The Little Detective Agency - 2 Reviews

PAW AND ORDER by Spencer Quinn.

Chet and Bernie of the Little Detective Agency travel to Washington to visit Bernie’s girlfriend Suzie Sanchez.  Hoping to smooth over some “misunderstandings” the couple are having, Bernie and Chet arrive unannounced – probably not a good thing – they arrive at Suzie’s only to discover her having an intimate looking chat with debonair Englishman, Eben St. John.  Jealousy rears its ugly head until Suzie explains that St. John is her source for an international story she is investigating.  Chet and Bernie rarely turn down a case, literally having one land in their laps while on vacation, is something they had not planned on – but how could they walk away from this one when the next day St. John turns up quite dead and Bernie’s fingerprints are all over the murder weapon?

As usual Chet is on top of things from the get go, spotting the unusual bird with the red eyes almost immediately.  It takes Bernie a little longer to catch up … of course having landed in jail didn’t help.

Also, as usual Chet the dog narrates this 7^th installment in the Chet and Bernie Mystery series and as usual he “is not the most reliable of narrators”.  As quick as he is about noticing clues he is just as quick to get sidetracked and lose his train of thought. 

I have enjoyed this series from the time I read “Dog On It”.  Admittedly at first I thought it was a novel idea to have the dog as the narrator and found the story entertaining enough, but rated it only as “Like it”.  Many series start to lose steam as the author continues to pump out story after story, but Mr. Quinn’s books seem to do the opposite.  I find they are becoming more interesting as the series progresses.  Is this just because I am totally enamored of Chet?  Possibly!  But they are still a fun read with a more than decent story line. 

SCENTS AND SENSIBILITY by Spencer Quinn.

Happy to be home after their long road trip, Bernie and Chet are looking forward to some down time. Chet, as usual whenever he reenters the house begins his sniff and search – just to make sure everything is at it should be.  Bernie is a little confused when Chet begins clawing at the wall in is office, until further investigation shows his wall safe has been removed, and with it, his prized possission – his grandfather’s pocket watch.  Just as he begins to try to unravel that puzzle their elderly neighbour, Mr. Parson’s is outside and quite agitated because his being investigated for illegal possession of the Saguaro cactus which has been transplanted into his front yard.  Strange as it may seem the two incidents turn out to be related.

Looking into the case pro-bono (which always worries Chet because of “their finances”) they discover it all stems back to a suspicious kidnapping case that happened many year ago.

Not only that, but the reader is FINALLY given the answers to what happened on that no-so-long-ago night that Chet leapt the gate and had an unexpected tryst.

Once again Chet does a fine job of not only helping to solve the mystery but also in narrating the adventure from his canine point of view.  In my humble opinion this is the best entry yet in Mr. Quinn’s series.

One small paragraph in the book made me once again appreciate Chet’s simple view of problem solving and had me thinking that maybe people could take a page out of Chet’s book …

“Bernie looked over at me in surprise.  “Growling?” he said.  “What’s that about?  You mad at me?”

Whoa!  Mad at Bernie?  What could that possibly mean?  I was mad because … because … nothing came to mind.  Meaning I was mad at nothing, which had to mean I wasn’t mad.  There!  All better.  I rested my paw on Bernie’s leg, just to let him know we were cool.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website)

As a boy, I read voraciously, almost anything I could get my hands on, but I enjoyed adventure stories the most. I wasn’t one of those unhappy kids who loses himself in books. I was a pretty happy kid who did it. We had a summer cottage in Quebec. My grandmother would come up on weekends, bringing me a kind of popcorn I liked and a stack of books. There would be famous ones, like Treasure Island, and not-so-famous ones, like Red Pete the Ruthless. I can still recall the last scene of that one – Red Pete, buried up to the neck between the high and low tide lines, surrounded by his stolen gold, waves lapping closer. Can’t you just hear the hiss of the bubbles?

I was also interested in words themselves. Probably like you, I hated to stop reading if I thought I’d pretty much understood a new word from the context, but some persnickety thing in me usually insisted I look it up. (“Persnickety,” for example, seems to derive from the Scots dialect. Nice to find out I’ve got some Scot in me, probably a surprise to my family.)

I began by writing stand-alones, meaning non-series novels – such as Lights Out, The Fan (filmed by Tony Scott, with a cast including Robert De Niro), Oblivion, and End of Story. It was during this period that Stephen King – uh-oh! I just came close to quoting from my own reviews. Wasn’t I brought up better than that?

It wasn’t until my wife said, “You should do something with dogs,” that I finally stumbled on the idea of writing detective novels from the POV of the gumshoe’s dog. Not a talking dog! He’s as canine as I could make him. I refer to Chet, the narrator of the Chet and Bernie series. Chet’s a supremely unreliable narrator, and it’s a lot of fun to let him loose in the strict plot confines of detective fiction. The Chet and Bernie books (Bernie is the detective) are for adults, although a lot of teens seem to be reading them. For middle-schoolers, I’m writing the Bowser and Birdie series, with Woof coming out in May 2015.
What else? Did I leave anything out?

(Well – webmaster here – how about the fact Spencer Quinn is the pen name for Peter Abrahams, Quinn handling all the dog-narrated material? And is it okay to mention winning an Edgar Allen Poe award for Reality Check, best young adult mystery, 2010, and an Agatha for Down the Rabbit Hole, best young adult mystery, 2006?) 

I’d prefer you didn’t.

ABOUT HIS RESEARCH TEAM (from the website)

I live on Cape Cod with my wife – all the kids up and grown now – and dogs Audrey (the black one in the photo, a wonderful year-round swimmer) and Pearl (who may dip a delicate paw into the water on a warm afternoon). Dogs are a big part of our life and there’s no way I could have written the Chet and Bernie books or Bowser and Birdie without them. Audrey and Pearl are the kind of researchers writers dream of, showing up every day and working for treats.

The Dogist - A Review

THE DOGIST by Elias Weiss Friedman. 

* I received this ebook at no charge from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review *

I think, despite the fact that I know its not possible right now, I have a (not so secret) desire to own a dog again because lately I seem to be picking an awful lot of books to read that have really cute dogs on the cover.  Since that seemed to be the trend I thought why not give in and get a book that was full of dog pictures.  (Total Immersion Therapy? … Is that a thing?) I had a wonderful time paging through this book.

If you have ever tried to take a picture of a favorite pet you know that they never want to cooperate.  Dogs (and cats) do the cutest things all day long – until that moment when you grab your camera and aim it at them – then it seems the only thing they are interested in doing is cleaning their bottoms.  This is certainly not the case for Mr. Friedman.  He’s got taking pictures of dogs down to an art form.  This book sprang from Mr. Friedman’s blog “The Dogist”.  As he explains in the book,

“What if someone could do The Sartorialist for dogs?  Like ...The Dogist?  I knew from day one that the blog would catch on.  Nobody was telling this awesome story!  Everybody sees beautiful dogs strutting down the streets, and we are all painfully curious about the dog and that dog’s story.  Armed with a squeak toy, kneepads, and a crazy idea, I decided that The Dogist would be my project, and I would tell the dog’s stories.”

Mr. Friedman is even kind enough to include what he calls “The Dogist’s Ten Commandments of Dog Photography”.

Of course this book has all the obligatory pictures of cute puppies, dogs in boots, dogs in sweaters and dogs dressed in various costumes.  They were all beautiful pictures that made me smile and, admittedly, sometimes wonder what on earth the dogs thought of being all dolled out.  There were close up pictures of doggy noses, dogs with beautiful eyes and dogs with smiles (Oh yes – they do!).  Puppies were included, because, well, how can you go wrong with puppies?  Also, included were a few heart wrenching photos of Pitbulls that had seen days in the fighting circuit.  Those were hard to look at but Mr. Friedman included a little of their story and how things were better for them when they found a caring forever home.

With every picture he includes the dogs name, age (when he could) and the breed.  I appreciated the information as some of the dogs looked unlike any I had seen before.  In fact sometimes I would look at a page of pictures and think to myself “what the heck?” only to discover Mr. Friedman’s sense of humor by including a pot-belly pig in the mix … or a rooster or a parrot or a squirrel. 

Some of my favorite pictures from the book ...

Lola, the Bergamasco

Chauncey, the Hungarian Komondor

Huxley, the Labradoodle

Ms. Willy - I can't believe how different an uncropped Doberman looks

I received this ARC to review as an ebook so I cannot speak to the quality of the book itself.  (Release set October 2015)  But, having seen the amazing pictures, I think I can safely suggest that this would make an excellent gift for any dog lover and would definitely make a wonderful “coffee table” book.  I know I’m definitely going to be going back to it to look at the pictures again, just to see if I missed anything on the first go through.

My only criticism, if I have to make one, was that the book jumped around a little to much in terms of subject.  I would see the heading, “Puppies” for example, pick up my cup of coffee planning to enjoy a few pages of puppy pictures only to find that there were only two or three and then later on in the book there would be another page labelled “Puppies”.  It could just be my personal taste, but I would have preferred dedicated sections.  It would make it easier to go back and find a certain picture later on as well.

I cannot review this book without mentioning The Dogist’s “Give a Dog a Bone” program.  The following information is directly from the WEBSITE:

The Dogist has created the Give a Dog a Bone program to help:

Get dogs out of shelters

Improve dog’s quality of life in shelters

Support & promote organizations that shelter dogs (a portion of proceeds goes directly to the featured shelter)

The program is a bit like “Secret Santa” for dogs. By purchasing a bone ($50-$100), The Dogist will personally deliver a rawhide bone to a dog in a shelter and post a photograph of the dog with their new bone to The Dogist blog, citing the donor. A post would look something like this:

“Larry, Pit Bull - Available for adoption from @ASPCA. Bone given by @davidf370. thedogist.com/giveadogabone”

By purchasing a bone for a dog, you’re doing a few great things:

Greatly increasing the chances of a dog getting adopted

Supporting an organization that shelters dogs (a portion of proceeds goes directly to the featured shelter)

Improving the quality of life of a dog that spends most of its time in a 4’x3’ cage (at the shelter’s discretion, bones may not be left in cages)

Public recognition as a supporter of dogs, shelters, and The Dogist

Supporting The Dogist with your contribution.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the book)

Elias Weiss Friedman grew up near Philadelphia in a big family of brothers, sisters, cousins, and dogs.  After graduating from Boston University in 2010, he moved to New York and held a job at a major brand strategy agency for two years.  But after a round of layoffs, he wanted to take on something more authentic and creative.  Inspired by friends in New York City’s start-up culture, he decided to combine the two things he has loved since childhood; photography and dogs.  Friedman created the wildly successful blog and Instagram feed The Dogist in 2013.

Fifteen Dogs - A Review

So … two gods walk into a bar … sounds like the beginning of some really bad joke.  This book is no joke.  I can honestly say that when I turned the final page my first thought was that this book has easily made it onto my personal list of 5 Best Books EVER!  I realize that may have been a knee-jerk reaction because I could never really compose a list of FIVE BEST EVER, but if I had a list it would be a contender.  Is there a 7-star rating system somewhere?

FIFTEEN DOGS by Andre Alexis ... back to my review … seriously, two gods – Apollo and Hermes – walk into the Wheat Sheaf Tavern in downtown Toronto to have a couple of drinks.  As gods are want they begin a discussion about the nature of humanity.

“Apollo argued that, as creatures go, humans were neither better nor worse than any other, neither better nor worse than fleas or elephants, say.  Humans have no special merit, though they think themselves superior.”

Hermes took the opposing view feeling that human creativity and language using symbols is interesting.  After further discussion, and a few more bottles of Sleemans, they decide to make a bet and conduct an experiment.  Wondering if animals – any animal chosen – would be even more unhappy than humans are, if they had human intelligence.  With a human year's worth of servitude to the winner at stake Hermes takes the bet, but on the condition that if, at the end of its life, even one of the creatures is happy, he wins.

“As it happened, the gods were not far from the veterinary clinic at Shaw.  Entering the place unseen and imperceptible, they found dogs, mostly: pets left overnight by their owners for one reason or another.  So dogs it was …”

As each of the fifteen dogs awoke they were confused and a little frightened by their new “awareness”.  Their first order of business, of course, was to get free of the their cages and as far away from the clinic as possible.  And so starts the story of how fifteen dogs lived (and died) with the gift of human awareness and language.

The subject matter, and the gods referring to it as an experiment, harbingers – I’m sure – those readers who will not be able to resist analyzing this work of fiction to death.  They will site Allegory, Existentialism, Philosophy, Raised Consciousness and Societal Realities.  Those readers are probably deeper thinkers than I and they could possibly be right.  This book could be construed as one writer’s study of the evolution or de-evolution, depending on your perspective, of humanity (albeit starring dogs).  I simply consider it a wonderful book.

Fifteen Dogs explores so many themes that it is difficult to narrow down any one particular.  My suggestion would be to not even try. Think of it as well thought out and beautifully written prose that also happens to make you ponder life a little.  If you have ever owned a dog, or any other pet for that matter, that you imagined having conversations with, this book will appeal to you on the level that it did me.  My only criticism, if I had to make one under duress, might be that winning the bet for either Apollo or Hermes rests on whether the dog “dies happy”, so by necessity the book features each dog’s passing.  Some are quiet and dignified while others are bloody and brutal.  Those were heart-wrenching pages to read but they were well balanced in other sections with humor and tenderness. 

Mr. Alexis has written several other books, and being on a little bit of a "reader’s high" after reading this one, I wanted to run out and get his others as well.  I hesitate, because if they are of a similar vein I’m not sure I can handle the emotional roller coaster.

So who wins the bet?  Does one or do all of the dogs die feeling happiness?

Uh-uh, not telling!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from the book cover)

Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad, grew up in Ottawa, Ontario and currently resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  His debut novel, Childhood, won the Books in Canada First Novel and Trillium Book Award, and was short-listed for the Giller Prize and the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.  His previous books include Asylum, Beauty and Sadness, Ingrid and the Wolf, and, most recently, Pastoral, which was also nominated for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction prize.

Personal Note:

If I have not chosen a book to read because of someone else’s review then I try to be very diligent about not reading other reviews before I sit down to write mine.  Of course, after I do, I must go and see what other people thought.  At 171 pages this is not what I would consider to be a lengthy book … barely above being called a Novella.  “Mightymike” on Amazon.ca wrote “well written and surprisingly long for such a short book”.  I’m sure it was a compliment and I agree … it does pack quite a punch in its 171 pages.

Eighty Eight Years - The Long Death of Slavery - A Review

* I received this as a free eBook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. *

The subtitle of this book is “The Long Death of Slavery in the United States, 1777 – 1865” and in all honesty that is a bit misleading.  Although the book's main focus is on those years, when I read the prologue, “A House Divided”, I soon realized it touches on a much longer time period.  At 26 pages it is quite a lengthy introduction but I highly recommend you DO NOT skip the reading.  In fact the whole book packs quite a wallop – coming in at just shy of a page count of 400 – the information Mr. Rael manages to incorporate is commendable – DO NOT skim over any of the pages.

Before Mr. Rael even begins on the history of slavery in the United States he gives his reader some excellent background of slavery in various societies, countries and eras.  He explains how and why it was deemed “acceptable” to treat other human beings simply as “chattel to be bought and sold in the marketplace”. 

Following his interesting and (for me) illuminating introduction the book is clearly divided into four sections:

THE AGE OF REVOLUTION and THE EARLY REPUBLIC are the two sections where Mr. Rael explores the historical precedents to slavery, the reasons slavery was embraced and enforced and the history of the revolutions leading to abolition in different parts of the world.  As slavery was first embraced in various countries and then subsequently abolished, why was America the last country to come to terms with abolishing slavery?  What were the social, political, religious and social ramifications of freeing those people so many considered property?

“Writing of the slaves to early British abolitionist Granville Sharp, (Anthony) Benezet asked, “Did not he that made them make us, and did not One fashion us before we were born?”

Examining these factors was an excellent stepping-stone to the following section …

In THE AGE OF IMMEDIATIONISM Mr. Rael explores how politics and the antebellum south slowed the resistance to slavery in the United States.  How owning slaves empowered the southern plantation owners not only economically but politically as well.  Most interestingly, he also delves into how the enslaved African-Americans began to revolt, sometimes through legal means and sometimes through violence, against their own oppression. 

“In indirect but crucial ways, then, African Americans deeply shaped the breakdown of the party system and its reformulation around the slavery issue.”

The title of the last section of this book is self explanatory, THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION.  Mr. Rael takes a looks at the ramifications of the free north versus the slave holding south.  Neither side wanted to budge in their beliefs and there was no choice but to fight for a truly “united” United States.  The Civil War started as a conflict about succession rather than slavery, but as the battles got bloodier and the toll on human life became out of control, slaves were conscripted.  Once they agreed to fight for not only their own emancipation but for their country how could giving them freedom not be considered?

“Only military desperation had driven the Union to abolish slavery.” 

In the last pages of this section the author moves forward (rather quickly) to the fallout of abolitionism including touching on subjects such as the now “free” black population being given the right to vote, have religious freedom and the ability to receive an education.

“Governor Michael Hahn, suggesting the possibility of granting the right to vote to African Americans.  ‘I barely suggest for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people might not be let in – as, for instance, the very intelligent and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks.”

He goes on to explore the beginnings of the Ku Klux Klan, segregation and “the national acquiescence to the grave injustices of the Jim Crow era.”

“No African American could have missed the point.  The war for the union may have been over, but the one for equality had just begun.”

This book definitely deserves a FIVE STAR rating but before I get into why I feel it deserves that rating and onto my personal impressions of the book I think I need to put my choice of this book into a little perspective.  Let’s face it, if you have a look at my normal reading preferences this is not the type of book I usually pick up for some relaxing reading on any given evening.  So why?  In my life is a fellow book lover, so by default, someone I frequently discuss books with, who for various reasons has became very interested in this topic and how it leads to current civil rights and injustices.  When there is someone with whom you discuss books it is very nice to understand a little bit of what they are talking about.  When it came to this particular topic I frequently had to plead ignorance.  My knowledge of slavery issues begins and ends with reading “Mandingo”, learning about Canada’s role in the “Underground Railway” and watching “Roots”.  I wanted to rectify that but not at the expense of the amount of my time it would take to read dozens (if not hundreds) of books on the subject.  Quite frankly, I needed a “Cliff’s Notes” version.  I by no means have the intention of negating or insulting Mr. Rael’s book with that comparison (it, honestly, should be taken as a compliment), the term merely simplifies what I was looking for – a clear, concise book on that period of U.S. history.  Eighty-Eight Years absolutely fit the bill.  For someone like myself this book was absolutely full of the type of information I was looking for in that condensed, readable, highly understandable and well laid out format.

I greatly appreciated that Mr. Rael followed a chronological time-line.  He included what was happening in other countries at the same time to put things into very clear prospective for his reader.  In a book of this type, by necessity, there are extensive footnotes for quotes and excerpts for other works.  To Mr. Rael’s credit I did not feel the need to flip back and forth between the text and the footnotes to understand a reference or clarify what I was reading … but they were there if I chose to do so.  My biggest apprehension when I requested this book for review was that I would be reading a textbook.  Admittedly, I found myself starting to jot down notes when I first started reading.  Thankfully, I could quickly put an end to that since I realized the things I had jotted down were quickly made clear as I continued reading. 

“Now imagine another Virginia slave, on another summer night, some hundred miles to the south of the Richmond where Gabriel had launched his uprising thirty one years earlier.”

That was the first line of the third section.  Mr. Rael moved to a conversational tone to write about the more personal impact of slavery had at the time.  I appreciated that change.  As important as the dates and historical data were, this is point where I began to clearly understand and thoroughly enjoy learning about the people and the history.  That may not be a turning point for everyone reading this book, but it completely met my personal needs.

I’ve gone on long enough for a book review; so let me close by repeating that I found this to be an excellent concise and understandable version of this period of American history.  Eighty-Eight Years includes enough references and sources anyone looking for more information can use this book as a springboard to more in-depth works or be completely satisfied (as I am) at the end that they have educated themselves about this important part of history.

Mr. Rael sums it up best with his last line …

“As these pages detail, the long and complex history of total emancipation in the United States involved innumerable social and political actors.  Perhaps more than any other group, though, these neglected Americans may deserve credit for bringing slavery to its knees.”

This book releases on August 15, 2015.  For another excellent review of this book (from a different perspective) visit HERE.

On a personal note:

This book did peak my interest and I appreciated Mr. Rael’s writing style so I would be very interested if he decided to write a similar book about the next 90 years of the racial history.  Who would have imagined I could want a “sequel” to a history text?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (found HERE)

A professor of history at Bowdoin College, Patrick Rael is a specialist in African American history. He is the author of numerous essays and books, including Eighty-Eight Years: The Long Death of Slavery in the United States, 1777-1865 (2015) andBlack Identity and Black Protest in the Antebellum North (2002). He is the editor of African American Activism before the Civil War: The Freedom Struggle in the Antebellum North (2008) and a coeditor of Pamphlets of Protest: An Anthology of Early African-American Protest Literature (2001). He has also written extensively about teaching, has contributed to the development of African American history curricula, and for over a decade has led seminars and workshops on teaching American history in primary and secondary schools.

Fascinating Despite the Cringe Factor

DR. MUTTER’S MARVELS (A True Tale of Intrigue and Innovation at the Dawn of Modern Medicine) by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz.

Thomas Dent Mutter was born to a fairly affluent family but illness and death left him an orphan with limited means.  An uncle agreed to become his guardian and although not emotionally supportive he did ensure that young Thomas received a good education.  Thomas’ creativity showed early when he learned to indulge his love of quality (and somewhat flamboyant) clothing.

As Ms. Aptowicz writes:

“Over the years, he grew practiced in the art of finessing opportunities so that he could live something approximate to the life he desired.  At boarding school, he was known to charge his clothing bills to the institution and then earn scholarships to pay off the resulting debts.  When he wanted to travel, he secured just enough money to get him to his destination and then relied on his wits to get him back home.”

This creativity served him well after he graduated from medical school and wanted to go to Paris, the epicentre of medical achievement at the time.  Mutter was always fascinated by and drawn to surgery.  He “loved the daringness of the surgeries attempted during this time”.  Aside from the procedures themselves he enjoyed the fact that surgeons did not depend on class and family to acquire patients and, thereby, success … “surgeons earned their place through hard work, study and skill”.  He knew surgery was his calling and in Paris Dr. Mutter was inspired by some of the best.

He returned to American with not only the knowledge of the new “les operations plastiques” but a wax sculpture of a woman with a horn growing out of her forehead (which was subsequently surgically removed).   Thus began his collection of “marvels” and also his lifelong determination to help the “monsters”, those people whose deformities made their lives unbearable.  His abilities were awe-inspiring, especially in the early 19^th century when aesthetic was not available.  Doctors were often favoured as much because of their speed with the scalpel as for their medical prowess.

Mutters hands were his most valuable asset,

           "Swift and nimble, quick and precise, they were one of the reasons he was able to do the work he did.  It was rare blessing enough to be ambidextrous.  But to be skilled as Mutter was with both his hand was seen as near miraculous (Few can boast of [being ambidextrous] … and often, many who can have in fact only two left hands’” a fellow doctor once quipped)".

Being presented the position of Chair of Surgery at Philadelphia newest and soon most prestigious Jefferson College of Medicine Dr. Mutter was instrumental in so many medical innovations and influencing more than a few students who went on to become the leaders of the future medical community.

This book was an astounding recounting of this man’s remarkable life and achievements.  It is written in a conversational style and smoothly incorporates the politics, the medical practices and social beliefs of the time.  Ms. Aptowicz does a remarkable job.  I have no practical knowledge of medicine or surgical practices, and very little about Philadelphia during the late 1800’s yet I found this book easy to read and understand.  There is no other way to describe it other than utterly fascinating.  I believe it would appeal equally to fans of non-fiction historical accounts and those who may not read a lot of non-fiction but enjoy a fascinating story.  I find myself wondering why Dr. Mutter’s story is not more well-known?  Definitely five stars.

On a personal note: 

There are some spine tingling surgical descriptions in this book and more than anything it makes me so grateful to Dr. Mutter, his contemporaries and students who persevered so I now live in a time when we have anaesthesia, antiseptics, painkillers and doctors who wash their hands. 

The museum does have website to visit at www.Muttermuseum.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR  (from the book jacket) 

Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz was born and raised in Philadelphia and first visited the Mutter Museum during a class trip in the fourth grade.  A decade and a half later, her feature-length biographical screenplay, “Mutter”, won screenwriting awards at the Hampton’s International Film Festival and the Philadelphia Film Festival and earned her a fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, directly inspiring her to research and write this book.

She is the author of six books of poetry as well as the non-fiction book “Words in Your Face: A Guided Tour through Twenty Years of the New York City Poetry Slam”.  Her recent awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, the ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residency at the University of Pennsylvania, and the Amy Clampitt Residency.

She lives in Austin, Texas.

Interesting tidbit ...

As I was reading this book I couldn’t help but be reminded of a television series I started watching (and loved).  Unfortunately I didn’t catch the whole season, but reading this I began to wonder if “The Knick” was loosely based on this book or on Dr. Mutter’s story.  When I was looking for pictures for this blog post I found that I was not the only one who saw the similarities.

Island Bluffs

ISLAND BLUFFS by Alan Winter.

* I received this as a free eBook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. *

What would a couple agree to in order to have a biological child?  Is anything too much?  Carly and Gabe Berk face that question when all conventional attempts have failed.  Gabe has a daughter from his first marriage but Carly is determined to have the whole experience of giving birth to a child herself.  When they hear about “The Baby Maker”, Dr. Isadore Teplitsky, Carly is determined to take advantage of his reputation.  Dr. Teplitsky guarantees Carly will become pregnant but only if she agree to the terms of his contract … she must agree to carry twins, one her biological child and the other a child for him, which she will give up at birth and never see again and in her last trimester she much move within 30 minutes of his clinic.

Desperate though they are, Carly and Gabe still experience doubts about their choice.

           

Once outside the clinic, Gabe grabs Carly’s elbow, more to display moral support than to get her attention.  “The last thing Teplitsky said was that he knows what his is doing.  Do you?”

            She pulls her arm free.  “How can you ask me that question?  My back is against the wall.”  Tears well up in her eyes.  She wipes them away with the back of her hand.  “It’s now or never.  Now that he’s given us a glimmer of hope, you’re having second thoughts.  That’s not fair.”

            “Who is talking fair?  He just threw us quite a curveball.  I didn’t sign up for us to have someone else’s baby.”

            Carly gently touches his arm.  “What does that change for us?  We will still have our baby.”  She shrugs, “And the other one?  I’m okay with doing him that favour.”

            “Really?  You can be that nonchalant about carrying someone else’s baby?  What troubles me is that we don’t actually know what he is going to do with the baby.  Or whose it really is.  I’m not comfortable with any of this.”

            “You heard him; the baby will be his.”

            Gabe starts to say something else.

            Carly puts her fingers to her lips, “No more.  If this is the price we have to pay to have our baby, then we are doing it.  Now, do you have anything else to add?”

            Gabe knows her resolve, knows her mind is made up, and knows when to join the team.  “I guess not.”

           

Although reluctant to leave NYC Gabe soon enough finds a house for them on Island Bluffs, a sleepy community on the Jersey shore.  It’s a decrepit foreclosure that has sat empty for 60 years, but Gabe feels unexplainably drawn to the place.  Almost before he realizes it himself he has torn the “for Sale” sign out of the front yard and began negotiating the purchase and renovation.  Even before the first piece of furniture is off the moving van it becomes clear that the town hierarchy does not want the Berk’s to move into their house.  But why?  And, what are they trying to hide?

After receiving a speeding ticket (3 mph over) …

            

The sheriff is unruffled.  “Now you and your mind themselves and there won’t be any trouble …” he frowns at Yehuda and then at Carly’s swollen belly, “… for any of you.  Step out of line and you’ll wish you had picked another place to have your chocolate biscotti and mocha Frappucino, which, by the way, if no one’s informed you, we don’t serve in this town.  We call them cookies and egg creams here.”

When I read the book description I was expecting a book about a sinister doctor and his evil schemes ala “The Boys from Brazil”.  I wasn’t disappointed – I got a little bit of that. But, I also got SO much more.  “Island Bluffs” is a book that has several concurrent story lines, and although that can get confusing and frustrating at times, in this book it works brilliantly because they are so intricately intertwined that it flows seamlessly.  The writing is nice and tight so even when Mr. Winter has to take a break and explain some point of history (and there are a lot of historical facts in this book) it is woven so skilfully into the narrative that the thread and pace of the story is never interrupted.  Well-done Mr. Winter!

The characters I enjoyed the most were those of Gabe Berk’s father, Yehuda, and Buck, the handyman.  Both characters are octogenarians with tragic pasts that they have overcome with grit and determination.  They become fast friends over the course of the book and supply the story with both tenderness and some humour.

After receiving a note informing them Yehuda went to the library:

            “I hope my father didn’t try to walk.  It’s pretty far.” Says Gabe.

            “Does he even know where the library is?”

            “Getting lost is not in my father’s vocabulary.  Even if he’s never been to a place, he somehow figures out where he needs to be.  He’s got like an internal GPS or something.”

            “Probably it’s the amount of iron in his brain.  He inherently knows where the magnetic north is.”

            “You don’t believe that nonsense?” Gabe asks.

            “How else would you explain how men are able to find things better than women?  It has to do with their chemical imbalance.  I’m the first to admit that’s one defect that yields a benefit.”

            “Maybe that explains why old men get rusty and forgetful,” he concedes with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin.

There is no way to describe all the elements in this book without having to put a huge “Spoiler Alert” banner at the top of this post, which is something I always try to avoid.  Let me just say, taking some of the best elements from “The Boys From Brazil”, “The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming”, “Das Boot”, “Poltergeist” and “The Notebook” and rolling them into one cohesive story would come close to describing Mr. Winter’s page-turner.

The only negative comment I might have, and I am allowing some leeway since I received an ARC, is that it needed a better version of “Spellcheck”.  Some of the errors were almost inexcusable, such as spelling the major character’s name wrong (Berk/Burk) and the little bit of dialogue that was written in German was really bad.  Errors I hope are rectified in the final version.

Overall, I would not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone interested in a page turning read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from his website)

At first blush, Alan is quick to say that he never intended to be a writer. But when he thinks about it, he's been writing in one form or another, for his entire adult life. In college, he wrote paper after paper for his history and literature courses. Professionally, he edited a dental journal and wrote more than twenty scientific papers. That still doesn't explain how a dentist came to write fiction!

It started in 1982 when Alan made small talk with a patient about a sci-fi idea he had. She thought the idea was so terrific, she urged him to write a movie treatment about it. Alan dismissed her offhand. What did he know about writing movies?

The patient persisted. Each time she would visit his office, she would demand to see the finished movie treatment. Seeing she was serious and relentless, Alan agreed to hand her a treatment. But how? He had no clue where to start. Asking other patients for guidance, Alan was introduced to a young screenwriter who agreed - for a fee - to write the treatment. They worked together, produced a treatment, and shopped it around to a number of studios. One studio took the idea (without permission or payment) and turned Alan's treatment into a movie.

Still, Alan had no desire to write fiction. That changed in 1985. That was the year that Alan began writing his first novel, "Someone Else's Son," which was eventually published by MasterMedia, Ltd.

While maintaining his periodontal practice, Alan has continued to write since he first took up pen to paper, although now he is very appreciative that his mother forced him to take typing in summer school after his sophomore year of high school. Boys just didn't do that back in the '60s, but it has been an invaluable skill over the years.

Alan and Lori live in his native New Jersey. They have five children and five grandchildren. 

OTHER BOOKS BY ALAN A. WINTER

A Little Time Travel

KINDRED by Octavia E. Butler (1947- 2006).  There is a strange connection between Rufus and Dana.  Whenever Rufus is in mortal danger he somehow calls Dana to him.  This first time he was a young boy drowning in a river.  Thanks to Dana’s quick thinking and some mouth-to-mouth she saved him.  This “calling” happens throughout all of Rufus’ life.

The problem?

Dana lives in the 20^th century and Rufus lives in the antebellum south.

Dana is a 26-year-old black woman married to a white man.

Rufus is the son of a plantation owner – a plantation complete with slaves.

When Dana is called to Rufus she is treated as a slave.  In the 20^th century Kevin is her husband.  The one time they travel back together he is her “owner”.

Rufus is, admittedly, accident prone, clumsy and enjoys getting into fights so when Dana is called back, totally disrupting her own life, why does she keep saving him?  She must, because through some quirk of fate, Rufus fathers her great-great-grandmother.  If he dies what becomes of her family and herself?

I’ve enjoyed other books employing the time travel theme in a wide variety of ways.  Once I suspend belief it makes for interesting story telling.  In Ms. Butler’s book it is a brilliant tool.  It allows comparisons of attitudes about love, language, race relations, sex, violence and education between the two time periods.  The book also demonstrates, in Dana and Kevin’s family’s reaction to their interracial relationship, that no matter how many years separate Dana’s two realities, some things have not changed enough. 

Despite Dana's 20^th century education she is still naïve about many aspects of what slavery meant.  As she is expressing her puzzlement about why slaves do not just leave and go north one of the plantation’s slaves explains the danger to her:

She lowered her voice to a whisper, “You need to look at some of the niggers they catch and bring back,” she said.  “You need to see them – starving, ‘bout naked, whipped, dragged, bit by dogs … You need to see them.”

“I’d rather see the others.”

“What others?”

“The ones who make it.  The ones living in freedom now.”

            “If any do.”

“They do.”

“Some say they do.  It’s like dying, though, and going to heaven.  Nobody ever comes back to tell you about it.”

With this book Ms. Butler has taken a difficult topic and woven it into an interesting, highly readable and educational novel.  She does not shy away from the horror and brutality that was slavery, but makes those things an integral part of the story.  She does not offer excuses or explanations, simply treats it as part of everyday life for her characters.  Her characters are complex and very real.  If anything – the slave characters are written with more richness and somehow feel more real than Rufus and Dana.  The book spans many genres including science fiction and historical fiction.  I also discovered that this book has become mandatory freshman reading for some college courses in Women’s Studies and Black Literature and Culture.  There are so many themes in this book that can be explored further which would make “Kindred” an excellent Book Club selection.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR (from her biography page on Amazon.com)

Octavia Estelle Butler, often referred to as the "grand dame of science fiction," was born in Pasadena, California on June 22, 1947. She received an Associate of Arts degree in 1968 from Pasadena Community College, and also attended California State University in Los Angeles and the University of California, Los Angeles. During 1969 and 1970, she studied at the Screenwriter's Guild Open Door Program and the Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop, where she took a class with science fiction master Harlan Ellison (who later became her mentor), and which led to Butler selling her first science fiction stories.

Butler's first story, "Crossover," was published in the 1971 Clarion anthology. Patternmaster, her first novel and the first title of her five-volume Patternist series, was published in 1976, followed by Mind of My Mind in 1977. Others in the series include Survivor (1978), Wild Seed (1980), which won the James Tiptree Award, and Clay's Ark (1984).

With the publication of Kindred in 1979, Butler was able to support herself writing full time. She won the Hugo Award in 1984 for her short story, "Speech Sounds," and in 1985, Butler's novelette "Bloodchild" won a Hugo Award, a Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and an award for best novelette from Science Fiction Chronicle.

Other books by Octavia E. Butler include the Xenogenesis trilogy: Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988) and Imago (1989), and a short story collection, Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995). Parable of the Sower (1993), the first of her Earthseed series, was a finalist for the Nebula Award as well as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. The book's sequel, Parable of the Talents (1998), won a Nebula Award.

In 1995 Butler was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation fellowship.