Truth and Consequences by Alison Lurie April 24, 2006

I listened to this one as I commuted to work last week, and it really held my interest. It was a story without very likable characters, but well written (and read) enough to be compelling. The depiction of marriage in it is hard to take—it seems so soul-crushing that it’s amazing anyone stays together in Alison Lurie’s universe. Even marrying for love turns sour eventually.

Alison Lurie is certainly a talented writer. The descriptions of one of the main character’s back pain were so detailed that it became hard to listen to without feeling some sympathetic pains.

I really wanted one of the characters to get more of a comeuppance in the end, which kind of surprised me, because of how strongly I wanted it to happen. I just found her hard to like and really wanted more consequences to come her way. Everyone was just so civilized that it was starting to bug me.

The reader of this audiobook had such a great voice that I kept listening to the book even though I felt it had a slow start. But once I got interested I stayed interested, making sure I had to run an errand on Saturday so that I could have some quality listening-time in the car.

Rainlight by Alison McGhee April 24, 2006

This book focuses on the aftermath of a tragedy, and the people left behind. It was well-written, but I felt that it never went as deeply into the characters as it could have.

The point-of-view in this book changes from chapter to chapter. I usually like that style of writing, but in the case of this book, the end result feels like we leave a person just as we’re learning something important. I felt like I was reading connected short stories rather than an entire novel. I think I would have preferred staying with just one character throughout the book.

The Road Home by Ellen Emerson White April 23, 2006

I forget how I came across this book on Amazon. When I was a teenager, I loved reading Ellen Emerson White’s President’s Daughter series—my favorite novels in the Young Adult category. So when I saw a listing for this book, I immediately wanted to read it. I love the way this author writes young people, book smart and emotionally confused, not knowing how to express love to friends or family, but always funny.

I read this book because of the author, not because of the subject, which is the Vietnam War. A young woman goes off to become a nurse in Vietnam during the war, and she changes, completely, as a result of her experiences. The author wrote a series of books that took place in Vietnam, and this one came after the series. There are events—big events—that took place before the book begins, events too interesting to just be referred to. But the book is affecting and interesting nonetheless, and a really good read.

It’s certainly a good reminder of the damage that war can do to people, and how survivors can’t possibly emerge unscathed.

Saul and Patsy by Charles Baxter April 17, 2006

This is the third Charles Baxter book I’ve read. I liked it well enough, though I wasn’t dying to sit down and read it every day. The book was full of unanswered questions, which drove me crazy.

Saul and Patsy are a married couple. Saul teaches a remedial high school class, and a boy in the class becomes obsessed with them. He doesn’t seem to like them or want to interact with them, yet he shows up and stands on their lawn, staring at their house. Eventually his actions cause all sorts of hostilities to come Saul and Patsy’s way, and they find that they have to fight to stay in their home and in their town.

I found that when the author let me into a character’s head, I was really drawn in and interested. But when he didn’t, I had a hard time caring at all. And his leaving so many things unanswered just frustrated me.

Jumpstart Your Metabolism: How to Lose Weight by Changing the Way You Breathe by Pam Grout April 17, 2006

I liked this book. The premise is that in order to increase metabolism and lose weight, we need to get more oxygen into our bodies. The book is written in a conversational tone, with lots and lots of breathing exercises.

I read the book all the way through, but want to go through it again slowly and try all the different exercises. I find that as I remember to breath more deeply, I feel calmer and more centered, and that’s certainly a good thing. This is the kind of book I think you can refer to over and over, and you’ll always get something good out of it.

The Missing World by Margot Livesey April 17, 2006

The main character in this book, Hazel, is hit by a car and begins to have seizures. For a while she is in a coma, and when she awakens, she can’t remember the last three years of her life. She can’t remember leaving her boyfriend, and he decides to pretend she never did so that he can have her back again. She returns to a life she can remember, but one that no longer feels right to her anymore.

Almost everyone in this book suffers from some sort of amnesia. A roofer decides that he needs to rescue Hazel, only to find that she was never the kind of person he thought she was. Hazel’s best friend falls in love with Hazel’s boyfriend, imagining that he can love anyone but himself.

The book does a good job of showing how we see people as what we decide they are, and how often we are surprised when they turn out to be quite different.

Shadow Play by Charles Baxter April 17, 2006

I’m not finding that I like any of Charles Baxter’s books as much as I liked The Feast of Love, but he does tell a good story. The main character, Wyatt, spends much of his time trying to have the most normal life he can, despite the “abnormal” people around him. There’s his mother, who had a breakdown when he is a child and now lives in a halfway house and makes up her own words; his aunt, who is writing her own bible; and his cousin Cyril, who is often in jail and often in trouble.

The “abnormal” people are the interesting ones in the book. Wyatt becomes a more sympathetic character when a tragedy won’t allow him to continue living his life in the same way. He thinks of Cyril as his shadow, but really, I think the person he was is only a shadow of the person who he becomes.

We Are All Fine Here by Mary Guterson April 12, 2006

Oh, Target® Bookmarked Books! How could you have turned on me like this?

I love the Bookmarked Books section in Target. There are usually some really good finds there. And this one looked promising, with praise from Amy Tan on the cover and all sorts of comments about how funny it was on the back. But after I read the book, I found myself feeling like I’d just wasted a few hours of my life.

The author is definitely talented and funny, but the main character was incredibly wishy-washy and spent all her time complaining rather than doing something—anything—to change her life. I didn’t really find anyone in the book interesting or sympathetic, except for the puppy, of course.

All in all, not a book I would pass on to any spiritfriends of mine.

Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey April 12, 2006

Donna Morrissey is one of my favorite authors. I’m always so captivated by her books. Kit’s Law is just one of my favorite books ever.

This book was another good one, set in a fishing village in Newfoundland. The life that the villagers live isn’t one that lends itself to privacy or inner reflection, and one woman who wants both of these things has to really fight to find them. I could feel her pain at the life she was leading that didn’t suit her and how she really had to fight for what she wanted. Sylvanus Now is the fisherman who marries this woman, who tries to give her what she wants. He lives to be a fisherman like his father, whom he never even met, and witnesses the destruction that industrialization is causing to the ocean.

It is a testament to the book and writer that I began to care so much about what was happening in a place I’ve never been, in the past, to a fishing industry. Donna Morrissey goes deeply into the hearts and minds of her characters, which makes me hope she will write many, many more books.

The Lost Mother by Mary McGarry Morris April 12, 2006

This story completely captivated me. Two children, Thomas and Margaret, grow up during the Depression–their mother has left them and their proud father is doing the best he can, yet they have to live in a tent in the woods. The hardships these children go through are just awful, and things just get worse and worse. Their father goes to jail, then they escape yet another bad situation and find their mother, who actually sends them to an orphanage. But just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, something wonderful happens.

Can I just add that I’m glad I didn’t live during the Depression?

I listened to this audiobook in my car, and on several occasions sat in the garage just to hear a little more. I thought the reader did an excellent job of with different voices and accents, all except for one character, the little girl named Margaret. I just really started disliking the voice the reader did for her, and I wondered if that’s what was causing me to dislike the character so much. I mean, she was an eight-year-old girl–how could I feel such animosity towards her? When the children were in the orphanage and Margaret wouldn’t even talk to poor, lonely Thomas, I wanted to smack her. Hard to do through your car stereo.

All in all I really enjoyed listening to this story. It was well written and always interesting, and I’m so glad it had a happy ending.