A Hundred Summers
by Beatriz Williams
This Is the Perfect Summer Read…a ChickLit Delight! (4/19/2023)
This is the perfect beach book—even if you can't make it to the sand and waves this year. It's sassy and fun with colorful characters, lots of romance, and a plot that is so gripping you won't want to stop reading. It is nearly perfect ChickLit!
Taking place in 1931-32 and the summer of 1938, the book tells the story of Smith College senior Lily Dane, who with help from her best friend (more like frenemy) Budgie Byrne, she meets the love of her life, Dartmouth senior Nick Greenwald. Lily and Nick are not only thwarted in so many heartbreaking ways from being together, but also betrayed by themselves and others. The chapters alternate between the two aforementioned time periods, focusing on Lily and Nick's early relationship in 1931-32 and an unexpected reunion in the summer of 1938 at Seaview, Rhode Island where Lily's family has "summered" for generations. The late September hurricane swirling in the Atlantic rivals the hurricane brewing in the hearts of these characters.
Beautifully written by Beatriz Williams, this book is both tender and passionate with a gripping storyline that just won't let go.
Trust Exercise: A Novel
by Susan Choi
Raw, Shocking, and Bold: And I'm Not Sure I Really Understand It (4/19/2023)
I will succinctly describe this book in one word: raw. And while it is also powerful, daring, shocking, confusing, and bold, above all else it is raw.
Written by Susan Choi, this is the story of a group of talented high school students in an unnamed Southern town who are chosen to attend a special school for the arts. But a literary version of the old TV show "Fame" this is not. This book has only three chapters, each told from a different point of view…each an entirely different story (in a way). On the surface, it is a coming-of-age story, of a passionate teenage romance that ends up broken and angry. But that is such a surface description. It is so much more! Yet, to describe what happens—even a brief plot summary, which I almost always include in my reviews—would be too much of a spoiler. Because what happens in the first chapter gets turned on its head, if not actually inside out, in the second chapter. And the third chapter is enlightening…and heartbreaking.
This is a multilayered book—with so many mindboggling layers I wonder if anyone is able to sort through and even identify them all. Is the book one big trick as some of the loftier professional reviews have maintained? Possibly. But probably not. That said, the author does use tricks. One of the more disconcerting (because it took a while for me to figure it out) is in the second chapter, which is told in the first person by a character named Karen. Multiple times—and always quite suddenly, often in the middle of a paragraph—the voice shifts to the third person, which I eventually surmised is the author's voice interjecting herself into the story.
I will say this about "Trust Exercise": It is a puzzling, strange novel. It is unlike anything I have ever read before. But most of all, and this is what bothers me the most, there is so much about this book that I know I didn't fully understand.
I am giving this book five stars not because I loved it so much that I hope everyone else reads it, too (which is typically why I give a book five stars), but rather because I am in awe of Susan Choi's imaginative narrative and poetry-like writing.
If you are looking for a truly intelligent literary work of fiction, read this. (And good luck understanding it!)
You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories
by Curtis Sittenfeld
This Collection of Short Stories Is Simply Wonderful! (4/19/2023)
Zing! Each of these 10 original short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld has something special in it, something that gives it a zing, a pop, a punch. Sometimes it's a truly unexpected plot twist, sometimes it's just a brilliant observation, and sometimes it's something so totally bizarre that it will leave your mind reeling.
As I devoured this book, I realized that each story I read was the "best one." That is, even though the first story is sensitive, riveting, and delightful, the stories successively get stronger and more engaging. While the characters are, for the most part, either women in their 30s or women in their 30s remembering their younger selves, I—as a 60-something baby boomer—totally related to all the characters. That is a testament to the exceptional writing and masterful storytelling. Age is irrelevant. These stories are about the power of intimacy and friendship, betrayal and psychological wounds.
To put it another way: This collection is simply wonderful!
Dawson's Fall
by Roxana Robinson
The First Half Is a Slog…but Keep Reading! The Reward of the Second Half Is So Very Much Worth It (4/19/2023)
Question: When you're reading a book you don't particularly like, do you stop—as in, too many books, too little time—or do keep going so that if it gets better, you won't miss out on something amazing? I fall into the latter category. (I always keep going…no matter what.) And I'm so happy I kept trudging through the first half of this book because the second half is exceptional.
Written by Roxana Robinson, this is the true story of her ancestors beginning with one Francis Warrington Dawson, who in 1862 at age 21 left his home country of England and sailed to the United States so he could fight for the confederacy. Dawson was a bit confused about the point of the Civil War, thinking it was only about state's rights and not realizing the true reason: the scourge of slavery in the South. Still, he fought and he stayed, settling in Charleston, South Carolina where he owned and edited a newspaper—one that was so liberal and so divergent from common Southern sentiment at the time that he struggled to keep the paper in print.
The first half of this book felt like a bait-and-switch to me. It is billed as a novel, a work of fiction. But when I started reading, it felt like nonfiction—so much so, that I checked to verify it was a novel! The author was blessed to have access to numerous primary sources, including diaries, copious family papers, and the content of Dawson's newspapers. Instead of using those resources to better tell a fictional tale, she uses those resources as the bones of the book. The "story" is secondary. Diary entries, some of which are very long, and (bizarre, but fascinating) newspaper stories dominate the first half of the book.
And then suddenly—and it really is quite suddenly—the narrative totally changes tone and becomes what I thought the book would be when I bought it: a fascinating, extraordinarily well-written historical novel with fully-developed characters and a compelling, enthralling plot that will keep you reading. I understand that the first half of the book, which was a bit of a slog to read, set the stage for the main story by delineating the background facts; I just wish an editor had encouraged the author to rewrite it—and still give all the facts—so it better fit the mold of a novel.
All this said, the underlying message of the book—how we treat "the other"—is so vitally important. In this case, the focus is on the former Southern slaves, who after emancipation suffered extraordinary poverty, high mortality rates, and a generally miserable existence. In the South in the decades following the Civil War it often felt as if white society followed the rule of violence instead of the rule of law. The book's historical message still resonates quite loudly for today's politics.
The Island of Sea Women
by Lisa See
This Is a Novel Masquerading as Nonfiction: A Gripping Story That Is Rich in Historical Detail (4/18/2023)
Some books we read for entertainment. Some books we read for information. And some books, such as this one by Lisa See, provide both. Actually, there is so much factual information in this book that it is almost a novel masquerading as nonfiction.
Spanning 70 years from 1938 to 2008, this book takes place on Jeju Island, South Korea, home of the haenyeo, who are women who dive deep into the sea to harvest by hand everything from abalone to octopus—without oxygen tanks. On Jeju, it was the women who worked every day in the sea—no matter the season or the temperature—while the men stayed home to care for the children and cook the family meals.
The story follows two young girls who become best friends, Young-sook and Mi-ja, as they learn to become "baby divers" in the time-honored tradition of the haenyeo. They grow up, marry and have children—and then an event that is so incredibly tragic and absolutely horrific tears them apart. Can Young-sook ever forgive Mi-ja for what she did? But just as important as the story of the women's friendship is the factual story of Jeju Island as its longstanding traditions and culture are threatened first by World War II and the Japanese occupation of the island and later by the Korean war, culminating in the bloody, terror-filled Jeju uprising beginning in April 1948 when thousands upon thousands were tortured and killed.
Caution: The descriptions of the violence, torture, death and destruction that took place during the Jeju uprising are explicit and graphic. While this is quite difficult and disturbing to read, it is a vitally important part of both the story arc and the history of the island. In fact, information about this "incident," as it is called, was suppressed for decades. People who survived and witnessed the gruesome bloody brutality of April 3, 1948 on Jeju Island were forbidden from ever discussing it, and those who did could face beatings, torture, prison, and even death.
Rich in historical detail and filled with vivid descriptions, this book will supercharge your imagination as it transports you to an unfamiliar place, time, and culture.
The Lake House
by Kate Morton
A Can't-Put-It-Down Novel That Is Totally Captivating (4/18/2023)
The best way to describe this can't-put-it-down novel by Kate Morton is: multilayered. No, wait. Multi-multi-multi-layered. There is SO much going on here! And every bit of it is a literary delight.
At its very core—deep, deep down—this is a mystery. But because it's so much more than that, the mystery can sometimes get lost. This is really two stories all interwoven into one. The setting is a summer house mansion by a lake in Cornwall, England. The book opens on a hot June day and evening in 1933, where the Edevane family is hosting the traditional and very lavish Midsummer party for 300 guests. But when they wake up the next morning, 11-month-old Theo, their fourth child and only son, is missing. The parents, Anthony and Eleanor, are understandably distraught. Daughter Deborah, age 18, is still reeling from discovering a shocking secret about her mother. Alice, age 16 and a budding writer, appears to know more than she tells the police. Clementine, age 12, who is accustomed to taking her baby brother on long walks around the beautiful rural property, is very jumpy. Who kidnapped—or killed!—baby Theo? Interspersed with this is the 2003 story of Sadie Sparrow, a London police detective with a long personal history of her own who has been disgraced by how she handled a tough case and has been forced on a vacation. (And that tough case is its own mystery—a mystery within a mystery!) Sadie retreats to her beloved grandfather's cottage in Cornwall where she learns about the 70-year-old cold case of Theo Edevane's mysterious disappearance.
Yes, the mystery is riveting and Kate Morton is an expert at dropping clues along the way so only the most astute readers will be able to solve it before the end. But even better than the page-turning suspense of the whodunit, are the vividly-drawn characters with backstories so deep and so multifaceted that you will be totally drawn into this captivating tale. With sophisticated storytelling that is rich in historical detail, this magnificent book is one of those special novels I will want to recommend to everyone!
Varina
by Charles Frazier
Ingeniously Plotted, Lyrical Language…But the Storyline Is Confusing and Can Be Difficult to Follow (4/18/2023)
This is the elegiac story of people living in and somehow surviving the perilous crisis, conflict, and calamity in the days, weeks, and years following the end of the American Civil War. But what makes this particular tale unique is that it is told through the eyes of one woman: Varina Howell Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, who served from 1861 to 1865 as the only president of the Confederate States of America. Varina's life was filled with tragedy, including the death of several of her children, a conflicted marriage fraught with extreme challenges, years of homelessness, and financial ruin.
Ingeniously plotted, this book by Charles Frazier is divided into seven chapters with each one beginning on a Sunday in 1906 in Saratoga Springs, New York as Varina, or V as she is known, meets in a hotel lobby with a black man named Jimmie Limber. Jimmie, who was an orphan of mixed raced parentage, was a very young child when V found him being beaten on a street by a black woman. She grabbed him and took him home where she raised him with her own children. Varina and Jimmie haven't seen each other in decades, and the narrative is organized around these Sunday meetings in which V tells Jimmie what happened during and immediately after the Civil War. The gist of it is that V fled Richmond as it burned, heading for Havana, but a horse-drawn wagon laden with children and a few accompanying men for protection is a slow and dangerous way to get to Cuba. The refugees, who felt more like fugitives, traveled through the Southern states that were still reeling from General Sherman's fiery march. Rumor had it they were carrying massive amounts of gold and silver, which made them vulnerable targets by desperate people.
The writing is beautiful, nearly lyrical, and the story really is fascinating. But reading this book can be challenging: The plot bounces around in time so much that sometimes it can be difficult to follow. This is one of those books where I had to pay full attention at all times, and even then I frequently reread sections for a full or better understanding.
Women Talking
by Miriam Toews
Emotionally Charged and Haunting. Not an Easy Book to Read, But Vitally Important (4/18/2023)
This is a novel that will haunt you. It is not only deeply disturbing, but also an ominous warning about the powerful authority and absolute control some men exert over women — both their minds and their bodies.
Taking place in a tightly-knit and isolated Mennonite community, virtually the entire book is the minutes of several secret meetings a group of women is holding in a hayloft. They are discussing their future. All of them, along with almost every other woman and girl in the colony, were repeatedly raped over five years by eight men in the community, who stole into their bedrooms in the middle of the night, knocking them out with an animal anesthetic, and then having their way with them. The women and girls would awake in the morning groggy and confused and covered in blood, feces, and semen. Even a three-year-old girl was violated in the same way. The women were told that Satan had visited them to punish them for their sins.
But that is not the story of this book.
The story is what happens after the women finally figure out what is going on. Because one woman attempted to kill one of the men with a scythe, the police were called to take the men to jail in the nearby city — for their own safety. And now the women are trying to discern what they will do to protect themselves in the future, including possibly leaving the community — a bold and intimidating step, since they have no idea where they are geographically. However unlikely it is, the narrator of the story is a man. The women trust him, and since they are illiterate, they want him to write what happens at the meetings.
There are many ways, some of which could have been quite salacious, that author Miriam Toews could have written this story, which is (shockingly) based on true events in a Mennonite community. What she did was to zero in on how women everywhere solve their problems: by talking about it. These hayloft discussions, filled with anger and deep-seated psychological pain, are heated with diverse opinions, sometimes unfocused, but always fruitful. Above all, the discussions are philosophical reflections on the meaning of their lives.
And at the root of it all is the question the women must eventually answer: Can they forgive the rapists, who are, after all, their husbands, brothers, uncles, and nephews, for the evil deeds they did? Is forgiveness even possible? And if not, how can the women remain in community with the men?
Because it is so emotionally charged, this is not an easy book to read. But it is an important one…a vitally important one.
News from Heaven: The Bakerton Stories
by Jennifer Haigh
Big Stories About Small Town Life: Touching, Insightful, and Haunting (4/18/2023)
This touching, insightful, and haunting book of short stories by Jennifer Haigh continues the story of Bakerton, Pennsylvania, a fictional coal-mining town, that she introduced in "Baker Towers: A Novel" and continues after "News From Heaven" in "Heat and Light: A Novel."
These are big stories about small town life, especially the secrets families keep and the secrets that are exposed.
Bakerton has fallen on hard times as the coal mines that employed the vast majority of the men have closed. In these stories we find out how some of the people have reinvented themselves when the only way of life they ever knew has ended. Some of the stories are heartbreaking, some are hopeful, and all are true to life. While each story focuses on a different family or individual, all of them explore themes common to all of us when change is forced upon us. A thin thread connects all 10 stories, making this book read more like a novel than a disparate collection of stories.
With finely-wrought characters and sophisticated storytelling, Haigh brilliantly captures a place, time, and people that are a crucial part of our very recent past.
The Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11
by Garrett M. Graff
To All the Unsung Heroes: This Is the Story of Ordinary People Who Did Extraordinary Deeds (4/18/2023)
This book will make you cry. A lot. As in, you had better have a tissue in hand when reading it.
While it is emotionally draining, this is such a vitally important book that I think everyone should read it. If you were alive on 9/11, you should read it. If you have children or grandchildren who were born after 9/11, you should buy a copy now for them to read when they are older.
This is the best kind of history lesson because it is so personal. Author Garrett M. Graff has captured that horrific day in its entirety through personal quotes—an oral history—from nearly 500 people who experienced the horrific events of 9/11 first-hand. The mesmerizing, poignant and so very, very personal result is an almost minute-by-minute account of what happened in New York City, Washington, D.C., Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in the White House's underground bunker, and aboard Air Force One. More than anything, this is a book about what it was like to live through September 11, 2001—beginning with surprise and confusion and ending with grief and resilience.
Not only are there quotes from our nation's leaders, including Vice President Dick Cheney, First Lady Laura Bush, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, but also from those who worked in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, their families, and the first responders who so bravely and heroically walked into danger. Transcripts of phone conversations and voice mails from passengers on Flight 93 are raw, emotionally-brutal, and so revealing of the power of human spirit in the time of ultimate despair.
When the story of 9/11 is told like it is here, it becomes something greater than the individual parts: It is the story of all the unsung heroes. It is the story of ordinary people who did extraordinary deeds to try to save a human life—and in so doing, save our country.
It is the story of what it means to be an American. Let us always remember.
This House is Haunted
by John Boyne
Goosebumps and Shivers! A Chilling Ghost Story for Literary Types (4/18/2023)
I think this book is brilliant! It is a chilling ghost story for literary types, complete with a cameo by Charles Dickens.
Written in the Dickensian style by the inimitable John Boyne, this gothic tale opens on a cold and rainy night in London in October 1867 when Eliza Caine, age 21, and her father troop through the misty, fog-shrouded streets to hear a popular writer named Charles Dickens read one of his ghost stories to the gathered audience. The miserable autumn weather proves too much for Mr. Caine who soon dies, forcing Eliza to find employment and housing elsewhere. She moves to Norfolk where she will serve as a governess in Gaudlin Hall, one of the large English homes. Ah, but all is not as it seems—or should be. Eliza quickly realizes a malicious force is pursuing her, and when she finds out the fate of the previous five governesses who have served the family in the past year, she knows she is not imagining things. But WHY? Why is this evil happening? And will Eliza succumb to the same fate as so many of the other governesses?
Because the book is written in the style of a 19th century novel, it is by definition more slow-paced than modern day novels. Some might even call it plodding. But that's the whole point! The plot slowly unfolds as Eliza Caine gradually figures out what is going on in this house and why everyone who encounters her is so spooked by it—and by extension her.
Bonus: The ending — as in, the last word of the book — is pure genius. It's all goosebumps and shivers!
All He Ever Wanted
by Anita Shreve
A Powerful Book! Deeply Disturbing Psychological Study About the Possessiveness of Marriage (4/18/2023)
Author Anita Shreve is such a surprise! While none of her books — other than the "Fortune's Rocks" series — can be said to be similar to the others, this one is a true outlier. And while it took me a good while to get into the story, once I did, I was mesmerized by it.
Quite creatively written much in the language of a 19th century novel, this is the story of a marriage told as a retrospective in the first person from the husband's point of view. And that, by definition, means it is only half the story. Still, there are enough hints, clues, and revelations for the reader to discern how the wife feels—and it's nothing like her husband. It's 1899, and college professor Nicholas Van Tassel falls in love at first sight with Etna Bliss as he helps rescue her and her aunt from a hotel restaurant fire in the small New England town where they live. He is passionately besotted with her; she's obliviously indifferent. After making a startling bargain, they do marry, and bit by bit her secrets are revealed until he discovers secrets about both her past and present that he absolutely cannot abide. What Nicholas does to keep his wife is so shocking and so unsettling that the reverberations are felt for decades to come.
This is a deeply disturbing psychological study about the intense and overwhelming feelings of marital possession and the proximity to violence such possession—especially when it turns to obsession—engenders. It is also a poignant study of what it meant to be a married woman 100 years ago—and for some women even in today's world—and what one must necessarily surrender at the marriage altar in exchange for economic security.
This is a haunting, powerful story that will stay with me for some time.
The Poisonwood Bible
by Barbara Kingsolver
An Imaginative Work of Genius: A Must-Read Book (4/18/2023)
Oh, this is a sneaky book. As in, it starts out just fine — OK, but not fabulous — and then bit by bit it sneaks its way into your heart and soul. And then when you're going about the business of life, you'll find yourself thinking, "When can I stop what I'm doing and read again?"
This masterpiece by Barbara Kingsolver takes us deep into the jungle of the Congo beginning in 1959 when Southern Baptist preacher Nathan Price embarks on a risky missionary post in small village located on a smelly, crocodile-infested river on the edge of a lush, snake-infested jungle. He brings with him his Bible, his arrogant, holier-than-thou approach to saving souls, and his reluctant family: his obedient, meek wife Orleanna and teenage daughters Rachel, Leah, and Adah along with five-year-old Ruth May. To say they are wholly unprepared for such a primitive lifestyle is an understatement. Assimilating—from learning to cook on a wood stove to having to haul water for a mile—is a Herculean adjustment. Great tragedy strikes, and the lives of all six of the Prices radically change forever.
The book is divided into seven sections. Except for the last section, the first part of each is written by Orleanna looking back on their time in the Congo. Each of the other chapters is written in the first person by one of the four daughters. One of the things that makes this book such an imaginative work of genius is the distinct voice Kingsolver gives each of the girls. Once you get into the book, you will know just by reading the first paragraph of a chapter who has written it without even looking at the chapter heading. And each of girls' perspectives of the same life they are living is absolutely riveting—sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hilarious, and always poignant.
This is an intelligent, multilayered novel with vividly drawn characters that are so real they pop off the page. The detailed descriptions of the Congo are so remarkably realistic that I felt as if I were transported there along with the Price family. And the plot is riveting—not a page-turner as such, but I was fully engaged in it—as it zeroes in on the complex moral question that is the backbone of the book: Do white people — no matter how well meaning — have any right at all to invade a culture and attempt to change it? And what are the long-term ramifications of such audacity?
Cutting For Stone
by Abraham Verghese
Reading This Book Is the Literary Equivalent of Being Swept Off My Feet! (4/18/2023)
Oh, this book! Reading it was the literary equivalent of being swept off my feet!
Masterfully written by Abraham Verghese, this is the story of identical, conjoined twins Marion and Shiva, born in Ethiopia of a disgraced Roman Catholic nun from India and a talented, but socially inept white surgeon. Taking place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and New York City, this is an extraordinary saga of love, hate, brotherhood, ambition, the ingenuity of the science of medicine, violent political upheaval, and what it truly means to be a family.
The novel's strength is twofold: the superb storytelling and the vividly-rendered characters. It will fill your heart and then break it and then fill it again, proving this is a nearly perfect book.
Major Character Without a Name: Medicine/Surgery. Verghese is a medical doctor by profession, and his extensive knowledge of both medicine and surgery (routine and trauma) is on display throughout the book with detailed descriptions that I found it utterly fascinating. You will learn more about the human liver than you ever thought you would know in your lifetime. And it's not gratuitous. In fact, it adds enormously to the drama of the plot and the development of the characters.
Minor Character Without a Name: Food. Do not read this book when you are hungry. The descriptions of Ethiopian cuisine are mouthwatering—from injera, a sourdough-risen flatbread with a slightly spongy texture that is considered the national dish of Ethiopia and Eritrea, to wot, a stew or curry prepared with chicken, beef, or lamb, as well as a variety of vegetables and spices. (I looked online for a recipe for wot and found out it takes four days, 11 hours, and 35 minutes to make. Now I'm Googling the location of the nearest Ethiopian restaurant.)
This is one of those imaginative, monumental books that will appeal to almost everyone. I just know that years from now I will still be recommending it friends. If you're looking for a captivating read, choose this one. Now.
Love and Ruin: A Novel
by Paula McLain
Slow-Moving Story That at Times Is Brilliant and Convincing, Except When It's Forced and Artificial (4/18/2023)
This is a novel that feels like a biography…that is, if biographies were written in the first person. This is a novel that also feels like a history book…that is, if history books were written in the first person.
Written by Paula McClain, this is a novel about Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway's third wife. (He had four.) After meeting in a truly serendipitous way, the two finagled it so they worked together as war correspondents during the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s. Marty was fiercely independent, and as much as she loved Ernest, being a wife chafed against her wanderlust, autonomous soul. It wasn't easy being married to such a big and famous man for someone who wanted to be just as big and just as famous herself. When "For Whom the Bell Tolls" was published, Marty knew they were no longer a marriage of equals. Ernest would always be bigger and better—and that was a big shadow shading her every move.
This is a slow-moving story that focuses more on character development and historical narration—so much so that the plot seems like an afterthought. McClain makes every attempt to truly expose Marty's innermost thoughts and feelings, and the result is mixed: At times it is brilliant and convincing, except when it's forced and artificial. It's important to say that parts of this book are absolutely, totally engrossing, but there are more parts that are…well, quite boring.
There is one question book lovers enjoy asking each other: When you're reading a book you don't particularly like, do you stop or keep going? I ALWAYS keep going for one reason. What if it gets really good and I missed it because I stopped reading? That perfectly describes this book. The last quarter of it is astounding and totally worth plowing through the rest of it to get there.
It's not that this is a bad book; it's actually quite good. But it could be so much better!
Into the Water: A Novel
by Paula Hawkins
A Scary and Intriguing Literary Thriller! And Quite the Mind-Challenge to Figure Out the Mystery (4/18/2023)
Written by "The Girl on the Train" author Paula Hawkins, this is part psychological thriller and part who-done-it, and it's one of those books you won't be able to put down once you start reading it.
Taking place in Beckford, a small river town in England, the story focuses on Katie, a 15-year-old girl, and Nel, a middle-age woman and mother, who recently committed suicide by jumping off a cliff into the raging waters of the river below—the river that snakes through their town and has been the site of multiple deaths of troublesome women over the centuries. But did Katie and Nel really jump? Or were they pushed? And in either case: WHY?
Each chapter is written from the point of view of one of the 10 main characters, which makes it a bit confounding in the beginning of the book simply because there are so many people to keep track of. (The Kindle X-ray feature is quite useful for remembering who is who.) That said, it really doesn't take that long to become familiar with this large cast, and then the book just soars.
This literary thriller is both scary and intriguing. While the book gave me the shivers, it was also a mind-challenge to try to figure out the mystery. Even the very last page gave me a jolt—so no peeking!
The Underground Railroad: A Novel
by Colson Whitehead
Gripping and Intense: It Is Impossible to Read This Book and Not Be Profoundly Moved (4/18/2023)
The best way to describe this remarkable book by Colson Whitehead is: gripping and intense. The plot is so gripping that it will keep you turning the pages long past your bedtime, and it's so intense that if you do dare read it before sleeping, the vivid descriptions of what was routinely done to runaway slaves will haunt your nightmares.
There is a reason this book won both the 2017 Pulitzer Prize and the 2016 National Book Award.
This is an imaginative retelling of the underground railroad in which there really is a railroad—tracks, a locomotive, passenger car, and an engineer. But this isn't an express from Mississippi to Massachusetts. It is built deep underground in fits and starts so slaves who are lucky enough to board still must be daring enough to travel over land as well. This is the story of Caesar, Cora, and Lovey, who escape from the Georgia cotton plantation on which they are enslaved. Their story is utterly engrossing, albeit brutal, viciously cruel, and at times inhuman. And even though the real underground railroad had no actual train tracks as it does in this novel, this is a heartbreakingly authentic depiction of what it meant to seek freedom—both for the courageous slaves who ran and the equally courageous white abolitionists who aided them.
This is one of those rare books that will live inside me forever. It is impossible to read it and not be profoundly moved.
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
The Plot Will Break Your Heart, But the Writing Will Make Your Soul Sing (4/18/2023)
The plot of this book will break your heart, but the writing will make your soul sing.
Masterfully written by Toni Morrison, this is a book that is destined to be a classic and still avidly read generations from now. While it is the story of a runaway slave named Sethe, it is even more a story of slavery, the meaning of freedom, and the deep, dark psychological scars that never disappear even after a slave is free.
Sethe's life on the Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky is not as horrific as it would have been other places—that is, until a new master arrives and cruelty then reigns. Sethe has three very young children and is pregnant with her fourth when there is an opportunity to escape. How this escape happens—and all that ensued before and after the escape—scars Sethe's soul forever. Just weeks after she escapes to Ohio, the master finds her and her children, and what Sethe does then is horrific, tragic, and almost beyond belief. And then a seeming miracle occurs. Or has it?
With bold imagery, raw depictions of slavery, and prose that is so beautiful it becomes poetic, this is a book to be cherished and reread. Emotionally it is a grim book to read, but one that is vitally important.
Advice: Read this book slowly. Do not rush through it for two reasons: First, the story is so violent, so cruel, so harsh, and so painful that I found it impossible to read it for very long. Second, the writing is so beautiful that you will want to savor it—not speed read past all that splendor.
The Library Book
by Susan Orlean
Compelling, Gripping, and Absolutely Fascinating! Few Nonfiction Books Are So Readable (4/18/2023)
When libraries burn, it is more than a building and its contents that are aflame. It is our ideas, our beliefs, our culture, our history, and even our very humanity that is also caught up in the inferno. The largest library fire in the United States occurred on April 29, 1986 when the Central Library of Los Angeles was purposely set on fire. It burned for about seven hours and damaged or destroyed more than one million books. The real losses could never really be measured in dollars and cents, since so many priceless and irreplaceable documents were incinerated.
With exhaustive research and superb description, Susan Orlean has masterfully told the story of that fire and the man whom fire authorities and arson investigators accused of setting it ablaze, but this book is so much more. It's also a tribute to all libraries and librarians, the places and people who offer free information, free books, free DVDs, free magazines, free everything—all for the price of a (free) library card. I have no doubt this book will inspire a new generation to go to library school!
Who would set a library on fire? And why? And how? And how does a library, a nonprofit institution with insurance that only covers the building and not the contents of that building, ever recover? These are the questions that Orlean answers in a way that is compelling, gripping, and absolutely fascinating. Few nonfiction books are so readable as this one.
Bonus No.1: Each chapter begins with a listing of four books that is relevant to that chapter's content. It's kind of fun to figure out what's going to happen next by reading the titles of those books, some of which are so seemingly disparate it's kind of tricky to discern the connection.
Bonus No. 2: The cover is brilliantly creative, but you have to look at it closely to fully appreciate it.
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Oh, This Book! It's Magnificent! Read It. Savor It. It's Very Special. (4/18/2023)
Oh, this book! This book! This is one of those rare books that I not only enjoyed from the first sentence to the last, but also it touched my heart and soul in a way I always hope will happen with each book I read but only rarely does.
Magnificently written by Ann Patchett, this is the story of the Conroy siblings, Maeve and Danny. Told in the first person by Danny over a five-decade span, it begins with a recounting of their extraordinary childhood, growing up in what was known as "the Dutch house," a mansion—with a ballroom on the third floor and a dining room ceiling decorated in gold leaf—in the suburbs of Philadelphia. But all too soon, this magical world was destroyed for the children by the parents who were supposed to be loving them and taking care of them. First abandoned by their mother, ignored by their father, and later cast out on to the street by their stepmother, Maeve and Danny only have each other. She fiercely protects Danny. He idolizes Maeve. But when the unimaginable actually happens, their loving sibling relationship is tested to the core.
This is an astute psychological study of what it means to be a family and how those relationships—no matter how damaged they may be—ultimately determine who we are as adults. And it is only by forgiving, even when everything about it seems unforgiveable, that we find real happiness and contentment in life.
The writing is bold and forthright, but when needed it's perfectly subtle and nuanced. The story is definitely one that is character-driven so the plot plays second fiddle, but even so the "what happens next" part is absolutely captivating.
Bonus: Maeve Conroy is a type 1 diabetic, as are my son and grandson. I am forever grateful to Ann Patchett for her intelligent and perceptive descriptions of what it means to live with this dreadful disease.
This is a 10-star book in a five-star world. Read it. Savor it. It's a very special book.
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Power Reviewer
