The Fault in Our Stars is another young adult novel in which the highlighted young adults speak/think/act/live well beyond their years. On the one hand, that makes the story appeal to a wider audience and romanticizes the two for others; on the other hand, though, it gave me too much of a skeptic’s eye in…
Having started this book just before Christmas, it took some time to finish—me needing to give up reading-for-pleasure for a bit when I was barely a quarter way through. But somehow, that seemed right with this tale. The Goldfinch covers a span of time. And it does so patiently, endearingly, and with a strange tenderness…
August: Osage County presents a painful, bitter, sad look at family dysfunction without much hope or goodness involved. It is a harsh look at a family struggling through addiction, death, manipulation, divorce, infidelity, suicide, and mental illness. The raw nature of the emotional journey of the family picked with sharp nails at the scabs of…
If you are over 40, please be sure you see Nebraska. It’s an incredible heartwarming, emotion-tugging, eye-opening, reality-grounding, laugh-out-loud film about aging, parents, family, middle-age, love, acceptance, understanding, and life. And it is excellent. Granted, for the first half hour, I found myself waiting for one of Will Forte’s SNL characters to turn to the…
If I Stay brings a deep, poignant look at a life on the edge—the edge of living and the edge of ending. Although written to cover just a day or so in Mia’s life, most of the story involves Mia thinking back on her past, brief as it is for this girl, just a high…
Stories We Tell made me look within—and around—at indeed, the stories we write and craft to explain our lives. As Sarah Polley explores her family and its secrets in this documentary she directs, so too, surely, does the audience. How would your family explain the story of your life? How would you and your siblings…
And the Mountains Echoed is an enjoyable, albeit at times confusing, read. Hosseini writes beautifully, and you easily feel the emotion, passion, and tension of each character’s story. The frustration comes in the blending of several people’s stories. As each narrator changes, sometimes in first person and sometimes in third, I felt a hurdle, more…
The Dinner is an enjoyable read–written as events unfold over the course of a dinner between two couples at a fork in their road of life. It’s quite interesting, to be inside of someone’s thoughts over the course of a formal, if not pretentious, dinner—-the random asides and thoughts back as the events and conversations…
Fun, quirky, light, different—-Where’d You Go brings to the reader a fabulously refreshing way to tell a story. The characters, with their depth, faults, and flair, make you want to know more—-about the before, the during, and the what’s-to-come. I read this, on recommendation, on the heels of Gone Girl. And yes, while this too…
Fantastic, gripping tale told by Jack about his confinement to “room” with “Ma.” The characters’ development is intense and moving. Although the story’s backdrop is harsh, seeing the world, even his limited one, through the eyes of a five-year-old is refreshing. I recommended this to all.
Fast & easy summer read exploring dynamics of two sisters and finding one’s life even after 40. I have tried to read some of the “Chick-Lit” books about girls in their 20s, but really, they are girls in their 20s. I have little patience for some of that —– ? —naiveté? —foolishness? —self-absorption? …
This may be the first book essentially about relationships that I have read that was written by a man. And I must say, how interesting. The differences are mostly subtle, but differences there are. I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with Judd and his humorous and wonderfully dysfunctional family as they sat shiva after the…
I’m exhausted having just finished Alice Sebold’s latest book. She writes with such clarity and truth in the face of such complex and frightening issues…call it what you will: mental illness, insanity, madness. But the complexity of the mother–daughter relationship here, and the way in which it defines and suffocates, those are the true gifts…
I’ve told writers, “Know your audience.” But we should also tell audiences of fiction, “Know your book.” Someone else wrote about this story that it/the protagonist was depressing. No! It’s a delight! But maybe that’s just for those who can appreciate the humor as found in her situations. Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, read,…