Waiting for Eden
Elliot Ackerman, 2018
Knopf Doubleday
192 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781101947395
Summary
A breathtakingly spare and shattering new novel that traces the intersection of three star-crossed lives.
Eden Malcom lies in a bed, unable to move or to speak, imprisoned in his own mind.
His wife Mary spends every day on the sofa in his hospital room. He has never even met their young daughter. And he will never again see the friend and fellow soldier who didn't make it back home—and who narrates the novel.
But on Christmas, the one day Mary is not at his bedside, Eden's re-ordered consciousness comes flickering alive.
As he begins to find a way to communicate, some troubling truths about his marriage—and about his life before he went to war—come to the surface. Is Eden the same man he once was: a husband, a friend, a father-to-be? What makes a life worth living?
A piercingly insightful, deeply felt meditation on loyalty and betrayal, love and fear, Waiting for Eden is a tour de force of profound humanity. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—April 12, 1980
• Where—Los Angeles, California, USA
• Education—B.A., M.A., Tufts University
• Currently—lives in Washington, D.C., and New York City
Elliot Ackerman is an American author, currently based out of Istanbul. He is the son of businessman Peter Ackerman and the brother of mathematician and wrestler Nate Ackerman.
Early life
At the age of 9, his family moved to London where he lived until the family moved back to Washington, DC, when he was 15. He studied literature and history at Tufts University, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2003, in a special program to earn Bachelor's and Master's degrees in 5 years, rather than the usual six. He holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and has completed many of the United States military’s most challenging special operations training courses.
Career
Beginning in 2003, Ackerman spent eight years in the U.S. military as both an infantry and special operations officer. He served multiple tours of duty in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. As a Marine Corps Special Operations Team Leader, he operated as the primary combat advisor to a 700-man Afghan commando battalion responsible for capture operations against senior Taliban leadership. He also led a 75-man platoon that aided in relief operations in post-Katrina New Orleans.
Ackerman served as Chief Operating Officer of Americans Elect, a political organization founded and chaired by his father, Peter Ackerman, and continues to serve on its Board of Advisors. Americans Elect is known primarily for its efforts to stage a national online primary for the 2012 US Presidential Election. As one of its officers, Ackerman was interviewed extensively, notably on NPR's Talk of the Nation.
He has served on the board of the Afghan Scholars Initiative and as an advisor to the No Greater Sacrifice scholarship fund. Most recently, Ackerman served as a White House Fellow in the Obama Administration.
Ackerman divides his time between Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Writing
Ackerman's fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Atlantic, New Republic, New York Times Magazine, Ecotone and others. He is also a contributor to the Daily Beast, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has been interviewed in the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal and appeared on Charlie Rose, Colbert Report, NPR's Talk of the Nation, Meet the Press, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, Al Jazeera and PBS NewsHour among others.
Ackerman's first novel, Green on Blue, published in 2015, with Publishers Weekly referring to the novel as "bleak and uncompromising, a powerful war story that borders on the noir." Los Angeles Review of Books describes the novel as a radical departure from veterans writing thus far due to his choice of a first person narrator, the lowly Aziz, a poor soldier in a local militia.
Military Honors
Ackerman is a decorated veteran, having earned a Silver Star and Purple Heart for his role leading a Rifle Platoon in the November 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah and a Bronze Star for Valor while leading a Marine Corps Special Operations Team in Afghanistan in 2008. Ackerman is also a recipient of the Major General Edwin B. Wheeler Award for Infantry Excellence. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 2/10/2015.)
Book Reviews
(Starred review) This is a deeply touching exploration of resentment, longing, and loss among those who volunteer to fight and the loved ones left behind.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) With sparse prose and a deft pen, Ackerman writes a profound meditation on the liminal space between our past, present, and future. —Joshua Finnell, Colgate Univ., Hamilton, NY
Library Journal
(Starred review) Gorgeously constructed.… Unique.… A deeply moving portrayal of how grief can begin even while our loved ones still cling to life.… A wonderful novel.
Booklist
(Starred review) Wounded terribly in Iraq three years ago, a soldier awaits his death in a burn center in San Antonio, and we learn of his fate through a surprising, unconventional, and risky narrative strategy.… An affecting, spare, and unusual novel.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Who is the narrator of the novel? How does he know Mary and Eden’s story? How does Ackerman’s decision to narrate from this point of view deepen the reader’s understanding of Mary and Eden’s lives?
2. Examine the symbolism of the cockroaches. How does Eden understand their presence? What do they represent to him?
3. How would you describe Eden’s level of consciousness? What does he register about his reality? To what extent is his perception of reality distorted? Is there anything he is sure of? Are the nurses correct in their assessment of Eden’s level of consciousness?
4. Consider the theme of pain as it is depicted in the novel. Which characters experience pain, and what type of pain do they experience? Do you understand Eden’s pain to be greater than the pain of the other characters? Why or why not?
5. Explore Mary and Eden’s relationship. How did they meet? What were the early months of their relationship like? When and why does a rift form in their marriage?
6. Examine Gabe’s character. Who is he? Why does he take an active interest in Eden? How does Eden feel about him?
7. What is SERE school? How was Eden’s experience at SERE school similar to his experience in the hospital?
8. Explore the theme of time as it is depicted in the novel. How do the different characters perceive the passage of time? What are the characters waiting for? Can you identify any key symbols of time or waiting?
9. Why do you think Mary pursues the narrator? Is she remorseful about what happens between them, or does she stand by her decision?
10. Explore Mary’s feelings about Eden’s fate. Does she think it’s best for Eden to die, or does she want to prolong his life? Does her opinion on this matter change over the course of the novel? Consider, as you answer this question, the themes of abandonment and betrayal.
11. Examine Eden’s dream in which he reunites with the narrator. Where does this reunion take place? How would you characterize their attitude toward one another? What does Eden mean by his assertion, "You know it’s easiest on us" (137)? Do you agree with him?
12. The novel concludes with the final lines of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. How does this quotation inform your interpretation of the novel and its resolution?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Whisper Network
Chandler Baker, 2019
Flatiron Books
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250319470
Summary
Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked at Truviv, Inc. for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO means their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company.
Each of the women has a different relationship with Ames, who has always been surrounded by whispers about how he treats women. Those whispers have been ignored, swept under the rug, hidden away by those in charge.
But the world has changed, and the women are watching this promotion differently. This time, when they find out Ames is making an inappropriate move on a colleague, they aren’t willing to let it go.
This time, they’ve decided enough is enough.
Sloane and her colleagues’ decision to take a stand sets in motion a catastrophic shift in the office. Lies will be uncovered. Secrets will be exposed. And not everyone will survive. All of their lives—as women, colleagues, mothers, wives, friends, even adversaries—will change dramatically as a result.
"If only you had listened to us," they tell us on page one of Chandler Baker's Whisper Network, "none of this would have happened." (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1986-87
• Rasied—Sarasota, Florida, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Pennsylvania; J.D., University of Texas
• Currently—lives in Austin, Texas
Chandler Baker lives in Austin with her husband and youg daughter where she also works as a corporate attorney. Whisper Network is her adult debut. Chandler is the author of the young adult thriller, Alive (2015), as well as the High School Horror series (2016-2018). (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
A delicious and timely thriller.… Part soapy shocker (one of the characters is keeping a very big secret) and part legal thriller (excerpts from depositions offer a glimpse into the third act). Think Big Little Lies meets the famous 2017 list of men in the media industry accused of sexual harassment.
New York Times Book Review
Fast, sharp and funny.
New York Post
Vivid and compelling, offering an insider’s perspective on the true cost of female ambition in the workplace…. Read this novel for a spirited take on the rage that simmers just below the surface of today’s woman in the corner office, the cubicle or the break room.
USA Today
This novel opens a conversation about challenging a man in power, but also contains all of the best components of a murder mystery.
Newsweek
A sort of Big Little Lies in a Texas power suit, Whisper offers a crackling exposé of working motherhood, corporate malfeasance, and female friendship in the era of #MeToo.… Baker] captures keenly what it means to be a modern woman in an old boys’ world.
Entertainment Weekly
[A]n engrossing, bracingly funny thriller.… Baker, a corporate lawyer…, clearly knows her protagonists' conflicting professional and personal worlds, though she goes a bit overboard with plot twists toward the end. This empowering novel is sure to resonate with many readers in the #MeToo era.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) [T]hriller, a murder mystery, and an anthem for any woman who has ever hit a glass ceiling, been the brunt of sexual innuendo, or felt harassed in the workplace. Smart, articulate, and witty, it will resonate with a huge audience. —Susan Clifford Braun, Bainbridge Island, WA
Library Journal
(Starred review) A compulsively readable mystery with a strong message. Don't miss it.
Booklist
(Starred review) Viciously funny and compulsively readable.… It's a breezy page-turner of a book, which is the brilliance of it: Under the froth is an unmistakable layer of justified rage. Over-the-top in all the right ways.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. "If only you’d listened to us, none of this would have happened," the reader is told in the prologue. Who is the "you" in this statement? Does this warning ring true by the last page of the book? How does this prophecy color your read of the intervening events?
2. Throughout the novel, Sloane seems to feel some responsibility to protect Katherine from Ames, whom she views as a threat, while Rosalita, Grace, and Ardie all have their own personal philosophies about the "problem of Ames" and their relative roles in it. What responsibility do women bear to protect other women from dangerous men? How does that answer shape your ultimate view of Katherine’s actions?
3. In Chapter 25, the chorus narrates, ". . . but whispers could only carry so far. Such was the purpose of whispering—to ensure that not everyone heard." "Intersectionality" is a term coined by black, feminist scholar Kimberle Crensha was a framework to identify how interlocking systems of power impact those groups that are marginalized. What does the chorus’s statement suggest about the efficacy of whisper networks and issues surrounding intersectionality?
4. In Chapter 15, Sloane worries over whether Ames "knew better" than to act as he did toward his female employees. In what ways, if any, should Ames’s intent factor into a discussion about the fate of his professional life?
5. What parallels can be drawn between Abigail’s experience at school and the experiences of Sloane, Grace, and Ardie in the workplace? Do you think one experience affects the other?
6. The women of Dallas create the BAD Men List to warn each other about men who exhibit predatory behavior. Was Sloane right to add Ames’s name to the list? Is the BAD Men List ethical? Do you ultimately feel such a list is a good idea or a bad one?
7. In what ways do the women in the novel support each other, and in what ways do they fail one another?
8. Chandler Baker has chosen to tell part of the story through a first-person plural ("we") point of view. What is the effect of this? Beyond issues of sexual harassment, how does the workplace experience differ for women in the novel compared to their male counterparts?
9. At the start of Chapter 20, the chorus observes, ". . . none of us thought that motherhood and work could exist harmoniously. If anything, they were two forces, diametrically opposed. We were the prisoners, strapped to the medieval stretching device, having enjoyed the rare privilege of both loving and having chosen our torturers." Can motherhood and work exist harmoniously?
10. At the end of Chapter 45, Sloane admits to herself that she is a "terrible ambassador" for the cause against Ames. Is this true? Both Sloane and Katherine seem to feel they bear some of the blame for Ames’s treatment of them. Do they?
11. Cosette Sharpe agrees to take the lead in the counter lawsuit against Ardie, Grace, and Sloane. Sloane is angry at this perceived betrayal while Cosette feels justified in her decision. Whose side do you identify more strongly with?
12. Rosalita throws away the airplane wings that Ardie gives to Solomon. Why does she do that? Is there a better way for Ardie to have helped Rosalita and Solomon?Is there any way to overcome socioeconomic inequity, even when you’re trying your best?
13. Does it seem consistent with Ardie’s character that she did not reveal her assault to anyone and stayed working at Truviv? How do you think this affected her relationship with Sloane? Do you think Ardie guessed at Solomon’s parentage before it was revealed toward the end of the novel?
14. At any point in the novel, should—or could—Ardie, Sloane, Grace, or Rosalita have handled what to do about Ames differently? If so, how? To that end, before Ardie’s and Rosalita’s personal histories with Ames are fully revealed, did you believe Ames’s behavior was actionable? Was it sexual harassment?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Leonardo da Vinci
Walter Isaacson, 2017
Simon & Schuster
624 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781501139154
Summary
He was history’s most creative genius. What secrets can he teach us? The author of the acclaimed bestsellers Steve Jobs, Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin brings Leonardo da Vinci to life in this exciting new biography.
Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo’s astonishing notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Walter Isaacson weaves a narrative that connects his art to his science.
He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy.
Da Vinci produced the two most famous paintings in history, The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa. But in his own mind, he was just as much a man of science and technology.
With a passion that sometimes became obsessive, he pursued innovative studies of anatomy, fossils, birds, the heart, flying machines, botany, geology, and weaponry. His ability to stand at the crossroads of the humanities and the sciences, made iconic by his drawing of Vitruvian Man, made him history’s most creative genius.
His creativity, like that of other great innovators, came from having wide-ranging passions. He peeled flesh off the faces of cadavers, drew the muscles that move the lips, and then painted history’s most memorable smile.
He explored the math of optics, showed how light rays strike the cornea, and produced illusions of changing perspectives in The Last Supper. Isaacson also describes how Leonardo’s lifelong enthusiasm for staging theatrical productions informed his paintings and inventions.
Leonardo’s delight at combining diverse passions remains the ultimate recipe for creativity. So, too, does his ease at being a bit of a misfit: illegitimate, gay, vegetarian, left-handed, easily distracted, and at times heretical.
His life should remind us of the importance of instilling, both in ourselves and our children, not just received knowledge but a willingness to question it—to be imaginative and, like talented misfits and rebels in any era, to think different. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 20, 1952
• Where—New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
• Education—B.A., Harvard University; M.A., Oxford University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—Washington, D.C. area
Walter Isaacson is an American writer and journalist. He was the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C. He has been the chairman and CEO of Cable News Network (CNN) and the Managing Editor of Time. He has written biographies of Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, and Leonardo da Vinci.
Early life and education
Isaacson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Irwin and Betty Lee (Seff) Isaacson. His father was a "kindly Jewish distracted humanist engineer with a reverence for science," and his mother was a real estate broker.
Isaacson graduated from Harvard University in 1974, where he earned an A.B. cum laude in history and literature. He later attended the Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, where he studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) and graduated with first-class honors.
Journalism
Isaacson began his career in journalism at The Sunday Times of London, followed by a position with the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He joined Time magazine in 1978, serving as the magazine's political correspondent, national editor, and editor of new media before becoming the magazine's 14th editor in 1996.
Isaacson became chairman and CEO of CNN in July 2001, two months later guided CNN through the events of 9/11. Shortly after his appointment at CNN, Isaacson attracted attention for seeking the views of Republican Party leaders on Capitol Hill regarding criticisms that CNN broadcast content that was unfair to Republicans or conservatives.
He was quoted in Roll Call magazine as saying: "I was trying to reach out to a lot of Republicans who feel that CNN has not been as open to covering Republicans, and I wanted to hear their concerns." The CEO's conduct was criticized by the left-leaning Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) organization, which said that Isaacson's "pandering" behavior was endowing conservative politicians with power over CNN.
In 2003, Isaacson stepped down as president at CNN to become president of the Aspen Institute. Isaacson served as the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute from 2003 until 2017, when he announced that he would leave to become a professor of history at Tulane University and an advisory partner at the New York City financial services firm Perella Weinberg Partners.
Writing
Isaacson is the co-author, with Evan Thomas, of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986). He is the author of Kissinger: A Biography (1992), Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007), and American Sketches (2009).
In 2011, Steve Jobs, Isaacson's authorized biography was published, becoming an international best-seller and breaking all sales records for a biography. The book was based on over forty interviews with Jobs over a two-year period up until shortly before his death, and on conversations with friends, family members, and business rivals of the entrepreneur.
Next came another bestseller, The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution (2014), which explores the history of key technological innovations — notably the parallel developments of the computer and the Internet.
Isaacson's biography, Leonardo da Vinci, came out in 2017 to great fanfare and, even before it's actual publication, became the object of a Hollywood bidding war. Leonardo DiCaprio's production company won the film rights with DiCaprio planning to play the title role of da Vinci.
Government positions
In 2005, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco appointed Isaacson vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority to oversee spending on the recovery from Hurricane Katrina.
In 2007, President George W. Bush appointed him as chairman of the U.S.-Palestinian Partnership, which seeks to create economic and educational opportunities in the Palestinian territories.
He also served as the co-chair of the U.S.-Vietnamese Dialogue on Agent Orange, which in January 2008 announced completion of a project to contain the dioxin left behind by the U.S. at the Da Nang air base and plans to build health centers and a dioxin laboratory in the affected regions.
During the Obama administration, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed him vice-chair of the Partners for a New Beginning, which encourages private-sector investments and partnerships in the Muslim world.
In 2009, President Obama appointed him as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which runs Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and the other international broadcasts of the U.S. government; he served until January 2012.
In 2014, he was appointed by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu to be the co-chair of the New Orleans Tricentennial Commission, charged with planning the city's 300th-anniversary commemoration in 2018.
In 2015, he was appointed to the board of My Brother's Keeper Alliance, which seeks to carry out President Obama's anti-poverty and youth opportunity initiatives.
Isaacson is the chairman emeritus of the board of Teach for America.
Honors
Time magazine selected Isaacson in 2012 to be on its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Isaacson is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and was awarded its 2013 Benjamin Franklin Medal. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and an Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.
In 2014, the National Endowment for the Humanities selected Isaacson for the Jefferson Lecture, the U.S. federal government's highest honor for achievement in the humanities. The title of Isaacson's lecture was "The Intersection of the Humanities and the Sciences." (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/3/2017.)
Book Reviews
(Starred review.) Isaacson shows how da Vinci’s inquisitiveness set him apart from his contemporaries…. [The author's] scholarship is impressive—he cites not only primary sources but secondary materials by art critics, essayists, and da Vinci’s other biographers. This is a monumental tribute to a titanic figure. Color illus.
Publishers Weekly
What do Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin have in common with Leonardo da Vinci? Isaacson … takes on the master artist /inventor /genius-for-all-seasons by drawing on recent revelations about his life and work and studying his voluminous notebooks.
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Encompassing in its coverage, robust in its artistic explanations, yet written in a smart, conversational tone, this is both a solid introduction to the man and a sweeping saga of his genius.
Booklist
(Starred review.) A majestic biography…. Isaacson takes on another complex, giant figure and transforms him into someone we can recognize.… Totally enthralling, masterful, and passionate, this book should garner serious consideration for a variety of book prizes.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for Leonardo da Vinci … then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Leonardo da Vinci as presented by Walter Isaacson in this biography? Does the author do an adequate job of making da Vinci accessible to 21st-century readers? Does he bring him to life as a living, breathing human being?
2. Isaacson believes "genius" is too easily applied to people but that Leonardo was "one of the few people in history who indisputably deserved — or, to be more precise, earned — that appellation." Do you agree with Isaacson about our overuse of the term "genius"? How is genius defined? Can you think of someone, in either today's world or in history, who would qualify for genius?
3. According to Isaacson, da Vinci was self-taught and "willed his way to his genius." What does he mean by that statement? What are some of the factors Isaacson identifies as key to da Vinci's developing path to genius.
4. Having read Isaacson's book, what parts of Leonardo's life, personality, or his abilities surprise you most?
5. Isaacson writes about Leonardo's astonishing curiosity. Consider the vast number and variety of objects and pursuits found in the 72,000 pages of the artist's notebooks — what the author refers to as the "greatest record of curiosity ever created." How does the Isaacson suggest that his inquisitiveness set da Vinci apart from his contemporaries?
6. Talk about another aspect of Leonardo's mental process: his ability to recognize patterns — the curls in water, hair, or wind. Why does the author believe that pattern recognition was important for da Vinci?
7. Isaacson is particularly insightful in writing about da Vinci's great paintings — especially The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. Does the author enable you to better understand the significance of those works and how they furthered the development of art?
8. Isaacson says we can all learn from Leonardo. What is it we could learn?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts
Therese Anne Fowler, 2018
St. Martin Press
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250095473
Summary
The riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York, from the New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.
Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America’s great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts.
Ignored by New York’s old-money circles and determined to win respect, she designed and built 9 mansions, hosted grand balls, and arranged for her daughter to marry a duke.
But Alva also defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement.
With a nod to Jane Austen and Edith Wharton, in A Well-Behaved Woman Therese Anne Fowler paints a glittering world of enormous wealth contrasted against desperate poverty, of social ambition and social scorn, of friendship and betrayal, and an unforgettable story of a remarkable woman.
Meet Alva Smith Vanderbilt Belmont, living proof that history is made by those who know the rules—and how to break them. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—April 22, 1967
• Raised—Milan, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., M.F.A., North Carolina State University
• Currently—lives in Wake Forest, North Carolina
Therese Anne Fowler (pronounced ta-reece) is the author of severl books, including: A Good Neighborhood (2020), A Well Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts 2018),and Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald (2013).
Fowler is the third child and only daughter of a couple who raised their children in Milan, Illinois. An avowed tomboy, Therese thwarted her grandmother’s determined attempts to dress her in frills—and, to further her point, insisted on playing baseball despite her town having a perfectly good girls’ softball league.
A
Thanks to the implementation of Title IX legislation and her father’s willingness to fight on her behalf, Therese became one of the first girls in the U.S. to play Little League baseball.
Her passion for baseball was exceeded only by her love of books. A reader since age four, she often abused her library privileges by keeping favorite books out just a little too long. When domestic troubles led to unpleasant upheaval during her adolescence, the Rock Island Public Library became her refuge. With no grounding in Literature per se, she made no distinction between the classics and modern fiction. Little Women was as valued as The Dead Zone. A story’s ability to transport her, affect her, was the only relevant matter.
Therese married at eighteen, becoming soon afterward a military spouse (officially referred to at the time as a "dependent spouse"). With customary spirit, she followed her then-husband to Texas, then to Clark Air Base in the Philippines—where, because of politics, very few military spouses could find employment. Again, books came to her rescue as the base library became her home-away-from-home and writers such as Jean Auel, Sidney Sheldon, and Margaret Atwood brought respite from boredom and heat.
Her own foray into writing came years later, after a divorce, single parenthood, enrollment in college, and remarriage. A chance opportunity during the final semester of her undergrad program led to her writing her first short story, and she was hooked.
Having won an essay contest in third grade and seen her writing praised by teachers ever since, she knew she could put words on paper reasonably well. This story, however, was her first real attempt at fiction. Her professor told her she had a knack for it, thus giving her the permission to try she hadn’t known she was waiting for.
After an intensive five-year stint that included one iffy-but-completed novel followed by graduate school, some short-fiction awards, an MFA in creative writing, teaching undergraduates creative writing, and a second completed novel that led to literary representation, Therese was on the path to a writing career. It would take more writing (some of which is published) and a great deal more reading, though, before she began to grasp Literature properly–experience proving to be the best teacher.
Therese has two grown sons and two nearly grown stepsons. She currently lives in North Carolina with her husband. (Adapted from the author's website. Retrieved 2/28/2020.)
Visit Therese Anne Fowler on Facebook.
Book Reviews
(Starred review) As accomplished as its subject, redoubtable socialite and women’s suffrage crusader Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, Fowler’s engrossing successor to 2013’s Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, again showcases her genius for seeing beyond the myths of iconic women.
Publishers Weekly
With you-are-there immediacy fueled by assured attention to biographical detail and deft weaving
of labyrinthine intrigue, Fowler creates a thoroughly credible imagining of the challenges and
emotional turmoil facing this fiercely independent woman.
Booklist
(Starred review) Portrait of the Gilded Age socialite and suffragist who famously followed her own advice: "First marry for money, then marry for love."…Watching Fowler's heroine vanquish the gatekeepers and minions who stand in her way is nothing short of mesmerizing.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. A Well-Behaved Woman opens with this compelling passage: "When they asked about the Vanderbilts and the Belmonts, about their celebrations and depredations…when they asked why she did the extreme things she’d done, Alva said it all began quite simply: Once there was a desperate young woman whose mother was dead and whose father was dying almost as quickly as his money was running out…. She was twenty-one years old, ripened unpicked fruit rotting on the branch." (3) How would you characterize Alva’s circumstances at the start of the novel and as her story goes on? How does she begin to flourish?
2. The author’s descriptions of tenement life in lower Manhattan are especially vivid and heartbreaking. Would you consider the city and surrounding environs a character in the novel? How does the setting—a budding New York City becoming a world-class capital for art, architecture, and society, and a hub for all walks of life—enhance the drama on the page?
3. How do Alva’s increasingly dire circumstances change once she has married into the Vanderbilts family? Do these changes alter her essential nature or character? Does she stay devout to her sense of ethics or empathy?
4. What are marriage markets and debuts, and how do these elaborate presentations work out for the women of the novel? For Alva, Consuelo Yznaga, or any of Alva’s young sisters or daughter? How much choice do these young women have to participate in finding an attractive suitor, and what risks do they face?
5. "Money was no fix for that girl, true—But please, God, she thought, let it be for me." (8) What freedom does money buy for women in this generation? Do the trappings of wealth justify the opportunity to escape a place like Five Points?
6. "Love was a frivolous emotion, certainly no basis for a marriage—every young lady knew this. You must always put sense over feeling." (24) Is Alva content with her choice to marry William at his proposal? How does she justify this decision? Does it matter if there is no love in a marriage? Or can love grow in such conditions?
7. What gives Alva her confidence and courage? Is it rooted in her privileged birth and experiences, in continued access to the best life has to offer? How does adversity—personal and societal—challenge and invigorate her?
8. Alva and her upper-class contemporaries are seemingly, and not uncommonly, in the dark about the most basic functions of their physical bodies. How have things changed for women in the last century and a half—and how do we share information about such core experiences as sexuality, pregnancy, childbirth, and aging? How has this change in knowledge-sharing, care, and education improved our lives? Have cultural attitudes shifted when it comes to perceptions of female sensuality and a wife’s "duty?"
9. "Whatever he believed was correct in regard to her keeping, he could enact." (75) This is the chilling thought Alva has on her wedding day when she considers the kinds of power her new husband will have over her. Not exclusive to women of wealth, this kind of male privilege affected women of all social classes. How does Alva test and successfully reshape this power and control?
10. "After all, by connecting him securely to the Vanderbilts, he would profit as much as she. It was a business arrangement." (61) Here the New York social scene is a world built on alliances. Who succeeds in such a setting? How does Ward McAllister make his mark and thrive? Who orchestrates these rigid society-life rules?
11. What is Alva’s take on the "old money" versus "new money" conflict? How are the two worlds described in the novel and what defines them? Is "new money" gauche? How do the nouveaux riches behave generally and what resistance awaits them from the "old money" types?
12. How does Alva rebel within her role as societal and charitable maven at the helm of one of America’s most powerful dynasties? As a woman in 1880s New York City, what does she shake up and which principles and duties does she adhere to? Is Alva "the well-behaved woman" of the book’s title? Discuss.
13. "He had his hand on her collarbone now and was saying, ‘why would you want to be bothered with all that political nonsense? What’s wrong with simply enjoying being a lady of privilege?’" "‘Ask your sisters. They want more, too.’" (138) How did you feel reading passages like the one quoted here? Inspiration, admiration, camaraderie? Something else? What is at stake for Alva when she campaigns for suffrage and other social movements? What promise did social change hold for her?
14. What does Oliver Belmont represent to Alva, and does that change over time? Why does Alva initially reject her feelings—is it all strategic?
15. Why does Alva ignore the gossip about her husband’s infidelities in the course of their marriage? What changes?
16. "‘I’m going to make the most of it, Mary. All of it. I’m going to beat society at its own game.’" (151) Does Alva succeed with this bold assertion? What does the grand house on Fifth Avenue come to symbolize for her at its building (and then well into her marriage)? How does Alva leave her mark on the Vanderbilt name, New York society, and the lives around her? How does she reinvent herself and the literal landscape of the city?
17. Compare Alva’s attitudes and passions in life to those of her sister-in-law Alice. Though both women are immensely wealthy and socially influential, how differently do each of them choose to wield their power? In what ways do they diverge?
18. "They and their friends existed on a joyous merry-go-round of wealth." (202) How would you characterize the lives and fancies of the wealthiest families at the turn of the 20th century? How do they spend their days and fortunes? What marks their privilege—and does this privilege extend beyond their material belongings to their seemingly-no-consequences-behavior? Discuss the boating accident scene.
19. Why does Alva choose to confess her secret desire for Oliver to Lady Consuelo? Aside from deepening the intimacy of their friendship, does the revelation open new avenues of trouble for them? What, if anything, might have been different had Alva kept this truth to herself?
20. How does Alva direct her daughter Consuelo’s marriage prospects? What risks does she warn her daughter of and how does she choose to educate her? Given her own experiences, why doesn’t Alva encourage a marriage based on love? Do you agree with her guidance?
21. "The cost of any and all of it was merely money, and he had more of that than he could ever spend." (284) Is it hard to imagine having this kind of extreme existence and wealth? Do you think this untouchable status would influence the decisions you’d make? Do money and power corrupt? Was Alva immune to it?
22. "An intelligent woman in this world takes her chances where she finds them." (170) What are those chances for Alva? What about for you personally?
23. Does Consuelo Yznaga’s plight make her a sympathetic character? How does her lifelong friendship and intimacy with the Vanderbilts shape the arc of the story? Could you forgive her shocking betrayal, as Alva considers on the final page? Why or why not?
24. "‘Miss Harper likened you to an ox. She said sometimes you just put your head down and push until you get where you wish to be.'" (295) Alva was unequivocally a woman of action. Would you call her shrewd or brilliant, ahead of her time? Does she remind you of any change makers, in or out of the public eye?
25. "‘My entire life, Consuelo. That’s how long women have been patiently speaking on this subject to one another and to the men in charge—who take advantage of our habits of being polite and cooperative while censuring every opposite behavior. Men only respect power. So we must be powerful.’" (381) How does this advice resonate with you as a modern reader?
26. Were you inspired to dive deeper into the lives, lavish residences, and artifacts of the Vanderbilt and Belmont families while reading this book? How does the author’s note at the end of the book help orient you with what was crafted by the author’s imagination and what elements were factual? Were you surprised by any findings?
27. What would you wish for Alva—or Consuelo Yznaga—if their stories continued on after the last page?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
Dinner at the Center of the Earth
Nathan Englander, 2017
Knopf Doubleday
272 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781524732738
Summary
The best work yet from the Pulitzer finalist and best-selling author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges—a political thriller that unfolds in the highly charged territory of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pivots on the complex relationship between a secret prisoner and his guard.
— A prisoner in a secret cell.
— The guard who has watched over him a dozen years.
— An American waitress in Paris.
— A young Palestinian man in Berlin who strikes up an odd friendship with a wealthy Canadian businessman.
— And The General, Israel's most controversial leader, who lies dying in a hospital, the only man who knows of the prisoner's existence.
From these vastly different lives Nathan Englander has woven a powerful, intensely suspenseful portrait of a nation riven by insoluble conflict, even as the lives of its citizens become fatefully and inextricably entwined — a political thriller of the highest order that interrogates the anguished, violent division between Israelis and Palestinians, and dramatizes the immense moral ambiguities haunting both sides.
Who is right, who is wrongc — who is the guard, who is truly the prisoner? A tour de force from one of America's most acclaimed voices in contemporary fiction. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Where—West Hempstead, Long Island , New York, USA
• Education—State University of New York, Binghampton
• Awards—PEN/Malamud Award; Frank O'Connor Short Story Award
• Currently—lives in New York City
Nathan Englander is an American short story writer and novelist. His debut short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, was published in 1999; his second, What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank (2012), won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His novels include The Ministry of Special cases (2007) and Dinner at the Center of the Earth (2017).
Biography
Nathan Englander was born and raised in West Hempstead on Long Island, New York, in what is part of the Orthodox Jewish community. He attended the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County for high school and graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton and the Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. In the mid-1990s, he moved to Israel, where he lived for five years.
Englander now lives both in Brooklyn, New York, and in Madison, Wisconsin. He has taught fiction at City University of New York - Hunter College in the MFA Creative Writing program. He currently teaches fiction in the MFA program at New York University.
Literary career
Since the 1999 publication of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, Englander has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Bard Fiction Prize, and a fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.
Four of his short stories have appeared in editions of The Best American Short Stories:
— "The Gilgul of Park Avenue" (2000 ed.: guest editor, E.L. Doctorow
— "How We Avenged the Blums" (2006 ed.): guest ed.,r Ann Patchett
— "Free Fruit for Young Widows" (2011 ed.): guest ed., Geraldine Brooks
— "What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank" (2012 ed.): guest ed., Tom Perrotta.
The Ministry of Special Cases, Englander's 2007 novel is set in 1976 in Buenos Aires during Argentina's "Dirty War." His 2017 novel, Dinner at the Center of the Earth is concerned with the Israel-Palestinian conflict and has elements of a political thriller.
Englander has also served as juror for Canada's 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 10/3/2017.)
Book Reviews
Nathan Englander's many-splendored new novel, Dinner at the Center of the Earth, is a guilty pleasure — guilty because you wonder throughout if a book highlighting the endless cycles of trespass and vengeance that define the modern state of Israel should be quite so much fun.… Don't be alarmed, the flights are strategic: Just when you think you've been swept into a political thriller … you're back among the real and present depredations of history. Such radical shifts in mood and tone allow him the latitude to do what he's always done best, in story after indelible story: depict individuals in their quixotic attempts to hang onto conscience, identity and hope while history tries to pry loose their tenuous grasp.
Steve Stern - New York Times Book Review
A kaleidoscopic fairy tale of Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation.… One of the exhilarating aspects of Dinner at the Center of the Earth is its expansive sense of space and time.… The effect is to heighten events, to transcend history in favor of a more allegorical realm.… Englander has built a complex structure, by which his narrative reveals itself in pieces, and the less we know in advance, the more vividly we feel its turns… with this novel he frames history as both an act and a failure of the imagination, which is to say, in inherently, and inescapably, human terms.
Los Angeles Times
Glorious…devastating…a beautiful masterpiece.
NPR
With chapters that toggle back and forth in time and in location, the narrative begins on the Israeli side of the Gaza border in 2014, before jumping to Paris and Berlin in 2002…. Englander is a wise observer with an empathetic heart.
Publishers Weekly
Englander articulates Israeli-Palestinian strife and Israel's current moral conundrums without sounding didactic. If anything, the discussion feels sketchy, and the cross-cutting among the disparate parts of the story can be disorienting.… VERDICT Smart and intriguing but not always satisfying. —Barbara Hoffert
Library Journal
Equal parts political thriller and tender lamentation … in swirling, nonlinear fashion, Israeli-Palestinian tensions and moral conflicts.… Ultimately, Englander suggests that shared humanity and fleeting moments of kindness …hold the potential for hope, even peace.
Booklist
Englander fails to fully weave [the chapters].… [S]ometimes he strains toward humor, sometimes toward drama, without quite reaching either one.… An uneasy blend of political intrigue, absurdity, and romance struggles to establish a steady, never mind believable, tone.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The epigraph, from Julian Barnes, reads, "There is accumulation. There is responsibility. And beyond these, there is unrest. There is great unrest." What does "accumulation" refer to in the context of this novel?
2. Who do you think is the main character of the novel?
3. Each character believes that he or she is doing the right thing, given the circumstances. In your opinion, whose justifications ring true? Is there "right" or "wrong" here?
4. Throughout the novel, Englander shifts time and perspective. How does this affect the reading experience?
5. On page 8, Englander writes, "In his own defense, as relates to the complication he hasn’t yet copped to, the guard has only been trying to protect Prisoner Z this whole time.… He’s been guarding Prisoner Z in more ways than the prisoner could understand." What does he mean?
6. The question of identity laces through the novel—for example, on page 63, Z thinks, "How could he have ended up here? How had a little, religious, Jewish-American boy from Long Island become an Israeli operative, living undercover in Paris, and now a traitor to his adopted state? How could he have ended up being so many kinds of people at once?" What point is Englander making?
7. Discuss the General. What role does he play in the novel?
8. What do we learn from the General’s "Limbo" passages?
9. The structure of the novel is circular, and the conflict itself is in many ways circular (in terms of action and reaction). How is this tied to the novel’s themes? What point do you think Englander is trying to make?
10. How, and in what ways, did Prisoner Z defend or betray his country? Can you make an argument for his patriotism? Is he a traitor or is he loyal? Is it possible to be both? What do you think the author believes?
11. Discuss the relationship between Prisoner Z and the guard. Are they friends? What justification could the guard have had for shielding Prisoner Z from news of the General?
12. On pages 163 and 164, Prisoner Z insists to the guard that he can do something more to help Z’s situation. Later on, the guard brings him a gift. How are these events connected? How do you feel about the Guard’s final gift to Prisoner Z?
13. The guard and Z have similar relationships with their mothers. How do the mothers in the novel serve the story?
14. What insights do we gain from Ruthi’s time in Lifta?
15. On page 224, Englander writes, "This very last time, holding Prisoner Z’s dizzy head in his lap, the guard has gone as far as either dared at addressing it. He had posed a question to Prisoner Z, to himself, to the cameras, as if confronting a power higher than them both. How, oh how, has it come to this?" How would you answer that question?
16. The mapmaker says, on page 234, "Just picture it, the two of us in no-man’s-land, on the blurry line beneath neither country. Me and you, eating together between worlds. A dinner at the center of the earth." Why is this LAST phrase an apt title for the novel?
17. In what ways is the final scene a metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)