Sunday, April 21, 2024

Reading and Enjoying Spring Weather

 Julia Alvarez: The Cemetery of Untold Stories


Julia Alvarez is a wonderful story teller! In this novel, a successful New York writer decides to return to her childhood land: the Caribbean country of Dominica — which is also the birthplace of Alvarez. The character brings with her many boxes of notes and materials from novels that she hasn’t written, and creates a “cemetery” for these unrealized projects and the characters they were going to develop. She commissions a talented sculptor make a monument to each persona whose story she didn’t finish. 

The characters who now inhabit these monuments come to life and tell their stories to a local woman who has never read fiction (in fact, she can’t read at all). I loved reading these intertwined tales, along with the story of the illiterate woman herself, and of her family, which also has some members who have become successful American immigrants.

There’s so much in this novel — themes of identity; themes of chances and of opportunities both taken and missed; themes of good and bad family relationships; and themes of the history of the island, which is divided into two countries: Dominica and Haiti. Really good reading!

Claude Izner: Murder on the Eiffel Tower


This is a historical novel that takes place in Paris in 1889 during the great exposition for which the Eiffel Tower had just been built. The painstaking historical detail in the novel is fascinating — I assume it’s accurate, but I didn’t check. For example: 

“I was lucky enough to see the exhibition of Japanese prints organised by the Van Gogh brothers. The Great Wave by Hokusai made a real impression on me.” (p. 17)

“The Colonial Exhibition was made up of numerous buildings, either standing alone or grouped into indigenous villages. Victor did not wait to look at the seven pediments of the temple of Angkor but hurried towards the red structure of the Colonial Palace, an architectural mish-mash of Norwegian, Chinese and French Renaissance styles topped by green roofing.” (p. 60)

The food details are especially fun:

“Fried-fish vendors and left-over food sellers were setting up their stalls in the wind. Dishes of beetroot sat alongside rounds of cold black pudding.” (p 161) 
 
“In the kitchen, Germaine, with tousled hair and apron askew, was stirring the contents of a saucepan with a wooden spoon. Victor sniffed, recognising the aroma of partridge and cabbage in a cognac sauce.” (p. 207) 

Unfortunately, as a detective story this novel is too complicated. One murder after another piles up, and one man becomes obsessed with the murders and tries to figure out how they are linked and who is the perpetrator. At a frantic pace, he follows one suspect after another, becoming exhausted and confused. He also falls in love with a woman who is also enmeshed in the goings-on. He keeps having migraine headaches, or being hit over the head, or being baffled and overtired, or pursuing the love interest instead of the mystery. He’s always trying to think of some elusive insight that he can’t quite bring to the surface. There’s too much of this type of description:

“An idea was taking hold, but just out of his reach. He put on his frock coat as his mind worked on. … His memory was still teasing him: it was something to do with a name he had glimpsed recently, a name … But what name?” (p. 203)

I found the author’s mystery skills somewhat clumsy, and the piling-on of details and events somewhat unbelievable. Compared to Agatha Christie or other classic writers of the twentieth century, Izner just isn’t quite as good at creating a plot, embedding clues, or building suspense. I’m thinking of the well-formed detectives, victims, by-standers and witnesses in the novels of Martin Walker or Elly Griffiths or Donna Leon, and I just don’t find Izner’s focus and clarity to measure up.

Spring Pictures from This Week


Sunrise outside my bedroom window.

Just before the rain.


The beaver lodge at Matthaei Botanical Gardens.
Last year, the beaver built a dam across the stream, but a winter storm washed it away.


Michigan students painting “The Rock” — maybe in anticipation of finals during the next two weeks.

The magic spoon turns purple when the frozen ice cream touches it.
After a spring walk in the woods, we stopped for ice cream.

I enjoyed a scoop of each of these flavors.


Blog post and all photos © 2024 mae sander
Shared with Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz.

21 comments:

  1. The only Julia Alvarez book I've read is Afterlife, a book I read before Alvarez came to speak in Houston. I need to add In the Time of the Butterflies to my list of books to read before I die.

    I can't seem to resist any book set in Paris, but most of the stories are not nearly as compelling as the setting. I'm starting to set aside books for Paris in July. It gets more and more difficult each year to find good books to read during this event. Maybe a Zola...

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  2. I love your photos.
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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  3. Our reading tastes are often similar, so much so that I was looking at that Julia a book yesterday. I'm glad you liked it because that means I probably will too. The Eiffel Tower one sounds good too. And I love your pretty spring photos. Hurrah that it is finally here. hugs-Erika

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  4. Nice pictures! I haven't read either of the books. Have a lovely weekend!

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  5. I heard Julia Alvarez on a podcast last week and promptly added her new novel to my reading list. Glad to know you enjoyed it. Lovely spring photos!

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  6. You have a good taste in books! Thanks again for my surprise yesterday! Hugs, Valerie

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  7. Our Spring looks similar in many ways to yours; the photo with the bright flowering plants and the gray sky at the same time is just what I experienced this week! So oddly beautiful. I’m now longing for ice cream, thank you very much, always a sore temptation, and the books you highlighted look appealing to me.

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  8. Seeing the color-changing spoon reminded me of the t-shirts in the '80s that did that: what a fashion disaster as people's shirts got brighter where they sweat! Much better with an ice cream spoon.

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  9. You have some pretty flowers blooming in your area!

    That magic spoon is fun!

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  10. These books both sound good! I loved your photos Mae! Have a great week ahead.

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  11. Especially the first book sounds very interesting!
    And ohhhh, the Spring-pics, so beautiful. Love the one just before the rain especially.
    To Spring!

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  12. aww..... fantastic view from bedroom window.....
    temperature getting warmer and blooming everywhere...

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  13. Your garden, nature photos are astonishing, especially the sunrise through the blinds. Lovely. thanks so much for visiting my blog and commenting on the tulips we saw this week. There are moment when I am so grateful to be alive and that experience was one of them.

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  14. Ooh, The Cemetery of Untold Stories sounds fascinating! :o I'll have to look it up.

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  15. Love the magic spoon and the picture just before the rain!

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  16. Happy to hear you enjoyed The Julia Alvarez book! I think I'll download it. Your spring photos are beautiful!

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  17. Love your Spring photos Mae. We on the other hand are in the middle of autumn so when we drove to new england (NSW) on the weekend we enjoyed the beautiful leaves changing colour.

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  18. I've never heard of either of these authors. I obviously live in a cave or an art studio. I love the beaver dam that washed away and the beaver path. That rock seems to get painted often. Fun to see kids painting it.

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  19. Lovely spring pics! And I'm glad you reviewed the Alvarez novel ... what a clever premise. I understand now more of what it's about.

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  20. Oh that ice cream looks wonderful ... and it just made me forget all the other thoughts I had about this post. (And I wasn't even hungry!)......

    OK, my brain such as it, has recovered... I'll definitely pass on the Eiffel Tower mystery but your excellent review reminded me that I have meant to comment on your post about Vanishing Box, the Elly Griffith book you reviewed several weeks ago. When I read your post, I had it on hold at the library and was really surprised when it turned out to be the second or maybe third in that series because I hadn't even heard a thing about the series until I got one of those "because you liked..." notices from Amazon. Anyway, I share your opinion that this series isn't nearly as good as the Ruth Galloways and I don't plan to read any more of it.

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  21. The photos in this post are particularly beautiful. Pity about the Eiffel Tower mystery!

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