Thoughts on “The Sandalwood Tree” by Elle Newmark

I’d heard good things about The Book of Unholy Mischief, and I really enjoy books set in India, so when I had the opportunity to read Elle Newmark’s latest book, The Sandalwood Tree, for review, I was excited to do so. Published by Atria, The Sandalwood Tree will be out on April 5th.

About the Book:

The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newark (cover)Evie Mitchell and her husband, Martin, have just moved from Chicago to the small village of Masoorla, India, along with their young son, Billy. It’s 1947, and Martin has been granted a Fulbright Fellowship to document the end of Britain’s rule. Evie is excited, hoping their journey abroad will ease the tension that’s kept Martin and her apart ever since he returned from the battlefields of World War II.

While Martin digs into his work, Evie stays in their rented bungalow, taking care of Billy and slowly warming to the servants. One day, she discovers a loose brick in the kitchen wall. Behind it, she finds a small packet of letters between two young English women, Adela and Felicity, dating from the 1850s. Fascinated, Evie begins to watch for more clues about these former residents of her bungalow, allowing their story to absorb her.

Told by turns in Evie’s first person narration and the journals and letters of Adela and Felicity, The Sandalwood Tree spans nearly one hundred years, linking the three women through time in the space they shared.

My Thoughts:

The Sandalwood Tree called to mind for me Kate Morton’s The Distant Hours. The contemporary story, narrated by the main character, about piecing together a story from long ago, told through snippets and uncovered gradually, reminded me very much of Morton’s style. I found Newmark’s story easier to guess than Morton’s, but where uncovering the mystery is what seems to drive Morton’s books, I didn’t find it to be so central in The Sandalwood Tree. I didn’t mind being able to see ahead at points and enjoyed discovering I was right. However, I didn’t find The Sandalwood Tree to be nearly as gripping as The Distant Hours.

Newmark does a lovely job creating a sense of continuity with the bungalow inhabited by the three women. She links items in Evie’s rental with Adela and Felicity. Through letters and diaries, she allows Evie to discover when and why her home took on its current characteristics. History is very much alive around Evie in her temporary home. In these ways, Newmark establishes a connection between the women that goes beyond their shared status as female foreigners in Masoorla.

Newmark also keeps a nice balance of story lines going. Neither Evie’s nor Felicity and Adela’s story is overly straightforward or complex. I never felt bored, but I also never felt lost or overwhelmed. I think it can be difficult to keep two stories from different times balanced, especially when one is told through correspondence and journals. Newmark accomplished it well.

I think what I enjoyed most about The Sandalwood Tree was the glimpse it gave into two periods of the British presence in India: the 1850s and the 1940s. Both were tumultuous times in Indian/British history, with the Sepoy Mutiny (known in India as India’s First War of Independence) marking one and the impending Partition and the end of British rule the other. There are unique aspects to both times, yet what struck me were the similarities. Of course, both were times of unrest when it was potentially dangerous for foreigners to be in India. Beyond that was the precision with which the transplanted foreigners (mostly English) recreated the homeland they’d left. Furnishings, food, clothing, entertainment–these British transplants brought the culture they knew to India and hid from the reality of the country around them behind it.

The one complaint I had about The Sandalwood Tree worth mentioning is that I never found myself completely swept away by it. I enjoyed the story, the history, and, to some extent, the mystery, but I never had trouble setting the book aside, and I didn’t feel especially attached to any of the characters. I always felt there was a wall between myself and the book, like I was always reading from my 21st century apartment, never experiencing the story as it happened. That’s only a minor complaint, though, in an overall positive response.

On the whole, The Sandalwood Tree is an enjoyable book with some interesting history woven throughout. It will appeal to fans of historical fiction as well as novels set in India. Readers who enjoy books in which two story lines intertwine and Kate Morton fans will most likely find plenty to like in Elle Newmark’s latest novel.

Those are my thoughts. Check out The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark on GoodReads or LibraryThing, or read other bloggers’ reviews!

Your Turn!

Do you have a favorite book that weaves together two time periods in the same place?

My Week in Books: March 13-19

My Week in Books

Welcome to my weekly Saturday feature here at Erin Reads, where I highlight new books that have entered my life, what I’ve been reading, and what’s happened on Erin Reads over the past week.

New Acquisitions

Just two books to share this week, but I vlogged them anyway, so that I don’t get out of the habit!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2UcWIpYqIQ

From LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program, I received Made for You and Me by Caitlin Shetterley, about a young couple’s trip across America from east to west and back. From the library, for my book group’s April meeting, I got Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, about a woman who finds out she’s the executor of her late boyfriend’s will.

TBR Additions

None this week. I’ve not been able to get any blog reading done! In fact, the thought of opening my reader at this point just scares me, so as much as I hate to do it, I’m going to let myself mark all as read. If you have an interesting discussion going on a post, or if you’ve reviewed something you loved, or if there’s something on another blog you’ve read that should not be missed, I would love it if you would share a link in the comments. It’ll help me feel less bad about giving myself a break!

Read This Week

It’s been a satisfying reading week! I finished both Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun by Liza Bakewell and The Appointment by Herta Müller. I also started and finished Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, then started The Sandalwood Tree by Elle Newmark. I’ve really enjoyed everything I’ve read, and I look forward to discussing them here, but it’s also nice to have a relatively blank reading slate. (Of course, there are ARCs and group reads waiting to jump in, as always…)

On audio, I got to the halfway point in Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, then switched to the second half of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, which I’m reading together with Christina from the Ardent Reader. I finished Fast Food Nation yesterday, so it’s back to Shantaram for another 17 discs!

Erin Reads Recap

Your Turn!

How was your reading week? Do tell!

Reading Buddies Discussion: “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro

Reading Buddies Button

Happy Friday, everyone! How are you enjoying Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro? I, for one, am having a hard time putting it down. There’s something about it that keeps sucking me back in. I’d planned to discuss just through part one today. Even though I’ve passed that point in my own reading, I think I’ll stick to that stopping point. If you haven’t gotten that far, I’d probably say skip this post and come back to it later…I wouldn’t want to spoil anything for anyone! As always, feel free to talk about any part of the book in the comments; just be sure to warn about spoilers.

I knew before I even opened the book that there was a twist, that Never Let Me Go started out looking like one thing and ended up being quite different. So from page one I was on the lookout for things that didn’t seem quite right: carers and donors, the attention paid to student health, the emphasis on creativity, the apparent lack of real academic courses, the students’ inability to have children. I was shocked when, toward the end of part one, Miss Lucy came out and told the students what their purpose was, why they’d been created. I’d known Hailsham wasn’t your typical school, but I hadn’t expected something quite so controversial and difficult. I’m very interested to see where Ishiguro is taking us.

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (cover)I get the feeling we don’t have the whole story. Not all the oddities have been explained; there are still plenty of mysteries surrounding Hailsham and its students. I feel like there’s more to be revealed. I love how Ishiguro reveals the tidbits about the Hailsham kids, sliding them into Kathy’s narration like they’re perfectly normal–which for her, they are. I think that makes the abnormalities stand out even more for me, the fact that they’re part of Kathy’s everyday life the way routines that would seem foreign to her are part of mine.

I think Ishiguro does a fantastic job capturing the relationships between kids and teens. The clique of girls, the bullying of the boys, the confused romances and on-again off-again friendships seem right on to me. I like Kathy and Tommy, though I’m not sure about Ruth yet. I also like Kathy’s narration, the way she’ll start off in one direction, say that’s not what she wanted to talk about, then get herself back on track. I like that she isn’t highly poetic or eloquent; the book reads like she’s just trying to get her thoughts and memories down on paper. I think that’s part of what draws me to the book.

Never Let Me Go is my first Ishiguro novel. Is it yours too, or have you read others? At this point, I definitely plan to read more of his works!

Thoughts on “Fast Food Nation” by Eric Schlosser (Part 1)

Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (cover)Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal by Eric Schlosser is a book that’s been on my radar–and on my shelf–for years. Thanks to a nudge from Christina of the Ardent Reader, I’m finally tackling this long-standing TBR book. I’m listening to the audiobook, which is, I believe, slightly abridged, though I’m still getting plenty of information. The reader, Rick Adamson, isn’t particularly noticeable, which is the sort of reader I prefer for nonfiction!

The book is broken into two parts, and Christina and I are breaking our posts into two parts as well. Section one, entitled “The American Way,” tackles the fast food restaurant as an entity, detailing its creation, evolution, and current state, and is the section I’ll be discussing today. Section two, “Meat and Potatoes,” appears to get into the actual food part of fast food. We’ll share our thoughts on that part next Thursday.

When I picked up Fast Food Nation, I was expecting another book about how we should eat, something in the Michael Pollan area. I was surprised to find that, at least in the first section, Schlosser takes an entirely different track. He begins with the origins of the fast food industry in America, starting with Carl N. Karcher, one of the industry’s pioneers who went from running hot dog carts in Los Angeles in the 1940s to starting the burger chain Carl’s Jr. Schlosser introduces the McDonald brothers (yes, THOSE McDonalds) and explains how the new American car culture and system of highways presented the opportunity for a new kind of dining, which eventually evolved into the fast food establishments we know today. He wraps up the section by looking at modern fast food restaurants, who they employ and how they’re run.

The scariest part of section one was, for me, reading about just how heavily advertising focus has shifted to children in the past 50 years. Having grown up in a culture where everything from snacks to toothpaste has a kid-focused component, it’s never really occurred to me that it wasn’t always this way and that, at some point, advertisers realized that even though kids have no money of their own, the influence they exert over their parents is so immense that advertising to kids is highly profitable. Schlosser examines the role of the fast food industry in this fundamental shift, and his discussion was eye-opening.

I was also fascinated by Schlosser’s comparison of Ray Kroc, the man who made McDonald’s into the empire it is today, and Walt Disney. Kroc and Disney were contemporaries, born just a year apart in Illinois. They served in the first World War together, then moved to California. But the similarities went much deeper than that. Schlosser writes:

“[T]he two men shared the same vision of America, the same optimistic faith in technology, the same conservative political views. They were charismatic figures who provided an overall corporate vision and grasped the public mood, relying on others to handle the creative and financial details.” (p. 33)

And on top of that, both men were masters of selling to children. There’s more, much more, that Schlosser lists; I’ll let you read it for yourself!

Though I do enjoy a good statistic, I know the ones in Fast Food Nation are outdated. The paperback copy I have is from 2002, nearly a decade ago, and I’m sure the numbers have changed since then. Still, it’s interesting (and often horrifying) to hear where we were at the beginning of the 21st century, and of course the history hasn’t changed. What I’d be curious to know is whether any of the stats Schlosser cites have improved. Is the future looking up, or are we continuing to spiral downwards? I’m not too optimistic.

I have a feeling the second half of Fast Food Nation, “Meat and Potatoes,” will look a little more like what I’d expected, delving into the food side of the fast food industry. I suspect Schlosser won’t hold back, so I’m bracing myself for a potentially revolting ride.

Be sure to check out Christina’s thoughts on Fast Food Nation, and check back next week to see how it all turns out!

CRP: Checking In

The Classics Reclamation Project is my personal challenge to read and enjoy the classics. Each Wednesday, I post about the classic I’m reading at the moment.

The Classics Reclamation Project

I’m giving myself a break this week. Between Reading Buddies, the large number of review copies currently on my plate, and more traveling than usual, I didn’t make enough progress with any classic to post about it here. I’m okay with that–I know it’s temporary, plus this project is supposed to be fun. So, instead of stressing about reading a classic for this week’s post, I decided to take a look at how my project is going so far.

Since I launched my Classics Reclamation Project at the end of last year, I’ve read a total of twelve books (more if you count each book of The Chronicles of Narnia separately!). They are:

1. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis (Part 1 | Part 2)
2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (audiobook)
3. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (audiobook)
4. Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (audiobook)
5. The Epic of Gilgamesh (audiobook)
6. Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
7. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rainer Maria Rilke (Part 1 | Part 2)
8. The Spy Who Came In from the Cold by John le Carré
9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
10. Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney (audiobook)
11. Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome (audiobook)
12. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen

A few observations about the list so far:

  • The earliest book on the list is The Epic of Gilgamesh, written over 3,000 years ago.
  • The most recent was The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, published in 1963.
  • Most, though not all, of the others came out in the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • My favorites so far were The Epic of Gilgamesh and Jane Eyre.
  • The ones I enjoyed the least were Carroll’s Alice stories and The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge.
  • I chose to listen to half of my classics, a statistic that surprised me a little but an approach that’s been working well.

I look over this list of books and I realize there are only two I would have read had it not been for my project. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge was a selection for my IRL book club; The Chronicles of Narnia I started for Clare from the Literary Omnivore‘s Narnia Week. Without my classics project, the rest would have languished on my shelves for years to come, or perhaps never have crossed my radar at all. Classics now make up a much larger proportion of my overall reading than they did before I began my project. In these respects, I consider my project to be successful so far.

As I peruse the list of what I’ve read so far, I find myself wondering whether these books have been worth reading. I haven’t loved all of them; there are a few I’ve actually rather disliked. Yet I do feel the benefits of reading each have outweighed the annoyance/struggle/boredom/etc. that some have provoked in me. I feel like my general reading experience has been enriched by these cultural touchstones, both works and authors. Including these classics has given depth to my reading, adding the beginnings of a literary history to the contemporary works I choose. It’s so rewarding to have those twelve books under my belt, to realize I’ve gone from someone who avoided classics at all costs to someone who’s enjoying including them in my general reading diet.

Looking ahead, I’ve tweaked my original plan of reading more Ibsen plays next; instead, I’ll be starting I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. It might be a two-part book, as I struggle to catch up with all the other books on my plate, but the classics will be back next Wednesday!