It reads like a rambling of memories of a marriage, how they met, the children, a secret word and then, memories of their own beginnings. Frank wants to see inside his old house but the current tenant is a single mom who can't handle a stranger invading her privacy. He keeps at it and she and her son know he is always there a quiet presence at the edge of the yard. Shelley is running from her own ghosts - pretending that her husband is coming home, pretending that her job as a court stenographer is still there and that her youngest son is ok and not filled with a dark imagination and a fascination for the macabre. The older husband and his wife and the young mom barely functioning as a single parent take turns narrating chapters.
The house is the collective tissue and the journal like entries together make up a collective history and a moving story of everyday life. Readers of Elizabeth Strout and Louise Erdrich will savor the language. 4 stars
0 Comments
Ah, middle aged men. Bennett is a divorced painter who really hasn't sold a painting in a while so he now spends most of his time trying to achieve the highest status as a host on the short term rental site he lists his beautiful suburban London home on. During the span of the book he rents his house out three different times to three different women who are in the process of reinventing themselves. While they stay in his house he camps out in his backyard art studio. Bennett is very bitter about his ex leaving him and just needs a push to get started again. This push comes in the form of a bartender named Claire who not only teaches him about wine but helps get his art back on track. While not your typical romcom with a happily ever after, it is more realistic about how everyone needs to figure out what they want from life and then go after it. I wished that Bennett was as forceful as his renters.
4 stars Joel has a gift or a curse that involves knowing the specifics of death about the people he loves. This information has allowed him to save some but not all and he prefers to just not fall in love. Callie has just lost a dear friend and has turned away from some of her dreams but she instantly connects with Joel. They fall in love as we knew they would but instead of butterflies and happy woodland animals singing Joel feels like he is on borrowed time. The ultimate romcom with no comedy this unusual "what if" romance is heartbreaking. You can't help but put yourself in their shoes and ask if loving and letting go is the kindest act Joel can do. If you don't breakdown at some point sobbing reading this debut, then you have a heart of stone. 3 1/2 Jane lives with her mom and boyfriend. She is 18, pregnant and working at a pizza place. Her life is out of control and spins out even further after she becomes obsessed with one of her regular customers. Jenny seems like she has her act together. She is pretty, her house is nice and she is a good mom to her young son who is having a tough time with their move to L.A. (hence the special pizza deliveries), but she is lonely. When she lavishes attention on Jane to be friendly, Jane takes it as so much more. Jane also is grieving for her dead alcoholic father and is dealing with it in a bad way following in his footsteps. This slim heartbreaking debut is about growing up fast and navigating adulthood, loneliness and motherhood without an instruction manual. In an exclusive black community in the 50's South, a pair of twin girls decide one day they need to get out of town and find a bigger life. Soon they go their separate ways and lose each other's life thread. One is running away to live a "white" life while the other eventually returns home to the small town with her young daughter in tow. Years later, the next generation of these young women will find each other and reconnect their secret past. This beautifully told story reminds us that our history defines us, to look past stereotypes and how our own perceptions and attitudes can cloud our definition of who we are. It is the story of the same life each taking a different path. Fans of books that challenge racial and economic stereotypes such as LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE and A GOOD NEIGHBORHOOD will appreciate Brit Bennett's quiet masterpiece. 4 stars
Ava moved from Dublin to Hong Kong to teach english to children. Her job is not rewarding and she clearly doesn't make enough money to live the way she would like. She meets Julian, a British banker who is content to share his big flat, easy going friendship and his big bed. She wants more but doesn't know what. Ava then meets Edith a Hong Kong native and falls head over heels in love, she thinks. The big dilemma is that Julian is coming back after months of business overseas, Ava is watching his flat and doesn't have anywhere else to go and Edith doesn't know or understand about her relationship to Julian. Decidedly Millennial- Ava wants it all , doesn't want any risk and still needs everyone's approval but a new voice suggests taking the leap of faith to find out what your heart really wants. 3 1/2 stars
3 1/2 stars
WWI has just begun and Georgie, a young woman of privilege wants to break free so she leaves for London and begins work at a hospital that caters to wounded officers. One of these officers falls hopelessly in love with her but she has her sights set on a much older prize - the poet W.B. Yeats. Yeats is a mess and pulls Georgie and her emotions all over the map. He introduces her to a secret society and the world of the occult that was all the rage back then. At some point Georgie must figure out what she wants in life and who can best give that to her. It pulls at your heartstrings as poor Lt. Pike tries every way he knows how to get her attention and Yeats seems to do just the opposite. It is a quiet coming of age story wrapped up in a cozy bundle of historical fiction. When I finished the last page I took a huge breath and felt as though I had been holding it since I began, completely riveted by this powerful slim debut. It is centered on three characters whose lives are loosely intertwined but whose actions will have lasting consequences after a terrorist train attack in Bengal. Jivan is a smart girl who has found a way to raise herself up out of the slums. She has a chance to attend a better school, now works at a department store and is helping a social pariah learn English to help further her acting career. She has just purchased her first phone and is participating in social media. Sadly, she is in the wrong place at the wrong time and unknowingly gets pulled into a discussion online with a terrorist cell. Her innocent comment lands her in jail and the two people who can back up her story and help her, choose to take advantage of the situation and help themselves rather than fight for what is right. The author expresses so beautifully the speed and ferocity that fear can incite a riot, how a few moments of fame can alter a good person and how corruption can kill innocence for convenience. 5 stars
A superstar wedding on a remote island located off the coast of Ireland sounds like a fairy tale but soon turns into a nightmare. The bride is a stunner who has chosen her only bridesmaid to be her half-sister who is a train wreck. The groom is a survival tv star loved by his adoring fans and private school chums. It might not be the match made in heaven everyone thinks it is and there are more people than just the wedding planner who are worried, not to mention the approaching gale. Intense and full of shocking little twists, this book is like a wedding with Agatha Christie as the wedding planner. The lights go out and everything goes off the rails. From the opening paragraph we know something really bad is going to happen and we want to know what it is. Terrific thriller but not for anyone getting married in the near future. 4 1/2 stars |
I love to read good books and share the new books that are available and those that are coming soon
Adult Genres
General Fiction Historical Fiction Thriller / Mystery Fantasy / Sci-Fi Non-Fiction All Adult Genres Other Genres Young Adult Genre Kids Books Genre Follow Kim
Review Archives
April 2024
|