Matrix by Lauren Groff

Medieval story of strong-willed nuns in a 12th-century English abbey

In 12 Century England, Queen Eleanor sends her half sister (in-law), Marie, to a failing abbey where the nuns and other inhabitants are starving and for the most part miserable. Marie at first wants nothing more than to escape the harsh environment but she eventually refocuses on how she, with her skill, iron will, and visions, can turn things around for herself and those in her care. 

I love Lauren Groff's writing style and her many and varied stories. The first several pages of Matrix had a bit of the atmosphere of Hamnet, one of my favorite stories the year I read it, but it turned into something a bit more distant or remote for me once Marie reached the abbey, and stayed that way for one-third to one-half of the book. I read with renewed interest once Marie came into her power and started making vision-spurred changes at the abbey. Seems like a strong allegory for feminism, a thoughtful take on the challenges to equality that women faced in fighting the patriarchal society they lived in during medieval times and still face today, in different - and some of the same - ways. Not my favorite by Lauren Groff, but there are some great passages and lots of ideas/themes to sort through; it's a solid, thought-provoking read that generated a great discussion with my book club.

Exhalation by Ted Chang

Digital pets, AI, and societal perspectives

There is a lot to unpack in these complex speculative science fiction stories

In this collection of short stories, the author visits themes of time travel, the future, and artificial intelligence, among others. It took me a few stories to warm up to the the writing style, which at first felt a little technical and cold (come to find out, the author is a technical writer) – but by the time I got to the story about self-aware online digital creatures (this story reminded me of the 1990s Tamagotchi digital pets my kids had) I was completely hooked.

Each somewhat unsettling story is a well-thought-out idea on where the future may take us. The writing is nuanced and complex. I also enjoyed the author's notes at the end that explained where the ideas came from for each of the stories. Although there were a few stories that were extreme standouts for me (the one on life-logs and how the written word changes our societal perspectives was amazing, as was the parrot mythology), every one of them was a worthy, thought-provoking read.

Brown Dog by Jim Harrison

 

The character of Brown Dog is the Upper Peninsula of Michigan's Siddhartha. Brown Dog is always on the lookout for a good fishing river, a night of carnal pleasure, or an odd job that pays enough to buy a six-pack. He is happiest when he is in the woods of Michigan and flying under society's radar. He is a flawed every-man with simple tastes and a pure heart whose bare-knuckled fighting skills, occasional poor judgment, and adherence to his own set of rules rather than the law of the land often land him in one sort of trouble or another. He does his very best to take care of those who can't take care of themselves, even when he's having a hard time meeting his own needs. This book collects all of the various Brown Dog novellas into one (along with one new B.D. novella) so lovers of Brown Dog can immerse themselves in his off-kilter hero's journey.

I am so fond of the character of Brown Dog. As someone who has lived in and has strong memories of the U.P., I also love the northern Michigan setting – I recognize the remote towns, natural features, and woodsy environments described in these stories. After reading the last page and closing this book, I found myself both exhilarated by the beauty of a story well-told, and sad because there are no more Brown Dog adventures to read. However, there are many more of the canny wordsmith Jim Harrison's books for me to delve into and I look forward to those.

Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Ghassan Kanafani

 

This collection of stories is deep with understanding about how war tears at the hearts, minds, and physical bodies of regular citizens not involved with the policies or the decision making that set one country to battle against another. It consists of a novella and a handful of very brief stories that involve attempts to cross a closed border, forced re-locations of families, a few stories that have a strong, emotional father-son dynamic, and an epistolary piece by a character who has the means to flee Gaza for the United States, but is having second thoughts. They address the universal suffering of war and conflict.

The sad and tragic nature of the stories were brought home to me even more by the fact that the author, Kanafani, was killed in a car bomb explosion in Beirut when he was 36 years old. Although each story was written with beautiful, subtle language and was impactful, the ones that stood out for me were The Land of Sad Oranges, A Hand in the Grave, and Letter from Gaza.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

In Brisbane, Australia, a passenger ship docks and the passengers disembark and disburse. A young girl of 4 is discovered on the docks by the wharf master, alone, sitting on a small suitcase. She doesn't know her name or where she is from. The wharf master takes her home and when, after several days, no inquiries are made about her, he and his wife decide to call her Nell and keep her as their own.

The Forgotten Garden is the story of Nell's life, with the mystery of her family origins at its center. The story moves back and forth between the early 1900s, the 1970s, and 2005, and incorporates Nell's ancestors and descendants into the story as the mystery slowly unfolds. It is a dark, gothic tale full of family secrets with themes of enchantment and faerie tales woven throughout. I really liked the the character of Cassandra, Nell's granddaughter, and her time spent at the atmospheric Cliff Cottage on the edge of the sea. 

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dalloway takes place over the course of a single day in the mid 1920s during which the title character is planning for a party that she is hosting that evening. The point of view passes from Mrs. Dalloway to other characters in a round-robin fashion, during which the reader has access to that person's inner monologue, shared in a style that's close to stream-of-consciousness. Access to the characters' thoughts and memories allows the reader to know what is in the mind of not only Mrs. Dalloway, but also her family, future attendees of her evening party, and a husband and wife who are struggling with severe “shell-shock” being experienced by the war veteran husband, a condition we would now call PTSD. Being privy to the perspectives of so many characters who have opinions about the main character also gives the reader an interesting 360-degree view of Mrs. Dalloway.

The way Virginia Woolf writes the internal, anguished monologues of her characters is remarkable. Because of the flowing style that reads like unfiltered thoughts, including some repetitiveness of phrase, this isn't a quick read, but it's a very worthy one. With each book (I've read To The Lighthouse and A Room of One's Own in addition to Mrs. Dalloway) my admiration for this author grows. Her writing style is challenging, full of depth, and gives the reader a detailed look at early 20^th Century culture and manners.

An aside: This is the first book that my in-person book club (The Dalloway Club) read, when it formed in 1999. (I joined the club during its fourth session, when the book was The Handmaid's Tale.) I've been casually planning to read Mrs. Dalloway sometime ever since then; I am finding it mildly interesting and coincidental I actually picked it up and read it the year I am 52, the same age as Mrs. Dalloway on this day of her party.

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

 

In this Pen Hemingway-winning novel by NoViolet Bulawayo, 10-year-old Darling and her friends live in a small village made up of shacks lived in by families who were forcibly ejected from their homes by developers with bulldozers who razed their houses to the ground. The children make frequent treks to nearby affluent neighborhoods, taking fruit from the trees in front of the homes in order to ward off hunger. They make up games to keep themselves occupied and witness some terrible things, sharing the stories from a child's perspective. Eventually, Darling is sent to live with her aunt and her aunt's family in Detroit and she needs to learn new adaptive skills to survive in this place that has plenty of food, but is strange and filled with other challenges.

The story contains heavy, heartrending events told with innocent playfulness from a child's, and then teenager's, perspective. I was completely engaged by the language, which pulls the reader in and brings the book's descriptions to life in the imagination, whether Darling is hiding from violent trouble-makers in a tree in Zimbabwe, or sneaking to watch forbidden videos with her school friends in her aunt's basement in Michigan. It's a very worthy read that helps one understand in a real way the challenges of leaving your family and friends behind in a dangerous place with little promise, to move to a culturally (and geographically) colder, foreign place where there are daily risks to be aware of and success is far from assured.