Review: I Remember You by Harriet Evans

I Remember You by Harriet Evans centers on Adam and Tess who grew up together in the small English town of Langford.  They were very close growing up and everyone in the town imagined that they would become a couple as adults.  As they moved into adolescence, they made good on those expectations and romance began between the two young residents of Langford.  However, Tess ultimately flees Langford to pursue her education at University and settles into life in London while Adam stays in Langford and deals with the sudden death of his mother.

As the books begins, however, Tess returns to Langford looking for a break from city life and trying to recapture some of the joy of living in a small town which she remembers from her childhood. She takes a job at the local university teaching classics and settles into the slow pace of the local country life.  Local country life, however, begins to lose some of its patina as Tess deals with limited social options, nosy neighbors and few of the conveniences to which she had become accustomed in London. 

While Tess tries to adjust to life in Langford, Adam is muddling through in almost exactly the same place Tess left him years earlier.  He has never left Langford and seems stuck.  Adam and Tess have a number of near misses in the relationship departments after Tess returns - they clearly care about each other but they are both ambivalent about getting back together.  When Tess takes her classics class to Rome for a week and is swept off her feet by an American journalist living in Rome, things turn upside down for her and Adam. While she falls for the American journalist, heretofore hidden parts of Adam's past are discovered which have both she and Adam questioning what they thought they knew about the past.

My Thoughts
This is my first novel by Harriet Evans and I have seen many of her books reviewed around the blogs.  I am a big fan of Brit Chick Lit; this book fits that bill perfectly and I did enjoy it but there were elements of it that did not sit well with me.  There were scenes and plot lines that didn't seem to serve any real purpose and even characters (Francesca comes to mind) where I was unsure why they were even in the book.  This may have been what contributed to my feeling that the book was about 100 pages too long - I think the book would have hung together much better after editing out some unnecessary scenes.  Because what was left, was very good - the main characters were well-developed and the main storyline was engaging.   I will definitely try other books by this author because she has such a strong following, especially by readers whose opinions I trust.

For other reviews  (some of whom really liked the book) of I Remember You check out:
Write Meg
S. Krishna
Scribbles

Thank you to Tricia from Media Muscle for providing this book for review.

Challenge Completed: Typically British Reading Challenge

Typically British Reading Challenge (2010)

was hosted by Book Chick City and had four cleverly named levels :

 

• "Put The Kettle On" – Read 2 Typically British novels.
• "Gordon Bennett" – Read 4 Typically British novels.
• "Bob's Your Uncle" – Read 6 Typically British novels.
• "Cream Crackered" – Read 8 Typically British novels

 

 

I joined at the "Gordon Bennett" level but ended up reading 6 books so I guess I met the "Bob's Your Uncle" level.  Here is what I read for the challenge (w/ links to the reviews):

Rowan  Coleman - Home for Broken Hearts
Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl
Preethi Nair - Colour of Love
Elizabeth Noble - Reading Group 
Elizabeth Noble - The Girl Next Door

Jane Green - Promises to Keep

I will definitely be joining this challenge in 2011 - it is now hosted by  The Bookette and is called BBC (British Books Challenge).

Review: The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Last year, there was quite a bit written about author Jonathan Franzen, from the Time Magazine cover  hailing him as "the Great American Novelist" to backlash about the praise he received from literary lions such as the New York Times as compared to that given to his female author counterparts.  I read all this, including praise for his newest book, Freedom: A Novel, knowing that it was time to finally read The Corrections: A Novel which had languished on my shelves for years (I had the Oprah hardback edition - it was that old!)

Where to begin?  I always find it hardest to review the books I like the most and that is certainly the case with The Corrections: A Novel.  The book is at once insightful, sardonic, and humorous - and the writing is above reproach.  It seems each word is carefully selected and the result is intelligent, impactful prose.  However, at the same time, the writing is accessible which makes the 500+ page book move quickly.

The characters, and the readers' ability to invest in them, also makes the large book move quickly.  At the center of this novel is the mid-western Lambert family in all their dysfunctional glory.  The family is headed by Alfred, a retired engineer now trying to deny his progressive symptoms of Parkinson's and his wife, Enid who worries about everything and everyone in their family and seems haunted by what she has given up over the years for her family.  The Lambert's have three children: Gary, the eldest, has moved East and is brow-beaten by his wife and children; Denise has a successful career as a chef at a the trendy restaurant Generator but her lovelife is less than successful as she dates married men or men with whom she has no future; Chip is a professor who gets fired from his job for sexual indiscretions with an undergrad and seems to be completely floundering when we first meet him.   

Obviously, they each have their own complicated lives and issues but when you put them all together including all the transgressions they have committed against each other over the years, you get emotionally charged scenes escalating towards the Christmas that Enid insists they will all spend together.  I think everyone can relate on some level to the dysfunction seen in the Lambert family - if not to the extreme seen in some of the family members, there are elements which are very resonant for most of us - and therein lies the success of this book.  Many adult children can relate to Denise's reaction to a visit to her parent's home:

On her second day in St. Jude, as on the second day of every visit, she woke up angry.  The anger was an autonomous neurochemical event; no stopping it.  At breakfast, she was tortured by every word her mother said.  Browning the ribs and soaking the sauerkraut according to ancestral custom rather than the modern style she had developed at the Generator, made her angry . . . The hundred-and-one refrigerator magnets, puppy-dog sentimental in their iconography and so feeble in their pull that you could scarcely open the door without sending a snapshot of Jonah or a postcard of Vienna swooping to the floor, filled her with rage. 

What I found so smart about this passage is that Denise's fury appears on the second day - after all, she loves her parents and wants to have a successful visit but then is just overwhelmed by frustrations and begins to repeat patterns from her childhood.  The book is filled with loaded family interactions and Franzen expertly sets up each scene.

I found reading The Corrections: A Novel to be a thoroughly satisfying experience and I will certainly be reading Freedom: A Novel  - what I have learned from this experience is that sometimes hype is justified!

Have you or will you be reading either book?

Challenge Completed: What's In A Name 3

What's in A Name 3:
What's In A Name 3 was hosted by Beth Fish Reads and required that you read one book from each of the categories below (I have linked to the review of the book I used to satisfy each category)

1. A book with a food in the title: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
2. A book with a body of water in the title: Eternal on the Water
3. A book with a title (queen, president) in the title: Queen of Babble in the Big City
4. A book with a plant in the title: Magnolia Wednesdays
5. A book with a place name (city, country) in the title: Brooklyn
6. A book with a music term in the title: The Piano Teacher

This challenge was truly a challenge - while it seemed quite easy at first, it was actually a challenge to fit in books from each category along with my other reading obligations.  But I like the variety of books I read for this challenge and  had fun matching books with their categories. Beth Fish Reads is hosting What's In A Name 4 for 2011 which is based on the same concept but has different categories.  I am definitely signing up and am looking forward to rising to the challenge again!

Review: Promises to Keep by Jane Green

Promises to Keep: A Novel by Jane Green centers around the story of two sisters, Callie and Steffi, and a summer that will change both of their lives and those around them.   Callie and Steffi and quite different from each other - Callie is a wife and a mother to two children while Steffi is a free -spirited chef who has bounced between jobs and relationships wantonly.  Despite their differences, the love and affection they have for each other is obvious from the start.  They are joined by a cast of characters which includes their friend Lila, the love interests of Lila and Steffi, Callie's husband and Callie and Steffi's parents. 

Callie lives in the suburbs of New York City and seems to have it all - the perfect husband, children and a job as a talented photographer.  She is unfailingly optimistic and good-natured; these traits will hold her in good stead as her perfect life is up-ended.  Steffi decides to try a move to the country for a pet-sitting job (there is a love interest involved there too!) and it brings her closer to her sister.  I really enjoyed reading about Steffi's attempts to integrate into life in the country - the slower pace, the friendliness of virtual strangers and the total quiet.  Of course, she struggles but she is ready for a change and this opportunity arrives at the perfect time - in more ways than one. 

Callie enjoys having her sister live closer and seems to even live a little vicariously through her and she dates a new love interest in the country.  When Callie's life is turned upside down shortly after her 40th birthday, she is even more grateful for her sister's recent decision to move closer to her.  Everyone, including Lila and their parents, rally around Callie and an important message about the ability to support each other but also to learn to rely on others is delivered.

I am a big fan of Jane Green's books and have enjoyed seeing them evolve over the years from stories of young singleton's to those of mothers and women in their 30's and 40's.  This book is definitely not as light as some of her earlier novels - it deals with serious topics and you care about the characters so it is difficult to see bad things happen to them.  Despite that, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and longed to spend more time with the characters when the book was finished! 

Audiobook Review: The Piano Teacher by Janice Y.K. Lee

The Piano Teacher: A Novel by Janice Y.K. Lee is set in Hong Kong in the 1950's.  As the story opens, we meet the piano teacher - Claire Pendleton - who has recently moved to Hong Kong with her husband Martin.  Looking for a way to keep busy and distract herself from her unhappy marriage, Claire begins providing private piano lessons to Locket Chen, daughter of Victor and Melody Chen. Claire begins an affair with the Chen's driver, Will Truesdale.  Claire knows Will has a mysterious past but only learns the extent of it as his full story is unfolded.

The novel alternates between Hong Kong in the 1950's  - essentially Claire and Will's story - and Hong Kong during and just before WWII.  The real focus of the story is this period with Claire and Will's story essentially becoming a vehicle through which the story of Hong Kong during the Japanese invasion is told.  In addition to learning the atrocities committed by the Japanese during the war, we learn about Will's relationship with Trudy Liang, daughter of Shanghai millionaire and a Portuguese beauty.  Trudy is a beauty herself and immediately captivates Will with her zest for life and her bubbly personality.  The two enjoy the glamor of pre-war Hong Kong attending fabulous parties and generally living the high life.  This high life, however, is not devoid of the class discrimination that marks colonialism.  Many of the British living in Hong Kong look down on Trudy because she is "mixed" with an Asian father and European mother. 

At times, Trudy seems superficial and just a "good time girl" but as the novel progresses, Trudy reveals more and more of herself.  For example:

I've always known, my love, that I was a chameleon.  I was a terrible daughter because my father let me be one . . . And I was a good daughter when my mother was around.  Because she couldn't imagine anything else.  And then when I was older, I was a different person each year depending on who I was with.  If I was with a scoundrel, then I would be the type of woman that would be with a scoundrel.  If I was with an artist, then I became a muse.  And when I was with you, I was, for the first time, I'm sure people have told you, a decent human being . . . But now circumstances have changed and I have reverted back to form and become a woman who is with somebody because it suits her situation and for no other reason than that simple and venal one.   

There is something sad about a woman who feels she must constantly adjust herself to the expectations of those around her to the point that she hardly knows herself.  I found Trudy to be the most fascinating character in this book - especially since I alternated between pitying and hating her.  Her character is very layered and the author gradually divulges more and more about her as the story progresses. Trudy and Will form the center of this story with each of the other characters playing a supporting role but there are interesting twists with the other characters as their lives intersect throughout the novel. 

This novel is beautifully written and haunting - I found myself thinking about the characters but especially about the atrocities committed during the war long after I finished the book.  I listened to the audiobook version narrated by Orlagh Cassidy.  Cassidy is an excellent narrator and made the book easy to listen to and let the beautiful prose shine through.

Christmas in January?

No, I have not abandoned my blog but I can't blame people for thinking I might considering I have not posted since Dec 19th!  The holidays and travel intervened and my best laid plans for scheduled posts, etc fell victim to too little time and connectivity issues while in Thailand.  But  - I am in Bangkok now with a good internet connection so on with the posts!

First up is a post about my Holiday Swap Secret Santa present - it arrived just before I left and I was floored by the thoughtfulness of my Santa in selecting books for me.  My secret Santa - Charlotte from Charlotte's Library - sent me too lovely books both of which have been on my TBR list.  The books were beautifully wrapped (the picture only shows the green ribbon which wrapped the packages since I tore into the wrapping before taking a photo!) and accompanied by a card. 

Charlotte selected for me -


Chosen: A Novel by Chandra Hoffman
The Pleasure Seekers: A Novel by Tishani Doshi

To further complete the book blogger circle, both of these books are ones I selected for my TBR based on recommendations by other bloggers!

Charlotte's blog focuses on science fiction and fantasy books for children - please stop by and visit her blog - I especially like her Sunday Round-Up  posts because they provide a nice summary of reviews in this genre from across the blogosphere.  

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and all the best for 2011!