A Million Little Pieces  by James Frey

Reviewed by Gerti

I remember a few years ago when Oprah still had a show on broadcast TV that she was busy picking novels to be part of her book club. This novel, “A Million Little Pieces” by James Frey, was one that she chose. People raved about it and its author, so when it was revealed that he had made up parts of it (which should be expected in a work of fiction, no?) he was vilified.

So when I saw it on the book sale shelf at the library, many years after all the hubbub, I decided to see what all the fuss was about. What I found was that any sensible person reading this book could see that elements of it were fictional. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is a riveting work, if a bit too long.

The main character is supposed to be James, who as a relatively young man has become addicted to a great many things. So when he wakes up in an airplane and doesn’t remember how he got there, or where he’s going, or how he’s gotten so physically wrecked, it comes as no surprise. His wealthy but often absent parents decide to take him to the best treatment center in the country, which is in the middle of nowhere. James has no clothes with him, or anything else, so generous souls give him a winter coat and some clothes and books. But basically, he’s at this treatment center on his own with no resources.

He makes friends, he makes enemies, he is a good doobie, he is a bad ass. James basically does whatever he feels is right at the moment. He isn’t much of a rule follower, but has a deep sense of ethics, and a fascinating story to tell his counselors. He totally dismisses the 12 steps process that Alcoholics Anonymous uses, and thinks the reliance on a superior power, for him, is foolish. However, he finally finds a text called Tao Te Ching to which he does relate, and that helps him sober up to the point where his parents can come to the center and the family can find out where James’ life and their relationship went south.

This is a fascinating book for anyone, no matter what weaknesses they have as human beings, as it ostensibly gives some insight into the lives of people who have let their weaknesses totally control them. But the question of addiction is larger than James’ desire for alcohol and drugs. “A Million Little Pieces” is a story about friends, enemies, co-workers, counselors and freaks – in short, everyone. It shows the evil that people do to themselves when they don’t care about the outcome, and the evil that even good-intentioned people do. Frey’s writing is brilliant, almost a new style of literature, and I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in addiction, self-abuse, broken families and ultimately, the human condition itself. A great read. 

It’s Always Something by Gilda Radner

Reviewed by Gerti

For those who don’t know, Gilda Radner was a famous comedian from the early days of the television show “Saturday Night Live,” which has been a staple on TV for decades now. As such, the reader might expect this book to be a comedy riot, along the lines of written offerings from other comedians like Ron White or Chelsea Handler. But it is not, yet that doesn’t make it a bad book.

“It’s Always Something” is more the story of how Gilda Radner went through ups and downs during her eventually losing battle against ovarian cancer. It is one of those books where even though you know how it ends (she is dead, after all), the glory is in the struggle itself, and here Radner lays out her fight against the disease in sometimes agonizing personal detail. She talks about her moods, the doctors and nurses who helped her, her husband, fellow comedian Gene Wilder and HIS struggles with her and her disease, and well as what many of these medical procedures and treatments felt like to her. She shows each stage of the process unflinchingly, laying herself open to criticism even while she talks about her mad search for alternative treatments and her evil and depressive moods.

Yes, she does talk about her unconventional upbringing and her early career, and finally the triumphs that made her a household name and a recognizable face while she was on TV. But that is a small portion of the book. More often, she talks candidly about people from The Wellness Community, the cancer support group she meets with, and her hero worship of the man who founded it, and her relationship with Gene Wilder. She is frank about her lengthy struggle to get Wilder to marry her in the first place, and then about their struggles to keep it together when they have alternate ideas about her cancer treatment modalities. Gilda is beyond honest, always leaving herself painfully vulnerable to the prying eyes of the casual reader. But how can anyone read this story and not be sympathetic to the person who went through so much pain and yet brought so much laughter to the world? It is heartbreaking to see her go through this.

“It’s Always Something” is not a funny book, although there are funny scenes in it. I think it should be read rather by those going through cancer treatments, or the family members and friends of those people, than a typical SNL fan looking for a laugh, as it is more informative than funny. My father died of cancer a few years back, and this book explains in detail what he and other cancer patients experience. Reading it was helpful and healing to me because he never talked about what he was going through at the time. In the end, I’m sorry Gilda Radner died, because even though she succumbed to this terrible disease, she goes on helping people not by sharing laughs, but by sharing the story of her struggle with cancer so candidly.

Jane Austen: Obstinate Heart  by Valerie Grosvenor Myer

Reviewed by Gerti

Having read all of Jane Austen’s novels and letters, I felt it was about time to do some in-depth research on the great British author’s life. The first biography that caught my interest was that by Valerie Grosvenor Myer, as it had the intriguing phrase “Obstinate Heart” attached to her name. What it seems Jane was most obstinate about was refusing to marry without love, and although Myer doesn’t pin things down as much as I’d like, she implies that several different men proposed to Jane and were turned down.

Why would that be the focus of my reading this 200+ page bio? I think that Jane’s own romances formed the basis for the plots of her 6 finished novels, especially as they concerned the love matches made by her heroines. Many of the novels include proposals, but they are each very different, and I read the book to try and investigate that issue – whether the novel proposals were so different because Jane herself had received nearly a half dozen varied offers of marriage.

The book is thorough in many ways, talking about where Jane lived and how she got from one location to another, usually travelling via the kindness of friends and family, as she rarely had enough money to pay for her own conveyance. That too harkens back to her novels like “Sense and Sensibility” and “Mansfield Park”, in which her heroines have limited resources and are often dependent on the largesse of relatives. But just like the featured ladies in her novels refused to marry for money although it would make their lives and the lives of their families easier, Jane refused at least one proposal that would have made her the mistress of a large country house and ended her monetary woes.

Of course, near the end of her life, Jane was making a healthy amount of money from her writing, but by then her health had been compromised. She died at age 41 from what is believed to be an adrenal gland disease. She died before 2 of her novels were even published, and I enjoyed learning that it was her brother Henry who named those works “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion.” In short, I loved learning details of Jane Austen’s life, even if Myer’s writing was sometimes dry and her paragraphs occasionally seemed misplaced, as if they had been tacked into the story without a concern about flow or continuity. It almost felt as though there had not been a final edit to this book, as odd facts would pop up during a discussion of something entirely different, which was jarring.

Unlike other critics however I enjoyed Myer trying to connect Jane’s novels with her life experiences, as it is something I do, too. I only wish we had more facts available about Austen’s life to fill in the time gaps that exist, and I sincerely wish that her sister Cassandra had not destroyed so many of her letters! Still, Myer has put together an educational, fact-filled and satisfying biography, and I recommend it.

The Incredible Adventures of Daniel Boone's Kid Brother, Squire by W. Fred Conway

reviewed by Gerti

By size and weight, this seems like a throw-away pamphlet, but W. Fred Conway’s work on Squire Boone has more substance than it would appear at first glance. He takes the story of the Boone family, especially famous brother Daniel and less-famous sibling Squire, from their early days in the Yadkin Valley of North Carolina, through Squire’s burial in Boone Caverns, which he discovered while hiding from Indians in southern Indiana.

The story is almost apochryphal, with Daniel Boone constantly getting into scrapes, captured by Indians, etc. and his baby brother coming to his rescue. The first story told by Conway shows how several other companions of the Boone boys were killed or lost in the Kentucky woods, but the Boone boys always managed to survive their trials and return to their wives back in Yadkin. So competent were they as woodsmen, that they were able to explore the country separately for a year and then keep an appointment to meet at noon on a specific July day in a hidden encampment.

The Boone’s traversed much of Kentucky, and would eventually help found several forts against Indian attacks, including Fort Painted Stone near Shelbyville, Fort Boonesborough near Winchester, and Fort Harrod, near Harrodsburg. Squire was an important figure in the history of Indiana as well, since he founded the first Baptist Church in the state, near Laconia. He was a self-ordained Baptist minister, who also performed the first marriage west of the Appalachians, with the bride one of three teenaged girls he saved after Indians abducted her. He is also considered one of this country’s first environmentalists, as he was very concerned, despite bringing many settlers here, about maintaining the wonderful wilderness in our region, too. He even spoke to that point while a delegate in Kentucky’s first legislative assembly.

Squire’s enduring legacy, however, seems to be Squire Boone Village near Corydon, Indiana. He built a gristmill there with his son after going broke when some land speculation deals fell through. They used the water flowing out of the caves to power the mill, and apparently, it still grinds grain the way it did two centuries ago. Nowadays the tourist attraction “village” also has a bakery, and soap and candle-making displays. You can see his burial casket, or at least the monument erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution in his honor, as both Daniel and Squire were made honorary Army Captains by a special act of Congress.

While not as laudable as it once seemed, Squire Boone clearly fought many battles with the Native Americans in order to settle the wilderness that became the states of Indiana and Kentucky. He saved many settlers lives, and even came up with primitive fire extinguishers made from rifles to deal with flaming arrows shot into forts. Squire was an educated man who believed in God, knew the woods, and had many skills valuable in the new territories, acting as a carpenter, a miller and a gunsmith during his lifetime.

While Conway’s language is sometimes awkward, he tells a good tale about a fascinating historical figure of great regional importance. This book would be appreciated by any child, teen or adult with an interest in the early battles that created our state and, ultimately, our nation. It’s a shame Squire Boone is not as well known as his brother.