What Helen's Reading Now

A Visit from the Goon Squad
by Jennifer Egan reviewed May 15, 2012

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is a book full of unusual characters. Many of the people have a connection to the music industry. The novel starts by focusing on Bennie, a music executive and Sasha, his assistant. Sasha has many emotional problems, one of which is kleptomania. The way she relates to her “treasures” is a revelation. Sasha has something of a crush on Bennie, but he has far too many problems to pay any attention to her.

The novel was an unusual winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize. A Visit from the Goon Squad is an interesting title choice. A goon is loosely defined as a strongman or someone hired to rough up an opponent. The goons who visit this book’s characters are time and life. The characters have been forced to grow and mature, often in spite of their personal desires. The life stories are fascinating, but the timeline is occasionally difficult to follow. Chapters are written from the different perspectives of individuals. They intersect with each other in believable but surprising ways. Your enjoyment and understanding could be enhanced if you keep minimal notes describing the characters. Otherwise you lose a sense of what went before. Since different chapters use different characters’ voices, this is almost a series of loosely linked short stories. The music scene is what pulls the characters and the storyline together. People have met briefly and then become close associates later. They also reflect on their pasts to tell the story of what the group has been and why they continue to intersect.

This title is available as both a print copy and an ebook in the library’s digital collection. One caveat is that there is a chapter that is presented as a “powerpoint” creation. It is all but impossible to read on a Kindle. In the print copy it is a style that gives that segment an enhanced impact.

Gossip
by Beth Gutcheon reviewed May 1, 2012

We all gossip no matter how much we deplore it.  Major magazines are devoted to it, which we all read, if only in waiting rooms.  We are also intrigued by thinking that we have heard something about an acquaintance that is not general knowledge.  Usually we know better than to believe everything we hear, but even untrue gossip has the power to destroy a reputation.  Beth Gutcheon’s novel Gossip is an indictment of how hurtful a couple of sentences can be if they are untrue or overheard by the wrong person.

Loviah “Lovie” French and Dinah Wainwright met in boarding school.  Both girls were outsiders, coming from families that would not have typically sent their daughters away to school.  They casually knew Avis Metcalf, an upper classwoman.  The two girls bonded as they tried to cope with not having the correct clothes or the proper background.  Dinah had coped with the sense of being an outsider before.  Her way of overcoming that handicap was to make everything she did look like so much fun that everyone wanted to join her.  Lovie was a quieter girl, but somehow Dinah decided to be her friend.  This was the late fifties, so not every girl felt destined for college.  Lovie’s family did not have the money to educate her further, so she got a job working for a dress designer.  She learned the business and then later worked for an exclusive shop.  When she realized that her supervisor was taking the commissions on her customers, she decided it was time to open her own shop.  Her customers were fashionable New York women.  One day Avis Metcalf came into her shop for just the perfect dress.  Eventually they become close friends in addition to business owner and regular customer.  All three women were enjoying sophisticated times living in New York.  Dinah had developed a niche in publishing and had a very outgoing social life.  Avis had a career in the art world and was married to a very wealthy, if poorly functioning, man.  Lovie felt that the circle of friends that she enjoyed should become friends.  When she tried to reintroduce Avis and Dinah, long ago slights from boarding school resurfaced.  Even though Lovie is unable to force a friendship on the pair, their interests intersect when Dinah’s son marries Avis’ daughter.

The Dressmaker
By Kate Alcott reviewed March 13, 2012

April 15, 2012 will be the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.  There are several wonderful non-fiction books that commemorate that anniversary.  Kate Alcott has written a historical novel, The Dressmaker, that tells the story of the sinking and the investigation following the tragedy.  The author has chosen to focus on the survivors and the scandals.

Tess Collins comes from a poor English family that managed to find her a job with a family in Cherbourg, France.  Their home is close to the docks so Tess is aware that the Titanic is preparing to sail on its maiden voyage to America.  She had hoped to use her dressmaking skills in France, but the job she has is the drudgery of housework and the adolescent son of the house has been trying to grope her.  Impulsively, she decides to leave and find work on the Titanic.  Tess is able to assume the position of lady’s maid to the renowned dress designer, Lady Duff Gordon.  This is the most perfect piece of good luck that Tess could imagine.  She somehow hopes that her dressmaking talents will be recognized and she will have a wonderful job at the end of the voyage.  The boat, the pageantry of life aboard ship, and the privilege of the wealthy are carefully described.  Tess has the opportunity to become attracted to two different men during the voyage.  Then the tragedy of the night of April 15th begins.

The Duff Gordons were in a lifeboat that become as controversial as it is described in the novel.  The couple was vilified by public opinion in the ways that the author detailed.  As soon as the world became aware of how many people had drowned, there was a demand to know how and why the boat sank.  In so many ways, the public reaction sounded similar to what would occur today.  A Senator from Michigan did lead the Senate’s investigation.  He really did ask on the record what was an iceberg made of.  The author followed real events, just placing her fictional characters in the events in ways that similar characters may have participated.  The changes that she made are detailed at the end of the book.  This creates a novel that is  a very accessible way to understand what the voyage was like and how America investigated one of the world’s largest maritime disasters.