Review: Losing Touch by Sandra Hunter

Losing Touch: Arjun Kulkani moved his entire family to North London from India. Like many immigrants, he works hard to fit in but also wants to preserve the values and traditions of his homeland. He has studied the English and outwardly makes every effort to blend in - he is careful in his appearance and tries to always be quiet and respectful. Even though he tries so hard to blend in, he is frustrated by his son Murad and daughter Tarani who try to distance themselves from their Indian heritage and adopt the cultural norms of their new home but without his intense desire to fade to the background and not stand out. This generational struggle is only one of many faced by this family especially when Arjun begins to decline from an inherited form of muscular dystrophy which first steals the feeling in his leg and gradually debilitates him until he is completely dependent on his wife, Sunila, for care. With the passage of time and loss of ability, Arjun makes observations about this own life and the family he has built, however clumsily, in London.

 The book opens with Arjun and the family attending the funeral of his younger brother, Jonti. Jonti has died from the muscular dystrophy that Arjun fears and eventually develops himself. This scene at the funeral provides the first snapshot of the Kulkani family including the extended family of Aunts, Uncles and cousins. We meet Sunila, Arjun's wife, and immediately detect her dissatisfaction with life and even with Arjun. There is tension between the Arjun and Sunila which is exacerbated by Arjun's obvious feelings for his sister-in-law, Pavi. While Sunila seems to harp on what they don't have or what she wished was different, Pavi seems to understand Arjun and speaks gently with him. Of course, the move to London and the pressure to fit in has been difficult on everyone and Sunila is no exception - as the book progresses so does an understanding of Sunila's dissatisfaction and what she has also sacrificed to make this move and live this life.

 My Thoughts
This book beautifully portrays the passage of time and the losses and pain which accumulate over the years. Each chapter provides another snapshot of the family - the story is not continuous so much as a series of snapshots but the themes of generational struggle and Arjun's increasing understanding of himself even as his physical abilities decline run throughout these snapshots. We see the children grow and Arjun's generation age.  Interestingly, we also see Arjun become more of an outsider rather than less despite all his efforts to assimilate. Where first his status as an immigrant makes him and outsider, towards the end of the book he is also and outsider within his own family as they live life around him and his becomes increasingly disabled due to his disease.  In this passage, Arjun muses on his status as an outsider:

What importance he used to place on small things: his perfectly ironed shirts, the knife-crease in his trousers, the well-tailored jackets and suits, his meticulously folded socks and underwear, his Kiwi-polished shoes, his leather wallet. These details made him feel a little taller, a little better prepared to face the hostile he had moved to . . . . It all meant something, some sense of striving for decorum and order, some sense of fitting in to the middle-class neighbourhood whose ideals he's never quite grasped. 

The feeling of donning an armor to face a new country or striving but never truly understanding the new country you have moved to is one faced by many immigrants but so poignantly told in this novel. The author has told a beautiful story of a single family through a series of snapshots that captured the big, but most small moments of a lifetime.

I read this book as part of the TLC Book Tour - you can find other reviews of the book here.

Review: Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Delicious! by Ruth Reichl: Billie Breslin is a young woman with an amazing sense of taste - she can identify even the most subtle ingredients in a bite of food. She leaves her home in California and arrives in NY to work at the preeminent foodie magazine, Delicious!. Her colleagues quickly learn about her special skill and it earns her their respect and some acceptance into her new world. Billie needs acceptance - she has lived in her older, prettier sister's shadow and considers herself awkward. When Delicious! is suddenly and abruptly shut down, Billie is thrown into uncertainty.  While figuring out her next steps, she discovers a series of letters sent by a young girl, Lulu, to James Beard while he was at Delicious! during WWII. Although only a young girl, Lulu has a lot of lessons for Billie and reading her letters becomes a way for Billie to face some things in her own life which she was tried to avoid.

Lulu lived in Ohio during WWII while her father was fighting overseas and her mother was working at a factory that made planes for the war effort. Although living with constant uncertainty about her father's safety and worries about getting by on the rationed food that was available, Lulu has a sunny outlook which comes right through the letters. With a passion for cooking and baking, she writes Mr. Beard for advice on recipes and ultimately their correspondence develops into one in which Lulu provides updates on her life and even reveals some of her anxieties about the fate of her father and her mother's ability to cope with it all. Billie looked forward to finding each letter (they had been hidden with cryptic clues by a librarian that had worked at Delicious!) and seeing what was happening with Lulu.  As Lulu matured and transformed, so did Billie.

My Thoughts
 This book offers a rich exploration of food, New York City, life during WWII and tops it off with the coming of age story of Billie Breslin.  Like a well-made dish, it has multiple layers and surprises you as you savor it. I was torn between whether I enjoyed the storyline with Billie in current day or the storyline with Lulu set in the 1940's more - both characters have something to hide which is ultimately revealed through the story and that kept me reading.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it will be on my Top 10 for 2014 for sure! I have not read the author's memoirs but I am certainly a fan of her fiction debut.

For other thoughts on the book, you can visit the blogs on the TLC Book Tour.

Review: The Year She Left Us by Kathryn Ma

The Year She Left Us by Kathryn Ma: Ari Kong is an eighteen year old girl who was adopted from China by her Chinese-American mother, Charlie, when she was an infant. Raised in the San Francisco suburbs, Ari has always suffered from a sense of displacement even though her own adoptive mother is Chinese and she doesn't look as out of place in her own family as some of her fellow adoptees who were adopted by white families. This sense of displacement drives her back to China and the orphanage from which she was adopted where she begins a self-destructive spiral. Meanwhile, her mother, Charlie, worries about her daughter and wonders where the bubbly infant she brought home from China is - their relationship is now fraught with tension and resentment. In addition to concern over her daughter, Charlie is also coping with her own mother, Gran, who came to the US from China as the privileged daughter of a doctor and was educated at Bryn Mawr. Gran is disappointed by her daughter Charlie's choice to adopt from China, especially without a husband, and doesn't hold her tongue. Three generations of Kong women in crisis and unable to understand each other.

Ari Kong is in some ways a typical teenager  - she resists her mother's involvement in her life and shows her little respect. Her issues, however, are deeper and relate to her conflicted emotions about her adoption. She is desperate to know where she really came from and the story behind how she was left on the steps of a department store. The pain of knowing she was left and potentially not loved cannot be assuaged even by the knowledge that she was wanted by her adoptive mother who traveled to China to get her and poured herself into helping her daughter assimilate and ensuring she honored her Chinese heritage.

Gran is a prickly character who prides herself on her education and privileged background and how she elevated herself above other Chinese immigrants. Her goal for her own daughters was total assimilation - she gave them American names and did not celebrate Chinese holidays. She is inexplicably disappointed to learn her own daughter is going to China to adopt a girl - a baby with no history and who may come from poor and uneducated parents. She has been hardened by her own immigrant experience and can show no compassion or support to her daughter or granddaughter. She even rebuffs her daughter for crying when she met Ari and wishes her daughter could display her own stoic reserve

Charlie is the character caught in between - she is trapped between her mother and her daughter and receives understanding from neither. She seems to be sleepwalking through life - working long hours at her job as a public defender and coming home to the strife of a teenager in crisis. Her older sister, Les, also pushes Charlie around and tries to tell her what to do. Despite adopting a child, Charlie seems to have nothing that is hers - no intimate relationship with a man, no satisfaction or respect at work, and no support from her own family - most especially her daughter Ari.

My Thoughts
This book is told from alternating views - each chapter is told from one of the Kong women's point of view. As usual with this device, it is interesting to see how each looks at the same event since their perspectives are so different and they react to things so differently. The author expertly explores issues with international adoption and the process of assimilation. It is interesting to see how the effects of immigration reverberate through the generations of Kong women and demonstrates how much we are shaped by events even when we are not conscious of the impact and how it drives our behaviors.

Throughout the book, my sympathy went to Charlie - she is epitome of the "sandwich" generation and seems to have nothing satisfying her in her own life. She lives for to others - at work and at home - and seems lost. I did want to see some strength from Charlie and got frustrated at times with her passivity and her lack of fight. The book offers a fascinating exploration of family dynamics and how we never truly escape them.

You can read other's perspectives on the book at the TLC Tour Stops

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Review: On the Rocks by Erin Duffy

On the Rocks by Erin Duffy: Abby is engaged to her college boyfriend and trying on dresses at Vera Wang in Boston's Back Bay when she learns, via a Facebook update no less, that her fiance Ben has announced that their relationship is over. Abby is reeling and slides into a depression during which she isolates herself and develops an unhealthy relationship with Ben and Jerry's. Her close friend Grace, who has her own problems in the relationship department with her boyfriend who is married and also her boss, wants to pull her friend out of the depths of despair and suggests they join a summer share in Newport. Reluctant but hopeless, Abby agrees and, with the help of the Newport sun and shore, begins to pull herself out of the hole. Will she be able to bounce back completely or will modern dating and social media continue to haunt her?

Abby and Grace are joined in Newport by their neighbors Bobby, an unemployed attorney and Wolf, a German recently arrived in the US whose forays into understanding American idioms provides welcome comic relief. Bobby takes on almost an older brother role for Abby - he tells it like it is and generally frustrates her but also looks out for her and senses she was badly hurt and needs a little help. He is determined to push Abby back into the world of dating with all its pitfalls and tries to educate her on how guys operate especially in a dating world filled with tweets, texts and Facebook status updates. Humiliated by her fiance via Facebook, Abby is understandably reluctant to engage in dating and resents how much social media has infiltrated modern dating - she yearns for a more old-fashioned courtship.

My Thoughts
This book was the perfect antidote to the winter blues (which have been particularly long this year!) - even the cover is beachy and summons memories of my own summer beach house shares. Abby is a likable character and it was heartening to watch her find her footing and get her confidence back as the book progresses. The story was told with funny, witty dialogue and you felt as if you were sitting on the couch  in Newport with Abby, Grace, Wolf and Bobby knocking back margaritas and snacking on chips.  I highly recommend this book for your beach bag this summer!

For other perspectives, check out the TLC Book Tour Stops

Review: In the Land of the Living by Austin Ratner

In the Land of the Living by Austin Ratner is about fathers,sons and brothers and their complicated relationships. The Auberon men are particularly complicated and there is a darkness to their relationships with each other. The patriarch, Isidore, loses his mother at a young age and suffers at the hand of his demanding, grieving father. He vows to escape his unhappy childhood and to be successful - he makes good on that vow when he attends Harvard and completes medical school. When he has his own two sons, Leo and Mack, Isidore hopes to give them all he never got from his own father. But he is a product of his own upbringing and has limitations which can be seen as his sons grow into young men. Leo and Mack's relationship with each other is also damaged and they try to repair it on a cross country trip. Can the youngest generation break the cycle of dysfunction inherent in this family?

 This story is told in three sections. First is Isidore's story including his difficult upbringing with a distant, difficult father and his ultimate triumph with graduation from medical school after much hard work and perseverance. There is a hopefulness to this section as we see Isidore overcome a difficult childhood and make his dreams become a reality. The second section focuses on Isidore's own family when he marries and has two sons of his own - Leo and Mack. Leo idolizes his father and respects all he had to overcome to give them the lives they have.  Unfortunately, this becomes a set-up for Leo as he hero-worships his father and can never live up to his example or standards. Leo suffers from depression and has difficulty relating to people - even his own brother, Mack. The brothers' relationship is damaged and complicated by losses they have experienced. In the third part of the story, the brothers take a road trip in a last ditch effort to repair their relationship.

My Thoughts
This dark novel is intelligently written and I often found myself reviewing passages and being impressed by the way the words had been put together. The characters, however, are not always likable and that created a distance for me as I read the book. I did cheer for Isidore and felt hopeful seeing him overcome his difficult childhood; I also felt pathos for Leo as I watched him become trapped in a dysfunctional cycle that had been imposed on him by his family. At the same time, however, Leo is a difficult character to like. This is a brilliant design by the author - he is able to make the reader feel discomfort with Leo in the same way that those around Leo in the novel feel about him. All in all, I enjoyed the excellent writing and admired how the author laid out complex family relationships and showed how dysfunction extends through the generations and can be difficult to escape.

For more reviews, please check out others on the TLC Tour .

Review: Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver is the story of Pandora Halfdonarson who is trapped between her recently obese brother and her aggressively fit, restrictive husband. Through Pandora and her navigation of these two diametrically opposed loved ones in her life, Shriver tackles the loaded and controversial topics of fat, diets, control and shame. Layered on top of obesity and its consequences, Shriver also explores the sibling relationship and attempts to answer the questions of whether someone can really be saved by another, how far the responsibility of siblings to take care of each other extends and whether blood really is thicker than water. This ambitious book constantly prompts you to think.

 Pandora Halfdonarson lives in Iowa with her husband, Fletcher, and his two teenage children from a previous marriage. Pandora had been a caterer when they met and prepared lavish meals for her then fiance. But Fletcher has taken on an almost religious discipline about eating and exercise; his meals are sparse and nutrient dense and he cycles for hours each day. Concurrent with, but ostensibly not because of, Fletcher's move towards the healthiest lifestyle, Pandora shutters her catering business and falls into a career creating custom made talking dolls for her business "Baby Monotony". Pandora's brother, Edison, is a jazz musician living in New York City but she receives a call from his friend asking Pandora if she can help out her brother by letting him come to visit. Concerned as to what may be going on, Pandora sends Edison money and tells him to book a flight. She is stunned when she meets him at the airport and sees that her brother has gained 200 pounds and is morbidly obese.

 The tension on their arrival home is almost immediate and Pandora worries about Fletcher or the children insulting her brother or reacting to his size without thinking. Everyone is repulsed by his size but he is Pandora's brother and her revulsion is tinged with sympathy and a desire to protect her brother. Pandora and Fletcher's relationship had cracks prior to Edison's arrival but having this literally larger than life character in their home coupled with all he brings along with him strain things even further. Edison cooks up large batches of chocolate chip pancakes for this household that eschews white flour; in addition to pushing food on them, his presence forces a confrontation of their feelings about excess, lack of control and indulgence. As things escalate at home, Pandora is forced to choose between her brother and husband.

My Thoughts
Fat is an important but loaded topic in society today and it is an important but loaded topic in my own life - I have struggled with weight and an eating disorder for most of my life. Having grown up in a, at times, obsessively health conscious home and even holding many of those beliefs myself despite my size, I am well-acquainted with the battle between self-loathing and indulgence that accompanies obesity.  Even during the times in my life when I have been thin, I have been obsessed with trying to maintain that and to neutralize food to a mere source of nourishment and not to imbue it with all this other meaning. Shriver expertly navigates this battle in Big Brother by placing Pandora between Edison and Fletcher. Fletcher represents the militant, "food only as fuel" camp while Edison represents the indulgent, "food as comfort" camp.  Pandora's own approach to food lies somewhere in between.  For example, here she describes her philosophy on food:

I propose: food is by nature elusive. More concept than substance, food is the idea of satisfaction, far more powerful than satisfaction itself, which is why diet can exert the sway of religion or political zealotry. Not irresistible tastiness but the very failure of food to reward if what drives us to eat more of it. The most sumptuous experience of ingestion is in-between: remembering the last bite and looking forward to the next one. The actual eating part almost doesn't happen. This near-total inability to deliver is what makes the pleasures of the table so tantalizing, and also so dangerous.

Pandora always represents the more balanced and, at times, conflicted point of view.

The relationship between Pandora and Edison is also central to this novel and, although complicated and brought to the fore by Edison's descent into "slow-motion suicide by pie", exists outside of Edison's obesity. Throughout their difficult childhood, Pandora and Edison relied on each to get through with a "ferocity of mutual clinging".

Often ashamed of tugging the children's loyalties in opposite directions, the parents fail to grasp their kids' salvation: the children's uppermost loyalty is to each other. . . . Edison and I did rat each other out from time to time, but they were isolated strategic sorties in the complex politics of the playroom about which our parents knew nothing. We used our Mom and Dad as weapons in the far more central relationship to one another. Certainly with Tanner and Cody, I tried never to forget: children know your secrets. You do not know theirs.

Sharp, intelligent writing allows challenging topics to be explored and to resonate for the reader. This book challenges you to consider your own visceral reactions to topics such as obesity and accountability to family members. You are also never completely sure where Pandora stands - there is sympathy for her brother, a desire to protect him but also disgust and frustration with his lack of control.  Although uncomfortable at times with characters I didn't always like, Big Brother is definitely on my list for Best Reads of 2013.

You can read other reviews of the book from those on the tour .

Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC for review as part of the tour. 

Review: The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank

The Last Original Wife : Leslie "Les" Carter has been married to her husband Wesley (yes, "Wes") for thirty years and they have two grown children. Wes is successful and Les has dutifully supported her husband through the years by keeping a beautiful home, preparing lovely meals and raising their children - all on a meager allowance provided by Wes. Now that Wes's two best friends have married much younger second wives, Les is the last original wife and feeling underappreaciated and somewhat dispensable.  Those feelings are confirmed when she falls down a manhole while walking in Edinburgh with her husband and he gets all the way back to hotel before realizing she is missing.  Les is at her breaking point.

Les is fuming after the incident in Edinburgh - which was only worsened by awakening in a Scottish hospital with the two girl wives leaning over her - Wes and his friends went on to play at St. Andrews once they knew that Les's injuries were not life-threatening. To add insult to her literal injuries, Les discovers that while she has been carefully living on a budget and doing without many of the luxuries the wife of a man as successful as Wes should be afforded, Wes has been sitting on a large sum of money which he has diligently been adding to with his miserly habits. Les is at a crossroads in her marriage and she flees to Charleston to spend time with her brother, Harlan.

With some distance from Wes, Les is able to consider what she really wants for heself.  She reconnects with her brother, Harlan, who Wes has always shunned and revels in the charm of her hometown, Charleston while she lives at Harlan's house.  When a childhood sweetheart starts to show Les how a man should treat a woman, Les realizes she has some tough choices to make and that "Les and Wes" may not make it for the long haul.

My Thoughts

I loved this book! Les (not unlike Caroline in Lowcountry Summer) has a spirited, snarky humor and delivers great lines. It is interesting - I think many authors would write Les as a victim, a weak woman who let a man run her life. But Les most certainly has a backbone and a fighitng spirit which you see from the beginning and it just flourishes as the book continues. I definitely sensed that Les always had a lot to offer but that Wes had dampened her spirit over the years and you see her come back slowly but surely as she takes care of herself instead of catering to everyone else.  Wes is also not a one dimensional character-  as infuriating as he could be with his cheap habits and his lack of appreciation for Les, he also saw right through the "girl wives".  When one came to him complaining about her husband, his friend, he shook his head in dismay recognizing how naive these girls were and how his friends had their hands full keeping up with their antics. It doesn't excuse some of his treatment of Les but it does humanize him and ensure he is not a mere caricature.

You will find yourself rooting for Les and laughing right along beside her as she navigates a possible exit from her marriage and a new life for herself!

You can read other reviews of this book (and some of her backlist) from those on the tour.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of this book as part of the tour.

Review: The Girl Who Married An Eagle by Tamar Myers

In The Girl Who Married An Eagle, Tamar Myers draws on her childhood lived in the Belgian Congo for this final book in her Belgian Congo series. Born to missionaries, the author lived in the Belgian Congo and that is also the setting for this book with the main character, Julie, arriving in the Congo from Ohio to start her work at the mission. While there, she leads a school for girls and meets Buakane who has recently been sold by her parents to Chief Eagle for a sum of goats and chickens - she will be the Chief's 23rd wife. Julie tries to save Buakane from this fate but that is no easy feat.

Julie is enthralled when she learns about the missions at her church in Ohio and in a step of rebelliousness, more than selflessness, she heads to the Congo. Shortly after arriving, she meets young Clementine, a precocious young girl who was born to the children on missionaries in the Congo. She is both Julie's guide to life in the village and her charge - she is soon tasked with keeping Clementine under control. Meanwhile Buakane has eavesdropped on her parent's conversation and learned that they plan to sell her to Chief Eagle for a sum of goats and chickens. Buakane is a beautiful young girl (barely a teen) and will become the 23rd wife of Chief Eagle. Some of the Chief's wives have met with terrible fortunes so Buakane is justifiably nervous about this deal struck by her parents. Furthermore, the last wife of a Chief gets buried alive with the Chief when he dies and Buakane fears she could meet that fate. The story alternates between Buakane's story and that of Clementine who we soon learn has suffered quite a bit for a young girl. The story of the Belgian Congo and the customs of colonialism and tribal culture are weaved throughout as Julie learns about her new home.

My Thoughts
Although this is the final book in the author's Belgian Congo series, it ably stands on its own.  I had not read the previous three books and did not feel like I had missed anything - I believe the setting of the Congo is what unifies the series but the characters are unique to each book. The book is billed as a mystery but I found it light on mystery. In my opinion, it is much more a cultural anthropology set in a novel. I loved reading about the Congo and the customs of the tribal culture. Novels are often my favorite way of discovering new cultures or times in history - this book is especially good in that department because, although not non-fiction, the author writes from her own personal experience so there is authenticity to her setting.

This book definitely got me thinking about the exploitation of women in some third world nations and in certain cultures. Without much of a thought, Buakane's parents sold her off to the Chief knowing that she would be buried alive with him if he died while she was still his most recent wife. By selling her, they guaranteed their own security and also Buakane's as she would be fed and cared for as the wife of the Chief. It struck me that these are the types of decisions some people must make and how those circumstances doom many women to arranged marriages where they are given few choices and even put into danger.  So, although light on mystery, this books definitely gave me something to think about and, through and enjoyable story, allowed me to learn about life in a Belgian mission in the 1950's. It was a great way to spend a long flight.

I review this book as part of the TLC Book Tour - you can see other reviews on the tour schedule.

Review: The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver

The End of the Point by Elizabeth Graver is a sweeping, multi-generational tale that chronicles the Porter family (and their staff) during their summers at Ashaunt Point on Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. The point is a magical and mythical place for this family of privilege whose wealth does not insulate them from the big troubles faced by many families - death, mental illness and infirmity or the more pedestrian troubles of sibling rivalry, parental indifference and lack of direction. The constant throughout the generations is Ashaunt Point - it has a pull, both positive and negative, on the Porter family.

The book opens with the story being told by Bea, nanny to the young Porter children, who left Scotland to come to the US shortly after her mother's death.  It is 1942 and Bea is with the Porter family for the summer at Ashaunt Point. They share their summer oasis that year with the army stationed there for the war. There is a spareness to Bea - she lives carefully and seems afraid of happiness. Whether this comes from the devastation of losing of her mother and then leaving a country she felt no longer held anything for her or from a lifetime of limited expectations is hard to tell.  She is extraordinarily devoted to the Porter's youngest child, Janie, to the point that she is willing to sacrifice her own fulfillment to continue to care for Jane. This quote sums up the way in which Bea lives without allowing herself to yearn for much:

She had long ago given up the idea of having her own child - not given up, even, just never let the desire take shape, until in its shapelessness, it evaporated, it slipped away

Following Bea, the oldest Porter daughter Helen takes over the narrative with a series of letters and diary entries from Europe and then Ashaunt where she has returned for summers as an adult with her own family. She brings the story through to the 1960's and we see the progress in the lives of the Porters. All three daughters are married with children and each returns to Ashaunt with their families to the point that the Porter's home begins to resemble a hotel. Helen (aka Hellion) is restless and has always tested those around her. She has an insatiable thirst for knowledge but this also contributes to her constant searching and seeming inability to settle. Even at Ashaunt with her own family, Helen finds solace in her childhood summer destination but is still plagued by a sense of dissatisfaction.

Finally, Helen's adult son, Charlie,  takes over the narrative and we see Ashaunt Point again during war - this time the Vietnam War. Ashaunt Point still has a tremendous hold on this family - even Charlie believes it may be the only place in which he has been truly happy. Charlie is troubled  - almost as if the minor transgressions of the Porter's in earlier generations have all accumulated in this one son. He struggles with high expectations but an inability to deliver against them. As the book concludes in the 1990's, the stories begun throughout the book are brought to conclusion, as in a crescendo.

My Thoughts
This quiet book is remarkably moving and beautifully written. Despite what I felt was a slow start, I soon became captivated by Bea's story. Her practical but almost emotionless movement through life was fascinating to me. As each section of the novel played out, I found myself inextricably connected to these characters. This is surprising because, on the surface, there is very little about them to which I can relate. The key, however, is that their lives of privilege do not insulate them from everyday concerns and the characters are drawn so detailed that I found myself recognizing their emotions and frailties as similar to my own. Definitely recommend.

You can read other reviews from those on the TLC Tour (some are even offering a giveway!).

I received a copy of this book from the publisher as part of the tour

Review: The Secret of Nightingale Palace by Dana Sachs

The Secret of the Nightingale Palace tells the story of Anna and her crusty, proper grandmother Goldie - their relationship and each of their pasts. They have had a special relationship since Anna was a young girl but have recently been estranged; Goldie is not one to hold her tongue and when she made it clear she did not feel Anna's husband was the best choice for her, Anna was deeply hurt and removed her grandmother from her life. Five years later and following the death of her husband from leukemia, Anna receives a call from Goldie asking if she will accompany her cross country from NY to San Francisco. Much to her own surprise, Anna decides to drive her grandmother cross country and the two set out on a trip where they each reveal a lot about themselves to the other but also learn a lot about themselves in the process. The reader is taken along for that ride and is treated to a bit of historical fiction in the process.

Goldie lives a well appointed life in New York City and in Palm Beach surrounded by beautiful artwork, fine meals at top restaurants and people to cater to all her needs. She seems born to this life. The truth is she was raised in Memphis, TN in a large, poor family and had to leave school in eighth grade. Her humble beginnings and an intense desire to leave them behind has driven many decisions throughout her life from her move from Memphis to San Francisco to choice of husband who eventually moved her to New York. Anna knows surprisingly little about her Grandmother's history - there have been references to how Goldie suffered as a young girl but she has been fairly circumspect about her life as a young adult in San Francisco.

In much the same way, Goldie doesn't really know her granddaughter - she especially doesn't fully appreciate Anna's suffering since the loss of her husband. She is a young widow and that is devastating but she is also haunted by the fact that she had begun to doubt whether she had made a mistake in marrying Ford before he became sick. Everyone views her as a grieving widow but she struggles with her conflicted feelings about Ford and it is a dark secret which she hides. Keeping this secret walls her off emotionally from friends and family and leaves Anna feeling misunderstood. The trip cross country with Goldie will test the wall she has built.

Much of the book is about Goldie and Anna and the book alternates between each of their stories and then their shared experience on the cross country trip. However, considering the cover and the title of the book, it seems incomplete not to mention another component of this book. While living in San Francisco, Goldie meets Mayumi, a Japanese American woman. Goldie and Mayumi become close friends and Goldie is welcomed by Mayumi's family. She is fascinated by their Japanese culture and is honored to take part in a tea ceremony with them. Mayumi and her brother, Henry, jokingly refer to their home as "Nightingale Palace" in reference to the nightingale floors in a Shogun's house which would make a noise like birds singing when people walked on the floor warning them on an intruder. Henry says:

 Mayumi and I started calling our house "The Nightingale Palace" because our parents are like that. They gave up everything to in order to leave Japan, but this beautiful life they have created here is completely focused on protecting our family, protecting our culture.

That beautiful life is shattered when the Nakamura's are moved to an internment camp during the war and the culture they have worked so hard to preserve and honor becomes a reason to strip the family of their rights and exile them.

My Thoughts
The Secret of the Nightingale Palace offers a sweeping tale with extremely well drawn characters. Goldie is especially memorable and I liked reading about her past and how it drove the many decisions she made throughout her life. Anna provides a counterpoint to Goldie - she is quiet and accommodating where Goldie is demanding and strong willed.  The Nakamura's bring the element of historical fiction to the book as the readers are transported to San Francisco during the war when Japantown was emptied and families moved into internment camps. They also introduce an immigrant theme and the feeling of being an outsider in the country in which you have chosen to live or which your parents have chosen to live. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - the characters are still with me.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher.

You can read other reviews from those on the TLC Book Tour here

Review and Giveaway: Lola's Secret by Monica McInerney

 Lola Quinlan is her family's matriarch, leader among her many friends and the glue that holds relationships together. Despite being in her 80's,  she is a force to be reckoned with within her family and her community. When her son and his wife plan to travel over Christmas and leave behind Lola in the motel they run in the Clare Valley,  Lola cooks up a plan so she will not be alone over the holiday.  In the lead up to Christmas, however, Lola also faces strained relationships within her family and a challenging addition to the committee at her charity.  Will Lola be able to pull everyone, strangers and family alike, together over the holidays and heal the cracks in their relationships?  If anyone can, it is Lola Quinlan.

Faced with spending Christmas alone, Lola decides not to close the motel as instructed by her son and his wife but to offer some rooms and a special Christmas luncheon in scenic Clare Valley.  She realizes managing the motel for ten guests will be a tall order for someone her age but she never turns down a challenge and thrives on human contact.  Ultimately, four groups book reservations at the hotel for the holiday and each is looking for refuge or healing in some way in the Clare Valley.  Meanwhile, Lola schemes to keep her plan secret from her family.

Considering the drama going on in the lives of Lola's family members, the secret is easy enough to keep.  Her two granddaughters, Bett and Carrie (first introduced in McInerney's novel Alphabet Sisters), have renewed their sibling rivalry now that they both have young children and each is insecure about their skills as a mother.  They both imagine that the other has this whole parenthood thing down and is secretly judging them.  They put Lola between them when they come to her for advice and tell their side of the story. Lola tries to help them but she also has her 12 year old great granddaughter to contend with as she struggles to accept the fact the her Dad is dating again following her mother's death. As only a wise great grandmother can, Lola tries to convince the girl to accept the changes in her Dad's life. To top it all off, Lola is dealing with a bossy new committee woman at the charity.  This woman has swooped in and taken over the annual window display for the charity store and has turned it into a dramatic, but unappealing, scene. Lola certainly has her share of battles on hand.

My Thoughts
Lola's Secret introduces us to feisty Lola and the wide cast of characters within her family and community. Lola is the type of woman we all wish we had in our own communities and families and is key to the success of this novel.  With so many characters, Lola is really the only character that gets developed so fully and she therefore is the spotlight of the novel.  In this way, the book reminds me of Maeve Binchy's novels - there is generally a strong main character around which the entire book is built.  The result is a novel in which the community becomes a character itself and charms the reader - that is exactly what happened with Lola's Secret.

My one quibble with the book is that there were a few plot lines that were never fully developed; for example, the beginning of the book spent time introducing us to the four groups planning to come to Clare Valley as part of Lola's scheme.  They each had their own interesting backstory and I wanted to see those stories come to fruition.  Instead, we were off to deal with Lola's family dramas and her issues at the charity shop. There could have been two novels - one that fully developed the four story lines of the guests and a second one focused on Lola and her family.

I was saddened to learn of Maeve Binchy's death earlier this year especially since I have always relied on her books as my comfort reads. I am thrilled to have discovered Monica McInerney because if Lola's Secret is any indication, I will be relying on her for my comfort reads!

I reviewed this book as part of the TLC Book Tour. You see more reviews at the other tour stops:

Monday, October 15th:  Adventures of an Intrepid Reader

Wednesday, October 17th:  Seaside Book Nook

Thursday, October 18th:  Mom in Love with Fiction

Monday, October 22nd:  BookNAround

Wednesday, October 24th:  Silver & Grace

Thursday, October 25th:  Books in the City

Monday, October 29th:  Peppermint Ph.D.

Tuesday, October 30th:  Reviews from the Heart

Thursday, November 1st:  Colloquium

Monday, November 5th:  A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, November 6th:  Bookfoolery and Babble

Wednesday, November 7th:  Amused by Books

Thursday, November 8th:  Suko’s Notebook

Monday, November 12th:  Fiction State of Mind

Wednesday, November 14th:  Life in Review

Friday, November 16th:  Books and Movies

Thanks to the publisher and TLC Book Tours I have one copy of this book to offer as a giveaway.  To be entered, please leave a comment below telling me what book is your "comfort read" and a way to contact you.  Giveaway will close on Thursday November 1st.


I received an e-galley for review as part of the TLC Book Tour

Review: The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam

The Good Muslim by Tahmima Anam is set in Bangladesh both in the years immediately following the Bangladesh Liberation War and ten years later.  In that span of time, we see the evolution of this nation as it copes with the aftermath of the war and its effect on its citizens.  We see that evolution primarily through the story of Maya and Sohail - a brother and sister whose lives take divergent paths following the war which parallel the divide in Bangladesh.  When they reunite ten years later, can they reconcile their beliefs for the sake of their family and remember what bound them together growing up?

Maya Haque is a doctor living in the countryside where she cares for women who wouldn't have access to healthcare if it were not for her service to this rural community. She takes a special satisfaction in caring for these women and even seems to be paying some penance with this service. She leaves the countryside, however, to return to city in which she grew up and where her mother and brother, Sohail still live.  She fled the city following the war and has since been estranged from her brother. After she returns seven years later, Maya's mother faces a health crisis and the specter of losing her mother moves Maya to question beliefs she has held to vehemently over the years:

And she thought about what Ammoo was asking for, a prayer once a day, at dusk, that holy hour. She thought about giving in, and wished somehow she had done it long ago, surrendered to the practicality of religion. If she chose it now, it would be a hollow bargain, shallow and insubstantial. No God she could respect would enter into such a pact, knowing the believer knocking at the door wanted nothing more than a genie, a single wish and that even if this wish were to be accompanied by a deeper longing, there was no saying if she would ever keep her promises.

Sohail Haque was a solider in the Liberation War and, like his sister Maya, was a revolutionary who wanted independence for Bangaldesh (then East Pakistan). Like many that have gone to war, Sohail saw the unspeakable during the war and has difficulty living with the memories of acts he himself committed.  He returns to his sister and mother changed  - the once easy-going and vibrant Sohail is now withdrawn and unreachable. He begins to move toward religion going up to the roof of their house to preach and then marries a fundamentalist and seals his commitment to his new life by burning all his books. Maya is appalled at the change she observes in her brother and cannot understand his transformation - she flees the city and doesn't return for seven years.  When she comes back, Sohail is a religious leader and has a young son, Zaid.

My thoughts
I found this book fascinating - the exploration of the impact of religious fundamentalism on Bangladesh and on the relationship between brother and sister coupled with the fact that I knew little about Bangladesh or its history kept me interested throughout. I have a brother and I felt for Maya as she struggled with the loss of the brother she knew growing up and the feeling that he had chosen religious fundamentalism over her. At the same time, there is a sanctimony to Maya's insistence that her brother has chosen the wrong path and her inability to compromise further drives her apart from her brother. As strong as her brother's beliefs may be, Maya's belief that she is right is just as strong and she pays a price and sacrifices happiness to hold onto this belief.  She is angered by her brother's rigidity and yet she is also closed-minded.

My one quibble with the book was that there were many references to customs and/or Bangladeshi words without explanation - I think providing some explanation would have added to the richness of the novel and enabled me to immerse myself more in the novel. Despite that, however, I loved the story of Maya and Sohail and their very different struggles with ideology and religion gave me much to consider.

I am a participant in the TLC Book Tour for The Good Muslim and you can read reviews of the book from others on the tour here.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher as part of the tour

Review: Lucky Child by Loung Ung

Loung Ung lived in Cambodia with her family. When the Khmer Rouge assumed control of the country in the seventies, much of her family were brutally murdered. Ung recounts that period of her life in First They Killed My Father; Lucky Child continues with the story of her immigration to the United States at the age of ten and her journey back to Cambodia for the sister she left behind. This memoir poignantly captures the immigrant experience of Luong but it also speaks to the power of a sibling connection and how it drives Luong back to a place where she had suffered so much.

The memoir opens with Loung’s arrival in Vermont from Cambodia with her brother and sister in law. We learn that they have left behind family members including their sister Chou because there wasn’t enough money to take everyone - as the youngest, Loung is selected as the “lucky child”. There is a heart wrenching parting scene as Loung leaves her village to travel to the US and is literally pulled away from her last surviving sister and clings on to her until their hands no longer touch. The absence of the touch of her sister’s hand and the guilt over being the chosen one will haunt Loung as she settles into her life in Vermont.

The Ungs face typical immigrant challenges as they settle into their new lives. Even as their plane from Cambodia descends to the airport, Loung’s sister in law insists she put on a clean new shirt so she doesn’t look “off the boat”. Before even setting foot on foreign soil, the Ung’s are aware of their otherness and strive to minimize and conceal it. Of course, their immigrant story is heightened by all they have left behind and the memories that haunt them- I can’t imagine bearing the insults which are often part of assimilation while also mourning the loss of so many family members. Loung and her brother Meng are not only alone in the United States but truly alone in the world after the deaths of  their siblings and parents.

In many ways, their sister Chou is equally alone in Cambodia. As the chapters alternate between Luong’s new life in the United States with Chou’s in Cambodia, a contrast is drawn between their lives but there is also an interesting parallel.  This juxtaposition serves as a reminder of no matter the struggles faced by immigrants, often the life they have left behind is even more difficult. As Loung faces the sting of shame when she uses food stamps, Chou struggles to have enough rice for each meal. Chou is surrounded by the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime including all the suffering of a people in a land that has been systematically decimated. Luong is constantly haunted by the memories of what she witnessed while in Cambodia and the loss of those closest to her.

Lucky Child is very readable, despite the sometimes difficult subject matter, and I had to remind myself several times that this was a memoir and not a work of fiction. Luong tells her story with such honesty but also without sentimentality. She frankly recounts her experiences without a trace of self-pity. This very straightforward style adds to the power of the book. In Lucky Child, Loung bears witness to the aftermath of the horror of the genocide in Cambodia and in doing so ensures the atrocities are not forgotten.

Lucky Child is the second book by Loung Ung - her third book, Lulu in the Sky picks up where Lucky Child leaves off and recounts her move into adulthood. You can see reviews of all of Ung's books by checking out the other stops on the TLC Book Tour. 

Review and Giveaway: The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller

The Year of the Gadfly by Jennifer Miller is an interesting combination of coming of age and psychological thriller. The novel equally balances episodes of high school angst with a gripping mystery that keeps the pages turning - in fact, I was gripped from the first pages and couldn’t put this one down.

The book opens with the arrival of the Duponts in Nye, Massachusetts where fourteen year old Iris will start school at the prestigious Mariana Academy. Iris is precocious with a keen interest in journalism - so keen that she travels to school with a briefcase and carries on conversations with the deceased Edward R. Murrow. Upon arriving at Mariana, Iris is looking for a “big story” which she can break in the school’s newspaper. She doesn’t have to look far - the school’s Prisom Party offers plenty of potential intrigue and Iris sets about learning everything she can about the storied academy and its secret society.

In addition to Iris’s point of view, the story is also told from the point of view of two past students. Lily Morgan is the daughter of the headmaster who left the school under interesting circumstances in 2000. Jonah Kaplan attended Mariana at the same time as Lily and is now back at the academy as a biology teacher (Iris is one of his students). The Mariana Academy and their role in its murky history connects all three narrators and they each reveal another piece of the many mysteries which underlie this novel.

As with many books set in high school, Year of the Gadfly explores the science of fitting in and the devastating results when one does not fit in. The children at Mariana Academy are under intense pressure to succeed at the competitive prep school. Perhaps that brings out the worst in these students because they seem inordinately cruel to each other and the secret society plays a special role in the bullying perpetrated by the student body. The scenes in which students are blatantly left out are expertly written - I could feel the sting of rejection just reading them.

The Year of the Gadfly is ambitious - it combines coming of age with psychological thriller and includes three narrators recounting two distinct periods in the Mariana Academy history. Toss in the eccentric Iris who speaks to the smoking apparition of Edward R. Murrow and you have a book with the potential to be disjointed or bizarre. However, it is a credit to the author that the book is cohesive with each scene and sentence sitting well together and adding to the story. This is a gripping novel which gives the reader much to consider - I think about these characters and the storied Mariana Academy.

 I read this book as part of the TLC Book Tour for the novel - you can see more reviews from others on the tour at the book's page on TLC.

Giveaway
I am pleased to have one copy of this novel to giveaway - please leave a comment below with a way to contact you for your chance to win. Winners will be selected next Monday, May 21st. US and Canada only, please.

Book Review: First You Try Everything by Jane McCafferty

In First You Try Everything we look inside the marriage of Ben and Evvie and see a deteriorated union in which Ben and Evvie have grown apart even though Evvie is now clinging desperately to their marriage. Despite all signs to the contrary, Evvie believes their marriage is salvageable and she is determined to do everything in her power to hold on to Ben. But their marriage is built on an unsteady foundation - both Ben and Evvie come from troubled childhoods and are somewhat broken - the resulting cracks begin to show themselves as their marriage unravels. Evvie pushes herself and Ben to dangerous lengths in trying to save their marriage - "First You Try Everything" goes way beyond how most couples endeavor to save their marriage.

Evvie and Ben met in college and married young - their early relationship is marked by their need to be together to the exclusion of others. They are one of those couples with only eyes for each other to the point where they are isolated from friends and family - they only need each other. Perhaps their difficult childhoods draw them together and drive them to seek solace in each other. Both Evvie and Ben are passionate about their ideals as a young married couple. Ben eschews the tyranny of a 9-5 job and corporate attire while Evvie protests the mistreatment of animals and refuses to eat meat.

When we meet them at the beginning of the book, however, they are a couple in middle age who have been through the trials of life including a struggle with infertility. Ben has definitely grown away from his ideal young self and finds he is drawn to convention, even energized by being part of the hustle and bustle of rush hour enroute to work in his suit. He is frustrated by the fact that Evvie clings to him and in his eyes, she has evolved little since their early days together. Meanwhile, Evvie is relatively unchanged and her passion and idealism has even taken on a tinge of obsession. She seems to hang onto her old self very desperately and the more Ben pulls away the more Evvie tries to reclaim who she was and what they had. Evvie is unraveling and her judgement is clearly compromised.  

My Thoughts
At the start of this book, I was unsure about it - I had trouble relating to Ben and Evvie and their entire lives, from the dull gray of the Pittsburgh sky to their ordinary, unhappy lives, seemed grim. But as the story progressed, told alternately from Ben and Evvie's perspectives, I became drawn in by their complex, flawed characters. The author does an excellent job of building these characters from their troubled childhoods to their complicated adulthood so that although I really couldn't relate to them I did become fascinated by them. Both Evvie and Ben are flawed and I found there was no obvious "bad guy" in this relationship - despite Evvie's becoming unhinged, Ben tempers his frustration with compassion. In much the same way, Evvie tries to understand Ben's distance. In addition to the character development, the writing is beautiful and I found myself struck by many passages. If you are looking for a psychological journey into a marriage with a complex husband and wife, I recommend this novel.

I reviewed this book as part of TLC Tours - you can check out the reviews of others on the tour here. The book seems to have elicited strong reactions so I encourage you to check out the reviews!

 I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review

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.