Book Review: A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner

I'm normally not a fan of stories about 9/11, mostly because I cannot bear the pain of recollection these stories cause me. This is not to say that I do not remember the lives lost and destroyed by the horrific attacks on America that occurred that day. It's that I'm still healing. I still choke up talking to my current students, who were not even born when 9/11 happened in 2001, about the things we all witnessed on our televisions, things that rendered us all temporarily impotent in the face of evil.

So, I was surprised when I picked up this novel and was about four chapters into it when I realized it was a historical novel about not only the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in New York City, but simultaneously about a parallel story in 2001 connected to one another by a scarf. By the time I made this discovery, I was already hooked into Clara's story, her devastating loss and grief. So, when I realized that Taryn's story was of her devastating loss and grief from the Twin Towers' collapse on 9/11, I was unable to put the book aside. I pushed through my own grief at recalling the events and visions that remain with me today. And, I'm so glad I did.

Meissner is a masterful storyteller, weaving two separate, but eerily similar stories of women losing men they love, on whom they were pinning all their dreams for the future, in the horrific, human-caused catastrophes resulting in monstrous, senseless loss of life. Clara's and Taryn's stories are different, but remarkably similar, and I was mesmerized by the weaving of the novel's story between the two women's efforts to come to terms with their mourning and forge ahead with their lives. The scarf tying them together, a beautiful blue fabric background hosting marigolds, becomes a symbol for fragility and survival, strength born from weakness, the story of many women throughout the human experience.

I give A Fall of Marigolds a four out of five stars only because I wanted more! I wanted more from the ending--well maybe not more, but a different ending. I know this is not fair, to project my desires onto the book, the characters, or the writer, but I wanted somehow for Taryn's daughter to meet Clara's daughter. Fanciful and perhaps a bit cliche, but it was what I wanted for these two brave, broken women.

I am grateful to Meissner for tricking me into breaking my rule about not reading about 9/11. I think reading A Fall of Marigolds helped me heal a bit, too, right alongside Clara and Taryn. But just a little.

Book Review: The Selection by Kiera Cass

I was introduced to this young adult series by one of my students (thank you, Anik!). I absolutely love that my students are becoming self-admitted readers, recommending and asking for recommendations for their next great book read.

This first installment of The Selection series comprised by The Selection, The One, and The Crown reminded me of a nice version of The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. In a post-World War IV u/dys/topia, Prince Maxon must select his bride from among the 35 eligible young ladies nominated to
 compete for his affections. Each of the young ladies is given an "equal shot" at winning as they are elevated from their castes to a caste worthy of the Prince--the future King--and their eventual role as Queen.

America Singer enters the competition in the hopes of improving her family's lives, hot on the heels of being dumped by her long-time boyfriend Aspen. She finds herself caught between her developing feelings for Prince Maxon and her loyalties to Aspen. The story largely chronicles America's indecision and vacillation between the two young men's attentions while also depicting the interactions between the other princesses vying for the hand of the Prince. Interestingly, the chaos one might expect does not truly develop as there are rules against the princesses sabotaging one another.

Surprisingly, I liked The Selection: I didn't expect to, truth be told. I think I liked it because I was reading it from the perspective of a mom wanting a somewhat wholesome story where girls were not throwing themselves at the guy (although some of the girls did) or compromising their morals (although some of the girls apparently did that, too). I also really enjoyed the devolving utopia to dystopia theme and appreciated the need for the Royal family to control their media image in the way they did. Even the mean-spirited, hurtful King, Maxon's father, was not simply mean for the sake of being mean, but grasping at the deteriorating control while not knowing what to do as his kingdom begins to show signs of cracking.

On the other hand, America's constant vacillation became frustrating in this book; I was so relieved when she finally admitted to herself and to Maxon that she was developing feelings for him.

The book is a quick read; in fact, all the books in the series are quick reads, as I finished all three in this series and the two in the tangential series within about nine days. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, and I have recommended it to my students who like The Hunger Games and romantic stories. I gave this story four stars out of five because I enjoyed the tension created by the competition among the girls and the indecision America wrestles with.

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

I'd been staring at this book for months on my If you liked..., then you'll love... suggestions from Goodreads and Audible. And, this book came highly recommended by a professor colleague, so...I finally read it. And, from the first few pages, I was hooked.

Katherine Danielle Clark, Kya, lives a life impossibly impoverished: abandoned by her mother and older siblings, abused by her alcoholic father, starving due to lack of income, lacking any kind of formal education, left to survive on her own in the marshes of North Carolina, Kya defies the odds stacked against her survival and thrives. Kya's coming-of-age story is heightened when she is arrested and tried for the murder of Chase Andrews, the local hero, who coincidentally was Kya's lover until he, too, became abusive.

Owens creates in Kya Clark a character so at odds with society and at home with nature, so simultaneously vulnerable and strong, that I couldn't help falling in love with Kya. This abandoned and shunned precious and precocious child of the North Carolina marshland in the 1960s burrowed into my heart, especially when she explains that she didn't have trouble understanding why everyone left, but only why nobody took her with them.

Owens prose is lyrical, possibly the most beautiful writing I have seen in some time, and Kya's ability to be completely in tune with nature and out of tune with human society is captivating. And, Owens delivers a poetically just ending for Kya that left me cheering and pondering the meaning of justice.

If you're looking for a beautiful, rich, unexpected story, this one will not disappoint.

Book Review: The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo

Book Review: The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo


Li Lan is a young girl in postcolonial Malaya on the verge of becoming a woman, expecting marriage to an eligible young man. What she doesn't expect is to be wooed by a ghost, a young man from a prestigious family who has recently died and seeks her as his ghost bride in order to avenge his own death. Li Lan, however, has different desires, with her heart focused on the cousin of the dead man. When her hopes seem dashed because of financial obligations requiring she go through with the ghost marriage, Li Lan accidentally overdoses on opium, sending her into a half-life/half-death comatose state in which she travels the Valley of the Dead searching for answers to some of her most perplexing and curious ideas, unsure if she will be able to return to her body and her life.

The Ghost Bride is a wonderful tale that I am so glad found me after I read the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy as it filled in a lot of cultural knowledge gaps that the trilogy revealed to me. To be clear, The Ghost Bride is NOTHING like Crazy Rich Asians. Instead, the historical context of Li Lan's story of slippage between the world of the living and the world of the dead creates a rich backdrop to explore the intersections between faith, culture, the effects of colonialism, imagination, desire, and empowered choice. I found Li Lan to be a remarkably autonomous character despite her setting in which arranged marriages were more the norm. She is a spitfire who thinks and acts in ways to promote her own interests, while trying to protect those she loves.

I have to say that I read this on Audible and it was delightful to hear the author reading her own work. It's such a treat to know how the author meant to convey some ideas as I was able to hear it straight from her own mouth. 

I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this book. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that historical fiction is my favorite genre. This book is remarkable and original. I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction and is interested in Malayan (Malaysian) history and culture.

Book Review: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Book Review: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and

Sarah Pekkanen

I read this book as an ARC from NetGalley.com.

Jess Farris, a disillusioned make-up artist living in New York, sneaks into a psychological study about integrity, morality and ethics. Her responses captivate Dr. Shields, who invites Jess to participate in a more in-depth study in which Jess will be asked to do things that will reveal to Dr. Shields more information about how Jess views morality and ethics, but stresses that Jess will always be in control of the situations. And Dr. Shields will compensate Jess for her troubles. Compensate her very, very well. 

And so begins the rollercoaster ride Jess and Dr. Shields take the reader on. Hendricks and Pekkanen create a situation in which the reader, like Jess, wants to know what Dr. Shields is up to, where the study on morality and ethics will lead. Dr. Shields, who always seems controlled, slowly begins to reveal a crack in her facade, a fissure in her composure that threatens to destroy Jess if she continues in the study. But, Jess becomes captive to not only the money Dr. Shields provides, but to the consequences of coming clean about her own demons. And, she wants to understand Dr. Shields, who drew her in with gifts and comfort as she has never known. 

The rollercoaster ride is exhilarating as Hendricks and Pekkanen create corkscrews, sheer drops, and lurches with each encounter between Jess and Dr. Shields. Ultimately, the reader is blindsided as the cart comes to a complete stop. What a rush!

Things I Loved:

1. Jess's believability: She's an ambitious young woman who finds her dreams crushed by a selfish toxic man abusing his position of power. She has a heart of gold, but also an edge. She's complex and fluid. She's real.

2. Hendricks and Pekkanen's choice of voice for Dr. Shields is brilliant. In writing Dr. Shields in passive voice, they add a layer of complexity to her character, emphasizing her dissociation from her actions and her own ethics and morality. Dr. Shields's passive voice also reveals some fragility of her character, that she's not secure in her own thoughts to fully, actively inhabit them and chooses to ride above or below the murkiness she is creating with her morality and ethics study. Dr. Shields's voice rings through loud and clear.

3. Noah's respectability: I love that he doesn't cave to Jess's turbulence. He stands his ground with his expectations and deal breakers. It's nice to see a male character follow more than his hormones.
4. The surprise twist at the end: I love a thriller that really gets in one last thrill when I think all the loose ends are tied up. Brava, Hendricks and Pekkanen!

Things I Liked (a little) Less:

1. I didn't like Jess's promiscuity. While some see it as sexual agency, I felt like her attitude about one-night-stands as distasteful as Noah appears to find them.
2. I wish there was a confrontation between Jess and Gene French, her victimizer. I would have liked to see Jess be part of his fall from grace, if for no other reason than I believe every victim should have the opportunity to witness her victimizer's downfall. Hearing about it just didn't seem enough.

If you like a good thriller, check out An Anonymous Girl. You won't be disappointed!

Book Review: Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg

 Book Review: Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg

I received an ARC of Elizabeth Berg's novel Night of Miracles through NetGalley.com.

In the little town of Mason, Missouri, readers meet Lucille (an elderly baker who teaches her culinary arts); Tiny (a heavyset taxicab driver); Iris (a middle-aged divorced transplant to Mason); Abby, Jason, and their son Lincoln; and Monica (a lonely diner waitress), and upon entering the community of these characters discover beauty in the mundane.

Lucille, a retired teacher in her 80s, fights off the angel of death as long as she can, is the glue that binds these characters together, even though some of them don't meet her until her death. She hires Iris, who is hiding from facing her marriage that failed due to her shattered dreams of having children while her husband did not want the same, to help manage Lucille's baking classes and the two become fast friends.

Meanwhile, Tiny and Monica maneuver through misunderstandings as neither can put into words their attraction to and admiration for one another, and Monica mistakes Iris's proximity to Tiny as Tiny's romantic interest in Iris.

Further, Lucille babysits Lincoln while Abby and Jason struggle with Abby's diagnosis and treatment of leukemia, but Lucille and Lincoln develop a beautiful friendship as Lincoln matures beyond his years, understanding more of the situation than either of his parents want to acknowledge.

Berg crafts characters who are beautiful, testaments to unforeseen friendships forged in a small town, developed in some of the most difficult times in life, and resulting in the deeply lasting relationships most people search for. These characters reveal miracles in the everyday, little graces we bestow on one another that make life seem miraculous.

The choices each character makes weave a fabric that is strong enough to protect all the members of this makeshift family. I recommend this beautiful story as a quick, enriching, life-affirming story.

Source:

Berg, Elizabeth. Night of Miracles. Random House, 2018.  

Book Review: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

Book Review: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle

I read an ARC of Rebecca Serle's novel The Dinner List.

The premise of this book is interesting: what would you do if you could spend an evening's dinner with any five people of your choosing--living or dead? Who would you invite? Why? What would you all talk about?

Sabrina's Dinner List wish is granted on her birthday as she spends an evening dining with her deadbeat, alcoholic father (Robert); her ex-boyfriend (Tobias); her best friend (Jessica); her favorite philosophy professor from college (Conrad); and movie star Audrey Hepburn.

Serle weaves flashbacks into the dinner party scenes, revealing intimacies she and Tobias shared which ultimately led to their break up. Sabrina's conversations with Robert, Jessica, and Tobias dominate the dinner as she has unresolved issues with each of them, and Conrad and Audrey serve as mediators of the sometimes intense emotions bubbling to the surface while Sabrina tries to beat the midnight toll which will end her evening dinner.

Serle's ability to weave the past events into the current events in the novel results in powerful storytelling. Tobias and Sabrina share a heart-rending love story that magnifies the abandonment she feels from Robert's escape into alcoholism and his new family she is not part of. And, Jessica's love for Sabrina stems from Jessica's desire for her friend to have the best life has to offer, which Sabrina interprets as judgment, leading to rifts in their once very tight friendship. The story is poignant, real, raw, and at the same time fantastical in its origins.

This is not a love story per se; it's more a story of one woman's struggle to find enduring love and to offer and accept forgiveness, a story that magnifies the messiness that life really is for many.

I really enjoyed this novel because I found the Sabrina's and Jessica's angst real and honest, but I found myself wishing we discovered more about "how" this event was able to happen. The question is raised a few times by the characters, but never really addressed. And, I wished Audrey Hepburn had a more purposeful role. I loved that she was present and appreciated her connection to Tobias and Sabrina's story, but felt her presence at the dinner was somewhat underdeveloped.

I love, LOVE the concept of this book and appreciate Serle's execution. Pull up a seat and join the dinner party: read The Dinner List.

Source:
Serle, Rebecca.The Dinner List: A novel. Flatiron Books, 2018.