This book was unexpected. He he he. It seemed like a conventional PBS mystery at the start, something I'm not very interested in, and maybe the plot is conventional—I don't know, because I became too enamored of Mrs. Pollifax and the people surrounding her to pay attention to the plot.
Dorothy Gillman is a master at characterization, at least in this book. It was surprisingly intense at times, surprisingly violent (though not offensively so). I found Mrs. Pollifax's attempts at courage believable and compelling. The basic political structure was perhaps oversimplified, but, in a way, that was a good thing. The emphasis was on Mrs. Pollifax, a woman in her sixties who nearly kills herself due to feelings of worthlessness and who volunteers herself to the CIA to give her life meaning and, unexpectedly, receives an assignment.
This book is a great start, for me, of reading dangerously. I never would have picked it upwillingly or for fun. It was written in 1966. I'd never heard of it. It hasn't been made into a PBS series, as far as I know. Why read it?
Because it was good. Because it made me think.
A quote from the book: "But that is precisely what life is, wouldn't you agree? Everything is a matter of choice, and when we choose are we not gambling on the unknown and its being a wise choice? And isn't it free choice that makes individuals of us? We are eternally free to choose ourselves and our futures. I believe myself that life is quite comparable to a map like this, a constant choice of direction and route."
Here's a quote to back up our plan to read dangerously:
"I would not have you find your relaxation only in reading the classics or the scriptures. These deserve a wider reading. They will bring an incomparable enrichment. But there is much else. Among our current periodicals there are still a few whose reading will enrich your minds and broaden your understanding, and among current book publications there may be found so much that is interesting, provocative, and inspirational. These may require in their reading a greater measure of concentration, but they will also bring a greater reward.
I looked the other day with wonder and affection on a 1916 Model T Ford. It brought back a thousand memories of my childhood, for this was the first automobile we ever owned in our family. It was a thing of wonder when we were children. You today know little of these cars. They had no battery, and the source of electricity was a magneto. At night the intensity of the light depended on the speed of the motor. If the motor were kept running at high speed, the lights were bright. If the motor slowed down, the lights became a sickly yellow.
It is so with our minds. If we keep them sharpened on good literature and uplifting entertainment, development is inevitable. If we starve them with the drivel of miserable shows, cheap literature, beatnik entertainment, they become poor indeed.
It was Ruskin who observed: "The greatest reward is not what we receive for our labor, but what we become by it."
Gordon B. Hinckley
Read dangerously on!
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