CBR III Review #9 - The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

"I sound contemptuous, but I am not. I am interested--intrigued even--by the way time erases real lives, leaving only vague imprints. Blood and spirit fade away so that only names and dates remain."

 

Honestly, it’s been so long since I actually read this (and many other books have come in between) that I’m having trouble remembering all the good things I wanted to say about this book.  It’s another fabulous Kate Morton book, an author I’m finding I can’t get enough of.  This one deals with the story of the Ashbury family, and more particularly, of their maid Grace.  Grace has kept the secrets of the Ashbury sisters her whole life, but during the course of an interview for a film being made about the house she in which she used to serve, the memories come back.  The primary goal as a reader is to figure out what really happened the night that a young poet presumably shot himself down by the lake, and how what happened there drove the sisters apart.

Kate, as usual, does a lovely job weaving between time periods, as the narrative frame for this one is set in present day, while the events that we are meant to care about took place in Roaring Twenties.  The characters are interesting and easy to get invested in.  This one was a little easier to predict ahead of time than her later novels, but as this was her first, I think that’s pretty fair.  A very enjoyable read, especially if you are a fan of Kate’s, or of the era she is writing about.

Tangentially related side note?  I love the cover art on all three of the novels I've read.

CBR III Review #8 - The Distant Hours by Kate Morton

"The woman in whose body I had grown, in whose house I’d been raised was, in some vital ways, a stranger to me. I’d gone thirty years without ascribing her any more dimension than the paper dollies I’d played with as a girl with the pasted on smiles and the folding tab dresses."

First of all, I love Kate Morton.  Adore her.  I tore through The Forgotten Garden in a matter of days and immediately placed every one of her books on my Amazon wishlist.  So I was thrilled to receive a copy of The Distant Hours for Christmas from my future mother in law.  The real testament to how much I love reading her work is that both of these books are of the dead tree variety, and both are over 500 pages.  I’m an avid Kindle reader these days, as it is incredibly convenient to carry that little device to read as much as I want, when and where I want.  So to tell you I completed this book that I had to haul around in the same amount of time as I would had it been on the Kindle is really something.

The Distant Hours is a gothic styled novel that immediately made me think of Atonement by Ian McEwan (another book I highly recommend).  Like The Forgotten Garden, The Distant Hours is told by a variety of narrators whose stories span decades.  The timeline bounces around in a way that, rather than being disconcerting, leaves you wanting more each time.  The story begins when a letter from 1941 is finally received in 1992.  The letter is intended for the mother of our main character, Edie Burchill.  Edie knows very little about her mother Meredith’s time as an evacuee during the Blitz, and very little more about her in general.  This letter opens up a gateway to not only her mother’s past, but the history behind one of Edie’s favorite books, The True Story of the Mud Man.  Edie’s mother had stayed at Milderhurst Castle with the family of the book’s auther, Raymond Blythe.  Raymond had three daughters, twins Persephone and Seraphina, and later in life from a second wife, a daughter named Juniper.

The receipt of the letter so upsets Meredith that Edie finds herself drawn to Milderhurst in a search for her mother’s past.  Along the way, she stumbles upon a much bigger story than just her mother’s time at the rapidly deteriorating castle, though to explain further would absolutely ruin the suspense of the book.  That would be a shame, because one of the most interesting aspects of this novel is its ability to surprise you.  I’m the type of person who generally sees what’s coming and continues to read/watch to see how the story gets from point A to point B.  With The Distant Hours, I genuinely didn’t know what happened those 50 years ago until they told me outright.  And there are parts of the story, important parts, that I would never have even thought to contemplate had they not been eventually handed to me.

Kate creates some truly fabulous characters here, and their relationships are magnetic.  The relationship between Edie and Meredith is fascinating to me because I don’t know what it’s like to know so little about the woman who bore and raised you.  My mother and I are very close, so this was a whole new world of perspective for me.  And being an only child, I’ve always loved studying the relationships between siblings; goodness does this book provide lots of material for that!  The dynamic between the three sisters is incredibly complicated.  There are so many ways to love someone, and many of them are represented here beautifully.

What I’m getting at is that you should check this book out, and definitely read Kate Morton.  She is fabulous and I can’t wait to read the next of her books!

CBR III Review #7 - Fables Vol 1: Legends in Exile by Bill Willingham

"Perhaps women wear low necklines to filter out the gentlemen from the dogs. Those few who can still manage eye contact, even in the presence of breasts like these, might actually have some potential."

I’ve only recently gotten into the graphic novel/comics game, and I’m loving it.  Admittedly, Buffy Season 8 was my gateway drug into this world (I couldn’t deal with having no more new Buffy in my life!), but I’ve moved onwards and upwards from there.  Watchmen amazed me.  My fiancé and I have a group of friends with an incredibly extensive collection of comics and graphic novels.  Dan likes to game with the group of them, and I that’s not really my bag.  So when we go over there and they start gaming, I’ll wander over to the wall, pick up an interesting volume, and settle in to read.  They’ve gotten me hooked on a number of titles, so when they recommended the Fables series, I decided to give them a go.

Fables Vol 1: Legends in Exile is essentially the origin story film of any multi picture series.  LiE takes the time to introduce the reader to the world of Fabletown, where exiled characters from your favorite fairy tales and fables have come to live.  It’s set in real world NYC, and the characters live in their own neighborhood, within their own set of laws.  An entity known as The Adversary came to their homeland and brutally slaughtered what it could and forced the exile of those who could manage to escape.

Fabletown is ruled by Old King Cole, who is assisted by Snow White, and their sheriff is none other than the Big Bad Wolf.  These, however, are not the characters the way you know them.  They riff on the original source material, but each character gets a modern, three dimensional life to them that fairy tales tend to lack.  Snow White and Prince Charming are divorced due to his infidelity, and Snow is trying to keep her party girl sister, Rose Red, out of trouble.  This volume follows the investigation of Rose Red’s apparent murder.

The story is well paced and well developed.  A number of characters are introduced here, but not so many that you feel overwhelmed keeping track of them all (therefore avoiding being Ratnerfucked, so to speak).  It takes some time to let you get to know these versions of the characters, and to understand the world they live in, that way you can adjust your expectations accordingly.

A nice bonus feature to my edition was a short story tagged on the end of the comics about The Big Bad Wolf and Snow White.  This takes place just before the exile and fills in some really fascinating history for the characters, as well as for the central conflict with The Adversary.  I also enjoyed the difference in tonality here – whereas the rest of the comics read like, well, comics, this short read more like one of the fairy tales that these characters were pulled from, just grittier.  It was a creative way to share a little more story without having to add another section to the comics themselves.

All in all, a really fun read!  I plan on moving forward in the series to see what happens to these characters.  I highly recommend it to those of you who really enjoy fairy tales.

CBR III Review #6 - Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

"It takes ten times as long to put yourself back together as it does to fall apart." 

Again, like with Catching Fire, DO NOT READ THIS REVIEW IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST TWO BOOKS!  SPOILERIFIC BY DEFAULT!

I finished this book last night (marking my completion of the series in well under a week, even with a full time job and plans over the weekend), but I needed time to recover before posting.  Anyone who says this series is overrated after reading all three volumes is probably just covering up for the fact that they spent so much time ugly crying over this book.  If the scene with Katniss and Buttercup does not make you ugly cry, you are broken and empty inside.

On to content.  As with the other two books in this series, it’s hard to share too much without ruining what happens.  The last book ended with Katniss being told by Gale that District 12 had been blown up and no longer existed.  Mockingjay picks up with Katniss visiting the ashes of her home.  Peeta, Johanna and several others are being held by President Snow, Katniss is recovering in 13, and the Districts have entered a full fledged war on the Capitol.  Plutarch, who we met in Catching Fire as the new head of the Hunger Games, is working for the President Coin, who runs 13.  He and Coin have plans to use Katniss as The Mockingjay in a series of “propos” (propaganda spots) to inspire the rebels.  Katniss, as is her usual M.O., is incredibly reluctant to jump into this role.  She is adjusting to life in the incredibly regimented 13, and her guilt over the loss of 12 and the captivity of Peeta and the others.

Most of this book delves into the war prep and the war itself, as well as Katniss dealing with her guilt over every life she feels has been lost due to her actions (or inactions, as the case may be).  If you thought Suzanne used up all of her ideas for horrible things to do to people, you’d be wrong.  She comes up with some truly awful things that happen to the characters you have grown to love.  In order to shock Katniss, she has to come up with new things to shock the readers as well.  The first of these comes in the form of what is done with and to our beloved Peeta.  The majority come in the form of the new myriad horrors the Capitol releases on the rebels as booby traps. 

This is not to imply that the entire book is one great big downer.  There are some really lovely moments that happen amidst the atrocities of war, which I feel is a good reflection on reality.  While a lot of what goes on is soul crushingly awful, both for the characters and the reader, there is still hope and joy to be found.

The end of the book feels a little rushed, although that may be because you never really catch your breath.  I’m not sure it’s a bad thing with how bad things get – dragging out some of the bad points might have felt more like torture.  There’s a lovely, brief epilogue (which ALSO made me cry) that lets you know a little more than the last chapter would have left you with.

This is really a lovely, heart wrenching conclusion to some brilliantly written books.  Ignore the YA label and just enjoy them for the great lit that they are!

CBR III Review #5 - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

"In that one slight motion, I see the end of hope, the beginning of the destruction of everything I hold dear in the world. I can't guess what form my punishment will take, how wide the net will be cast, but when it is finished, there will most likely be nothing left."

SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE HUNGER GAMES AND PLAN TO, STOP READING NOW!  

NOW I SAY!

I’ll ask that you kindly refer to my review of Hunger Games to catch up on summary of the series as a whole.  As I warned before, to review this book at all requires me to spoil Hunger Games.  Otherwise all I can do is write vague generalities about writing style.

Catching Fire starts about a month after Hunger Games leaves off.  Katniss is living with her family in Victor’s Village.  She and Peeta have developed an incredibly cold relationship after her confession on the train at the end of Hunger Games.  Katniss keeps sneaking into the woods to hunt, even though she no longer needs to in order to survive.  Most of what she catches she gives to Gale’s family, as he is now working in the mines 6 days a week.  The only time they spend together is hunting on Sundays, but their relationship has been greatly altered by the romance Katniss and Peeta played up in the Games.  Katniss is miserable, trying to determine her feelings for each boy as well as her place in this new world where she no longer has to want for anything.

Soon after, the Victory Tour is set to begin.  After a terrifying visit from President Snow, Katniss realizes this has all gotten much more complicated than she realized.  There are rumblings of dissent and uprisings in the Districts, and it’s possible her romance with Peeta may have no discernible end.  The tour, however, brings many things to light that I won’t spoil here.  Katniss and Peeta prepare for their future, which includes the 75 Games, also known as the Quarter Quell.  The Quarter Quell brings more surprises than they could ever anticipate, and the embers of revolution blossom into flames.

This is a harder book to review at length, because so much of the content has to be left out in order to keep spoiler free.  I’ve read some reviews that label this as a sophomore slump, but I could not disagree more.  I believe the writing matures, the characters deepen, and the pace quickens still further.  I burned through this book faster than its predecessor because I found myself more invested in every twist and turn involved this time around.  Peeta grows from someone I found a little too saccharine to a truly interesting, three dimensional character.  Katniss starts to get a better handle on how this world works, how fucked up the government really is, and her part to play in it all.  And the way the rebellion starts to grow is both natural and engaging.

This book also introduces some wonderful new faces with the fabulous old, many of whom we will follow into Mockingjay.  This book has the first death that really got to me, which I also won’t spoil.  Finnich and Beetee are probably my favorite new characters, and neither of them ends up who you expect them to be.  This makes more sense knowing that the book is from Katniss’s perspective – if she doesn’t have them totally figured out, you shouldn’t either.

I think that’s part of what I like most about this series.  The way Katniss handles her situation feels frustratingly real.  She’s a 17 year old girl, completely unprepared for a lot of what comes her way.  In a lot of lit, this leads to an immediate rise to the occasion, taking on challenges with maturity and intelligence.  Katniss doesn’t really do that.  She fights what she has to do, and doesn’t understand things the way other people thinks she should.  She is, above all things, a kid who has had all of this thrust upon her.  Does this make her annoying from time to time?  You bet your ass. But what 17 year old isn’t?  How she reacts to things feels very real, and I enjoy watching her grow up and mature from the girl who has to endure to the woman who chooses to lead.

Again, totally recommend this whole series.  Will get Mockingjay’s review up once I finally finish it!

CBR III Review #4 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

“Here’s some advice. Stay alive.”

By now, I’m sure most of the world knows the plot of these books and has a general idea of what they are about.  Hell, I’m sure a lot of you have already read them.  But for the sake of those just catching onto this craze, like I was but a week ago, I’ll throw some summary in anyway.

The Hunger Games trilogy (including Catching Fire and Mockingjay, both of which I’ll be reviewing later) is the story of a post apocalyptic society called Panem.  Essentially, we fucked up the earth and it all fell apart.  The people who survived gathered together near Appalachia and formed Panem, a country made of The Capitol and Districts 1-13.  There was a rebellion against the Capitol at one point, which leads to the destruction of District 13 and an oppressive regime controlling the other 12.  Each district is responsible for producing something important to the country’s survival; ie coal in 12, electronics in 3, crops in 11, etc.  Most importantly, the country has a yearly event called The Hunger Games to remind everyone what happens when you rebel, and to keep everyone in line.

Essentially, the games work like this.  There are two “tributes” selected from each District, one boy and one girl, each between the ages of 12 and 18.  The theory is that it is random, but it’s not.  The poor are able to sign up for things called tesserae, which grant their family more food and grain, but for each of those you sign up for, your name goes in another time.  Also, your name is entered the number of times you’ve been eligible – so if you are 15, even without the tesserae, your name is in the bowl 4 times. The tributes are then shipped off to The Capitol to be trained, interviewed, primped and paraded about for entertainment (and to gain sponsorship from those who can send things into the arena to help them).  When the games begin, the 24 teens enter a battle royale – last one alive is the winner.

Katniss Everdeen is our protagonist in these books.  A young woman from District 12, she is the head of her family since the death of her father in a mining accident.  She hunts and trades illegally with her friend, Gale, and basically keeps her family functioning.  When her sister, Prim, is selected for the Games, she steps up to take her place.  She and the boy tribute, Peeta, are then sent on their way. 

I’m going to stop my summary here, because I really feel like anything else I might say enters spoiler territory and this book should NOT be spoiled for you.  It’s worth it.

My best friend got me into these books, as she is a librarian in an elementary school, so children and YA lit is her milieu.  She raved about these books, and for good reason.  While there is a slow start, the book picks up pacing from the moment they step on the train to the Capitol straight through to the end.  It suffers the same problems of the first installment of any series.  Since they are establishing a world and characters you need to know well to enjoy the rest of the series, it’s bogged down in a lot of exposition to start.  My easiest comparison is Harry Potter.  Sorcerer’s Stone didn’t really get compelling until after Harry’s arrival at Hogwart’s – the same can be said here with Katniss and Peeta heading to The Games.

I want to stress something very important – these books are NOT for young children.  What happens during the Games is dark and graphic, and at times disturbing for an adult mind, let alone a young one.  I appreciate Suzanne’s unwillingness to compromise on this, since to do so would miss the point.  But I wouldn’t expose anyone under maybe 13 to this writing.  Hell, maybe older than that.

The characters of Peeta and Katniss make wonderful foils to one another.  Peeta is full of charm and light and Katniss is so lost and negative.  I think my two favorite characters in this volume are Haymitch, the mentor (aka previous Hunger Games victor), and Cinna, Katniss’s stylist.  They are developed in such lovely ways, and add so much dimensionality to the story.

I’m still finishing up Mockingjay, but I can already strongly recommend the entire series to anyone who thinks they can handle the kid-on-kid violence.  It’s a real page turner that I had trouble putting down (so I finished it in about a day) and I’m going to miss these characters when I finish the final volume.

CBR Review #3 - Tokyo Vice: An American Reporter on the Police Beat in Japan by Jake Adelstein

 'Walk away from the story and walk away from your job, and it'll be like it never happened. Write the article, and there is nowhere in this country that we will not hunt you down. Understand?'"

Tokyo Vice is a true crime account of a Jewish American reporter who gets in way over his head working the police beat in Japan.  Jake Adelstein, graduate of the Sophia school, essential decides on a whim to become a report.  His natural skill with both English and Japanese (and some moxy as well as a great deal of luck) earn him a place on the staff of the Yomiuri Shinbun, the largest print publication in Japan.  The novel follows his journey from his first assignment in Saitama to his incredible take-down of a yakuza crime boss.  

I'll admit, I was drawn to this book when I saw Jake interviewed on The Colbert Report.  It's a different book than I had anticipated, being far more about Jake's time as a journalist in Japan and far less about his battle with the yakuza (in fact, the primary issue that is addressed in the book's Prologue, regarding Goto, isn't approached till the last quarter of the book).  At first I wondered why we weren't getting to the heart of this yakuza thing faster.  However, Jake's stories of life and reporting on the police beat in Japan sucked me in.  I'm slightly biased on this subject matter - I work for a Japanese company and am constantly seeking ways to understand the culture that built the organization I work for, and that so many of my colleagues come from.  This book gave me some really interesting insight into the seedier side of Japan.

Jake jumps around a bit, which makes his narration a little inconsistent, but his heart is in the right place.  His relationships with certain recurring characters are my favorite moments.  His evenings spent with Sekiguchi, the cop, and his family.  His unfortunate relationships with the women in his life.  All of the little details that make the story Jake's are also what make the story interesting.  You can tell that he has more ease with Japanese than with English - his use of Japanese idioms is fabulous, while some of his English feels a little stiff.

This is an overall great read.  I'd highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys good non-fiction.