Review: The Flight of Gemma Hardy

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book. I didn't realize until after I read it that it was a homage to Jane Eyre, which is probably a good thing. I haven't read Jane Eyre (yikes!) and wouldn't have chosen it otherwise.

Anyway, the story is a somewhat classic rags-to-riches-to-conflict-to-resolution story. Gemma's life has several ups and downs from a happy childhood to awful relatives who reluctantly take her in to a boarding school that is not as advertised to a job as a companion for a petulant 8-year-old. I really found myself rooting for Gemma, and I enjoyed all the plot twists. While not as gothic as, say, Fingersmith, it did have a classic feel to it.

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Review: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Fire Shut Up in My Bones by Charles M. Blow
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a lovely and beautiful book. I'm making an effort to read a more diverse set of memoirs, and this one, by a gay journalist who grew up in rural Louisiana, was an excellent read. Growing up in abject poverty, and sexually assaulted at a young age, Charles Blow may have ended up just another poor black man living on the margins in the South. Instead, he took his love of books and learning, attended college, and catapulted himself to be a leading liberal commentator for the likes of CNN, the New York Times.

I was struck by his honesty regarding his shame around his assault, and by his forgiveness to his younger self of the decisions that it lead to. He lifts himself out of poverty (like, "eat dirt as a snack" poverty) only to face extreme physical hazing as a fraternity pledge in college. Not until years after does he come to terms with all of it.

I kept thinking, "when he sits in the green room at CNN, does he think to himself, how the hell did I get to a place where someone brings me cut up cheese and fruit and sparkling water?" Not only is he a great champion for the politics I believe in, but he is also a great champion of overcoming childhood trauma.

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Review: Watch Me Go

Watch Me Go by Mark Wisniewski
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a really unusual book. The story is about two different people - one, a young man who is from the Bronx who is accused of a murder he didn't commit, and the other a young woman whose family and friends are involved in horse-racing. Their paths cross when she has information that may exonerate him; the contrast of their stories was well-written and the story moved at a good pace for me. I thought the author relied on enough coincidence for the book to make sense, but not to seem unrealistic. And I liked learning more about horse-racing. I'd read another one by him in the future.

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Review: Dept. of Speculation

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read about this book in the NY Times and had high hopes for it. Alas, it was a disappointment. The story followed a marriage, really diving into what it means to commit to someone and to have a long, complex relationship. While I liked the premise, the execution wasn't as good. It was written in a beautiful, poetic style, but one that was sometimes too obscure for me to understand the plot. While I enjoyed the writing, I'm still confused about what actually happened, versus what was the main character's reverie imagination. For me, that's a deal breaker - I like plot.

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Review: Wolf in White Van

Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Meh. This book was on a list I picked up somewhere or other, but it didn't really do it for me. It was about a loner of a man who maintained a "choose-your-own-adventure" style game by mail after being disfigured by an "incident" as a child. His otherwise uneventful life is suddenly complicated when two of the players of his game are injured while playing it. I was drawn into the story at many junctures but ultimately just didn't like the main character enough to care what happened. The writing was fine, but the character development, while comprehensive, didn't create enough empathy for me.

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