Fiction Reviews: House in the Cerulean Sea & Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Since its publication in 2020, I've heard nothing but rave reviews of The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, but since I rarely read fantasy, I still hadn't read it (though I did enjoy Klune's Under the Whispering Door). When I heard that a sequel was being published, I quickly downloaded and listened to the audio of the original book and then listened to the new one, Somewhere Beyond the Sea. I was enchanted by both heartwarming books, with their original premises, thought-provoking topics, delightful humor, and a touch of suspense.

In The House in the Cerulean Sea, a man named Linus Baker takes his job very seriously. He is a case worker for The Department in Charge of Magical Youth (DICOMY) and travels around to various orphanages and schools run by the department, to assess whether the children in their charge are being well cared for. One day, his careful routine is upended when he is summoned by Extremely Upper Management. They give him a highly classified assignment: to travel to

Marsyas Island and assess an unusual home where six especially dangerous magical children reside. The managers are clearly concerned about the safety of the rest of the world, but Linus is focused on the well-being of the children, as he always is. He arrives on the very remote Marsyas Island to its usual beautiful, tropical weather and is met by the caretaker of the home and the children, Arthur Parnussus. He introduces Linus to the very unusual children: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentified green blob with eye stalks, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. As Linus stays with them over the course of a month, he gets to know each of them--and Arthur--very well. Though Arthur's methods seem unorthodox (and Linus can quote the DICOMY rules and regulations), he begins to realize what a special place Marsyas is and what a special family Arthur has created here.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea picks up right where the first novel ends (no spoilers!), carrying on with the stories of Arthur, the children, and Linus. A short prologue is included about Arthur's first arrival back on the island, before he created the home. In the present day, Arthur has been invited to give testimony to the Council of Utmost Importance about his own time as a child under DICOMY's "care" and the abuses he suffered. As you might expect, things do not go quite as Arthur had hoped they would. Nevertheless, he is also in the city to pick up a new child to join their family, a yeti named David. Soon, the unusual family on Marsyas Island is fighting to hold onto the happy, peaceful life they have made for themselves.

The new sequel is just as delightful as the original novel. There is a bit more tension and suspense here, as Arthur and the children face potential perils, but the warmth and marvelous sense of humor remain. If you read The House in the Cerulean Sea in print, I highly recommend you give the audio a try for the sequel. Both audio books are such an absolute pleasure to listen to! I was just about to tell you that they each feature a full cast of talented narrators, but I was shocked to just discover it's only one person, professional actor Daniel Henning. I can't believe he did it all by himself because he's given each of the children their own unique voice. Much of the humor in the novels comes from the things the children say and observe, and hearing them say these things on audio is so much fun! I often laughed out loud (while walking, cooking, brushing my teeth). At the same time, both books are warm and tender, featuring beautiful, loving relationships that embrace diversity. These novels are full of hope and joy, and I loved living in this world for a while.

[NOTE: If you have not yet read the first book, then avoid reading the description of the sequel online or on the jacket; it's full of spoilers of the first book!]

The House in the Cerulean Sea - 416 pages, Tor 

Somewhere Beyond the Sea - 416 pages, Tor

Macmillan Audio

These books fit in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Reading Challenge

Big Book Summer Challenge
 

Disclosure: I received the sequel 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.

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible:

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio samples here, too):

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

Print and e-book from Amazon:

The House in the Cerulean Sea

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

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!

 

Fiction Review: The Ferryman

With my husband's encouragement, I chose The Ferryman by Justin Cronin from my stack of Big Books in late August. It was longer than some of the other books still in my pile, but he assured me it was a quick, gripping read. And he was right! This inventive novel from the author of The Passage trilogy (and a very different (not sci fi) novel,  The Summer Guest) took me on a rollercoaster ride, with surprises around every corner.

Proctor works as a Ferryman, a very respected position, on the island of Prospera. There was some sort of global crisis out in the wider world that resulted in the creation of this hidden, remote paradise. No one dies on Prospera. Mental, physical, and emotional health is constantly monitored, and when someone's rating starts to decline (and definitely before they hit 10%), they "retire." Ferryman like Proctor guide them through this transition phase and accompany them to a ferry, where they will travel to a neighboring island known as the Nursery. There, they will be "reiterated," eventually taking the ferry back to Prospera as a new 16-year-old iteration (with no memory of their past life/lives) to start fresh. Proctor remembers his own ferry ride to Prospera at 16, meeting his adoptive parents, Cynthia and Malcolm, who were delighted at his arrival. Now, Proctor enjoys his important job--and is very good at it--but he has started to have some difficulties. First, his mother dies (actually dies) in a very unexpected and unusual way, and now he's been summoned to retire his own father. Even more disturbing, Proctor has been dreaming, which isn't supposed to happen to Prosperans, and his dreams are increasingly disturbing. He begins to see cracks and flaws in their perfect society, as he wonders what is happening to him.

That is just the broad framework of the earliest chapters in this unique novel, which is continually surprising. As Proctor's journey continues, the reader goes along for the ride. Every time you think you have something figured out or know what's coming next, there is another shocking twist you never saw coming. It's a truly unique science fiction plot that provides insights into our own humanity and society (as the best sci fi does), like this passage:

"It's been my experience that a lot of human interaction comes down to just these sorts of exchanges, less an actual conversation than a form of parallel confession--the two parties performing their interior monologues, not really listening to each other but merely taking turns. I do not mean this cynically or as a statement of personal superiority; I'm as guilty as the next guy."
 

Cronin's writing pulls the narrative along at a fast pace; this was indeed a quick read because I couldn't bear to set it down. His characters are fully fleshed-out and feel real so that you are rooting for (or booing for) them throughout the story. I love this combination in a novel: unique, gripping plot with plenty of emotional depth and thoughtful insights. The end result is truly magical and a delight to read, and the ending was perfect. I wish I could read it again for the first time, not knowing what was coming.

538 pages, Ballantine Books

Random House Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge - August: Seasons, Elements, Weather
Big Book Summer Challenge

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. It sounds great, with multiple narrators.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

 

Fiction Review: Firekeeper's Daughter

For Christmas this year, instead of asking for specific books, I gave my family a list of authors I've never read and about whom I've heard great things. One of those was Angeline Boulley, and I was thrilled that my husband gave me The Firekeeper's Daughter as a gift. I finally see what all the fuss was about! While published as a YA novel, this story has so many layers and such complex themes that it will be loved by any adult, too. It's a mystery/thriller with great emotional depth, set against a fascinating cultural background.

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has always had a foot in two worlds, though she often feels as if she doesn't fully belong in either. She lives in Sault (pronounced Soo) Ste. Marie, Michigan, near the Canadian border, with her mother. Her mother's parents were French and Italian, and her father, who died, was a part of the local Ojibwe tribe, though her parents were never married. Her closest ties to the tribe are her half-brother, Levi, her beloved Aunt Teddie, and her best friend Lily. Levi is a part of the renowned Sault Ste. Marie Superiors hockey team, and as the novel begins, he introduces Daunis to a new member of the team who just moved to town. Jamie is gorgeous, polite, and charming to everyone he meets, including Teddie's twin six-year-old girls. Daunis soon starts to fall for him, though she senses he's hiding something. 

Daunis' town, where the tribe seems integrated into the larger community and hockey is king, includes a dark secret. The scourge of meth has reached their community, with tragedy seemingly around every corner now. Lily's ex-boyfriend, Travis, was a straight-A student in all of Daunis' AP classes until he got into drugs, discovered meth, and started dealing. He keeps begging Lily to take him back--and to try meth. Daunis' own Uncle David, her mother's brother, died recently of an overdose, stunning his family since he'd been clean for 15 years. Amid this community in crisis, Daunis discovers an FBI investigation is ongoing and is asked to go undercover as a part of it. She wants to help her community and find out who the source of the meth is and where it's coming from, but she doesn't necessarily agree with the FBI's approach. Her conflicted feelings increase, as does the danger, as she gets closer to answers.

While this is a mystery/thriller at heart, with plenty of suspense, action, and a twisty plot, there is so much more to it. We see the complex grieving process of Daunis and her family, her closeness to both sides of her family, and a burgeoning love in the midst of tragedy. In addition, this novel provides an in-depth look at the modern Native American experience, and Daunis' own particular challenges of living in two different worlds (though, to some extent, all members of the tribe live that way). The details of traditional ceremonies, healing, and customs, and the closeness of the tribal community, are beautiful and fascinating. These details are authentic because the author herself is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie tribe. I loved getting to know Daunis and her family, felt fully immersed in their world, and was rooting for the whole community to get to the bottom of the drug problems and begin to heal.

NOTES: 

The author says this novel is being developed into a TV series (which would be amazing!), but it doesn't show up in IMDb yet. 

The setting was described so beautifully that I wanted to visit and included stop in Sault Ste. Marie on our summer vacation to Michigan! Unfortunately, we had to cancel due to my illness, but I can't wait to see it in person next summer.

494 pages, Henry Holt and Company

Macmillan Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Alphabet Soup Challenge - F

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - Michigan
 

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 sample gives you an idea of both the suspense and the cultural setting.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

 
  

Fiction Review: Lonesome Dove

Ever since I started my YouTube channel in 2021 and heard about the annual June on the Range reading event there, I've heard people raving about how amazing the novel Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is. I remember all the hype over the TV mini-series in the 80's (though I didn't watch it), and lots of friends with similar reading tastes said the novel was excellent. But I'm not a huge fan of westerns generally, so I put off reading it. I decided this would be the year, and I read it in June for both June on the Range and my own Big Book Summer Challenge. Wow. Why did I wait? This beautifully written, moving novel blew me away and left me sobbing (three separate times!) and often laughing out loud. It was everything I'd heard and more.

In 1873, Augustus McCrae and Captain Woodrow Call are retired Texas Rangers, living a quiet life on the Texas/Mexico border along the Rio Grande, in the tiny, dusty town of Lonesome Dove. A couple of their ex-Ranger fellows, Pea Eye and a Black man named Deets, along with a teen boy named Newt make up the rest of their Hat Creek Cattle Company, which doesn't get a whole lot of business there in the desolate, tiny town. Both Call, often just called Captain, and Pea Eye are both reticent men, but Gus talks enough for the whole outfit. He can--and often does--talk about absolutely nothing for hours. The town mostly consists of a few meager farms and ranches, a general store, and a saloon, featuring a beautiful whore named Lorena. The few travelers that come to Lonesome Dove often come just for Lorena, though there is also a lot of drinking and card playing in the saloon, as a man named Lippy plays the piano. Into this quiet life on the edge of nowhere, another ex-Ranger named Jake stops by the Hat Creek outfit to visit his old friends. He regales them with tales of his recent trip to Montana, which is still a vast wilderness. He emphasizes that it is excellent cattle country (as opposed to Lonesome Dove, where grass for grazing is nearly non-existent), and Call is unusually moved from their typical routine to suggest a cattle drive all the way to Montana. First, they round up thousands of cattle from Mexico and a few more men, including a couple of experienced cowhands, two lost Irishmen they rescued from Mexico, and some teen boys from town. The expanded though ragtag Hat Creek outfit sets off, leaving behind their quiet existence, for the unknown wilderness ahead and untold dangers on the way, from Indians, horse thieves, and nature. Along the way, they meet many other people, whose paths they may cross for just a day or for much longer, following Call's unusual and emphatic need to drive their new herd of cattle all the way to the unknown territory of Montana.

This novel surprised me so many times and in so many ways. Yes, it's a western adventure with plenty of action. But McMurtry has also created fully-drawn, three-dimensional characters that soon feel like old friends. I expected an all-male cast in this cowboy novel, but he's included many fascinating, well-developed female characters, too. The writing is beautiful, but the novel is also plot-driven, with so many unexpected twists and turns that I never for a moment got bored through its gripping 850 pages. I was also surprised by the emotional depth and intensity of this story that had me sobbing, hard, three different times and also often laughing out loud (the first, wonderful instance of this is in chapter 8, about the origins and details of the sign for the Hat Creek outfit that Gus created). Here's another fun moment, as two people ride into camp:

 "The most surprising thing was that [she] was wearing pants. So far as [Gus] could remember, he had never seen a woman in pants, and he considered himself a man of experience. Call had his back turned and hadn't seen them, but some of the cowboys had. The sight of a woman in pants scared them so bad they didn't know where to put their eyes. Most of them began to concentrate heavily on the beans in their plate. Dish Boggett turned white as a sheet, got up without a word to anybody, got his night horse and started for the herd, which was strung out up the valley."

There is violence and tragedy, yes, but also friendship, love, honor, and commitment. It's an epic story that kept me engrossed for a full month and then feeling like it ended too soon. I will definitely be reading its sequel, The Streets of Laredo (and there are also two prequels).

NOTE: Do NOT read the Preface, written by the author, as it contains spoilers--of this book and the sequel.

858 pages, Simon & Schuster

Phoenix Books, Inc (audio)

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Monthly Motif - "Comedy Club" - while not strictly a comedy, it did make me laugh a lot!

Diversity Challenge

Big Book Summer Challenge
 

 

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/ordownload it from Audible. The sample sounds great - I bet it's excellent on audio.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

   
  

Fiction Review: The Women

My first audio book for this year's Big Book Summer Challenge was The Women by Kristin Hannah. I always enjoy her novels and had heard good things about this one, but this book astounded me. It was an absolutely stunning novel that will stick with me for a long time.

Frances "Frankie"  McGrath is just twenty years old in 1965 when she graduates from nursing school and decides to follow in her brother's footsteps. He's in the Air Force and has been sent to Vietnam, so Frankie signs up for the Army Nurse Corps. Her father is always talking about their family's proud history of service to the country (he even has a family "hero wall" in their house), but when Frankie announces her decision, he's not proud of her; he's angry. Both of her parents feel that Frankie should stay home, get married, and have children like a respectable woman, but Frankie heads to boot camp. A year later, she is shipped out to Vietnam. Frankie has almost no nursing experience, and in boot camp, the nurses were mostly taught how to roll bandages and change bed pans. But this is real life and real war. Frankie meets her new roommates, Barb and Ethel, and that very first day, she's thrown into the deep end when helicopters with wounded soldiers begin to arrive. She's immediately surrounded by blood, missing limbs, and dying boys. Though ill-equipped at first, Frankie soon becomes a surgical nurse and is eventually one of the most skilled nurses there. 

The three women finally return home, with their minds filled with the horrors of war, and try to go back to their lives. They return to a changed America, where veterans are no longer revered but reviled, and war protestors scream terrible things at them. Frankie's father will barely speak to her, and her mother expects her to settle down and get married. But Frankie suffers from horrible nightmares and crippling flashbacks (what would later be known as PTSD). Worst of all, when she says she was in Vietnam--even at the VA--people tell her over and over that there were no women in Vietnam. Her life is a mess, and she doesn't know where to turn,. She, Barb, and Ethel have become lifelong friends, and they're the only ones who truly understand. Frankie's path to normalcy and health is a long, slow, twisting one, but by the time the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial is dedicated in 1982, both she and the nation have begun to heal.

Where to start? Everything about this novel is completely engrossing and powerful. It's clear the author did a lot of research for this novel, including first-person accounts by women nurses who went to Vietnam and returned home, as well as details about the time periods. In an author's note, she explains that she's wanted to write this novel for a long time but felt she wasn't a good enough writer to do the story justice until now. It was worth the wait. The details--both during the war and of Frankie's experiences afterward--are vivid, horrifying, and realistic. I was very young during the war, but I remember my cousin and uncle being drafted and going to Vietnam, an experience that changed their lives forever. In fact, my uncle died from cancer (and suffered lots of other health problems) caused by Agent Orange. 

But this novel isn't just about the horrors of war. The reader experiences everything along with Frankie: the comradery among the troops, the need to let go and have fun once in a while even in the midst of war, the fierce friendships formed, and even the passion and love that develop between people put in such pressure-cooker situations. The audio was very well done, narrated by the talented Julia Whelan, and completely immersive; I couldn't bring myself to start another audio for a week after finishing it because it was still living in my head. This was an amazing, epic novel I won't forget that brings to light the contributions (and heavy price paid) of these brave women whose role and impact was mostly overlooked. It's a stunning, powerful story and so important to tell.

480 pages, St. Martin's Press

Macmillan Audio

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.

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

Diversity Challenge

Travel the World in Books - Vietnam

Literary Escapes Challenge - California

Big Book Summer Challenge

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. The sample is from an early chapter, at Frankie's brother's going-away party.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

     
  

Fiction Review: Honey

Back in 2017, I had the pleasure of reading a wonderful novel, Edgar and Lucy (my review at the link), and meeting its author, Victor Lodato, at Booktopia. He and his book were favorites of my mom and me at the event that year, so I was thrilled to hear he has a new novel out this spring, Honey. When he sent me a copy to review, he explained, "This novel is my whole heart," and it shows. I finished this beautiful novel with tears in my eyes and hugged it to my chest. It's that good.

Eighty-something Honey has returned to her hometown in New Jersey. As a young woman, Honey escaped this world--her father's world--first to college, then to New York, and finally to Los Angeles, where she lived a happy life. Her father was a powerful mob boss, strictly ruling both his business and his family, and Honey saw some horrific violence as a teenager. She escaped to the world of art and enjoyed a successful career in auction houses on both coasts. But after her two closest friends in LA both died, Honey decided to finally go back home, to reckon with her violent past and hopefully make peace with it. At first, it seems as though nothing in her family has changed, except the faces. Her parents are gone, but her nephew now heads up the family business. In a short span of time, a quirky, unrefined new neighbor named Jocelyn--wearing overalls, of all things!--drives into her young cherry tree, her grandnephew Michael bursts into her home asking for money and looking like he's on drugs, and her Lexus gets stolen. Old resentments bubble to the surface, and Honey is torn between forgiveness and revenge. As she battles her rage, Honey encounters a young painter who seems quite talented, attends too many funerals of old friends (and enemies), makes a new friend, and falls in love. Through it all, she tries to come to terms with her family and her own assumptions about the world around her.

This beautifully written novel explores the full range of human emotions and love in all its forms. My copy is filled with bookmarked funny or insightful or thoughtful quotes. Honey is a flawed but extraordinary character, who is still capable of change at her advanced age. She doesn't think change is even possible at the beginning of the story, but as she struggles with unexpected situations and previously hidden emotions, she even surprises herself. Honey is at the center of the novel, but the other characters are just as well-drawn and interesting. This isn't just a character-driven novel, though. As with Edgar and Lucy, there are plenty of surprises in store for the reader (and for Honey as well), as well as a wonderful sense of humor. This novel is about love, loss, aging, art, forgiveness, and second chances--it's about life, with all of its complexities, sorrows, and unexpected joys. And the ending is absolutely perfect.

400 pages, Harper

Harper Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes Challenge - New Jersey
 

 Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible. Sample from the beginning--I love the narrator!

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (a different audio sample here, with a glimpse into Honey's LA life).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

 

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Fiction Review: My Beloved Life

One of the last books I finished for Booktopia, held at Northshire Bookstore, was My Beloved Life by Amitava Kumar. It was my mom's favorite book at Booktopia this year, and the author was very entertaining and interesting at the event. This novel is a beautifully written account of one man's life against a fascinating historical backdrop.

In 1935 in a rural village in northeastern India, near the Tibetan border, Jadunath Kunwar is born in a small hut. His family are farmers, but they want their son to be educated and send him to schools in nearby towns that offer more. Eventually, Jadu attends college in Patna, a small city in the region. There, he and his first-year history classmates attend high tea in the governor's residence to celebrate Tenzing Norgay's triumph of summiting Everest, as the Sherpa who accompanied Edmund Hillary. Meeting Norgay has quite an impact on Jadu, who finishes his history degree and then stays on to begin teaching at the college. Jadu sees that the world is a much larger place than he knew from his childhood in the village. Classmates become good friends who go on to become poets, activists, and politicians. Eventually, Jadu marries and has a daughter, Jugnu, who enjoys a happy childhood with her parents in Patna. Jugnu goes to college herself, for journalism. A disaster in her personal life throws her into despair for a while, but she ends up getting a job with CNN in Atlanta, moving across the globe, talking to her father on the phone each week, and reflecting on both her own life and her father's.

While the focus here, as the title indicates, is on one man's life, Jadu's experiences are shown against the stunning backdrop of history, as in his lifetime, he witnesses world-changing events in India and beyond. In this way, this moving, very personal story is set against national events and universal truths. As the reader, we go along with Jadu, through joys and sorrows, loves and losses, and the various stages of life. The novel is filled with thoughtful passages that I marked for my Quote Journal, like this line from one of Jadu's college friends telling Jadu about his father's death:

"Tragedy is a demon that has a tail attached to it. The tail is the lesson that you are supposed to draw from the tragedy. This is the truth that civilization has recognized through the ages so that you don't feel robbed of everything."

The beauty here lies in both the ordinary aspects of a person's life as well as the extraordinary events that shape both a life and a nation. It's a tender, warm, witty story that is both eye-opening and relatable.

332 pages, Alfred A. Knopf

Random House Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Monthly Motif Challenge - "Face Off" - book with a face on the cover - I think this counts!

Alphabet Soup Challenge - M

Diversity Challenge - and mini challenge for May: southeast Asian

Travel the World in Books - India

Literary Escapes Challenge - Georgia
 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/ordownload it from Audible. It's narrated beautifully by the author (sample is from the first chapter).

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

  

Fiction Review: Sipsworth

A popular favorite book from this year's Booktopia was Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy. Simon is a prolific author who's written almost a dozen novels, but this was my first experience reading one of his books, and it didn't disappoint. It's the joyful, uplifting story of an elderly woman who finds community and a reason to live through an unexpected source.

Helen lived in Australia for decades, but after her husband and son both die, she decides to return to the small English village where she grew up. At eighty-three years old, she lives alone in a small cottage, sticks to the same routine week after week, rarely interacting with another human, and is mostly just waiting to die. One cold, wet night, Helen looks out her window and sees a neighbor carry a strange box out to the curb for trash pick-up the next day. Bored and curious, Helen puts on her robe and slippers and goes out to investigate; sometimes people throw away interesting things. The box turns out to be a large glass fish tank with a bunch of smaller boxes inside it. Then Helen spots a colorful piece of plastic inside: a deep sea diver. Her son had one exactly like it. He'd picked it out at the pet store on his 13th birthday, and it came in a set for his new aquarium. Is this one part of a set, too? Wracked with memories both painful and comforting and without really thinking about what she's doing, Helen carries the fish tank filled with boxes into her own house. The next day, she'll go through the boxes to see what treasures are inside. But the tank includes something Helen hadn't expected that she won't notice until tomorrow: a small mouse. Though she initially tries to get rid of it (with hilarious results), the mouse ultimately changes Helen's life and helps her to connect with other people in her community.

That seems like a tall order for a little mouse, doesn't it? But this is a very special mouse that comes into Helen's life just when she needs something (someone) to care for. They need each other. This is a warm, gentle story, though there are plenty of unexpected plot twists and funny moments to move the narrative along. Van Booy has created a wonderful main character and a fabulously compassionate, engaging story. As much as I enjoyed the novel, I loved it even more after listening to the author speak at Booktopia. He was an incredibly entertaining speaker who had us all laughing throughout his session, but what really moved me was his explanation of the things in his own life that inspired the story. After all, how can a relatively young man write convincingly about an isolated old woman who has given up on life? Well, he volunteers both as an EMT and in elderly care homes, where he has bonded with some of the residents. And he experienced that kind of loneliness and isolation when many of us did, during the lock-down period at the start of the pandemic. He alleviated some of his isolation with a pet mouse, and his respect and love for the intelligent little creatures comes through on the page as Helen discovers the attributes of her own mouse. This is a beautiful story of love, community, and healing that will put a smile on your face. I want to read some of Van Booy's backlist now!

NOTE: I considered including some of the many quotes I highlighted in this novel, to show you its warmth and humor, but I didn't want to deprive potential readers of the delight in coming across these gems themselves.

240 pages, David R. Godine

HighBridge, division of Recorded Books

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - S

Travel the World with Books - UK
 

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 and/or download it from Audible. The sample is from the beginning of the novel, as Helen discovers the discarded aquarium.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!

    
  

Fiction Review: You Are Here

One of the books I read for Booktopia, the event I attended last weekend in Vermont, was You Are Here, a novel by Karin Lin-Greenberg that I listened to on audio. The author has written two short story collections and won numerous awards for her stories, but this is her first novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this warm, funny, moving story of a disparate group of people whose paths all cross in a suburban mall.

Tina is a Chinese-American hair stylist who works (often alone) in the mall's hair salon. She's the single mother of an inquisitive nine-year-old boy named Jackson who sweeps up hair in the salon and wants to know who his father was. Tina secretly watches YouTube videos about drawing and painting and wishes she could have pursued a career as an artist, though that wouldn't pay the bills. Jackson, protecting his mother as she protects him, secretly watches videos of magicians and illusionists and dreams of becoming one. He's gotten to know a sixteen-year-old girl named Maria, who works in the food court, dressed as a chicken, though Maria wants to be an actress and hopes to get the lead role (ironically, Maria in West Side Story) in her high school play. Jackson is planning to do a magic show for his school's talent show and wants Maria to be his beautiful assistant. Ro is an elderly woman who gets her hair done by Tina at the salon each week. She's lonely since her husband's death and is very fond of Jackson. A few stores away is a bookstore where Kevin works. Kevin lives in a tiny house in his in-law's backyard, next-door to Ro, along with his wife and their twins. Kevin is white and his wife is Black, and he thinks that Ro is a racist. Ro thinks Kevin is lazy, though Kevin does dream of finishing his PhD and being successful--he just doesn't know what he should do. All of these characters are concerned because of rumors that the mall, which is usually mostly empty, will soon be shut down.

This is a slice of life novel, as these very different people all meet and interact at the mall (and at home, too, for some of them). They each have private secrets and dreams and want something better for themselves than where they are now. Ro is looking back more than looking forward, with memories and regrets, though she has an opinion about everyone. While this is a very character-driven novel about ordinary people, there is also a propelling plot, with a horrible trauma that occurs at the mall and affects every one of them. Lin-Greenberg is an absolute genius at character development, so the reader gets to know each of the characters intimately through their chapters and perspectives. Her dialogue is lively, realistic, and often funny, and this novel was a joy to listen to on audio, though it does tackle some difficult topics. My mother and I agreed that this was one of our favorites of the Booktopia selections this year.

304 pages, Counterpoint, LLC

HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Alphabet Soup Challenge - Y

Diversity Challenge

 

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 excellent audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!
 

    
 

Fiction Review: The Half Moon

In February, I finally read Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane, as a Buddy Read, with a Booktube friend in Singapore (my review at the link). She and I both loved the intricate family drama and really enjoyed discussing it. So, I was thrilled when I spotted Mary Beth Keane on the author list for Booktopia, an annual event I attend each spring! I read her more recent novel (now out in paperback), The Half Moon, and found it to be another winner.

Malcolm seems to be living his dream, owning a bar called the Half Moon where he has worked since he was a young man, talking and laughing with familiar patrons each night, and married to the love of his life, Jess. But underneath the surface, there are several storms brewing. As the novel opens, a real-life winter storm is headed toward Gillam, NY, (the same town as in Ask Again, Yes). In the last hours before Malcolm closes the bar for the approaching storm, he gets some devastating news about Jess, who left him months earlier, saying she needed time to herself. When Malcolm awakes the next morning to find the power is out and the entire town is snowed in, he also gets a visit from the police who tell him that one of his bar's regulars has disappeared. And only a few people, including Jess, know that Malcolm and the bar are in deep financial trouble. It's the perfect storm, as all of these crises collide in one freezing cold, snowbound week in a small town.

While the present-day action all takes place over a week, flashbacks and characters' memories fill the reader in on all that led up to this week: how Jess and Malcolm met fifteen years ago, their hopes and dreams, their long struggle with infertility, the history of the bar, and what Jess has been doing since she left Malcolm. There are plenty of intriguing plot twists here, but as in Ask Again, Yes, the focus is on relationships and the characters' interior lives. In particular, this novel explores midlife, with all of its joys and sorrows, routines and disruptions, surprises and disappointments, all within a small town setting where everyone knows everyone else. I love this kind of emotional complexity in a novel with such layered real-feeling characters. Malcolm and Jess are dealing with a lot, and things seem pretty dark in the middle of the novel, but Keane wraps it up perfectly. I thoroughly enjoyed this thoughtful, warm story about relationships, changes, and forgiveness. I can't wait to meet the author this weekend!

296 pages, Scribner

Simon & Schuster Audio

This book fits in the following 2024 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge
 

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.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

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!