Highbrow Magazine - Books & Fiction https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/books-fiction en Irish Life is Bleak and Treacherous in ‘The End of The World is a Cul de Sac’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24503-irish-life-bleak-and-treacherous-end-world-cul-de-sac <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 03/06/2024 - 11:38</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2largewoman_sad.jpg?itok=zp0DQ-_-"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2largewoman_sad.jpg?itok=zp0DQ-_-" width="480" height="304" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">The End of the World is a Cul De Sac: Stories by Louise Kennedy</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Riverhead Books</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">289 pages</span></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">The men and women who inhabit Louise Kennedy’s new story collection, <em>The End of the World is a Cul de Sac</em>, lead lives of not-so-quiet desolation. In these stories, the women are often pregnant, worried about the state of their existence, and/or perplexed as to what to say or do about their life partners. The men—almost uniformly Irish rural alpha-male types—engage in drug running, political turmoil, and other black arts.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">In other words, not a happy lot.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1ireland_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Nonetheless, Kennedy (author of an acclaimed novel, <em>Trespasses</em>) writes beautifully about the Irish and their tumultuous inner lives. In the story, “Hunter-Gatherers,” Siobhán’s fascination with a hare in her backyard turns sour when her lover Sid abruptly puts an end to the wild creature’s life. “In Silhouette” traces a line from the present-day Irish countryside to the Troubles of the 1980s, when violence terrorized the local citizenry. </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">In “Imbolc,” Elaine (holding her infant daughter Grace) visits the shed where her mate Liam cultivates a marijuana crop with assistance from a comely young woman, Stacey Rainey: </span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">“[Elaine] put Grace on her other hip. As she passed the big pen, a ewe moaned, a dreadful sound. She called out to Liam to tell him the animal seemed ready, but his back was to her. He was standing with his legs wide apart, talking down to Stacey Rainey, who was crouching on the floor, bottle-feeding a lamb through the bars of one of the pens. Her haunches in the leggings were full and shiny. That one’s a tramp, she whispered to Grace as they went through the door to the yard.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Elaine’s suspicions about the young woman are confirmed late in the story, leaving her unmoored about the future.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1man_drinking_-_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">The title story, among the strongest in the collection, opens with a lovely description of decay: “The dereliction was almost beautiful, the houses dark against the mauve dawn, pools of buff-colored water glinting briefly as a passing car took the last bend before town.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Sarah, the abandoned wife of an insolvent real estate developer, is surprised to learn that in the local community she’s known as “the gangster’s moll from down the hill.” Sarah walks through the deserted construction site in a state of confusion and bewilderment. A man named Ryan interrupts her reverie inside the empty model home, an encounter that leads to lovemaking of an uncertain quality, and the ambiguous question of a new start in life:</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">“Downstairs, she pulled the patio door open. She lowered herself into the metal chair letting the dew seep into her robe. Lines had begun to crackle across the yellow plaster of the houses; the roadway appeared sunken, even where there was pavement, the gardens too. Another day was breaking over Hawthorn Close.”</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/kennedybook.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">In these slice-of-life stories, the female protagonists frequently find themselves overmatched by the threat of male violence, landing them in a state of near-paralyzing despair. But throughout the book, Kennedy moves adroitly between past and present, teasing readers with just enough backstory to keep the narratives humming along.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><em><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">The End of the World is a Cul de Sac </span></em><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">embodies much of what’s best in the Gaelic story-telling tradition. It marks the emergence of yet another gifted and fearless chronicler of Irish lives.</span></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Author Bio:</span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><em><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Lee Polevoi, </span></em></strong><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic</em>, <em>is the author of a new novel, </em></span></strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Gabriel-Ash-Lee-Polevoi/dp/1955062587" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">The Confessions of Gabriel Ash</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">.</span></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">For Highbrow Magazine</span></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><em><span style="font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif">Photo Credits: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Depositphotos.com</a>; <a href="https://www.goodfreephotos.com/albums/people/sad-woman-on-swing.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Goodfreephotos</a> (Creative Commons)</span></em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/end-world-cul-de-sac" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the end of the world is a cul de sac</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/louise-kennedy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">louise kennedy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fiction</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/books-about-ireland" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">books about ireland</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/irish-stories" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">irish stories</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ireland" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ireland</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/irish-authors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">irish authors</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/short-stories" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">short stories</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 06 Mar 2024 16:38:23 +0000 tara 13083 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24503-irish-life-bleak-and-treacherous-end-world-cul-de-sac#comments New Book Offers Humorous Take on Younger Generation’s Views on Wealth https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24500-new-book-offers-humorous-take-younger-generation-s-views-wealth <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 03/04/2024 - 14:27</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2newyork_depositphotos.jpg?itok=y6wvdJ_5"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2newyork_depositphotos.jpg?itok=y6wvdJ_5" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I turned the corner off Park Avenue and started looking for my newly acquired home. <em>There it is</em>, I thought, <em>that one there.</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">On the tree-lined stretch of stately condos and apartment buildings, the structure that had technically been in my possession since 7:37 p.m. two weeks ago Tuesday—the determined hour and minute my father suffered his heart attack—announced itself like Dad invariably did when entering into any setting: loudly, with exuberance, and flashing money. I hadn’t seen the building before, much less entered its premises, but I recognized Dad’s unique style from a half block away.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The building burps marble, if not taste. White marble blocks, set at incongruous angles, cover the building’s 12-story facade; black distressed marble spans the distance from the gold-plated front doors to the curb; delicate, pink marble flower boxes hang beneath the second-floor windows and outside the building’s retail space; and finally, a marble statue of a bull protrudes from the building’s front niche. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3money_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">While fervidly embracing his marble phase during the renovation of the building last year, Dad had informed me in one of our rare cross-country phone conversations that he had removed a headless Greek statue from the recess and replaced it with this commissioned bull. “Bulls signify wealth, Henry. Did you ever know that? Who knew that? But they do!” Adorning the building’s facade with marble blocks did not suffice in announcing my father’s arrival on the Upper East Side. He needed to ride in on a white bull.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Dad’s long-standing financial attorney and closest friend, Judith Guncheon, had reached me early that Wednesday morning, just as I was sitting down with my team at St. Benedict’s Shelter in Los Angeles. Had there been openings at a San Diego agency—or Barrow, Alaska, for that matter—when I was applying for such jobs, I would</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">have gone after them, thereby putting a few more miles and hills between me and New York City.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Sadly, nothing was available.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3newyork_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Judith informed me that Dad had died the night before from a massive coronary. One of his construction foremen had discovered his body behind a desk that morning within a small onsite trailer—an ignominious departure for the king of displaced and gentrified real estate development in the Triborough region. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">It should be noted that that is not an official title, simply an honorific bestowed upon Dad by me, in one of my sniffier and more heated exchanges with him. It was yet another in a list of disparaging comments I aimed his way, immediately regretting, yet incapable of uttering anything that approached even a mumbled apology.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“It’s time to come home, Henry,” she proclaimed. Serving in the dual roles of both family lawyer and personal godmother, Judith was accustomed to issuing such opinions in my direction. Regarding moving back to New York, for the past 10 years, ever since I’d landed on the West Coast following my college graduation, she had been sharing this perspective with me during our sporadic phone calls. I assumed she did so on behalf of Dad, whose hope was to groom me for the eventual takeover of the business.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4newyork_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“And when I say, ‘Come home,’” she continued, “I mean move here. You’ll be one of New York City’s wealthiest 34-year-olds—”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Thirty-three.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Better yet. That moves you up a couple of slots. Very, very eligible. Oh, and you now own that building your dad insisted on buying last year up near the park. You get the top floor. Nice views. Come pick up your keys.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">GLENN R. MILLER 3</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">At this, I started to dry-wretch.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“All right, it sounds like our conversation is wrapping up,” she said. “As is your time in California. Oh, and Henry?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Yeah?” I said, wiping my mouth.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“I’m sorry for your loss. And mine. I know you and your dad had your issues, but I loved him like a brother. I wish you had known him like I did. See you soon.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/doormanbook.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>This excerpt from </em>Doorman Wanted <em>by Glenn R. Miller is published with permission. The book is available for pre-order from </em></strong><em><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Doorman-Wanted-Glenn-R-Miller/dp/B0CQDCYF7V/ref=sr_1_1?crid=CE6OGMWBZ227&amp;dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.IwyKYSm4o9pUiR8tQdMBKQ.ldHfcgmDH8TiAYCKk-eU0HqD-r9JF9fQFQnjIhAs4JQ&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=doorman+wanted+glenn+miller&amp;qid=1709577522&amp;sprefix=doorman+wante%2Caps%2C94&amp;sr=8-1" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline"><strong>Amazon</strong></a></em><strong><em>, <a href="https://bookshop.org/" style="color:blue; text-decoration:underline">Bookshop.org</a>, and wherever books are sold.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Glenn R. Miller launched his professional career by working on television soap operas and game shows on the back lots of NBC Burbank. He holds a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and has served as a CBS-affiliate news producer, an executive speechwriter, and creative director at production agencies within the Twin Cities. </em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>His published writings range from a regularly featured column in the Minneapolis-based Southwest Journal to the airing of a humor commentary on NPR’s nationally aired Marketplace. He teaches at Minneapolis’s Loft Literary Center </em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>He and his wife, Jocelyn Hale, live in Minneapolis and are the parents of two grown sons. </em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><em><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><span style="font-size:18px"><strong>Photo Credits: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html">Depositphotos.com</a></strong></span></span></em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/doorman-wanted" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Doorman wanted</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/glenn-r-miller" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">glenn r. miller</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-novels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new novels</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/books-about-money" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">books about money</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-money" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new money</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-elite" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york elite</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/park-avenue" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">park avenue</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-yorkers" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">New Yorkers</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fiction</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Glenn R. Miller</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 04 Mar 2024 19:27:19 +0000 tara 13077 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24500-new-book-offers-humorous-take-younger-generation-s-views-wealth#comments Traveling Through Space at Lightning Speed in Samantha Harvey’s ‘Orbital’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24456-traveling-through-space-lightning-speed-samantha-harvey-s-orbital <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 02/05/2024 - 16:23</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1space_depositphotos.jpg?itok=8uugwsNx"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1space_depositphotos.jpg?itok=8uugwsNx" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Orbital: A Novel</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Samantha Harvey</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Grove Press</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>207 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In Samantha Harvey’s extraordinary new novel, <em>Orbital</em>, six men and women aboard the International Space Station—four astronauts and two cosmonauts—travel through space at 17,500 miles an hour. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Over the course of a single day, encompassing 16 orbits some 250 miles above the Earth, the crew aboard the ISS conducts experiments, works out, and tracks a monster typhoon headed for the Philippines. Each crew member in their own way is awestruck by the view beyond the spacecraft windows of “that glassy, distant orb with its beautiful lonely light shows.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Not surprisingly, most of these space travelers suffer fits of yearning for what’s been left behind:  </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1astronaut_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Sometimes they wish for a cold stiff wind, blustery rain, autumn leaves, reddened fingers, muddy legs, a curious dog, a startled rabbit, a leaping sudden deer, a puddle in a pothole, soaked feet, a slight hill, a fellow runner, a shaft of sun. Sometimes they just succumb to the uneventful windless humming of their sealed spacecraft.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Nothing much happens in <em>Orbital</em> (if you call a small clutch of humanity suspended in zero-gravity hundreds of miles above its home planet “nothing much”). But it’s soon apparent that, for Harvey, plot is pretty much beside the point. Far more interesting to her is an understanding of what life <em>feels </em>like aboard a metal-encased device orbiting Earth. For example, Chie, a Japanese astronaut, learns of her mother’s death but maintains an otherworldly denial of it (“If she could stay in orbit for the rest of her life, all would be well.”)</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">At times crew members engage in philosophical discussions, where fundamental questions are asked. What does it mean for our planet to be—presumably—the only one to sustain life in this galaxy and galaxies beyond? What does it mean if we’re <em>not </em>the only such life-form?</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/orbitalbook.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Harvey also brilliantly captures the air of camaraderie these men and women depend upon to survive: </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“There is that idea of a <em>floating family</em>, but in some ways they’re not really a family at all—they’re both much more and much less than that. They’re everything to each other because they’re all there is.” </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Throughout this brief novel, the narrative slides smoothly between a collective voice to individual characters’ points-of-view and backstories. The language itself takes on a floating quality that mimics (in the best ways) the weightlessness of space. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2earth_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">P</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">art of the fun of reading <em>Orbital </em>is going along for the ride. In the case of the ISS, this involves circumnavigating high above cities, continents, and vast bodies of water: </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“In the new morning of today’s fourth earth orbit, the Saharan dust sweeps to the sea in hundred-mile ribbons … Gran Canaria’s steep radial gorges pile the island up like a sandcastle hastily built, and when the Atlas Mountains announce the end of the desert, clouds appear in the shape of a shark whose tail flips at the southern coast of Spain, whose fin-tip nudges the southern Alps, whose nose will dive any moment into the Mediterranean. Albania and Montenegro are velvet soft with mountains.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">With its radiant prose and lyrical storytelling, <em>Orbital </em>achieves something rarely found in books, film, or other media. This novel makes you look at the world, and our place in it, in a new way. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic Lee Polevoi is the author of the novel <a href="https://www.leepolevoi.com/the-confessions-of-gabriel-ash" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Confessions of Gabriel Ash.</a></em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/samantha-harvey" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">samantha harvey</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/orbital" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">orbital</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/orbital-book" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">orbital book</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-novels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new novels</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/books-about-space" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">books about space</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/space-exploration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">space exploration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/international-space-station" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">international space station</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/planet-earth" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">planet Earth</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/astronauts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">astronauts</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 05 Feb 2024 21:23:33 +0000 tara 13000 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24456-traveling-through-space-lightning-speed-samantha-harvey-s-orbital#comments In ‘Searching for Patty Hearst,’ Roger D. Rapoport Draws on His Extensive Reporting on the Case https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24406-searching-patty-hearst-roger-d-rapoport-draws-his-extensive-reporting-case <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 01/18/2024 - 11:56</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1pattyhearst.jpg?itok=4TwWqdP2"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1pattyhearst.jpg?itok=4TwWqdP2" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>October 4, 1971</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> Steve Weed’s fever was 102.4. Three days earlier, his doctor had diagnosed pneumonia and told him to cancel all appearances on the tour for <em>Is The Library Burning,</em> his new Random House book about the student power movement. Exhausted after a sleepless night, he had driven across the Bay Bridge on an Indian summer morning. Traffic slowed on this 80-degree day after a broken-down apple truck spilled crates of Granny Smiths across the roadway. By the time he arrived at St. Jean’s, his audience had been chilling for 20 minutes. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“For me,” he said after pausing for a sip of water to soothe his sore throat, “the ’60s actually began in 1959 when I fell in love with the University of Michigan’s Dean of Women.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">While Steve continued, 16-year-old Patty Hearst, sitting in the back row with her best friend Megan Walworth, closed her eyes.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“You cool,” said Megan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> Patty blinked, took a deep breath and whispered:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> “Oh no, I’m in big trouble.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“He’s so old,” said unsmitten Megan.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“He’s perfect,” she said as Steve continued. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Megan shook her head and began replying until a nun shushed her. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“We’d better chill,” said Patty.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“I was just head over heels for a woman in her late ‘60s,” continued Steve.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">By now two of the nuns were whispering to each another. They listened nervously as he reminisced about his campus heartthrob, Dean Deborah Bacon:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“For more than 30 years she ruled women on campus as if they were all her daughters. Dean Bacon was famous for her patented brand of <em>in loco parentis</em>, a phrase I assume you all know from your Latin class. If a young woman failed to make it home in time for a dorm curfew, this administrator made sure that she was locked out for the night. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2pattyhearst.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“She was famous for her lectures about the hidden dangers of tight sweaters and short skirts, anything hemmed above the knee.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Dean Bacon’s worst fears were validated in 1954 when Michigan became home of the nation’s first panty raid. A mob assembled outside Stockwell Hall chanting: “We want panties; we want them now.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">That was when Sister Mary Catherine Francis decided to call off Steve’s appearance. As the lights were dimmed, he was escorted from the stage to the students’ dismay. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“That’s so bogus,” Megan told Patty as the students filed out. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In the hallway, Steve loudly offered to continue his story at another venue:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“I’m speaking tonight at City Lights in San Francisco. Feel free to join me there where we can resume our conversation.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">By the time Steve arrived at the North Beach bookstore, Patty had already finished the first chapter of his new book.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The room was filled with rapt St. Jean’s students eager to learn more about the ‘60s from this controversial author. His book was a kaleidoscope of campus protest from coast to coast. Steve continued his Dean Bacon story where he’d left off, in the upstairs reading room—a shrine to Kerouac, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti and the rest of the Beats.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The groundbreaking panty raid began on a warm night beneath the windows of Stockwell Hall. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> ‘“Panties, we want panties,’” shouted the men to the beat of a drum borrowed from the marching band.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“When the first woman tossed her underwear from the sixth floor, a roar went up that could be heard across campus. One by one, others joined in as the men held up their treasure for the benefit of <em>Michigan Daily</em> photographers.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Dean Bacon, on the scene before the first undergarment was airborne, quickly called the cops. She dispatched housemothers who ran up and down the corridors banging on doors in a vain attempt to take control. Finally, when someone pulled a fire alarm, some of the women emerged in their nightgowns, including several with their hair rolled up in curlers.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3pattyhearst.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“‘DO SOMETHING,’“ Dean Bacon screamed at the police who didn’t know if any laws were being violated.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">One of the young women in her St. Jean’s uniform, white blouse, gray blazer, blue skirt and penny loafers, raised her hand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Mr. Weed.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Please, it’s Steve.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Steve, help us out. Were the cops enjoying this spectacle?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“They were speechless.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Far out,” said the mesmerized student. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Like the young men, Dean Bacon was frustrated. A cop handed her a megaphone as she scanned the women looking out their dorm windows:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“‘I am so ashamed of all of you. Tomorrow your parents, who have sacrificed everything, are going to be calling my office. And what exactly do you think I’m going to say?</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“‘Oh hello, Mrs. Clink…. Susie threw her panties out the window. But they were wearing thin. She didn’t part with any of her good panties. It’s really all for the best. If she were in a car accident, you wouldn’t want her going to the hospital where a young resident would examine her in awful underwear.’”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">  Another student raised her hand.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“What did you love about Dean Bacon?”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4pattyhearst.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Five years later, I inherited a file from a previous <em>Michigan Daily</em> editor, Peter Eckstein. Paging through, I found interview notes from women pinpointing how Dean Bacon had written letters to parents of white women dating interracially. Although we didn’t have the actual letters, Eckstein knew that some of these women had been forced to withdraw from school by their racist parents.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“After many months of trial and error, I found one of these victims. She sneaked into her mother’s bureau drawer and discovered a letter from the Dean. I took it to the campus administration with the story we were ready to publish.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Deborah Bacon resigned the very next day. Our story was picked up by the <em>New York Times</em>, and for me, it was the first step to a dream career.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Her power grew from the fact that no one had the courage to challenge her authority. She assumed the kind of power we see far too often in this country, power that flourishes secretly behind closed doors. This sort of bigotry was at odds with the very purpose of a university, teaching students how to think independently, to never let anyone steal your freedom.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Or your panties,” said Patty’s friend Megan Walworth. “This must have been terrifying for the women, a sort of prelude to rape? Wasn’t she right to battle that?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“No question, it was a horrible situation, inexcusable. Those men were engaged in the worst kind of sexual harassment. The <em>Michigan Daily</em> editors deplored it. A faculty petition gathered over 1,000 signatures and the administration threatened to expel anyone who engaged in this kind of behavior again.” </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The ‘50s were all about instant self gratification,” said Megan. “Women were victimized in so many ways.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“You’re right. In the ‘60s, we tried to change that, to make sure women were always able to realize their full potential.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“But wasn’t it Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee’s Stokely Carmichael who said, ‘The only position for women in the movement is prone?’”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> “He couldn’t have been more wrong. I know that some of you here tonight will become exemplary leaders. Let’s face it, you come from a world of privilege, and I know that most of you will join the struggle to help those who grew up without all the advantages you enjoy.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“What went wrong at your own school today was an example of what we are all fighting for. Never let anyone dictate what you should think or how you should handle your own lives.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Not even you,” said Megan.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5pattyhearst.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The one thing I know for sure is that none of us have all the answers. That’s what I love about this bookstore. It’s a place where so many great ideas collide and perhaps out of that synthesis, we can teach ourselves how to avoid some of the mistakes leading to avoidable conflict and bloodshed. Together we need to revolutionize this country. Hopefully that can happen peacefully.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Waiting in line after the talk, Patty watched Steve greet each customer like old friends.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">When it was her turn, he asked if the book was a gift:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“It’s for my mother’s birthday.  She’s a University of California Regent. She’ll absolutely hate it.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“What’s her name?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Catherine.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> Steve picked up a pen and looked up at Patty.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> “May I inscribe this to her as Cathy?”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“No, it’s Catherine.”</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> Steve thought for a second and then wrote:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>Dear Catherine: Your wonderful daughter tells me that you are a UC Regent. That’s great. I for one would like to see more women on the board. How about asking Governor Reagan to nominate Angela Davis? Hope to meet you soon</em>. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em> With my admiration.</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em> Steve Weed.</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As she picked up the book Patty left a note:</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em> Steve, thank you for not backing down this afternoon and inviting us all here tonight. I’d love to come to your next talk. Please give me a call and let me know when I’ll have another chance to catch up with you. My number is 555-0001. I’m psyched about seeing you again. </em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>Very Truly Yours,</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>Patty Hearst</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>This is an excerpt from the new book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Searching-Patty-Hearst-Crime-Novel/dp/1958156027/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2ALLDGDAMY5PL&amp;keywords=searching+for+patty+hearst&amp;qid=1705594391&amp;sprefix=searching+for+patty+hearst%2Caps%2C100&amp;sr=8-1">Searching for Patty Hearst: A True Crime Novel</a>, by Roger D. Rapoport. It’s published here with permission.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Author Bio:</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Award-winning film producer, publisher, author, and investigative journalist Roger Rapoport has covered the Patty Hearst story for half a century. He has written for the <em>Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, San Jose Mercury News, The Independent (UK) </em>and the<em> San Francisco Chronicle.</em> His magazine articles have been published in <em>Harper’s, The Atlantic, Esquire</em> and <em>Mother Jones</em>.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Photo Credits</em></strong><em>: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PattyHearstmug.jpg" style="text-decoration:underline">Wikipedia Commons</a>; <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Patty_Hearst-_Hibernia_bank_robbery.jpg" style="text-decoration:underline">Wikipedia Commons</a>; UCLA Library Archive (<a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Patty_Hearst_escorted_by_marshals.jpg" style="text-decoration:underline">Wikipedia Commons</a>).</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/patty-hearst" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">patty hearst</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sla" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">SLA</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/steve-weed" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">steve weed</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/roger-d-rapoport" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">roger d. rapoport</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/searching-patty-hearst" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">searching for patty hearst</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-novels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new novels</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/patty-hearst-case" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the patty hearst case</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/crime-novels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">crime novels</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Roger D. Rapoport</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 18 Jan 2024 16:56:33 +0000 tara 12953 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24406-searching-patty-hearst-roger-d-rapoport-draws-his-extensive-reporting-case#comments Finding Nature in a Half-Acre of Ground in ‘The Comfort of Crows’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24400-finding-nature-half-acre-ground-comfort-crows <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 01/12/2024 - 15:44</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1birds_depositphotos.jpg?itok=yG9-Nmgk"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1birds_depositphotos.jpg?itok=yG9-Nmgk" width="480" height="280" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Margaret Renkl</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Spiegel &amp; Grau</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>288 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">No one needs reminding of our perilous times, from the onslaught of natural and manmade ecological disasters to wars of religion and the spectacle of an indicted grifter running for president. For that reason, among others, Margaret Renkl’s new book of essays, <em>The Comfort of Crows</em>, offers welcome relief from endless bad news.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>The Comfort of Crows</em> consists of 52 short chapters (accompanied by lavish illustrations by her brother Billy Renkl) highlighting the natural world in a half-acre of land outside Renkl’s home in Nashville, Tennessee. Through the passing seasons, she enthusiastically observes a variety of species that come and go in her backyard, including crows, foxes, and operatic songbirds.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1backyard_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">At the same time, the author is keenly aware of our dire political and climate conditions. She strives mightily to resist the bad feelings these situations engender: “Too often I feel I am living in a country I no longer recognize, a country determined to imperil every principle I hold dear and many of the people I love, too. Immersing myself in the natural world of my own backyard … is the way I cope with whatever I think I cannot bear.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Renkl is always ready to embrace the mysteries of nature. One day she comes across an unidentified pellet on her outside deck. Mostly likely deposited by a great horned owl, she thinks, but she can’t be sure. After some heated online speculation from other nature buffs, the mystery is solved. (Spoiler alert: the pellet is a dust-ball from a vacuum cleaner.)</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Her close scrutiny of backyard activities yields many insights, not least of which is the stark brutality of the natural world:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1fox_depositphotos.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The only thing to do when a Cooper’s hawk stakes out a feeder is to take the feeder down, much as it kills my heart to leave my avian neighbors unprovided for in this changing neighborhood where natural food sources have become so much less plentiful. The hawk and the owl must eat, too, I know, but I don’t wish to make their bloody work any easier.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Loss is a constant theme in <em>The Comfort of Crows</em>. The author mourns what’s vanished from her backyard—the dwindling quantities of birds, frogs, and foxes, as well as other creatures that formerly passed through in large numbers. She writes eloquently about mankind’s never-ending encroachment into nature, deploring the spread of insecticides, the harm caused by humans’ attachment to lawns, pollution to rivers, and so on. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Overall, <em>The Comfort of Crows</em> is a quiet book. Rarely during its 52 chapters does the author sound querulous or gloomy, though a tonal shift along these lines might have made for more unpredictable and compelling moments in the text. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/renklbook.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As it is, the tone of the book remains low-key throughout, never rising to the level of shrillness or outrage. That’s simply not how Renkl experiences the natural world. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, she won’t succumb to despair or relinquish her joy:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The world is burning, and there is no time to put down the water buckets. For just an hour, put down the water buckets anyway. Take your cue from the bluebirds, who have no faith in the future but who build the future nevertheless, leaf by leaf and straw by straw, shaping them into the roundness of the world.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Highbrow Magazine<em> chief book critic Lee Polevoi is the author of a new novel, </em></strong><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Gabriel-Ash-Lee-Polevoi/dp/1955062587?ref_=ast_author_dp" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash.</strong></a></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Photo Credits: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html"><em>Depositphotos.com</em></a></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/margaret-renkl" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">margaret renkl</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/comfort-crows" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the comfort of crows</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/back-yard" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">back yard</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nature-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nature books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nonfiction-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nonfiction books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/books-about-nature" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">books about nature</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/illustrated-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">illustrated books</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 12 Jan 2024 20:44:19 +0000 tara 12942 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24400-finding-nature-half-acre-ground-comfort-crows#comments A Look at the Best Books of 2023 and Other Favorites https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24273-look-best-books-and-other-favorites <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 12/26/2023 - 15:50</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1books_depositphotos_0.jpg?itok=fb60vun1"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1books_depositphotos_0.jpg?itok=fb60vun1" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>Here are my personal best books of 2023, as well as other novels from years past that provided the best kind of immersive reading experience. </em></span></span></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>The Sun Walks Down </em>by Fiona MacFarlane</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In 1883, a child goes missing in the barren landscape of southern Australia. This sets in motion a series of actions and consequences in and around the small community of Fairly. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Fiona MacFarlane’s debut novel, <em>The Sun Walks Down, </em>takes place over the course of a week. With each passing day, the search for Denny Wallace grows more agonizing, for the citizens of Fairly and for the reader. The story moves without a bump among a teeming cast of characters, landing squarely on their passions and their sense of impending doom. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">There are many places where the author could have lost the thread among the various townspeople, or failed to describe the Australian bush in fresh, interesting ways, or sacrificed narrative momentum over the space of 350 pages. MacFarlane <a href="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/23423-sun-walks-down-poignant-story-set-against-landscape-australian-backcountry" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">nimbly sidesteps these obstacles</a>. <em>The Sun Walks Down </em>is a rich, suspenseful novel that should solidify her status as a writer to be followed for years to come. </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1bestbooks23.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>There Will Be Fire: <strong>Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History </strong></em>by Rory Carroll</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">On October 12, 1984, 100 pounds of gelignite exploded in the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was staying for the annual Conservative Party Conference. Five people perished in the ensuing devastation, and many more were wounded. The target of the bombing, known both lovingly and in the most hateful terms as the “Iron Lady,” barely escaped assassination.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Journalist Rory Carroll explores this watershed moment during the time of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. His book grows out of impressive archival research, as well as more than a hundred interviews with police detectives, ex-IRA members, politicians, bomb disposal experts, and many others. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The tone throughout the book is measured and evenhanded. When the plot to kill the Prime Minister coalesces around an IRA operative’s reconnaissance of the Grand Hotel, <em>There Will Be Fire </em>attains <a href="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24077-how-ira-nearly-murdered-iron-lady-there-will-be-fire" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">“can’t-put-it-down” status</a>. The author wisely avoids taking sides in the bitter conflict, and his narrative achieves greater credibility as a result. This is reportage of a high order.</span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"> </span></span></p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2bestbooks23.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>After the Funeral and Other Stories </em>by Tessa Hadley</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In her latest collection, <em>After the Funeral and Other Stories<em>,</em> </em>Tessa Hadley excels at describing small details—the way light falls in a room, the dysfunctional texture of family life. This attention to detail blends wonderfully with the characters she creates—smart women, sometimes attractive, sometimes indifferent to their own beauty—and their hectic inner lives. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The men in Hadley’s stories come across as blustery and self-absorbed. Time and again, they demonstrate scant interest in the dramas swirling around them. It’s the women who struggle with the passage of time and betrayals by friends or family members, all against a pervasive backdrop of decay and death. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">If read too quickly, the stories in <em>After the Funeral</em> may seem to move in slow-motion. But read her pristine sentences more closely, and you’ll see <a href="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10040-authors-whose-works-will-enrich-your-life" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">just how much is really going on</a>.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3bestbooks23.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>The Zone of Interest </em>by Martin Amis</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Last May, I was well into an enthusiastic rereading of <em>The Zone of Interest</em> (2014) a novel by Martin Amis. The story, a sort of love triangle among Nazi officers and an officer’s wife set in Auschwitz, is admittedly not a work of fiction that suits everyone’s taste. But for me, the British author’s stylistic wizardry—his black humor and hyperkinetic prose, one dazzling thumbnail character sketch after another—was on full display.  The recently released film, based on Amis's novel, has also been hailed by critics as one of the best of the year. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Amis, aged 73, <a href="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24003-remembering-martin-amis-master-style-and-substance" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">died on May 13</a>. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Critics lambasted much of his later work (<em>Yellow Dog, Lionel Asbo</em><em>)</em>. My own take—having read nearly everything he wrote since <em>London Fields </em><em>(1999)</em>—was just the opposite. For sheer verbal fireworks, and a mostly seamless blend of satire and rumination on the human condition, Amis always delivered.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4bestbooks23.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Red Sky in Morning </em>by Paul Lynch </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>Red Sky in Morning </em>(2013) is the first novel by Paul Lynch, author of this year’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, <em>Prophet Song</em>. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">I came upon <em>Red Sky in Morning </em>by accident, but it took only a few pages to get sucked in. The writing is rough-hewn and hardscrabble, as befits its subject matter—a 19th-century Irish tenant farmer commits a murder and is pursued by authorities across the Atlantic—but Lynch pulls it off.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The influence of Cormac McCarthy weighs heavily on <em>Red Sky in Morning </em>(“The trees let slip the mantle of darkness, stretched themselves, fingers of leaves shivering in the breeze, red then goldening rays of light catching”). Still, the novel stands on its own—fully imagined and lived-in, with sentences that sing, dance, and erupt into sudden violence. A masterful debut. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/5bestbooks23.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Lee Polevoi is </em>Highbrow Magazine<em>’s chief book critic. His new novel, </em></strong><a href="https://www.leepolevoi.com/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash</strong></a><strong>, <em>was published in 2023.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/best-books-2023" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">best books of 2023</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/best-books-7" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">best books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/after-funeral" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">after the funeral</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/there-will-be-fire" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">there will be fire</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/sun-walks-down" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the sun walks down</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 26 Dec 2023 20:50:15 +0000 tara 12886 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24273-look-best-books-and-other-favorites#comments Burkhard Bilger’s Discovery of a War Criminal in the Family in ‘Fatherland’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24200-burkhard-bilger-s-discovery-war-criminal-family-fatherland <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 11/29/2023 - 13:23</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2nazicriminals.jpg?itok=FZxXbF2J"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2nazicriminals.jpg?itok=FZxXbF2J" width="480" height="332" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Fatherland: A Memoir of War, Consciences, and Family Secrets</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Burkhard Bilger</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Random House </strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>314 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“I was twenty-eight years old when my mother first told me that her father had been imprisoned as a war criminal.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">So Burkhard Bilger, a staff writer for <em>The New Yorker</em>, tells us in the early pages of his new memoir, <em>Fatherland. </em>Bilger’s maternal grandfather, Karl Gönner, served as a school principal, responsible for “re-educating” local children on behalf of the Third Reich. He was later named Nazi Party chief in the French province of Alsace, a region between France and Germany hotly disputed for centuries.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Some inhabitants of the border town of Bartenheim recalled Gönner as a man who intervened on behalf of villagers, saving them from Nazi persecution. But when the war ended, he stood accused of ordering the murder of a local man. (Gönner was eventually acquitted of this charge, though suspicions lingered.)</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Many years after learning about his grandfather, Bilger decides the time has come to get at the truth buried in the past. He travels to the region, conducting both archival research and interviews with a few remaining survivors. This prompts ruminations on the nature of memory and the past:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1nazicriminals.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The further events recede from view, the more we flatten and simplify them in our minds, till history is just a series of cautionary tales: crime and punishment, heroes and villains.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The opening chapters of <em>Fatherland </em>proceed at a leisurely pace. In a lengthy genealogical preamble, we learn in some detail about Bilger’s extended family and their upbringing before, during, and after the Nazis took power. There are long stretches about his grandfather’s personal history, most importantly his military service in the First World War. This seems notable mainly for cataloguing the severe injuries he sustained in combat; less compelling are authorial digressions such as a description of the all-Black 369<sup>th</sup> Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, known as the Harlem Hellfighters. Why this material is included is hard to say. We get more than a third of the way into <em>Fatherland </em>before delving into the Nazi years.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Soon after the liberation of France, Karl Gönner (called “Karl” throughout the book) was charged with ordering the execution of a villager aligned with the Resistance. A series of investigations followed, leading—many years later—to Karl’s official exoneration (though even that label was later rescinded by a German investigative committee, noting tersely “the above facts do not suffice to classify [Karl Gönner] as exonerated.”)</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The horrors of the Second World War lived on for years. In the 1950s, German children enjoyed romping in long-vacated tunnels behind a church:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3nazicriminals.jpg" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Scampering through them after school, they found old rifles and bayonets, spades, human skulls, and unexploded shells … Old tanks became truck chassis, bayonets became screwdrivers, rifle barrels became garden stakes for tomato plants.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">At one point, Bilger happens upon a boisterous oom-pah band in the town of Aulfingen—“a few hundred half-drunk Germans” celebrating a crafts and music fair. This happy crowd, he writes, is “unconcerned by history,” caring little, it seems, that “Hitler and Goebbels reveled in the same country garb.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Near the end of this somber, thoughtful memoir, the author makes an uneasy peace with his grandfather’s legacy. We find ourselves in difficult times, he concludes, all too eager to pass judgment on others and “fix” the past. “But the guilt that drives us can reach beyond penance or restitution to a conviction that something in us, or in our culture, is broken beyond repair. That our history is irredeemable.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">To his credit, Burkhard Bilger immediately adds, “I have never believed that.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Lee Polevoi</em>, Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic</em>, <em>is the author of a new novel, </em></strong><a href="https://www.leepolevoi.com/press" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash</strong></a><strong>.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong> Photo credits:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Bundesarchiv, Bild 119-0289 / Unknown author (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_119-0289,_M%C3%BCnchen,_Hitler_bei_Einweihung_%22Braunes_Haus%22.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>-- Unknown author (<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nazis_beim_Sch%C3%A4ferlauf_AGD.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Wikimedia</a>, Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Random House</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/burkhard-bilger" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">burkhard bilger</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/fatherland" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">fatherland</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war-criminals" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war criminals</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nazis" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nazis</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/war-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">war books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/historical-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">historical books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nonfiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nonfiction</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 29 Nov 2023 18:23:18 +0000 tara 12818 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24200-burkhard-bilger-s-discovery-war-criminal-family-fatherland#comments Uncontacted Tribe Lives Far off the Grid in ‘The Last Island’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24160-uncontacted-tribe-lives-far-grid-last-island <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 10/30/2023 - 13:06</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1tribe_depositphotos.jpg?itok=RgBBip_8"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1tribe_depositphotos.jpg?itok=RgBBip_8" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>(<em>Photo credit: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html">Depositphotos.com</a></em>)</p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The Last Island: Discovery, Defiance, and the Most Elusive Tribe on Earth</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Adam Goodheart</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Godine</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>272 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">There’s “off-the-grid” and then there’s <em>far </em>off-the-grid. In his new book, <em>The Last Island, </em>author and journalist Adam Goodheart explores the trials and tribulations of one of the last uncontacted tribes on earth, secluded from the world in the faraway eastern Indian Ocean.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">North Sentinel Island, part of an isolated archipelago called the Andaman Islands, caught the attention of world media in 2018, when John Chau, a feckless American evangelical Christian, attempted to convert the uncontacted tribe living on the island. On his third attempt to interact with tribe members (after first being driven off under bow-and-arrow assaults), Chau paid the ultimate price for his missionary hubris:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Later, the waiting fishermen glimpsed a group of natives dragging a lifeless body across the sand. The young American had failed to advance more than a few yards into Sentinelese territory, let alone dislodge Satan.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/islandbook.jpg" style="height:672px; width:438px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">This episode, the latest in a centuries-old effort of various nations to either welcome or subdue the Andamanese inhabitants, rekindled Goodheart’s interest in uncontacted tribes. In fact, he had previously journeyed to the remote archipelago in the mid-1990s, and reports of Chau’s death prompted him to renew his explorations into this uniquely 21<sup>st</sup>-century phenomenon.  </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The resulting narrative, <em>The Last Island, </em>offers a clear-eyed yet sympathetic portrait of a small, beleaguered tribe striving to remain beyond the reach of modern civilization.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“The island has almost wholly eluded all the devices and contrivances that have connected tribe to tribe, island to island, continent to continent. The written word. The compass and sextant. The steam engine. The radio. The smartphone. And no matter how much its inhabitants have managed to glean about the outside world from their glancing contacts—which is probably a good deal—there is no way they can know that their little home is the last place of its kind on this planet.” </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2tribe_depositphotos.jpg" style="height:449px; width:673px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p>(<em>Photo credit: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html">Depositphotos.com</a></em>)</p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Those of us in the hyper-connected world—that is, just about all other beings around the world—have, it seems, a perverse fascination with tribes who repudiate all contact with the outside world or are justifiably fearful of external contamination. It’s almost impossible to imagine a life devoid (or blessedly relieved) of modern “conveniences.” Many of these tribes, holding out against all costs, live in the Amazon Basin and Papua New Guinea, “a vanishingly tiny sliver of our species, at most ten thousand of the eight billion humans now on earth.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Goodheart describes at length the troubled history of the Andaman Islands, beset by occasional (and not always well-meaning) intruders. Sadly, these benighted incursions have, over the years, resulted in waves of infectious diseases, from measles to syphilis, that devasted the archipelago’s native populations. The Sentinelese, perhaps understanding all too well the price of being contacted, have so far resisted all attempts to be dragged into modern times.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/1ocean_depositphotos.jpg" style="height:427px; width:672px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p>(<em>Photo credit: <a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html">Depositphotos.com</a></em>)</p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In his own forays to North Sentinel Island, Goodheart cautiously circles the region but makes only slight contact of his own. Nonetheless, <em>The Last Island </em>offers an insightful look at the dilemmas faced by uncontacted tribes, and a poignant view of what it means to opt out of the modern day:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“With eyes as shrewd as any explorer’s, the Sentinelese look at all that we have to offer them—our planes, our plastics, our inflatable boats, and our waterproof Bibles—and say: <em>Thanks, anyway. We’d rather not.</em>”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><a href="https://www.leepolevoi.com/press" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash</strong></a><strong><em> is the new novel by </em>Highbrow Magazine <em>chief book critic Lee Polevoi.</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Image Sources:</span></span></strong></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">--<a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html">Depositphotos.com</a></span></span></em></p> <p><em><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">--Godine</span></span></em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/last-island" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the last island</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/adam-goodheart" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">adam goodheart</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/nonfiction-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">nonfiction books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tribes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">tribes</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/grid" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">off the grid</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/papau-new-guinea" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">papau new guinea</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/north-sentinel-island" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">north sentinel island</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/native-tribes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">native tribes</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 30 Oct 2023 17:06:48 +0000 tara 12709 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24160-uncontacted-tribe-lives-far-grid-last-island#comments A Diamond Heist Goes Awry in ‘The Stolen Coast’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24106-diamond-heist-goes-awry-stolen-coast <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 09/27/2023 - 15:20</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1coast_depositphotos.jpg?itok=uBVrwJcr"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1coast_depositphotos.jpg?itok=uBVrwJcr" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>The Stolen Coast</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Dwyer Murphy</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Viking</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>288 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">In <em><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/721486/the-stolen-coast-by-dwyer-murphy/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">The Stolen Coast</a>, </em>a new crime novel blurbed as “neo-noir,” author Dwyer Murphy resurrects the mood of that literary genre sparingly but effectively. Early on, the narrator describes the environment in and around the seaside village of Onset, Massachusetts:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“Sometimes it seemed like just about everyone you saw there was on the run from something. In other moments, stasis hung over the town like a cloud of gas and you would see the same faces night after night, and it felt like low tide would go on forever and the wind would always die in the flats.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Not quite Raymond Chandler (“one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch”) but you get the idea. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/coastbook.jpg" style="height:670px; width:444px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Jack Bettancourt, a young Harvard-educated lawyer turned criminal, is both a complicated and implausible primary character. Rather than pursue a career in law, he has opted to follow in the family business as a “ferryman”—that is, aiding people with a need to disappear off the grid succeed in their quest. The business was founded by Jack’s father, an ex-spy, and father and son each exemplify what Liam Neeson (in another context altogether) describes as “a very particular set of skills.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As <em>The Stolen Coast</em> gets underway, we get a look at events in Jack’s daily life, generally involving the retrieval and subsequent hiding of (mostly bad) people, in various cottages along the beach left vacant during the off-season. Things are running smoothly, more or less, with enough time left over for his greater passion, a weekly pickup basketball game. Then, from out of nowhere and in true noir fashion, Jack’s old flame Elena, absent from his life for seven years, abruptly reappears.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The thing is, Elena’s just as “bent” as Jack is. Soon after stepping blithely back into his world, she persuades him to drive through town to an old, abandoned house:</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2coast_depositphotos.jpg" style="height:359px; width:670px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“She approached the house slowly, without care, as though it were her own … It was odd, watching her from that remove. It felt like a performance. A piece of theater. Like she knew that I was watching but was pretending not to in order to amplify something—the tension or the confusion. After working the lock for a minute, she let herself inside. Her movements seemed very deliberate, then for a stretch of time she was gone; disappeared. Like she had never come back. Seven years away and counting.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As with any novel steeped in noir, the narrator’s voice is everything. Does Jack’s voice, as shown here sounding somewhat detached from his surroundings, persuade us of the authenticity of his story? Yes, some of the time, while at other moments he comes across as much too naïve for this crooked line of work.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Even more oddly, though we follow Jack’s point of view throughout, there’s a critical moment midway through the story when he delivers a client to a supposedly safe location, and a gruesome act of violence throws everything out of whack. But the “I” describing the incident seems to recede into the foreground. Jack takes no action in response to the violence, nor does he demonstrate much concern about a job gone terribly wrong.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3diamonds.jpg" style="height:377px; width:670px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Things aren’t helped by a fair amount of aimless and semi-expository dialogue between Jack and Elena, and between Jack and his pickup basketball friends. In a story where the stakes are presumably right up there in the realm of life and death, the novel’s emotional temperature remains stubbornly flat, devoid of much passion or style.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Soon<em>, </em>Elena draws Jack into a plan to steal raw diamonds, valued from between $3 million and $180 million, from one of her business associates. Although every instinct warns him away, Jack agrees to take part and from there, <em>The Stolen Coast </em>picks up pace. Dwyer Murphy captures the disturbing atmospherics of this beachfront town, where considerable chicanery takes place behind the scenes. But there may not be enough behind-the-scenes “stuff” about the family business or the botched diamond heist to convince and satisfy every reader.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Lee Polevoi, </em>Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book editor, has just published a novel, </em></strong><a href="https://www.leepolevoi.com/press" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash.</strong></a></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Image Sources:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--<a href="https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Depositphotos.com</a></em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>--Viking</em></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em><a href="https://pixabay.com/photos/diamond-diamonds-gem-gemstone-ruby-3185447/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">--Pixabay</a> (Creative Commons)</em></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/dwyer-murphy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">dwyer murphy</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/stolen-coast" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the stolen coast</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-novels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new novels</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new fiction</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mystery-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">mystery books</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/noir-books" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">noir books</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/crime-stories" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">crime stories</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 27 Sep 2023 19:20:10 +0000 tara 12626 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24106-diamond-heist-goes-awry-stolen-coast#comments How the IRA Nearly Murdered the ‘Iron Lady’ in ‘There Will Be Fire’ https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24077-how-ira-nearly-murdered-iron-lady-there-will-be-fire <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/books-fiction" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Books &amp; Fiction</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 09/12/2023 - 11:53</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1thatcher.jpg?itok=vvb2snGP"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1thatcher.jpg?itok=vvb2snGP" width="480" height="376" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>There Will Be Fire: Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>By Rory Carroll</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Putnam</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>416 pages</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">On October 12, 1984, 100 pounds of gelignite exploded in the Grand Hotel in Brighton, England, where Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was staying for the annual Conservative Party Conference. The hotel was devastated, five people died, and many more were wounded. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">The target of the bombing, known both lovingly and in the most hateful terms as the “Iron Lady,” narrowly escaped assassination.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">As Rory Carroll, a journalist for the <em>Guardian </em>and author of <em>There Will Be Fire</em>, notes, the failed assassination attempt took place at the height of The Troubles, “that odd euphemism for sporadic killing” between the Irish Republican Army and British anti-terrorism units. In the 1970s and 1980s, bombs in cars, department stores, and military targets went off with frightening irregularity, fomenting an atmosphere in Ireland and Great Britain of terror, suspicion, and horrific premeditated murder.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2thatcher.jpg" style="height:670px; width:600px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">No one quite like Margaret Thatcher had ever occupied 10 Downing Street. The Iron Lady’s magnetic personality, coupled with an almost insatiable work ethic, set her apart from more ordinary politicians: </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“You felt it as soon as she entered the room. She didn’t walk, she bustled. She didn’t sit so much as coil, poised to spring back up. As she reviewed official documents, her pen tracked the text and swooped on errant phrases and feeble arguments, stabbing the page with underlinings, exclamations, excisions. Running the country didn’t halt her domestic chores, ironed her outfits, and cooked supper. When a visitor spilled coffee on the carpet, she spent twenty minutes scrubbing out the stain. Such things, after all, needed to be done correctly.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Here was a prime minister dedicated to dismantling much of the state apparatus that had so long been in place in England. She also deeply opposed North Ireland’s efforts to sever all ties with Great Britain. Every bomb attack in London only strengthened her resolve to never cooperate or meet the demands of Sinn Fein, the IRA’s political arm, or the battle-hardened Irish terrorists determined to achieve their goal of independence.</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3thatcher.jpg" style="height:501px; width:670px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Unfortunately, the series of bombings during that time “exposed a humbling truth about her policy on Northern Ireland,” Carroll writes. “She didn’t have one.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><em>There Will Be Fire </em>grows out of impressive archival research, as well as more than a hundred interviews with police detective, ex-IRA members, politicians, bomb disposal experts, and many others. In his account of how the plot to assassinate Thatcher unfolded, Carroll offers a measured, even-handed account of The Troubles. This includes years of life-and-death cat-and-mouse games between Scotland Yard’s Anti-Terrorist Branch and the IRA’s so-called “England Department,” the source of planning and implementation of bombings, shootings, and other acts of terror. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">When the assassination plan starts to coalesce and IRA operative Patrick Magee conducts a reconnaissance mission at the Grand Hotel, his book achieves “can’t-put-it-down” status. Carroll cleverly structures the story to build to that inexorable moment when a time-delayed explosive device, concealed in a hotel room not far from where Thatcher was staying, finally went off: </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4thatcher.jpg" style="height:550px; width:365px" typeof="foaf:Image" /></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">“At 02:54:01, the bomb in the bathroom of room 629 detonated. A brilliant, blinding white light pierced the walls and corridors and brick façade … A fireball whooshed through the sixth floor, driven by the exponentially expanding force of the explosive’s compressed power. Blast waves radiated outward through brick and stone, unleashing a roar like thunder.”</span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif">Rory Carroll wisely avoids taking sides in the bitter conflict, and his narrative acquires greater credibility as a result. His prose isn’t flashy (nor should it be, given the dire subject matter) but is instead marked by clarity and dispassion. <em>There Will Be Fire </em>is reportage of a high order, of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about The Troubles. </span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>Author Bio:</strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>On the podcast, </em></strong><a href="https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2e6f5512-2d7b-49e0-8008-000a1f75746d/episodes/f6946d79-9379-409e-94dc-8a3b1b4a0d77/tell-me-about-your-book-the-confessions-of-gabriel-ash-by-lee-polevoi-literary-cold-war-thriller" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>“Tell Us About Your Book,”</em></strong></a><strong><em> </em></strong><strong>Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief book critic Lee Polevoi discusses his newly published novel, </em>The Confessions of Gabriel Ash.</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>Image Sources:</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>--Putnam</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>--Number 10 (</em></strong><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/number10gov/6992989180" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Flickr</em></strong></a><strong><em>, Creative Commons)</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>--White House Photo Office (</em></strong><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thatcher_reviews_troops.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Wikipedia.org</em></strong></a><strong><em>, Creative Commons)</em></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:18px"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman,Times,serif"><strong><em>--Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (</em></strong><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/proni/48841487392" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><strong><em>Flickr,</em></strong></a><strong><em> Creative Commons)</em></strong></span></span></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/margaret-thatcher" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">margaret thatcher</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/ira-bombings" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">IRA bombings</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/troubles" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the troubles</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/northern-ireland-conflict" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Northern Ireland conflict</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/irish-republican-army" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Irish Republican Army</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/assassination-attemp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">assassination attemp</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Lee Polevoi</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">In Slider</div></div></div> Tue, 12 Sep 2023 15:53:29 +0000 tara 12129 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/24077-how-ira-nearly-murdered-iron-lady-there-will-be-fire#comments