When Benjamin Herald visited the suburb he grew up in outside of Pittsburgh, he noticed that it had become poorer, more diversified in terms of the population, the infrastructure was old and in disrepair and the educational system was suffering. He pursued this and began investigating suburbs of Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Atlanta as well as his own hometown. Herold zeroed in on one family in each of these suburbs to help him and his readers understand the change. 

I read this work of nonfiction because I live in a suburb and one of the suburbs Benjamin Herold describes is 10 miles from my home. At first I kept getting the five families and their suburbs mixed up, but eventually I was able to keep them straight. The author researched each suburb and he describes the fears, goals and daily lives of the families, but I never got a clear understanding of how to solve the suburban dilemma.

When her brother is killed in Viet Nam, twenty year old Frankie McGrath decides to carry on the family tradition and enlists in the army as a nurse. She leaves her upper-middle class California lifestyle for a chaotic, challenging, exhausting, dangerous life. And as difficult as it is in Viet Nam, it is even harder for Frankie when she returns home.

The novel is divided into two parts-before and after Viet Nam. I thought the first part of The Women was good. It vividly described the horrors of that war. However, for me, the second part dragged on, and Frankie seemed to have every negative experience possible for a returning vet. Also, Kristin Hannah frequently describes the clothes,hair styles and songs of that era. I felt it took away from the plot.

Growing up on the same street in New Rochelle, New York, Jonathan Rosen and Michael Laudor had a lot in common and became best friends. They were both bright but Michael was extremely smart. They were both personable, but Michael was very outgoing. They both went to Yale, but Michael graduated in three years and it took Jonathan four. Michael had a charmed life until the year after he graduated when he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic. The Best Minds is Michael’s story before and after the diagnosis as well as how mental illness is dealt with.

This work of nonfiction is fantastic. It is part memoir, part treatise on schizophrenia, and also part description of the people and organizations who helped Michael and why it wasn’t enough. Rosen has a wry sense of humor usually directed at himself. His figures of speech are creative and usually right on. Best Minds clearly and objectively describes Michael Laudor: an exceptional person with an horrific disease. 

Told in alternating chapters voiced by Cecily and her children, Jujube, Abel and Jasmin, during the years 1935 and 1945 in Malaysia, The Storm We Made describes two turbulent years in that country’s history. In 1935 Cecily is chosen, because of her husband’s position, to become a spy for the Japanese who are trying to take over the country from the British. When they do, it has disastrous effects on Cecily, her family and her country.

Vanessa Chan’s debut novel is a fine read. Her characters are well flushed out and realistic, her plot is dramatic, and the book describes a piece of history I knew very little about. I highly recommend reading The Storm We Made.

Every summer a Native American family travels from Nova Scotia to Maine where the adults are employed picking blueberries. The summer of 1962 is different. It is the year that their youngest child, Ruthie, disappears. The last person to see her is her brother Joe, and Joe spends the rest of his life feeling guilty that he was somehow responsible for her disappearance. In Maine, Norma lives a good life although her mother is fragile and overprotective of her. Yet Norma always feels that something is amiss in her life, but she can’t figure out what it is. Joe and Norma each narrate alternating chapters, so the reader sees life through their eyes.

I think the premise of The Berry Pickers is fine, but the characters are not complex and the ending is predictable.

Tom Lowe Jr., age 54, has made some poor decisions and has had a lot of bad luck. While working construction, he fell off a roof and permanently damaged his hip and pelvis. Either directly or indirectly as a result of the fall, he got hooked on pain killers, got divorced, became permanently unemployable, never visits his twenty year old son, and lives in public housing. When he learns that his son has been hospitalized, he tries desperately to go see him. This odyssey makes Tom aware of his faults and the kindness of others.

While reading Such Kindness, I remembered how much I like Andre Dubus. Although it is not as good as House of Sand and Fog, Such Kindness artistically illustrates how our choices, our understanding of those choices, and how these choices effect others makes us who we are. Tom Lowe Jr. is an interesting character and I was eager to see where he would end up.

Millie Cousins is a resident assistant at The University of Arkansas. She is a hardworking senior who hopes to save enough money to buy a home off campus. When she cooperates with a visiting professor who is working on a study about college students and finances, Millie’s steady, reliable complacent life is turned upside down.

I cannot recommend Come & Get It. I found the plot weak-no real excitement or mystery-and the conflicts that do occur are not a big deal. Although Millie was an interesting character, most of the others were underdeveloped, so I had a difficult time differentiating them.

John Chenneville is a Union soldier who fought bravely in The Civil War and received a serious head wound. He took a long time to recover, and when he was finally able to return to his family’s estate near St. Louis, he learns that his sister, her Confederate husband, and their baby have been brutally murdered by a man who goes by the last name of Dodd. Knowing full well that he may be killed by Dodd or imprisoned for taking the law into his own hands, Chenneville feels compelled to seek revenge. His pursuit of Dodd takes him all the way to San Antonio, sometimes on a horse, sometimes on foot. Along the way, he meets a number of interesting men and women.

This is the type of novel that starts out slowly, but gets better and better as it moves along. Patience will pay off. Chenneville has a well developed plot and a very interesting main character.

Woo’s work of nonfiction tells the story of Ellen and William Craft. Both were slaves in Macon, Georgia. In 1848 they leave Macon. Ellen, who can easily pass for white, travels as a sickly young man, William as his slave. They believe that once they reach Philadelphia their lives will be safe and easy. However, the North presents a while new set of problems, especially with the enactment of The Fugitive Slave Act. 

As I read Master Slave Husband Wife, I kept thinking,”Why hadn’t I known anything about this remarkable couple.” Woo’s well-written, well-researched work describes the Craft’s escape to Philadelphia, Boston, Canada and finally England. She describes a couple who with the help of friends, Quakers and abolitionists, lived harrowing, extraordinary lives. 

In January of 2003 Anne Berest’s family received a postcard in Paris with the names of her great grandfather, great grandmother, great aunt and great uncle-all who were murdered at Auschwitz. Nothing else is written on the card. Intrigued and very curious, Anne, with the help of her mother, tried to find out who sent this postcard. Their search, through interviews, delving into hundreds of letters, and working with hand writing analysts and detectives uncovers details of Berest’s relatives before and during the holocaust, which, in turn, helps the author understand herself better.

This is a unique novel. It is part memoir, part biography and part mystery. Many of the scenes are difficult-graphic and horrific- but factual. The Postcard is one of the finest books on the holocaust and its aftermath that I have read.