allthepage

I’ve just read two books that were coincidentally, though strikingly, similar. The first, Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, was hailed in the jacket blurbs as the Second Coming of murder fiction. The Denver Post called it “Hitchcock visits Stephen King.” Um, no. Not even. Stephen, himself, wrote, “To say this is a terrific debut novel is really too mild…An admirably nasty piece of work, elevated by sharp writing and sharper insights.” Okay, yeah, I could go there. The main character, Camille, is very unusual and compelling. The more squeamish among you may want to know in advance that Camille is a cutter, and even that aspect of her personality is a-typical. Camille is asked to return to her hometown, scene of an unhappy, if monied childhood, to cover the murders of two pre-teen girls. Confronting the past, and focusing on the gruesome present, while staying sane and somewhat objective quickly becomes overwhelming for Camille, who is not too long out of a mental ward.

The next book I picked up was A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read. In this story, Madeline, known as Bunny to her adoring husband, stumbles upon a link between a family member and a horrific murder. While she is generally a writer of fluff pieces for her local weekly, she now finds herself in a very sticky web of family and small town secrets, highly conflicted about the story she somehow lobbied to write. Like Camille, Madeline comes from old money, but a somewhat less painful, albeit odd childhood. Both women reminded me of who  Kinsey Millhone might have become had she escaped the alphabet and developed darker habits–and that’s a compliment. I liked both books a lot, I just thought A Field of Darkness was a little richer, more dense. I’m excited about Cornelia Read’s The Crazy School, which came out in January. Might even spring for the hardcover…I’ll watch for new offerings from Flynn, as well, even if she isn’t the Second Coming of King.

Welcome cult-curious, this was a great read! The book I speak of is Not Without My Sisters, a memoir of being born into The Family, a pseudo-religious cult, with a sexually perverted, self-proclaimed old man as king. The book is written from the perspectives of three sisters of two different mothers, whose father wrote, narrated, and produced numerous radio programs, videos, and other propaganda. He was something of a cult celebrity (if you will) who fathered numerous children by several women, and remains a dedicated and devout member of the group. The young women all eventually broke away from The Family, at different times and ages, and for different reasons, They write candidly about their feelings as followers and later as doubters. Perhaps because their father is a writer, and they all, at one time or another seemed to write and perform as well, they recall and articulate their past experiences well. As with the other book I read on The Family–see the previous tardily-published post–there is not a lot of sensational, gratuitous writing about sex, though sexual abuse of children remains one of the most heinous doctrines encouraged by the early organization. Instead, the focus is on the difficult navigation of daily life in a world where children were moved from country to country, household to household, and frequently and routinely assigned  new “parents” without any warning or consultation. That is not to say that there was no disclosure or discussion of the various forms of abuse and “retraining” that went on in the highly dysfunctional compounds around the world. Here is an excerpt that illustrates the mode of physical and psychological torment:”As we were everybody and nobody’s kids, according to the Mo letter ‘One Wife [the “prophet” David Berg was also referred to as “Mo” and sent out letters of rules, instructions, and so-called prophesies to the international community], any adult could correct you for any offence they thought you had committed. This often became confusing, as one adult could tell you to do something, and another would catch you doing it and become angry because they saw something wrong with it and punished you. If you tried to explain yourself, you would get in trouble for talking back, but if you did not obey what the first adult told you to do, you would be punished for disobedience. For the worst sins committed in front of the class, you would receive a public beating which was meant to hurt your pride as much as it hurt your rear-end. This was derived from the verse, ‘They who sin before all shall be rebuked before all.’ I received a public spanking for such offences as murmuring, arguing, talking without permission, or lying.”   The triple perspective makes the book feel very fair, and the stories are not difficult to follow, though god knows how those poor little girls (at the time) knew if they were coming or going or who their parents were supposed to be on any given day! Fortunately, these three stories had an ultimately happy ending; many of their friends were not so lucky.Next, I attempt to learn a new way to ease, eliminate, or at least channel my depression, with help from Eric Maisel’s The Van Gogh Blues-The Creative Person’s Path through Depression. Stay tuned.  

“It seems to me that after someone sweeps across your life like a red-hot flame, peeling back the shutters that sat over your heart and your mind and setting free your sweetest dreams or your worst nightmares, after things cool down you’ve got two choices. You can either slip back into your old self, your old life, tucking those things you were too scared to look at back into hiding, or you can keep those parts of yourself out until you get so used to them that they don’t scare you anymore and they just become a part of who you are.”That is the voice of narrator “Button” in Sandra Kring’s novel, The Book of Bright Ideas. An old beat-up copy of it was handed to me by my aunt a couple days ago. She said she had read it for a book club, and would need to give it back eventually, but that she would like me to read it. It’s a really fast, easy read, perfect summer material, that centers on a summer in the lives of Button and her new and unexpected best friend, Winnalee, who hit town like a whirlwind with her much older sister. Button has been raised in a cold and quiet house, although well-loved by her nearby aunt and uncle. Winnalee’s life has been chaotic and haphazard, but anything but cold. The two nine-year-olds come together over dress-up clothes and outdoor adventures, and collaborate on adding to Winnalee’s Book of Bright Ideas.  The first one Winnalee shares with Button is: “Bright Idea #17. If you don’t give your ma a hug before you go to school because you’re mad at her for not letting you wear your good dress, she might die while you’re at recess. Then you ain’t going to be able to give her that hug ever.” It turns out to be a complicated few weeks.SO. I finished Freedomland, although it was a meatier read than anything I’ve read in awhile. I liked it, but I still find his writing a little too dense, having to go back and reread paragraphs to keep track of all the characters and their goings-on. Price writes effectively about the Projects and the complexity of being in, around and/or from them.My latest curiosity is about a religious cult called The Family or The Children of God (among other things). I first learned of it from an MSNBC documentary called Cult Killer. The documentary focused on Ricky Rodriguez, a young man who had been raised to be a prophet, but who never took to the role. Despite being “second in line” he left the cult and attempted to have a new and separate life. Unfortunately, he could not escape the horrible abuse of the past and was consumed by guilt for the children left behind. Eventually he decided that the only way to make things right was to kill his mother (the then-leader of the group)–to “cut off the head, so the body will die,”– before killing himself. He also intended his actions to bring attention to the cult and it’s sexually, psychologically, emotionally, and even physically abusive practices. He created a video tape of his last hours that was later released to the press and formed the basis for the MSNBC report. After watching the show, I went online to look for books on the Children of God. The best reviews went to Jesus Freaks: A True Story of Murder and Madness on the Evangelical Edge, by Don Lattin (available in paperback this September) and Not Without My Sister a memoir written by three female former members. Jesus Freaks was a fast, but very balanced and informative read. Lattin is a journalist who covered new religion for a major San Francisco newspaper for years, as well as as a freelancer for other publications, so his book is well-researched and less sensational than it might have been in the hands of a different author. His book also uses Ricky Rodriguez’s unravelling as a central storyline. Although the group denies encouraging sex with and between children, there is persuasive evidence to the contrary, including inside publications depicting and instructing in such practices. Ricky and the woman raised as his sister, Davida, were routinely “loved up” by adults, and videos of young girls doing seductive dances were routinely requested by the original leader, David Berg, who died in 1994. Another disturbing tactic used by the group is “flirty fishing,” whereby women would go into clubs and bars and recruit men by offering them sex. They are known as “Harlots for Jesus,” I believe. Branches of The Family still exist all over the world. After a brief interlude to read The Book of Bright Ideas I plan to jump back into cult life with the second book. More later.

I don’t remember where or when I picked him up for the first time, but I have become a major fan of Joseph Finder. He wrote a book called High Crimes that was made into a (pretty bad) movie with Ashley Judd (not a fan) and Morgan Freeman (what the hell has he been thinking lately, and while we’re on the subject, what about Samuel L. Jackson’s recent choices, hmmmmm??). Anyway, I haven’t read that one, which has something to do with the military, but Paranoia, Company Man, and Killer Instinct are so unexpectedly good. Who knew Corporate America could be so thrilling? I admit, the formula is similar in each, but I was sucked right in every time. I found a hardcover edition of Killer Instinct in the bargain books at B & N for five bucks, and the other two are pocket books, though Company Man isn’t always easy to find. Here’s a snippet from Killer Instinct: “Just a few days ago, if you looked at me you’d see a successful corporate executive. A guy with a high-powered job married to a beautiful woman. A man for whom everything seemed to be going perfectly. My idea of danger had been going to bed without brushing my teeth. Now I didn’t think I was going to live to see the morning…”You get the idea. At the moment, I’m reading Freedomland, by Richard Price…Come to think of it, that was a movie with Morgan Freeman I didn’t see, too…Eerie…Anyway, I’m going to see Richard Price lecture, so I’m boning up. I read Clockers ages ago, and I remember from then what I’m experiencing now: lots of characters and sometimes tough to follow, especially if, like me, you’re forced by schedule to do a lot of picking-up-and-putting-down. I’m only a hundred pages in, so I’m hoping it gets smoother.Later.

Books, books, and more books–this is my life. I read literature, fiction, memoirs, thrillers, whatever sounds interesting at the time. I keep a running Wish List on Amazon so that I can remember titles until I can afford to buy them. In the past few months I have made a conscious effort to get rid of books after I read them. If I think I might like to repeatedly loan one out or revisit it myself, I keep it. Otherwise, I give it away. Buh-bye overcrowded bookshelves, buh-bye! Only problem is, my memory sucks, and several times I’ve re-bought books I’d already read. Hate it when that happens. I review stuff on Amazon, although I like to keep it short and sweet. You can find those reviews under the same user name “Bookish in Sac.” I’m a virgin blogger, so this is kind of a trip for me. The goal is to illuminate a little of what’s on the page and all the rage.If you, like me, are always looking for new stuff to read, I have a couple of suggestions. If you have a Google homepage, you can select San Francisco Chronicle Books, and also Washington Post book reviews to appear on your homepage. I also love the NY Times Book Review, which is available by mail or electronically. Sometimes the ads are the best part if you’re looking for mainstream stuff. Whenever I read a magazine–from Oprah and Marie Claire to Oxford American–I keep my laptop handy so I can add anything I read about to my Wish List. I may not live long enough to afford and read the entire Wish List, because it is ever-expanding, but I’ll die happy trying.This morning I finished Switching Time by Richard Baer, an account of a doctor’s treatment and integration of a woman with 17 personalities. It was great. Probably the best account of DID (disassociative identity disorder)/MPD (multiple personality disorder) I’ve read since Sybil. It was really easy to get into, not textbook-y, and chronicled the specific integration of each alternate personality, including the abusive circumstance that caused each one to be “born.” He didn’t exploit the abuse for sensational value–although it’s pretty damned sensational any way you look at it! This woman endured unfathomable abuse at the hands of her father and grandfather almost from the time she was born, including being tied up, beaten, pricked with pins, raped with a variety of instruments, and ritual abuse in back rooms and a funeral parlor by members of the father and grandfather’s so-called cult. The origin of MPD/DID is a splitting off of personalities to deal with extreme abuse: the more abuse, often the more personalities needed to cope. It’s always amazing that these people survive at all, let alone go on to integrate and lead productive lives. Fascinating stuff.Speaking of sensational abuse–this time self-inflicted–check out Nikki Sixx’s Heroin Diaries. It’s a fast read, being in diary form, but it’s also a very cool book. Pages are thick and glossy, all colored in red, black and white. Kind of like a scrapbook, with drawings and bits of lyrics included, and statements from other people who were around to flesh out his story. Slash–who appears a bunch of times in the book and is reputed to be the inspiration for Aerosmith’s Dude Looks Like A Lady–has his own memoir out that sounds pretty interesting. I’m a total voyeur when it comes to strange and unusual lifestyle.Later.