006 The Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, 1939.

"In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage."

This is the story of an Oklahoma family, the Joads, who lose their land to banks and migrate westward to find work. Richly developed characters, no speech wasted and every metaphor haunts.

"There ain't nothin' so easy to get ready as a rabbit," he said. He lifted the skin of the back, slit it, put his fingers in the hole, and tore the skin off. It slipped off like a stocking, slipped off the body to the neck, and off the legs to the paws." p. 49

And later in the book, the skinned rabbit metaphor is evoked by farmer's tans on men.

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I've returned this book since starting this entry so can no longer quote from it. I will say that the female characters, particularly Mother Joad and later her daughter, Rosasharn, are tough if not tougher 'n the men.

In short, the book is about a family sticking to their values despite suffering poverty and hunger.

The Stolen Child

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, 2006.

A book reviewer on the back cover said, "Take that, Bilbo Baggins!" and so with excitement, I picked the book up. Unfortunately, this book fell short -- Bilbo did not have to take anything, no stabs, no punches, not even vehement cussing.

Inspired by W.B. Yeat's poem of the same title, Keith weaves a story of two boys or two changelings. Chapters alternate between the perspective of Aniday, the human boy stolen from his family and adapting to faerie life, and Henry Day, the changeling who takes his place in the human world. The changelings in Keith's book are a group of children who kidnap a child, replacing him or her with one of their own. Each changeling must wait his or her turn with the newest member at the end of the line. A changeling typically waits a century before being reintegrated back into society.

Other than the description of the changeling ways which could be done in one chapter, nothing really interesting happens in the book. Henry Day carefully plays human while Aniday roams in nearby woods with the rest of the feral changelings. Each struggle with memory loss of their previous lives as humans and later do find their original identities. They both accept their lots. The End.

Keith tries to draw the realm of myth and reality together while showing how myths disappear in the modern world. The woods where the changelings have inhabited for at least a century are bulldozed and middle class homes are erected. Trapped in children's bodies, spaces where they can live unnoticed are disappearing. This line of thought is interesting, however, it is not explored fully as the book is devoted to Aniday and Henry Day's internal thought processes.

The idea in this book had potential but ended up being unremarkable.