Rising in Beauty

Rising in Beauty
Sky over North Park

Just Learning

Just Learning
Kitchen Studio

Friday, September 30, 2011

Book Review: The Summer Without Men

BOOK REVIEW: THE SUMMER WITHOUT MEN, BY SIRI HUSTVEDT, PICADOR PAPERBACK, NEW YORK, NY 2011

“I need a pause,” announces Mia’s husband of 30 years, then leaves. The writer lets the reader look over Mia’s shoulder. She reacts in a briefly catastrophic way, then takes a summer to think and heal. Her mother lives in a retirement home, where Mia visits and grows closer to a quirky set of old women. At the same time, Mia interacts with twelve-year-old girls taking her creative writing class. Both groups revive memories, themes of identity, thoughtful exploration of what it has meant to Mia to be a woman.

Hustvedt’s writing by turns evokes laughter, sadness, perspective, ironic recognition, and haunting love. She can certainly turn a phrase! At 182 pages, this is a quick read that I look forward to savoring again.

Book Review: The Latte Rebellion

BOOK REVIEW

THE LATTE REBELLION, BY SARAH JAMILA STEVENSON, FLUX, LLEWELLYN WORDLDWIDE LTD., WOODBURY, MINNESOTA, 2011

TYPE: YOUNG ADULT

High School Senior Asha gets tired of racial slurs and being excluded from ethnic clubs at school because she doesn’t fit neatly into one category. After all, lots of students at her school have heritage from more than one continent. In fact, they’re just plain brown, like most people on earth.

The Latte Rebellion starts as a gesture of defiance and a money making scheme. Asha and her friend Carey hope many kids will buy a T-shirt that proudly proclaims the value of being “Latte,” mixing coffee and milk to produce something delicious.

Their idea sparks a movement that spreads nation-wide, and immediately goes far out of their control. Asha is surprised to find herself a spokesperson, involved with college activists, and almost expelled from school when action and reaction get too hot for the high school administration.

College admission worries, themes of loyalty, betrayal, confusion, forming one’s own values, and, of course, cute guys, make this story appealing to older teens.