Part II: The Positive Side of Staycations: Brevity, Brevity, Brevity..

If you would like to catch up with Part I click here. 

If brevity be the soul of wit, then John Le Carre's last novel Silverview is a the epitome of terse, yet powerful spy fiction. The book is a delight to read. The plot centers around a major "four-star" breach in British intelligence. The prime suspects are two. The first is the man who describes himself as a "British mongrel, retired, a former academic of no merit and one of life's odd job men." The other is his cancer stricken wife who was a former top analyst for British intelligence who works for a 'quasi' governmental organizations. 

Thrown in the mix of memorable characters are the British Head of Domestic Security labelled the "Chief Sniffer Dog" and a young wealthy financial wizard who abandons his London career to become a bookseller in a small coastal town in Northern England. Le Carrre (1931-2020) the Master of Spy Fiction is at his best in this 200 page finale.

Ken Follett's 802 Page Thriller 

Never 

Stuck at home this past summer with late stage covid hybrid, I embarked on an 800 page journey sparked by my "second look" at a special collection at Darien Library pictured below 

The Special "Second Look" section at Darien 
Library for Chart-Buster Books you might Have Missed  

Brevity is a challenge as one essays to summarize a long novel in a few paragraphs with less than 375 words....Here goes. 

How do you stay glued to an 800 page thriller that captivates and propels you to a '"Doomsday" scenario---as if you are on an 8 day, non-stop literary binge in your Home Entertainment Theater---your den?  

The plot of Never begins with Abdul an undercover CIA agent tasked with tracking a Saharan cocaine shipment destined to fund the terrorist group ISGS (Islamic State Greater Sahara) and simultaneously locate the terrorist leader, al-Farabi. The U.S gets involved when an American soldier is killed in a border incident and the sniper's rifle is traced to North Korea. Tensions swell between leaders in the U.S and China; then China sinks an American oil exploration vessel and we are quickly moving up the Defcon scale.  Then through a series of events linking Chad (in North East Africa) to Washington, D.C., China, to North and South Korea, the world arrives at the brink of Defcon One (nuclear war is imminent or has begun)--pitting the U.S. against its arch enemy. 

 Along the way, Follett introduces us to to many characters whose lives we enter since they are so clearly etched. There is the beautiful widowed Chad refugee, Kiah -with her tot Naji, who is on a flight to freedom seeking a better life in France. She joins the CIA agent Abdul on a perilous northern journey. Pauline Greene is the first female US President whose marriage is on the rocks and she has little time to spend time with her angst-ridden teen daughter Pippa as she perilously grapples with impending decisions.   

Married to Ting, a popular actress on Chinese TV, Chang Kai, a young liberal thinking minister for international intelligence, is at odds against old guard Maoist operatives like his father Chang Jianjun, Vice Chairman of the National Security Commission. Chang is faced with dealing with an American- UN resolution condemning China and false accusations made by his enemy Li Jiankang that his wife has been critical of the party. 

I invite you to enjoy your vacations, or staycations, as I did, and join the binge as you enjoy the literary journey by a master of fiction, Ken Follett.   

Part One: Staycations are for Recharging the Battery and Delving into the Creative Arts

 I am celebrating and remembering two staycations--one in the summer of  2021 and the second this past summer of 2023. 

The writer masked during Class at 
Greenwich High School 

   Both were initiated by the corona virus and both had different outcomes. During the Greenwich High School academic year 2020-2021, I volunteered to be a full time co-teacher of AP Chemistry. The regular  teacher,  PHD certified,  was quarantined at home because her aged parents were staying with her and she didn't want to expose them to the virus. She zoomed classes from home.

 We didn't miss a single day, didn't log in a single absence and I was happy to fulfill an important role to make sure the students who signed up for the class would be able to attend. 

  The summer of 2021 was memorable for experiencing mental burnout and physical stagnation. It was marked by resignation to remediation. In other words, I stayed at home, did  low impact exercise at my club and devoted the summer to recharging my depleted battery. 

  The following summer, I was charged up with much energy. During this next academic year I was no longer a long term Chemistry substitute so I was able to teach in other departments and disciplines-- including Special Education, English, Social Studies, Languages and Music. And, of course, I was now able to work at my own pace, meaning I no longer had to 'punch  a time clock' and could take days off if so chose..... 

 That summer was glorious: I followed a dream that I have had  for so many years since living in California and hiking and backpacking the Sierras enjoying treks in to the wildernesses of the Alpine and Tuolumne Meadows, 

That's me Learning to Climb Mt. Hale
in the White Mountains led by a guide (summer 2022) 

 I trained during the year to build up my endurance to climb some mountains in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains. And what a blessing it was and is to be accompanied by a guide. (More on this experience on a later post).

 Nearly three and a half years after the onset of Covid, I tested positive, in the middle of Judy 2023.  Rather than be totally sidelined by the subsequent quarantine and staycation that ensued,  I dedicated myself to Literature and Arts that I will be proud to share in a subsequent post. So tune in to Part II.   

  

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