I'm a stay-at-home mother of two. Despite the insanity of my life, I always find time to read...it is my outlet and my passion. I also love to cook and appreciate a good glass (or bottle) of wine. If you would like to contact me, my e-mail is rnawrot@cfl.rr.com.
If you have been around me long enough, I am sure you have heard me blab incessantly about my love affair with Shriver's book "The Post-Birthday World". I won't go into it here, but suffice it to say that it is clever and brilliant and is one of my top 10 books ever. I'd been told by many a blogger that "We Need to Talk About Kevin" was equally as clever and brilliant, and was backed up by the fact that it won the Orange Prize in 2005. I needed no further arm-twisting.
It took me nearly three weeks to read it. Granted, this was during my Cursillo weekend, and the set-up and running of the Book Fair. Still, the best I could do is a handful of pages a day. On an earlier Sunday Salon, I think I likened this book to slogging knee-deep through a dark, underground sewer. Waiting and thinking about this book, chewing it over in my mind, is not going to make the review any easier. It left toxins in its wake that must be purged immediately, lest they get the best of me.
The book is an epistolic novel in the form of letters, from Eva to her husband Franklin, two years after their son planned and killed eleven people at his school. As a form of therapy, Eva recounts their lives before they had children, her thoughts on her career, and her debate on whether or not to have children. Slowly and painstakingly, with all of her cards on the table and heart on her sleeve, she relives Kevin's youth...his emotional distance, her suspicion of the depth of Kevin's psychosis even at a young age, and how this drove the marriage to its ends. The story climaxes on the day in question, Thursday, where so many lives were systematically destroyed.
At the heart of the novel is not only the examination of a disturbed soul that appears to have been innate at birth, but the role of a mother in the creation of such a monster. These are questions every mother does ask herself - am I screwing up my kids? Am I nurturing enough? Am I too harsh? To permissive? Eva suffers so with these questions. Granted, she does come across as a tough cookie, maybe a little cold, and not the maternal type. But is it solely her fault that her son is a homicidal sociopath? She is pretty hard on herself, wearing every ugly comment, smack on the rump and unsupportive action around her neck like an albatross.
I am besotted with Shriver's prose. Her words and similes are complex and clever (I know I keep using that word, but this is what she is). She goes off on tangents, and I follow like a little lap dog. I'd follow her tangents anywhere. But this book? It took me to the darkest depths of hell, my friends. About halfway through the book, with sick realization, it dawned on me where it was all going. I knew the big secret, the big "reveal" at the end. My heart was sick. In those last twenty pages, I felt like I was trying to walk with ten pounds of mud on the bottom of my shoes. I didn't want to read, but I had to, because I needed to move on. I think I actually groaned out loud. Never has a book been so painful for me to read. I suppose there is a tiny shard of hope at the end, but it wasn't enough to help me out of the hole I found myself in.
So what is my bottom line? Let's get this straight...Shriver is brilliant. This isn't just another mediocre book, and it surely deserved the Orange Prize. It is just something you need to read when you are feeling resilient. I don't think I can separate myself enough from the pain and anguish of reading this book to give it five stars, though on merit alone it deserves it. It will be a story that knocks around in my head for a long long time.
I learned this late in 2009...if you ever want a creepy, atmospheric, character-driven piece of literature, you can usually find what you are looking for in a Daphne Du Maurier novel. Probably best known for her short-story The Birds, or her sweeping tale of Manderley in Rebecca, she is a master of suspense and storytelling. This is not the stuff of Stephen King; her art is much more subtle and seems to have a knack for leaving you hanging at the end, asking "wha???".
The story centers on young Phillip Ashley, orphaned at a young age and raised by his beloved older cousin Ambrose. While on vacation in Italy, Ambrose meets a cousin named Rachel, falls in love and gets married, all the while writing to Phillip, providing a detailed account of the whirlwind courtship. Suddenly, the letters become scarce, and start to sound like ravings of a paranoid madman, calling his new wife his tormentor. Concerned, Phillip travels to Italy to visit his cousin, but finds that he has passed away, apparently of a "fever" caused by a brain tumor. Hmm...
A few weeks later, Rachel comes a-callin', under the guise of delivering Ambrose's effects. Phillip is determined to despise her, but just cannot resist her easy manner, her beauty and vulnerability. He falls and he falls hard, acting like a complete lovesick fool, ready to offer Rachel a limb or whatever it takes to win her heart. It is under this disability that Phillip must answer some tough questions. Is he being used? Was Ambrose's death accidental? Just who, exactly, is this Rachel? What are her motives and are they pure? These are questions you will be pondering for days after you've turned the last page.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the plot of this book. In fact, if you have any sense of Du Maurier, it all becomes clear within five or six chapters. Still, this doesn't lessen the fun of the journey. The entire story is narrated by Phillip, who is definitely not without bias. We live inside his heart and breathe all of the emotions that a first love can bring...self-doubt, elation, jealousy, paranoia, depression. It's not long, though, before you begin to question his judgement. This is the thrill of "My Cousin Rachel" really - in figuring out the truth. To me, there is no better exercise for the mind. After finishing this one, you might just feel like you've run a few laps, envigorated and ready for more.
My initial thought was "someone should have warned me". Here I was, doing my daily exercising on the elliptical machine, finishing this book and SOBBING. Like ugly, red-faced, nose-running, uncontrollable sobbing. Still, I really have only myself to blame. There is a dog head on the cover, so I suppose crying is a given for me. I lost my yellow lab almost six years ago, and there isn't a day I don't miss her. So the book could be about dogs romping happily in a field of flowers, and I would still cry.
The book is both completely predictable, and highly unique. It is unique because the story is narrated by an elderly dog, Enzo. Enzo is a very bright, un-doglike dog, who has intelligent thoughts and complex reasoning. He has learned much about life as an active member of a family of three (Denny, Eve and their daughter Zoe), and from watching the television while everyone is away during the day. It is through Enzo's eyes that we experience this family's tragedy.
The book is predictable in plot. Eve discovers she has brain cancer, and the family is ripped apart. Denny must earn a living (full-time employee of an exotic auto repair shop, part-time race car driver), so while Eve is in the hospital, Zoe spends time with Eve's parents, who happen to be spiteful and mean-spirited. Bad things happen, and you can see them coming a mile away. There are so many bad things that happen, it made me uncomfortable. But Enzo believes in karma, which, in predictable novels, usually means the playing field will eventually be leveled and there will be rays of hope shine through at the end. And there was.
Throughout the book, there are lots of details provided about race car driving, and analogies made between racing and life. I'm not a huge fan of racing, so I was a bit ambivalent about these sections. It didn't necessarily take away from the book, but for me didn't add anything either. The one scene that will never leave my mind, however, is when Denny takes Enzo on a ride in a race car on a track. He straps the dog in, and away they go, Enzo having the time of his life, barking twice (which means "faster") throughout the ride. Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. I know, I'm a sap.
Some might find the anthropomorphizing in this book way over the top, and it is. I'd like to think that dogs can understand everything we say, and have favorite movie stars, and are interested in what happens to dogs when they die in Mongolia, but I'm kidding myself. I took it all in fun though. In this book, it works so well. One can only fall in love with Enzo's innocence, his loyalty, his sense of humor and this outlook on life. And boy does it make me want a dog.
Thanks go to James @ Ready When You Are, C.B. (and to Dakota for picking my name in the giveaway!) for sending me this book!
I've had this book on my shelf for several months, which I won as a giveaway from Frances @ Nonsuch Book. Thanks Frances! I selected it for my next Random Reading Challenge book, and took it with me on my cruise with my girlfriends. It was short (only 215 pages) and was described as a "full-blown comedy". It seemed the perfect match for what would be my state of mind on the trip.
Laura and Charlie Rider have been married for 12 years, and own a successful landscape business in a small town in Wisconsin. Charlie is an eccentric but lovable free-spirit. Laura has grown a little bored with the marriage, and has decided she is done with sex. She has also always wanted to write a romance novel, despite the fact that she denies any romance in her real life, reads infrequently, and hasn't written anything more complicated than her monthly landscaping newsletter. She believes so much in her skill and originality that she feels she can transcend the stereotypical romance, and will cause the clouds to part when she unlocks the secret of what Every Woman wants in a man.
Every Woman just happens to come in the form of Jenna Faroli, a local celebrity who broadcasts a nationally-recognized radio show. Laura has always had a fixation on Jenna - idol worship from afar. When Jenna and Charlie Rider just happen to bump into each other and exchange e-mails, Laura sees her opportunity. Posing as her husband, Laura begins an online correspondence with Jenna, luring her into a flirtatious relationship. A mental menage-a-trois if you will. Soon, as part of her "research project", Laura encourages Charlie to meet with Jenna:
Studying Jenna was the goal. She must keep in mind that if Jenna, the most superior kind of woman, could love Charlie, then Every Woman was capable of loving him, and Laura would understand the universal female. Laura must always keep her eye on that prize.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to predict the outcome of Laura's idiotic plan, but Hamilton kicks it up a notch with a twist leaving you shaking your head saying "oh she DID NOT just do that!". The characters are amazingly vivid and real for such a short book, and the plot is clever.
I can't say I found the story all that comedic however. It did have some great moments, but to describe the book as a full-blown comedy is overstating things in my opinion. My reaction at the end of the book was to sit there and gape for a moment, then throw it. My opinion of Laura Rider was rather benign at the beginning of the story, but by the end had firmly declared her to be a despicable, conniving, narcissistic dumbass. Yes, I felt that strongly. Is that a sign of a great book? Probably. I love to hate characters, but I just couldn't get past it here.
I probably need to do a little meditating to figure out why, for example, I find an evil character like Fumero in Shadow of the Wind thrilling, but can't even think about Laura Rider without wanting to slap someone. (I promise not to take it out on my cats or kids or pig.) Perhaps it is because her character is completely oblivious to what she has done.
I did find this video on YouTube of an interview with Jane, and it really is quite endearing. I like her alot, and she gives a little insight to what inspired this book (cosmic karma at work...she was on a cruise ship!).
"Sometimes what happens in Vegas...follows you home". Killer blurb on the back of the book. I mean, how can you resist? I've had this book sitting on my shelves for probably a good six to eight months, and recently picked it randomly to read for my Random Reading Challenge. I took it with me on my girls' cruise getaway, and it was just what the doctor ordered. No Nazi crimes, no serial murderers, no ghosts. Just pure romantic fun.
What we have here is a very predictable, but very sweet fairy tale of sorts. The type of story you can totally see as a rompish flick starring Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kucher, perhaps? Although I generally loathe predictable, it was OK in this scenario.
Peggy Adams, a successful New York businesswoman, goes to Vegas to celebrate a friend's upcoming nuptials, gets tanked, and wakes up in bed with a strange (handsome) man. Never mind that Peggy is living with a good-looking guy, who just happens to be terrified of commitment. She does a quick walk of shame back to her room, boards a plane home, and tries to forget her indiscretion. Except that she soon gets a call from the strange man, named Luke Sedgewick of the Connecticut Sedgewicks, informing her that they actually got married on the night of their Vegas drinking spree. Oops. Darned tequila will do it every time.
Before Luke and Peggy can quickly arrange a annulment, Luke's old, eccentric great-aunt Abigail gets involved. The old-money Sedgewick name ends at Luke, you see. Aunt Abigail offers the family estate and fortune to Luke and Peggy if they stay married for a year. An inconvenience to say the least, but Peggy and Luke can't ignore the financial possibilities, and decide to give it a go. There are the usual obstacles (how to inform the live-in boyfriend, or the hot tamale girlfriend, or the parents, how to pretend to be in love before Abigail's stuffy, small New England community). It is easy to ride the wave that you can see coming a mile away. There are a few side plots to spice things up...a friend going through in vitro, the ex-boyfriend that won't go away, a hidden treasure, etc. It is a nice, pleasurable fantasy, if you are looking for one.
Give this one a try when your mind needs a tall glass of a strawberry dacqueri. You'll feel refreshed and ready for another dose of seriousness.
I am happy to review my very first of twelve books that qualify for my Random Reading Challenge. I must say, it is an absolute hoot to stack all my TBR's in a huge pile, number them, then grab a number from random.org to see what my next read will be! This book was a giveaway that I won from Frances of Nonsuch Book. Thanks Frances!
In 2005, something very strange happened. In the multi-state Powerball lottery, where normally only a few people might choose the winning numbers, dozens of people from all over the country hit it big. A conspiracy? Fraud? No! These people played the numbers from their fortune cookies. Jennifer 8. Lee, a Chinese-American, was intrigued, and set off to find out more.
What follows is a scatter-shot investigation of everything Chinese. Who invented the fortune cookie? Not the Chinese, as we are all inclined to guess, but research would show the Japanese responsible for the most oft-eaten desert in America.
We learn about the origination of the idea to deliver Chinese food to the masses, the marketing, the competition, and the standardization of menus. About the finer touches of brewing soy sauce. About the intertwined relationship between the Jewish community and Chinese food. About a scandal involving kosher ducks. About the perils of being a Chinese delivery person. The burnout of fortune-writers, did Confucius really say all that stuff, and the importance of screening out those fortunes that may offend someone. Did you know that General Tso's chicken does not exist in China, but is truly an American invention?
How is it that all Chinese restaurants are mom and pop shops, but are eerily interchangeable? What price does a Chinese family pay to own and run one of these restaurants? Ms. Lee tells us of Chinese immigrants that spent tens of thousands of dollars and risked their lives to come to America, and that a majority of them end up working in the restaurant industry. Ever wonder the name and location of the greatest Chinese restaurant in the world? Are you dizzy yet?
I am almost speechless. Almost. Don't get me wrong, I love Chinese food like the rest of America. This book is just chock full of facts about anything remotely related to Chinese food. And then some. The facts are interesting. The writing is factual and organized. But if it weren't for Jennifer 8. Lee's earnest passion for her topic, I would have set this aside after the kosher duck scandal. It was just too much random information about a topic in which I have only a casual interest. I will admit, though, that I am a softie. How can you turn your back on a girl that waxes poetic about a fortune cookie:
"An unbroken fortune cookie and an unexpired lottery ticket: they both hold promise. There is no sense of disappointment, of unfulfilled potential. It's a bit like youth. Both also ask for a small leap of faith. If you believe in the potential of the lucky number, in the upbeat fortune, you will be happier. It's a little bit of optimism packaged inside a wafer, an American import."
Do you ever feel like your life is over-scheduled? Do you know what you are reading for the next three months? Typical to my nature, I seem to have gotten myself into a little bit of a reading rut. Not that what I'm reading isn't marvelous, but I have my reading life planned down to the point where my calendar is filled. So when I saw this challenge pop up, I knew I needed it badly.
Caribousmom is hosting the Random Reading Challenge, which runs from August 1, 2009 to July 31, 2010. There are several levels of challenges to meet everyone's needs, but I'm taking the Level III, which is a 12 book commitment. Here is how it works:
Arrange a large pile of some or all of your TBR books, and number them.
Use a random number program to select a number. That is the book you get to read. Books should be selected one at a time, as you read them.
Absolutely no lists! This is meant to get you out of your planning rut!
No reviews required, but if you would like to share, the host site will add a Mr. Linky after August 1st.
You don't need to have a blog to join.
There are prizes! It really doesn't get any easier guys. We all complain about the growing height of Mt. TBR, and this is the perfect way to force ourselves into the thick of it. Come and join me in the fun, and comfort me in the insanity of joining another challenge!
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