Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler (Migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Isabelle, an elderly white woman, has befriended her hairdresser, a younger black woman named Dorrie.  They have fallen into a comfortable routine, a weekly visit by Dorrie to Isabelle’s home, for Dorrie to fix Isabelle’s hair and truly to check in on her.  But even Dorrie is surprised when Isabelle asks Dorrie to accompany her on a mysterious journey to Isabelle’s hometown for a funeral. Dorrie embraces this opportunity to take a brief hiatus from her own family troubles, and she drops everything to help out Isabelle, Through their journey, they each share their own stories and the two come to understand each other in a deeper, almost mother/daughter way that truly tugged at my heart.

The story, almost prophetic in its timing, is about race and racism and in its tender way shows how while many things have changed over the years, many things have unfortunately remained the same in terms of black-white relations.  The women in this story defy the stereotypes and are so beautifully and realistically depicted that you can’t help falling in love with them both.  It is just remarkable to me that this is this author’s debut novel — I can’t wait to read her next!

My favorite part is the ending.  Not only is there a build up of suspense and a definite twist, but the author also finishes the novel.  All the pieces are wrapped up neatly in an incredibly satisfying, albeit sad, way.  It’s really a beautiful story.

Highly, highly recommend this book – and can’t wait to discuss it in our book club!

Brooklyn by Colm Toibin (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Eilis, a young woman who lives with her mother and sister, has a good head for math and dreams of being a bookkeeper, but cannot seem to find a job in her home town in Ireland.  When an Irish priest from Brooklyn, NY comes to visit the town, he notices Eilis and promises to take her under his wing and help her get to Brooklyn where there are more opportunities.  Eilis struggles with the different culture and the absence of her family, but in many ways she is very successful.  When she is confronted with a serious trauma in her family, her newfound confidence is tested and she must prove herself once again.

The beauty of this book is the writing, which is uniquely simple, calm and straight-forward.  There is little description, but everything is depicted clearly enough to visualize it all.  There are certainly facts to the story but it is also filled with the thoughts and conjecture that Eilis has.  It is a pure and intelligent writing style that is easy to read and flows smoothly.

The story is also valuable as a history lesson.  It is the immigrant experience of a lone newcomer to a foreign land where everything is different, from the foods to the clothing styles, to the basic customs and it is an adjustment at each and every step.  Even as Eilis has support from the priest who sponsored her, she still has to cope with the judgement of those around her and she struggles with this.  It is really the story of all Americans, as most of us have been or come from immigrants, no matter how many generations ago.

Shopaholic to the Stars by Sophie Kinsella (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

True confession:  the Shopaholic books are usually my secret, guilty pleasure.  The previous ones have been silly but fun and cute and highly entertaining.  This is why I am so sad to say that this latest one was an utter disappointment!

Becky Brandon, who is entranced by fashion and shopping and has been a personal shopper for Barney’s, now finds herself in the middle of LA with a possible connection to the “star du jour,” Sage Seymour.  As she fantasizes about becoming Sage’s stylist, and even a stylist for the “red carpet,” she becomes entangled in a brawl between Sage and her arch enemy, Lois Kellerton.  As Becky’s is thrust into the media frenzy that is LA, she is forced to choose between her loyalty to her husband and her best friend and her career, and she is seeing the less-than-glamorous side of fame.

It’s a cute idea for the story, but the writing actually becomes boring.  It is lacking the usual, amusing twists and turns, and it feels as if even the author gets bored because she just stops writing.  The ending arrives with a THUD with no resolution of the most interesting part of the story!

I was really looking forward to this book and was painfully disappointed.

Really – don’t bother!

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!

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This is a fictionized biography of Robert Louis Stevenson told through the life story of his wife, Fanny.  Louis and Fanny meet after Fanny has brought her family away from America to Europe to start a new life away from her philandering first husband.  They begin a very difficult and romantic life together, he overcoming his poor health and she overcoming her own personal tragedy.  They travel the world in search of climate that supports his health and it is clear that their experiences shape Louis’s writings.

The writing in this story is excellent, if a bit long.  It also appears to be well-researched, based on a number of books about the lives of both Louis and Fanny, as well as from their journals and the writings of their family members.  There are a number of colorful characters, but none more so than Louis himself.  He is both gregarious and private, both warm-hearted and self-indulgent — a true artist in every sense of the word.  Fanny’s character is a bit sadder, as she sacrifices a great deal to be the caretaker and the loving wife of such a great man.  (I wonder how they would fare if they were alive a century later, as Fanny seems to have suffered loneliness because of how independent she was for the time in which she lived.)

All in all, it makes for an appealing novel from which I felt I learned a great deal.

The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This is the story of a painting with a past.  The Girl You Left Behind is this painting, a portrait of Sophie by her husband, who has been sent to fight for France during the first World War.  While he is away, Sophie is living with her sister, Helene, helping her run a small hotel in a tiny town outside Paris.  This town is now occupied by the Germans who are using the hotel for their nightly fare.

Fast forward to the current day and this same painting is owned by Liv, who lost her husband only four years ago and is still immobilized by this loss.  The only thing keeping her going is the hope and strength in the eyes of the woman in the portrait.  Circumstances call into question the origin of the painting and if Liv can be the rightful owner of this precious portrait. The only thing that can help Liv is to solve the mystery of the history of this painting and the actual events in the lives of the people surrounding it.

While this story is hard to read because of all the sadness – a story about war cannot be otherwise — but it is also hard to put down because the main characters are so inspiring in their sense of hope and strength.  It is also so well-written that you cannot help getting personally invested in both stories, especially as they are sewn together.

I highly recommend this book, especially for those who love historical fiction as I do!

 

About a Boy by Nick Hornby (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Since my children are huge Nick Hornby fans, I’ve been roped into reading a few of his books.  I have to confess, though, they’re actually really good…

Will has been insulating himself successfully against any real job or real purpose in life or real feelings, until he has the brilliant idea of finding women through a support group for single parents.  The fact that he has neither a spouse nor a real son does not stop him.  Through this group, he meets Marcus, an extremely awkward 12 year old boy, newly come to London, who worms his way into Will’s life and ultimately into Will’s heart.

Hornby has a unique writing style.  These characters begin fairly flatly, and throughout the book broaden and become more likable and colorful over time.  Both Will and Marcus have severe limitations at the outset of the book but they evolve into characters who can feel much more and who can express themselves much more as they both grow from the events in the story.

The story is told with warmth and humor and a rough honesty that is what makes Hornby’s writing so unique.  I have a feeling that these characters so simply written about will actually stay with me for a long time.

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This book, by the author of The Glass Castle, is a surprisingly engaging story which takes place in the 70’s, about 2 sisters, Liz and Bean, who are essentially abandoned by their mother at the ages of 15 and 12.  In order to evade the authorities, they board a bus from California to Virginia to live with their uncle.  It is here where they are exposed to the racial integration of the South.  It is also here where they learn that it is important to fight for what is right, even if it is not successful.

The relationships among the characters are what is so beautiful about the story.  There is no one who is all good and only one character who is all bad.  Even their mom, who has left her own children, is portrayed with compassion and humanity.  The cousins that Bean discovers become her real family and the glue that holds her together through her ordeal.  And while each of the characters is sort of odd in his or her own way, they all complement each other and fit in perfectly to the story.

This is a very quick and easy read — and the ending is …!

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

This story very insidiously burrows its way under your skin and you cannot shake it off until you reach the end.  There is an eeriness about each character and a tension that is so taught that it grips your heart as you read through.  At the same time, you cannot help but feel a tenderness for each of the characters and it paints each in a human light, that is neither good nor bad, but very, very human.

It is the story of two main characters who are unconnected and wind their way toward each other in a most circuitous way.  One is Marie-Laure, the young, blind daughter of the locksmith for the natural history museum of Paris, just before the German occupation of WWII.  The second is a young German orphan named Werner, who is mesmerized by radios and sees his curiosity and natural ability in engineering as his ticket out of his small, mining village.  The story bounces back and forth between the two, and keeps the reader absolutely on the edge of her seat.  It is almost impossible to put down, actually.

While this is yet another book about WWII, it is a very different perspective on it.  There is very little about the treatment of Jews; rather, the focus is mainly on the effect of the German occupation of France.  In addition, there is also the struggle between the ideas of bad and good, and the idea that  “bad” can be defined as not doing good.  Werner, in particular, struggles with this in a vivid way.

This is a heart-wrenching story but a beautifully written one that I would heartily recommend!

 

The Woman Who Heard Color by Kelly Jones (migrated from bookblogger)

Posted on by marjorieseidenfeld

Lauren has finally gotten Isabella Fletcher to agree to an interview.  She has been trying to track down this daughter of Hanna Fleischmann for some time now in order to verify her suspicions:  that Hanna Fleischmann collaborated with the Nazis during WWII and profited from the public rejection and destruction of what Hitler, in his infinitely narcissistic manner, deemed “Degenerate”art (any art of which he did not approve).  What is told, by details revealed in the interview and by going back in time to the life of Hanna Fleischmann, is a bold and fascinating history of the art world during Hitler’s reign as well as a dramatic personal saga of a woman trying to survive.

This was a painful reminder of the additional crime against humanity, the destruction of thousands of treasured paintings and sculptures, perpetrated by Adolph Hitler.  This historical fiction account of the Degenerate Art show and the profiting by the Nazis of the selling and then the destruction of the art enables the reader to truly appreciate the impact of the harm caused by this monstrous lunatic.

I especially loved the passages about the character of Hanna.  She was extremely adventurous, brave and had a love for art that was contagious. The passages of the interview between Lauren and Isabel were more stilted and not as smooth, in my opinion.  The 2 current day characters were not as endearing and I found myself hurrying through these parts to get back to Hanna’s saga.

But on the whole, this was a book worth reading — for the beauty of the story as well as for the historical importance.