Sue Katz: Consenting Adult

BOOK REVIEW: Never Be Afraid: A Belgian Jew in the French Resistance

Never Be Afraid: A Belgian Jew in the French Resistance recounts Bernard Mednicki’s intricate memories of his courageous life history. Ken Wachsberger - author/editor/book coach extraordinaire - brings us this man’s unique narrative. “It’s his story, but I wrote it,” Wachsberger explains, clearly a feat of close listening and empathetic understanding.

From Mednicki's childhood, when his father moves the family to Belgium to escape the Russian pogroms through his marriage, his decision to pass as Christian after Hitler’s invasion of Belgium, his work with the French Resistance, and his arrival in 1947 to America (with its dramatic twist), Mednicki shares his emotion, describes the painful roadblocks, and discloses every clever survival scheme.

In Volvic, France, the description of the rats in the stable where Mednicki had to house his family caused me a sleepless night. The efforts he made to protect his sick son tore at my heart. But the tale of turning a porcupine into a rabbit and that into a rooster was a riot.

Fundamentally, this is a story of resistance which serves as a negation of the myth that Jews went to their death like lambs to the slaughter. Mednicki joined the French Resistance, spending his first night as a fighter with a group of men and women, hidden from the Nazis on top of a mountain. He managed to balance his two constant struggles: to keep his family and himself fed and to fight against the Nazis.

This is the Third Edition of this volume, a book that wants to continue to live, much like its hero Bernard Mednicki. Wachsberger is the respected writer/editor who brought it into life and who continues to nurture it, knowing that within these pages is an unusually textured picture of one Jew’s experience of facing down the fascism that defined the 20th Century. In a time when Holocaust denial and anti-Semitism are sky-rocketing, this is a reminder of why we need to start now to fight the good fight.

"I Am Not Sidney Poitier" – book review in 150 words

"I Am Not Sidney Poitier" is written by Percival Everett, author of the novel "Erasure" on which the film "American Fiction" is based. Like “American Fiction,” this novel is less the intersection and more the crash site of Everett’s themes of race, confusion, double-takes, and the impossibility of communication. The protagonist is named Not-Sidney Poitier, despite looking convincingly like the actor. He inherits a ton of money which has no meaning for him, is overseen by Ted Turner after being orphaned, and studies under a professor who rightly teaches Nonsense. A bit of the supernatural and unwanted blow jobs are tossed in to further cloud personal (dis)connections. A trip to the South where Poitier is arrested twice, for being Black and clueless, ensures further discombobulation – in a tornado. The narrative is simultaneously dire and witty. Everett keeps a cool distance from the shenanigans of his protagonists, but we sure don’t.

Book Review: Cheating at Canasta by William Trevor

I’ve just come back from a trip to Ireland, and perhaps the biggest thrill along the way was my purchase, in a second-hand bookstore in the seaside town of Kinsale, of a collection of short stories Cheating at Canasta (2008) by William Trevor, who is considered one of the all-time greatest Irish short story writers.

William Trevor (24 May 1928 – 20 November 2016) spent much of his adult life in England, but identified as "Irish in every vein." He wrote novels as well and won the full array of literary prizes.

The first story in this collection, “The Dressmaker’s Child,” haunts me still. It combines elements that run through many of his stories, but does it with a deep grey brilliance. There are troubled characters who become entangled inadvertently. There is trauma that lingers unspoken. There is human connection that is as painful as it is sustaining. There is a cloudy environment expressed with mastery prose.

Many of these pieces, not the least the title story “Cheating at Canasta,” plumb alienation and a sense of difference that perhaps only an emigrant or a person in mourning can convey. There is love, but too often it is lost, even squandered. Writing in the third person, Trevor creates a novel’s-worth of a world in each of these short stories, and, as a voracious reader of short fiction, I leapt hungrily into them.

90 word book review: “Olga Dies Dreaming” by Xochitl Gonzalez

Loved it. Olga’s absent revolutionary mother looms over her life and that of her brother Prieto. Born and raised in New York, they have disappointed their mother, an underground Puerto Rican independence activist, by becoming successful. Olga is a wedding planner and Prieto is a politician who is blackmailed by greedy criminals. There’s a gay theme, a struggle against gentrification, deep family secrets, a dollop of organized crime, and plenty of romance. Gonzalez’s debut novel is a page turner that has strong content packaged in a swift and engaging read.

"The Orphans Club"

My short story THE ORPHANS CLUB is published today in "A Plate of Pandemic: creativity in a time of crisis." You can read it here.
https://plateofpandemic.com/the-orphans-club/

 

 

The Lipstick Assault in Serene Manor,

I am SO thrilled to see my short story The Lipstick Assault in Serene Manor, about being an old dyke in a nursing home, published in the September issue of the fantabulous Gertrude Press!!

Click to read and feel free to pass it on.

 

3 Novels: The Vanishing Half, Notes on a Scandal, & The Dream Lover

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

This recent novel became an instant best-seller and it is a compelling read indeed. Twin sisters grow up in a small Louisiana town predominated by light-skinned Black people. When the sisters strike out on their own to New Orleans, one sister “accidentally” passes for white and marries her white boss and has a blond daughter, while the other weds an abusive dark-skinned man and births a very dark girl. The divergence in their lives, in their fates, deprived of contact with each other, motors this story.

Bennett’s gorgeous prose provides a path into her subjects of sisterhood, separation, choices, and privilege. Differences around race, class, and gender abound when the daughters meet fortuitously – and figure out their connection. The passing daughter, who hasn’t a clue about her own background, is a spoiled, privileged, obnoxious wannabe actor; the dark daughter is a patient, open-minded, high-achiever who finds love with a transboy.

The Vanishing Half is downright remarkable.

Notes on a Scandal (What Was She Thinking?) by Zoë Heller

Bitter Barbara, a long-time London teacher, lusts after best-friend status with the new art teacher Sheba, as do a number of other teachers at the school. Sheba is more artsy than she is an educator and Barbara bides her time, awaiting the moment that Sheba realizes that it is Barbara who should be by Sheba’s side.

Instead, Sheba falls for a 15-year-old pupil, Steven Connolly, who is a bit of rough, utterly unlike her middle-class husband. Barbara manipulates the situation and becomes Sheba’s only confidant, and then things get crazy.

Notes on a Scandal (2003) is a remarkable page-turner, although it has shades of “The Children’s Hour” and other “sad lesbian” stories. Nowhere is the word lesbian used nor any hint of sexual desire between the women, but the whiff of frustrated mean-spirited obsession infuses all that Barbara does.

A best seller and an award-winner, Notes on a Scandal was made into a film in 2006, starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. But never mind that. The novel is gripping and flows in fast and furious emotion.

The Dream Lover: A Novel of George Sand by Elizabeth Berg

Elizabeth Berg is a prodigious popular writer who has turned out dozens of novels, only a few of which I have as yet read. But The Dream Lover was just exactly what the pandemic called for: a riveting fictionalized account of the multi-layered, free-wheeling literary and love life of the author George Sand. Berg manages to balance her copious writing skills with a story every reader wants to hear to produce this exciting novel.

It wasn’t easy to be a gutsy gender-bender in the 1800s, but Sand managed to combine her daring life of drag and lust with her commitment to writing. To convey the complexities of Sand’s life, Berg chose a complicated first-person double narrative – (1804–1831 and 1831–1876), which merges at the end. There may be a few too many relationships stuffed into this narrative, but a good read is a welcome escape from cooties and wars.

 

Remembering dear Kay Bourne

The community has lost one of its most unique journalists, historians, and humanitarians – Kay Bourne. As the arts editor of Bay State Banner for many years, she met and interviewed every Black artist and dancer and writer and actor and playwright who passed through Boston – from the ascending to the legendary. She was admired by the entire arts community for her generosity and the depth of her commitment to artists of color. As Abe Rybeck (photo below), the founder of The Theatre Offensive and an international giant of queer theatre, said, “Kay was a great example of someone who used their privilege responsibly and creatively.” Abe also called her a “true mensch,” which is exactly what I felt when I first became friends with Kay.

Kay carved out this extraordinary space for herself and used her pen and remarkable personality to promote the many talented people who became her friends. She collaborated with some of them, notably shows about Black theatre that integrated essays by Kay with photos by her gifted bestie Craig Bailey.

Kay won copious awards and many honors – and she never failed to share the spotlight. At one major event she insisted that I set up a book display table with the talented Bonnie McIlvaine, another writer friend of hers, and she lauded both our work from the podium, encouraging people to get right over to our table to buy our books, as she accepted her honor.

Kay’s archives are a massive, precious history of the Black presence in the Boston arts scene and a testament to the depth and width of her respect for the talent of so many people, some of whom were being underpromoted and under-estimated.

I was often her driver, after she could no longer drive herself, and as a result I got to go to the most wonderful affairs. I hung out at her Brookline home a number of times, a temple to the many Black artists she supported.

And my house is full of the presents she sent me – books she thought I’d love and the most wonderful Jane Austen doll – my fave author. A Jane Austen doll!!

But I only learned of Kay’s death a couple of hours ago when her carer called me. “I used to read her mail to her,” the young woman told me, “and we would laugh over the cards you sent her.” I have the Valentine I got for Kay sitting right here on my desk, addressed, stamped, waiting for next week - too late - to be mailed. Goodbye, friend.

Bride and Prejudice: Film Review in 110 Words

If you love you some Jane Austen and you love you some Bollywood, and if you need a joyous film with a happy ending, then rent this film from Amazon Prime for $3.99 and settle back. Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha (“Bend it Like Beckham”) sure knows her Pride & Prejudice. With an impressive respect for Austen’s words and wit, she creatively transports the Bennet/Bakshi family to India where a technicolor cast of thousands celebrates love. My main criticism is that William Darcy is played by an actor so bland and charmless that it is hard to believe he wins over Lalita/Elizabeth, the most outstanding of the four unmarried daughters. Loved it!

Here's the trailer:

RIP: LOIS JOHNSON, leading light of Daughters of Bilitis

This tribute was adapted from a brief portrait of Lois Johnson that I wrote when she and her life partner Sheri Barden were among the honorees at an event I MC'd held by Rally, a Boston area group for older lesbians. Lois died yesterday. Sheri and Lois (in pink) are seated in front.

Lois Johnson was a local girl: she was born in Stoneham in 1931 but raised in Everett by a loving extended working class family. She was always a straight-A student in high school. At Boston University, she studied English and childhood education, planning to be a school teacher like her older sister. Lois was very active in the Christian Science church, teaching Sunday school and conducting services, but, she told me, “I wasn’t Miss Goody-Twoshoes.” Immediately I heard Sheri in the background yelling, “Yes you were!”

Lois worked in education for a couple of years, but she wasn’t that comfortable with it. So she got another a degree from BU: this time in journalism. She moved to California where she was a success in the field of advertising and journalism and worked for the Presidio army base newspaper, while living at the YWCA.

When her father became ill, she returned to Boston where she continued to be active in the Christian Science church. She met her first girlfriend and lived together in secret for five years. When in 1964 that woman foolishly dumped our Lois, some gay men fixed her up with Sheri Barden who moved in with her in Brookline.

When they rented and restored a 19th C house near the MFA, they decided they liked that kind of thing. Because banks would not then give mortgages to women, a gay male friend helped them to get a fixer-upper in the South End. When Lois’s long-time job as a producer at WGBH evaporated, she decided to go into real estate, where she spent 40 years. She missed that work after retiring.

About five years ago Lois fell and broke her hip so she and Sheri had to move out of their house with many stairs. The were welcomed with great enthusiasm by Springhouse, an elegant assisted living facility. Like in any such institution, the women ran into homophobic staff occasionally. They had their strategy for dealing with it, however. Said Sheri, "I'm so nice to them, they can't help but love us."

In fact, the very evening they moved in, the Springhouse administration wanted to screen "Gen Silent" (dir: Stu Maddux), a powerful, historic film about the intersection of queer and elder, which kicked off a vibrant movement around the rights of old LGBTQ people. Lois and Sheri were two of the stars of the film (and of the movement), and their wit and candor and obvious love won the hearts of all who saw it. Sheri insists that their role was to be "comic relief," and the women sighed over having to see the film dozens and dozens of times when they appeared at sell-out screenings.

For 15 years Lois was President of Boston’s DOB – Daughters of Bilitis – perhaps the first lesbian organization with chapters across the country. Sheri and Lois welcomed hundreds of otherwise isolated lesbians to their rap sessions. They embraced women who needed someone to talk to, someone to assure them that their feelings were legitimate. Sheri told me: “Lois was a wonderful leader because she didn’t judge anyone – never put anyone down, everyone was welcome.”

The death of Lois Johnson leaves a rip in the fabric of the Boston queer community. On a personal note, I was always gratified by Lois' close readings and gracious comments about my books. The couple never missed a reading when I was introducing a new book. Lois' generosity, dry wit, and loving presence will be profoundly missed.

This is the trailer for "Gen Silent." If you haven't seen it, you haven't seen one of the best documentaries evah!

The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (book review) in 100 words

The most un-put-downable short stories create an entire world. In The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha Philyaw does it with gob-smacking prowess nine times. Whether it is a teenage girl crushing on the pastor’s wife, or a couple coping with their first winter up north exiled from all they love, or a self-possessed sexually-active woman who outlines lengthy rules for the married men “applying” for a passing entanglement, the reader is catapulted into their emotional and physical worlds. Her characters are Black women wrestling with both church culture and with private passions. Philyaw’s stories kept me awake and awed.