The Secret History - Donna Tartt

I think I've lost my objectivity when it comes to Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch was such a spectacular book (you can read that review here) - the best I've read in ages, that I'm willing to give her leeway on meandering plots or superfluous details. The Secret History is so wildly different from The Goldfinch, it's hard to know where to start.

The main protagonist is Richard Pappen, an unhappy California youth who does what many young people do, goes to college as far away from his parents and home as he can get. In this case, to Hampden Vermont. As a transfer student, he steps into established sociological webs and connections and tries to find a place for himself. The place he singles out is with an enigmatic and intriguing Classics professor who only takes a few students on each year. Julian hand picks and then guides each student personally through coursework he himself designs and teaches. 

Originally denied entry to this group, Richard seeks to impress the other five students - genius Henry Winter, twins Charles and Camilla, dashing Francis, and gregarious Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. He succeeds and is soon admitted to their circle. But no matter how close he gets to the group, he remains slightly on the periphery. So it comes as quite a shock when he discovers a secret about the group and their extracurricular activities. In an effort to show he is part of the exclusive tribe, he agrees to hide their secret, even to the extent that it means killing Bunny Corcoran, who threatens to expose the others. 

Bunny becomes wildly unpredictable and unhinged and so the group believes Bunny must be taken care of. Even though Richard tells the reader early on that Bunny is killed, the series of events leading to Bunny's death are so intriguing that the dramatic tension still exists, even up to the point where Bunny tips over the edge of the ravine to his death. The aftermath and its effects on the group - through the eyes of Richard is fascinating. 

The one weird element is that it is never really clear why Richard is telling this story. The events he imparts are so volatile that naturally one would imagine Richard would never tell a soul, so playing the narrative device out to its fullest extent is inexplicable. This niggling detail detracts from some of the enjoyment of the book. But Tartt's writing carries the rest through.

4/5 Stars.

Two Paths: America Divided or United - John Kasich

I was excited to vote for John Kasich in Tennessee's primary in 2016. By then it was mostly clear that Donald Trump had built a momentum which was tipping toward winning. But I'd heard Kasich's message in fits and starts during the debates and tuned into to Facebook Live feeds of his town halls. 

The reason he ended up getting my support is well flushed out in this book. A reiteration of his refusal to "take the low road to the highest office." And his insistence that nothing gets accomplished without buy in from both sides - a factor I think was crushed by GOP leadership (McConnell) during Obama's eight years as president - was something I've always thought about politics. Even politics in Washington. 

As new media sources have become more and more partisan (even delving into outright lies) it seems impossible to have rational discourse these days. And the problem seems to have gotten worse over the general election and now through the first months of Donald Trump's presidency. But these pages, this book reiterates what we already know. It doesn't have to be this way. Nuance and open mindedness take effort and time. But isn't our country worth it? 

I know after the general election I took a hard look at where I was receiving my news sources and tried to take an extra second to let my initial reaction to news headlines become tempered by a second or third run through to see if the meat of the article really jibed with the headline. You'd be surprised (or maybe not surprised) to learn that a lot of times it doesn't. 

I was struck by Kasich's recounting of a townhall where a gentleman asked Kasich what he intended to do to fix the opioid epidemic, and Kasich turned that right back and asked the man what he was doing to fix it. It's an honest question. On November 8, I had a tear filled conversation with a good friend about how I clearly wasn't doing enough to make my world, heck my neighborhood, into the place I wanted to live. 

While sometimes, most of the time, I live at the base level described by Kasich in this book, in those moments where I go higher I try to keep my November 8 lessons in mind. What am I doing to make my community better? And that usually involves putting down the smart phone and really trying to connect with people, even to smile and say hello, thank you and please. Connecting to people, just like Kasich did on the campaign trail. 

Thanks John Kasich for such a thoughtful analysis and a good example.

4/5 Stars.