Review: The Art of Fielding

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Meh. Mom recommended this book to me; I thought it was on the low side of OK. It is the story of a successful high school baseball player, the college baseball captain who recruits him, his college president, his roommate, and the relationship all these characters have.

The characters were really well-written - flawed but likeable. And I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the book, finding it a compelling story and enjoying the complexity the author created across many of the characters' relationship.

However, the rest of the book was not as good. I thought it was pretty tedious, with breakdowns and disappointments, and a few twists and interactions I just didn't find that credible. Though lauded on the jacket as a great American novel, I didn't get that from it. Just Meh.



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Review: A Good Indian Wife

A Good Indian Wife by Anne Cherian

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I took this book out of the library just based on the cover, no knowledge or reviews of it. It was pretty good, albeit predictable.

The story is about an Indian man who comes to the US and becomes a successful doctor. He is assimilating into American life when his family tricks him into going back to India and forces (guilts?) him into an arranged marriage. His new wife comes to the US with all sorts of dreams and beliefs about marriage, but is dismayed to find that nothing is as she had expected. The book is about how they reconcile their lives and marriage.

I like the book and it kept my attention. However, I didn't think it was anything unique. It was a well-written novels with typical caught-between-old-and-new themes.



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Review: And the Mountains Echoed

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I enjoyed Hosseini's previous books (The Kite Runner more than A Thousand Splendid Suns) so I was excited to read this one too.

It was pretty good. It follows several interconnected families and people in Afghanistan from before the war through current times. As some family members leave Afghanistan, the narrative follows them to Paris, Greece, and the U.S., but the real story is how one decision made several generations ago continues to haunt people.

The writing was really good - Hosseini managed several voices from several characters, sometimes narrating an entire chapter by a minor character to demonstrate a particular point of view. He left clues and foreshadowing in several chapters, but deftly - such that I didn't know he was doing it until a later event occurred.

Overall, well done.



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Review: Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



This was a great book. Jo recommended it to me, stating that it was "as good as Middlesex" which is high praise indeed.

The story is about a former Olympic athlete named Louis Zamperini who joins the Air Force. When his plane is shot down over the Pacific, he survives on a life raft for a month before being captured by the Japanese.

I really enjoyed reading this - it kept my attention and I looked forward to getting into bed each night to find out what was going to happen next. I learned a lot about how terrible POW camps in Japan were, and I was amazed at how resilient Zamperini and his fellow soldiers were when stranded at sea.

The character development was excellent, as was the research. I also appreciated how Hillenbrand followed the story past Zamperini's return home, and ended the book with an update on how each of the main characters was doing, or the circumstances of their deaths.

Wonder if I would like Seabiscuit as much.



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