Along the Infinite Sea by Beatriz Williams

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Another absolute winner by this gifted writer!

Pepper Schuyler certainly has her reasons for selling the 1936 Special Roadster Mercedes Benz she’s been working on restoring, but she can’t imagine why the mysterious Annabelle Dommerich was so intent on buying it, and for such a small fortune.  To learn why, the author takes us back and forth between the relative “present” (1966) and the past (1935-) in the telling of the story.  We learn that Annabelle has had to navigate a passionate love for a Jewish German man at the start of the Nazi uprising.  Her complicated history has lead her inextricably back to this car and to Pepper, with whom she will share more in common than Pepper would have ever predicted.

 

Beatriz Williams has a way of creating characters whom you just want to invite over for a drink and conversation.  Her female characters are smart and sharp-witted and yet hopeful and strong.  In addition, she crafts her plots with twists and turns and actually keeps the suspense maintained throughout the pages.  This is a book that you can’t stop but yet don’t want to finish reading, because you just want to stay in the world of these real-life, endearing characters.

Highly recommend this and can’t wait to read other books by her!  (This is my 3rd by her,  I believe.)

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

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Love seems to actually trump hate in this frighteningly timely novel by Jodi Picoult.   It begins when a Black labor and delivery nurse, Ruth, begins to care for the baby of a White supremacist couple and the couple insist that she be removed from their case because of her race. As it would happen, Ruth is alone with the baby when the baby stops breathing.  Should she touch the baby and save him, as she is trained to do?  Should she abide by the racist rules the hospital has imposed at the request of this repugnant couple?  What happens next sets Ruth and the couple and ultimately, Ruth’s lawyer, Kennedy, on a road to grappling with race as it is seen from all perspectives.

Little did I know that I’d be reading this amidst the worst campaign and most devastating election outcome in the history of the United States.  The spillage of racism, misogyny, and bigotry that has poured out of the mouth of the Republican party nominee and his bedfellows has unleashed the underbelly of this country and its darkest side.  The election result has spawned a crippling shadow over my whole universe and I know this has been true for over half of this country.  We are embarrassed to call ourselves American, as it associates us with this new, evil and mean rhetoric in the eyes and ears of the rest of the world.  This is not the country I have known to be the home of the free.

And so it was, amidst my deepest disappointment that has sent me into a physical nausea that I cannot shake, that I read how Kennedy, seeking to defend Ruth in her ultimate trial, really tries to understand the day to day psychological beating that Ruth endures as a Black woman in a white man’s world.   The small slips, the subtle differences in perception, and the more overt signs of difference from which Kennedy is protected because of the color of her skin.  And while the 2 butt heads, they also come together because of the genuine efforts to try to understand each other, which is the foundation of the beginning of actually understanding each other.

Unfortunately for this story, love trumps hate in sort of a too perfect way by the end, so that it becomes a little fairytale-like as an ending.  I pray for this country, though, that we can reach an understanding that even remotely approximates this ending – for the good of our present and the good of our future.

The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows

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As the country is still reeling from the Great Depression, Layla finds herself ousted from her privileged life because she refused to marry the man chosen for her by her father.  As punishment, she’s banished to an assignment through the Writers’ Project to research and write the history of the tiny town of Macedonia,Virginia.  Not believing she will survive in such a backward town, she quickly finds herself living among and becoming entrenched with the family that is at the center of probably the most significant and tragic  segment of Macedonia’s history.

This book is written by the author of one of my all time favorite books, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.  In that former book, the characters jump off the pages and into your heart.  The characters here are not quite as striking, but they are certainly vivid and endearing.  The author also utilizes a change in voices to tell the story, sometimes from the perspective of Jottie, Layla’s landlord and head of the household and sometimes from the perspective of Willa, Jottie’s niece whom she’s raised.  The varying perspectives round out the story to give it a great, 3-dimensional feel.

There is a bit of suspense, there is a bit of romance, but there is mostly just the telling of an emotional story about colorful characters about whom you can’t help caring.

An absorbing read, worth every word!

The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

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It is the late 1960’s and Frankie has just moved to Palo Alto with her husband and two children.  While her husband has found his dream job, her own dream of going to college and becoming a writer has gone unfulfilled.  That is, until she meets the “Wednesday Sisters.” While watching her children play in a park near her new home, she meets a group of women who become her closest friends, her confidantes, and her literary critics!  And as the 60’s roll into the 70’s, they see each other through their writing struggles as well as their personal struggles, and they evolve with women all over the country, supporting each other as they each begin to pursue their own interests and passions just as their husbands have done.

This is a sweet story, with the 1960’s as a subtle backdrop.  The women have a wonderful relationship and bring out the best in each other.  The respect that they show for each other, in spite of their individual quirks and conflicts, is what most would aspire to in a friendship and their solidarity, expressed most fully at the end (I won’t spoil it for you!) is truly beautiful.  It is a little far-reaching as “realistic” goes, but it works anyway.

A fun, mostly light read…  definitely a chick book!

 

 

All I Love and Know by Judith Frank

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Matt and Daniel were a happy couple, comfortable with their life in the liberal town of Northhampton, MA – that is, until they learn that Daniel’s twin brother and wife were killed in a terrorist bombing in Jerusalem.  Dazed by the knowledge that his brother wanted Daniel to raise his two young children should anything happen to him, Daniel and Matt immediately flew over to Jerusalem to confront the situation.  The emotional turmoil and upheaval of their lives that ensues take Daniel and Matt through challenges they never imagined they’d have to face.

There are many layers to this story – the relationship between Daniel and Matt, their relationship with the children they suddenly are responsible for, the political issues surrounding the death of Daniel’s brother, the conflicts between the religious family and their sexual orientation – just to name a few.  And the characters are also very complex – between Matt, who isn’t Jewish and who never imagined being a parent and is thrust into both worlds, Daniel who is grieving in his own complicated way, and Gal, the older of the children who is in kindergarten when her parents are killed.  Their story is told in a simple manner with tactile details that give the story a warm authenticity.  And while there is a lot of love among the characters, there is grief, loss, and fear that each is digesting and this strains the relationship among all of them.  When the end of the book comes, I felt that I’d really experienced this saga with actual people, they all felt so real.

While this is not necessarily a “must read,” it is a powerful story with very real characters that will become your family as you read them.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman

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Elsa’s granny is certainly “different” –and Elsa knows how complicated, even burdensome, that can be.  But Elsa also knows that even while she can argue for hours, even days with her granny (mainly about the fairytale world they’ve constructed), she always knows that Granny has her back.  So what happens if something happens to Granny…?

Utilizing the world of fantasy, Elsa’s Granny helps Elsa escape a world in which she feels alienated and lonely because she is “different.” Unfortunately, because of how closely this is entwined with the actual storyline, there is vast description of this fantasy world, to which I personally felt disconnected.  These parts lost me a little.  On the other hand, the parts that were real pulled me back in.  And while I was not crazy about the fairytale parts, I do appreciate the brilliance of the author’s use of this as a vehicle to show Granny’s eccentric but steadfast show of love for Elsa.

What is most beautiful about this book are the characters.  They are real, imperfect, temperamental, sweet, and human.  And all are portrayed with such grace and subtlety in the course of the telling of the story.  The way the story is constructed, there seems to be a wall of characters built around Elsa, who function as a fortress to protect her and love her.  It is very moving and I have to confess that I did choke up at times.

All in all, it’s a beautiful story that slowly and very definitely works its way into your heart.

 

Seventh Heaven by Alice Hoffman

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On Hemlock Street, in a small town on Long Island in the year 1959, all the houses looked the same.  In fact, even those that lived inside those identical model homes had difficulty finding their own because the streets all looked the same.  The mothers were all homemakers and shared recipes and gossip, the fathers all worked and bonded in the hardware store, and the children all fell asleep to the sounds of the Southern State Highway.  So when Nora Silk, divorced and juggling multiple jobs with the care of her 2 young sons, moved onto the street, she could not have appeared more different from the others.  It was only after time, acts of tragedy and kindness, and the communal realization that no one has a perfect family, that Nora was able to work her way into the hearts of the families on the street.

The first thing I loved about this book was the capturing of an iconic generation and its details.  The description of suburban life in the late 1950’s/early 1960’s is perfect – from the clothes to the foods to the very way of thinking at the time.  It was a simpler time but still fraught with normal human experience, both sweet and sad.  I am dating myself by saying that I could relate.

The story, as it very subtly unwinds, though, is really about bullying in its many forms.  Whether it is adults who are unfriendly to someone who they judge to be different, or kids who pick on the awkward new boy, or teenage boys who treat a “loose” girl like she doesn’t matter, the story revolves around the evil that comes from judging others and acting mean.  Some learn their lessons while others just run away.  But ultimately, kindness rules.

This is a beautiful, real-life story that will very gradually and quietly warm your heart.

 

 

 

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

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I can only start by saying that this book rocked my world.

After 3-4 years of extensive research, travel and investigation, Jonathan Safran Foer collected his findings and analysis into this very readable, very engaging litany of the horrors of the factory farm, through which over 95% of US meat is processed.  These “farms” are really not farms at all, but rather enormous, hugely overcrowded storage facilities for live animals (chickens, turkeys, hogs, and slightly less often, cows).  The animals are fed antibiotic-laced, genetically modified corn, given no fresh air, and crowded into either tiny cages or if they are “cage-free” they are still rarely given more than a few square inches in which to live.  The  drainage of sewage is poor and most live in their own feces.  The animals are sickly and prone to many diseases, including osteoporosis, which makes them susceptible to frequent broken bones.  The killing is generally horrific and not at all the painless, quick way we’d like to think.

In addition to causing animal suffering, the factory farms wreak havoc on the environment.  The sewage alone is enough to pollute the air with toxic gases and nearby water supplies because of run-off.  People living near these facilities have higher incidences of respiratory illness, nausea and other symptoms because of the toxins.

I did not read this because I was a vegetarian.  I did not read this because I am an activist and want to convince everyone to think as I now am thinking.  In fact, this is not even why the author wrote this book.  I have eaten meat all my life – especially poultry.  The author wavered in the past between eating animals and not, acknowledging that there is a shared experience of eating food with other people that perhaps can be impacted if one restricts in some way.  In addition, Foer describes a few farmers who actually have managed to salvage some of the more humane practices on smaller farms to improve the quality of life for the animals and to keep them healthier.  In this way, he presents a more balanced picture, even as these  examples comprise a tiny portion of the animals available for food.  Moreover, Foer does not try to make up anyone else’s mind about what to eat.  He merely presents the facts, gruesome as they are, about the source of our animal foods – and we are free to decide what to do with those facts.

I said it rocked my world and it really did.  I think, after reading this, that I cannot eat poultry.  I’d already cut out red meat awhile ago, so that isn’t a problem, but not eating chicken is going to be quite the challenge.  But I just don’t think I can go back, knowing what I know now, to supporting these practices.

Am I sorry I read this book?  Isn’t ignorance bliss?  I think I’m just sorry it exists at all.  I am not at all sorry that I read this book, though, and I encourage everyone to read it.  It still exists even if we don’t know about it.  Better, then, to know.  And better yet, to act.

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline

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Wanting only to reconnect with his son, Ryan, Jake agreed to pick him up at the movies, when his wife, Pam suggested it.  Encouraged by the beginning of the first real conversation he’d had with Ryan in awhile, he hesitated only briefly when on the way home, Ryan asked to drive, even though it was slightly after the curfew for those with only drivers’ permits.  What happened after that changed their lives forever, bonding father and son together but binding them in a web of lies that almost tears them apart forever.

The writing in this book is not what keeps it a page-turner; rather it is entirely plot-driven.  But the plot is well-navigated and drives through twists and turns that keep the reader absolutely engaged.  The characters are also each very likable, so that you really care what happens and feel a warm sympathy toward them, in spite of their flaws and very bad decisions.

This is suspense novel that is extremely suspenseful – a fun, quick read.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

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For each of the 3 families attending the BBQ hosted by Tiffany and Vin, life was permanently altered.  Clementine and Sam were unsure if their marriage would survive, Tiffany and Vin were not sure what was going on with their daughter, Dakota, and Erika could not remember a slice of time during the BBQ and was obsessively trying to recover that memory.  Life seemed so simple before the BBQ.  Things were taken for granted…

The beauty of this book is in the skillful crafting of the narrative, which circles around the BBQ and only very gradually divulges exactly what happened and how.  By rotating around the characters’ perspectives and by weaving in and out of time frames, Moriarty builds up the suspense and enriches the impact of the crescendo of the story.  And on the way down, she continues to add smaller punches which ultimately tie in each of the pieces of the puzzle.

I also love the message in this book, which is, essentially, that issues that are difficult or painful should be talked through.  Keeping secrets and holding things inside only lead to repression and misperceptions, usually resulting in unfounded guilt or other sources of misery.  Especially with children.

I am a big fan of Liane Moriarty – and this is yet another engaging, well-spun tale by her!