The Lost City of Z by David Grann

"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges---
    behind the Ranges---
Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting
    for you. Go!"
         -from Rudyard Kipling's 'The Explorer,' a favorite poem of Fawcett

Had this book not been a Page Turner selection, there is a very good chance I would have abandoned it. That being said, I'm glad I made myself finish it because I learned a lot, including why I never want to explore the Amazon! (I facilitate our book club meetings so I don't really give myself the option of not finishing.) I did find this nonfiction interesting though not particularly entertaining, I am rating it a 3.

The book is written by David Grann, a staff writer for The New Yorker, his first as I understand it. It is very thoroughly researched and primary sources---journals, letters, interviews---are quoted, making it more appealing.

Appropriately subtitled A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon, this is the story of Percy Harrison Fawcett whose explorations in South America in the early 1900's were legendary in some circles. (I had never heard of him so that was the first thing I learned.) In 1925 Fawcett led an expedition, including his son and his son's best friend, to the Amazonian forests to locate evidence of a legendary ancient civilization he called the City of Z. The disappearance of the group became a "history mystery" of huge significance to the world of explorers and adventurers, as dozens lost their lives in their attempts to rescue, or later, discover what happened to the Fawcett party.

The chapters of the book alternate between Fawcett's life as an explorer and Grann's own extensive efforts to uncover the mystery of Fawcett's expedition and the Lost City of Z. Other chapters are meant to describe topography, give related South American history and tell of the other explorers who took great risks in this hostile land.

At times I was intrigued, at others I felt I was slogging through the book like Fawcett and others had slogged through the jungle. I was grossed out by the descriptions of the miserable and dangerous conditions---pests, diseases, hunger and unpredictable natives.

The Lost City of Z reminded me of The River of Doubt by Candice Millard about Theodore Roosevelt's expedition on a tributary of the Amazon. In fact, Roosevelt's trek was mentioned a few times in Grann's book. Actually, I remember the Millard book being much more compelling.

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The book club rating was 2.9 for The Lost City of Z. Though we admired Grann's extensive research, we didn't find the book to be much of a page-turner. We agreed that Fawcett had extraordinary self-confidence to the point of arrogance and one person suggested the phrase "hard-driving narcissist" to describe him. We felt he was quite selfish in the way he ignored the needs of his wife and family to indulge his obsession. It was a relief that his treatment of the natives was more respectful than many other explorers of whom we have heard.

Our group agreed that we knew little about South America and appreciated what we had learned from the book.

Michael Heckenberger was a key figure, we thought, perhaps even a hero. He is an acclaimed archaeologist from the University of Florida (We can always be proud of an accomplished fellow Floridian!)  whose contribution is revealed toward the end. I must not tell you more lest I spoil the reading if you have decided to undertake it.

Our discussion questions from litlovers.com suggested Brad Pitt purchased film rights to The Lost City of Z  in 2010. In 2015 we are wondering if a movie is still in the making.

One of our creative members came dressed for exploring the Amazon and proceeded to show us what she had brought in her vest pockets----a can of Vienna sausages, binoculars (more like opera glasses), a map, a compass, a journal and a "machete" (actually a tiny knife), among other things. She wore a scarf---to trade with the natives, of course.  What fun that was!

The Water Is Wide by Pat Conroy

"The master of clowns, Bernie could twist his face into a thousand contortions to get kids to laugh with or at him. Bernie would tell me, 'Boy, keep them laughing. Make them laugh so damn hard and so damn loud that they don't realize they are learning.'
My tactics were different. I concentrated on variety as the primary method. Sweet talk, Shakespearean monologues, Marine Corps brutality, prayers---anything that could possibly inflame the imagination, even momentarily, of someone imprisoned in my classroom all day."
                             -from Pat Conroy's pre-Yamacraw theory of teaching

I have recently become quite a fan of this author, having read South of Broad and The Prince of Tides and enjoying them immensely. This was my favorite of the three, however, since I could so easily identify with the story. You will soon see why.

In this memoir, Conroy describes his experience teaching school on Yamacraw Island off the coast of South Carolina, where he becomes an advocate for his poor black students even defying the school administrators in the process. As a former teacher I was impressed with his efforts to help his students, going far beyond his job description. He worked very hard, and I daresay, spent much of his salary to improve their lives, as well as teaching academics.  It was important to Conroy, called Conrack by some of the students, for the children to experience the outside world. As a veteran teacher I totally approved his teaching philosophy and applauded his efforts to make learning relevant and fun for the children.  I especially enjoyed the field trip to the mainland to celebrate Halloween---his kids' first experience with trick-or-treating, and for most it was their first time off the island. Later in the year a trip to Washington, D.C. and one to see the Globetrotters in Atlanta were even more ambitious.

My emotions while reading The Water Is Wide ran the gamut---from shock at the deplorable conditions and lack of resources for the school to amusement at humorous incidents to downright rage over the racism exhibited by many educators in positions of authority, including Mrs. Brown, the only other teacher/principal who was black herself. Conroy stated "I now had to deal with a principal who acted as though she wanted to be white and an administrative head who was sorry there were blacks." It also made me mad that the educational authorities didn't appreciate what a gem of a teacher he was!  Conrad knew most of the students couldn't read the textbooks so he didn't use them, to Brown's chagrin. He searched out a variety of resources including media to enhance their background knowledge.  It also seemed to me that he managed a challenging situation without the use of corporal punishment which his cohort, Mrs. Brown, swore by. She seemed to take no joy from teaching and wanted to see that the students experienced none either. I found it appalling that she insulted them to their faces.

I did wonder if Conroy used real names of people he dealt with in his time teaching on the island. I know that Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings was sued for invasion of privacy by someone she wrote about in Cross Creek. I did learn that Conroy IS a poet, which I suspected after reading The Prince of Tides.

After what is probably my longest blog post to date, it will be no surprise: I rate The Water Is Wide  5+! I loved it! Now I am on a quest to find the movie "Conrack" based on the book.

A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

"I should have known better; I was turning forty-five, and that meant it was a trouble year. Every fifteen years God flicks at us with one careless finger and we spin helplessly off into the darkness. I'd known that Old Testament-style plagues would be stalking my family the second that December ticked over into January."
                            -Big, from the Prologue of the novel

I read gods in Alabama and Between, Georgia by this author some time ago and enjoyed them both. When I saw this one in a bookstore, I remembered the author's name and put it on my "To Read" list immediately. I recently ordered both the print book and the audio version from the library. When they arrived I quickly loaded the CDs and began listening in my car. I thought it particularly interesting that the novel was being read by the author. It doesn't take long to be intrigued by the plot with a secret grave being found in a back yard. I became so involved that when I wasn't driving enough to satisfy my curiosity, I began reading the print version and finished in a couple of days. A page-turner, it was! I rate it a 5---the second book in a row that I have loved.

The setting is Immita, MS, a fictional town, I am thinking. (Do you suppose we can call Ms. Jackson a Southern writer?)
Three generations of Slocumbs are the main characters---Virginia, called Ginny by friends and Big by family; Liza, the daughter, struggling to recover from a stroke; and 15-year-old granddaughter, Mosey with typical teenage angst and thrown into an identity crisis more profound than most. The reader follows the plot through the narrations of these three women, alternating through the novel. Their voices are very unique. Mosey relates her part often with humor typical of a teenaged girl complete with texting. (I loved finding out how Mosey got her name toward the end of the novel.) Big, the matriarch, is more serious. Liza actually narrates in third person which is fitting because her stroke has left her with minimal ability to communicate. So Liza's parts were the most frustrating and challenging to read, but that made her condition seem more realistic and moving.

Not being a "spoiler" I can't say much about the plot other than what I mentioned in the first paragraph. The mystery of the grave is revealed little by little with exciting twists and surprising turns and even some romance. A wild ride!

The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy

"Our life in the house by the river had been dangerous and harmful, yet both of us had found it somehow magnificent. It had produced extraordinary and somewhat strange children. The house had been the breeding ground of madness, poetry, courage, and an ineffable loyalty. Our childhood had been harsh but also relentlessly interesting. Though we could draw up passionate indictments against both of our parents, their particularity had indemnified our souls against the wages of tedium and ennui."
                     -Tom's thoughts, from the novel

Several months ago I read South of Broad by this author in connection with a trip to Charleston, SC. I loved it! When I saw this novel at a rummage sale, I picked it up and promised myself I would read it. I would list The Prince of Tides among the best I have ever read, rating it a 5 for sure! It was published almost 30 years ago and I can't imagine why it took so long for me to discover it. I know it was adapted for a movie by the same title in 1991 and I am pretty sure I never saw the film. Now I simply must!

The novel is set in Colleton County, SC (an area Conroy knows well and uses often in his writing) and revolves around the Wingo family---Tom who narrates the story and his two siblings, parents and grandparents. To call the family dysfunctional is an understatement. There's a lot to dislike, or even be repulsed by, about the parents, but the grandparents, Tolitha and Amos, are interesting with such endearing qualities---Tolitha, with her mischievous sense of humor and Amos, a devout Christian walking the walk.

As the book begins, Savannah, Tom's twin, has attempted suicide in N.Y. City and Tom immediately leaves his wife and daughters to go to her. He soon meets Savannah's psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Lowenstein, and in the process of trying to help her help Savannah, he shares stories of their family and youth. These flashbacks are fascinating stories in their own right, for example the rescue/kidnapping of a dolphin called Snow and the first-time integration of their high school by Benji Washington. The funniest family episode was when Tolitha takes the grandkids to help her make her end-of-life arrangements and she decides to "try on" a casket, much to their embarrassment. That very idea is humorous but there's more! At least one of the memories is very intense and goes a long way to explain some of Savannah's demons.

The Prince of Tides is lengthy at 567 pages but so worth the effort. Many chapters and even paragraphs are longer than average. His vocabulary challenged me, as well. Some might say Conroy is verbose but I loved the elegance of his writing style which is often poetic. In the novel, Savannah is a poet; in fact, her second book of poetry was titled The Prince of Tides. I assume the poetry quoted in the novel and attributed to Savannah was written by Conroy.

This novel was poignant, humorous, exciting, romantic---all qualities that make a page-turner and one that I will not soon forget!