A FINE BALANCE by Rohinton Mistry

Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance (New York: Vintage International, Vintage Books, A Division of Random House, Inc., 1995;  (Vintage International, 1997), 603 pages.

Also available on Kindle and Nook.

(NOVEL)

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

This novel is set in an un-named large city in India in 1975.  The backdrop for this story is the Indian Emergency of 1975 during which a suspension of elections and civil liberties by the Indian government caused hardship for the poor in particular.  Through a series of tragic events, an uncle and his nephew flee the persecution of their native village in the hills of India to pursue a career as tailors in the big city.  Survival is dicey at best.  Food is scarce, there is no housing for lower caste workers in the city, and the slums are the only alternative to not living on the street.  Vivid descriptions of life in the slums and the treatment of the tenants there form a very interesting (if somewhat depressing) narrative.

This is also a story of relationships among people of the same economic plight.  The tailors end up working for a poor single woman in the city.  She also takes in a boarder who is in school to help make her monthly rent payment.  The two tailors, the boarder, and the woman all end up living in the same very small space to save money and keep out of the way of the authorities who are committing all kinds of atrocities on the poor of the city. 

The relationships of the main characters form the basis for a very heart warming story.  Their relationship moves from distrust to friendship to real love in the face of overwhelming odds.

This is a great book if you like a long narrative.  Sue read this book for our long plane flights to Israel and Rome last spring, and I picked it up when she finished.  It is a little known book, but was highly recommended by Prairie Lights book store in Iowa City, Iowa, which makes a business of keeping close tabs on little known books with very good quality writing.  Both Sue and I highly recommend this book.

AFTER THE WRECK, I PICKED MYSELF UP, SPREAD MY WINGS, AND FLEW AWAY by Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates, After the Wreck, I Picked Myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away (HarperTempest; 2006).

Available on Recorded Books (6 CDs, 6.75 hours) © 2006. Also available on Kindle and Nook.

(NOVEL)

Reviewed by Wilda Morris

                Jenna Abbott feels safe and comfortable “in the blue,” a drug-induced condition where she can forget about the accident on the Tappan Zee Bridge. In the blue, she can fly with the snow geese or be a little girl again with Mommy or Daddy reading to her. In the blue, Jenna can ignore the fact that the voices above her bed never include her mother and evade the idea that her own actions might have been responsible for her mother losing control of the car.

                In this coming-of-age novel, Jenna goes through adolescence in the shadow of the accident which took her mother’s life and almost took hers.

                As her physical wounds heal, though, and the pain medication is reduced, she has to begin dealing with realities. The first time she speaks again is when her dad finally comes to visit. Jenna is not happy to see the man who caused her mother so much heartache, and who wants her to come live with him in his fine home, with his new family. Jenna does not even want to meet this new family, let alone live with them.

                Jenna goes to live with Aunt Caroline and Uncle Dwight and two younger cousins. She withdraws from the family as much as possible, and refuses to even try to make friends at school. She is paranoid of crossing bridges, even small foot bridges. As long as Jenna is broken, she says and does things that hurt the ones who love her and try to help her. She doesn’t like Dr. Freer, the counselor to whom she is taken, and refuses to continue in therapy.

                Jenna finally befriends and is befriended by two upper-class students: Trina and Crow. They each have the same design tattooed on their wrists, and seem to be running with the wrong crowd. One will lead Jenna in the wrong direction; the other will help her learn to live again. I won’t give the story away by saying which is which.

                Joyce Carol Oates, the author of this “young adult” novel, is among the most highly regarded writers in the US today. She has published at least 56 novels and 30 collections of short stories, as well as eight volumes of poetry. In addition, she has published many essays and plays, and other writings on non-fiction topics. She won the National Book Award on 1970 for them, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize three times.  In 1996, Oates was honored with the PEN/Malamud Award for “a lifetime of literary achievement.”

                The Recorded Books version, read by Jennifer Ikeda, kept me awake during a long trip. Although the book is classified as a Young Adult Novel, it is interesting to older adults, too. Oates has a good understanding of adolescent psychology.

THE JOKE THAT WE PLAY ON THE WORLD by Joshua S. Porter

Joshua S. Porter, The Joke that We Play on the World (Published by Joshua S. Porter, 2011). Paperback, 257 pages.

(MEMOIR)

Review by Kevin A. Penrod, Jr.

This is yet another book written by Joshua S. Porter (who also uses the name Joshua Dies). He writes about his life and the lives of his mates in the band Showbread and, as Josh puts it on the back cover, "the relativity of madness and its toll on our lives." I will say this book is utter madness. I know it sounds strange but they truly love and worship the Lord through madness. Josh takes you on quite the ride in the book; he tells you about the rise of his band and getting kicked out of the church in which the band was formed. I highly recommend this one, mostly because I have been a fan of Josh Showbread for a while now and they never disappoint me. I can only describe this book as a trip down the rabbit hole. You feel like you are there in the tour van as the band mates shoot themselves with a BB gun. You feel like you are there at their early shows where the crowd count was in the low teens. When I read the final page, I felt sad that the journey was over. It was the most fun and best journey I have had reading a book. Josh is truly gifted in writing and was gracious enough to share his journey with us.

This book is available from http://joshdies.storenvy.com/.

PRIZE FIGHT: THE RACE AND THE RIVALRY TO BE THE FIRST IN SCIENCE by Morton A. Meyers, M.D.

Morton A. Meyers, MD., Prize Fight: The Race and the Rivalry to be the First in Science (Palgrave Macmillan 2012).  262 pages

(Non-fiction)

Reviewed by Chuck Dayton

Morton Meyers is a Professor of Radiology at SUNY, Stony Brook in New York.  That information is only important because a large portion of this book is devoted to the competition that developed between two men to be the first to discover the magnetic resonance image (MRI) technique and the subsequent awarding of the Nobel Prize. In his position at SUNY, Dr. Meyers knew both of the people involved, and was able to interview them and render opinions about the development of this historic imaging test. Today, MRI is used in many fields.  Probably most of you have had such a scan of a knee or other joint, looking for a mass perhaps, and on your head after a fall. The advantage of this test is that it requires no exposure to radiation. That is why the Nobel Prize was awarded for this new technology.

The book is more than that story, however. It is a fascinating look into the personalities, egos, and chicanery that goes into the science that leads to fame, fortune, and prizes such as the Nobel. The author looks at “stolen” credit for discoveries, scientific fraud, how grants are funded, and the effect of all this on the personal lives of the people involved.

If you have every worked in health care, been a scientist of any kind, or just wondered how prizes for science are awarded, this book is for you.  It is relatively short, easy to read for a non-scientist, and very entertaining.