#39 [2024/CBR16] King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

I am a huge fan of Barack Obama's reading lists, and I usually pick up many of his suggestions. But Obama also often includes a hefty biography on his annual list, and these books are generally too much of a commitment for me. I was ready to skip King: A Life (2023) by Jonathan Eig, just because I didn't have the time, but then I figured I could listen to it on Audiobook.

I already knew the basics of King's life from school, but I'd never done any independent studying on him. Eig provides a lot of detailed information about how he grew up, when he met Coretta, and the early days before King became the powerful figure that he was. Eig also delves deeply into the FBI tapes as well as King's relationship with the FBI, which was fascinating. In addition, Eig discusses King's relationship and attitudes towards women. Although it was sometimes difficult to keep all the names straight, which is often a challenge for me with Audiobooks, I enjoyed this book. It was interesting to listen to, and I learned a lot. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. was only 39 years old when he was shot on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tennessee. He lived so much in such a short time, impacting countless people's lives and strongly impacting the United States as well as the rest of the world. He was an icon, but he was also a husband and father. His children found out their father was killed when the cartoon they were watching was interrupted with the breaking news. They ran to their mother who was on the phone, hearing the same news.

Eig hits on every known detail of King's life in this biography, beginning with his parents, and moving on to his death. Some of the most interesting information was gleaned from the FBI tapes. The FBI was covertly taping MLK for years. I had known this going into the book, but I did not know to what extent this was happening. I also didn't know that at the same time, MLK was having productive discussions with Kennedy and Johnson about the Civil Rights movement. Then they were going behind his back, gathering evidence of his womanizing and trying to sell it to newspapers to discredit him.

Even now the tapes make for an uncomfortable situation: They were a blatant and unnecessary violation of privacy. However, because of the tapes, we know so much more about King than we ever would have before. Eig liberally used them for his book, and more tapes may become available in the near future. This does not justify the FBI taping MLK in any way, but historians are getting something out of it now.

Although MLK was an inspiring, progressive man in many ways, this did not hold true in how he treated women. Coretta was very interested in being more active, but was consistently held back by MLK. Coretta knew she had to give up her career interests when she married, and she did. MLK was also a womanizer. Eig did not want the entire book to become a prurient look into MLK's sex life, but he did discuss Dorothy Cotton, a woman he worked with and had an affair with for many, many years. She was almost like a second wife. There were many other women, as well, and MLK seemed comfortable flirting with a married woman at a dinner filled with other churchmen. It's not a great look.

Sometimes I felt that Eig skipped over a little too much of King's treatment of women. I understand his point, but I also don't want the women that may have been hurt by him to be forgotten. Specifically, I found out on the Internet that the night before he died, King was supposed to meet up with Dorothy Cotton at the motel (they had rooms next to each other). He never showed up, though, because he was sleeping with another woman he'd met. Cotton had been up late waiting for King and was mad at him when he was murdered outside of her room. I was surprised that Eig did not include this in the book. He went into a fair bit of detail about the murder, and Cotton was an important person in his life. This was disappointing. 

On the whole, though, this book was interesting and informative. I'm glad I read it.

#38 [2024/CBR16] The Fraud by Zadie Smith

The Fraud (2023) by Zadie Smith was on many "best of" lists last year. I'd already read On Beauty by Smith, which I really enjoyed. I was hoping for more of the same with The Fraud. Unfortunately for me, I had a hard time getting into this one. I felt like Smith was intentionally writing a book that was difficult to follow, and if you didn't have a strong knowledge of English history, then you were missing out. This was a bit of a slog for me, and I was relieved when I finally finished.

Mrs. Eliza Touchet keeps the house of her cousin-in-law. Her cousin is a writer who is friends with Charlies Dickens and has one successful book to his name. Eliza has helped with the house and his three daughters since their mother died many years before. His new wife, a former maid named Sarah who became pregnant, is nearer in age to his daughters and has none of the academic interests of her new husband and Eliza.

But the one thing that Sarah and Eliza have in common is their interest in the "Tichborne Trial"--where a nobleman who was presumed to have died at sea, shows up in England ready to accept his inheritance. Sarah, of the lower classes, believes every word out of the man's mouth and vigorously defends him while Eliza sees a ridiculous farce. Even when faced with the same evidence, their opinions vary wildly.

The most important witness at this trial is Andrew Bogle who grew up as a slave on the Hope Plantation in Jamaica. This man was with Tichborne as he grew up and would know him best. Bogle consistently defends Tichborne as the real thing.

The novel jumps around throughout much of Eliza's life. We see how she came to be at her cousin's house, her relationship with him, his wife, and their daughters. We also see some scenes where her cousin is hosting a number of writers at his home and how they treat her. 

I know this book received many accolades, and I am a fan of Zadie Smith myself. However, like I said earlier, I had a hard time getting into this novel. There was not much of a plot, and the storyline jumped around so much with so little explanation, that I often felt lost. I could have been interested in a number of these characters if Smith had just settled down and really let me get to know them. There were a number of good scenes and good lines, but the book felt very inconsistent. So, instead, I kept slogging through. I know many others have really enjoyed this novel, but it wasn't for me.

#37 [2024/CBR16] Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Once again, I was blindly looking for another audiobook to listen to in my car. This time I stumbled upon Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers (2023) by Jesse Q. Sutanto. I had not heard of it, but it had some good reviews and I was a little desperate for something that was immediately available from my library. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised. Although the mystery portion of the book was a little lacking, the characters and the storyline were engaging and fun.

Vera Wong lives by herself above a decrepit tea shop in Chinatown. Her husband is dead, and her son barely talks to her. Vera is fond of her one customer, who tries to stop by daily, but she is otherwise pretty isolated. Then one morning, (very early because Vera has strong opinions about starting the day at the reasonable hour of five am), she comes downstairs and finds a dead body in the middle of her shop.

Vera calls the police, but she also decides she should look around while she's waiting for them. She makes a Sharpie outline of the body because that's what she's seen on television. And then she searches the man's pockets, finding a flash drive. She doesn't know what to do with it, so she pockets it for her son to look at later. When the police show up, Vera finds them generally dismissive of her and her theories. She also does not think they are taking the crime seriously enough. So, she decides to do a little investigating on her own.

She somehow lures her main suspects to her shop. (I honestly forget how she did this. With an ad in the paper? A sign on her shop?) Soon there are four primary suspects: the deceased's brother, the deceased's wife, and another woman and man who are not being honest about who they are. Vera keeps dragging her suspects back into her net with a combination of bossy motherliness and delicious Chinese food. Along the way, we find out a lot about each character, the ties they had to the deceased, and why they might have a motive for murder.

The deceased's wife obviously married the wrong man. She's been emotionally abused by her husband, and although she doesn't miss her husband much, she is struggling to raise her young daughter, Emma. The deceased's brother  has always been the "other" while his brother was the star. The other two have also been wronged by the deceased.

I've read a number of uplifting books where random people come together and create community and family amongst themselves. They all have their issues--even, or especially, Vera--and together, they support each other and are much happier. It's fun to read such a sweet book, and it was satisfying in this instance as well. 

#36 [2024/CBR16] A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan

I read The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan about the American Dust Bowl many years ago, but it has stuck with me. I learned a lot, and I was very impressed by the writing. So when I saw A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them by Egan on NPR's 2023 Books We Love, I knew I was going to read it.

This book was very well written and eye-opening in many ways. I, of course, knew about the KKK before reading this book, but I wasn't quite aware how pervasive they were, and how much they dominated the government and police departments in many states. Also, I primarily associate the KKK with anti-Black sentiment, but in the 1920's the KKK was happy to attack Catholics, Irish, and Jewish people as well--really whatever population that was not white and protestant. 

A Fever in the Heartland discusses the history of the KKK from its inception after the Civil War, but focuses on the 1920's, and D.C. Stephenson, the Giant Lizard (or Grand Dragon--whatever silly, made-up name you want to go with) of Indiana. D.C. Stephenson was by all accounts a horrible person. He was assaulting women ever since he was a kid; he beat and abandoned his first wife and child; and he acted like a horror movie-version of Harvey Weinstein as soon as he had power and money.

After leaving his wife and child, D.C. Stephenson went up to Indiana, saw a strong sentiment against "outsiders" that he could exploit and went to town. He would bribe ministers to talk up the Klan in church, and presented the KKK as a group that was focused on morality. (Although the Klan was against drinking and sex, they were also very much a white supremacist hate group. The author makes sure to emphasize that the huge percentage of Indiana who joined the Klan knew what they were signing up for.) Stephenson was especially hypocritical because he was an alcoholic and an abusive womanizer.

In the 1920's the KKK was at the height of its powers. A Klan member had just been elected as governor of Indiana. Denver had a Klan mayor and governor. The governor was trying to force out all the Catholic and Jewish professors from the University of Colorado. And the Denver Mayor was stacking the ranks of policemen as well as the prosecutor's office with Klansmen. (This hit very close to home because I'm from Denver.) In Indiana, Stephenson was counting on the governor to appoint him as a U.S. Senator when the spot became vacant. He was even eying the presidency.

There were valiant people who fought back against the KKK, including journalists who pilloried them in the press, the Notre Dame quarterback, and many others. But they faced harassment, death threats, arrest, and the loss of their livelihood. There was no where to turn when the police and judges were also Klan members.

***SPOILERS & TRIGGER WARNING***

What ended up taking down this power structure in Indiana was the trial of Madge Oberholtzer. The book and some reviews have claimed "the bravery of one woman" made the difference, but I think that's a little disingenuous. In order to take down Stephenson, there had to be a prosecutor willing to take the case in spite of threats to his person and family, as well as judges to keep the trial relatively fair. 

Madge first met D.C. Stephenson because she wanted him to use his influence to keep her job in education. Stephenson was immediately obsessed with her. One night he sent his goon squad to pick her up from her house--saying it was work related. Once at his house, he kidnapped her, took her away in a train where he brutally assaulted her and kept her for over two days before dumping her back at her home with her parents. At one point, Madge took poison, wanting to end her life after everything he'd done to her. Stephenson never got her medical help, and locked Madge in the rooms above his garage--even while Madge's mother was knocking on his front door desperately looking for her daughter.

Once Madge finally got home, it took her several weeks to succumb to her wounds and the poison. In that time, she told her story to an attorney who had it notarized as a dying declaration. This declaration was used in the trial for murder against D.C. Stephenson.

Part of what made this book so hard for me to read, was that I really thought Madge survived and testified in the trial against Stephenson. That's why I thought they were calling her "brave." It was heartbreaking for me to read about Madge's parents enduring the slow, painful death of their only daughter--especially after everything she'd suffered. I'm so sorry for what happened to her, and I'm impressed she was able to tell her story before she died. However, I also wonder if Stephenson would have even gotten in trouble if Madge hadn't died. He'd already attacked a large number of women, and they had been too scared of his influence to press charges. It's very likely that if Madge survived, she would have felt the same way--understandably. Also, as we all know, the United States justice system does not have a great track record when it comes to prosecuting crimes of rape. Even in the murder trial, Stephenson was trying to portray Madge as a slut. This angle may have been more successful if there was not a dead body involved.

***END SPOILERS & TRIGGER WARNING***

Besides being utterly devastated by the Klan's reach, their numerous vile hate crimes, and the harrowing story of Madge's horrific ordeal and death, it struck me how easily we can lose control of our democracy to literal evil.

"Democracy was a fragile thing, stable and steady until it was broken and trampled. A man who didn't care about shattering every convention, and then found new ways to vandalize the contract that allowed free people to govern themselves, could do unthinkable damage." (332)

I couldn't help but make comparisons to a current political candidate. In many ways he is similar to D.C. Stephenson: hungry for power no matter the cost, mistreating women, using his power to bully those who disagree with him, pretending to be religious, and attacking minorities for his own gain.

"He discovered that if he said something often enough, no matter how untrue, people would believe it." (41)

By the time the KKK lost most of its power, many of the things they were fighting for, they had already achieved. Immigration was limited to just a trickle for the "unwanted" groups. [Anne Frank was denied entry into the United States because of restrictive immigration laws backed by the KKK.] In addition, lynchings, violence, and discrimination against Black Americans didn't stop with Stephenson. Finally, the U.S. policies on forced sterilization inspired the Nazis before World War II.

I thought this book was very good and well written. It's an important part of history that we don't want to forget. So, I do recommend it. However, this book was very difficult to read and not uplifting in any way. It may have been billed as one brave lady triumphs over the KKK, but I didn't feel much triumph reading this.

#35 [2024/CBR16] Good Material by Dolly Alderton

I was seeing Good Material by Dolly Alderton all over the place. It felt like the "it" book of 2023, and I immediately had FOMO. This was my first book by Alderton. I started reading it under the impression that I was reading a romance novel. I'm not sure how I came to that conclusion, but I assume it had something to do with the cover and the advertising. As I read, I kept expecting the main character to either get back with his ex or for the real romantic interest to show up. And it never happened, which may have impacted my reading enjoyment. But looking back without my unrealistic expectations, this was a well-written story with flawed, interesting characters. Alderton does a good job of exploring different points of view in a painful breakup. 

Andy has just been broken up with my his long-term girlfriend, Jen. He is struggling and making questionable decisions left and right. Sometimes this is funny to read, and sometimes it's just painful. He drinks too much. He obsesses. He stalks Jen on social media. His job as a comedian is a struggle. Things just aren't going well.

At first Andy moves in with his best friend, but his best friend's girlfriend is good friends with Jen, and they are busy with their family. After a pretty hilarious episode where he tries renting a houseboat, Andy rents a room from an odd old man. This obviously isn't close to what he had living with his girlfriend, but it's an acceptable situation given his current circumstances.

Andy's friends try to be supportive, but none of them are actually good about sharing their feelings. Also, they're in their 30's now with a lot more going on in their lives. Often times it was hard for them all to get together, and Andy felt guilty about sharing too much of his misery with them.

Although Andy was sometimes trying, I could relate to him. I remember struggling after a breakup. Trying to find myself and feel better about myself, I can see with hindsight that I was either acting without purpose or with a misguided yearning that wasn't making the situation any better. Sometimes you just have to wallow for a bit before you can move on and focus on yourself and what you want without your ex.

Near the end of the book, we hear Jen's perspective of the break up, which adds a lot of nuance to the story. Andy had his own narrative in his head the entire book, but his hurt and misunderstanding created an unfair image of Jen and what she was doing.

On the whole, this was a well-written, interesting novel--although it is not a romance. Recommended.

#34 [2024/CBR16] When Crack Was King by Donovan X. Ramsey

I found When Crack Was King: A People's History of a Misunderstood Era (2023) by Donovan X. Ramsey on NPR's Favorite Books last year. I needed another audiobook for my commute and decided to give it a try. 

Ramsey grew up in the 80's and 90's during the worst of the crack cocaine epidemic. In this book, he delves into how it affected people's lives, how it became such a problem, people's perception of the crack epidemic, and the government's response to it.

Ramsey follows four people who suffered from crack addiction or grew up with parents who were crack addicts. Telling their stories in such detail really personalizes the damage the drug did to them, their family, and the neighborhood. These personal stories may have been my favorite part of the book. In addition, I felt that Ramsey gave another recent book I read, Lucky Me by Rich Paul, some more context. Rich Paul's mother was addicted to crack, and it had a huge impact on Paul as he grew up.

Another very important aspect of this book is that Ramsey challenges some long-held assumptions about the crack era. He points out the fearmongering and blame that was focused on the black community. Specifically, he discusses the studies on "crack" babies, that suggested an entire generation of kids were going to be born with severe physical and mental defects. This would put a severe strain on the country's social net and this was trumpeted in the U.S. media. In hindsight, it turns out those studies were not accurate. They used small sample sizes and could not separate co-factors. 

In addition, the government was at best negligent, and at worst complicit, when it came to addressing the crack cocaine epidemic. Some government employees wanted the Black communities to ruin themselves with the drug while others simply didn't care. Ramsey compares this to the current opioid epidemic, which has much more government support and focuses on rehabilitation. (Although, I have to say that even though Ramsey is correct, it is hard to drum up significant community compassion when it comes to drug addicts of any type).

I did listen to this book instead of reading it, which sometimes makes it more difficult for me to remember the details. But this book certainly educated me about an era I knew little about. It also changed my perspective on how it was handled by the media and the government. Recommended.

#33 [2024/CBR16] A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

I started A Gentleman in Moscow (2016) by Amor Towles with high expectations. When my book club chose this book, one of my friends (who often aligns with me as far as liking similar novels) said it was one of her favorite books. And then the New York Times had it high on its list of best books of the 21st Century. Even when I started the first chapter, I really liked the tone of the novel. Unfortunately, my expectations were a little too high. This is not one of my favorite books. I didn't mind it, but I had a hard time getting into it. 

In 1922, Count Alexander Rostov is sentenced by a Bolshevik tribunal to house arrest in the Metropol for being an unrepentant aristocrat. The Metropol is a very fancy hotel in Central Moscow. Instead of dismantling the posh hotel, the Bolshevik higher ups, as well as foreign journalists, use it for themselves.

Count Rostov is forced out of his spacious accommodations and put up in a tiny, old attic room. He spends his next thirty or so years in that hotel. One of the first people he really interacts with is a precocious little girl named Nina. They explore the hotel together and become friends, although she eventually leaves the hotel to go to school.

Another significant person in the Count's life is the famous actress, Anna Urbanova. It's mostly just attraction, especially at first. However, they regularly see each other when she is in town. Count Rostov also has some important friendships with a number of staff at the hotel. 

At some point, Nina comes back to the hotel--a young adult now. She has become a devoted member of the party and is sent off on a mission for the country. She ends up marrying one of the young men on her team and having a little girl. The next time she sees Rostov, she is rather desperate. Her husband has been arrested and sent to Siberia. She wants Rostov to watch over her daughter, Sofia, at the hotel while she follows her husband and gets settled up there. Suddenly the Count is, for all intents and purposes, the guardian of a young girl.

My favorite parts of this book were when the Count was interacting with either Nina or Sofia. The children seemed to bring a little life to the book and the Count, and really showed his humanity. In fact, looking back on it, there were a number of memorable scenes that I did enjoy reading. But these scenes were often sandwiched between pages where I would get a little bored. On the whole, it did not suck me in as much as I was expecting.

First, Count Rostov did not feel like a real person to me. I guess he was very reserved, but his feelings didn't show through on the pages. Second, I wish there was more detail explaining what was going on--both outside and inside of the hotel. Dramatic life and death things were happening with his friends and the world, but they're only hinted at. Finally, this book sometimes seemed more like a fable than historical fiction. Rostov was always safe and never got into trouble. Either circumstances just allowed everything to work out or a friend stepped in at the last moment. Again, this made it feel less real to me because I never worried about him. 

I also kept getting distracted because I was wondering how his life imprisonment at the hotel worked financially. I know he had gold coins, but the Bolsheviks didn't know that. Was he paying for his room and board, or was he "assigned" to the hotel, so the hotel just had to house him? What if he didn't have those gold coins? What if he ran out of money? 

I give this novel props for its originality, and there's nothing I really disliked about it. It just didn't draw me in as much as I was expecting.