nothing new

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: There is very little that's original in this book, which is a shame because it's quite well-written. But overall, it's a fairly standard abduction story, told from the point of view of an adult abductee. There are a couple of plot twists thrown in along the way, both during the time she was abducted, and once she returns, but overall her reactions and thoughts are a little too predictable. Combine the vivid and compelling writing with just a little more of something to distinguish this story from other abduction stories, and it could have been a really good book.

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

interior vs. exterior

Small Island by Andrea Levy

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: When an author chooses to write a novel in the first person, they make a choice about the voice of the novel as a whole. The interior dialogue of a narrator must match their exterior dialogue. If the two don't match up, it detracts from the credibility of the character and the overall readability of the novel. The disparity between inner and outer voice is especially striking when the character speaks in dialect, as is the case here. The narrative switches among 4 characters, two native Englishpeople, and two who have moved from Jamaica to England. One of the Jamaicans speaks in a strong dialect, while the other is quite proud of her "King's English" even though she often finds that English shopkeepers don't understand a word she says. And yet the interior voice of both of these characters is largely the same as each other, and the same as the other two narrators. I found this disparity distracted a lot from the story.

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

set pieces

After This by Alice McDermott

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: All in all, I really liked this book. The slow, languid pace somehow fits the story perfectly. My one complaint is that the story treats time almost like a stone skipping over water. At the end of one chapter, two people meet each other, and at the beginning of the next, they are married with three children and a fourth on the way. Then, suddenly, we are another 5 years or so in the future (references to WWII and the Vietnam War anchor the story generationally, but there's very little to give solid reference points as to how much time has passed from one point in the story to another). I understand that all the day-to-day details of family life are not the point of this book, but I did find it more satisfying when McDermott allowed us deeper into the lives of the Keane family rather than just skimming the surface.

unpredictable

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: For some reason, I was surprised that I enjoyed this book so much. Perhaps my surprise came from the fact that I thought it would be very predictable, but it wasn't. Each time I thought I knew the directions in which Kwok was going to send her characters, I was wrong. Add to that the excellent writing, which pulls you into the story immediately, and I was really impressed by this book.

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

how to relate to your teenage daughter

Letter to My Daughter by George Bishop

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction, historical fiction

Review: It's not often that one wishes a book were longer than it is, but I almost wish there was just a little bit more to this one. After her teenage daughter storms out of the house, Laura sets about writing her a letter in which she hopes to explain that she really does understand what it's like to be a teenager. Bishop manages to pack a lot of emotional depth into this story, while keeping the prose very direct and free of frills.

But I do wish the story had been extended just a bit. It's evident that Laura manages to salvage some kind of relationship with her parents; how did that come about? What happened after Laura graduated high school? How did she meet the man we know only as "your father," who is clearly not the boyfriend of Laura's teenage years, but with whom she seems to have a good marriage? It is one thing to let your daughter in on the secret that you were once a teenager too and can understand what she’s going through, but this story might have benefited if Laura were also able to let her daughter see the light at the end of the teenager-tunnel.

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

making it personal

The Season of Second Chances by Diane Meier

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: This is a sweet book, though it's not without some drama and darkness. At just the right time in her life, Joy Harkness gets an unexpected job offer that takes her from a prestigious but unsatisfying job at Columbia University to an equally prestigious job in the small college town of Amherst, Massachusetts. Leaving behind a life devoid of personal connections, she suddenly finds herself thrust into the social framework of her new home.

Joy’s lack of personal past seems at many points in the narrative to be little more than a plot device to set up the “second chance” that she suddenly has in her new home. After all, if we didn’t know that she was a social outsider at Columbia, it wouldn’t make sense for her to behave in such a socially awkward way at Amherst. Except it still doesn’t make sense, because although she initially rebuffs many social efforts from her colleagues, she seems to have no problem forming a relationship with the handyman who fixes up her new house. That inconsistency undercuts much of the tension that might otherwise be present as she is forced to reconsider her life in social terms.

Fortunately, for both Joy and the reader, her new colleagues are fairly insistent that she not hold herself apart any longer, and the story that unfolds is quite touching. If many of the secondary characters seem flat, it is because their purpose is really to shine a spotlight on Joy and the changes she is experiencing. Meier generally succeeds in giving us a readable and enjoyable story and avoids the saccharine by achieving an ending that is not happy in the usual sense, but is certainly satisfying and hopeful.

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

it's just too easy

Another Life Altogether by Elaine Beale

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: I give this book 3 stars because the language itself is quite lovely. The story, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. Jesse is a fairly standard teenage-girl-who-finally-learns-to-stand-up-for-herself-and-for-what's-right. She's a sympathetic character, but not a very interesting one. She seems like a dynamic character only because all the others are flat as pancakes (her parents don't so much grow as characters as just randomly start acting differently toward the end). Ultimately, though, it's hard to feel too much for Jesse, because she doesn't respond to her predicament in a believable way.

The story is set in a small town in northern England in the mid-'70s (complete with some great descriptions of the clothes) and for that time and place, and what we know of her upbringing, Jesse takes her "predicament" far too easily in stride. We see very little internal struggle with her situation; the only real conflict in the story is how long she'll let things drag on. This does not make for very captivating reading.

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