The Writer's Life 8/2 - Art, Literature, Politics

Michele Zackheim worked in the visual arts as a fresco muralist, an installation artist, print-maker and painter. Her work has been widely exhibited and is included in the permanent collections of museums. She eventually turned to writing. I just finished the most recent of her four books, Last Train to Paris, a novel. Told from the viewpoint of an 87-year-old woman living in rural Nevada, it reads almost like a memoir. The daughter of a Jewish mom and Christian dad, she worked as a reporter in Europe in the 1930's and early '40's and witnessed the chaos as the Nazis rose to power. Most of the action takes place in Paris and Berlin. The narrative moves back and forth in time and is at times confusing but always interesting. There are no chapters, only breaks. The writing is first-rate, the pace brisk. The 251 pages of the large paperback edition read like considerably less. I did not check what I suspect are historical inaccuracies, as I never doubted the author's sincerity and believe the spirit is spot on. None of the events is implausible. The most interesting aspect is the protagonist's relationship with her egotistical, narcissistic, cold-hearted mother, who does something I don't know I would ever have forgiven. The protagonist does, which I found surprising. although it is a grudging acceptance. Does the book bring anything new to the Holocaust or WWII canons? No, but that doesn't mean it's without value. I'm sure feminists would laud it. 63 users at Amazon have rated Last Train to Paris, forging to a consensus of 3.9 on a scale of five. I wouldn't go that high, but I did enjoy its portrait of that woebegotten era. Zackheim was born in Reno, raised in California, and now lives in NYC. Here's a pic from her The Tent of Meaning exhibit:

This morning, talk radio host Mark Simone, an unabashed supporter of the president, made an interesting point about the left's continuing complaints about the election having been stolen by collusion with the Russians. He said Hillary was done in by a complacency engendered by the rigged polls that showed her winning in a landslide. Many polls are comprised of the views of only 23% of Republicans, and that has continued, which naturally skews against Trump. His bottom - and his top at present - seems to be 40-43%, at least according to Rasmussen. Hillary was so confident, or perhaps too tired, she didn't bother to campaign in certain states, and that negligence may have been her downfall. The pollsters intent was probably to depress Republican turnout. They failed to dissuade those fed up with the shenanigans of the swamp.

RIP Coach Ara Parseghian, 94, who had a record of 170-58-6 as the head man at Miami (Ohio), Northwestern and Notre Dame. He was 95-17-4 with the Irish and his teams were declared the 1966 and 1973 national champions in those days long before playoffs. He coached at ND from 1964-1974 and later served as a college football analyst for ABC and CBS. His retirement at 51 shocked the world of college football. One of the first coaches to break from autocratic rule, he was beloved by his players. Well done, sir.

My thanks to the kind folks who bought and donated books today in Russian and English. I had a visit from Al the Mensch, who's been under the weather due to diabetes. As usual, he chose an intellectually challenging work - Slouching toward Bethlehem, essays by Joan Didion. Get well, sir.

Vic's Sixth novel: http://tinyurl.com/zpuhucj 

Vic's Short Works: http://tinyurl.com/jy55pzc

Vic's 5th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/okxkwh5Vic's 4th novel: tinyurl.com/bszwlxh

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Vic's Short Story Collection:http:// tinyurl.com/lh2tepa 
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