Review: The Chilbury Ladies' Choir (by Jennifer Ryan)

My Rating: 4 stars

Written in a unique manner that consists entirely of letters and journal entries, The Chilbury Ladies' Choir is a delightful tale about the trials and tribulations that the citizens of a small town in England go through as their country is plunged into World War II. When the story begins, most of the men in the small town of Chilbury have been sent off to war, leaving behind all the women of the town as well as the older men from the ruling families to carry on as best they can. The village's Vicar decides to disband the long-running Chilbury Choir because he feels they "can't have a choir without men," however when music professor Primrose Trent arrives in town, she convinces him to allow the choir to be reinstated. Under Prim's leadership, the Chilbury Ladies' Choir is formed and not long after that, the group takes on the important role of uniting and uplifting their small community as it struggles to deal with the chaos brought on by the war. 

The story is told from the perspectives of multiple characters who record in vivid detail the day-to-day happenings in their small village. Through these' characters' letters and journal entries, we as readers get to bear witness to everything from local town gossip to major issues of life and death, but throughout it all, we get to see the fighting spirit of this wonderful group of women who all contribute to the war effort in their own ways. At times funny and heartwarming, especially when depicting the minor squabbles between villagers, yet also tragic and heartbreaking when lives are lost during the first raids on the village, the book actually covers quite a bit of ground on the emotional spectrum. Content-wise, it deals with a variety of issues ranging from class system, gender stereotypes, society conventions and expectations, to family relationships, love and romance, scandals, betrayals, the resilience of the human spirit, etc., all set against the historical backdrop of the war and its impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.

For me personally, I enjoyed reading about the different characters and how their backgrounds shape their actions and experiences throughout the book. Almost all of the characters (except for one or two) are likable in some way and even the ones that are flawed have redeeming qualities that make it difficult to hate them even when they do unscrupulous things. It was also interesting to see how the same situation / event could be viewed in completely different ways and how the actions that we take based on that can result in drastic consequences. I also like how the characters were portrayed realistically, which made it easier to relate to what the characters were going through. As I was reading, I kept drawing similarities of some of the characters to people I know in real life (for example – the exceedingly annoying Mrs. B, who is pompous and rude and loves to flaunt her wealth but is actually a good person underneath). This made the reading experience fun and enjoyable, despite the at times heavy subject matter.

I definitely recommend this book, especially for its uplifting, "feel-good" quality, which is hard to come by in a book set in the WWII era. This is actually one of the few war-related books I've read in recent months that didn't leave me feeling sad and depressed. Enjoyable and delightful read!

Received advance reader's copy from Crown Publishing via Blogging for Books and NetGalley.

Review: The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley (by Hannah Tinti)

My Rating:  4 stars

This is an interesting book and quite honestly, I’m kind of at a loss on how best to write this review without giving too much away yet at the same time trying to do justice to the book.  There are so many things to talk about with this book, so many angles to explore, so many points to discuss, it’s actually a bit overwhelming.

From the get go, when we as readers are introduced to the main character Samuel Hawley, we already know that he is a tough guy with a dark past – a past that possibly involved some amount of violence given the number of guns and ammunition he owned.  Not long into the story, we find out that Hawley didn’t just have a violent past, he actually had a criminal one that involved robbery, assault, and even murder.  Basically, he was a “bad guy,” a seemingly hardened criminal constantly on the run from his checkered past – and he had the scars to prove it:  the twelve bullet wounds all over his body.  After his beloved wife dies in a tragic drowning accident, leaving behind an infant daughter, Hawley finally decides to step away from his previous life of crime to raise his daughter Loo and make it his life’s mission to protect her at all costs.  Eventually, Hawley’s past catches up with him and his daughter in their present lives and together, they must face an uncertain future amidst a past that threatens to destroy them.

This is the kind of book that cannot be placed “nicely” into any one genre or category because there is so much going on in the book all at the same time.   There were times when this book felt like a mystery thriller, where I found myself right alongside Loo growing curious about her mother’s mysterious death and trying to put the pieces together with each clue that is dropped as the story progresses.  Other times, it felt like a coming-of-age story centered around Loo as she grows into her teenage years and struggles to come to terms with her father’s past and the ominous influence it has on her present life.  The chapters that detailed Hawley’s past exploits and the significance of the various bullet wounds on his body read like a suspense novel, with the intensity building up as each detail of Hawley’s situation is revealed.  The gun battles and brawls and constant references to alcohol and bars as well as the idea of a menacing tough guy who is inherently good doing battle with those who are truly evil all remind me of those cowboy westerns I used to watch as a kid, except this one was in a modern setting.  There was also the family drama element with the various relationship lines interwoven throughout the book:  father-daughter (Hawley and Loo), husband-wife (Hawley and his wife Lily prior to her death), mother-daughter (Lily with her mother Mabel Ridge and also briefly with her own daughter Loo), grandmother-granddaughter (Loo’s tensed relationship with her grandmother Mabel Ridge), etc.  And of course, there was the romance element in Loo’s relationship with her classmate Marshall.

In terms of structure, this is where the book is unique in that it essentially uses the scars on Hawley’s body as a “blueprint” for the entire story.  As the narrative cuts back and forth between past and present, we are taken from Loo’s current life back to her father’s past, with every other chapter telling the “history” of each of the twelve bullets that had once gone through Hawley’s body.  There was also quite a bit of symbolism interspersed throughout the story, especially in the chapters dealing with Hawley’s past, as well as metaphors about love, death, the significance of time, etc.  I also picked up on a few subtle parallels with Hawley’s story to Greek and Roman mythology, which I felt was very clever of the author to weave into the story in such an unassuming way.  As for the writing, I appreciated how descriptive the author was and the compelling way that the story was told.  With that said though, the prose did feel a bit clunky at times and some sentences I had to read twice because the flow seemed a little off, but since this was an ARC and I understood I was reading an uncorrected proof that would probably undergo some more editing prior to publication, this was not too big of a deal for me.

As I said earlier, it is hard for me to do justice to this story through a short review.  I would recommend reading the book and experiencing it for yourself.  The only caution I would give is that there is quite a bit of violence in the book as well as some gritty depictions of criminal acts that some readers may find offensive.  Personally, I struggled with some parts and actually disagreed with some of the characters’ actions, attitudes, and handling of certain situations, but overall, the story was good and I found myself still being drawn to the characters, despite their many flaws.

Received advance reader's copy from Random House via NetGalley.
(Expected publication date:  March 28th, 2017)

Review: My Last Lament (by James William Brown)

My rating: 4 stars

Over the years, I've read many books set during World War II and despite already knowing the history, I am still blown away each time I read about the tremendous devastation that the war caused in various countries as well as the unimaginable suffering and loss that the peoples in those countries went through. In the case of Greece, which was pulled reluctantly into the war when Italian and German troops invaded the country and set up combat posts across the land, the end of WWII did not bring about the focus on gradual reforms and large scale rebuilding of the country that it did for other countries that had survived the war. Almost immediately upon WWII ending, Greece was thrown into a civil war that erupted in large part due to the atrocities that were committed during the previous war. The country became deeply divided, with those who had suffered enormous loss at the hands of foreign enemies during the war choosing to avenge their displaced anger by turning on their own people. In some cases, entire villages were wiped out and its people were senselessly massacred for no valid reason other than them being viewed as "implicit" in the war due to the fact that they "housed" or "fed" or "translated for" the enemy (it didn't matter that these villages had been unwillingly "forced" to take in the German troops and were already in dire straits themselves due to what had already been inflicted on them from previously). This quote from the book is powerful in relaying just how tragic a situation the country was in: Much of the country remained in ruins from the fighting, the railroads destroyed, the bridges blown up, a nearly worthless currency and a demoralized people. We'd done more damage to ourselves than even the Germans had done to us.

It is against this backdrop of devastating war, endless infighting, and sheer chaos that the tragic yet poignant story of a Greek woman's life unfolds. When the story opens, the main character Aliki is already in old age, still living in the rural Greek village where she grew up. She is a lamenter who mourns for the dead by chanting poems meant to honor the deceased at their wakes and funerals. As this is an ancient tradition that only the "old families" still observed, Aliki is the last of her kind in the village. One day, a scholar from an American university visits Aliki and asks if she can record her laments for a research project she is doing. She leaves Aliki with a recorder and cassette tapes for her to record her laments when they occur, telling her that she will be back in touch with her later. After the scholar is gone, Aliki starts recording, but instead of recording her laments, she ends up telling her life story. From there, we are transported back in time to 1943, at the tail-end of the war, when Aliki (who is in her teens – still a kid pretty much) has to witness first-hand her beloved father being executed by German soldiers for the mere crime of "stealing squash." After that, Aliki's life is marked by one tragedy after another and through it all, we witness her struggles with love, loss, and coming-of-age in a country that itself is struggling to come to terms with the aftermath of two devastating wars.

I must admit that this was a difficult book to read for me due to all the vivid descriptions of the atrocities of the wars that devastated Greece during the 1940s and 1950s. However, I am glad I read this book because, despite this being a work of fiction, I learned so much about a part of WWII history that I had no clue even existed. More importantly though, I was given a glimpse into a world and culture that, up to this point, I had largely been ignorant about. When it came to Greece, the extent of my knowledge basically ended at its ancient history, since that was mainly what was taught in school and its contemporary history was rarely ever mentioned. Aliki's story is poignant and heartbreaking -- it is a story of love and loss but also of resilience, resolve, strength, and survival, all interwoven in a well-written novel that ended up being a surprisingly enjoyable read for me. One thing I will say is that I got a little bit confused at first about the title, since most of the story didn't seem to have much to do with lamenting per se. But then I got to the end of the book, which was also the end of Aliki's story, and that's where the significance of the title as well as the theme of lamenting fell clearly into place for me. I actually feel the ending was brilliantly done, as I was a bit startled as well when Aliki was told a secret that had been kept from her for decades and very likely would've altered the course of her life as well as the lives of her loved ones if she had known earlier.

This is a one-of-a-kind book that I feel everyone should read, if not for the story, then at least for the historical and cultural aspects. For me, it was a humbling experience and reminded me about being grateful for the life I have and not taking things for granted.

Received advance reader's copy from Berkley Books via Penguin First to Read program.

Review: The Sneetches and Other Stories (by Dr. Seuss)

My Rating: 5 stars

This is my all-time favorite Dr. Seuss book! It contains 4 stories that are fun to read but also have great music essages that both kids and adults can learn from. This book actually covers a lot of ground in terms of the lessons it teaches and I'm sure each person who reads it will get something slightly different from it. Overall though, there are a few main lessons from the book that are very relevant and timely given the world we live in today – for example: being open-minded, tolerant, and accepting of people who may be different from us (whether physically or in their thoughts/actions/opinions, etc.), the importance of trying to understand where others are coming from and being willing to compromise if the situation warrants it, treating others equally and fairly while at the same time recognizing each person's individuality and uniqueness, etc. All very important and appropriate lessons to teach our kids but also excellent reminders for all of us "adults" as well.

I bought this book for my nephew several years ago and am overjoyed to see how much he adores it! He picks this book at least one day a week for his bedtime story book and has it memorized by now, but that doesn't stop him from asking for the book to be read to him over and over again (and I, of course, am happy to oblige, lol). I absolutely recommend this wonderful classic to people of all ages and hope that everyone enjoys the book as much as my nephew and I have!

Review: Theresa Smith at the Court of Heaven (by Polly Walshe)

My Rating: 3 stars

I need to start off by saying that there is absolutely no significance behind why I chose to read this book. Technically, I came across it by chance, as I was looking through a few book summaries and this one looked interesting, plus it seemed like an easy read, so I decided to try it. Well, it turns out this book was nothing like I thought it would be.

First, the premise: 79-year-old Theresa Smith is suffering from a crippling terminal illness plus a plethora of other health issues. She lives by herself in an upscale convalescent home named Leonard Cohen Court (LCC for short), surrounded by other eccentric but amiable seniors and occasionally visited by her 2 adult daughters Abigail and Saskia as well as teenage granddaughter Poppy. One day, she is paid a courtesy visit by a health advisor from the nearby Makeway Clinic who tells her about a process called Life Enhancement. After that, a "health negotiator" from the same clinic shows up and after much persuasion, she eventually accepts the process, signs an agreement contract, and makes an appointment to have the process completed. The story begins with Theresa lying on a bed in a room at the clinic, on the day of the appointment, having a one-sided conversation – supposedly with Poppy, whom she believes is sitting at her bedside one minute but then the next minute is lying on her own bed in her own room listening to music -- and from there, on the brink of death, Theresa takes a long hard look at her life and in doing so, tries to seek justification for deciding to accept this "life enhancement" procedure. She wavers back and forth in her decision, at times thinking she wants it, at times thinking she doesn't. In the end, after reviewing the details of her life, she finally decides that she doesn't want the procedure after all….but is it too late?

Off the bat, it was very obvious from the start that this book is a satire, though it doesn't become clear, to me at least, until about half way through the book that the "world" Theresa Smith is living in is perhaps not real – that it is essentially a dystopian world where things seem to happen one way one minute but then change course the next minute and in the end we are left wondering whether those things ever occurred in the first place.

The first half or so of the book was entertaining enough and at times, I even found myself chuckling at some of Theresa Smith's observations about the people around her – be it her family, her friends and neighbors at the senior home, or the strangers who visit her. However, after the halfway mark, I started to lose interest, especially when some of the details started to repeat and became more tedious to read. The last third or so of the book was a bit of a chore to get through. There was a lot of dialogue that seemed like pointless conversation – conversations that were at times mundane, at times nonsensical, at times thought-provoking. The author deals with many sensitive issues in the book: in addition to the main topic of assisted suicide, there is also commentary (albeit subtly) on terminal illness, death, attitudes toward the elderly, family relationships, generation gap, social norms and conventions, education, politics, etc. In a way, it was a bit TOO much and at one point, I struggled to keep up. I also felt like the book was way longer than it needed to be and the flow was a bit off – some of the "stories" about Theresa's past felt like they were randomly inserted in sections where they didn't belong while other anecdotes and recollections made perfect sense where they occurred.

While the story is cleverly written, with a good amount of wit and sarcasm scattered throughout that did make the story entertaining at times, it is very obvious that this book is not for me. I appreciate the author's efforts though and she truly did do a great job in her development of the main protagonist in the story Theresa Smith. Even though I wasn't really able to get into the story itself, I still felt for Theresa and her struggles and ended up genuinely liking her as a character. I also appreciated the fact that the book did give me some "food for thought" on a few issues, which is something that I think most of us look for in every reading experience. In that regard, despite this book not being for me, I still found the reading experience satisfying, though obviously it won't be a book that I have any intention of re-reading.

Received  advance reader's copy from publisher via NetGalley.

(Read in March 2017)

Review: The Light Between Oceans (by M.L. Stedman)

My Rating:  4 stars

I actually finished reading this book yesterday, but needed some time to gather my thoughts before proceeding with this review. To be quite honest, this is a book that I found difficult to write a review for, as I felt so conflicted the entire time I was reading it. Majority of the time, I was on an emotional roller coaster with this book, torn between so many different feelings every couple pages that in the end, I wasn’t quite sure how I really felt anymore. After getting a day to think it through and reflect on what I had read, I guess the best way to describe my feelings for this book is that I both loved it and hated it (not the entire book but some aspects of it).

What I loved about the book was the story itself as well as the writing. For a debut novel, I have to say that the author M.L. Stedman did an amazing job (I, for one, was definitely shocked to find out that this was the author’s first book!). The writing was beautiful and there was a good mix of dialogue from the characters and forward-driving plot elements as well as descriptions of the setting that adequately established each scene without going overboard. There was a complexity to the storytelling in that the story was told from multiple perspectives, with all the characters – even the minor ones – getting the chance to give their point of view, yet these perspectives did not distract from the story in any way, since all of them tied back to the main story. In fact, I felt that telling the story in this way actually added to the emotional intensity and overall impact this story had.

The ending was another area where Stedman did an excellent job and again made it hard for me to believe that this was her first book. Well-crafted endings are hard to come by (whether in books, movies, television series, or the like) and for me especially, I’ve encountered too many instances where a well-written story completely unravels with a poorly written ending, which I find extremely frustrating. For me, the ending to this book was “perfect” in the sense that it fitted in extremely well with everything that had occurred in the story – the author did not try to force the ending to go in a direction that would have completely contradicted the rest of the story, which I definitely appreciated given how easy it would have been to go this route due to the moral ambiguity of the characters and the story itself.

In terms of what I hated about the book – well, pretty much it was the characters, primarily the two central characters Tom and Isabel. Ok, I guess in the case of Tom, I didn’t really hate him but rather I was frustrated with him for most of the story, especially all those times when he would give in to Isabel’s whims against his better judgment and put himself in tough/risky positions that I felt weren’t really worth the consequences that would for sure follow. The one character in this book that I hated with a passion was Isabel. While it’s true that Isabel had suffered through a lot of hardship and in a sense, all of that plus her circumstances of being isolated from the rest of the world played a huge role in shaping the person she eventually became, I found it very difficult to sympathize with her for some reason. Normally I am able to find at least one or two redeeming qualities in a character like hers and rarely would I have such strong disgust for a main protagonist in a story, so in a way, I was surprised myself at how much I detested Isabel, to the point that I could not compel myself to find one reason to like her, even up until the end. Perhaps it is the way Isabel was portrayed in the story and the juxtaposition of Tom’s character and how much his moral compass had changed after he met Isabel. With all that said though, I do agree that the portrayal of almost all the characters in this book was realistic and truly brought to light the flaws of human nature.

Regardless of how I felt about the book, I definitely recommend it as a book that is absolutely worth reading. I’m sure each person will get something different out of the book – some may love it, some may hate it, some may be somewhere in the middle (like me). I would say read this with an open mind (all the way to the end though, because the whole story has less impact if not read to the end) and see where it leads you.

Review: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (by Lisa See)

My Rating: 5 stars

WOW!!! This was the first word that came to my mind after finishing this book. I honestly can’t remember the last time a work of fiction affected me as much on an emotional level as this book did. To say that I enjoyed this book is actually an understatement – more appropriately, I ADORED this book and absolutely savored every minute I spent reading it!

Let’s start with the premise of the book, which is essentially about a girl named Li-yan, who is from the ethnic minority tribe Akha in China. Her tribe resides in a remote Yunnan village called Spring Well, located in the Nannuo Mountains -- a land that is filled with tea trees, some of which date back hundreds, maybe even thousands, of years. Li-yan and her family are tea farmers who make their living by picking tea leaves and then selling them to the local tea collection center. Outside of their regular work as tea farmers, Li-yan’s A-ma (the Akha term for mother) is also a midwife, though in reality, she does so much more than just deliver babies – she is also the village healer of sorts who is able to treat all types of ailments with her special potions. When the story begins, Li-yan is 10-years-old and as the only daughter in the family (she has 3 older brothers), she is destined to follow in her A-ma’s footsteps in becoming a midwife. All Akha follow a strict set of rituals and traditions that have been passed on for generations and any deviation from these customs are viewed as “grave sins” that bring bad luck on the entire village. Depending on the severity of the “violation,” the wrong can be righted through cleansing ceremonies and offerings, with the worst punishment being banishment from the village. With her bold personality and a strong desire to become more than what her culture has destined her to be, Li-yan finds herself constantly defying the rules and “causing trouble to her family.” As we follow Li-yan from adolescence to adulthood, we bear witness to all the trials and tribulations she encounters in her life as she struggles to stay true to her Akha heritage while at the same time understanding that she must also adapt to the ever-changing world around her.

The above summary merely scratches the surface of what this book is about – there is so much more to the story than just a young girl’s coming of age journey. In addition to being a story about culture and tradition, family and relationships, fate and circumstances, love and the strong bond between mothers and daughters, there is also an exploration of the political, economic, and social issues in China throughout the nearly three decades that the story covers. The story itself is told mostly from Li-yan’s perspective, with some sections switching over to Li-yan’s long-lost daughter Haley’s perspective. In terms of setting, majority of the story takes place in China, though a good portion of the second half takes place in the United States (specifically in Southern California).

There are so many things I love about this book! The story is captivating, with the sections on family and the bond between mothers and daughters especially touching and endearing. I was moved to tears with the ending scene (which was at the same time poignant as well as powerful) and still felt a bit sad long after I finished reading the book, mostly because I had grown so attached to the characters and the story that I didn’t want it to end. The prose was beautiful, the characters were endearing, the story was fascinating, the historical aspects were well-researched and meticulously described – all things that set this book apart as exceptional!

This is actually my first time reading Lisa See’s books and I’m glad I started with this one due to how much I was able to relate to so many aspects of this book. As someone who grew up (and currently still lives) in Southern California, it was great fun reading through the second half of the book and recognizing every single place that was referred to (and not just the cities either – the restaurants and shops were places that I’ve been to numerous times). I’m also a tea lover (in fact, I’m drinking Pu’erh right now as I write this), so I really appreciated the detail in which the author described the tea making process and all the other aspects about tea, which was a fascinating read for me. On a deeper level, as a Chinese-American myself, I was able to relate to many of the societal struggles that both Li-yan and Haley went through in the story, as I’ve experienced some of those same struggles first-hand over the years. For me, it was wonderful to see a character like Li-yan – a strong woman who loves her family and embraces her heritage as part of who she is, but at the same time, doesn’t allow herself to be chained down to the rituals and traditions to the point that she is unable to accept anything else outside of them. I also appreciated how Li-yan was able to see her own flaws and mistakes she’d made in her life and owned up to them wholeheartedly. Another favorite character for me was Li-yan’s A-ma, who represented the steadfast adherence to cultural beliefs and customs, but at the same time, demonstrated how a mother’s unconditional love for her daughter can transcend all else.

I highly recommend this book, not just to Lisa See fans, but to anyone who likes a great story with cultural and historical significance as well as well-developed characters and also emotional depth. This is definitely one of my favorite books that I’ve read this year!

Received advance reader's copy from Scribner via NetGalley (expected publication date: March 21, 2017).

(Read in February 2017)