The Whisper Network

 

Whisper Network by Chandler Baker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A workplace drama that highlights the difficulties of working women, from being ignored and under appreciated, to double standards for behavior, to sexual harassment. This isn't a perfect book and it only identifies with women working in defined jobs, but I did love the way these women looked out and supported each other despite the ways they also let each other down. I loved that several perspectives were portrayed: a new mother, a single mother, wife as main wage-earner, woman working in manual labor job, etc. For the most part they were portrayed as liking their jobs, being competent, and professional, moral people, and still having to struggle for recognition, validation, and respect. The chorus that starts out several chapters was genius. It included us in the frustrations we experience, the unfairness we witness, the demands that are unique to females (including demands by other females) helping us to see how we are all in this together--helping and hurting each other. At one point one character tells another "When another woman offers to help you, you take it. You understand?" --underscoring Baker's point that when we as women help each other, we help ourselves. (Although this a working woman's issue book, I think working men should also read it, to help understand and empathize with their working women colleagues).

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There, There

 

There There by Tommy Orange
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A beautiful exploration into what it means to be Native American in a modern setting. At first I didn't realize that the individual stories were going to be tied together and characters were going to be followed throughout the book, since each chapter felt like a complete short story so I didn't track the characters like I should have to get the full complexity, and the relationships between the characters. Having so many characters allowed us to see so many different perspectives and histories--some grew up in the indigenous culture, others realized their roots later, others abandoned their culture, and others came to celebrate it. Perhaps with a re-read I will feel different, but I felt like maybe there were too many perspectives, and the focus got diluted. You see the ending coming, but it still is shocking, yet I wished for a bit more clarity in the end.

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Bad luck or just bad shit happening to you in life can make you secretly superstitious, can make you want to take back some sense of control.

Something was in her that came out, that seemed so creaturely, so grotesque yet magical, that the only readily available emotion she had for both occasions was shame, which led to secrecy in both cases.  Secrets lie through omission just like shame lies through secrecy. 

The Downstairs Girl

The Downstairs Girl by Stacey Lee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Jo is an unusual heroine--a Chinese-American living in Atlanta at the cusp of the women's vote and Jim Crow laws. She is resourceful and observant, courageous and intelligent. During the course of the book she discovers hidden talents, hidden roots, and hidden love. Its a YA romance that also encourages standing up for what's right, and for others, and for yourself.

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It is better to look out a window than into a looking glass; otherwise all you see is yourself and what's behind you.