Books Set in Africa: Belgium Congo

The Girl Who Married an Eagle, by Tamar Myers (2013)

I just loved this little novel.  This is actually the fourth book in the Belgium Congo Series.  I inadvertently skipped the third book, but enjoyed the other two.

This novel, like the other two, takes place in the late 1950s on the eve of the Congo's independence from Belgium and is drawn from the author's actual life.  Her parents were missionaries in the Belgium Congo and the author lived there until she was a teenager.  Her family lived among a tribe known for being headhunters.

In this novel, a young girl named Buakane was given in marriage to be the 23 wife of the tribal chief, Chief Eagle.  He had a violent temper and was known to beat his wives.  In addition, according to tradition, when the chief died, his wives were buried alive with his body.  On the day of her marriage, Buakane runs away.  She comes upon a road built by the "whites" and is attacked by hyenas.

Along came Julia Newton, a young fresh-faced and naive college student with romantic dreams of being a missionary in Africa.  She is in for a rude cultural awakening.  She is traveling to the village where she will be working, when her jeep see Buakane.  They bring her to the village where the strict Protestant nurse stitcher her wounds.

The novel goes into great detail about the cultural differences between the whites who have moved in to "save the natives" and the various tribal traditions.

4 Stars

Books Set in Europe: Germany and Austria

The Nazi Officer's Wife, by Edith Hahn Beer (1999)

This is a memoir by a young Jewish woman whose family was from Vienna, Austria, when the Gestapo forced her into a labor camp in the early 1940s.  When she returned to Vienna, she went underground.  A Christian friend helped her by letting her use "lost" identity papers, thus emerging in Munich as Grete Denner.  She met Werner Vetter, a Nazi party member who fell in love with her.  She eventually tells him her secret ~ that she is really Jewish.  He was not concerned and the two married after his divorce to his first wife became final.  Werner had a violent temper and expected his wife to keep their apartment spotless, have dinner ready and be available to him on demand.  Edith readily agreed and adapted to this life to protect her life.

She eventually has a daughter.  Werner wanted a son and is a distant parent.  Eventually, he was drafted and sent to the Eastern front.  He became a Russian prisoner of war.

After the war ended, Edith was able to return to her real identity and procured a job as a judge in Germany.  (She had gone to law school, but was not awarded a degree because she was Jewish.  After the war, she was able to get her credentials and practice law).  She begged the Russians to assist in getting her husband home from the prison camp.  He was thus able to be released, but was unable to adjust to an "overeducated" wife with a well-paying job.  He was violent with her and she eventually divorced him.

The book was an interesting slice of life and survival, but was not particularly well written.

3 Stars

Read:  December 22, 2015

Books Set in the United States: New Hampshire

Lone Wolf, by Jodi Picoult (2012)

I thought this story was rather far-fetched with respect to Luke Warren, who is portrayed to be a wolf biologist who actually lived in the wild with wolves for two years.  That aside, this is a novel about a dysfunctional family (aren't all families dysfunctional?), yet have to deal with a family member who has suffered irreparable brain injury.

The author does a good job at keeping the suspense, as family secrets are not divulged, and the reader is kept guessing as to causes of the family split.

Luke, Georgie, Edward and Cara were a family until Luke's research took him into the wild.  When he returned, he was a changed man.  At age 18, Edward and his father had a fight, ostensibly because Edward revealed to his father that he was gay.  The fight was enough so that Edward suddenly left the family and moved to Thailand where he got a job teaching English.  Luke and Georgie divorced; Georgie remarried and began a new family.  Cara moved in with her father.

One night, Luke and Cara were in a car accident that left Luke permanently brain damaged.  Cara suffers from extreme guilt, thinking that she was the cause of the accident.  When Georgie learns of the accident, she immediately called Edward and asked him to return.

Much of the deals with the ethics of ending a terminal life.  Jodi raises interesting points.  Throughout the novel are passages from Luke, as he discusses the lives of wolves and how they can correspond to human lives.

3 Stars

Read: December 20, 2015

Books Set in the United States: New Hampshire

Handle with Care, by Jodi Picoult (2009)

This novel follows the family of Willow O'Keefe, a young girl born with Type III osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone syndrome.  The novel is told though the eyes of numerous people, including her mother, father, sister, her mother's OB/GYN and her mother's lawyer.  The brittle bone syndrome means that Willow must be extremely careful ~ the slightest movement can and will break her bones.  To care for Willow, her mother Charlotte has become a stay-at-home mother.  Her father Sean, a police officer, works overtime to afford the treatment and other special needs for Willow.

After Willow suffers broken bones while on vacation Disney World, her parents are initially arrested on grounds of child abuse.  Her parents seek out a lawyer to sue the bark, but end up discussing a lawsuit against the OB/GYN on grounds of malpractice for a wrongful birth.  The theory being that if they had known earlier that the fetus Charlotte was carrying, they may never have carried Willow to term.  They are told that if they win, they will have sufficient funds to care for Willow throughout her life.  Filing suit, however, means that Charlotte will be pitted against Piper, who, in addition to being her doctor, was also her closest friend.

The novel traces the medical ethics of and personal morality in the case of a disabled child.  In addition, it explores the impact of such a child has on other family members.  Sean is opposed to abortion and knows that that option was not truly an option.  He opts out of the lawsuit and defects to the defense.  This leads to a separation between Charlotte and Sean.

Willow's older sister, Amelia, feels neglected by all the attention given to Willow.  She develops bulimia and starts cutting herself to make her self feel.  All of this is done in secret and her parents are unaware of how the attention to Willow affects Amelia.  No one considered how the wrongful birth suit would impact Willow.  She feels somehow the cause of the split between her parents.

Jodi Picoult did a lot of research into both the disease and the ethics surrounding a wrongful birth lawsuit.

5 Stars

Read: December 12, 2015