Books Set in North America: Caribbean and Louisiana

Island Beneath the Sea, by Isabel Allende (2010)

Island Beneath the Sea, by Isabel Allende, is a historical novel that takes place on the Caribbean island of Saint-Domingue (current day Haiti) and New Orleans from the late 1700s, through the French Revolution slave rebellion of Saint-Domingue of 1804, and the Louisiana Purchase.  The novel follows a young slave girl, Zarité, known as Tété.  The novel is mostly told in third person, but some chapters are narrated by Zarité.

In the 1700s, wealthy French plantation owners ran and operated sugar plantations on Saint-Domingue.  Young Toulouse Valmorain left France to travel to Saint-Domingue to assist his father with the family’s plantation.  He intended to stay only a few weeks, but when he arrived, he found his father dying and the sugar plantation in deplorable conditions.  He soon found himself inheriting the sugar plantation, complete with hundreds of slaves.  When he married, he purchased Tété for his spoiled, Spanish/Cuban bride.

Compared to his neighboring plantation owners, Valmorain was relatively kind, however, he allowed his ruthless overseer handle discipline.  When his wife became ill, Tété tended to her.  Valmorain found the young Tété attractive, and soon called her to his bed.  As a slave, Tété had no alternative but to obey his call, even though she was just a child when he first began his sexual relationshio (rape) with her.  She bore him two children, the first of which was quickly whisked away from her, while the second, was raised in the plantation home along with Valmorain’s legitimate son.

The novel described the beginning of the slave revolt, which was led by the historical figure of Toussaint Louverture.  When Tété learned that the rebellion was approaching her master’s plantation, and that the master and his house slaves would be slaughter, she convincee Valmorain to pack up his family and leave the plantation in the middle of the night.  Eventually, they arrived in Louisiana, where Valmorain, through his brother-in-law, had purchased property and made contacts.

Valmorain had promised to free Tété and her daughter, and had given her a written document to that effect, however, he also convinced her that her freedom would not become effective until she turned 30 years old.

The novel vividly describes life in New Orleans under Spanish rule in the late 1700s before it came under French, then American governance.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book with its glimpse into this historical period.

Read:  January 21, 2020

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York City

Button Man, by Andrew Gross (2018)

Button Man is a historical family drama about organized crime and the garment industry in the 1920s and 30s.  The novel opens in 1905 with the death of one of the young twin brothers from the Rabishevsky family.  His death left a pall over the family and haunts Harry, his twin brother, for the rest of his life.

The Rabishevsky’s were Russian-Jews scraping by in their new environs.  After the death of their father, a few years later, the children are forced to find work.  The novel focuses on Morris, the youngest child.  He finds work at 12 years old as an apprentice as a cutter in the garment factory.  He is ambitious and soon learns the industry.

Jump forward to the 1920s, Morris has begun his own small garment company.  He enlists his older brother, Sol, to be the company’s account.  They call their company Raab Brothers.  They try to get Harry into the business, but he is drawn to the seedier side of the city and has fallen in with some small-time criminals.

At first the Raab Brothers is too small to attract the interest of organized crime, which by the 1930s has infiltrated the garment industry by controlling its unions.  Morris fought the unions, knowing that he was able to pay his employees higher wages, and didn’t want to pay the “protection” to the criminal syndicate.

The novel also focuses on some real-life criminals ~ Louis Buchalter, Jacob “Gurrah” Shapiro, Mendy Weiss, Dutch Schultz, Albert Anastasia and others.  While reading this book, I periodically stopped to do some fact checking.  Much of what was depicted in the novel was based on actual events.

I enjoyed this book.  It was a fast read.  The final confrontation between Morris and the criminal element in the last few pages, however, was a bit too far-fetched, in what otherwise was a very believable novel. 

The novel was based on his only family saga.  His grandfather was in the garment industry and had first-hand experience in dealing with the so-called union organizers.  This made the book especially poignant.

A Button Man is a hired killer.  The title, thus, is a double entendre:  It can refer to both a hired killer or the garment industry itself.

Read:  January 14, 2020

4.5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New Orleans, Louisiana

The Yellow House, by Sarah M. Broom (2019)

The Yellow House is a memoir of New Orleans as seen through eyes of a large, loving family that grew up in New Orleans East.  In 1961, Ivory Webb, a 19-year-old widow with two young children, purchased a house for just over $3,000, on Wilson Avenue in New Orleans East.  She would live in that tiny house for the next 44 years.  Over that period, she would remarry a man named Simon Broom and the family would grow to 12 children.

Sarah Broom, the author, is the youngest child, born in the final days of 1979.  Almost exactly six months later, her father died suddenly, leaving Ivory to raise her family on her own.

While he was alive, Simon would continually attempt to make renovations and repairs on the house.  After his death, the house became another “child” to tend to.  At some point in time, yellow siding was put up on the house, hence the Yellow House that Sarah grew up on.

The first part of the book delves into the history of the development of New Orleans East and its transformation to the neighborhood it became.  By the time the author was born, the neighborhood had changed and was the forgotten district of New Orleans, surrounded by Lake Ponchartrain and the Industrial Canal.

Sarah grew in a loving home environment.  Her mother was determined to see that her children were raised to achieve.  When Sarah began hanging out with the wrong crowd in junior high school, her mother sent her to a religious private school.  Some of her brothers also attended private schools.  Money that could have been used to make repairs in the house went towards education. 

Sarah went to college in Texas.  Two of her brothers drive her to her new environment, where she is suddenly exposed to a bigger world than her comfortable New Orleans.  She eventually lands a job in New York working for O Magazine.  She was living there on that fateful day when Hurricane Katrina struck.  Most of her family, however, was still living in New Orleans East, although they had been evacuated before the levees broke.  The large family became scattered all over the United States.

New Orleans East was one of the first areas of the city to be inundated by water from Katrina.  The Yellow House was severely damaged as water literally covered the house.  The house, however, did not collapse, nor was it displaced to another location, as so many other houses in New Orleans East and the 9th Ward were.

The Federal Government established a Road Home Program, designed to assist Louisiana residents who had been affected by Katrina (and Hurricane Rita, which occurred a month after Katrina).  The Program was to assist homeowners with funds to rebuild their homes.  The Program, however, was fraught with problems.  In addition, city officials, hoping to rid the City of blight, determined that it would demolish homes unless the owners indicated otherwise.  Notices of the demolitions were mailed to the address of the homes that were to be razed.  Thus, 2 years passed and the Broom family was still living outside of New Orleans when the Notice of Demolition was mailed to the Yellow House.  The family was unaware of the notice, and the house ~ the bloodline of Ivory ~ was torn down.  There was little recourse to the family.

After traveling the globe in search of jobs to avoid the trauma of Katrina, the author eventually returns to New Orleans, this time living in the French Quarter, to try to find closure.

I am not generally a fan of memoirs, however, I found this to be fascinating.  I lived (and still live) in South Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina.  I was intimately familiar with the rebuilding of public spaces in the City.  Thus, I was intrigued by the author’s perspective.  She has a beautiful way of describing her surroundings.  I could almost see and feel the city through the pages.

A few photographs were included in the book.  I would liked to have seen more.  Also, a map of the City would be helpful for readers unfamiliar with New Orleans.

Read:  January 6, 2010

5 Stars

Books Set in Europe: England

The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides (2019)

The Silent Patient is a psychological thriller narrated by Theo Faber, a psychotherapist.  He is ostensibly out to help Alicia Berenson, a young woman accused of murdering her husband and who is now confined to a psychiatric facility known as the Grove.

Alicia was a famous painter with an equally famous fashion photographer husband, Gabriel.  The novel starts after Alicia had been convicted of binding her husband to a chair and shooting him in the face several times.  After the murder, Alicia refused to speak again.

The murder made headlines.  Theo Faber seemingly became obsessed with the murder and, several years after the crime, he got the opportunity to work with Alicia.  He was determined to get her to talk and get to motive behind the killing.  In the process of providing her with his version of therapy, he meets with Alicia’s family and friends and quizzes them about Alicia’s past.

As the novel unwraps, we learn as much about Alicia’s past as we do about Theo’s past.  Theo is trapped in a marriage with a woman he seemingly loves despite her affair.  There was a final twist that I didn't see coming, which really made for a good thriller.

This novel was a page-turner.  It was a very quick read and was just the ticket to get me out of my reading slump.

Read: January 3, 2020

5 Stars