Quickfire mini-reviews (grown-up books!)
Sharon Guskin’s The Forgetting Time will appeal immensely to fans of Jodi Picoult, focusing on the mother of a four-year-old boy who seems to remember a past life. Is Noah making it all up – or is it possible that he really is the reincarnation of an older boy who died tragically? Enter Dr Anderson, who’s been shunned by the medical community for his research into this field – and who has limited time left to make his case before dementia takes over. A very readable page-turner.
The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo is a surprisingly wide-ranging memoir from comedian Amy Schumer, focusing on rape, sex, the treatment of women, gun violence in America, as well as – most fascinatingly – her up-and-down childhood as her parents went from rich to broke. The most moving parts of the memoir, as plenty of reviews have noted, are when she discusses her father’s diagnosis of MS and the horror of watching a loved one suffer. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as you might expect, but definitely moving.
Paradise Lodge by Nina Stibbe is a gorgeous account of what it is to be a teenager in an era before obsessive child-protection laws. 15-year-old Lizzie is nowhere near equipped to work in a care home for the elderly, but nevertheless ends up working there (partly because she wants money to buy beer shampoo) and gets entangled in its chaotic decline. A very fun read.
Another memoir from a lady comedian! Cheer Up Love: Adventures in Depression with the Crab of Hate by Susan Calman is an entertaining and wry look at mental illness, though – is this obligatory in these books? – makes sure to note that she does not think medication is for her. I suppose ‘was sick, took medication, got better’ isn’t much of a Dramatic Journey but even so, it’s a pattern I grow weary of. Still a good read, though.
These are not recently-published titles but I went on a mini-Laura Lippman binge, working my way through What The Dead Know, The Power of Three, and Life Sentences. She is my kinda writer – plenty of strong, compelling and dysfunctional girls and women at the heart of her stories – and I adored all of these. The Power of Three, which focuses on teenage girls and a dead body, is most pleasing indeed, but I absolutely lapped up Life Sentences, about a memoirist returning to her home town to uncover the truth of the events she’s made a living from.
And then, having got into the Baltimore vibe, it was time for some Anne Tyler: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. I love the quiet precision of her work. She’s just a joy to read.
Finally, back to recent releases: Sabine Durrant’s Lie With Me has an absolutely bonkers conclusion but is nevertheless a delightful (and twisted) read. Paul Morris is a failed Great Novelist long past his prime, and incredibly unpleasant yet compelling as he lies his way into going on holidays with a couple of old friends and their families. On this idyllic Greek island, the lies begin to unravel, and the truth about a missing girl from a decade ago – the last time they were all here – threatens to derail everything. As noted, bonkers conclusion, but a very enjoyable book all the same.
