DEI? What's That? Book Review of The Grand Scheme of Things

 

The Grand Scheme of Things by Warona Jay

Gratitude

Thank you GoodReads and Atria for the review copy of The Grand Scheme of Things by Warona Jay, which will be on sale February 25, 2025.

Description

In The Grand Scheme of Things, Naledi, or Eddie as she commonly goes by, has been sending out her play with no bites. Her college mates have all made progress getting their work on stage and Naledi thinks that her play is getting held up by racism--readers see her non-Anglo Saxon name on the cover page and don’t get much further. Her play is being shut out because she is a Black woman, the daughter of Batswana immigrants, and this in the time of Brexit and fear across England.

Tired and frustrated, Eddie comes up with a plan to prove that it is prejudice that is preventing her play from garnering the attention it deserves--with the help of Hugo, that is.

Hugo is a blue blood, White and as privileged as can be. His father is a prominent attorney and since graduating from college, Hugo lives in one of his properties, where he is meant to be getting started on his own law career. But Hugo is not interested in the law, so when Eddie suggests a scheme to expose the prejudice in the theater industry, Hugo is eager to be of service.

The Grand Scheme of Things is told in sections that alternate between Eddie’s first-person narration and Hugo’s. As the play leaves their hands and becomes a thing of the world, so too does the plot line seem to no longer be theirs and certainly not Eddie’s. Eddie and Hugo’s relationship status also brings further complications, as the outside world tries to decipher the connection between them.

While The Grand Scheme of Things is set in Great Britain, all the markers of prejudice could just as easily exist in the United States. With the current ridiculousness of the outlawing of DEI, I could see such a plan to highlight structural racism being implemented. For reference, the Tony Award for Best Play has not gone to a woman in the past ten years, let alone a woman of Color. Racism and sexism are alive and well in the United States theater industry.

 

Would I Teach This Book?

Would I teach The Grand Scheme of Things? The Grand Scheme of Things is an intriguing novel that questions how willing we are to take on the prejudice around us and challenge structural racism. I would hope that many would be moved by Eddie’s story, but I wonder how many are so resistant to seeing the existence of racism and would rather suggest that truly we live in a meritocracy and that it is not prejudice that keeps some away from success but merit--that efforts of inclusion mean that less worthy candidates are chosen. Yes, I would teach this book, and yes I would want to know what students make of it.


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Not Your Average Heist: Book Review of Ruth Run

 

Ruth Run by Elizabeth Kaufman

Gratitude

Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and Penguin for the ARC of Ruth Run by Elizabeth Kaufman to be released April 15, 2025.

Description

Ruth grew up poor, and she knew she didn’t want to stay poor. When she finished college, she had no prospects and so took an IT job at her school. From there, Ruth found her way to a scheme in which she could divert significant money from banks into offshore accounts. One night a trip wire she set goes off and Ruth knows that it’s time to close up shop and get out. She thinks she has more time, but as soon as she goes to warn her partner, she sees that the guys who are out to get her are one step ahead. So begins Ruth’s efforts to escape the people who have the money and the guns, AKA the government.

Ruth Run is told from two points of view: Ruth, as she tries to get away, and Mike, the man whose job it is to find her and who has been tracking her already.

In her escape, Ruth must improvise, decide who to trust, guess what the government knows about her, and figure out some way to stay off the grid. Along the way, she meets some interesting characters and learns some more about the guys who are out to get her. It’s not just her life at stake, but the life of pleasure she dreamed of.

Would I Teach This Book?

Would I teach this book? Ruth Run is a suspense novel that also examines gender roles and has a light commentary on socioeconomic class. While Ruth is not the most likeable character, she is certainly more likeable than the men who pursue her. There are few things that give me the ick more than Mike. Read Ruth Run and you’ll agree with me.

The book did keep me guessing about Ruth’s next move and if the guys would catch up with her. In that way, Ruth  Run would certainly work well for teaching about writing suspense and cyber heists. It would also be fun to discuss the different moves of Ruth and the guys chasing her–are they believable? Would they work in a movie? Would there be other ways to handle a scene? There were certainly a few moments that I questioned, and discussing the plot could be a useful tool in a novel writing class. I would be willing to try it.


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Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear: Book Review of A Pigeon and a Boy

A Pigeon and a Boy by Meir Shalev

Description

I read A Pigeon and a Boy written by Meir Shalev and translated by Evan Fallenberg for my book club. One of the reasons that I love being in a book club is that it leads me to books that I might not have chosen for myself, and A Pigeon and a Boy is one of them.

Yair, the main character, narrates the story as if he were telling it to his mother. As it unfolds, we learn about Yair’s family, his wife, his mistress, and the home he seeks for himself.

In the hospital, at the end of her life, Yair’s mother gives him a large sum of money and instructs him to buy a house. She gives specifications for the kind of house he should buy, and Yair sets out to find a home of his own. With his job as a tour guide, Yair travels great distances and knows the area quite well. He knows where to look for the kind of out-of-the-way place his mother suggests and that he desires.

Along the way, we meet Yair’s family: his father, an acclaimed pediatrician, his mother, who eventually decides to live separately from the family, and his golden brother. All three of them are described as being light and lithe, while Yair is dark, short, and thick. His wife is more like his family than him--tall, beautiful, rich and successful; but living a separate life from Yair in the same house, as she has been for years. And finally, his mistress, his oldest friend, who is more like Yair in appearance.

Intertwined with Yair’s story is that of a boy growing up on a kibbutz who is taken with raising homing pigeons. The boy meets a girl who is also a pigeon handler, and their relationship begins.

Would I Teach This Book?

A Pigeon and a Boy is much quieter than most books I read and teach. It is light on plot and heavy on thinking about and retelling the character’s history. Yair is a nuanced character and his observations are curious--I often wondered how accurate his take on things was. I did not find him particularly likeable, due to how he treats his wife and mistress--though they do not treat him so well, either.

Though not my favorite book, it might be a good choice for a multicultural literature class. The book is set in Israel and translated from Hebrew. It has a distinctively different sensibility from most American fiction and sets up a wonderful conversation about what makes a home a home.

Not a beach read, but A Pigeon and a Boy will transport you and introduce you to a type of storytelling unlike the typical American best seller.

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Wear Your Cards on Your Sleeve: Book Review of Hearts in Atlantis

 

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

Gratitude

Thank you to Montgomery County Public Libraries for making Stephen King’s Hearts in Atlantis readily available to the public.

Description

Hearts in Atlantis is a book of linked short stories which share some characters and most relate to the Vietnam War.

In the opening story of Hearts in Atlantis, a promising new neighbor moves into Bobby’s apartment building—and as much as Bobby likes him, his mother dislikes him.

Bobby has a complicated life. His mother is a stressed-out single mom. She speaks ill of his dead father, works long hours, and withholds her love. Bobby wants to challenge her but also knows the passive aggressive punishments that reward any battle of wills.

He has two very good friends—Carol and Sully-John. His upstairs neighbor makes three.

Soon it becomes clear that things are even more complicated than they seem, especially his neighbor.

One story in particular, the title story, seemed targeted at me—and all the other procrastinators out there. A group of boys in a dorm becomes obsessed with playing Hearts. They can do little else and soon these working class scholarship boys are all in academic trouble. And still they cannot help playing Hearts.

Believe me, the characters’ obsession with playing Hearts reminded me of my own obsessions: of every time I had to finish one more chapter, one more episode, win one more game of Spider Solitaire before I could get started on my work. And yes, it felt like an obsession. Over the years, the just one more has changed, and the feeling of desperation about having to finish just one more has diminished, but the anxiety of it is quite real. Perhaps it was a belief that if I could get a small amount of satisfaction before I started, it would be easier to complete my work. Or perhaps I needed a small amount of accomplishment before I started. Maybe it was just a combination of anxiety, obsession, and fear of failure. Maybe I just really didn’t want to do my work. Who knows. Over the years I have worked hard to come to an understanding with my procrastination and significantly beat it back into the darkness.

A few of the stories had the flavor of Firestarter—so much of the story being flashbacks, the foreboding, the pace being slow for most of the story and then quite fast.

Overall, a decent read, and easy to keep up with. I had several reading interruptions and I didn’t feel as though I lost the thread.

The stories are not short—some novella length—and perhaps they could have been edited down. A pleasure to read, all the same.

Would I Teach This Book?

Would I teach this book? As much as it was a decent read, there are better Stephen King books of short stories—Nightmares and Dreamscapes being one of them.

Still, for the doubters who have never read King and think it’s all gory horror, this would not be a bad introduction.

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The Cat's in the Bag: Book Review of Warriors: A Starless Clan: Star

 

Star by Erin Hunter

Gratitude

Thank you to HarperChildrens and Goodreads Giveaways for the review copy of Warriors: A Starless Clan: Star by Erin Hunter.

Description

I am new to the series, but it was not difficult to jump in and start reading. The book is about several clans of cats that live near each other and have a shared agreement about how the clans can interact with each other. They all believe in the StarClan, or a cat heaven where the ancestors (at the least the good ones) look down and guide them.

The cats have different roles in their clans, such as warriors and medicine cats. The warriors hunt for food but also go into battle when necessary. When Splashpaw, a very bad cat, takes false leadership of the RiverClan and manipulates them into trying to conquer the other clans whether they like it or not, the other clans must decide how to respond.

The book follows several different cats, and these are cats who feel deeply, talk, and battle. They are organized and govern over their clans. There are also dogs and “two legs” in the book, but they don’t figure prominently. I find it interesting that this is not a world ruled by cats, as there are humans and other animals, but that the cats rule their own communities.

The anthropomorphic cats and their battles have a certain appeal to younger readers, especially as this is part of a series.

Would I Teach This Book?

Would I teach this book? It is unlikely that I would teach Star. It is in the middle of a series. The descriptions of the cats speaking--they often mew their words--is funny at times. I was reminded of the old Laser Cats skits on SNL.

There is also a lot of history between the cats, details about the battles, and descriptions of the cats--their coloring, their wounds, their actions. The level of detail, which could be enjoyable to a young reader, makes it more difficult to read aloud or teach to a class.


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Don't Stop Believin' in That Soulless Heap of Metal: Book Review of Suitor Armor

 

Suitor Armor, Vol. 1 by Purpah

Gratitude

Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways and Crown Publishing for the review copy of Suitor Armor Volume 1 by Purpah, a romantasy graphic novel with knights, sorcery, and fairies.

Description

Lucia is a lady-in-waiting for Kirsi, who will soon be the queen. While she is seen at court as Kirsi’s companion, Lucia is secretly a fairy, and this is a dangerous secret to have, as fairies and humans have been at war for many years. Kirsi is generally wrapped up in her own concerns about her upcoming marriage to the king and looks to Lucia more as a diversion. Both of their lives become more interesting when the court sorcerer brings an empty but magical suit of armor to fight the king’s greatest knight.

As our story begins, Kirsi is at loose ends, not feeling like she can speak to the king, and Lucia finds empty wine bottles outside of her door in the morning. The king does seem more interested in tournaments than his fiancée, preferring to watch knights fight each other. The plot works because Kirsi is too wrapped up in her own problems and oblivious to Lucia to notice that her friend has a crush on the empty armor.

The fact that Lucia is so taken by the terrifying armor—he is not drawn to look kindly—is perplexing and something that a good friend should be cautioning against. Of course, this is not that kind of book, and the suggestion is that Lucia sees something in the enchanted metal that no one else can.

Suitor Armor was originally published on the platform Webtoon, an app on which comic writers can publish their work and comic readers can find new reading material. Comics can be searched by genre as well as by the daily publication schedule. I was unfamiliar with Webtoon before reading Suitor Armor, but it seems to be similar to Substack in that stories can be published in serial form.

The concept is intriguing, as print periodicals have been in rapid decline for the past few decades (nothing new here), but there is something to be said for having to wait for an installment and not being able to binge on media.

Would I Teach This Book?  

There would be some certain advantages to teaching a book like Suitor Armor, which was a serially published comic first. It would offer the opportunity for students to compare reading online versus in print, suggesting a discussion of publication and format. This volume is just the beginning of the romance of Lucia and the terrifying knight, so there is more online to explore.

The discussion of Lucia having a crush on a scary looking metal creature is a different story. I would be remiss not to talk about the trope of the pretty young woman falling for the monster. While I understand that this is a trope that many appreciate and enjoy, I find it troubling because the beauty and the beast pairing is so gendered—the woman must do all the hard work of appreciating the good inside while the male gets both the beauty and kindness without having to “see past” her looks. Admittedly, Lucia does not have the same horror of the knight’s appearance that everyone else has.

The volume does have charm, and the wide-eyed innocence of Lucia would be difficult to dislike. There would be much to discuss if this was part of the curriculum in a graphic literature or genre course.

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Talk to the Snake: Book Review of The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree

 

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford

Gratitude

Thank you to Kensington Publishing Corps and Goodreads Giveaways for the advanced reader’s edition of The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford. The book, a Southern gothic, depicts extreme sects of Christianity who idolize their religious leaders, encourage domestic violence, and handle snakes–in this book, the snakes are much safer than the preachers.

Description  

While the book follows several characters, the story is really Genevieve’s. At a young age, Genevieve loses her mother, father, and grandmother. Eventually she is handed off to a distant relative and her preacher son. When the preacher abuses Genevieve, she knows she must escape, but since she is a child, she is not able to control her means of escape.

Fast forward, and Genevieve creates a life and identity for herself, choosing the name Genevieve from a tombstone. She has wandered and in her travels has often slept in cemeteries. For her, the territory is familiar, as she has ghosts that travel with her and speak to her. She also meets other people's ghosts, and ghosts attached to places.

When Genevieve meets Mercer, a recently returned Vietnam veteran, and then his family, she finds a reason to stay put for a while. In Mercer, Genevieve discovers someone who is in need of healing as much as she is.

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree draws a clear line between good and bad people. Religion is used as a tool to wield power and encourage domestic violence. Genevieve is the quirky fighter who won’t bend under the abuse. She has a past and seems to have a future. She is easy to like and easy to root for. Genevieve’s back story is intriguing, though it gets confusing, as it is parceled out in bits and pieces. That she sees and hears ghosts has lots of potential, though the execution is not fully successful. In some ways, this is very much a first book. The author plays with structure, point of view, and has a quirky main character. Taking risks means the outcome won’t always be perfect—but in many ways, an imperfect but daring book is preferable to a safe book.

Would I Teach This Book?  

Would I teach this book? The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree would not be my first choice of novel to teach—it does not hit the notes of prose or the articulation of view points that I prefer for novels I teach. It would be a great pick for a book club to discuss. Between Genevieve’s adventures and the family dynamics, there is plenty to talk about.

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree will be on sale March 25, 2025. 

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