Title: The Rum Diary Author: Hunter S. Thompson

The Rum Diary is a brilliant, tangled love story of jealousy, treachery and violent alcoholic lust in the Caribbean boomtown that was San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the late 1950's.  Exuberant and man, youthful and energetic, The Rum Diary is an outrageous, drunken romp...

Paul Kemp, a writer from New York,  tries his luck with a small, English newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  He arrives in front of an old greenish building that looks like a warehouse.  Outside the front door 20 Puerto Rican are attacking a tall American who '...was standing on the steps, swinging a big, wooden sign like a baseball bat.'

Kemp waits for the fight to break up before ducking inside.  Away from the havoc on the street Kemp appreciates the familiarity of the office.  He's welcomed by his new boss and a few co-workers offer to take him out for food and drinks at Al's, their local hangout.

Sala, the photographer, advises Kemp, "the first thing you learn here is to avoid the restaurants... Dysentery, crabs, gout, Hutchinson's Disease, you can get anything here..."

Kemp finds himself being drawn into a type of friendship with some of the men, including Sala and the tall American, a trouble-maker named Yeamon.

For the first week or so Kemp divides his time between his hotel and the office or out drinking at Al's.  He's reliable with his assignments, to the delight of his boss, who always complains about the degenerates and thieves and the wine heads who are ruining his paper.  The rumours in the office claim the paper will up and close at any time.  Kemp is comforted by the fact that he has enough money saved to survive or at least buy a plane ticket home should he need one.  In the meantime he dives right into the life of a journalist in the hot Caribbean.

He accepts an invitation to Yeamon's house out near the beach.  It seems that Yeamon has a picturesque life with his girlfriend Chenault and live lobster hunting out past the yard, which is more like a private beach.  Kemp can't help but fantasize about the beautiful, petite Chenault.  He envies Yeamon and wants what he has.  Kemp realizes that if he wants what his friend has he can't keep staying at the hotel.  Luckily, Sala agrees to let him stay at his apartment.

"You don't think I'll get on your nerves?" Kemp asks.

"I'm never there - it's too depressing," his friend replies.

With a place to at change his clothes and sleep a little Kemp feels better, but begins to avoid the place as much as possible.  It's barely a room and a bed.  Instead, Kemp falls in with Sanderson who hosts excellent parties and always seems in the know.  Kemp allows himself to feel optimistic about life in Puerto Rico around Sanderson, who believes whole-heartedly that San Juan is a golden opportunity; an endlessly lucrative paradise. 

The days begin to pass in a routine involving late mornings, a few hours of work followed by the casino then Al's, or the occasional party.  Rum flows freely and is easier to come by than coffee.  When not with Sanderson Kemp spends his time with Sala and Yeamon, even after Yeamon is fired over his refusal to change a story.  Things at the office are tense, even with Yeamon gone as his workload must be redistributed.  The boss tries to get Kemp to take over as Editor and Publisher, but Kemp declines.  He doesn't want to trade more money for more responsibility.  He'd rather join Sala through the endless cocktail parties, schmoozing with San Juan's Kingpins, taking pictures and stealing booze. 

'It was a good feeling to have a stock of rum that would never run out, but after a while [Kemp] could no longer stand even a few minutes at each party, and... had to give it up.'

One drunk afternoon at Yeamon's leads to a drunk evening at the local pub.  Yeamon claims to have an open tab and the three of them eat and drink their fill.  It seems like a fine evening until the manager demands Yeamon square up his bill.  Sala and Kemp both offer to pay, but Yeamon refuses and simply walks out with Sala and Kemp scurrying along behind.  It's not long before two carloads of Puerto Rican's chase them down.  A brawl breaks out as the locals attack the Americans.

'...through the numbness [Kemp] knew they were hurting [him] and [he] was suddenly sure [he] was going to die... [he] was being kicked to death in a Puerto Rican jungle for eleven dollars and fifty cents.'

The police show up only to haul the unruly Americans to jail where they abuse them further and deny them access to a phone.  Kemp recognizes the journalist who works the police beat and screams out for him to help.

"Moberg... Call... a lawyer."

They spend the next six hours in a tiny cell full of Puerto Rican's.  They can't sit down because the floor is foul with human waste.

'[Kemp] felt safe as long as [they] could supply [the locals] with cigarettes, but... wondered what would happen when [they] ran out.'

The men are eventually called into court, which is entirely Spanish.  Yeamon demands a translation of the proceedings and is ignored.  Kemp fears an ugly outcome until Sanderson shows up to rescue the lot of them.  He throws around some impressive names and some fancy words which seem to placate the judge.  Bail is set at $2,300.  Kemp doesn't argue much.  He's too happy being free.

'The fact that [he] spent all night in a cell... made that morning one of the most beautiful [he'd] ever seen.'

The night makes him rethink the way he's living.  He wants a car, and his own apartment '- a place where [he] could relax... and maybe even take a girl once in a while.'

With a new, lucrative assignment from Sanderson he is hopeful to find someplace half decent.  After locating an apartment suite above a garage he begins to feel like maybe he could start calling the place home. 

Yeamon and Chenault invite him to join them at a carnival in St. Thomas.  They promise him a good drunk while there.  The trip happens to coincide with his assignment for Sanderson.  Kemp would already be half way to the island of St. Thomas and after some deliberation decides to accept.  He arrives in St. Thomas to the chaos of steel drums, marching bands and the deafening roar of engines.  He manages to find Yeamon and Chenault.  Yeamon doesn't feel like dancing, and Kemp claims he's only there to drink, but Chenault insists they join the party and is practically carried away by the mob and the music.  With no choice but to follow her the two men weave their way through the crowd.  They spend the night with cheap rum and swiftly melting ice, drifting from bar to party to street mob and back.  They find a quiet beach just before dawn and pass out in the sand.

The next evening they continue their drunken wander from street party to bar before they're pulled away to a private house party where they have to pay $3 each just to get in.  The dark house is crowded and bursting with music.  Kemp and Yeamon lose track of Chenault only to find her in the middle of the dance floor swaying mindlessly with a small, dark man.  She's dropped her skirt and begins to slowly unpop each button on her blouse.  Flinging it into the crowd she's left in nothing but her flimsy panties and modest New York bra.  Yeamon and Kemp try to push through the mass to get to her, but a half-naked blonde beauty dancing half naked in a room full of men sets a riot of bodies seething forward for a better look.

Kemp and Yeamon struggle to pull her out before the rest of her clothes disappear but are held back by the others.  Before they can break away the man grabs Chenault and drags her through the house.  Kemp and Yeamon are thrown into a cab and sent away without Chenault.  Kemp vows to go to the police, who basically do nothing.  Yeamon hopes she's somehow made her way back to San Juan without them.  Kemp is not so optimistic.

Back home Kemp is happy to be on more familiar territory.  He settles back into some semblance of his old routine in spite of his constant worry about Chenault.  Those worries are slowly replaced by the constant barrage of rumours suggesting the paper's about to close.  Kemp isn't sure what he'll do if that happens, but continues on, business as usual, with long, rum soaked evenings.  It's a type of paradise, albeit a filthy one.

A dark tale of human passion and our lust for self-destruction A Rum Diary is a seedy story of old San Juan; a booze soaked glimpse into the secluded Caribbean Island and the inhabitants there.  This book leaves the reader with the feeling of gritty Caribbean life.

Click here to purchase A Rum Diary.

Title: The Body of Christopher Creed Author: Carol Plum-Ucci

When Christopher Creed, the class freak and whipping boy, suddenly disappears without a trace, first his fellow students, then all the citizens of Steepleton join in to speculate on what could have happened to him.  As fingers begin pointing, the town starts to fall apart and several lives are changed forever.  innovative and intense, The Body of Christopher Creed will grab the reader and hang on until its chilling conclusion.

Torey Adams is a well-liked high-school student in a respectably historic town in South New Jersey.  Both has parents are successful in their careers and some see Torey's life as perfect.  He's got a beautiful girlfriend and enjoys comfortable life until he finds out that his classmate, Chris Creed, is missing.  There's no body yet, but the town can't help but speculate the details.  Did he just walk out of his life?  Commit suicide? 

Torey's group of friends cling to the gossip that he was murdered, possibly by someone from their school.  His friends all make jokes, particularly one outsider named Bo Richardson.  None of them can give the disappearance the respect it deserves.  This bothers Torey.  He reconnects with Ali, a girl he'd been better friends with in the past.  She seems affected by the disappearance and confides a lot of Chris's secrets to Torey.  As Chris's next door neighbour she has a great view of the Creed's house from her bedroom window.  She invited Torey over the next night to spy on the family's weird behaviour.  He agrees, even though he knows it'll look bad if it gets back to his girlfriend.  But Ali assures him that her boyfriend is coming over as well, which will help dispel rumours.  Besides, he feels a distance between him and his friends and thinks some time with Ali might help with his discomfort at how life has been unfolding. 

'What bugged [him] was how quick people were to think that [Chris] had been murdered... It was easier to point the finger at somebody else... Something inside him felt totally ready to be completely nice to the rejects - people like Creed...'

At Ali's he's able to shed the pressure from his friends and indulge in the mystery of the disappearance.  They watch the Creed family from her bedroom window.  Apparently, Mrs. Creed has a habit of meticulously searching Chris's room every night.  Ali speculates that she's looking for Chris's diary.  She thinks Mrs. Creed thinks it has some secret as to her son's whereabouts.

Soon, Ali's boyfriend shows up and Torey is surprised to see it's none other than Bo Richardson.  Torey is surprised to find the older boy kinder and more compassionate than anyone had ever given him credit for.  Sill, Bo remains true to his reputation as trouble-maker by suggesting they break into the Creed's house to steal the diary.  Torey concocts a plan based on a movie he saw once.  He'll phone the Creed residence from a pay phone demanding money in exchange for information regarding their son.  They think this will lure the parents out of the home giving Bo the opportunity to break into the house.  It worked so well in the movie, but has a disastrous chain-effect resulting in Torey, Bo and Ali getting hauled into the police station for questioning.  Bo is determined to take the consequences but Torey feels guilty.  His only relief is the fact that his mom is a lawyer who finds herself almost obligated to help Bo out of the worst of it. 

For all the trouble it caused their plan was successful.  Bo succeeded in procuring the diary from the house.  Ali and Torey become obsessed with the words inside.  Through the scribbled handwriting they discover that Chris had a girlfriend in another town; a girl he worked with.  A girl named Isabella Karzdan.  They read further to find out Chris saw a psychic with this girl.  Torey looks the girl up in the phone book and Ali and him take a trip to visit her.  She's nothing like Chris described in his diary.  This tells Ali and Torey that Chris wrote down a highly imagined life.  Isabella reveals that the psychic is her aunt and asks if they'd like to meet her.  Torey is skeptical, but when she tells him that he'll find the body in the woods under some boulders he can't help but be curious.  He knows the exact spot Isabella's aunt is describing.  Desperate to get to the bottom of the mystery he proceeds to check the area out.  It's then that he makes a most gruesome discovery.

The Body of Christopher Creed reveals the complex world of both high-school and adulthood and twists in a mystery so compelling you'll want to devour the story just to find the answer to what, exactly, happened to Christopher Creed?

Click here to purchase The Body of Christopher Creed. 

Title: Things Fall Apart Author: Chinua Achebe

Things Fall Apart tells two intertwining stories, both centering on Okonkwo, a "strong man" of an Ibo village in Nigeria.  The first, a powerful fable of the immemorial conflict between the individual and society, traces Okonkwo's fall from grace with the tribal world.  The second, as modern as the first is ancient, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world with the arrival of aggressive European missionaries.

These perfectly harmonized twin dramas are informed by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history and the mysterious compulsion of the soul.

Okonkwo 'was tall and huge and his bushy eyebrows and wide nose gave him a very severe look... he had no patience with unsuccessful men.'

Unoka, his father, was an unsuccessful man and growing up under his father's failures pushed Okonkwo to become an independently wealthy and powerful man in his community.  He worked hard and expected his family to follow his lead.  Through his strength of will and determination he quickly became someone respected by the clan.  He was given a boy from another tribe who ended up quite dear to him, not that he could ever admit it.

One day, another older, more respected man came to visit.

"Do not bear a hand in his death," the man warned.

Okonkwo is surprised and quickly learns that for some reason, after three years, the Oracle, a woman of vision and prophesy, has decided the boy should die.  The old man advises Okonkwo to stay home that day.  Unable to show even any weakness Okonkwo feels it's his duty to go to the killing ceremony of the boy who calls him 'father.'  Once there, the boy runs to him in fear, for comfort, but Okonkwo struck him down with his very own machete.

"What you have done will not please the Earth," the old man warned when he learns of Okonkwo's actions.

"The Earth cannot punish me for obeying it's messenger," Okonkwo argued, speaking of the Oracle.

But the death of the boy weighed heavily on his mind and his heart.

It isn't long before he learned that his second wife's only child was dying.  It was suspected by many that the girl was an 'ogbanje, one of the wicked children who, when they died, entered their mother's wombs to be born again.'  His second wife bore ten children, all but one had died before their third birthday.  Finally, Okonkwo called on a medicine man skilled with the ogbanje spirits.  But the girl remained sickly, albeit, alive.  The had even found her token that tied the evil spirit to it's malicious cycle and destroyed it.  Still, the child fell ill.  Okonkwo felt he had no choice but to interfere with the mother as she cared for her sick child.  He told her how to make a potion and together they prayed it would work.  He would never say it out loud, but the girl was secretly his favourite child.

It wasn't long before the priestess to the Oracle came, half possessed with prophesy calling for the sick girl.  Okonkwo and his wife strive to come up with excuses to why she can't come out.  Shrieking with madness the priestess insists and the girl is handed over.  His wife tried to follow the woman who has her child, terrified as to why she'd been summoned.  The family had already lost one child to her whims, they couldn't bear one more.  She follows the priestess all night only to find the woman placing the sleeping child back in her bed at early morning light.

Pleased that his daughter was safe but still mourning the loss of the boy, Okonkwo was not able to continue living his peaceful, prosperous life in the village for much longer. During a burial ceremony for an elder Okonkwo accidentally kills the dead man's youngest son.  It is forbidden to kill a fellow clansman and the offence results in the expulsion of Okonkwo and his family for seven years.  They must seek refuge in his mother's land among his mother's people.  They are warmly welcomed by his mother's people, but the exile has devastated the family.  They live their lives as best they can while Okonkwo strives to recreate his former glory.  He advises his daughters not to marry into this more unfamiliar tribe.

 'With two beautiful, grown up daughters his return [home] would attract considerable attention.'

It's during this time that the missionaries came to the community proclaiming in the name of the one true God and his son, Jesu Kristi.  Okonkwo scoff's at the message, convinced the white missionary is mad.

'But there was one  young lad who had been captivated... Okonkwo's first son... [though] he dared not go too near the missionaries for fear of his father.'

But the lure of the new religion was too strong and the boy chose to forsake his family for the new way.  

Okonkwo was eventually able to move home, though he finds his tribe changed.  The new religion had flourished and had attracted many different faces to the church.

His world, irrevocably changed, left Okonkwo in a state of disbelief.  People were being indoctrinated into thinking their ways, the ways of their fathers, were bad, evil, something to disown.  Okonkwo tries to rally the tribe against the missionaries, but not everyone was as bothered by the changes as he was.  His son chose to go to a new training school for teachers.  This news makes Okonkwo furious.

'Okonkwo was deeply grieved... He mourned for the clan, which he saw breaking up and falling apart.'

The change that descended on him proved too much for him to bear as he clings, desperately, to the old, familiar ways.

Things Fall Apart is a rare glimpse into tribal African life; it's rules and complexities laid glaringly bare.  It shows you a world both before and after the reign of Empires showing what it was like to have your world changed overnight by forces directed at you from across strange seas.

Click here to purchase Things Fall Apart.

Title: The Tree-Sitter Author: Suzanne Matson

Julie Prince is a college student at the top of her class and seems destined for conventional success.  But then she falls in love with Neil, a radical environmental activist and graduate student writing on the economics of deforestation.  At his urging she abandons her privileged East Coast life to tree-sit in the forests of Oregon.  Julie at first regards the journey as a romantic field trip; soon, though, she finds herself increasingly moved by the lush magnificence of the endangered forest and, like Neil, invested in its protection.  As Neil veers towards militant acts of sabotage, Julie is forced to reassess her loyalties and beliefs: How much damage is done by doing nothing?  When is it wrong to do good to zealously?  How can she choose between the boy she loves and her own sense of righteousness and morality?  Exploring this edge, The Tree-Sitter is a riveting and beautiful novel about learning the price of love and idealism.

Julie Prince, a year away from graduating from Wesley, accompanies her boyfriend to Oregon to protest the logging companies by occupying old growth forests.  Her mother thinks she has no business protesting in the woods and warns her of the risks.

"Surely, you, yourself, wouldn't want to do anything illegal?  Not with your bright future."

But the prospect of being arrested doesn't phase Julie as she's not thinking of the action part of activist, only the road trip, the trees, Neil.

'Before the trip... [she'd] never camped, not really.'

Julie is the produce of an overachieving mother, the daughter of a trust fun.  to her, money is a blanket of security, comfort, ability.  Neil, however, grew up with less affluential means and finds it difficult to accept her money, even for necessities like food, shelter, and gas for the long trip west.  Julie wants to spend more time on the road trip, sightseeing, exploring the great American landscape.  All too soon they reach their destination, a little town called Eugene.  Their contact is named Mudman, their driver, once they reach Eugene is named Shaman.  No real names are used, nothing personal, no backgrounds, everything is supposed to remain anonymous, for safety reasons. 

Shaman drives them as far as he can into the forest before pointing out a skinny trail that will lead them into the heart of the logging protest.  They've been given a grocery list to carry with them to help keep the camp in supplies, the 'straps dug uncomfortably into [her] shoulders...'  They finally reach the site and are told to give no info other than their chosen aliases.  Neil chooses River and Julie picks Emerald, a name she is immediately embarrassed by and regrets.  She's worried they'll get into trouble as they're briefed on the rules. 

"If detained, if questioned, know nothing... If taken into custody with another, know nothing about that other..."

They are told to memorize the number to a pro-bono lawyer should they fall into police hands.  But Julie isn't interested in breaking the law, she wants to sit in the trees.  They have to train,l practice how to use the ropes correctly, the ropes that will lift them the dizzying height into the canopy above.  The tree's they're protecting are enormously bigger than she imagined and the prospect of ascending one is terrifying.  With fear and doubt edging in she has no choice but to climb up.  At the top she is horrified.  From her vantage point she can see the terrific damage the clear cutting has done to the mountain face. 

'...like the shaved hide of a lamb.  [She] was gripped by the thought of hose little [the remaining] 1% was, how irrevocable it's loss...'

She makes their tree fort as homey as she can among the boughs, the lush foliage thick over their heads.  Their time up there is peaceful, she learns more about Neil, begins to understand his point of view, his zest for action.  She enjoys her experience.  Time ceases to exist as it once had, priorities shift into place that far lost in nature.  She begins to realize that what they're doing is important, worthy.  Their stillness is ruined by loggers.  They swarm at the bass of the tree and hurl insults upwards, cursing and throwing profanities at the tree-sitters above.  She is repulsed and a little frightened by them.

'Was it selfish to love my one little life and want to cling to it?  Compared to death or injury at the hands of the company, arrest suddenly seemed a petty thing... Rage suddenly played a role in what [she] believed.  [She] had met the enemy.'

They leave the shelter of the tree shortly after and Neil begins to take an interest in other plans.  She's warned not to ask too many questions being told it's better not to know too much.  But she is determined to stay with Neil and agrees to go  back with him to Eugene.  There she finds out about his secret plans to sabotage the local lumber company and demands to be given a role. 

She agrees to apply for a job at the local logging office as a temp for the summer.  It starts off as a simple scouting mission, but she's offered the job on the spot.  She decides to take the job as an opportunity to disclose inside information about the company.  The others are impressed and so begins her job as a mole.  She collects lots of information over the few short months she works there and is shocked to find herself torn between her repulsion at the company's intense interest in profit and the fact that the office workers are all nice, polite, normal people who happened to be employed by the company.  She never knows the difference her information makes to the protesters but she asks they leave the office alone.

"You know we can't promise that," Neil tells her.

The night of her 21st birthday she finds out that Neil is planning on setting a bomb at the local SUV dealership.  They believe it'll send a message to the gas-guzzling families to stop buying vehicles that ruin the environment. 

'If people bought SUV's to feel... safer... [they wanted to challenge] that illusion.'

The bomb doesn't go off in the middle of the night like they hoped, instead it explodes the next morning.  One man is seriously hurt.  Julie is outraged.  Neil had told her no one would get hurt.

They're afraid to get caught for the crime and agree to leave town.  Julie is only partially sad at leaving the group as they make their way further west to the coast, presumably to finish their road trip.  Neil tells her he's going back, back to Eugene, back to the trees.

"Go back and work in the movement," she tells him.  "But why do you think that being an activist means becoming a terrorist?"

His arguments are simple and evasive.  She realizes he won't change his mind.  It turns into a moment where she has to make her own decision: return to real life, or go back to the trees with him.

The Tree-Sitter is an unassuming novel that won't let you put it down once you start.  It's relevant message can be enjoyed by all, whether you love the trees, are an activist, or not.  It compares daily life with the life of the wild, showing the reader the underbelly of logging and activists.  It makes no demands of the reader to change in any way, but you'll feel differently about the environment and our modern way of life once it's finished.

Click here to purchase The Tree-Sitter.

Title: A Long Walk to Water Author: Linda Sue Park

Salva walks away from his war-torn village.  He is a "lost-boy" refugee, destined to cover Africa on foot, searching for his family and safety.

We meet Salva at his school.  It's a typical day when sudden gunfire shakes the doldrums from the class.  The teacher urges the students to run and they scatter in all directions, abandoning the school.  Salva run in the opposite direction from his village, from his family.  He runs so far he eventually meets up with other travelers on the road. It's a large group and they're told to break off into groups according to village.  Salva is comforted by familiar faces, though he knows no one well.  They walk all day, sleep by the side of the road at night, walking the rest of the day as well.  They find a barn the next night but Salva wakes up alone.  They've left him.

Alone, he keeps walking until he comes upon an isolated home of an elderly woman.  She allows him to live in her barn for exchange for work.  He joins with another, larger group of strangers who come by her house.  After a while he meets a boy about his age and they become friends. This new friend, Marial, tells Salva he thinks they're going East.

"East of Sudan is Ethiopia," he said.

Salva has been walking for a month and is sure he'll never see his family again.  With luck he finds his Uncle who joined the group somewhere along the way.  Salva is overjoyed to see him.  He's been in the army and is in possession of a gun.

"...I'm going to shoot us a fine meal as soon as we come across anything worth eating."

His Uncle is a provider for the group and Salva eats well, the group eats well, but they're not the only ones.  They're passing through lion territory; 'some of the fiercest in the world.'  Salva is woken up wailing and discovers his friend was taken by lions.  Salva is devastated but the group keeps walking.  They walk until they reach the Nile where they stop long enough to build boats for the journey across. Once on the other side they're told to collect as much water as possible for the next part of the journey to Ethiopia; crossing the Akobo desert, where there is no water to spare.  It is his Uncle who helps him cross that parched desert. Step by step, one step at a time.  One night they're attacked, robbed, and his Uncle is shot dead.

With his Uncle gone the protection Salva had has vanished with it.  The group begins to grumble that Salva is too young, too small to survive with them, that he'll slow them down.

'No one shared anything with him, neither food nor company.  Uncle had always shared the animals and birds he shot with everyone in the group.  But it seemed they had all forgotten that, for Salva now had to beg for scraps which were given grudgingly.'

They make it across the desert to the Itang refugee camp, where there were thousands upon thousands of people.  Salva is grouped with other boys without families.  He remembers his Uncle's advice and takes it one step at a time.  He lives in the camp for many years and by the time he's 17 the Ethiopian government collapses, the camp is closed and the refugees are forced to leave.  Soldiers chase them to the deadly Gilo river by shooting into the crowd.  Over a thousand people die trying to cross that river; being shot by soldiers, swept downstream or eaten by crocodiles.

Salva becomes the unoffical leader of a group of 1500 boys, some as young as 5 years old.

'He organized the group, giving everyone a job... whatever food or water they found was shared equally among them.  When the smaller boys grew too tired to walk the older boys took turns carrying them on their backs.'

Finally, after a year and a half they arrive in Kenya,  but the camps they find there are abysmal with little food, medical help, nothing.  Salva makes a point to learn to speak and read English with the help of an Irish volunteer.  It helps him secure a spot on the list of boys going to live in America.  A family sponsors him and he finds himself on a plane to New York where he has a chance to go to college.  He holds the idea in his heart to return to his homeland to somehow help the people there.  He gets his wish, and not only returns to Sudan but also receives word that his father is alive.  He goes to visit him in the hospital where he also learns his mother and siblings are all alive and living in his old village.  It gives Salva an idea to help the people and families of Sudan.  It takes years to raise enough money but by following the advice of his Uncle, Salva makes his life work come true, one step at a time.

A Long Walk to Water has two stories, the one of Salva, and then of the people he helps with is dream.  It's a book of daring, of never giving up even in the face of extreme adversity.  The book is a story of hope, of determination and the power of a dream.  It shows that anyone can change their world with the right attitude and a positive heart.

Click here to purchase A Long Walk to Water.

Title: The Pecan Man Author: Cassie Dandridge Selleck

In the summer of 1976, recently widowed and childless, Ora Lee Beckworth hires a homeless old black man to mow her lawn.  The neighborhood children call him the Pee-can Man; their mothers call them inside whenever he appears.  When he is arrested for murder, only Ora knows what really happened in the woods where Eddie lived.  But truth is a fickle thing, and a lie is self-perpetuating.  Ora and her maid Blanche soon find themselves in a web of lies that send an innocent man to prison for the rest of his life.  Twenty-five years later, Ora sets out to tell the truth about the Pecan Man.

Ora Lee Beckworth lives in Mayville, Florida and has a negro servant named Blanche who's worked with her so long they've become friends.  Ora Lee is 82 years old sharing what she knows of the events that happened when she was 57, 25 year ago when she hired the homeless man, known to others as the Pecan Man, but who's real name is Eddie, to keep care of her yard.  The whole neighbourhood was scandalized, but Ora Lee, being as old as she was, couldn't care less.  Eventually they became used to seeing him around their homes and stopped calling their kids inside when he was around.

One day Ora Lee comes home to find Blanche sitting with her youngest daughter asleep on her lap.  Blanch is crying, sobbing, heavy tears as she clutched the child.

"It ain't all right, Miss Ora.  It ain't all right and it ain't never gonna be all right."

Ora Lee takes the sleeping child from her friend and places her in bed.  That's when she see's blood trickling down the inside of that poor baby's legs and realizes the awful offense that's been done to that precious child.  She confronts Blanche, tells her to go to the police, but Blanche knows that going to the police will only bring more confusion and pain.  Ora Lee assures her she'll make sure justice was done.

"I know Chief Kornegay..." she tells her maid.

"...It was [his] son did this to Grace."

Ora Lee suggests that Grace continue to come to her house after school.  Soon the entire family is used to the changes and sometimes accompany Grace on her visits.  Ora Lee is happy to have the company of so many youthful girls in the house.  No one suspects anything until Thanksgiving.  Ora Lee invites Blanche's family for dinner and makes sure to invite Eddie as well.  After dinner Ora Lee is sitting out on her porch with Blanche's son, Marcus, and Eddie when Eddie asks, "How's dat l'il girl doin'?"

Ora Lee is sputtered into silence as she finds out he's the one who found her that fateful day.  Marcus picks up on the tension and starts to question Eddie. 

"I think I done talked outta turn," Eddie managed.  "I thought the family knowed all about it."

Blanche kept it from them by convincing Grace it was all a bad dream. 

Later that night, after the rest of the family's gone home, Marcus shows up at Ora Lee's door bleeding and covered in blood.  He tells her he followed Eddie home and made him tell the truth about what happened to Grace.  He then reveals he ran into Skipper Kornegay, the boy who'd committed the crime, on the way back home.  He say's they got into a fight and Skipper pulled a knife on him.  In the scuffle Marcus manages to take the knife.

"I stabbed him, Miz Ora.  Over and over and over..."

She insists he stay the night and lets him borrow her car to make his way home to Fort Bragg where he's been working for the army.  She tells him what his story is if anyone tries to question him.  She's determined to see that boy go, knowing he'd spend the rest of his life in jail for what happened to the Kornegay kid.

Later that morning after he's left and Blanche has already arrives the police show up at her door.  Ora Lee fears the worst, that somehow they've discovered the truth.  The reason for their visit is much more tragic than that.

"I'm sorry... Marcus was killed in a car accident this morning..."

They bury Marcus in the graveyard next to his Daddy and Ora Lee hopes the awful truth is buried with him.  Until she finds out that Eddie's been arrested for the murder.  Knowing his innocence she strives to pull some strings with old friends with power, trying to help the elderly man.  They do their best at her assurance of his innocence but Eddie pleads guilty to the crime.

She tries to talk him out of it, unwilling to accept his ill-fate.

"It's the safest place for me.  They got a bed and a toilet and three meals a day, and it won't cost me a dime," he tells her.

She can't argue with his logic but is torn to see him put away for a crime he never committed.  She vows to both visit him, bringing him homemade baked goods on every visit, and that someday everyone will know the truth, starting with Police Chief Ralph Kornegay.  Her story will rock the family and bring to light many more truths that might've died with Eddie.  She reveals secrets they've all carried for too long.

The Pecan Man is a touching story of a woman who's fate is linked with that of her maid's family.  She learns valuable lessons about justice, fairness and colour at a time when black's had little in society.  She finds a family in them she never thought possible and they change her life as she changes theirs.

Click here to purchase The Pecan Man.

Title: The African Safari Paper Author: Robert Sedlack

"Okay, before you open this up you need to know a few things.  This is not Fodor's Guide to Kenya.  You'll find that in the travel section.  This is something written by yours truly while on a safari with my parents and our guide, Gabriel, back in the summer of '89.

"You might think that a journal penned by a nineteen-year-old has nothing to offer you.  But if you spend a good chunk of your day wondering what the hell is going on, and you don't get jolted into puritanical convulsions by the occasional reference to masturbation and drugs, then c'mon in.  I promise I'll respect you in the morning."

Richard Clark is on his way to an African Safari with his parents.  His mother's anxiety is high.  His father does his best to help quell her fears, but is clearly irritated by her neurotic behaviour.  She's afraid the plane'll crash, afraid they'll die, afraid of a lot of things.  They meet their guide, Gabriel, a local Kenyon.  He tells the family that his father and brothers died in a fishing/boating accident.  Richard learns later it's all a lie.  This makes him like Gabriel even more and almost starts to think of him as a friend.  He guides the family to their destinations, all the while describing the area, sharing stories and African folklore.  The passion and excitement he has for his country is palpable. 

When they aren't out on excursions they try to behave like an normal family, even with his continuously anxious mother and over-watchful father.  She refuses to go on the little fishing trip they have planned and then apologizes profusely for making her husband miss it.  She also admits to Richard that she's supposed to be taking anti-anxiety pills, but isn't.

'"I put them under my tongue, and then I spit them out after he [leaves] the room."'

Richard can't care less what his mother does.  He just hopes she keeps the crazy under control.

They're scheduled to go to a place called Hell's Gates and the whole party is excited, except for mom.  She refuses to leave the safety of the vehicle, claiming it's not safe.  She misses seeing a whole herd of Zebra even though the safari was her idea.  She ruins it by panicking and insisting, shrilly, that they should all leave.  Richard is embarrassed by her.

Back at the hotel his father tries to explain her odd behaviour to Richard, confessing that she once tried to kill herself.  Richard doesn't know what he's supposed to do with the information and resents his dad for telling him.  Dad says the trip was supposed to help her.

'"...I want you [Richard] to help keep an eye on her... if you start to see real signs of depression... we'll get the hell out of here."

Part of [Richard] wants it to get dangerous, wants it to get weird.'

On the way to their next destination they see so many amazing sights, but none of them make mom excited.

'"Yes, it's really nothing.  We shouldn't have stopped.  You can see this kind of thing anywhere."'

Richard is pissed off by her lack of enthusiasm for things only seen once in a lifetime, and only in Africa.  She continues to complain and starts insisting the gas is low in the tank.

'"We're all going to die." she [says]...'

Gabriel offers to take them to a gas station in the next town.  It's out of their way but he wants to help her feel better.  There they're surrounded by curious and starving children. 

'They were just children, but there were a lot of them.  And more were coming.  Before long [they] are surround.  Mom's anxiety spread like wildfire through the van.'  The kids crowd the car, bang on the windows.  Dad drops mints out for them.  They respond by rocking the car back and forth.  The family is terrified.  Eventually, Gabriel returns from paying for the gas and they leave the scene in the Village, though it does nothing to lesson mom's anxiety, even though they have enough gas.

'At one point [they] passed a military truck carrying Kenyan soldiers with guns... None of [the family] was interested in reassuring her.  So she was left alone to ponder what a group of 25 black adults with automatic weapons might do to [them]'

Their next scheduled stop is Lake Baringo Camp in Kenya.  Richard ends up going on the Island tour alone, without his parents.  His guides are three small African boys who show him their secret hide-aways on the Island.  They show him to a natural hot springs where 'mountains of steam cascaded over the rocks.'  Richard spots a secret cave and decides to go exploring even after his guides fervently warn him not to.  Inside the cave he hears a voice.

'"...You stink of death and lies.  Leave Africa.  Your lives are in danger."'

He cannot see the owner of the voice.  Fear settles into his heart.  He flees the cave, back to the boys who claim he's met the Crocodile Man, the one who '...guards the dead.'

The warning to leave Africa scares Richard.  Especially with the way his mother's been acting.  He wonders if they should heed the warning.  In a bit of a daze he allows the boys to lead him back to the camp where he finds his mom '... [looking] like an electrocuted octopus.'

'"Thank God you're alive," she [says]"'

He thinks that maybe he should tell his parents about what the Crocodile man said, but dad thinks they should press on.

'"I don't want this safari cancelled unless it has to be... It's a once in a lifetime trip.  You'll never be back and neither will I."'

The next day they have an excursion to a native community where they succeed in sending dad out fishing, leaving Richard and his mother behind for a secret ceremony lead by none other than the Crocodile Man.  Gabriel claims it's to help ease her anxiety, bring her back from the edge of madness.  Knowing how hospitals and pills have failed her, and fascinated by the ceremony, Richard does nothing to stop it, hoping it'll work.  Unfortunately, dad comes back early and interrupts the ceremony pulling his wife abruptly out of a deep trance.  She's furious and attacks him.  Richard is sure this is it, is convinced his father could never overlook something so unusual, but he doesn't mention it.  Mom goes nearly catatonic until dinner where she shows up ready to irritate her husband.  Richard thinks it's because of the ceremony, though he knows she's choking on a horrible secret.  Gabriel let it slip that the secret is about him.  This sets Richard's imagination on fire as he tries to figure out what the secret could be.

They set out the next morning on the next portion of their trip.  She is again convinced they're all going to die out there on the road lost in the great expanse of the African savannah.  Dad has had enough and snaps at her.

'"Can you just shut the hell up for... 10 minutes so we can at least die in peace?"'

He thinks maybe they should cut the trip short, but she claims she wants to continue, that she wants to see the elephants first, as long as Gabriel stays with them.  On that point she won't be moved.  Dad has a hard time with this condition as he's convinced Gabriel was trying to kill her in that ceremony.  Richard is annoyed that his father can't open his mind to anything.  Not pleased with his bad attitude mom packs her bags and moves into Richards room for the night.  Having her there makes Richard uncomfortable.  He still doesn't know what the secret is and doesn't know what to say to her.  This leads to awkward conversation.  Richard accuses her of keeping this secret from him.  She denies it, but in the morning claims to have no recollection of what was said. 

They are ready to leave and Richard is pleased to see Gabriel there waiting to accompany them on the next part of the safari right into big game territory.  In their next hotel the terrace overlooks a salt pit where all sorts of animals gather, even lions.  At the hotel mom is fine, it's only when they try to go out in the van to look at a leopard does she start thinking they're all going to die again.  She doesn't want to leave the van and is only coaxed out after they assure her they are well protected.  She believes the leopard knows they're there and will sneak up and kill them when they're not looking.  She returns to the van and insists the whole family retreat back to the hotel.  Everyone is upset with her ridiculousness.  At dinner dad drunkenly yells at her to kill herself already if death is the only thing she can think about. 

'"Do yourself and all of us a favour."'

He abandons their meal leaving mother and son to watch over the salt pit together.  They sit and talk and watch the animals.  They see lionesses approach, watch them take down a zebra.  Richard feels sick as they watch them eat the animals while it's still alive, but his mother stands and watches serenely.

'She looked completely relaxed, as if she'd just watched a robin bathe...'

Richard is sure that this will be the end, but true to form, the next morning no one mentions the craziness, no one mentions going home.  Instead, they continue on as if everything is normal, even though it's clearly not.  Mom's madness is spreading to the others.  It continues to get worse as the days wear on until Richard can't stand it anymore.  He doesn't like seeing his mother in such a bad state and demands they leave that very night.  Gabriel warns them to stay at least until morning, as Africa at night is incredibly dangerous.  Richard won't stand for it and starts packing the van himself.  They set out after sunset making the long drive back to where they came from.  As they go Richard begins to understand why they should've waited, but it's too late.  They come upon a herd of elephants and startle them so badly they begin to charge the van.  The family is forced to abandon the vehicle before it gets crushed flat by the many heavy feet.  Now stranded, they have no choice but to spend the night in the open plains with only a fire to protect them and keep them warm.  Gabriel tells them that one person will have to stay awake to watch for other animals.  Feeling it's his fault Richard offers to go first.  Not knowing, he falls asleep and jerks awakes to find his mother gone, her clothes folded neatly and stacked beside the fire. 

The African Safari Papers is a darkly comic book that has no fear, no limits and no room for normal.  Filled with dark secrets the book develops past the 'happy family' outlook into the inner dynamic's of a troubled family, proving that no one can possibly know what's happening just next door.

Click here to buy The African Safari Papers

Title: White Oleander Author: Janet Fitch

Everywhere hailed as a novel of rare beauty and power, White Oleander tells the unforgettable story of Ingrid, a brilliant poet imprisoned for murder, and her daughter, 

Astrid, whose odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes - 

each its own universe, with its own laws, its own dangers, its own hard lessons to be learned - becomes a redeeming and surprising journey of self-discovery.

Astrid turns 13 years old buried, half-forgotten in the depths of L.A. foster care.  Her mother in prison for murder, her father barely a bedtime story, an enigma, gone when she was just a baby.  Foster care means getting used to new people, new places.  In her first, true foster home there are four other children already living there; two from foster care like herself, the other two, now returned to their mother, were also once part of the foster care system.  Her foster mother, Starr, `...busty and leggy, with a big smile...` lives just outside of L.A. in a trailer with `so many parts added on you had to call it a house.`

Astrid likes it there with the other children.  She goes back to school and even begins to attend church which her mother hates.  They communicate mostly through letters with the occasional visit.  Even with her mother behind bars Astrid experiences family life with Starr, her foster siblings, and Uncle Ray, Starr`s man, the father figure of nearly 50 who teaches her how to play chess.

`Dear Astrid,

Do not tell me how much you admire this man... Never lie down for the father. I forbid it... 

Mother.`

But Astrid knows her mother is far away and can`t control her anymore.

Starr suspects something is going on between Astrid and Ray behind her back and begins drinking again causing havoc among the family.  Her son breaks his arm and everyone has to lie about it to Social Services.  In spite of this Astrid continues to behave inappropriately, pushing Starr to her limit.  In a fiery burst of violence Astir is hospitalized and moved to a new foster home in Van Nuys.  `... a kingdom of strip malls and boulevards`where her `role in the... house was revealed... babysitter, pot scrubber, laundry maid, beautician` for Ed and Marvel Turlock.  There Astrid spends her days high on Percodan trying to heal from the wounds from her last home.  She chooses survival as her religion and tried not to hate her position in the household.  She becomes infatuated with their exotic neighbour, Olivia Johnstone, `a woman who would throw out a handmade tortoiseshell comb just because it was missing a tooth.` Astrid finds it in her garbage as she tried to find out more about the mysterious woman, a woman Marvel uses racist, derogatory language when talking about.

Astrid succeeds in entering Olivia`s life and is delighted when she offers to take her out for shopping and lunch.  They become what Astrid considers to be friends.  She lives for the days when she can be with Olivia and is nearly heartbroken to come home one day to find Olivia gone somewhere without saying where or saying goodbye.  Sullen and angry and alone on her birthday Astrid takes a walk to clear her head and finds herself in a dark alley with a pack of stray dogs.  They attack and Astrid winds up back in the hospital where they sew up the gashes on her face with black stitching thread.  In a way she`s glad the world can finally see her pain, that it`s no longer hidden.

It`s not until Christmas does Astrid venture back over to Olivia`s knowing her friend has yet to see the jagged wounds crisss-crossing her face and body.  Olivia is happy to see her but shocked to see Astrid`s mangled face.  Olivia pours them both a brandy to celebrate Christmas together.  Astrid drinks too much and wakes up with a pounding hangover, alcohol throbbing through her scars.  She tries to get home before Marvel knows she`s missing but Marvel is up, outside, and see`s Astrid leaving Olivia`s house.  Marvel goes crazy, dragging Astrid away, shouting obscenities and abuses at the woman next door, who is thankfully sleeping in the back of the house.  Marvel won`t stand for it and the first day back at school after the Christmas holiday the social worker shows up to take Astrid to a new home.

`[She] thought of the lies Marvel would tell the kids... that [she`d] died or ran off.  But... that wasn`t Marvel... She`d think up something... you could paint on a Franklin mint plate.  That [she] went to live... on a farm, where [they] had ponies and ate ice cream all day.`

Instead, she moves to a big, beautiful home in Hollywood where Amelia Ramos, seemingly refined, polite, nice, padlock`s the fridge and makes the girls go without food.  `Hunger dominated every moment, hunger and its silent twin, the constant urge to sleep.`  Astrid begins to salvage the remnants of lunches her classmates throw away, eagerly eating their discarded tuna sandwiches, cartons of yogurt.  Her mother writes demanding she call her social worker every day until they find her a new placement.  It works, she finds herself headed off to a couple who are looking to adopt.

Astrid meets and immediately feels welcome by Claire Richards `with her wide, love-me smile.`  At first it`s just Astrid and Claire.  Her husband, Ron, travels a lot for his job and is quite often away for long periods of time.  Astrid is anxious about meeting him knowing all too well how different his being there would be.  `Women always put men first.  That`s how everything [get`s] screwed up.`

After living with them for some time, enjoying her role as beloved daughter, Astrid realizes there is something wrong with Claire.  She watches as her new mother sinks lower and lower into depression.  Astrid tries to warn Ron, asks him to stay home more.  He leaves anyway.  Astrid tries to comfort Claire, spends the night with her to keep her from getting lonely, trying to pull her out of her black mood.  Unsuccessful, she wakes up to find Claire dead, the last few pills from a prescription medication bottle lying on the floor beside her.  Astrid is alone again, the only one left to keep Claire`s stories, her memories.  She takes them and what little belongs to her to the next stop; a temporary stay at Mac`s.  `MacLaren Children`s Center was in a way a relief.  The worst had happened.  The waiting was over.`

There she meets a boy, Paul Trout, a boy who understands her.  `The girls called him [her] boyfriend, but it was just another word it didn`t quite capture the truth. Paul... was the only person... [she] could talk to.`  It`s not long before he gets placed in another foster home, leaving her alone again facing the decisions of her future with no help at all.  She can`t stay at Mac so she chooses to go home with what will be her last foster mother, Rena Grushenka, a Russian woman with `coal-black hair... a hole in the charcoal afternoon.`  She is sexual, materialistic, eager to get and spend money.  They scour the streets on garbage day looking for clothes, small appliances, anything to sell.  Every hard earned penny goes to drugs, or booze.  Astrid barely recognizes her life and is content to get absorbed by her last year in foster care, her mother all the while clamouring for her attention from prison.  

White Oleander is a beautifully haunting book full of vivid description and intricate story telling.  

It is actually my favourite book and has been for years.

Click here to purchase White Oleander.

Title: The Great Gatsby Author: F. Scott Fiztgerald

We meet Nick Caraway as he rents a house 'in one of the strangest communities in North America... due East of New York... 20 miles... in the ... Long Island Sound' called 'West Egg.'

He has two friends, 'Daisy...[his] second cousin once removed' and her husband, Tom Buchanan who knew Nick in college.  At their house he meets Jordan Baker, a professional golfer, who suggests that since he lives on the West Egg he must know Gatsby.  She also reveals that Tom has another woman, a lover, in New York.  Nick has no desire to meet this woman, but being friends with Tom and new to the area he inevitably accompanies Tom to NY where he does meet the other woman.

'She was in the middle 30's, and fairly stout, but she carried her surplus flesh sensuously.  Her face... contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her.'  Nick is introduced and discovers her name is Myrtle.  They spend the afternoon in NY with Myrtle, her sister Catherine and their neighbours.  The party spends it's time drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes, though Nick is not eager to stay long, nor visit again. 

He spends most of his days watching the goings-on of his neighbour, who he found out from Jordan was Mr. Gatsby himself, thrower of extravagant parties.

'On week-ends his Rolls-Royce became an omnibus bearing partiers to and from the city... people were not invited - they [simply] ended up at Gatsby's door... Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby at all...'

Nick, having been invited, attends one of these parties and after being overwhelmed by a myriad of people's faces, ladies dresses, sights and sound and smells from a thousand different sources, he is relieved to see Jordan, a familiar face in a strange crowd.  There's a lot of speculation about the host though no one seemed to know him at all, including Jordan and Nick.  Some think Gatsby was a spy in the army, that he'd killed a man.  During a lull in a later conversation, one of the men recognize Nick from serving time in the army.  They talk for some time about the army, life, the party.  Nick mentions that he got a hand delivered invitation from the host himself.

'For a moment [the other man] looked... as if he failed to understand.

"I'm Gatsby," he said suddenly.  "... I thought you knew, old sport."

He smiled understandingly - much more than understandingly.  It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it...'

Since they reside next door to each other Nick and Gatsby become pretty good friends.  He asks Nick, in an extremely round-about way to personally invite his cousin, Daisy, over for tea, just the three of them.  He reveals that he knew Daisy years before and that he is still in love with her after all that time.  He liked to throw the parties hoping she'd come, but she never has.  Nick agrees and ends up chaperone to the lovers first date since they were young.

After the rendezvous Gatsby manages to invite her and Tom to his next party.

'Tom's arrogant eyes roamed the crowd.  "We don't go around very much," he said.  "... I don't know a soul here."'

Daisy allows him to sit and eat dinner at another table, allowing her and Gatsby time to sneak away. Tom is unimpressed with the party, with Gatsby.

'"I'd like to know who he is and what he does," insists Tom.  "And I think I'll make a point of finding out."'

After they leave Gatsby is disappointed with the evening. 

'"She didn't like it," he insisted.

He wanted nothing less of Daisy than that she... go to Tom and say: "I never loved you."

"I wouldn't ask to much of her," [Nick] warns.  "You can't repeat the past."'

But Gatsby is determined to find a way to turn back the clock inviting Daisy over for afternoon tea on many occasions. One day an invitation arrives asking both Gatsby and Nick to Daisy's for lunch the next day where Daisy makes a show of kissing Gatsby when Tom is out of the room.  Jordan, who is also a guest for lunch, whispers to Nick that Tom is talking to his girlfriend on the phone.  Tom is none the wiser to the speculations of his lunch party and hospitably offers Gatsby a tour of the home.  Daisy, sick of the stifling summer heat, suggests they all go into NY.  Tom becomes annoyed at the obvious chemistry between Gatsby and Daisy and challenges her offer by insisting everyone go.  Tom insists on driving Gatsby's car.

'"... you take my coupe and let me drive your[s]..."  The suggestion was distasteful to Gatsby.'

Daisy offers to ride with Gatsby while Nick and Jordan go with Tom, though he promises to refuel the vehicle for Gatsby.  They stop, not far, at Myrtle's husband's gas station.  There he tells Tom they want to head out west.

'"Your wife does!" exclaimed Tom, startled.

[Wilson] reveals he's found out something funny about his wife a few days ago.

"That's why I want to get away," remarked Wilson.'

Tom was feeling the hot whips of panic.  His wife and his mistress... were slipping precipitately from his control.'

The party ends up at the Plaza Hotel.  There, in the oppressive heat Tom confronts Gatsby.  He accuses him of trying to steal his wife.

'"Your wife doesn't love you," said Gatsby quietly.  "She's never loved you.  She loves me."'

Daisy is caught in the middle of a battle of love between the past and the present.  She breaks down accusing Gatsby of asking for too much and Tom for being so vulgar.  Gatsby insists that she's leaving Tom for him.  That's when it all falls apart.  Daisy, not used to such raw, exposed feelings, retreats back into herself, back into her comfortable world.  Seeing himself the victor over his wife's heart Tom demands she and Gatsby return in his car, alone offering to take Jordan and Nick in his coupe.

On the way back to the West Egg they pass Wilson's garage where they previously refueled the car with gas.  There they find 3 or 4 cars and a crowd of people.  After stopping to investigate what's shook their tiny community they discover the body of Myrtle Wilson wrapped in a blanket, motionless, dead, struck by a speeding, yellow vehicle which sounds suspiciously like Gatsby's car.  The police are there asking questions, taking notes, statements.  Tom does not tell them the car belonged to Gatsby, though he makes sure Wilson knows exactly who car it was who struck and killed his wife.  This, coupled with the fact that he knew his wife was cheating on him, Wilson draws the conclusion that Gatsby is the culprit and vows to take revenge on the man who took his wife.

Being Gatsby's closest friend Nick finds himself alone with the truth.

The Great Gatsby brings the raw emotion of lust, betrayal, societal pressures and the truth about people, about friends.  The novel succeeds in tearing away the gossamer veil that money can but to reveal the bitter, savage truth about the human condition.

Click here to purchase The Great Gatsby.