Cassie Chambers is an attorney, an Ivy League graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School and in this memoir pays loving tribute to the strong women who gCassie Chambers is an attorney, an Ivy League graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School and in this memoir pays loving tribute to the strong women who graced her life growing up in Appalachian Hills in Owsley County Kentucky in a place called Cow Creek. It’s a place steeped in poverty, but filled with people of grit, gumption, creativity, hard working people like her grandmother, her mother and her aunt. The poverty is extensive, as she describes the lives of the people here. Her family was more fortunate than some as share croppers, even though they didn’t own the land. Grueling hard work was part of her grandmother’s every day existence and in spite of the poverty and difficult life, her grandmother still found joy in life and family. She describes her Aunt Ruth as “the best worker in Owsley County”, devoting herself to her mother and father and the farm when her siblings left to get married. Her mother, Wilma, the first in the family to graduate from college, is the role model who encouraged Cassie to get an education. It is the things she learned from them, the values they instilled in her to which she attributes her life choices and the wherewithal to to achieve what she has.
This is more than a tribute to these amazing women of the hills, though. It’s an expose of the injustices in many ways that these hill communities endure because of the lack of health care, the lack of outside help that leaves these people without services available to other parts of the country. After living a more “privileged life” as she lives in cities where she goes to college and law school, she wants to give back. Cassie returns after getting her law degree from Harvard to provide legal aid mostly to women. Women who have endured spousal abuse, custody battles, divorce, or are struggling to get social services so they could feed their children are among her clients. She shares some of these heartbreaking stories and it’s eye opening. While it’s somewhat repetitive and moved around in time a bit, it’s filled with heart and love and a deep respect she has for her family and other hill women .
I received an advanced copy of this book from Ballantine through NetGalley....more
Even though I have not read anything by Louis Begley until now, I recognized his name. But that’s not why I decided to read this. I read it because itEven though I have not read anything by Louis Begley until now, I recognized his name. But that’s not why I decided to read this. I read it because it’s described as “a comedy of manners” and I decided I definitely could use some comic relief, as I’m sure so many do. Unfortunately, I found it to be more sad than comical. Just like that, in brief phone call from his wife’s attorney, Hugo is informed that his wife of 40 years is filing for divorce. He’s 84, more than twenty years older than she is. He’s surprised and hurt to learn that she’s leaving him for a younger man. “Don’t you know that living with you is like living with a corpse.” She’s leaving because she thinks he’s old and boring. Even his mean spirited daughter, who’s always ready for a handout, tells him that and that he was never around when they were young. His son is moderately nicer. Hugo avoids friends at first, so he won’t have to talk about his ex wife leaving him for a younger man. His two children, keeping away . So should I feel sorry for him or not? I did, but I have to admit after a while he bored me, too. So why did I continue to read and why did I give it three stars ? The bottom line is that I was concerned for Hugo, and always wanted to know how he would fare through this big change in his life as he looks to his past for perhaps the man he used to be, a way to find some happiness. All in all, not one I can say I loved, but ultimately a satisfying story.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Nan A. Talese (Random House) through Edelweiss and NetGalley. ...more
3.5 stars rounded up . My expectations for a lighter read fizzled almost from the start. While it was humorous at times, mostly I found it to be pretty3.5 stars rounded up . My expectations for a lighter read fizzled almost from the start. While it was humorous at times, mostly I found it to be pretty sad with a focus on burdens that people carry - secrets that people quietly hold, fear of an elderly man over what the future holds for him if he doesn’t mind his P’s & Q’s, alcoholism and physical abuse. Duffy and Carl, best friends and roommates at an assisted living home, spend their days teasing Nora, one of the nurses and engaging with the other residents. We soon find out that beneath this facade of being content, Carl has a past that he has not confided in Duffy about. Duffy carries the palatable fear of being sent to the less than desirable nursing home if he is deemed not fit for assisted living. All of this comes to the surface when a young drunk woman, Josie climbs through their window. Suffice it to say that the proverbially all hell breaks loose follows.
It felt a little melodramatic at times and some of the antics felt a little over the top, yet there are things that are moving here like the depth of friendship between Duffy and Carl, and the connection that Duffy has with Josie that drive him to risk his own well being to help them. In the end, I had to bump up to 4 stars because I cared about these characters who in spite of the havoc or maybe because of it, found meaning in their bringing with it love.
I received a copy of this book from Berkley through NetGalley....more
I immediately loved twelve year Adeline and was broken hearted for her from the first sentence. “There are those who insist that mothers are born withI immediately loved twelve year Adeline and was broken hearted for her from the first sentence. “There are those who insist that mothers are born with love for their children and place them before all other things, including their own needs and desires. This was not the case with us.” This is a short and beautifully written story about a young girl in the early 1900’s New England trying to find her way in a world given what she knows. A self imposed mute, since her beloved father died, Adeline is wise though she speaks no words. I don’t want to say much about the plot since the story is only 28 pages. Instead, I’ll say what I knew for sure when I finished it. Alice Hoffman is a prolific writer and while I’ve only read a few of her novels, she is firmly cemented on my list of favorite writers. I also know that one of my reading goals in the coming year will be to read some of her books that I have been meaning to get to. I also know that I won’t soon forget Adeline.
I was fortunate to obtain an advanced copy of this from Amazon Original through NetGalley. It’s part of the Amazon Original Inheritance Collection. If you are a NetGalley member, I recommend you go and request it. If not, preorder it from Amazon kindle . It’s being released 12/19/19 . It’s worth so much more than the $1.99 that it will cost you. ...more
At the beginning of the story, there is a flashback to a startling, dramatic event, one that haunts sixteen year old Jessie Sasser, a troubled girl whAt the beginning of the story, there is a flashback to a startling, dramatic event, one that haunts sixteen year old Jessie Sasser, a troubled girl who doesn’t want to be known as a moonshiner’s daughter. She’s frustrated wanting to know more about her mother, looking for remanants, signs, maybe finger prints on a wall perhaps, with little recollection of her mother since she was just four when the accident happened. She doesn’t fit in at school or at home, not wanting to be part of the family moonshine business not wanting to be known as a “moonshiner’s daughter “ with a father who in his own grief and need to provide for his son and daughter, doesn’t seem to see her. This is compounded by Jessie’s eating disorder and there are moments that are difficult to read as she endures this alone, except for a very kind and aware school nurse who recognizes Jessie’s issue. She doesn’t want to be a moonshiner’s daughter, yet later in the story, as she sits in her class room, “I gave a sky peep around the room, wondering what they would think of they knew I hauled moonshine, knew how to do a bootleg U-turn, could tell by the bead what was good liquor and bad.”
Coming of age in the south is the focus of the three novels that I have read by a Donna Everhart. I can’t say this one is my favorite and for at least the first half I would have rated it 3.5 stars, but the second half delivered, kept me captivated. The portrayal of this part of North Carolina in 1960, with hidden stills that needed tending, the violence of the competitors, provided a strong sense of the place, of the culture, the dangers, the violence associated with moonshining and an ending that I was not expecting.
I read received an advanced copy of this book from Kensington through NetGalley. I’m late in reading and reviewing this, but glad I finally got to it....more
Everything about this book is extraordinary. I was not surprised since Colum McCann is one of my favorite writers. I’ve read all of his published bookEverything about this book is extraordinary. I was not surprised since Colum McCann is one of my favorite writers. I’ve read all of his published books. This book though, is different from anything I’ve read by him. McCann’s words best describe it : “This is a hybrid novel with invention at its core, a work of storytelling which, like all storytelling, weaves together elements of speculation, memory, fact, and imagination....” The heart of the book is the real story of Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose thirteen year old daughter Smadar was killed by suicide bombers and Bassam Aramin, a Palestinian, father of ten year old Abir who was shot after leaving a candy store. Their friendship is forged on shared sorrow and on empathy, meeting through organizations for grieving families, both Israeli and Palestinian, working together sharing their stories with each other and the world.
This book is breathtaking, literally in the detailed descriptions of what happened to these two young girls, breathtaking in how it conveys the depth of grief of their families and equally in the illustration of empathy and in the unique structure. It’s not a straightforward narrative. It’s an all encompassing blend of stories about historical figures, quotes from literature, biblical references, art and science and even a few photographs, none of which are more affecting than those of Abir and Smadar. The linkages are both fascinating and jolting. And the birds, so many images - real, sculptured , none more affecting than the dove. Everything is connected. Everything has meaning. Everything is related to the deaths of ten year old Abir and thirteen year old Smadar, to the deaths of those who were killed with them, to the deaths of those who were killed before them and those who we’re killed after them, to those who happened to be Israeli, and those who happened to be Palestinian and to the Holocaust victims, to all these human beings. It’s epic in scope. I read it slowly because I didn’t want to miss a single word or a connection between people past and present, between events past and present, between things past and present and the heart of this story. The emotional impact is quite stunning.
The book moves around in time, from their pasts to their presents to the moments that their daughters were killed. This book is as cerebral as it is emotional and the combined effect leaves me in awe of Colum McCann. The prose is unparalleled. It’s the kind of book that left me changed. I highly recommended it to fans of the author and to anyone who is looking for an absolutely unique reading experience. My favorite of the year and definitely one of my all time favorites. Of course, I had to find out more about Bassam and Rami and I read numerous articles, interviews, etc and it was obvious that McCann more than does justice to their stories. It’s worth taking the time to read and listen to some of these in their own words . What hope, what empathy is possible even after the impossibly horrific thing that happened to their daughters.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House through NetGalley....more
This is a beautifully written debut novel that moved me in so many ways. It a story of the Holocaust, of hidden children, of the courage and determinaThis is a beautifully written debut novel that moved me in so many ways. It a story of the Holocaust, of hidden children, of the courage and determination of the resistance, of the horrific things Jews endured - cold and starvation and fear and loss and death. Yet, there are moments of joy and beauty, lovely stories and music and so much love between a mother and daughter that helps sustain them through these times, and an imagined yellow bird that brings solace to a little girl.
Five year old Shira, a music prodigy must keep totally silent holding the music in her head, unable to speak most times to her mother Roza as they hide from the German soldiers in a neighbor’s barn. Roza is forced to endure abuse from the farmer in order to keep them safe and hidden. They have been forced to flee their home when Roza’s mother and father and husband are victims of horrific acts as the Nazis take over Poland and they have no where else to go. The narrative follows Shura and Roza, spaning several years from 1941 - 1944, and then moving abruptly in the end to 1965. I’m not going to talk about what happens during these years because it’s a story that I highly recommend people read for themselves. Instead, I want to mention a particular passage that touched me early on in the novel and how after reading the author’s note, it became so much more meaningful as I learned of her inspiration for the book.
“When it is too dangerous even for whispers, Shira and her mother gesture. A simple finger near the ear means I hear someone...A neighbor (palms facing, held near). Soldiers (fists clenched at the chest, as if around a gun). A stranger, they don’t know who(eyebrows raised). Taps on different parts of the body show hunger, thirst, pain, a full bladder. A band on a clump of hair, Do you want a braid. It passed a bit of time. A brush of the fingers over closing eyelids, Try to rest now. Shira watches her mother’s lips shape prayers in Hebrew before falling off to sleep. This more than anything calms Shira, for in her mind she hears her mother’s silent chants as music.” (This quote is from an advanced copy and I suppose maybe subject to change, but I hope not.)
In her note at the end, Jennifer Rosner mentions her daughters who are deaf and I realized why this passage resonated so much. Her inspiration was a story relayed to her by a woman who was hidden with her mother in an attic “where she needed to stay silent nearly all the time. I imagined the mother’s experience of trying to keep her young child hushed, an effort exactly opposite of mine , which focused on encouraging my children to vocalize as much as possible. ...Soon I found myself immersed in a new project involving silence, separation, loss, and above all, love. “ She also tells of the music in her life and then how she was further inspired by meeting a luthier, “who was asked to rebuild a violin recovered from a Nazi death camp, ashes still inside it.” This is one of those stories that I know will stay with me because I woke up thinking about Roza and Shira and because we cannot forget what happened during the Holocaust.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Flatiron Books through NetGalley....more
I had a feeling that a book about the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 wasn’t going to be an easy one to read during the current pandemic and t3.5 stars.
I had a feeling that a book about the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 wasn’t going to be an easy one to read during the current pandemic and that may be why I put off reading it. It was definitely difficult, not just because some things sounded eerily familiar, but because most of the story is pretty bleak and there are some pretty gruesome scenes. Wiseman Paints this bleak picture of the impact of the Spanish Flu epidemic in Philadelphia, in particular on an impoverished neighborhood where many immigrants live. The focus of the story is on a young German immigrant girl, Pia, who out of desperation to find food for her baby brothers, leaves them in their apartment alone. Every possible thing goes wrong that one could imagine. Pia falls ill with the flu before she can get back to her twin brothers and they are gone when she is able to return. There’s another character who acts out of desperation, a desperation that comes from another place, one tinged with cruelty. Pia’s journey over the years is a sad one, filled with suspense and a mystery to solve as she never gives up on her search for her brothers.
The story has a number of facets. It’s a depiction of a time and place where immigrants are not seen in the best light. It’s a historical look at a pandemic that ravaged so many lives. It’s a coming of age story of a resilient girl,a character to be remembered. While Wiseman says that the specifics of the story are imagined, it reminded me in a way of Before We Were Yours, which is based on true events. In her notes, Wiseman lists her sources and the novel appears to be very well researched. I have read several of Wiseman’s books and she doesn’t shy away from the difficult, the cruel, sometimes the gritty side of life and always taps into the emotional with characters that we can feel for. A little off of my rating of 4 stars because there were times when I felt it got a little melodramatic, but I rounded up because I had tears in my eyes when I read the last pages. Had to round up.
I received a copy of this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley and Edelweiss....more
I was so taken with Lisa Wingate’s moving novel Before We Were Yours, so I was definitely drawn to reading this nonfiction account . It focuses on reaI was so taken with Lisa Wingate’s moving novel Before We Were Yours, so I was definitely drawn to reading this nonfiction account . It focuses on real life stories of some adults who were victims of Georgia Tann’s corrupt money making operation, the Tennessee Children’s Home Society that sold babies and young children from the 1920’s to 1950. Stolen children, falsified records, illegal adoptions that cost $500 vs $7 for the state cost at that time. “An investigation concludes that Tann profited from the operation of TCHS in Memphis in excess of five hundred thousand dollars in the last ten years of her life - taking in today’s equivalent of between five and ten million dollars.” This book came to be when a woman contacted Wingate after reading the novel to say she was one of those babies. Journalist Judy Christy was brought on board by Wingate to interview the people who had come forward as having been part of a Tann’s scheme. They plan a reunion of some of the orphans. Christy skillfully and tenderly interviews those who can come together for the reunion to share their stories.
A desire to find siblings, know their family history, medical and otherwise, find out the truth of what Georgia Tann did to them, their mothers were motivating factors to search out their pasts.. The years they lost are poignantly reflected when a dying man meets his brother - “We didn’t get to play as children, but we can play in heaven.” Some of the stories were joyful when they meet siblings they never knew they had or a mother who never wanted to give up them up. There were some who didn’t want to be united with their relatives. Some who didn’t want to share their stories. Some were grateful for the people who adopted them knowing that they had a better life than they would have . Some did not have that better life. Their stories are moving. You will meet all of these people here.
While this focuses on children that were adopted through Georgia Tann’s corrupt money making operation, it speaks of the journey of many other adopted people to find their families. I was particularly touched by these stories because last year through Ancesrty.com we discovered a niece who had been searching for her birth parents for years. I won’t go into details here, other than to say that her father was one of my brothers in law who had passed away. The meetings with our family were emotional and the connection has continued. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the same when she found her birth mother. They met, shared information but her mother does not want to have a relationship going forward. Sometimes making the connection after years doesn’t always work. I highly recommended to those who were touched by Lisa Wingate’s novel and anyone who might be interested in the journeys of some adopted children to their adulthood and back to their roots.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Ballantine Books through NetGalley....more
This is a beautifully written story, but not an one easy to read. It’s a brutal portrayal of hardship, hunger, death, a history of the people of VietnThis is a beautifully written story, but not an one easy to read. It’s a brutal portrayal of hardship, hunger, death, a history of the people of Vietnam spanning decades. But in spite of the fact that this is a history filled with the anguish of war, of hunger, of a changing society, it is filled with hope and love and pride of a people, in the beauty of their land as well as their customs and beliefs. The Vietnam War, remembered by many of us of a certain age with the focus on the loss of American soldiers, on those held as POW’s. I don’t remember a big focus on the people of Vietnam who suffered the ravages of war, loss of home and family or their history before all of that . This novel is about some of those people, their story seen through the eyes of a young girl and her grandmother spanning from 1920 - 1970’s, of this family, spanning the generations with the commonality of the depth of love that begs protecting those they loved at all cost. It is through the intimate story in this novel, of this family that this history is depicted bringing to life not just the facts or the events such as the the Great Hunger, Land Reform, and the War, but, the impact on the people. It’s a dual narrative with with young Guava and her grandmother Tran Dieu Lan, reflecting the power of stories, experience and family connections to the past.
“As the war continued, it was Grandma’s stories that kept me going and my hopes alive.”
“Do you understand why I’ve decided to tell you about our family? If our stories survive, we will not die, even when our bodies are no longer here on earth.”
I received a copy of this book from Algonquin Books through NetGalley and a many thanks to Nguyen Pham Que Mai for the paper copy sent from Algonquin.
This is not an easy book to read. It’s pretty gruesome with multiple scenes of animal abuse, wild animals being tortured by poachers for the parts of This is not an easy book to read. It’s pretty gruesome with multiple scenes of animal abuse, wild animals being tortured by poachers for the parts of the animal that will bring them big cash. Given the subject matter, this is not one I would normally read. I was compelled to read it, though, because Taylor Brown is such a gifted writer whose prose , even the gritty descriptions are just not to be missed. On the other hand, there is beauty here in the majesty of these exotic animals and in the passion and desire of the characters to protect and save them. It’s a moving story of their deep commitments to protect, save, set free these amazing creatures - wolves, tigers, lions. It’s an expose of barbaric poachers, of those exploiting the animals . There’s a message here, of course, but no preaching. The story and the writing are enough to get that across. The characters are complex and while we get the back story for Anse Caulfield, former jockey and Vietnam vet and Malaya, an Iraq war vet, I didn’t feel like I fully got a sense of them and I wanted to know more about them. Ironically, I got a better sense of Mosi , a lion at the center of one of their rescue missions. Maybe that’s what Brown intended. Recommended to fans of Brown’s writing. Fallen Land remains my favorite of Brown’s novels, but I believe that he is a born storyteller and I’ll read whatever he writes.
Read my friend Cathrine’s review. It tells about this in an eloquent way.
I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley ....more
This is one of those books that I thought I would love more than I did. I am a fervent reader of holocaust stories because I beli3.5 stars rounded up
This is one of those books that I thought I would love more than I did. I am a fervent reader of holocaust stories because I believe in my heart and soul that it’s something we need to never forget, as horrific as it was. We need to continually remind ourselves and each other, and continue to honor those who were killed and those who survived. It pains me not to give this book a higher rating because like all Holocaust stories, it is just so important.
It just took me a long while to connect emotionally with Yoel Blum, a famous Israeli writer who in spite of his dying mother’s wish that he never go back to Amsterdam, goes back. At first it’s to promote a book, but then he returns to find his past, one that has been kept from him. I found him devoid of emotional connection to others around him and from them to him, except he did have a wonderful relationship with one of his grandsons as a young child and that relationship is important in these later years. It’s an introspective story which I always enjoy, but it moved somewhat slowly.
It’s skillfully written, a story within a story, a novel within a novel, the present and the past blended perfectly in chapters, in paragraphs. The author has done a wonderful job of presenting another facet of the Holocaust, how Jewish children were hidden and saved from the roundup of Jews in Amsterdam to the camps, some of them returned to their families and some not. In the end I did feel Yoel’s emotion about what he discovers about himself and perhaps that lack of it in the earlier parts of the novel are because he doesn’t really know who he is. I spite of my misgivings about the pace, I have to round this up to 4 stars. I surmised early on what we aren’t told until close to the end, but it was nonetheless moving.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Atria through NetGalley....more
A fable, an ominous tale for the human race, one that leaves us not knowing what the thing was that spares the beauty and bounty of nature, but no humA fable, an ominous tale for the human race, one that leaves us not knowing what the thing was that spares the beauty and bounty of nature, but no human beings save for a man and his young daughter. The beautiful writing and a story that held me, had me reading this in one day. I wasn’t surprised. I loved both of Krivak’s other novels. It’s taken me some time to write a review because I didn’t want to give too much away and still do justice to this story.
In this novel there are amazingly beautiful descriptions of nature, touching tales of animals, stories that the girl’s father tells her of her mother, a story of a bear that saved a village, a story of a care giving puma. Tales and stories and lessons are told that will stay with the girl for the rest of her life. We don’t know when or where the story takes places and we don’t know their names. I’m usually left feeling detached from characters when they are not given names, but in this case I could not have been more emotionally involved with the man and his daughter. I felt them in their moments of pain and sadness and grief and in their moments of joy and relief. The care and love her father gives her teaching her to hunt, to fish, to make a bow and arrows, to survive by herself for the time when he is no longer with her melted my heart. It’s a joy to her and to the reader, when he teaches her to read. It was achingly sad, but at the same time beautiful when he takes her to the mountain where her mother’s remains are buried for the first time.
This is a short book and I wanted there to be more of the story before that last chapter beautiful chapter. I won’t say much about the plot because you really have to experience this yourself. I’ll just say that this book is about a journey, a journey of survival, of instinct, of the desire to pay honor to a loved one, full of love and loss, joy and sadness, a journey of life. This is one of those books that will remain with me for its beauty and it’s significance.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Bellevue Literary Press through NetGalley....more
I couldn’t help but like these women from the get go. The women who took up the opportunity when they read this:
“If you are an adventuresome young womI couldn’t help but like these women from the get go. The women who took up the opportunity when they read this:
“If you are an adventuresome young woman of high moral character and fine health, are you willing to travel to California in search of a good husband?”
Not all of the women, however, were looking for husbands. One was trying to escape an abusive husband who may or may not be alive. One was trying to forge her own way when held by societal views in the 1850’s that women can’t own land even though she did. Another was escaping physical and sexual abuse. These women who were told what there place was, with no one to turn to for help in their circumstances, hoped that leaving for California would be their answer. It’s a rough road for these thirty seven women traveling the hard road, walking. The wagons carried supplies, pulled by oxen, driven by the women who walked. Accompanied by a minister and his wife as well as the wife’s minister brother, they face hardship, death, loss, warrior Native Americans. Anything that could go wrong, of course went wrong, and it felt like a bit much at times and there were times I couldn’t help but wonder if this was worth it for them, but we are frequently reminded of the reasons why they left Illinois for California, as they encounter their past along the way.
The loyalty and concern for each other that grew every day they were on the journey was heartfelt. They would lie to protect each other, even the minister’s wife, and they would kill to protect each other if they had to. They became a band of sisters, a family. I became invested in these strong, courageous women of conviction and was moved by their journey for a better life.
I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley....more
I’ve read several of the over two dozen novels that Diane Chamberlain has written. I can’t say I loved them all as much as Necessary Lies, but in my vI’ve read several of the over two dozen novels that Diane Chamberlain has written. I can’t say I loved them all as much as Necessary Lies, but in my view, it’s unquestionable after reading them, that Chamberlain knows how to tell a story.
Almost eighty years separates the alternating narratives of two women artists. Anna Dale’s is told in the third person and her story takes place in 1939 in the small town of Edenton, NC, where she travels to from New Jersey. Anna has won a national contest to paint a mural representing the town to be hung in the post office. Morgan Christopher’s chapters are told in the first person and it’s 2018. She has been released from the prison term she is serving for a crime that she did not commit. Her release is made possible by a famous African American artist, Jessie Jameson Williams who designates in his will, that she should be the one to restore the mural painted by Anna Dale years ago. Each one is facing a challenge, each one is carrying a burden.
It’s a mystery of sorts and I’m not much of a fan of mysteries. However, I was taken with wanting to know the secrets that the mural held and with the story of Anna Dale, just as Morgan was. How will the women be connected ? Why did Jessie Williams choose Anna Dale’s painting to be hung in the gallery he charges his daughter to open? How did he get Anna’s mural? Why was Morgan Christopher chosen to restore the painting? The story is more than a story of a mysterious painting, it is a reflection of racism in the south in 1939, a reflection of small town life, and how the lies of the past come full circle to the truth in the present.
I’m usually more drawn to the historical part of the story in these dual narratives, but I found myself pulled in by both of the stories, by both of the artists. The short alternating chapters kept the story moving and held my interest throughout. In spite of a neat ending and that I guessed what the connection between the two women could be, it didn’t diminish my interest in the least. This novel is another example of Diane Chamberlain’s story telling capabilities.
I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley....more
3.5 stars rounded up. Trevor McFarquhar runs a bicycle shop on a street in Paris he describes as “ ...the Sacre Coeur at the heart of Montmartre, is n3.5 stars rounded up. Trevor McFarquhar runs a bicycle shop on a street in Paris he describes as “ ...the Sacre Coeur at the heart of Montmartre, is not the tourist circuit and has no pretensions to Parisian grandeur. Behind and above it’s modest shop fronts are forgettable lives. Lives like my own, which I had reduced to a box, a one-room shop.” For a while as I read about his indifferent and unremarkable life, though I felt for him in a way, I thought that he would be an unforgettable character, but I was wrong.. He is a memorable character. While he was born in New York, he has spent most of his life in Paris, when his mother moved him and his brother there after a family tragedy. He has “casual” relationships with women and his relationship with his family is strained. Then things suddenly change and Trevor comes out of his lethargic state when there is a transit strike and his bicycle business booms. He comes alive when he begins an affair, one that further deepens the rift with his family.
When the strike and the affair abruptly end, Trevor seems to revert to the old life of complacency and the book moved pretty slowly for me at times. It was a slow burn getting to how impacted he was by the traumatic losses of his childhood and it took time to understand why Trevor is where he is in the present. His regrets come later in the book when a series of events occur that give him pause - regrets over things he’s done , regrets over not having faced the things unsaid. It is not just his regrets that make this quiet character study a moving one, but the things he decides to do. Mary Fleming has lived in Paris and her intimate knowledge immediately takes you there. 3.5 stars but I have to round up for the satisfying second half of the book, in particular the ending.
I received an advanced copy of this book from She Writes Press through NetGalley....more
I loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz. After I read the book I read that there were questions concerning the veracity of this book. I did not read this aI loved The Tattooist of Auschwitz. After I read the book I read that there were questions concerning the veracity of this book. I did not read this as a work of nonfiction, but rather a work of fiction based on real events. I certainly get that there may be inaccuracies, but the spirit of the novel worked for me. A message that must be conveyed - the importance of never forgetting the horrific things that happened. Things that we have to be reminded of because there are so few Holocaust survivors left, because of the rise of antisemitism in the world, and because there is a lack of awareness of the Holocaust among young people. There are, I’m certain, many nonfiction books and documents covering the Holocaust and the Siberian Gulags , but I’ve never been a big reader of nonfiction. For me, and this is just my personal experience, it has been mostly Holocaust fiction that has has opened my eyes to the atrocities and has broken my heart with immensity of the loss of so many people. If a work of fiction can do that, in my opinion it is worth reading. It is with this view that I read Cilka's Journey and that I high recommend it. I appreciate that Heather Morris tells the reader upfront that the book is a work of fiction. In a note at the end, she explains what is fact and what is fiction. With my defense of this book as fiction, I should add that there are memoirs that I hold in my heart and believe that everyone should read. Night, The Diary of Anne Frank: And Related Readings, But You Did Not Come Back to name a few.
It’s unimaginable that a young girl could survive the horrific Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp for three years after being subjected to sexual abuse, forced to do unthinkable things in order to stay alive and then be sentenced to fifteen years in a Gulag in Siberia for aiding the enemy. Heather Morris enables us to imagine these horrors and takes us to both of these places in this novel. Moving back and forth between Cilka’s flashbacks of Auschwitz-Birkenau and her present Siberia, we are seamlessly taken from place to place, from time to time. Sometimes it’s a thought, a dream , or a present ugly reminder that takes Cilka and us back and forth . It is difficult and uncomfortable and necessary for us to see and imagine how horrible it was. I’m not going to detail any of that here, but will just say that this is an important work of fiction which reflects the horrors of these times and places, but also the real emotions, the real humanity, the real love and the real resilience of people that historical fiction can convey.
I received an advanced copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press through NetGalley and copy from Jordan Hanley at St. Martin’s....more
I enjoyed a number of Allende’s earlier books, but a few of the more recent ones have not been quite as satisfying. Yet, I could not resist the opportI enjoyed a number of Allende’s earlier books, but a few of the more recent ones have not been quite as satisfying. Yet, I could not resist the opportunity to read this one because I was looking for the Allende of those earlier novels and I found her . It felt like Allende at her best - a family saga with richly defined characters deeply connected to their family, their culture, their country, their lives shaped by the political landscape. There were times when I felt a bit bogged down by the political details later in the book, even though it is the political events which drive the story. Having said that, she does a wonderful job of depicting the effects of the Spanish Civil War, the ravages of that war and I learned things that I never knew about that war , about concentration camps there and about a ship carrying refugees to Chile. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Wi....
Victor and Roser Dalmau, who leave their home at the brink of WWII, after much hardship, loss and suffering arrive in Chile and it becomes their home for many years . They have married out of the need to survive, out of family loyalty, out of love for her son and his nephew and they stay together for many years out of love. The story of their relationship, who they are as individuals, and who they become together is the heart of the story, but the soul of this family saga is what Allende herself knows and experienced in the Chile where she was raised. The story was even more poignant after reading Allende’s Acknowledgements at the end of the book, where she says : “This is a novel, but the events and historical individuals are real. The characters are fictional, inspired by people I’ve known. I have had to imagine very little ....”
I received an advanced copy of this book from Ballantine through NetGalley....more
I thought I’d like it more. A recognized Russian author, a description that seemed like one I’d enjoy, a family saga, but I’m giving up at 37%. Just tI thought I’d like it more. A recognized Russian author, a description that seemed like one I’d enjoy, a family saga, but I’m giving up at 37%. Just too DETAILED. So detailed, that there were passages that I have to admit I skimmed and when I found myself continuing to do that, I decided to give up . We get the stories of these characters in pieces so I had a hard time connecting emotionally with any of them. Maybe I’m just not in the mood for the philosophical and intellectual tone of the book. It’s summer - on to something lighter . No rating because I didn’t finish it.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Farrar, Straus and Giroux through NetGalley....more
It’s 1917 in South Dakota and a widowed father of five children signs up for the war, leaving two of them with their grandparents and three 3.5 stars
It’s 1917 in South Dakota and a widowed father of five children signs up for the war, leaving two of them with their grandparents and three with an aunt and uncle. Harry is eight years old as he and his sister are sent to stay with Gram and Gramps. A “shell shocked “ father returns with one arm, broken in spirt as well as body and unable to care for his children. Harry feels abandoned and wrestles with the things that are happening around him. The thing I liked most about this debut novel is that it is a terrific reflection of the times - the war, prohibition, the KKK, the Model T, the Charleston, the excitement of electricity coming to their town, the American dream in Harry’s desire to be someone beyond his life helping at his grandparents store, to go to high school, to make something of himself. Harry narrates this through the next ten years and I couldn’t help but find him endearing and couldn’t help but root for him as his entrepreneurial spirit and drive moves him forward and his understanding of things develop him on the road to adulthood. What kept me from giving this 4 stars is that it was quite predictable and somewhat slow until close to the end. Having said that, a likable young protagonist and that the time and place were so well presented will have me looking at what this author does next.
I received an advanced copy of this book from BHC Press though NetGalley. ...more
Angela M is taking a break.
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