Review: Kaleidoscope (by Cecily Wong)

My rating: 4 stars


This is a book I had to sit with for awhile to gather my thoughts before figuring out how to get my feelings across on it.  While it may not seem like it on the surface, there was actually a complexity to the story that, on first read, can be difficult to understand. Indeed, for the first third of the novel or so, I honestly wasn't sure where the author, Cecily Wong, was trying to go with the story. There was a lot of back and forth between time periods and snippets of things that happen in the lives of the Brightons — the interracial family at the center of the story.  Hank and Karen are hardworking entrepreneurs who launch a successful company named Kaleidoscope — a "rags to riches" story that catapults them into the upper echelons of society and allows them to realize their American Dream.  Their eldest daughter Morgan, beautiful and talented, is the head designer for the company and, in essence, is also the "star" of the family, beloved by both her parents as well as her younger sister Riley.  Smart and studious but lacking ambition, Riley knows that her place in the family (and in the elite world they've become a part of) will forever be eclipsed by her sister's "larger than life" personality.  Riley is perfectly content with ceding the spotlight to Morgan and retreating to the "support" role she has always played in the family — though the one thing that both she and Morgan both miss is the closeness that they've always shared since they were girls.  When tragedy strikes and the family's world comes crashing down as a result, the aftermath leaves Riley with more questions than answers — about herself, her sister, and most of all, her parents' ambition that has sustained the family's success over the years.

This is a nuanced story with a narrative that shifted around a lot — switching between time periods, between past and present, between character perspectives, between first and third person voices, even touching on second person voice at one point.  The segments of the story mirrored the various fragments of a kaleidoscope, where the pieces eventually come together to form a dizzying but arresting portrait of an ambitious family caught up in the throes of success and its impact on one daughter's personal journey toward meaning and understanding.   As I mentioned earlier, I found it difficult at first to parse the various fragments of the narrative, but when I figured out the direction that the author was trying to go with the story (around the halfway mark), I couldn't help but be awed by the brilliant use of structure and form. Stories that play with structure don't always work for me, but this one did for some reason, and I definitely appreciated the chance to experience something so interesting and different.

This was also a character-driven story where the portrayals of the four members of the Brighton family as well as the various people in their orbit were extremely important.  While none of the characters were particularly likable (which sometimes can be a dealbreaker for me in terms of positive reading experience), all of them were so realistically drawn that I found myself able to resonate with each one in ways that I didn't expect.  In this regard, I felt the author did a good job relating the struggles and inner conflicts that each of the characters went through, especially as it pertained to their relationships and how they interact with each other.

As this is a story that's very hard to describe without experiencing it for yourself, I don't want to give away too much here.  One thing I will say though is that this book is one of the few I've read in recent years that deftly explores the nuances of love and relationships in all its various manifestations and iterations, altogether in one story — i.e.: love that underlies a close bond between sisters;  love between parents and their children that drives certain behaviors and expectations; romantic love both within marriage and outside of it, and how one isn't necessarily dependent on the other; self-love that drives confidence and ambition but also how the lack of it can warp into pain and heartbreak, etc. 

I definitely recommend reading this one, though note that it won't be an easy read for sure (both in terms of subject matter and overall structure of the story).  Also, trigger warnings abound, with a few scenes where some of the descriptions were particularly graphic.  This is Cecily Wong's second novel and while I intend to go back and read her debut, I also look forward to seeing what might be in store from her in the future.

Received ARC from publisher Dutton via Edelweiss.

Review: Fifty Words for Rain (by Asha Lemmie)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

This book was very nearly a 5 star read for me – that is, until the last 10 pages or so when I got to the ending, which frustrated me so much that my first reaction was wanting to throw the book against the wall (of course I didn’t do that, but only because I was reading on an electronic device and didn’t want to break it).   I think part of the reason why I reacted so strongly to the ending was because, up to that point, I was so emotionally invested in the story and the characters that it was hard for me to accept how things unfolded at the end.

As the main character, Nori stole my heart from the very first page, where we are introduced to her as an eight-year-old girl abandoned by her mother, left on the doorstep of her aristocratic grandparents’ estate in post-WWII Kyoto, Japan.  While Nori’s grandparents do take her in, they do so not because they care about her, but because they want to hide her from the world, as Nori’s dark skin is too obvious a reminder of the stain brought on the Kamiza family from their married daughter Seiko’s affair with an African American soldier.  Nori is banished to a life of solitary confinement in the attic, where her only companionship is the servant who sees to her daily needs.  Remembering her mother’s strict instructions to “obey in all things” and to do as she is told without question or resistance, Nori is obedient to a fault and does not fight whatever is done to her, whether it’s her grandmother’s monthly beatings or the chemical baths she endures daily in order to lighten her skin.  But all of that changes when the half-brother Nori never knew she had comes to live with his grandparents after his father dies -- as the legitimate heir to the Kamiza dynasty, Akira is doted on by a grandmother who is willing to give him the world as long as he takes his destined place in the family.   As Akira gets to know his half-sister, the siblings form a unique and close bond – a bond that their grandparents will try to break at all costs due to the impact it would have on the path that Akira is destined to lead.

Nori is a wonderfully-drawn character who came alive on the page for me — a character I couldn’t help rooting for from beginning to end.  I was drawn to her self-effacing charm, her curious nature, and most important of all, her strength in rising above the odds and defying the circumstances she was born into.  With everything she endures throughout the story, I admire the fact that Nori does not easily resign herself to her fate (which, for those who’ve read the book, would explain why I reacted to the ending the way I did).   Nori is one of those endearing fictional characters that I know won’t be easily forgotten, though I guess the same can also be said about her brother Akira, another character I absolutely adored.  I love the way the author, Asha Lemmie, wrote the dynamic between these two half-siblings who couldn’t be more different from each other, yet shared such a strong, formidable bond.  I was tremendously moved by their relationship and how special it was – it actually made me think about my relationship with my sibling and long for the type of bond these two had.  Needless to say, several scenes in particular brought me to tears – though I will also say that there were an equal number of scenes that made me angry, especially the ones involving the grandparents and the antiquated mindset that drove all of their actions.  It’s been awhile since I’ve read a book that made me smile, cry, and yell out in frustration, all within pages of each other.  This book invoked a myriad of emotions that actually still has me thinking about the story and its characters, even now, days after I’ve finished reading.  No doubt this is a story that will stay with me for a long time to come.

This is not an easy story to read by any means, but it is an important one, and despite the issues I had with the ending, I feel that Asha Lemmie did a fantastic job.  In all honesty, I’m still blown away by the fact that this is a debut novel because it definitely doesn’t read like one!  I don’t want to say too much more than I already have for fear of giving away the story, but I definitely highly, highly recommend this one, though with a caveat -- be prepared to experience an emotional roller coaster like I did.  I don’t know anything about Lemmie outside of what is in her bio, but I sincerely hope that this won’t be the only novel she writes – I am definitely looking forward to reading more from her. 

 Received ARC from Dutton via Edelweiss.

Review: Don't Let Go (by Harlan Coben)

My Rating: 4 stars

I don’t read a whole lot of police procedural books and I had actually never heard of Harlan Coben before – however I had heard some good things about this book from a few Goodreads friends and the summary sounded interesting so when I saw it available for download on Edelweiss, I decided to try this book out.  I’m glad I did so because this one ended up being a really good book that was immensely readable and entertaining.

Napoleon Dumas (“Nap” for short) is no ordinary police detective.  Sure, he’s got good instincts and a keen eye for detail and he absolutely excels at what he does – that is, investigating cases.  But he is also a vigilante of sorts, a guy who is not afraid to put his career and reputation at risk in the name of justice.  The first time we meet Nap, he is beating up some guy named Trey, hitting him repeatedly with a baseball bat, eventually breaking his leg and landing him in the hospital.  We find out a few chapters later why Nap beat up this random guy he had no connection with and it turns out to be for a “noble” cause, but still, as a cop, it isn’t something he should be doing. But Nap doesn’t really care, as he knows that the beating can’t be traced back to him, since he covered his tracks well, plus the punk he beat up wouldn’t want to make a big stink out of it anyway for fear of incriminating himself.  Ever since his twin brother Leo’s tragic death during their senior year in high school 15 years ago, Nap has been an emotional wreck, exacerbated by the fact that his girlfriend Maura, the love of his life, also disappeared around the same time.  From the day the cops found Leo and his girlfriend Diana lying dead on the railroad tracks, apparently run over by a train, Nap refused to believe that the deaths were merely an “accident,” the tragic result of two reckless teenagers stoked up on alcohol and drugs doing something careless.  For 15 years, Nap is relentless in his search for the true reason why his brother died and also why his own girlfriend ran away.  When a fellow cop with a connection to Nap and his brother’s past is gunned down in another district, Nap is pulled into the investigation and finally has a chance to find out the truth – but at what expense?

This book drew me in from the opening scene and I found it difficult to stop reading.  From the beginning, it was already obvious that Nap would be an interesting character, an anti-hero of sorts -- he was unconventional, irreverent, and had no qualms about blurring the lines between right and wrong, a guy with more faults than anyone cared to count…yet you couldn’t bring yourself to dislike him.  I actually liked Nap from the beginning, despite his many flaws, and was rooting for him the entire time that I was immersed in his story.  I also liked Nap’s sarcastic sense of humor, which had me giggling at times, especially during the scenes when he would face off against an adversary.   The rest of the characters were also well-drawn, supported by a story with substance and the right amount of mystery and intrigue to keep readers engaged.  Coben definitely knows how to write a good crime thriller, as there was a fair amount of twists and turns in this one but nothing too over the top.  Even though I was able to figure out the “whodunnit” piece relatively early, that did not affect my enjoyment of this book at all -- perhaps I am just weird, but when it comes to thrillers and suspense novels, I try to take the “going along for the ride” approach and not get too caught up in trying to figure out the plot or getting too ahead of myself. 

One of the things that made this book different from other crime novels is the emotional element, which Coben did a great job of working into the plot.  This was a story that packed an emotional punch, but wasn’t overdone to the point of overshadowing the plot.  There’s a certain balance that needs to be had between the characters, plot, the writing, the suspense elements, the emotional pull, etc.  when it comes to books in the thriller / suspense genre and not all writers are able to bring all the elements together in a way that still allows the overall story to flow naturally – Coben was able to do this and do it well!  Seeing how much I enjoyed this book, no doubt that I will be reading more of this author’s works sometime in the near future.  Oh and even though I am not a fan of book series, I absolutely wouldn’t mind seeing more of Nap in the future if Coben decides at some point to turn this stand-alone novel into a series. 

Received ARC from Dutton / Penguin Publishing Group via Edelweiss.