Nick Alexander’s The Bottle of Tears

On By upstateasbIn Contemporary Women's Lit, Fiction, Literary FictionLeave a comment
Amazon Publishing UK/Lake Union Publishing / Paperback / Publication Date: August 1, 2019

Reading along contentedly.  Enjoying this good novel.  Appreciating the author’s skillful styling, the easy flow and authenticity.  Assuming, not having noticed, that it was written by a woman.  Finished it with a sigh of satisfaction and moved on to “About the Author”.   Nick Alexander.  Can anyone tell me why I am always astounded when a man does women characters so well?  Every time.  Gets me every time.  It can be done, I know it can be done, I’ve seen it done, and still it gets me every time.  Over and over.  

To my knowledge I’d never heard of Nick Alexander, but he’s good and evidently enjoying some success:  The Other Son, The Photographer’s Wife, The Half-Life of Hannah.  Ring any bells with you, readers?  Merits checking out, I think.  Geez, I know I live in the woods, but other stuff gets through.  Why not Nick Alexander?

All right, the book under consideration, The Bottle of Tears:  Two embattled sisters with shrouded memories of a calamitous past, and a mother who compounds it all by pitting them against each other.  I mean, Mum just can’t stop stirring it.  On the surface, the families of these two manage to look pretty much like everyone else – loving, active, normal, happy.  Not so.  Older sis Victoria is OCD and addicted to Valium.  She also has buckets of money because she’s married to a successful lawyer.  Little sis Penny is a hard-working social psychologist married to a pothead who was formerly a successful artist.  They have a lovely home by the sea and no money.  

Well, I know.  Put like that I know just what it sounds like.  Soap operas and book clubs.  Of course, as “they” say, there are only so many stories to be told.  It’s good writing that makes the difference, and right here is where Mr. Alexander comes in – taking this sorry-sounding, sordid set of scenarios, letting some light in, fluffing it up, tossing, nipping, tucking, polishing up the whole shebang, turning on some music, and there you go.  No longer same old, same old.  Takes talent, and I hope Mr. Alexander enjoys writing because he makes it look so easy.  As if he just breathed the story onto the pages.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Amazon Publishing UK / Lake Union Publishing via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Jennifer Givhan’s Trinity Sight

On By upstateasbIn Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Sci-Fi / DypstopianLeave a comment
Blackstone Publishing / Hardcover Publication Date, October 1, 2019 / Paperback Publication Date, October 13, 2020

A post-apocalyptic horror story?  Another Stephen King wannabe?  But, hey, as we know, there is only one Stephen King, EVER, and sometimes even Stephen King isn’t Stephen King.  Now I do not think that emulating the Master was Jennifer Givhan’s intention, but still, you know.  On the other hand, I never did fully grasp just what Ms. Givhan’s intentions were, though I know she had some.  It’s just that the formulaic nature of this genre kept shouting to be heard.  However, the lady does entertain and, as often as not, that’s quite enough.

Blinding flashes, an assumed nuclear incident, and, poof! . . . everyone’s gone.  Cars and homes abandoned like the Rapture.  Well, most everyone.   Calliope, a Ph.D. archaeologist and hugely pregnant with twins, begins that obligatory trek/journey/quest in search of missing family – her mother, husband, and son, Phoenix.  She is accompanied by the small Asian girl from next door, a six-year-old seer/clairvoyant/visionary, and, along the way they meet others wandering in the desert.  They’re joined by Amy who is delightful, my hands-down favorite, a heavily tattooed young lady working her way through college as an exotic dancer who, it so happens, can also fly a plane.  A plane will come in handy when those monstrous kachina dolls appear, and wouldn’t you know there’s a wee yellow one right over there.  Check, check, check, check, check, check, check, check!

But hold up!  Calliope needs a………a what, a circus?  No, silly, she needs a man.  With a rifle.  Handsome Native American physicist named Chance Guardian.  Now please put the appellation anvil away, Ms. Givhan, ‘cause we get it, but damn right and check anyway.  I hope he shows up for my apocalypse, but if he does I don’t want to be preggers, and I’ll just call him Cousin Bob.  So they’re off.  On Chance’s home reservation they discover that they had it backward all along.  Alternate realities, parallel universes, you know – of course, and check!

So is there any merit here, or am I just being a curmudgeon?  Both, I think, but for sure, I’m being a curmudgeon.  It’s way more fun that way.  While this first novel surely could be improved, that’s true more often than not, and this one keeps you reading.  Future plans, Ms. Givhan?  I’d like to see you give it another go.

Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Blackstone Publishing via NetGalley. I would like to thank the publisher and the author for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

It Was the Best of Lines, It Was the Worst of Lines – May 18, 2021

On By upstateasbIn It Was the Best of Lines . . ., UncategorizedLeave a comment

“There once lived, at a series of temporary addresses across the United
States of America, a traveling man of Indian origin, advancing years and retreating mental powers, who, on account of his love for mindless television, had spent far too much of life in the yellow light of tawdry motel rooms watching an excess of it, and had suffered a peculiar form of brain damage as a result.“

Salman Rushdie, Quichotte                                                                      

Readers:  “Hey, writer person, we thought you only liked short first lines!” 

Writer person: “Nah, who told you that?”   

It’s all in the execution, you see.  It’s just so easy (and tempting) to ruin an introductory line by packing it full willy-nilly, but here’s the thing we mustn’t forget.  On the other side of however, there are lengthy beauties like the one above by Mr. Rushdie.  Sublimely well-executed, rich and delicious.  As detailed and meticulously constructed as a Da Vinci drawing, this lovely thing is seamless and not a word is wasted.  Even the formal sounding “United States of America” appears as completely essential to the piece.  Yes, there’s a good deal of information here, actually, but it is not being asked to do double duty and advance the story.  That is not its job.  Rather, it is generative – producing question after question in the reader’s mind and that irresistible pull – read the book, read the book, read the book.  The subject matter is delightfully quirky, but that sentence is smooth as silk.  Hats off to an artist.       

Three by C.J. Tudor: The Burning Girls, The Hiding Place, and The Other People

On By upstateasbIn Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Psychological ThrillerLeave a comment

Thanks to Covid-19 I’ve been in this house too damn long, and it’s cooooold outside anyway.  Read?  Well, of course, but nothing that would tax my brain, make me work, depress me, or worry me tucked up here safely in my cocoon.  No, sir.  It was just gonna be read and snack, read and snack, read and snack some more.  If that’s where you are too, then I’ve got three for you.  Got ‘em right here.   

As I poked about looking for something that met my exacting requirements, I cracked open mystery/thriller The Burning Girls, the latest by British author C.J. Tudor, and sha-zamm.  Sucked right on in.  Grabbed by the neck.  Ass over teakettle.  It was a done deal and finished all too soon.  What to do?  Read another C.J. Tudor.  And then another!  Now I haven’t got my hands on Ms. Tudor’s first novel The Chalk Man yet, but if I had I’m sure I’d have had four for you.  (That one received a couple “Best First” awards, so there you go.)

In order of titles above, a young British cleric is transferred to a remote village with an ancient chapel, a dismissed teacher gets a job in his hometown at the school he attended, and a man’s wife and daughter are murdered…..or not.  All three novels are stand-alones, and all have a supernatural element as well.  For me,  The Other People was the least successful of the three, but maybe I was just sated by then.  Now I know, I know, but Ms. Tudor puts you there, and her characters are wonderfully complex.  Nothing cheesy to speak of except, perhaps, your choice of snacks.  Plus Ms. Tudor may write fastest hooks in the business.  Uncannily so.  Once you start, you won’t turn back.  Fast, fun, and no calories.  Wish I could say the same for the snacks.  Enjoy your reads and your nom-noms.

Ann Napolitano’s Dear Edward

On By upstateasbIn Contemporary Women's Lit, Fiction, Literary FictionLeave a comment
Just arrived in paperback on February 2, 2021 / Hardcover publication date: January 6, 2020 / Publisher: Random House / The Dial Press

Now here’s a thing.  I want you to read this lovely novel, but I don’t want to tell you about it.  Well, no, I do, but my fear is that it would be so easy to ruin.  You see, Chapter 1 introduces the Adler family – mother, father, two sons.  One is a teen; the other a pre-teen.  A nice ordinary family moving from New York to LA, just diddling along, and you’re wondering whether the whole thing is going to stay ordinary.  Not enough to hang a verdict on so far.  OK, then Chapter 2.  As shattering as a rock slide.  The story is aftermath.  It is for those who remain to dig for daylight, clear the rubble, choke on the dust, to find a way

You will love this story, and you must discover it whole, not through the bits and pieces that I or anyone else could dole out.  No, it is not a literary marvel and doesn’t aspire to be.  In fact, it strikes me as possibly abutting that fuzzy place we’ve come to call young adult fiction.  A matter of opinion, I guess, and who cares.  It is splendid, and why not?  A wonderful story, skillfully told, with fully-formed characters you’ll invest in.  Whether you’re looking ahead at your life, fighting the good fight, or looking back, what is a life worth?  What do we make of the singular life we’re each given?  I put everything aside for Dear Edward, an absorbing and provocative interlude, and I thank you, Ms. Napolitano, for Edward and Shay, Lacy and John, Beso, Principal Arundhi and the ferns.  And for the 191 silver birds pictured in my mind.

Released last week in paperback, Dear Edward deserves a place in your TBR pile, preferably on top.

Full Disclosure:  A review copy of this book was provided to me by Random House Publishing Group / Random House – The Dial Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity.  All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Tracy Chevalier’s A Single Thread

On By upstateasbIn Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary FictionLeave a comment
Hardcover Publication Date: September 17, 2019 / Paperback Publication Date: October 6, 2020 / Publisher: Penguin Group/Viking

Winchester, UK, between the wars.  Life goes on as families continue to grieve their lost sons, women live without men by their sides, and, far, far away, the Nazis build their power base in Germany for another go at world domination.  If you only know Tracy Chevalier from Girl With a Pearl Earring, then you’ll find this quite different.  The setting and focus brings the work of Irish writer Maeve Binchy to mind, but without Binchy’s warmth, optimism and overall cheerfulness.  The lives of ordinary folks, yes, but more forward looking, a more realistic tone, and a glimmer of a changing world view.  You have the good, the bad and the (at the time) still frowned upon; for example, there’s a lesbian couple.  Some are incensed, there is talk, but there are some who accept, who don’t tut and turn away.  Change. 

Violet Speedwell lost her brother and fiancé in WWI; at thirty-eight, she is a spinster, and her bitter mother makes life difficult, so Violet sets out to make a life on her own in Winchester.  Spinsterhood was a dreaded status in those days, and it’s tough going.  Violet, however, learns to stand up for herself, and she gets by.   Winchester Cathedral is the center of life in town, and Violet visits frequently to enjoy its history and beauty.  In doing so, she’s fascinated by the embroidered kneelers and cushions in the church and joins the Society of Cathedral Broderers (spelled correctly) to learn this ancient art.  Meets a gentleman, too, a bell ringer, an expert in change ringing.  (Have you read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers?  A Lord Peter Wimsey mystery based on change ringing.)  And here is where the Tracy Chevalier we know comes in.  She can take little known subjects such as needlepoint and change ringing and expound ‘til the cows come home . . . and you will be enthralled.  I do not lie.  Even the change ringing is clearly explained, and that stuff is as arcane as Egyptian embalming methods. Probably more so – though much noisier.  Violet’s story winds round and about these skills, but the story itself is in the people, people living serenely on the cusp of another cataclysm and a changed world.

More of a woman’s read, but well-written and rewarding.  Comfortable, but not cozy, with an undercurrent of foreboding.  Ancient skills juxtaposed against the coming of the modern era.  I enjoyed Ms. Chevalier’s latest and was over the moon when I came upon this word oddity – fylfot.  A fylfot, or fylfots if you have multiples of them.  A word so cute it looks as if it ought to wiggle like a puppy.  An Anglo-Saxon word for an ancient symbol used in many cultures and religions for light, life and good fortune.  We no longer see it as that because, you see, during this era of change between the wars, the fylfot became the swastika.  Symbolism can be a bitch.  How far you have fallen, fylfot.

The Way Through the Woods: On Mushrooms and Mourning

On By upstateasbIn International Literature, Memoir, Nonfiction, Outdoors & Nature, Scandinavian Literature, scienceLeave a comment
Hardcover Publication Date: August 29, 2019 / Publisher: Random House Publishing Group / Random House

Perhaps the most “unlikely” piece of non-fiction I’ve ever read – unlikely to be written in the first place and unlikely to be read by me, or so it seemed.  In fact, I would have said unlikely to be read by anybody.  I would have said that until I read it, so let’s get that behind us.  This little oddity is good, pleasant and comforting, actually.  The author is Malaysian, living in Norway with her Norwegian husband when he dies suddenly at a rather young age.  Devastated, absolutely lost, she recounts her struggle with grief and her serendipitous discovery of mushroom hunting and the intricacies of mushroom identification.  Quite a big thing in Norway, evidently, organized and controlled.  There are even highly trained volunteer mushroom inspectors for safety.  Who knew?  

Ms. Long makes no claims that mushrooms have special properties that helped her, but rather, her introduction to and her education in the rewards of mushroom hunting ran concurrently with her mourning, lifting her in her struggles and despair.  You, too, will be educated: fun, fungal facts (really), identification, cooking tips, and, of course, the effects of poisonous mushrooms.  There’s even a lengthy discussion of psychedelics, which, I was gratified to know, are called ‘shrooms in Norway, too.  But the very best thing for me?  Illustrations.  Lovely delicate line drawings of mushrooms throughout.  Not detailed, no.  Simple, graceful suggestions of mushrooms.  So, I enjoyed the book and tripped out on the drawings, but do I recommend it?  Yes, however, I can’t honestly say it’s for everyone.  Who’s to say, though?  You could be taken by surprise as I was.  Don’t be too proud to get in touch with your inner geek.  Why, at this very moment, I have two cans of mushroom stems and pieces in my cabinet.  Store brand. 

Full Disclosure:  A review copy of this book was provided to me by Random House Publishing Group / Random House via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity.  All opinions expressed herein are my own.

Craig Johnson’s Land of Wolves

On By upstateasbIn Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, The American WestLeave a comment
Hardcover Publication Date: September 17, 2029 / Paperback Publication Date: August 4, 2020 / Publisher: PENGUIN GROUP / Viking

Another in the excellent Longmire mystery series, and let’s just cut to the chase.  That’s a damn good thing, the series and this book.  Sorry to say that I’ve missed a few episodes, and evidently Walt Longmire went through some serious stuff while I was away, but Walt and I go way back, so we took up like it was just yesterday.  The mystique of wolves, a mysterious pest of a woman in a Tibetan cap, Basque shepherds and herding dogs, Longmire’s own monstrous canine Dog, the rugged beauty of Wyoming and an ailing, but still determined Walt Longmire.  Yep.  Temperature was in the 90’s here when I read this, but I was wearing a fleece lined jacket, riding in a 4X4 pick-up through the snowy mountains of Wyoming with Dog in the back.  And there are braying mules, too.  Every good story is improved by a jackass or two.  Yep.  So true.  If you don’t know Longmire, jump in.  If you only know Longmire from the TV series, you ain’t nothing but a city slicker.  Take your Longmire straight – from the page.  Real men read.

Curdella Forbes’ A Tall History of Sugar

On By upstateasbIn African-American Literature, Fiction, Literary CriticismLeave a comment
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Hardcover Publication Date: October 1, 2019 / Publisher: Akashic Books

A Tall History of Sugar delivers a tall order of beautiful language, a giddy, glorious and, yes, intoxicating order.  Just as I wrote this, one tiny example came to mind, two words only: “ploughing darkness”.  Dark, but lovely, isn’t it?  How recognizable to any of us afflicted by the human condition.  Hard work, that ploughing, and usually fruitless.  Next time I find myself cultivating my particular patch in the “slough of despond” I’ll know what to call it. 

OK, OK, this intoxicating novel of modern day Jamaica.  Ms. Forbes’ enchanting words took me to Jamaica right away, a sugar rush of language and culture.  Growing sugar cane is and has been pervasive in Jamaican history:  plantations enriching the British Empire, labor supply feeding off the slave trade, the black smoke of cane fires blanketing the island to this day.  And so begins the love story of Moshe and Arrienne .  

When newly born, Moshe (Moses) was found abandoned in the sea grapes and taken in by childless Rachel and Noah.  Through some defect of birth or, perhaps, his mysterious parentage, he is strikingly different and will be all his life.  His skin bleeds at a touch and is white as milk, but his facial features are those of a black man.  One eye is blue, the other brown, and his hair is a combination of blond and straight, black and curly.  Moshe and Arrienne meet as school children.  She is a growing beauty and dark as midnight.  She’s also fierce, practiced in tae kwan do and readily assumes the role of protector and constant companion to Moshe.  She thinks of the two of them as twins or, sometimes, “nottwins”, and they can communicate without speaking.  As adults, they lose this ability and are estranged, but there remains an inexorable pull, a need for each other. 

While Arrienne is out-spoken, quick to anger and fully human, Moshe, to me, was more of a being than a person – perhaps (probably?) purposely.  I usually step lightly around symbolism because you can always find something if you want to, but Moshe’s character struck me as Christ-like.  Not without sin, but tormented and stoic, paying for something, bleeding.  Hmmm, well………you’ll have to come to your own conclusions.  Ms. Forbes is a writer-to-the-bone, and I won’t presume to speak for her. Intoxicating, yes, and as lyrical as Jamaican patois.  Sorry, I’ve rambled on too long, but it’s my word hangover talking.  Speaking of patois (way to segue), I was intrigued and went online to explore.  Guess what?  There are lessons!  Some say it is a language, and others call it a dialect, but, no matter, it’s beautiful – as is Ms. Forbes’ moving book.  Worth the word hangover.

Katie Lowe’s The Furies

On By upstateasbIn Fiction, Literary Fiction, Psychological ThrillerLeave a comment
Hardcover Publication Date: October 8, 2019 / Expected Paperback Publication Date: September 15, 2020 / Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

An exclusive British girl’s school has an eerie history, and I was expecting (hoping for, actually) witches.  Haven’t done witches in such a long, long time and was not in the mood for anything that smacked of reality.  Well, it’s not witches– exactly, nor is it reality – exactly.  The school is Elm Hollow, and, yes, there were witch trials there in the seventeenth century.  As a result, Margaret Boucher, the school’s founder was burned on the spot where the wych elm now stands, and there have been rumors of sorcery at Elm Hollow ever since.  OK, witches, maybe.  The reality?  Modern day adolescents.  Lest you’re starting to think Harry Potterish, oh, no, it is not.  These kids are the good, the bad, and the ugly:  drugs, drinking, sex, spite, revenge, gossip.  And sorcery?  Sort of. 

Violet, the narrator and central figure, is the new girl and something of a loner who is drawn into an existing clique.  There’s wealthy Alexandra whose mother studies the occult; Grace, the academic one; and Robin — daring, artsy with piercings and hair dyed a garish red.  There was Emily, also, but she’s disappeared, feared to be the victim of a predator.  Violet is brought into the group by Robin, and, while she has doubts and wonders if she is replacing Emily, she wants so much to belong.  All four are the chosen acolytes of Annabelle, a gifted teacher, who leads them in an extracurricular class focused on women throughout history who have used force and fury to right wrongs as only women can.  Leaders, followers, wannabes – and sorcery.  But is it really?  More accurately, maybe it’s just experimentation with sorcery – an adolescent fascination.   Oh, yes, to be sure, there are five deaths with links to these four, a range of deaths from gruesome to bizarre and one that is mysteriously serene.  Possibly murders, maybe accidents, or perhaps natural causes.  Is it coincidence that these are linked to the girls?  Could be.  Or sorcery.  Let’s put it this way, if it’s not sorcery, it’s not for lack of trying because these girls have secrets to hide and scores to settle.  A pretty good read, this, fierce and entertaining, and you’ll be glad to know that, like most beloved old school traditions, Elm Hollow’s is in good hands and will continue passing to future generations of girls.  

Full Disclosure:  A review copy of this book was provided to me by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for providing me this opportunity.  All opinions expressed herein are my own.