MOUNT VERNON – Paragraphs Bookstore’s Lois Hanson of Mount Vernon will review books from time to time here on KnoxPages.com. Her first review is on Laura McBride’s We are Called to Rise, a novel published by Simon & Schuster released on June 3, 2014.
We Are Called to Rise – Laura McBride
We never know how high we are
Till we are called to rise:
And then, if we are true to plan
Our statures touch the skies.
The heroism we recite
Would be a daily thing,
Did not ourselves the cubits warp
For fear to be a king.
–Emily Dickinson
I frequently wonder how an author decides upon the title for a book; how does she get it just right? I hope there was a Eureka! moment when Laura McBride settled upon We Are Called to Rise for her first novel. The title works perfectly. Set away from the glitter and neon of the Vegas Strip, this book explores the lives of four narrators who call Las Vegas “home.”
In the first chapter Avis realizes that her marriage is faltering but is determined to revive it. As she searches for her sexy nightgown, her husband tells her he is in love with another woman and is moving out.
Bashkim, the ten-year-old son of immigrant Albanian parents, is another narrator. His parents barely support the family with their ice-cream truck. His father was a political prisoner and carries the physical and psychological scars of his torture which flair out at his family in shouts and beatings.
Luis is a veteran from Afghanistan in Walter Reed Hospital and writes to Bashkim who has drawn his name as a school project “penpal.”
The fourth narrator is Roberta, a social worker, who is drawn into their lives when they all collide after a terrible highway incident. In all honesty, Roberta’s is the weakest story and voice in the book. She really is overshadowed by the depth and voices of the other three.
McBride captures the anxiety and timidity of young Bashkim . It is his story which expresses the immigrant/refugee experience as he tries to protect his family from his father’s anger and frustration about living in America. I liked Avis’ story as her marriage falls apart and she struggles to create a new life for herself. From deciding what to do about her big house and worrying about her son who might be suffering from PTSS, she is a woman who must come to terms with a new reality.
And Specialist Luis Rodriguez-Reyes has a lost his best friend in combat and is haunted by a young man he killed.
Everyone who has read this book loves it. I think you will too.
