SOS Podcasts by Rosamaria Mancini; Gingered by Ryan G. Murphy; Two Hilarious Memoirs About Life, Love, Podcasts, and Red Hair

 

SOS Podcasts by Rosamaria Mancini; Gingered by Ryan G. Murphy; Two Hilarious Memoirs About Life, Love, Podcasts, and Red Hair

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Because I am very behind on my work, both this and the next review will feature two books with similar topics and themes.

When you want to laugh about life's daily routines and problems, you may want to turn to a memoir. Some deal with darker aspects and are dramatic as they discuss the author's struggles. Then there are some that discuss struggles with a smile, nod, and a chuckle or two. 

The books, SOS Podcasts by Rosamaria Mancini and Gingered by Ryan G. Murphy are the latter. They are hilarious memoirs about life, love, learning and communicating through social media, and living with the curse of having red hair.

SOS Podcasts is a lighthearted witty memoir about author Rosamaria Mancini’s life in Italy and Germany with a military husband, two young children, and a growing interest in listening to podcasts.

Mancini describes herself as “a big pain, a lot to deal with, and overbearing” and a born worrier. She attributes these traits to a life of constant change. She moved to Italy for a career in media where she married Marco, an electronics specialist in the Italian Air Force and had a young daughter. They moved to a NATO Base in Germany where Mancini gave birth to a son. 

In Germany, Mancini felt a tremendous culture shock. Since she came from an Italian-American family, she was able to adjust to life in Italy, speak the language, and adapt to the culture though she was mocked for her American ways and disliked many things about the country like the constant red tape. Her time in Germany however was a much more stressful situation. She was worried about the language, the cold weather, and the rumored preciseness and efficiency.

 To combat these anxieties, Mancini made sure her family stuck to various rules like wearing layers of sleep during a scheduled time. These rules, her overbearing nature, and difficulty in making new friends made Mancini a “fish so far out of water that (she) might as well be in the Gobi Desert." In her loneliness, Mancini made a new friend, one that became, as she described it “a new savior: Podcast.

Through podcasts, Mancini learned about important topics like femicide, wrongful convictions, climate change, immigration, student loan debt, and vaccination controversies. She learned about cooking and child care to help her with household responsibilities. She practiced prayer and meditation for stress relief. She got hooked on comedy and Fiction shows. Podcasts proved to be a source of education and information for Mancini.

There seemed to be a podcast for every occasion to help with Mancini’s various conflicts and questions. For example, she had trouble getting along with the other military wives. The podcast, Life Kits proved to be such a valuable source of comfort so much that Mancini considered its host, Julia Furlan, to be a friend.

Podcasts like the Pregnancy Podcast and The Birth Hour soothed any fears and answered any questions that Mancini had about her pregnancies. Podcasts like The Longest Shortest Time and Care and Feeding provided advice on parenting when she had difficulties raising two small children. Skimm This gave her a youthful perspective on popular culture and social trends. Dear Sugars helped her process her guilt and grief about her father's death. It seemed that any life change had a podcast to go with it.

Mancini also found podcasts that reflected or created various interests in her life. A beautiful chapter on Mancini and her family observing Christmas markets and traditions adds to her recommendation of Rick Steves Germany and Austria. Listening to cooking podcasts like La Scossapizza gave her a chance to get in touch with her Italian roots by preparing the cultural food. Mancini became fascinated by storytelling podcasts like Serial because of their ongoing serialized format.

Mancini has some recommendations for advice on spiritual and emotional well-being. Journeys of Faith with Paul Faris helped center her into her Catholic faith. While NPR’s Up First, BBC’s Global News, and New York Times’ The Daily are useful for the current news, The Good News Podcast is an antidote for lighter, hopeful, and more humanitarian stories. 

SOS Podcasts is a love letter from a woman to her favorite media source. It lets the Reader know that there is a podcast and a story for just about every feeling, activity, interest, and experience.

Gingered is a hilarious side splitting memoir about something that I am quite familiar with:  having red hair.

Ryan G. Murphy's red hair was an asset in his young years when he modeled for stock photos and acted in commercials and bit parts. Unfortunately when he began school, his hair became less of an advantage and was a means for other kids to bully him. This chapter reminds Readers that schoolchildren will find any reason, any excuse to pick at something different to ostracize and bully others.

Even as an adult Murphy still felt scrutinized because of his hair. Many strangers remarked on it. Girls refused to date him because of it. He is often asked if he is one of several red haired people such as Damien Lewis, Prince Harry, Ed Sheeran, or Kevin-”not a famous Kevin or anything. Just Kevin.”

Murphy had a colorful childhood with two doting parents and particularly his charming and conniving grandfather who created and sold bootlegged VHS. Much of Murphy's stories depict his loving relationship with his outrageous, impudent but devoted grandpa. 

Murphy goes through many of the milestones in a young person's life with a light comic touch. Things like first kiss (“Adult kissing is not really kissing at all. It's opening your mouth into someone else's mouth, wrestling your tongues and then spending the next few minutes wondering what the Hell you are supposed to do with your hands”), getting punished (“My Dad was angry three times when I was a kid”), getting into fights with other kids (“I was punched in the face on a Sunday. Punched in the ear if we are being specific.”), receiving sex education in a Catholic school (“They tried to scare the puberty out of us by guaranteeing that we'd all get AIDS then separated the boys and girls into different classrooms.”), attending high school (“High school was a lot like grammar school only with more penises.”), his first girlfriend (After he shaved his red hair, she gave him a baseball cap and he responded: “Even with only peach fuzz on top of my head, she still couldn't stand my red hair.”), college adventures (on taking three girls in a date to see Passion of the Christ: “The dinners were great. We got buzzed sipping on Bahamaritas-feeling all fancy and flirty-the perfect tone setter. Then Jesus had to ruin everything like always.”), finding a long term partner (He knew that his future wife, Pam, was The One after they quoted Zoolander to each other.), his difficulties with anger management (“When a UPS truck is chasing you at eighty miles an hour down the Staten Island Expressway, you start to evaluate your life choices.”)  

These universal milestones are individualized by Murphy's deft writing and witty observations. 

With red hair and a sharp wit, Murphy knows how to stand out in a crowd.

A Woman Like Maria by Gabriel Costans; Sweet Romance About a Woman Discovering Her Sexuality and Finding Love

A Woman Like Maria by Gabriel Costans; Sweet Romance About a Woman Discovering Her Sexuality and Finding Love

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Gabriel Costans’ A Woman Like Maria is a sweet Romance about a woman discovering her own sexuality and finding love with another woman.

Sophia is a German woman who lives with a very dysfunctional family. Her parents have a fractured argumentative marriage. Sophia spends much of her time exploring her body and experimenting with relationships. She goes through a few bad relationships before she meets Ricardo, her future husband. Feeling alone and trying to deal with the pressure of life with an abusive husband, Sophia develops a bond with Ricardo's sister, Maria. The bond becomes a friendship and then develops into a romance. 

Sophia is a protagonist who hasn't exactly had the easiest start in life so she obtained an inner strength and determination to survive it. Her parents had a tempestuous relationship which began out of necessity rather than love because her mother was raped by another man. She needed a quick shotgun marriage to save face. 

The couple took their disappointments and failures out on their four children. 

Sophia often had to help her mother raise her younger siblings.In her small village of Blumenjagen, women are expected to marry and have lots of children. Sophia sees the drudgery, volatility, and resentment in the couples around her and certainly wants no part of it.

As Sophia grows, she has some difficult troubled relationships. Her first romance ended because her love interest enjoyed too much attention from other girls. Another ended because of differing ideas about their future. He wanted marriage and she wanted to begin a nursing career. Sophia’s early relationships show her as the type of woman who won't compromise who she is for anyone.

Sophia's romance with Ricardo begins innocuously enough with flirtation, compliments, and small gifts. It hits a snag when Sophia learns that Ricardo is already married and has a son. Sophia is drawn to him but also feels longings for women that she isn't certain about. 

Rather than address those longings, she marries Ricardo after he divorced his first wife. Sophia is strong and independent but when faced with her sexuality she is uncertain how to pursue it or whether she will be accepted. Instead of confronting her feelings for women, she transfers those feelings to Ricardo. She got married because she felt that it was safer to settle and marry a man than embark on a potential affair with a woman.

Sophia pays a heavy price for settling. Her marriage to Ricardo crumbles into abuse and infidelity. Ricardo has multiple affairs, frequent patches of unemployment, and an explosive temper. Their marriage only gets worse when she accompanies him to the United States to be closer to his family. The geographical distance only creates more tension as Sophia has to endure physical and psychological isolation from Ricardo's mistreatment of her. 

Sophia faces the abuse with a stoicism and almost coldness until she meets Maria. The only bright spot in Sophia's life is her relationship with Maria. The more free spirited woman is very open and honest about her relationships with women. She opens Sophia's heart and reminds her of the stirrings that she thought had disappeared. Their passion is undeniable.

More important than the passion is the emotion. Maria is not the same type of person as her brother. She treats Sophia like an equal as compared to Ricardo who treats her like a maid that he doesn't have to pay. Maria is selfless enough to back off out of Sophia's life when she senses things are getting too complicated for her but still retains their companionship through letters. 

After Sophia gives birth to two children, Maria gives her shelter and becomes a second mother to them. Maria encourages Sophia's passions for her career, family, and love. Their relationship allows Sophia the chance to be authentic and embrace the chance for love and fulfillment.

A Woman Like Maria is the type of Romance that explores the relationship between two people but it also explores the inner discovery of one's true self.

 

Immortal Water by Brian Van Norman; Moving and Haunting Historical and Contemporary Fiction About The Search for Eternal Youth

 

Immortal Water by Brian Van Norman; Moving and Haunting Historical and Contemporary Fiction About The Search for Eternal Youth

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: I suppose it’s strangely fitting that a state like Florida with its tourist traps, Florida Men, and hordes of retirees would have a mythological story connected to its origins as a Spanish colony. It’s a state that practically lives for a story like that: quirky sites for people to visit, odd locals who are stereotyped as dim, weird, and boisterous, and an economy practically built on tourists and people relocating towards a sunny climate. With how Florida is often seen, is it any wonder that the Fountain of Youth myth is so prevalent in its legends?

Historically, there is some doubt whether Juan Ponce de Leon was really looking for the Fountain of Youth. Modern historians thought the explorer and conquistador was more concerned about finding new lands to conquer and plunder for its riches than preserving his youth. But still the Fountain of Youth legend persists and continues in pop culture. 

Brian Van Norman explores the Fountain of Youth legend in his novel, Immortal Water. It is a Historical and Contemporary Novel about the search for eternal youth, and immortality, the problems with aging, and the experience and wisdom that come with it.

Immortal Water tells two stories. The first is that of Ponce de Leon who is suffering from a series of setbacks involving rivalries and political machinations against him. On one last voyage, Mayaimi, a captive Calusa woman, spins him tales of a fountain whose waters promise eternal life, so Ponce knows exactly where he’s going next.

The contemporary story is that of Ross Porter, a retired history professor who receives the devastating news that his wife, Emily is dying. While the two are determined to make the most of Emily’s final days, Ross becomes consumed with the legend of Ponce de Leon and the Fountain of Youth. After Emily dies, he is determined to find the Fountain himself.

Immortal Water ties the two stories thematically of two men faced with their aging bodies and diminished reputations trying to find a lasting legacy that allows them to live if not physically then certainly metaphorically forever. They want to find a means to escape death, age, and decline and acquire second chances to recapture their youth and glory. 

Ponce de Leon and Ross couldn’t be more different from each other though their end goals are the same. It's through their differences where the motivations become clear. 

Ponce de Leon is motivated by his diminishing reputation and influence. He was once a proud conquistador and explorer, appointed governor of the island that he overpowered, a friend and fellow voyager of Christopher Columbus. He plundered many lands and enslaved or vanquished their people. To the Reader, that is not a proud accomplishment but to de Leon himself and to the Spanish Kingdom of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella whose goal was to obtain wealth and spread Christianity by word or sword, it was.

Unfortunately, a world like that where conquest of outside lands is all too easy so are conquests from within. Corruption, currying favor, and political enemies are quite common in these nations that are now governed by representatives from Spain. Ponce de Leon has his share of enemies. Even though he was personally close to Christopher Columbus, Ponce de Leon finds himself at odds with Columbus’s son, Diego who is now viceroy and is removing the old guards who no longer have a place within the current Spanish colonial governments.

Ponce de Leon feels the punch of being tyrannized. As he dominated the indigenous people, he was dominated by the current government that he helped bring about. He feels redundant and his influence diminishes as he gets older. He lost respect from his fellow countryman and his own family. Even his son backs Columbus Junior over him. He believes that finding the Fountain of Youth will not only extend his life but revitalize his reputation.

A counter to Ponce de Leon’s journey is Mayaimi. She was abducted from her village and is extremely resentful of being passed around and treated like a sexual plaything by her captors. Ponce de Leon dismisses her as being ignorant and backwards, but she is definitely smarter, more self-aware, and manipulative than he realizes. His experience with her is limited because of his arrogance in leadership. It never occurs to him that she and her people will resist their captivity in any way possible.

She is the one who encourages his search for the Fountain of Youth. She builds up the legend knowing that Ponce de Leon could not resist chasing such a dream. While she follows the spiritual path, it appears that she doesn't believe in the Fountain of Youth or at least doesn't think it's worth pursuing. However, she doesn't mind playing her village legends to her benefit. If Ponce de Leon finds it, she's none the better. But if he doesn't, he will have wasted his life on a fool's errand or die in the process.

Ponce de Leon's story is one of the arrogance of shaping the world including the passage of time to fit one's own desires. By contrast, Ross Porter’s story is one of obsession that comes with filling a void of grief. Instead of wanting to control the world, Ross himself is shaped and controlled by it.

Instead of a life of suspicion, tyranny, and ambition, Ross’ is one of loss, regret, and sorrow. He had a happy life with Emily and his family. He and Emily were curious about history but not consumed by it. They enjoyed the search and the reading more than the pursuit. The book spends quite a long time exploring Ross and Emily's marriage before he goes looking for the Fountain of Youth. Their marriage was one of happiness, curiosity, and an awareness of aging bodies and time running out.

Even during the most joyful events, there is always a sense that Ross and Emily's happiness is short lived. They reunite with their children, in-laws, and grandchildren knowing that this may be the last time that they will be together. When Emily dies, Ross feels a deep growing hollow chasm in his life, one that can't be filled. He remembers his wife's weakening frail body and diminished spirit. Every pain and ache that comes with aging is magnified within him. He needs something to fill that chasm and like most academics, it's filled with the pursuit of knowledge, the pursuit of eternal youth and immortality.

Ross’ mind is caught inside memories of his life with Emily and his research of the Fountain's location. His motives might be different but he is every bit as single minded and determined as Ponce de Leon. This determination puts him at odds with friends and family, particularly his son who questions Ross’ obsession and sanity. Even though his concern is out of love and not power like de Leon’s son, Ross feels just as isolated as de Leon did in his search. The isolation turns to obsession to find the Fountain.

While Emily is not cunning or manipulative as Mayaimi, she is just as much a catalyst for her husband's search as the Calusa woman is to her captors. Her deteriorating body reminds her husband about the physical complications of age. Her love of vacationing in Florida gives Ross a means to begin his journey. Ross even dreams of her giving clues to the location of the Fountain.

Both Ross and Ponce de Leon share certain attributes in common. The most important are feeling ostracized and silenced by the younger generation, diminishing of their influence and authority, feeling physical pain, and the yearning to find late in life significance. They may long to swallow the drink that rejuvenates their bodies, gives them energy, and allows them to live a few more years. But the most important draw is not the physical benefits but the prestigious ones.

If they find and deliver the Fountain of Youth, their names will go down in history. Ponce de Leon could obtain money and power that eluded him. Ross could create a lasting legacy to his and Emily's marriage. It's the immortality of fame that is just as if not more important than the immortality of the body. 

Immortal Water is a fascinating quest about two flawed men searching for immortality only to find that the real immortality happens during the time they have left. It is in the legacy, the lessons, the people, and the emotional impact that they left behind.

Retribution by Ian Conner; Conner Returns to Form in Superb Political Thriller

Retribution by Ian Conner; Conner Returns to Form in Superb Political Thriller

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Ian Conner is an author of great versatility. He samples from several genres and writes brilliant books within them. Dark Maiden  is a Supernatural Horror about a ghost and Native American legend that haunts a lake. The Long Game: An Amy Radigan Thriller is a Political Thriller about a reporter and the Vice President of the United States investigating a conspiracy involving several government operatives and the boisterous POTUS. Cardinals is a Dark Fantasy/Religious Satire about Asherah, God's ex wife who roams the Earth as an immortal vampire. Cooper's Ridge is a Science Fiction novel about the discovery, exploration, colonization, and exploitation of a new planet capable of sustaining human life. Griffin's Perch is an Epic Fantasy about a diverse group of heroes that fight against five vengeance seeking dragons. I once described Conner as “the literary equivalent of throwing everything to the wall to see what sticks.” That Conner can effortlessly travel from one genre to another shows great range and commitment to each book and the worlds that he builds within them.

With his latest book, Retribution, Conner returns to form or whatever passes for form in Conner-verse. It is a Political Thriller similar to The Long Game in that it involves a wide ranging conspiracy involving several key American politicians including the President. It is also a Psychological Crime Thriller about hatred, revenge, and the lengths people will go to satisfy their desire for vengeance.

Alex Conway is a broken man. His wife died of cancer during a previous government shutdown. Now his daughter recently died of influenza during another shutdown and his CHIP insurance has been denied. A lottery win does little to raise his spirits but gives him the resources that he needs for a long term plan of vengeance. He locates information on corrupt politicians that voted against health insurance and lobbied for causes like the NRA. He provides information to expose these politicians. He isn't just satisfied with killing their political careers but he wants to end their lives as well.

Meanwhile various FBI agents, government officials, and tenacious reporters investigate the seemingly random deaths of various politicians. This discovery reveals that these murder victims weren't exactly clean and this puts them at odds with powerful people, particularly the obnoxious President Glass. 

Similar to The Long Game, Conner bases his novel on real world events and people to present an even worse case scenario than what we are faced with, as if it could get any worse. Conner's writing suggests that maybe it can.

The most obvious comparison is the fictional President Frederick Glass whose abrasive unlikable nature and felonious past are certainly based on a former President and current presidential nominee. The book even uses some of the real-life model’s familiar sound bites. 

The opening set during a pandemic with overcrowded hospitals, desperate sick people, deaths of millions, and political inaction is definitely reminiscent of the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Even many of the plot points are also reminiscent of real life: such as a politician who gets away with a hit and run (probably a composite of similar incidents in the lives of Ted Kennedy and Laura Bush), a Presidential staff member who resigns from the Administration and becomes one of its strongest opponents (shades of Michael Cohen), Republican Christian Evangelist organizations, groups, and think tanks gaining enough power to sway the government to fit their needs (several most notably the Heritage Foundation right now), and the various sex, abuse, assault, and financial scandals (it would be easier to say who isn't involved in those in real life. Uhh…give me a minute).

When truth is stranger than fiction and catches up to the plots of Political Thrillers, it almost makes one wonder if there is really a need for fiction anymore? (That's rhetorical. Of course there is).

The plot of Retribution is particularly intricate with Conway’s revenge against the politicians that he blames for his daughter’s death. He doesn't just settle on one means for murder. That's for amateurs. He decides on several: a fatal auto collision here, poison meant to induce heart attacks there, maybe an anthrax laced envelope or two. Those that don't end up dead suffer massive career hits. Conway goes through various channels to find and expose his enemies.

 Conway's means and methods almost take genius proportions to the point where one could wonder if this was something that he wanted to do for some time. After all, a plan like this could take years to research, weigh the angles, and prepare. Is it entirely possible that this could be something that Conway wanted to do but the love for his family stayed his darker thoughts? That question is never officially addressed or answered but the possibility is there. If so, that calls to question whether his motives are purely out of an understandable desire for revenge or long term resentment towards a country whose leaders fail to let it live up to the standards in which they claim.

Conway is an interesting character who gets the Reader's understanding and empathy up to a point. Who wouldn't become angry at the system after their spouse and child die? It is completely believable when one has nothing to strike back at those who have everything. His means while questionable are fascinating from a storytelling standpoint. 

It helps that the people that Conway goes after are incredibly unlikeable in different ways. They are people who spent a long time getting away with crimes and misbehavior to the point that they are complacent. They are insulated in their privilege and power not seeing how their actions affect others. The murders and exposures are for many the first time that they have to face real accountability for their actions.

It doesn't help that Glass, the ringleader in all of this, is the worst character of them all. He is a completely immoral sociopath whose reaction to accusations is to throw other people under the bus, rivals, allies, staff, Cabinet and Administration members. His restrictive policies, hiring of sycophants, and making strict rules for others but allowing himself and his followers leniency creates many of the issues from the corruption, to the pandemic, to the shutdown. Let alone, not being a good President, Glass barely functions as a decent human being. He would almost be a one-dimensional cartoon villain if again he wasn't actually based on a real person who is still gobbling up headlines in his third bid for the Presidency.

While Glass and his cronies are horrible, Conway also is accountable for his own actions. The more enemies that fall prey to his machinations, the less relatable Conway becomes. He is isolated from those around him and ultimately to the Reader. 

Conway's vengeance becomes an addiction as he puts many in his path without realizing the long term consequences that could result. 

By killing the politicians, Conway is only creating martyrs for their supporters and killing the bodies. He is not destroying the regulations, bills, corruption, or the hypocrisy that caused such issues. In fact if anything, it's continuing even worse despite or because of the deaths. 

There are however people in the book who are able to see through Glass's corruption and Conway's violence and bring the truth forward. Randy Cardinale, Glass’s former Chief of Staff goes from being a Glass loyalist to his staunchest critic after realizing that he could no longer justify or defend his former boss’ actions.

FBI Special Agent Daisy West and her colleagues manage to put together all of the seemingly random information of the murders, including patterns, analysis, clues, and countless research into large files, to discover Conway's identity and motives. West proves to be a formidable opponent against him.

Rebecca Gerber and Chloe Sachs, reporters from rival news networks are able to put ratings and professional rivalries aside and work together to cover the stories of the murders and corruption. Their investigation into the Glass Administration is particularly compelling as they face death threats, assault, and in one chilling chapter arrest to expose not only Conway but the political corruption and machinations that created him.

Retribution is another of Conner's brilliant works. It is a superb look at corruption, politics, money, hatred, revenge, and murder.

 

The Girl in The Corn (Girl in the Corn Series Book 1) by Jason Offutt; Set Up is Just as Chilling as The Climax in This Contemporary Fantasy

 

The Girl in The Corn (Girl in the Corn Series Book 1) by Jason Offutt; Set Up is Just as Chilling as The Climax in This Contemporary Fantasy

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: Warning: Before I begin this review, I insist that you read my review of the book, Boy From Two Worlds as this book will reveal important spoilers in this series. I will also reiterate that this review contains MAJOR HEAVY DUTY SPOILERS!!!

I find it an interesting experience to read a book series out of order. Sometimes, it can be very confusing. Sometimes, it can be tedious if the exciting parts happen in the earlier volume so we have to encounter the exposition. Other times, it actually makes the books better especially if you think of them as though they were meant to be written out of order. 

An example of the latter experience falls in The Girl in the Corn by Jason Offutt which is actually the first book in Offutt’s two part series but is actually the second book that I read in the series after its follow up Boy From Two Worlds. Reading the two books in the proper order works in a linear storytelling fashion in which the plot points are introduced, conflicts begin, action builds up to a climax, the events expand in the next volume, characters evolve, the scope of the threat expands, solutions are given, and resolutions are made. 

But Offutt gives his books a unique gift in which they are just as well written out of order as they are in. Instead of thinking of the books as an ongoing series, one can instead look at Boy From Two Worlds as the main book that tells the important story and Girl in the Corn as the prequel that sets up the situation retroactively. They can be read in order or out of order and the Reader would still be just as fascinated either way. 

In Boy From Two Worlds, a mass murder committed by Bobby Garrett sets up a chain reaction that includes the birth of his son, Jakey, by a woman named Marguerite Jenkins, the disintegration of the relationship between Thomas Cavannaugh and his girlfriend Jillian Robertson, and a series of strange events that get stranger. It is eventually revealed that there are fairies that are violent predators who feast on human flesh and live for their suffering. Jakey inherited some of their powers which the fairies want to take full advantage of in their campaign against the mortals of St. Joseph, Missouri

Girl in the Corn takes us back in time to when 6-year-old Thomas first encounters a fairy in his mother’s garden who tells him that he is special. The fairy girl appears throughout his life telling him that he must defeat Dauor, a dark creature from her world. Meanwhile we are introduced to Bobby, who pre-murder is a teenager with violent impulses that are nurtured by a mysterious creature who takes the form of a Girl Scout. Throughout the years, Thomas and Bobby are encouraged, tormented, cajoled, persuaded, and shaped by these strange creatures who eventually pull them into a battle between supernatural forces, the lives and souls of many, and their own sanity. 

One thing that Boy From Two Worlds did well was expand the universe. Weird things didn't just happen to Thomas or Bobby. They happened all over St. Joseph. Through that we got to explore the town itself and particularly its obsession with Wild West outlaw/infamous native son, Jesse James. Exploring the daily realistic life of St. Joseph's residents builds up tension when the otherworldly action begins.

The supernatural incidents vary including bloody ritualistic murder, cattle mutilations, abductions, lost time, mass murder. If you didn't know going into the book series what happened in the first volume, you would be led to believe that anything could be responsible for the strange happenings.

Instead of expansion, Girl in The Corn focuses on intimacy. The events specifically happen to Thomas, Bobby, or someone associated with them. While we lose something in the setting, we gain something in character. It is not so much the supernatural invading an unprepared small town as it is the supernatural affecting two specific young men who happen to live in that town.

Through their separate experiences, the Reader is given contrasting characters that will end up confronting one another. 

When Thomas first encounters the fairy, he is a little boy. She appears as a sweet innocent little girl, one who promises to befriend the young boy. She plays on the portrayal of old fairy tale concepts where fairies were seen as beautiful,helpful, charming, adorable, and innocent creatures. 

As Thomas matures, his meetings with the fairy become more intense and less fanciful. She now appears as a troubled young woman who appeals to Thomas's good guy helpful personality and his insecurities about being average. She builds up his confidence by saying that he is destined to fight Dauor. This plays on Epic Fantasies where ordinary people are given the Chosen One narrative where they are the ones destined to fight evil for…reasons. Of course, this book is a clever subversion of that trope because it asks the question whether the figure predicting the heroism can be trusted and whether they have ulterior motives for what they do.

As with Boy From Two Worlds, Girl in the Corn builds on different genres. While Thomas's journey compared to Fairy Tales and Fantasy novels, Bobby’s story is more grounded in Occult Supernatural Horror. He comes from a religious family and has his own complicated spiritual beliefs so the fairy builds on that. It first appears as a disembodied voice that builds on Bobby’s anxieties and fears of God's judgment. Bobby begins to commit violence to silence those ever growing fears.

As Bobby ages, his spiritual encounters become angrier, more fierce, and graphic. They are reminiscent of his diminishing mental state and growing blood lust. It takes on horrific images like the body of a murdered girl to taunt and rage at Bobby until he does what it wants. If it weren't for knowing what would happen in the next book, it could be entirely possible that this fairy is in Bobby's head. But since we do know, it's a matter of seeing where it's going to go before it reaches its foreseen explosive conclusion.

Reading the series backwards, turns this book into an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. We see all of the sides and colors and are waiting for the whole image to show. “Okay we see Thomas and Bobby,” the Reader might think. “What about Jillian and Marguerite? When is Jakey conceived? What about the mass murder?” All of those questions are answered and the pieces fit in ways that make the Readers look at them differently in Boy From Two Worlds or deepen understanding in the second book if we read them in the right order.

Cleverly, Thomas and Bobby's journeys seem to be a battle of good vs. evil but once they face those final confrontations, those lines are less defined. The two young men realize that they were led to this conclusion by not only the magical influences but by their own choices. They were given great gifts to see another world, obtain intuition and knowledge, and to decide what to do with that information. In reading the two books, it becomes apparent that the trouble didn't start with a mass murder in a hospital. It started when a six year old boy met a fairy and chose to follow her.

Scars of The Heart by Bob Van Laerhoven; Around the World Trip Into Loss, Grief, Love, and Terror

 Scars of The Heart: Short Stories by Bob Van Laerhoven; Around the World Trip Into Loss, Grief, Love, and Terror

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Bob Van Laerhoven knows how to take an around the world trip through different countries right into the dark and damaged hearts and minds of the people who live within those countries. Alejandro’s Lie focused on the aftermath of a dictator’s reign in a fictional Latin American country and the effect on its people, particularly a man who was just released from prison and has PTSD. 

His follow up, Shadow of the Mole is a dual narrative set in WWI France involving a psychiatrist's obsession with an amnesiac patient and the patient’s manuscript which might be a novel or his memories of being cursed by a Romany couple. 

With his anthology, Scars of the Heart: Short Stories, Van Laerhoven does what he does best: peer into the tormented minds and heavy hearts of people in different interesting locations. It is less an around the world trip than it is an “around the human psyche” trip.

The best stories in this anthology are: 

“The Abomination”- In Syria, the narrator is part of a terrorist cell called the Shabah. As he languishes in a Doctors Without Borders facility with an amputated arm, he thinks about his life and what he did to get to that point. 

The Narrator is written to be a truly delusional and angry man. He sees himself as a wrestler or a superhero that he calls The Abomination. His fantasies about fictional heroes and villains, toxic masculine attitude, and confidence in his virility fill his mind with delusions. 

While in the hospital, he is faced with the reality of his actions. It is a reality of broken and injured people, dead bodies, friends and family members violently taken away from their loved ones, a country torn apart by war and hatred, and his own damaged body. His missing arm is a testament to the lives that he took.

Unfortunately, reality comes too late for The Narrator. His violent fantasies are all that he lives for and even when someone reaches out in kindness and compassion, all he knows is rage. All he can feel is anger and toxic pride. The only way that he can act is to commit destruction towards others and ultimately himself.

“Scars of the Heart”- In Belgium, a photojournalist is captivated by Jean-Claude, an octogenarian who tells his life story of being a soldier in Algiers. Jean-Claude recalls his colleague Bisserund who participated in a mission that ended in betrayal. 

Most of the story is a character study of Jean-Claude and his memories of Bisserund. He recalls details about his appearance, personality, and their experiences. It shows that in stressful times, particularly war, friendships develop. Sometimes the people that we encountered during those times are more vivid to us than our own family members. 

The twist in the end offers some interesting reinterpretations of the narrative, particularly Jean-Claude’s voice. It forces the Reader to reflect on what we were told about Jean-Claude and Bisserund. How much of it was real and how much did Jean-Claude make up? How much were his actual memories or how he wanted those memories to be? What about his confession? Why did he feel the need to tell the Photojournalist? Was there a connection between him and Bisserund like Jean-Claude hinted? Were guilt, remorse, illness, or fear of getting caught the reasons behind his end? 

In the end, we are given so much but at the same time not enough. This leaves us to investigate Jean-Claude’s story in our own minds and make our own interpretations about what we were told and what was revealed.

“The Bogeyman and Regina The Street Wench”-In Liberia, a reporter nicknamed the Bogeyman is covering the war torn city of Monrovia. He takes shelter with a nun, Sister Sponza, who is trying to escape with the children in her care. One of them is Regina, a girl who has lost her leg and seems to see right through the Bogeyman.

This story shows how stressful times can make strange friendships. The Bogeyman, Regina, and Sister Sponza are thrown together during violent circumstances. They come to depend on one another to survive. A cynical reporter, a selfless nun, and a former child soldier would have very little need to be together, but now here they are. 

This is also a time of sacrifice and asking questions of oneself and others. Some people rise to the occasion while others do not. Sister Sponza asks a question of The Bogeyman which leaves him to question his motives, the corners that he cut in the past, his earlier plagiarism, and his own egocentric desires to make something of himself. 

The Bogeyman has to examine himself to see whether he has the courage and fortitude to do what Sister Sponza asks or whether this will be the latest in his catalog of disappointments.  

“Abducted and Raped by Aliens”-In New York, failed author, Penman reflects on his ongoing rivalry with Stanislas Nakowski, a fellow writer who has an active sex life and writes about UFOs and alien abductions.

This story has one of the most memorable narrative voices with Penman’s third person point of view. His strange speech patterns like repeating the phrase “looky-looky” or non sequiturs like “this wet and slimy cold invading my nostrils is the swamp-stench of animal sex, eternal sex, war sex” portray him as someone who potentially shows signs of ADHD, or some neurological disorder. 

Penman's thought process could be someone who has difficulties processing information either from birth or trauma. It is also worth noting that he is addicted to cocaine and that may play into his mindset. His thoughts could just as easily be reflective of a mind that is slowly losing connections to reality.  

Stanislas himself is a memorable foil to Penman’s narration. He not only believes and writes about UFOs but he seems obsessed with them, almost aroused by them. A witness's story of an abduction is often interrupted by Stanislas’ lewd commentary and his interest in the witness’ sex life. 

He also had prior history of sexual assault in Kosovo when he and Penman’s paths crossed before. He is fueled by his sexual experiences and many of them either had violence during or afterwards. Stanislas equates sex, violence, and aliens in some crazed fantasy life.

With Penman and Stanislas we are experiencing two men whose minds are traumatized and fractured from earlier events. Both are completely unstable, unhealthy, and are bound to lives of further alienation, frustrations, violence, rage, and death.

“Lilies of The Valley”-In a WWII concentration camp, a Romany girl cares for her brother and ensures their survival by having sex with the guards. 

The Narrator is a resourceful young woman who is brought down to the most basic survival instincts and she knows it too. She was once a talented dancer and her brother an accomplished violinist but none of that matters now in the camps. 

She only uses her talents to be granted favors such as extra food or to live another day. Her morality and self-respect have long ago disappeared and now she is numb and unfeeling to what the guards do to her. The Nazis took everything that was precious to her leaving a broken shell.

Just when the Narrator thinks that she is devoid of all feelings beyond living for the next day, she is given a final tragedy, one that fills her heart and mind with rage. She uses her beauty and mind to engage in a one on one battle against one of the guards and others.

The Narrator becomes a blade of revenge and uses it against those who hurt her. As though she were the human embodiment of karma, she commits an act of vengeance that is equal to the cruelty that was inflicted upon her. 

“The Left-Handed Path of Tantra”-In 1970’s Antwerp, Johnny Di Machio had plenty of nightmares, particularly about a time when he was sexually assaulted as a boy. 

Johnny tries to live a normal life in Antwerp selling books and dating women, but he is completely haunted by these nightmares. His past eats away at him making him unable to function in the present. He has tried many means to overcome his trauma: sex, drugs, travel, meditation, seeking advice from psychologists and gurus. 

Johnny comes close to becoming romantically involved but he freezes upon intimacy. The nightmares and memories won’t leave. Johnny is an adult whose mind is frozen inside his bitter abused violent childhood. 

When Johnny is finally confronted with his memories, he has to evaluate his character: what happened, what he did, what he didn’t do, who was the perpetrator, and who was the real victim in the past. He is confronted with the truth and only when he has the truth can he actually begin to come to terms with himself and finally heal.

When Banana Stains Fade: A Jamaican Family Saga of Adversity and Redemption by Frances-Marie Coke

 

When Banana Stains Fade: A Jamaican Family Saga of Adversity and Redemption by Frances-Marie Coke 

Spoilers: When Banana Stains Fade: A Jamaican Family Saga of Adversity and Redemption by Frances-Marie Coke is the second book in a row dealing with intergenerational conflicts concerning mother and daughters after Red Gifts in The Garden of Stones by P.A. Swanborough. While the latter trod a thin line between the reality of the family in question’s situation and the fantasy of their pagan past, the former has no such detours into the fantastic. It is firmly set in the reality of racism, poverty, classicism, gender inequality, domestic violence, and generational conflicts. All of this is in a setting that is quite familiar with this blog. In fact, it was a setting that was quite common in the books that I read and reviewed last year: Jamaica.

In 2002, Zarah left New York for her childhood home of Jamaica. Her parents, Esther and Bradley and grandmother, Naomi are worried and anxious about their daughter's sorrowful return and her memories of an unhappy abusive marriage left behind in New York. Esther’s concern is also joined by loving but strident remainders that she told Zarah that her marriage wouldn't end well. Her kind anxious demeanor often features acidic attacks on Zarah’s choices and personality. This behavior causes their already volatile relationship to become even more strained and leads to threats of estrangement between mother and daughter. Naomi views the conflict with empathy and understanding. After all she had been through something similar with Esther, just as her mother, Pearlie and Aunt Eudora had been through with her, and their mother, Agatha had been through with them. So the Reader is treated to over 100 years of Jamaican history seen through the eyes of five generations of six fascinating women.

What is particularly fascinating and compelling about this book is that it ignores the touristy side of Jamaica. Oh, some of it’s there: the beautiful landscape, the friendly hospitable locals, the Rastafarian religion and its beliefs. There is even a shout out to author Sir Ian Fleming, who made Jamaica his home as he wrote his James Bond novels. But they are largely left in the background. Instead, we are shown what life was and is like for the locals and all is definitely not paradise for the people who live there. 

The forefront of the book features many of the truths that lie within Jamaica’s sandy beaches and reggae music. It is a history of colonization and racism. It is a present of poverty, economic disparity, and domestic violence. These issues are not treated with bold overlines and dramatic emphasis. Instead they are seen and experienced by the people, specifically the family that encounter them.

We are first told of Zarah’s return and her fractured relationship with her parents. We are then treated to a flashback of an affair that Esther had which ended in her divorce and Zarah’s anger at her mother. The majority of the book consists of flashbacks that begin in 1900 with Agatha, Zarah’s great great grandmother and Esther’s great grandmother. Through this family, we see the conflicts that mark one generation and cause friction with the next. 

Agatha works in a sleepy town and is dominated by her religious family, particularly her father. She is told by women around her to just accept whatever treatment that she gets from men. With only that advice in hand, she enters into a relationship with Mas’ Watson, a well-off farmer. Watson gives Agatha two daughters: Eudora and Pearlie. Agatha works to gather and tag bananas to help support her family but can’t avoid the stares and innuendo that people have about her daughters. 

People gossip about Pearlie’s darker skin compared to Eudora who is much lighter. They marvel at the latter’s perceived beauty and predict that she will go far in life. They shake their heads in dread at Pearlie and believe that she will have a future of hardship. Even Agatha’s attempts to straighten Pearlie’s hair or give her lemon juice to lighten her complexion do not hide her real appearance. 

Many degrade the young girl and Mas’ Watson shows preferential treatment towards Eudora. This shows that even when many people are from the same race, there is unfortunately still division within that race. Sometimes there are stereotypical racist beliefs about the difference between people who are from the same basic skin color but whose shades are darker or lighter and hair is straight or curly.

The scrutiny of Agatha’s daughter’s different skin tones and accusations of whether they had different fathers fill the sisters’ lives up to when they attend school. The outrage becomes so bad that after she is raped, Pearlie runs away. She resides in another village where she gives birth to her daughter, Naomi and enters into a relationship with Bertie, a man whose family helps the single mother get back on her feet. Unfortunately, Pearlie’s happiness is cut short and Naomi finds herself alone and friendless like her mother. 

Naomi ends up living with her cold religious Aunt Eudora. Eudora at first doesn’t even want to take in the girl but she is convinced to do so because of her commitment to Christian duty and how it would look within her community to reject her own flesh and blood. Out of rebellion, Naomi attends the local Catholic church and rejects many of the spiritual teachings from her aunt. 

Naomi falls in love with Miles, a musician who spins fantasies within her about moving to America and starting a new life. That isn’t all that he spins within her. No sooner is she pregnant with her daughter, Esther, than she too is left behind like her mother and grandmother before her.

In the most harrowing section, Naomi enters an unhappy second marriage to Pastor Bloomfield. Bloomfield’s abusive and controlling nature is present as he micromanages her schedule down to prayer times and how long she can meet her friends. He won’t allow her to find a career outside of caring for his home and church. In a very classicist gesture, he forces her to stop using the Jamaican patois and speak the standard British English.

 Because of her limited relationship with her biological family and limited resources, Naomi is trapped in an abusive marriage with someone who she thought was a man of God but turned out to be someone who thought that he was God and had a private church of two worshippers: his wife and stepdaughter. 

A very terrifying encounter breaks Bloomfield’s hold on Naomi and Esther and the two rebuild their lives elsewhere. Naomi reverts to the spiritual beliefs that had always provided her comfort and in an act of defiance against her ex, reverts back to the Jamaican patois that he ridiculed. 

With the generations of Agatha, Pearlie, Eudora, and Naomi we see mothers struggling with problems of racism, poverty, religious dogma, and domestic violence. Each one works and hopes that the younger generation will succeed where they failed. With Esther and Zarah, we see the results of those dashed dreams, the desire to escape, and how that unhappiness and disappointment played into their relationships as mother and daughter and the men in their lives. 

Even though Esther had a comparatively happy marriage to Bradley as compared to her mother’s with Brookfield and great-grandmother’s with Mas’ Watson, even she had troubles. In 1988, Esther reunited with her former boyfriend, Patrick who lived an affluent life in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She had been living a meager existence with Bradley scraping for every dollar and was growing tired of the struggle. She dreamed not only of a different wealthy life in Florida but of the dashing man who could have given it to her.

 Thoughts become actions during a hurricane and Esther ends up with a miscarriage, a divorce, and a resentful daughter. What was truly heartbreaking in hindsight was that Bradley is an easygoing, steady, kind hearted man. His laid back nature could have provided a contrast to Esther’s more rigid strident domineering control over Zarah’s life. Zarah could have had an ally when arguing with her mother. Instead she reacted to strictness with rebellion and ran away. Esther only realizes when Zarah returns that Bradley has a peculiar strength in his blundering kindness that she overlooked. 

Zarah is considered the great hope of the family. Her mother puts enormous pressure on her to succeed well in school and have the right friends. She becomes something of an overachiever with dreams of escaping Jamaica. However, she also falls in love with Damien, considering him a reprieve from her mother’s tight control and secrets which caused her family to implode. 

Unlike her antecedents, who only dreamt of a life away from the island, Zarah managed to get away and form a life for herself. But her independence came with a price tag: that of being married to the abusive Damien. 

The freedom that Zarah thought that she would experience being away from Jamaica becomes even more of a trap in New York. She is beaten, insulted, and criticized. Worse, she is isolated in a new country where she is an immigrant and has very few friends. 

However, Zarah continues to work and study, raising money in secret. She befriends a woman who takes a maternal interest into her life and helps steer her into a good direction. Zarah’s drive to get out of the abusive situation shows her to be someone who learned enough from the earlier generation to plan an escape and make a new life for herself even if it means retreating to the homes of Mom and Dad for a while.

Agatha, Pearlie, Eudora, Naomi, Esther, and Zarah all lived very difficult traumatic troubled lives but they found strength in other places. Sometimes it was through close friendships, surrogate family members, their religious faith, future goals, or aspirations. Most importantly they learned from each other. Even when they didn’t always get along and fought endlessly, their inner strength and love for each other is always shown as are their hopes that the daughters will have better lives than the mother’s. 

Sometimes those dreams didn’t always come true and depended on the next generation to make it happen. Most importantly they had each other to find comfort, sanctuary, and guides to see them through the tough times and learn from them.