Tag Archives: fiction
Card Catalog Review: The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Purchase The Underground Railroad here
Card Catalog Review: Motherless Brooklyn
Card Catalog Review: Orphans of the Carnival
Orphans of the Carnival by Carol Birch
The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit
The Wives of Los Alamos by TaraShea Nesbit
Over the last six months, I’ve seen TaraShea Nesbit’s The Wives of Los Alamos pop up on various book lists and recommendation websites, but I was not overly drawn to it. Initially, I thought it was non-fiction, which intrigued me a bit, but after realizing it was fictional, it just never made my ever-expanding reading list. And then, the worst happened. It was midnight; I was wide awake and bookless. The horror! After checking my library holds and realizing I was quite a ways down on all of my wait lists, I started perusing the “now available” books and this one popped up. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I downloaded it and then stayed up way to late immersed in the lives of the women who populated the newly created town of Los Alamos.
As their scientist husbands were called upon by the US government to work on a special project in the desert of the southwest, these women and their families were uprooted and packed along for the ride. It was a ride that would take them to a make-shift city where their families could not visit, their letters were read and censored and where a husband’s status determined the housing provisions. Removed from the world they knew, these wives who used to serve tea in academic circles and having nightly dinners with their husbands suddenly find themselves donning jeans, shopping in a commissary and when their husbands actually made it home for dinner, finding them mute when it came to anything work related.
While some may have had inklings of what was going on behind the closed and guarded doors where their husbands went to work each day, none expected to go down in history as a part of the town where nuclear bombs were first brought into existence.
Some people may be turned off by the first-person plural point of view that carries throughout the entire novel, thinking it feels a bit removed and “royal,” but I thought it did just the opposite, making the reader a part of the ups and downs of the unique living situation into which these women were forced. By telling the tales of various women through a “we” narration, the reader feels what it is like to be frustrated with the situation, mentally placing themselves among these women, rather than glancing in from the outside. (I do wonder though, how a male reader would feel about the very female-oriented telling of the story. It might be a much harder literary choice for men to get on board with, since it permeates the entire novel, making it quite exclusionary when it comes to audience.)
Surprisingly, I found a lot of parallels between the lives of these women who moved to Los Alamos and my own. The US Foreign Service is also an organization that uproots families (although by choice), removing them from loved ones at home, making them miss births and birthdays, holidays and homecomings. It is a world where housing is assigned and problems with housing are funneled through the employee’s workplace. Spouses are thrown into a new living situation, some prospering, some merely surviving and others throwing in the towel when the whole thing becomes too much. While it seems like odd to draw a comparison between the US’s nuclear weapons creation program and that of their Foreign Service, I did feel a certain attachment and understanding for what these women were facing.
It didn’t take more than a handful of pages for this book to catch my full attention, drawing me into the lives of a group of women who followed their husbands, for better or worse. TaraShea Nesbit’s The Wives of Los Alamos easily earned a solid:
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki
While I was home in Idaho this summer, I had the chance to meet up with my fellow English teachers from the middle school I taught at for nearly a decade. In that time, we each tried to nurture a love of reading within hundreds of students, searching for books to connect with young adults who had a wide span of reading ability. My personal love of YA literature grew in that time period, and during the school year, most of my reading was focused on middle school level books, but one fellow teacher was my lifesaver when it came to keeping me abreast of literature outside of my classroom needs. This woman read voraciously (and was an amazing teacher- I still don’t know how she does it all!) and often dropped by my classroom with a stack of books she thought I might like. When we all met up a few weeks ago (with a shou-tout to truly tasty Sandbar Restaurant in Marsing, Idaho) , true to style, she brought an entire box of books to share with the group. I think I ended up with five of them and with bags already bursting at their weight limit, I did some quick reshuffling to make sure all five made the trip to DC and then on to Malaysia, as there is nothing recommended by this woman that I would not give a shot. A Tale for the Time Being was in that pile.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki is an interesting look at the lives of two families who live on opposite sides of the world. Nao, the main narrator, is Japanese, but after living in the US with her family for the majority of her childhood, defines herself in terms of American pop culture and mannerisms, which makes her family’s financial ruin and return to Japan all the more difficult. Not only does she have to deal with their new poverty, but also the culture shock that comes with moving home to a place that doesn’t feel like home at all. As her father fights depression and survives several suicide attempts, she must find her place in this land where she doesn’t want to be, keeping a journal of her growing desire to no longer be a part of this new world.
On the opposite shore of the Pacific Ocean, Ruth, a novelist (although with nothing to show in recent years) living on an isolated island with her quirky husband, finds Nao’s journal washed up on shore after the terrible earthquake/tsunami of 2011. Ruth is instantly drawn in by Nao’s writing, feeling a connection to this teenage girl that goes beyond their shared literary interest. But, it takes Ruth time to realize that Nao is no longer the angsty teen who wrote the journal, as it what written well-before the devastation of the tsunami. Nao is either a grown woman, living a life of her own, or, she has tragically committed suicide, as she plans through her writing. Ruth can’t not find out more about this enigmatic young woman from across the sea.
Overall, the storyline is well-laid out and Ozeki’s writing is full of compelling details and descriptions. I was especially drawn to the story of Nao’s great uncle, who was forced to become a kamikaze pilot for the Japanese Air Force during World War II. But, with that said, there were a few things that really turned me off to the book as a whole, but my largest complaint was when the book delves into the world of the fantastic. I’m just not a fan of the sudden appearance of a ghost or otherworldly being in a novel that beforehand was strongly realistic fiction. When I was studying Spanish and had to take Spanish literature classes, I could just never get into these “fantastico” stories that were so prevalent in the writing. Magical realism is not my forte and at times, A Tale for the Time Being swung that pendulum pretty heavily.
A smaller, although still annoying, part of the book that I couldn’t get out of my mind was the way Ruth treats her husband. She claims to be in love with him, but she is also quick to make snide and hurtful remarks to him. This strange relationship, while not a huge plot point in the novel, was one that just felt unfinished or underdeveloped.
This novel was okay. It is definitely not something I am raving about, nor would I recommend it across the board. If I had a friend who was very interested in certain topics, whether it be Japan or the aftermath of the tsunami or western Canada, I would not hesitate to point out this title, but it isn’t a book I would buy a friend or family member as a gift. Ruth Ozeki’s novel A Tale for the Time Being earns just:
California by Edan Lepucki
How far would you be willing to push the line between right and wrong to ensure your own safety? What options would be on the table if it meant keeping your spouse and unborn child protected? At what point to the heinous choices of others become too much and you break off the relationship, even if it is providing you with the basic necessities for survival? Edan Lepucki’s new novel, California uses a post-apocalyptic outer Los Angeles setting to address these questions, creating a world where black and white are no longer distinguishable amongst the thick gray swath painted by the morals and ethics of personal survival.
Reminiscent of The Road, although less bleak and not as beautifully written, California takes place in the near future, when much of the United States has been destroyed through a series of natural disasters, followed by widespread crime and violence. As the infrastructure of cities begins to breakdown, those with the means to do so are willing to pay for protection in the form of Communities- self-contained areas that promise tranquility and peace through heavy vetting of residents and high costs for inclusion. Those without the money to buy their way into these new establishments are left to fend for themselves, some remaining in the decaying cities while others strike out on their own in the wilderness.
Cal and Frida are part of the latter. After Frida’s brother dies as a suicide bomber in the city, she and Cal realize there is no place left for them in “civilization,” so they embark on a journey into the woods where they hope to create a new life for themselves. Soon though, the desire to be with others is overwhelming and after hearing of a larger community of settlers just a few days hike away, they set out to find their neighbors. Having been warned away from this group, they are nervous, but especially Frida, who believes she is pregnant, can’t stop her curiosity of what might be just over the ridge.
What they find is a surprise on many levels. Now, they must decide if they want to be a part of this reclusive settlement (if the members will even have them) or if it would be best to go back to their small cabin and continue on their own. The longer they stay and the more they learn about this functioning outpost, the harder their decision becomes and the less in sync with one other the tight couple grows.
Lepucki forces the reader to confront a series of philosophical conundrums, both about what it means to be a family and at what point the price for security is too high. With no tightly tied up happy ending, the novel leaves the reader to put themselves in this near future setting and wonder what choices they would make and at what point it would all become too much. Although the basics of the post-apocalyptic plot aren’t’ new, the twists and turns and ethical challenges help Edan Lepucki’s debut novel, California, earn a solid:
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Martian by Andy Weir
Lately, I’ve been intrigued with this movie, Gravity that came out last fall in the States. As I wasn’t home at all during the time it was in theaters and I don’t want to pay $20 to watch it on Amazon, I’m still mostly in the dark about it. But, the reviews I read when it was out caught my attention and I am secretly hoping it will be a viewing choice on the airline when I head home in late May. With that spark of interest in outer space ignited, I was excited when I saw The Martian listed on the best books of the week on Huffington Post. (That weekly article costs me *way* too much money!) I figured this novel could tide me over until I have a chance to watch Ms. Bullock and Mr. Clooney do their thing on the eight-inch seat back screen provided by United.
Andy Weir does not disappoint! I was drawn in from the very start, sliding through pages quickly. Mark Watney, a NASA-trained astronaut, was a part of a group of scientists who were going to explore Mars for 31 sols (a bit longer than an Earth day) and then head back to our little third rock from the sun. But, through a series of unfortunate and unlucky events, he gets left behind when his colleagues are forced to call their mission, 25 sols short of their intended stay. What Watney does have going for him is those first six sols, when the team had time to establish their camp, giving him at least a bare minimal chance at survival; although what he has to survive for is quickly called into question. Is it really just prolonging the inevitable?
While I’ve read reviews that said they didn’t like the sometimes chatty tone of Watney’s diary, I thought it created a nice balance to the heavy science jargon and mathematical equations that permeate much of the tale of attempted survival. Watney is a likeable character, stuck in a horrible situation. Throughout the narrative though, it felt realistic. He doesn’t give into the overwhelming pressure put upon him and become a crumpled mass of helplessness, but his humanity shows as he does crack at times. His humor is what keeps him sane throughout the ordeal.
As would be expected of a book based on NASA and space flight, science and math play a heavy roll in the narrative. There were times I felt exhausted by the technicalities of space travel, feeling like an 11th grader stuck back in Mr. Tilsey’s chemistry class, desperately trying to balance equations, but not really understanding what I was doing. The technical parts of The Martian had that same feel for me. I would read them and get through them, but I couldn’t have summarized them with any accuracy. But, luckily for the less than scientifically-minded readers like myself, it doesn’t distractingly take away from the narrative. (Although, I am sure for those who can follow these details, the book has a whole different level of interest that I just couldn’t tap into.)
On a personal level, I love that the earth-side of this book partially takes place in northern Gansu province, in the town of Jianquan, where China’s space program is located. I’ve had a couple of chances to visit there, spending two weeks with my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers doing a summer outreach program. It was incredible to see this off-the-map town featured so heavily in an American novel.
When I get through a book, cover to cover, in just two days (work days at that!), it must be a good read! Even with just a few pages left, I wasn’t ready to bet money on the outcome and still feel like it could easily have ended differently, depending on the whims of the author when he wrote those final stages. The only thing holding Andy Weir’s book from a full five shells is the incredibly scientific passages that had me skimming in search of more action. The Martian earns a very solid:
Book Roundup- 2013
Sadly, I’m not much of a long-term goal-setter. I’m great at making plans and organizing for them, but terrible at following through with those artfully laid out efforts. That doesn’t mean I’m not moving forward and experiencing awesome new things in life (this last has allowed me to see some awesome new parts of the globe, including my new favorite place on earth- the Maldives, so I’m doing stuff, just not stuff I wrote down on paper!), it just means I’m lazy about the whole resolution thing. (Maybe this isn’t the best time of year to admit to a lack of resolution when it comes to resolutions!) Needless to say, I don’t enter a number in the Good Reads goal box (which constantly pops up when I log into my account) and I don’t have a magic number of the scale (as long as my pants still fit, I’m good!).
But, with the end of the year quickly approaching, I did take a moment to scan over my read books list on Good Reads this last week and realized I was just a couple books short of 100 for the year! Suddenly, I had a goal- I had ten days to read three books. Easy-peasy! (Maybe I should go with ten-day resolutions this year. I seem to be able to stick to them.)
Now that I have hit that nice round 1-0-0 (okay, I’m at 101 and may or may not finish 102 before next week), I thought it would be fun to do a quick round up of my best and worst when it came to books in 2013. So, with no further ado, below are my five favorite and five least favorite books of the year, in no particular order.
BEST OF 2013
And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini – Beautifully written, as always with Hosseini‘s fiction. I excitedly bought a hardback copy of this book the weekend we were in Taiwan (yay for no censorship!) and read it cover to cover in just a few days. The spinning of various tales into a larger story was done with grace and ease. The fairy tale with which the book commences not only sets the tone and themes for the rest of the book, but has stuck with me for months now. Life is all about the decisions we make, hoping that what seems right in the moment turns out to be good in the long-run.
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick- Amazing and heartbreaking. Those are the two best words I can come up with to describe this young adult novel. I couldn’t bear to walk away from Leonard, the protagonist, as he stumbled his way towards a heart wrenching decision. While definitely not an easy read, it is an important one, dealing with some very real issues faced by many teenagers.
Wool by Hugh Howey– Always a fan of the post-apocalyptic novel, I was drawn into this one very quickly. The idea of living in a silo, segregated by position and ability is a different take on the survival genre than I’ve read before. I was also intrigued by the idea that everyone who was banished happily completed their final task, even though it meant certain death. I’ve heard there are now more stories out in this series, which may just be the top of my list for Christmas gift card purchases!
The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown- I’m a huge fan of narrative non-fiction. History told through the stories of people, rather than a list of facts and dates has so much more meaning and depth to it and this book definitely did that. I also love when authors entwine various subjects into a single running narrative. (This author very much reminds me of Erik Larson.) While rowing holds no particular interest for me, the Northwest setting was a draw, and then combine in the building of the Coulee Dam and the Nazi-era Olympics and I was hooked.
The Circle by Dave Eggers- We all know technology and surveillance can quickly spin out of control, but just how willing are we to feed into the various data collection of various companies? Set in the not-so-distant future, this novel is a real eye-opener about just how much personal information we provide to the world through our Tweets, status updates, weekly blogs, etc. While the book takes these ideas to the extremes, it definitely made me stop and ponder my own digital footprint.
WORST OF 2013
Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan – I love memoir/short essay books, as I see my own writing as being in a similar vein, but I just couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for this one. Maybe it was the constant complaining about his million children (okay, not million, maybe four or five, but that must feel like a million some days) and then a page later his mooning over those same kiddos. I get that you love your kids even though they drive you nuts, but I felt like I was riding Miley Cyrus’ wrecking ball, back and forth, page to page. Because I do like this genre so much, I think I was more disappointed in this book than is fair, but when I turned the last page, I must admit to a bit of relief that it was finally over.
Headhunters on My Doorstep: A True Treasure Island Ghost Story by J. Maarten Troost- Again, another genre that I love (travel writing), but it didn’t stir an ounce of desire to pack my bags and follow in his footsteps. I’ve really enjoyed Troost’s previous books, but this one seemed hugely self-indulgent and was really just literary tangent after literary tangent. Maybe a recovering alcoholic would find solace in Troost’s travels and musings, but I was annoyed and wanted more adventure and less mental meandering.
Flu: The Story OfThe Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata – Who doesn’t enjoy a bit of creepy pandemic gore on occasion? Over the last several years, I’ve read a few books about the spread of disease from animal to human and the science behind pandemics, so I was excited or this one about the 1918 flu, but in the end, could barely make it from page to page. Maybe that was the author’s intentions- make me achy and weary and exhausted so that I commiserated more fully with the victims of the book- if so, she was a success. While the book attempted to go the route of narrative non-fiction, the characters were not well-crafted, the stories weren’t interesting and the links between them were tenuous, as best. I’m afraid there is no remedy for all that is wrong with this one.
Checkout Girl: A Life Behind the Register by Anna Sam– Again, my love of the memoir/essay genre drew me to this book and as someone who worked retail all through high school and college, I thought I’d definitely relate to her stories, but instead, I was just annoyed. Each essay was short and lacked the details needed to create a full-bodied tale. I didn’t realize it until after I finished the book and did a bit of research, but apparently the original book was in French, so I think some of the problems could possibly be linked to translation (both literal and cultural) difficulties. I wouldn’t buy this one again, even if it were in the $1.99 bin at the bookstore.
Silver Orphan by Martine Lacombe- I wanted to like this one, as it was the first galley copy I ever reviewed, but I just couldn’t get on board with it. The premise is a good one, but the whole book felt like an early draft, not a novel ready to go to publishing. Without giving the ending away, I did feel like it came a bit out of left-field and has me closing the book with some lingering questions, not about the main plot line of the book, but about new twists that were introduced on the final page. While not a terrible book, I just felt like it was still in the revision process, not one people are paying money to read quite yet.
So there you have it. The good and the bad (no ugly) of my 2013 reading list. I can’t wait to see what comes out in the new year, as I will once again be jobless by June, I should have lot of time to find new stand-outs (and those that should hide in the shadows) for 2014.
Happy reading!
(Notice there is no parallel story to go along with the number on the scale reference in the introduction. My shiny treadmill sits in the other room, awaiting the same spark of inspiration. It will come…someday!)
The Pentrals by Crystal Mack
Weird. That is the first word that comes to mind when I think back on The Pentrals by Crystal Mack. But, weird isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Weird can be unique, intriguing and definitely a draw for many. In an era where YA novels tend to be skewing heavily to the vampire/werewolf world, it is refreshing to read a story takes a fresh view of non-human characters. The idea of shadows and reflections being sentient beings is a fascinating one. That these images are not mere reproductions of us, but thinking, acting and even rebelling entities opens an endless world of possibilities. Like I said, it’s unique!
The Pentrals revolves around two main characters (although, some would consider them one and the same): Violet, a human high school student and Antares, a class two Shadow. After growing more and more frustrated with the self-destructive behavior of her human, Antares, in a fit of anger switches places with the girl she has shadowed for seventeen years. (The book is never clear on what actually happened to allow this exchange to take place, but it is somehow related to a surge of fury when Violet takes a popular pill that makes its user forget their worries and space out happily.) Once the switch has happened, it is up to Antares to not only play the role of Violet in her day to day life, trying to repair some horribly broken relationships, but also to solve a great Pentral mystery involving the rebellion of reflections.
But, before I get too lost in my thoughts about the possible narratives attached to thinking and reasoning shadows and reflections, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I don’t totally agree with Mack’s take on the topic. Granted, it was her brilliant idea, and I do like it, but I felt like there were unexplained holes in the story or times that the actions seemed impossible. Without giving too much away, after the switch is made, Antares continues to attend some and somehow miraculously knows how to read and write, although she often talks about how much shadowing takes her full attention and she doesn’t get to follow lessons. Where would she have learned these skills? I also found it odd that there wasn’t more interaction amongst the shadows on the floor. As they constantly skim over one another in the school hallways, why is there not a layer of relationships built amongst this population of beings? I wanted to know more about their world! The other part of the book that I found confusing was how in-stride Violet took the switch. She was initially scared of the change, but it took a mere page or two for her to fall easily into her roll of learning to be a shadow. Shouldn’t this teenage girl be horrified that she has become a literal shadow of herself?
This book definitely seems set up for a sequel, which I would pick up because I am invested enough in Antares’ story to want to know what happens once her adventures in Violet’s body end, but also because I’m hoping for a few of the plot gaps to be filled in. (I really do want to know more about the working of the shadow/reflection world!) Crystal Mack’s debut young adult novel has some definite narrative gaps, but creates a world intriguing enough to draw me in for another round, earning The Pentrals:
In Search of the End of the Sidewalk 