# 35 Fall On You Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald

Fall on your knees elicits some pretty uncomfortable feelings. It can get you thinking that an incestuous pedophile who mistreats his wife maybe isn't so bad after all. And that a little girl who was abused and mistreated is a little shit.

At the start of the 20th century, James Piper moves to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia to build a life for himself. He elopes with and marries a child-woman (13 years old) from a wealth Lebanese family. They have children and life happens. Only this life isn't a happy one. James quickly becomes repulsed by his wife whom he barely knows, and poor Materia operates in a haze of confusion.

The book is a long family epic telling the story of three generations of the Piper family. THere are, of course, secrets. Dark ones. There is incest, prostitution, abuse, and death. It takes us from the coal mining town in Cape Breton to the jazz crazy streets of New York.

The book deals with some uncomfortable questions about love, sexual abuse, pedophilia and forgiveness. It is a dark book and it puts its characters through hell. While the book was a page turner, I did not enjoy it very much because I absolutely detested one of the characters, one of Piper's daughters. I mean, sure she became that way because of the shit she want through, but she was so fucking annoying and basically hurt people who never did anything to her. I mean, I know its supposed to be some deep psychological things and the effects of her battered psyche or whatever. But just NO.

# 29 The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

I have put off reading this book for years and years for the same reason that it took me a long time to read One Hundred Years of Solitude. The opening chapter had a lot of foliage, and for some reason, it put me off these books. And also quite like 100 years, I was bitterly regretting putting of reading this book for so long.

The Poisonwood Bible tells the tale of four sisters and their mother, brought to remote Africa (the Belgian Congo, specifically a small village near the Kwilu River [thanks wiki]) by an authoritarian, righteous and controlling minister of a father. The father goes there to collect souls for the Lord. His wife and daughters go along for lack of any other alternatives.

The book is narrated by the wife, Orleanna and their four daughters, haughty, worldly Rachel; eager to please (her father) tomboy Leah; gifted, silent and handicapped Ada; and the spunky baby Ruth May.

Their father's stubbornness and disregard for any opinions other than his own keeps the family in the Congo even after their Church's withdrawal of support and the political upheavals during that period. Despite the danger and imminent starvation, the family soldiers on, all of the girls growing and developing, while the father clings to his beliefs, never bending, or trying to understand the culture of the people he seeks to convert.

I related most to the earnest and probably idealistic Leah. Throughout the story, she grows the most, from blindly idolizing her father, to realizing his faults and standing up for what she believes. Ada, although I feel like I should like her for she is the most intelligent and aware, I cannot relate to. I don't like her constantly thinking that her sisters are dumber than her (although it probably is true).

In any case, the book is heartbreaking. Needless to say, their father's choice of keeping them in Africa leads to great tragedy for the family, and shapes their characters and lives. It is obvious that Kingsolver is passionate about the issue of the abuse if Africa by its conquerors, of the disturbance of their natural order. The book can be seen as a story of a family, but it also provides and insight on the history of the Belgian Congo in that period of time, and its effect on the ordinary people living there.

#21 The Probable Future by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman brings back memories of a clique of girls in college who fancied themselves intellectual bookworms when actually, they read mostly Nicholas Sparks, Anita Shreve, Dean Koontz, and of course, Alice Hoffman. I've read my share of these books and even enjoyed some of them, but those girls seem to take these books soo seriously.

This one is typical Alice Hoffman, women, flowers blooming, magic, and of course, love. The women of the Sparrow family come to acquire powers on their 13th birthday. They have always lived in the the oldest house in Unity, apart form the rest of the people. Jenny got away from all that, but came back with her daughter and learns stuff and finds love, of course.

It's the usual magical realism and flowery descriptions. I find most Alice Hoffman books to be too girly and life affirming and perfect. This is one of those books. Everything ends up ok and all their spirits are uplifted and they would all have found themselves and their true love. Not my cup of tea. Nope.