plus ca change

We Hope for Better Things by Erin Bartels
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction/historical fiction
Review: Reading this book is a little bit like viewing history through a kaleidoscope; as you turn the wheel, the colors shift slightly to make a different picture, but one that is made up of the same elements as the one before.  Bartels writes vividly across three storylines, each taking place in a different time.  The three time periods (1861-75, 1963-7, and modern time) blend and separate as each tell a story about racism and family.

Mary unwittingly and then wholeheartedly opens her home to escaping slaves during the Civil War.  Her granddaughter Nora must face the realities of racism when she falls in love with and marries a black photographer.  Elizabeth, Nora's great-niece, and an aspiring journalist, thinks she's found the story of a lifetime when she's given a camera to return to this aunt she's never met.  The story of each woman echoes the others as they search for the truth of themselves, their family, and its history.

Because there is a generation missing between Mary and Nora, and between Nora and Elizabeth, some of the past remains hidden, and Bartels avoids several opportunities to wrap everything up with a neat bow.  Usually, loose ends at the end of a book make me crazy, but Bartels demonstrates her gifts as a writer by making even this seem like a natural part of the story.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

everything and the kitchen sink

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review:  Kate Mascarenhas has found an interesting approach to writing a time travel novel.  As the title indicates, she's exploring what happens to a time traveler's brain and to their personality when they move through time.  In her world, the answer is: nothing good.  Among other mental infirmities that can develop, frequent time travel can cause people to become desensitized to and crass about death.  This can be a major problem, and how to tackle that problem and make time travel psychologically safe is an interesting entre into the genre.

Unfortunately, Mascarenhas has bitten off a bit more than she can chew, in what is clearly a debut novel.  She's wrapped this question in a mystery and layered it with an enormous bureaucracy that governs everything related to time travel, travelers (sometimes the same person) coming from both directions, and a full cast of non-time travelers. The mystery gets sort of forgotton for a while in the middle while we deal with the characters, and by the time we get back to it, I don't really care about the who's or why's of it.  And I couldn't even keep track of the characters, and all their various timely incarnations, let alone care much about any of them.

Still, there are hints of Mascarenhas's strengths as a writer.  Some of the characters are quite well-written, and parts of the action really hum along.  If she chooses to write another book, perhaps she'll be able to mellow out a little and let her talents shine through.

FTC Disclaimer: I recieved this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

two out of three ain't bad

Here and Now and Then by Mike Chen
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: Writing a time travel novel is kind of like writing a vampire novel - there are certains rules that must be followed, but other than that, the only thing an author must do is create a world with internal cohesion.  Mike Chen has definitely created a world that holds together.  His time travel agents have strict rules they must follow in order to prevent the timeline from corruption, and even the more technical explanations (of things like the "grandfather paradox") are eminently understandable.

Unfortunately, his characters and their relationships don't get the same attention.  At first, I thought the lack of depth in the future was deliberate, to reflect Kin's initial feelings of disconnect when he returns to his own time, but I didn't begin to feel more connected to those characters as he apparently did.  We're told that his feelings return for his fiancee return, but never really shown it.  On the other hand, the present-day characters felt much more fleshed out, but we don't actually have much interaction with them once Kin returns to the future.

So, it's a plus for world-building, a negative for characters, and there's another plus for the actual action of the story.  Kin's various attempts to reconnect with and then save his daughter shine through with his intensity, and Chen's determination to stay within the rules that he's created add a sense of urgency and truth to his actions.  If you do the math, world-building + action - character development = an eminently readable book, if not one of the best time travel books I've ever read.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

what holds us together?

The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Often, when I get to the end of a book, I'm left wanting to know what happens to the characters after the last page.  Much less frequently, do I feel the need to know about what happened before the first page.  But that was how I felt with this book.  What happened to get this family into this predicament?  Some of it was ancient history, some more recent, some became very clear, but a lot stayed very hazy in my mind.  I get that the details of the past may not have been the point, but I think a little more history would have helped me to understand the characters actions and reactions and why certain things have meaning.  It is clear that Gray's characters are all very much alive in her mind, but I had trouble getting them to come alive for me.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

when the ice melts

Laurentian Divide by Sarah Stonich
Genre: fiction
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Review: Every story needs a hook, and for Laurentian Divide it's the question of what happened to Rauri Paar, the odd man who winters alone on his island.  His appearance heralds the true return of spring to the residents of Hatchet Inlet.  But the answer to that question is not nearly as interesting as the stories of the people who are asking it.  There's: the widower who's about to marry the woman nearly 20 years his junior (they're deeply in love); his son, the veterinarian who's also a recovering alcoholic; and his fiancee, who's dealing with a mother with major dementia and reeling from the loss of her neice, who was killed in a drunk driving accident.  These are the people who tell the story, of their past and their present, that color the book in shades of ice blue and the green of new buds.

Unlike other books small-town books, I never got a sense of the town itself, although the larger scenery of Minnesota on the Canadian border comes through vividly (it may have helped that I was there not long ago).  As for what happened to Rauri Paar, the answer is appropriately anticlimactic, serving to satisfy the the curiosity of both reader and town, without overshadowing the characters the reader has come to identify with.  The revelation also allows the book to come to a graceful, natural ending.  I was pleased to learn that this is the second book in a planned trilogy, although it can be read alone; I'll almost certainly pick up the first one, and I'll be looking for the third when it comes out.

FTC Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the magic of Oz

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Review: When The Wizard of Oz was being made into a movie, L. Frank Baum's widow Maud took it upon herself to make sure that the movie honored her late husband's vision in the book - that the "heart" of Oz was present in the movie.  I think most of us who have grown up watching the movie would agree that her efforts were successful.  In writing about Maud Baum, Elizabeth Letts allows us to find the magic of Oz anew.

In writing about Frank and Maud's life together, Letts let's us see the magic that they, particularly Frank saw in their every day life, and shows us the many inspirations that came together to become Oz. In her Author's Note, Letts explains that many of the origins of Oz are well-documented, and her skill as a writer brings those scenes alive and allows her readers to experience the magic that Frank felt.

This backstory is told as Maud finagles her way onto the set of The Wizard of Oz at MGM studios.  She's particularly concerned with the character of Dorothy, and her time with Judy Garland reassures her that the singer can bring the right blend of innocence and longing to the part.  She must also confront the rampant sexism on the movie set, as Judy and other actresses are subject to sexual harassment.  Here Letts allows Maud to recall her early life as the daughter of a prominent sufragette and her lifelong committment to women's equality, of which Frank was an ardent supporter.  Feminism, suffrage, and Maud's inherent practicality married to Frank's sense of wonder all went into making Oz the magical place that it is in books, on stage and screen, and in our hearts.  In bringing that alive, Letts has given fans of Oz a great gift.

FTC Disclaimer: This book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for this review.

a metaphor for... something

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: This story is a metaphor for... something.  The inherent violence we all harbor inside us?  The idea that relations between men and women can never be peaceful?  I honestly don't know.  The writing is lovely, lyrical and haunting but too veiled for me.  Are men really a threat to women in the outside world, or is the sickness a metaphor?  Or is it just that Grace, Lia, and Sky's parents are incredibly manipulative and abusive (physicallyand psychologically)?  Although some things become clear(er) by the end of the book, much is left in obscurity.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

How Feminist Dystopian Fiction Is Channeling Women’s Anger and Anxiety

NYTimes 10/8/18: How Feminist Dystopian Fiction is Channeling Women's Anger and Anxiety by Alexandra Alter

how not to be popular

Confessions of a Teenage Leper by Ashley Little
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction, YA
Review: What happens when the presumptive prom queen finds out she has Hansen's Disease?  You get some really great moral lessons about the difference between being beautiful on the outside and on the inside.  Fortunately, Little inhabits her character so well that the talk of inner beauty goes down smoothly and the focus remains on Abby and her struggle to be healthy and to find a new path for her life.  Abby's voice is so vivid that the pages of the book seem to turn themselves as she goes from mis-diagnosis to mis-diagnosis to treatment to beginning to heal.

For all the cliches about inner beauty, there's a lot packed into this book. Abby has to deal with all the usual high school angst around parties, sex, friends, and her brother.  As a result, she's a very relatable character, neither saint nor sinner, but just a flawed teenager who you can't help rooting for.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the end of the world

The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Review: Harry August is a kalachakra, a term which refers to the Buddhist idea of the Wheel of Time. Kalachakras are people who are born again and again into the same life, with full memory of what they have done previously. Harry is born on January 1, 1919, the illegitimate son of a wealthy British landowner. His mother dies in childbirth, and he is adopted by a childless couple living on the estate. So much is the same, over and over again.

Naturally, there is a society of kalachakras, which, while the individual members are only loosely connected, has very strict rules about changing the timeline. After all, when you’re reborn knowing what will happen throughout your lifespan, there’s lots of potential to wreak havoc. The Chronus Club also has mechanisms for communicating into the past or future, which is how Harry learns that the world is ending. As he is dying for the 11th time, in 1996, he is told that the world ends in a thousand years and that future generations are powerless to stop it.

Armed with this knowledge, Harry enters his next cycle and passes this information on to other members of the Chronus Club, which embarks on a long term plan (think, several lifetimes) to figure what’s causing the end of the world and how to stop it. In the course of this mission, Harry tells us a great deal about how he’s lived his previous lives, and it’s very interesting to meditate on how one small change can have large effects. The bulk of the dramatic drive of the book, though, comes from the question of whether Harry will be able to solve the mystery of the end of the world, before he himself is destroyed.

master of her craft

A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Once again, Jodi Picoult has written a thoroughly compelling story that tackles a hot-button controversial social topic.  This time it's abortion, and told through multiple perspectives on both sides of the issue.  In contrast to many of her other books, I wasn't able to develop any sympathy or much empathy for those on the "other side" of my personal beliefs, despite the very well-developed characters.

Picoult also makes the very interesting choice to tell this story backward, beginning mere moments before the end of a hostage situation and rolling time back hour by hour to the morning of that day.  This technique both works and doesn't work for her.  The tension definitely rises as you find out more and more of what happened, but at the same time, because lives were left hanging in the balance at the end of the day, I reached a point where I just wanted to know who lived and who didn't, and stopped caring about all the backstories.

While not everything in this book worked for me, Jodi Picoult is a master of her craft, and has gifted readers again with a deftly told story.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

sole survivor

Relic by Alan Dean Foster
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: Ruslan is the last human survivor.  Having been rescued by the Myssari, he is resigned to spending the rest of his long life with them, being treated very well, but no less a specimen of his doomed race for all that, as he reminds the reader at least once in nearly every chapter.  For all its repetitiveness on this subject, this is good science fiction.  It's got everything from technology and alien worlds and cultures (and clashes), and the ultimate question of whether humanity can be resurrected will keep you reading until the very end.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

resolution

Changers, Book Four: Forever by T Cooper and Allison Glock-Cooper
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: The end is finally nigh for Ethan/Drew/Oryon/Kim/? (I'm not going to give away anything about his/her final identity).  S/he has one more year to go before s/he can choose his/her final identity.  Who will s/he be this time?  What choice will s/he ultimately make?  These are the questions that made me want to read the last book in this series, and kept me reading until the end of the book.  I have to admit, though, that it was sort of tough going.  First of all, the plot holes are back and better than ever!  Secondly, slang vomited all over this book.  It definitely helped the character have a voice, but it got grating.

And then.  Oh, and then.  For the first quarter or so of the book, we're still with Kim as she wraps up her affairs, particularly with Audrey, with whom she swears undying love and devotion, no matter what the next identity is.  Until it's time for said identity when s/he totally bails.  Good reason?  Maybe.  But not big enough to close the plot hole.  And made most of the second half of the book aggravating.

But, it's all over now.  Ethan/Drew/Oryon/Kim/? has made his/her decision and started the rest of his/her life.  And I will say that the ending was quite lovely.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

no tension

The Prisoner in the Castle by Susan Elia MacNeal
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction, mystery
Review: Maggie Hope just cannot catch a break.  In her latest adventure, she finds herself a prisoner of SOE and MI6 because she knows too much.  She and other highly trained agents are being held in relative comfort on a remote island in the Hebrides.  That there was such a "cooler" in a remote part of Scotland is historical fact.  One can only hope that the agents who were actually held did not have to deal with a murderer picking them off one at a time (a la Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, which gets a shout-out (under its original name) at the beginning of the book), or a Nazi spy.  You would think that with all that going, there would be a lot of tension in this book, but you would be wrong.  Someone dies, they all gasp, but remind themselves that they are not only British (stiff upper lip, old thing) but also trained agents, so they must just soldier on.  We hear Maggie's interior monologue that reminds us that she's so scared and just wants to go home, and that she's a trained agent and can handle this, and she steps forward and takes charge of the situation and tries to calm everyone else's fears (frankly, most of the others don't act like trained agents).  And then someone else is murdered and they all repeat the process.  Oh, and there's a couple of really enormous red herrings.

This is definitely not the strongest book in the Maggie Hope series, but, as always, I look forward to seeing what MacNeal gets Maggie up to next.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the perils of silence

Vox by Christina Dalcher
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: Imagine that a new President has been elected with the help of the extreme Christian right.  So extreme, and so powerful, that they reverse over a hundred years of women's rights, and worse.  Women are limited to 100 words a day, enforced by a "bracelet" they wear that administers worsening electric shocks for every word over the limit.  Dalcher doesn't waste much time on the details of how this came about, which is fine, as they're largely beside the point for the purposes of her story.  But, every time I caught myself saying "this is just too unbelievable - that would never happen here," I reminded myself that that's been said by other people at other times and places in history, and it could, and it did.

As for this book, though, comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale are inevitbale, but Vox has a different ambition.  Dalcher doesn't pull her punches when it comes to the details of women's subjugation in the new regime, but the story focuses on a small group of people who suddenly realize that they can change everything.

Even that isn't the real point, though.  Dalcher also pulls no punches in getting her message across.  Everyone: use your voice.  While you still can.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

these boots were made for walking

Two Steps Forward by Graeme Simsion and Anne Buist
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Martin and Zoe are both recently single, middle-aged people who decide to walk to the Camino de Santiago starting in Cluny, France.  Neither of them have particularly good reasons to walk hundreds of miles on an historical pilgrimage, but it seems like a good idea at the time.  They don't know each other until just before they set out, but fate brings them together on the trail.  And apart.  And together.  And apart.  And together again.  Each time they come together, the encourage each other forward with well-placed cliches, and then misunderstand each other just enough so that they separate again.

Martin's and Zoe's stories are somewhat less than compelling, unfortunately, and the cast of characters they meet along the way isn't much better.  But the descriptions of the Camino were very well done, and almost made me feel like I was walking alongside them.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Review: Isabel has some serious wounds, but then there's a big fight, so she just has to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in (literally), but the ghost helps her.  Then she's even more wounded, but there's another big fight, so she continues to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in, again (literally - Isabel's in a network of underground tunnels), but the ghost helps her again.  Then she and the ghost are both in trouble, but the gears click in her mind and she figures out a solution, which is totally risky and probably won't work, but it's their only chance... annnnd it works, and they live to have the ceiling fall in on them again (literally).  Meanwhile, there's like a mystery, and some feelings, and Isabel keeps falling into the ghost-place and no-one knows why, and people fighting aboveground too, and it's really just a big mess.  But Isabel is undaunted - actually, that's a lie, she's totally daunted, but she knows the fate of ... everything? ... is at stake.

There, now you don't have to read the book.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

sexy and sweet

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: What would you do if you were a very well-off and well-respected professional woman who was terrified of dating and sex because you had Asperger's?  Perhaps you would hire an escort to help you become more comfortable with those interpersonal areas of your life.  And what would you do if you were a man who had mountains of debt and responsibilities, but had been told you had a particular talent for sex?  You'd become an escort, naturally.  Thus, the basis for 2018's greatest love story.  Michael and Stella are both characters you root for, to be able to overcome their own shortcomings and power through the things that challenge them.  It gives nothing away to say that they end up together, but the process, oh, the process.  Very steamy and very sweet.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the hazards of wealth

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: From the outside, Nina has everything she could ever want.  She has a successful (and rich husband), a son on his way to Princeton, a beautiful home, and time to charity work.  But that's not really who Nina is, as she finds out when scandal strikes, in the form of a picture of a nearly nude girl that her son snapchats to a few friends.  The repurcussions of that force Nina to really examine her life and whether it reflects her values.  Her introspection forms one theme of the story, and the did-he-didn't-he question of who actually sent the picture and what the consequences will be, form another.  Add to that Lyla, the girl in the photo, who has her own story to tell, and her father, and you get a complex, layered book that explores issues of privilige, complicity, and redemption.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

from whimsy to the deep

The Garden Party by Grace Dane Mazur
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: This book has a whimsical feel right from the beginning.  From before the beginning, actually: from the seating chart at the front.  That whimsy quickly gets deep, though, as we meet the people around the table.  The bride and groom, their parents, siblings, grandparents, and other assorted friends and relations who have gathered to celebrate the nuptials scheduled for the following day, all have their own dramas going on.  In that way, this reads more like a series of intersecting short stories, as each individual or small group of characters is really pursuing their own storyline.  Infidelities are revealed, mortality is contemplated, and both love and passion flower.  So, no, this is not a whimsical story, but it is a good one, and full of feeling.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

sometimes it takes a while to find yourself

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Willa is a very bland, sort of get-along-with-everyone character.  She goes from being dominated by her mother, who has some kind of anger management issue, or is possibly bipolar, or something, to being dominated by her both her first and second husbands, both of whom definitely have anger management issues.  She's got skills (I was shocked about 2/3 of the way through the book when she mentions that she speaks 5 languages) but recently gave her job teaching ESL to follow her second husband into retirement in Arizona, where she identifies most with the lone saguaro cactus in front of her house.

When she gets a call that her son's ex-girlfriend (who she never met) has been shot and needs help, she gets on a plane and heads to Baltimore to take care of her and her 9-year-old daughter.  Some may think it odd to fly 2000 miles across the country to care for a woman you've never met (and her daughter), but Willa has always been open to suggestion, not to mention that she's totally bored.  But in Baltimore, she finally finds a purpose, people who need her, and a community.  The only question is whether she also finds the strength to break from her former go-along-to-get-along life and stay in the place and with the people who actually make her happy.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

crisis of faith

Southernmost by Silas House
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: In an editorial in today's Washington Post, E.J. Dionne writes that "[m]any young people [have come] to regard religion as 'judgmental, homophobic, hypocritical and too political.'"  Asher Sharp couldn't agree more.  He's a Holy Roller pastor who's having a crisis of faith.  He's been harboring some long-standing guilt about how he and his mother treated his brother when he came out as gay, and when he's forced to turn away a gay couple seeking shelter in a flood, his crisis comes to a head.  In trying to accept the two men into his church, he loses his pulpit, and in trying to bring his more liberal thinking into his own home, he loses his wife and son.

Faced with a protracted custody battle, Asher kidnaps his son, Justin, and spirits him away to Key West to find Asher's long-estranged brother, Luke.  What follows is... not much.  Justin and Asher find a home at a small resort hotel on the island, and Asher works as a general handyman.  But neither of them do much, except think deep thoughts about God, and faith, and the church, and judgment, and holiness.  This is a very introspective, slow-moving, but beautifully written book.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

one-two punch

The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik by David Arnold
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: YA, fiction
Review:  Noah's last name isn't Hypnotik (it's Oakman), but he does have strange fascinations.  That's his own name for them, taken unashamedly from David Bowie's book.  They are: a YouTube video featuring a woman aging day by day; the man with an enormous goiter Noah passes every day on his way to school; a picture dropped by a singer; and uncovering the hidden messages in his favorite author's works.  When Noah is hypnotized (or something - he's not actually sure what happened), and he starts to notice subtle changes in the world around him, his strange fascinations remain constant.  Convinced that the answers lie in uncovering the secrets behind his fascinations, he begins a somewhat obsessive quest to get to the bottom of things.

But then, well, let's just say that I did not see that coming.  Or the other thing.  It was quite the double-whammy, and very well done.  But what really pulled me through the book was wondering whether Noah would ever figure out how to go back to being a good friend.  His two best friends, twins Alan and Val, are fantastic supporting characters and add a lot of depth to Noah's story.

FTC Disclaimer: A received a digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

taking a stand

Ban This Book by Alan Gratz
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction, middle grade
Review: I really wanted to be able to give this book 5 stars, based on its portrayal of a courageous 4th grader who takes a stand against books being banned from her school library, and its top-notch discussions of the First Amendment and censorship.  When Amy Anne's favorite book (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil Frankweiler) is banned, along with several others, normally shy and reserved Amy Anne starts to stand up for what she believes in.  She and her friends start gathering copies of the banned books to share with their fellow students from the "Banned Books Locker Library".  Their efforts get more ingenious the more books are banned, and the conversations that are engendered because of the controversy are spectacular.  This is a great book to teach about civil liberties, without having students feel like the lessons are being shoved down their throats.

Unfortunately, as good as it is in those areas, it is equally bad in others.  Amy Anne's parents are completely oblivious to her feelings of frustration at home (her two little sisters are always right and she is always in the wrong), and whereas the First Amendment is very strong, due process seems not to exist at all.  The portrayal of the motivations of the parent behind the book banning was weak, and those of the school board non-existent.  These flaws really brought down an otherwise excellent book.

leave the past in the past

My Name is Venus Black by Heather Lloyd
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: All is not well in the Miller/Black household.  Mr. Miller is dead, for one thing, at the hands of his thirteen-year-old stepdaughter, Venus, who doesn't deny that she killed him, but blames her mother for not taking action to stop... something.  A few days after Venus is arrested for doing... whatever she did that resulted in her stepfather's death... her little brother Leo, who is intellectually handicapped, goes missing, but Venus, being in juvenile detention, can't do anything to help find him, which seems to be the hardest part about being in jail, as far as she's concerned.

Skip forward 6 years to when Venus is released and sets out to try to restart her life in something resembling a normal fashion.  Possibly the reader is supposed to still care about what actually happened on that fateful night in 1980 (and the events leading up to it), and I did, but I found myself much more interested in Venus as a character than as a sensationalized news story.  Rest assured, we do find out what happened and why Venus is so mad at her mother, but her current story is much more interesting, and that's what kept me turning the pages.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

the nature of grief

We Own the Sky by Luke Allnut
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Luke Allnut practically wrote my review for me in his letter to Readers at the beginning of the galley: "I have tried to be honest about how people respond to tragedy.  our thoughts are often dark; our actions unsavory.  But I also wanted to show just how resilient people are.  And that kindness sometimes comes from surprising places.  Hope and love and compassion, above all.  I hope that's what you'll get from the novel, as well."  He's done exactly what he set out to do, with grace and imagination.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

ode to feminism

The Female Persuasion by Meg Wolitzer
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review:  There are two aspects of feminism, says Faith Frank, the elder stateswoman of feminism in Meg Wolitzer's new book.  The first concerns individualism, the idea that each woman gets to choose the shape of her own life.  The second she calls "sisterhood" and centers around the idea that individual feminism can't take place unless women act together for advancement.  Similar disquisitions on feminism occur throughout the book, as the characters give speeches, have conversations, and generally try to figure out what feminism even means these days.  After all, as one character says, "I assumed there would always be a little progress and then a little slipping, you know?  And then a little more progress.  But instead the whole idea of progress was taken away, and who knew that could happen, right?"  Although the current political environment is never explicitly discussed, it's clear that by the end of the book the real world and fiction have collided.

This book is much more than a feminist screed, though many gems on the subject can be found within its pages.  We are also given several deep and complex characters and their relationships, through which Wolitzer explores themes of self-discovery, betrayal, and idealism.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

What's the Right Age to Read a Book?

What's the Right Age to Read a Book? a NYT op-ed piece by Jennifer Finney Boylan

I certainly agree that some books only work for a reader when read at a certain time of life, but haven't tried to read both The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye at different ages and still don't like either one.  According to Boylan, though, I'm still too young!

have another drink

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: thriller
Review: Cassie Bowden is not just an alcoholic, she's obsessed with being an alcoholic.  And with her own propensity to make bad decisions.  And with generally being a screw-up.  And, seriously, did I mention that Cassie drinks?  Because we're told that over and over and over again.  You know what, Cassie drinks.  She drinks a lot.  And she likes it.  Did I mention that Cassie drinks?

Fortunately for the reader, becase following along while a 30-something year-old woman consistently refuses to do anything sensible is just not a lot of fun, there are larger issues of geopolitics at play in this book.  It is those that lead to the dead man in the bed, and that actually drive the story forward as we wonder whether Cassie will live to take her next drink.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

you'll be rooting for Corinne

Family of the Fox by F.M. Isaacs
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fantasy
Review: Corinne's family is keeping secrets from her, and she knows it.  Ordinarily, I hate books where everyone is keeping a secret from the main character, but Isaacs writes Corinne's frustrations so believably that I was able to focus on the story, rather than on my own frustrations with the characters.  Corinne doesn't just sit back and hope that all the answers will spontaneously be revealed to her.  Instead, the pages practically turn themselves as she struggles to find out her family's secrets.  Her perseverance pays off, and she is soon admitted into a world of time travel, shape shifting, and teleportation.  For the most part, her family treats their gifts as fun and games, but of course danger lurks, and soon Corinne and her family must fight for both their past and future.  This fast-paced novel will be perfect for any fan of fantasy, especially of fantasy involving a strong female protagonist.

the immortal Forrest Gump

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: speculative fiction
Review: Tom has met William Shakespeare, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Captain Cook.  He's over four centuries old (but looks like he's only in his 40s) but of course he can't tell anyone that.  As far as Tom is concerned, being practically immortal (he's not, but he should live well into his ninth century) isn't all it's cracked up to be.  He probably would have done himself in a long time ago, except he has to find his daughter, who's out there somewhere.  He thinks.  But since he hasn't even had a hint of where she might be in about 350 years, he's decided to go back to his roots, which dredge up a lot of memories.  Most of the book alternates between Tom's current life as a history teacher and his reminiscenses as he Forrest Gumps his way through history.

There's not so much plot for most of the book as there is deep, dark philosophical musing on life and time and history.  Until suddenly Haig realizes that he has to actually end the book in some way, and several very dramatic things happen, Tom comes to some startling realizations, and they all live happily ever after.  For a long time.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

teach your children well

Hap & Hazard and the End of the World by Diane DeSanders
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Hap and Hazard don't really have anything much to do with this story.  They're the family dogs.  The end of the world seem to factor into it much either.  This is the story of an unnamed girl, eldest of three daughters, as she tries to navigate being eight (give or take).  No-one will answer her questions about anything important, and she lives in a world of unexplained things (her father's short temper, her grandparents' various idiosyncrasies, whether there really is a Santa Claus, is there actually something wrong with her, and on and on).  While realistic perhaps, the method of relating a child's experience of the world around her with no explanations about what is really going on is predictably challenging and unfortunately, not very rewarding.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.

not subtle, but not preachy

The Leavers by Lisa Ko
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: When he is 11 years old, Deming's mother goes to work one day, and never returns.  Deming is soon put into foster care and then adopted.  We meet Deming again 10 years later, and struggling with an identity crisis.  Does he want to try to be the academic his academic adoptive parents want him to be, or does he want to follow his own love of music and try to make it as a musician?  Ko is more than a little heavy-handed in making the reader understand that this is something of a stand-in for his mixed feelings about being an American-born Chinese who spent half of his life in a lily-white upstate New York college town.

This character-driven story will appeal both to readers who enjoy books about immigrants, as well as those about characters searching for their own personal identity.  Told through the point of view of Deming (in the third person) and his mother (in the first person), the full story of what happened to Deming's mother, both how she came to America and what happened the day she disappeared, is gradually revealed.  This is a grim, but ultimately hopeful and redemptive novel that lays out the difficulties of immigration and assimilation without being overly preachy.

breadth not depth

The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review:  In 1969, the four Gold siblings visit a supposedly mystical woman who can tell the date on which someone will die.  The oldest sibling, Varya, is 13 when they receive the prophecy, and learns that she will live to 88.  Simon, the youngest sibling at 7, learns that he will die at 20.

Benjamin chooses to tell the siblings' stories consecutively, in order of their death, which took a lot of the suspense out of the question of whether the prophecies were ultimately true, leading me to understand that the driving questions of this book is actually, "Does knowing the date of your death become a self-fulfilling prophecy?"  Benjamin seems to take it for granted that we can accept the legitimacy of the prophecy but is so heavy-handed in answering the question of self-fulfillment that the stories of what happen to the siblings seems very shallow.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher in exchange for this review.