Book Review- Terry Cameron Baldwin's All the Ghosts Dance Free

Thank you to She Writes Press for providing me with an advanced copy of Terry Cameron Baldwin's memoir, All the Ghosts Dance Free, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT - Terry Cameron Baldwin's memoir details her 1950's childhood in Southern California, including the divorce of her two bohemian parents. Baldwin and her sister, Carol, split their time between living with their mom in Palm Springs, and visiting their father, in the South Bay, where he lived with his glamorous new wife and her children. Baldwin explores her hippy lifestyle during the sixties, when she became a single mom to her only son, Yohosame. Baldwin remained close to Yohosame's father, Yusef, who converted to Muslim, and moved to Morocco. In the last third of the memoir, Baldwin cares for her elderly parents, and visits Yusef's grave in Morocco. Baldwin's relationships are complicated, and often unconventional, but her life is full of love.

LIKE- Baldwin has a knack for setting a scene. All the Ghosts Dance Free, often reads like a travel memoir with lush, sensory descriptions of California, Mexico, Europe, and Morocco. It's really some gorgeous writing, and I found myself consciously slowing my reading, to luxuriate in her prose. I'm a Californian and she made my state proud! 

 I was most interested in her childhood, especially the dynamic at her father's house. Although not neglectful, her father and step-mom made it clear to the children, that they were on their own. The adults would provide the basics ( shelter/food/clothes) and wished the children well, but they planned on living their life for themselves. Baldwin's mother had a similar hands-off parenting approach, as she lived it up in Palm Springs. As a result, Baldwin spent a great deal of her life trying to please her parents, a theme that came back to haunt her as she cared for them in their old age. It's this struggle that ties the memoir together. 

I found her relationship with Yusef, and her closeness to his children by other women, to be very interesting and heartening. Baldwin is testament to family being who you choose to love. It's a beautiful sentiment. She also is very embracing of other cultures and religions. I admire her openness and willingness to put herself out in the world.

DISLIKE- I overwhelmingly enjoyed Baldwin's memoir, but I did find it to run a little long, with uneven pacing. I was least interested in hearing about her life as a hippy in the 1960's. I understand that this is her life, but that section ( as recounted in her memoir), was significantly less interesting than her childhood, or her more recent years living in Mexico, and visiting Morocco. It just seemed like it was typical of other 1960's memoirs, where as the rest of her memoir was anything but typical. 

RECOMMEND- Yes! All the Ghost Dance Free is complex and engaging. Baldwin is living a beautiful life, and her memoir is a worthy addition to your TBR pile. 

Book Review- Bruce Jay Friedman's The Peace Process

 Thank You to Open Road Media for providing me with an advanced copy of Bruce Jay Friedman's The Peace Process, in exchange for an honest review.

PLOT - The Peace Process is comprised of thirteen short stories, and a novella, which is the namesake of the collection. Often humerous and frequently involving characters in the arts, Friedman tackles a wide range of human interaction, including all manner of relationships; romantic, business, family, international politics...he doesn't shy away from the difficult or absurd. 

LIKE- Friedman writes heavy topics in a way that's very accessible. He uses humor to add levity to some very weighty, and often downright horrific scenarios. Additionally, he has a style of writing that I found accessible. It's direct, with clear characters and vivid description, but void of flowery prose. Not a single word is superfluous. 

Friedman creates engaging plots, but his characters are what really shines. He has a knack for putting his characters in terrible moral dilemmas, like in his novella, The Peace Process,  where his Jewish-American protagonist finds himself scouting movie locations in Israel, where he attacks a low-class Israeli Arab. Feeling remorse for his actions (especially when the Arab is nothing but kind in return), he tries to make it up to the man by attempting to smuggle him out of the country and into New York. 

The Storyteller, with its Twilight Zone vibe was easily my favorite story. English Teacher Alan Dowling has died during surgery and his afterlife is void of literature. He can be famous in the afterlife by stealing a great work of literature, and claiming it as his own. The golden ring is his to grab, if only he can remember the plots of these famous stories. 

DISLIKE- I was unevenly interested in the stories, very hit and miss. To be sure, there was more I liked, than disliked, but there were several that failed to keep my attention. 

RECOMMEND- Yes. There is much to admire in Friedman's collection; his quirky sense of humor, unique perspective, and vivid characters. Although I wasn't "wowed" by every story, I'm left with enough of a positive impression to recommend The Peace Process. 

Book Review - Jesse Eisenberg's Bream Gives Me Hiccups

I like Jesse Eisenberg as an actor, so I was curious to see how he would do as a writer. Thank You to Grove Press for an advanced copy of Bream Gives Me Hiccups, in exchange for an honest review. 

PLOT- In Eisenberg's debut short-story collection, he offers a mix of a traditional short-story format and theatrical writing. The subjects of his pieces are vast, from pop-culture to historical figures and all types of fictional characters thrown into the mix. 

LIKE- Bream Gives Me Hiccups started out strong, with the title story, which follows a privileged nine-year old, as he reviews the places that he visits with his parents, who are divorced. This story was funny and affecting, with the kid trying to make sense of his world, which includes a heavy dose of dysfunction via a manipulative and vengeful mother. 

I also appreciated Eisenberg's play with the format of his stories. This collection could as easily be found in fiction, as it could be in the theatre section of a bookstore. Many of the stories are in the format of a monologue or a dialogue scene. As I was expecting something more traditional, this was a refreshing change of pace and a fitting format for many of the stories. A lot of the characters are young and I kept thinking that this would be a good resource for teenage drama students.

DISLIKE-  After the first story, the collection takes a huge nose dive. An often stated piece of writing advice, is to make sure that your protagonist is a minimum of one of the following;

1. Smart.

2. Likable.

3. Funny.  

Unfortunately, Eisenberg failed to include at least one of these traits in most of his characters. He certainly was not trying to include likable, as these are a miserable bunch of people. When he tried to go for smart, it rang as pretentious and most of the time, the funny fell flat. The title story had all three of these elements, but the rest, failed to measure up to the initial story.

The worst of the bunch was a sluggish tale of an unhappy college freshman, which is told through the letters that she writes to her former high school guidance counselor. Harper Jablonski is such an unlikeable protagonist, that it a painful read. This story comes about mid-way through the book and it derailed my interest entirely. I trudged on, but only because I was committed to writing a review.

RECOMMEND - No. If you have a chance to read the first story, Bream Gives Me Hiccups, do so, but skip the rest of the collection.