BOOK REVIEW
Literary Speaking
We Are Called To Rise
By Laura McBride
Reviewed by Joyce Moore, Yankton Community Library
sharing that part of the story.
I’ll admit it. I often do judge a book by its cover
or in this case, its title. The title of Laura McBride’s
intriguing debut novel, We Are Called to Rise, comes
from poet Emily Dickinson.
“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—-“
Through struggle and adversity, we find the inner strength to
endure, persevere, and succeed. I was expecting a very uplifting, triumph-of-the-human-spirit type novel. That is not the case. What this
story does is examine the seemingly unrelated lives of four people in Las
Vegas and the tragic event that causes their individual courses of life to
intersect.
We Are Called to Rise is told from the point of view of each of the
characters. McBride does a masterful job of creating four distinct voices
and personalities. Each chapter title is simply the name of the character
Avis is a fifty-something wife and mother who just
found out her husband Jim is leaving her for a much
younger woman from his office. She is sent reeling by this
revelation. While their life together was not always easy, compared to Avis’s own childhood, it was almost perfect. But
after losing her daughter and realizing her war-weary son is
not quite right following three tours of duty in Iraq, Avis is
now without her husband to help her deal with the family
issues.
Roberta is a Vegas local and an astute observer of Vegas
culture. “…fighting a war, going to college, working at
Caesars Palace, these are choices for children who grow up.
In my line of work, I worry most about the ones who might
not.” Roberta is a social worker and a good one.
My favorite character, the one who really touched my heart, is little
Bashkim. He lives with his little sister and his Albanian refugee parents.
His father was a political prisoner before escaping to the U.S. and they
can never go back. The family scrapes together a meager existence running an ice cream truck. The little sister is too young to know what is
happening; the father is angry and distrusting of any government or
authority; the mother is homesick and physically abused by her husband; and eight-year-old Bashkim is wise beyond his years. He sees; he
understands; he hopes.
It’s through an assignment in Bashkim’s third grade classroom that
we meet Luis. Bashkim sends him a pen pal letter while he is serving in
Afghanistan. The reply Bashkim receives from Luis is not what the
teacher had hoped for and it confuses Bashkim and sets off a string of
events at the school. When Luis wakes up in Walter Reed Hospital, he
doesn’t remember writing the letter or what happened to him to put
him in the hospital. He does remember explosions and watching his
best friend die.
What starts out as a routine traffic stop becomes an unthinkable
catastrophe that pulls these characters together. And while the ending
has its uplifting moments and triumph of the human spirit, it is bittersweet and leaves one wondering… How connected are we? How do
our actions affect strangers around us? Does adversity make us
stronger?
I finished this book in a matter of days. I cared about these four people and others in their lives and found myself thinking about them long
after I finished reading. Laura McBride provided a close look at cultures
and family circumstances I know little about. It was gut- wrenching at
times, but also heartwarming at times. I am looking forward to McBride’s
next novel.
18 v HERVOICE SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2014