Jeeves and the Wedding Bells, Faulks - B

                                               I'm not sure if it's a subtitle or a characterization, but this fun, well-done novel  is called 'An Homage To P.G. Wodehouse'.   Wodehouse died forty years ago and the series he wrote about Jeeves and Wooster was set in the '20's.  I suspect they are one of the finest examples of English wit and parody ever and they provide frequent laugh-out-loud moments as Bertie Wooster, along with his buddies Tuffy, Chuffy, Stiffy, Oofy, Barmy and my favorite, Gussie Fink-Nottle, stumbles through endless escapades as a 'gentleman' so reliant on his 'man' that you wonder how he survived to adulthood on his own.  As delightful as the novels are, I believe the BBC Masterpiece Theatre shows with Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Bertie are remarkable television comedy and even better.  In this story, the pair concoct a scheme to advance the romances of two couples in their circle. They decide their best chance of effecting their objectives involves them switching places. As an erudite, brilliant man, Jeeves has no difficulty pulling off his role as a member of the gentry.  Bertie, on the other hand, is not ready for the challenges of life downstairs.   All's well that ends well, as Jeeves arranges matters in such a way that both he and Bertie are betrothed in the last chapter. What-ho!

On The Irish Waterfront, Fisher - C+

                                               The subtitle is 'The Crusader, the Movie, and the Soul of the Port of New York'.  However, before the author gets to the post-WW2 exposes and 'On The Waterfront', he sets forth some very interesting background.  In the late 19th century, the port's dockworkers and just about anyone who did business in and around the port was Irish.  The west side piers stayed Irish, but Hoboken, Jersey City and Brooklyn saw an influx of new immigrants, particularly Italians. By the time of WW2, the piers were diversified but the power structure - the shippers, the union leadership, the politicians and most importantly, the shipper's most prestigious ally, the Church - were still just about all Irish.  The arrival of millions of Irish in NYC was what had led to the ascendancy to wealth and power of the Roman Catholic church, and the church hierarchy had no qualms about accepting the treasure of the shippers and supporting their anti-labor stance. It's somewhat humorous that half of the thieving felons in this story are referred to as 'daily communicants'. However, the most fascinating bit of history about the Port is that the region's planners were never able to establish a freight tunnel under  the Hudson or a train bridge over it, because neither the two states nor the railroads could agree.  Rather, a system evolved of off-loading goods in NJ, ferrying them across the Hudson, and unloading them in NY. Prior to the rise of the trucking industry and the construction of the George Washington Bridge, there was so much volume crossing the river that it supported massive stevedoring operations in NJ, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Sadly, the cross harbor freight tunnel, an infrastructure idea proposed in 1893, has still not been acted on.  After WW2, the shape-up system which thoughtful outsiders viewed as the root cause of a failed social order - alcoholism, the flourishing loan-shark trade, the kickbacks and broken families came under attack from a series of exposes in the  NY Sun by Malcolm Johnson and a west side Jesuit, Pete Corridan. Johnson would win a Pulitzer and Corridan would be immortalized as Father Pete Barry in 'On The Waterfront'.  It took until late 1952 for the opening of hearings by the New York State Crime Commission (NYSCC), better known as the Waterfront Commission, to pull back the shroud of secrecy that hid all of the waterfront's evil deeds and doers.  The commission's report led to  the strengthening of the bi-state Port Authority and the adoption of meaningful reforms.  But the docks never really changed; there was still violence, theft, mob activity, kickbacks, no-show jobs and a less than admirable International Longshoreman's Association.  It was just not as bad as it used to be. The movie, however, was a huge hit that won 8 Oscars and is taught in every film course in America. "Labor reformers, journalists, Irish Americans one generation or a few miles removed from the waterfront and reviewers from the heartland of America adored this movie. Those most directly affected took a different view..."  Most dockworkers consider it an unrealistic joke. In the end though, it all became academic. The first container ship arrived in NY harbor in 1956 and the goods were trucked off the pier with minimal stevedoring help.  A generation later, the piers were collapsing into the Hudson, and today Chelsea, Brooklyn and Hoboken are the desirable wealthy domain of the modern metropolitan global elite.

The Black Eyed Blonde, Black - C

                                               The author is a successful writer of a mystery series set in Dublin. Here, he attempts to emulate Raymond Chandler and write a Phillip Marlowe mystery.  The homage is well deserved, as apparently some of Chandler's stuff is very noteworthy.  A NYT reviewer, the writer Olen Steinhauer, acknowledged that he did a pretty good job.   However, Steinhauer though it lacked pizzaz, and I guess I've concluded that any book that contains the line: "It wasn't the first time in my life I'd been slipped a Mickey Finn, and it probably won't be the last" can't be taken too seriously.  You can see Bogey spit out the words "Mickey Finn" as he tosses a ciggie on the ground.  But, it is 2014 and I don't think it plays well anymore.  The plot involves a gorgeous blonde coming to Marlowe's office and asking him to find her missing lover, Nico.  Nico is believed dead but the lady, Clare, thinks she recently saw him.  Off Marlowe goes and before we know it, Nico's sister is dispatched, Marlowe is beaten up, the dispatchers of Nico's sister are themselves dispatched, Marlowe is slipped a Mickey Finn, Marlowe's contacts on the police department blame him for all the goings on, and, in the end, Nico wasn't Clare lover after all.  A form of justice is served, although  Marlowe never gets paid.

Tune In, Lewinsohn - A*

                                               This is volume one of a planned three of what is expected to be the definitive Beatles biography.  Mark Lewinsohn is a master of their music, their lives and clearly, the most qualified person to write their story. In his introduction, he points out the obvious: how they changed the world of pop culture, music and entertainment. But more importantly, their music was masterful, unique, and could only have come from these four bold, brazen, hard working and committed poor young men from Liverpool.  Born between July, 1940 and February, 1943, Richy, John, Paul and George were defined by their very similar backgrounds.  All lived in a world of bare subsistence that is hard to comprehend.  Austerity was a way of life during and after the war. Indoor plumbing was a luxury; clothes were second-hand.  Radios were few and cars fewer.  All were loved, but for John, it was an aunt and uncle who stood in for his parents. All showed a very early interest in music and virtually no interest in school. All were mesmerized and inspired by the music coming from America. Paul was just 15 when John, just shy of 17, asked him to join his band, the Quarrymen, in the summer of 1957. George joined them the following January.  One of the most significant events during their formative years was the death of Julia Lennon in 1958. "John was scarred for life, and more embittered, more cynical, more harsh, more uncompromising, more edgy, more volatile than ever."  The band was a loose alliance of shifting personalities lacking equipment, gigs, a bass and a drummer. By the time of a name change to the Beatles in 1960, they were still struggling with jobs and families urging them to get on with their lives. Meanwhile, Richy, now Ringo was the regular drummer for the most popular rock band in Liverpool.  They desperately wanted to be musicians, but their efforts to obtain bookings and find a "fuckindrummer" showed their youthful ineptitude and lack of sophistication.  At John's insistence, his good friend, Stu Sutcliffe, bought a bass guitar, started to learn to  play and became the 4th Beatle.  After three groups declined an offer of a two month, 18 pounds per man per week Hamburg gig, they accepted it and had two days to add Pete Best as their drummer.  Hamburg was their defining experience - the place they became individual showmen and  a band.  While performing at the Kaiserkeller, they actually shared the stage, alternating nightly, with Rory and the Hurricanes, Ringo's group.  After three months in Germany and endless arguments with their local bar owner, the Beatles were fired and deported to England.  As 1961 dawned, they were once again without a clue where they were headed.  Back in Liverpool, things were heating up, there was a newly vibrant rock scene, plenty of bookings and a busy few months. They went back  to Hamburg, where they solved their bass problem.  In love with a local gal and fully aware he was not a musician, Stu moved on.  As the most gifted musician in the group, Paul bit the bullet, and bought a left-handed bass guitar.  Now George played lead and John rhythm but the drummer problem remained unresolved. Pete wasn't very good and never fit in with the other three. His days as a Beatle were numbered.  Playing lunch-time shows and a few nights a week at the Cavern and playing other venues, the Beatles were becoming a Liverpool sensation.  They were packing the house, bringing in revenue and were making a better living  than they would have as electricians, fasteners, fitters or any of the other apprenticeships their families tried to get them to pursue.  A curious young man, bored managing his family's downtown department store but enthralled with its record department, stopped by the Cavern for an afternoon show in Nov. 1961. Within a month, Brian Epstein was their manager and already pursuing record opportunities in London.  On March 7, 1962, in Manchester before a live audience, the Brian Epstein version of the Beatles, cleaned up, in custom suits, with mop-top haircuts, recorded three songs that were played on BBC radio the next day. A springtime engagement in Hamburg followed.  They returned to England in June after receiving a telegram from Brian - they had a recording contract with EMI.  The record arranger George Martin was one of the first Londoners they had ever met.  They liked him and he liked them.  It was, however their charm and charisma, not their music that grabbed him on June 6th. He and the music business had to adjust. There were soloists, some groups with a frontman and some backers, but there were no groups with three quality guitar payers, all of whom could sing and who wrote their own songs. The only problem was Pete, who EMI immediately concluded could not be used in studio recordings.  On August 16, Brian fired Pete and hired Ringo.  The Beatles, Brian Epstein, and George Martin - six men who would change the music world - were now on the same  team.  Love Me Do/ P.S. I Love You, both written by Paul, were released on Oct. 5. Love Me Do rose in the charts,  George Martin proposed a Beatles LP, predicted Please Please Me would be a surefire #1 in the new year, their music publisher offered them one-half of the copyright, and they were getting TV and radio air time. Brian Epstein's first year with the Beatle had been magical. However, it was John Lennon who summed it up as 1962 ended: "We were the best fucking group in the goddam world. We thought we were the best in Hamburg and Liverpool - it was just a matter of time before everybody else caught on."
                                              In so many ways, this is an extraordinary book. For Beatles fans who can handle 800+ pages, this is a must read.  The amount of information is overwhelming and for some of their teen years, excessive. Lewisohn is an insider, someone who actually worked for them. He is one of the few who has ever listened to the entirety of the tapes at Abbey Road.  I cannot wait to see what he has to say about their later years in the studio.  He also has an eye on the economics of it all, a side of the rock biographies that I've always thought was missing.  His prose style can be flat at times, but this is a masterpiece about four lads from Liverpool who have added so much to all of our lives.

The Son, Nesbo - B+

                                               As this is this blog's 4th Jo Nesbo book, one can easily conclude that the author is quite prolific. Clearly, he tells absolutely gobsmacking great stories and this is another. Interestingly,  it is not part of the Harry Hole series, but a stand-alone. Thankfully, Oslo, Kripos, Murder Squad and all of the city's corruption, failed institutions and individuals are here.  Twelve years ago, a very good cop who was on the verge of exposing the Police Dept.'s mole was killed.  Before he was shot with his own gun, the killers had him write out a suicide note confessing to be the mole. Afterwards, his son became a drug addict and took the fall for two murders in exchange for a promise of a lifetime supply of heroin while in prison. Sonny finds out that his dad was scapegoated and murdered, escapes from prison and begins a process of revenge murders that include a suburban housewife, a junk dealer, a human trafficker, a few thugs and more as he tries to take down everyone who had helped set up his father.  Clearly, Sonny is not a saint, but somehow you wind up rooting for him. He, his mom and his dad were victims and he is pursuing righteous revenge against the bad guys.  The one policeman who seems to be able to put the pieces together is a man who was his dad's best friend. At one point, they actually team up as they pursue both the mole and the Twin, Oslo's ultimate crime lord. But, this is Oslo - a place Nesbo portrays as next door to hell- and nothing is ever as it appears. Once again, he has written a great book.

Prayer, Kerr - D

                                               Kerr is the author of the Bernie Gunther series set in Berlin before, during, and after WW2. He strays far afield here and builds a story around a rogue FBI agent and a series of killings in and around  Houston.  It's also his vehicle to explore what I can only assume is his very personal crisis of faith.  For me, it completely missed all the marks.

Forgotten Ally, Mitter - B

                                              'China's World War II 1937 - 1945' is the telling of the  story of the war's longest participant, a story seldom told from China's perspective.  China suffered fourteen million casualties and 80 million refugees.  The war was instrumental in assuring Chiang's defeat by Mao and continues to play a critical role in China's internal affairs and worldview today.  As the Chinese Empire slowly fell apart in the 19th century, the Japanese transformeded themselves very quickly into a world power. They defeated the Russians after the turn of the century and occupied Korea, Formosa and parts of Manchuria. After WW I, Japan was awarded Germany's territories in China. The Japanese were in the throes of nationalistic aggression and felt they were entitled to dominate the weak Chinese landmass. They occupied Manchuria in 1931. The China that Japan attacked on July 26, 1937 was nominally ruled by Chiang and his Nationalist Party, but was still very much the fractured and war-lord dominated cauldron of chaos it had been for a century. Peking, Shanghai and Nanjing quickly fell to the Japanese onslaught, notwithstanding Chiang's alliances with the USSR and the CCP. To his credit, Chiang declared a war of national resistance and vowed to never surrender to the invaders. It was his belief that resisting the Japanese was what was needed to build a nation. In 1938 as Chiang retreated further south and west, he made an extraordinary decision. In order to protect his then-capital of Wuhan, he had the Yellow River dikes blown up in order to flood the valley and stop the Japanese Army.  Wuhan was preserved for five months at a cost of 500,000 confirmed Chinese dead.  By the time war broke out in Europe, most of eastern and southern China, home to most of its cities, infrastructure, wealth and population was in Japanese hands.  The years prior to Pearl Harbor settled into a relatively quiet jostling for position and preeminence between the Nationalists in the southwest, the Communists in the north and the Japanese in the east.  Mao slowly became the sole leader of the CCP and committed it to a policy of guerrilla warfare only.  He did not believe in fighting pitched battles.
                                              The Sino-American alliance was doomed from inception. Chiang expected massive amounts of American supplies, forces and treasure, while the US's only concern was that the three-quarters of a million Imperial soldiers stay in China. Joe Stillwell had visions of aggressive offensive actions, yet reported to the cautious defensive-minded Chiang. Chiang wanted to be a major player; for FDR and Churchill, China was a sideshow.  Stillwell and Chiang despised each other and fought from day one until the bitter end.  Mix in Chennault's bravado, hundreds of millions of starving Chinese,  a rump failed state with no administrative capabilities, reduced Allied supplies when Japan conquered Burma, and a totally corrupt elite and you get some sense of the hopelessness in the theater.  As the war progressed, Free China became a terrorist police state.  The Japanese launched a major offensive, their largest of the war, in central China in May, 1944.  Chiang and Stillwell bickered over the degree of each other's commitment to recapturing Burma and defending against the onslaught in China.  FDR finally gave in and removed Stillwell from Chiang's command, in essence neutering Chiang as commander-in-chief of Free China.  Three months later, he reversed himself and recalled Stillwell.  The author contends that the bitterness and distrust still carries over to current US-Sino relations.  The Japanese offensive petered out, but had very important long-term affects. The Nationalists were beaten down and were never able to recover. At war's end though, China itself was in unique position it had not been in  for a century. It was fully sovereign. A sovereignty, however, on the verge of civil war.
                                              Forty years ago, thanks to Barbara Tuchman's Pulitzer Prize winning 'Stillwell and the American Experience in China', I came to the conclusion that the man Vinegar Joe called Peanut was one of the most incompetent dictators we've ever allied with. This author presents a much more nuanced assessment. For all of Chiang's faults, Stillwell was not the paragon Tuchman presented.  He was a headstrong prima donna, incapable of working with anyone, including Mountbatten and just about anyone else he came in contact with. That said, Chiang was clearly not up to the tasks he took on. His failure to lead the Nationalists has had a long term deleterious effect in China and devastating consequences for America. The adoration of the old 'China Lobby'  for Chiang and the legacy of that lobby's impact on our foreign policy, even  today, is a hard pill to swallow.

The Man Who Never Returned, Quinn - B-

                                               The 'Man' in the title is Judge Joseph F. Crater, whose 1930 disappearance has been part of New York City's lore ever since.  Quinn's fascination with the topic is traced to his dad having been a Crater student in law school, and later a judge assigned to the same chambers as Crater.  The author has fun playing with the facts and possibilities of the case, but, as in his book I commented on in February, the story really is about Quinn's favorite character, the city of New York.  He is an artful master of portraying the smell, touch and feel of the streets, neighborhoods, hotels and speakeasies of the metropolis.  He paints the picture as well as anyone and any lover of the city would enjoy his work.