Russell Banks (1940–2023)

Banks claims the story is an account of audio tapes that Harley Mann recorded. However, the story is a fictional account in which Banks describes life on a parcel of land in Osceola County purchased by Shakers from the Disston Land Company in 1896. The New Bethany Shaker colony, the novel's primary setting, is near Narcoossee on the Cloud River. The magic kingdom of Banks' book is this Shaker colony in south Florida where the main character, Harley Mann, moved with his mother and brothers in 1902. Banks has done his homework and writes a believable tale of a young man coming of age among the Shakers.

In the beginning, Harley Mann believes that the Shaker elders will nurture his family and provide the love and structure they need to survive his father's death. It is gratifying to have food and a reasonable place to sleep after becoming nearly enslaved on a plantation in Georgia before being recruited by the Shakers. Harley is learning to be a beekeeper and completes many tasks in the self-sufficient community, leading him and the readers to believe he will eventually become a leader.

The predominant focus and message of The Magic Kingdom is the description of the precepts of the Shakers, the Society of Believers. The Shakers engage in communal living, and they share all property. Additionally, they remain celibate, do not procreate, and must adopt and recruit new members to survive. Harley lived the Shaker life in good faith until his natural urges led to wanting a relationship with a woman. Banks describes Harley's inner turmoil and many other emotions as the novel progresses. The plot includes unresolvable conflicts that lead to anger, regrets, betrayals, and hypocrisy.

Some parts of the book were slow-moving, but I was immersed in the story and gained new insights into the Shakers, Koresh followers, and Ruskinites, groups that settled and played a role in the development of our country. Of course, the rustic nature of Florida's land was essential to the story's setting.

https://quipsandquotes.net/… (more)

This is a haunting book about the aftermath of a school bus crash that took the lives of fourteen children and left others injured, some irrevocably. It takes place in a small town in upstate New York named Sam Dent. There is shock, profound grief, followed by a need to find the responsible party. Personal injury attorneys descend on the small town to represent the families, many attending the funerals of the children to make contact with their parents.

It is told from different perspectives. These include the bus driver, Dolores Driscoll, who escaped unscathed, but shattered by the enormity of the accident; Mitchell Stephens, a NYC attorney with a daughter fighting an addiction; Billy Ansel, a widowed Vietnam veteran whose twins both died in the crash; and Nichole Burnell, the fourteen-year-old girl who will never walk again and has been the victim of her father's sexual abuse for years.

This is a book whose stories will stay with me. The small town itself becomes a character when the inhabitants slowly come together following the tragedy.… (more)