A Place We Knew Well - Susan Carol McCarthy

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This is the second book in a row from NetGalley in which I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it (read my review of the other one here).

Despite a rather bland intro, the story really kicks off after the prologue in Chapter 1. The time is October 1962 and the place is Orlando, Florida. It came as a surprise to me that the story would use the Cuban Missile Crisis as it's backdrop. To me, this was the best part. I knew enough about the Cuban Missile Crisis to know that it happened while President Kennedy was in office, so likely 1961 or 1962 and I knew that it didn't last very long and that eventually the Soviets turned their ships around and took the missiles down (thanks Billy Joel). 

This story focuses on Wes Avery, his wife Sarah and their daughter Charlotte. Wes owns a local gas station in Orlando, just up the road from McCoy Air Force Base (it closed in 1975). A former Air Force man, Wes starts to notice a lot of firepower gathering at the base and believes something may be up. The presence of 5 U-2s at the base later confirms his suspicions. (The U-2 was a spy plane and is awesome - the pilots wear the space flight suit because it goes so high in the atmosphere). 

Wes' best friend Steve, and a Cuban exile, young Emilio also work at the station and have their own backstories to contend with. Emilio's family is stuck in Cuba, his father in prison, his mother hiding out, and his sister, later told in what I considered the most awkwardly written section of the story, raped and murdered for her parentage and privilege. While I thought it was important to show this portion of what was going on in Cuba at the time, the part where Emilio emotionally tells Wes and Steve about his sister's murder was just not as well written as the rest of the story and came out very disjointed from the rest of the prose. 

Meanwhile, Sarah is having trouble squaring the life she lives with the life she had planned for herself, a life she set aside when her older sister became pregnant not once, but twice out of wedlock. Sarah's stern parents then relied on Sarah to live a pedestrian life without taking any chances. Her early talents were squandered and she lived a life devoid of personal accomplishments. This ends up being a major problem for Sarah. 

I really appreciated the obvious research that went into the Cuban Missile Crisis sections of the story, and how well it fit with Wes' overall story arc. I thought Wes was a great character as well he was well developed and he felt very real. Charlotte, the daughter, was a bit wooden in some scenes, but her purpose was more to push the plot ahead. I don't think the epilogue did a good job setting the future tone of the novel, it came out a bit more sinister like it was setting up a mystery, but otherwise this was a solid story with great research.

4/5 Stars.

Hamilton: The Revolution - Lin Manuel Miranda (with notes on an unforgettable night in New York City)

I'm not entirely sure if this book took me so long to read because I was savoring every minute of it, or because at parts my eyes were too watery to keep reading (I'm looking at you "It's Quiet Uptown"). In any case, I absolutely adored this book. Reading it both before and after seeing the live show in person was pretty much the best decision I've made in my entire life (aside from saying yes to marry my husband, without whom the trip may have been a lonely pilgrimage and the only person who really looks at my strange obsessions and just shrugs them off without judgment).

In any event, if you are a fan of the cast album, and you've been reading the annotated genius.com lyrics, and you've read article after article on the internet wondering what indeed does the show LOOK like, not just sound like, this book is definitely for you. Also, do you like funny stories and great pictures? Yeah, this book is for you too.

The book begins at the beginning, at the forming of the cabinet - Lin Manuel Miranda (writer), Tommy Kail (director), Jeffrey Seller (producer), and Andy Blankenbuehler (choreographer). From this hefty brain trust grew the words, music and ideas that shaped the entire show. And really, if you haven't heard of Hamilton yet, google it, watch the 2008 White House Poetry Jam, and I dare you to not be intrigued. 

The book is full of great anecdotes regarding all the principle actors and contributors, how they came to be involved with the show and how they felt/feel about their role. It's fascinating. I saw an interview with Lin Manuel Miranda when the book first came out a few weeks ago and he said that so many times historians have to go far back in time to recreate these types of stories, and to piece together the information from surviving fragments of history, but this book does all that work up front and while it feels fresh, it also feels really special. In under a month, the original cast will splinter and begin to go their separate ways. The original cast will be filmed this month to save the performance for posterity (I haven't seen any notations regarding the footage to be released for general consumption - still gotta sell those tour tickets y'all). But if and until that footage is released, this book and it's amazing photographs are the keepsake album you wish you could have scrapbooked yourself. 

Also the annotations are amazing because LMM references Harry Potter in several locations, basically cementing the fact that he is my patronus, you know if such things were real. Also, this is pretty much the most physically beautiful book I own, so there's that.

5/5 Stars.

I'm fairly certain I don't have to explain that actually seeing the show on Broadway on June 10th was an experience I will NEVER forget? We arrived in NYC on June 9th and after finding our hotel and mostly navigating the subway system, we dropped the bags and decided to have lunch and then walk into Times Square. In what I promise was a completely random event, we chose 46th Street as our path and walked past the Richard Rogers theater for the first time. 

As you can see, there were brave folks in their sleeping bags waiting for last minute cancellations (I'm not entirely sure who gives their tickets up last minute without trying to garner the $1,500 per ticket price for which they are now going on stub-hub, but hope springs eternal). That evening we attended a Yankees game. Our seats were less expensive than our Hamilton tickets, but only because I chose to sit up in the outfield, along the third base line. It was chillier than we had anticipated, but luckily we wore jackets and the home team won.

The next day was Hamilton day, also, our 10th wedding Anniversary. We went to a diner in the morning and then headed uptown to the Met to see some great art and hopefully keep me distracted from watching my watch every second as the longest countdown ever to Hamilton. This was good in theory, but Hamilton kept popping up wherever I went, including the large collection of John Trumbull paintings at the Met, including this annoyingly described one:

Don't worry Met, I know you meant Angelica Schuyler Church, not Mrs. John B. Church.

Anyway, finally, the evening approached and we showered, changed and headed out to dinner where we were surrounded by giddy theater goers, some who would be attending Hamilton that night. The funny thing is, all the anticipation of seeing it, all the barely contained glee I had felt in the MONTHS leading up to this trip, I felt serenely calm once we sat down to dinner. I was going to see the show, it was really happening. I wasn't going to need to wonder anymore if the real life event would live up to my expectations. 

So after dinner we headed back to the Richard Rodgers theater and waited in line with the other theater goers. Once inside, it was a bit of pandemonium as patrons thronged the souvenir booths and purchased hats, shirts, coffee mugs, books, pins, cards, CD's, all kinds of stuff to remember the show by. We then found our seats in the rear of the orchestra, under the mezzanine overhang, which meant that some of the stage would be partially obstructed, the top portion, from where some of the chorus sings during songs. The funny thing about partially obstructed views at Hamilton though, is that no one cared. I mean, you're in a room with people who either paid a lot of money for the privilege, or forewent a lot of money for the privilege and there we all were. Watching the show together. The vibe was fairly electric. 

Then the show started and I forgot to keep breathing. With each principle actor who started a verse of the opening number the crowd applauded. Then LMM came on-stage in answer to "What's your name man?" and when he said "Alexander Hamilton" the place erupted. Somewhere during Aaron Burr, Sir, I remembered that breathing was important and began doing that laborious task again. But the spell, the feeling, was still there and my whole self tingled with the sensation of sheer joy. 

At intermission I fought my way downstairs to the ladies room (don't freak out ladies, the line is long but it moves fast, everyone wants to get back to their seats in time). I was so focused on reliving the first act in my brain that I almost missed the fact that I was standing next to Magic Johnson as he tried to make a phone call in the small hallway where the ladies room queue is formed. He's hard to miss though because he's huge.

Act II was glorious and I was nervous that I might sob my way through Blow us All Away, Stay Alive (Reprise) and It's Quiet Uptown, but my tears were held to silent streams and occasional sniffles. So I was kind of proud of myself. I read on LMM's twitter that sometimes he looks out in the crowd and see a stranger crying and that makes him more emotional. What a softie, but also what an experience to look out and see that something you created touches people so deeply. Sigh. The night was incandescent (I was told amazing was too pedestrian an adjective to use). 

Afterwards, me and hundreds of others who had seen and not seen the show that night, lined up outside to try to get a moment to say hello to the actors as they left the theater. First Phillipa Soo came out but I was too far back in the crowd to get an autograph. Same for other minor actors who came out the door. Finally the crowd thinned and I was able to snag a 'graph from Rory O'Malley (King George the III, the fourth). 

Then the stage manager announced that no more actors would be coming out to sign anything, and we walked the two blocks back to our hotel. Upon arriving back, even though I usually am asleep by 10 p.m. and it was now well past midnight, I could not sleep, my brain was too awake playing and replaying the scenes from the show, the moments I knew were coming, and those that came as a total surprise. My body felt warm like after a day in the summer sun and eventually sleep claimed me. 

The rest of the trip was so fun, visiting the top of the Empire State Building, perusing J.P. Morgan's Library, visiting Alexander and Eliza's graves at Trinity Church (Angelica is there in an unmarked grave she shares with a Livingston), silently sobbing to myself in the corner of the south excavations of the 9/11 Memorial and Museum (seriously so moving, so sad), and then an amazing dinner with my first friend, my sister, brunch on sunday morning and a visit to the High Line park in Chelsea before heading home. The trip managed to make time slow down for once. The week after returning seemed to fly by in comparison, but for those four days, in addition to being in the Room Where it Happens, we also caught some moments for ourselves and managed to make time slow down and Take a Break. 

9/11 Museum. Original steel from the building bent like a twig.

 Reading this book over the past week has made me relive so many of the events of our trip and the night seeing Hamilton. It was the perfect way to keep the images and thoughts fresh in my head. Aside from being one of the most physically beautiful books I own, it will be a book I return to again and again to remind myself of how lucky I am to be alive right now.

Only Time Will Tell (Clifton Chronicles) - Jeffrey Archer

So this meandering tale follows Harry Clifton as he grows from boyhood into an adult. The story shifts between various narrators including Harry's mother Maisie, Harry's best friend Giles, Old Jack Tar and a couple others which would be giving away plot points to mention. Through the various characters different lines of the truth are exposed and it's interesting to learn certain facts when the perspective changes. 

There are a couple things about the writing that I was not a big fan of. Each narrative shift encompasses a few chapters. The first chapter after the shift is written in the first person. The remaining chapters after a shift are written in The third person. I'm not sure what Archer is doing here. It's just distracting. 

The second issue I have with this novel is that although it seems to be well placed in historical events, the author might have not looked in to American history as well as he should have. For one there is a scene at the end with a character being read his Miranda rights. In 1939. Miranda v. Arizona didn't happen until 1966 so that's a little lazy. 

Otherwise I found the story entertaining even if it's not the most eloquent writing I've read. I'll read the rest of the series I'm sure but I'm not going to be reading them back to back. 

3/5 Stars. 

The Lazarus Project - Aleksandar Hemon

I'd probably give this book three and half stars if I could. (Oh wait, I can, it's my blog!) It's interesting and different from anything I've read in a while. It really delves into the American immigrant experience both in 1908 and 2008. While the times certainly have changed, the longing for home, the slightly unsettled feeling, and the loneliness are all quite the same.

Hemon uses the narrator and his subject to explore a realm of being in a place without really knowing it, and the disconnect that comes from having motivations and experiences totally different some someone else, to include the basic building blocks of personality (in this case founded in nationality).

With that said, I didn't really like all the jumping around done between the two distinct stories. While the stories switched off by chapters, they sometimes intermingled in the narrator's chapter within paragraphs. I see how Hemon was trying to more closely tie these two experiences than in other chapters, but it ended up forcing me to make the connection, and I would have appreciated a bit more breathing room in the narrative. 

3.5/5 Stars.

All the Light we Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

Lovely from beginning to end. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The narrative follows two teenagers during World War II, blind Marie-Laure of Paris, France and Werner Pfennig of Germany. Both characters overcome obstacles and deal with their own limitations (Marie's physical, Werner's one of character) where time and the machinery of war eventually lead them to meet. 

The chapters dealing with Werner's schooling at an elite political school and the brutal treatment of the students by the instructors were exceptionally well written and devastating at the same time. In particular, the school sections of Werner's narrative focus on his friendship with Frederick, a boy who "sees things that others do not." Ultimately Frederick's ability to stand outside of the events and refuse to be a part of the cruel system make him a target. I won't get into specifics of what Werner does or does not do, but I will say that at this point in the story, he's not a hero. 

I held out hope for the ultimate happy ending but was not disappointed when it did not happen. 

The chapters are incredibly short, giving this book a fast reading feel despite the 500+ page length. Intricately woven, the short chapters bounce through time and location but surprisingly it was not difficult to follow and was well laid out developing the characters even as we knew how their worlds would ultimately collide. 

I don't want to give away too much of the plot but both the main two characters and the minor characters are so well written and developed that it's an astounding feat. I can't wait to read more from this author.

5/5 Stars.