The Winter of Our Discontent

Just when I think there were no more classics to read… here comes another… The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck.  This was his last novel written and a great one.  It is the story of Ethan Allen Hawley, a husband and father, down on his luck hailing from the upper-class society, but fallen from grace when his grandfather’s business (a whaling company) lost its main building to a suspicious fire.   Ethan, his wife, Mary, and their children struggle to make the daily expenses of living in Long Island circa the 1940s.  Ethan had lost some additional monies on an investment and now only has his wife’s small inheritance, which he is tempted to use for further investments.  Ethan works as the stock-person at the local grocery.  The owner, an Italian immigrant, works him hard.  Ethan lives by the adage of completing hard work, being honest, and never cheating others.  Ethan is tempted by his peers to rob a bank, take his wife’s inheritance for risky investments, take bribes from wholesalers, and have an affair with the local “fortune teller,” a friend of his wife.  But he does none of these, yet he is torn to change his family’s current fortunes.  He finally changes his situation through a series of well-planned actions, one of which he gets foiled from doing, robbing the local bank.    One of the secondary stories captures his son’s plagiarism of an entry for a national essay competition.  His response under the pressure at the end is alarming.  Ethan is an “everyman” character.  Many men face these same challenges, yet he does so without compromising his reputation and does end up restoring the memory of his grandfather.  What a great story… evil vs. good, which one will you choose?  Steinbeck is an expert author in character development and really knowing the culture of the society of the day.  He weaves in current affairs stories and really brings the reader to contemplate the choices his characters make and compares it to their own lives.  This is a must read.  Surprised I missed it along my own AP English class.

The Brain That Changes Itself

I love to read books that expand my knowledge, this one certainly did, and considering the topical area, surprised it was so engaging…  The Brain That Changes Itself, by Dr. Norman Doidge, captures the developments and new knowledge associated with the brain.  Yes, a neuroscience book, but more story-focused rather than a “text-book.”  It provides individual case studies on people and how science is re-thinking how the brain develops to compensate for losses of one form or another, through accident, deficiency at birth, or sudden change (stroke or other uncontrollable life altering issue).  Doidge is a Canadian-born psychiatrist trained at Columbia University.  Some of the stories include: the woman who continually fell as a result of a deficiency in brain connectivity whom was able to be rehabilitated; a blind woman who started to have her other senses make up for any deficiency in not seeing; people who have had addictions and how they were connected to early childhood traumas that once re-connecting new plasticity in the brain things reconnected to avoid the addictions.  Doidge believes that the brain can be re-built to be a different “connecter” just as muscles can built up from fatigue and non-use.  He provides information on how children with autism benefitted greatly from a program called Fast ForWord, an intensive learning regime that illustrates that deep thinking and concentration on learning over a brief period of time can make substantial gains.  He shares incidences of complete rehabilitation through new approaches to build brain functions, even from a woman who was born with only half a brain!  I love the chapter on imagination.  As a life coach, I have often used the “paint the picture” metaphor for a client to visualize success, and Doidge’s ideas in this chapter are “spot-on”.  While I do not see myself as an expert in this area, I am so interested in hearing about new approaches and ways to enhance people’s thinking, knowing we only use a very small portion of our brains.  This is a great book, simple to read, engaging, and real nuggets for all of us, as he has some suggestions for those who are aging and how to keep the brain active and reducing dementia.  I am really providing a tiny glimpse into this read, pick it up.  Whether an artist or a financial analyst, this book will provide some nuggets and re-framing on how to use the brain a bit more in changing an approach, or helping another who has lost some brain functions.  Gotta love the diversity of interests of NYU students!

We Are Not Ourselves

When you can’t stop reading a book, you know it is a good one, I really mean a great one.  I just finished one that I really loved.  I could end my comments with no further word, not to ruin the story line, but I will share more.  The book, We Are Not Ourselves, is the first novel by Matthew Thomas.  As I started reading and heard more of this Irish Catholic storyline, set in NYC, I knew that I was being pulled in, especially when he noted all of the private Catholic high schools that my sons and their friends attended, Fordham Prep, Ursuline, Iona, Regis.... so I did my own search on the author, and wow, a small world.  He taught English at Xavier High School, and my son’s good friends had him as a teacher.  OK, after getting over my “awe” of the author (I did this ¾ through the book…), who took ten years to pen his first novel, I was immersed in the book.  The story follows the life of Eileen Tumulty, born in the 1940s, to Irish immigrant parents in Woodside Queens (yes, this is such a NYC story!).  Eileen’s early-life was marred by parental challenge (a mother who was an alcoholic and a father who worked so much, he was rarely home).  She managed to get through being an only child, having limited means to live the “American Dream” but she persevered and managed to go to college and get a degree in nursing.  On New Year’s Eve, attending a party with a friend, she meets her eventual husband, Ed Leary, a scientist absorbed in his work.  The author does a wonderful job of writing dialogue in a rather long book, interesting and engaging.  His development and change of Eileen over her lifetime is pretty impressive.  (I haven’t always read male authors that really delve deeply into a female character as well as Thomas does).  Eileen’s life is a rollercoaster, with small highs, and many lows.  Her struggle to leave the childhood home area and lead a better life during the 1960s-70s captures what is happening in many immigrant areas of NYC.  She convinces her husband to leave the ever-growing diversity of Queens to move to the lower part of Westchester County, Bronxville. The story provides a glimpse into the grit of immigrant life and how one struggles to get that “American Dream,” as Eileen does.  She and Ed have a son, Connell, who gets to be a part of that dream.  The story holds much significance for me as I grew up in that era (60s-70s) and saw numerous “Eileen’s” as friends of my parents, making a better life for their children.  Connell’s challenge of moving to suburbia (like I did at the same age) was on-target and illustrated the type of transitions faced during the era.  I loved the references to all of the Catholic schools (even the track meet that my son attended was referenced in the book!) --- hitting lots of chords with me.  Of course, the main theme of the story, is revealed during Connell’s high school life, dealing with parents who want to make a better life for their child.  But plans don’t always work out.  And this book captures this when Eileen faces the challenge of a lifetime, having illness attack her husband, one that has not had significant coverage in books,  Alzheimer’s.   Chapter 100 is the most “tug on my heart” chapter I have read in many, many years.  As a son and a father, I couldn’t get through it all in one sitting.  Life never gives us what we think it should, but it is those who work through those challenges that provide wisdom and reassurance that we can, and often, have to get ourselves together, as others need our support.  There are so many lessons to be learned.  Real people, real stories, real emotions.  This will be a book I refer to for quite some time.  Go and get this book.  And see, I didn’t give the storyline away.  You will be moved!