Book Reviews

I have read three really good books recently, so I thought I would tell you about them.

1. The Lacuna, by Barbara Kingsolver:  I hate to call it a historical novel, but I guess that is what it is.  The hero lives in Mexico, where he gets to know Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Trotsky, as well as has other amazing experiences.  Then, he travels to the U.S., living in Asheville, N.C., trying to live as a reclusive novelist.  He can't escape being tangled into all kinds of things taking place here--including J. Edgar Hoover.  It is an extremely well-written, wonderfully-researched novel.  It equals The Poisonwood Bible, my all-time favorite Kingsolver novel.
2. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot:  It is all true, although it reads like a detective story.  It is the story of the Hela cells, which were "harvested" from a poor black woman dying of cancer in 1951.  Her cells were the only ones that scientists found that could be kept "alive" in the laboratory.  Consequently, huge amounts of cancer research was possible.  The story swings back and forth between Henrietta's life, that of her family, and what is happening in the scientific community.  It is a most fascinating, meticulously-researched story.  (Thank you, Sandy, for recommending it.)
3. Northwest Corner, by John Burnham  Schwartz:  This is the only book that I have read twice, back to back.  First, I read it fast because I wanted to know what would happen.  However, the writing was so wonderful that I immediately started again and savored it for the exquisite writing.  The story is compelling, although the topic is hard to deal with.  It follows the life of a man who has been convicted of the hit and run death of a small child.  I won't tell more than that, but give a couple of quotes:

p. 138: "It's so easy to get swallowed up by the life you never expected to have.  To just disappear.  To live inside this great white whale of yourself and never have a vision of where you might be going,  or where you've already been, or why."
p. 207: "She's of the stubborn bag-lady genus; bringing it all with her wherever she goes, hoarding the past, not because it is better, but because it's the only thing she seems to own."