Four Stephen King Novellas. Mid. Book Review of If It Bleeds.

 

If It Bleeds: Mr. Harrigan's Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thank you to my husband, Philip, for buying me If It Bleeds by Stephen King when I was sick with Covid, and thank you to Annie Bloom's Books for making it available and pulling it off the shelf so my love could quickly pick it up.

In times of trouble, some people have comfort food. I have comfort reading. Specifically, Stephen King. Simple, uncomplicated stories and no question who the good guys are. There’s always some excitement and some creepy, extra worldly thing. And it never gets old. And that’s my review for every Stephen King book ever. Just saying.

If It Bleeds consists of four novellas. The first, “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” is the story of a boy who calls his boss’s cell phone after he dies and gets an unexpected response. The second, “The Life of Chuck” begins with a mysterious billboard appearing, reading “39 GREAT YEARS! THANKS, CHUCK.” Then things in town start to get weirder. “If It Bleeds,” by far my favorite from this collection, features Holly of Mr. Mercedes and The Outsider. Holly has discovered another potentially dangerous supernatural threat, and she decides not to involve anyone else because she does not want them to get hurt. But what Holly does not count on is that other people are just as worried about her. Finally, “Rat” tells the story of a writer with several failed novels under his belt who decides to go to his father’s isolated cabin in the woods to write a new one. Nothing could go wrong there.

Holly is one of my favorite Stephen King characters. She’s complex, not just somebody’s partner, and she’s just quirky enough to be interesting. For example, she counts and prepares a snack of mini candy bars in preparation for watching her show: a staged court with a charming and snarky judge. I could live in her brain a little longer.

Is this the best Stephen King book ever? No. Did it help me get through a bout of Covid? Yes.

Would I teach this book? It is possible that I would teach one of the novellas, but I doubt I would teach the entire book. As referenced earlier, it is not that strong of a collection. There are some pretty predictable moments. Almost all of “Rat” is “Don’t go in there” choices on repeat. Perhaps, perhaps if I had a class in which we were discussing taking a minor character from an earlier story and turning them into a major character, I would consider teaching “If It Bleeds,” but even then, I doubt it. Do I recommend it for a plane ride or as an escape during extended family holiday togetherness? Yes.

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Survival Watch: Book Review of The Watchmakers

 

The Watchmakers: A Story of Brotherhood, Survival, and Hope Amid the Holocaust by Harry Lenga
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to Kensington Publishing Corp. and GoodReads Giveaways for the review copy of Harry Lenga’s and Scott Lenga’s The Watchmakers, which I received in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The three Lenga brothers must make a terrible choice. All of the Jews of Kozhnitz, Poland, have been forced into the ghetto and now there is a rumor that they will all be removed. No one knows exactly what is about to happen, but there is a possibility that the brothers can escape into a labor camp. If they go, they will leave behind their father, who will not leave without their stepmother, who will not leave behind her elderly and sickly mother. They decide to take the risk, and equipped with all of their father’s watchmaking tools--everything they can carry, and then some--and a warm comforter, they escape to the labor camp. Now we know that to stay would have been certain death, but then there was still hope, coupled with the refusal to believe that human beings could be such monsters as to destroy innocent lives without any provocation. Now we know that the risk of escaping the ghetto was well worth it. Now we know that is the only way that the Lenga brothers could have survived.

And survive, they did. The Watchmakers is the amazing story of how they survived, through serendipity, the willingness to take calculated risks, and the skills and tools for watchmaking that they were freely given by their father.

The Watchmakers is told from the point of view of Yekhiel (Harry Lenga’s birth name) from recorded interviews. It is edited and written by his son Scott Lenga, who made the choice to retain the oral telling of the story by leaving it in his father’s voice and keeping his words and turns of phrase. Indeed, it sounds very much like a Polish survivor of the Holocaust, especially with the mix of Hebrew and Yiddish with the English.

The brothers were not able to remain in the work camp for long, as all the Jews were transported to worse circumstances. Colder, more difficult, and more dangerous work. The authorities became more vicious, more vindictive, and more willing to waste a life. Yekhiel is the brother who is willing to take a chance, willing to approach the person a rank above them to offer to fix a watch, in exchange for more food or just to escape the harsh physical labor that everyone was subjected to. And it was a risk--as their captors made no effort to preserve their lives, and some enjoyed causing pain and humiliation. Approaching an authority could result in a rifle butt to the head or worse.

Reading books about the Holocaust brings me mixed emotions. The horror of human actions is too large for me to fully comprehend, as my imagination only goes so far. I want to believe that humans cannot act so monstrously, and I find it horrifying that they can be so evil. It is not pleasurable and should not be pleasurable to read about all of the brutal things that people did, though it is important that we do not forget and that we continue to tell the stories of the ones who were lost and the ones who survived. We cannot deny or dislike the reality so much as to ignore it. The survivors struggled to live even after they were rescued, as they felt grief for those who did not survive, PTSD from the horrors they experienced, and survivor’s guilt that they should make it out and so many did not. There were many difficulties in readjusting to life after the Holocaust, bodily as well as mentally and emotionally. Many passed along generational trauma, including a general distrust of non-Jews. To this day, there are communities in America who intentionally isolate themselves from non-Jews because they fear antisemitism and they fear that even those who seem to be good neighbors would viciously turn on them, as often happened during the Holocaust--people who had been counted as good friends turned them in out of fear or for a reward. After the war, survivors were killed when they tried to reclaim possessions and property from before the war.

In light of this, making Holocaust literature a commodity feels extremely problematic, but I do not have an answer for that at the moment. I can say that Harry Lenga’s account of his experiences are clear and compelling with suspense and excitement. You want him and his brothers to survive at the same time that so many forces are against their survival.

Would I teach this book? The Watchmakers would be a great book club pick. There is a lot in the plot to discuss and much to talk about in terms of the brothers’ love and support for each other. Indeed, it seems better suited for book club than teaching, at least for my current courses. The focus on history makes the book interesting, but does not suit my purposes for literature. Currently, I teach Man’s Search for Meaning, which does not go as deeply into Viktor Frankl’s experience during the Holocaust and is certainly not so step-by-step as Lenga describes. Though Man’s Search for Meaning does not give as much of Victor Frankl’s story as The Watchmakers does for Harry Lenga, it does have a second half that gives Frankl’s philosophy of logotherapy, and it also discusses the propensity for both goodness and evil in humanity as well as needing a purpose in life, or something that you live for and keeps you living. It gives us the opportunity to discuss the Holocaust, what happened, the impact it had, a personal experience, as well as opening the door to some philosophical discussion as well. The format of Man’s Search for Meaning and the need to include both halves brings with it a good class discussion. The Watchmakers is mostly story and experience, and it is non-fiction. While I do teach some nonfiction, I focus more on fiction and poetry. The literary elements of the story are not as strong. I can see perhaps using it to discuss primary research, first person accounts, or even how to tell someone else’s story. Okay, I have talked myself into it, I think that it could be useful under certain circumstances, especially to open the door to discussions of taking someone else’s words of their stories or turning a series of interviews into someone else’s memoir. I think that it could be quite moving to tell someone else’s story.

Do I recommend this book? Yes, I think it is a good book to read and share with others.

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Romance on Set: Book Review of Ship Wrecked

 

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thank you to William Morrow and GoodReads Giveaways, who provided Olivia Dade’s Ship Wrecked in exchange for a fair and honest review.

In Ship Wrecked, Maria and Peter have an amazing one-night stand, and Maria slips off while Peter is sleeping. The night will replay in both of their brains during lonely nights.

Or, that is what should have happened. Instead, Peter wakes to find himself abandoned, not even a note, and in his growing bitterness toward Maria-without-a-last-name, he finds himself auditioning with her the next morning for a TV role that he very much wants. He becomes even more upset when she does an excellent job and he fears that the two of them, if they are cast and if the show does well, could be working together for a long, long time.

Maria does not buckle under the cruel words that Peter throws at her when they realize that they will be acting together, but she does determine that he will live to regret his insults. When the two head out to a remote island that will be inhabited mainly by the two actors and the crew, Maria brings everyone together, with her kind and boisterous ways, and her ability to bring people out, even the socially awkward Peter.

The two are clearly still attracted to each other, and the off-season from shooting does nothing to quench that desire. But can they heal the other’s wounds enough to make their love last?

Ship Wrecked has spicy scenes, humor, and a body positive message. Peter and Maria’s banter is fun, as is the interaction with the crew and larger cast of the show. Maria is an amazing character, self-confident and full of the good stuff that brings out the best in others. The overall positivity of the book is clear and present. It was an enjoyable book to read.

Would I teach this book? Possibly, in a genre or romance writing class. It feels almost like fanfiction (and it does include fictional fanfiction), but written better than most fanfiction. The made-up show that Peter and Maria work on, Gods of the Gates, is a plausible show that sounds like a cross between Xena and Game of Thrones. The merits of this book are that it is fun, it has spicy parts, and there is a romance underlying the lust. The spectacle of the TV show allows for added cuteness and a soundboard for body positivity.

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Convalescence in Japan: The Samurai's Garden Book Review

 

The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Written as journal entries by Stephen, the main character, Gail Tsukiyama's The Samurai's Garden is set during the Second Sino-Japanese War and in the time leading up to World War II. It is a tale of love, honor, and loneliness. 

Struck with tuberculosis, twenty-one-year old Stephen is forced to leave college and return home to Hong Kong. While he struggles to regain his health, his mother fears he will infect his younger sister, so his parents decide he will go to Japan, where his father does business. From there, he is sent to the family’s vacation home in the coastal town of Tarumi while his father stays in the city of Kobe.

Tarumi has been left quiet during the off-season, and Stephen feels isolated. His only companion is Matsu, the caretaker who has been with the house and family since his youth and is now in his sixties. Quiet and reserved, Matsu does not coddle Stephen as his mother did, but encourages him to paint and spend time outdoors.

Eventually, Matsu takes Stephen into the mountains to the town of Yamaguchi, a village of people who had been driven from their homes when they showed signs of leprosy. There, Matsu introduces Stephen to his beautiful friend, Sachi, who covers the affected part of her face with a scarf. Later, Matsu takes Stephen into town and to the tea house to meet Kenzo, who has been his friend since childhood.

While Stephen is the narrator, the heart of the story is Matsu, Sachi, and Kenzo, and especially their shared past that unfolds itself to Stephen. Their quiet lives, as Stephen will see, are not devoid of passion.

Would I teach this book? Yes, this semester I taught it for the first time. The Samurai’s Garden is one of the novels that can be taught as part of Eastern Washington University’s dual credit literature course. Written by an American woman who is of Chinese and Japanese descent and told from the point of view of a young Chinese man in Japan, it certainly fits into Multicultural Literature. I learned a lot about history by reading and researching to prepare to teach the book. I was able to pass on what I learned to my students, so all of us gained knowledge about the second Sino-Japanese war.

My students appreciated the muted tone of the book and called it “relaxing,” though there are plenty of non-chill moments. It is an enveloping story and gives a peek into the cultures of China and Japan of a century ago. The Samurai’s Garden also lends itself to interesting class discussion. A good pick for both high school and college.

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Magical Realism Meets Ecothriller: Book Review of Fever Dream

 

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fever Dream, written by Samanta Schweblin and translated by Megan McDowell, is one of those books that is difficult to explain. Part of the pleasure of the book is untangling the past and following the mystery backwards with the characters. What I can say about the plot is that it is conveyed as dialogue between Amanda, a young mother, and David, a nine-year-old boy who is the son of a friend. Amanda is confined to a bed and David is at her side, guiding her back in time to discover how she got to this place.

It is a spooky book, full of suspense. It is an eco-thriller, in the tradition of magical realism, but also plays upon parental anxiety, with the “rescue distance” Amanda uses to measure how far she can allow her daughter to safely wander away from her.

Would I teach Fever Dream? Yes. I do teach this book, as part of my Multicultural Literature course. It is a slim novel, difficult to put down, with a devastating ending. Students love the book—it has a compelling plot and the dialogue format adds to the tension. And, of course, there are horses.

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