The Correspondent by Virginia Evans 4

 

"If all of this amounts to you as nothing more than drivel, then you might also consider a simpler value of the written letter, which is, namely, that reaching out in correspondence is really one of the original forms of civility in the world, the preservation of which has to be of some value we cannot yet see. The WRITTEN WORD, Mr. Watts. The written word in black and white. It is letters. It is books. It is law. It's all the same. I had some notion of this from as far back in my life as I can remember, and I've been writing letters out into the world since I could form a sentence with a pen (age nine).

                    -Sybil Van Antwerp, from the novel

The Correspondent was highly recommended to me by a close friend, and I had seen it near the top of the Best Seller list for quite some time, so I figured it had to be special. This was the third book I have read lately in the epistolary style; the plot is revealed in letters written by and to the main character.

In 2012, Sybil Van Antwerp is turning 73 and experiencing a vision problem that will ultimately leave her blind. She is a divorcee, a retired attorney, an avid reader and prolific letter writer, thus the title. She is also wrestling with guilt from events in her past.

She writes letters, emails, and notes to, and receives responses from, her brother, her best friend, her neighbor, a suitor, a young man she is mentoring, and favorite authors, among others. It is fascinating to see how an author can establish a plot purely through correspondence. I am rating the book a 4. I loved the references to authors and books, some of which were familiar to me. I could empathize with Sybil since I am near her age and suffering my own infirmities. I thought it was not realistic that so many people in the 2000's would be writing letters, especially a next-door-neighbor. It does seem like a lost art, which is somewhat unfortunate.

Sinning Like a Christian by William H. Willimon 4

 

"If I were making a list of Deadly Sins, Greed would be at the top of my list. Maybe this is just personal, or maybe it is the result of living in this society. We tell the world that we go to war in the Mideast to bring freedom and democracy, whereas much of the world is convinced it's all about oil. Greed has a way of turning everything that's gold into dross. As James Ogilvy says, 'Greed turns love into lust, leisure into sloth, hunger into gluttony, honor into pride, righteous indignation into anger, and admiration into envy. If it weren't for greed, we would suffer fewer of the other vices.'"

       -from Sinning Like a Christian

Our pastors chose this book to inspire a series of Lenten studies. Since I would not be attending the classes, I purchased the book and took my time reading it, maybe a chapter a week. I found it easy to read, very interesting, even enjoyable. My rating is 4. The author shows his considerable knowledge of the Bible, quoting scripture as well as a number of theologians and philosophers on the subject of sin. He presents his commentary in a non-preachy, unthreatening way, He frequently includes some humor, often self-deprecating.

The subtitle of the book is A New Look at the 7 Deadly Sins. I liked the quote above because it lists all the 7 Willimon covers and shows how Greed is often the root cause of the other 6. I regret I didn't get to attend the classes at church to see how it was presented. 

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

Here is my post from August, 2017. I have just reread the novel and will add comments at the end.

"Once I was a wide-eyed captive of those times and there was no twelve-point program to wean me off the addiction to drivel I succumbed to during that dreary era of the Vietnam War. The greatest tragedy of that war was not the senseless death of young men on strangely named battlefields, but that it turned the whole country stupid overnight. It also made enemies of the closest group of friends I had ever known."
                                    -Jack McCall, from the novel

At 700+ pages, I thought I would never finish this one but I was determined to get to the end! I believe  it actually could have been about 3 novels. I am a huge fan of Conroy and this one did not disappoint. It definitely rates a 5 from me.

The protagonist is Jack McCall, a young father, who suffers the tragic loss of his wife to suicide and takes his daughter to Rome to live. He feels he is justified in leaving his home of Waterford, South Carolina, and the rest of his family behind. He seems to be trying to escape from the pain and hide from the past. When he receives word that his mother is dying of leukemia, he makes his way home where he must come to grips with many emotions he has tried to stifle.

Conroy is a storyteller extraordinaire and captivates with horrifying narratives of the Holocaust told by secondary characters of his parents' generation and descriptions of the 1960s and how the Vietnam War affected him and his peers. (See quote above) Even the flashback story of a fishing trip with his high school buddies---a trip gone very wrong---is quite intense.

Conroy is a gifted writer. I am in awe of his sometimes poetic descriptions of the Low Country that is so familiar to him personally. The chapters were long which I don't always like but it was a true page-turner, just the same. The abusive fathers of this story are reminiscent of characters in other Conroy novels and touch on autobiographical details of his own father (The Great Santini). Also the main character, Jack McCall, is a food critic and cookbook author and loves to cook. Conroy has also written a cookbook, The Pat Conroy Cookbook, and in South of Broad, protagonist Leo enjoys being chef for his friends just as Jack does in this novel.

I have yet to read all Conroy's work but I am getting there!

-------------------------

Second reading, April, 2026

As a big fan of Conroy's writing, I decided to reread this book. It didn't take long to realize it was SO LONGGG! Once I started reading though, I found I couldn't stop. I had forgotten so much of the plot (and subplots!) and I am so taken with Conroy's writing, I wanted to keep going. I think it took me 3X as long to read as most other novels.

At any rate, I am still rating it a 5. No need to say more; I would just be repeating myself.

Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick 4

"Now we truly felt like family. I remembered that the first day we'd arrived, Zanhua had recoiled when Marsha tried to hug her. But now the two women had a long embrace, celebrating their collaborative motherhood. I wished that they could have really talked to each other about their lives and frustrations as young women, their sacrifices. And yet they seemed to intuit what they had in common. I thought I might have detected a tear in Zanhua's eye at saying goodbye again to her daughter."

           -from the author, Daughters of the Bamboo Grove

I doubt I would have selected this book to read; my nonfiction choices are rare. It was selected by our Page Turners for April and although it wasn't exactly a page-turner, I am glad I read it. My rating is 4.

The subtitle of the book is very revealing of the context: From China to America, A True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins. When Zanhua and her husband had twin girls they were aware of the single-child policy established in Communist China in 1979. In fact, they had already been fined for having multiple children and so they decided to give one twin to relatives, hoping to hide her from the Family Planning Police. Unfortunately, it worked only briefly and the little girl, Fangfang, is ripped from her aunt's arms and taken to a government facility. From there she would be adopted while still a toddler by an American family and end up with them in Texas.

One reason for my 4 rating is that I learned a great deal about Chinese history and culture. I knew a bit about the one-child rule (lifted in 2015, by the way) but not how children were stolen and basically sold to families who thought they were saving an orphan but not realizing the harm that was done to loving Chinese families.

Our book group gave the book an average of 3.9 and we had a very interesting discussion. Some of us, including myself, had personal stories of adoption to share. A few had been in China and shared experiences. We agreed the author's research was thorough and her reporting was honest. She certainly was the catalyst for the reunion of the twins as teenagers. I believe most of us were glad we read the book.

At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen 3

 

"...that it made no sense whatsoever to throw ourselves into the middle of an ocean crawling with U-boats on a quest to find a monster that probably didn't even exist, especially as a way of proving his worth to people who were too ignorant to realize he was as honorable as any of them. We knew the truth. I knew the truth. It would be difficult, but together we could withstand the scrutiny until the war ended."

                        -Maddie's thoughts, from the novel

Water for Elephants by this author is one of my all-time favorite books. In fact, I've read it twice. At the Water's Edge did not measure up. It took me a while to get into the story, maybe because 3 young Americans going to Scotland to film the Loch Ness monster and become famous is pretty far-fetched. 

Ellis Hyde is driven to find and document the monster, partly for fame but mostly to earn his rich father's respect (and inheritance). He is accompanied by his long-time friend Hank Boyd and the two of them coerce Ellis's wife, Maddie, to go along. This Atlantic crossing will take place while WWII still rages. (see quote)

The three stay in an inn run by Angus Grant. While Ellis and Hank disappear for days at a time, Maddie becomes friendly with the help, Anna and Meg, and Angus. Maddie and the others soon find her husband is verbally abusive and the marriage is loveless.

I rated this book a 3---I liked it but didn't love it.

Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory 4

 

"So blind people are still able-bodied, with full command of their intelligence and abilities; they just use alternative techniques on their journey through life. And sometimes those techniques can even be superior to the techniques of light-dependent people."   -Michael Hingson

The subtitle of this book is almost a summary: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero. I can't say I really enjoyed this book, but I was educated by it. For that reason I gave it a 4 rating. Thunder Dog was chosen as our book club's March selection by a member who is blind and has a guide dog. I really look forward to hearing what she has to say about the book.

Author Michael Hingson was on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center, north tower, at 8:46 AM on September 11, 2001, that day that lives in infamy. The reader who experienced that terrorist attack only through television gets an up-close and personal perspective of the horror through Hingson's account. And it is so interesting to know the teamwork that helped him and his dog, Roselle, to survive an event that so many others did not.

I thought Hingson was a bit arrogant, but I guess his intelligence and self-confidence served him well, along with others he helped and encouraged. Roselle was very likeable!

Though it wasn't particularly entertaining, I am glad I read the book.

Bone Valley by Gilbert King 5

 

"This isn't simply a story about guilt or innocence. It's about what happens when the legal system locks itself into a version of events and refuses to let go, even when the facts no longer support it. Sometimes an injustice isn't the result of prosecutorial oversight, or bias. Sometimes it's something else---a calculated series of choices: quiet, deliberate, and capable of destroying a life."

    -Gilbert King, from the Prologue

This a true story of the worst travesty of justice I've ever known. In Lakeland, Florida,1988, 22-year-old Leo Schofield was accused of killing his 18-year-old wife, Michelle. He declared his innocence from the very beginning. He had an unprepared defense attorney, and they faced an unethical, or worse, prosecutor. The investigation was shoddy, critical evidence was ignored and there was a serious rush to judgement and even official misconduct. Leo was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. 

In multiple appeals, new prosecutors and judges seemed determined to uphold the guilty verdict regardless of any new evidence. Fast forward 30 years and Gilbert King hears Leo's story and along with an assistant Kelsey Decker begins his research into this perversion of justice. They would invest some 6 years on the project as Leo remains in prison being disappointed time and again.

I found this story gripping and all the more so as I got to know Leo. I've rated it a 5. I read King's Devil in the Grove, a Pulitzer winner, several years ago and it was a similar story of outrageous injustice in Florida. King mentions Bryan Stevenson's book Just Mercy which I have also read. All have made a lasting impression on me. Photographs at the end of the book make Leo's story even more personal.

This is like a true crime story but with a moral imperative. I couldn't help but think: what if the jury had recommended the death penalty? Totally different story!