American Overdose: the opioid tragedy in three acts by Chris McGreal
About a year ago I read Dopesick by Beth Macy. In her book she gives a good overall picture of the opioid epidemic - how it started, who it's affected, who is selling the drugs, and what's being done to try to help people affected. In American Overdose the focus is more on how every level of American government repeatedly failed the American people when it came to opioids. The biggest failures come from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) that is the regulatory body that approves new drugs for sale in the US. With barely any research data they approved OxyContin, then just a few years later when doctors, medical examiners, police, and social workers start reporting huge numbers of overdose deaths starting in rural areas inundated with pill mills the FDA is reluctant to tell doctors how they should prescribe medications. It takes almost 20 years for the FDA to admit that they royally screwed up with the quick approval of OxyContin and other similar opioids. Meanwhile, "...the official count [of overdose deaths] is 350,000 between 1999 and 2016. By 2018 deaths from drug overdoses had risen to more than 200 people a day, and were the single largest cause of mortality for people under the age of fifty. Some studies predicted the toll could double or worse over the next decade, killing a half-million more Americans if the spread of heroin and fentanyl cannot be contained." (p. 281) It took the CDC (Center for Disease Control) to call the opioid issue "an epidemic" to finally start getting some attention, but doctors, Congresspeople, and other members of regulatory agencies like the FDA are STILL fighting limits and restrictions on opioids. This terrible situation is the perfect example of how the love of money is the root of all evil. There was so much money to made from opioid sales that no one involved cared about the consequences of what they were doing as long as the money kept rolling in. McGreal does a great job of really explaining the intricacies of this issue and why there has still been so little legal headway in this epidemic.
Some quotes I liked:
"Purdue's marketing was far more successful than it predicted. The company had estimated it would earn $350 million from OxyContin in the first five years. The little opioid pill pulled in more than $2 billion in sales, accounting for 80 percent of Purdue's revenue. The drug maker rushed to expand production." (p. 48)
"Opiates had been around for thousands of years. Their effectiveness was not in question. But that long history also presented compelling evidence of the addictive qualities of those same drugs. Haddox acknowledged there was a need to study opioid addiction but questioned whether it was the pharmaceutical industry's duty to fund it, knowing well that if the drug companies didn't, then it probably wouldn't happen. The narcotics manufacturers had no interest in exploring whether their drugs really worked as well as they claimed or in research that might expose the true risk of addiction." (p. 63)
"Physicians could spend a half hour pressing a person to take more responsibility for their own health - eat better, exercise more, drink less, find ways to deal with their stress - only to watch an unhappy patient make their views known on the satisfaction survey. Or they could quickly do what the patient came in for: give them a pill and get full marks. 'This is more like a business model. What's your customer satisfaction?' said Dr. Jennifer Plumb, a hospital emergency room and urgent care doctor in Salt Lake City. 'People want antibiotics and they want pain killers, and if you don't give them what they want, guess what happens to the patient satisfaction scores. Physicians face a choice. They can do what's easy and sign the prescription. The patients are happy. They hospital system is happy. Or they can do what's hard. I'll tell you, that's a challenging discussion to have.'" (p. 86-7)
"Overdoses drove the rising numbers of premature deaths, running 65 percent higher in Appalachia than the rest of the nation. But there were big disparities within the region. West Virginia and eastern Kentucky had the highest mortality rates for diseases of despair in general and overdose deaths in particular. They were 80 percent above southern parts of Appalachia...Prescription painkillers were not just another contributor on the road of decline but were in themselves a cause of devastation. A poison that not only killed but wrecked the existence of the living. The pills destroyed families and communities on a scale that alcohol and suicide never did. 'It's easy to put a template over it and say these people are full of despair. 'What is their hope? Who are they?' But it was a business decision to introduce these drugs to this community. It was somebody figuring out how to have a good quarter and a better year. They made some choices. They decided which people are valuable and which ones are expendable.'" (p. 112-13)
"Months after Purdue was handed its criminal conviction in 2007, the chairman and founder of the American Pain Foundation, Dr. James Campbell, the man who as president of the American Pain Society had launched the campaign for recognition of pain as the fifth vital sign, told the US Senate: 'I believe Purdue and its management deserve recognition for their contribution to the welfare of these many patients.' In the year the Pain Care Forum was founded and began pushing for the report on pain, close to 11,000 people were killed by an overdose of prescription opioids. Six years later, in 2011, when the report was published, the death toll had escalated to just shy of 17,000 for the year. Purdue's income from OxyContin rose by $1 billion over the same period to more than $3 billion a year." (p. 165-66)
"The drug industry's influence over Congress is facilitated by the promise of lucrative second careers in lobbying. Congressman Billy Tauzin played an important role as chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee in shepherding the 2003 legislation limiting price negotiations into law. The following year, Tauzin gave up his seat and, immediately after leaving Congress, took up a $2 million a year post as head of the drug manufacturers trade group PhRMA. He proved so effective that when he left eight years later, Tauzin was the highest-paid health industry lobbyist in the country, earning more than $11 million that year." (p. 167) [But, tell me more about how the government will fix things and help us...]
"In 2012 the American Pain Foundation hurriedly shut its doors after the US Senate Finance Committee announced it was investigating the influence of pharmaceutical company money on supposedly independent advocacy groups. The foundation said it was shutting shop 'due to irreparable economic circumstances.'" (p. 174)
"After years of rejecting one piece of legislation after another proposed by Rogers, Bono, and other representatives to combat the epidemic, the US Congress was finally ready to act - but on behalf of the industry. The HDMA (Healthcare Distribution Management Association) championed a bill, the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, requiring the DEA to warn pharmacies and distributors if they were in breach of regulations and to give them a chance to comply before licenses were withdrawn...The same companies paying tens of millions of dollars in fines to avoid criminal prosecution, a move reasonable people might regard as an implicit admission of guilt, were now being allowed to rewrite the law that held them accountable. Rannazzisi ridiculed the legislation as a 'free pass' for companies he regarded as institutional drug traffickers..."(p. 215)
"Fifteen years after Purdue Pharma launched its video promoting OxyContin as safe and effective, the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel tracked down the seven patients who appeared in it praising the drug. Two became addicted and died using opioids. Another person who became hooked lost her job and her home before finally overcoming her addiction to OxyContin. Three patients said the drug had worked for them. The seventh declined to answer the newspaper's questions." (p. 282)
Some quotes I liked:
"Purdue's marketing was far more successful than it predicted. The company had estimated it would earn $350 million from OxyContin in the first five years. The little opioid pill pulled in more than $2 billion in sales, accounting for 80 percent of Purdue's revenue. The drug maker rushed to expand production." (p. 48)
"Opiates had been around for thousands of years. Their effectiveness was not in question. But that long history also presented compelling evidence of the addictive qualities of those same drugs. Haddox acknowledged there was a need to study opioid addiction but questioned whether it was the pharmaceutical industry's duty to fund it, knowing well that if the drug companies didn't, then it probably wouldn't happen. The narcotics manufacturers had no interest in exploring whether their drugs really worked as well as they claimed or in research that might expose the true risk of addiction." (p. 63)
"Physicians could spend a half hour pressing a person to take more responsibility for their own health - eat better, exercise more, drink less, find ways to deal with their stress - only to watch an unhappy patient make their views known on the satisfaction survey. Or they could quickly do what the patient came in for: give them a pill and get full marks. 'This is more like a business model. What's your customer satisfaction?' said Dr. Jennifer Plumb, a hospital emergency room and urgent care doctor in Salt Lake City. 'People want antibiotics and they want pain killers, and if you don't give them what they want, guess what happens to the patient satisfaction scores. Physicians face a choice. They can do what's easy and sign the prescription. The patients are happy. They hospital system is happy. Or they can do what's hard. I'll tell you, that's a challenging discussion to have.'" (p. 86-7)
"Overdoses drove the rising numbers of premature deaths, running 65 percent higher in Appalachia than the rest of the nation. But there were big disparities within the region. West Virginia and eastern Kentucky had the highest mortality rates for diseases of despair in general and overdose deaths in particular. They were 80 percent above southern parts of Appalachia...Prescription painkillers were not just another contributor on the road of decline but were in themselves a cause of devastation. A poison that not only killed but wrecked the existence of the living. The pills destroyed families and communities on a scale that alcohol and suicide never did. 'It's easy to put a template over it and say these people are full of despair. 'What is their hope? Who are they?' But it was a business decision to introduce these drugs to this community. It was somebody figuring out how to have a good quarter and a better year. They made some choices. They decided which people are valuable and which ones are expendable.'" (p. 112-13)
"Months after Purdue was handed its criminal conviction in 2007, the chairman and founder of the American Pain Foundation, Dr. James Campbell, the man who as president of the American Pain Society had launched the campaign for recognition of pain as the fifth vital sign, told the US Senate: 'I believe Purdue and its management deserve recognition for their contribution to the welfare of these many patients.' In the year the Pain Care Forum was founded and began pushing for the report on pain, close to 11,000 people were killed by an overdose of prescription opioids. Six years later, in 2011, when the report was published, the death toll had escalated to just shy of 17,000 for the year. Purdue's income from OxyContin rose by $1 billion over the same period to more than $3 billion a year." (p. 165-66)
"The drug industry's influence over Congress is facilitated by the promise of lucrative second careers in lobbying. Congressman Billy Tauzin played an important role as chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee in shepherding the 2003 legislation limiting price negotiations into law. The following year, Tauzin gave up his seat and, immediately after leaving Congress, took up a $2 million a year post as head of the drug manufacturers trade group PhRMA. He proved so effective that when he left eight years later, Tauzin was the highest-paid health industry lobbyist in the country, earning more than $11 million that year." (p. 167) [But, tell me more about how the government will fix things and help us...]
"In 2012 the American Pain Foundation hurriedly shut its doors after the US Senate Finance Committee announced it was investigating the influence of pharmaceutical company money on supposedly independent advocacy groups. The foundation said it was shutting shop 'due to irreparable economic circumstances.'" (p. 174)
"After years of rejecting one piece of legislation after another proposed by Rogers, Bono, and other representatives to combat the epidemic, the US Congress was finally ready to act - but on behalf of the industry. The HDMA (Healthcare Distribution Management Association) championed a bill, the Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act, requiring the DEA to warn pharmacies and distributors if they were in breach of regulations and to give them a chance to comply before licenses were withdrawn...The same companies paying tens of millions of dollars in fines to avoid criminal prosecution, a move reasonable people might regard as an implicit admission of guilt, were now being allowed to rewrite the law that held them accountable. Rannazzisi ridiculed the legislation as a 'free pass' for companies he regarded as institutional drug traffickers..."(p. 215)
"Fifteen years after Purdue Pharma launched its video promoting OxyContin as safe and effective, the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel tracked down the seven patients who appeared in it praising the drug. Two became addicted and died using opioids. Another person who became hooked lost her job and her home before finally overcoming her addiction to OxyContin. Three patients said the drug had worked for them. The seventh declined to answer the newspaper's questions." (p. 282)
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver - Books & Banter book club
Willa Knox and her husband Iano tried to make all the right choices and they were both laid off and have had to move into a crumbling house they inherited in New Jersey. They are also caring for Iano's elderly, ailing father and then both of their adult children also end up moving back home too. Nearly 150 years earlier in the same house Thatcher Greenwood struggles against town and school leadership to teach real science to his high school students. As the stories of Willa and Thatcher alternate you see a clearer picture of Vineland, New Jersey and the history of Willa's house and it's current and former occupants and their struggles. Both Willa and Thatcher begin to see being Unsheltered differently - can it be a blessing and not a curse?
While I loved Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I've never gotten into her fiction. And while the writing is often beautiful I found myself struggling to get through this book. To me the saving grace was Thatcher's story - I was truly interested in him and the ending made me hopeful for his future. Willa's family all got on my nerves. At the beginning of the book I assumed based on layoffs, magazine and newspaper closings, housing crisis, etc. that it was taking place between 2008-10, but then it becomes obvious (without her ever saying Trump) that it's set in 2016 when Trump is running for President. I didn't feel like that meshed with everything else going on in the book. It's like she just wanted to combine those two major issues/times into the same time and it didn't work. It really came across to me like she just wanted to bitch about Trump and his campaign/election and just forced that into the book and it was talked about a LOT. I'm already over it in real life and didn't really want to re-live it all in this book, but I did. This is one for book club, so I'll be curious to see what everyone thinks about this one. The writing was nice, but I didn't love the Willa part of the story - I would have rather had an entire book of Thatcher and Mary Treat.
Some quotes I liked:
"He had managed to rise a little and Rose to fall, arriving accidentally on a plane that accommodated their marriage. But the weight of their separate histories held the plane in uneasy balance." (p. 45)
"'I suppose it is in our nature,' she said finally. 'When men fear the loss of what they know, they will follow any tyrant who promises to restore the old order.' 'If that is our nature, then nature is madness. These are more dangerous times than we ever have known.'" (p. 206)
While I loved Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I've never gotten into her fiction. And while the writing is often beautiful I found myself struggling to get through this book. To me the saving grace was Thatcher's story - I was truly interested in him and the ending made me hopeful for his future. Willa's family all got on my nerves. At the beginning of the book I assumed based on layoffs, magazine and newspaper closings, housing crisis, etc. that it was taking place between 2008-10, but then it becomes obvious (without her ever saying Trump) that it's set in 2016 when Trump is running for President. I didn't feel like that meshed with everything else going on in the book. It's like she just wanted to combine those two major issues/times into the same time and it didn't work. It really came across to me like she just wanted to bitch about Trump and his campaign/election and just forced that into the book and it was talked about a LOT. I'm already over it in real life and didn't really want to re-live it all in this book, but I did. This is one for book club, so I'll be curious to see what everyone thinks about this one. The writing was nice, but I didn't love the Willa part of the story - I would have rather had an entire book of Thatcher and Mary Treat.
Some quotes I liked:
"He had managed to rise a little and Rose to fall, arriving accidentally on a plane that accommodated their marriage. But the weight of their separate histories held the plane in uneasy balance." (p. 45)
"'I suppose it is in our nature,' she said finally. 'When men fear the loss of what they know, they will follow any tyrant who promises to restore the old order.' 'If that is our nature, then nature is madness. These are more dangerous times than we ever have known.'" (p. 206)
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin - Evening Edition book club
This title was suggested for one of my book clubs, but if not for that I don't think I would have read it. Maybe Baldwin's other work is better, but this was just a huge sad, downer of a book. It follows the story of Tish and Fonny after Fonny is falsely arrested. Taking place in 1970's New York City, it's just a sad, sad story of yet another young, black man rotting away in prison for no reason.
This book also did not have chapters and was somewhat a stream-of-consciousness narrative that I didn't particularly care for. The ending also leaves you hanging. Overall, I was not impressed.
This book also did not have chapters and was somewhat a stream-of-consciousness narrative that I didn't particularly care for. The ending also leaves you hanging. Overall, I was not impressed.
Rhythms of Renewal: trading stress and anxiety for a life of peace and purpose by Rebekah Lyons
I read this book as part of a class at my church, so I read one section each week before the class. Lyons covers 4 Rhythms of Renewal that help combat stress and anxiety in our lives. The 4 rhythms are Rest, Restore, Connect, and Create. In each section there are 7 chapters on specific ideas or topics within that rhythm and at the end of each chapter there are questions to help you implement that practice in your life. There are a LOT of really good ideas and tips in this book. I feel like this is a book I will read again in the future and come back to when I need to work on these rhythms of renewal again (which I probably will need to!). Our society tells us that hustling and being busy are the most important things, but resting, restoring, connecting, and creating can't be done in a hurry. The counter-cultural ideas in this book will help you connect better with yourself, God, and those around you. Who wouldn't want more of that?
Some quotes I liked:
"...Play and control cannot coexist. Afraid of taking a risk, of losing control, I often miss opportunities for play, which is a shame because it's play that breaks us out of our stressful routines and rejuvenates us. It's play that so often restores our freedom and joy." (p. 92)
"Fear holds us back and keeps us believing the lie that we aren't strong enough, brave enough, or mentally tough enough to break out of our ruts, even when we know better...when I put myself in new situations, even when they require fitting into tight spaces, and I see the reward of those situations, my brain cultivates new ways of seeing the world. Ways that aren't rooted in the efficacy of fear." (p. 132-33)
"My counselor has a catchphrase: 'If you're crying, you're healing.' It's a truth counselors, pastors, priests, spiritual advisors, and folks with high emotional intelligence have known for years, and research backs up this notion. When we allow ourselves to feel, to release, it has positive effects on our emotional state. Crying can be self-soothing and elevate mood better than any antidepressant...Crying can be our body's natural way to offload stress and anxiety, to push into new seasons of healing." (p. 188)
"Many of us drive cars, eat regular meals, and have an assortment of clothing. In those terms, we are affluent. And our wealth affords us the luxury of entertainment. Often, when we aren't entertained, we're bored. Our solution to boredom? More entertainment, please. There are indeed exceptions...But in general, if we have too much time on our hands, too little responsibility, and not enough entertainment, we're headed into a crisis of identity and anxiety." (p. 226)
"The stress and anxiety-relieving aspects of working with our hands have been documented. According to Psychology Today, 'Research has shown that hand activity from knitting to woodworking to growing vegetables or chopping them are useful for decreasing stress, relieving anxiety, and modifying depression...Functioning hands also foster a flow in the mind that leads to spontaneous joyful, creative thought. Peak moments occur as one putters, ponders and daydreams.' What's more, one online publication noted that '[D]octors in the 19th century would prescribe knitting to anxiety-ridden women. Without knowing the exact neuroscience behind it, they did know that knitting somehow relaxed these patients.' In a very real sense, working with our hands relieves the mind." (p. 245)
Some quotes I liked:
"...Play and control cannot coexist. Afraid of taking a risk, of losing control, I often miss opportunities for play, which is a shame because it's play that breaks us out of our stressful routines and rejuvenates us. It's play that so often restores our freedom and joy." (p. 92)
"Fear holds us back and keeps us believing the lie that we aren't strong enough, brave enough, or mentally tough enough to break out of our ruts, even when we know better...when I put myself in new situations, even when they require fitting into tight spaces, and I see the reward of those situations, my brain cultivates new ways of seeing the world. Ways that aren't rooted in the efficacy of fear." (p. 132-33)
"My counselor has a catchphrase: 'If you're crying, you're healing.' It's a truth counselors, pastors, priests, spiritual advisors, and folks with high emotional intelligence have known for years, and research backs up this notion. When we allow ourselves to feel, to release, it has positive effects on our emotional state. Crying can be self-soothing and elevate mood better than any antidepressant...Crying can be our body's natural way to offload stress and anxiety, to push into new seasons of healing." (p. 188)
"Many of us drive cars, eat regular meals, and have an assortment of clothing. In those terms, we are affluent. And our wealth affords us the luxury of entertainment. Often, when we aren't entertained, we're bored. Our solution to boredom? More entertainment, please. There are indeed exceptions...But in general, if we have too much time on our hands, too little responsibility, and not enough entertainment, we're headed into a crisis of identity and anxiety." (p. 226)
"The stress and anxiety-relieving aspects of working with our hands have been documented. According to Psychology Today, 'Research has shown that hand activity from knitting to woodworking to growing vegetables or chopping them are useful for decreasing stress, relieving anxiety, and modifying depression...Functioning hands also foster a flow in the mind that leads to spontaneous joyful, creative thought. Peak moments occur as one putters, ponders and daydreams.' What's more, one online publication noted that '[D]octors in the 19th century would prescribe knitting to anxiety-ridden women. Without knowing the exact neuroscience behind it, they did know that knitting somehow relaxed these patients.' In a very real sense, working with our hands relieves the mind." (p. 245)
The Last Season by Eric Blehm
I was familiar with the story of Randy Morgenson's disappearance from the TV show Disappeared. Because of already seeing the show I knew the ending so it wasn't a surprise for me, but Blehm gives a LOT more detail about Randy's life, the difficulties of the two years leading up to his disappearance, and the actual search for him by his fellow rangers. Randy had an incredible childhood and parents who really encouraged his love of nature, photography, and wilderness. While his parents chose to work "real" jobs and spend time in wilderness in their downtime, Randy was determined to make his living (and adjust his standard of living) in the wilderness. He worked as a seasonal back country park ranger every summer for 28 years and found other seasonal work to make ends meet during the winters. His wife Judi, who was an artist, seemed to feel the same way and their life together seemed to work for them. But, the two years leading up to his disappearance were filled with hard times - both Randy's parents died, his relationship with his brother was strained, Judi's mother died, and Randy had an affair. Going into his last season as a back country ranger Judi had filed for divorce so that was heavy on Randy's mind. When Randy went missing after barely a month at work everyone assumed he was injured because Randy would never get lost. But, when day after day goes by with no sign of Randy it's a mystery that no one can figure out. When Randy's body is found five years after he goes missing the mystery is finally solved.
While I did enjoy the book, it is VERY detailed and it is kind of a long read. Some of the detail is interesting, but some of it feels repetitive and unnecessary. But, already being familiar with the story I did enjoy the more detailed account. I also thought it was pretty crazy that Judi had a dream about Randy's death that was eerily accurate to what actually happened to him: "'I was driving down this mountain road and came to a clearing and there was this lake with granite along the shoreline,' she says. 'Big trees were hanging over the surface kind of like the bayou, and I looked into the water and it was crystal clear and there was a man with a backpack floating at the bottom of the lake.'" (p. 215)
While I did enjoy the book, it is VERY detailed and it is kind of a long read. Some of the detail is interesting, but some of it feels repetitive and unnecessary. But, already being familiar with the story I did enjoy the more detailed account. I also thought it was pretty crazy that Judi had a dream about Randy's death that was eerily accurate to what actually happened to him: "'I was driving down this mountain road and came to a clearing and there was this lake with granite along the shoreline,' she says. 'Big trees were hanging over the surface kind of like the bayou, and I looked into the water and it was crystal clear and there was a man with a backpack floating at the bottom of the lake.'" (p. 215)
Growing Good Food: a citizen's guide to backyard carbon farming by Acadia Tucker
Most people are familiar with WWII Victory Gardens where the government encouraged citizens to grow their own food so that more food could be sent overseas to our troops. Acadia Tucker has the idea for citizens to grow their own Climate Victory Garden to help the land absorb more carbon dioxide which helps with climate change. I would also add that whatever your motivation growing your own food is fun and empowering - and you KNOW where your food comes from and don't have to worry about the next lettuce recall if you're growing your own. In this short, but information-packed book, Tucker gives tips on starting your own garden in whatever available space you have. There is a large section in the book with suggested perennial vegetables and some popular annuals like squash and cucumbers. Throughout the book there are lots of charts, drawings, and other inserts to help you plan out and benefit from your own backyard garden. This is a great book for a beginner, but also has a lot to offer a more experienced gardener as well.
A quote I liked:
"Researchers at the Rodale Institute calculated that replacing conventional farming practices around the world with regenerative ones would allow us to sequester 100 percent of annual global carbon emissions." (p. 4)
A quote I liked:
"Researchers at the Rodale Institute calculated that replacing conventional farming practices around the world with regenerative ones would allow us to sequester 100 percent of annual global carbon emissions." (p. 4)
On Call in the Arctic by Thomas J. Sims
Dr. Tom Sims was working an internship at San Joaquin hospital in California in 1971. This was during the Vietnam war, but his draft had been deferred by college, then by his hospital internship, but now the military wanted to rescind his deferment and send him to be a MASH surgeon in Vietnam. At the time Dr. Sims had a wife who was pregnant and a two-year-old daughter. When a coworker gives Dr. Sims an out he jumps at the opportunity - he can serve as a PHS physician in Alaska under a military contract helping care for remote Native communities AND bring his family with him. So, Dr. Sims, his wife Pat, their daughter Chantelle, and a menagerie of pets all pack up and move to Nome, Alaska. Dr. Sims and his family weren't quite prepared for just how rustic Nome would be, but they make the best of it. Dr. Sims being the only physician for several miles around has some interesting experiences - an early one was performing an emergency appendectomy by flashlight when the power goes out at the hospital. For all the hardships, there was also a lot of good during their time in Alaska - they made friends and experienced things many people would never experience outside Alaska. But, the remoteness and some political issues between the private hospital and PHS push Dr. Sims and his family to transfer the Anchorage for the rest of his military service. Dr. Sims does a great job in telling the stories of his family's time in Nome. The book reads almost like fiction and has a lot of action. I do wish there had been some follow up about some of the more memorable cases, but overall it was a great book that I just could not put down.
All the Wild Hungers: a season of cooking and cancer by Karen Babine
When Karen Babine's mother is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer her instinct is to start cooking. She tries new recipes, old family recipes, anything that she thinks might entice her mother to eat something. All the while she vacillates between hope and crippling fear that her mother might not survive the cancer treatments. As a reader her tone is rather dark, so I was almost certain that it would turn out her mother didn't survive, but (spoiler alert) she does. Babine's writing is more literary than memoir-esqe, but I did enjoy her musings on family, food, medicine, and health. I was also wildly jealous that she managed to find not one, but two or more Le Creuset cookware pieces in thrift stores for $5! Overall, it wasn't amazing, but it was a quick, interesting read that turned out more hopeful than I had anticipated.
The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
When Alice Wright marries Bennett Van Cleve she is hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But, once she's back in Bennett's hometown of Baileyville, Kentucky she quickly realizes that small-town Kentucky life can be just as stifling and living with her father-in-law doesn't help things either. When a pack horse library is started Alice volunteers mainly to get out of the house, but the ladies she works with will change her life in several ways. Alice is initially intrigued by Margery, an independent woman who lives on her own and by her own rules. When Alice experiences a traumatic event she is able to turn to Margery and when Margery is arrested all the traveling librarians come together to help her. Each woman grows and changes because of working for the pack horse library and the families they are able to reach with books are also changed and empowered by the knowledge they now have access to. A beautiful story with some unforgettable characters that highlight a real program from the WPA that Eleanor Roosevelt created to promote literacy to rural areas.
I already love Jojo Moyes and this might be my new favorite by her. Some of the reviews criticize the end of the book (the trial) and all of the drama, but I felt like she did such a good job with the characters and the story that it just worked. Were there a LOT of dramatic events in the book - yes, but honestly nothing that seems way out of the realm of possibility for that place and time. Were some of the characters a little ahead of their time in their thinking - yes, but again change has to come from somewhere and if no one thought differently how would we ever progress? Did all the characters end up with a pretty happy ending - yes, but this is why this is fiction. Overall, I LOVED the book and especially Alice. I hope that Moyes might give us a sequel to this one down the road.
I already love Jojo Moyes and this might be my new favorite by her. Some of the reviews criticize the end of the book (the trial) and all of the drama, but I felt like she did such a good job with the characters and the story that it just worked. Were there a LOT of dramatic events in the book - yes, but honestly nothing that seems way out of the realm of possibility for that place and time. Were some of the characters a little ahead of their time in their thinking - yes, but again change has to come from somewhere and if no one thought differently how would we ever progress? Did all the characters end up with a pretty happy ending - yes, but this is why this is fiction. Overall, I LOVED the book and especially Alice. I hope that Moyes might give us a sequel to this one down the road.
