Tag: Kansas

What’s Ashley Reading?: All the Blood We Share

All the Blood We Share by Camilla Bruce

First line: When we departed the train on that January morning, all I could see was a bleak sky stretching out in every direction.

Summary: Based on the true story of the serial killing family, the Bloody Benders of Kansas. The Bender family has recently moved to the prairie town of Cherryvale where they have opened a small inn for travelers. The town seems to accept the family, especially Kate who uses her skills as a medium to help believers get in touch with their loved ones beyond the veil. However, a few bodies are found along the creek and others have been reported missing. It seems that there may be a band of thieves killing travelers…or is there? How much does the town of Cherryvale know about their newest residents?

My Thoughts: I had heard the name “Bloody Benders” but I really had no idea their crime spree on the prairie. From the beginning I was hooked. This book is a wonderful example of an atmospheric novel. As a Kansan, I’ve traveled over the open expanses of the state and can easily picture what life alone on the prairie must have been like during the time of the Benders. It sets the stage for the dramatic story that unfolds.

The story is told through three different narrators; Hanson, Elvira and Kate. Hanson is the young orphan who lives and works at a neighboring farm who befriends the Bender family. Elvira is the matriarch of the Bender family. She is conflicted about the events on the farm but doesn’t shy away from the rewards of the family’s deeds. And Kate, a self-proclaimed medium who uses her brains and beauty to charm everyone around her. Even though Kate Bender is the dark villainess of the story at times I found it hard to not like her. She was smart, resourceful and charming but with a darkness in her soul.

I really disliked the men of the family. William, the father, believed in Kate’s “visions” and was easily led by the women in his life. John, Kate’s step-brother, is obsessed with her and grows angry when she spends time with any of the men who crossed her path.

As I started reading I had to do a little research about the Benders. I was shocked by the murders but also by the lack of information about the family. Nothing is known about them before arriving in Kansas, it is not even known if these were their real names, but Camilla Bruce does a great job of building a backstory that shows a string of similar activities. And then Bruce gives a possible ending to their story. But since no traces of the Benders were ever found, no one will ever know. Theories abounded at the time about their whereabouts and/or deaths but nothing was ever verified. The author took a story with the barest of details and created a novel that is just as bloody as the real events.

After finishing the novel I went on Newspapers.com and searched for articles about the Bender family in the Wichita papers. It is fascinating to see actual articles about the murders in Cherryvale. It makes the history of it even more real. I wonder if it’s something my ancestors discussed as they read the unfolding story in their local papers.

Terese’s Thoughts: Easy Beauty

Easy Beauty by Chloé Cooper Jones

First Lines of the Prologue:

“I am in a bar in Brooklyn listening as two men, my friends, discuss whether or not my life is worth living. Jay is to my left and Colin to my right. Colin, an ethical philosopher trained in my same doctoral program, argues a vision for a better society, one where a body like mine would not exist. The men debate this theory, speaking through me. This is common, both the argument and the way I’m forgotten in it.”

Summary:

Jones is living in Brooklyn when we meet her, earning a PhD (her second) in philosophy. She is a recent mother, although she had always been told by doctors that becoming pregnant was not possible. Her body would not support a life, they said. Jones was born with a rare condition called sacral agenesis, resulting in chronic pain, a shortened stature, and an atypical gait. Throughout her thoughtful memoir, Jones reflects on how this difference has affected how she views herself, how she interacts with the world, and how people respond to her. Jones jumps around in time, taking us back to her childhood in Kansas, where we get to know her loving, hardworking, no-nonsense mother and the father from whom she is now estranged. We also travel alongside Jones as she searches for meaning and escape in Italy, Cambodia, and Los Angeles, including attending a Beyoncé concert and meeting Peter Dinklage. And we meet her husband and child as Jones grapples with seeing her sometimes cynical view of people rub off on her sensitive son.

My Thoughts:

When I heard that Chloé Cooper Jones was a guest on Longform, a podcast I regularly listen to, I thought her name sounded familiar. It sounded like my teacher’s name from a creative writing class I’d taken at the University of Kansas several years back. And it turns out, it was! I was shocked. From listening to her interview, I discovered she had been nominated for a Pulitzer for an article she wrote about tennis. Tennis! How had I missed this? And in the weeks that followed, it seemed I saw news of her upcoming book everywhere I turned. It was getting excellent reviews. Easy Beauty was the first book named in The New York Times Book Review feature “New Memoirs Bristling with Wit, Warmth and Spiky Intelligence.”

The writing course I took with Jones was intimate. We critiqued each other’s writing, we joked and laughed and teased. Some of us were not much younger than Jones so she felt almost like a peer. She was witty and hip. I still remember her chastising us for not looking up a word we didn’t know in an assigned short story. “You guys don’t look up words you don’t know? Always look up words you don’t know.” And now I keep a dictionary on my nightstand. So when I saw that she was, at least in the literary world, famous, I felt proud. And it was also motivating to see how much she had accomplished since I’d seen her last.

I tore through this book. It is so well written, funny, thoughtful, and lovely. It made me take a look at some of my own assumptions and privilege, and that’s always a good thing as far as I’m concerned. It made me do a lot of reflecting on the way I move through the world and how we treat one another, as humans. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

FYI: Here’s the Longform episode featuring Chloé Cooper Jones.

What’s Ashley Reading?: The Wolf Wants In

The Wolf Wants In by Laura McHugh

First line: A bitter wind sheared through the darkness, biting into my exposed flesh and lashing my hair across my face.

Summary: Sadie Keller is determined to find out what happened to her brother on the night he died. She does not believe the story told to her by his wife, Crystle. But the police do not believe that there is enough evidence to allow them to look deeper into the events.

Henley is hoping to escape from her small Kansas town. Her family are involved in some dangerous activities and she wants to leave before she is sucked into them.

My Thoughts: I loved the author’s previous book Arrowood. It was thrilling. This was sold to be a thriller but it really fell flat. I was hoping for more but it took almost 60% of the book to get to the more interesting pieces. The beginning was about the town, its people and the life in small town Kansas. This made it easy to connect with at least, as a girl from a small town in Kansas.

I liked the characters but they needed something more. We got glimpses into Sadie’s past with her brother. I would have liked more of that. Henley seemed like a filler character. She did reveal some information that lead to big reveal but her story was blah.

FYI: Read Arrowood!