Archive for the ‘Alfred A. Knopf’ Tag
Imagine receiving texts or missed calls from a deceased friend. MIT tenured physics professor Helen is initially baffled, if not quite haunted, when she finds herself in this situation in Nell Freudenberger’s Lost and Wanted.
Helen’s friend Charlotte (aka Charlie) has recently died, but they had ceased being close long ago. Nonetheless, Helen is saddened to learn her best friend from college is dead. Charlie’s husband, Terrence, and their daughter, Simmi, move to Boston from California to be near his in-laws. Consequently, Helen becomes involved with them, which is familiar yet different. Helen is a single parent by choice. Her young son and Simmi become friends.
Helen is a respected physicist. Her books on physics are well received for their accessibility on the subject. Thus, her scientific background is what keeps her from considering that the texts are supernatural.
While the novel may initially seem to have roots in the paranormal, it’s not the case. Rather, friendship and grief are the themes driven by the loss of someone’s friend, daughter, wife and mother.
The texts are a mystery, Charlie’s husband is a potential love interest — or is he — and Helen’s memories of Charlie during their Harvard days are all intriguing.
However, because of Helen’s career, there are a lot, as in too many, references to physics. Freudenberger did her homework, but it’s questionable whether so many details are necessary.
The title was initially puzzling to, but the deeper I got into the novel, the more I appreciated it.
Lost and Wanted
Three-and-three-quarter stars
Alfred A. Knopf, 2019
315 pages
Over the course of a decade, Stephane Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who stood guard, stole more than 300 pieces of art with an estimated value of $2 billion. How the thefts were accomplished, what was done with the art and, finally, Breitwieser’s downfall are chronicled in Michael Finkel’s The Art Thief.
It’s not just the number of thefts, but the brazen, often clever, methods employed along with the variety of items stolen. These ranged from small ivory sculptures to paintings, from medieval weapons to a massive tapestry – among much, much more.
Lesser-known, often out-of-the-way museums and castles were the usual targets: places with limited budgets for effective security. There was little advance scouting involved and it wasn’t unusual for Breitwieser to be captivated by a work, or two, at first sight and simply walk out the door with it. Initially, locations throughout France and Switzerland were his primary targets, but expanded to include much of Europe.
There were never any attempts to sell the pieces. Instead, Breitwieser collected them in the attic bedroom he shared with his girlfriend in his mother’s home. At first the works occupied a table here or a wall there. Eventually, the room was overrun with the stolen goods.
Besides spending time with Breitwieser, Finkel conducted extensive research and interviewed psychologists, Swiss and French police officers, among others. The result is a fascinating portrait of a man obsessed with fine art willing to go to extremes — and the thrill — to attain it free.
The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2023
224 pages, includes notes
Personal connections through friendship, love and virtual worlds are examined in Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Sadie Green and Sam Masur meet as 11- and 12-year-olds, respectively, for a short time. The confluence of their lives doesn’t fully occur until a decade later in Cambridge where both are in college; her at MIT, him at Harvard.
The novel spans more than 30 years as Sadie, Sam, Marx (Sam’s roommate and eventual business manager) and others design and develop popular, lucrative video games. They’re the wunderkinds of computer-generated universes.
The games are essential elements of the novel, particularly how their creators conceive the ideas, develop the technology and ultimately promote them. However, it’s the bonds among the characters that have the greatest impact. Each is intelligent, flawed and loveable; each makes significant contributions to the games, although there is often tension as to who merits the attention for their success.
It should come as no surprise this is also a story about love and loss. Sam loves Sadie but is unable to articulate his feelings. Yet, they are close. Marx is like a brother to Sam and initially Sadie is suspicious of him. The evolution of these relationships is what drives the narrative.
The title reflects the endless loop of many video games while also referencing a soliloquy from Macbeth on the inevitability of death:
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time” (Act V, scene 5)
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2022
401 pages, includes notes and acknowledgements
Crying in H Mart is Michelle Zauner’s beautifully-written tribute to her mother. The memoir recounts a relationship fraught with cultural and generational differences, but is also filled with love and kindness.
As the daughter of a South Korean woman and Caucasian father, Zauner’s looks often confused people. She was caught between two worlds with her mother only able to help her navigate one. Consequently, Zauner found ways to rebel against her over-protective mother. After graduating from high school in Eugene, Oregon, she moved to Pennsylvania to attend college and stayed after graduating.
The narrative blends the past with the present as Zauner struggles to make a living as a musician in Philadelphia, while working as a waitress to make ends meet. It’s during this time she learns her mother is battling cancer. She puts her life on hold and returns home to help.
The happy memories outweigh the negative ones; as Zauner grows older she understands her mother’s actions were demonstrations of love. And, she recognizes that they have more in common than she’d been willing to admit.
Food is a major source of unity, particularly the Korean dishes her mother (and the relatives in Seoul) prepares. The author’s efforts to learn the recipes, which aren’t written down, are a way for her to reciprocate her mother’s affections.
Rich with humor and tear-inducing accounts, Zauner has crafted an endearing love letter to her late mother. She’s also established herself as a singer and guitarist with the pop band Japanese Breakfast.
Crying in H Mart
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2022
239 pages
I’ve read most of Anne Tyler’s novels. Certain things are constant: Baltimore is the setting, the characters are often melancholy and glimpses into everyday life are a sure bet. Redhead by the Side of the Road is no exception.
Micah Mortimer is set in his ways; he’s a self-described nerd, a Tech Hermit, the name of his freelance computer repair business. He also works as a handyman in an apartment building and this earns him free rent. His basement apartment, however, doesn’t offer much charm.
Micah has his routines, some are daily such as running first thing every morning and wiping down the kitchen after meals; others involve specific chores. For example, Monday is floor mopping day. In spite of the mundane activities, there’s something inviting about Micah. While he takes his household/work chores seriously, he has also demonstrates a whimsical side to his personality while undertaking them: He speaks with a bad French accent.
Micah’s girlfriend, Cass, suspects she’s about to be evicted and the college-age son of an old college sweetheart appears on Micah’s doorstep. Each of these disruptions causes Micah to evaluate his life and acknowledge his loneliness. He isn’t where he is because he lacks personality, but he lacks perception, at times.
This doesn’t rank among my most beloved Anne Tyler books, but neither is it my least favorite. However, as someone who needs to wear glasses, I am especially entertained by the title and what it refers to. I won’t spoil it.
Redhead by the Side of the Road
Three-and-a-half bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2020
178 pages
Kwame Onwuachi’s Notes From a Young Black Chef is considered a memoir (it says so right on the cover), but more accurately it could be seen as an engaging treatise on what it means to be a black man in America.
The narrative begins just before his Washington, D.C., restaurant is set to launch. Onwuachi is catering an event commemorating the opening of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. It’s a long way from his roots in the Bronx.
The descriptive writing reveals Onwwauchi ‘s tenacious and, often, reckless personality. He didn’t always envision himself as a chef, although cooking was an important part of his life. Thanks largely to his mother who, for many years, ran a catering business from her home kitchen. While many of her dishes reflected a Southern influence, once he began working in kitchens Onwauchi knew he wanted a different focus. He wanted to be associated with upscale, fine dining.
Although he loved the traditional meals from his youth, he wanted to elevate them as a means of moving past stereotypes.
Onwauchi, a Culiniary Institute of America grad, encountered numerous obstacles (many of which he made himself) before becoming a chef. However, his passion for food along with a keen ability to hustle helped make this possible. Overcoming situations where expectations of him were low because of his race was another contributing factor to his success.
Onwauchi could have been another negative statistic, but determination and creativity helped make a dream reality.
Notes From a Young Black Chef
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A, Knopf, 2019
271 pages
Julia Phillips’ descriptions of the Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia as lonely and cold are vivid in her novel Disappearing Earth. The title is fitting given the geographic isolation and the way the people move in, then away from the plot.
Beginning with the abduction of two young girls, the narrative features a range of characters with strong, tenuous or nonexistent ties to the victims. What they share is the locale and an awareness of the missing girls.
The first chapter is called August. Subsequent chapters/months represent the passage of time and introduce another situation involving others. The result is a disconnect more suggestive of a short story collection than a novel since there’s often no resolution for the problems or experiences described. Issues range from a young woman in college with a manipulative boyfriend, to a lost dog, from ethnic traditions to dissolution of friendships or family estrangements. Nonetheless, most chapters are captivating. These are interesting people, and the rich writing of each situation only begs for more. The list of main characters included to keep track of who’s who helps.
The investigation of the missing girls is initially a priority for the police, but eventually loses momentum. By contrast, a young indigenous woman who previously went disappeared was barely acknowledged by authorities.
The novel’s greatest strength lies in the setting; it’s a character unto itself. The weather, the light and the landscape, which includes rocky beaches, densely-wooded forests and looming active volcanos, are austere – like its people.
Disappearing Earth
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2019
256 pages
Celine by Peter Heller is a love letter to a lively, clever, socially privileged, yet intuitively aware, woman who happens to be a private investigator. The title character warrants all the admiration and awe the author infuses in this two-in-one mystery – both of which are equally engrossing.
Celine Watkins, 68 years old, appreciates the finer things in life, but what she most enjoys is her avocation of tracking down missing persons. After receiving a call from a young woman wanting to learn more about how her father went missing 20 years ago, Celine can’t resist the challenge.
Her sidekick is her life partner, Pete, an intelligent, reticent and supportive man. He and Celine leave the comfort of their upscale Brooklyn apartment for Wyoming, the last known whereabouts of the man in question.
Meanwhile, Celine’s adult son, Hank, wonders about the secret his mother has kept hidden for decades. This provides the narrative of Celine’s past: her childhood growing up with her two sisters in an aristocratic family where private schools, sailing lessons and speaking French were nothing out of the ordinary.
The alternating chapters build tension as Hank recounts his efforts to learn about the child his mother gave up for adoption and Celine pursues a thin string of clues while being followed in her investigation.
Heller blends humor with meaningful relationships among the different characters. At times Celine seems too good to be true, Mostly, she’s comes across as the strong, fun, determined and smart woman every girl should aspire to be.
Celine
Four-and-a-half Bookmarks
Alfred A, Knopf, 2017
334 pages
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup reads like a mystery but is based on fact. John Carreyrou, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, provides a thorough look at Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes. Fraud and manipulation are the tools Holmes used to convince big name donors to invest in her startup that she boasted would radically change the way blood testing is done in the medical industry.
Holmes is portrayed as an attractive, brilliant Stanford University student who left school to pursue her vision of producing a compact, in-home blood testing device. In her early 20s she managed to create a company valued at more than $9 billion.
Suspense is created through Carreyrou’s extensive research and interviews indicating deceit, poor management and greed. His efforts to convey the truth are nearly thwarted multiple times by Holmes, Sunny Balwani (chief operating officer and Holmes’ boyfriend) and their attorneys. Further roadblocks include well-respected, leaders and business gurus who refused to consider Holmes as anything other than a medical-startup miracle worker. The board included, among others, former Secretary of State George Schultz and Gen. James Mattis, who later served as Secretary of Defense.
Despite the incredulity of many Theranos employees and a lawsuit by a vindictive former neighbor, Holmes was able to secure contracts with Walgreen’s and Safeway to place Theranos products in stores without producing a successful prototype.
Holmes acted on the theory that people believe what they want to believe. True, until they no longer can.
Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
Four-and-a-half bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2018
339 pages (includes notes and index)
Clock Dance is distinguished from Anne Tyler’s other works because of its setting. Yes, Baltimore does figure into the plot, but not immediately. Other locales provide the initial settings. The story doesn’t come alive, though, until the main character arrives in Charm City.
Three phases of Willa Drake’s life ultimately influence her character: as a child when her mother randomly, and temporarily, leaves the family; as a college coed considering whether or not to accept a marriage proposal without finishing her degree; finally, in her sixties when she receives a call to come to Baltimore from Arizona to care for Cheryl, the 9-year-old daughter of her grown son’s injured ex-girlfriend, Denise. Yes, that’s a tenuous connection.
Before Baltimore, Willa is widowed when her boys are teenagers. They grow up, she remarries and has little communication with them. The surprise request is from Denise’s neighbor who sees Willa’s number on a list of emergency contacts. It takes some persuasion, but Willa agrees to help people about whom she knows nothing. In the process of caring for others who need her, Willa discovers a sense of belonging she hasn’t experienced.
Tyler’s characters are vulnerable, real and endearing. Cheryl is a no-nonsense kid whose strong sense of independence comes from being the daughter of a single mother. The author brings Baltimore to life through descriptions of Denise and Cheryl’s neighborhood and its quirky residents, of which there are many.
Although somewhat predictable, Clock Dance is a charming tale of the need to belong.
Clock Dance
Four+ Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2018
292 pages
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