At 555 pages, again, I was surprised I finished this book so quickly. It's a hard book to classify, it's part thriller, part childhood memoir, and part regional fiction. The story takes place in a small town in Mississippi during relatively modern times although there are certain elements that make me think it's not entirely modern, for instance, no cell phones are present. The main character is a 12 year old girl who's family has not really functioned since her older brother was found hanged from the tree in their yard when the girl (Harriet) was a baby. The mother has retreated since the death of her child, the father has moved to another city, and the girls, Harriet and her older sister are raised by their grandmother and maternal aunts. The summer that this book recounts, Harriet becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of her brother's murder which had never been solved. The book also explore the role of the black housekeeper/maid in the the southern family. Through the housekeeper, Ida, who the girls adore, Harriet develops the idea that a certain young man from a criminal family is the murderer. She sets out to get some kind of proof and also to punish him for the crime.
This decision leads her and her best friend, Hely, a boy, into some very dangerous situations and ultimately costs some people their lives. Some of the writing is very beautiful and unique. The descriptions of the almost tropical environment of Mississippi are part beauty and part horror. I found it an interesting and disturbing book and I recommend it to anyone who likes a creepy but not superficial tale.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Monday, January 28, 2013
Sacred Games by Vikam Chandra
This is the first book this year for the Chunkster Challenge. At 900 pages, I was amazed I finished it in two weeks! Despite it's long length, it's very readable with an engaging plot or plots. It's a novel about contemporary India. Most of the novel takes place in Bombay but other parts of India as well as other parts of the world and other time periods are included. There is quite a collection of characters, as well, but the main character is Sartaj, a Sikh on the Mumbai police force. Following at a close second is Gaitonde, a powerful mobster in the Indian underworld. The bare bones of the book are: Sartaj gets an anonymous tipoff that Gaitonde can be found hiding out in a heavily fortified bomb shelter on Sartaj's turf. He is finally able to penetrate the shelter only to find Gaitonde and an unknown woman dead inside. Gaitonde has committed suicide but the woman has been murdered. With this as the starting point, the book proceeds to tell several stories; of how Gaitonde rose to power, of how Sartaj's mother's family suffered during partition of India, of an exploration of Hindu fundamentalism and the role of the Guru, and the striving out of obscurity and poverty that millions of Indians are engaged in today. Along the way, the author also explores Mumbai as a city-entity, terrorism threats, and the all pervasive corruption of Indian society. Parts are very disturbing but it's also filled with tenderness and caring between people even as tragedies occur. This book has a very Dickens feel and sympathy for its' characters even as their actions are despicable I recommend this book to anyone but especially to anyone who's interested in India.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Chunkster Challenge Wrap-up
Unfortunately, I did not finish my final book, boo hoo. However, I would like to sign up again for the challenge. I will have to let you know later at what level. Thanks.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The Likeness by Tana French
I have read all the books in this series and enjoyed them all. I wasn't able to read them in order but I did start with In The Woods, which is the 1st book in the series. It's been dubbed the Dublin Murder Squad series although the author states that Ireland has no murder squad, that's her creation. Tana French is a relatively new author but she's got a real flare for this genre. I think her plots are creative but even more impressive are her characters. The Likeness, even more than the others, is packed with characters that are very fleshed out and nuanced. The story line here, briefly, is that Cassie Maddox, a female detective we know from In The Woods is brought back as the main character because she is a double for the young murder victim. The murder victim has also been living under an alias that was developed for one of Cassie's undercover jobs. Spooky! As Cassie is sent in undercover again to find out what happened to our victim, we're introduced to a whole household of finely drawn characters as well as a finely drawn locale. The writing is definitely superior to what one might typically find in a mystery and I find the commentary on contemporary Ireland interesting although I have no way of knowing if any of it's true. I recommend all the books which are, in order, In The Woods, Faithful Place, The Likeness, and Broken Harbor. I just finished Broken Harbor and I had a hard time putting it down.
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie Macdonald
Again, I'm squeaking in the chunkster category at 508 pages and again this is a book I just picked up at the library sale. Also, again, this book has an interesting locale, in this case, Cape Breton. The story is a multi-generational one which involves a mixture of Scottish, Lebanese, and black family members. It covers a couple of generations, and includes WWI, Prohibition, the Depression, and the Harlem Renaissance. At the center of the novel is a very, very, very dysfunctional family which is hiding its dysfunctional secrets. The is a book in Oprah's Club, so I'm assuming it was very popular because Oprah can make or break a book. There is some good and witty writing and the main female characters all have a certain pluckiness about them that I enjoyed but overall I found the book just a bit on the dark side and it kind of got me down as I continued to read. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading Fall On Your Knees but it did remind me of A Thousand Acres if any of you are familiar with that book.
Again, I'm squeaking in the chunkster category at 508 pages and again this is a book I just picked up at the library sale. Also, again, this book has an interesting locale, in this case, Cape Breton. The story is a multi-generational one which involves a mixture of Scottish, Lebanese, and black family members. It covers a couple of generations, and includes WWI, Prohibition, the Depression, and the Harlem Renaissance. At the center of the novel is a very, very, very dysfunctional family which is hiding its dysfunctional secrets. The is a book in Oprah's Club, so I'm assuming it was very popular because Oprah can make or break a book. There is some good and witty writing and the main female characters all have a certain pluckiness about them that I enjoyed but overall I found the book just a bit on the dark side and it kind of got me down as I continued to read. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading Fall On Your Knees but it did remind me of A Thousand Acres if any of you are familiar with that book.
Monday, October 8, 2012
The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook
The Night Journal by Elizabeth Crook
I just picked this up at the library sale. It just barely squeaks in the chunkster category at 451 pages. It's a little bit of historical fiction, Southwest literature, and mystery all wrapped in to one. It's a multi-generational story beginning with Bassie, Meg's grandmother, and Meg going to New Mexico to follow up on a new find at an archaeological site with which Bassie's family is intimately involved. Bassie's life work as an anthropologist has been to edit and publish her mother's (Meg's great-grandmother's) diaries of early settler life at the Pecos Pueblo. During the dig, ostensibly for the bones of Hannah's dog (Hannah being the author of the diaries) a human corpse is found which turns out to be Hannah's husband, Elliott Bass. He is a well-known railroad surveyor, responsible for laying thousands of miles of track in the American west and Mexico. This creates quite a mystery as Elliott was always thought to have disappeared in Mexico and his body never found. It also creates a crisis for both Bassie and Meg and Bassie subsequently dies leaving the real mystery to be unravelled by Meg. Hannah's diaries are interspersed with the present day so the two time periods are interwoven. There's many other facets to the story and a good deal of family dynamics but I will leave that to the readers to uncover for themselves. I found the book entertaining and the mystery draws the reader in an keeps them turning the pages. I also found the location and history of the southwest interesting. Overall, a good read but not especially difficult.
I just picked this up at the library sale. It just barely squeaks in the chunkster category at 451 pages. It's a little bit of historical fiction, Southwest literature, and mystery all wrapped in to one. It's a multi-generational story beginning with Bassie, Meg's grandmother, and Meg going to New Mexico to follow up on a new find at an archaeological site with which Bassie's family is intimately involved. Bassie's life work as an anthropologist has been to edit and publish her mother's (Meg's great-grandmother's) diaries of early settler life at the Pecos Pueblo. During the dig, ostensibly for the bones of Hannah's dog (Hannah being the author of the diaries) a human corpse is found which turns out to be Hannah's husband, Elliott Bass. He is a well-known railroad surveyor, responsible for laying thousands of miles of track in the American west and Mexico. This creates quite a mystery as Elliott was always thought to have disappeared in Mexico and his body never found. It also creates a crisis for both Bassie and Meg and Bassie subsequently dies leaving the real mystery to be unravelled by Meg. Hannah's diaries are interspersed with the present day so the two time periods are interwoven. There's many other facets to the story and a good deal of family dynamics but I will leave that to the readers to uncover for themselves. I found the book entertaining and the mystery draws the reader in an keeps them turning the pages. I also found the location and history of the southwest interesting. Overall, a good read but not especially difficult.
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