Beloved by Toni Morrison is one of those novels that stay with you: it provokes a response so deep from the reader that it will haunt you and hopefully better you and your understanding of history.

The story centers around a run-away slave named Sethe; she manages to escape and free her children also. But, the price she pays for her freedom is almost too much to ask. Her time spent at Sweet Home, where she was owned, will forever be part of her life. It is hard to reconcile the name Sweet Home, with the degredation of slavery that Sethe experiences there. I think the name Sweet Home exemplifies the rhetoric that slavery and colonization lived under; if you act and talk like you are helping the poor black folk, then you can convince yourself (as a slave owner) that what you are doing isn't horrifically inhumane.

Sethe found hapiness in her marriage at Sweet Home, but she also found heartbreak and humiliation at the hands of her owner's sons. It is one thing to read about the indiginities of slavery: usually the accounts are in terms of the physical damage and physical taxation of slavery. Through Sethe's journey and memories, you get a different sense of the price of slavery on its victims; the reader experiences what slavery does to the mental psyche.

Morrison takes us so effectively into Sethe's head when she relives her memories, that empathy for Sethe isn't the only emotion the reader experiences; we also experience her heartbreak and we can understand the desperation that drove her actions. I am not suggesting that this novel can come close to the pain and mental anguish that slaves endured, but Morrison weaves the emotional savagery of slavery so perfectly, that when Sethe experiences a loss, the reader does too.

I wouldn't be giving anything away to describe the plot of the novel, since it is explained on the cover. One of Sethe's daughters has died, and both of her boys have run off. There is only one daughter left living with Sethe when we arrive at her house as readers. But a strange and mysterious young lady arrives one day; her name is Beloved and she has come to live with Sethe. Beloved is the daughter of Sethe's who has died; she has come back for answers.

This novel is so bewitching and haunting, that I felt the need to put it down at various times in order to reflect on what just occurred. I have read many of Morrison's works, and I think that this one is her best by far. I confess that I read the novel at least 10 years ago (so this review may be patchy), but I have recently heard it read. I am not a fan of audio books ususally, but I was lucky enough to snare a CD of Toni Morrison reading this novel. Listening to Morrison reading Beloved was almost like listening to Morrison become Sethe herself.

I highly recommend this novel! Happy Reading!

Black Elk Speaks By John G. Neihardt

This book is written by John Neihardt, but in truth it is given to him by Black Elk; Neihardt writes the book with Black Elk in true collaborative fashion.  Keeping true to oral tradition, Black Elk narrates his life's experiences to Neihardt in Sioux and it was recorded and then translated to create Black Elk Speaks.

This book is not written narrative in the sense that it reads as a spoken novel.  And it does feel as if someone is speaking to you, which is subtly different from written text.  It attempts to keep authentic the act of oral storytelling which is still such an important facet of Native American culture.

Black Elk was born in 1863 and died in 1950.  He was born into a culture that was proud and living in freedom in the west, and he died seeing his people "penned up into ugly square boxes" on the reservations.  The power of the circle for his people was irrevocably broken.  Black Elk Speaks chronicles these events as he and his people experienced them.

     "In Black Elks' own words:  "But the Wasichus (whites) have put us in these square boxes.  Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us any more.  You can look at our boys and see how it is with us.  When we were living by the power of the cirlce in the way we should, boys were men at twelve or thirteen years of age.  But now it takes them very much longer to mature." (151)

Throughout this novel, we experience Black Elk's great vision and learn what it means to him and his people.  We discover a great deal about Native American beliefs, how religion is part of every day life, how animals and  mother earth are as equally important as the humans who inhabit it.  How no individual is more important than the community.  These lessons might help us in this age when we need to focus on environmental concerns in order to rescue our planet.

Black Elk's second cousin was Crazy Horse; Black Elk recounts the painful massacres of his people that he witnessed first hand - the fights with General Custer (long hair) and the horrific butchering at Wounded Knee.

  If Black Elk didn't personally witness the event, he brought forth another who did witness the battle to tell the story.  He is very careful about not embellishing; Black Elk recounts these events and how it made him feel with a simplicity that is simultaneously imformative and incredibly moving.

The only times I have read about the Indian massacres and how unfairly the Washichus (the white man) treated the Native Americans is in American History books, and in James Michener's Centennial.  And while both seem to give "the truth", and Michener does side with the Native American, neither information source is given to us by a Native American himself.

How are we to understand, without hearing from the people who were so tragically directly affected?  I highly recommend this novel to anyone at all - for those of you who are interested in "the other side of HiSTORY", because there is always the other side - or for those of you who are interested in learning about the Great Spirit which infuses Native American lives, or simply for those of you who "like to know".

At first scoop, Digging to America seems like an innocent straight forward novel about two couples who adopt baby girls from Korea. It is about how these couples' lives intersect: they both recieve their precious girls on the same day.

But dig a litter deeper into the novel, and you find that maybe it is really about what it means to adopt a child. Dig a little deeper, and maybe it questions culture and heritage and assimilation. Both families that adopt these Korean children live in America, and neither family is Korean. The Donaldsons are "very American," or white breads, as they put it. The Yazdans are Iranian: the husband was born and bred in America but his wife, Ziba, was raised in Iran until her teenage years.

The relationship between the Donaldsons and the Yazdans is also worth "digging into." Bitsy and Brad Donaldson (Tyler picks the best names) and Sami and Zabi Yazdan are the parents of these two Korean girls. Bitsy seems to hold some subtle power over Ziba; whenever Bitsy declares something about parenting, Ziba experiences a moment of doubt and confusion. Is this because Bitsy is older than Ziba? Or, is it because the Iranians are so polite that they would never think of offering unwanted advice like the Americans do? Or, is it because Bitsy is so undeniably American, Ziba feels intimidated by her?

There are so many levels to "belonging" in our lives. How does one belong to a group, a family, a culture, a country? Relationships are messy and complex, sort of like digging in the dirt. With every scoopful of dirt, the mixture shifts and alters. Tyler captures these subtle variations in relationships: between cultures, countries, the sexes, and generations.

The Donaldsons decide that their baby will keep her Korean name, but the Yazdans opt to Americanize their daughter's name. Are the Donaldsons just being politically correct? Or, is it that they feel so at home in America, they don't need to prove their daughter's right to claim America as her country? Do the Yazdans feel they need to claim an American name for their Iranian-American-Korean daughter? And what culture should their daughter embrace? America's? Korea's? Iran's? Or, a mixture of all?

Dig a little deeper, and you realize that there are no simple answers to any of these assimilation questions. Sami Yazdun considers himself American: he has never been to Iran and has no desire to go, and he refuses to speak Farsi. Yet, when he is around his Iranian relatives ,they discuss the Americans as if they are a different entity. Which in many ways, they are. And when he met his wife he felt an instant kinship to her because of their shared Iranian culture. But he is American; or is he?

Most of the story is told by Sami's mother, Maryam, who emigrated to America as a bride. All these years later, she still feels like a foreigner to this country, but when she goes home she feels like a foreigner there too. Those of us who have only lived in one country might take for granted how at home we feel in our own country. There are many degrees and levels of assimilation: and should people assimilate at all?

Even though Maryam has lived in the United States her entire adult life, and her son Sami has always lived here, they are essentially still digging to America...

l Highly recommend this novel to all! Keep on reading!

Kaye Gibbons explores so many different ideas in Divining Women, that I had a hard time getting fully involved in all of them. The novel is centered around Mary: she is a single, intellectual woman living 1918. She comes from a financially well-off family, but they could be considered extremely eccentric. It is implied that Mary may be a homosexual, but it is never explicitly said, and it could just be my interpretation. (If anyone reads this novel, come back and let me know what you think)

The background of the novel is somewhat confusing; her grandfather apparently liked to visit nudist colonies and explore nature while in the buff, and his first wife promptly left him for that trait. He manages to go and find a woman who embraces his more eccentric side and they live happily, whereas, his first wife lives bitterly and warps the child that they produced together. There are a series of bitter, demanding letters that arrive periodically from the first wife, and they ususally disrupt this harmony that Mary's family experiences. Confused yet?

Gibbons created this extroadinary but slightly odd family: they are all intellectuals, in the 1918 sort of way. By this I mean, that they seek out intellectuals and explore new ideas. They also believe that their house is haunted, sort of a stopping-over ground, for souls looking to find peace. The grandfather spends much of his time playing "host to these lost souls" and listening to the ghosts speak through the walls. Before describing more of this household, we are whisked off to the first wife's (remember her?) son's home. Personally, I would have liked to have spent more time in the ghost-house.

Now we arrive at the first-wife's son's home: his name is Troop and his pregnant wife, Maureen, is having difficulties with her pregnancy. This is where the real story starts. Gibbons takes us deep inside their abusive marriage. It is not physically abusive; Troop abuses with his words, and his physical and emotional distance from his wife. His constant belittlment and derision has caused her self-esteen to crumble into non-existence. For me, this was the most interesting part of the novel. Gibbons does a thorough job of portraying an abused spouse and helping the reader to understand the reasons someone may stay in such a relationship.

I wish Gibbons focused solely on this relationship though, it was a bit of work wading through all the periphial stories to get to this main one. I found that there were many avenues in this novel that could side-track the reader, but they didn't really help in understanding Mary's life and how she helps Maureen deal with the abuse. Everything seemed a bit too unreal, a bit hazy.

There were many parts of this novel that I thoroughly enjoyed, but there were too many parts left unexplored. These tempting tidbits that didn't really lead anywhere. I also found some of the background information somewhat confusing. I guess if you are a Kaye Gibbons fan, I would recommend this novel. Otherwise, I would advise you to skip it. Happy Reading!

This book would fall into the category of adolescent literature, but even being an adult, I really enjoyed it. It is written and marketed to the young teen, and it is a very interesting read.

It is about a girl who is facing all sorts of problems at home; they get revealed to the reader in a piecemeal fashion. This creates sort of a mystery atmosphere: as the reader, we know something is seriously wrong with this girl's homelife, but we have to wait until she is ready to tell us about it. The girl, Tish, is writing in a journal that was an assignment from her English Teacher, Mrs. Dunphrey. She is allowed to write "don't read this" on each entry that she wants to remain private. The novel deftly illustrates how writing can help people sort out their feelings; her entries do not solve the problems she is facing, but at least Tish has an outlet to help her think out her problems.

Not only is Tish dealing with all sorts of domestic problems, but like all adolescents, Tish is also facing peer pressure and her self-esteem is directly linked with what her friends think of her. Little by little, the layers of Tish's troubled life are poured into this diary of sorts. Mrs. Dunphrey respects Tish's privacy, (which she should,) and Tish's troubles remain private. I won't reveal all of the events that Tish is forced to deal with because I would like you to read this novel for yourself. It is a quick easy read, but well worth it!

The novel explores how neglect and emotional abuse can devastate young children (I would say us adults aren't safe from those effects either) and how "keeping a secret" sometimes seems like the best solution for a scared teenager. Teenagers might not know who cab be trusted to help, and who will make their problems worse. It also reminds us that sometimes external actions of others, however unexplainable, may be for a good reason. It might benefit everyone to look underneath the surface and try to discover if there are reasons for a child's "acting out." Everything should not fall under the umbrella of "difficult teenager years."

Thankfully, Mrs. Dunphrey falls into the trustworthy category. This novel not only shows us what may go on inside a troubled teen's mind, but it is also a thought-provoking social commentary. The world in which we live, and the world in which teens need to survive is a troubling one. There are so many negative factors that kids need to deal with; sometimes they deal with these events with a false cool, or tough, facade. Don't you Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphrey reminds us to try and look beyond the surface and discover what is really motivating the teenager. This isn't always easy, not every troubled teen will hand you their own private journal, but it is worth the trouble.

I really enjoyed this novel and have to comment on another one that Haddix has written. About three years ago, my daughter came to me and asked me to read a novel that she thoroughly enjoyed. It was a Haddix novel entitled, Running out of Time. It was about a girl who found out that the village she lived in was really a tourist attraction: sort of like a reality-observation tourist attraction. She was living like it was colonial times, but did not know that it was the 20th century; they were kept isolated and frozen in time. Then her parents send her out into the "real world" (which raises a question about what is real?) to get medicine for her sick sibling. It was a wonderful novel, and the premise was so unique that I had to give it a plug here.

Anyway, for all of you who have an adolescent in your life, who teach, or who just want to understand kids, this is a good read! It is insightful and thought-provoking. Enjoy it! Happy Reading!

Even though Green Grass, Running Water provides a social commentary on the devestating effects to Native American culture at the hands of "white" society, you will laugh from the first page to the last. THis is not a sad, somber story about the plight of Native Americans today, even though their plight is a somber story; this story is humorous,witty, and ingenious.

This novel is truly an extroadinary experience; I wish everyone would read it. It is written by Thomas King, a Cherokee author, and it is set in Canada. He takes us on a journey; there really is no other way to describe it. We meet several members of the Blackfoot tribe in modern day Canada, where all sorts of strange events take place. Led of course, by the infamous Coyote. If you have read or studied Native American literature, you will be familiar with the Coyote figure. The Coyote in King's novel is funny, bold, and sly.

Coyote turns up to wreak havoc with life on the Blackfoot reservation, and with the creation stories of organized Western religion. There are stories upon stories that appear to be running seperate commentaries within the novel, but manage to gel into a cohesive novel. Like Native American culture, the stories in this novel are entertaining, and informative; they also happen to be hilarious. That is, if you have a sense of humor about religion. I am a Roman Catholic, and found the satires on the Christian Religion's creation stores truly genious; I defy anyone to read them without laughing.

The main story centers around a family on the Blackfoot reservation. Eli is protesting the damn that was built on the lake; Alberta is trying to get Lionel's life back on track, Lionel ends up in a protest which leads to him selling electronics for a living, Latisha runs a diner in which she utilizes Native American stereotypes in order to make a profit. This was truly wonderful; she lies to all the customers and tells them that she only serves dog meat. The tourists eat this up...literally; check out the descriptions of the paintings that line her restaurant. Throughout all this are four mysterious, somewhat magical, ancient Natives that are wandering around. Not only does Thomas King take shots at the government that cheated the Natives, he shoots at religion, at stereotypes, at ignorance, and even John Wayne.

Please go out and read this novel; I have since bought several more from Thomas King and cannot wait to read them. I recommend this novel to anyone who loves to experience reading; it does require partcipation of the reader; it is not your ordinary novel. So bring your sense of humour and a sense of adventure and read Green Grass. Happy Reading!

Even though Green Grass, Running Water provides a social commentary on the devestating effects to Native American culture at the hands of "white" society, you will laugh from the first page to the last. THis is not a sad, somber story about the plight of Native Americans today, even though their plight is a somber story; this story is humorous,witty, and ingenious.

This novel is truly an extroadinary experience; I wish everyone would read it. It is written by Thomas King, a Cherokee author, and it is set in Canada. He takes us on a journey; there really is no other way to describe it. We meet several members of the Blackfoot tribe in modern day Canada, where all sorts of strange events take place. Led of course, by the infamous Coyote. If you have read or studied Native American literature, you will be familiar with the Coyote figure. The Coyote in King's novel is funny, bold, and sly.

Coyote turns up to wreak havoc with life on the Blackfoot reservation, and with the creation stories of organized Western religion. There are stories upon stories that appear to be running seperate commentaries within the novel, but manage to gel into a cohesive novel. Like Native American culture, the stories in this novel are entertaining, and informative; they also happen to be hilarious. That is, if you have a sense of humor about religion. I am a Roman Catholic, and found the satires on the Christian Religion's creation stores truly genious; I defy anyone to read them without laughing.

The main story centers around a family on the Blackfoot reservation. Eli is protesting the damn that was built on the lake; Alberta is trying to get Lionel's life back on track, Lionel ends up in a protest which leads to him selling electronics for a living, Latisha runs a diner in which she utilizes Native American stereotypes in order to make a profit. This was truly wonderful; she lies to all the customers and tells them that she only serves dog meat. The tourists eat this up...literally; check out the descriptions of the paintings that line her restaurant. Throughout all this are four mysterious, somewhat magical, ancient Natives that are wandering around. Not only does Thomas King take shots at the government that cheated the Natives, he shoots at religion, at stereotypes, at ignorance, and even John Wayne.

Please go out and read this novel; I have since bought several more from Thomas King and cannot wait to read them. I recommend this novel to anyone who loves to experience reading; it does require partcipation of the reader; it is not your ordinary novel. So bring your sense of humour and a sense of adventure and read Green Grass. Happy Reading!

In honor of Valentine's day, I am going to review an actual romance novel. Gasp! Yes, a novel you would find if you went to the romance section of the library or the bookstore. Believe it or not, there are actually good romance novels out there, just as there are good dime-store mysteries on the shelves. Unfortunately there are so many more poorly written ones that the genre has little if no respect.

I think the good romance novels are the ones that still follow the traditions of the first novels that were written in the 18thc, or the romantic period. Those romances tended to be more gothic than the ones written today, but they usually included a mystery of some sort. Be assured, that it is possible to find a good story and a well written romance novel on bookshelves, and that is what you will find if you read Julie Garwood's Guardian Angel.

In my opinion, two things are necessary to move a romance novel from being "just bearable" to a "good read:" 1) an interesting plot that does not invovle the romance itself, and 2) a strong woman. Guardian Angel contains both of these elements; it is also a mystery and an action adventure; this makes the novel itself an interesting page-turner that just happens to have a romance at the heart (pun intended) of it. The romance portion is well written, funny, and witty; it is not sappy. The strong woman is essential to the story itself; she stands alone and can make her own decisions. This is an extremely important element of the novel; without a strong woman, the novel would be a shell of a story....(if you allow me to milk the pun, an empty heart or vessel)...(sorry)

Guardian Angel centers around the two main characters; Jade and Caine. The rest of the cast of this story are eccentric and well written; you are guarenteed a smile when reading about Jade's uncle. The story itself revovles around a conspiracy against the British Empire and a pirate named Pagan. I think that is what makes this story fun - the story is well researched and could stand alone with or without the romance portion of the novel, although the romance is half of the fun!

So for all of you fellow readers that enjoy some purely fun novels every now and then, and you know who you are, this is a good read. Sometimes we need a break from the serious, soul-searching, social commentaries found in Literature (with a capital L). Sometimes we need to read a good mystery from the NY Times Best-seller list, or a romance novel from a well-established good writer, (beach reading). Julie Garwood is a fun writer; she is witty, intelligent and her novels are a journey into adventure and yes romance. So Happy Valentines Day - pick up a romance. You won't go wrong with Guardian Angel. Happy Reading!

In the second installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling manages to create her magic (pun intended) all over again. This book is a bit more complex than the Sorcerer's Stone was. The plot is a bit more difficult to figure out (for young readers), but the dialogue and the relationships between the characters are still very well developed and compelling.

I absolutely love the character of Gilderoy Lockhart, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is a lovable character ---that is, he is totally in love with himself. He definately provides the comic relief in this novel. In the first three novels, I think Rowling was concious of the need for comic relief since they were predominately written for children. It wasn't until the adult world started reading about Harry, Ron and Hermione that Rowling started writing for a much larger audience. Sometimes this shows through in the first three novels, but that is to be expected when reading adolescent fiction.

In this novel, there is a monster loose at Hogwarts; the Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Some students are being attacked; those students who are not pure-blood are very worried. It seems that this monster, or its creator, hated half-bloods and wanted to kick them out of Hogwarts. For those of you who do not know, Harry Potter's mother was born to muggle parents so he needs to worry about this monster also. Luckily, most of the attacks only result in the victims being "petrified" instead of killed. These victims will be able to be healed by the powers of witchcraft.

Again, the threesome of Ron, Harry and Hermione are in the midst of all of the action. They figure out what the monster is, where it is located, and what to do about it. (I don't think this is a spoiler since everyone knows that Harry, Ron and Hermione exist in all seven books of the series).

These novels have everything a child could love, and some of us muggle adults too! They have mystery, fun loving characters, and great heroes, who just happen to be children too! The threesome are about 12 years old now, so besides monsters and magic they are dealing with hormones too. That just might be the scariest thing of all....

Everyone should read this novel to find out how Harry, Ron, and Hermione survive another year at Hogwarts. (I thought my middle school years were tough!) The Chamber of Secrets is wonderfully written for children and for adults as well!

Keep on reading!