Sadie Hawkins Sunday Review #25: Covet

Covet

Author: Tracey Garvis Graves
Pages: 320
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Read: July 23-30, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher at BEA
Recommended by: Blythe of Finding Bliss in Books

Description from Goodreads:
What if the life you wanted, and the woman you fell in love with, belonged to someone else?

Chris and Claire Canton’s marriage is on life support. Downsized during the recession and out of work for a year, Chris copes by retreating to a dark place where no one can reach him, not even Claire. When he’s offered a position that will keep him away from home four nights a week, he dismisses Claire’s concern that time apart could be the one thing their fragile union can’t weather. Their suburban life may look idyllic on the outside, but Claire has never felt so disconnected from Chris, or so lonely.

Local police officer Daniel Rush used to have it all, but now he goes home to an empty house every night. He pulls Claire over during a routine traffic stop, and they run into each other again at the 4th of July parade. When Claire is hired to do some graphic design work for the police department, her friendship with Daniel grows, and soon they’re spending hours together.

Claire loves the way Daniel makes her feel, and the way his face lights up when she walks into the room. Daniel knows that Claire’s marital status means their relationship will never be anything other than platonic. But it doesn’t take long before Claire and Daniel are in way over their heads, and skating close to the line that Claire has sworn she’ll never cross.

First Sentence: "I'm on my way home from dropping off the kids at school when he pulls me over."

Review:
Though I was curious enough about Tracey Garvis Graves to lug Covet back from BEA, I certainly felt a healthy dose of skepticism about whether her writing would really be for me. The blurb of the book only exacerbated my hesitance, because it hints at a torrid affair and melodrama. While on the surface, the blurb is true, it's also misleading. Covet does deeply examine infidelity, but it's understated and realistic, and never once angered me, despite infidelity being a huge no no for me.

The first thing that impressed me was Graves' writing. She really excels at writing people, full and vibrant and realistic. She focuses on Claire's family, and really captures Claire perfectly. You can feel Claire's every emotion and sense how much she cares about her family. There are myriad little details that really make the house therein seem like a home and everyone within it a believable person. Covet is very domestic and very family-oriented.

Claire loves her husband deeply, but things have not been the same between them since her husband lost his job a year ago. A golden boy, life always came easy to Chris, and he never expected to be job hunting for months. During that process, money gets tight, Claire becomes their sole earner with her freelance graphic design, and Chris has to go on antidepressants. Though Chris now finally has a new job, circumstances have not improved between them, as this job requires him to be on the road for weeks at a time. Claire and Chris barely speak and the gulf between them doesn't seem to be shrinking.

At about the same time Chris is beginning his new job, Claire meets Daniel Rush, a cop, when he pulls her over to inform her that her taillight is out. They meet again coincidentally and he helps her get a speed limit sign put in on her street to keep people from speeding. After that, he helps get her some freelance work for the police station. From this foundation, they form a friendship, mostly trying to hide their mutual attraction.

I'll tell you right now that there is no torrid affair, but everything's not necessarily innocent either. Graves really explores infidelity, what it means, and why it happens. Claire, lonely, seeks out companionship when its offered, but she doesn't immediately abandon her senses either. She's very aware of her situation and careful not to cross the line. Though my opinions on cheating are pretty well set, Graves really made me look at infidelity in a new light and from a different angle. I'm not saying I think it's okay now or anything, but I understand why Claire behaves the way she does.

There were some elements that I wish had been flushed out better. Julia's got some close female friends, and I would have liked to see a bit more of them. One has a philandering husband, another a drinking problem, and the third a husband with a gambling addiction. Their interactions are all about their men or children, and it would have been nice to see the women get to show a different side.

Covet's told from multiple perspectives, which is decently well done, but not perfect. Daniel and Chris have very short chapters, two pages or less generally, whereas Claire's are more expansive. I would have liked to see that a bit more even, but I suspect keeping the male POVs terse was a way to make them sound less like Claire. The POVs weren't especially unique, but I had no problems keeping them apart either.

Tracey Garvis Graves' portrayal of family life and investigation of a relationship on the rocks in Covet had me eager to read more. Covet's a very character-focused read with most of the drama taking place in Claire's head, rather than in a bed.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "I'd much rather be here in this hotel room in Denver, employed, than be without a job. Actually, I'd rather be employed and at home with my family, but it didn't work out that way."

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Up Next:

The next Sadie Hawkins Sunday book will be Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta. That series was recommended by Steph and Lynn! Obviously, I'm excited about this because it's supposedly the best and the series. Also, spoiler, I'm reading it now and it's awesome. So yeah. Check back next week for that and another SHS post as well.

Want to tell me what to read? Fill out the following form with a suggestion! For more details, check this post.

Review + Giveaway: The Husband's Secret

The Husband's Secret

Author: Liane Moriarty
Pages: 416
Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books
Publication Date: July 30, 2013
Read: July 23-28, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read

My darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died. . . .

Imagine that your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others as well. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive. . . . Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

Acclaimed author Liane Moriarty has written a gripping, thought-provoking novel about how well it is really possible to know our spouses—and, ultimately, ourselves.

First Sentence: "It was all because of the Berlin Wall."

Review:

To say that I was surprised by the quality and beauty of The Husband's Secret would be an understatement. In fact, I almost didn't pick Moriarty's novel up at BEA, but did so at the behest of a publicist, one whose name I wish I'd noted so that I could thank her. My hesitance to read The Husband's Secret stemmed from the cover (which bears an unfortunate resemblance to that of Black City) and the blurb (which makes the novel sound like a stereotypical novel about infidelity). If either of these reasons are holding you back, do not let them as The Husband's Secret is women's fiction at its finest.

The basic premise, the one that the blurb points to, is a sort of retelling of Pandora's box, a woman's life transfigured when she opens something she perhaps oughtn't. On a basic level, this is true. Cecilia Fitzpatrick does find a letter addressed to her to be opened on the event of her husband John-Paul's death. She calls him to ask about it, and he makes her promise not to open it. She agrees, but secrets it away curious. When John-Paul comes home early from his business trip and ventures in the middle of the night into the attic, which he avoids due to claustrophobia, to claim the letter, Cecilia pulls it from its hiding place and reads. From this moment, a certain chaos does enter the world, and lives and marriages are tested.

What the blurb only barely hints at is that this story is not just about Cecilia. Tess and Rachel are but a footnote of the blurb, but they have equal share in the story of The Husband's Secret. Though initially not tied together seemingly in any way, the lives of the three weave together inexorably as the pages pass. The story is a dark one, moving and gorgeously-written.

Though the subject matter may be a bit melodramatic, I found the story endlessly compelling and it almost made me cry, which is the equivalent of saying most readers will want to keep a box of tissues handy; I am not one who cries easily. Despite the scale of the drama within, The Husband's Secret actually feels quite down to earth, thanks to the personalities of these three women who inhabit its pages. Rachel, Tess, and Cecilia are all good women, whose lives have been thrown off kilter by personal tragedies, past or present.

Cecilia does it all. She's a brilliant wife, mother, homemaker, and brings in a hefty income doing Tupperware parties. She appears to other women, like Rachel and Tess, as one of those women who has everything together, and who has been blessed in life. Cecilia's three daughters are bright and affectionate. She and her husband love one another deeply, and have, until very recently, always had a very satisfying sex life. Opening the later, though, must change everything, one way or another. And, no, the letter's not about a secret affair.

Tess, like Cecilia, is a woman of vast achievement. She's a successful account manager for the advertising company she runs with her husband, Will, and cousin (also best friend) Felicity. Her son, Liam, is the source of some concern, as he is being bullied at school, but otherwise life is happy. One day, out of the blue, Will and Felicity sit her down to explain that they've fallen in love. Tess, questioning both of her relationships, leaves their home in Melbourne and takes Liam to Sydney, where they stay with her mother and he can attend a school his bully does not attend. In this break from her day-to-day life, Tess has space to evaluate what role Felicity has always played in her life and what she wants her life to be from here on out.

Rachel, a grandmother, has been a largely unhappy woman ever since her daughter Janie was murdered, strangled to death and left in a park, the murderer never located and brought to justice. She's always suspected Connor Whitby, but has no proof. Her one small joy in life, her grandson, will soon be wrested from her, as her son, Rob, and daughter-in-law, Lauren, are moving to New York City. With this announcement, Rachel descends even more heavily into her desire for closure in Janie's case.

All three women are likable and sympathetic, even when they make choices that aren't necessarily good ones. They face moral dilemmas with no good solution, and just try to muddle through. The Husband's Secret really considers whether choices should be made to protect the children or because they are morally right. Though I can't say that I'm necessarily in agreement with the way that each storyline wrapped up, each woman is so well-characterized that the routes they take do make sense.

Powerful, heart-wrenching literary fiction with a focus on women, The Husband's Secret is a lavish novel. Bear the warning of the Pandora comparison in mind, for the the tale is not a happy one. Liane Moriarty's writing and characterization have convinced me to add the rest of her adult novels to my to-read list. I can only hope I find them as moving and well done as this one.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "Marriage was a form of insanity; love hovering on the edge of aggravation."

Giveaway:
In my continuing quest to share my very favorite reads with readers across the world, I'm offering an international giveaway for a hardback of The Husband's Secret. The book will be shipped via The Book Depository, so as long as they ship to your country, you can win!
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Review: The Original 1982

The Original 1982

Author: Lori Carson
Pages: 240
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Read: June 6-7, 2013
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Description from Goodreads:
The Original 1982 is the wise and memorable debut novel of love, regret, music and motherhood, by singer and songwriter Lori Carson of the Golden Palominos.

It's 1982, and Lisa is twenty-four years old, a waitress, an aspiring singer-songwriter, and girlfriend to a famous Latin musician. That year, she makes a decision, almost without thinking about it.

But what if what if her decision had been a different one?

In the new 1982, Lisa chooses differently. Her career takes another direction. She becomes a mother. She loves differently, yet some things remain the same.

Alternating between two very different possibilities, The Original 1982 is a novel about how the choices we make affect the people we become-and about how the people we are affect the choices we make.

First Sentence: "You were the first, Little Fish."

Review:

Singer and songwriter Lori Carson makes her fictional debut with The Original 1982. To be perfectly frank, I'm entirely unfamiliar with her music, and didn't recognize the name as someone famous. What drew me to the book was the parallel lives premise, which recalled Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World. Such premises call to me, because, really, who hasn't wondered about the alternate ways a life could go.

As I mentioned, I know almost nothing about Lisa Carson's life, but I feel fairly confident making the assumption that The Original 1982 is largely autobiographical. The whole novel feels very personal, and, honestly, there doesn't seem to be an effort to hide that the writing thereof is a journey for Carson. The heroine's name is Lisa Nelson, and at least one of the songs mentioned is one that appeared on one of Lisa Carson's albums, or at least a song of the same title. Like Lori, Lisa is a musician, a singer and songwriter.

In The Original 1982, Carson considers what Lisa's life might have become had she not aborted her pregnancy in 1982. Nelson faces the classic choice of career or family. In the original 1982, she chose her career, and became somewhat famous. In this imagined 1982, she keeps the baby, raising a daughter, Minnow, largely alone. Though she keeps playing, motherhood is a job in itself and she has to earn money to support them, so she doesn't have enough time to ever make it big. In one life, she is successful and lonely; in the other, unknown but with a lovely daughter.

Carson uses second person fairly effectively here, and I say that as a person who really does not enjoy a second person narrative. This is what makes the novel feel so personal: it's addressed wholly to Minnow, her Little Fish. Lisa Nelson is talking to the daughter that could have existed, and the loss of that person she never knew is visceral. Of course, the second person also has another interpretation, perhaps inadvertent. The reader, presumably a fan of Carson's music, is a child of a sort too, a brainchild born at the expense of an actual child, using the simplified logic of the novel.

The writing style, while not one that necessarily appeals to me, does have a unique cadence, no doubt influenced by her songwriting. The sentence structures are often odd and slightly offbeat. The style does very much suit the story and the character.

What might have been more effective in telling this story is the framework that most stories of this nature use (The Post-Birthday World and Pivot Point are good examples), wherein the story starts and ends in roughly the same place, and the chapters in between alternate futures. Instead, Carson largely focuses on the imagined 1982, occasionally dropping information on what she was doing in the original 1982. This felt really disorganized. Then, when her daughter reached her teen years, the imagined narrative ceased and the novel turned to the actual 2010, focusing on that for thirty pages. The alternating pattern allows for better comparison of the two, and I feel like a lot was left out of both timelines, perhaps because Carson hit what she needed for her own state of mind, but not for mine.

In the end, Carson's book is an interesting one, but not one I am the ideal audience for. At 25, I've not been through any experiences like Carson's. I've never been pregnant, so I don't live with the question of how my life might have been different were I a mother or not a mother. For those who have lived through such things, this might be a powerful read, but it did not resonate with me.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"When I catch my reflection in the glass, I note again that I've become someone who's resting face falls into a mournful expression.
     As if the cabdriver can read my thoughts, he says, 'Smile! It can't be that bad.'
     This is one you hear a lot as a young woman, Minnow. Why do men think we enjoy being commanded to smile?"

Audiobook Review: One Breath Away

One Breath Away

Author: Heather Gudenkauf
Narrators: Joyce Bean, Susan Ericksen, Laural Merlington, Kate Rudd, Buck Schirner
Duration: 9 hrs, 20 mins
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, an unknown man armed with a gun walks into an elementary school classroom. Outside the school, the town of Broken Branch watches and waits. Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility for the town's children in her hands. Will Thwaite, reluctantly entrusted with the care of his two grandchildren by the daughter who left home years earlier, stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care. And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker, already struggling with the aftermath of a terrible accident that has brought her to Broken Branch, will risk her own safety to protect her little brother. As tension mounts with each passing minute, the hidden fears and grudges of the small town are revealed as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger who holds their children hostage.

Review:

For those of you who don't know, some audiobooks include a bit of music. Not all the way through or anything, but at the very beginning and end. One Breath Away actually has music at the opening and closing of each disc. The music has a creepy sound, and seems like theme music for some sort of crime drama program. This fits One Breath Away perfectly, because it definitely felt more like a made for television movie than a serious consideration of a gunman taking over a school.

The topic, of course, inherently involves a lot of drama, fear and creepiness. The fact that a man with a gun would decide that the best way to make whatever point he has to make is to enter a school and take some children as hostages really freaks me out, mostly because it doesn't necessarily have to do with the children at all; they are merely innocent victims of a madman. Basically, this subject matter has plenty of natural intensity and shock value without adding additional sob stories into the mix.

Gudenkauf tells this story using multiple third person limited narratives. The first is a mother, Holly, recuperating slowly in a hospital. In the meantime, her children, Augie and PJ have been sent to live with her estranged her father, while her mother sits at her bedside. How was she injured? In a grease fire, and she was injured to an insane degree. Not only that, but the fire was inadvertently caused by Augie, who never apologized before this incident.

The second perspective is Augie's. Because of the guilt over her accidentally wounding her mother, when the school gets locked down, Augie decides she won't leave without PJ. Her class escapes early on, but she decides to stay and look for PJ, who's in the classroom with the gunman. Holly's perspective existed solely to add an extra level of sadness to this story, which really was not necessary. Why not make her any other mother, waiting outside the school? No matter the family situation, any relatively caring mother will be frozen with fear until she finds out her kids are safe; other than pure melodrama value, there's no reason to have her be gravely injured, at risk of ruining her skin grafts. Maybe that wasn't Gudenkauf's intention, but it detracted from the believability of the book for me.

The third perspective, and the only male one, is Will, Holly's father. He and Holly have not talked since she left home as a teen, sick of the farm and of Iowa and of her dad who cared more about cows than his child. Will spends his time worrying about everyone, rightly so, but also stumbling into crucial information regarding the case and saving people. Again, this had a sort of cinematic feel to it, more than might necessarily be going down in real life. Oh, also, there was a crazy snow storm too.

Our fourth perspective is Meg, a police officer. Her daughter would have been in the school, but she left before the last day to spend the weekend with her father, from whom Meg is divorced. Both Meg and Holly have a very powerful feminist attitude towards sex, though they seem to look down on themselves for it a bit, which is unfortunate. Their lives parallel somewhat, but more could have been made of that.

Rounding out the story is Mrs. Oliver, the so-close-to-retiring teacher of the hostage class. She does try very hard for the kids, but I had trouble accepting that a no-nonsense teacher like she is described to be would confront the gunman in some of the highly stupid ways she does. The reader also gets a lot of back story on Mrs. Oliver that, I personally did not find useful to the plot or interesting.

The audiobook version should have made their characters come more alive for me, but, sadly, that was not the case. I really did not like any of the narrators voices, though Meg was better than the rest. For one thing, they all had a really annoying accent, which I guess must be an Iowan accent for authenticity, but, whatever it is, I would have been happier without it. The worst performance has to be the one for Augie, as the narrator used a really obnoxious trying-to-sound-like-a-child voice, which skewed too young for eighth grader Augie and made her sound incredibly dumb.

Looking at Goodreads, I can see that there are 3000 plus ratings for this, most of them four and five stars. Listening to an audio can be a very different experience, so, perhaps, had I read this I would have liked it more. I really cannot say. If you're curious, look at some other reviews or try the book yourself, preferably in print unless you love the Iowa accent, before writing it off.

Overall Rating: 2/5

Review: Catalyst

Catalyst

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson
Pages: 232
Publisher: Speak
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Meet Kate Malone-straight-A science and math geek, minister's daughter, ace long-distance runner, new girlfriend (to Mitchell "Early Decision Harvard" Pangborn III), unwilling family caretaker, and emotional avoidance champion. Kate manages her life by organizing it as logically as the periodic table. She can handle it all-or so she thinks. Then, things change as suddenly as a string of chemical reactions; first, the Malones' neighbors get burned out of their own home and move in. Kate has to share her room with her nemesis, Teri Litch, and Teri's little brother. The days are ticking down and she's still waiting to hear from the only college she applied to: MIT. Kate feels that her life is spinning out of her control-and then, something happens that truly blows it all apart. Set in the same community as the remarkable Speak, Catalyst is a novel that will change the way you look at the world.

First Sentence: "I like to run at night."

Review:

After my last read, not to be confused with my last review, I needed something powerful and beautiful and character-driven. Catalyst turned out to be a perfect choice. Until now, my experience with Laurie Halse Anderson consisted solely of Speak. At that time, I didn't really read much realistic fiction, and I mostly steered away from unhappy books. As such, I really was not sure what to make of it, and could not appreciate it as much as I know I could now. Having read and super liked Catalyst, I'm pretty sure I need to reread Speak soon.

Speaking of Speak (which is published by Speak), Catalyst actually takes place in the very same high school, and Melinda makes a brief appearance. The Melinda here seems pretty happy and is still doing her art. Yay! Of course, she was only in for a page, but, hey, it was nice to see her and to get the sense that she's actually recovered. I really love when authors reference previous works.

Laurie Halse Anderson's writing makes me want to spin around Julie Andrews style because of how freaking wonderful it is. Seriously, if I had to quantify my favorite writing style, it would be one that is dark, funny, and dripping with wit. Her writing here fits in perfectly with John Green's and A.S. King's, in the category of writing so good that it kind of makes me never want to write anything, since I can never be that good at putting things into words.

Of course, Anderson does not merely excel at writing. She backs it up with characterization. Kate Malone bursts with personality. She has both teenage hubris and insecurity in spades. Her voice is powerful and acerbic. A pastor's daughter, she has developed a dichotomy within herself of how she's supposed to act and all the things she wants to say: Good Kate and Bad Kate. While this technique can be awful when done wrong, Anderson used it effectively. It just fit Kate and her rigorous need to be perfect warring with her judgmental personality.

Kate loves math and science, dreams of attending MIT, her late mother's alma mater. She's done everything she can: earned the grades, taken the tests, filled her life with extracurriculars, excelled at a sport, volunteered at her father's church, and worked part-time at a pharmacy. She's a shoe-in, right? Well, she told herself that anyway when she decided to apply only to MIT and nowhere else...even when she wasn't accepted early decision.

With the letter, hopefully the fat one, from MIT due any day, Kate cannot sleep, spending most of every night running or performing household chores. The own stresses in her life are put into perspective by a larger tragedy that forces her into a relationship with her childhood tormenter, Teri Litch. The main detractor in the novel was that I felt like Kate forgave Teri much too easily and let her get away with too much. The whole time I kept yelling at her to get the watch and necklace (both with sentimental value) Teri stole from her back.

Another wonderful thing about this book: the romance. Unlike most YA, it's not about Kate's relationship, nor does it include a new love interest. She already has a boy, Mitchell, her former rival, who she argues with a lot less now that they spend quite a bit of time kissing. Also setting this book apart, Mitchell is not the kind of guy most girls would find attractive, but Kate still thinks he's hot, which was so cute and refreshing. Their relationship definitely reads like one that will not last long once they go to college, and it was so much more authentic than all of these soulmates confessing their love on a first date.

While I do think some of the plotting elements were a bit rushed, I loved this book for the characterization, the writing and for completely surprising me. Seriously, there was a twist I did not see coming at all. Anyway, Anderson is brilliant, in case you didn't know that already.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "One girl I recognize. She's half-famous around here: Melinda Something. A Senior tried to rape her in a janitor's closet last year. She fought him off and pressed charges, which was cool. It made the papers when he was found guilty. He didn't go to jail, of course. White, upper-middle-class criminals go to the state college, not the state penitentiary. Then they join fraternities."

Review: The Confidant

The Confidant

Author: Hélène Grémillon
Translator: Alison Anderson
Pages: 256
Publisher: Penguin Books
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
"A gripping first novel" (Le Figaro Littéraire) and an award-winning international sensation as haunting and unforgettable as Suite Française

Paris, 1975. Camille sifts through letters of condolence after her mother's death when a strange, handwritten missive stops her short. At first she believes she received it by mistake. But then, a new letter arrives each week from a mysterious stranger, Louis, who seems intent on recounting the story of his first love, Annie. They were separated in the years before World War II when Annie befriended a wealthy, barren couple and fell victim to a merciless plot just as German troops arrive in Paris. But also awaiting Camille's discovery is the other side of the story, which will call into question Annie's innocence and reveal the devastating consequences of jealousy and revenge. As Camille reads on, she begins to realize that her own life may be the next chapter in this tragic story.

First Sentence: "I got a letter one day, a long letter that wasn't signed."

Review:

When I get a review request in my email inbox for a historical fiction novel with an appealing cover, I just cannot say no. The Confidant, set in Paris, as you can tell from the cover with the ubiquitous Eiffel Tower background, also takes place partially during the WWII era. Basically, I was all kinds of sold. What I love about fiction set in that era is how much variety there is, how much ground to be covered, and, yet again, I found myself in a book very different from any I'd previously encountered. The Confidant is a strange, oddly powerful little book.

The novel opens on Camille, who, in her mid-thirties, has just become pregnant by her boyfriend and whose mother has just died. These facts matter only in how they affect her mental state at the time of receiving the letters. After bereavement, people send letters, sharing stories, offering condolences, etc. Camille receives a thicker, unsigned letter, and opens it, curious to discover what it contains. Inside, she finds a story, one that seems to have little to do with her. The letters keep coming, always unsigned and always conveying a bit more of the story. This narrative device ensnared my curiosity, much as it did Camille's. What happened to the people in these letters? Were they delivered to Camille by mistake? 

While the bulk of the novel does take place during WWII, I will say that the war serves solely as a backdrop or a sort of catalyst to the drama of the piece. In fact, this story could have happened in another time or another place. It's a story of a woman and a girl, one desperate to fulfill what she sees as her duty and the other trying to find herself.

The main theme of The Confidant centers around childbirth. Obviously, this isn't a topic of much interest to me ordinarily, but the treatment here really made me think. Madame M desperately wants children, but, despite years of trying, she and her husband have yet to conceive. Constantly bombarded by war propaganda urging the importance of procreation to the continued health of France, Madame M feels guilty and like a failure. Her desperation drives her to try every single rumored cure for infertility, and goodness gracious but it was horrifying. The things women have been asked to do throughout history boggle my mind and sadden me deeply.

The tale told within these pages surprised me in its sordidness and darkness. Honestly, I expected something much lighter. However, The Confidant turned out to be a tale of sex and betrayal. While I didn't connect with any of the characters on a personal level, I could not help being caught up in their drama and the desire to discover just how the past had become Camille's present and where everyone ended up.

Sadly, though, I think this novel could have been formatted much better, as it was rather confusing. There are no chapter headings or indications that you're switching from one narrative to another, besides, sometimes, a change in font. Camille's narrative is an awful sans serif font. Then, without warning, the novel switches to Louis' letter. This, at least, had the benefit of being in a different font, but there was no transition at all, so it was jarring. More troublesome was the switch to Annie's perspective, which had no distinguishable difference from Louis'. I read several pages before I finally figured out what was going on. Once I knew what to expect, I didn't have any problems, but this really could have been handled better.

Grémillon has a poetic sort of writing style, which, while not entirely unpleasant to me, simply was not a style that has particular appeal to me. The phrasing was occasionally quite strange, and reads perhaps more like free verse than prose perhaps, though it could also be a result of an awkward translation from French. Grémillon even ends the novel with a poem, which definitely went rather over my head. I've been trying to do better, but I still have difficulty appreciating poetry.

For those of a poetic persuasion with an interest in women's issues and history, Grémillon's debut is a must-read. Though it did not end up being precisely my kind of book, I can recommend it highly as a quality read for a slightly different style of reader.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "Nicolas said that no beauty mark had ever been more deserving of its name, and he was very fond of it. He would have done better to be fond of me."

Review + Giveaway: Flight Behavior

Flight Behavior

Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Pages: 448
Publisher: Harper
Publication Date: November 6, 2012
Source: BEA/Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Description from Goodreads:
Set in a small town in Tennessee, about a young woman who happens upon a forested valley filled with silent red fire, and whose attempt to share the wonder and find an explanation throws her into a spiraling confrontation with her family, her church, her town, her continent, and finally the world at large.

First Sentence: "A certain feeling comes from throwing your good life away, and it is one part rapture."

Review:
I love Barbara Kingsolver. All of her books automatically go on my to-read list, because she's brilliant. One of the things I love about her is how unique her books are from one another. She writes different kind of characters in disparate environments and focuses on varying themes. I find it so impressive when authors can reinvent themselves so often. Flight Behavior is my fourth Kingsolver book. Unfortunately, unlike the others, this one failed to meet my expectations.

My first Kingsolver read was The Bean Trees, which centers around a girl desperate to get out of her small, hick town where most of the girls are pregnant before they even leave high school. She wants to be one of the ones to leave and never come back. Through some odd circumstances, she finds herself stuck raising a baby that's not hers, sort of falling into motherhood. The plot itself didn't have much appeal for me as a reader, but the book was utterly compelling and I loved it so much. Kingsolver's powerful writing and intriguing, quirky characters pulled me in despite myself.

In Flight Behavior, Kingsolver again focuses on a heroine who had dreams of escaping her hick town, but this one didn't make it. Dellarobia hoped to go to college, but wound up pregnant instead. Even worse, the baby boy died, leaving her stuck in a marriage with a man she doesn't respect and reliant on judgmental in-laws. Her unhappiness manifests itself in a wandering eye; she has had a number of crushes on men, flirted with the idea of an affair. The hook of the novel is when Dellarobia heads up the mountain to meet with one of her men and cheat on her husband. On her way, she sees the forest burning with butterflies, and interprets that as a sign from God that she needs to go back to her life and make good.

Dellarobia's life certainly is unfortunate, and it's such a shame that her promise was wasted on this small town, where kids only take two years of rudimentary math in school. Even the bright ones aren't given enough education to be able to get out of town. I feel for her, but I didn't connect with her or any of the other characters. In all of Kingsolver's previous works, I was held rapt in unfamiliar worlds by the power of the characters and the writing, but these characters simply failed to grab onto my heart and take hold.

Another problem too is that, while the writing is beautiful as always (and shows that you can not write in dialect but still achieve a southern feel), the story feels a bit like a combination of two of the Kingsolver books I'd previously read: The Bean Trees and Prodigal Summer. Revisiting old themes, while not what I know Kingsolver for, can be done well, but, in this case, it felt repetitive and less well done.

Flight Behavior feels like it was written not so much for the characters as to be the vehicle for a message: global warming is real and it's not just about changing temperatures. Now, of course, it's alright for books to have a moral, a message, but I don't like to feel like I'm being beat over the head with it or being talked down to.

The butterflies Dellarobia witnessed normally wintered in Mexico, but moved to her small town because of environmental changes and now the whole population of Monarch butterflies could be in danger of extinction. A lepidopterist comes to study them, and works with and teaches Dellarobia, highlighting her boredom with her husband and her desire for something bigger. Because of her rudimentary education, the reader receives both the scientific explanations for everything and the 'country' version, a cute little metaphor for everything that's happening. This felt a bit insulting to me, as though this setting was chosen to allow for global warming to be explained in a simplified way that the stupid disbelievers could fathom. Prodigal Summer also dealt with the importance of taking care of the environment, but did not make me feel so lectured.

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh, but I'm disappointed to have not enjoyed a book by one of my favorite authors. Her writing is still gorgeous, but the book is massive, slow, and filled with a lot of minutiae about Dellarobia's life I could have done without. Surely others will appreciate this one (most of the reviews on Goodreads are highly flattering and NPR approves), but it fell flat with me.

Rating: 2.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'You do everything you can,' she said. 'And then, I guess, you do everything you can't. You keep doing, so your heart won't stop.'"

Giveaway:
Obviously this one didn't work for me, but Barbara Kingsolver is still to be experienced. I'm giving away my copy to one reader. US only, since I shall be shipping this rather heavy paperback. Just fill out THIS FORM and leave a comment by November 20th at midnight.

Audiobook Review: Have Mother, Will Travel

Have Mother, Will Travel: A Mother and Daughter Discover Themselves, Each Other, and the World

Author: Claire Fontaine & Mia Fontaine
Narrators: Claire Fontaine & Mia Fontaine
Duration: 10 hrs, 29 mins
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: July 17, 2012
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
A mother, a daughter, and a life-changing adventure around the world . . .

Their bestselling memoir, "Come Back," moved and inspired readers with the story of Mia Fontaine's harrowing drug addiction and her mother, Claire's, desperate and ultimately successful attempts to save her. Now it's a decade later and Claire and Mia each face a defining moment in her life, and a mother-daughter relationship that has frayed around the edges. At fifty-one, Claire's shed her identity as Mia's savior but realizes that, oops, she forgot to plan for life after motherhood; Mia, twenty-five and eager to step outside her role as recovery's poster child, finds adult life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Determined to transform themselves and their relationship once again, the pair sets off on a five-month around-the-world adventure.

What awaits them is an extraordinary, often hilarious journey through twenty cities and twelve countries--one that includes mishaps, mayhem, and unexpected joys, from a passport-eating elephant to a calamitous camel ride around the Pyramids--and finally making peace with their tumultuous past in the lavender fields of France, where they live for the last four months of the trip. Seeing how self-possessed and community-minded twentysomethings are in other countries broadens Mia's perspective, helping her grow, and grow up. Claire uses the trip to examine her broken relationship with her own mother, a Holocaust survivor, and to create a vision for her second act. Watching her mom assess half a century of life, Mia comes to know her as Claire has always known Mia--as all mothers know their daughters--better than anyone else, and often better than themselves.

Wiser for what they've learned from women in other cultures, and from each other, they return with a deepened sense of who they are and where they want to go--and with each embracing the mature friendship they've discovered and the profound love they share.

Alternating between Claire and Mia's compelling and distinct voices, "Have Mother, Will Travel" is a testament to the power and beauty of the mother-daughter relationship, one that illuminates possibilities for our own lives.

Review:

Much as I love the books I read and it should be pretty evident from all of this blogging business that I really, really do, sometimes I worry that I'm becoming too set in my ways and not exploring genres and such enough. Well, in Have Mother, Will Travel, I ventured into an almost entirely new genre for me: the memoir. Sure, I've read a couple, like The Glass Castle, which I am one of the only people in the world not to like, but, mostly, I've avoided them. Thankfully, I have been rewarded for my exploration and open-mindedness; I was surprised how much I enjoyed this, even though the topic, mother-daughter bonding, sort of made me want to run for the hills.

What I learned early on is that this is actually a continuation of some sorts from mother Claire and daughter Mia's first book together, Come Back, which focused on Mia's self-destructive teen years and her mother's efforts to save her. There's no need to read Come Back before going into this book, though I did add it to my reading list after enjoying this one. I was not confused, but I suspect there's plenty to be learned from that one as well.

The framing of this memoir was months of world-wide travel embarked upon by Claire and Mia, as an effort to bond again, having lost their closeness to the regular troubles of life in their different cities. Knowing this, I sort of expected everything to be light and fluffy, but both Claire and Mia are still dealing with the long-lasting effects of the traumas covered in greater detail in Come Back. Mia was sexually abused by her father when she was a child, and after she turned her life around after her drug-addled teen years, she and her mother became advocates to help abused daughters and their mothers. This isn't an issue I'd really ever heard discussed, so I learned a lot and found it very powerful emotionally.

Of course, what I hated about The Glass Castle was how boring and whiny it felt to me, as well as the tone of superiority Walls seemed to have about being well-off now while her parents dug through the dumpster for food. (Sorry if you liked that book but it just rubbed me the wrong way). The Fontaines didn't come off that way to me at all. They do not seem to feel particularly superior, are very willing to detail their personal faults and foibles, incredibly honest about the dark things, but also quite funny. The book maintains a balance between serious discussion and navel-gazing, and humorous travel book.

The first half of Have Mother, Will Travel describes a whirlwind tour of myriad countries as part of a scavenger hunt vacation. Can I say how much I want to go on this trip, even though there's no way in hell I would be able to complete most of the challenges? It just seems like such a great way to structure your vacation. Anyway, I don't want to go into this in too much detail, but the descriptions of the countries visited made me want to travel really badly. This is an excellent book for making you feel wanderlust.

The most important focus of this book, though, is not the travel, but the relationship between mothers and daughters, and, more generally, women. Claire and Mia, from their two different perspectives, do a lot of thinking about their personal relationship, looking at where it's gone wrong and how they can grow closer. They also consider the different family roles they see as they travel, considering which is best. They made me think a lot about myself as a daughter and as a woman, and I do plan on making my mom listen to this as well, even though I suspect some of Claire's observations will make her cry. Given that Mia is about my age and my mom is a baby-boomer like Claire, a lot of their observations hit close to home.

This isn't a book I see having much, if any, appeal for males, because much of it deals strongly with what it means to be a woman. There is some repetition, but, mostly, I was incredibly impressed with this.

Rating: 4/5

Narration:
I cannot imagine this being anywhere near as delightful if I'd read it. Claire and Mia did their own narration, reading their different sections. They both have good, distinctive reading voices, full of personality. Hearing their thoughts in their voices made the memoir, already very personal, feel much more so.

Rating: 4/5

Overall Rating: 4/5

Review: Belong to Me

Belong to Me

Author: Marisa de los Santos
Pages: 388
Publisher: Harper
Source: Own

Description from Goodreads:
Everyone has secrets. Some we keep to protect ourselves, others we keep to protect those we love.

A devoted city dweller, Cornelia Brown surprised no one more than herself when she was gripped by the sudden, inescapable desire to leave urban life behind and head for an idyllic suburb. Though she knows she and her beloved husband, Teo, have made the right move, she approaches her new life with trepidation and struggles to forge friendships in her new home. Cornelia's mettle is quickly tested by judgmental neighbor Piper Truitt. Perfectly manicured, impeccably dressed, and possessing impossible standards, Piper is the embodiment of everything Cornelia feared she would find in suburbia. A saving grace soon appears in the form of Lake. Over a shared love of literature and old movies, Cornelia develops an instant bond with this warm yet elusive woman who has also recently arrived in town, ostensibly to send her perceptive and brilliant son, Dev, to a school for the gifted.

Marisa de los Santos's literary talents shine in the complex interactions she creates between these three women. She deftly explores the life-altering roller coaster of emotions Piper faces as she cares for two households, her own and that of her cancer-stricken best friend, Elizabeth. Skillfully, de los Santos creates an enigmatic and beguiling character in Lake, who draws Cornelia closer even as she harbors a shocking secret. And from the first page until the exhilarating conclusion, de los Santos engages readers with Cornelia, who, while trying to adapt to her new surroundings, must remain true to herself. As their individual stories unfold, the women become entangled in a web of trust, betrayal, love, and loss that challenges them in ways they never imagined, and that ultimately teaches them what it means for one human being to belong to another.

First Sentence: "My fall from suburban grace, or, more accurately, my failure to achieve the merest molehill of suburban grace from which to fall, began with a dinner party and a perfectly innocent, modestly clever, and only faintly quirky remark about Armand Assante."

Review:
Though, for some reason, Belong to Me is treated as a standalone, it's really not. I'm not sure why the publisher decided not to market them as a series, since they are directly linked. Oh well. I read the first book, Love Walked In, a few years ago, and I was really impressed. Ever since, I've recommended it to people, but, with my memory and the way my taste in books can change and grow over time, I wondered if it was really as good as I remember it being. Well, if Belong to Me is any sort of reliable indicator, then yes. I highly recommend reading Love Walked In first, then moving to Belong to Me.

All the same characters from Love Walked In are back. On the surface, de los Santos' books look like chick lit, like girly, light, fluff books, at least that's what I get from the covers and the titles. While her books do, admittedly, have way more female appeal, I would in no way mark them as 'chick lit,' though the boundaries between 'chick lit' and 'women's fiction' and 'literary fiction' are hazy to me at best. De los Santos' novels are packed full of emotion and wit and hope, and are incredibly beautifully written. There are authors whose prose I just glory in, immersing myself in their words as though they were the perfect temperature pool, and de los Santos belongs on that list.

Belong to Me may be a bit of a cheesy title, but it speaks directly to the main thrust of the novel: belonging. Each of the main characters struggle with finding a place to belong, and, perhaps even more, with finding a place where they belong that doesn't fit their initial expectations. These themes move me so much, because, really, aren't we all looking for that place where we belong, that person that makes us feel at home wherever we are? This is one of those books that makes me want to believe so hard that happy endings are possible, not so much because 'true love' is real, but because a more basic, more enduring, more real love is out there and that people will work to preserve it.

De los Santos writes from multiple perspectives, a common, though still daring, writerly move. Not only that, but she writes with one first person perspective and the others in third person limited. In both books, the reader lives in Cornelia's head, follows her around in first person, feels directly with her. In Love Walked In, the other perspective is that of Clare, a girl whose connection to Cornelia is not immediately apparent. In Belong to Me, we have Cornelia's and two more: Piper, the queen bee of Cornelia and Teo's new suburban neighborhood, and Dev, a brilliant young teen.

Cornelia and Teo have just moved into a house in the suburbs for his new job. She's a city girl, and doesn't like the sniping of the local women; she feels lost without friends, without the buzzing of the city. I may be biased by the storytelling methods, but Cornelia is my favorite character. In fact, for the first hundred pages or so, my mind wandered a bit when the story went to the other perspectives, because I just didn't care as much about the others. A wholly forthright person, she protects people, loves poetry and sometimes lets her temper get the better of her. Cornelia has a unique way of phrasing thing and a brutal honesty about the selfishness of her emotions that makes me relate to her so much.

I hated Piper so much at first. You're supposed to, of course, but that doesn't make her any less awful. She's one of those people: perky, bitchy, obsessed with being the best, etc. As I read her perspective, I just kept fantasizing about stabbing her with a nail file. Then, though, she changed, rather suddenly, but not unbelievably. Her very best friend, possibly her only true friend, is dying of cancer. She throws herself into caring for Elizabeth, and, for the first time in her life almost, gives no thought to her image. Her struggle is to discover that she doesn't belong where she thought she did, as the queen of society, but as a person with wants and desires, even if they don't make her popular. It's amazing to me that de los Santos made me care for her character.

One of my very favorite over-used characters is the genius child. Yeah, I know there are far more genius children in fiction than in real life, but I just don't care. If I have to read about children, they damn well ought to be clever. Dev fits that perfectly. He has such a thirst for knowledge, about poetry, string theory, friendship, and his father, who he doesn't know. His mother left his father because she knew he couldn't take care of the baby, but Dev resents the man for not coming to find him, while also hating himself for still clinging to that fantasy.

So, yes, the characters are marvelous. You know what's even better? Their relationships with one another. It's one thing to have great characters, and another thing entirely to make their friendships and romances ring authentic and awkward and painful and true, but de los Santos hits those notes just right. I'm not a big crier, but my eyes did get a bit teary, both from sadness and happiness, more than once. Friendship isn't often enough of a focus, but each of these characters have friends who feel real, and who will have their backs.

The one last thing I feel that I must say about this novel before I wrap the review: de los Santos surprised me. Finding a book that can really sweep a rug out from under your feet is a rare thing, at least for me. She has this way of weaving story lines together in such a way that I think I know where things are going, but then BAM! they go somewhere else. I may have yelled at the book a bit in frustration when I got to the twist, because I didn't want the characters to be unhappy at all.

Obviously, I just love this book. I'm honestly not entirely certain who to recommend this book to, because I'm having trouble sticking it in a box. Basically, if you enjoy beautiful writing, pop culture references, and women's issues, then you should really read Marisa de los Santos.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote:

"'Sometimes, happiness feels so fragile,' I said.
   'Even ours?'
   Teo expected me to say no. I sat up so I could look at him.
   'Everybody's,' I said gently.
   I thought that he would touch my belly, but instead he touched my face. He slid his thumb carefully along my jaw.
   'So what do we do about it?' Teo asked.
   'You tell me.' I had my own ideas, but I needed to hear his. I held my breath.
   'Live. Forget that it's fragile. Live like it isn't.'"

Do You Remember - Jack Johnson

One Day

Author: David Nicholls
Pages: 437
Publisher: Vintage

Description from Goodreads:
It’s 1988 and Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley have only just met. But after only one day together, they cannot stop thinking about one another. Over twenty years, snapshots of that relationship are revealed on the same day—July 15th—of each year. Dex and Em face squabbles and fights, hopes and missed opportunities, laughter and tears. And as the true meaning of this one crucial day is revealed, they must come to grips with the nature of love and life itself.

Review:
I really, really wanted to like this book. The concept sounded entirely fascinating, and, truly, it is. However, I completely loathed them as characters, Dexter especially. Emma I might have liked sort of, although not staunchly, were it not for her pathetic love for Dexter, which she insists on maintaining through the years.

Dexter, though, is perhaps the most awful, selfish character in all of literature. Remember how I had a list of characters I wanted to punch in the face? Well, this guy, he would be on it. Emma spends years mooning over this total loser. He sleeps with every woman that moves, including Emma occasionally. Not only that, but he sleeps with women he shouldn't, like really shouldn't, as in students during a brief teaching gig. On top of that, he's perpetually drunk, takes any drugs he can get his hands on, and rubs other people's noses in his success, such as it is.

Somehow, as a reader, I think I'm supposed to feel like I can't wait for Dex and Em to get themselves sorted and become a couple, like Emma has always dreamed. Yeah, that's not where I am at all. I don't Em nearly enough to want her to spend her life waiting for this waste of space to finish sowing his wild oats all over the world. There is nothing romantic about a girl (or guy if the situations were reversed) wasting her life pining over someone that's not showed a scrap of interest. She should be enjoying herself along the way, too. If they end up together, cool, but only on terms where they both lived their lives as they wanted to. This is so unbalanced; she's just waiting for him to choose her and he's keeping her as a backup, for when he's too old to keep doing what he's doing now. Just UGH.

The writing, though, is really good. The story's well-told, so that, as much as I want to throw it across the room (which is a lot), it also wasn't that hard to get through most of the time. I definitely think that this may be one of the most depressing books I have ever read.

Rating: 2.5/5

"I was crazy about you then and now
The craziest thing of all,
Over ten years have gone by
And you're still mine,
We're locked in time"

To Sir, with Love - Lulu

Aishiteruze Baby

Author: Yoko Maki
Volumes: 7
Publisher: VIZ Media

Brief Summary:
Kippei, a high school student, is a bit of a playboy without much ambition. Everything changes when his Aunt Miyako leaves her five year old daughter with his family, since she cannot take care of her for a while in the wake of her husband's death. Kippei is told that he will be responsible for Yuzuyu. At first, he resents this a little bit, but he quickly comes to care deeply for the little girl, who helps him grow as a person even more than he helps her.

Review:
Aishiteruze Baby is a pretty great shoujo series. For one thing, I really appreciate the fact that the main character is a male, because this is rare to see in shoujo series. He's not a perfect guy, but he definitely seems like a real person. Watching him evolve into a mature adult from the flirty guy with no thought of the future is quite touching.

Generally, I do not much care for stories about children, but even I must admit that Yuzu is often quite charming. What person has a heart hard enough to not feel bad for a five year old abandoned by her mother? And, of course, caring for Yuzu makes Kippei sensitive enough to be able to support a slightly bruised girl like Kokoro.

While mostly light-hearted, the story also takes on darker issues like child abuse and bullying. This is an utterly touching story about the importance of family and growing up.

Although this song is about a girl thanking her teacher, I think it captures better than any other the way that Yuzu will probably think about Kippei when she's older, even if he wasn't actually raising her until she was old enough for perfume. Then again, I doubt the teacher would have been teaching a student for that many years either.

"Those schoolgirl days, of telling tales and biting nails are gone,
But in my mind,
I know they will still live on and on,
But how do you thank someone, who has taken you from crayons to perfume?"

Not While I'm Around from Sweeney Todd

The Winters in Bloom

Author: Lisa Tucker
Pages: 271
ARC Acquired from: Simon & Schuster via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Kyra and David Winter are seriously overprotective parents. They took their son Michael out of public school for fear that bullies might pick on him, even though nothing bad had actually happened; instead, they home school him. Every bit of his life has been carefully considered and child-proofed. Both Kyra and David have dark pasts that lead them to be so afraid of losing their child. Not only that, but Michael nearly died of meningitis when he was a baby. Their restrictions are so tight that it was astounding that they let him play out in the yard by himself. During this brief period of time, Michael is taken by a woman who says she knows his family. Will the Winters survive this latest catastrophe?

Review:
When I started reading my e-galley of The Winters in Bloom, I noticed first the page at the beginning where the publisher was talking about how much she loved this book and how it was the best one of the year. Her praise was so high that I kind of rolled my eyes, thinking that she loves it because it will make her money. I am happy to report that the book really was that good. From the absolutely incredible first chapter, I was totally involved in the story.

My one previous experience with Lisa Tucker proved disappointing (The Song Reader), perhaps because my expectations were really high. I own a couple of her other books, but haven't gotten to them yet. I am now super glad that I have them.

So yeah, I mentioned how mindblowing the first chapter was. The book opens from Michael's point of view (although in third person) and you can see how much he has been affected by his parent's worries. Young as he is, he has already inherited their fear of everything, as evidenced in the first line: "He was the only child in a house full of doubt." Five years old and he looks around thinking about the many ways he could get injured. This is what he was doing in his time in the backyard by himself when the nice lady came and asked him if he wanted to go on a ride. Wow. Just wow.

While the rest of the story was not as dramatic and intense as this one, the story definitely maintained its beautiful simplicity. I loved finding out what had happened to the various characters to make them into who they now were. There are a lot of hints as you go along, allowing you to make your own suppositions (I was right about David/Courtney, but wrong about Kyra).

If you like stories of family drama and broken people, this is one that is not to be missed. What a completely beautiful, depressing, uplifting story!

"Nothing's gonna harm you, not while I'm around.
Nothing's gonna harm you, no sir, not while I'm around."