Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (Illinois) Review

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Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (Illinois) ReviewDo you remember the heat wave in Chicago in 1995? The rail lines folded, electricity went out with rolling blackouts, some streets even buckled. The heat was over 100 degrees, rarely dipping below the 80's at night, and the humidity near 100%. But what most people don't remember is the horrific human death toll during that time. Over 700 people were killed in that heat wave that lasted nearly a week. But while the author looks deeply into the horror of this natural disaster, he mainly concentrates with precision on a few separate areas:
First, that heat waves kill more people annualy than all other types of natural disasters combined. Yet they receive little public attention mostly because they fail to generate the massive property damage and fantastic images produced by other weather-related disasters.
Second, most of the people that died were the elderly and poor, who died at home, with their windows often sealed or even nailed shut to prevent rampant crime in their areas. They had no air conditioning because they could not afford it, and little or any access to any social help because of their economic situation.
The author also looks into how the city of Chicago didn't come to grips with what had happened until the heat wave was well over, and that because of the social structure where the affluent have ample protection from such massive natural disasters, the elderly, infirm and poor will likely remain having none. And while dealing with the aftermath is much more costly, governments choose not to prepare for them with social programs which are often viewed as liberal pork or government waste.
A fascinating, well written book. It also contains many images, some of which appear is if taken from somewhere like Somalia. Eric Klinenberg is an sociology professor at Northwestern University.Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago (Illinois) Overview

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Where Do I Go? (Yada Yada House of Hope Series, Book 1) Review

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Where Do I Go (Yada Yada House of Hope Series, Book 1) ReviewHalf a million people, according to Amazon.com, read the yada yada prayer group series books. So did I.
So, I wondered whether I would enjoy a second series. Yes! This book (the first in the series) introduces readers to a somewhat depressed woman who seems to be casting about for meaning in her life. She moves to a new city with her husband. Their children are back east, finishing the school year at a private school. No friends. No contacts.
And, as the author moves into the story, the husband reveals himself as critical and self-absorbed.
At first I felt annoyed at Gabby, the main character. I thought, "stop being such a wimp." Then, I realized that Gabby was trapped in a marriage with a verbally and emotionally abusive husband. Suddenly, I didn't feel so annoyed by her inability to stand up for herself. I began to see the spirit-crushing, self-esteem destroying effects of emotional and verbal abuse. Her story began to look more and more like the stories of so many women I've met during years of pastoral ministry. I began to be on her side - wishing I could take her out for coffee and say, Gabby, you deserve to be treated with love.
This book is long overdue in Christian literature. Emotional and Verbal abuse is rampant - and often women don't understand that the criticism, silent treatment, name-calling or dismissing of their presence and words is actually abusive behavior. * Neta Jackson has opened a window into this reality for all of us and for the Christian community.
What I love about this book is the unexpected places where Gabby does find love. The doorman in their Chicago high-rise. A homeless woman who hangs out at the nearby beach. Then, a shelter for homeless women. A college-age Latino newlywed with a cute, anglo husband and an adopted baby.
These people change Gabby. They also prop her up during the tornado that happens when her abusive husband escalates his control of her and her entire life....I won't tell you how - read the book and find out!
This book moves beyond the Yada Yada Prayer Group series as we get to know someone seeking love and needing a place to stand that's safe and whole.
Once again, Neta Jackson uses music (the title is from a great song about "where do I go.....I go to the Rock."* If this sounds all-too familiar, you might read The Verbally Abusive Relationship by Patricia EvansWhere Do I Go (Yada Yada House of Hope Series, Book 1) Overview

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Perfect Chemistry Review

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Perfect Chemistry ReviewAlex Fuentes is gang member from the south side of Fairfield, and Brittany Ellis is a privileged girl from the north. Each have a status and a reputation to uphold at Fairfield High, but they also have secrets--for Alex, it's the desire to break free from the Latino Blood gang and his tough image and succeed in life. Brittany's life may look perfect from the outside, but at home, her parents are struggling to deal with Brittany's handicapped sister.

Brittany and Alex are on the opposite ends of the social scene spectrum, but that doesn't stop their chemistry teacher from making them lab partners. It's hate at first sight for both, but as they learn more about each other and slowly move beyond the stereotypes, they'll discover completely new people.

Perfect Chemistry is the classic love story of two utterly different people falling for each other, despite their initial loathing. Elkeles breathes new life into the old tale, giving it a fresh teenage perspective by interchangeably writing in both Alex and Brittany's point of view, keeping Perfect Chemistry fresh and evenly paced. The plot is realistic and sweet without being cliché, and the dialogue is perfect; gritty, and genuine. Each side is portrayed objectively, and though Alex and Brittany's relationship does move at a fast pace, their thoughts, insecurities, hang-ups, and urges all ring true and are easy for nearly any teen to identify with.

Though it is an important part of the book, the romance doesn't dominate it: strong themes of acceptance, diversity, courage, and independence are also present, making for a powerful read that boldly faces the consequences of gang life, and offers an unflinching look at how difficult it is to extricate oneself from it. Elkeles has created a riveting and strong novel with an important and relevant message and a romance hotter than any exothermic reaction.Perfect Chemistry Overview

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The Paris Wife: A Novel Review

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The Paris Wife: A Novel ReviewAt the end of Ernest Hemingway's memoir, A Moveable Feast , he writes of his first wife, Hadley Richardson, "I wish I had died before I loved anyone but her." After their divorce, Hemingway marries three more times, each one prompt to follow, like serial wives. This is the story of the woman that loved him before he was famous.
Paula McLain researched their biographies, letters, and Hemingway's novels, culling the material to imagine a story of their charmed and battered marriage in Paris, from 1921-1926. The tortured life and tragically foreshadowed suicide of Ernest Hemingway is public knowledge, as was his legendary womanizing. McLain's novel dodges the palaver, blending the facts that are known together with credible inference, creating a plausible, informed depiction of Hemingway and Hadley's marriage--the quotidian, the famed, the halcyon, the harsh.
The author writes from Hadley's point of view, inviting the reader inside their most tender and demolishing moments. A few choice sections belong to Hemingway's perspective, urgent and telling. The narrative deftly folds in their histories--the years before they met--artfully revealing early and private woes, which ripple and sometimes hiss beneath the ardor. We get the back stories without muddled exposition; by the time it arrives at the failure of their union, readers have acquired a fluency of Hadley's nature and Hemingway's core.
Hadley sustained several painful childhood experiences that eerily parallel Hemingway's, and was a recluse and "spinster" at twenty-eight, when she met and was courted by the twenty-one-year-old Hemingway. He was a struggling, ambitious writer, home after the shock and agonies of the Great War, where he endured trauma and its aftereffects, described today as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). He couldn't sleep without a light. His mother was an insufferable controller, and he didn't want to marry a woman like that.
The pliable and less progressive Hadley was a sound match for the needy, talented, and egocentric Ernest. He required a woman who would unshakably support his career. Hadley was a generous lover and devoted supporter who sacrificed her personal ambitions for Ernest. She was also playful and warm and smart, but not savvy and edgy like the emerging modern women of the 1920's.

In prose that reflects the style of the era, McLain illustrates a glittering world of élan expatriates and literati. Hadley and Ernest (and their baby, Bumby) lived in the (then) modest Latin Quarter, and soon became a vibrant part of the Left Bank artists, such as Gertrude Stein, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Ford Maddox Ford, Jean Rhys, and many others. Open marriage, and mistresses living in the same house with wives, were not unheard of in this set.
Blithe talk, bottomless glasses of whiskey, and bottle after bottle of wine was the norm in their active social lives. In the mornings, the hair of the dog was the cure for the night on the town. Jaunts to Pamplona to see the bullfights were illustrated by McClain in all their gory splendor.
During this time, Hemingway wrote copiously and tirelessly, jealous of some of his peers who were already established. The germination and completion of The Sun Also Rises is covered, as well as his ruthless parody of Sherwood Anderson's work, The TORRENTS OF SPRING. Hadley loved him utterly, propped him up buoyantly, and assured him of his inevitable success. Eventually, Ernest acquired more expansive needs, and Hadley needed less, but got more than she bargained for. McClain limns their marriage as more than just a cautionary tale.
"To keep you from thinking, there was liquor, an ocean's worth at least, all the usual vices and plenty of rope to hang yourself with. But some of us, a very few in the end, bet on marriage against the odds."
This isn't standard "chick-lit" fare, nor is it cloying. I recommend this to anyone interested in the psyche of Hemingway, his first marriage, and his genesis as one of the greatest American authors of our time--from a wife's perspective.
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