his side

Spare by Prince Harry

Genre: memoir

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Review: If Prince Harry had to boil this book down into one sentence, I expect it would be, "I will remain devoted to my mother forever, and I despise the paparazzi to the very core of my being."  That would be an accurate description of this book, but it does leave a lot out.

Harry talks about his education (not distinguished), his relationship with his brother and father (alternately loving and heartbreakingly cruel), his time in the military (action-packed), his time spent in Africa and hte charitable work it led to (inspiring), his relationship with his grandmother (close), and much more.

As much as Diana and the paparazzi dominate the book, the writing really comes alive when Harry departs from these topics.  One example is when he talks about the military.  The part that really shines is less his descriptions of his time in war zones, and more his thoughts about what being in the military mean to him, and his frustration that his title prevented him from seeing much action.  The narrative also comes alive when Harry describes meeting and falling in love with Meghan, who, of course, becomes another major theme in the latter half of the book.

But surrounding all that is Harry's loathing of the paparazzi, and he doesn't mince words about it.  He details story after story that come out in the British tabloids (and even some more reputable news outlets) that are just plain lies, recounts his battles with the palace about how to respond to them, and suggests more than once that certain people within the palace are feeing information to the press.  The palace's unwavering police of not responding, even to the tabloid stories that were clearly untrue, and his suspictions about a leak in the inner circle, led to a major breach between Harry and Charles and William.

Of course, we have only Harry's side of the story here, and as Goethe tells us, "One man's word is no man's word; we should quietly hear both sides."  But the palace continues its policy of silence, and it's unlikely that any further developments will happen quietly.  So we have to take Harry's word for it, for now, which is very easy to do after reading this candid memoir.

everyone needs a helping tentacle sometimes

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: As is the case in most small towns, everybody who lives in Sowell Bay, Washington knows at least a little about everyone else who lives in town.  And everybody knows that Tova Sullivan's son, Erik, died when he was 18, but nobody quite knows how or why, except that he was on his boat, and many suspect that he took his own life.  Tova never believed that, though, and 30 years later, she has no more answers than she did the day he died.

Marcellus knows a little bit about what happened to Erik, or at least where his body is.  But Marcellus is a Giant Pacific Octopus, and can't exactly share that information.  He is, as the label by his tank reads, a remarkably bright creature, and prone to escaping from his tank.  When Tova finds him stuck in a tangle of electrical cords, she helps him back in his tank, and a friendship is formed.

Cameron has never had good luck.  His mother abandoned him when he was nine, and although his aunt gave him a loving home, he's never been able to live up to his potential.  When a class ring and a photo suggest that wealthy real estate developer Simon Brinks is his father, he heads to Sowell Bay to find out. 

Chapters go back and forth among these three characters (and yes, Marcellus is obviously the best narrator).  Cameron's arrival in town sets off a chain of events that will connect the three characters, and provide some closure for all of them.  The way their stories come together will not be a surprise for most readers, but the journey with these characters is so pleasurable, that no-one will mind the predictable ending.  Readers will be rooting for each character to find their own kind of happiness, and will appreciate the way they do.

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.

busy standing still

Perfect by Rachel Joyce
Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: fiction
Review: Any writer who can write a sentence like "If Byron ever tried to hug [his father], and sometimes he wished he could, the embrace ran away at the last minute and became a handshake," as though it just flowed off her pen in the first 50 pages of a book sets up high expectations in her readers.  Not only is this a beautiful sentence to read, but it also tells us everything we need to know about Byron's relationship with his father.

Joyce's language does not disappoint throughout the book, but the pacing does.  There's a lot of tension in this book, which is interesting because it doesn't feel like a lot actually happens.  Most of the energy seems to come from the collective inability of all the characters to get beyond their own anxieties and actually fix the situations in which they find themselves.  And that's just not something I have any patience for, either in print, or in real life.

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

ironic contrast

The Four Ms. Bradwells by Meg Waite Clayton

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Challenge: 100 Book Challenge 2011

Review: This is a good book. But it could have been a great book if Clayton had been both less heavy-handed in her feminist discussions and less coy in her descriptions of her characters. This book is not chick-lit by any means; it's themes are far too serious. But it's true, I suspect, that most of it's readers will be women. And most of those women will not need the kind of tutorial on feminism in the early 1980s that Clayton seems determined to provide. Not that we should forget the sacrifices made and hardships endured by our mothers and grandmothers, but a lighter touch might have better served the narrative here.

In contrast to her need to spell her feminism out in great detail, Clayton seems reluctant to give details about the relationships between and among her characters (and their mothers). It's certainly a valid literary technique to leave certain details to the reader's imagination, but it can be frustrating when the emotional crux of the story hinges on relationships that the author hasn't allowed one to get a clear sense of.

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

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.

bland all over

More Than it Hurts You by Darin Strauss

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction 

Review: A different book about Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy would be, perhaps, an outside-looking-in story, where people outside the family try to figure out why any parent, and specifically the parent in question would inflict harm on their own child. In contrast, Strauss puts the why up-front; it’s clear to the reader, and even clearer to mother who bleeds her child twice to induce anemia, why she does it.

So the rest of the book is more of a “how” or a “what” than a “why”. How do the doctors and Child Protective Services go about proving a case of Munchausen’s? How does the father, who in unaware of his wife’s activities, deal with the situation. What is the motivation of the accusing doctor? And in the end, of course, is the question of what will happen to the baby. At least it should be, but in the end even the answers to those questions are disappointing, as the whole matter is dropped over a trumped-up plot device.

Still, this could have been a good book, since it is engagingly written. Unfortunately, not a single character in this book is sympathetic (except the baby, of course). The mother obviously, is beyond unsympathetic, being so smug about her actions as to be entirely unlikeable. Even the father, a good father by most standards, is just bland to the point that I couldn’t really bring myself to care about him. Although we are shown bits of the doctor’s personal life (her interactions with her own young son, her efforts to relate to a father she’s only just met), none of these are enough to put any flesh on the character that might allow the reader to care about her, and are clearly just set pieces that try (and fail) to create some tension.

too much dark, not enough light

Playing with the Grown-Ups by Sophie Dahl

Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Challenge: A-Z (title)

Summary/Review: The story begins with the ever-dreaded phone call in the middle of the night, summoning Kitty to London because something's happened to her mother. Heavily pregnant herself, Kitty gets on the first flight, and, we think, starts the story from the beginning to demonstrate how she and her family got to the point where her mother lies in the hospital.

As a child, Kitty lived a somewhat idyllic life in the English countryside with her mother, brother, sister, aunts, grandparents, and nanny. Dahl vividly describes her setting, and one can almost feel the warmth of the sun and the breeze.

But Kitty is not destined to remain there. Kitty's mother, Marina, is presented to the reader as someone who does not make the best choices in life. Kitty herself is the product of an affair Marina had as a teenager with a married man. As the story begins, Marina has just found religion, through Swami-ji, the leader of an unnamed cult.

Though benevolent in intention, the effect of the cult on Kitty's family is dramatic. Soon, Kitty is separated from her family and sent to a drab boarding school, while her mother and siblings go to New York. Her mother becomes a successful painter in New York, and after a single school year, decides that Kitty should join her. She does, and it is in New York that Kitty first begins to follow her mother's example in walking on the wild side.

When the family moves back to London (having been rejected by the cult), Kitty's inhibitions seem to stay in New York. Once in London, she falls in with varying crowds, doing drugs, going to wild parties, and the like. From the loose time references we are given in the book, it is the mid-'90s and Kitty is about 14. Not to be overly naive, but she is far too young to be doing the sorts of things she does (I guess that's where the book gets its title), but even worse is that Marina encourages Kitty's behavior, sometimes even joining her at parties, and passing around the drugs. That Marina genuinely loves Kitty makes this picture even more tragic, as it does not ever seem to occur to Marina that her choices and behavior might be destructive to her children. Finally, Marina takes an overdose and is rushed to the hospital. Kitty calls her grandparents, and is finally able to return to their home.

But, although the scene has remained the same, Kitty herself has changed too much to stay there, and decides to go back to boarding school, this time in Connecticut, to make a new start. But here is where the book fails us. Having detailed Kitty's descent, Dahl leaves her redemption to our imagination. We know only that she does manage to make a stable life for herself. Having spent so much time in the dregs with Kitty, it would have been nice if we could have walked with her a bit on her journey up.

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

An historical lesson that goes down smoothly

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)
Genre: historical fiction
Review: While reading this book, one is forced to wonder how much it is meant to be a commentary on the current situation in the Middle East. And indeed, the political and historical expositions can be a little heavy-handed. And yet I found these easy to forgive, due mainly to the engaging voice of Agnes, our narrator. She has a very fresh and conversational tone that allows the reader to take in the information without feeling bashed over the head with it. And, I have to say, a lot of the description of how the Middle East was divvied up after WWI was very interesting in light of what's happened since in that region.

Most of the book is just good narrative. Agnes tells us her story as though we were sitting down over a cup of tea, and her conversational tone draws the reader in right away. Her tales of meeting Winston Churchill, T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia), and the others at the Cairo Peace Conference are wonderfully told, and her descriptions of Egypt, Jerusalem, and the other places she visits make them come alive. And of course, the way she tells us about her beloved dachshund Rosie are simply delightful!

I've been a big fan of Mary Doria Russell's books since I discovered them, and this one did not let me down.