The Old Drift

How do I explain this large, luscious, multi-generational, historical novel? I scarcely know where to begin, though I admit that Salman Rushdie's glowing review on the cover of the New York Times Book Review last month certainly was the catalyst that attracted me. I simply did not want it to end!

Zambian writer Namwali Serpell's (https://www.namwaliserpell.com/) remarkable debut novel is one of those books that you can revel in, lost within the language, the characters, and never want to put down. Set in Rhodesia at the time of the infamous Stanley and Livingstone, based upon the building of the first railroad over the great Zambezi River at Victoria Falls, the narrative ranges from the late 1800's to 2024.

Through the lives of three families - and yes, you will need to continually refer to the genealogy tree in the front of the book - one black, one white, and one mixed-race, Serpell illuminates the good, the bad, and the ugly involved in the development of her native land which is now Zambia.

Readers will have to suspend disbelief in order to accept the Greek chorus of malarial mosquitos that comments and explains throughout. Then there are the phantasmagorical characters like Sibilla, who was born enshrouded in fast-growing hair that covers her entire body, or Matha, whose lover leaves her crying a river of tears that continues for thirty years. I loved Agnes, the British aristocrat, daughter of an MP, whose tennis career was brought to a halt by blindness. Rebelling against the coddling of her parents, she  falls for her father's mentee, a Rhodesian student named Ronald, with whom she makes her escape to Africa, unaware of their color difference.

In mellifluous language Ms. Serpell creates a world based on facts and fantasy in which there is much humor, some pathos, political skullduggery, love and jealousy, abandonment and cruelty. Readers will hear about Afronauts, the creation of the world's first drones, and the birth of studies into the AIDS virus. They will witness the cruelty of colonialism mingled with the scourge of tribalism.

It's practically unbelievable that this could be a first novel. Reviewers have called it Dickensian in scope, bold and sweeping. For me it's novels like this that fill that chasm I've always felt where my deeper knowledge of history should be. Sometimes our teachers are less than inspiring. If only they could add great fiction to their syllabi. What better way to fill in the gaps?

There Will Be No Miracles Here

It's happened again. Just when I was musing about how wonderful it was that we'd gone a few weeks without a story about police abusing a black body, as if that was something to feel triumphant about in our new reality that is the United States. https://wapo.st/2V24Sct When I read this article in this morning's Washington Post I knew that I had to write about Casey Gerald now, even though I haven't finished his memoir.

Unlike Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose righteous anger is red hot, Casey Gerald keeps his on simmer, but don't doubt for a second that it isn't bubbling under the surface. I had the pleasure of hearing Casey speak about his memoir last summer at Book Expo in New York City and I appreciated the manner in which he opened my eyes to the plight of black men in the Ivy League. I knew it, of course, I've heard Don's grandchildren speak in often harrowing terms about their experiences, one at Stanford, the other at Harvard. They taught me that no matter how high the achievement or how low the fall, people of color will never be fully appreciated or accepted in the halls of academe. Casey Gerald makes this fact visceral.

A queer, black boy growing up in a rough section of Dallas, Casey became a football star as well as a star student. Yale came calling and off he went to a

surreal place for a young man who'd never been east of the Mississippi. And why football when all he ever wanted was to be a writer, a poet? Well, because his dad, Roderick Gerald had been "the man" back at Ohio State in 1977, the one who cinched the Orange Bowl win for the Buckeyes. Soon all we hear about Roderick is that he became a drug addict, was in and out of jail, so people feel justified in opining, "see, these black me can't compete, they can't take it."

What you won't discover in Roderick's wiki page is that he had broken his spine during a previous Ohio State game but his coach salivated over that Orange Bowl win. He would do anything to get it. He plied Roderick with cocaine to keep him on fire and pretty soon, sure, he was addicted. So, when Casey breaks his hand in a game prior to the big Yale/Harvard matchup, the surgeon says operate now or you'll never write, but the coach says just tape him up, he'll make it, Casey follows in his dad's footsteps. Readers, you will cringe.

I listened to the audio of this memoir which is read by Casey himself. He's the perfect messenger, his voice as smooth and mellow as a glass of cognac. He never feels sorry for himself even though there's plenty that would have brought a lesser man down. If it weren't for his sister Tashia, he might not be where he is today. Casey is especially poignant when speaking of his first love affair, a long distance romance with a young man who always kept Casey at a distance until the power structure of the relationship changed with Casey off to the Ivies, and the mysterious Red back at home in Texas.

Gerald is beautifully introspective, his self-awareness is extraordinary. He references the literature of the Bible, James Baldwin, and W.E.B. duBois throughout, not to show off but because his natural erudition cannot be contained. When he describes the "American dream" each sentence drips sarcasm, or maybe it's irony. Reviewers have said that he turns the idea on its head. Does its attainment result in happiness, contentment? Or is it the white American dream that's been driven into the psyche of these impressionable black minds. We know that young men like Casey Gerald have all the tools necessary to reach the mountaintop. That MBA from Harvard says it all. The question is, do they really want to be there?

The Life and Writings of Philip Roth

I'm reveling in the welcoming warm air of southwest Florida, arriving back home just in time to attend the season's final lecture by distinguished Canadian literature professor and critic, Elaine Newton. http://annewainscott.com/the-art-of-the-book-review-a-conversation-with-elaine-newton/ Her in-depth book analyses have been holding readers in thrall for twenty years now and remind me how much I loved being in school and still enjoy auditing college classes at Florida Gulf Coast University.

Ms. Newton adores writers, never examining a title that she can't find something wondrous in. But her final presentation of the season was a retrospective of the works of Philip Roth and she may have finally lost all objectivity in her worshipful take on his lifetime of achievement. True confessions, I've often felt the same way about Roth, "American Pastoral" still one of the most powerful books I've probably ever read, but I've not been afraid to say so when I think a work doesn't live up to his standards. I'm thinking of some of his later work like "Exit Ghost," or "The Humbling."

At twenty-six years old, Philip Roth was the youngest writer to earn a National Book Award for "Goodbye Columbus." (another title I need to revisit) Where does one go from there? Well, to the National Book Critics Circle awards, the Pen-Faulkners, the Pulitzer. He wasn't one to rest on his laurels and he actually worked at writing, every day, eight hours a day, standing up at an architects' table because of an enduring back injury that had him in perpetual pain.

Before racial and gender identity became the in vogue subject of a new generation of writers, Roth was examining the identity of the Jewish-American male in the United States. The post World War II immigrants may have looked different than the immigrants of today but certainly they have more in common than not. Assimilation, acceptance, self-loathing, these were all part of the equation and they still are. Perhaps that's why Roth's work will never grow old.

Newton's favorite Roth book, she told us, is "Patrimony," a paean to Roth's father Herman. But the book that received the most publicity and the fewest number of rave reviews was the prescient "The Plot Against America," a novel written soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 sent Americans into a kind of collective madness. Always politically left of center, Roth decried the government crackdown on citizens' privacy rights and the vilification of "the other." He wrote of a fictional America where the Nazi sympathizer and renowned pilot Charles Lindbergh soundly defeated Roosevelt for the presidency and introduced Fascism to the United States. Is it any wonder that, after the 2018 election, a renewed interest in this novel resulted in a huge uptick in sales fourteen years after its original publication?

With this presentation, Newton ended the 2018-2019 season of her perennially sold-out book talks, having come full circle. She began the season with Lisa Halliday's phenomenal "Asymmetry," https://bit.ly/2LFkgVd, a fictional account of Ms. Halliday's May-December love affair with the man himself. Roth acted as mentor and friend to Halliday who was an editor at the Wylie Agency and her novel brings a touch of humanity and warmth to this very intimidating and towering man of letters.

I'll let you know some of the gems that Newton has on her famous summer reading list, from which next year's lectures will be chosen. More soon!

Recalling How Much I Love Food Memoirs

It all began with Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential." Long before he was the superstar TV personality traveling to places unknown, Bourdain described trudging home from school during a rainy afternoon to be greeted by the finest meal he's ever had, his mom's lovingly prepared Campbell's tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. I was hooked.

From there I went to France with Julia Child and to the Culinary Institute with Michael Ruhlman before venturing into the sensuous writings of M.F.K. Fisher. But it was Ruth Reichl's "Comfort Me With Apples," and "Tender at the Bone" that convinced me that those graced with an artistic bent excel across the board. This creative chef, critic, and business woman has a glorious writing style and thanks to my relationship with publishers like Random House I was able to get an early copy of Reichl's marvelous memoir of her ten years at the helm of Gourmet magazine.

"Save Me the Plums," begins as Reichl is facing one of the most important decisions of her life. A plum position has been offered, editor-in-chief of

Gourmet, along with a stunning salary and ridiculous perks. Accepting would mean leaving her job as renowned food critic at the New York Times. On the other hand, she deludes herself into thinking, this career change would allow her to spend many more evenings at home with her husband and young son.

The dazzle of joining the Conde Nast family wins and Reichl takes readers inside the world of test kitchens, corporate shenanigans, world-wide travel, and five-star dining. From New York City's finest restaurants to the intimate little bistros off the beaten path in Paris, Reichl whets our whistles describing the joys of tasting foods that are both cutting edge and down to earth home-grown. She leaves no doubt as to which hat she prefers wearing. She may adjust well to being the chief, receiving the accolades to prove it, but her heart is always in the kitchen.

Many chef/writers allow their egos to get in the way. Not so, Ruth Reichl. She is as approachable and likeable as ever, even as she caves in to the use of a driver and trades her signature hippie, thrift shop clothing for the uncomfortable sin of an expense account at the finest stores in the city. She is generous with praise for her co-workers and equally generous with sharing her simplest yet finest recipes. Reichl is a joy to spend time with! Readers get the feeling that she'd be so much fun to dine with - not in a Michelin-starred restaurant but in a dive in the Village - and she'd never judge your alcohol intake!

If you enjoy food and wine as much as I do, and the foody memoirs that result from these earthy pleasures, then look for this wonderful addition to the genre coming out the first week of April. 

Sometimes the Movie IS Better!

Don and I caught an interview with the Nigerian/British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah a couple of weeks ago and were very excited to see the film he directed and starred in. https://yhoo.it/2OcLiEo

"The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind," was a huge hit back around 2008 in the library. Many book groups were discussing this beautifully uplifting memoir by William Kamkwamba about his childhood in Malawi, the years of drought followed by flooding rains that ruined the crops and caused widespread starvation, and the way young William convinced his disbelieving family and village to help him construct a windmill as a means of generating electricity.

But sometimes our limited imaginations simply cannot wrap themselves around this kind of poverty, nor can we visualize the schools and libraries that the children of poor farmers pay to attend. To Ejiofor's extreme credit, not only does he bring passion and compassion to the screen, filming not on a studio set but in Malawi using indigenous children, he also took the time to learn the local dialect, Chichewa, sprinkling it liberally throughout the film, thereby demonstrating his respect for the people of that country.

Ejiofor brings so much humanity to this project. William Kamkwamba's family and the villagers exude pride even as they struggle. We learn about the politics involved in bringing money to the small towns where corrupt politicians spend little time and local chiefs often find their hands tied. Because of a generous hearted librarian, William is allowed to spend time with his nose in dated science texts, but not so dated that he can't teach himself the basics of wind powered generators.

William's greatest challenge is convincing his family, still steeped in tribal superstitions, that his brainstorm just might work, bringing water to starving fields and food to a starving country. We are witness to a deeply loving family

and a father/son dynamic that swells the heart. In these troubling times a film like this is balm for the soul. And better still, the memoir will get even more attention, selling more copies, and guaranteeing that William will be able to take care of his village for years to come. Head to your library or Netflix now!