of the story were occasionally confused, but the story kept moving forward, even as it went backward. Sometimes it even felt repetitive. However, the once perfect family is exposed perfectly with its many dysfunctions that all families are heir to. Tragedy after tragedy occurs. In the end, could the destruction of property lead to the construction of a new path forward? I expect the sequel to this book will explain all the misunderstandings and unanswered questions that were raised by this one.

The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese, author and narrator

The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese, author and narrator
When I finished this book, I was of two minds. One was relief, because after 31 hours of the audio, I could not believe it had ended. The other was disappointment that it was over. I wanted it to go on and on. It was one of the best books I have read in a long time and the author read it with aplomb.
Beginning in the early 1900’s, the reader is taken to a remote village in India called Parambil, and is introduced to the marriage of a young girl, not quite a teenager. She is being married off to a man who is almost three decades older, but she is supposed to be happy about the fortuitous match. Big Appachen, as he is called, is a widower. His first wife has died and his two-year-old child needs a mother. Thus, he needs another bride. He cannot believe that his sister arranged such a marriage, with someone who is just a child herself, but she convinces him to go through with it. Although he is kind to his new bride, he keeps his distance for many years. Still, this child, Mariamma, becomes a wonderful mother to his son Jo Jo, and eventually, she becomes a wonderful wife, as well. Jo Jo is terrified of water, a sure sign of the secret affliction the family carries. Will he suffer the consequences, as does someone in every generation?
As time passes, Mariamma bears her own child, Baby Mol. She will never grow up mentally, for she is a victim of cretinism. When Mariamma was pregnant, she experienced excruciating premature contractions. She was taken to a Scotsman, Dr. Digby Kildour, a compassionate and skilled surgeon. He advised her that her body is just preparing for the birth of the child and does not alter the course of her pregnancy. It was at that time that Elsie, whose father was driving Dr. Kildour, meets him for the first time. A discussion about their hands ensues. It is a foreshadowing of many events to come.
Miriamma eventually has a second child who seems quite healthy. Big Appachen insists that the boy, Phillipose, be permitted to climb, run and live, in the way that Big Appachen, as a boy, was forbidden to live. Phillipose is the hero of the community as he is bright and qualifies for an advanced education. Unfortunately, he has a hearing loss and is forced to discontinue his studies. He becomes a journalist instead, writing a column called “The Ordinary Man”. Is Phillipose suffering from the family “condition. Is he an ordinary man?
The reader learns that this Dr. Digby Kildour has an unfortunate love affair with Celeste Arnold, the wife of Dr. Claude Arnold, the unfit doctor who is his superior. When Celeste dies in a fire that gravely injures Digby, he is secretly taken to Dr. Rune Orquist, a Swedish doctor who has decided to devote the rest of his life to the creation of a Leprosarium. Rune is an accomplished surgeon, skilled in restoring some function to some of the lepers, and he is able to somewhat restore the use of Digby’s hands, but not to their former prowess. He will not be able to do complicated surgeries again. At some later date, Elsie aids in Digby’s recovery by placing her hands over his. She guides his hands and shows him he can still use them to do some less sophisticated surgeries.
Phillipose and Elsie married. A student and an accomplished artist, she married him when he promised to let her develop her skill and continue to produce art. Did he fulfill his promise? After the tragic and unexpected death of their only child, a son Ninan, at the hands of a tree that Phillipose treasured and so didn’t cut down, although he had promised to do so, both are overcome with anger at each other and grief. She is taken to Gwendolyn Gardens by dear friends to recover. There, she meets Digby again and a deep friendship begins. Phillipose, meanwhile, is using opium to excess, to soothe his pain. When Elsie does not return, he becomes addicted to it. During her absence, Big Ammachi kept writing to Elsie. When Baby Mol became ill, she felt obligated to return to Parambil. During that time, she discovers she is pregnant again and her daughter is born. She names the child Mariamma, after Big Ammachi. Shortly after the birth, however, Elsie disappeared and was presumed drowned. The child, Mariamma, is raised by her grandmother with the same name.
Mariamma grows up to become good friends with Yelin. Shamuel is Big Appachen’s dearest friend. Joppan, his son, is Phillipose’s dearest friend. Now Mariamma is his son Yelin’s dearest friend, so the circle is complete. Because of their different stations in life, due to the unfair caste system, they are not afforded the same benefits in life, but they are still devoted to each other, helping each other whenever they can. Yelin becomes a revolutionary, a Naxalite, a Marxist fighting for the Communist cause in India. Mariamma does not support him in this effort, but the world is changing and they part.
When Big Appachen died, Mariamma was called Big Amacchi and her name was lost to her. As the book follows her for about seven decades, the reader learns about the Caste System and the history of India regarding medicine and civil rights, including the advancements made.  As it reveals what is considered a family curse, a genetic flaw is discovered that brings tragedy to every generation, but it may be able to be remediated as medicine advances.
This story is told with tenderness and read with such a tender voice that it is impossible not to be drawn into it and to become captivated. Although, at first, it is really hard to keep track of the characters, because there are so many and the names are so unfamiliar, the author takes the storyline back and forth in time and then reunites it with each character, so their connections are revealed, albeit very slowly and carefully and with great detail. I hope I have recorded it correctly, since I have had to rewrite and correct it several times.
The timelines and the places the novel takes the reader are richly described. The reader is taken to the schoolhouse with the characters and witnesses the shame of those not allowed to be educated. The reader witnesses the exhaustive medical training, the abusive treatment of young women, and also the lack of respect for widows. The reader sees the terrible way that the disabled are treated, especially those in the leprosarium. The caste system is alive and well in the early days of the 1900’s and it is ugly to witness. One hopes today there are few remnants left.
Stone statues without heads, disfigured hands, disease and disability, medicine in India, the Caste system, complicated relationships, arranged marriages, inheritances, racism, injustice, are coupled with humor, kindness, true love and passion. It is infused with imagination, magic, legends and creativity. Who is Mariamma’s godfather? Why did Phillipose die? What secret did he wish to reveal? What is the significance of the tree, the beheaded statues, the hands? Why were so many of the family members, mainly men, afraid of water? Were all the deaths really related? What is finally discovered to be the real cause of “The Condition? Who helped to discover it?
Verghese draws upon his background and medical training for this novel. Still, he sought the help of many talented and well-trained people so that he knits this story together with deep research into a magnificent piece of cloth with all the raised questions ultimately answered.

Blood Money, Peter Schweizer, author; Charles Constant, narrator

The book does not discuss the banking industry at all. It is about the pervasive Chinese influence in almost every other avenue of our lives. Hollywood, politics, Tiktok, communication, the gaming world, social media, health care, our elections, spies, the covid virus etc. have all been used to try to destabilize the world and the United States, according to Schweizer. In addition, their production and distribution of drugs like Fentanyl are dangerous and deadly. The author covers China, starting with the way opium was foisted and then almost surreptitiously forced upon them, using that as their excuse to get back at the Western world in all of the underhanded ways they have used to influence us.
Early in the book, the author mentions a book called “Disintegration Warfare”, which the Chinese have been studying. It promotes winning without fighting. Deception, disruption and subduing are the weapons. Near the end of the book, Schweizer mentions a book that is one of the most popular works of historical fiction in China, “The Romance of The Three Kingdoms”. In this book, in order to gain control of a rival, his crop is poisoned. Once his position is weakened, the rival invades, and of course the victim is overcome. It would seem that China has been engaged, using both of these policies, in trying to master the parts of the world that they can, and because of their patience, determination and control of the situations, they have often been very successful.
The use of devious methods like lies and secrecy may be the mainstay of their wheelhouse. The book is interesting, but grows dry with the mention of so many businesses, people and issues, and it often gets redundant and bogged down with details.

The River We Remember, William Kent Krueger, author; CJ Wilson, narrator

When the novel begins, a body is discovered that has seemingly been eaten by catfish, after falling into the Alabaster River. This river is a sight to behold at certain times when it magically turns a brilliant white in the moonlight. As the victim’s death is analyzed, the cause is not what it at first appears to be. So, why does the sheriff clean the scene of the crime of any evidence to indicate who killed the man or why he was killed?
As the story proceeds, the reader is introduced to many characters, some that do not fit the mold of some of the townspeople. There is a Japanese woman resented because of her country’s part in the past war. There is the Native American, Noah Bluestone. who married Kyoko. He is maligned unfairly as a lawless man. There are veterans of different wars who are suffering from PTSD, there are widows of the war’s victims. There are young teenage boys influenced by their own lives and issues which make them stand apart. There are poignant legends of the Native American. There are men and women with monstrous secrets in their past history of abuse, neglect, brothels and murder. There are men who are amoral and there are drunks. There is Charlie, a compassionate, female lawyer at a time when there were few in the profession. There is the abuse of the weaker sex and the young. Who are vulnerable. Then, there is the richest man in town, whose body had just been discovered, brutally mutilated by the fish. His poor reputation, as that of an arrogant man and cruel taskmaster, preceded his still unexpected demise. Though it was thought that many harbored animosities toward him, because of his behavior toward them, one suspect stood out among the rest, because of a stereotypical and hypocritical mindset, prejudice, jealousy and perhaps greed.
This is not a town used to violence, so Jimmy Quinn’s death, though it may not be mourned as it would have been if he had been a kind man, it is still viewed with fear and doubt. Who would have done such a thing? Even if there were many people with motives, not many were capable of murder.
The book has drama, romance, mystery, humanity, compassion, and evil.  It is also a coming-of-age novel for certain characters and it is a distinct illustration of morality and the lack of it, courage and cowardice. It is a picture of human frailty and human strength at their best and worst.
It is an examination of the horrors of war, the quest for survival at all costs, the flaws of society, the damaged human beings that need help, the bullies and the saints. Is everyone a bit of both?
The sheriff, Brody Dern, who seems like an honorable man has secrets. The woman, Angie, who runs the Wagon Wheel Café has secrets. The sister-in-law of the sheriff, Garnet, has secrets. The dead man has many secrets. Many of the townspeople suffer from nightmares because of their pasts.
As the secrets and characters are revealed, the story evolves seamlessly, even with its twists and turns. The very nature of humanity is explored, and the very flawed nature of humanity is revealed, along with its goodness. The tragedy of war is exposed. Not only the river remembers its history, each of the characters carries the burden of theirs and must deal with it.
The novel plays out in Jewel, in Black Earth County, Minnesota, with ordinary people who have the ordinary problems of life and then some. Their memories haunt them. Their dreams sometimes become nightmares. Like the Alabaster River that appears white only at certain times, they often appear differently at different times. However, the true character of people will come out, eventually. Nothing can remain hidden forever. What shapes us, our history, will eventually be revealed. We all experience both the harm and benefits of our past, but we all stay true to ourselves, in the end.  

The Exchange, John Grisham, author; Edoardo Ballerini, narrator

In this supposed sequel to “The Firm”, Mitch and Abby McDeere return. More than a decade later, they are now living in NYC. He is working for the largest law firm in the world, and she is an executive in the publishing industry. Their twins are thriving.
When the novel begins, a lawyer in Mitch’s firm asks him to help on a case in Memphis, the city he had fled after exposing the crimes of the firm he had worked for there. He is asked to help to stay the execution of a convicted murderer. Before he can begin, however, the man supposedly commits suicide. This theme is dropped, as I assume it is only brought up to review the origin of Mitch’s law career and the first novel in which he is introduced.
When this case is no longer necessary, he is called to Rome to help a close friend and lawyer, Luca. Luca is dying from an incurable cancer and does not have much time left to live. He wants Mitch to help settle the lawsuit between a Turkish construction company that he represents and Libya. Libya is refusing to pay the bill for the bridge the company built in the desert. Luca asks him to go to Libya to and to hire his daughter, Giovanna, to help. She works for the same company as Mitch, in another location, but he senses that she is unhappy and bored with the law.
When Mitch and Giovanna go to Libya, he becomes very ill almost immediately and cannot visit the bridge location. Luca’s daughter volunteers to go instead. Violence follows the group at a checkpoint. Who kidnapped her? Was it the enemies of Mitch, enemies of the Turkish Company, enemies of Mitch’s firm, terrorists, or possibly Qaddafi?
The story gets mired down in meetings and the mundane. Will she be rescued? Will she be ransomed? Why was she kidnapped? Is it a crime of convenience? Do you negotiate with terrorist? Is it moral not to do so if you can save a life or is negotiating with terrorists, paying them to save the victims which then empowers them to create more havoc, amoral? The story feels thin, and I am not sure this book answers any of the questions it raises. The book feels like it is drowning in the minutiae of unnecessary details.

The Postcard, Anne Berest, author; Barrie Kealoha narrator; Tina Kover, translator

I finished the book and asked myself, how many books is it possible to read about the Holocaust and still discover something new? For instance, I did not know that tattoos were stamped on the chest, at first, before tattooed on the wrist. Therefore, my answer apparently, is that there is no number, for every book I read enlightens me a bit further. The enlightenment, however, is always horrifying, but it is important that all of the memories and facts about that awful historic time are aired in the light of day, and remembered, especially in light of the massacre that took place in Israel, on October 7^th, 2023, inexplicably carried out by Hamas, even as the Israelis danced at a hopeful peace concert and those residents of border communities with Gaza, people who tried to help the Palestinians by hiring them and engaging with them, were slaughtered unmercifully. Jew-hatred and barbarism are alive and well.
Although this is a novel based on the author’s family history, it is especially pertinent and poignant to read it in the current atmosphere of unexplained Jewish hate permeating society in the United States, today. Although one would have thought the memory of the Holocaust would have served to prevent another incident of horror against the Jews, it would be an incorrect assumption. We are witnessing the subtle advance of hate and the demonization of the Jews once again, by the media and the politicians in power. Slowly, the message is being corrupted so that the innocent are charged as guilty and the guilty are excused. Once again, the victim is being blamed instead of the villain.
In this is a novel, it is based on the author’s ancestry. Her grandparents settled in Palestine, the name chosen by the Brits, in the early part of the 20^th century, to live a quieter more peaceful and free life, to escape the pogroms, and the rising antisemitic atmosphere in Europe. They advised their children to disperse further into Europe and to leave Russia, in order to be safer. None wanted to move with them to Palestine, however.
Unlike Lélia, who held her memories in secret and refused to revisit the time of her family’s horror, we Jews today must make sure we force everyone to remember our horrific past, and remind those who do not, or educate those that are unaware, or there will be many more Holocausts and October 7^ths to follow. It is horribly sad today, to witness the offspring of many jews who do not remember our past, or have not learned from it, as they march with their very enemies, the enemy that is intent on killing them. They hope that they can change their minds, while they happily and foolishly condemn their own people. Over centuries, and now recent decades, it has been shown, again and again, that they cannot change the hearts and minds of those committed to hate them, no matter how hard they try.
In the novel, the reader follows the path of the Rabinovitch family as they travel to Palestine, Latvia, France and Israel, as their lives unravel in all of those places. The echo of the pain and suffering of the Jews travels down through the years and taints all those it touches, right into the future. The author tries to get behind the mindset that made the choices to go to one place or another, act in one way or another. This novel, that is cloaked in the true history of the Rabinovitch family, perhaps explores what it means to be a Jew, and what it is that Jewish survival entails.  
In 2003, a postcard arrives at the home of the author’s mother, Lélia. Her mother refuses to think about who might have sent it or why anyone would have sent it so many years after 1942, the year that the people who are named on the card, Ephraim, Emma, Noémie and Jacques, were murdered in Auschwitz. These were the names of the author’s grandparents and two of their children. The third child, not listed, was her grandmother, Myriam, Lélia’s mother. Lélia, Anne’s mother, had always felt abandoned by Myriam. Now, in a sense, Lélia was abandoning her own daughter, the author, as she searched for answers to her past and hit a brick wall with her mother, Lélia.
A child related to survivors somehow feels and bears their scars. Anne is no different. She has always felt unsettled. Raised in a totally secular world, she had little connection with Judaism or her ancestry. She knew that she was indeed a Jew, since her mother was, even though her father was not, but she wanted to know more. Her mother discouraged her interest and research. As Anne’s thirst for the knowledge of her lineage was ignited, her mother remained silent for more than a decade. Then, Anne’s daughter Claire told her grandmother about an antisemitic incident that she was exposed to at her school. Lélia made a bargain with Anne. If Anne would take this incident to the child’s principal, no matter how fruitful or not, it would turn out, she would help her uncover her history and the identity of the person who mailed the postcard.  Surely, each of us must be remembered as much as we must remember our history, in order to prevent it from happening again.
As the winds of war began again to blow in Europe, the family was faced with the prospect of moving on again, or of facing violence. This is the story of what happened to those members of the family who became trapped in Hitler’s web of barbarism, and an explanation of how and why so many became trapped and were unable to escape.
As Hitler advanced, and as time passed, the Jewish people’s activities were slowly and subtly, on occasion, more and more stifled, until finally, before they realized what had happened, they had no rights at all and were being rounded up and marched off to camps intended to cull them from society permanently. Think about this, if Hitler had succeeded, this book would not have been written. Think about what the world has lost with their loss. There were many people, good or otherwise, Jewish or otherwise, that promoted Hitler’s cause for selfish reasons. I shudder to think how like today it feels! Jews are marching with their enemies, the Palestinians, who scream from the river to the sea, essentially wanting to drive them out of Israel and the world, once again. Their message appears to be winning, so we are behooved to wonder if we have learned anything from our past. Like the Rabinovitch children, my children were called “dirty jews” in New Jersey and were subjected to antisemitic comments by a teacher in Minnesota. Once, I was told to be happy I didn’t live in Germany, by the mayor of the town of West Caldwell, New Jersey. What did I do about it? While I did address it with those in charge, I had no support and therefore failed to stop it. I was supplied with glib answers…oh the comment was just a euphemism, when the teacher told a joke about how the Jews got into the desert because someone threw in a quarter.
Because we have failed to address our enemies for what they are, we are now, watching our own children marching with the screaming meemies, and the unexplained and undeserved fury will only get worse. Will Jews and others, gays and blacks, wake up and stop supporting those who actually despise them and only pretend to accept and support them because they are serving their purpose. They would just as soon stone the “loose” women or throw the lgbtq+ community from the rooftop, as they have in other countries.
The book may be asking the question, what does it mean to be Jewish? I think it is more about asking what does it means to be a human being, and sadly, I do not think many people qualify today. Denying a problem does not make it go away, it simply festers and worsens. We must face our current situation bravely, as so many faced Hitler and Hamas with courage and character. Survivor’s guilt must come to an end along with the indifference to the problems that we witness, and the refusal to believe that man’ inhumanity to man is alive and well and comes from unexpected sources. We need to end our naïvete so we can overcome our enemies. David must slay Goliath, once again.
When the author used the term “they forced you to lie, and then called you a liar, was it not eerily similar to the current justice system in the United States today?  Although it was blamed on the far right during WW II, today the left seems to be using the same tactics, creating chaos, confusion and hate as rights are slowly eliminated for some and granted to others who willingly accuse the innocent of crimes they have not committed in order to advance themselves. Will we wake up in time to prevent a repeat performance of the barbarism? Slowly and subtly, in America today, some people are being silenced as others are being advantaged unfairly, once again. Open your eyes.

The History of Socialism and Capitalism, Niall Ferguson and Victor Davis Hanson, authors

Both present their honest views about the origin of the current resurgence of Socialism and the  rejection of Capitalism in Ameica, especially by a particular age group.  I found the views of Ferguson to be more researched and documented, while the views of Hanson were more nuanced, personal and based on current events with which I could identify.

Both point out that Socialism has failed everywhere and the idea that our young people are demanding it is due to the current social and cultural issues on the ground, in our schools, our politics and the constant policy  of division. Socialism, while demanding equality for all, by its very nature, denies it to many. To provide everyone with the same benefits of life, of course, someone has to work harder to give it to those that do not.

The Death of the criminal George Floyd, and the Covid 19 pandemic, joined forces to create a fertile climate for Socialism here. As everyone was locked up in their own sphere of influence, the government, the Democrats in particular, used the disasters to further their Socialist agenda, to influence an election, and to enforce social programs to enable survival when all was shut down. As I read, I wondered, therefore, was the shutdown simply a tool to further the left’s agenda? We may never know.

However, it worked so well for them, that today a huge amount of our future leaders, that is, the Millenials and the Gen Z, et al, believe Socialism is the system to promote. Oddly, the elites promoting it have feathered their own nests. Those who have only ever worked for the government and never held a real job, are the ones that stand to prosper most under the Socialist system, or they already have, because without laws, they are the law. Obama is now a billionaire; Biden and Sanders have several homes;  the Clintons and their Foundation are prospering, the Squad, whose many members  behavior is under investigation, are living exceptionally well for government employees. Yet, these same people promoting the Socialist agenda want the rest of us to remain modestly comfortable, if that much, with health care they would not tolerate, mediocre education they would not accept, and living conditions that they themselves reject. They want us to “share”, but they seem to have protected themselves from the sacrifices they are demanding.

Socialism cannot succeed without the breakdown of law and order and social unrest, Ferguson explains, and certainly, we are witnessing that very shameful collapse today in our society and our justice system.  Socialism has failed everywhere it has been tried, yet we are marching down the inevitable road to it and to failure, prompted by the mob that constantly protests and fosters crises as they enrich themselves.

The Art Thief, Michael Finkel, author, Edoardo Ballerino, narrator

This true story is read expertly by the narrator. The author has done great research to bring this book to life, although sometimes it felt repetitious since the main character steals over and over and the details sometimes became tedious.  Still, his methods and the ease with which he did it were fascinating. I think that the art thief was reviled by many, and the author has painted a more sympathetic picture of him than I expected. Still, I can understand why. Stephane Breitwieser seemed to be wired incorrectly, and he was unable to resist the temptation of stealing the art. It was almost as if it was his calling. He also seemed to have no real ability to discern right from wrong. Perhaps he is a sociopath, perhaps his mother loved him a little too well and did not teach him right from wrong because she needed validation from him after her husband left her, and Stephane did seem to want to please her and make her proud of him; perhaps it was his father’s abandonment of them that played with his mind and left him adrift, feeling unwanted and unworthy, so he kept on trying to be special; perhaps he was always fragile and his home life drove him down a path to find himself, to find a place where he could respect his own worth by stealing art work of great worth. He claimed he stole it for its beauty, to free it from the boundaries that kept him from fully enjoying it. His ability to steal the art seemed to be his greatest or only talent. He educated himself so he knew great works of art, but he got too confident and after many successful thefts, he pushed the envelope too far, took greater risks and eventually made mistakes. When he was caught for the first time, it was after 8 years of getting away with it! He spent years in prison and always stole again. His last sentence was for house arrest. In 2031, when he finally can lose his ankle bracelet, how will he start over again? He was never able to before, after each of his prior arrests. This time he will be 60 years old when he is free again!
The author was with Stephane when he visited the Rubens House in 2023, before he was sentenced.. It was the place he had stolen for the first time. When the Adam and Eve piece was recovered and restored, he went to see it. At that time, the author admits that he went with him and was there when he stole a brochure. So, even after he had been arrested again and was awaiting another trial, shortly before that sentencing, he stole again. He is the very definition of recidivist, but he does not seem capable of doing anything else or understanding that what he is doing is wrong. He feels it is what he does best, and it makes him feel good, not remorseful.
I was disappointed that his girlfriend Anne-Catherine, his accomplice, got away with it. He protected her, and she threw him under the bus. I was surprised that his mother made such a foolish attempt to save him by getting rid of all of the valuable artwork. Was she saving him or punishing him? Was she trying to save herself? She definitely wasn’t wound too tightly either. Only some of the stolen artwork was recovered afterward, and much had to be restored. Much of it is still missing. I was also surprised by the lack of security in most museums, never realizing that the cost would be too prohibitive for small establishments. I was happy to learn that today, security is far superior.
Stephane Breitwieser stole art because he felt that he could not enjoy it fully because of the security, so he devised a way to free it by stealing it. He did not seem to understand that in doing so, he was preventing others from enjoying. If he captured it, and hid it, it would only exist for his pleasure. So stealing it for the sake of art, would really be only for his sake. Stolen art cannot be shared. In the end, his mother, who was overprotective and accepted all of his misguided behavior, without appropriate consequences or discipline to teach him right from wrong, betrayed him by destroying the very thing he loved most, his art, and still, he would not betray her or his girlfriend who also betrayed him.