Small Animals by Kim Brooks

SMALL ANIMALS is a newly released book by Kim Brooks from which she has adapted an essay, “Motherhood in the Age of Fear,” for The New York Times. That piece was trending for days so clearly the changing ideas about parenthood and the emotions involved are hot topics.  SMALL ANIMALS is a fairly slim text which begins with a chapter on “The Day I Left My Son in the Car” and goes on to examine the consequences for Brooks and her family of what a stranger viewed as criminally negligent parenting.  She shares her personal experiences, but also offers commentary and analysis on the anxious, overprotective, and often competitive parenting that has evolved in America. SMALL ANIMALS is not as much of a “hands-on” parenting guide as I had originally expected, but parents, mothers especially, will relate to many of Brooks’ observations such as when she had dinner with several childless women: “They had different kinds of relationships with different kinds of people. Their identities were still malleable, multidimensional. They were still, in some essential way, the heroes of their own stories.” Likewise, students studying authoritative, authoritarian, and indulgent parenting styles may find this text helpful (Brooks includes about six pages of notes and references) and an insightful perspective on questions of balancing freedom and control with children. Starred reviews from Booklist and Library Journal.

The Language of Solitude by Jan-Philipp Sendker

THE LANGUAGE OF SOLITUDE is the latest from Jan-Philipp Sendker who may be most well-known for his excellent international best seller, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats. I highly recommend both books. THE LANGUAGE OF SOLITUDE features characters, Paul and Christine, whom Sendker had introduced previously in Whispering Shadows. Paul is an ex-pat who has lived in China and Hong Kong for decades and Christine, who fled mainland China, is his partner. Together they are drawn into a mysterious and dangerous situation involving Christine’s family on the mainland.

Like Sendker’s other works, THE LANGUAGE OF SOLITUDE is a beautiful commentary on the human spirit, a reflection on impact of the Cultural Revolution, and an attempt to educate about the influence of Chinese culture such as I Ching and astrology.  As I read, I always find much to highlight:

“He who knows others is clever; He who knows himself is enlightened.” 

“Are our lives the most precious possessions we have? Or is it the way our lives are lived?”

“I’m not cynical,” Xiao Hu objected. “I’m pragmatic. That’s a big difference. At least in China.”

That last quote refers to a debate about whether or not to try to seek justice for industrial pollution. In his fiction, Sendker attempts to contrast the natural reaction from a Western versus a Chinese perspective as his characters grapple with a potentially corrupt and nascent system of regulations.  This tension was recently illustrated in the real world, too, in “The Most Neglected Threat to Public Health in China is Toxic Soil” published this week in The Economist.  It quotes the government’s 2014 national soil survey which indicated that 16.1% of all soil and 19.4% of China’s farmland was contaminated by pollutants and metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic; see accompanying map for a visual representation of that story.  

I continue to look forward to more from Sendker; other titles I have previously reviewed include: Whispering Shadows and A Well-Tempered Heart.  THE LANGUAGE OF SOLITUDE received a starred review from Library Journal.

Two powerful and important reads …

REST IN POWER by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin

I began reading REST IN POWER by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin this past Sunday, Feb. 5th on what coincidentally would have been Trayvon Martin’s 22nd birthday. He was killed in 2012 just a few weeks after turning 17 and this story, told in alternating chapters by his parents, tells of the days before the shooting and the trial afterwards. Readers will be moved by the understated tone and calm presentation of Trayvon’s story and his parents’ efforts to not forget and to find meaning in his death. They say REST IN POWER was written “in the hope for healing, for bridging the divide that separates America, between races and classes, between citizens and the police.”   

This message clearly resonated with Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy, who noted, “Not since Emmitt Till has a parent's love for a murdered child moved the nation to search its soul about racial injustice and inequality. Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin's extraordinary witness, indomitable spirit and unwavering demand for change have altered the dynamics of racial justice discourse in this country. This powerful book illuminates the witness, the grief, and the commitment to reform that Trayvon Martin’s death has mobilized; it is a story fueled by a demand for justice but rooted in love.”

REST IN POWER received starred reviews from both Booklist and Kirkus.

THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL by Timothy B. Tyson

Undoubtedly you heard the news last week that Carolyn Bryant Donham had recanted her statements about Emmett Till’s actions prior to his horrific death over 60 years ago.  In 2008, she told Duke University historian and author Timothy B. Tyson that “Nothing that boy did could ever justify what happened to him.”  And Tyson has crafted a new book, THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL , based on her interview and many others, plus recently recovered court transcripts.  In fact, roughly a fourth of this almost 300 page book is bibliography, notes and index.  PBS’ American Experience has an extensive set of web pages devoted to The Murder of Emmett Till, including his killers’ subsequent confession which was published in Look  magazine in 1956.  

Tyson’s book covers the Emmett Till story, but also explains the political history of how those events prompted the modern civil rights movement and refers to many recent sad events involving racial profiling and violence.  THE BLOOD OF EMMETT TILL received a starred review from Booklist. We have numerous books and videos available in the library about Emmett Till including A Wreath for Emmett Till filled with 15 beautiful sonnets by Marilyn Nelson and Death of Innocence by Mamie Till-Mobley, another parent writing about a son’s too early death.