Ms. Hen reviews Work

Work

Louisa May Alcott

Roberts Brothers

1873

Ms. Hen chose to read this novel because she happened to find herself at Louisa May Alcott’s house, The Orchard House, this past month, when she saw the Christmas presentation there. She bought this book in the gift shop because she had never read it. Christmas at The Orchard House is charming; actors guide the guests through the rooms while they explain how the family is preparing for the holiday. Louisa first greets the visitors, and explains that they are preparing a Christmas basket for their father, and we met other characters, and it ended with Santa Claus and some children singing songs and performing a skit from LITTLE WOMEN. No pictures or cell phones were allowed while this happened because we were whisked away to the nineteenth century, and we were not to confuse the people who lived during that era.

WORK is about a young woman who sets out to find work in the nineteenth century. This was not an easy task in those days, because the opportunities for women were not that plentiful. This novel is loosely based on Louisa’s life before she became a writer. Christie Devon becomes a servant, an actress, a companion, a seamstress, and eventually a nurse during the Civil War. She meets people who are interesting to her, and she makes friends. She suffers loneliness, and eventually finds happiness with a family that suits her.

When Ms. Hen read this novel, she thought parts of it dragged on a little too much. At first she though the writing was a little loquacious and precious, but she realized the writing suited the times in which it was written. Miss Alcott is good at describing human relationships and emotions, but the story got interesting when there was romance involved. Ms. Hen didn’t want it to be this way, but that is how she experienced it. She didn’t think that Louisa meant for it to get interesting when Christie found love, but it does.

The Orchard House at Christmas (the porch is having work done on it)

One aspect that Ms. Hen did not like about this novel is the prejudice that Christie Devon has towards the Irish. Several times she complains that she does not want to work with an Irish girl because they are shiftless and do not like to work. However, she did not have a problem befriending a former slave. Ms. Hen realizes that those were different times, and if Louisa were around today, she would be astounded at how the Irish people have assimilated into mainstream American culture, and are considered American now. Ms. Hen thinks that the reason some people today consider the Irish in America as racist is because they have been the victims of prejudice throughout history. Ms. Hen finds it difficult to forgive Louisa because she would like to imagine that Louisa would be her friend, even though Ms. Hen is an Irish hen, we live in the twenty-first century now, and it’s a different world.

Ms. Hen liked this novel. She found it fascinating to learn about the world of work for women in Louisa’s day. The character in the novel never became a writer, but that was one of the options available to women, though a difficult one. Ms. Hen learned at the Orchard House that Louisa supported her family through her writing, and they had been poor previous to that. Bronson Alcott was a brilliant man, but not successful, but he became a success after Louisa, due to her own prominence. Louisa May Alcott is still as famous today as she was in her lifetime, maybe more so. Ms. Hen thinks it’s because people want to read comforting stories about women struggling and eventually making it in the world, which is always difficult to accomplish.

Ms. Hen reviews The Waves

The Waves
Virginia Woolf
Harcourt, Inc.
1931
  

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she wanted to read a book by Virginia Woolf that she had never read. She did research about THE WAVES beforehand, and thought it sounded like it would be interesting. She didn’t know how wrong she would be.

When Ms. Hen first started reading this novel, she thought it seemed like an avant-garde play where the characters stand on stage and talk about their lives in a way that’s poetic, as if they are pontificating. At first she thought it was charming, but then it began to grate on her soul.
 
She had an idea that this novel is similar to NAKED LUNCH by William S. Burrows, but she thought that notion ridiculous, but she looked it up, and she is not the only person to conceive this. Ms. Hen knows there is practically no such thing as an original idea, and this proves that is true.
 
Ms. Hen thinks this book is quite terrible, and she does not recommend it to anyone, except perhaps her worst enemy, and she does have a few, but the problem is that her worst enemies are not the type of person to pick up any type of book, because they are illiterate. Ms. Hen regrets the time she spend reading this novel, but it was temporary, as is everything in life.

 

Ms. Hen reviews The Lesson

Ms. Hen in space

The Lesson

Cadwell Turnbull

Blackstone Publishing

2019

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she heard the author on a podcast talking about the book. When he talked about his inspiration to write this, he said that in the movies it always happens that aliens land in New York or LA, and not in a place that is unexpected. Mr. Turnbull is originally from the Virgin Islands, so he set the novel there.

THE LESSON is about people on St. Thomas who experience the Ynaa landing. Derrick is a young man fascinated by the Ynaa, and his friend/girlfriend Patrice is terrified of them, and leaves the island to go to college stateside. When the Ynaa land, they tell the people that they will help them with medicine and technology, but they do not tell them at first that the Ynaa are prone to violence and will tear apart humans that upset them in the least bit.

Derrick works as an assistant to Mera, the ambassador for the Ynaa. The other people on the island don’t like the fact that he works for her, and distance themselves from him. Jackson, Patrice’s father, was kicked out by his wife because she becomes involved with a woman, and he is attempting to write a book about the invasion. Some people think of the Ynaa as invaders and others occupiers.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of other books she has read. The style with which it is written is reminiscent of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston, in the way that the characters speak in dialect most of the time, but the other writing is not in that voice.  THE LESSON also reminds Ms. Hen of science fiction that is not too heavy on science, but more focused on philosophy and psychology such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler.

Ms. Hen noticed a lot of food appears in THE LESSON. The characters are always eating, or preparing food, and it all sounds delicious. Some novels have no food in them at all, and some are bursting with meals and eating. Ms. Hen thinks that this has to do with the culture of the setting or the preference of the author. Everybody eats, and food either plays an important part in the characters’ lives or does not exist at all.

There are a lot of chickens, hens, and roosters in this novel, which Ms. Hen enjoyed. Also, lots of other animals appear in the narrative, which does not happens in every book Ms. Hen reads. She loves animals, being an animal herself. One significant mention of a rooster Ms. Hen noted is the section when Jammie’s rooster flies away, “The unkempt grass along the path had caught fire, and within minutes the chicken coop would be up in flames, too.” Ms. Hen was upset when the prize rooster, or cock, as he is referred to, flies away, but then is happy for him when she discovers his purpose is cockfighting, something which Ms. Hen does not approve.

Ms. Hen thinks THE LESSON is an important novel because it teaches us about power and strength, and the complicated situations that humans can get themselves into. It’s not only about occupation and invasion by aliens, but the history of the islands. Ms. Hen read a while ago that if we come into contact with aliens, we should pray that we find them first, because the history of exploration has not gone well for the people who live in the lands that get invaded. This novel is an example of how this could happen, and how frightening the idea can be, but Ms. Hen is a hen who does not fear the future.

Ms. Hen reviews A Moveable Feast

Ms. Hen at the Penn Hemingway Awards, April 2019

A Moveable Feast

Ernest Hemingway

Scribner

1964

Ms. Hen decided to read this book because she wanted to research on Ernest Hemingway for a speech she is planning. She wanted to read something by him that she had never read, and figured this was a good choice. She often attends the Penn Hemingway Awards at the John F. Kennedy Museum in the spring because it’s an awards show for writers, like the literary Golden Globes, plus they have free food and drinks (alcohol), which Ms. Hen knows would please Mr. Hemingway.

A MOVEABLE FEAST is a memoir of Hemingway’s time in Paris when he was young, and when he was working at learning how to write. When Ms. Hen read the description of the book, she thought he might be trying to prove how cool he was, talking about all the famous people he knew when he was living in Paris. But no, Ms. Hen discovered that Hemingway was not a hipster. He talks about how poor he was, and how some people wandering around Paris were sketchy. They were living in dangerous times; life was good for some people, but not others.

Hemingway writes about his friends that he would visit: Gertrude Stein, an older woman he admired who held court with the younger writers; Ford Maddox Ford and the shadiness that surrounded him; Ezra Pound who was kind to everyone. He writes about his friendship with Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, and how they would both drink, and they couldn’t handle it because it was poisonous to them. They would go to parties and pass out. His wife Zelda was crazy, who said outlandish things to Hemingway before they knew she was insane.

Shakespeare and Company, Paris

Hemingway talks about being hungry and walking all around Paris and looking in the windows of restaurants and bakeries and not having enough money to pay. He went to a museum to look at a Cezanne still life with fruit to satisfy his hunger. He borrowed books from the bookstore Shakespeare and Company, since he didn't have money to buy them. He and his wife would take what little money they had and go to the racetrack and bet on horses and win and use the winnings to survive. He figured out a way to bet on the right horse. Before the time when the horses were tested for steroids, the horses would be jumpy and jittery before the race, and he knew they were the ones that would win. Hemingway felt guilty about going to the racetrack because it took time away from his work. He didn’t like not writing.

Hemingway had an interesting way of writing. He would write something, and then for the rest of the day, he would not think about his work until he was actually writing again. That way his mind was clear when he went to the page. He would spend time reading, and socializing, and doing other things, but when he was writing, he just wrote. He didn’t like to be interrupted when he wrote, and he writes about a time when he was working in a café, and someone interrupted him. Ms. Hen thinks he would have liked laptops and headphones and music to drown out the noise in the café, like we have now. His method of having a clear mind when he went to write is a good lesson in being productive, which Ms. Hen will learn from. She can’t write every day because she has a job, and it’s difficult, but she tries to write when she can.

Ms. Hen garnered from this book that Hemingway seemed like a nice person. He might not have been perfect, but nobody is perfect. He was a man of his time. He writes about the desire to write one true sentence. Ms. Hen admires this, and tries do the same. Hemingway was a force of nature, whom nobody can duplicate.

 

Cafe le Flores, Paris, where Hemingway drank

Ms. Hen reviews The Awakening

The Awakening

Kate Chopin

Penguin Books

1899

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she had just read the story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” since she was inspired to read that when she read STONER, and THE AWAKENING is similar to the short story. Ms. Hen had read this book years ago, but when she started reading it this time, she did not remember anything about the book except the ending.

This novella is about a woman unsatisfied with her life, Edna Pontellier. She is married, and has two children. The novella opens at a resort on the Gulf of Mexico in the summer, where the family is on vacation, and there are a lot of other people there. Edna becomes friends with some of the women, and she has a flirtation with Robert; they take a boat ride together, and she become infatuated with him. She thinks he feels the same way, but immediately he tells everyone he is going to Mexico to work.

Edna and her family go back to New Orleans, and she can’t stop thinking about Robert. He does not write to her, but she discovers he writes to the musician, Mademoiselle Reisz, and he in the letters he mentions Edna. Edna’s husband goes on a trip to New York, and she does not want to go with him, so she stays home. The children go to stay in the countryside, and she is alone in the house. She decides to move out of the house to a smaller one. Robert comes back to New Orleans, but she does not fulfill her wishes.

When Ms. Hen read this book years ago, she was not the educated hen she is today. She thinks she read this before she had her bachelor’s degree. Now she has a Master’s degree, and is able to read in a deeper way than before. What a difference an education makes! She does not have a decent job, but who needs a job when there are books to read?

This book reminds Ms. Hen of both MADAME BOVARY and ANNA KARENINA in the way that is about a woman who falls in love with a man who is not her husband, and it devastates her, and she ultimately dies. In the two other novels, the characters have affairs, and are obsessed with the men. In THE AWAKENING, Edna does not have an affair with her paramour, but she is still crushed. These books show what little options these women had; they did not work, and they came from privileged backgrounds, and had a lot of time to muse on their problems. They were all uninterested mothers; some women are not meant to be mothers, because they don’t have the inclination.

The difference between MADAME BOVARY, ANNA KARENINA, and THE AWAKENING, is that THE AWAKENING is American, and is written by a woman. When THE AWAKENING was published, Kate Chopin was ostracized because people in the time and place thought how dare a woman write about a woman being unhappy in her life? It’s acceptable for men to write such things in Europe, but the horror of an American woman writer proposing that a woman does not like being a mother, and wants passionate love outside her marriage! We hope we live in different days now.

Ms. Hen had a different experience reading this novella as a more educated reader. She thinks it’s important to see things through awakened eyes as we grow older. Some people don’t like getting older, but Ms. Hen thinks that older people know more, and are able to handle problems with grace and style. She does not wish to be young again, which might surprise some, but Ms. Hen believes that everyone has a different path. She recommends this book to anyone who wants to read about a woman trying to find happiness and failing in the messed up world.  

Ms. Hen reviews Stoner

Stoner

John Williams

The New York Review of Books

1965

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel on a recommendation from one of her acquaintances, whose opinion she respects. She had read a similar novel recently, BLUE ANGEL, and this novel is also about an English professor. This novel is different because it is about the entire character’s life.

William Stoner grows up on a farm in the Midwest, and when he gets older, his parents decide to send him to college to study agriculture to assist with the operations of the farm. But when he goes to college, he becomes enchanted by his English literature class, and he changes his major, unbeknownst to his parents, and studies English in order to become a teacher.

Stoner meets a beautiful young woman, Edith, and falls in love with her, and they get married. Their marriage is unhappy because Edith suffers from depression and nerves. They have a child, and at first Stoner takes care of the child, because Edith isn’t interested in being a mother or taking care of her daughter. Stoner teaches at the college where he was a student, and grows into teaching. He has an affair with a student, and they fall in love, but they realize they could never run away together. He gets into a dispute with the director of the department, which becomes a long-term battle.

STONER is exquisitely written. The writing is simple, but the reader gets drawn into it. It’s about an ordinary man’s life, who never does anything amazing, and is unhappy in his world, but Ms. Hen couldn’t help but be fascinated by this story of a man who keeps plodding along. Some people might think this is depressing, but Ms. Hen thinks it is realistic. “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation,” is what Thoreau said about this subject of normal people leading their lives without questioning, and simply keep going on and on until we die. Ms. Hen thinks about this when she is on the subway going to work; she sees people sitting on the train, staring at their phones, and wonders if they are troubled by their lives and ever imagine there could be more than this.

STONER reminds Ms. Hen of a lot of other books she has read. The setting and the time period remind her of  a lot of Steinbeck’s work. The part about Edith when she was troubled and alone in her room reminds Ms. Hen of a short story called, “The Yellow Wallpaper,” because it’s about a woman in almost the same era who goes crazy and peels the wallpaper off the walls in the house where she is staying. Parts of the novel are also reminiscent of Albert Camus’ THE STRANGER, in the way that at times the character didn’t seem to know or care what he was doing, similar to the existential outlook of Camus' character.

Ms. Hen thoroughly enjoyed this novel. It’s sad, but it’s realistic. Life can be terrible, and all we can do is keep going day by day. Ms. Hen admires a book that tells the truth about life, that it can truly suck sometimes, maybe all the time. Ms. Hen thinks the best thing to do is to pretend life doesn’t suck, and bury ourselves in art that portrays other people’s problems, which can be worse than ours.

Ms. Hen reviews Manhattan Beach

Manhattan Beach

Jennifer Egan

Scribner

2017

Ms. Hen found this novel at the Little Free Library near where she lives recently, and since she had read another novel by the author and liked it, she picked this up. She immediately got swept away into another time and place, but one that seemed familiar to her.

This novel is different from the last few novels Ms. Hen has read in the way that it is long and winding, with lengthy chapters and complex characters. This is a novel that is meant to be chewed slowly and digested fully before the reader can fully understand what occurs.

MANHATTAN BEACH is about Anna, a young woman during the Depression and World War II in New York. Her father disappears when she is young, and nobody knows where he went. Her family suspects that he ran off, and hopes he has not be killed. When the war starts, she gets a job at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and eventually works as the first female diver working underwater on the ships. She meets Dexter Styles at a nightclub he owns, who she had met as a child when her father took her to his house. She discovers what happened to her father, but the plot twists and other events are discovered.

Ms. Hen thinks this novel captures the psychology of a time that does not exist anymore. The way women were treated by the men was despicable, and even though Ms. Hen knows that this is true to the past, she can’t help being disgusted by it. The world used to be much worse than it is now, especially for women and minorities. Anna works hard to prove herself to the men who are her coworkers, but she gets in trouble, and has to deal with her problem. She is crafty in the way that she handles her difficulty, which proves she is a person with intelligence and wiles.

Ms. Hen thought this novel was personally appealing to her, because it reminds her of her family history. During World War II, her grandfather worked in the Navy Yard in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and she imagines that world was similar to the one in the novel. Her grandfather didn’t go to war because by then, he had too many children. Her father was also in the Navy, so she has a connection to this sphere. The women who worked in the Navy Yard in the novel were waiting for the men to come home, but at the same time, they enjoyed themselves, and they made decent money. War changed things for the people back then, because they all had the same goal, and they admired the men who went off to fight.

This is not the type of novel that Ms. Hen usually reads. It’s long and winding, and is a type of mystery or noir thriller. Even so, she enjoyed it, and it’s a good book to read as the days are getting darker, and filled with promise of a new life, or at least a different life.

Ms. Hen reviews Angels of Destruction

Angels of Destruction

Keith Donohue

Three Rivers Press

2009

Ms. Hen decided to read this because she considered it a Halloween book, and she has read several by this author, always during the All Hallow's Eve season. She has enjoyed every book that she has read by Keith Donohue, and this novel was no exception.

A little girl named Norah appears on the doorstep of Margaret Quinn, and tells the woman she is lost. Mrs. Quinn lets the girl stay with her, and they decide to inform everyone in the town that she is Margaret’s granddaughter, whose mother is Erica, who ran away ten years before. Margaret has grieved for her daughter the entire time, and Norah helps by pointing Margaret’s attention on her. Margaret starts to believe that Norah is Erica’s daughter, because she wants to cling to the hope Erica is alive and will come back some day.

Norah and Mrs. Quinn try to trick everyone in the town into thinking she's Erica's daughter, including Margaret sister Diane, who comes to visit from Washington. People think Mrs. Quinn is strange because she is still at a loss over her daughter.  Erica ran off with her boyfriend because they wanted to join a revolutionary group, The Angels of Destruction, to help bring about change in the country. They did this shortly after Patty Hearst was arrested. Norah tells the children at school she is an angel, and performs miracles in the school to their amazement. Some of them don’t believe her, and the parents think she is dangerous.

This novel contains two books in one. The first section takes place in 1985, and is about Norah and Mrs. Quinn and what happens in Pennsylvania. The second section talks about 1975, and tells the story of Erica and Wiley when they run away to join the revolutionaries in California, and also Mrs. Quinn worrying about her at home. Ms. Hen admired that there were two books in one, and they were about characters in different times in their lives. The last section goes back to 1985, in Pennsylvania with Norah in school, and Mrs. Quinn.

Another aspect that Ms. Hen liked about this novel was the fact that the characters never knew the truth about Norah, whether or not she was an angel. That adds mystery to the story. It’s similar to the last novel Ms. Hen read, THE GRIP OF IT: in the entire book, the readers do not know if we should believe the events unfolding with the characters.

Ms. Hen thought ANGELS OF DESTRUCTION was spooky, but not too spooky. It’s more of a story of grief and sadness, and trying to recover from the devastation of life. Ms. Hen knows that life is full of sadness, and by reading novels like this, she reaffirms her idea that the sadness in the world belongs to practically everyone, and not just the unlucky few.

Ms. Hen reviews The Grip of It

The Grip of It

Jac Jemc

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

2017

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because it is another haunted house book. She’s into haunted houses these days, for reasons that will remain unspoken. On the cover of THE GRIP OF IT, little faces are etched in that you can barely see, which Ms. Hen thought was adorable and scary when she first saw them. She likes a book with a creative cover.

This novel is about a young couple, Julie and James, who are tired of living in the city, and who want to move to the suburbs. The find the house, and are at first enchanted by the secret passages and large rooms and dark cellar. They move in, and change their jobs closer to their new home, and strange things start to happen. Julie gets weird bruises all over her body, and their neighbor stares at them through their window. The house has hidden rooms they don’t know about, and Julie gets trapped in one of the rooms.

The house makes the couple doubt each other. They don’t believe each other when they say they didn’t do certain things. Peculiar drawings appear on the wall in the bedroom, and each thinks the other did them. James cuts out of work to go to a museum in the city, and faints, and has to explain to Julie what happened. James had a gambling problem in the city, and he struggles with not gambling when they move. Julie has to take over the finances and handles paying for the house, because James lost a lot of his money. She is a take-charge person and practical, and he is a type of drifter.

One aspect of this novel that Ms. Hen likes is the point of view shift. Each chapter is told from the alternating viewpoint of either Julie or James. Ms. Hen didn’t get confused like she usually does when POVs change, because she knew exactly who was talking at the time. The characters have similar voices, but are distinctly different.

Ms. Hen thinks this is a scary book that’s worth it, unlike the previous book she reviewed here. She thinks that it’s psychological without getting boring, and the characters are continuously doubting themselves and each other, which makes the reader to continue to doubt whether what is happening is true or just part of their imaginations. Ms. Hen did not know what was going to happen in the end, and she likes when that happens.

Ms. Hen truly enjoyed this novel. It’s scary enough without getting too scary, and the fact that the characters don’t believe what is happening adds to the frightening aspect of the novel. Ms. Hen believes that the world can be a terrifying place, but reading books like this make it easier because it makes us realize life could be worse than it is right now. Ms. Hen says Happy Halloween!

Side Note:

The author is doing a reading at Harvard Bookstore on Saturday November 2. Ms. Hen does not think she can go, but you can read about it here:

http://www.harvard.com/event/after_hours_at_the_bookstore_with_jac_jemc/

Ms. Hen reviews White is for Witching

White is for Witching

Helen Oyeyemi

Riverhead Books

2009

Ms. Hen didn’t realize it was Halloween season until much later than she usually does. She normally has her scary books planned for October, but this month it sneaked up on her, and said boo, I’m here, you need to start your Halloween reading! She found some books quickly, and WHITE IS FOR WITCHING is one book that popped up that she hadn’t read before.

This novel was difficult for Ms. Hen to get into. It’s languid at first; the story does not go anywhere, and she didn’t know what was happening. It’s about a family and the haunted house where they live. Miranda and Eliot are twins, and their mother, Lily, passes away quickly when they are teenagers. Miranda suffers from pica, a type of disorder in which the patient has a desire to eat things that are not food. Miranda eats chalk and paper and dirt and does not like regular food. Her father, Luc, had worked as a chef and a restaurant critic, and he coaxes her into eating by making interesting dishes, but after her mother dies, her illness gets worse and goes into a psychiatric hospital.

This book is strange in the way that it is written. Different points of view crisscross throughout the novel, and there are line breaks with one word, and then the viewpoint changes. The house is also a character in the novel, which confused Ms. Hen when she read those sections. She had to piece together that the house was talking. She doesn’t like to work too hard when she’s reading a book. She likes to understand the plot, even though she does not like to know what will occur next.

Ms. Hen enjoyed the haunted house aspect of this novel. Luc converts Lily’s mother’s house into a bed and breakfast, and there are doors and secret passageways and a dysfunctional elevator, all that the family is not fully aware of. Miranda can sense the presence of her mother and her grandmother and her great grandmother who all suffered from pica, as she does.

A lot happens in this novel, from ghosts to complex immigrant and race relations, to tension between the twins when one does not get into university. It’s a novel about a family and loss of loved ones and relatives that the characters do not know much about.

This is not Ms. Hen’s favorite Halloween novel, but it’s not quite terrible. It’s just messy and confusing, but a lot of life can be like that. Ms. Hen doesn’t like her entertainment to cause her agita, even though she does like to be scared, but only in a satisfying way.

Ms. Hen reviews Leila

Leila

Prayaag Akbar

Faber & Faber

2018

Ms. Hen decided to read this novel because she watched the adaptation on Netflix recently, and she was enthralled with the story. However, the ending of the show left her disjointed, and she wanted to know if the book was the same as the show. The two are drastically different. Ms. Hen won’t get into the differences here, but they are both excellent and deserve your attention.

This novel is set in 2040s India, and it’s about a woman, Shalini, who is trying to find her daughter Leila. The caste system is still in place, and time has made it worse. Lower caste people in India do not have access to water, and some have to pick through trash to survive, while the upper classes have lawns and air conditioned houses and safe neighborhoods and decent food. Leila is taken from her parents because they are mixed religions; Shalini’s husband Riz is Muslim. Leila is snatched during her lavish birthday party where the family filled the swimming pool, and have an excess of food, and a bartender and ice sculptures. Shalini suspects Riz’s brother of informing the authorities on their activities.

After the party, Shalini is sent to a “Purity Camp” where women who have not behaved according to the leaders’ demands are sent. They are made to work, and are insulted and degraded. The women are brainwashed and are given sedatives. Shalini only wants to find her daughter. She spends years looking for her, doing drastic things, and she doesn’t know if she is dead or alive.

Many people have said that LEILA is similar to THE HANDMAID’S TALE, and Ms. Hen noticed this right away. It’s a dystopian novel that has to do with women’s issues, but this is more of a mother’s tale than the struggle of women against men. Shalini is typical in her plight to find her daughter, who was taken away under dire circumstances. It made Ms. Hen wonders if there is a chance that this is what the world will come to in a few years.

The writing style in this novel is very easy to read and enjoyable. Ms. Hen thinks the author does a fantastic job of telling the story through the point of view of the unreliable narrator, Shalini. She doesn’t know what is happening, and at times the reader does not know either. Also, in the writing of this novel, there is an odor to the descriptions. Ms. Hen could imagine how putrid some of these places smelled. The contrast of how lovely some of the areas were, and the scents there, such as underneath the dome; Ms. Hen could easily grasp those as well.

Ms. Hen loves dystopian fiction, especially that has to do with women’s issues. This is a scary novel about a time in the future that might come to fruition. It’s Halloween season, and even though this is not a typical Halloween book, Ms. Hen thinks it’s frightening and unsettling enough to fall under this category. Ms. Hen thinks that we have to prepare for how messed up the future will be, and she thinks by reading books like LEILA, it will help us to get ready for a transformed world.

Ms. Hen reviews The Librarian of Auschwitz

The Librarian of Auschwitz

Antonio Iturbe

Henry Holt and Company

2012

Translated from the Spanish by Lilit Zekulin Thwaites 2017

Ms. Hen found this book at a Little Free Library near where she lives. She almost didn’t pick it up because she thought it was a young adult novel, and she doesn’t always like to read books like that. But she was intrigued by the title, and wanted to learn what it was about.

This is a novel based on the true life story of Dita Kraus, a prisoner at Auschwitz who helped in the family camp and the school. Her job was to protect the books in the school and keep them safe because they were not allowed to have books, since the Nazis thought they were dangerous. People who wanted to control other people did not let them have books because they can contain revolutionary ideas, and prisoners could develop dangerous thoughts if they read them. She doesn’t know if people believe that in today’s world, at least not in the United States.

Dita lived in Prague with her mother and her father before they were sent to Terezin, a ghetto on the outskirts of Prague. Life was bad in the ghetto, but they didn’t know how much worse it could get. They were sent to Auschwitz and suffered without much food, and were put to work. Dita’s father died of natural causes there. Dita worked in the school and she helped with the children. She had a pocket made in her smock so she could hide the books. She couldn’t read all the books because some were in different languages, but she still loved and protected them. She learned that the Nazis started the family camp as a showcase to try to prove to the world that they were not terrible, to be used as a display in anyone came to visit. Nobody ever did.

Dita became interested in the teacher at the school Freddy Hirsch and why he killed himself. She could never understand why someone in his position would do such a thing. Her whole life she struggled trying to comprehend this.

When Ms. Hen read this, she found it scary. She couldn’t read that much at the same time. She thought this was a young adult novel, and it’s written like one, but some scenes are so graphic, she doesn’t think children should read this. This might be appropriate for teenagers, but not teenagers today who are delicate snowflakes. Ms. Hen would have read this when she was young. She read a lot of dark things during her childhood, and she can handle unsettling stories, because that’s the way the world is.

A Passover dinner was described that was eaten in the camp. They had what passed for matzah, and some food, “Laid out on it in precise order was a bone of something that could be chicken, an egg, a slice of radish, and a pot full of water with what looked like herbs floating it in.” Ms. Hen was glad that there might have been chicken, but along with other aspects of this book, it made her sad that a celebratory meal was so meager.

Ms. Hen got emotional reading this novel. She has read other books about the Holocaust, but none as intimate and graphic as this. The author met the woman the character is based on, and he was impressed by how intelligent and sensitive she still was at the age of eighty. Anyone who had endured ordeals such as this would be a courageous person indeed. Ms. Hen admires people who have survived terrible things, and have come out on the other side. She recommends this novel to anyone who wants to learn about the appreciation of beauty amidst horror.

Ms. Hen reviews her trip to France

Ms. Hen at the Tour Eiffel

Ms. Hen’s Trip to France

Ms. Hen went to France recently. She had been there previously five years before. This time, she went with a hen friend because she was invited by someone who came into her workplace. He came in during the winter, and told Ms. Hen he has a B&B in Provence. Ms. Hen told him she had been to the South of France, but to a different location, and it was the most beautiful place she had ever been. She thinks her eyes might have glazed over when she said this because the man invited her to stay with him. She initially did not want to go, but her friend at work convinced her. They planned the trip for September, and off they went.

Ms. Hen in Seguret

It took a while for Ms. Hen and her friend to get to Provence, and when they did they were exhausted and famished. Fortunately Gene had dinner planned; he made pasta with shrimp and mussels. They ate on the terrace overlooking the breathtaking view of the valley. Gene’s B&B is located in a village called Seguret, which is considered a “village classe,” which means it is a preserved village and nothing allowed to be modernized on the outside of the buildings. It is a thousand years old, and cars cannot drive through, except in the back, and the buildings are conserved, so they cannot be changed. It is a quaint, charming area, with cobblestone streets and stone buildings.

Ms. Hen in Provence

The second day they were there, Gene took them on a tour of the area. They drove by vineyards and small villages. Gene explained that in France, there are no suburbs, there are city areas, and rural areas. In France the suburbs are considered in-between places, and they don’t like that. He also explained that they keep all the crap in the same place: the ugly stores, the automobile repair places, and the places that nobody wants to look at. That way, people can stay in their neighborhoods and they don’t have to see unsavory things.

They drove to the Cave in the area, the wine cooperative where locals can purchase discount wine. Gene brought a jug which looked like something that is meant for gas when the car breaks down by the side of the road, but he explained that it was for wine. They got a jug full of rose, and Gene said that it was the equivalent of five bottles of wine. It cost fifteen euros, which Ms. Hen calculated to be an excellent deal.

The group had lunch in a village called Goult. Gene said he like the restaurant there, La Poste, but when they got there, they found out it had new owners. Gene said the food was not as good as it used to be. Ms. Hen had lamb, with pommes frites, and they shared a Niçoise salad. Gene did not eat much because he was disappointed in the food, but Ms. Hen and her friend ate. After that they stopped at a village called Lourmarin, where Ms. Hen and her friend walked around, and shopped a little, and enjoyed the art galleries and the atmosphere.

The second night for dinner Gene made roasted chicken with lemon and garlic stuffed inside and it was delicious. Ms. Hen appreciated that he made chicken, because it’s her favorite! They also had Caprese salad. They ate late. The next day Gene drove Ms. Hen and her friend to L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. They walked around the streets and went window shopping, and went out to lunch at an outdoor café called Ile de Beaute. Ms. Hen had salmon Tartare mixed with onions and apples, with crème brûlée for dessert.

Ms. Hen and her friend spent two and a half days in Provence. Gene entertained them with stories about his life, and living in France.  Ms. Hen and her friend enjoyed staying with Gene, and regretted having to leave. Ms. Hen and her friend said goodbye to Gene and took the train to Paris from Avignon.

Ms. Hen drinks wine in Provence

In Paris, Ms. Hen and her friend found their Airbnb and commenced their walking tour of Paris. They stayed right near the top of the Champs Elysees, adjacent to the Arc de Triomphe. A few steps from where they stayed they took pictures of the Arc. They went on a quest for Printemps, the department store which has the best views of Paris. After, they searched for and found the Galleries Lafayette, with the majestic domed ceiling above the cosmetics section.

Ms. Hen eats an omelette in Paris

Ms. Hen and her friend stopped for a late lunch, and then found the Louvre, and wandered through the Tuileries Garden that leads to the Champs Elysees. The browsed in the shops, then took a break and watched the world walk by. Electric scooters are all the rage in Paris right now, and Lime scooters are fashionable: the type that people can rent. People ride up and down the street with these scooters, everyone from business people in suits, to tourists, to young people raising a ruckus.

Ms. Hen at the Louvre

Ms. Hen thinks that people in Boston can be rude, but she thinks the public in Paris might be worse. Everyone walks around with a scowl on their face, and nobody looks strangers in the eye. A woman can walk out of a store on the Champs Elysees, and not bother to look around her to see if she’s getting in anyone else’s path, like she’s walking down the catwalk and expects everyone to stop and get out of her way.

Ms. Hen had different types of experiences with people trying to talk to her. She was looking at perfume in a pharmacy, and a store employee came up to her and asked her if she spoke French, and she said no, and the woman waved her hands around and walked away. Shortly after that, she sat in a café and tried to ask for water in French, and the waiter said, “Try English.” Either way, she couldn’t win.

Ms. Hen drinks espresso in Paris

Ms. Hen and her friend walked an enormous amount while in Paris. On the second day, they promenaded from where they stayed to the Eiffel Tower to the Place Invalides, to the St. Germain district, to the Latin Quarter to Notre Dame, to Las Halles and further. They couldn’t walk all the way back to their place because Ms. Hen was exhausted, so they took the Metro two stops to get right near their place.

Sunset at the Arc de Triomphe

Ms. Hen loved to travel because she loves being in a different place and it forces her to be in the moment. She gets nervous when she’s somewhere that’s not familiar to her, but she likes it. She loves the thrill of not knowing what will happen, or what will be around the next corner. This was a shorter trip than her last trip to France, and it was her first time traveling to a foreign country more than once. She thinks that everyone should travel and see the world, because there is so much to see, and it’s wonderful to get out of your regular habits and mix things up. Ms. Hen says, “Go to France! They love chickens there!” And she loves France.

 

In Paris