Review: Dinner with Edward: A Story of an Unexpected Friendship by Isabel Vincent

 Dear Lit Loves,

Hi!  Recently, someone in the book club I attend selected Dinner with Edward:  A story of an Unexpected Friendship by Isabel Vincent as our August book selection.  Isabel Vincent is originally from Canada and is currently an investigative reporter for the New York Post.  Previously, she had been a foreign correspondent covering the war in Kosovo.  Once I read her author profile and learned she is an investigative journalist, I knew I should take a chance on reading this memoir.  (In another life, I am sure I was either a private investigator or investigative reporter because I am always curious about the people affected most by national tragedies or why various leaders and recently, our Supreme Court, decide to make decisions to invade a country or deny women the right to choose what to do with their bodies.)  (Hello, Clarence Thomas!  I am talking to you.  By the way, my nomination for a replacement for Justice Thomas would be professor Anita Hill.  Would that not be fabulous?!)  

So isabel Vincent and her husband move to Roosevelt Island where she takes a position as a reporter for The New York Post.  Roosevelt Island used to be home to a fairly famous mental asylum and she touches on the history of the place just enough to make the reader, like me, go research the area's history.  Unfortunately, Isabel finds herself in a truly rotten marriage and she has a daughter named Hannah.  Interestingly, Isabel strikes up a friendship with Edward, a ninety-three year old widower.  Edward was married for sixty-nine years to the love of his life, Paula.  When Edward's daughter asks Isabel to check in on her father since she lives near him, it becomes almost a weekly event of Edward cooking lavish dinners for the two of them.

Isabel and Edward are drawn to each other by a mutual need to find the courage to go on living after Isabel's mother dies and her marriage crumbles.  Edward has recently lost his beloved Paula.  Just when you think you have absolutely nothing in common with someone, the universe (God) intervenes and you are blessed with the presence of another soul who travels a similar journey as you.  Edward aspired to be an actor and playwright, but neither works out for he or Paula so he works part-time as both a welder and a tailor to help provide for the family.  Paula works as a jewelry painter in a local warehouse. 

During the tasty dinners Edward cooks for Isabel and an assortment of other friends, these two have meaningful conversations about the events in their lives.  Eventually, Edward communicates some valuable lessons to Isabel and these include:

1) Set an example of strength and independence for her daughter, Hannah.

2) Set aside time to take care of yourself and how you present yourself to the world.

3) Fight for what is yours and never allow someone to own you and your life.

4) Communicate well.  This should involve actual face to face conversations.  Email and texts are relieved on so heavily that people have forgotten how to actually sustain meaningful conversations in-person.

5) Do whatever possible to enhance your sense of self-worth.

6) Do what makes you feel most alive and useful each day.

7) Establish and maintain relationships.  Treat family like guests and guests like family.

8) Life is not stationary.  Do not languish in fear or doubt.  Seize the day.

Isabel eventually moves away from Roosevelt Island to Manhattan where she leases an apartment.  She starts making meals similar to Edward's, but with her own twist on the recipe.  She develops friends and eventually someone with whom she develops a romantic relationship.  Though at the end of the book Edward rallies from several health scares, we know that he has made an impact on Isabel and she has influenced his life.  They are better people for having known one another.  

This is a delightful book that has chapters beginning with dinner menus which is a creative way to tell a story.  The only part of the book that bothered me was when Paula is ill and a doctor tells Edward not to take Paula to hospice because they will just give her morphine until she passes.  Maybe that is true in New York City or on Roosevelt Island, but I have witnessed people truly benefit from hospice care.  Others I have witnessed desire hospice care in their final months and weeks only to die sometimes painfully at home all alone.  But the author was being true to the events that occurred as they were relayed to her so that portion of the book is not her fault. (I just had a strong reaction to that part of the book because of my personal experiences.)

Overall, a delightful book that invites readers to watch as two people who are generations apart help each other to move on with their lives and learn the value of friendship particularly when we are faced with difficult times in life.  A must read.

Till my next review,

Grace (Amy)

Review: No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert

 Dear Lit Loves,

Greetings!  I survived an Iridotomy!  Yes, it's true.  This medical anomaly just keeps getting handed unusual diagnoses.  I learned in May 2022 that I have developed narrow-angle closure glaucoma in my left eye (the one that had been normal up till then).  I already have Uveitic glaucoma in my right eye.  My glaucoma surgeon broke the new diagnosis to me and it was like a sucker-punch to the gut and a left hook to the face.  Narrow angle closure glaucoma can quickly lead to closed angle glaucoma so I had to put a rush on undergoing treatment for it.  It is essentially when the pupil and iris of the eye begin tilting forward and sealing off the ocular fluid drain (trabecular meshwork).  Most people do not know they have it until the eye drain is completely blocked. An Iridotomy involved shrinking my pupil, having the eye numbed, and my glaucoma surgeon using two lasers on the left eye - one to prevent bleeding and the other to create a drain via my iris for ocular fluid in the left eye.  It was a scary experience, but I did not suffer optical nerve damage thankfully.

Meanwhile, I made my way through reading No One Ever Asked by Katie Ganshert.  I had never read any book by this author, but the premise intrigued me.  The story revolved around the crises of three women and two school districts.  One school district is in an impoverished area and has lost its accreditation.  The other school district is an elite school operating with students from middle to high socioeconomic backgrounds.  When South Fork School System loses accreditation, the district must pay for any of its students to attend the Crystal Ridge School System's high-performing schools.  And this creates tensions between parents and students from both districts.

There are three women whose lives are affected by the local area school crisis.  Camille, a woman from a high socioeconomic background who is well-known for leading the PTA at Crystal Ridge Schools and leading local fundraising activities, but her marriage is falling apart and she is having a chaotic time trying to parent three kids.  She seems to have the perfect life, but not when the reader learns what is really happening in her life.  Next is Jen, a woman who is an experienced nurse who moves to the area after her husband and she adopt a black child who has experienced a great deal of trauma prior to her adoption. Jen is attempting to be a school nurse at a Crystal Ridge high school and be a mom to a child who may have outbursts if an event triggers traumas from her past.  Finally, there is Anaya, a young black educator who teaches second grade at an elementary school in Crystal Ridge.  She longs to teach at South Fork School District where her father was a leader up until his recent death.

The plot centers around a host of issues including racial equality in schools, discrimination, adoption, sexual harassment, and family trauma.  Will Camille learn to recognize the discriminatory behavior in herself and her closest friends?  Will her marriage survive a separation that comes about due to her over-involvement in just about everything?  Will Jen learn to be a mother to her newly adopted daughter?  How will she navigate parenting a child who has regular outbursts due to the trauma the child endured at an orphanage? How will Jen and her husband cope when their daughter is disparaged by some classmates simply due to the color of her skin?  Will Anaya be able to teach a group of second graders in a school district where parents and students exhibit racist attitudes and behaviors?  Will she be able to find peace with the death of her father and the traumatic incident that happened to her during her year of student teaching?  

This is a whirlwind of a book, but it will make you think and reflect on what you would do if you found youself in any of the highly charged situations the three main characters face.  Interestingly, the ending of the book is loaded with some bombshell revelations. Finally, I felt the ending of the book was too tidy for three female lead characters who were grappling with such complicated realities.  And as a reader, I still had questions regarding each character that were never answered.  I respect the author for tackling such complicated issues in a work of fiction that very well reflects the realities women and our communities are grappling with today 

Till my next review,

Grace (Amy)