Review: The Sequel (by Jean Hanff Korelitz)

My Rating: 4 stars

 

Given how much I loved Jean Hanff Korelitz’s literary thriller The Plot, it should come as no surprise that when I heard Korelitz had written a sequel to that book – aptly titled The Sequel – I was dying to read it (pun intended, lol).  The Plot was a book that blew me away – clever, creative, and so masterfully done, with an ending that was wholly unexpected (but made sense given the clues hidden throughout the story).  It was so well done, in fact, that I initially couldn’t help but wonder whether a sequel would be able to live up to the original (even Korelitz gives a shout out to this common cultural sentiment when one of her characters in The Sequel states that “they’re never as good as the first book, are they?”).  Well, it seems that the jury is still out with this one, as there seem to be varying reactions to it from what I can see – some readers feel the second book is better while others feel the original is still the best; for me personally, I would have to say that I fall into the second camp.  While I did enjoy this one and found it to be every bit as clever as the first book (I absolutely loved the way Korelitz named each chapter the title of a real-life literary sequel, as half the fun of reading this book, for me at least, was figuring out which book the sequel title belonged to), I also felt that it was not as tightly-written as the first book was and much less “suspenseful” in comparison. 

 

Before I go any further, I have to say this: despite what people may say about it being fine to read this one as a standalone, I actually feel it is absolutely necessary to read The Plot first, for multiple reasons.  First and foremost is the fact that this book starts off where the first one ended; second, much of the story expands upon many of the plot points from the first book, particularly as it pertains to Anna’s background; third, many of the characters from the first book also show up again, with a few featuring heavily in the storyline this time around; and fourth, there are a few points in the book where the big “twists” from the first book are mentioned.  So basically, if you have not read The Plot but try to read The Sequel, you will either be completely lost with the storyline or you will encounter so many “spoilers” from the first book that there’s no point going back to read it anymore.  To be honest, even reading the “blurb” on the jacket of the sequel is not a good idea if you haven’t read the first book, since there are some references to plot points in that story that, in my opinion, can be “spoiler-ish.”

 

In any case, with that out of the way – as I mentioned earlier, I feel that this book was enjoyable but the original was definitely better. I think part of the reason why I feel this way is because The Plot was unique enough on its own, from all aspects, whether storyline, characters, format (the “story within the story” concept was particularly well-done), tone, voice, flow, etc. – it all came together brilliantly.  With The Sequel, I feel that Korelitz was trying to rehash essentially all the same elements, except this time around, with Anna as the protagonist instead of Jacob (for obvious reasons).  This gave me a little bit of a “been there, done that” vibe for one, and two, it made the storyline a lot more predictable – case in point: with a few minor exceptions, the first book largely had me guessing as to the direction that Korelitz was going to take and I was genuinely shocked with ending; with this book, I already had everything figured out midway through the story and not only that, I ended up being exactly on-the-dot in terms of the ending.

 

I also have to say that I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Anna being the protagonist in this story given all the horrible things she did (and continues to do). The blurb on the jacket states that with The Sequel, Korelitz “gives readers an antihero to root for” – well, this wasn’t really a true statement for me because with Anna, I honestly did not see anything worth rooting for (though I understood Anna’s motivations, I still found her behavior and actions beyond appalling).  But I guess this is more a case of “it’s me, not the book,” since I’m not really a fan of diabolic, villain characters as protagonists.

 

Overall, this was a worthwhile read, especially if you’ve already read The Plot, as this story fills in nearly all of the gaps that were left open-ended from the first book (and it’s definitely a thrill to be able to recognize a character or plot point from the first book and wonder what the implications will be for the new protagonist who wasn’t involved in the interaction the first time around).  As for whether I would read a third book (if there were to be one – which, all indication so far is that there might be), probably yes, but definitely with less anticipatory excitement, especially if Anna is also going to be the protagonist the third go around.

 

Received ARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley.

 

Review: Mercury (by Amy Jo Burns)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

I'm somewhat behind with my reading goals this month, as I took on a bit more than I should have with school and work, plus an unexpected family incident upended some of my plans for this week — but the good news is that, going into next month, I was able to sort things out so that I should be able to get my reading back on track very soon.

With that said, I was able to squeeze in and finish another January ARC a couple days ago, Mercury by Amy Jo Burns — a book that I've been wanting to read ever since I found out about it several months back.  I had read Burns's fiction debut Shiner (she had written a memoir prior to it) a few years back for book club and it became one of my favorite reads that year (one that I had rated 5 stars).  There was so much I loved about that book:  the lyrical, immersive writing that flowed so beautifully that I found myself highlighting one quotable sentence after another; the atmospheric portrayal of time and place that made me feel as though I was right there alongside the characters; and of course, the strong female characters (the heart and soul of the story) who loved fiercely and devotedly, yet rarely got anything in return, instead having to forge their own paths in a world dominated by men whose power often when unchallenged and unchecked. (For more of my thoughts on Shiner, please check out my review of it). While Burns's second novel, Mercury was a fantastic read that I loved quite a lot, if I had to choose between the two, Shiner would still be my favorite.

Mercury is about a family of roofers who live in a "great house" in the small river valley town of Mercury, Pennsylvania — the family patriarch Mick Joseph, his wife Elise, and their three boys Baylor, Waylon, and Shay.  One day in 1990, teenager Marley West arrives in Mercury with her mother Ruth and while stopped at a light they spot 3 men standing atop a roof at the far side of the road. The next day, Marley encounters two of the men (the Joseph brothers) at a baseball game, where she also meets the youngest Joseph brother (10-year-old Shay) as well as their mother Elise — a woman who was beautiful, impeccably dressed, unapologetically cool and collected in a way Marley had never seen before, and also had the ability to "command attention [from everyone around her but especially from her boys] with a single word."  Marley is captivated by this family and as a perpetual loner who is tired of having to move from town to town, she yearns for a seat at the Joseph family table. Soon, that's exactly what happens, as Marley's world becomes inextricably melded with the family's.  As she comes to understand the Joseph family dynamics though, and encounters one difficulty after another, Marley soon realizes that she got more than she had bargained for.  Years later, a discovery in the church attic unearths past hurts and the family finds themselves on the brink of falling apart. As the Josephs scramble to save their family, they must also rethink their priorities and decide what matters most to them.

Just like with Shiner, there were many things I loved about this book:  the writing, of course, which was engaging and immersive and made me feel transported to the small town of Mercury; the characters were also well-developed and wonderfully drawn, especially the 3 Joseph brothers, who each had their own distinctive personalities as well as strengths and weaknesses (though admittedly, I couldn't stand the patriarch of the family, Mick, who, to me, seemed to be a reincarnation of Briar from Shiner); most of all though, I loved the women in this story — Marley and Jade especially, and even Elise to some extent — who were all strong in their own distinctive ways and fought to forge a path for themselves despite society's convictions and judgments.  My one complaint is that there was a tad more romance than I expected, which made some scenes come across a little "soapy" to me, but luckily it wasn't overwhelming so didn't detract from the story too much.

Overall, this is definitely a story worth reading.  One of the things I love about Amy Jo Burns is that she writes with lot of heart and empathy for her characters — even the "bad" characters are written in a way that you end up feeling sorry for them rather than hating them.  I will admit that, despite the dysfunction of the Joseph family, I couldn't help rooting for all of them (this is saying something, since dysfunctional family stories can be a hit or miss for me).  I felt invested in the ups and downs that this family goes through — both the heartbreaking moments and the joyous ones — but most of all, I appreciated the message of resilience and hope that Marley's experiences especially demonstrated.  

This was a wonderful read and I can't wait to see what Burns comes up with next!

Received ARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley.

Review: The Latecomer (by Jean Hanff Korelitz)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

I read Jean Hanff Korelitz's fantastic literary mystery The Plot last year and was very much blown away by how cleverly (and creatively) the story was written (in fact, I would even say it was one of the best literary mysteries I have ever read).  Given that context, I was of course super excited to land an early copy of Korelitz's newest work, The Latecomer — not only that, going into this, my expectations were also extremely high in that I was anticipating another intricate, brilliantly written literary mystery that would give me the same thrilling reading experience as The Plot did. Unfortunately, in the end, that's not how this one turned out.  Instead of giving The Plot vibes, this one ended up hewing closer to Korelitz's earlier work You Should Have Known (the book that the HBO series The Undoing was based on) in both story and structure.  Don't get me wrong — You Should Have Known was a good book overall, but its biggest problem was that it meandered way too much, making the story way more convoluted and confusing than I felt it needed to be (I go into much more detail in my review of that book).  

With The Latecomer, the writing was indeed intricate, with an overabundance of descriptive details that Korelitz lays out in a sophisticated and meticulous, but also incredibly "slow burn" way.  In addition, it felt like Korelitz was trying to cram as many recent / contemporary events and complex society issues into the story as possible — for example:  the pandemic, the previous administration, identity politics, infertility and reproductive rights, surrogacy, racial discrimination and social justice, PTSD, social media, religious freedom and exploration, politics, parent/child relationships, higher education and academia, love and marriage, fidelity, homosexuality, etc. (believe it or not, I am only scratching the surface here in terms of the tremendous amount of ground covered in the story).  And as if that weren't enough, all of it was woven into a complicated web of drama and dysfunction courtesy of the Oppenheimer family — parents Salo and Johanna, triplets Harrison, Lewyn, Sally, and "the latecomer" fourth child Phoebe.  All in all, this made for a tedious, exhaustive read that, in the end, became a chore to get through.

Convoluted story and structure aside though, I felt that Korelitz did a good job in terms of character development (which I also found with the two previous books of hers that I had read).  Korelitz takes her time flushing out the characters, giving us detailed insight into their thoughts and motivations as well as how each one evolves throughout the story — to the point that we as readers feel like we know this family intimately.  One thing I found interesting with the way the characters were written was that they were all quite unlikable (some more so than others — Harrison, for example, who acted like an arrogant bastard pretty much throughout the entire story), yet instead of loathing them like I normally would with these types of characters, I actually found myself pitying them (which, for the record, doesn't mean I condone any of their actions — in fact, I had the opposite reaction in that I was frustrated and angered by a lot of the things they did).  I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly — I guess the closest comparison would be that each character had redeeming qualities that, while far from canceling out their flaws, did make it difficult to completely despise them.

One thing I feel it's important to mention is that I went into this book thinking it would be either a literary mystery in the same vein as The Plot or a psychological thriller similar to You Should Have Known (the only 2 previous books of Korelitz's that I had read up to that point) — it turns out I was wrong on both fronts.  In fact, this book doesn't fall into the mystery / thriller / suspense genre at all (if I had to classify it, I would say it falls under contemporary fiction or literary fiction). Normally, this wouldn't matter much, but in this instance, because I had placed it in the mystery / thriller category, I was anticipating a big reveal / plot twist (maybe even multiple plot twists) somewhere along the line — it wasn't until I got to almost the end (400+ pages into the story) with no plot twist to be found, that I realized my mistake.  I bring this up in case this kind of thing matters to those who decide to pick this up, so you don't make the same mistake I did.

Overall, I did "enjoy" this one and am glad I read it, but it was definitely unnecessarily long, and also the story was way more convoluted than it needed to be (in my opinion at least).  If you decide to pick this one up, just know that it will require quite a bit of patience (which may or may not be worth it in the end).  With all that said, I like the way Korelitz writes her characters and I have no doubt that I will continue to read her works, though I will probably need to make sure I plan out the time better given the amount of patience needed to get through her novels.

Received ARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley

Review: Elsewhere (by Alexis Schaitkin)

My Rating: 3.5 stars



When I first got my hands on this ARC of Alexis Schaitkin's sophomore novel  Elsewhere, I was definitely excited to read it, as I had really enjoyed her debut novel Saint X and couldn't wait to see what she would have for us next.  

Now having finished this, I have to say that it was not what I expected.  The writing was actually beautiful and I loved the magical quality of the prose, which flowed so lyrically and seamlessly throughout the story.  Having said that though, the experience of reading this book was actually quite a struggle for me, mostly because, from beginning to end, I wasn't really sure what I was reading.  The world that the main character Vera inhabited was completely foreign to me and I honestly couldn't relate to her actions (or those of any of the other characters) at all.  Much of the plot didn't make a whole lot of sense to me either, though this has nothing to do with the quality of the work per se, but rather my own inability to comprehend the nuances of the story.  

This book falls heavily into the speculative, dystopian fiction category, which is not a genre that I typically read, so I guess it's not a surprise that I struggled through it.  While I don't regret reading this, I definitely prefer Schaitkin's debut novel over this one — though with that said, I also admire her ability to put out a second novel that is so markedly different from the first one.  The imagery in Elsewhere is vivid and stunning, especially when describing the "world" in the mountains that Vera called home.  

Overall, this was a good book, and well-written too, but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. Hopefully Schaitkin's next book will work better for me.

Received ARC from Celadon Books via Celadon Early Reader program.

Review: The Maidens (by Alex Michaelides)

My Rating: 3 stars

Being one of the few people out there who hasn't yet read The Silent Patient (though I am familiar with all the buzz surrounding the book, as it seemed like everyone couldn't stop talking about it), I went into Alex Michaelides' second novel The Maidens with very few (if any) expectations. In the end, I found this new sophomore effort quite lackluster for the most part — and while I can't use the word "disappointing" (since I haven't read The Silent Patient so I don't have a comparison point) to describe this one, I can say that I would be surprised if it gets the same level of hype as its predecessor.  

Overall, I found this to be a run-of-the-mill psychological thriller that, while entertaining, largely lacked substance.  In addition to not liking any of the characters in the story (more on this later), I felt the main problem with this book is the plausibility factor — meaning that much of the plot, the way things played out, didn't make a whole lot of sense.  In fact, some of the plot points felt far-fetched to the point that I had to suspend disbelief through most of it.  For me, one of the most glaring nonsensical plot points was to have a murder investigation team — from the chief inspector to the forensic analysts to everyone in between — be so utterly useless and incompetent, it was beyond laughable (the investigation was akin to child's play essentially — there was little to no "professionalism" to speak). Another plot point that didn't make sense was to have a therapist (the story's main protagonist Mariana) with no criminal investigation experience and who was essentially a stranger (she was an alumni of the university where the murders occurred and her niece was currently in attendance at the university) be "allowed" to keep repeatedly (and defiantly) inserting herself into the investigation (not only that, she seemed to have free reign on campus too, which I thought was odd considering she was neither faculty nor student — she was even able to book rooms and have meetings with people as though she lived there, even though she supposedly hadn't set foot on campus for over 20 years).  Speaking of Mariana, she was a character I actually couldn't stand at all — I felt like for most of the story, she was either pining for her dead husband (who seemed to get conjured up into Mariana's thoughts every couple pages) or irrationally working herself into a frenzy over some aspect of the murder cases (which, again, had nothing to do with her).  

Not surprisingly, this was actually a thriller where I figured everything out pretty early on, as it was fairly obvious in my opinion — but of course I kept reading because I was curious whether I got it right.  For this reason, the "big reveal" ended up being anti-climactic for me and there really wasn't much of a "twist" to speak of (nothing that kept me on the edge of my seat or made my jaw drop). I also felt there were way too many distractions with the storyline, most of which were unnecessary — red herrings galore that I assume were meant to cleverly distract but instead convoluted the story in a way that made it frustrating to read (at least for me).

With all that said, there were parts of the story I did appreciate, such as the atmospheric way that the university campus and its surroundings were described.  I also thought the various connections to Greek mythology were interesting and done in a way that didn't require much prior knowledge to the subject matter, so it was accessible to the average reader.

Since I already feel like I've said too much, I will go ahead and end it here.  I will say that I did like this one overall, but I didn't feel that it was anything special — it's basically a thriller I'll read once and forget about.  I know I'm probably an outlier with this one, so I would recommend checking out the other reviews for a more balanced perspective. And yes, I still do intend on reading The Silent Patient at some point — who knows, maybe my opinion will change after reading that one, especially since I was told there is a connection between both books.

Received ARC from Celadon Books via their Early Reader program. 

Review: The Plot (by Jean Hanff Korelitz)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

Two years ago, I had read Jean Hanff Korelitz's previous novel You Should Have Known (which is now famously known as the book that the HBO series "The Undoing" was adapted from) and while I liked the story overall, I remember how tedious of a read it was for me, mostly because the story meandered quite a bit and went off on various different tangents that didn't seem to have a whole lot to do with the plot.  And the book was long (400+ pages) — which normally wouldn't matter, except that the story was written in such a convoluted way that, by the time I got to the end, I was just glad it was over.

Given the above experience, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I went into Korelitz's newest book The Plot with a bit of trepidation, despite the fact that, as soon as I had read the book's premise, I had immediately wanted to read it.  My concerns didn't go away even after starting the book, as the story progressed really slowly for the first 50 pages or so — not only that, I also started noticing some of the long, meandering, overly-descriptive passages that had irked me in her previous book. But I stuck with it and am so glad I did, as this ended up being such a wonderful read! 

The story centers around a writer named Jacob Finch Bonner, a once successful author of a bestseller who hit a snag with his second book and is now struggling to move his career forward. While teaching at a low residency MFA program, Jake encounters a student, Evan Parker, who shares with him the plot of a story he plans on writing that he believes will be "a sure thing." Several years later, as Jake still struggles with his writing and has just about given up all hopes of reviving his career, he inadvertently finds out that Evan Parker has died, supposedly without having finished the "sure thing" novel he had bragged about during the MFA session.  At this point, Jake does what he feels any self-respecting writer would do — he takes the plot that Evan had told him about and turns it into a widely-read, bestselling novel.  Jake instantly becomes famous and also wealthy beyond measure.  One day, as he is riding the highs of success in both his personal and professional lives, he receives a mysterious message that contains four terrifying words: "You are a thief."   But it doesn't stop there — as Jake receives more and more threatening messages, to the point that he can't ignore them anymore, he sets off on a race against time to find out who his harasser is in the hopes of confronting them before they expose him.

As I mentioned earlier, I initially didn't have very high expectations going into this book (despite all the hype it has gotten so far) because I thought it would be a convoluted, drawn-out story that would take me longer than preferred to read.  But this book turned out to be opposite of what I was expecting — not only was it a quick read for me (I finished it in 2 sittings, with majority of the book completed in the second sitting because I just couldn't bring myself to put it down), the story was also tightly-plotted and absolutely brilliantly written.  Of course, there were still moments throughout the story where certain passages veered into the "overly-descriptive" category, but not to the extent as her previous book, in my opinion.  Having said this, in researching the author and her other works, I've come to realize that this is actually her distinctive writing style, which is good to know.  

In addition to a cleverly-crafted story however, one of the things that makes this book stand out is the way the characters are rendered, especially the main character Jake.  As a character, Jake is entirely fictional, however the way his struggles as a writer and the angst he goes through all came across so realistically, it really made the character come alive for me — to the point that I found it difficult to figure where I stood in terms of what he did.  Here, Korelitz did a masterful job weaving in recent "discussions" about certain aspects of the publishing industry and literary community that have been concerns over the years: issues such as appropriation versus inspiration, who should get to tell what story, the writing process and the trials and tribulations of being a writer, and most interesting of all, an inside glimpse into the publishing world and the role of the writer in that world. 

Another unique aspect of this book is the way Korelitz utilizes the "story within a story" method to tell Jake's story by incorporating excerpts from his book (the one with the "stolen" plot) interspersed throughout the story, culminating in a fantastic coming together of the plot to create a "fiction vs reality" twist in the end.  I don't want to say too much so as not to give away the ending, but I will say that this was one of the most propulsive, surprising endings that I've read in awhile.

Lastly, I just wanted to comment on why I ended up rating this one 4.5 stars rather than the full 5 stars.  The main reason for this is because I actually was able to figure out aspects of the ending early on, which made the "big reveal" (specifically as it pertained to the person sending the messages to Jake) less impactful — though with that said, the last couple scenes were definitely unexpected and very well-done.

This literary thriller is definitely a "must-read" in my book!  It's clever and creative and even though I did figure out parts of it early on, I still found much of the plot to be unpredictable in terms of the direction things ended up going.  Already, this book is getting a lot of buzz, and deservedly so, in my opinion!  And I wouldn't be surprised if this one also gets optioned for a movie or TV series at some point — I would definitely be interested in watching if that were to be the case!

Received ARC from Celadon Books via NetGalley

Review: Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story Remaking a Life from Scratch (by Erin French)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

I'm no food connoisseur, but I love to eat and I also enjoy reading about food, so chef Erin French's new memoir Finding Freedom is technically right up my alley.  French fell in love with food while working the line at her dad's diner as a teenager and later on, as a young adult, maintained a close connection with food through her subsequent gigs as a waitress, bartender,  caterer, and sales clerk at a kitchen supply shop.  Unlike most chefs, French never received any type of formal training – she never went to culinary school and much of what she knows about cooking was self-taught through trial and error in the kitchen (and she has the scars on her arms to prove it) – yet through hard work and perseverance, she was able to turn her passion for food and natural ingredients (from growing up on her parent's farm) into a successful career.  French is the owner of The Lost Kitchen -- a small restaurant tucked into a repurposed 19^th century mill  in the little town of Freedom, Maine (population less than 1000).  In the open kitchen of her award-winning restaurant (which is also world-renown), French cooks to a constantly packed crowd, with bookings for the 40-seat dining room usually sold out months in advance.   French's restaurant specializes in  "farm-to-table" cooking where she plans her menus daily around the freshest ingredients she is able to obtain each day – majority of her nearly all-female staff are farmers who tend to their own farms by day and work at the restaurant by night, oftentimes bringing with them to their shifts the ingredients that would be used in the day's dishes (i.e. ripe tomatoes newly picked that morning, eggs laid that day by farm-raised chickens, etc.).

 

Behind French's success though, is a harrowing personal story of survival – a journey fraught with pain and turmoil, and enough emotional ups-and-downs to last her several lifetimes.  In her memoir, French writes candidly, honestly, and succinctly about her various struggles -- from growing up in a dysfunctional household with an emotionally absent father, an obedient-to-a-fault mother, and an estranged younger sister who loathed her, to getting pregnant at 21, dropping out of college, and subsequently becoming a jobless single mother who eventually moves back in with her parents, then later marrying a man 20 years her senior who turned out to be a scumbag, manipulative monster.  She also lays bare her struggles with depression, suicide, self-loathing, an addiction to prescription drugs that spiraled out of control, and the moment she hit rock bottom after being committed to a psychiatric ward and subsequently forced into rehab, losing everything – her home, her restaurant, her marriage, and most painful of all, her beloved child – in the process.  Broken, beaten, penniless, with all sense of dignity and self-worth shattered beyond repair, it takes all of French's strength – physically, mentally, emotionally – to claw her way back from the precipice and rebuild her life from scratch. 

 

French's story is poignant and heartbreaking, yet also hopeful and inspiring.  There were moments that made me cry, moments that made me smile, and of course, moments that made me seethe with anger.  French writes with raw honesty and sincerity about her life that is rare and absolutely admirable.  She does not shy away from recounting her own flaws, nor does she deny her own role in making a mess of her life (for example – deliberately ignoring all the red flags and warning signs about her ex-husband Tom and the kind of person he was), which I definitely appreciated.  Prior to reading this book, I actually had never heard of The Lost Kitchen, but afterward, I found myself wanting to learn more about this little restaurant "in the middle of nowhere" and the tenacious woman who overcame the odds and poured her heart and soul into creating it. 

 

This is a memoir that I'm glad I read and that I absolutely recommend.  Unlike some other food memoirs I've read, I like the fact that this one achieves a good balance between recounting the details of the author's story and describing the various food-related elements such as the dishes that the author cooked and how she sourced her ingredients, etc.  There have been times when I would read a food memoir and the descriptions of the food would consist of various fancy words that usually went way over my head -- French's memoir is different in that it's very down-to-earth and the food descriptions are ones I am able to relate to.  This book actually doesn't come out until April, but if you love food memoirs like I do, I would recommend picking this one up sooner rather than later! 

 

Received paper ARC from Celadon as part of Early Reader program.

 

 

Review: Hollywood Park (by Mikel Jollett)

My Rating: 4 stars

I’m not sure that I have the words to describe my feelings after reading Mikel Jollett’s truly remarkable memoir Hollywood Park.  The very first thing that caught my attention with this book was the title, as it shared a name with a place that I used to be very familiar with and it made me curious, whether it was merely a coincidence or actually a reference to what I thought it was.  Even after reading the summary, I still wasn’t sure, as there was no mention of the inspiration for the title – all I knew was that Mikel and his brother Tony were born into a commune in California that later became the notorious Church of Synanon cult and this story was about their escape as well as the aftermath, following Mikel’s life as a child through adulthood.  It wasn’t until a few chapters in, when Mikel wrote about him and his brother spending the summer months with their father Jim, who lived in Los Angeles, that I knew for sure what Hollywood Park referred to.  For Mikel, the famous horse racing venue was a place of fond memories, where he got to spend a lot of quality time with his beloved father -- a former heroin addict and ex-con – and also where some of the most important father-son talks of his life occurred.   But Mikel’s story went so much deeper than that – from escaping Synanon at 5 years old, through a childhood living with his emotionally abusive mother in Oregon, in conditions that exacerbated an already volatile relationship with his brother, then later living with his father and step-mother in California, Mikel experienced a coming-of-age fraught with struggles involving drug and alcohol addiction, poverty, delinquency, loneliness, neglect, and abuse (the latter of which had the most impact on him going into adulthood). 

Mikel Jollett’s memoir – the chronicle of his trials and tribulations, joys and triumphs -- resonated deeply with me on an especially personal level, to the point that I read much of the book with tears streaming down my face.   Growing up in Los Angeles, I actually lived in Westchester and worked near the airport up until about 10 years ago, so I was quite familiar with many of the places mentioned in the book that, at one point or another, had a profound impact on Mikel’s journey:  Orville Wright Junior High (now known as Orville Wright Middle School, this was a school my brother and I almost attended except that our parents decided later to put us in a private school instead), Westchester High (the school my brother attended for 4 years, and where my mom and I would wait in our one and only car in the parking lot every day to pick him up), the Red Onion on Manchester Avenue (a restaurant with great food that I remember eating at many times, which closed down decades ago), El Dorado Bowling Alley (which has since changed names and also owners), Playa Del Rey (a now mostly residential beachside town in Los Angeles), and of course, Hollywood Park (the former racetrack turned casino that will soon be the new home of the NFL team Los Angeles Rams).  Hearing all these places mentioned again – places where I had spent countless childhood days – brought back so many memories, both good and bad.  The part that resonated with me the most though, was Mikel’s detailed account of the devastating impact that his father’s addiction and his mother’s illness had on him and his brother.  Despite my background being very different from Mikel’s, one commonality we do share (outside of spending most of our childhoods in Los Angeles) is that, for most of my life, I’ve also had to deal with a father with an addiction (not drugs, but gambling and drinking) as well as a mother whom I now realize (after decades trying to figure it out) has the same “illness” as  Mikel’s mother.  For so long, I’ve had many of the same warped experiences, feelings, emotions that Mikel went through, yet it’s not until now that I truly understand what has been happening.  I am actually floored by how much clarity about my own life and my personal experiences that reading this memoir has given me.

This was a heart-wrenching read for me, one that elicited so many emotions, yet I’m so glad I got the chance to read it.  Most impressive to me is the way Mikel structured his story, which he narrates first from the perspective of a young child, then a teenager, and finally, an adult.  By relaying his story in a way that reflects how he grew up and came to understand the world around him, Mikel Jollett gives us a raw and powerful account of his remarkable journey.   I know for me, this is a memoir that, for sure, I won’t soon forget!

Received ARC from Celadon Books as part of Early Reader program.

Review: Good Boy: My Life in Seven Dogs (by Jennifer Finney Boylan)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

This is one of those books that I struggled a bit to rate, mostly because the writing was uneven in some parts – it’s hard to describe, but the closest explanation I can give is that the author, Jennifer Finney Boylan, would be describing a scene from her childhood, but then interrupt that scene with thoughts on something else related to it, then come back much later and attempt to finish describing the scene (I say “attempt” because there were a few times where I felt like I was left hanging, as I didn’t recall reading about how a particular scene ended).  This made Boylan’s story a little hard to follow at times, which is a pity because her story is a fascinating one and being a dog-lover myself, I loved the premise of Boylan recounting her journey through the dogs she had owned at different stages of her life.  With all that said though, aside from the jumping back and forth, I did like Boylan’s writing style overall, as I found it witty and engaging – not only that, I also admire how Boylan never shies away from being brutally honest about her experience and is able to express so candidly (and eloquently) her thoughts about the most difficult moments in her life. 

One of the things I appreciate most about this memoir is the fact that, as a transgender woman, Boylan’s life is obviously very different from mine, but yet, many of the feelings and emotions she struggled through on her journey were things that I could absolutely relate to – for example:  love for and obligation to family, to the point of sacrificing our own individual needs to fulfill theirs; the constant battle between being true to ourselves versus conforming to society’s norms in order to be accepted; the blurred lines between being “happy” versus being “content”; the reality that human emotions are, by nature, contradictory and complex, etc.  There was a lot of potential with this one and I think if the book had been structured a little differently, it would’ve been a lot more powerful.  Or perhaps the fact that this is Boylan’s third memoir and not having read her first two memoirs (which my understanding is that she recounts her journey in much more detail), this may be the reason why I felt a bit lost reading this one.  I would definitely be interested in reading Boylan’s first memoir, entitled She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders (published back in 2003), as it would perhaps help fill in the gaps for me.

Overall, I’m glad I got the chance to read this one.  I’m a huge advocate of reading widely and this includes reading about experiences (as well as people, places, beliefs, cultures, subjects, etc.) different from my own and/or what I may be used to.  For this reason, I would recommend others read this as well, if anything, for better insight and understanding of the LGBTQ perspective.

Received ARC from Celadon Books as part of Early Reader program.