Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch

Summary:

Once a celebrated writer, M's greatest success came with a suspense novel based on a real-life disappearance. The book was called The Reckoning, and it told the story of Jan Landzaat, a history teacher who went missing one winter after his brief affair with Laura, his stunning pupil. Jan was last seen at the holiday cottage where Laura was staying with her new boyfriend. Upon publication, M.'s novel was a bestseller, one that marked his international breakthrough.

That was years ago, and now M.'s career is almost over as he fades increasingly into obscurity. But not when it comes to his bizarre, seemingly timid neighbor who keeps a close eye on him. Why?

From various perspectives, Herman Koch tells the dark tale of a writer in decline, a teenage couple in love, a missing teacher, and a single book that entwines all of their fates. Thanks to The Reckoning, supposedly a work of fiction, everyone seems to be linked forever, until something unexpected spins the "story" off its rails.

My take: 3 looks

Beautifully written, with finely crafted sentences that almost made me want to highlight the hardcover, first American edition. Not quite as mesmerizing as I found "The Dinner", "Dear Mr. M" is told in several sweeping sections, each giving voice to a different character. The fibers of the tapestry weave together pretty quickly, but we are left with the question of who did what to whom until the very last few pages.

A number of twists and turns, red herrings, and overly long sections made parts feel as if Koch was rambling, especially Laura's section, but this is no reason to overlook the book as a whole. I was overall satisfied with the ending, albeit after a bit of suspending belief. That's why I gave this one 3 looks instead of 4. However, it is recommended.

Many thanks to BloggingForBooks for a copy of this in exchange for my honest review.

small great things by Jodi Picoult

Summary:

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years' experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she's been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don't want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

My take: 3 looks

Like the other Picoult books I have read, this one had me hooked from the beginning. The writing is so compelling and the subject of current-day racism is so relevant.

I jumped right in, hating Turk, pulling for Ruth, wary of Adisa, and cheering for Kennedy. Living in the deep south, where the most heinous acts occurred during the civil rights era, I have a different perspective than I think people in other regions of the US may have. Like Kennedy's mother, I don't tend to look at how far we have yet to go, but how far we've come.

With that said, it was very difficult to read some of the sections, and made me put the book down so I could consider the text. I didn't read this book lightly, and am glad of the conversations that I feel it will inspire. Conversations that need to happen.

Then I got to the end. I am not going to spoil it for you, but the ending of the book left me completely deflated. I wanted the situation to be handled realistically. I wanted a real-world outcome, with all of its consequences. I wanted commentary on how the struggle for racial equity continues. I wanted evidence of small steps making a difference. I wanted to see how people changed perspectives from both sides of the color wheel. This struggle is not a tidy one, and that's what I expected to see reflected here.

Instead, I felt robbed of all of that. Instead, I got theatrics. And not even realistic, at that. The ending is out of left field, and so out of any realm of remote possibility that it almost ruined the rest of the story for me. If it were not for the strong social commentary throughout, I would have put this at a rating of two, but I think Picoult had more to offer than that rating would indicate. However, she also had a great opportunity to shine a spotlight while holding a mirror up to her readers. That opportunity was squandered.

Recommended, but prepare to be disappointed.

This book is available October 11, 2016.

Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for a copy of this prerelease in exchange for my honest opinion.

Coming across my desk are two new ones!

I await two new review copies from authors I adore. I received confirmation yesterday and today that they are coming, one electronically and the other in hardcover (!).

"small great things" by Jodi Picoult.

Summary:

Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. The parents are white supremacists and don’t want Ruth, who is African American, to touch their child. The hospital complies with their request, but the next day, the baby goes into cardiac distress while Ruth is alone in the nursery. Does she obey orders or does she intervene?

Ruth hesitates before performing CPR and, as a result, is charged with a serious crime. Kennedy McQuarrie, a white public defender, takes her case but gives unexpected advice: Kennedy insists that mentioning race in the courtroom is not a winning strategy. Conflicted by Kennedy’s counsel, Ruth tries to keep life as normal as possible for her family—especially her teenage son—as the case becomes a media sensation. As the trial moves forward, Ruth and Kennedy must gain each other’s trust, and come to see that what they’ve been taught their whole lives about others—and themselves—might be wrong.

With incredible empathy, intelligence, and candor, Jodi Picoult tackles race, privilege, prejudice, justice, and compassion—and doesn’t offer easy answers. Small Great Things is a remarkable achievement from a writer at the top of her game.

You can read an excerpt here. "small great things" will be released October 11, 2016 by Ballantine Books.

The second, and the hardcover, is the latest by Herman Koch. I adored his "The Dinner", and can't wait to read "Dear Mr. M". This book was released yesterday.

Summary:

Mr M is being watched. As a famous writer, he is no stranger to the limelight, although interest in his work has been dwindling of late. His print runs are smaller than they used to be, and so are the crowds at his bookshop signings. But there is someone still interested in Mr M and keeping an extremely close eye on him—someone whose own story bears more than a passing resemblance to the plot of Mr M’s bestselling thriller, in which a teacher has an affair with a student, only to be brutally murdered by the girl and her teenage boyfriend. In Mr M’s book, the body is never found—but in real life, bodies have an awkward habit of turning up.

Listen to or read an interview with Herman Koch about the book here.

Stay tuned for my reviews of these two!

The Invoice by Jonas Karlsson

Summary:

A passionate film buff, our hero’s life revolves around his part-time job at a video store, the company of a few precious friends, and a daily routine that more often than not concludes with pizza and movie in his treasured small space in Stockholm. When he receives an astronomical invoice from a random national bureaucratic agency, everything will tumble into madness as he calls the hotline night and day to find out why he is the recipient of the largest bill in the entire country.
My take: 4 looks (and a tiny spoiler alert)

As is my usual, if I read a book in one sitting, it automatically gets 4 looks.

This book was such a treat! An extraordinary premise, to be invoiced for the experiences you've had in life ("You didn't think it was all for free, did you?"), this was unlike any other book I've read. Much like Karlsson's previous novel, The Room, this story is unique, eccentric, sweet, and totally believable ... as long as you suspend belief.

And that is the way of the story. The protagonist, what is his name... how can I not have realized that we never learn his name?? I know his childhood, his great love, moments that he treasures, his favorite scene in his favorite movie ... but never his name.

The genius of Karlsson's writing is so subtle and subversive, it could knock a sphere on edge. This is, I think, a book that you will either love or hate. I wanted a little more, and I wanted to better explore the path that this was all a hoax. Those are the reasons for my review of 4 instead of a 5. All the same,  I very definitely fall in the former category of feeling. Highly recommended.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

Summary:

Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner. 

Dr. Battista has other problems. After years out in the academic wilderness, he is on the verge of a breakthrough. His research could help millions. There’s only one problem: his brilliant young lab assistant, Pyotr, is about to be deported. And without Pyotr, all would be lost.

When Dr. Battista cooks up an outrageous plan that will enable Pyotr to stay in the country, he’s relying – as usual – on Kate to help him. Kate is furious: this time he’s really asking too much. But will she be able to resist the two men’s touchingly ludicrous campaign to bring her around?

My take: 3 looks

Vinegar girl is entertaining and very easy to read. A re-do of William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", it is relatively faithful to the spinster-finds-marriage plot, but that's about it. It is not as experimental as Tyler's other books "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant", "Breathing Lessons", or the beloved "Accidental Tourist".

The Hogarth Shakespeare series now has four titles, and this is the first I have read. Again, it is easy to read and entertaining, but also just as easily forgettable. Kate, Pyotor, Dr. Battista, and Bunny are all just characters in a story already told several times.

At less than 250 pages, it's not a commitment, and you will have another Anne Tyler title under your belt. Recommended summer supplement book.

Rain: A Natural and Cultural History by Cynthia Barnett

Summary:

Rain is elemental, mysterious, precious, destructive.

It is the subject of countless poems and paintings; the top of the weather report; the source of the world's water. Yet this is the first book to tell the story of rain.

My take: 5 looks

I was intrigued by the  premise of writing about rain. Not water, not floods, not weather. Rain. When I started it, I will admit that it was a tiny bit on the dry side (hehe). However, Barnett's skill at segueing from one topic to another, while weaving both scientific facts with myths, stories, and real events soon became quite mesmerizing. I have never used so many sticky tabs in a book to remember to make notes later.

It's hard to resist a sentence that contains "C. Leonard Woolley - think Indiana Jones with high cheekbones and kneesocks - ..."; and this book abounds with them. From the first meteorologists to the de-feminization of the umbrella, the story of rain as presented by Barnett is both educational and compelling.

Oh, and read the book yourself to find out why I am going to start calling windshield wipers "marys".

Highly recommended.

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

2 A.M. at The Cat's Pajamas by Marie-Helene Bertino

Summary:

Madeleine Altimari is a smart-mouthed, precocious nine-year-old and an aspiring jazz singer. As she mourns the recent death of her mother, she doesn’t realize that on Christmas Eve she is about to have the most extraordinary day—and night—of her life. After bravely facing down mean-spirited classmates and rejection at school, Madeleine doggedly searches for Philadelphia's legendary jazz club The Cat's Pajamas, where she’s determined to make her on-stage debut. On the same day, her fifth grade teacher Sarina Greene, who’s just moved back to Philly after a divorce, is nervously looking forward to a dinner party that will reunite her with an old high school crush, afraid to hope that sparks might fly again. And across town at The Cat's Pajamas, club owner Lorca discovers that his beloved haunt may have to close forever, unless someone can find a way to quickly raise the $30,000 that would save it.
My take: 4 looks

Okay, it was a cute story, and I liked how the characters merged and criss-crossed as the story developed. However, this 4 looks comes primarily from the writing, which is clever, sharp, and precise. The characters are on-point and brilliantly drawn and developed. I was firmly rooting for Madeleine, Sarina, and Lorca; and even Principal Randles became a little soft to me at the end. When the novel was over, I wanted more of Ben and Louisa, and was keen to know what happened to Alex. That is the sign of a great novel: to leave the reader wanting more.

I will definitely read more by this author, and will promote this jewel to everyone I know.

Highly recommended.

Out on the Wire by Jessica Abel

Summary:

Go behind the scenes of seven of today’s most popular narrative radio shows and podcasts, including This American Life and RadioLab, in graphic narrative. Every week, millions of devoted fans tune in to or download This American Life, The Moth, Radiolab, Planet Money, Snap Judgment, Serial, Invisibilia and other narrative radio shows. Using personal stories to breathe life into complex ideas and issues, these beloved programs help us to understand ourselves and our world a little bit better. Each has a distinct style, but every one delivers stories that are brilliantly told and produced.

 Out on the Wire offers an unexpected window into this new kind of storytelling—one that literally illustrates the making of a purely auditory medium. With the help of This American Life 's Ira Glass, Jessica Abel, a cartoonist and devotee of narrative radio, uncovers just how radio producers construct narrative, spilling some juicy insider details.

My take: 3 looks

Podcasts and narrative radio are genres that are changing the way listeners get information. A wide variety of topics, appealing to a vast audience doesn't just happen, but is born of much work and preparation.

Jessica Abel's graphic book is a great format for a book on how visual radio is, and how much work goes into a story. Wow! I had no idea that there were so many components to work out before going on the air, from the story pitch to the timing of the pieces, to the music used to support the tone. The nuances like segues from story to story are something that I have forever taken for granted. Now I know how many people it takes to make these shows work.

But that is not all. Abel uses a wonderfully visual format to get all of the information to the reader. Laid out like how I imagine storyboards are prepared, I almost felt like a voyeur in a graphic world. A topic introduced in one chapter shows up again in another chapter, as that story goes through the entire process of conception to presentation. The personal reflections of those intimately involved in this genre add to the down-home feel of the book.

The only drawback I had in reading this is that I felt that it was a little long. In the effort to bring it from informational only to something understandable to the lay-reader, I got a little bogged down more than once. I don't fault Abel with this, however. She has taken a very intricate subject, laden with components and options that would otherwise make my head spin, and placed it within my grasp.

If you love listening to these shows and podcasts, this is a book that you must add to you shelf.

Many thanks to BloggingForBooks.com for this copy in exchange for my honest review.