Linda C. Wright's Blog, page 17
June 6, 2015
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
I 've never really thought of myself as a serial reader. Plenty of people I know read the same author's novels never sticking their toe into other waters. I've taken pride in reading a variety of authors, topics and genres. That is until I found Liane Moriarty.
I liked The Hypnotist's Love Story, I loved What Alice Forgot and I adored The Husband's Secret. It was a no brainer for me to read Big Little Lies. However, after reading the first few chapters of Big Little Lies, I was ready to throw in the towel. The strong-willed Australian women, who were trying so hard not to lead ordinary lives, left me uninterested this time.
Madeline is turning forty and although she wants everyone to know she hates getting old, she secretly loves all the attention. While stopped in traffic, she gets out of her car to yell at a teenager who is texting and driving. Her high heel catches in the pavement, she falls twisting her ankle. Jane watches from behind the wheel of her own car and comes to the rescue. Both, it turns out are on their way to kindergarten orientation at the same school with their children in tow.
Now I've never been able to stop reading a book midstream no matter how much I hated it. But I'm beginning to get a bit more discerning after being caught in a long string of really bad books I wasted alot of time on and didn't enjoy. I came so close to closing the door on this one but that little voice inside told me to keep going. And I'm glad I listened to it.
There are no spoilers here but Big Little Lies struck a chord. Although women have come a long way in our society, we still have a long way to go. Liane Moriarty put her own comedic spin on a very serious subject and anyone who reads this novel will remember it for a long time to come. Today I'm an even bigger fan knowing there are more Moriarty novels waiting for me. But most of all, I'm glad I can add Big Little Lies to my list of favorites.
I 've never really thought of myself as a serial reader. Plenty of people I know read the same author's novels never sticking their toe into other waters. I've taken pride in reading a variety of authors, topics and genres. That is until I found Liane Moriarty.
I liked The Hypnotist's Love Story, I loved What Alice Forgot and I adored The Husband's Secret. It was a no brainer for me to read Big Little Lies. However, after reading the first few chapters of Big Little Lies, I was ready to throw in the towel. The strong-willed Australian women, who were trying so hard not to lead ordinary lives, left me uninterested this time.
Madeline is turning forty and although she wants everyone to know she hates getting old, she secretly loves all the attention. While stopped in traffic, she gets out of her car to yell at a teenager who is texting and driving. Her high heel catches in the pavement, she falls twisting her ankle. Jane watches from behind the wheel of her own car and comes to the rescue. Both, it turns out are on their way to kindergarten orientation at the same school with their children in tow.
Now I've never been able to stop reading a book midstream no matter how much I hated it. But I'm beginning to get a bit more discerning after being caught in a long string of really bad books I wasted alot of time on and didn't enjoy. I came so close to closing the door on this one but that little voice inside told me to keep going. And I'm glad I listened to it.
There are no spoilers here but Big Little Lies struck a chord. Although women have come a long way in our society, we still have a long way to go. Liane Moriarty put her own comedic spin on a very serious subject and anyone who reads this novel will remember it for a long time to come. Today I'm an even bigger fan knowing there are more Moriarty novels waiting for me. But most of all, I'm glad I can add Big Little Lies to my list of favorites.
May 28, 2015
Where The Om Am I? by Sara DiVello
Where The Om Am I? by Sara DiVello
Being a yoga lover and having written a novel that spoofs big business, this memoir seemed to be right up my alley. Sara, a recent college graduate with eyes wide open and big dreams, lands what she believes to be a great opportunity in a financial services company. She puts her nose to the grindstone hoping to make an impression, which is not easy with all that's going on around her.
Enthusiasm for a great job quickly wanes when Sara's co-workers begin to show their true selves. Her boss Vicky can't separate her personal life from her work life. A business trip with Vicky turns into a drunkfest with Sara playing nursemaid to Vicky's monster hangover. A salesman, who Sara has nicknamed, The Meat, freely shares tales of his sexual conquests in the office. No one seems to notice that Sara is left to do the work the rest of them have simply neglected. Let's just say, I can relate.
At the urging of her new husband, Nunally, Sara follows her dream of becoming a yoga instructor. She juggles intensive classroom training while continuing to put up with the office antics. It's a struggle since the other yoga students are as equally obnoxious as those she desperately wants to leave behind in the office.
Where The Om Am I? is funny and I mean laugh out loud funny. The people in the office are real characters. In fact I think I know a few of them! The yoga students are mean and spiteful and I was pulling for Sara to rise above them. If you are looking for a light, funny summer read, I think you will enjoy, Where The Om Am I?
Being a yoga lover and having written a novel that spoofs big business, this memoir seemed to be right up my alley. Sara, a recent college graduate with eyes wide open and big dreams, lands what she believes to be a great opportunity in a financial services company. She puts her nose to the grindstone hoping to make an impression, which is not easy with all that's going on around her.
Enthusiasm for a great job quickly wanes when Sara's co-workers begin to show their true selves. Her boss Vicky can't separate her personal life from her work life. A business trip with Vicky turns into a drunkfest with Sara playing nursemaid to Vicky's monster hangover. A salesman, who Sara has nicknamed, The Meat, freely shares tales of his sexual conquests in the office. No one seems to notice that Sara is left to do the work the rest of them have simply neglected. Let's just say, I can relate.
At the urging of her new husband, Nunally, Sara follows her dream of becoming a yoga instructor. She juggles intensive classroom training while continuing to put up with the office antics. It's a struggle since the other yoga students are as equally obnoxious as those she desperately wants to leave behind in the office.
Where The Om Am I? is funny and I mean laugh out loud funny. The people in the office are real characters. In fact I think I know a few of them! The yoga students are mean and spiteful and I was pulling for Sara to rise above them. If you are looking for a light, funny summer read, I think you will enjoy, Where The Om Am I?
May 25, 2015
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
The Lost Wife by Alyson Richman
Chapter One sets the stage for the story that is to come. An old man attending his grandson's wedding can't keep his eyes off the bride's grandmother. She is so familiar yet he struggles to figure out why. And then he realizes she is his wife. A wife, he long ago had been told had died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Lenka is a young girl living in Prague in the 1930's. She is also a Jew. She is fortunate enough to attend art school and works diligently to perfect her craft as an artist. She meets Josef, the brother of one of her classmates. The two fall hopelessly in love. They marry in haste as the Germans invade Czechoslovakia, limiting their freedoms. Josef's family has secured visas to leave but Lenka refuses to go with them unless her own family can come too. Time and money are scarce and additional visas are not forthcoming. A stubborn and determined Lenka says a tearful goodbye to the man she adores.
This is another wonderful story that I lost myself in, turning each page with anticipation of the next. The author did a skillful job of taking me from the present to the past and back again all while keeping me fully engaged. Josef's and Lenka's separate stories seamlessly entwined throughout the novel. As a writer myself, I know that's not an easy thing to do.
The Lost Wife is a captivating story of love in the midst of great evil. And it is a story of hope and the will of the human spirit. Never give up on hope and love will always prevail. A must read.
Chapter One sets the stage for the story that is to come. An old man attending his grandson's wedding can't keep his eyes off the bride's grandmother. She is so familiar yet he struggles to figure out why. And then he realizes she is his wife. A wife, he long ago had been told had died in a Nazi concentration camp.
Lenka is a young girl living in Prague in the 1930's. She is also a Jew. She is fortunate enough to attend art school and works diligently to perfect her craft as an artist. She meets Josef, the brother of one of her classmates. The two fall hopelessly in love. They marry in haste as the Germans invade Czechoslovakia, limiting their freedoms. Josef's family has secured visas to leave but Lenka refuses to go with them unless her own family can come too. Time and money are scarce and additional visas are not forthcoming. A stubborn and determined Lenka says a tearful goodbye to the man she adores.
This is another wonderful story that I lost myself in, turning each page with anticipation of the next. The author did a skillful job of taking me from the present to the past and back again all while keeping me fully engaged. Josef's and Lenka's separate stories seamlessly entwined throughout the novel. As a writer myself, I know that's not an easy thing to do.
The Lost Wife is a captivating story of love in the midst of great evil. And it is a story of hope and the will of the human spirit. Never give up on hope and love will always prevail. A must read.
May 23, 2015
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The other day a friend posted something on Facebook that caught my eye. It was a picture of a girl on the beach reading a book. The caption read, "The moment when you're reading a book and the whole world around you does not exist anymore."
As an avid reader, being lost in a novel is a rare and magical moment. You know you have uncovered something wonderful. When I began All The Light We Cannot See, the world around me ceased to exist when I read page one. I was in heaven! I couldn't put this book down.
Marie-Laure is a blind girl living in Paris as Hitler is rising to power in Germany. Her father is the lock master at the museum, the keeper of all its keys. Papa builds Marie-Laure models of the city so she can learn to navigate the streets on her own. She counts steps and storm drains under his loving guidance.
Werner is an orphan in Germany with a talent for fixing radios. He's sent to a special school to learn engineering since his skills are in demand by the Nazis. His loyalty is a way to survive and he learns to hide his compassionate heart from view.
All The Light We Cannot See is the story of two young lives coping with the horrors of war from different viewpoints. One has the ability to see, the other can only feel. This book is filled with love and terror, mystery and myth, kindness and hatred, all told so vividly I bubbled over with every emotion.
Ah! My disappointing streak is finally over. No wonder this novel won the Pulitzer Prize. I adored every single page.
The other day a friend posted something on Facebook that caught my eye. It was a picture of a girl on the beach reading a book. The caption read, "The moment when you're reading a book and the whole world around you does not exist anymore."
As an avid reader, being lost in a novel is a rare and magical moment. You know you have uncovered something wonderful. When I began All The Light We Cannot See, the world around me ceased to exist when I read page one. I was in heaven! I couldn't put this book down.
Marie-Laure is a blind girl living in Paris as Hitler is rising to power in Germany. Her father is the lock master at the museum, the keeper of all its keys. Papa builds Marie-Laure models of the city so she can learn to navigate the streets on her own. She counts steps and storm drains under his loving guidance.
Werner is an orphan in Germany with a talent for fixing radios. He's sent to a special school to learn engineering since his skills are in demand by the Nazis. His loyalty is a way to survive and he learns to hide his compassionate heart from view.
All The Light We Cannot See is the story of two young lives coping with the horrors of war from different viewpoints. One has the ability to see, the other can only feel. This book is filled with love and terror, mystery and myth, kindness and hatred, all told so vividly I bubbled over with every emotion.
Ah! My disappointing streak is finally over. No wonder this novel won the Pulitzer Prize. I adored every single page.
May 10, 2015
Lighten the Load
Today is the official "Lighten The Load" day at my house. It was time to clean out all the things I no longer use, or wear or need and send them to the Goodwill where they can find a new home.
I started in the closet. It's packed with more clothes than I can wear, yet it's a struggle to put much on the pile. I might need that chartreuse T shirt with a hole in the armpit that I haven't wore in five years and I can't part with it. Yet that someday is never going to come and I know it. Neither is sewing up the hole. I found three pairs of hiking boots and I'm really not much of a hiker. The last time those boots did any serious hiking was twelve years ago when I hiked out of the Grand Canyon. That hike changed my life forever, but almost killed me in the process. So when I noticed a pair of boots still had the red clay of the Grand Canyon imbedded in the soul, they immediately went back on the shelf and the other two pair went into the pile.
It didn't take long to come to a standstill in the closet. I moved on to my office with shelves and shelves of my beloved books. The task I faced here was even more daunting than purging a few old pairs of jeans. My books. I love my books. I haven't read "Tales of Aladdin", "Rascal" or "The Little Prince" in probably forty years but I can't bear to part with them. They were among my first books, carefully selected at the annual book fair held in the school gymnasium when I was eight years old. I gently stroked the covers and put them back in their place.
Moving to the next shelf, I thumbed through my collection of books on reiki before coming to several autographed titles. I have one entire shelf of novels by Thomas Wolfe. He was my step mother's cousin. The old, worn, first edition books have found their way here. Nothing on these shelves is leaving anytime soon.
Desperate to add at least something to the contributions, I found a John Irving novel, that I enjoyed but no longer had any special attachment to or desire to read again. I carefully folded the clothes and put them in a plastic garbage bag setting the lone book on top.
I looked at the half full bag and put it in the back of my car for its trip to Goodwill. I hadn't made really any extra space inside but I'd made an effort. Thank goodness for my Kindle. It's rare that I buy actual books any more, much preferring the digital kind. They take up much less space. Plus it allows me to cherish the old books I have and not crowd them with new purchases.
The clothes in the closet, however are a totally different kind of story. "Lighten the Load Day" is going to have to become official at least once a month. Once a year is just not going to cut it, but I can skip cleaning the office. Nothing in there, is going anywhere.
I started in the closet. It's packed with more clothes than I can wear, yet it's a struggle to put much on the pile. I might need that chartreuse T shirt with a hole in the armpit that I haven't wore in five years and I can't part with it. Yet that someday is never going to come and I know it. Neither is sewing up the hole. I found three pairs of hiking boots and I'm really not much of a hiker. The last time those boots did any serious hiking was twelve years ago when I hiked out of the Grand Canyon. That hike changed my life forever, but almost killed me in the process. So when I noticed a pair of boots still had the red clay of the Grand Canyon imbedded in the soul, they immediately went back on the shelf and the other two pair went into the pile.
It didn't take long to come to a standstill in the closet. I moved on to my office with shelves and shelves of my beloved books. The task I faced here was even more daunting than purging a few old pairs of jeans. My books. I love my books. I haven't read "Tales of Aladdin", "Rascal" or "The Little Prince" in probably forty years but I can't bear to part with them. They were among my first books, carefully selected at the annual book fair held in the school gymnasium when I was eight years old. I gently stroked the covers and put them back in their place.
Moving to the next shelf, I thumbed through my collection of books on reiki before coming to several autographed titles. I have one entire shelf of novels by Thomas Wolfe. He was my step mother's cousin. The old, worn, first edition books have found their way here. Nothing on these shelves is leaving anytime soon.
Desperate to add at least something to the contributions, I found a John Irving novel, that I enjoyed but no longer had any special attachment to or desire to read again. I carefully folded the clothes and put them in a plastic garbage bag setting the lone book on top.
I looked at the half full bag and put it in the back of my car for its trip to Goodwill. I hadn't made really any extra space inside but I'd made an effort. Thank goodness for my Kindle. It's rare that I buy actual books any more, much preferring the digital kind. They take up much less space. Plus it allows me to cherish the old books I have and not crowd them with new purchases.
The clothes in the closet, however are a totally different kind of story. "Lighten the Load Day" is going to have to become official at least once a month. Once a year is just not going to cut it, but I can skip cleaning the office. Nothing in there, is going anywhere.
May 3, 2015
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
In my quest to read a really good book, I headed to the list of Pulitzer Prize winning fiction. I had heard of Olive Kitteridge so I thought I would give it a try. It's set in Maine about a Mainer so that's a huge plus for me. Love Maine!
Olive is a math teacher, married to Henry. They have one son, Christopher. Olive is a large woman, she wears size 10 shoes. And she's not a warm or friendly person, short on words and quick to judge others, but not mean or unkind. She's trying to figure out why others can't see the world the way she does, since hers is the right and only way. We follow Olive through a large cast of characters in the town of Crosby, Maine, who seamlessly float in and out of her life.
After I've read a book and before I write a review, I usually search the Internet to see what others have said about the book. News to me was that Olive Kitterridge is considered a collection of 13 short stories. As I mentioned, many of the chapters told stories of other people in town, the clerk who worked in Henry's pharmacy, the alcoholic piano player at the local tavern, or Jim O'Casey, a fellow teacher who Olive considered having an affair with. Olive threaded through each story so that I didn't see them as separate and distinct. Although sometimes I felt the segways were disconnected, I always felt that the lives of the others, developed Olive's character more deeply. People come in and out of our lives, sometimes staying for years, but most often for only a fleeting moment. The book gave me as a reader, the sensation of life as it happened all around her.
Olive Kitteridge is beautifully written. Olive is not a really likeable person, yet I couldn't help liking her. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, yet sometimes they weren't. She was real and I followed her around town as if I were doing my daily errands. And I loved the feeling I got from reading Olive Kitteridge.
In my quest to read a really good book, I headed to the list of Pulitzer Prize winning fiction. I had heard of Olive Kitteridge so I thought I would give it a try. It's set in Maine about a Mainer so that's a huge plus for me. Love Maine!
Olive is a math teacher, married to Henry. They have one son, Christopher. Olive is a large woman, she wears size 10 shoes. And she's not a warm or friendly person, short on words and quick to judge others, but not mean or unkind. She's trying to figure out why others can't see the world the way she does, since hers is the right and only way. We follow Olive through a large cast of characters in the town of Crosby, Maine, who seamlessly float in and out of her life.
After I've read a book and before I write a review, I usually search the Internet to see what others have said about the book. News to me was that Olive Kitterridge is considered a collection of 13 short stories. As I mentioned, many of the chapters told stories of other people in town, the clerk who worked in Henry's pharmacy, the alcoholic piano player at the local tavern, or Jim O'Casey, a fellow teacher who Olive considered having an affair with. Olive threaded through each story so that I didn't see them as separate and distinct. Although sometimes I felt the segways were disconnected, I always felt that the lives of the others, developed Olive's character more deeply. People come in and out of our lives, sometimes staying for years, but most often for only a fleeting moment. The book gave me as a reader, the sensation of life as it happened all around her.
Olive Kitteridge is beautifully written. Olive is not a really likeable person, yet I couldn't help liking her. Her feet were planted firmly on the ground, yet sometimes they weren't. She was real and I followed her around town as if I were doing my daily errands. And I loved the feeling I got from reading Olive Kitteridge.
April 12, 2015
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell
I've lived in Florida for thirty five years, so I'm a huge fan of Karen Russell. I love her quirky Florida tales. Swamplandia! is one of my all time favorites. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves was one of my early blog posts. I've been anxious to read Vampires in the Lemon Grove simply because it's written by Karen Russell.
Clyde, the vampire now lives in an Italian lemon grove having discovered that sucking on lemons can take the place of his need for human blood. Young girls in Japan are sold, given a pill and then sent to the silk factory. They spin silk from their fingertips. American presidents find themselves reincarnated as horses. A young boy crosses the prairie carrying a window that is passed among neighbors when the inspector makes his rounds. In order to certify ownership of the homestead, their sod homes must have a window.
Let's just say all the stories in this book are extremely creative and imaginative. I might even say they are bordering on the bizarre except for the fact all deal with the human condition. When that is the center, anything is possible.
My only disappointment is that none of these stories are set in Florida. The tales in Vampires in the Lemon Grove span the globe and are not for the faint of heart. But if you can let your imagination flow, you are in for one wild and incredible ride.
I've lived in Florida for thirty five years, so I'm a huge fan of Karen Russell. I love her quirky Florida tales. Swamplandia! is one of my all time favorites. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves was one of my early blog posts. I've been anxious to read Vampires in the Lemon Grove simply because it's written by Karen Russell.
Clyde, the vampire now lives in an Italian lemon grove having discovered that sucking on lemons can take the place of his need for human blood. Young girls in Japan are sold, given a pill and then sent to the silk factory. They spin silk from their fingertips. American presidents find themselves reincarnated as horses. A young boy crosses the prairie carrying a window that is passed among neighbors when the inspector makes his rounds. In order to certify ownership of the homestead, their sod homes must have a window.
Let's just say all the stories in this book are extremely creative and imaginative. I might even say they are bordering on the bizarre except for the fact all deal with the human condition. When that is the center, anything is possible.
My only disappointment is that none of these stories are set in Florida. The tales in Vampires in the Lemon Grove span the globe and are not for the faint of heart. But if you can let your imagination flow, you are in for one wild and incredible ride.
April 5, 2015
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
I'm on a roll lately, and it's not the good kind. I've read a slew of books in the past few months that I haven't really enjoyed much. Reading a good book is what keeps me going. Needless to say I'm feeling a bit sluggish.
Every newspaper and magazine I opened had rave reviews for Lila. Since I'd been in a slump, Lila seemed to be the answer to breaking the chain of disappointment. I had no prior knowledge of Ms. Robinson's other titles, or that one of them had won the Pulitzer Prize.
I don't even want to give you a recap of the plot, there was so little of it. This book has no chapters and I'm a reader who likes to have those nice breaking points since I mainly read before going to bed. Frankly, Lila seemed to me like one big run on sentence. But what disturbed me the most was that I couldn't understand Lila's place in time. I kept picturing her in a bonnet and a long dress with lace up shoes circa the late 19th century and then she was eating a tuna fish sandwich. She belonged to a group of wanderers who went from town to town looking for work. And then she got a ride in a car. Toward the end, Lila went to the movies and saw To Have and Have Not placing her squarely in the 1940's. I'm confused.
I couldn't join Lila on her journey. I couldn't picture in my mind's eye how she looked, the clothes she wore or much of anything about her surroundings. When I finished the book, I read some more reviews to try to uncover what I missed. That is how I found out she was in Iowa, and that the story had begun in the 1920's. A reader shouldn't have to research a story to understand what's been read. A reader should be fully immersed in the surroundings and the passion of its characters, walking in their shoes, step by step. Lila will continue to remain a mystery to me.
I'm on a roll lately, and it's not the good kind. I've read a slew of books in the past few months that I haven't really enjoyed much. Reading a good book is what keeps me going. Needless to say I'm feeling a bit sluggish.
Every newspaper and magazine I opened had rave reviews for Lila. Since I'd been in a slump, Lila seemed to be the answer to breaking the chain of disappointment. I had no prior knowledge of Ms. Robinson's other titles, or that one of them had won the Pulitzer Prize.
I don't even want to give you a recap of the plot, there was so little of it. This book has no chapters and I'm a reader who likes to have those nice breaking points since I mainly read before going to bed. Frankly, Lila seemed to me like one big run on sentence. But what disturbed me the most was that I couldn't understand Lila's place in time. I kept picturing her in a bonnet and a long dress with lace up shoes circa the late 19th century and then she was eating a tuna fish sandwich. She belonged to a group of wanderers who went from town to town looking for work. And then she got a ride in a car. Toward the end, Lila went to the movies and saw To Have and Have Not placing her squarely in the 1940's. I'm confused.
I couldn't join Lila on her journey. I couldn't picture in my mind's eye how she looked, the clothes she wore or much of anything about her surroundings. When I finished the book, I read some more reviews to try to uncover what I missed. That is how I found out she was in Iowa, and that the story had begun in the 1920's. A reader shouldn't have to research a story to understand what's been read. A reader should be fully immersed in the surroundings and the passion of its characters, walking in their shoes, step by step. Lila will continue to remain a mystery to me.
April 1, 2015
The Autumn Balloon by Kenny Porpora
The Autumn Balloon by Kenny Porpora
I happen to love a good memoir because real life can be so much more interesting than fiction. When I saw a 4 star review for The Autumn Balloon, I thought I was in for a real treat.
Kenny is a kid who wants to fit in, but how can he, when he's shuffled from one alcoholic, drug addicted parent to the other. He's often homeless, living in the backseat of his mother's car. When she loses custody, Kenny and his brother end up in their father's filthy basement with a pig and a pedophile living upstairs. When the custody battle heats up again, the boys return to their mother in Arizona. I don't want to forget to mention, that every other word out of their mother's mouth begins with an "F". Donna Reed, she is certainly not.
That Kenny was able to lift himself out of this situation is nothing short of a miraculous. He graduated from Columbia with a master's degree in journalism. I admire him for that. But did I feel this book was worthy of a top review? No.
The Autumn Balloon is filled with heartache and emotion. It paints a powerful picture of poverty and addiction in our country, which often go hand in hand. As a writer myself, I felt however, the story construction was too simple, unpolished and paced too quickly. I raced through it, unable to linger in the pain as well as the joy. The Autumn Balloon tells a story of life that should be told. I didn't however, find that it was written in a way that merits the glowing reviews that initially caught my eye.
I happen to love a good memoir because real life can be so much more interesting than fiction. When I saw a 4 star review for The Autumn Balloon, I thought I was in for a real treat.
Kenny is a kid who wants to fit in, but how can he, when he's shuffled from one alcoholic, drug addicted parent to the other. He's often homeless, living in the backseat of his mother's car. When she loses custody, Kenny and his brother end up in their father's filthy basement with a pig and a pedophile living upstairs. When the custody battle heats up again, the boys return to their mother in Arizona. I don't want to forget to mention, that every other word out of their mother's mouth begins with an "F". Donna Reed, she is certainly not.
That Kenny was able to lift himself out of this situation is nothing short of a miraculous. He graduated from Columbia with a master's degree in journalism. I admire him for that. But did I feel this book was worthy of a top review? No.
The Autumn Balloon is filled with heartache and emotion. It paints a powerful picture of poverty and addiction in our country, which often go hand in hand. As a writer myself, I felt however, the story construction was too simple, unpolished and paced too quickly. I raced through it, unable to linger in the pain as well as the joy. The Autumn Balloon tells a story of life that should be told. I didn't however, find that it was written in a way that merits the glowing reviews that initially caught my eye.
March 29, 2015
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler is a brilliant author, she's a Pulitzer Prize winner after all. Her stories revolve around families of all shapes and sizes, who live in and around Baltimore, Maryland. She paints vivid pictures of her characters with calming prose. A Spool of Blue Thread doesn't disappoint in any of those areas.
Abby and Red Whitshank have raised their children in a stately home built by Red's father, Junior. The house is a central character to the story, the glue, so to speak that keeps them together. When the children determine that Red and Abby are getting too old to live alone, the secrets the family harbors try to bubble up from their long buried hiding places.
For me however, I just plain didn't get it. The opening scene revolves around Denny, Abby and Red's son who has always been a little strange and aloof. Denny remains distant throughout the story and the reasons why the book opened with him, were never really resolved. At least in my mind. I found this book, though beautifully written, long and drawn out, without any resolution. None of the characters took the time to change or had any cathartic moments that forced them to. I know that some of you that have read this book might disagree with that statement because things did happen to this family. But they all seemed to brush off any events that had some depth and move along as if nothing had changed.
It's the struggle that makes a book worth reading. I was reading pages from anyone's ordinary life without a rip or a tear that need to be sewn back together. A Spool of Blue Thread never took the time to mend what truly needed mending.
Anne Tyler is a brilliant author, she's a Pulitzer Prize winner after all. Her stories revolve around families of all shapes and sizes, who live in and around Baltimore, Maryland. She paints vivid pictures of her characters with calming prose. A Spool of Blue Thread doesn't disappoint in any of those areas.
Abby and Red Whitshank have raised their children in a stately home built by Red's father, Junior. The house is a central character to the story, the glue, so to speak that keeps them together. When the children determine that Red and Abby are getting too old to live alone, the secrets the family harbors try to bubble up from their long buried hiding places.
For me however, I just plain didn't get it. The opening scene revolves around Denny, Abby and Red's son who has always been a little strange and aloof. Denny remains distant throughout the story and the reasons why the book opened with him, were never really resolved. At least in my mind. I found this book, though beautifully written, long and drawn out, without any resolution. None of the characters took the time to change or had any cathartic moments that forced them to. I know that some of you that have read this book might disagree with that statement because things did happen to this family. But they all seemed to brush off any events that had some depth and move along as if nothing had changed.
It's the struggle that makes a book worth reading. I was reading pages from anyone's ordinary life without a rip or a tear that need to be sewn back together. A Spool of Blue Thread never took the time to mend what truly needed mending.
