stick to the fictional

Up With the Sun by Thomas Mallon

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: Mallon, author of such previous gems as Bandbox and Dewey Defeats Truman, seems to be confusing writing with name-dropping lately.  In his loosely connected Republican Apologist trilogy, the names are members of the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 43 administrations.  Here, the names are from show business in the 1950s-1970s.  And while I appreciate that one of the names he drops is that of my own cousin, The Last of the Red Hot Mamas, Sophie Tucker, I know that most people these days have never heard of her, nor of many of the other players who come and go through this book.

The story centers around the life and murder of Dick Kallman, a never-star of stage and screen, who most people have also never heard of, and, harsh as it sounds to say this, probably won't care much about.  Mallon portrays him as a shallow, callow, unethical, and more to the point for the main character of a novel, uninteresting.

The more interesting character is the purely fictional Matt Liannetto, who knew Dick sporadically through his acting career, and who was one of the last people to see him alive.  Through him, we see the both the law and the order aspect of bringing Dick's killers to justice, which is somewhat compelling, in a macabre way.  Matt himself is just a more interesting character, and I wish Mallon had just written a book about him, and made Dick Kallman a footnote to his story.

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

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.

viven las niñas

The Night Travelers by Armando Lucas Correa

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: Usually, when I put a book down and pick it up and put it down and pick it up, it means that I'm struggling to get through it.  That was not the case here.  Rather, it meant that I wanted to sit with each few chapters before moving on.  The book somewhat lends itself to this approach, as each chapter is a vignette in a character's life, before jumping several months or years in time.  Most often, we jump forward, but in the first section, the narrative jumps both forward and back to tell the story of a romance and its consequences.  Time moves non-linearly in the last section as well, but in that case, it serves to dish up a few big reveals, and so makes sense.  I couldn't quite figure out the reasoning behind the jumping around in the first section.

This is a compelling story, exploring the bond between mothers and daughters, the sacrifices a mother might make to save her daughter, and a daughter coming to understand those sacrifices as an adult.  Though the writing is uneven in some places, overall the story flows from mother to daughter, from one year to the next, connecting generations through time and space.

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

the price of freedom

In the Upper Countryby Kai Thomas

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: historical fiction

Review: One doesn't really enjoy a book like this, dark as it is, but one can say that it's incredibly evocative.  Thomas brings to life the free black people in Canada, and their constant fear of slave catchers coming across the border.  The story centers around Lensinda, a young black journalist tasked with collecting their stories, and Cash, an escaped slave who kills one of the bounty hunters sent to recapture her.

Cash won't reveal her full story unless Lensinda swaps stories of her own.  As the two share stories of slave life and free life, with some mythology mixed in, Lensinda slowly learns that perhaps the answer to why Cash chose to kill the bounty hunter (and it was a choice) isn't the most important thing about Cash's life.  Both tales jump around in time, and can be somewhat hard to follow as there are few textual clues to mark the shifts in time, making this a challenging book to read on an already challenging subject.  For those with the foritude to track the story, though, it's a worthwhile addition to genre.

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

the right way out

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Essie's preacher father is the head of both his megachurch and his family, but it's Essie's mother who really runs the show.  Literally.  Essie's family stars in "Six for Hicks" a popular reality tv show focusing on their family and ministry.  Essie's life has always come with cameras and production assistants.  But her life isn't what millions of viewers might assume, and when a pregnancy test comes back positive, it's time for Essie to put in motion the plan she's been hatching for years to get herself out of the spotlight.

Essie is a great character.  She's both determined and vulnerable, strong and nervous.  She narrates her own story with a clear and convincing voice.  Roarke, whose help she needs to get out, is also a great character, and his voice helps to make Essie's story fuller and more believable.  On the other hand, Liberty Bell, the reporter to whom Essie entrusts her story, could have been the main character of her own book, but cramming her story into Essie's doesn't quite work, and she reads as more of a plot device than a fully-fleshed out character.  Her presence is necessary, helping to illuminate parts of Essie's story that she couldn't give us on her own, but a simpler character, with less of a backstory might actually have served the novel as a whole better.

Still, with Essie's voice as the driving force of the narrative, this book is a success.  I was rooting for Essie, and then for Essie and Roarke together, and was fully invested in their search to find the "right" path in a challenging situation.

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

the last one sees clearly

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Rating: 4.5 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: Triplets Lewyn, Sally, and Harrison are the much-wanted product of their mother's IVF.  Johanna, their mother, dotes on them, but is oblivious to them as actual people.  She insists that they love each other, and doesn't seem to notice that they prefer not to be in each other's company.  Salo, their father, is largely uninterested (although not unloving), preferring to spend his time with his art collection, and, eventually, his mistress, until he is killed on 9/11.  As the triplets are about to move out, Johanna decides that she wants one last chance at motherhood, and has the fourth embryo of the bunch implanted.  Enter Pheobe, who, at 17,  is the only member of the family able to see things (more or less) clearly.

After much excellent exposition setting up the family dynamic, the crux of the matter becomes apparent.  The details would spoil the experience, but suffice it to say that Pheobe must overcome her siblings' old resentments and her mother's hang-ups, all formed long before she was born.  Naturally, she'll uncover old secrets and learn a few things about herself along the way.  But Phoebe is quite determined and not about to let her family members hide behind their usual evasive tricks.

Phoebe's narrative voice makes this book worth reading, even if, for most of the book.  A strong and surprising young woman, you may find yourself wishing that she would bring her considerable talents and persistence to solve the problems in your life.

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

#mashup

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams

Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre: fiction

Review: If you put A Man Called Ove, The Authenticity Project, and any book that purports to tell you about the books you must read before you die into a quantum accelerator and spun them until they became a single book, The Reading List is what you would get.  Except I would definitely recommend just reading the individual books instead.

I can't fault Adams for her book list, as it includes some of my favorites, and I do appreciate how the characters used what they found in the books to improve their own lives and relationships.  But the pace of the book is too slow for the premise, and some of the text-to-life connections to the books seemed a bit forced.

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