An emotional read

Book Review:  The Silence by Susan Allott

Rating:  5 out of 5 star

Isla Green has received a middle of the night call from her father.  He has been questioned by the police about the disappearance of a woman thirty years ago.  Apparently, her father was the last person to have seen his neighbor, Mandy, and there has been no trace of her since then.  Isla returns to Australia to support her father and secrets of the past begin to unfold.

I absolutely loved this book and it held my attention like nothing else has been able to.  I kept being pulled deeper and deeper into this unforgettable tale.  The book fluctuates between 1967 and 1997 and the transition between these time frames flows along beautifully.  This is a debut novel by Ms. Allott and she obviously will be a powerful force in the literary world.  I loved each of these characters and found the book to be both very moving and very suspenseful.

There is a very sad true history running throughout this book.   In Australia between 1905 and 1967, Aboriginal children were taken from their homes by the government, supposedly to give them a better life but in fact were taken to institutions where many of them were mistreated.  I first learned of these children when I saw the movie “Rabbit-Proof Fence” many years ago.

I most highly recommend this book.

This book was won by me on LibraryThing in a contest where an unbiased review was requested.

Tender story of a mismatched pair of relatives

Akin by Emma Donoghue

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

Noah Selavaggio will soon be turning 80 years old.  In celebration of this milestone birthday, he’s making plans to visit Nice where he was born.  He’s discovered some old photos taken by his mother that are quite puzzling and he hopes to find some answers in Nice.  However, just days before he leaves, he receives a phone call from a social worker asking that he temporarily take care of an 11-year-old boy, Michael, who is his great-nephew.  Noah has never met Michael but he’s the closet relative the boy has other than his mother who is in prison and his aunt whom they’re having trouble reaching.  Noah well remembers Michael’s father, Vincent, and feels obligated to take Michael along with him to Nice.

This book is on quite a different level than the other Emma Donoghue books that I’ve read.  There’s a lot more humor in this one and I enjoyed the witty sparring between this unlikely pair.  Michael is very foul-mouthed and can be quite obnoxious but knowing the life he’s led, his character is very believable.  I admired the patience Noah shows Michael but then again Noah also knows about loss.  He still has long talks with his deceased wife.  Both of these characters are brought to life with compassion and understanding.  Noah’s mother’s photos lead them on a hunt for the truth that is quite a heart wrenching one and made the book quite compelling.  Could it be that Noah’s beloved mother was a Nazi collaborator?

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

 

Shocking, devastating fact-based story of Lithuanian children

In the Shadow of Wolves by Alvydas Slepikas

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

Though the Second World War is over, the Russian soldiers are taking over East Prussia.  They are forcing the citizens out of their homes.  Many of those citizens have nowhere to go.  The lucky ones are living in the sheds on the property they formerly owned.  There is little to no food and freezing cold.  Some of the Russian soldiers are raping the young women and girls.  Desperate for food, the mothers are sending their young children through the forest to Lithuania in the hopes that they can beg for food there and bring some back or even find some work in exchange for food.  It’s a dangerous trip that these young children are taking, with some faring better than others.

The subject matter of this book is a very difficult one to read.  It’s a short book but it took me longer than usual to read it because there were times I just couldn’t read any more and had to put it down.  I’ve read so many books about wars and the atrocities committed and have never been quite as affected as I was by this book.  The main characters are young, innocent children who are asked to do the impossible – travel through dark, cold, dangerous forests and try to find honest, caring people who can help them.  As a mother, I can’t imagine the desperation that would be in these women’s minds to make such a decision for their children but it was that or have them starve or freeze to death.  There are some scenes in this book that it will be difficult to get out of my mind.  The writing deserves 5 stars but the subject matter was often too hard even for this lover of dark, tragic books.

Recommended but do know that the subject matter is a very rough one.

This book was given to me by the publicist in return for an honest review.

Well-written book about a lesser known Nazi

The Hollow Bones by Leah Kaminsky

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

Ernst Schafer was a German zoologist, hunter and explorer with a beautiful wife, Herta.  In the 1930’s, Heinrich Heimler became interested in Schafer and his work.  The SS funded an expedition of scientists to Tibet in a quest to find the origins of the Aryan race in the Himalayans with Schafer in the lead.  But soon the horrors of the Nazi regime began and Schafer is pulled into the manipulative world of Hitler.

When Ernst was a young boy, he and Herta were best friends.  When they met again as adults, they fell in love and were so happy together.  When they decided to marry, they were told that Herta would have to go to a German bridal school to learn how to be a good German wife.  As much as I’ve read about that period in time, I was shocked at how extensive and rigid this schooling was.  But Herta wanted to be Ernst’s wife so she went along with all they threw at her.  But after their marriage, Ernst begins to change.  It’s fascinating to watch the corruption of Ernst by the Nazi regime and sad to see how that corruption begins to eat at Ernst and Herta’s marriage.

The Nazis’ intolerance of imperfection is well known.  Herta had a sister with some disabilities and there was quite a bit included in the book about her, the secrecy the family felt they had to keep and her ultimate disappearance.

One of the narrators of this book is a Panda that Ernst shot and stuffed and placed in a museum.  This was a very unique way to let Ernst’s animal victims have a voice in this book.  I do warn fellow animal lovers that there is a lot of killing of animals, mostly birds, in this book, along with hunting and taxidermy.  It made the book a difficult topic for me to read but it was a fascinating story of a Nazi that I had not read anything about before.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the author in return for an honest review.

 

A very unique blend of literary genres

Solovyov and Larionov by Eugene Vodolazkin

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

Solovyov is a naïve young scholor who has been given the topic of General Larionov for his thesis.  General Larionov was a commander in the White Russian Army during the Russian Civil War.  The mystery surrounding him is why Larionov was allowed to live the remainder of his life following the war in the new Soviet Union.  He was even given a pension by the soviets.  Solovyov goes to Yalta where Larionov last lived to find some lost wages of Larionov’s memoir in an effort to solve this mystery.  Along the way, he meets a host of unique characters.

This book is a very unique blend of literary genres.  The author has a dry wit and I enjoyed his humorous satire.  I’m sure I missed some of the satirical references due to not being Russian but there were quite a few that I understood.  The military history could be somewhat dry at times and sometimes quite interesting.  Solovyov is a very likeable character and I enjoyed the romantic parts of the book and the fun that Vodolazkin poked at his main character.  It was a bit slow taking off but once it did, I became captivated by this Russian tale with all of its stories within a story.  This is a true Russian novel with all the complications that Russian novels entail.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publicist in return for an honest review.

A most impressive biography

Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud and the Last Trial of Harper Lee by Casey Cep

Book Review:  5 out of 5 star rating

The Rev. Willie Maxwell is a preacher who is well known for being accused and/or suspicioned of killing five of his family members for insurance money.  But Willie has a good lawyer (or else he’s very good at casting voodoo spells which some people believe) and he’s always gotten off scot-free.  That was so until the death of his stepdaughter when the girl’s uncle, Robert Lewis Brown, shot and killed the Reverend at the girl’s funeral.  Now Brown must face his own trial for murder and unbelievably, he is represented by the same attorney who represented the Reverend for so many years – Tom Radney.

It had been many years since Harper Lee wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird”.  Readers and publishers had been anxiously awaiting a new book from her.  She needed something special to bring her writing talent to life again.  When she heard of the stories surrounding the Rev. Willie Maxwell, she believed that this was the book she had been waiting to write and she traveled to Alabama to gather research.  She wasn’t new at true crime research as she had been with Truman Capote when he researched and conducted interviews for his book “In Cold Blood”.  Lee was never happy with all the untruths contained in Capote’s book and was determined that her book on the Reverend would be more factual.  And yet, whatever happened to that book she referred to as “The Reverend”?

This is a top-of-the-line biographical work.  I was completely immersed in this story of crime and greed.  I’ve always been fascinated by both Harper Lee and Truman Capote though had never read anything about Lee’s involvement in the Willie Maxwell story.  Even without Lee’s involvement, Maxwell’s story and all the rumors and superstitions surrounding it make a very compelling, bewitching tale.  The addition of Harper Lee in the mix is luscious icing on an already amazing cake.  The author does a stunning job of telling the facts of this story.  It’s one of those situations where truth is stranger than fiction.

I’m blown away that this is the debut work of this author.  She has rendered this story both in a riveting way while keeping it all very factual and true to life.  Not only does she relay the facts of the immediate story of Maxwell and Lee but also includes a history of how life insurance began, the ongoing belief in voodoo in the south, how justice doesn’t always triumph in a courtroom and the workings of artistic creativity.  I had a very hard time putting this one down and will long remember it.

Most highly recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

 

 

Quite exceptional and destined to become a feminist classic

Women Talking by Miriam Toews

Book Review:  5 out of 5 star rating

This book is based on a real-life event, which makes it all the more shocking.  Between 2005 and 2009, hundreds of girls and women were raped by eight men from the Mennonite colony they were all part of.  The men used an animal anesthetic to knock out their victims and then raped them.  At first, the women didn’t know they had been raped but only that they would wake up in the morning feeling exhausted with their bodies bloody and beaten.  They were told that ghosts or demons had done it as punishment for their sins or that they were lying or covering up adulterous affairs or that it was all in their imagination.  Very young children were included in these rapes, as well as elderly women.  Some of the women became pregnant.  In 2011, the accused men were convicted.  Even after the arrest of these eight men, the attacks still took place.

In Ms. Toews’ book, eight of the raped women meet in a hayloft to discuss what they should do to prevent themselves and their daughters from further harm.  Should they stay and fight or should they leave?  They had a window of opportunity as the men were off trying to raise money for the accused men’s bail.  These women were never told how to read or write and knew nothing about reading a map or where they could go.  They were told if they could not forgive these men, they could not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  So they had a lot to discuss.  If a women whose 3-year-old child had been raped couldn’t forgive in her heart, wasn’t it a worse sin to say she forgave the men even if she didn’t mean it?  The women in this community were just commodities to these men and had no say in anything.  In reading this book, it was hard to believe that this happened in 2005-2009 and wasn’t something occurring centuries ago.

The author does such an excellent job of delving into the hearts and minds of these courageous women.  I felt their fear and their heartache and their confusion as to what they should do to make their lives bearable.  The suspense builds as the time for the men to return nears.  In trying to decide what they should do, they have lengthy discussions about religion and faith.  There were times they seemed to forget the urgency of their situation and lectured each other.  There’s some humor in this book, despite its dark subject.  It’s one of the most unique books I’ve ever read.  Don’t expect much of a plot as the book is just what the title says it is – women talking.  I think it was quite exceptional and destined to become a feminist classic.  Not all readers will like the format of this book but the emotional depth of this story is just astounding.

Most highly recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

Quite an entertaining, charming book

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

L. Frank Baum wrote a book that would prove to be one of the most beloved books of all times, “The Wizard of Oz”.  What child doesn’t know this magical story?  This new book by Dorothy Letts tells the story behind the story of the Land of Oz.  The book centers on Maud Gage Baum, Frank’s wife, and fluctuates between the childhood and life of Maud starting when she was 10 years old in 1871 and the time period when the movie with Judy Garland was filmed and released.

Not only was Maud the daughter of a well-known suffragette, she was also one of the first few women admitted to Cornell University.  When she met Frank Baum and fell in love, her degree no longer mattered and off she went with him as the wife of a traveling actor.  Frank was a wonderful husband and proved to be just as wonderful a father to their four sons.  What he wasn’t too successful at was making money.  Though their life was lived frugally, Maud and Frank and their sons were happy and content.  Frank always was able to enrich their lives by his entertaining antics.  He was a dreamer and always dreamed of a better life for them.

The section of Maud’s involvement with the filming of the famous movie and her protective feelings for Judy Garland was very entertaining, though I’m not sure how factually accurate it was.  Regardless, I found this part of the book fascinating, filled with little tidbits about the actors and Hollywood.

The best part of the book is seeing how bits and pieces of Maud and Frank’s lives ended up in his book.  I thought that was very clever of the author and apparently is based on historical fact.  I’ve gotten away from historical fiction but knew I wanted to read this one since I love the movie so much.  I’m glad I requested it as it was very enjoyable and in the telling of the background of a magical story, it was quite magical itself.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.

 

Poetic mix of beauty and violence

What Hell is Not by Alessandro D’Avenia

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

“Take away love and you will have hell.  Give love and you will have what hell is not.” Father Pino

In Palermo, Sicily in 1993, violence runs rampant in the Brancaccio section.  Mafia bosses incite fear into the hearts of the teenage boys there.  That fear is what causes these young teenage boys to carry guns as they begin to test their own violent tendencies.  One teenager, Federico, is more privileged than some in Palermo.  He is a lover of words and has been nicknamed “Poet”.  His teacher, Don Pino, has asked him to help him at the youth club.  A whole new world opens up for Federico as he gets to know what some of these young boys face each day.  When Don Pino is murdered by the mafia, it is left to the young Federico to continue his loving work.

This book is based on the real life of Giuseppe Puglisi, which makes the story even more poignant.  I can’t help but think of the author as being the teenage boy, Federico, since they both have the heart of a poet.  Each short chapter of this book is a work of poetic beauty, some showing the transformative power of love and some showing the devastation that hate brings into the world.  The author’s poetic wording is in sharp contrast to the ugliness of some of the events in the book, which makes the horror seem even more horrific.  It’s not an easy book to read.  First, there are some hard-to-read violent parts, though the author does not resort to using gore to shock his readers.  Also the writing style of the author took me some time to get used to and may not be to every reader’s taste.  He doesn’t always make it clear who’s speaking and because his writing is so poetic, I didn’t always understand what he was trying to say.  It was quite a slow read due to that.  But there are moments of beauty in his writing that make the effort well worth it.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publicist in return for an honest review.

Compassionate story of maternal love

The Caregiver by Samuel Park

Book Review:  4 out of 5 star rating

Ana and her little girl, Mara, take care of each other in their home in Copacabana, Brazil.   Ana works as a voice-over actress but her job brings in little money.  In desperation, she agrees to take a job posing as a citizen with information about student guerillas in an attempt to lure the violent Police Chief Lima from his post.  Ana then makes a decision that tears their lives apart.

Years later when Mara comes to America undocumented, she takes a job as a caregiver to a woman, Kathryn, who is suffering from stomach cancer.  Caring for Kathryn brings up memories of Mara’s mother and Mara struggles to come to terms with her past.

This is a beautifully written book about the relationship between a mother and daughter and what lengths a mother would be willing to go for her daughter.  The characters are very well developed and the book is full of heart and compassion.

The author, Samuel Parks, passed away from stomach cancer shortly after writing this book.  At the end of the book, his essay that was published in the New York Times is shared.  It’s called “I Had a 9 Percent Chance, Plus Hope” and it’s a must read for all.  After reading this book, I’m even more anxious to read “This Burns My Heart”.

Recommended.

This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.