This was a fascinating memoir by a man who was raised in an Ultra Orthodox Hassidic community but left the community after losing his faith. It provides us with a glimpse at a world which is generally closed to outsiders' eyes.
Shulem was raised by relatively open minded parents who had turned to religion later in life and thus still maintained some connections with the "outside world". His father taught religion to secular Jews which was frowned upon by the more dogmatic members of his community. His father also suffered from some sort of mental illness which led to an eating disorder. He eventually died when Shulem was about twelve.
Although Shulem had always attended Orthodox yeshiva, following his father's death he became much more observant and embedded in the small Skverer Hassidic community. The Skverers live predominantly in a small shtetl just north of New York City known as New Square. There they live in relative isolation from the rest of the world and are governed by their own religious rules. While some work outside the community, most do not. The children are barely educated in English or other secular subjects and are ill prepared to live outside the community (presumably the point - it keeps people in).
At 18 Shulem was married off to a girl he had met for five minutes and in not too long they had five children. While Shulem was never sure about his marriage, he was devoted to his children and worked very hard to try to support the family. At first Shulem worked as a Hebrew teacher, but he became increasingly disillusioned with his life a he realized no one had ever taught him how to support the family he was expected to have.
As he became more disillusioned he explored computers, radio and eventually television - much to the horror of his wife. He also became a self taught computer programmer and managed to secure a job in New York (working for an Israeli diamond broker). He also started to lose interest in God and religion.
The final straw for Shulem's community was when he encouraged a young doubter in the community to apply to college. As a result Shulem and his family were thrown out of the community. They moved to a somewhat more open Hassidic neighbourhood and for a time were able to make the marriage and family work. But eventually his wife could not abide his increasingly secular ways and the couple divorced. He had generous visitation rights with his children at first but as the girls got older (and presumably more and more influenced by the religious extremists) they refused to see him and his ex-wife was able to leverage the secular court system to limit his access rights. I found this perhaps the most disturbing - the community pooled its money to fight him in court until he was eventually worn down. The severing of his ties with his children was quite heartbreaking.
In the end Shulem lived a relatively secular life amongst others who had backgrounds similar to his. He was more at peace but not necessarily happy due to his lost relationships with his children.
I recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the inner workings of a very secretive segment of society.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Monday, August 15, 2016
The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana Trigiani
This book is a few years old, but I decided to read it since part takes place in Italy where I recently travelled (though only a few small scenes in Rome, the rest in Northern Italy which I have not visited).
An interesting historical fiction, and love story, the novel certainly kept me interested. It starts when Enza and Ciro are children. Enza is growing up in a small mountain village - the eldest of six children and a happy helpmate for both her mother and father. They are poor but get by based on the resourcefulness of all the family members.
Ciro, is less lucky. His father had immigrated to work in the US mines to make money for his family, but dies in a fire at the mine - his body is never located. Ciro's mother becomes depressed and can no longer care for Ciro and his brother, Eduardo, so she leaves them in the care of nuns at a local convent. She promises to return for them but never does. Eduardo is the studious brother and eventually is sent to seminary to be a priest. Ciro is good with his hands and does all the physical chores the convent demands - though longing for a real family, the nuns, their handyman and his brother provide him with tremendous support.
When Ciro and Enza are teenagers, he is sent to her village and they meet and kiss. He promises to stay in touch but shortly after witnesses the local priest in a compromising position and is sent by the nuns to America to escape the work house the priest wishes upon him. He is sponsored by the uncle of one of the nuns who wants an apprentice in his shoe making business.
Not long after Enza and her father also immigrate to America in an effort to make money for the family so they can build their own house and no longer be at the mercy of landlords. Enza almost dies from a severe case of seasickness. While in the hospital she meets Ciro again but mistakenly believes he is in love with another woman and they go their separate ways. Her father heads to the mines and Enza is left with distant relatives of her mother who mistreat her as their maid. After several years working as a seamstress at night and maid by day, she makes a good friend, Laura, who teaches her English and together they find a nice rooming house and jobs sewing for the Metropolitan Opera.
At this point Enza and Ciro meet again but Ciro is headed to war and Enza is involved with a wealthy employee of the opera. However, when Ciro survives the war, and "loses" his brother to his ordination as a priest, he sets out to win Enza back. Together they move to Minnesota to carve out a life selling shoes and sewing for miners. The remainder of the book looks at the ups and downs of their lives together and ends with a glimpse at the future of their adult son.
This is not the greatest book I have ever read by any stretch but it was entertaining and the glimpses of life in New York and Minnesota in the early 1900s was interesting.
An interesting historical fiction, and love story, the novel certainly kept me interested. It starts when Enza and Ciro are children. Enza is growing up in a small mountain village - the eldest of six children and a happy helpmate for both her mother and father. They are poor but get by based on the resourcefulness of all the family members.
Ciro, is less lucky. His father had immigrated to work in the US mines to make money for his family, but dies in a fire at the mine - his body is never located. Ciro's mother becomes depressed and can no longer care for Ciro and his brother, Eduardo, so she leaves them in the care of nuns at a local convent. She promises to return for them but never does. Eduardo is the studious brother and eventually is sent to seminary to be a priest. Ciro is good with his hands and does all the physical chores the convent demands - though longing for a real family, the nuns, their handyman and his brother provide him with tremendous support.
When Ciro and Enza are teenagers, he is sent to her village and they meet and kiss. He promises to stay in touch but shortly after witnesses the local priest in a compromising position and is sent by the nuns to America to escape the work house the priest wishes upon him. He is sponsored by the uncle of one of the nuns who wants an apprentice in his shoe making business.
Not long after Enza and her father also immigrate to America in an effort to make money for the family so they can build their own house and no longer be at the mercy of landlords. Enza almost dies from a severe case of seasickness. While in the hospital she meets Ciro again but mistakenly believes he is in love with another woman and they go their separate ways. Her father heads to the mines and Enza is left with distant relatives of her mother who mistreat her as their maid. After several years working as a seamstress at night and maid by day, she makes a good friend, Laura, who teaches her English and together they find a nice rooming house and jobs sewing for the Metropolitan Opera.
At this point Enza and Ciro meet again but Ciro is headed to war and Enza is involved with a wealthy employee of the opera. However, when Ciro survives the war, and "loses" his brother to his ordination as a priest, he sets out to win Enza back. Together they move to Minnesota to carve out a life selling shoes and sewing for miners. The remainder of the book looks at the ups and downs of their lives together and ends with a glimpse at the future of their adult son.
This is not the greatest book I have ever read by any stretch but it was entertaining and the glimpses of life in New York and Minnesota in the early 1900s was interesting.
Friday, August 12, 2016
My Father Would have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege and Nikola Sellmair
One day Jennifer Teege picked up a book in the library called "I Have to Love my Father, Don't I?" The small photo of the author on the cover looks somewhat familiar to her and, when she reads the subtitle of the book, she discovers it is written by her biological mother. Born out of wedlock to a German woman and her Nigerian boyfriend, she was handed over to an orphanage when she was an infant, put in foster care and eventually adopted. While she had some contact with her mother and her maternal grandmother prior to the adoption, she never saw her grandmother again and had only seen her mother once when she was about 20 (a reunion organized by her half sister, the daughter of her mother's first marriage).
Jennifer knew absolutely nothing of her maternal grandfather - who turned out to be Amon Goeth, the vicious commandant of Plaszow concentration camp who is depicted by Ralph Fiennes in the movie Schindler's List. Her grandmother had been Goeth's mistress in the concentration camp and stuck by him even after he was executed for war crimes in 1945 (shortly after Teege's mother was born). The remainder of the book deals with how Teege reconciles herself to this past she knew nothing about.
She is particularly troubled because as a young child she adored her grandmother - she was the only one who showed her affection. How could her beloved grandmother have turned a blind eye to what her monster of a lover was doing? Apparently not without consequences as Teege discovers she had killed herself. Teege also revisits the feelings of abandonment she felt from her mother - and while she is not able to re-establish a relationship with her, she does gain insight into the terrible feelings of guilt her mother has always lived with. She also questions her adoptive father a bit more - he had always been obsessed with the facts a figures surrounding the Holocaust and now she thinks he was trying to reconcile them with his parents who were Nazi sympathizers. Finally, having spent four years studying in Israel, and developed strong friendships there, she has to build up the nerve to reveal this secret to her Israeli friends so she can continue the friendships despite her past.
Teege's narrative is interspersed with that of Nikola Sellmair, a journalist who writes about her own interviews with Teege's family and friends during Teege's exploration of her past, and provides certain historical context to Teege's personal story.
An unusual book, this is a very interesting perspective, that is the descendants of the perpetrators of the Holocaust rather than the descendants of survivors. And it shows how the guilt and confusion can survive for generations - even among those who were not actually raised by the perpetrators and did not know of their past until they were adults.
Jennifer knew absolutely nothing of her maternal grandfather - who turned out to be Amon Goeth, the vicious commandant of Plaszow concentration camp who is depicted by Ralph Fiennes in the movie Schindler's List. Her grandmother had been Goeth's mistress in the concentration camp and stuck by him even after he was executed for war crimes in 1945 (shortly after Teege's mother was born). The remainder of the book deals with how Teege reconciles herself to this past she knew nothing about.
She is particularly troubled because as a young child she adored her grandmother - she was the only one who showed her affection. How could her beloved grandmother have turned a blind eye to what her monster of a lover was doing? Apparently not without consequences as Teege discovers she had killed herself. Teege also revisits the feelings of abandonment she felt from her mother - and while she is not able to re-establish a relationship with her, she does gain insight into the terrible feelings of guilt her mother has always lived with. She also questions her adoptive father a bit more - he had always been obsessed with the facts a figures surrounding the Holocaust and now she thinks he was trying to reconcile them with his parents who were Nazi sympathizers. Finally, having spent four years studying in Israel, and developed strong friendships there, she has to build up the nerve to reveal this secret to her Israeli friends so she can continue the friendships despite her past.
Teege's narrative is interspersed with that of Nikola Sellmair, a journalist who writes about her own interviews with Teege's family and friends during Teege's exploration of her past, and provides certain historical context to Teege's personal story.
An unusual book, this is a very interesting perspective, that is the descendants of the perpetrators of the Holocaust rather than the descendants of survivors. And it shows how the guilt and confusion can survive for generations - even among those who were not actually raised by the perpetrators and did not know of their past until they were adults.
A Few of my Vacation Choices
First Comes Love by Emily Giffin
Written by the best selling author of Something Borrowed and Something Blue, this book was a little bit darker, though it did deal with the meaning of friendships and relationships in the same way. Until the end I enjoyed it, but I found the end very unsatisfying - it just seemed to stop randomly without really wrapping up loose ends (maybe she's already saving things for a sequel?)
The book opens 15 years before the main action when Daniel, the older and much admired brother of Meredith and Josie dies in a car accident. Fast forward 15 years and Meredith, who dreamed of being an actress, is a married lawyer with a daughter. She chose the safe path so as not to put her parents through more trauma (they already divorced following Daniel's death). Meredith is somewhat unhappily married to Daniel's high school best friend - having bonded over their grief.
Josie, always a little wilder than Meredith, is a teacher. She has not settled down and is decidedly unsettled when a former boyfriend's daughter is placed in her classroom. She also really wants to have a child and has decided to give up on finding a man and going the sperm donor route. She thinks she wants an anonymous donor until she gets two offers - one from the last man she decides to meet before getting pregnant, who ends up being a good match, and her long time best friend and male roommate. At the end she chooses the roommate's sperm with the approval of the boyfriend but we can't help feeling that will lead to no end of problems (which never get discussed when the book abruptly ends). Josie must also deal with her guilt over the role she thinks she played in the death of her brother - and must resolve that with her now brother in law who also feels the guilt.
Mysteriously Meredith and her mother also long to meet the woman they thought Daniel would have married if he hadn't died. Eventually the sisters meet him and that does lead to one somewhat uncomfortable though comical scene.
Not the greatest book ever, or even this author's best, but an amusing enough read for a lazy summer day.
As Close to Us as Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner
Coincidentally this book also deals with a family who must cope with the death of a brother in a car accident. However, I liked this one much better - the characters were far better developed and therefore more interesting. The book is primarily set in Connecticut in 1948 - at "Bagel Beach" where the Jewish immigrants have cottages. It is here that Davy is killed by the ice cream truck. The story is told through the eyes of his older sister, 12-year old Molly. It jumps back and forth in time to the relevant summer, the present day and anywhere in between. Molly paints a fascinating picture of the the summers at the beach with her mother, Ada, aunts Vivie and Bec, brothers Davy and Howard, and cousin Nina. They are joined on the weekends by Molly's father and Vivie's husband, Leo. Molly even paints a vivid picture of her father's bachelor brother, Nelson, Bec's non-Jewish and married lover and even the driver of the ice cream truck, Sal.
In the present day we learn early on that Molly has inherited Bec's house following her death, and that many of the other characters have also died, but it is only over time that we find out how everyone carried on after that fateful summer.
While there was not a lot of surprise action - we learn about Davy's death, though not the precise play by play, very early. However, I found myself wanting to continue reading to see what happened to all the characters and how they dealt with the roles they perceived themselves playing in Davy's death.
In addition to an interesting character study it is a great look at Jewish Americans in the immediate post-war period - there are still essentially segregated beaches, they work in traditional jobs like the garment industry, they are very traditional, attending synagogue regularly, and they are just coming to grips with the news of the atrocities in Europe. They are also suspicious of their Italian, Irish, and other neighbours.
I really recommend this book if you want to dive into the inner workings of a large and complicated family.
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Given the hype this book received, I set myself up to be disappointed (a la The Goldfinch), however, it turned out that I was pleasantly surprised. Though none of the characters was nearly as likeable as those described in the previous book, they were no less fascinating.
The premise of the story is that when Mr. Plumb senior died he set up a trust fund for his 4 children, Leo, Melody, Beatrice and Jack to be received when the youngest (Melody) turns thirty. The kids took to calling it the "nest" - and though it was never intended to make them rich, with wise investment it had grown and each of the siblings had plans for the money. However, months before they are to receive it, Leo, the eldest, drives while under the influence and causes an accident which severely injures a young waitress. The kids' mother, who has discretion over the nest, uses it to silence the girl, wanting to avoid scandal for herself and her new husband.
Thus, we get to watch how the siblings deal with not getting access to the money - and the impact it has on their relationships. We also see Leo try to squirm out of paying them back though each correctly suspects he has money squirrelled away somewhere. And we see them turn their anger on their rather distant mother for spending their money.
Again not much happens - this is really just a study in family relationships and the impact that money (both found and lost) can have on them.
Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
This is a new novel by the Australian author who quite cleverly mixes together some romance, family drama and mystery. In this book we learn very early on that something went terribly wrong when Erika and Oliver, and their friends, Clementine and Sam, go to a barbecue at the home of Erika's neighbours, Vid and Tiffany. However, I could not guess what exactly had happened (not for lack of trying) and it wasn't revealed until quite late in the book - which meant it was hard to put it down.
In addition to trying to figure out this main story line, there were several others - the strange relationship between Erika and Clementine; Erika's relationship with her mother the hoarder, and with Erika's mother who was a social worker that forced the friendship when the girls were children; Erika and Oliver's difficulty in having children; Clementine's nerves about auditioning for a regular role in the Sydney symphony; the strain whatever happened at the barbecue had on Clementine and Sam's marriage and their relationships with their two children; the fate of the grumpy neighbour who lives on the other side of Vid and Tiffany; the secrets about her past that Tiffany is keeping from Vid and that may come out given current circumstances; and the impact whatever happened at the barbecue had on Vid and Tiffany's 10 year old daughter.
I don't want to reveal much more as it will ruin the suspense. But, while this is by no means high brow literature, it is well written and definitely kept me interested.
Written by the best selling author of Something Borrowed and Something Blue, this book was a little bit darker, though it did deal with the meaning of friendships and relationships in the same way. Until the end I enjoyed it, but I found the end very unsatisfying - it just seemed to stop randomly without really wrapping up loose ends (maybe she's already saving things for a sequel?)
The book opens 15 years before the main action when Daniel, the older and much admired brother of Meredith and Josie dies in a car accident. Fast forward 15 years and Meredith, who dreamed of being an actress, is a married lawyer with a daughter. She chose the safe path so as not to put her parents through more trauma (they already divorced following Daniel's death). Meredith is somewhat unhappily married to Daniel's high school best friend - having bonded over their grief.
Josie, always a little wilder than Meredith, is a teacher. She has not settled down and is decidedly unsettled when a former boyfriend's daughter is placed in her classroom. She also really wants to have a child and has decided to give up on finding a man and going the sperm donor route. She thinks she wants an anonymous donor until she gets two offers - one from the last man she decides to meet before getting pregnant, who ends up being a good match, and her long time best friend and male roommate. At the end she chooses the roommate's sperm with the approval of the boyfriend but we can't help feeling that will lead to no end of problems (which never get discussed when the book abruptly ends). Josie must also deal with her guilt over the role she thinks she played in the death of her brother - and must resolve that with her now brother in law who also feels the guilt.
Mysteriously Meredith and her mother also long to meet the woman they thought Daniel would have married if he hadn't died. Eventually the sisters meet him and that does lead to one somewhat uncomfortable though comical scene.
Not the greatest book ever, or even this author's best, but an amusing enough read for a lazy summer day.
As Close to Us as Breathing by Elizabeth Poliner
Coincidentally this book also deals with a family who must cope with the death of a brother in a car accident. However, I liked this one much better - the characters were far better developed and therefore more interesting. The book is primarily set in Connecticut in 1948 - at "Bagel Beach" where the Jewish immigrants have cottages. It is here that Davy is killed by the ice cream truck. The story is told through the eyes of his older sister, 12-year old Molly. It jumps back and forth in time to the relevant summer, the present day and anywhere in between. Molly paints a fascinating picture of the the summers at the beach with her mother, Ada, aunts Vivie and Bec, brothers Davy and Howard, and cousin Nina. They are joined on the weekends by Molly's father and Vivie's husband, Leo. Molly even paints a vivid picture of her father's bachelor brother, Nelson, Bec's non-Jewish and married lover and even the driver of the ice cream truck, Sal.
In the present day we learn early on that Molly has inherited Bec's house following her death, and that many of the other characters have also died, but it is only over time that we find out how everyone carried on after that fateful summer.
While there was not a lot of surprise action - we learn about Davy's death, though not the precise play by play, very early. However, I found myself wanting to continue reading to see what happened to all the characters and how they dealt with the roles they perceived themselves playing in Davy's death.
In addition to an interesting character study it is a great look at Jewish Americans in the immediate post-war period - there are still essentially segregated beaches, they work in traditional jobs like the garment industry, they are very traditional, attending synagogue regularly, and they are just coming to grips with the news of the atrocities in Europe. They are also suspicious of their Italian, Irish, and other neighbours.
I really recommend this book if you want to dive into the inner workings of a large and complicated family.
The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Given the hype this book received, I set myself up to be disappointed (a la The Goldfinch), however, it turned out that I was pleasantly surprised. Though none of the characters was nearly as likeable as those described in the previous book, they were no less fascinating.
The premise of the story is that when Mr. Plumb senior died he set up a trust fund for his 4 children, Leo, Melody, Beatrice and Jack to be received when the youngest (Melody) turns thirty. The kids took to calling it the "nest" - and though it was never intended to make them rich, with wise investment it had grown and each of the siblings had plans for the money. However, months before they are to receive it, Leo, the eldest, drives while under the influence and causes an accident which severely injures a young waitress. The kids' mother, who has discretion over the nest, uses it to silence the girl, wanting to avoid scandal for herself and her new husband.
Thus, we get to watch how the siblings deal with not getting access to the money - and the impact it has on their relationships. We also see Leo try to squirm out of paying them back though each correctly suspects he has money squirrelled away somewhere. And we see them turn their anger on their rather distant mother for spending their money.
Again not much happens - this is really just a study in family relationships and the impact that money (both found and lost) can have on them.
Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
This is a new novel by the Australian author who quite cleverly mixes together some romance, family drama and mystery. In this book we learn very early on that something went terribly wrong when Erika and Oliver, and their friends, Clementine and Sam, go to a barbecue at the home of Erika's neighbours, Vid and Tiffany. However, I could not guess what exactly had happened (not for lack of trying) and it wasn't revealed until quite late in the book - which meant it was hard to put it down.
In addition to trying to figure out this main story line, there were several others - the strange relationship between Erika and Clementine; Erika's relationship with her mother the hoarder, and with Erika's mother who was a social worker that forced the friendship when the girls were children; Erika and Oliver's difficulty in having children; Clementine's nerves about auditioning for a regular role in the Sydney symphony; the strain whatever happened at the barbecue had on Clementine and Sam's marriage and their relationships with their two children; the fate of the grumpy neighbour who lives on the other side of Vid and Tiffany; the secrets about her past that Tiffany is keeping from Vid and that may come out given current circumstances; and the impact whatever happened at the barbecue had on Vid and Tiffany's 10 year old daughter.
I don't want to reveal much more as it will ruin the suspense. But, while this is by no means high brow literature, it is well written and definitely kept me interested.
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Having enjoyed a Moriarty book last week, I picked this one up at the library. The style is similar - a bit of a mystery wrapped into a typical family/relationship drama.
In this case, the mystery, not surprisingly is what the husband's secret is. Cecilia discovers a letter written by her husband to be read only in the event of his death. She is general rule abiding but when he reacts rather oddly to her announcement that she has found it, she becomes more intent on opening it. She begins to really imagine the worst when her youngest daughter, Polly, remarks that her father looks oddly at her oldest daughter, Isabel; and her middle daughter, Esther, says she caught her father crying in the shower. About halfway through the book we find out what the husband's secret was - it was not what either Cecilia nor I was expecting. Through the remainder of the book we see how the family and others in the community deal with the revelations in the letter.
The other key characters are Rachel, an elderly woman whose only daughter was strangled as a teenager and whose death remains an unresolved crime. She has finally found some peace with the birth of her grandson, but when her son announces he is moving to the US with this grandson, all her loneliness and anger comes back. Rachel is the secretary at the Catholic school where Cecilia is president of the parents' association and where her three daughters attend. So their lives intersect.
The third group of people are Tess and her husband who has just announced he has fallen in love with her cousin and best friend. As a result Tess returns to Sydney with her son and enrols him at the same school. She also begins an elicit affair with a former boyfriend who is the PE teacher there. So her life also intersects with the others - though frankly this story is somewhat less central to the overriding story of the secret.
In all this is an easy read with mostly likeable characters. We see the action from many different perspectives, male and female, young and old, etc. And we see how one secret can impact a whole community of lives.
In this case, the mystery, not surprisingly is what the husband's secret is. Cecilia discovers a letter written by her husband to be read only in the event of his death. She is general rule abiding but when he reacts rather oddly to her announcement that she has found it, she becomes more intent on opening it. She begins to really imagine the worst when her youngest daughter, Polly, remarks that her father looks oddly at her oldest daughter, Isabel; and her middle daughter, Esther, says she caught her father crying in the shower. About halfway through the book we find out what the husband's secret was - it was not what either Cecilia nor I was expecting. Through the remainder of the book we see how the family and others in the community deal with the revelations in the letter.
The other key characters are Rachel, an elderly woman whose only daughter was strangled as a teenager and whose death remains an unresolved crime. She has finally found some peace with the birth of her grandson, but when her son announces he is moving to the US with this grandson, all her loneliness and anger comes back. Rachel is the secretary at the Catholic school where Cecilia is president of the parents' association and where her three daughters attend. So their lives intersect.
The third group of people are Tess and her husband who has just announced he has fallen in love with her cousin and best friend. As a result Tess returns to Sydney with her son and enrols him at the same school. She also begins an elicit affair with a former boyfriend who is the PE teacher there. So her life also intersects with the others - though frankly this story is somewhat less central to the overriding story of the secret.
In all this is an easy read with mostly likeable characters. We see the action from many different perspectives, male and female, young and old, etc. And we see how one secret can impact a whole community of lives.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
This book has received a lot of hype this summer - and while I'm not sure it deserved it, the story did keep me entertained.
The whole novel takes place essentially over a few months in Brooklyn, NY, though there are both flash backs and a sort of epilogue that takes us out several years in the future (in the form of newspaper articles which was sort of interesting).
The main characters are Elizabeth, Andrew and Zoe who were bandmates in college and have lived no more than several houses apart ever since. Elizabeth and Andrew are married and have one teenaged son, Harry. Zoe is now married to Jane and they have one teenaged daughter, Ruby, who is the object of Harry's affection.
Elizabeth is now a successful real estate agent, though she could have been a successful songwriter. Andrew is the son of wealthy Upper East Siders who has contempt for his parents' wealth though he seems to live off of that and his wife's earnings as he drifts from one unsuccessful endeavour to another. He is rather annoyingly naive as he gets sucked into investing with a former actor turned into the owner of a yoga/meditation/health food studio, only to be "saved" by his wife who enlists Harry and Ruby to spy on him.
Zoe and Jane own a successful restaurant - Zoe is the chef while Jane is in charge of everything else. Zoe is rather dreamy and artsy while Jane is organized and efficient. They are having marital difficulties in part due to Zoe's continuing co-dependant relationship with Elizabeth.
The relationship between Harry and Ruby is interesting. Harry has always been the "good boy"; while Ruby has been involved with skateboarding high school dropouts and has not been able to get into college. While Harry is clearly smitten, Ruby seems to like him but really be enjoying teaching him the "ways of the world".
The final main character in the book, Lydia, actually died several years before the action takes place. She was the other band member in college who bought the rights to a song written by Elizabeth and makes it famous. Part of the story revolves around a film being made about Lydia - the producers are seeking the rights to the song and to the three remaining band members' lives - Andrew is very reluctant as it will reveal long held secrets.
As summer wears on we see the relationships and the characters themselves evolve. There is not a lot of action, but the people make the book worth reading.
The whole novel takes place essentially over a few months in Brooklyn, NY, though there are both flash backs and a sort of epilogue that takes us out several years in the future (in the form of newspaper articles which was sort of interesting).
The main characters are Elizabeth, Andrew and Zoe who were bandmates in college and have lived no more than several houses apart ever since. Elizabeth and Andrew are married and have one teenaged son, Harry. Zoe is now married to Jane and they have one teenaged daughter, Ruby, who is the object of Harry's affection.
Elizabeth is now a successful real estate agent, though she could have been a successful songwriter. Andrew is the son of wealthy Upper East Siders who has contempt for his parents' wealth though he seems to live off of that and his wife's earnings as he drifts from one unsuccessful endeavour to another. He is rather annoyingly naive as he gets sucked into investing with a former actor turned into the owner of a yoga/meditation/health food studio, only to be "saved" by his wife who enlists Harry and Ruby to spy on him.
Zoe and Jane own a successful restaurant - Zoe is the chef while Jane is in charge of everything else. Zoe is rather dreamy and artsy while Jane is organized and efficient. They are having marital difficulties in part due to Zoe's continuing co-dependant relationship with Elizabeth.
The relationship between Harry and Ruby is interesting. Harry has always been the "good boy"; while Ruby has been involved with skateboarding high school dropouts and has not been able to get into college. While Harry is clearly smitten, Ruby seems to like him but really be enjoying teaching him the "ways of the world".
The final main character in the book, Lydia, actually died several years before the action takes place. She was the other band member in college who bought the rights to a song written by Elizabeth and makes it famous. Part of the story revolves around a film being made about Lydia - the producers are seeking the rights to the song and to the three remaining band members' lives - Andrew is very reluctant as it will reveal long held secrets.
As summer wears on we see the relationships and the characters themselves evolve. There is not a lot of action, but the people make the book worth reading.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Three Summer Reads
It's that time of year when I don't have the energy to read anything heavy. So here are the last three books I read - don't expect great literature but they are an entertaining enough read for on the beach or by the pool.
Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand
Hilderbrand has come out with her annual Nantucket based book. I certainly enjoyed this one more than last year's. In this novel, Deacon Thorpe, a celebrity chef has passed away suddenly. In accordance with his wishes, his lawyer and best friend gathers his two ex-wives, his current estranged wife and his three children (one from each wife) at his favourite place in the world - his rustic Nantucket cottage.
Though the three wives shared a love for Deacon, they could not have been more different. Laurel is his high school sweetheart - they married at a young age when she became pregnant with his first son. She is now a social worker who has never found love again after Deacon left her for his second wife. Belinda was a famous actress who made a play for Deacon and took him away from Laurel. They shared a damaged past and together adopted a baby girl, Deacon's second child and the one who ended up being his successor in the restaurant business. In a cliche move, Deacon left Belinda for their young nanny, a Southern debutante, many years his junior. She bore him one daughter who is now just a child.
Deacon struggled with drugs and, unbeknownst to his wives or children, money problems. So his lawyer must tell the women that not only are they left with nothing, but a one third share in the Nantucket cottage, but they will have to give up the cottage if the multiple mortgages cannot be paid. Belinda is the only wife with the money to do that - but she is unwilling to help the nanny who stole her husband and Deacon's first wife is unwilling to accept her help.
The women are not the only ones with problems - Deacon's son is suffering from a heroin addiction and his older daughter has just been dumped after carrying on with a married man.
The book deals with what happened when these characters join together in Nantucket to spread Deacon's ashes interspersed with flashbacks into his past with each of his wives. Again, not great literature but a decent read with lots of interesting characters.
The Island House by Nancy Thayer
Thayer also comes out with about a book a year set in Nantucket - hers also deal with complicated families and their love and money troubles. In this book Susanna Vickerey, a mother of four is celebrating her sixtieth birthday and her natural children as well as her "island children" gather to celebrate. Each of the four children has brought at least one friend to the cottage since they were children and they have been "adopted" into the Vickerey family for the summers. This summer, daughter Robin's friend Courtney is also headed to the island to explore whether she has a chance at a relationship with son James or should accept the marriage proposal received from her childhood friend in Kansas City. She has kept her feelings for James a secret from everyone until now.
The oldest son Henry is dealing with the impact of bipolar disorder on both his medical career and his relationship with his long term girlfriend. James seems to be in love with a family friend - a quirky artistic girl. Courtney is carrying on a clandestine affair with a person who she thinks her family will disapprove of and Iris the youngest has just graduated from college, no longer has a lot in common with her wealthy New York "island sister" and is looking for some direction.
The story shows us what happens when all these characters gather on the island. The relationship outcomes are fairly predictable but nonetheless entertaining.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
This was my first book by the New York Times best-selling Australian author and I liked it enough to pick up another one. While this is mainly another story of relationships, it is also a bit of a mystery. The action opens with the scene of a primary school fundraising trivia night where, through the eyes of an elderly woman who lives near the school, we learn that a person has died, or perhaps been killed. The narrative then jumps back in time by six months and we meet the main characters, all of whom become the potential victim and suspect. Each chapter ends with snippets of police interviews with various attendees at the trivia night which we need to try to piece together what happened.
Madeline is a strong, outspoken woman married to her second husband, Ed. Her first husband Nathan, and father of her oldest daughter, Abigail, has remarried a younger woman. His second wife, Bonnie is a health conscious, socially responsible yogi who Abigail is enamoured with, much to Madeline's dismay. To make matters worse, Nathan and Bonnie's daughter Skye will be in kindergarten with Madeline and Ed's youngest daughter, Chloe.
Madeline befriends the beautiful Celeste who seems to lead a charmed life with her husband Perry and twin sons. But beneath the charm there is an abusive relationship.
Both women take the young single mother Jane under their wings. Jane's son Ziggy is accused of bullying and Jane worries he may have inherited a violent streak from his biological father with whom Jane had a violent one night stand.
There are many other minor characters involved in tense situations around the school relating the the alleged bullying and other power issues. Everyone of the main characters seems potentially able to snap and hurt another (with cause or at least perceived reason). I can't say I actually guessed what happened though it seemed believable once I got there. So it kept me intrigued trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.
Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand
Hilderbrand has come out with her annual Nantucket based book. I certainly enjoyed this one more than last year's. In this novel, Deacon Thorpe, a celebrity chef has passed away suddenly. In accordance with his wishes, his lawyer and best friend gathers his two ex-wives, his current estranged wife and his three children (one from each wife) at his favourite place in the world - his rustic Nantucket cottage.
Though the three wives shared a love for Deacon, they could not have been more different. Laurel is his high school sweetheart - they married at a young age when she became pregnant with his first son. She is now a social worker who has never found love again after Deacon left her for his second wife. Belinda was a famous actress who made a play for Deacon and took him away from Laurel. They shared a damaged past and together adopted a baby girl, Deacon's second child and the one who ended up being his successor in the restaurant business. In a cliche move, Deacon left Belinda for their young nanny, a Southern debutante, many years his junior. She bore him one daughter who is now just a child.
Deacon struggled with drugs and, unbeknownst to his wives or children, money problems. So his lawyer must tell the women that not only are they left with nothing, but a one third share in the Nantucket cottage, but they will have to give up the cottage if the multiple mortgages cannot be paid. Belinda is the only wife with the money to do that - but she is unwilling to help the nanny who stole her husband and Deacon's first wife is unwilling to accept her help.
The women are not the only ones with problems - Deacon's son is suffering from a heroin addiction and his older daughter has just been dumped after carrying on with a married man.
The book deals with what happened when these characters join together in Nantucket to spread Deacon's ashes interspersed with flashbacks into his past with each of his wives. Again, not great literature but a decent read with lots of interesting characters.
The Island House by Nancy Thayer
Thayer also comes out with about a book a year set in Nantucket - hers also deal with complicated families and their love and money troubles. In this book Susanna Vickerey, a mother of four is celebrating her sixtieth birthday and her natural children as well as her "island children" gather to celebrate. Each of the four children has brought at least one friend to the cottage since they were children and they have been "adopted" into the Vickerey family for the summers. This summer, daughter Robin's friend Courtney is also headed to the island to explore whether she has a chance at a relationship with son James or should accept the marriage proposal received from her childhood friend in Kansas City. She has kept her feelings for James a secret from everyone until now.
The oldest son Henry is dealing with the impact of bipolar disorder on both his medical career and his relationship with his long term girlfriend. James seems to be in love with a family friend - a quirky artistic girl. Courtney is carrying on a clandestine affair with a person who she thinks her family will disapprove of and Iris the youngest has just graduated from college, no longer has a lot in common with her wealthy New York "island sister" and is looking for some direction.
The story shows us what happens when all these characters gather on the island. The relationship outcomes are fairly predictable but nonetheless entertaining.
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
This was my first book by the New York Times best-selling Australian author and I liked it enough to pick up another one. While this is mainly another story of relationships, it is also a bit of a mystery. The action opens with the scene of a primary school fundraising trivia night where, through the eyes of an elderly woman who lives near the school, we learn that a person has died, or perhaps been killed. The narrative then jumps back in time by six months and we meet the main characters, all of whom become the potential victim and suspect. Each chapter ends with snippets of police interviews with various attendees at the trivia night which we need to try to piece together what happened.
Madeline is a strong, outspoken woman married to her second husband, Ed. Her first husband Nathan, and father of her oldest daughter, Abigail, has remarried a younger woman. His second wife, Bonnie is a health conscious, socially responsible yogi who Abigail is enamoured with, much to Madeline's dismay. To make matters worse, Nathan and Bonnie's daughter Skye will be in kindergarten with Madeline and Ed's youngest daughter, Chloe.
Madeline befriends the beautiful Celeste who seems to lead a charmed life with her husband Perry and twin sons. But beneath the charm there is an abusive relationship.
Both women take the young single mother Jane under their wings. Jane's son Ziggy is accused of bullying and Jane worries he may have inherited a violent streak from his biological father with whom Jane had a violent one night stand.
There are many other minor characters involved in tense situations around the school relating the the alleged bullying and other power issues. Everyone of the main characters seems potentially able to snap and hurt another (with cause or at least perceived reason). I can't say I actually guessed what happened though it seemed believable once I got there. So it kept me intrigued trying to figure out how all the pieces fit together.
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