And Now Just In Time for Summer--Witches!

For my first review of the summer reading season, I chose the much hyped "Physick Book of Deliverance Dane".  This book is seriously everywhere--People, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly--not to mention it was an advance read for both Barnes and Noble and Amazon's Vine Program.  I don't know about all the hype.  While the book was enjoyable, it is a bit heavy for a real summer page turner.  Check out my review below and see what you think.

"The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane" follows Connie, a PhD candidate in history at Harvard as she spends a summer trying to clean out her grandmother's old abandoned house in Marblehead MA. Soon after arriving at the house, Connie finds a key with the strange name of "Deliverance Dane" attached. Strange things start happening to Connie as she searches for facts about Deliverance, who Connie coincidentally thinks might make a good subject for her dissertation in American Colonial History. After a whole bunch of twists and turns, Connie discovers her family's long hidden secret, and knows she must embrace it to save the ones she loves. 

I like the premise of "Deliverance Dane" and I think Katherine Howe's experience as a historian makes her a vivid storyteller, particularly in the sections of the book set in the 17th and 18th centuries. The scenes with Deliverance and her daughter Mercy, in particular, were excellent, and I felt like I could almost smell the fire smoke in their cramped cottage. Howe has an interesting take--what if witches were real--of this often over analyzed period in American history. 

The downfall of this book, however, was the storyline set in the present day. The story with Connie, while strong at points, felt a bit contrived, and the book definitely took a hard turn towards fantasy in its last 100 pages. This isn't exactly what I was expecting in a book where the main character is a historian, and I probably could have gone with it if the story had not gotten so wild at the end. There were certainly some charming elements, and the threads of a good story, but I think the book needed more detail in parts to really flesh it out and make it feel more complete. 

I am interested to read other works by Katherine Howe, especially her historical work since she did such a great job portraying historical scenes. I would recommend this book to you if you want a quick summer read and you don't mind the fantastical.

Finally An Update!

Due to an unforseen circumstance known as life, it's been a while since I've posted.  I've still been trying to read and review, things just weren't making it onto the blog.  But I'm back!  So look for a few extra reviews over the next few days as I try to catch up!

"The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" is the first installment of a mystery series featuring Flavia de Luce, an 11 year old chemist and detective. In the book Flavia comes to the aid of the local police when a mysterious murder and stamp heist occurs on her family's crumbling English estate. Flavia quickly raps up the mystery, all while successfully tormenting her older sisters. 

I think that perhaps this book is not my ideal "piece of pie". There were parts of "Sweetness" that were quite clever and funny, but there were also parts that I found just dull and mundane. The chemistry and details of stamp collecting in particular, really felt like they weighed down the story, and didn't really seem like things that an 11 year old girl would discuss in detail, for long stretches. I understand that this is part of what makes the book funny, but it was also something that bored me as a reader because of the excruciating detail used to describe it. 

All in all, my feelings about this book were just lukewarm. I didn't love it, but I also didn't think it was terrible. It could make an entertaining beach read, since the plot is very straightforward and easy to figure out. I think I would read another Flavia de Luce book out of curiosity, and I think if you're into mysteries, this could totally be your thing.

"The House at Riverton" opens in the years before the First World War, with Grace, our narrator, beginning her career of service as a housemaid at Riverton, a great English country estate. Grace is immediately drawn to the children of Riverton--David aged 16, the eldest, Hannah, a boisterous girl of 14, and Emmeline a shy 10 year old. Grace feels an immediate connection with the children, and longs to be included in their secrets. Over the next several years she becomes closer to them, first as they visit the house, then after the death of their grandfather and uncle in the Great War, which leads them to take up permanent residence in the house. Hannah marries soon after turning 18, and decides to take Grace with her as a ladies maid. After marrying, Hannah's life slowly unravels, and she takes Grace with her into her decline. Grace escapes, but only with the knowledge of a terrible family secret. 

Kate Morton is an excellent storyteller, and she does a fantastic job slowly unfolding the secrets of "The House at Riverton." I thought I had figured out the "twist" in this book, but was surprised in the end to find out I had gotten it wrong. Her description of life during and after WWI in England feels authentic, and she does a great job capturing the emotions of the different characters. I do wish she had given us a little bit more about Grace--throughout the novel Grace hints at all of the wonderful things she has done in her life, and I would have liked to read more about them, instead of the novel focusing exclusively on Grace's interactions with the doomed Hartford sisters. 

I came to this novel after reading Morton's more recent "The Forgotten Garden". If you enjoyed that book, I think you won't be disappointed by this one.

How Do You Put a Broken Life Back Together? Cristina Henriquez's "The World In Half"

"The World in Half" follows Miraflores a college aged girl from Chicago as she travels to Panama to find her father, and her past. All Mira knows about her father is that he was from Panama and he worked at the canal--her mother, who returned from Panama disgraced and pregnant with her, never shared the details of her parentage. After arriving in Panama City, Mira befriends a worker at the hotel where she is staying Hernan, and his nephew, Danilo. Together with Danilo, Mira will not only learn the truth about her father, but also about her mother and herself. 

The World in Half is beautifully written, especially for a first novel. Henriquez transports her reader to Panama City, describing everything from the vastness of the canal to the poverty in corners all over the city. Her use of geology--Mira's academic love--as a metaphor for Mira's life works nicely as a framing technique and feels original and natural. The novel asks questions that it doesn't quite come out and answer for the reader, which leaves you thinking about this novel once the story is over. 

I would recommend this book to someone looking for an interesting and relatively quick read. It was an enjoyable one, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from Henriquez.

A Disjointed Structure Handicaps a Smart Character Study--Joanna Smith Rakoff's "A Fortunate Age"

"A Fortunate Age" follow of group of friends from the Oberlin class of 94 in the late 90s and early 00s as they pursue their dreams in NYC. The novel centers around 6 friends, Lil, Beth, Emily, Sadie, Tal, and Dave--and slowly works in their larger circle of friends and family. As the novel progresses, each of the characters realizes the dreams and ideals they developed in their late 20s are unattainable--whether its a career, a great love, or an art. Eventually, in the shadow of 9/11 they all come to terms with their personal failures after a personal tragedy shakes them all. 

Joanna Smith Rakoff has a wonderful way of capturing people, so this book--her first novel--has rich character descriptions and wonderfully captures the way relationships ebb and flow between people over time. However, the novel lacks the continuous narrative thread that I feel is critical to a real great work. Instead of feeling like one book, A Fortunate Age felt like a collection of short stories told by different characters, an effect that was heightened by the long chapters--there were only 15 in 400 pages of text. At the end of each story, there was no resolution of the character's narrative, and even though you would expect important story elements to be resolved in the next chapter, it never happened, leaving this reader feeling confused and the story disjointed. By the end of the novel I was frustrated because I felt like their were just too many gaps in the story for me to be able to really enjoy it. 

I would be interested to read other, perhaps shorter works by Rakoff, because I think she is a talented writer. However, the structure of this novel just didn't work for me.

Someone at work brought my this article a couple of days ago from the print version of the Wall Street Journal.  I think the concept explored in the article is fascinating--that ebook readers will one day make book reading something more akin to internet surfing.  I do think it would be sad if there is no deep focus reading, but I'm also intrigued by being able to look up anything in a book instantaneously.  Pretty cool.

A Review and A Prize!

Okay, so first off, let me say how excited I was to see that Olive Kitteridge (which I reviewed here ) win the Pulitzer Prize for literature today!  I first became interested in Olive Kitteridge after seeing the collection of short stories show up on several "best of 2008" lists.  And I was not dissapointed.  The stories were interelated enough that the collection felt more like a novel than a short story collection, and they were really rich, which I always love.  Definitely one worth checking out.

And now a review.  This is an older book, which is a little unusual for me, but I actually received this book as a gift way back when I got my Kindle 1 in December 2007, but I never got around to reading it.  Not really sure why I put it off so long, but now that I have my Kindle 2, I was anxious to read something on it, so this book was a natural pick.  It was good, although it did take me a long time to read since I've been super busy this past week.  So here goes...

Philippa Gregory's "The Boleyn Inheritance" picks up three years after the end of "The Other Boleyn Girl", Gregory's blockbuster novel about Anne Boleyn and her sister Mary. Many of the characters from the earlier novel make a return appearance here, but the story is told from a different perspective--with three narrators, Anne of Cleaves, Kitty Howard, and Jane Boleyn. These three narrators give a very different perspective on Henry VIII's court than is seen in the earlier novel, although all three women are subject to Henry's rapidly changing temper. The court is now one of fear instead of the golden court of the earlier novel, and everyone has to watch her back to keep from getting caught up in the Boleyn Inheritance. As first Anne, and then Kitty become Queen and then quickly fall, the treachery of the English court is explored with all of Gregory's usual detail and intrigue. 

Although I don't think this book was as good as "The Other Boleyn Girl" or "The Virgin's Lover" it is definitely a strong addition to Gregory's "Boleyn" series. The novel is a fast paced and easy read, and it keeps moving to keep the reader interested. I wished frequently that Gregory would have spent more time getting into the head of each of her characters--sometimes the chapters felt a little rushed. But overall I did feel like this was an enjoyable read that captured the spirit of the Tudor period and life at court. 

I would recommend this book to fans of the Tudor period or people who enjoyed Gregory's other works.