Trick (Starnone, trans. by Lahiri)

If Jhumpa Lahiri is associated with something, I’m likely going to read it, and she translated this and wrote an introduction. And in the introduction, she said it would be a “pity” not to read the Henry James story “The Jolly Corner” first (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1190/1190-h/1190-h.htm). So I did and was reminded why I don’t pick up Henry James voluntarily. In Trick, the grandfather has been hired to illustrate a new version of the story, and his time to do this is interrupted when his daughter, in a troubled marriage, asks him to look after his grandson for a few days while she and her husband go to a conference. The grandfather, feeling every bit of his age, agrees, and thus the novel begins.

The Grandfather’s character made a lot of sense to me, and the child, 4, was rendered well. The emphasis on the architecture of the daughter’s home parallels the emphasis on the architecture in James’ story. Both homes come, well, to life. I can’t really judge Lahiri’s translation work since I don’t speak Italian, and there is not, as far as I know, another translation of the novel. It seemed, save one or three moments, fluid enough. And take the time to read the grandfather’s journal that Starnone provides.

Red Mars (Robinson)

I’m trying to learn to like science fiction. Since I enjoyed the last book I read by Robinson, I thought I’d start his trilogy. It’s interesting. I think I read it more as a (wannabe) writer than anything else. How much story does he have to tell? How much science does he have to include? How much history does he have to include? How much time does he have to spend on relationships – love, hate, rivalry, etc.? I thought that he mostly kept things balanced. It helped that different characters took center stage at different times. Predictably, I needed less science – okay, you got to Mars, I believe you. I’m willing to accept that you’ve figured out all of the problems with having humans there, so you don’t need to explain them all to me. And I probably could have done without the therapist’s charts. So it was a bumpy read, but I definitely grasped the basic details and the conflicts are engaging. Will I read the next one? Probably. Will I read it soon? Not so sure.

Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival (Harding)

You can get the stories about the battles and the efforts to get more support from the international community from the newspapers. This is the story, largely, of what it looks like from the ground. Harding steps away from time-to-time to give us some necessary context, but largely he stays connected to the people and the neighborhoods in Ukraine and how they are – what’s the right word? – dealing with? coping with? responding to? – Russia’s invasion.

Though he does not need much help (in my opinion), Harding portrays a Putin who at the very least seems disassociated from reality. And this needs to concern us all.

I’m grateful for Harding’s persistence and the decision to publish this book. I can’t imagine life as a war correspondent. I hope he stays safe and keeps writing.

Honor (Umrigar)

Umrigar took on quite a task here. I think she encapsulated it nicely in the title of the essay she provides at the end of the book. She called it “Reclaiming Honor.” In her wonderful novel (is there a writer out there more consistently excellent than Umrigar?), she puts a range of characters to the test. In both the past and present, they have a choice – to stand up for a principle or to make a compromise for what they perceive to be the greater good? What, she’s asking (I think), is the honorable thing to do? What does honor really mean?

There are two main protagonists here, but they are not the only ones faced with life-changing decisions. And because of the way Umrigar weaves the plot together, all of these decisions – even the ones that have taken place in the past – have an impact on each other.

In addition to honor, Umrigar asks us to consider privilege, ethics, perspective and a range of other challenging topics. There are no angels here. And, to her credit, though some may argue with me on this, there aren’t any villains here either. There are only human beings, and that’s what makes this story so compelling and, perhaps one day, so teachable.

The Unseen (Jacobsen)

A coming-of-age story, the first in a trilogy, Life on a Norwegian island is hard, but when circumstances conspire to make growing up even more challenging, Ingrid, at least thus far, responds well. The translation itself (by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw) is hypnotic. Though the world described here is about as far from my own as it could be, their attention to detail rendered it clear in my eyes. Sometimes the dialect is a little hard to follow, but these are not talkative people, thankfully. Every once in a while, Jacobsen reminds us how old Ingrid and the others are and that they are managing to function is just remarkable. Circumstances (there’s that word again – I don’t want to include any spoilers) force them to form an unlikely family, and I am looking forward to seeing them grow up still more in White Shadow.

Another Man’s Moccasins (Johnson)

After this, my 4th Longmire mystery, I’ve resigned myself to simply not being able to follow the intricacies’ of the plot. Instead, I just go with the flow. Here, Johnson brings in a new technique – he flashes back to Vietnam – as Longmire is forced to revisit his experiences in Vietnam. The sequences is Vietnam, perhaps because of their brevity, come off as a bit cartoonish, but they matter and help move the story forward. It all wraps up a bit too fast. Still, I appreciated the way he kept up with key plot strands from the previous novel.

Kindness Goes Unpunished (Johnson)

Johnson makes a move here that, in my experience, most writers of a series of books, save until later. He gets his hero out of his hometown. Longmire goes to Philadelphia. The action is extreme and convoluted (at times), but Johnson tells a good story and with this, his third book, the characters are really taking shape.