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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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The Orchid House: A Novel
by Lucinda Riley

What a Huge Disappointment! Weak and Boring…Nothing More Than a Mediocre Soap Opera (4/19/2023)

Oh, what a huge disappointment! The publisher's plot summary is spectacular, and based on that this could have been a wonderful, compelling ChickLit book. But it wasn't. Why? The writing is stilted, the dialogue is strained and unrealistic, and the characters' actions are …more

Courting Mr. Lincoln
by Louis Bayard

Not a (4/19/2023)

What this book is: A fascinating, extraordinarily well-written historical novel on a young Abraham Lincoln, whose future wife, Mary Todd, was making eyes at him across the well-to-do parlors of Springfield, Illinois in the early 1840s, while at the same time the future …more

The Art of the Wasted Day
by Patricia Hampl

Thought-Provoking and Scholarly, But NOT an Instruction Manual for How to Be a Lazy Bum (4/19/2023)

I admit it! I bought this book for the title. For me, wasting a single hour, much less an entire day, is an anathema, so I was fascinated about an entire book on the topic.

As it turns out, the book is not exactly an instruction manual for being a lazy bum.

Instead, it's a …more

The Great Believers
by Rebecca Makkai

This Is the Rarest of Books: A Heartbreaking and Devastating Story, But I Couldn't Stop Reading (4/19/2023)

This is the rarest of books. It is a story of loss and separation—the kind that is foisted upon us by death and the kind that is inflicted upon us by estrangement—but it is also a story about the abiding power of love and friendship. It is a riveting, can't-put-it-down …more

The Other Americans
by Laila Lalami

There Is Always Another Side of the Story (4/19/2023)

There is always another side of the story.

Author Laila Lalami has taken this adage to heart in this searing and ingenious tale about the death of Driss Guerraoui, a Moroccan immigrant living in the small town of Mojave, California with this wife, Maryam. The couple have two …more

Hazards of Time Travel
by Joyce Carol Oates

A Dystopian Novel and Also a Coming-of-Age Love Story…But Not One of Joyce Carol Oates's Best Books (4/19/2023)

Many us have wondered in recent years if our democracy is under a very real threat. If you are one of these people, this dystopian novel by Joyce Carol Oates may give you nightmares because what should be a horrific fantasy limited to the pages of a book may feel more like …more

Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania
by Erik Larson

This Is the Best Kind of Nonfiction Book: A Fact-Filled Page-Turner (4/19/2023)

Crescendo. That is the best word to describe this book.

From page one, the story slowly builds to a crescendo that is searing, heartbreaking, tragic, and absolutely frustrating—because at so many points along the way, the sinking of the famed passenger ship Lusitania by a …more

The Incendiaries: A Novel
by R O. Kwon

Powerfully Intense, Somewhat Perplexing and Quite Disturbing. It's Real Work to Read This Short Book (4/19/2023)

The best way to describe this succinct, haunting book by R.O. Kwon is powerfully intense, somewhat perplexing, and quite disturbing.

You may think that because it is a little more than 200 pages long, this will be shorty, breezy read. Think again. Every word counts. And …more sometimes to fully understand those words, I had to reread passages. Several times. My point is that you must be prepared to spend quality, focused time with this book. A beach book it is not. It is work.

This is the story of three people, two of whom are college students at the prestigious (and fictitious) Edwards University (think Yale).
• Sophomores Phoebe and Will are friends, confidants, and passionate lovers. She is South Korean, a virtuoso pianist who has given up the instrument because she isn't THE very best in the world, and is searching for meaning in her life while trying to bury a dark, painful secret. In that quest, Phoebe makes reckless choices in everything from her alcohol consumption to men she takes in her bed.

• Will, a born-again Christian who has lost his faith, is a poor, scholarship student who is trying to hide his poverty from his new, rich friends—all the while secretly working a job and sending most of his money to his mother. He falls hopelessly in love with Phoebe.

• John Leal, a former Edwards student, who claims he was once captured by the North Koreans and spent five months in a gulag there, is a charismatic man on a mission. He ensnares the vulnerable Phoebe in his lurid Christian-based cult he has named Jejah and essentially brainwashes his troubled disciples to commit devious plans of homegrown terrorism.

What makes this book special: Quite simply, the language. The writing. Each sentence is perfect and nearly poetic. I was truly astounded—over and over again—reading such sentences. Such incredible beauty!

What makes this book difficult: While I do view it as great literature, it is real work to read this book. It might even qualify as hard work! Not only is too much packed into too few pages, but also parts of it are totally baffling. A real puzzle! And I don't think creating this kind of confusion is poetic license on the part of the author. Befuddling readers should be the No. 1 item on any author's "do not do" list. It's for this reason that I gave this otherwise excellent literary work of art four stars instead of five. (less)

A Hundred Summers
by Beatriz Williams

This Is the Perfect Summer Read…a ChickLit Delight! (4/19/2023)

This is the perfect beach book—even if you can't make it to the sand and waves this year. It's sassy and fun with colorful characters, lots of romance, and a plot that is so gripping you won't want to stop reading. It is nearly perfect ChickLit!

Taking place in 1931-32 and …more

Trust Exercise: A Novel
by Susan Choi

Raw, Shocking, and Bold: And I'm Not Sure I Really Understand It (4/19/2023)

I will succinctly describe this book in one word: raw. And while it is also powerful, daring, shocking, confusing, and bold, above all else it is raw.

Written by Susan Choi, this is the story of a group of talented high school students in an unnamed Southern town who are …more

You Think It, I'll Say It: Stories
by Curtis Sittenfeld

This Collection of Short Stories Is Simply Wonderful! (4/19/2023)

Zing! Each of these 10 original short stories by Curtis Sittenfeld has something special in it, something that gives it a zing, a pop, a punch. Sometimes it's a truly unexpected plot twist, sometimes it's just a brilliant observation, and sometimes it's something so totally …more

Dawson's Fall
by Roxana Robinson

The First Half Is a Slog…but Keep Reading! The Reward of the Second Half Is So Very Much Worth It (4/19/2023)

Question: When you're reading a book you don't particularly like, do you stop—as in, too many books, too little time—or do keep going so that if it gets better, you won't miss out on something amazing? I fall into the latter category. (I always keep going…no matter what.) …more And I'm so happy I kept trudging through the first half of this book because the second half is exceptional.

Written by Roxana Robinson, this is the true story of her ancestors beginning with one Francis Warrington Dawson, who in 1862 at age 21 left his home country of England and sailed to the United States so he could fight for the confederacy. Dawson was a bit confused about the point of the Civil War, thinking it was only about state's rights and not realizing the true reason: the scourge of slavery in the South. Still, he fought and he stayed, settling in Charleston, South Carolina where he owned and edited a newspaper—one that was so liberal and so divergent from common Southern sentiment at the time that he struggled to keep the paper in print.

The first half of this book felt like a bait-and-switch to me. It is billed as a novel, a work of fiction. But when I started reading, it felt like nonfiction—so much so, that I checked to verify it was a novel! The author was blessed to have access to numerous primary sources, including diaries, copious family papers, and the content of Dawson's newspapers. Instead of using those resources to better tell a fictional tale, she uses those resources as the bones of the book. The "story" is secondary. Diary entries, some of which are very long, and (bizarre, but fascinating) newspaper stories dominate the first half of the book.

And then suddenly—and it really is quite suddenly—the narrative totally changes tone and becomes what I thought the book would be when I bought it: a fascinating, extraordinarily well-written historical novel with fully-developed characters and a compelling, enthralling plot that will keep you reading. I understand that the first half of the book, which was a bit of a slog to read, set the stage for the main story by delineating the background facts; I just wish an editor had encouraged the author to rewrite it—and still give all the facts—so it better fit the mold of a novel.

All this said, the underlying message of the book—how we treat "the other"—is so vitally important. In this case, the focus is on the former Southern slaves, who after emancipation suffered extraordinary poverty, high mortality rates, and a generally miserable existence. In the South in the decades following the Civil War it often felt as if white society followed the rule of violence instead of the rule of law. The book's historical message still resonates quite loudly for today's politics. (less)

The Woman in the Window: A Novel
by A. Finn

Beware Reading This Book! You WILL Read Past Your Bedtime (4/19/2023)

I gave this book five stars for one simple reason: It's really, really good. That said, this is not great literature. But so what? It's a gripping, captivating story, and even the snobbiest (er, most selective) readers occasionally need a totally plot-driven, page-turning …more

The Twelve-Mile Straight: A Novel
by Eleanor Henderson

Beautifully Written with Empathy and Wisdom—But Not an Easy Book to Read (4/19/2023)

This is an extraordinary book that will transport you to a time and place of which you probably have little or no knowledge: rural Georgia at the start of the Great Depression. You will feel it. You will smell it. You will taste it. Yes, that is how exceptionally well this …more

One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment
by Mei Fong

Rife With Horror Stories, This Book Details the Unforeseen Consequences of China's One-Child Policy (4/19/2023)

For Americans, the idea that the government would mandate that couples could have only one child is the stuff of dystopian novels. It is not real life. But in 1980, the Chinese government did just that, and in the sweep of a pen created a law that dizzyingly overturned …more hundreds of years of Chinese culture: Large families not only provide economic sustenance now, but also care for the elderly later.

Written by Mei Fong, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was born in China and lived much of her life there, this book looks at the unforeseen consequences of this Orwellian policy—ramifications so severe, so dire and so ominous that China has reversed the one-child policy and now allows (many) couples to have two children. (Of course, they first have to apply to the government for permission.)

The book is rife with horror stories about the human impact of the one-child policy:
• Find out how China enforces the one-child policy by paying someone in the neighborhood to keep track of who has a child and if there is an "out-of-plan pregnancy."
• Find out the truly horrific and violent ways the one-child policy was enforced.
• Find out why "out-of-plan" children—and there are some 13 million people in China who fit this description--are denied a lifetime of public services, including education and health care.
• Find out why "birth planning" officials, as well as physicians, were paid bonuses for the number of abortions and sterilizations they achieved.
• Find out why there was a rash of infanticide and gendercide in a culture that values males over females.
• And if the girl babies are aborted or killed/abandoned at birth, who will all those boy babies marry one day? Find out the effect of a nation where the boys are so spoiled they are nicknamed "Little Emperors" and then grow up to be lonely bachelors.
• When a couple's only child dies, they are grief-stricken, of course. But find out the horrible and inhumane things that then happen to them, courtesy of the Chinese government, because they have no offspring.
• Find out why China's very future as a country could be at risk.
• And here is the ultimate irony: The vast majority of China's young couples today truly think that one child is just fine and have no desire for more. Find out the not-so-surprising reason why.

This book is imminently readable and sprinkled throughout with the author's first-hand observations and poignant stories of the sometimes tragic effect on real people of the one-child policy. Highly recommended. (less)

Bel Canto
by Ann Patchett

This Book Is Pure Genius—A Real Treasure! (4/19/2023)

If all you do is read the plot summary of this book—in an unnamed South American country, terrorists storm the birthday party of a Japanese electronics executive in a botched attempt to kidnap that country's president—you would never know that this exceptional book by Ann …more

The Flight Attendant
by Chris Bohjalian

A Spellbinding and Intelligent Thriller (4/19/2023)

Have you noticed all the hype that has surrounded this book by Chris Bohjalian ever since it was published in March 2018? Yeah, it's all true—and then some. Do find a comfy chair because this spellbinding and intelligent thriller is so engrossing and riveting you won't want …more

Uncommon Type: Some Stories
by Tom Hanks

Deftly Written with Wit and Intelligence, This Collection of Stories Is a True Delight (4/19/2023)

Tom Hanks can do it all. OK, come to think of it, I have never heard him sing. While we all know the two-time Oscar winner can act, now we know he can also write fiction. And write it really well. This eclectic collection of 17 highly original and wildly imaginative short …more

American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land
by Monica Hesse

Monica Hesse's Compelling Reporting Is as Mesmerizing as the Best Storytelling (4/19/2023)

Quite possibly, it could happen anywhere.

From November 12, 2012 to April 1, 2013, an astonishing 86 fires were deliberately set in rural Accomack County, Virginia, a sliver of Eastern Shore land bordered on one side by the Chesapeake Bay and on the other by the Atlantic …more

The God of Small Things
by Arundhati Roy

This Is Great Literature, But It's Also a Very Challenging and Difficult Book to Read (4/19/2023)

This is literature, perhaps even great literature. (This debut novel by Arundhati Roy did win the Man Booker prize in 1997, after all.) But that doesn't mean it is an easy book to read. Quite the opposite. It's a real challenge.

Taking place in the small Indian town of …more Ayemenem, this is the story of twins Rahel and Estha and their deeply troubled extended family. The plot, which involves failed marriages, illicit love affairs, deaths, horrific forms of betrayal, and two kids trying to figure it all out, is secondary to the overarching theme of how we sometimes purposely and sometimes inadvertently destroy our own lives—generation after generation after generation. It is a story about family fights, forbidden love, forbidden sex, violent spousal abuse, child sexual abuse, incest, Indian politics, and the insurmountable differences between classes in India. And through it all Roy writes with a razor-sharp sharp perception of the comedy and tragedy of the human condition. Escapist reading this is not.

What makes it great literature: This is a celebration of language and the beauty of words. Each word is carefully chosen. Each sentence is perfect. The words flow like poetry and demand to be read a second time for their sheer beauty. But this isn't poetry. It's a novel. The structure, style and extraordinary word play are highly imaginative, perhaps even the work of a genius.

What makes it challenging: This tragic story is not told chronologically, jumping primarily between two distinct times—two weeks when the twins are 7 years old and later when they are 31 years old. And sometimes the jump comes without warning, which makes it very confusing. Key plot points are revealed long before they actually occur. And even while a major part of the plot is unfolding, the action jumps in time—from one day ahead to four days behind to two weeks ahead. As the author herself says, "It begins at the end and ends in the middle." Reading this book was not relaxing; it was work!

Advice: The first chapter is dense in important information, but because it jumps around in time and introduces many characters (yay for the Kindle X-ray feature!), I decided to reread the first 20 pages, something I don't remember ever doing before. It then all clicked for me…and I was off and running. (less)

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