Before scientists found the cure, people thought love was a good thing. They didn’t understand that once love -the deliria- blooms in your blood, there is no escaping its hold. Things are different now. Scientists are able to eradicate love, and the governments demands that all citizens receive the cure upon turning eighteen. Lena Holway has always looked forward to the day when she’ll be cured. A life without love is a life without pain: safe, measured, predictable, and happy.
This story is set in a future dystopian society where love has been outlawed. Amor deliria nervosa is the name of the disease that people used to call love. At the age of 18, everyone goes through a surgical procedure that cures them of the possibility of contracting this highly contagious and emotionally crippling condition. When the story begins, Lena has 95 days left until her procedure and she is set to be paired by the state with a compatible match for marriage. I don't even have to tell you what happens inside those 95 days.
Of course, Lena falls in love, but the story of her awakening is more than just a tale of romance. The spiritual power of love is contrasted with the soulless power of the state and as Lena surrenders to love, a near Shakespearean drama unfolds. Lena learns to follow her deepest longings rather than do what she is told to do. She learns think for herself, speak from her heart and do what is ultimately going to free her from the tyranny of society. Far from being a disease, love is revealed to be the cure.
Oliver's books is fast-paced and delivers. It's a book you'll want to read and then pass on to your friends.
Emory's own Joseph Skibell authors this epic tale of the idealistic anti-hero Jakob Sammelsohn. Dr. Sammelsohn, exiled by his pious Hasidic father for the crime of reading secular books, finds himself lovelorn in 1895 Vienna. He falls madly in love with a woman he spies from a theater balcony and the ensuing obsession takes him into world of Sigmund Freud in the early days psychoanalysis. The woman turns out to be Freud's most notorious neurotic, and the young Dr. Sammelsohn becomes involved in a cure gone terribly wrong.
Next Sammelsohn meets the creator of Esperanto and becomes infatuated with a beautiful devotee of the the common world language. Fueled by passion for world peace, the two romantics enter the dirty web of politics behind the universal language movement. Again, mystical events intercede in history causing Sammelsohn to bungle his work in the cause.
Sammelsohn finally ends up in the Nazi occupied Warsaw Ghetto in the 1940s. He befriends a rebbe and ends up on a trip to Heaven where he finds not exactly what he was expecting.
Skibell is a masterful satirist, who deftly weave historical tales into otherworldly scenarios, blending hilariously egotistical characters with mystical phenomena and factual events. The story of his protagonists personal exile is ingenious, incongruous and hugely compelling. The story begs the big questions born of human suffering with high Jewish humor. After finishing over 600 pages, I wanted to know what happens next to the endearing Dr. Sammelsohn. Is he curable? I hope not because I want to read the sequel.
In the video below, Skibell performs a song about his book.
So many people blogged about The Book Thief during short term that I decided I had to see what all the fuss was about. I read it over the summer and enjoyed it very much. Zusak's characters were compelling and believable - from Death's wry wit and resplendent metaphors to Hans Hubermann's gentle presence to the irony of Mama's affectionate swearing. I even grew fond of Death. And now I know where the tittle of Greg's blog comes from!
Death himself narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, a German girl growing up in under Hitler's rise to power. Death's perspective on humanity is sometimes surprising and often profound. He becomes fascinated Liesel when he comes to take the soul of her younger brother and begins to follow her life. As you can imagine, the story is full of both personal and political intrigue.
Markus Zusak (See interview below) is a rising star in the world of young novelists. According to his website, he has written four novels before The Book Thief. His other books are The Underdog, Fighting Ruben Wolfe, Getting the Girl and I Am the Messenger. Zusak is the recipient of a 2006 Printz Honor for excellence in young adult literature. He lives in Sydney.
One of my favorite aspect of the book was its emphasis on the power, beauty and magic of words. Zusak's writing style is innovative and poetic. The Book Thief is a book of books.
I just finished The Science of Trust by John Gottman. Gottman rose to national prominence as a couple's therapist and researcher after Malcolm Gladwell (in Blink) wrote about his uncanny ability to predict the success of a couple's relationship after observing a 3-minute interaction between them. In The Science of Trust, Gottman describes how he quantifies couples' communication patterns, translates them into mathematical equations, and then uses them as predictors of whether the couple will be happily married, unhappily married or get a divorce.
According to Gottman, the key predictor in the success of a relationship is a couple's ability to manage conflict. Happy couples do not enter "negative/negative" conflict states (when both parties are in retaliation mode) as frequently as unhappy couples, and when they do, they do not usually become absorbed by such states. Unhappy couples enter negative/negative states more frequently and have far more difficulty exiting the states as they find these states absorbing. Gottman suggested that happy couples don't enter these states as often because they have more control over the regulation not only of their emotions, but of their physiology. There were distinct correlations between physiological arousal and negative states. Gottman's research was clear that once a person enters a negative physiological state ("flooding"), communication is completely ineffective. In other words, when someone becomes overwhelmed with negative emotions (like anger or even worse, contempt), rationality is out the window and conflict can't be resolved until the person's nervous system calms down. Gottman's research also shows that the outcome of a conflict usually determined with in the first 3 minutes of the interaction. He stresses the importance of beginning the discussion tactfully, expecting a positive outcome and remembering that your partner is a good person who is sometimes annoying (rather than a selfish person who is only out for him or herself). Here's a 1-minute clip of Dr Gottman talking about how he can predict divorce.
One of the fascinating parts of this book is about the roles each of the partners plays in resolving conflict successfully. For instance, the wife is often more effective at turning a conflict around by being positive about her husband, while a husband is more effective if he is influenced by his wife's negative affect. His last chapter is called "The Mathematics of Relationships: Power, Imbalance, Trust and Betrayal." There are two interesting elements of this chapter. First, Gottman reveals himself as a total math nerd. Second, he shows solid evidence that couples who share power in relationships are happier. Duh, right?
A lot of what Gottman teaches us in this book is common sense and intuitive, and his research only serves to confirm what is glaringly obvious--such as the idea that trust is a fundamental building block of happy relationships. Other things he covers are revelations about how couple dynamics operate. He draws some clear conclusions, but plenty of other things about love and relationships, trust and betrayal remain mysterious and inexplicable. The implications of his research, however, goes beyond couple relationships and can be applied to any relationship: parent and child, teacher and student, friendships, business and professional relationships, and even issues of national and international diplomacy. If you like math and/or are fascinated by love, read this book.
The Fall of Rome by Martha Southgate is set on the campus of Chelsea, an elite, all male, Connecticut boarding school.The story is told from the perspectives of three different characters:Jerome Washington, a Latin teacher and the only black member of the faculty; Jana Hansen, a white literature teacher, new to the school; and Rashid Bryson, one of a handful of African American financial aid student who is struggling to adjust to the rigorous academic culture of the school (for which his inner city school has not prepared him) and life among a wealthy student population. Rashid decides to attend Chelsea the wake to his older brother’s tragic death.His parents, once supportive of his education, are now so traumatized by the grief of losing a son that they are emotionally absent from Rashid.Rashid sees Chelsea as a way to escape the pain of his home life and at the same time pay tribute to his brother.
An overarching theme of the book is race and class diversity, and the character’s different perspectives on these issues play into the events that move the plot of the story. The fact that Chelsea has only one black faculty member and that he is a scholar of classical Roman antiquity speaks volumes about the school’s issues with diversity.That Jerome so strongly identifies with the historical roots of European culture also symbolizes the disconnect he feels with his own roots and culture.Jerome feels that he achieved his position in life as a result of his own hard work and feels that other African Americans from lower class backgrounds must rise above their condition in the same way he did. Jana, on the other hand, is more liberal in her ideas and is determined to provide the help Rashid needs to adjust to the rigors of the exclusive private education he signed up for.
The book is fast paced and held my interest throughout. The characters are complex, and while Southgage illuminates the conflicts between them, she never fully resolves them. I think this is the mark of a great writer. Her novel doesn’t neatly solve Rashid’s (or Chelsea’s) problems, but we see significant growth and change, and even some hope.The book is a commentary on the state or race in our culture today, particularly in elite private academies.This is a very good book and a must read for students in a school like ours.
Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones is set in Southwest Atlanta in the 1980s. Jones grew up in Atlanta and this is her third novel set in the the city. The story in Silver Sparrow is told from the point of view of two different teenage girls. Jones chronicles the life of two half-sisters who grow up only a few miles apart but didn't know each other. They have different mothers, yet shared the same father. James Witherspoon married Laverne (Chaurisse's mother) when she was 14 years old and pregnant. While he was married to Laverne, James became involved with Gwen (Dana's mother) and fathered Dana. He lives with Laverne and Chaurisse, but visits Gwen and Dana on Wednesday nights. Dana feels second best to Chaurisse because Chaurrise is his daughter in "public," while James keeps Dana hidden, afraid that his wife and other daughter will discover her existence. In some ways Dana feels fortunate because she knows about Chaurisse while Chaurisse knows nothing about Dana. When the two girls inevitably meet, Chaurisse is fascinated with Dana because she has long, thick hair and Chaurisse considers her to be beautiful, a "silver girl." Chaurisse believes she is chubby and unattractive and feels inferior to Dana. Dana, of course, cannot tell Chaurisse the truth, and this sets the stage for complications in their relationship. Through this story, Jones explores the damage lies and secrets do to relationships of all kinds. Ultimately James is found out, and though there is intense competition for his love and attention, nobody wins in this sad story.
Tayari Jones also wrote Leaving Atlanta, which won a number of awards. The backdrop for the story is the Atlanta child murders from 1979-81. Jones was a child living in Southwest Atlanta during the time when thirty African American children in nearby neighborhoods were murdered. For more information about Tayari Jones and her books, click here. To find out what she is reading, visit here blog. Jones will be in Decatur on Thursday, July 28, at Eagle Eye Bookshop.
