Weekly Reader: New York by Edward Rutherfurd; Another Epic Rutherfurd Success, But With Some Missed Opportunities

Weekly Reader: New York by Edward Rutherfurd; Another Epic Rutherfurd Success, But With Some Missed Opportunities

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with the same name as a movie or TV show, but is unrelated to it (New York, New York)


Spoilers: I suppose after writing about Sarum, London, The Forest, Ireland, Russia, and would later write about Paris, Edward Rutherfurd decided to write about New York because he figured that if he could write about there, he could write about anywhere. (Apologies to John Kander and Fred Ebb for the paraphrase.)

New York is yet another of Rutherfurd's sprawling epics which cover the families of one location over the course of several centuries. This time, the English author takes his act on the road to the United States and New York. He does it with his usual grand style that captures these important historical moments, but makes it personal by showing us the individuals who exist in those turbulent fascinating times.


Rutherfurd deserves a lot of praise for writing an American city very well. He captures the various buroughs, streets, locations, accents, ethnicities, and the character of the city expertly. For example, he captures the various speech patterns of the characters without resorting to stereotypical dialect. He tells the points of view of people of various ethnicities and social status, as citizens, but maintains their individual struggles and personalities.
Rutherfurd captures New York so well, that it's easy to forget that he's not an American.

Once again he covers various families and reveals how they relate to the world around them. They are:


The Van Dycks/Masters-The European-American family traces their roots from Dutch lineage back when the territory was New Amsterdam. They eventually married with the English immigrant, Master family. They exemplify the old money families who are often in charge of the stock market, the big Fortune 500 companies, and names that are on guest lists of high society and philanthropic donations. They are present in every chapter from the beginning.

The Hudson/Rivers-The African-American family begin as slaves to the Van Dyck family. They are very prevelant before and during the Revolutionary War as the members argue over whether or not to aid the white Americans. They appear sporadically, but unfortunately their lineage is cut short during the 1863 Draft Riots when one of their members is lynched.

The Whites-A working class family that contrasts with the wealthier Masters. They have a long animosity towards the wealthy family. Their most important role is during the Revolutionary War when they are staunch Patriots and fight for the working class Americans. In subsequent chapters, they take on various occupations like police officers and fire fighters.

The Albions-A family of wealthy English expatriates. They appear mostly as a staunch Loyalist family during the Revolutionary War. Eventually, they return to England but maintain a friendship with the Masters.

The O'Donnells-An Irish-American family that emigrated to New York in the 1840's to escape the Irish potato famine. They begin in the impoverished area of Five Points and work mostly in service. Later, some of the family members gain prominence because of their involvement with Tammany Hall. The O'Donnells gain social success until by the late 20th century, one is an upwardly mobile attorney.

The Kellers-A family that emigrated from Germany in the mid-1800's and are close friends with the O'Donnells. They mostly work as tailors, artisans, and shopkeepers. Later family members develop creative talents, as one becomes a professional photographer and another becomes a caterer.

The Carusos-A family that emigrated from Italy through Ellis Island in 1901 (no relation to the opera singer). They eventually move to the Lower East Side. They experience various important moments from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911, to the creation of the Mafia (as one joins), and the construction of important buildings like the Empire State and the Chrysler Building. Like the O'Donnells, they too move upwards, as their final family member becomes a doctor.

The Adlers-A Conservative Jewish family from Flatbush, Brooklyn that appears in New York by 1955. They are mostly seen through the eyes of Sarah, their daughter, an art gallery owner. She gets involved with the Bohemian lifestyle and becomes more Liberal and secular and defies her family traditions..

The Campos-A Puerto Rican family that resides in El Barrio, Spanish Harlem. They appear in 1977, the final family in the book. Like the Adlers because they arrive so late, they are mostly seen through one character, Juan. Juan experiences the poverty of many black and Latino New Yorkers in the 1970's when the city is about to declare bankruptcy. He later becomes an advocate for the poor communities.

Because the book covers roughly four hundred years of history, a short time for a Rutherfurd book, Rutherfurd was able to write it similar to London. He inserted several characters into multiple chapters, so the Readers can see their experiences over many decades and see how they evolve with the times. The Revolutionary War doesn't happen until 11 chapters in. The 19th and 20th century cover 9 and 7 chapters respectively. It's a purposely slow moving process, but like London is the better for it.


Once again there are some excellent characters including:

Dirk Van Dyck-A Dutch immigrant trader in 17th century New Amsterdam, who has a loveless marriage but escapes from it to father a Lenape girl called Pale Feather. She makes the ongoing symbol that is passed from generation to generation, a wampum belt.

Quash-The first, and so far only, first person narrator of a Rutherfurd book. A slave, Quash recounts the transformation of New Amsterdam to New York and he eventually receives his freedom and becomes a shopkeeper.

John Master-One of the first in his family to carry the Master name. When New York is still considered a backwater location, he has a rocky meeting with his wealthier cultured Bostonian cousins (to show the difference between New York and Boston) and an unfortunate courtship. He then has a better marriage with Philadelphian Quaker, Mercy Brewster.

Charlie White-A working class man who was a childhood friend of John Master's only to be snubbed by his family. Later, he becomes a fervent Patriot who organizes protests and resistances against the British government.

James Master-Son of John who is educated in England and marries Vanessa, a well-to-do Englishwoman. Despite, or because of this, James becomes an outspoken Patriot. He leaves his wife and returns to New York. He then raises his son, Weston, as a single parent.

Hetty Master-Introduced in 1849, she is the wife of Frank Master, Weston's son. Despite her intense wealth, she is passionately involved in various social causes like abolition, women's suffrage, and labor unions.

Mary O'Donnell-The first of the O'Donnell family, she gets hired as a maid to the Masters. Later, she becomes Hetty's companion and best friend.

Theodore Keller-The youngest of the immigrant Keller family. By 1863, he becomes a photographer. He shows an artistic eye as he snaps portraits, graphic scenes of war, and landscapes. He becomes a well known artist after death.

Salvatore Caruso-The son of the Italian immigrant family, his sister is killed in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and his brother is killed working for the Mafia. He becomes a construction worker and is involved in a love triangle with his brother, Angelo and girlfriend, Teresa.

Rose Van Dyck Master-The female head of the Master family by the early 1900's. She is something of a name dropper, referring to her friend Mrs. Astor, and a snob. However, she has enough financial insight to save her family from the 1929 stock market crash.

Charlie Master-Rose's dilletante son, he becomes involved with the Village scene of the 1920's of artists, writers, and theater types. Later he becomes an aging hippy and becomes involved with a younger woman. He writes about that experience in a semiautobiographical novel, Verrazano Narrows.

Sarah Adler-The daughter of the Jewish family. She owns an art gallery and has very liberal values that put her at odds with her traditional family. She is the woman that has the affair with Charlie Master and inspires his novel.

Juan Campos-An idealistic Puerto Rican immigrant who becomes an advocate for the poor families of color. He begins in the 1970's when New York saw an increase in poverty, union struggles, and crime.

Gorham Master-An investment banker in the 1970's and '80's. While he has the family name and success, he wants more meaning to his life. Ultimately, he assists Juan with a foundation to help others.

Maggie O'Donnell-Gorham's wife, and Mary's descendant, a yuppie attroney. She is pleased to have it all, a good career, husband, and children.

As with Rutherfurd's other works, the characters are an engaging bunch. We see them encountering big issues like the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the creation of Niagara Falls and the Brooklyn Bridge, the Blizzard of 1888, New York's rise to being one of the largest and most important cities in the world, the Financial Panic of 1901, the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and September 11. So many important events are covered.

Rutherfurd also captures many personal moments for the characters. Frank's proposal to Hetty at the Croton Aqueduct produces fond memories even after they have friction in their marriage. Hetty later befriends Frank's mistress, Lily de Chantal and they conspire to overpower another mistress, Donna Clipp.

Mary lies about her family's connection to Tammany Hall to work as a maid for the Master family. By the time the truth comes out, decades later, Hetty is just grateful to have a long time friend.

One of Theodore Keller's photographs is named, Hudson River. Not because of the River, but because he captures Hudson River, the characters,' death. This photograph ends up being his most popular and infamous.

While Salvatore is working on the Empire States Building, he is so incensed by Angelo and Teresa's affair, that he contemplates killing him. A lucky accident spares his life and he becomes a devoted uncle and godfather.

Gorham Master spends many years feeling unfulfilled by his life of gain. He consults headhunters and weighs other opportunities before finally doing something positive with his wealth by aiding Juan Campos.

The final recipient of the Master family wampum belt is none of the Masters, but Sarah Adler as a gift from her lover, Charlie Master. She wears it when she is trapped inside the World Trade Center just as it is attacked and she is killed.

There are however plenty of missed opportunities. The most important is probably the too early departure of the African-American family, the Rivers. For the first time in Rutherfurd's books, we get a first person account with Quash. He reports of the change from New Amsterdam to New York and the English encroachment on the island of Manhattan. He also talks about his marriage to Naomi, his love for his son, Hudson and his friendly relationship with Dirk, his master who promises to free him on his deathbed. Hudson is eventually sold to a ship captain, but Quash obtains his freedom and opens a store. With that strong beginning and a first person departure from the other books, one would expect Quash's family to be prominent from beginning to end.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. During the Revolutionary War, Quash's son, Hudson raises concerns when his son, Solomon, joins the Sons of Liberty. Once Solomon's son, Hudson is sold, the family does not reappear, until they escape through the Underground Railroad. Then as I said earlier, their final descendant Hudson River is lynched and hanged during the Draft Riots of 1863.

That's it. It is great that Rutherfurd opens up this shameful period in America's past and telling it through a family that suffered through it. However, they should have continued in later chapters. The Rivers could have been actively involved in the Civil Rights Movement, the Harlem Renaissance, redlining, and the Great Migration. Heck, a later Rivers descendant could have been a fellow activist alongside Juan Campos. Many events and perspectives are lost when the Rivers's story ends prematurely.

The Rivers aren't the only ones. It's clear that while the book is another Rutherfurd ensemble, the main family involved is the Masters. They are present in every chapter and get the lion's share of points of view. This leaves a lot of families out of key events.

The White's introduction is very powerful and the book appears that to reveal another multi-generational family feud ala The Wilsons Vs. Shockleys in Sarum. Unfortunately, the White family takes a diminished role after the Revolutionary War and only receives minor appearances in later chapters. The Whites, as well as the Rivers, are the only families to not reappear in the final chapters that focus on 9/11.

Rutherfurd reveals the various immigrant families that make up New York, showing how America is made up of different people. It shows that we all come from somewhere else. Unfortunately, many of these immigrant families are spread out, some taking more prominent roles than others. The O'Donnells, Kellers, and Carusos have strong introductuons but by the mid-20th century, they disappear only to reappear for the finale. There are a few missteps where we could have seen more sons and daughters.

The book also leaves out some key events. The most important events that are short changed are The Great Depression and WWII. The book skips from 1929 to 1955. It seems odd that a book that chronicles the American experience so faithfully would leave these out. We don't get to see how poverty and joblessness affected the families in question. We don't get to see their opinions about the New Deal and their feelings towards Franklin D. Roosevelt (and he's a New Yorker at that. Seriously they left him out?).

We don't get to have the characters experience Pearl Harbor or see the male characters enlist. Nor do we experience the female characters working (many outside the home for the first time.). One of the families is Jewish and they don't even touch on the Holocaust or reveal that one of the Adlers is a survivor. Rutherfurd could have easily introduced two more chapters to cover these events. That he didn't is a real shame.

While the book has some missed opportunities, New York is another wonderful experience in time travel thanks to Rutherfurd. Reading about the people of New York and the way that has changed over the centuries, fills the Reader with a sense of pride in the city and how well Rutherfurd caught it.

Classics Corner: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende; The Ultimate Classic Fantasy Travel Into The World of Books

Classics Corner: The Neverending Story by Michael Ende; The Ultimate Classic Fantasy Travel Into The World of Books

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with a book on the cover

Spoilers: Those of us who were children of the '80's had a dark time at the movies, but damn it all, we loved it. If you're anything like me, still do.


Many of the films that we grew up with were darker and in some ways scarier than even some modern horror films. The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Secret of NIMH, The Black Cauldron, The Last Unicorn, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Return to OZ, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, An American Tail, The Monster Squad, Ghost Busters, and Beetle Juice were just some of the many movies that we saw in theaters that fascinated us but still filled our nights with terror. Even our younger siblings and children may yelp with fear when they see our childhood favorites. Some of us may watch them again and wonder however did we survive going to the theater?


Sure we may have played with our Ataris and NESes and never went outside. Sure parents mocked our cartoons as half hour commercials and wondered why anyone would watch music videos. Sure, we were the first generation that was told "You're special" and may have received participation trophies. (Seriously, I used to get them all the time at Field Day events. I was an athletic loser, but they showed I tried. What is the freaking problem?). But when it came to the movies, we walked on the wild side and did so gladly.


One of the best movies from those times was The Neverending Story and my favorite fantasy film from that era. Many of us were in awe of the journey of young Bastian Balthazar Bux as he read about the beautiful fantasy world of Fantasia. We were amazed and sometimes scared of The Rock Biter, Morla, The Aged One, The Night Hob, and Falkor, The Luck Dragon. We cried with Atreyu the boy hero when he lost his beloved horse, Artax to the Swamps of Sadness and cheered him on when he fought Gmork, the creepy wolf, to the death. The fact that an invisible Nothing could destroy our world, probably made us fear thunderstorms for a long time afterwards. Before we may have understood what the terms "meta" and "breaking the fourth wall" meant, we saw it when the dying Childlike Empress revealed that Bastian, the boy reading the book, was the one who could cure her. We saw it even further when she revealed that others, meaning us, were with Bastian when he hid from the bullies in the bookstore and took the book. We debated what name Bastian yelled amid the thunder, lightning, and heavy rain (For the record, in both the book and movie, he said "Moon Child!") Most importantly, we wanted to be Bastian, the kid who found the book and enter that world and have that adventure as scary and traumatic as it sermed. Or at least, I did.


Many fans have less fond memories of the sequel, Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter. Though, some in subsequent years have since recognized it as a decent follow up to the original and while not as compelling or as memorable, was good in its own right. Also, Neverending Story II filled a very important need that those who only saw the first film and never read the book don't know: it covered the second half of the original novel. (The less said about the unnecessary train wreck that was The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia, the better. The only thing that did was waste a perfectly good franchise and an early performance by Jack Black in one of his first film roles.)

While the book had its Readers over the years, it has fallen to the wayside because of the intense popularity of the first movie. For the record, Michael Ende himself didn't like the first movie. He felt it was childish and kitschy and distorted his book. However, that never stopped how loved the movie was. That love is well earned. The movies are well made, beautiful efforts with wonderful performances and scenes. They were huge parts of many's childhoods including mine. However, the book also deserves that recognition as well.


I am not saying either is better than the other. In fact, they are both equally good within their mediums. The book is wonderful for being a literary medium with its haunting descriptions and deep characterization. The first two movies do a good job as visual mediums in bringing those descriptions, characters, and actions to life. Instead of looking at them as separate entities, a competition where one has to emerge the better, look at them as the same entity telling the story in different ways. In a way, that's what makes it Neverending.


I will explain some of the things that are different about the book and how they add to the enjoyment of the films, like two halves that together create a whole. The first half is almost word for word similar to the first movie with some differences making some scenes longer and providing much needed exposition and explanation.

The second movie retains many of the characteristics and themes of the second half of the book. However, the second half of the book is not as linear of a straightforward quest as the first half. It is almost several adventures that are linked by Bastian's struggles within them. It makes sense that the second movie would gather it up in an adventure plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end.


Bastian's backstory is more elaborated upon in the novel making it more apparent why he would want to leave that world and become a hero in Fantastica (not Fantasia in the book). We see him not only bullied by the other kids, but as a complete physical and academic failure in school. (He was held back the previous year.) His only talent is making up names and stories, which comes in handy during his time in Fantastica.


We are aware from the movie that his mother is dead, but the book also emphasizes Bastian's troubled relationship with his father.
Through Bastian's father, the Reader experiences what it is like for a child to live with a mentally ill parent. In this case, his father is gripped with clinical depression, stemming from his wife's death. Bastian is unable to talk to him, as his father has lost interest in any activities and barely speaks to him or to anyone anymore. To Bastian, his father is frozen and numb to him. Bastian feels shut out by his father, so he retreats to his obsession with books and his fantasy worlds. This experience echoes in a later moment in the book when Bastian has a dream that his father is trapped inside a block of ice and Bastian hugs him trying to free him from the ice.


All of this backstory gives us the reasons why Bastian would enter and try to rebuild Fantastica after he names the Empress in the second half of the book. He was long held up for ridicule because of his weight, timidity, fear, and lack of acceptance. When he arrives in Fantastica, Bastian is encouraged to make wishes with the Auryn, a sacred gem that is her personal symbol. The more wishes that he makes, the more Fantastica grows. His first wish is to change his appearance to be taller, handsomer, and braver, like the heroes that he has always read about.


Bastian also names the new locations in Fantastica such as Perilin, the Night Forest and Goab, the Desert of Many Colors. He also creates creatures like Grograman, the Many Colored Death who is a living part of Goab and Smerg, a dragon that is created for a hero to defeat. He also names things like a sword that he calls Al-Tasher and a belt that causes it's wearer to become invisible that he calls Ghemmel. (In the second movie, we only see him create Smerg, give names to some of the areas, and making wishes to protect him and Atreyu during fights.) The longer Bastian remains in Fantastica, the more he becomes part of it. He forgets his home world and the life that he left behind. He eventually forgets he was ever from the outside world.

The book provides us with more information about the Fantasticans. For example, many of the characters who went nameless in the movies actually have names in the book. The first three Fantasticans that we encounter in both the book and first movie are the small man, Night Hob, and Rock Biter. In the book, we learn that the little man is named Gluckuk,the Night Hob is Vooshvazool, and the Rock Biter (called Rock Chewer) is Pyornkrachzark. There is also a will-o-the-wisp, Blubb. It actually makes sense that there are four characters rather than three, coming from all four directions to reveal just how large in magnitude the Nothing is coming from all directions-north, south, east, and west simultaneously.


We also get some insight into Atreyu's home life before he is recruited as Fantastica's book hero, before Bastian's arrival. Cairon, the Childlike Empress' advisor (a centaur in the book rather than a merman in the movie) travels to the Grassy Ocean beyond the Silver Mountains to visit the young warrior. While the book Atreyu and his people are clearly modeled after Native Americans (and both films hired actors who were either full or half-Native Americans in Noah Hathaway and Kenny Morrison), they are actually green skinned.
We learn that they are a nomadic people who are great hunters, but have a strict honor code. We also learn that the purple buffalo that Atreyu name drops in the movie, acts a guide in his dreams. The buffalo leads him to Morla the Aged One and the first clue to the Empress' cure.


Atreyu is almost like the perfect hero because he is written that way. Once Bastian becomes a physical part of the story, he proves to be a contrast to Atreyu in his actions. Atreyu receives the Auryn for his journey and makes the occasional wish upon it, but it has no adverse effect on him. He is a character from Fantastica and also has no hidden demons or longings from which the Auryn removed from him.
Bastian is a more relatable character, because he is understandable. He is an outsider from our world, so he is like us. The more he loses himself in the fantasy world, the more arrogant he becomes. He lost all of the qualities that made him human.


The antagonists are also very different. We learn more about Gmork, the wolfish servant of the Nothing. In his encounter with Atreyu (in which he is left by Night Creatures to starve to death rather than be stabbed by Atreyu), Gmork reveals that he is not from Fantastica. He has no world and has no exact form, taking many. He envies the Fantasticans for having a world. He is supposed to be embodiment of Fear just as Xaiyde the female sorceress in the second half of the book is a living embodiment of Temptation.

The second film makes Xaiyde the primary antagonist who creates and controls the Emptiness. The book appears to be the opposite. Xayide is simply a servant of the Emptiness, formed when Bastian loses more of himself. (In fact there is some indication that Bastian created Xaiyde himself after he expresses a need to have an adventure to prove his heroism.) She subtly encourages Bastian to make more wishes while acting as his subordinate. However, she manipulates Bastian into giving him gifts that increase his power and encourages him to use his wishes to control others, so she can overpower him. She is able to lead empty creatures such as her machine-like soldiers which only move by her will (which leads to her end, when Bastian rejects her manipulations. The soldiers run her over as though she willed them to kill her i.e. committed suicide.). Bastian's Emptiness almost makes him susceptible to her or rather the Emptiness' control.

They are not the main villains but Gmork and Xaiyde are the gateways to the true villains: The Nothing and The Emptiness. It is an impressive feat in book and movies, that the true antagonists in them are abstract concepts rather than actual beings. The Nothing in particular is a scary thought, and becomes more disturbing the older one gets. An entity that can make places, creatures, and things disappear is about as terrifying as it can get. The movie treats the Nothing as a storm that destroys everything in its path. The book is more subtle. Characters describe it as though someone went blind. All of a sudden, something that was there no longer is and is replaced with total blackness. It disappears as though it fell into a black hole, into nonexistence. Also, anyone who looks into the Nothing for too long gives into despair and becomes a part of it.

Another scary aspect that the book reveals is what happens to Fantasticans when they fall into the Nothing. They come to Earth, but they become Lies. They become things that people don't believe in and are simply means of deception. Even heroes like Atreyu become something that one can aspire to, but never become.

As frightening as the Nothing is, the Emptiness within Bastian is just as terrifying because it comes from his own actions. As he forgets about his life on Earth and becomes more arrogant, he becomes more insane with power. When he reaches the Ivory Tower, he sees that the Childlike Empress is gone. He then declares himself the Childlike Emperor and he is defeated by those who used to be his friends like Atreyu and Falkor. Eventually, Bastian loses everything, even his own name before he returns.

The antagonists are almost metaphors. The Nothing leaves sadness and despair on its wake. Bastian's Emptiness is like an insanity that consumes him annhiliating and destroying his mind as he retreats into the world he created. The Nothing could be Depression while the Emptiness could be Paranoid Schizophrenia.

We also get some interesting side quests that were probably removed from the movies either for special effects reasons or to fit the running time. Falkor for example does not enter the story saving Atreyu in the Swamps of Sadness. Instead, Atreyu saves him from a terrifying creature called Ygramul the Many, which is several small wasp like creatures that take one large changeable form. (It is here and not Atreyu's encounter with Morla the Aged One where Bastian screams with fright and Atreyu hears him leading to the first fourth wall break.)


Atreyu also goes through three gates to reach the Southern Oracle, not two. The first two are the same from the movie. The third is called the No Key Gate in which Atreyu must go through by acting like he doesn't want to. The more he fights to get inside, the less the door will open. So, Atreyu must temporarily forget the purpose of his journey before he can meet Uyuyulala, the Southern Oracle. There is also a deep sadness as Engywook, the cheerful scientific gnomic, who helps Atreyu through the gates is left in despair when Atreyu tells him that he will be the last person to speak to the Oracle. Engywook realizes that all his research was for nothing. He finally surrenders to the Nothing while Urgl, his wife remains loyally by his side to the end.

After Atreyu encounters the Childlike Empress to inform him of the results of his quest, she goes on a journey of her own. She floats into a litter to reach the Old Man of the Mountain, who is responsible for setting the Neverending Story to paper. (So he could be Michael Ende, himself.) The Old Man and The Empress read of Bastian's adventures and their own stopping at the exact moment where they are while Bastian writhes in indecision whether to call the Empress' name or not. Unlike the movie, where Bastian responds, because the Empress begs and cries to be saved, Bastian responds because he realizes that he, The Old Man, and the Empress are trapped in an endless cycle of reading the adventures without a resolution.

This adventure gives the Empress a chance to go on a quest of her own, but it slows things down and the telepathic dialogue between the two is shorter and more powerful for a film. (Incidentally, her name Moon Child came from when Bastian first saw her in a vision not from his late mother. Though, subsequent projects reveal that his mother still inspired Moon Child's name because she was named for the Moon Goddess: Selene.)

As I mentioned before the second half of the book features various smaller quests that are tied to Bastian's making wishes and him losing more of his memories of the outside world. He creates Smerg the Dragon specifically so a hero Hyruck can save the princess of his dreams. He encounters the Acharis, who are the saddest creatures in all of Fantastica. He then transforms them into the Shlamoofs, happy colorful but at times irritating butterfly-like creatures.

The majority of these adventures involve Bastian shaping Fantastica to fit his needs and gain heroism. A library is created detailing the adventures and stories that Bastian created. He receives names such as the Hero of Fantastica and the Wise Ones, scholars ask him questions like what is Fantastica ("The Neverending Story" he answers.) He wants to be admired, respected, and treated as a hero and legend. Then when he is consumed with power, he wants to be emperor and god.

One of the most haunting quests occurs shortly after Bastian's failed attempt at becoming Childlike Emperor. He finds himself in a strange city in which several men, women, and children don't speak and spend time doing repetitive mundane tasks. Bastian learns that these are the Old Emperors, humans who had also saved the Childlike Empress but had lost their memories of Earth and their identities. (Scarier still, on Earth there are probably several reports of missing persons over the years, even decades, of people who were never found because they became background characters inside a book.)

This implies that the Neverending Story is a cycle and that people from the outside world have visited it before. We even receive hints that Mr. Coreander the bookseller, also went to Fantastica himself and had adventures but mercifully emerged unscathed and not a relic at the City of Old Emperors.
Those who have no way of returning to the outside world just exist as background characters in the book, in the City of Old Emperors withiwith no past, identity,  or place. After visiting that horrible place, Bastian doesn't remember his home world fully but realizes that he can't remain in Fantastica.

Bastian's final test is his acceptance of love. He no longer wants to be a hero, and recognized for his exterior achievements. He wants, probably what he has always wanted: love and acceptance. He thinks that he has that with Dame Eyola, a sweet woman who could be a stand-in for Bastian's late mother. Bastian is cared for, mothered, and feels loved but something is still missing. He realizes that what is missing is his father. All the time that Bastian dreamt of being a hero, he realized that his most important wish was to rescue his father and to give and receive the love that they used to share.

The most touching moment is when Bastian returns to the real world and reunited with his father. He tells his father of the adventures and he believes him. Bastian realizes that his adventures weren't for nothing. He saved his father after all.


An oft-repeated line throughout the book is "That is another story and shall be told another time." It repeats every time a character leaves the book revealing that they had more adventures. We also learn some interesting things about their later lives such as the four from the beginning became life long friends.Cairon never returned to the Ivory Tower and entered a new life. Engywook did get scientific recognition. Hyruck saved his princess but didn't want to marry her anymore and so on. These mentions remind us that as it's title suggests the Neverending Story truly continues. Adventures happen when we're not looking and exist outside of the plot that we've been reading about. They leave us with many possibilities over what happened to them (and possibly fodder for fanfiction.)


The Neverending Story is a fantasy classic as both a book and two movies. It is a beautiful unique fantasy that one falls into as much as Bastian did. It makes them lose themselves into the adventure and the beautiful and at times disturbing world. As with any good book, we can picture ourselves alongside Bastian embracing this fantasy world and interacting with the characters.

It is just as much a memorable imaginative trip as it would be to read a historical novel that covers  several centuries of a real life place like New York and immerse oneself into its history and various people and cultures.

But that is another story and shall be told another time.

Weekly Reader: Call Numbers: The Not-So-Quiet Life of Librarians by Syntell Smith; Sharp, Funny, and Deep Look At Rivalries and Relationships Inside A Public Library

Weekly Reader: Call Numbers: The Not-So-Quiet Life of Librarians by Syntell Smith; Sharp, Funny, and Deep Look At Rivalries and Relationships Inside A Public Library

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Syntell Smith's Call Numbers: The Not So Quiet Life of Librarians, could be considered the library equivalent of Joshua Ferris' Then We Came to The End. Both are humorous workplace satires about the wacky hijinks of employees and are also used to make important serious points about their societies. However, they are very different in many ways. Then We Came to The End was about an office set at an advertising agency facing the early 2000's economic crisis dealing with the fear of layoffs and possible workplace violence from an unhinged fired employee. Call Numbers is about the staff of a New York Public Library branch in 1994, that have to deal with budget cuts, an underprivileged neighborhood, and racial tension between staff members and the people around them.

Robin Walker, library clerk, is a transfer to the 58th Street Branch of the New York Public Library, from the Ft. Washington branch. As soon as he enters his new workplace, he is surrounded by conflict. He may be able to memorize the locations of various books by the call numbers, recognizes the lion statues in front of the Central Branch by name, and knows the Procedures of Conduct by heart, but that doesn't stop him from making a few enemies the second that he enters the doors.

His first enemy is Sonyai Yi, Branch Senior Clerk. She doesn't trust Robin's friendly but obstreperous behavior. However, that is not the only reason that she doesn't like him. Sonyai is in charge of the four young pages and she promised the next clerk position to high school student, Janelle Simms. Janelle needs the promotion because she's pregnant and the only ones who know are Sonyai and the other three pages.


Another enemy is Tommy Carmichael, another clerk and Sonyai's protege. Tommy doesn't like Robin, mostly because Sonyai doesn't. He isn't above playing juvenile pranks to force his authority over the newbie.

Yet another enemy is Ethel Jenkins. She and Gerry Coltraine are the only two African-American clerks at the 58th Branch until Robin comes along. Gerry bonds with him partly out of solidarity and partly to show Sonyai up. (He wants to become Senior Clerk in her place). Ethel however is suspicious of him for a personal reason. He is lighter skinned than she and she can't resist mocking him every chance she gets. She gets a page, Alex Stevens, to go along with the snide attitude until Alex takes a prank too far.


Oh yes and there are other plots going along with Robin and his Not-So-Merry Team of Rivals. Library Director, Augustus Chavez constantly vies with Heywood Lerner, Information Assistant, for movie nights and philanthropic donations, but has a loyal supporter in Zelda Clein, Librarian, who acts like a pit bull defending her boss.

Angie Trueblood, Information Assistant, is trying to earn her Associates in Library Science degree. However, she discovers some shady things about Augustus.

Meanwhile the youngest staff member, 14-year-old, Lakeshia Seabrooke develops a crush on Robin. She gets some off color advice from fellow page, Tanya Brown, who also has to deal with some bullies at school. The library staff of the 58th Branch may want their patrons to shush for the good of other patrons, but this staff is anything but silent.

There are some situations that are so broad that they are almost farcical. One is the hazing ritual that Sonyai and Tommy put Robin through in which he is faced with checking patrons out during the closing rush. Unfortunately, this ends in a fist fight between the two clerks to be broken up by Zelda and the police.

Another situation involves the extremes that Heywood goes through to prevent Blazing Saddles from being loaned out to 58th Branch for an upcoming Mel Brooks Film Festival.


Then there's the crash course on sex that Tonya gives Lekeshia complete with The Joy of Sex as a manual. (They borrowed the book under Tanya's name and oops, it's past due. Of course, Tanya's parents get a phone call.)

There is also the bar where library employees from different branches meet and compare notes about the awful people that they work with and conspire against them. They may be information professionals, but sometimes their immaturity shines through as much as or more than their willingness to offer books and other sources of knowledge to the New York public.

While the book is very broad at times, there are moments that Smith makes the Readers see the real characters inside the goofy hijinks. The characters show a lot of depth that take them beyond sitcom stereotypes. While Robin instantly goes on the defensive when he arrives at 58th, making enemies with his blunt attitude, he also shows a vulnerable side. He cares for his ailing grandfather, who has long been hearing impaired, and remains estranged from his superstar half-sister and stage mother.

He also has a friendly relationship with Gerry where the two quiz each other on call numbers. Once he and Tommy get past their testy initial dislike, their relationship cools down to frienemies who like to tease, but will defend each other. Robin also helps Tanya with her bully situation and agrees to go out with Lakeshia while letting her down gently by reminding her that he is an adult and it would be illegal for them to be together.

Even the more antagonistic characters show real depth and strengths both inside and outside the library. Just when we are ready to write Sonyai off as a domineering bitch, she shows a maternal side to the four pages. She treats them like wayward daughters giving them advice and lecturing them. She dislikes Robin mostly because of her protectiveness towards Janelle and the girl's situation.

In one of her best moments, she stands up for Janelle when her parents are furious about her impending pregnancy. She even gains a grudging respect towards Robin by the end.

The pages have their own girl squad. They act like sisters who disagree but help each other. Even when they are split about Robin, Lakeshia and Tanya like him and Alex and Janelle don't, it doesn't end their friendship with each other.

Augustus shows an antagonistic side as he cuts corners, sucks up to wealthy donors, and kills anything that would resemble negative publicity. The latter particularly at the expense of the staff's welfare. However, he makes it clear that he loves his library and would do anything to make sure that it remains operational and gets all of the new equipment, releases, and technology that they need. Even if he might have to commit potentially questionable and possibly illegal deeds to do it.

Some of the characters shine best in their home lives away from the library. Tommy has a loving interracial marriage with his pregnant wife, Sarah, which still bears some animosity from their families.

Angie shows a lot of spunk in her information science classes and exhibits knowledge that rivals her professors (and probably most of the staff). The conservative nerdy, Heywood gains an appreciation for grunge music, thanks to a friendship with a female musician who is mourning for a friend and fellow musician who recently committed suicide. (It's 1994, guess who?)

Ethel learns that she has a medical condition which could cause complications for her future career plans. Even characters like Zelda who seem to not have a life beyond the library show how important their jobs are to them and how hard they work to give people the information that they need. These moments show these characters' many facets. They can be selfish jerks, sarcastic wisecrackers, wacky goofballs, sympathetic friends and family members, and well-rounded individuals.

There is a serious undercurrent of racial tension that moves along as a theme throughout the book. Many characters suffer from comments or stereotypical remarks about their race creating a Mutual Animosity Society.

In one passage, a racist patron asks Angie for a librarian. She puts him in his place by not only telling him that she is an information professional and in two years will be a librarian, but also sharply reprimands him for his dismissive attitude towards her for being Native American. Many other characters like Sonyai and Robin respond similarily to racist comments while others like Augustus and Zelda turn a blind eye, trying to keep the library free of bad publicity.

Many characters are aware of the undercurrent of tension and how it affects their relationship with the other staff members and the public. When Robin is met with hostility on his first day, he responds back with further hostility. This tension leads to some violent encounters such as Tommy and Robin's fist fight.

The worst encounter is a final prank in which Alex writes an obscene message inside the library before opening, one that she knows will get under Robin's skin. Robin responds as violently as expected. This prank causes all the undercurrents to explode and come to the forefront.

In 2020, this prank would end up on social media and there would be a firestorm so big that no one could contain it. The encounter wouldn't slide and for better or worse, there would be some serious questions and a restructuring of the library and its staff.

However since the book is set in 1994 and they have a library director who is obssessd with giving the library a good facade, that doesn't happen. He only suspends Robin and Alex and practically cajoles and bribes them not to make it public. They agree but it is painfully clear that this tension isn't over.

With a second book on the horizon, those undercurrents will become stronger and what simmered will explode. What was once funny may no longer be. There are some hints that the comedy will stop when reality steps in and takes center stage. The 58th Street Branch staff are a pretty humorous character driven bunch now, but what happens next may take the humor out and show the real characters.

New Book Alert: Light of Hope by S.T. Collins; Inspirational, But At Times Questionable Book About Survival After Domestic Abuse

New Book Alert: Light of Hope by S.T. Collins; Inspirational, But At Times Questionable Book About Survival After Domestic Abuse

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: S.T. Collins's novel, Light of Hope is about people going through a difficult time as survivors of domestic abuse. It also covers the organizations and people that help them get back on their feet and look for new careers, homes, and lives beyond the abuse. Collins succeeds, sometimes.

This book is hopeful and inspirational because it proves that abuse isn't the end of the story. That there are many brave kind people helping survivors get ahead in life, many of whom had been abused themselves. This book captures the brave and kind characters that work in such an institution.

However, the characters make some questionable decisions and do impulsive things that put themselves and others in danger. While their goals and the work they do is admirable, sometimes they behave very foolishly and recklessly. They could use some therapy themselves before they even think about helping others.


The protagonist is Vikki Nelson, a divorcee who suffered from two unhappy previous marriages. Her first marriage ended because her husband had an affair with a friend. Her second marriage, after a long time of psychological and emotional abuse. She is currently staying with her sister, Lily a nurse and single mother who ended a physically abusive marriage. The two sisters depend on each other for strength and support.


Vikki intends to better her life. After receiving a Bachelor's degree in Social Work and working as a waitress, she is interviewed by Robert Cuccio, Director of Light of Hope, a shelter that helps economically disadvantaged women receive public assistance and new jobs. Many of these women heve been abused by husbands and boyfriends. They are afraid and suffer from low self-esteem, so they need someone to help walk them through the process of economic and personal independence. Vikki passes her interview and receives the job as caseworker at Light of Hope.


Vikki does very well at the job. She befriends her colleagues, particularly Rhonda, a saucy case manager who also has relationship troubles. She takes charge of many important projects such as a job fair and bonds with many of her clients like Nikoleta Janovic, a Bosnian immigrant with two children and a stalker ex-boyfriend.


In her personal life, Vikki is able to use what she learned from Light of Hope to help and encourage Lily. We also get peeks into hers and Lily's unhappy marriages and why they led them to the choices they made and the lives that they now lead.

Vikki emerges as a strong character, because of her genuine concern and willingness to help others. As someone who had been in that situation, she wants to be a guide for other women.

The work that the characters at Light of Hope do is beyond admirable. They help these woman move themselves forward from their pain and see possibilities. They are good characters, but unfortunately they make many bad decisions that produce quite a few plot holes and would be questionable in real life situations.


Vikki comes to care about Nikoleta and wants to protect her from her absuive stalker ex so she invites her to stay at Lily's house! First, it wasn't her place to make that decision (though Lily does agree to it.) Second, because of Nikoleta's ex being a stalker, she is putting Nikoleta, her family, Lily, Lily's son, and Vikki herself in danger. Third, why not check her into a battered women's shelter? The option isn't even addressed. They purposely don't reveal their addresses so people can't find them and they have better protection in case they do! Fourth, it doesn't work out anyway because Lily's son and Nikoleta's oldest daughter are two hormonal teenagers and are caught making out by Lily. (That was a factor that should have gone into consideration.) While it shows Vikki's concern, sometimes her thoughtless impulsiveness comes through much clearer. This is one of those times.


Another irritating plot point is Robert and Vikki's romantic relationship. At first, Robert seems like a nice guy, dedicated to helping others, willing to offer advice, and cares about his employees and clients. But then the farther the book goes, the more that there seems like something is..off about him. He has a tendency to be everywhere that Vikki goes. While,Vikki does a good job he promotes her really quickly as if to ensure that they have plenty of alone time. It's not a surprise when he and Vikki have a sexual relationship.

I don't really blame Vikki for this relationship. He is good looking, but there's more than that. Vikki has been through two unhappy marriages. Her emotions are off-kilter. It is easy to look for love and romance with the first man who has ever been nice to her, especially when he recognizes her talent.

The one who is questionable in their behavior is Robert. He is a director of a shelter that helps troubled women. He should be able to recognize the signs of a woman going through a troubled personal life. Also, he is in a position of power and should put the brakes on a workplace relationship.

Besides that even after they get together, he behaves in a way that throws some red flags. When they eat out at restaurants, he orders for both of them (an early sign of controlling behavior.). He makes eyes at a pretty waitress but becomes jealous when Vikki speaks to an old friend. When Vikki want to cool off the relationship,Robert openly promotes one of the other female co-workers to accompany him on a trip instead of Vikki. It's not good when the director of a shelter helping troubled women exhibits abusive controlling behavior himself.

I look at these issues with the plot and I wonder if they were intended to move the plot along. They were there for the sake of a novel rather than making any actual sense. I can't help but wonder if Light of Hope might have fared better as a nonfiction book exploring these type of shelters and what they do to help women. Maybe also offering cases of people who had survived abusive situations. Of course confidentiality is an issue with these stories, but Collins could use pseudonyms.

Light of Hope is an encouraging book that tells the Readers that life after abuse is possible. But, as a novel it dims really quickly.

New Book Alert: Anonymous is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality by Nina Ansary, PhD; Fascinating Look at Important Women Overlooked By History

New Book Alert: Anonymous is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality by Nina Ansary, PhD; Fascinating Look At Important Women Overlooked By History

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


In her landmark essay, A Room of One's Own, Virginia Woolf wondered why she couldn't find any lasting works by women from Shakespeare's day that were as notable as his and his other male contemporaries. In her frustrations, Woolf looked at the many poems and other literary works that were signed "Anonymous." Woolf speculated,"Indeed I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them was a woman."


All over the world and through history, women have been denied opportunities that were given freely to men. Some women like Artemisia Gentileschi, came from artistic noted families and were able to become exceptions and study with male contemporaries. Others like George Eliot, Georges Sand, and The Bronte Sisters published under male pseudonyms. Others like Jane Austen and Anne Bradstreet had to produce their work around the noise and disruption of family life. Then there are those like Rosalind Franklin who received no credit for their discoveries while their male counterparts did or even like Margaret Keane who had their work falsely attributed to male spouses and family members. Then there are others that history still haven't acknowledged.


Not just in history either. The Gender Gap is still wide. According to statistics 104 countries have legislation that prevents women from working in certain jobs. 45 countries do not legally prohibit domestic violence and 72 countries have no determined criminal penalties for domestic violence offenders. 59 countries have no laws preventing sexual harassment. Even certain fields in the United States underrepresent women. In 2017, 2.2 % of venture capital was awarded to businesses founded by women. In 2019, 87% of most of the American museum collections are works by men. Only 17% of people in STEM fields are women.


Many feminist scholars, historians, activists and authors not only try to change the outlook for women of today. They want to acknowledge the forgotten women of the past, recognize their achievements, and give them some long overdue credit. One of those scholars is Nina Ansary.

Ansary's previous book, Jewels of Allah: The Untold Story of Women in Iran highlighted the achievements of many female leaders and advocates throughout Iran's history. This book, Anonymous is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender Inequality, takes her studies on a global scale and acknowledges women all over the world. Ansary describes the achievements of 50 women from En Hedu-Anna (c.2300 BCE), from Akkadia, the world's first known female astronomer who also wrote of her discoveries in poetic form on cuneiform to Alice Ball (1892-1916), an American chemist who created a water soluble solution of chaulmoogra oil to treat leprosy patients.


The women cover a variety of different backgrounds, time periods, ethnicities, nationalities, and occupations. From scientists, to inventors, to activists, to artists, to authors, to doctors, to warriors, to an aviator. These women were admirable in their actions and deeds often becoming the first woman in their fields. For example Sutayta Al-Mahamali (Birthdate unknown-987), from Arabia was the first female mathematician. She was known for her mathematical and legal mind and used advanced algebraic knowledge to solve inheritance disputes.

Another woman who was a first was Bessie Colman (1896-1926). She was the first American woman to receive a pilot's license and the first African-American pilot, period. Since American flight schools were closed to her, Colman moved to France to receive her license. She returned to America and assumed a career as a barnstormer, stunt pilot, until her death in 1926 when her plane went into a nosedive and crashed.


The accounts are brief but that is probably the point. Ansary is only giving the Reader a taste of these women, brief sketches of who they were. The Reader would then be interested to read and learn more about these amazing women. The chapter on Elizabeth Freeman (c.1742-1829) describes how she approached attorney Theodore Sedgwick to sue for her freedom, which she ultimately obtained. Readers may then want to find other works about Freeman and about other African-Americans who worked to obtain freedom before the 13-15th Amendments were ratified.

Readers may read about Marianne North (1830-1890) and learn that the Englishwoman documented and painted over 800 species of flowers and while visiting seventeen countries and six continents. Afterwards, they may want to look at her beautiful detailed paintings and read about her travels.

Readers might know Lilian Gilbreth (1878-1972) because of the book and film, Cheaper by the Dozen. However, the chapter acknowledges her contributions to the field of industrial and managerial engineering and organizational psychology. Her managerial efficiency skills were so well noted that she was a consultant for such businesses as General Electric and Macy's. Readers will learn of her psychological and industrial work and will recognize her as far more than a busy harried mother of twelve.

Many of these women became voices for their communities. Zitkala Sa (1876-1938), a Yankton Sioux woman wrote the libretto for the first opera by a Native American. She also founded the National Council of American Indians which advocated for education and health care for Native Americans.

Another advocate for women's rights in her home country was Zoila Ugarte De Landivar (1864-1969), an Ecuadorian journalist. She founded the first Ecuadorian Feminist magazine, La Mujer, and wrote various articles advocating feminist causes in her country.

Many of these women received abuse and criticism for their contributions. One of those women was Bibi Khanum Astarabadi (1858-1921), an Iranian advocate for women's education. When a book called The Education of Women was published declaring that women should not be educated, Astarabadi wrote her own response, The Vices of Men. She challenged the male dominated society that she lived under and argued for better educational opportunities for Iranian women and girls.

Unfortunately, many of these women's pursuits were overshadowed by men in their fields. One was Marion Mahoney Griffin (1871-1961), an architect who worked alongside Frank Lloyd Wright. Even though Mahoney Griffin was considered the most talented member of Lloyd's team and contributed many details to the projects such as stained glass, murals, and mosaics Lloyd refused to give her any credit clearly wanting to turn his work into a one man show.

In the early days of Hollywood, Lois Weber (1879-1939) was ranked as one of the "three great minds" of the early Hollywood industry, alongside Cecil B. DeMile and D.W. Griffith. The director of more than 130 shorts and feature films, Weber wanted films to discuss serious social issues as well as entertainment. Unfortunately, after her death, she was seen mostly as a star maker and her fame and influence on the industry was eclipsed by her male contemporaries.

One of the more interesting stories of a woman challenging a man for recognition was that of Margaret E. Knight (1838-1914),an American inventor. While working at the Columbia Paper Bag Company, Knight created a machine that made the work productive and allowed for the creation of the square bottomed paper bag. A man named Charles Annan tried to steal and receive a patent for Knight's invention. Knight successfully sued Annan and received the patent when she produced schematics, plans, and journal entries. Knight went on to invent other things like a shoe cutting machine, a numbering machine, and several devices related to rotary engines.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Petra Dufkova's illustrations. Very few of the woman were featured in photographs or portraits, so Dufkova used her imagination to sketch these women. The sketches reveal their strengths, intelligences, and determination to change their circumstances. This illustration shows Dufkova's portrait of Whang Zhenyi (1768-1797), a Chinese astronomer and mathematician who studied lunar and solar eclipses and discovered their mathematical and astronomical progresses.

Through Dufkova's beautiful illustrations and Ansary's insightful words, these women are being recognized for their talents, courageousness, intelligences, and willingness to change the world around them. They are names and faces. They are no longer Anonymous.

New Book Alert: Life is Big by Kiki Denis; Bizarre, Undefinable, Unforgettable Tale About Life, Death, Interconnectivity, and Achieving Immortality

New Book Alert: Life is Big by Kiki Denis; Bizarre, Undefinable, but Unforgettable Tale About Life, Death, Interconnectivity, and Achieving Immortality

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with only words on the cover


Spoilers: Kiki Denis' book Life is Big is not an easy book to categorize. It's a fantasy that focuses on life after death. It's a science fiction because it explores scientific and technological achievements and how researchers quantify our everyday existence, even thought and emotion. It's a satire in which many characters' discoveries and theories are so extreme that they become ridiculous. It's a tragedy that discusses death and how connected we are to each other in strange but meaningful ways. It's bizarre, weird, and sometimes confusing. But most of all, Life is Big is a book that is unforgettable and hard to get out of your mind.


Because Life is Big is such a difficult book to categorize, it is also a difficult book to summarize the plot. It's neither long nor unwieldy, but it takes the point of view of 11 characters all with their own stories, pursuits, beliefs, and agendas. It seems to tell 11 different stories, but the chapters reveal that they are somehow connected to each other in different ways.

The first character that we meet is Alma-Jane, AKA A.J. A.J. is a brilliant 11-year-old girl who is the most genetically happiest person on the planet. (Seriously, she took a test for it.) Unfortunately, because of a genetic mutation, she is dying. A.J., her brother, Ayrtron, and friend, Alejandro have declared war on death. The trio use their mighty brain power (and these kids are geniuses so that brain power is mighty), to find a way to beat death or at least give A.J., a few more years of life. A.J. and Ayrtron have created a website which if successful could help change A.J.'s gene color (which is a contributing factor to her illness.). A.J. also is using the brief time that she has left researching other people who have genetic happiness and consoling a woman whose genetic happiness is zero.


Ayrtron also has another project going on. In cyberspace, he assumes the identity of a 42 year old scientist and gives advice to adult geniuses. (They wouldn't listen to advice from a kid, but maybe from another adult, he reasons.) He calculates heartbeats and thoughts in a person's lifetime. During his studies, he communicates with another scientist, Lazslo, who claims to have part of Einstein's brain in a jar. Ayrtron may be a genius kid, but he is still a kid. He recklessly books a flight to London to visit Laszlo and the brain so he can continue his studies.

Their buddy, Alejandro is also studying the behaviors of an iCub, Qining particularly while it interacts with him and A.J. He wants to study "the little brain people", how the mind works. He asks Qning questions such as whether it is alive and how it feels not to have a father.(Qning was created by a female inventor.)

In their own way and through their private studies, the trio are trying to find some meaning in their lives, and answer questions about the overall key to existence. Maybe through their researches, they are not only hoping to save A.J.'s life, but find something lasting, recognition that will outlive them.


The kids aren't the only ones who are doing bizarre scientific research. Ayrtron's online friend, Laszlo, also has his own studies, creating the Potentiality Puzzle, which measures happiness, delight, and fearlessness in a person. He was inspired by his late girlfriend, Sonia who was the smartest and most fearless person that he knew. Sonia had a mentor, Dr. Maurits Harvey, who created genetically modified mice so he could study their thought patterns and emotions. Sonia was on her way to meet Dr. Harvey when she booked a flight on September 11,2001, so her research remained unfinished. The once self-conscious, Laszlo is determined to continue her work, ironically becoming more fearless in his pursuits.


Another of Harvey's protegees, Lila, is also interested in studying happiness. In fact, she created the Overall Happiness test that determined A.J's score. This book contains a great deal of interconnectivity between characters, mostly through their reasearch. Names are dropped that become prominent later. One person's research proves beneficial to another.

The connection between Lila and A.J. is particularly compelling. Lila was given up for adoption by her birth mother, Raduska. A.J. got the highest score on Lila's happiness study and consoles a woman online whose happiness level is zero. The woman whose happiness level is zero is, ta da, Raduska, Lila's birth mother. A.J.'s research not only gives her recognition and meaning, but it also provides answers to Lila and Raduska.

Oh yes, Dr. Harvey's scientific work has continued beyond his death as well. His chapter is told not from his perspective but from that of one of his mice, Mighty-11. Mighty-11 and the other mice, called the Mighties, have created their own society inside Harvey's lab,where the elder mice educate the younger. Yes, a talking mouse narrates one of the chapters. Did I mention this book was bizarre?


This book is almost satirical in describing the various theories that these geniuses create and study. They demonstrate how scientific minds analyze and quantify everything, even that which cannot be necessarily quantified. How do you measure things like Happiness, Contentment, or Love? What is the process in measuring emotions, intuition, things that by definition resist being measured? What would the results prove, that some people are happier than others? How? Many people in real life do study behaviors and there are lists about the "happiest countries" or "happiest states". But, this book takes those studies to the extreme by giving us characters who live to find a solution to everything, even that which cannot be truly measured.

As if the dying happy little girl, the oddball research, the sentient AI, the talking mice, coincidence of a mother and daughter being linked through the dying happy little girl, and Einstein's brain didn't make this book weird, things get even weirder. We meet Albert Einstein (yes that one) who now lives as one of the Great Immortals with his girlfriend, Sabina, the female protagonist of Milan Kundera's novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Yes, a deceased historical figure and a fictional character have shacked up in the cyberspace equivalent of the Afterlife. It's that kind of book. However, as anyone who studied Einstein's life knows how troubled his real-life marriages to his wives, Mileva and Elsa were, it makes sense that he would not want to spend eternity with either of them. He is attracted to Sabina's "lightness," and ever the scientist, he is fascinated by and studies it.


Einstein is also friends with Alfred Butts, the creator of the board game, Scrabble and Pablo Neruda, the poet who spends his time after death flying kites. These three are considered Great Immortals, people who are missed by many because they left something behind from a scientific theory that changed the world, to Nobel Prize winning poetry, to a board game played by millions.

Then there are people like Socrates, no not the philosopher (I am actually surprised he's not), but A.J. and Ayrtron's grandfather and his wife, Sofia. They are concerned Minor Immortals, because they are only remembered by friends and family, the people that they loved.

Meanwhile, Death and his younger brother, Hypnos AKA Obituary Man or O.M., also get their two cents in. They argue over who to push The Button on, i.e. who is going to die. Death still is ticked off with O.M. for making an unauthorized switch by trading one person's life for another. Death who is pretty cranky also has a conversation with the soon to be late, Grandma Sofia that indicates that he doesn't always like his job but rules are rules. It takes a lot of convincing to persuade Death to bend the rules one more time.


Reading about Denis' version of the Afterlife is similar to the one in Thomas Milhorat's Melia in Foreverland, where famous and average people are strutting around doing their own things, forming friendships, pursuing new interests, even researching new things, and seeing how their achievements affected those left behind. They achieve immortality through their legacies that others follow and remember.


Ultimately, that's what Life is Big is about. How one achieves immortality, not by literally and physically living forever. Immortality is achieved by the things a person leaves behind: their research, their art, their philosophies, their ideals, their actions, and of course by their friends and family. It's not how and when they died. It's who they affected emotionally and what their lives meant to others.

This theme is prominent in a phrase that is carried throughout the book, a phrase that inspired the title of the book: "Life is Big. Immortality exists, although it doesn't apply to humans (yet)."

This book shows that in a way immortality does exist for humans.

New Book Alert: The Rez: An American Love Story by G. Michael Madison; Bleak, Moving, Realistic, and Uplifting Story About Life on a Pacific Northwest Reservation

Ñew Book Alert: The Rez: An American Love Story by G. Michael Madison; Bleak, Moving, Realistic, and Uplifting Coming of Age Story About Life on a Pacific Northwest Reservation

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: G. Michael Madison's book, The Rez is one of those type of books in which the Reader must arrive prepared: with a box of tissues and the phone number to their local counseling service on hand. It is a somber realistic book about life on a Pacific Northwest Reservation. It is very honest and bleak about the poverty, illness, and broken families that exist in many of these reservations. However, it is also very moving with plenty of heartwarming and hopeful moments spread throughout.

The Tulalip Indian Reservation, Washington is seen through the eyes of Jonny Esque, the third son and one of ten children total, of Franc and Lois Esque. Jonny is a very shy sensitive boy, mostly silent because of a speech impediment and spends his time tagging along with his cooler more athletic older brother, Caj and being mothered and irritated by his seven sisters. One day while following Caj up the bluffs, Jonny finds himself in the white affluent neighborhood of Mission Heights. He immediately catches the eye of Nikki D. Thomas, a girl who is new to the neighborhood. Despite their different economic positions, family backgrounds, and her mother's disapproval, Jonny and Nikki D. become fast friends. That friendship lasts them through the turbulent times of the 1960's and their own personal problems and developing maturity.


The book is pretty straightforward how it portrays the daily life of the Esque family. Franc tries to be a leader, but receives failure at every turn, so he finds solace in the bottle. His temper makes the Esque home a tense one. The younger children hide from their father rather than risk provoking him.

Lois is a white woman who married Franc for love, but also to escape the sexual abuse within her own family. She appears as a sickly weak willed woman. However, she shows a lot of tremendous inner strength by protecting her children from Franc's wrath and by loving the Tulalip community and becoming a part of it.

The Esque children deal with their unhappy home life in various ways. They act out in school like Caj, take a parental role with the younger children like Claire, or keep to themselves feeling invisible like Jonny. Their oldest brother, Gray, has become a juvenile delinquent and is now residing in prison. It's a hard life and the family knows it.


There are several passages that reveal the hardship and poverty that the family goes through. They are on the brink of starvation a few times. When Lois becomes ill with a nervous breakdown, the children are separated and sent to various Indian boarding schools.

Jonny in particular has a rough time of it. The money that is supposed to be sent for his welfare is late in arriving. He has to suffer from other kids taunting him because he has to wear the same clothes and shoes every day. Madison pulls no punches in describing how hard life is for this family.

Even though, Nikki D.'s family is smaller and wealthier than Jonny's family, it is just as dysfunctional. Her father, Nick, is an alcoholic like Franc, but instead of turning his rages and frustrations outward, he turns inward. He is a meek quiet little man with a domineering wife who lives a life of quiet desperation.

Ginny, Nick's wife and Nikki D.'s mother, is the total opposite. She is scarred from her childhood as the daughter of a Chinese immigrant mother who delighted in verbally abusing her. In adulthood, Ginny focuses all her attention on pushing her daughter to succeed in school and be a part of a high social set. Even though, Ginny comes from an immigrant family herself and had suffered from insults because of her Chinese heritage, she fails to recognize her own racism towards the Esque family and the Tulalips. She refuses to let Nikki D. befriend them to the point of making a scene at Nikki D.'s birthday party when Jonny arrives.


Nikki D. however is determined to be Jonny's friend. The two recognize a kinship with each other because of their mutual dysfunctional backgrounds. Nikki D. Is so determined to be accepted among Jonny's peers that in one horrific passage, she hunts an animal to prove it. She also gets very confused the more mature she gets and the closer she grows to the Esque family. She develops a crush on Caj and has a platonic friendship with Jonny. However, she fails to notice that Jonny's feelings are anything but platonic.


Even though the book is bleak, there are some moments that keep it from being overly depressing. There are some really heartwarming passages. One of them occurs between Lois and Ginny. After Ginny evicts Jonny from Nikki D.'s party, Lois confronts her. The Reader is prepared for a takedown of a total racist bitch. Instead what happens is that both women reveal their insecurities and love for their children and a life long friendship is formed.

While Ginny is still pushy towards Nikki D.'s achievements, she emerges from this conversation as a better person that sees the error of her formerly racist ways. She becomes a true friend to the Esque family and helps provide financial aid to the Tulalip Reservation. Lois' inner strength and love for her children is also revealed in this passage, as she helps make this change happen.

There is also hope provided as the kids grow older and become more active in the world around them. Since the book is set in the '60's, it reveals the youthful energy of that time when young people were excited to get involved and be a part of the world around them. Those A-Changing Times are particularly shown through Nikki D. and Jonny.

Nikki D. is traumatized by the death of John F. Kennedy. This propels her to become involved with politics. She becomes an ardent Feminist and supporter of the Anti-War Movement. Her beliefs are tested when her new boyfriend, Beau enlists to fight in Vietnam. She is a woman of high standards and beliefs, but uncertain about what she wants. Does she want a steady high society boy like Beau, adventure and excitement with a known heartbreaker like Caj, or someone who is a good friend like Jonny? This sexual confusion frustrates her as she takes an active part in the world at large.

Another character who changes because of their involvement is Jonny. In fact, his is the strongest change for the better. He first gains strength at the boarding school when he becomes fed up with the mistreatment. He ties himself to a flagpole to protest the way he and the other Native American students are treated at the school.

As he matures, Jonny becomes an active leader at the Tulalip Reservation, the leader that his father wanted to but failed to become. Caj goes backwards when he returns from Vietnam, falling into the same alcoholic and unhappy marriage pattern that his parents fell in. Their sisters follow their own paths (which will be elaborated upon in the next book, Sisters). However, it is Jonny who emerges as the hero and the strongest character.

Jonny becomes a spokesperson for the tribe and raises funds for a new community center. His best moment occurs after a death in the family. At the funeral, Jonny the once shy kid who tried to be invisible, gives an impassioned eulogy sending love and blessings to his friends and family. Jonny's actions provide hope for the future that he won't make the same mistakes that his parents did and live a life of poverty and despair. Instead, he will lift his community upward.


There are two important symbols throughout the book that symbolize Jonny's trajectory. The main story is surrounded by a wraparound tale told by a storyteller about a mouse traveling amongst other animals to discover his true identity. The second is an eagle that flies overhead a few times and appears as a source of encouragement towards Jonny leading him to the next step in his life. It becomes apparent that Jonny started out as the mouse, nervous and uncertain and having to experience the world before he recognized his part in it. Then he became the eagle, strong, confident, and a leader that can soar above his despair and lead his tribe above that despair as well.

New Book Alert: Solstice Shadows (A VanOps Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Follow Up To The Lost Power Offers More Adventure, Suspense, Treasure Hunting, and Characterization

New Book Alert: Solstice Shadows(A VanOps Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Follow Up To The Lost Power Offers More Adventure, Suspense, Treasure Hunting, and Characterization

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: When last we left the Wonder Twins, Maddy Marshall and Will Argones and their secret agent friend, Bear Thorenson, they found some obelisks that acted as a superconductor and a star chart that points to an ultimate power source. This journey led them to the top of the Great Pyramid of Giza where Maddy used the superconductor to create ball lightning to blast their pursuers sky high. Will accepted the offer to join Van Ops still in mourning for his murdered wife, Maria. Maddy got accepted into a secret organization, the Order of the Invisible Flame, and considered joining Van Ops and adopting A.J., her orphaned student in aikido martial arts, while beginning a romance with Bear.


The second volume in the Van Ops series, Solstice Shadows, is pretty much more of the same. Usually, that's not a good thing but in this case, that is definitely a compliment. Avanti Centrae gives us more adventure, more treasure hunting, more suspense, more exotic locations, and more great characterization. It is not better or worse than the previous one. Instead they are equals in great escapism and high adventure.


The star chart that Will, Maddy, and Bear found is stolen from Maddy's apartment. Now, a dangerous assassin, with a taste for garroting his enemies, is after them. Meanwhile the Indian ambassador to Russia is murdered and his mistress is kidnapped and tortured. It flies right into Will and Maddy's world when they learn that the mistress is their step-grandmother and that they were attacked so their enemies could find the star chart and the location of the power source.

So now the twins, Bear, and a pair of new allies are led on yet another treasure hunt to look for this power source before the winter solstice (where the chart predicts that it can be found). They have to hurry because their enemies knocked out the power in the Philippines where a terrified populace is rioting and A.J. is hiding with an ally.


The novel jumps around from various locations to the Maldives, to the United States, to Brazil, to Russia, to Israel, to Mexico, to Belize, to the Philippines, to Turkey, to Morocco, to Egypt, to Sudan, to Jordan. If Readers want to take an imaginary journey to get their mind off their troubles, this book is the literary equivalent of getting your Imaginary Frequent Flier Miles.


The adventure is pure Indiana Jones meets James Bond. Everywhere the characters go, they run into villains in hot pursuit and have to use their wits to escape. There are many tense passages such as when Will and co-agent, Jags have to travel through the Sahara to avoid assasins.

Another suspenseful moment is when Maddy, Bear, and Will come to the archaeological dig of Anu Kumar, an archaeologist who can provide information on the star chart. She becomes the sole survivor in an attack that almost comes out of a psychological thriller or a horror movie.


The characterization is as sharp as ever mostly because Centrae doesn't forget the human element that lies in the adventure. Maddy goes through some angst and indecision throughout the book. She is reluctant to join VanOps because of how guilty she felt about committing murder in the last book, even though it was in self defense of herself, Will, Bear, and A.J. She is also torn between living a normal life as an adopted mother and getting back together with her ex fiancee or saving the world and taking all these dangerous risks with her new boyfriend, Bear. There is an emotional moment where Maddy has to face the consequences of keeping secrets even from her and Will's older sister, Bella.

One part that doesn't quite fit is her relationship with A.J. While she clearly cares for the boy, the fact that he is in danger in this book, yet again, suggests that he could become a frequent target by their  enemies. Maddy debates whether to adopt him, but this book gives several good reasons why she shouldn't.


Will also benefits from the extra care that Centrae provides in writing him. He is no longer grieving for his late wife. In fact, Maria's death and his last adventure has turned him into a dedicated agent who has learned to use his physical skills in knife throwing as well as his mental skills in engineering.

Will also has a potentially romantic relationship with Jags and a lot of cute moments as the two are running from their potential assailants. Jags also provides a sympathetic ear when Will confesses that he feels guilty about being involved with another woman so quickly after Maria's death.


While the antagonists aren't as well written as Ivan, the Hitman with a Heart of Gold from The Lost Power, there is some depth provided within Pyotr Argones, a relative of Will and Maddy's that is after them. While chasing the twins, Pyotr is also worried about his mother who is kidnapped and tortured by a sinister Russian character called the Baron. Oh yeah, and his mother is the aforementioned Indian ambassador's mistress. Pyotr realizes that he is a pawn in a larger game and the players that claim to be on his side could careless about him.

With extra adventure, locations, and great characters on both sides, Solstice Shadows continues the excitement started by The Lost Power. The VanOps Series is a series that could be considered The Great Escape.

New Book Alert: Hot Wheels: Cool Assasins by J.O. Quantaman; Follow Up to Tense Exciting Series About Spies and Assasins is Superior to the Original

New Book Alert: Hot Wheels: Cool Assasins Book Two by J.O. Quantaman; Follow Up in Tense Exciting Series About Spies and Assassins Is Superior to the Original

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


PopSugar Reading Challenge: A book with a robotic,cyborg, or AI character (Keri)


Spoilers: The first book to the Cool Assasins series, Loose Threads served mostly as exposition. It was written to pull the Reader into the intricate Futuristic world of space colonies, big government corporations that openly control Earth, and a group of misfits recruited as spies and assassins, called the Dog Breakfast Co-op(DB), that aspire to take down these corporate heads, one CEO at a time. The world building was so fascinating as it was introduced largely through the eyes of rookie, Nyssa Persson, that the action plot was slight and confusing. Mostly because it alternated with Nyssa's introduction and was set four years later from the rest of the story.


This volume in the series, Hot Wheels, appears to carry the motto, "Enough with the explaining! Let's get down to the action!" And, oh, does it deliver! Hot Wheels follows a much more straightforward plot set in 2076 than its predecessor and emerges the better for it. J.O. Quantaman gives us a DB attack on an international meeting of the CEO's called Transnats. This attack is told from the point of view of the DBs, the Transnats, and a few innocent bystanders who become more involved with the conflict the further along the plot goes.


The Transnats are certainly a corrupt nasty bunch that barely like each other let alone anyone else. They are spearheaded by W.A. "Double You" Rathbone, an antagonist who does not even appear for the meetings,b doesn't have to for the others to recognize his power. Just him listening into their conversations and his lifelike avatar being present is enough for
the others to recognize his power, even if they don't like him personally. With the hatred and mistrust amongst the Transnats, they almost don't need the DB to bring them down. Chances are, they will end up destroying each other.


They are the kind of people who you expect to find in these type of books who have these far reaching goals and darn it all, if they can't get it done. They have the money and power to control just about everything and everybody. Their plans are almost plausible. For example, a tech genius has the idea of creating an AI operating system called Ultimate Companion, or UC,t not only can be an attractive front for lonely people and extract personal information, but is also designed to shut down in 1,001 days so the consumer is forced to upgrade or buy a new one. In this day of newer faster technology and devices that seem to break down or have problems after a time, is there any doubt that could happen? This book just turns that into a conscious scheme.


The DB plot is excellent and is much better than the one in the previous book partly because it focuses on two of my favorite members of the Dog Breakfast Co-op. The first is Jen "Pix" Marov, a former circus performer who uses her acrobatic skills to climb large structures including the Personas Tower in Kuala Lumpur where the Transnats are meeting. The other character is Joanna AKA Jo and Kemosabe, a martial artist and driver who serves as Jen's getaway.

Jen and Jo are a pair of strong independent women that play off each other really well. Jen's stoic nature and dedication to her skills is tested by Jo's fast driving and intense sexuality. Whether the two are fighting antagonists, escaping to another country, or engaging in sexual byplay with some handsome sailors, they make for a great action comedy duo.

As for Nyssa, the star of the last book, well she is still a presence. She has adapted to life at the Co-op and has settled into becoming one of the gang. She harbors some guilt from her actions from the previous book and is is still hurting from previous abuse from men so her romantic life is still troubling her. However, her experience as a courtesan proves to be valuable as a honey trap. She also has a new assignment in teaching their OS, Keri, to act more human. Through Nyssa's influence, Keri is a brilliant but sarcastic AI with a quick wit and plenty of information.


Meanwhile the novel veers towards a couple of new characters. One is a truck driver, Tomas Redfoot who delivers some mysterious cargo and is confused when he learns that he will be transporting some "dogs" in the near future. Another is Raven Rocksong, a girl from the Haida Gwai band (tribe) from the Pacific Northwest. She plans to leave the band to study medicine, but an unfortunate encounter leaves her broken and paralyzed. There are brief intersections between Tomas and Raven and the others, but a deep secret is revealed that makes the connection stronger. Also, there is some foreshadowing that implies that these two lucky ducks will become closer to the DBs than originally suspected.

Hot Wheels is not only a great follow up to Loose Threads, it is superior. It took the world that was built in Threads and gave it movement, energy, and plenty of action.

New Book Alert: Star Wolf: A Space Opera (Songs of Star and Winter Book One) by L.A. Frederick; Brilliant Start to Science Fiction Series Starting Anthromorphic Animals

New Book Alert: Star Wolf: A Space Opera (Songs of Star and Winter Book One) by L.A. Frederick; Brilliant Start To Science Fiction Series Starring Anthromorphic Animals

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: If the Star Fox video game franchise, Brian Jacques' Redwall series, Game of Thrones, and Star Wars had a group orgy and a baby came from that strange union, L.A. Frederick's Star Wolf would be that baby. It is derivative of other science fiction works especially ones with animals in the lead, but somehow it works and is engaging.


Star Wolf is the son of Sun Wolf, the leader of the wolf planet, Lupus. In this universe, anthromorphic animals live on their own planets and are able to walk, talk, wear clothing, think, and reason. They have been able to do this since the Big Bang. Oh they are aware of Earth, but it is a prison planet where animals are sentenced to have their sentience removed and serve as the animals in which we are familiar.

Rather I should say Earth used to exist. In the first few pages, it is destroyed by a colossal weapon operated by Winter Tiger, head of the Tiger race. The Tigers are at peace with the other Worlds since the Apex Wars between them and the Lions ended. However, what the other animal races don't know is that Winter Tiger and his crew have destroyed five planets. In public, they blame it on the Space Kraken. Star Wolf is suspicious, so he and his crew investigate the possibility that the Tigers are lying. This investigation puts them in direct conflict with the Tigers who now have Star Wolf and his team on their hit list.

The world building is rather clever, especially for people who know a lot about animals. Even though the characters are human-like, they still retain their animal environments. (Gazelles live on a planet filled with grassy plains, Lions live on a planet-wide savanna.) They also have their animal like traits. (The Wolves have great hearing. A Blodhound character's sense of smell is useful.) Frederick no doubt studied the behaviors and environments of animals before writing this work and it shows.

There are some cute references to how animals behave on Earth. The leader of Canis, the dog planet, is revealed to be a Jack Russell Terrier. Star Wolf remembers that when they were sent to Earth, Jack Russells ended up "high on energy but void of brain." (Something tells me that Frederick is well acquainted with the breed).


Star Wolf shows the typical leader-like qualities with a strong youthful impetuosity that puts him at odds with his more conservative traditional father. He is clever enough to recognize that Winter Tiger is lying by observing the behaviors of other animals that are clearly on Winter Tiger's payroll, but reckless enough to denounce him during the Council of Worlds meeting. This outburst causes the Wolves' exile from the Council and them to be temporarily devoid of allies.

The greatest thing that Star Wolf does is create a Band of Breeds, a group of different animals united to fight against the Tigers. Everything from a crotchety old Badger, to a loyal Bloodhound, to a cunning Fox that plays both sides, are on the team. Their great qualities merge as they band together to take down Winter Tiger.


The final chapters reveal a new member to the Band of Breeds and some greater Tiger-caused destruction. This makes the second book possibly a great follow up.