Kaseys Korner

Into The Wild

** spoiler alert ** I vaguely remember hearing about Chris McCandless and his fatal adventure in Alaska but I missed the movie and quite honestly I'm not sure what triggered me to read the book at this point?? I mean it's been almost 30 years since his death. Maybe curiosity to understand the circumstances finally caught up with me...

After reading it tho, I still can't commit to which of the two camps of thought I fall into about him? I'm straddling the fence, leaning ever so slightly toward the one where he was ill-prepared and kind of an idiot to think he could just hike into the Alaskan wilderness, with no supplies, and walk out to tell the tale. From everything I've read, Alaska is an environment & land unto its own. Not a place for amateurs & definitely not a place to "practice" survival skills. Apparently (according to the book) lots of McCandless minded people find their way there and many end up with a similar fate. Let's give him some credit tho for making it as long as he did. I couldn't make it 10 days but then again, you wouldn't find me even attempting it.  I do keep finding myself wondering if he would have stayed anywhere near as long if that van weren't conveniently there?? Without it for shelter, could he possibly have ended (and lived to tell about) his Alaska adventure much earlier???

I can appreciate his disenchantment with the grind of life. I've had many discussions with friends about the "trappings" of life ~ getting tied down to mortgage payments, car payments and the monotony of repeating the same steps day after day. The security of knowing there's a place to sleep, eat and be safe from the elements usually trumps any call of the wild for me tho. The author tried to associate his unconventional lifestyle, wanderlust, disregard for rules, and quest for spiritual fulfillment with a bad father/son relationship. I couldn't really buy into that, too many people have difficult relationships with their family and aren't inspired to follow a similar path. He did seem to be influenced by his reading material but even that didn't explain his lifestyle choices. The only explanation that makes sense to me is it was something innate that made him different than his peers.

It was a tragedy that he couldn't take the education he received and work to do good for the world, try to change it even instead of spurn it. Maybe he would have if he'd survived?? Sad that but for a few critical errors, he could still be among the living. Had he walked out of that trail tho, the world would never know his name, associate it with that green & white bus or make a martyr out of him. In the end, the choice of how to live was his as it is all of ours.

Extremely sad story. Also ironic that the guy who gave his savings away to a charity that supports wiping out hunger, starved to death (albeit because of eating a poisonous plant but still...) I believe Jon Krakauer recognized a kindred spirit in McCandless and that's why his story touched him so deeply.  I wish he'd included more photos from the 5 rolls of film left behind.  One criticism, the book could have been condensed to a short story. It's a little misleading when you pick it up and discover it's not just about McCandless ~ it's got "filler" material in it about other people who went off grid & disappeared, including a segment about the author himself.

Regardless of how you feel about Chris, the last two years of his life are fascinating reading. He left a trail of "bread crumbs" about his whereabouts in the form of letters & postcards mailed from all over the American West. When his adventure came to a tragic end, it's a really difficult one to shake.

Tidelands

 

In a way, 'Tidelands' is a departure for Philippa Gregory who's most associated with writing novels about ROYAL women. Here is the tale of an ordinary woman (and her family) in the mid 1600's, living in a tiny backwater English village. Truly nothing spectacular about her life at all. In fact it's depressingly bleak. Backbreaking work, to eek out the barest of livings, and no escaping the lot her unprivileged birth status bequeaths her. Her living environment can be summed up with this one sentence:

"She gestured to the open door and the stretches of mud and slowly receding brackish water outside, as the low rumble of the tide mill started up like thunder, and there was a sudden gout of green water in the rife."

Inspires a person to pack their bags & move, right?

Despite pivoting from palaces to a less hospitable place, the book stays true to form in the way Philippa Gregory always serves up the woman's point of view and maintains her feminist roots. It's historically an overlooked perspective but one readers are lucky she champions.

Alinor (the female protagonist) is described as uncommonly beautiful, so despite her low birth position in the eyes of society, she can't escape notice by either sex. The men are interested in sampling her favors and the women are jealous & wary. Her beauty (and that of her daughters) is brought up repeatedly throughout the story. It begs a moment to ponder if beauty is an asset or a liability? Because let's face it, it can be both.

The historical time period is interesting as well. It takes place during the English Civil War, after King Charles was captured and subsequently put on trial. I didn't realize England was without a Monarch for even a short period, I definitely want to read more on that topic.

The author states that in this series the family will start in poverty but rise in fortunes. It will be interesting to follow and see how that's accomplished. How will they overcome the obstacles of a male dominated world?? Womens roles in society have evolved in a lot of ways but sadly stayed remarkably the same in others. We bear the brunt of decisions born of desire and the repercussions change the course of our lives ~ nothing's changed about that. As much as I like to read about nobility, this detour is really fascinating. 'Dark Tides' soon to be downloaded!!!!

The Mystery of Mrs Christie

You did it Mrs. Christie!!! You wrote a truly unsolvable mystery, with you as the starring character and took the secret to your grave!!!! Ms. Benedict offered up a reasonable and totally plausible scenario about what happened those 11 days you were missing. One that I could 100% believe was exactly what happened. Agatha Christie was a brilliant mastermind when it came to conceiving plots, interjecting twists and surprising her readers with an unexpected ending. I can't imagine she'd manipulate her own life story any less superbly.

So glad I read this. I loved Agatha Christie books growing up. I graduated from Nancy Drew to her and this novel reveals so much background about how she became the writing sensation she was. I never knew any of it. Her love of mysteries as a young adult, working with poisons as a nurse during the War, the bet with her older sister that she could write an unprovable detective story, etc., etc.

It also demonstrated, writing phenom or not, that she was totally human as evidenced by her choice of husbands. I couldn't stand Archie Christie from his introduction. He pursued her relentlessly and after he "got" her, he criticized everything about her??? What a vain, shallow, narcissistic man. I couldn't figure out his motives? Many times I wished she'd stayed engaged to Reggie but then at the end, she recognized herself that she may not have become the writer she was if she'd chosen to stick with him. Very likely true ~ a "Midnight Library" moment! I guess I'm glad she married Archie (I can't believe I'm saying that!) since I reaped the benefits of her literature as a result of that toxic relationship.

Really interesting book and totally worth reading, especially if you're a fan of Agatha Christie.

 

 

The Vanishing Half

What a beautiful book. Sad and hopeful at the same time. It covers a couple generations of one family and even tho I finished it last night, I can't get it out of my head this morning.

There are so many topics within it that I would be uncomfortable and unqualified (as a white woman) to critique. "Colorism" or the discrimination between shades of black within the race and the idea of "passing," as in a black person so light skinned they pass themselves off as white. The last one I understand why ~ it would certainly make life easier in our discriminatory and unequal society ~ but how your own race would feel toward you is another story. The author covers both in a comprehensible and eloquent way.

There's also a loving transgender relationship that is portrayed so beautifully I feel even more empathetic toward those struggling with gender reassignment and identity issues.

These are topics that could be disquieting but they're incorporated in such a way, you can't help but be captivated. Written from multiple points of view, I found Stellas story the saddest and wished hers could have had a different ending. Just because she could, does that mean she should?? Her life certainly wasn't less complicated or happier ~ it seemed a steep price for denying her roots. The fact that she was a twin (and all the connotations we have about their connectedness) took what she did to a whole other level.

Oh Brit Bennett, I see what all the fuss is about!!!! A very poignant novel.

The Women at Hitler's Table

What will stick with me about this book is thinking about the ten women "tasters" who knew any bite of food could be the one that kills them. It would make the very act of bodily nourishment extremely anxiety inducing and maybe affect the way food was perceived for the rest of their lives??
However, in the story the author wove, it didn't seem to phase them overly much. A survival mechanism?? If the risk of their positions was negated, there was the upside of being well fed. Perhaps the best fed people in all of Germany (aside from Hitler) in a time when food was very scarce.

I really wish this could have been a nonfiction book. A retelling of the true life story of Margot Wolk ~ the only surviving real food taster of Hitler's. Now that would have been fascinating. I wonder why no one thought to interview her before she died?? Sadly another story lost to history.

I expected the book to be a bit more dramatic than it was? Maybe some of the girls actually dying from something they ingested?? I also thought Rosa Sauer, the protagonist, was a tough character to like. You'd think she'd elicit sympathy based solely on her job description but somehow I found myself not liking her much.

The concept of the book is an interesting one and I doubt I'll ever look at a member of Royalty or High rank again without wondering if they have a personal "taster" (or two) on retainer.