"Patrimony" by Philip Roth

There is something sad, something utterly painful about book tributes to fathers. When reading Wiesel’s “Night”, Franzen’s “My Father’s Brain” or Roth’s “Patrimony”, one comes to grips with a difficult reality, of the unnatural heart ache and grief that accompany aging and what they do in the mean time to the father-son relationship.

“Patrimony” offers a glimpse of this aging, of the deterioration of the body. As one reads, one physically partakes into the burden of loosing a loved one, of facing the difficult decisions of what comes next, of recalling memories, of learning to struggle, of the heartbreaking doctor appointments…Philip Roth never holds back. He doesn’t protect from the sorrow, or grief. He tells his life’s story with honesty and shameless openness that requires not only brilliant clarity, but also the strength of love, love of the kind passed down from a good father to a worthy son.

This is a difficult book with an extraordinary writing and should be considered by anyone who has, is or will ever care for an aging parent.

- by Simon Cleveland

" The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague In History" by John M. Barry

Upon completion of this book, one is left with mixed feelings. Almost immediately it becomes apparent that an enormous effort went into researching and writing the story. At the same time one can’t escape the sense that the author struggled in the beginning with how he envisioned the structure of the book. For the first quarter of the book (roughly 140 pages), the readers suffers thorough agonizing details about the conditions of the medical schools in America at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Page after page, line after line, tiresome details of political influence and academic struggles to build the best medical system in the world (for one who is interested only in the Influenza pandemic, this appeared intrusive and out of place. Part 1 through 4 read like a PR campaign for Johns Hopkins University. The question lingers – Why? ).

To learn truly about the devastating effects of the disease, I highly recommend skipping to part 5 and reading all the way through part 10. This portion of the book tells a gruesome story and by far represents the most in-depth material I’ve found far as to the spread of the infections, statistical numbers as to the dead, as well as the measures to protect against (or lack of measures) taken by public officials.

The remainder of the book again dips into unnecessary biographical information of semi-successful researches hunting for the Influenza pathogen. If short on time, skip to the new Afterward, in which the author posses some critical questions regarding the current state of preparedness should another pandemic hit the world.

Overall, the book is good, but it drags in places. In the end, it is only worth for its research into the spread of the disease and its destructive effects.

-by Simon Cleveland

"Desperate Characters" by Paula Fox

With exceptional imagery, similar to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Paper”, or Cynthia Ozick’s “The Pagan Rabbi”, Paula Fox weaves a powerful drama, this one in search of questions as to the values of the modern family, the struggle for personal identity.

At the center of the book we find a middle-aged woman who, in an act of kindness, suffers a wound inflicted by a street cat. Over the course of several days, she questions not only the need for treatment, but also her marriage, her devotion to her husband and the outcome of her personal choices.

The book, although short, is packed with exceptional observations and requires numerous readings and analysis. The author masterfully paints the ever transitioning complexities of modern society, the transformation of values (both within the family, as well as within society as a whole), the degradation of dreams, friendships, the faith in the modern and the faith in one’s self.

I encourage your to tickle your intellectual senses and devote a good portion of your free time to understanding the message of “Desperate Characters”.

- by Simon Cleveland

"1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus" by Charles Mann

Attention: this book will generate a whole new interest in you – a rare hunger for knowledge and understanding of the historical progression of the peoples of the North and South American continents.

What Jared Diamond did for the Old World with his “Guns, Germs and Steel” and “Collapse”, Mr. Mann does with this book. With an exceptional clarity of thought and abundant research, the author examines the Paleo-Indian civilizations with their demographics, cultural development, agricultural and scientific advancements, architectural and religious inclinations.

From rare archeological finds to modern theories of migration, the author’s accounts of the life and times of the early inhabitants of the Western hemisphere never failed to surprise or fascinate me. The book examines in detail the lost civilizations of the Incas, the Mayas, the Olmec, the Clovis and a host of tribes in North America.

I was awestruck to find that Indian civilizations were actually the ones to discover the Wheel, the number 0 (zero), and the modern Calendar among other things.If you enjoy a good non-fiction reading, this is the book for your. I also believe this should be a required reading for all High School students.

-by Simon Cleveland

"The Twenty Seventh City" by Jonathan Franzen

"The Twenty Seventh City" is Jonathan Franzen’s first book, but his debut is exceptional. Had I read this book back in the late eighty when it was first released, I’d followed Franzen’s career more closely. Not many twenty-something year-olds can write with such clarity, stamina and talent.

The story takes place in Franzen’s home city of St. Louis. It follows the devious raise and fall of an American-born female with an Indian descent (we are talking Bombay Indian), desperate to win the elections for unification of the County and City. Of course, Franzen introduces numerous other characters and masterfully examines not only their relationships, but their complex internal natures, emotions, aspirations and needs.

This is a book that replaces TV, internet and radio as a sort of entertainment. You’ll get home from work, school, whatever, and would want to grab it and loose yourself in it. You’ll go to bed with it and wake up with it. It’s well thought, entertaining and intricate. I highly recommend it.

-by Simon Cleveland

"Candide" by Voltaire

If you liked ‘Don Quixote’ or ‘The Alchemist’, you’ll enjoy ‘Candide’.

My personal opinion of the genre of ‘fables’ is that unless one is intimately familiar with the author’s biography and is sufficiently versed in history, books like ‘Don Quixote’, ‘The Alchemist’, or ‘Candide’ should only be read before bedtime and to an audience of no older than 12 years of age.

Like any other fable, ‘Candide’ raises a few of the basic questions of life: wealth, the issues of free will, religion, optimism in the hardest of times, metaphysics of life and of course - love. Expect that a lot is hidden behind the names of the numerous characters introduced by Voltaire. Some of the examples the author uses do not sit well with me – take the one with the raping Bulgarian warriors and their king (by the time the book was written, Bulgaria was into its 400th year of Ottoman slavery without any kings or queens). At times the book drags, especially with Candide’s endless voyages, or recount of impossible stories.

I’d rather reread ‘The Stranger’ by Camus than read this one for the first time.

- by Simon Cleveland