Book Review: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I enjoyed my read (or re-read, not sure which) of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson last week on my Kindle. It was one of their freebies that I downloaded. The nineteenth-century atmospheric writing lent a certain ghoulishness to the story, which I liked. Stevenson was very adept with adjectives and in his descriptions of the emotional turmoil that the characters in the story underwent. I realized that even though I knew what the use of the Jekyll/Hyde syndrome means in modern parlance, I'd never read the story or, at least, I hadn't read it in a long time. It's a good psychological study of a character in the process of disintegration, a moody mystery, and provides good insight into how people's personalities can encompass good and evil in the same persona. Highly recommended.

Book Review: Skeleton Key

Skeleton Key by Jane Haddam was a satisfying mystery read. Haddam's Armenian-American detective, Gregor Demarkian, leaves his native Philadelphia for the rich Connecticut suburbs to help solve the murder of a poor, little rich girl. The sub-story involving Gregor's relationship with his girlfriend, Bennis, is almost more interesting than the mystery (or, mysteries, as it turns out). I love how Haddam follows the character's trains of thought. It is so much like how people think in real life--people's thoughts just are, they don't always make sense or even follow any seeming logic. Haddam captures that very well and, in so doing, helps us understand her characters better. Good characterization is one of the hallmarks, in my mind, of excellent writers. Haddam succeeds admirably in doing this.

Book Review: The Restoration Series

Last Light, Night Light, True Light, and Dawn's Light are the four books in the Restoration series by Terri Blackstock, a Christian novelist. I decided to wait until finishing all four books in the series before writing my review. I would call this series a "What If X Happened", Christian fiction, and mystery series rolled into one. The series follows the Brannings, a Christian family who live in a high-class suburb of Birmingham Alabama, as they cope with a global crisis--namely the loss of power in the aftermath of The Pulses, an electromagnetic storm created by SN-1999, a supernova that emits pulses that causes the world literally to come to a standstill. Electricity, cell phones, appliances, cars, etc., cease to work. Blackstock weaves a tale of how the family works to cope with the crisis and of how this crisis helps them nurture their Christian faith. She talks of a community that changes from one in which neighbors barely know each other to wave to one another on the street to one in which people help each other find food, grow crops, and generally cope with everyday life.

The series got me to thinking of how I would cope in this situation--would I succomb to the temptation to steal someone else's bike so I could navigate from place to place more easily or would I share my food with my neighbors? I honestly don't know what my true reaction to such a situation would be. I hope I would seek God's will for my life and do as He asks, no matter how hard.

The writing style kept me reading far longer than I intended in each sitting. The story was gripping and the characters engaged me. Sections of the books got too preachy for my taste at times, but I believe that the author's intentions are good overall. If you like a good story and Christian fiction, then the series will not disappoint you. Give it try!

(Disclosure: I read all four of them on my Kindle e-reader.)

Book Review: Cutting for Stone

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese was easily the best book I read in 2010. The novel spans 50-plus years in the lives of twin brothers, born in Ethiopia, who become doctors. The author is a doctor and his knowledge of medicine, particularly women's medical issues, is patently evident in the book. Marion, one of the twin brothers, narrates this story and conveys his unusual family story in a powerful voice that stays with the reader long after the book ends. The characters are fully realized imperfect human beings, just like people I know in real life, which allowed me to be able to relate to them better. Strongly recommended.

"That's so gay" remark

I don't know about the rest of you, but I did take exception to Rebekah Rice's comeback, "That's so gay!" to the people who asked her if she had 10 moms. Like it or not, the word "gay" has loaded connotations in today's world. Had she said it in the 1930s it, of course, wouldn't have attracted any notice because Americans used the word "gay" differently back then to mean having a good time or being merry. But it was 2002 when Rice used the word in the context of her snappy comeback to her hecklers. And while I feel uneasy time about political correctness at times, I still think, had it been me in that position of answering a schoolyard taunt, I wouldn't have chosen that wording. Yes, kids will be kids and I understand that.

Still, if one's sexuality weren't as linked in with one's identity as is the case in the America of the 2000s, this wouldn't be problematic at all. Yet, the reality is there and, like it or not, we ought to show sensitivity for gays and lesbians by not using 'gay' in a negative context. Isn't it bad enough that the legal system discriminates against gays, do we also have to do it in our choice of words? What do you think? I'd love to know your thoughts on this.

Let me state one thing clearly for the record, lest the above rant mislead you. I wish the word 'gay' didn't have such negative connotations. I wish gays and lesbians had the same rights as everyone else. They are just people like everyone else with a difference. It is unfortunate that some people can't look past those differences to see them as whole people. Yet, it is also too bad that Rice exercised poor judgment in uttering the comeback she did. Like it or not, words can't be "unsaid," although one can apologize later for having said them.

skin whiteners

I was just reading on salon.com about the Hindustani Leverage's company's success in marketing a skin whitener in India with some dismay. Yes, I agree with the blogger on there that it was in the advertising, the company realized their success. But, to me, it begs the larger question of identity. What exactly is it that people are hoping for when they use such a product? Are they wanting to negate their "blackness" or "Asianness" (Is there even such a word? I don't mean to offend anyone by using this term.)? To me, this harkens back to the days (or not-so-long-ago days) when black people bought pigmentation creams to lighten their skin in an effort to pass as white in our society. (Aspiring presidential contender Barack Obama relays his shock when he was a boy and saw a magazine picture of a black man who had tried to do this in his autobiography, Dreams from my Father.) Is this any different than a deaf person getting a cochlear implant to pass as a hearing person in our society, to cite another example?

Do people feel so marginalized when they're different in some way that they buy these skin lighteners in an effort to make themselves more mainstream? We have to ask ourselves why people feel the need to go to extremes such as the ones I've indicated here to make themselves "normal"?

I would argue that it is some people in society's prejudices that drive some people to these extremes. I also posit that the media, including the blogosphere to be fair here, is a driving force in defining what normal is. But is the white, Nordic, size 5, blonde beauty a realistic norm for most of the world's women? I would vouchsafe to say not.

It seems to me that the root issue is that one's looks have been so closely affiliated with one's identity that some people just have a hard time getting past those hang-ups and stereotypes. For example, who among us hasn't thought that fat people are lazy? They must be or else they wouldn't let their bodies go to such ruin. (I write this with the full disclosure that I am overweight by most standards although working on the problem.) I admit to having been guilty of thinking it myself despite the fact I am overweight and know better. I know many hardworking overweight people, myself included. I ask myself why I harbor this prejudice and the only realistic answer I can give is that I got this attitude from the larger culture's portrayal of fat people. Witness the new movie Norbit with Eddie Murphy playing a seemingly-psychotic fat woman.

Is it any wonder that some people are buying the skin lightners? Or getting cochlear implants? Or lightening their hair in streaks of blonde if they're Asian or black? Or having gastric bypass surgeries by the billions? If these negative prejudices and attitudes towards differences are so ingrained in our culture, the only surprise to me is that these extreme measures are not happening more often. I wonder what the overall cost to society in the end will be. I hate to say it, but I fear the worst

I am writing in reaction to the Wash. Post article of today, 2/21/07, that says Adrian Fenty seeks to place special ed students in classes with other children as a way to deal with the District's problems in this area. Certainly, some kids should be mainstreamed with others in their schools. But what about deaf kids? Mainstreaming deaf kids in with hearing kids isn't the answer because even if sign language or oral interpreters are in the classrooms, there is lag time between when someone says something and when the deaf kid gets the information, no matter how good an interpreter is. The interpreter has to first process the information and then sign it. This takes time, particularly if interpreters want to communicate the meaning behind what is said instead of rendering a literal transliteration.
As a hard of hearing person mainstreamed in public schools (not in Wash., DC, but elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic area), I know first-hand the frustration of missing information or only getting part of the information in class. Deaf and hard of hearing kids deserve every chance to reach their potential. Putting them in a mainstream situation just isn't going to cut it for them. I understand the need to stretch education dollars, but please don't do it at the expense of the children involved.

Brittany Spears' recent troubles seem silly to me. I mean, okay, yeah, she is distraught over the end of her relationship with Kevin Fearstone and she shaved her head off. (As my husband said, it reminded me of the freshmen at Gallaudet that shave their heads off for Bald Day, a school tradition every Spring). But, really, people, aren't there more important things for us to worry about--like the war in Iraq, global warming--and so on that affect more people than just the latest life traumas affecting Brittany Spears. I don't wish Brittany any ill, but anyone who thinks this is the most important thing since sliced bread needs to get a life...