Fall RA Book Club: Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind

by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Simrin’s review:

I enjoyed reading the novel The Shadow of the Wind because the story intertwined so many narratives of different people. The book incorporated magical realism and gave me the impression that I was falling into a new dream world. Specifically, there was a Cemetery of Forgotten Books which captivated me (being the very big book-lover I am) as it seemed to be an endless labyrinth of books, safe from the dangers of the outside world. The characters themselves were each dynamic, my favorite character being Fermin, a man with a childlike sense of wonder that was witty and warm throughout the book. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and thought it was lovely to read every night before I went to bed.

Becca’s review:

I really enjoyed The Shadow of the Wind. It was immediately obvious to me the care and craft that went into every single line by the author. The parallels between Carax's and Daniel's lives kept me intrigued until the very end, ever curious if Daniel's fate would be the same as the infamous Julian Carax. The division of the book into subsections made the read an easy one, and, although beholding a lengthy number of pages, I never felt I had to force myself to read further. Instead, I found it increasingly impossible to cease reading The Shadow of the Wind once I had begun. There are so many metaphors throughout the book that felt as if they were little pockets of all-knowing wisdom. My favorite nugget of advice is given by Nuria. She contradicts the common sentiment that the good times go by much too quickly. Instead, she asserts that when life becomes monotonous and unworth living, it is these very times that rocket past us; blurring life into one, ubiquitous path instead of singularly unique events. I hope my life doesn't echo this sentiment Nuria expresses. I hope my life doesn't feel fast.

Petuh’s review:

Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind is truly a masterpiece of fiction. Naturally blending reality with fantastical elements, this story plays with time as well as truth as it takes you down a winding road trying to figure out the mystery of who Julian Carax is and what happened to him. With a lovable cast of characters, you are transported around 20th century Barcelona where there are twists and turns at every corner. This page-turner will leave you on the edge of your seat, gasping with every new revelation. A must-read for anyone who loves novels.

Valerie’s review:

Zafron paints a riveting tale within The Shadow of the Wind that interlaces themes of mystery, darkness, and adventure. It reveals the story of the unknown author, Julian Carax, and the disappearance of his books through the eyes of young child Daniel, whose life just seems so serendipitously paralleled to Carax's. Zafron is able to utilize various perspectives and character voices to tell this quite heartbreaking story that depicts the complex era in Spain during the 1950s and the narrative of this tragic group of friends. Ultimately, the novel uses these elements of darkness and mystery to paint a picture of the difficulties of life and love.

Emily’s review:

When I received The Shadow of the Wind at the first meeting for the book club, I was immediately intrigued by the idea of reading a book about the meaning of books. The Shadow of the Wind, though, was about so much more than the influence of literature. Filled with dynamic relationships, both romantic and familial, as well as a unique mystery, the book quickly pulls the reader in and creates a fully immersive reading experience. The language is absolutely wonderful and the story is beautifully crafted and true to the human experience. The Shadow of the Wind has quickly found a home in my top five favorite books and I’ve been recommending it to others since I finished it. Absolutely a 10/10!

Chokehold

Chokehold

by Paul Butler

Finished the last of the RA Favorite books for the semester.  “Majority rules”…ah, how this concept has failed our country in so many ways over the course of our history.  Its failure couldn’t be more eloquently captured than Paul Butler did in his recent book Chokehold.  The book is a sociological, data-rich thesis on how African-American males have been ‘placed into submission’ through current policies and laws and by those who administer the law – police.  Butler draws from our earliest days as a fledgling country with the division of slavery to our present day policies that protect police and their ability to hold power over those not in power.  How could our country continue to divide the outcomes delivered to people of color and those delivered to white people?  Butler’s research is rich with quantitative data points that compel the reader to reflect upon one’s own privilege and then look externally to see the realities of prejudice and discrimination impacting African-Americans in society today.  He draws upon his own experience as a prosecutor, sharing details on how the system works and how we might actually change the system.  Reading the book is an opportunity to better understand the impact of one’s race on the simple act of walking down the street, driving in a car, or wearing a hoodie.  All choices that he presents can be problematic as a male of color.  I strongly suggest all my white colleagues/friends reflect on the various everyday things that whites take for granted and on how those with privilege can work to change discriminatory practices.  Laws on low-level offenses needs to change.  Important read for all.

Once a Runner

Once a Runner

by John L. Parker, Jr. 

I had a few RAs who were harder to meet with this semester, but I have finally met everyone!  I did have the opportunity to finish the book Once a Runner by John Parker.  It is a fictional story that draws upon the real-life experiences of the author and is set on the imaginary campus of Southeastern University (based on the University of Florida).  The lead character is Quentin Cassidy, who looks back after his Olympic days to the four years that led up to him becoming an elite one-mile racer.  After Cassidy is removed from the school’s racing team for leading a protest campaign against the institution’s dress and conduct policies, he trains under the direction of his coach, a former Olympic runner, outside of the school’s jurisdiction.  Using a disguise, he is able to enter a trials race against the world’s fastest mile runner.  The last chapters capture the build-up to the race, Cassidy’s anxieties, adrenaline taking over, and the last quarter mile between him and the world champion.  Cassidy finally meets his goal – winning the race – but, more importantly, runs the mile in sub-four-minute time at 3:52:20.  The book provides an excellent view into the mind of a runner and all of the things that one experiences: physical ailments, mental anguish, team support, and much more.  Additionally, Parker adds great depth through the interplay among Cassidy’s teammates, a cast of characters to say the least!  A classic for athletes.  Read this one. 

The Odd Women

The Odd Women

by George Gissing

Finished another RA Favorite book.  Don’t get as many old-time books, but this one, The Odd Women, was written in the late 1890s by George Gissing.  It is the story of the Madden sisters, three of whom die in youth/childbirth as does their mother. After their father passes away, the three sisters go on a journey that includes finding love, independence, and their voice.  The book is set in England during a time when women out-populated men by over a million, so being “paired off” for marriage was not an easy task.  Two of the subplots involve the youngest sister, Monica, and her struggles with marrying an older bachelor, Edmund. She later has an affair with another man, which leads to the end of her marriage. Meanwhile, Rhoda falls for a man who wants to marry her, but she only wants to live with him (which is not something acceptable in the world they live in).  Both Rhoda and Monica have challenges with their men and, in the end, one women stays connected with her man while the other separates, gets pregnant, and eventually perishes. It is clearly a book that reflects on the role of the woman and the lack of choices available to them in this era.  Lots of mystery as to what will happen to the lead characters with loss and sadness in the end.  A book of its time….  Interesting that a book at the advent of feminism was written by a man.  Ok read.

Wild

Wild

by Cheryl Strayed

Finished Cheryl Strayed‘s book Wild, her memoir of her personal journey through the PTC (the Pacific Crest Trail running from California to Oregon) after the death of her mother and a number of failed relationships.  The trip in total is over 1,100 miles starting in the Mojave Desert and ending in Oregon at the “Bridge of the Gods” that leads into the state of Washington.  Strayed is twenty-six years old when she makes the commitment to go on this solo journey. She departed on this trip four years after losing her mother to lung cancer at the age of forty-five years old, a major factor in her decision to leave civilization.  Throughout her journey, Strayed shares episodes of pain with her siblings, her relationship with her parents, and her relationship with her husband, who she married right after college (though her relationship ended before her journey began).  She also shares her struggle with another partner that involved difficulties with heroin.  Strayed discusses many of the highs (meeting new friends, reaches summits, experiencing the beauty of nature, a one-night stand with a man she meets on the trip) and the lows (physical pain, hunger, reflecting on the many loses in her life which lead to loneliness).  The flashbacks to her family challenges are conjured up through the trip and lead her to think about what is next in life.  Strayed clearly gains a sense of peace, fights her grief and personal challenges, and overcomes various physical struggles while on the trip.  Strayed’s willingness to be vulnerable serves as a guide for others coming from dysfunction and poverty to escape through reliance on self.

The Rosie Project

The Rosie Project

by Graeme Simsion

Finished another on the list of RA Favorite Books, this one by an Australian author. Graeme Simsion's book The Rosie Project is a comedy, as are most of the Australian books I have read.  The story involves a Professor, Don Tillman, a neurotically organized and structured man, who gets involved in two studies. One study is to find the most compatible woman for him to get married to (using a questionnaire he has validated to be statistically sound), and the second project is to assist a PhD student at the University, Rosie, to find her biological father.  Rosie’s mother told her that the man she grew up with as her father was not her biological father right before she passed away.  Years later she approaches Don to assist her in finding her father based on a graduating class photo from a final party as a class…and one of the males at that party is her biological father! While these two stories intertwine, Don’s closest friend, another Professor at the University, attempts to have Rosie and Don date. Don is unable to change himself and Rosie is unable to accept Don for his neurotic self!  The two end up gathering DNA from all of the male party attendees with a shocking twist as they identify her biological father.  It is a witty story with some 'adult humor’ and well worth your time.  I hear there is a sequel as well.

Boundaries Workbook

Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life

by Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend

Just finished reading Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  The book contains Christian theology drawing upon many of the messages found in the Bible and applies those messages to the many people who are unable to manage boundaries.  The book begins with defining what boundaries are and then goes through subsequent chapters explaining how lack of boundaries affects family, friends, spouses, children, work, ourselves, and God.  The authors then share ideas on what healthy boundaries are and how to develop them. It is a great self-help book with a focus on how we need others to help us meet those boundaries.  The book does delve into alcohol/drugs/sexual abuse/sex addictions and other issues that prevent people from staying within boundaries that connect us closer to God.  A very good read, especially for those who have a faith tradition.

Unbroken

Unbroken

by Laura Hillenbrand

Very strange that I have now finished another World War II book (also a true-life story).  Unbroken, written by Laura Hillenbrand (author of Seabiscuit), features the interview of a WWII veteran, Louie Zamperini. Louie is a former Olympic runner who joins the Army Air Corps after competing in the world games in Berlin (where he actually met Hitler!).  Louie was fast and one of the first to hit the sub-4-minute mile.  The story details his life from childhood, the Olympics, the War, and life at home afterwards.  Louie was in the flying battalion, and his plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean.  Only three of the eleven crew lived, Louie being one of them. After a 46-day survival in the ocean with two peers (one dies while on a raft), they are captured by the Japanese military and kept in a POW camp.  The horrific details of his time in captivity include being repeatedly beaten by one of the Japanese officers known as “the Bird”.  The war comes to an end when the Americans drop the atom bomb on August 6, 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Louie, who the American government had noted as being dead, comes home to a jubilant family welcome but is left with the haunting nightmares of the camp.  He marries, has a child, but alcoholism and an inner fear debilitate him – until he attends a revival Christian meeting led by a young preacher, Billy Graham.  Graham changes his life and he becomes a born-again Christian. He then goes out to motivate others on the perils that face us but that we can learn to overcome.  A riveting story – I highly recommend!

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

by Heather Morris

Finished a terrific book called The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.  It is a true life story of a Lali Sokolov, a 26-year-old Slovakian Jew who gave himself up to the Nazis in the hopes that he would spare his family from capture.  Lali, age 87, begins to tell his story to Morris, who turns it into a book.  Lali goes into great depth describing the utter destruction that the Nazi’s dealt to all Jews and non-Aryan people.  Lali was determined to live and was offered an opportunity to become a tattooist, the person who marked all entering captives into Auschwitz and Buchenwald.  He was recruited by the tetovierer, the German name for tattooist, and he continued the role throughout his time in camp.  In reflection, Lali feels he may have been a ‘sell-out’ to the Germans for the role he played but knows it is what kept him alive and allowed him to receive more food than the other inmates.  He had a very strange relationship with the SS officer to whom he reported. His officer even allowed him to enter a relationship with another prisoner, Gita Furman, who was assigned to work in the administrative office for the SS. She did not receive the same extra rations that Lali did.  Lali later started to provide a portion of his rations to others in the camp and worked ‘undercover’ with another prisoner to get chocolates and other food for the prisoners.  The brutality of the camp was present throughout the book.  Prisoners being gassed and shot to death was normal.  It is unbelievable that our world was brought to such depths.  A horrific existence to live through.  Lali did survive and ended up being reunited with Gita after the war.  A love story through a hell that no one could ever have fathomed.  I listened to this one on tape.  I’d highly recommend.

One Person, No Vote

One Person, No Vote

by Carol Anderson

An exceedingly eye-opening book to read about how politics play a role in voting, education, and keeping poverty in select sections of various states within the US.  In Carol Anderson’s book One Person, No Vote, the reader learns the lengths that many politicians have taken to ensure that people of color continue to be disadvantaged in the electoral process.  Anderson provides significant background and historical perspective on the process of re-districting (gerrymandering) by both mainstream political parties.  Her research into the topic is in-depth with recent election outcomes to support her arguments.  The book is broken into five sections: The early days of the US election process, the use of voter IDs, how political parties in power purged voter rolls, rigging the rules for voting, and the current resistance (where some are asking for voters to prove their intelligence to vote!)  Every American citizen should have the right to vote, but do they really?  District lines should not be determined by the color of one’s skin nor should the number of hours it takes for citizens to vote.  This is a must read for every citizen and worthy of debate on how to resolve.