The Forgotten Refugees (DVD)

Everyone frets about the poor 3rd world refugees including the Palestinians. However, when those refugees were Jewish the world turned a blind eye. Only Israel opened her doors to them. Before Saddam Bagdad was 40% Jewish. Jews lived and worked in Egypt, Iran, Syria, Yemen, Morocco and other Muslim lands. They were often prosperous and better educated than the average citizen in these countries. Besides being successful merchants, they were also doctors, lawyers, accountants, and teachers. However, in the 1960's as Israel won wars perpetrated against it, the security of the Jews in each of these countries was threatened. They had to leave their property, businesses, practices and many belongings to immigrate to Israel quickly. In Israel they lived in tent cities and were cared for by the Israeli government. Newly impoverished this population had to learn Hebrew and retrain for jobs that might be available in Israel. Not one country other than little Israel offered to help. She gave sanctuary to hundreds of thousands of middle eastern Jews. Only other Jews donated money to help Israel absorb them. During this time there were over 100 U.N. resolutions dealing with protections for refugees. Not one of them applied to Jewish refugees. This story needed to be told. I thought the cinematic techniques and filming could have been better. This is not a polished BBC production. For that reason I downgraded this to a 4 star review. However, I found the story mesmerizing. For the story of just one of these merchants read The Man in the Sharkskin Suit.

The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (13) (paperback)

I just love these charming tales about Precious Ramotswe, Ma Makutsi, Charlie, Fanwell and others that take place on Zebra Drive. Filled with wonderful aphorisms these seemingly simple tales of human trials and tribulations turn on the warmth of the human soul. Madame Potokwane, the matron of the orphan farm, is let go from the job to which she has dedicated her life and nearly every waking hour. Fanwell is in trouble with the law, and Ma Makutsi's husband Phuti builds a house with a crooked builder. However, new in this tale (spoiler alert) we meet Clovis Anderson, the author of the Principles of Private Detection and he helps Precious and Ma Makutsi solve their current dilemmas. Precious is the Yenta of Botswana, the Jessica Fletcher of Gaborone. I think that the author appears in the person of Clovis Anderson so I was particularly happy to meet him.

The Forgotten Garden: A Novel (paperback)

This novel is the story of three main characters, Eliza, Nell, and Cassandra(Cassie)and their inter-generational relationships. It is a mystery of heritage. There is often a "Cassie" in wasp melodramas even if the name is rarely given in real life. There are no Melissas, Susans, or Jennifers here. About 2/3rds of the way through the novel I anticipated the ending. Who were Nell's parents? Why was she left alone on a ship from England bound for Australia. Because the author created a main character who chose to emigrate to Australia, I knew the author must be Australian without looking up her bio. While most Europeans of the era were intent on emigrating to America, this one was only interested in Australia. Yes she created a plausible reason. Eliza heard talk of a town in Australia to which her maid's brother and his family had emigrated with success. Still given the plot line and the fact that Nathaniel was from the U.S. and had extended family there, the U.S. would have been a more logical destination. This book is a step up from the bodice riper ladies novels. In fact there is very little sex in the novel. Still it is ladies clap trap melodrama nonetheless. There are extensive descriptions of Nell's house in Paddington and how it was situated on the street. Though she is good at description, this is where a diagram would have been helpful. Even with her pages and pages of description of the relationship of the cliff cottage and Blackhurst, I still could not get a mental picture. The cottage was only accessible from the main house through a lengthy and confusing maze garden. The Cliff cottage with its walled garden and secret gates and doors remained a secret for me. It would have been far better to have a diagram of the estate with the Cliff cottage and the maze garden. A diagram of the walled cottage and its gardens would have been most helpful as well.

This author can turn a phrase. If she can get away from these fairy tales for adults then maybe she could write a good novel. She should spend a year in the U.S. especially in NYC where she could glean the spiciness of ethnicity. This story misses out on all the richness we have when the novel includes ethnicity. The Secret Garden can't hold a candle to Cutting For Stone or The Kite Runner. There are too many freckled red heads, too many sandy haired adults, and too many fair skinned brunettes. The characters are multi-dimensional so I know this author has it in her to write something other than ladies melodrama. Further, she weaves stories within her story. She includes Eliza's published fairy tales in appropriate places in the story. It was a clever and effective literary technique. She alternated in her story between three time periods, Eliza's story, Nell's story and Cassandra's story. So there are flashbacks. This is hard enough to do with two time periods, but this author has conquered using three. I had no trouble reading or finishing this, because I wanted the answer to the mystery. It's just that after reading it I felt "So What!" It is no big deal. Come to the U.S. Kate and experience the spiciness of life that exists outside the English wasp heritage. You might find a worthwhile subject to write about.

The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity (paperback)

The New York times described this book correctly... "In what reads like the longest Time cover article ever written, Ms. Gibbs and Mr. Duffy create a sequence of baton-passing presidential relationships, offer a précis to characterize each neatly, and then cherry-pick the evidence to support the presidents' various involvements. I have to agree. Both authors, Time editors, can write well. This book is entertaining even if it is of limited informational value. Most readers will have read much of the information before in the literally hundreds of biographies, memoirs, articles, op-eds etc. that have been printed previously about these subjects. I learned a few new things. Many of the facts I learned were at the time of their occurrence classified. Still this book which spans 530 pages plus a 100 page bibliography could have related these kernels in a 20 page article. Additionally, the book lacks footnotes so the reader cannot fact check these episodes easily. A scholarly book must be able to be fact checked. This book cannot be without burdensome research. So it is a pop-history book and as such it should at least be brief. Further, the authors treat each subject no matter how odious his conduct with kid gloves. They are very charitable in their descriptions of foibles. As far as original sources go, the authors point to personal interviews with some of the more recent subjects, but they clearly conduct these interviews gingerly. They do not probe. It is as if they wanted to maintain their access to current and past presidents by earning a reputation as an easy interviewer who is not overly critical. This is where they should have at least asked more critical questions. Spoiler alert: I learned the following which was new information for me: Nixon derailed the Vietnam peace process in which Johnson was engaged to increase his actual and electoral votes. Johnson was really on the cusp of a peace process when he obtained the South Vietnamese President's consent to attend a meeting with the Viet Cong. However, Nixon through back channels urged the leader to hold off claiming he would get a better deal with a new administration assuming Nixon won the office. Johnson was aware of the betrayal but kept the information classified. Many thousands of American boys and Vietnamese citizens died so Nixon could assure his win. For that treasonous act, Nixon should have gone to prison. Instead he became president.

When Bush 41 was engaged in obtaining the agreement of all the gulf states at the U.N. to sanction U.S. action on behalf of Kuwait, Carter was happily pleading with all of them to deny approval of the mission. This too was treason. No private citizen can negotiate foreign policy on behalf of the U.S. unless explicitly asked by the president or his agents. Bush 41 was livid and rightly so. Carter was a wild card especially when it came to rogue nations like Korea. Much of the subsequent presidents' interaction with him was designed to clip his wings. Again I would have liked to read the source material on these incidents, but doing so would have been too burdensome.

Both Nixon's Watergate debacle and Clinton's sex and perjury scandals were dealt with very kindly, gingerly in fact. The fact that Bush 43 was denied admittance to the University of Texas School of law even though his father was head of the CIA, a rich oilman, and a previously elected congressman was not mentioned. His father's successes did not buy Bush 43 admission ,because he didn't have the grades and test scores. As a result he attended Harvard Business School and had a hate on for Trial Lawyers associations his whole life. He failed at every business he tried until his father helped him buy a piece of the Texas Rangers with family money. Even though he was general manager, the agreement with the other owners and the condition upon which he was sold the shares was that he would have no executive decision making powers. He was to be a mascot and PR person only. Nor did Bush 43 receive a hearty welcome home to Dallas. Nevertheless, the authors tell us none of this easily ferreted out information on Bush 43. Bush 43's attempt to fund faith based initiatives with Federal monies was a clear violation of our 1st amendment. Even though his view on this aspect of his presidency was lofty, it demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of the constitution which he swore to uphold. The authors don't criticize this conduct. They merely state that it occurred. The authors clearly want to get the reputation that they are interviewers who should be given access to current and future presidents and other leaders.
Had this book been titled: The Institution of the Presidency from Hoover to Obama and the interactions of past and current presidents, few people would have purchased the book. However, that is indeed what it is about. There is no "club." There were no "club" meetings and no "club" minutes. Some of these "meetings" took place no more often that twice in a year either by phone or in person if that. These authors scrounged up every tiny interaction, every nuance, every wink and nod between them and drummed up a 641 page book about them. Surely, they were paid by the word. People who like to read history/political books will like this. I would not have read this had my book club not chosen it and I suspect some of the other members would not have either. I suspect most will not read all of it and many will only read 1/4th of it. So don't believe the rave reviews listed here. Read the New York times review online for a more accurate review.

We also know that the Presidents care about how history portrays them. I suspect that Bush 43 will go down as one of the worst presidents in history. Eisenhower will be deemed a mediocre president. Kennedy will be thought of as mediocre but with promise. Johnson will be deemed the best president for civil rights and history will judge him to be one of the better presidents. Both Nixon and Clinton in spite of their personal flaws will be judged to have been good presidents with Clinton judged to have been one of the better presidents. Luckily, our system of checks and balances only permits the president to have one lasting legacy that could really hurt us. He can appoint federal judges for life. Currently we are stuck with "Dubya's" choices of Scalia, Thomas and Roberts. They are all regressive choices. Obama has said that Thomas is not qualified to sit on the Supreme court. There are many who agree with him but who fear speaking out will cause them to be labeled.

The Emigrants by W.G. Sebald. 2 stars

Amazon recommended this book to me b/c I ordered Austerlitz and forgot how much I disliked it. I usually love holocaust literature, but this isn't holocaust literature. Unfortunately Kirkus Review and a few other literary reviews give high marks to any book mentioning a Jewish character. They will give high marks to any book mentioning the holocaust. Really you can skip this one. The author was born in 1944. He has no personal experience with the holocaust, and he did not grow up knowing Jews. Like most Germans he tries to deal with the German holocaust guilt or to appear to deal with it. How do you live down the greatest crime in human history? The author is well regarded in literary circles so I suppose this book would be an acceptable subject for a college paper. Maybe no one wants to admit that they don''t get it and appear to be uncouth. I do not know what the genre is. There are real photographs and real events. I can't tell if the subjects are entirely fiction or they were real people which the author has embellished. Maybe he is trying to portray the German concept of pleasure in another's pain. The Germans have a non-translatable word for it which escapes me at the moment. I just don't know. The book describes 4 tragic subjects all of whom are German emigres living elsewhere. The best two in my opinion are Ambros Adelwarth and Paul Bereyter neither of whom are Jewish. Paul is an acclaimed lower school teacher who is dismissed from his job b/c he has a Jewish grandfather. He is a born teacher who leaves to teach in France and elsewhere. However, he is German to the core. He loves a country and a culture that does not love him.

 Nevertheless, he returns to Germany and is accepted as a motor pool driver in the German army. He is never really happy. Ambros is not Jewish. He emigrates to New York before the war. There he takes a position as a domestic servant in the household of the wealthy Jewish Solomen family of Long Island. Gradually, he becomes the personal valet and companion to the son of the family scion, Cosmos. Clearly, they are lovers and the raciness of their closeted relationship was the most interesting subject of this book. They travel the world together. Dr. Selwyn's German speaking Jewish family was on its way to the U.S. from Lithuania. His father used the passage money to buy into a lens grinding business in London where the family stayed. Dr. Selwyn won a scholarship to medical school in Cambridge. He practiced medicine in Britain both before and after the war. No one in his immediate family perishes in the holocaust as they were all living in England. He was ashamed of his Jewishness and his German speaking heritage. He anglicized his name and married a non-Jewish woman. The holocaust which surely killed his Lithuanian relatives affected him emotionally. However, he could not even discuss his sadness or feelings of loss with his wife b/c he was so insecure about his ethnicity. He simply did not want to call attention to it. Max Ferber was a moderately successful Jewish artist living in England. At age 15 shortly after cristalnacht, his affluent German Jewish parents secured an English visa for him and sent him to live with his single displaced uncle in Britain. The plan was that they would join him when their exit visas came through. Of course, they never did and except for the uncle Ferber's entire family perishes in the holocaust. After the war the uncle invites Max to move with him to the U.S. Max declines and instead moves to the gritty industrial non-artsy city of Manchester. Max's tragedy is that he never allows himself to enjoy much of what life has to offer. He consigns himself to an ugly industrialized part of Manchester though he could afford more. This book is slightly more interesting than watching paint dry, but not much. If you want to read about interesting often flawed Jewish characters, read Fabulous Small Jews instead.