Review: Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor (by Anna Qu)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

As I continue my new-found audio book journey, I’ve been focusing on listening to memoirs and other non-fiction works that I’ve had on my TBR list for ages, but never got around to reading previously.  One such memoir is Anna Qu’s Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor, which I can’t remember why I had on my list, but I’m glad I finally got to it.  To be honest, the subtitle of this one is kind of misleading, as there was little to nothing about “love” in these pages, though the part about “labor” is true enough.  Not long after Qu’s father dies when she was a baby, her mother goes to America to pursue a better life, leaving Qu behind in China in the care of her grandparents.  At five years old, Qu is finally reunited with her mother and her new family in Queens, New York, but instead of being a happy reunion, this becomes the start of a nightmare for Qu.  In addition to being forced to work at her mother and stepfather’s garment factory (aka sweatshop), Qu is also repeatedly abused by her mother, who favors Qu’s half-siblings (a brother and sister) and alternates between treating Qu as a maid (making her take care of all the household choirs as well as both of her half-siblings) or pretending she doesn’t exist.  Qu spends most of the book detailing the abuse she suffers at her mother’s hand, such as when she is punished for doing her homework and thrown out of the house by her stepfather at the direction of her mother.  The most harrowing instance of abuse is when Qu’s mother beats her with a hanger for daring to tell her half-sister to ask for permission before using her colored pencils – an incident that nearly kills Qu when she tries to jump out the window to avoid her mother’s violence.  Pushed to the end of her rope, Qu alerts the Office of Children and Family Services through her school’s guidance counselor and after an investigation, Qu sees her situation improve in that she no longer has to work in the family’s sweatshop (where any money she “earned” went to her abusive mother) and instead, she is allowed to make her own money through jobs such as a dental assistant and waitressing.  Even though the social worker assigned by the OCFS, Mary, helps make Qu’s life a little bit better, the one thing that Mary is not able to help Qu with is the one thing she desperately wants – to make her mother love her.  Qu eventually goes off to college and becomes estranged from her mother for the most part (though she does go back to visit her mother, stepfather, and half-siblings at their Queens home and has dinner with them as though nothing happened, which I honestly found a bit baffling given everything she suffered in that family, culminating with her mother’s most recent refusal to provide her with the signature needed for her to continue with her schooling).

In the second half of the book, which takes place 20 years later, Qu recounts her experience working at a start-up company that is on the brink of collapsing.  This portion of the memoir I felt was kind of irrelevant to everything that occurred in the first half (though perhaps Qu included it to show how miserable her life continued to be due to all the lingering trauma from the abuse?).  During this time, Qu decides to request her OCFS report and when she receives it, she is shocked to find tons of inaccuracies with the report, all the way down to the OCFS finding that there was no evidence that Qu was ever abused.  This revelation, along with the discovery that her mother had kept the news of her beloved grandfather’s death a secret from her, devastates Qu.  Though the memoir does end on a slightly positive note with Qu being reunited with the grandmother who raised her in China and the only person in her family who truly loves her unconditionally, that scene felt too short and abrupt to counteract the “heaviness” of everything that came before it.

Overall, I found this to be an uncomfortable read, not just because of the subject matter, but also because there were points throughout the memoir (though mostly near the end) where it came across as though Qu was trying to justify her mother’s abusive behavior by relating it to the struggles she endured being widowed at a young age and then having to build a life for herself after immigrating to America alone. In a segment near the end of the book, it almost felt like Qu was trying to find excuses for her mother, insinuating that perhaps the hardship of having to overcome her situation as a Chinese immigrant woman in America is what made her violent and abusive, which might be true, but then seems to dismiss everything else she had written prior to that. 

The other thing that made this a not-too-pleasant listen was the narrator of the audio book (not the author) who read the entire book in a tone that sounded perpetually angry and bitter.  While it can be argued that using such a tone probably makes sense in this case given the subject matter, it felt grating after awhile, especially after listening for several hours straight, and put me in a depressed mood.  I think this is an instance where it would’ve been better for me to actually read the book instead of listening to it via audio.

Review: Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted (by Suleika Jaouad)

My Rating: 5 stars

I had actually received an ARC of Suleika Jaouad’s memoir a couple of months before it was first published back in February 2021, but with the COVID pandemic in full force, plus all the chaos and uncertainty that accompanied the situation at the time, I decided to put off reading this until I felt ready to handle such a heavy read.  Of course, as these things usually go, life and work got the better of me and here I am, only able to get to this one more than 5 years later.  But in a way, things worked out in the end, as just getting to this memoir now meant that I got to listen to it via audiobook, with the author narrating her story first hand, which added a personal element that made the reading experience more poignant and emotional (the audiobook also features music by Suleika’s husband, Jon Batiste, which made this even more memorable).

In her memoir, Suleika recounts her journey battling leukemia, from the moment she first receives the devastating diagnosis on the cusp of her 23^rd birthday, through the nearly 4 years of grueling treatment that she had to undergo, and then her subsequent recovery, including having to learn how to re-enter the world and restart her life anew.  She achieves the latter by embarking on a 100-day road trip where, accompanied by her dog Oscar, she travels across the country to meet several of the people who had written to her when she was in the hospital – a trip that proves critical in helping Suleika come to terms with her own harrowing journey “between the kingdom of the well and the kingdom of the sick.”

Given the subject matter, this was not an easy read by any means, as Suleika provides a brutally honest and candid account of her experience and I will be honest in saying that some of the more explicit descriptions of her illness and treatment were a struggle to get through.  With that said though, I found Suleika’s story not only moving and inspiring, but also poignantly resonant given the various battles with cancer that my own family has endured.  I especially admire Suleika’s resilience and strength in the face of the huge toll – physical, mental, psychological, emotional – that such an illness can take on both the person afflicted as well as the family and friends around them.

As is often the case after I read such moving memoirs as this one, I felt compelled to read up on how Suleika Jaouad is doing currently and was saddened to learn that her leukemia returned in both 2022 and 2024, and she had to get a second bone marrow transplant as well as continue chemotherapy - but at the same time, it’s heartening to see the huge community of family, friends, and fans rallying around her with love and support, helping her get through each harrowing ordeal.  I wish her and her loved ones all the best!

 

Review: Fault Lines (by Emily Itami)

My Rating:  4.5 stars

 

It's not often that I make the decision to buy a book based on it's cover, but in the case of Emily Itami's debut novel Fault Lines, the cover art – a dark blue image of Tokyo's skyscape at night, overlaid by beautiful pink cherry blossoms -- was so gorgeous that I couldn't resist having it on my bookshelf so I could pull it out and look at it whenever I wanted.  I did end up checking out the plot summary after I bought the book and while it's one I was definitely interested in reading, I couldn't didn't jump in right away due to the LONG list of books I already had lined up that I needed to get to.   So of course, when one of my book clubs chose this book for their April selection, I was more than delighted to be given the excuse to finally get around to reading it (though not without some reservations about whether I would feel the same about the story as I did about the cover).  Now after having finished, I am happy to report that I really enjoyed the story, which I found to be by turns both delightful and thought- provoking.

 

At the center of the story is Mizuki, a Japanese housewife and mother of two young children (a 10-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son) who, after more than a decade of marriage, has fallen into a resigned complacency of sorts where her days are spent washing the dishes, folding the laundry, taking care of the kids, and being invisible to her extremely hardworking husband who oftentimes can't even be bothered to look at her when he's at home because he is too busy taking care of work matters on his phone.  One day, standing on the balcony of the glamorous high-rise apartment in Tokyo where she lives with her family, Mizuki has the sudden urge to throw herself over the railing.  She doesn't succeed in killing herself of course (not a spoiler), but the incident makes her realize just how mundane and depressing her life has become.  She loves her children deeply, but also yearns for the emotional connection that she used to have with her husband, Tatsuya, back early in their courtship and marriage, when she used to feel seen and appreciated as a partner.  So it is that when she meets Kiyoshi, a charismatic and hugely successful restauranteur, she is drawn to his easy-going nature and they become good friends.  When she's with Kiyoshi, Mizuki is reminded of the person she used to be – funny, charming, and perfectly happy roaming around the city she loves, admiring the sights and sounds, eating good food, and having meaningful conversation with someone who understands her and genuinely cares about her.  But as their relationship deepens, Mizuki finds it more and more difficult to reconcile her devotion to her family and the obligations of motherhood with the happy, carefree existence she has with Kiyoshi. 

 

The entire story is told from Mizuki's first person of view, which I felt worked really well in this instance, as it made her struggles more real and heartfelt.  But I think what helped the most was the author Emily Itami's thoughtful and sensitive, yet entirely realistic portrayal of Mizuki as an ordinary woman struggling with universally relatable issues such as marriage, motherhood, family expectations, societal norms, etc. Itami presents Mizuki in a way that is sincere and honest, helping us understand the character completely through the good moments as well as the bad ones so we can make sense of why Mizuki makes the decisions she does – the effect of this, for me, was that even though I didn't agree with some of those decisions, I couldn't help empathizing with Mizuki and rooting for her along the way. 

Another aspect I really appreciated about the story was how emotionally resonant it ended up being.  I'm not married and I don't have children, yet I was still able to relate to Mizuki's struggle with understanding and reconciling her life choices with the reality of how her life turned out. I resonated especially with Mizuki's conflicting feelings toward her identity and culture — more specifically, feeling bound by the constraints of cultural and societal expectations in her various roles as wife, mother, daughter, friend, etc., yet when the opportunity to be free of these bounds arises, feeling hesitant to take the first step out of fear of what the change might bring.  The beauty of this story is in its nuanced commentary on life and what it means to be a woman in contemporary Asian society.

One thing to note with this story is that, plot-wise, nothing much actually happens — instead, through Mizuki's experiences, we are treated to atmospheric and mesmerizing observations of a city that we get to know intimately by the end of the book. I've always wanted to visit Tokyo (it's one of my bucket list destinations) and after reading this book, that desire has grown even stronger.  Perhaps someday that will become a reality— in the meantime, I don't mind revisiting through the various descriptions in this book.

Review: The Reading List (by Sara Nisha Adams)

My Rating: 4.5 stars

A reading list is found inside a library book with the heading: "Just in case you need it." The same list ends up circulating throughout the small town of Wembley and as the story progresses, we see the impact that this list ends up having on various members of the community. In the story, each character has to deal with various harsh realities that life hurls at them — issues that are difficult and perhaps even unresolvable, since they are part of what it means to be human. Most of the characters come upon reading by chance, but become lifelong readers after witnessing for themselves how much the books they pick up end up helping them work through certain things. As an avid reader myself who has experienced first- hand how finding the right book(s) at the right time can truly be life-changing, I love how the author, Sara Nisha Adams, emphasized this point in the ways she incorporated each of the books on the list into the story line.

This was a story that covered a lot of ground emotionally, as it made me both laugh and cry in turn. The characters were endearing and I absolutely loved spending time with them — to the point that I honestly didn't want the story to end. Like both of the main characters, Mukesh and Aleisha, experienced while reading some of the books on the list, I found myself so completely immersed in the story that I was rooted to the same spot for hours, reluctant to put the book down because I just had to know what would happen to these beloved characters.

This wonderful story is a lovely tribute to books and reading, but more importantly, it's also an ode to libraries and their ability to bring people (readers and non-readers alike) together — a message that is all the more urgent today with so many libraries under threat. I'm deliberately keeping my review short and vague because, with this book, there is honestly not a whole lot that can be said — it needs to be experienced for itself. With that said, my one small regret is that I would've liked to have read all the books on the reading list prior to reading this book, as I'm sure it would've enhanced my experience even further. The good thing is that it's not too late — I already put the books I hadn't read yet on my TBR with the intention of getting to them as time permits, at which point I would love to do a re-read of this book (hopefully before her next book comes out in 2023).

Review: Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals (by Oliver Burkeman)

My Rating:  3.5 stars



I'm picky when it comes to reading "self-help" books, mainly because I feel that, implicit in most books in this category, the main goal is to tell the reader what to do (or not do to) with their lives.  Of course, in and of itself, there's nothing wrong with this, but for me, it's all about the tone and approach — I hate the feeling of something being crammed down my throat (I don't care if it's something good or bad for me), which is why I can't stand books that are "overly preachy" in any way.  This is also why I'm extremely wary when it comes to reading nonfiction books (that aren't biographies or memoirs), as the tone and approach can very easily derail an otherwise good reading experience for me. 

I say all this because my initial expectation going into Oliver Burkeman's time management book Four Thousand Weeks was that it would presumably fall into the above-mentioned category, mainly because most books on time management that I've read over the years are written from a business angle and usually promote the idea of being "as productive and efficient" as possible at work.  To my great surprise however, this book actually went the completely opposite direction — instead of encouraging people to "make more time in order to get more done" (the message I hear over and over again in most business books), this book embraces the concept that time is finite, humans are only on this earth for a certain amount of time (Burkeman uses "four thousand weeks" as a gauge) and because of that, we should face the fact that it's realistically impossible to get everything we want to do done.  Expanding on this idea, instead of obsessing over how much time it will take to do something or worrying about not having enough time to accomplish what you set out to accomplish (whether it's a small task at work or a life goal), Burkeman advocates making the conscious (and often difficult) decision to do what matters most in that moment and accept the consequences of that decision, whether good or bad.  

Many of the examples Burkeman gave were relevant to what I often struggle with, which I definitely appreciated.  One personal example that especially resonated with me:  I've always referred to myself as an "aspiring author" because my dream is to write and publish a book at some point, but given my chaotic and busy work + family life, I've been putting off starting that book I've always wanted to write until a "more opportune time" when work is less busy and family life is less chaotic (which to me, pretty much means when I reach retirement at work and my family is self-sufficient enough where I don't have to worry about making sure their lives are comfortable). This book posits the idea that the "most opportune time" might never come, which is something I honestly never thought about until now.  It makes sense though — for me, work will always be busy (especially in my field of work — which I will loosely define as "trade and commerce"…unless the world suddenly comes to a halt and stops functioning, which we of course know will never happen, I will always have an infinite amount of things to do at work) and when it comes to family life, the reality is that it will always be filled with one crisis or another (since that's how life works) — so why not accept the fact that work and life will occur the way it does and instead of trying to "control" time (by assuming that work and family will fall into place to the point that the "most opportune time" will come for me to start my book project), just make the decision to start writing a little bit each day and go from there.  

Much of Burkeman's advice in this book actually runs counter to traditional time management advice (which focuses a lot on productivity and efficiency) that we often find in most business books.  Not only that, I like how his book doesn't just focus on work — much of what he writes about can be applied to personal life as well, which also makes it stand out from said books.  

With that said, structure-wise, there were actually quite a few flaws in this book, which is what prevented me from being able to rate it higher than I did, despite finding some of the concepts personally resonant.  At times, I felt like Burkeman was all over the place with his ideas, and there were moments where he seemed to contradict himself — or perhaps these moments were just him, as a former "productivity guru", trying to work out his own changed philosophy toward time management on the page.  And I also agree with what a few other reviewers pointed out — that there is a fair amount of repetition in the book, which made the reading a bit tedious at times.

Overall, despite not being perfect by any means, this was a good book with quite a bit of food for thought as well as many examples that I felt could be applicable to my life.  While I didn't necessarily agree with every concept presented in this book — and admittedly, there were moments where I felt that Burkeman got a bit too philosophical, almost to the point of losing me in the process — I did appreciate the different angle to time management that he explored.  

This book will mean different things to different people, which is reflected in the wide spectrum of ratings for it on Goodreads (I saw one star to five stars and everything in between).  I decided to go the "happy medium" route, which I feel is most appropriate for my experience with this book. If you choose to read this one,  know that your experience may be vastly different from mine and that's perfectly okay — if you are able to glean at least one resonant concept from this book like I did, then it will be time well-spent reading it.

Review: These Precious Days (by Ann Patchett)

My Rating:  5 stars

Happy New Year!



I can't think of a better way to start off the new year than with a 5 star read, especially one written by one of my favorite authors, Ann Patchett.  I actually started Patchett's newest essay collection (published in November last year) on Christmas Eve and even though I technically could've finished it in one sitting, I decided instead to savor it over the New Year's holiday. Going into this book, I already knew it would be one I'd love and now after finishing, I can say with certainty that Patchett definitely did not disappoint — reading her essays evoked in me a roller coaster of emotions, but more importantly, the experience made me reflect on aspects of my own life and gave me food for thought on a few things.

Even though some of the essays I had actually read already back when they had been originally published in magazines and papers such as The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, etc., I still re-read every word, and in so doing, picked up one some things I had missed the first time.  The ones I hadn't read before, I learned things that I would not have known otherwise, which is the beauty of a collection such as this one where the essays run the gamut from funny to poignant and every emotion in between. 

This is also a book where the cover (or, in this case, two covers) added tremendous meaning to the content — to this point, it was fascinating to read about how the cover came about and the significance of it to this particular collection of essays.  Content-wise, I also loved the additional insights into Patchett's previous novels and story collections, which made me want to go read (and in some cases re-read) her other works.

Overall, I loved all the essays in this collection, but if I really had to choose my favorites, they would be as follows:

"Three Fathers" — This essay, in which Patchett wrote about her relationship with her father and two stepfathers, was actually published in The New Yorker last year and I had already it at that time, but I still enjoyed reading it again.  

"My Year of No Shopping" — This was a short essay, only a few pages long, yet there was a profound lesson about learning how to value the things we have.

"How to Practice" — This was another essay I had already read when it was published in The New Yorker and I remember at that time, how fascinated I was with it, mainly because I also have a lot of stuff that I don't realize I have because a lot of it is hidden (out of sight, out of mind).  Reading it a second time now was actually more meaningful because I've been in "decluttering mode" lately so the timing was perfect.

"To the Doghouse" — Omg, this was one of my favorite essays!  I love Snoopy and to learn how big a role the world's most beloved beagle had on Patchett becoming a writer, I was absolutely there for it!  

"Flight Plan" — In this essay, Patchett writes about her husband Karl's love for flying planes, but it also reveals why their relationship works so well.  So sweet!

"There Are No Children Here" — This essay especially resonated with me, as I've had many of the same encounters with people about the decision to not have children.  I love how Patchett handled the various scenarios she found herself in — it definitely made me admire her even more!

"The Nightstand" — In this essay, an unexpected chance encounter opens the floodgates for Patchett to go through some old papers that help her rediscover parts of herself that she didn't realize meant so much and how much her family inadvertently helped her come to this realization.  

"Cover Stories" — I loved learning the behind-the-scenes stories about how the covers for her books came to be! 

"These Precious Days" — This essay, about how Patchett came to form a close friendship with Tom Hanks' assistant Sooki Raphael, was essentially the backbone of the book.  I had actually read this one previously as well, yet on second reading, it felt so much more poignant (especially after reading the Epilogue to the book).

"What the American Academy of Arts and Letters Taught Me About Death" — This essay was absolutely fascinating and so learned so much about the literary world that I had no clue about.  And of course, as an avid reader, seeing so many great authors mentioned here whose works I admire was especially meaningful.

"A Day at the Beach" — The last essay in the book and also a follow up to Sooki's story  — poignant, heartfelt, and one of the most touching pieces in the book!

Review: Yours Cheerfully (by A.J. Pearce)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

I definitely enjoyed this sequel much more than the first book, Dear Mrs. Bird, which I had read right before this one.  While the story continued more or less where the first one left off and the characters were all the same (with the exception of Mrs. Bird of course), I think I took to this book better perhaps because I kind of knew what to expect already — and perhaps that's also why I found the main character Emmy Lake a little less annoying this time around (though yes, she did still frustrate me at certain points).

With Mrs Bird's departure from Women's Friend magazine (not a spoiler, as it's in the book summary and she's already gone when the story opens), Mr. Collins has been promoted to Editor (no surprise there either, lol).  After what happened at the end of the first book, Emmy is back with the magazine again, but on a probationary basis.  While the magazine's advice column continues to be a focus, the crux of the story this time around is on the government's call to all of Britain's women's magazines to help recruit female workers for the war effort.  As Emmy immerses herself in this task, she meets a few of the women who work at the munitions factories and soon realizes that, while they are all happy to contribute to the effort, there are real-life challenges they face that makes the war work much more difficult for them.  When Emmy learns about their plight, she of course steps in and tries to help them any which way she can.

I think the direction that the author A.J. Pearce took with the story as well as with the characters this time around made so much more sense than the first book.  I'm not sure how best to put it, but I felt like most of Emmy's actions in the first book were too over the top, to the point that it felt unrealistic and contrived.  With this second go around though, her actions were more in line with her role in the sense that it made sense for her to constantly insert herself in situations, but in a more tempered way.  Just for the record…I don't have a problem with Emmy's personality — in fact, I like the way her character was headstrong, curious, assertive, and always willing to stand up for what she believed in as well as help others, which was especially significant given the time period — what I actually had a problem with was the "bull in a china shop" approach that she seemed to apply to every single situation, especially at work.  For example, in the first book, Emmy's job as a newbie at the magazine was to open letters and give them to her boss to review and type up a response, however because she doesn't like the restrictive (and rude) nature of her boss's responses, she decides to take matters into her own hands by deliberately defying her boss's instructions and writing letters to readers on her own (as well as sneaking some of her letters into the magazine itself).  While it's fine to disagree and question how her boss does things, it's not fine, especially in her position, to go in and start changing things on her own (obviously, there were more rational ways to approach the situation than the way she did).  In the second book, I assume because she has learned her lesson, Emmy's approach was a little more mature and above board (and as I mentioned earlier, definitely less grating on my nerves).  I point all this out because I appreciate seeing characters grow and evolve in stories and even though in this case, it took a sequel for it to happen, I'm still glad to see it.

For those who read and loved Dear Mrs. Bird, I definitely recommend picking this one up, as I believe you'll love it just as much as the first (maybe even more).  For those like me who may not have been a fan of the first book, I still recommend reading this one, as it did put the first book into better perspective for me (even though it didn't change my feelings overall toward the story and characters).

Received ARC from Scribner via NetGalley.

Review: Wish You Were Here (by Jodi Picoult)

 

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Jodi Picoult is known for not being afraid to tackle difficult subject matter in her stories, which I definitely appreciate as a a reader who loves a good story that is well written and also teaches me something.  As one of the first novels to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic head on, Picoult did an awesome job conveying so much of what many of us have been experiencing over the past 18 months (and counting).  Of course, there’s no doubt that everyone’s reaction to this book will be different depending on each person’s comfort level and “readiness” to take on a story about a pandemic that we are all still living through.  As some one who was severely impacted by COVID in very personal ways — both as a survivor when my entire family unfortunately got COVID back in late 2020 (we have all since recovered, but some “scars” still remain) as well as having lost loved ones to the disease (relatives and the parents of close friends) — I honestly wasn’t sure at first whether I wanted to read it at this moment.  But I decided to give it a try and in the end, I’m glad I did, as it became a salve of sorts for me, especially knowing that I wasn’t alone in some of the things I experienced.  With that said, there were also moments where the situation unfolding was “too close to home” to the point of feeling surreal — while I expected this given the book’s subject matter, it still jarred me a bit.  That being said, the reading experience was still a good one.

For me, this book’s biggest draw was the subject matter, as it’s not often that we I am able to read a book where the fictional story mimics a reality that I (alongside so many others) am experiencing currently.  Given how fresh and raw this subject is, I was curious how Picoult would tackle it — in the end, I definitely appreciated her approach. Having said that, this book actually isn’t just about COVID — at its core, it is also a story about a woman’s journey of self-reflection and an exploration of whether the life she has is what she truly wants.  The woman at the heart of the story is Diana O’Toole, who is an art appraiser at one of New York’s premiere auction houses while her boyfriend Finn is a doctor-to-be currently doing his residency at a major hospital.  Together, the couple have a dream trip planned to the Galápagos Islands, where Finn plans to propose to Diana and they can take the next step in the plan for their mutual future. The day before they are supposed to leave however, Finn is called back to the hospital where the situation is “all hands on deck” due to an influx of patients with COVID-19. Even though Finn now has to stay behind, he encourages Diana to still go on her own so as not to put their non-refundable trip to waste.  Diana reluctantly agrees and heads off to Galapagos, however right after she gets there, the island is locked down and she becomes stranded, with no word of when things will re-open.  On an island where WI-FI and a working internet connection are near nonexistent, Diana is completely isolated from the outside world — not only that, she also does not know the language and due to the required quarantine, there are very few people around for her to even ask for help. Diana ends up befriending a local family that takes her in and acquaints her with the beauty of the place they call home.  Spending time with the family leads Diana to re-examine her relationships with both Finn and her own mother (who lives in a care facility for dementia patients) as well as reflect upon the choices she’s made in her life his far.  I actually really liked all the characters in this story, whether major characters or minor ones.   All of them were so well-developed and truly came alive for me, but if I had to choose a favorite, that character would absolutely be Rodney -- not only did I love him as a character, I also really enjoyed his chemistry with Diana...definitely made me wish I had a best friend like him!).

This is a book that I believe will be easy to like, as all aspects of it were so well done.  Yes, there were some parts where the writing could've been a little tighter and I feel like there were some missed opportunities in some spots, but overall, I enjoyed this tremendously and wholeheartedly recommend it.  Oh and I do want to mention that the "twist" in this book definitely made my jaw drop, as I totally was not expecting it (and that's all I'm going to say about it...you will have to pick this one up and read it for yourself if you want to find out more). 

Picoult has said in interviews that this book was unplanned and she was inspired to write it about 8 months into the pandemic after reading an article about a man who got stuck in Machu Picchu because COVID had shut the entire place down (her editor didn't even know until she received the draft in her email).  For a book that basically came about accidentally, this one turned out really well.  Though this is definitely a worthwhile read, I do understand that not everyone may be ready for a book about the pandemic yet, so of course, do what works best for you. 

Received ARC from Ballantine Books via NetGalley.

Review: The Hidden Child (by Louise Fein)

My Rating: 4 stars

I'm a little torn on how to rate this one.  While I liked the story overall, some parts of it frustrated me in ways that I find difficult to articulate. From the get go, I understood that this would not be an easy read by any means, as I knew from the summary that the subject matter revolved around the burgeoning eugenics movement at the end of the 1920s in Europe.   With eugenics forever linked to the Holocaust in my mind, I had mixed feelings going into this book and to be honest, wasn't too sure if I was up for a story (albeit a fictional one) about the beginnings of a movement associated with one of the most horrific war atrocities in history.  With that said, I had read this author's debut novel and liked it overall, so I figured I would give this one a try.  

After having finished this one, I will say that I'm glad I took a chance on it, as it gave me better insight into the historical context behind why people back then had the attitudes and beliefs they did (even though I disagree with them completely).  I also appreciated the writing, which I felt was well done overall (though some of the narrative did meander a bit, but not to the point of hugely impacting my reading experience). 

My frustrations with this book were mostly with the characters — specifically the 2 main characters whose alternating perspectives the narrative was told from.  Edward and Eleanor Hamilton are a wealthy, happily married couple in England who are both proponents of the eugenics movement for their own personal reasons, but Edward is a stronger believer due to his profession.  When their sweet and beautiful four-year-old daughter Mabel starts to experience epileptic seizures, with each one more frequent and severe, their perfect lives shatter.  The decision is made that Mabel, with her shameful illness, must be hidden away in order to protect the family's honor as well as Edward's work in eugenics.  But things get worse from there, to the point that Edward's and Eleanor's marriage teeters on the verge of collapse.  

To be perfectly honest, I found both Edward and Eleanor very difficult to like — not just because of the views they espoused, but also their personalities and the way they behaved throughout the story, annoyed for about 75% of the story.  At certain points, I felt there was a lot of time spent by both of them attempting to justify their views and it got to be a bit too much in my opinion.  I was hoping there would be more focus on Mabel, since her illness was technically the catalyst of the entire story, but there wasn't as much on her as I expected. While both characters did end up having redeeming qualities that came into play later on, I think by that time, my frustration with them was too palpable to overcome.

Having said all that, I think the story overall was a good one and it's obvious the author, Louise Fein, was meticulous in her research.  While I did have issues with some aspects of the story, it was still an eye-opening read, one that I feel was well worth the effort.  I heard that Fein is working on her third novel, which I'm definitely looking forward to reading!  

Received ARC from William Morrow via NetGalley.

Review: Three Sisters (by Heather Morris)

My Rating:  3.5 stars

In her third novel, Heather Morris once again brings us a tale of tragedy, heartbreak, and survival through the story of Slovakian sisters Cibi, Magda, and Livi Meller.  When they were only a few years old, the three sisters made a promise to their father that they ended up keeping for the rest of their lives:  that the three of them would always take care of each other and watch out for one another no matter what happens in their lives. Several years later, their beloved father is dead, but the promise they made to him continues to live on.  When Livi, the youngest of the sisters at 15 years old, is ordered to Auschwitz, 19 year old Cibi decides to go with her.  Though Magda is spared due to being away while the Nazis make their rounds, she is captured a few years later and also sent to Auschwitz.  Together again, the sisters not only fulfill the promise to watch after each other, they also make another promise — the fierce will to live and survive the horrors of the camp, no matter what.   During the death march, the sisters are able to find a way to escape, but after they return home, they realize that their lives will never be the same.  

While I like the story and appreciate Morris's efforts in relaying the Meller sisters' experiences through each of their perspectives, I felt that the writing was bit too simplistic and oftentimes felt detached from the narrative.  I found it difficult to engage with the story on the emotional level that I was expecting to, primarily because the writing lacked depth and so the emotional scenes felt like they had less impact.  I don't know if what I'm conveying makes sense, but after having read both of Morris's previous novels (both of which had moved me deeply), I unfortunately didn't feel the same connection to this one, despite how much I wanted to.  The way some parts were written I felt bogged the story down, to the point that I actually ended up skimming some sections instead of actually reading each word like I normally would.  

Having said all that, I do appreciate what Morris tried to do here, which was to relay the sisters' courage and resilience in surviving the camps and rising above the tragedies they experienced to ultimately live full and flourishing lives.  This third book definitely has a more hopeful and uplifting tone than the previous two, which I also appreciated.  The sisters' story is amazing on its own merit and absolutely a must read, especially given how few Holocaust survivors remain who are willing to share their stories.  Despite the issues I had with the writing, I'm glad I got the chance to be introduced to the Meller sisters and no doubt I'll be seeking out more of their story on my own.

Received ARC from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley

Review: Oh William! (by Elizabeth Strout)

My Rating:  4 stars

Lucy Barton is back!  This time around, we are reunited with Lucy during the later years of her life, when she is in her sixties.  Her two daughters Chrissy and Becka are both adults now and married with lives of their own, while her ex-husband William (the father of her daughters) has now moved on to marriage number three.  Despite having separated decades ago, Lucy and William continue to be good friends and are always there for each other during all of life's ups and downs.  This is why, when a dramatic change occurs in William's life at the same time that he discovers a long-buried secret about his mother, the first person he thinks of to call is Lucy. Together, they embark on a "journey" of sorts back to his mother's past — throughout which, in true Lucy Barton form, leads to an introspection on life, love, and family (both her own as well as her husband's).

While I loved this one overall, I have to admit that it did not have as huge of an impact on me that My Name is Lucy Barton did (for me, that book was a 5 star read all the way through!).  It's hard to describe exactly — perhaps because there seemed to be more focus this time around on details about other peoples' lives and less on Lucy reflecting about her own life.  Or perhaps the connected stories format from the first book as well as the shorter chapters that gave glimpses into various aspects of Lucy's life just worked better for getting the message across.

Either way though, this was definitely a worthwhile read and I absolutely enjoyed getting to reunite with Lucy, even if it was only for a short while.  Between the Lucy Barton and Olive Kitteridge books, Elizabeth Strout has definitely solidified her status as one of my favorite authors.  In addition to reading the rest of her backlist, I'm of course also interested in seeing what else Strout may have in store for us down the road.   I will essentially read anything she writes at this point! 

Received ARC from Random House via NetGalley.

Review: Cloud Cuckoo Land (by Anthony Doerr)

My Rating: 4 stars

Anthony Doerr's masterpiece All the Light We Cannot See is one of my all-time favorite books.  I read it with my book club several years ago and the beautiful writing as well as the captivating storyline absolutely blew me away.   The reading experience I had with that book remains one of the most memorable for me, even after the dozens of books I've read since then.

Given the above, it should of course come as no surprise that when I heard Anthony Doerr would have a new book out this year (his first since the above-mentioned masterpiece), I absolutely knew I had to get my hands on it.  A few months ago, when I was approved for an ARC of the book, I was ecstatic and couldn't wait to read it, despite the fact that, upon reading the summary, I knew that segments of the story wouldn't interest me (specifically the "science fiction" parts, since that's a genre I don't typically enjoy). The fact that this one would be long (600+ pages) also didn't help things, since I already had a huge list of books that I was hoping to get to this month.  

Well, I finally decided to pick this one up last week and while there were definitely parts of it I enjoyed, I was actually a bit underwhelmed overall, especially in comparisons to All the Light We Cannot See. Of course, the writing was excellent (which was expected), but I felt that there was way too much going on in terms of story arcs, which made this too exhaustive of a read for me.  In addition to the narrative alternating between 5 different characters who each have their own separate but interconnected storylines, the timelines and settings were all different as well, so structure-wise, there was a lot of jumping back and forth, both going forward in time as well as backward, to explain various events that were happening.  On top of that, there was also the ancient story of Aethon (the titular "Cloud Cuckoo Land" story) that was interwoven throughout all 5 threads that, in a sense, connected all 5 story arcs together to form a 6th storyline.  All of these threads going on simultaneously made it hard to keep track of everything but I think most difficult of all was the jarring experience of being plucked from one world and placed into another, then a couple pages later, it happens again, over and over.  It also didn't help that much of the story (in terms of theme) revolved around various aspects of science, technology, ecology, climate, geology, space exploration, etc., which there is nothing wrong with of course, it's just that "science-y" stuff has never interested me, so when there is an overload of it, even in a masterfully written work such as this one, I still found it extremely difficult to engage with the story.

Needless to say, I struggled with how to rate this one, as I did enjoy a large part of this, especially the last third or so when each story arc started to pick up speed and converge, making the connections between some of the threads more apparent.  With that said though, the ending left me with more questions than answers — to be more specific, I actually didn't "get" the ending (despite reading it twice), which doesn't happen often, but is absolutely frustrating when it does.  On a separate note, I did love the way the characters were written, all of them so well-developed with distinctive voices that made them seem so real to me — I think if the story had been structured differently, in a way where I would've been able to engage more with the characters, my reading experience would've been very different.

This was a very ambitious book and I definitely admire what Anthony Doerr tried to do here.  While I'm glad I read this and it was absolutely worth the time spent, I unfortunately didn't love this like I was hoping I would.  In the hands of a more literary reader, I'm sure the reaction would likely be different.  This one didn't blow me away like Doerr's previous work did, but it was still a worthwhile read that I definitely recommend, though with the caveat that, depending on your level of interest in the subject matter, will probably require a certain amount of patience as well as time to read.  

Received ARC from Scribner via NetGalley

Review: When Ghosts Come Home (by Wiley Cash)

My Rating: 5 stars 

This was such a fantastic read! Wiley Cash is another one of those authors whose works I've had on my TBR for a while but never got around to reading. Despite this being my first book of his, I still went into this one with high expectations, mostly because I've heard so much about his works and how great of a storyteller he is — I wanted to see / experience it for myself. Well, I can say with certainty now that I'm so glad I did, as I now have another author to add to my favorites list!

Set in Oak Island, North Carolina, the story follows Sheriff Winston Barnes over the course of 4 days in the fall of 1984, as he investigates a mysterious murder. On the night before Halloween, Winston is jolted awake by what sounded like the crash of an airplane — when he goes out to the airport in the middle of the night to investigate, finds more than he bargained for: next to a huge airplane lying with its tail broken on the runaway, Winston finds the body of a black man who had been shot to death. As the investigation in the subsequent days slowly brings to light the truth of what happened that night, the small island town is forced to reckon with the community's deeply rooted racial prejudices that get repeatedly stirred up by a Confederate flag-toting local man hellbent on ousting Winston from his job. There were technically three different threads to the narrative — the main one told involving the investigation into the mysterious abandoned plane and an equally mysterious murder, a secondary thread from the perspective of Winston's daughter Colleen, who returns to her parents' home bearing insurmountable grief over a devastating loss, and a third thread from the perspective of Jay, a teenaged black boy who is also he brother-in-law of Rodney Bellamy (the man found murdered on the airport runway). Through these three intertwining perspectives, the full picture of what happened eventually emerges.

In addition to the fabulous storytelling, the other thing I loved about this book was the realistic depiction of the characters, to the point that I felt like I was reading about real people dealing with real issues. There was also an incredible sense of time and place, which, combined with the well-developed characters and he beautiful, descriptive writing, made this a truly immersive reading experience. This book also hit the mark on an emotional level, as various parts of the story made me simultaneously sad, angry, heartbroken, yet also hopeful, especially during those moments when certain characters stood up to the hatred and bigotry that permeated particular sections of the community. The ending was gut wrenching and unexpected— it actually took me by surprise and made me shed real tears (which doesn't happen often).

As I mentioned earlier, Wiley Cash is now on my list of favorite authors and I am definitely looking forward to exploring his backlist! If you're looking for a powerful, timely story that has a elements of historical fiction, family saga, murder mystery, exploration of various community and social justice issues, etc., this is a perfect read — one I absolutely recommend!

Received ARc from William a Morrow via NetGalley

Review: Harlem Shuffle (by Colson Whitehead)

My Rating: 4 stars

The last couple of years, Fall has been a particularly busy reading season for me due to the fact that a lot of my favorite authors (or famed authors whose works I've been wanting to read but hadn't gotten around to yet) release new books around this time and I end up scrambling in a harried attempt to get to each and every single one of those books — a feat that is 10 times more difficult with a full-time job and family obligations that oftentimes leave me with little time for myself.  Yes, I know this is a self-inflicted bookworm problem (sorry / not sorry?) and I am by no means trying to elicit sympathy, it's just that when I opened up my book tracking app today and saw that I this was only the fourth book I've finished out of a (wildly unrealistic) goal of 13 for this month (yes, you read that right — 13 books for the month of September), I felt the need to vent, if merely to just get it off my chest.  Whew!  Ok, back to the matter at hand…

The aforementioned 4th book (out of 13) that I just finished is Colson Whitehead's newest release Harlem Shuffle.  Whitehead is one of those famous authors whose works I've had on my TBR like forever, but for some reason or another, I haven't been able to get around to reading those works.  So when I was offered an ARC of Whitehead's latest work, I of course jumped at the opportunity (even knowing his newest book would be markedly different from his previous ones).  Going into this, I was excited to finally get the chance to "see what the hype was about" when it comes to this award-winning author.  With that said though, while I did enjoy this one quite a bit and found it to be an excellent read in many aspects — the vivid, lyrical writing, the realistic and fleshed out characters, the wonderfully rendered atmosphere of 1950s / 1960s Harlem, witty and fun dialogue, the timeliness of the social commentary, etc. — what made this a 4 star read instead of 5 star is the fact that I wasn't able to engage with the story as much as I thought I would, despite my best efforts.  This is more a reflection of my own tastes rather than any issue with the book itself — namely that I'm not much of a reader of heist and gangster stories and while this wasn't the entire focus of the story, I found it more difficult to connect with the story and therefore it was a much slower read for me.  Regardless though, this was still a worthwhile read and one that I learned a lot from, especially with the historical fiction aspect and the masterful, atmospheric way that Whitehead captured the various nuances of Harlem and New York during that particular time period.

Though I wasn't much engaged with the story, I did like most of the characters — even the main character Ray Carney with his sardonic wit as he struggles to keep the two sides of his life separate from each other.  Overall, this was a solid 4 star read, a book that I highly recommend!  I read an interview with the author last week where he mentioned that he is working on a sequel to this book that would follow Ray Carney into the 1970s era, which I definitely look forward to reading.  In the meantime, I need to get with the program and go pickup Underground Railroad as well as The Nickel Boys and other books from Whitehead's backlist.  So many books, so little time!!

Received ARC from DoubleDay Books via NetGalley.

Review: Rock Paper Scissors (by Alice Feeney) **Blog Tour**

My Rating : 4.5 stars

I've been a fan of Alice Feeney's work since I read her debut Sometimes I Lie, a suspense thriller I still remember to this day, even though I read it 4 years ago. That book absolutely blew me out of the water with its plot twist so well-done, that I still ponder over it even now.  I read both of Feeney's follow up novels (her sophomore novel I Know Who You Are as well as her third novel His & Hers), and while I liked both well enough, neither was able to live up to the magnificence of her debut (in my opinion at least).  Going into Feeney's fourth book Rock Paper Scissors (which publishes this month), I wasn't really sure what to expect — would this one be closer to the "blow me out of the water" experience of her debut or the "good but not too memorable" experience of her two subsequent works? (Hint: definitely the former!).  In fact, I actually feel that Rock Paper Scissors is Feeney's best work to date (and that's saying something considering how much I loved her debut). 

As is the case whenever I review thrillers, I try to be as vague as possible so as not to give anything away (which is why this review will be short and sweet without saying much).  With this book especially though, you definitely want to go in knowing next to nothing and let the story take you along for the (wild) ride.  Feeney is known for her shocking plot twists that absolutely no one sees coming — of course this book is no exception (it's actually more "twisty" than Sometimes I Lie, which I didn't think was possible, yet all the twists are done in a way that feels natural rather than forced).  I've read so many thriller and suspense novels over the years that very few of them are able to surprise or shock me (and even fewer have plots that I'm not able to figure out by the time I get the end of the story) — well, count this book as one of those "few" (it shocked me and took me completely by surprise).  

Fans of Alice Feeney absolutely need to read this one, but even if you're not a fan, I still recommend picking this one up, especially if you love thrillers. (and if you haven't read Sometimes I Lie, definitely read that one next).  I do suggest blocking out enough time to read this one all in one shot though, as most likely you are not going to want to put it down once you start it.  Similar to my reaction after reading Feeney's debut several years ago, I now absolutely cannot wait for her next book to come out — please let it be sooner rather than later!

Received ARC from Flatiron Books via NetGalley.

Review: Beautiful Country (by Qian Julie Wang)

My Rating:  5 stars

I'm quite picky when it comes to memoirs and tend to gravitate towards those where I am able to either relate to the experiences of the author or connect with them in some way.  While there are a plethora of memoirs out there, the reality is that very few of those memoirs are actually written from the perspective of someone who shares a similar background as myself — namely, a Chinese-American woman from an immigrant family who has struggled with identity and belonging her entire life. This is why, when I found out about Qian Julie Wang's memoir Beautiful Country, I knew I absolutely had to pick this one up. This powerful memoir is exactly one of those rare gems that most closely encapsulates the immigrant experience that I grew up with.  Though there are obvious differences between our circumstances in terms of how are families came to America (the titular "beautiful country" as directly translated from Chinese) — for example, my family immigrated here legally while Wang's family ended up here illegally due to an expired visa — many of the struggles that Wang recounts from her childhood are ones that I've also experienced.  

Wang tells her story starting from the perspective of her seven-year-old self, when she is told to put her most prized possessions into her grandparents' storage unit in China so she could accompany her mother on a "flying machine" (literal translation of 飛機 or "airplane") that eventually lands in a place called "beautiful country" (literal translation of 美國 or "America"). From the moment Wang and her mother step off the plane at JFK airport (New York) and are reunited with her father (who had gone to America two years earlier), her life is forever changed in ways that eventually shape who she becomes in adulthood.  Though she didn't know it at the time, leaving China for America meant that Wang would go from an environment where she was surrounded by extended family, unconditional love, and every comfort possible, to one where loneliness was a constant companion, familial love came with strings attached, and every day was a fight for survival at all levels (physically, mentally, emotionally).  We witness Wang's coming of age through the wide-eyed lens of a child forced to navigate a world she does not understand and where she was taught to put her head down, do as she was told, and endure whatever was thrown her way without complaint because that was the expectation of someone in her situation.  

While in China, Wang's parents were highly educated professionals, in America they were reduced to working in sweatshops and other low-paying jobs that allowed them to remain in the shadows, with the constant fear of their illegal status being discovered hanging over them. The stress of their new life in a foreign country where, despite their efforts to remain invisible, they are still largely unwelcomed, takes a toll on Wang's parents and eventually leads to the fracturing of their family.  Illegal status aside though, Wang's struggles growing up as an immigrant child resonated deeply with me — from the humiliation of a tenuous living situation where there was little to no privacy, to not being able to afford the most basic of comforts that seemed to come easily to everyone else (ie: enough food for the table, a roof over our heads, clean clothes to wear to school); to being constantly told that, no matter how hard you work to fit in or how much you contribute to your community, you will never truly belong; to the bullying and racism, both subtle and direct, that becomes an inevitable part of the immigrant experience.  For me, this book was difficult to read — not because of challenging subject matter or anything like that — but because of the familiarity of Wang's experiences and the memories they brought back of my own childhood.  One experience in particular had me near tears when I read it:  the scene where, in fifth grade, Wang is summoned to her (white male) teacher's desk one day and, shown an essay she had written and submitted, is essentially accused of plagiarism because the essay was "too well written" and the English was "too good" to have been written by her.  Even though she told her teacher that she truly did write the essay and didn't plagiarize, her status meant that she was not to be believed, so after that incident, Wang would deliberately include spelling and grammatical errors in all her essays to avoid having to endure a similar confrontation with her teacher in the future.  This scene resonated with me in particular because this was a common experience for me throughout my entire elementary and middle school education: being told that something I wrote couldn't possibly have been written by me because the English was "too good" and that I must have copied it from elsewhere.  As a result, I also started deliberately including "errors" in my writing to avoid confrontation. Luckily, I later attended a high school and college that embraced diversity and eventually recognized my efforts (though the shaken confidence in how I view my writing is something that I still carry with me to this day).

This was truly a profound and emotional read for me, one that I know will stay with me for a long time to come.  Even though reading this memoir brought back some unhappy memories for me, I appreciate the fact that a book like this one exists. While I am buoyed by the knowledge that our country has come a long way in terms of racial diversity and acceptance, at the same time, I am saddened by the obvious steps backwards that we as a society have also taken in this area, over the past few years especially. Now more than ever, we need books like this one that can hopefully help open people's eyes to the plight that so many in our society experience — a timely read that I absolutely recommend!

Received ARC from Doubleday Books via Edelweiss.

Review: Eight Perfect Hours (by Lia Louis)

My Rating:  4 stars

As I'm sure it has been for many, I found the past two months to be especially difficult and stressful — part of this is because of everything going on in the world right now and the resulting negativity that seems to have permeated every corner of the globe.  On a personal level, having to deal with various concerns and issues related to work and family has been tremendously draining, to the point that, most days, I feel too exhausted to do anything that requires any level of sustained concentration.  Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, this has also started to affect my reading life in that my inability to focus has made reading certain types of books more challenging.  It also didn't help that my last couple of reads have been more on the heavy side, with a few that actually bordered on depressing.  

Given all of the above, I was at the point where I was in desperate need of a "palette cleanser"-type read that would help me forget about my worries (albeit temporarily) and hopefully get my reading life back on track. It is within this context that I decided to pick up Lia Louis's forthcoming release Eight Perfect Hours to read, even though a) I'm not usually a fan of romances, especially rom-coms,  b) I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to relationships and so I'm not too keen on sappy, cliched, angsty love stories, and c) this book was pretty low on my "priority" list to read right now due to the fact that it publishes at the end of September and I have a slew of ARCs publishing before this one that I also need to get to.  But like I said earlier, I needed something that would get me out of this reading funk that I'd found myself in, and having read (and enjoyed) Louis's previous book Dear Emmie Blue, I figured at least I'm reading a familiar-to-me author.  Well, this one turned out to be a great choice!

As far as heartwarming romances go, Eight Perfect Hours definitely checks all the boxes. While the story itself wasn't too original (and yes, the plot was absolutely predictable — everything panned out pretty much as I thought it would), I still enjoyed this one quite a lot (both from the story and characters perspectives).  One thing I noticed from reading Louis's previous book and now this one is that she has the ability to create realistic, relatable characters who are tremendously flawed and sometimes do frustrating things, yet we can't help but love them anyway (this goes for the main characters as well as the side ones).  With Noelle, the main protagonist in the story, I didn't always agree with her every decision, but I understood her struggles — of being torn between responsibility to family versus pursuing her own dreams, of feeling like she wasn't being seen, of living her life more for others than for herself, etc. — because I've experienced the same throughout my life, so I could definitely relate.  This was also one of the reasons why I found myself rooting for Noelle throughout the story, even though I already knew she would most definitely find her way to a happy ending (this is a romance after all).  And just like with Dear Emmie Blue, I loved all the side characters in this one nearly as much as I loved the main characters — the wonderful chemistry that all the characters had was a bonus that made this one all the more enjoyable.

Another aspect that I liked about this one was that the author was able to strike a good balance between lighthearted moments and the more serious ones, which I felt made this both a fun read as well as one with good emotional depth.  

For those who enjoy rom-coms, I definitely recommend this one.  Yes, the plot is predictable and there are romantic cliches galore, but the characters are endearing and the story overall is quite charming.  For me, this was exactly the "pick-me-up" I needed to get me out of my reading slump during this time.  I'm glad I decided to read this one!

Received ARC from Atria / Emily Bestler books via NetGalley

Review: The Removed (by Brandon Hobson)

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Brandon Hobson's The Removed is another book I picked up for book club and while I did enjoy it overall, there were some inconsistencies and issues with the story that made this a bit of a tedious read.

First off, I have to say that the writing here was excellent — in fact, the engaging and lyrical flow of the writing was one of the things I liked most about this book, especially the chapters narrated by Maria, which were by far the strongest parts of the story.  Those were the chapters that actually moved me the most on an emotional level and made me wish that the entire story revolved around Maria, Ernest, and Wyatt only without the other characters' story arcs (more on this later).  

While the writing was good, I did have some problems with the execution of the story, which I thought was a bit uneven.  Hobson introduces several heavy topics in this book — grief over the loss of a loved one, the dangers of racial profiling and stereotyping, terminal illness, substance abuse, plight of the indigenous and people of cope, etc — however I felt like the only topic that was thoroughly explored was grief…it almost seemed like perhaps Hobson tried to cover too much all in one shot and some of the other topics ended up falling by the wayside.

And that brings me to the most frustrating parts of this book — the story arcs involving Sonja and Edgar.  I felt like Sonja's entire story was unnecessary and added no value to the story (aside from the "reveal" near the end, though that still didn't justify the necessity of the rest of her story in my opinion).  I also had issues with the way Sonja's character was written, as most of her behavior throughout the story didn't really make sense, even when viewed through the lens of trying to cope with the grief of losing her brother. 

In terms of Edgar's story arc — well, let's just say that I didn't understand majority of it.  It seemed like Edgar's story was written incorporating magical realism, which is something I don't read much of so perhaps that's why it didn't work for me. I mean, plot-wise, I know what happened in Edgar's chapters, but I didn't really understand the point of it all.  It probably didn't help that there was also a lot of symbolism and metaphorical language in the telling of Edgar's story that gave it a dreamlike feel that didn't match with the other 2

narratives.  In addition, similar to Sonja's story arc, Edgar's story arc was unresolved (basically the plot dropped off suddenly, which made the arc feel incomplete) — and both arcs seemed to be completely detached from the main story about their parents, Maria and Ernest. It almost felt like I was reading 3 different unrelated stories, except that the way the book was structured, each chapter alternated between the 3 narratives — so I would read 1 chapter from Maria's perspective, then the next chapter would be Edgar's perspective, then Sonja, then Maria, etc.  Given that I only truly liked Maria's story, this kind of structure made the entire read a tedious and frustrating one. 

Overall, I would classify this one under "it's probably me, not the book."  Hobson is an award-winning author and I certainly don't doubt his writing prowess (after all, as I stated above, I did like the writing), but this book just wasn't for me. While I don't regret reading it, I feel like I spent way too much time on it than I should have. Ah well…onto the next book!!

Review: Beasts of a Little Land (by Juhea Kim)

My Rating:  4.5 stars



When I finished reading Juhea Kim's debut novel Beasts of a Little Land, the first thought that came into my head was that this did not read like a debut at all.  From the story structure to the development of the characters, to the historical details as well as the various themes and motifs incorporated into the narrative, the writing flowed so well and so seamlessly that I was completely immersed in this epic story from beginning to end.

 

The story spans a time period from 1917 to 1965 — a half century that bears witness to Korea's evolution over the years, as a Japanese-occupied territory up through World War II, and later divided into the North and South Korea that we are more familiar with in modern times.  Against this backdrop, we are introduced to two characters whose fates become inexplicably intertwined — JungHo, an orphan who roams the streets as a beggar, later becoming a revolutionary fighter for Korea's independence, and Jade, a peasant girl sold by her family to a courtesan school who later becomes one of the most sought after actresses in Korea.  As Jade and JungHo come of age amongst the changing landscape of their country, they experience moments both glorious and harrowing, but all have a profound impact on them in some way.  This is a story where all the supporting characters play vital roles in the narrative, but not only that, all of the characters – whether good or bad, endearing or despiscable – are all equally unforgettable.  One of the things I love most about this story is the complexity of the characters and the mixed feelings that evoked  – for example, with the Japanese generals Ito and Yamada, they are supposed to be the enemy and majority of their actions are indeed abhorrent, but then, at certain points, they reveal their humanity through certain acts of kindness or a redeeming factor that made it hard to despise them completely.  By the same token, there were also moments where I found it hard to root for some of the "good" characters, even with the understanding that some of the morally questionable actions they take are out of a need for survival.  I also found it interesting the way nearly all the characters that appear in the story are connected in some way, whether directly or indirectly, that is apparent to the reader, but not necessarily to the characters themselves.  This aspect, coupled with the atmospheric nature of the historical setting and time period, made for a truly immersive reading experience.  

With all that said, my one complaint would probably be that, given the epic nature of the story, I was expecting more emotional depth, which I felt was a bit lacking in this instance (hence the reason why I rated this 4.5 stars instead of 5).  Nevertheless, this was absolutely a worthwhile read, especially for historical fiction fans.  In addition to learning a lot about Korea that I didn't know before, I also appreciated the time period being one that isn't commonly covered in many historical fiction works.  I definitely recommend this book and at the same time, look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Received ARC from Ecco via NetGalley.