I started this read and review in Feb 2012; its not meant for critical reviews but rather a place to simply share some of my thoughts about the books I am reading this year...
The Night Circus by Ellen Morgenstern
This book is definitely enchanting…a bit of a mystery, a bit
of a love story and a lot of magic. The
two lead characters are children raised for specifically to be part of a unique
competition. Both are raised by competing illusionists who train them in their
own style of magic, though they do not call it magic. The competition takes place
in the night circus- - Le Cirque des Rêves.
There is no announcement when the circus appears, when it leaves, or
where it is going though it does travel around the world. The circus is made up by tents of various
sizes all houses amazing illusions…there are no clowns or elephants in this circus!
The competition seems to have no rules other than each
creates an illusion that the other must top…the illusions become a part of the
circus. Although the two are aware of the competition, few others who are part
of the circus know that they too are part of this complicated game, this only is
revealed toward the end of the book.
As the illusions become more complicated more characters
come into play and each has a unique role in the completion. The circus has a
wonderful set of groupies, each with their own quirks and charms.
The illusions are lovely to think about and I began to
picture how this book will translate into a movie…it would use some amazing
special effects.
I would recommend it, especially as a beach book!
The Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung
Janie and her sister Hannah are the daughters of a Korean family who immigrated to the US. Janie is the oldest and tries hard to live up to all her parents expectations. She pursues a career in mathematics to please her engineer father. Hanna is the youngest. She embraces all things American and sheds off any traditional sense of duty.
Janie, in the middle of her PhD, returns to Korea with her parents in search of a cancer treatment for her father. Months prior to their departure, Hannah disappears. She leaves home without any information. After a few calls, Janie tracks her down in California but has no luck getting her to come home. As the cancer progresses and time passes, Hannah does return to Korea to a prodigal’s welcome.
The book is a lot of things: part immigrant tale, part story of a prodigal daughter (with great insight into the daughter who didn’t leave) and SPOILER ALERT: a story that involves sexual abuse and its aftermath. Throughout the story the author integrates Korean folk tales and information about culture that confound the daughter’s American life. It is mostly however a good story about loss and redemption.
The Submission by Amy Waldman
Unfortunately the book is quite predictable.Its post 9/11 NYC and the government has pulled together an “unbiased” jury to decide on the 9/11 memorial to be built at site of the Twin Towers. The beautiful garden chosen is, no surprise, designed by Mohammad Khan, a Muslim. The jury process was blind to the actual designers so it’s a shake up to learn that they chose a Muslim. The book is populated with all the expected post 9/11 characters: family members who have turned into professional victims; Extreme right wingers who see Islamic conspiracy theories at every turn; and far left wingers who believe embracing Islam is the only means of healing…and so it goes back and forth through all these characters.
The author misses the opportunity to really explore the grief process, how NYC collectively grieved , how different people handle it especially how some can move one and how others have chosen hate to fill the space left by their deceased loved one.
There is one plot twist but it is not enough to really excite the reader. Ultimately this book was a disappointment.
Open City by Teju ColeJulius, the protagonist, is a psychiatrist just completing his residency in NYC. He is also Nigerian immigrant and spends much of his time walking through New York City’s many neighborhoods, pondering the people of these neighborhoods, the cultures, as well as the world’s greatest philosophers, poets and artists. He is suffering from a broken heart and pines for his former girlfriend. His “walks” also take him to Brussels as he searches for his maternal grandmother, whom he never finds (but really never invests any serious energy in his search). I chose this book because I love NYC and was looking forward to the “walks” through the city. And those walks indeed made for wonderful reading. However those narratives were too few. The author is one who loves his own words and includes many when few would have been better. The author not only writes of the protagonist’s wanderings through the city but through his thoughts…and wanderings they are indeed…all over the place, without any pattern or purpose. The book meanderings through Julius’ free associations and those thoughts quite tedious. I guess I am just not “arty” enough for this book.
The Beginner's Goodbye by Ann Tyler
I am a big fan of Anne Tyler. I love her quirky characters that everyone can relate to, even those of us who don't think we have any quirks. But this book is a weak imitation of her past work. The book definitely doesn't stand up to the standards Tyler set for herself. The story line doesn't hold the reader's interest nor do the characters. Even the author's photo is 25 years old! Give me a brake.
Midwives by Chris BohjalianI chose this book because I had just finished another of Bohjalian’s book and thought this would be a good, easy read for a long plane ride. The book explores the world of home births and midwives living in Vermont in the early 1980’s. The main character is Sibyl Danforth and the story is told in retrospect in the voice Sibyl’s daughter Connie. During one horrific home delivery, Sibyl conducts an emergency C Section on a woman she presumes to be dead…but was she dead at the time of the C Section and in saving the baby’s life did Sibyl accidently kill the mother. A court case ensues. The book explores the treacherous legal system in the US that believes everything can be resolved through a law suit, as well as the medical system which is at odds with home births. The book served its purpose of passing time on the plane.
13, rue Thérèse by Elena Mauli Shapiro A very strange read…wouldn’t recommend it. An American professor of French lit is spending a semester teaching in Paris. He is given a box of relics-of-a-sort. The artifacts are from Louise Brunet, who lived in Paris during the early part of the 20th Century. As the prof study’s each piece he pieces together her life and loves. The book is a little bit time travel, a little bit history and a little bit love story…meh!
The House at Tyneford: Natasha SolomonsI picked this pick up based on a Goodreads recommendation, it follows along with my current WWII kick. I honestly didn't realize it was the same author as another book on this list until after I started reading it. Elise Landau is a Jew living in Vienna in 1983. She and her family are secular or “assimilated” Jews and members of the upper class. Her parents begin to see the writing on the wall and send their young daughter to England on a work visa to serve as a maid. So Elise trades her glittery life to the “downstairs” life. The book is a bit Downton Abby-ish and a little sappy. I did enjoy reading about life on England’s coast during the war. A light read but nothing great.
Buddha In the Attic by Julie Otsuka. Ms Otsuka uses a unique
plural voice to tell the story of Japanese mail order brides. These women have
made a commitment to marry Japanese men living in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century. The story is rich in detail and personal reflection
beginning with the experience of the women leaving their families.
Some are forced to leave, some are truly looking for love, all are fleeing a
despite situation. And while their stories are all different, they share a
quiet desperation. The book is filled
with reminiscences of good marriages, bad marriages, dashed hopes, hopes fulfilled,
children born and children dying. I
thought it was a good read but at times the writing style became tedious and I found myself
wanting more details of some of the women’s
lives rather that the snippets of so many.
Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English by Natasha Solomons
It’s a talented writer who can write a sweet tale that is
filled with sadness and loss. This author has done so and although it’s not a
masterpiece its is indeed a sweet read. The Rosenblums, Jacob, Sadie and their baby daughter Elizabeth, flee Nazi
Germany and escape to England. Jacob becomes Jack and set his sights on
becoming the perfect English gentlemen. He
succeeds at business and at assimilating into what he thinks is all things
English while Sadie keeps alive the memories of living in Germany and the family
that she realizes has been killed. Jack
becomes obsessed with joining a country club to play golf and learns that all
are restricted, that is no Jews are allowed. So joining a golf club is that
last unattainable goal on Jack’s quest to become the perfect Englishman. He uproots Sadie from their comfortable
upper-middle class life and moves to a large farm in rural Dorchester England
to build a golf course for Jews. Despite
knowing nothing of farming, land issues, or for that matter the first thing
about building a golf course, Jack proceeds to do just that and in the process
endears himself to the locals, a quirky loveable group of people. The tale is at times funny but often sad as
Sadie tries to keep her family’s history alive while Jack wants to do
everything he can to leave the past in the past. In the end the both find a way to achieve
their goals and both experience a few more losses along the way. As I said it’s a sweet read and I would
recommend it for those interested in an easy read with some light exploration
of some tough topics.
Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
This is my first Bohjalian and probably not my last. The book is at first a bit unbelievable as it brings together Prussian aristocrats, an escaped Jew on the run from the Nazi’s, and a Scottish prisoner of war, but somehow it works. The book is set in Germany near the Polish border towards the end of World War II. The Russians are encroaching and the Third Reich is falling and the combination throws this group into a world each never could have imagined. It is a story of survival, of hope; it’s also a love story. Skeleton’s at the Feast is a fast past story of this odd group of survivors who try to find their place of peace.
Regeneration
by Pat Barker
I picked up this book from the library on the recommendation from a
friend on GoodReads…she gave it 4 stars!
This is the first in a trilogy about WWI. Siegfried Sasson is a
decorated war hero and author who gives his notice in the form of a “declaration”
that he will no longer serve as a British officer because he believes the war
is senseless and is only promoted to further the egos of men not peace. He is officially classified as mentally
unsound and sent to the army’s mental hospital. There he meets with Dr William
Rivers who attempts to restore Sasson’s sanity.
But Sasson never doubts his sanity. The novel pursues this question as
well as inquiry into the mental health of other’s in the hospital suffering
from what we now call post traumatic stress. It, in my opinion, unfortunately
switches back and forth too frequently between the stories of several patients
including a potential love story of one of the patients and a local factory
worker.
It certainly didn’t live up to my expectations. I didn’t think the book
went deep enough into the questions raised in the declaration: the senseless
nature of war and the sanity of one who sees it as such. It’s a wide puddle but not a very deep one…wouldn’t
recommend it
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Marcelo and the Real World by Francisco X Stork
Marcelo Sandoval is 17-years old and is a young man with an “Asperger's-like”
condition. He attends a special school and lives a life arranged by a schedule
and his “special interests” which for Marcelo are his CD Collection, his faith
and his interest in world religions.
Marcelo also spends time working with the therapeutic ponies at his
school. He is looking forward to a summer job at the stables when his world is
thrown up-side-down. His father asks him to come to work at his law firm for
the summer. He makes a deal with Marcelo that if he works at the firm and
follows all the rules of the real world he can stay at his special school, if
not (not come to work at the firm and/or not follow all the rules) he will have
to go to his local high school for his senior year. His father has never
believed that Marcelo had Asperger’s or any other syndrome, despite all the
quirky behavior and difficulty with social interactions. So to be able to stay at his school and work
with the ponies, Marcelo agrees to the summer job.
Like other novels that deal with autism, there are times
that Marcelo’s behaviors are a bit over-dramatized, exaggerated, but it’s hard
to get a character “right” when both autism and asperger’s manifest so
differently among each child. For the
most part, these moments of exaggeration don’t drag the book down.
Marcelo is the narrator of the book so the reader gets to
learn the “rules” of the “real world” through his eyes…rules that are rarely
clear for those of us without disabilities!
And struggle along with him as he tries his best to follow these rules:
rules of friendship, of work, of family loyalty and faith and ethics…all in a
place not known for faith and ethics…a law firm in the throes of major personal
injury lawsuit.
It’s an easy and compelling read as the layers of each
character peel away to reveal their own personal truths. It’s a love story of
sorts and of course a great coming-of-age story. Marcelo must confront not only
the real world but decisions that most of us would find daunting.
It’s officially categorized as a Young Adult novel but I
think it’s a good read for any age. ------------------------------
The Snow Child by Ewoyn Ivy The protagonists are homesteaders in Alaska, an older couple who fled the trauma of losing an infant shortly after birth. Despite the desire to escape, the cold and hardship take their told and the couple grow apart. Just as life seems to be at its bleakest appears through the woods a young girl—Fainna. The appearance of the girl is eerily like a fairy tale Mabel remembers from her childhood. The fairytale is about a snow child who appears in winter but disappears with the warm weather. Is the child real or is it part of what other homesteader’s believe is a severe case of cabin fever? It’s a lyrical tale though I wouldn’t rate it among the best…good not great.
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The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson I can’t say that I had given much thought to North Korea prior to this book but now it seems hard to get out of my mind. Johnson provides a chilling view into this closed state. It includes stuff you would expect such as torture, poverty, and fear but also some insight into the survival strategies of people most of us would consider hopeless. He is a bit long winded at time and the story can get confusing but it’s a fascinating read and I promise one you won’t easily forget
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Winterdance:
The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod
Gary Paulsen Those of us who are mere humans can’t begin to grasp the conditions of this race nor the deep desire of both man and dogs to complete it. The writing isn’t always the best but the story is compelling enough to carry the reader past a few chunky sentences.
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