Review: A Little Life

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This may have been the best book I've ever read. I couldn't put it down while I was reading it, then re-read so much of it in the following two weeks that it's as if I read it two or three times.

The first section of the book reads like a typical four-guy-friends-after-college-in-nyc story. But then it takes a turn, and the remainder of the book focuses on one of the guys, named Jude. Jude survived an extremely traumatic childhood (which is shockingly detailed in flashbacks throughout the book). The majority of the book is about Jude's adulthood and how his childhood reverberates throughout his adult life in a variety of tragic, violent, and sad ways.

I found Jude to be an extremely likable, as do his friends and family, but he does not see that himself. To that end, while many heralded this book as the first great gay novel in a generation," I did not read it that way. Yes, there are gay relationships in the book - central ones - but I read the book more as an exploration of trauma, shame, and what it takes to overcome those things.

This book has been thoroughly reviewed just about everywhere, and I was relieved to find that other people had the same reaction to it I did. Jon Michaud in the New Yorker said, "Yanagihara’s novel can also drive you mad, consume you, and take over your life." He was right.

And reviewer Joe Dolce said, "It's not short and it hurts, but it takes you deep into the lives of characters you'll never forget. Read it with someone else. You'll need to talk about it. A lot." I ignored that advice - and I regret it.

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Review: The Two-Family House

The Two-Family House by Lynda Cohen Loigman
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I was not impressed with this book. The story was about two women who had married brothers, and how their families interacted and intertwined over their lives sharing a two-family house. The big "twist" wasn't that hard to figure out, the characters were very caricature, and the writing was simple and not very descriptive. Not worth the read.

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Review: Fool Me Once

Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I really wanted to like this book. I heard about it off a list of must-reads for the year, so I had high hopes. The premise was compelling: a woman loses her husband, then sees him a few days later on a nanny-cam with her 2-year-old. The style of the book was easy to read, and page-turning. But the writing wasn't as good, the character development was flimsy, and the plot twists were annoying, not fun, but not surprising. I finished it, but not for any good reason.

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Review: Wait Till Next Year

Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a lovely book. Goodwin spoke at the Mass Conference for Women a few years ago and I really appreciated how good a storyteller she is. This book is a memoir of her childhood growing up on Long Island in the 1950's and being a baseball fan. Baseball in New York in the 1950's brought neighbors together, and had every bit as much drama as today's most complex multi-season television drama arcs. Goodwin does an amazing job depicting her childhood, both as an individual experience as well as using her familiar skill of capturing an era.

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Review: In Other Rooms, Other Wonders

In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was ok. It was a set of interconnected stories about the owners and help at an estate in Pakistan. While the writing was pretty good and the character development reasonably good, the experience of reading this book overall just didn't do it for me. Maybe I've read too much about that part of the world, or maybe I was expecting more meat, more complexity.

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Review: Kitchens of the Great Midwest

Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My book club chose this book and I really enjoyed it. It followed the story of a woman growing up from childhood to adulthood, as a chef. The author did a lovely, charming job of interweaving different characters and stories together to show the development of her as a main character. I particularly enjoyed little breadcrumbs (pun intended) that the author left throughout the book only to pick them up later in the narrative. A fun read.

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Review: The Boston Girl

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a wonderful book. It followed a young woman in the early 1900's whose Jewish family was living in the North End of Boston. Her family was fearful of America and its influences, but she takes her love of books and learning and parlays it into a more modern and full life than what her parents have to offer. I'm sure part of what I liked about the book was that it is set in Boston, but I also loved the descriptions of things like her dates, her apartment, and even her clothing, meals, and friendships. It was a good view of what my grandparents' lives may have been like.

The only criticism I have is that it was written as if it were a grandmother telling her grandchild about her childhood, so it had a reasonably simple conversational style. But that also made it easy to read. I definitely enjoyed this.

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Review: Island Beneath the Sea

Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really, really enjoyed this book. It was like an Outlander book, but with more serious writing and more meticulously researched.

At its center was a young slave and her inexperienced master, who first meet in Saint-Domingue when he inherits his father's plantation. The story follows the two of them through several decades, and most interestingly though a major revolt that ultimately freed the slaves of S-D. There was plenty of heartache in this book, and violence - but also love and friendship.

All in all a wonderful read.

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Review: Luckiest Girl Alive

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I knew this was chick lit when I picked it up, but I didn't remember how bad chick lit could be until I started reading it.

The story was about a woman who had been badly shamed in childhood, but had found her way to a dashing fiance and seemingly happy life. However, in the days leading up to her wedding, a documentary filmmaker decides to make a film about her childhood incident, and she is suddenly embroiled again in the shame and hate.

I didn't like the writing or the story, and thought the main character to be pretty unlikable. Quick read but not a recommended one.

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Review: Fourth of July Creek

Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was spectacular.

It was about a social worker in Montana who becomes involved with a family of survivalists. He tries to help their children and befriend the father, but building trust takes a long time. Meanwhile, his own family is falling apart - his wife takes his daughter to live in Texas, and his daughter runs away. The parallels of different broken families was well-crafted but not over-wrought.

I literally can't think of a single thing negative (or even neutral) to say about the characters, plot, writing, style, or composition of this book. Just amazing.

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Review: Hotel Moscow

Hotel Moscow by Talia Carner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Meh.

I picked this book up at the Harvard Bookstore Annual Sale, and going to that was fun. But this book was underwhelming. It was about a successful American businesswoman who joins a mission to recently-un-communisted Russia to mentor female entrepreneurs. She and the other women on the mission find that there is still excessive bribery, corruption, and danger in the business world, and that it is hard in ways they can barely imagine for female entrepreneurs to succeed.

Sound farfetched? It felt that way reading it.

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Review: The Guest Room

The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I like Bohjalian the way I like Jodi Picoult - always a good reliable read a few steps above chick lit, and this was no exception.

The story follows an otherwise happy family who is suddenly in crisis after the husband throws a bachelor party for his brother where two people are unexpectedly shot. The book explores not just what happens to the family, but also to the murder suspects, who are trafficked women serving as prostitutes.

It was a quick read that I enjoyed for what it was.

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Review: Black Flies

Black Flies by Shannon Burke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had this book on my list to read for several years - from a year-end NYT list I think. I liked it, but not sure it was worthy of a multi-year stint on the to-be-read list.

It was about a young man who becomes a paramedic in NYC. It follows him and his colleagues through their daily routines, making life-and-death decisions. What was most unique about this was the way it was written. There were short vignettes depicting different patients and situations, often without a lot of background and with indeterminate time lapsing between scenes. It forced me, as the reader, to focus on certain things and ignore other aspects of character or plot development I may have otherwise paid more attention to.

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Review: Woman on the Edge of Time

Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hands down, one of my favorite books I've read in a long time. I don't know why I have never read Piercy in the past, but she is an amazing writer - reminiscent of Margaret Atwood, both in her poetic prose and in her affinity for sci-fi, or as they like to call it, speculative fiction.

This book is about a woman who has a history of mental illness, and is sent to a hospital. While she is there, she discovers that she can communicate with the future, the year 2173 to be exact, and she begins to spend her time both in the present and the future. She becomes central to ensuring that the future unfolds as she and her new future-friends expect, based on her decisions in the present.

The writing was great, the story compelling, and the characters were incredibly well-crafted. If you're into this kind of story, I can't recommend this particular book enough.

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Review: My Year of Meats

My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an interesting book - Deena recommended it to me and I appreciated its being very different from a lot of other stuff I've read in the past.

It's about an American filmmaker who works with a Japanese studio to produce a television show about meat. As she learns more about the industry, she uncovers the dark side of cattle raising, and in particular the impact to human health. In parallel, the story also follows the wife of the show's producer, who has several problems of her won back in Japan.

I thought the story was unusual, and I really liked "meeting" the new characters that she found for each episode. The ending wrapped up a little too neatly, but I did enjoy the book overall.

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