Nine people check in at Tranquillum House to change their lives - ok, maybe just tweak a few things but these nine strangers come together for a week at a highly recommended health resort. Some are married, some not, some are older, some not, but all come with baggage and what they see as flaws. What harm can a week of well-balanced meals, light exercise, yoga and some great spa treatments do? Boy, were they wrong as none of them expected to end up at this expensive resort with a psychopath. Liane Moriarty captures the best and the worst of people as well as what we all fear the most and rolls it up into one big totally crazy mess. I haven't laughed, cried and slapped my forehead with a "did that really just happen moment" in a long time.
0 Comments
This western is told in two ways. One is the very authentic voice of a prisoner retelling events and his confession to his army jailer and the other is the account of the events that led up to the arrest and shortly after. The setting is the Dakota Territories after the Civil War and what is left of the U.S. Cavalry establishing forts in the West is not the cream of the military crop. Once again we are reminded that America was and still is, a melting pot and this is the American West from an Irish immigrant's perspective. The viewpoint of the army with its cultural mix, the racial hatred and bitterness that was still present after the Civil War, the religious intolerance, and the degradation of the Native Americans all factor into this brutal and honest tale. The author, who is Irish, has captured a slice of life of the lost people of the American West trying to start over, still searching for the streets of gold and good fortune and still finding the same brutality and injustice they faced in the old country. It is a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking tale mixed with moments of tenderness.
This feels more like the Stephen King stories penned under the name Richard Backman than a hefty novel by the horror king. It is really more of a slim novella and one that is so sweet and such a quiet story you might have to check the cover like I did to make sure it really was written by Stephen King. The setting is our beloved Castle Rock, filled with unusual characters but also very likable people. The main character is a quiet man who visits his retired family doc to solve an extreme problem. Scott is losing weight every day and no matter what he wears or how much weight he holds while on the scale the outcome is the same. Suddenly an ordinary man is not so ordinary and he gets a lesson in tolerance when he starts to see how his condition may make the townspeople see him differently.
Stephen King is a master of taking ordinary people who we identify with and placing them in extraordinary conditions. |
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
March 2024
|