Oresteia

Oresteia by Aeschylus, translated by Richard Lattimore, 171 pages

The Oresteia is a cycle of three plays relating the tragedy of the royal house of Mycenae in the aftermath of the Trojan War.  Agamemnon tells the story of the return of the king, accompanied by the captive Cassandra, and his murder by his wife Clytemnestra, who had taken his cousin Aegisthus as a lover during his decade-long absence.  The Libation Bearers continues the story as the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra avenges his father by slaying his mother.  Finally, in The Eumenides, the goddess Athena stands as judge between the titular Furies and Orestes, in the process establishing Athenian jurisprudence and domesticating the goddesses of vengeance.

Robert Lowell once admitted that it is impossible to recover the power of Aeschylus' drama, "something no doubt grander than any play we can see."  Perhaps some intimation of that power is available to us in these post-Enlightenment times, for meeting it outside the cramped blood-soaked ground of the grand narrative of progressive history, what the reader is immediately struck by is its earnest religiosity.  It is certainly possible for a crippled soul to dismiss Apollo, Athena, and even the Furies themselves as dramatic contrivances and ignore the atmosphere that surrounds them in favor of shallow psychologizing.  It is likewise trivial to invert the tale, to turn Clytemnestra into the righteous avenger of her sacrificed daughter, inevitably ending with her liberation of Cassandra into an unconvincing sisterhood.  If Aeschylus does not have true religion, it is certainly more true than any of the modern simulacra.  Aeschylus' cycle is a real myth, his tragedy rooted in a legacy of crime and guilt inherited both by the sons of Atreus and the daughters of Leda, a shared fault that stretches back into remotest antiquity, where it assumes unknowable cosmic proportions, and which can only be expiated by cult and sacrifice.

A Leap

A Leap by Anna Enquist  100 pages

The jacket copy is what inspired me to read this book…that and it was the August selection of my 2018 reading resolution to read twelve books that have been lounging on my bookshelf for years.

The first sentence of the jacket copy is “The characters in the monologues that make up “A Leap” are all looking for a home; for some kind of anchorage or self-realization, but circumstances or fate ensure that their goal remains elusive.”

That sentence really spoke to me soul.  Looking for a home…isn’t that what we all want?  A home. A place to call ours. A place to feel safe and secure.

There are five monologues in this short book. The first is from Alma Mahler, wife of composer Gustav and takes place in 1906. She is on the verge of a mid-life crisis. She should stay with the man for whom she gave up her ambitions, or have an affair with a old lover who has come back into her life.

The second monologue, is from a Jewish dressmaker, Mendel Bronstien, who leaves Rotterdam for America in 1912, but the trip is unexpectedly hard.

In 1940, Cato and Leendert, who also live in Rotterdam, are young lover trying to avoid the falling bombs as Europe rushes into WWII.

“The Doctor” also takes place in 1940s Rotterdam, and begins with a chilling sentence: “I should have killed him.” As a doctor, he must choose between his Hippocratic oath and the loathing he feels for the invading armies.

Finally, there is “…And I am Sara.” It’s the tale of a woman spending a night in her parents’ home while they are away, and how safe and comforted she feels.

I had a little bit of a tough time getting into this collection, mainly because I read Alma’s thought without speaking them aloud.  I felt a tad silly reading aloud to myself, but I believe that is how these words should be read.

When I finished each section, the story did not feel complete, I wanted more, which is why “A Leap” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

When All Is Said and Prayed

When All Is Said and Prayed by E.N. Joy Book 304 pages


When All Is Said and Prayed is about Paige and her life of many ups and downs. Paige has had 2 husbands, and is now desiring a third. She has had much drama in her life which can be found in previous series written by the author. This book was fine, that's the word for it. The characters, the plot, the development, all of it was just fine. The problem I had with this book was the author's shameful agenda pushing. This book does fall into the religious category, but the religion isn't the problem. I won't go into detail about which agenda was present, just the seeming lack of author integrity. The agenda was a problem because it felt like a break from the story, which I didn't want. All I wanted was to be told what happened. Reading what was an obvious attempt to have me adopt a certain belief made me feel cheated as a reader. It felt like the author stopped the story in order to tell me what to believe about a certain topic. This experience makes me wary to try another of this author's books, but we'll see.

Follow the River Home

Follow the River Home  by Corran Harrington  220 pages

At the heart of the beautifully, beautifully written novel, set along the Rio Grande River in New Mexico, is the sandhill crane. When Daniel Arroyo is eight year old, his neighbor, Helen Sedillo, teaches him about the sandhill cranes: “They’re heading to their winter home, Daniel, The river is like their road, only it’s called a flyway….If you save a place in the sky between April and November, they’ll come back again in the springtime.”

From the time he is eight, Daniel is searching for that road back home. It’s when he is eight that  his little sister, Carmen, dies. He suffers a form of PTSD from her death and believes it to be his fault.  As his family falls apart following her death, Daniel dabbles a bit with homosexuality with his best friend and neighbor across the street, Jeff.

Both boys are drafted and are sent to Vietnam. Daniel comes home, suffering from the most common form of PTSD, but Jeff does not. Daniel tries to live a normal life. He marries his high school sweetheart. Laura, and has a family. He still wrestles with unresolved homosexual tendencies. However, the one thing that gives him peace and helps him home is his work on the Rio Grande.

The river flowed in the irrigation ditch in front of his childhood home, and now he works collecting the water samples. It brings him peace and contentment that he cannot seem to find otherwise.

The book is broken into two parts. The first part, “The River Reader,” is a novella encompassing the events above. The second part, “The River Flyway” is an abrupt change. It’s mostly short stories which focus on other characters, like Jeff’s kid sister, Emily, and her battles with mental illness. I didn’t know who all the characters were and it was weird when the furniture in Daniels childhood home spoke. Still, the stories are beautifully written. Daniel is part of most of them and it’s near the end when readers learn what happened to cause Carmen’s death.

This book is so lyrical, moving and skillfully written I would give it 6 out of 5 stars, But because of the brusque change in voice, Follow the River Home gets 5 stars in Julie’s world.