She's Not Sorry: Book Review

 She's Not Sorry

By Mary Kubica

Library Copy

One of the best thriller and page turner I've read in awhile. I haven't been able to connect with any book in the last couple months since my Mom's death. Not this one. The second novel I have read by this author (Mary Kubica). Loved each novel I have read by Ms. Kubica. 

I am a retired nurse. I absolutely loved the book because most of what was happening was in the hospital setting. What we do as nurses taking care of patients. I could relate to most of what was going on. This has to be the first novel I've read about nursing, and the occupation. The author got it right. I don't know if she worked as a nurse. Or she knew someone, or did her research before publishing. The story seemed to authentic working on the hospital floor. I didn't work in ICU, but I did work on the post-surgical floor. 

I loved the fast paced thriller. I read, and loved it for the fun and the great read it is. 

Book Review: Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story

 

Varina Palladino's

Jersey Italian Love Story

by Terri Lynne DeFinco

What a fun, comically,  and exciting read. About an Italian NJ  family, the Palladino's. 

The escapades of matriarch, Sylvia, 92 years ago, Varina, 70 years old, and Donatella, the granddaughter.  Which includes the large extended family. The brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  Think of Moonstruck, and Saturday Night Fever, loud, large, extended family.  

The three, Grandmother-92(Sylvia), daughter-70(Varina), and granddaughter(Donnetta) live in the same house under one roof. Varina during the day owns and works in her specialty Italian grocery store in the neighborhood. We also meet Paulie who has been adopted to the family, Paulie since he was 5 years old. Who Donnetta treats Paulie like a brother. A large family gathering during Christmas Eve Donetta is held up at the police station. She is always getting in trouble. Paulie "The man in shining army" rescues her. She has constantly had issues. No one but Paulie knows what happened. Donnatella has so many issues herself. You don't find out later until much later what is with her. 

Another twist Sylvie schemes with her grandaughter to make posters advertising her daughter would like to meet a man. Varina has no idea. So men start popping up at her store without her realizing why she is so popular. Men popping up at her store. Can you imagine?! There is so many escapades they scheme, and continue to plot ideas. There is so many funny, comical lines. You are laughing out loud.

I could see the scene as I used to live in New Jersey and knew the area she was writing about. I could picture it in my head as a movie. In Wyldale, NJ. I picture the row houses in a close knit community like in Jersey City, North Bergen. As I have never been in this community.  It was fun reading about the shopping malls she mentions, Bergen Mall, Paramus Park, etc,

I enjoyed reading until the last part. It just bothered me. What a way to ruin a book that was a fun book to read. To a book that became tragic, and sad abruptly. I wasn't expecting it. I understand novels that have to have a bit of meat. Which is a book I like. But the sadness was unexpected. Why would you ride a fun book and then put sadness, and tragedy in a novel. What were the publicists thinking? The novel didn't work for me only in the last part. If you are going to write a serious novel, OK, I like serious. This was too sad. But to go to two extremes it was so sad it made me cry! The book was great and fun until the last part. I would have given it 5 stars unfortunately because the story didn't work at the end I give it three stars.

Isabelle Allende: Positive Vibes!

 

The Wind Knows M Name

By Isabel Allende

( Library Copy)

 All I can say is, Wow! I  haven't read any of Ms. Allende's work. I have heard her name for many years. Unfortunately, I haven't thought to pick up her work. I wish I did. What was I afraid of? Why did I wait so long? She blew me away with literary magic. I am blown away. Why, you ask. It wasn't the drama or the plot. It was with her writing. I just can't say enough about her work. Yes, there is drama and social justice but It was much, much more. She was a literary wonder how she was a genius to connect emotions with abandonment and trust and connecting it with the holocaust and separation at the border. 

 It was an author who brought the characters, and the thought and feeling of how the characters dealt with issues and didn't shy away from it. She dealt with them head-on with all the characters with their actions, personality, behaviors, feelings, and emotions. She seemed to be able to put herself in the character's head and play it out perfectly.

In 2018 the government did something unprecedented in my lifetime and I am sure many others felt the same way. It was just cruelty( not that the Trump administration wasn't cruel already). But, this topped it to the max. Separation at the border ( Mexico/ USA). Trump promised a border would be built entirely across Mexico/USA. Would be paid by Mexico, Not. FYI- It didn't happen. It was partially built but paid for by the US, not Mexico. The Border Patrol tore children and babies away from their parents. Do you remember watching this? They were put in detention and put in cages(icebox). Most of them wondered what will happen to the children. Since there wasn't any documentation of names. Where would they go? Most of them were put in foster care? No trail was left  You don't think some Americans used this for a speedy adoption. 

The novel has two timelines and two locations and two main characters. Samuel Adler is a 5-year-old boy living in 1938 in Vienna. Samuel's father disappears during Kristallnacht. With the help of family and friends Samuel's Mother plans an escape for Samuel to leave and travel to Britain by himself temporarily. He only brings a small suitcase and his violin. She plans to meet up with him when it is possible. He is traumatized by the action his mother takes to keep him safe. He is fostered by a kind and wonderful Quaker family. It takes him a while to warm up to his new family. 

Jump to 80 years later, Anita Diaz and her mother are running from military gangs in El Salvador. They are determined to escape to the United States. They finally arrive at the Border. Where the US government has put an order to separate children from their parents( FYI-This is true). Anita is separated from her Mother and placed in cages in Arizona. As a way of comforting herself, she escapes from reality into a new reality world. Where she has made up an imaginary friend, Claudia. While in the protection of US Immigration, a social worker and a lawyer attempt to look and find her mother. They find her mother never went back to El Salvador. 

I loved the author's writing and how she was able to use the character's emotions and use them similarly to relate to each other. How she was able to resolve their trust, forgiveness, and isolation issues. For Samuel to use music for both of them to connect and Samuel was able to come out of his shell after so many years and find love. There is so much more and I don't want to give spoilers about these two characters. You will just have to trust me. You will love them. I loved how the author connected both the history and the contemporary history of the separation of families. I wish the author had delved a bit more of the process of finding family during the holocaust. She didn't touch much on it. 

 

Disappearing Earth: Book Review

 

Disappearing Earth

By Julia Phillips

( My copy)

Disappearing Earth is a difficult book to review. It is different than any book I have read in my life time. The writing style is poetic in style, and prose. The set up of the novel the characters, place, and time and atmospheric as well as a touch of mysticism adds to the novel. I had difficulty keeping track of all the characters straight. There is a reason you will understand once you get further in the book. The author and publisher gave us resources to follow to understand the geography with a map. The publisher gave us a list of the some of the characters, not all. My suggestion is to make your own cheat-cheat. The publisher's is helpful. But, making your own makes a world of difference. 

Disappearing Earth won the Pulitzer prize in 2019. It has been praised by many literary magazines, and critics alike. Julia Phillips was born in the United States. She then studied in Moscow, Russia. She applied for the Fulbright.  was awarded the Fulbright Fellowship for traveling to Kamchatka Peninsula.

 I bet you never heard of it. Don't feel bad. Either did I. Most people in the US and even Russia didn't either. Who would unless you are an adventure traveler. I was surprised to see how close the area is to the United States. Where each Alaska and the Kamchatka Peninsula almost touch is 55 miles. Remember Russia sold Alaska around 1855. 

                                        Kamchatka Russia, Geography, History, and other tidbits

Kamchatka, Russia has been inhabited by the indigenous people in the area for generations. USSR(now Russia) invaded and took it for conquest. It was later used as a military base in the 1950's. Which is no longer used. There aren't any roads leading in and out. It is basically an isolated area. The only way you or any visitor can get in or out is by plane. It was closed off by the USSR until the 1990's. Which became Russia and opened the borders. It is very expensive to live in Kamchatka. To heat a home is done by using the energy of the volcano and the geysers. 

If you look at the map I pictured.  It is about 4,098 miles from Moscow. Which is about 9 hours travel time. You can't drive, the only way to travel is by air. The capital city is called, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Many adventure travelers come to the area. 

It is a very isolated area getting in or out. Adventure travelers come to climb the mountains, volcanos, geysers, etc. Yes, I said volcanos, and geysers!  Many of the volcanos are active. I have read they erupt frequently as recently as three months ago. The active area is a living breathing earth. With the fault line, Ring of Fire close by. The infrastructures are unstable and not well maintained.

Now that you have a slice of the background, geography, history, culture, and the people of  Kamchatka on with Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips. The novel opens with two girls at the beach who are alone and soon an older man offers the two sisters a ride home. But never arrive to their  home. The novel is not about the search for the little girls. Rather it is about the community how each individual character is affected by the kidnapping. 

The book is arranged from the start of the kidnapping by each month and one character in the community. The characters directly or indirectly know the sisters.  We only know about the girls and the kidnapping or hear about it in the first chapter, and then toward the end. The novel is poetic in prose and a touch and feel of the mystical. Perhaps it is the area where the story takes place. 

Disappearing Earth must be read slowly and not fast. Reading the book doesn't give the novel justice reading it quickly. It must be absorbed, digested, and thought provoking. I don't usually like  a book with too many characters. I was getting so confused. It was difficult to keep track of who was who. The book does have a list of the characters which was helpful.  But, I would still write your own cheat-cheat to distinguish the characters. Some of the characters are not listed. I hate to say this was my only critique. I had a difficult time enjoying the novel because of so  many characters of place, time, location, people. 

Each chapter seemed like a short story on to itself. Some of the stories I related to and was hoping the author would come back to. Instead each chapter didn't come back once the story was over. I felt like darn. The author could actually write a novel on a few of these characters I thought some of them were worth re-visiting. Some were not worth investing any more into these characters. I was actually asking myself and waiting for where is the connection? You had to wait till almost the end of the book to find any connections.

You will realize why the author wrote so many characters by the end of the novel. The author wanted to show there are so many different acts of violence for women. Injustices in class( white Russian vs. Indigenous people), gender, LGBTQ, identity, otherness. How lives changed and was impacted. How each of these characters grapple with fear, power, fury, and complicity, clues, and how some of the characters finally gain control of their lives. The different range of violence and harm to women and experiences. At times we accept as normal which really isn't. Society has at times white washed. And we learn to become complicit in many situations and we learn to self blame. Eg. I was wearing a short skirt, my blouse was to risque. Maybe that's why he did what he did. They ask yourself Who is a victim or who isn't? Who should believed and who shouldn't? 

 Was it coincidence I was watching the court case at the same time I was reading Disappearing Earth. The civil court case of E. Jean Carroll and President Trump was going on. I was asking questions and it who is to be believed in the characters in the book how it related to the court case. It brought up a lot of memories from the 70's and 80's of the court cases brought to the courts of domestic abuse cases and rape cases. Most of them dropped because of the women were not believed. 

The story felt like the characters and each of their stories could happen anywhere. In the United States, and globally.  The isolation of the peninsula elevated all the different types of sexual violence, harassments, domestic abuse, etc. 

These are the books I love when the place plays the part of character. Books like this which takes place in cold, desolate locales excite me. I don't know why as I'm not a camper, hiker, mountaineer. I like reading books of places I have never been and probably will never visit. Reading about the culture, and the slice of the people in the area excite me. I have already read a few novels that take place in cosmopolitan Russia, not desolate, cold climate like the northern part of Russia. 

Like I said this is a slow read, many characters. But the writing was still beautifully written and mystical in story telling. The story and writing style was unique. I think that is what impressed me the most. The book reminded me a bit of Tommy Orange's novel, There There. Which I have loved as well.

I didn't know what to make of the book. Do I recommend it or not? Because I think the book is not for everyone. We held our book club and had a good discussion. Most people I thought would tell me they hated it. That didn't happen most of the book club enjoyed reading it as well. By the way the book won the National Book Award.

                                                                      

Hang the Moon: Book Review

Hang the Moon

By Jeannette Walls

Library Copy

I really wanted to like Hang the Moon. I read her previous memoir, Glass Castles. But, unfortunately it did not make my expectation. The beginning was delightful, and it was fast paced. But then one catastrophe after another happened. This made it feel like the author was just throwing stuff at us, non-sensical. It had no rhyme, or reason. It then fell flat and lost me at the end. The ending was wrapped in a tight bow( happy ever after). It was too happy ever after. C'mon this would never happen in real life. It was contrived. 

Hang the Moon takes place in the Appalachia Mountains in the early 1900's. Her Father, Duke is larger than life. An important man in town. Sallie, his daughter, and his wife( second marriage), and his son, Eddie( Sallie's half brother). Her Step Mother always ridicules Sallie from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed( think wicked step mother).

Eddie is not athletic, he is clumsy, a book nerd. He's Mother is over protective. His Mother makes excuses for him. The sun rises and sets on him. When an accident happens to Eddie. His Step-Sister, Sallie is sent away to her Aunt( Sallie's Mother's Sister). Sallie thinks it will be a little while. Instead it is 8 years. 

Duke only sends for Sallie to help raise Eddie as his mother has died. Then one after another events keep happening to the family. There is one thing that Sallie can hold on to. Her Mother's necklace. She has images of her Mother. But, she really doesn't know who her Mother is. We eventually learn what kind of Man Duke is. It's not what Sallie learns about her Dad. Its only after observing and watching, hearing from others does she come to the realization. The truth is unraveling in front of Sallie. The truth of her real Mom, and Dad and the relationship, and the others. 

I loved the beginning of the novel. It was a page turner and I loved it. But, then after awhile it was falling apart. Some of it was unrealistic. How the pieces fit together. I can't say, I didn't like it. I thought it would be a good book club discussion though. Themes of Appalachia, injustice, prohibition, and racism were touched in the book. It wasn't a satisfying read. But, I am still liked it. 

                                                        

Book Review: Lies I Tell

 

The Lies I Tell

By Julie Clark

My Copy 

The Lies I Tell is the second novel I have read by Julie Clark. I enjoyed The Lies I Tell better than her previous novel. First off my issue to call it a thriller, specifically, domestic. I didn't feel the novel was domestic. Domestic to me is a husband/ wife conflict.  There wasn't a husband and wife conflict at all. Then to call it a thriller. I didn't think it was either.  The book was revenge rather than thriller.  A thriller to me is where the novel picks up the pace and has twists and turns. There was heart thumping moments. But I would expect twists, and turns, and climax. There weren't any. There one part of the novel wasn't credibily obvious this couldn't happen in a real situation. I had the same issue in her last book. She should have thought it through. Other than that. If you overlook this part. I still enjoyed reading. 

 The novel has two main characters, Meg and Kat. Meg is a con-artist and goes with three different names depending where she is.  Kat, is a journalist that doesn't realize their lives will connect later after ten years. Meg herself was duped as a teen. As her mother got involved with  a man who her mother trusted. But soon after realized she and her Mom were conned from their home out from under them. After their home was taken from them they became homeless and her Mother died of Cancer soon after.

The book goes back and forth in time, and back and forth with the characters. It is not one of these novels that you have to keep track of who is who. Meg becomes romantically involved with the high school principle.  She was originally looking to con and take advantage of her new boyfriend. It is better than she expected. She doesn't only clean out his bank account. She contacts a journalist. The journalist is none other than Kat.  The story becomes public and he is forced to give up his job. His reputation is ruined, Sweet Revenge! I won't go any further. But to say, the novel continues with con after con and sweet revenge. Meg isn't  just looked to con people. She is a white knight as well. You will understand what I am talking about once you are half way through the book. 

If you have been  faced with sexism, me too, rape, swindled, conned, lied to.  You will or maybe feel better after reading the novel. The novel will give you a sweet tooth of just desserts after finishing and feeling satisfied. The book wasn't just about revenge. Although the book is fiction it addresses wealth, power, corruption, and white collar crime, and real estate laws, escrow.  And of course social justice. 

I kept thinking about someone in particular I wished the conclusion would have happened to. And the end of the book. I don't know if anyone else would figure out who I was speaking about after I finish the book. Or I just have a one track mind front and center. It seemed the author was sending a message to white collar crime. People who commit white crimes or any crimes should be accountable. Most people don't think of white crime as a crime as much as murder. I think this is why white crime isn't taken seriously. 

Just the Nicest Couple- Book Review

 

Just the Nicest Couple

By Mary Kubica

Just the nicest couple, you think? What can I say about the novel. It wasn't what I was expecting. I was hoping I would like the characters. Not, unfortunately. I am sorry to say this was a miss. I read the author's previous novel, Local Woman Missing, and loved it this one didn't do anything for me. 

The writing like always was very short, and simplistic. I believe this is her trademark.  I am sure the author writes this way for reason. So, I am not going to complain about her writing. The plot was ok in the beginning. I thought it was going somewhere. Hoping it would get better. It was fast paced I will say that. But, the characters were bland and unlikeable. 

Then to top it off Christian the entire time was trying to figure out how to get his wife out of this pickle. Even if it was criminal. Anyway to protect his wife. The ending was over the top. I don't want to ruin it for anyone who plans on reading. The final twist got me so upset. Because I felt strung along to follow the book I didn't like. And the author expected me to believe the ending, right! I doubt very much that I would read any more books by her. Sorry, I really wanted to like the book and I didn't. 

Lily Scott thinks she killed her friend's husband, Jake. She tells her husband Christian what she thinks happened. They both go to the spot where the attack happened. With no hide or hare from Jake. Where did he go? Nina is going ballistic because for days Jake doesn't come home. They have a fight about Nina's mother. As Jake is jealous of the care his mother in law is getting from Nina. But, she can't see.  She suffers from Macular Degeneration and she needs Nina to help her. 

The worst part is Lily and Christian see Nina who supposedly is their friend doesn't say anything. Christian goes into the house and steals the car keys to move the car without anyone's knowledge. In the meantime. They fool everyone thinking it was Jake in the house when it actually was Christian.  With Nina beside herself with worry. Christian and Lily say nothing about anything. While they know what happen they keep their mouth closed. 

Nina  is starting to put the pieces together. She realizes she doesn't really know Christian, and Lily. What does she do. You will have to read the book to find out if you are a fan of Mary Kubica psychological fiction. You may like her newest novel. I am not a fan for this one.