The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner

January 30, 2020

The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner

Joanna (Juana) of Castile was the second daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, older sister of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII of England.  As a toddler, Joanna was promised in marriage to Philip of Flanders of the House of Habsburg and she was sent to Flanders at the age of 16.  After her mother’s death, Joanna became Queen of Castile in her own right.  Although initially happy in her marriage and the mother of five children, Joanna grew dissatisfied with her husband’s overwhelming desire to rule as king of Castile.  But after returning to Spain to take her throne, Joanna soon realized that she was surrounded by men determined to seize her crown.

I love a good historical novel about royalty and have read a number of books by Philippa Gregory, Alison Weir, and Margaret George.  Most books about the royals focus on the British royal families, so I was glad to find a well-written, well-researched fictional biography of Joanna of Castile.  She was also known as Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad), declared mad and unfit to rule by her own father Ferdinand.  Juana is another one of those unfortunate queens that you keep hoping will have a different, happier ending to their stories (others include but are not limited to Anne Boleyn or really any of Henry VIII’s wives, Mary Queen of Scots, and Marie Antoinette).

Being a female member of any royal family has pretty much sucked down through the ages, since daughters and sisters were used as human chess pieces and baby machines with little regard for their happiness or the appropriateness of their arranged marriages.  There was also the overwhelming boredom these women experienced – days spent oppressed by court etiquette, endless embroidering, gossiping and plotting, with virtually no privacy.  If you were young and lucky and had forward-thinking parents, you got a few lessons in music and languages.  But other than look ornamental, show up for court occasions, and produce a lot of children, queens didn't do much of anything (has anything changed in the 21st century?).

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

January 30, 2020

Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton

Loosely based on the author’s life growing up in Queensland in Australia, this is a story of coming-of-age meets survival.  Eli Bell and his older brother August live with their mother Frances and her boyfriend Lyle, both heroin dealers, in the suburb of Darra outside Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.  August is mute following a childhood trauma, while Eli searches for what it takes to be a good man.  Lyle is the only father figure that Eli remembers, and he loves Lyle deeply and wants to believe that Lyle is a good man, despite his profession. But unexpected events force Eli out of childhood, as he attempts to navigate a world of crime, drugs, and domestic abuse.

Normally I don’t care for books with juvenile narrators since the point of view is usually pretty narrow, but Trent Dalton has written a pair of very engaging characters in Eli Bell and his brother August.  Eli's voice is full of poetry and unexpected humor, a combination of adolescent adventure and adult experiences.  Most of the characters are based on people that Dalton knew as a child - I did love the inclusion of Arthur “Slim” Halliday, an actual criminal best known for his jail escapes, who Dalton knew when he was a child.  However, I don’t think the episodes of magical realism added anything to the narrative, and the last 50 pages of the book stretch the reader’s belief a little too far.  Other than that, the first 400 pages of the book are a wonderful read, not always pleasant or happy, but always heartfelt.

The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood

January 25, 2020

The Poison Garden by Alex Marwood

After dozens of dead bodies are discovered at the compound of a survivalist cult in a remote area of Wales, police find one adult and a few children are the only survivors.  Romy is the single adult to survive.  She is pregnant and hiding her pregnancy because she fears that the police won’t let her go if they find out.  Romy and her two younger siblings are taken in by their aunt, their only living relative, who grew up in a fundamentalist religious colony outside London.  But as soon as Romy is away from the prying eyes of authority, she begins searching for other cult members who were either absent at the time of the murder/suicide, or left the compound years earlier, and it soon becomes clear that Romy has her own agenda. 

Who doesn’t love a good cult book?  This one has overtones of the Jonestown mass suicides in Guyana in 1978.  Unlike Marwood’s previous books, The Poison Garden isn’t really mystery or a thriller, although there is plenty of suspense about life within the survivalist cult and as the former cult members try to assimilate (or not) into their new surroundings.  There were a number of errors in the text, so I hope a good editor went through and corrected the text before publication (for example, Romy was in the hospital for several weeks after being removed from the compound – since present day passages are set in 2016, a routine blood test or physical exam would almost certainly have revealed her pregnancy).  A fast and entertaining read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino

January 22, 2020

The Miracles of the Namiya General Store by Keigo Higashino

After committing a robbery and having their getaway car break down, three amateur criminals hide out in an abandoned general store. To their surprise, envelopes begin dropping through the mail slot, most of them stating a problem and requesting advice, but some thanking the store owner for advice given in the past.  The three wannabe crooks decide to answer the letters, first as a joke, and then in an earnest attempt to actually be of some help.

The plot (if you can call it a plot) focuses on an old fashioned general store that has been closed for decades, and a nearby orphanage that all of the characters are connected to in some way.  The store exists in a kind of time warp – inside the store, it’s 30 years in the past, while time outside the store runs normally.  Rather than a straightforward novel format, the story consists of a series of inter-connected vignettes, often transitioning to another character's story with little or no explanation.  It’s a quick read and overall optimistic with a certain charm, but a lot of it felt like the author wanted to write about some of his favorite things, like the Beatles.  One of my complaints is that there is no real ending – the reader ends up with the three guys sitting around the general store looking at each other with their eyes twinkling – what is that supposed to mean?  I understand that the author is a well-known mystery writer in Japan, and that this is his first effort outside the mystery genre.  Maybe it was the translation that made it seem clunky.  

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

January 21, 2020

Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis

For Elmer Gantry, religion is strictly a racket.  During his college years studying law (and barely passing his classes), he realizes that his voice is his most powerful tool (or weapon).  After raising hell in college, getting kicked out of the seminary, and working as a successful traveling salesman, Elmer meets up with a charismatic woman evangelist, Sister Sharon Falconer, and becomes an insincere, hypocritical, yet very effective evangelist, treating it like just another scam he can use to fool the rubes.

In stark contrast to Elmer is his seminary classmate Frank Shallard.  Not only does Frank strive to live a godly life, he has doubts about his faith, his calling, and the existence of God almost from his seminary days.  He contemplates a different calling for himself, wanting to explore aspects of current thought such as evolution.  Frank is scandalized by Elmer’s actions, especially his inflammatory preaching.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to read a classic every month.  I started with Lewis’ Elmer Gantry because it happened to be available through the library.  Sinclair Lewis’ novel satirizes religion, evangelism, and small town attitudes long before the days and downfall of televangelists like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker (couldn’t you just see Elmer as a televangelist?).  Elmer Gantry isn’t technically historical fiction since it is a story set in the 1920’s and written in the 1920’s.  The novel differs significantly from the film version of the story.

Overall, Elmer is the definition of smarmy, a bull-shitter of the first magnitude.  He is desperately ambitious to BE someone, to be envied and revered, looked up to, a man of wealth and substance, but he doesn’t want to work for it.  The fire scene in the revival tent is a physical embodiment of Elmer’s morals:  he actually climbs over the fallen to get out of the burning tent, not caring that he is stepping on others.  He mistreats his wife and children, looks down on everyone else, lies and cheats.  He is often hurtful to others, even when he thinks he is being funny.  As a pastor, he advocates for a crackdown on vice, while being careful to hide his own adulterous activities.  Elmer Gantry is like a train wreck – he’s awful, but you just can’t look away.

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

January 16, 2020

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

A young woman is found brutally murdered in her Copenhagen apartment.  The police have few clues and no leads, except that the owner of the building was writing a crime novel that exactly describes the murder.

The plot was complex and original, and I was expecting some really dark Scandinavian noir, like something by Jo Nesbo.  But this one turned out to be disappointing.  It was all over the place – there was too much going on, too much unnecessary backstory.  Too much time was spent on the angst of one of the detectives, and almost no time was spent with the other one.  I found both of the detectives in this police procedural to be unlikable, and neither one seems to be very good at their jobs or enjoy what they do.  Anette is big, loud, sneering, sloppy, and socially inept – not good attributes in a detective.  Jeppe is weak, horny, self-pitying, dependent on pain meds, and socially inept – also not good attributes in a detective.  Their relationship is antagonistic at best.  I also disliked the author’s cutesy decision to give the two detectives rhyming surnames.  I believe this is the first book in a series, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting Koerner and Werner in the future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

January 13, 2020

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

On the island of Jeju off the coast of Korea, famous for its haenyeo (women divers), the women support their families with their diving, while their husbands keep house and raise the children.  Because women earn more money than men, daughters are more valued than sons.  Two girls from widely different backgrounds become friends, divers, and rivals. 

I started off by listening to this but I disliked the narrator’s style – she fluctuated between totally flat and the edge of hysteria.  Once I got the print book, the story moved along much faster.

I have read many of Lisa See's previous titles, and this one is very well researched but more violent than her other books – Young-sook and Mi-ja and their families lived through violent and oppressive times.  I admit that I skimmed over some of the more brutal passages.  There are lots of legends, customs, stories, and information about the haenyeo and diving.  See explains at one point why the women become divers to support their families (women’s earnings are taxed at a lower rate than men’s wages).  A glossary of terms would have helped since I’m not sure what some of the items were.  Except for the level of violence, this would be a good choice for a book discussion group.

Readers who are interested in reading about the Korean women divers may also like White Chrysanthemum by Mary Lynn Bracht, which tells the story of two sisters who are separated when one is kidnapped by the Japanese.  If you’re looking for a very good novel about life in Korea during the Japanese occupation, try Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

January 8, 2020

The Last Place You Look by Kristen Lepionka

Fifteen years ago, Sarah Cook disappeared on the same night that her parents were brutally murdered.  Her boyfriend at the time was quickly arrested and convicted of the crime, and has been on Death Row ever since.  Now a date has been set for his execution.  His sister, convinced of his innocence, wants to make one last attempt to find Sarah, believing that she holds the answers to what happened on that long ago night.  Believing she has seen Sarah in the area, she hires private investigator Roxane Weary to try to locate the woman that she is sure is the missing Sarah.  Roxane takes on the case, needing the money, but already pretty convinced that the police got the right guy, although she soon realizes that there is more to the story.  But Roxane has troubles of her own, dealing with her father’s death in the only way she knows how, by looking at the world through the bottom of a whiskey bottle.

This is quite a decent thriller with a number of plot turns and a flawed detective who lives a messy life.  Roxane herself fits the mold of the noir detective nicely:  she’s always broke, so she takes on cases that she knows she shouldn’t; she has a cool old car; she is attracted to lovers that she knows she should stay the hell away from; she drinks way too much; she hides from her feelings, refusing to deal with the emotional issues looming in her life; she doesn’t take care of herself; she gets stopped by the police frequently since she skitters on the edge of the law in her work.  It’s fast-paced, a quick read, and will keep you turning the pages.  

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

January 6, 2020

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende

(I would have finished reading this yesterday on my commute to work (the library is open on Sunday) while I was on the CTA Blue Line train.  But there was a homeless man on the train who was sleeping across several seats, and when he stood up, he wasn't wearing any pants.  Yep, bare-ass naked.  There are cameras in the cars, and the CTA workers removed him from train at the next station.  But it was still pretty unnerving and I had a hard time concentrating.)

In 1938, with war looming in Europe, Spain is in the middle of its own civil war.  Medical student Victor Dalmau and his family live in Barcelona, and Victor and his brother Guillem join the battle for independence, Victor as a medic and Guillem as a soldier.  When Franco’s forces overrun Barcelona, Guillem’s pregnant sweetheart Roser flees over the mountains to France, in the company of Victor's mother and one of Victor's friends.  At the instigation of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Victor and Roser marry and emigrate to Chile on board the Winnipeg, where they meet and become entangled with members of the aristocratic del Solar family.

I have read just about everything that Isabel Allende has written, including her nonfiction.  Her books are always extensively researched and gorgeously written, and A Long Petal of the Sea is no exception. The title of the book refers to Allende's native country of Chile.  There are loads of details about the Spanish Civil War, and then the revolution and dictatorship in Chile, maybe a little too much. But there are hidden historical details such as the refugee ship Winnipeg, organized by the Chilean government and the poet Pablo Neruda to bring Spanish refugees to Chile after Franco set himself up as a dictator in Spain.  The characters and the lives that Allende creates for them are wonderful.  Be advised that there is some brutality since the characters were living in brutal times.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in return for a review.

The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory

January 4, 2020

The Last Tudor by Philippa Gregory

Hello, and Happy New Year!  My latest book is part of Philippa Gregory's series about the Tudor & Plantagenet women, focusing on the three Grey sisters.  Their mother was Frances, Duchess of Suffolk and a princess of the blood, since she was Henry VIII's niece and the daughter of his favorite sister.

Most people have heard of Lady Jane Grey, who was King Edward VI’s first cousin once removed, queen of England for nine days, and executed at the age of 17.  Jane was one of the most educated girls in England and a devout Protestant.  When Henry VIII’s two daughters Mary and Elizabeth were declared illegitimate and out of the line of succession, the protestant King Edward VI (age 15) named Jane as his successor.  Her ambitious family forced her claim to the throne, while Jane herself only wanted to live a godly life.  Although Jane was an intelligent young woman, she was unable to understand the political machinations of the Grey and the Dudley families, and why they wanted to put her on the throne.

Almost unknown are Jane’s two sisters, Katherine and Mary.  Per Henry VIII’s will, they were to follow Jane in the succession if she did not produce an heir.  Each sister has a section in the book, with Katherine having the longest part.  Jane comes off as grave and scholarly, especially with her younger sisters.  At first Katherine is more light-hearted, focused on her pets, new gowns, and getting a handsome husband, but after Jane’s death, Katherine becomes more interested in being named as Elizabeth I's official heir.  Katherine falls in love with Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford.  Katherine realizes that Elizabeth will never give her approval for her to marry, so Katherine and Edward enter into a forbidden secret marriage (Edward entered into no fewer than three secret marriages in his lifetime).  They believe that while Elizabeth would never give them permission to marry, once they are married, she will forgive them.  How wrong they were.

Youngest sister Mary is a dwarf or little person, but that doesn’t stop her family from using her for political reasons.  Since no one notices her, Mary is excellent at eavesdropping on the other courtiers and counts Sir Robert Dudley and Sir William Cecil among her friends.  She remains loyal to her sister Katherine while still serving Elizabeth, even as Elizabeth imprisons Katherine and her husband.  Like Katherine, Mary also enters into a secret marriage, earning her years of the queen's anger.  Lady Mary Grey never pursued her claim to the throne, wanting only to be freed from house arrest and to be reunited with her husband and her sister.

Like several of Gregory's books in the Tudor/Plantagenet series, The Last Tudor focuses on sisters.  It's not the best book in the series - for one thing, it is very long, over 500 pages, and Katherine's section in particular could have been shortened to make for a better narrative.  There is a lot of repetition as Katherine is moved from castle to castle, constantly trying to be reunited with her husband.  Gregory notes in the afterword that this will be her last book in the series, since she has begun a new series set in 17th century England during the English Civil War.  I had the impression that Gregory wanted to pack everything she had into this one final book, rather than splitting it into three separate titles about the Grey sisters.  There is a decent movie about Lady Jane Grey titled Lady Jane, starring Helena Bonham Carter (who is currently portraying Princess Margaret in The Crown on Netflix) - it's old, but your local library may own a copy.