Zig-Zag Boy: A Memoir of Madness and Motherhood
by Tanya Frank
Grace Under So Much Challenge—Cracks Where the Light Tries (& Tries) to Come In (2/7/2023)
"Zig-Zag Boy"—a perfect title for a beautifully written story of a mother's love for her sweet, funny, popular son who's suddenly confronted with hard to imagine challenges. Though I'm not usually a 'memoir' reader, Tanya Frank is a wonderful writer and I was hooked from the book's first pages. The story reminded me of the novel "Dear Edward", and as I read—as a mother of a son—Frank's love for Zach reminded me of my son & I.
Readers don't have to be parents of—we're sisters/brothers/aunts/uncles/friends—and the vulnerability we all face by not knowing what the future holds is inevitable. Frank's memoir is testament to not allowing fear and loss to win—fighting for her son's well-being by remembering self-compassion for herself on the journey.
Dirt Creek: A Novel
by Hayley Scrivenor
Wow—an Ingenious 'Who Done It' from Down Under (2/28/2022)
As a bibliophile, during the pandemic it's been a challenge to find novels that hooked me from page 1–-Dirt Creek did. As Jane Harper, another terrific Australian author, wrote about the book—'it's a stellar debut', and that was one of the things that amazed me—how impressive Hayley Scrivenor's first novel is!
A small nondescript town in Australia's outback, full of colourful characters —including Detective Sarah Michaels wrestling her own demons—and a few other characters, Scrivenor masterfully succeeded to keep me wondering how the tragedy happened in the first place.
Though Esther—the central character around who the story unfolds is 'gone'—she is still always present as I held my breathe wondering till the end was the culprit. It often becomes obvious in mystery/suspense novels 'who done it'—but not in Dirt Creek, a terrific debut in the genre.
How to Find Your Way Home
by Katy Regan
Will They Find Their Way Home? (10/6/2021)
It's been too long since I read such a heartfelt book as "How to Find Your Way Home', so was delighted to get an advance copy from Book.Browse. Regan's writing resonated for me and as I read—kept wondering (hoping) Emily & Stephen would indeed re-connect after do many years. I suspect the open-ended long pandemic contributed to my worry about re-connection & reconciliation.
Emily's ostensibly leading the 'good life' while her brother Stephen has been surviving on the streets for many years after getting out of prison. For what? Why? What happened to cause this turn of events when it seemed their early lives together with their dad & mom—and bird watching—seemed so happy?
But all is not as it was in the present, & slowly, things began to fall into place as I held my breath, with fingers crossed as I continued reading,
Like "Dear Edward", the author introduces us to a traumatized brother and sister—still emotionally wounded by their shared family history with a key question hovering in the background—is it ever too late? Readers will not be disappointed by this life-affirming novel which reminds us it isn't.
The Funny Thing About Norman Foreman: A Novel
by Julietta Henderson
A Book Lover's Perfect Pandemic Antidote (1/30/2021)
During the pandemic,I have been making a conscious effort to read more positive, upbeat, 'happier-ending' novels, & "The Funny Thing..."hits the spot. Not sugar-coated or too good to be true, but a thoughtful book about family, friendship & loss told with humor, grace & quirkiness, which makes it irresistible in many ways. Norman and his mom—along with a cohort of 'original' supporting characters—go forward through ups & downs, big & small—dealing with the challenges confronting them with optimism and resilience. We root for them & celebrate their success which in many ways reflect the words of Amanda Gorman, (2021 inaugural poet): If only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it.
The Last Romantics
by Tara Conklin
“The Last Romantics” gets an A (11/29/2018)
“The Last Romantics” is an engrossing novel about four siblings and the profound impact on their young lives by their parents. Though I was ambivalent after reading the prologue, by the end of chapter one, I was pretty hooked. This family saga follows the Skinner siblings through a very difficult childhood into adulthood, where they’re once again challenged by a family crisis. The incident offers them a chance to confront their relationship with one another and focus on what truly matters most for each of them. The book will appeal to bibliophiles drawn to character-driven stories of complicated and interesting characters—siblings who love one another as they maneuver through their lives—replete with struggles and betrayals. Provocative and riveting, this beautifully-written novel challenges us to explore our definition of love.
Gone So Long
by Andre Dubus III
A Heartbreaking Story That's Hard to Forget (9/24/2018)
This is Andre Dubus III's first novel in a decade, and it's a wrenching, compassionate story of deep regret and irretrievable loss.I was spellbound at Dubus's ability to evoke his characters' so viscerally, but at the same time, confess that 1/3 through, it almost became too much for me to continue.
"Gone So Long" is a beautifully written story about a father—a broken man—estranged from his daughter for the most tragic of reasons, who's compelled to find her after decades apart. Daniel Ahearn lives a lonely existence in a small seaside New England town. Forty years ago, after committing a shocking act of impulsive violence, his 3 year old daughter Susan, was taken from his arms by police. Now in her forties, she still suffers from the trauma of an event she doesn't really remember, and struggles to love a wonderful husband and create a sustainable life together.
Her maternal grandmother Lois, raised her and is trying to live a peaceful life in a quaint Florida town but is unable to escape her own anger, bitterness, and fear.
"Gone So Long" is a haunting exploration of how past wounds can sometimes make efforts for reconciliation beyond the "reach of love and forgiveness...", as author Phil Klay writes on the book's back cover.
A Place for Us
by Fatima Farheen Mirza
The Promise of a Place for Us Not Delivered (3/9/2018)
A beautiful, heartfelt novel about a loving, observant Muslim-American family. A story about faith & love and the dreams parents have for their 3 children. It's akso a story about the deep pain that can happen—despite the best of intentions—when we make mistakes, have regrets, but don't acknowledge them to those we've hurt. And then it's too late.
"A Place for Us" is a gentle novel with narratives from the viewpoints (as their children grow to adulthood) of the parents Rafiq & Layla, their 2 daughters, who by external measurements, have 'achieved' the American Dream—good marriages, jobs that are vocations as well as avocations, children, and also still strong connections to their faith and family of origin.
The youngest son Amar, is the doubter/questioner/outlier in the family where both sisters, Huda and Hadia have mostly gone along, though Hadia chose her husband and both daughters have professional lives, too. Amar, the 'troubled son' is like a touchstone for the novel's themes of identity/conforming to—or struggling to find your own path, & community/acceptance when you go along—or alienation from when you don't. The novel speaks eloquently to how our family's history can shape us—for better and for worse.
Though this is a story of a family & their love for one another, it is also one of heartbreak and regret—the inability—or unwillingness—1. to step back, 2. push through a rigid set of beliefs re: how things/children 'must be/must act', and 3. allow their unique truths to unfold, as difficult & uncomfortable as that might be for the others, i.e. parents, siblings, the community. The regrets of every family members are those many of us can relate to—but the opportunity to make it right (or try to) was missed by everyone, Amar included. That's what seems to haunt all the characters as make the story more painful, at least it did for me.
As Leonard Cohen wrote in "Anthem', "there is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." It didn't for Amar, and it broke my heart. Perhaps it still might.
Force of Nature: Aaron Falk Mystery #2
by Jane Harper
Tense and Suspenseful—Hard-to-Put-Down Whodunit (10/10/2017)
It's been awhile since I've not gotten impatient or disinterested in a book I'm reading. Definitely not the case with Force of Nature! The author juxtaposes the present time with the unfolding back story of the disappearance of Alice, a woman taking part in an 'Outward Bound' team building weekend in the Australian wilderness with a group of colleagues.
None are very enthusiastic about going, but Alice has even more of a reason back home with her a possible scandal involving her teenage daughter and also her whistleblower cooperation with Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk and his partner Carmen Cooper.
It's a taut, suspenseful whodunit with lots of twists and turns—keeping me on the edge of my figurative seat until the end. The unraveling of what happened with Alice and the other involved characters was a genuine surprise. I usually figure out who the perpetrator(s) are out much sooner, but Harper kept me guessing till the end.
For fans of well-written, plot and character-driven page-turners, this tense, atmospheric novel is an excellent choice.
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