The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes

I originally cultivated an interest in genetics in high school freshman biology, a course which introduced me to Gregor Mendel’s experimentation with cross breeding pea plants, Punnett squares, and the genetics of blood types, all at the hands of an overzealous teacher who probably would have been better off teaching at the collegiate level (I’m looking at you, Mr. Rickard!!).  Although Mr. R pushed his students to our academic and personal limits, he became a favorite teacher of mine, and one day about a year after graduation when I was visiting campus, I saw The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes sitting on his desk.  Mr. R told me about the book’s premise and recommended it to me way back then, but it was only earlier this year that I finally purchased it and managed to cross it off my list.

Sykes is an Emeritus Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, and he establishes his credibility with the reader from page one, when he explains his involvement in finding verifiable living relatives of Otzi the Iceman, a preserved human male found in the Italian Alps who died c. 3300 BCE (more information available here).  From this astonishing introduction, Sykes rapidly moves on to introduce Seven Daughters’ main thesis — namely, that all humans of European descent alive today are descended from only seven ancient women who lend the book its title.

To back up his thesis, Sykes spends a significant portion of Seven Daughters explaining the background of research in the field of human genetics, beginning with very basic information such as the function of mitochondria in the cell.  Although a lot of the facts in this section were disappointingly “old hat” to me, I did enjoy reading about the way that Sykes and his research team were able to apply this information as knowledge about genetics expanded.  For example, the scientists were able to track genetic variation in the mitochondrial DNA of Polynesians and Pacific Islanders to definitely prove that that region of the world had been colonized from mainland Asia, and not from the Americas as had been previously claimed.  Approximately the final third of the book is devoted to fictionalized accounts of the lives of the “Seven Daughters,” whom Sykes has nicknamed, as can be best determined based on available genetic and anthropological data.

I very much enjoyed The Seven Daughters of Eve, but I will say that it may not be a great read for someone who is not scientifically-minded or who does not have a desire to take a deep dive into human genetics.  Although the book is not dry, per se, it does dish out a ton of information in a condensed amount of space, and readers looking for something a bit lighter may be disappointed.  That being said, I was very happy with the book and will be on the lookout for other works by Sykes next time I am in the mood to expand my horizons within this subject area.

 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

As anyone who has sat down to read an ancient literary epic will know, such works seldom lend themselves to being read quickly.  I mentioned in my last post that I was undertaking just such an endeavor, and although I did plan at the outset to read all four volumes back-to-back, I can now say with some certitude that doing so would probably make me lose all interest in what I was reading.  I don’t want to spoil my current reading project for you all yet, but in the interest of keeping my interest fresh, I have decided to take the volumes more slowly, and to break them up I have decided to follow up my May reading choice of Everything I Never Told You by the novel that may well have influenced it, Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.

Gone Girl was originally published in 2012 and in 2014 a blockbuster thriller starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris was released (trailer here).  I knew I wanted to read the book the minute it came out, but since I am always buried in a pile of books as it is, I simply added it to my stack, and by some act of God have kept myself spoiler-free for the last five years.

Flynn’s novel tells the story of Nick and Amy Dunne, a couple whose seemingly idyllic life and marriage are shattered upon Amy’s disappearance over the Fourth of July holidays.  Nick’s unconcerned behavior in the first days of the investigation draws increasing suspicion from investigators, suspicion which is compounded by a mounting pile of evidence which seems to implicate Nick.  The novel seems headed towards a predictable husband-murders-wife conclusion when the first of several screeching plot twists occurs, jarring the reader into a page-turning thrill ride that literally does not stop until the very last page.

I do not want to say too much more about the plot of Gone lest I spoil it for any of you that have also shielded yourselves from the mass quantities of spoilers that filled the Internet after the book and film were released.  I will say, however, that upon reading Gone it became clear to me why the book had become such a smash hit.  From the rapid pacing to the changing perspectives between chapters, the novel is structured in a way that leaves the reader constantly theorizing as to what really happened to Amy, how and why.  The ending of the book left me mostly satisfied, although I did find some of Nick’s actions to be slightly questionable (feel free to let me know if you agree).

At any rate, although I may well be the only person on the planet who had not read Gone Girl by 2017, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller, or more broadly to those who enjoy novels about the dark side of marriage.  I will definitely check out Flynn’s other works when I get the time, but for now I am weighing my options as to whether I am ready to dive back into my classical lit project just yet.