Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Review - Anxious People
AUTHOR: Fredrik Backman
RATING: ★★★★★
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Summary (from Goodreads): Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.
First is Zara, a wealthy bank director who has been too busy to care about anyone else until tragedy changed her life. Now, she’s obsessed with visiting open houses to see how ordinary people live—and, perhaps, to set an old wrong to right. Then there’s Roger and Anna-Lena, an Ikea-addicted retired couple who are on a never-ending hunt for fixer-uppers to hide the fact that they don’t know how to fix their own failing marriage. Julia and Ro are a young lesbian couple and soon-to-be parents who are nervous about their chances for a successful life together since they can’t agree on anything. And there’s Estelle, an eighty-year-old woman who has lived long enough to be unimpressed by a masked bank robber waving a gun in her face. And despite the story she tells them all, Estelle hasn’t really come to the apartment to view it for her daughter, and her husband really isn’t outside parking the car.
As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.
Rich with Fredrik Backman’s “pitch-perfect dialogue and an unparalleled understanding of human nature” (Shelf Awareness), Anxious People’s whimsical plot serves up unforgettable insights into the human condition and a gentle reminder to be compassionate to all the anxious people we encounter every day.
REVIEW: This is most definitely one of my FAVORITE books of 2020! Wow...just WOW! I honestly don’t know what to say or where to even begin. I read this book in one day because I couldn’t put it down, and I haven’t done that with any book in a very long time. Mr. Backman’s writing style is incredible, and I believe I went through every possible emotion while reading this book. There were countless times I literally laughed out loud, and when I turned the last page I was in tears. (I mean, seriously...like crying so hard I was hiccupping.) I highly commend Mr. Backman for addressing mental illness and suicide as poignantly and beautifully as he did with this story. I would happily recommend Anxious People to everyone, and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Backman’s work in the near future.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
Review - Where the Crawdads Sing
AUTHOR: Delia Owens
RATING: ★★★★★
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Summary (from Goodreads): For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.
But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens.
In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.
The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.
REVIEW: Oh my goodness...what an incredible story! I believe I went through every possible emotion while reading this book - sadness, anger, hope, happiness - you name it. Kya’s story is truly heartbreaking, but it’s also one of amazing perseverance, and it’s so beautifully written that it draws you in right away. My favorite parts included Kya and Tate. Their love story is so touching, and it gives you that “feel good” feeling that lasts long after the story has ended. (Oh, and I’m not giving out any spoilers, but I have to say the ending surprised me.) READ THIS BOOK! You will be SO glad you did!
Thursday, October 1, 2020
Review - The Giver of Stars
AUTHOR: Jojo Moyes
RATING: ★★★★★
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
Summary (from Goodreads): Alice Wright marries handsome American Bennett Van Cleve hoping to escape her stifling life in England. But small-town Kentucky quickly proves equally claustrophobic, especially living alongside her overbearing father-in-law. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.
The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. They will be joined by three other singular women who become known as the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.
What happens to them–and to the men they love–becomes an unforgettable drama of loyalty, justice, humanity and passion. These heroic women refuse to be cowed by men or by convention. And though they face all kinds of dangers in a landscape that is at times breathtakingly beautiful, at others brutal, they’re committed to their job: bringing books to people who have never had any, arming them with facts that will change their lives.
Based on a true story rooted in America’s past, The Giver of Stars is unparalleled in its scope and epic in its storytelling. Funny, heartbreaking, enthralling, it is destined to become a modern classic–a richly rewarding novel of women’s friendship, of true love, and of what happens when we reach beyond our grasp for the great beyond.
REVIEW: This was my first time reading this author’s work, and I loved it! It was so easy to become immersed in the characters lives, and you can’t help but cheer for these strong, admirable women. Being a librarian myself, I felt a special bond with these traveling librarians, and I love how the author added book quotes from some beloved classics. This is an amazing story of perseverance and friendship. I would recommend it to everyone.
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