Book Reviews

Ten Degrees of Reckoning: The True Story of a Family's Love and the Will to Survive by Hester Rumberg

A sad, yet remarkable, true story. One of the reasons for writing this were to make people aware of Maritime issues. The book does this without being boring to a non-sailor/cruiser. The writing is simple and clear, and without sensationalism. Rumberg also makes the reader aware of how a small thing can ultimately have a huge impact in one's life.

I was hooked with the first line, "Huwwo?" Larry's Kidney, by Daniel Asa Rose, is indeed an "adventure of a lifetime (really) -- a madcap odyssey of the heart (and kidney) in the most exotic country on earth," as the back cover proclaims.

Larry is something else. Rose shows him as funny, exasperating, morose, kind hearted, unyielding, dictatorial, and expansive by turns, a moody man who is nonetheless charming and hard not to like. I believe that Rose shows Larry as he sees him, but he makes it clear in the book that he has a vivid imagination, so I'm not entirely sure Larry is exactly the man we're shown. Still, I think Larry would be someone interesting to meet, though I'd make sure not to cross him.

I loved the way Rose shows the people of China, very much as I might expect to see them myself -- quite confusing at first, then not as a people (plural), but as individual people, who still might be confusing due to language and cultural differences, yet people with whom it's possible to interact. I felt I was there with them as I read. (The fact that I was playing Chinese pop music as I read probably helped this a little.) And, though I don't go looking for it intentionally in what I read, I'm always delighted to see an example of my world vision* in reality, in the world today. For all his and Larry's cavalier naivety, before he returned home he saw (was made to see) some of the harsher realities and he still chose to remember the kindnesses bestowed upon him and Larry, to believe goodness was indeed goodness. Nobody ends up being a bad guy here. It's just that everyone sees things differently.

Rose's style reads/sounds as if he's there telling the story in person. I could hear his voice, so much so that when I later visited his website and heard him speak, I "recognized" it. It was exactly as I expected. I get a distinct picture in my head of Larry, but somehow, it didn't quite match the photo on the back cover. I think that's because a photo is still and we need to see Larry animated. I do take issue with Rose's description of Mary. Did he say she was fat?** I can't remember exactly, but he certainly gave the impression that she is. However, the pictures on his website show that she definitely is not fat. (I should be so "fat!") But, then, there is the Author's Note stating that he had to change some facts of the story to protect those who helped him and Larry, so maybe there is a bit of embellishment here and there to make every part an interesting story. Who knows? Who cares? If he says it's true, I believe the basic facts are true. It's just that he's not a "damn, dim bulb," writing a dull diary of facts. He wrote a story we want to keep reading.

*I see a world where all people accept each other as friends and neighbors and celebrate each person's uniqueness as a vital part of everyone's life, like threads in a tapestry. ~F. Shafer Junaid

** "a giant cleaning lady" "a larger figure than I expected" (p. 23 of my ARC)

PS: Since Clint Eastwood is too old for the role, I nominate Billy Bob Thornton to play Larry.

What was it like to grow up in China during the Japanese occupation the early years of the PRC? China Cry answers this question. It was not an easy time. Sung Neng Yee was a spoiled child, but her family is forced to flee Shanghai and she grows up learning to be helpful.

After the war is won and the communists have taken over she is at first happy and believes it will be a good change. Soon, however her family learns the difficulties of having been wealthy. She becomes a law teacher for the state and her husband becomes a judge, but the his history of wealth also catches up with them and soon they are looking for cause to interrogate Neng Yee. She had attended Christian schools and she found that although her logical mind told her to say "No," she could not do it. When asked if she were a Christian, she said "Yes!" It was a difficult time and place to be Christian, made worse by the fact that she had not declared her Christianity at the start of the PRC because at the time she had thought it a passing phase of her childhood.

A difficult life gets even more difficult, but God, who had sent an angel to help her as a child, was there for her. Through the difficulties she learns to trust completely in Him. Several times when to anyone else, and occasionally to Neng Yee herself, it seems that God has abandoned her, but those times were just preludes to some breathtaking miracles.

Eventually Neng Yee comes to the United States adopting the name of Nora Lam (Lam is her husband's family name). Up to this point the book was very engrossing, but it becomes somewhat disappointing. From an intensely personal autobiography, we are distanced form Nora. It's as if with the name change the point of the book is no longer biography, but evangelism. I have nothing against evangelism as long as it isn't pushed on unwilling listeners, but changing from the intimate details of life to the grand sweep of her evangelical work is a let down. We got to know Lam Neng Yee, but we don't really get to know Nora Lam. Instead we learn about Nora Lam Ministries.

I was also disappointed to learn that Nora Lam Ministries has a very poor rating at Charity Navigator. I would not recommend sending them a donation until they improve financial efficiency, although I think the cause is essentially good. However, the book is still good reading for the first three fourths and valuable as record of the history of China during WW II and a few years following, and of the power and faithfulness of God.

I read this little book in one night. The first half of the book gives a brief autobiography, a summary of the state of Tibet and a summary of the state of the world. None of this is in depth. In the second half of the book, he talks about his own beliefs and how they bring inner peace. The book, as a whole, gives a good background of who the Dalai Lama is, in a well rounded, if not detailed, manner. I have several books in my library by the Dalai Lama, but I'm glad that I read this one first

The book is the words of the Dalai Lama, himself, but the book was put together by Frédérique Hatier. The quotes are kept individual and titled topically. Reading the quote following any title would provide food for thought, and for the most part would be suitable meditation for any religious belief. Even as a Christian, though I disagree with some of his beliefs about God, his words provided me the opportunity to affirm my own beliefs. Though we disagree on that one point, there is very little else we disagree on. And there is no argument with this disagreement. Our paths vary slightly (much less than I thought, though the one point is a major one), but our goals are the same. We both desire love and peace for our world.

This is a book I enjoyed reading and will read again, although probably not straight through, but rather, as an adjunct to my personal meditations.

It was curiosity that made me choose this book. FDR has always been a foggy historical figure in my mind. I couldn't have said more than that he was president and that he created the New Deal. I was delightfully surprised to find this an engrossing biography of a fascinating human being and the equally fascinating women in his life. He was so much more alive and vibrant than I realized.

I probably learned more about FDR's sex life than I cared to know, though it's no competition, in the writing, for a modern novel. Persico gives that information to help complete the portrait of the man. I appreciated that he would make statements to the effect of We can't know for certain what went on behind closed doors, when pointing out logical speculation.

The primary focus of the book is, as the title suggests, about FDR's affair with Lucy Rutherfurd. While I can't go so far as to condone his affairs, by the end of the book, I'm aware of enough to see FDR as human and to understand him better. Of all the women described in the book, I felt that Lucy perhaps was the most elusive, however. The perspective is more of how this love affair affected the life, marriage and politics of FDR.

The woman most clearly presented, not surprisingly, is Eleanor Roosevelt. I knew only a little more about her than about FDR, prior to reading this book. For the first time I see her as a woman, a human being, rather than just a social figure. Although I came to understand FDR, I felt most for Eleanor (which may or may not be simple gender identification). The tensions and problems in their marriage were as much her fault as his and any blame comes out so equally that, even though I feel most for her, I can't dislike Franklin, Lucy or any of the other women mentioned. His mother, who tried to be far too involved in his personal life, marriage and even politics (the one area in which she seemed to have the least direct impact) was easier to dislike, but even she was not totally unlikable.

This book left me with a desire to read more. I want to know more about Eleanor Roosevelt and more about the first half of the 20th century. I may or may not look specifically for books about FDR, but I certainly won't think "boring" the next time I see one.

Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry by Reginald Shepherd is undoubtedly one of the more difficult books I have ever read. Shepherd's thinking is a few levels above mine. He's definitely more academic than I. I still enjoyed it. Having an intellectual poet's viewpoint was enlightening, since I'm always looking for a better understanding of poetry.

His first chapter, "Portrait of the Artist," provides a perspective from which to comprehend his discourse. In the following chapters, Shepherd so conscientiously quotes and credits, that by the time I figured out what his point was, I had also learned a lot about what poetry is. (Also it gave me new ideas of my own about how to write poetry.) The section on readings was interesting and provided information about poetry, but since I have not yet read the poems/writings he's writing about, I have no thoughts of my own to compare with his. Shepherd did make me more interested in reading them, however, in particular those by Samuel R. Delaney, because I have read some of his other work. I think he saved the best for the end. There was a lot in his final chapter, "Why I write" -- things to make me think about poetry and about writing in general.

This isn't a book for the average reader. The very quotes and credits I found helpful by the time I understood, were also the stumbling blocks to easy reading. If you love explorations of poetry (in addition to poetry itself) and are at least somewhat intellectually inclined, it is worth the effort to read.

In another time I would never have heard of Daoud Hari, but he likely would be known in his own village as an educated man who knows many stories from other lands. It isn't another time, though, and Hari's book, The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur, is in my hands. What I find remarkable, beautifully so, is that Hari is a friendly, kind, gentle and loving man. The tribesman, potential tribal elder (looked up to, if not officially a leader) comes shining through. It is the saddest (a woefully insufficient word) thing that none of this is what Hari wants to show. The story he must tell, what makes him so remarkable to me, is painful and devastating (more insufficient words).

Hari has seen things no one should have to see, heard stories no one should have to hear, much less endure. He is from Darfur, a part of Sudan, where the "powers that be" are trying to eradicate those who have lived there for generations. He has seen his own village, and many others, wiped out. He has lost family members and friends

Hari is representative of his people. He is the way he was taught to be. His gentleness and faith in people are part of his culture. In The Translator, Hari gives us a glimpse of this culture and his youth. Then he tells the story of how he became, and his experiences as, a translator, mainly for journalists covering Darfur. The stories themselves made me want to put down this book. What is happening there is beyond horrible, but Hari's gentleness, his ability to find humor in the darkest situation, without belittling or destroying the genuine pathos of that situation, is what kept me reading.

Two lines in particular struck me. This first was in Chapter 10 Sticks for Shade: When noting the limited and often inappropriate aid the people of Darfur are receiving he stated "Perhaps the wealthy nations had finally blown themselves away and were no longer available to send their token remedies for the problems that their thirst for resources has always brought to such people as these." (pp. 73-74) A kind, gentle man, yes, but not blind or ignorant of the world. The second was something to think about. "The proof of a democracy is surely whether or not a government represents the hearts of its people." (p 85)

Where do we stand? Can we, as humans, afford to lose a people whose sense of hospitality interferes with their ability to torture others?

I knew something bad was happening in Darfur. I didn't really know what. It is far away and doesn't affect me personally. Daoud Hari has told me what is happening and made it personal.