INTIMATE PORTRAIT
The Chancellor by Kati Marton
Members of my local book group enjoyed reading Marton’s portrayal of Angela Merkel. It’s an accessible biography of an intensely private woman in a prominent public position. It isn’t a comprehensive biography and does not provide detailed analysis of some of Merkel’s questionable decisions and actions. And the author is perhaps too admiring.
But it’s an amazing story of how Merkel, raised in then East Germany under the repressive Soviet system, was smart, determined, and motivated, and able to go beyond the constraints of her upbringing to serve Germany as chancellor for 16 years.
Marton’s style is engaging. I particularly enjoyed the later chapters about Merkel’s genuine friendships with the younger George Bush and Barack Obama and her tussles with Trump. In occasional footnotes, Marton comments on her own experiences. Originally from Hungary, Marton was a news correspondent and married to diplomat Richard Holbrooke, giving her some closeness to international leaders and events. Some reviewers found her personal comments annoying or inappropriate, but I did not. Recommended! (~JWFarrington)
SEEING THE UNSEEN
Exiles by Jane Harper
Exiles by Jane Harper is a fascinating crime novel built around a close-knit family full of revels and rivalries. Friend and financial detective Aaron Falk returns to the Marralee Valley in South Australia for a christening. It’s a year after the disappearance of a mother, Kim Gillespie, whose baby is left in a stroller on festival grounds. Friends and relatives have been interviewed and their recent interactions with Kim parsed, but there has been no answer to what happened to her or where she might be. An older unsolved crime in the same area is reexamined for possible linkages to Kim.
Like Harper’s other novels, the behavior of family and friends and their motivations are the primary focus. Teenager Joel, whose father was killed in a hit and run accident, is convincingly cast. Falk is a likable guy, and his personal life gets some satisfying attention here. I found myself pondering these characters and events anew after I finished reading. Highly recommended! (~JWFarrington)
ADDICTION AND PRISON
Corrections in Ink by Keri Blakinger
The title of this book and the fact that it is a memoir caught my eye while browsing in my favorite bookstore. I had not read anything about it, nor did I know the author. Reading the flyleaf and seeing Ithaca and Cornell mentioned further piqued my interest. I worked in Ithaca two summers during college, one on the Cornell campus.
In dated chapters alternating between her years in prison (2010-2012) and years before and after, Keri Blakinger shares in painstaking detail her drive for perfection in schoolwork and competitive figure skating and her descent into heroin addiction. In 2010, nearing completion of her degree at Cornell, she is arrested with a large wad of heroin on her.
She describes the cruelty, pettiness, and nastiness of life in a county jail, what it means to be transferred to another county jail and why, and how time in a state prison is different in yet another way. Throughout, there is a loss of personhood that comes with being in the penal system. For Keri, who had hit rock bottom in terms of self-esteem, it took a long time after becoming clean and sober to realize that she did have something to contribute and had had an easier time than less privileged Black inmates. It was a long journey to becoming the accomplished and recognized journalist she is today.
This is not an easy book to read; at points the prison scenes are painful and unending, and one wonders both why she made some of her earlier poor choices and if she will ever be able to turn herself around. It is a graphic account: candid, reflective, and wonderfully written. (~JWFarrington)
Thank you for motivating me. I want to read Kati Marton’s biography of Angela Merle’s