Becoming Lady Washington: A Novel From The Perspective of George Washington's Wife

Most of the books that I receive from publicist Wiley Saicheck have been mysteries or thrillers.  So I was astonished when he offered me Becoming Lady Washington by Betty Bolté which is historical fiction.  Since historical fiction is a favorite genre of mine and I do love reading about 18th century America, I agreed to accept a digital version prior to publication that Wiley Saichek gifted to me via Amazon.  

If you would like to see what I've previously written about George Washington,  I can direct you to my review of a history of the American Revolution called Scars of Independence which includes a paragraph about Washington here ,  and my review of an alternate history called The Trial and Execution of the Traitor George Washington here.  My impression of Washington has been rather favorable.  So I didn't come to this book as a Washington critic. 


                            

 As a reader, I can't exactly check my 21st century perspective at the door.  This influences my subjective impression of the characters.  I want to be very clear in this review about the difference between the historical portrayal of these real individuals, and how I felt about them.  I believe that an honest review should include both. 

George Washington was and is revered for good reason.  The United States was very fortunate to have had a first president with a sense of honor and integrity.  He was all about service to his country.  If he had been oriented toward maintaining himself in power,  the history of the United States would have been very different.  It also seemed to me while I was reading  Bolté 's book that he had a very positive influence on his wife.

Martha was inclined to view home and family as her highest priorities.  There is nothing wrong with this perspective, but she was married to a man who had a great love for his country.  This love of country was a source of conflict between them.  It took some time for Martha to respect what he valued.  I think that the turning point happened during the American Revolution.  Martha Washington evolved into a patriot over the course of this novel.  This is why the title Becoming Lady Washington is so appropriate.

What makes both George and Martha most problematic in the 21st century is the issue of slavery.  Washington was unusual in considering himself an abolitionist, but believing yourself to be an abolitionist and actually being one were two different things.  See my discussion of  19th century Quaker abolitionists in my review of Slavery and the Meetinghouse here.  It all amounts to privileged people valuing their positions of privilege more than the rights of persons of color. That's why they didn't favor the abolition of slavery during their own lifetimes.   George Washington wrote in his will that his slaves would be freed after the death of Martha.  He wanted to preserve Martha's position of privilege.  Being privileged, meant that she took slavery for granted.  We see in Becoming Lady Washington that she wasn't intentionally abusive toward slaves, but the idea of a life without slaves was unthinkable until she had to think of it.

There is a book dealing with Oona Judge, a runaway slave that belonged to the Washingtons called Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar.   I haven't read this book yet, but I recognize that it changed many people's thinking about Washington and slavery when it was published.  Once you know something, you can't unknow it.  It influences the way you read books on the subject afterwards.

I found the characters and period details in Becoming Lady Washington accurate and credible.  Since I enjoy research, I liked learning about various aspects of daily life, and medical conditions mentioned in this novel about which I had no previous knowledge.  Washington's carbuncle was an unusual example.

Martha herself was likable, and I appreciated her adaptability to difficult circumstances that occurred throughout her life.  There are other wives of Founding Fathers who have never been the subjects of novels so far as I know.  Perhaps Betty Bolté will one day amaze us by writing fiction dealing with one of them.

                            

The Museum of Extraordinary Things--Alice Hoffman Discovers An Earlier New York

I wouldn't have read The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman now if the libraries hadn't been closed.  When I find books mentioned and go to the library websites to locate them, I now look for e-book editions that would enable me to check them out without waiting for libraries to re-open in the uncertain future.  This is the second library e-book that I've read lately.  The first was science fiction/mystery crossover, An Oath of Dogs, which I reviewed here.

 I honestly didn't believe I would want to write a full length blog review of The Museum of Extraordinary Things until I started reading Hoffman's acknowledgements and the Reading Group Guide questions. I then realized that I had multiple paragraphs worth of topics to discuss, and that my rating would rise accordingly.  There was more to this book than I had initially thought.

                           

One of my motivations for wanting to read The Museum of Extraordinary Things is the focus on sideshow performers who are often stigmatized as "freaks".  I am interested in their struggle  to be treated as human beings.

 I reviewed a trilogy by Hayley Lawson-Smith dealing with a circus whose original owner had an innovative and remarkably egalitarian approach toward his sideshow performers revealed in the first book of The Julius Romeros Extravaganza which I reviewed on my discontinued blog here.  The attitude of "Professor" Sardie, the "Museum's" owner, toward sideshow performers in Hoffman's book is much more akin to the villainous new owner of the Julius Romeros Extravaganza in Book 2  of Lawson-Smith's trilogy which I reviewed here .  Though Professor Sardie  isn't as relentlessly abusive as that second owner in the Lawson-Smith trilogy.

The female protagonist, Coralie Sardie,  ended up being an involuntary participant in the so called "museum". I wished that she could have been more independent sooner.  Yet I did understand that she was young and had little experience of the world away from the "Professor's"  dominance.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things is set in New York in 1911.  Alice Hoffman tells us that the events of the novel are bookended by two major fires that actually occurred that year. The first was The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire  whose casualties led to union demands for improved factory conditions.  The Wikipedia article I've linked includes an extensive list of resources related to this event.  I was thinking about the conditions of meat packers that has led to meat packing factories becoming coronavirus hotspots when I read about the Triangle Factory Fire and its aftermath in Hoffman's book.  Perhaps there is something to be learned from the success of early 20th century garment workers in getting their safety concerns addressed.  Toward the end of The Museum of Extraordinary Things, I also felt that there were parallels between the female victims of the factory fire, and Coralie's situation in the "Museum" building.

Inwood, the wooded area at the northern tip of Manhattan, is another aspect of Hoffman's novel that made me feel connected to it.  As I mentioned in my 2017 review of  Lights Out Summer, which I reviewed here , I lived in Inwood for four years.  This is the second book I've read this year in which Inwood played a significant role.  The first was The Girls With No Names which took place, largely in Inwood, during 1913. I reviewed it on Flying High Reviews here.  When I lived there, Inwood Hill Park was and still is the last patch of wild left in Manhattan.  It felt like a magical place to me.  I could imagine that forest covering a great deal more territory in the early 20th century when I was reading this novel.  I identified with Eddie Cohen's feelings about this place.  Eddie was the male protagonist of The Museum of Extraordinary Things.  Eddie considered the forest that covered the northern tip of Manhattan a refuge where he went when the city felt like an urban hell.  There were times when I felt the same way.

There is a mystery aspect to this book.  Photographer Eddie Cohen had played amateur detective by finding missing people.  When one of the missing turns out to have been murdered, Eddie is asked by the family to solve this killing. I loved Eddie's determination, and his willingness to do what seemed impossible. Eddie was actually my favorite character in The Museum of Extraordinary Things. He did transgress against ethical norms at times,  but I found his motivations understandable and I thought he always had a good heart.  He was loyal to those who he considered deserving of loyalty and kept his commitments.

Between the significant themes, the fire that has echoed down the centuries, the New York setting, the compelling characters and a resolved mystery that gave the living and the dead closure,  I have to consider this an excellent novel.

                             










                            

                        

Beaming Up and Getting Off--Star Trek Actor Walter Koenig's Latest Memoir

Since this is a blog, I sometimes don't forego the temptation to ramble a bit about subjects connected to the book under review.  This is one of the times when I decided that I really ought to exercise restraint. Recording my history of involvement in Star Trek fandom and my feelings about Babylon 5 would be cathartic, but aren't what readers of this review are really looking for.

I'm going to focus this blog entry on Walter Koenig, the author of Beaming Up and Getting Off which is an update on his previous memoirs, Chekov's Enterprise and Warped Factors.  Since I didn't read either one of those, all of this material is new to me, but there are one hundred additional pages that weren't included in the previous books. For Babylon 5 fans,  I should mention that there is an introduction by J. Michael Straczynski , the creator of that series.  I was provided with a digital review copy by publicist Jennifer Musico.

                              

I enjoy reading memoirs.  Most are focused on events.  They tend to avoid being too candid about the subject's thoughts and feelings.  I found Walter Koenig refreshingly honest. In his reminiscences, comic pratfalls meander without embarassment through the wreckage of youthful dreams, and personal pain is peppered with incisive reflections.

Koenig leans toward compassion.  It occurred to me that studying psychology in college had a good influence on Koenig. I am acquainted with individuals whose background in psychology has inclined them to be judgmental.  They are eager to stick diagnostic labels on others.  Yet Koenig seems to be empathic even toward people who had harmed him in the past.

For all his flaws, which are very visible in Beaming Up and Getting Off, I would call Walter Koenig a mensch.  This is a Yiddish term for decent human being.

                        

Mila's Tale: A Biblical Retelling Short Story by Mystery Author Laurie R. King

 I often read separately published short stories at the end of a month, but this is the first time I considered one blogworthy. I came upon "Mila's Tale" by Laurie R. King while browsing through Kindle titles looking for a short story on April 30.  I'd started and abandoned two previously, but I'd never once abandoned a Laurie R. King book unfinished.  She always holds my attention.  So I knew I'd found that final read of the month the moment I saw King's name.

                   

I really liked this modern day retelling of the Biblical story about Jephthah's daughter. King develops her into a relatable character for modern readers which makes the ending feel even more tragic.

Unfortunately,  King appropriates the Jewish term midrash to describe her story.  I'm  sorry Ms. King, but midrash simply doesn't apply in this case.  I grew up hearing midrashim throughout my childhood.  They're considered part of the oral tradition of Judaism.  They contain missing scenes or details that weren't included in the text.  They flow seamlessly from the original.  Jewish children can be so familiar with a midrash that they believe that it's actually in the Bible.  A midrash never displaces the story to a totally different context as happens in "Mila's Tale".  There is nothing wrong with writing retellings of Biblical stories that take place in the contemporary world, but please don't call it a midrash.

An actual midrash  from Ibn Ezra is cited in King's commentary that appears after the story. It reminded me of the Euripides play, Iphigenia in Tauris.  Like Euripides, Ibn Ezra re-wrote the ending of the story so that it's more to his liking.  Stories like the one of Jephthah's daughter illustrate that ancient Judaism was radically different from the religion as it is currently practiced.

King also refers to feminist theologian Phyllis Trible's Texts of Terror.  Trible sees the story of Jephthah's daughter as an attack on patriarchy.  King wonders why the compilers of Old Testament biblical texts would have included it.  Good question!  The documentary hypothesis conceptualizes the Bible as being composed of differing narratives with varying viewpoints.   See the Wikipedia article I've linked. Also see The Dartmouth Bible which contains annotations that identify certain verses as belonging to one of the particular versions described in the documentary hypothesis.  The Dartmouth Bible was a college textbook of mine. The reason why I bring all this up is because the same Bible that contains the story that Eve was created from Adam's rib also contains Genesis 5:2  which reads as follows in The King James Version:

^" Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created."

So there's a Biblical verse from a perspective that sees both sexes as having been created together as presumed equals. Perhaps the same individual that contributed it, also selected the story of Jephthah's daughter.  We'll never know.

King says that she originally intended to write a series of Biblical retellings like "Mila's Tale".  I would have been interested in seeing them.  I think they would require King to look at the Bible through fresh eyes.   

                         

                          

An Oath of Dogs: A Science Fiction Mystery on a Corporate Moon

I'd never heard of either An Oath of Dogs or its author, Wendy N. Wagner, and would probably never have encountered them if the book hadn't been nominated as a BOM (Book of the Month) on a Goodreads science fiction group.  It didn't win, but it sounded interesting.   I thought I'd check out availability.  The Kindle price was a bit steep for an author I'd never tried.   I checked libraries.  Since libraries are closed, I expected to put it on a list of potential library reads for the future.  To my great surprise, there was an e-book available.   So I went to Overdrive and downloaded it.  This meant I needed to prioritize it because I had a due date.

                         

First, I need to sound a note of caution.  Terrible things happen to dogs in this novel.   If you really love dogs, you might want to skip it.  I don't want anyone to be blindsided and get exposed to things that may be tremendously upsetting to them.

Why should you read it?  I was hooked by the suspenseful mystery element.  The book starts out with a murder. The protagonist, Kate Standish, was also mysterious.  Why did she need a therapy dog?  What had happened to her?  Mysteries pile upon mysteries.  Why had an anti-technological Christian sect, known as the Believers, left Earth?   Is Songheuser, the corporation that the protagonist works for, as benevolent as it seems?  Will we ever find out who killed the widely liked Duncan Chambers?  The suspense gets ramped up and never stops until it's resolved.

There were problems.  Some characters were stereotypical --most notably the loggers who work for Songheuser.  For me, they brought to mind Monty Python's satiric Lumberjack Song which demolishes the stereotype.  There was also a paranormal phenomenon described using a theological term that I thought was inappropriate.  Christians may find that offensive.

Speaking of Christian portrayal, the Believers are referred to as neo-Mennonites.    Yet they have at least one saint which isn't a feature of Mennonite tradition. Saints and images of saints are associated with Catholicism, Episcopalianism (AKA Church of England)  and the Orthodox Churches. Yet I do have to say that Saint Hepzibah was my favorite aspect of Believer practice.

One Goodreads reviewer had a problem that wasn't one for me.  That GR member's issue was with the profitability of logging on a distant planet and shipping it back to Earth over interstellar distances.  If there were a logging industry on Earth, I can see how this wouldn't make sense.  Yet it seemed heavily implied in An Oath of Dogs that environmentalists had won on the home planet.  I can easily imagine that items made of wood had become a luxury on Earth for which there was a high demand among the wealthy.

 I thought that from a mystery perspective, this was a well plotted novel with unexpected developments.   I also found some of the characters engaging.  Unfortunately, it was also a very dark book with some horrific elements that I didn't enjoy.   My response to An Oath of Dogs was ambivalent. I do think that Wendy N. Wagner writes well. I might be willing to read another book by this author.

                              

                    

Cheater's Game: A Lassiter Legal Thriller About Corruption of College Admission

Cheater's Game by Paul Levine is the third book I've read in the Jake Lassiter series of legal mysteries and thrillers.  I reviewed the previous two Lassiter novels, Bum Luck
and Bum Deal at their respective hyperlinks, and really liked the protagonist for his heart and his courage.  I gratefully received an ARC of Cheater's Game from publicist Wiley Saichek.

                           

The cover definitely draws attention to the book. It's very illustrative of the case.  Jake Lassiter's brilliant nephew, Kip, is charged with taking SAT tests on behalf of high school students from families in the  the top 1% .  Kip is guilty, but the novel clearly shows that this is an example of selective enforcement.

In Jake's defense of  Kip,  he brings forward some issues that will cause readers to think about justice, and whether juries should consider fairness.  If the law is enforced unfairly, how can that be redressed?  We have laws about various types of discrimination, but there are other forms of unfairness that occur in the justice system.                          

 Jake's fiancee, brain expert Dr. Melissa Gold, also plays an important role.  I learned about a brain condition in this book that I'd never seen mentioned before .  

I think that Cheater's Game is provocative and original.  I consider it a strong candidate for best thriller of 2020.

                 

    

The Bar Harbor Retirement Home For Famous Writers

 
I usually don't review my Goodreads giveaway wins on this blog.  I am also extremely behind on them. The last one I reviewed on Shomeret: Masked Reviewer was Unsheltered  by Barbara Kingsolver.  You can read that review here .  Despite my best intentions, I didn't read any Goodreads giveaway wins in 2019.  I did have more blog tours than usual and more requests from authors, publishers and publicists that I decided to accept. More than half of my 2019 blog reviews were in the blog tour and review requests category.

The Bar Harbor Retirement Home For Famous Writers (and Their Muses) by Terri-Lynn DeFino was a book I won from Goodreads in 2018.  I review Goodreads giveaway wins in the order  I received them.  I should have read this one a while back. This month, I was fortunate to have some time before a review commitment deadline.  I am trying not to have crowds of them this year.  In other words, I am subjecting my deadlines to social distancing.   Review commitment overload isn't deadly, but good books aren't getting their well-deserved attention from me on a timely basis.

                         

With reports on nursing and retirement homes being centers of coronavirus infection in the news, this novel taking place at a  retirement home that was intended to nurture older authors seems utopian in some ways.  Bar Harbor Retirement Home is not a perfect place, nor are the characters perfect people.  Yet this concept does cause me to think "Wouldn't it be nice if...?"

How wonderful is it in practice?  Actually, it has very good results. There's a collaboration between several authors that probably would never have occurred in other circumstances.  I know from my own experience that effective collaboration involves compromise, and compromise did indeed have to happen in this case.

The physical and emotional wounds of the attendant Cecibel made her the most memorable character in The Bar Harbor Retirement Home For Famous Writers.  We are asked in the Reading Group Guide why Cecibel considered herself a monster.  I would ask why anyone considers themselves monsters.  Monsters come from fairy tales and other types of children's stories that influence us powerfully even once we become adults.  So many appear to believe that when things go badly some individuals or category of individuals must be monsters.  In addition, the stereotypes about beauty and ugliness in fairy tales engender widespread prejudices.  Cecibel is a victim of these prejudices in addition to her overly developed sense of responsibility.

It seemed to me that Cecibel saw herself as like Medusa.  She thought that terrible things would happen if she was fully revealed --not just her physical self, but the entire story of her past.  She needed to be freed from this destructive self-image in order to truly live her life.

Despite my interest in Cecibel, I found characters in the collaboration more sympathetic.   When I didn't find out how that story line was resolved, I was disappointed.

I hoped to enjoy The Bar Harbor Retirement Home For Famous Writers more because I liked the concept so much, but I really did need closure on the lives of the characters in the collaboration.   So I'll be rating it lower on Goodreads than I might have otherwise.