Certainly the safeguarding of the home does not follow merely from the sanctity of property rights. The home derives its preeminence as the seat of family life. And the integrity of that life is something so fundamental that it has been found to draw to its protection the principles of more than one explicitly granted Constitutional right.
Poe v. Ullman (Harlan, J., dissenting).
The two books for today both touch upon family, the home, women surviving on their own and working class struggles. A Room On Lorelei Street*, a book about seventeen year old Zoe, dealing with a crappy home life and trying to survive on her own. It is a book about teens, not only a book written by someone who covers teens. Teens are told to read many books with adult characters; adults should probably read more with teens. You root for her to survive, even though it seems everything is against her, again as I said before not quite fairly.
Mary Pearson has written two other books about teens, but from the plot summaries, they do not seem as serious as this one. One thing powerful about the book, other than the striking internal monologues that provide a window into her thinking (third person, but her vantage point), is the complexity of the character. She is a troubled soul with a basic goodness, made to grow up to soon and a part of her does not seem much older than her younger brother (11). We sometimes forget about that when judging people, including perhaps the teacher who comes off as a bitch.
But, even the not so nice characters are not simply cardboard, though the teacher does come off as rather unfair (though some might say her actions are justified, given Zoe's actions). The mother is a sad character, but has "earned" her status, and the grandmother is also looked at with some care. Zoe ultimately wants to find place of her own, even if it is just a room. I not really kiddingly told my mom that she should let my younger brother keep his room messy. Let him express himself. A room can be so important to a teenager, to anyone really.
I took the audio book route for The Good Wife, a book by a guy, but mostly about a (white / husband a Buffalo Bills fan) wife ... it starts off in the 1970s, she's in her twenties and pregnant. She gets a call ... her husband is in trouble, in jail. And, so it begins ... we see her dealing with the trial, his conviction for murder (again, third person, her vantage point ... we therefore never find out if he was just there, the other guy got out before long by turning state's evidence) and throughout his twenty-five year prison sentence. She had to survive on her own, raising a son, and still stuck by her man.
Thus, the title. The book provides a good window into the life of someone who had a spouse in prison. We see things through her eyes, insisting he is innocent, sticking by her, long trips to out of the way upstate prisons, working their life around contact visits (when they came ... at the end, the prison did not have them) and eventually handling the time afterwards (briefly examined). As with the first book, we are dealing with working class life, first for the parks department, then a stream of retail jobs, and finally in a nursing home. It reminds us of all those family members in our prison nation.
I think the first part of the book was the best, the middle years going a bit quickly, but overall it also is well written and provides a power character with others fleshing out the story. For instance, her mom sticks by her throughout, early on seen as cynical and not trusting the husband ... but, the wife has to grow up fast, seeing how much she needs her. A few themes stand out ... how nothing is thought of as permanent, except the important stuff (lousy jobs no, surviving and sticking by her husband and son, yes), how certain things are out of her control, and her inner strength.
Again, family, home and strong women are at the core of the book. And, a good read.
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* The title reminds me of the Gilmore Girls, the show that I whined about a few times here, given it used to be worth watching, but then went downhill circa three years ago.