The Dharma Bums, by Jack Kerouac

The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Ever since originally reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac, I knew I'd have to follow up with Kerouac's The Dharma Bums. I'd read the first couple of pages several times, then put the book back on the shelf. This time, I read all the way through.

As with On the Road, Dharma is loosely based on Kerouac and shows others he knew. The narrator, Ray Smith, is based on Kerouac, while Japhy Ryder (the other main character) is based on Gary Snyder, who was instrumental is steering Kerouac towards Buddhism. There's one point when Smith and Ryder go to a poetry ready where Alvah Goldbook (based on Allen Ginsburg) reads his poem "Wail." (Yes, that is referrencing Ginsburg's "Howl.")

The book follows Smith and Ryder as they seek Truth, from San Francisco to mountain climbing in the High Sierras, keeping the reader thoroughly engaged.

In some ways, The Dharma Bums reminds me of On the Road: a lot of traveling, pages of exceedingly long paragraphs, some several pages long (sort-of the anti-Ernest Hemingway's short, concise writing); the writing occasionally leaving me a little ambivalent (Do I love it? Do I want to put it down before finishing?). But in the end, as with On the Road, I did finish The Dharma Bums.

The punchline is that if you're looking for an interesting book highlighting part of the 1950s, Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums just may be it, especially after reading On the Road.

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On the Road, by Jack Kerouac

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like many others, I've had a list of books that I've meant to read but never quite got around to. One or two from the list, when I got around to reading them, left me wondering what the big deal is, while others left me wondering what took me so long to read.

Then there are those that leave us feeling so ambivalent throughout the reading that we end up giving it a second reading just so we can decide. That is how I felt when starting On the Road by Jack Kerouac. It was one of those classics that many people talk about ("Have you read...? No? Really, you should...") while not having actually read. I'd picked up a copy of it from a now-closed bookstore near the University of South Florida St. Petersburg when they were promoting books by many of the Beat writers, especially Kerouac.

Note: Jack Kerouac died in St. Petersburg's St. Anthony's Hospital in 1969. His name, address and phone number remained in the St. Petersburg phone book for quite a few years afterwards. He supposedly frequented several bars while in St. Pete, while his ghost is said to have visited Haslam's Bookstore before it closed.

The first few paragraphs very nearly turned me off. I had tried reading it when I first bought the book, but those first couple of paragraphs were what caused me to put it down. They were wordy, bordering on almost flowery. If Ernest Hemingway was known for short, concise sentences, much of On the Road seemed the opposite in its wordiness. While Kerouac did rein this in a bit after the first few paragraphs/pages, he never quite moves completely away from it.

However, the further I got in the book, the more engaging it became. It is easy to imagine being carefree and on the road, going from place to place. Sal Paradise (based on Kerouac) meets Dean Moriarty (based on Neal Cassady), someone he has heard about, at the beginning of the book. They are soon criss-crossing the country separately, meeting up in different parts of the country, just missing each other in other parts. The one thing Sal hears numerous times is that others are not as fond of Dean as Sal is. While Sal finally sees that others might be right about Dean, he still defends him. By the end of the book, we find Sal wandering off after sending Dean on his way. But he mentions occasionally thinking about Dean Moriarty.

By the end of the book, I had to admit: This book deserves to be considered a classic, and deserves to be read. If you haven't read Jack Kerouac's On the Road, what are you waiting for?

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The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work, by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton

The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are books of essays that are dry and bordering on boring. Then there are books full of entertaining essays that leave the reader feeling like he or she has just had a visit with a beloved friend or a slightly older sibling. The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work by Barbara Cawthorne Crafton definitely falls into the second category.

Barbara Cawthorne Crafton is an Episcopal priest, writer, and lecturer who has written several books on spirituality. Her book The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work is full of essays written about her time as an active priest, the people she's met, ministered to, and loved over the years. While the essays tend to be short, we meet a wide range of people through them: seafarers, AIDS patients, the homeless, and others struggling with their daily lives, who still manage to maintain their humanity.

This version of the book (it originally came out in hardback) ends with an essay that brings us up to date on the people we met in the earlier essays, bringing us full-circle to our new acquaintances.

If you're looking for a book filled with satisfying essays, Barbara Cawthorne Crafton's The Sewing Room: Uncommon Reflections on Life, Love and Work should fit the bill nicely.

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Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Have you ever stumbled onto a book that you started reading, with no expectations of liking it, then finding out that it's a gem? For me, Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is one of those books.

The book's narrator, Jacob Jankowski, is a 90 (or 93) year old man living in a nursing home, getting weekly visits from his children. The chapters dealing with the present - looking forward to a trip to the circus, discovering that his son has forgotten to visit and bring him to the circus, and his "escape" to see the circus - anchor the book as they are interspersed between his memories of his youth.

When studying for his finals to become a vet, he learns his parents have died. He skips out of his finals, and ends up joining a traveling circus, the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After working several jobs with the circus, he is hired on as the show's vet. He makes friends with several of the circus people, and eventually falls in love with Marlena, who is married to an abusive horse trainer with the circus. (Spoiler: Marlena and Jacob do end up together at the end of the book. How? You'll have to read it to find out.)

I really didn't have any expectations when I started the book. But the more I read of Water for Elephants, the more I wanted to read; it was the old "just one more chapter" situation.

The one down side (if it can be called that) is that there are two or three places that could be considered risque. But even then, they only last for a couple of paragraphs, and really don't detract from the story.

The punchline is that if you're looking for an engaging book that will keep you interested from start to finish, Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants is it. When I got to the last page - the last chapter was a bit of a surprise, but realistic - I was tempted to start the book again. Alas, it's a library book, so back it goes. Guess I'll have to buy my own copy!

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One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Elton Kesey

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Many of us have books we feel we should read, for a variety of reasons: someone we know recommends it, we've read good reviews of it, or it's considered a classic. If we're fortunate, each book we pick from these groups is one that speaks to us in a positive way. If not, it leaves us wondering, confused.

For me, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Elton (1935-2001) Kesey almost falls into the latter group.

I'd picked up a copy of it several years ago, and never got much beyond the first page or so. However, I finally decided to read it in its entirety. I'd seen the movie featuring Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher years ago, as well as seeing it as a stage play (again, years ago), so I knew the book's premise.

The story is told by Chief Bromden, a seemily mute patient in a mental hospital. He classifies the patients into several groups (the Acutes, the Chronics, and the veggies), and tells what happens when Randle Patrick McMurphy, a boisterous, rebellious patient, arrives in the hospital. McMurphy pushes hard against the oppressive Nurse Ratchet, causing trouble, and, eventually, attacking Ratchet. It is shortly thereafter that McMurphy receives a lobotomy. Chief Bromden then smothers him as an act of mercy before escaping from the hospital.

The language in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is rough, which goes along with the story itself. However, the reader can't help but root for McMurphy, then feel sad about what happens to him.

If you're looking for a possitive book with beautiful language, Ken Elton (1935-2001) Kesey's One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest is not it. But if you read it a little bit at a time, you might find bits and pieces that appeal to you.

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Mercy Street, by Jennifer Haigh

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Have you ever read a book that you connected with to the point that, upon finishing the last page, has you wanting to start back on page one immediately?

Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh is one of those books in my recently-read stack that I wanted to restart almost immediately. (More on that in a minute.)

Claudia Birch works in a women's center on Boston's Mercy Street (hence the title). Every morning, despite the cold winter weather, she must work her way through the crowd of protesters to get to the building, where she and her coworkers man the phone lines, dispensing advice to women needing birth control and/or abortions. Divorced, childless, and estranged from her mother, Claudia finds her job rewarding, but stressful, occasionally visiting her local pot dealer to help her make it through the work week.

The book also dives into the lives of Tim (the pot dealer), Anthony (disabled from a work accident, who finds his daily trips to church, smoking weed, and protesting in front of Mercy Street all as ways of finding meaning in his life), and Victor, a scary, misogynistic man who posts signs around the country denouncing abortion, and runs an internet site showing women who he perceives are getting abortions.

How all these lives, as well as the other women on Mercy Street - workers and those in need - intertwine and feed off of each other binds the story together in a thoroughly engrossing way.

Whatever the reader's thoughts on abortion might be, Mercy Street still makes for interesting reading. The very end of the book - what happens to all of the main characters - wraps the book up nicely.

This is definitely a "must read."

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The Women of Brewster Place, by Gloria Naylor

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While many, if not most, novels are written as one long story, other novels can be separated into short stories that are woven together to make up one novel. The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor is one such novel.

In this novel, Brewster Place is a tenement building on a now walled-off road, where those who can't afford better land. Each chapter introduces us to another woman and describes what led to her landing on Brewster Place, weaving her life together with the other women's lives.

The writing in this book is superb, the characters believable, keeping the reader engaged and cheering for the women.

I originally read The Women of Brewster Place in 1983, shortly after its pubication, and wondered if it would hold up. It does, making me wonder why I waited so long to reread it.

If one is looking for a book that stands up well and draws one in, Gloria Naylor's The Women of Brewster Place is worth the read.

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