April Books

Spy x Family vol 11 by Tatsuya Endo

Endo’s delightful spy family goes on a field trip!
Okay, only Anya is going on a field trip and she’s determined to step up her role in becoming friends with Donovan Desmond and the rest of the Desmond family. Which she has the perfect opportunity to do when their bus gets hijacked by a terrorist group.

As usual, Endo blends humor with action-packed hijinks as the rest of the class is an awe of Anya’s bravery by allowing the terrorists to put a bomb on her (that she knows is fake because she’s a telepath), prompting a surprising wave of courage from Anya’s friends and enemies alike. Endo also adds some heartfelt string tugging by allowing a look inside the grieving terrorist’s mind so we can see how much the war has hardened everyone and how there is still hope for the future by sticking to one’s morals.

It also has an interesting mystery in regards to the Donovan matriarch, Melinda and her feelings of disdain towards her husband and even her own son. I can’t wait for the next volume.

Marked Man: Frank Serpico’s Inside Battle Against Police Corruption by John Florio and Ousie Shapiro

Frank’s story is one made for movies.

Actually it was made one in fact in 1973 with Al Pacino but I think it has fallen in the wayside. Too bad since his fight against polie corruption in the 1970s is as timely today as it was back then.

Frank almost always wanted to be a policeman starting from when he was a little boy listening to Gangbusters which was a radio serial about authentic police case histories, as well as Mayor La Guardia’s readings of Dick Tracy stories to kids. This as well as the values instilled in him by his working class parents and trips to Italy where he got a close up view of the carabinieri arresting notable mafia members. Frank wanted to be just like them, he wanted to help people, he wanted to see justice done.

So he was very surprised and disgsted by the rampant bribery and corruption he saw among his own unit. Almost everyone from captain to plain clothesmen accepted protection money from the gambler rackets, turning a blind eye to how these men used those moneys to bring narcotics and other drugs to the street.
Worse, was when Frank tried to alert the brass to these dealings, he was brushed off and warned off. It was clear that the corruption was contained to his unit. It was everywhere, and if he tried to speak, he could be killed by his fellow men in blue.

But Frank wasn’t willing to accept the dirty money nor let others continue the system. If the people were to trust the police, they had to stand by the values they were supposed to represent. So risking his life, his reputation and copious amounts of reassignments and isolation, Frank sought to change NYPD.

Florio and Shapiro’s writing is quick and efficient, clocking a decade of work in 110 pages like a fast-paced police proceural where Frank is unsure of who to trust, and an overwhelming feeling that his mission might be impossible. But just as strong is Frank’s belief that if he doesn’t do anything, nothing will change and someone has to light the way for other uncorrupt cops to speak out.

Besides the prose, each chapter ends with a recollection from Frank on what he felt. It repeats what was alreadyin the book but it’s nice to hear it in his own words as one can feel how much he cared about his work as well as the remnents of disbelief that the police force cared so much more about money than their jobs that they tried so hard to silence him. He also offers suggestions for how the police force could improve itself today as the issues of racial profiling, corruption and lack of training are still sadly needed since the wall of silence is as deadly as the omereta.

Florio and Shapiro also have side brackets detailing other important figures of the time like Mayor Lindsey, the Harry Gross Scandal, the roots of NY police corruption, the Michael Dowd Drug Ring among others.

Meticulously researched from newspapers to interviews, this fascinating read reminds us that there are real life heroes still fighting the good fight.

The Next New Syrian Girl by Ream Shukairy

Khadija Shaami is a disappointment when it comes to being the perfect Syrian daughter her mother wants. She’s bold, argumentative, she loves boxing, and she has no interest in compromising her being or her likes to be what her mother’s little porceliain doll. However, that doesn’t stop the waves of jealousy when her mother invites Leene Taher and her mother to stay in their house while they find a new home. Leene is a survivor, dutiful, kind and good, but she has her own scars from fleeing the Syria she’d known and the family she lost. Leene seems like a angel on the outside, but she feels like an imposter because of it. She’s the adult for her grieving mother, she feels helpless being labeled as a refugee when she used to never need help.

In Khadija, she finds the person she needs because Khadija is not pitying or sympathetic to her situation. And while Khadija initially approaches Leene for selfish needs, that is quickly thrown out when she finds out Leene’s problem. Her baby brother, Mustafa, whom she thought she left in the cold oceans- she found his picture on the website of a Jordanian orphanage. She had left for dead and he’s alive. You can just imagine the new hope as well as crushing guilt she feels as the two scheme for a way to get to Jordan to find her brother.

It’s a complicated situation for both regarding identity and homelands. Khadija pushes against her mother’s desires because she fears if she gives in a little bit, she’ll lose herself. Yet even in her jealousy that her mother will constantly compare her to Leene or whatever other Syrian girl, it is nothing compared to the pain she feels in how she compares herself to others. To Leene, to her cousins still stuck in Syria, the constant feeling that she is not good enough, selfish, and wanting even when she has everything.

Leene is just as stuck with the identity of a refugee though she rejects that label. But the flashbacks she can’t control and the loss of her family hit hard, and if she doesn’t keep herself distracted, she won’t be able to move on. But there’s also guilt for being the survivor when she wishes she didn’t. There’s death of innocence and death of homeland as Khadija still has warm memories of her childhood summers there but for Leene, that country is dead.

A reoccuring mantra is that context matters when it comes to semetics be it English, Arabic or Arabinglish as Khadija calls the cobbled language she shares with her mother. These are complicated situations on context matters whether it is comparing yourself, finding your identity or matters of translation.

But honestly, I’m just brushing the surface of this book as Khadija’s family situation is a lot more complicated than just mother-daughter sparring. It’s a bit weaker compared to the slow friendship between Khadija and Leene as Khadija’s brother and father are almost literal ghosts but I guess that fits with how distant everyone in the Shaami family. There’s also Khadija’s crush on Younes which has to take a backseat with everything else going on but allows fro Khadija to have a space and someone to find a breathe with and talk honestly without judgement about her feelings of guilt and how makes her even more selfish in a way because she doesn’t do anything but pity herself for it.

As one can tell, even though it’s a dual narative Khadija gets a bulk of the page time. Which is fine as Shaiky does an excellent job in layering the girls and their complicated feelings with one another. Although the first fedw chapters felt like it was telling more than showing. Her descriptors and emotional imagery are beautiful and make up for those small, debut flaws.

You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith

Smith’s sophmore novel takes on another geeky subculture or rivalry. In this case, it is the war between the steadfast classic arcade pinball games and the VR e-cafes of the modern day. Nick has been occupied in keeping up his father’s beloved pinball arcade but much like the rare, valuable parts that get damaged, keeping up the expenses is hard. Nick knows that barring a miracle, this may be the last time the arcade is going to be part of the local community festival.

It doesn’t help that the arcade is being circled by the West Philly e-cafe expansion company owned by the fatehr of his former friend, now onine nemesis, Whitney. Whitney for her part alternates between missing her friend and exasperation of how their online feud is making her PR work a hassle. Honestly, being the PR girl for her father’s company is incredibly stressful but since her parents’ divorce, it’s the only way she can stay in his sphere and she’s unwilling to give that up.

While being a classic childhood friends/enemies to lovers romance, the book is also about learning to let go and find time to take care of yourself. Something both Nick and Whitney struggle with as they take it upon themselves to fulfill the unspoken promises and desires of their fathers. It is also this latching onto the past that makes them blind to the opportunities of the future because they’re scared of the unknown and of failure especially when it comes to communicating with one another.

But it’s not just above love and letting go, it’s also about the Philly community in the Old Village. Philly is Smith’s hometown so you can see the love imedded in the story as Smith inserts landmarks and the tight-knit group of storeowners with their own friendly feuds and willingness to help out a neighbor during the blizzard.

Which as you might have seen from the book summary, Nick and Whitney getting locked in the arcade is touted as a major part of the book but they’re only trapped in thre for like ten chapters in the last 100 pages. Rather it is more focused on the build-up to the festival and the two realizing their constant online sniping might be unresolved tension. I just felt Nick’s problem was a bit muddled to me. I understood he had trouble letting go but I didn’t understand why he felt he had to disconnect his interest from pinball entirely. It was tied with his father’s memories yes, but I also thought it was wholly his own interest too. I don’t know, I was confused

It was a sweet book, introspective more than a rom-com although there was a fun cameo of Aaron from Smith’s previous book, Don’t Read the Comments.

Rachel Reads & Reviews

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