Oct. 2021: One Two Three, by Laurie Frankel

 While "L" was reading 1984, I read this one on my own. Since I loved Laurie Frankel's "This is how it always is," I decided to read this one, and I loved it.

One, Two, and Three are nicknames for three girls, triplets. It's interesting how the author rolled out each girl's personality. No spoilers; let's just say that at first, it was hard to keep track. But once you "get" who each one is, then it's easy to pick up the shifting chapters (from One to Two to Three back to One, to Two, and so on).

The book is about the town of Bourne, a fictional place, with crises that its citizens face that are "modeled on and imagined from communities around the world" says the author. 

Interesting play on Bourne and "born." Kids born in Bourne after "what happened" (as the author writes during the first several chapters) face specific challenges.

There's Belsum Chemical, a company that invents something that stays in the body, much like Dupont's creation of Teflon. In real life, documentaries show how Dupont workers developed cancer at higher rates, babies born to employees with defects, things like that. With Teflon, what makes it appealing as a finish for pans makes it a danger to humans/earth - it resists degradation.

So there's One (really named Mab), Two (her actual name is Monday), and Three (named Mirabel). The town of Bourne is small, everyone knows each other. The girls' mom is a psychologist and does other stuff on the side. No one seems to like the mayor. There's a boy named River. There are other characters that come and go. 

This book is magnificently written (love Frankel's prose). And in the big picture, it begs the question: What materials get tested before companies put them on the market? As well as: Has it always been a fight between money and the health of humans/earth? 

The latter question is plays out through history over and over. For example, DDT and farming. It took Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, to call to attention the birds that were dying en masse. Then came the creation of the U.S. EPA (1973 I think), but it was brand new. How do you start a government agency from infancy and address things like lead paint, asbestos, let alone DDT? And with certain mantras that shout "Small government!" people seem to NOT want government regulations if it's going to cost them money, or if those regulations mean they lose their home or jobs. These are tough topics. No one says they're not tough topics. But cancer has increased exponentially in the U.S., and it came on the heels of the industrial revolution. 

That's enough for the spoilers. If you want a well-written book that begs important questions, you'll enjoy this one, I think.