Fiction Review: Country of Origin

My reading for the next month or so will be mostly focused on preparing for Booktopia 2022 (click Events and scroll down for more info), an annual book weekend my mother and I often attend in Manchester, VT, at the amazing Northshire Bookstore. It's a weekend where readers and authors hang out together, with author talks, meals, bookseller recommendations, and more bookish fun. The bookstore chooses 8-10 authors with new releases, and the attendees often read the books ahead of time (so it's like a big weekend-long book group discussion!). My first read for Booktopia 2022 was Country of Origin by Dalia Azim, due out April 12, and I absolutely loved this original story of family and immigration, spanning generations. The Northshire staff always chooses amazing books!

As the novel opens in 1952 Cairo, fourteen-year-old Halah has escaped to the rooftop of her family home, as she often does. Young women in her society are strictly controlled and protected, and Halah rarely leaves her home, except when her father's driver takes her to her private British school and back. This time, though, while on the roof, Halah can see fires burning all over the city. It is the beginning of Egypt's revolution to become independent from Britain. As the violence worsens, Halah is pulled out of school, and her isolation becomes even more acute, as does her boredom in being confined to her home. Her father is in the military and is part of the revolution and often has other loyal soldiers to their house on Friday nights. One night, up on the roof, Halah meets a handsome young soldier named Khalil. They begin to meet up there often and talk and get to know each other. They each dream of moving to America: Khalil to escape the war and Halah to gain some freedom. When she turns seventeen, they act on their dreams and elope to New York, where they marry and find a small apartment while Khalil attends medical school. Halah finds she is still isolated and bored, though she does have more freedom. Eventually, they have a baby girl, whom they name Amena, they make occasional visits back to Egypt, and Amena grows up. There are sections of the novel from the different perspectives of Halah, Khalil, and Amena, as a teen and also as an adult finding her own way in the world.

This novel succeeds on so many levels. It is a double coming-of-age story, covering both Halah's and Amena's rocky journeys into womanhood and struggles to forge their own identities. It's a multi-generational family story, weaving together the love and challenges of Halah's relationships with her parents, husband, and daughter, as well as Amena's relationships with her parents. It's a story of immigration and the challenges of two different generations to fit in and find their places. It's a love story, of both romantic love and the love between a parent and child. And it is fascinating historical fiction, covering a place and time that I knew little about. The emotional depth of the novel is deepened by its varied points of view, as the reader sees the world from each of the main character's perspectives. I was completely immersed in the intricate and surprising story, complex emotions, and beautiful writing right from the first pages. I never wanted it to end, and I have found myself still thinking about the book and its characters almost a month later. I loved this powerful, moving story of a country, a family, and how feelings and actions reverberate through generations. I can't wait to meet the author!

320 pages, A Strange Object

Publication Date: April 12, 2022

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Diversity Challenge

Travel the World in Books Challenge - Egypt

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

   

 

Or you can order Country of Origin from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 3/28! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Happy Monday! I am very late with my post today because we are just back from a much-needed mini getaway. Between caring for my elderly father-in-law and my own decline since getting COVID in January, it has been an extremely stressful time for my husband and I. In fact, I spent most of last week in bed because my chronic illness was flared up so badly. But our son took over Grandad-visiting duties for a couple of days, and we escaped!

We just drive about 50 minutes north of here to a tiny town called Eagle, PA, that we'd driven through many times before. We rented a lovely Airbnb cottage that was absolutely perfect! It was quiet and cozy, beautifully decorated, light and airy, and super comfortable on a beautiful property. There is something so relaxing about just being away from home, in a space that isn't yours: no pesky to-do lists or things that need to be done in the house taunting you, no clutter or reminders of stress, and nothing to do but relax. Our cottage didn't even have a TV. It was a very peaceful couple of days.

 

Our weekend home

Cozy little cottage

Unfortunately, the weather decided winter wasn't quite over! We had this beautiful outdoor area to enjoy, with both a deck and this lovely seating area near a waterfall. We were enjoying it--bundled up--when it started to snow/sleet on us!

Just before the snow & sleet sent us back inside!

Beautiful spot by a waterfall

Despite the cold, gray weather, we did enjoy a short walk in a nearby state park on Sunday along the water. I've been extremely limited lately due to my illness, but I managed it OK and it was wonderful just to be outside and moving a little bit.

A cold, gray day but still a pretty view!

Happy to be outside - doesn't feel like spring, though!

We ate some great meals up there--our first time in restaurants in a very long time. And, of course, we found a wonderful indie bookstore to explore! Wellington Square Bookshop in Exton, PA, was absolutely beautiful, filled with gorgeous wood, natural light, and a wonderfully curated selection of books. I bought a copy of Their Eyes Were Watching God, a classic I've wanted to read for some time.

 

Wellington Square Bookstore

And now we are back home!

Due to my condition last week, I wasn't able to make any new videos, though I did manage a few middle-grade reviews (see below) later each day when I was well-rested.

And here's what we've all been reading this past week:

 

Last week, I read another book for Booktopia 2022 (click Events and scroll down to sign up or check out my summary of Booktopia 2019), Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau by Ben Shattuck. This is a memoir of the author's retracing six walks in New England that Thoreau wrote about in his books and journals. He mostly writes about Cape Cod and northern Maine, two places we have also explored and hiked/canoed in, so I very much enjoyed going along on these journeys with him. He writes beautifully about the outdoors and the restorative power of nature, a topic I myself have written about. I enjoyed the book so much that I pre-ordered a copy of the hardcover (which comes out April 19) so that I could better see the author's drawings and my husband can read it, too.

 

Just last night, I started reading This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, our All-County Reads selection for this year and our next book for my neighborhood book group. I have been hearing rave reviews of Krueger's novels from my friends for several years, so I am excited to read this novel (my first of his). It's set during the Depression, beginning in 1932 at the Lincoln Indian Training School in Minnesota, which houses, among hundreds of other kids, two white orphaned brothers named Odie and Albert and a mute Indian boy found abandoned and named Moses. I've only just started the novel but apparently these three, plus a five-year-old girl, set off down the river on their own in a canoe. I'm already fully immersed in the story and rooting for these poor kids.

 

On audio, I am listening to my last audio for Middle-Grade March, The Graveyard Riddle by Lisa Thompson. This is a companion novel to The Goldfish Boy, which I enjoyed on audio several years ago (see my review at the link). The main character of that book, Matthew, is still in this one, but here, the focus is on his friend and neighbor, Melody. One day, while walking her dog, Frankie, through the graveyard, Melody discovers a very old, abandoned house in a corner of the cemetery and begins to uncover some mysteries and secrets associated with it and the strange boy living inside. I'm enjoying it so far.

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading Never by Ken Follett. We have both been fans of Follett's books since the 80's, when he mostly wrote thrillers, and here, he returns to his roots with a modern, globe-spanning, unique race against time. The author's note at the beginning says he was thinking about how a series of seemingly small events dominoed to start WWI, so he's setting up a similar set of scenarios in today's world (with a female U.S. President). It sounds fascinating, and knowing Follett's writing, I'm sure it's gripping as well.

 

Our son, 27, says he has been reading The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, an older fantasy novel and book 1 of a trilogy by the author. He's loving it so far and flying through it.  My husband said that MTV made a TV adaptation of it about five years ago, but our son says the trailers look a little weird, so he's not sure he'll watch it!

Blog posts from last week:

Middle-Grade Review: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Tangled Web by Drew Weing - book 3 of this imaginative graphic novel series continues the fun adventures!

Middle-Grade Review: Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte - suspenseful historical fiction about a deaf girl teaching a younger deaf child to communicate in early 1800's

Middle-Grade Review: Room To Dream by Kelly Lang - intricate & engaging story about a Chinese-American girl in 1990's California and her friends and family

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week?

Middle-Grade Review: Room to Dream

One of the categories for Middle-Grade March was a book with an Asian character or that takes place in Asia. Among my audio backlog, I found Room to Dream by Kelly Yang, which has both! I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the intricate and engaging story of Mia, a Chinese-American girl who travels back to China with her family for a visit.

Mia Tang is finding seventh grade a bit challenging. Everything feels different this year, but at least she's with her two best friends, Jason and Lupe. Then, Lupe gets promoted to some higher-level high school courses, and Jason starts acting weird. Mia's parents run a small hotel in town (where they live, along with Lupe's family), and they've been saving up for years to go home to China to visit. The time has finally come! They'll be spending six weeks in China, and Mia can't wait to see her cousins and grandparents and other family she hasn't seen in five years. It's wonderful to see everyone again, though Mia has some minor issues adjusting to how different things are there from California. But she enjoys time with her family and reconnecting with her cousin and something amazing happens while Mia's there! She dreams of being a writer and lands a real--paying--job! She's hired to write a column in a Chinese newspaper for middle-school kids about what it's like to be an American middle-schooler. Her column becomes wildly popular, but Mia wonders if she should be writing such personal stuff about her friends. But they'll never see it, right? Mia and her parents return home to some new challenges: there's an offer to buy the hotel and Mia is becoming more estranged from her best friends.

It appears that this is book three of a trilogy, but I had no trouble at all jumping right in without reading the first two books. The author does a good job of providing some background so that it works as a stand-alone novel (though now that I know Mia and her friends and family, I'd like to read more!). This is a fun novel with a sense of humor, but it is also packed with all kinds of issues dealing with family, friendship, community, immigration, and diversity. I like how the author shows parallels between problems in China and in 1990's California--big problems, like gentrification and big box stores putting mom and pop places out of business, as well as smaller problems among middle-school-aged kids. Through it all, Mia dreams of becoming a writer but has to learn what that means and to put her relationships first. I enjoyed this intricate, engrossing story.

320 pages, Scholastic Press

Scholastic Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - California (probably the first of many!)

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, narrated by Sunny Lu, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

 

 

Or you can order Room to Dream from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Middle-Grade Review: Set Me Free

For the Middle-Grade March  Readathon, I was looking through my extensive audio backlog for a middle-grade novel with an orphan in it (for one of the challenge prompts). It seems that orphans aren't quite as common as they once were in children's books, but I found one that gave me an orphan but also so much more. Set Me Free by Ann Clare LeZotte is a unique and compelling story about two deaf children with very different experiences in the early 1800's.

Fourteen-year-old Mary was born deaf at a time when deafness was poorly understood and deaf people were often mistreated. But Mary was born on Martha's Vineyard, where there was a large deaf population (this is historically accurate), so she was brought up in a loving family, surrounded by a supportive community where just about everyone spoke a unique local sign language. Mary's acquaintance, Nora, who is in Boston working for a wealthy family, writes to Mary to ask for her help. There is an eight-year-old deaf girl in the home where Nora's working who has been abused and neglected and is unable to communicate. Mary journeys away from her home to go work as a tutor for the child simply known in the household as "the girl." She is excited to act as a teacher for another deaf child but is also nervous--is it even possible to teach someone that age who has never known any kind of language? When Mary arrives, she finds the girl being kept in horrific conditions, treated like an animal, and understandably terrified of the cruel butler in whose charge she's been left while the family is away. Mary begins to try to get to know her and investigate her background, but the butler doesn't want her to meddle. Can she get through to the girl and learn enough about her background to save her?

This was such an engrossing, multi-dimensional story! There is plenty of suspense and tension, as Mary tries to help the girl against the butler's wishes, plus Mary's own experiences in leaving home for the first time and living with people who don't know sign language. The story itself is original and compelling, and I was riveted by the excellent audio, narrated by Nora Hunter in Mary's first-person voice. All of that is set against a fascinating historical backdrop, of the deaf community on Martha's Vineyard and of the plight of the Native Americans, both on the island and on the nearby mainland, which continues to our present day! The author provides extra information on all of this--and more--in Author's Notes at the end of the book, which was perfect because I was already Googling certain things mentioned in the book. The combination of a gripping plot, interesting characters, and engaging history made for a wonderful reading/listening experience.

Note: This is actually a companion novel to LeZotte's first novel about Mary, Show Me a Sign, which I haven't yet read, but it worked just fine as a stand-alone.

288 pages, Scholastic Press

Scholastic Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - another Massachusetts 

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the beginning of the novel, and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

     

 

Or you can order Set Me Free from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Middle-Grade Review: Margo Maloo - The Tangled Web

I am a huge fan of Drew Weing's creative, fun middle-grade graphic novel series. I enjoyed the first two entries in the series, The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo and its sequel, The Monster Mall (my reviews at the links). So, I was excited to see the release of book 3, The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Tangled Web. It was just as much imaginative, creepy fun as the first two books!

Charles recently moved to Echo City when his parents bought a historic apartment building there. Discovering a large troll living in the basement (and stealing his Battlebeanz), Charles takes the advice of his new friend in the building, Kevin, and calls Margo Maloo, Monster Mediator, to help. It turns out that Echo City has a thriving monster community living in the shadows, underground, and in all kinds of places where humans are unaware of them. Margo, a smart, fierce kid, helps Charles with his troll problem and takes him under her wing, as he promises to always protect the monsters' secrets from adults and help her to mediate monster-human problems. In this third book, Margo is engrossed in her own project, so Charles is on his own. He and Kevin notice a teenager online who is trying to stir up trouble by giving away monsters' secret hiding places, and Charles discovers a family of giant spiders who are about to be destroyed by a massive human demolition project. What can Charles do on his own? And how can he get a message to Margo?

Sample pages from Margo Maloo: The Tangled Web

As always, Weing packs a lot of clever, imaginative fun into this third installment. His brightly colored drawings of Echo City and its unique monster residents provide plenty of entertaining details to peruse. Accompanying the unique drawings are a suspenseful, gripping storyline that keeps you turning the pages. And this time, while the spiders are saved and the immediate peril has passed, there is an ongoing mystery that can only mean ... a fourth book! I can't wait to read more adventures of Margo, Charles, and Kevin--and their monster acquaintances.

126 pages, First Second

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 Mount TBR Challenge

Alphabet Soup Challenge - C

Diversity Challenge

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    

 

Or you can order The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Tangled Web from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 3/21! What Are You Reading?

Happy Spring!

We had a beautiful week here and managed to get outside on Saturday to do some much-needed clean-up in the yard/garden. My husband's back has been bothering him, and I am very limited, so we were glad to have our son's help. He's actually in sales management for the company that sells tool brands like Hart and Ryobi, so he was happy to make use of his large collection of battery-operated lawn and garden tools! I know it doesn't look like much, but we got all the dead stuff cleared out and I can see little green shoots coming up. The new native plants I put in last spring are coming back. Some color should follow!

Our forsythia bush (my favorite sign of spring) isn't fully blooming yet, so I brought some branches inside to enjoy the first day of spring!

We enjoyed our traditional corned beef dinner with our son on St. Patrick's Day and just finished the last of the leftovers this morning with a delicious corned beef hash for breakfast!

As for my father-in-law, to misquote Twain, "rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated"! We can't explain it, but as we were arranging hospice, he suddenly and very abruptly came back to life. I went to visit Monday at noon, and he was sitting straight up, completely alert, and had an appetite! We talked for an hour, he ate and drank well, we looked through a family photo book I made him last Christmas, and he even FaceTimed with his grandson in Texas who he hadn't seen in years. It was the same on Tuesday, and my husband said he ate a huge dinner (he's barely eaten anything in months). By Thursday, he was eating his meals sitting up in a wheelchair in the hallway with other residents--out of bed! We can't explain it, but I guess at almost-97, he's not ready to go yet! Unfortunately, his dementia was bad this weekend--he was telling us all sorts of crazy stories about taking a train, just coming from St. Louis, trying to buy a truck, etc. He was better mentally yesterday, but now he has a very painful hernia. That brings his PT to an abrupt stop, just as he was getting close to being able to stand on his own and help with wheelchair transfers. So, more ups and downs! It was quite a rollercoaster last week.

In my reading life, I recorded my usual weekly update, Friday Reads 3-18-22, about a book and audio book that were both excellent!

And here's what we've all been reading this past week:

I finished reading The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel and it was outstanding! I loved Station Eleven, and this novel was just as good (maybe even better?). A young woman named Vincent grew up on the remote far end of Vancouver Island in a small town, Caiette, with just a few other houses. Her mother went out canoeing one day when Vincent was fourteen and disappeared. Vincent wanders through her life, unable to put down roots, living in Vancouver, working as a bartender at a luxury hotel built right in Caiette, fake-marrying a wealthy man who later gets into big trouble, and working as a cook on a container ship. It's hard to describe just what made this novel so special, but I found it completely immersive, thoughtful, and engrossing.

 

Next up, I continued my Middle-Grade March by re-reading one of my favorite novels from my childhood, Katie John by Mary Calhoun, first published in 1960 (so it counts for the category of "published before I was born"!). As a kid, I absolutely loved this novel about a lively ten-year-old girl who moves with her family from California to a small town in Missouri to live in an old inherited house from her great-aunt. She makes a new friend (Sue!), and they have lots of adventures. But, here's the thing: I finished it last night, and it's not the book I remembered! All these years, I have been remembering a different book that I thought was this one ... and it's not. I have no idea what that other book was called! It was about a girl in the Midwest who goes exploring in the woods and fields and finds an old, abandoned farmhouse. She looks for clues about the pioneer owners of the house and imagines what their lives were like. Does anyone know what book that was?? Anyway, I did enjoy re-reading an old favorite, and I can see why I liked it so much as a kid to have kept it all these years!

 

On audio, I finished listening to Set Me Free by Ann Claire LeZotte. It's about Mary, a fourteen-year-old deaf girl in the early 19th century who lives on Martha's Vineyard in a loving family and supportive community. A friend working in Boston asks Mary to come help a young girl who is deaf and mute and is being treated like an animal. Mary is excited to teach the eight-year-old girl, but is it even possible to teach someone who has never known any language at all? It was a wonderful novel with an interesting, suspenseful plot but also a fascinating historical backdrop. Did you know there really was a large population of deaf people on Martha's Vineyard, from the 1600's until about mid-1800's? Author's notes at the end about the deaf community and the local Native Americans filled in more history for me (some of it stunning).

 

Now, I am listening to my last audio for Middle-Grade March, The Graveyard Riddle by Lisa Thompson. This is a companion novel to The Goldfish Boy, which I enjoyed on audio several years ago (see my review at the link). The main character of that book, Matthew, is still in this one, but here, the focus is on his friend and neighbor, Melody. One day, while walking her dog, Frankie, through the graveyard, Melody discovers a very old, abandoned house in a corner of the cemetery and begins to uncover some mysteries and secrets associated with it. I've just started it, but I'm enjoying it so far.

 

My husband, Ken, is still reading Never by Ken Follett. We have both been fans of Follett's books since the 80's, when he mostly wrote thrillers, and here, he returns to his roots with a modern, globe-spanning, unique race against time. The author's note at the beginning says he was thinking about how a series of seemingly small events dominoed to start WWI, so he's setting up a similar set of scenarios in today's world (with a female U.S. President). It sounds fascinating, and knowing Follett's writing, I'm sure it's gripping as well.

 

Our son, 27, has been reading a favorite series, The Magic of Recluce, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. He finished book 4, The Order War, which we gave him for Christmas. OK, now try to stay with me on this. Before he moved onto book 5, he went back to re-read book 1, The Magic of Recluce, because book 5 is actually a direct sequel to book 1. This series is hard to follow! (for me, not for him). In the chronological order of the series, book 4 was #18, book 1 is #21, and book 5 is #22. Got that?  When I checked in with him this morning, he said he already finished book 5, The Death of Chaos! Now he gets to choose his next book--we both agree that's so much fun!

Last week's blog posts:

TV Tuesday: The Handmaid's Tale - What an AMAZING show!! We finished season 4 this weekend, and it just gets better and better - they took a brilliant, thought-provoking novel and deepened it with incredibly complex characters to root for (and hate). Watch it.

Fiction Review: The Editor - a fun, funny novel about writing and mother-son relationships with surprising emotional depth.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.  

What are you and your family reading this week?

Fiction Review: The Editor

My neighborhood book group's selection for March was The Editor by Steven Rowley, an author whose other novels (Lily and the Octopus and The Guncle) I've heard good things about but haven't read yet. So, I was looking forward to reading this quirky, humorous novel, but its emotional depth was a pleasant surprise.

James Smale is excited and nervous. After plenty of rejections, his autobiographical novel about a mother and son has finally found a home with a major publisher in 1992. His agent sends him to the hallowed halls of the New York publisher to meet with his new editor. He's so nervous, he keeps making lame jokes and apologizing for silly things with the woman who guides him to the conference room for his meeting. Then his editor walks into the room, and it's none other than Jackie Kennedy Onassis (she really did work in publishing as an editor for a while in the 90's). From that first awkward meeting, he begins working with her (with her!) to edit his book and get it ready for publication. Ironically, his own relationship with his mother is precarious (they are barely speaking) because she is furious that he's written about their family and about her, even if it is veiled in novel form. Jackie--she prefers Mrs. Onassis at work--invites him to her vacation home on Martha's Vineyard, and the two of them gradually become friends as she guides his book to what she thinks it can be. She encourages him to go visit his mother and talk things through, saying it is necessary for his book because it lacks a strong ending. The result is one hilarious and horrible Thanksgiving weekend with his family, when a huge family secret is revealed. As James slowly, painstakingly, works through both his personal issues and editing his novel, Mrs. Onassis is by his side.

When I read the premise of this novel, I expected something light and fun, playing with the idea of a first-time novelist working with such a famous woman as his editor. And the novel is very funny, with plenty of laughs as James battles his neuroses and interacts with his siblings. But I was surprised by the emotional complexity of the novel, as James and his mother--both in real life and in his fictional world--work through their issues and get to know each other better as adults. The novel also hints at the parallels between Jackie's life as a mother and what she reads in James' novel, though she is a very private person who shares little of her personal life. Most of my book group enjoyed this novel (with an average rating of 7.1 out of 10), and we had a great discussion. It's fun to imagine the real life of a major celebrity like Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and I greatly enjoyed the author's sense of humor, but the real magic of this book is in its exploration of family dynamics and mother-son relationships.

308 pages, G.P. Putnam's Sons

Penguin Audio

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

March's Monthly Motif is Buzzed About Books and this one counts!

Alphabet Soup Challenge - E

Diversity Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - another New York!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. The audio sounds good, but the sample is from the middle of the book and is quite spoilery, so be forewarned! Why would they do that?

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

     

 

Or you can order The Editor from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

TV Tuesday: The Handmaid's Tale

One of the best TV shows we've seen in the past six months--perhaps ever--is the The Handmaid's Tale, adapted from Margaret Atwood's modern classic novel (my review at the link). My husband and I both read the novel, and the adaptation is outstanding. It's an accurate recreation of the world and story Atwood created, only expanded and deepened.

Elisabeth Moss stars as June Osborne, who is now known as Offred (Of-Fred, her commander) in this chilling dystopian world known as Gilead. Commander Fred Waterford, played by Joseph Fiennes, runs the household where Offred resides as handmaid. His wife, Serena Waterford (played by Yvonne Strahovski), desperately wants a baby but, like most women in this world, is infertile and must rely on her handmaid. Once a month, in a bizarre and horrifying Ceremony, Mrs. Waterford holds Offred down while her husband "plants his seed" (as it says in the novel). The rest of the upper-crust household is filled out by a Martha servant (played by Amanda Brugel) whose real name was Rita in the before world, and Nick (played by Max Minghella), who works as a driver, bodyguard, and general handyman at the house. In flashbacks, we see that June and the other handmaids were captured during the revolution and spent time in a training center to learn how to be proper handmaids. Her best friend, Moira (played by Samira Wiley) was at the center with June, and flashbacks show June and Moira enjoying their freedom and friendship in the before world. Their particular Training Center was overseen by "Aunt Lydia," played by Ann Dowd, with a disturbing mix of motherly kindness and terrifying cruelty toward "her girls." When she was captured, June was separated from her husband, Luke (played by O-T Fagbenle), and their daughter, Hannah, and June is desperate to find out where Luke and Hannah are. This tightly-controlled world is ruled by religion and uses scripture to justify every aspect of their warped society, even the mandated monthly rape. June and the other handmaids must strictly comply with the rules of society and their households or risk severe punishment, but inside their brains and their hearts, they still yearn for their real families and old lives.

Any description of this show feels inadequate in fully embodying its compelling and powerful story. While adaptations often fall short of the original material, this stunning show has taken Atwood's clever, imaginative, thoughtful novel and not only brought it to life but filled in the details and richness of the story to bring it to new heights. We are now watching season 4 (a fifth one is planned), and the plot has been delightfully twisty and unpredictable, as June's desire and strength to fight back have grown. Most of all, the acting on this show is absolutely outstanding. Moss is, of course, the undisputed star of the show, showing an incredible range of emotions from grief to love to rage and everything in between, but every single actor here shows a stunning complexity in their roles. Serena used to be a modern career woman and must now be the proper, submissive wife. She and Fred actually helped to create this society that she is now trapped in. Like June, Rita must be a silent and passive servant as the Martha of the house, without her own needs or desires. Even Fred, as the powerful head of household, has some complicated feelings about his wife and his handmaid. Taken as a whole, the incredible talent here, in writing and acting, and the breathtaking sets and cinematography combine to provide a powerful viewing experience that grabs hold of you and won't let go. It's one of the best shows we've ever seen, and we are completely hooked.

The Handmaid's Tale is a Hulu original, so it is available there. Episodes and seasons can also be purchased on Amazon. There are currently four seasons, and a fifth one is planned. Our son's student Hulu account runs out this month, so we are rushing to finish season four, but we might have to subscribe ourselves to see the last one when it is released!

The trailer below for Season 1 provides scenes from the show and a bit of background as to how Gilead came to be: