March 2015 Host:  Stephanie

Pig's Foot:  A Novel by Carlos Acosta

Summary

One day Oscar Kortico wakes to find himself utterly alone in the world. As the sole descendant of his family line he is not sure what to do or where he should go, but in the midst of this uncertainty, he holds fast to what his grandfather always told him: 'No man knows who he is until he knows his past, the history of his country.  As he sets out to find the lost village of Pata de Puerco and the meaning of the magical pig's-foot amulet he has inherited, the search for his country's hidden history becomes entangled with his search for the truth about himself.  Through a vivid, if not entirely reliable, retelling of the stories of his ancestors we live the tumultuous history of Cuba through Oscar's eyes, from the arrival of slaves through the wars of independence, to Bacardi rum, dictatorship, revolution and, finally, to a freedom of sorts. (this review was taken from goodreads.com) Only a few of us actually finished the book, it was very unusual and although funny at times, a bit of a letdown in the historical development of Cuba.  The characters were very unusual, and the ending was hackneyed

Menu

Mojitos

Crostini w/Goat Cheese, Fig Jam, Prosciutto, & Basil

Cuban Salad

Cuban Seasoned Pork

Baked Cinnamon Apples

Vanilla Ice Cream w/Cinnamon Churro Chips

February 2015 Host:  Karen

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow

This is the story of 10-year old Rachel whose mother is Danish and father is an African American GI.  After the family moves to America, tragedy strikes and Rachel moves in with her paternal grandmother.  Rachel feels alienated from her family and is unable to put herself into a black or white category.  She feels she does not fit in with the white girls because of her dark skin and does not fit in with the black girls because of her blue eyes and over achiever status.  She also struggles with the memories of the tragedy that had befallen her family and misses the Danish-American culture in which she was raised. The second half of the novel covers the nuances of Rachel’s development, her conflicts with her judgmental but well-meaning grandmother, and her relationship with a liberal white college boy.  From each of the main characters, we get an alternating view of Rachel’s past through a climactic build until the end, where we learn the most profound incident of Rachel’s life.  The novel explores the complexities of racial relationships and identities and the reader is compelled to read to the end to understand the mystery of the horrific tragedy that befell Rachel.   

 January 2015  Host:  Stephanie

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Summary

This is the story of a jinni, a magical being of fire, and a golem, a Jewish creature made of clay brought to life to do another’s bidding, and is set in turn of the century New York City.  The jinni was freed from a 1,000 year imprisonment in a flask. The golem was created to be a rich merchant’s wife, however, the merchant dies en route to America and the golem arrives at Ellis Island alone. They must separately find their way in circumstances that they are unprepared for while concealing their essential natures (e.g. the golem has to ‘pretend’ to eat food). They eventually meet and their growing friendship is tested by their inherent nature and another who seeks to control death.  The side characters that the golem and the jinni interact with are also richly developed.  Two such characters are Mahmoud Saleh, a Jewish doctor down on his luck, and Fadwa, a Bedouin girl from 1,000 years before the story was set.  The author has done a lot of research creating her settings from 1900 New York City to Syria in the 1800s and life in the desert one thousand years before.  The reader is transported into another realm of existence through her attention to detail and magical realism.  We had mixed reactions to this book, some of us loved it, and some of us did not bother to finish it (the book was very long at over 500 pages).  If you enjoy mythology or descriptive stories about early 1900s New York, then this is a must read.