Once We Were Brothers (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Once We Were Brothers by Ronald H. Balson

When Ben Solomon begins his tale of how Otto Piatek, taken in and cared for by Ben’s family, turned against all of them and became a Nazi war criminal, you have the sense of this being just another Holocaust tale.  However, as his tale unwinds, you also begin to get sucked in to the charges that he stole from Ben’s family and how a civil suit is the means by which Ben might expose his true identity.  Otto Piatek, alias Elliot Rozenzweig, has created a persona for himself, however, enmeshed in the highest society of Chicago and known for his generous philanthropy.  It takes the team of a gutsy PI named Liam and an attorney with high ethics and strong drive, named Catherine, to help Ben pursue his challenge.

Essentially there are 2 stories that intertwine, with the telling of Ben’s story that took place in Poland and the tale of the legal procedures.  While the beginning of the book focuses on Poland, the latter part focuses on the lawsuit and the suspense of the legal proceedings builds and builds and makes the book very hard to put down.  The author definitely draws you in to feeling such affection for Ben and wanting to see him win in his cause.  You are also drawn in to feeling sympathy for Catherine who is fighting a whole team of expensive lawyers singlehandedly.   Catherine is quoted as saying that this made “David and Goliath seem like a fair fight.”  While it is only fiction, when you are reading it, it feels very real and very true, I think because of how well you’ve come to know the characters.  By the end, you just can’t help cheering them on or booing the “bad guys.”

An essential read for anyone who is interested not only in the Holocaust, but in anything related to human rights and in justice being served.

A Long Way Down (migrated from bookblogger)

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A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby

This book, written by the author of High Fidelity, is a crazy novel about 4 very disparate people who happen to meet on the roof of a building on New Year’s Eve because they’ve each made a plan to kill themselves.  As they begin to realize that they are all there for the same purpose, they begin a discussion about why they are up there.  And so begins a bizarre sort of friendship among the four that somehow persists in spite of themselves.  Their dialogue is honest and raw and insane and their story is odd and quirky, and the mood vacillates from laugh-out-loud to profoundly sad.

What adds to the color of this book is the change in the voice.  Each chapter is narrated by one of the four main characters, and each of their voices is unique.  They are really so different from each other — really their only common thread is their mutual suicidal inclination.  They do not even seem to like each other, which adds to both the chaos and humor in the story.  Each one is philosophical in his or her own way, though, and through them the author manages to comment on life and life struggles and questions of why we bother with it all.  Each character, in joining this weird brotherhood of sorts, searches for what gives his/her life its meaning and makes it worth carrying on in the face of what seem to be insurmountable troubles.  And it’s fairly entertaining to join them for this ride!

The Casual Vacancy (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

This long-awaited adult novel by J.K. Rowling was given negative reviews in the press, but I actually disagree.  I actually found this book very engaging and emotional.  The story is a gritty view of a small town and the many, varied characters who were affected by the death of one of its own, a man named Barry Fairbrother.  Fairbrother, well-liked by many and who had been fighting to keep open a controversial methadone clinic, left a “casual vacancy,” a seat in the town council.  Three men vie for this office, each with a very different motive for doing so.  Undermining them are their teenage children, who are involved in a complicated small-town drama of their own.  At the center of this drama, is a very troubled youth named Krystal, the daughter of a drug addict whose success for any degree of recovery hinges on this very methadone clinic.  It is Krystal who turns out to be the character with the most heart and, in my opinion, is the most beloved in the book.

In addition to creating characters that are interesting, complex and engaging, the author weaves a story that depicts themes of prejudice, stereotypes and class differences.  Prejudices that the parents have are thrust on their children and this either permeates their children’s behavior or it backfires in a dramatic way.  And the teens have prejudices of their own and both the leaders and the followers are punished for them in different ways.  Sadly, too, there are innocent victims and this is where the book is very real.

This book differs starkly from the Harry Potter books.  There, magic helps to save the heroes.  Here there is no magic — it’s real life.

Arsenic and Old Lace (migrated from bookblogger)

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Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring

Believe it or not, I’ve never seen this play or movie and my son, Michael just got a part in this play at school.  So, of course, I had to read the book!

What a wacky play!  The characters are totally twisted and there is really no real “message” to the story.  I will not summarize the plot because that would take longer than the play itself.  Suffice it to say that it is outlandish and bizarre — sort of a Keystone Kops-meets-the-Addams Family, complete with sweet little old ladies and dead bodies.  Some of it is funny, but a lot of it is just crazy.

Hopefully. it comes alive onstage and that will be the magic!  (Directors must have much more imagination than I do!)

The Art of Racing in the Rain (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

I am still reeling from the emotional effects of this book.  So beautifully told from the perspective of a dog, this story is about a race car driver named Denney, who is married and has a little girl.  His wife develops a brain tumor and her parents sort of take over her care and the care of their daughter.  On the very day that the wife dies, the parents propose that they gain custody of the daughter, and so begins a Denney’s heroic battle to gain custody of his daughter.  The battle becomes unbelievably ugly and the reader is sucked in and kept breathless over the course of the fight.

The beauty of this book is in the voice of the dog.  I am sure I am not the only one who has seen dogs appear to understand everything that is going on and wonder if they really do.  The voice of Enzo, this particular dog, gives a warmth and a humor to the story that really engages the reader.  He is extremely philosophical and wise and has awareness of things beyond what people are able to sense — and it feels entirely plausible when you are reading it!

This is another book that after finishing, I could not rush into the next book because I really just wanted to sit with the characters in my mind for a day or two.  I love when a book does that!

One Moment, One Morning (migrated from bookblogger)

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One Moment, One Morning, Sarah Rayner

The idea of this book was more interesting than the book itself.  As a woman is enviously watching a loving couple on a train on their commute to work, she observes that the man suddenly keels over and dies of a heart attack.  What happens subsequently, is that this woman shares a cab with another woman who happens to be the couple’s best friend and eventually their lives all intersect.  Through the course of the story, each character confronts her own major demon — the death of a spouse, an alcoholic boyfriend, and coming out to a very conservative parent.

While there is a lot of emotional involvement, it is a fairly predictable story and somewhat flat.  A good idea but only fairly well-executed, in my humble opinion.  Oh, well!

Testimony (migrated from bookblogger)

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Testimony by Anita Shreve

Another gripping novel by Anita Shreve!  The author takes a not-so-unheard-of story — teenagers doing something risky and foolish and suffering tragic consequences — and tells it in a very unusual way — a composite of “testimony” given by all of the characters who are directly or indirectly affected by the incident.  The story begins with a headmaster of a private boarding school watching a videotape of a group of his students drunk and having a complicated sexual encounter.  The rest of the story is told in a variety of voices and from each of the different characters and as each of the narratives unfurl, the story is given context and depth as well as intrigue and raw emotion.  The characters are complex and very human and the reader becomes entangled in their tragedy.  By the end, it is very hard not to feel strongly about some of the characters and I know I certainly choked up at the culmination of the story.

I find Shreve to be such a versatile author.  Like Jodi Picoult, she takes on complex issues and creates a story from the perspective of different characters.  In this way, both authors are able to build arguments and sympathies for the various aspects of a controversial issue, highlighting the difficulty for resolution.  The reader has to be active and thinking to balance each perspective with the other and to decide which side rings most true.  Often, each one does.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillip Sendker

The Art of Heating Heartbeats is an absolutely beautiful story about a young lawyer, Julia, who takes a leave from her job to investigate her father’s disappearance.  Her father, Tin Win, had mysteriously left for a business trip and never returned and the only hint of his whereabouts was a love letter that had been found from him to a woman in Burma, in his home town.  When Julia arrives in this tiny town, she is met by a stranger who begins to tell her the story of her father and his upbringing and about the heart-wrenching love story he had been embroiled in during his youth.

The story is poetically woven, capturing the reader’s attention at the first page and never letting go.  The characters are as unique as the story itself and the reader cannot help but be drawn in to their story.  Tin Win’s teacher when he was a young boy, for example, became a tender father figure to him and was patient and kind and shared with Tin Win (and the reader) much wisdom.  Even Julia, who starts out as a daughter who feels hurt and angry and abandoned, develops a compassion for her father that she did not know she was capable of.

This is a powerful “love conquers all” story that wins your heart with every beat.

The Innocents (migrated from bookblogger)

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The Innocents by Francesca Segal

This book is one of almosts…  The main character, Adam Newman, a young lawyer in the close-knit Jewish community in London is almost happy being engaged to his long-term girlfriend, Rachel.   Unfortunately, when her cousin, a tall, beautiful but vulnerable model called Ellie, returns from America amidst scandalous circumstances, he almost falls for her instead.  Too many times, Ellie leaves just before Adam can do anything about his feelings for her.   And when he is just about to confess his feelings about Ellie to Rachel, suddenly something major happens and distracts him from the task.  Honestly, this happens just too many times to feel plausible.  The reader is waiting and waiting for something major to happen, and it sort of does but it’s anticlimactic.  Again, almost.

While there are some potentially interesting characters, the author seems to stop short just before they can become really human to the reader.  Most of the characters are unidimensional and flat.  One character almost discovers Ellie and Adam’s relationship but again it’s just almost.

This book was good, almost…

Defending Jacob (migrated from bookblogger)

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Defending Jacob by William Landay

This book is a definite page turner!  In this book, a district attorney named Andy Barber, is shocked by the fact that his son is the one accused of murdering a fellow student and recounts the story of his trial.  Andy is persistent in proclaiming his son’s innocence and is seemingly blind to the defects in his son’s character that create the possibility of doubt.  His wife, Laurie, however, seems to be more concerned about their son’s personality issues and this difference in perspective seems to slice a wedge into the family dynamics.  As the novel progresses, it becomes evident that there are actually two criminal investigations going on and the ending is a great twist of events.

Even while a bit disturbing and depressing, the suspense is continuous and it is very hard to put this book down.  It will not go down as America’s greatest classic, but it sure is a suspenseful, fun book to read!  Enjoy!