Review: The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen

I’ve been so busy editing and mothering lately that it’s not often I’m able to read anything purely for pleasure. Not that editing and mothering aren’t incredibly beautiful and fulfilling each in their own ways, I just haven’t been able to sink into a book without an ulterior motive since before Avery was born. (Looking back I realize I reviewed Kamala Nair’s The Girl in the Garden at the beginning of the month, however that book clearly left me underwhelmed since I can’t remember being satisfied with it as a reading option.) Finding something to represent reading for that “just-a-hobby” reason was like drinking a cool glass of water on a hot, humid day. I literally feel as though my soul has being quenched of thirst.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon is not Sarah Addison Allen’s best novel, but that doesn’t make it awful. I’ll get the bad parts over with quickly: partially cheesy dialogue, semi-cheesy romance, predictable plot and outcome. Done. Moving on.

The Girl Who Chased the Moon contains all the magic and sparkle of Sarah’s previous novels, this time in the form of the sweetness of cake and the glow of young love. Emily Benedict moves to her mother’s hometown following her death. Greeted with cold shoulders and dark glances, Emily has no idea that her mother’s legacy is not one the town is willing to forgive. With her eight-foot tall grandfather choosing to spend more time in his bedroom than explaining her past to Emily, she is forced to fend for herself and find out why Mullaby, and a boy named Win, are so mysterious.

Julia has returned to Mullaby for her own parent’s death. Left with her father’s barbecue restaurant and costly mortgage, Julia counts the days until she can leave again and return to the life she’s created since she left Mullaby when she was a teenager. But fate has a different plan for Julia, and the love of her teenage life refuses to let her go so easily.

Surrounding these two stories are the secrets of Mullaby: the lights that glow in the woods every night, the strange townspeople, the Coffey’s and why they don’t leave the house after sunset, the ever-changing wallpaper in Emily’s mother’s room. Each nugget of mystery is almost as magical as Sarah’s other novels, and just as delicious as the cakes Julia bakes every day and night.

While The Girl Who Chased the Moon is not as effortless as Garden Spells or The Sugar Queen, it’s still a delicate, magical morsel of a read. Part of it feels as though the author was grasping at straws, trying to repeat her earlier success with a carbon-copy type of novel. It’s not as original as her earlier works. Still, I do love Sarah Addison Allen’s hold of magical realism; it’s fantastical without being pure fantasy, and seductive without hitting you over the head with its obviousness. She’s still one of my favorite magical realism authors, and I hope The Peach Keeper is a better representation of her skill.

4 stars

Review: One-Day by David Nicholls

I haven’t had any time to blog lately but it feels wrong not reviewing a book when I’ve finished one, no matter how busy I am these days.

One-Day by David Nicholls. I received a reprint-advance-copy of this book last year when the publishers were building hype for the upcoming movie. I had grand plans to read it at that time and life got in the way. It sat on my shelf waiting for the day when I would be in the mood for a love story. That day came sometime within the last two weeks as my body reeled from the utter exhaustion of moving apartments while prego (GOOD times, let me tell you).

On my way out the door to work one day I grabbed One-Day (hardy-har-har) and slid it in my bag. Peeled back the covers on the train and was absorbed into the lives of Dexter and Emma. One-Day is unique in that each chapter is July 15 beginning in 1988 when Dexter and Emma meet and ending in 2006. Since each chapter is a year apart, things change dramatically each time and it’s quite fun and exciting to see where our protagonists will be each time a new chapter starts. Nicholls has portrayed two equally empathetic characters who feel and read real and each year pulls us forward into their lives.

Witty and charming, British, beautiful and fun. That’s One-Day. Definitely recommended and very much looking forward to the movie in July.

4 stars

(I received a reprint copy from the publisher for review)

Review: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

If you looked at the bicycles one way, they looked very solid, like sculpture, with afternoon light glinting cleanly off the chrome handlebars–one, two, three, all in a row. If you looked at them another way, you could see just how thin each kickstand was under the weight of the heavy frame, and how they were poised to fall like dominos or the skeletons of elephants or like love itself.
The Paris Wife, Paula McLain

I didn’t know much about Ernest Hemingway or his wives before I started The Paris Wife by Paula McLain. This is the story of his first wife, Hadley; of how they met, the depth of their love, and how it came to wither away. Set mainly in Paris during prohibition, McLain paints us a picture of two newlyweds on the cusp of greatness. Perched to seize the world by storm, Hadley and Ernest rock on the edge of several lives: that of the happily married couple, that of the poor writer trying to make a living, and that of disaster brought on by depression and angst.

The positive aspect of Paula McLain’s writing is that I forgot this book was about Hemingway’s first wife. Meaning I was able to sink into Hadley’s mind and Ernest’s love and then feel emotional heartbreak as their marriage fell apart. The dialogue for the time period is authentic; quick, sharp, witty and sassy. We are very much inside Hadley’s mind and our emotional connection with her is strong, we feel her passions and pains, her desires and needs. We support her entirely. But I also grew sick of her simpering passiveness, waiting for something to happen as she struggles to find her role in Ernest’s life. Upon discovering this annoyance half-way through the novel, I was pulled out of it entirely. It made me question how much of what I was reading was  actually fact. Was this really how Hem’s first wife felt? Was he really this big of an ass?

Beneath my questions of the authenticity of Hadley is Ernest himself, and his pain and waywardness is what drives the story, as it drove their life together. As much as I grew to dislike him, and even Hadley at times, their story is tragically beautiful; so even though there were moments when I felt a lackluster performance from McLain’s writing, the story of these two lovers carried me through to the end, like a good love story should.

Fans of historical fiction will enjoy Hadley’s story, but Hemingway fans will bypass The Paris Wife in favor of his memoir, which I plan to read now that I know a bit more about the tragedy and triumph of this man, and his wife.

3 stars

(I received an advance copy for review)

Review: The Marriage Artist by Andrew Winer

“You live your life with the hope of becoming someone’s memory,” Herr Pick says with a snickering sullenness. “Then it turns out you will have to keep theirs.”
The Marriage Artist – Andrew Winer

The narrative of Andrew Winer’s The Marriage Artist is akin to two train tracks heading toward each other and meeting at a final destination. Imagine watching these trains from the sky, see them converge, but sit back and enjoy the view. Look at the landscape, watch the passing trees, and eavesdrop on fellow travelers’ conversations and stories which only make sense once both trains have pulled into the station.

Track one is the story of art critic Daniel Lichtmann, whose wife Aleksandra plunged to her death alongside Benjamin Wind, one of Daniel’s favorite artists. Whether his wife and the artist were lovers is unknown. What she was doing on the roof of his building, and whether the two jumped to their deaths by choice or force, also remains a mystery. Daniel searches for answers and receives unexpected information in the form of an elderly wheelchair-bound man who attends both funerals.

Track two starts in 1928 Vienna when young Josef Pick discovers his artistic talent and trains with his grandfather to paint Jewish marriage contracts called ketubah. This track follows young Josef through his teenage and early adult years, during the tumultuous start of World War II and the purging of Jewish citizens from Vienna, until it meets with Daniel Lichtmann’s story in the present day.

At times both sweeping and engaging, here is an author who knows his tools and how to use them. Winer’s prose ranges from lilting and poetic to stream-of-consciousness. Emotional and poignant, The Marriage Artist is a vast and tremendous dramatic novel of history and heartache. Of the bonds that bring people together and the devices that tear us apart.

Not knowing where the plot is taking us, the reader has no choice but to read onward, trusting in the author to reveal his secrets. And reveal he does. Winer selectively shares bits of historical ingredients to define the puzzle of present day, piecing each corner edge to its partner. Only when the whole puzzle is complete can we truly see and appreciate the splendor of the picture. Beautifully wrought and imagined, The Marriage Artist is remarkably unlike anything I’ve read in quite some time.

5 stars

(I received an advance copy from the publisher)

Review: Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

I’ve always enjoyed novels set in Russia. Something about the tragic mystery of the Romanov’s, the colorful spiraling St. Basil Cathedral towers, and the romance of softly falling snow and fur muffs. Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay is all those beautiful sensations rolled into one, with the fabulous addition of ballerinas and antique jewels.

Alternating between present day Boston and 1950s Russia, Russian Winter is the story of once famous ballerina, Nina Revskaya, and the trials she endured while a young woman in a cold country who wants nothing more than to dance. Now old and alone, Nina has decided to auction off her famous jewels to benefit the Boston Ballet Foundation. The provenance of a particular set of amber jewelry, and the mysterious donator who contributes a matching amber necklace, set the scene for a literary mystery going back to the turmoil of Stalinist Russia, a time of intense speculation and fear.

Daphne Kalotay submerges the reader in the beauty of the ballet, the mystery of Russia, and the pain and trials of an aging woman with a heartbreaking tale to tell. Nina is cold and distant in her old age, but she wasn’t always that way and Kalotay shows us her younger years by beautifully transitioning back in time. Russian Winter is much like the ballerinas in the story; enigmatic and alluring. Perfect for the coming cool weather, it’s deliciously long and will catch you from the start with a hint of mystery, a hint of romance, and a determined and easily flowing plot.

4 stars

(I received an advance copy for review)

Review: Burning Silk by Destiny Kinal

There is an art to writing a novel; an arc of movement, a thread of thought, an inner fire stoked by imagination and all the writers come before. A writer can be a person who strings words together in an endless river; or a writer can be an artist. Taking paper, ink, and words; creating something otherworldly, something elsewhere. Destiny Kinal’s novel Burning Silk, the first in the Textile Trilogy, is the product of this type of writer.

Set in and around the 1840s, Burning Silk begins the story of the Duladier family. With a rich history of silk spinning to their name, the Duladier’s have a long family tree of maitresses extended down the female line, women who nurture and develop the moth cocon to bring about its silk. Catherine, as the youngest and newest maitresse, takes us from 1839 Grasse France, where she experiences her first painful introduction into the role of a Duladier woman; to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, a decade later as wife and mother, to launch the American-based Duladier silk enterprise. She may be on another continent, but Catherine has never escaped the inner torment of her earlier years, and she is forever anguished by the experiences of her youth. Her fear, her pain, sets about a series of events from which the Duladiers may never recover.

To say this novel is about silk spinners in the nineteenth century is a trite understatement. Silk as a fabric is sensual by definition, and though Burning Silk is marketed as ”erotic fiction,” don’t confuse it with an easy paperback romance. It is an epic work of fiction, doused in rich historical language and time, exploring the role of woman as mother, daughter, sister, lover, and self. A complex, multilayered book, Burning Silk tells a story with power and identity, letting the characters develop into themselves. It exposes given certainties and changes them; a child becoming a woman, the first experience of sexuality, confronting ones innermost desires, the voices used to speak to ourselves and others. It is truly unlike any book I’ve ever read.

Look past the editorial distractions of first and third person point of view shifts, for they are not perfectly constructed. Continue past the beginning plot, Catherine’s ordeal is glaring and painful and difficult. Read on because you will be rewarded with a lush and luxurious story, developed and fruitful, deep and melancholically beautiful.

I received this book from Destiny herself, and wasn’t sure how I would feel about the novel when I first started. As a book reviewer, however, I am pledged to objectivity and I was rewarded for persisting past the parts that would normally turn me away. The words, the characters, the immense story, won me over. I could hardly set it aside at the end. Like a true artist, Destiny Kinal amazed me with her raw talent. I eagerly await the next installment of the Duladier’s story in the Textile Trilogy.

5 stars

(I received this book from the author for a fair and objective review)

Review: The Exile of Sara Stevenson by Darci Hannah

Set in 1814, The Exile of Sara Stevenson is a richly woven historical fiction novel told from the viewpoint of the title’s namesake, Sara Stevenson.

Banished to the Cape Wrath lighthouse on the blustery northern point of Scotland, Sara is punished for falling in love with a sailor, and ending up pregnant with his child. Miserable, forced to make company with the other unhappy residents of the lighthouse, Sara believes her lover, Thomas Chrichton, will rescue her. The days drift by until a mysterious letter with a special gift she had given to Thomas arrives. Further correspondence with the author of the letter results in Sara’s confusion to his identity, and to the health of her child’s father. Searching for answers, Sara continues to write to her new friend, but wonders if perhaps his identity is that of William Campbell, the tormented keeper of the light on Cape Wrath. As friends become enemies and vice versa, Sara must hold out hope for the sake of her child amid the intrepid storms and dangerous coast of Northern Scotland.

The first half of this novel was lovely; a true historical the likes of which I haven’t read in quite sometime. This is mostly due to Hannah’s writing which was remarkably authentic. A current historical fiction novel is usually written with a contemporary voice, but Hannah’s is more true to the time period, making Sara’s story that much more sympathetic.

The beautiful writing continues through the second half of the book, but there’s a sudden shift in Hannah’s narrative tools. I refer to a mysterious boat which appears and disappears into the fog every time it delivers a letter to Sara. This is the mystical aspect of the synopsis which is used for promotional panache, however it doesn’t make itself known until two-thirds of the way through the novel, marking an unsettling breach in the realistic narrative. Had Hannah introduced a bit of the mysterious earlier in the novel, I would have believed in the boat’s ethereal qualities. As it was, I knew where Hannah was going with the boat, but it left me a bit cynical.

The end of the book delves further into the unworldly theme, but it doesn’t have much time to do so, which reinforces my opinion that had there been even a hint of magic in the beginning of the novel, it would have brought the plot full circle. Unfortunately I felt as though the end was meant for a different novel with the same set of characters.

Regardless, I still enjoyed The Exile of Sara Stevenson, and I think most readers who are interested in this type of story will. Darci Hannah is definitely a skillful writer and I’ll be interested to see what she releases in the future.

3 stars

(I received this book from LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers)

Review: Such a Pretty Face by Cathy Lamb

My name is Stevie Barrett.
This is a story of why I was the way I was
and how I am now me.
Such a Pretty Face – Cathy Lamb

Stevie Barrett once weighed over 300 pounds. She ate food to smother the grief she felt over the loss of her baby sister, schizophrenic mother, and loving grandparents all within a short time period. She ate to lose herself. She ate to hide. And then she had a heart attack, and eating was no longer the solution if she wanted to survive. Several surgeries and 170 pounds later, Stevie has lost the weight but hasn’t managed to find herself in the process. Such a Pretty Face is the beautiful story of one woman’s search for herself amongst the burden of this thing we call Life.

At times both literary and whimsical, Such a Pretty Face fulfilled my need for a meaty, meaningful story, while also lightening my soul with love and sunshine. It made my heart ache with sadness for Stevie’s childhood and the oppressing reality of schizophrenia, but the flashbacks to her earlier years are followed with laughter as she struggles to keep an outraged divorcee from tearing her ex-husband to shreds.

Lamb’s writing is skillful and exploratory, drifting from inner dialogue to prose and back again. We really get to know Stevie, staying inside her head throughout the full novel, feeling the tide of emotions she is drifting on. With an oppresive uncle, a bulldozing best friend, a mound of medical debt, and a hopeless crush on her neighbor, Stevie is lost in the world and the narrative explores her natural sense of fear, followed by her internal strength and courage to stand up for herself and what she wants.

Overall, Such a Pretty Face is a culmination of fabulous traits from some of my favorite books: a story of family pain and love (Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson), mixed with a woman’s courage and strength (The Wife’s Tale by Lori Lansens), with a dash of Sarah Addison Allen’s fanciful language thrown in the mix. But most of all, it simply is what it is: a beautifully literary and touching novel by a wonderful writer. I will definitely be reading more of Cathy Lamb in the future.

5 stars

(I received an advance copy for review)

Review: My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares

People sometimes talk about the power of first impressions, and believe me, there is truth to it. The path of your life can change in an instant. Not just the path of your life but the path of all your lives, the path of your soul. Whether you remember or not. It makes you want to think hard before you act. 
My Name is Memory – Ann Brashares

I suppose that I could start out by saying that this was a decent book. Am I head over heels for it? Not exactly. But did I want to poke my eyes out? No.

My Name is Memory is the first in a trilogy, which will be a good thing because fans of Young Adult books are bound to relish it. It’s a book about love that crosses time and distance. Daniel has loved Sophia from the first time he saw her, thousands of years ago. Now that she is Lucy, he loves her more. Daniel has the gift of Memory; he can recall all his past lives every time he is born in a new body. For all of his lives he has searched for the reincarnated Sophia, knowing they belong together. But something, or someone, always seems to tear them apart. He was close to her once, knowing her as Lucy in high school, but he scared her away when he tried to tell her the truth. So he vowed to watch her from a distance, never to interfere, until the day his distance puts her in danger. Daniel’s brother Joaquim was once married to Sophia. When Daniel rescued Sophia from Joaquim’s abusive rage, Joaquim vows to get revenge and he carries his hatred with him into each of his new lives. If Joaquim finds Lucy and discovers she’s Sophia, Daniel may not be able to rescue her in time.

My main problem with this book is the same problem I had with Stephenie Meyer’s The Host: it’s lauded as an “adult” book, meaning not Young Adult fiction, but I didn’t get that distinction in The Host, and I don’t get it in My Name is Memory. Adding a couple of intimacy scenes along with abuse and genocide doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve written a more adult type of book. Though the plot was intriguing, and the writing wasn’t awful, I didn’t find that My Name is Memory contained the true maturity or message fit for it to be considered in the realm of “adulthood.” My definition of an “adult novel” would be one of stellar writing and advanced theme, characters with depth. Brashares writing was just average, and there were parts of the plot that were contrived and forced. When comparing it to The Time Traveler’s Wife, Niffenegger’s book is far superior, especially in terms of an “adult” novel.

I think a lot of younger readers will love My Name is Memory, and a lot of readers who enjoy lighter books. You shouldn’t pick it up thinking it’s going to be a serious novel, but it’s good for escapism. Will I read the next in the series? Probably. Will I replace Twilight with My Name is Memory? Never.

3 stars

(I received this book from the publisher for review)

Review: Romancing Miss Brontë by Juliet Gael

There was an exquisite sensitivity at work in those intelligent eyes. Even when she was silent, those eyes were never passive; they watched carefully noticing everything. She seemed to be reading your feelings and attitudes, at times even your soul.
Romancing Miss Brontë – Juliet Gael

Romancing Miss Brontë will make you want to read anything and everything by the Brontë sisters. Following the life of Charlotte and her siblings from the times before they were published, through tragedy and heartbreak, to the last stages of Charlotte’s life, Juliet Gael’s debut novel is informative, alluring, romantic, and insightful. Crafted from fact, it is a visionary work, reminiscent of the Brontë’s writing itself. Pulling themes from the Brontë’s books, and molding them into realistic portraits of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, the reader can’t help but fall in love with these women, and feel sadness for all their tragedies.

Gael’s chosen to begin her story with Charlotte, Emily, and Anne in Haworth, England. Living with their aging father and broken brother, the women turn to writing to escape. First starting with poetry, they eventually succumb to the desires of publishing novels. Met at times with harsh criticism followed by raving success, the women handle their reviews, and their lives, in three very different ways. Emily, reclusive yet wildly abandoned; Anne, prim and proper; and Charlotte, heartbroken but determined.

We start out with the whole family, and close in on Charlotte when tragedy falls. We follow her to England and back, landing finally in Haworth where she must decide her fate, and her future, and where her desires and dreams should lie. Gael has written an artful imagination of the Brontë household. We feel for this family, and their circumstances. I was completely entranced by Gael’s narrative as the sisters worked on their individual novels. Having only read Jane Eyre, it made me desperately want to read everything else by the Brontës. Not one page of this book bored me, I was completely fascinated by the lives on the page in front of me.

The book’s description focuses on Charlotte’s love life and the man who falls for her, her father’s curate, Arthur. And Arthur and Charlotte’s story does play an integral part of the narrative, but it’s not until the last half of the book, and it’s not the whole story. Romancing Miss Brontë is about more than just Charlotte and Arthur, it’s about Emily and Anne as well, and even their brother Branwell and father Patrick. It’s a beautiful story, and a heartbreaking one. Well-written, well-executed, it is a splendid read, full of vigor and life and beautiful words.

4 stars

(I received this book from the publisher for review)