- Feminasty: The Complicated Women’s Guide to Surviving the Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself to Death by Erin Gibson
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- Drop the Ball: Women, Partnership, and Achieving More by Doing Less by Tiffany Dufu
- The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- The Last Mrs. Parrish by LIV Constantine
- Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Heart. by Brene Brown
Over half of the month of March, my fiancé, our puppy Moxie and I have spent in quarantine due to the coronavirus. It has been hard not to feel isolated and trapped inside our own home at times. The transition to working from home no other company except for one Over half of the month of March, my fiancé, our puppy Moxie and I have spent in quarantine due to the coronavirus. It has been hard not to feel isolated and trapped inside our own home at times. The transition to working from home with no company except for one another has been challenging. Luckily for us, I am an early bird and John is a night owl. Our differing preferences are something we used to fight about during our “pre-quarantine” lives; but now we appreciate the space we allow each other. I wake early to let Moxie out and spend a couple of hours to myself, reading with a cup of coffee. I’ve listened to audiobooks while on walks around the neighborhood with Moxie, which has been a wonderful way to break up the day between conference calls.
To keep my mind off the real world, I picked up two more suspense novels, both of which I highly recommend. First, I read The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. My bookclub read this one last year, but I never had a chance to pick it up. It was a 2019 Goodreads Choice Winner for Mystery and Thriller.
The synopsis: Set in London, Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, is married to Gabriel, a fashion photographer. One evening Gabriel comes home late from a fashion shoot. Alicia shoots him five times in the face and never speaks again. No one knows why she did it. The case makes her famous in the news. Her previous artwork becomes highly sought after. Meanwhile ‘the silent patient’ is put in psychiatric care. The story follows Theo Faber, her psychotherapist, as he seeks to understand the motivation for killing her husband. The story starts off slow, but gets dark and twisty very quickly.
My second best escape into fiction for March was The Last Mrs. Parrish by LIV Constantine. This book was given to me by a friend who recommended it as a fun and easy read. Exactly what I needed. The author LIV Constantine is actually the pen name of writers and sisters Lynne and Valerie Constantine. The Last Mrs. Parrish was a Reese Witherspoon Book Club book, and is being developed by Amazon Movie studios into a film drama series.
The synopsis: Young Amber Patterson thinks she deserves more in life. She desires money and power. If only her life could be more like the fabulous Daphne Parrish. Married to real estate mogul, Jackson Parrish, Daphne is the queen of the Connecticut socialites; living lavishly in a fairytale marriage, or so it appears. Amber works to ingrain herself with the Parrish family. Amber appeals to Daphne’s desire to help others and becomes her closest friend. The plan that Amber puts into action is revealed slowly, revealed page by page.
I fell in love with Tiffany Dufu’s book Drop the Ball. I chose to read this one because of my tendency to follow rules to a fault. I thought this book might help me to focus in on the things that were most important. Her book’s focus on achieving more by doing less. Dufu explains the importance of partnership in the household and the mistake many women make drafting up completely unrealistic to-do lists. No doubt there are many of us who leave the office and going home can feel like our second shift. Dufu, using her own experience, explains why being a perfectionist in your own home is more hurtful to both your partnership at home and your sanity. It is impossible to “do it all”. Once you accept that, and learn to delegate in the home (like you probably already know how to do at work), it is amazing the things you can make time to focus on. I highly recommend this book. While listening to this one, I couldn’t help but talk about it to everyone I encountered.
Brene Brown is one of my favorite authors. I listened to Dare to Lead on audio during the first couple of weeks in coronavirus quarantine at home. At first I felt weird listening to a “business” book when I felt like I wasn’t being allowed to leave my home to go manage business like I was accustomed to. Anyone who has read anything by Brene Brown knows that the topics of her book are not “business,” but are that of people and vulnerability. So, at first, I was the vulnerable one mourning the loss of my day-to-day routine and corporate way of life. It took some time listening to Brene, but I finally got over myself and began practicing more gratitude for the things I do have; I was home safe and healthy and could afford to listen to her books on morning walks with my pup. I found her messages of leadership very applicable to the things we are going through right now. It reminded me how important it was to check in on my teammates. I needed to make sure they were doing well and transitioning into our new reality before we start thinking about “business as usual.” It also helped me to appreciate the leaders I have within the organization in which I work. All of whom have made significant efforts to prioritize the health and well-being in this new time of uncertainty.
Finally, I also read Jeanine Cummins novel American Dirt. My book club chose this book as our February Book, but I only got about halfway through. At the time we selected it in January, the novel was receiving quite a bit of publicity. This book is fiction and follows the story of Lydia and her son Luca as they flee Mexico due to violence brought against their family by Mexican cartels.
American Dirt was selected for Oprah’s Book Club, which usually solidifies any book’s success and adoption by book clubs everywhere. After Oprah’s announcement Latinx community members spoke out against Cummins’ portrayal of migrants and Mexico and called out the whiteness of the publishing industry. “Book Influencers” on social media who had once been promoting the book were taking back their endorsements.
Cummins was criticized for the seven-figure advance she received to write this novel. There were a few other missteps by the publishing company that showed their priority was on the business of selling books to book clubs versus telling an immigration story. In the discussions surrounding the book, many brought up the importance of Cummins’ identity and suggested readers choose #OWNvoices books instead.
As someone who loves to read both fiction and non-fiction. I was curious to read this book because I wanted to formulate my own opinion. I didn’t feel that I could do that without having read it. Many people “boycotted” reading American Dirt and took to using the hashtag #OWNvoices. The concept of #OWNvoices was started in 2015 by Corinne Duyvis as a rallying cry for diversity in literature. The goal was to “highlight books that are written by an author that shares a marginalized identity with the protagonist.” I can see both sides. I think representation is extremely important. I believe in the concept “see it to be it.” Most young people especially need to see themselves represented in leaders both in the media and in their community to better know what is possible. However, I also worry about creating a culture, especially in fiction, where writers feel limited to only write about their own personal experiences. Some of my favorite writers do write what they know and their stories are richer because of it. On the other hand my favorite author Chuck Palahniuk doesn’t consider himself a writer, but rather a collector of stories. He likes to sit and observe people or connect with others who share both heartbreaking and heartwarming stories about their lives. These are real people, and he collects their stores and weaves them into the characters in this novels. He is a wonderful storyteller. He has the ability to make the reader feel both happy and sad in the same moment of a story for a fictitious character who is loosely based on something real.
Having said that, I would not necessarily say that American Dirt had that same kind of human connection or story telling. I enjoyed reading it. The pace of the story ebbed and flowed, moving faster at parts and slower at others. In our Book Club conversation, many felt that the storylines felt forced, or simply there for shock value. There was much discussion online about Cummins use of stereotypes for the Mexican immigrant. Other articles I read compare the “cancel culture” surrounding American Dirt the book burning of the digital age. All things to contemplate. Cummins has claimed to have done 5 years of research in Mexico. She says she interviewed individuals to help her tell a more authentic story. The afterward in her book talks about wanting to bring more voices to conversations about immigration. If nothing else, this book can inspire you to have your own thoughts or discussions around #OWNvoices literature, discrepancies in representation in the publishing industry, race, immigration, representation, and free speech.
If you want to read about the controversy surrounding this novel for yourself, check out some of the below.
- BuzzFeedNews – There’s A Lot Of Controversy Around The New Novel “American Dirt.” Here’s Everything You Need To Know About It.
- Vulture – Why Is Everyone Arguing About the Novel American Dirt?
