Beyond FICTION: SECRET SON by Laila Lalami

I’ve been reading Laila Lalami’s writings for a while now, first on her blog (originally called MoorishGirl), then via her short story collection Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, now in her first novel, Secret Son. And what strikes me every time—beyond her mastery of English, just one of the languages she speaks—is her lovely ability to make even the most melancholic characters memorable. Secret Son is full of men and women struggling with identity, entitlement and the price one pays for it, loss and the threat of loss…and their ties to each other make their individual stories all the more powerful.

While the men in Laila’s fiction are complex despite their sometimes straightforward class status and related goals, I am most captivated by her female characters. Despite adversity, it’s the women’s strength and wisdom that somehow resonate on the page. This excerpt is from a brief section in Secret Son regarding the main character’s half-sister, Amal:

“She knew the feeling well. After all, her race had been the biggest signifier about her in America. ‘Are there many Arabic women who go on to study in college?’ one of her TAs had asked. Amal did not know whether it would be too impolite to point out that Arabic was a language, not a people. ‘But you don’t look Arab,’ a middle-aged school registrar had said upon finding out that Amal was from Morocco—and she said it in a tone that suggested it was a compliment. … These words added up over time, like grains of sand in a glass jar, telling her she did not belong.”

While a reader never knows what drove a writer to pen a certain passage, I couldn’t help but hope after reading this that Laila—now an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California Riverside—has learned in all her many moves to navigate such subtle (and not-so-subtle) forms of contemporary prejudice. We Americans rarely even try to identify with fellow citizens who happen to be from different cultures. Maybe that’s why I consider Laila’s highly accessible and revealing writings so important—including her recent World Literature Today essay “So To Speak”—and why I’m already looking forward to her next book.

Beyond FICTION: THE ANNUNCIATION OF FRANCESCA DUNN by Janis Hal

Fellow Denver author Janis Hallowell debuted with The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn in 2004. Though I remember seeing this book’s captivating cover in local Tattered Cover Book Stores and hearing about Janis via Denver writing institution Lighthouse Writers, for some reason I never picked this one up. Luckily I finally did.

Francesca, a 14-year-old cellist whose divorced mom is a busy paleobotanist and whose dad is busy courting his girlfriend in Italy, ultimately becomes house-bound while followers who believe she’s a saint gather in a park across the street and fasten offerings and requests for her blessings along her home’s front fence.

The story of how Francesca and her family and friends cope with attention that at times becomes threatening is chock full of intriguing characters and symbolism and points of view as well as a plot that kept me hanging on until the last word. But I was most fascinated by Chester.

An intelligent and kind but awkward homeless man, Chester has a highly unusual sense of smell that allows him to recognize elements not only of the environment that most don’t notice, but of other people’s personalities and moods. At one point, a friend clutches at his chest just after Chester has noticed he “smelled like an overloaded fuse.” A woman who befriends him has a smell “familiar and mild, like prairie grass in the rain.” When a journalist poses as a homeless person to try to gain insights into Francesca’s growing story, Chester smells “the tang of an imposter.” A friend with a severe earache triggers “the cold aluminum smell of pain.” At one point Chester smells “the burnt starch” of someone’s anger.

From the start, Francesca smells of roses, a fact that contributes to Chester experiencing a vision that launches the campaign to canonize her. Since he’s fully aware he’s to blame for all the attention she begins to receive, Chester assumes the role as her protector that will bring him to sleep outside her house and earn the trust of her tough, doubting, and just-as-protective mom.

But when he’s eventually invited inside the house to get out of the cold or have a meal, the extent of Chester’s struggles become painfully evident. He’s been to a doctor for help, he admits, and offered pills designed to alleviate his fears that a ceiling will fall upon him while he sleeps or that “already-breathed” air in a house will suffocate him, pills that would lighten the weight on his shoulders and finally allow him to stand up straight “like a person free from doubt.” When doubt nearly consumes Chester, he finds himself back at the clinic once again, struggling with the choice of whether or not to accept such medication.

Insights into the struggles faced by the homeless are discussed throughout Annunciation. At one point Chester mentions the general belief among people on the streets that they are “valued by the medical community only as living junkers for spare parts” and that when admitted to a hospital, they’d only be treated after signing “a paper saying that if you died, you would donate your organs to science.” At another point, Chester rails inwardly after hearing a fellow homeless man has died “of natural causes.” “Was it natural for a man to be living in a wheelchair without a roof or food or family?” he asks. “Was it natural for somebody who lived on the sidewalk in front of a hospital to have an untreated infection?”

While Chester doesn’t ask these questions aloud, I can’t help but assume if they’d been voiced in 2004 they’d have been met with shrugs. With the current fever rising about universal healthcare, such questions now often lead to heated arguments. Should those who are making a living be forced to pay for the care of those who can’t?

And what about those who don’t want to be healed? One is forced to wonder about this when Chester says, “I thought of all the holy people throughout history, all the mystics and martyrs, artists and visionaries, and what the world would have been like if they’d all been given medication to make them ordinary. There would have been less suffering, no doubt about it, but I couldn’t imagine a world without saints and madmen.”

What follows in Chester’s world deserves to be discovered in a full reading of the novel so I won’t spoil it here. Suffice to say the decision of whether or not to go on medication for a mental condition is a decision with which many struggle. The high costs of treatment and meds represent a top concern and another significant reason why our current healthcare system must somehow be fixed. But other questions exist, too: Is such medication really good for me? Shouldn’t I be able to cope without it? Do I really want to support an industry that seems determined to put everyone on at least some sort of prescription drug?

As someone who’s been on a prescription antidepressant for two years now, I can attest to the fact that the answers to these questions can be impossible to fully reconcile. Yet, they need to be addressed when depression or anxiety impact one’s ability to function. It took me years to realize my behavior as a stressed-out parent of young children was not just par for the course; that there was more going on in my brain than personality quirks that led to unreasonable and potentially dangerous outbursts; that my children deserved a mom who, while still easily irritated, isn’t so close to the boiling point most mornings that by mid-day someone in the house is going to be screaming at someone else. So I took the chance that a newer med with limited side effects would help me, and I’m still glad I did. But it certainly isn’t cheap, and I worry about the many whose lives…and families…would benefit even more from such help, if only they could afford it. As Chester would say, that’s just not natural. Frankly, I also think it’s just not right.

This post is dedicated to Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1921-2009), whose life work not only helped millions of mentally and physically handicapped children and their families around the world (and will continue to do so far into the future), but dispelled significant age-old stigmas associated with disabilities of all kinds and advocated ongoing efforts to alleviate the suffering of those impacted by them.

Beyond FRUSTRATION: Post-Racial Society? Not Exactly.

The arrest of renowned Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. last week in his Cambridge MA home has infuriated a lot of Americans. Though unfortunate, a U.S. case involving a black man accused of breaking into his own home and then arrested on a trumped-up charge is really not all that surprising, even in 2009. Tell me I’m playing the race card by instantly siding with a person of color and I’ll say you’re right. From what I’ve learned over the past few years of researching tolerance issues, every person who is not a tall, thin, white, perfectly proportioned, attractive, wealthy, heterosexual male (yes, this cuts a wide swath) deserves a card they can flash at any time to remind others their kind is traditionally mistreated and deserves special consideration.

I’ll not rehash the specifics of this case, though I’ve read with interest details regarding the actions of both main characters, Gates and the Cambridge Police sergeant who arrested him. A brief overview is presented in one of the latest articles on the topic, AP’s “Obama rushes to quell racial uproar he helped fire,” a glimpse at the media storm the president’s original reference to the case indeed fueled.

What concerns me most is the animosity voiced by so many participants of this debate in on-line chats and forums. How will we ever get to a place of real discussions about race in this country if the conversation is fueled by hate? Certainly people of all backgrounds have the right to voice their anger at unfair treatment, whether those being mistreated are private citizens in their own homes or police officers on duty. But the hatred that fuels so many pseudo-arguments on both sides and serves only to broaden the divide…how can we ever hope to overcome that?

Maybe each of us, including every perfect white male, needs a card to hold up when tensions run high for whatever reason, a card that requests special consideration simply because each of us is human, a card that reminds everyone in a tense situation that it makes more sense to stand down and think and breathe for a minute than it does to pursue an angry reaction until things get out of hand.

If you’re about to suggest we should all hold hands and sing “Kumbaya”…I’d agree that’s not such a bad idea, either.

Beyond FICTION: CHILDREN OF THE WATERS by Carleen Brice

Book reviews on BEYOND Understanding are usually limited to titles that explore issues of prejudice or celebrate diversity in some way. Carleen Brice’s Children of the Watersdoes both. Carleen, a friend and fellow Denver author, debuted as a novelist last year with Orange Mint and Honey, a book that not only won awards but became a fast favorite among book clubs (including mine). Her newest, Children of the Waters, deserves just as much attention, if not more.

I have to admit I was prepared to compare Children of the Waters to Orange Mint and Honey and find it lacking. Written under contract in much less time than OMH, Children of the Waters seems to reflect the sense of urgency Carleen must have felt while writing it. At times disjointed and abrupt, this story is strengthened by the often strained back and forth between its two main characters, Trish and Billie, long-lost sisters reunited as each reaches critical junctures in her life. Issues such as mixed-race heritage, identity crises, a widely unrecognized but potentially devastating chronic disease (lupus), high-risk pregnancy, adoption, single parenting, and duty and loyalty are woven throughout the novel in ways that threaten to drive Trish and Billie—and the people they love—apart. Carleen proved herself as focused and determined as her strongest character as she somehow plowed through such heady material in a novel that’s accessible and enjoyable while also layered with meaning.

Humor’s never far from the surface, especially with a character like Trish around. But neither are heartfelt and often painful elements inherent in so many lives exposed to regular doses of blunt as well as subtle forms of prejudice. The struggle to know yourself when you’re forced to see or experience injustices others pretend don’t exist impacts everything from mental health to the health of your personal relationships. Ready to dismiss this as baseless sensationalism? Then take the time to read this book, to consider for more than a dismissive moment the potential truths of Billie’s statements such as this one, made as she battled with her sister over one thing, only to realize her anger was fueled by another…the fact her white grandparents refused to raise her because she was biracial: “Their betrayal roared back from the place she had tried to hide it from herself, and with it came hurt from bone memory. She wondered how many millions of black folks had felt the same way she did every single day and tried to pretend like they didn’t.”

Billie, brought up in a black family, depends on her ancestors and listens for their guidance. While at times this urgent story includes the author’s voice, Carleen’s intercessions ring just as true as Billie’s ancestors’. There is so much Carleen has to offer all her readers, from notes about black historical figures and the long traditions of healing arts, to the complexities of mixed-race families from varied points of view.

Still skeptical that prejudice persists in our world despite the fact we have a black president in the White House? Read just some of the racist comments that follow this Washington Post article by Carleen from earlier this year. Post-racist society? We’re not even close. Which is why the fact Carleen gives her characters free reign to discuss a wide range of painful issues—including but certainly not limited to contemporary forms of racism—makes Children of the Waters an important work for people of all races to read and contemplate.

Beyond FEEBLE: Book Publishing’s Pigeon-Hole Mentality

Writing about an event I attended weeks ago makes me realize how much of an impression this particular event made on me. Lighthouse Writers Workshop’s annual LitFest was a mid-June whirlwind of classes, salons, readings, and panels (and oh yes, a coupla nifty parties). One of those salons, In and Out of the Niche (or is it “neesh?”), featured Denver authors Carleen Brice, Mario Acevedo, and William Haywood (aka Bill) Henderson. Each of these authors has been categorized by the book publishing industry in ways that not only hurt sales of their books, but personally befuddled (and probably irritated the hell out of) her/him. While these three were too polite to truly rail against those who dictate where books are placed in bookstores, I left the event wishing more than a few publishing reps and booksellers had been in attendance.

As a debut novelist in 2008, Carleen heard from many readers who enjoyed the fact that while she and her characters were black, her story Orange Mint and Honey transcended race. The relationships, the impact of alcohol abuse, the personal histories and their interweavings as well as the struggles to put the past to rest and achieve new levels of mutual and self-understanding and forgiveness…all this occurred outside racial constraints and resonated with a wide variety of readers. Despite such feedback—and the selection of Orange Mint and Honey as a Target Breakout Book—in bookstores Carleen and her novel were relegated to the black books section. Terrific for readers who seek out writers of color, not so terrific for those seeking new books by a variety of writers. And definitely not so great for an author trying to make an industry-wide name for herself.

In response, Carleen has produced a terrific tongue-in-cheek video welcoming white readers to the black books section; established National Buy a Book by a Black Author and Give it to Somebody Not Black Month; and launched her second blog, White Readers Meet Black Authors. Still, her newest novel, Children of the Waters (which features characters of white and mixed-race backgrounds) has been relegated to the black books section. That’s just not right.

A writer of vampire fiction, Mario Acevedo also happens to be a Latino writer. Despite his books’ determinedly un-Hispanic titles (including The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, a local favorite), some were originally published by a Latino publisher and—you guessed it—filed in the Latino section. Due to his determination to write accessible, fun, and now widely popular works of vampire fiction, his books were ultimately reclassified as urban fantasy and are now enjoyed by a much wider audience. (Check out his great “lego” trailer for just a glimpse of Mario’s unique creative vision!)

Not that there’s anything wrong with attracting Latino or black readers, of course. Bill Henderson noted he had no qualms about attracting gay readers when his first novel was published by a publisher of gay books because it featured a character who happened to be homosexual. Unfortunately, though, that meant Bill’s subsequent works would be considered potential material for the gay books section despite the fact he did not continue to write gay fiction. His next two books (read Augusta Locke and be amazed) instead established him as a writer of stunning character studies and landscapes that happened to be set in the West. How to categorize him now? Who knows. The point is, should that matter?

When I attended this salon I was in the middle of researching e-books for this piece on The Know Something Project site. And I couldn’t help but hope (and mention to Carleen at the end of the evening) that e-publishing will ultimately result in the demise of limited categorizations of published works. Search on-line for books by author and you’ll find all his or her titles; search by subject matter and you’ll find a slew of selections; search by a general keyword and you’ll find even more. Who cares at that point in what section of a bricks-and-mortar bookstore a particular work is filed—or if that book is even carried by a certain store? If you want to buy a print copy, you’ve already done your research and know what to ask for (or order for later pickup or delivery) when you walk in a store or go on a store’s site. If you prefer the immediacy of ordering an electronic copy, click away. Either way, you’re no longer relegated to an inefficient organizational system determined by the publishing industry’s antiquated marketing strategies—and neither are your favorite authors.

Beyond FUNDRAISING: Score Points with Gift Donations
originally posted: June 22, 2009

So you forgot to send flowers to your mom for Mother’s Day, forgot to mail a card to Aunt Tilly for her birthday, and forgot to call your dad on Father’s Day. How can a well-meaning but not-exactly-organized person safe face in such situations? Tell them all you were shopping on-line for the perfect gift and only now discovered what you should have been giving them every year: a gift donation in their name.

Global Girlfriend, founded here in Denver by innovative advocate Stacey Edgar and now a part of the GreaterGood network, sells all sorts of beautiful fair-trade and eco-friendly items created by women all over the world. They also offer opportunities to support women through one-time donations starting at only $15. These Gifts That Give More include clean childbirth kits to ensure more safe births in impoverished countries such as Rwanda and Haiti. A donation of $15 pays for three of these kits.

Men on your gift list might appreciate a donation to the Family Violence Prevention Fund. Based in San Francisco with offices in D.C. and Boston, the FVPF works “to end violence against women and children around the world” by educating men and youth about violence prevention, “promoting leadership within communities to ensure that violence prevention efforts become self-sustaining, and transforming the way health care providers, police, judges, employers and others address violence.” Your donation can be made in memory or in honor of anyone you like.

So why not turn gift-giving opportunities into opportunities for much (much) more than typical gift-giving? Your family will be so proud of you.

Beyond THE FUTURE: E-Books for Everyone?
originally posted: June 17, 2009

That’s certainly a hopeful possibility for the future of book publishing, though plenty of folks would rather stick to paperbacks and leave e-book bickering over formats, readers, and price points to Amazon and Google. But plenty of other industry players have entered the race to profit from the blossoming e-book market. As I state in a new KnowSomethingProject.com article “E-Books: Where Literature and Technology Meet,” there’s plenty to learn about the past, present, and future of e-books, regardless of what—or how—you prefer to read. Enjoy!

Karen DeGroot Carter, a native of Syracuse and a graduate of Syracuse University, lives in Denver. Her first novel, One Sister¡¯s Song explores issues faced by people of mixed-race heritage. Her blog, BEYOND Understanding, highlights resources that promote tolerance and celebrate diversity.

Karen DeGroot Carter is actively seeking representation for her second novel, Under the Humming Tide, in which a woman strives to reintroduce herself to her autistic brother, understand her disabled daughter, and somehow keep her crumbling family intact.

UPDATE FEBRUARY 2007: Karen DeGroot Carter also seeks representation for One Sister's Song, which is now available for sale to a new publisher.