Author Archives: Michelle Ross

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

9780316221337_p0_v2_s260x420

Amazing and heartbreaking. Those are the two best words I can come up with to describe Matthew Quick’s newest novel, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. I downloaded this book just two days ago, flying through it as I couldn’t bear to walk away from Leonard, the protagonist, as he stumbled his way towards a heart wrenching decision.

The story opens as Leonard gently wraps his World War II Nazi-owned handgun into a pink birthday box, figuring even if he were stopped going into school, no one would suspect anything evil beneath the cheery paper. He’s had years to think about the choice he is making and has decided that this world holds no promise for him, but before he ends his own life, he has a few errands to take care of, namely giving a few gifts to those he felt closest too and then killing Asher, the person who he feels most drove him to the final decision of his life.

As Leonard goes through his final day on Earth, he says his goodbyes in the only way he knows how, worried more about how his Holocaust teacher will feel about his death than his own mother, who is distant and fully wrapped up in her life as a designer, rarely even coming home to see him. (His father fled the country due to tax fraud charges, so in all practical ways, Leonard has no parents. He’s a modern-day orphan.) When a few adults at school notice and call him on his odd behavior, he puts on the happy face, the one he thinks adults expect from teens and weasels his way out of tough conversations.

Each turned page in the book takes the reader one step closer to Leonard’s inevitable end.

Matthew Quick has written an extraordinarily powerful novel about teenage depression and pain, one that will resonate with many high school students. As he wades through topics such as incest, rape and suicide, Quick humanizes these horrors, reminding the reader that we are all so much more than we appear on the outside. We’ve all got back stories that are unknowable to the casual acquaintances in our lives, but by looking closer at those around us and really trying to understand the demons they may be fighting, we can give strength to others, helping them feel powerful enough to fight another day.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock is definitely not an easy read, but it is an important one. Since it deals with difficult topics, it is not one that I would just put on my middle school bookshelf (although I would keep a copy to give to more mature readers) but I would definitely have copies in a high school English classroom.  Quick’s talk is a powerful one, reminding us that we are more than our suffering, but also that we owe it to those around us to remember that there is more to each of us than meets the eye. Without a doubt, Matthew Quick’s recently released novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock earns:

books shellbooks shellbooks shellbooks shellbooks shell

Melting My Way Through Chinese Culture

Posted
Filed under Travel Musings

At least once a month, I try to plan a Saturday excursion for our Chengdu officer and families that gets us out of town for a few hours and incorporates a bit Chinese language learning at a variety of levels. In the past year, as part of this series of CLO events, I’ve visited the ancient irrigation systems of DuJiangYan and the miniature Great Wall in Luo Dai, as well as museums dedicated to foot binding, the Flying Tigers and Chengdu history/archeology. Each of these little trips has been fabulous, mainly because it is a great excuse to get out of the city for a day! (Posts about each of those outing can be found here, here and here.)

I have to admit to a bit of a CLO failure on my part this month though. You see, I had this great trip planned to go to AnRen Old Town, an area about ninety minutes outside of Chengdu proper. And, on paper, it all looked great. What I didn’t factor in to the planning, that I know better to have thought about, but for some reason it never crossed my mind, was the weather. Sichuan is known for its spicy food, but is just as famous in China for its equally spicy summer weather. For the last few weeks, we’ve been having a heat wave, with daily temperatures in the 90s, which means once the high humidity counts are factored in, puts us sitting at a heat index of well over 100 degrees many afternoons.  This balmy weather is exactly what I walked our travel group into on Saturday. I knew it was going to be a long day when I sat on a bench near the consulate at 8AM, waiting for everyone to arrive, panting. When my legs were shimmering with sweat even though I wasn’t moving a muscle, there was no doubt that the day would be an adventure!

So, while I would love to show you photographs of the maze-like passageways and intricate carvings of Liu Manor, a pre-Cultural Revolution era mansion turned museum, instead, my digital camera is filled with pictures of shady spots and cool caverns!  As I wandered the manor grounds on my own (after dropping everyone off at the entrance to the museum, we made plans to meet in a highly prized shady spot of the courtyard at noon), I spent an inordinate amount of time in the opium cellar, not because I was particularly interested (although, I must admit, the size of the storage area was quite impressive!), but rather because it was a stone building, naturally insulated from the heat and humidity outside. (I can only imagine how important to keep one’s opium cool and dry.) I also spent a good deal of time enjoying a back courtyard, used mainly by servants, but which now displays an impressive array of bamboo and flowering trees, neither of which I needed to pay an entrance price to see in China, through which I was more than happy to wander. (Ooze may be a better word to describe my movements by the end of the day!)

While my nearly head-exhaustion inducing Saturday was more of an adventure that I had expected (it was hot, but it really was a great day!), I can’t say that was my biggest failure when it comes to CLO outing this last year. The day I loaded up nearly half of the consulate community to go commune with pandas and ended up at the epicenter of an earthquake will always win that award. Nevertheless, as I start to plan my September event, I’ll definitely be looking for more weather-appropriate options!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta by Jen Lin-Liu

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

On the Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta by Jen Lin-Liu

on noodle road

Noodles, stews, pilafs and pizzas, oh my! Jen Lin-Liu’s newest book is not the book for you if you’ve just started a new diet or are hungry in the least- it’s like shopping on an empty stomach. From China to Italy, she covers follows the Silk Road in a quest to find where noodles originated, but along the way also discovers ties that bind women together across geographic boundaries and just how central food is the any given region’s history and culture.

When I first picked up this book, as a non-foodie (I’m about as far from it as one can get, as I would gladly subsist on cold cereal for the rest of my life), I was worried that the focus on meals would not hold my interest for an entire book, but as it turns out, that wasn’t a problem at all! While the food is the core of the book, with each chapter including several well-laid out recipes, the tale weaves a story of travel, a first year of marriage and thoughts about what it means to be a woman in our 21st century world.

I was particularly fascinated with Lin-Liu’s time in Iran, as it is a place we hear so much about in the news, but almost always it is portrayed in a negative light. To hear the stories of women creating lives there and providing for families there was a fascinating look into a world that is normally off-limits to westerners.  This same ideas rings true throughout the book, as the author has the opportunity to weave her way into the lives of the women she visits, giving her a much more intimate look at each culture than a traveler would get if they were just passing through the country on a tour or visiting the highlighted sites of the land. I think it is that intimacy of the stories, both her own and that of her subjects that makes this book most appealing.

On Noodle Road is an eclectic mix of travelogue, food writing and memoir, crossing genre-created boundaries in a way that draws in loyal readers from each category. While I am partial to the travel/memoir sections of the story, Jen Lin-Liu bring something to the proverbial table that nearly everyone would enjoy. (Okay, if she brought dumplings to literal table, we might all be even more thrilled.)Because I appreciated the genre-bending nature of the book and really loved traveling the Silk Road with Lin-Liu, On Noodle Road: From Beijing to Rome, with Love and Pasta earns a solid:

books shellbooks shellbooks shellbooks shell

The Fixings in the McDaniel-Sibling Sandwich

Posted
Filed under Travel Musings

Happy Middle Child’s Day!

That’s right, fellow stuck-in-the-middle kids; it’s a day just for us. While our older siblings enjoyed the one-on-one attention of our parents for how many ever years they existed solo and our younger siblings were coddled in babyhood from the time they were born, we’ve been solidly hanging in the middle from the get-go.

To honor Middle Child Day, I thought it would be best to give a shout out to the bread that made me the fixings.

The top piece of the McDaniel sandwich, my older sister, holds the distinction of being first-born. A bit bossy (you know it is true!)  but always put together, she wears her oldest child mantel well. Yes, there was some freedom that came from being the oldest, but I think she also bore the brunt of the chores and rules since she was the firstborn. By the time I was in middle school, my Saturday morning chore list had been reduced to vacuuming the bedroom hallway (who ever sees it anyway?) and cleaning the kids’ bathroom, with the bulk of my tasks being handed over to the sister who actually dusted and didn’t just spray Pledge around the room to make it smell lemony. (Confession time: Most Saturdays, I would take my shiny red boom box into the bathroom, close the door and spend forty-five minutes adding to my collection of taped songs from the weekend Top 40. To make the cleaning seem more legit, I would sprinkle Comet in the tub and swish it around, pour some toilet cleaner in the bowl and swish it around and spray some Windex on the mirror- no swishing. I also found it was a bonus to flush the toilet and then put a bit more blue liquid in there to “soak” so it looked like full effort had been expended. While the bathroom probably didn’t get a thorough cleaning for a good ten years, I was able to capture all the top hits of the early 90s, including Wilson Phillips’ “Hold On” and New Kids on the Block’s “Step by Step.” I also was able to fully memorize “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” which is still one of my favorite treadmill tunes!)

While Top Bread (I think I may have a new nickname for her!) also got the first attempts at rules/punishments as we headed into our teenage years, meaning the parental units were stricter with her than they were with me. (Partially, this falls to my middle-child status, as I think I was just more low-key about pushing limits than she was.)  I remember one Saturday when we had volleyball at the church in Caldwell. She had been allowed to drive my mom’s brand new Ford Taurus (it was the car of the 90s!) to the games and then we were to come right home. The driving instructions were very explicit about to the church and then straight back to the casa, no in between stops! But, after volleyball, I really wanted a Hostess cupcake, so I convinced her to go to the Circle K to get gas for the car. It would be a nice surprise for the next driver.  The mini-mart was only a mile up the road, so I didn’t see how it would be a problem and she was happy to get a Big Gulp for herself. To make a long story short, she hit the concrete pylon that guards the tanks with the car door mirror (remember, this was a brand new car!) and left a huge scrape on the backside of it. But, before we could even make a plan, my parents happened to pull into the exact same gas station! Oooops! Not only were we not supposed to be there, but now the car had a thick scratch on it. Eeek! Luckily, I sneaked back into the passenger’s side of the vehicle, leaving her to the wrath (which manifests itself as a silent, scary look that no one wants to witness!) of my father. While I definitely had a voice in convincing her to go for snacks, I’m pretty sure I let her take the blame- she is the older (and wiser!) sister, after all!

And then there is the bottom bread to the McDaniel sandwich. Not only was he the last-born, making him an instant favorite, but he was the only boy, doubling his princeling-hood. From day one, we’ve teased him about being a favorite. (As a matter of fact, he said I could have today as Middle Child Day, as he gets the other 364 days of the year!)Probably the biggest advantage he had as the last born was an unbroken chain of sympathy and trust from our mom. More than once he was able to turn a small jab in the ribs into a knock-down that left him stranded in the prickly bushes outside our front door. It was amazing the strength my scrawny eight year old body held in it! (To be fair, he may have been locked in the crawl space under the house a time or two as payback for the hyperbolic stories he would try to weasel past Mom.)

Just like my older sister, he enjoyed some perks of his birth order,  but it wasn’t all unicorns and sparkly, pearl-strapped purses.  Being the youngest meant that as Top Bread and I got older and left for college, all of the chores that had been divided three ways shrank until they were his sole responsibility. Mucking out llama stalls with three pitchforks on the move goes a lot faster than with just one.  (Okay, two, as I usually found important wandering around “chores” to do, like rolling straw bales to the barn or pushing a barely used wheelbarrow out to the manure pile.) And mowing a yard that is the size of a small farm is no fun when you are the only one pushing the mower.

So yes, it is National Middle Child Day, but I wouldn’t be the spectacular sandwich fixings that I am today without the support of the bread on either side. With that in mind, happy Middle Child Day Top Bread and Bottom Bread. Go have a sandwich and celebrate our McDaniel-ness!

74929_786783902114_658698581_n

Blogging for Bucks

Posted
Filed under Travel Musings

A zoo without zebras…

Idaho without potatoes…

Waffles without syrup…

An English teacher without students…

All are hopelessly adrift in a sea of slight melancholy. Until, that is, they find their missing piece. Luckily, I’ve found mine! (My “piece “might disagree with the “lucky” part though.)

Last Thursday, when I got the email from our fabulous mail clerk saying, “Today there is a little mail,” I, like many others in the consulate, locked up shop and headed out back to the mailroom in hopes that a bit of that “little mail” would be addressed to me. Surprisingly, the sun was out, forcing me to dig through my purse to find my seldom used sunglasses for the short walk around the building. But, the search of shades and the short walk were worth my effort- mail in the Ross bin! I had two Netflix movies, a bill from my dermatologist (you know, the one I pay a lot of money to hack off my fingernails, reducing my weekly manicure time by 30%) and a hand addressed envelope. Exciting!

After checking to see what movies I had for the weekend and making a mental note to send off a check to the doctor, I sliced open the edge of the mystery envelope. Inside, I found a letter from my niece, who is going into the 7th grade in just a few short weeks. She’s a budding biologist, hoping to be a veterinarian in the future. To that end, she is going to Florida next summer with her science class, on a five-day visit to wildlife parks, swamps and the ocean. But, as with most great experiences, there is the little issue of the almighty dollar. The fieldtrip costs a lot. She is thirteen. Those two things don’t go together so well.

Hence, the plea for help.

I’m not about to send the child cash, just for the heck of it, but, I will gladly put her to work! Not being there to employ her as a backyard pooper scooper or knick-knack duster, and feeling the tug of the classroom as my Facebook feed blows up with my teacher friends bemoaning the end of summer, I came up with a better plan: I would pay her to write!

In the last six months, she has started two blogs, both of which never really got off the ground. This was the perfect chance to support her fundraising efforts and encourage her to spend time writing. The English teacher in me could hardly contain myself!

So, I sent her a proposal. I would pay her a set amount for each blog entry she posted, but they had to follow a few simple guidelines. (For example, they had to be well-organized, not just a single, gigantic paragraph.) Within those basic parameters, she is free to write about whatever she would like- school, dance, family, her summer adventures, etc.

I am super excited for her to start writing and posting on her blog and I am more than happy to throw down a bit of cash as an encouragement. (Now, if only I could get someone to pay me to write!) Her first post went up today at http://zebradancer.wordpress.com/ and is a fun look at the day she spent at Idaho’s first aquarium.

I may not have a classroom full of 8th graders to pester about reading and writing, but with middle school aged nieces/nephews, I’ll work my magic anyhow.

Zebra Dancer’s author

It’s CLO Outing Time Again!

Posted
Filed under Travel Musings

If you come to Chengdu, there are two images that will be burned to your retinas within days of touching down, two things you can’t travel more than a few miles in the city without seeing: pandas (of course) and the city seal. The pandas speak for themselves- adorable (although evolutionarily backwards) creatures just begging you to pay $300 to hold them. (Yup! That’s the going rate in Chengdu right now. $300USD so you can be completely covered in blue plastic and hold the little critter for just long enough to get the photo snapped and then away it goes. It comes to about a Benjamin per minute.) The city seal, on the other hand, is less well-known outside of Chengdu, but once you touch down in the city, you’ll see it everywhere. The golden ring adorns the side  of the ubiquitous green cabs (well, ubiquitous when you are trying to cross the street, absolutely absent when you need one to get home from work), it sits atop NiJia Qiao (commonly called the “A Bridge” by consulate folks) and pops up on a variety of signs and billboards around town.

In 2001, as Chengdu was just starting to hit its construction stride, workers stumbled upon a large area filled with elephant bones and the remains of an ancient civilization- right in the middle of the city! Needless to say, construction came to an abrupt halt and archeological excavation commenced. Within that site, scientists found numerous jade and bronze pieces, as well as the now famous city seal- a piece of sliver-thin gold foil carved with a sun in the center, surrounded by four stylized birds.

After having this golden emblem appear around every corner, I figured it was time I made the (very short!) trek out to the JinSha Museum to have a look for myself, and what better way to do that than to organize a CLO outing!  So, Saturday morning, I gathered about fifteen other consulate community members, we loaded up in a bus and headed across town to discover for ourselves the newly discovered site.

If you’re in Chengdu on vacation for more than just a day or two, I would definitely recommend the museum. It starts with the actual dig site, where elephant tusks still protrude from the hard earth and visitors can walk through the carefully gridded work space. Then, it is on to the main building which is now home to the all-important city seal, several other gold foil masks and an array of jade and bronze carvings.

But, if you are LIVING in Chengdu, I would recommend the site not for the museum itself (although it is nice and worth a visit or two), but for the grounds on which it sits. In a city where sunshine is rare and large expanses of grass even rarer, it was amazing to walk through the front gates, past a beautiful water fountain and into what looked like a park that could be found in any American city. There was grass and trees and benches and room to run! The 80RMB entrance fee may seem a little steep, but if I had young ones, I’d wait for a day where the air monitor readings were moderate, pack up my crew, throw together a basket of food and head out to the museum for lunch in the park. The day out would be worth the ticket price!

What’s black and white and cute all over? Pandas! What’s round and gold and ringed with birds? The city seal! Put them together and what do you have? CHENGDU!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

School Daze, Minus the Spike Lee

Posted
Filed under Travel Musings

“Foreign Service? Sure! That sounds great! With my teaching degrees and background, I’m sure I’ll be able to land a job as we jump from country to country from now until retirement. Hauling boxes of young adult books and hard copies of fabulous lesson plans trans-Pacific/Atlantic will be no problem at all. I’ll go pack my bags right now!” These were the thoughts running through my head as Thad passed test after test to land himself a dream job with the US Department of State.

Oh, the naivety of my youth…

Because yes, I do have a bachelor’s degree in English/Spanish teaching; and yes, I do have a master’s degree in middle level education; and yes, I have taught for seven years in the US and two in China; but no, I cannot just jump on the first job opening at the local international school in each new posting. You see, when traveling with the State Department, the list of rules/regulations is longer than the Christmas list of my five year old niece. (It does include much, much less Hello Kitty. As I think about it, though, a little pink and glitter would liven of the FAM guidelines a bit. )  Some countries allow spouses to work on the local economy and some do not. While the reasons for the prohibitions are as numerous as the aforementioned Hello Kitty swag on the Christmas list, the outcome is still the same: if there is no bilateral work agreement with the host country, the diplomatic spouse cannot work.

That is the boat I am currently floating along in in China. Because there is no bilateral work agreement here, as I was exploring my employment options in Chengdu, I was told that I was not allowed to apply for jobs at the international school, even though there were openings that would have been perfect for my background. Although I was initially disappointed, my spirits were revived when I saw the Community Liaison Officer (CLO) position would be opening up within weeks of our arrival. With impeccable timing and a lot of background working with people in various capacities, the CLO job ended up being a great fit. I’ve been lucky to work under fantastic management during my introductory year to State and had a great time expanding the CLO position in Chengdu. It has been a great way to spend my time in Chengdu.

But, at heart, I am a teacher. I miss teaching, especially literature and writing. (My middle school niece recently started her own blog and I’ve been pestering her constantly about what she is writing about, excited to see some middle school creativity again! She may soon start ignoring me on G-chat messages if I’m not careful.) So, while at times I’ve felt a bit discombobulated by the lack of lesson plans to write or expository essays to edit, I’ve comforted myself with the thought that I’ll be back in the classroom in 2014.

Oh, the naivety of my (less than before) youth…

Much like the royal baby, there was great anticipation for bidding season. (This is an appropriate simile, as you may remember that I wrote a long post comparing Foreign Service bidding to having a child. Check that one out here.) We waited with eager expectancy to find out where we would spend (aka: where I would teach) the next two years. And at last we got the coveted email: Kuala Lumpur.

Great! It is warm (hot!!) year round, the travel opportunities are endless and the cutest baby elephant I’ve ever seen lived in Malaysia. I’ll go pack my teaching bags right now!

Or not.

After the excitement (and shock!) of our posting wore off, I did what I always do- research and obsess. Before the news had even been announced to all of our family and friends back home, my Amazon cart was filled with books (both fiction and non-fiction) about Malaysia and I bought the Malaysia, Borneo, Singapore Lonely Planet at a bookstore in downtown Taipei. I plied through document after document from the embassy in KL, reading everything I could get my hands on about housing, transportation, community events…and work. Much to my chagrin, I soon realized that diplomatic spouses in Malaysia are facing the same struggles that the ones in China are- no bilateral work agreement. Long story short- I can’t teach in the international school in KL either.

Frustration doesn’t begin to do justice to the moment.

Quickly, I decided it was time for a new game plan. Knowing that complaining about the situation wasn’t going to change it, I started scouring the internet for possible online teaching opportunities and bugging everyone I knew in the education world for possible connections into the world on online teaching. But, introductions would not be enough. Coming from a background of teaching in a traditional classroom setting, I figured some training in online teaching wouldn’t be a bad idea, so when I stumbled upon  an Online Teaching Certificate program through Pacific Lutheran University, I knew this was a perfect fit! I’m excited to start a program will give me the tools I need to be a successful teacher in a new environment and an attractive candidate when I start applying for jobs in the spring. (Plus, I need to renew my Idaho teaching certificate in the spring.  Win-win!)

Fall semester might be a little overwhelming. I’m registered for nine credits through the university and plan to keep working at the same time. I figure if I could teach full-time while completing my graduate degree, I can definitely CLO full-time while doing a certificate program. No problemo! (I say now, full of energy and excitement. Ask me again in October and I may be singing a different tune.)

“Foreign Service? Sure! That sounds great! With my teaching degrees and background, I’m sure I’ll be able to land a job as we jump from country to country from now until retirement. I’ll go pack my bags right now!”  I may not have had a clue what I was talking about a few years ago, but I still think the Foreign Service sounds like a great idea and I am still convinced that I can use my teaching degree as we bounce from post to post. It is just a matter of expanding my teaching tool kit and looking at education-oriented jobs outside a traditional classroom setting- both of which are exciting prospects.

Now, about those nine credits…

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

Sisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld

 9781400068319_p0_v2_s260x420

I was initially drawn to the book because it centers on a (possible) earthquake and I have a bit of a history with those myself, but I didn’t expect the book to revolve so heavily around relationships and the ties that bind a family. The story took a decidedly different turn from what I had expected, but it was not an unpleasant journey.

 

Curtis Sittenfeld’s latest book weaves the tale of twin sisters, Daisy and Violet, who were born with the gift (curse?) of having premonitions of future events. (As the girls realize they have an ability not shared by all, they call their power their “senses,” not knowing how else to label it, as any discussion of their ability is quickly muted at home.) These shared senses are nearly all the two have in common as adults.  While Violet embraces her ability, dropping out of college after just a few weeks because Guardian (a spirit guide who came to her for the first time while she studied in her university library) told her she had a different path to take in life, uses her skills as a source of revenue, holding séances and readings, Daisy runs in the opposite direction from her abilities. After starting college under the guise of her middle name, Kate, and then taking her husband’s last name after marriage, she has effectively closed the door on her history as one of the twins with senses. No one can track her or immediately connect her with her outspoken sister.

 

A back story of a clinically depressed mother overwhelmed by life and school years besought with bullying and name-calling (the twins were well-known to be “witches)  helps the reader see why one sister might embrace the notoriety that would come with premonitions of the future while another would turn tail and run. Basing a book on the idea of extrasensory abilities has the potential to head towards comic book storylines, but Sittenfeld’s characters are well-rounded and deeply developed so the reader imagines them as real people and not people who belong in Lycra uni-tards on the big screen, saving the world through the destruction of evil.

 

The two women live near each other, and near their aging father, their relationship is strained when Violet publicly announces that she senses an earthquake will soon ravage their home state.  Kate is suddenly drawn back in to a world that she swore off after the birth of her first child.

 

Up until this point, I really enjoyed everything about the book. The strained, but loving, relationship of the family is one that is relatable to many readers and the plot flows well. But, I can’t walk away from this review without one minor grievance: Kate is a stay-at-home mom and is good friends with a stay-at-home dad up the street. (Conveniently, her husband works with his wife at a local college.) The problem lies in the cliché. While the two have been friends for years, suddenly their relationship jumps to a whole new level, once again playing into the idea that it is impossible for a man and woman to have a truly platonic friendship.  Plus, this bit of indiscretion on Kate’s part creates a whole new storyline as the consequences of her choice create far-reaching ripples, but ones that don’t entirely play out in the narrative before the books ends.

 

Curtis Sittenfeld’s newest book is well-written and even though it is based on extrasensory hunches, is mostly believable as realistic fiction. (I had to look the author up to realize that Curtis is a woman. As I read, I was surprised that a man could write the intricacies of the sisters’ relationship so accurately!) Even as I am annoyed with the ending of Sisterland, I think it is a story that would be enjoyed by many, falling firmly into what I would call the “beach read” category”, earning it:

books shellbooks shellbooks shell

 

 

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan

Posted
Filed under Book Musings

The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan

9780547394602_p0_v2_s260x420

For the longest time, all through high school and college, I shied away from non-fiction books that weren’t on my required reading lists. My image of non-fiction was one of drily written tales that read like epic encyclopedia entries; just the facts, ma’am. But, about seven years ago I stumbled upon Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, turning my notion of non-fiction writing on its head. (Stumbled upon isn’t entirely accurate. I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in western China, starving from a lack of reading material and was handed this book. Whereas a year before I would have turned my nose up at it, literary deprivation had taken hold and I devoured the paperback, cover to cover, in just two days.) Since my introduction into the new world of non-fiction, I’ve read everything from real-life accounts of floods in Pennsylvania (The Johnstown Flood  by David McCullough) to adventures in the far reaches of the Amazon (The Unconquered by Scott Wallace), not to mention a bevy of memoirs.

My most recent foray into the world of non-fiction was The Big Burn by Timothy Egan, a tale of the birth of our national park system and the fire that nearly destroyed it. As a frequenter of the American national parks, the book drew me in with the history of how these lands were set aside and preserved for future generations, which was no easy task as industry leaders would rather turn a profit off the wood and minerals available, building a dynasty for their family, rather than create a lasting legacy for the entire nation. Egan does a great job giving the background of this fight, leaving the reader feeling like they “knew” Teddy Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot.

With a strong back story set, Egan then pushes the reader through the harrowing forty-eight hours that were “the big burn.” Connections between the reader and the characters, as well as the reader and the land, create a sense of panic and fear as the fire ravages the mountain ridges of the northwestern forests. I could feel the flames licking my hands as I turned the pages; I could feel the heat of the fire as it rushed over fireman huddled in creeks under wet blankets and hunkered down in ravines and caves; I could feel the air rush out of the room as the fire stole away the oxygen, leaving noxious poison in its stead; and I could feel the fear of men who were moments away from their painful deaths.

In the last decade, non-fiction has become highly readable. No longer does one feel like they need to be a subject matter in the topic at hand before picking up a history-based book. Egan continues to add to this recreated genre- writing a book about the birth of our nation’s beloved parks that is ideal for anyone who has ever set foot in the wilderness of the northwest. While the disastrous mixture of the greed of the eastern seaboard barons and the big burn nearly destroyed the burgeoning forest service and all Pinchot and Roosevelt worked for, the author is able to spin the tale in such a way to create hope on the part of the reader, ending with a sense of better days, rather than the one of despair that could so easily take its place. Timothy Egan’s The Big Burn earns:

books shellbooks shellbooks shellbooks shell