Broken by Lisa Jones

Book Synopsis from Goodreads:
Writer Lisa Jones went to Wyoming for a four-day magazine assignment and came home four years later with a new life.

At a dusty corral on the Wind River Indian Reservation, she met Stanford Addison, a Northern Arapaho who seemed to transform everything around him. He gentled horses rather than breaking them by force. It was said that he could heal people of everything from cancer to Êbipolar disorder. He did all this from a wheelchair; he had been a quadriplegic for more than twenty years.

My Thoughts:
For me, this book was another eye-opener. And not just in the way it portrays the current condition of some Native American tribes but also because it reminds us how one person can become the source of strength for many. I think that's what spoke the loudest. The central figure of the book is an Arapaho horse gentler, Stanford Addison, who continued his father's work on the Wind River Indian Reservation...but in a very different way. When he was a boy learning from his father, they broke in horses sometimes using aggressive techniques and intimidation to get the results the horse owners needed. Stanford lived a similarly wild life with little regard to the consequences of being reckless. This resulted in a car wreck that left him broken and a quadriplegic for life. It was after this that he began to see the world differently. Hard moments coupled with the new and unsettling presence of ghosts led Stanford to approach his work in a more compassionate way. He developed new methods of taming wild horses without using fear. He passed these techniques on to the younger generations of the tribe, but his reach didn't end there.
                   Stanford, without meaning to or even wanting to, became a magnet for the sick and the broken. People from all over the country and the world came to his home for guidance or to take part in one of his famous sweat lodges. Some people even wound up staying with him or his family for an extended period of time. The author, Lisa Jones, who became one of these people recounts these moments. Despite his own struggles, he never seemed to turn anyone away.
                   That, to me, is the pivotal message behind the book. The author does have her own epiphanies as a result of being around the horse trainer, but that becomes secondary as you start to realize the reach this man had. His offer of help and guidance, opening his home that, to many, became a sanctuary although it was falling apart; these life-changing gestures are done in such a nonchalant and unassuming way. It's a lesson in humility. 
                  Lisa Jones relates this humility in a refreshing and biting form of honesty. She is sincere in her love of Stanford, but she doesn't hold back any punches. Her writing is lyrical and on point.

My Favorite Quotes: "To begin a scary task is to be close to finishing it. In fact, beginning takes more courage than anything else, because once you make contact with the forces of nature, your most practical and clear-eyed self emerges."

The Author

Stanford Addison

Mulengro by Charles De Lint

Book synopsis from Goodreads:

        The increasingly bizarre murders have baffled the police--but each death is somehow connected with the city's elusive Gypsy community. The police are searching for a human killer, but the Romany know better. They know the name of the darkness that hunts them down, one by one: Mulengro.

 

My Thoughts:

       Well, folks, De Lint did it again. He wrote another good book. (Shocker!) Charles De Lint is the White Wizard of urban fantasy, but he takes a slightly different turn with "Mulengro," and dishes out some good horror. It's dark, it's violent, it's gory. But the story still has that special something that all De Lintian stories have. I can't even explain it properly, but every time I read him he reminds me of the raw magic that exists in every single moment and day. If you haven't read him before, try "Greenmantle" or "Moonheart." If you like fantasy you'll be hooked.
          As a writer, I catch myself trying to dissect the author's style. Near the beginning of the book, I came across a character description that I absolutely loved:

"Briggs looked up at his partner's call. Will Sandler was a tall and sharp-featured black man who went through life in a constant state of suppressed tension. It showed in the taut pull of the skin at his temples, around his eyes and the corners of his mouth, in the bird-like darting of his gaze. He contrasted sharply with the unimposing figure that Briggs cut- five-eight with a perpetual slouch that made him appear shorter, dark hair that was prematurely gray at the temples, sorrowful eyes. His suit was rumpled, tie loose, shoes scuffed. Will, on the other hand, always looked like he'd just left his tailor's. But the two men made an effective pair, for their strengths augmented each other's weak points. Briggs was a slow mover, a deliberate collector of details with little imagination, while Will's mind moved in intuitive lunges. Since they'd been paired, their success on cases had reached a departmental high of sixty-seven percent."

        So you're just meeting these guys and already you have a SENSE of them. Good writing.  The next scene that just sealed the deal for me that Charles De Lint is magnificent is that he actually has a moment in the book where the cat, Boboko (who is a talking cat, by the way), is watching on TV what his owner is dreaming of in the next room....!?! And the way he describes it is so vivid that it borderlines on intense.
        All in all, this book will keep you interested. There are enough characters from different backgrounds and with different perspectives that it creates a variety that will not bore you. Also, if you are interested in gypsies (or Rom) then you will fly through this book. It moves quickly, but once you reach the last quarter of the book it is fast-moving and action-packed.

Favorite Quote (by one superb hippie named Zach): "Some say that the devil's like a big old ugly black dog...there's a little piece of him in every one of us- a place where it's dark and our fears grow, where anger comes roaring up and bad vibes hang out. And the thing we've got to do in this life is to, like, keep that darkness down and not let it creep up and take us over. That's how you get an evil man, you know. He doesn't come from a bad family, or a bad street or a bad part of town. He comes from somebody who wasn't strong enough to hold back the darkness, or was too lazy to, or just plain didn't care. I think they freak me out the most-the ones that don't care."

The Author

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

Book Synopsis on Goodreads: 
Sisters Gillian and Sally Owens were brought up by their two elderly guardian aunts in a world of spells and exotica. As the magical charm of their childhood wears away, they escape from this mystical mayhem - one by running away, the other by marrying. Many years go by before strange circumstances thrust them together again, and once more they are in a place that blends the mundane and mysterious, the familiar and fantastic. Three generations of Owens women are brought together in an experience of unexpected insight and revelation, teaching all of them that such perceptions are rare and wonderful and - to be sure - practical.

My Thoughts: 
Alice Hoffman writes the modern-day fairy tale. There's a harshness in her books that's reminiscent of fairy tales before Disney got a hold of them. But she balances it with a healthy dose of whimsy and magic. Her language is concise and simple, but the way she describes things creates very strong imagery. Her books are always a treat and so was this one. Especially since it's so different from the movie. In fact, forget the movie. It was good, but the book focuses more on the sisters and the two younger girls than it does on the aunts or the ghost of Gillian's boyfriend. You get an extremely personal look into the lives of two women and two girls on the brink of becoming women; their fears, insecurities, sexuality and love lives. The book doesn't have the somewhat hokey quality that the movie has in regard to witches and magic. Even if this book isn't up your alley, at least give the author a try. You won't regret it.

Favorite Quotes: “My darling girl, when are you going to realize that being normal is not necessarily a virtue? It rather denotes a lack of courage." - Aunt Frances” 

“The moon is always jealous of the heat of the day, just as the sun always longs for something dark and deep.” 


Author Tidbit: After being treated for breast cancer at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, she helped establish the hospital's Hoffman Breast Center.