REVIEWED BY JONATHAN DURBIN
CRITIC'S CHOICE
NOVEL
McSweeney's magazine founder and literary gadfly Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) has crafted a second novel that is as much an absolute classic as it is difficult to classify. What Is the What is the enormously affecting life story of Valentino Achak Deng, 25, who is one of the famous Sudanese Lost Boys. Eggers relates the saga of his struggle for survival in an embellished as-told-to style: As Deng explains in the preface, "Over the course of many years, I told my story orally to the author. He then concocted this novel, approximating my voice and using the basic events of my life as the foundation.... And though it is fictionalized, it should be noted that the world I have known is not so different than the one depicted within these pages." The existence that Eggers describes is incredibly brutal, from Deng's separation from his family and his trek across southern Sudan to Ethiopia—fleeing from the murderous Arabic horsemen of Khartoum—to the 13 years he lived in squalor in refugee camps and his anticlimactic arrival in the United States. Deng's faith is constantly tested, which makes his redemption—when it finally arrives—transcendent. With this, his fourth book, Eggers proves himself a master of narrative, both for what he has written here and for his choice of subject, which is compelling, important and vital to the understanding of the politics and emotional consequences of oppression.
By Madhur Jaffrey
REVIEWED BY MICHELLE GREEN
MEMOIR
An actress and cookbook author, intimate friend of the late Ismail Merchant and James Ivory and expert in all things sub-continental, Jaffrey, 73, is a compelling character. The product of British schools in Delhi, she was the next-youngest child of a genteel mother and cultured Hindu father who adored their six ambitious offspring. A sharp observer with a pleasing eye for sensual detail, Jaffrey weaves a richly textured story in which she effortlessly mingles quotidian dramas with historic events including the partition of India. Living in her grandfather's Edenic compound, her extended family anchors itself by holding on to tradition (summering in the Himalayas; celebrating Holi, a raucous day of feasting and practical jokes) and to one another. Since Jaffrey's is the sort of account that triggers a longing for a life one never lived, the family recipes that capture an indelible time and place are a particularly nice touch.
An addictive collection of the darkly whimsical lists on mcsweeneys.net, the Web site of the publishing house launched by Dave Eggers, Mountain Man Dance Moves is the kind of book that makes you feel evangelical. First you'll laugh helplessly over such lists as Less Popular Muppets (Spitty the Camel, Foamy the Puma). And then you'll collar a loved one—or maybe even a stranger—and read an entry like the following (or maybe even the whole book) aloud.
SIGNS YOUR UNICORN IS CHEATING ON YOU
• Seems emotionally distant and uninterested
• Wears fancier tail ribbons
• Starts working out at the gym
• Quickly closes its laptop when you walk into its enchanted den
• Credit card bill full of charges to area elf lodges
Suzanne Somers' Ageless
In her latest, best-selling author Somers, 60, touts a treatment called "bioidentical hormone therapy" as the true youth dew. But seven docs warn against some of her advice. Keen to enter the debate? A cheat sheet:
WHAT'S BIOIDENTICAL HRT? "Non-drug therapies," says Somers, "that are exact replicas" of hormones that drop during menopause. Unlike some HRT drugs, they're plant based.
WHY DID DOCS SLAM AGELESS? Arguing that part of her book promotes "a 'one-size-fits-all approach,' endorsing dangerously high levels of estrogen," critics—including Diana Schwarzbein, M.D., an endocrinologist who has treated Somers—claim that the protocol she follows is "unproven" and that "not all women need to supplement their hormones."
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION Somers claims her "antiaging bible" is based on interviews with 16 doctors. "I've explained different ways they're giving bioidentical HRT. I let women decide what resonates for them."
CAVEAT LECTOR Schwarzbein "applauds" Somers for spreading the news about BHRT but adds, "If you want to say [your own regimen] worked for you, great. But please don't make it sound scientific."
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
