James Gordon Bennett (1) (1947–)

I can't honestly say I liked it. But I can't say there was anything intrinsically wrong with it either. I much preferred the first half of the book, when the main character and his sister were still children. I liked that the narrative addressed very adult issues (life in the military, a crumbling marriage, etc) from the hazy perspective of youth. I found the last half, their adulthood, disappointing though. I'm afraid I lost sight of the moral of the story at that point.

I realise that part of the running theme of the book was the family's inability to communicate, but I felt really cheated by never getting to see the father called out for being an insensitive ass. The happy ending felt brittle. In the sense that it was only happy for some and only possible because the mother was finally dead. It almost made her feel like the bad guy for hindering that very eventuality. But come on, she wasn't the ever absent philander! Did the father and his mistress really deserve a happy ending at everyone else's expense? Was the fact that the heavy price the family paid for it was years past suddenly make it OK? I didn't think so, at least not without having to concede some sort of apology. Yes, real life is messy and maybe that makes this book more gritty and real, but I found it a most unsatisfying read. I wanted to see the father forced to face the consequences of his own decisions and the children finally given a little consideration. I never got it and I finished the book a bit disgusted with the lot of them.

I did find the writing excellent (though the passage of time was often unclear) and I enjoyed some aspects of the characters. For example, the fact that Cora was so often patronised and ignored, but was also almost always right. Chapter 2, Brats, was by far the best of the book IMO. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading the book and I'm not disappointed to have read it myself. Can't say I enjoyed the last half all that much though.… (altro)

James Gordon Bennett wrote his probably autobiographical novel, MY FATHER'S GEISHA twenty-five years ago, and I'm pretty sure I read it the first time in 1992, because I found a receipt tucked inside it, from a store in Annapolis Mall. I didn't intend to reread the whole book; was just going to browse through it, but it was just so damn good I didn't want to put it down, so I just finished it about fifteen minutes ago. It's probably not in print anymore, but it oughta be. It DESERVES to be. Narrated by army brat, Teddy, it covers twenty-some years, and gives you an in-depth look at one dysfunctional family. Teddy's father, a decorated veteran of the Korean War, is one of those undomesticated husbands, who also fights in Vietnam and is posted also to Panama and Taiwan, places his wife refuses to go, because, she says, she won't fly. Furiously jealous, she constantly accuses her husband of infidelity. And she may be right, as women are often attracted to her handsome war hero husband. And there is Cora, Teddy's older sister, who has a thyroid condition, and a superiority complex. Teddy only gradually, over the years, comes to understand what a screwed-up family he belongs to, and his own maturity comes slowly. MY FATHER'S GEISHA was perhaps an appropriate book to pick up on this Veterans Day, as it affords its readers an intimate glimpse into the life of a military family headed by a career officer. It caused me to reflect back on my second enlistment when I caused my young family to be uprooted from its quiet normal life in southeast Michigan and moved to California, then back to Michigan, to Germany, etc., all in just five years. My two sons, both in their forties now, still do not quite know how to respond when people ask where they are from. Probably because in a relatively short period, they attended six different schools, which is not all that unusual for military dependents, or "army brats." As one himself, Bennett should know. His book got some pretty good reviews back in 1990. As it should have. (It has been compared to THE GREAT SANTINI and FRANNY AND ZOOEY. I would add one more book to that: Tim Farrington's excellent novel of the Vietnam years, LIZZIE'S WAR.) One more time: this is a damn good book. Very highly recommended.… (altro)