Guest Book Review: What Is the What

My name is Ryan Barnette and I’m writing this week’s post. I work
along side Leigh at the Erlanger Branch, where I am the Adult Programming Assistant. I also work at the Reference Desk, so stop by and say hello. After reading Dave Eggers in a college class and then watching a documentary on the “Lost Boys” of Sudan, I read What Is the What.

The fictionalized memoir of a Sudanese refugee named Valentino Achak Deng, What Is the What is a book full of violence, tragedy, and hope. After extensively interviewing the real Valentino, Dave Eggers wrote this creative and engaging retelling of the true events in the young refugee’s life.

Valentino is a member of the “Lost Boys,” a group of young children who witnessed the destruction of their villages and the murder of their family members in the brutality of civil war. In the journey from his homeland with the other “Lost Boys,” Valentino encounters hungry lions that feed on the unarmed boys, depths of hunger and thirst that nearly kill him, and countless gun-toting enemies that wish to wipe out Valentino’s race.

While Valentino eventually relocates to Atlanta, Georgia, his life remains difficult. But his horrible experiences aren't retold to gain the reader’s pity. Rather, the book is ultimately one that inspires hope. And with greater visibility, stories like Valentino’s will hopefully lead to change for the better.

Guest Book Review: The Monsters of Templeton

It would be difficult to not be intrigued by a novel that promises to weave together the stories of a sea monster, a genealogist, and the thinly disguised works of James Fenimore Cooper. The Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff combines these dissimilar elements into the tale of Willie Upton, a graduate student returning to her hometown of Templeton to seek solace after an affair. Once she arrives, however, she discovers that her former nonconformist mother is now born again and that her father (who she never knew) is actually a prominent citizen of Templeton--but which one is he? Willie’s search for her father’s identity reveals many kinds of monsters in her town and in her family’s past.

Being a big genealogy buff, I was instantly drawn to this book when I discovered it on the website http://www.goodreads.com/. What was even more impressive was just how well first time author Groff developed her characters, even including a very substantial “history” for Willie’s family members complete with photographs.

--Lesley Daley

Reference Librarian

Lucia, Lucia

It was so nice to be outside in the sunshine last Sunday. No gloves, no hat, no scarf needed. No fear of slipping on ice, or getting a shoe full of snow. Just a much needed taste of springtime.

I think that's what put me in mind of Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani. Lucia Sartori tells the story of being the only girl in her Italian-American family in the early 1950s. Twenty-five year old Lucia breaks off her engagement when she finds out her future family expects her to quit the seamstress job she loves to stay home and keep house. She later meets the handsome and exciting John Talbot, who promises her a life of wealth and luxury, but ends up giving her only heartache. Although bittersweet, I still find Lucia, Lucia to be an upbeat novel overall. It is Trigiani's vibrant description and storytelling that bring warmth and humor to Lucia's life in New York's Greenwich Village.

Well known for her Big Stone Gap series, you can find out more about Adriana Trigiani and her books at Adrianat.web.

The Forever War

Sometimes I think about what it would be like to live forever, or just to age slower than those around me. While the element of unlimited time holds a certain appeal, I cannot get past the difficulties. How hard would it be to deal with the constant changes of people and the planet? To see how history often repeats itself, and not always in a good way?

These are some of the questions Joe Haldeman deals with in his science fiction novel The Forever War. Young William Mandella is originally drafted as a foot soldier to fight in a thousand year war against the extraterrestrial Taurans. Transported through collapsars, soldiers are able to instantaneously travel vast distances, and barely age in the process. Mandella finds himself forced to fight unarmed enemies and engage in battles over a period of centuries. Earth becomes so altered and foreign, that Mandella chooses to stay in the military where he hopes he will never have time to actually think about the horror and carnage of war.

Originally published in 1975, The Forever War won both the Hugo and Nebula awards, and continues to be a relevant science fiction classic. First in a three book series, the story continues in Forever Peace and Forever Free. For further reviews and recommendations look on Amazon and Novelist.