Saturday, September 28, 2013

SisterlandSisterland by Curtis Sittenfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This story is about two sisters who have ESP. One of the sisters embraces this aspect of her personality, and the other rejects it. This theme is a consistent undercurrent throughout the book.

In the opening chapters, the book seemed pretty ordinary to me, but as the story went deeper into the lives of the characters, I began thinking, "oh, please, don't let that happen", and then something did happen, but not what I thought. I really can't say much more than that without revealing the story line. Suffice it to say that for the last third of the book for sure, I kept wondering what was going to happen when I turned the page.

I did come away with a favorite quote though, and one that I think is true:
"We all make mistakes, don't we? But if you can't forgive yourself, you'll always be an exile in your own life."
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Saturday, September 21, 2013

Creepy Goodness

The Ocean at the End of the Lane
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

 This book is like Grimm's Fairy Tales for adults. It's a tiny bit creepy and you just want to keep reading to find out what will happen next. I read it in an evening and had to force myself to slow down so I wouldn't miss anything.

I pulled these two quotes from this book because I think they are oh, so true. But, to find the context you'll have to read the book.
"Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just like they always have . . . The truth is, there aren't any grown ups. Not one, in the whole wide world"

"Different people remember things differently, and you'll not get any two people to remember anything the same, whether they were there or not. You stand two of you lot next to each other, and you could be continents away for all it means anything."
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Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Gail Godwin's Newest Novel

FloraFlora by Gail Godwin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked Flora, but it's not one of my favorite Gail Godwin books. It's interesting, I noticed in the reviews of Flora one person saying how much they disliked the Father Melancholy's Daughter, and yet this rates as one of my favorites.

Helen is a 10 year old girl whose mother died when she was just a toddler. While her father is away, Flora, her mother's 22 year old cousin, is caring for her. Helen and Flora are pretty much quarantined in their home as there is a polio scare, and Helen's father wants to keep her safe. Flora is described as being "simple hearted" and Helen doesn't really respect her. In fact, as the book goes along one could easier see Helen as the somewhat cynical adult figure, and Flora as an innocent.

I am distracted from my review having just read a review by Leah Hager Cohen in which she points out that the whole book is full of orphans. It's true! I am kind of tickled, for some strange reason, by this observation. To read Cohen's review visit the NY Times book review go  here.

Another aspect of the book I enjoyed was how Helen loved her house. Her home used to be a place of recovery for TB survivors and others and many of the rooms were named after the "recoverers", keeping their stories alive. In fact, you could say the house was a character in the book.

Why should you read this book? Well, the writing is good, and despite Helen's condescending behavior towards her cousin, I liked her.

I do like Gail Godwin as an author. This isn't my favorite of her books - I loved Father Melancholy's Daughter and Evensong. I liked "The Good Husband". I wasn't so crazy about Evening's at Five. Flora was good enough that I recommend you give it a try.


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Thursday, September 12, 2013

Meet the Murphy's!

Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love StoryEverybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story by Amanda Vaill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's always curious to pick up a book about history and find out about people who you know nothing about, who influenced the past. Gerald and Sara Murphy are no exception. They were friends to many of the movers and shakers of their day - Hemingway, Cole Porter, Dorothy Parker, Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, and Picasso to name a few.  They invited these artistic and intersting people into their homes, supporting them in their chosen careers, and often supporting them financially when they were in artistic slumps. They saw the beauty in the negro spiritual and had one of the most complete collections of this music, which they loaned to other artists for plays and movies. Gerald Murphy was an artist in his own right (I had never heard of him). They themselves, were interesting people and created a life for themselves that was a life to their liking - never mind society norms. They were determined to enjoy every bit of their time with each other and friends. This is not to say they didn't have hardships in their lives, because they did. Like all of us, they had personal struggles to work through, and grief to wade through.

What I didn't like about this novel. It seems we were visiting and revisiting Gerald's sexual orientation. The author was always pointing to his deep, deep love of Sarah,but also to the supposition that he really was a homosexual. This detracted from the story for me, because her evidence seems to primarily be anecdotal evidence. The other thing that bothered me is that the author was always trying to interpret Murphy's art to make suppositions about Gerald's life. This annoyed me. I felt there was no basis for it.

However, all in all, I thought it was a very interesting bit of history. I liked getting to know Gerald and Sarah, as well as their connections to other famous people. The fact that I had never heard of them before was a plus for me. I had fun looking up some of Gerald's art online, and reading and looking at pictures about them on the internet.


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