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

Ms. Hen reviews A Year in Provence

In Provence

A Year in Provence
Peter Mayle
Alfred A. Knopf
1990
 

Ms. Hen decided to read this collection of essays because she was planning a trip to Provence, and one of her rooster friends recommended it to her. She does not usually read essays, but she admires them. She often has a difficult time writing the truth, but she appreciates people who can.
 

Ms. Hen started reading this book on the plane to France. She was immediately struck by Mr. Mayle’s impressions of the people of Provence: how they are all unique and quirky, and have their own way about them. Mayle is from Great Britain, and he noticed how different the people of Provence are from the British, and also of the way of life, how easygoing, and passionate the Provencals tend to be. Ms. Hen wonders if she spent enough time there, if she would notice a stark difference between the locals and Americans. She is positive she would.
 

The collection of essays consists of twelve chapters, each dedicated to one month of the year. The author remodels a French farmhouse in the Luberon region. He haggles with French contractors who work when they want to work, but when they do appear, their craftsmanship is superb. The author talks about one plumber whose passion in life is plumbing, and knows everything about how to heat a house, and also plays the clarinet on the side to unwind. The author asks the plumber how he heats his house, and decides to use the same system. The plumber says the best radiators are made in Belgium and Germany.




Mayle talks about the true passion of Provence: gastronomy. The French love to eat and know how to eat well. All the food in Provence is fresh and delicious. The produce, the meat, the cheese, and especially the wine, is the source of ecstasy for the locals. They spend two hours every day at lunch, savoring every bite, and enjoying life. Ms. Hen only spent two and a half days in Provence, but she came to understand that their way of life is not like in the United States. It’s slower and more intense, and the light in the region is perfect not only for enjoying a meal, but for artists and writers to become inspired.


Ms. Hen stayed near where Peter Mayle lived. She learned that he does not live there anymore because people used to hunt for him because they admired his books so much. She got a chance to tour the Luberon, and to be near the area that inspired Mr. Mayle. She recognized the names of the villages in the book, because she drove by them. The mountains are winding, and the canyon roads curving. Ms. Hen did not enjoy riding in a car in the twisting roads in the canyon, and she was told she turned white afterwards. The views from the mountains are spectacular, little villages dot the country, and burst with vineyards. Certain places, from the inside of the car, Ms. Hen could smell the grapes ripe to be picked. The light, soft and hazy, engulfs everything.



There’s not much that Ms. Hen could do in two and a half days in Provence that could give her the true essence of the region. But just a taste has inspired her to look at the world differently, and to try to be more focused in her everyday life to do her true work. A break in routine, and seeing the part of the world that Peter Mayle wrote about, helped change her outlook. Ms. Hen is grateful for reading this book while she was there, so she could understand the region more deeply and profoundly. Ms. Hen would recommend this book to anyone who has been there, and also to those who have not, to garner a perception of the place.

Ms. Hen reviews A Hidden Place

A Hidden Place

Robert Charles Wilson

Bantam Books

1986

Ms. Hen picked up this book at the Little Free Library in Downtown Boston because she liked the cover. She tried to explain to her hen friend that was with her that good books have good covers, but her friend didn’t believe her. Ms. Hen knows that it’s hard to believe that you can judge a book by its cover, but she has learned this in publishing seminars. If the company thinks the book is worthwhile, they will create an attractive cover. Ms. Hen has told you this before, but she wants to remind you.

Ms. Hen started reading this novel because it’s short and she wanted to finish a book fast before she goes on vacation this week. Even though this novel is not that long, it’s intense reading, and is dense at times. Ms. Hen thinks that the best part of A HIDDEN PLACE might be the writing; it’s well crafted and mellifluous. Some aspects to the book are not superb.

This novel is about a small town on the plains of the United States, Haute Montagne, where Travis, a young man, goes to live with his aunt and uncle after the death of his mother. His uncle gives him a job at the ice plant that he owns. It’s the Depression, and jobs are hard to come by, and Travis has limited choices. A mysterious woman, Anna,  lives upstairs, and Travis is intrigued by her. His uncle warns him not to consider her romantically, and Travis is afraid of him, so he acquiesces.

Travis becomes friendly with a waitress in the town, Nancy, and the two of them go to the movies a few times. She has heard about Anna, but she doesn’t understand what she is doing in the house or the town. Anna has a secret. Travis and Nancy discover that she is not human, and is looking for her other half, Bone, who has forgotten who he is and what he must do. Travis finds Anna attractive, and he realizes why his uncle didn’t want him to become involved with her, because he wanted her all to himself. Anna escapes from the house and Travis and Nancy help her.

Ms. Hen liked this book, but she thought it was strange. It’s a story about a small town during the Depression, and how desperate and conservative the townspeople have to be in order to survive difficult times. But it turns into a science fiction novel, and Ms. Hen doesn’t quite see how that fits into the environment where the story takes place. Ms. Hen likes science fiction and magical realism, but she likes it in a context that she can believe. She doesn't understand why Anna and her other half have separated and have to get back together. She doesn't know why the things in this novel happen the way they happen. She believes that this might be meant to be a fairy tale, but she doesn’t comprehend why it has to take place during the Depression.

Sometimes when Ms. Hen’s mind is on other things, she gets distracted and can’t focus. Her mind right now is on the South of France and Paris and vacation, and that might be the reason why she didn’t enjoy this novel and much as she would normally. This reminds her a little of movies from the 1980s, like ET and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. This novel was published in that era, so those might be influences. If she read this at a different time, she might have liked it more.

Ms. Hen reviews Kaisebier Takes Berlin

Kaisebier Takes Berlin

Gabriele Tergit

Translated from the German by Sophie Duvernoy

New York Review Books

1932, 2019

Ms. Hen decided to read this on a whim because she read about it in the PARIS REVIEW, and she thought it sounded important and timely. She doesn’t usually buy books just because she reads about them, but this one sounded like something she would be interested in.

When Ms. Hen first started reading this novel, she was struck by the voice and the sound. The narration is quick and snappy, and is not like contemporary novels she has read recently. It reminds her of films of the 1930s and 1940s, in which the women are wisecracking and quick-witted. It was difficult for her to get into this book, but she did.

This novel is about a group of newspaper reporters at different papers in Berlin in 1929. They decide to take a mediocre folk singer and make him a star by writing about him in all their papers. It is about sensationalism, fake news and the power of the press. Kaisebier is not the main character in this novel, it is the people that surround him that take the center stage. One of the writers is writing books about him and selling rubber dolls made in his likeness that kids can take in the bath.

Kaisebier goes on tour, and an apartment building with a theater is built in his honor. There is a lot of discussion about the building and how many rooms the apartments should have, and talk about money, which Ms. Hen thought wearisome. The characters have different living situations.

This novel is about the Weimar Republic, with its excess and extravagance. The country is recovering from a war, and they don’t realize they are preparing for another one. The Nazis are on the peripheries, and a lot of people don’t take them seriously enough. The characters complain when they have to sell their china, but Ms. Hen wants to yell at them to look out because much worse things will happen to them in the future.

This novel reminds Ms. Hen of Kafka’s THE TRIAL, with the satire and absurdity discussing bureaucracy, and how the world is run. The world is a messed up place, and even people ninety years ago knew this was true. There is a part of the novel where the characters are talking about machines taking over people’s jobs, and Ms. Hen thinks that’s incredulous. Now it’s more pervasive that technology is in the process of pushing employees out the door. (She just finished watching a Netflix show which discusses this issue called BETTER THAN US, a Russian tragedy in the future with robots, and some characters want them to replace the workforce.)

Ms. Hen liked this novel, though she thought it was tedious at times, with all the talk of money and the building, and she would have liked more about Kaisebier and music and the way people reacted to him. She realizes that money is important, but reading about money problems is difficult for Ms. Hen. She has her own issues with money, and the subject bores her. She would rather read about tortured souls, and people who have nothing to live for, but keep living anyway.