The Year When Stardust Fell

The Year When Stardust Fell by Raymond F. Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I'm not sure how I missed this book when I was growing up - it was first published in 1955, so it was certainly available to me. And I'm sure I would have loved it, as it is somewhat similar to Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank, which was one of my favorite books. Both tell of an apocalyptic event, and the aftermath thereof. However, while Alas, Babylon dealt with nuclear war, the event in this book is caused by "space dust" in a comet's tail. The effect of the dust is to fuse all metals in any type of moving mechanism, with devastating societal consequences.

The action takes place in a small college town called Mayfield. The main character is Ken Maddox, a teenage boy who is very into science. (His father is a chemistry professor at the college.) Ken is very excited about a comet that is passing so close to earth that the earth will be engulfed in the comet's tail. When car engines start failing, Ken and his science club friends start investigating the possibility that the comet is responsible. Soon, they hear reports of engines failing all over the world - planes, trains, cars, turbines in hydroelectric dams, etc. This means no electricity, no water, no food - except that which is on hand. The reaction of people to the loss of all modern trappings is what one would expect: fear, hoarding, looting, rioting, killing. This was one of the strong suits of of the book - I felt it didn't sugar-coat the way people would respond, as I kind of expected from a book of this era. But the author does not shy away from depicting the hoards of people stampeding through cities.

Ken, his father, and the other scientists at the college begin research to try to find a way to neutralize the negative affects of the comet dust. They contact other communities via ham radio, to share research. It is through the radio they hear of the riots and killing, which destroy the labs at Berkeley.

Mayfield, itself, is not immune to the darker side of humanity - there is hoarding, as well as a group who become superstitious and begin to blame the scientists for the problem. This group is led by an old woman who has "prophesied" about the devastation of the comet, in somewhat religious tones. This is another area where the book surprised me. I could certainly see a large segment of the current US population easily going down this path, were something similar to happen today. To have this depicted in a book from the 50's is certainly prescient of the author. The struggles in the community, between these two factions, are very realistically portrayed.

Those are the good points of the book. Now to the downsides. As is expected in a book released in 1955, it is very sexist. Only boys are in the science club - this is not a rule, but it is just assumed that girls would not be interested. All of the adult scientists are men. The daughter of one of the scientists, who is sort of Ken's girlfriend, is expected to handle the radio (after instruction by Ken, of course) and do the typing up of the recorded transmissions. When a large army of nomads attacks Mayfield, only the men are given weapons and expected to defend their community. The women are expected to be nurses. I found this blatant sexism to be a major detractor from my enjoyment of the book.

And, of course, the science behind the comet dust is pretty iffy, though the author does a pretty decent job of scientific hand-waving and technospeak - enough that I could almost accept it. Willing suspension of disbelief, and all that.

So, major kudos for handling the realistic breakdown of society that would arise from such an event. But minus points for the rampant sexism. I would still recommend this to young science fiction readers, as long as an adult could point out the drawbacks of the sexism. But because of the good points, I think it's worth reading.

Dreaming Spies

Dreaming Spies by Laurie R. King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is another fine addition to the series! Told partly as a flashback, and partly in (the characters') present day, this is an interesting adventure for Sherlock Holmes and his young wife, Mary Russell. And, as usual, King does a superlative job of getting inside the head of Russell, and letting see and experience things as she does. Part of the fun of these books is seeing the thought processes of Russell as she interacts with Sherlock and the other characters. Russell is a character that one can admire and root for.

The flashback portion of the story is in basically two parts. The first is a steamship journey from Bombay (now known as Mumbai) to Japan. Holmes and Russell meet an interesting young Japanese woman, Haruki Sato, who says she is a gymnast. But before they are underway very far, it seems a passenger is missing. And another passenger is known to Holmes as a professional blackmailer. Russell, in an attempt to stave off boredom, organizes a series of salons with the Japanese girl, to learn about Japanese customs and culture. Privately, Holmes and Russell take Japanese language lessons. As they near Japan, they learn that Haruki is no mere gymnast, she is a ninja! And she is on a secret mission - and asks for the assistance of the great Sherlock Holmes. To which, Holmes and Russell readily agree.

The next half of the flashback details the time of Holmes and Russell in Japan. They are tasked by Hiruki to travel from Kyoto to a small village in the mountains, completely unaided. Which, of course, they manage with aplomb - traveling on foot, staying in local inns and eating local food. Once they reach the village, the full nature of the secret mission is revealed, and they restate their willingness to help. They journey to Tokyo, this time traveling on a modern train. Here, they try, but fail, to accomplish the mission. They, sadly, head back to England.

And here the story comes back to the present, where events that took place on the boat and in Japan have repercussions, and Holmes and Russell are once again caught up in the intrigue. Much of this section is set in Oxford, with the Bodelian Library playing a large part. (I simply must make it to Oxford one of these days!)

The entire book is a joy to read - the time on the steamer gives us more insight into how Holmes and Russell operate when faced with a mystery, and we have some delightful scenes with the other characters. But for me, the time in Japan was the most fun. This is partly due to the fact that my husband and I visited many of the same locales as Holmes and Russell, and we also stayed in local inns - sleeping on futons and eating local food. Watching Holmes and Russell navigate the different customs and try not to offend the natives was a lot of fun! Of course, they were stellar, and learned how to interact with the Japanese without causing offense.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Fans of this series will not be disappointed.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

The Museum of Extraordinary Things: A Novel by Alice Hoffman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3 1/2 stars
[WARNING - some spoilers in this review]

I read this book for our book club, as we had previously read The Dovekeepers and had all really loved that one. I'm writing this before our club meets, so I don't know what others think of it, but I didn't think it was quite as good as that one. At least it didn't quite grip me they way The Dovekeepers did. So if you're coming to this after reading that one, be forewarned.

That being said, this is still a good book. As in The Dovekeepers, Hoffman does an excellent job of time and place, making you really feel the way people lived. This book is set in 1911 in New York City, when that city was in tumult politically and socially, and it was on the cusp of exploding into the great metropolis it is today. Hoffman has clearly done her homework on the various neighborhoods of the time, and the large areas of still semi-wild land that were soon swallowed up by development. So, 4 stars for the historical setting and mood.

But, I have to give it only 3 stars for the story. Don't get me wrong, the story is fascinating, but I think the style in which it was told kept me from really connecting to the characters. The book is divided into paired chapters: a chapter told in first person of one of the two main characters, followed by a third-person chapter focusing on that character. These pairs alternated between Coralie, whose father is the proprietor of the museum of the title, and Eddie (Ezekiel) Cohen, the son of an Orthodox Jewish refugee from the Ukraine. The stories of each character intersect only fleetingly, at first, but you can see that they are destined to find each other.

Framing the story of our characters are two devastating fires that actually happened: The Triangle Factory fire, where hundreds of garment workers died because the bosses had locked them into the factory floor, and the fire at Coney Island, which destroyed most of the rides and attractions along the pier. The Triangle Factory fire has a direct influence on the story line, when Eddie is asked to find a missing worker, who should have been in the fire but wasn't. Symbolically, the Triangle Fire is a fire of death, while the Coney Island fire gives life to Coralie and Eddie (even though it also caused many deaths).

The surface plot lines really serve only to help us explore the larger themes in the book. Both Eddie and Coralie have issues with their fathers. Eddie believes his father is a coward, and has turned his back on Judaism, and his father. He spends much of his life attaching himself to other father figures in an attempt to fill his need for fathering. Coralie's father is ever-present in her life - he is manipulative and controlling, training her to be a 'mermaid' in his museum. She spends her life trying to understand her father, and eventually learning to disobey him. In the end, we discover that Eddie deceived himself about his father, while Coralie's father was the one who deceived her. So this exploration of fatherhood, and how we both need it and also eventually must leave it plays a large role in the overall story.

There is also some really good stuff about the Hudson River - both Coralie and Eddie are drawn to it: she to swim in it (one of the few times she feels free), and Eddie to fish in it (again a time where he feels free). Animals are also somewhat important in this book: Eddie saves a drowning dog, and Coralie has much empathy for the animals held captive in her father's museum. The great tortoise, especially, seems to symbolize Coralie's life: he has only known captivity, but in the end he is freed by the fire, as is Coralie.

And, of course, there is the theme of 'the other' or 'the monster' - the side-show freaks that Coralie's father employs in his museum (of which she is one). We see them as people, just trying to make a living, yet the world sees them as monsters and alien. Coralie thinks of herself as a monster, because of her deformity, and because of what her father keeps telling her and how he uses her.

Because of these larger themes, I have to give the book more than 3 stars, but I don't think it quite reaches 4. And I think I got used to the paired chapters by the end, because I was pretty riveted the last few chapters. So, while this book didn't quite hit me like The Dovekeepers did, I can certainly recommend it. It is a fine example of good historical fiction.

The Story of Louisa May Alcott

The Story of Louisa May Alcott by Joan Howard
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is for middle readers, and though it was published in the 50's, any child who enjoyed Louisa May Alcott's books (e.g. Little Women and Little Men) would enjoy reading about the author's life. This book does a fine job of depicting Alcott's early life, and draws parallels between her and her character Jo March. Alcott was clearly a tomboy, and took much pride in the fact. We see the influence her own childhood had on the characters in her stories, with she and her sisters putting on plays, writing a 'newspaper', etc. We also learn that the Alcotts were almost always quite poor, often depending on the charity of their friends. Because of this, they had to move frequently. Even though Alcott is depicted as something of a heroine as in her own books, the book does not avoid mentioning the hard times and illnesses that the family suffered.

I learned quite a bit about Alcott that I didn't know: her father was a pioneer in the philosophy of Transcendentalism (not transcendental meditation), and her family was friends with Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorn.

I would recommend this to any young reader who is a fan of Alcott's work.