Barb's Book Reviews: Review of "Flight Behavior: A Novel" by Barbara Kingsolver

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Review of "Flight Behavior: A Novel" by Barbara Kingsolver

Dellarobia Turnbow, an unhappy young farm wife living in Feathertown in Appalachia, is about to embark on an extramarital affair when the sight of a blazing orange forest changes her mind. It turns out the startling sight is caused by millions of Monarch butterflies covering the trees, far from their usual winter home in Mexico.

The biological oddity attracts widespread attention, and theories about its cause range from an act of God to a world gone haywire from climate change.

Dr. Ovid Byron, a butterfly expert, comes to Feathertown and sets up a temporary lab to study the insects.

Dellarobia, prevented from attending college by a shot-gun marriage at age 17, gets a job helping Dr. Byron and becomes engrossed in the research. This, in turn, magnifies the tediousness and poverty of Dellarobia's everyday life.

The book is partly a treatise on the dire consequences of climate change, and partly a character study of the Feathertown people, who tend to reject scientific explanations for changes in nature, regarding them as God's will.

The book didn't have a strong plot in the usual sense but the characters were interesting and the dangers of climate change were boldly drawn.

It's not my favorite Barbara Kingsolver book, but it's well-written and worth reading.

Rating: 3 stars

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Featured Post Lina Zeldovich is an award winning journalist and science writer. In this book Zeldovich discusses the use of bacteriophages (phages) - viruses that destroy bacteria - to treat infection and disease. By now it's well known that 'the miracle of antibiotics' is over. Antibiotics are drugs that destroy bacteria, and antibiotics like penicillin once reliably treated gonorrhea, syphilis, tetanus, anthrax, gangrene, staphylococcus infections, streptococcus infections, meningitis, food-borne intestinal diseases, and so on. As early as 1940, however, scientists were already seeing the emergence of bacteria resistant to penicillin. To address the problem, researchers developed new and stronger antibiotics, one after another, but bacteria ALWAYS develop resistance sooner or later. This is evidenced by infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. According to Zeldovich, "This dreaded superbug now lurks in hospitals, sickening 120,000 American per year and killing about 20,000. MRSA currently responds to vancomycin [used for the treatment of serious, life-threatening infections], but they may learn to repel it." Staphylococcus aureus Zeldovich describes an alternative treatment for bacterial illnesses, namely phages. .....

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When Germany invades Belgium during World War I, an underground resistance network called La Dame Blanche (The White Lady) is formed to spy on and sabotage German troops. Eleven-year-old Elinor and her 14-year-old sister Cecily are recruited into La Dame Blanche because schoolgirls are thought to be above suspicion. Elinor and Cecily record train movements, and - after a while - the girls are taught to sabotage train tracks to derail German shipments of soldiers and weapons. One evening the girls are discovered by two German soldiers, and when the men try to rape Cecily, Elinor shoots them dead. After World War I, Elinor - who can speak several languages - teaches at a girl's school in England. Then....when World War II breaks out, Elinor is recruited to do espionage service in Belgium once again. A tragic incident during a spy operation deeply affects Elinor, who continues to be haunted by the event. Skip to 1947, and - in the aftermath of the war - Elinor is living a quiet life in an English village. Elinor's interaction with her neighbors is usually limited to a nod hello, except for a young family: Jim Mackie, his wife Rose, and their small daughter Susie. Elinor takes a shine to little Susie, and gives the child small gifts and such.......

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What would happen if the 'spirits' of people who'd been horribly mistreated in the past - beaten, tortured, lynched, shot, etc. - came back to get revenge. That's the theme of this satire, which is both hilarious and disturbing. The current trouble starts in Money, Mississippi, which has a notorious past. In 1955, a 14-year-old Black youth called Emmett Till was murdered in Money after he allegedly 'offended' a white woman called Carolyn Bryant. For this misdeed, Carolyn's husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam viciously beat, mutilated, and shot Emmett, then threw him in the Tallahatchie River. Bryant and Milam were found 'not guilty' by an all white jury. Emmett Till Bryant's Grocery Store where Emmett Till allegedly spoke to Caroline Bryant Money, Mississippi hasn't changed much since those Jim Crow days, and in the 21st century it's still full of poorly educated, racist bumpkins who casually (and constantly) use the n-word to refer to Black people. The bigoted hayseeds - and everyone else in Money - are shocked when Junior Junior Milam (the son of J.W. Milam), who raises hogs, is found murdered in his back room. Junior Junior has a bloody bashed-in skull; a length of rusty barbed wire is wrapped around his neck several times; and one of his eyes is gouged out. Ten feet from Junior Junior is the VERY dead body of a viciously beaten Black man in a blue suit. When law enforcement officers arrive to survey the scene, Deputy Sheriff Braden Brady eyes Junior Junior and observes, "Lord, Lordy, Lord, Lord, Jesus. Looky at that. His balls ain't on him! I think they're in the n---'s hand."....

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Liao Yiwu (b. 1958) is a Chinese dissident, author, reporter, musician and poet. Liao is a critic of China's Communist Party, for which he's been imprisoned. Most of Liao's writing has been banned in China, and he's been living as an expat in Germany since 2011. Author Liao Yiwu Liao is critical of China's early handling of the Covid pandemic, and this 'documentary novel', first published in Germany in 2022, depicts China's mismanagement of the crisis and its harsh repression of 'truth-tellers.' Liao calls Covid-19 the 'Wuhan virus' and begins his book with a note that says: "Wuhan virus" is not a political term, but rather an objective description of the truth. Wuhan is the birthplace of the powerful virus that is harming the world today; or one could say the virus was first discovered in Wuhan. Some characters in the novel are real people portraying actual events, and the book paints a picture of a secretive regime trying to obfuscate the origin of the Covid virus, and a government determined to deflect blame for the Covid catastrophe. Chinese officials downplayed the Covid crisis Many non-fiction books have been written about China and the Covid pandemic, but Liao's novel takes a more personal approach, showing characters separated from their families, experiencing losses, writing poems (including a suicide poem), committing suicide, getting arrested and 'disappeared', and more. For example, the family of Chinese film director Chang Kai fell ill one after another, and all died within 17 days. Chang left a testament of his ordeal....

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Detective Beth McDade worked for the Los Angeles Police Department until she lost her badge for having sex with a junior officer. Beth is now with the sheriff's department in Barstow, California, a desert town where 'nobody wants to be.' In the 1800s, Barstow was a busy railroad hub for silver mining operations, but is now just a hot desert burg near a military base and a tourist attraction called the 'Calico Ghost Town' - a re-creation of the original town of Calico, with 'residents' and 'shopkeepers' dressed in period costumes. As the story opens Beth is called to the scene of a late night accident near Peggy Sue's diner, a 50s-style eatery that looks like a giant jukebox surrounded by dinosaurs. Beth is told that an old man was killed by a motor home. When Beth looks at CCTV footage of the incident, she observes the sky crackling with electricity, a loud blast, and a bright flash from the nearby Marine base. Then a terrified, disheveled old coot runs out of the darkness into the road, where he's mowed down by a trailer home that has no chance to avoid him. When coroner Amanda Selby examines the old man's body, she tells Beth that the victim, who has no identification, is filthy; has only a few, badly decayed teeth; is infested with lice; is suffering from advanced syphilis; is wearing clothes manufactured in the 1880s; and has old coins in his pocket. Beth is bewildered, but thinks the victim was probably a kind of eccentric mountain man living off the earth.......

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In this 10th book in the 'Lincoln Rhyme' series, the quadriplegic forensic scientist is on the trail of a sadistic killer. The book can be read as a standalone. ***** The head of the National Intelligence and Operations Service (NIOS) in New York commissions the assassination of Robert Moreno, a suspected American terrorist doing business in the Bahamas. Moreno is killed by a rifle bullet through his hotel window and his body guard and a journalist are "collateral damage", killed by flying glass. A New York prosecutor, Nance Laurel, believes the head of NIOS has no business ordering murders and plans to prosecute him on a conspiracy charge. Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic forensic genius, and his partner Amelia Sachs, a New York cop, are asked to help procure evidence for the prosecution. Unfortunately, someone REALLY doesn't want evidence and witnesses found and embarks on a spree of torture, murder, bombing, and theft to eliminate them. The perp apparently has inside information and always seems to be a step ahead of Lincoln and Amelia (who are a little slow on the uptake here in my opinion, willy nilly using cell phones, etc.). Of course Lincoln and Amelia carry on and unravel a very complex plot with a LOT of surprises (nuff said if you don't want spoilers). Meanwhile, Amelia's worsening arthritis leads to problems on the job and she fears suspension or worse. The book is a page turner with a horrific chef/murderer bad guy that will make you cringe. Good addition to the Rhyme/Sachs saga......

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Alan Cumming (b. 1965) is a Scottish actor who's dabbled in every show business genre during his long and successful career. Cumming has worked in movies, theatre, and television; narrated audiobooks; hosted reality competitions; launched a podcast; and more. Along the way Alan won a BAFTA Award, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, and an Olivier Award. Cumming had to move past a horrible childhood to achieve success, and he describes his early life in the memoir, 'Not My Father's Son' (2015). Alan Cumming hosting the reality game show 'The Traitors' Cumming begins this memoir by speculating about memory. He writes, "It makes sense that what we have experienced in the past, and how we have analyzed and grown from it enables, or at least helps us, to have better judgment. Right?" Apparently not always, because Cumming goes on to say, "I know I have, on several occasions throughout my life, repeated the exact same patterns of behavior that made me unhappy to the point of despair. Alan Cumming Alan has had ups and downs over the years, and he notes, "In the chapters that follow I will share with you the shape my life has taken as I've learned to live with my baggage. This is a book about my career, my struggles with mental health, my many forays into love and sexuality and everything in between." Cumming starts his story in 1994, when he's twenty-nine, starring in several theatre productions in Scotland, and married to Scottish actress Hilary Lyon......

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In this 14th book in the 'Easy Rawlins' series, the private detective is hired to clear the name of a man accused of murder. The book can be read as a standalone. ***** Easy Rawlins is riding pretty high. With a windfall from a previous case Easy has opened a private detective agency in Los Angeles with his two partners, Whisper and Saul. Easy's also about to propose to his girlfriend Bonnie. Things don't go that well with Bonnie but Easy - getting busy with a case - pushes that to the back of his mind. Easy's new case comes via his lifelong friend Mouse Alexander, a stone cold killer who's always had Easy's back. It seems that a 22-year-old black post-doc with a Ph.D. in physics, Seymour Braithwaite, has been arrested for murdering two white men - Peter Boughman and Ducky. Mouse explains that criminal mastermind (and very scary guy) Charcoal Joe, currently in prison, is interested in Seymour's welfare. Charcoal Joe wants Easy to clear the boy's name. Of course Easy says yes and soon realizes that, unless he finds out who really killed Peter and Ducky, the authorities will pin the crimes on Seymour. Easy has to be careful while conducting his investigations - and living life in general - because he's a black man in 1968 Los Angeles. When Easy goes to a diner for a bite to eat, the waitress - for no good reason - calls the cops. When Easy encounters police, either at a traffic stop or while doing his job, the cops are hostile and condescending....making it clear they'd as soon arrest him/beat him up/shoot him as look at him. In some ways this is reminiscent of things happening in the country today. As Easy tries to prove Seymour's innocence he comes across a wide array of colorful characters including Seymour's foster mother and her cantankerous estranged husband.....

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Demi Moore - born Demetria Guynes in Roswell, New Mexico in 1962 - is an American actress and film producer. Demi had an unruly upbringing with her nomadic parents, Ginny and Danny Guynes, who were always dodging trouble and bill collectors. Demi Moore's parents, Ginny and Danny Guynes Little Demi Moore with her father Danny Guynes Little Demi Moore with her stuffed monkey Demi writes, "My dad was driven to succeed. He worked hard and he played hard. Sometimes too hard." Danny drank, got into fights, and scammed and conned people. Demi recalls, "Both of my parents had what you might call a relaxed relationship with the truth but I think my dad actually got joy out of feeling he could get one over on someone." Demi's brother Morgan was born when she almost five, after which the Guynes' left New Mexico. Demi observes, "Soon after [Morgan] was born we left Roswell for California, the first of a series of moves that would define our childhood. My mother figured out that my dad was having an affair, so she did what she'd been taught to do by HER mother when your husband is fooling around. She got him away from the problem. It did not seem to occur to the women in my family that if you took your cheating husband along when you left the problem came with you wherever you went." This happened again and again, propelling the family from place to place. Throughout their childhood, Demi and Morgan attended at least two new schools a year, and it was often more than that. When the family periodically returned to Roswell, "It felt like coming home." Young Demi Moore and her brother Morgan Guynes Demi Moore and her brother Morgan Guynes Ginny and Danny were continually getting drunk, having affairs, breaking up, and getting back together. All this confused and disturbed the children. .....

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In 1952 a poor Afghan family - Saboor, his second wife Parwana, his son Abdullah, 10, and daughter Pari, 3, are in dire straits in the town of Shadbagh, Afghanistan. Having recently lost a baby to the frigid Afghan winter Saboor decides to sell Pari to the Wahdatis - a wealthy childless couple in Kabul - to provide a better life for his family. This sets up the baseline for the story that reverberates down through multiple characters and generations.....which the author relates almost as series of short stories. In one story line we learn that Parwana's brother Nabi, chauffeur and houseman to the Wahdatis, brokered the sale of Pari, a deed that haunts him for the rest of his life. His motive, apparently, is his infatuation with Nila (Mrs. Wahdati) - who is unable to have children. Soon enough Mr. Wahdati becomes ill and Nila takes off for France with Pari. Nabi, an indispensable aide to Mr. Wahdati, is left to take care of his employer and eventually friend. In another section the author tells the story of Nila and a grown up Pari living in Paris. Nila is a poet whose writing scandalizes traditional Afghans, and Pari is a talented student studying advanced mathematics. The relationship between Nali and Pari, as can happen with mothers and daughters, is sometimes difficult - and romance only adds to the tension......

Barb's Book Reviews

Wednesday, March 8, 2023

Review of "Flight Behavior: A Novel" by Barbara Kingsolver

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