Three Book Reviews: Rome -- Antiracism -- Afterlife

Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World by Anthony Doerr (Scribner, 2007)

Back in 2014 my family and I traveled to Italy. It was return trip for us, having traveled there also in 2012. Both trips were graduation presents for our daughters. Previous to those two trips I'd only been in Italy one other time, back in 1979 when I was traveling the European continent via Eur-rail Pass with a girl friend. I found Rome very disappointing that time. The city was stuffed to brim, or so it seemed, with gypsies who tried endlessly to scam us out of our money. And speaking of money, we had very little. We were trying to travel on $10 a day and having a rough go of it. So that might explain why I didn't think much of Rome, we were just trying to do the free stuff. Our one splurge was paying to see the Sistine Chapel. Anyway, I digress. Back in 2012 and 2014, I found the city of Rome to be quite changed. I decided it was not not only be charming and historical, but magical. It seemed that some surprise was waiting for us around every corner. The people were friendly, the sites remarkable, the food delicious, the slower pace of life was calming. Aside from the heat, it was wonderful in every way.

I tell you all this in explanation as to why, a person who rarely buys books, bought Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr. Back in 2015 I was attending a book event sponsored by my public library and Anthony Doerr was the guest speaker. Already his fan, after reading and rereading his marvelous All the Light We Cannot See,  I was enraptured by Doerr, the man. He was so interesting and had done so many things. I decided I needed to know more about him. After his talk was finished I wandered over to the book table to see what I could buy to learn more about him. This book about Rome seemed perfect. I love Rome and I love Anthony Doerr, What could a be better choice? Besides, look at the subtitle -- On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World. Talk about random, compelling, and disjointed topics.

As often happens, I bought my purchase home, stuffed it onto the book shelf and ignored it for seven years, until recently, when I unearthed it to take with me on a car trip. Back in 2004 Anthony Doerr won a writing fellowship. The day he learned of the fellowship award, his twin boys were born. The fellowship involved living in Rome for a year, a space to write, and a small apartment where he and his growing family could live. It was not required that he write any particular thing, but he had been working on a novel about WWII set in both France and Germany before he left for his year in Rome and he hoped to continue his work on it there. But Rome, twins, insomnia, and a tiny apartment had a different idea. As it turned out Doerr did very little work on his novel. He did, however, work on several other writing projects and wrote in a journal every day. His journal entries made up the bulk of his material for this book, I'm sure. While there he worked on his Italian language skills and had hilarious examples of botching his speaking attempts. His boys learned to walk in their tiny apartment and were doted on by every Italian person they encountered on their many walks around the city. Imagine being first-time parents of twins and not having the support of family and friends, or even an understanding of the language where you were living. Where does one get baby formula? Strollers? Diapers? In April, Pope John Paul II died, so Doerr got a front-row seat viewing a city in mourning and then the process the Vatican took to replace the beloved pontiff. His stories about this time were riveting.

Doerr didn't make any progress on his novel All the Light We Cannot See while in Rome, and in fact it wasn't even published until 2014, ten years after he started the book. I enjoyed Doerr's musings and reflections on Rome itself and what life was like for he and his family. I could picture the streets and many of the landmarks as he talked about his experiences. I enjoyed the book very much.

Rating: 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

How to Be a (Young) Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and Nic Stone (Kokila, 2023)

Back in 2020 (remember that nightmare year?) after George Floyd was murdered by the police and everything in our country dissolved into chaos, I determined to learn as much as I could to become a 'better ancestor.' In other words, I didn't need to just say I wasn't a racist, I needed to understand how to move toward becoming antiracist. In fact, I even created a list of books to help me become an anti-racist with the help of friends and other book bloggers. I've read a lot of the books on that list but not Kendi's How to Be An Antiracist (2019). When I saw there was a YA version of his adult book, co-written by Nic Stone, I decided that would be a great place to start, since I understand his adult book is pretty lengthy and technical.

Just like with the partnership Kendi struck with Jason Reynolds to revise his book Stamped from the Beginning (2017) for young adults, Nic Stone had a voice in How to Be a (Young) Antiracist. She didn't just revise the book, she became a character in it. Reynolds did the same thing but his approach involved lightening the subject by adding humor, Stone seemed to confuse the subject by making herself a spokesman for Kendi. It is as if she were telling Kendi's story while he stood in the room. It was odd and at sometimes confusing. Aside from that the book tells Kendi's story of how he came to be a person who would earn a doctorate and become a person with a 'microphone' on the topic of antiracism. It also includes a lot of new vocabulary to enhance any discussion of racism/antiracism. Most of the terms I've read in other books since 2020 but there were so many of them in this book, I found myself confused and/or perplexed. If you want people to be open to a new topic why push them away by introducing so much new vocabulary all at once, often using words with similar but a tiny bit different meanings? For example one chapter talks about 'cultural racist ideas' while the next chapter talks about 'space racist ideas.' I understand that cultural appropriation isn't cool, but I am still not sure if I can adequately describe what is meant by space racists ideas, other than one shouldn't think that the White European way of doing things is best or even better.

If I were still running a high school library, I'd prefer This Book is Antiracist by Tiffany Jewell to this book, though I'm sure the shelves would have room for both. Jewell's book is more attractive to teens and I think, less confusing. As an adult, I learned more vocabulary to help move me toward antiracism from Layla Saad's Me and White Supremacy. Maybe that is because I read it first. I definitely think that all people should make an effort to move in the right direction toward being an antiracist. I suspect it will be a lifetime endeavor and we can all use whatever help is available to us on our journey. This book is one such resource.

Rating: 3.5 stars

After: A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal About Life and Beyond by Bruce Greyson, M.D. (St. Martin's Essentials, 2021)

Before my retirement in June of 2017 I was a high school librarian for the last twelve years of my career. I considered it part of my job to read as many books and as widely as I could in order to be able to make informed decisions about recommendations for both students and staff. Prior to my time in the library, I was a high school health and sociology teacher. I also considered reading as part of my job to stay current on new health or medical findings. Reading After by Dr. Bruce Greyson felt a little like an assignment to me. It was the type of book I would previously scour for new of interesting information to share with teachers in my role as a librarian or to enhance my classroom lessons as a teacher myself. But this time I was just reading it for myself and I found the task a bit arduous.

Let me summarize a few points I learned --

Dr. Greyson worked with Dr. Raymond Moody back in the 1970-80s. If you remember, Dr. Moody published the book Life and Life in 1975. In the book Moody recounted the 150 interviews he had with people who experienced near-death experiences. Many of the people reported stories of traveling through a tunnel, being surrounded by a light, and being greeted by loved ones or a divine being. I read this book in the late 1970s and was profoundly changed by it. It felt like a confirmation of my spiritual beliefs that there is indeed an afterlife. Greyson picked up where Moody left off and conducted real scientific studies to confirm the existence of NDE (near-death experiences) and found that somewhere around 20 of people who have died and been brought back to life experience them, though all don't have the same experience. He also developed a 20-question survey that practitioners could asked survivors to determine if they really experienced a NDE, standardizing the procedures.

In After Greyson sums up the different types of experiences people report after their NDE in chapters titled "Outside of Time", "The Life Review", and "Out of Their Bodies." There were less stories in their chapters than I would have liked but Greyson was making the point that not all NDE experiences were the same but many were similar. The middle chapters dealt with the biology of dying, the brain at death, and whether the mind and the brain are the same thing. I found the latter to be the most interesting as everyone who experienced a NDE experienced a freedom from their physical body and an unhooking from their minds. Most experienced comfort knowing that their soul will go on after death.

The last chapters tackled the spiritual experiences. What is "Heaven or Hell?", some people returned and recounted horrifying experiences, sure that they were saved from hell by coming back to life. Others were sure they were in heaven. Usually the words they used matched their own spiritual beliefs and practices, not just christian beliefs. And finally Greyson wrapped up with an accounting of what changes occured after people were given a second chance. Most, but not all, of the people who had a NDE came back as a new person. People saved from suicide never wanted to take their own life again, rough/selfish people did an about face and found love and empathy more important. Even a drug addict who died when he was withdrawing from his drugs, came back a changed man, never touching drugs again after recognizing how selfish he'd been.

I appreciate the book After for what it tells us about both life and death. I just felt a little like I was reading an assignment book so my rating reflects that feeling at 3.5 stars.

-Anne