Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter

Cleopatra's Moon, is a historical fiction novel offering a portrayal of Cleopatra's daughter, Cleopatra XVII Selene fathered by the Egyptian queen's second husband, the Roman general Marcus Antonius.

The story begins on a Roman ship to Africa in 25 B.C. Sixteen-year-old Cleopatra XVII Selene's twin brother, Alexandros has died after drinking poison meant for her. The ship's captain demands the Cleopatra get rid of her brother's body or his crew will mutiny. Cleopatra agrees to remove his body at sunrise in order to be able to perform the ritual to enable his ka to reunite with his body.

The story then jumps back in time to nine years earlier, in 34 B.C. in Egypt. Cleopatra and her mother Queen Cleopatra VII and her brothers are waiting for her father, the Roman gneneral, Marcus Antonius to join them on the ceremonial dias. He is in the parade celebrating his victory over Armenia. 

Cleopatra Selene's mother Queen Celopatra VII sits on a gold throne "...a diadem with three rearing snakes and a golden broad collar, shining with lapis lazuli, carnelian, and emeralds, over her golden, form-fitting pleated gown."  She is holding the golden ankh of life in one hand and "..the striped crook and flail of her divine ruleship" in the other. Cleopatra Selene's father arrives in his golden armor and in his speech states that King Aatavartes of Medea made the foolish choice to go against Rome and Egypt. Antonious (Tata) awards his youngest son, Ptolemy XVI Philadelphus the lands of Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Princess Cleopatra VIII Selene is made queen of Cyrenaica and Crete. Her brother, Alexandros Helios is to rule the kingdom of Armenia with his betrothed, Princess Iotape of Medea.  To Cleopatra Selene, Iotape is "The Interloper", a royal hostage to ensure that her farther will remain loyal.  Tata also states that Alexandros Helios will rule over the as yet unconquered lands of Parthia. Thirteen-year-old Caesarion, Cleopatra Selene's half brother, and the only son of her mother Cleopatra's first husband Julius Caesar is named King of Egypt. However, with this last proclaimation, Cleopatra Selene hears to murmurs of unease by the people and the name of a Roman, Octavianus, who is Caesar's heir. Antonius places Cleopatra as Queen of Kings and "Overlord" of the territories he has assigned. He sees Egypt "as a beacon to Rome's future."  

In 32 B.C. when Cleopatra Selene is nine-years-old, she learns from fifteen-year-old brother Caesarion that Rome has declared war on Cleopatra. He tells Cleopatra Selene and her brother Alexandros, that their father, Marcus Alexandros divorce from his Roman wife, Octavia is now official. However, Antonius married Octavia as a means to secure a peace treaty with her brother Octavianus. The divorce means the peace treaty no longer exists and Octavianus is using the divorce to declare war on Queen Cleopatra. Both Cleopatra Selene and Alexandros are stunned as Egypt, which supplies grain to Rome and funds its wars in the east is an ally. Caesarion states that Octavianus has "...started a civil war with your father - a war between two Romans for the sole control of the Roman empire." 

Days later, Cleopatra Selene choses Eugenia as the lady who will be her consecrated companion for life. Her mother tells her that she has moved the selection up because she will accompany Marcus Antonius to Greece where their war camp will be. She explains that Octavianus has declared war against her so he can plunder Egypt. Cleopatra Selene realizes her mother is preparing should they lose the war.

Queen Cleopatra's absence from Alexandria extends into the following summer, leaving ten-year-old Cleopatra Selene troubled. The priestess, the Lady Amunet of the Temple of Isis on Pharo tells her that her parents are trapped in Actium and the she fears her father has underestimated Octavianus. In speaking with the priestess, Cleopatra Selene learns the magic to call Anubis, the Great Jackal God of Egypt. 

Queen Cleopatra returns from Actium, having broken through the blockade. Meanwhile Marcus Antonius has sailed to Libya in preparation for battle there. Cleopatra Selene learns that her mother has executed those traitors aiding Octavianus, including Eugenia's father. She also learns from her mother's lady, Charmion that Octavianus is on his way to capture Alexandria. His plan is to control the kingdoms and provinces in the east first. Marcus Antonius is unable to stop him because his generals have deserted him and gone over to Octavianus. King Porus of India had agreed to take in Cleopatra. It was part of her plan to save Alexandria from destruction by Octavianus with the hope that Caesarion would eventually be allowed to rule. However Queen Cleopatra's plan failed because she was betrayed by King Machus of  Arabia. The queen's fleet could not sail on the Mediterranean so she had her ships pulled overland with the intent of reaching the Red Sea and then sailing to India. However the fleet was intercepted by the Nabateans and destroyed.

In 30 B.C eleven-year-old Cleopatra Selene father has returned a broken man. After an attempt to poison Cleopatra Selene by a dissident Egyptian group, the young girl learns from her mother that she is negotiating to save her children. Octavianus wanted her to hand over Marcus Antonius but Queen Cleopatra refused.  Marcus Antonius, determined to defend Alexandria, is deserted by his troops and returns to the palace. Believing Queen Cleopatra has committed suicide, Antonius falls on his sword, only to learn that the queen is still alive. Queen Cleopatra has locked herself in her mausoleum with her gold, silver and jewels in the hopes of bargaining with Octavianus for the safety of her children. 

Octavianus is able to learn from the young Ptolemy that Caeasarion has escaped to the desert and he has his men hunt down and murder the young Egpytian king.  Queen Cleopatra slips into Antonius's tomb and commits suicide after secretly visiting her remaining children at night. She has been able to arrange that Octavianus take her children to Rome to be cared for by his sister Octavia.During the queen's funeral, Alexandros and Cleopatra Selene are crowned king and queen of the Two Lands of Egypt by the priests and prietess of the temple. Cleopatra Selene is given a "flanged blue helmet", the Blue Crown of War known as the Kehpresh. The priestess, Amunet tells Cleopatra that their agents in Rome are already working to help them return to Egypt.

The crowning infuriates Octavianus who orders all in the room except the queen's children, to be crucified. Soon Cleopatra Selene is on her way to Rome along with her two brothers. She vows to reclaim Egypt but will she be able to do so? 

Discussion

Cleopatra's Moon is a well-written historical fiction novel about the daughter of Queen Cleopatra XVII, Cleopatra Selene. 

Cleopatra Selene was taken to the household of Octavia located on the Palantine Hill in Rome. There she was raised among the extended family of Octavia as well as with many royal children. some belonging those rulers who either were deposed or who wanted their children "romanized". One of those children was Gaius Julius Juba, the son of King Juba of Numidia, who had been taken to Rome after the defeat and suicide of his father. Juba was given Roman citizenship, was educated and served with the Roman legions in Spain. He was given the kingdom of Mauretania, as Numidia no longer existed as a separate kingdom. Juba married Cleopatra Selene and they were installed as the king and queen of Mauretania, which at that time included Algeria and Morocco. They modernized the kingdom, constructing buildings similar to those in Rome and Alexandria. This included buildings to both Roman and Egyptian gods, a lighthouse in the harbour similar to that of Pharos in Alexandria, as well as a royal palace similar to that in Alexandria. Juba and Cleopatra Selene had one child, a son named Ptolemy who ruled with Juba after her death in 5 B.C.  

The novel is narrated by Cleopatra Selene, covers her life beginning when she is nine-years-old and is divided into three parts.

In Part I the author does a remarkable job of describing the beauty, grace and high degree of culture in Egyptian society that comprises Alexandria during 34 BC. For example, during this time Alexandria was noted for Pharos, the magnificent lighthouse that guards the entrance to the harbour.  "...I followed her to a more secluded corner of the roof, a deck facing the sea, giving me an astonishing view of Pharos, our Great Lighthouse. Its white marble glinted in the bright sun as immense plumes of black smoke billowed from the fires that burned day and night at its summit. I had never seen our Lighthouse from this height, and the magnificence of its colossal, three-tiered architecture took my breath away. Next to it, the ships moving in and out of our Great Harbour looked like ants crawling past the leg of a giant."

Alexandria also featured an amazing and vast library which was open to scholars throughout the known world. "We stopped under the striped canopy of the royal entrance to the Library. Attendants came running, bowing first to Caesarion, then to us. One bore a golden vessel with warm lotus-perfumed water to rinse our hands and feet; another took our cloacks and anything else we did not wish to carry. 

As we entered the light-filled atrium, white-robed, white-sandaled scholars bustled by, bowing absentmindedly in our direction...."

There are detailed descriptions of the royal palace, clothing and fashion, and life within the Egyptian Royal Court. "I  moved into one of the side gardens ideal for private conversations. Date palms ruffled in the breeze, gray and mysterious in the dark. Occasional gusts of wind, rich with the smells of the sea, teased the scents out of sleeping lotus, jasmine, rose, and honeysuckle blooms. I never again smelled a combination so achingly beautiful -- the cool salt of the sea intermingling with the heady perfume of Egyptian blossoms." 

Marcus Antonius is portrayed as a loving, kind man, who cares for his family. The royal family is also portrayed as kind, respectful towards each other, thoughtful and educated. Greek, Latin, Persian and Punic are some of the languages family members are able to speak. Cleopatra Selene is portrayed as intelligent, witty and caring. She loves Egypt and is already preparing to someday follow in her mother's footsteps as Queen of Egypt.

Cleopatra's Moon also presents detailed descriptions of Egyptian religious beliefs and practices in magic and there is an interesting passage where the young Cleopatra Selene and her brother Alexandros learn about the Hebrew faith in the Jewish temple in Alexandria. In this passage Cleopatra tries to understand the notion of free will that is at the heart of the Hebrew religion and which is in contrast to the Egyptian belief of fate at the hands of their multiple gods and goddesses. Thus begins a struggle within Cleopatra - is she governed by a fate the gods have chosen or can she choose a different path?

Having set the stage so impeccably, this detail serves to emphasize what Cleopatra Selene loses when her beloved Alexandria is overrun by the Romans. She is eleven-years-old and her parents, Marcus Antonius and Cleopatra XVII return to Alexandria after losing at Actium and being betrayed by various allies. Her parents both commit suicide leaving their children to the scheming Octavianus who murders Caesarion and takes the remaining children to Rome as prisoners.

Part II tells the story of Cleopatra Selene and her two brothers in captivity in Rome. They are part of Octavianus' household and believe they are under the protection of Octavia, Octavianus' sister. Rome is portrayed as less cultured than Alexandria, with its stinking, dirty port of Ostia. Throughout Part II, Cleopatra Selene remarks on the contrasts between Egyptian/Greek culture and that of Rome. The Egyptians wear tunics of finely woven linen in contrast to the wool stola of the Roman women. Although Octavianus' home on the Palatine Hill is luxurious, they sleep in rooms which are small, dark and windowless compared to the open sunlit rooms of the royal palace in Alexandria. Cleopatra Selene begins to see that Rome has no real culture of its own - that it steals the culture of the nations it conquers. It is primarily a military nation committed to plundering and conquering. Cleopatra Selene understands this especially when she sees the plundered scrolls of her beloved library in Alexandria. This becomes even more distressing when, as part of Octavianus's triumph she sees parts of Alexandria. "...We moved in the procession slowly, as carts and stretchers laden with all of the riches stolen from our palace and Egypt glimmered before us in the sun -- huge mounds of gold, ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli, emeralds, spices, cinnamon, pearls...Nearly naked, sweating slaves groaned unde the ropes and pulleys of gigantic obelisks and sphinxes taken from our sacred temples."  

Part III which occurs two years after Part II when Cleopatra Selene is fifteen-years-old, explores her life as a teenager. In Part III , Alvear Shecter sets up a lovers triangle between Cleopatra Selene, Marcellus, the handsome son of Octavia and her first husband, and Juba a Numidian Prince who was captured from his homeland as a baby and who is now a scholar and a soldier.  Cleopatra Selene develops a deep affection towards Juba but is actively is pursued by Marcellus. The latter tells her that he will marry her and help her to regain Egypt. However, she is warned by Juba that such an alliance will never be allowed by Octavianus who hates her. He warns that Marcellus is using her and does not love her. When Octavianus leaves on a campaign in Spain the situation in Rome comes to a dramatic conclusion. Cleopatra Selene must decide whether she will accept the fate the gods have destined her for or choose of her own free will to make a new life for herself.

As a girl and young woman, Cleopatra Selene is portrayed as being innocent, intelligent and determined. In the novel she is portrayed as having a strong devotion to and love of her parents. The loss of her younger brother Ptolemy Philadelphos is devastating to her. Cleopatra Selene is determined to return to Egypt and free it from the clutches of Rome. She continues to be puzzled by the Hebrew concept of "free will". "I understood it no better now, for how could something be both "God's will" and our own "free will" at the same time? And if his was the kind of god that "willed" us to be paraded iin humiliation and then almost executed, I could confidently say that I wanted no part of him."  Not understanding the concept of free will and of a loving God, Cleopatra turns to the god, Isis and the Jackal god, son of Osiris. However, it would seem that it was not to be, as the Roman Empire would rule the world for the next several hundred years. Instead, history knows her as a queen of Maurentania, where she fostered a rich culture that was both Roman and Egyptian. 

Cleopatra's Moon is well-written, engaging, historically accurate and well researched. Overall, Vicky Alvear Shecter has crafted a novel that makes history come alive for her readers. The beauty of Alexandria and the treachery of this era are exceptionally captured by the author. There is a detailed cast of characters at the beginning of the book and there is an excellent Facts Within The Fiction section which details which parts of the book are historically accurate and where the author inserted fiction into her account. There is some suggestive content in the novel, but nothing too explicit, and mostly implied.

Map image: https://cleopatracmu.weebly.com/maps.html

Book Details:
Cleopatra's Moon by Vicky Alvear Shecter
New York: Arthur A. Levine Books         2011
355pp.

Lark Rise to Candleford BBC TV Series

I'm off on holidays this week and what better way than to try out a few episodes of the BBC TV period costume-drama series, Lark Rise to Candleford. The series is based upon a trilogy of "novels" written by Flora Thompson about life in the English countryside and focuses on the lives of people of all classes in the poor hamlet of Lark Rise and it's wealthier neighbour, Candleford. The series began in 2008 and was completed this year after receiving much acclaim.

The stories are told through the narrative of young Laura Timmins who leaves her family in Lark Rise to work at the post office in Candleford under the tutelage of Dorcas Lane. Laura is excited to be moving to Candleford for her first job, to learn new ideas and ways and especially so to have her own bedroom. While Dorcas is welcoming and helpful to her protege, many of the residents of Candleford look down upon her as an ignorant country brat.

There are many story lines to follow through the first and second episodes. For example in the first episode the folks of Lark Rise are infuriated that they must pay 3p 6 penny for the delivery of telegrams from Candleford. They are told that it is because their hamlet is outside the "8 mile limit" for delivery. Things come to a head when Victoria Queenie" Turrill receives an urgent telegram but she is unable to receive it because she cannot pay for it. When a second telegram arrives with bad news, the Dorcas, Post Mistress of Candleford feels compelled to visit Queenie to tell her personally. As a result, the hamlet of Lark Rise decide to contest the charges for telegrams. Sir Timothy Midwinter, the fair-minded squire and local justice of the peace, decides that it might be best to measure the distance between the two communities to determine who is in the right.

In the second episode of Series One, Laura narrates two storylines, that of Mrs. Macy's absent husband and the debt troubles of Caroline Arliss whose husband is a sailor and who has left her to manage affairs at home. She is the feisty, strong character in the series and great fun to watch. It also is becoming evident that Sir Timothy and Dorcas are very fond of one another. I learned that Dorcas was Timothy's first love but because of strong social pressure in 19th century Britain, Dorcas and Timothy were not able to marry because they are from different classes.

Fans of British television will recognize many familiar faces, including Ben Miles as Sir Midwinter, Claudie Blakley as Emma Timmins, Brendan Coyle as Robert Timmins, Julia Sawalha as Dorcas, Victoria Hamilton as Ruby Pratt and Dawn French as the raucous and irresponsible wayward Caroline.

The series has a beautiful pastoral setting to it and is for the most part an enjoyable look into English life in the late 1800's. Part soap opera and part drama, it's pure clean fun. Lark Rise to Candleford is void of sex, violence and crassness which dominates most media today.

So far I have immensely enjoyed the incredible millinery creations worn by dressmaker-sisters Ruby and Pearl, the outrageous Caroline Arliss and the steady performances of Coyle and Sawalha. Olivia Hallinan's performance as Laura is outstanding with her expressiveness and innocence perfect for this piece. Her only difficulty seems to be with her accent which sometimes slips into an Irish brogue. C'est quoi?


I'm looking forward to watching more in the series this week.

Jane Eyre

The most recent reworking of Jane Eyre is a delightful succinct offering to fans of 18th century English literature adaptations to the screen. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, the movie opens with Jane fleeing Thornfield Hall and lover Edward Rochester and being stranded on the moors. She makes her way to the home of the Rivers, and is taken in by St. John Rivers, her cousin and Mary and Diana Rivers who are St. John's sisters and also Jane's cousins. During her stay with them she reflects back upon her life and it is this reflection that forms the greater part of the film. In this way, director Fukunaga focuses the movie on the story of Jane and Edward.

Mia Wasikowska's portrayal of the intelligent and moral Jane is simply amazing. Wasikowska as Jane, tries to hide her emotions as the proper and prim Jane, but in doing so portrays what she is really feeling. It is this aspect of her portrayal that makes Wasikowska the definitive Jane. Her horror at discovering that Rochester is already married is palatable because it is played with quiet intensity by Jane.

Michael Fassbender is the tempestuous Edward Rochester and he too does a good job of capturing the essential character of Rochester.

This adaptation of Jane Eyre also features Judi Dench, a staple in many BBC productions, as his housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax. One thing we do see in this movie is the caring relationship between Mrs. Fairfax and Jane, especially when Jane returns to the burned out Thornfield Hall and meets the housekeeper who then tells Jane that she needn't have run away because she would have helped her.

With it's themes of religion, love, forgiveness and madness, Jane Eyre is a movie to be enjoyed. This cinematic offering is a little rushed because unlike the 2006 version which was a miniseries, it must offer a detailed and involved storyline over the course of a mere two hours. We don't get to see the transformation of Mr. Rochester from a gruff, reticent man to the warm master of Thornfield in love as Bronte did in the novel.

My preference is still for the 2006 version which starred Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. We get more of a sense of what Rochester was suffering though with his mad wife who was tricked upon him and the sense of desolation and hopelessness he experienced. There is also a more charged atmosphere between Edward and Jane as their forbidden love blossoms.

Nevertheless, I highly recommend this movie to those who love Pride and Prejudice, North and South and so forth and who want a quick dose of an English lit movie.

A Tiger's Heart. The Story of a modern Chinese Woman. A Memoir by Aisling Juanjuan Shen

As the title of this memoir states, this is the story of one woman's struggles to rise out of grinding poverty and circumstance in China during the latter part of the 20th century. Shen began writing her memoir in her second semester at Wellesley College in Boston as a way of dealing with her past. The title is a reference to the author being born in the year of the Tiger and being "nothing but trouble" - "a tiger coming out of it's den".

Aisling Juanjuan Shen was born in 1974 in Shen Hamlet, a small rice farming village in the heart of the Yangtze River District. She grew up there with her parents and her younger sister, Spring. Aisling was determined not to have the poverty and back-breaking work in the rice paddies that made up her parent's life. She studied hard and received her associate degree and became a teacher - the only option open to the daughter of poor peasants in China. She was assigned to Hope Middle School in the town of Ba Jin in Wujiang County but it didn't take Aisling long to determine that she did not want to spend the rest of her life living there. So she signed a contract giving her her freedom for 3 years while the school would collect her pay and have her pay a five thousand yuan annual penalty.

"Since 1949, when New China was founded, every governmental worker had been guaranteed an unbreakable iron bowl into which the government put just enough food to keep your stomach full. Most people chose to stay on the dry land, with their bowls. You might find gold and silver in the ocean; but if you couldn't swim, you would be lost."

Shen headed south first to the city of Guangzhou where she lived with Wang Hui, a teacher she met in Ba Jin. When this relationship fails and she cannot find a job making a substantial amount of money, Aisling Shen decides to leave for LongJiang and finds a job at LongJiang Enterprises Group working as a secretary. Throughout the remainder of the book, we follow Shen as she moves from job to job, city to city throughout southern China, gradually becoming a part of wealthy Chinese society in Xiamen. Her life consists of daytime shopping and barhopping at night. But through all this Aisling Shen is deeply unhappy and disturbed.

Both Aisling's family background and the vast changes to society in Communist China contributed greatly to how she lived her life and the decisions she made. By her own account, her father was cold and withdrawn towards her. They rarely talked to each other and he considered her useless. Likely because of her own poor relationship with her father, Aisling slept with many men as she struggled to leave behind her life of poverty and become self-supporting. She slept with married men and was the mistress to several men, all the while not really understanding what motivated her to pursue bad men. All she knew is that she wanted to be loved and wanted companionship. Eventually, she learns more about her past from her mother and is able to put together the pieces that help her understand herself better.

Her description of her abortion after a one night stand with a married man is particularly heartrending. Shen didn't want the abortion but did so because despite China's doing away with the Old China, a pregnant unmarried woman was considered a "broken shoe". She tries to convince the man to let her keep the baby and that she "didn't really want to end this small life inside of me." Interestingly, Shen never connects the abortion and it's trauma with her promiscuous behaviour afterwards, despite the fact that she mentions the abortion changed her forever.

"In the poisonous silence of those lonely nights, I saw that I was splitting into two people. By day, I was an elevated and upright teacher; but when the sun went down, I became an anguished, angry girl who just wanted to destroy everything, including herself."

Shen's descriptions of shady business transaction are a window into the graft and corruption in a China emerging on the world economic market. The communist system replaced Old China with a system just as class driven as the past. Shen documents how difficult it is for young people to work their way out of poverty to a better life.

Readers interested in modern China will find A Tiger's Heart both fascinating and tragic.

Book Details:
A Tiger's Heart. The story of a modern Chinese woman. A memoir. by Aisling JuanJuan Shen
New York: Soho Press 2009
309 pp.

The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Jessica Carlisle is a runner. Correction. Jessica Carlisle was a runner. After a tragic accident in which the bus she was on was struck by an uninsured driver and one member of her school's running team is killed, Jessica awakes to learn that she has lost the lower part of her right leg. Running was her dream. She lived and breathed running. Now as a BK (below knee) amputee Jessica believes her life as she knew it is over. Jessica is scared, angry and filled with revulsion at her "ugly, useless" stump.

At first she really does believe her life has changed for the worse. But her doctor explains how she will be fitted with a special prosthesis that will enable her to walk again. We learn along with Jessica how this will be accomplished.
What ends up motivating Jessica however, is the discovery that it might be possible for her to run again with a specially designed prosthesis. Her coach, Kyro shows her videos on YouTube of Oscar Pistorius, a 400-meter sprinter and a double below-knee amputee. The only problem is that such an artificial limb is expensive. Jessica's school running team however, is determined to help her overcome this obstacle and to that end, they form a Help Jessica Run campaign to raise the funds.

Eventually with the support of her best friend Fiona, her parents, her track coach Kyro and the community, Jessica comes to terms with her limitations, pushes beyond them and realizes her dream of running again. But it is really her friendship with Rosa, a special needs student in her math class who helps Jessica most. Rosa who is confined to a wheel chair not only helps Jessica with her math homework but also helps her to focus on the immediate and to meet each challenge as it arises.

The Running Dream is an outstanding young adult novel that is much more than just a story about a girl trying to run again. The Running Dream focuses on how we view others. After her accident Jessica view of herself has changed. She sees herself as a freak and a stranger. She defines herself by her condition - that of an amputee. But gradually as Jessica reintegrates into school and then when she gets her prosthetic limb, she feels less defined by her condition and more able to see herself as normal again. When Jessica befriends Rosa, who has cerebral palsy, she begins to see Rosa herself instead of her condition - a person in a wheelchair. Prior to her accident Jessica never even noticed Rosa. She comes to the realization that Rosa is not her condition. Rosa is smart at math and she offers Jessica a different perspective on finishing a race - that the finish line can also be another starting line.

Another aspect of this book that I really enjoyed was how the author divided up the book into 5 sections based on running. They are aptly titled Finish Line, Headwind, Straightaway, Adjusting the Blocks and Starting Line.



Book Details:
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen 2011
Alfred A. Knopf
332 pp.

Flygirl by Sherri Smith

Flygirl is a historical fiction novel whose main theme focuses strongly on the question of identity. Eighteen-year-old Ida Mae Jones lives in Slidell, Louisiana with her mother and her brothers Abel and Thomas. Her father died several years ago in a farming accident. He was a pilot who flew to crop dust.

Ida Mae is fair-skinned like her father, while her brothers are dark like her mom. In her family's past, a half-colored girl was "steered down a path that made each generation light than than light, having children by white men and marrying those children to other mixed coloreds, lighter and whiter until" her father was born. But her father did not marry a white woman. Instead, he married a black woman whom he fell in love with.This resulted in his light skinned relatives essentially disowning him.

At eighteen years of age, all Ida Mae longs to do is fly, like her daddy taught her. But Ida Mae is black and a woman and even though she is light skinned, these two things mean it is most likely she will never get her pilot's license. She's already been failed once because she was a woman.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbor however things are about to change as America is drawn into the world conflict and new opportunities arise. Ida Mae's brother, Thomas who is a student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, takes a leave of absence to enlist. He is sent to the South Pacific where he is a field medic in the colored infantry.

In August 1943, with the war in Europe and the Pacific struggling on, the US government decides to form the Women Airforce Service Pilots program (WASP) to free up men pilots for service overseas. These women pilots will ferry planes across the continental United States for shipment overseas. They are also involved in testing new planes and in particular are responsible for getting men to pilot the B-29 plane, known as the "Widowmaker".

When Ida Mae sees the newspaper article about the WASP program she decides to apply but since she doesn't have her license she decides to use her father's old license and replace the picture. Ida Mae applies to the program, falsifying the license and lying to pass as a white woman. But when she gets accepted and begins her training she begins to realize the cost to herself and her family. Can she pay such a high price for independence and for the love of flying? Can she continue to deny who she is?
In the end, Ida decides that living a lie isn't worth the price and that she has to be true to who she is - a black woman AND a pilot.

Discussion

Flygirl, is a slow moving account of the WASP program and fighting the war on the home front. Readers looking for action won't find much here. There's actually no historical record of black women in the WASP program, so unfortunately, there is no real woman to form the basis of the story behind Flygirl. That was a disappointment to discover. But it was interesting to learn about the women aviators who came from all parts of American society and how they were never made officers in the airforce that they served so bravely.

However, where Flygirl succeeds is in exploring themes of identity and the meaning of family. Flygirl offers readers a perspective on being a black woman in the racially charged southern US. But the perspective is that of a black woman who could pass for white and whether or not she should make the choice to cross over and pass as a white woman as well as the repercussions she faces in doing so. If Ida Mae decides to pass as white, it means leaving her family behind forever. It is denying a part of her heritage and denying a part of herself.

Her mother, dark skinned, tries to warn Ida Mae about what she will face and how once she crosses over she can't cross back. Crossing the line from black to white means disowning your family and never been able to see them again. Ida Mae's father realized that this was what his mother was asking him to do. Ida Mae soon finds it difficult to be in "white" society. She avoids suntanning so her skin won't darken and she is constantly worrying about her hair frizzing when it gets wet. It is difficult to watch her own colored people treated poorly in shops, although she does stick up for a black man in the hardware store. And when a white instructor shows interest in Ida, she must be careful not to encourage him. How could she ever bring a white man home to her black mother?

Although Ida loves her job and her new found independence, at the same time she has lost something too. She has lost her family, a very important part of her life. This inner conflict is demonstrated when Ida's mother shows up at the base to tell her that Thomas is missing overseas and to ask for Ida's help in locating him. Ida Mae cannot betray her situation as a white woman and so she must play at her mother being the family maid visiting. This brings feelings of shame and regret to Ida who is forced to treat her mother without dignity in front of the white guard to avoid being discovered for who she really is.

Flygirl was chosen as one of the "2010 Best Books for Young Adults".

Book Details:
Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith
New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons
275 pp.

Soul Surfer - the movie

Last night I had an opportunity to finally watch Soul Surfer on DVD. Unfortunately, where I live, this movie was only in theatres for a very short time and I missed that window. Most unfortunate, because this is a movie worth watching.

Soul Surfer is an exceptional movie about an exceptional young woman - Bethany Hamilton. It traces the sequences of events that led to that fateful day of Halloween, 2003 when Bethany was attacked by a On that day Bethany and her best friend Alana Blanchard and Blanchard's father and brother went surfing at Tunnels Beach on Kauai. Bethany had her left arm over the surf board in the water when she was attacked by a 14 foot tiger shark. It is unlikely she would have survived if it were not for Blanchard's quick action of improvising a tourniquet out of a surfboard leash to stem the loss of blood.

There are two things I especially liked about this movie. The first is that there was less focus on the dramatic attack and more on Bethany and her experience after the attack. The drama of the attack lasted only seconds and the race to get her medical help was well done, intense and frightening. But Bethany Hamilton is not to be defined by the attack but instead by her response. She showed herself to be remarkably poised and courageous.

That she survived at all after having lost 60 per cent of her blood, amazed doctors and her friends and family alike. God, in His providence, reminded her during the ambulance ride that he would not abandon her. One of the paramedics whispered this reminder in her ear during the run.

One of my favourite parts of the movie occurs when Bethany goes to see Sarah Hill (Carrie Underwood), her youth minister not long after she is out of hospital. When Sarah asks Bethany how she is, Bethany replies, "I'm good. Yeah. Everyone is doing real good." At that point Sarah tells Bethany that she can level with her and tell her how it REALLY is. Bethany tells Sarah that she has been trying to get some perspective, to step back and see things how they really are. She asks Sarah, "How can this be God's plan for me. I don't understand." Sarah replies, "I don't know why terrible things happen to us sometimes. But I have to believe something good is going to come out of this. I don't know what that is."

Of course, this is the struggle all believers eventually experience because all of us will experience something bad in our lives at some point. It wasn't God's plan for her to be attacked, but he had a new plan when that happened and she allowed God to work in her life. Her mother, in one of the special features on the DVD, relates that during the month prior to the attack Bethany and her family had been praying to understand what God wanted of Bethany in her life. This film does portray their strong faith and commitment to Christ, but not in an overhanded manner. It's subtle and believable.

Much of the actual surfing in the re-creation of the competitions was done by Bethany. This was apparently another of the Hamilton's goals in the movie, to demonstrate good surfing to those of us who know nothing about the sport. The surfing shots were brilliant and exciting. I can understand why Bethany felt such a desire to return to the ocean. The beauty and power of ocean was both awesome and inspiring.

This movie was well done and nice change from the usual Hollywood fare. Bethany's book of the same name continues to be a popular choice for teens, although it is written for very young teens and tweens.

You can catch all the latest on Bethany Hamilton at her website, including information on her injury to her right arm this summer.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

Divergent is an exciting dystopian novel filled with action, mystery and romance. 

In sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior's world, almost everyone is divided into factions. It was decided to organize society in this manner decades ago because people were convinced that flaws in human personality were the cause of strife and evil. So people divided into five "factions that sought to eradicate those qualities they believed responsible for the world's disarray." 

Those five factions are Abnegation, Amity, Candor, Dauntless and Erudite. Amity are caretakers who run farms and hospitals and wear either yellow or red.  Abnegation are selfless, are the faction that form the government and wear plain gray clothing. Candor value honesty and wear black and white.  Erudites value knowledge and must wear at least one item of blue clothing. Dauntless who are pierced, tattooed, value bravery and wear all black. 

At the age of sixteen, each person takes an aptitude test to help them determine which faction they belong to. They then must pass through an initiation process which, if successful, sees them joining their chosen faction. If they do not, they live on the periphery of society as factionless - poor and doing menial jobs.

Beatrice lives with her brother Caleb who is not quite a year older than her and her parents, Natalie and Andrew.  Most people stay with the faction they are born into but Beatrice is not sure that she can remain in Abnegation. She feels she is not selfless enough to be part of her family's faction. Since both Beatrice and Caleb turn sixteen in the same year, they must both take their aptitude tests.

According to Tori, the Dauntless woman who administers her test, Beatrice's test results are perplexing and inconclusive. Instead of showing an aptitude for one faction, Beatrice shows an equal aptitude for Abnegation, Erudite and Dauntless and is labelled Divergent. She is warned not share this result with anyone because it is dangerous and she later learns that "Divergents" are in great danger of being murdered.

At dinner that night, Beatrice's father talks about the report Jeanine Matthews has released about his coworker, Marcus. Two years earlier, Marcus's son Tobias left Abnegation for Dauntless because of his father's cruelty. It is rare for people to leave Abnegation. Beatrice's father is angry about the report, one of many the Erudite's have released attacking Abnegation. He believes the the Erudite faction's desire for knowledge is a "lust for power". It is a council of fifty representatives from Abnegation that rule the city.

At her Choosing Ceremony, Beatrice chooses to be a part of the Dauntless faction while her brother shockingly chooses Erudites. Immediately she leaves her family and begins her initiation into the Dauntless faction. Beatrice shortens her name to Tris and begins a brutal and exhausting initiation consisting of three stages. Her initiation begins immediately as she has to dump on a fast moving train that takes her and the other Dauntless out of the city core. Tris is the first one to jump into what seems to be a bottomless pit but which has a net at the bottom. She quickly notices that there are no elderly Dauntless. 

Eric one of five Dauntless leaders tells them they will be in training from eight until six every day and that they cannot leave the compound alone but must be accompanied by another Dauntless. There are nine Dauntless initiatives: Al, Peter, Will, Christina, Edward, Molly, Drew, Myra and Tris. There are eleven Dauntless-borns.  They are told that Dauntless transfers and initiates are kept separate but that four initiates will be cut at the end of stage one. The rest will be cut after the final test. They are all ranked, to determine what job they will be assigned and that only the top ten make it into the faction. Those who don't make the cut will live factionless. 

Tris, being the smallest of the Dauntless initiates, struggles through the first stage of the training. Almost immediately she catches the interest of an eighteen-year-old Dauntless leader named Four who is impressed with her bravery and selflessness. But she is also discovers that while Four can be concerned and caring, Eric,one of five Dauntless leaders, is sadistic and evil. She also notices there is a tension between Four and Eric who was from the Erudite faction. 

On Visiting Day, Tris learns from her mother that they are not able to visit Caleb because the Erudites have banned Abnegation members from entering their compound. Her mother states that the tension between the two factions is very high. Tris's mother Natalie meets Four who assures her that Tris is doing well but when Natalie remarks that Four looks familiar he becomes uncomfortable. A more disturbing encounter occurs between Will's sister Cara and Tris's mother, when Cara accuses Natalie's faction - Abnegation of hoarding food. Even more distressing to Tris is the discovery that her mother seems to know a lot about the Dauntless initiation and she also seems to know about being "Divergent". She warns Tris to be careful in the second stage of her initiation and to never use the world divergent. She also asks Tris to visit her brother Caleb after her initiation and to ask him to research the simulation serum. As the visit with her mother ends, Tris realizes her mother is Dauntless.

Tris makes the first cut, ranked fifth after Edward is attacked and quits. The second part of the initiation involves being injected with serum that forces a person to confront their fears. The first hallucination is very traumatic but Four tells her that she got out of her hallucination three times faster than the other initiates. He also reveals that the Dauntless training was overhauled about six years ago to make it more brutal and vicious. 

Meanwhile outside of Dauntless, Tris learns that the conflict between Abnegation and Erudite is ramping up. In the dorm, a group of initiates reads an article questioning why Andrew Prior's children would abandon Abnegation for other factions and blames this on him being abusive. This infuriates Tris who believes that the Erudite faction is calling for the overthrow of the government.

During another fear simulation, Tris is able to manipulate the simulation. Four tells her this marks her as Divergent and that he will erase the recording of it. But he tells her not to do this again in the simulations as she will end up murdered. Seeking out answers, Tris visits Tori in the tattoo studio for answers. Tori tells her that being Divergent means she is aware during the simulation that it is not real and therefore can manipulate it and even change it. She tells Tris that the Dauntless leaders do not know about this yet but if they find out they will kill her. Tori also states that the people who know this are either those who want her dead or those who are Divergent. This now makes Tris question if Four is also Divergent.  

More articles are released by Erudites about how Abnegation is withholding fruit and luxury cars and questioning why only one faction should be running the government. Instead they want a democratically elected system. Tris also discovers that the Erudites are searching for Divergents who are considered rebels, 

The rankings after four simulations show Tris leading Peter by a wide margin and he's furious. The third stage of the initiation is the fear landscape where each person's fear will be present but they will know it is a simulation and must deal with those fears by either calming down or facing the fear directly. They will do this test in front of the Dauntless leaders. Tris is attacked by Al, Peter and Drew who try to force her over the railing by the chasm. She is saved by Four who now warns Tris to be more careful about what she says and does, and that she is being watched. 

Four and Tris's relationship begins to blossom from initiate to romance. Four decides to let Tris experience his fear landscape where she learns that he has only four fears (hence his name) and that his real name is Tobias. She also learns that Tobias' father, Marcus, who is leader of the Abnegation faction did physically abuse his son as the Erudites claimed. Her helping Four through his fears begins to change their relationship. 

When Tris fails her first fear practice test, she flees Dauntless to see Caleb in the Erudite faction. Their meeting does not go well but she does give her brother the request their mother made. Tris is forcibly taken to see Jeanine Matthews who notes her unusual test results. Tris recognizes Jeanine's voice as the one she heard talking to Eric at Dauntless, telling him they must find the Divergents. Jeanine is the one who has developed the aptitude tests and claims that she needs to know why her results were not recorded. Tris realizes that Jeanine has probably also developed the simulation serum too and wonders why it matters that she can manipulate it.

Then Four tells Tris that he has discovered the Erudites are planning to attack the Abnegation faction. The reports being released by the Erudites are intended to stir up dissention.  Tris realizes that the Erudites do not have weapons but instead plan to attack Abnegation by using the Dauntless soldiers. It isn't until after the initiation is over and everyone has been injected with a special transmitter that Tris comes to the realization of how the Dauntless will be controlled. The transmitters link the mind to a simulation. And she knows that Eric and Max are working with the Erudites to do this. Eventually Tris comes to recognize Eric for who he truly is. "... an Erudite disguised as a Dauntless, a genius as well as a sadist, a hunter of the Divergent." 

That very night Tris awakens to see everyone, blank faced, "brain-dead, obedient, and trained to kill. Perfect soldiers." getting out of their beds, arming and taking the trains into the city.  Both Tris and Tobias, who are Divergent, are able to resist the controlling influence of the serum, but are forced to participate so as to avoid discovery. In horror, Tris realizes that the Dauntless are being sent to attack the Abnegation faction. In the city, Tris watches as Tori kills a man, and hears the "pop" of guns going off throughout the city. 

Tris must now avoid capture and save her family while trying to stop the madness that is now tearing apart life in post-apocalyptic Chicago. It is a mission that will have haunting repercussions for her and those she loves.

Discussion

Divergent is the first novel in a dystopian trilogy by author Veronica Roth. Divergent seems somewhat reminiscent of the Hunger Games trilogy written by Suzanne Collins, with plenty of violence and murder. However, in this dystopia, the characters are older. 

Author Veronica Roth gradually builds the setting for this first novel. The story is set in the post-apocalyptic city of Chicago with mention of several well known landmarks such as Michigan Avenue, the Hancock Building, Millennium Park and the Cloud Gate mirror sculpture known as "the Bean". Vast areas of the city are in ruins. Lake Michigan is now a vast swamp. The city is surrounded by a fence that has a lock on the outside and is guarded by Dauntless soldiers. 

Beatrice Prior is part of a society divided into factions, each with a specific personality type and purpose, in the hopes of preventing further.  Everyone is born into a faction but at the age of sixteen must take an aptitude test to determine which faction they will best belong to. They then must choose to either stay with their family in the faction they were born into or choose another faction. Once in a new faction, that faction is responsible for finishing the education of the new recruits. In Dauntless it is a series of physical tests but a focus on controlling one's fears and acting in spite of them. In Candor, initiates must take a truth serum. Those who fail to complete the initiation into their new faction become factionless and live in poverty on the outskirts of the city in an area that is filled with broken buildings and ruined roads, doing menial jobs. A question remains: why would anyone risk becoming factionless by joining another faction? 

It soon becomes apparent to Beatrice, now named Tris, that something is amiss. First her test results are not normal and she is told she is Divergent but that she should never reveal this because it is dangerous. Tris learns from her father, a member of the ruling Abnegation city council, that the Erudites are spreading lies that they are withholding food from others. Upon her joining the Dauntless faction, Tris realizes its ideals of bravery have become warped. As she goes through her initiation, Tris uncovers what it means to be Divergent, that she can manipulate simulations and that somehow this makes her dangerous, and that the leader of Dauntless is actively hunting down the Divergent. Eventually she uncovers a plot by Jeanine Matthews, leader of the Erudites to wage war on Abnegation using Dauntless soldiers by means of a simulation serum. The resulting attack is devastating to both Tris and her friend and love, Four, whose real name is Tobias.

 

In Divergent, Roth explores what it means to be brave.  This is done as Tris moves through her initiation into Dauntless, a faction that honors bravery. Tris quickly notices that there is a tension between Four and Eric, two of the Dauntless trainers. One of their conflicts is over what it means to be brave. When they begin their fight training, Four and Eric disagree on what constitutes bravery. Four believes that " A brave man acknowledges the strength of others." Eric disagrees. He tells Four that "A brave man never surrenders."  Eric's concept of bravery 

As her initiation and training progress, Tris gradually realizes that the Dauntless faction has become sadistic and depraved, and have lost their noble idea of what bravery is. This is especially evident after Edward who is ranked first, is stabbed in the eye. Tris and Will know who attacked Edward but they believe that telling anyone is useless because acts of bravery are no longer valued in Dauntless. They no longer practice what is written in their faction's manifesto- "We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another." Instead, a Dauntless who stands up for a weaker person is cruelly punished. This leads Tris to wonder if the faction system is falling apart. "Maybe Dauntless was formed with good intentions, with the right ideals and the right goals. But it as strayed far from them. And the same is true of Erudite, I realize. A long time ago, Erudite pursued knowledge and ingenuity for the sake of doing good. Now they pursue knowledge and ingenuity with greedy hearts. I wonder if the other factions suffer from the same problem."  All except Four participate in this cruelty. Despite this corruption, Tris hopes she can save the faction and reclaim its original values. 

But Tris is further disgusted when Eric calls Al's suicide an act of bravery. "Courageous? Courageous would have been admitting weakness and leaving Dauntless, no matter what shame accompanied it. Pride is what killed Al, and it is the flaw in every Dauntless heart. It is in mine." She tells Four that the Dauntless have warped and ruined Al. 

After sharing his fear landscape with Tris, Four tells her that he believes there is little difference between selflessness and bravery. People who are selfless forget themselves in danger, to save others. Tris's mother exemplifies true selflessness and bravery when she sacrifices herself so that Tris can escape. Tris contrasts her mother's death with that of Al. "My mother's death was brave. I remember how calm she was, how determined. It isn't just brave that she died for me; it is brave that she did it without announcing it, without hesitation, and without considering another option."  Later on Tris tells her father that she needed to join Dauntless to learn how to be selfless AND brave.

Divergent also makes a statement about how humans govern themselves: no matter what system used to govern humans, whether it be political or otherwise, it will always be flawed. When Tris is rescued by her mother, she tells Tris "Human beings cannot be good for long before the bad creeps back in and poisons us." There is no utopia to be found. 

By the end of the novel, a clear antagonist has now been identified: Jeanine Matthews. Tris recognizes this. "Abnegation stood in the way of her desire for power, so she found a way to eliminate it. She didn't have an army, so she found one in Dauntless. She knew that she would need to control large groups of people, so she developed a way to do it with serums and transmitters. Divergence is just another problem for her to solve, and that is what makes her so terrifying -- because she is smart enough to solve anything, even the problem of our existence." 

This first novel in the trilogy provides little of the backstory - how Chicago came to be like this and how the faction system was chosen. There is also a hint that things may not be as they seem. Roth may end up providing this information in latter installments. Readers would have benefited from a map of both the city Tris lived in and also the Dauntless compound. The map would have helped readers understand the layout of the city better including the location of Erudite and Dauntless factions since there were areas of the city which are abandoned. 

Divergent is engaging, having plenty of action, interesting characters, and a touch of romance. Another excellent addition to the growing canon of young adult dystopian novels. 

Book Details:
Divergent by Veronica Roth
HarperCollins Publishers: Katherine Tegen Books 2011
487 pages