Paper Ghosts by Julia Heaberlin

Summary:

An obsessive young woman has been waiting half her life—since she was twelve years old—for this moment. She has planned. Researched. Trained. Imagined every scenario. Now she is almost certain the man who kidnapped and murdered her sister sits in the passenger seat beside her.

Carl Louis Feldman is a documentary photographer. The young woman claims to be his long-lost daughter. He doesn’t believe her. He claims no memory of murdering girls across Texas, in a string of places where he shot eerie pictures. She doesn’t believe him.
       
Determined to find the truth, she lures him out of a halfway house and proposes a dangerous idea: a ten-day road trip, just the two of them, to examine cold cases linked to his haunting photographs.

Is he a liar or a broken old man? Is he a pathological con artist? Or is she? Julia Heaberlin once again swerves the serial killer genre in a new direction. With taut, captivating prose, Heaberlin deftly explores the ghosts that live in our minds—and the ones that stare back from photographs. You won’t see the final, terrifying twist spinning your way until the very last mile.

My take: 2 looks

It took me a while to read this one because I would get so frustrated with the main character that I had to put it down. Because I am reviewing this advanced reader copy from NetGalley, I felt compelled to pick it back up again and again to finish it.

For a woman who had been planning 1/2 of her life to track down a serial killer, she was remarkably ill-prepared and naïve. When she checks him out of a facility for dementia patients to take him on a cross country trip, they leave with a list of his "conditions", to which he continues to add. What? Who is in charge here?

Her plan is to visit all of the places where she believes he killed, and see if there is any recognition in his eyes on where her sister may be. It is clear from the beginning that she has not thought this through, and that Carl is much smarter than she even on one of this bad days.

Frustrating, overly detailed, and anti-climatic, I can't recommend this one when it is released in May 2018.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

Summary:
A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled.


My take: 2 looks
Even though I put this one down, I am giving it 2 looks because I did read to page 223 before deciding to abandon it. Interestingly enough, I asked fellow reader Sarah if she had read it, and she told me that she, too, put it down about 1/2 way through.

To pen a book that wraps it all up in the end is an intriguing method of writing, but it has to be interesting enough until you get to the solution in order to keep the reader. That is where this book failed me.

The characters were all very different, with developing pasts, and their trajectories were clearly going to intersect. However, none of the five primary characters had any hold on me. I was completely uninvested, but wanted so badly to like this one that I plowed through over 200 pages. Perhaps there was something lost in the translation from Japanese to English, and I was quite interested in the fact that one person translated the first two sections, with someone else translating the last section. I wanted to like the book enough to read it all and ruminate over any differences in style from the translators. However, it was not meant to be.

Not recommended.

I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Summary:
In this deeply suspenseful and irresistibly unnerving debut novel, a man and his girlfriend are on their way to a secluded farm. When the two take an unexpected detour, she is left stranded in a deserted high school, wondering if there is any escape at all. What follows is a twisted unraveling that will haunt you long after the last page is turned.

In this smart, suspenseful, and intense literary thriller, debut novelist Iain Reid explores the depths of the human psyche, questioning consciousness, free will, the value of relationships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Reminiscent of Jose Saramago’s early work, Michel Faber’s cult classic Under the Skin, and Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk about Kevin, I’m Thinking of Ending Things is an edgy, haunting debut. Tense, gripping, and atmospheric, this novel pulls you in from the very first page…and never lets you go.

My take: 2.5 looks

I started this one over three times. It was so easy to put down when I needed more time or was feeling overwhelmed. However, it was also very easy to read, enabling me to start from the beginning each time. At less than 300 pages, I felt as if I had to finish it.

The story was interesting enough. I didn't get a good feel for any of the characters, and was not overly surprised by the ending. Some of the scenes felt forced, some of the dialogue choppy, and internal monologues were a bit too heavy-handed. However, because of the nature of the "surprise" ending, all of these things may have been as-designed. With a little more writing experience, I expect this kind of thing will naturally fall into place.

It read like a first novel, and upon looking, found that it is Reid's first novel, but not his first book. Because it was fairly easy to read, and because I am intrigued by the title of one of his previous works ("The Truth About Luck: What I Learned on my Road Trip with Grandma"), I am not yet crossing him off my list of TBRs.

Women against Abortion by Karissa Haugeberg

Summary:

Women from remarkably diverse religious, social, and political backgrounds made up the rank-and-file of anti-abortion activism. Empowered by—yet in many cases scared of—the changes wrought by feminism, they founded grassroots groups, developed now-familiar strategies and tactics, and gave voice to the movement's moral and political dimensions.

My take: 2.5 looks

Well-written, but a bit on the dry side. There are lots of facts, accounts, and supporting info, but nothing that ever draws a reader in and makes her (or him) a member of the debate. Would have been perfect for a research paper, but to read a compelling account of the trajectory and growth of the movement was missing here. If I were writing this, I would have treated each chapter as a stage in am embryo's cycle, moving it along and growing it with the anti-abortion movement. Include more word-pictures to make it real to any reader. That was missing, for me.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Summary:

“Are you happy with your life?”

Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious.

Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits.

Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

My take: 2.5 looks

There was a great deal of hubbub surrounding this novel upon its release. It was on library waiting lists all over, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. After reading it, I highly recommend Crouch's publicist.

It took me less than 24 hours to read it. That should be seen as a testament more to simple, easy-to-follow writing than an intriguing story.

As a matter of fact, this story, of parallel dimensions, is not a new one at all. From Kate Atkinson's "Life After Life" and Katherine Webb's "The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August", where lives are replayed over and over; or alternate realities like Stephen King's "11/22/63"; or even films like "Sliding doors" and "Groundhog Day"... my point? It's been done before, and it's been done better.

Jason, our protagonist, at one point becomes so narrowly focused on "love" that it is almost like watching a 16-year-old boy try to get his girl.

"He knew he shouldn't open the door, but..."

"He new he shouldn't leave Amanda, but..."

This irritating dependency on feeling rather than thinking, or irrationality versus rationality,... I didn't buy it coming from a physicist. If the book had been longer, or written at a more complicated reading level than about 6th grade, I would not have wasted my time finishing it. As it was, I knew I could blow right through it and mark it from my TBR.

Not recommended.

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Summary:

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab.

Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems.

My take: 2 looks

Egad. This book read like a season of Dallas or Dynasty, two prime time television soap operas in the 1980s. The story follows four siblings straight out of a caricature: Melody is an overachieving helicopter mom, Bea is a talented writer with no self esteem, Jack is quintessentially gay, and Leo is a larcenous cad. Cue the close-ups of each face as they discover that Leo's latest antics have siphoned their inheritance, and let the games begin.

Not compelling in any way, the story is a tired one, full of shock, lies, betrayal, and slight-of-hand. Of course, it is tied up neatly in the epilogue so that everyone lives happily ever after. That gives me some hope: there will be no sequel.

Not recommended.

Eveningland by Michael Knight

Summary:

Grappling with dramas both epic and personal, from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the “unspeakable misgivings of contentment,” Eveningland captures with crystalline poeticism and perfect authenticity of place the ways in which ordinary life astounds us with its complexity. A teenaged girl with a taste for violence holds a burglar hostage in her house on New Year’s Eve; a middle aged couple examines the intricacies of their marriage as they prepare to throw a party; and a real estate mogul in the throes of grief buys up all the property on an island only to be accused of madness by his daughters. These stories, told with economy and precision, infused with humor and pathos, excavate brilliantly the latent desires and motivations that drive life forward.

Eveningland is a luminous collection from “a writer of the first rank.”

My take: 2 looks

I really, really wanted to like this book. An entire book of short stories from my home state was so compelling that I downloaded it immediately. The first story was engaging and I was enjoying it ... until the end. Then the second, third, fourth ... I began to see a pattern. The stories proved to be compelling and drew me in, but the endings of almost all of the stories in this collection were so abrupt as to be disappointing. There was so much more to be investigated, more story to be told, additional nuances to be explored. To be left flat at the end of each story left me feeling that the author had reached his word quota and had to end the story suddenly.

This one is not recommended. However, if you are looking for an excellent book of short stories, I recommend "The Paper Menagerie" by Ken Liu.

Many thanks to NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks

Summary:

Meet Frank Cauldhame. Just sixteen, and unconventional to say the least:

Two years after I killed Blyth I murdered my young brother Paul, for quite different and more fundamental reasons than I'd disposed of Blyth, and then a year after that I did for my young cousin Esmerelda, more or less on a whim.

That's my score to date. Three. I haven't killed anybody for years, and don't intend to ever again.

It was just a stage I was going through.

My take: 2 looks

This book had such potential. A young man who has a history of psychosis and murder. Yet, it's his brother whom he considers crazy. The machinations Frank goes through to "read" the signs, protect his home and surrounding areas, and continue with his every day life were very intriguing. His friendship with Jamie could have been better explored. Eric's descent into madness could have been better illustrated. Frank's father's motivations should have been clearer.

All-in-all, this book was very disappointing. It was engaging to a point, then it was over. The end was a quick jump off a cliff with nothing resolved and nothing explained.

Not recommended.

Sonata for Miriam by Linda Olsson

Summary:

Linda Olsson's first novel, Astrid & Veronika, introduced readers to her gorgeous prose, and her extraordinary understanding of human relationships. With her second novel, she once again charts that terrain in a novel that also explores the significant impact of history on individual lives. In Sonata for Miriam, two events occur that will change composer Adam Anker's life forever. Embarking on a journey that ranges from New Zealand to Poland, and then Sweden, Anker not only uncovers his parents' true fate during World War II, but he also finally faces the consequences of an impossible choice he was forced to make twenty years before-a choice that changed the trajectory of his life.

My take: 2 looks

A disappointment from one of my favorite authors. While the writing and structure are absolutely beautiful, the story and characters left me with no sympathy and no desire to get to know them better, as well as very little understanding of what the purpose of the story was.

Adam is grieving the death of his daughter, which happens very early in the story. He is grieving, but we seem to get in on the end of it because there is no sense of heart-wrenching, brokenness, or despair. Instead, I was left with the feeling that since a main aspect of Adam's life was now gone, he simply needed to replace it with something or someone else. And the story centers around this search.

Toward the end of the book, we switch to Cecilia's voice. The woman who gave up her child with no valid explanation. And we never understand why. We never understand what this grief is that Adam claims she has. She comes across as very self-serving, self-absorbed, and everyone panders to her.

All in all, this book is a collection of beautifully crafted sentences and paragraphs, which have nothing at all to say. Not recommended.

The Barkeep by William Lashner

Summary:

Justin Chase is the perfect barkeep, tending bar as he lives his life, in a state of Zen serenity. At least until Birdie Grackle, a yellow-haired, foul-mouthed alcoholic from Texas, walks into his bar, orders a Mojito, and makes a startling confession. Six years ago Justin's life was ripped apart when he discovered his mother's bludgeoned corpse in the foyer of the family home. Now Justin's father is serving a life sentence and Justin, after a stint in an asylum, drowns his emotions in a pool of inner peace. But when Birdie Grackle claims to be the hit man who murdered Justin's mother for the money, Justin is hurled back to the emotions, the past, and, most frightening of all, the father he tried to leave behind.

My take: 2.5 looks

An entertaining read, for sure. I was drawn in from the startling revelation at the end of the first chapter, and held, for the most part, through the majority of the book. While some of the other reviews cite the characters as being flat and stereotypical, I found it to read more like a noir book from Hammett or Cain. I am not comparing the quality to these authors, merely the style.

The one problem I had with the book, and keeping me from a hearty recommendation, was the plot. It became so convoluted and ultimately unbelievable that, if the end was not already in sight, I may have put this one down. I agree with another reviewer that "the plot became overly complicated in an effort to give us surprise twists". As a matter of fact, I am still not sure exactly what happened or who the true murderer was. Unfortunately, I wasn't invested enough to reread to find out.

Since there are so many other great mystery/thrillers available, this one is not recommended.

Winter at the Door by Sarah Graves

Summary:

Moving from Boston to remote Bearkill, Maine, isn’t homicide cop Lizzie Snow’s idea of a step up. But breaking away from tragedy and personal betrayal is at least a step in the right direction. Her dead sister’s fate still torments her, as does her long-missing niece’s disappearance. Lizzie hopes to find the mysteriously vanished child here, amid the coming ice and snow. But in the Great North Woods, something darker and more dangerous than punishing winter is also bound for Bearkill.

My take: 2.5 looks

The first in a series, Winter at the Door is an easy book to read. However, I am giving 2.5 because it reads a little sophomoric to me, much like a first novel. It's a combination of teenage feelings given to the adult protagonist, predictable events and outcomes, and some stereotyping, especially of young adults. While the story was simple and easy to follow, the resolution left me a bit flat and wanting more to have happened. Perhaps in the second book these characters are more developed, but I won't be reading another. Not recommended.

Murder Run by Shelley Frome

Summary:
In this crime novel, a wayward handyman grapples with the suspicious death of his employer, a fragile choreographer who secluded herself in the Litchfield Hills. As the fallout mounts, the reader is taken to various locales in and around Manhattan, an escapade in Miami Springs and back again to the hills of Connecticut until this twisty conundrum is finally laid to rest.      

My take: 2 looks

I invoked the "100 page rule" on this one. After a little over 100 pages, I still had no earthly idea what I was reading, and put it down. I didn't know Jed or have any insight into him. Sure, I knew what I needed to know about his background and how he arrived to the place in the novel, but there was no depth of character or empathy at all. His drive to tie current events to the past fell flat for me, and offered no level of interest or anxiety.

The antagonists were merely irritating caricatures of know-it-all lawmen, but never raised enough rancor in me to side against them.

Time and again, I got the overall feeling that Frome was trying to go for the staccato noir dialogue and tone of James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce or Double Indemnity. Instead, it read like swiss cheese and left out more than it offered.

I cannot recommend this. There are so many others available, like Cain, in this vein that are so much richer and more satisfying.

This book was forwarded to me by the author in exchange for my honest review.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Summary:

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but she survived–and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, Ben sits in prison, and troubled Libby lives off the dregs of a trust created by well-wishers who’ve long forgotten her. The Kill Club is a macabre secret society obsessed with notorious crimes. When they locate Libby and pump her for details–proof they hope may free Ben–Libby hatches a plan to profit off her tragic history. For a fee, she’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club . . . and maybe she’ll admit her testimony wasn’t so solid after all. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the narrative flashes back to January 2, 1985. The events of that day are relayed through the eyes of Libby’s doomed family members–including Ben, a loner whose rage over his shiftless father and their failing farm have driven him into a disturbing friendship with the new girl in town. Piece by piece, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started–on the run from a killer.

My take: 2 stars

I just can't jump on the Gillian Flynn bandwagon, and this book gets me no closer to liking this author. The story is presented from several points of view, and goes back and forth in time in alternating chapters. Flynn's writing is loose and cumbersome, and could have used a little more editing to tighten up the storyline, while adding space for necessary character development. I found that I could skim quite heavily without missing a beat.

The characters were also very flat. Libby is a grown woman now and stunted emotionally by her past. I didn't feel the desperation from Patty as a single mom struggling to make ends meet that I think Flynn intended. While Runner was a rascal, he was almost comical in his singular focus on asking for money - like a caricature. The depictions of the daughters read like an afterthought and lacked the detail and depth that could have garnered sympathy from me. Ben was a compilation of every wayward male teen I've ever seen in the movies.

The climax was completely unbelievable, and the viewpoints of the peripheral characters at the end felt manufactured to facilitate the reader's belief in the wrap-up. The only group that I was interested in as a "real" portrayal was the Kill Club. If the rest of the characters were as real as these members seemed, it would have been a much better book. This is probably my last Flynn novel.

Not recommended.

77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

Summary:

Enter the world of the Pendleton: The original owner became a recluse - and was rumored to be more than half mad - after his wife and two children disappeared in 1897 and were never found. The second owner suffered a worse tragedy in 1935, when his house manager murdered him, his family, and the entire live-in staff....
Craftsmen and laborers working on renovations disappear or go mad....
For years, the Pendleton is a happy place, until a bad turn comes again....
Voices in unknown languages are heard in deserted rooms, everywhere and nowhere....
Disturbing shadows move along walls but have no source....
Images on security monitors show strange places that exist nowhere in the building or its grounds....
A young boy talks of an imaginary playmate - who turns out to be terrifyingly real....
A figure like a man but clearly inhuman is glimpsed in the courtyard gardens at night and in other locales, perhaps a hoaxer of some kind, seemingly oblivious of those who see it - until it suddenly takes an interest in one of them....

My take: 2 looks

To end my October Scary Reads, I chose a book by Dean Koontz, usually a master of suspense and horror. Unfortunately, I didn't choose wisely.

While this looks great on the summary-level, the story is extremely cumbersome and in need of editing. Koontz overuses terms that are so unique that they should be use sparingly, like "they are legion". Well into the second half of the book, he continues to introduce new characters, while seemingly casting what were major players to the side.

In the end, when the reader finds out exactly what is happening, why it is happening, and when it is happening, it elicits less of an eye-popping and more of an eye-rolling reaction. With so many other quality horror novels out there, this one is...

Not recommended.

Time and Again by Jack Finney

Summary:

"Sleep. And when you awake everything you know of the twentieth century will be gone from your mind. Tonight is January 21, 1882. There are no such things as automobiles, no planes, computers, television. 'Nuclear' appears in no dictionary. You have never heard the name Richard Nixon." Did illustrator Si Morley really step out of his twentieth-century apartment one night -- right into the winter of 1882? The U.S. Government believed it, especially when Si returned with a portfolio of brand-new sketches and tintype photos of a world that no longer existed -- or did it?

My take: 2 looks

My goodness. I'm glad that's over. Not that this is a bad book ... or badly written. It is neither. Maybe it just wasn't my cup of tea. First of all, I am a very literal thinker, and to suspend belief that self-hypnosis will actually and literally place you in the past was something I could never quite attain. If I am reading about vampires, I know that they don't exist, so there is really no suspension of belief needed. There was never any belief to begin with. With this one, though ...

Si is a likable character, as is Julia. Rube and Dr. Danziger are likable enough on the periphery. Kate played a big role in the beginning and then just disappeared. I never felt any compassion or affinity for any of the characters. I was never invested in whether or not the project continued, whether or not Julia married Jake, or whether or not Si ever accomplished his goals. The twist at the end left me neither hot nor cold.

I can't say that I don't recommend the book, but there are so many other books out there with time travel which I found to be more engaging. I would recommend those, instead. I will not be reading any further in this series.

Distortion by Terri Blackstock

Summary:
A husband's lies can have deadly consequences. When Juliet Cole's husband of fifteen years is murdered before her eyes, she thinks it was a random shooting. Devastated and traumatized, she answers hours of questioning, then returns home to break the tragic news to her boys. But a threatening voicemail takes this from a random shooting to a planned, deliberate attack. Juliet realizes that she and her children are in danger too, unless she meets the killers' demands. But as she and her sisters untangle the clues, her husband's dark secrets come to light. The more she learns, the more of her life is dismantled. Was her husband an innocent victim or a hardened criminal?

My take: 2.5 looks

If you have followed by blog for a while, you know that Christian Fiction is not my favorite genre. I find it either in-your-face with doctrine, full of sugary-sweet-too-good-to-be-true characters, or headed too far in the other direction. This is where Distortion falls.

There is a lot going on in this book. Centered on four siblings, with a Danielle-Steel-type series of tragedies in their past, it is over-the-top. In the first book of the series, combined with the action from this one, their Christian-deacon father ran off with his secretary, Holly is unmarried and pregnant (not to mention that she drives a cab for a living), Cathy's fiancé was murdered and she is now dating his brother, Jay's wife was murdered and he is a single dad to their 5-year-old son, and (finally) Juliet's husband is gunned down in the first chapter of this book.

See? Too, too, too much. Wow.

And the characters are irritating. Sure, they are real people with real problems, but they are caricatures. Holly is pregnant so she can't help her siblings when she is moving to a better neighborhood, but she can run through the woods at night to track a killer.

Juliet is reeling from the fact that her husband was not at all the man she thought he was, but the main thing on her mind seems to be how she can find it in her heart to forgive him, giving her young sons a good Christian example.

Jay is relegated to babysitter for all of the kids while the others run off to "help" the police and FBI solve their case. Why not put Holly there, since she can't lift a box?

You see where I am going with this. If you love the genre, you will probably like this. It's fast-paced and full of action. It's just not my thing.

Not recommended.

The Heroines by Eileen Favorite

Summary:

Although a true lover of books, Anne-Marie Entwhistle prefers not to read to her spirited daughter, Penny, especially from the likes of Madame Bovary , Gone With the Wind , or The Scarlet Letter . These novels, devoted to the lives of the Heroines that make them so irresistible, have a way of hitting too close to home -- well, to the Homestead actually, where Anne-Marie runs the quaint family-owned bed and breakfast. In this enchanting debut novel, Penny and her mother encounter great women from classic works of literature who make the Homestead their destination of choice just as the plots of their tumultuous, unforgettable stories begin to unravel. They appear at all hours of the day and in all manners of distress. A lovesick Madame Bovary languishes in their hammock after Rodolphe has abandoned her, and Scarlett O'Hara's emotions are not easily tempered by tea and eiderdowns. These visitors long for comfort, consolation, and sometimes for more attention than the adolescent Penny wants her mother to give. Knowing that to interfere with their stories would cause mayhem in literature, Anne-Marie does her best to make each Heroine feel at home, with a roof over her head and a shoulder to cry on. But when Penny begins to feel overshadowed by her mother's indulgence of each and every Heroine, havoc ensues, and the thirteen-year-old embarks on her own memorable tale. Eileen Favorite's lively, fresh, and enormously entertaining novel gives readers a chance to experience their favorite Heroines all over again, or introduces these fictional women so beguilingly that further acquaintance will surely follow.

My take: 2.5 looks

After reading the summary, I would say that you don't really need to read the book. It pretty much sums up the whole thing. I found it difficult to get into the story, then once I was into the action, I found it hard to understand why Anne-Marie chose the heroines over her own daughter time and time again. As a mother, that is completely unbelievable.

Toward the end, there was a spark of whether or not Penny may be a heroine. I would have LOVED that twist in the story. It would have made it more compelling.

While this is an intriguing storyline, I can't recommend it.

We Never Asked for Wings by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Summary:

For fourteen years, Letty Espinosa has worked three jobs around San Francisco to make ends meet while her mother raised her children—Alex, now fifteen, and Luna, six—in their tiny apartment on a forgotten spit of wetlands near the bay. But now Letty’s parents are returning to Mexico, and Letty must step up and become a mother for the first time in her life.   Navigating this new terrain is challenging for Letty, especially as Luna desperately misses her grandparents and Alex, who is falling in love with a classmate, is unwilling to give his mother a chance. Letty comes up with a plan to help the family escape the dangerous neighborhood and heartbreaking injustice that have marked their lives, but one wrong move could jeopardize everything she’s worked for and her family’s fragile hopes for the future. 

My take: 2.5 looks

***SPOILERS***

I know that second books are difficult. As a matter of fact, Diffenbaugh opens her Acknowledgments section with this statement. After reading her first book, The Language of Flowers, in 2011, I note that I had the same kinds of issues with that story asI have with this one.

First of all, the main character, Letty, was more irritating than ingratiating. I think I was supposed to feel that she was struggling to fit into the role of parenting, and feel sympathy and compassion for her path from bystander to caretaker. Instead, she irritated at almost every turn. Her constant giving in to Luna, her constant brushing off of Alex, her constant excuses and ignoring things which demanded her attention because she just didn't feel up to it...it all wore very thin for me.

It started, as a matter of fact, with the grandmother leaving. Why would a grandmother completely hijack the raising of Luna, only to completely abandon her years later? It just didn't make sense. And why on earth did Letty feel such a compulsion to continue to send her mother money, even after the abandonment? Not only that, but the very idea that her mother enclosed a self-addressed envelope for money, knowing that Letty would be struggling to make ends meet as it was. Perhaps it is a cultural thing, but it was not realistic in the least.

Then there is the love triangle. I am sick of the literary device that a woman can't make a decision because too much is happening too fast in her life. That is just not the reality of things. And the fact that Letty waits almost too late for a happy ending, again very contrived.

In the end, if I want to recommend a Diffenbaugh novel, it will be Flowers and not this one.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.

Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser

Summary:

Young Martin Dressler begins his career as an industrious helper in his father's cigar store. In the course of his restless young manhood, he makes a swift and eventful rise to the top, accompanied by two sisters--one a dreamlike shadow, the other a worldly business partner. As the eponymous Martin's vision becomes bolder and bolder he walks a haunted line between fantasy and reality, madness and ambition, art and industry, a sense of doom builds piece-by-hypnotic piece until this mesmerizing journey into the heart of an American dreamer reaches its bitter-sweet conclusion.

My take: 2.5 looks
***SPOILERS***

Continuing with my plan to read Pulitzer winners for fiction, Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer won the coveted prize in 1997. While easy to read, I found the abundance of description a bit sluggish. Detail upon detail of shops, buildings, furnishings, clothing, weather, etc., to the exclusion of descriptions of the people themselves. Martin's building plans were clearer to the reader than his feelings.

An odd man, for sure, Dressler was clearly driven to create bigger and better. He constantly desired more, and became bored once his current exercise was successful. As a matter of fact, the more the story progressed, the more maniacal he became. At the end of the book, his temperament is very bipolar: And indeed he was tired, so tired that he could barely lift his head, though at the same time he felt intensely alert (p 288).

I am not at all sure what Millhauser intended to convey with Martin's relationships. The relationship in the beginning between Martin and his father seems very strong, only to all but disappear, being referred to less and less as Martin having dinner with them over the cigar shop. Once Martin begins to see success, he looks only forward, forgetting those who helped him get to his position, as well as various female relationships.

However, in that vein, The three Vernon women introduced about 1/2 through the book seemed to monopolize and overtake the story. Caroline was odd, manipulative, selfish, and I detected a potential leaning toward lesbianism; Emmeline was intriguing and strong in the beginning, but completely collapses and acquiesces to her sister at the end in a shockingly fast and complete manner; and, Margaret, the mother of these two, was oddly passive-aggressive. The relationships they each formed with Martin were all a bit unusual, but the behavior of Caroline was particularly confusing, bordering on unrealistic. She elicited no sympathy from me, and by the time her antics reached a climax, Martin had rubbed away all of my sympathy, as well. It was almost as if they deserved one another.

The writing toward the end of the book became a bit rushed, and hasty. Once Martin saw success in his cafeteria endeavors, he quickly progressed to hotel magnate, and seemed to burned out quickly from there. The build-up in the beginning, Martin's success, then his quick descent reminded me very much like a rollercoaster. Where I would have liked more of a bell curve, the wrap up of the story was a bit forced and left me wanting.

Overall, this is yet another Pulitzer Fiction winner which has left me disappointed.

Not recommended.

A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson

Summary:
The highly anticipated follow-up to Kate Atkinson's #1 bestseller Life After Life , "one of the best novels I've read this century" (Gillian Flynn). Kate Atkinson's new novel tells the story of Ursula Todd's beloved younger brother Teddy - would-be poet, RAF bomber pilot, husband, and father - as he navigates the perils and progress of the 20th century. For all Teddy endures in battle, his greatest challenge is facing the difficulties of living in a future he never expected to have. A GOD IN RUINS explores the loss of innocence, the fraught transition from the war to peace time, and the pain of being misunderstood, especially as we age.

My take: 2 looks
I was very eager to read this book. I LOVED "Life After Life" by Atkinson, recommending it to every reader I know. The author has described this, not as a sequel, but as a companion novel. It follows the life of Teddy, the much-loved sibling of  "Life After Life" protagonist Ursula, as he grows from childhood to his eventual death.

I am going to try very hard to refrain from spoilers, but I also have to explain why this book is sorely lacking, especially after the brilliance of her last work.

First of all, it is extremely verbose. Three pages describe the drive down the lane to get to a manor house. Entire chapters are dedicated to Teddy's bombing experiences. While these experiences are vital to the man Teddy becomes, the level of detail for each and every one invites skimming. Teddy was out of the RAF at age 29,and  lived almost 70 years more. I wanted more of that life. Describe how the war affected him, yes, but from the perspective of the older man. Instead, Atkinson describes the same time frame again and again.

The cast of characters around Teddy was rich: Hugh, Sylvie, and the Shawcross family during his youth; Nancy and Viola during the middling years; and finally Bertie and Sunny during older years. These were all fully flawed characters, and very real, but I thought it odd that Atkinson showed the reader only one or two sides. For example, Viola was extremely difficult to like throughout the book, and when Atkinson hinted at redemption, she withdrew and left the outcome lacking. Did she receive redemption, or no?

Another example is Nancy. She seemed very aloof with Teddy, from her wartimes experiences to her illness. Was this intentional, or did Atkinson simply see her as a one-dimensional character? She was very forthcoming with her sisters, but not her husband? Why all the secrecy behind her wartime efforts, despite her promise to Teddy to tell all after the war? Yes, we see that she felt as if she threw away her life, but is that all we get to her inner struggle? Character development was too abbreviated for me.

To end on a high note, I will say that I enjoyed the chapters which told of similar events from a different character's perspective. However, they were few and far between. I would have liked the book better if this had been more of the core concept, as opposed to the heavy-hand used during his RAF years. I also enjoyed the moments of stream-of-consciousness writing, going back and forth in time.

And to conclude: I felt the ending was a complete and total cop-out. It is not a plot twist, as some are wont to describe the heinous turn of events. I won't say more other than to completely chide Atkinson for this dereliction of an ending. What could have possibly been three looks becomes a fractured two, making this...

Not recommended.