This was the other March 2023 Reading Circle book selection. Wow! I loved this book! I read it in two days (due to the necessity of needing to get it read before book club) but it was not a chore! I felt like the writing was far better than the previous book (The Personal Librarian) and the story was so interesting and moving. I appreciated how the author did give a pretty good picture of some of the horrors, but didn’t make it all so gory that it was hard to read. In many ways, I think that method is more powerful. Reading this book has caused me to go searching for more information online. I have found several videos of other ‘train people’ accounts of their stories. Such a hard time. Again, I keep thinking about humans are just not great. We have perpetuated abuse and trauma on other humans throughout all time. And we do it to the weakest among us, too... like children. ugh. I hate that. I am thankful that there are also instances of good that shine through. And glad this author brought those to light. Where would be without that?
I loved the character of Neev, Dorothy, Vivian and especially loved her feistiness at 91. She was written perfectly and I could just picture her sitting on the chair looking at Molly... taking it all in and deciding to trust her and care for her. And I loved the Molly character - again so well written. I could feel her angst and pain and intelligence and desire to be better... but not lose herself. And her need (legit!) to put up walls. Knowing this kind of thing happens all the time - and even here in my town, I wish I could be a foster parent. That just wasn’t our gift. But I am impressed with those who do it well. I think there is a special place in hell for those who abuse it.
I would love to have a sequel to this book... to learn about how the daughter and granddaughter and Vivian work out? To find out how Molly does? And Jack? And Terry? I loved this book. Loved the characters and will be thinking about it for a long time.
Also, I remembered that there was something in the Chariton Collector and sure enough... found that Dana K. had written about the Orphan Train. Her article is entitled Train of Promise and appears in the Spring 1987 (Vol. 7, No. 2 Issue 14) issue of The Chariton Collector. It tells about a man in Brashear specifically and also another man in LaPlata. I feel like I remember there being several folks in Novinger (with the coal mines) who came on the orphan train. I'm confident not all the stories were as rosy as the two depicted in the Chariton Collector...
Rated 4.65 by Zoom Reading Circle.
The Personal Librarian. It is getting better. It was so slow to start and I don’t care as much for 1st person writing. But I am enjoying it now and am definitely intrigued by the real life lady the book is about. Also, interesting to read about JP Morgan ‘saving the US economy’ in 1895 and again ‘saving the banks/economy’ at the time of this book - 1909/1910. Especially since that bank just failed on Friday... Silicon Valley Bank. A friend texted me when that news broke that her sons company banks with that bank and now can’t make payroll because the bank failed - so all employees are on furlough. Monday the news came out that the government will step in and cover all money so I guess that means her sons company can make payroll, but it sure is a scary thing...
Pros - definitely interested in this fascinating woman from history that I had never heard of. I want to know more about the real woman.
Cons - keep feeling like they are just making up things for the story and some of those things are not very flattering. Is there actual precedent for their characterization of her and her behavior? Or is it just to make the book more scintillating? I would not be happy with some of the added things (like her slightly promiscuous behavior) if it is not documented. Just something I am thinking about.
Updated...
I found info at the actual Morgan Library website - there is total documentation of the affair between Belle and Bernard Berenson. For about 40 years. I am wondering if that means that the majority of information about Belle comes from her letters to him? I feel kind of badly for her if that is so... he was supposed to destroy them and clearly didn’t. And since she destroyed most of her papers and journals and correspondence, that means the sum total of knowledge of her is from those letters that he was supposed to get rid of. She probably wouldn’t like to know that...
However, I am soooo intrigued by this woman! I do want to know more. I see several other books that are suggested reading on the Morgan Library website so will try to get to at least one more from that list. Quite a story and quite a lady. Still weird about the passing - at first that threw me and I guess as a white woman I couldn’t figure out if that was ‘okay’ or not. That is silly of me and quite presumptuous, too, I guess. (and based on my reading of The Vanishing Half!) Looks like passing was more common at that point than I ever realized (common is relative, of course). Makes me think of the movie Passing that a friend had alerted me to.
What I do know is that our nation has consistently made it hard or impossible for people to 'rise up from their bootstraps' on their own. That is not even a 'thing', even though it is a mantra here. You can only 'rise up from your bootstraps' if you HAVE bootstraps; if you have some means or connection and certainly if you are white. At least that is how it was for so long. And that truly does matter and we must, at the very least, keep that in mind when we view history. Belle de Costa Greene was quite a woman who certainly took her future into her own hands and became a world famous librarian and expert in rare books.
Zoom Reading Circle rated the book, The Personal Librarian, at 3.74.
However, the true story of Belle de Costa Greene we rated 5+ :)
Truly I am utterly fascinated by the woman, Belle de Costa Greene. I have been searching for more information about her and found the following links quite interesting and helpful.
Here is a blog post from The Library of Congress about Belle de Costa Greene.
https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/02/belle-de-costa-greene/
Here is a video from The Morgan Library & Museum that I found so interesting. It delves further into the relationship between Belle and Bernard Berenson - and explains that he never destroyed the letters she wrote to him.
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| What a fun puzzle image! |
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| another delicious Chenin Blanc |
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| gotta love that big beautiful poster! |
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| 2020 Beaumont Chenin Blanc |
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| very nice - 4.5 stars! |
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| beautiful poster |
