When I posted in early April, I felt like my brain had emerged from its pandemic ennui and I was able to do some more serious reading. However, of late, I am back to reading way too many mysteries--don't know if it's the heat or some sort of mental relapse or the deep sense of being old precipitated by turning 71, but it's a thing. Nonetheless, some books I read in spring and early summer are worth talking about.
Fiction
The Children's Bible, by Lydia Millet. This post-apocalyptic (climate change) novel starts out as though it were a satire about the idiocy of parents on holiday as seen by their teen-aged children but it turns serious when a terrible storm wipes out the large house where all the families are staying and the parents do not respond well. The young people take to the road, ending up a few miles from their parents with challenges of their own--but they are generally committed to working hard and helping one another. One of the younger children, Jack, has a children's Bible that he studies relentlessly, looking for meaning. He eventually decides the Bible is coded--God equals nature and Jesus equals science. I'm not doing a good job describing the book, but it's definitely worth checking out.
The End of the Day, by Bill Clegg. The End of the Day is another book that is hard to describe. It involves four main characters who had first seem to have nothing to do with one another--all are at a crossroads in their lives. As events unfold, their relationships to each other, as well as their secrets, are revealed. Remembering and forgetting, how our choices shape our lives and others, and the meaning of family are all explored. I didn't love it quite as much as Clegg's previous novel--Did You Ever Have a Family?--but it has a similar humanity that enriches the reader.
Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata. This brief novel about a woman whose family thinks she is a failure because she is still working at a convenience store in her 30s caused me to think about cultural differences and similarities and, in particular, the ways that different cultures label people who aren't "mainstream." I have no doubt the title character would be labeled as "on the spectrum" if she were a character in an American novel, but she's seen somewhat differently in Japan.
Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
The Plot, by Jean Hanff Korelitz. The Plot is about a novelist who steals a plot from one of his students in an MFA program and, when it becomes a best-seller, starts getting notes from someone who claims to know that the book was stolen. It's not a terribly original idea (though it does pose some interesting questions about what authorship means), but I wanted to mention it here because Korelitz has a gift for creating a cast of unlikable characters that you still want to keep reading about (and I usually need a character I like). She did the same thing an earlier novel, You Should Have Known, which became the HBO series The Undoing. An unusual gift.
Dear Child, by Romy Hausman. In this German novel, a woman and two children live in a windowless shack in a forest. The father/captor sets the rules for the family. The woman may be a girl who disappeared 14 years ago--or she may not. When the woman and one of the children escape, the missing girl's parents and the police try to find the shack and figure out exactly how the woman and children came to be living there. It's a little bit reminiscent of Room, but that doesn't stop it from being spell-binding.
Before She Knew Him, by Peter Swanson. Bipolar artist Hen, newly ensconced in the suburbs, suspects that her next door neighbor Matt is a killer. Because of her mental illness and an earlier accusation that may or may not have been false, the police--and Hen's husband--don't take her seriously so she must do some sleuthing herself, potentially threatening both her mental and physical health. There's a kind of dumb twist at the end (just finished another mystery with the same twist), but it's still an entertaining read, especially because Hen's artwork plays a role in the plot. I just wish we could see it!
Science Fiction (Kind of)
The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey. I'm never sure what constitutes sci fi, but this book revolves around cloning. First genetic researcher Evelyn Caldwell discovers her ex-husband Nathan, the less competent scientist, has cloned her--with tweaks to make her a more biddable wife. Then she and her clone find themselves . . . well, don't want to spoil things but suffice it to say there's more secret cloning and rather cold destroying of clones that don't quite meet the required standards. Entertaining.
Nonfiction
Notes on a Silencing, by Lacy Crawford. In 1990, the author was raped at an exclusive boarding school, St. Paul's in Concord, New Hampshire (Google the school to identify some of the prominent folks who went there). The book details the assault and the after effects, both physical and psychological, suffered by Crawford. Perhaps most horrifying, however, is the way in which the school manipulated the situation to protect the boys and vilify Crawford. I cannot recommend this book, along with Missoula and Know My Name, highly enough; until we accept the truth of rape in academic settings, nothing will change.
I'll Be Seeing You, by Elizabeth Berg. This book is a memoir about the period when Berg's parents were declining, moving from their home of many years to assisted living, and presenting Berg and her siblings with a variety of challenges. As someone whose mother exhibited some of the same personality traits of Berg's mother (but without the husband suffering from dementia), I found the book both sad and reassuring--we can all only do what we can do. If you still have your parents with you but they're driving you crazy, you might find reading the book somewhat therapeutic.
Seriously Annoying Book
The Lost Boys, by Faye Kellerman. This is a fairly typical Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus mystery, except that it basically stops with very little resolved, acting as a set-up for no. 27 in the series. Cheap and annoying.
Favorite Passage
People came to the door with sorrow and lasagna.
From The First Mistake, by Sandie Jones
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