The Day the Pig Fell Into the Well, John Cheever

Somehow I made it through 40 years without having read John Cheever. We have an anthology of his short stories which I have been muscling through off and on over the past year. The Day the Pig...reeks of Cheever. Moody, reflective, depressing, funny and, like most of his stories, leaves you feeling a bit misplaced at the end. It takes place in and around a lake in upstate NY during the 1930 - 1950's and involves a family of certain means and some of the local folk. It is not a story about a pig, ostensibly. Rather, it is a circular story of the lives of the family members and how the summer evenings seem always to turn back to their anecdotal stories, often involving that day the pig fell into the well. They each have a bit in telling the story, just like they each have a bit as players in their own lives - only it is the same story over and over again. Just as their lives are the same thing over and over again. The stories are well worth the time. They are crafted with art and nuance. They are emotive and reflective. They enrich.

Children of Dust, Ali Eteraz

I felt at times as if I was trapped inside the unfocused, emotional mind of an adolescent young man. I remembered of course that this memoir cut a swath through the author's early childhood into adulthood and the occasional foray into teen emotional disarray is par for the course, probably a testament to the author's skill. I knew very little about being Muslim prior to reading. But this is a very personal Islam being described and it is as much about the life of a Muslim (raised in Pakistan and the U.S.) as it is about the growth of an individual and the reconciliation of his religion, philosophy, ambitions, emotions and comfort with himself. At times, very eloquently written. Funny. It leaves me with a deeper understanding of Islam and the life of a Muslim. It doesn't haunt me the way Snow (see earlier post) continues to. I highly recommend this work - especially for a better grasp of the life of the many people around us; after all, don't we all know, work with and live near Muslims here in the States? Well done.