Making Friends Can Be Murder
by Kathleen West
Teenager Meets Murder She Wrote (2/11/2025)
Sarah Jones 17, a high school senior needed a challenge to keep her interested and out of trouble. Sister Mary Theresa, with Sarah's mother, hatched the idea of "an internet extravaganza" designed to bring an intergenerational group, with only their names (Sarah Jones) as a common thread, to explore whether there can be authentic friendship between women of all ages.
When one of their group is murdered, other aspects of their lives surface, and what an unexpected variety of backgrounds it takes to solve the crime.
Throw in a few more unexpected characters, and we have a intriguing mystery -- or two. A light-weight summer-fun read.
Happy Land
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
A Great Find (11/6/2024)
Happy Land is based on post-Civil War Reconstruction era freed slaves in South Carolina. These people created their own kingdom in the mountains near Hendersonville, North Carolina. The Montgomery brothers envisioned moving persecuted ex-slaves to their own safe community. William is first King, followed by his brother Robert. But Queen Luella Montgomery emerges as the glue that holds Happy Land together.
Flash ahead to present day, the Lovejoys: Mother Rita has lived in Happy Land for all her years. She contacts her granddaughter Nikki, a realtor in Washington, to visit, learn about her heritage and continue the fight to hold onto Happy Land. As the story develops, we learn the history of the kingdom, written skillfully by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. It's exciting to find a new (to me) author with amazing talent. Happy Land makes me want to search for her earlier works and look forward to future historical novels.
Libby Lost and Found: A Novel
by Stephanie Booth
Adult Fantasy or YA? (8/21/2024)
Three stories in one: Libby Weeks, suffering from anxiety and Alzheimer; the Falling Children series by F.T. Goldhero, the mysterious author; the Bixton family with brilliant daughter Peanut--all dysfunctional. Once I accepted the premise that Libby has dementia and writer's block, the book was easier to understand. But who is its audience? Young Adult with too much "language"? Or Adult Fantasy?
So much cruelty, beginning with a publisher driven by profit at the expense of its author; friendless eleven year old Peanut, damaged at birth but brilliant; a school teacher, more childish than her students; pre-teen girls doing what girls often do at that age; a fading Colorado mountain town which bears a striking resemblance to the setting of Libby's novels;
I struggled with "Libby Lost and Found" but managed to get through it and appreciated the author's imagination.
The Adversary: A Novel
by Michael Crummey
Confusion Reigns (1/8/2024)
The town of Mockbegger is inhabited by a cast of characters that come and go. Abe Stapp and resentful Widow Caines are rivals for control. Their father, Cornelius Stapp, died a year ago, leaving behind a fortune to his son. Widow Caines's husband Elias also left her wealthy and a rival for the C. Stapp business. Another main character, the Beadle, serves as Abe's advisor, town physician and meter of punishment. Then there are the townspeople, the Quakers, the younger generation, the sailors and privateers, the crows, the bawdy ladies, the dead bodies, one who was pickled in brandy.
Too many unlikable residents, too many nicknames. Confusing Newfoundland 18th century vocabulary. Example: what is "droke a rocky lun?" Even the author could not determine who The Adversary is.
The Stone Home: A Novel
by Crystal Hana Kim
A Piece of Work (11/18/2023)
Even though their subjects have been difficult, I've enjoyed several books set in post-war Korea, but I must say The Stone Home was the most tedious to read.
On the positive, I learned about the underside of life in 1980s Korea--not that long ago. Of course, Korea is not all like the Stone Home, but the fact that this place of horror existed needs to be faced. To control child labor in orphanages, physical abuse trickled down from Teacher, to Warden, to Keeper, to the lowest levels of teenaged boys and girls. Interesting that the place was cleaned up to hide its cruel secrets when "big shots" showed up. This is not just old news -- think San Francisco, November 2023. But one cannot hide bruises and starvation and cruelty so easily.
The author's choice to introduce a multitude of characters in the first few pages (which seem like even more because of nicknames) makes the beginning even more difficult. Why use Korean alphabet-- unexplained although, thank goodness, infrequently? It would have been helpful to include a "Directory" of names, as well as a "Dictionary" of Korean terms, unless her primary audience is intended to be specifically Koreans, not the general Western reader.
Why Three stars? Five stars for subject, One for style.
Day: A Novel
by Michael Cunningham
A Novel about COVID (10/7/2023)
While DAY was something of a struggle for me to get into, ultimately there was value to be found. My initial problem was with the numerous characters introduced in Day One -- a few major family members and a dozen or more minor old boyfriends, students, dogs -- all have names! The majors are tediously self-conscious/self-absorbed. Not necessarily interesting...except to themselves.
Day 1, April 5, 20219, Morning: The Byrne family (Dan, Isabel, Nathan, Isabel and Isabel's brother Robbie) live in a Brooklyn brownstone. It was difficult to figure out just who dashing, handsome Wolfe was until he was eventually revealed as an Instagram avatar created by Robbie and Isabel. Other family members: Dan's brother Garth, wife Chess and baby Odin have similar problems of coming to grips with marriage, sexuality, parenthood.
Marked by empty streets, flashing lights and screaming sirens, Day 2, Afternoon April 5, 2020, COVID lockdown forces each character to recognize their own issues, whether growing up, staying safe, analyzing marriages/careers.
Finally, Evening April 5, 2021. Isolation has been lifted. The families gather at a country farmhouse and come to grips with the changes caused by close quarters living.
The point of DAY is how the COVID epidemic affected people everywhere -- online learning, illness, death, in addition to the traditional problems of growing up, career changes and living together. This is where the book has real value to me.
Delicate Condition
by Danielle Valentine
Not Recommended for PG Women (7/15/2023)
Husband Dex is a jerk from page 1, wife Anna insecure and a mental wreck from page 2. Once the reader steps into the fantasy, Delicate Condition is somewhat persuasive, although not my cup of tea -- too many spooky flashbacks to witchy women. But... eventually, the story fell into place, given the author's personal frame of mind and research. I just wish I'd read page 405 first.
Banyan Moon: A Novel
by Thao Thai
Mothers (5/19/2023)
Just as a banyan tree is supported by a web of roots, Ann Tran's family has many convictions seated in its past. Ann straddles her Vietnamese heritage and her life as a beautiful, exotic American girl. This is the story of strong women -- Minh, the matriarch who claws her way out of a peasant village in Vietnam to swampyland Florida, where she fights to create a better life for her children -- a needy, never-satisfied son and Ann's mother, Huong, a rival with her own mother for Ann's love. Ann and Huong struggle to reconcile old beliefs with new understanding.
Although several threads of the story were underdeveloped, all considered, I appreciated Thao Thai's debut novel. Especially enchanting, the bedtime story of woodcutter Chu Cuoi and the Banyan Moon. The wisest line in the novel is Minh's: "If we lived in fear, we didn't linger in it."
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
by David Grann
Heaven Help the Sailors... (2/27/2023)
For readers who enjoy swashbuckling tales, David Grann has composed a fascinating account of HMS WAGER, a British man-of-war which began its voyage in 1740. WAGER was part of a squadron whose mission was to capture a treasure-filled galleon in the War of Jenkins' Ear against Spain. Their motives: patriotism and a share of the booty.
The British ships got off to a promising start until they tried to pass around South America's Cape Horn. The ships were battered by ice and snowstorms, shipwreck, depravation, famine, illness and misery off the coast of Patagonia. An interesting cast of characters from all ages and strata of society: David Cheap, captain of the flagship CENTURION. Castaways: gunner and log keeper John Bulkeley; sixteen-year old John Byron of poet Lord Byron's family; carpenter Cummins, who cobbled together a fragile boat. Together they formed a "Band of Brothers" when WAGER broke up. Survivors made their way back to the coast of Brazil, then home to England, where the story continued and inspired famous writers, to include Samuel Coleridge, John Melville and Patrick O'Brien.
WAGER is exciting, well-written nonfiction. I couldn't put it down!
The Lost English Girl
by Julia Kelly
More than a War Story (1/31/2023)
Some years ago I met a woman -- a woman cold, self-protective, unreachable. How much of her personality was the result of her experience as an early childhood evacuee from London to the West Country?
The is the story of a girl, Viv Byrne, who wants to escape her home; a boy, Joshua Levinson, who dreams of a career of a jazz musician; two controlling women married to weak men; strict Catholics disapproving of intermarriage with Jews; and the damage done to children separated from their mothers in WWII England. Even though their new homes may have been pleasant, even luxurious compared to their city digs, often the children felt they had been thrown away, unwanted by their mothers. Viv's daughter Maggie was told her mother was dead; Viv was led to believe Maggie had been killed in the Blitz, even though she supposedly was safer in the country.
Some of the story has been told in other books, but Julia Kelly puts her own twist in The Lost English Girl.
Sisters of the Lost Nation
by Nick Medina
A Look at Modern Native American Life (11/9/2022)
Anna Horn, Lakoda Native, is a high school senior misfit who quickly wins the reader's sympathy through her work ethic and interest in tribal history. In a dysfunctional family she steps up to guide her younger sister Grace, who, like many early teens, rebels against her interference.
What influence does the casino play on the community? Ideally, it gives the opportunity to learn how to work, to value education and to upgrade the tribe's standard of living. Conversely, what Anna sees is layabout workers collecting salaries while doing little work, liquor/drug use skyrocketing, beautiful landscapes around the casino vs. crumbling asphalt roads running through dark, frightening areas where the Lakodas actually live. At first I thought Sisters was going to be YA fiction; but as the book developed, Nick Medina uncovered serious issues prevalent among Native Americans across the country -- do casinos fulfill their hopes for a better life or does poverty actually remain an insurmountable hurdle on many reservation. This book got off to a somewhat clumsy start but deserves 5 stars for content.
The Family Izquierdo: A Novel
by Rubén Degollado
La Familia (8/5/2022)
Sometimes we come across a book that transforms our understanding. Having lived in the Southwest for many years, the scenes were familiar -- large, noisy family gatherings, low riders roaring down the street on Saturday night, sometimes too much booze, shopping across the river at the mercado, candles celebrating santos available at every grocery store, La Posada at Christmas, hiring a curandero to drive out perceived evil spirits, the evolution of traditional Mexican values into twenty-first century America.
Octavio and Lupe Izquierdo have the vision to build a home to last for generations in border town McAllen, Texas. Hard-working Tavo strives to make life better for their many children, building a home, starting a family business to be carried on by his sons; but when he becomes convinced that he is cursed by his neighbor, life changes for the family.
The musical lilt of Spanglish voices weaves together three generations of the family and I grew to love them, warts and all, in this collection of short stories.
The Immortal King Rao: A Novel
by Vauhini Vara
Editor Wanted (4/19/2022)
This was a book I struggled with. The story flips back and forth from 1950's India, to 1980's invention of the internet, to post-Steve Jobs 21st century. Much of the early years was confusing and too long. I guess the author's point is that some basic things don't change -- the old caste system of India becomes the post-modern techni-world divided into the privileged Board of Shareholders class, to Bainbridge Island Exes, to Blanklands where King Rao lives in exile, all defended by the author who says, "Who is going to argue with an all-knowing algorithm ?" I found the book poorly organized, but it might have been saved if it were pared down, or not so much skipping around, or divided into three volumes
Fencing with the King: A Novel
by Diana Abu-Jaber
Perfect (12/16/2021)
Set in 1995, "Fencing with the King" is a marvelously well written novel. It is the story of the Hamdan family-- deceased parents: Natalia, who fled Palestinian Gaza and married Musif, a "true Jordanian;" their sons: Musa, Hafez, Gabe and Farouz-- as told by Gabe's American-born daughter Amani, a floundering poet who travels with her father Gabe to celebrate King Hussein's 60th birthday where Gabe will, in fact, fence with the king.
This is Amani's story as she delves into her family's past. Her characters come to life, and the reader can almost feel the setting: Amman's skyline shines in the dawn; the sandstone walls close in as she rides through the Siq at Petra; readers can feel desert sand grinding in their teeth.
A perfect novel for book clubs. I wish I could write a review as eloquently as Abu-Jaber told her story.
Housebreaking
by Colleen Hubbard
A Lesson from DIY TV (10/16/2021)
Twenty-something Del's in a spot -- no job, no place to live, not much money saved, She grew up as an "outsider" and cultivates being suspicious, miserable and tough. Her mother died when she was young; she lived with her gay father and various of his friends until he died, drifted from one no-hoper job to another until, at the end of her rope, she hears from her unlikeable uncle in the construction business with an offer to buy the family farm to develop it into tract housing. Rather than giving him the satisfaction of demolishing her childhood home, she takes on the project herself, and along the way, she learns about friendship. Not an outstanding book, but readable.
Beasts of a Little Land: A Novel
by Juhea Kim
Korean History (8/15/2021)
Beasts of a Little Land traces fifty years of Korean history, from the Russo-Japanese war, through World War II and after. Action takes place from the poverty-stricken border with Manchuria to the bustling city of Seoul, from resistance movements against Japanese to growth of the Communist party to post-war creation of two Koreas at the 38th parallel. It begins with a poacher nearly dead in the mountains of the North and ends with the extinction of the Siberian tiger, who died in a Seoul zoo. Th characters range from wealthy courtesans to Japanese military to self-made businessmen as they pass through life as through an hourglass. Historical fiction is a favorite genre, and this novel by Juhea Kim is a successful introduction into Korean history of the 20th century.
A Million Things
by Emily Spurr
"I hate you. I need you. Please don't be gone." (4/30/2021)
Covering for her mother's disappearance, ten year old Rae does her best to keep up appearances, cleaning her home, walking her dog, going to school, feeding herself. People do like her, but she shuns contact with everyone until gradually she warms up to her neighbor Lettie. A sweet story of a little girl trying to cope with the impossible. I couldn't put it down.
A Theater for Dreamers
by Polly Samson
Lust Was in the Air (3/13/2021)
In 1960, teenager Erica was out of her depths. An innocent who lost her mother and sought to escape the controlling thumb of her cold-hearted father, she used her inheritance to take brother and friends to the Greek isle of Hydra. There they met novelists Charmian Clift and George Johnston, poet Leonard Cohen, and a tribe of writers, painters and hangers-on, living the free life. With one wild party after another, as the characters waited for their muse (or a publisher), the story became repetitive and I lost interest.
Big Girl, Small Town
by Michelle Gallen
A Salt & Battered (10/22/2020)
How I felt after reading this book If you like: small town gossip, dialect without translation (not sure what a cropil or a gleek or a gurning is), downbeat no-hopers, sex out by the dumpster, you'll love this book.What redeems it are the rare glimpses into happy family relationship, all of which occurred in the past. There hints of mysteries but none resolved. Too bad.
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager
Memoir of a Remarkable Woman (7/13/2020)
Sara Seager has accomplished world-changing scientific discoveries in the field of astrophysics while suffering the death of her husband and thoughtfully managing to raise two young sons alone. Lacking knowledge in the science of the stars, I floundered in much of that important part of the book; it was like diving into ocean depths without an air tank. Thus, the book's appeal is somewhat limited to an audience of astronomers, professional and amateur. The other part of Seager's memoir is a touching love story, dealing with the tragic loss of her husband to cancer. Luckily she stumbled into a small group of women she called The Widows, who helped each other get through a devastating event in their lives, and provided a valuable lesson for a broader audience in how to deal with death and dying.
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