Tag: Book Club

Little Fires Everywhere

kim.harwanko

“…she was standing on the tree lawn in her robe and a pair of her son Trip’s tennis shoes, watching their house burn to the ground.” 

Now there’s an opening for you.

Set in the idyllic town of Shaker Heights, Ohio, whose residents basically crafted their own little utopia. They carefully planned a community designed to reflect their values. But utopia’s seemingly perfect setting stems from a set of rules and conditions.

Enter the disruptors Mia Warren and her 15-year-old daughter, Pearl. The story weaves a tale of the long-time residents, the Richardsons and the newcomers, the Warrens.  Elena Richardson rented the Warrens a home she owned in town.  Pearl Warren became friends with the Richardson children, and even dates one of them. The two families become even more entwined when Mia Warren becomes a part-time housekeeper for the Richardsons. 

The Warrens and Richardsons have two distinct ideologies and as the story develops you can feel the conflict swirling around even before the catalyst arrives on the scene, an infant baby girl abandoned at the local fire station.

We read this book for our April book club and most of the members enjoyed the novel. Unlike many reviews of the book, we didn’t find that the race issue, a Chinese baby being adopted by an American couple, the McCulloughs, was the main topic of the story.  We all felt that the story was about clashing family values and what happens when everyone is shouting, but no is listening. We did discuss the adoption of a Chinese baby to a white family, but really felt the story lay at the feet of Elena Richardson and Mia Warren. 

It’s so easy to judge other people and find fault in their morals and values. But sometimes you need to open your own ears and really listen.  Sometimes you’re not as far apart as you think.

Let it be….

Rating: 8.0

Lying, cheating, private jets and tons of money – what more could you ask for!

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The Last Mrs. Parrish

As winter begins its climb up north it never seems to leave quietly for its summer home. Instead it kicks and moans leaving snow and rain and wind in its wake. We in New Jersey are weary of winter and want nothing more than warm temperatures and sunny skies. So, we tend to pick saucier reads in March – anything for a little warmth.

This month we picked The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine.

The novel opens in Amber Patterson point of view. As the reader you want to empathize with the protagonist and reading through the first half of the book you simply can’t with this awful person. You continue to read because you know something must be coming.  Well, welcome to this psychological suspense novel, where all is not what it seems.

Amber manipulates her way into Daphne Parrish’s life with the guise of grieving for a dead sister. Daphne lost her sister to a devastating disease and is a board member of a charitable organization tasked to raising money to find a cure.  Amber joins the organization claiming she also lost her sister to the same illness.  Daphne takes her under her wing and the two bond over their shared grief.

Designer clothes, private jets and loads of money attract all sorts of types. Amber’s a long way from her impoverished roots in Missouri but she has learned from her previous mistakes and greedily takes on the privileged class of Long Island Sound.  As Amber gets closer and closer inside the Parrish family, she seems unstoppable.

The second half of the book is in Daphne’s point of view. I was so disgusted with Amber’s character by the time I got to the second half of the book that I almost put the book down. Don’t keep reading. Daphne’s character will keep you vested in the book.  There is another central character that I’ll let the reader discover for themselves.  Note: he made my skin crawl. This is one of those books that you can’t divulge too much without giving away the story.

For the most part, our book club liked this book. Amber got no sympathy from us. We were all rooting for Daphne.  We talked about how women can help other women.  We had a long discussion about about psychological abuse and how it evolves over time and what can be done about it.  

This saucy read certainly warmed up our March.

Last word: Without giving anything away, I would never taunt a sociopath – just sayin.

Rating: 7.5

Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash

Welcome October – Such a Beautiful Month

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Since October is such an extraordinary month we had to pick an equally amazing book.  And we did – “Ordinary Grace,” by William Kent Kruger.

“When my mother finally sang it was not just a hymn she offered, it was consummate comfort. She sang slowly and richly and delivered the heart of that great spiritual [‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’] as if she was delivering heaven itself and her face was beautiful and full of peace. I shut my eyes and her voice reached out to wipe away my tears and enfold my heart . . . And when she finished the sound of the breeze through the doorway was like the sigh of angels well pleased.” Pure nirvana!

Death visited the small Minnesota town of New Bremen in many forms one summer and it shaped the lives of the protagonist, Frank and his entire family. This is Frank’s coming of age story and he tells it as an adult looking back forty years. The story is filtered now with his years of experience.

At the time of the story, Frank’s father was a local minister, his mother was the choir director, his sister had just been accepted to Julliard, and his younger brother, Jake, was his side-kick and suffered from a severe stutter. This ordinary summer started out with a tragedy for one family.  That tragedy seemed to bring a string of bad karma for some other townspeople before landing at Frank’s family’s door.

The characters of this story, including Emil Brandt and his sister, Lise, vividly depict small-town America in the 1960’s including all the wonderful details of the era.

After tragedy strikes Frank’s family this story could have turned very melancholy. However, the story finds a surprising strength – it keeps its hope. In the end Frank and his family find a way to go on, to go forward. A good lesson for all of us.

We loved this book and highly recommend it to everyone.  Book clubs can talk about marriage, parenting, and childhood. How our youthful experiences shape our adult live.

One of the things I really loved in this book is how richly flawed the parents are, especially the mother. But we are drawn to her. We know her dreams and her fears. We want her to find happiness. There are profound lessons in this novel for all of us.

There’s a very good pod cast with the author, William Kurt Kruger.  I recommend that book clubs listen to it. We did and everyone enjoyed it.

Rating: 9.0

Before book club we signed our book Novel Women!

The authors enjoying a class of wine!

Window Watchers

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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

Looking out windows can be a deadly pastime. As we saw in Alfred Hitchcock’s renowned movie Rear Window. In his debut novel, A.J. Finn added another layer of intrigue by making the protagonist traumatized and suffering from PTSD, which prevents her from leaving her home and making her an agoraphobic.

The protagonist, Anna Fox, not only suffers from agoraphobia but is also heavily medicated washing down many different pills with bottles of Merlot. Can you trust anything she hears or sees?

The unreliable narrator is nothing new to fiction but seems to be popular among current writers. The reader knows within the first few pages that Anna cannot be trusted. But we like her. The author has created a likeable character that we emphasize with. Anna draws us into her crazy life. We want to know why? And slowly, the story unfolds.

By the time the reader finds out what traumatized Anna, we are even more conflicted. Did she see those things she phoned the police about? We so want her to be vindicated. Her pain is piercing. Enough is enough. Or is her mind shattered irrevocably not able to understand what is happening around her? (more…)

The Nightingale

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What makes a person a hero? Do they jump right into a situation or evaluate and make a conscious choice to help others?

In “The Nightingale,” by Kristin Hannah, two sisters face World War II in Nazi-occupied France, with very different ideas of how to make it through the war. The oldest sister, Vianne is married with a young daughter, Sophie, when her husband leaves to fight against Germany. Isabelle, the younger sister, is sent to live with Vianne. They both view their circumstances differently – one wants to fight, the other to endure without making waves.

Throughout the story, both sisters make choices that send them on a collision course with the Nazis. Vianne believes that everything will be fine as long as she just does what she’s asked. However, when a Nazi officer is stationed at her home, her belief that she can simply follow orders starts to crumble as she witnesses the wrongs and eventually the atrocities of her captors. She does what she can to insure the welfare of her daughter and their home. Vianne slowly becomes a hero out of necessity and moral conviction.

(more…)

The Illusion of Certainty

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Steven Stosny, Ph.D. wrote an article titled “Love, Marriage, and the Illusion of Certainty https://bit.ly/2wxgid9. “Strong feelings and sensations of any kind carry an illusion of certainty.” When love becomes marriage a certain comfort and belief are held by the couple that they will be together through all of life’s struggles, both good and bad.  Even though we all know going into marriage what the divorce rate is.

In the throes of romantic love, we look at our significant other through rose colored glasses.  That illusion starts to fade when we start arguing about who is going to clean the toilets and the million other tasks that couples do every day. Some marriages thrive others fall apart.  

In Tayari Jones’s novel, “An American Marriage,” she takes on this illusion of certainty with an African American couple.  After only 18 months of marriage, Roy is charged, tried and convicted of raping a woman and sentenced to 12 years in prison. His wife, Celestial, knows that he didn’t commit the crime because she was with him that night, but how does any marriage survive a separation that long.  Hollywood actors and actresses are always divorcing, and the common cause is separation.  However, they’re only separated for a few months at a time, but twelve years? 

The author gives us a clear understanding of the two protagonists, Roy and Celestial by their interactions between themselves and with both families. A great deal of that insight comes from letters that Roy and Celestial write to each other during Roy’s term in prison.

Roy, as a middle-class, college-educated African American is not immune to the racism his poorer brethren encounter. The author skillfully weaved discrimination into the into the story and it was quite powerful in its subtly.

Our book club loved this book.  We talked about marriage and the way Roy fell totally apart at the end. We talked about the couple and what they should and shouldn’t have done. We talked a little about racism both overt and covert. We talked about parenting and the protagonists’ parents. We talked about love and the illusion of certainty that marriage holds for us.

This is a good book for book clubs.

 Rating: 8.0

Photo by Andre Hunter on Unsplash 

Brutal Heat Wave Scorched More than the Land

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Photo by Parsing Eye on Unsplash

Punishing heat and murder teamed up for this wonder down under.  “The Dry,” by Jane Harper was our selection for our March’s book club.  With three nor’easters under our belt in the last two weeks, blistering heat and parched land almost sounded inviting.

The novel opens at the funeral of the Handler family. The protagonist, Aaron Falk, has come back to the town he was forced to leave as a teenager during the funeral of his childhood friend and his family. What makes this tragedy even worse is the belief that Luke Handler apparently killed his young son and wife before taking his own life.

Falk was summoned back home to Kiewarra by a cryptic message from Luke’s father – You lied. Luke lied. Be at the funeral. Falk is haunted by this place and what happened to him and his almost girlfriend Ellie Deacon during his teenage years.

Luke’s father wants Falk to investigate the deaths of his son and his family. Falk is a federal agent in white collar crime in Melbourne, the closest big city to Kiewarra. He told him that his expertise is not in murder and he should get someone else. Luke’s father didn’t care and threatened Falk who finally agreed to stay on for 18 hours to help the local cop, Raco with the investigation.

The townspeople tend to roll along believing the worse in people without looking at their own shortcomings. The dry desolation of the land seems to have crept into them with few exceptions. I’m glad I don’t live there.

The author planted tidbits along the way that will turn out to be of importance so keep your antenna honed.  The story traveled down a winding dusty road with twists and turns you’d expect in a good thriller.

We all liked this book a lot.  The author did a great job keeping us guessing. We talked about how group mentality influenced the townspeople and charged them up on an emotional level without any rational basis. We also talked about Ellie Deacon. We don’t want to ruin the story, but some of us still think about her.

Rating: 8.5

Credit Photo by Parsing Eye on Unsplash

Life in a Fishbowl

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Imagine being so adored that you can’t go anywhere, think Princess Diana times two.  Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight in 1927 across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis made him a hero, forever changing his life. But the world’s idolization had a cost to him and his family.  Scrutinized at every level, the Lindberghs were revered at times and maligned at others. Melanie Benjamin’s novel “The Aviator’s Wife,” offers a chance to look inside the fishbowl of Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s life.

The novel begins with Charles Lindbergh’s last flight home to Maui.  He is dying and wants to be buried at their Hawaiian home. Anne, his wife of 45 years, looks back over their relationship trying to find some comfort and understanding. Why Charles? Why?

Anne grieves, loves, shoulders the weight of her family and navigates the best she can in a male-dominated world.  Lindbergh was a total control freak!  Anne did everything she could to appease him.  Almost sounds like an old country western song, and in a way maybe it was. The oddness of the relationship began from the first date with his coolness and calculation and her utter amazement that someone like him would even look at her. Throughout the story, Ann struggled with her self-esteem never thinking much of herself.  Her initial detachment from their first-born child, Charley, in his first few months of his life was painful to read knowing that he would be kidnapped and die so young. Anne’s guilt was palpable, and she refocused her attention away from Lindbergh and to her children as her family grew. (more…)

A Mystery that Moves Backwards

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Photo by Kieran White on Unsplash

With so many novels coming out with unreliable narrators, and other tricks and ploys to keep the savviest reader guessing, it was only a matter of time before someone thought to tell the story backwards. “All the Missing Girls,” by Megan Miranda was our pick for our January 2018 book club. The novel tells the last two weeks before the climax of the story in reverse.

I need to talk to you. That girl. I saw that girl was scribbled on a note sent to Nicolette from her father.  The note coupled with a call from her brother, Dan who informed her their dad wasn’t doing well, and the family home needed to be sold to keep up with his expenses, pushed Nicolette to grudgingly go back to Cooley Ridge.

She dreaded returning and had mostly stayed away since high school, making a life for herself in Philadelphia where she looked forward to her marriage. A sense of foreboding creeps into the story during her nine-hour drive home.

Upon her return, all sorts of subtle clues get woven into the scenes. Some, of course, are deceptive. As Nicolette and Dan clear out their childhood home, another girl goes missing. (more…)

Defunct Missile Base and Teenagers – Hmmm, What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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I vividly remember nuclear survival drills in grammar school in the 1960’s.  The drills began when I entered kindergarten and continued until sometime in seventh or eighth grade.  As we got older, it became a time to break the monotony of the day with a little movement and unabashed teasing of whoever looked the silliest under the desk or tables (at some point we were too big to get under a desk.) Maybe those drills affected us more than we realized. They were so common place, so much a part of our life. Today, the reminders of those scary times are evident in the abandoned missile bases that dot the US with their No Trespassing signs and fenced perimeters. I can still hear the siren screaming through my grammar school.

Maybe that’s why our generation became the helicopter parents and soccer moms, shielding our children passionately from every discomfort. Wanting our children to thrive in a stress-free world.

Children, especially teenagers, are never stress free either by their own accord or that of their surroundings, even with all their parents’ best intentions. Harlan Coben has taken that teenage angst mixed with hormones and woven it into a tight whodunit with a closed nuclear Nike base as the background.

Nap Dumas lost his twin brother, Leo, when they were seniors in high school.  Leo and his girlfriend, Diana Styles, were

Sandy Hook Nike Launch Site

killed by a train.  Suicide or accident?   Fast forward and Nap is now a New Jersey detective and has been called to an out-of-state case involving the killing of a police officer. Not understanding why he has been summoned, he complains bitterly until he finds out that the fingerprints of his high school girlfriend, Maura, were found at the scene.  Maura had disappeared right after Leo had been killed and Nap has been looking for her ever since.

With this new information Nap sets out once again in search of Maura. He turns to his mentor, Captain Styles, Diana’s father for guidance.  Nap believes that Maura’s disappearance and the death of Leo and Diana are linked and begins to probe into his brother’s death. Some of Leo’s friends start to die, ramping up the pace and suspense of this story.  Nap keeps coming back to Leo’s Conspiracy Club that he started with his friends. The teens wanted to know why the Nike based closed down so abruptly in 1974. Could the closure have something to do with Leo’s death?  Is there a government conspiracy?

As a book club, we always enjoy Coben’s books and love the Jersey locale.  He has a way of taking suburban life and twisting a little here and there and coming up with a hell of a good tale. We talked about our childhoods under desks in school and how we are glad our children didn’t have to go through that. We also talked about what we really do and don’t know about the people closest to us. We ended up talking about trust and forgiveness.

We Jersey girls love to support our Jersey boy!  Go, Harlan – another winner!

 

Rating: 8.0