It's terrifying to consider how a person can lose everything in an instant. Not only that but the people closest to us might be hiding terrible secrets. No one should live in paranoia, but it's sobering to contemplate how resilient you might be if the worst were to happen. “Sweet Vidalia” begins with an arresting moment of crisis for Eliza, a middle-aged woman in 1960s Texas. She's been married for three decades and has two adult children. Her world isn't only turned upside down but inside out as she suddenly finds herself on the brink of destitution and must start over again at this unusual stage of life. Eliza seeks to get a business education and job while moving into a motel called Sweet Vidalia with her old dog. There she encounters a number of curious individuals and forms new connections. The grinding indignity and humility of her situation is tempered by a tonally-light and humour-leaning narrative. However, this book doesn't shy away from the emotional shock or physical challenges of Eliza's situation. There's a serious impediment preventing her from accessing the few assets she still possesses, she suffers from arthritis in her hands and her children don't have enough resources to support her. Nevertheless, she discovers opportunities in the most unexpected places.

The wide range of characters that Eliza meets are interesting, but the novel comes to feel a little too cluttered with all their stories. Many of them have their own idiosyncrasies which are touched upon such as a man who feels closer to dogs than people, a strong-willed artistically-gifted classmate and a gay man who struggles to find employment in clerical roles usually taken by women. However, many of their lives never come to feel entirely filled out. But Eliza herself is a sensitive and empathetic character whose complexity beautifully deepens over the course of the story as she discovers an inner strength and talents that she never previously knew she possessed. At one point she reflects “Nobody now on earth, including my children, knows who I am. Not a wife, a mother whose kids are grown, with no neighborhood friend, no job to tell me what I am. Just a kind of in-between person who lives in a temporary place with people who live near her temporarily.” This sudden sense of anonymity may crush some people. But it's heartening how in this desperate situation Eliza learns to envision a new sense of self that's free from the expectations of those she's lived amongst for her entire life and establish her autonomy. I also found it touching how she recalls her own parents' economic struggles when she was young and feels a new connection with them because of her own plight. These factors mean that the novel comes to feel hopeful even amidst such a dire situation caused by a terrible betrayal.

Lisa Sandlin's writing has understandably been compared to that of Anne Tyler and Elizabeth Strout. Like these wonderful authors, her fiction is a pleasure to read with its naturally flowing prose which are layered with great depths of emotion.

The protest surrounding the 1999 Seattle meeting of ministers from the World Trade Organization is a tragic event that raised awareness of the anti-globalization movement. Thousands of protesters blocked the streets leading up to where the meetings were due to take place. They faced serious police opposition as authorities forcefully tried to disperse the crowds using tear-gas and pepper spray while making many arrests of protestors and innocent bystanders alike. It’s truly shocking watching videos of policemen lifting the scarves covering protestors’ heads and spraying toxins directly into their faces. The complexity of this incident is heightened by the wide range of groups involved in the protest, but most were motivated by agendas involving fair labour policies, anti-capitalism and environmentalism. Author Sunil Yapa brings this clash to life in his novel “Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist” which is a dramatic depiction of this November day involving fictional characters of the Chief of Police, his estranged biracial son who becomes a part of the protests and several people involved in various sides of the conflict. He inserts individual stories and histories into this landmark event which has often been obfuscated by the confusing array of issues surrounding it. In doing so, he creates a poetically-charged and energetic tale that raises meaningful questions about our individual responsibilities as global citizens.

This novel raised a lot of personal feelings for me as it prompted me to wonder about my own stance as a citizen. In my late teenage years I spent a lot of time reading about and researching intentional communities and spent some time on one such place in Virginia. I was eager to strive towards a communal level of self-sufficiency while continuing to be an active part of society but not submitting to the trappings of a capitalist lifestyle where we often buy products that were produced by underpaid labourers in foreign countries or items that were produced in a way that overtaxes the environment. But, like most people, I got so caught up in getting a job and making a home with my partner to continue taking such a radical stance on the way I live within society. Sometimes I wonder how complacent this makes me and if I should take a more active role in living in a way which doesn’t have larger unseen negative effects upon the world.

This novel prompted me to think about how so many people are trapped in this condition. Also, when there are major clashes like this specific example everyone brings their own emotional baggage and historical issues with them. So the protest wasn’t just a conflict of two opposing ideologies about how society should be run, but is a wide-scale intermingling of emotionally-charged points of view. The characters include a wayward young man who has spent three years travelling the world, a woman who used to be involved in eco-terrorism, a police officer who had been involved in the LA riots and an economist from Sri Lanka trying to get a deal signed off. Yapa writes about them in a way which brings the weight of their pasts into the present. At times this does come across in a way which is slightly clichéd, but overall it is moving and effective.

One part which particularly struck me was when a character named Victor recalls his deceased mother and the books she left behind. Yapa describes how “He schooled himself from the boxes. He liked to read… liked the idea that he had inherited more than his dark skin and dark hair from the woman who disappeared… And for a moment the loneliness that was always with him left him alone.” I found it so emotional how this showed the way this legacy of knowledge can be passed down and that he could be comforted by the same words and ideas which his mother found so inspiring. This makes what subsequently happens to these books all the more shocking and upsetting.

“Your Heart is a Muscle the Size of a Fist” ultimately traces the line where our concepts and ideals about what we want our society to be are tested with our bodies and physical safety. The protestors at this event put themselves in danger and unfortunately suffered from a tragic mishandling of public order. This novel is a testament to that bravery and gives a dynamic view on how we can better understand these clashes which will continue to occur in times of political instability. I'd particularly recommend this novel to anyone who appreciated Ryan Gattis' novel "All Involved".