Category Archives: writing

The Monday Book: THE GENDARME by Mark Mustian

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gendarmeThis book came into our shop, and its cover reminded me of the famous 1980s Afghanistan girl cover, so I picked it up.

I normally don’t recommend books unless I can do so wholeheartedly, and so must admit here that I found this book hard to finish. It’s slow going at first, and it switches its plot points about halfway along. Emmet Cohen, who used to be Ahmet Khan, is in his nineties, dying of a brain tumor, and having memories. Except they’re the wrong memories. He thinks he was a solider, but he’s remembering escorting Armenians on the death march to Syria now known as part of the Armenian Genocide.

And of course there’s a girl, Araxie, who has two different colored eyes, which is just one of the points that might make readers roll theirs. The light colored eye seeks to understand, the dark eye condemns.

Yeah. Right.

On the one hand, this is an entirely predictable story of the horrors of non-war violence covered by war. On the other, there are good moments of storytelling. But not for Araxie. She’s just a plot piece, which may be why I didn’t like the story overall and had a hard time getting into it. Emmett, well-described, is a despicable character and an unsafe narrator. I tend not to like books where you don’t feel some sympathy for the protagonist, which always made me feel a bit guilty and unsophisticated. But hey, Cohen is a creep, and he’s not doing anything particularly redemptive in hunting down his lost love-rape victim. (Except he doesn’t rape her, because he loves her. Un-hunh. A field full of people being walked to death, and he’s got his girl.)

So no, I didn’t like the book very much, although it is good historic fiction in how it describes the ways in which Turks viewed Armenians and the Brits viewed the Turks, etc. The writing is evocative, and one of the reasons I didn’t like Cohen/Khan is because of how well Mustian described the relationships he’d denigrated with those around him. Hoisted by his own rope?

It’s worth a look, particularly if you like historic fiction or don’t know much about that time. But overall it seems like the story was bigger than the book.

The Rituals of Writing – Plus a Monkey Wrench or Two

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Many many thanks for your patience, gentle readers, and thanks to those of you who got in touch to see if we were okay. Yes. Better than okay because Fall or Fly: The Strangely Hopeful Story of Adoptions and Foster Care in Coalfields Appalachia has gone to the publisher on time.

We all know writing comes with a few rituals. Some people work in specific locations, others have lucky editing pens, or writing clothes. Me, I get sick as soon as the book is in. That’s how it goes. The relentless rush to the last deadline, followed by five days of lying catatonic in bed, staring at Scandal on Netflix. (How many ways are there to murder someone without getting caught in DC? Don’t answer that.)

So I pushed send on Monday, and then lay down in a stupor. But the two weeks prior to that, I had been doing nothing but type and crochet for so long, my right hand went numb. When I got on the Crochet Addict Black Sheep list (this is for people who have been kicked off Crochet Addict, a thing that is not hard to accomplish) they gave spot-on advice naming the actual muscles that needed attention by number. I went up to see the amazing TNB, aka Brandon Tester, chiropractor to cat rescuers everywhere (his wife is the local vet) with the recommendations, and he went down the list and made everything okay again.

But he did suggest, given the frenzied typing, that I cool it with the crochet for a bit, saving the muscles. For which I apologize to those waiting for their braided scarves. My crojo (mojo for crochets, ya know) is back and all orders will get filled by St. Paddy’s Day. My hand is in order, my book is in, my life is my own again, and my threads are running true.

So thank you for being patient – about the disappearance of this blog, and the crocheted stuff. And for continuing to be patient about Fall or Fly. It is in the Spring 2017 publication list from Swallow Press. I’ll be getting final edits back in May, and another month of ducking and diving will follow, and then this book full of shadows and light will be ready to roll.

It’s such a different book from Little Bookstore. And yet it’s a community story. I’m looking forward to its telling. A couple of the readers have suggested I will be getting it in the neck, because there aren’t a lot of punches pulled in it. But there it is. My hand didn’t go numb for nothing.

Meanwhile, back to the threads of a different life, and onward toward Spring of this year, with its many promises. Including snow tonight, in the Gap. Stay warm, neighbors.

(For those interested, this is the photo that got me kicked off Crochet Addict into the arms of the Black Sheep.)

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