Mini-Reviews: Everything Beautiful Began After and A Map of Betrayal

Everything Beautiful Began After 
by Simon Van Booy

One summer in Athens, three young people meet and become inseparable. Rebecca is an artist who has left her past behind in an effort to discover who she is and what she wants from life. George hopes to find a connection in ancient languages that he hasn't been able to find from other people. Henry is an archaeologist whose bravado and confidence hide a dark secret.

Simon Van Booy is a master of writing lovely stories. His prose is simple but breathtaking and his tales themselves are timeless. Rebecca and George and Henry could be people from any time, exploring new places, learning new things, and finding the people who will shape their lives. 

The timelessness of the story is in direct juxtaposition to the meticulous sense of place. While the characters in this book will travel to many places, most of the story takes place in Rome. The sweeping vistas, noisy tourists, and historic sites seem to come to life right before your eyes.

I love reading the work of Simon Van Booy. There is a sincerity that permeates every sentence of his stories; an acknowledgement that each of us will face both divine joy and unspeakable grief during our lives. Everything Beautiful Began After invites the reader to let themselves be shaped by this difficult and wonderful life.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       A Map of Betrayal

by Ha Jin

Gary Sheng was a man with dual allegiances, dual families, and dual lives. He lived in the United States and worked as a translator at the CIA, which gave him the ability to leak information to the Chinese government. He married an American woman and has a daughter named Lillian. But all the while, he could not forget his first family back in China. A grown-up Lillian learns about his duplicity by reading his journals after he has died. She decides to reach out to her father's first family and try to piece together the truth.

A Map of Betrayal moves back and forth between Lillian's quest in the present and her father's life in the past.The entire novel has a sense of reserve throughout, even as Lillian learns her father's darkest secrets and finds that they have implications for her family. At times, it felt as if Lillian's interest in Gary was academic and part of her research as a professor instead of personal. I learned a lot about China and Gary's pain about living two lives is fully realized, but I never really empathized with the characters.