This book is actually a collection of short stories. Although all the stories take place in the same town and characters are connected through genealogy - each chapter is its own entity.
Moving chronologically through time, The Red Garden, begins with the founding of Blackwell, Massachusetts and moves up to the present. Each chapter (or story) jumps forward in time so as you meet new characters, you watch the town of Blackwell develop. That is actually the most fascinating aspect of this collection - how the town grows and changes as the book goes on. You see how real events become town folklore as time goes by, how names of places change over time, and how events that felt so significant in the moment fade from generation to generation.
I liked the town better than most of the people in it. I found some characters simply uninteresting and wasn't vested in their stories. At times I felt the stranger aspects of the stories (because nothing is totally simple with a Hoffman character) to be forced and uncomfortable. The narrative gets a little inconsistent too as we move into modern times. The greatest character is, in fact, the red garden itself, which sits in the back of the Founders' House and survives throughout the entire arc of time. The garden seems to hold some magic infused into it by the heavy emotions, Hallie, one of the founders, experienced while living there. Characters' interactions with the garden felt the most powerful.
Mostly, this was an interesting book about all that one town can survive - tragedies, heartaches, miracles, love, and families - and for that this is a pretty good book.
Let me start off by saying I really liked this book. Despite the fact that all the characters are sad and/or distraught, despite the fact that a horrifically tragic event takes place - the writing is simply amazing. The book is so vivid without being wordy. Sentences are expertly strung together to create a completely engaging story even while you cringe through the scenes.
I say all this first so the plot won't dissuade you from reading this book. Don't miss out because you're worried about the story being a downer.
The book begins in the middle of Emilia's story. She's already ended a marriage in order to create her own love story, becoming the hated step-mother in the process. Once a successful lawyer, Emilia is now an aimless soul who has just lost her own daughter to SIDS. In heavy mourning, Emilia is struggling to re-center herself while trying to connect with her five-year-old stepson. Not an easy thing to do when being around children plummets her deeper into the well of depression.
So, I wasn't kidding about this being a sad book, but it's not a depressing book. Emilia is just lost. She has too much to process and lacks the confidence to face it all head-on. This all makes Emilia feel human, feel real. It's not hard to connect on some level with her. Actually, all Waldman's characters are like this. Even William, the overly-informative stepson is described so clearly that you're able to get into this head just a little.
This is a book about compassion rather than despair and I really liked how reading it made me feel.
As a side note, Waldman is married to another amazing writer, Michael Chabon. If you've never read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay run, don't walk, and get a copy NOW!
This follow-up memoir to The Invisible Wall chronicles the author's life as he moves from England to America with his family. It focuses on the idealized version of America many immigrants had post-World War I and how devastatingly quickly that dream was dashed during The Great Depression.
I like a memoir to have something of the unusual about it and The Dream was severely lacking in this department. Bernstein lives a life full of struggles common (unfortunately) to immigrant families in the 20's and 30's. Money is tight, jobs are impossible to find, dad is an alcoholic...it all read pretty predictably when you compare this one story to history. I even felt like events were foreshadowed in a style more akin to fiction - the set-up was all too perfect at times - that I never expected to see in a memoir.
Bernstein also relates stories in an overly-detailed manner. I felt like I was reading a diary at times of his day-to-day life. It was actually pretty boring.
To sum up the story, Bernstein, amidst all the trials of immigrating to the US post WWI finds love and lives an overall happy life. His siblings all struggle in different ways, but overcome too. The only sad character in the end is Bernstein's Mom, who suffers beyond the scope of The Great Depression, wanting only happiness and comfort for her children and dying before everything smooths out.
I would not recommend this book. I think you can find a more readable account of life during this time period if that's what you're looking for. I would suggest picking up The Invisible Wall though. It's an interesting story with enough unique elements to really make it an engaging memoir.
Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series is one of my all-time favorite collection of books. It's such a mix of literary references, fun, mystery, and fantasy - there's something new at every turn.
The sixth book in the series finds us again in the BookWorld which has finally been remade to be geographically similar to a planet rather than a library - so helpful. The real Thursday Next, who divides her time between working in the real world and BookWorld, is missing and the written Thursday Next, through a few of classic plot devices, gets on the case to try and find her. Of course, the BookWorld is so literal that nothing is simple to wrap up, but the real Thursday has to be found or else war might break out between the islands of Racy Novel and Women's Fiction (which in itself is a funny thought - porn characters vs fictional women's lib advocates.)
The great thing about this novel is the subtlety. Literary references, plot devices, writing techniques are all major components in the BookWorld that Fforde subtly and humorously weaves into the mystery story of locating the real Thursday and discovering why someone wanted her dead in the first place. Simple things like naming a cab driver Mediocre Gatsby (the brother of Great Gatsby) and having roads and squares named after authors who have found great success are just a few examples of how Fforde weaves the entire lexicon of literature into his stories.
An even deeper layer to this story is the character development of the written Thursday Next. She's battling her insecurities and uncertainties, pushing back against previous failures to really prove herself as an individual (while also staying true to the written version of a real person.)
The series is engaging and exciting and so much fun to read. Definitely start at the beginning though if you're new to Fforde with The Eyre Affair and enjoy!
