It’s been weeks (or months) since I’ve posted – I’ve been reading a lot but haven’t had the time to post. So, the following are briefer than usual reviews of some of the books I’ve read since my last post (more to follow when I get more time).
Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson
This book is a modern-day retelling of Sense and Sensibility, but it has been decades since I read that book so I can’t comment on how effective the retelling is. In this novel, 34 year old Daisy’s father has just died. Following his death it is revealed he was involved in a public scandal. As a result Daisy, her mother and sister are forced to sell their fancy home in Georgetown because they can no longer afford it.
Daisy’s mother is not coping well with giving up her lifestyle and her younger sister just wants to move on – but ends up falling for the son of one of her father’s political opponents. Meanwhile, Daisy is still pining after her long time best friend – only to discover he is writing an exposé on her father. She at first wants to respond to this by staying out of the spotlight, but discovers her silence may make the lingering scandal even worse for her family.
This was a fairly light and easy read, entertaining enough, but not exceedingly memorable.
The Relatives by Camilla Gibb
This was a relatively easy book to read, but I never really got into it. In fact it was a bit more like reading three separate short stories. They did come together in the end but, for me, not in a particularly satisfying way. I’ll not reveal the end here, in case you want to read the book on your own.
The three stories are about Lila who is a social worker. She was adopted as a young child and only knows her biological mother was a teenaged refugee who died by suicide when she was two. This history impacts her work as she tries to rescue many of the children she works with – sometimes with less than perfect results.
In the second story, Tess and Emily are a lesbian couple who have separated. Tess never wanted to be a mother but Emily convinced her so they have a child, Max. Emily does most of the child-rearing though Tess does take more interest in Max once he gets older. After they separate, Emily wants to use their frozen embryos to have one more child on her own. Tess is reluctant as she does not even want the burden of becoming a genetic parent.
In the final story we learn of Adam who was Tess’s sperm donor. He donated sperm to pay his way through graduate school and has no desire to be a father. At the start of the book we find Adam being held captive by al-Shabaab in Somalia which has him rethinking his views on home and family.
Through alternating chapters we see where these characters end up and how they are related to each other.
Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin
This is a sweet, well written romance novel, by a local Toronto author and set in Toronto. Hana’s family owns a struggling halal restaurant in the Golden Crescent neighbourhood. Hana waitresses there part time but she really wants to work in radio. She is currently interning at a local radio station where she is desperately trying to outshine the other intern and therefore get a permanent job. She also tells her stories in an anonymous podcast and develops a virtual relationship with one of her listeners.
Trouble arrives when a handsome young man moves into her neighbourhood with plans to open a competing, more upscale halal restaurant. Despite herself Hana finds herself drawn to the man.
At the same time an aunt and cousin arrive from India for a visit – and slowly a secret is revealed about her aunt’s past – which ties into the rival restaurant owner. The book also sensitively portrays a racially motivated attack on the neighbourhood which brings the rivals together.
A predictable narrative arc for a romance novel, but interesting nonetheless because of the intriguing characters and the local colour.
Musical Chairs by Amy Poeppel
This was an easy to read, often humorous novel. It centres around Bridget, a cellist in a trio. She has been friends with the pianist, Will, for so long that most people believe they are married. Right now they are searching for a new violinist. While they are off work searching for the violinist, Bridget decides to go to her summer home with her boyfriend.
Her summer plans are thwarted when her boyfriend breaks up with her by email. Instead, she is left with her adult twin children who descend on her. Her daughter, Isabelle, has just made the spur of the moment decision to leave her lucrative job and her son, Oscar, thinks his husband is cheating on him. To add to the excitement, her 90-year-old father, a legendary conductor, has decided to remarry. And both Will and Isabelle are flirting with new relationships.
When her father wants the trio to play at his wedding they need to find that violinist. Will decides to contact Gavin, the original member of their trio. So, Bridget is forced to face the fact he may be the father of her twins, rather than a sperm donor. And she has to figure out whether Will is really the friend she always thought he was.
Everything wraps up fairly nicely in the end – to me it made for an enjoyable read.
The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff
This is yet another ghetto based novel – and as many recent ones seem to, also focuses on the role of the non-Jews in helping the victims.
In this novel, Sadie and her parents are living in the Krakow ghetto and in a last ditch effort to escape end up stranded in the sewers under the streets of Krakow. This is further complicated by the fact that Sadie’s mother is pregnant.
At the same time Ella, is living in Krakow with her well to do, but mean, stepmother. Ella wanders the streets both to escape her stepmother and to rendezvous with her ex-boyfriend who has suddenly reappeared. One day she spots Sadie through a sewer grate and they end up becoming friends. Ella does what she can to help and protect Sadie once she finds her.
I don’t want to give away too much, but as should be expected from a Holocaust book, the girls struggle to survive and suffer tremendous loss before the war comes to an end. I did guess the ending, but not until I was almost there, which I enjoyed. If you like this type of book, I recommend this one.
Crossroads by Kaleb Dahlgren
This is a fascinating memoir by Kaleb Dahlgren, a survivor of the horrific bus crash in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. The author was a new member of the junior hockey team that was the victim of the crash, but had become quite close with many of the 16 teammates and coaches who perished.
He had already suffered a great deal of adversity in his young life – he had childhood diabetes, his father was gravely ill. He worked hard with trainers and nutritionists to manage his diabetes and allow him to play hockey. He volunteered countless hours with children with diabetes in order to show them what was possible and befriending disabled hockey fans, bringing them to games and team events. He also went to a series of private and public schools to ensure his education was sound as in addition to being a talented hockey player he had plans to attend York University on a hockey scholarship. Split seconds at a crossroads on the way to a playoff game changed everything.
At first doctors thought he may not survive; then that he may never walk again. And, of course, the emotional trauma of losing so many teammates. With the support of his parents and intensive medical intervention and rehabilitation, he did regain the ability to walk. However, he won’t ever play hockey again. Fortunately, York University was willing to honour its commitment to him, making him a non-playing member of the team and allowing him to further his education. There are surely good things ahead for this talented and strong man.
Speak, Silence by Kim Echlin
I quite enjoyed this short novel. It tells the story of Gota. She is currently a single mother living in Toronto, but has never forgotten a passionate affair she had 11 years ago with Kosmos, a Bosnian.
She hears about a film festival in Sarajevo and that Kosmos will be there with his theatre company so she takes an assignment with the travel magazine she works for to investigate the fallout of the Bosnian war.
When she is reunited with Kosmos she immediately sees how the war has changed him – she also forms an unusual bond with Edina, the new woman in his life. It is Edina who provides Kosmos’s backstory and draws Gota into her work as a lawyer trying to get justice for the countless victims of sexual violence during the Bosnian war. Gota becomes determined to tell the stories of these women.
Gota takes her quest so far as to find many of the women and accompany them to The Hague to confront their abusers in the International Criminal Court. This experience of course changes Gota’s life forever.
The descriptions of sexual violence are graphic and disturbing – so do not read this if you find that too difficult. Otherwise, this is a very worthwhile, and important, read.
Letters Across the Sea by Genevieve Graham
This was an interesting book about a fairly ugly period in Toronto’s history. While it was not an exceptional book, the historical angle was sufficient to keep my attention. In the depths of the depression, a teenaged Irish girl, Molly Ryan, befriends and eventually falls in love with her Jewish neighbour, Max, in downtown Toronto. However, with rising unemployment tensions are running high between the Jewish and non-Jewish Toronto communities. This culminates in the Christie Pits riots where Nazi youth storm a youth baseball game and attack the Jewish players and fans.
Molly and Max choose this inopportune moment to kiss – which is witnessed by her father. He rushes to tear them apart and is injured in the process. The injury leads to him having to leave his job on the police force, and he blames the Jewish man for that.
At the same time, the second World War rages on. Molly’s brothers and Max and his friends enlist. They are sent to Hong Kong. Here the book gives a historically accurate account of a part of the war that was not familiar to me. Hundreds of Canadian soldiers were sent to Hong Kong – essentially as sacrificial lambs. Many were killed by the Japanese invaders; others, including, Max were captured as prisoners of war and held in horrific conditions for years.
Eventually Max returns from Hong Kong, and in a somewhat predictable ending, the two families make peace with each other. As I indicated, it was an interesting glimpse at history though far from the best book I’ve ever read.
Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin
This book is set in one of my favourite places, Martha’s Vineyard, though it takes place in a community I’ve not been part of. Oak Bluffs has for decades been a getaway destination for well to do black families. This story centres around Amelia Vaux Tanner, an aging widow and former Wall Street trader, who owns a cottage in Oak Bluffs. Her late husband was a prominent civil rights attorney and they built the dream cottage together.
For years, Amelia and her husband, who had no children of their own, brought three young, less well off, black girls on summer vacation with them. Perry, Olivia and Billie grew up as summer sisters. Amelia and her husband also supported their educations and provided them with job opportunities. The girls have never known why they were chosen.
This summer the widow has reconnected with an old flame and decided to follow him on his travels through Europe. As such, she plans to pass the cottage on to one of the girls, who are now young adults, and to reveal why she’s always taken an interest in them.
Before she is able to carefully deliver the message, each of the girls learns their back story. And that leads to tension amongst them and with Amelia. There are also several interesting men who play supporting roles in the lives of each of the women.
This is a well written story that delves into the history of all four women – and shares their present lives with us. I, of course, loved to detailed descriptions of Martha’s Vineyard – it almost felt like being able to visit.
Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane
This is a great story about friends and family relationships and the secrets people keep from each other. Eve has a fairly predictable life – a job she tolerates and weekly pub quizzes with her best friends Ed, Justin and Susie. She has also harboured what she thinks is a secret crush on Ed who has just gotten engaged to his girlfriend, Hester (who Eve of course hates).
Right after the engagement, Susie is killed in a car accident on her way home. In the aftermath of her death Eve learns that Susie and Ed were keeping secrets from her. She also visits Susie’s father who has dementia and does not remember Susie is dead which makes it even harder to come to terms with her death. Finally, Susie’s older brother, Finlay, shows up from the US. After initial clashes she becomes very attracted to him and joins him on a mission to retrieve his addled father who has travelled to Edinburgh. Ed is jealous and tries his best to keep the two apart.
Through working together even more secrets about Susie, Finlay and their past are revealed and Eve starts to figure out how to put her life back together.
Much Ado About You by Samantha Young
This is a sweet if not memorable romantic comedy. Evie Starling is passed over for a promotion in her home of Chicago. Desperate to get away she impulsively plans a holiday in a small English village. The holiday package includes an apartment and a temporary position operating Much Ado About Books, a small bookshop.
For Evie this is a dream vacation – and of course she also falls for Roane, a local farmer. Typical twists and turns take place but Eve, Roane and the cast of local townspeople made for an interesting read.
House on Endless Waters by Emuna Elon
While this was yet another Holocaust story, of which I’ve read many, it did have a slightly different angle. Here, Yoel Blum, a middle-aged man from Israel visits Amsterdam as he feels compelled to learn the story of his late mother who immigrated from there after the War. He is first there on a book tour when he visits the Jewish Museum and is sure he sees a picture of his mother in a video clip. However, his mother is holding a baby that is not him, or his sister, and that he cannot identify. So, he returns to Amsterdam to figure out who the baby is.
The writing style was interesting as Yoel is a novelist. What he learns from his past, through visits to the museum and synagogues and discussions with local Jewish community members, is woven into the novel he is writing rather than being told as his past.
I don’t want to give much away, but Yoel definitely learns that there was a reason for his mother’s reticence in getting together with large groups, particularly those who had also immigrated from Amsterdam.
No comments:
Post a Comment