Bad Animals: A Novel
by Sarah Braunstein
Convoluted Tale (1/29/2024)
I love books, libraries and authors, and I hoped 'to like this book better than I did. It seemed to me to be all over the place, and made me wonder if the author ever decided exactly which story she was telling.
I kept reading, not because the plot was suspenseful or exciting, but in hope of a revelation that would tie it all together. I didn't hate the book and think it might promote a LOT of discussion for book clubs.
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge
by Spencer Quinn
Fun & Feisty Retiree (4/11/2023)
A quick and entertaining read that I enjoyed more than I anticipated. Senior citizens constantly are warned about telephone scams, but business-savvy widow Mrs. Plansky inexplicably falls for one, Her $4 million plus nest egg disappears in an instant, and the feisty retiree heads for Romania to get it back.
The story is well written and enjoyable. Reading about Romania was interesting and made a refreshing change. The plot requires readers to accept that a 71-year-old woman with a recent hip replacement could crawl through attics and hidden passages, drive a motorbike through a snowstorm, face down a thug who terrifies everyone else, rappel down the side of a building, etc. I don't know whether to be intimidated, envious or encouraged for the future.
Feisty retirees seem to be in vogue now, maybe because older readers enjoy them and buy books
Last House Before the Mountain
by Monika Helfer
Hardly Anyone Likable (2/27/2023)
I found it hard to get into this strange tale about three generations living in a remote corner of Austria. The plot centers on the years the father is away fighting in WWI, and stories are retold by several siblings, becoming a bit repetitive. There are no chapters or headings, and narration jumps back and forth in time as well as between characters. Very little is linear.
The large Babage (meaning riff-raff) family lives on the village outskirts and are objects of curiosity, disdain and lust. They keep to themselves and take care of each other. Villagers see what they want to see and are conniving, judgmental and uncharitable. All the characters seem to be out for what they can get, and hardly a single one is likable.
My favorite bit was the narrator comparing family members to Pieter Bruegel, the Elder's paintings of country life. It helped me visualize them and how they lived.
