Friday, August 29, 2014

The Stories We Tell

 
Eve and Cooper Morrison are Savannah’s power couple. They’re on every artistic board and deeply involved in the community. She owns and operates a letterpress studio specializing in the handmade; he runs a digital magazine featuring all things southern gentlemen. The perfect juxtaposition of the old and the new, Eve and Cooper are the beautiful people. The lucky ones. And they have the wealth and name that comes from being part of an old Georgia family. But things may not be as good as they seem. Eve’s sister, Willa, is staying with the family until she gets "back on her feet." Their daughter, Gwen, is all adolescent rebellion. And Cooper thinks Eve works too much. Still, the Morrison marriage is strong. After twenty-one years together, Eve and Cooper know each other. They count on each other. They know what to expect. But when Cooper and Willa are involved in a car accident, the questions surrounding the event bring the family close to breaking point. Sifting between the stories—what Cooper says, what Willa remembers, what the evidence indicates—Eve has to find out what really happened. And what she’s going to do about it.

My Review:

Loved it. The notion that the stories people tell are not always the truth of things. Just because people say things it doesn't will them to be true. Great read with a lot of guessing as to what Eve the protagonist will do in processing the truth about her marriage, her relationships, her life and future.

Dollbaby


When Ibby Bell’s father dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother Fannie and throws in her father’s urn for good measure. Fannie’s New Orleans house is like no place Ibby has ever been—and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum—is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, Fannie’s black cook, Queenie, and her smart-mouthed daughter, Dollbaby, take it upon themselves to initiate Ibby into the ways of the South, both its grand traditions and its darkest secrets.

For Fannie’s own family history is fraught with tragedy, hidden behind the closed rooms in her ornate Uptown mansion. It will take Ibby’s arrival to begin to unlock the mysteries there. And it will take Queenie and Dollbaby’s hard-won wisdom to show Ibby that family can sometimes be found in the least expected places.
 

My Review:


Probably the best southern historical fiction I have read to date. Every year I read a book that just stands out for its beauty in the storytelling, the writing, the story, the characters and above all the emotion it evokes when I have the pleasure of reading it. This is for me the book for 2014 (so far). The story of Ibby (Liberty Alice Bell) and her life with her grandmother Fanny, her housekeeper Queenie, Queenie's daughter Babydoll and the rest of their unconventional but equally delightful family (Tbone, Birdelia, Crow, Graham, Balfour, and Norwood). 

The story begins at the height of the Civil Rights movement in 1964 when Ibby's father dies suddenly while on a bicycle outing with Ibby around their home in Olympia, WA. Ibby's mother (Vidrene) packs Ibby up and takes her to Graham's mother (Fanny Bell)in their hometown of New Orleans, LA with the intention of going away for a while to find herself. Vidrene has spoken very poorly of Fanny to Ibby so she is apprehensive of meeting her grandmother whom she assumes is old, crazy and eccentric. Ibby immediately comes to find that her grandmother is unconventional but fascinating and nothing like her mother had set her up to be. Her mother never comes back for Ibby and Fanny assumes the role of caring for her granddaughter and teaching her about the ways of the South. We meet the house staff at Fanny's house to include Queenie and her daughter Babydoll who love and respect Fanny not just as their employer but as their own kin. The book goes from 1964 to 1972 as we see Ibby mature into a college student at Tulane University. 

Throughout the story we see the impact of historical events (i.e. Civil Rights movement, the Woolworth sit ins, the Vietnam war, drugs, the Black Panthers,the introduction of James Brown and the Funk music movement, to name a few) as seen through the eyes of these wonderful characters. So many things happen to these characters as would have happened to frame their lives. All of the stories are revealed as any one of the characters reminisces to a time and place prior to that day in telling Ibby about her Grandmother and their family's past. This book is warm and inviting and the storytelling is as Southern in flavor and style as Gone With the Wind. 

I loved reading every page and look forward to hopefully more by Laura Lane McNeal. 

The Orchardist

 

Synopsis:

 
Set in the untamed American West, a highly original and haunting debut novel about a makeshift family whose dramatic lives are shaped by violence, love, and an indelible connection to the land.

You belong to the earth, and the earth is hard.

At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, a solitary orchardist named Talmadge carefully tends the grove of fruit trees he has cultivated for nearly half a century. A gentle, solitary man, he finds solace and purpose in the sweetness of the apples, apricots, and plums he grows, and in the quiet, beating heart of the land--the valley of yellow grass bordering a deep canyon that has been his home since he was nine years old. Everything he is and has known is tied to this patch of earth. It is where his widowed mother is buried, taken by illness when he was just thirteen, and where his only companion, his beloved teenaged sister Elsbeth, mysteriously disappeared. It is where the horse wranglers--native men, mostly Nez Perce--pass through each spring with their wild herds, setting up camp in the flowering meadows between the trees.

One day, while in town to sell his fruit at the market, two girls, barefoot and dirty, steal some apples. Later, they appear on his homestead, cautious yet curious about the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, Jane and her sister Della take up on Talmadage's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Yet just as the girls begin to trust him, brutal men with guns arrive in the orchard, and the shattering tragedy that follows sets Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect them, putting himself between the girls and the world, but to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past.

Writing with breathtaking precision and empathy, Amanda Coplin has crafted an astonishing debut novel about a man who disrupts the lonely harmony of an ordered life when he opens his heart and lets the world in. Transcribing America as it once was before railways and roads connected its corners, she weaves a tapestry of solitary souls who come together in the wake of unspeakable cruelty and misfortune, bound by their search to discover the place they belong. At once intimate and epic, evocative and atmospheric, filled with haunting characters both vivid and true to life, and told in a distinctive narrative voice, The Orchardist marks the beginning of a stellar literary career.

My Review:

This story takes place in Wenatchee, WA during a time when the Pacific Northwest was just starting to flourish and other than the big cities of Seattle and Spokane, many lived in a very rural setting. It is turn of the century and life is hard for the middle aged Talmage.  He has lived in his little cabin on his apple and apricot orchard since the death of his mother when he was 12 and the mysterious disappearance of his sister when he was 15. He keeps to himself for the most part except for his occasional visits with his life-long friend Caroline Mitty and his mute friend Clee. He is content with his uneventful life until 2 pregnant runaway sisters show up on his farmland and become what he considers to be his new-found responsibility. The two sisters, Jane and Della, are distrustful but desperate to escape a life of physical and mental abuse by what we believe to be their own father. Talmage protects them and even helps to birth one of the girls babies. These young women have decided and made a pact that they would rather die than return to the life that has robbed them of their innocence. Everything is against them - the laws, the land, circumstance. But Talmage is a good, honest person who simply wants them to have a chance at life. The life he feels his sister never got. 

The story takes us through the death of one sister and the survival of the other. Talmage assumes full parental responsibility of Angeline, Jane's surviving child and raises her there on the orchard as best as he can. Angeline however is not made aware of how her life came to be until Talmage has to confront her with the truths about the life of her mother and aunt. Talmage, goes on a personal mission to make things right for the surviving of the two sisters so that Angeline has a connection to family he feels is very important. 

This story is about love, self-discovery, the damage caused by mental and physical abuse, redemption, truth, and family. Although his blood-relatives are not part of that family, Talmage manages to create a family as a result of the ties created by Jane, Della, Caroline, Clee, and Angeline. 

Beautifully written and well-developed story. Although it is heart wrenching at times it does seem to paint a picture of how hard it was to be a woman at the turn of the century and how tough it was to make a life in the desolate Pacific Northwest.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

The Kings and Queens of Roam

Synopsis:


From the celebrated author of Big Fish, an imaginative, moving novel about two sisters and the dark legacy and magical town that entwine them.

Helen and Rachel McCallister, who live in a town called Roam, are as different as sisters can be: Helen older, bitter, and conniving; Rachel beautiful, naïve – and blind. When their parents die an untimely death, Rachel has to rely on Helen for everything, but Helen embraces her role in all the wrong ways, convincing Rachel that the world is a dark and dangerous place she couldn't possibly survive on her own … or so Helen believes, until Rachel makes a surprising choice that turns both their worlds upside down.

In this new novel, Southern literary master Daniel Wallace returns to the tradition of tall-tales and folklore made memorable in his bestselling Big Fish. The Kings and Queens of Roam is a wildly inventive, beautifully written, and big-hearted tale of family and the ties that bind.


My Review:


This book was so incredible. If this is any indication of Daniel Wallace's brilliant story-telling, I will definitely be reading more. This book was a fairytale, a fable, and used a lot of the story-telling beauty in mythology. The story is about 2 sisters - Rachel, who is blind and beautiful and Helen, the ugly, sighted yet envious older sister burdened with having to take care of her younger sister. Don't assume that this is the likely tale of the meek, poor little blind girl who wins her freedom from the abuse of an older meaner sister (like Cinderella and her ugly step sisters). That would be too "Disneyesque". This story is far more complicated it goes back in time to give the reader a complete background on how the girls and their home in Roam came to be. The author focuses on pointing out that good and bad are relative and everything (regardless of good or bad) happens for a reason. It's a ying and yang. In other words, for there to be good, bad must exist as well. And, that "bad" does not always define that person entirely as an individual. People all have the potential for doing "bad" things and we all have at one time or another. However, we all have opportunities for redemption which is the central theme of the book. This book was definitely an experience. It is unlike any book I have read before.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

The Widow Waltz

by

Georgia Waltz has things many people only dream of: a plush Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park, a Hamptons beach house, valuable jewels and art, two bright daughters, and a husband she adores, even after decades of marriage. It’s only when Ben suddenly drops dead from a massive coronary while training for the New York City Marathon that Georgia discovers her husband—a successful lawyer—has left them nearly penniless. Their wonderland was built on lies.
     
As the family attorney scours emptied bank accounts, Georgia must not only look for a way to support her family, she needs to face the revelation that Ben was not the perfect husband he appeared to be, just as her daughters—now ensconced back at home with secrets of their own—have to accept that they may not be returning to their lives in Paris and at Stanford subsidized by the Bank of Mom and Dad. As she uncovers hidden resilience, Georgia’s sudden midlife shift forces her to consider who she is and what she truly values. That Georgia may also find new love in the land of Spanx and stretch marks surprises everyone—most of all, her.

Sally Koslow’s fourth novel is deftly told through the alternating viewpoints of her remarkable female protagonists as they plumb for the grit required to reinvent their lives. Inspiring, funny, and deeply satisfying, The Widow Waltz explores in a profound way the bonds between mothers and daughters, belligerent siblings, skittish lovers, and bitter rivals as they discover the power of forgiveness, and healing, all while asking, "What is family, really?"


My Review:


I loved this book, the storyline, the writer's style and just absolutely everything about The Widow Waltz. As young women, we never stop to think that our life may not turn out to be just like you imagined it in the naïveté of youth. In the case of Georgia Silver-Waltz the reality of life and her happiness come to a crossroads when her husband of 25 years dies unexpectedly. Accustomed to living the life of a well-to-do Manhattanite she is unpleasantly shocked to find that when Ben died he had exhausted all of their savings and assets. Now, she has to not only reconstruct her life as a widow but solve the mystery of where their savings have gone and worst of all who this man she loved and she felt she knew so well was really the man she thought she knew so well. In the process, she is also playing the supportive mother to her two twenty-something daughters - one smart but scattered and the other not-so-smart but loving and considerate. However; both are lost and grieving the loss of their father and the possibility that the life of financial comfort has come to an end at their young ages. One, even dealing with an unplanned pregnancy.

I felt this book gave me a very intimate view in the lives of the Manhattanite elite with whom I would think I would have nothing in common. Yet, I found Georgia's realizations, disappointments, insecurities to be relatable if not some the same I have myself felt. Excellent read!