Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman

February 27, 2020

Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman

Judy Vogel wrote a highly successful children’s book that became a children’s television series, but she hasn’t been able to write another book.  Her current job is writing 300-400 word articles for a wellness site, producing three or four articles a day.  Not only does Judy have writer’s block, but she also feels totally disconnected from everyone she knows.  She is separated from her husband Gary, but they can’t afford to live in separate residences because Gary works as a part-time snackologist and spends large amounts of time smoking pot.  So Gary lives in their basement and Judy and their teen-aged son Teddy live upstairs.  While working on de-cluttering their storage area, Judy comes across a baby sling left from when her son was born.  On impulse, she slips the sling over her head and puts Charlotte, the family’s Sheltie in the sling.  For the first time in years, Judy feels a connection to another living being.  Meanwhile, their son attends a Montessori school that is also in crisis.

I initially picked up this title because of the cover art, a woman wearing a baby sling with a small dog’s head sticking out.  While depression is a main theme, there is also commentary on marriage, parenting, and progressive education.  There is just enough humor to keep the story from wallowing in sadness.  We have one of those wellness sites where I work so I know the kind of peppy little useless articles that Judy writes.

At age 50, Judy feels invisible:  not only is her marriage falling apart and her son doesn’t need her anymore, her best friend and editor is dying of cancer and she is crushingly lonely.  Wearing the dog in a sling at least attracts some (mostly) harmless attention.  Maybe that’s why middle-aged men buy a Corvette, divorce their wives of 25 years, and get a trophy wife – anything so that they can feel someone SEES them (never mind how people see them).

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

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

February 23, 2020

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Located on a remote bay on Vancouver Island, the luxury Hotel Caiette caters to a wealthy clientele in search of a reprieve from their daily lives in the corporate world.  Super-rich financier Jonathan Alkaitis owns the hotel but his wealth is built on a house of cards:  his investment firm is actually a giant Ponzi scheme that he has been running for decades.

I wasn’t initially interested in reading a book about a Ponzi scheme, but I like the author’s previous book Station Eleven so much that I decided to give her new book a try.  The Glass Hotel is similar in structure to the previous book in that there is a definite “before” and “after” related to a specific event, and the story line wraps around itself, moving from character to character and backward and forward in time.  It is also set in the same world and time as Station Eleven since events from that book are referenced here and at least two of the characters recur.  As in Station Eleven, the beginning is also the ending.

While the basic plot is about the Ponzi scheme and all of the people affected by it, there are a number of sub-plots and the characters are fascinating.  The overall story is hard to summarize since part of the appeal is finding out how the characters connect to each other and what happens to them (it reminded me of the television show Lost in that regard).  Several characters are chameleon-like, reinventing themselves and their lives as needed, if not in reality, then in an alternate universe.

Fraud and facades play a role, not only with the money fund but with relationships and creativity – at one point, Vincent’s brother steals a number of videos that she made and passes them off as his own work (Vincent is female).  Characters often express regret and wonder “what if” and “if I had only,” and imagine a counterlife where they acted differently than they actually did, although their versions of themselves in that parallel universe are not necessarily better people.

I found this to be very enjoyable and recommend it to anyone who reads literary fiction.

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

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

February 20, 2020

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Vanessa is a bright student who is seduced by her English teacher at a prestigious Maine boarding school.  Even while she was attending the school, rumors flew around about her and the teacher.  Many years later, a current student who has accused the teacher of misconduct contacts Vanessa, asking for her support.  The story line moves back and forth from the time Vanessa is a high school student to Vanessa at age 32, working a dead-end job as a concierge at a high-end hotel, still dealing with the fallout her experiences with the teacher as she comes to realize that it wasn’t a love story, it was exploitation.

This book made me furious.  Yet it is an important topic that needs to come out of hiding.

The teacher (Strane) made my skin crawl, he was such a slimy jerk who manipulated children, referring to it as "grooming."  He is so creepy that I had to skim over a number of the sections where he featured prominently.  Strane gives Vanessa a copy of Lolita to read – by this point, Vanessa is so under his spell that she sees it as a tragic love story, not as the story of a morally bereft pedophile who is sexually obsessed with a child.  Strane has so much control over her that she lies and takes the blame so that he can keep his job.  It takes Vanessa over 15 years to accept that the experiences traumatized her.

This is definitely not going to be for everyone, since there are repeated graphic scenes of statutory rape of an underage child.  While it is well-written and there are many cultural and literary allusions, it is also quite disturbing, and I sort of wish I could un-read it.  Vanessa and Strane debate about whether all girls mature at the same rate, and can a 15 year old be mature enough to have a sexual relationship with a 42 year old man – the answer is no, when you're a teenager, it’s the hormones talking – 15 year olds are NOT mentally mature enough to make that kind of a decision.  I'm pretty sure most 15 year olds (girls and boys) are infatuated with at least one teacher at some point.  I know I was, and it would have been devastating to have been abused that way by a teacher that I adored.

It’s been all over the news this week that the Boy Scouts of America organization has declared bankruptcy in order to protect its assets from the growing number of sexual abuse charges that have been filed against the organization (the cases number in the thousands).  What is wrong with so many men????  They can’t keep their hands off boys, they can’t keep their hands off teen-aged girls, they don’t understand the word “no” when it comes to adult women.

Despite accusations of plagiarism from another author (Wendy C. Ortiz wrote a memoir called Excavation was published several years ago and covers the same story), My Dark Vanessa is already hitting a lot of lists as a best book of 2020.

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

When All Is Said by Anne Griffin

February 19, 2020

When All Is Said by Anne Griffin

Maurice Hannigan, an 84 years old widower, has sold his huge property holdings, packed up all his worldly goods, and found a new home for his dog Gearshift.  He hasn’t told anyone about his plans except his solicitor, telling the solicitor he is going to a senior citizen home.  He sits in a hotel bar, reminiscing about the five people who have meant the most to him and drinks a toast to each one, addressing his memories to his absent son. 

I usually love books set in Ireland, but this wasn’t as enjoyable as I expected it to be.  Maurice is a curmudgeon, but he’s not as appealing a protagonist as Ove in Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove (which I’m kind of glad about since I loved Backman’s book).  Much of Maurice’s story centers around a gold coin that he stole as a boy.  He is angry, stubborn, and depressed his whole life, seeking revenge on the local family he believes to be responsible for all of his misery.  Although he claims to adore his wife, he was a domineering husband who never took her to a restaurant that she really wanted to eat at, or let her order a cup of tea in a restaurant (in Maurice’s opinion, they had perfectly good tea at home).  He was a wealthy man but never gave her any gifts except her wedding ring – instead, he would just hand her cash on her birthday or Christmas.  Ultimately, Maurice never tells those five people how important they were to him.

Great writing, depressing story. 

If you want a really good story about a curmudgeon, read Backman’s A Man Called Ove.  If you want a really good story set in Ireland, read John Boyne’s The Heart’s Invisible Furies instead.

Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit

February 18, 2020

Beheld by TaraShea Nesbit

Plymouth Colony was founded on the premise of religious freedom for all, but that’s not exactly how things played out.  The Puritans were the governing class and persecuted the non-Puritans, particularly the Anglicans, who had traveled to the New World with them.  Ten years after the colony was founded, the division between Puritans and Anglicans was deeper than ever as former indentured servants became entitled to own land in the community.  When a parcel of land that John Billington, an Anglican, wished to purchase was given to a newly arrived Puritan, Billington killed him in a drunken rage.  These are the historical facts behind the novel.

Contrary to what we were taught in elementary school, not all of the Mayflower pilgrims were seeking religious freedom, nor were they all of the same faith or unified in their desire to create a new colony.  Many came for other reasons:  adventurers seeking economic gain, craftsmen who were necessary to build the new colony, indentured servants seeking a new start and the opportunity to own land which would have been impossible in England.  The Mayflower was actually the ship commissioned to carry the non-Puritans, but when the Speedwell, the Puritans’ ship, was abandoned in England, the Puritans were forced to join the non-Puritans on the remaining ship or be left behind. 

Told from the viewpoints of two women who lived in Plymouth, this is a fresh and interesting look at the colony.  The governor’s second wife Alice Bradford and John Billington's wife Eleanor came from opposite ends of the social spectrum.  Both describe the unrest, resentment and hypocrisy that the colonists experienced, with ever-stricter laws and harsher penalties.  The women’s only concern is life within the colony, and although the local native Americans are mentioned, there is no interaction between the two groups.  The dependence on their husbands is evident in both women’s stories, as are the hardships that women in particular faced in colonial America.

It was interesting to learn that just a few miles away from Plymouth was the community of Merrymount, where the residents drank, danced, and celebrated May Day and Christmas, all of which went against the strict rules that governed Plymouth.

Governor William Bradford completely ignored the contributions and voices of women in his book Of Plymouth Plantation, a sanitized version of the founding of Plymouth colony.  While many of the characters were real historical figures and the crime and trial depicted in the book actually happened, obviously the dialog and some of the actions are fictional.  I recommend this anyone interested in a well-researched re-telling of colonial history.

Many thanks to Juliet Graemes at Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me an ARC in return for a review.

Barker House by David Moloney

February 15, 2020

Barker House by David Moloney

Nine correctional officers work at Barker House, a for-profit county jail in New Hampshire.  Both the correctional officers and the inmates' lives are a series of repetitious days, filled with boredom that is broken up by the occasional violent or sexual event.

This novel takes the form of interconnected stories about the correctional officers - some officers appear once, others are recurring characters.  There is a contrast between the dread of incarceration and the dread of freedom, emphasizing the repetitious nature of both states.  Written by a former correctional officer, it certainly doesn't paint a flattering picture of prison guards.  I found it to be somewhat unsatisfying since there is no resolution to most of the characters' stories.  Like many works of literary fiction, the book just ends without really having a plot.  

The writing is evocative and very descriptive.  At times, there is a high level of violence, so this isn't going to be a book that I will recommend to our readers without being sure they can handle the brutality.  

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

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

February 12, 2020

Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich

Clayton Burroughs has spent his whole life trying to be different from the rest of his family.  His father and brothers ran the biggest moonshine operation on Bull Mountain, and when prohibition was overturned, they moved on to marijuana, crystal meth, and guns.  To prove that he is not like his family, Clayton runs for and is elected county sheriff, which doesn’t sit well with his closest relatives.  His brother Halford has run his illegal businesses like a mafia don and depends on personal loyalty from those who live on the mountain, but various agencies of the federal government are closing in.  For good measure, throw in an ATF agent with a serious drug addiction and his own agenda.

The Godfather meets Winter’s Bone.  This is a quick suspenseful read with well-developed characters that kept me turning the pages, with good concise writing that doesn’t wander into a lot of unnecessary detail.  The story moves back and forth from the 1940’s to the present day with various stops in between, so if you don’t care for a nonlinear story, this may not be for you.  Be warned:  there is also a pretty high violence level.  Panowich has written two sequels set in the same area (Like Lions and Hard Cash Valley).

Highfire by Eoin Colfer

February 10, 2020

Highfire by Eoin Colfer

Vern (officially Wyvern, Lord Highfire of Highfire Eyrie) is the last of his kind.  He is the only dragon left after thousands of years of dragon supremacy.  Now he spends his days just wanting to be left alone, hiding out in a backwater in the Louisiana bayou, drinking vodka, chatting about the old days to his only friend Waxman, and watching QVC on cable TV.  That is, until a local Cajun boy named Squib who runs errands for Waxman stumbles into his territory and sees Vern in fiery action.  Vern knows humans are bad news:  you befriend one of them, and the next thing you know, there’s a mob outside with torches and pitchforks.  The last thing Vern wants is to get close to a human, but when Waxman is suddenly incapacitated, Vern finds he has no choice but to trust Squib.

Many fantasy novels tend to have either a quest story or are a retelling of a fairy or folk tale.  Highfire has a different plot structure since it is set in the 21^st century in our world (not an alternate universe) with a contemporary plot line.  A similar style of fantasy novel is Anonymous Rex by Andy Garcia, about a dinosaur who lives in Los Angeles and works as a noir-type private investigator.

Eoin Colfer wrote the Artemis Fowl series, a YA fantasy series about a teen named Artemis Fowl who decides he is going to trap a fairy and force her to do his bidding (boy, is he ever wrong).

Not a photo of Vern

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

Why Kings Confess by C. S. Harris

February 6, 2020

Why Kings Confess by C. S. Harris

When a French physician is found brutally murdered in a London alley, the authorities are quick to write off the crime as the work of footpads (what we would call a mugger).  When surgeon Paul Gibson examines the body, he discovers that not only was the man stabbed in the back, but his heart was also removed.  He turns to his aristocratic friend Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, who agrees that a street thief is unlikely to cut out a man’s heart but leave his purse in his pocket.  St. Cyr decides to investigate, little knowing that his inquiries will lead him to the exiled French royal family living in England and a woman that he last encountered in Spain while serving in the army.

I think this is one of the best of the St. Cyr mysteries so far, well-researched and seamlessly blending fictional characters with historical figures.  This novel focuses less on Sebastian's past and more on his present life with his new wife Hero and the impending birth of their child.  Hero is a marvelous character, a kick-ass, take no prisoners woman – even at nine months’ pregnant, she manages to brain a ruffian with a fireplace poker.  Although she still manages to change her clothes five or six times a day like all the women in Regency fiction.

The title of the book comes from a conversation that Sebastian and Hero have, regarding the divine right of kings (which the Bourbons, the French royal family, certainly believed in).  They discuss why a king would bother to go to confession if he believes that his existence is sanctioned by God and that he can do no wrong.

Be sure to read the author’s notes at the end.  Here’s a synopsis:

Both children of Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI were at first imprisoned with their mother and their aunt Elisabeth, but after Louis XVI was executed, Louis-Charles (age 7, now Louis XVII) was taken away and imprisoned in a different part of the prison.  Royalist reports claim he was beaten and starved by his captors, and walled up in a single room.  Whatever happened to him, he was certainly neglected and died in prison at age 10.  Almost immediately, rumors began to fly that the real Louis-Charles had been removed from prison by his supporters and that a deaf-mute peasant child suffering from advanced tuberculosis was substituted in his place.  Thus the legend of the “Lost Dauphin” was born (similar to the story that one of the Russian Grand Duchesses escaped execution during the Russian Revolution).

Charles-Louis' sister Marie-Therese, age 15 when their parents were executed, remained alone and in prison until December 1795 when she was released and sent to Vienna in exchange for several high-ranking French prisoners.  She eventually married her cousin Louis-Antoine and the whole family moved to England.  When her brother died in prison, Marie-Therese was not shown his body and spent the rest of her life wondering if Louis-Charles had somehow escaped.  Numerous imposters presented themselves to her as her missing brother.  Marie-Therese herself was most likely abused by her captors, and at least one contemporary letter notes that Marie-Therese was raped in prison, resulting in a pregnancy.  By all accounts, Marie-Therese was traumatized by the events of the French Revolution and possibly half-mad, and lived an unhappy life waiting for the Bourbons to be restored to the French throne.

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

February 5, 2020

Raising Steam by Terry Pratchett

Moist von Lipwig of Going Postal and Making Money returns to run the new railway line in Ankh-Morpork, at the request of Lord Vetinari (said request of course includes a veiled threat).  Meanwhile, someone is sabotaging the Discworld’s clacks towers, and they’re not too crazy about the new iron railway coming soon to Sto-Lat and Uberwald, either.

Sir Terry Pratchett passed away in 2015, and this was his 40th and final Discworld book, which I have been putting off reading because, well, it’s his last book.  There won’t be anymore Discworld books (yes, I could start reading them over, since I read the first one about 20 years ago, but I have so much else to read that re-reading the Discworld may have to wait until retirement).  Like so many others, I will miss Sir Terry’s zany sense of humor, his satires and send-ups of pop culture, and his amazing world building.  I agree with some other reviewers that this wasn't his best book, but we do get to visit a final time with many of the Discworld's most memorable characters.

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

February 3, 2020

Today is National Golden Retriever Day!  Go hug a golden (or any dog)!

My Luke

Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu

Willis Wu works as an extra in a TV police drama called Black and White, as Generic Asian Man.  Even in his personal life, he sees himself as Generic Asian Man.  His career goal is to become Kung Fu Guy, which he considers to be the pinnacle for an Asian actor.  He lives in the SRO (single room occupancy) housing above the Golden Palace Chinese restaurant along with other Asian Americans who are bit players for the TV show, since many of the scenes are filmed at the restaurant.  Willis works in the restaurant when he needs to (such as the times when his character “dies” and he can’t work on the show for 45 days).  Inside his head, Willis lives in an interior Chinatown:  although he is American-born and educated, he can’t seem to find his place in the world, except against a Chinatown backdrop, and he sees himself and the Asian Americans around him as stereotypes that America has cast for them (such as Old Asian Man or Restaurant Hostess).

The plot blends the storyline of a television drama with Willis’ life, written in a script-like format with a Courier font that mimics an old-fashioned typewriter, and eventually the two storylines get tangled into a single jumble.  The narrative style forces the reader to look at stereotypes both “on” and “off” screen and consider the stereotypes in our own lives and how we see others.  Should appeal to readers who enjoy Dave Eggers or Paul Beatty.

(When we were kids, there was a TV program for a few seasons called Kung Fu – I think the whole Carradine family acted in the show.  The main character was a half-Chinese monk being played by a white guy.  My brothers didn’t care much about the story line but really got into the martial arts fighting.  My youngest brother convinced my mother to buy him a kimono style robe, and he would leap out of his bedroom wearing it, give a kung fu yell, and kick-box his way down the hall.  Just a fond memory, grasshopper.)