In the Garden of Monsters: A Novel
by Crystal King
Persephone Myth Retold (8/30/2024)
Filled with many descriptive meals and beautiful descriptions of Sacro Bosco, Italy's garden of monsters, "The Garden of Monsters, is the gothic retelling of the Greek Persephone myth. It is not my favorite type of story; however, it is well written and provides its readers with some most interesting characters.
Julia Lombardi is a young artist with amnesia who takes a lucrative job to model for artist Salvadore Dali in a remote villa in Italy, era 1948. I found her character to be rather annoying and a bit childish. There are ghosts, visions and even a murder involve as we met Dali's horrible wife, Gala and the villa's creepy host, Ignazio.
Honestly, I don't know why this book just didn't do it for me. I have always rather enjoyed Greek myths and was curious to learn a bit more about Dali and his lifestyle. However, the never-ending descriptions of food, drink, table setting became off-putting and not especially to my taste. This reader felt as if I had just witnessed another food show on the Food Network. The addition of Salvador Dali and his wife seemed to confuse me at times, their conversations were certainly not of the 1948 era, a time when their sexual uniqueness was not so openly displayed. If you are into
mythology, this book is for you. If not perhaps you need to pass it by for a book more to your taste.
The Pecan Children
by Quinn Connor
A Different read (7/3/2024)
"The Pecan Children" by duo authors, Quinn Connor, transports their readers back thirty years to the pecan grooves of a small southern town in Arkansas. The novel's story line provides an interesting and rather creepy reading experience. Confronted with ghosts of the past and family secrets, Lil, one of the Clearwater sisters, works tirelessly in the orchard left by their mother. Her twin sister, Sasha, after reluctantly returning from a photography career in New York, does not fit into orchard life.
As many other reviewers, I had a mixed experience in reading this book. Its distinctiveness did not disappoint me, and its imaginative plot certainly intrigued me. And at times I did feel the pacing was slow, yet it kept me engaged with its weirdness. This book should not be considered your usual read, for this reader, it has a strange charisma to its oddness.
The randomness of the storyline kept me engaged, its loose ending, while left to the readers imagination, was unsatisfying and left me with several unanswered questions particularly about the pecan children. While this story dares to be different and embraces a world of quirks, it does however offer its readers a look into the world where the line between reality and imagination meets.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
Home is . . . (3/23/2024)
Based on an actual dance hall explosion in Possum Flats, a small Missouri town, era 1928, "The Flower Sisters" explores the impact of such an event on its three main characters. The book is told through the eyes of one of the twin sisters, Violet and Rose, her playboy turned fundamentalist minister date, Dash, and her 15-year-old granddaughter, Daisy. Anxious to with travel her man to California, the granddaughter is plonked in this small town by her hippie mother. One problem however, Daisy has never met her grandmother. Bored and miserable, this high school student obtains an internship at the local newspaper. While assigned to the paper's morgue detail, Daisy begins her investigation and writes detailed articles about what really happened that night of the explosion. While Daisy's findings shocked the town, this reader found it hard to believe that she could author such a profound expose of this event.
This easy-to-read book is filled with well-developed characters, each revealing their story in alternating chapters. Often people in this small sleepy town have different views and are not always what they appeared to be. Since the author dropped several hints earlier in the pages of her book, the story's twists were not a surprise to this reader. This not only is this book a story of secrets and regrets, but it's about finding the truth, your family and most of all that place called home. I think second paragraph from page 333 says it all. It begins with, "Maybe home is something you can't run from, a place you find yourself searching for even after you think you've gotten away. . . (Spend a moment or two to reread it and see if you agree)
The Waters: A Novel
by Bonnie Jo Campbell
Strong Women of "The Waters" (12/13/2023)
Bonnie Jo Campbell has introduced her readers to a new novel, "The Waters, a story about 5 exceptional women and the small town of Whiteheart, Michigan. The "Waters" is located on an island in the Great Massasauga Swamp. When I first started to read, I felt like I was in the swamps of south Florida instead of Michigan.
The main characters include an eccentric herbalist, Hermine aka "Herself," her three estranged daughters. and one granddaughter. Herself inspires reverence and fear from the people of Whiteheart as well as her youngest wayward daughter, Rose Thorn; the oldest daughter, Primrose, lawyer in Southern California; Molly, a local hospital nurse and Rose Thorn's only daughter, eleven-year-old Dorothy , "Donkey." Donkey spends her days searching for truths, waiting for her wayward mother to return and longing for a father. She is unaware of family secrets. While rage simmers in this small town with those on both sides of the divide, the only bridge seems to be Rose Thorn.
I must admit I found the story's beginning a bit slow but since it is character driven, it took me a while to get involved. So be patient, the story is worth finishing.
Mercury Pictures Presents: A Novel
by Anthony Marra
WWII movie epic (11/21/2023)
When I choose this book from BookBrowse’s First Impressions and Book Club Program, I thought it would be a novel about the movie/movie studio business. It was to some point, but not what I had expected. The book focuses on a group of European immigrants casted together at a “B” Studio, it begins in pre-WWII Italy and continues through wartime Los Angeles. It deals mainly with Maria, who has left Italy under Mussolini’s rule, her father’s imprisonment, and her rocky relationship with her mother. She rises from the typing pool to associate producer at Mercury Pictures, a B-movie studio with aspirations to play with the big boys at MGM, Warner Brothers, Paramount. The studio execs, Artie and Ned Feldman, don't let a shady deal pass them by and soon they are being called to testify before Congress for violating censorship protocol. The novel contains many flashbacks to Italy and her father’s exile, however the only character I had any attachment to was Maria’s Chinese American actor boyfriend who is constantly denied the roles he needs to play and becomes a victim of the raging racism of Hollywood.
This novel was a definite struggle for me. Too many story lines, too many characters and an extremely slow-moving plot I found myself putting the book down and not anxious to pick it up again. The author is a very skilled writer perhaps too much so. He often lost me in the second portion of the book as he ambles too many paths and into characters, I was not invested in.
Devil Makes Three: A Novel
by Ben Fountain
Political Thriller. . . (9/28/2023)
This was a difficult read for me. Throughout the book I felt very misinformed, making it hard to understand what was happening. I then stopped reading further and did some online research into the Revolution of Haiti and the toll it took on its people. This author knows well the country, its people and politics. His depth of understanding on this subject is most impressive. Since Haiti is currently in the headlines with travel warnings, I found it helpful to make myself aware of what happened over thirty years ago. By doing so it made reading this book an easier task
An American expat, Matt Amaker, operates a dive business off the coast of Haiti. With Aristide's failed military coup, things take a drastic turn. Matt reimagines his business into a treasure hunting venture that explores old, underwater vessels for whatever they might contain but Matt also attracts some unfortunate attention. This book illustrates the cost of military dictatorships and embargoes, with its people and entities masquerading as something they are not. The author does an excellent job of melding the political climate with his characters who help to make his book on this unsettled part of the world not only informative, but very engaging.
Do Tell: A Novel
by Lindsay Lynch
Disappointing. . . (7/4/2023)
This was not an easy book to rate/review. Its storyline seemed a bit disjointed. Since I really enjoy tales of classic Hollywood, the golden days of cinema, with its descriptions of designer gowns, beautiful actors/actresses and extravagant movie premiers. I was excited to get this book for review.
It is a story of Edie O'Dare, a blossoming gossip columnist, (era of Louella
Parsons and Hedda Hopper) in Hollywood. As an actress, Edie finds she has a knack for getting the gossip on the studios, its actors, and their behaviors and
misadventures. As her acting career fizzles, she turns to becoming a formidable columnist. The story is told by Edie as she looks back on her career with its many dark times. Her involvement in the case of a young, raped starlet has haunted her throughout her career. It was a time when everyone hid their sexual preferences, being sure to keep it quiet for fear of being blackballed.
The author writes well and brings her reader into old Hollywood, however, the one thing that really bothered me was its countless number of characters. I found myself trying to guess which legends her characters were based on. Even though the author provides a character glossary at the book's front to use while you're reading, trying to remember who everyone is and having to go back to look can be a bit irritating.
You'll Forget This Ever Happened: Secrets, Shame, and Adoption in the 1960s
by Laura L. Engel
A must read for women of all ages. . . (2/22/2023)
I must begin by saying I am ever so grateful that the current social status of this book’s situation has changed considerably. However, since I am the same age as its author, I remember vividly just how young unwed, pregnant girls were treated in the 1950/1960’s. If young woman didn’t marry the young man involved, she was subjected to an uncomfortable journey to a home for unwed mothers. This book resurfaced sad and often difficult memories I had long put aside. As a young woman of the 50/60’s, I was raised in a family that was deeply touched by this same subject. I am well-aware of trials and tribulations the surrounds an unwed young mother. In my family’s case it took many hours/days of deeply distressing discussions, many heated arguments between the unwed mother and her boyfriend, constant bickering between the mother and her daughter, and finally it settled down when the young couple married. Together they have not only raised the baby in question but three beautiful other children. This was not the norm for such cases; this couple now have been married for sixty plus years. Back then, an excessive amount of young, unwed mothers like Laura were forced into making the choice with no options. I could not help but feel Laura’s sorrow as she lived holding this secret in for decades of her life. I enjoyed reading Laura's story and I thank her for providing her readers an honest rendering of her heart wrenching experience. It should mandatory reading for every young woman as part of her sex education course in school.
Moonrise Over New Jessup
by Jamila Minnicks
Filled with warm and impassioned characters (1/5/2023)
Jamila Minnicks' new thought-provoking novel is about Alice Young, a young black woman doing whatever she needs to do to protect her family/community at the beginning of the civil rights movement in Alabama.
It's 1957 and as Alice Young steps off the bus into the all-Black town of New Jessup, Alabama. New Jessup residents have largely rejected integration as their means for Black social advancement. Alice falls in love with Raymond Campbell, a young man who organizes activities that challenges the town's longstanding status quo and could lead to the young couple's expulsion from the home they hold dear. Alice must find a way to balance her support for his work with her desire to protect New Jessup she has come to love.
Thank you to the Davina at Book Browse for sending me a copy of this appealing book filled with warm and impassioned characters. It is a sympathetic look at a very complex matter.
Cradles of the Reich: A Novel
by Jennifer Coburn
WWII Historical Fiction (11/6/2022)
Set against a WWII, “Cradles of the Reich” is a fictional story based on the harsh realities of the Nazi breeding program at Helm Hochland--a Lebensborn Society maternity home. The place where thousands of “radically fit” babies were bred and taken from their mothers to be raised as a part of the new Germany.
This book entwines the fates of 3 fictitious women (Gundi, Irma, and Hilde)who form a connection. I found their stories interesting as told in alternating chapters. Even though the events were powerful, the historical elements horrifying and most disturbing, I never made a real connection with its characters. I think it’s best to say that with its sudden ending, the overall story didn’t quite meet my expectations.
Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China's Civil War
by Zhuqing Li
A celebration of life. . . (6/1/2022)
In "Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden," Zhuqing Li shares a deeply human story about her aunts, Jun and Hong, who lived through the consequences of the notorious mainland China/Taiwan's historic split, a time of traumatic change and unmatched resilience in Asia.
The sisters were the offspring of a southern Chinese family, each other's best friend, and grew up in the 1930s days of Old China prior to the political revolution that changed China forever. By chance, both ladies found themselves separated. June in Taiwan is married to a National general and living among fellow exiles at odds with the new regime. On the mainland, Hong is forced to disavow her family's background and her sister's decision, in order to continue her career as a doctor. She is forced to tolerate several waves of re-education by working in exile in very remote areas of the backcountry.
Both ladies were faced with tense decisions as they go forth and forge careers and families midst this upheaval. With determination and ambition on the part of both women, Jun established several important trading companies while Hong becomes one of the celebrated Chinese doctors.
This riveting and deeply personal account is a celebration of these remarkable ladies' legacies.
Good Husbands: A Novel
by Cate Ray
What's the right thing to do????? (3/22/2022)
Three wives, Jessica, Stephanie, and Priyanka, each of them enjoying an apparently happy marriage until they each receive a letter that changes her life forever. This letter accuses, two decades ago, all three husbands of committing a group sexual assault. Should they ignore this letter, assume it is a hoax or try to find the truth behind this alarming accusation? Never having met each other, these women meet and group together to find answers.
These three women, each in their own way, handled this heinous situation. Honestly, I have no idea what I would do if presented with the same situation. I enjoyed this fast paced book and feel that it definitely would make for interesting book club discussions such as, "What would you do " or better yet, "What is the right thing to do?"
I must admit I think its ending is a bit weak and unclear, left me wandering what the last two pages meant.
True Crime Story: A Novel
by Joseph Knox
I gave it a honest try. . . (12/16/2021)
After having read the various book reviews, I was fascinated with Joseph Knox's premise of "True Crime Story." I, too, found it a most unique concept. It was presented in such a way that it made it seem like a true crime. Regrettably this book simply didn't do it for me and I am not sure why. Could it be this style of writing or the lack of interesting characters that is making for this lackluster review? I do know I was hard-pressed to finish this book, finding myself putting it back on the shelf after the first 100 pages, only to pick it up several times to finish it for review.
All the Water I've Seen Is Running: A Novel
by Elias Rodriques
Sorry, but ... (6/26/2021)
First let me thank Book Browse for sending me a copy of this book. It was an interesting premise, a gay man remembering the girl he attached himself to in high school, returns to the town he escaped from to learn about her early death. I m sorry to say much to my chagrin, I only made it through the first 150 pages filled with reminiscences out of chronological order, Daniel's childhood, and his mother's life. I found it hard to keep track of and frankly difficult to read. I simply stopped out of my frustration. While trying to get used to his writing style, I often lost the thread of who was speaking and had to reread a passage or two. The use of local dialect and certain word choices did not make it any easier to understand these young people.
The Book of Lost Names
by Kristin Harmel
A Deeper Look into WWII French Resistance... (6/1/2021)
"The Book of Lost Names" by Kristin Harmel is one of the many books recently published about World War II. I really wasn't looking to read another book on the subject, yet when BookBrowse offered it, I was curious about its unique title. I am glad I was able to read it as it provided me with a deeper look into the French resistance.
This is a story of a young Jewish woman, who struggles to do the right thing for her family, her beliefs, and her country. Eva Traube Abrams, an 86-year-old Florida librarian, is hurled back into her past when she recognizes a stolen book, "The Book of Lost Names," that a German librarian is trying to restore to its rightful owner. In 1942, she and her mother fled from Paris to a small hidden village on the Swiss border after the arrest of her beloved father. She learns the intricate art of forging false identification documents for Jewish children and others and meets and falls in love with a fellow Christian forger, Rémy.
It is a well written, interesting and entertaining book filled with some wonderful characters. However, I found Eva's mother with her constant negativity annoying, irritating and ungrateful rather proud of her daughter's dedication in forging documents and transporting Jewish children to safety. The book follows the current pattern as seen in so many recent novels, alternating the past and present, tying the two together, this one is done very well. The ending, while predictable and touching, seemed to be rushed to within the last few pages and needed include more details such as what happened to the four children Eva and Rémy accompanied to the Swiss border.
Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob
by Russell Shorto
Family saga (3/16/2021)
Even though this book, "Smalltime" by Russell Shorto is informative and interesting. At the suggestion of one of his relatives, Shorto begins his research into his family's history, asking the right and often embarrassing questions. He has written a detailed rich history of his family's immigration from Italy to Johnstown, PA. In it he attempts to discover just who was his grandfather. This memoir is filled with lots of interesting vignettes on how the poor Italian immigrants made it rich during Prohibition era, the rise of the local Italian mobsters and their gaming hustles. I was unaware of the kinds of prejudice Sicilians faced when coming to America in the early 1900's.
I found myself putting it aside to read another book and needed to force myself to finish it for review. I struggled with the middle of the book as I had a hard time keeping track of the small town mobsters, the numbers racket and other illegal games.
Migrations: A Novel
by Charlotte McConaghy
A "must" read... (5/11/2020)
I thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte McConaghy's gripping novel of redemption, love, and survival, "Migrations." In this time of forced sheltered in place isolation, I found by reading her astounding novel, I was finally able to break my "lack of concentration" cycle I found myself spiraling in with other books. This is story is about loss but it is also about hope as the protagonist, Franny tells her story of wildlife's disappearance from our earth. She follows the arctic terns as they travel from Arctic to the Antarctic. She persuades a captain and crew to let her join them and allow the birds to dictate the boat's course. As the story unfolds, the author takes the reader through Franny's harrowing search for the birds and her tormented past. Interlaced in this lyrical story are interesting characters that have their own action filled stories to share with the reader. This unique heart-wrenching story slowly pieces together why Franny is driven to follow the terns and will keep any reader engaged during the difficult days ahead.
Daughter of the Reich: A Novel
by Louise Fein
1930s Germany (4/24/2020)
This is the second book I've read in the last two months that is set in the pre-World War II time period of the 1930s as Hitler infiltrated Germany. Though set in a similar time period, each book explored it differently. The first book was based on the author's father's diaries, very fragmented, and lacking the development of too many characters, it was so hard to follow its storyline. However, the book is told from the perspective of Hetty, the daughter of a high-ranking SS officer, wh0 was raised to be a dutiful daughter of the Reich. In her late teens, she is reunited with a childhood friend, Walter, who is perfect in every way, but one. . . He is Jewish. Realizing that he stands for every belief she had previously been warned about, the two of them end up falling in love. As the anti-Semitism escalates and Walter's existence is in question and Hetty is forced to make a decision to save his life by working to get him released from his concentration camp imprisonment to safety in England.
This book provides the reader with the feeling of being transported to a different time and place. This powerful, character driven novel looks at the brutalities as inflicted upon the Jewish people and make it difficult to read. Even though the story lugged a bit in the earlier chapters, I soon found the story engaging and filled with emotional touches. Despite the families' lies, their dark secrets, treachery, and heartbreak, the reader comes to know and honestly love each of the many flawed characters. It is filled with persons you will love or hate, and remember long after you have finished your reading.
Actress
by Anne Enright
Difficult to follow... (12/10/2019)
In the "Actress", Anne Enright brings to life two generations of women with difficult sexual experiences, both having been assaulted, then silenced and striving to recover their power. This is a novel about celebrity, sexual powers, and a daughter's search to understand her mother's truths. The daughter, Norah, retraces her mother's (Katherine, an Irish theater legend) celebrated career with its long-kept secrets. With age, alcohol, and her dimming stardom, Katherine' loses her grip on reality and commits a bizarre crime. Enright's novel shares with reader the daughter's search for the truth – her father's identity, her mother's motive for shooting a producer, along with her search for a husband, family and worthwhile work. She takes the reader to the heart of the love that binds a mother and daughter. Often finding myself confused and losing interest, this novel seemed to grind on and on.
Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir
by Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman
Sorry but... (2/12/2019)
This book was sent to me by BookBrowse to review. Based on its blurb, I found this book to be not quite what I had expected. As I started to read, I soon discovered it was not as humorous as I thought it would be. The storyline jumped all over the place going haphazardly between childhood and adulthood periods while giving the reader an inside look at a musical group that made its living as a lip-syncing orchestra. Fake it until you make it is the basis of this book. That in it is an interesting concept however, it left this reader a bit bored and herself pushing through to the end in order to put this review together.
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