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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2003)
Winter Reading 2003-2004 20- and 30-something women of the world. Sandra figures out how to get the right guy and how to get the job that’s worthy of her. But I was still left feeling a little sad that she defined her life (and this novel) by these main pursuits. Witchel writes with a punchy tone, but some sections in the mid- dle get a little sluggish. — Bobbie Willis gate them. In a break with many novels that feature women, Smith does not focus on Grey’s looks. In fact, all I remember of Grey’s appearance is that her hair is frizzy, and she’s small. I would have been satisfied with the story if it had stayed focused on the rape. However, about halfway through the novel a disturbing event occurs that is totally unexpected. I had to put the book down and stop reading. I wondered if this twist was within the rules or what. By morning, though, I could hardly wait to get back to the story. If you also like mysteries about women cops, get this book. It’s the second in Smith’s series about Ana Grey, and I hope she writes many more, using this interest- ing woman as star. — Geneva Miller Atheist’s Tale Outside Looking In by Gil Gaudia. Xlibris, 2003. Paperback. $19.54. F Intense Surprise Good Morning, Killer by April Smith. Alfred A. Knopf, 2003. Hardcover, $24. A pril Smith takes the reader on a roller coaster ride with Ana Grey, a feisty FBI agent with a screwed-up personal life. I love stories that show a hot-shot woman bucking the male- dominated scene, but Smith also shows us the vulnerability of Grey’s persona. Grey is brilliant, brave and sensitive, the perfect cop to investigate the brutal rape of a young girl, with whom she becomes close. Smith shows us the tur- moil that victims and their families go through, the total disruption that a crime of violation wreaks on their lives. Smith also shows the effect of such crimes on the law enforcement officers who have to investi- bambini irst-time novelists are content usu- ally to tell a good story. Only oc- casionally does one gamble in an attempt to convince readers of a controver- sial view. Outside Looking In by Eugene’s Gil Gaudia attempts both and succeeds with me. There is a thread — sometimes more like a rope — of autobiography in this tale of an independent-minded boy from the streets of depression-era New York City. Late in life, the protagonist, Gene Geminni, finds a measure of peace living in Oregon with his lifelong partner, Ginny, a pseudonym for Gaudia’s wife, Jeanne. Wherever Gene travels or whatever cir- cumstances he finds himself in, the author advances his thesis that non-believers are persecuted by intolerant people who believe in an institutional “god.” Note the irony in the favorite expletive of the athe- ist hero: “For Christ’s sake!” Gaudia’s view is a reaction to Pascal’s Wager, the philosophical suggestion that a belief in “god” can be logical and prag- matic: “You weigh the gain and loss by wagering that god does exist. If you are BUY•SELL •TRADE Extraordinary Toys for Extraordinary Kids OUR TOYS ROCK! Banana Warehouse A world of choices for your holiday season ■ ■ ■ ■ Limit one per person 485-1222 •205 W. 5th EUGENE MON-SAT 10AM-5:30PM • SUNDAYS 11AM-4PM Cuban Rhythms ¡Cubanísimo The Vintage Book of Contemporary Cuban Literature, edited and introduced by Cristina Garcia. Vintage, 2002. Paperback, $18. E ditor Cristina Garcia writes, “For Cubans, there is nothing more fundamental than music.” Author of Dreaming in Cuban and Monkey Hunting, she writes, “In Cuba, children clap out dance rhythms before they can walk.” The stories and poems that make up ¡Cubanísimo are “loosely grouped accord- ing to different musical and dance modes.” It is the editor’s wish that these five sec- tions “capture something indispensably Cuban.” She succeeds. Danzón, the first musical style, “is very much turn-of-the-century, with the tradi- J BOOKS The ■ Bring this ad for $5 off ANY purchase of $15 or more! Story Collections tional structure and charm of a classical concerto.” Included here is Fernando Ortiz, whose essay on Cuba’s two major crops is a poetic litany of delicious con- trasts such as: “Tobacco is as daring as blasphemy; sugar as humble as a prayer.” In her story, “The Founders: Alfonso,” Lourdes Casal describes the influence on Cuba of the Chinese who escaped the chaos of their native country to toil, prac- tically as slaves, in the sugarcane fields. “Even forty years later, the Spanish expression ‘They made a Chinese fool out of you‚’ still rankled,” she writes. “Only the most assured venture onto the dance floor when a mambo is in full swing.” Severo Sarduy, who dances between genres with dizzying audacity, writes: HELP (leading a protest by the trio, real leader of the masses style, very confident): We strive to come out! MERCY (sprecht-gesang): Like the tor- toise from his shell, like the chicken from his egg, like the corpse from his hole, yes! For those whose curiosity has been piqued by the rhythms of Cuba’s writers, the editor includes a sumptuous discogra- phy. You could do worse than spend a rainy Eugene winter weekend reading ¡Cubanisimo while listening to danzón, rumba, son, mambo, and salsa in the back- ground. — Josephine Bridges Michaels ■ Solid Wood Rocking Horses right, you gain all. If you lose because god does not exist, there’s really nothing to be lost. So one has to wager that god does exist.” Prior to undergoing kidney surgery, Gene has a pre-operation visit with the surgeon, who asks Gene and Ginny to join hands with him and “pray for God to guide my hands.” Gene explodes: “Not on your (______g) life! If you think I’m going to let someone chop into my body while he’s counting on some mysterious being to be responsible for it going right, you’re out of your mind!” Ginny’s intervention repairs the medic- patient relationship, and the operation pro- ceeds and is successful. But even as the anaesthetic dims his awareness, Gene thinks: “How did I get here, trusting a the- ist who believes a cost-benefit-analysis could pave one’s way to heaven?” The novel speaks to Gaudia’s troubled torment over the non-believer’s mistreat- ment in a society that proclaims itself to be god-fearing. — George Beres ■ ■ ■ Stocking Stuffers Cards, Wrapping Paper & Candles Jewelry Gifts Galore Amish & Indonesian Furniture Clothing & Textiles Scarves, Hats & Gloves Belly Dance Boutique Local & Global Arts & Crafts Great Gifts Nepalese Rugs at Great Prices 500 Olive Street • Eugene (541) 302-8226 • Tu. – Sat. 11-6 Sun. 12-5 • Art & Architecture • Photography • Literature • General Selection • Used, Rare & New Chosen as "one of the 10 best independent book stores in the West" since 1975 160 E. Broadway 342-2002 DECEMBER 4, 2003 15
