Three Books That Take You Through Generations of a Family

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Sometimes there is nothing better than getting lost in a good book that takes you through the story of generations of a family. Reading about the family dynamics can invite comparisons and contrasts to one’s own family. One of my favorite summer books ever is Anne Rivers Siddons’ novel Colony, about Maude, a young woman who arrives a bride at her husband’s family summer retreat in Maine feeling like an outsider. Over the years, Maude comes to love the colony and becomes the caretaker of the family and their beloved home. 

This month’s Book Report has three stories about generations of families, and the strong pull of home. First is a book published last year, Regina Porter’s The Travelers, which takes us from the 1950s through Obama’s first year as president. 

Porter travels back and forth in time, and she helpfully lists the Cast of Characters and their relationship to each other at the beginning of the novel. At the beginning of each chapter she shares the year that chapter covers. 

James Vincent Jr. is a successful Manhattan lawyer, who has a son by his first wife Sigrid. Sigrid takes their son Rufus and moves to California, and James remarries. He also has a son by his occasional mistress, but this is not acknowledged by anyone.

Rufus marries Claudia, a black woman, whose mother Agnes was traumatized as a young woman, which led her to leave home and marry Eddie, who ends up in Vietnam, serving on a naval ship with his cousins. The men make a decision on that ship that will haunt Eddie.

The character who interested me most was Eloise, who was in love with Agnes and devastated when Agnes rebuffed her. Eloise was obsessed with Bessie Coleman, a black aviatrix, and wanted nothing more than to learn how to fly.

The families’ stories intersect over generations, and it’s fascinating to see how Porter weaves all of her characters stories together and how strong the pull towards home is for all. I highly recommend it.

Brit Bennett’s new novel, The Vanishing Half is currently sitting atop the New York Times’ bestseller list for a good reason- it’s fantastic. Like The Travelers, the story begins in the 1950s, with high school aged twin sisters Stella and Desiree living in a small all-black community in the South. 

Desiree longs to leave their small town and wants Stella, who would love nothing more that to go to college and become a teacher in their small community, to come with her. Something happens that convinces Stella she must leave, and the girls sneak away.

In 1968, Desiree reluctantly returns back home with her young daughter in tow, but not Stella. Stella left Desiree years ago, moved away and left no forwarding address. When Stella applied for a secretarial job, she was able to pass as a white woman, and when she got the job she continued passing.

Years later Stella is married to a wealthy man and has a daughter. No one knows she is black, and she lives with the fear that one day she will be found out. That day may come when Desiree’s daughter and her daughter meet. 

The Vanishing Half is about race, family, identity, and Bennett’s writing is just brilliant. She delves into the fears and dreams of her characters, and again how strong the pull of home is.

Connie Schultz’s novel The Daughters of Erietown spans the decades from the 1950s through the 1970s in the industrial town of Erietown, Ohio. Ellie is a high school girl madly in love with Brick, the star basketball player. 

Both are planning on going to college when Ellie discovers she is pregnant. All of their future dreams change as they marry and begin a family. Brick goes to work in the maintenance department of a coal plant, and Ellie stays home with their children.

Over the years, they mourn their lost dreams, and Brick’s unhappiness causes him to become reckless. We see their oldest child, Samantha, grow up in during turbulent times in her family and in the country as she has to make decisions for her own future.

The Daughters of Erietown is a great read for anyone from a small town as well as anyone who came of age of the 1960s and 1970s, with the intergenerational struggles that took center stage. Each character is vividly portrayed, and their decisions have consequences that reverberate for everyone. I highly recommend it.

The Travelers by Regina Porter- A+

Published by Hogarth 

Hardcover, $27, 320 pages

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett- A+

Published by Riverhead Books

Hardcover, $27, 350 pages

The Daughters of Erietown by Connie Schultz- A

Published by Random House

Hardcover, $28, 457 pages

Friday 5ive- June 26,2020

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. New York City has moved into Phase 2 this week, and that means restaurants can have people dining outside and retail can move to curbside pickup. So far, so good.

1)  This week's photos of flowers comes from our own apartment balcony. Our planters have really exploded this week, I'm not sure how much longer they will be able to be contained.

2)  Now that Phase 2 has started, restaurants in NYC can have outdoor seating. The problem with that is that there is very little space outside many restaurants. They have gotten creative in building outdoor dining areas right in the street, which I find a little disconcerting. It may work on a side street, but the first restaurant pictured has tables in the bus lane on Second Ave. I like what Petaluma did with their outdoor tables on the sidewalk- they have tall dividers that give some measure of privacy.

Formerly a bus lane, now fine dining

Tables on a side street

Tables on a sidewalk behind tall dividers- I like this one

3)  We were lucky enough to travel to Italy the last two years, and had hoped to return this year, but that was not to be. Our friend Alberto at Cortona Wine Tours started a Wine Club, and we were able to order a case of wine from him. It arrived this week and we will doing a live online tasting with him on Sunday. It's the next best thing.

4)  We had tickets to go see comedian Jim Gaffigan at Radio City Music Hall in April, but that too was a no-go. I signed up for text messages from him, and he has been sending videos of his comedy bits every day. They are just short 10 minutes or so, and it's always good to have a laugh during the day. You can subscribe on his YouTube Channel here. 

5)  I got a lot of reading done last week. For my Juneteenth Weekend Reads, first up was Jesmyn Ward's memoir Men We Reaped, about five young men (including her brother) from her hometown in the rural South who died at a young age. It's heartbreaking and illuminating, about race and poverty.

Saeed Jones' memoir, How We Fight For Our Lives, is about his life as black gay man growing up in Texas. He is a poet, and every word is deliberately chosen in this powerful, searing book. He won the LAMBDA Award for memoir this year and it is well- deserved. It's a good read for Pride Month too.

Imbolo Mbue's novel, Behold the Dreamers, was also a good read for Immigrant Heritage Month. It tells the story of an immigrant couple from Cameroon who come to New York City for a better life for their young son. The husband gets a job as a driver for a Lehman Brothers executive, and his wife studies to be a pharmacist. They work hard and life is pretty good until the destruction of Lehman Brothers at the beginning of the economic crisis of 2008 threatens everything. So many people recommended this one, I really loved it.

Connie Schultz's The Daughters of Erietown takes place in an industrial town in Ohio from the 1950s to the 1970's. Ellie, a young high school girl, becomes pregnant, and she and her boyfriend Brick put their dreams for college on hold, marry and move to Erietown, where he gets a job as a maintenance man and she raises their family. Like Behold the Dreamers, it's about what happens when your plans are derailed, and how that effects everyone. It's a terrific novel.

I hope you enjoying the warm weather and that you are staying safe. Wear your mask, socially distance, and wash your hands.