Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey

Rating

* * * * *

The book's description from the publisher's site:

A studio executive leaves his family and travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to hide for 20 years.
In her tour-de-force first novel, Juliann Garey takes us inside the restless mind, ravaged heart, and anguished soul of Greyson Todd, a successful Hollywood studio executive who leaves his wife and young daughter and for a decade travels the world giving free reign to the bipolar disorder he's been forced to keep hidden for almost 20 years. The novel intricately weaves together three timelines: the story of Greyson's travels (Rome, Israel, Santiago, Thailand, Uganda); the progressive unraveling of his own father seen through Greyson's eyes as a child; and the intimacies and estrangements of his marriage. The entire narrative unfolds in the time it takes him to undergo twelve 30-second electroshock treatments in a New York psychiatric ward. This is a literary page-turner of the first order, and a brilliant inside look at mental illness.

So very little is written about mental illness. And whatever is written that's of any value is almost never read by the right audience. I hope that Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See will end up in the hands of readers who must read it not because they suffer from mental illness but because they share their lives with a manic-depressive, depressive or schizophrenic person. I have no idea how Juliann Garey managed it but she wrote exactly what it feels to be mad and that there's no 'snapping out of it'. Ever. Because when you try to hide your illness, like Greyson had, it won't eventually go away but return with a vicious vengeance.

Greyson's bipolar disorder finally reigns supreme over his mind and his life. It's absolutely heartbreaking to be a remote witness (as a reader) to how the lives and spirits of Greyson's, his father's and every person's who loved them get ravaged by this invisible monster. But you will not be able to tear yourself away, no matter how much what you read will make your heart ache. Therein lies the power of Ms. Garey's writing. Her prose is beautifully spare, with enough impact to pierce your heart with sorrow for those people who find themselves ruled by a potentially very deadly disease and can do nothing about it, just like they couldn't do anything to prevent it from happening.

Juliann Garey will make you her hostage for the time it'll take you to read Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See. This is not a feel-good novel, it's disturbing, and it's tragic in many ways. But the way this author captured what is going on in the mind of a person affected with a mental illness (bi-polar in this case) is brilliant, precise and as close to the truth as you can get. It's torture and Greyson has to live with it until he dies. In the end, the choices made will be more easily acceptable to any reader, especially those who thankfully never have to live through Greyson's nightmare.

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FTC: I received an e-galley of Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See from the publisher, Soho Press via Net Galley for a review.

Too Bright to Hear Too Loud to See by Juliann Garey will be on sale on December 26, 2012.

We Sinners by Hanna Pylväinen

Rating

* * * 1/2

The book's synopsis from the publisher:

This stunning debut novel—drawn from the author's own life experience—tells the moving story of a family of eleven in the American Midwest, bound together and torn apart by their faith
The Rovaniemis and their nine children belong to a deeply traditional church (no drinking, no dancing, no TV) in modern-day Michigan. A normal family in many ways, the Rovaniemis struggle with sibling rivalry, parental expectations, and forming their own unique identities in such a large family. But when two of the children venture from the faith, the family fragments and a haunting question emerges: Do we believe for ourselves, or for each other? Each chapter is told from the distinctive point of view of a different Rovaniemi, drawing a nuanced, kaleidoscopic portrait of this unconventional family. The children who reject the church learn that freedom comes at the almost unbearable price of their close family ties, and those who stay struggle daily with the challenges of resisting the temptations of modern culture. With precision and potent detail, We Sinners follows each character on their journey of doubt, self-knowledge, acceptance, and, ultimately, survival.

I enjoyed this novel very much and was convinced it would be another winner for me among literary writers debuts. Hanna Pylväinen most certainly displayed a significant writing talent, especially when portraying the family dynamics, within the most unusual family nonetheless.

I appreciated the most that despite the Rovaniemis family living according to very strict religious rules, the author didn't make a parody of them or their religion. Nor did she point an accusing finger at anyone. She left the choice to form opinions to the readers. At the same time, Hanna told her story, in her own way, with her own opinion to be found between the pages. No small achievement for any writer, if you ask me. The truth is, 'we' are no more normal than 'them' and just because something is unknown to the majority of society, it doesn't make it weird, unacceptable or intolerable. Every one of us in this world has something that could be perceived as 'weird' to others. If you're a reader like me, who's looking for a moral or some kind of life truth in a story, We Sinners is something you may enjoy.

I was loving every page of We Sinners...and then it ended so abruptly and with a story that, while interesting in itself, had little to do with the rest of the book and should have been a prologue instead of the ending, that my enthusiasm deflated and I ended up quite disappointed. I got no emotional closure considering pretty much every member of the Rovaniemis' and I wanted so badly to keep reading and to find out how their lives really turned out. I could not believe when turning the last page that that was it. It made me quite angry. However, Ms. Pylväinen is a very talented new writer who I believe only has to spread her wings a little wider. I will read her books as they get published with no hesitation. 

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FTC: I received We Sinners by Hanna Pylväinen from the publisher, Henry Holt & Co. for a review.

The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey

Rating

* * * *

The book's synopsis from the publisher's website:

I threw my neck out in the middle of Swan Lake last night.

So begins the tale of Kate Crane, a soloist in a celebrated New York City ballet company who is struggling to keep her place in a very demanding world. At every turn she is haunted by her close relationship with her younger sister, Gwen, a fellow company dancer whose career quickly surpassed Kate’s, but who has recently suffered a breakdown and returned home.

Alone for the first time in her life, Kate is anxious and full of guilt about the role she may have played in her sister’s collapse.  As we follow her on an insider tour of rehearsals, performances, and partners onstage and off, she confronts the tangle of love, jealousy, pride, and obsession that are beginning to fracture her own sanity. Funny, dark, intimate, and unflinchingly honest, The Cranes Dance is a book that pulls back the curtains to reveal the private lives of dancers and explores the complicated bond between sisters. 

I have never had anything to do with ballet. Not much with dancing even. Hence, The Cranes Dance should have been a novel outside my interests and not held my attention. But it did. As I knew it would, when I requested it. I believe ballet is just a springboard to dive from into a complicated relationship between sisters, a maybe even more complicated relationship with one's parents, and generally into how dangerous one's passion for something, anything, can become to that person.

In Meg Howrey's novel, that person is Kate Crane and she is one of the most interesting and endearing heroines I've met in the past few years. She is flawed, the years of her life dedicated to ballet having taken a major toll on her, and most importantly she's been struggling with living with, loving, caring for and competing with her younger sister all her life. I think I appreciated the sisterly love tinged with envy and competition the most. I am, like Kate, the older of the two sisters, and understood how such a relationship is never simple. We love our sisters to death but yes, we do struggle with more unwelcome emotions as well. I really liked that the author managed to deal with those without making Kate or her younger sister, Gwen out to be ungrateful, disturbed or dysfunctional siblings.

Yet another side of The Cranes Dance that makes this novel so appealing, is the beautiful writing. It's sharp, it's simple and when you think there's not much meaning to it, all of a sudden you discover there are layers of meaning in one sentence or a paragraph - I suppose that's what profound may be:

Keep making noise, I prayed, laughing. Bang drums. Clamor and ring bells for I cannot stand to hear the tired beating of this almost heart.

I am here. I am in the present tense. I'm not always here, and sometimes here is a very difficult place. Sometimes it is a labyrinth, or a Minotaur, or a rope I can neither let go of nor follow. It's hard to find the right words, but I guess I would say that it's something like feeling the floor. And that it is my privilege  to feel it.

It's just like the whole novel. The Cranes Dance is a story with many layers and many meanings. If you get to enjoy it like I did, chances are you'll want to read it more than once and with each reading, there'll be more to discover and appreciate. True, I did find the ending a bit too tidy for my personal tastes (maybe I'm a morbid kind of reader) and rather difficult to believe, but who knows, maybe when I read it the second time, I'll find that that too had something hidden I just didn't get the first time. 

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FTC: I received an e-galley of The Cranes Dance by Meg Howrey from Vintage Books, an imprint of Knopf Doubleday via NetGalley.

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Rating

* * * 1/2



The book's description from the author's website:

On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead—and Sybil inadvertently killed her? 

As Sibyl faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.

The only other book that I read by Bohjalian was The Double Bind, and I really, really liked it. I fell under the spell of Bohjalian's writing and the ending stunned me. It was, therefore, an easy choice for me to go for Midwives, whose ratings are much higher, as the next book of his among many to pick from. I must say though, that Midwives just didn't do for me what The Double Bind did. The writing was probably just as good but I was disappointed with the ending. I was expecting the stunner and I didn't get it. There is a bit too much foreshadowing that helped me make up my mind as to how the novel was going to end, and I was right. Nevertheless, it is still quite a good story, and it definitely didn't turn me off from reading more of Mr. Bohjalian's books. His peculiar style of writing which at once makes the story very quick and easy to follow, and gives it a dreamlike quality, appeals to me.

Besides the writing itself, I enjoyed and appreciated the topic of midwifery and home birth. Despite the story being set in the eighties, it's pretty much just as current today, two decades later. I like controversial subjects, there's much to ponder on and to have thoughtful for/against arguments. A novel such as Midwives simply makes you think a little more. I have delivered three babies, all three of them in the hospital under the care of either a doctor or a certified nurse midwife. Personally, while feeling a lot more confident about the safety of my children and of my own in the hospital environment, I absolutely loved the midwife I had for my second baby. They are just so much more caring and understanding than the doctors, who on the other hand feel a tad too cocky and have an attitude of I've-seen-it-all and you're-not-special-in-your-labor-experience. Midwives goes a little bit deeper than that. It's not only about birth at home with a not certified midwife, but most importantly about a mother's choice and parents responsibility for the consequences if something goes wrong. Sybil alone was on trial but I think that the father should have been right next to her for negligence to take all factors into account, or not sue Sybil at all. In that, Midwives is a very interesting read. as the implications are layered, especially because there was a life of an infant at stake as well. I think that's a choice no one wants to face: who do you save, the mother or the baby?

Midwives is not a novel to send a reader through a storm of emotions. You don't have to be mentally braced to take whichever shocking or awful thing is coming, as in the case of some of the books of Picoult, for example (My Sister's Keeper was just awful in this way, I never want to weep like this throughout the entire book, ever again). Chris Bohjalian, instead, surprises you with subtle moments that stir your emotions, weaved in-between the pages of the book. I like that. If you're not ready to wake up in the morning with puffy eyes and a pounding headache from crying way too much, but with a head full of valid questions to think about instead, I think you'll like Midwives too.

~~~~~~~~~

FTC: I bought Midwives by Chris Bohjalian.

The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge

Rating:

* *

The book's description from the author's website:

Camille Hart, one of Manhattan’s most sought-after matchmakers, has survived more than her fair share of hardships. Her mother died when she was a young girl, leaving her and her sister with an absentee father. Now in her forties, she has already survived cancer once, though the battle revealed just how ill-equipped her husband Edward is to be a single parent. So when doctors tell Camille that her cancer is back—and this time it’s terminal—she decides to put her matchmaking expertise to the test for one final job. Seeking stability for her children and happiness for her husband, Camille sets out to find the perfect woman to replace her when she’s gone.
But what happens when a dying wish becomes a case of “be careful what you wish for”? For Edward and Camille, the stunning conclusion arrives with one last twist of fate that no one saw coming.

I know that most of us readers (if not all) are familiar with the phrase 'stranger than fiction', and in truth, fiction works better when the events in a story are at least somewhat plausible. The Replacement Wife deals with a very serious and very real matter, a disease that kills every day, not only people afflicted with it but also those who loved them, cared for them, depended on them (parents, children, husbands and wives) and in the end had to watch them die. Unfortunately, the author manages, by a weird,  miracle of imagination, to turn all the unhappiness (caused by both the quickly approaching death and by all the mistakes and heavy consequences of the decisions made not only by Camille, but by almost every other person in the novel) into a happily-freaking-ever-after tale that belongs to the world of dreamy and steamy Harlequin romances, not the literary novel The Replacement Wife's author probably wanted it to be. I'm obviously no expert of literary critique but as a devoted reader I do know what I hope to encounter while reading certain types of books. While the first half of the book was promising and held my interest, the second half ruined any good feelings I had for the story by trivializing it with neatly tied, highly improbable turns of events.

The one thing that partly redeemed The Replacement Wife was Ms Goudge's impeccable writing skills and strong character building. Despite the above mentioned flaws, the book reads smoothly and with ease. The major 'players' built in me strong emotions, and whether it was immense dislike, such as towards Camille Hart, whose 'I'm-right-because-I'm-dying-and-you're-not' attitude I couldn't stand or her husband who elicited genuine sympathy from me (despite of his actions), because he really was pushed to the very limits of his love for Camille. All and all, there were very few characters that I felt truly indifferent to.

Even though the ending left me disappointed in the whole book, I must give it credit for a life lesson it imparts. What I took away from this novel, is that, if every action we take has consequences, then we'd better be damn sure we're prepared to pay the price, whatever that may be. And because one really can never be sure of anything, maybe we should stop and think first, and then expand our imagination beyond the unimaginable. Maybe that can spare a few lives from being broken and a few mistakes from being made.

~~~~~~~~~~~

FTC: I have received The Replacement Wife e-galley from the publisher, Open Road Media via NetGalley.

Best Kept Secret by Amy Hatvany

Rating:
*****

Book synopsis from the publisher's website:

Cadence didn’t sit down one night and decide that downing two bottles of wine was a brilliant idea.
Her drinking snuck up on her - as a way to sleep, to help her relax after a long day, to relieve some of the stress of the painful divorce that’s left her struggling to make ends meet with her five-year old son, Charlie.

It wasn’t always like this. Just a few years ago, Cadence seemed to have it all—a successful husband, an adorable son, and a promising career as a freelance journalist. But with the demise of her marriage, her carefully constructed life begins to spiral out of control. Suddenly she is all alone trying to juggle the demands of work and motherhood.

Logically, Cadence knows that she is drinking too much, and every day begins with renewed promises to herself that she will stop. But within a few hours, driven by something she doesn’t understand, she is reaching for the bottle - even when it means not playing with her son because she is too tired, or dropping him off at preschool late, again. And even when one calamitous night it means leaving him alone to pick up more wine at the grocery store. It’s only when her ex-husband shows up at her door to take Charlie away that Cadence realizes her best kept secret has been discovered….

I feel so, so bad. I had promised Amy this review quite some time ago and never followed up on my word. It had never happened before and that's what makes it even worse.  But Best Kept Secret is such a good book and so important that I have to write about it, regardless of how late this review comes. Cadence's pain, her struggles to keep up with being a mother, to be what other, seemingly perfect mothers were and to do it all alone while living with the fact that the husband she was once thought to be made just for her, that was meant to be with her forever, left her because he just couldn't be with her any longer, it all touched my very soul.

That's what Amy's writing is, it touches your soul. You don't have to be a single mother that just can't keep it all together, you don't have to be slipping into alcohol induced oblivion, but you will still be able to have at least a little bit of understanding of Cadence's suffering. You'd either have to be one of those 'Stepford wives' (who by the way, probably never read a page of a decent book anyway) or just feel very righteous and 'holier than thou'.

Amy Hatvany simply shows us how fragile we are, especially as mothers. She shows us that there are dangers out there than may bring on the destruction of all that's precious to us. But she also, in a very skillful and delicate way, shows us that redemption is just around the corner, if we're willing to ask and accept the help.

It's a beautiful story and also deeply personal, since Amy did go through very similar circumstances. Her suffering and her courage gives Best Kept Secret an even deeper meaning. If you decide to not read it, I think you'll be missing out big time .

---------------

FTC: I have received a free copy of this book via Shelf Awareness.

Places you can find Amy Hatvany:

Her Website

Facebook: Amy Hatvany

Great news for me and other fans of this splendid writer: Amy has written another novel, Outside the Lines, which will be released on 02/07/2012. Yay!

You can purchase both books at:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

IndieBound

                      

Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman

The book's synopsis from the publisher's website:

Tom Violet always thought that by the time he turned thirty-five, he’d have everything going for him. Fame. Fortune. A beautiful wife. A satisfying career as a successful novelist. A happy dog to greet him at the end of the day.
The reality, though, is far different. He’s got a wife, but their problems are bigger than he can even imagine. And he’s written a novel, but the manuscript he’s slaved over for years is currently hidden in his desk drawer while his father, an actual famous writer, just won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His career, such that it is, involves mind-numbing corporate buzzwords, his pretentious archnemesis Gregory, and a hopeless, completely inappropriate crush on his favorite coworker. Oh . . . and his dog, according to the vet, is suffering from acute anxiety.
Tom’s life is crushing his soul, but he’s decided to do something about it. (Really.) Domestic Violets is the brilliant and beguiling story of a man finally taking control of his own happiness—even if it means making a complete idiot of himself along the way.

I absolutely loved, loved, loved this book! There are many reasons why I feel so strongly about Domestic Violets but probably the most important is that it came into my life at the exact time I needed to read it. I'm sure you've heard that saying, 'Laughter is the best medicine' and it just couldn't be more accurate in the case of this book, especially if humor is combined with wit and intelligent writing. And Mr. Norman has that unique talent to make you laugh and then to make you get lost in thought and become introspective of your own life, and then, when things start getting too serious, Matthew will make you laugh again.  So, if you're in a foul mood, Domestic Violets is guaranteed to make it at least less foul, if not completely disappear.

I think that this novel is going to be a successful one (I'd honestly be shocked if it's not) because it's so relevant to our world and our times. Matthew Norman tells a story of Tom and his struggles in a very observant way. There aren't enough fingers on my hand and toes on my feet to count people I know that could identify with Tom, with his wife Anna or his coworker Katie and I know that at least 80% of you out there had a major pain-in-the-a$$ (okay, I don't know what's up with these dollar signs, I may as well just write 'ass') colleague like Gregory you had to deal with at work. The people in Domestic Violets lead our lives in one way or another, have our very real problems but thankfully, the author portrays it with enough humor that this picture of domesticity doesn't send us over the edge or land us in a straight jacket. This is the kind of contemporary American novel that the readers need more of and that there isn't enough of on the market today. Yes, there is sadness there and even tragedy (actually, the suckability factor of Tom's life is quite high at a few points) but just like with the real life, if there weren't laughter in the mix, it would really all become quite unbearable.

Anyway, Matthew Norman has a great talent and it shines in Domestic Violets. I already cannot wait for his next book and this one isn't even coming up until August. I can't think of anybody who wouldn't appreciate this novel but if my rantings haven't been completely convincing, read Matthew's blog, The Norman Nation, to get a taste of how witty and funny and gifted he really is. And then, hurry up and put Domestic Violets on order so that you can get it at your doorsteps right after it comes out on August 9th.

******

Special thanks to Harper Perennial and Net Galley for providing me with a digital copy of Domestic Violets by Matthew Norman.

2-in-1: Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman & The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme

1. Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman

The book's synopsis from the author's website:

Set on the coast of Maine over the course of four summers, Red Hook Road tells the story of two families, the Tetherlys and the Copakens, and of the ways in which their lives are unraveled and stitched together by misfortune, by good intentions and failure, and by love and calamity.
A marriage collapses under the strain of a daughter’s death; two bereaved siblings find comfort in one another; and an adopted young girl breathes new life into her family with her prodigious talent for the violin. As she writes with obvious affection for these unforgettable characters, Ayelet Waldman skillfully interweaves life’s finer pleasures—music and literature—with the more mundane joys of living.

Red Hook Road is a wonderful novel. Exactly the type of contemporary American fiction that I appreciate the most. The writing is like a song, flows easily and beautifully, despite the many descriptive passages. There is a lot of them, mostly as insight to people's thoughts in the wake of a terrible tragedy that forces all those affected to be more introspective. Although it's not really mentioned, the closest family of the couple got a 'wake-up' call on how short and unexpected life really is. In face of that fact, how each of them tries to go on is very engaging, especially for someone with a little bit of voyeuristic nature like me.

It may all sound boring to some of you, but believe me, Ms. Waldman made sure the novel was anything but. Somehow (I'm sure her talent had something to do with it), Red Hook Road turned out to be fascinating, without a boring passage in there. And even though it's heartbreaking, it's also a story that gives hope which I always appreciate, as there can never be too much hope. (Psst...don't tell, but I think I might even prefer Ms. Waldman's style to her husband's, Michael Chabon).

2. The Outer Banks House by Diann Ducharme

The book's synopsis from the author's website:

In 1868, on the barren shores of post-war Outer Banks North Carolina, the disconnected Sinclair family moves for the summer to one of the first cottages on the ocean side of the resort village of Nags Head. In the simple and isolated Outer Banks house, they see their deepest desires manifested in dramatic ways.

Nolan Sinclair, the once wealthy and powerful planter from Edenton, North Carolina, is fearful of losing his plantation in the Reconstruction aftermath of the Civil War. In a desperate act of assertion, he moves his family and servants to the unusual house on the sand. There, on the porch of the cottage, his 17-year-old daughter, beautiful, book-smart and boxed-in Abigail, is encouraged to teach her father’s fishing guide, good-natured, ambitious and penniless 19-year-old Benjamin Whimble, how to read and write. The two come to understand, and then to love each other, despite the demands of their parents, the pursuit of prim and proper medical student Hector Newman, and Ben’s longtime relationship with sour-tongued net-mender, Eliza Dickens.

This was my first book set in the post-Civil War time and even though it sparked my interest to read more, as it sounds like a difficult but fascinating time in American history, The Outer Banks House didn't really 'start the fire' for me. It is an ambitious subject, or many subjects, Diann took on in this book, including the Ku Klux Klan, the fate of freed slaves, even the change in status for plantation owners, who now have to deal with no free workforce and inevitable loss of money, prestige, so on and so forth. It's plenty of issues to write about and the book is only 300 pages. In my opinion it's not long enough and as a result some of these things felt superficial or slightly neglected.

On the bright side, I enjoyed the characters of Abigail and Ben and their budding romance. It didn't feel fake or forced to me. Abigail was a very likable girl who despite her upbringing managed to still know right from wrong and stand up for what she believed was right. I always admire that in characters. I'd like to read more of this couple and where life leads them and how they find their place in this post-Civil War world where nothing seems certain, especially in the South.

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

The book's synopsis from the author's website:

The Andreas sisters were raised on books – their family motto might as well be, ‘There’s no problem a library card can’t solve.’  Their father, a renowned, eccentric professor of Shakespearean studies, named them after three of the Bard’s most famous characters: Rose (Rosalind – As You Like It), Bean (Bianca – The Taming of the Shrew), and Cordy (Cordelia – King Lear), but they have inherited those characters’ failures along with their strengths.
Now the sisters have returned home to the small college town where they grew up – partly because their mother is ill, but mostly because their lives are falling apart and they don’t know where to go next.  Rose, a staid mathematics professor, has the chance to break away from her quiet life and join her devoted fiance in England, if she could only summon up the courage to do more than she’s thought she could.  Bean left home as soon as she could, running to the glamour of New York City, only to come back ashamed of the person she has become.  And Cordy, who has been wandering the country for years, has been brought back to earth with a resounding thud, realizing it’s finally time for her to grow up.
The sisters never thought they would find the answers to their problems in each other, but over the course of one long summer, they find that everything they’ve been running from – each other, their histories, and their small hometown – might offer more than they ever expected.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful story about the most wonderful family that I wouldn't mind being a part of. Although, (as much as I hate this expression due to it being overused), it's really a universal story and we are all part of the Andreas family in how we're all messed up in one way or another, we all have our little failures and big ones too. The Weird Sisters speaks to the readers of our familial imperfections that make our families what they are and what we love them for because, just like the Andreas's, I believe we do pull one another out of troubles in the end.

As much as The Weird Sisters is the story about families, I reveled in the side of the book that concentrated on reading. After all, what self-respecting reader doesn't want to read a book about reading? Especially one that's written really well, with wit and humor? Even more than a book about readers, The Weird Sisters is really an hommage to Shakespeare (not that he needs any more of those) and one of the better ones at that, in my opinion. Mr. Andreas speaks to his daughters mainly in quotes from Shakespeare and the girls are also quick to answer likewise. The most surprising the delicious part is, it actually works! Ms. Brown proves that the Bard had a lot of life wisdom to impart and indeed he did. It turns out that it's not all just some kind of mumbo jumbo completely irrelevant in today's reality (as I shamefully sometimes thought myself) but words of sound advice that may just steer you in the right direction when it's needed most.

I know I haven't said enough about Eleanor's book but I guess you will just need to read it for yourself. It's a great piece of contemporary American fiction depicting the imperfect lives of women in the time of their lives when they have to make a decision to either be stuck in their sometimes childish, often ineffectual ways or to move on into adulthood and understand that they mostly have to 'to thine own self be true'. Once they are that, everything else will fall into place. But to know themselves truly is not an easy task at all and sometimes requires the help of people who really love and care about them.

******

I received The Weird Sisters from Penguin via Shelf Awareness for review.

The Weird Sisters is coming on January 20th, 2011 from Amy Einhorn Books.

Where Are the Cocoa Puffs by Karen Winters Schwartz

The book's synopsis from the publisher's website:

As eighteen-year-old Amanda spirals into mania, her father, psychiatrist Dr. Jerry Benson, sees the realization of his worst fears: his daughter is not just moody, but truly ill. With his words, his diagnosis--manic depressive illness--his world and that of his family is forever altered. Carol, Amanda's mother, struggles with the guilt and shame of having raised a "crazy" daughter. Christy, Amanda's fifteen-year-old sister, denies the illness; after all, my sister's a bitch is so much easier to accept.
Meanwhile, the Bensons' extended family offers up everything from unconditional support to uncomfortable scrutiny as Amanda careens between bouts of frightening violence, cosmic euphoria, and suicidal despair. Then there's Ryan, an architecture student who is initially ensnared by Amanda's manic sexuality, but is ultimately captured and held throughout the chaos by the force of love and strength of family.

Anybody who has ever been even remotely interested in bipolar disorder, otherwise known as manic depressive illness, should read this book. There really aren't enough of books like these on the market nowadays. You should also read this book if you like coming of age stories, because despite Amanda's illness, she and her sister, Christy are still teenagers trying to find themselves in this world of ours, which alone is a great feat.

I really enjoyed reading how the Bensons managed to fight through this horrendous ordeal. I probably felt for the mother the most. Carol seems to be such a true figure as if taken straight away from a real home and put inside the book. Her struggle with her emotions, her feelings towards her oldest daughter, Amanda are heartwrenching, hard to bear sometimes but impossible to turn away from, especially if you're a parent as well. I literally felt her pain at what was happening with her beautiful baby girl that could no longer recognize because of this vicious 'stranger' living in Amanda's brain. Ms. Schwartz really did an amazing job portraying the parents' fight for their child.

I have to admit that I did struggle a bit in the beginning with how convenient the whole setting was, with the father being the top psychiatrist and all. And that brings me to my next point. Where Are the Cocoa Puffs? is important in the story it tells but it's even of more value in what remains unsaid. Amanda was indeed very lucky to have a dad that diagnosed her bipolar disorder almost right away, giving her a chance for a good life early on. Unfortunately, in real life, it rarely happens. Mostly, it takes years before the right diagnosis is made and we're talking about a deadly illness here, after all. Manic depressive illness, just like any other mental illness, kills people if left untreated, and it doesn't matter that it's done by the hand of the person suffering.

Where Are the Cocoa Puffs? is definitely worth reading and paying attention to. Karen gave us a story that will not be quickly forgotten but will instead open our eyes to what's around us and that mental illness, just like cancer or diabetes, is real, it's serious and it affects many more people than just the one person suffering from it. Sometimes, it just makes you think who suffers more, the person that's ill or the people who love him/her.

This review is part of my Understand My Sorrow challenge, under the bipolar disorder.

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Special Thanks to Karen Winter Schwartz for sending me a copy of her book for review and to Shellie from Layers of Thought for getting Karen and me together.

The Language of Trees by Illie Ruby

The book synopsis from the author's website:

Gripping, suspenseful, magical, and richly atmospheric—a story told from several distinct and unforgettable viewpoints—Ilie Ruby’s haunting debut novel, THE LANGUAGE OF TREES is exhilarating fiction that announces the arrival of a truly extraordinary storyteller. 
In the sprawling lake region of Canandaigua, New York—a place where some families have secrets they would do anything to keep—little Luke Ellis disappeared. Now, over a decade later, his teenage sister, Melanie, has vanished, abandoning her infant son. As the frantic search for Melanie ensues, Grant Shongo, a Seneca healer, finds himself caught up by a spirit that draws him into a world where nature and the spiritual realm are intertwined and nothing is as it seems. It is only with the help of his childhood love, Echo O'Connell, that the mystery of the Ellis children can be put to rest. But before the healing must come the forgiveness. Written in a magic realist vernacular, THE LANGUAGE OF TREES examines the tremulous bonds between parents and children, lovers and friends, and restless spirits—both living and not. It is a story that will make you believe that the spirits of those we love watch over us, that people can heal each other, and that if you can truly forgive yourself, the world will return to you all of your forgotten dreams. 

I don't know what it is but 2010 has so far been producing a wonderful array of debut writers. I'm obviously not complaining, I'm actually loving it. For an avid reader like me, it's always great to experience a work of such talent as Ilie Ruby's. And to read The Language of Trees by Ms. Ruby, it truly is an experience, and one that I will not soon forget.


Simply put, The Language of Trees took me by surprise and in the end I realized I cared for the story, for the people in it more than I had thought I would when I began reading the novel. I admit that the beginning was a little difficult for me to get get through but I didn't have to wait long to be rewarded. Only after fifty pages or so, the story took off and took me to unexpected places. I was rooting for pretty much every character in there because Ms. Ruby somehow made them all important in their own right, just like in real life, everyone you encounter on your path is significant in one way or another even if you're not aware of it.

There's Melanie, the former drug addict who is not physically present for most of the novel but the more she's searched for by her mother and her life partner, Lion, the more I got to know her, care for her and feel for her pain. Lion is an altogether different story. He might very well be my most favorite person from the book (although there are quite a few strong contenders), mostly because his love for Melanie is almost supernatural, it's so strong and he hurts so much when he can't find her. I won't even tell you how many times I've come close to having my heart broken. I won't describe every character here for you even though I'm tempted because they are all worth the time and attention, I just don't want to spoil your reading.

Characters are not the only things worth talking about in The Language of Trees. I admit that I am a fan of magic realism and I was thrilled to find elements of it in Ms. Ruby's novel. Especially because it was pulled off really well and it was convincing, which is not an easy feat in my opinion. The reference and big influence of Native American, specifically Senecan, mythology on the story is yet another great part of the book. I somehow can never get enough of Native American traditions and culture, they hold that special mystic atmosphere for me which always makes a book richer if introduced adequately. Last but not least, the writing is simply magical. I found myself contemplating individual sentences and paragraphs many times before I would move on to the next one. I also wrote down many of them because I want them committed to my memory. Quite a few thoughts and observations there moved me deeply and they might ultimately be the reason that I will one day want to reread this novel.

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Special thanks to Ilie Ruby for sending me a copy of her book for review.

This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia

I know that it’s already half way into 2010 but I’m only now beginning to see that this year will turn out to be the year of great contemporary American debut authors. I think this is one genre, or niche if you will, that’s not easy to warm up to and normally the stories somehow get lost in the flood of paranormal, romance and YA fiction. That’s why it’s all the more important to spotlight any such book that hits the market and is a true gem, just like This Must Be the Place by Kate Racculia.

Racculia’s wonderful novel centers on Amy, who is dead in reality but seems to be very much alive in the minds of people whose lives she entered and affected irrevocably. Mona (short for Desdemona, I love this name) Jones and her daughter, Oneida are two of the mentioned people. They own the Derby-Jones boardinghouse in New York and make it a home to a few renters. Life couldn’t be more peaceful, bordering on boring even. Oneida is a nerdy teenager with no real friends, Mona runs the house and her wedding cake business and everything seems to be as it should. Until one day, a new renter arrives. It happens to be Andy Rook, a devastated and a slightly deranged husband of a newly deceased Amy. In his denial that his wife is truly dead, he decided to open a mysterious pink box that belonged to Amy hoping to find something that could keep her alive for him. What he finds brings him to Ruby Falls, New York and Mona Jones, and Oneida, and a lot more secrets than he bargained for. The pink box and its contents hold a story of Mona’s and Amy’s friendship, of their lives and ultimately tell the truth that Andy might not be prepared to hear. But you, my dear reader, better be prepared for one hell of a story within the pages of This Must Be the Place.

To describe this book in only a few words really is nearly impossible but were I to make an attempt, I would call it rich and succulent. That was my first impression when I finished it. I loved the characters, all of them brought something to the table that wasn’t there before. Kate just did a wonderful job by making them all so different and yet fit so well into one big picture. There is Oneida, the nerdy teenager and Eugene “Wendy” Wendell, the feared boy who falls for Oneida’s strangeness. Their budding relationship, the newness and sometimes even hilarity of sexual intimacy was exactly the way I imagine teenage relationships go nowadays. Both of them were really endearing. And then there is Mona with her secrets and beauty she is completely unaware of, poor Andy, whose perfect picture of his wife is being shattered into pieces right in front of his eyes, and finally dead Amy, who seems to be quite alive in the lives of people she affected in one way or another. Truly, a beautiful cornucopia of characters. All I needed to do is just relax and enjoy. I honestly fell in love with each and every one of the people. I laughed when reading about their antics, I cried at the depth of love and friendship, and I pondered on what really makes a family.

I know I will be coming back to visit Ruby Falls more than once. This Must Be The Place is a keeper, take my word for it. It's a perfect summer read, a perfect winter read, a perfect any time of the year read. It's light but asks important questions, it's a coming-of-age story in more ways than you'd expect and once finished, it leaves you wanting to go back to the first page and start over again. Kate Racculia's book is exactly all I love about contemporary American fiction and I hope that tons of people will get to love it too.

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I received this novel from Henry Holt & Co for a review.

Make sure you visit Kate's awesome website.

The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine

Once in a while a book comes along that catches me unawares, surprises the heck out of me and then stays in my head for days and weeks afterward.  Mind you, it doesn’t happen all that often but when it does, the book earns its rightful place on my private “best of…” list and shares its glory with timeless classics. Why do I give you this elaborate beginning? Because sadly, in today’s literary world there aren’t all that many books of value and when I finally do find one, I cherish it all the more. The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine is all of the above.

Levine’s novel is a story of Batuk, a 15-year-old Indian girl sold to prostitution by her parents when she was only 9. She somehow manages to keep ‘her head above water’ in the cruel world of sexual terrors, drugs, murder and violence. Batuk gets hold of a notebook and a pencil and starts writing down her life. Detail after heartbreaking detail, the reader gets to find out what Batuk does, how she got cheated out of the life she dreamed of having and what a beautiful, soulful girl she still remained despite of what’s been done to her.

As I mentioned already, this is one, heartbreaking story. What makes it so tragic is not even the fictional character of  Batuk (as horrifying as her life is) but the fact that children all over the world, not only India, suffer this very real fate of child exploitation. This one thing just wouldn’t leave my mind all the time I was reading The Blue Notebook. I really applaud Mr. Levine for being brave enough to write such a difficult and shocking book, as it must not have been easy writing the pretty horrific sex scenes involving children. Amidst all this calamity, he somehow managed to make Batuk be a wonderful, innocent and resilient girl.
For a small in size novel, The Blue Notebook delivers a “sucker punch” of emotions.

A shocking story aside, what I probably liked and appreciated the most is the spare, yet powerful prose the book is written in.  I couldn’t believe that the author is a doctor from Minessota and not an Indian writer or at least somebody who spend a lifetime in India. That’s how real and believable the voice of Batuk seemed to me. I didn’t doubt for a moment that I held in my hands a work of a very talented writer and I hope that Mr. Levine will write more. For now though, The Blue Notebook is plenty enough and I think it’s an important work of fiction that should be read by as many people as possible because of the difficult subject it deal with.

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I think it’s important to mention that all the proceeds from The Blue Notebook are donated to the International and National Centers for Missing and Exploited Children. If you want to know more, please visit their website: http://icmec.org

The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw

I’m the kind of person that gets excited about certain things because of the buzz created around them. I all of a sudden find myself wanting the book that everyone else seems to be talking about. Then I get the book, I read it, and wonder afterwards what to write because I am not so crazy about it as others were. I think you know where I’m going with it. It did unfortunately happen to me and The Swimming Pool by Holly LeCraw.

Enter the lives of the McClatcheys’ and the Atkinsons’. Marcella Atkinson, a beautiful woman in her prime, lives alone in Connecticut, away from her daughter Toni and ex-husband, Anthony.  The affair Marcella had with Cecil McClatchey seven years ago led to her divorce and a lonely life she now leads. That however is not the worst that happened since the affair. Cecil was married with two children when he ended his relationship with Marcella. The same night he ends the affair, he also loses his wife who gets murdered in a senseless robbery.  Cecil passes away months later leaving his children Jed and Callie to fend for themselves and always living with that shadow of doubt, that their father murdered their mother. Now, years later things will get rehashed again with new twists and final answers when Jed and Callie move back to Cape Cod’s house of their childhood and Marcella’s daughter is hired as a baby sitter to Callie’s children.

When I write that I wasn’t crazy about The Swimming Pool, I didn’t mean that I disliked it altogether. There were parts about it that were enjoyable and there definitely is great promise in LeCraw’s writing for future novels. The Swimming Pool is her debut and for a debut, it’s  interesting enough. The prose is catching and propels a reader forward, even if not much new is happening. I did find myself almost entangled with the lives of all characters, but especially with Callie. She suffers from depression (whether it’s postpartum or simply an episode of a lingering one from the death of her parents is unclear to me) and the way the author writes about it is very convincing, almost as if she herself went through it or had had experience with it. I truly felt for Callie and think that despite her character being a secondary one to the whole story, she somehow stood out the most tome. But other characters weren’t lacking much either. It’s almost as if there really were no secondary ones but rather every one of them mattered and was a part of cumulative little society dealing with secrets, lies and tragedy.  This part of The Swimming Pool I liked and appreciated.

Overall however, the book didn’t have an impact on me I was hoping it would. The thing that bothered me the most was Cecil’s narrative. How in the world did he find his way in there I have no idea, since he has been dead for seven years. It’s technically wrong to include his narrative with those of the living characters, it jarred on my nerves and because of it I couldn’t fully concentrate on the good points in the book. Also, when it all was said and done, I turned the last page and felt that it all was a little too cliché for my tastes.  The laziness of Cape Cod summers, the affair of a bored and unfulfilled wife with a man who in the end couldn’t even tell why he had the affair at all, mother and daughter interested in the same man. I don’t know, it’s probably just me but the whole novel seemed inconsequential to me in the end.  I can see, though, Holly LeCraw getting fans thanks to this book. If you like the nice literary prose coupled with accurate characterization and are willing to overlook the things that I mentioned (or they simply don’t bother you at all) then you should give The Swimming Pool a ‘go‘.

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I received an ARC copy of The Swimming Pool from Doubleday publisher via Shelf Awareness

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah

I cannot believe how long it takes me recently to get things, such as reviews, done. Especially when it comes to wonderful books that deserve to be spoken about as soon as possible. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah is one such book.

The publisher says:

Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.

I say:

This book was absolutely amazing. Ms. Hannah's writing is at once to the point and deeply moving. Before you know it, you're drawn into the world she created and don't want to leave. Perhaps, the best testament to the quality of Winter Garden is my sister's reaction. She is not a book worm whatsoever (hi sister!), it is extremely difficult to get her interested in a book even though she tries, judging by a number of books borrowed from me that she started but never finished. And once she starts reading a book, it takes her a long time to finish it, not because she doesn't want to but because her lifestyle doesn't really give her a lot of spare time. With all that in mind, my sister Eva read Winter Garden in two days and called me right after she finished to discuss it. In her words: 'the book was phenomenal and the author's sentences are such that you just want to remember them all and as soon as I get home I'll be writing them down'. Not only did she like it so much that she didn't sleep all night and chose to read instead, but while driving to work, she actually had to pull over to keep reading because she couldn't wait until the end of the day! I think that says it all!!

But I will still say some more. Winter Garden is also heartbreaking and I was unable to stop the tears from flowing freely. The story became so sad and touching to me because the fictional story of Anya's life is probably a real story of many women and men that survived the Leningrad siege. So be prepared for many heartrending passages but also know that you will be rewarded in the end and will most likely want to read Winter Garden all over again. I know I already do (thank goodness I still have three other books Ms. Hannah wrote to read for the first time).

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Special thanks to Nicole B. from Authors on the Web for sending me a copy of this book.

'Follow Me' by Joanna Scott

I admit, with a little bit of embarrassment, that I have never been a fan of contemporary American fiction. From the time I first read it in college, something didn’t quite appeal to me even though I knew that there were some grand authors in that genre and I tried to make myself like it. To no avail. Deciding to read Follow Me by Joanna Scott was my last attempt at finding appreciation for contemporary American writers. I don’t know whether it’s because I am older now and with age my tastes have become a little more refined, or because I have read enough books to know good fiction from bad fiction, an okay book from a spectacular one, but Follow Me has finally ignited my budding love for the genre.

Joanna Scott’s book gives us a story told mainly by Sally Bliss, a granddaughter of Sally Werner aka Mole aka Bliss. It is essentially a recounting of Sally Werner’s life, gathered from what she told her granddaughter and what Sally Bliss was also told by her father via recorded cassettes. In 1946 rural Pennsylvania, 16-year-old Sally Werner lets herself be taken for a ride on her cousin Daniel Werner’s motorcycle. The enthralling ride, followed by what Sally thought was innocent but exhilarating flirting and kissing, ends in Daniel raping (in my opinion) Sally. She then is left carrying his baby and with guilt imposed upon her by her family that she was the one who tricked Daniel and made him commit that sinful act. Sally proceeds to deliver a baby boy, to abandon him on the kitchen table in her parent’s house and to run away in pursuit of a new life. The fruits of that pursuit don’t always turn out what Sally might have wanted but her optimism for life and belief in destiny help her along the way to live an amazing, sometimes tragic, sometimes happy, but never mundane, life.

Admittedly, Follow Me is a little slow at the beginning and somewhat difficult to get into, but I implore you to keep reading because it gets better and better with each page. The style of Ms. Scott’s writing is very distinct and present from the first page. Her use of verbs creating stand-alone sentences makes it seem that it is a dream we’re reading about, an urgent dream, sometimes a nightmare, from which Sally Werner wants to run away. It’s also like Tuskee River flowing north and outlining Sally’s journey through life. This writing is very intriguing and it kept me wanting to read more until I became absorbed by the book and couldn’t stop even if I wanted to, which I didn’t. The story of Sally’s life, her actions driven by the need to run away from town to town, her belief that she would always be haunted by leaving her son behind, are intoxicating. Without knowing when or how, I was pulled into the whirl of that river Sally had become and even when I wasn’t reading the book, it was constantly in my thoughts. Follow Me is so many things that one could really write a whole essay on it. Not only is it a saga spanning three generations, but also a tragic love story, a depiction of how much our lives are run by chances we’re not aware of and a tribute to the finest American storytelling of which I had been so unappreciative before Scott’s book landed in my hands. I do not like the term “modern classic”, but Follow Me might very well become one.

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Special Thanks to Miriam P. from Hachette Book Group for sending me a copy of this book.

'Souvenir" by Therese Fowler

First of all I want to thank all my fellow, wonderful bloggers for friendly words and for keeping me in your thoughts these past several days. It means a lot to me and reaffirms my decision to even have a blog. I get to know you all through your writings and it is a wonderful feeling. Having a blog also gives me a chance to share my thoughts about books like ‘Souvenir’ by Therese Fowler. What a great book this one is. To give you a short description, the story revolves around Meg Powell and Carson McKay. Through their childhood and teenage years they were best friends moving on to being lovers and true soul mates. But then Meg was faced with a marriage proposal from another man and she made a choice to accept it and put her ‘puppy’ love behind (I write ‘made a choice’ because I believe we always have a choice even though those of you who already read it or will read might not agree with me that Meg had one). We meet Meg and Carson seventeen years later. Meg is stuck in an unhappy marriage but has a daughter whom she loves dearly. Carson is a famous and accomplished musician.
I liked the book because even though it was a quick read, or maybe due to it, the writing was very engaging and the main theme is remembrance of things past and living with the mistakes from the past. I could not reveal the important event in the book because that would spoil it for those who have not read it yet and would like to but I can tell you that it is something that happens to many of us and something that mobilizes us into doing things differently, living our lives in the present but minding our decisions from the past and trying to not make them again.
Some critics say that Ms. Fowler writes with the intensity of Jodi Picoult. I would say that yes her story-telling is intense but also gentle in a way that we are not slammed in the head with rapidly developing events but slowly introduced into the lives and hearts of the characters, giving us time to understand them, their decisions, past and present and to not rush into judgments. This is not to say that I wasn’t moved deeply by the book. I, in fact, wept as if I were Carson or Meg myself. But I am glad that I did because a good crying was something I needed for a long time and this book proved to be once again a therapy.