Fiction – Page 20 – Book Barmy

The Good House by Ann Leary

I heard Ann Leary interviewed on NPR and immediately walked over to my local bookstore to purchase The Good House.

Book description: Hildy Good is a townie. A lifelong resident of an historic community on the rocky coast of Boston’s North Shore, she knows pretty much everything about everyone. Hildy is a descendant of one of the witches hung in nearby Salem, and is believed, by some, to have inherited psychic gifts. Not true, of course; she’s just good at reading people. Hildy is good at lots of things. A successful real-estate broker, mother and grandmother, her days are full. But her nights have become lonely ever since her daughters, convinced their mother was drinking too much, staged an intervention and sent her off to rehab. Now she’s in recovery—more or less.

Hildy Good is a beautifully flawed character – outspoken, rude, selfish, manipulative and generally unlovable – yet she faces each day with a fragile bravado that touched my heart.

The plot is a revolving tale of idiosyncratic characters, small town gossip, and an intriguing subplots – even including the Salem witch trials. Yet Ann Leary never allows the novel to get bogged down, she keeps every character clearly drawn, the dialogue crisp and each storyline adding to the momentum of the book. There’s a mix of pathos, humor, charm, and human insight.

While Hildy tries and convince herself, her neighbors, her daughters, and even the reader that she doesn’t have a drinking problem — the author allows the reader to know better. The mark of a good writer is the ability to pull of an unreliable narrator without talking (writing) down to the reader.

A read this book in two days, and while the ending felt contrived, I delighted in the setting, every character interaction and plot twist.

I rarely save a novel for re-reading (I have my library of classics for that) but this went back on my shelf to savor again.

Alys Always by Harriet Lane

I usually dislike blurbs that compare books to other books, as if they can ride the tail wind of another bestseller, but this book’s blurb is spot on – “Howard’s End meets All About Eve”.

On a bitter winter’s night, Frances Thorpe comes upon the aftermath of a car crash and, while comforting the dying driver, Alys Kyte, hears her final words. The wife of a celebrated novelist, Alys moved in rarefied circles, and when Frances agrees to meet the bereaved family, she glimpses a world entirely foreign to her: cultured, wealthy, and privileged. While slowly forging a friendship with Alys’s carelessly charismatic daughter, Frances finds her own life takes a dramatic turn, propelling her from an anonymous existence as an assistant editor for the books section of a newspaper to the dizzying heights of literary society.

That’s the storyline, and one would think oh yes, another run-of -the-mill psychological, stalker thriller – but no, this book is much more. Frances starts to infiltrate Alys’ life, romancing her husband, charming the children, even wearing the same clothes…the book gets more and more compelling as you plunge with Frances into her new and manipulative world. At first she appears harmless, but it soon becomes clear that Frances is a schemer and a creepy one at that. Now that she’s discovered a wholly more attractive life, she will do anything to keep it hers.

The humor is wry, the characters are flawed, the atmosphere unsettling and I spent two late nights with the “just one more chapter” syndrome. A debut novel, Alys Always is beautifully, yet sparsely written and what the author leaves out tells as much as her writing. This is a tautly-written, mesmerizing read. And best of all, there is nothing pat about the ending — it requires some thought from the reader.

Some of my favorite writing from this very talented author.

“A wall of coats, slumped there like so many turned backs”

“Her extraordinary talent for happiness was not always best served by the world around her”

“My mother has never been an engaged listener. Other peoples speech is useful mainly as a prompt”

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Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter

I admit, I bought this book because of its beautiful cover, which is brilliant — designed to look like a 1930’s novel complete with water stains and rubbed edges on the cover.

I was delighted to fall into this novel and not come up for air until I turned the last page. It spans from 1962 Italy to present-day Hollywood and the characters and their stories intertwine and evolve so that I was transfixed. The novel explores the impact of greed, lust, love and unfulfilled dreams on people and their lives. Mr. Walter is a master at storytelling, which he tells through complex and enchanting characters.

A young, beautiful actress named Dee Moray arrives to stay at The Hotel Adequate View and everything changes for the inhabitants of the small coastal Italian village. The novel moves back and forth in time via alternating chapters introducing a cast of quirky and amusing characters – including Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton all connected and impacted by the beautiful actress.

The stories span continents and cultures – the simple lives in the Italian village and the intricacies of Hollywood business

Beautiful Ruins is one of the most bittersweet, yet joyful, books I have ever read This book is a must-read!!

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn

There’s been a great deal of buzz regarding this novel, so I approached it with a little chip on my shoulder. I read Gone Girl with every intention of not falling for the “best seller” hype. But, all I can say is WOW. Ms. Flynn is indeed masterful. I finished the book saying “how did she do that?”.

Within a few pages, I was engrossed in the twists and turns of the plot – even gasping aloud at some points and eagerly turning the pages to find out what is happening here? Nick and Amy are totally unlikeable – their marriage is disturbing and dysfunctional. The author surrounds them with money issues, in-law problems and mutual nastiness — and yet I found myself holding my breath in terror for them – thinking, “how did things get this bad?”

The second half of the book turned me on my ear – no spoilers here, just be warned huge surprises await. And, if you’re like me, you’ll binge-read this novel to its sick and evil conclusion.

Warning, the novel contains foul language and some sordid sex – accenting the twisted and creepy atmosphere. Now I want to read her other books; Sharp Objects and Dark Places. And I want to re-read Gone Girl – just to relish in Ms. Flynn’s extremely crafty twist and her structure of this novel.

Review copy provided by Crown Publishing.

A Rather Lovely Inheritance, by C. A. Belmond

Grab this book, cozy up under an afghan and brew a pot of tea. Just what I wanted, in front of the fire with holiday music on the radio. This is the first in a series and although predictable, it is, nonetheless, well written and simply delightful.

Penny Nichols (great name ha!) comes into an inheritance from a distant aunt – an antique car and a huge flat in London — but that’s just the beginning. There’s a fun romp across England, France, and Italy (all my favorite places). It has an amusing cast of family members, co-workers, and friends. There’s a little mystery, a little romance, a little danger and some mad capers on the coast of France. There are two more installments that I plan to read.

Probably falls into the genre of “chick-lit” but with a redeeming Anglophile/European slant.

The Buddha in the Attic, by Julie Otsuka

Oh, how I wanted to like this small and elegant novel — finalist for the National Book Award and highly recommended by my friend Reiko (herself a Nisei and held in entournment camp).

The novel uses the collective voice and sadly I found it distanced me from the women, their stories and their plights. I know the author got accolades and awards for this daring style but using the group to tell the individual stories left me wanting more — more connection with these nameless characters, more understanding of these woman as real people and more empathy with their heartbreak and struggles.

Sadly this was a book I did not finish and am quite sad about that, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

The Uninvited Guests, by Sadie Jones

I thought I knew what I was getting into with what appeared to be a cozy, gothic novel – however, the author employs a devious “switch and bait” to spoof the traditional genre.

The Uninvited Guests starts out as a typical English manor house mystery – complete with an isolated dilapidated English estate, an elegant dinner party, and a dark and stormy night.

The characters are, on the surface, typically English Gothic novel stereotypes with spoilt children, a disinterested mother, and a father worried about money to keep up their manor, and the usual upstairs/downstairs “tempest in a teapot” crises.

Suddenly, as the house is preparing for a dinner party they get word of a nearby train crash and the house is put into service to host the survivors until the storm passes. One of the survivors is a strange and menacing man who has a connection with the mother and puts the rest of the family under his spell.

So far so good right?

The bewildered and confused passengers are cruelly locked into the drawing room where they become restless, mysteriously grow in number and become increasingly creepy.

There, I’ll stop – not to give away too much.

I must admit I enjoyed the first three-quarters of this novel – as it has good writing with a delightful setting, quirky characters, and unexpected plot twists. I especially enjoyed a scene involving the youngest daughter sketching a horse outline on her attic bedroom wall – again won’t reveal the full scene – laugh out loud, miraculous writing.

Up until the end, most was believable — albeit bizarre.

However, the ending left me shaking my head in horror and disbelief – as if Stephen King came in and high-jacked the last chapters. Read this book with that caution.

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Book Review by Deborah Fischer-Brown

This charming novel starts with a small premise; recently retired, very ordinary Harold steps out his front door to mail a condolence note to a dying ex-coworker, only to turn away from the post box and decide to walk from his home in Northern England, 600 miles to her hospice.

Why? Because, he believes, as long as he walks, Queenie Hennessey will live.

As the walk progresses, his story emerges –a dull life, a lost son, a wife who finds him extremely irritating and the co-worker Queenie who, alone, stuck up for him during a difficult work situation. Harold reflects on the waste and failure of his life. Sounds depressing – but read on – this is actually a bright, uplifting tale.

Harold has no appropriate walking gear, cell phone, or money which adds a very real (ouch – his poor feet) story line to his musings. As any hiker knows, it’s all about the feet. So we sympathize with his pain but also revel in his courage to carry on and on – just walking.

Harold meets quirky people along the way – the story shines with a cast of sympathetic characters. Moved on by their kindness he starts to look at his life differently, which resolves in a bitter-sweet but charming ending.

Favorite Quote: “Maybe it’s what the world needs. A little less sense, and a little more faith.”