What I Read in November
Did you participate in Nonfiction November this year? I typically stick to fiction the rest of the year, so I took this opportunity to read some nonfiction books that I ordinarily wouldn’t gravitate toward. But I did get some audiobook novels in as well!
Hidden Valley Road by Robert Kolker
5/5 Stars
The heartrending story of a midcentury American family with twelve children, six of them diagnosed with schizophrenia, that became science's great hope in the quest to understand the disease.
What an incredible, moving, gripping story. If you're looking for a book to broaden your views and learn about extreme mental disorder, look no further. I'm really drawn to stories that peel away the cookie-cutter façade of American suburbia to reveal the darkness underneath, and boy does this book hit that perfectly. This is a research book that reads like a novel, a fascinating plot carrying the whole way through. I'm surprised to say that every family member of these 14 Galvins felt like their own person in this book, each grappling with schizophrenia directly or indirectly. There are scenes of great sadness, such as the moment when the first of the boys comes home from the mental institute tearfully afraid of what is happening to him, as well as great resilience, as the youngest of the children takes up the courage to help her brothers even though her life was made so unbelievably hard by them.
I will say that I didn't quite follow the more clinical discussions of schizophrenia research that happen at the end of the book, but this is in part because there is still no cure. It's still a complex disorder with no miracle in sight, only generations and generations of research still to be done. But the book leaves us with a profound sense that this family, for all its troubles, was a part of finding that cure someday.
Gold Diggers by Sanjena Sathian
3/5 Stars
An Indian-American magical realist coming of age story, spanning two continents.
A floundering second-generation teenager growing up in the Bush-era Atlanta suburbs, Neil Narayan is authentic, funny, and smart. He just doesn't share the same drive as everyone around him. His perfect older sister is headed to Duke. His parents' expectations for him are just as high. He tries to want this version of success, but mostly, Neil just wants his neighbor across the cul-de-sac, Anita Dayal.
But Anita has a secret: she and her mother Anjali have been brewing an ancient alchemical potion from stolen gold that harnesses the ambition of the jewelry's original owner. But when Neil--who needs a whole lot more--joins in the plot, events spiral into a tragedy that rips their community apart.
This book for the most part is vividly written with strong characters and community, and while I could easily sympathize with the main character's struggles with identity, choosing a life path, ambitions, etc that come with being the son of immigrants, I found myself not interested in the central plot of alchemy. I didn't understand what they wanted to do with their power once they got it. What was the main character's plan? Ultimately I had to return this audiobook to the library before I could finish, and I was ok with that.
Eliza Starts a Rumor by Jane L Rosen
4/5 Stars
When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies' Bulletin Board fifteen years ago she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site's existence, she doesn't think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit.
I thought this book was an entertaining read about juicy neighborhood gossip, mixed in with some deep subjects like sexual assault and depression. Good balance overall, and great pace!
This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
3/5 Stars
Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading. Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There's still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war.
This book was not for me, but I commend and appreciate the very unique writing style. The story dives right in, wastes no breath on exposition, and keeps things hyper-zoomed in (but also zooms out at random moments? Such is the nature of a time travel story I guess). It just didn't feel like a very balanced book; it was constant action, movement, like a superhero movie that is all battle scene. I was craving a quiet pause where we could actually reflect what the hell this is all about. And also get to know these characters. I guess if you're going to go that hard and fast, at least the book keeps it short because I would not be able to keep up much longer.
Quiet by Susan Cain
5/5 Stars
In Quiet, Susan Cain argues that we dramatically undervalue introverts and shows how much we lose in doing so.
This is such an important book for any introvert who grew up with the idea that they were not enough simply because they weren't outgoing or eloquent. It does a solid job explaining why extroverts came to be the ideal in the West, and why style isn't necessarily equal to substance when it comes to ideas and speaking.
It was so eye-opening to see just how much our world is geared toward extroverts (open-space floor plans, grouped desks in the classroom, etc.) and it was easy to get into an "extroverts suck" mindset while reading this book. But ultimately it does conclude that the two types work well together and the world needs both.
The book explains in an easy-to-follow way why introverts are different from extroverts from a psychological standpoint. However, I couldn't help questioning some of the studies cited. They would be really small sample sizes and the outcomes I would argue could be a result of a lot of things, not necessarily a person's introversion or extroversion.
There I Am by Ruthie Lindsey
Here’s what the book jacket said: “At seventeen years old, Ruthie Lindsey is hit by an ambulance near her home in rural Louisiana. She’s given a five percent chance of survival and one percent chance of walking again. One month later after a spinal fusion surgery, Ruthie defies the odds, leaving the hospital on her own two feet.”
I gave this 100 pages before calling it quits. There is some miscommunication between the book blurb and what I actually read on the page: from the blurb, I was expecting something heavier about survival, pain, etc. Don't get me wrong, I don't *like* to read about these topics, but I like to see a character go from rock bottom to victorious, overcoming odds I could never imagine.
...yeah, the first 100 pages weren't that at all. The blurb does not mention anything about Christianity, religion, spirituality, etc. Of course I expected some of that in a memoir about survival, but religion is practically the main character of the first 100 pages.
The author spends a lot of time gushing over her loving family and community, her happy childhood, her love for Jesus. Besides the accident, her childhood is truly charmed. Even after the accident, life seemed to go back to normal. I'm so happy for her and the author really seems like a lovely person, but reading about how wonderful someone's life is just wasn't really holding my interest, especially when I was sold something completely different in the blurb.
I'd almost guess that the author is trying to be uplifting by showing her gratitude for this charmed life, but the most uplifting stories I think focus more on the hardship and then the gratitude that comes *after* surviving that. If the book had started out more about her pain and suffering, I'd be more interested to read on and find out how she overcame such a thing. Instead, I was just reading how great someone's life was and my reaction was just "Ok, good for you," not "tell me more."
