Review: The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman

On the day Saphora plans to leave her husband, he comes home and announces he has terminal cancer. He has only a short time to live, and wants to go to the very same beach house Saphora was planning to retreat to, in order to be treated and prepare to die.

Feeling a bit trapped into this, Saphora heads there with him and their grandson, Eddie, since their son doesn't have anyone to take care of him. Almost immediately upon arriving, they meet a young boy Eddie's age who is a bit of an old soul and immediately charms them. With family coming in and out, surgery and treatment for Bender, Saphora finds herself examining her life and her relationships.

Okay here's the truth. Any synopsis I write of this book cannot possibly do justice to just how beautifully written and deeply introspective it is. I read that synopsis and think it sounds like nothing special, but in truth, this is a very special book.

Hickman is a fantastic and literary writer, and this is a very deep examination of the soul of Saphora. Hickman knows this character fully and so does the reader as the book progresses. Saphora is unflinching in her honesty. Even as her husband is dying of cancer she resents him and this turn her life has taken. She's had years to feel like nothing more than a trophy wife and now her own personal plans have been thwarted again. At the same point in time, she longs to bring some reconciliation to their relationship in these end days. Every character is so well drawn--the family love and tension is so well realized on the page. Saphora has very frank thoughts about her adult children and where they have succeeded and failed.

And then there's Tobias. Tobias is the young boy they meet on the beach. To avoid spoilers I won't say too much about his condition, but he has one and I love everything about his struggle is portrayed. It's a wonderful way of emphasizing and enforcing the gorgeous theme of this book.

The Pirate Queen is published by a Christian publisher, and I fear that's going to scare some people off. And while there is a spiritual thread it's so well done, so real without ever being preachy, it's everything I ever hope to discover in the best of faith based fiction. It's authentic, beautiful, and offers hope. But it deserves to be discovered by a wide audience, and not confined by genre and market expectations it's just that good.

The Pirate Queen is a stunning story about living fully present in your life, and unearthing the treasures that exist around you everyday in the people you know and in yourself. Never sentimental, never cliched, and never despairing, it epitomizes what I long for in fiction. I laughed, I cried, I went along on the journey--to the low points and the sweet hopeful conclusion. I just can't believe I've waited this long to read anything by Patricia Hickman, but how wonderful to discover she has an extensive backlist for me to discover.

Rating: 5/5
Source of Book: Review copy from publisher
Publisher: WaterBrook Press (Random House)

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Review: A Stranger Like You by Elizabeth Brundage

It isn't until you're in your car that you begin to cry and you hate your tears, you resent the ease with you've come undone. It is so definitively female --and yet it may be the essence of your strength, you just don't feel it now. Your colleagues always seem to bring the attention back to you, suggesting that your criticism is a consequence of some personal problem. They interpret the things you say as if you are speaking a different dialect of the same language--the subtle differences of inflection seem to weaken your position and they can easily rationalize and discount your opinions. It is, you admit, a sophisticated form of passive aggression.

One of the things I'm interested in doing as part of my slow down in reading is examining the books I'm excited about and figuring out which authors I'll continue to seek out new releases by. I want to return as much as possible, to the kind of reader I was before I got caught up in new releases. I want to be able to follow the whims of devouring a backlist or buying an author's book the minute it releases. So with each book I read, I'm really making a bigger judgement call...is this the kind of book I want to keep reading?

I was very excited earlier this year to hear that Elizabeth Brundage had a new book coming out. Somebody Else's Daughter was the kind of thought provoking read I cherish most, one that isn't afraid to expose the darker side of humanity and examines character motivations and actions. Additionally, her prose is delightful, every word precise.

A Stranger Like You is this same sort of novel, one that continues to examine the way women are depicted in media and what sort of consequences that has in daily life. It's the story of Hugh a failed screenwriter who goes to L.A. to confront the woman responsible for seeing his script get cancelled from production. He is curious about her and he also wishes for her to know the extent of his agony. We spend a lot of time in Hugh's head and it's fascinating. He's sexually confused, unhappy in work and life, but not without moments of compassion. He's clearly a psychopath but he doesn't seem to have any grasp at all on just how damaged he is. He pays Hedda Chase (the producer who cancelled his script) a visit and things take a turn for the very nasty.

The book is divided into five sections and I have to say when I started the second section and it was in second person point of view, I almost set the book down. Second person is extremely difficult for me to read, but as a testament to Brundage's writing, I soon failed to notice. It was that masterful and I felt like I plunged deeply inside of Hedda's head and heart. I would even say that upon finishing the book, these second person POV sections were my favorite.

This is one of those novels where all the characters lives end up intersecting in some way. The third main character is that of Denny, a veteran from the Iraqi war who was shot and sent home. His spirit is in many ways crushed, he suffers from the agony of remembering war and seeking purpose in the dull life after. He's tormented by the memories of the things he's seen and the things he's done. And some of the things he did were pretty bad, and yet, I felt a tremendous amount of sympathy for him.

I really liked reading A Stranger Like You, the characterization was rich and the ideas that were explored were troubling and timely. The novel takes place in Los Angeles and I'm finding that I really enjoy these books set in a sort of darker L.A. that expose the seedier side of the city. I was fascinated by the internal struggle Hedda faced between producing art and making money and one of my favorite scenes in the book is when she confronts her male coworkers about their ideas of what is sexy to a woman. (i.e. not sex where a woman's head is getting bashed against a concrete wall) There are no answers in A Stranger Like You, but there are certainly timely questions, sharp observations, and great writing. I will, without a doubt, continue to read every book Elizabeth Brundage writes.



Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Profanity, Sex, Violence
Source of Book: Review copy received from publisher
Publisher: Viking Penguin

Review: Come Sunday by Isla Morley

Abbe is a minister's wife in Hawaii, living with her husband and three year old daughter. She is somewhat exasperated by her life, having little patience for the way things go day to day. Then one fateful day, her daughter is killed and it sends her reeling. Plunged into the depths of grief and depression, Abbe must begin to make choices about what she wants her life to look like.

I have to say that this book was hard for me to read, because I disliked Abbe intensely. She was extraordinarily selfish, and I don't think it was all owing to the death of her daughter. She was very self-centered even before that. Her husband, Greg, actually came off very well and yet she treated him like absolute crap. I really don't think anyone could ask for much more love or support than Greg gave her.

Another issue was that this book was pitched to me as exploration of faith and even though Greg is a minister, and the book is divided up by the liturgical year, Abbe had no actual faith herself. It seems she didn't have faith before the death of Cleo, her daughter, but it was definitely gone after that. Her attitude towards faith and people of faith was not very generous. This would be an instance where expectation damaged the reading experience, because I probably wouldn't have minded had I not been expecting something else.

Having said all of that, while this was not a pleasurable read, it was certainly thought provoking in some ways. One of the underlying themes of the book deals with narrative and how we choose the stories we tell ourselves and also how we choose the stories we tell out of our lives. Abbe's story of grief is combined with the story of her mother and how she viewed it one way, how that impacted her life, and later she learned more information that helped her choose to shape her life in a different way.

The extent in which I disliked Abbe made me think about how sometimes I am grateful we don't fully know the inner lives of others. Abbe does come around and this book ends with hope and really rather beautifully. It's just such a messy arduous journey to get there. A lot like life, yes.

The character of Greg is worth a second of examination since I always enjoy seeing how the clergy is depicted in books. As I said before, I thought he was a great guy. I think there must have been some baggage that isn't fully brought into the story, but for the most part, he seemed like a nice guy--a good husband and father. I think his downfall is that he spent a lot of time at the church. I liked him a lot, and I think his depiction was fair. His sermon on faith written after Cleo's death is one of the lovelist things in the book.

Overall, this is a dark novel in many ways, full of grief and depression, the writing is good, though, and the themes are thought provoking enough that it's worth a read if this is your kind of thing. But if you really want a good book about a pastor's wife, I recommend This Fine Life by Eva Marie Everson.

Rating: 4/5
Things You Might Want to Know: profanity
Source of Book: Received for a blog tour from the publisher
Publisher: Picador

Review: My Wife's Affair by Nancy Woodruff

Peter and Georgie move to London from New Jersey when Peter gets a good job offer. The move makes sense from a financial standpoint but it's also a chance for Georgie to get a new life in ways. She's been miserable as a stay-at-home to their three sons and misses her life as an actress. Shortly after they move to London, she seeks out a job in theater and comes upon a production she falls in love with. She works hard to make herself worthy of the part and eventually lands it.

My Wife's Affair is told from Peter's viewpoint but is truly the story of Georgie. It's the story of how she finds her greatest happiness in theater but misses her children when she's away from them. It's, obviously, the story of her affair a quick impetuous decision that wreaks chaos on the life of her family.

It's told in a very unique format, alternating between Peter's voice and the script of the one-woman play Georgie is acting in through Dora Jordan's voice. Jordan's voice mirrors Georgie's own and Georgie makes her character's life her own in many ways.

I enjoyed My Wife's Affair and easily read it an afternoon. I found Georgie's conflict between her passion for her career and her deep love for her children to be the most interesting part of the book as I think it's something many women struggle with. I can't say I loved the way Georgie dealt with it, but it's interesting nonetheless.

All in all a different sort of book!

Rating: 4/5
Things You Might Want to Know: There's profanity and explict sex
Source of Book: Received from publisher for Review
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books Putnam (Penguin)

Review: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann

I know already that I will return to this day whenever I want to. I can bid it alive. Preserve it. There is a still point where the present, the now, winds around itself and nothing is tangled. The river is not where it begins or ends, but right in the middle point, anchored by what has happened and what is to arrive. You can close your eyes and there will be a light snow falling in New York, and seconds later you are sunning upon a rock in Zacapa, and seconds later still you are surfing through the Bronx on the strength of your own desire. There is no way to find a word to fit around this feeling. Words resist it. Words give it a pattern it does not own. Words put it in time. They freeze what cannot be stopped.

Reading Let the Great World Spin, it was not hard for me to see why it won the National Book Award. The structure and thematic elements are brilliantly done. I could feel the pulse and energy of New York as I read, the juxtaposition of the tight rope walker Phillipe Petit suspended above time, while the city beneath him seethed with the anguish and struggles of the everyday life of its citizens.

Let the Great World Spin is not the story of any one person, but it's the story of a city, of lives intersecting through time. It's told at times in first person, at times in third person. Sometimes it's the story of a Irish monk living in the middle of the city's most desperate citizens facing his own "wounded faith" his own struggle with God. Sometimes it's about the guilt of a bad decision, or the war mother who has lost her child forever. All the while, it's also the story of a city at one point in time.

This is not light reading, it's quite heavy and at times it felt like a fair bit of work to get through. There were moments of sheer beauty in the writing...not beauty in the lyrical way, but rather in the way truth reaches out and grabs you while you read, almost leaving you breathless. I certainly felt great affection for some of the characters and less interested in others, which I suppose, is the risk of a book like this.

This book is about time, about how events exist both wholly in and of themselves but also that they have a beginning and an end. Each moment in time has steps that lead there, and this is illustrated in the walk across the wire. And yet, at times, even though we each play characters in each other's stories, there are times we feel as lonely as a man on a wire above a world that is spinning.

Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Quite a bit of profanity, and some sex
Source of Book: Received from publisher for a tour with TLC Book Tours
Publisher: Random House

Review: If you Follow Me by Malena Watrous

Every ending is written in its beginning, but you can't see it until you look back.

I've been looking forward to If You Follow Me for awhile, as I do most books that deal with Japan. I never know what I'll get though, and I'm pleased to say I got a really excellent read in If You Follow Me.

If You Follow Me is the story of Marina who joins the JET Program (a kind of teacher fellowship program for teaching English in Japan) and gets assigned to a very rural area. She's only going to Japan because her girlfriend Carolyn wants to go and Marina doesn't want to be left behind. Carolyn has been a kind of life raft for her in dealing with the suicide of her father and Marina can't imagine what else she would have done after graduating from college.

It isn't as easy to fit in Japan as they might expect, though. First, they decide to hide the fact that they are romantically involved. Secondly, they are among the few foreigners in their area and there are a lot of unspoken rules in Japanese society that they must adapt to.

I have to give kudos to Watrous for capturing the American in Japan experience very well. I am so thankful I lived in Tokyo where we only loosely abided by the gomi (trash) rules (well we did our best) and they weren't that complicated. But using the complicated gomi rules was a great way to illustrate Marina's adaptation to life in Japan, her process of casting off her older self and embracing her new life. I felt so much of the book was authentic, though, from Marina's frustration with her repetitive conversations about weather and all of the language used. I have to admit to having pangs of longing for Japan even though the picture painted of Japan isn't all that rosy.

I loved the Japanese characters in the book, especially Miyoshi-sensei but also many of the others who felt very real. Actually, I felt all of the characters were true to life and made the book rich. But I loved Miyoshi-sensei and his wisdom and Japanese way of looking at things.

It's not like anything really big and huge happens in the book, but I found myself unwilling to put it down. I felt great affection for the characters, eagerness for Marina to come to a greater peace in her life, and I even laughed sometimes. I was also often touched by the wisdom and truth revealed in the story and have gone back many times to mull over some of my favorite passages in my mind. Like these:

"All of the best songs are sad," I say.
"It's true, he agrees. "Why is this?"
"I think it's because they help us feel things that are hard to feel. It's like you wrote in one of your letters, if you say to someone, 'I'm lonely,' you just sound needy, but if you sing it, you turn it into something beautiful, and you give them a way to share the experience. Then you become less lonely."

Hiro and I walk around the gallery, moving from picture to picture in silence. When I finally ask what he thinks of the art, he says, "Eh...I only came for you. I don't really like art.
"What do you mean?" I say, "How can you not like art?"
"I prefer music," he says.
"That's ridiculous," I say. "You don't have to pick. You can like both."
"You're wrong. There is not enough time....You do have to pick"

If You Follow Me is a beautiful and true story about growing up and starting a new life and finding yourself in a new place.

Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: There's a fair bit of sex in the book.
Source of Book: Received for Blog Talk Radio show with author from Book Club Girl
Publisher: Haper Perennial

Review: Hunger by Elise Blackwell

I love Unbridled Books so I was thrilled we made them our first choice as part of the Spotlight Series, which is basically an effort to bring more recognition to the many fantastic small presses out there. Unbridled Books's fiction is always of excellent quality. We will be spotlighting more small presses throughout the year, so I hope you'll go subscribe to our blog. There's no reason to limit your reading to only the best-selling names!

I chose to read a backlist title, Hunger by Elise Blackwell. I have to confess that this book kind of confused me. So I'm using the publisher's synopsis:

Set during Hitler’s siege of Leningrad, Elise Blackwell’s beautiful debut novel is the deeply moving story of one man’s confrontation with his own morality. A scientist, but a man of powerful personal appetites, unexpectedly finds himself with a choice that is informed too much by his private hungers. The danger he faces is betraying not only the woman he loves but also the principles he holds most dear.

I think my lack of understanding of the history of this time period kept me from really enjoying this short little book. I couldn't place in my mind where the events were taking place and the book itself didn't offer a lot of information in this regard. Additionally, it moved back and forth through time in the mind of the narrator further confusing me.

The writing, however, was lovely. The depictions of the extreme hunger were horrific. Some of the moral examinations were interesting, but it felt more like I was being told about them rather than that I was experiencing them along with the characters. And the fact that the narrator was only able to remain faithful to his wife for one year was disturbing.

In any case, the writing is beautiful and I will read more of Blackwell's books. And it did make me more interested in this time period so maybe I'll look for some books that give me a better understanding.

Rating: 3.5/5
Source of Book: paperback swap
Publisher: Unbridled Books

Review: The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw

When I first heard of this book, it took some effort to put the novel of the same name by Madeleine Wickham out of my mind. (it's my favorite of her women's fiction books) Once I was able to do that, though, I dove into this one and loved it.

The Swimming Pool is a different sort of book in structure. While there is a linear fashion in which the story is told, I would say the central unifying point of the story is a simple summer party at a pool. The pool representing the hidden depths of each character in the story. At this point, this beginning of the tale that is woven in the novel, each character has yet to embark on their personal journey. And we only get flashes from each significant character throughout the novel.

There are books where this sort of going and back and forth through time feels gimmicky and I find myself impatient. But there wasn't a second of The Swimming Pool that I didn't savor due to LeCraw's natural, precise, and gorgeous prose. Instead, the flashes through time felt like ripples going out in a pool, each bit of story a repercussion of poor decisions made.

LeCraw fully fleshes out her characters and their pain, confusion, desire, and rage leaps off the page. I truly felt like I was getting an intimate glimpse into the inner workings of these character's minds.

I'm hesitant to give a synopsis of the book, because I wish I hadn't read one. Instead, I'll simply say this is a story of how some people come to terms with their loss, with secrets, with the ways in which they have deceived each other.

And it's the story of how we long to know each other, how we long to fill in all our brokenness with each other, how we pass by each other trying to meet a common goal but never quite meet. Our longing to belong, to be a part of something, to know and to possess. It's a bit heartrending in this regard.

Once again, the writing is beautiful and breathes with the emotions of the characters. It's a book to be savored.

Rating: 4.75/5
Things You Might Want to Know: sex and profanity
Source of Book: ARC received from publisher
Publisher: DoubleDay (Random House)

Review: Little Bee by Chris Cleave

I ask you right here to agree with me that a scar is never ugly. That is what the scar makers want us to think. But you and I, we must make an agreement to defy them. We must see all scars as beauty. Okay? This will be our secret. Because take it from me, a scar does not form on the dying. A scar means I survived.

The back cover copy of Little Bee asks me not to say too much about the book because the magic is in how it unfolds.

Somehow I missed the magic.

It's not that I hated Little Bee, it's just that overall I felt rather indifferent about it. It was an odd sort of reading experience in that way, because while I could appreciate what the author was trying to accomplish, while I could appreciate some of the issues he raised and even liked some specific passages, I failed to engage and connect on an emotional level with the story or characters. And I think I was SUPPOSED to have an emotional reaction, many other reviews state tears, etc. but I found the plot unlikely and the characters somewhat intolerable. So in the end, I don't feel that Little Bee is a bad book, it was just average.

Little Bee is told in two narratives from Sarah--and English woman's viewpoint and Little Bee a Nigerian refugee's viewpoint. The story picks up years after they first met but their first meeting is central to the story.

Little Bee tackles issues of immigrant detention centers in England, the responsibility those of us in the West have when it comes to these things, marriage, and purpose. It's about right and wrong, good and bad. It's about survival and how that fits in with being human. It sounds exactly like the kind of book I would normally love but sadly it just didn't connect.

Having said that, it does make quite a good book club choice, as there's a fair bit to talk about. For example, I talked about how much every choice the characters made bugged me and others talked about well other things. I can't say too much without spoiling the plot and if you are interested in reading this book, I don't want to do that.

I wish I had liked Little Bee more because a lot of people I really respect loved it. But I didn't. In end, I think this book will be quite forgettable.

Rating: 3.75/5
Things You Might Want to Know: Language, sex, violence
Source of Book: Bought it
Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Review: The Disappeared by Kim Echlin

People do not like to think of love as a crucifixion but I know now, thirty years later, that if a person is tough enough for love nothing less than rebirth will be required.

I thought about waiting to write this review until my reaction to this book was less raw, but I already have a very special post for Valentine's Day tomorrow and this book is a love story. It's not a romance. It's a love story in an epic, heartbreaking way. And it's not just a love story between a woman and a man, it's a love story between a man and his culture and country.

The Disappeared is the story of Anne and her big, all consuming love for Serey. They meet when she's 16, she's a student, he's in exile from Cambodia. They have an instant attraction and soon end up spending all of their time together. He's a musician, which would have been quite deadly for him if he was still in Cambodia. He tells her about Cambodia and his longing to know what is happening in his country. When Cambodia finally reopens, he goes back and Anne never hears from him again.

Until one day, she's watching the news and she think she sees him. She immediately heads to Cambodia to find him. And so begins her search for her lover in the land of the killing fields.

I was deeply affected by The Disappeared. I know about Cambodia and the horrible purge that took place there, but this gorgeously crafted novel takes all of the horror and embeds it within the intense loss one person feels. The sights and sounds of Cambodia feel so real and the stories of the cruelty that took place were worse than anything I could imagine. When I read these books about genocide and revolution and violence, I always feel conflicted. On the one hand, I think how could anyone anyone do this? And on the other hand, I marvel that life isn't like this everywhere, that we've managed to find fragile peace in some places in the world.

The Disappeared succeeds in doing what is necessary to bring home the horror of these kind of world events, by individualizing the experience. Anne and Serey's grief and loss is palpable. And the language...oh the writing is so beautiful and perceptive I find myself wanting to quote the entire book.

I saw the world more sharply with you, as if I had put on new lenses, the left a little stronger than the right, but worn together they shaped blurred edges into clear lines. There were moments I would have liked not to see so sharply...I wanted to know everything about you. I was young and but slenderly knew myself.

Just a few structural notes...the book is told in first person as if Anne is speaking to Serey. It follows a linear fashion most of the time, but she does drop hints of what's to come in earlier narrative, giving you just a hint of mystery and wondering what will happen next.

The Disappeared is an achingly beautiful novel about love, about remembering the individuality of those lost, about how the people that are left behind who lost loved ones carry their lives within their own, how they live in their memory. It devastated me and left me feeling I had experienced so much loss myself. So, I guess, mission accomplished.

(thanks to Beth for recommending this novel)

The strangeness of my love for you is that it has made me dead in life and you alive in death. I am afraid you will disappear and no one will remember your name.

Rating: 5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: a bit of language and sex.
Source of Book: Bought it
Publisher: Black Cat (imprint of Grove Atlantic)

Review: Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same by Mattox

Back when I wrote about themes that I enjoy in books, I forgot to mention that one theme I really love to see explored is the power of community. Not in any trite sugary sweet way but rather in the power of a community in extremely difficult times. I was really touched by the community in Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same. It's not necessarily the main focus, but it was one of my favorite parts of the book.

Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same is the story of Cesar who is growing up in a rough area of Los Angeles that is overrun by gangs. When his older brother ends up in jail for stabbing someone, his mother decides to bring Cesar to the Alaskan village where she grew up. At first Cesar isn't sure about the place. There isn't much to do. But he becomes quite close to his cousin, Joe, who is known as Go-Boy. Go-Boy has a charismatic personality, a deep faith, and a genuine love and concern for everyone in his village.

Not a whole lot happens in the book...there are a few key events that show just how rough life is in the village and for the central characters. Cesar knows something is wrong with Go-Boy but everytime he's with Go-Boy he never feels like anything is wrong. But Cesar is also harboring his own shameful secrets that prevent him from becoming truly close to anyone.

The narrative isn't exactly linear, Roesch will drop a shocking statement and then retrace to explain how we got there. It works most of the time, but there were a few times I felt confused.

There's also a strong atmosphere to the book. The Alaskan setting is rich and interesting. But what I loved most about this book was Go-Boy and his crazy beliefs. I don't want to say too much because it gives away an important turn the book takes, but I found everything about the book to be real, the emotions and the struggles were genuine, even if I felt more attached to Go-Boy's story than to Cesar's story.

And even while I don't necessarily believe things Go-Boy believed, like Jesus is an Eskimo Woman, many of his actual ideas about people and the way we live and the idea that we can have Heaven on Earth...well I do agree with some of those ideas. Not Heaven exactly, but I do believe Heaven begins on Earth when we strive to love others. I found a lot of his insights to be profound and true. But because this is still Earth...well Go-Boy had his own issues to deal with. ;)

While this book doesn't bring the characters to full resolution, it allows them all to take a turn and I think that's the most realistic thing about it all. It's the story of a year in the life of some people and the profound pain they faced and their struggles. It's touching and hopeful, without being saccharine. I loved it and I desperately want a t-shirt as described in the book that says Same-Same.

Rating: 4.5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: a little bit of sex and language
Source of Book: ARC received from publisher
Publisher: Unbridled Books

Review: A Disobedient Girl by Ru Freeman

What I cannot say is this: a young woman needs earrings to show that she is proud to be a woman and that she has a family. Earrings are not decorations. They are a statement of legitimacy, of dignity, of self-worth. Ask any woman, and she would tell you that she would pawn everything she has before she gave up her earrings. Even her wedding band. For what is a wedding band worth except to say that a man coveted your children and wanted to claim them for his own? A wedding band can come from any man, just like children. Earrings, a real pair of earrings, come only with love.

Latha is a servant girl in a Sri Lankan household. She has no recollection of how she came to be there, but there's a young girl around her own age in the household and they are quite good friends despite the differences in their situation. Growing up as a sort of second class citizen is very difficult for Latha and she often feels jealous of Thara, but at the same time she loves Thara. As they grow older, Latha takes more and more steps to prove her self-worth...even when they have devastating consequences for those she loves.

Biso is a young mother on the run from her abusive husband. She is taking her three small children and escaping to where she has family. The train trip takes many unexpected turns and proves to be a journey of self-discovery for the young mother...but tragedy awaits.

A Disobedient Girl is quite interesting in structure. Latha's story is told in third person past tense, while Biso's story is told in first person present. Latha's story takes place over the course of years while Biso's takes place over only a few days. The chapters alternate the two narratives.

This worked really well for me. I felt equally invested in both of their stories and there actually does at times, seem to be some connections between them. The violence and strife in Sri Lanka while important to the individuals storylines, is not necessary to understand politically to appreciate the role it plays. The Sri Lankan culture is revealed subtlely through the character's actions and thoughts.

Love is what I felt for this book. I loved it. Freeman's writing is beautiful, perceptive, revelatory. Truly almost every word is perfect. Her characters are women of incredible strength facing great adversity and seeking their way through it. She explores female friendships, the family we choose for ourselves, the themes of dignity, identity, love, free will, and consequences through these characters and yes...it will break your heart.

I feel as if I can't express how much I loved and savored this novel. It is not a happy feel good book, but it's a book that allows hope to break through even when tragedy cloaks circumstance. It's a book that reminds us that no one can decide our worth except for ourselves and the people we choose to love. It's a book I feel is not to be missed.

Rating: 5/5
Source: I received this book from the publisher as part of a TLC Book Tour.

I highly recommend visiting Ru Freeman's gorgeous website, where you can learn more about her writing and the country of Sri Lanka.

Review: Short Girls by Bich Minh Nguyen

Short Girls is the story of Van and Linny, second generation Vietnamese American sisters. They are both quite different from each other...Van is ambitious and holds herself to impossibly high standards while Linny is the beautiful sister who hasn't quite figured out what she wants from life yet. Both sisters come to something of a crisis point in their lives (mostly centered around their relationships with men) and are forced to examine the lives they've been living. Their father is obsessed with the success of short people and quickly filled with rage at the idea of short people being discriminated against. This is both humorous and touching and has so greatly impacted the lives of his daughters that their sense of self is tightly connected to their height.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long while. While it's a relatively quiet character driven book, the characters are richly and masterfully drawn. I love when an author makes a character so consistent down to the small details of their lives and I marveled at just how fully we are able to know Linny and Van. I found that I could relate to both Van and Linny at times and in different ways. The language that Nguyen uses is so achingly beautiful and spot-on that at times I had to set the book and simply reflect.

Once I started reading, I did not want to put the book aside and I read it in one day. The little observations of character and life are so perfect! This is the kind of book that makes you confront yourself even as the characters are confronting themselves.

Sibling relationships, parental relationships, marriage, and identity are all explored in this book. I'm not going to lie to you...there's something that is so very sad about the book while at the same being so real. I was definitely in a melancholy mood today, but the book is one hundred percent worth it.

This is Bich Minh Nguyen's first novel. She has also written a memoir, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, that I know I saw another blogger review recently and that I will be finding just as soon as I can, in addition to eagerly awaiting more books from her pen.

Rating: 4.75/5
Things You Might Want to Know: A very little bit of strong language.
Source of Book: ARC received from Penguin Viking.

Bich Minh Nguyen has a website you can visit to learn more about her, and also you can buy Short Girls on Amazon or in stores now.

Review: Benny & Shrimp by Katarina Mazetti

Benny and Shrimp is in some ways just your typical love story of a couple that is very different trying to find a way to make it work. They are middle aged and both quite set in their lifestyles but madly in love. Shrimp, whose real name is Desiree, has just lost her husband when the book opens and Benny is a farmer who has never been married. Desiree never really loved her husband with a passion, but when she meets Benny at the cemetary, she feels an attraction for him that is very new to her.

They fall in love rather quickly, splitting their time between the farm and the city and numerous issues come up. Desiree isn't ready to part with city life, she doesn't cook, and doesn't want to be expected to be a homemaker while Benny needs someone who can support him on the farm.

The story is quite sweet in some ways, neither are terribly glamorous, just your everyday folk, bumbling along. ;) There's a character, Mrs. Lundmark, who has chosen to withdraw from actual interaction with people, and rather observe them. She doesn't want to make an impact on anyone's life. I found her character to be so tragic, but she also helps Shrimp realize that's not what she wants with her life.

The love story is sweet but imperfect, the ending not terribly satisfying, but all in all an enjoyable read.

I loved this sweet little quote from Benny, "I've no idea if she's ugly or beautiful; it's kind of irrelevant, as long as she's her."

Rating: 4/5
Things You Might Want to Know: A fair bit of sex, though not described in detail
Book Source: Review copy received from FSB Associates

Review: The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist

Sometime in the not so distant future, government has found a way to ensure that every individual is contributing to the gross national product, otherwise, they are no longer needed to society. If an individual has failed to have children, or do something economically important in their jobs, or be deeply loved in a romantic way by another, by the time they reach age 50 (for women) or 60 (for men) they are deemed dispensable and sent to The Unit.

The Unit is described by one character in the book as a "luxury slaughterhouse." Individuals who go there live in comfortable circumstances but they are subjected to various physical and psychological testing up to and including organ donation.

On her fiftieth birthday, Dorrit, filled with fear and grief goes to live in the unit. Upon her arrival, she is confronted with her impending death as well as surprised that for the first time in her life she becomes part of an interdependent network of people. And she falls in love. The consequences of this are surprising and far reaching and ultimately, devastating to the reader.

From the moment I picked The Unit up, I did not want to put it down. How could there be such a society that would decide who was needed and who was not? And how cruel to force them to donate their organs!! Additionally, I was so surprised by how everything seemed really nice from the fine food to the nice living conditions, but really it was barbaric the way they had to undergo so much medical testing against their will.

The themes this book explores are incredibly rich. From which should be valued more? The creation of art or the creation of life? What does it mean to have a life? What makes a person needed or gives them value and who should get to decide that?

I absolutely felt for Dorrit. I felt her grief and her confusion. I kept wishing there was a way she and her friends could be saved. I felt the injustice of finally finding people to love only because you were all considered worthless in your personhood, and sentenced to death. Much the same way Dorrit was often lulled into complacency or thinking things weren't so bad, I as too, until another horror was visited on The Unit.

I tore through this book, needing to know what was going to happen (or how it was going to happen). I couldn't help but cry while reading and I finished longing to talk with someone about all the book was about. So yes, this one would make a great book club pick!

To give you an idea of the sort of gut-wrenching things included in the book:

I wanted to live a proper life with deep interwoven relationships for better or worse, which only death could separate. I wanted to feel real, to feel part of things, and to be honest I couldn't give a s--- whether it was dignified or respectable or whether it cost the taxpayer a whole lot of money.

I'd like to include much more to that passage but it would be spoilery.

The Unit was a gripping, heartwrenching, thought provoking read. I won't soon forget it.

Rating: 4.75/5
Things You Might Want to Know: there is some sex, and a wee bit of language.

The Unit is published by Other Press and available now.

Review and Book Club Follow Up: The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje

When I was a teenager, I wasn't allowed to go see rated R films. I wasn't always obedient, though, so when some friends invited me to go see The English Patient, I was so there. And wow...did I love it. In fact, I have only seen this film once, but it's a powerful example of the way a film or story can sear itself onto your brain, into your life. I have very vivid memories of it, of the way it captivated me emotionally. I wept through the conclusion of it, my friend told me I sank down into my seat to hide my tears. (By the way, it's true...be sure your sins will find you out. My parents did and I was grounded.)

To this day, when asked, I usually list it as a favorite movie. I had often pondered reading the book but feared I wouldn't find the book nearly as interesting as the movie. Now, I am grateful for the way the film is so firmly embedded into my mind because I'm fairly certain I would have given up on the book if I hadn't had the story structure and visuals of the film to rely upon.

The English Patient is not the kind of book you pick up and think you will read through easily. At first I wasn't too worried, it wasn't that long and I figured I would read it quickly enough. I was very wrong. It took me quite awhile to read this book as I often had no idea what I was reading. I had to go back and reread sections and I was still confused. I had a hard time latching onto any timeline or cohesive plot. If I didn't have the images of the film in my mind, or if this wasn't a book club pick, I would never have been able to complete it.

The English Patient takes place mostly at an abandoned convent in Italy where a man who has been severely burned is cared for by a nurse who is suffering from severe fatigue of caring for the dying. A few other characters come into their lives..Carvaggio who was a thief that was caught in the act and tortured, and Kip, who dismantles bombs. Their stories are all told in bits and pieces throughout the book.

The writing is at times beautiful, there is no doubt about that. The themes of the book can be picked out, and there were a few times where I did want to keep turning the pages! But overall, while I'm glad to now say that I've read the book, I'm unlikely to pick up more books from this author. It was too much work with not enough pay-off for me. I do want to rewatch the movie though and I'll let you know if I still love it.

Rating: 4/5 (I can recognize the quality of the writing)
Things You Might Want to Know: There are some sexual references and a bit of language.

Book Club
Unlike with 13 Reasons Why, we actually found little to discuss about the story itself in book club! We spent a fair bit of time talking about how much better the movie was (okay that was only me), how difficult the writing was, etc. We did manage to touch on some themes from the book and discuss the overall character development. Most book club members seemed particularly sympathetic to Kip and Hana, while I really didn't care deeply about anyone. Honestly, I loved the movie for the tragic love story (love those!) and it wasn't quite as powerful in the book. I think we are all glad to have read the book, but we probably won't be rereading it!

Have you read The English Patient? Did we totally miss the importance of this book? Do share your thoughts!

Review: A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

About the Book: Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.


My Review: The hype for this book preceeded it by about a thousand miles, so I decided I had better read it before I read too many other reviews.

This is a very engrossing book and I have to admit that when I first started reading it, I wasn't sure that I actually liked it. It's pretty dark and the opening of the story reminded me a lot of the movie Original Sin. Since I had heard this book was incredibly fresh, I wondered if everyone else had missed that movie? The language was gorgeous, though, enough to keep me reading as it pierced me through. The precision and accuracy with which Goolick describes the internal torment, desires, longing, loneliness, and brokeness of his characters is nothing short of outstanding.

The plot does take a turn about 1/3 of the way in. While I predicted what I think was maybe meant to be a twist, it raises the stakes of the entire novel in new ways.

Ultimately, this book is very dark. But it's dark in a way that gives us a glimpse of the state of our souls, the despair of our situations, the destructive force of our pasts, in a way that helps us to value the glimmers of hope that can be found in our lives, and the precious fragile nature of our intimacies. It's been awhile since I've been able to read a book in one day, but I completely devoured this one. When I finished the book, I closed it and thought, "that was amazing." But after letting it sit in my head for awhile, I've to the conclusion that no it wasn't amazing, it was brilliant. I have no doubt it will live in my mind for a long time to come. Highly Recommended.

Rating: 5/5
Things You Might Want to Know: there is in fact a lot of sensuality to this book. And some sex.

Is my endorsement not enough? Two of my favorite bloggers are also reviewing this book today, S.Krishna and Devourer of Books.