Review: The Sense of An Ending by Julian Barnes

Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize

Author: Julian Barnes  
Publisher-Format: Alfred A. Knopf, Hardcover, 176 pages
Year of publication: 2011
Subject: The meaning of life
Genre: literary fiction
Source: public library
Recommended? Absolutely.  A must - read

There are a few books so well-written, so stunning in their impact, and perfect in their ability to stop us in mid-thought that they defy conventional review. I am not normally excited when I see the label "Winner of the Man Booker Prize" - I've read several good ones, but I've read others that have left me cold. This one however, is the best of the best. The book jacket describes it as being one of "Stunning psychological and emotional depth and sophistication." It is a short book, written in a clear, flowing, soothing style. It's not flashy, the sentences are not convoluted. Instead, the prose is eloquent, graceful and so thought-provoking as to be almost breath-taking.

Basically it's the story of one man, Anthony Webster and his attempt to reconcile the memories of his early life with the realities of his later one. He seems to build his musings on a quote from Patrick Lagrange : "history is that certainty produced at the point where the imperfections of memory meet the inadequacies of documentation." The protagonist ruminates further: "It strikes me that this may be one of the differences between youth and age: when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others."

There's no real plot, but as we are inexorably drawn to the end, we are suddenly confronted with an climax that is not foreseen. Anthony tells us, "Sometimes I think the purpose of life is to reconcile us to its eventual loss by wearing us down, by proving, however long it takes, that life isn't all it's cracked up to be." This is a must read book. I won't spoil it by revealing anymore.  I got it from the library, but it will definitely be added to my personal library.

Review: An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin

Author: Steve Martin
Publisher- Format: Grand Central Publishing (2010), Hardcover, 304 pages
Subject: Art dealers, auctions, art history
Setting: New York
Genre: fiction
Source: my own shelves - a 2010 Christmas gift!

I can't believe it took me so long to get to this one!  I had it as one of my top picks on my Christmas wish list last year but it just kept getting buried in other "must reviews."  I'm so glad I didn't give up on it.  Steve Martin has given us a well-written, tightly plotted view of the art world in the recent and current economy.  He certainly seems to have done his homework to be able to present realistic scenes of auction houses, private galleries, international jet-set buyers, and less than honorable wheeler-dealers. The protagonist, Lacey Yaeger, an aggressive up-and-comer in the art world, takes us on a roller coaster ride of emotions, motivations, love affairs, and monetary ups and downs. Told through the voice of art writer Daniel Franks, her career, her mentors, her co-workers, her love affairs, and her competition are all well drawn and pulled together to provide a taunt story that keeps the reader turning pages long past bedtime.

In addition to a good story and some good basic explanations of art, art history, and  how art is collected and sold, the book features twenty-two beautiful four color plates of many of the works featured in the book.  The pictures added the extra frosting to a good solid cake.  Steve Martin has certainly proved that his writing abilities are on a par with his acting and directing. 

Trying to "read" this in an audio version is probably a non-starter since the lushness of the paintings would not be available to contribute to the reader's experience.  As an e-book, it would only work on a color reader.  I think a lot would be lost in a strict black and white world.  As a print hardback, it's a winner, a definite positive, enriching, and enjoyable read.  Now that I've finished last year's Christmas book, I can look forward to this year's with a clear conscience.

Review: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Author: Erin Morgenstern
Publisher /Format: Random House audio,13 hrs,40 minutes; 400 pg. equivalent
Year of publication: 2011
Subject: magic, illusions, circus
Setting: fictional circus
Genre: fiction: Magical realism, fantasy

Opening excerpt:

ANTICIPATION

The circus arrives without warning.

No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. 

The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields. Black-and-white stripes on grey sky; countless tents of varying shapes and sizes, with an elaborate wrought-iron fence encasing them in a colorless world. Even what little ground is visible from outside is black or white, painted or powdered, or treated with some other circus trick.

But it is not open for business. Not just yet. 

Within hours everyone in town has heard about it. By afternoon the news has spread several towns over. Word of mouth is a more effective method of advertisement than typeset words and exclamation points on paper pamphlets or posters. It is impressive and unusual news, the sudden appearance of a mysterious circus. People marvel at the staggering height of the tallest tents. They stare at the clock that sits just inside the gates that no one can properly describe. 
 
And the black sign painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, the one that reads:
 
Opens at Nightfall 
Closes at Dawn
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't normally read or enjoy pure fantasy, but from this point I was absolutely captured. I could not put this down. At one point, as I was listening in the car, I drove an extra 10 miles out of my way because I did not want to stop. The story is one of pure magic.

A young woman, Celia Bowen, daughter of a famous magician, is trained by her father to use and enhance very exceptional powers she has. She becomes the premier illusionist in the "Cirque de Reves". Her father enters her (without her knowledge) into a contest of magical wits and powers against another magician - the protegè of the circus' owner, an old rival.  This young man Marco  also does not know at first that he is locked into this combat. As both young people grow, and become more adept at their powers, they are drawn romantically to each other; the circus gains in fame; more fans are engaged; and more incredible actors are introduced to us. The suspense builds beautifully as the reader knows that there is a contest, we know who the contestants are, but we don't know exactly what is involved. We are as much in the fog about the details as the main characters. Even with a constantly back and forth time line, we have no trouble hanging on to the illusion. We sit on the edge of our seats in that circus tent waiting to see what happens next, and every time a new magic occurs we wonder: "Is this it? Is this the contest?" Later, as the suspense builds and the characters become more involved, we undergo another kind of suspense waiting for the climax.

I can't say anything more.  I can't spoil this fabulous, wonderful, engaging, and incredible story telling.  It is a book to be read in any format, and enjoyed over and over again.  It's definitely going into my personal permanent collection, and into my library's collection too.  Grab some popcorn, settle back in your favorite reading venue and treat yourself.  It's the best thing Santa can put in your book pile. Prepare to be seduced.

Guest Review - - Escape by Barbara Delinsky

Author: Barbara Delinsky
Publisher/Format: Doubleday(2011),Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Fiction
Subject: love and life in the fast lane
Source: Review copy from publisher


If this doesn’t sound like Tutu, it’s her occasional book reviewer/borrower. Becky works at our town library and is a very competent writer/reviewer/retired journalist who loves to pick through my pile of new arrivals. And I love to have her help. I hope you enjoy her delightful review of this fun book. I'm certainly going to keep it on my TBR list.

Happy September! As in “Happy Kids Back to School, Happy Vacation Visitors have Gone, Happy Partner’s back at work, and Happy new Fall books are all out at once! Not so happy Border’s is gone, days are becoming shorter, and it’s almost time for winter clothes!" If you’re a consummate reader of everything and you’re a woman of a certain age, you probably know Barbara Delinsky well. You may even like her. Her books fall into two categories: strictly “chick lit” involving only a gorgeous heroine and a hunk of an available man, and slightly deeper plots involving a gorgeous heroine, a hunk of a man, and maybe some conflict besides the romance. Escape skirts between the two categories. Gorgeous hunk is a husband, and, as I expected, he’s a handsome, charming attorney married to an auburn-tressed beauty who’s herself an attorney. They share a Manhattan condo, love each other deeply (if only late at night since they’re both work-a-holics), and life is marred only by the occasional yen for a child.

Since the title gives it away, I’ll tell you: she plans an escape to think things over. And here’s this author’s strength. The escape takes her to a picturesque New England village, a charming B & B, an encounter with a long-ago swain, and an appealing center where animals are given a second chance at life. So although you know how it’s going to end, the details and the action keep you reading without forcing you to stay up until it’s finished because the suspense is just too much to bear.

Delinsky’s details are accurate, picturesque, and comprehensive. And even if you only read these books as “fillers” between your great literary perusals, you can count on a Barbara Delinsky hardback to distract you for a few hours with an enjoyable story. This is true to her form, and it was the perfect September escape when the kids have gone, the company has deserted Maine for warmer climes, and the sky is clear blue, the birds are singing, and you have all winter for the serious stuff.

Review: The End of the Alphabet by CS Richardson

Author: CS Richardson
Publisher Format: Doubleday (2007), Hardcover, 119 pages
Subject: facing death
Genre: Novella
Source: public library

This is an exquisite little book. It is difficult to classify it.  Certainly it's fiction. It's a love story, it's a story of grieving, of fear, of loss, of death.  But it's a story of celebrating life, of empowering each other by letting go, of suffering loss and experiencing growth.

Layered onto the life story however is a very very clever play on words and letters. The cover flap describes the basics:

Ambrose Zephyr is a contented man. He shares a book-laden Victorian house with his loving wife, Zipper. He owns two suits, one of which he was married in. He is a courageous eater, save brussels sprouts. His knowledge of wine is vague and best defined as Napa, good; Australian, better; French, better still. Kir royale is his drink of occasion. For an Englishman he makes a poor cup of tea. He believes women are quantifiably wiser than men, and would never give Zipper the slightest reason to mistrust him or question his love. Zipper simply describes Ambrose as the only man she has ever loved. Without adjustment.

 When Ambrose is told by his doctor that he has only thirty days to live, he and Zipper set out on an alphabetical journey to fulfill Ambrose's many childhood dreams of the alphabet being spelled out in places vice objects.  Ambrose's alphabet wasn't "A is for apple, B is for bear",  his was "A is for Amsterdam, B is for Berlin" and so on.   The frantic and frenetic race to see all his beloved dreams is written so crisply, in such elegant, reduced text, that the reader is able to read the 119 pages in one sitting.  You put this down and realize that you have practically been holding your breath until the end.  It's a book to be shared by lovers, a book to read again, and a beautiful expression of lives well lived.

Do yourself a favor - - get a copy, grab a cup of tea and curl up.  You won't regret it.

Hull Creek - The Winner

I'm very excited to be able to announce the winner of our giveway for Hull Creek.

It's Amy!!!

entry #22 of 71. 

We have sent her an email, and as soon as she gets me her snail mail, I'll get the book sent out to her.

In the meantime, those of you who missed this chance, the book is now out and available at all traditional outlets. It's a great summer read.  Our local author and publisher (Down East Books) have a winner on their hands.

Review: The Paperbark Shoe by Goldie Goldbloom

Author:  Goldie Goldbloom
Publisher/Format: Picador (2011), Edition: First Edition, Paperback, 384 pages
Characters: Gin and Agrippas Toad; Italian POWs
Setting: Western Australia, World War II
Genre: fiction
Source:  ARC from publisher

Recently published in the US, this debut novel was winner of the 2008 AWP Award for the Novel in Australia (Association of Writers and Writing Programs). Not at all what I expected, this powerful novel tells the story of Gin, an albino woman born in Australia and feared as some sort of witch by all who knew her.  She found solace in the piano, and became a virtuoso player, but through a series of ugly circumstances, found herself incarcerated in an insane asylum.

Enter Toad, a small slightly mishappen man, who collects ladies corsets, but who after hearing her playing, marries her and takes her to his sheep farm in the wilds of Western Australia.  From here the story blossoms as Gin and Toad bond with two Italian POWs (one of whom is a shoemaker) who have been assigned to work on their farm.

This is a beautifully written, yet disturbing love story. At the same time it is a story of poverty, drought, beauty, ugliness, perversion, mother love, and unmet needs both physical and pscychological.  I was mesmerized, chilled, depressed, and gladdened by the story, by the writing, by the setting.  It is a chapter in World War II history that I wasn't too aware of, and I had never considered the discrimination toward albinos that occurred.  It certainly isn't a warm and fuzzy book, but it is one that packs a lot of emotion.

I have left out many details here, because this book needs to be experienced, and its nuances and plot twists discovered along the way.  There is not a huge involved plot--it is simply the story of four people plodding along, trying to stay alive and make it to the end of the war--but the setting and the characters and their interaction to each other and reactions to the setting really drive the story.  It is one that will haunt the reader for a long time.  A compelling and satisfying read.

Thanks again to Picador publishers for making this review copy available.

Review: The Sherlockian

Author: Graham Moore
Publisher/Format: Twelve (2010), Hardcover, 368 pages  
Characters: Arthur Conan Doyle, Bram Stoker, Harold White, Alex Cale
Subject: Missing diaries of Arthur Conan Doyle
Setting: London, New York, Switzerland
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: ARC from the publisher

The author claims this is a book of historical fiction. It is certainly heavy on the fiction. I am nowhere close to being an expert on Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle so I'm unable to judge whether the history is accurately portrayed.  I didn't have to read the author's notes to decide that he probably took a lot of liberty with history, and  I had to suspend a lot of belief to get through this double layered story.

The reader is presented a mystery - ala Sherlock Holmes- with many quotes from the venerable clue solver, about events that took place between 1890 and the early 1900's in England, and events that took place in the US in 2010.  The 2010 story involves a young member of the Baker Street Irregulars--Harold  White --who sets out to solve the murder of one of the other members --Alex Kale.  Alex claimed to have been in possession of Arthur Conan Doyle's missing diaries covering a crucial period in his history.  In the meantime, the other story gives us the details of the events as they "actually happened" during the missing diary period.  How the two tie together is revealed at the end.  The stories galloped along, and were fun to read...as long as you are not interested in total historic accuracy.  The device of the two stories running parallel was well done and held my interest.   I'd really be interested in reactions from Sherlock Holmes fans in that Sherlock himself played only a minor role in the story.

Many thanks to Hachette Book Group for providing a review copy.

Review: The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet

Author: David Mitchell
Publisher/Format: Recorded Books MP3 audio - 19hours;
Publisher/Format: Random House (2010) read as ebook 496 pages
Narrators: Jonathan Aris and Paula Wilcox.
Characters: Jacob de Zoet, Orito Aibagawa, Ogawa Uzaemon
Subject: feudal life in 19th century Japan,
Setting: Nagasaki  and Dejima Japan
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: public library


This is definitely going to be one of my top 5 of the year.  It has everything...lush scenery, a heart-stopping-page- turning plot, memorable characters, a sense of history, and a delicate brush of language so suitable to the Japanese temperament.  It definitely put me in mind of James Clavell's Shogun, a book I read and loved while we were living in Japan many years ago.

Mitchell gives us a love story, a warrior story, and a well-researched view of the Dutch East India Trading Company in the waning days of its prominence.  Jacob de Zoet, nephew of a Dutch pastor, has signed on as a clerk for a five year stint in the company at their office on Dejima, a small man-made island off the coast of Nagasaki.  There he meets the young Japanese mid-wife who is training under the resident Dutch doctor.  When the midwife is kidnapped by a cult living high in the mountains, de Zoet wants to rescue her.  From there we see a long struggle to find the group, and convince authorities of the atrocities being perpetrated.

The story is very involved. There are many sub-plots, a shipload of characters both Dutch, English, and Japanese, all presented realistically, often with warm humor, but without the overblown romanticism one often finds in books about feudal Japan.  Although I lived in Japan for five years, and traveled around quite a bit, I'm not an expert.  I do know enough however to be able to say this is as good as it gets for story-telling.  It's as real as it can be, and it shows us a people with an innate sense of dignity, a code of honor, and a country of exquisite beauty.  Mitchell even gives us a particularly beautiful poem to describe a setting at the beginning of chapter 39.  It is obvious why he was once again on the Booker Prize Long list for 2010.

I read this on my e-reader along with listening to  the audio book. Both formats are elegantly done and I will probably even purchase a print copy to keep in my permanent library.  I could not pass up the chance to hear the wonderful Japanese pronunciations of English words.  One of the major characters is the interpreter  Ogawa Uzaemon , and his puzzling over words and meaning brought back many fond memories of my struggle to make myself understood.

David Mitchell's prose does not have that problem.  It is absolutely perfect.

Three Weissmanns

Author: Cathleen Schine
Publisher/Format: audio - 10 hrs;  304 page equivalent
Narrator:   Hilary Huber
Characters: Betty, Miranda and Annie Weissmann
Subject: mothers and daughters
Setting: New York City, Westport CT
Genre: women's lit; fiction
Source: public library audio download

A New York Time's notable book of 2010.

At first I thought this was going to be pure chick-lit, but I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of characters Schine gives us in this book about three women:  a mother - 75 year old Betty, and her two daughters- Miranda a failing literary agent, and Annie, a librarian.   Betty's husband-77 year old  Joseph (step-father to the two girls) decides to divorce his wife of  many many years, to marry his new found love - Felicity.  I am not a Jane Austen fan, but can see where many will find this an updated version of Sense and Sensibility retold from the perspective of an upper East Side Jewish woman who is now reduced to living off the hospitality of distant cousin Lou who takes her in, along with the girls, to reside in his guest cottage in Westport.

Schine's characterization is alternately hysterically funny and annoyingly cliched.  There were times when I laughed out loud, and other times when I wanted to shake every one of the characters (and there were a slew of them) and make them wake up and smell the proverbial coffee.

Joseph, who is thoroughly under the spell of Felicity, convinces himself that he is being generous by not allowing Betty to stay in her wonderful New York apartment ('the upkeep is too expensive for her' he is reminded by Miss Felicity).  While Joseph and Betty are trying not to talk to each other (Betty refers to him as her "late departed husband, may he rest in peace"), Miranda is going through the dissolution of her literary agency, and her plunge into personal and professional bankrupcy.  A serial monogamist by nature (she's always in love, but never with more than one man at a time), she finds true love in Westport in the person of a 4 year old toddler being cared for by his good looking actor wannabe father. We know almost immediately that this relationship is going nowhere, but Miranda doesn't seem to see it that way.

Annie, the timid but organized librarian, falls for an author who comes to do a reading at her library, and she too is destined to suffer heartbreak (or is she?) since the timid author's grown children will not allow him to have anything to do with her.  Did I say WILL NOT ALLOW HIM....he's a grown man!!!  As the only Weissmann bringing in any income, Annie is constantly trying to balance their precarious budget, by reining in her spend-thrift mother and sister so that they don't run out of money to pay basic bills.  Betty considers getting her hair colored, and buying new dresses basic spending, and thinks they'll just have to 'get some more money'.  And Miranda finds it absolutely necessary to continue to spend on extravagances also.

How these three are able, with a lot of outside nudgements, to live together in a tiny one-bathroom rustic cottage is an enjoyable tale. Just the scenes where Betty tries to cram a NewYork apartment's worth of furniture into it is worth the entire read. The book moves along quite well, and the reader arrives at the end thinking that the best ending has been achieved.

There are reviews and opinions all over the map on this one, and to me that's one of the signs of a good book-- that it can provoke such different reactions from a variety of readers. For me, it was a truly enjoyable fiction read.

Review: Cold Sassy Tree

Author: Olive Ann Burns
Narrator: Tom Parker
Format:  discs (12 hrs,55 mins); 400 pages equivalent
Characters: Mr. Blakesley, Miss Love Simpson, Will Tweety
Subject: life in small town Georgia
Setting: early 1900s, fictional Georgia Town "Cold Sassy"
Genre: Fiction
Source: public library audio download
Challenge: Support your local library; audio books


This is often described as a coming of age novel, and is billed as young adult lit.  It is actually a very sensitively written  story set in Cold Sassy Georgia in 1906 and 1907. It is as appealing to adults as to highschoolers. The main character E. Rucker Blakesly  scandalizes the town  by marrying the milliner who works in his general store a scant three weeks after burying his first wife Miss Mattie Lou.

Told from the viewpoint of his grandson, Will Tweedy, we see how the young second wife Love Simpson is shunned by Blakesly's two grown daughters  Looma and Mary Willis, and how  young Will is taken into Love's confidence when she claims that she is only a housekeeper to his grandpa, and it is a marriage in name only.

As time passes, we see southern culture at its best and worst.  The townsfolk are given ample opportunity for greatness and meanness.  Grandpa opens a car dealership in addition to his general store, Will Tweedy learns to drive, and discovers he is attracted to girls. Olive Ann Burns gives us a loving picture of small town life, and leads us through an exquisite story of love, forgiveness and hope.

This is one of those fortuitous finds recommended by one of my fellow staff members at the local library. She is another audio book fan, and focuses a lot on material for our school age, and teen age readers. She knows me well enough to say "Tina, you will love this--you must download it and read it." I'm so glad I listened to her.  She was right.  The audio was absolutely delightful, but I'm sure it would be just as entertaining and uplifting in print.

Review: Cutting for Stone

Author: Abraham Verghese
Format: audio 18 discs (approx 24 hrs), 688 pages trade paperback
Narrator: Sunil Malhotra
Characters: Marion and Shiva Stone
Subject: practice of medicine
Setting: Addis Ababa Ethiopia, New York
Genre: fictional narrative memoir
Source: audio: Public library; print - my own copy
Challenge: Books from my shelves, TBR, audio, support your local library

I can't believe it took me three tries to read this book.  Late last autumn, I began listening to the audio, but found it difficult going.  It wasn't the accent of the narrator---I found that charming and easy to understand.  It wasn't the writing--that was clear and moved along at a good clip.  It just seemed that the story didn't hold my interest, and it seemed like it was going to be exceptionally long.  Then I got the print copy from the library, and tried reading it.  Again, I found myself unable to get past the first 100 or so pages.  So I put it aside, vowing to try again later.

Two weeks ago I noticed one of our local libraries was having a group discussion of this next week, so I thought  perhaps having some other insights might help me get through it.  I dutifully began listening to the audio again thinking I'd be able to pick up where I left off, but found I had to go back to the beginning. (At least, thought I, even if I can't finish it again, I'll be able to participate in some of the chat.)

This time however, after one hour, I was so hooked, I went to Amazon and ordered myself a copy to come next day air.  I finished it four days later, having both listened and then re-read the text. I did not want it to end.  I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Cutting with Stone is a superbly written, beautifully narrated story of the lives of Marion and Shiva Stone, born identical conjoined twins in a hospital in Ethopia; they were separated at birth.  Their mother, who died giving birth, was an Indian Carmelite nun who worked as a surgical nurse at the hospital where they were born.  Their father, an Indian born Englishman, Thomas Stone, was the hospital's only surgeon who botched the C-section he was called to perform because the obstetrician was out of town.  Dad disappears hours after the birth, unable to deal with a pregnancy he claimed to know nothing about and the death of his beloved Sister Mary Joseph Praise.

The orphaned twins were adopted and raised by two doctors at the hospital, Hema (the obstetrician) and Ghosh (the internist turned surgeon).  There was an entire staff of surrogate parents to help in raising the boys.  Medicine and its practice, including surgery was normal dinner conversation in the household.  It was small wonder both grew to become doctors.

We are involved in the coups and political unrest in Ethiopia during the second half of the 20th century including the arrest and imprisonment of Ghosh, and the twins' later dealings with a rogue army bandit who threatens to kill them; we watch as the humble hospital in Addis Ababa continues to care for a diverse group of patrons, from the emperor's family to the poorest of the poor, with little funding and often crudely fashioned homemade instruments. We are given broad but specific (and sometimes gory) details of medical procedures in language the layman can understand, even though the amount of detail sometimes slows down the story.  We watch as the boys mature, learn to dance, quote Shakespeare, and learn the art as well as the science of medicine from their parents.  We see one of them fall hopelessly in love and then see one betray the other.

When Marion leaves to go to America, we are made brutally aware of the differences in medical practice in the two countries.  It's not that the two countries have doctors of different abilities making the difference, rather it is the difference in resources and expectations that is vibrantly portrayed.  Marion's residency in surgery at a hospital in New York eventually brings him face to face with his biological father and ultimately leads to history making and life changing experiences for all the family.

This book is long.  It is 18 discs on audio (almost 24 hours of extremely well narrated story read by Sunil Malhotra) and 688 pages in print. It is difficult to do it justice in a review because, although written as a fictional narrative memoir, it is a novel with a spectacular ending that deserves not to be spoiled. Forget about my abortive initial attempts (blame it on the weather or something) it is a story that is engrossing, exciting, appealing, easy to read and extremely difficult to put down.  It is also one that I will want to read again and again.  In both its print and its audio versions it is a story not soon to be forgotten.  It is simply one of the best books I've ever read.

Review : Noah's Compass

Author: Anne Tyler
Format: audio book 8 discs, 288 pgs equivalent
Characters: Liam Penneywell
Subject: aging, mid-life
Setting: Baltimore
Genre:fiction
Source: audio download from public library
Challenge: Support your public library

I finally finished one of Anne Tyler's books. This one really took a long time to get going, and it was certainly a depressing tome. It is the story of Liam Penneywell, a 61 high school teacher, who has been riffed from his job, twice divorced, and then burgled and attacked on his first night in a new apartment. The entire book is a seemingly never ending slog through Liam's quest for remembrance, and his attempts to figure out his non-too-successful life. It is truly depressing. However, as a reader/reviewer, one must say that Tyler certainly writes well....she is obviously trying to portray this sorry shuffling "old" not old man, and she does a superb job of doing it with minimalist prose. Finally, as we get to the end, Liam has a conversation with his ex-wife that really sums up this character in a nutshell. They were having a conversation about how his life had gone.

"Are you telling me you really agree? You believe you're a bad person?" (ex-wife)

'Oh....not bad in the sense of evil," Liam said. " But face it, I haven't exactly covered myself in glory. I just don't seem to have the hang of things somehow. It's as if I've never been entirely present in my own life."

One day he has a conversation with his grandson Jonah about Noah and the ark. Jonah wants to know how Noah knew where to go since he didn't have any gas and he didn't have a compass. Liam tells Jonah that Noah didn't need a compass as he wasn't really trying to go anyplace. He just had to stay in the ark and float around and eventually he'd be there. Liam seems to look at the last years of his life in the same way.

After he takes a job as a "zayde" at a Jewish preschool, he realized

..He had lost his last chance at love...he knew that....he looked around at his current life...the classroom filled with Big Bird Posters, his anonymous apartment, his limited circle of acquaintances, and knew this was how it would be all the way to the end.

How depressing.

Spotlight series: Unbridled Books

Aarti at Booklust has begun a new adventure for all of us: The Spotlight series, a reading and discussion series focused on small press publishers, their authors and their books.   The first publisher in the spotlight is Unbridled Books.  I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of today's book last month - I think through Shelf Awareness. So I'm spotlighting THE SINGER"S GUN.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Author: Emily St. John Mandel
Format:  galley proof 304 pgs
Characters:Anton, Elena, Aria, Agent Broden
Subject: moral choices
Setting: New York City, Ischia Isle- Italy
Genre: fiction
Source: ARC from the publisher Unbridled Books
Challenge: ARC completion

Essentially, except for Homeland Security officer Alexandra Broden who is investigating immigration and passport fraud, just about every other character in this book is participating in some kind of fraud.  There are two couples who shouldn't be couples but can't seem to generate enough energy to do anything about it, there are parents who find nothing wrong with teaching their son and adopted daughter how to cheat at everything, there are the 'innocents' who are living lives of ear  based on fraudulent identities; there are blackmailers, murderers, bullies, and smugglers. And then there's Anton, one of the most dysfunctional men I've met in a book in a long time.  He has obviously been warped by his cousin Aria, an orphan who was raised by Anton's parents, and who leads Anton into a life of crime, self-recrimination, and guilt. And finally, there's Elena, Anton's lover, secretary, and  'customer' of his illegal activities. Mandel would have us believe Anton and Elena are just poor schmucks who truly dislike what they are doing and want to change, but don't know how. 

The prose is clear, it's concise, and it paints a good picture. I just had a hard time buying the premise the picture was painting.  I think Mandel is trying to paint Anton as some sort of victim.  I see him as a weak and crippled character, afraid to break away from his family to do the 'right' thing.  Here at least Mandel succeeds in what I believe her central premise is - that often it is difficult to choose to act against family.  And when the family is the one encouraging you to make immoral choices, well...........

That the book ends as it does (and I don't do spoilers in reviews) is nothing short of a miracle.  To finish the book is to arrive at the last page seriously depressed that such people exist in our world, but with hope that there are still people who have the empathy and ability to act humanely. It was very slow getting started, the characters were not very likable, (although I suspect they are quite representative of real people), and I had a hard time figuring out just where the author was going with the story.  Suddenly at around page 150 it finally started picking up steam and I felt like it would not be a waste to finish it. I'm not sure I'd say I really liked this book, but I didn't really dislike it.

It's hard to explain or review this one without spoilers. It would be a great book for a discussion group because the moral judgments and choices depicted all could have been different, but that would have made a different story. It's a good read, but probably not for everyone.

It would even make a good movie, given the taste of today's movie going public.

Review: Then came the Evening

Author: Brian Hart
Format:  262 pgs hardback
Characters: Bandy, Iona and Tracy Dorner
Subject:rebuilding relationships
Setting: Idaho valleys
Genre: fiction
Source: Bloomsbury publishers review copy
Challenge: ARC

This is an intense book. The setting is stark and beautiful--the wilds of Idaho.  I've never been there, but I had no trouble picturing the trees,the clouds,the winds,the gulleys,the old barns, and the valley.The scene is haunting.

The characters are intense.  There are three: Bandy, Iona, and Tracy.  While several others play more than cameo roles, these three broken, dysfunctional, hurting, needy people form the basis of the story and and keep us from putting down this book while we read how they try to mend their lives and the lives of those they hurt.

The story itself is intense. There are action scenes,and scenes of incredible stillness watching two or three people trying to puzzle out what to say, where to go, what to do next.  While there is no plot per se, there is a distinct beginning, a page-turning middle and a clear and dramatic end. The reader is pulled in from the very first pages and marches inexorably to an end at once fearful and hopeful.

Bandy Dorner, home from service in the Army, awakes from a drunken stupor in his crashed car, to find his house burned to the ground, and his pregnant wife running off with her lover. There's a struggle with the arresting law enforcement persons, and when next we see Bandy,the convicted felon sitting in a prison 18 years later facing the son he never knew he had.  Tracy, tired of living with his alcoholic mom Iona, has run to meet and claim his other parent.

Iona manages to provide for her son during those long years of Bandy's imprisonment by first marrying an OK guy, and moving to Washington State.  Then when that husband dies, Iona finds herself working a series of dead-end jobs, and moving in with her sister. Both ladies find it easier to 'bring home the bacon' by servicing gentlemen in their bedroom rather than waiting tables, or running a cash register, as long as the booze and drugs are well stocked.

As soon as he is old enough, Tracy sets out to find his roots.  After visiting his father in the prison, he returns to the original family homestead in Idaho and begins to rebuild.  When his father is released from prison, and his mother sobers up and comes to find the son she finds she misses, the three of them begin a slow waltz, circling each other, measuring how much effort building a relationship as well as a house will take.

Brian Hart gives us a gut-wrenching story in clean, clear, poetic prose.  There is pain, hurt, violence, and heart-breaking betrayal while at the same time there is love, forgiveness, tenderness, and reaching out to rebuild what has been lost.  We find ourselves routing for these people even as we fear the possibility of a train-wreck.

The ending is absolutely stunning.  We should all hope that Hart has more in his repetoire where this came from.  It's a keeper.

Review : Fireworks over Toccoa

Author: Jeffrey Stepakoff
Format: paperback galley proof 260 pgs
Characters: Lily Davis Woodward, Jake Russo, Andrew Woodward
Subject: love, duty, relationships, fireworks
Setting: Toccoa Georgia 1945, 2007
Genre: fiction
Source: Advanced Review Copy from St Martin's Press (Thomas Dunne Books)
Challenge: ARC

Married for just a few weeks before her husband Drew left to go overseas during the war, Lily Davis Woodward, daughter of a wealthy Coca Cola executive, has waited three long years to take her place in society. Now just a few days before his scheduled return, she meets Jake Russo, war veteran and pyrotechnic engineer. He is preparing a huge fireworks show to honor the returning servicemen.

When they meet, love happens-- slowly, tentatively, tenderly and then with same explosiveness of Jake's fireworks.

In understated, elegant, exquisite prose, Stepakoff presents us with a painful, tragic, gorgeous, affirming love affair. The character development of Lily and Jake, as well as the presentation of Lily's parents and other supporting characters, gives us a picture of longing, duty, relationships, and heartbreaking honesty. Lily's dad for instance says to her when he suspects she's conflicted about her husband's return:

"I have been married to the same woman at least five times. Marriage comes in phases. Some good, some not so good. But you work through things, and you grow, and you change, and you stick by the decision that you made, even when you were seventeen.  That is your duty." (pg. 178)

The searing anguish of these star-struck lovers reaches its peak when Lily must choose whether to leave her home and roam the world with Jake shooting fireworks, or stay with her husband.  The resolution of her dilemma is heart rending but almost inevitable.  I will not spoil it for other readers.

This is simply one of the best love stories I've read in my adult life.

Review: The Postmistress

Author: Sarah Blake

Format: paperback galley, 322 pages
Characters: Iris James, Harry Vale, Emma Fitch, William Fitch, Frankie Bard
Setting: Franklin Mass, London 1941
Genre: literary fiction
Source: LibraryThing Early Review program

Set on both sides of the Atlantic during the early months of WWII, this is a compelling novel that pulls us right into the lives of Iris James-the Postmaster at Franklin Mass on Cape Cod; Emma Fitch-new bride of the town's doctor; Harry Vale-a WWI vet who is convinced that the Germans will land a Uboat on Cape Cod; and of Frankie Bard, the radio reporter working in London with Edward R. Murrow during the Blitz

Miss James is determined to maintain order and discipline in her life. The mail will be stamped and delivered on time without pause.  Harry Vale wants her to lower the Post Office's flag pole by several feet, claiming it serves as a beacon to Germans off-shore.  Iris balks at that suggestion, but agrees to petition the postal department for permission.

Emma, still recovering from a feeling of being abandoned by parents who have died, clings to her husband trying to establish an identity in this small town. After listening to Frankie Bard's emotional broadcasts about the hardships being endured by the British during the bombing of London, and after other events I'll leave to the readers (I DON'T DO SPOILERS), Dr. Fitch leaves behind his practice, his town, and his bride to go to London to help the many victims of the bombings.  He writes to Emma every night, and she mails him a letter every day. He promises he will return after six months.  When his letters suddenly stop, Emma becomes more detached, and Iris, as she watches her continue to mail her daily letter, becomes more concerned.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Frankie meets Dr Fitch in an air raid shelter one evening, and emerges to find her apartment destroyed and her roomate (who had been covering the Jewish story) dead. She convinces Murrow to let her go behind the war lines into Germany to find out what is really going on with the Jews.  She goes through France and Germany, gathering stories but not sure how (or whether) she will be able to tell them.

It is difficult to write about this story without spoiling the ending.  It's not necessarily a mystery, but this is a nuanced, evolving study of the impact of trauma, callousness, abandonment, death, and cruelty on the human beings who must live through war, and whose ability to survive, whose very humanity is constantly tested.  Frankie's stories of horror and personal suffering are particularly poignant and her mental anguish as she struggles to find a frame in which to report them, and deal with her meeting with Dr. Fitch,  are a cogent and mesmerizing thread pulling us along to an inevitable and powerful ending.

I encourage the reader NOT to read the cover blurb.  The 'hint' there about what is going to happen is overplayed, and comes so late in the story, that it is better left behind.  The forceful march to the inescapable ending, and Blake's exquisite character development and prose make this a compelling page-turner. It is a five star read, and the reader needs no road map to enjoy the journey.

many many thanks to LT Early Review program for making this copy available.

Review: Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons

Boy oh Boy have I been missing out.  I had never read Kaye Gibbons until this week. One of our library patrons thrust this at me and suggested (rather strongly) that I MUST read this.

The New York Times Book Review quoted on the back cover says "Haunting and Beautiful....an evocative and gracious novel."

It is truly stunning.  Gibbons gives us the story of three generations of women living together in semi-rural North Carolina.  The time line goes from just before the Great Depression until the middle of WWII.  There are three women: Charlie Kate - the grandmother and 'healing woman'; Sophia -her stubborn daughter who reluctantly assists her mother, and Margaret, the shy, book-loving granddaughter who adores Charlie Kate and tries to learn as much as she can from her.  Each brings a unique persona to the whole.  Their lives are intertwined, but each very different.  The respect and love they have for each other sometimes erupts into 'differences,' but together they are able to muddle through abandonment by husbands, malpractice on the part of doctors, storms, ignorance, and the war.

Margaret could so easily have been scarred by all of the tragedies she witnesses both in her grandmother's patients,and in the romantic relationships of her grandparents and parents.  Instead, she emerges unscarred and ready to carry on the legacy of this unusual, loving family.

I'm certainly going to check out Kaye Gibbons' other books.  This was such an extraordinary read.  If her others are half as well written as this, with characters that have even half the charm, they will still be well worth reading.

Friday's Favorites from the Past: Do Not Open

Every Friday, Alyce At Home With Books features this meme inviting us to look back at a favorite book from the past.  Every parent who has ever read aloud to a child sooner or later discovers that there is one book that MUST be read every night for what seems like eighty-eleven million years.  When my son made his first trip to the public library in the spring of 1982, we checked out Brinton Turkle's gorgeously illustrated book DO NOT OPEN. We renewed it, and then renewed it, and then my neighbor graciously volunteered to check it out (and renew it) while I scoured used book stores (remember this was pre Amazon and even internet time) trying to find a copy to give him for Christmas.

I finally did find one and it has remained with us over the years.  Last December, when he was visiting with his own daughter, and they were shifting through boxes of books in the attic, I was treated to a glorious crowing as all 6 ft of him came galloping down the attic steps and he raced into the great room holding this aloft yelling "YES YES....we still have it."  Daddy and daughter now both read it often...it went home to Virginia with him, but I still have fond memories of it.  It is now out of print, and I 'm trying to find a decent copy for our library here in town.

The story is about an old lady who lives on the beach with her cat.  She walks every day and collects sea glass bottles, and other flotsam and jetsam and then finds a bottle that says "Do Not Open" one day after a big storm.  Should she open it?  You can imagine the tension and suspense this holds for youngsters. The exciting events that follow make it a wonderful book for the 3-7 age group.  I won't spoil it but there is a wonderful wonderful MONSTER, and I wish I could remember the name of the cat, who ends up being the hero....

If you can find it, grab it. It's a treasure to savor and pass on.

Non-review and quickie giveaway: No Mad

Notnessie at Today's Adventure has come up with a terrific way to handle reporting on books that just didn't make it to the finish line, i.e., for whatever reason, we just didn't read the whole thing, but have read enough to get a flavor of the writing. She calls them "Non-Reviews". I've been calling them "Abandoned books" over on LT, but that sorta sounds like I've left them on the roadside for the crows. In some cases, I intend to come back and try later; in other cases, like Sam Moffie's No Mad, I realize that this is just not my cuppa tea. Sam asked if I would review this, and was gracious enough to send me a copy, so I feel an obligation to get it to someone who can appreciate the author's hard work. Sam has suggested that I find another home so someone else can enjoy it. So first my few comments, then the rules for the giveway.. I didn't finish this book; after 60+ pages, I felt it was going nowhere, and I got tired of the moanings, fantasies and self-centered musings of an adolescent masquerading as an adult male. The premise (if I read the back cover blurb) appears to be that said male finds his wife in bed with his brother, so he takes his belongings and his dog and sets off to find himself or abandon his previous life and see the world and/or d) wallow in sex whereever he finds it?? I got that far, but nothing seemed to indicate this journey would ever end... Moffie writes well, his sentences are often humorous, but I kept finding myself saying "and? and? get on with it." I couldn't find the point....but that may be just me---I'm not a middle aged male. I'd be happy to have someone else give it a look and enjoy it. So drop me a comment, and I'll pick from entries received by September 19th. Be sure to leave me an email so I can get in touch with you about mailing instructions.