52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 37: "Chosen" by Chandra Hoffman

Young Chloe Pinter loves her job as an adoption social worker.  As she sets out on a rainy Thanksgiving evening to bring dinner to one of her birthparent families, she has no idea that this adoption is going to bring heartbreak and danger into her life and that of the adoptive parents. Chandra Hoffman weaves an intriguing tale that demonstrates issues and roadblocks that can arise in domestic adoptions.

This novel was disturbing to me, because it focused only on the negative aspects of domestic adoption.  The adoption agency Pinter works for is strapped for money, so it caters to high income, desperate adoptive couples and takes advantage of low income, equally desperate birthparents. The birthparents in this story are greedy and manipulative characters. Chandra Hoffman has been the director of a U.S. adoption program.  I don't know if she chose to base her novel these negative elements because they create a good, suspenseful drama, or if she chose them because she saw them too often in her work.  I hope it is the former.  

My husband and I have a son whom we adopted through Bethany Christian Services' domestic infant adoption program.  One of the many reasons we chose Bethany for our adoption (and now a second adoption that is in process) is that they strive to work in the best interest of all parties involved: the birthparents, the adoptive couple, and the child. Birthparents receive extensive counseling both before and after the adoption.  This is critically important for their long-term well-being because they go through a significant grieving process after the adoption.  Consider this phone conversation in "Chosen" between Chloe and Heather, a birthmother whose child has been placed weeks before:

Heather: "I really don't even know why I'm calling.  I just got used to talking to you all the time, and then, it's like nothing.  I'm just calling to say hey, I guess."  

Chloe: "I'm really glad to hear from you."  

Heather: "So do you ever do, like, a follow-up visit?"  

With the adoptive parents, Chloe thinks....

We have met our son's birthparents, and we keep contact with them indirectly through the adoption agency.  They are truly courageous young people who made a heart-wrenching choice because they knew it was in the best interest of their son.  In doing so, they also gave us the most amazing blessing we could ever ask for.  I'm certain there are greedy, selfish birthparents out there, like the ones portrayed in this story, but I believe most are more like our son's heroic, sacrificial birthparents.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 36: "Pearl Buck in China" by Hilary Spurling

Fiction never lies; it reveals the writer totally.  - V.S. Naipaul

Hilary Spurling's biography of the author of "The Good Earth" tells the engaging story of the life of Pearl S. Buck.   I had not heard of Buck before I learned of this book, and did not realize what an impact she had in her time.

Pearl Buck was the daughter of two American missionaries who served in China from 1880-1931.  Because Pearl spent most of the years of her life in China, she identified more with China and the Chinese people than she did with her American homeland.  As a very young child, she thought she was Chinese, until she realized something was wrong with her.  At the age of 4, her blond hair had grown too long to fit inside her cap.  "Why must we hide it?" she asked her Chinese nurse.  The nurse explained that black was the only normal color for hair and eyes (Pearl's eyes were blue.) "It doesn't look human, this hair", said the nurse.   Though she loved China, she found she didn't quite fit in.  But during the times when her family returned to the United States, Pearl's throughly Chinese mannerisms alienated her from American children.  She found her escape through reading & loved the novels of Charles Dickens.

As an adult, Pearl began to write her own novels.  In 1932, she published "The Good Earth", a novel about family life in a Chinese village.  It was a bestseller that dramatically changed America's popular perceptions of China and the Chinese people, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932.

Pearl Buck suffered a tremendous amount of personal tragedy in her life.  Her parents' dysfunctional marriage laid seeds for Pearl's own difficult marriage and her subsequent divorce.  She saw the death of loved ones due to disease and war, at a young age.  And she pours out all of her sorrows in her writing, with many of the characters in her books representing people in her life and events that she lived through.  Spurling includes short overviews of many of Pearl Buck's books throughout the narrative of this biography and shows what they reveal about the events in Buck's life and how they impacted her.

I enjoyed this book, and now I have added "The Good Earth" to my reading list.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 35: "A Week in December" by Sebastian Faulks

London: December, 2007.  Gabriel Northwood, a civil lawyer with few clients, who takes on a case involving a man who committed suicide by throwing himself under a Tube train.   Jenni Fortune, the young woman who was driving the train that hit the suicidal man.   Sophie Topping, the wife of Lance Topping, a newly elected MP.  John Veals, the owner of a hedge fund who is about to pull off the biggest trade of his already lucrative career.  Hassan al-Rashid, a discontented youth who is being seduced by a radical Muslim terrorist organization.  R. Tranter, elitist author and professional book reviewer who is discontented and frustrated with the direction of his career.  Tadeusz "Spike" Borowski, Polish football star who has been recently signed to play for a London team.

Over the course of one week, these seven characters (and many others) will be joined together by the circumstances of urban life in the metropolis of London.   The London Tube (which, unfortunately, you cannot see in this image, though it is prominent on the cover photo of the book), encircles these characters and serves as a symbol of the forces of modern society that bear upon their lives.  This novel is an interesting exploration of human motives and passions, and the impact they have on the characters' life choices.

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52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 34: "The Lion" by Nelson DeMille

Terrorist assassin Asad Khalil returns in this sequel to "The Lion's Game" to finish off the last few people on his hit list. John Corey stopped him 3 years ago, but this time Kahlil is determined not to leave until he finishes what he started. And he has added John Corey and his wife Kate to his list.  From the very beginning of this book, it is clearly building up to a one-on-one confrontation between Corey and Kahlil that will leave only one of them standing.

I listened to the audio version of this book, and fast-forwarded through a couple of the horrifying descriptions of Kahlil's killings.  He has come back even more ruthless, twisted, and personally vengeful than he was before.  The timeline of this book places it 18 months after 9/11, and, though Kahlil's mission is not directly related to that event, the weight and significance of the 9/11 terrorist attacks hangs over this story.  Also, this book was written almost 10 years after the first one, and a lot of things have changed in those 10 years, as far as our understanding of terrorism.  Sadly, none of the sickening killings Kahlil carries out are unimaginable.

At the end of the audio version of this book, there is an interesting interview with Nelson DeMille by narrator Scott Brick.  DeMille never intended for "The Lion's Game" to have a sequel.  But he had such a strong fan reaction after the first book that he finally wrote "The Lion" in response to his readers' desire for a resolution between Corey and Kahlil.

I specifically picked out these two books, and one other to read during September because of the theme of terrorism.  I am half-way through the other book & then I am done with terrorist thrillers for awhile.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 33: "The Lion's Game"

Terrible he rode alone,

With his Yemen sword for aid;  

Ornament it carried none.

But the notches on the blade. 

John Corey is a wise-cracking, foul-mouthed former NYPD homicide detective who has been brought in to the ATTF (Anti-Terrorist Task Force).  His assignment is to help the FBI process Asad Kahlil, a defecting Libyan terrorist code-named "The Lion".  But when the plane Kahlil and his FBI escorts are arriving on lands, everyone on board is found dead in their seats.  And Kahlil is missing.  Most of the experts on ATTF believe this horrific act of terror was Asad Kahlil's end game.  John Corey knows it was just the beginning.  Corey works to stop Kahlil as he travels through the United States, carrying out his detailed plan of revenge killings.  But he is always one step behind this resourceful terrorist.  Can Corey catch The Lion before he reaches his ultimate target?

This novel is gripping and suspenseful, and reminded me of the TV show 24, with John Corey as the Jack Bauer character.   DeMille goes into Asad Kahlil's background to show us what drives his fierce determination to kill.  This made him a much more sympathetic character, and I found myself relating more to Kahlil at times than to Corey, who is a very unlikeable protagonist.

I would consider this book "R-rated" because of the amount of foul language and some sexual content.

The interesting and kind of creepy thing about this book is that it was published in 2000. In 2001, most Americans may have been stunned by the idea of middle-eastern terrorists waging war on our soil & using planes as weapons, but Nelson DeMille was not.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 32: "A Biblical Case for an Old Earth" by David Snoke

The debate between Young Earth Creationists and Old Earth Creationists rages in churches and on the web.  Those who argue for an Old Earth perspective normally do so on the basis of the large amount of scientific evidence that supports their view.  What David Snoke does in this book is make a compelling Biblical argument for a day-age view (the view that the 6 days of creation in Genesis 1 are consecutive days that are each ages long, rather than 24 hour days).  Snoke spends one chapter giving a surface overview of the scientific evidence, but the rest of the book is focused on the Biblical case for an old earth, and the theological implications of holding this view.

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52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 31: "Methland" by Nick Reding

It was 2005 when I first became aware of the devastating effect Methamphetamine was having on rural America.  We were living in North Carolina at the time, and we had traveled to Missouri to visit family over the Christmas holidays.  When we came down with colds, I headed to the store to grab reliable old Sudafed.  But I was surprised to find that it had been moved behind the counter and I had to sign a registration list to purchase it.  At that time, the Meth epidemic was ravaging rural communities in the Midwest, but hadn't spread to the rest of the country yet.  Today, every state that I'm aware of has moved Sudafed behind the counter in order to curb the proliferation of the small "Mom-and-Pop" operations using large amounts of Sudafed to cook up Meth in their kitchens.

Nick Reding spent four years in Oelwein, Iowa interviewing citizens and researching the Methamphetamine epidemic's impact on this agricultural town of about 6000.  He profiles the lives of some of the individuals who have become addicted to the drug, and the law enforcement officials who are waging the war against it.  This is a worthwhile and interesting read, although the overall picture it gives is not encouraging.

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 30: "Solar" by Ian McEwan

Physicist Michael Beard's Nobel prize is decades old.  While his work is revered by most in his field, he is tired and has lost all passion for the work he once loved.  He relies on his reputation to bring in income through speaking fees and his involvement in high visibility, low impact government projects.  And his 5th marriage is on the brink of divorce.  Suddenly, a bizarre accidental death seems to provide the perfect escape from both his marital woes and the malaise he is experiencing in his career.

The protagonist in this novel is a selfish and thoughtless individual who makes a number of immoral and unwise decisions.  Yet, as the novel goes on, he sees few consequences for his actions, and he seems to ultimately get away with much of it.   The novel comes to a sudden and abrupt end that leaves very little sense of fulfillment.  Many of the reviews of this book call it a "darkly satirical" novel, and I suppose that's a good description.  I did not enjoy this book very much - I guess dark satire isn't my thing.  

Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 29: "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick

"Facebook was our headquarters.  It was the newspaper.  It was the central command.  It was the laboratory.  Facebook was all that, right up to the last day.”  Oscar Morales, owner/operator of the Facebook group “Un Million Voces Contra Las FARC” (One Million Voices Against FARC). 

Kirkpatrick opens with Morales’ story of the Facebook group he created in January 2008 against the Columbian guerrilla organization, FARC.  One month after he created the group, it had gathered 350,000 members, and sparked worldwide demonstrations against FARC, in which an estimated 12 million people participated.  His success, Kirkpatrick says, is due to the Facebook Effect.

“As a fundamentally new form of communication, Facebook leads to fundamentally new interpersonal and social effects.  The Facebook Effect happens when the service puts people in touch with each other, often unexpectedly, about a common experience, interest, problem, or cause.”

Kirkpatrick spends most of this book telling the detailed, in-depth story of Facebook’s beginnings in Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room at Harvard in 2004, and its subsequent rapid growth.  In the last 3rd of the book, he has chapters devoted to Facebook’s impact around the world, and what he expects to be its future evolution.

As you would expect, there is also a chapter devoted to the issue of privacy, which was one of the most interesting to me.  

“You have one identity,” (Zuckerberg) says emphatically three times in single minute during a 2009 interview.  He recalls that in Facebook’s early days some argued the service ought to offer adult users both a work profile and a “fun social profile”.  Zuckerberg was always opposed to that. “The days of you having a different image for your work friends or co-workers and for the other people you know are probably coming to an end pretty quickly,” he says. 

Zuckerberg has two reasons for this view: one idealistic, and one practical.  He views having two identities as a lack of integrity.  He believes we all have one true identity and if we will be transparent and reveal that to the world, it will inspire more responsibility and accountability.  In short, it will make people behave better.  Secondly, he believes that as technology advances, keeping anything about ourselves private and hidden is going to become impossible.  I’m inclined to agree with him on this 2nd point.  His first point - the idealistic notion of maintaining one transparent online identity for the world to see, and that leading to integrity and moral behavior has a bit of merit.  A little bit.  But, in my view, the main reason he can hold so fervently to such a pollyanna idea is that he is 26 years old.  It was very helpful to me to gain this perspective on Zuckerberg’s views on privacy.  I do not agree with him, for the most part, but I understand where he is coming from.  I will no longer accuse him of having a careless disregard for people’s personal privacy.

A very interesting read for anyone who is active on Facebook.  


Sojourner

52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 28: "House Rules" by Jodi Picoult

This was my first Jodi Picoult novel, and it won't be my last.  I couldn't put this book down.  I read this 500+ page novel in 3 days - 3 weekdays in the midst of the normal routine of life during the school year.  As you can imagine, I didn't get much sleep, or accomplish much else during those three days.

Emma Hunt is a single mother with two teenage boys,  Jocob and Theo.  The oldest, Jacob, has Asperger's syndrome.  One of Jacob's AS symptoms is becoming overly focused on one subject - to the point of obsession.  Jacob's interest is forensic science & he is constantly showing up at crime scenes and offering his perspective to the police.  But when Jacob's therapist is murdered, the police turn their attention to Jacob - as a suspect.  Could Emma's sweet natured boy who "couldn't hurt a fly" be responsible for a murder?

Picoult leaves clues as the novel goes along, and the ending won't be a total surprise to readers who are paying attention.  But her writing is engaging and her characters compelling.   I recommend this book - with the caution that you may want to save it for a long weekend, just in case you become as captivated by it as I did.

Sojourner