Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

 

I loved this book. It's so perfectly written. New bits of information are rolled out at the perfect time. Although everything takes place within a few hours, nothing ever feels rushed.

Everyone in this book is anxious. It's an appropriate title, but the pressures everyone is under are totally different. First, there's the bank robber who's anxious because their botched robbery has led to a hostage situation. Each of the hostages are anxious because of what's happening in their lives, not because of the fact that they're all stuck in an apartment for sale, right before New Year's Eve. Rounding out the gang are two cops whose interpersonal baggage and desire to save the day make them anxious as well.

It's a humorous setup, with a bank robber who can't do anything right, but this isn't a funny story. Many of the characters start the book sad and a little lost. The storytelling feels a little comical, and we're definitely in the realm of the absurd, but everything becomes so emotional, and then becomes emotionally fulfilling. I may have almost cried at the end, almost.

Throughout their time as hostages, every character changes their view of their lives. They all start with something hidden. It's all exposed. They're all changed. You get an ending that puts each into a new arc that's both pleasing to you and happier for them. The story also comes full circle in a perfect way, one that has nothing to do with the botched robbery.

This is a great book. It's so different from what I've read lately and was not what I expected it to be at all. It's an intelligent, and unique, look at everyday people, put into an unlikely situation. Instead of being scared, they face it head-on, all of them, and come out better than they went in. It's a great read for anyone.

Lore by Alexandra Bracken

 

I liked the first half of this book better than the second. The story was stronger, for me, at the start and too drawn out by the end. Even though things reach a satisfying conclusion, there's maybe 50 pages too much that get you there.

All that being said, Lore is a unique, well-thought-out story that inserts a "what if" scenario into our modern-day world that's both fascinating and exciting. I was quickly hooked.

What if a set of Greek gods and goddesses become mortal every seven years?

What if, when they're in this state, the human who kills them absorbs their power and becomes the new version of that immortal?

You're curious, right?

This is the reality Melora (aka Lore) gets born into as a descendant of Perseus. Her bloodline is one of the heroic few selected to punish the banished gods and goddesses, and so they continuously train, preparing to do battle every seven years in the week-long Agon. Deities like Apollo, Athena, Hermes, and Ares are forced, during this time frame, to become mortal (with superhuman powers) and get hunted.

It's a bloody, strategic, and cunning week of treachery and violence that the bloodlines basically live for. Each one wants a god of their own to kill and claim. Lore is the last of her bloodline. She feels the pull to fight, but also wants out of the whole cycle. She's lost everything, including her parents and sisters, and spent the years between the pervious Agon and the one about to start hiding. Then, one day, at just the right moment, a wounded Athena shows up on her doorstep and Lore finds herself fully sucked back in.

The rude awakening throughout her interaction with Athena is that nothing is as it seems. Lore dives back into the carnage hoping to put an end to the whole thing, but it's complicated and full of near-death experiences. There's also no shortage of pain, both physical and emotional, deceit, and fear as Lore and a few trusted friends try to figure out what's really happening and how to save their beloved city of New York from the power lust of the gods.

It's all very exciting until the aftermath of one particularly intense battle, and a few big reveals. This is where the real climax of the book takes place, but the story keeps going, and more keeps happening. It all makes sense and is significant to the plot, but the 'wow' factor has already worn off, and you're not even close to the end. This is why I feel that the second half isn't as good as the first. Things could have transpired much more rapidly, still getting you to the end of Lore's story, but without so much drag.

I did really like this book, and I loved Lore as a character. I do want to send out a fair warning though about the speed bump you may or may not feel toward the end. Overall, however, this is a great story that mixes myth with a relatable reality, and I very much enjoyed reading it. 

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

 

Second Book Club Book #14
A Highway 59 Mystery - Book 2

To really enjoy this, you should read the first book in the series. The storyline is definitely a continuation, so grab Bluebird, Bluebird first.

The main character in this book is a new favorite of mine. He's a mess in a totally different way than what I'm used to, and I enjoy seeing into his life. It's complex for so many more reasons -- being an African American Texas Ranger, working in an area full of members of the Aryan Brotherhood -- but, it's also complex for so many common reasons -- shitty parents, unfulfilling love life, the nagging feeling that there's something better out there. He's a character I both understand and can learn a lot from. He's someone you should get to know.

In Heaven, My Home we're meeting back up with Darren after things have seemed to settle down from book one. He's working at a desk and his marriage seems to be back in order. The gun is still "missing" from the crime in the previous book, although that's both a relief and a major stressor for Darren (it would spoil things if I took that further.) 

Darren needs a distraction. Then, a young boy goes missing. His dad just happens to be in jail and is a big name in the Aryan Brotherhood. Maybe if Darren finds the kid, he can get the dad to help him out a little with this other, pressing thing, a murder.

What Darren finds when he goes to the small town where Levi King is missing is not what he expected. The heavily-felt, loudly-expressed racism, yes. But, then the plot thickens, people get shot, and shady business abounds. 

Days go by and everyone assumes Levi is dead. Only Darren decides to dig deeper in a case where everyone else seems to want to take the easy way out. 

The flow of the story expertly shows how quickly people are willing to pin everything on race when there's already a poignant vein of hate in the community. But, like with most things, conflict isn't always related to just one issue. I admire that Locke takes the time to express what is a serious issue in our country without pulling it from what's happening today. She lets it ride alongside other problems we see in this world, other flaws we find in people around us. It lets her story steep in reality.

I definitely liked this book better than the first, but I think that's only because we move deeper into the characters. We see how good deeds can go unrewarded, but also how wrongs are turned right when someone cares to put in the effort. It feels truthful to the many aspects of human character, and I appreciate the way she tells such a big story within this one person's life.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas

 

There was a good idea hiding in this book, but it somehow missed the page. While I understand where the exciting points should be in this mysterious, slightly gothic novel, the anti-climactic way everything gets presented muted the entire story. I say all this upfront because I'm not sure you should even keep reading this review. This was not a book for me.

Catherine House is almost like an abstract painting. You can kind of feel what's going on, but nothing is drawn in a way that hits you over the head. I typically read mysterious stories to feel a 'wow' at some point. It's a, "wow, I didn't see that coming" or, "wow, I can't believe that actually happened." There were no 'wow's' here. Even the 'a-ha moments, as characters discover certain truths in the story, felt lackadaisical. 

It's even hard for me to summarize this story because so much about it bugs me, or falls short. Of course, I'll do it anyway, to a certain extent, this is a book review after all....

Catherine House is a college you go to for free if you get in. The only caveat is you can't make any contact with the outside world the entire time you're enrolled. You don't leave, there's no television, you're completely isolated. The admissions committee (if there is one) seems to target a certain type of student. They're all lost souls, I think, who aren't leaving behind anyone they have strong ties with, even if that includes their families. Why kids want to go here is never really made clear.

The school is also associated with a controversial area of science known as plasm. This isn't the study of a physical substance, like the name alludes to, but rather a force that somehow connects things and allows energy to be shared. In the past, the science was presented and shunned, so it's odd the school is still pursuing it without any type of review from the outside. Oh, and they're also experimenting on the students.

Then, there's The Tower, the location for near-torture punishment that nobody seems to have a problem with. Even when a student dies while there, we're all "cool" with it.

Everything about this book feels odd and not fully flushed out. The end lacks a much-needed sense of immediacy and sense. Through it all, the school seems to come away unscathed, as much by the outside world as the students who are suffering within its walls. It just doesn't feel entirely plausible. Even the student with the greatest internal conflict can't break fully away. It should feel scary, but it didn't.

It's okay to skip this one in my opinion. It's missing something, or a lot of things, to establish that emotional connection you want to feel when reading a story. At the very least, you want to feel some way about the characters, or the plot. I didn't.

The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

 

I don't read a ton of mysteries, but the literary snob in me was attracted to The Dante Club. It's not because I'm a huge Dante fan -- read Blake in college instead -- but rather the presence of a few American literati.

The story takes place following the Civil War, in Boston, mostly near Harvard University. The literary scholars, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and James Russell Lowell were all real Dante aficionados, and J.T. Fields was the real publisher. They've come together, forming the Dante Club, to translate Dante's Inferno into English for the first time.

What's surprising is how resistant the Harvard leadership is to their project. They don't feel the Italian authors are worth learning, that this translation is a waste of time, and it may even have a detrimental impact on American culture. This puts immediate strain on the Dante Club since most of its members have a Harvard connection.

All of this part of the story is real. Then, the (fictional) murders start. Each one is very unique and specific, and suddenly the Dante Club realizes they're imitating the gruesome punishments from the Inferno. This correlation compels the club to use their knowledge to help unravel the mystery of the murders. Naming the murderer Lucifer, they must work fast to figure out who they are and what their motivation is before another death occurs.

Working against the clock, and some local detectives, it's a rush investigation that requires ingenuity and determination, making the mystery thrilling to follow.

This is an exciting and passionate book both in how the characters approach solving the murders and in their desire to translate Dante. Both are massive undertakings, and the juxtaposition of the two is so great to read. This is a very good, very smart, and very unexpected book. I really liked it!

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

I'm a Jennifer Weiner fan. I may even still have my copy of Good in Bed. Either way, it's always fun to get to read another one of her books. I would recommend checking out her entire library of novels to find the one(s) that look most interesting to you.

This book was not the rom-com I'd expected. I appreciate that. What began as a best friend-turned-bully story, complete with a lot of emotional scars, becomes something so much more complex. It's not the typical, "love is going to help me heal" scenario. There's mystery and money and....SPOILER ALERT....murder.

Daphne Berg is a social media influencer capitalizing on plus-sized hashtags. She's found her niche to speak to people, and most of the time that helps her appreciate her own body. Like any insecurity though, it gives Daphne moments of doubt, where her confidence diminishes. This isn't helped by her "best" friend, Drue. Wealthy and oblivious, Drue makes the cardinal mistake of outwardly pitying Daphne for her weight. It destroys their friendship until one day Drue pops back up to ask Daphne to be in her wedding. As the reader, you want Daphne to yell out a strong, "NO!," but she lets herself get lured back into the friendship. Daphne meets a hot stranger the night before the wedding at a lavish party. That's where you think you know the direction this book will take. You're wrong. Instead of focusing on the hotness, Daphne gets distracted having to solve a murder.

There's a lot to this book, which is always so much better than a simple love and confidence story. Falling in love isn't what's going to uplift Daphne; being happy with who she is will. Each character in this book is dealing with something -- a secret, regrets, parts of their past that hurt -- but being right in your own mind about you now is the lesson to learn. Allowing your past to be a part of you that maybe influences you to change counts. At one point in the book Daphne talks about how everyone needs justice, even nasty people. She's specifically talking about solving a crime, but this sentiment goes further. You don't need to hide. You can be you.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It's surprising and fun and a great summer read that gives you something to think about once you've finished the book.


Other Jennifer Weiner books I've reviewed:
Mrs. Everything

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

I picked up this book as quickly as I could because of Station Eleven. I loved that book. This one was a good read, but not as clearly formed in my opinion as the author's previous. The flow in The Glass Hotel is a bit awkward. I liked that, but I feel it could make the book hard to read.

The narrative moves forward in time, but you're never really sure who the main character is. Flashbacks are minor, and fill in some gaps, but again, you're not always sure where to focus. My bet is that the main character is Vincent, a young woman who touches every other life in the story. Whether she's a sister, girlfriend, or bartender, she's there for at least a moment. It's hard though to say definitively sine the characters are like ping pong balls in a lottery machine. They're bouncing all over the place, but they bump into each other before the machine burps out the winning numbers. Vincent is the ball that bumps into all the others. She's an interesting woman, who seems to accept her position as it comes until finally becoming so disillusioned that she moves her life off land completely. 

The other thing in the book that touches all the characters is risk. It could also be the main character in all honesty. The risk manifests primarily in the form of an investment opportunity. You have to decide whether to take the risk or not, to benefit it or not. Even those standing close to those confronted with the risk are impacted. It has a heavy influence, and is a key driver of the trajectories for the characters in the book. Tied into this component is a commentary on human connections, and how much time we waste making the wrong ones. It's only after the risk is eliminated that many characters seem to find out who their friends really are, who they should love.

There are other complicated elements in this book. A quick touch on drugs, on ethics, on life lived on a secluded Canadian island. Like I said, its form feels loose because it's so packed. I would definitely recommend giving this author a try, but start with Station Eleven. This book is more experimental to me in its flow. I enjoyed the art of it, and the complexities, but it might not be for everyone.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Book club book #11

I don't often read mysteries or suspenseful novels. I either figure them out too early or get so involved I struggle putting them down. This book leaned more toward the latter, which is a good thing. This is a complex story that prays on perception. You're never really sure who all the villains are and who is just a product of some very crazy circumstances. The one thing you do know is this shit is nuts.

In the present, there is no family upstairs. There's just a 25-year-old, adopted girl who's inheriting an empty house her biological parents willed to her. She knows her parents died when she was a baby and that they had other children who haven't been seen in over 25 years. The house is worth a lot of money, but the mystery is more pressing than the sudden ability to boost her bank account. Teaming up with a journalist, Libby tries to crack the mystery of her family. What feels straightforward isn't, of course, as the missing children begin to reemerge. 

As Libby learns the layers of truth, we catch glimpses into the past. We hear from Henry Jr. as he shares flashes of what life was like when the Thomsen family moved in upstairs, took over his house, and changed everything. We also catch up with Lucy, his sister, who's living in France in poverty. Without giving anything away, the things that happened in this house are scary and cruel. It's a battle of the strong vs the weak, which ends in the deaths of three adults laid out just so on the kitchen floor.

The idea of family in this novel is so interesting and complex. This house holds two biological families, yet they muddy together in a way that blurs devotion to blood. When situations turn to the extreme, is it who's on your side that becomes your family or who you're really related to that matters? There's no clear answer. Power and loyalty are very big themes, but so is desire.

This is a smart book and I would recommend it. The intensity builds just right so you're not left freaking out about the end right after the beginning. It's a good read that goes fast, but it's dark, so be prepared.

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

This book reads like a movie. What's better is it reads like a highly stylized, Victorian-era, Sherlock Holmes style movie. Jess Kidd does a great job of commiting to the genre, presenting a fun thriller with just the right amount of oddities and nefarious characters. 

You think you're getting a cast of characters too large to keep tabs on, but that's only because some pull double duty. You think you're getting too much backstory about Bridget Devine, our lead, but just wait. The interconnectivity of characters and the motivation behind all the action fits together perfectly. It's great.

A crime makes it all work. The kidnapping of one young girl with some curious traits sets everything in motion. Bridie is on the case, but she's not alone. A ghostly companion has recently manifested who prefers to not leave Bridie's side. He's a mystery on his own, but adds just the right supernatural element to make Christabel, the missing girl, plausible. 

Victorian England is really the only setting for this book as science, medicine, and the mythical merge along the city's sooty underbelly. Cruelty is commonplace and easy to hide, thickening the mystery Bridie deftly pursues. Will she find Christabel in time?

A little cliche, this is just an exciting read. Pacing is excellent. Like I said, it reads like a movie. I enjoyed this book as a great escape. Very much outside my regular genres, this is a good book for people who aren't typically drawn to mysteries and thrillers. It's a nice side-step, but be prepared for gore and the macabre. They're not shy.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Book club book #4

Although a little contrived in parts, Where the Crawdads Sing focuses on the life of an extremely complex character and the misconceptions people, in general, have about a person based on their environment. 

Flashing primarily through a single decade (the 1950's,) a pretty typical small town, along the edge of a North Carolina marshland, exists as you'd expect it. The handsomest boy also happens to be the football star, the diner is the best place for gossip, and tales of a wild girl, living alone in the marsh, populates local lore. She's real, The Marsh Girl, but I wouldn't call her wild.

Living out on the marsh, Kya is slowly abandoned by her whole family. Ignorant in many ways due to lack of schooling and human contact, she's smarter than you think. Right until the end of the book, the extent of her intelligence surprises. 

Owens takes you through Kya's entire life. Focusing mainly on her transition to adulthood, you watch as she becomes more and more self-sufficient. You meet the people Kya deems worthy to allow into her world. There aren't many, but as with anybody, some are genuine and good, some make mistakes and repent, and others are devious. Unfortunately, almost everyone lets her down, moving on while she stays still.

Adapting to life out in nature, Kya thrives, but being separated from the town creates a stigma about her which feeds into suspicion when the town golden boy is found dead in the marsh. Did Kya kill him? They were lovers at one point. He jilted her to marry a more "civilized" girl. Her alibi in question, Kya's arrest puts her in the most miserable place she can imagine, locked away from the natural world she needs to survive. 

Waiting trial, we follow along as evidence builds, until the big day arrives. Prejudice walks alongside everyone into the courtroom. There's no reasonable doubt among the observers. The judge even has to chastise a witness to call Kya by her name instead of The Marsh Girl. She has no personal identity. The trial is intense, and all Kya wants is to go home.

The personal journey Kya takes in this book is really interesting. How she goes from simply surviving to creating a life for herself that's sustainable and allows her to improve herself was fun to read. Of course, it's helpful she seems to have a Fairy Godfather who shows up in time to propel the story forward (the contrived part,) giving her opportunities that allow her character to grow in a worthwhile way.

I can see why this is a popular book club selection. There's definitely a lot of talk about. I would suggest reading it with others, so you can have your own conversations.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

This is a modern-day adventure story, what Indiana Jones might have gone through if the Internet and cell phones existed in the 1940's. Instead of dark caves with lots of skulls and scurrying animals, the characters here have Google and CG as their tools to solve the great mystery of a secretive society.

Everything about this book is quirky. Even the realistic impression of the crazy stuff going on at Google HQ is odd (and probably not that far from reality.) Clay is an out-of-work marketing person whose most recent job at a start-up that went under has left him a little disillusioned, so he takes the night shift at a unique 24-hour bookstore run my Penumbra. It's not your typical bookstore. There are only a few shelves in the front that carry modern-day books for sale. The rest of the store is devoted to a collection of old books all written in code. The regulars at the store don't buy anything, just borrow these old books, one at a time. Clay must track the activity of these regulars in great detail. He has no idea why or what's going on and probably would have stayed only slightly curious if not for a girl. She works for Google and she's extremely curious about everything and very persuasive.

So, the adventure begins to discover what these coded books are for, why they must be read in a certain order, who Penumbra really works for, and what the strange symbol on the door really means. In order to figure things out, Clay enlists a special effect wiz with a preference for building models out of real materials and his best friend who happens to own a company that creates anatomically correct body parts digitally. He also takes advantage of some pretty serious equipment and some serious brain power at Google. I won't give anything away, but even the cause for the adventure is quirky - it's all about a specific font with a cameo plot line about a fantasy writer (think dragons and magic.)

A quick and light read, this was a great departure for me from all the fantastical books I've been reading lately. It took place in today's world but was still a little mystic and exciting. It was a real adventure, one that anybody with the right resources and the right mystery to solve could go on today. The focus was on the quest itself with a little bit here and there about the characters so you were easily kept in the moment and not bogged down with too many flashbacks and internal monologues. I had fun reading this book and definitely feel like it has mass appeal potential.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

I feel like this book is really a series of short stories woven together so they become a novel. While character plot lines legitimately intersect, everyone is essentially on their own path. It's a mystery novel except none of the major action seems to happen until the mystery is solved, so in more ways than one, this is really a uniquely formatted novel.

Daniel Sempere happens upon a forgotten novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by an unknown author, Julian Carax, that proves to be the kind of book that forever alters the life of the reader. It's the kind of book you have to finish before putting it down, the kind you stay up all night reading. But, it's the last copy of the book in existence because a mysterious, deformed man has been systematically buying and burning all copies of any Carax novel. Daniel feels compelled to not only get to the bottom of this shady character's motives but to figure out who Carax was and what happened to him. Daniel's connection with the novel along with similarities between his life and Carax's life unite them together with a force that can't be ignored.

This quest for truth brings together a whole cast of characters who all contribute to Daniel's life becoming forever altered. Daniel falls in love, learns what true friendship is, witnesses pure evil and desperation, and gets a taste for what real loneliness and longing can do to someone all because of the impact of just one novel that Daniel accidentally happens upon.

Of course, I love the idea of a single book setting into motion the course of a reader's path into adulthood as Carax's book does for Daniel, and as the book goes on the level of intensity and immediacy picks up in a very effective way, but still something was missing from the story. I feel like the setting was a bit underdeveloped on the whole. The story takes place in Barcelona, yet I felt like it really could have happened anywhere. I guess I wanted more Spanish influence to the tale and didn't really feel transported to the another place and time while reading. I did find the story very entertaining and the characters intricately developed. I felt like I really knew these people. The style of writing and the story's organization makes it a pretty thrilling read that definitely builds upon itself with the right combination of emotion and action. I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a chance of pace (unless all you read are Gothic-inspired, modern mysteries!)