CBR V Review #3: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

“Everybody has a story. It's like families. You might not know who they are, might have lost them, but they exist all the same. You might drift apart or you might turn your back on them, but you can't say you haven't got them. Same goes for stories.” 

As those of you know who read this blog on the regular (are there such people?  I hope so), I am a huge Kate Morton fan.  Part of this is due to my intense love of historical fictions that are set in the English countryside.  It doesn't matter when, or precisely where - if your book is set in the UK, in the past?  I'm going to be into it.  The degree will vary based on the story being told, the depth of the characters, and the style of the writing.  Still, I am always compelled to read books that throw me into English countryside, with it's pastorals and intrigues.  This is probably also why I'm so drawn to Downton Abbey, but I digress.  Kate Morton is a particular favorite because she also successfully bounces between the past and the present, with her protagonist either unearthing a secret about someone else, or discovering one about him or herself. 

Setterfield employs this technique as well.  In the present, book antiquities specialist and part time amateur biographer Margaret Lea is pulled into the life of famous novelist Vida Winter.  Ms. Winter approaches her out of the blue, requesting her skills to take down her true story, which she has never shared any part of in previous interviews.  She is gravely ill and running out of time, so she says, and it is time for the story to be told.  Margaret is hesitant to accept the offer - she has never read any of Ms. Winter's many successful novels, and is hardly an accomplished biographer - but after devouring most of her catalog, Margaret can't help but take the trip to see what Ms. Winter has to say.  From there, we begin our time jumps, hearing the story Ms. Winter tells as Margaret stays at her rather eccentric estate.  The book travels between Margaret's troubled experiences in the present and Ms. Winter's colorful past.

This is a solid book, if not one that I'm likely to find myself picking up a second time.  Margaret is a hard character to connect to, which is very much intentional, but makes it hard to want to listen to her as a narrator.  I've never had siblings, so the fact that much of this book revolves around the unique relationship between twins lost a little in translation for me.  The bonds of sisterhood, twin or otherwise, are something foreign to me, despite how close I am with many of my friends.  This left me a bit in the cold when it came to really becoming invested with the story.

I also felt this had a really slow burn.  It took quite awhile for me to be drawn in, and once I was, it wasn't the type of book I had a problem putting back down again, at least not till the last 25% of it or so (I read it on my e-reader, so page numbers are something I can't really reference).  There is a lot to set up for things to make sense, and it feels like it meanders a bit.  I honestly didn't care all that much for Margaret's subplot.  I get why it was there, in order to connect her to Ms. Winter and the story, but it didn't resonate for me.

I did, however, very much enjoy the way they talked about literature and its impact.  Both women are characters deeply drawn to the written word, and their ruminations on books and their value are wonderful.  There is a particularly fascinating challenge issued later in the book that I won't spoil - a game of sorts, that Ms. Winter plays with Margaret regarding books vs people, that I absolutely loved.

It's a well written piece of fiction, and the story of Ms. Winter's past is an interesting one.  It's a book I would recommend, but not something I'd drop everything to pick up.

CBR V Review #2: City of Thieves by David Benioff

“Truth might be stranger than fiction, but it needs a better editor. ” 

I've been big on the audiobook thing of late.  My commute isn't long, but the monotony of the same drive every day wears on me, and in order to stay awake, I need something that takes my focus.  Music lets my mind wander - a book, especially a good one, will grab me and sharpen my thinking so that sleep is a faraway thing.  A book like this is *perfect* for this purpose, as it grabs you and never lets go.  The only uncomfortable thing is when things get emotional, and you are sitting there in the driver's seat hoping none of your fellow commuters look over to watch you laughing at this character, sickened by this one, or saddened by another.  Though honestly, you only have time to think about this after the fact - you are too busy enjoying whatever you are feeling to notice other people in the moment.

City of Thieves is set in Russia during WWII, with most of the action happening in and around Leningrad.  The story takes places over the course of a week during the siege of Leningrad (essentially - there is some time filled in both before and after the bulk of the action) and follows the journey of two unlikely comrades (pun intended), Lev and Kolya.  Lev, a teenaged Jew, and Kolya, a 20 something soldier/writer/lothario, are thrown together early in the book, given a reprieve from the punishment due to them for looting and desertion, respectively.  Instead of a bullet in the brainpan, they are given a rather ridiculous  mission by an important colonel - find him a dozen eggs for his daughter's wedding cake, and live.  In a city under seige, this is no easy task, and the search creates a very interesting story, part war story, part coming of age, part road trip buddy comedy.

This book relies entirely on how much you care about Lev and Kolya.  There are supplemental characters, a few of which are important, but really, if you are committed to these two boys, you're in for the long haul.  They are a delight as a pair - mismatched in the best kind of ways.  Lev is shy and awkward, wanting to keep his head down and do this thing, but lacking the courage to really get things accomplished.  Kolya...he's a dynamo.  He's a brilliant manipulator, and I mean that in the best way.  He has that natural talent some are born with of making anyone like you and listen to what you have to say, even if it's a pile of bullshit.  Charismatic seems an inadequate descriptor.  The two make a dynamic and interesting pair, one you'd follow anywhere just to hear more stories.

This is saying something, as some of the parts of this story are incredibly brutal.  Seige ridden and war torn, Leningrad and its surrounding areas offer a lot of darkness for the reader to endure on Lev & Kolya's journey, but it's never bleak enough to make you want to give up.  This is a real credit to Benioff, as in other hands, some portions of this tale would turn people off and make them give it up.  Despite anything and everything the boys endured, I literally could not turn this off.  I was excited to get in my car and hear the next bit, and put off listening to the end because then I knew it would be over.  That's a hell of an accomplishment.

It's also important to note the narration here, as this is an audiobook, and therefore important.  The book is read by Ron Perlman, Hellboy himself, and he is one of the best narrators I have ever heard.  He manages to differentiate between characters without doing voices, so you are never lost, but you aren't thrown by "this is a man being a woman" or anything like that.  His pronunciation of the Russian is gorgeous.  He has such a great sense of mood and timing, playing each scene for the right beats, and letting chapters, or even just big moments, end with the grace of a fade to black.  I'm actually seeking out more books read by him, whether I like the subject matter or not - he was *that* good.

This book is absolutely not to be missed.  If you have a problem with violence, or any graphic descriptions of death and/or torture, this might be one you need to skip, but it would be a damned shame.  It's worth it, every moment.  If you love good literature and well developed leading characters, pick this up immediately.

CBR V Review #1 - Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay

"But isn't it funny, that in some ways the price one pays for freedom of speech is ... a kind of indifference." 

I'm a big fan of learning about history via historical fiction.  I took more history classes in high school than anything else, mostly because of a brilliant teacher, and it left me with a desire to know more things about what preceded me.  However, I tend to sleep through drier, more accurate, non-fiction accounts of events, even of things that were incredibly interesting.  Give me some characters to care about, even if they never existed, and I'll absorb way more about the period than I would have otherwise.  As such, Russian Winter was a great way for me to learn more about Stalin's Russia.

The book centers around an upcoming jewelry auction.  Former prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Ballet, Nina Revskaya has decided to auction off her collection, with the proceeds to go to the Boston Ballet.  She decides to do this as a way to finally close the door on her past for good, but in doing so, end ups opening it wider, as memories come flooding back.  Memories of her rise through the Bolshoi Ballet, her marriage to poet Viktor Elsin, her friendship with fellow ballerina Vera and composer Gersh, and the way Stalin's aggressive policies changed them all forever.  While the world at large knows of her defection, no one knows the details of Nina's past, and she's worked hard to keep it that way.  However, Drew, the young woman handling her auction, and a mysterious professor name Grigori, who may be connected to Nina's past, both dig deeper into her secrets and won't let her alone.

The book bounces between Nina's memories and the present very well.  As a huge fan of Kate Morton, I'm hyper critical of people who don't execute time jumping well - thankfully Kalotay manages just fine.  I was never lost for which time period I was in, or which narrator I was following (Nina, Drew and Grigori all narrate different segments of the story).  It weaves together well, with a nice build to the big secrets and even bigger truths that always will out at the end of a novel like this one.  Kalotay does a nice job with misdirects.  If you are like me, and you like trying to figure out the big reveal ahead of time to be clever, you'll spend the book questioning which of several possible outcomes is the correct one.  The ambiguity is consistent to the end, making the conclusion at once both plausible and surprising, and on all counts satisfying.

While I like Grigori and Drew well enough (with the exception of their shoehorned romance - it's not a spoiler to mention because it doesn't matter and doesn't really work), my favorite character to spend time with was Nina.  Her grumpy old lady taciturnity in the present, combined with her slowly growing warmer towards her nurse, contrasts wonderfully with the quiet but hopeful young woman in her memories.  It's fascinating to watch her grow, and adapt to the awful world around her.

As to that world, I feel that I learned a lot about Stalinist Russia.  The gatherings, the way that people disappeared, the paranoia of who might be listening and what they might tell someone higher up.  The concerns you had simply being Jewish, or artistic, or free thinking in any way.  And as an artist myself, presenting it through the eyes of a ballerina (and one who is married to a poet and friends with a composer) gave me a perspective I could relate to more readily.

Kalotay has created a really lovely read here, and one I'd recommend.

CBR V

WOO!  Another year means another Cannonball Read!  This year, for CBR V, I'm doing something I've yet to do - committing to a FULL cannon!  Let's be real, I read more than 52 books this year.  I only reviewed them up to the point that got me my half cannon, but I *did* read them.  It seems silly, knowing that, not to go for the full cannon this time, really challenge myself to write.  That's the hard part for me - the reviews.  I get paranoid about what people will think about what I say, or if what I'm writing is any good.  And that's missing the point.  The point is to read and to share.  I don't have to be a NY Times reviewer here, just post my thoughts on the things I read, so hopefully I can guide people towards or away from literature that I consume.  That is a great thing, and I'm going to do better at it this year.  So there.

Expect to see my first review up as soon as the group blog is ready to take it.  I just recently finished a book, and I've decided it will be my first entry into the CBR V, since I won't have time to put the review down on paper till after this is all started up.  Can't wait to see how much easier this is with the tracking I do on GoodReads, too!  Looking forward to another great year of sharing and reading!

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

 “Children don’t require of their parents a past and they find something faintly unbelievable, almost embarrassing, in parental claims to a prior existence."

This is a hard book to review, since I can't really talk about the plot at all without spoiling it. But I'll try.

I adore Kate Morton. I've devoured each of her books in turn, and when I won a copy of The Secret Keeper, I was ecstatic. I couldn't wait to see what new mysteries and histories Morton had created for me to enjoy, and I was not at all disappointed. If anything, I was often more impressed than before, especially when it came to the discoveries I made as I went along.

The Secret Keeper is, like most of Morton's work, set in multiple time periods. The framework is the present (well, 2011, but close enough), where actress Laurel Nicolson is trying to unravel a mystery from her childhood during the last days of her mother, Dorothy's, life. At 16, Laurel witnessed something that she's never been able to forget, but she's never understood why it happened. The only way to find the answers she seeks is to delve into her mother's past, which we get to witness firsthand in pre-WWII through to the Blitz, through a variety of narrators, as Laurel tries to figure things out in the present.

There's not a lot more I can outline of the plot without ruining the journey. Morton has set up a novel filled with twists and red herrings, and while I thought I was a step ahead, I was totally wrong. And I LOVE that. She created a rich historically based world, and a series of characters that are well developed and interesting, from the wonderful Laurel, to the imaginative Dorothy "Dolly" Smitham, to the compassionate Jimmy Metcalfe, and finally the mysterious Vivien. I was equally excited to read as Laurel discovered things as I was to read what actually happened in jumps to the past.

The Secret Keeper is a rich, full story that fits right in with the rest of my Morton collection. A must read for Morton fans, and a fantastic read for anyone who enjoys a mystery, historical fiction, or just a really good book.

A follow up before next year's CBR kicks off

Apparently I read 24 books after completing my half cannon.  And I'm almost done with another.  And have a short one lined up for right after this.  So odds are, by the end of this CBR, I will have actually READ the required 52 books for a full Cannon.  Now, they don't all count, since I didn't review them, and that's the name of the game here.  Read AND review.  But still.  Looking over my Goodreads and thinking about what I've read or listened to on my commute, I'm pretty stoked to have consumed that much literature!  The only book I feel was a total waste of time was The Marriage Plot, which really isn't a bad ratio of success to failure.  I didn't LOVE everything else, but Marriage Plot is the only one I gave up after the qualifying halfway point, but before the end.  I got about 75% of the way through it and was interrupted by Hurricane Sandy...and stayed interrupted.  I just don't give a rat's ass how it ends.  So that's that.

I may go so far as to actually do the full cannon next year, looking at this.  Bonus is that I can re-read anything from my current list of 52 that I didn't review and have it count next go (like with the Kingkiller Chronicles, which I plan to re-read before the new volume comes out in March).  I really do love this whole endeavor.  It's done a lovely job of encouraging me to get back into the habit of reading regularly, and that pleases me greatly.

Post Cannon Commentary or Where I Muse on The Boys of Summer

So, remember how I said I'd keep up with the CBR after I met my goal?  Obviously I lied.  I've read a bunch of stuff, but haven't reviewed it (always the catch about this for me!).  However.  I was given a copy of a book by its author, through CBR, and it seems wrong not to write up that review immediately upon finishing the book, which I have.  So, while there are several other things that should have reviews before this, I want this to get written, and thusly, here it is.

The Boys of Summer by Ciaran West will destroy you and make you tremedously uncomfortable, and I mean that as high praise.  It's rare that a book will get so under your skin that you think about it when it's not in front of you, and this one will do that.  Set in Limerick in the 80s, this is the story of 11 year old (nearly 12) Richie South and his friends, in a very...eventful...summer of their youth.  Tragedy strikes the neighborhood when a child is found raped and murdered - this isn't a spoiler, but rather a point upon which most of the novel revolves, even though it's often indirect.  Richie and his friends want to figure out who did it and bring them to justice, in a way many a small or teenaged boy has wanted in fiction for, well, pretty much ever.  If you are thinking of Stand By Me right now, don't, other than to appreciate the fact that both involve coming of age stories of boys during summers with some darkness surrounding them.

Richie is our narrator, and it's a wonderful challenge to read from his perspective.  The whole of the book is written in Limerick dialect, slang and all, but I found this a help rather than a hindrance.  It brought me more fully into the world of these boys when I could use their vocabulary, even if I had to look some of it up.  I will say that most of my discomfort came from seeing through his eyes and into his head - as an adult, and a woman at that, seeing into the mind of an 11 year old boy was...I don't know a good word for it. Unsettling?  There's a lot more adult in there mixed with all the kid stuff that I wasn't prepared for.  Reading about his first romance with the new neighbor girl, Marian, made me acutely uncomfortable, both because they were so young, and because I could remember BEING that young (and at his age, that was soo not where my mind was yet).

Richie is exactly as mixed up as you'd expect from a young boy on the verge of puberty, experiencing love, loss, and the complications of friendship for the first time.  This last is, perhaps, the best facet of the book for me.  I loved reading the dynamics of these boys, especially as I watched them see what any adult would about one of their friends.  There is a scene between Richie and his father near the end of the novel that is one of the most brilliant parent/child conversations I've ever read.  The parent/child relationships in this book are great overall.  Richie and his Mam are wonderful, and such a contrast to Marian and hers, or Joe and his Pa.  There's so much going on here, and it's explored with a light hand that lets you really see it the way the kids do, but be able to read beyond it with the eyes of an adult.

Really, this is a great novel and incredibly well written.  If you are weak stomached or don't like reading books that challenge your comfort level, you might want to leave off.  It is dark, and gets much darker than you expect as it goes along.  The end is, for me, incredibly unsatisfying, but I'm fairly certain that is the point - most real endings are.