Relentless Pursuit

 

I didn't watch the Jeffrey Epstein doc on Netflix. The world is dark and heavy enough right now as it is, and I just didn't feel like bringing more horror into my life. Yet, last week, I decided to pick up a nearly 400-page book detailing the legal pursuit of this monster. What I found was horror about the crimes, of course, but incredible detail of the frustrating legal process as well.

If you've been around this blog awhile, you know I'm persuaded to read books by the Dax Shepard Armchair Expert podcast. I've read books I wouldn't have otherwise chosen because I've heard the authors as guests. When I heard attorney Bradley Edwards on a couple of weeks ago, I immediately paused the pod and put this book on my library 'holds' list. His energy was incredible and I was so impressed with the diligence with which he pursued this case. His book picked up that energy and you could feel the passion until the very end.

I don't need to fill you in on the horrific crimes Epstein committed. But, I didn't know where it all started. Our public knowledge of the case would likely not have come to light if a young woman hadn't walked into Edwards' office with a story to tell. 

That young woman's story not only revealed the abuse she and others suffered in Epstein's web, but also the legal bullshit that protected him and his accomplices for so long. I found myself enraged at the fact that so many people who are paid by taxpayers to protect us and be transparent actually hid this monster behind legal paperwork and non-prosecution agreements. It is because of the bravery and strength of those women - and, Edwards' stamina - that we ended up knowing as much as we do. 

This book gets tedious at times as Edwards relates every little twist and turn they took to get through the legal labyrinth that threatened to shut them down at every turn. Every time it starts to feel that way, though, it takes off again. It's worth it to read who cooperated and who didn't and about the strange relationship Edwards developed with Epstein, even as the two were at war.

The Only Good Indians

 

It's a strange revelation when you start reading a book you know almost nothing about and find it's set in the town in which you grow up.

There it was in chapter one: Great Falls, Montana. 

This book didn't sit for long in my old hometown, but that's where things got DARK. Like, really dark. If gruesome depictions of murder aren't your thing, I'd suggest you skip past this one. I think of myself as having a pretty strong tolerance for that kind of thing (I've worked in TV news for 20 years, after all), but there were times I had to close this book and take a breath.

The book is about four guys who grow up together on the reservation in Montana. During a hunting trip 10 years before, something happens - they do something - that haunts them. I hesitate to share what, as it's a good bit of mystery that builds early on. As the anniversary nears, things start happening that set in motion a series of horrifying events. This book is a mix of fantasy, fear, Indian struggles and incredible loss. 

The writing is incredible (strangely, I found the afterword the most compelling writing in the book). I also think the story was captivating and certainly unlike anything I've ever read. But, the horror of it is real - just be warned.

Children's Bible

 

People smarter than me (the literary critics at the NY Times and Washington Post, specifically), called this book "masterful", a "potent allegory" and a "blistering classic."

I'm left thinking one simple and resounding thought: I didn't get it.

What I did pick up on was that the concept and writing were, in fact, masterful. A group of kids are staying in a mansion as a summer getaway with their spoiled and somewhat despondent parents. The kids are afterthoughts, left to fend largely for themselves. Then, a massive storm hits and chaos ensues. The kids know they're safer without their parents and leave them behind. Out in the world, they find an even more chaotic world than they one they left, complete with vigilantes, death, uncertainty and maybe even some sort of alien magic.  

There are other plot twists, too, about the end of the world due to climate change. There are religious undertones, too, and an attempt to reconcile an old Bible one child found with the science that is destroying the world around them. While the book at first appears to be careening towards apocalypse, I was also praying for the end.

It's very possible that I'm not smart enough to have seen the meaning behind this. Either way, it's not a book I would recommend. Maybe the guy from the Times can convince you otherwise.  

Pizza Girl

 

There's a quote out there about pizza and sex and how, even when they're not great, they're still pretty good. That really is neither her nor there, except that this book has pizza in the title and I didn't think it was good at all.

I read this book in one day, I should probably say. It's a fast read, it was interesting enough that way. But, when I finished - and, even when I read other reviews - I was like: I don't get it.

Our Pizza Girl is never named until the end of the book, but we become intimately familiar with the details of her life. 19 years old, working at a pizza joint in her home town, and pregnant. Her boyfriend is sweet and, due to an accident, an orphan. Our pizza girl is doted on and loved by him and by her mother, but is overwhelmed with the life inside her and what's to come. She befriends, then becomes obsessed with a woman to whom she delivers pizza one night. And while she pushes those who love her away, she finds herself trying to get closer to this woman.

Our pregnant teen also drinks. She does it to feel closer to the alcoholic father she lost. It's a tragic note to this story. It's something I couldn't get past or forgive and it's something that I don't feel our protagonist reckons with or really pays for. Add to that, the reviews I read say this book is funny and sweet. I just didn't see it. I felt really no emotion at all.

I guess the good thing is I didn't waste more than a day on it. But, the pizza and the girl left me with a big ol' feeling of meh.

Upstream

 

Give me a moment to indulge a "business" book. And my apologies to anyone who works with or near me after I've read it. I'm a little obsessed with the notion of thinking upstream. And, I have Dax Shepard to blame for it.

I'm a disciple of Dax's Armchair Expert podcast and I've read several books solely because of their author's appearance on his show. I read Accidental Presidents because of his book, along with City of Girls. The next book on my list also ended up there because of the podcast. I haven't been steered wrong yet.

Dan Heath's appearance formally introduced me to the concept behind what I've known for some time: we can either keep fixing the same problems over and over or we can go upstream and figure out what's leading to these issues in the first place.

It's such a simple concept, but one that most businesses and organizations don't take the time to see. The book shows examples of major companies and mid-size cities using the concept to solve everything from customer service issues to homelessness. 

I love the concept, but like most business books, had the gist down in the first few chapters. The rest was just supporting evidence. Still, I've already used the phrase "I'd like to go upstream on this..." in an email to our company's controller, so I guess you could say the concept is sinking in. They can blame Dax Shepard for that.

A Burning

HOLY. COW.

Go read this book.

I really could end this review there and you'd just have to trust me on it, but I'll give you your money's worth. You're paying to read these reviews, right?

Anyway.

This book is sneaky good. Like, it's good and you know it as soon as you start reading it. But, I finished it almost a week ago and it keeps seeping out of my pores. From the first pages, it takes off and never really lets up. When I finished, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. 

The Burning is so simply and plainly written, you almost don't realize you're reading a masterpiece. I believe the jacket description calls it "tidy." It's the story of a young woman's demise told through three central characters. Our main character, the woman in question, is a young woman in India who witnesses a train bombing. Through one seemingly innocuous action, she inserts herself into the case and seals her fate. She's arrested for the crime and becomes a national story. The other two characters are her former gym teacher and poor young woman to whom she was teaching English. The two of them quickly realize how their connection to this young girl helps them rise out of their own state and get closer than they ever imagined to their dreams. They soar, while she awaits charges in prison.

The way this book is written feels like a march forward. Simple sentences, short chapters, forward momentum. As a reader, you know you're going somewhere and you have your eyes half-covered as you keep marching in that direction. If I had an uninterrupted day, I could have read this in one sitting. It's a compelling and powerful look and power and poverty and how no one could ever suspect that some day, you could be their scapegoat.

Are you ready to read it now? 

 

The Vanishing Half

If you're like me, you read every list that comes out entitled "MUST-READ BOOKS!" It took me too long to realize those lists are largely influenced (and often generated) by publishers and people motivated to sell specific titles. But, I'm a sucker and I often choose my next reads based on those lists. This book - and, the next book I'm going to review - were on so many lists of the must-read books of 2020. And, you know what? Those lists were right.A Vanishing Half is about twin girls who run away from their small Louisiana town when they're 16 years old. The town itself doesn't show up on any map, but has evolved over the years to be home to very light-skinned Black people. A town so seemingly white, the people who live here look down on anyone with darker skin. The twins feel trapped, like so many teenagers do, and they leave town to head to New Orleans. What happens there defines each of their lives.The book begins as one of those twins, Desiree, returns to her hometown many years later. Child in tow, fleeing an abusive marriage, she finds herself back in her mother's house. They learn that no one has heard from Stella in years. She vanished off the streets of New Orleans. We learn as readers that she's passing as a white woman, living a life of luxury in California. No one - not her friends, not her husband, not her daughter - know her secret. It's a secret she feels will destroy everything.This book is about family, race, expectations, the lies we tell ourselves and the lies we tell to others. It's a beautiful read and deservedly on those must-read books, especially right now in America.