Audiobook Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (narrated by Cassandra Clare; 10 hours, 1 minute) tells the story of the mixed race family, the Lee's, who live in suburban Ohio in the 1970's. As the book opens, the family has discovered that Lydia, the middle child and oldest daughter, is missing. When her body is discovered two days later in the nearby lake each family member begins to unwind their history and to try to make sense of the tragedy. With each family member's unwinding, the reader learns all that went unsaid and misunderstood between these family members and how it all combined to crush Lydia.

James Lee, the son of immigrants, attended a prestigious prep school at which his father worked as a janitor. Decidedly out of place due to his race and socioeconomic class, James longed to fit in but never quite achieved it. While at Harvard, he met Marilyn - a young, beautiful student with ambition to do more than just satisfy her mother's dream for her - to become a wife. Marilyn wanted to challenge her mother's and other's expectations of her and to become a doctor. She defied her mother's expectations once again when she fell in love with James, an Asian man at a time when mixed race marriages were still illegal in many states. Despite this and maybe a little due to her need to defy her mother, Marilyn marries James and becomes a young mother when their son, Nath, is born. With the arrival of motherhood, Marilyn places her dreams of being a doctor on a shelf but not without some regret and even resentment. With the arrival of the Lee's second child, Lydia, Marilyn sees a vessel for her own shelved dreams and begins to prepare her daughter to become a doctor. Meanwhile, James, pushes her to be popular and to "fit in" - no one asks or assesses what Lydia might want.

Lydia is uncomfortable with her status of favored child and the pressure of living out both of her parents' own dreams. Despite Nath's occasional resentment of his younger sister and the attention of their parents which she commands, the siblings are close and depend on each other to understand their unique family dynamic as only siblings can. The Lee's youngest child, Hannah, is almost the forgotten sibling - conceived at a time when her parents were going through a difficult time and born into a family preoccupied with their own issues, Hannah moves through the household largely unnoticed. From this hidden vantage point, Hannah sees things the other family member's miss - she takes precious belongings from each family member and through them learns what is important to them. She may not always understand the insights her observations offer but she does see things most family members miss. Her insights into Lydia are especially revealing as they all deal with her disappearance and death.

My Thoughts
This intelligent, debut novel tells a tragic story  - and not just the tragedy of a drowned sixteen year old. The real tragedy is how little the parents know about their own children and vice versa. Clouded by the need to see their dreams lived through their children, James and Marilyn never really see their own children or their needs. They give them what they think they need but repeatedly miss the mark. In much the same way, although more understandable since they are children, the Lee children don't know what drives their parents to push them they way they do. Everyone is moving through life propelled by desires they don't understand or acknowledge. The result is the story of a dysfunctional family which fascinates. Cassandra Campbell is a favorite narrator of mine and does an excellent job with this book.  Definitely recommend (the book and the audio production!)

Review: Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

Nora Webster by Colm Toibin: Nora Webster, recently widowed, lives in Wexford, Ireland in 1969 with her two young sons, Donal and Conor. She also has two older daughters who now live away from home. As the story opens, Nora is enveloped in her grief over the recent loss of her husband, Maurice, to a long illness and is facing the practical challenges of being a widow. She worries about needing to sell a seaside property that has special meaning for her children and at which she has wonderful memories with her late husband but she cannot afford to keep the small cottage now that she must support her family alone. She faces the pitying looks of her neighbors and the constant flow of people stopping by to check on her. She worries about her young sons and how they are adjusting to this loss but mostly she is blinded to the effects by her own grief. As Nora moves through her grief, she gradually discovers herself.

 Nora is in a fog following the death of her husband Maurice. She is haunted by his last days which were spent in pain and in a hospital where she felt he got little support from his doctor. Everyone has an opinion on how Nora should move forward - from her sisters, to Maurice's brother and his wife to her Aunt Josie. Nora finds all their opinions intrusive and no help in determining her path but she is unable to state her point of view. In an effort to keep her emotions in control, she is almost shut down and appears passive. Amid this passivity, however, there are glimmers of her will. At her sister's home for the weekend, Nora takes to the formal front room and reads for an afternoon alone much to the bewilderment of her sister who hurried around the home preparing meals and heading into town to shop. While on vacation at the seaside with her Aunt Josie, Nora strikes out and finds another place to sleep in order to escape her older aunt's snoring. A big part of Nora's movement beyond her grief was getting a job. She returns to an office job at Gibney's where she worked before her children were born. She is initially cowed by the powerful Gibney family and a controlling office manager but slowly but surely she asserts herself and develops a confidence in her skills. Piece by piece, Nora emerges from her grief and returns not to the woman she was before her husband's death but becomes a new woman who knows her mind and isn't afraid to follow it.

My Thoughts
Typical of Toibin's style, this novel is quiet and unassuming. Despite Nora's grief being so central to the story, there is no melodrama and a notable lack of emotion on Nora's part. She suffers quietly and only with fleeting connections to her own emotions and certainly to those of her sons. At times, the distance from her young sons is hard to understand especially given that they are obviously so affected by their father's death and its effect on the family. You do see, however, the fierceness of her love for her sons as she musters up the courage to defend Conor to the Christian Brothers at his school who think he should be demoted a grade. There is a passion there but it is buried beneath her grief and some expectation that she not express her emotions or overtly display her affection for her children.

Nora is an ordinary woman; it is Toibin's skill as an author which brings her to life as she proceeds through mundane activities. He artfully offers glimpses into the woman that Nora is becoming and peeks into her internal dialogue. I was quite impressed by this book and reassured by Nora's ability to emerge from her grief. This is not, however, my favorite book by the author.  The Blackwater Lightship still holds that position but I highly recommend Nora Webster.

Book to Movie: This Is Where I Leave You

The movie This Is Where I Leave You opens today in theaters nationwide with a powerhouse cast that includes Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Jason Bateman and Adam Driver. I had the opportunity to see a screening earlier this week and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. In fact, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the movie because I have been evangelizing this book since I read it a number of years ago (I have recommended it to so many since then) and I was a little hesitant about the movie since they often disappoint as compared to the book. I knew, however, that the author, Jonathan Tropper, has been very involved in the movie and had even written the screenplay - that, coupled with the cast, convinced me to give it a try. And I was not disappointed in the least.

 This Is Where I Leave You tells the story of the Altman family and the movie opens with the death of the patriarch, Mort Altman. Recently widowed and mother to the clan, Hilary Altman, played by Jane Fonda, informs the family that their father's dying wish was to have the entire family sit shiva for him. This places the adult Altman children in their childhood home receiving family and friends offering their condolences for seven days. It is clear there is a lot of love in the family but there is also tension which is exacerbated by their grief and being forced into close proximity day after day. As the week progresses, each sibling has personal revelations and secrets are exposed.

 I had the chance, with some other bloggers, to speak with Jonathan Tropper about the movie and the book to move transformation. I was especially interested in his thoughts as the author and screenwriter on the differences between the two media and the impact on his story.

  What do you think TV and movies can do better than books in telling a story? What can books do better than something on screen?

A movie has the benefit of being able to transport for an hour and a half, two hours with no interruptions and give you the whole story and take you on the entire journey in a kind of encapsulated way.  And you just sit back and watch it all unfold...the book kind of lingers.  But you have to kind of refocus.  So, that's also the plus of the book is that you can live with the characters in the book over a period of weeks, whereas you know a movie you're done in two hours . . .I think you know the rest is kind of obvious.  The movies can give you score, and the movies can give you mood, and the movies can give you sort of wonderfully comedic actors who can make you laugh in a way that the narrative can't.

And on the other hand, the book can take you much deeper into their minds and their emotional states and really make you understand them in a way that in a movie sometimes you really have to do that math yourself.

One thing I definitely noticed in the movie is the score/soundtrack - it enhanced my enjoyment of the story and the nostalgic selection of 80's and 90's tunes was perfect for a group of siblings returning to their childhood home. It certainly added to the ability of the movie to transport.

I noticed while watching the movie that I felt more empathetic to Judd (played by Jason Bateman) than I did while reading the book. I was interested to hear Jonathan Tropper's thoughts on my different reactions to the character in the movie versus the book:

There's two things there that you're reacting to.  The first is I think just that you know Jason Bateman happens to be a very charming guy.  He’s extremely likable.  And he brings that into whatever he does.

But beyond that, in the book I could allow the character to be slightly more reprehensible and slightly less sympathetic because you can kind of do that in literature and still redeem the character because I'm giving you the inner workings of his mind.

So, I'm sort of bringing you to a place where you understand.  And even if you find some of his behavior a little outrageous, in the movie because I can't make you privy to the inner workings of his mind and his thought process, I have to work with him a little harder to make sure I'm not making him you know too much of an asshole.

And so, there is some balance in that, where there are certain things he did in the book that I wouldn't have him do in the movie because I wouldn't be able to explain to you why he's doing it.

Screenplay writer and author, Jonathan Tropper (on set with book in hand)

Finally, I observed that the movie is so close to the book - which as a lover of the book, I appreciated. Tropper, as the screenwriter, was able to ensure the story stayed close to the one he wrote in the book but he also gave credit to the director (Shawn Levy) saying "he [Shawn Levy] was just such a fan of the book that we were actually in this strangely reverse position where the director was actually pushing me to be truer to my own source material than I was being".

This book is a wonderful book to movie transformation and I enjoyed hearing Tropper's thoughts on the differences between the media and how he brought the characters to life in the movie versus in the book.

If you are looking for a comedy, with just the right touch of sentimentality (I cried twice during the movie), see This Is Where I Leave You - - it opens today (Sep 19th) at theaters nationwide.  

Review: The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee

The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee: After the ultimate betrayal by her husband, Portia Cuthcart flees her proper, wife of a politician life in Texas and takes up residence in the garden level of a NYC townhouse previously owned by and left to her by her aunt. Portia has many fond memories of summers spent there with her Aunt and hopes returning there will bring her some comfort. Practically, she is broke and the inherited townhouse gives her a place to live. Her sisters, also living in NY now, sold their floors of the inherited townhouse to financier Gabriel, who lives upstairs with his two young daughters. Portia's talent for cooking which is tinged with a bit of magic in that she has visions compelling her to cook dishes which turn out to be exactly what someone needs has her tending to the two young girls in no time. As she gets more involved with their family, and especially complicated Gabriel, Portia begins to question why she has tried to suppress her gift.

Portia grew up at the feet of her grandmother who owned a restaurant in Texas called the Glass Kitchen. Like Portia, her grandmother had the gift and could divine what a customer needed before they even understood that they wanted or needed it and why. This ability to provide comfort with food but on a level much deeper than satisfying a craving or physical hunger, kept the restaurant bustling. When her grandmother dies tragically, though, Portia blames the gift and immediately closes the restaurant and attempts to suppress her culinary instincts. By the time she arrives in NY, she is still trying to shut down those instincts but when she meets Gabriel's young daughters, Ariel and Miranda who are so in need of comfort after the recent death of their mother, it becomes more and more difficult to deny cooking what they need and Portia begins to value the unique gift she has to bring people comfort and healing.

My Thoughts
This book successfully brings many themes together - sisterhood, acknowledging and embracing who you are, and transformation achieved through healing. Sprinkle that with some romance and the foodie culture and you have a delightful book. Although I liked Portia as a character, my favorite character was Ariel. As a young girl with the weight of her mother's death on her shoulders, Ariel tries to cope with humor and a precocious way of seeing people for who they really are;  but she is still only a young girl and grappling with so many emotions. I found her funny but also touching and wanted to take of her myself.

I also enjoyed reading about the delicious meals whipped up by Portia. The descriptions were vivid and included all the senses. Beyond that, however, was the description of the experience which was always more of the focus than just the taste of the food or the nourishment it offered. For example:

For a meal to work truly, it must be an experience. From the moment a guest arrives in the Glass Kitchen to the moment they set their napkin down, they must be enchanted. More importantly, the giver of the food must believe that they have the power to enchant. No person, whether she is a scientist or a cook, can find success if she doesn't first believe that she has power in her hands-not to use over people but to use for the good of another. Food, especially, is about giving.

Who wouldn't want to eat a meal prepared by someone with a philosophy like this? The Glass Kitchen transports you into just such a meal many times over.

Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads and is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page. For more information, see the welcome post.

Review: A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger

A Watershed Year by Susan Schoenberger tells the story of Lucy, a young professor in her thirties who has recently lost her friend, Harlan, to cancer. Before dying, he set up a series of emails to arrive in her inbox in the months following his death - in these emails he delivers advice to his friend and speaks things previously unsaid between the two. When he tells Lucy she would make a wonderful mother, Lucy begins exploring adoption and begins her journey to motherhood. This beautiful story is a about Lucy's loss of Harlan and the insight be delivers in these emails and about her experience trying to adopt and bond with a young boy; but more than all that it is about Lucy's self-discovery and how both the loss of Harlan and the process of getting her son drive that self-discovery.

Lucy's relationship with Harlan is interesting in that it is told almost completely in reflection - Harlan dies right at the beginning of the book so his character and relationship with Lucy is told as she looks back on their time together and feels the loss of his death. Their relationship is firmly in the "friend" category but it veers at times towards a more romantic place which helps to explain why their relationship - and therefore his postmortem advice- has such a powerful impact on Lucy. It is almost as if this tremendous loss and the advice from her trusted friends propels her life forward at time when she is otherwise "stuck". Her desire to become a mother is crystallized when Harlan emails that he feels she is destined for motherhood and so she begins the adoption process.

The book really has two main threads - Lucy's relationship with Harlan and then her road to adopt and the relationship with her adoptive son. They are obviously linked in that Harlan essentially prompts her move to adopt. In facing the challenges of a foreign adoption, Lucy relies on much of what she has learned about herself from facing Harlan's illness and loss. Of course, motherhood brings a host of new realizations. For example, after the difficult trip home from Russia with her newly adopted son, Lucy leaves her carry-on unattended in the airport when she suddenly realizes she has lost sight of her son in the chaos of the baggage claim area. When she has found her son, a woman comments to Lucy that she shouldn't leave her bag unattended:

 Lucy had almost nothing left, just a shallow well of shame to berate herself for losing track of the one thing she would always-always - have to remember.

Clearly, leaving her bag unattended was the least of her problems and the enormity of being someone's mother hit her.

A Watershed Year is beautifully written and moves very quickly. Even though Lucy is reflecting and discovering, the story is not necessarily told from inside Lucy's head but instead in dialogue and action. In addition to being so well written and to moving quickly with a likable main character, this book is thought provoking (which makes it an excellent choice for bookclubs). I found myself considering a number of things after finishing this novel - what would it take to spur me to take action on certain areas of my life? Would it take the loss of someone close to make me consider what I really wanted and what I was willing to do to get it? What messages would l leave for someone close to me?  

How might you answer some of these questions?

You can read other reviews of this book by checking out the blogs on the TLC Book Tour and also read more about the author (including what sparked the idea for the novel) on Susan Schoenberger's website.  

Thank you to Trish from TLC Book Tours for including me on the tour and for providing a review copy of this book.