Tag Archives: Paul Michael

September 15, 2012 · 5:23 pm

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

In case you didn’t recognize the dripping blood over the undead peeking through on the cover, I’ll warn you immediately that this is a long novel (656 pages in hardcover; 26+ hours stuck in the ears, judiciously read by Justine Eyre and Paul Michael) about a nightmare-inducing familiar character, although he actually doesn’t get much direct page time. This Draculean (can I say that?) epic is a mishmash of history, time-hopping multi-generational family saga, epistolary mystery, coming-of-age bildungsroman, and sanguineous gorefest, all in one.

Allow me to attempt a skeletal overview. A motherless teenage girl (we never get her name), who is American by birth but living in 1970s Amsterdam, discovers mysterious papers dated from the 1930s in her father’s library, all addressed to ”My dear and unfortunate successor.” She will spend the rest of the book listening, learning, sleuthing to understand them.

Her diplomat father, Paul, is said ‘successor,’ a historian by training, now running The Center for Peace and Democracy. Jump back to the 1950s when Paul was an earnest graduate student, and his mentor/advisor, Professor Rossi, mysteriously disappeared from his office leaving only a pool of blood. Paul joins forces with a just-met fellow (foreign) graduate student, the mysterious Helen Rossi (go ahead, make assumptions with the repeated last name), and the pair travel through Istanbul, various cities and villages in Hungary and Bulgaria, searching for the missing academic.

In the midst of Paul and Helen’s travels, time flits back another two decades when the elder Rossi made his journeys through Istanbul, Romania, and Greece. Some of his travels he remembers, some have been lost to a “local specialty called, whimsically, amnesia.”

In case you hadn’t guessed as yet, all that criss-crossing mileage moves toward one goal: finding the tomb of the monstrous Vlad the Impaler who died some 500 years ago, his head severed from his body (I did warn gorefest) in hopes that he might stay dead. He’s also known by all sorts of other names, including … yes, Dracula.

Kostova’s research alone is quite the accomplishment as she blends fact and fiction with seamless ease. She probably did not, however, need to share every last learned detail; by the time Paul and Helen reach Bulgaria (about 2/3 of the way through), their journey is laboriously bogged down with manuscripts, letters, translations, an expressive tilt of the head too many. The daughter’s framing story is more tedious interruption than necessary to the plot; she wasn’t even worth naming, ahem! And, not to nitpick too much, but Kostova’s constant clarification of phrases with an endless repetition of “in any case …” quickly grew irksome (at least 29 such repeats, egads!). The temptation to skip tracks was so great, I took to reading the page (my eyeballs move faster), but I confess switching mediums did little to alleviate the boredom that overshadowed through book’s end.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2005

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Audio, .Fiction, European

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April 18, 2012 · 10:00 am

River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard

Being always a dozen or so titles behind, a confluence of certain events seem to need to happen for some posts to finally get from my brain to the … uh … the virtual world.

First things first: River of Doubt is absolutely riveting! But for me to tell you that, I had to be reminded to do so by sitting through two-plus soporific hours in a chilly theater last night watching (the usually enchanting) John Lithgow stumble and scream through a couple of decades of journalist Joseph Alsop’s life – Alsop’s grandmother, Corinne Roosevelt, was Teddy Roosevelt’s younger sister and appears sporadically throughout River. Then I opened an email this morning from a Smithsonian APA Program colleague about only reading fiction, so just to be contrary, here I am …

Teddy Roosevelt’s third bid for the presidency in 1912 was a spectacular failure. Having survived a sickly childhood by taking on impossible adventures out of sheer will, Roosevelt refused to quietly retire, and instead headed to South America to undertake what would be the greatest physical challenge of his life: to chart the unknown waters of what was then known as the Rio da Dúvida, or the River of Doubt, which winds through Brazil and eventually flows into the Amazon.

Former National Geographic magazine editor/writer Candice Millard tracks the grueling journey through journals, letters, and articles not only of the former President, but also of his tenacious co-participants, including Roosevelt’s son Kermit, Brazil’s most famous explorer and expedition co-commander Colonel Cândido Rondon, and legendary American naturalist and explorer George Cherrie. Before the expedition actually reaches the River (possible spoiler alert here), Roosevelt will have had to separate from the incompetent outfitter Anthony Fiala and the arrogant and racist Father John Augustine Zahm.

As much as the expedition’s human participants are the book’s heroes (and villains both), Millard’s most excellent adventures are enhanced by ever-so-graphic descriptions (or nightmares, if you will) of the flora and fauna throughout the uncharted territory (no spoilers here, ahem … except to mention that piranhas ain’t got nothin’ on candiru!).

With Paul Michael narrating, I found myself running the river trails with more than the usual alertness – hey, I’m in DC, I never know what sort of slimy surprise I might run into! Millard’s expert storytelling proves absolutely addictive – surely, the late President is shouting ‘bully!!’ for her debut effort from wherever his latest adventure might be.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2005

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July 10, 2011 · 9:28 am

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder

Read this, just as soon as possible. You may not immediately recognize Dr. Paul Edward Farmer’s name, but you will recognize his miraculous story. Pulitzer-winning Tracy Kidder enters the good doctor’s expansive orbit long enough to produce a resonating portrait of a phenomenal human being whose life purpose is to care for and save lives: “Farmer wasn’t put on earth to make anyone feel comfortable, except for those lucky enough to be his patients.”

While shadowing Farmer to some of the more demanding destinations in the world (Haiti, Russia, Cuba), Kidder weaves in the surreal trajectory of Farmer’s life: his unconventional growing up from house to trailer with the occasional (sinking) domestic nautical foray, to his Lacoste-wearing “preppy” period at Duke University, to his “gift for academic pursuits” that earned him both a PhD in anthropology and an MD from Harvard, to his unprecedented career as a “big-shot Boston doctor” as Harvard medical professor and attending specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital especially notable for his non-presence.

That Boston absence is more than excusable: Together with Ophelia Dahl (yes, that Dahl of Roald and Patricia Neal, whom Farmer first met as a teenage volunteer in Haiti) and fellow anthropology/MD Harvardite Jim Kim (who also comes with a fascinatingly unorthodox background, who is now the president of Dartmouth College), the trio founded Partners in Health (PIH). What began officially in 1987 as a revolutionary organization that originated in Farmer’s obsessive dedication to providing healthcare to Haiti’s poorest is today an internationally prominent leader in disaster medical relief.

With admiration, poignancy, and even humor, Kidder intricately traces the rebel origins and renegade success of PIH – fueled by a wealthy Boston developer committed to giving away his millions before he dies, padded with the entire bulk of Farmer’s MacArthur “Genius” grant, encouraged by Jim Kim’s ability to make impossible statements come true (securing an unheard-of 97% reduction in a tuberculosis-fighting antibiotic), all sustained by an unwavering determination to nurture and heal.

The near impossible adventure proves legendary. While you can’t turn away from the wrenching suffering, the breathtaking odds, by book’s end, you’ll close the final cover (or turn off your audible contraption) convinced that sheer will can make miracles happen.

Tidbit: March 23, 2012 … Dr. Jim Kim as the next President of the World Bank? WOW. Who knew the good doc can sing AND dance, too? Click here to check out this fabulous, funny, historical video with his Dartmouth peeps. Bet they all had the time of their lives … TRULY.

Readers: Adult

Published: 2003

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Filed under ..Adult Readers, .Audio, .Nonfiction, Caribbean, Nonethnic-specific

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May 9, 2011 · 11:11 am

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Confession: Every once in a while, I do actually read mass-market bestsellers. I’ll even admit this is my second Dan Brown – had to see what all the hubbub about The Da Vinci Code was about! Am still rolling my eyes over that one (egads! as if names don’t change over a couple thousands years??!!), although with The Lost Symbol, I’m sure the eyeballs are now permanently stuck.

But read Symbol I did! I mean I listened to Paul Michael narrate every word. Why the interest? Peter Solomon is supposedly head of the Smithsonian (see that familiar sunburst across the top of this page?), one of the main characters was supposedly born in the Japanese American prison camp Manzanar, I was a teenage Congressional intern another century ago, and it’s set in Washington, DC which for decades I’ve called ‘home.’

Most probably know that story already, but in case you’ve been hiding under a literal rock (like me), here’s the gist: Robert Langdon (this is book #3 in which the Tom Hanks character stars; yes, the film is due out next year) is called to the Capitol by his longtime mentor Peter Solomon’s assistant as a last-minute replacement to headline a Smithsonian gala. He gets embroiled in a grisly manhunt to save Peter who’s actually missing, leaving behind his severed right hand. The chase is encumbered by the CIA, led by the tiny but powerful Inoue Sato (whose description screams Linda Hunt – and what do you know, Linda Hunt has apparently been cast!). Picked up along the way are the Architect of the Capitol Warren Bellamy and Peter’s genius noetic scientist sister Katherine. They’re all in a race against time to stop the steroid-enhanced, tattooed monster Mal’akh. The thrill-ride takes over 600 pages to unfold the events of one Sunday-into-Monday night.

Some gripes: Inoue Sato is always referred to as Japanese (a “Japanese steamroller” at one point!), even though she’s actually American; her full name is dubiously made up of two common Japanese surnames which would be equivalent to calling someone Brown Smith; the story has too many implausible plot twists, beginning with Langdon just blindly heading to DC without even once talking to Solomon or even questioning the unfamiliar number he’s just called; most annoying, Brown’s not-very-subtle hints about Mal’akh’s true identity were like being repeatedly bludgeoned!

But some grudging kudos: the breath of information is truly astounding; Brown again relishes taking the Christian Church (and organized religion in general) to task; his frequent reminders (pleas?) for religious tolerance are bolstered by his well-documented insistence on the shared origins of all religions; and the history of the Freemasons is pretty remarkable.

So one book hardly makes me a mainstream expert, but two Dan Brown thrillers get me close enough for now …

Readers: Adult

Published: 2009

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