April Preview

Posted on April 10, 2023 by Susan

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. It’s been windy and warmer here and most of the snow has melted away. We went for our first bike ride of the season despite my having remnants of last week’s head cold, sigh. It was nice to get out and then watch the final holes of the Masters golf tournament. Afterwards, I did a bit of raking and yard work. It feels like the early stages of spring, yay. Next Sunday we’ll be flying to visit my parents in California for a little over a week so that should be a good break. We’ll go to the desert and the beach and do some biking there. 

I’m a bit behind for April as here is it the 10th and I’m just now posting my Preview. So let’s dive into new releases and see what looks good this month. It appears there’s new novels by such notable authors as: Charles Frazier, Curtis Sittenfeld, and Dennis Lehane among others. I reviewed Susanna Hoffs’s debut novel This Bird Has Flown last week that came out April 4, and I have a copy to review of Lee Smith’s Silver Alert due out April 18, so stay tuned for that. And here are a few of my other picks.

Ramona Ausubel’s new novel The Last Animal due out April 18 looks fun. I first heard about it on AJ’s blog Read All the Things and found it got starred reviews from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly. It’s about a scientist mom who takes her two teenage daughters on summer vacation to the permafrost of Siberia, where they stumble upon a preserved woolly mammoth baby. Therein they engage in an experiment with the species and discover themselves in the process.

I’m a sucker for prehistoric awakenings and Kirkus says there’s an amazing amount of humor, wisdom, and wonder in this novel, so what are we waiting for. 

Next is Brendan Slocumb’s new novel Symphony of Secrets due out April 18 that comes after his successful debut The Violin Conspiracy. I liked his first one, and various sources are saying his second novel is even better. It’s about a music scholar who finds out a shocking secret about his favorite American composer, long since deceased, that he tries to uncover, all the while the composer’s foundation is trying to quash.

I like how Slocumb, an accomplished violinist, has been able to blend music, mystery, and race into engaging, twisty tales, so count me in for this as well.

Lastly in books is a tie between Karl Geary’s novel Juno Loves Legs (out April 18) and Isabella Hammad’s novel Enter Ghost (out April 4). These are more serious-minded novels than the above choices. Geary’s novel is said to be a heartbreaking coming-of-age tale about two young outsiders who become friends and are unable to conform to the confines of 1980s Dublin. It’s said to be in the vain of Shuggie Bain and A Little Life so likely prepare yourself for sadness and abject poverty.

While Hammad’s novel Enter Ghost “follows a British Palestinian actor who travels to Israel, where her sister lives, and is pulled into a production of Hamlet staged in the West Bank, prompting a deeper look at her own political and artistic values.” Ahh. I like the sound of that. Both are new to me authors.

On the screen this month, the movie Air, out April 5, about the basketball player Michael Jordan and how he was pursued by a Nike shoe salesman, is getting favorable reviews. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Viola Davis star among others.

We just saw Matt Damon in a 2021 movie called Stillwater and he was good as usual. He’s also in the upcoming big Oppenheimer movie, directed by Christopher Nolan, coming in July. Damon, it seems, still has the goods, whether he’s Mark Watney on Mars, or Jason Bourne on the run. He’s still getting top roles.  

There’s also the new eight-episode TV series Tiny Beautiful Things, (out April 7 on Hulu) based on the book by Cheryl Strayed, about a struggling writer who reluctantly takes over an advice column during a period of turmoil in her life. It’s a comedy-drama starring Kathryn Hahn, who’s said to give a soulful performance as the woman whose life is quite a mess.

I think I last saw Hahn in the 2018 amusing movie Private Life opposite Paul Giamatti. We don’t get Hulu here, but apparently her new series is on Disney+ in Canada, which we might have to splurge on someday. 

Next up to mention is the seven-episode TV series The Last Thing He Told Me, which is on AppleTV+ starting April 14. You remember the 2021 thriller by Laura Dave right? It’s about a woman who forms an unexpected relationship with her stepdaughter while searching for the truth about her husband who has mysteriously disappeared. Jennifer Garner plays the woman who works together with her stepdaughter, played by Australian actress Angourie Rice.

It was filmed on location in Sausalito, Calif., and San Fran, and I’m hoping it holds up to the book, but we’ll have to find out.

Also there’s the movie Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (due out April 28) based on the 1970 novel by Judy Blume, about a 11-year-old girl whose family moves to the suburbs and she must navigate new friends, feelings, and adolescence. I don’t think Judy Blume has ever let her books be made into films before, so this is a big first. And apparently Blume says the movie, which stars Rachel McAdams as the Mom and Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, is better the book. Really?

I recall the novel being sort of taboo when I was a kid because it was too dicey or embarrassing or something or other. I think I was too chicken at the time to find out, lol.   

As for new music in April, there’s new albums by Feist, Rickie Lee Jones, Natalie Merchant (!), and I’ll pick the new one from Canadian folk rock band — the Great Lake Swimmers. It’s called Uncertain Country and comes out April 28. The band is still terrific after all these years. They formed in 2003 and this will be their eighth studio album. Here’s a new song from it called When the Storm Has Passed. Enjoy. 

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to?

Posted in Top Picks | 28 Comments

This Bird Has Flown

Posted on April 3, 2023 by Susan

Hi. How is everyone doing? Happy April. This past week I was busy officiating a national U12 tennis tournament with a team of refs. We had as many as 300 matches in three days so it was long days but a good competition. I’m glad it’s over now and I can rest up from a head cold I picked up there, argh. I hope to catch up on visiting blogs this week and to see what all of you are reading.

Meanwhile we are closing on the sale of our prior city house on Monday, so we are done with that, which is a big relief, and we can move on with country living, yay. The only trouble is that with the new address I lose access to the city public library system and they don’t allow non-residents to check out ebooks and audiobooks, argh. The city inventory is far larger than rural libraries have. So my question is: what sources do you use to get ebooks and audiobooks? Is Audible worth getting or something else? I appreciate your suggestions, and now I will leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

This Bird Has Flown by Susanna Hoffs / Little Brown / 368 pages / 2023

I thought this novel was good fun and ripe for springtime reading. I wasn’t going to miss out on Susanna Hoffs’s debut novel. I remember her days as a rocker with the group the Bangles back in the 1980s, yay. This story — about singer, Jane Start, age 33, who scored a hit song ten years ago and is left trying to find her way musically and after a bad breakup — has plenty of charm, romance, and musical atmosphere that makes the reading go down as quickly as maple syrup. Along the way, there’s many song references and literary ones too that make it feel like cultural catnip for those with youths in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

As it starts out, Jane is a washed-up singer, having once had the one-hit wonder back in the day, but now is left to sing at a bachelor’s party in Vegas to earn money, when her manager offers Jane her place in London to stay and try to work on some new songs. Along the way, Jane meets an Oxford professor, Tom, who gives her heart a whirl and she gets back on the musical radar when an iconic star asks her to play the old hit song onstage with him for an upcoming concert at the Royal Albert Hall. She must contend with her inner stage fright demons as well as hidden baggage about Tom that she finds out about long after she moves in with him. Will she fall apart onstage and hit the skids in her love life offstage? You will have to check it out to see.  

It’s an entertaining story that blends romance with musical creativity and ambitions. There’s also various side characters that keep it lively from Pippa Jane’s manager to a heartthrob pop singer named Alfie. I’m sure parts of it and a couple characters might seem familiar or cliched, but there was enough for me with its turns and heart that kept the story appealing. It slightly reminded me of the movie Notting Hill with its U.K. relationship … mashed up in a blender with a bit of the musical angst of Daisy Jones but with the undertone fun of Tom Perrotta’s The Wishbones. Kudos to Hoffs for adding an entertaining one to the musical genre mix. I always love these rock-‘n-roll stories, and apparently Hoffs recently discovered she loved writing fiction, which she talks about in the Acknowledgments, so perhaps we’ll see more.  

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Little Brown for giving me an advance copy to read and review. This novel comes out Tuesday April 4. 

The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr / Coach House / 224 pages / 2022

I was impressed by the telling of this story about a Black closeted-gay porter (RT Baxter), who is working on a train trip across Canada in 1929. All the details of his job — how he must serve the array of needy passengers and has little moments for himself or to sleep — play out and make this feel authentic.

Baxter, originally from the Caribbean, is trying to save enough money working as a porter to be able to go to dentistry school, but he must pay his employer for the meals onboard and calculate any demerits he might get while on the train, such as three missing towels will be marked against him. He’s trying to keep his job, but it’s not easy. 

The cast of other porters is colorful; they kid him and have his back, while the passengers are an assortment of people, looking for all kinds of help. Baxter puts up with a lot from them, along with the everyday racism from people of those calling him George — and to get this and do that. A few though take to him and tip him, which helps his chances to go to dentistry school. 

Baxter is a gay man who remembers fondly relations he had with Edwin Drew, a porter instructor he knew, while he also has two other gay encounters while on the trip (just a slight warning). It is an interesting character study, but sometimes it seemed a little episodic and like glimpses of Baxter more than a full tale. Still what I liked most perhaps was the details of the trip, the historical aspects, and the authenticity with which the author makes us feel this character’s life at this moment on the train as an overworked Black porter. Kudos to the author for winning Canada’s Giller Prize in 2022 for this novel. We are proud that Suzette Mayr lives and works and grew up in our home province of Alberta. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and if so, what did you think?

Posted in Books | 20 Comments

Flying Into Spring

Posted on March 21, 2023 by Susan

Hi. How is everyone doing? March is going by quickly. It’s officially spring now, Yay! Over the weekend we went to a large restored wetland area called Frank Lake, which is a protected habitat in southwestern Alberta to hundreds of species of birds (mostly waterfowl) about a half hour from our house. Most of the lake is covered over with snow right now and the area is flat for miles out on the prairie. 

I should have taken a picture (next time!), but there was not much to see at this point except a large flat area covered with snow. Most of the birds will arrive and nest in the next couple of months. So we will be back to see the trumpeter swans among other birds and the wide variety of ducks. A path runs adjacent to the lake for a mile or so out to a viewing blind, where I saw this waterfowl chart. Before April 1, you’re allowed to walk your dog on the path so our two Labs enjoyed the fresh air with us. I mention all this since I know a few of you are more serious birders and might appreciate Frank Lake. 

And now I’ll leave you with reviews of a couple novels I finished lately. 

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls / Scribner / 368 pages / March 28, 2023

I was expecting a lot after loving the author’s 2005 memoir The Glass Castle and I liked the main character Sally Kincaid quite a bit — along with the the plot’s historical bootlegging aspects, though the storyline got a bit over-the-top for me in places. 

Synopsis: Sally grows up in a powerful and well-to-do family at the turn of the century with her father, the Duke, who’s running the Emporium store and the town in rural Claiborne County, Virginia. Her mother has died and her stepmother doesn’t like her and thinks she’s too adventurous and dangerous for their young son Eddie. So young Sally is cast out early on to live with an aunt in the mountains for nine years. When she finally returns, Sally goes through a tumultuous period with various family deaths and those power-hungry in charge running the town into the ground. 

Then her pious half-sister Mary and brother-in-law try to rid the town of its whiskey-making in adherence to Prohibition, but that only makes matters worse. Violence breaks out and people and the town hit hard times. Finally through happenstance, Sally becomes in charge of the family empire and starts to lead the town back through bootlegging. She becomes “the Queen of the Rumrunners” with a posse by her side, but she must battle the rival Bond Brothers who are at odds with her family over long-ago lost land. 

My Thoughts: I liked how in the Acknowledgments author Jeannette Walls mentions that the novel was inspired by a female bootlegger in Virginia who piloted liquor caravans down from the mountains. It’s a fascinating, fractious era, which the novel bears out and evokes in good measure. And Sally Kincaid is a strong, independent likable character in the novel — who tries to right wrongs within her family and the town and find romantic love with the good-looking Lieutenant Rawley, but all her family relations almost derail her. Her father’s marriages include four wives and secret liaisons and kids. And it seems there’s enough cheating, inbreeding, and secrets to go around in the family to last a lifetime. It’s a bit of a soap opera that would make J.R. Ewing of the show Dallas proud. This plot distills whiskey and a whole lot more. 

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Simon & Schuster Canada for giving me an advance copy to read and review. 

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow / Dial Press / 272 pages / 2022

I was taken with the storytelling of this novel set in Memphis about multiple generations of a Black family. The perseverance of the women in this family after each suffers trauma and tragedy is quite moving and alluring. There’s grandma Hazel’s story (in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s) and her husband Myron’s building of their home in Memphis; and later their daughters August, who lives in their home in the 1990s with her son Derek, and Miriam, who flees her violent husband and comes to live with August and Derek with her two young daughters Joan and Mya. 

But there’s something disturbing that once happened between August’s son Derek and Miriam’s daughter Joan that is revealed early on. Much more about each of their lives becomes revealed as the narrative goes back and forth in time over decades among Hazel, Miriam, August, and young Joan. I found Joan’s narrative to be particularly enticing as she begins to find her way out of what happened through her portrait paintings, which show promise of taking her to a notable art school.

Sometimes it gets a bit confusing listening to the audiobook switching often between the different time periods and narrators, though they are clearly labeled at the start of each chapter. And while the plot lines might have a hole or two, the storytelling I found as enticing as the butter pecan ice cream they enjoy eating. The story entails some violence in the city of Memphis over the years, but it also sings the city’s Southern beauty and praises. This is a notable debut novel and I will look for whatever Tara Stringfellow puts out next. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think? 

Posted in Books | 30 Comments

March Preview

Posted on March 13, 2023 by Susan

Hi everyone. How’s it going? Are you dealing with the time change all right? It’s been a bit disorienting, but hopefully things will fall into place after awhile. And it will stay light later, which is nice. Spring is coming!

Meanwhile we watched the Oscars Sunday night and the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once certainly cleaned up the awards. I actually haven’t seen the full movie yet but have seen many of the others. In any regards, it seemed a big win for diversity and immigrant stories in film, and I was pleased for actress Michelle Yeoh and actor Ke Huy Quan, who genuinely seemed euphoric after their wins.

Though I was a bit more thrilled that Canadian director Sarah Polley won Best Adapted Screenplay for the film Women Talking and Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher won Best Documentary Feature for the film Navalny. These were huge wins for Canadian films and seemingly well deserved. I saw Polley’s film recently and it’s strong and moving with solid performances from its large cast. And I hope to see Navalny soon.

I was also pleased that Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for his role in The Whale, though Austin Butler was also excellent in the movie Elvis. I was moved by Fraser’s performance, though it’s not always easy to watch. I hope you enjoyed the Oscars, there were no major mishaps this year, but it was quite long, wasn’t it?

Now let’s move on to what’s releasing this month. I finally have my March book picks ready. I realize we’re already halfway through the month, but it’s still helpful for me to see what looks good. I’ll start by saying I read an early copy of Irish author Sebastian Barry’s novel Old God’s Time (due out March 21) last year.

It was a solid 4-star read for me about a retired policeman, a widower with a faulty memory, who’s questioned about a decades-old case that was never fully resolved. Little by little, parts of his past begin to be revealed. Irish writers — like Sebastian Barry, Donal Ryan, and Claire Keegan among others — are certainly putting out excellent novels these days and are ones to watch.

I’m excited too that author Jeannette Walls has a new novel — Hang the Moon — (due out March 28) about a young woman in post-World War I Virginia, who rises to the top of a bootlegging empire. Yay, it seems like an interesting premise and I am just now reading it.

I’ve been a fan of the author’s ever since her 2005 memoir The Glass Castle, which was astoundingly good. I think it was on the bestseller list for more than eight years! I also like that Jeannette Walls lives and writes in rural Virginia, where I once lived long ago. I’m hopeful about her new novel, which seems to feature a cinematic cover.

Next up is Margaret Atwood’s new short story collection Old Babes in the Wood (out March 7) that apparently features 15 stories that “look deeply into the heart of family relationships, marriage, loss and memory, and what it means to spend a life together.” It sounds good. And since I was taken with Atwood’s last story collection Stone Mattress in 2014, especially the title story, which was nice and creepy, I look forward to her new book.

I typically don’t pick up short story collections, but Margaret Atwood is an exception. Though didn’t she announce she was retiring from writing awhile back? Well apparently not yet … she’s got plenty left to write!

Also in March books, Rachel Heng’s novel The Great Reclamation (due out March 28) looks quite good. It’s a sweeping historical coming-of-age tale that takes place in Singapore during WWII and thereafter about “one boy’s unique gifts and the childhood love that will complicate the fate of his community and country.” Author Nathan Harris says it’s “a story of an entire nation reckoning with its past combined with a heart-wrenching love story.” What more do you want?

I was a fan of Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko, and if this is anything like that, then I’m in for a rich treat. Apparently the author Rachel Heng grew up in Singapore and now teaches at Wesleyan University. I have not read her other novel Suicide Club from 2018, but I hope to try out the new one, and it features a pretty cover too.

There also looks to be a couple good thriller-type reads this month, which could be thrown into the mix. William Landay’s new novel All That Is Mine I Carry With Me (out March 7) seems to have a mouthful for a title, but if you liked his 2012 crime novel Defending Jacob, which I did along with the TV series, then you might want to check this one out. I don’t want to say too much, but it seems to be about a family that is forced to take sides over their mother’s death.

And the second book, is Victor Lavalle’s novel Lone Women (out March 28), which apparently mixes horror and suspense to great effect, about a young woman who flees to Montana as a homesteader in 1915, hiding a horrifying secret. Hmm. I have not read Victor Lavalle before (or the genre of horror much), but many think his writing and spooky plots are excellent.

As for what to watch this month, there’s a slew of TV series coming out, notably Season 3 of Ted Lasso (starting March 15 on AppleTV+) and Season 4 of Succession, starting March 26 on HBO. Both will likely be final seasons of the shows. Succession is positively a decadent series but also satirically fun to watch.

Also Perry Mason Season 2 has started (March 6 on HBO) for those who like Matthew Rhys from The Americans spy series. And in debut shows, Daisy Jones & the Six (March 3 on Prime Video) hasn’t received great reviews, but you might check it out to see if the characters and songs from the novel are what you thought they’d be.

In British shows, there’s debut seasons of The Confessions of Frannie Langton (March 8 on BritBox) and A Spy Among Friends on Prime Video March 12, which we’ve started. It doesn’t seem to be as good as the book by Ben MacIntyre, but we will stick with it for awhile to see if it picks up.

You might also try The Great Expectations series (March 26 on Hulu) based on the period drama classic, featuring orphan Pip and the infamous Miss Havisham. Unfortunately I don’t get Hulu here, but I will keep my eye out for it elsewhere. I have seen various versions of it as a movie in the past.

Lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Van Morrison, Lana del Rey, and of course U2’s Songs of Surrender, which consists of re-recorded and reinterpreted versions of 40 songs from the group’s back catalogue. It’s a companion album to Bono’s memoir from last year. Truth be told, I like the original versions of the songs much better, but there might be a gem or two somewhere in the mix.

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to?

Posted in Top Picks | 28 Comments

Second Chances

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Susan

Hello. We are into March now. Yay. Usually it seems we get more snow in March, though typically it’s pretty snow and meanwhile the days are getting longer and eventually warmer. I have yet to post my March Preview of new releases as I’ve been busy with my part-time jobs lately so I will try for next week with that. All in due time I guess. And the good news is: it looks like an offer on our previous house will likely go through so we are pleased with that. I’m sure we will be sad to see it go but pleased that another family can enjoy it as much as we did for many years. 

Of course March brings to mind college basketball and “March Madness,” which starts March 14, so it’s almost a week away. Time is flying now. Also the Academy Awards is on this coming Sunday. We have seen some of the nominated films including: Elvis, The Fabelmans, The Banshees of Inisherin, Tar, Living, The Whale, and Top Gun: Maverick. But we haven’t seen Everything Everywhere All at Once, which has gained a lot of momentum over the past month. Will it win Best Picture? Perhaps it will.

So far I don’t have a particular movie favorite. I liked all the nominated films I saw but not sure any are my pick for Best Picture. Hmm. This week I still hope to see Women Talking (nominated for Best Picture) as well as Navalny (nominated for Best Documentary Feature Film). I wish Mr. Navalny had not returned to Russia in 2021 after being treated in Germany for being poisoned. Ugh, now he remains in Russia imprisoned for being an activist against Putin, and who knows if he can ever get out. The film on him will hopefully draw more attention to him and other protestors. So what about you — do you plan to watch the Oscars? 

And now I’ll leave you with reviews of the books I finished lately. 

A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson / Knopf Canada / 304 pages / 2021

I agree with others who gave this novel a 5-star rating. Canadian author Mary Lawson is a natural-born storyteller and her sensibilities with this one are right on. I had read her 2002 debut novel Crow Lake, which I recall being pretty sad and grim (though good) years ago, but this story was more endearing to me and pulled at the heartstrings. I was surprised at first how easy reading it is – almost perhaps like written for a middle school reader though it’s also beautifully-wrought and transportive. 

It took me to its setting of a very small town in Northern Ontario, Canada, in no time at all. The story’s chapters alternate between three characters: Clara, age 7, whose sister (Rose, age 16) goes missing; Elizabeth, an elderly neighbor of Clara’s who goes into the hospital; and Liam, a newly divorced man in his mid-thirties who moves into Elizabeth’s house. Soon enough, you find out how their troubled stories intersect and what happens to the dilemma of Rose’s disappearance. I liked each of their stories but perhaps Liam’s and Clara’s best, then Elizabeth’s. Clara is worried about her sister; Liam is down about his divorce; and Elizabeth is thinking over an event from her past. Down the road, they all intersect in an interesting way and the mystery over Rose is solved. 

I don’t know why it took me so long to pick up this novel, but apparently it was longlisted for the Booker Prize in 2021. I was touched by this tale, which went by quickly, and was pleased that it didn’t get overly dark and grim. It’s just a quiet, heartfelt tale all around. Author Mary Lawson is a gem of a writer, and along with Alice Munro and Michael Crummey, she’s a Canadian favorite of mine — and likely many others.

Left on Tenth: A Second Chance at Life by Delia Ephron / Little Brown /
304 pages / 2022 

Synopsis: This memoir follows the author’s life from 2015, right after Jerry, her husband of many decades, dies and she tries to pick up the pieces.  She ends up finding new love but then is diagnosed with leukemia, the same kind her sister Nora Ephron died from in 2012. 

I loved the author Delia’s courage in undergoing a bone marrow transplant (in her 70s!) to try and save her life after finding new love at age 72 … to a seemingly wonderful man named Peter who remains by her side through the harshest days of cancer treatment. This memoir is at times harrowing but also life-affirming too. I was holding on as best I could and rooting for Delia to pull through. I especially liked the author’s reading of the audiobook. In it she seems quite open and honest about her life, like she’s telling you personally about her story in your living room. It’s very conversational. And what a rollercoaster story it is. 

After suffering through the deaths of her famous sister Nora Ephron in 2012 and her husband Jerry in 2015 to cancer, she finds new love with Peter, a Bay Area psychiatrist, only to get a leukemia diagnosis several months later in 2017. Whoa Delia is dealt a very heavy deck of cards. But with the right doctors and friends and support, she manages to find a will and a way. I’m still not sure how. In this memoir, she’s witty at times, grateful, candid, and also a dog lover, which makes her telling all the more endearing. It’s quite tragic Delia got the same cancer as her sister Nora … and whereas Nora decided against the agonizing bone marrow transplant, Delia went through with it after finding a donor match. I had no idea she had gone through all this agony — I remember reading her 2016 novel Siracusa and liking it. Her memoir is a pretty gripping listen and a testament to second chances and being close to those you hold dear.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these books and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books, Movies | 33 Comments

The Displacements

Posted on February 25, 2023 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone had a great week. We had a very cold one here, but we’re starting to come out of it now after getting about a foot of new snow. It made things look all pretty and white and should be good for the ski trails. I heard that even Southern California where my parents are received a few snowflakes — how rare is that?! But can you believe we will start March this week? Wow spring is not too far off now. Have we turned a corner on winter? I think pretty soon … just knowing March is about to start is good news. 

You might like to see the Live Web Cam of the eagles nest in Big Bear in the mountains of SoCal. Jackie, the bald eagle is sitting on the nest with two eggs about to hatch, and Shadow, her spouse is nearby. I hope they will be all right. The big storm there has watchers worried. Apparently 15,000 viewers are tuning in to see when the eggs will hatch, while Jackie is doing her best to incubate them during the snowstorm and winds. She’s a tough bird so I’m hopeful and pulling for her. Her eaglets could appear this week, fingers crossed for all.

In book news, lately I’ve been reading about the controversy over a decision in the U.K. to edit hundreds of words in Roald Dahl’s children’s books in order to update them for today’s world and make the stories and characters more inclusive. Have you heard about this? Well, apparently it’s caused such a firestorm that now both versions in the U.K. will be available — the edited one and the original version, so you can take your pick.

I think in general most people are troubled by the idea of censoring previous literary works, even if the books seem offensive or out of touch with the times. Perhaps people can just bring their own context to them, or decide to read them less. It seems if you start editing and trying to fix books from decades ago, where do you stop cleansing them? What do you think about this recent controversy?

And now I will leave you with what I finished lately. 

The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger / Riverhead / 448 pages / 2022

I must be on a climate-change disaster binge this year after earlier reading The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton and now listening to this one on audio. I don’t think I’m doing it purposely or am I? Both novels take aim at Florida falling apart, and man, does it ever. Sorry to all who love and live in the Sunshine State. For you especially, these books might be hard to take. And Houston, too, is rocked in this one. 

The Displacements is a lengthy novel about a hurricane disaster — a Category 6 (!) that lays waste to Miami and Houston — and its aftermath. It chronicles a mass displacement of swaths of the population — the “Hurricane Luna Migration,” which heads inland and into camps. The novel has multiple storylines of the people impacted that includes: a doctor’s wife (an artist) in Miami and her three kids and dog who flee and get bused to an Oklahoma mega-shelter; the FEMA official who runs the shelter there; and an insurance agent/drug dealer who tries to suck the evacuees dry. 

Oh yeah this is a doozy of a story … and it goes from bad to worse for most of it. In places it’s pretty dramatic, and I was particularly focused on the main story of the well-off family who evade the hurricane only to lose everything while on the run and in the long weeks after in the shelter. The mother Daphne seems not totally astute for losing and not having access to their funds, while her stepson, Gavin, 19, gets involved with dealing drugs, and her younger daughter Mia naively implicates a friend picked up by ICE. 

Surely being in a displacement camp as a Luna refugee without cash is rough. The novel does well painting the picture of the chaos in the disaster’s aftermath and those made destitute by it — as well as the economic and racial divides in the U.S. along the way, but the story also felt to me over-the-top and bloated — and even a bit hard to believe especially the part about Daphne’s missing doctor husband. 

There’s a lot in this, and maybe too much stuffed in. It’s ambitious in its portrayal and the characters undergo some tough changes. The easiest part to believe is the huge disaster that causes the massive disruption and the large fleeing migration, which unfortunately seems all too real of what more swaths of the population could face in our future. The novel complements well with the other Florida disaster novel in 2022 The Light Pirate (about a girl staying put during such a hurricane), but in terms of how it’s put together and the story, I liked The Light Pirate a bit better. 

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read many climate-change disaster novels and if so, what did you think? 

Posted in Books | 39 Comments

Head in the Clouds

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Susan

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. I hope you are enjoying this day wherever you are. Perhaps you received a card, or chocolates, or flowers, or planned a night out with your partner. That would be fun. Or maybe you’re staying home and enjoying a nice meal and show. Speaking of which, we are just starting to watch Season 3 of the drama series Your Honor as well as the post-apocalyptic series The Last of Us, which was filmed near here in Alberta. I haven’t seen any Zombie-like creatures yet after we moved in, but you never can tell when they might suddenly appear. I was looking for a few on the lawn when I took this photo of the clouds at sunset. Nothing much else is new, but we are settling in and getting some unpacking done. 

Meanwhile in book news, I see that Washington Post critic Ron Charles wrote a fun article last week asking readers about what annoys them most when they come across it in a book. Some said historical and factual inaccuracies, others said copyediting and grammatical errors, or when authors choose not to use quotation marks in dialogue, or to use foreign words without defining them. That usually ticks readers off. 

Others mentioned not liking confusing timelines, dream sequences in plots, gratuitous violence, and explicit sex scenes. Readers also don’t like to see cliches, or old sexist tropes in books. And one that I especially agreed with: is books that include long passages in italics. Ugh. Reading pages of novels with italics can be sort of torturous. What do you think — is there something that annoys you the most when you’re reading along and see it in a book? Any pet peeves?

And now I will leave you with a few reviews of the books that I finished lately.

The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton / Grand Central / 336 pages / 2022 

I was a bit skeptical of this novel going into it, but man author Lily Brooks-Dalton delivers a page-turning tale about a family living in a near-future Florida ravaged by climate change. Hurricanes and rising sea levels have decimated the southern parts of the state and residents are starting to leave in droves. 

The story follows Wanda, a young girl, and her family who try to stick it out. Wanda learns the way of survival from a lady on her street named Phyllis who gives her the tools to persevere. I can’t say much more without giving too much away, but the writing of Florida and the elements are very well done, and there’s even a bit of an unknown element about how water affects Wanda that leaves you wanting more. It feels quite realistic and post-apocalyptic at the same time. It likely was my favorite read of January. And now sometime perhaps I’ll go back and read the author’s 2016 debut novel called Good Morning, Midnight, which inspired the 2020 film The Midnight Sky with George Clooney that was pretty good.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder / Doubleday / 256 pages / 2021

This novel follows the story of a new mother who finds herself on the brink of her wits. She’s given up her job as an art gallery director and put her ambitions and advanced degrees aside (much to her dismay) to be a stay-at-home mom to her infant son while her engineer-y husband is off traveling for work during the week and she is left to care for their son alone. 

By the time her son is two, the harried mom with little sleep and without a shower in a week begins to lose it and finds herself transforming into something feral. Worried about her sanity, she takes home a book from the library called A Field Guide to Magical Women that she thinks speaks to her situation, and she meets a group of other moms who might be more than what they seem and want her to invest in some kind of herbal marketing scheme. 

I loved this smart, darkly satirical tale and found it funny, weird, and a feminist manifesto of sorts. I laughed through much of it and sympathized with the mother on the brink who offers much to think about on society, art, and what women go through and sacrifice … in marriage, motherhood, and roles in the working world. This is smart and well done and I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads! It seems in recent times there’s been a slew of “motherhood madness” kinds of stories that have raised pertinent issues and questions … and of those this novel is gleefully a favorite.

Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations With a Body of Memory
by Sarah Polley / Penguin / 272 pages / 2022

Canadian film director Sarah Polley delivers a pretty gripping book of essays about her life story growing up as a child actor, then evolving into a screenwriter and director. Much of it deals with her personal life with her parents, her husband and kids, and what she experienced over the years in her life on and off the screen. I had no idea she’s had so many serious health issues, which I felt terrible about – that she’s been all through that. 

I first came upon Polley’s work from her directorial debut of the 2006 film Away From Her, which sort of rocked my world. It’s a sad film about a woman with Alzheimer’s that hits the heart. I also hope to see her latest film Women Talking soon. 

I listened to the audio version of Polley’s book, which she narrates and I would recommend. She talks among other things about her stage role in Alice Through the Looking Glass in 1994 and how she cut short her run of the role while going through severe stage fright and scoliosis; and how she did not come forward during the sexual abuse trial of Canadian radio broadcaster Jian Ghomeshi who she said assaulted her when she was 16; her fused back operation and her high risk pregnancy; her terrified time as a child on the film set of The Adventures of Baron Munchausen; her visit to Prince Edward Island years after being an actress in the TV series Road to Avonlea (1990-6); and lastly the severe concussion she suffered from an accident that took 3.5 years of her life away and the recovery that eventually saved her. 

What I liked is how she reflects back on her life candidly trying to come to grips with things that had happened to her and what she experienced. She really uncovers it in a forthright kind of way that is quite refreshing and engaging. And she seems to do it with much integrity and courage, unsparing of herself, or any possible embarrassment. So after hearing her tell of her life, I’m even more a fan for her projects to come.

Vacationland by Meg Mitchell Moore / Morrow / 384 pages / 2022

This was an entertaining, women’s fiction kind of drama that I listened to as an audiobook as I was packing and unpacking after the move. It held my attention as it went along more than I thought it would and had some laughs amid the drama too. 

The story alternates mostly between Louisa’s life as a mother and college professor who takes her three kids to stay for the summer to her parents’ estate in Owl’s Head, Maine – and Kristie, who arrives in Owl’s Head from Pennsylvania, is about broke and grieving after her mother’s death.

The two women whose paths eventually cross are contrasted nicely, Louisa is pretty well off – though her life is not without troubles as her father is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and Kristie in need of cash has creditors after her. Moreover, Louisa is trying to work on a historical book she’s been procrastinating over, while Kristie is trying to hold onto a waitressing job she picks up along with a boyfriend there. But what’s their connection? You eventually find out as it goes along. 

It’s a story that branches entertainingly into quite a family saga: Louisa’s kids’ summer lives add flavor along with Louisa’s tension with her workaholic husband back in NY – and Kristie’s boyfriend who is so nice she’s not sure she deserves him. 

It might end a bit predictably, but the author does well breathing life into these characters that you care to stick around to see how it will play out all the same. It would make for a good summer beach read or listen, though for me it was a nice wintry escape. The setting of a summery Maine was pretty blissful.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these books and if so, what did you think?

Posted in Books | 20 Comments

February Preview

Posted on February 7, 2023 by Susan

Hi. I hope everyone is enjoying the start of February. Sorry I have been AWOL lately. I just got too busy at the end of January. Whoosh that was a crazy month. We had a funeral, a move, and my niece’s lovely wedding in Colorado, which was a blast … along with renovations going on and a re-certification test for officiating tennis tournaments, which I do. Oh my, luckily life is beginning to settle down now. We can rest for a moment before starting to unpack gradually more of the boxes. We are liking our new place and area. The photo is of the farmland near our house. It’s serene here and is only about ten minutes from the nearest town. 

Now let’s check out what’s releasing in February. The reason I make a post like this each month is basically to find out about titles and put them on my radar for either the near future, or for the year ahead. It’s not always to get to them this very month. Often other readers give me helpful feedback on what I’ve picked that can change how soon I pick them up.

One February release The Queen of Dirt Island (due out Feb. 28) by Irish author Donal Ryan is one I received an early copy of last year and really liked — about “the daughter of a single mother growing up in a family of formidable women in rural Ireland.” It ended up on my list of 2022 favorites, and author Donal Ryan is a wonderful writer. This was my first novel of his and I hope to read more of his books in the future.  

I’m curious now about Shelley Read’s debut novel Go as a River (due out Feb. 28). It’s receiving a lot of favorable hype and according to the publisher is “set amid Colorado’s wild beauty, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story of a resilient young woman whose life is changed forever by one chance encounter.”

Author Adriana Trigiani says the woman “Victoria Nash is a character for the ages as she navigates loss and despair on the road to redemption. The vast plains and desert canyons of her Colorado home are filled with ghosts until a mysterious drifter arrives and changes the course of her life forever.” It’s been called a “stunning debut” so what are we waiting for? I usually like outdoorsy stories set in Colorado, where I once lived for a few years after college. 

Next up is Rebecca Makkai’s new novel I Have Some Questions for You (due out Feb. 21) about a 1990s boarding school murder and its repercussions decades later … as a podcast explores whether the man convicted of the crime was wrongfully charged. Author Jennifer Egan says the novel is “part boarding school drama, part forensic whodunnit … a true literary mystery—haunting and hard to put down.”

I’m game since Makkai’s last novel The Great Believers sort of blew me away in scope and sentiment, and boarding school stories like the new one are hard to resist. Academia novels are often like catnip to readers like us, am I right?

Then there’s Margaret Verble’s new novel Stealing (due out Feb. 7) about a Cherokee child in the American South removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s. It’s been hailed as a powerful coming-of-age tale of Karen “Kit” Crockett, and Publishers Weekly says “Verble’s skillful storytelling does justice to a harrowing chapter of history.”

There’s been much in the news the past couple of years about abuses of indigenous children who were sent to residential schools in Canada and the U.S. decades ago, so I’m keen to read this — as well as other books about this topic set in Canada. I have not read Verble before but she’s been hailed as an exceptional storyteller and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

In honorable mentions, I’m also curious about the novel Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jaren Hosein that is set in Trinidad in the 1940s as well as the novel A Spell of Good Things by Ayobami Adebayo set in contemporary Nigeria. Both novels seem to depict the lives of the rich and poor intersecting and present portals into their home countries. I had read Adebayo’s debut novel Stay With Me from 2017 so I’m interested to see where her new one goes.

On the screen this month, there’s the new series Dear Edward (starting Feb. 3 on Apple+) based on the melancholic 2020 novel by Ann Napolitano about a 12-year-old boy who is the lone survivor of a large plane crash and tries along with others to make sense of what happened.

I have not been able to get the stomach yet to read the novel or see the series, but I put it out there for those whom the book touched. Actress Connie Britton is on a roll lately with The White Lotus series and now she’s in this one. She plays a housewife who loses her husband in the crash and whose privileged life is upended by the tragedy. Apparently her role is not in the novel but did that ever stop Hollywood before? 

Next up is C.B. Strike: Troubled Blood (starting Feb. 6), which is Season 3 of the HBO series based on the Robert Galbraith novels of J.K. Rowling. I think we tried an episode of Season 1 but my husband nixed it — maybe thinking it was too slow. It’s about a war veteran turned private detective named Comoran Strike who teams with his partner Robin Ellacott to solve murders. Comoran lost part of his leg in an attack in Afghanistan and wears a prosthetic limb.

I read one of the novels in the series (there’s actually 6 now!) and thought it pretty good but could’ve been edited down a bit. The actors in the TV series seem good with Tom Burke as Strike and Holliday Grainger as Robin. Grainger is also in the series The Capture on BBC One — wow she’s busy. Have you seen any episodes of C.B. Strike?

In other things to watch … there’s this “little thing” called the Super Bowl on Feb. 12. Check your local listings, but it starts here Mountain Time at 4:30 p.m. This year it features two teams: the Chiefs vs. the Eagles, which I have no care in the world about. Do you? Apparently Rihanna will be the halftime show, so stay for the nachos perhaps. I always make sure the jalapenos are separate on the side. My tip for you, ha.

In music this month, Pink, Shania Twain, Ron Sexsmith, and Inhaler have new albums out. I will pick Irish band Inhaler’s upcoming album Cuts & Bruises (due out Feb. 17), which features vocalist Elijah Hewson, the 23-year-old son of a man named Bono.

Now that might be some big shoes to follow after, but Elijah seems to be having fun and doing his own thing. Still you can hear the similarities in their voices. Here’s the video of Inhaler’s song Love Will Get You There. 

That’s all for now. What about you — which new releases this month are you looking forward to? 

Posted in Top Picks | 26 Comments

New Beginnings

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Susan

Hi. We made it to our new house. We are liking it already even though we have so many boxes to unpack and things to fix. It’s a great relief to have the move part over. The house is spread out mostly on one level (except for the basement) and that is a welcomed change from the flights of stairs we used to climb in the city house. We are also liking the farmlands and wide open spaces around here. So things appear good and we will take our time to get set up.

But first we are headed to my niece’s wedding in Colorado this weekend. Woohoo. We are very proud and excited for her and her fiance — both of whom are great people and so well-accomplished. Hopefully our flight will go as snow is expected on Friday. 

In book news I see that Prince Harry’s memoir Spare sold 3.2 million copies in its first week, making it likely that it will rank among the bestselling memoirs of all time. It’s not actually something I plan to read, but it’s interesting to note that novelist J.R. Moehringer, who also helped write Andre Agassi’s acclaimed memoir Open, worked on the book with the Prince. I didn’t realize that. 

The Kirkus review calls Harry’s book a “royal tell-all with some substance.” And says: “the prose is competent, and the author’s tales are consistently engaging—and far less smarmy than the self-aggrandizing tone set in the Netflix series. Readers may question Prince Harry’s motives, but his emotional struggles, though occasionally rendered in an overwrought fashion, feel palpable and heartfelt.” Harry says his beef is mainly with the press who cover the palace and not with the monarchy per se. Hmm, still it seems to me a sad public rift with his brother, father, and siser-in-law that seems to have caused some irreparable harm. Do you plan to read it?

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of what I finished lately. 

Still Life by Sarah Winman / Putnam / 464 pages / 2021 

This novel is quite the epic saga about a close group of friends who are like family to one another. They all know each other from a pub in London. At the heart of it is: Ulysses, a young soldier who has an impactful chance encounter with Evelyn, a 64-year-old art historian, at the end of WWII in Italy. After the war, Ulysses goes back to London and to his pub friends: Peg (his ex-wife), her daughter Alys, piano player Pete, old man Cressy, and pub owner Col and his parrot. 

A couple years later, in the 1950s, Ulysses inherits a large house in Florence, Italy, from a man whose life he saved during the war, and moves there with old man Cressy, step-daughter Alys, and the parrot. Over the decades, the friends from the pub come and go, and Ulysses, a globe maker, endears himself to life in Florence, raises daughter Alys, and goes thru the historic flood of the Arno in 1966, eventually bumping back into Evelyn, who had much to tell him about art and Florence so long ago. 

This lengthy novel took me quite awhile to complete. It’s easily told with some nice writing but not a lot of plotting as it meanders among this lively group of friends as it goes along. At times I sort of wanted it to cut to the chase about their lives and what would happen, but then it also adds much flavor and themes to the mix. Indeed so much is in the novel. There’s themes of art and beauty; unconventional families; various forms of love: platonic, gay, straight; men who take on child-caring roles and women who don’t. Even the author E.M. Forster makes an appearance in it and its homage to his novel A Room With a View is evident.

Certainly the novel seems a love letter to Florence, Italy, and this close group of friends who move there. I read the novel for book club, whose members were a little mixed about it and thought like me it could’ve been edited down but still liked its endearing qualities and the characters such as Ulysses, a generous kind-hearted soul, and Evelyn, a wise, straight to the truth person who appreciated the transcending power of art.

My Antonia by Willa Cather / Classic / 166 pages / 1918 

I listened to the audiobook narrated superbly by Patrick Lawlor as I was packing up for the move and it took my mind away to the prairies of Nebraska and to the immigrants who came there as pioneers at the end of the 19th century.

I had remembered the novel a bit differently from my childhood where I mythologized it as being solely about the young immigrant girl Antonia, who back then seemed larger than life. Really the story is narrated by Jim Burden as he recounts his move at age 10 to the Nebraska prairie, his life thereafter growing up with his grandparents, his later college pursuits, and his friendship with Antonia over the decades. 

And just as Jim becomes enamored throughout his story with the Bohemian girl Antonia (age 14 when he is 10), I, too, was taken with her and their lives playing and working on the prairie. She is a little mysterious and I wanted to know her better. She comes with her immigrant family who are poor to live at a sod house that is nearby Jim’s grandparent’s place. They are neighbors and start to know each other when Jim begins teaching her to read English, but they become more friends when Jim kills a big rattle snake when they are off playing, which really impresses Antonia. From then on, they seem fast friends as their lives grow and change, becoming townies for awhile in nearby Black Hawk. 

But when Jim goes off to college in Lincoln, he sort of loses close touch with Antonia and the story becomes more about him and Lena, another local prairie girl they knew, who starts a dressmaking business. They go to the theater together and spend time at her shop, until he later goes off to Harvard. Still through the grapevine Jim finds out about Antonia and what marriage misfortunes have befallen her. He keeps in touch and 20 years later after becoming an attorney, Jim visits Antonia on the Nebraska farm she has with her Bohemian husband and their 10 children. Whoa.

It’s an endearing friendship story and Antonia is certainly a shining light to Jim. She has a spark about her and never lets her foreignness, misfortunes, or poverty hold her back. I sort of had hoped Jim and her would get together, but that never materializes. Still by the end, her life is full and happy with seemingly just the right partner and kids, while Jim‘s is a little wishful.

My Antonia remains my favorite Willa Cather novel, but I have only read O Pioneers! in addition to this. I’d like to read more of her novels.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these novels and what did you think? 

Posted in Books | 24 Comments

Packing It Up

Posted on January 15, 2023 by Susan

Hi everyone. I hope you are having a great start to the new year. We are in the midst of packing up the house right now in order to move. It’s been a bit crazy because we are still waiting for the renovations to finish at the new place. It’s coming down to the wire for when our movers are coming in a week, argh. 

Anyways, I’ve filled a lot of boxes in preparation. And who knew you could accumulate so much in 14 years. It’s just all the closets, drawers, and books, oh goodness! I think I forgot about it when I last moved in 2008 from Arlington, Va., and had to get rid of all my furniture to come to Canada. I sold it on Craigslist, or something. People came and drove it away. Now I’m trying to pare down the books, which is hard. 

In other news, the Oscar nominations will be announced Jan. 24 and I’ve been seeing some films that will likely be Oscar contenders. So far I’ve seen these films below: 

  • Elvis for which actor Austin Butler gave an amazing performance
  • She Said which is a strong #MeToo flick
  • The Fabelmans based on Steven Spielberg’s family and early childhood 
  • Tar in which Cate Blanchett plays a star orchestra composer-conductor, and 
  • The Whale that tells the story of a morbidly obese man’s troubles

I just saw The Whale with Brendan Fraser and it’s quite powerful. I was sort of blown out of my chair by the end. It all takes place in the lead character Charlie’s apartment as he goes about his life as an online English teacher while dealing with his health issues and trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

When you see it, you can tell it’s based on a play (by Samuel D. Hunter in 2012) because the dialogue and characters play out in close proximity. There’s a nurse who comes by to check on Charlie and then his teenage daughter and ex-wife, as well as a young missionary boy who says he’s trying to save Charlie. So it’s interesting how these characters interact and what comes to pass in Charlie’s life. There’s much pain and anger in this story! But man it cuts to the heart too. See it at your own discretion.

Other likely Oscar contenders I still want to see are the Irish film The Banshees of Inisherin about a lifelong friendship that stars Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell, Women Talking about a Mennonite colony, and Living that’s set in 1950s London, starring Bill Nighy. Have you seen any of these movies or the ones above? 

And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of novels I finished lately. 

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy / Riverhead / 304 pages / 2022

Whoa this is a tragic story but so well told. The novel and circumstance really gave me a flavor of Northern Ireland in the 1970s during the Troubles and it seems certainly one of the best novels I’ve read about the time, place, and people caught up in the ongoing violence. 

The story is about: Cushla, a 24-year-old Catholic woman, who lives outside Belfast, works as teacher during the day, and takes care of her alcoholic mother at night. Sometimes she fills in at her family’s pub, which her brother runs. There she meets an older Protestant married barrister (Michael) who invites her to attend Irish/Gaelic language classes with a group of his friends. Pretty soon a clandestine affair develops between them, which Cushla tries to control and keep under wraps — while also trying to help out a young boy (Davy) at school who’s being bullied. Later when his father is attacked by sectarian violence and put into the hospital, things begin to unravel and play out for all. 

Uh-oh Cushla has a lot on her plate: her alcoholic mother, her student’s problems, and her secret affair that will have grave consequences if anyone finds out. 

The story starts out pretty slowly but picks up from late middle to the end. The gritty descriptions of the time, place, and violence seem spot on (much alcohol, cigarettes, and sex in this) and captivatingly reveal Cushla’s emotions of getting involved with an older married man who’s Protestant. You’ll want to find out what happens to them all. By the end I was pretty ripped apart. Kudos to the author. It’s hard to believe this was her first novel. 

Women Talking by Miriam Toews / Bloomsbury / 240 pages / 2018

Yep this was my first completed book in 2023! I picked it up so I would get a better idea of it when I see the feature film coming out starring a wide array of actresses. I listened to the audiobook read very well by actor Matthew Edison.

And whoa this is quite a dark and disturbing story about a Mennonite colony whose women are being attacked at night while they sleep. At first they think it’s demons or something, but then they realize it’s some men in the colony who are drugging them (this is not giving anything away as it’s told early on that’s what has happened).

Thereafter most of the novel consists of two days of eight women — who are illiterate and never been out in the world — discussing how they plan to proceed to what’s happened. Around and round they go making arguments for and against about whether to stay and fight for their safety and security, or to leave the religious colony altogether. Their discussions get quite philosophical as they explore the rationale behind their thinking and what they want for their future and how their faith shapes their beliefs too. Granted I got a bit impatient waiting for them to make up their minds on what to do when I felt ready from the get-go.

But the women here are at a big disadvantage since in their Mennonite colony all the power rests with the men: the rules, how they live, and that the women are not allowed even to learn how to read or write. Cripes it’s hard to fathom that this horrible society exists (like the Taliban?), but the novel is based on a true story of a colony in Bolivia in 2009. 

I thought it was clever how the story is narrated by August Epps, a former ex-communicated male colony member, who takes the minutes of the women’s meetings, writing them down and sympathizing with their cause. And though at first I couldn’t seem to keep track of the various female characters in the story and their points of view, as it went on I became more familiar with them and a couple heroes in their midst began to step forward: namely Ona and Salome. These women show much courage by plotting a way forward for the women, and a sense of suspense and danger emerge towards the end. Perhaps the story’s middle had a little too much talking and not enough action but that was my only qualm in a story that otherwise was very effective and scary to contemplate.

That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these books or seen the movies and if so, what did you think?

Posted in Books, Movies | 26 Comments