Shuggie Bain“Shuggie Bain” is the story of a dysfunctional family, living outside Glasgow, rocked by alcoholism, violence and neglect. Shuggie is the youngest member of the family and the story revolves around his life and experiences.

The novel starts in 1992 with 16 year old Shuggie working a difficult job in a supermarket and living by himself in a boarding house. “The bedsit was taller than it was long, and his single bed stuck out into the middle like a divider.” Shuggie has his mother’s porcelain figurines and thinks about her regularly.

The story then flashes back to explain how a sixteen year old boy ends up living on his own. In 1981, five year old Shuggie (Hugh) is living with his mother, Agnes, his father, Shug, his half-sister Catherine, his half-brother, Leek (Alexander), and Agnes’s parents Lizzie and Wullie. Shug is a taxi driver with a wandering eye and Agnes is a drinker. The times are hard and jobs are scarce. They are living comfortably with Agnes’s parents but certainly not well to do.

Agnes is aware of her husband’s philandering which causes her to drink more, causing him to philander more. Agnes is described as strikingly beautiful, and had been married before meeting Shug to a reliable Catholic man named Brendan McGowan. Shug, a Protestant, swept Agnes off her feet and she left Brendan, along with her children Catherine and Leek, to be with Shug. Lacking resources, they moved in with Agnes’s parents and Shuggie was born. The distinctions between Catholics and Protestants in Scotland is a constant thread throughout the novel.

After one particularly difficult evening, Agnes drinks herself into a stupor and sets her room on fire. She survives and shortly thereafter Shug announces that he has found them their own home. Lizzie, distrustful of Shug, tries to convince Agnes and the kids to stay but they choose to go. The home is in a terrible part of town, consisting of an old miner’s community where the mines were closed, the men lack work, and everyone is related and into each other’s business. Agnes is mortified. The first person she meets is a woman named Birdie Donnelly. Birdie introduces her to all her family and Agnes observes that “They all looked like Birdie, even the boys, only they looked less masculine.”

Soon after the move, Shug announces that he is leaving. “She had loved him, and he had needed to break her completely to leave her for good. Agnes Bain was too rare a thing to let someone else love. It wouldn’t do to leave pieces of her for another man to collect and repair later.”

Agnes is left drinking herself into oblivion, egged on by her neighbors. In the meantime, it becomes clear that Shuggie, who has devoted himself to his mother, is “different” and the neighbor kids and the kids at school torment him relentlessly. His sister Catherine marries Shug’s nephew, moves to South Africa and is rarely heard from. Leek, a very quiet young man, tries to protect and take care of Shuggie, but ultimately Agnes chases him away. Shuggie becomes physically ill worrying for and taking care of his mother.

At one point Agnes becomes sober but as the result of a relationship goes back to drinking. She decides to move away from the miner’s community and finds an apartment in the city. While living in the city Shuggie makes his first real friend, the only up beat part of the story. In many ways, the move to the city is where Agnes’s story ends.

The novel is filled with poverty, cruelty, alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual abuse and mental illness. Most of the men in the story are cruel, abusive and single minded. Shuggie struggles with his differences and his sexuality and most of the people he encounters are mean to him and try to take advantage of him. The book is a rough read based on theme but it is beautifully written and it won the 2020 Booker Prize. You can reserve Shuggie Bain at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

The Vixen“The Vixen” is a sort of coming of age story that takes place in the 1950s, during America’s struggle to assess its morality in the McCarthy era. The novel, in many but not all ways, revolves around the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in 1953.

Simon Putnam narrates the story and has just graduated from Harvard with a degree in Folklore and Mythology. Despite a reference from his renowned professor Robertson Crowley, Simon is rejected from a graduate program in Norse literature at the University of Chicago. Simon is in awe of professor Crowley, explaining that when he sat through his lectures “I felt that I was hearing the answer to a question that I hadn’t known enough to ask.” After his rejection from the University of Chicago, Simon has no choice but to return home to his parents in Coney Island.

Two weeks after he returns from Harvard, Simon sits with his parents and watches the news surrounding the execution of the Rosenbergs. The Putnam family is sympathetic to the Rosenbergs and has a personal tie to Ethel. “My mother grew up on the Lower East Side, in the same tenement building as Ethel…They went to the same high school.” These were not things you told people during those times. Nor did you tell people that, despite your name, you are Jewish.

Simon’s uncle, Madison Putnam, is a distinguished literary critic and arranges for Simon to go to work for Landry, Landry and Bartlett, a distinguished publisher of literary fiction. Simon’s job is junior assistant editor, with the responsibility of reviewing unsolicited manuscripts. On his first day he meets Julia, who has been fired and whose job he is taking. Julia gives him some tips and leaves. No one at the publishing house really acknowledges Simon, except for Warren Landry, one of the named partners and Elaine Geller, the Firm’s publicity director. One of the other named partners, Preston Bartlett, has had some sort of break down and is living in an asylum. He shows up at the offices from time to time.

Warren Landry is described as a charismatic lady’s man, with a past in military intelligence. “His diction and accent combined the elongated vowels of a New England blueblood with the dentalized plosives and flat a’s of a Chicago gangster.” After about six months at Landry, Landry and Bartlett, Warren Landry pays a visit to Simon and assigns him the job of editing a novel called “The Vixen, the Patriot, and the Fanatic”, “a steamy bodice-ripper based on the Rosenberg case.” This is not the type of novel the Firm would normally consider. Warren explains to Simon that the firm is languishing and in need of money and that he believes the novel will be a best seller and bring the firm to solvency. Simon is also told that the existence of the novel is a secret.

“It was strange that I, of all the young editors in New York, should have been chosen to work on that book…My being assigned “The Vixen” was, I thought, pure coincidence.”

As he reads through the novel Simon struggles with its content and its portrayal of Ethel Rosenberg as a sexual temptress, someone very different from who she was. He has lunch with his Uncle Madison in an effort to seek advice without disclosing the information about the novel. His Uncle, an arrogant man, advises him to make the “lady writer…fall in love with you.”

Simon asks to meet the mysterious author, Anya Partridge, who interestingly lives in the same asylum as Prescott Bartlett. They immediately begin a romantic relationship.

Simon continues to struggle with editing what is a terrible novel and his interactions with Anya become ever more steamy until suddenly, Anya disappears. When Simon returns to the asylum to ask after her, he decides to pay a visit to Preston Bartlett, who advises that the firm is not quite what he thinks it is.  He also learns a bit about his favorite professor, although that comes later.   From here, things become extremely interesting, as Simon struggles with his ethical obligations and morality. The novel ends with this thought about life: “Everything was beautiful except what we do when we forget our humanity, our human dignity, our higher purpose.” Words to live by!

I loved this novel. It is a great story with lots of twists and turns and interesting and complex characters. It is beautifully written and gives the reader a lot to think about in the midst of all the action. The novel can be reserved at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

Whereabouts“Whereabouts” is a short novel that follows the solitary life of a middle aged woman through her daily movements from place to place. The novel consist of 46 chapters, each of which is a different place. Through her regular activity we learn a great deal about the life of the unnamed protagonist, who is a 45 year old university professor.

The novel begins with the main character seeing a close male friend on the street. There is some sexual tension between the two, but the man’s wife is a friend and nothing seems to happen between them. This man, his wife and their children are the one constant throughout the novel. At one point, due to a medical emergency, the protagonist takes care of their house and their dog for a number of days.

A few of the chapters are entitled “In My Head.” Through these chapters and certain others, we learn quite a bit about the main character’s family. Her mother, who at the time of the novel is quite old, was difficult and emotionally abusive. “…oh what rages she would fly into, when she way my age! I remember days, in summer, when I’d be tempted to get up and close the windows so that the neighbors wouldn’t hear her, because I’d blocked that rage inside.” Her father was introverted, tight with finances and died young and suddenly. She reflects that when she is in a store, “if I admire something but don’t buy it, if I walk out and manage to avoid the cash register, I feel like a virtuous daughter.” She blames much of her solitude and unhappiness on her childhood. “I mourn my unhappy origins.”

We learn a bit about her romantic life–the former boyfriend who was leading two lives, the prior lovers, the married men. “Never married, but like all women, I’ve had my share of married men.”

Most of the book is deeply introspective although parts are also observational. The main character seems deeply unhappy although she has moments of peace. The end of the novel provides some hope that she may find a way to work out of her isolation. The novel is beautifully written and the style and format evoke emotional connection with the main character. I really liked this novel but it is not a traditional novel with a traditional story and may not be for everyone. You can reserve this novel at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

Anxious People“A bank robbery. A hostage drama.  A stairwell of police officers on their way to storm an apartment. It was easy to get to this point, much easier than you might think. All it took was one single really bad idea.”

Anxious People is the story of a bank robber and the bank robber’s hostages. Or maybe it’s not. Anxious People is a story about suicide and unexpected connections. Or maybe it’s not. Anxious People is about the mistakes we make in life and the importance of empathy and forgiveness. And that is what Anxious People is about.

But there is a bank robber. A bumbling bank robber, who tries to rob a cashless bank for precisely six thousand five hundred Kronors (roughly $780). The bank teller, whose name is London and who is a miserable person and has no friends, asks the bank robber (who is armed by the way), “Are you, like, totally stupid?” Before the bank robber, who is having second thoughts about the robbery, can answer, London advises that “Look, I’m going to call the cops now!”

The bank robber runs out of the bank and into the nearest building, up the stairs and to the top floor. An apartment door is open for an open house and the bank robber enters. So begins the hostage situation.

The hostage situation is being addressed by a father and son police duo, Jim and Jack. While they are trying to figure out how to handle the hostage situation, a more experienced team from Stockholm is on its way—the ultimate embarrassment for the duo.  Jack and Jim seem a bit incompetent.  Jim, Jack’s father spends most of his time worrying over Jack’s safety. Jim’s wife, Jack’s mother, had died and they are both still grieving.

Ten years earlier, as a teenager, Jack had encountered a man standing on a bridge. Jack tried to talk him down but the man jumped anyway. The man had lost all of his money in a financial crisis and the banks were unwilling to loan him more. A week later, Jack saw a teenage girl at the same bridge. He tackled her and prevented her from jumping. It was his desire to help people that led him to being a policeman.

Back to the hostage situation. The hostages are an eclectic crew. There is Zara, a wealthy banker who just goes to open houses for sport and has deep seated issues with the career she has chosen. She regularly sees a psychologist, Nadia, and their interactions are difficult at best.

Then there is Anna-Lena and Roger, an older couple who buy apartments, renovate them and sell them. They have a unique approach to obtaining the properties they choose and are very competitive with anyone else in the open houses.

Or and Julia are a young same sex couple expecting their first child and looking for a home. They seem to fight constantly.

There is elderly Estelle, whose husband Knut is out parking the car and never arrives at the open house.  And finally, the open house includes the slightly wacky real estate agent and a man dressed like a rabbit.

During the course of the hostage situations we learn a lot about each of these people and we see them learn about each other and develop relationships. There are lots of twists and turns and ultimately when the police enter the apartment (after the hostages order and eat pizza), the bank robber is nowhere to be found, but there is blood all over the living room floor.

Next come a series of interviews and flashbacks, where we learn even more about each of the characters.

The novel is written in sort of a glib, irreverent style, but I really liked this book. It is truly a tale of empathy and kindness even in the most difficult situations. The characters reflect real life issues, including parent child relationships, romantic relationships, professional doubts, grief and aging. The novel provides insight into the possibilities when people try to understand each other and work together. I highly recommend this novel. You can reserve it at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.

Deacon King Kong“Deacon Cuffy Lambkin of Five Ends Baptist Church became a walking dead man on a cloudy September afternoon in 1969. That’s the days the old deacon, known as Sportcoat to his friends, marched out to the plaza of the Causeway Housing Projects in South Brooklyn, stuck an ancient .45 Luger in the face of a nineteen-year-old drug dealer named Deems Clemens, and pulled the trigger.”

Sportcoat is 71 years old and well known in the Projects. His wife, Hettie, had recently died and he spends most of his time talking to Hettie, drinking homemade liquor affectionately referred to as King Kong and doing odd jobs. Sportcoat belongs to the Five Ends Baptist Church and Hettie had been the Treasurer and responsible for keeping the Christmas Club money. When Hettie died, no one knew where she kept the money. Sportcoat is obsessed with finding the money. Almost everyone in the novel is obsessed with finding Sportcoat.

Every year the projects receive a large delivery of gourmet cheese and the residents stand in line to get a share of the cheese. No one knows where it comes from or who is responsible, but it shows up every year.

The shooting of Deems Clemens sets off a series of unique events, bringing a wide array of characters together in very unlikely ways. An honest police officer by the name of Potts, just a couple of months from retirement, is assigned to the case. Potts is big, Irish and white. He spends a lot of time at the Church and in the community, where he gets to know sister Gee. There are sparks.

Sportcoat does some work for an 89 year old Italian widow named Mrs. Elefante. Her deceased husband, Guido Elefante was a smuggler. Their son, 45 year old Thomas Elefante, nicknamed the Elephant, has carried on the business. He strikes fear into the heart of almost everyone, but is an extremely complex character. The Elephant and Sportcoat have not crossed paths.  However, when a friend of the Elephant’s father pays the Elephant a visit and asks a favor, worlds collide.

The drug dealers behind Deems and Deems want Sportcoat. They are all a tad incompetent. When their local man fails to get him, they bring in a professional hitman to take care of Sportcoat. This is where things get really interesting and I am not going to tell you any more of the story.

“Deacon King Kong” is a mystery and a cultural romp through 1969 New York City, covering racial equity, mobsters, religion, love and change. This novel is fun, full of characters, well written and thoughtful, with twists and turns and a moral to boot. The novel was just named the 2021 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award winner for fiction. Five stars. You can reserve the novel at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.

Interior Chinatown“Interior Chinatown” is a creatively conceived story of the difficulty of being Asian in America. The story is told by Willis Wu, the adult son of Chinese immigrants.

Willis is an actor, usually playing minor roles and longing to be “Kung Fu Guy.” “Ever since you were a boy, you’ve dreamt of being Kung Fu Guy. You are not Kung Fu Guy.” Willis’s parents were also actors, playing minor parts throughout their lives and otherwise working at the Golden Palace. Willis’s parents live separately and are borderline destitute in old age. Willis’s older brother, Older Brother, is extremely talented and foregoes the opportunity to become an actor and instead becomes a lawyer (which, let’s face it, is really just a different type of performance).

Willis’s father was highly educated, but because he was Chinese was unable to find work in his field or to live safely outside of Chinatown. Willis’s mother was shifted from sister to sister in America and worked as a nurse’s aide. They met working in the Golden Palace restaurant. As result of discrimination against Asian Americans, Willis and his parents live in the Chinatown SRO Apartments. “Open a window in the SRO on a summer night and you can hear at least five dialects being spoken…” The SRO consists of seven floors of single room apartments with one shared bathroom on each floor, and the Golden Palace on the ground level.

At the start of the novel Willis has a role in a detective drama with two police officers labeled Black and White (for their races). Black is the extremely handsome Miles Turner and White is the attractive Sarah Green. Everything is described in terms of racial identity. “Dead Asian Guy”, “Old Asian Man”, “Black Dude Cop”—you get the idea.

Willis meets the beautiful Karen Lee, who is playing a detective in one of the detective shows. They fall in love, marry and have a child. Karen is offered her own program which will enable the family to move out of the SRO and into the suburbs. There is also a place for Willis in the program. At this point though, Willis is finding independent acting success and decides to stay in Chinatown, hoping to finally become Kung Fu Guy. The family splits up.

Willis’s acting roles bleed into his real life so that it is hard to tell where the acting ends and where his real life begins. And of course this is because Willis has a hard time identifying himself as anything other than Asian Man, simply believing that this is how the world sees him. Willis also worries that he has no right to complain about the discrimination he feels when there are so many other groups of Americans who also experience discrimination based on how they look and the color of their skin. As a result, he simply disappears into a role and feels otherwise invisible.

The book ends with a history of discrimination against the Chinese in America and Willis  on trial for the way he perceives himself and the world. Older Brother is Willis’s attorney. In closing argument, Older Brother sums it up this way: “Chinatown and indeed being Chinese is and always has been, from the very beginning, a construction, a performance of features, gestures, culture and exoticism. To watch the mainstream, find out what kind of fiction they are telling themselves, find a bit part in it. Be appealing and acceptable, be what they want to see.”

At the end, Willis understands the importance of his ex-wife and daughter and the need to live as himself and not within a role. The novel is a unique perspective on the Chinese experience in America, even daring in spots, but it is not at all subtle (and in light of current events that seems completely appropriate). Interior Chinatown won the 2020 National Book Award for fiction and can be reserved at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.

The Vanishing HalfStella and Desiree Vignes are twin sisters born and raised in Mallard, Louisiana and inseparable through childhood. Mallard is not exactly a town but more of a place with an identity. “The town had never actually been a town at all. State officials considered it a village but the United States Geological Survey referred to it only as a populated place.”

Mallard was unique, “A town that, like any other, was more idea than place…The idea arrived to Alphonse Decuir in 1848…A town for men like him, who would never be accepted as white but refused to be treated like Negroes…” The town consisted of very light skinned African Americans. Stella and Desiree fell into this category, as did their mother, Agnes. Their father had been lynched and murdered when they were children.

The novel starts with Desiree returning to Mallard in 1968, after having left in 1954 at the age of 16. Stella and Desiree had run away to New Orleans and lived together until Stella disappeared and abandoned Desiree in 1956. Desiree found herself in Washington DC, married to an abusive man and with a daughter, Jude. Desiree returns to Mallard in an effort to escape her abusive marriage and because she has nowhere else to go. Jude is elementary school age at the time and an outcast in the town because of the very dark color of her skin. “They weren’t used to having a dark child amongst them and were surprised by how much it upset them.” By the time Desiree returned to Mallard it had been 13 years since she had heard from Stella.

Stella, as it happened, had “passed over” and was living in Los Angeles with her white husband, Blake Sanders, and their blond child, Kennedy. Apparently no one was aware that she was in fact, black, and she was fearful that someone would find out.

The years go by and Desiree stays in Mallard and has a relationship with a kind man named Early Jones. Jude gets a track scholarship to UCLA and goes off to California for school. During her first year she meets Reese Carter and they develop a romantic relationship which lasts throughout the novel. Reese is a transgender man, which causes some complexity in the relationship.

Jude works a number of odd jobs while in college and while working a catering job at a party in Los Angeles, she sees Stella. Jude befriends Kennedy and if you want to know what happens you need to read the book. Ultimately, Jude goes to medical school, Agnes dies, and a lot happens in between.

The story is clever and an enjoyable read. That said, I did not like it as much as I felt I was supposed to, the characters and places seemed contrived and the writing is just so so. I have read worse and I have read better! You can reserve the novel at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.

Leave the World Behind“Leave the World Behind” is a dystopian novel that feels all too real. Something is happening but no one seems to know what.

Clay and Amanda, average New York City dwellers, have rented a luxurious house on Long Island for a much needed vacation with their two teenage children, Archie and Rose. Amanda found the house on Airbnb, where the owner suggested that the renter “Step into our beautiful house and leave the world behind.” During the lengthy drive from Manhattan, Amanda  is thinking about work and her need to be needed, Clay is thinking about cigarettes and Rose is thinking about her friends. As they approach the house on Long Island they begin to lose cell phone reception. The house is beautiful, luxurious and has a pool and hot tub. “The photographs on the website were a promise, and it was fulfilled.”

The day after they arrive the family enjoys a hot sunny day at the beach. They make dinner upon their return, the kids go to sleep and Clay and Amanda sit together slightly drunk. Suddenly Amanda is certain she hears a noise. Then there is a knock at the door. Standing at the front door is an older black couple. They introduce themselves as G. H. (George) and Ruth Washington, the owners of the house. They explain that while they were in the city at the symphony New York experienced a blackout. They live on the 14th floor of a building on Park Avenue between 81st and 82nd and did not think they would be able to climb 14 stories, so they decided to drive out to Long Island. They were pleased to see that the power was still on and they ask to stay in the house, offering Amanda and Clay $1000 in cash. Ultimately, after a lot of hesitation on Amanda’s part, some of it racial (“This didn’t seem to her like the sort of house where black people lived”), Amanda and Clay agree. The couple had built an in-law suite in the basement and that is where they stay.

The next morning Amanda sees some headlines on her phone indicating a major blackout on the east coast. Then the phone completely stops working, as do the televisions and the Wi-Fi. Rose steps outside and sees at the edge of the property what appears to be 1000 deer. She does not tell her parents for fear that they will  not believe her.

Clay decides to drive into town and get the news about what might be happening. He drives and drives, but gets completely lost. There are no other cars about but he sees a woman walking along the road. She speaks to him in another language and is clearly terrified. He just leaves her on the road. While he is away, Amanda and Ruth get to know each other. G. H. is a wealthy fund manager. Ruth had been in admissions at Dalton school. We learn that Clay is a tenured professor of English and Media studies at City College and Amanda works in advertising.

Archie and Rose go walking in the woods, where they see another house. While they are in the woods, while Clay is driving around, while G. H. and Amanda are in the hot tub and while Ruth is in the house, there is a noise. “A noise, but that didn’t cover it…This was a noise, yes, but one so loud that it was a physical presence…Of course, they’d never heard a noise like that before. You didn’t hear such a noise; you experienced it, endured it, survived it, witnessed it.”

Everyone returns to the house. Archie is not feeling well and goes to sleep. The two adult women react to each other. Ruth resents having them in her house. Amanda “blamed them for bringing the world into this house.” Clay, Amanda and G. H. get into the hot tub and they hear splashing in the pool, where they see seven pink flamingos. No one is able to explain what pink flamingos are doing in Long Island. And then suddenly, there is another noise.

Clay, Amanda, Archie and Rose all sleep together that night. In the morning, Archie throws up and then his teeth start to fall out. G. H. and Clay leave to take him to the hospital, stopping first at the home of an acquaintance of G. H. The acquaintance tells them that they should not be out, that everything is shut down and that they might be under attack.

The reader learns that there are airplanes that no one knows exists traveling across the continent to intercept enemies. People are dying all over the country. In the end, the status of the world, of the couples and the children are unknown. But should they have seen this coming? Should we see this coming? “…the information had always been out there waiting for them, in the gradual death of Lebanon’s cedars, in the disappearance of the river dolphin, in the renaissance of cold-war hatred, in the discovery of fusion, in the capsizing vessels crowded with Africans. No one could plead ignorance that was not willful.”

The novel is frighteningly real. You can feel it happening. This novel reminds me of Nevil Shute’s novel, “On the Beach”, except slightly (and only slightly) more hopeful. I really don’t know how I feel about this well written, yet incredibly creepy book. You can reserve it at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here. After you read this, let me know what you think. I really want to know!

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.

HamnetHamnet is a story of family, loss and overwhelming grief. The story begins with an historical Note advising the reader that “Hamnet died in 1596, aged eleven. ~Four years or so later, the father wrote a play called Hamlet.”

The story begins at Hamnet’s home in Stratford, where his twin sister Judith has fallen extremely ill, the house is empty and Hamnet is desperately seeking help. “This moment is the absent mother’s: the boy, the empty house, the deserted yard, the unheard cry.” His mother is at Hewlands, her prior home, working with her bees. His older sister, Susanna is with their grandmother Mary out selling gloves. His Father is in London where he works  and his grandfather, a frightening figure, slaps him for hanging around. At the beginning stages of the story we learn that the grandfather, John, is a disgraced business man who has fallen from a position of respect. The reasons for the fall are not quite clear but his business dealings are fraught. He is known to beat his children.

The first part of the book shifts, on a chapter by chapter basis, from Hamnet’s story until  his death, to the story of how his parents met. As a young man, his Father, who is never identified by name (Shakespeare of course!), is indentured to a farming family to tutor the family’s boys in Latin. The indenture is intended to pay off John’s debt to the family. One day while tutoring the boys the Father sees a young woman who strikes him. He begins to talk to her, thinking she is a servant of the household and quickly falls for her. The woman is Agnes, the daughter of the farmer who had died a number of years before. She lives on the farm with her brother, Bartholomew, stepmother, Joan and many half siblings. Her father had left her a significant dowry. Her stepmother treats her terribly.

Agnes is rumored to be “strange, touched, peculiar, perhaps mad.” In reality, she has the ability to see a person’s future and has an innate knowledge of plants and their healing powers. When Joan refuses the Father’s request to marry Agnes, Agnes makes the decision to become pregnant, thereby forcing the issue. “We can, she said, take matters into our own hands.” Of course Agnes and the Father marry and they move into an apartment in John and Mary’s house. At the wedding Bartholomew, who is described as very large and strong, whispers to the Father, “’Take good care of her, Latin boy, very good care, and no harm will come to you.”

Although it is Judith who is very ill, she survives and Hamnet succumbs to the plague. Agnes is inconsolable and the Father does not get back to Stratford from London before Hamnet dies. They bury their son and then the Father announces that he must get back to London, where he runs a playhouse. The second part of the novel focuses on grief and the relationship between Agnes and the Father. The description of profound grief in all its phases takes the reader deep into the family’s pain.

After Hamnet’s death, the Father’s visits to Stratford become less frequent and his correspondence also becomes less frequent. Agnes questions his faithfulness. Agnes discovers, through her stepmother, Joan, that the Father has written and is producing a play in London called Hamlet. Agnes is furious and she and Bartholomew travel to London on horseback to see the play. It is while she is watching the play that she suddenly understands her Husband’s deep grief.

There are a lot of other things going on in the novel—character studies, sixteenth century superstitions, friendships and more. However, the novel is mostly about grief. It is beautifully written and very sad. The novel won the 2020 Women’s Prize. You can reserve Hamnet at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.

Homeland Elegies“Homeland Elegies” is a complex, part novel, part memoir about an American Muslim’s complicated relationship with his country and his family. The novel begins with a letter from the author to his readers, explaining the intent of the novel. “I wrote Homeland Elegies in something of a fever dream after my mother passed away, and after Donald Trump’s election…I wanted to remember what it was that brought them here…fifty years ago…Above all, I wanted to remember what this half-century had been for us…Elegies, then, for homelands of various sorts, as told by the child of a generation, caught between notions of home, of success, of belonging, and most of all, of America.”

The novel begins with the author talking about his college professor, May Moroni, who significantly  influenced him  and encouraged his writing. The novel ends with him lecturing at her college many years later. But the time between…

Ayad’s parents, both physicians, were Muslim immigrants from Pakistan. His father was excited to be in America and his mother longed for home. His father was a well-regarded cardiologist, with a specialty in Brugada syndrome, a rare heart rhythm disorder. It was this specialty that brought him into contact with Donald Trump in 1993. Trump had been experiencing heart palpitations and Brugada was suspected. Trump flew Dr. Sikander Akhtar into New York and he began to run tests and provide treatment. By 1997 it was determined that Mr. Trump’s condition was not Brugada and the relationship ended, but Dr. Akhtar was a devoted supporter of Mr. Trump. Dr. Akhtar suffered constant financial reversals, initially due to his efforts to become a real estate baron and ultimately due to his addiction to gambling and alcohol.

Ayad’s mother had seen absolute horror as a child during the partition of India and Pakistan and was fearful of India and devoted to Pakistan. The relationship between mother and father is complicated. Ayad’s mother had been in love with another medical student, Latif, who was promised in marriage to Anjum. Anjum and Latif also moved to America and the two couples remained friends. Latif ultimately became disenchanted with America, its materialism and the impact America was having on his children and moved the family back to Pakistan. In Peshwar Pakistan, Latif provided medical care for the needy.    The United States government  paid for the  clinic.  However, the clinic was also used for American intelligence and provided medical care for mujahedeen fighters from across the border. Ultimately, after the Americans left Afghanistan, Larif was killed in a “raid” targeting a terrorist Muslim network.

Ayad decides to become a writer and it is a struggle at first. His aunt, Asma, a professor of literature and critical theory at University of Connecticut, warns him that it is a hard life and that he should always be respectful of his own people in his work. After a particularly shocking experience of bigotry, Ayad “would soon begin a series of works founded on my own unwillingness to pretend I was not conflicted about my country or my place in it. Paradoxically, these were the works that would lead to me finally finding my way as a writer in my American homeland…”

While putting on a play in New York, Ayad is introduced to wealthy hedge fund manager, Riaz Rind, who had read the play’s script, contributed to its production and attended the play. The two become friendly and Rind shares with Ayad his frustrations with white Americans. “In this country the white majority is basically blind to the worst in themselves. They see themselves in the image of their best, and they see us in the image of their worst.” Riaz has a foundation and invites Ayad to sit on its Board. Ayad  meets all kinds of wealthy and famous people, travels with Riaz and experiences a very wealthy side of life. As he gets to know Riaz better, Riaz tells him about his childhood. His parents came to America from Pakistan and settled in Pennsylvania. His father was thwarted from starting a mosque in Wiles-Barre and Scranton. The family was subjected to blatant discrimination in both places.

Riaz starts a new investment business. Ayad’s had inherited approximately $300,000 from his mother which he invests in Riaz’s business and Ayad becomes very wealthy. A number of municipalities, particularly in Pennsylvania, also invest and lose most of their money.

Ayad describes various other relationships, both romantic and otherwise. He experiences various incidents of blatant discrimination based solely on the color of his skin and religion. He describes his writing practices and his ability to perceive certain things before they happen. The books ends when his father moves back to Pakistan after suffering through a medical malpractice trial infused with racism. Ayad concludes that America had become a place where the accumulation of wealth had become the only purpose. When his father escapes his financial difficulties in America he seemed to find peace.

The novel is interesting, thought provoking and provides a unique perspective on the lives most of us take for granted. It is not in any way a traditional novel and it is not an easy read. You can reserve a copy of the novel at the Cuyahoga County Public Library by clicking here.

From Briefs to Books was recently featured in Ohio and Kentucky Super Lawyers Magazine. To see the feature in Super Lawyers, click here.