Queen of the Underworld

Because I only listen to books while driving the short distance to and from the Y or the grocery and while on the treadmill at the Y, I don't like to choose books with too many discs - it takes me forever to get them all listened to. That's why, when I saw there were only five discs in the audio version of a book by one of my favourite authors, I thought Gail Godwin's Queen of the Underworld to be perfect.
Stephanie Zimbalist (remember her from the TV series, Remington Steele?) narrates this version. At first I wasn't too sure about listening to her voice, but she sounded like a young woman just out of college and when she got to the Spanish speaking Cuban parts, she was very convincing - not that I can speak Spanish.
"In the summer of 1959, as Castro clamps down on Cuba and its first wave of exiles flees to the States to wait out what they hope to be his short-lived reign, Emma Gant, fresh out of college, begins her career as a reporter. Her fierce ambition and belief in herself are set against the stories swirling around her, both at the newspaper office and in her downtown Miami hotel, which is filling up with refugees."
It didn't take long for me to get interested in the story line. I could relate to the time period and that the heroine was a young female journalist. To be honest, I don't think I gave much thought to the refugees fleeing Cuba at the time it was happening. Did I realize they had to leave all their possessions behind; that many of them were forced to give up ancestral lands? Even though I heard and read about it, I didn't really appreciate what was going on. It makes me want to read more about the Cuban Revolution.
Godwin introduced so many interesting characters - the Holocaust survivor who makes custom perfumes, the Georgia country girl who is groomed to be the madam of an upscale bordello, Emma's 'aunt' and the aunt's boss who are smuggling arms for the Cuban resistance, the other reporters at the Miami Star and the once wealthy refugees who take menial jobs in order to survive. Just following through on any of their stories  and Emma's would have made an outstanding book, but the book just ends leaving everyone dangling. I want to know what happened to the former madam and all the other characters. From reading several reviews, I know I'm not the only one disappointed in this book.
 In addition to making me want to learn more about the Cuban Revolution, it also made me wonder what my life might have been had I gone on to college and pursued a degree in journalism.

 Julian Barnes is the author of nine books, but this is the first time I've read him. He had been shortlisted for the Booker Award three times and last year won it for The Sense Of An Ending. This is a book about memory, aging, time and remorse. It is a book, that if I owned, would have sections underlined and notes in the margins. For example: "It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others." It isn't a very long book - only 163 pages - but it isn't a book you want to speed through - or if you do, you want to go back and start over as soon as you finish. It is a book to think about.

The real surprise read was Stephen Wetta's first novel, If Jack's In Love. Through most of the book, I felt it was just another coming of age story about a twelve year old boy and his first love. Jack has more than the usual family problems - his father and older brother act in ways that get the family labeled as trash. Their yard is overgrown and piled with 'treasures' collected from the curb-sides by Jack's Dad. The father loses his job and picks fights with the neighbors. The brother is a long-haired hippie doper who is the prime suspect when a clean-cut, preppy classmate disappears.
Jack is a smart kid who gets the best grades in school, but he is picked on and outcast because of his family. His romance with Myra is ruined because it is Myra's brother who disappears and Jack's brother who is charged with murder when the body is found.
I was especially caught by the ending of this novel and by the author's note immediately following the end. It may be his first book, but I hope it is not his last.