Friday Black

Finished February 10

Friday Black: Stories by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

This dark collection of stories had me both wanting more and needing to take breaks from reading. This is the debut collection for the author, and draws on his own experiences as a black man in the United States for some of his themes. The collection contains twelve stories, with some characters reappearing in other tales. 

The first story, The Finkelstein 5, draws on racism, white privilege, miscarriage of justice, and frustration at all these societal flaws. The second tale, Things My Mother Said, touches on poverty and religion. The third, The Era takes us further into dystopia with revisionist history, genetic selection, and bullying. Lark Street deals with abortion, relationships, and the onus on women. The Hospital Where has elements of pain and wonder set around healthcare and the things we do for our dreams. Zimmerland makes racism and violence a form of entertainment where there are no consequences. Friday Black takes us to a surreal dystopian version of Black Friday sales, where bodies are swept to the sides as sales take precedence. The Lion & The Spider takes African folklore, family responsibility, and takes us to the backroom of retail. Light Spitter has elements on incel culture, school shootings, and trying to change outcomes. How to Sell a Jacket As Told by Iceking brings us back to the characters and world of Friday Black on a less dark day. The following story, In Retail, is in the same world, but from a different point of view. The final story, Through the Flash, is set in a world where the days reset over and over, death and violence are ever present, and the characters are aware of it, and hope for a glitch in the system. 

These are dark stories, offering little hope for the future, but also stories that are gripping and captivating. Many of them relate to the world even more today than when they were written. 

The Widening Stain

Finished June 16 

The Widening Stain by W. Bolingbroke Johnson

This novel has a very interesting backstory. First published in 1942, the novel takes a humorous stance on academia and librarianship. It was published under a pseudonym that was never officially revealed, but gradually became known as the only work of fiction by Cornell historian and literature professor, and New Yorker regular Morris Gilbert Bishop. The closest he came to acknowledging it was in a limerick. 

The introduction to this new edition, by Nicholas A. Basbanes gives us this background with all its fun and intrigue. Bishop was a well-respected academic with a large body of professional publications and fluency in at least five languages. Much of his work was in the area of Romance languages or history of the Middle Ages. This novel exposes his more whimsical side, and also shows another of his whimsical expressions, that of limerick writing. In The Widening Stain, Professor Parry takes on this skill with limericks. Bishop thought that the serious analysis of poetry and the serious poets had taken away from the enjoyment of the format by the average reader. He celebrated those who wrote "light verse." Bishop never commented publicly on what led him to write this tongue-in-cheek novel. 

The library described in these pages matches that of the Uris Library at Cornell 

The first death in the novel is thought at first to be an accident, but not everyone is convinced, and librarian and chief cataloguer Gilda Gorham is one of the questioners. The second death makes it clear that the first wasn't accidental. 

The Wilmerding Library has recently acquired a new head librarian, Dr. William Sandys. Other players here include several professors, including a number of bachelor professors who lived in a set of apartments on the upper floors of the Faculty Club. These include Assistant Professor Angelo Casti of the Romance Language Department, a young man who seems intent on borrowing a manuscript even though he has a copy of the microfilm; Professor Belknap of History, a tall dour man who often bought books at auction and donated them to the library; Professor Hyett of the Classics Department, an older man who often engages in patter with the young librarians; and Professor Parry of Dramatics who makes suggestive comments and creates limericks for all occasions. Other key characters here are Assistant Professor of French Lucie Coindreau, a young attractive woman with a tendency towards sulkiness and an interest in the art of divining; and the well-travelled and observant janitor Cameron. 

Just after the President's reception Miss Gorham comes upon the first body and soon after she begins making lists and thinking about who and why the victim would be murdered. 

This was a fun read, with lots of humour, and I really enjoyed Gilda, the main character and amateur sleuth. 

The Serpent of Venice

Finished August 18
The Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore, performed by Euan Morton

This satire pulls from three classic works, Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Shakespeare's Othello, and Edgar Allan Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. As he says in the afterward, he chose the two Shakespeare works partly due to their setting of Venice. He draws characters from all three of these tales, having some characters take on multiple roles.
He has adjusted the setting to the late 13th century, around the time of the long war between Venice and Genoa. His main character is the fool, aka Fortunato, aka Pocket, a diminutive man sent to Venice as an emissary from England. With the death of his queen and lover, Cordelia, he finds himself a place at court, a favourite of the Doge.
When our hero is led into a trap in the cellars of a Venetian estate, he finds himself the object of interest of a strange creature that he only gradually identifies. His quest to revenge himself against his would-be murderers, and save Venice from a dastardly plot leads him to Corsica, where the general Othello and his new wife are, and on to Genoa to rescue his sidekick Drool and monkey Jeff, back to Corsica to try to save Othello from a plot, and back to Venice to enact his revenge. At his side is an unlikely partner, an adventurous young Jewish woman, intent on her own escape from domesticity. They are joined by the adventurer Marco Polo, who plays a key role. There is also a ghost. As Moore says repeatedly "There's always a bloody ghost."
The plot involves more than just plots and revenge. It also includes love, jealousy, murder (lots of it), betrayal, a chorus with personality, and humour (lots of it). Moore's sly jests are wonderfully done, and Morton's reading makes it all come alive. I haven't yet read the earlier book Fool, but will definitely seek it out.

Weapons of Mass Diplomacy

Finished April 1
Weapons of Mass Diplomacy written by Abel Lanzac, illustrated by Christophe Blain, translated by Edward Gauvin

This graphic novel follows a man who works for the French Foreign Ministry. as the speechwriter for the minister. The time is 2002 and Arthur Vlaminck is at first awed by the Minister, Alexandre Taillard de Vorms. Vorms quotes classical writers and poets, but Vlaminck soon discovers that Vorms is a combination of energy, ego, intuition, and rhetoric. The hours are long, the stress is high, and Vlaminck grows more and more distant from his fiance as he has less time for a personal life. The clash between the French and the Americans is a big part of this story.
This is a satire, with elements of political bluster, ancient Greek philosophy, and Middle East unrest.
As a backroom glimpse to the world of international politics, this is a well-written insightful novel. The drawing is well-done, feeding the action of the novel in the way it depicts the action and using elements of physicality to emphasize the nationality of the characters.
Enjoyable, if not my usual choice of subject matter.

Interesting Premise

Finished April 18
Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo
This satirical novel begins with an interesting premise. What if the slave trade had been reversed and Africans had enslaved Europeans. Beginning from this point, we join the world of Doris Scagglethorpe, aka Omoreomwara, a middle-aged woman who was taken by slavers at the age of ten. As the book progresses, we see both Doris' struggle towards freedom, and learn of her past, both before and after enslavement. There is a lot of subtle humour here in the cultures on both sides and the customs. Evaristo uses this subtlety to tone down some of the more violent actions here.
I liked the premise and while I found the book lighter than I expected, it was an enjoyable read. The satirical humour is what really made this book for me.