Learning something new every day

I like to think that I have a well rounded vocabulary, but I’ve been surprised at how many words make me stop and scratch my head.  They’re the kind of words where you’re pretty sure you know what they mean, but when you look them up it’s completely different!  I’ve started a list of words from “A Lion Among Men” that caught me surprise and then looked up their definition (yes, I’m nerdy).

halitosis: having offensive/bad breath

contrapuntal: composed of two or more relatively independent melodies sounded together

estucheon: heraldry; shield or shield shaped emblem bearing a coat of arms

this one I originally thought was misspelled; demesne: possession of land as one’s own

sybaritic: characterized by or loving luxury or sensuous pleasure

tonsorial: of or pertaining to a barber/barbershop

conurbation: an extensive urban area resulting from expansion of several cities or towns so that they coalesce but usually retain their separate identities

viscous: of glutinous nature or consistency; sticky; thick

postprandial: after a meal; especially after dinner

nacreous: pearly; lustrous

nudnik: a persistently dull, boring pest

bowdlerized: to expurgate by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable

propitious: favorable (I knew I had heard of this one before but couldn’t quite remember the definition)

temerity: reckless boldness; rash

plenipotentiary: a person, especially a diplomatic agent, invested with full power/authority to transact business on behalf of another (I honestly didn’t think this was a real word; it was used as part of a title that sounded just silly)

salubrious: favorable to or promoting health; healthy

rotogravure: an intaglio process in which letters/pictures are transferred from an etched copper cylinder to a web of paper, plastic or similar material in a rotary process

picaresque: of, pertaining to, or resembling rogues

surcease: 1. to cases from some action; desist; 2. to come to an end

sobriquet: nickname

I gave in

I’m not really a big fan of buying harcover books because they’re a pain in the ass to handle (at least for me; also, I’m kind of hard on my books).  But I’m also not very good at waiting for good books to be turned into softcovers months from release.  That’s how I ended up giving in and buying “A Lion Among Men”, the third book in the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire.  I’ve been skeptical because I absolutely hated “Son of the Witch”; thinking back on it it’s a little difficult to pinpoint exactly why I disliked the book so much except I vaguely remember thinking that it was nothing in comparison to “Wicked”.

Somewhat ironically I had never read “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” until recently.  For an online book club it was the first book we decided upon.  So I downloaded an audible version of it and couldn’t help noting that some of the minor characters were recycled into Greogry Maguire’s version.  While movies and the books they’re based on are rarely comparable, I was astonished at the huge difference between the two.  Glinda is so little of an influence in the book; her only role in the book was to use the winged monkeys to help everyone get to where they were going.  In the beginning Dorothy describes her life on the farm as dull and gray and mostly depressing; not at all like the close knit family you see on the big screen.  Perhaps the biggest surprise of all to me was the morbid origin of the Tin Man.  Little things in the book seemed to be more adult than children’s fairytale and I can’t imagine what kind of reaction I would have had to the creepy porcelain dolls if they had been included in the movie; I had issues enough with the crazy flying monkeys.  Overall I am glad that I read it and may pursue the other Oz books in the future; I’ve been hearing that in the second book the Scarecrow is going a bit crazy with power which is interesting.  Especially considering the allusion to it in both “Son of the Witch” and “A Lion Among Men”.

Not only am I starting “A Lion Among Men” but I’ve been reading a bit of the graphic novel “Watchmen” as a filler.  Comics can be such a different read; loosely quoting Hollis/Nite Owl, it takes a certain kind of personality to don a costume and run around fighting crime.

Stones from the River

Last night I finally finished up “Stones from the River” by Ursula Heigl.  As a whole the book is engrossing and I found how she weaved other people’s stories through main character Trudi Montag phenomenal.  Through Trudi we experience the cruel taunts of other children and even adults, feel her desperate longing to fit in and simply have someone to understand her fully, and understand her need to collect gossip and regurgitate them as her own specially woven stories.

Trudi Montag is born a zwerg (dwarf) to Leo and Gertrude Montag.  Gertrude appears to go through severe depression as a result of Trudi’s birth and refuses to interact with the little girl for the first few months of her life.  Even after she takes on her role of mother, Gertrude’s instability shows through her unpredictable behavior and need to hide beneath the house in the dirt.  As Trudi matures, she realizes that she has this sense of knowing things about by people through what they say and by their touch.  I think she begins to notice this after her mother puts her hand upon her knee and allows her to feel the gravel underneath her skin which alludes to a motorcycle accident she had before Leo came home from the war.  An early ‘vision’ Trudi has is when Frau Eberhardt brings her newborn boy over for Trudi to see and hold; from her contact with him she sense that in the future Helmut will bring immense pain to his mother and family.

The town of Burgdorf is generally not open to any newcomers and dislike anyone who is different from the people they’ve welcomed into their community.  While children themselves are suspicious of anyone different, the influence from their parents also contributes to their shunning of Trudi Montag.  At school they bully and tease her while also refusing to interact with her at all.  The nuns, try as they might to integrate Trudi into her classmates’ lives, fail.  Because of this, Trudi falls into an intense fit of praying and doing everything within her power to grow.  She hangs from door frames and delves into the deepest part of her soul to ask God to make her grow like all the other children.

It isn’t until she befriends her neighbor Georg Weiler that Trudi feels any kind of kinship.  Georg is a similar outcast; Frau Weiler superimposes her wish that he was a boy so far that he has long curly hair and wears dresses.  The two outcast children become fast friends and he becomes the first person where Trudi’s love turns resentful.  After Trudi and Georg fall out, Eva Rosen becomes her next best friend.  Theirs is a secret friendship which blossoms after Trudi’s dad buys a dog, Seehund.  Out of school and out of sight of anyone else, the two girls share secrets and the companionship of Seehund.  During school the two are strangers out of fear that Eva will no longer have the ‘friendship’ of their classmates.  At Fraulein Birnsteig’s piano concert, several students witness Eva and Trudi share an intimate moment.  The day after Eva is also shunned and she blames Trudi; when she is welcomed back into the clique, Trudi’s jealousy grows so strong that she lets loose Eva’s most personal secret for revenge.

On her own, Trudi befriends the Rhein River.  It is only in the water that Trudi’s limbs feel long and strong and normal.  As she propels through the water she doesn’t worry about the acceptance of others.  But soon her sanctuary is defiled along with Trudi.  As a result of her molestation, Trudi’s thirst for revenge runs so deep that she uses her power of ‘knowing’ against them.  She tells Hans-Jurgen that his love will turn any woman he loves against him and into the arms of another man and spreads other vicious rumors (that become true in one form or another in the future) about the other boys minus Georg.  After this event Trudi has a severely damaged sense of self and vigorously collects people’s innermost secrets and spins them into exotic stories for others.  Most residents of Burgdorf view Trudi as someone to be feared but cannot resist being pulled into her stories and unwillingly giving part of themselves up.

It is shortly after this time that Hitler’s rise to power begins.  While a small town, Burgdorf is no stranger to the zeal of persecution against the Jewish faith.  One of the more fanatical is Anton Immers Sr, the local butcher; he fully embraces the politics of Hitler and aids in the ‘arrests’ of many of his Jewish neighbors/customers.  A majority of the town hold onto a wait and see approach and are taken aback at the swiftness of his power and influence.  At a time when some are ready to stand up for those being persecuted, they find themselves under the ardent eye of scrutiny.  When a small boy is beaten those who defended him were also attacked; when a small girl is bloodied and bruised by youthful Nazis, her defenders were jailed; even the most respectful Jewish families like the Abramowitz are taken into custody.  The people are now too afraid to stand up for what they know is morally wrong and decide instead to feign their support of Hitler and keep a close eye on their personal politics.

In the throes of Hitler’s reign, Leo and Trudi’s feelings of outrage are funneled into being part of a secret operation to hide Jewish refugees.  Their house in connection to only a few others in town are the only safe havens within Burgdorf.  Through the stories from the refugess Trudi loses her pride in Germany and her people (at the end of the book it is Flora Blau who comments upon this and tells Trudi she must regain her pride in Germany like her father); yet it is through the stories she is able to tell the refugees that she keeps a part of their spirits up.  Unexpectedly Eva becomes one of the refugess in the Montag house; through her captivity, Trudi and Eva pick their friendship back up.  It is a comfort to them both to have a real friend to confide in, although Eva becomes peckish the longer she is kept away from her husband.  When Eva decides to escape from the Montag house to spend ‘one goddamned beautiful evening’ with her husband, she is caught and all refugee operations in the Montag house are halted.

When the Americans finally come in to ’save’ Germany, everyone is relieved to a certain degree and incredibly suspicious.  Their suspicions are not alleived as the Americans take in a number of the Burgdorf families in for questioning.  All of the people, including those once vehemently for Hitler, protest their ability to refuse him and that they were simply following orders.  They argued that they didn’t know what to do instead of giving in because they themselves would have been persecuted.  Before they were allowed back to their lives, many of those questioned had to obtain a written referral by a trusted someone.  Never before had so many people been interested in Trudi’s opinion and for most she agreed to write the referral; with the specific exception of Anton Immers Sr. and Hans-Jurgen.  Afterwards the people pretended to go back to ‘normal’ and avoided any and all references to the war.  Any children born after remained joyfully oblivious to the harsh reality of just a few years before while parents and grandparents brushed off the shame of ever having been involved.

The story ends with Trudi sharing a story with the child version of Georg.  She winds together a combination of facts and fiction all the while seeing how Georg dies, much like his father.  I have to admit that I was confused quite a bit by the end; I couldn’t tell if she was speaking to Georg’s dead body or her memory of what was to come; but I was touched how instead of revealing his part in the atrocities, she kept her story light and heartfelt.

As a dwarf the people of Burgdorf assumed that Trudi would never know the touch of a man or ever fall in love.  They figured that because she was too different she’d never be involved in the community like the others.  Her time to come into the fabric would be later, when she is old, for as she noted herself in the very beginning, it is the old wise women who banded together and decided who was let in and kept out of the community.

Because of their assumptions, the only two loves she had remained unknown.  Her first flame burned for Klaus Malter, the dentist.  He initially wanted to court Ingrid but found himself immensely attracted to Trudi one night at a dance.  They danced the night away and in the heat of the moment, Klaus bent down and gave Trudi her first ever kiss.  As a girl in her early 20’s Trudi finally discovers what passion is about and also what true denial of a person is.  Only one person, Eva, will recall that the event took place besides Trudi.  Klaus never speaks of it and he avoids Trudi at all costs until he is forced to confront her about his daughter Hanna.

The second and last man that Trudi loved is Max Rudnick.  Their relationship begins on a deep deception that eats away at Trudi for the bulk of their relationship.  The two meet at a restaurant where a fake blind date is set up.  Trudi, feeling vindictive at the fact he never once notices her (as far as she could tell), she scribbles a hateful note on a napkin and presents it as a message from his date.  As a result the two strike up a conversation and Max begins his pursuit of the elusive Trudi.  Even though it will take months, the two will eventually go on their first date and begin a provocative affair.

Her sexual relationship with Max begins to replace her shame from her molestation.  Max connects with Trudi on so many levels, yet even he recognizes that she keeps him at a distance with her words and body.  This becomes more evident when both of their secrets come out into the open; Max’s marriage and Trudi’s original deception.  The reveal of their secrets allows Trudi to become more open with Max; she weaves stories for him about herself; Max also feels confident enough to muse over their future which could include marriage and children once they’re ready.  At this juncture the couple is planning a trip to the ciy to return precious items to Ruth Abramowitz, but Leo becomes ill.  Trudi, not wanting to leave her father alone, encourages Max to go on without her instead of rescheduling the whole trip.  This will haunt Trudi because Max will never come back from the trip; the town he has gone to is destroyed within minutes of his arrival.  Her one chance for the life others thought she could never have is gone.

She feels a small sense of revenge when Klaus storms into the library berating Trudi for filling his daughter’s head with false stories.  Trudi snips at him that nobody can really be sure what the truth of the matter is since he himself denied any feelings he had for her, including the kiss.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and the characters.  I felt connected to the majority of the ‘core characters’ and enjoyed Trudi’s transformation from insecure little girl to finally an older woman comfortable in her body and her storytelling ability.  What bothered me is that towards the end, I felt as if there were a few odd stories just thrown in for no reason.  Yes we all knew that Hans-Jurgen was capable of doing horrible things and that Trudi ‘predicted’ his love would turn from him; but what caught me off guard was that he shot the lover and then randomly killed again.  The only thing that story brought was the resolution of Trudi’s ‘prediction’.  Other than that, it gave me nothing else.