A dozen stories in which Sittenfeld revisits her most fertile narrative ground—the lives of stressed middle-class (mostly) white women. Some indeliblyA dozen stories in which Sittenfeld revisits her most fertile narrative ground—the lives of stressed middle-class (mostly) white women. Some indelibly drawn characters and fraught situations, and at times laugh-out-loud funny. And for those who wondered whatever happened to Lee Fiora, the protagonist of Prep, here we attend Lee’s 25th high school reunion with her. ...more
A noir with a slightly feminist bent, set in LA in the immediate post-war years, in which a serial killer stalks the city raping and strangling women.A noir with a slightly feminist bent, set in LA in the immediate post-war years, in which a serial killer stalks the city raping and strangling women. A tense cat-and-mouse game develops between two friends, men who formerly served together, one now being a cop and the other a Ripley-like bundle of falsities. Especially interesting for being told in the first person by the killer himself, the rather suggestively named Dix Steele....more
A very memorable protagonist is the best thing about this P.I./crime book, but it’s amply studded with other pleasures and felicities.
Delphine, a mariA very memorable protagonist is the best thing about this P.I./crime book, but it’s amply studded with other pleasures and felicities.
Delphine, a marine biologist, has spent her life observing and recording data on the mysterious sperm whale, and she thought she’d spend some years post-retirement compiling and collating the data to write it all up—her life’s work and legacy. But a one-two punch completely derails her plans. Her beloved P.I. husband has just died and she’s just received a diagnosis of terminal cancer. Well, shee-yit. She’d occasionally assisted her husband with his P.I. work in the past, so when a colleague reaches out and asks her to take on a missing baby case, her first instinct is to refuse—she has such a short time left, she needs to spend it on her work. But she’s drawn in anyway when she encounters an abused young woman who needs help getting herself and her baby boy away from her repulsive, skeevy boyfriend. And the game is afoot! A beautiful sense of place—the Pacific Northwest—permeates the book as Delphine heads out on her motorcycle, collecting a crew of weird and wonderful folks along the way.
As I read, I sometimes thought to myself, what an unlikely career combination—P.I. and marine biologist—but happily read on. Well, the author tells us in an afterword that Delphine is inspired by his remarkable wife, a P.I. and marine biologist! Ya gotta love it....more
I listened to the audiobook, though at this writing that wasn’t one of the editions available in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ list to indicate which edition4.5 stars
I listened to the audiobook, though at this writing that wasn’t one of the editions available in the Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ list to indicate which edition I completed. And it was beautifully narrated by the two readers, Janet Metzger for the mother character and Adam Gibson for the son. (Though I do wish someone had informed Gibson that he mispronounced New York’s Houston Street throughout. It’s not “Houstonâ€� like the Texas city, but sounds like “How-ston.â€� What a snob I am, right? But if you know, you know, and it’s irritating. At least he was consistent—he got it wrong every time!)
But back to the book itself, which was an engaging, beautifully constructed novel in which Peter, a 40-ish asylum lawyer in New York, who has long been estranged from his mother, is driven by one of his cases into memories of the climactic night in his teens that created the emotional rupture from his mother. Themes of homosexuality, hidden and otherwise, family dynamics, and forgiveness....more
A collection of nine engrossing short stories all set in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This author truly has a gift for setting a vivid sceA collection of nine engrossing short stories all set in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This author truly has a gift for setting a vivid scene! This was published in 2016, but I discovered it recently through a recommendation in Ann Patchett’s weekly “If you haven’t read it, it’s new to you� Friday posts on her Parnassus Books instagram site. (Worth checking out for serious book lovers.) ...more
A gently sad, gently hopeful historical fiction which starts in the “present day� of 1963 Croydon and repeatedly dips into the past to get at the mystA gently sad, gently hopeful historical fiction which starts in the “present day� of 1963 Croydon and repeatedly dips into the past to get at the mysteries surrounding William, the mid-30s man-child who has been living with his elderly aunts, whose existence has been kept a secret for decades and who has barely set foot outside the ramshackle old house they live in since he was 13 or so. In his corner is the dedicated art therapist at the mental hospital he’s taken to, who has some secrets of her own. Shockingly, this is based on a true story, but the author has here provided a happier outcome for all concerned....more
A 52-year-old single mother (of an 8-year-old boy, I think he was) in New York City is unhappily stressing through her days, but when she beg3.5 stars
A 52-year-old single mother (of an 8-year-old boy, I think he was) in New York City is unhappily stressing through her days, but when she begins a torrid affair with an elusive 20-something musician, the electricity flowing through her veins brings her roaring back to erotic life. Alas, though the connection goes on for many years, it’s pitifully one-sided. Minot so accurately—excruciatingly—captures unrequited romantic obsession, I found myself cringing and pitying, even while exasperated at the wrong-headedness....more
A classic, much taught in high schools, about a young Mexican-American girl growing up in a Hispanic Chicago neighbourhood. As much a portrait of the A classic, much taught in high schools, about a young Mexican-American girl growing up in a Hispanic Chicago neighbourhood. As much a portrait of the community as of an individual and family life, told in micro-stories of one or two pages. ...more
I’ve never read Sophie Kinsella (of Shopaholic fame) but picked this one up because it’s a fictional treatment of the author’s real-life (ongoing) expI’ve never read Sophie Kinsella (of Shopaholic fame) but picked this one up because it’s a fictional treatment of the author’s real-life (ongoing) experience of a terminal brain tumour. It’s interesting to me to read an account of a life knocked suddenly, wildly off its tracks by a very life-threatening health crisis, as I experienced that very thing myself (now 35 years in the past and still here, thanks—takes a licking and keeps on ticking). Kinsella’s fictionalization of her own I’m very sure devastating experience is remarkable, not only for the fact that she was able to write the darn thing at all, but for its breezy uplift and its sensitive examination of the physical ordeals (brain surgery, chemo, radiation and gruelling rehab to learn to walk again and support the return of short-term memory), but even more so the emotional impacts on the novelist protagonist, her husband and their large brood of children. ...more
Such an odd but warm and gently funny book, in which a stressed-out bride-to-be is visited by a parakeet that she believes to be her dead grandmother,Such an odd but warm and gently funny book, in which a stressed-out bride-to-be is visited by a parakeet that she believes to be her dead grandmother, who offers cryptic advice that sends the young woman on a quest to find her long-estranged brother (and a replacement wedding dress). An exploration of finding the person we were meant to be. ...more
I picked this up thinking I was going to get an Oslo-set feel-good Christmas story, but this is far from being that straightforward a tale, with much I picked this up thinking I was going to get an Oslo-set feel-good Christmas story, but this is far from being that straightforward a tale, with much sad social realism throughout, including alcoholism, refugees, poverty, fear of social services and the like. At least I was right about the Oslo part.
As the Christmas season approaches, two immigrant sisters—an older teen and her younger sister, Ronja—hope their alcoholic father will, for a change, find work and refrain from blowing all his earnings in the local pub. Ronja hasn’t been robbed of all optimism yet, unlike her older sister, who grimly faces reality but gets on with it. Ronja’s cheeriness brings her into contact with others, and an observant security guard at school gives her a job lead for her father: selling Christmas threes off a gas station parking lot. At first things go well: their dad doesn’t drink, saves up the money and puts food in the fridge and pantry. But he soon falls off the rails, so the girls decide to take over his job themselves. Young Ronja continues to make friends and influence people, but the two girls are hounded by the Christmas tree owner, who doesn’t care about them—at all—and is only concerned about being nailed for breaking child labour laws. Their father continues to be an unreliable alcoholic. Everything comes to an unhappy head on Christmas Eve. ...more
In addition to her wonderful novels, Patchett writes a lot of collected non-fiction essays, usually about something to do with her own life and all ofIn addition to her wonderful novels, Patchett writes a lot of collected non-fiction essays, usually about something to do with her own life and all of which I’ve read —actually, listened to, narrated by the author herself� and consequently I feel I know more about her than any other author. I’ve finally gotten to this one, published in 2004, Patchett’s account of her friendship with memoirist Lucy Grealy, begun when they were 21-year-old grad students rooming together at the Iowa Writers� Workshop. Grealy’s life was hugely impacted by the fact that she had had much of her lower jaw surgically removed due to childhood cancer and had spent the years since in pain and undergoing dozens of reparative surgeries. She soon shot to fame with her memoir Autobiography of a Face, but led a restless, chaotic life, hungry for love but finding sex, drink and drugs. Patchett characterizes their personal styles as ant and grasshopper, with her ant constantly coming to the rescue of Grealy’s feckless grasshopper. I think of myself as a good and loyal friend, but I can’t imagine going to the lengths Ann did, again and again, for Lucy. But that’s love, I guess, and this is a loving portrait of a friend who, sadly, succumbed to a heroin overdose in 2002....more
Set in Australia in two separate timelines, the present-day and the early days of colonialism, around 1850, in the area of what is now Brisbane. I fouSet in Australia in two separate timelines, the present-day and the early days of colonialism, around 1850, in the area of what is now Brisbane. I found the earlier story more compelling, with two young indigenous people falling in love and starting a family, though it certainly contains many of the horrors you might expect due to the casually lethal racism and violence of the time. Five generations later, the descendants of that original pair (though they’re unaware of the connection), an elderly woman and her hot-headed granddaughter hell-bent on the return of stolen lands, are swept into bicentennial celebrations. I found their different approaches to that event very entertaining, with the grannie being co-opted as a figurehead by the white politicians but getting involved entirely on her own terms (not to mention getting a fab new home out of it) and the grand-daughter, angrily seething with past and ongoing injustices, trickily managing to level a curse on the new downtown Brisbane highway (until gran straightens her out right quick). Past and present threads wind together nicely in the end, what with a bit of a haunting and an unearthed box of family documents. Quite rewarding....more
A woman escapes from dire poverty and a brutal, abusive father, marries well and, over the decades, ends up editor-in-chief of a major Washington dailA woman escapes from dire poverty and a brutal, abusive father, marries well and, over the decades, ends up editor-in-chief of a major Washington daily. Her youngest daughter, though she’s grown up in the lap of luxury and has an extremely loving, ever-so-present father, can’t get past the fact that her mother is essentially married to her job and has been largely absent from her life. (Oh, cry me a river.) In any case, she’s a writer, so she pens a roman-a-clef that’s the thinly veiled story of her mother’s life and that also deals with her mother’s mother’s mysterious death. At least, that’s what the abusive father always claimed—that he committed his wife to a mental hospital, where she died when her children were young. Hmmm, not so fast. A DNA sample submitted to one of those 23-and-me type companies yields some startling results, and it seems likely that there will finally be some answers about what really happened to the disappeared woman. Some great characters, especially the supporting ones, told in a breezy style. If my description made this sound like a heavy book-club “woe is me� selection, my apologies. This is smartish and really quite a lot of fun. ...more
I have to think this novel would be much favoured by book clubs, as it sure has a lot of the requisite ingredients. There are three sisters (well, theI have to think this novel would be much favoured by book clubs, as it sure has a lot of the requisite ingredients. There are three sisters (well, there were four, but one died a year earlier), who once upon a time were very tight but have scattered far apart and are no longer much in touch. There’s the feckless youngest, the super model who graces the catwalks of European fashion houses but is flaming out with drink and drugs; the world champion boxer who fled the ring after the terrible beating she took in the immediate aftermath of her sister’s death and is now working as a bouncer at a trendy L.A. club; and the eldest, who years earlier overcame a drink-and-drug problem herself and now practices high-priced corporate law in London and is living in her dream home with her wife of nine years, but whose current behaviour puts her at risk of losing it all. Whew. What a mess, right? They come together to clear out the last of their dead sister’s things and are finally able to communicate meaningfully, express their grief in healthier ways than they have been, and see their tentative way forward....more
I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this resurrection of the late John le Carre’s Smiley, written by his son. But I needn’t have worried. T4.5 stars
I wasn’t sure how I was going to like this resurrection of the late John le Carre’s Smiley, written by his son. But I needn’t have worried. This is a worthy addition to the Smiley canon. While it’s not quite le Carre (well, what else is, really?), there is a great grasp of spycraft and the agencies involved, and especially of the murkier corners of human nature. This novel takes us back to the time shortly after the events of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, just after the erection of the Berlin Wall. I hope the book does well enough that we soon see more!...more
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