CROSSING THE WIRE by Will Hobbs

Will Hobbs, Crossing the Wire (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2006).

Crossing the Wire, by Will Hobbs, read by Ramón de Ocampo (Frederick, MD: Recorded Books, 2006).

Also available on Kindle and Nook.

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

(NOVEL)

Crossing the Wire is a well-written adventure and coming-of-age story. Victor Flores is shocked when he learns that his long-time best friend Rico Rivera has received $1500 from his older brother so he can pay a coyote to get him across the border from Mexico into the US. Rico’s main incentives are a desire for adventure and a desire to get rich.

Victor’s father died working in the US, and the teenager has done his best to provide for his mother, sisters and little brother. Unfortunately, the free trade treaty and US subsidies to corn farmers has made life increasingly difficult. Corn exported to Mexico is so cheap that Mexican farmers cannot compete. Victor finally decides he must try to get across the border and get a job, or his family will not have enough food for the coming year. He doesn’t have money to pay a coyote, so he will have to make it on his own.

Will Victor get across the border and be able to send money home? What happened to Rico and the other men from their village with whom he left for the border? Will the boys meet again? Hobbs has worked into this young adult novel many of the dangers confronted by Mexicans driven by poverty, a desire for better lives for themselves and their families, and (occasionally) a desire for adventure: desert heat, extreme cold in the mountains, violence, drug runners, gangsters, border patrols, petty thieves, and more. Victor has to decide again and again who can or cannot be trusted,

Elements of Mexican culture are also worked into the book. Though he grew up near Guanajuato, Victor is from Chiapas. In Mayan civilization, the jaguar facilitates communication between the living and the dead (and maybe between two people who are far apart). When Victor was quite small, he saw a jaguar in Chiapas. Will s jaguar help him on is journey?

I recommend this book to teens and to adults of all ages. It has won the following recognitions: Americas Award Commended Title, Junior Library Guild Selection, Southwest Book Award, Notable Books for a Global Society (IRA) 2007, New York Public Library Books for the Teenage, and the Heartland Award.

The audio-book is well read by Ramón de Ocampo.

 

THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS by Claire Messud

Claire Messud, The Woman Upstairs (Alford A. Knopf, New York 2013). 253 Pages.

Also available on Kindle, Nook and Audio CD.

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

(NOVEL)

This author has written The Emperor’s Children among other books. She was noted in the New York Times book section as having written this current novel. It seemed interesting to me and I picked it up and read it. It came highly recommended from our bookstore, Prairie Lights here in Iowa City.

The main character in this novel is an elementary school teacher, Nora Eldridge, living in the upstairs room of what is essentially a rooming house. Nora’s life is changed by circumstances surrounding the Shahids, the family of a student in her class. The mother is from Italy and the father from Lebanon, presenting an exotic blend of culture and mores not experienced by Nora Eldridge in her past teaching experience. Nora is a frustrated artist and is asked by the mother to help her in her studio. She becomes quite entangled in the dynamics of this family after the Shahid’s little boy is bullied at school.

The plot becomes more and more complex as the novel moves along. Nora has interesting relationships with the boy and the mother of the family, eventually leading up to a somewhat surprising relationship with the father. You will need to read the book to see what that is. I recommend this book if you like stories of relationships, family dynamics, and surprises. 

PLAYING FOR PIZZA by John Grisham

John Grisham, Playing for Pizza (New York: Doubleday, 2007).

John Grisham, Playing for Pizza, Read by Christopher Evan Welch. Unabridged (randomhouseaudio.com, 2007).

Also available on Nook and Kindle.

(NOVEL)

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

I saw the author’s name on the box of CD’s on the sale counter – John Grisham. “Ah,” I thought, “a legal thriller. That should keep me awake on a long drive up to Door County, Wisconsin.”

The book begins with a man named Rick Dockery coming out of a coma, not knowing why he is in the hospital. His visitor, Arnie, considers him a client, so at first I figured he was Rick’s lawyer. Soon, though, I discovered that I was not listening to a thriller. Playing for Pizza is a football story. I may watch a few plays if someone else has turned on a game. I check two or three times each season to see how the Chicago Bears are doing. On football Saturdays I sometimes check on the fate of the Illini, Hawkeyes, and Hoosiers. In other words, I’m not much of a football fan. I would not have purchased Playing for Pizza had I read what the box said about the book. I kept listening, though, because it was the only recorded book I had with me, and soon Grisham drew me into his story. I lost my sense of disappointment.

Rick Dockery bounced around the NFL, never quite living up to the promise he showed in at Davenport High School* and in college.  He is a third string quarter-back for Cleveland when the Browns make it to the AFC championship game. Unfortunately the starting quarterback and his back-up are both injured. The Browns are 17 points ahead with 11 minutes to go when Rick comes into the game. Three intercepted passes later, he is the biggest goat in NFL history. Needless to say, the Browns will not renew his contract. In fact, once out of the hospital, Rick isn’t be safe in Cleveland. He is a laughingstock even in Davenport.

Rick insists that his agent get him a contract for next year, but no team in the US will return Arnie’s calls about jobs for Rick. He does find a team eager to have Rick play, however—the Parma Panthers in Italy. This move would be a real come-down for Rick, since most of the Italian players are amateurs who play for the love of the game, but work at other jobs. Rick has never been to Italy and does not know a word of Italian. He doesn’t even know where Parma is. But since no NFL team will consider hiring him again and a Browns cheerleader is filing papers against him in a paternity suit, he finally decides he has no choice. The Panthers assume that an NFL quarterback will give them a big advantage over other Italian teams, and they might actually win the Italian Super Bowl for the first time.

Grisham follows the Panther season, giving us some interesting characters and an exciting plot. There are issues to think about: plays that are “perfectly legal, perfectly brutal” (p. 210); head injuries; when it’s time to hang up the helmet and quit; playing for money vs. playing from passion. Grisham works them into the plot; they don’t slow the story down.

I said this is a football story, but it is also a story about Italian culture: the food and wine, opera, ancient cathedral and castles, beaches and pretty women. Yes, there is romance thrown into the mix.

The story has a satisfying ending, but it is open enough that Grisham could decide to give us another installment in the life of Rick Dockery. Will he marry the girl he’s been hanging out with? Will he play another year for the Panthers? If not, how will he support himself? If Grisham does write a follow-up, I’ll be looking for the CDs so I can listen to them on another trip to Door County. Hopefully Christopher Evan Welch will be the reader again; he did a good job on this one.

_ _ _ _ _

*In the interest of full disclosure, perhaps I should tell you that I went to Iowa City High School, and we considered Davenport to be our Number 1 opponent. Had we lost every other game and only defeated Davenport, we would have considered it a winning season.

Post Script: Since reading this book, I understand more of what I hear on the radio when a sports reporter is discussing football!