Goodreads-- My review of Primal Law (which is a stupid title, having read the book)

Primal Law by J.D. Tyler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

So I finished listening to this one and I have to say I cannot decide, was it a bad story or just told poorly. It is light on details, which in an erotic romance can be forgiven if the sex and chemistry is off the charts, which in this book is decidedly not the case.

I feel like this is at the heart of it, a lukewarm retelling of a story that has frankly been told over and over. And yet, there were glimmers...

Ironically the parts of the story, which held more of my attention, centered around two interesting, well developed minor characters-- which, if the author had put as much art and craft into developing the main characters of this book, well my review would have been totally different.

I feel like this book would have benefited from several revisions and some working shopping with respect to character development.

It wasn't horrible, in the way mindless TV isn't horrible, but I am not motivated to read this author again.

I will say this-- the narration was excellent on the audio book. I would happily listen to Kristen Potter narrate another book. That is half of the reason I finished this one.

So I paid $4.95 for the book on Audible during their recent sale and that is frankly all this book is worth.

View all my reviews

I hate to give bad reviews and I seldom do. I will say, this was a good exercise for me as a writer... I may go back and relisten, if only to see if I can learn something. Where I found myself disappointed and why. 

Book review: We Need to Talk About Kevin

We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In terms of prose, this book is beautifully crafted. Shriver is an amazing writer and I will admit, the prose challenged me, which is frankly rare. It took me the first few chapters to get my head around what she was writing and how.

The subject matter of this novel is rough. Read the back jacket and you know what you are getting into. Shriver does not sugar coat, nor is she afraid to look the monsters in the closets right in the eyes and then dare them to blink. She dares you, the reader, to do the same.

I will also say that while we ALL know what happens, we truly have no idea. I made some assumptions in the beginning and Shriver systematically shoots them down, one by one.

I also will admit that she surprised me, really surprised me and disturbed me at one point in the novel.

I have to thank my book club for picking this book, I doubt I would have picked this one up on my own and I am going to look at Shriver's other titles. She is a talented writer and I admire her fearlessness...

View all my reviews

Goodreads: Loving Frank

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I think this story is beautifully written, the prose blending well with the obviously detailed historical research. It is surprising that this novel is Nancy Horan's first.



I was so surprised having studied FLW's work in college to discover that history as all but removed Mamah from his life. How like historians to omit that which they cannot understand or not fit into an "appropriate box."



It is clear from this novel that Mamah plated a pivotal role in Frank;s work and his life.



While some of her choices are difficult to understand, I think this is a loving portrait of a woman, struggling with being true to herself and to her sense of duty.



A good read and very thought provoking. Worth the time. Another book I will file under - I am so glad I read it but I would never have picked it up, if my book club hadn't selected it.



View all my reviews

Goodreads: The Bronte Project

Bronte Project by Jennifer Vandever

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I loved this book. The prose is easy to read and very engaging. While one must not be a Bronte scholar, some understanding of the Bronte sisters, their works and their lives is helpful, to really grasp, how clever Vandever was.



I enjoyed some of the absurdity in the story, it was delightful and clever and while some of her characters are stock archetypes, it works. This is as much parody of literature as it is a love story.



At first the ending brought me up short, I will say I did not see it coming, not really, even though perhaps I should and it in some ways reminds me of the final scenes of the movie The Piano, not only in drama but in terms of rebirth and the claiming of personal power.



This book is worth picking up and at 288 pages - it is a quick winter read.



View all my reviews

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Not that I am the most clever girl in the world, but rarely do thrillers or crime novels keep me in suspense until the end of the book.

Stieg Larsson had me guessing, until he was ready to reveal the truth. Brilliantly written/translated (although the bagel bit was troubling - I have never eaten a bagel in Europe. Never. True, I haven't ever been to Sweden, but still.)and with characters who are real, gritty, likable and detestable, with well developed plot lines and many little interesting tangents, which might or might not reconnect, but which never take away from the story. This story is complex and it is actually two, maybe three stories in one and I find I like that, when it is done well. Suffice to say, this one is done exceptionally well.

I think the frank discussion of sexual content is not gratuitous as some reviewers have suggested. This book depicts the lives of real people, in a real way, with the ugly bits included. For me, that is why this works so well.

I started reading this in print and then switched to audio version. The audio version is so well read and engrossing, twice I drove past my destination, so taken with the story.

I finished this last night and immediately downloaded the next in the series. Larsson has hooked me.



View all my reviews

Goodreads: Fear of Flying, Eric Jong

Fear of Flying by Erica Jong

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




***Update**

While I could not read this book, finding it hard to read bits and put it down and pick it up, without having to flip back a few pages and re-read, I did end up finishing it - but in audio book form. I found having the book read to me, to worked wonders.

I purchased the audio version on Audible.com and the narrator is wonderful and the book really comes alive.

I found myself really loving the frantic prose and the jumping from topic to topic and while reading the meandering of Isadore's mind proved challenging, listening to them was rewarding and pleasant. I actually found myself thinking about all the craziness she was explaining and experiencing, instead of drowning in the words on the printed page.

I think this book is very well written, and rich with fantastical phrases and very rye and sage observations, very relevant still today and worth being read. I don't actually  like any of the characters and while I would like to say I am grossly disappointed in Adrian Goodlove turning out to be a worthless, spineless, fraud - what does one really expect from a character deliberately named Goodlove.

I am glad I got creative and took a chance on the audio book, it really did make all the difference.



View all my reviews

Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
While I have dabbled in E*books, it has been years and years since I have done an audio book. So given the sheer length of this book, I decided to give it a try as an audiobook. I enjoyed the experience and I enjoyed the story.If you are not familiar with this series, I do not suggest starting with this book. Good back and start at the beginning. As with all series novels, they can stand alone, but reading the first few books is most helpful.I thought the beginning chapters in terms of violence and repetitiveness were slightly over done. I felt like I was getting beaten (pun intended) over the head with just how bad Acheron's life really had been.Otherwise, I think Kenyon's style lends itself to the audio format, things I have disliked about her writing style, seemed to really work narrated. All in all this was a good story, worth the time and a perfect book to test out books being read to me on my iPod.

View all my reviews >>

Goodreads: The White Tiger

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
As a 2008 Man Booker prize winner, I assumed this would be worth reading. It was. Adiga is clever in his set up, his method and his message. I found the book to be funny and serious.

This is a book, that our children will be reading in a college course someday.

I think this book shows us how business works, how culture works and how it is not pretty and neat, progress has a price, sometimes a large one. I would argue while this story - and bear in mind it is a good story - claims to be a story about one man and his climb to success, I think it is more than that, I think the symbolism of this book is cleverly hidden and so obvious all at the same time.

Adiga tackles some difficult subjects with humor and wit.

Well worth the reading.

I borrowed this book from a friend. It is officially on my to buy list. I plan to read it again.

View all my reviews >>

GOODREADS: Sexing the Cherry

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book is a conundrum to me. It is beautifully written. It is more prose poem than novel. Calling this a novel did it a great disservice in my mind.

Passages and passages of powerful, beautiful imagery. In terms of exploration of the nature of love, relationships, self and time, this book earns 5 stars.

In terms of actually pulling all of those things into a cohesive and assessable story or book, it falls short. I often had the feeling this book grew out of an series of writing exercises. In some parts of the work, it is very tight, frames well and there are a number of "tricks" which seem to work well, only to be abandoned.

I also think that the addition of the last quarter of this book, does it a great disservice. I could have been happy without the "Sometime Later" section. Ending the book on page 124, I think does actually tie together a number of the loose ends, not neatly, but then there is nothing neat and tidy about this book, not in style, execution, exploration or point of view.

But the final passages on pages 123, 124 really, I think answer alot of the linger questions - for both narrators. For me - it brought me to place of peace and place to think and acceptance.

I think the "Sometime Later" section works. It does not work at the end of this book, even though some of the ladies in my book club felt it did work. It feels contrived and it feels like it is self consciously connected dots which refused to be connected in other sections of the book.

I think the "Something Later" section, if it has to stay, would work better in the beginning. Start there and work backwards. I think it would help the reader form a story and I think it propels the plot alot better. It also I think, fits with the playing with time and exploring the realities of time and space.

All in all I am glad I stuck with this book and saw it through to the end. Had this not been the book club selection, I doubt I would have. I am glad I did and I am going to read some of her other works, if only to experience her beautiful use of language and poetic imagery.

A word to the wise, this book is not shy about sex, violence and her brand of feminism is radical, typical perhaps of the time period, but her point of view may not be widely shared.

View all my reviews >>

Lolita

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov


My rating: 1 of 5 stars
This is - aside from Catcher in the Rye, the worst book I have ever had to read. Beyond the pale horrible. I will give him that he can play with language and words. Pity he did not bother to do so with a story worth reading. Humbert is too stupid to live and frankly the plot plods along. There is nothing interesting or exciting about this book and while maybe Nabokov was going for some sweeping indictment of American Culture or something - it is in short - an epic fail.I did not finish it. Not going to waste my time.

View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Veronica

Veronica: A Novel by Mary Gaitskill


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I became aware of Mary Gaitskill's work when she was featured in Poet & Writers magazine. This is the first book of hers, that I have read.

I found the book strangely compelling and repulsing, all at once. I am not sure I agree with her world view, but what she does well is capture the world of the mind. The second self it seems to me. Alison, the narrator is trapped in her own confusion it seems to me.

Veronica is a woman she meets while temping in NYC in between modeling jobs.

The counter balance of the ugly and the beautiful and the elegant and the profane is amazingly well done. While it could have come off as trite, it doesn't.

The organization of the book is interesting and it works, although it does make the book hard to start, I found, the flipping thru the past, present, and middle, seemed strange at first.

My biggest issue is even in the end, I just did not like Alison very much. I never really connected with her. Maybe we aren't suppose to, I am not sure.

I also think that MG's message is very strong, but not preachy, I like that. I like that she leaves things rather unresolved and not packaged and neat and trite at the end. I really like that.

Overall I feel the first half of the book is the meat of the book. For me anyway. I found the ending worked, but not as well as the beginning and the middle. I also think that some of what she includes about Alison today - the friends she lunches with, was extra in a way, as was some of the details of her childhood. I felt as if MG had chosen one set of details or the other, the story might have been stronger.

Her style is amazing and her use of language very poetic, but blunt and clean.

I also appreciate that she does not over write - but I sometimes feel like MG throws us something and then leaves it very unresolved, in a ways that feels off to me. I think she handles John and Alison's relationship very well. That felt connected for me, by the end, but there are other things, other details which seem to have the potential to add something but don't.

What I do like and the flip side of my critic above is the fact that I think she is being accurate. I think life is like this. A series of events, with seemingly no real connection, except for the fact that they all happen and are experienced by us in a sequence

I will say that this book is gritty. It is blunt and frank. MG makes no real effort to clean it up or sanitize it any way.

View all my reviews >>

Book Review: Perfection

Perfection: A Memoir of Betrayal and Renewal by Julie Metz


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
When I picked this up at the library, I was unsure of what to expect. By the 10th page I was hooked. Metz has a beautiful straight-forward style and her ability to tell a story is wonderful.

She not only tells us a story, she tells us about the people in the story and she reflects on the story, she seeks to make connections, she is honest about her emotions and she is naked in them also.

That said, the book has some stylistic issues which gave me pause. While I like the going back in time, I found it jarring, when I am told by chapter heading I am one place and then we go back 20 plus years. I get why she did this, but I still stumbled over it and it is a technique she employs more than once.

I also think the last 1/3 of the book is the weakest. I suspect you have to show the entire cycle, but I felt towards the end or almost end, we had information which really in my opinion added little value to the overall story. It was just information. That said the last 10 pages (well maybe 7) really were very useful also. I like the messy neatness of it.

Metz also has a real talent for sentences which jump off the page and grab you. They are singularly profound and arresting and buried in a sea of beautiful yet very normal text.

I think she handles the subject beautifully, I admire her desire to understand, to not be drown in anger, to try and put together the pieces of an amazingly complicated puzzle, to seek a place where she can understand some most un-understandable actions. I think she also gives us an amazing glimpse at how people, all sorts of people deal with grief and disappointment.

She also does not rely on excuses or gimmicks.

All in all this is well worth reading.

View all my reviews >>