not those hostages

Anxious People by Frederik Backman

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: One day someone decides to rob a bank.  The bank in question, however, is a cashless bank, which makes robbing it kind of pointless.  Flustered, the bank robber runs across the street and into an apartment building.  The first open door is an apartment where there's an open house, so the bank robber accidentally takes everyone there hostage.  The hostage situation is resolved with no loss of life, but the bank robber is nowhere to be found.  What happened to the bank robber?

First, this is not a riddle.  It's the plot of Frederik Backman's new book, and his hands, this story is funny, touching, sad, and generally un-put-downable.  

Second, lest you be like me, hear "hostage situation" and think Bel Canto, be warned: this book is not like Bel Canto.  It's just as good (Backman and Patchett are two of my absolute favorite authors), but the tone is very different, as is the story itself.

Told in shifting perspectives of the bank robber, various hostages, and two police officers, we get the unfolding story of the investigation in the bank robber's whereabouts, the story of the incident itself, and the backstory of some of the hostages.  Put together, it forms a beautiful tapestry of love, loneliness, and hope.

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

an exegisis on the treatment of women in 19th-century Australia

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: Women do not have an easy life in Kline's new novel.  Unless they're rich.  But this novel has very little sympathy for the rich.  Instead, the focus is on the marginalized.  Evangeline is a naïve governess, who finds herself pregnant and accused of stealing a ring (she didn't).  After a stint in Newgate, Evangeline is sentenced to 14 years labor in Australia.  On the months-long voyage, she meets Hazel, a fellow prisoner, and the two become unlikely allies.  Kline does not soften her descriptions of the conditions they faced.  One can almost smell it.

Methinna, an Aboriginal girl who is adopted by the governor's wife to be essentially a talking pet, rounds out our group.  At 11, she's old enough to be somewhat independent, which is good, since no-one exactly takes care of her.  But she learns French and learns how to dance, and is generally considered a marvel of civilization, until, suddenly she isn't.  Unfortunately, she learns the hard way that you can't go home again, although in her case, it's as much to do with the depredations of the British on the Aboriginal way of life than with anything she does.

Evangeline and Hazel are well-realized characters, although in some ways they are mere stand-ins for the idea that women had no power in that era.  But they fill that role more than adequately, not being shy with their desire to be treated with common decency.  Methinna's inclusion in the novel is more curious, as her story barely intersects the other, and her impact on their lives isn't as dramatic as it could be, or vice versa.  It almost seems as though Kline felt she couldn't write a story taking place in Australia at the time without including an Aboriginal voice, a sentiment which I applaud, but I don't think she does that voice much justice here.  For the a fully-told plight of women prisoners sent to the colony, I recommend this book.  For the same of the Aboriginals, one might want to look elsewhere.

A note on the audio: Narrator Christine Lee does a competent job with her narration, with one major flaw.  Two of the characters are described as being quite young, and their youth is such a character trait that it is mentioned repeatedly throughout the narrative.  Unfortunately, Lee's doesn't modulate her voice to reflect that youth, and I constantly had to remind myself that they were both young girls.

FTC Disclaimer: I received this book in print, electronic, and audio format from the publisher in exchange for this review.

Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Moonbound: Apollo 11 and the Dream of Spaceflight by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: graphic non-fiction

Read 20 in 2020 category: graphic non-fiction

Review: This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of spaceflight.  Those who are already well-read may not learn much that's new, but even if you already know it all, you'll be drawn in by the visuals.  Fetter-Vorn's illustrations are first-rate, clearly showing the expressions on the faces of his characters.  The best is their wonder at the stars and the universe, whether studying it through a telescope, or through the window of a spacecraft.  If you're looking for an introduction or an overview, you can't ask for much more than this.

Yes, Fetter-Vorn tells the familiar story of Apollo 11, but interspersed with the chapters that walk us through the moon landing step by step are chapters that relate the history of astronomy from the early myths of different cultures to Kepler and Galileo, the development of rockets, the space race, and much more.  The reader gets not just what feels like an insider's view of the Apollo 11 mission, but a good education that goes down smoothly along the way.

secrets of the NYPL

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: Did you know that the lions in front of the New York Public Library weren't always named Patience and Fortitude?  Neither did I.  (For the curious, their names were originally Leo Astor and Leo Lenox, after Jacob Astor and John Lenox, two of the library's founders.  They were renamed in the 1930s by Mayor LaGuardia.)  This was just one of the many things I learned about the New York Public Library, its history, and its beautiful house on Fifth Avenue.

Lest you think that this is a boring treatise on the NYPL, it most assuredly is not.  This is a story of feminism, and not being afraid to fall in love again, and books, and book thefts.  Told in two different time periods, we start with Laura Lyons, whose husband is the first superintendent of the NYPL.  They live with their two children in an apartment in the library itself (and yes, that apartment actually exists, but the Lyons bear no resemblance to the actual family of the first superintendent beyond borrowing their living quarters).  Laura loves her family, but is dissatisfied with her role in life and chafes under the gender norms of the early 20th century.

Jump 80 years into the future, and Laura's granddaughter Sadie is the curator of a special collection at the NYPL (she got the job entirely on her own merits, by the way, as no-one there even knows about the family connection).  When first editions and valuable papers start disappearing from her collection, though, she must look back to her grandmother's time, when something similar happened.  Could the past and future be connected?  Why?  How?

As Sadie works to solve the mystery of the book thefts, she must also try to answer questions about her family and their life in the library.  Sadie is a character to be reckoned with, and her wit and determination shine off the page.  Laura, too, is a character not soon to be forgotten, as she tries to solve the mystery of who she is and how she wants to leave her mark on the world.  Their stories come together in a heart-pounding mix of whodunit and family saga that will leave readers both satisfied and wishing for a sequel.

For fans of Marie Benedict and Beatriz Williams.

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

a genius writer writes about genius music

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction

Read 20 in 2020 category: history
Review:  Booklist got it right: "Mitchell's readers can be excused if they greet a new novel by this unalloyed genius with both goose-pimply anticipation and tredpidation over meeting the challenge."  That was exactly my feeling when I saw that he had a new book, and that I would get to read an ARC.  While reading, the trepidation over whether I would measure up to the book lasted to the very last page, but was joined by engagement, pure pleasure, and that broken-hearted feeling that only the very best writers can give you.

Meet Utopia Avenue, the band that mixes psychedelic with folk with much more and amazing results: Dean Moss on bass, trying to make his Gravesend roots proud; Elf Holloway on piano, who hates questions about being a woman in a band with three guys; Jasper de Zoet (yes, the same de Zoet family), guitar virtuoso with inner demons; and Peter Griffin on drums, who's happy with his role sitting at the back of the band.  With Dean, Elf, and Jasper each writing songs and doing vocals, the band's albums have an eclecticism that propels the group up the charts and into company that includes the biggest names of the era.

For me, not knowing much about the music scene beyond being able to recognize the names in question, this book was much more about the people in the band than the band as a whole.  Chapters tell the story from the perspective of each band member, plus their manager, Levon, and each character comes vividly to life, bringing with them the music industry, London's SoHo, their families, and their own dreams and doubts.

Mitchell's fans will understand the slightly mystical references, and while other readers might be put off by a certain chapter where horology takes the stage, I encourage them to push through it.  The pay-off is well worth it.

For fan's of Mitchell's previous books, or anyone who likes a good rock 'n' roll story.

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

black and white

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: There's a small town in Louisiana, settled by blacks, whose descendents have carried on the tradition of essentially trying to breed themselves into light skin.  Some hundred years after the founding of the town, twin girls are born, who are inspeparable at birth, but after running away to find a better life, they realize that they are not so inspeparable as everyone thought.  In fact, they can separate so far from each other that one can choose to live as a white woman, while the other returns home.

The question of whether the sisters reunite, and whether Stella, who passes, ever reveals the truth about her background to her husband and daughter pulls the reader through the novel.  Stella and Desirée, her twin, and their daughters, one raised in the Jim Crow south, and the other in a life of privilege in Los Angeles, are characters that will not soon be forgotton.  Not everyone will love this book (although there's a lot to love), but everyone will come away from it asking questions about race and identity and how the two intersect.

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