not a single false note

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: This is a beautiful story.  It goes something like this: First, there was Claude.  But Claude felt that being a boy wasn't quite right.  So around the start of kindergarten, Claude started wearing dresses.  Sometimes this was a big deal (for other people), sometimes it wasn't.  Claude (and Claude's parents) were just figuring it out as they went along (with the help of a very quirky (in the best way) guru cum therapist).  Not long after, Claude became Poppy, and later, the family decided that it was best if no-one knew that Poppy was ever anything but.  Secrets are hard to keep, though, and Frankel doesn't pull her punches on the consequences.

I can't speak to how well Frankel gets inside the head of a young child struggling to figure out whether they are boy, girl, both, or neither, or the head of the parents who only want to love and support that child (although that was easier for me).  What I can say is that Frankel's portrayal of Poppy and Poppy's parents, siblings, and grandmother is nuanced and both heartwrenching and heartwarming.  This book made me laugh and cry and everything in between.

PS. I actually listened to this book, and I highly recommend the audio version.  Gabra Zackman, the narrator does an amazing job giving life to the voice of each character.

just the surface

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: If asked, I wonder which aspect of  Marjorie Post's magnificent lives Allison Pataki would name as more meaningful: her 4 marriages (and 4 divorces), her astounding wealth, her philanthropy, or her ability to design, build, and inhabit multiple luxurious properties.  Because as far as I can tell from this hagiography, Pataki doesn't think there's much else to say about her (aside from a bit about her refusal to be subservient to any man).

Somehow, Pataki has managed to fill up 400 pages with descriptions of jewels and houses and travel and marriages going down the drain.  To be fair, there's also a lot about Post's drive to give back, to make her wealth useful not just to herself, but to her country.  But all of it, from Fabergé to feminism, is given only the most surface treatment, which is a shame, because the worthiness of Post as a subject comes through loud and clear.  I think I'll have to read one of the biographies recommended at the end if I want to get anything like a real sense of the woman, though.

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

too many narratives

Remembrance by Rita Woods

Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: At first, this book seems like a fairly standard braided mutiple time period narrative, with a little magical realism thrown in.  Then it takes a turn for the ... interesting, and I can see where comparison's to Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad come from, although Whitehead's imagination far outpaces Woods's.

Our braided narratives are about Gaelle (current time), Margot (1857), Abigail (starting in 1791), and Winter (starting in 1852).  Margot's, Winter's, and Abigail's stories all come together in Remembrance, a very special town of freed blacks in Ohio.  Their stories weave together to form a full picture of their lives and their need for Remembrance to protect them, and for them to protect Remembrance.

It is Gaelle's portion of the story that feels superfluous.  In the end, I understood why Woods chose to incorporate a current day perspective, but her interpositions into the historical narrative felt intrusive, and the payoff wasn't equal to the promise.

Setting the current day portion of the story aside, though, this is a solid historical novel.  Margot, Abigail, Winter, and their compatriots are all believable, well-written characters.

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

I didn't really care about believing

Light Years From Home by Mike Chen

Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)

Genre: science fiction

Review: What happens to your family when you're abducted by aliens?  For Jakob, it turns out that his younger sister and father dedicate their lives to proving the existance of extraterrestrials, while his twin sister becomes a hardened cynic, and his mother descends into dementia.  When Jakob returns to Earth after 15 years of being an inter-galactic soldier and engineer, he must navigate all the family dynamics that he missed, and convince his family that he's not the ne'er-do-well they always thought he was if he's going to be able to save the galaxy.

The best science fiction is as much a story about characters as it is about science, which means that the characters have to read as real, 3-dimensional people (human or otherwise).  Unfortunately, Chen's characters don't live up to that standard.  We're supposed to believe that working together to save the universe changes their relationship, but none of the siblings changes much as an individual.  The tone of book veers between sentimentality and harshness, with one sister repeatedly mentally berating the other for not being present throughout their mother's decline, and Jakob continuously displaying a facial expression that apparently tells his family everything they need to know about him.  This is how we're supposed to understand the familial tensions.

Not being able to give Chen many points on characters, I hoped that at least the science fiction aspect of the book would redeem it.  Unfortunately, not so.  The science fiction parts almost seem just grafted on to give something to hold the story together.  Jakob tells us about this vast, horrible inter-galactic war, but it's really just stage setting.  Fortunately for Jakob, though, the aliens who abduct him are the good guys in this very black-and-white, good-vs-evil struggle.  I would have hated for him to be captured by the bad guys, but it might have made for a more compelling story.

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

unevenly paced

Femlandia by Christina Dalcher

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: speculative fiction

Review: Here's the thing: The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri S. Tepper is the absolute gold standard for books about all-female societies.  Dalcher's latest has something to add to the genre, but frankly I'm not sure that a book will ever be written that measures up.

One issue that seems to always crop up in books of this type is the somewhat obvious: "What do we do with the men?" and its corollary: "How do we procreate?"  It is this question that frequently drives the narrative tension in the book, as the main character first uncovers the big secret and then wrestles with her own morality over what to do about it.

Femlandia follows in this mold, although Dalcher throws in a few twists of her own, making this a novel both about female-only societies and one about cults.  Miranda Reynolds, like Dr. Jean McLelland of Dalcher's debut novel, Vox, is a woman who takes immediate (and possibly reckless) action as soon as she's decided which is the right path.  This rush to action creates an unevenly paced narrative, as things move along at a nice dramtic pace for the first 3/4 of the book, and then the action in the last quarter plummets off a cliff.  Although I give Dalcher a lot of credit for pulling up the reins for a well-done epilogue.

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

don't let it fester

The Girl Who Could Breathe Under Water by Erin Bartels

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Kendra has written a very popular semi-autobiographical novel.  Unfortunately, it's not nearly "semi" enough for at least two people: Tyler, the antogonist of the story behind the novel, and a Very Disappointed Reader who writes Kendra a letter calling her out for not being fair in her retelling of the past.  The letter sends Kendra back to her grandfather's house on the lake, the scene of the crime, to see if she can overcome the writer's block the letter had engendered.

This is a book that can't decide what it's about.  Is it about Kendra's attempt to find out who wrote the letter, and why?  Is it about her attempt to come to terms with Tyler?  Or is it about what happens between her and the her German translator who unexpectedly (and implausibly) shows up at her cabin to complete the translation work?  Or about what happened to Cami, Tyler's sister and Kendra's childhood best friend, after their last summer on the lake together?  Or about what happened to the families on the lake before Kendra was born?

The book tries to be about all of these things, and Bartels does manage to answer all the questions and tie up all the loose threads by the end.  The result is more than readable, if not terribly satisfying, and, one hopes, cathartic for Bartels.

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

needed a map

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Is it a novel? Short stories? A series of linked vignettes? A novel in stories?  Does it matter?  Not to me.  Call it what you will, A Visit from the Goon Squad is an excellent reading experience.  The goon squad of the title is time, and the chapters collectively tell a story of how time sometimes heals all wounds and sometimes ravages.

In 13 chapters, Egan gives us 13 characters, all of whom are linked to either Sasha or Bennie.  In the first chapter, we are introduced to Sasha, the 20-something assistant to bennie, a music producer whose career may or may not be coming to an end.  Bennie gets the next chapter, but at a very different time of his life.  Rhea knew Bennie in high school, which is when she met Lou, who got Bennie started in the industry.  And it goes on from there, with characters weaving in and out of each other's lives, and the story weaving back and forth in time.

I literally needed a map to keep everyone and their assorted connections straight in my head, but it was worth it.  Give this book to fans of everything from David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas to The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.

on the road again

The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: When an author's first book is good, a reader has high hopes for the 2nd, which, unfortunately, often disappoints.  Not so with Amor Towles, whose second book (A Gentleman in Moscow) was, in my opinion, even better than the first (Rules of Civility).  But one could be forgiven for being even more nervous about his third book.  He can't possibly keep this up, right?  But one should have more faith.  The Lincoln Highway will not disappoint.

Towles is very upfront in telling readers that he wants each of his books to be different from the others.  Once again, he has succeeded, at least as far as subject matter and character go.  But he can't disguise his writing, so fans will still know it's a Towles book, and I think all will agree that it's a worthy addition to his card catalog entry.  I'm excited to see what "something different" he comes up with next.

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

like a snake eating its tail

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Jake Bonner wrote a really good, very popular book.  But he was in danger of remaining a one-hit wonder when chance threw an opportunity in his way.  Many years ago, when Jake was a teaching at a low-rent writer's workshop, a student told him about the plot of the book he was writing.  Recognizing that the idea was sure to become a bestseller, Jake couldn't help but be jealous.  Several years later, he comes to learn that the student has died, his book never written.  So Jake takes the idea and runs with it.

Sure enough, the book is a hit, jumping onto the bestseller list, becoming an Oprah pick, everything Jake always thought he wanted.  But he can't enjoy his fame and fortune, because he's just waiting for someone to expose him.  And then one day, he gets a note: "You are a thief."  Someone knows his secret, but who?  And what do they want?  As the threats of exposure intensify, Jake falls down the rabbit hall of his former student's life, where he unearths more secrets than might be quite healthy for him.

Like other reviewers, I too found the plot twist to be kind of predictable, but there was still plenty of suspense as I read to find out how Korelitz was going to pull it all off.  On one level, this book is a disturbing, twisty story, with a somewhat pathetic main character you couldn't help but have some sympathy for.  On another level, this book is a meditation on the ownership of ideas and the responsibility wrtiers have to one another.  On either level, the book falls a little short, as characters and ideas aren't as fleshed out as one might like, but that doesn't prevent it from being an overall enjoyable read.

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

the value of perspective

Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: This book is a bit of a departure for Picoult, as it doesn't involve an ethical dilemma where both sides are, if not sympathetic, at least fully fleshed out.  Here, the focus is on one character, Diana, who must decide if she really wants what she always thought she wanted from life.

The story starts just when things are starting to get serious in New York City with the COVID-19 pandemic.  Businesses and schools are being shut down and Diana's doctor boyfriend tells her how the hospital is becoming overrun with patients.  Is it too soon for a novel about the pandemic?  Maybe, but not in Picoult's hands.  Perhaps because the first part of the book keeps the pandemic at a remove.  I think the bigger reason (for me at least) is that, because the timeline of the book is largely the spring of 2020, I was able to read about what was going on with a whatever-the-opposite-of-nostalgia is (because I definitely wouldn't wish for those days all over again).  "Oh yeah, I remember all those celebrities singing on YouTube!" "That's right, I had forgotten about wiping down packages!"  "Oh yeah, I remember how we thought this was only going to last two weeks!"

Being able to achieve that kind of perspective is one of the great gifts of fiction and Picoult gives it to us in abundance.

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

what comes after

The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: As teenagers, Meike and her brother David were sent to America from Germany in the aftermath of Kristallnacht.  Their parents and younger sister Sarah stayed behind.  Meike, who Americanizes her name to Millie, spends WWII at Bryn Mawr, and then as an editor at a magazine.  David enlists as soon as he turns 18.  Both go back to Berlin during the occupation, both to help in various official and unofficial capacities, and to try to make sense of what happened to their family, their city, and their country.

The reader's first question will be: what happened to the rest of the family?  The answer, and Meike's journey to come to terms with it, will haunt readers beyond the last page.  The second question may well be: can Germany and the German people ever recover?  History more or less tells us the answer to that question, but Feldman's exploration of the immediate aftermath of the war will also not soon be forgotten by readers.

Feldman has put all the pieces together to form a worthwhile addition to the genre.  She has a light touch on this weighty topic, but does not shy from addressing the mass hatred and prejudice on both the German and American side.  She brings her scenes and characters to life with heartwrenching feeling.  No reader will escape this book unscathed, and yet it is not so emotional as to get in the way of being able to process the narrative and really think about the larger story.

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

stalking data

Fan Fiction: A Mem-Noir: Inspired by True Events by Brent Spiner with Jeanne Darst

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Was Brent Spiner the target of a stalker who sent him threatening notes signed by his fictional character's fictional daugter Lal?  He might have been.  Did that result in an entanglement with an FBI agent and her personal-security-guard twin sister and all the other dramatic events that follow as he writes in this book?  Probably not.  Spiner isn't telling which parts of this book are "mem" and which are "noir," but no matter where the the line is, he's written a fun, madcap story.

The book will, of course, appeal mostly to Star Trek fans, which is not to say that it won't appeal to people who don't identify as Star Trek fans too (except, perhaps, the ST:TNG name-dropping).  Fans will be pleased to see that Spiner's writing chops are almost as strong as his acting chops, and non-fans will enjoy a zany mystery with a true noir feel.

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

the art of the lumberjack

The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All by Josh Ritter

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: Weldon Applegate was 13 when he and his father moved to Cordelia, Idaho.  Weldon's father wants his son removed from the civilizing influences of starched collars and Sunday services, but still intends to honor his promise to Weldon's late mother not to go to work again as a lumberjack.  Instead, he will run the general store while Weldon makes friends around town, and some pocket change, as he delivers the local hooch to its various hiding places.

But when the near-mythical lumberjack Linden Laughlin comes to town, promising the elder Applegate that they can both make a fortune if they partner together to clear the Applegate family's "Lost Lot," Weldon's father can't resist.  Weldon looks back on the results of that fateful decision from his deathbed 80+ years later and gives the reader the benefit of his acerbic observations.

From the very first sentence, readers will be transported into the rough world of lumberjacks, with all its coarseness and danger.  Filled with boldly written, exaggerated characters, this lush, yet gritty tale will captivate readers who appreciate authentic dialogue and a strong sense of place.

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

not your grandmother's romance

Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: romance

Review: On the one hand, this is a standard romance novel.  Boy meets girl and there is instant attraction, but things are complicated, a few hijinks ensue, and finally everything gets worked out and they all live happily ever after.  That's all true, and it's a very sweet, fun read.

But there's more going on here.  Ruthie is very buttoned-up, and scared to leave her comfort zone.  Teddy gives off louche, rich-kid vibe, and everyone tries to convince Ruthie that he's going to break her heart.  Ruthie's not convinced though, and what Thorne does very well is give us a sense of the dichotomy between other people's perceptions of Teddy, and even his own actions, and the real Teddy, without ever shifting to Teddy's actual perspective, but through narrative descriptions of his body language.

Second First Impressions is not your grandmother's romance novel.  With robust characters and writing that avoids cliché, this is a romance for anyone who wants to good story.

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

charisma in a box

The Very Nice Box by Eve Gleichman and Laura Blackett

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Ava Simon is not, as the jacket copy would have you believe, another Eleanor Oliphant.  She's grieving, having lost her fiancée in a car accident several years ago, and has shut herself off from nearly all social interactions.  Her life is quiet, steady, and calm, consisting of engineering work that she loves at STÄDA (an Ikea look-alike), Monday lunches with a colleague, podcasts, and her dog.  But when Mat Putman blows into her office like a charismatic hurricane, this self-contained existence is quite upended.

The novel follows Ava as she somewhat grudingly re-enters the world, learns that it is possible to love again, and navigates the truly asinine corporate culture at STÄDA.  The office culture is almost a character in itself; think Eggers's The Circle, without the menancing undertones.  The tone here is much more lighthearted, although it's clear that Mat Putnam is not what he seems.  He's too goofy to seem truly threatening though, unless you count his misguided sense of self-worth to be a threat (and by the end, I'm not so sure that you'd be wrong to do so).  Ava and Mat's personal drama, and the scandal-in-the-making that's been building up at STÄDA all come together for a satisfying, if slighly ridiculous resolution.

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

saving humanity

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Rating: 4.75 stars (out of 5)

Genre: science fiction

Review: Dr. Ryland Grace has been sent on a suicide mission to the Tau Ceti system to try to figure out why, of all the nearby systems, it remains unscathed in the face of an instellar infestation that's causing our sun to dim, which will result in another extinction event on Earth.  His crewmates have died, and he's got coma-brain, so it takes him a while to remember where he is and why he's there.  The reader follows along with Dr. Grace as he slowly regains his memory and sets to work.  As a narrator, he has an extremely accessible voice.  You can totally imagine yourself being friends with this wry, sardonic, and wickedly smart guy.

As engaging as Dr. Grace is, this book is not without its flaws.  For one thing, there is a lot of math in this book.  Like, a lot.  And I'm sure it's all completely correct, though I confess that I kind of skimmed those parts.  But as much as the author seems to think that we're all going to understand the math, he also seems to think that we need to be told that Venus is the 2nd planet in our solar system.  Also, the Hail Mary is the most advanced piece of engineering and technology ever assembled, but its computer isn't even as smart as my home assistant.  It doesn't help Dr. Grace do anything (except stay alive through his extended coma, which, ok, yes, is pretty important, but once he's awake, he's on his own).

Still, these are easily overlooked in favor of this compelling story, as we wait with baited breath as Dr. Grace holds the fate of humanity is in hands.  Can he solve this seemingly insurmountable problem?  You'll be rooting for him, and you'll find his experiences stay with long after you read the last page.

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

a new light

The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction/fantasy

Review: This book made me really feel the need to re-read The Great Gatsby, or, more to the point, made me wish I had paid better attention the three times I've already read it.  Fortunately, I remembered enough to be able to glean the relevance of Nghi Vo's reinvention of the original.

Vo's imagination takes us to a 1920s New York where magic is real and Gatsby may or may not have literally sold his soul to the devil in order to win Daisy's heart.  Here, the story is told by Jordan Baker, and incorporates flashbacks to Daisy and Jordan's childhood in Louisville, giving more flesh to both characters.  Daisy remains largely the same as she was when we all read her in high school, but Jordan is queer and a Vietnamese adoptee, who wants to have her own agenda, but hasn't quite figured out what it is yet.  Oh, and when she's not playing golf or partying, she's been known to cut out paper shapes and bring them to life.

Perfect for fans who are ready for Gatsby with even more of an edge, what will really stand out to readers is Vo's sumptuous writing.  Her descriptions of the mundane border on magical, and her descriptions of the magic are so down-to-earth that the reader, like the characters, has difficulty telling which is which, lending the entire story a glittery shine that lingers even after the last page is turned.

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

obsessive but immersive

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: We know that early English settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were very religious and thought a lot about the state of their souls and the devil.  The historical record tells us so.  According to Chris Bohjalian, they were concerned about the devil a lot.  A good chunk of the first third or so of the book has them thinking about little else.

Things start to get more interesting when Mary Deerfield sues her husband for divorce on the grounds of cruelty.  Even here, though, the question soon becomes more about whether she's been consorting with the devil (much of the evidence has to do with a three-tined fork, which is, as we all know, the devil's own instrument) as much as it does about whether her husband abuses her.

And there is intrigue as well.  It is clear that someone is trying to cast a spell on someone in the Deerfield house, or trying to frame Mary for doing so.  But who?  And why?  Though Mary's ruminations on whether she is unknowingly the devil's tool quickly become tiresome, Bohjalian is quite deft at drawing the reader into this mystery and in making the reader care about Mary's fate, both in life and after.

Of course, the reason that Mary faces such troubles from her community is, of course, that she's a smart woman who occasionally speaks her mind.  That truth is lurking behind almost every word in the book, but Bohjalian is subtle in reinforcing it.  So don't read this expecting a great deal of outrage about the subservient state of women in 17th century Boston.  Do read it for an immersive look into one woman's life and attempt to be more than just a Goodwife to a cruel man.

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

the fourth sister

Beth & Amy by Virginia Kantra
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: In the world of Little Women adaptations, many authors/screenwriters get caught in what I'm going to start calling the "Beth trap".  In the original, Beth is the "good" sister, which often means she's seen as the "boring" sister, so adapters try to make her more "interesting" (usually while still having her die).  Kantra does not avoid the Beth trap, but in her sure hands, Beth is able to be a full character, and a full member of the sisterly quartet (and she doesn't die, either).  I shouldn't have doubted Kantra, whose first book, Meg & Jo, was was far and away the best written adaptation I've come across.

Once again, Kantra has embodied the spirit of the original, while bringing the March sisters into the modern era.  In this book, Beth and Amy share the spotlight, and we even get some insight into the question of how Jo, Amy, and Laurie (in this book, Trey) all manage to reconcile their erstwhile love triangle.  Once again, Kantra handles this deftly and elegantly; everyone's feelings are respected and the reader gets a satisfying resolution too.

Once again, Kantra has given us a good book and a good adaptation, although this one perhaps stands less on its own without Little Women than did Meg & Jo.  Certainly, one should read Meg & Jo first.  But Little Women fans will enjoy this book alongside readers who have no familiarity with the original.  It's sweet, and light without being too light, and generally wonderful.

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

history repeats itself

The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray

Rating: 4.75 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: In her author's note and throughout the book, Dray talks about the "Spirit of Lafayette," which, even as an American history major, I'm ashamed to know I knew very little about until reading this book.  Now, I know a lot more, and am inspired to continue my learning with non-fiction (to me, this is a mark of good historical fiction).  Dray's research is exacting, but she avoids the well-researched novelist's abyss of needing to share everything she's learned.  Instead, this is a deep and rich portrait of three women, each of whom embody the "Spirit of Lafayette" throughout three different wars.

Dray bit off a lot with this book, which weaves together three separate stories, that of Adrienne de Lafeyette during the American and French Revolutions, Beatrice Chanler during WWI, and the fictional Marthe Simone during WWII.  Each could have sustained a story on their own.  And it might have been less confusing if Dray had made this into a trilogy, rather than a single, interweaving story.  In fact, my only teeny complaint about this book is that I sometimes forgot which war we were in.  (My actual thoughts several times during the book: "You can't go to Paris now, the Nazis will get you!  Oh wait, this is WWI...")  I can only imagine that people who lived through both wars might have felt the same way.  But I understand that each story gained power from being told alongside the others.

To say that this book moves slowly doesn't do it justice.  Think of it like a lazy, meandering river.  It'll take you a long time to get from one end to the other, but the journey is more than worth it.

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

getting her due

Octavia E. Butler, one of my personal favorite SF writers, is getting a lot of posthumous recognition these days.

Her work has been featured in The New Yorker, NPR's Codeswitch and Throughline, and The New York Times.  NASA even unofficially names Perseverence's Mars landing site after her!

And, FX will be adapting Kindred for the small screen (and The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, another absolutely fantastic piece of SF)!

Have you seen other interesting articles about Octavia Butler, or heard interesting podcasts?  Tell me in the comments!

keeping up appearances

Are We There Yet? by Kathleen West

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Books like these make me so grateful for my own mom-friends.  Like the women in this book, we met when our kids were in preschool and kindergarten.  Unlike the women in this book, we are genuinely caring and supportive of each other.  These characters care about appearances as much as they care about their kids (to be fair, they all care for and about their kids a lot).  The fact that, Alice, the mom from whom we hear the most, is an interior decorator, is a little too on-the-nose, a fact that doesn't go unremarked upon in the book.

When Alice learns that her 2nd grader is reading significantly below grade level and her 7th grader is acting like a bully, she is equally concerned with how her "friends" will react with how to actually help her children.  To be fair, she does step up and do the hard work to help her kids get back on track.  But following along as she perserverates about other people's perceptions was quite a slog (at least as bad as reading about all the brand-name accessories she uses to decorate her own and her clients' homes).  Alice's other problem is her mother, who is about to drop a bomb on her in the midst of all this.  Alice's mother a child psychologist, and I can only say that I'm glad not all child therapists are as selfish as she is.

The short version: You might not actually like any of these characters, but you might recognize them.  You'll almost certainly recognize their struggles, if you have kids.  You might not actually sympathize with them, though, or enjoy reading their inner monologues, but if you're in a book group, especially with your mom-friends, you'll definitely have a lot to talk about.

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

creative derivative

A Gentle Tyranny by Jess Corban

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: feminist speculative fiction

Review: This book is what you would get if you combined the gender-segregated society of Sheri S. Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country with the capital extravagnce and high stakes competition of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games.  Which is to say that this book is more than a little derivative.  Is it still worth reading?  Yes.

Corban takes the ideas behind these two books and runs with them, adding in descriptions of the jungle setting that are beyond lush.  Reina's naivete at the beginning of the book was troublesome to me, but Corban places her in situations that force her confront her own lack of knowledge and gives her the motivation to overcome it.  Reina's growth is realistic and believable in a way that many authors can't pull off.  And we learn that her ignorance isn't entirely due to her sheltered upbringing or her own passivity.  There are things in her society that are just not talked about, and which will probably turn out to be its downfall.  We'll have to wait for the sequel to find out, though.

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

feel the burn

In the Quick by Kate Hope Day

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: science fiction

Review: At an unspecified point in the probably-not-too-distant future, humanity has a solid start at space exploration, with bases on distant moons and regular liftoffs of supply rockets.  It looks a little different from what we might expect; for one thing, rocket launches take place somewhere that's very cold.  For another thing, the whole program seems to be organized around the protégées of Peter Reed, who invented a new kind of fuel cell that makes long-distance space exploration possible.  This fictional space program also seems a rather down-and-dirty affair, not the gleaming high-tech of NASA.

When the fuel cells on the first long-distance mission malfunction, though, all long-distance exploration is on the verge of being scrapped.  Everyone assumes the crew is dead, except for June Reed, Peter's niece, a young and difficult genius in her own right.  Only twelve at the time of the malfunction, she must bide her time training for space before she can set her plan to save the crew in motion.  It is six long years before she is assigned to the moon that was meant to the be the gateway for supply runs.  Here she is able to collaborate with one of her uncle's students, and together they try to reconfigure the fuel cell so that they can mount a rescue mission, and reopen deep space to humanity.

The harshness of space is not new to the science fiction reader.  In Kate Hope Day's hands, that harshness feels very immediate, as June trains for, and then tries to work in space.  Giving equal measure to the human and the science is the mark of the best science fiction, and Day is more than up to the challenge.  June is the only character to get full authorial treatment, but seeing the universe through June's eyes, and walking with her as she struggles to see her vision realized is a treat for the reader.  She's a character who won't soon be forgotten, and her dream is one to build on.

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

'ware the mob

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: The Wildes are the newest family on Maple Street, a quiet crescent-shaped street on Long Island that faces a large park.  The families on Maple Street are a fairly close-knit group, complete with block parties and the children roving through the backyards together in the summer.  In the summer of 2027, tensions are running high due to a collapsing economy and worsening environmental conditions, and when a sinkhole opens up in the park during the Fourth of July block picnic, things get out of control and the Wildes get blamed for it all.  By the end of the summer an entire family will be dead.

Apparently, what happens on Maple Street captures the public's attention, and by 20 years later all the surviving participants will have been interviewed numerous times, books will have been written, and there will even be an interactive Broadway play based on the events of that summer.  But what actually happens on Maple Street?

The later analysis and interviews that are included lead the reader to believe that there is some confusion about who is to blame for what happened, but the contemporary narrative makes things fairly clear.  It comes down to mental illness.  As a result, debating responsibility was less interesting than watching the reactions of the residents of Maple Street.  This is a modern-day Crucible, with sexual abuse replacing witchcraft.  Peer pressure and mob mentality are undisguised, but what was most interesting to me was how some people doubled down on their accusations, even in the face of actual evidence to the contrary.  It was fascinating.

Langan's writing is very vivid, evoking the heat and the smells of that summer (although apparently many things smell like candy apples) as well as the actions of the characters.  My only complaint about this book is that there are far too many neighbors, and I couldn't distinguish among them.  In terms of bringing the mob to life, this is very effective, but in terms of establishing individual motivation it is, of necessity, less effective.  Unfortunately, not having a sense of many of the characters as individuals took away from the story for me.  Still, this is a powerful book, and an important one, in a world where "truth" seems less and less concrete.

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