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This is a historical novel about Samuel Beckett in wartime. He’s a favorite of mine and this book takes us to Paris during the Occupation. He could have retreated to Ireland, but his writing life and his girlfriend were embedded in France. However, as things grew dire, writing seemed irrelevant in the face of privation, fear, and increasing atrocities. He ended up working with the underground and this reconnected him with his art. Baker is a fine storyteller. She also manages to recreate scenes that I recognized as inspiration for some of his work. A tour de force. Note: I read this back in 2016, wanted something to listen to in the car, and was captivated again many years later.
You’d think working for Asher, a billionaire who wants to give away all his money for good causes with no strings attached, would be a dream job. Brooke, who had a disappointing stint teaching at a school which summarily slashed the arts budget, leaps at the opportunity. Brooke is Black, adopted by white liberal parents. Asher soon promotes her. On her way to becoming the anointed one on staff, two factors bring her down. First the siren song of money; she starts to spend a bit loosely on herself. Then she comes across complicated strings with ethical implications. At a disastrous dinner party when a guest asks her to refill his glass, she slips into the role of server with ironic awareness. She goes off into the night, leaving it all behind her. Free at last but then what? Initially I was turned off by the milieu of entitled people, full of best intentions clouded by ego, greed and meanness. But since I couldn’t stop thinking about the book, I decided to share it with you.
In Alabama an old man known as The Prophet has intense visions that he paints on the walls of his dilapidated cabin in the woods. He comes across a scene that looks like human trafficking and manages to rescue a very young girl and take her home with him. Her name is Michael, and the Prophet is convinced she’s been sent to carry the warnings he’s witnessed to Washington, DC. An uneasy but ultimately sweet relationship develops between them. That spectral figure in the title keeps showing up as a devil’s advocate of sorts, but the old man sticks to his fervent beliefs. The ending is bittersweet, but I certainly hoped that after the Prophet died, Michael would find a new path, free from the lures of her past life. This book is a fine example of Southern Gothic.
The Tigris and the Thames play out in history throughout this astonishing book. From Mesopotamia long, long ago to London in the mid-1850s to both locations in contemporary times, we follow a drop of water as it carries the story. Three indelible characters flesh it out: brilliant Arthur who rises from the slums of London because he can decipher cuneiform (he’s obsessed with finding the tablets that spell out the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh ; current day Narin who belongs to the persecuted, almost decimated Yesdizi tribe that can be linked way back to that long-ago time when the tablets were created; and Zaleekha, who lives in a houseboat on the Thames and studies the movement of water. Both rivers have suffered greatly from “progress.” Shafak brings in rich background details like mystical and religious practices, and descriptions of middle eastern feasts.
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