Fans of Alice Hoffman will not be disappointed in her latest novel.  The main character, Shelby Richmond, feels responsible for an automobile accident that left her best friend paralyzed and in a coma.  Self-destructive, depressed and in a mental hospital for three months, she doesn’t have the will or desire to get on with her life.  Fortunately, there are several people who truly love her and want her to survive, which includes her “guardian angel,” her mother and four stray dogs.

Faithful is a well-written novel with, for the most part, likeable characters who understand the importance of love and understanding.  Although the ending was a bit too tidy for me, most reader’s will be pleased with Shelby’s recovery and growth.   GO CUBS!!!

The title refers to a mediocre musical adapted from a popular children’s book being performed off off off Broadway.  Prose uses each chapter to describe a character associated with the play-actors, director, author and audience.  There is the twelve year old boy playing Mr. Monkey who is just beginning to feel the joy and angst of adolescence, the professional actress who is upset that she is working with amateurs, the widower who brings his five year old grandson to the production, and several more.  All of the characters are sympathetic, and each chapter successfully moves the plot forward, however; there’s no “aha” moment.  I finished the novel and thought, “good, fun, so what.”

The Muse brothers, George and Will, were African American albinos living in Truevine, Virginia.  In 1899, when they were six and nine years old, they were either kidnapped or sold to a circus passing through their hometown.  They traveled with various circuses as part of their “freak shows” for more than a decade.  They were told that there mother was dead, when, in fact, she spent all that time trying to locate them.

Macy’s narrative is part an historical review of life for Blacks in the Jim Crow South, part biography of the Muse brothers and their mother, and part description of the rise and fall of the American traveling circus.  Because Macy tried to cover three different topics, she never gave an in depth rendering of any.

 

Defiant, angry, confused seventeen year old Nadia Turner has a lot to contend with.  Her mother recently committed suicide, she is having an affair with the preacher’s son, and she is pregnant with his child, a child she doesn’t want.  What happens to Nadia during her seventeenth year impacts her future for the next decade.

This is a book I couldn’t put down; I finished it in two days.  Bennett’s writing is clean and clear, and her characters, major and minor, are complex and believable.  Although the plot makes this novel sound like a soap opera, believe me, it’s not.  I also like book titles that seem simple but really are not(think Sophie’s Choice).  There are many mothers and potential mothers throughout Bennett’s debut novel with different meanings and connotations.  The Mothers is a great read!!

The Wangs are the American Dream turned upside down.  Charles Wang’s cosmetic company has gone bust, he has filed for bankruptcy, and has turned over all of his assets to the bank.  He must pull his daughter, Grace,  out of a fancy boarding school in Santa Barbara, his son, Andrew, must withdraw from Arizona State University, and along with their step mother, they head to Charles’s oldest daughter’s home in Helios, NY in their former housekeeper’s ancient Mercedes.  Living an ultra frugal life they never thought they would have to be subjected to, the Wang’s cross country adventure is humorous,  frustrating and poignant.  .  All the Wangs  are engaging, infuriating, amusing and sympathetic in their own ways.  Chang’s debut novel is a good easy read that is satisfying but lacks depth.

If you found Where’d You Go, Bernadette entertaining, you will probably enjoy Semple’s newest novel.  Like Bernadette, it takes place in Seattle, has a female protagonist who is smart and funny but doesn’t fit in, is married to a wonderful man, and has a young child(this time it’s a son) who is wise and insightful beyond his years. Eleanor Flood Wallace is married to a successful hand surgeon, and before moving to Seattle, she was part of a team that created a hugely successful animated television show.  However, Eleanor is not pleased with herself; mainly because she is estranged from her sister who she was exceptionally close to.

Semple writes with the same witty, ironic prose, but in some parts Eleanor speaks in first person and in others she doesn’t.  For me, this was a distraction and a literary flaw.  I also felt that in some ways Today Will Be Different is too similar to Bernadette.  Semple is a good writer; she needs to stretch more.

This gem of a novel is long-listed for the 2016 National Book Award.  It is a fictionalized homage to the author’s great aunt who was born in rural Mississippi in the early 20th century with a condition that made her unable to bear children or control her bowel and bladder.  In spite of this, Jane makes the most of her situation.  Although she only has a few months of formal education, because she is bright and good with numbers, she is able to education herself.  With the help of the neighborhood doctor, who becomes her good friend, she learns about her condition as well as the world around her.

Watson has written a lovely book about such an admirable women who epitomizes dignity and strength. It’s one of those books, I didn’t want to end.

I love the way Tracy Kidder writes-simple, concise and engaging.  His newest work is a biography about an extraordinary man similar to Mountains Beyond Mountains and Strength in What Remains.  This time his focus is on Paul English.  English grew up in a large, blue collar, Irish-Catholic home in Boston.  He often got in trouble as a teenage, did not take school seriously although he was way off the charts intellectually, but was always fascinated with computers.  When he was a young adult, he learned that the sensation he felt that he described as similar to a fire brewing inside, was the mania half of his bipolarism.  Despite this setback,  English co-founded the travel website kayak.com, sold it for millions, and earnestly tried to donate most of his money to worthwhile causes.  He also invented numerous apps and started several other business ventures.  A Truck Full of Money is an inspiring biography about a unique man who never stops dreaming of doing more.

If you are a McEwan fan, you will not be disappointed.  The narrator is an eight month old male fetus,  and the plot is a take-off on Hamlet.  Claude, the uncle and Trudy, the pregnant mother want to murder John Cairncross(the name may sound familiar to some), the unnamed baby’s father.  Scattered throughout this short novel are allusions galore, mostly Shakespearean.  McEwan’s intellect is on display throughout-I went to the dictionary and Google often.  His knowledge of literature, science and even wine are to be highly admired.  And while Nutshell is a learning experience, it is far more fun than educational.  Sit back, suspend belief and enjoy the ride!

I picked this book up because I am planning a trip next month to Monticello.  I was pleasantly surprised how interesting and readable this work of historical fiction is.  This novel is mainly the adult life of Martha Jefferson Randolph, oldest daughter of Thomas Jefferson and mother of eleven children.  Martha, according to Monticello,  was an amazing woman who took care of all of her children, supervised her father’s home when he was President in Washington D.C.,  and tried to be a good wife to her husband, Tom, even when he was in the throes of depression and deeply in debt.  Although Martha, like her husband and father, understood the evils of slavery, for economic reasons they could never free their slaves.  Martha also denied until her father’s death that Sally Hemings was his mistress and bore his children. For Martha to admit this, would take Thomas Jefferson off the pedestal she had place him on.