Karen’s Blog

The White Mary by Kira Salak

Okay, it is a novel, and has nothing to do with Rudyard Kipling’s classic, but the most striking part of this book is the very real and very difficult journey the protagonist undertakes through the jungles of New Guinea.


That protagonist, Marika Vecera, is no Victorian princess, and not always entirely likable. But you have to admire her perseverance and heart. She’s not someone accustomed to an easy life - in fact, not someone even comfortable with one. She’s a journalist who survived growing up first in Communist Czechoslovakia, then as exile living in America with her schizophrenic, suicidal mother. Her father, a dissident Czech journalist, died when she was 6. Shuffled off to foster with her American cousins whenever her mother was hospitalized, she basically has been fending for herself since 13. Having made it through school, she becomes a journalist specializing in the hard stories in dangerous places, priding herself on being truthful even when it is politically unpopular.


Settled in Boston, thinking of writing memoirs and forming a relationship with Seb, a sweet, understanding guy who happens to be a recovering addict and a doctoral student in psychology. Long a fan of her articles, they meet at a conference, and her life seems to be, for once, settling into something that passes for normality. Then she receives word that her idol, a journalist named Richard Lewis, whom the world thought had committed suicide, has been seen in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, and she feels compelled to find him.


The book bounces back and forth between the journey and the events leading up to it, but the characters and atmosphere of the jungle seem quite real, very visceral and not always pleasant. It is fascinating to learn more and more about Marika - whom the natives refer to as the [i]wait meri[/i] - the white mary - the crazy pale blonde woman who insists on being guided further into the jungle, despite the injuries, annoyances, sickness and very real dangers she encounters.


It is all quite engrossing, and learning from the cover that the author was the first woman to traverse Papua New Guinea makes it all even more interesting. Watching the dynamics of her relationships - with Seb and with Richard Lewis, unfold as the books goes on is just as interesting, and I heartily recommend this book to anyone who wants an unflinching look at humans - both the “civilzed” kind and the more “primitive” and nature.

Babylon Rolling by Amanda Boyden

Set in New Orleans in August of 2004, Babylon Rolling is a good story full of well-developed characters, and a rich tapestry of ethnicities and origins and attitudes that populate one neighborhood in the storied city.


The main characters are all neighbors in one of those neighborhoods that was both old and new, with black, white, and Indian families. Their lives begin to intersect in more than a normal, casual way, and events and circumstances snowball gradually into the climax of the tale, and beyond.


Fearius (real name Daniel) - 15 and just out of lock-up, and his hilariously-named sisters are the children of an African-American family that has been in the neighborhood forever. His family hopes that he is done with the trouble that got him into Juvie in the first place, but he’s still figuring out who and what he’s going to be. Contrasting with him are Ed and Ariel Frank and their two small children - a young white family that moved down from Minneapolis for her job as a hotel manager. Ed is being a stay-at-home parent, and there is tension as Ariel sees him as being too soft, and weak, without ambition. Older neighbors Cerise Brown and Philomene Beauregard de Bruges and their husbands are long-term residents but not exactly friends, but everyone is a united in their suspicious of the Guptas, a perfectly friendly family but with exotic accents and highly fragrant foods that scent the neighbor’s air.


All in all, the struggles of each character and their interactions leading up to the non-event of Hurricane Ivan - which spared New Orleans, unlike Katrina in 2007, and their struggles with mental illness, identity, and how to make their way in the world make an engrossing tale, and a fascinating read.


As the book was published in 2008, there is a brief epilogue concerning Katrina, and that just adds to the feeling that these could be real people, living in a very real neighborhood in the mixed bag of life that is New Orleans.


I do recommend it, it’s a quick read and a satisfying story. And I didn’t review this when I first read it, as we had hurricane after hurrican this summer rolling into the Gulf of Mexico. It really has very little to do with the storms, and I didn’t want to leave that impression. It’s totally about the people, fascinating in their own right. And of course, now Hurricane Paloma is active in the Atlantic.

The Fifth Floor by Michael Harvey

You take one look at this cover, and you know what you are getting: a detective/murder mystery story set in Chicago. That doesn’t make in any less enjoyable, though.


You have your classic cynical, hard-bitten-but-with-a-heart detective, Michael Kelly. The setting is Chicago, notorious for corrupt politics, and The Fifth Floor is named for that level of City Hall where all the “business,” good, bad and otherwise, goes down. Michael is, of course, a single guy. This story revolves around an ex-girlfriend of his, Janet, who is caught up in an abusive marriage to one of the thugs - I mean city employees - who wokrs for the city on paper, but does his own thuggery with deep mob connections.


Complicating the situation is Taylor, Janet’s daughter from a prior relationship. She’s a teenager, lies about her age, and is as scared, smart, tough and cynical as they come. Tired of watching her mother’s abuse, she approaches Michael on her own, and asks him to kill her step-father. That would make her and her mother’s lives so much easier ….


And so is launched a good, convoluted story, involving, at its core, the Great Chicago Fire, the controversy over who or what started it, real estate speculation, the current and future mayors of Chicago, and believe it or not, The Emancipation Proclamation.


Nothing is simple in this tale, which starts with one dead body, adds another, and sheds light on events long-ago past, and better - some thinks - forgotten. It was a quick read, and has a satisfying ending, which leaves our detective still single, but with a nagging question in his heart.


I recommend it to any detective story fans.

Pretty glad this election will soon be over and done with. Voted today, met a sweet greyhound - we had a ballot initiative to ban greyhound racing commercially in Massachusetts,  and even went to donate blood. I don’t ever recall an election that has seemed as long and drawn out as this one.  More book reviews will commence tomorrow.