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.