It is the worst storm the east coast has seen in decades.  Richard, a professor at NYU, Lucia a Chilean who also teaches at NYU and Evelyn an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, must travel through the blinding, slippery snow to rural upstate New York to dispose of a body they found in Evelyn’s employer’s car.  If the premise of  In the Midst of Winter sounds a bit far-fetched, that’s because it is!  How they get together, how two of them fall in love, and what happens before, during and after they get rid of the dead woman, is too unbelievable for me.  It seems as if Allende wanted to tell a story about the plight of South and Central American immigrants and built a rather flimsy plot around it.

Blakeslee spends the greater part of this book describing the wolves who live in and around Yellowstone National Park.  Wolves possess traits that make them admired, feared and misunderstood.  They travel in packs but they are monogamous.  They are loving parents, loyal to their group, but they will not think twice about killing a wolf outside the pack who encroaches on their territory.  Wolves can easily kill animals twice their size but they ignore human beings.  Blakeslee’s narration zeroes in on one “alpha” female, O-Six, who is beautiful, strong and maternal and is a favorite of visitors to Yellowstone.

If you are an animal lover, and especially if you find wolves intriguing, you’ll want to read American Wolf.

I sometimes read children’s books, but I have never put one on my blog . . until now.  Philip Stead was given bare bone notes Mark Twain made after reading his daughters this bedtime story.  Johnny, a lonely boy with a good heart and a cruel grandfather, meets an old woman who gives him some seeds.  After eating them, Johnny is able to communicate with all the animals he comes across.  Strategically placed within the story are conversations between Twain and Stead.  The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine is funny and heart-warming with a subtle moral.  The illustrations by Erin Stead are gorgeous-each page is truly a work of art.

This is not the book for every child, but it is ideal for a sensitive intuitive youngster ten years and older.

Jules Lacour is a seventy-four year old Jewish cellist living in Paris.  His parents died during The Holocaust when he was four years old, his wife, whom he adored, died of cancer, and his young grandson was just diagnosed with leukemia.  Jules feels certain that if he can get his hands on a huge sum of money,  his grandson will be able to go to Switzerland or The United States, work with the finest doctors in the world, and his life will be saved.  How Lacour plans to obtain the money, along with a few subplots that include a May-December romance and the murder of two bigoted Muslims, is the crux of Paris in the Present Tense.

Helprin writes a good story and is very knowledgeable about Paris and music, but some readers will find him too wordy.  If you are in the mood for a quick read, don’t read this novel, but if you’re a Mark Helprin fan, and I am, you will enjoy Paris in the Present Tense.

Although I’m fond of most of Alice Hoffman’s works, I was all set to dislike The Rules of Magic.  Magical Realism is fine, but the title led me to believe the magic would be so far fetched it would get in the way of the plot.  However, despite the somewhat unrealistic occurrences, Hoffman tells a very fine love story.  Franny, Jet(short for Bridget) and Vincent are witches who can see into the future, cast spells and are instructed to avoid falling in love because it will only cause disastrous results.  Of course, they all fall in love with the perfect mate, and terrible events follow.

If you can go with the flow and not be put off by the unbelievable, you will enjoy this novel.  Hoffman’s characters are well drawn and her settings are superb.  If you’re a romantic, suspend belief and read The Rules of Magic.

Short-listed for The National Book Award, Jennifer Egan’s fifth novel is the story of Anna Kerrigan and the people whose lives she touches.  Manhattan Beach follows Anna from the time she is a young girl in New York City during the depression through her time as a Navy diver in World War II.  In that time period Anna’s father disappears, she has a relationship with a disreputable nightclub owner and she must prove herself more than worthy in an occupation where she is the only female.  Anna is both feisty and thoughtful; a strong female character who is brave, smart and independent.

I enjoyed this novel immensely.  The characters are realistic, not stereotypes, and Egan’s rendering of a slice of New York City in the 30’s and 40’s is interesting and insightful.,

An Irish immigrant named Jim commits suicide in Brooklyn in the early 1900’s.  His death strongly affects his widow as well as their unborn daughter.  The nuns at the  neighborhood convent, provide the widow, Annie, with a job in their laundry.  Her daughter, Sally, learns a lot more than religion from these pious women.

Although very Catholic,  I thoroughly enjoyed The Ninth Hour.  This is not a dramatic tale with a plot that twists and turns; rather it is a slice of life with somewhat predictable characters.  A frequent theme is what is right and what is a sin, making McDermott’s novel good for book group discussions.

 

Eleanor Henderson’s second novel is fabulous.  In 1930 in a rural town in Georgia, a young, unmarried white woman gives birth to twins-one black, one white.  On the same night, a young black man is shot full of bullets and then strung up on a gourd tree because some white folks thought he was the father of the black infant.  Are these newborns twins, who are their parents, and what other secret and lies exist along the twelve mile straight?

Henderson’s plot, character development and prose are terrific.  I will not soon forget Nan, Elma and Jukes as well as many of the other finely drawn characters residing in Florence, Georgia.

John Boyne, author of The Boy in Striped Pajamas, has written a heart-warming, humorous story.  The main character is Cyril Avery, born in 1945 to a sixteen year old unwed mother.  He is adopted by Charles and Maude Avery who lack the parenting gene and continually remind Cyril that he is not a true Avery.  Growing up gay in Catholic Ireland was difficult, and poor Cyril’s life was a sham until he was able to leave his repressive homeland.  Boyne continues to follow Cyril, his fortunes and misfortunes, his travels and his relationships, until he turns seventy.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies is funny, sad and poignant, and Cyril Avery is an individual one will not soon forget.

 

 

 

 

I read this book in two sittings.  The novel takes place in the 1990’s in Shaker Heights, Ohio, a well-to-do, liberal suburb of Cleveland.  It is the story of two families.  The Richardsons are typical of their suburb, father is a lawyer, mother a journalist, oldest daughter beautiful and bright, oldest son handsome and athletic, younger son a sensitive intellectual and youngest daughter a moody loner.  The Richardsons own a duplex on “the other side” of Shaker Heights, and they rent out one floor to Mia Warren and her adolescent daughter, Pearl.  Mia is a vagabond artist with few possessions and a mysterious past.  How these families interact is the crux of the novel.

Little Fires Everywhere is an easy read with a lot of depth to it.  It will grab you on page one.  Also, Celeste Ng not only knows a lot about a lot of things, she knows how to present them in a fascinating way.