Fiction Review: Brother and Sister Enter the Forest

One of this year's Booktopia selections was Brother and Sister Enter the Forest by debut author Richard Mirabella. I enjoyed reading this emotionally complex novel about family relationships and trauma and talking with the author about the story's origins and themes.

Willa lives a quiet life on her own, working as a nurse, casually seeing a man named Luke,  and occasionally checking in on her mother. In her spare time, she makes intricate dioramas, with miniature people (often her brother and her) arranged in scenes. Her brother, Justin, shows up at her door one day. They haven't seen each other in several years, and Justin looks bad, both homeless and unwell. Against her better judgement, Willa lets Justin stay with her. The narrative moves back and forth between the present day, as Justin and Willa try to readjust to each other, and the past, when they were both teenagers living with their mother. Back then, as a gay teen, Justin didn't have many friends but was seeing a slightly older man who'd recently graduated. Willa had one best friend back then, and her home was a refuge. Willa and Justin's mother was not a warm person, and her relationship with Justin was especially strained. Now, as adults both damaged by some sort of trauma in their past, Willa and Justin struggle to negotiate their relationship with each other and to make connections with others.

These two narrative threads--past and present--alternate, as they weave together the story of this brother and sister. The reader knows that something terrible happened to Justin as a teenager, something that left him both physically and emotionally damaged, but we don't know exactly what that trauma was until past the halfway mark. This creates suspense and a sense of foreboding in both the past and the present. Willa and Justin have a very complicated sibling relationship, tinged by this long-ago trauma that affected the whole family. They don't fully understand each other and feel somewhat like strangers, but with a shared past that leaves them feeling both compassionate and resentful. They each reach for healing and wholeness as adults, and they each make progress but without fully getting there. This is a complex, poignant story of tension and tenderness, family and friendship, and trauma and healing.

275 pages, Catapult

Dreamscape Media (audio)

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Challenge

 

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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.

 

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!

    
  

It's Monday 5/22! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

I'd like to focus on the books this week but first, just a quick mention of what happened last week. On Monday, we got the news that our great nephew (our nephew's 13-year-old son) died suddenly and horrifically on Sunday. We cancelled all our plans and flew to Texas for the funeral this weekend.

We've been to a lot of funerals in our families in the past ten years (and too many just in the past year), but this was a whole different experience. His big sister planned his memorial service and created a beautiful, moving, shattering slideshow. The service was perfect, but everything about this week was completely devastating for all.

It took us over 24 hours to get home, due to the assortment of delays, issues, and emergencies that seem to only happen in the airline industry. We spent 12 hours in the Houston airport yesterday, finally flew to Dallas at night, got a brief 6 hours of sleep in a nearby hotel, and went back to the airport this morning for a 6 am flight. We're both exhausted but still so grateful that we could be there with our family this weekend.   

Hug your kids and tell your family members you love them. Life is so fragile.

I hope you'll pardon this transition from grief to book talk, but I need a bit of normalcy and comfort right now.

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On the Blog

No posts last week after my Monday update, but ...

 

Remember that Big Book Summer, my annual summer reading challenge, kicks off THIS week, at the start of Memorial Day weekend. Check out last year's challenge page for details, pick out a Big Book (400 or more pages) or two (or more), and join the fun! A new challenge page, video, and Goodreads group for sign-ups will go up on Thursday, May 25 (we have visitors this weekend, so I'll kick things off a day early).

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On Video

Just a quick 1-minute short last week:

Friday Reads short 

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What We're Reading

I finished Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler. Delia is the wife of Dr. Grinstead, who took over her father's medical practice, and the mother of three almost-grown children. She still lives in the house she grew up in, and her life is quiet and predictable. So, it's a shock to everyone--including Delia herself--when Delia takes a walk down the beach on a family vacation ... and never returns. On a whim, she settles in a small, rural town and starts a new life; she rents a room in a boardinghouse and gets a job as a secretary--her first paid job ever (she's been working as her father's and then her husband's secretary her entire life). As Delia starts from scratch, with nothing, she begins to discover her own identity, separate from her family, for the first time. I had mixed feelings about this novel. While I could understand Delia's need to live on her own terms, as the mother of two grown sons myself, it was hard to relate to leaving one's children (of any age). I did enjoy Anne Tyler's renowned warmth and subtle humor (the newspaper article about Delia's disappearance in the first pages says it all). 

I traveled with only my iPad Mini, so before I left, I downloaded an e-book, The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, the second quarter readalong pick for the Book Cougars podcast. This is a very comforting read for my state of mind this week (and for being stuck in airports and on planes for two days). It's about a list of eight books that 17-year-old Aleisha finds stuck in a library book while working at her new job in the library. She's not much of a reader, but she begins reading the books on the list (classics and modern classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Kite Runner). Things are tough at home for Aleisha, as she helps her brother care for their mother. When an elderly widower named Mukesh comes to the library looking for a book, in an effort to connect with his late wife and his young granddaughter (both avid readers), Aleisha passes him To Kill a Mockingbird, and they end up talking about it together. This is a story about the power of books to soothe and comfort and to connect people. I'm loving it so far, and it provided much-needed escape yesterday during our long hours in the airport.

 

I forgot to mention last week that my husband and I finished the audiobook we started on vacation last month, The Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz. This is book #4 in his Hawthorne and Horowitz mystery series, where the author has put himself--his real life self--into a fictional world as a character. The author has reluctantly teamed up with Hawthorne, a Holmesian detective, to write a series of true crime books about his cases. In this book, Horowitz says that he's finished with the partnership but then he himself is accused of murder when someone associated with his new play is killed. He needs Hawthorne to help clear his name. It was my second book in this series (The Word Is Murder, book 1), and my husband's first, and we both enjoyed the twisty mystery.

 

Now, I am listening to Into White by Randi Pink, a YA novel I downloaded during a previous SYNC summer (this year's program, with two free audiobooks each week, just started--at the link). LaToya Williams is a Black girl in her mostly white Alabama high school, where she endures discrimination and bullying from both white and Black students. She wonders how her life would be different and prays one night to wake up "anything but Black." Her prayers are answered when she wakes up as a beautiful blue-eyed blonde. I had some trouble with the premise at first, but now it's getting into more emotional depth as LaToya experiences life as a white girl.

 

My husband, Ken, started reading A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates last week. This is excellent creepy psychological suspense that I read last month for Booktopia. Like me, he stuck to e-books this week for travel (a couple that he had started previously but wasn't really getting into). Besides, A Flaw in the Design was too dark for him right now. I'm not sure if he'll go back to it tonight or choose something else for now.

 

I haven't checked with our son, but I think he is still reading book 4, The Tunnels Beneath, of The Aldoran Chronicles by Michael Wiseheart. He said his new job is keeping him very busy!

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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?

It's Monday 5/15! What Are You Reading?

Hosted by The Book Date

Life

(Please note: For those that know me IRL, we got word today of a horrible tragedy in our family. Since I had already written this post, I decided to go ahead and post it because I may not be online much the next couple of weeks.) 

Last week was a whirlwind of recovery/catch-up in between Booktopia weekend and Mother's Day weekend, but I managed to go to my book group meeting (and made it to the end!). It was great to see everyone, and we had a wonderful discussion.

Then, it was back in the car to drive back to Connecticut, for both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday. I couldn't participate in a lot of the fun stuff, but it was wonderful to celebrate my mom, be with my niece and nephew, and to see the four cousins together, having fun.

 

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On the Blog

Fiction Review: Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett - my favorite Booktopia selection, this warm, thoughtful novel about addiction and death is also very funny.

 Fiction Review: A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates - creepy psychological suspense with plenty of emotional depth

Remember that Big Book Summer, my annual summer reading challenge kicks off in less than two weeks, at the start of Memorial Day weekend! Check out last year's challenge page for details, pick out a Big Book (400 or more pages) or two, and join the fun! A new challenge page and Goodreads group for sign-ups will go up either May 25 or 26.

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On Video

Booktopia 2023 Vlog - video clips and photos of Booktopia, held in Vermont every May, plus a quick overview of the books and authors featured there this year. 

 Friday Reads 5-12-23 - weekly update on what I am currently reading

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What We're Reading

 

I finished both reading and listening to The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate for book group. My book group previously read--and loved--Wingate's novel Before We Were Yours. This is another historical fiction book that spans both past and present. In Louisiana in 1875, a former slave named Hannie is now 18 years old and wants to find her family. Her mother, aunt, and eight siblings were each sold off separately in Louisiana and Texas during the war, when Hannie was just six years old. She's the only one that ended up back on their home plantation. In 1987, Bennie Silva is a first-year high school English teacher in that same town, struggling to engage the kids in her classes, who are distracted by extreme poverty, family members in prison, and other daily struggles. The "lost friends" of the title were real-life letters published in a southern church newspaper from enslaved people searching for their families, and Wingate has included these real (and very moving) letters throughout the narrative. I was completely engrossed in both narrative threads of this outstanding novel and loved the way they wove together in the end. The rest of my book group enjoyed it, too.

 

I mentioned to my family that I like Anne Tyler, so I received three of her novels for Christmas! I am reading one of those, Ladder of Years. Delia is the wife of Dr. Grimstead, who took over her father's medical practice, and the mother of three grown and almost-grown children. She still lives in the house she grew up in, and her life is quiet and predictable. So, it's a shock to everyone--including Delia herself--when Delia takes a walk down the beach on a family vacation ... and never returns. On a whim, she settles in a small, rural town and starts a new life; she rents a room in a boardinghouse and gets a job as a secretary--her first paid job ever (she's been working as her father's and then her husband's secretary her entire life). As Delia starts from scratch, with nothing, she begins to discover her own identity, separate from her family, for the first time. I'm enjoying this novel so far, with Anne Tyler's renowned warmth and subtle humor (the newspaper article about Delia's disappearance in the first pages says it all).

 

I'm almost finished with a YA audio book I've been meaning to listen to for years, The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater. This nonfiction book tells the story of two teens in Oakland whose paths cross on a city bus one day, changing both of their lives forever. One is seen as a criminal and the other as a victim, but both of their stories are far more nuanced than that. Richard is a black boy whose silly, thoughtless prank changes both of their lives. Sasha is a white agender youth who becomes a symbol of tolerance and kindness internationally. It's a stunning story about race, class, gender, and our criminal justice system. A high school friend of mine who now teaches high school English recommended it, and it's been riveting so far.

 

My husband, Ken, just finished reading Armada by Ernest Cline (author of the fabulous Ready Player One and its sequel, Ready Player Two). This is an earlier novel, where a teen obsessed with video games witnesses a real alien invasion--sounds like a lot of fun, with Cline's trademark humor woven in. He said it was enjoyable but not as good as Ready Player One and had the feel of a YA novel.

 

Our son, 28, is still reading book 4, The Tunnels Beneath, of The Aldoran Chronicles by Michael Wiseheart. He said his new job is keeping him very busy! 

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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: A Flaw in the Design

Another book I recently read for Booktopia 2023 is A Flaw in the Design by Nathan Oates. This literary suspense  debut novel kept me turning the pages late into the night but is also a thoughtful story about family, parenthood, and economic inequality.

Gil, a college literature professor, and his wife, Molly, live a quiet life in Vermont with their two daughters, ages 11 and 15. As the novel opens, that life is disrupted by the arrival of seventeen-year-old Matthew, their nephew. Gil's sister and her husband were just recently killed in a horrible car crash in New York, and Gil and Molly were surprised to learn that they were named as Matthew's guardians. Gil and his sister had been estranged for the past six years, ever since a disastrous family beach vacation at his sister's luxury home in Montauk. Matthew, just eleven at the time, displayed erratic, violent behavior, culminating in a heinous act that put their youngest daughter in danger. Now, Gil and Molly are welcoming Matthew into the midst of their family, wondering if he's a psychopath or if maybe he grew out of that behavior. In addition, Matthew has grown up surrounded by great wealth and privilege, and this new life in rural Vermont in the midst of a dark, snowy winter is a far cry from his luxury Upper East Side apartment and private school. Sometimes, Matthew seems like a normal teenager who is charming and very smart. He's even kind to Molly and the kids, and their oldest daughter is especially enamored of her older cousin. At other times, he seems menacing, and Gil wonders if he is taunting them. Is Matthew really a dangerous psychopath in their midst or is Gil's growing anxiety and mental health history leading him toward paranoia?

That is the primary tension in this slow-burning, creepy story, and that tension begins from the opening chapter (listen to the audio sample below) and grows, page by page. In addition to its exquisite suspense, the novel also has incredible emotional depth, as you get to know each character and learn their history. It delves into issues of trust, family relationships, economic disparities, and mental health. I would never spoil a novel in a review, but I can tell you that the climactic ending here is somewhat ambiguous, leaving the reader thinking and making it an excellent choice for discussion. This thought-provoking, taut suspense story will keep you reading late into the night ... with all the lights on.

283 pages, Random House

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel, and/or download it from Audible. You can hear that tension already in these first pages.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

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: Unlikely Animals

My favorite book (read so far) of Booktopia 2023 was Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett, a new-to-me author. I absolutely loved this delightful, funny novel about addiction, death, and animals, both real and hallucinated.

Twenty-two-year-old Emma Starling has returned to her small, rural hometown of Everton, New Hampshire. Her father, Clive, is dying of a mysterious brain disease, and it's finally time (Thanksgiving now) to admit to her parents that she did not start med school in the fall, like she told them (Emma was supposedly born with healing powers). Emma's come home to spend time with her father but also to figure out what's next in her life. Her brother, Auggie, is also at home living with their parents after his second stint in rehab. Clive's brain disease causes hallucinations, especially of animals, though he also hallucinates a real-life man. Ernest Harold Baynes lived in the town around the turn of the 20th century and was a renowned naturalist who was known for taming animals and bringing them into his home, including a pet fox, The Sprite, and a bear named Jimmy. Clive was asked to leave his job as an English professor at the local college when he scared a class by yelling about all the cats in the room. Emma finds a job as the long-term substitute teacher for the 5th grade class at the local school. The kids have been doubly traumatized as a classmate died recently and their usual beloved teacher is accompanying her husband, a prominent local businessman accused of dealing drugs, in court. Finally, Emma's best friend from high school, Crystal, is missing, but police aren't even looking for her, as she was known to take drugs and they assume she either ran away or is dead somewhere. Clive hasn't given up, though, and is driving everyone in town crazy by posting thousands of "missing" posters all over. Oh, and the entire novel is narrated by the (dead) residents of the town cemetery.

I know that last part sounds gimicky (and the whole thing sounds very quirky), but this is a wonderful novel filled with heart and humor. It deals with some very serious topics--opioid addiction, childhood trauma, terminal illness--with honesty and emotional depth, but it also had me laughing out loud from beginning to end. The narration by dead townspeople from many different time periods adds a unique (and amusing) omniscient point of view. Ernest Harold Baynes (Clive just calls him Harold and has many in-depth conversations with him) was a real historical figure in that part of New Hampshire, with real photos and edited excerpts of his writings sprinkled throughout the novel. The author explained at Booktopia that she wanted to include him in a book but wanted to write a modern story, not historical fiction, so she made him a ghost. The precocious 5th graders in Emma's class were one of my favorite parts of the story; they are intense and sincere and very funny. The novel also incorporates suspense, in the plotline about the missing Crystal. Is this another of Clive's flights of fancy or could she possibly still be alive somewhere? All of these disparate plotlines come together in a fabulous climax. This wonderful, unique novel was poignant, engrossing, hilariously funny, and filled with memorable characters. I definitely want to read Hartnett's earlier novel, Rabbit Cake.

346 pages, Ballantine Books

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Mount TBR Challenge

Diversity Reading Challenge

Literary Escapes - NH

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

Listen to a sample of the audiobook here, from the start of the novel with the cemetery residents narrating, and/or download it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores.

 

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!