Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

Many people recommended this book to me, most memorably Ruth in Florida and Ellen at my company holiday party. It seemed to be a darling of book clubs and the fiction table at Barnes and Noble. I found it to be familiar in some ways but unique in others - overall, I really enjoyed it.

It used to be that having two alternating character narrate a story between two time periods was unique in construction. Now it seems to be a fashionable way to write. I can see the appeal; it can serve as a contrast and as a way to keep the audience's attention. This book followed that format and while I didn't find it tired, I did find it familiar.

One of the stories is about Sarah, a young girl whose family is taken in a deportation of Jews from Paris by French policemen during 1942. The other story is about Julia, a modern-day news reporter who is covering the 60th anniversary of this event. While Sarah's narration ends about two-thirds of the way through the book, Julia follows several stories related to the deportation, one of which intertwines with her own family's history.

The scenes where Sarah is in captivity are heartbreaking but not as graphic as other Holocaust novels I've read. Not to say that her experiences aren't devastating - they are - but de Rosnay's depiction of Sarah's despair is subtle and through 9-year-old eyes, without the knowledge we have of what actually happened to deported Jews in the Holocaust. I thought this book was really well-written and well-thought out. Both Sarah and Julia's characters were carefully developed characters and I couldn't wait to read more about each of their stories.

I also enjoyed reading this story after finishing Little Bee, because they both shared the theme of a middle-aged woman forming a relationship with a younger girl who had been through horrible trauma. It was interesting to compare with Five Quarters of the Orange as well, since that focused on German occupation in a small French town during WWII.

Definitely recommended.

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

I first heard about this book in the Washington Post's top books of 2009. When it arrived from the library, I had all but forgotten about it and when I opened the front cover to read the description, I found this:

WE DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU TOO MUCH ABOUT THIS BOOK.

It is a truly special story and we don't want to spoil it.

Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this:

It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific.

The story starts there, but the book doesn't.

And it's what happens afterward that is most important.

Once you have read it, you'll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don't tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

Far be it from me to ruin a book for anyone so I'll adhere to these guidelines. What I can tell is what I liked about the book - and there was a lot to like. The writing was superb - really nearly perfect. There are two bright women whose lives become entangled and each of their voices is very well defined and executed. The book jumps around in the timeline of the story, but not in a way that was confusing or made me impatient. And the major plot points in the story are revealed early enough that the reader is forced past "what happened" and into an ethical and emotional reaction to the story's events. Unlike some books that provide very little denouement, this one is as much about the reaction and the aftermath as it is about the action.

I would definitely recommend this book.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

I had been excited to read this book for months. I won it on a bet with Webster and saved it for vacation. It did not disappoint.

The book is about a small town in Maine that is mysteriously encapsulated in an invisible impermeable dome one fall day. Slowly, a series of logistical problems faces the town - what are the boundaries of the dome, how to distribute or conserve food and fuel, how to communicate with the outside world - and then they begin to face larger problems of power and order.

I expected the book to explore some of the same themes as Blindness and City of Refuge: the dissolution of society upon an apocalyptic event. That having been a pet interest of mine recently in literature, I was looking forward to King's take on this. While he did employ these themes, most obviously in the form of a power-hungry Town Selectman, his damaged son, and his rogue police force, he didn't make that the only focus of the story.

There was also social commentary on drug abuse, families, religion, sex, food, and love. There was a huge cast of characters to portray all of the archetypes found in a small town. And there was a small highly-likable band of citizens determined to break through the dome. I think that's what separated it most from these other stories - there was a palpable, visible, "before" surrounding the town that gave some people a desire to persevere and escape, not just survive.


While I didn't find this as complex as King's other epics, it was a 'work', not just a book. At 1000+ pages, Under the Dome was clearly representing an important point of view to King, and one that he attempted to write several times in the past before succeeding this time. Perhaps one of the things I liked most about this book was that it was subtle and pointed and had a quiet point to make, without all of the epic battles and reliance on the supernatural that we come to expect from King. (If you are a King fan, though, rest assured - there is plenty of blood.) For certain, the climax and the 'reveal' at the end is not a loud crescendo - and that has kept me thinking all week - why write a thousand pages that ends with a bit of a whimper - what is the greater point King wants me to know?

Recently I read somewhere (and I would credit it but I can't find the quote) that when we look back on the late 20th and early 21st century fiction, Stephen King will be prominent in the canon. I believe it.

Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo

I read this book because it was my book club's choice for January. I was not that excited to read it but got into it once I started reading. Quick read, good for vacation, didn't change my life.


The book is a novel, following a middle-class average guy who drives cross-country to his deceased parents' farm to deal with the estate. Oddly, he ends up driving with a spiritual guru who is a friend of his sister's. Prior to the trip, he lives a 'normal' life, with a wife, traditional job, and two appropriately-sullen teenage children. Upon meeting the guru, he begins to see life in a different light, ultimately ending the trip perhaps as a different person. During the trip, he and the guru make several stops along the way that appreciatively portray Americana.

There have been a few "journey" books that I've read as an adult that make we wish I had paid more attention to Huck Finn in high school. My English teacher was trying to get us to see the parallels between the physical journey and the emotional one. This book make me think of that.

Though both the overall theme and several passages were trite for my taste, the book was pleasant to read. There were certain parts that were laugh-out-loud funny which I always appreciate in a book. Finally, I liked finding out in the afterword that it was based on a cross-country drive the author had made sans guru.

NYT Magazine article on James Patteson

Fascinating article from a few weeks back on James Patterson, one of our most prolific bestselling authors. I had no idea the machine that operates his empire!

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24patterson-t.html?scp=2&sq=james%20patterson&st=cse