DEAD WAKE by Erik Larson

In typical Erik Larson fashion, two narratives dominate this book—that of the Lusitania and that of the submarine that destroyed it.  However, there are a whole lot of other intriguing stories, particularly the question of why the Lusitania did not have a naval escort and why it entered the U-boat-infested St. George’s Channel in the first place.  British intelligence knew of the danger and either wanted it torpedoed so that the U.S. would enter WWI or didn’t want the Germans to find out that the Brits were intercepting and decoding the German transmissions.  Neither excuse seems very noble, but then the U.S. President, Woodrow Wilson, was lovestruck at the time, and Winston Churchill was in France.  The weather and the tide schedule were also uncooperative, so that a whole confluence of bad luck doomed the ship, including a torpedo that was slightly off course.  The book also gives details about a number of passengers, but these backstories are not nearly as compelling as the survival stories.  A couple of women, presumed dead and brought on board rescue ships, rejoined the living.  Nonfiction is not really my thing, but Erik Larson rarely disappoints, and this book kept me engrossed all the way through.  Maybe I gained a little more in-depth knowledge—pun intended—about WWI-generation German submarines than I really needed, but I have to say that I found that more fascinating than the opulence of the Lusitania.

IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS by Erik Larson

After several other men have turned down the job, William Dodd abandons a life of academia to become U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933.  This is a time in which Hitler is gaining more power and amassing a huge army in defiance of the Treaty of Versailles.  Despite the rising tensions, Dodd brings along his wife and two grown children to Berlin.  Dodd’s daughter, Martha, is quite the femme fatale and becomes cozy with an assortment of American writers, German Nazis, and one Russian who may have been a spy.  This book focuses largely on the writings of Martha and her father, both of whom at first downplay the potential for Hitler’s regime to survive and wreak havoc.  Roosevelt’s administration is even less concerned about the turmoil in Germany, and the metaphor about boiling a frog in warm water comes to mind:  the danger isn’t obvious until it’s too late to escape the consequences.  Eventually, Hitler’s ruthlessness and murder of Jews, rivals, and anyone who contradicts him become impossible for Dodd to ignore.  However, convincing the U.S. that Hitler intends to take over Europe is especially difficult, given that the State Department views Dodd’s appointment as a mistake.  His chief mission is to persuade Germany to repay their debt to the U.S. government, but Dodd knows they do not have the money.  Dodd is by no means heroic and even displays hints of racism and anti-Semitism. Nor does he have the personality or charisma to exert any influence on the German political situation, but probably no one else does, either.  He is, however, principled in his ultimate refusal to socialize with the Nazis, although the State Department argues that an ambassador’s job involves building a relationship with the government of the country to which he has been assigned.  Perhaps Dodd’s greatest achievement is his documentation of what he witnesses, both in his diary and in his correspondence.  He is, unfortunately, not a flashy protagonist, making the narrative rather dry, and we all know the horror of what eventually happens.  This may not be my favorite Erik Larson book, but, once again, he has turned a piece of history into a very readable, albeit terrifying, book.

CLEAR by Carys Davies

A Scottish landowner hires John Ferguson to evict Ivar, the only occupant of a remote island.  This would seem to be an unpleasant task for a minister, but Ferguson needs the money.  Before he has even had a chance to settle in after the treacherous journey, Ferguson takes a bad fall, rendering him unconscious.  Ivar finds him and nurses him back to health, so that Ferguson is now indebted to Ivar and thus even more reluctant to accomplish his assigned duty.  This interruption to Ivar’s isolation, rather than an inconvenience, gives him an unexpected respite from his monotonous daily routine.  As for Ferguson, he makes an effort to learn Ivar’s language, communicating with whatever sign language gets his point across and creating a written glossary of the words he learns. The remoteness of the island and its gloomy weather seem to spell doom for one or both men.  I’m not sure how I thought this would turn out, with several moments that made me uneasy, but the conclusion totally came out of left field.  Plus, Ferguson has a gun, and I expected that it would have to come into play at some point.

SEASCRAPER by Benjamin Wood

Thomas Flett is a weary “shanker” who goes out twice a day at the Irish Sea’s low tide with a cart and horse to harvest shrimp.  He’s a twenty-year-old bookworm who had to drop out of school at fifteen to help support his unwed mother.  His is a hard life, but he yearns to become a musician and hides his guitar in the horse’s shed.  The slow pace of this book accelerates to hyperspeed when American movie director Edgar Acheson shows up with a lucrative offer for Thomas.  Edgar wants to film a movie on the beach that Thomas knows extremely well, and Thomas will serve as Edgar’s shore guide, making sure that they avoid deadly sinkholes.  The ominous cold, rainy, and foggy atmosphere provides a strong sense of foreboding and portends of catastrophes to come.  Not only is this a quick read after the dread sets in, but the action all takes place over the course of roughly 24 hours.  Another plus is that there are only about half a dozen characters to keep track of.  The feeling of impending doom propels this novel forward, as does Thomas’s longing for a different life that he seems destined never to experience.

COME & GET IT by Kiley Reid

Millie is a 24-year-old Resident Assistant for a women’s dorm at the University of Arkansas.  Agatha is a successful author and visiting professor, also at the University of Arkansas, who intends to interview students there for her next book.  However, that project gets sidelined in favor of stories for Teen Vogue when she discovers that she can eavesdrop on three students who live in the suite next to Millie’s.  Things get really messy eventually, but we have to wade through hundreds of uneventful pages in the meantime.  The plot for most of the book is somewhere between thin and non-existent, as I kept wondering where on earth this was going.  Retaliatory dorm pranks make some of the characters seem particularly immature and unlikeable.  Other characters prove themselves to be guilty of insanely bad judgment, particularly Kennedy, one the students in the suite next to Millie’s.  She’s a transfer to the U of A due to an incident that led me to think she has some kind of personality disorder, but I’m certainly not qualified to diagnose it.  Millie is in line for a promotion to Resident Director next term, but she disappoints by displaying a streak of cowardice near the end.  Agatha, whose ethical compass definitely shows signs of needing an adjustment, is the one who at least has a backbone, facing up to her misdeeds and offering financial reparations.  I’m not sure what this book is supposed to be about, but perhaps it’s a statement on our transactional society, and it doesn’t bode well.

ENTITLEMENT by Rumaan Alam

Brooke is a young, beautiful, Vassar-educated Black woman who goes to work for Asher Jaffee, a white billionaire in his eighties.  Her job is to help Asher give away his money, and she becomes his protégé, undergoing a transformation in the process.  Brooke first comes to Asher’s attention with her outspokenness and her attempt to return a $200 expense check that she claims to find unethical.  However, her ethics seem to dissolve as she inserts herself into Asher’s lavish lifestyle and comes to feel that she deserves the same perks, such as a chauffeur and a gorgeous New York apartment.  Does she expect Asher to look the other way when she charges expensive clothing to the foundation’s credit card and exaggerates her income in order to qualify for a mortgage?  Brooke is delusional and, from this reader’s standpoint, unlikeable.  Asher has encouraged her to go after what she wants, but she takes that advice to an extreme.  For a book that is largely about a charitable organization, this novel seemed heartless to me.  Asher, whose intentions appear altruistic on the surface, is trying to minimize his tax liability and paying almost a million dollars for a painting for his wife’s birthday.  He is still making more money than he gives away.  All this money being thrown around so casually and carelessly for personal use by a supposed philanthropist is a little nauseating, but maybe that’s the point.

GOOD MATERIAL by Dolly Alderton

Thirty-five-year-old Andy is a mediocre comedian, wallowing in self-pity.  His breakup with Jen has rocked his world, and even his longtime friends no longer want to hang out with him.  Dolly Alderton, please do not write another book like this, as a whiny novel does not make for a good read.  I loved Ghosts and kept expecting this novel to veer in a more positive direction or for Andy to incorporate some of his more outrageous post-breakup experiences into his comedy routine.  His short-lived residence on a boat, his therapy session under false pretenses, and his landlord’s correspondence with Julian Assange would all seem to provide some good fodder for laughter, and I guess they do eventually.  However, we don’t receive any real relief from Andy’s pathetic obsession until late in the novel when Jen explains exactly why she had to end her relationship with him.  Any sympathy that I could muster for Andy went straight down the tubes after hearing her side of the story.  I would be more optimistic that Andy has learned from this experience if Jen would share with him what went wrong.