Graphic Memoir Review: Something New

After reading Relish by Lucy Knisley, I became a fan of her graphic memoirs, with her honest, down-to-earth style and colorful, realistic graphics. Her latest graphic memoir, Something New: Tales From a Makeshift Bride, is another winner, describing the intricate planning, preparations, and execution of her wedding in her humorous, self-deprecating style.

Lucy came to the whole mass wedding industry with decidedly mixed feelings, “aghast and impressed with the significance and pageantry of it all,” as she says in the book. She covers the whole process here, from when she and her husband, John, first met to their engagement and through all of the complicated, intense preparations leading up to the special day. Lucy is, as you know if you’ve read her other books, an unconventional and creative artist, so she was a bit unsure about the whole wedding thing at first but soon found herself in the thick of it.

Lucy wasn’t satisfied just choosing her dress, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, and décor like most brides. No, true to form, she plunged in headfirst and ended up doing a lot of the work herself, creating a very unique DIY wedding that perfectly fit her and John’s lives and values. She did buy her dress – a bargain she found after extensive searching in the usual bridal boutiques – but she made her own veil, created the decorations for the reception, made elaborate gift boxes for the bridesmaids and groomsmen, and even made the groomsmen’s ties. Her mother built a barn on her property for the event (though she’d been planning to build one soon anyway), they worked with local vendors for catering (you know Lucy’s food choices were a key component!), and she and John even chose their own playlist instead of hiring a DJ or band.

Page from Something New by Lucy Knisley

As with her previous books, Lucy describes this whole crazy process with her usual humor and thoughtfulness, digging deep into the emotions of the journey, as well as finding the humor along the way. In between chapters describing her own experiences are brief informative (and funny) pages on strange wedding traditions, historical context, and weird wedding facts. Each chapter opens with a photo collage she created, and photos from her wedding and preparations are sprinkled throughout. For me, this book was just entertainment, but if you are a soon-to-be bride yourself, dissatisfied with the expensive, ready-made wedding accouterments available, then this book might also work as a handy guide for you. Just as Relish included recipes, Something New includes plenty of DIY ideas and even some project instructions.

I had no idea all the things she did herself were even possible when I planned my own wedding! I just went along with the traditional stuff and got swept along in the process. But Lucy did things her own way (that Frank Sinatra song was made for her!), by her own admission got a little crazy at times (what bride doesn’t?), and documented every step of the way for our amusement and edification. There are even an afterword from her husband, John, and a few photos and drawings that hint at what is to come next. I can’t wait for her next book so I can read all about it!

291 pages, First Second

 

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.

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 Something New from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

TV Tuesday: Catastrophe

The Amazon Prime original comedy series Catastrophe recently released its second season...and my husband and I devoured its six new episodes in about a week! This is a unique story and one of the funniest comedies we've ever seen.

Rob, played by Rob Delaney, is an American businessman working in the pharmaceutical industry who travels to London for a business trip. Sharon, played by Sharon Horgan, is an elementary teacher living in London and originally from Ireland. The two of them meet during Rob's visit to London and hook up - your classic girl meets boy story. Except that they spend every night together for a week, having wild sex and then Sharon calls Rob a couple of months later in America to tell him she's pregnant.

So, Rob moves to London and the two embark on a real relationship. Of course, they are doing things out of order, dealing with all of the intimacies of having a baby together when they barely know each other. Sharon has Irish parents and a married brother in London, plus some strange-ish friends, and Rob's only friend in London is an obnoxious American party animal named Dave.

In Season 1, they deal with the pregnancy and their impending parenthood, while trying to get to know each other better. In Season 2, the story jumps ahead a few years to see them married and with two young children. Each season is only 6 half-hour episodes, and they go by much too quickly! This show is absolutely hilarious, one of the funniest we have ever seen. In fact, my husband doesn't usually like TV comedies, but this isn't your usual sitcom. For starters, it is seriously R-rated - definitely not one to watch with the kids! The writing is spectacular (the two lead actors also write the show), and the two actors are perfect in their roles, with great chemistry on screen together. The supporting actors are all excellent as well, including Carrie Fisher as Rob's mother. Here's a wonderful interview with the actors/writers.

This has become one of our favorite shows, one that keeps us laughing out loud. Now we have to wait for Season 3 to watch more! I hope Amazon won't make us wait too long.

Since this is an Amazon original program, it is only available on Amazon Prime, for Prime members (though anyone can watch episode 1 for free). I just watched that interview at the link above, which states that you can also watch Catastrophe on Channel 4 in the UK (though it is called an Amazon Original Series, so I'm not sure how that works).



    

It's Monday 5/9! What Are You Reading?

Whew, noon already. Just getting to my Monday post and still 450 new e-mails waiting to be read. Re-entry after a few days away!

We spent a very nice weekend at my mom's house in Connecticut for Mother's Day (and her birthday which is also this week). Lots of fun and a nice Mother's Day but also exhausting! Glad to be home but feeling pretty overwhelmed. This is always a tough time of year, with lots of school events, etc. My youngest son graduates from high school in one month! Yikes, how did that happen?

In spite of our busy-ness, we still enjoyed our books:

• I finished The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez in time for my book group last week. This one has been waiting patiently on my shelf for a full year, since I met the author last year at Booktopia VT. It's an amazing story about immigrants in modern America, but I especially love that the author is from the same town we live in, and the novel is set right here in Delaware (a rarity for our small state!). It was excellent & we had a great discussion.
• Now, I am reading A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This novel was the choice for my library's discussion this Wednesday. There's no way I will finish it in time, but I had been wanting to read it ever since its release, so I'm glad to have an excuse to finally get to it! I am loving it so far - an intricate, interwoven story about a Japanese teenager and a woman writer in British Columbia (I love stories about connections).
• I finished listening to Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart, a middle-grade historical novel set in 1890 Washington state about a young boy who's an orphan and then loses his horse to an unscrupulous horse trader. Since the horse is all he has left of his family, he sets out on a journey to get her back, accompanied by a young orphaned Chinese boy. It was very good.
• Now, I am listening to a teen/YA novel, My Name is Not Friday by Jon Walter, about a free black boy during the Civil War who is sold into slavery and taken to the South. It's an engrossing story so far.
• My husband, Ken, finished The Crossing by Michael Connelly, a cross-over novel starring both of his famous characters, Harry Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer (if you are a Bosch fan, check out my review of the Bosch TV show). He said this was one of Connelly's best!
• Now, Ken is reading The Cell by Stephen King, one of many King books we inherited from my dad. Ken is partway through and pretty sure he's read this one before! We always traded books back and forth with my dad, so it's quite possible my dad lent it to him years ago when he first read it.
• Jamie, 21, has been re-reading the first two books in the A Pattern of Shadow and Light trilogy by Melissa McPhail: he finished Cephrael's Hand and is now reading The Dagger of Adendigaeth, in preparation for reading book 3. He had plenty of reading time in the car this weekend!
• Craig, 18, is reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, a wonderful graphic memoir about growing up in Iran during the Revolution there, for his World Lit class (I read it last year - see my review at the link). He says he "doesn't get it" so far...which is exactly why this is an excellent book for high school kids to read! The Islamic Revolution and the overthrow of the Shah happened long before he was born. So, my husband and I have been trying to explain some of what was going on, and how those events were a precurser to much of the current conflict in the Middle East. Should make for some great discussions in his class.

Not a lot of time for writing or blogging last week, but I managed a few fun posts:

Movie Monday: Bad Movies - those movies that are SO bad they're fun to watch!

TV Tuesday: When Good Shows Get Cancelled - some of our faves only lasted one season!

Middle-Grade Book Review: The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau - moving & magical

What are you and your family reading this week?    

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.

My mom and I walking at the beach Saturday

 

Middle-Grade Review: The Lightning Queen

Last month, I listened to the middle-grade novel The Lightning Queen by Laura Resau on audio, and I was captivated by this magical, moving story that links two generations and transported me to a different place and time.

Twelve year-old Mateo travels every summer with his mother from their home in Maryland back to where she grew up in the remote mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, in an area known as the Hill of Dust. Despite the rustic conditions and missing his Xbox and friends, Mateo enjoys these trips that seem to take them back in time, talking with his great-aunts and –uncles. Most of all, he enjoys seeing his Grandpa Teo.

This year, though, Grandpa Teo says he needs Mateo’s help, and he begins telling Mateo a long, involved story of his own childhood on the Hill of Dust. He tells him about when the Gypsies or Romanies used to travel in their caravan to their tiny, remote village. They looked different from the native Mixteco, dressed in beautiful, colorful garments. They’d bring movies to show outside on white sheets hung from the side of the church, as well as their own entertainment and news from other villages. In gratitude, the local Mixteco would trade them hand-woven hats and baskets and locally grown food.

The annual arrival of the Gypsy caravan was a huge event in the tiny village, and Teo, as a young boy, looked forward to it. Besides the entertainment and excitement, though, he mostly looked forward to seeing Esme, Queen of Lightning! She was a young girl about his age who absolutely enchanted him. Teo was still grieving from the tragic loss of sister the year before, but Esme seemed full of life the first time they met. The eldest fortune teller among the Gypsies foretold that Esme and Teo would be lifelong friends. It seems an impossible fortune, since their people were so different.

Grandpa Teo tells his story to Mateo, about how each year, Esme and the other Romanies returned to the Hill of Dust, and their friendship grew. There were victories and tragedies along the way, as Teo acquired a small entourage of injured animals. In the present, Mateo is spellbound by his grandfather’s story, barely taking breaks to use the bathroom or eat. He is anxious to hear how the story will end, since he’d never heard of Esme before, and can’t begin to guess what Grandpa Teo could want his help with.

This is an absolutely entrancing story. Most of it is Grandpa Teo’s story of his childhood in the 1950’s and his life back then and friendship with Esme. At times, there is a short break in the story and a return to the present, as Mateo listens to his grandfather with rapt attention. The narrators of the audio book, Christian Barillas and Thom Rivera, do a fabulous job, with their accents and voices pulling the listener right into the story.

Besides the engrossing story of the two childhood friends and the challenges they faced, this book is also fascinating for its setting and characters. It introduces two groups of people who are poorly understood and rarely written about: the native Mixteco Indians in Mexico and the traveling Romani. I was so intrigued that I went online to look up more information. Did you know that the Romani, commonly referred to as Gypsies, are originally from India? I was surprised by that. In the book, these two sets of people – who are each treated with disdain and disrespected as outsiders by other residents of Mexico – find friendship and fellowship in each other.

This story really captivated me, right from the first words. It pulled me into a world unfamiliar to me and made me feel at home and welcome. Teo and Esme face many challenges in each reaching their goals – he to get more education and she to become a famous singer – and there is plenty of suspense as well as joy and humor in this novel. I also liked the way that the older story was intertwined with the modern one, as Mateo finds a way to help his grandfather in the present day. The Lightning Queen is an enchanting story of friendship and family set among interesting, exotic people and places.

Scholastic Audio

TV Tuesday: When Good Shows Get Cancelled

My plan for today was to write a full review of You, Me, and the Apocalypse, a funny, suspenseful dramedy that aired on NBC this past fall. I'd been meaning to get to it for a while, and planned to work my way through the 10 episodes of the first season the past few weeks so I could write about it here. I thought it started out just OK, but it grew on me with each episode, as I got to know the characters and became accustomed to its format. It's about a huge comet heading straight for earth, big enough to cause the next big extinction event (ahem, us). As the show starts, the comet is about 30 days away from its impact with earth, and we meet various people around the world coping with the news. Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office) stars as a kind mom who is in federal prison because she took the fall for her son who hacked the NSA. Rob Lowe plays Father Jude, not-your-usual-priest who has been assigned by the Vatican to find the next messiah (since this seems to be the end of times). And there are lots of supporting actors in all kinds of roles. We know from the opening scenes of the first episode that many of these people from all over the world somehow end up in a bunker together under the London suburb of Slough on the day the comet actually hits...but we don't know how they all end up there together.

So far, so good. Like I said, the show was really growing on me, and I've been enjoying it and looking forward to each episode, as the comet gets closer to earth and time is running out. I've come to care about the main characters, and with just a few episodes left to go in the first season, wanted to know what would happen to them.

Then...BAM! I checked online yesterday and found that the show has been cancelled! This first season is also its last. I invested that time, grew to like it, and then they pulled the rug out from under me. This isn't the first time I've seen a good show get cancelled, and I bet this has happened to you with favorite shows, too.

So, instead of writing a full review of You, Me, and the Apocalypse (though all of its first season is still available On Demand and on Amazon for $1.99 an episode), I decided to instead write about how and why good TV shows get cancelled.

The Washington Post had an interesting article in the fall about how the networks make these seemingly random decisions. For instance, FX puts equal weight on the producers' opinion, the critics, and the public. The article also explains how these decisions are changing with the new ways that people are watching TV, so that networks have to consider not just who is tuning in when the show airs, but how many people are watching it later. Good thing - we don't watch anything when it actually airs anymore!

Here is an actor's perspective about why shows get cancelled, focused on one of the most puzzling cancellations of modern times, Heroes. That show had a huge fan base, but still got the ax. Interestingly, this past fall - 5 years later - it was revived with Heroes Reborn.

And this recent list from TV Cheat Sheet gives a depressing run-down of current shows that might possibly be on the chopping block.

My family has seen many of our favorite shows cancelled after just a single season. Fox in particular seems to chop some amazing shows without giving them much of a chance, but I guess that's show biz! Here are some of our past faves that got the ax:

• Firefly -  Perhaps the classic example of a fantastic show with a huge fan base that was cancelled too early, this 2002 sci fi show featured Nathan Fillion (of Castle fame) as the captain of a ragtag group of space outlaws. We were late to this one and didn't see it when it first aired but have watched its 14-episode first (and last) season on DVD. At least they made a movie, too! (TV show available free on Amazon Prime).
• John Doe - Also in 2002, my husband and I really enjoyed John Doe, about a man with no memory who helped police solve crimes while looking for clues to his own identity. They set up a great story in a first season with 22 episodes but then left us hanging.
• Life on Mars - this unique time-travel show, with Jason O'Mara as a modern NYPD detective who finds himself back in the 1970's, was based on a UK show of the same name and was an outstanding show. It got chopped after just one amazing season (18 episodes), but to their credit, the show's creators hurried up and rewrote the season finale to wrap up the whole show.
• Terra Nova - Our whole family LOVED this show, about a family on a dying future earth who is sent back 85 million years to prehistoric times, where humans are trying to establish a colony to give themselves a second chance. This one also starred Jason O'Mara (tough luck, Jason). Time travel, adventure, and dinosaurs - what more could you want? Our sons were devastated when it was cancelled after just one excellent season (13 episodes) (available on Netflix).
• Alkatraz - My son and I loved this show! A unique premise, combining crime show with the paranormal. Prisoners and guards who mysteriously disappeared from Alkatraz in 1963 suddenly begin to reappear in present day, and a secret government group must work quickly to recapture them. This show was SO cool, and we loved seeing our old buddy Jorge Garcia (Hurley from Lost). This captivating show lasted just one season (13 episodes).
• Awake - In the same season as Alkatraz, my son and I also enjoyed watching Awake, another show with a touch of the supernatural (seeing a pattern here?). Jason Isaacs stars as a father whose life is split into two different realities after a car accident. In one, his wife was killed, and in the other, his son was killed. The primary driver here is wondering whether this is really happening to him or whether he is dreaming (or crazy). We couldn't wait to see more, but it was cancelled after one 13-episode season (my son tells me it is on Netflix!)
• Believe - My son and I also loved this show (we used to watch a lot of TV together when we were both home sick a lot) about a little girl with special powers who was being hunted by people that wanted to take advantage of her, with Jake McLaughlin (now on Quantico) as a convict tasked with protecting her. Fast-paced suspense plus a supernatural element - we were hooked, but it only lasted one season (13 episodes).

I could go on and on here! So many excellent shows never make it past their first season. We had some favorites that only made it two seasons, too, like Touch and Revolution.

How about you? What were some of our favorites that got cancelled? What would you like to see come back?

(NOTE: All of the above titles are available on DVD (our library has most of them) and some are available on Netflix or Amazon Prime, as noted.)

Terra Nova Trailer (available on Netflix):



Awake Trailer (available on Netflix):




  

Movie Monday: Bad Movies

One of my favorite podcasts is Pop Culture Happy Hour, which covers movies, TV, books, music, and more in a fun, informal group discussion each week. I look forward to each new episode and was thrilled a few weeks ago when their discussion centered on Bad Movies - movies that are so bad & so poorly made that they're actually fun to watch!

I was so tickled to hear them talk about Bad Movies because I have a long, fun history with this kind of movie!

First, back in college, my best friend and I inadvertently stumbled onto some really bad movies, just by going to our tiny college town movie theater at the wrong time and later making bad choices back home at the multiplex.

After graduation, I moved to New Orleans, where I met my future husband and a bunch of great friends who remain my closest friends now, almost 30 years later. We started a Bad Movie Night tradition. One of us would host the group at our apartment, with a line-up of the worst, most obscure movies we could find (back then on VHS!). We'd start with a classic cartoon warm-up, like Gumby & Pokey or the Elmer Fudd/Bugs Bunny operas (never seen these? They are amazing!). Then, we'd watch 2 or 3 Bad Movies. Being in our early twenties, there was plenty of beer & snacks, too. Those were fun nights...

So, here is a partial list of some of the memorable Bad Movies I've seen over the years (with links to IMDB for full - often hilarious - descriptions):

Liquid Sky (1982) - bizarre movie about tiny aliens who come to earth looking for heroin but decide they like hormones secreted during orgasm better - even stranger than it sounds! My college friend and I walked out of it once then went back to see the rest another night.

Repo Man (1984) - Emilio Estevez stars as yup, a repo man and wackiness ensues. We actually walked OUT of Liquid Sky and ended up in this one!

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978) - Just what it sounds like & very silly. One of the first movies we watched on Bad Movie Night - a classic. I think we watched a couple of its sequels, too (yup, there were sequels, though I see we missed Killer Tomatoes Eat France!).

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964) - Martians steal Santa. Because they want him for themselves, duh! A young Pia Zadora stars.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988) - Aliens who look like clowns terrorize a small town - a horror movie but also hilariously funny. Mummifying their victims in cotton candy cocoons is worth the price of admission. This one debuted on Bad Movie Night, but we've actually seen it a few times (and own the DVD) - really awesome watching it with my mom after her back surgery when she was heavily medicated! Probably a really bad idea if you have a clown phobia.

Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (1989) - Starring Adrienne Barbeau in a typically skimpy costume. A modern retelling of The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (seriously! my friends didn't believe me when I shouted that out during the movie, but it's true - very literary stuff here).

The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (1952) - We just watched this one last year (the link is to my own review). We didn't intend to have a Bad Movie Night, but it turned out that way...and it was OK because we saw it with our old friends from New Orleans. A Dr. Seuss musical ostensibly for kids but really, really weird.

(You can find awesome trailers for every one of these on YouTube).

So, those are some of the highlights (or lowlights?) of my Bad Movie experiences.

How about you? Have you seen any movies so bad that they were amusing to watch? Have any favorite Bad Movies or traditions of your own? Bad Movie Night might just become your tradition, too!

Trailer for Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, a classic Bad Movie:

It's Monday 5/2! What Are You Reading?

How on earth did it get to be May already?? And why is it still cool and wet and dark out? Last week went by in a blur - my high school son was home sick all week, which is very rare. He had a high fever and killer sore throat, with severely swollen tonsils, but tests for both strep and mono came back negative. These kinds of mystery symptoms are very worrying, given his and our medical histories here (he is recovered from the same immune disorder that my older son and I have). By Friday, he felt better and his fever was gone, though his throat is still not back to normal. But he was well enough to go to his Senior Prom with his girlfriend on Friday night, so that's what's important!

So, my week was spent rushing to doctor's appointments, the drugstore, the lab, and taking care of him. Not a lot of reading time and virtually no writing time because the TV was on all week! He watched all 9 seasons of The Office (for about the third time) - his comfort TV. I have to admit that I got sucked into it, too!

So, here's what we read last week:

• I finished Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz for an online book group and really enjoyed it.  This is an odd but very entertaining book - a tense thriller that is filled with humor and irony, where the bad guys are clowns (yup, killer clowns - no joke). Very clever, funny, and suspenseful.
• Now, I am reading The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez for another book group. This one has been waiting patiently on my shelf for a full year, since I met the author last year at Booktopia VT. It's an amazing story about immigrants in modern America, but I especially love that the author is from the same town we live in, and the novel is set right here in Delaware (a rarity for our small state!). I'm enjoying not only the story & characters but also all the local references.
• On audio, I am listening to Some Kind of Courage by Dan Gemeinhart, a middle-grade historical novel set in 1890 Washington state. It's about a young boy who's an orphan and then loses his horse to an unscrupulous horse trader. Since the horse is all he has left of his family, he sets out on a journey to get her back, accompanied by a young orphaned Chinese boy. It's been good so far.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading The Crossing by Michael Connelly, a cross-over novel starring both of his famous characters, Harry Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer (if you are a Bosch fan, check out my review of the Bosch TV show).
• Jamie, 21, is still re-reading the first two books in the A Pattern of Shadow and Light trilogy by Melissa McPhail: Cephrael's Hand and The Dagger of Adendigaeth, in preparation for reading book 3. 

 Not much writing time last week, but I am trying to catch up on reviews:

 TV Tuesday: Orphan Black - Best Show Ever!!

Fiction Review: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce, companion novel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Teen/YA Review: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys, a stunning, powerful novel about a little-known historical event at the end of WWII - highly recommended!

Saturday Snapshot: Spring in Full Bloom!

What are you and your family reading this week?    

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.

My son & his girlfriend (in red) & friends, ready for prom!

 

Saturday Snapshot 4/30: Spring in Full Bloom

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

Our roller coaster spring continues (though no more snow). Yesterday it was in the 40's, dark, and rainy, and I was wearing a sweater and heavy coat. A week ago it was 82, and I was in shorts! Despite the crazy weather, everything continues to bloom - here are a few highlights from our neighborhood (plus my son's prom picture from last night - couldn't resist!):

Our own messy but blooming garden, with daffodils & grape hyacinth

Dogwood in bloom in our woods

Buds bursting out on the trees

Neighbor's tree - not sure what it is but beautiful!

My son & his girlfriend ready for his Senior Prom last night

With their friends - four years has gone by fast!

Hope you are enjoying a great weekend!

Teen/YA Review: Salt to the Sea

I was so bowled over by Ruta Sepetys’ first novel, Between Shades of Gray, that I gave it to my teen cousin for her birthday (she likes historical fiction), and she went crazy over it, too. So, when I heard that Sepetys had another historical novel coming out, also set in the World War II time period, I pre-ordered copies for both my cousin and me. We were both blown away by Salt to the Sea, a powerful, moving novel about a virtually unknown historical event that affected many thousands of people.

Salt to the Sea follows four young people, all in their mid- to late teens, in 1945 as they each make their way across East Prussia to the port of Pilau, Poland, to hopefully board a ship and be evacuated away from the rapidly advancing Russians. Each of the main characters is introduced gradually, through alternating chapters. Joana is Lithuanian but has been living in East Prussia, working as a nurse, for the past four years. She is leading a small ragtag group of refugees cross-country to the coast. Florian is a bit of an enigma for much of the novel. He is Prussian but is clearly in fear of both the Russians and the Nazis. Florian comes across Emilia, a Polish girl of only fifteen, who is on her own and in dire danger from a Russian soldier when Florian finds her. They tentatively join Joana’s group for a while, while their wounds heal, though Florian is obviously anxious to be on his own again. Alfred is about the same age as the others but in completely different circumstances. He is serving in the German navy, proud to be a Nazi, and currently assigned to the port, helping to prepare several large ships for evacuating both citizens and wounded soldiers.

The story centers on one particular evacuation ship, the Wilhelm Gustloff, that was a real historic ship, though few have heard of it. In fact, its sinking was the deadliest disaster in maritime history, killing approximately 9,000 people, mostly civilians and about 5,000 of them children. For comparison, about 1,500 people died when the Titanic sunk. As the author explains in a note at the end of the book, this was just one of several huge evacuation ships destroyed in the Baltic Sea at that time, killing approximately 25,000 people total, mostly civilians. Yet, we never hear about these disasters in history class.

The novel expertly weaves these four young people’s stories together to create a picture of the desperation felt during those frantic months, while people tried to escape from the advancing Russians. This is not a military story of war but a tale of ordinary people, trying to save themselves, their children, and their families. Some were Polish, some Lithuanian, some Prussian, some German, but they were all in the same desperate circumstances, all rushing toward the port cities in the bitter winter weather, trying their best to find food and shelter and stay warm and alive.

As the novel continues, the four main characters’ lives continue to intersect in sometimes surprising ways. I always enjoy novels that focus on connections between people like that. We also learn more about each of the individuals as the story progresses, and there are plenty of surprises along the way. There is even a little link to the characters in Between Shades of Gray, a wink to readers who enjoyed that first book. All of that intricate story-telling is set against a fascinating historical backdrop that most of us alive today can’t even begin to imagine that will be particularly shocking for teens readers of about the same ages as the main characters.

The result is a fast-paced, suspenseful, emotionally powerful tale of survival against all odds. As with her first two novels, Sepetys is a talented writer who immerses you in the lives of the characters and makes them feel real. I came to care about each of them (well, most of them) and was rooting for them to survive and thrive. The entire novel is a page-turner but the last part, once they board the ship, is especially tense and riveting. Sepetys has done it again, with a powerful, engaging novel filled with characters who feel real, set against a little-known historical event that deserves to be recognized.

448 pages, Philomel Books (imprint of Penguin Random House) 

Listening Library

P.S. I mentioned two of Sepetys’ novels here, Between Shades of Gray and Salt to the Sea, because they both take place in roughly the same time period and focus on little-known but important historical events. However, Sepetys wrote another novel, in between these two, that was also very good. Out of the Easy is set in 1950’s New Orleans, about a teen girl whose mother is a prostitute.

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.

 

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 Salt to the Sea from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy

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About a year ago, my neighborhood book group read The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (my review at the link) by Rachel Joyce and overwhelmingly enjoyed it. We loved its sense of humor but also its emotional depth and found plenty to discuss. So, when I saw the companion novel, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, sitting on a shelf near the checkout desk at my library, I grabbed it. Like Harold Fry, this follow-up novel by Joyce has the same perfect mix of warmth, humor, and reflection.

It’s not completely necessary to have read Harold Fry first, but I’d recommend it. In that novel, a retired man named Harold takes off on an unplanned journey – really more of a quest – to visit his old friend, Queenie. After 20 years of not hearing from Queenie after they’d worked together, Harold receives a postcard from her, explaining that she is in hospice, dying. Harold sets out to mail a letter in return and, instead, ends up walking the entire length of England to see her.

In this companion novel, we see this same journey from Queenie’s perspective. She receives a postcard from Harold when he begins his walk, asking her to wait for him, and she – and the rest of the hospice residents – set off on their own emotional journey to wait for Harold. The excitement grows as his incredible walk continues and they receive postcard updates, and eventually, Harold’s pilgrimage is covered in the news. The reader meets all of Queenie’s fellow residents, plus the nuns who are caring for them. They are mostly strangers at the start of the novel, to each other as well as to us, who become friends as the story continues.

Meanwhile, Queenie is undertaking her own personal journey, struggling with her late-stage cancer disabilities to write to Harold as he walks. She wants to explain why she left so abruptly twenty years earlier, why she never got in touch with him again, and what happened all those years ago that he never knew about. Just as Harold struggled with his own internal demons as he walked in the first novel, here, Queenie battles her own demons and works through them on paper as she waits. She also describes the new life she has made for herself these past twenty years, in her little cottage along the shore. I especially loved her descriptions of her sea garden (and flipped back often to the lovely drawing of it at the front of the book by Laura Hartman Maestro).

The chapters alternate between what is happening now, in the hospice, with Queenie and the other residents and their caregivers and what happened over twenty years ago, as Queenie writes her lengthy letter to Harold. We see the causes and effects and how the events of so long ago still impact Queenie’s life now. As Queenie writes and tells her story, surprises are gradually revealed. The events of the present are just as engaging, though, as Harold’s journey gives the patients something to live for and they gradually open up to each other and become not just friends, but family in those last days of their lives.

Although Harold Fry is still my favorite of the two novels, for the clever way that Harold’s physical journey mirrored his emotional one, as layers peeled away while he walked, I enjoyed Queenie Hennessy very much and for similar reasons. Joyce has a wonderful way of weaving humor into the story, even as difficult or sad events are occurring. As you might expect from a novel set in a hospice, there is a lot of death in this story. That was difficult at times for me, since I just lost my father to cancer last summer, but it was also cleansing and comforting – I only wish that his hospice had been as wonderful as Queenie’s!

Despite the sad circumstances of the story, there are times when it is laugh-out funny, as when one of the hospice residents struggles to explain to one of the nuns what a “Brazilian” is, after joking about losing her hair! This novel is a warm, funny, introspective examination of life and death, of mistakes and amends made, of love and friendship. I filled pages and pages of my Quote Journal with beautifully written passages that felt like they perfectly described my own life as well as Queenie’s. I enjoyed its combination of humor, poignancy, and philosophy and was sorry to say goodbye finally to both Harold and Queenie.

362 pages, Random House

   

TV Tuesday: Orphan Black

I had planned to write about another show today but just realized that I've never reviewed our all-time favorite TV show, Orphan Black. This unique sci fi thriller with a sense of humor is so stunningly good that when we first discovered it, my husband, son, and I binge-watched the entire first season in a matter of days! The fourth season has just started, so this is a great time to catch up.

In the first episode, Sarah Manning, a sharp-tongued street-smart Brit in Canada, is standing on a train platform when she see a woman who looks exactly like her step in front of an oncoming train and kill herself. Shocked and horrified, Sarah grabs the woman's wallet so she can find out who she was and runs off. The mystery woman's ID identifies her as Beth Childs, and Sarah sees from her photo that she was absolutely identical to Sarah. An orphan brought up in foster care, Sarah doesn't know of any genetic family members, but the temptation to take advantage of the situation is great.

Sarah assumes Beth's identity, with the goal of cleaning out her bank account to help her out of the difficult situation she is in. She discovers that Beth was a police officer, and taking on her identity gets more and more complicated. She meets Beth's boyfriend, Paul, and her partner, Art. She also meets other women who are identical to her, one at a time. Each one is unique in hairstyle, clothing, and other aspects of outward appearance, but they are clearly identical. In fact, Sarah soon learns they are clones.

I don't want to give away any more of the plot because there are surprises around every corner in this fast-paced thriller, but it keeps you guessing...and watching. Tatiana Maslany is absolutely amazing as Sarah - and all of the other clones! - juggling multiple roles, looks, accents and more in a way that seems impossible. There is Allison, the high-energy suburban mom; Cosina, the dredlocked scientist; evil Rachel; and Helena (possibly our favorite), the wild-eyed Ukrainian who will protect her "sestras"at all costs. The clones gradually meet each other and band together, trying to get to the bottom of the convoluted mystery of who they are and where they came from. One of the best scenes in the show is a clone dinner party at the end of season 3 when they are all in the same room together - awesome.

Supporting Tatiana in her multiple roles are other excellent actors. Our hands-down favorite is Jordan Gavaris as Sarah's snarky, flamboyantly gay foster-brother, Felix, who provides a lot of laughs on the show and often wears just an apron over his naked body when working on a piece of art. Kevin Hanchard is intense and concerned as Beth's cop partner, Art. Maria Doyle Kennedy plays Sarah and Felix's caring foster mom, Siobhan, who knows a bit about Sarah's mysterious beginnings. Another of our favorites is Kristian Bruun as Donnie, Allison's husband - those two are fabulous together, especially in later seasons. And little Skyler Wexler is absolutely adorable as Kira, Sarah's beloved daughter.

The excellent acting, wholly unique plot full of surprises, non-stop action, and complex ever-growing mysteries make this an outstanding show in every respect. It is incredibly addictive. Watch the first episode of the first season, and I guarantee you will want to watch them all! Just writing about it makes me want to watch the latest episode (but we promised to wait for our college son to come home after exams later this week).

Orphan Black is produced by BBC America and filmed in Canada. Here in the US, it is available On Demand through cable (season four currently airing). Amazon Prime has the first five  seasons of Orphan Black available to subscribers for free (that alone is worth the fee!).

It's Monday 4/25! What Are You Reading?

Whew...only noon on Monday, and I am exhausted! What a morning - started with my typical Monday - making breakfast & refilling medication boxes for our college son and I (a convoluted task that takes about 90 minutes each week). Then, my high school son got up with a high fever and severe sore throat and swollen glands. So, I ran him to the doctor's office (yup, strep, as we suspected), then of course, the requisite trip to the drugstore for antibiotics, back home to make him lunch, and oh, yeah, get back to refilling the weekly meds. Whew.

This is a rough re-entry after taking all day Saturday "off" to participate in Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon. It was my first time (and I did not stay up round the clock!), but it was such a wonderful relaxing break to spend a whole day with my husband, mostly reading (with a few TV breaks with him). I could use another day like that now!!

So, here's what we read last week:

• My first task for the Readathon was to finish the last ten pages of The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy by Rachel Joyce, companion novel to The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (which I loved!).  It was nice to return to those familiar characters, and it had the same sort of philosophical tone to it, which I loved, though the topic was a bit difficult for me. It takes place entirely in hospice, where Queenie is waiting for Harold.
• Next on Saturday, I started Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz for an online book group, and read over 200 pages in one day! So much fun. This is an odd but very entertaining book - a tense thriller that is filled with humor and irony, where the bad guys are clowns (yup, killer clowns - no joke).
• On audio last week, I finished a middle-grade audiobook, Upside-Down Magic by Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins. At first I thought it was just a cute little story, but it turned out to have a lot more depth to it than I first thought. It was very good & will appeal to younger middle-grade readers.
• For Readathon, I started (and finished!) a new middle-grade audio book, The Big Dark by Rodman Philbrick, about a town's experiences in northern New Hampshire when a solar flare knocks out power all over the world. It was absolutely riveting!
• My husband, Ken, finished The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens. When he heard how much we liked it at book group and that it was a mystery/thriller, he was sold. He also enjoyed it very much.
• Over the weekend, Ken started The Crossing by Michael Connelly, a cross-over novel starring both of his famous characters, Harry Bosch and The Lincoln Lawyer (if you are a Bosch fan, check out my review of the Bosch TV show). Ken planned to participate in Readathon with me, but our cable's Watchathon was too much of a temptation, and he ended up watching an entire season of The Walking Dead instead!
• Jamie, 21, is still re-reading the first two books in the A Pattern of Shadow and Light trilogy by Melissa McPhail: Cephrael's Hand and The Dagger of Adendigaeth, in preparation for reading book 3. 
• Craig, 18, is reading To Live by Yu Hua for his World Lit class. His older brother read it when he was in high school, too. He says it's a lot better than Like Water for Chocolate so far! ha ha - that wasn't one of his favorites.

Lots of blog posts last week:

Movie Monday: Ex Machina, a sci fi psychological thriller that we all enjoyed

TV Tuesday: Bosch, a fabulous TV show based on the best-selling book series

Author Talk: Daniel James Brown, author of The Boys on the Boat

YA Memoir Review: Becoming Maria by Sonia Manzano, the actress who played Maria on Sesame Street (I loved it!)

My Summary of Books Read in March, a good reading month!

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon Kick-Off

Dewey's 24 Hour Readathon Wrap-Up

What are you and your family reading this week?    

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.