Wish You Well

Wish You Well by David Baldacci

David Baldacci is slowly becoming a very popular, best selling author.  For years, he seemed to be more of a “B” list author, meaning maybe a new book might crack the top ten eventually, but nothing from him was ever earth shattering news upon release.  The vast majority of his works could be classified as “political thrillers”, and there’s plenty of variety from book to book.  Strangely, every now and then Baldacci will release a novel that is nothing of this type of genre, and curiosity gets the best of his readers.

Such is the case with this piece of work, which was about the fifth or sixth book he released.  For whatever reason, this book became a sort of “classic”, not because of depth, but because of sweetness  (think Oprah’s book club).  You have to give the author credit for trying such a radically different angle.  Plus, the masses seemed to fall in love with this one.  There’s even a reissue with a “discussion guide” for book clubs at after the conclusion.  That was a new one for me.  Perhaps I’m being crass, but I didn’t think this book was that great.    Sweet, innocent, and charming, but not really that great.  Reading this book made me think of the television show The Waltons from the 1970s.

Our main protagonist is a 12 year old tom-boyish girl named Lou, who has a fairly simple life along with little brother, 7 year old Oz along with Mom and Dad.  Dad is a very well respected author.  That’s not to say he’s rich - his books are too good for mass circulation, but the family lives fairly comfortably.  Well, early on in the book, the family is in a car accident.   Dad is immediately killed and Mom is reduced to a vegetative state.  The two kids (along with the mother, who can’t communicate in the slightest) are forced to live with their only relative, their Great Grandmother Louisa, whom they’ve never met and lives up in the mountains - miles away from civilization.  Ironically, it’s Louisa who helped raised the father - which turns out to be where Dad got most of his ideas from his books from, and will serve the same sort of inspiration for young Lou.

So obviously, the kids are heading for a major transition.  They don’t even have electricity where Great-Grandma Louisa lives.  So the kids arrive, and although there’s an obvious culture shock, it never really feels that drastic.  Great Grandmother literally lives off the land, so there are chores a-plenty, yet the book almost makes the entire experience seem like one long summer vacation.  There are plenty of characters up in the mountains - some good, some not so good, yet the kids manage to do o.k.  Young Oz is convinced that one day Mom will be Mom again, and resorts to all sorts of wishing and dreaming.  Big sister Lou is much more of a realist, and she’s convinced that Oz is only setting himself for a major disappointment with all of his dreaming.  Lou doesn’t think Mom will ever “come back”.  One of the new neighborhood kids even takes the pair to a “magic wishing well”.  All you have to do is throw the one thing that matters the most to you down the well, and your wish will come true.

Well, a wish is made, but life goes on.  So much of this story seems a bit too typical of a sappy Hallmark movie.  There’s lots of tragedy - it seems like the author can’t figure out how to advance the plot without several senseless accidents tossed in every few chapters or so.  Again, though, the point of a “feel good” book is to make you “feel good”, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.

As the story winds on, there’s apparently a “wealth” of natural gas in one of the mountains, and a gas company arrives wanting to buy Louisa’s land.  Such a move would not only provide a lot of jobs for the struggling depression laden community, but it will also make Louisa and her kin very rich indeed. Predictably, of course, Louisa tells the gas company “no”. True, she’s poor, but she’s always been poor.  This, naturally, outrages the neighbors, so threats are made, “accidental” fires are started, people are threatened, and there’s a big courtroom drama that serves as the books climax.

Well, did I mention that this is one of those “happy” books?  Not only is the ending predictable, but Baldacci then throws in an Afterward, that makes the story even more unbelievable by simply telling us what happens to all the characters many years after the conclusion of the story.  Let’s just say that the happy ending gets even happier.

So, although I obviously had a different overall feel for the book than the masses that ranted and raved, I have to conclude that it’s not necessarily that bad of a tale, I was just hoping for something a bit more believable.  I prefer the author’s “thrillers”.    

“Waiter! A bit more, you know, testosterone, please?”

Kennedy

Kennedy by Ted Sorenson

When I was 13 years old, I was fortunate enough to take a trip with my family to Walt Disneyworld.  It was a wonderful, magical experience that has stayed with me for decades ever since.  The only downside to that excursion was that anytime that I have ever visited any other theme park (Six Flags, Opryland, Astorworld, etc.), it’s been a major letdown.  Nothing can ever compare to the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.

The reason say this, is that I can’t help but wonder if reading the mega volume series on Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro has potentially done the same thing to my literal tastebuds.  Those books were so enriching, that I’m thinking that every thing else that I’ll read on similar subject matters won’t have the same effect.  Sadly, when I read Ted Sorenson’s Kennedy, this is exactly what I felt like.  It just didn’t compare.  It just couldn’t compare.

Ironically, it was the references to JFK in the latter two Robert Caro volumes that started my interest in LBJ’s predecessor.  I wanted to learn more about the man, the nation’s 35 president.  What was it that made him tick?  And how did he come from relative obscurity in the late 1950’s to be, arguably, the most popular president of the 20th century?

To be fair, this book has several, what I would call, disadvantages from the start.  First, the piece was written in 1964, shortly after Kennedy was tragically murdered.  Also, the book was written by one of his closest insiders and speechmakers, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but this book is horribly biased.  Horribly biased.

Oh how it’s biased.  It doesn’t help when Sorenson includes a ridiculous weak forward to a 2009 reissue of this book that could have been better written by a high school sophomore.  In this new puerile forward, Sorenson essentially says that Kennedy was a great, flawless president, and every other president we’ve had since (and he goes through them in detail) has sucked.  Well, this ridiculous rant is almost enough to turn you off from the main body of work immediately, but fortunately the main piece isn’t as juvenile.  Perhaps the author was getting senile.  Sadly, though, the book is simply too one-sided.  Sorenson was obviously a disciple that thought Kennedy was some sort of god, and would probably gladly drink the man’s bathwater if it was asked of him.  Some of the syrupy praise that he lauds on the man over and over again is simply too much to stomach.

It’s not that you really want the book to be a slinger of mud, I’m not sure a book such as that could have been released and/or accepted so shortly after the abrupt end of Camelot.  The public really didn’t want to read about stolen elections, Carlos Marcello and the mafia, nor Marilyn Monroe at this point, so it’s perfectly acceptable that Sorenson stays clear of the darker side of the man’s life.  It’s simply that every event in the man’s presidency tries to show that Kennedy was simply infallible, and even The Bay of Pigs disaster is blamed on everyone else except Kennedy himself  (to JFK’s credit, he takes much of the blame for the fiasco in this retrospective, but Sorenson will hear nothing of it.)

Then there’s the shear volume of this work.  Since I read it on a Kindle, I can’t accurately state the page length, but I believe the printed work was over 900 pages.  Sorenson could have easily trimmed this by about one third.  He simply goes into too much detail.  Speaking of detail, this book really isn’t about the life of Kennedy, but rather the life of President Kennedy.  There’s very little about the man’s past here, which makes the length more unbearable.  I don’t think anyone could successfully write a book  over 900 pages detailing only three years of a presidency.

I have to concede, though, that maybe this is how books were written back in 1964.  I’m guessing that authors didn’t have to necessarily have their printed words singing and dancing in front of a reader keeping their attention.  In other words, people were more content reading a long, drawn out volume, simply because there wasn’t much else to do back in 1964. so news sources and books like this didn’t have to be too concerned with keeping the reader’s undivided focus.

At times, I didn’t feel like I was reading a biography, I felt like I was reading a 900 page Wikipedia article.  It’s amazing just how bored a reader can be trying to digest entire, drawn out chapters that discuss Kennedy’s influence and involvement in the U.S. Steel industry.  This brings new meaning to the word “dull”.

And everything is covered here that the man had his hand in from 1960-1963.  Everything.  Some of the more newsworthy events, such as The Cuban Missile Crises, actually do make a refreshing read.  Perhaps because this event is so predominant in people’s minds, even 50 years after the fact.  Since Sorenson goes into so much detail, this would be an excellent source for a student’s research paper.

It’s interesting to read about the involvement and references to Vietnam.  Remember, no one really knew what or where Vietnam was in 1964,and it certainly didn’t bring up the same connotations as it does now, so I found these portions a good read as well.   Again, it’s very clear that Kennedy was not as “Dove-ish” as some would have you believe, and he was well prepared to do whatever it took to keep the communists out of South Vietnam.  Still, although there are some that don’t like to entertain such a notion, we simply don’t know what Kennedy would have done in Southeast Asia had he lived.  

Another interesting thing about this book is that since Ted Sorenson was a professional speechwriter, there are many portions of Kennedy’s actual speeches sprinkled through the pages - as well as some of his entire speeches.  This doesn’t really hinder the book, it just seems a bit strange since this is not a norm in historical biographies such as this.  In fact, many of Kennedy’s amusing anecdotes that he would quip during his presidency are included here, and the man simply had a strong way with words when illustrating key points, or responding to criticism from an opponent.

Overall, I didn’t think this book was that great, and thought it could have been much better.  This is, however, a great compendium of Kennedy’s accomplishments and overall comings and goings of the three years in his office.  I just wish the author would have practiced the art of summarizing a bit more.

Pursuit of Honor

Vince Flynn - Pursuit of Honor

Ahhhh, nothing like an exciting burst of right wing, testosterone laden, let’s-kill-some-bad -assed terrorists novel!  Vince Flynn has arguably become one of the most popular authors of the last decade.  Although his books are extremely one dimensional, he can pack quite a lot of excitement in a punch.  And I mean that last sentence quite literally.

Flynn is one of those authors that has chosen to focus the majority of his work around one main character (think James Patterson’s Alex Cross or Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Milhone).  Our hero in all of these exciting adventures is named Mitch Rapp.  Even if you’ve never read one of Flynn’s works, a character such as Mitch Rapp should probably be very familiar to you.  He’s a clandestine CIA operative with killer instincts, yet a heart of gold to do the right thing.  He’s the most valuable asset our country has, yet he must spend the majority of his life in secret living in the shadows.  He knows everything about every terrorist organization on the face of the earth, yet he’s mild mannered enough to be your neighbor down the street.  Of course, where espionage is involved, this sort of hero doesn’t “follow the rules”.  You get it?

What’s a bigger headache than all of these terrorists that Rapp tracks down are those in Washington who simply don’t get it.  Yes, there’s terrorism in our world, but that’s because America is a big bad bully, and the CIA uses cruel and unconventional methods.  Mitch Rapp, these extremists insist, “needs to be kept on a short leash”.

So in just about every Vince Flynn/Mitch Rapp novel, a familiar pattern emerges.  There are some terrorists in some remote part of the world planning to destroy “The Great Infidel”.  The CIA finds out about it, dispatches Rapp to destroy these cells.  The radical members of the left-wing in congress cry “foul”.  Tensions are mounted, anger becomes imminent, and congressional inquiries are held. Rapp somehow saves the day anyway.  

Although most of his books are very similar, there is sort of a linear (albeit somewhat inconsequential) story line, so it’s probably in the reader’s best interest to start sequentially with the Vince Flynn novels.  As a matter of fact, this one actually picks off from where the last novel ended, but to be completely honest, I wouldn’t say it’s absolutely necessary to read the prior work beforehand.  That’s actually a compliment to Mr. Flynn, as he gives the reader enough background information from the last story as to not strand a newcomer.

Which begs the ultimate question, “Is this a good book?”  Truthfully, yes it is, but this material does get a bit thin after several renditions.  I’m guessing a large part of Vince Flynn’s popularity has to do with the fact that our country has, in fact, become a much different place since 9/11, and stories such as Flynn’s have only helped in terms of the books’ popularity (To be fair, Flynn started this “series” before 9/11.  He was already on the fourth book by then - so you can’t really accuse him of cashing in to make a quick buck based on the sentiments of the masses).

I’m not sure I would recommend this (or any of Flynn’s) work(s) if your politics lean far to the left as you’re bound to be offended.  To Flynn’s credit, he tries to keep the partisanship to a minimum (if I’m not mistaken, the President in these books is a Democrat and a “good guy”).  For most, though, these books are overall fun if slightly (unintentionally) silly.

To give you an example of some shenanigans from this work, there’s another character in this book who is sort of Mitch Rapp’s “Lieutenant” named Mike Nash (what is it with all the one syllable names?).  Nash is a lot like Rapp, but Rapp has to keep him somewhat at a distance from too much of the dangers in this line of work because, see, Nash actually has a sweet little wife and family of four kids.  “Family life” is not in the cards for Mitch Rapp, but he wants to make sure that his protege puts his domestic life a little higher on the priority list.  This, of course causes a bit of conflict between these two buffed-up brutes.  At one point, Rapp literally has to knock Nash “on his ass” so he can make the man comes to his senses.  Well, about halfway in this book, we’re introduced to Nash’s nice little family, and the author spends a bit too much time going into meticulous detail about and around this nice little family.  You can’t help but wonder “where is this going?”  Sadly, as the book progresses,  a group of terrorists are on the run and are heading to Washington, they just happen to, you know, show up where these kids are out playing and unprotected and....well....it really doesn’t take much of a genius to figure out what’s going to happen.

So give one or two of Vince Flynn’s books a try if you’re so inclined.  Try more if you want.  They’re fun, just don’t expect too much variety.

Never Send Flowers

Never Send Flowers by John Gardner

It is now officially official: I’m going to take a break from the John Gardner penned James Bond books.  As I’ve stated in previous reviews, I am currently fiercely committed to getting through the series of books by the author who ‘officially’ took over this concatenation from Ian Fleming.  These books are overall good, but lacking in originality and depth, and I can’t help but feel that I’m not doing the reviews justice since I seem to be plodding through at a faster pace than what is probably required.

I made a dedicated effort to go through this one a bit slower and really allow the story to sink in, and not hurry through in an attempt to simply “get it over with”.  I think I succeeded overall, yet even going through this one at a less-than manic pace, I can’t help but feel I’ve read all of this before.  Again and again and again.  In all of the other John Gardner Bond novels.

The book starts off well.  Several high profile individuals from around the globe are mysteriously assassinated in what seems to be a well thought out, carefully constructed manner.  In other words, someone powerful must be pulling the strings.  So James Bond is called in to investigate.  Of course he’s paired up with a lovely honey who can best be described as a counterpart from one of the countries where one of the killings has taken place.  Well, here’s a rule for James Bond books - anytime a lady with better than average looks appears within the first fifty pages - well, can you guess what will happen?

Sadly, from this point, the story goes downhill.  The murderer, somehow, ends up being a high profile movie actor.  Of course, during the story, Bond is lured into the bad guy’s lair - before we know he’s the actual bad guy, of course.  And his abode is far from humble.  It’s more like a castle or a fortress with all sorts of bizarre thespian amenities.

The rest is predictable - no real surprises.  I’m actually yawning as I write this.  I’ll definitely pick up on the series again.  It will just be awhile.  I need a Bond break.  At least from the books.