The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: August 21, 2012
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Meet the Keller family, five generations of firstborn women—an unbroken line of daughters—living together in the same house on a secluded olive grove in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California.
Anna, the family matriarch, is 112 and determined to become the oldest person in the world. An indomitable force, strong in mind and firm in body, she rules Hill House, the family home she shares with her daughter Bets, granddaughter Callie, great-granddaughter Deb, and great-great-granddaughter Erin. Though they lead ordinary lives, there is an element of the extraordinary to these women: the eldest two are defying longevity norms. Their unusual lifespans have caught the attention of a geneticist who believes they hold the key to breakthroughs that will revolutionize the aging process for everyone.
But Anna is not interested in unlocking secrets the Keller blood holds. She believes there are some truths that must stay hidden, including certain knowledge about her origins that she has carried for more than a century. Like Anna, each of the Keller women conceals her true self from the others. While they are bound by blood and the house they share, living together has not always been easy. And it is about to become more complicated now that Erin, the youngest, is back, alone and pregnant, after two years abroad with an opera company. Her return and the arrival of the geneticist who has come to study the Keller family ignites explosive emotions that these women have kept buried and uncovers revelations that will shake them all to their roots.
The Roots of the Olive Tree alternates between the viewpoints of all five women. In doing so, I felt like I got just a taste of each woman’s life and a few hints at why each had the personality that she had. I would have liked to know even more about each woman’s past life. This book was more a slice of all of their present lives. Of course, it did venture into the past to reveal the secrets that some of the women were harboring. While I found the secrets interesting, I didn’t find them to be “explosive” as the blurb indicates. And all of these women were so tough and even-keeled most of the time that they didn’t seem to be phased much when they found out the secrets either – they definitely didn’t seem to be shaken to their roots.
I enjoyed reading this book but I felt like it had unrealized potential. There were some loose ends that could have been developed and I think would have added more dimension. Without spoiling anything, I think Deb and Erin’s relationship could have been explored more and I also would have liked to know what happened with the trip the ladies were planning. I also didn’t fully understand the symbolism of the tortoise in the story (you’ll know what I mean if you read it) but grasping that sort of thing is not always easy for me. If you have thoughts about the tortoise, please share!
Even though I found the story to be somewhat different from what the book jacket promised, I still found this book to be a pleasant and quick read. There is a short e-book prequel (that I have not read) called Under the Olive Tree that is free in the Kindle store as of this writing.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:
Tuesday, August 21st: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Wednesday, August 22nd: A Patchwork of Books
Tuesday, August 29th: A Book Geek
Thursday, August 30th: Book Hooked Blog
Monday, September 3rd: Peeking Between the Pages
Tuesday, September 4th: Iwriteinbooks’ blog
Friday, September 7th: Kahakai Kitchen
Tuesday, September 11th: Book Club Classics!
Wednesday, September 12th: girlichef
Thursday, September 13th: JulzReads
Wednesday, September 19th: Book Addict Katie
Friday, September 21st: Anglers Rest
TBD: StephTheBookworm
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Powell’s Books
September 20th, 2012 in
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Mumbai Noir by Altaf Tyrewala
Publisher: Akashic Books
Release Date: February 28, 2012
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
The stories in Mumbai Noir depict the many ways in which the city’s ever-present shadowy aspects often force themselves onto the lives of ordinary people. They offer tales of women being stalked by psychopath Romeos, of ordinary men flirting with death in dance bars, and of families falling through the crack of the city’s enduring communal divide. What emerges is the sense of a city that, despite its new name and triumphant tryst with capitalism, is yet to heal from the wounds of the early ’90s, and from all the subsequent acts of havoc wreaked within its precincts by both local and outside forces.
It’s always a challenge to adequately review a short story collection, especially when the stories are each by a different author, because the quality of the stories can vary so widely. That’s why I normally don’t review them. I made an exception for Mumbai Noir because I am intrigued by all things Indian and try to read as much about that country and its people as I can.
The stories in Mumbai Noir are definitely focused on the darker side of the city, as the title implies. Some are morality tales and some are just melancholy. Overall, I found them entertaining and enlightening. There were a few stories about hirjas, which are sort of like what Westerners think of as transgendered people but not quite. I enjoyed these stories in particular because the hirja culture is both fascinating and confusing to me and I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about it.
There were two stories that I didn’t understand at all – At Leopold Cafe and They. At Leopold Cafe is a Twilight Zone type story that has something to do with a fountain of youth elixir that was confusing to me. It jumped back and forth in time and I couldn’t follow it. They is a detective story about a murder in a gym. I couldn’t follow the detective’s logic as far as how he figured out who the killer was.
A lot of the stories reference historical events in India that I don’t have a good knowledge in yet. I was still able to enjoy them but probably would have gotten more out of them if I was more familiar with Indian history. There was a glossary of terms in the back which I appreciated. Most of the unfamiliar words could be found there but not all of them.
Overall, I think this is a book worth reading if you like stories about the dark and seedy side of big cities.
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Powell’s Books
(I received this book courtesy of the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)
September 19th, 2012 in
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A Cupboard Full of Coats: A Novel by Yvvette Edwards
Publisher: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins
Release Date: July 31, 2012
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Plagued by guilt, paralyzed by shame, Jinx has spent the years since her mother’s death alone, estranged from her husband, withdrawn from her son, and entrenched in a childhood home filled with fierce and violent memories. When Lemon, an old family friend, appears unbidden at the door, he seduces Jinx with a heady mix of powerful storytelling and tender care. What follows is a tense and passionate weekend, as the two join forces to unravel the tragedy that binds them. Jinx has long carried the burden of the past; now, she must relive her mother’s last days, confront her grief head-on, and speak the truth as only she knows it.
This was a very dark book and Jinx was a very damaged main character and narrator. Jinx and Lemon spend the weekend sharing their perspectives on Jinx’s mother’s murder with each other. Through flashbacks, it becomes apparent how Jinx grew into such a cold, almost robotic adult. She is not a good mother and the part when her four-year old son comes over for a visit was hard to read. I was left wondering how someone like Jinx came to get married and have a son in the first place. However, the focus of this novel is the immediate time period around Jinx’s mother’s death and the weekend that Lemon comes to visit fourteen years later. I think not including much information on Jinx’s life in the time between her mother’s death and Lemon’s visit makes the weekend seem that much more intense.
Even though I didn’t really like Jinx, I thought her character was well-developed and the reasons she turned out to be such a dysfunctional adult were definitely authentic. The domestic abuse storyline was tough to read but realistic. Jinx and Lemon put each other through the wringer – their weekend together is like an intensive therapy session. I enjoyed the way the author revealed the events of the past slowly and thoroughly as Jinx and Lemon open up to each other.
The writing was beautiful yet melancholy. I can see why A Cupboard Full of Coats was longlisted for the 2011 Man Booker Prize.
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:
Monday, August 20th: M. Denise C.
Tuesday, August 21st: Book Club Classics!
Tuesday, August 28th: BookNAround
Wednesday, August 29th: Peppermint PhD
Thursday, August 30th: The Feminist Texican [Reads]
Tuesday, September 4th: Shall Write
Wednesday, September 5th: Book Dilettante
Thursday, September 6th: My Bookshelf
Monday, September 10th: The Blog of Lit Wits
Thursday, September 13th: Reads for Pleasure
Monday, September 17th: A Book Geek
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Powell’s Books
September 12th, 2012 in
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Blackout by Mira Grant
Publisher: Orbit
Release Date: June 1, 2012
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Now, the year is 2041, and the investigation that began with the election of President Ryman is much bigger than anyone had assumed. With too much left to do and not much time left to do it in, the surviving staff of After the End Times must face mad scientists, zombie bears, rogue government agencies-and if there’s one thing they know is true in post-zombie America, it’s this:
Things can always get worse.
Blackout is the final book in the Newsflesh Trilogy, although I did notice when entering this book on FictFact that there are a couple of novellas in the series that I haven’t read yet. I’m not sure how I feel about this trend of so-called trilogies being supplemented with e-book only novellas but that’s a rant for another day.
I have to say that while I enjoyed Blackout, I didn’t think it was as good as the first two books and I was not satisfied with the ending. I’m not going to give any spoilers but I can say that the last part of the book wrapped up way to quickly and didn’t make sense to me. This time I know it’s not just me, several other reviewers had the same problem with the end that I did. Also, Shaun was just as annoyingly repetitive in this book as he was in Deadline – constantly reminding us that he’s crazy when his behavior is reminder enough. Finally, there wasn’t as much action or suspense as in the first two books.
If you are a fan of this series, you will want to read this book. You may like it more than I did but even if you don’t it’s still worth reading to find out how everything ends. If you recall, Deadline ended with a doozy of a cliffhanger and it gets addressed right away in Blackout. That storyline was my favorite of this book. It’s hard to say more without spoilers.
I’m looking forward to reading the e-book novellas, I believe one is a prequel and one fits in between Feed and Deadline.
Books I have reviewed in the Newsflesh Series:
Countdown (e-book prequel novella)
Feed
Deadline
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September 11th, 2012 in
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The Lower River by Paul Theroux
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Release Date: May 22, 2012
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Ellis Hock never believed that he would return to Africa. He runs an old-fashioned menswear store in a small town in Massachusetts but still dreams of his Eden, the four years he spent in Malawi with the Peace Corps, cut short when he had to return to take over the family business. When his wife leaves him, and he is on his own, he realizes that there is one place for him to go: back to his village in Malawi, on the remote Lower River, where he can be happy again.
Arriving at the dusty village, he finds it transformed: the school he built is a ruin, the church and clinic are gone, and poverty and apathy have set in among the people. They remember him—the White Man with no fear of snakes—and welcome him. But is his new life, his journey back, an escape or a trap?
The Lower River was Conversati-ohm’s (one of my monthly book clubs) August pick. We had a robust discussion about it even though not everyone liked it. I had mixed feelings about it myself. I didn’t care for most of the characters and that made it hard to like the book overall. Ellis is so selfish and self-righteous that I couldn’t bring myself to have any sympathy for him when his trip to Malawi didn’t go as planned. At one point, he needs a letter delivered and something extremely awful happens to the deliverer. When Ellis goes to see the person who was supposed to deliver the letter after the awful thing happens, all he can ask about is whether the awful thing happened before the letter got to its destination. That scene literally made me sick to my stomach.
However, Ellis’s selfishness did make me think a lot about Westerners coming to “help” people in third-world countries. What is the true motivation for helping? Is everyone helping out of the goodness of their hearts or because of the feelings of superiority one might get from helping? Are we giving them the help they need or the help WE THINK they need?
Even though I didn’t really enjoy reading this book, it did end up being a good book for discussion purposes and one that I thought about for a while after I finished it.
(Trivia: Paul Theroux is Jennifer Aniston’s fiance, Justin Theroux’s, uncle.)
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September 10th, 2012 in
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Last week, I reviewed Glass Boys. It was a fantastic book. Today, I am pleased to be able to offer a copy to one of my readers with a United States or Canadian address (no PO Boxes please). Just fill out the form below before the giveaway closes on September 10, 2012 at 11:59 pm CST. Good luck!
September 5th, 2012 in
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Last week, I reviewed What Happened To My Sister. Today, I am pleased to be able to offer a copy to one of my readers with a United States or Canadian address. Just fill out the form below before the giveaway closes on September 10, 2012 at 11:59 pm CST. Good luck!
September 4th, 2012 in
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What Happened to My Sister by Elizabeth Flock
Publisher: Ballentine Books
Release Date: August 7, 2012
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Nine-year-old Carrie Parker and her mother, Libby, are making a fresh start in the small town of Hartsville, North Carolina, ready to put their turbulent past behind them. Violence has shattered their family and left Libby nearly unable to cope. And while Carrie once took comfort in her beloved sister, Emma, her mother has now forbidden even the mention of her name.
When Carrie meets Ruth, Honor, and Cricket Chaplin, these three generations of warmhearted women seem to have the loving home Carrie has always dreamed of. But as Carrie and Cricket become fast friends, neither can escape the pull of their families’ secrets—and uncovering the truth will transform the Chaplins and the Parkers forever.
Carrie is a heartbreaking character. Her mother is so horrible I just wanted to reach through the book and punch her. I found the fact that Carrie still loved her mother even though she abused her terribly, and that she even made excuses for her mother’s behavior authentic and real. This is something I’ve learned about in my foster parent training – the biological tie between a parent and child is very strong and children will still love their parents after almost anything, frustrating as that can be to people trying to help the child.
I was a little bothered by a few things that seemed unauthentic and pulled me out of the story. One of them is when Carrie is severely beaten up by her mother and goes to Cricket’s house. Cricket’s dad, a police officer, is there along with the rest of Cricket’s family and even though Carrie is in and out of consciousness, no one suggests taking her to the hospital. I would think a police officer would know better than that.
Also, the very ending did not seem realistic to me. That’s all I’ll say because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. But if you’ve read it, I’d love to hear what your thoughts are on the ending.
Other than those quibbles, I really enjoyed this book. It was the kind of book that I walked around in a fog thinking about when I had to tear myself away from reading it. It’s full of surprising plot twists. The book alternates between Carrie and Honor’s point of view. I thought the author did a good job writing Carrie’s point of view – I know it can be hard when the narrator is so young.
This book didn’t have as many charming Southern idioms as most of the Southern fiction I’ve read, but I’ll quote my two favorites:*
“And she’s being as sweet as honey on a pretty girl’s finger.”
“they’ll haul you out of here so fast it’d bring tears to a glass eye.”
This book is being marketed as a stand-alone novel but it has the same characters from Elizabeth Flock’s novel Me & Emma, which I have not read. I didn’t have any trouble following What Happened to My Sister and I agree that it can stand alone. However, knowing that there was a previous book out there made me really curious about what Carrie’s life was like before she and her mother left Hartsville. I’m going to have to read Me & Emma since I enjoyed this book so much.
*quotes are taken from an uncorrected review copy – the final copy may differ
Come back after the weekend – I’ll be giving away a copy of What Happened to My Sister to one lucky reader!
Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with a copy of this book. Check out the other tour stops:
Tuesday, August 7th: Jenn’s Bookshelves
Wednesday, August 8th: Book Addiction
Monday, August 13th: WV Stitcher
Tuesday, August 14th: Life in the Thumb
Wednesday, August 15th: Seaside Book Nook
Wednesday, August 22nd: Reviews by Molly
Monday, August 27th: Life in Review
Tuesday, August 28th: The House of the Seven Tails
Wednesday, August 29th: The Lost Entwife
Thursday, September 13th: A Novel Source
TBD: Kritter’s Ramblings
TBD: Marybeth Whalen
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August 30th, 2012 in
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Glass Boys by Nicole Lundrigan
Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
Release Date: July 24, 2012
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
When Roy Trench is killed in a drunken prank gone wrong, his brother Lewis sees blood on the hands of the man responsible: the abusive alcoholic, Eli Fagan. Though the courts rule the death an accident, the event opens a seam of hate between the two families of Knife’s Point, Newfoundland.
Desperate to smother the painful past with love, Lewis marries Wilda, and the pleasure he takes in their two children — Melvin and Toby — recalls the happier days of his childhood with Roy. But as he watches his small family fracture, the darkness of the past begins to cloud the present, leading Lewis back to Eli Fagan — and his watchful stepson, Garrett Glass.
In the style of Newfoundland literature, established by Michael Crummey and Lisa Moore, Glass Boys is the haunting story of an unforgivable crime that brings two families to the brink.
Glass Boys was a dark, gothic story. It’s set in Newfoundland, Canada, I think in the 1970s. (I don’t remember that any dates were mentioned but some of the cultural references made me think it was set in the 70s.) I wasn’t familiar with how English is spoken in this region of Canada but I found the dialogue lovely to read. The characters say things like “tis” and “twas” and they put “s” on the end of a lot of words that I don’t, like “you thinks you’re something special” and “I wants them now”. The idioms were great too; they reminded me of the charming idioms people in the southern United States use. One of my favorites was:*
“if someone don’t want you, if someone don’t think you got at least a few squirts of sunshine poked up your ass, you’re better off without them.”
The prose was wonderfully crafted and beautiful even though most of the time it was describing disturbing things. I did appreciate that there were no overly graphic scenes. The characters were well-developed and heartbreakingly flawed. The relationship between Melvin and Toby was one bright spot that kept this novel from being too depressing. I especially loved Toby. He was such a sweet boy, the kind of boy that’s almost too good for this world because no one will ever treat him as kindly as he treats everyone.
I’m a fan of southern US fiction and even though this novel was Canadian, I found it very similar. The blurb mentions that this book is in the style of Newfoundland literature. I wasn’t familiar with that sub-genre before reading this book. Glass Boys was so good that I’m looking forward to reading more by Nicole Lundrigan and other Newfoundland authors.
*quotes are taken from an uncorrected review copy – the final copy may differ
Buy this book at:
Amazon
Kindle Store
Powell’s Books
(I received this book courtesy of the publicist.)
Other stops on the blog tour:
8/29/2012 Read React Review http://readreactreview.com
8/30/2012 Travel Spot http://travelspot06.blogspot.com/
8/31/2012 Comfort Books http://paigebradish1996.blogspot.com/
9/1/2012 Cmash Loves to Read http://cmashlovestoread.com/
9/3/2012 Booksellers without Borders NY http://booksellerswithoutbordersny.com
9/6/2012 Leafing Through Life http://leafingrhroughlife.blogspot.com
9/7/2012 Pieces of Fate http://piecesoffatesusan.blogspot.com/
10/1/2012 My Life in Not So Many Words… www.ziarias.blogspot.com
10/2/2012 I’d Rather Be At The Beach http://ratb2.blogspot.com
August 28th, 2012 in
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City of Women by David R. Gillham
Publisher: Amy Einhorn/Putnam Books
Release Date: August 7, 2012
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
It is 1943—the height of the Second World War—and Berlin has essentially become a city of women.
Sigrid Schröder is, for all intents and purposes, the model German soldier’s wife: She goes to work every day, does as much with her rations as she can, and dutifully cares for her meddling mother-in-law, all the while ignoring the horrific immoralities of the regime. But behind this façade is an entirely different Sigrid, a woman who dreams of her Jewish former lover, now lost in the chaos of the war.
Sigrid’s tedious existence is turned upside down when she finds herself hiding a woman and her two young daughters – whom she believes might be her lover’s family – and she must make terrifying choices that could cost her everything.
Sigrid was an interesting character. She wasn’t that likeable and I found some of her decisions puzzling. I wondered how realistic her behavior was for a woman in the 1940s. I wouldn’t think that people were having sex in movie theaters in that era but I actually have nothing to base that assumption on so who knows? Despite Sigrid’s many flaws, I wanted her to be successful and have a good life.
The first two-thirds of this book dragged a bit for me and then things really picked up in the last third. I had some trouble keeping some of the characters straight. There was a lot of intrigue and sneaking around and I couldn’t always follow what the plan was or understand how the characters had managed to coordinate it. I will say that I often have this problem when I watch any kind of action adventure or spy type movie so it may not be the book’s fault.
I found this book to be just okay. However, it has gotten a lot of great reviews so you may want to seek out some reviews other than mine before you decide whether or not to pick this book up.
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(I received this book courtesy of the publisher.)
August 21st, 2012 in
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