Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This was one of those jewels that has you laughing even as you’re reading about a subject that is profoundly serious.  On the surface, the story reads almost like a comical documentary, with the narrative intermixed with comments given by each of the characters who were peripherally involved in the death of a character (this is not a spoiler — this comes out in the beginning, but through the whole story it is unclear who is killed by whom).  On a deeper level, though, the story deals extremely sensitively and honestly with the frightening issue of relationship violence.

Jane is about to move to a new area in Australia near the ocean with her son, Ziggy.  During the kindergarten orientation, an incident occurs with sweet, little Ziggy that initiates a huge divide among the mothers of the class.  As alliances form, each of the characters shows her true colors and the friendships begin.  Jane is initially secretive about her own past, but as she warms to her new friends, she sees that revealing her own story can actually free her of the burden of  it.  She also learns that she is not the only one with secrets.

The characters in this story are remarkably real and 3-dimentional.  The story also has a number of different corollaries, which keeps it moving both sideways and forward and also works to add to the suspense of who is killed and by whom.  And while the underlying message is clear and strong, there is  a warm humor threaded through which kept me loving this book.

Can’t wait to read more by this author!

Leaving Time by Jodi Piccoult (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Once again, one of my favorite authors has moved me.  This story is about a girl named Jenna who is in search of her mother who disappeared when she was 3 years old.  Jenna hunts down a detective and a psychic who are both, in spite of themselves, committed to helping her.  And because Jenna’s mom, Alice, was a scientist who studied elephant behaviors, the reader is also given an extensive education about the surprisingly beautiful and evolved behaviors of elephants.

Jodi Picoult always researches her topics so completely that you always learn so much from her.  But it’s the best kind of learning — it is woven into a fictional story that has so much tenderness and grace that you remember the facts without effort.  There is always a great deal of suspense and twists and turns that keep you engaged until you turn the very last page.

The twists in this story are really zingers, though — just wait till you reach the end!  I for one did not see this one coming!

The Dinner by Herman Koch (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This is one of the least enjoyable, well-written books I’ve read in a long time!  Paul, the narrator of the story, is recounting his dinner with his brother and both their wives which, is planned so that they can discuss the situation their sons have gotten themselves into.  As the story unwinds, the reader learns, from Paul’s disturbingly nonchalant account, both his story and his son’s.

I felt compelled to finish this book as the writing was truly solid and suspenseful; however, I did not like any of the characters and it was almost painful to get through.  Reading this book was like not being able to look away from a tragically gory accident – you hate it but you can’t help yourself.

I’d recommend not starting it in the first place!

The Silkworm by Robert Gilbraith (JK Rowling) (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Once again, JK Rowling hits it out of the park with this somewhat creepy, very suspenseful and fun murder mystery.  Our detective, Cormoran Strike (introduced in the first book in this series, The Cuckoo’s Calling) is approached by the wife of an eccentric author because her husband, who is known to go missing for a few days at a time, has now been missing for about 10 days.  This is problematic, mainly because their daughter, who has special needs, requires constant care and she is having trouble managing without her husband.  Even while everyone surrounding the author feels as though his absence is routine, Strike is suspicious and in spite of himself cares what happens to the wife, even as odd as she is herself.

The detective and hero of the story, Strike, is a completely fallible and endearing character whose complicated past keeps him very real, even as he solves a very tangled web of a murder.  His assistant, Robin, also becomes a more prominent character in this book and their relationship is quite tender even as it is innocent.  As always, Rowling manages to write an intricate plot even as she develops wonderful characters.  You can’t help caring deeply about what happens because they become your friends!

I can’t wait for the next one!

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Gilbraith (JK Rowling) (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This is a fun read!

   Cormoran Strike, an endearingly flawed private detective with a complicated past, is hired by a lawyer named John Bristow, to investigate his sister’s death, which had been ruled a suicide.  Bristow, distraught over his supermodel sister’s death, does not believe the suicide theory and convinces Strike to pursue the real killer.

   In usual JK Rowling form, the writing is crisp, witty, and engaging and each of the characters is so genuine.  Strike, in particular, evokes such sympathy, affection, and respect, as he goes about his cleverly conducted inquiry with a Columbo-like air of feigned innocence.  In going into Strike’s own story, Rowling makes the mystery almost personal and gives it much deeper dimension.

   And of course, as it is a mystery, the story itself runs through twists and turns and occasionally takes the reader completely by surprise.  It actually made me wonder why I don’t read mysteries more often!

   I’d hurry and read this one — it’s a great summer read and it’s already the end of July!

Family Pictures by Jane Green (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

After Silvie has lost the love of her life, in the death of her first husband, Mark comes along and pretty much sweeps her off her feet.  Handsome and charming, he is the ideal husband and step-father to her daughter, Eve.  Until he’s not…

This book is a sort of Pilot’s Wife of the Facebook era.  And unfortunately, it is so much more contrived that it’s less plausible.  The characters are vague and stereotypical and undergo miraculous changes that are just too hard to believe.  And the voice changes from first person to third person, depending on whom it is referring to and the choice of voice is particularly strange because the main character is the one who does not get her own voice.

It is a quick read and it has some suspense, but all in all, it’s so implausible that it is a little absurd.

The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This very suspenseful novel celebrates the many gentiles who sacrificed their security and sometimes their lives in order to hide Jews during the second World War.  This fictitious gentile, an architect named Lucien, was initially engaged by a man named Manet, to design unusual hiding places for Jews in various residences in and around Paris.  Manet outwardly managed construction projects for the Germans during their occupation of France, but simultaneously and secretly worked tirelessly to save innocent Jews from the Germans.  Lucien was initially enticed mainly by the glory and the money of the large German construction projects and resented having to go along with the smaller although still strategically challenging projects for the Jews.  However, as the story unfolds, this changes and his anger with the Germans mounts and he becomes emboldened by what he is able to accomplish.

While the writing in this book is not flowery or beautiful in any way, the story is told with frank boldness.   The crudeness of the writing I believe is trying to match the crudeness of the characters and while it lessens the quality of the book it does get a point across.  That said, there are a lot of unexpected turns to the story and suspense does gradually build and build to the point that I was truly unable to put the book down.

I think there is a lot of historical significance to this book as there are not too many stories that involve the French perspective on WWII.  In light of the current surge in anti-semitism in France, this is a timely novel.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

If you’re looking for a vacation/beach book, this is it.  It’s not fine literature but it’s a fun, suspenseful read.  Kate, the single, hard-working lawyer mom of Amelia, a sophomore at an elite Brooklyn high school, gets a call to come to school immediately because her daughter is in trouble.  In fact, her daughter is dead.  As Kate recovers from the shock of losing her daughter to what has been deemed a suicide, the suspicion that her daughter was not suicidal grows in Kate’s mind.  Triggered by an anonymous text, she is spurred on to discover an intricate cover-up of sorority-like hazing/bullying in which both she and her daughter have been victims.

Again, this is not high literature.  There is not exactly deep character development. There are some cheesy scenes and some dead-end story lines.  But you are still taken in by the plot and through the whole story you are itching to know what happens.

Definitely pack this is in your suitcase next to your toiletry bag!

The Kitchen House (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

If you are looking for a book that will grip you and hold you tight until you get to the very last page, this is the one for you!  This beautifully written, historical fiction novel is about a young white girl, Lavinia, who is raised among black slaves in the south at the turn of the 19th century.  Since she’s raised among a loving, close-knit black family, she feels deeply that they are her family, but as she grows older, she is thrust into the world of the white family she is serves.  We learn, along with her, how the intimate nature of the relationships that develop between the 2 races strongly conflict with the forced, artificial separation between them.  (They love but they are not allowed to love.)  And Lavinia is tragically trapped between the two.

What really pulled me in was the beautiful characters that are so poignantly drawn.  I lived with the characters and felt their pull even when I wasn’t reading the book.  I felt as though they were my family, they were drawn so artistically and deeply.  I HAD to know what happened to each of them and when it wasn’t good, I felt it in my heart.

These characters were genuine, the story was captivating, and I couldn’t wait to find out what happened and didn’t want it to end at the very same time!  This is what the experience of reading should be!

The Storyteller (migrated from Bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

So I have to share that this book was made all the more special to me because my daughter and I actually attended a reading of this book by Jodi Picoult herself!  I was of course expecting the worst (cynic that I am) — that it would be a mob scene and we’d wait and wait only to be at the back of a huge room at the Barnes and Nobles at Union Square where we’d only catch a glimpse.  But I was instead so pleasantly surprised!  It was so well-organized and easy and utterly enjoyable.  Ms. Picoult  is the ultimate storyteller!   She read from her book with the expression of a closet actress, she told us stories about the Holocaust survivors she interviewed during her research, and she so gracefully and with such humor answered many questions from the audience about herself and her writing.  She is a gracious presence — she is smart and funny and warm and the kind of person you just want to go out and have a drink with.  I could have listened to her for hours! After she signed our book and chatted with us for a minute or two, we walked away and my daughter turned to me and exclaimed, “Mom, I’m so star-struck!”  I have to admit:  I was too!

BUT on to the the book…  The book has an outrageously “Picoultian”premise.  A young, reclusive woman named Sage who has lost her mother, attends a grief support group where she befriends an old man in his 90’s.  This man, Josef, admits to her that he is a former SS guard at Auschwitz and asks her to help him die and to forgive him of his sins.  What he doesn’t know is that Sage’s grandmother is a Holocaust survivor.  In fact, Sage doesn’t really even know much about her grandmother’s history as her grandmother has kept the details to herself all these years.  This book is the resultant telling of stories — the recounting of history — by the two characters who lived it.  It is also the process of sorting out the ideas of evil and good as well as forgiveness and revenge.  Can someone who has committed  hideous deeds ever be forgiven?  And by whom?  Can a good person do bad things and get beyond that and/or compensate for it?  What is forgiveness?

As usual, Jodi Picoult gives the various perspectives on the story in her brilliant way and has the reader pondering yet another enormous, controversial issue.  This is why I love her writing and am already looking forward to her next book!