Archive for the ‘relationships’ Tag
When considering that Fireworks Every Night by Beth Raymer is about a dysfunctional family the title is certainly appropriate. Yet these are subtle, more like distracting sparklers than explosives, although the repercussions are rattling.
Narrator C.C. begins her story as an engaged woman about to marry into a wealthy family. She alternates between the present and living in Florida as a youth with her older sister and parents. C.C.’s father is a slick, successful used car salesman. He moves his family from Ohio to the Sunshine State after burning down his own sales lot for insurance money.
Those funds allow him to purchase property in a rural, as yet undeveloped area in Palm Beach County, and build a house with a swimming pool. These, C.C. says, are the best days of her childhood.
Soon, however, the halcyon times fade: her sister becomes a drug addict, and her parents begin a drawn-out separation while sharing the same space — until they don’t.
The chapters about C.C. as an adult living in Connecticut are less engaging. There are no pyrotechnics and not much action. Those are saved for her teenage years.
C.C. is smart enough to see she has to work to change the trajectory of her life. The odds are not in her favor of achieving any semblance of a normal life, i.e., without following in her parents’ or sister’s patterns of deceit and self-destruction.
Raymer incorporates dark humor while describing the harsh reality of living in a world of disappointments.
Fireworks Every Night
3.75 Bookmarks
Random House, 2023
224 pages
The way Taylor Jenkins Reid tells a story, as in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, is cinematic. And it’s not just because the namesake character was a Hollywood movie star and much of the narrative is set in Tinseltown.
At 79, having outlived her fame, friends and husbands, Evelyn is ready to give an interview after years of avoiding the media. However, the only person to whom she will meet with is Monique Grant, a young, unknown writer. The younger woman is, understandably, surprised. Evelyn has several stipulations. First, Monique will not be writing an article, rather a book about the actress’s life story, and it can only be published upon Evelyn’s death. Such a book is destined to earn the writer fame and wealth.
The novel moves between the past (initially the 1950s) to the present (2017), with Evelyn relating how she came to be in the limelight, her years in and out of favor as a beautiful woman. Readers also learn about Monique in the process.
Monique has two important questions: why me and who was Evelyn’s one true love? After all, who has seven husbands?!
The assumption, of course, is one of the many spouses, but there’s no spoiler here. This big reveal comes well before the end. However, that’s when Monique’s other query is finally answered.
The engaging storyline and characters provide the diversion that comes with a good book. Sexuality, treatment of women in the film industry, friendships and, of course, marriage are underlying issues.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Four Bookmarks
Washington Square Press, 2017
389 pages
Imagine receiving texts or missed calls from a deceased friend. MIT tenured physics professor Helen is initially baffled, if not quite haunted, when she finds herself in this situation in Nell Freudenberger’s Lost and Wanted.
Helen’s friend Charlotte (aka Charlie) has recently died, but they had ceased being close long ago. Nonetheless, Helen is saddened to learn her best friend from college is dead. Charlie’s husband, Terrence, and their daughter, Simmi, move to Boston from California to be near his in-laws. Consequently, Helen becomes involved with them, which is familiar yet different. Helen is a single parent by choice. Her young son and Simmi become friends.
Helen is a respected physicist. Her books on physics are well received for their accessibility on the subject. Thus, her scientific background is what keeps her from considering that the texts are supernatural.
While the novel may initially seem to have roots in the paranormal, it’s not the case. Rather, friendship and grief are the themes driven by the loss of someone’s friend, daughter, wife and mother.
The texts are a mystery, Charlie’s husband is a potential love interest — or is he — and Helen’s memories of Charlie during their Harvard days are all intriguing.
However, because of Helen’s career, there are a lot, as in too many, references to physics. Freudenberger did her homework, but it’s questionable whether so many details are necessary.
The title was initially puzzling to, but the deeper I got into the novel, the more I appreciated it.
Lost and Wanted
Three-and-three-quarter stars
Alfred A. Knopf, 2019
315 pages
Presented as a coming of age tale, Go as a River by Shelley Read relies on the spirit of place while addressing romantic and maternal love. And, the author incorporates Colorado history.
Victoria Nash is 17 when she meets a drifter in her small town of Iola. This quickly evokes feelings she’s never experienced. Wilson Moon is not much older than Victoria but his wisdom and sensitivity captivate her. They embark on a brief, clandestine affair. He’s suspected of theft, although his only crime is being Native American in a mostly racist community.
When his body is found at the bottom of a gulch, Victoria suspects her brother of murder. However, her attention soon turns to dealing with her pregnancy. When she can no longer hide her swollen stomach, she runs away from the family peach orchard to hide in the nearby mountains.
Read’s descriptions of the land, Victoria’s feelings and determination to survive on her own are vivid Victoria endures harsh conditions alone, including giving birth. This, and coming upon a young family picnicking in the forest with whom she furtively abandons her son, make belief difficult to suspend.
The impending destruction of Iola, a consequence of the creation of Blue Mesa Reservoir is among the losses she carries the rest of her life. Yet, she moves forward. With assistance from a botanist and others, Victoria moves the peach trees to Paonia before Iola is submerged. And thoughts of the son she gave away remain close to the surface.
Go as a River
Spiegel and Grau, 2023
305 pages, includes acknowledgements
Despite the racism, hardships and wrongs done to the Blacks and Jews who inhabit the landscape of James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, there is redemption — on numerous levels.
The appropriately-named store is a gathering place for the myriad of immigrants in the Chicken Hill community of Pottstown, Penn. It’s run by Chona, a kind, rabble-rousing Jewess. She’s idolized by her husband Moshe, a Romanian immigrant who runs a successful dance hall. Nate is his Black handyman.
It’s the early-1970s when the remains of a body are found in the neighborhood; the identity keeps readers wondering throughout the novel. The engaging storyline switches to the mid-1920s. The interactions among the Jews, Blacks and whites (who include Klu Klux Klan members) are vividly detailed.
Nate, needs to hide, Dodo, his deaf, orphaned nephew from authorities who want to institutionalize him believing him to be feeble-minded. Chona insists on harboring him in her apartment above the store. While the boy doesn’t hear, he is far from stupid — something Chona recognizes. The two become close and she does what she can to keep safe from the white powers that be.
McBride’s story is rich with characters, although many are one-dimensional; many more — the ones readers will care most about — are multi-faceted. The result is a poignant narrative about people living and working together toward a better life.
Humor and injustice are an odd couple, but here McBride deftly proves them to be a good match here.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store
Four-and-a-half Bookmarks
Riverhead Books, 2023
400 pages, includes acknowledgements.
The one-time punk rocker, tattooed, cigarette smoking, gay Sister Holiday, doesn’t fit the mold when it comes to Catholic nuns. In Margot Douaihy debut novel, Scorched Grace, she’s a member of the Sisters of Sublime Blood order, which runs the Saint Sebastian School where she’s the music teacher. The convent adjoins the school.
When not one, but two fires and two deaths occur at the school, Sister Holiday initiates her own investigation convinced authorities aren’t moving fast enough to find the culprit – and avoid potential further harm to her school and church community.
Set in New Orleans, the storylines moves between Holiday’s past and what at first appears as her new-found faith. In fact, one of the strengths of Douaihy’s writing lies in slowly revealing the nun’s deepening convictions, in spite of her rebellious personality and the obstacles she encounters in her attempts to solve the crimes.
The list of suspects is credible, even as evidence points to Sister Holiday herself. The investigating police officers are convinced of her guilt. While the fire investigator, Magnolia Riveaux, is less ready to pin the blame on Holiday.
Descriptions of the Big Easy, the humidity and other characters are vivid. Sister Holiday is tenacious and the authorities consider her a pest. Her relationship with the other nuns (there aren’t many) are a way the author deftly merges the past and present. Sister Holiday is, indeed, the sum of her history: colorful tats and all.
Based on the subtitle, Sister Holiday isn’t being cloistered anytime soon.
Scorched Grace: A Sister Holiday Mystery
Three-and-a-half bookmarks
Gillian Flynn Books, 2023
307 pages
Personal connections through friendship, love and virtual worlds are examined in Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.
Sadie Green and Sam Masur meet as 11- and 12-year-olds, respectively, for a short time. The confluence of their lives doesn’t fully occur until a decade later in Cambridge where both are in college; her at MIT, him at Harvard.
The novel spans more than 30 years as Sadie, Sam, Marx (Sam’s roommate and eventual business manager) and others design and develop popular, lucrative video games. They’re the wunderkinds of computer-generated universes.
The games are essential elements of the novel, particularly how their creators conceive the ideas, develop the technology and ultimately promote them. However, it’s the bonds among the characters that have the greatest impact. Each is intelligent, flawed and loveable; each makes significant contributions to the games, although there is often tension as to who merits the attention for their success.
It should come as no surprise this is also a story about love and loss. Sam loves Sadie but is unable to articulate his feelings. Yet, they are close. Marx is like a brother to Sam and initially Sadie is suspicious of him. The evolution of these relationships is what drives the narrative.
The title reflects the endless loop of many video games while also referencing a soliloquy from Macbeth on the inevitability of death:
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time” (Act V, scene 5)
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Four Bookmarks
Alfred A. Knopf, 2022
401 pages, includes notes and acknowledgements
In Sara Blaedel’s The Midnight Witness, set in Copenhagen, the strangled body of a young woman is found in a park. Before long, a journalist investigating drug trafficking is discovered dead in a hotel alley. Questions soon arise: Could these cases be related but how?
Detective Louise Rick is initially assigned to the young woman’s case; later, she’s transferred to the second murder.
Blaedel’s writing is engaging thanks to well-crafted characters. Louise is smart and despite her expertise she’s often diminished because she’s a woman; nonetheless, she has worked her way through the ranks to become a detective. Her best friend Camilla Lind, a journalist investigating the same murders, is set on establishing a connection.
The author provides enough detail about the women’s lives without it overshadowing the who-dun-its. Both are single, although Louise is in a long-term relationship with a man who’s been offered a job in Scotland wanting her to join him. She’s confronted with the personal vs professional battle many women face. Camilla is earnest in her journalistic role, but also is often not taken seriously due to her gender. She’s motivated to prove otherwise.
As they pursue the cases in their respective roles their bond is strained. The tension between the two is palpable. Even as Louise becomes increasingly frustrated with her friend’s involvement she can’t help being concerned for Camilla’s safety.
A third murder victim not only amps up the police efforts, but also raises suspicions about possible leaks among everyone involved in the investigation.
The Midnight Witness
Almost four bookmarks
Grand Central Publishing, 2018
284 pages
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng starts slow; initially it’s too easy to put down, until, well, it isn’t.
Much has to do with the mystery surrounding the absence of 12-year-old Bird’s mother who his father refuses to acknowledge while insisting his son to do the same. They live in a not-too-distant dystopian world where fear and suspicion rule based on safeguarding America’s culture known as PACT.
It’s a time when children are removed from parents suspected of seditious thoughts and behaviors. Those of Chinese, and by default all Asians, are considered threats. Bird’s mother Margaret is Chinese American and a poet. Her work goes largely unnoticed until one day PACT protesters use a line from one of her poems for their cause: Our Missing Hearts. To protect her son, she leaves the family.
Despite his father’s pleas, Bird’s curiosity about his mother becomes a driving force. These efforts to find her are where the narrative revs up.
Margaret’s story catches the past up with the present. This includes her childhood in the neighborhood’s only Asian family, later surviving on the streets when the economy collapses (blamed on the Chinese), and meeting Bird’s father and becoming a mother.
It’s been years since Margaret has written poetry, but she embraces a new passion based on the protester’s slogan: she tries to meet and interview as many parents as possible whose children have been taken from them.
Ng’s writing is vivid and frightening in its depiction of how self-preservation is manipulated by fear.
Out Missing Hearts
Four Bookmarks
Penguin Press, 2022
335 pages (includes author’s notes and acknowledgements)
The best books are those you don’t want to pick up because once you do, you don’t want to put them down. It’s a conundrum. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is one such book. It’s a love story (on many levels) wrapped in science, specifically chemistry.
Elizabeth Zott is not a woman to be dismissed. Even after her post-graduate education is derailed due to sexual assault, she’s relentless in her pursuit of science.
Well ahead of her time in the late 1950s early ‘60s, she refuses to let her gender restrict her dreams, nor does she allow her good looks to dictate how’s she’s perceived. She’s exceptionally intelligent with a strong sense of self and a desire to be a chemist in the male-dominated scientific community.
She’s hired at a research lab where she meets Calvin Evans, a socially-awkward but distinguished scientist. A relationship based on mutual respect, desire and, ultimately, love flourishes despite the ill-will of their colleagues.
Garmus deftly illustrates the sexism and hypocrisy of the era. Yet, this is not a male-bashing narrative. When circumstances change, Elizabeth finds another way – round-about though it is – to pursue a career in chemistry: she hosts a television cooking show where she takes an unusual approach. Instead of identifying ingredients by their common names, she uses scientific terminology (ie., sodium chloride vs salt). Surprisingly, the program is a hit.
Humor and tragedy are incorporated in equal measures with several endearing characters the reader would love to spend more time with.
Lessons in Chemistry
Five Bookmarks
Doubleday, 2022
390 pages (includes acknowledgements)
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