marriage

Review: MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON by Elizabeth Strout

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Several years ago I read OLIVE KITTERIDGE and just loved it. It’s hard to describe why – I just did. I was excited to MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON come up on Net Galley and got it to read.

Here’s how Net Galley describes it:

Description
A new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout is cause for celebration. Her bestselling novels, including Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys, have illuminated our most tender relationships. Now, in My Name Is Lucy Barton, this extraordinary writer shows how a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all—the one between mother and daughter.

Lucy Barton is recovering slowly from what should have been a simple operation. Her mother, to whom she hasn’t spoken for many years, comes to see her. Gentle gossip about people from Lucy’s childhood in Amgash, Illinois, seems to reconnect them, but just below the surface lie the tension and longing that have informed every aspect of Lucy’s life: her escape from her troubled family, her desire to become a writer, her marriage, her love for her two daughters. Knitting this powerful narrative together is the brilliant storytelling voice of Lucy herself: keenly observant, deeply human, and truly unforgettable.

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I just loved this story. Again, it’s hard to explain why. Lucy is a typical woman, though you can see that she has had hardships (unexplained) in her past. She is just trying to get through life. She wants to be (and becomes) a writer. Her illness gives her an opportunity to reconnect with her mother (her entire family was very dysfunctional). Throughout there are hints that Lucy is keeping some parts of her past hidden as they are too painful to think about. What I really liked, though, was that there never was a “big reveal”. We never exactly discovered all there was to discover about Lucy Barton (though one could make some guesses). It was one of the things I liked most about this book — it’s ability to keep the narrator slightly unknown.

This book would be an excellent book club book, giving folks a chance to make their decisions about what they think about Lucy and her family and her life. Some might find this book slow or unexciting (no car chases!), but I thought it was just right. It is short but beautifully written. Elizabeth Strout has the ability to craft a sentence that is so right and so true that it stays with you.

Thank you for my review e-copy, Random House and Net Galley! MY NAME IS LUCY BARTON publishes today – 1/12/16.

Now I’m throwing it back to my earlier review of OLIVE KITTERIDGE – for your reading pleasure:

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Have you ever been in a relationship with someone and felt like they knew you stripped bare of your outer facade?

This is how I felt about the characters of Elizabeth Strout’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, Olive Kitteridge. Olive Kitteridge is a middle-aged woman, living in the small town of Crosby, Maine, and this novel is a series of vignettes depicting the people of the town, their lives, their hopes, dreams, and disappointments. The common thread running through these short stories is the character of Olive. In each story we see a different side of Olive, and by the end come to know her as multi-faceted and deeply human.

Whenever I pick up a Pulitzer, I’m never sure if I’m going to like it. Will it be too deep to get through? Will I feel compelled to love it, and don’t? Will I be able to read it enjoyably, or have to attack it like a college textbook? I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. It is a gem. Strout’s writing is so beautiful and descriptive. She calls on elements of human nature that, as I read, I found myself shaking my head and saying, “Yes, that is exactly how it is in life, isn’t it?” This book portrayed her characters in such a raw state that at times it was a bit painful to read. Yet, each story had a feeling of redemption in it, too. This was a wonderful book. I picked it up on a whim at a local bookstore and purchased it – and I’m so glad I did!

Review: THE GUEST ROOM by Chris Bohjalian

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Chris Bohjalian is one of my very favorite authors, so I was more than thrilled to get his new novel through Net Galley for review.

Here’s the description via Net Galley:

Description

Review: A Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman

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I absolutely loved this book.

When I was at BEA in the spring, I stood in a very long line (I was number 3 though!) to see Alice Hoffman and to get her new book, The Marriage of Opposites.

First, I must say that Ms. Hoffman is one of my fave authors. I think I’ve read everything she’s written. She is quite gracious in person and was a delight in our albeit very brief meeting (where I tried not to gush). I was later interviewed by Simon and Schuster for something on camera, gushing about how much I love her writing (thankfully I have never found that video clip online, as I’m sure I’d be horrified at my lack of composure and disheveled appearance, being interviewed on the fly during a huge event in NYC).

Anyway – I digress. This story is about the parents of Camille Pissarro, the great French painter. I have to say that I knew absolutely nothing about his background, and while I am sure that he is fascinating in his own right, Hoffman’s story focuses on his mother, Rachel, and her life as she grows up among a community of refugee European Jews, who are living in the Virgin Islands during the early 1800’s. Rachel is married off to an old widower while she is quite young, and she comes to love his children and to respect him. When he dies suddenly, his younger nephew arrives to take over the business. He and Rachel fall deeply in love – even though she is substantially older and their union is forbidden as they are seen as “family”. Out of their relationship comes Camille.

I loved this story — the characters, the setting, the writing. Rachel’s story was fascinating to me and I loved the subplots and “supporting characters” with their stories along the way.

Historical Fiction at its finest!

To get you in the mood, here’s a picture by Pissarro that I got via Google Images:

Jardin Mirbeau aux Damps

Review: THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN by Sarah McCoy

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Every now and then a book comes along that is to touching and so beautifully done that it makes you want to hold it close to you and weep. This is how I felt about Sarah McCoy’s THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN.

In this novel, modern day Eden moves to an old house in New Charleston, W.V. Her story parallels another story of that house in a different time: as a stop on the Underground Railroad. Sarah Brown is the daughter of abolitionist John Brown and she makes maps for slaves moving north to seek freedom. Sarah is a complex character and struggles with her own physical and emotional limitations while bravely working to bring families to freedom. Eden, meanwhile, is struggling to come to terms with her relationship with her husband and the trials they have faced with infertility. Eden finds a doll’s head under the kitchen floorboards which starts her on a quest to find out more about the house. Add in a precocious young neighbor and a cute puppy, and Eden reaches the point where she must decide whether she will embrace life, or continue to live in self-doubt.

I just loved this book. I always love Sarah’s writing and this was no exception. She has an amazing ability to capture setting so that you feel the time and place; she captures character as well and you feel you really know these people. Eden’s and Sarah’s stories are woven together seamlessly.

Highly recommended! Sarah will be at the Concord Bookshop on May 7 and my calendar is marked!

Thank you, Net Galley and Crown Books, for my review copy!!

Find this book at an indie near you – it publishes in early May. (I am an Indie Bound affiliate):


Find it at an Indie!

Review: AT THE WATER’S EDGE by Sara Gruen

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I had never read a book by Sara Gruen, though I’ve certainly heard of “Water for Elephants”. I thought this one sounded intriguing, and I was able to get an ARC from Net Galley.

AT THE WATER’S EDGE starts with a young WWII war widow in Scotland losing her baby and then committing suicide by drowning herself in the lake. We then switch to the social scene in Philadelphia and young marrieds, Ellis and Maddie, and their best friend, Hank, whooping it up and causing a scene for New Year’s. Hank and Ellis are both unable to serve in the war due to physical reasons. The three are young, wealthy, immature, and irreverent. When Ellis’ family is angered by their behavior, Ellis decides they will redeem themselves by travelling to Scotland to locate and film the Loch Ness Monster – a task his father tried before him. Ellis is sure this will redeem him in his family’s eyes. Hank goes along with this plan and Maddie is dragged along against her will. Once in Scotland, however, they realize their fun is not appreciated and their attitude and behavior is pretty insensitive and inappropriate. As times passes, Maddie begins to see her husband in a new light (not a favorable one!) and starts to mature and change herself. However, things start to spiral out of control towards the end of the book as Ellis becomes determined to “find the monster” and to not let anyone stand in his way.

I could not put this book down. In other places I’ve seen it reviewed as a romance. While it does have a romantic component to it, I would not classify it as a romance, but as historical fiction. I loved the character of Maddie. I really had hope in the beginning that she would not be as self-centered and callous as her husband, and she lived up to my expectations! Ellis, on the other hand, I could not stand. It’s rare I have such a violent dislike for a character, but there is whole part of this book where Ellis tries to make Maddie think she is mentally frail and anxious and that she needs hospitalization (perhaps a lobotomy!), even though Maddie is fine. I have no sympathy for big manipulators who play mind games with their wives in order to do what they want.  On another note, I have seen some reviews that say “the monster in the lake symbolizes Hitler and Ellis, and that’s so obvious, blah blah blah”. However, I had a different take on it. (Ms. Gruen – if you ever do me the honor of reading my humble blog, please let me know if I’m right). I think the monster in the lake lives within all of us — we all have a monster within, and it’s what we do with it that shapes us. Do we become like Ellis — self-centered and self-serving to the point of harming others? Or like Maddie? Remember the “monster” saved Maddie at one point, too. And the vagueness at the end — how did Ellis end up where he ended up? Maybe the monster was seeking justice…

So, I like my “Lord of the Flies” take on the monster idea better than just monster = Ellis/Hitler – which of course can be seen as true as well.

Did you read this book? If so, what did you think? I loved it!

Thank you, Net Galley and Random House, for my copy.

Find it at an indie near you! (I’m an Indie Bound affiliate). It publishes 3/31/15.


Find it at an Indie!

Review: Eight Minutes by Lori Reisenbichler

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When Kandy at MindBuck Media Publicity offered me an ARC of EIGHT MINUTES I thought it sounded like a fun thriller to read. Well, I was right! I basically read this whole book in one day as I couldn’t put it down!

EIGHT MINUTES starts with Shelly Buckner giving birth to her first child – a son. Her husband misses the birth because he is in a horrific crash on the way to the hospital, an accident that almost kills him (he is technically dead for eight minutes before they revive him). Life rolls along for this fairly typical small-town couple until their child, Toby, is three and he starts to speak of his imaginary friend, John Robberson. Unlike most children’s imaginary friends, though, John Robberson is different. He tells Toby a lot of detailed information about flying planes in Vietnam that Toby couldn’t have known, and he also is pressuring Toby to go visit “Kay”. Shelly worries about everything from Toby’s insecurities in being an only child to schizophrenia, while her husband Eric is almost staunchly at the opposite end of the spectrum: leave the kid alone, he’s fine. Then Shelly discovers that there was a real John Robberson – one who flew planes in Vietnam and who had a wife named Kay. A man who died the night Toby was born.

Yikes! This was one supernatural thriller that I couldn’t put down. Who is John Robberson and what does he want with Toby? And will the quest for answers end up alienating her husband and destroying their marriage? About one-third of the way through I was pretty sure I knew what was happening (and I was right) but I just kept reading right up to the last page.

If I had one disappointment, it was the ending. I wanted a bit more resolution written more explicitly. I went back and reread the end (never easy on a kindle) and I was still left thinking. That might have been the author’s intent (I assume it was) but I just thought a few paragraphs taking place about a year later, even if everything wasn’t answered or tied up neatly, would have been more satisfying.

If you like the supernatural and the bigger question of “where do we go when we die?”, then I recommend EIGHT MINUTES.

Thank you for my review copy!

You can find this book at an indie bookstore near you — I am an Indie Bound affiliate:


Find it at an Indie!

Review: WE ARE NOT OURSELVES by Matthew Thomas

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I had heard some chatter about this book at BEA this spring, and I was excited to see it come up on Net Galley. It was heralded as “a multi-generational story of an Irish immigrant family in New York City”. Honestly, I found that to be a bit of a misnomer. WE ARE NOT OURSELVES follows Eileen Tumulty as she grows up in post WWII Queens. Eileen is Irish, but this novel is more a story of a life lived rather than a multi-generational overview of several lives.

Please note that the following contains SPOILERS!

Eileen’s life is portrayed from her childhood and adolescence with alcoholic parents to her marriage to introverted scientist Edward, through motherhood to a son (Connell). Throughout, Eileen was not a character with whom I felt any sort of affinity. No matter what life threw her way she was malcontent. She pushed pushed pushed Ed to be bigger, make more money, get more prestige, buy a new house, a new car, a mink coat. She pushed Connell to be the top of his class. I had at one point thought, “Geez, Eileen, be thankful for what you have and stop being so unhappy about everything.” Then tragedy strikes when Ed is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. His decline and disease is portrayed so realistically and touchingly that at times it brought tears to my eyes. And this was when I finally felt a connection to Eileen, as she became a much better person when dealing with this terrible crisis and loss than she was when everything was fine. As for Connell, until the epilogue I found him to be incredibly self-centered and selfish. Eileen wasn’t disappointed in him, but I was.

If I had to criticize something in this novel, which is acclaimed far and wide, I’d say I thought it was about 150 pages too long. I just didn’t think it needed to be 600+ pages. I also felt until near the end that the whole thing could have been summed up as “life is hard and then you die”; but the ending left me feeling a little more upbeat. Thomas is a beautiful writer.

I would love to hear from others what their experience with this novel was like.

Review: SISTERLAND by Curtis Sittenfeld

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Coming out next Tuesday, June 25, is Curtis Sittenfeld’s new novel SISTERLAND – a story weaving twins, relationships, ESP, marital issues and relationships, and earthquakes into its plot. Twins Daisy and Violet share a special bond and use their ESP to gain popularity in school. When accused of being a witch, Daisy decides to never use her “senses” again. The girls grow up and Daisy changes her name to Kate, marries a stable young college professor, and has two children. Vi embraces her quirkiness and becomes a psychic, using her powers to locate an abducted child. Now in current day, the girls are in their twenties and living where they grew up, St. Louis . Vi becomes convinced that a major earthquake is looming. Kate agrees. Violet’s prediction going public leads to a chain of events that threatens all that Kate holds dear. Will the prediction prove to be right?

This story certainly had a lot going on in it! Along the relationship front, Kate is struggling with her at-home mom role, while building a “best friendship” with her neighbor Hank (whose wife works with Kate’s husband). Violet is tentatively trying out a lesbian relationship. Meanwhile, Kate is quite tethered to her two children who are about 1 and 3 (one is nursing – quite regularly throughout the book). I found the ESP portion of the book really interesting. Their “senses” (as they called them) weren’t extraordinary or freaky. They just knew things with a certainty, or had dreams of things. A lot of it seemed like good guessing and common sense to me (with the exception of finding the abducted child by visualizing his kidnapper). I kept reading this book and couldn’t put it down because it was moving towards the date of the predicted earthquake (October 16). I had to know: would it happen? Would they be okay? What would happen if Vi was completely wrong?

I won’t say whether the earthquake happens or not — but I will say some things do occur that are brought about by everything happening in this book. At one point I almost shouted at Kate: “NO! Wait! Stop! Don’t do this!” I found Kate a very likable character, though she was rather immature and self-centered. I thought it was interesting how the twins were so disparate in personality at the beginning of the novel – almost like two parts of the same person – and then both went more to the middle of the continuum. Violet was a bit of a disaster in the beginning, then made some strides to get her life together. Kate was ultra-organized to the point of being an autotron, and she became more human. I liked this piece of character development.

One thing that did throw me off was the point of view at the end. Throughout the book the story is told in Kate’s voice, moving towards October 16, with various pertinent flashbacks thrown in to provide “back story”. Then, post 10/16, the story moves to a future perspective, telling the story from looking back on it from a few years afterwards.  This shift threw me for a bit and felt awkward to me.

Overall, I really liked this novel. I loved PREP and AMERICAN WIFE and really like Ms. Sittenfeld’s writing. Her characters are well drawn and she has a flair for humor.

Thank you, Net Galley and Random House, for my ARC – I was quite psyched to get it!

Review: “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn

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So – everyone in the blogosphere has read “Gone Girl”. Generally I stay away from books like that (Facebook friends know how I felt about “Shades of Grey”). However, several friends who typically love the books I do have LOVED this book, so I bought it from Amazon.

First I must say that every review on this book I’ve read has said things like: “I can’t really write about what happens in this book without giving it away”. I must say I had to wonder what the scoop was on this. Can’t write about the plot without spoilers? Can’t tell us what you liked or didn’t about the writing? What was this book anyway? I read in the synopsis that it was about a young wife who goes missing on her and her husband’s fifth wedding anniversary. I wasn’t sure if it was a mystery or something else.

(WARNING  – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS). I’d classify this book as a psychological thriller. First you’re in his head, then hers, and as the story progresses you aren’t sure who is truly in their right mind. Every time I thought I had this book figured out it twisted and changed. I was up late reading. I was up early reading. I’d wake up at 3 am (which I do sometimes) and start reading. I could not put this book down. In one way I loved it. I didn’t love the ending, though. In fact, I didn’t like the ending/last section of the book. Why? I just didn’t like how it turned out. But during most of my reading, I couldn’t stop thinking about this book and its characters. Gillian Flynn is quite brilliant at making characters come to life. These people were real.

Okay – so I didn’t spoil too much for you I hope. Are you still reading this? If so, you should be reading “Gone, Girl” instead!