Books Set in Europe: Italy and Ireland

The Lost Painting, by Jonathan Harr (2005)

 

The Lost Painting reads like a mystery, which it is.  The Italian Baroque artist, Caraviggio, had fallen out of favor until the 20^th Century.  Little was known of the artist other than he was a revolutionary painter with a hot temper.  He died under mysterious circumstances; and was probably murdered at age 38.

 

Less than 100 paintings by the artist are known to exist.  In the mid-20^th Century, scholars began a renewed interest in the artist.  It was believed that one of his masterpieces, a painting called The Taking of Christ, still existed.  Scholars knew what it looked like, as copies of the painting existed.

 

In 1989, two young art graduate students began their research into a record of the painting.  They knew that the painting had been commissioned by the wealthy and influential Mattei family in 1602.  The two young students, Francesca Cappelletti and Laura Testa, tracked down the current descendants and learned that the matriarch had stored all the family documents in the basement of a tiny village on the Adriatic coast.  After some convincing, the students were allowed to review the family files.  There, they found documentation leading them to believe that the original had been sold in the early 1800 to a buyer in Scotland.

 

Around the same time, an Italian art restorer named Sergio Benedetti, working in Ireland came across a painting for restoration that belonged to the Jesuit Fathers in Dublin.  This painting had been hanging in hanging in dining room of the Jesuit House for over 50 years.  It had accumulated considerable dirt and dust over the years.  Immediately, Benedetti recognized the style of the painting and believed that it might be the original lost painting.

 

Benedetti was put in touch with various art historians as well as the former graduate students.  After several years of continued research and restoration, the painting was acknowledged as being an authentic Caravaggio.  It now still belongs to the Jesuits; but is on permanent display in the National Gallery of Ireland.

 

I enjoyed this book, however, it was not as good as Harr’s earlier book, A Civil Action.

 

Read:  February 26, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Mississippi

A Spark of Light, by Jodi Picoult (2018)

 

I have read several novels by Jodi Picoult.  She selects often controversial topics and explores various sides of the issue without lecturing or telling the reader the “right” answer.  This book, that explores an abortion clinic is no exception.  What is unique about this novel is that it takes place in one day, but it told backwards, one hour at a time.  (We do learn the backstories of the characters as the layers of each person is slowly peeled back.)

 

As is true in many states, laws have been enacted that severely restrict a woman’s ability to procure a safe and legal abortion.  This novel takes place in the only such center available in Mississippi.  As soon becomes clear, the Center, as it is called, also provides a plethora of health and reproductive services for women.  This book was carefully researched and is grounded in fact from both sides of the issue.

 

The novel begins when a gunman enters the Center and begins shooting, immediately killing the receptionist.  The women in the Center at the time of the shooting are there for various reasons.  Wren is a 15-year old girl who talked her Aunt Bex into taking her there for birth control pills; Joy needed an abortion; and 68-year-old Olive was there for women’s health care.  Janine is a “spy”, pretending to need an abortion in the hopes that she can capture incriminating evidence “proving” that women are coerced into getting an abortion.

 

George, the gunman, had just learned that his daughter had an abortion and wants to take revenge on the Center.  As has happened throughout the country, there have been a number of shootings at women’s health clinics.  In the afterward to the book, the author provides a summary of much of her research.

 

This is one of Picoult’s best novels.

 

Read:  February 21, 2021

 

4 Stars

Books Set in Asia: Israel; Bethlehem

The Collaborator of Bethlehem, by Matt Beynon Rees (2006)

 

This is a rather disturbing mystery novel, the first in the Omar Yussef series, that focuses on Omar Yussef, a schoolteacher in a United Nations school in Bethleham.  The novel is about the tensions between the Muslim Arabs and the Christians living in Bethleham.  Added to the mix are the Israelis who seek out terrorists and the so-called Martyrs Brigade that terrorizes everyone.

 

Omar has been teaching for many years and is toying with the idea of retirement.  Many of his former students are now successful citizens of the area and Omar has maintained bonds with them.  One of his students, George Saba now runs an antique shop.

 

When a member of the Martyrs Brigade was shot and killed, George, a Christian, was arrested and sentenced to death as being a collaborator of the Israelis to target terrorists.  Omar believes that George is innocent and takes a leave from his classroom to become an amateur sleuth to prove George is in the clear.

 

Omar uncovers evidence that he believes clears George, but no one is willing to consider.  The novel is disturbing.  The police detective tells George that his job is to keep his head down and consider only the state and its security, regardless of the innocence or guilt of a suspect.  The thrust of this mystery lies in the politics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

 

Read: February 12, 2021

 

3 Stars

 

 

 

Books Set in Asia: Jaipur, India

The Henna Artist, by Alka Joshi (2020)

 

At age 17, Lakshmi Shastri left her abusive husband and set off to fend for herself.  She had been forced into an arranged marriage at age 15.  As was the custom, she moved into her husband’s home.  She had a loving relationship with her mother-in-law who taught her traditional herbal medicine.  Her husband, however, beat her often, thus, she felt she had to leave him to save her life.

 

Thirteen years later, she was living in Jaipur, a city in northern India, where she was a successful henna artist.  Life was good.  She cast herself as a young widow and set up business as a henna artist.  She had learned the trade while living in Agra with “pleasure” women.  In Jaipur, she had many high-caste clients and was earning enough money to build herself a home.  Her intricate designs provided her with top dollar fees.  She had visions of contacting her parents and having them live with her.

 

The husband of one of her clients had many mistresses.  Lakshmi supplemented her income selling him and others herbal sachets that would make babies disappear.

 

One day, out of the blue, her estranged husband appeared at her doorstep with a young girl in tow.  Shortly after Lakshmi left her husband, her parents had another child, Radha.  Lakshmi had no idea that she had a younger sister, who had been deemed the Bad Luck Girl in her hometown.  These unexpected visitors have the potential to turn Laskhmi’s life upside down.

 

I enjoyed this book.  It showed a small slice of life in India in the 1950s and the struggles a woman had while trying to live on her own.  The novel’s ending, however, was a bit too pat.  Everything was all resolved in an amicable way.

 

Read:  February 6, 2021

 

4 Stars

 

 

Books Set in Asia: Japan: Tokyo

Before the Coffee Gets Cold, by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (2015)

 

In a tiny obscure basement café in a small alley in Tokyo, you can get a cup of coffee and maybe some food.  Legend has it that you can order a cup of coffee and travel in time.  The café is small and can serve only a few customers at a time.  At the table in the corner, you will find a woman in a white dress who is drinking coffee and reading a book.  

 

One summer, four customers seek to try their luck with the legend.  Time travel, however, has very strict rules.  Travel in time cannot change the present.  One can only go back in time to meet someone who had previously been a customer at the café; one must sit in a specific chair during the entire journey; and one must drink a cup of coffee before it gets cold.  The woman in the white dress is the ghost of the person who allowed her coffee to get cold.

 

As we meet the four “time travelers”, we learn their stories and the reasons for wanting to take this magical journey.  Their stories are intertwined.  Hirai left her family’s business to find freedom in Tokyo.  She has been avoiding her sister for years, but suddenly finds herself needing to have an urgent conversation with her.  Kohtake wants one more conversation with her husband before Alzheimer’s takes his memory of her.

 

This is a delightful little novel.

 

Read:  February 3, 2021

4.5 Stars

Books Set in North America, United States, Virginia

Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (2019)

 

This novel is part courtroom drama, part mystery.  Pak and Young Yoo and their daughter Mary, are South Korean immigrants.  They immigrated to the United States in hopes of providing their teenaged daughter a good education.  For visa reasons, Young Yoo and Mary arrived several years before Pak could join them.  Once the family is together, they find themselves in rural Virginia in a town called Miracle Creek.

 

Pak was able to get a license to run a private hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) center.  The therapy claimed to provide treatment for a variety of illnesses and conditions, including autism and infertility.  The HBOT chamber is a refurbished submarine that can accommodate several patients in one “dive.”

 

The novel opens with a fire at the facility, in which two of the people chamber were killed, and several others seriously wounded.  The mother of the 8-year-old autistic child who died in the fire is the prime suspect.  Usually, the mothers would enter the chamber with their children, but on this day, Elizabeth, opted not to participate.

 

Elizabeth’s demeanor in the courtroom certainly makes her look suspect, and as witnesses testify, her guilt seems clear.  But as the trial continues, the author peels back the stories and motives of the Yoos and the other families who were in the chamber on the day of the fire.  Each person has his/her own reasons for keeping secrets.

 

This was a quick read as a novel, but ultimately, I was left unsatisfied.  There were still too many issues that were raised in the book, that were left unanswered.  As Chekhov noted: If in Act One you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must fire in the last act.

 

Read: February 2, 2021

 

3 Stars