Lucia Zarate: The Odyssey of the World's Smallest Woman
Cecelia Velastegui, 2017
Libros Publishing
278 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780990671381
Summary
In this thrilling new historical novel, award-winning author Cecilia Velástegui again demonstrates her talent for creating spellbinding and haunting period pieces.
Lucia Zárate is based on the poignant, real-life odyssey of the world’s smallest woman. Pretty and gregarious, Lucia Zárate was just twenty inches tall. After her "display" at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, Lucia’s extraordinary, heartbreaking story is one of exploitation by greedy sideshow hucksters and a fishbowl existence on the road, from New York to Victorian London.
Snatched away from her parents at the age of twelve from Veracruz, Mexico, minuscule Lucia Zárate began her life’s arduous journey among Frank Uffner’s traveling troupe, in the care of an interpreter and protector. Despite Velástegui’s rigorous and extensive research, the name of Lucia’s interpreter has disappeared with the dust of time. Nonetheless, Velástegui masterfully creates Zoila, Lucia’s companion, as a character of depth and emotion.
Zoila is a woman who’s felt the sting of exploitation and exile at the hands of powerful vanilla growers in Mexico: her linguistic talents, wily temperament and compassion help her protect Lucia at all costs. She foils kidnapping attempts, teaches Lucia how to hold her own among European royalty, and facilitates a budding romance between Lucia and General Mite, a member of the traveling troupe of little people.
We follow the adventures of diminutive Lucia Zárate and the devoted Zoila as they grapple with life and death, finding joy and adventure in their bumpy sideshow journey of more than fourteen years. This is an artfully balanced novel that is a mesmerizing tale of survival, resilience, and the uplifting force of friendship.
Author Bio
• Birth—September 29, 1953
• Where—Quito, Ecuador
• Education—M.S.Ed., University of Southern California
• Awards—First Place-International Latino Book Awards (twice)
• Currently—Dana Point, California, USA
Cecilia Velastegui received First Place from the International Latino Book Awards for her novels Missing in Machu Picchu (2013) and Traces of Bliss (2012). The Association of American Publishers and Las Comadres International organization selected her novels to the National Latino Book Club. Parisian Promises (2014) was the runner-up for the Paris Book Award and Gathering the Indigo Maidens (2011) was a finalist for the Mariposa Award. Her children’s bilingual fables: Olinguito Speaks Up, Lalo Loves to Help, and Howl of the Mission Owl have received numerous awards.
Cecilia is an experienced public speaker and has been invited to present her novels and fables at the Los Angeles Times Book Festival, Literary Orange, the Smithsonian Institution, the Los Angeles Zoo, the Big Orange Book Festival, the California Bilingual Education Association, and the Los Angeles and Orange County Libraries.
Cecilia was born in Ecuador and raised in California and France. She received her graduate degree from the University of Southern California, is a former Marriage and Family Therapist, speaks four languages, serves on the board of directors of several educational and arts institutions, and has traveled to one hundred countries. She lives in Dana Point, California. (From the author.)
Book Reviews
Cecilia Velástegui’s mystical prose, depth of characterization and adroit plotting have been compared favorably to the work of established literary figure Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It should be no surprise, therefore, that her latest historical novel, Lucía Zarate, Velástegui, though a relative new-comer, is tied with Pérez-Reverte as a finalist in the 2017 International Latino Book awards.…
This unusual tale typifies the strange and wondrous vision associated with great Latin writers like Márquez, Llosa and Allende. Endowing ordinary events with magical symbolism is a talent that Velástegui has displayed in previous works, notably Missing in Machu Picchu and Traces of Bliss, both winners of the coveted Latino Book Award.
Lucía Zárate has been crafted with admirable acumen. It features two heroines—one a physically fragile but spirited entertainer, the other her steely, seasoned caretaker—locked together in an enthralling tale both true and imagined, and polished to gem-like brilliance by skilled wordsmith Velástegui.
Barbara Bamberger Scott - www.awomanswrite.com
Cecilia velástegui’s historical novel, Lucia Zárate, chronicles the extraordinary life of the tiniest person who ever lived. the opening pages, lyrical and riveting, paint Mexico with vivid brushstrokes, bringing the sights, sounds, and smells of Veracruz and its vanilla bean industry to life.
Like all historical fiction, Lucia Zárate plaits fact and fancy. Lucia Zárate (January 2, 1864–January 15, 1890) holds the Guinness World Record as the smallest human, measuring twenty-one inches tall and weighing less than five pounds at seventeen years of age. velástegui describes her as “a wisp of a girl, a perfect and miniature thing, whose singular appearance and sparkling personality were as unique as the cherished fragrance of Veracruz vanilla.” despite her diminutive size, she “spread the velvet folds and lace frills of her gowns in such a way that she extended her personal space in a wide circle all around her.”
Lucia’s story is told primarily from the vantage point of her governess, Zoila. When Zoila realizes she must extricate herself from her village’s internecine vanilla bean trade skirmishes, as well as from the rumors swirling around her own perhaps-nefarious actions, she tucks a vial of her beloved Felipe’s salvaged blood between her ample breasts and heads out. she secures a position as governess for the improbably tiny Lucia, whose parents have contracted for their daughter to perform in human curiosity sideshows. zoila accompanies the Lilliputian girl on the decade-long tour, with visits to domestic and foreign heads of state, as well as considerable time spent among seedy denizens and gawking voyeurs.
This sad life story is intriguing and informative. velástegui’s sensitive descriptions of humans with a variety of deformities and odd conditions is commendable, as is her condemnation of their abominable treatment in nineteenth-century sideshows. Lucia Zárate should appeal to people interested in the human psyche, and those drawn to history should appreciate the author’s adherence to carefully researched historical details. also, young adults with sophisticated vocabularies should enjoy this book.
Forward Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel is framed by the risks and realities of the vanilla trade in nineteenth-century Mexico. Why do you think the author chose to structure the novel this way? How do these risks relate to Lucia’s fragile constitution and to the perils she would encounter by being exhibited abroad? In what way is the vanilla trade symbolic of Lucia’s life?
2. To what extent does the initial chapter concerning Zoila’s life in Paplanta enhance your understanding of her loyalty to Lucia?
3. In what ways do the chapters about Lucia’s childhood in Mexico contribute to a deeper understanding of Lucia’s later life?
4. What is the importance of loyalty in Lucia Zárate? In what ways does the author contrast the treachery and greed of sideshow life with the quality of loyalty and instances of caring?
5. What effect did the opening scene of peril and flight have on your perception of the story that follows?
6. What sort of atmosphere does the author create by using the witchdoctor’s whistle as a recurring motif? Does it initially alarm Lucia and Zoila and how does the motif progress through the novel?
7. How was Lucia’s self-perception shaped by the beliefs of others that she was not human, but rather a mythological chaneque?
8. Consider Zoila’s father’s advice to "always follow the money." Did Zoila heed his advice or did she opt to put Lucia’s immediate welfare first?
9. Despite viewing herself as an "armadillo," how naïve is Zoila? Why didn’t she stand up to Frank Uffner’s or Señor Zárate’s greed?
10. In what ways did Zoila’s compassion for Lucia limit the options she had to lead her own life?
11. Consider Lucia’s progression from a hyperactive and charismatic personality that charmed audiences to a lackluster performer. How would you describe the last phase of her professional life?
12. Consider parallels between Lucia’s diva-like behaviors to today’s young celebrities.
13. How did Lucia cope with her fishbowl existence?
14. Zoila remarks, "As I said earlier, an odyssey is a long and adventurous journey," to which Lucia replied, "But you also said that during an odyssey one faces both adventure and hardships." Do you think that Zoila could have prepared Lucia for the hardships?
15. What parallels does Zoila perceive between the possible trajectory of Lucia’s life and that of Julia Pastrana, Carolina Crachami, and Antonietta Gonzalez ? Comment on the statement, "Zoila resolved to uncover the devious ways these so-called promoters employed to entice unique girls such as Julia Pastrana and to use this knowledge to prevent Lucia from falling victim to their cunning ways."
16. In what ways were Lucia’s shipboard travels transformative for her at different stages of her life?
17. Reflecting on the fact that Frank Uffner felt he had, "Single-handedly created her stage persona, and because of his genius as an impresario, her fame had spread worldwide. Soon, he and he alone would enjoy his well-deserved payback." Do you think Frank Uffner enjoyed the money he earned through exploitation of his performers?
18. What were the pivotal moments that helped Lucia to become a resilient young woman?
19. What is the purpose of the motif of the flying-men from Paplanta? What does this ancient ritual represent in the novel?
20. Lucia was betrayed emotionally, financially, and romantically by her father, Frank Uffner, and General Mite, yet her sense of duty to her family was foremost. Are the morally ambiguous actions of characters, such as Mr. and Mrs. Uffner and Señor Zárate, redeemed?
21. What is the symbolism of the train wrecks and train accidents?
22. How does the friendship between Lucia and Zoila evolve?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
The Marriage Lie
Kimberly Belle, 2016
MIRA Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780778319764
Summary
Everyone has secrets…
Iris and Will have been married for seven years, and life is as close to perfect as it can be.
But on the morning Will flies out for a business trip to Florida, Iris's happy world comes to an abrupt halt: another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board and, according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers.
Grief stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. Why did Will lie about where he was going? And what else has he lied about?
As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to uncover what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she finds shock her to her very core. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—February 20, 1968
• Where—Kingsport, Tennessee, USA
• Education—B.A., Agnes Scott College
• Currently—lives in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kimberly Belle is an American novelist. The daughter of a chemist and a speech pathologist, Belle grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, a small town in the foothills of the Appalachians. She attended college in Atlanta, Georgia, where she earned a BA from Agnes Scott College, a liberal arts school for women.
Before turning to writing fiction, Belle worked in marketing and fundraising for various nonprofits in the US and abroad, including Habitat for Humanity, the YWCA, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and United Way.
Belle is best known for her novel, The Marriage Lie (2016), which was a USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Toronto Globe & Mail bestseller, as well as #1 iTunes UK bestseller and a semifinalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller. The book has been translated into a dozen languages.
Novels
2014 - The Last Breath
2015 - The Ones We Trust
2016 - The Marriage Lie
2018 - Three Days Missing
Belle and her husband, a Dutch real-estate entrepreneur, have two children. She currently divides her time between Atlanta, Georgia, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/7/2018.)
Book Reviews
This delicious, serpentine thriller starts from a simple premise: what if your husband was not who you thought he was.… A good, old-fashioned page-turner, with a poisonous sting in the tail.
Daily Mail (UK)
You need to check out The Marriage Lie. This domestic thriller will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night to find out how it all ends.
Redbook
This is not a unique premise, and Belle’s … but numerous skillfully executed twists … [make readers] never entirely sure who to trust or what’s really going on. A surprising and fast-paced read.
Publishers Weekly
The pace is relentless, and the plot never runs in a straight line.… Beware, The Marriage Lie might very well undermine your confidence, your convictions, and your trust in loved ones. This one is a true brain twister!
Book Reporter
Belle's taut pacing drives the story forward, and the relatability of the Griffiths will hit readers close to home. With plot twists around every corner, Belle isn't afraid to keep her readers guessing until the very last page of this heart-pounding story.
Booklist
The suspense builds rapidly from there as Iris pulls back Will's layers of deception and solves the mystery of what the circumstances of his death meant for their marriage. A compelling adventure.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club talking points to help start a discussion for THE MARRIAGE LIE ... and then take off on your own:
1. Take some time to describe Iris. What do you think of her? Some readers found her rude, or gullible and easily manipulated. Others appreciated her perseverance. What do you think of her?
2. Talk about Iris and Will's marriage as portrayed at the beginning of the book. In what way does it seem perfect, even enviable?
3. Secrets underlie the supposedly perfect union between Iris and Will. How destructive are secrets to a relationship? Can secrets ever be countenanced in a marriage … are some secrets permissible? Do you have secrets in your closest relationships—with your spouse, significant other, or dear friends? What if you found someone were keeping secrets? Would it depend on the secret?
4. Iris's investigation takes her to Will's hometown where she discovers a very different version of her husband. Talk about the revelations into Will's past.
5. Follow-up to Question 4: One of the big questions The Marriage Lie poses is the way in which a person's past shapes and/or defines the future self. How does Will's past shape the person he becomes?
6. Follow-up to Question 5: Supposedly, Will has changed by the time he marries Iris. Is it possible for people to change?
7. Do the lies and secrets Iris discovers about Will erase all that was good in their seven years together as husband and wife?
8. The issue of accountability is essential to the couple's marriage and is one of Iris's core values, especially in her work with students. How does what she uncovers about Will undermine Iris's relationship with the notion of accountability?
9. Talk about Eva and her role in the novel. In fact, what do you think, overall, of the student body and their parents?
10. Did you find yourself switching allegiances to characters as the novel progressed? Whom did you trust and then later begin to doubt? How does the author accomplish those shifting loyalties?
11. Were you surprised by the ending? Is it satisfying, worth the read?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Mars Room
Rachel Kushner, 2018
Scribner
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476756554
Summary
From twice National Book Award–nominated Rachel Kushner comes a spectacularly compelling, heart-stopping novel about a life gone off the rails in contemporary America.
It’s 2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley.
Outside is the world from which she has been severed: the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson.
Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner evokes with great humor and precision.
Stunning and unsentimental, The Mars Room demonstrates new levels of mastery and depth in Kushner’s work. It is audacious and tragic, propulsive and yet beautifully refined. As James Wood said in The New Yorker, her fiction "succeeds because it is so full of vibrantly different stories and histories, all of them particular, all of them brilliantly alive." (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1968
• Where—Eugene, Oregon, USA
• Education—B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.F.A., Columbia University
• Awards—Finalist, National Book Award
• Currently—lives in Los Angeles, California
Rachel Kushner a writer who lives in Los Angeles. She was born in Eugene, Oregon, and moved to San Francisco in 1979. She graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and earned her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University in 2000.
Kushner lived in New York City for 8 years, where she was an editor at Grand Street (magazine) and BOMB (magazine). She has written widely on contemporary art, including numerous features in Artforum. She is currently an editor of Soft Targets, praised by the New York Times as an "excellent, Brooklyn-based journal of art, fiction and poetry."
Her first novel, Telex from Cuba, was published in July 2008. It was the cover review of the July 6, 2008 issue of the New York Times Book Review, where it was described as a "multi-layered and absorbing" novel whose "sharp observations about human nature and colonialist bias provide a deep understanding of the revolution's causes." It was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award. (From Wikipedia.)
Kuskner's second novel, The Flamethrowers, issued in 2013, also received extraordinary praise. James Wood of The New Yorker extolled: "the first twenty pages could make any writer's career," while Dwight Garner of The New York Times said, the book "unfolds on a bigger, brighter screen than nearly any recent American novel I can remember. Jonathan Franzen in his NY Times review called Kushner "a thrilling and prodigious novelist."
Book Reviews
[Kushner’s] best book yet, another big step forward.
Jonathan Franzen - Guardian (UK)
A searing, tragic look at life in the prison-industrial complex, covering poverty, sex work, mass incarceration, education, trauma, suffering, love, and redemption. Somehow, Kushner's rapid-fire, imaginative prose makes it seems effortless.
Vogue
Stunning…a gorgeously written depiction of survival and the absurd and violent facets of life in prison.
Buzzfeed
(Starred review) [H]eartbreaking and unforgettable…. Romy is a remarkable protagonist; her guilt is never in question, but her choices are understandable. [The] novel… deserves to be read with the same level of pathos, love, and humanity with which it clearly was written.
Publishers Weekly
Kushner is back with another stunner… without a shred of sentimentality, Kushner makes us see these characters as humans who are survivors, getting through life the only way they are able given their circumstances.
Library Journal
(Starred review) In smart, determined, and vigilant Romy, Kushner, an acclaimed writer of exhilarating skills, has created a seductive narrator of tigerish intensity... This is a gorgeously eviscerating novel of incarceration writ large… [is] executed with artistry and edgy wit.
Booklist
Another searing look at life on the margins…. This is, fundamentally, a novel about poverty and how our structures of power do not work for the poor, and Kushner does not flinch.… [T]he honest depiction of prison life is so gripping. An unforgiving look at a brutal system.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. At the beginning of the book, before she is incarcerated, Romy Hall, the central protagonist of The Mars Room, says, "I said everything was fine but nothing was. The life was being sucked out of me. The problem was not moral. It had nothing to do with morality. These men dimmed my glow. Made me numb to touch, and angry" (page 26). What role do morality and virtue play in the telling of Romy’s story? Does morality factor into who is judged guilty and who is judged innocent?
2. The San Francisco depicted in this book is perhaps not a classic one of, as Romy puts it, "rainbow flags or Beat poetry or steep crooked streets," but "fog and Irish bars and liquor stores all the way to the Great Highway" (page 33). Was the San Francisco depicted in the novel a surprise to you? What significance do you read into the scene with the "Scummerz" and the young boy making noodles on the stove? Why is everyone from her past and all her memories so remote and vanished? Is this the nature of childhood and the erasure of cities, or something else more complicated and individual to do with Romy?
3. The overwhelming majority of people, and certainly middle-class people, will never spend a single day of their lives in jails and prisons. Should those who don’t have that dark destiny worry for those who do? What impression do you have, after reading The Mars Room, about individual agency, and who goes to prison in this country and who doesn’t?
4. "Sammy was my big sister and I was Button’s, and Conan was something like the dad. We had a family" (page 241). In order to cope with their difficult surroundings the women of Stanville create familial bonds with each other. Do these women nurture one another or is their "family" more of an alliance of protection? What are the benefits of a "family" arrangement? The risks?
5. After recounting an emotional story from childhood, Conan says, "There are some good people out there … some really good people" (page 252). Discuss the acts of generosity in this novel. Which ones stand out? These women seem to start at disadvantages. They take wrong turns. The prison system lacks mercy or a shot at redemption. Would many of these characters’ lives have been different with more, or greater, acts of generosity?
6. Straining the edges of a reader’s compassion perhaps is the character Doc, the "dirty cop" who had been involved with Betty LaFrance and is eventually strangled by his cellmate. Why do you think Kushner included him and his story in the book? Does he achieve a kind of unexpected likability, and if so, how?
7. Romy says, "To stay sane you formed a version of yourself you could believe in" (page 269), and earlier, "Jackson believed in the world" (page 156). Kushner makes a connection between the wide-eyed optimism of youth and the crushing realities of what the world can be for those born without power or wealth, and for those who have made irreversible mistakes. Discuss the role that Jackson serves in the novel. What does he symbolize to Romy?
8. "Part of the intimacy with nature that you acquire is the sharpening of the senses. Not that your hearing and eyesight become more acute, but you notice things more" (page 299). This is presumably the voice of Ted Kaczynski, but its placement suggests a link to Romy’s escape into nature. Why does she end up alone in the woods? What does this say about the human need for connection with the outside? In what other ways does Romy seem to be shut off from the outside world? What role could a connection with nature play in rehabilitation?
9. What role does gender play throughout the novel? What differences did you see between the experiences of incarcerated men and incarcerated women? How did gender factor into Romy’s trial and sentencing?
10. Serenity Smith is a transgender woman whose presence generates an outsized reaction from the women of Stanville. Discuss the controversy among the prisoners concerning this character. How do their surroundings contribute to their reaction to her? And what does Serenity’s predicament say about the structure of prison? What is society to do with people who cannot assimilate into the caged spaces allotted for them?
11. Hauser can be seen in different lights. Was he a predator, or was he a man who meant well but could not resist temptation? Discuss the effects of his actions on Romy.
12. The Mars Room's title comes from the name of the strip club where Romy works before she is incarcerated. What does the phrase "Mars Room" bring to mind? What do these two worlds—a central California women’s prison and a San Francisco strip club—share?
13. In the final moments of the book, Romy is in the forest, bathed in light: "I emerged from the tree and turned into the light, not slow. I ran toward them, toward the light" (page 336). There is something both heavenly and hellish in this description. Discuss the dichotomies: Is the scene ultimately despairing or hopeful?
14. In the final paragraph of the book, Romy reflects on giving Jackson life. She calls giving life "everything." Is this a comment on her own life, or some manner of reinterpreting life as extending into other regions beyond the one she’s been given and that has been taken away? Is it some way of being part of something in the world that is larger than she is and that goes beyond her? What is the import of the final sentence? Is your sense that the world, at the end, is a human world, a natural world, both, or neither?
(Questiions issued by the publishers.)
The Secrets We Kept
Lara Prescott, 2019
Knopf Doubleday
368 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525656159
Summary
A thrilling tale of secretaries turned spies, of love and duty, and of sacrifice—inspired by the true story of the CIA plot to infiltrate the hearts and minds of Soviet Russia, not with propaganda, but with the greatest love story of the twentieth century: Doctor Zhivago.
At the height of the Cold War, two secretaries are pulled out of the typing pool at the CIA and given the assignment of a lifetime.
Their mission: to smuggle Doctor Zhivago out of the USSR, where no one dare publish it, and help Pasternak's magnum opus make its way into print around the world.
Glamorous and sophisticated Sally Forrester is a seasoned spy who has honed her gift for deceit all over the world—using her magnetism and charm to pry secrets out of powerful men. Irina is a complete novice, and under Sally's tutelage quickly learns how to blend in, make drops, and invisibly ferry classified documents.
The Secrets We Kept combines a legendary literary love story—the decades-long affair between Pasternak and his mistress and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, who was sent to the Gulag and inspired Zhivago's heroine, Lara—with a narrative about two women empowered to lead lives of extraordinary intrigue and risk.
From Pasternak's country estate outside Moscow to the brutalities of the Gulag, from Washington, D.C. to Paris and Milan, The Secrets We Kept captures a watershed moment in the history of literature—told with soaring emotional intensity and captivating historical detail. And at the center of this unforgettable debut is the powerful belief that a piece of art can change the world. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Where—Greensburg, PA, USA
• Education—B.A., American University; M.F.A., University of Texas
• Currently—lives in Austin, Texas
Lara Prescott was born near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned her B.A. in political science from American University in Washington, D.C. Before turning to writing, she worked as an animal protection advocate and a political campaign operative.
Eventually, Prescott returned to school, receiving her MFA from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Austin. Her stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Hudson Review, Crazyhorse, Day One,and Tin House Flash Fridays.
In 2016, Prescott won the 2016 Crazyhorse Fiction Prize for the first chapter of her debut novel, The Secrets We Kept. She lives in Austin, Texas. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A gorgeous and romantic feast of a novel anchored by a cast of indelible secretaries.
New York Times
Enthralling…. This is the rare page-turner with prose that's as wily as its plot.
Vogue
Proto-feminist Mad Men transposed to the world of international espionage—all midcentury style and intrigue set against real, indelible history.
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review) [T]riumphant…. Through lucid images and vibrant storytelling, Prescott creates an edgy postfeminist vision of the Cold War… for a smart, lively page-turner. This debut shines as spy story, publication thriller, and historical romance with a twist.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) [W]th alternating dramatic plots involving spies and espionage, many fascinating characters (both historical and fictional) from East and West, and a gifted writer and storyteller to tie it all together… with astonishing assurance. —Leslie Patterson, Rehoboth, MA
Library Journal
(Starred review) Prescott’s debut far surpasses the typical genre fare.… Cold War buffs or those familiar with Pasternak’s tour-de-force and its adaptations will find this book especially enticing. Those new to the story will still be intrigued, and perhaps want to seek out the original. —Joan Curbow
Booklist
(Starred review) Inspired by the true story of the role of Dr. Zhivago in the Cold War: a novel… [on] grand passions on both sides.… [T]he Western portions of the book… really sing. An intriguing and little-known chapter of literary history is brought to life with brio.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Compare the way the men and women in the book go about their work of secret-keeping. How do societal gender roles determine who does what and who is acknowledged for their work in public? In your opinion, do the men or women wield more power?
2. For the main women in the book—Olga, Irina, and Sally—secret-keeping incurs different punishments and rewards. Who do you think suffers and sacrifices the most? Who winds up most "successful"?
3. Throughout the book, we read of Olga’s unsent letters to one of her interrogators in the Gulag, the prison where she’s sent for her association with Boris Pasternak. Were you surprised by her loyalty to him in spite of the immense suffering she endures? How, in her own way, does she use those letters to express the kind of truth about love and oppression that Boris does in his novel?
4. Sally describes herself as having "one of those faces—the wide eyes, the ready smile that suggested I was an open book, someone who had no secrets to keep, and if she did, wouldn’t be able to keep them anyway" (63). How do she and the other women in the book transform themselves in order to keep so many secrets? How are these guises reflected in the structure of the novel itself? Consider the changing first-person points of view and the names of the chapters.
5. Major historical events, including Stalin’s death and the launch of Sputnik, are recalled through the eyes of the characters in highly charged environments. If you lived through these events yourself, how did their depiction in the novel impact your understanding of them? If you didn’t, how did their depiction shed light on what it was like to experience them first-hand?
6. Have you read Doctor Zhivago? If so, what elements of that love story do you see recurring in The Secrets We Kept? And even if you haven’t read it, were you able to glean how the balance of political commentary and romance contributed to the stir it caused in the world at the time of its publication?
7. Did you agree with Boris’s decisions first to share the novel with the Italian publisher, and then decline the Nobel Prize? Why or why not?
8. Although Irina believed she failed her interview for the typist job, she explains that "they [had] seen something in me that I hadn’t seen myself…. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I had a greater purpose, not just a job. That night, something unlocked in me—a hidden power I never knew I had" (116). Do you believe she uses this power for good? Do you think she came away from her position grateful for the power she discovered?
9. The chapters narrated by the typists form a kind of Greek chorus anchoring the book in their shared experience—a collective point of view that’s both inside and outside the deepest truths of the CIA. Of the course of the novel, how do the limits of their knowledge manifest themselves? What might this suggest about the nature of truth itself, and how complete it can really be? What is the hierarchy of secrecy inside and outside the Agency?
10. Sally states that becoming someone else for her work, that taking on a given persona is "the best part . . . [But] to become someone else, you have to want to lose yourself in the first place" (186). How does she embody this desire to erase a former identity, and who else in the book shares this feeling?
11. Describe Teddy’s attraction to Irina and to his job at the Agency. Did you get the impression that he really knew what he wanted out of his life? How are his passions for literature (and Russian literature in particular) satisfied or disappointed by what unfolds during the course of the novel?
12. Discuss how taboo influences the main love affairs in the book. Does any character find true satisfaction or happiness in traditional romantic arrangements (namely, heterosexual marriage), and how do these relationships contribute to the theme of secrecy in the novel?
13. Olga’s children, Ira and Mitya, are both victims of their mother’s choices in love and politics. How does she navigate her identity as a woman and a mother, and the obligations and desires that come with it? Would you have made the same choices she did when it came to staying with Boris? Consider her recognition that "I thought of my children knowing, so young, that love sometimes isn’t enough" (243).
14. Discuss the author’s choices to use first-person, second-person, and third-person narrators for different chapters in the book. What do those choices suggest about the relative importance of the characters, and how close she wants us to get to them?
15. "We go on because that’s what we have to do," Olga tells Boris when he is contemplating suicide (294). How do the events of the novel speak to this kind of endurance? Who takes up the charge to go on, and who isn’t able to?
16. Describe your experience of reading about the dissemination of Doctor Zhivago at the World’s Fair. What emotions and physical feelings came up as this dangerous property was passed from hand to hand? If you were living in the time of the novel, do you think you would have sought it out knowing the implications of reading it?
17. Discuss a book, film, piec of music, or other art that has profoundly shaped your experience of current events at any point in your life in the way Doctor Zhivago does for the characters. How did that piece reflect back to you concerns about how you lived your life at the time? Did it change your behaviors or lifestyle at all?
(Questions from the publisher.)
My Ex-Life
Stephen McCauley, 2018
Flatiron Books
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250122438
Summary
David Hedges’s life is coming apart at the seams.
His job helping San Francisco rich kids get into the colleges of their (parents’) choice is exasperating; his younger boyfriend has left him; and the beloved carriage house he rents is being sold. His solace is a Thai takeout joint that delivers 24/7.
The last person he expects to hear from is Julie Fiske. It’s been decades since they’ve spoken, and he’s relieved to hear she’s recovered from her brief, misguided first marriage. To him.
Julie definitely doesn’t have a problem with marijuana (she’s given it up completely, so it doesn’t matter if she gets stoned almost daily) and the Airbnb she’s running out of her seaside house north of Boston is neither shabby nor illegal
And she has two whole months to come up with the money to buy said house from her second husband before their divorce is finalized. She’d just like David’s help organizing college plans for her 17-year-old daughter.
That would be Mandy. To quote Barry Manilow, Oh Mandy. While she knows she’s smarter than most of the kids in her school, she can’t figure out why she’s making so many incredibly dumb and increasingly dangerous choices?
When David flies east, they find themselves living under the same roof (one David needs to repair). David and Julie pick up exactly where they left off thirty years ago—they’re still best friends who can finish each other’s sentences.
But there’s one broken bit between them that no amount of home renovations will fix.
In prose filled with hilarious and heartbreakingly accurate one-liners, Stephen McCauley has written a novel that examines how we define home, family, and love. Be prepared to laugh, shed a few tears, and have thoughts of your own ex-life triggered. (Throw pillows optional.) (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—June 26, 1955
• Raised—near Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B,A., University of Vermont; M.F.A., Columbia University
• Awards—Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters (France)
• Currently—lives near Boston, Massachusetts
Stephen McCauley is the American author of several novels, three of which have been adapted into film: one American and two French.
Life and career
McCauley was raised outside of Boston and went to public schools for his education. As an undergraduate, he attended the University of Vermont and then spent a year in France at the University of Nice.
McCauley worked a series of unrelated jobs including teaching yoga, working at a hotel, a kindergarten, and manning an ice cream stand. He worked as a travel agent for many years before moving to Brooklyn in the 1980s. There he attended adult learning centers to take some writing classes before enrolling in Columbia University's writing program. The writer Stephen Koch gave him the idea to begin work on his first novel.
That first novel, The Object of My Affection was published in 1987 and became a Hollywood film starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd. Both his second and fouth novels were adapted into French films: The Easy Way Out, released in 1992, became L'Art de la fugue and True Enough, published in 2001, became La Verite ou Presque.
McCauley's stories, articles and reviews have appeared in Gay Community News, Bay Windows, Boston Phoenix, New York Times Book Review, Vogue, House & Garden, Details, Vanity Fair, Harper's, and Travel and Leisure, among others.
McCauley is an alumnus of the Ragdale Foundation.
Today, McCauley serves as the Co-Director of the Creative Writing program at Brandeis University. He is a Professor of the Practice of English Fiction. (From Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/9/2018.)
Book Reviews
An irresistible doozy of a plot. With My Ex-Life, a heartwarming comedy of manners about second chances and starting afresh, he has pretty much outdone himself…. McCauley fires off witticisms like a tennis ace practicing serves…. Warm but snappy, light but smart—and just plain enjoyable.
Helen McAlpin - NPR.org
Wickedly funny…. For all the idiosyncrasies of McCauley’s creations, it’s likely many readers will see aspects of their own lives reflected in these pages.
BookPage
Sweet-but-unsentimental paean to altruism and friendship that gets to the heart of people, be they nice or nasty.… A tender, strikingly ‘true’ story that is warm, clear, and nuanced.
Library Journal
(Starred review) McCauley delights with intimately, often hilariously observed characters and a winking wit that lets plenty of honest tenderness shine through. Readers will love spending time in these pages.
Booklist
When midlife woes descend, a long-divorced couple find their paths merging again.… As always, McCauley's effervescent prose is full of wit and wisdom on every topic.… A gin and tonic for the soul.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Did you read the book in print or on an e-reader? Did you listen to the audiobook? How might the experience of this novel have been different if you had chosen otherwise?
2. Which character was your favorite? Least favorite? Which character changed the most?
3.Who does “my”refer to in the title My Ex-Life?
4. In chapter 4, Mandy says “This was a bad idea and she knew it, but...she was pulled into it by an urge to find out what would happen that was stronger than the urge to listen to the voice telling her not to.” At times, Mandy and other characters seem to be acting out of step with their truest selves. Can you think of examples from the novel? What, if anything, sets them right? Do you see any parallels to your own life?
5. Julie’s neighbor Amira doesn’t hide her husband’s aim to take over the Fiske house to make a pool, while David’s flame, Kenneth, isn’t completely forthcoming about the Airbnb petition. And then there’s Renata and Mandy’s friend Lindsay. Would you rather have an honestly disloyal friend or a dishonestly loyal one? Who’s the best friend in the novel? Who is the worst?
6. McCauley has been praised for his (characters’) sometimes caustic witticisms, such as “Leonard doesn’t have friends. He has financial opportunities wearing socks.” (chapter 2) Did you have a favorite one-liner in this novel?
7. David reads E. F. Benson’s Mapp and Lucia novels aloud to Julie both in their past life and their current one, and the book means different things then and now, but illuminates both times equally. Are there any books that provide such a touchstone for you?
8. David seems to object to his student Nancy’s stretching of the truth for her college application essay, but Nancy’s mom, Janine, shrugs it off. Should the truth ever get in the way of a good story?
9. In chapter 18, David presents Mandy with three essay prompts to sharpen her college application. Pick one and answer it from your own experience. What do you think the novel’s answer to each questions is?
- Tell us about the relationship between you and your arch-nemesis, real or imagined.
- Dog and cat. Coffee and tea. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?
- What is Square One and can you really go back to it?
10. Do you agree with Julie’s decision not to tell David she was going to have an abortion? Did he have a right to know? Or did David cede that right by hiding his own secret from Julie?
11. Toward the end of the novel, in chapter40, David and Julie have a long-deferred reckoning on the stairs. What do you think has greater power, the said or the unsaid? Does timing matter?
12. How has Mandy’s life changed as a result of what happened with Craig Crespo? Will she be able to get beyond it?
13. Does David save Julie or does Julie save David? Neither? Both?
14. “All couples start off as Romeo and Juliet and end up as Laurel and Hardy.” (chapter 25) True or false?
15. We can always deceive ourselves better than others can deceive us. Do you agree? What might the novel argue? (Consider: David’s sexual orientation; Julie’s marijuana habit; etc.)
16. In the past, McCauley has said he’s fascinated by the idea of chosen (as opposed to birth) families. Which family in the novel strikes you as most true? What might your answer say about the family in our times?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)