We Are the Light by Matthew Quick

April 8, 2024

We Are the Light by Matthew Quick

Lucas Goodgame is viewed as a hero by everyone who lives in his small town, except himself. His murdered wife Darcy visits him nightly in angel form. Lucas desperately wants to reconnect with his therapist Karl, but Karl is also in mourning. So Lucas begins to write letters to Karl, detailing his suffering as well as his nightly communications with Darcy. But then a damaged young man named Eli sets up a tent in his backyard, and they begin to heal each other and the town. 

Not an easy read since it deals with a story taken from daily news headlines. Those killed in a mass shooting aren't the only victims - how do the survivors and witnesses pick up their lives and go on? Themes of grief, trauma, anger, and ultimately love and healing in its many forms. Less about the shooting than it is about the aftermath.

Classic restored movie theater

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

November 29, 2023

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

In 1972, just before Hurricane Agnes sweeps through, the Pennsylvania State Police find a skeleton at the bottom of an old well in the Chicken Hill district of Pottstown, PA. They question Malachi, an old Jewish man who lives near the site and has lived in the area since the 1930s, because some Jewish artefacts are found with the bones, but he claims to know nothing about it. After the hurricane destroys most of the neighborhood, Malachi is gone and the police never learn who the skeleton is.

Loved the author's two previous novels The Good Lord Bird and Deacon King Kong, and I greatly enjoyed this novel as well. Set between the two world wars, the story focuses on the residents of the Chicken Hill neighborhood, a low-income area populated mainly by Jews and African Americans but with a recent influx of Italian immigrants, and how they manage to co-exist and interact, helping each other out. The story reads almost like a collection of short stories, where a character is the main actor in one story, but may be a peripheral character in another (think Olive Kitteredge). It's the neighborhood of Chicken Hill that is the connecting factor that brings them all together. Some readers have complained about the large number of characters, but that didn't bother me at all. Be advised, the mystery of the skeleton plays very little part in the story (although you do find out at the end who it is) - I had a good idea about halfway through. One of the best books of 2023. Highly recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Pottstown, PA - I couldn't find a good picture of Chicken Hill, although there are some online archives

A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella

October 23, 2022

A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella

Three ordinary people experience terrible loss: 70-something Chuck loses his beloved wife to cancer; Kirsten is a young woman just out of college, whose father is murdered in a gas station robbery gone wrong; and Ella's daughter has been taken by her estranged husband. All three are going through the motions of living while trying to come to terms with their grief. They find themselves again when they unexpectedly come together to help each other.

This is a wonderful heartfelt novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. It's about grief, it's about loss, it's about how to get up every morning and keep going. Loss takes many forms: losing a spouse, losing a parent, a child gone missing, even the pain of having to give up a beloved pet. It's very much character-driven with each person having to find their way forward. The characters are at different places in their lives but they are all well-developed and you care about them. Part of the reason they are so relatable is because they are regular people: they're not celebrities or super-wealthy or rich and famous. They are nice people who care about others. The story reminded me somewhat of Fredrik Backman's writing where the characters are written with great feeling and often have hidden connections to each other. One of the characters tells others to be someone's cardinal - the cardinal stays through the winter when all the other birds have gone - be there for others when times are good but especially when times are hard. Lovely book, highly recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC.

A winter cardinal

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

September 14, 2019

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

After their father’s sudden death, siblings Maeve and Danny Conroy are quickly evicted from the Dutch House, their family mansion, by their vindictive stepmother.  They aren’t even allowed to take the things that had belonged to their own mother who had abandoned the family when they were young children.  Periodically, Maeve and Danny park across the street from the house and just watch, trying to catch sight of their stepmother or stepsisters.  They are not sure why, since neither wants to enter the house or speak with the inhabitants.  The obsession with the Dutch House continues throughout their lives, as does the mystery of their mother.

With its meaning for each family member, the house itself is actually the main character, the common thread in the book, the thing that keeps pulling them back.  It’s like the house has some kind of magic, with glass walls (it’s noted several times that an outsider can see right through the house), a third floor ballroom, and a (hideous) dining room with a starry ceiling.  When their father purchased it, the house came complete with the furnishings, down to the artwork on the walls and clothing in the closets.  Another reviewer mentioned they were creeped out by the cover art, but the painting on the cover is actually part of the story.

The younger sibling Danny is the narrator, and Maeve is the center of the story of Danny’s life, since she stepped in to fill the role of their missing mother.  Danny has a rather juvenile world view in that he has never questioned or considered many of the things about his life (household help Sandy and Jocelyn being sisters, why his mother deserted the family, his impact on Maeve’s life), long after he should have been mature enough to figure things out.  There is a fairy tale aspect as well, with Maeve and Danny being a modern-day Hansel and Gretel, thrown out of their home by their wicked stepmother, spending their lives longing to find their way home, even having three fairy godmothers who look after them in the form of Sandy, Jocelyn, and Fluffy.

I loved this book, and I think it’s of my best reads for 2019.  Patchett does such a great job with characters and big family sagas.  The Dutch House reminded me a lot of Commonwealth, Patchett’s previous novel, switching back and forth between time periods and locations, and also of The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt in the wide scope of the story.  In addition to the fairy tale theme, there is a lot of history repeating itself and things coming full circle.  I think this would be a great book club selection, since there is so much to discuss.  The only thing to be aware of is that the story is not told chronologically, so if your book group doesn’t like stories that jump around, this title is not for you.

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