"Because life doesn't work that way. You can do everything perfectly. Do everything that you think you're supposed to be doing. Fulfill every expectation that other people may have. And you still won't get the results you think you deserve. Life is crazy and maddening and often makes no sense."
-Jack to his daughter, Mikki
I have been trying to finish this one for at least 6 weeks, not because it was so challenging; to the contrary, it was an easy read. I just had to keep putting it aside to finish other things, the last two book club selections and research for the class I was teaching. Compared to all of those, One Summer was a breeze.
At the beginning of the novel main character Jack Armstrong has a terminal disease and is making preparations for his death. By a cruel twist of fate, his wife dies in a tragic accident. But Jack makes a sudden, inexplicable recovery to the point of being labeled "Miracle Man" by some. Thinking they would be orphans, Jack has already had their three children "farmed out" to grandparents. Now Jack wants to get his kids back, move them to the South Carolina coast (his wife's childhood home which he has inherited) and try to make a good life for them all.
Short chapters and familiar subject matter made this one pretty easy to read, as I mentioned, especially after finishing The Space Between Us with foreign words and phrases of India and The Wright Brothers with quite a lot of technical details. The plot is fairly predictable and simplistic. I will give it a rating of 3: pretty good but I doubt it will stay with me for long.
Saturday, March 26, 2016
The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar
"And so I have to live. Even though I'm already dead, I know I will have to live. Because we live for more than just ourselves, hai na, beta? Most of the time we live for others, keep putting one foot before the other, left and right, left and right, so that walking becomes a habit, just like breathing. In and out, left and right."
-Bhima's thoughts at her daughter's funeral
This was the first Page Turners selection made by someone other than me in quite a while. I thought the writing was beautiful and the story compelling. I gave it a rating of 5 but the group average was 3.7. A couple of members rated it a 2. It wasn't exactly an enjoyable read but for me it was a page-turner.
The story is set in Bombay and revolves around two women of different classes and circumstances. Bhima is the hired servant of Sera. Bhima is the guardian of her granddaughter and Sera, a widow, is living with her daughter and son-in-law who are expecting a baby. From this point of the story, both Bhima and Sera frequently flashback to their courtships and early marriages giving the reader insight into their behaviors. Suffice it to say, neither marriage turns out as planned and neither woman has a "perfect life."
I want to avoid any spoilers so many of my comments will be general. As I mentioned I thought Umrigar's writing was excellent, often profound, sometimes poetic. Her use of Indian words and phrases made the setting seem more authentic to me though it was a challenge. (see the quote) Some readers in our group were put off by that. In the dialogue there was the use of rhyming pairs or doubling of words quite often, e. g. hard-hard, money-foney, big-big, bhola-bhala, friends-schends. Odd, but interesting.
The relationships with mother-in-laws reminded me of my own. My husband's mother told me years ago that her mother-in-law was quite hateful to her and she had vowed, as a result, to be a kinder, gentler one when her sons married. She was true to her word, a wonderful mother-in-law! It also came to me how blessed I am to be an educated, liberated American woman with many options for my life!
If you want a fun read, this one might not be for you but I am glad I read it!
-Bhima's thoughts at her daughter's funeral
This was the first Page Turners selection made by someone other than me in quite a while. I thought the writing was beautiful and the story compelling. I gave it a rating of 5 but the group average was 3.7. A couple of members rated it a 2. It wasn't exactly an enjoyable read but for me it was a page-turner.
The story is set in Bombay and revolves around two women of different classes and circumstances. Bhima is the hired servant of Sera. Bhima is the guardian of her granddaughter and Sera, a widow, is living with her daughter and son-in-law who are expecting a baby. From this point of the story, both Bhima and Sera frequently flashback to their courtships and early marriages giving the reader insight into their behaviors. Suffice it to say, neither marriage turns out as planned and neither woman has a "perfect life."
I want to avoid any spoilers so many of my comments will be general. As I mentioned I thought Umrigar's writing was excellent, often profound, sometimes poetic. Her use of Indian words and phrases made the setting seem more authentic to me though it was a challenge. (see the quote) Some readers in our group were put off by that. In the dialogue there was the use of rhyming pairs or doubling of words quite often, e. g. hard-hard, money-foney, big-big, bhola-bhala, friends-schends. Odd, but interesting.
The relationships with mother-in-laws reminded me of my own. My husband's mother told me years ago that her mother-in-law was quite hateful to her and she had vowed, as a result, to be a kinder, gentler one when her sons married. She was true to her word, a wonderful mother-in-law! It also came to me how blessed I am to be an educated, liberated American woman with many options for my life!
If you want a fun read, this one might not be for you but I am glad I read it!
Friday, March 18, 2016
The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
"A clear picture of the killer was emerging out of the mass of disconnected evidence, and the image was stark and terrifying: a case of obsession, of violent rage, of a calculating, brilliant but profoundly disturbed mind."
-from the novel
I read The Cuckoo's Calling a few years ago and I think I liked it. I certainly knew Robert Galbraith was the pen name of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series which I loved. When I recently noticed Career of Evil on the Hot Picks table at the library and realized it was another in the series, I picked it up and took it home. I enjoyed it but soon realized it was the third in the series and I had been completely unaware of the second, The Silkworm.
I think The Silkworm would have been a page-turner if I had had time to do more sustained reading. I was researching and planning lessons for an adult class this month so I had little time for pleasure reading. I will rate it a 4.
The Silkworm again features Cormoran Strike, a detective who wears a prosthetic leg as a result of an IED encountered in Afghanistan. In this novel he takes on a search for the missing author of Bombyx Mori, Owen Quine. When Quine is found brutally murdered, the list of suspects is long and centered in the publishing world where Quine had angered many by his representations of them in his novel. As it turns out Quine was slain in a manner described in Bombyx Mori. The chief suspect of law enforcement is Leonora Quine, the wife who hired Strike to find her husband, and whom Strike believes is innocent. Added to this interesting plot is the romantic tension between Strike and his assistant, Robin, who happens to be engaged.
Rowling, aka Galbraith, is an excellent writer. She knows how to weave a plot and the vocabulary is challenging. The Cormoran Strike series takes place in London and I enjoy the British jargon and references to landmarks since I visited there last spring. My followers know I like quotes but in this novel the author begins each chapter with an unfamiliar quote, leaving me confused as to why they were there. A couple referred to silkworms but as to the others, I have no clue.
I wondered for some time about the title Bombyx Mori. Upon further reading one discovers that it translates silkworm.
I recommend reading this series in order. If you like detective stories, you will probably find them more "meaty" than most!
-from the novel
I read The Cuckoo's Calling a few years ago and I think I liked it. I certainly knew Robert Galbraith was the pen name of J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series which I loved. When I recently noticed Career of Evil on the Hot Picks table at the library and realized it was another in the series, I picked it up and took it home. I enjoyed it but soon realized it was the third in the series and I had been completely unaware of the second, The Silkworm.
I think The Silkworm would have been a page-turner if I had had time to do more sustained reading. I was researching and planning lessons for an adult class this month so I had little time for pleasure reading. I will rate it a 4.
The Silkworm again features Cormoran Strike, a detective who wears a prosthetic leg as a result of an IED encountered in Afghanistan. In this novel he takes on a search for the missing author of Bombyx Mori, Owen Quine. When Quine is found brutally murdered, the list of suspects is long and centered in the publishing world where Quine had angered many by his representations of them in his novel. As it turns out Quine was slain in a manner described in Bombyx Mori. The chief suspect of law enforcement is Leonora Quine, the wife who hired Strike to find her husband, and whom Strike believes is innocent. Added to this interesting plot is the romantic tension between Strike and his assistant, Robin, who happens to be engaged.
Rowling, aka Galbraith, is an excellent writer. She knows how to weave a plot and the vocabulary is challenging. The Cormoran Strike series takes place in London and I enjoy the British jargon and references to landmarks since I visited there last spring. My followers know I like quotes but in this novel the author begins each chapter with an unfamiliar quote, leaving me confused as to why they were there. A couple referred to silkworms but as to the others, I have no clue.
I wondered for some time about the title Bombyx Mori. Upon further reading one discovers that it translates silkworm.
I recommend reading this series in order. If you like detective stories, you will probably find them more "meaty" than most!
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