Review: Commencement by J.Courtney Sullivan

In Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan, we meet Celia, Bree, April and Sally as they start their first year at Smith College. The young women are dorm mates and, although they come very different backgrounds, they develop a bond as much out of an affinity for each other as out of a need to connect now that they had left their homes and all that was familiar behind. The four women stay close after graduation and return to the Smith campus for Sally's wedding a few years after graduation. The story is told from each woman's point of view both during college and following college as they gather at Smith for the wedding. Their lives have moved on from when they were in college and the bonds formed during college are strained as the girls question whether they have truly made lifelong friends or if the magic of their shared college experience is what has held them together. 

Celia comes from a loving, Irish-Catholic family and is quick to make friends and draw others in; when she hears the beautiful Southern Belle, Bree, crying in the next dorm room she invites her in, offers her comfort (along with Oreos and Vodka- this IS college, after all) and gets to know her new hall mate. Bree has left her high school sweetheart at home and although she wants to pursue her dream of going to law school in Stanford, she wonders whether she should ditch her dreams and just go home and live a conventional life as fiance to her high school sweetheart. April is a staunch feminist, frequently on a soapbox about any number of issues and, on the surface seems to have little in common with the likes Celia and Bree. April's difficult childhood as the daughter of a single mother who frequently failed to protect her, however, has left her with a vulnerability that allows her to let the other girls in. Sally has experienced a great loss right before the start of school - the death of her mother to cancer - and her wealthy father's distance just further deepens the loss. She will need the three other girls to help her through her grief.

 My Thoughts
This book has all the making of chick lit or contemporary women's fiction but the writing elevates it to something literary. I found myself marking pages all through out the book both because I was impressed by the writing and the sentiments expressed resonated with me.

Sullivan so well captures that early adulthood (although I sometimes still feel this way!) insecurity about what life ahead holds for you and wanting to just be settled.

If things had been different, she would be in Carolyn's place right now.  She didn't want that sort of existence, but there was something so attractive about the security of feeling like you had stopped moving toward your life, and actually arrived.

As the women return to the Smith campus, they see college life through adult eyes with a certain amount of wistfulness.

In the main room, Smithies sat alone at carrels, serious as monks, their faces down in their used copies of Thackeray and Joan Didion. Sally had a ridiculous urge to walk over to them, smooth their hair, and tell them to savor every minute of this. But none of the girls even looked up. Sally was twenty-six, which in college student years was borderline elderly.

But my favorite quote is this one:

 The A train came quickly, as it always did at rush hour. Celia stepped into the crowded car and sucked in the burst of air conditioning. She closed her eyes as the train screeched to its next stop. Outwardly she was a very peaceful person. But the rage she felt daily on the New York City subway hinted at the possibility that the only difference between her and those raving-mad homeless people in the car was the she knew enough to keep quiet.

Commencement is an apt title for this novel - these young women, although mourning the end of their college years and having their best friends in their daily lives, are really at the start of their lives and recognizing that their friendships and what they have learned about themselves through those friendships will help them navigate what comes ahead. This novel has smart, well developed characters and is well written - I will definitely be reading more by this author.

Audiobook Review: Lucia, Lucia by Adriana Trigiani

Lucia, Lucia (narrated by Cassandra Clare, 9 hours, 35 minutes) by Adriana Trigiani is the story of Lucia Sartori, a young woman living in 1950's Greenwich Village. Lucia is the daughter of immigrant parents who, along with her older brothers, run a successful grocery on Commerce Street. Lucia, however, is independent and has big dreams for herself - she wants a career, not just a job. She does, however, have one foot in each world. She is engaged to her childhood sweetheart from the neighborhood, Dante Demartino whose family has traditional expectations of their soon-to-be daughter-in-law. Lucia desperately wants to make her own parents, Dante and even his parents happy but she also wants to pursue her own dreams. Will she have to sacrifice love for independence and a career?

Lucia Sartori is a woman ahead of her time. At twenty-five, she should be married with children but even though she loves her fiance, Dante, she bristles when he and his family suggest that she will leave her successful job as a seamstress once she marries. Unlike her peers, Lucia wants to delay having children after getting married so she can continue to develop her career. Dante is not comfortable with this but his mother is completely outraged and things come to a head at a family dinner with both sets of parents. Lucia's parents love her but they want her to conform and to have a happy, albeit conventional and boring, life with Dante. In a bold move of rebellion, Lucia breaks her engagement with Dante, scandalizing her parents.

Lucia takes comfort in her career at B.Altman and in her colleagues there. Soon, however, she catches the eye of dashing John Talbot who lavishes Lucia with gifts and takes her to the best NYC destinations. Unlike Dante, he doesn't seem concerned with convention and respects her career. They talk of building a dream home on the water in Long Island. There are a few things about John which remain mysterious - including his family and what he actually does for a living but Lucia is in love and riding the upward trajectory of her life.

My Thoughts
This book has many of my "book triggers" - NYC setting, independent woman who also really wants love, and immigrant/second generation themes.  Author Adriani Trigiani beautifully wraps a story around these elements and the result is an audiobook to which I could not stop listening. I did not want to say goodbye to Lucia or her big Italian family.

This is my first listen with narrator Cassandra Campbell but I will definitely be looking for other audiobooks read by her. Her voice has a rich tone to it which is easy to listen to and she did a great job with the accents of Lucia's Italian parents. A satisfying listen for sure!

Review: Lowcountry Summer by Dorothea Benton Frank

Caroline Wimbley is matriarch of a large Southern family. She is easing into the role following the death of her mother, Lavinia, who seems to loom large at Tall Pines both in life and death. As a newly crowned matriarch, Caroline has her work cut out for her. Her brother's estranged wife, Frances Mae, has a drinking problem which has once again veered out of control and she is frequently being brought home by the police. Their three daughters are a rowdy bunch without any of the refined manners that their Aunt Caroline expects of young Southern women. Somehow, Caroline must keep up the appearance of the family despite their antics. Lowcountry Summer is the story of a large Southern family, their fearless matriarch and her adventures in holding up standards.

Caroline is riddled with contradictions - she is very concerned about what people think of the family but she liaises with a series of men for flings and the whole town knows. She worships tradition and regales the younger members of the family with the family history all the way back to Colonel Sherman. At the same time however, she broke with tradition herself when she married a "Yankee" psychologist and moved to New York City as a young woman. She wants her nieces, however, to maintain certain Southern traditions including being "debuted" to society.  It won't be easy to get this crew ready for presentation. Although Caroline may have been conflicted about these traditions at points of her own life, she now feels a great obligation, and desire, to uphold them almost as an offering to her mother, Lavinia.

My Thoughts
At first, I found some of Caroline's traditions and her steadfast defense of them, frustrating.  They seemed anachronistic and Caroline was out of touch by insisting that her family try to adhere to them.  But as the book progressed, Caroline grew on me.  I began to understand that a love for her mother and everything she held dear was driving Caroline as matriarch. Although the Wimbley family is dysfunctional, there is a lot of love to go around that family and it binds them together.

The dysfunction also brings a humorous element to the book - I couldn't help but laugh at some of the escapades of Caroline's nieces.  Perhaps even funnier, however, is Caroline's horrified reaction to each new embarrassment perpetrated by the teenage hellions.

I am looking forward to immersing myself in other southern charmers by this author (including the prequel to this novel, Plantation).

Top Ten Tuesday: Books You Had to Have But Are Still On Your Shelves

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is books you had to have but are still on your shelves.

My eyes for books are much bigger than my pace of reading - hence, I have tons of books on the shelves waiting to be read (hoping to make a dent with the off the shelves challenge this year). My Top Ten still in TBR purgatory:

1.    Freddy and Fredericka by Marc Halperin : I love reading about the British Monarchy so this allegory about the monarchy had me hooked.  Perhaps the 500+ page count has been holding me back
2. The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper: When I read This is Where I Leave You for a book club, I fell in love with this author.  For some reason, however, I still haven't gotten to this one. 
3.  I See You Everywhere by Julia Glass: Another example of a book bought because I loved another work by the author - Three Junes moved me so I immediately purchased the author's next two books.
4.  Hypocrite in a Pouffy White Dress by Susan Jane Gilman: I found Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven hysterical and loved the author's voice - I immediately snapped up another of her memoirs
5.  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: I heard such great things about this book/series and although I am not usually a YA fan, I caved.  I started reading this and really liked it but still need to get back to it.

1.  The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst: I remember reading about this in the NY Times Book Review and deciding I had to have it. The book then won the 2004 Man Booker Prize . . . but I still have not read it.  It is on the docket for 2013!
2.  The Help by Kathryn Stockett: I really might be the last person to have not either seen the movie or read the book. I almost watched the movie on the plane over the weekend but I believe the book will be better so held out!  Definitely will read this one this year for The Southern Literature Challenge 
3.  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese: About two years ago, glowing reviews for this book were all over the blogs and I was captivated by the storyline and the accolades . . .sadly, still have not read it.
4.  Empty Family by Colm Toibin: Toibin is a favorite author of mine so when I had the chance to hear him speak locally, I was so excited!  This was his newest book at the time so I purchased it and had it signed by the author.
5.  any book by Jill Mansell : I am a lover of British chick lit and this author does it very well. I voraciously collect her books when I go to the UK but need to read them faster!

Phew - this post has been a good reminder to me about books I want to and need to read!  What books have lingered on your shelves for a little too long? 

Review: Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'Easter by Lisa Patton

Whistin' Dixie in a Nor'easter: Leelee Satterfield is a true Southern Belle - from her sorority days at Ole Miss to her evenings at the Memphis country club first with her "Daddy" and now with her husband, Baker. She loves her life in Memphis including her group of childhood girlfriends - Virgina, Alice and Mary Jule - with her she still gets into mischief years after they graduated from Miss Jamison's School for Young Ladies. But she loves her husband dearly too so when he expresses frustration with career working in his father's insurance business and wants to open an inn in Vermont, it breaks her heart but she agrees to move the family to Vermont. In Vermont, she will be challenged by much more than homesickness. Leelee has many reservations about moving to Vermont - leaving her friends, moving to a new place, starting a new business as an inn owner. There is much more, however, waiting when she arrives.

Helga and Rolf, the prior owners of the inn Leelee and Baker purchase, are staying on at the inn for the first year. They maintain a ironclad hold on the operations of the inn and Helga in particular makes Leelee's life miserable. Her life is not her own - she must do everything by Helga's schedule and in Helga's way. When the winter weather kicks in, Leelee is introduced to the joys of winter in the North including roof rakes, black ice and hours of shoveling. Leelee is really struggling to adjust and Baker is no help - he doesn't stand up to Helga on Leelee's behalf and he doesn't empathize with her homesickness. In addition to losing her hometown and friends with this move, Leelee also feels like she is losing Baker.

Leelee's inability to stand up to Baker when the decision to move North was first being made is emblematic of Leelee's inability to speak up for and assert herself. She wants so badly to be polite and accommodating that she frequently lets others take advantage of her. Her "Daddy" took great care of her growing up but also made all her decisions for her even down to ordering her entree when they dined at the country club. She also relied on him, and then Baker, to deliver any bad news or confront a difficult situation.  With neither of them defending her in the North, Leelee must learn to stand up for herself and make the most of her new  life in the land of snow.

My Thoughts
Though predictable, Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter definitely charmed me. At times, Leelee's incredulity at the snow, manners of her new neighbors and Northern customs could seem stereotypical but once she started being able to see some good about living in Vermont, the stereotypes were forgotten. I soon found myself rooting for Leelee and celebrating in her growth as she learned how to take care of herself. I especially like her raucous group of girlfriends - we all have that group of friends that can lift us out of the worst of times and the scenes that included Leelee's friends were both heartwarming and downright funny. The book left me anxiously looking forward to its sequel "Yankee Doodle Dixie". Can't wait to see what happens to Leelee next!

Audiobook Review: American Dervish by Ayad Aktar

American Dervish (read by author, 9 hours, 28 minutes) is a coming of age novel layered with themes of religious faith and awakening, marital strife, racism and immigration. Despite the many themes, the author expertly weaves them together and wraps them in a story with a compelling young protagonist and the result is an immensely readable (in this case, listenable) book which I won't soon forget.

Hayat Shah is the son of Pakistani parents and lives with them in Wisconsin. His parents marriage is troubled and Hayat is often his mother's confidant as she shares her frustration with his father's dismissal of her - she is educated and gave up much to marry her husband which further deepens her resentment of the marriage which does not satisfy her. Hayat's father is a successful doctor who eschews the Muslim community of which everyone expects him to be a part.  He sees all religion as the root of many of the world's problems and his scientific mind questions much of what the faithful believe without question.  Hayat's mother wants to adhere more to her faith and culture than her husband - at one point, she forbids Hayat from attending a local carnival because it is sponsored by the Church. As a result of his parents' conflicted attitudes towards religion, Hayat is bereft of faith - he has not real familiarity with the Muslim religion.

When Hayat's mother's friend, Mina, arrives to live with them from Pakistan, she breathes life into the Shah home and an awakening begins. Mina is very religious and sets about teaching Hayat about the Muslim faith.  Hayat, enraptured by this introduction to his faith and Mina's beauty, soaks up these teachings eagerly. Mina doesn't get caught up in some of the more archane rules of the religion and teaches Hayat the fundamentals and emphasizes that "doing right" is what is most important.

Mina, meanwhile, has her own problems to deal with - she has left Pakistan with her young son after her husband divorced her through an emissary.  A man came to her bedside after she had given birth to her son and told her that her husband repeated Talaq three times thereby divorcing her. Mina is a modern, educated woman living in a family and country with outdated ideals and a view of women as secondary to men.  This conflict manifests itself in an eating disorder for Mina and an apparent inability for her to find happiness.  These patterns repeat themselves even when she comes to the United States.

The conflicting views of faith, culture and a woman's role in her family and society all come to a head in a variety of scenes throughout the book.  The scenes are powerful and nuanced  - there is no obvious right and wrong even though the issues are so divisive.  Hayat is the ideal protagonist for these conflicts because he looks at this issues with less nuance than the adults around him and thereby offers a very clear view of the issues.

As often happens with a book that blew me away, I am not sure that I am giving it justice - American Dervish  is beautifully written and deals with difficult issues without hitting you over the head with a point of view.  As an audiobook, it was a pleasure to listen to - read by the author, the characters' voices were distinct from each other and the accents were executed perfectly. I found myself standing inside the door after my walk home just listening and unable to stop.  This will definitely be in my Best of list for 2013!