Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Guest Book
Sarah Blake
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Guest Book
Sarah Blake
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Guest Book, by Sarah Blake, is the story of the Milton family: Kitty and Ogden, future generations, and those past. Neddy is Kitty’s youngest boy, always climbing high onto park statues. One day, he climbs onto the window-sill with his bear and falls/flies out the window. He dies. Kitty is devastated. We meet Evie, grand-daughter of Kitty. She is a professor of women’s history. We see and hear her standing in front of a classroom showing slides of gravestones. “History is not simply facts; it is now,” she states. “Know yourselves first,” she tells the students.
Author flashes back to 1936 in Germany when the Nazis are gaining power. Two men come to get Elsa’s father, a concert violinist. Forward to the reading room of the Harvard Club, Ogden is with Harry, telling him he is invested in German enterprises. Harry thinks he should get out of those companies. Hitler is not going to be stopped.
When the Milton family bought an island, Evie and Paul stayed in Manhattan, disliking the fanciness of the island people. They consider selling it. Talking with her black colleague, Hazel, Evie describes her grandparents whose photos are on the wall of her office. Kitty and Ogden become the Miltons of Crockett Island. On a picnic there, the family meets Elsa and her young son who says hello in German. Elsa asks Kitty to take her boy, to keep him safe from the war that is coming. Kitty says no.
The Miltons lead a fancy life: they rock climb and swim, have lobsters delivered for dinner in the evening, and bacon in the mornings. Author Blake lets us know their worth. There are parties as the children grow, and midnight boat trips. All is fine at Crockett Island.
In 1959, Joan rents an apartment across from the Metropolitan Opera house. When Joan and her sister, Evelyn, meet at Grand Central Station, Joan has a seizure and falls to the floor. A man in a seersucker jacket rushes to take her hand in his. When she recovers, she kisses him to say thank you. His name is Len Levy and he works in a brokerage firm in New York City. He lives with his friend, Reg Paulson who takes Polaroid photos of working class people to make a social statement. Levy now works at the same firm as Ogden and goes to see him with an innovative proposal. Interesting how lives cross.
Meanwhile, Paul has returned from a business trip to Germany where he saw sidewalk plaques with names of murdered victims of the Nazis. Among them are Elsa’s name, her violinist husband’s, and young Willie’s. Paul has an idea to make stepping-stones for those who stood by and watched the murders. Paul tells Evie that the Miltons conspired with the head of German Steel, shows her a photo of her grandfather standing next to the head of that company. This partnership enabled the Miltons to buy the island during the depression. Paul wants to sell the summer house; Evie believes it is her history. Author Blake moves us back and forth through three generations, through time.
Levy finds the contract that connects Ogden’s firm with German steel and plans to confront him with this news when he is invited to the island. He invites Reg the photographer, to come with him. What will happen there? What is the secret that will change the lives of this upper class family? Perhaps the guest book that everyone must sign will tell the answer? Find out on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Author flashes back to 1936 in Germany when the Nazis are gaining power. Two men come to get Elsa’s father, a concert violinist. Forward to the reading room of the Harvard Club, Ogden is with Harry, telling him he is invested in German enterprises. Harry thinks he should get out of those companies. Hitler is not going to be stopped.
When the Milton family bought an island, Evie and Paul stayed in Manhattan, disliking the fanciness of the island people. They consider selling it. Talking with her black colleague, Hazel, Evie describes her grandparents whose photos are on the wall of her office. Kitty and Ogden become the Miltons of Crockett Island. On a picnic there, the family meets Elsa and her young son who says hello in German. Elsa asks Kitty to take her boy, to keep him safe from the war that is coming. Kitty says no.
The Miltons lead a fancy life: they rock climb and swim, have lobsters delivered for dinner in the evening, and bacon in the mornings. Author Blake lets us know their worth. There are parties as the children grow, and midnight boat trips. All is fine at Crockett Island.
In 1959, Joan rents an apartment across from the Metropolitan Opera house. When Joan and her sister, Evelyn, meet at Grand Central Station, Joan has a seizure and falls to the floor. A man in a seersucker jacket rushes to take her hand in his. When she recovers, she kisses him to say thank you. His name is Len Levy and he works in a brokerage firm in New York City. He lives with his friend, Reg Paulson who takes Polaroid photos of working class people to make a social statement. Levy now works at the same firm as Ogden and goes to see him with an innovative proposal. Interesting how lives cross.
Meanwhile, Paul has returned from a business trip to Germany where he saw sidewalk plaques with names of murdered victims of the Nazis. Among them are Elsa’s name, her violinist husband’s, and young Willie’s. Paul has an idea to make stepping-stones for those who stood by and watched the murders. Paul tells Evie that the Miltons conspired with the head of German Steel, shows her a photo of her grandfather standing next to the head of that company. This partnership enabled the Miltons to buy the island during the depression. Paul wants to sell the summer house; Evie believes it is her history. Author Blake moves us back and forth through three generations, through time.
Levy finds the contract that connects Ogden’s firm with German steel and plans to confront him with this news when he is invited to the island. He invites Reg the photographer, to come with him. What will happen there? What is the secret that will change the lives of this upper class family? Perhaps the guest book that everyone must sign will tell the answer? Find out on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.