The Lost Quilter

The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini

The Lost Quilter is the 14th book in the Elm Creek Quilts Series. Only two more to go - at least until March 2011 when the next book is due!

 

After my disappointment at the last Elm Creek Book - The Quilter's Kitchen - I was really pleased to find how much I enjoyed The Lost Quilter.

 

In the Runaway Quilt, we were introduced to Joanna, a runaway slave who was sheltered by the Bergstroms and set them on the path of being a station on the underground railway. The Bergstroms and therefore the readers, never found out what happened to Joanna. All they knew was she had made a Birds in the Air quilt that had landmarks stitched into it, presumably to help her find her way back to Elm Creek.

 

The Lost Quilter opens with the discovery of an old letter in a desk, asking Gerda (one of Sylvia's anscestors who helped Joanna) if she knew the whereabouts Douglass Frederick. It is assumed this is Joanna's son who was born during her stay with the Bergstroms and raised by Sylvia's great-grandparents as their own. Once again this encourages Sylvia to try and discover what happened to Joanna.

 

After this introductory piece, the reader is led back to 1859 and Joanna's recapture. The book then follows her story from that time to her eventual escape to freedom during the civil war.

 

I've read a little about the time of slavery in America, but not a huge amount. Everytime I do, I am struck with the same anger and confusion I feel when I read about the Stolen Generation in Australia. I simply cannot wrap my head around the arrogance it must take to believe you are better than someone else simply because of the colour of your skin. Not only that, to think that another human does not feel emotions like you do, again, simply because of skin colour. I know there is a historical context, influences of church, state and peers, but I frequently find myself enraged that someone can be so stupid!  At one stage during the book, Joanna is seperated from her husband and child. Sent to live in another household with no thought to the anguish this will cause. In fact, as far as her owners (and I shudder as I type that word. How can you own another human being??) are concerned, Joanna simply doesn't have those feelings.

 

Negroes don't feel love or sadness the way we do. They may give the appearance of true feeling, but they understand these sensations only in a brute, rudimentary way, such as a dog or horse might. What you see now is fear and stubbornness, as simple as that.

 

How could you or can you (as, unfortunately I know some people still do.) think like that? Just. Don't. Get. It!

I know this book is a work of fiction and in the scheme of slavery fiction, a fairly fluff piece at that, but I feel Chiaverini has done enough research to project a fairly accurate picture of one slaves life in those unbelievable times. Quite possibly my favourite Elm Creek book so far.

What the Mother Knew

What the Mother Knew: The Real Story of the Jody Galante Murder by Edmund Tadros

On January 7, 2006, Mark Galante reported his wife Jody missing. For the next 6 weeks he played the part of grieving husband, making public pleas for her safe return. In reality, Mark knew exactly where Jody was and what had happened to her, because he had killed her.

Jody's mum, Julie-Anne wasn't overly fond of Mark. She didn't like the way he controlled who she could and couldn't see, where she could and couldn't go and felt sure he was instrumental in her disappearance. However, she supported him, held his hand at Jody's funeral, comforted him during press conferences, all to protect her grandchild and to give the police the time they needed to collate the evidence. They didn't want to tip Mark off.

I've always admired Julie-Anne Hand. It's unthinkable to stand next to the man you and the police are sure killed you daughter and hold his hand.

Tadros says in the introduction of the book:

This is not the book I intended to write. That book focused on...Julie-Anne Hand, and the investigation into Jody's murder. but, as I began talking to friends, family and acquaintances of Jody and her husband, Mark, it became clear that many answers lay in the past.
The issue then became how much I should reveal to the public. There is an amorphous lone between reporting accurately and providing to much detail...I have always erred on explaining enough so that it is clear wha is going on without going into excessive detail.
This line is different for everyone so it is up to the reader to decide if I have succeeded or failed in this regard.

For me, he failed. The book examines the events leading up to Jody's murder and the events leading to Mark's arrest. In the end, it has very little to do with Julie-Anne. I thought the book would look at her feelings, what she knew, how she knew and how she found the strength to pretend to be supporting Mark while wanting to get him as far away from her and her family as possible.

The book is well written and informative - it's just not what I thought it would be about. Given it's not the book he planned to write either, maybe Tadros should have changed the title.

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by MizB over at Should Be Reading

This is how it works

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers.

Today's Teaser Tuesday comes from:

 The Lost Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini

On other rooftops throughout the city, others gathered, watching the fierce spectacle. For hours every other fort in the harbor unleashed its fury upon the starving men holed up in Fort Sumter, but not a single shot came from the Battery. 

True Blood Giveaway!

Now I have ummed and ahhed about whether or not to read this set of books, but when there is a chance of winning them, well it must be fate!

For your chance to win head over to Ayesha's blog, The Readings of a Busy Mom and leave a comment. Extra chances if you follow and blog about it yourself! And the best bit? - it's international!!

It's Monday! What are you Reading?

What are you reading Monday is hosted by Shelia over at Book Journey. Go over and check out what others are reading!

What I have finished this week
Tracks by Robyn Davidson
The Quilter's Kitchen by Jennifer Chiaverini
Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert 

What am I reading now?
What the Mother Knew by Edmund Tadros

From smhshop.com.au

From the moment Julie-Anne Hand was told her pregnant daughter's body had been found in the Blue Mountains in January 2006, she was certain her son-in-law was guilty of the murder.

A devastated Mrs Hand had to spend the next five weeks pretending Mark Galante was innocent - comforting him about losing a wife, publicly supporting him and even holding his hand at Jody's funeral - while police gathered evidence.

What the Mother Knew is the real story of Jody's murder and subsequent trial, pieced together from police transcripts, interviews with the family and conversations with the killer.

 This has been on my to read shelf for awhile. I remember this case. I remember Julie-Anne Hand standing beside her son-in-law, holding his hand, comforting him during press conferences. I love true crime books and find that I am flying through this.

What's next?
Hmmm, so much to choose from! I picked up The Lost Quilter  from the library this morning. I'm getting to the end of this series and am eager to finish it. I've also got Unholy Messenger: The Life and Crimes of the BTK Serial Killer out from the library. I had to renew it this morning so should most probably read it and get it back.

So, what are you reading this Monday?

Committed

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

This is the sequel to Eat, Pray, Love which I read back in January.

At the end of Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth had met and fallen in love with Felipe. Felipe had also experienced a failed marriage and neither were interested in remarrying so they swore never to marry. Which was fine - until the day the U.S government would not allow him back in the country. The only way around it was to marry.

While waiting for the appropriate paper work to come through, Elizabeth and Felipe traipsed around South East Asia. For Elizabeth it was a chance to research marriage and find a reason to make it valid, other than it was the only way her and Felipe could live in America together.

What I love about the way Elizabeth Gilbert writes is she doesn't make me feel guilty or wrong for believing in marriage and being happy in mine. She makes it very clear, frequently that these misgivings and fear are hers and hers alone. She owns them, she examines them and she accepts they are not every ones. In a book that could be incredibly preachy and judgemental - she isn't.

It took me a little longer to get into Committed than it did Eat, Pray, Love. I think because she does go into the history of marriage and the statistics involved. But once I got over that, it was another un-put-downable book. Her experiences in talking to different cultures about marriage are fascinating. Her search for something that will alleviate her fears and misgivings interesting and her final discovery of something that makes it all ok a relief. You just want these people to be happy!

Elizabeth Gilbert has also written 3 fiction books that I am debating whether or not to read. Having enjoyed her non fiction so much, I am scared they won't live up to what I expect. So, today's question, do I read her other stuff, or do I not tempt fate?

Tracks

Tracks by Robyn Davidson

I read this for our Book Group. Well, to be honest, I read most of it and then skimmed the last 60 - 70 pages.

In  1977 Robyn Davidson trekked across Australia from Alice Springs to the west coast with camels. The two years prior to this was spent in and around Alice Springs, learning about camels and equipping herself for the trip.

I would like to say I admire the woman for what she did, but I don't. I didn't like her and while traipsing across harsh desert country is hard work, her attitude towards other people and her apparent dislike of what she is doing just didn't endear her to me. In fact, several things confused me.

For a start, she continually goes on about how she wants to be left alone, to trek by herself, yet when she is by herself she seems to be miserable, prone to bouts of depression only to become happy when staying for awhile at a station or settlement.

She meets and learns how to handle camels from a man who is abusive and sadistic. She continues to allow him to treat her in the most horrendous way and continually refuses to take any responsibility for staying and allowing him to. I know about battered wife syndrome, I know it can be hard to walk away from someone you love who is not good for you, but she didn't even like this man! He had no hold on her, yet she stayed!

Davidson also took a sponsorship deal from National Geographic. In fact without the sponsorship it is unlikely she would have been able to buy the equipment she needed.  The deal was for articles written by Davidson and a photographer to join her on several sections of the track to take photos. She resented this immensely and at times was, to my mind, incredibly rude to someone who helped her secure the sponsorship and was just trying to do his job. His sin, as far as I can work out, was to not be as into the whole experience she was. He wanted to get his photos and then move onto his next job. Really how dare she!

I also have issues with how she discusses the aboriginal population and their treatment, however, this became less of an issue as I continued to remind myself of when the book was written. However, her tone is condescending and patronising.

Many of the reviews I looked at on Goodreads had a problem with the violence towards the camels as well. Now I'm not an expert on camels, but I am sure there has to be a better way to teach a camel whose boss that to tie it to a tree by its legs and then proceed to beat it with a bit of wood until it breaks and then use an iron bar. (I kid you not) I get the animal charged, I get that it was in a rage, but it was tied to a tree by the legs!

Really, without the motivation of book group, I would not have gone past the first 50 pages. Definitely not one I will be recommending!