Early this winter a friend of mine, Sharon, was waiting desperately to buy the newest Harlan Coben. I asked who he was and she looked at me like I had two heads. I figured I better get on the ball and check out his work.
I found The Innocent in paperback, which generally means it did very well in it’s first run. Always a good sign. The story is a murder mystery but the plot is much more intricate than many I’ve read.
Without giving too much away there are two stories that intertwine beautifully in the end (I had no clue as to the ending which is a nice – and rare - surprise). The main character, Matt Hunter, is just released from prison for his role in a deadly fight. The fight occurs at Umass Amherst (my alma mater) during a fraternity party. The man Matt struggled with is killed and Matt is sent to prison for ten years. When he gets out he reconnects with an old girlfriend, Olivia, and they marry.
The two seem to be on the path to a normal life when Matt suddenly receives a video of his wife with another man. This leads to the second story, which unfolds as Matt tries to dig for the truth. Is his wife cheating? Who is the man she is seen with in the video? Matt desperately wants to believe his wife and, eventually, they work together to unravel the mystery of a dead nun and a bribery ring that leads back to Olivia’s past. Their relationship and his love for her is something that sounds impossible but has the reader believing in trust and marriage again.
The Innocent would be a great summer read or an airplane book. I am guessing the rest of Harlan Coben’s work is similar. Entertaining, fun murder mysteries. I am looking forward to picking up a few more.
N.B. I've finished The Murderer's Daughter - will be posting a review in the next few days.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Randy Susan Meyers
I found her story inspiring. Before settling into writing full-time Randy was a bartender, social worker and battered-men's counselor. She is passionate and eloquent about her writing and about the entire process she navigated in order to get her novel published.
The Murderer's Daughters is about a man who kills his wife and stabs one of his daughters. It's written from the daughters point of view and takes the reader through the girl's childhood to maturity. I'm only on page 45 (since 5:40 this morning) and am totally hooked. I'll post a real review later but am certain it's going to be good.
I encourage all (ten, twenty?) of my readers to pick up a copy AND to check out her blog. Single women will benefit greatly from her most recent post on 'Why not to date a bad boy'. Check it out.
Seriously.
Now.
http://www.randysusanmeyers.com/blog/
Buy the book here.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
SNEAK PREVIEW!! Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader (see previous review) has gratiously posted the first three chapters of her new book The Map of True Places. Click on the link to go directly to the page. Of course, I read them and they are GREAT!! Salem and Marblehead are upfront and center in the prologue with Boston being the location for chapter 1 and 2. A couple tidbits I really loved "grand theft boato" - that's a great quip. It's one of those things you write and then think about taking out because you wonder if others will get it. Also, her main character has a great explanation of the word 'nonetheless', which I plan to add to my daily vocabulary as soon as possible.
The book is coming out May 1st but you can pre-order it by clicking here!
The book is coming out May 1st but you can pre-order it by clicking here!
Help by Kathryn Stockett
Help is a New York Times bestseller and rightfully so. I bought this book for my MIL (mother-in-law for those not up on their internet-speak) for Christmas. I badgered her to lend it to me when it kept hanging on to the bestsellers lists. As she handed it to me she said, “Can you get it back fairly quickly? I have a bunch of people who want to borrow it.” Help is fairly long but I was able to get through it in about two weeks.
The story gracefully lays out the feelings and thoughts of a group of black maids living in Mississippi in the fifties. It’s told from various points of view starting with, Abileen, one of the maids narrating her feelings about her employer, a white woman. The dialect is spot on especially considering the author is a young white woman. In the first few chapters Abileen works at a bridge party for her boss. One of the women at the bridge party approaches Abileen about writing a book based on the experiences of black maids living in Mississippi. This being the time of Martin Luther King and not AFTER Martin Luther King, the maids are reluctant but eventually capitulate and begin meeting with the writer.
Many of the stories about the maids’ treatment are hard to read – cringe inducing really – but no doubt based on true accounts as reported by black maids at that time. One story in which the “popular” white woman suggests her friends install bathrooms for their coloreds so whites don’t get their diseases, is particularly offensive but, in the end, the writer and her protégé retaliate in a way that makes you laugh out loud (or lol for us cool folks).
There weren’t any down chapters or slow parts to this book. The characters were well rounded, eccentric and believable. The plot was interesting and had you longing for the book, the fruit of their many heart wrenching meetings, to be published.
Help is a novel you should buy and lend to your friends.
Kathryn Stockett's web site: http://www.kathrynstockett.com/
N.B. This weekend author Randy Susan Meyer is coming to the South Shore to speak about her new novel The Murderer’s Daughters. She will be at the North River Arts Society in Marshfield on Saturday at 2pm and then at the Duxbury Library at 2pm. If you are interested check it out!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Two new books reviewed!
I've been a reading manic lately. Both books are exceptional reads. One was quick (for me), the other not so quick but well worth sticking with.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
This was an epic at 529 pages. It was the story of young man's roots going back to Greece and growing up in America. Boring, right? Not so much. Turns out the boy was born a hermaphrodite (both male and female genitalia). He was raised as a girl but later decides to become a boy after much trial and tribulation lead him to realize his true inclinations.
It's an epic because the book takes you from thenbeginning of his family tree, where his grandparents, who are brother and sister, flee Smyra for the United States. Theirs is a true love story and you are able to go along with the incest because of the time frame (early 1920's) and the lack of external socializing available in their small village.
Once they come to America and have children, you're introduced to the main character's parents. Tessie and Milt are second cousins but again, because of their traditional Greek upbringing and the story of their love affair, the reader is able to overlook the implausibility of another somewhat incestuous relationsip.
Callie, the main character, is born and, finally, her story takes over. She is tall and ungainly but grows her hair extremely long to hide behind . Who doesn't know a young woman who has done such a thing?
She is sent to a private girls school where she makes a friend who will shape her life. It turns out the perfect redheaded suburbanite is willing to experiment with Callie as long as Callie does all the work. This affair of sorts ends in Callie's first real sexual experience with her friend's brother.
Fast forward, Callie is in an accident and her sexual anomoly is discovered by doctors who had thus far ignored her genital issues. She runs away and becomes Cal. Cal hitchhikes across the country to find himself in San Fransisco which turns out to be good and not so good for him. Having no money, he is dragged into an exotic dance club and presented as something of a freak with other similar performers, whom he, of course, befriends.
Throughout the story the writer is able to deftly switch between the past and present without making your head spin. His writing is also comfortable and humorous. He gives wonderful nicknames to many of the supporting characters making me laugh out loud more than once.
If you have the time - this one took me about 3 week - it's worth a read.
For the sheer size of the book you may want to buy so you don't feel rushed (and incur a dreaded $.55 charge from the library).
Sarah's Key by Tatiana DeRosnay
This book absolutely blew me away. I almost cried at many spots throughout it. The writing is fantastic. I have no idea how this woman wrote it without having a nervous breakdown. If you think the Shack (see previous review) was tough to get through get a load of this book!
The story is about a journalist who is assigned to write about the Vel' d' Hiv' roundup of 1942. What the heck is that you may ask. Well, that's basically the point of the book. No one knows what it is and it actually did happen. The author includes a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that the story is fictional but the round up is fact.
The Vel' d' Hiv' round up was on July 16, 1942 in occupied France. The French police went around and rounded up 13,000 French Jews, most of whom were women and children. The story is told from the point of view of one of these children, Sarah, and Julia Jarmond, the journalist assigned to write about the round up 60 years later.
The two stories intersect when Julia realizes the apartment she is about to live in was once rented by one of the families that was rounded up and sentenced to death at Aushwitz. It becomes her mission to find the little girl who, documentation identifies, escaped.
Torture, that's all I can say about reading the Sarah chapters. They are descriptive and painful at a base level. Your eyes want to look away from the page while reading. I think it's important that we all read about these historical atrocities in order to be reminded of what human beings are capable of then and now.
So - if you can take it, read it. I highly suggest it.
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
This was an epic at 529 pages. It was the story of young man's roots going back to Greece and growing up in America. Boring, right? Not so much. Turns out the boy was born a hermaphrodite (both male and female genitalia). He was raised as a girl but later decides to become a boy after much trial and tribulation lead him to realize his true inclinations.
It's an epic because the book takes you from thenbeginning of his family tree, where his grandparents, who are brother and sister, flee Smyra for the United States. Theirs is a true love story and you are able to go along with the incest because of the time frame (early 1920's) and the lack of external socializing available in their small village.
Once they come to America and have children, you're introduced to the main character's parents. Tessie and Milt are second cousins but again, because of their traditional Greek upbringing and the story of their love affair, the reader is able to overlook the implausibility of another somewhat incestuous relationsip.
Callie, the main character, is born and, finally, her story takes over. She is tall and ungainly but grows her hair extremely long to hide behind . Who doesn't know a young woman who has done such a thing?
She is sent to a private girls school where she makes a friend who will shape her life. It turns out the perfect redheaded suburbanite is willing to experiment with Callie as long as Callie does all the work. This affair of sorts ends in Callie's first real sexual experience with her friend's brother.
Fast forward, Callie is in an accident and her sexual anomoly is discovered by doctors who had thus far ignored her genital issues. She runs away and becomes Cal. Cal hitchhikes across the country to find himself in San Fransisco which turns out to be good and not so good for him. Having no money, he is dragged into an exotic dance club and presented as something of a freak with other similar performers, whom he, of course, befriends.
Throughout the story the writer is able to deftly switch between the past and present without making your head spin. His writing is also comfortable and humorous. He gives wonderful nicknames to many of the supporting characters making me laugh out loud more than once.
If you have the time - this one took me about 3 week - it's worth a read.
For the sheer size of the book you may want to buy so you don't feel rushed (and incur a dreaded $.55 charge from the library).
Sarah's Key by Tatiana DeRosnay
This book absolutely blew me away. I almost cried at many spots throughout it. The writing is fantastic. I have no idea how this woman wrote it without having a nervous breakdown. If you think the Shack (see previous review) was tough to get through get a load of this book!
The story is about a journalist who is assigned to write about the Vel' d' Hiv' roundup of 1942. What the heck is that you may ask. Well, that's basically the point of the book. No one knows what it is and it actually did happen. The author includes a disclaimer at the beginning of the book that the story is fictional but the round up is fact.
The Vel' d' Hiv' round up was on July 16, 1942 in occupied France. The French police went around and rounded up 13,000 French Jews, most of whom were women and children. The story is told from the point of view of one of these children, Sarah, and Julia Jarmond, the journalist assigned to write about the round up 60 years later.
The two stories intersect when Julia realizes the apartment she is about to live in was once rented by one of the families that was rounded up and sentenced to death at Aushwitz. It becomes her mission to find the little girl who, documentation identifies, escaped.
Torture, that's all I can say about reading the Sarah chapters. They are descriptive and painful at a base level. Your eyes want to look away from the page while reading. I think it's important that we all read about these historical atrocities in order to be reminded of what human beings are capable of then and now.
So - if you can take it, read it. I highly suggest it.
Monday, January 4, 2010
The Shack - by William Young
There are two things that scare the sh*t out of me. Dying and something happening to my children. If you are llike me the premise of this book is going to put you off immediately. The Shack is about a father whose daughter is kidnapped while he attempts to save his other child from drowing . He leaves his daughter unattended for five minutes and then *poof* she's gone. So right there I hate the book. It's my biggest fear realized but I hung in there because my aunt-in-law recommended it and I figured I owed it to her.
As expected, the father immerses himself in the search for his daugher for years until finally the police locate evidence indicating that the girl was murdered at a remote shack. The father must go there to identify her clothes because the body can not be found. The first third of the book is about the disappearance of the girl and the murder. I won't give away too much but it's an easy read and a page turner.
The father, who has a troubled upbringing, which is also detailed earlier in the book, searches for answers. He is summoned to the shack by an annonymous note. Questions abound. Who sent the note? Is it the killer? Could it be God himself (which makes sense in the context of the story)?
He makes a trip to the shack and finds out more about himself and his daughter than he would have had he stayed home and wallowed in his grief.
The rest of the story is heavy into theology and the divinity but it's wrapped in comical and likable characters. My only complaint is that it goes on and on where it could have been much more concise. In some areas it starts to sound like preaching but for what religion?
I read the book in about six hours (during a few days) which indicates it was easy to read and interesting. If you question what happens after you die and can pull yourself through the daughter tragedy, it's a good read, one worth renting at the library.
As expected, the father immerses himself in the search for his daugher for years until finally the police locate evidence indicating that the girl was murdered at a remote shack. The father must go there to identify her clothes because the body can not be found. The first third of the book is about the disappearance of the girl and the murder. I won't give away too much but it's an easy read and a page turner.
The father, who has a troubled upbringing, which is also detailed earlier in the book, searches for answers. He is summoned to the shack by an annonymous note. Questions abound. Who sent the note? Is it the killer? Could it be God himself (which makes sense in the context of the story)?
He makes a trip to the shack and finds out more about himself and his daughter than he would have had he stayed home and wallowed in his grief.
The rest of the story is heavy into theology and the divinity but it's wrapped in comical and likable characters. My only complaint is that it goes on and on where it could have been much more concise. In some areas it starts to sound like preaching but for what religion?
I read the book in about six hours (during a few days) which indicates it was easy to read and interesting. If you question what happens after you die and can pull yourself through the daughter tragedy, it's a good read, one worth renting at the library.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Reader - by Bernhard Schlink
This tale about a young man's coming of age is surprisingly woven into a jarring Holocaust trial. Michael Berg meets Hannah by accident. He is 15, she is older. She is an unlikeable sexual teacher to a young boy grasping for attention he doesn't receive at home. The first half of the book follows their love affair and perfectly details a young boy's emotional hurricane as his mistress toys with his heart.
As Michael matures and begins law school he is seated in the audience of a Holocaust trail. The accussed? Hannah. Michael follows the trial to it's conclusion and his life is forever changed by the experience.
This was an Oprah pick which I didn't realize until I just googled it. It isn't one of her more sappy choices. The story is about remaining strong yet allowing forgiveness where none may be deserved.
This one could be a keeper so I'd suggest you buy it.
As Michael matures and begins law school he is seated in the audience of a Holocaust trail. The accussed? Hannah. Michael follows the trial to it's conclusion and his life is forever changed by the experience.
This was an Oprah pick which I didn't realize until I just googled it. It isn't one of her more sappy choices. The story is about remaining strong yet allowing forgiveness where none may be deserved.
This one could be a keeper so I'd suggest you buy it.
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