Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, Unapologetic literary fiction!

 

 

The fact that this book is written by a man born in Iran, the title had me worried, especially with that exclamation point. To say it pushed me off kilter wouldn’t be an understatement. It covers so much: art, perspective, stories and poems, religion, philosophy, politics and yes, even sexuality. I predict it will be the topic of many conversations which would otherwise avoid subjects of substance.

Cyrus Shams, a young man whose mother is on that fated passenger airliner shot down by the US Navy in 1988. His father, a laborer, moves them to the US and they end up in Indiana, where Cyrus attends a small liberal arts college. Cyrus might be brilliant, but lives in an ennui that keeps him from caring about performance, often doing only enough to keep from failing. He seems always to be in an altered state, from alcohol, any kind of drug and does not sleep. And he is considered pre-suicidal and obsessed with all martyrdom-- not just religious or patriotic, but “Earth Martyrs”, and he wants his death to mean something.  Beyond all that, the book is full of biting satire and delightful humor.

The book is Cyrus’s search for that meaning. One of the things I love about the book is the occasional shift in viewpoint character, whether it is his mother, father, best friend, or other characters. It gives the reader perspective beyond Cyrus, whose narration is less than reliable. Akbar weaves mythology, classic poetry, music, and art into a collage that leads Cyrus to question and find answers to the big questions: what is love, death, reality. So much is told in dreams, whether natural or drug induced, that by the time I got to the end, I, too, questioned Cyrus’s reality.

The language of the novel thrives with Akbar’s poetic voice. The book is not unlike a full-length poem, though, like the best poetry, it is accessible to any reader. We like Cyrus, even when we know he is on a path of self-destruction. We want him to succeed, but we want him to live.

This is an author to watch—he is a citizen of the universe, and he’s not afraid to show the rest of us. Martyr! will be released on January 23, 2024 by Knopf. Thanks To Knopf and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this wonderful novel.

 

 

 

Lone Women by Victor LaValle

 

 I was invited to read this book because I had enjoyed another book of what we are calling Magical Suspense (Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson.)  I had, frankly, forgotten about it until I reviewed my “to be read” list and realized I had missed it.

The parts of me that are haunted by nightmares and a vivid imagination may wish I had left it on the shelf, but the part of me that loves good storytelling, historical fiction, strong women characters, and creativity appreciates that I did not.

The story is set in the early 1900s American west. Adelaide, the protagonist is a thirty-year-old black woman who’s been raised on a fertile plum farm in an all black agricultural community in California. Adelaide must leave California alone and based on an article she’s read about homestead land in Montana, which is open both to “lone women” and black people, she sets Montana as her new destination.

All she brings with her are a travel bag, and a huge, heavy, locked trunk. The perils she encounters trying to move the trunk from the train station to the ship to the wagon that will take her to Montana make the reader frustrated. What is in that trunk?

And then we find out. The contents will hover over the reader and Adelaide as she finds her new home, settles in, and even makes friends. But some secrets just won’t stay locked away.

TW: there is a significant amount of blood in this book, so if that makes you queasy, you might skip this one. It is “magical suspense” but could easily be classified as horror as well. That said, it is a quick read, and had much to say about the hardiness of frontier women.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this review copy. The book was published March 28, 2023.

 

The Women by Kristin Hannah

 

Frankie McGrath is a pampered daughter of Coronado Island, California, socialites. She lives in a walled and gated estate on the Pacific, and expectations of her in 1966 are traditional. She should marry a nice boy from her family’s circle and live a nice life.

But her beloved brother, Finley, has to live up to the family’s “hero’s wall” where each generation went to war and brought honor to the McGrath's. Finley will go to Vietnam.

As the story unfolds, Frankie chooses for herself. She goes to nursing school and before she’s ever had real hospital experience, she enlists to be with her brother.

This book shows people who didn’t live through the time just how different Vietnam was for the United States. With the war unwinnable, and turmoil at home, innocent Frankie is swept into a nightmare. But she’s strong, and the other men and women she works alongside make the time there not only bearable but give her the confidence she will need after her term is up. When her “welcome home” was not what anyone would expect, and as someone who lived through the time, I can only say, sadly, it is an accurate depiction.

We’ve had great books written about this war, but I’ve not read one that focused on the plight of the brave women who served and were instrumental in bringing some of our soldiers home, but also comfort for those who didn’t. Kristin Hannah writes with clarity, compassion and honesty, and The Women is a book long overdue. Brava to Kristin for tackling this challenge and doing it justice.

Thanks to St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for the chance to read this advanced review copy. I can’t recommend it enough, especially to anyone who wants to understand how we got to where we are today.

Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams

 

This well writte story has two narrative arcs. 1951, Egypt amid the turmoil of the Egyptian independence, specifically British occupation and the ownership of the Suez Canal is the setting for the first arc. Hannah Ainsworth, there with her much older British diplomat husband, is expected to live the calm and pampered life of a diplomat’s wife. Hannah’s character finds that difficult for her, and her troubles begin when she is bitten by a cobra.

Poisoning is also a critical element second arc, when single mother Mallory Dunne gets a call from the summer camp, where her beloved only child Sam has eaten a poisonous mushroom. He lives, but his kidneys do not.

The story unfolds when Hannah’s sister, who has a house on the Cape, invites her to visit with Sam for the summer. Hannah has history there, and secrets, but she also has wonderful memories and wants Sam to experience it.

Both arcs are love stories, with complications peculiar to the time and place in the world. Williams is a splendid writer, and she puts her characters through plenty of strife to keep the book interesting and easy to read. The sprinkling of historical facts in both eras elevate this novel and make it a fascinating read.

Thanks to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the advanced review copy.

The Book of Fire by Christy Lefteri

 

I had not read anything by Christy Lefteri before The Book of Fire, though The Beekeeper of Aleppo has been on my TBR list for a while. Now that I’ve finished The Book of Fire, I can see myself becoming a completist. This story has so many levels. First, the universal tragedy unfolding due to climate change, drought, and ensuing wildfires. Second, tragic history of people displaced from their homes because of governmental decisions, in this case Turks and Greeks sent to trade places with each other geographically. Finally, it is an intimate personal story of families in a small mountain village next to the sea and what they endure when their homes become popular escapes for city people who want to develop the land. Irini, the protagonist, her husband Tasso and their daughter Chara, all gentle, artistic souls, bear the consequences of carelessness of one such developer, an unforgiving forest fire. Not only the consequences of their physical lives, but their deep moral commitments also must be faced. It is a compelling read I found impossible to put down.

Lefteri’s prose is lyrical, and heartbreaking and her characters are unforgettable. This is not an easy happily ever after book, but literature that will serve as a caution, if not a record, of the hardest decisions of our time.

Day, A Novel, by Michel Cunningham. Heartbreaking Five stars.

After allowing myself a few weeks of fluff in the form of holiday romance novels, I was ready for a novel like Michael Cunningham’s Day in the same way I crave vegetables after binging cookies. They are not just delicious, they are good for you, and restore balance.

 

I feel privileged to have been allowed to read this novel. The writing was exquisite and masterful, as I expected. It is a quiet story of how a family of ordinary people, extraordinary only in their relationships with each other, lived in the ordinary landscape of Brooklyn, in April in 2019, and how those relationships and landscapes twisted, turned, and re-leveled in the next two years. There are eight characters who share point of view with the reader, though one is only an infant we communicate with by observation. The existentialism of the members of this family before COVID, and the way isolation took existentialism beyond the capacity for the characters to cope, whether that be with themselves, their children or mates, or their career choices reflects the emotions and mindset of many of us who survived 2020.

The discovery of these characters and their chosen paths is the joy of this novel, so I won’t go into detail. Themes of self-awareness, fluidity in sexuality, art and expression, spirituality, and the underlying questions of what is feminist, what is traditional, and what is simply human are dealt a gentle hand. It left me wanting to turn back to page one and read it all over again.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advanced copy. Day will be released tomorrow, November 14, 2023.

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins. Great Mystery!

 

Gothic romances have a few things in common that readers expect and return to the genre again and again to find. Rachel Hawkins understands this, and delivers in full with The Heiress. A happy couple, haunted by the past that they’ve run all the way to the Colorado Mountains to escape, a family mystery that sent them back, and a gorgeous southern manor filled with dysfunctional family.  A perfect kind of mystery you won’t want to put down.  Delighted to recommend this to my mystery and gothic loving friends. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.  The book releases on January 9, 2024. Happy New Year reading!

Second Chances in New Port Stephen 5* (Content warning: LGBTQIA issues remarkably well done.)

When Eli’s career as a TV writer blows up due to the bad acts of the star of the show he writes for, he decides to return home for the holidays. Many things have changed since Eli was in New Port Stephen, Florida. He’s no longer the stand-up comic he was when he left, he’s sober now, and most importantly to Eli, he’s completed his transition. Florida has changed too, threatening the very existence of people like Eli. 

 

 

 

But his family has not changed and will go to great lengths to show him the love they’ve always had for him, even though they are learning and make mistakes. And then he runs into Nick, his first love, his first lover and someone who is still as intriguing as he was in high school, before Eli transitioned.

The best thing about this book is the way it illustrates romance, falling and re-falling, in love. There is only enough attention to the same sex relationship as the author wants to share with the reader to assure empathy, and it is done so well. The reader is rooting for these two guys to make it, proving that in the hands of the right author, even in a romance novel, love is indeed love. Bravo to TJ Alexander.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Atria Books for the ARC of this wonderful story. The book will be released on December 5, 2023.

Highland Christmas by Amy Quick Parrish 3 stars

 

 

 

I was looking for something easy to read, having just read a couple of long, serious, books. It was time for a bit of brain candy. It’s also November and time to turn thoughts toward the Holidays. So, when I found Highland Christmas on my NetGalley shelf, I was delighted. Even though the book has been out for a year (Published October 25,2022) and has a sequel coming out next year (October 12,2024), it seemed to be just what I needed.

It was fine. The story of Melissa Mackenzie, whose philandering husband Dave (no last name…which is a detail I wanted) had thrown her out of her home after Thanksgiving dinner, so he can snuggle in with her brother’s ex, Samantha, after a quick Christmas trip to Barbados. Melissa is blindsided, but there doesn’t seem to be any grief, especially when the Prince of Nairobi…oh wait, it’s a long-lost uncle in Scotland who has left her a house in Inverness.

So, our Melissa drops everything, packs a bag, and books a flight.

The story goes on with Melissa makes the flight meets all sorts of wonderful, picturesque Scottish, people, finds the house she’s inherited, and not only moves in, renovates it, adopts a dog, and attends all the lovely celebrations of the village. All before Christmas.

While it is a sweet story, almost a fairy tale, the complete lack of detail about characters and complications frustrated me. I almost put it down, but realized there wasn’t that much left to read, as the book is only 128 pages long. I wish she’d had an editor to tell her that people want to know more about the characters … I originally thought Melissa was in her fifties or better, but later it seems she may be in her twenties. And while we got lots of local color, with descriptions of everything from the highland games to the taste of Haggis, we don’t really know much about how our characters feel. Shouldn’t Melissa be angry?  Or sad? 

I got what I was looking for though, a bit of literary candy. Just remember that candy isn’t very nourishing.

This was a NetGalley advanced reader copy. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Flying Cactus Publishing, for allowing me to read in exchange for this review.

Inheritance by Nora Roberts-Audio

 

I am pretty sure I’ve read most of Nora Roberts’ books, at least since the turn of the millennium (though not the J.D. Robb books!). You could call me a die-hard fan.  However, I’d never listened to one before I was invited to do so through NetGalley for Inheritance.

I’m a skeptic when it comes to media…I want my books as books and my movies as movies. Audio books fall someplace in between for me, and I’ve become addicted to listening to novels when I drive or exercise. 

All those caveats aside, I loved listening to Inheritance.  It was fun to hear voices assigned to characters who would have always been distinct in my mind, but maybe not as vivid as these readers.  Sonya, Cleo, and the residents of Poole’s Bay are easy to distinguish and adore.  And then the ghosts! I won’t add spoilers, other than to say that no one writes mysterious magical beings like Nora Roberts.  I was only sad when I realized Inheritance is the first book in a new trilogy, and I’ll have to wait a year or two to finish the story. 

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for the chance to read this early and write this review. Nora’s fans won’t be disappointed, and newcomers will be delighted. The book is released November 21, 2023

Wellness by Nathan Hill

 

Nathan Hill’s new novel, Wellness, is a smart love story. There are no simple tropes, the obstacles the central couple, Jack, and Elizabeth, must overcome are largely of their own making, and mostly because they simply think too much. The couple is obsessed with the foundations of human behavior and teaching the nuances of it to the reader. While the relationship between Elizabeth and Jack is endearing and fascinating, their analysis, especially in the murky middle of the book, tends toward tedium. They dwell so intensely on the fields of their interest and research them so extensively…both the characters and the author…that the reader has to resist the temptation to treat the novel as a scholarly work and actually skip the long explanations and examples (footnoted!) and get to the parts where they remember that they CARE about Jack and Elizabeth, their heartbreaking childhoods and how they deal with the fallout as they try to raise their own son.

I urge you, if you get so far into the book that you want to put it aside, don’t. You will not be able to forget Jack and Elizabeth and Toby, and if you finish the book, you will find yourself wanting to have discussions with them, and everyone you meet, about the world you’ve left when you close the cover. The pay-off is worth it. Bravo, Nathan Hill.

This book was published September 19, 2023. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the review copy.

Don't Forget to Write by Sara Goodman Confino

 

A wonderful story about coming of age in the sixties. Twenty-year-old Marilyn has trouble sticking to the strict rules of her orthodox Jewish family in 1960s New York City. As punishment for her shenanigans, she’s sent to a great Aunt in Philadelphia who is a matchmaker by profession, for the summer. Aunt Ada is nothing like what Marilyn assumes she will be, and she learns more about herself, love, and family than she ever bargained for. Sara Goodman Confino’s characters are abrasive, selfish, and completely lovable. Great for the beach, or anyone who struggles with accepting rules that just don’t seem to apply. Published September 1, 2023. Thanks to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for sharing this review copy with me.

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen...great thriller!

 

A fascinating book that combines themes of health and mother-daughter relationships and twists them up with a thriller that kept me guessing until the end. I sincerely didn’t see it coming.

Ruth is a single mother whose family has “thrown her out” when she becomes pregnant with her beloved daughter, Catherine. Ruth moves away and sacrifices everything for her daughter, working low paying jobs, foregoing education, and relationships of her own to assure her daughter is safe and happy.

Catherine is a nurse with big plans, ready to get on with her new career and life when a diagnosis blindsides her plans. That diagnosis whets Catherine’s appetite to know more about the family she shares with her mother, and her investigation threatens more than exposing her mother’s secrets.

Another creative and exciting thriller by Sarah Pekkanen! Don’t miss it!

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. The book went on sale on August 1, 2023.

America by Mike Bond

 

Mike Bond is clearly a student of history and world events. He’s also a fine writer. Sometimes, it isn’t the best novel to combine everything the author knows into one project, even if he takes seven books to do it.

America is the first novel in a seven-book series tracing the history of the United States and many other world conflicts. Having lived through many of the events described in the book, purportedly from the point of view of different characters, I didn’t find the author’s narrative to be balanced journalism or believable dialogue for his characters. Many times, he quotes speeches and writing from the time, though always with a slant.

The book switches point of view often between two male characters and two females. Despite growing up in the same community, and the same household for three of them, they have divergent views on war, patriotism and education that feel, at least in the last half of the book, preachy. However, I loved the first half, where the author introduces Mick, Troy, Tara and Daisy, and their rural childhoods and coming of age stories set the stage for the novel.

Bond then takes the four and tries to cover all the politics, religious issues, sexuality, and philosophy onto them. Maybe ONE character’s quest would have been okay, but the reach of this book, and the number of characters needed to cover the agenda, was just too much.

Bond is an excellent writer. His settings are brilliant, almost sentimental and his characters are people I liked knowing. I just wish they hadn’t fallen into the stereotypes of the day and used a bit more common sense. And restraint.

After the Rapture by Nancy Stohlman

 

 

I know how long this book was in process, as the writer struggled with it through the pandemic, so I’m pretty sure it is coincidental that it finally made it into readers hands the same year the Barbie Movie hit screens. But in many ways, the movie helps extend the metaphor of this smart Novel in Flash. If you don’t know what a Novel in Flash is, you will find not only that Stohlman is at the forefront of this exciting new-ish- form of literature. Each chapter is like looking at a short film or contemporaneous photograph where all the questions of “if” and “how” we have about culture in the 21^st century, when confronted with big box stores, pink plastic worlds inhabited by Fashion Model Dolls who do everything, contrast with ancient scripture. Human nature and confusion frolic with base needs and desire, and the whole doesn’t only make us question how we live but make us finally know we deserve answers.

This is art in high form. While we aren’t always sure we know what it means, we know “it tickled something forgotten, something buried so far down it seemed like a past life memory. Like an alternate childhood. Like fear.”

 

Sidle Creek, by Jolene McIlwain 5 stars!

 

 

 

Not only one of the best short story collections I’ve read, but one of the best works of fiction of the decade. McIlwain takes the beautiful and harsh landscapes of Appalachian West Pennsylvania and creates community with the landscape, the creeks and rivers, the wildlife and the wonderfully complex people who live there. They are not all lovable people, and the situations where, especially young people, encounter will tax the readers understanding of right and wrong. McIlwain is a seasoned writer with a deft hand at descriptive narrative, spot on dialect and dialogue and an imagination that takes stories handed down through myth and generation and paints a picture of America that we don’t often see. She’s been compared to Louise Erdrich, Annie Proulx and others concerned with people in troubled landscapes just trying to get by. Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver, is another book we loved this year, for bringing people of the mountains forward in ways that help even city dwellers get it. McIlwain clearly “gets it” and this book should jump to the top of your stack for both individual and reading groups alike.

Almost Deadly, Almost Good, by Alice Kaltman

 

In this collection of stories, Alice Kaltman studies both virtue and vice, and with her complex characters, it is hard to tell the difference. Kaltman’s exquisite fiction brings these people to life in ways that extend beyond the pages of their own stories, bleeding sometimes into other ones in the book, and even in other books. Like visiting people we know. but are never quite sure if we like them, or want to keep our distance. Whether you want to laugh or cry, it’s a brilliant collection, highly recommended.

Off the Map by Trish Doller

  

This was my first book by this author, but I can’t wait to read her other books!  Off the Map is the story of Carla Black, a woman who has been raised to always go where she wants to go, travel light and not look back. Her motto is “here for a good time, but not for a long time.”  Until she meets Eamon Sullivan, wbo is supposed to drive her to the wedding of his brother and her best friend. Their instant connection exceeds anything either has experienced before and instead of heading across Ireland to participate in pre-wedding festivities, the two take a detour into the beautiful mountains and valleys of Ireland in a romance that makes even the most jaded of us swoon.

Whether it’s Ireland itself, Carla’s declining father Biggie and his wife Stella, or the Sullivan clan…to say nothing of Carla and Eamon’s adventure into love, you’ll find plenty of charm in this fun book. Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this review copy.

The Referral Program by Shamara Ray

 

In the olden days, people didn’t find dates on Tinder or other social media programs. They met potential mates at work, church, school, and through friends and acquaintances, sometimes on blind dates. So, I was a bit skeptical about where this book was going when the three protagonists thought their “Referral Program” was something “new” that had to be kept secret.

Sadly, my opinion went downhill from there. The three protagonists, Ivy, Brooke, and Dylan, where indistinguishable from one another. They had different jobs, yes, but they were all beautiful, shapely, ambitious black women with high expectations for relationships. But … they didn’t have anything that differentiated them from each another. Likewise, the male characters they “referred” to one another. All successful, handsome, wealthy, fit black men. Everyone was experienced in dating and relationships, and suddenly, they all had the same goals. Only one, discarded character was “less” –and that was because he was nine years older and sold cars for a living (though of course, he owned three dealerships.)  Buzz words like Faith, Integrity, Loyalty are present throughout, whether through the mouths of the male characters, or the female.

First dates are painful for most people, tenuous at best, especially blind dates. I hate to say the reader struggles through no fewer than seven first dates in this novel, each painful. And when a couple finally gets to sex, these bright, educated, mid-thirties women refer to their own genitalia as “kitty” or “flower” and it was … for the reader…awful.

Finally, the author had trouble with point of view throughout the book, jumping from one woman to the other …and since they were indistinguishable in language or goals, it was difficult to follow. At one point, we even switched to one of the men’s point of view mid chapter and without warning. When anyone tried to have a conversation with a potential mate, the “dialogue” turned into preachy monologue. Three lines from one character at a time is a rule many writers have been taught. This one missed that lesson. It is not unusual to read 10-12 lines with no break, and sometimes, honestly 22-25. I have no sense of the setting and very little sense of the characters actions, habits, distinguishing features, etc.

I hate to leave a less than stellar review, as I know it takes so much to write a novel. I believe this writer has the skills to do a better job. The book is The Referral Program, and it will be released August 29, 2023. Thanks to the publisher, Atria Books and NetGalley for the review copy.

The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser

 

Jess has run away from a domestic situation and leaves nearly everything she owns behind. Her journey takes her to Wales, where she takes refuge in her small tent in a cemetery. The ele

ments are harsh, and Jess finds an empty house with electricity still on and she respectfully moves in.  All is well, until the owner of the house finds her.

Her discovery, and the kindness of the owner result in Jess finding an unaccountable friendship and happiness, as together they restore the house. Jess and Gethins’ friendship is exactly what each needs to heal from their past relationships, and their self-doubt keeps the pages turning.  An utterly charming book, though you will find yourself wanting them to get on with it!

The book will be published September 26, 2023, by Random House. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.