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The Year of Needy Girls by Patricia A. Smith

6/29/2017

This is a tale of a modern-day witch hunt and, simultaneously, an accurate portrayal of lives that intersect the fortunes of fancy private New England schools. Unfortunately, its subject matter is also ripped directly from today's headlines, as the experiences Laura Kipnis relays in her fascinating article "Eyewitness to a Title IX Witch Trial" in the 2 April issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and that she addresses in more depth in her book Unwanted Advances, make us painfully aware. While acknowledging that there is no doubt that sexual assault on
campuses across the country is a very serious issue, particularly for survivors of such abuse, the book details how even an unsubstantiated accusation can completely devastate a life, both
externally in terms of loss of respect of family, friends, students, and colleagues, not to mention loss of career prospects and income, and internally in terms of sowing self-doubt.

With its fictionalized consideration of such a pertinent and weighty issue, I found this book a very interesting read. Nevertheless, to say that I enjoyed it would be an overstatement. It moved along at a good pace, and both the internal thoughts of its main character and the action sequences were gripping. But while I recognize that the main relationship under scrutiny here was the possibly-abusive one, I found the adult relationships in the story insufficiently developed. In particular, the main character's intimate relationship, which I think the author intended to provide an important counterpoint to the possibly-abusive one, seemed hollow. I also found the main character's partner's deep and instant affinity for the man who would undeniably perpetrate abduction, sex crimes, and murder insufficiently explained. Furthermore, I didn't understand why some of the students' parents harbored such disdain for the main character or why the new woman to the community made such an effort to support her. I would have found the book much stronger if these relationships had been more developed and made to make more intellectual and/or emotional sense.

Another issue for me is that the book wrapped up too quickly and superficially and neatly for my taste. This was the case both with respect to the possible abuse, and with respect to the parallel story line of the abduction, confirmed sexual abuse, and murder of a local boy from the wrong side of the tracks. After all the angst and drama and brouhaha, everything just wraps up very nicely and suddenly. Was there a reason for that, or did the author just run out of steam? The idea underlying the book is such a good one, and the juxtaposition of the two stories so apt, that, overall, I guess I just expected the aspects of the book that were not directly related to school sexual abuse to be handled more deftly, deeply, and believably than they were.

--Patricia Johann
Regular contributor & ASU professor

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The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

2/28/2017

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The characters and the world Laurie Forest creates in The Black Witch is intriguing to the point that it took me less than a week to finish this massive book. My interest is piqued enough to want to read the sequel when it is released. The book was slow moving at first and, about a third of the way through, I was thoroughly fed up with the main character whose naivete and willingness to always see herself as the victim and everyone else as the villain got a little old. This character arc was important in the story as the main character realizes that what she had been taught her whole life about the history of her people and the treatment of other races as inferior and evil may not be the actual truth - but it just takes way too long for her to get there. It felt very repetitive, and left you, as the reader, not connecting or really liking the main character for a good portion of the book. Once the main character starts realizing these truths and interacting with the other races, the story starts moving a little faster and you are able to connect with her more. You begin to form an attachment to the rag-tag band of friends she develops but then the book ends with a ton of unanswered questions and no closure. I did appreciate though how the author was able to leave some of the characters motives and abilities somewhat ambiguous - not knowing exactly how they will act or what will happen in the next book. That, along with ending the first book with the main characters in an impossible situation and no clear cut answer on how they move forward, is what leaves me dejected about being left in the dark. I am, however, anticipating the next installment of The Black Witch Chronicles.

-Sarah Herbert

Release Date: May 2, 2017

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The Idiot by Elif Bautman

2/23/2017

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Having previously read and enjoyed "The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them" by Elif Batuman, I was eager to read the author's newest effort, "The Idiot". Like its predecessor, this book is also titled after a work of Dostoevsky. Batuman is, like the main character Selin, a Turkish-American Harvard grad, and the authority with which she writes of ivy-league life and the various cultures playing a role in "The Idiot" make the thinly-disguised autobiographical tone of this novel even more apparent than they would be already. The narrative consists mainly of detailing some of the confusions Selin encounters --- confusions that naturally accompany youth, going off to college for the first time, friendships that one does not feel sufficiently cool to be worthy of, doubt-inducing first love, the self- and culturally-reflective lens of international travel, and the broadening out of one's experiences in general. We follow Selin as she attempts to understand and find meaning in the feelings and experiences she has during her freshman year at Harvard and in the summer thereafter.

While I enjoyed "The Idiot" well enough, I did not find it as good a read as "The Possessed". For me, "The Idiot"'s narrative was not only fragmented, but also mind-jarringly intricate in some places and insufficiently detailed to follow in others. I also found the tone of the book very "flip", like it was trying way too hard and self-consciously to be cool. Perhaps this was intentional --- certainly one's internal dialogue can be like that as one's life is being lived --- but I found it tedious in a 430+ page novel. I also found the book's ending sort of non-existent, and therefore disappointing. But perhaps that was intentional, too, reflecting the way that the transition from one chapter of one's life to another can be both undramatic and underwhelming enough to make it hard to identify in real-time. Finally, I thought there was a lot of unrealized potential to explore the role of language in Selin's (narrated and imagined future) personal and professional lives. The official blurb for the book says it's about Selin's coming to grips with "the ineffable and exhilarating confusion of first love, and with the growing consciousness that she is doomed to become a writer". But while the former aspect of Selin's confusion was developed to the point of tedium, the latter was, in my reading, touched on only obliquely. Perhaps that's why this flip romp through many deep and interesting aspects of coming of age felt so directionless and fell so flat for me.

-Patricia Johann

Release Date: March 14, 2017

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Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

2/22/2017

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Release Date: November 15, 2016

Most rockstars wait until their twilight years to publish a memoir that recounts the various misdeeds that happened throughout their careers. However, the ambitious 36-year-old Against Me! front woman —Laura Jane Grace— decided to waste little time and published a noteworthy entry into the Rock Memoir genre. Now, within the pages of Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rocks Most Infamous Sellout you will see the usual trappings of the rock memoir genre —the excess of life on tour, arguments with bandmates, and the alienation that results from their poor choices— spoken about, not with reverence, but with a more somber, empathetic tone for those caught in the wake of both her career and personal choices.

Tranny seems to chronicle of the rise of Laura Grace's anarchist punk group Against Me! citing events like the bands inception in Gainesville Florida, its fall from grace in the punk community, the momentous occasion of signing to a label, the copious amounts of touring, and the shenanigans people get up to on tour. This is paralleled by the private moments that provide an important context not only for the band but for Laura Jane herself. The book is peppered with journal excerpts from when she was a young boy who spent his free time journaling —and on more than one occasion— trying on his mother’s stockings to her full transition from Thomas James Gabel into Laura Jane Grace. It is in these private, more quiet moments, where this memoir is particularly effective, for this is where we truly get a sense of the struggles that plagued Laura Grace for so long. These two perspectives—front woman and person— are cohesively interwoven to tell us of the circumstances that led Laura Grace to this point personally and professionally.

At the start of this narrative we see Laura dive straight into her memories of being the son of a soldier, admiring Madonna on MTV, the first experience he had of wearing his mother’s clothing, and the shame he felt for exploring that curiosity in femininity. These recollections serve as an important context for the journal entries found throughout the book as we see Thomas James Gabel fight to suppress the feeling that he was meant to be a woman. The way he sought to pacify this inner turmoil was through binge drinking, drug use, and the infrequent lapses where he would dress as the woman he felt in his heart. This true self that he sought to deny not only caused damage to his psyche but a separation from those closest to him, specifically his father, his bandmates, and his first and second wives. These chapters are —understandably— oppressive as we feel the weight of his secret crushing down upon him but, when Thomas does unburden himself to those he loves, theirs is a sense of freedom that is liberating. Thankfully, there’s a respite for this darkness in the book's closing chapter where Laura Grace publicly comes out as a woman, admitting that while she is in a better place she feels as though she has not fully transitioned. However, it still feels like the hardest chapter in Laura Grace’s life has finished by the closing paragraph. It should be noted that while the world is becoming more cognizant of transgender politics, few books choose to approach the topic with the type of honesty that Laura Grace does. This memoir conveys emotional vulnerability while being paired with timely gender politics that makes Tranny a page turner.

-Jeremy Nietzke

Watch Laura Jane Grace talk about her memoir, Tranny, with Trevor Noah, the host of The Daily Show.

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Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto by Leslie Buck

2/21/2017

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This book surprised me. Despite being an avid gardener and a huge fan of garden lit, I have never been overly fascinated by
Japanese (or any far east) culture. So I wasn't necessarily expecting to enjoy both major aspects of this memoir. However, I did.

I found Buck's undertaking unusual enough, and her story compelling enough, to make a good read. I did find the book quite repetitive in its insights into the rigors of learning a craft (in her case pruning) well and culture shock, though. In fact, I'd say that the book could easily be shortened by about 25% without losing much in the way of content.

I should also say that I didn't particularly like the writing style of the book. By that, I mean the way the sentences were
actually constructed. Many seemed very simplistic both in form and content, almost to the point of being glib. In fact, if I have any major beef with this book, it is that the conclusions of nearly all of the author's ruminations --- whether at different points along the way or overall --- seem too tidy, too predictable, too pat. Despite being on a fascinating journey, she did not seem to probe her experiences very deeply. Everything seemed so... tame. This was almost maddening to me as I read.

It would have been nice to know what the author did after returning, presumably to the US. How did she put her new-found experience and insight to use?

Still, the author's descriptions of gardens and pruning were very vivid and informative. While Cutting Back isn't my new favorite book, I definitely found it well worth reading.

--Patricia Johann

Release Date: Mary 3, 2017

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Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

2/20/2017

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I picked this book based on appreciation for Tor and to support Ruthanna Emrys after looking up her website. I'm only familiar with Lovecraft in the most basic sense so Winter Tide was my introduction to his lore. I'm always open to new genres and thought Emrys' work might be the stepping stone to get me hooked on this area of speculative fiction.

I was drawn into the book quickly and connected with the narrator's voice. It was just harder and harder to come back to it when I lost interest in the plot. The pacing is slow and moments that could have held suspense or surprise seemed to be presented in a way that made them bland rather than intriguing.
Ultimately just not a book for me. I probably wouldn't have finished it were not an obligatory read. But it has its strengths that I assume will appeal to a niche group. I absolutely applaud Emry's for making her characters in the Lovecraftian universe the antithesis of the xenophobia apparently present in his work. I did really appreciate the found family that Aphra gathered, even if I wasn't invested in their aims.
I'm planning to recommend Winter Tide to a friend who's currently taking up Lovecraft to see what he thinks, but based on my personal lack of connection won't be recommending it generally.

--Hannah Starling

Release Date: April 4, 2017

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Our Community Reads

The Year of Needy Girls by Patricia A. Smith

The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

The Idiot by Elif Bautman

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto by Leslie Buck

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

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Our Community Reads

The Year of Needy Girls by Patricia A. Smith

The Black Witch by Laurie Forest

The Idiot by Elif Bautman

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace

Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto by Leslie Buck

Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys

Author

Archives

Categories

Foggy Pine Books: Stories to Shake the Fog#foundinthefog

Hours

​Telephone

Social Media Handle

Foggy Pine Books: Stories to Shake the Fog
#foundinthefog

Telephone