Summertime is thriller time. There’s something about the pacing, when it’s done right, that matches the weather to my brain—overheated and a bit frenetic. The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy is my most recent venture into twisted turn thriller territory. Molloy doesn’t go for subtle in choosing a plot guaranteed to ratchet up the tension: an infant disappears from his mother’s ... Read More...
The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner
There isn’t any status in it unless you’d be impressed to know that the Mars Room is not a middling or mediocre strip club but is definitely the worst and most notorious, the very seediest and most circuslike place there is. In stark contrast to all that was warm and lovely in Monday’s book, Tin Man, I’m back today with a book that probably worked because it was ... Read More...
The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll
There is a book for every mood and sometimes, your subconscious knows what you need better than your thinking mind. I had no idea how hungry I was for flat-out over-the-top drama until I finished Jessica Knoll’s newest novel, The Favorite Sister. I was drawn to the book by its premise—a reality TV show about a group of high achieving, self-made, female millennials whose life ... Read More...
Quirky Women: Mini-Reviews
I am a huge fan of quirky characters, but when they fly by the eccentric train station heading full speed to weird I start applying the reading brakes. Today’s reviews are about two women who are quirky and then some. In one case it worked beautifully and led to a novel I loved. In the other, it was almost enough to overshadow a good book. As mentioned, I always ... Read More...
Heart Berries: A Memoir
It’s hard, as a reviewer, to say you loved a book or felt deeply touched by it, but that you’re not sure you understood a lot of it. And by understand, I mean, literally, the facts. This is the case for me regarding Terese Mailhot’s memoir, Heart Berries. The emotion of it gripped me. The symbolism of her words is a cold, clear stream—shocking and cleansing. For much of the ... Read More...
Love and Ruin by Paula McLain
It wasn’t bravery when you did what you had to do. Paula McLain’s novel, Circling the Sun, was one of my favorites of 2015, largely because she portrayed Beryl Markham so well as a woman who wasn’t content to follow the norms of her times—get married, have children—but who understood that the only way to follow her own path meant the norms would never be an option. ... Read More...
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