Evidence of Life

Finished Evidence of Life by Barbara Taylor Sissel.  I received a copy from the publisher on Edelweiss.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“On the last ordinary day of her life, Abby Bennett feels like the luckiest woman alive. But everyone knows that luck doesn’t last forever.… As her husband, Nick, and daughter, Lindsey, embark on a weekend camping trip to the Texas Hill Country, Abby looks forward to having some quiet time to herself. She braids Lindsey’s hair, reminds Nick to drive safely and kisses them both goodbye. For a brief moment, Abby thinks she has it all—a perfect marriage, a perfect life—until a devastating storm rips through the region, and her family vanishes without a trace.

When Nick and Lindsey are presumed dead, lost in the raging waters, Abby refuses to give up hope. Consumed by grief and clinging to her belief that her family is still alive, she sets out to find them. But as disturbing clues begin to surface, Abby realizes that the truth may be far more sinister than she imagined. Soon she finds herself caught in a current of lies that threaten to unhinge her and challenge everything she once believed about her marriage and family.

With a voice that resonates with stunning clarity, Barbara Taylor Sissel delivers a taut and chilling mystery about a mother’s love, a wife’s obsession and the invisible fractures that can shatter a family.”

I sympathized with Lindsey and I understood her insistence that she learn what happened to her family, as well as her refusal to give up until she had to.  If, by some miracle, they were found alive, how could she ever explain that she gave up?

There were parts of the book that made me roll my eyes and tested my credulity.  But it was an enjoyable book that kept me turning pages.

When I started reading this, I was pretty sure that it was essentially going to be the Ashley Judd movie Double Jeopardy (I obviously won’t say whether that impression was correct in terms of how the plot went.)

The two are similar in terms of both substance and enjoyment.  This is not the kind of book that you will want to re-read every year or two or the kind of book that you give to friends and family for their birthday or for Christmas.  And that’s okay.

This is the book that you bring with you on vacation or that you read when you’re not feeling well.  This book is comfort food and the literary equivalent of a Lifetime movie.  (I do not judge; there are Lifetime movies that I love.)

You

Finished You by Austin Grossman.  I received a copy from the publisher on Netgalley.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“When Russell joins Black Arts games, brainchild of two visionary designers who were once his closest friends, he reunites with an eccentric crew of nerds hacking the frontiers of both technology and entertainment. In part, he’s finally given up chasing the conventional path that has always seemed just out of reach. But mostly, he needs to know what happened to Simon, the strangest and most gifted friend he ever lost, who died under mysterious circumstances soon after Black Arts’ breakout hit.

Then Black Arts’ revolutionary next-gen game is threatened by a mysterious software glitch, and Russell finds himself in a race to save his job, Black Arts’ legacy, and the people he has grown to care about. The bug is the first clue in a mystery leading back twenty years, through real and virtual worlds, corporate boardrooms and high school computer camp, to a secret that changed a friendship and the history of gaming. The deeper Russell digs, the more dangerous the glitch appears–and soon, Russell comes to realize there’s much more is at stake than just one software company’s bottom line.

Austin Grossman’s debut novel Soon I Will Invincible announced the arrival of a singular, genre-defying talent “sure to please fans of Lethem and Chabon” (Playboy). With YOU, Grossman offers his most daring and most personal novel yet-a thrilling, hilarious, authentic portrait of the world of professional game makers; and the story of how learning to play can save your life.”

I initially wanted to read this book because it had been compared to Ready Player One, which I absolutely loved.  This isn’t a bad book—it’s definitely entertaining—but it is no Ready Player One.

There’s a huge built-in audience for this book, but I am not that audience.  I am not a huge fan of video games (I think my love for that peaked with the original Nintendo and when I realized that I am one of those people who can be obsessed with two forms of pop culture and no more, and that books and movies were my two).

Unlike Ready Player One, this is all about video games and if you are into that, you will love this book.  (Seriously, there is so much to enjoy in this book but I couldn’t get past all the video game talk.)

I hope this review doesn’t dissuade you from reading the book.  If you’re into video games, this is for you.

Life After Life (Jill McCorkle)

Finished Life After Life by Jill McCorkle.  I received a copy from the publisher on Netgalley.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“Jill McCorkle s first novel in seventeen years is alive with the daily triumphs and challenges of the residents and staff of Pine Haven Estates, a retirement facility, which is now home to a good many of Fulton, North Carolina s older citizens. Among them, third-grade teacher Sadie Randolph, who has taught every child in town and believes we are all eight years old in our hearts; Stanley Stone, once Fulton s most prominent lawyer, now feigning dementia to escape life with his son; Marge Walker, the town’s self-appointed conveyor of social status who keeps a scrapbook of every local murder and heinous crime; and Rachel Silverman, recently widowed, whose decision to leave her Massachusetts home and settle in Fulton is a mystery to everyone but her. C.J., the pierced and tattooed young mother who runs the beauty shop, and Joanna, the hospice volunteer who discovers that her path to a good life lies with helping folks achieve good deaths, are two of the staff on whom the residents depend.

McCorkle puts her finger on the pulse of every character s strengths, weaknesses, and secrets. And, as she connects their lives through their present circumstances, their pasts, and, in some cases, through their deaths, she celebrates the blessings and wisdom of later life and infuses this remarkable novel with hope and laughter.”

This book is a complete surprise.  I hadn’t read any of Jill McCorkle’s books before, although I had always heard good things.

All I knew going into this book was the fact that there were two books called Life After Life coming out almost on the same day, and that this one is likely to be overshadowed by the Kate Atkinson version.  (The plots are completely different.)

This book focuses on the lives of people connected to an assisted living home, and it is absolutely beautiful.  (And that’s one of the things that Jill McCorkle seems to be known for, absolutely beautiful prose.)

There are two things that struck me the most.  The first is the fact that the residents mostly seem to be forgotten.  Even the volunteers who come (typically students) are obviously there more to get school credit for volunteering and they don’t care at all about the residents. 

And the second is the fact that loss is so much a part of life.  This is something that I’m being confronted with over and over this year, and one of the characters even says that the price of loving people is knowing that you’re going to lose them.  It’s true and it’s better than the alternative (living in such a way that you never love anyone, ever) but it’s such a hard, horrible truth.

Highly recommended.

BEA Survival Tips

This will be my fourth year attending BEA and so I thought it might be fun to talk about what to do in case you’re attending for the first time.  (And if not, try to go next year; it’s so fun!)

1)  COMFORTABLE SHOES.  Javits is huge and you will be on your feet for most of the day.  There are places to sit, but you’ll probably still be upright and moving for multiple hours and toting several books, as well.  Do all you can to help yourself out.

2)  Business cards!  Mine have my name (obviously), blog name and URL, address and Twitter and Facebook URLs, too.  Some people go back and forth over whether to include their address, but I feel like the less work publicists have to do, the more likely they are to help you. 

3)  Plan.  My BEA BFF Kathy and I have been planning for months now and since they’ve finally started releasing signing information, we have kicked that into overdrive.  Obviously not everybody is going to plan as thoroughly as we do, but it’s a good idea to have at least a basic idea of what you want to do each day (galleys you want; signings you must attend, etc.) so that you’re not running around completely overwhelmed.

4)  Accept the hard truth of BEA: you will not get everything you want.  This is where prioritizing comes into play.  This year, for example, Kendare Blake, Diana Peterfreund and Gretchen McNeil are all signing at more or less the same time.  And all are pretty likely to have ridiculous lines.  I will probably not be able to get all three, but I’m probably going to be able to get two. 

The Burgess Boys

Finished The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout.  I received a copy of this from the publisher on Edelweiss.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“Haunted by the freak accident that killed their father when they were children, Jim and Bob Burgess escaped from their Maine hometown of Shirley Falls for New York City as soon as they possibly could. Jim, a sleek, successful corporate lawyer, has belittled his bighearted brother their whole lives, and Bob, a Legal Aid attorney who idolizes Jim, has always taken it in stride. But their long-standing dynamic is upended when their sister, Susan—the Burgess sibling who stayed behind—urgently calls them home. Her lonely teenage son, Zach, has gotten himself into a world of trouble, and Susan desperately needs their help. And so the Burgess brothers return to the landscape of their childhood, where the long-buried tensions that have shaped and shadowed their relationship begin to surface in unexpected ways that will change them forever.

With a rare combination of brilliant storytelling, exquisite prose, and remarkable insight into character, Elizabeth Strout has brought to life two deeply human protagonists whose struggles and triumphs will resonate with readers long after they turn the final page. Tender, tough-minded, loving, and deeply illuminating about the ties that bind us to family and home, The Burgess Boys is Elizabeth Strout’s newest and perhaps most astonishing work of literary art.”

I’ve only read one other Elizabeth Strout novel (her first one, Amy & Isabelle) and I definitely want to read her other two.  The thing with Elizabeth Strout (if I can generalize, having read only half her novels) is that her books are definitely more character-driven than plot-driven.  And her writing is absolutely gorgeous.

The storyline that I was most into was the one involving Zach (who decided it would be a fun joke to throw a pig’s head into a mosque.  On Ramadan—although, to be fair, he didn’t know it was Ramadan, or what Ramadan even is).  It was pretty clear that Zach didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but the question was still the fact that he did and did something that is just a horrible thing.  But even if the intent was that it would be a joke, should he still be punished?  And if so, how harshly?

But there was something in here for just about everyone.  It’s about the fracturing of a family, first and foremost, and has people at many different stages in their life.

Highly recommended.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

Finished Z by Therese Anne Fowler.  I received a copy from the publisher on Netgalley.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“I wish I could tell everyone who thinks we’re ruined, Look closer…and you’ll see something extraordinary, mystifying, something real and true. We have never been what we seemed.

When beautiful, reckless Southern belle Zelda Sayre meets F. Scott Fitzgerald at a country club dance in 1918, she is seventeen years old and he is a young army lieutenant stationed in Alabama. Before long, the “ungettable” Zelda has fallen for him despite his unsuitability: Scott isn’t wealthy or prominent or even a Southerner, and keeps insisting, absurdly, that his writing will bring him both fortune and fame. Her father is deeply unimpressed. But after Scott sells his first novel, This Side of Paradise, to Scribner’s, Zelda optimistically boards a train north, to marry him in the vestry of St. Patrick’s Cathedral and take the rest as it comes.

What comes, here at the dawn of the Jazz Age, is unimagined attention and success and celebrity that will make Scott and Zelda legends in their own time. Everyone wants to meet the dashing young author of the scandalous novel—and his witty, perhaps even more scandalous wife. Zelda bobs her hair, adopts daring new fashions, and revels in this wild new world. Each place they go becomes a playground: New York City, Long Island, Hollywood, Paris, and the French Riviera—where they join the endless party of the glamorous, sometimes doomed Lost Generation that includes Ernest Hemingway, Sara and Gerald Murphy, and Gertrude Stein.

Everything seems new and possible. Troubles, at first, seem to fade like morning mist. But not even Jay Gatsby’s parties go on forever. Who is Zelda, other than the wife of a famous—sometimes infamous—husband? How can she forge her own identity while fighting her demons and Scott’s, too? With brilliant insight and imagination, Therese Anne Fowler brings us Zelda’s irresistible story as she herself might have told it.”

I was absolutely captivated by this novel and no, that is not too strong a word.

I didn’t know very much about Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, except that I’d read The Great Gatsby in high school and I’ve seen Midnight in Paris three or four times.  And I knew that it was one of the doomed love stories and that there was some mental illness and alcoholism, and that things didn’t go so well for Zelda.

I was pretty sure that I’d enjoy this book, because it seems to have gotten so much good press.  I didn’t expect to fall in love with Zelda.  (Although it’s not that surprising, really, given that she’s such an enchanting person.)

Even knowing that it wouldn’t go well, I spent the entire book hoping that somehow things would go differently and that she’d manage to save herself, if not her marriage.  It was so clear that they loved each other and just as clear that they were pretty much literally the worst thing for each other.

I’m so excited that this seems to be the Year of Zelda.  A biography comes out in a few days and another novel of her life comes out in May.  I don’t know when I’ll  get to read either, but I hope to eventually get to them.

I completely understand how Therese Anne Fowler was so compelled to write this novel.  After reading it, I feel almost like Zelda is a friend of mine.   I was talking to my best friend about how it’s hard to remember that she was a real person.  She seemed so much larger than life and just more vivid than most people.  (And she seemed to know everyone and go everywhere!)

Highly, highly recommended.

Something About Sophie

Finished Something About Sophie by Mary Kay McComas.  I received a copy from the publisher.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“Clearfield, Virginia, is a sleepy, idyllic hamlet where residents welcome its comfortable, familiar routines. But when a newcomer arrives in town, long-buried secrets threaten to surface and destroy their haven . . .

Answering a call that summons her to a stranger’s deathbed, a reluctant Sophie Shepard is too late to hear what he was so anxious to tell her. What was so important that a dying man would think of her in his final moments? With the help of Dr. Drew McCarren, Sophie begins to dig into her past, setting off a chain of events that chills the quiet town of Clearfield, Virginia, to its roots.

With part of her wanting nothing more than to put Clearfield behind her and run back home, Sophie knows she won’t rest until she discovers the truth. But growing closer to the residents also means uncovering their dark secrets–secrets about the woman who gave Sophie up for adoption, the mysterious part these strangers played, and the life she never knew she nearly had.

Something About Sophie is a memorable story about the power of love . . . and the things people will do, both right and wrong, to protect it.”

This is a book that I should’ve absolutely loved, but it fell flat for me.

Part of the problem is that I didn’t connect with Sophie at all.  (And part of THAT is that I find it hard to believe when grownups have the “infatuation at first sight” thing that she has with Drew.)

And there’s also the fact that even the big mystery (who are Sophie’s parents? and what happened to her mom?) didn’t grab me.

I can overcome one of those things, but not both.

It almost read like Mary Higgins Clark as written by Nicholas Sparks.  And I don’t mean that as a slam—those are two wildly successful authors, and I’m sure that this book will do quite well with its intended audience.  (As for whether you are that audience depends on your feelings for those authors.)

The Guilty One

Finished The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne.  I received a copy from the publisher on Edelweiss.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“An eight-year-old boy is found dead in a playground . . . and his eleven-year-old neighbor is accused of the crime. Leading the defense is London solicitor Daniel Hunter, a champion of lost causes.

A damaged boy from a troubled home, Daniel’s young client, Sebastian, reminds Daniel of his own turbulent childhood–and of Minnie, the devoted woman whose love saved him. But one terrible act of betrayal irrevocably shattered their bond.

As past and present collide, Daniel is faced with disturbing questions. Will his sympathy for Sebastian and his own memories blind him to the truth? What happened in the park–and who, ultimately, is to blame for a little boy’s death? Rethinking everything he’s ever believed, Daniel begins to understand what it means to be wrong . . . and to be the guilty one.”

On the surface, this looks like a legal thriller (and a really excellent one). And don’t get me wrong, that aspect is definitely there.  But it’s so much more than that.  Alternating with the chapters of the prep work for and trial itself are ones showing how Daniel became who he is now.  It’s important to know that going in, because if you expect something that’s, say, John Grisham, you’ll be disappointed.

While you’d think that he’d have a lot in common with Sebastian because he’s a successful lawyer and Sebastian comes from a family of at least some privilege, it’s more because their backgrounds are so completely tense.  Daniel’s mom used drugs and Sebastian’s father may or may not abuse his mom (things are said and Sebastian’s dad is a complete asshole) and it’s that feeling of constantly being on guard and needing to take care of their moms that bind them, even though obviously that’s a conversation that’s never said out loud.

Daniel’s life leads him to be a very angry kid but as he grows up, he’s able to hide that anger and to channel it into other things.  Most people would probably think that it’s gone completely, but there are definitely signs that it’s still there.

As much as I loved the trial chapters, I was even more drawn into the ones of Daniel’s childhood and the relationships he forms there.

Highly recommended.

Double Feature

Finished Double Feature by Owen King.  I received a copy from the publisher on Edelweiss.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“An epic debut novel about a young man coming to terms with his life in the process and aftermath of making his first film—from critically acclaimed short story writer Owen King—for readers of Joshua Ferris, Sam Lipsyte, and Chad Harbach. Filmmaker Sam Dolan has a difficult relationship with his father, B-movie actor Booth Dolan—a boisterous, opinionated, lying lothario whose screen legacy falls somewhere between cult hero and pathetic. Allie, Sam’s dearly departed mother, was a woman whose only fault, in Sam’s eyes, was her eternal affection for his father. Also included in the cast of indelible characters: a precocious, frequently violent half-sister; a conspiracy-theorist second wife; an Internet-famous roommate; a family friend and contractor who can’t stop expanding his house; a happy-go-lucky college girlfriend and her husband, a retired Yankees catcher; the morose producer of a true crime show; and a slouching indie film legend. Not to mention a tragic sex monster.”

This is a hard book to describe, and it’s definitely not for everyone—it’s a little rambly and all over the place and more than a little weird in the best way.  But if you’re someone who loves movies and clever dialogue and books that make you laugh out loud so much that you don’t notice that you’re reading a book that’s actually really, really GOOD until you’re  several chapters in and you’re absolutely enthralled…well, this is the book for you.

As the synopsis says, these are for fans of Joshua Ferris and Sam Lipsyte, but I’d add Jonathan Tropper.  Like Tropper, I would laugh one minute and tear up a few pages later.

Of course, for me, the best part was the fact that Sam was obviously a huge fan of movies.  While we don’t agree on everything*, we agree on enough that I want to see everything that Sam loves.  He’s a huge fan of the movie Dog Day Afternoon, which I haven’t seen (yet).  I can’t wait to see it.  And yes, I realize that I’m talking about Sam like he’s (a) real and (b) my friend.  But shut up, he sort of is.  Except that he doesn’t like ET.

I love this book and I want to make everyone read it.  Highly recommended.

* = Sam is not a fan of ET.  I don’t understand this.

Oleander Girl

Finished Oleander Girl by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.  I received a copy from the publisher.

Summary (from Goodreads):

“From the bestselling author of One Amazing Thing, a sweeping, suspenseful, atmospheric coming-of-age novel about a young woman who leaves India for America on a search that will transform her life.

Beloved by critics and readers, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has been hailed by Junot Díaz as a “brilliant storyteller” and by People magazine as a “skilled cartographer of the heart”. Now, Divakaruni returns with her most gripping novel yet.

Orphaned at birth, seventeen-year-old Korobi Roy is the scion of a distinguished Kolkata family and has enjoyed a privileged, sheltered childhood with her adoring grandparents. But she is troubled by the silence that surrounds her parents’ death and clings fiercely to her only inheritance from them: the love note she found hidden in her mother’s book of poetry. Korobi dreams of one day finding a love as powerful as her parents’, and it seems her wish has come true when she meets the charming Rajat, the only son of a high-profile business family.

But shortly after their engagement, a heart attack kills Korobi’s grandfather, revealing serious financial problems and a devastating secret about Korobi’s past. Shattered by this discovery and by her grandparents’ betrayal, Korobi undertakes a courageous search across post 9/11 America to find her true identity. Her dramatic, often startling journey will, ultimately, thrust her into the most difficult decision of her life.”

Brief review—sorry.  This is one of those books that is best served where the surprises are as unspoiled as possible.

I absolutely loved this book.  I haven’t read many of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s books (this is my second of hers) but I want to find her entire backlist.

I think what struck me most about this book is how easy it is to take for granted the idea of knowing where you come from.  Korobi thought she did, even though her parents are dead.  And once she learned that her entire life was essentially a lie, she made the decision to find the truth even though in her culture it could have cost her everything.

It’s a brave decision under any circumstances, but under her specific ones—there are no words.  I was so in awe of Korobi and I really hope there’s a sequel even though everything is wrapped up in this book.  I’m not ready to say goodbye yet.

This is an amazing book and I hope everyone reads it.

Highly recommended.