With or Without You: A Memoir
by Domenica Ruta
Extremely dark and incredibly real (11/27/2012)
I started this memoir expecting another Glass Castle. It is not that. The writing is not lyrical but dry; even the bit of humor is dry. Domenica Ruta was raised by a drug addicted mother who did her best to fuel a daughter's addictions. Though her biological father lived close by in their small working class town, he had his own problems and Domenica's need for attention and nurturing developed into a love/hate relationship with this highly toxic mother.
About halfway through the memoir, the balance shifted. The young girl was a reader destined to become a writer. The series of circumstances that led to that destiny, involving both help and more hurt from her mother, finally enabled Domenica to get control of her own life. By the end, I had been reading as fast as I could just to see what would happen next.
With or Without You is most similar to Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? as far as memoirs go. I would not call it redemptive or hopeful but it is powerful and compulsively readable.
The Age of Miracles: A Novel
by Karen Thompson Walker
A dreamy, introspective dystopian tale (5/25/2012)
For a story of future dystopia, The Age of Miracles has a dreamy, introspective tone. Events are related from the viewpoint of a sixth-grade girl, an aware and intelligent only child, giving the impression that kids handled the changes better than the adults. In fact, the whole story was as much a study in adult weaknesses and flaws as it was about middle-school antics. Karen Thompson Walker writes with a unique imagination and great skill. Her straightforward style conceals a deeper subtext of insight into our current world. I think mature teens would enjoy the novel as well. It would make a good graduation present.
Arcadia: A Novel
by Lauren Groff
Ideals, Love and Sorrow (12/27/2011)
Lauren Goff's first novel had plenty of potential but did not live up to my expectations. In Arcadia, she has found her true voice. For me, and possibly anyone involved in hippie culture in the 60s and 70s, this is a moving story. Through Bit, born and raised on a commune, the emotional and developmental results of living outside mainstream American life are brought to full realization.
I gratefully admired Goff's non-judgemental view. Yes, Bit was damaged in certain ways but he retained the values he was taught. His struggle to assimilate in the "real world" feels very true. Idealism always leads to sorrow but at least it contains ideals. The writing is beautiful, in fact astounding.
The Language of Flowers: A Novel
by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Flowers, foster care and family (6/19/2011)
Captivating on every page, The Language of Flowers is raw and romantic at the same time. It is a quick read and extremely hard to put down. I am always intrigued by stories about orphans, adoption and foster care; stories in which people have been failed by the concept of family. I have a long history with flowers. But I never knew that flowers have a romantic language and I have never met a character like Victoria. This is the kind of book you force onto your reader girlfriends, afraid that if they miss reading it their lives will be incomplete.
The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
by Maggie O'Farrell
Crimes against women (4/15/2010)
This chilling novel falls in the category of crimes against and by women. Esme Lennox was "vanished" because she did not fit in with what was expected by her culture. Set in the present with the back story coming out bit by bit, the horror of the story, the extreme twistedness of the characters and the inhumane attitudes toward such a woman as Esme, drilled into my heart.
The real secret of the novel is in the writing and the delicate, tasteful way all is finally revealed. You can suppress and twist the human spirit but you cannot eliminate it.
The Angel's Game
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
An Irresistable Tale (7/6/2009)
For readers who loved The Shadow of the Wind, Zafon's follow up novel will not disappoint. Set once again in Barcelona, a young writer struggles with loneliness, ambition, unrequited love and a puzzling character who seems to offer David Martin a chance to achieve his wildest dreams. The Cemetery of Forgotten Books figures in the tale as well as the dark and disturbing currents of the city. Best of all, Zafon delves into philosophy, questions of good and evil, the purposes of literature and the personal tragedies that underlie society's troubles. The novel is a page turner that also addresses the issues of the world with intelligence, wonder and even humor. Who can resist a book about books, writing, love and danger?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson
Euro-Style Thriller (9/27/2008)
This financial thriller set in Sweden has already achieved bestseller status in Europe and is the first of a trilogy delivered just before his death by a man who spent his life fighting racial and religious intolerance and exposing neofascism in Europe. The writing style rests firmly in the Ludlum, Grisham, Baldacci tradition but introduces a refreshing new voice.
Having never been to Sweden, I was initially challenged by unfamiliar names of cities, streets, magazines and other elements of modern Swedish life. But the story is exciting and smart and ultra contemporary, comprising a closed-room murder mystery, a dastardly financial villain, psychopathic descendants of Nazis and the girl in the title. She is in fact an extra mystery all in herself and as good as any Neal Stephenson heroine.
I got a bit of the feeling of a first novel but except for a few clunky sections, Larsson kept me turning the pages. I enjoyed his decidedly European take on love and sex. I suspect a bit of hype in the title, since the main character was a financial journalist and I was left feeling unsatisfied by the fate of the dragon tattooed girl. Hopefully we will see her again in the sequels.
Sacred Games: A Novel
by Vikram Chandra
A Bollywood Thriller (2/24/2007)
Yes, this book is long. Yes, it is wordy and heavy to hold while reading. He uses many Indian words and though there is a glossary, it doesn't contain all the words he uses. But I liked it anyway.
The story has two main characters. Inspector Sartaj Singh is a divorced, middle-aged Bombay policeman. Ganesh Gaitonde is the ruthless criminal boss of his underworld company. In an unusual story form, they clash at the beginning of the book. From that point on, Sartaj Singh's life continues but Ganesh Gaitonde's backstory unfolds in first person. The result is not unlike watching a tapestry being made.
Chandra covers a wide swath of history and territory, issues and ideas. Certainly readers whose usual diet is fast-paced cinematic thrillers will feel that Sacred Games is too densely packed with unnecessary passages. Personally I like a long story with a balance of action and thought. The sex and violence is heavy but not overdone. I got a sense of what life is like for several levels of Bombay inhabitants: the booming economy next to the poverty; the remnants of class prejudice and religious intolerance; the influences of both Hollywood and Bollywood.
Vikram Chandra was born in India but now teaches literature and writing at UC Berkeley. In Sacred Games, he has fused Indian and Western storytelling while depicting an ancient and troubled country's emergence into the 21st century.
Ursula, Under
by Ingrid Hill
Ancestors and Angels (11/28/2006)
This is one of the more amazing books I've ever read. Ursula Hill, who is also a mother of 12 children and has a PhD in literature, is a very hip woman. She is one of those writers, like Margaret Atwood, who shows rather than tells what feminism truly means. It is not lost on me that both of these women are highly educated.
The main story involves two-year-old Ursula and her young parents, Annie, of Finnish descent and Justin Wong, a Chinese-American. They live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and while on a trip to see a defunct mine where Annie's great-grandfather perished in a mining accident, Ursula accidentally falls down an old mine shaft, setting off a huge rescue effort.
While this would make a great story by itself, it takes up only about a fifth of the novel. The remainder is a breathtaking journey back into history which traces the ancestry of Justin and Annie from 4000 BC China and first century Finland. Such a massive undertaking makes fascinating reading. I wish I had drawn a family tree as I read. Ingrid Hill brings these ancestors alive as she tells their life stories. She also presents a philosophy of history and humanity that I found wonderful and unique.
That is not all. In telling the story of Ursula, Annie and Justin, she draws a picture of contemporary American life that is at once caustic and humorous. It is also sociological in scope and political and cultural in flavor. There are pitch-perfect references to popular phenomena such as music, books, film, clothing, housing, the job market and the list goes on.
Then comes the climax of the plot which had me in tears for pages yet left me feeling hopeful for the sheer strenth of the human spirit and appreciative of my own ancestors. We are all the angels of each other.
