Digging To America

I was very interested in reading this book for several reasons. First, because I really love Anne Tyler and secondly, because we are close friends with multiple couples pursuing overseas adoptions, of both infants and older children. I found in this story that Anne went deeper than the adopted children trying to make a home in America, in fact, their story was almost a side note. What Anne wrote about more was how people who are already Americans, whether by immigration or by birth, make themselves at home in this strange and sometimes frightening country we call home. What is family and culture and how do we respect them, how do we keep them, in this place where all are welcome but no one is quite sure how to fit in. Do we hang on to what makes us comfortable even when there may be nothing there to warm us? Or do we step out into a new world where those we love may not talk like us or look like us but take up residence in our lives just the same?
I have read several people who have not enjoyed this novel very much, but I loved it. In a world that is becoming more, rather than less, segregated by culture which may or may not include nationality, how do we reach out? And whom do we let in? And most importantly, what are we afraid of losing when we do?

After This by Alice McDermott

I didn't love Alice McDermott's After This. Her prose and style were excellent, and since this was my first book by McDermott, I am going to have to look into her other works before I come to any conclusions about her. As for this particular work, any book about family relationships is going to be prickly because that is the nature of family, but I struggled to find much about any character with which I could identify (despite having the whole Irish catholic family background), and at times I even found the parents somewhat repugnant in the ways they related to or perceived their own children. There was a sense of disconnect throughout the entire book that made it difficult to really feel like the family was anything more than a bunch of orbiting satellites around the central nebulous idea of "family." And perhaps, because of the time setting of the work (late 40's-70's) it is that feeling that McDermott set out to capture, in which case the book is brilliant, and I just am not a good match for that type of story (always a possibility). The story ends abruptly and without seeming to obtain any sense of closure. However, it is an easy read. I was able to finish in less than three days, and it's not completely UNenjoyable. It's just not one I will ever find myself saying "Oh you really MUST read this...."

Lisey's Story

I admit that Stephen King may not be for every reader (more's the loss for them), but revile him for his proliferation, mourn his flops, question his "I've retired/ I'm back again" games, and you still can't deny the fact that when King is "on", he is masterfully brilliant.
I have sentimental ties to King because his writing was something my father and I loved to share. I cried when I finished the Gunslinger series because it was something my own father did not live to see, and he would have loved it. Since then I have been less than impressed with King's releases, but again I find myself saddened that my Dad and I can't share Booya Moon. While completely fictional, I do believe that this work is the most intimate look the readers may ever see of the landscape of Stephen King's mind, and I have no doubt that Scott Landon's love for Lisey finds no small inspiration in the relationship between King and his wife.
The one difficulty I had with book was the "private language" between Scott and Lisey, which must simply be accepted for a time before it is explained. Otherwise King has written a completely unique work with the stylistic elements he is famous for, but in a genre which I would never have imagined he would try. To quote my husband: "In his own inimitable way, Stephen King wrote a love story." And indeed, he did.