Completely randomly this book was brought up while I was listening to RadioLab on NPR one night. (I must really like RadioLab, this is the third time this week it has come up in conversation. It is a science and medical commentary that is very smart and engaging. Check out their podcasts at RadioLab.org) This particular story was about a college girl who was in a horrific accident. She was hit by a truck and was so badly damaged that they had to pile her intestines outside of her body to alleviate the pressure on her body. Sad scary stuff. There is interesting back story but the premise is that nobody thought she would make it or recover except her boyfriend. She made it. She stabilized but she was non-reactive but sometimes violent and was considered a vegetable that was blind and deaf (she was deaf before the accident). She could breath on her own and could be fed through a tube but the decision her parents now faced was to put her in a home (institution) or a recovery center. Her mother reflects on the situation by referring to The Bridge of San Luis Rey and how she read it with her daughter and how it was speaking to her now especially the last sentence. "There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning." With her daughter at death's doorstep and her acceptance of her daughter's future brought out by this passage, a door opened for me and the meaning and absolute beauty of this book was revealed. (somewhat) That really shows that the more you read and know the more able you to grasp and find understanding of the world around you. (This is my mantra for reading with Oliver and all children. It is SO important) ...and the girl. With the pure devotion and a never giving up attitude by her boyfriend, he was able to find out that somewhere inside his girlfriend's damaged body SHE was still there. He used techniques that Helen Keller's teacher used and was able to "write" on her wrist to communicate with her and she was sent to the recovery center instead of the home.
This month I also read Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro for the book club. This book infuriated me because it seemed like the easy answer to everyone's doomed destiny was staring them in the face yet it was never talked about or thought about in the book. This seemed to me to be a gross oversight by the author. While the book does bring up some interesting questions on how far science should go, I feel so much was left out that I can't figure out why the book was even on the Time 100 list at all. These may be harsh words as I thoroughly enjoyed discussing this book with the book club members and thought there insights were helping me see the value of this book. However, this was a character driven book and I cared for none of the characters. Aha!, but is that the point of the book, is it so deep that my distance and unhappy feelings towards the characters is the intended reaction? I think that would be giving the author way too much credit. Good book to discuss not so great to read. Read for yourself, then we'll talk!
And finally, I finished a book that is not on the list but was for my own pure enjoyment. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Horrible title, great book. She nails the local food movement and what it takes to be a mostly self-sufficient farmer. This is a year of food life and what her family does to eat with in a 100 mile radius. I loved the farm parts and the cooking parts, some areas got too preachy and her "true" environmentalist crazy came out several times. (I call it crazy, but they are issues she is passionate about that I think go above and beyond what a "normal" person would consider to be actually doable and sustainable) I liked this book so much that I actually have two copies on reserve for me at The Book Stop. (picking them up today so don't think you can steal them!) I am giving them to friends who I think would enjoy this type of reading as well. My take aways for the book include really, I mean really looking, at where my produce comes from at the supermarket and making buying decisions based on that (I'm not ready to give up bananas just yet), my determination to hit the farmer's market every Saturday I can, and to have Pizza Fridays at the house, just like she does with her family. ...starting with homemade dough. A delicious and thought-provoking book that was a perfect read while I was planning and planting my garden. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Bill.
So next month will bring a review of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre and next month's book club read The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemingway. (I feel so literary!) Plus finds at the Smyrna Library book sale.
