Review by Christian Blaser + -- The Senator's Suitcase
-
Christian Blaser +
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 31 Jul 2020, 14:58
- Currently Reading:
- Bookshelf Size: 3
- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-christian-blaser.html
- Latest Review: The Senator's Suitcase by Mitch Engel
Review by Christian Blaser + -- The Senator's Suitcase
[Following is a volunteer review of "The Senator's Suitcase" by Mitch Engel.]
The book The Senator’s Suitcase – A Story of Love & Legacy by Mitch Engel was published in 2018.
Part I: “Unanswered” is written in first person, by Troy Davenport. He is 35 years old at the sudden death of his mother, Beth Davenport, in a helicopter accident in Qatar in 2018, while on Senate business. The 78-year-old lady had been, after years working very successfully in the private sector, initially a member of the House of Representatives for two terms, and from then on, without interruption, the Senior Senator for Indiana. During her 36 years as member of Congress, she had created for herself a sterling reputation as an honest, independent, modern, and straight-shooting politician, dedicated primarily to the interests of the underprivileged, to equal rights and opportunities for women, lesbians, gays and transgender people, and education. Pride of her home-state and her constituency of Indiana, she had become a nationwide legend, admired and beloved by everybody and consulted by every President. She had been a widow for 30 years and was always immaculate and elegant in designer clothes, and still beautiful at her age.
Troy, her only son, had stayed away from politics all his life. He is Associate Professor for Sociology at a college in a small town near Indianapolis, is still single and is the kind of person who never considered money as a driver in his life nor designer clothes as something important.
Now, he finds himself, heir not only to a quite considerable estate of his mother, but also to a big chunk of his paternal grandfather´s immense fortune. “Senior” Davenport, a self-made billionaire, creator of a mining empire, had died ten years earlier and had the well-deserved reputation of being a harsh and evil s.o.b. He was one of the personalities in Indiana and surrounding states “where the bucks stopped”!
Troy had always had a distant relationship with his mother. He attributed it partially to the fact that she seldom was around, but in Washington or travelling around the States and the whole world. But there was more to it. Although he knew and accepted that she was a very private person, she never shared any of her intimate thoughts, plans or dreams with him. She never told him anything about her family and only an absolute minimum about her personal and professional story and life. She diplomatically but firmly had always deflected his many questions and thus never catered to his natural and legitimate curiosity. Contrary to that, young Troy, up to age 5 when his father (“Junior” Davenport) died of a rare decease, had a very close and loving relationship with him.
So Toy now sets out to find out who his mother was because he feels (a feeling still enhanced by the long-winded obituaries at the memorial services) that he never really knew her. So he visits and interviews people who knew her well. Troy frequented some of them, such as Cal (Calvin) Stratton, a successful banker in Indianapolis and his mother and father´s closest and lifelong friend. Cal was “like a father” to Troy after his dad died. He calls him “Uncle,” and he has been his adviser in many instances during most of his life.
He also, of course, knew his nanny, as well as Beth´s loyal secretary. When in the middle of this “detective work” he finds out (by coincidence) that Beth had secretly kept and hidden away 5.5 Million dollars in cash, his mother´s image as an icon of virtue suffers a severe shock. It is seemingly evident that such an amount of money accumulated and kept over many years without touching had to be “dirty” money. Additionally, that money his mother did not want him or anybody else to know about had not earned any interest in all the years! Now his search for the truth becomes an obsession.
Part II: “Unspoken” that follows is written in the third person and represents the “Story of Love & Legacy” that the subtitle promises. A fascinating, incredible, terribly challenging and heart-breaking story of a miserable youth of neglect, hate, and sexual abuse at home. It contains the description of a beautiful friendship of two young adolescent girls (Beth – at that time “Lizzie” Monroe, and Lila Henry) that sadly goes wrong. There follow a beautiful part about the budding of, and development, of an unconventional and uniquely profound and beautiful relationship between Beth, her future husband “Junior” Davenport, and Cal Stratton. Mixed in is a series of strange “deals” in which old man “Senior” Davenport is very much involved as the bad guy and it progresses through many surprising turns and developments. So it reads like a crime story.
The stratagem our author uses to tell the different parts of the story, and the truth, is very ingenious: Different layers (as in an onion) are opened when Beth re-reads and reminisces about the contents of a diary she has written and kept since age 13 and for a long time. When she last opened the safekeeping unit after “Senior” ´s death, she left that diary in the suitcase where she found the hidden-away money. When Troy discovered it, he left it there, but he took the journal with him to read. That is how he found out most about Beth´s earlier life, as well as about that best friend, Lila. There she also found and met a medical doctor who plays an important part in the story.
Part III: “Closure” and the following “Epilogue” are again written in the first person by Troy. What was “Unanswered” and “Unspoken” now becomes mostly clear. It explains where the money came from, and many things about Beth´s life and about Troy himself, and it becomes clear why his mother (and Cal) were so reticent about so many things. Troy finds the love of his life in the daughter of the abovementioned doctor. He arrives at a point where, although he does still not quite understand some things (such as who his father is), he however understands and gets to admire his mother’s actions and motives, and he serenely accepts that some stones are better kept unturned. The story ends with his quiet certainty that his mother was a profoundly human and loving person and every bit the extraordinary woman which the public knew, plus much more: In the process, her image changes from a beacon to a real, full-blooded human being.
The book is well written and well-edited. I did find and count some five very minor errors (more like typos) that did not in any way disturb the pleasure I had in reading. It seems unjust to qualify this as “sloppy editing”. Still, there are rules.
I liked the architecture of the plot and the ingenious use of the “abandoned” diary. The love story is convoluted, complex, and unconventional, but convincing, and the main actors are very well profiled and believable.
There is very strong content; sexuality and homosexuality are prominent themes, treated openly but still discreetly, never graphically. Vulgarity is used in relation to some persons in the story-line, but I would not call it “beyond normal.”
I would not recommend the book for very young readers nor for people who are offended by strong content, sexuality, homosexuality, and some vulgarity.
Given the rules about editing, I can only rate the book (with a bleeding heart), with 3 out of 4 stars.
******
The Senator's Suitcase
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
The book The Senator’s Suitcase – A Story of Love & Legacy by Mitch Engel was published in 2018.
Part I: “Unanswered” is written in first person, by Troy Davenport. He is 35 years old at the sudden death of his mother, Beth Davenport, in a helicopter accident in Qatar in 2018, while on Senate business. The 78-year-old lady had been, after years working very successfully in the private sector, initially a member of the House of Representatives for two terms, and from then on, without interruption, the Senior Senator for Indiana. During her 36 years as member of Congress, she had created for herself a sterling reputation as an honest, independent, modern, and straight-shooting politician, dedicated primarily to the interests of the underprivileged, to equal rights and opportunities for women, lesbians, gays and transgender people, and education. Pride of her home-state and her constituency of Indiana, she had become a nationwide legend, admired and beloved by everybody and consulted by every President. She had been a widow for 30 years and was always immaculate and elegant in designer clothes, and still beautiful at her age.
Troy, her only son, had stayed away from politics all his life. He is Associate Professor for Sociology at a college in a small town near Indianapolis, is still single and is the kind of person who never considered money as a driver in his life nor designer clothes as something important.
Now, he finds himself, heir not only to a quite considerable estate of his mother, but also to a big chunk of his paternal grandfather´s immense fortune. “Senior” Davenport, a self-made billionaire, creator of a mining empire, had died ten years earlier and had the well-deserved reputation of being a harsh and evil s.o.b. He was one of the personalities in Indiana and surrounding states “where the bucks stopped”!
Troy had always had a distant relationship with his mother. He attributed it partially to the fact that she seldom was around, but in Washington or travelling around the States and the whole world. But there was more to it. Although he knew and accepted that she was a very private person, she never shared any of her intimate thoughts, plans or dreams with him. She never told him anything about her family and only an absolute minimum about her personal and professional story and life. She diplomatically but firmly had always deflected his many questions and thus never catered to his natural and legitimate curiosity. Contrary to that, young Troy, up to age 5 when his father (“Junior” Davenport) died of a rare decease, had a very close and loving relationship with him.
So Toy now sets out to find out who his mother was because he feels (a feeling still enhanced by the long-winded obituaries at the memorial services) that he never really knew her. So he visits and interviews people who knew her well. Troy frequented some of them, such as Cal (Calvin) Stratton, a successful banker in Indianapolis and his mother and father´s closest and lifelong friend. Cal was “like a father” to Troy after his dad died. He calls him “Uncle,” and he has been his adviser in many instances during most of his life.
He also, of course, knew his nanny, as well as Beth´s loyal secretary. When in the middle of this “detective work” he finds out (by coincidence) that Beth had secretly kept and hidden away 5.5 Million dollars in cash, his mother´s image as an icon of virtue suffers a severe shock. It is seemingly evident that such an amount of money accumulated and kept over many years without touching had to be “dirty” money. Additionally, that money his mother did not want him or anybody else to know about had not earned any interest in all the years! Now his search for the truth becomes an obsession.
Part II: “Unspoken” that follows is written in the third person and represents the “Story of Love & Legacy” that the subtitle promises. A fascinating, incredible, terribly challenging and heart-breaking story of a miserable youth of neglect, hate, and sexual abuse at home. It contains the description of a beautiful friendship of two young adolescent girls (Beth – at that time “Lizzie” Monroe, and Lila Henry) that sadly goes wrong. There follow a beautiful part about the budding of, and development, of an unconventional and uniquely profound and beautiful relationship between Beth, her future husband “Junior” Davenport, and Cal Stratton. Mixed in is a series of strange “deals” in which old man “Senior” Davenport is very much involved as the bad guy and it progresses through many surprising turns and developments. So it reads like a crime story.
The stratagem our author uses to tell the different parts of the story, and the truth, is very ingenious: Different layers (as in an onion) are opened when Beth re-reads and reminisces about the contents of a diary she has written and kept since age 13 and for a long time. When she last opened the safekeeping unit after “Senior” ´s death, she left that diary in the suitcase where she found the hidden-away money. When Troy discovered it, he left it there, but he took the journal with him to read. That is how he found out most about Beth´s earlier life, as well as about that best friend, Lila. There she also found and met a medical doctor who plays an important part in the story.
Part III: “Closure” and the following “Epilogue” are again written in the first person by Troy. What was “Unanswered” and “Unspoken” now becomes mostly clear. It explains where the money came from, and many things about Beth´s life and about Troy himself, and it becomes clear why his mother (and Cal) were so reticent about so many things. Troy finds the love of his life in the daughter of the abovementioned doctor. He arrives at a point where, although he does still not quite understand some things (such as who his father is), he however understands and gets to admire his mother’s actions and motives, and he serenely accepts that some stones are better kept unturned. The story ends with his quiet certainty that his mother was a profoundly human and loving person and every bit the extraordinary woman which the public knew, plus much more: In the process, her image changes from a beacon to a real, full-blooded human being.
The book is well written and well-edited. I did find and count some five very minor errors (more like typos) that did not in any way disturb the pleasure I had in reading. It seems unjust to qualify this as “sloppy editing”. Still, there are rules.
I liked the architecture of the plot and the ingenious use of the “abandoned” diary. The love story is convoluted, complex, and unconventional, but convincing, and the main actors are very well profiled and believable.
There is very strong content; sexuality and homosexuality are prominent themes, treated openly but still discreetly, never graphically. Vulgarity is used in relation to some persons in the story-line, but I would not call it “beyond normal.”
I would not recommend the book for very young readers nor for people who are offended by strong content, sexuality, homosexuality, and some vulgarity.
Given the rules about editing, I can only rate the book (with a bleeding heart), with 3 out of 4 stars.
******
The Senator's Suitcase
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: The Senator's Suitcase by Mitch Engel
