the spirit of the original

Meg & Jo by Virigina Kantra
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: I suspect many Louisa May Alcott aficionados get nervous every time they hear about a remake of Little Women, or a "contemporary retelling," like Virginia Kantra's Meg & Jo.  I know I do, and I almost didn't pick up this book because I was concerned about the damage it would do to my favorite book.  I need not have worried.  On the contrary, Kantra got it just right.  I can easily imagine that this is the book Louisa May Alcott would have written if she lived in the 21st century.

Which means, of course, that it's a really good book, in addition to preserving the spirit of Little Women.  The characters, their struggles and triumphs, and their family bond (since this is still the March family) spring off the page.  I felt so connected to the characters that I was a little bereft when the book ended, and I was thrilled to see that Kantra has a sequel, Beth & Amy, coming soon.

I would recommend Meg & Jo to anyone who was looking for a good story, whether or not they've read Little Women.  Many kudos to Kantra for this wonderful book.  Jo March (the original) would be proud.

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

triumph and adversity

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Alice doesn't fit in at home in England, for reasons that aren't entirely made clear, but also aren't terribly important.  So when Bennett Van Cleve and his father come through her town on their European tour, she's more than ready to be swept off her feet and taken away from her boring life and hyper-critical parents.  Unfortunately, she didn't look at a map to understand that Kentucky mining country is a far cry from cosmopolitan New York.  Nor did she have enough to have any sense of her husband's character, and things quickly go downhill for her in America.

Fortunately, the WPA's packhorse library's need for librarians comes along to save her.  The only things that anchors this book in the 20th century, the packhorse library really existed.  "Librarians" took books into the hills and remote areas of Kentucky (and other places), and, at least in this book, brought the light of literature out to the boonies.  Alice must contend with mistrust (not only is she not from the nearest small-town, she has an accent all the way from England), hazardous weather, and a bonehead husband.  Fortunately, the promise of new friendships and happier times is on the horizon, if Alice can tough it out.

This may sound like a lightweight book, but it's actually not.  Swirling around Alice are issues of poverty, illiteracy, prejudice, class injustice, and the unionization of coal miners.  On a personal level, she must also deal with the nature of marriage and her obligations to her family.  Moyes does an elegant job of illuminating all these issues while also writing realistic and relatable characters and situations.  As a librarian, I was, of course, particularly taken with her discussions of the packhorse librarians and their goals of spreading literacy throughout the countryside.  Her descriptions of how books changed the lives of the families in the hills serves as a timeless reminder of the importance of books and libraries to everyone.

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

story magic

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Genre: fantasy
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Review: This is a book about the power and magic of stories.  It is best read in print, and possibly by candlelight, for all the magic to come through, but even reading the e-book was very magical.

There's no meaningful way to sum up this book or to adequately capture the beauty of the language except to say that the story is wonderful and the language more than does it justice.  But here's a taste (and definitely not the best taste, but the easiest one to take out of context): "I don't know if I believe that [endings are what give stories meaning].  I think the whole story has meaning but I also think to have a whole story-shaped story it needs some sort of resolution.  Not even a resolution, some appropriate place to leave it.  A goodbye.  I think the best stories feel like they're still going, somewhere, out in story space."  And later, "...no story ever truly ends as long as it is told."

Morgenstern is true to her word here.  In and around all this magic and fancy, there's an actual plot, which is brought to something sort of like a resolution by the end.  But this story definitely keeps going.  Not in the sense of needing a sequel (although I wouldn't complain), but in the sense that it will live in my head for a long time to come.

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

unclear

Trinity Sight by Jennifer Givhan
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: apocalyptic fiction
Review: What happens when Pueblo and Zuni myths meet The Stand (and a little bit of Outlander)?  You get Trinity Sight, where there's been some kind of cataclysmic event and suddenly almost all the people are gone.  Some of those who remain band together and try to make their way to safety, where, hopefully, they will also find their lost families.  What do these survivors have in common, so that they stuck around?  Unclear.  What happened to cause the upheaval?  Unclear.

Maybe it's just me, but overall this whole book was just very unclear.  By the end, I felt like I had a sense of what was going on, but I never felt like I had a clear picture.  Likewise, many of the characters felt hazy.  Perhaps this is appropriate for a book that is based in myths, but it makes reading somewhat challenging.  A little more clarity would have gone a long way toward helping me to understand what Givhan's ultimate message is.

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

like velvet

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Review: Before I got more than a page or two into this book, I said to myself, Wow, this is going to be a good book!  Myself replied, Of course it is, it's by Ann Patchett.  And indeed, this is one of Patchett's best books.  The biggest criticism I can level is that it's a little self-indulgent at times, but the characters leap off the page, and are so true to themselves, that any self-indulgence was just a natural part of the progression of the story.  I could go on and on about the language and the descriptions and everything else.  I could even make a bad metaphor about how picking up this book was like rubbing velvet: it just felt perfect.  But I won't.  If you like Ann Patchett, you've already read this book.  If you've never been introduced to her, this one is a great one to start with.

Actually, my biggest criticism of this book is the cover.  I hate the cover.

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

coming into her own

A Single Thread by Tracy Chevalier
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Not just any author could craft a compelling narrative from embroidery and bellringing, but Tracy Chevalier isn't just any author.  The book follows Violet Speedwell, a "surplus woman" after so many men, including her fiancé, were killed in WWI.  Violet's been living with her widowed mother, and has had just about enough of her constant complaints and criticisms, so she moves a scant 12 miles away to Winchester, home of the famous Winchester Cathedral (where Jane Austen and many others are buried).  As happy as she is to be on her own, she struggles with the challenges of supporting herself (she does have a job, but it barely pays enough for food and a rented room) and finding some kind of social life, all in a world that still doesn't look very fondly on women on their own.

On a visit to Winchester Cathedral, Violet stumbles up a Blessing of the Embroidery service, and decides to join the cathedral broderers, who are engaged in a years-long project to embroider new kneelers and cushions for the cathedral.  And thus begins Violet's journey of self-discovery.  Most of Violet's journey involves learning how to be a friend (this is what leads her to meet the bellringers), how not to be guilted into moving back in to take care of her mother, and, generally speaking, how to be an independent person.

Like all of Chevalier's books, the reader is immersed in the world that she creates with her words.  Even the details of embroidery stitches and the difference between ringing a set of 5 bells versus 9 bells is interesting as we learn alongside Violet and see the world opening up in front of her.

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

Audiobooks or Reading? To Our Brains, It Doesn't Matter

I've been saying this for a long time...

Audiobooks or Reading? To Our Brains, It Doesn't Matter - http://bit.ly/2HsNDJy

NPR's 100 Funniest Books

Well, my TBR list just got a lot longer...

We Did It For The LOLs: 100 Favorite Funny Books https://n.pr/2KUjW4M

leap off the page

The Women of the Copper Country by Mary Doria Russell
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: What do the women of the copper country do while the men are down in the pits mining?  It takes no great imagination to picture them cooking, cleaning, mending, caring for children, and, if in much less dangerous conditions, generally working just as hard as their men.

According to Russell, though, they also organized.  At least in Calumet, Michigan they did.  When male union organizers got very little traction with the workers of the Calumet-Hecla mining company, where death or serious injury happened weekly, the latest death, with the resultant orphaned children, is the straw that breaks the back of Annie Clements's patience.  She organizes the women, and the union and most of the workers follow, if somewhat reluctantly.  Annie is a striking figure, though (no pun intended), and the walk-out soon becomes national news, thanks to the efforts of an aspirational photojournalist.

All of Russell's characters leap off the page, as anyone who's familiar with her work already knows.  Everyone from Annie to her anti-union husband, to James McNaughton, the manager of the mine, is shown to have at least one or two layers.  Incidentally, Russell pulls no punches in her descriptions of McNaughton's callousness toward his workers, a characterization Russell assures us is firmly based in historical reality.

Russell is known for the quality of the research she puts into her books, and this one is no exception.  But she also has the gift of communicating the knowledge she has accumulated without being didactic.  Having turned her attention to the beginning of the labor movement, she treats her readers to a heart-breaking look at what it cost the people who fought for the rights of all workers.

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

perfect

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction/fiction
Review: This is one of those books that just wow you.  Based on a true story, Whitehead tells us the story of a Elwood's experience in a Florida reform school in the 1960s.  Segregated and violent, Nickel Academy marks every boy who passes through.  As an adult, having made his way to New York City, he's created a good life for himself, but when the school is closed and archeologist's start discovering bodies of dead boys where they shouldn't be, he knows that it's time to confront his past.

It would be easy for this book to get weighed down with the brutality of the school and of the Jim Crow south in general, but Elwood's courage and dreams, and Whitehead's writing, lift the story above the mud.  The writing is very plain, but descriptive, allowing the actions, thoughts, and feelings of the characters to speak for themselves, making them that much more resonant with the reader.

As I read this book, I kept wishing it was longer, if only because it was so good that the ending was bound to be disappointing.  I can only say that I needn't have worried, as the ending was absolutely perfect.  Kudos to Mr. Whitehead.  This is a book that deserves to be read, and re-read, by everyone.

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

like reading abstract art

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mokhtar and Max Gladstone
Rating: 1 star (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction
Review: Many time travel books are non-linear to some degree.  But this book charts a whole new path when it comes to non-linearity.  To be fair, the specifics of where are when are somewhat beside the point, but the places and times the characters go to have very few recognizable features, which leaves the reading without a hook on which to make sense of the narrative (if it can be called that).  It's kind of like reading abstract art.  Like abstract art, a very few things come into focus by the end if you stare at them long enough, but it requires way too much effort.  If you like that kind of thing, carry on, but it's really not for me.  And yes, I already know I'm a philistine when it comes to art.

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

what exactly is the point?

Wilder Girls by Rory Powers
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: science fiction/horror
Review: Raxter.  The name of the island, and the small girls' boarding school on it.  And now, the Raxter Phenonomen, or the Tox, which is turning the island, and everything on it wild in various ways.  Nearly all of the teachers, and many of the students are already dead, and those who remain are holed up on the school grounds, waiting for the Navy and the CDC which are supposedly working on a cure.  Or are they?  It's clear that everything is not as it seems, and you'll keep reading this book to try to figure out what the real story is.  What is the Tox?  Where did it come from?  And is everyone actually on the same side?

Not all of those questions come with clear answers, although they're all answered enough to be satisfying by the end of the book.  But the one big question I was left with was, what was the point of this book?  Was it supposed to be something like Lord of the Flies where we see what happens to a society of adolescents when they're left on their own in dangerous circumstances?  Or was it supposed to be more about the Tox itself?  I just couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be getting out of this book.  Like I said, though, you will keep reading right to the end just to see who, if anyone, makes it out alive and whether they have any answers with them if they do.

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

pieces of the puzzle

The Virtue of Sin by Shannon Schuren
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review:  Miriam was born and raised in New Jerusalem; her parents were among the first faithful.  She accepts her world at face value (strict male/female separation before marriage, weird rules of socializing after marriage, interpretation of dreams, etc.) but when the ordained Matrimony doesn't go like it's supposed to, she starts asking questions.  Interestingly, she's willing to accept the unexpected results, except that so many people, from charismatic autocrat Daniel on down, are clearly upset about the outcome.  Daniel even seems to think that what happened somehow puts the community in danger.  But once Miriam starts looking, she sees oddities everywhere.

"It's like a puzzle that's been jumbled.  Like someone tried to jam some pieces in where they don't belong," says Miriam.  I couldn't have described it better.  At first glance, this is yet another book about a religious cult, featuring a young woman who begins to question the garbage being fed to the faithful.  Except there's a lot to figure out in this book.  Like, who actually is a true believer, and to what lengths is Daniel willing to go to preserve his power?  To what lengths has he already gone?  And what in the world is Susanna up to?

There are definitely a lot of layers in this book.  In addition, I found Miriam to be a particularly good character, and her inner voice drew me in right away.  With elements of Vox, The Handmaid's Tale, and Educated, this book is an believable imagination of what the inside of a cult looks like to insiders.  I wouldn't mind if Schuren took the characters a step further and imagined how they adjust after the action in this part of the story ends.

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

The Best Books to Read at Every Age

I'm both ahead of and behind my times!
The best books to read at every age, from 1 to 100

oh, so lovely

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
Rating: 4.5 stars (out 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Evvie (pronounced eh-vee) is not a misanthrope.  She's not particularly socially awkward.  She just... doesn't really feel like it right now.  A young widow, her husband died literally as she was preparing to leave him (he deserved to be left).  Except that nobody knows that; they all think she's properly grieving for him.  So, you know: guilt.

Dean is a former Yankees pitcher who's got the yips.  He's tried everything to get his arm back, but nothing works.  His childhood best friend is also Evvie's best friend, and it just so happens that Evvie also has an apartment in her house that would be perfect for Dean while he tries to figure out what he wants to do with the rest of his life.

What follows is a fairly predictable boy-meets-girl story, with a few false notes.  But it is oh, so lovely.  Reading about Dean and Evvie made my heart happy.  Both characters leap off the page (seriously, I was tempted to look up and see if they were actually in my living room with me) and their trials and tribulations are both realistic and compassionately drawn.  Is this a perfect book?  No.  Do I think it's going to be very popular this summer?  Yes.  Do I highly recommend it?  Even more yes.

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

expect the unexpected

Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Ok, I did not see that coming.  Usually, when a character does something unexpected near the end of a book, it means that the author has written herself into a corner that she can't get out of without someone having an epiphany or just acting way out of character or something.  But in this case, the behavior totally felt like something the character would do, even if I wasn't expecting it.  I won't even tell you which character does the unexpected thing, so read the book to find out.  It's worth it all the way through.

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

on the path

Professor Chandra Follows His Bliss by Rajeev Balasubramanyam
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: I'm not sure what bliss Professor Chandra is following, or how he's following it, but he's an interesting guy to read about.  A distinguished professor of economics, has just been denied the Nobel Prize (again), he is hit by a bicycle and suffers a heart attack, forcing him to take a break, under doctor's orders.  And he does try.  He tries to reconnect with his children, and attends a mindfulness retreat.  He learns a lot about himself, and his children, but I didn't really see where the bliss comes in, since he's mostly just as conflicted at the end as he is in the beginning, if a bit gentler about it.

Bliss, not so much, but Chandra himself does come to understand and accept a lot about himself and his past mistakes.  His journey, with all its missteps and imperfections, is very believable, and you'll find yourself rooting for Chandra to find a way, not to bliss, but to more happiness.  Or maybe just contentment?  Or self-awareness?  Whatever he's on the path to, it's an enjoyable journey, for the reader, at least.

One thing that really stood out to me is the very subtle way that Balasubramanyam points out the ways in which Chandra was a terrible father.  His casual cruelties to his children are reported as straight facts; there is no extended narrative exposition explaining the effects of his words, allowing readers to make their own judgments without interference.  This is a mark of a good author, one who truly shows, rather than tells, and he does this with aplomb throughout the book.

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

Lunacy: how science fiction is powering the new moon rush

The Guardian recently ran an interesting article about the impact of science fiction on current pushes to return to the moon.  Read the full article here.

"Science fiction is often seen as an anticipation - a fiction peculiarly expected to graduate into fact.  But if technologies once found only in SF do sometimes become real they do not, in so doing, always cease to be science fiction.  SF is not, after all, simply a literature about the future; it is a literature about the shock of new capacities and new perspectives, about transcendence, estrangement and resistance in the face of the inhuman.  Its ideas shape and contrain the ways in which technological possibilities are seen, understood and experienced long after those possibilities are first tentatively realised."

flat on the page

The Tubman Command by Elizabeth Cobbs
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Any student of Civil War-era history has some basic knowledge of Harriet Tubman, but perhaps not much beyond her role on the Underground Railroad.  If nothing else, this book will deepen the reader's understanding of her ongoing role in liberating slaves throughout the War itself.  Cobbs focuses on Tubman's actions as a scout for the Union Army at their camp in Beaufort, South Carolina.  Tubman, or "Moses", as she was known by the "contraband" freed slaves, both recruited other scouts and helped to organize the slaves on the nearby plantation so that they would be ready to move when the Army came to free them.

A good novel of historical fiction makes the past come alive in a way that non-fiction can't.  Unfortunately, I can't really say that Tubman leaps off the page in this book.  Rather, it reads more like a work of narrative non-fiction from a close third-person point of view.  However, readers interested in either the Civil War or Harriet Tubman will learn a lot from Cobbs's research and the information goes down very easily.

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

who likes audiobooks?

An interesting article on the increase in people listening to audiobooks.  I always have an audiobook on in the car, when I'm folding laundry, when I'm playing mindless games on my phone...
https://bookriot.com/2019/04/18/audiobook-listenership-in-2019/

what to do for your 101st birthday

The Accidental Further Adventures of the 100-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: In The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson, gave us Allan Karlsson, a man who seems, Forrest Gump-like, to be present at most major historical events.  Allan finds himself in a lot more sticky situations though, but continually gets out of them through sheer luck and his own lack of a filter when talking to world leaders.  He relates the story of his adventures as he bumbles through yet another misadventure as he turns 100 years old.  The humor in this first book is wry and subtle, and it was a real pleasure to read.

The next installment of Allan's life, as he turns 101, is a bit less enjoyable.  I can imagine that the humor from the first book would be hard to sustain, especially as we must largely confine ourselves to Allan's present circumstances, as Allan encounters Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un, and Angela Merkel, among others officials.  Unfortunately, although Allan himself seems little changed, his companions now seem to find him more annoying than anything else, and that rubbed me the wrong way.  When did he suddenly become a troublesome old man?  Maybe it was just the little black tablet that he insists on consulting all the time...

Still, for all that this installment wasn't quite as good as the first one, it's very enjoyable, if for no other reason that Allan's continued lack of filter as he deals with current world leaders.

conversations in a hayloft

Women Talking by Miriam Toews
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: A small group of women gather to decide what to do after it is revealed that they, along with most other women and girls in their community, have been repeatedly drugged and raped by the men of their small Mennonite colony.  Will they forgive the men, stay and fight, or leave the colony?  Their discussions range over what it means to have the freedom to choose, whether one can be a pacifist if one harbors a desire a kill, how best to protect one's children, and many more philosophical topics.

It was somewhat jarring that a book that seemed as though it was to be about female empowerment was told from a man's perspective, but it worked.  He is privy to the women talking as an amanuensis; none of the women can read or write, but want their deliberations preserved for posterity.  He's an outsider in the colony, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, but his outsider status allows the women to trust him for this task, and makes him appropriately sensitive to them, in a way that no other man of their acquaintance could, or would, be.

And perhaps this is a realistic notion of what could happen when such an insulated group of people is threatened in this way.  But I found it troubling to read about a group of women facing such a threat to themselves and their children and spending two days sitting in a hayloft debating the finer points of free will, rather than making actual plans.  The lack of action in the books gives it a claustrophobic feel, which seems appropriate under the circumstances, and that feeling of clautrophobia helps keep the pressure on throughout the narrative, having the effect of sucking the reader through the story, rather in the manner of a pneumatic tube.

So what will the women decide to do, and will they be able to follow through on that decision?  That is what they are talking about, and the question of whether they will be able to sieze their freedom, no matter what they decide, will leave the reader thinking long after the last page.

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

more than just a sequel

Daughter of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Alan Brennert doesn't pull his punches when it comes to some of the more shameful aspects of history.  In Moloka'i he explored the segregation of Hansen's Disease patients in Hawai'i, through the eyes of Rachel Kalama who was removed from her family and sent to the leper colony on Moloka'i at a young age.  Now, in Daughter of Moloka'i, Brennert tells the story of Ruth, the daughter Rachel was forced to give up for adoption.  And his unstinting gaze falls on the racism against Japanese immigrants and the Japanese internment camps of WWII.

As always, Brennert's gaze falls beyond the immediate drama to give us the full and rich sweep of a life.  Ruth's life is fully imagined, from her time in an orphanage and her dreams of finding a family to her happiness with her adopted parents and brothers to the hardships they faced as farmers in rural California to their internment and beyond.  Once Rachel is re-introduced into the narrative, it is fascinating to watch Brennert tell the same story, even many of the exact same scenes, but told from Ruth's perspective.  Reading the books back-to-back turns them into a wonderfully faceted multi-generational story that is a pleasure to read.

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

all the synonyms for debauchery

Cape May by Chip Cheek
Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: In most books, one expects there to be some character growth.  In this book, the characters just get more and more debauched.  Our main characters, Henry and Effie, are newlyweds from Georgia on their honeymoon in Cape May, NJ.  It's September, so the summer resort community is largely empty, but soon Henry and Effie find another young couple in a house down the street.  But their new friends are neither as young nor as innocent Henry and Effie, and soon they find themselves going inexorably down the path to dissipation and lasciviousness until they both doubt whether their marriage will outlast the honeymoon.  Cheek saves most of his answers for the last chapter of the book, where the reader can trace the effects of their licentiousness.

Ultimately, this book is very readable (if you're in the mood for reading about a lot of sex) and the action (pun intended) is fairly continuous, making it feel as though things are moving along at a good pace.  The descriptions of the town and the ocean are evocative (as are the descriptions of the sex) and the characters are believable, if not very likable.  But there's not much movement in this book, either geographical or metaphysical, giving the book a somewhat stagnant feel.

Cheek shows his prowess (I just can't help myself) much more in the last chapter than in all the preceding ones, when he focuses on the emotions of a relationship more than the sex.  He shows definite promise as a novelist (certainly anyone who can write a good sex scene is a promising novelist) but hopefully his future books will focus more on the growth of his characters than on their sex lives.

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

looking back

The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Doris Alm has lived a long and eventful life, from a poor childhood in Sweden, to modeling in Paris, to being a maid and companion to a frustrated artist.  Doris has loved, and lost, and would probably agree with Tennyson that that's better than the alternative.  But now she is concerned that when she dies, everything that has made up her life will die with her.  So she determines to write about the people she knew and the things she did.  She uses the red address book that her father gave her as a young girl as a prompt, as she looks through the pages and sees that nearly all of the names are crossed out and have the notation, "dead" written beside them.  The story alternates between these reflections and her current life, home-bound, with her only connection to the outside world being the aides who come in to help her each day and her weekly Skype sessions with her only family, her great-niece Jenny who lives in San Francisco.

This story is lovely, heartbreaking, tragic, and hopeful, all at the same time.  The writing is evocative, both the past and present sections, and beautifully translated by Alice Menzies.  Although it's slow to get into, Doris's story will sweep the reader along after the first few (short) sections.

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

just keep telling the story

The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood
Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: The first 80% of this book is really quite good.  It details the better part of the first five years of the real-life Dionne Quintuplets, through the eyes of their fictional nurse, Emma Trimpany.  Emma is 17 in 1934 when she assists the midwife at the quints' birth, and has led a fairly sheltered life until then.  As the Depression deepens and the situation is Germany gets worse and worse, Emma's focus remains resolutely on her charges, staying with them even as many other caretakers come and go.  Even naive Emma is shaken by the conflicts between the quints' medical caretakers and their parents, and she can't entirely ignore hints that some people who claim to care for the quints are really there to exploit them, a list that starts with their parents and primary doctor and goes all the way up to the Canadian government.  Told through Emma's journals, and letters she receives, as well as newspaper articles that, we are told in the author's interview, are almost entirely unedited contemporaneous sources (and Wood carefully delineates where any edits have occurred), we get a good feel for the situation.

Throughout the book we read letters sent to Emma from her would-be beau, Lewis, and at the end of the book, Wood makes the unfortunate decision to give us all of Emma's letters in return, as a way of answering a lot of the questions that have come up in the narrative.  It amounts to an info-dump, at the end of  a well-told story.  I think Emma's letters were supposed to be the "big reveal," answering some questions about what was really going on, but I wish Wood had told her story more organically, giving us Emma's and Lewis's letters together and letting the tale unfold as it happened.  The ending is satisfying, in its way, but seems very ragged compared to the rest of the book.

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