Author Archives: Melissa Beck

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About Melissa Beck

My reading choices are rather eclectic. I enjoy reading a wide range of books especially classics, literature in translation, history, philosophy, travel writing and poetry. I especially like to support small, literary presses.
February 22, 2015 · 11:00 am

Review- Alex Haley’s Roots: An Author’s Odyssey by Adam Henig

I received an advanced review copy of this book from the author.

My Review:
RootsThe title of this book is so apt, because an author really does go through an “Odyssey” of sorts after he or she publishes a book.  In Alex Haley’s case his journey included fame, scrutiny, exposure and alienation.  After Haley published his book Roots: The Saga of An American Family it was made into a miniseries.  With millions of viewers tuning in to watch this family saga, Haley was launched into a world of fame where he was in high demand for book signings and speaking engagements.  He makes an incredible amount of money from his book, the miniseries and his lectures.

I was shocked to learn that Haley was sued by a couple of different parties for plagiarism.  Henig provides details of these cases that plagued Haley for years.  With fame comes additional scrutiny and when a reporter begins looking into the authenticity of the accounts of Haley’s family as they are described in Roots, great discrepancies are found between what he wrote and events as they actually occurred.  It was surprising to see that a publisher would have put this book out there without having first checked on the accuracy of Haley’s stories.

What impressed me most about this book is the amount of research that Adam Henig put into this very compact work.  Henig pours through letters, newspaper articles, interviews and even legal documents to provide us with a complete picture of Alex Haley and his controversial book.  If you are looking for something to read in order to commemorate Black History month then I highly recommend this brief but eye-opening book.

About The Author:
Adam HenigBorn and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Adam Henig attended California State University, Chico, majoring in political science with an emphasis in cultural and international studies. After graduation, he pursued his interest in African American history and literature.

Although Alex Haley’s Roots: An Author’s Odyssey is his first publication, the condensed eBook has already received notable praise. Terry P. Wilson, UC Berkeley Professor Emeritus of Ethnic Studies, called the eBook a “must read,” while former Reader’s Digest editor and Alex Haley’s colleague, Edward T. Thompson, deemed it “a highly readable story.”

A book reviewer, Adam’s writings have appeared in the San Francisco Book Review, Tulsa Book Review, The Indie Writer Network Daily, and Blogcritics.

To learn more about Adam and read his book reviews visit his website: www.adamhenig.com.

 

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February 20, 2015 · 9:24 am

Review: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Hogarth through NetGalley.
My Review:
If I Fall, If I DieDiane is an agoraphobe and has not been outside the walls of her house in Thunder Bay, Canada for over 8 years and, therefore, neither has her eleven year old son, Will.  As the plot progresses, we learn that Diane has suffered many loses in her life and her eventual retreat into her own little world and her attempt to bubble wrap her son against danger is a result of her traumatic past experiences.

Will spends his days painting, exploring his house, and answering the door for deliverymen but he never ventures Outside.  Will’s world exists of Inside, with a capital “I” and everything else is considered Outside, with a capital “O.”  Outside is a scary and dangerous place and is full of things that can kill a small boy in an instant.

The best part of the book is the character of Will who is brave, clever and, despite his mother’s illness, a very happy boy.  At first I thought this would be an extremely tragic story because of the effects of Diane’s agoraphobia on Will.  But Will’s natural curiosity and sense of adventure are what draws him to the Outside.  He possesses an inner strength to deal with situations that many adults would shrink and hide from.  When he is made fun of at school for being different he perseveres; when one of his friend’s goes missing he insists on putting himself in danger to find him; and when his friend Angela is bedridden in a hospital because of a fatal lung disease he visits and comforts her.

Will’s best friend is an Indian boy named Jonah and Jonah introduces him to skateboarding.  I found this aspect of the book an apt metaphor for the struggles that Will faces and in turn teaches his mother to face.  Even though he is not good at skateboarding and he falls down often, he understands that the only way to conquer his board is to fall down.  His bruises will heal and he can get right back on his board and try again.

IF I FALL, IF I DIE is heart-warming, thought-provoking, cleverly-written and funny story. Michael Christie has written a fabulous first novel and I am eager to see what else he has in store for his readers.

About The Author:
Michael ChristieMichael Christie’s debut book of fiction, The Beggar’s Garden, was long listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Prize for Fiction, and won the Vancouver Book Award. Prior to earning an MFA from the University of British Columbia, he was a sponsored skateboarder and travelled throughout the world skateboarding and writing for skateboard magazines. Born in Thunder Bay, he now lives on Galiano Island with his wife and two sons. If I Fall, If I Die is his first novel.

Michael has just written a fantastic article for the “New York Times Opinionator” in which he discusses skateboarding, living with an agoraphobe mother, and becoming a parent for the first time himself.  Click here to read the full article.

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February 18, 2015 · 12:00 am

Review: Turtleface and Beyond by Arthur Bradford

I received an advanced review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley

My Review:
TurtlefaceThis collection of stories can be categorized as dark comedy and I have to admit that I laughed out loud at the stories many times.  The author’s subtle and ironic wit permeates all of the tales.  In the title story, “Turtleface,” Otto dives off of a cliff into a river and sustains a disfiguring facial injury.  It turns out that he hit a turtle when he entered the water.  Georgie, the narrator of the stories, finds the injured turtle, spends $800 to nurse the turtle back to health, and keeps it in a pool in his apartment.

Although all of the stories stand alone as individual narratives, they are all focused around episodes in the life of Georgie.  He has many adventures and makes irresponsible decisions that lead to comical, and sometimes tragic, outcomes.  He loses part of his leg in a wood chipper, lives in a communal farmhouse full of hippies one winter in Vermont and buys a house with a mysterious metal box that sits in the backyard.

Georgie also encounters strange and sometimes sad people in his adventures.  He lives in interesting and varied places, from Thailand to New York City.  Georgie also has a string of interesting jobs which include working in a legal library, writing short stories for magazines and cleaning up in a nursing home.  All of these elements are adroitly combined to make TURTLEFACE AND BEYOND an entertaining and clever collection of short stories.

 

About The Author:
Arthur BradfordArthur Bradford is an O Henry Award winning writer and Emmy-nominated filmmaker. His writing has appeared in Esquire, McSweeney’s, Vice, Men’s Journal, and many other publications. His first book, Dogwalker, was published by Knopf and Vintage paperback in 2002, and has been translated into ten languages. In 2012 McSweeney’s published Benny’s Brigade, a children’s book. Bradford’s newest book, “Turtleface”, has been published by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux.

Bradford is also the creator and director of the acclaimed “How’s Your News?” documentary series, versions of which have been broadcast on HBO/Cinemax, PBS, and Channel Four England. He developed the concept into a series for MTV which ran throughout 2009. A new film in the series, “Election 2012” was released Oct. 2012 and can be seen in full at howsyournews.com. In 2011 Bradford directed the Emmy-nominated documentary, “Six Days to Air”, about the making of South Park, for Comedy Central. He is currently shooting a feature documentary about Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

Bradford lives in Portland, Oregon and works at a juvenile detention center.

 

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February 17, 2015 · 11:32 am

Review: The Room by Jonas Karlsson

I received an advanced review copy of tis book from the publisher through NetGalley.

My Review:
The RoomBjorn works in a non-descript, government office in Sweden simply known as “The Authority.”  He is a self-important, regimented, quiet man who one day discovers a room in his office.  He likes to visit “the room” during his breaks and it seems to give him a sense of peace and calm and it heightens his sense of self-importance.

Due to his lack of social skills, Bjorn makes his co-workers very uncomfortable.  But when he insists that there is “the room” that no one else can see, they become even more agitated with him.  THE ROOM is a comic illustration of the hierarchies, petty differences and bizarre social interactions that exist in the microcosm of an office.

The book is very short, it is really more of a novella at 125 pages.  I do not want to say too much for fear of giving the plot away.  But in the end, the symbolism of “The Room” and Bjorn’s occupation of its space turns melancholy; when Bjorn sees things that others cannot, names like “freak” and “daft” and “crazy” are thrown at him.

THE ROOM is a great choice for a book club to discuss because there are many layers of symbolism to unpack and dissect.  If you read THE ROOM, please come back and share your thoughts in the comments.  I am especially interested to see what other readers have to say about the ending of this thought-provoking novella.

About The Author:
Sven Bert Jonas Karlsson is a Swedish actor and author. He won a Guldbagge Award for Best Actor in 2004 for the movie Details. He published his first book, a collection of short stories, in 2007.

 

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February 12, 2015 · 9:07 pm

Review and Giveaway: A Small Indiscretion by Jan Ellison

My Review:
A Small IndiscretionAnnie Black has been married to the same man for 20 years, they have 3 happy and healthy children together and she owns her own business.  So why in the world would she do anything to jeopardize the happy life she has worked so hard to build?

A SMALL INDESCRETION is written as a letter from Annie to her oldest son Robbie who has just spent the last year recovering from a horrible car accident.  In order to fully explain to her son and the rest of her family why she has so disrupted their lives, she must start by telling them about the 6 months she spent in London when she was 20 years old.

In 1989 Annie is feeling restless and wants to travel and have new adventures in Europe.  When she reaches England she begins working as an office manager for a man named Malcolm who is a wealthy builder.  I was riveted for the first half of the book while Annie tells us about her time in London and the impulsive mistakes she makes that involve alcohol and sex.  She is young, naïve, and compulsive and her inexperience goes a long way towards understanding her indiscretions.

Fast forward 20 years and what Annie calls a “small indiscretion” cannot be explained away by the stupidity of youth.  I felt that her mistake, which becomes fairly obvious about half way through the book, was more stupid than small.  Annie spends a lot of time feeling sorry for herself when her husband moves out and she has to share custody of her children with him.  She is lonely and lost.  But she is an experienced adult who should have known better and it is hard to feel any sympathy for her and the awful circumstances which she has created.

A SMALL INDISCRETION is an interesting read about which I have mixed feelings.  I had more interest in Annie’s story as a young woman, but the second part of the story which describes grown-up, adult Annie felt anticlimactic.  Scroll down to the end of my post to enter to win your own copy of the book.  I would love to know what others think about the plot of this novel.

About The Author:
Jan EllisonJan Ellison lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband of twenty years and their four children. Jan’s first published short story won a 2007 O. Henry Prize. Her work has also been short-listed for the Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize. After her children were born, she spent seven years taking classes at San Francisco State and finally earned her MFA.

Jan had a brief career in her twenties at a Silicon Valley startup, marketing risk management software to derivatives traders. The company went public, Jan became a mother, and instead of leaning in she leaned out, became a stay-at-home mom, and began to write.

Before that, Jan abandoned a job in investment banking before she even started it to spend two years waitressing in Hawaii, temping in Australia, and backpacking through Southeast Asia. Her college days were spent at Stanford, where she earned a degree in History, but wishes it was in English. She left Stanford for a year at nineteen to live on a shoe-string in Paris and work in an office in London. She scribbled notes on yellow legal pads, and years later those notes provided the inspiration for her debut novel, A Small Indiscretion, published this January by Random House.

Giveaway:
I am giving away one paperback copy of A Small Indiscretion to one reader in the U.S.  Just leave me a comment below and let me know that you want to win!  The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have 48 hours to respond.  Giveaway ends 2/26.

The Winner is: Suanne L.  Thanks to everyone that entered!

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