Good Fortune

Beautifully written and captivating!

That would be my quick assessment of Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. This was a book on our school summer reading list years ago, and the cover and flap seemed intriguing enough for me to give it a chance. Plus, I really wanted to read a book from a different country!

Let me begin by saying that I loved the way the author foreshadowed what was to come throughout the beginning, dropping hints about Eliza's journey to follow her love, which made me wait patiently during the seemingly irrelevant details of her adopted mother's courtship with Jacob Todd. And while I say irrelevant, I surely don't mean boring. The details never seem overly done (for all those students out there who couldn't stand The Scarlet Letter), but provide enough clarity to envision these characters while still making them your own.

Set in Chile in the early 1800s, the novel has an air of historical fiction, but it is first and foremost a "present" story, critiquing the social conventions that seem to be of the past, but which upon reflection I see as very much alive today. (I didn't realize how many immigrants came to Chile from all over the world!) And if you don't care for historical fiction, then you will be happy to know that I think this tale is first and foremost an adventure story, with a little romance sprinkled in along the way (though not that sappy Nicholas Sparks stuff). If I had to give a similar movie, I'd say it reminded me a bit of The Princess Bride mixed with Django Unchained (but a lot less gory) and Shakespeare in Love. Or maybe the original Pirates of the Caribbean (but without the pirate curse--sorry, no magic in this one!).

I don't really know a lot about sailing (or steamships), but the author really painted a picture of the conditions on board these vessels. I also had mainly read about the Yukon gold rush, so I hadn't read a lot about the California rush. It was interesting to hear about the conditions of the people who went to California (either voluntarily or not so voluntarily), and I loved the way the heroine became involved in the many aspects of life in California. I was also interested in how the author tackled prostitution from many angles (no pun intended), showing those who embraced the life voluntarily and those who were victims of sexual slavery. (Disclaimer: Although there is a LOT of discussion of prostitution and sex, none of it was so graphic that I wouldn't share the book with my mother.)

Isabel Allende

I loved the way the author kept me in suspense...as soon as I thought I was ready for the story to continue, she would jump backward in time and give us a character's back story. Rather than being infuriated at the hold-up, I found myself riveted, as the complexity this created not only gave me a deeper appreciation of the character's actions, but it also tied back to previous events in such a way that the "threads" that seemed so loose then pulled tighter, revealing an incredibly well-woven story.

I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that I was both disappointed and pleased. I'm not sure I would have been satisfied with any other ending, but I will say I was left hungry for more. Consequently, I think I will be looking for other books by this author in the future.

As I looked to see if there was a movie of this (since that has been the trend in the books I've selected so far), I found this great student-created trailer for the book. I can tell it was using the same software a few intrepid students of mine used for their Modern Macbeth trailer this year, and I think the creators of this trailer did a great job.

Happy reading!

Lies, all lies!

So, I think a teacher reading Lies My Teacher Told Me borders on irony....

 But sorry kids, it doesn't fit the definition.

Anyway, I had a great time reading this nonfiction book (except maybe at the end, but I'll get to that). I knew many of the "lies" in the book, but there were some new facts I was unaware of (courtesy of the back cover: Woodrow Wilson was a white supremacist) and some really interesting analysis of history, which I've already established is a big interest of mine.

However, I wasn't always interested in history...well, in school history. As the first sentence of the introduction states,

"High school students hate history."

I know that many of the students at the school I teach at love history, and I think for that a lot of credit goes to the teachers. However, this book is not so much about teachers but about the "lies" in the textbooks students use in history, specifically United States History. In fact, I remember I really only liked history when I went to museums or when my teachers went "off script" and really tried to show the connections between events. This is the premise of Lies My Teacher Told Me.

I loved how this book began with "the process of hero-making," pointing out that many of the "lies" in textbooks are the result of people trying to make archetypal heroes out of historical figures, especially when their "real" story is either really "villainous" or still so admirable that you could overlook the very human flaws of the heroes (and just about every type of literary hero has flaws!). For example, little is written about Helen Keller after she was a child, and that is because she became a socialist and was a champion for the rights of the disenfranchised. I was fascinated to read about how in her work advocating for the blind, she was horrified by how many were blind because of their poverty (i.e. they had accidents in dangerous workplaces, couldn't afford medical care, etc.) and took radical positions to champion causes like women's suffrage, civil rights, and other quests for civil liberties. I also appreciated the discussion of how the media turned against her, as the once courageous symbol of overcoming adversity to earn a college degree was converted to one who was bamboozled and handicapped by "the limitations of her development."

As an example of those "villains" of history, I knew Columbus was in fact a pretty bad dude (who did not "discover" America), but I didn't realize the extent of the atrocities he committed against the native population, mutilating and enslaving them to the point that the 8 million native Haitians (Arawaks) around before Columbus had dwindled to 12,000 by 1516! Columbus initiated trafficking in humans across the Atlantic, and those that followed unleashed a torrent of diseases, rape, and abuse that decimated native American populations

I also knew about the history of slavery among the founding fathers (thanks in large part to DNA proving that Thomas Jefferson had fathered children with his slaves), but I didn't know that Patrick Henry, giver of the famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech of so much study was in fact a slave holder! Talk about contradictions...

However, I also liked how the author brought all of this up as it

mattered in the context of the time, and discussed how we can reconcile things like the "good pilgrims" robbing Native American graves if we view through the lens of history (i.e. economic interest and treating "others" as less than human to justify taking what one wants...you know, like the underpants gnomes did!). In fact, as the author points out, it doesn't make our country any less great to acknowledge the mistakes of the past; rather, it helps us understand our present.

This comes up in the chapter "The Land of Opportunity," which points out that economics is rarely a point of discussion in social studies. The author says that consequently, students "have no understanding of the ways that opportunity is not equal in America, and no notion that social structure pushes people around, influencing the ideas they hold and the lives they fashion." If students were to study the rise of unions and anti-trust legislation and consider the impact of these events today (think "the 1%"), they would likely develop strong opinions that at the very least would keep them engaged in history. It would also do justice to students who come from economically or racially oppressed backgrounds to acknowledge that the deck is stacked against them, rather than imply that "bad fortune" is the reason things are so hard.

But as much as I liked this book, but Chapter 10 I grew a bit tired of the author's assault on textbooks. While warranted, I was much more interested in the impact of the "lies" on students than looking for culprits, and that's just me. However, I think if someone is truly interested in knowing the "truth" about famous events in history, the relationship between power and how stories are told, or in learning to think about and QUESTION the "facts" of history as they are presented, then this is a fantastic book.

I think this is an important book, especially when one considers the many ways those in power manipulate history to suit their purposes. 

Happy reading!

Memoirs covered in coffee...

Have you ever rescued a book from locker clean out?

Specifically, have you ever seen a coffee-stained book headed for a trash can and shouted, "Don't throw out a perfectly good book!" Well, I did.

Actually, I rescued this book a little while ago, but I was cleaning off my bookshelves at the end of the year and found The Glass Castle, which was a summer reading book option for students in Grade 12. As I haven't had seniors in a few years, I did not get to their entire summer reading list at the time. However, I was looking for a few good books, and after a wonderful essay a certain sophomore wrote this year about coffee and life, I thought the coffee-stained book was just what summer ordered.

Now, let me just say, you will not need coffee to read this book. I was hooked from the very first sentence:

"I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster."

What followed is an intriguing introduction that leads to a "flashback" of sorts, reflecting upon the author's childhood. It begins with her first memory of being in the hospital after an accident that left her severely burned...a memory which ended with her parents snatching her from the hospital and journeying to a new home.

The Glass Castle was a heart-wrenching true story told by Jeannette, the second oldest child in the family, about growing up in severe poverty with parents who had problems with alcohol and "normal life." However, this isn't one of those stories that requires a box of Kleenex to read. The way Walls tells the story makes it sound like a crazy adventure...at least until she is old enough to know better. The early stories of her childhood, like falling out of their car on a desert highway, are told in a way that are funny instead of sad, so you sort of laugh when her first grade self and her siblings get into a shoot-out with the neighbor's kid.

Of course, by the time the family reaches West Virginia and moves into a house that has no electricity or running water, Jeanette begins to realize that she wants a different life. From this point, the story becomes both sadder and more inspiring, as she and her sister work to do what it takes to escape the extreme poverty that plagues the family.

I would recommend this book to most students in high school and adults too. While there are some mature themes (i.e. threats of molestation and a particularly disturbing scene where Jeanette's father takes her teenage self to a bar to help him scam some money), if that does not bother families, I think the overall messages are positive. This shows how perspective can make anything better, and this shows how perseverance (and sacrifice) make a difference. Although this story illustrates how some people are dealt a terrible hand in life that is almost impossible to recover from, it is done in such a caring way that a reader tends to feel genuine sympathy, as if this family were the family next door instead of a family "in some book."

So in the end, I guess it was fitting that I rescued this book from the garbage, but even better that I was able to read this page-turner. Oh, and apparently this is being made into a movie, and so read the book now so you can look down on the movie! (JK, but seriously, read the book!)

Happy reading!

So it begins...

Have you ever...

Been so excited to have time to read that you plowed through a book a day? I hope you have!

After beginning summer break by reading several neat reads, I realized it might be worthwhile to share what I am reading so students can see what it means to be part of a "community of readers."

While I am in the process of picking up a book for my summer book club, I wanted to start summer off right by reading some books that have been on my "to read" list for a while.

The first book I picked up from my local library was Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. If you know me, you know that in addition to being an English teacher, I was also a social studies teacher for about .4 seconds, so historical fiction is probably my favorite genre. Additionally, I have a growing obsession with the Tudors that may have started when my husband and I traveled to England (and probably also stemming back from seeing Dame Judi Dench playing Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love. BTW-she is also one of the best Lady Macbeths...but that is another issue.). 

Judi Dench is an awesome queen.

Anyway, I can't recall how Wolf Hall was recommended to me, but it had been on my Amazon list for years. The premise is that it tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, a man who was the "right hand man" of Cardinal Wolsey and later King Henry VIII. The story is told in third person, though it primarily follows Cromwell's version of events. I found this point of view difficult at times, as I wasn't always clear whose perspective was being shared (it doesn't help that apparently everyone back then was named Thomas).

The Tudors is super R-rated...

While I liked the first half of the story, the second half (once the Cardinal died) was less interesting, but perhaps this is because I know the story of Anne Boleyn so well. (Or maybe I like to think I do...the The Tudors definitely covered it in highly fictitious detail.) However, I think this would have been much more interesting if I knew less about the story of Henry's pursuit of a divorce. What I did like was how strong Anne Boleyn was in the story, and how Thomas Cromwell had to be crafty to both satisfy his king and the entourage that surrounded him once the king set his mind on Anne. I feel like the author really humanized these historical figures, and I especially appreciated the look into the life of Thomas Cromwell, who was one of the most famous to prominently rise from obscure birth to power in England without the benefit of the church.

About 600 pages later, I began the sequel Bring up the Bodies, a Man Booker Prize Winner which chronicles Cromwell's life up to the execution of Anne Boleyn (no spoilers here...unless you haven't heard about the six wives of Henry VIII). I probably don't do this the justice that The New Yorker does, but if any students or colleagues are looking for a sweeping historical novel, then this is a good candidate.

I found Bring up the Bodies interesting, as it provided a different perspective of Jane Seymour (Henry's third wife) and Thomas Cromwell's role in the elimination of prominent people who were close to the king. Cromwell becomes a little more jaded I think, and without admitting it totally (at least to himself), he doesn't mind taking down his enemies. In fact, while he admits that the evidence against his enemies isn't credible, he is determined to do what it takes to please the King and keep Henry's favor. I liked seeing the change in Cromwell, who toward the end hints that he can see that he will likely also have a bloody end if he falls out of favor with Henry.

I'll have to wait to read the last book in the trilogy, The Mirror and the Light, as it has not yet been published, and I want to see how self aware Mantel makes Cromwell toward the end of his life.

What I most liked about these novels was the way the story humanized Cromwell. In many historical fictions Cromwell is painted as sort of a villain, so it was interesting to see him painted as a basically good man who does "what he needs to do" in order to survive in this trying time. Hearing about his abusive upbringing and how he had to fight to make his way in the world makes sense: after all, wouldn't someone who was bullied for his whole childhood know how to be a great bully? This is all the more incredible when one considers that he is a "commoner" who grows to boss around the most noble families in England!

In short, if you like lengthy historical fiction, these are for you. (There is also a mini series of this now...) If not, you may like the next set of books I finished...

Happy Reading!