I Get It Now

I finally get it. You would think that it would be obvious all along, but I’ve finally realized the truth.

The world and UN ( whom I consider to be useless at this point) specifically has extreme tunnel vision when it comes to how they react to what is happening around them.

When ISIS executes American journalist James Foley, it’s like hearing crickets.  No response, no outrage, no protest, no catchy hash tag that everyone on social media uses. Nada. Nothing.

But when Israel is simply trying to defend on herself from a neighbor whose everything in life is to destroy Israeli property and murder Israeli citizens, then the reactions start fast and furious.

I would like to remind you that this neighbor will say and do anything to get the press and the rest of the world in their corner. Including having citizens lying under body bags who move while they are they unaware that they are being filmed.

The late, great, Golda Meir once said the following:

“Peace will come to the Middle East when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.”

Maybe’ll you’ll get it now.

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Day After Night Book Review

There is an old saying “It’s always darkest before the dawn”.

Anita Diament’s 2010 novel, Day After Night  is about four young women who survived the Holocaust and how they find the light after the darkness.

In October of 1945, the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust are trying to make their way to what was then British controlled Palestine.  Many are interned in Atlit Internment Camp, a prison for “illegal immigrants” off the coast of Haifa. There are four main characters: Shayndel, a Polish Zionist, Leonie, who is ashamed of her choices during the war, Tedi, a Dutch Jew who was fortunate to find hiding and Zorah, who lived through the concentration camps.

Haunted by the past and afraid to hope, the women forge a friendship while they try to rebuild their lives in a strange new country that they are ready to call home.

I love this book. While the story and characters are set in a specific time and place, it speaks to all of us. We all have dark times in our life, but there is day after night.  We just have to have hope and faith.

I recommend this book.

Sloane Hall Book Review

The mark of a classic is that we can go back to it multiple times and it’s as good as the first time. Another mark of a classic is that it can be partially turned on it’s head, while retaining the elements that keep us coming back.

Libby Sternberg’s novel, Sloane Hall, transports Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre from Victorian England to 1920’s Hollywood. She also changes the sexes of the characters, adding a very interesting twist. John Doyle is an orphan. He is learning to become a cinematographer, but a stupid mistake costs him his job.

He takes a job as a chauffeur for Pauline Sloane, a tempestuous actress with a mysterious past. Ignoring the warning signs, Johns falls in love with his employer. Their future seems bright when she returns his affections, but there are secrets and conspiracies that could force them apart.

I thoroughly enjoy this book. It’s still Jane Eyre, I can still hear Charlotte Bronte’s voice. What Ms. Sternberg does well as a writer (which many writers cannot do) is manipulate certain elements within the story to create her own, while remaining true to the original.

I highly recommend this book.