Books
Book Review: ‘The Unbroken Thread’
In October 2020, in the middle of the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis published an encyclical titled Fratelli Tutti, or “All Brothers.” In it, the Holy Father wrote:
Wisdom is not born of quick searches on the internet nor is it a mass of unverified data. That is not the way to mature in the encounter with truth. Conversations revolve only around the latest data; they become merely horizontal and cumulative. We fail to keep our attention focused, to penetrate to the heart of matters, and to recognize what is essential to give meaning to our lives.
The same sentiment would not have been out of place in Sohrab Ahmari’s book The Unbroken Thread. Framed as a message for his young son, The Unbroken Thread desperately searches for ways that modern men and women can give meaning to their lives. The subtitle, “Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos,” aptly sums up his solution. When society around you seems to be going insane, it is a good idea to look to the past for solace.
The Unbroken Thread: Discovering the Wisdom of Tradition in an Age of Chaos — $16.79
In this sense, The Unbroken Thread is a consolation of sorts. It presents 12 anecdotes, each spotlighting an historical figure from a diverse group that includes St. Augustine, Confucius, and Andrea Dworkin. All of these luminaries found themselves in uncertain and irresolute times, and instead of submitting to the fads of the day, they hewed to certain truths they knew to be inviolable. Despite the Whiggish viewpoint from which we are all taught to interpret history, Ahmari does a good job of demonstrating that our current “Age of Chaos” is not uniquely disordered. Societies and cultures have lost their way in the past—the St. Augustine chapter is especially compelling on this point—but the human story is not foreordained to be one of continued devolution into madness. In other words, there is hope.
Importantly, in framing the book as advice to his son, Ahmari is able to transcend the “profiles in courage” genre in which it risks getting pigeonholed. Each of the 12 chapters presents an historical figure, yes, but more precisely it addresses how that historical figure dealt with a question relevant to our own time. These include questions that thinkers have pondered over for centuries, if not millennia, such as “How do you justify your life?” and “Is God reasonable?” as well as ones that presuppose an understanding of the current moment, like “Can you be spiritual without being religious?” and “Is sex a private matter”? In 21st century America, some of these are treated as settled questions, and taking the opposing side can get you “canceled.” But all of them are worth taking seriously and thinking about in depth.
In a chapter on the Roman philosopher Seneca, Ahmari writes, “The life of the mind amounts to vanity, or something worse, if it doesn’t actually improve how we live.” This is a challenge to the reader of The Unbroken Thread. If the book fails in any respect, it is that it doesn’t quite offer a roadmap as to how to use the acts of its worthies to improve one’s own life. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas are phenomenal role models on how to live a saintly life, but the average reader of The Unbroken Thread is not going to be able to write City of God or the Summa Theologica as a rejoinder to our own culture of decadence.
But that is not a failure on Ahmari’s part. The Unbroken Thread never claims to be any sort of manual. Other, much older books, can help with that. This book’s stated goal is to pose questions that make you think, and on that it succeeds. It is up to the reader to make use of that thinking to improve his or her life.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix, $12.18 Paperback
Release Date: July 2021
Cozy up on your next snow day and read Gary Hendrix’s The Final Girl Support Group.
Author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (2020), Grady Hendrix succeeds again in tapping into our favorite horror films to deliver this mystery. Six young women make up the “Final Girl Support Group.” Each survived horrific massacres that have been turned into successful film franchises. Movies such as Friday The 13th and Halloween actually happened in this version of America. Twenty years later the spotlight has moved on and society has found new monsters and victims. Still, these women sit in a circle of chairs in a church basement trying to figure out how to live their lives. Paranoid Lynnette Tarkington reluctantly participates in group therapy sessions with Dr. Carol Elliot along with fellow survivors Marilyn Torres, who has buried her emotions in wealth; Dani Shipman, who might have killed the wrong person; Julia Campbell, whose encounter left her in a wheelchair; and Heather DeLuca, who is succumbing to addiction. Some of them are in denial about what happened. Some still live in terror, always looking over their shoulders, imprisoned by their own fears.
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
After one member of this vigilant sisterhood is murdered and a series of persistent attacks threaten the rest, Lynnette becomes increasingly suspicious that the attacks are originating way too close to their inner circle. “Does this ever end?” Lynnette asks. “Will there always be someone out there turning little boys into monsters? Will we always be final girls? Will there always be monsters killing us? How do we stop the snake from eating its own tail?” The book is creepy enough on its face, but Hendrix’s use of narrative tools heightens the unease.
The Final Girl Support Group isn’t necessarily scary, but the plot is action-packed and delivers its share of gore. The novel is an ultimately entertaining and inspiring take on horror movies, trauma, and self-determination. Available on Amazon!
I first read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo this past month after my friend and I swapped our favorite summer books. I opened the book one Saturday morning and couldn’t put it down. Despite the fact that it was published nearly five years ago, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo continues to captivate readers’ interest on BookTok, Bookstagram, and Goodreads.
“The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Evelyn Hugo — $9.42 Paperback/$22.36 Hardcover
This story is about renowned Hollywood actress Evelyn Hugo who, after decades of blockbuster hits, is now 79 and ready to give an exclusive interview after years of dodging the press. But the only one granted access is a little-known journalist named Monique Grant. Though she can’t understand why she’s been chosen, Monique goes to Evelyn’s home and finds out Evelyn doesn’t just want to do an interview — she wants to lay out every piece of her truth for Monique to write and sell her biography.
Though Evelyn won’t answer why she picked Monique to do the job, Monique agrees and Evelyn’s story begins to unfold from her calculated beginnings in Hollywood to the millions she enjoys in the present, each section of her life titled by each of her seven husbands and her reasons for marrying (and divorcing) them. As you journey through Evelyn’s life, it feels as if you’re being granted exclusive access to something you shouldn’t be seeing. It’s hard to believe the characters and events in this book aren’t real celebrities.
To me, a great book is one that makes you forget you’re reading in the first place, and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo does exactly that. It’s an instantly captivating book, thanks in part to the story, but mostly to Taylor Jenkins Reid’s writing. Her stories flow smoothly, her characters are complex and realistically flawed, and I happily got lost in the pages until the very end. This is the perfect cozy fall read!
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