go with the flow

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Fans of Mandel's Station Eleven are right to be excited about her latest book, but should be warned that this book is very, very different.  The book opens with a drowning, told in almost movie-like flashes of Vincent's physical and mental experiences as she drowns.  I found myself returning to these first few pages repeatedly throughout the book as more and more of Vincent's life leading up to her drowning is revealed.  So, nominally, this book is an answer to the question of why Vincent was drowning.  Was she pushed (murdered), and if so by whom?  Or did she fall?  And what was she doing there in the first place?

Really, though, this book is about far more than that.  Reading Vincent's story takes us to a remote corner of Canada (home of the eponymous glass hotel), the inside of a Ponzi scheme, and, as a direct consequence, jail.  Each setting, each character is rendered almost like a fine painting, with depths and shadows you don't notice at first glance.

The narrative jumps around a bit, from character to character and back and forth in time, and it's not always clear where or when you are, but it works, if you go with the flow.  Mandel is a powerful and flexible writer, has more than enough ability to pull off a very different kind of book than Station Eleven (although I wouldn't say no to a sequel!).  Station Eleven may have put her firmly on the literary map, but The Glass Hotel makes clear that she is not going to bound by any one genre.  I wonder which one she'll choose next.

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.

the sky is falling, the sky is falling!

Latchkey by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Genre: science fiction
Rating: 2 stars (out of 5)
Review: Isabel has some serious wounds, but then there's a big fight, so she just has to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in (literally), but the ghost helps her.  Then she's even more wounded, but there's another big fight, so she continues to power through.  Then the ceiling falls in, again (literally - Isabel's in a network of underground tunnels), but the ghost helps her again.  Then she and the ghost are both in trouble, but the gears click in her mind and she figures out a solution, which is totally risky and probably won't work, but it's their only chance... annnnd it works, and they live to have the ceiling fall in on them again (literally).  Meanwhile, there's like a mystery, and some feelings, and Isabel keeps falling into the ghost-place and no-one knows why, and people fighting aboveground too, and it's really just a big mess.  But Isabel is undaunted - actually, that's a lie, she's totally daunted, but she knows the fate of ... everything? ... is at stake.

There, now you don't have to read the book.

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

the emotional wringer

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult
Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: I was actually breathless when I finished this book, because I read so fast to find out how it ended.  Also because my heart was in my throat from all the emotion that is packed into the end.

This book presents as a fairly straightforward missing-person-type mystery.  Jenna is 13.  Ten years ago, one of the caretakers died at the elephant sanctuary her parents ran.  The same night, Jenna's mother disappeared and her father had a mental break that has had him in a psychiatric facility ever since.  Now, Jenna wants to find her mother.  She enlists the help of a lapsed psychic, and one of the detectives who was on the case 10 years ago, who is now a private investigator.  So far, so normal.  It's a good read, filled with sympathetic characters, and interesting facts about elephants.

Then, Picoult turns the story on its side, and we have to re-evaluate everything we thought we knew about what happened that tragic night at the elephant sanctuary.  Then, she turns it completely upside-down, and you realize that you didn't know anything about anything.  Throughout these twists and turns the emotion is being ratcheted up, until you can't possibly put the book down until you get to the very last page.  Fortunately, while I wouldn't describe it as a happy ending, it's a satisfying ending, and one that is well worth being put through the emotional wringer.

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

not so dark

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fantasy

Review: Yes, this book is kind of dark, but I'm not sure why anyone reading a book about a kid being raised by a cemetery full of ghosts would expect otherwise. But Gaiman's characters are more people than ghosts, which helps lighten things up considerably. In particular, Bod, the child in question, is a very engaging character, and since he seemed ok with his circumstances, I found it hard to argue.

My only complaint about this book is that there's too much going on in the background that is clearly significant to the plot, but is never really explained. In fact, the denouement of the story makes little sense because so little is explained. Some of it becomes clear later, but I would have liked to see some of the explanation given as it occurred, rather than just being hinted at a couple of times.

secrets and lies

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: On the surface, this book is about how one of her daughter's friends came to be drowned in Laurel's pool in the middle of the night. The answer turns out to be both surprisingly mundane and unexpected. But the real story has to do with Laurel's relationship with her sister whose presence in Laurel's life has always been both comforting and disturbing. In the course of trying to figure what happened to the drowned girl, Laurel is forced to accept truths about her sister and her mother and their shared past as a family. Laurel and her sister must both accept the choices that the other has made.

Jackson has written an intriguing story, and one that is well-told. The tension builds throughout the book, and is not released until close to the very end. And even though the book would have been sufficient without it, Jackson has given us a very satisfying epilogue that in some ways has stuck with me more than the entire rest of the book.

not good till the end

Winter Haven by Athol Dickson

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Challenge: A-Z (title)

Summary/Review: I was really not enjoying this book until I got to the very end, which almost made up for the turgidness of the prose. The last chapter saved the book from getting an even lower rating.

This is a story of Vera, a young woman (much younger than she acts) who sets off to pick up the body of her brother who has washed up on the shore of a small Maine island. How we got there, and why he doesn't appear to have aged in 13 years, are the "mystery" of the book. The answer, when it is finally revealed, is fairly straightforward, and not unsatisfying.

In the course of finding that out, though, Vera must deal with her own guilt over not stopping her brother from running away, and her belief that her "visions" of what happened to her brother are actually punishments from God. She must also deal with unkind islanders, a "ghost", and a too-handsome man (with a wandering eye) who might be friend or might be foe.

One might suppose that all of those factors would combine to make a compelling story. Alas, that is not the case. Dickson gets too bogged down in his first-person narration to let the story run naturally. We are teased with hints and glimpses of what's really going on, but Vera's overdrawn naivete prevents us from finding anything in the story that will allow us to be drawn in.

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