Wow. Just wow. This will easily make my Top Books of 2020.
I think it will largely benefit everyone to go into this as blind as possible. The only thiWow. Just wow. This will easily make my Top Books of 2020.
I think it will largely benefit everyone to go into this as blind as possible. The only thing I would note is that there could be TW for sexual assault, alcoholism and psychological abuse. I finished this two weeks ago and it hasn't left my mind since. It is completely unique and straddles a couple of genres. It's relayed in multiple formats (first person narrative, emails, screen plays, etc.) and that might bother some. It jumps around in time, but at each section there is a time marker so you can try and piece it all together.
When I got to the end, I was actually kind of stunned. I thought to myself (holy shit) and then this is either really going to annoy people or people are going to love this. I'm in the latter category. BIG TIME. Regardless of if the format sounds like it would work for you or not - I think what is another important thing to consider is just how much courage it took to write a DEBUT NOVEL in this way. The topic is very much in the news all the time right now, it brings up a lot of emotions for people and it's told from a bold perspective (both sides of the story). I wondered for a bit how I felt about this, but ultimately I think the author did it right. (Being deliberately vague on purpose, sorry.)
All in all, I would highly recommend this to everyone. I want to start a fan club for this author and I very urgently want her to publish something else ASAP. I really hope you give this a try and love it as much as I did.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Viking for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review. Also, thank you to the Buffalo Library for providing my print copy!
I've waited almost an entire day before I wrote this review to provide enough time to ruminate on all there is to unpack with this4.5 stars rounded up
I've waited almost an entire day before I wrote this review to provide enough time to ruminate on all there is to unpack with this story. Beauregard “Bug” Montage, is the guy you root for. He has a troubled past, but is a devoted father and husband trying to make an honest living. When his past comes knocking, he is pulled back into a life he had sworn off.
What stands out to me the most about this book is that a lot of the substance can be overlooked because of the many action scenes (this book was jam packed with them!!). While this isn't a bad thing - (sometimes subliminal messages about how someone else lives are helpful in nudging a reader to think differently about the world) - it definitely takes work on the part of the reader to truly digest all that is within the pages. However, what resonated with me the most was that it highlights the systemic issue of poverty and how that infects every part of your life and makes it ten times harder to overcome a problem that comes your way. It forces an individual or family to make a choice between bad and terrible. Food on the table or medication for your child? Rent for the month or a car repair bill so you can get to work? Life saving medication for yourself or long term care bill for your ailing parent? So many people in our country and across the world face these decisions every day and have no help. Everything that takes place in this book stems from issues with money and it is passed on from generation to generation because no one is able to get ahead enough to stop it completely. It further opened my eyes to how important it is to yes, have compassion for people who are in these situations, but how much more important it is to work towards providing economic opportunities for communities that have been left behind. Bug and his family personified these circumstances and it could not have been written any better.
A few notes to the reader considering this excellent book. Please do not be swayed into thinking it is a thriller. It is pure and simple a crime drama and beyond that exploration of what I discussed above. Attica Locke and Steve Cavanagh come to mind for work that is similar so if you like those author's books, you should seek this one out. Lastly, take your time when reading this. It's easy to turn those pages as quick as can be because of how the action sucks you in and grabs your attention, but deliberate reading here is necessary. The author is writing brilliantly a story that is all too common. I urge you to add this to your reading list. Particularly, this summer. Don't walk, don't run - drive like your life depended on it (or in a quarantine - get to your computer) and order a copy as soon as you can. This book will blow you away.
Thank you to Flatiron Books for sending me an e-galley to read and provide an honest review. Thank you also to S.A. Cosby for sharing his motivation behind the process of writing this story, which I found on Edelweiss. It was an honor to read your work.
This is my first Samantha Downing book and I definitely will go back and read her first book. I liked her writing style an3.5...rounding down for now.
This is my first Samantha Downing book and I definitely will go back and read her first book. I liked her writing style and dysfunctional characters, however I'm still unsure how I feel about the ending. I don't mind that she ended it the way that she did, but I'm still ruminating on it I guess. I can imagine some readers grew frustrated with the length of the book because it was a lot of waiting for something big to happen. The little cookie crumbs sprinkled throughout the road trip were enough for me, but the end was very anti-climatic given the bang I was expecting.
If you have trouble reading books with unlikable characters, I would definitely stay away from this one. My advice if you're unsure if you'd like it or not? Give it a try and see what you think....more
Unfortunately, I have to let this one go. The writing is good and I can relate to a lot regarding the perspective of being. A young mother, DNF at 50%
Unfortunately, I have to let this one go. The writing is good and I can relate to a lot regarding the perspective of being. A young mother, but it’s a lot of talking about issues and nothing is happening. I’m not really feeling connected or invested in any of the characters either.
I was really looking forward to this too. I’ll definitely give her next book a try and encourage others to consider this one. I just know it isn’t for me at the moment.
Thank you to Knopf Publishing and Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review.
What a fantastic surprise this was. An absolute must read. Highly recommend.
Imagine it's the middle of the night, your phone is ringing and it's your What a fantastic surprise this was. An absolute must read. Highly recommend.
Imagine it's the middle of the night, your phone is ringing and it's your Dad calling. You answer and your beloved father tells you he might be in some trouble. It seems he may have been the last person to see a neighbor alive...thirty years ago.
This is how our story begins.
If you love Jane Harper or Tana French, I strongly urge you to read this book. The writing captures the slow dissolution of hope in almost every character. The neighborhood where this book takes place is beautiful on the outside. Newer houses, (some with the ocean in the backyard), young and happy families, but as soon as you look closer...you see the cracks. Things are not as bright and shiny as they appear. What Ms. Allott does with each chapter is reveal slowly and expertly, the steady unraveling of each character. Bored housewives who have dreams of their own and their troubled husbands who seek solace in the wrong places. The mistakes and secrets these adults make bleed into the next generation and it is the fateful year of 1967 that we look back to in order to find out what happened to Mandy.
There could not be a more apt title for this book. The 'silence' is represented by the secrets each character keeps and what is left unsaid. Further, the 'silence' represented by the horrible atrocity committed by the Australian government in forcibly taking children from Aboriginal families and relocating them into institutions. These scenes were very difficult to read, but necessary. Timing is everything and this book found me at the most impactful time it could. Yesterday was Juneteenth, which is a point in American History that I recently learned more about and I don't recall learning about it in school. Similarly, Ms. Allott features a time in Australian history that many are not taught in school, as a backdrop to the disappearance that the plot centers around. An old history professor once said that history is written by the victor. With this book, you see a peek into a history a government has silenced by simply pretending it didn't exist (until it had to) and leaving generations of its people in the dark and many, worse off in life.
While the pace of the novel is slower (which used to be a deterrent for me), it is skillfully timed. The characters are troubled, but relatable and fully developed. My heart broke several times throughout reading this and the ending did the preceding pages complete justice. I cannot believe this is a debut author or novel. Put Ms. Allot on your list to watch. She's a real talent.
Thank you so much to Christina Joell at William Morrow Group, Edelweiss and Susan Allott for the finished copy and the opportunity to read and provide an honest review.
I was late to the party on this one, but thankfully Libro.fm saved me from FOMO and gave me the opportunity for an early listen. I have 3.5 Rounded Up
I was late to the party on this one, but thankfully Libro.fm saved me from FOMO and gave me the opportunity for an early listen. I have not read anything from Alice Feeney prior to this so it is my introduction to her and I can definitely say I will be looking forward to her next book!
I feel like thrillers are best entered as blind as possible so I will not summarize the plot. However, I will say that the switching of perspectives was highly enjoyable and very well done. The narrators were FREAKING FANTASTIC. I don't know about you, but I can listen to an English accent all day, every day. I especially think the narrators helped with making characters who have a lot of hang ups, more relatable. I think if I had read this all the way through (I listened up to 75% and read the rest), I would have been much more frustrated with these characters.
Like most thrillers, I thought I had it figured out, but I was wrong. My reason for the lower rating (this was a 4 or better for most of it) will be provided in the spoiler that follows. (view spoiler)[The twist at the end took some time for me to digest. After giving it some thought, I've decided that it was executed poorly. Did the mother have the motive to murder all those people? Sure. However, what stretched plausibility for me was that she had the physical strength to carry them out. Not only because of her age, but that she was sick with cancer. If she had an accomplice, then I would have bought it a lot more. However, because she apparently did this all herself....it got a big question mark from me. (hide spoiler)]
Despite this, I really was impressed with how Ms. Feeney strung you along with enough bread crumbs, but the pace never suffered. There were many plausible suspects and I think that also made this a very strong entry for the genre that mostly frustrates me.
Thank you to Libro.fm's ALC program, Macmillan Audio, Flatiron Books, Edelweiss and Alice Feeney for the opportunity to listen/read and provide an honest review.
It took me a week to read this, but that in no way indicates my feelings on the quality of this book. It was a very powerful read. I have not read theIt took me a week to read this, but that in no way indicates my feelings on the quality of this book. It was a very powerful read. I have not read the author's previous book, The Escape Room, but I am very impressed with how she wrote this book; particularly how she handled the topics of rape, public opinion, reputations and the criminal justice system.
With the incorporation of the cold case plot, the podcast and the court case, this could have easily been a 500 page book. Ms. Goldin deftly moved the book along in places where other authors would have dwelled not unnecessarily, but it would have diluted the strength of the story he/she was trying to tell. I think this would make a fantastic book club selection as there are a lot of issues worth discussing.
I was concerned the subject matter discussed would get too into detail and make it either hard to read or unable to read, but for me, it was just right. That may not be the case with everyone, but I'm thankful it was my experience.
I am anxious to read whatever Ms. Goldin writes next and am so appreciative to her and St. Martin's Press for providing me an early review copy to review honestly.
The Vanishing Half reminds me of The Guest Book in how well written and quotable it is. It was a very similarOne of the best books of 2020 hands down.
The Vanishing Half reminds me of The Guest Book in how well written and quotable it is. It was a very similar reading experience. I was so moved by this story and just sat in awe the entire time I read it. I think I said in my Instagram review that I was put in a zombie trance from the very first page and that is a fact.
I was fortunate enough to have won a copy of this from an Instagram contest and be included in a discussion and Q&A with other readers as well as the author. I found out about this event 4 days before it was to happen and I hadn't even started the book. (Crap!) I had no idea how I was going to get through a 350+ page book in that short of time (lately, reading time has been at a bare minimum), but luckily I was able to get it done in time and I pretty much only took a break to work and sleep. I was taking pictures of whole passages so I could write them down in my journal. It also had me thinking a lot. Any book that causes me to look internally at myself or think about a perspective different from my own and learn new things...I'm sold. Well, now I feel it is my obligation to sell this book to you.
You've seen the summary, but what the summary doesn't include is the journey you're about to go on. The story is so much more than a story of twin sisters. It's about every day people. It's about racial identity, gender identity, socioeconomic identity and so much more. Is your identity something that your appearance dictates? Or do we consciously evolve based on our surroundings? Is it something that we are born knowing? The questions are endless. This book could have easily become preachy. It could have been a book that you could mentally check a box for each hot button issue it discussed. Well, not this book. Not this piece of literary genius. To me, it did what I had hoped Such a Fun Age would do. It was a freaking master class that dared you to look in the mirror, stare at your reflection and strip the layers away of who you are.
The other thing I sit in awe of is how all the stories are woven together. Each part jumps in time and begins with a zoomed out approach of something that has nothing to do with what you just finished reading. Some general history of the town, or a house, or a movement and then bam. You're right back with the story and you get that holistic approach to bring even more context to the story. It really was just a spectacular read. I urge you to consider reading it and I hope if you do, we can discuss it!
Thanks so much to Riverhead Books and Brit Bennett for the advanced review copy in exchange for an honest review.
"In politics, you will see, sometimes it feels that you are in charge of everything and everyone. But we can only guide them, inspire them. At the end"In politics, you will see, sometimes it feels that you are in charge of everything and everyone. But we can only guide them, inspire them. At the end of the day, are they our puppets? No. So what can we do if they raise their hand, if they decide to beat someone, if they feel angry?" PT Sir dislikes this justification. At the same time, he reaches desperately for the only relief he has felt since the massacre.
What an incredible debut. The writing in this was stunning and very, very moving. Timing will be important to some readers as this is not an uplifting read by any means. It is told from three points of view, Jivan (the accused terrorist), PT Sir (a PE teacher who stumbled into a job with a right wing political party) and Lovely (the spirited trans who aspires to be an actress and movie star). Jivan is the main character, but all three (and some peripheral characters) are connected to Jivan who has been accused of killing 100 of her Indian citizens all because of an ill timed Facebook post.
I feel this novel would have served me better had I more knowledge about life in India. Some of the terms were also lost on me and I found I had to look them up (which isn't a bad thing). However, those are really the only things I can "detract". What made this story so powerful was that it could have been set in any time, in any place in the world. I was almost moved a couple of times because I felt such deep despair at what these characters lived and went through. The story is heartbreaking in many ways, but powerful in the warning it provides to us all.
There is a pivotal moment for each character where there is a choice between right and wrong. The path PT Sir and Lovely choose is the one of least resistance. However, if they were to do the right thing, nothing would change in the end except their lives being as miserable as they always have been. That's a very depressing message, but one that should be heeded very closely.
Thank you to Knopf Publishing Group and Megha Majumdar for the advanced copy via Edelweiss! I will be sure to read everything this author writes in the future!
Liz Moore continues her literary genius with her latest novel and it is such a relief to have my high expectations confirmed and exceeded. I think oneLiz Moore continues her literary genius with her latest novel and it is such a relief to have my high expectations confirmed and exceeded. I think one of the things I love most about Liz Moore is that her stories are multi-layered and written in such a way that you become that character so fully. You live the holistic experience of her main characters - you see through their eyes, feel their emotions and learn with their minds - everything that transpires in her books. I come away a different person after having read her work because I learn so much from her and the role of that particular character.
This book covers so many things so well: family relationships, the opioid crisis, life as a female police officer, socioeconomic disparity, etc. etc. Every theme is seamlessly woven through this story from the perspective of Michaela Fitzgerald that my eyes devoured each page as quickly as they would go. This book takes a patient reader and I'm glad that I'm more mature in my reading now that I can be content with waiting for what will unfold. Years ago, I would have been bored with following Mickey in her day to day life. (No disrespect to anyone who might have been bored - reading a book is an individual experience to us all.) The point I'm trying to make is that it makes me sad to think about all the books I missed out on, but in order to get better at something you have to practice. I'm glad I've put in the practice to appreciate this kind of book now.
One last point I would like to make - Even though both books are very different, I found myself thinking about Saint X (review here) at times. I thought the way the history of Philadelphia was sprinkled throughout the story was intensely interesting and helped flesh out this story even more. It was so atmospheric and wonderfully described that I felt like I knew those streets as well as Mickey did while she patrolled. I didn't feel that way with Claire in Saint X as she narrated her journey through the streets of NYC. Maybe this point is unfair of me, but it just highlighted to me again how well done this book really was.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Riverhead Books, and Liz Moore for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.
This is a very strong 4.5, but it comes just short of a 5.
This was the strongest thriller I've read in a long time. It had everything that makes a thrThis is a very strong 4.5, but it comes just short of a 5.
This was the strongest thriller I've read in a long time. It had everything that makes a thriller great - a realistic story, proper character development, drip drop reveals and a good (believeable) ending! I read the summary to this probably six months ago so the legal/courtroom aspects were a surprise and my favorite part. There genuinely wasn't a part of this book I didn't like. Domestic thrillers usually aren't my thing, but I wanted to give this a chance because I liked Reconstructing Amelia. I will definitely buy the author's next book for sure.
What bugs me the most about the thriller genre today are the come from nowhere twists that are used to shock the reader, but make little sense. The pacing of the story is a little slower to begin with, but you are captivated the entire time. No shock factor twists are needed because it is a well thought out and clever book. The cookie crumb trail of clues left for the reader made it hard to discern who the killer was. I had a couple of guesses and finally figured it out right before it was revealed. I really loved how it could have gone anywhere because the characters were so flawed and all seemed to have a motive.
I honestly savored each page and always looked forward to getting back to it. If I am honest, unless it was an 800+ page historical fiction novel, I can't think of another book that would have kept my interest over a three week period as well as this one.
Thanks to Edelweiss, HarperCollins and Kimberly McCreight for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.
This is probably the fastest I’ve finished a book all year. I considered DNF'ing, but I'm glad I stuck it out. It had a lot more depth than what I wasThis is probably the fastest I’ve finished a book all year. I considered DNF'ing, but I'm glad I stuck it out. It had a lot more depth than what I was anticipating and even though I didn't particularly like Alice (the present day MC), I appreciated her gusto by the end of the book.
Dual storylines don't always work for me and this one was an exception. Usually, I find myself loving one perspective and disliking the other, but this was pretty equal. Once the book found it's groove, I couldn't flip the pages fast enough. Besides being an interesting story, I really enjoyed it for it's education of the 50's. Not only by what we were reading from the characters, but the author put recipes and snippets from publications of the time in as well so as to be fully immersed as though we were there. I think this book also would be a good book club pick since there is a lot to discuss in the things that changed for women and the things that didn't.
Thanks to Edelweiss, Dutton and Karma Brown for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.
I can't quite decide where I fall so I'm rounding up because this is a debut and I absolutely will read this author's next book. Plus, I loved 3.5-4.0
I can't quite decide where I fall so I'm rounding up because this is a debut and I absolutely will read this author's next book. Plus, I loved her writing. I really enjoyed this story, however it kind of dragged at times? I feel badly because it took me FOREVER to read this book - and it wasn't for a lack of wanting to. I had other books I had to get to, so I had to put it down for a few months. I then put myself on the wait list for the audio because I really wanted to get back to it!
To help flush out my feelings on my journey with this book, here is the breakdown of how I read it:
0-25% Reading 25-80% Audio 80-100% Reading
I struggle sometimes with audio because it feels like I'm on a hamster wheel. I only have a little bit of my day to listen (versus no time to read), and with the nature of this particular plot (daughter of deceased mother finds letters to four strangers to be sent if she dies - there by creating a journey for the daughter to deliver these letters) made things a little repetitive. Yes, each circumstance around the person who received a letter was different, but the pattern kept repeating itself...so I switched back to reading because I wanted to finish the book. I mentally needed to move on to something else. Please don't misunderstand this as me not liking the book, but I hope provide insight into why I rated this down a little. (It being slightly repetitive.)
What I absolutely loved about this book was how unique it was. I can't honestly think of another book like it! (A good thing.) It's told mostly from the perspective of a twenty-something lesbian, Maggie, who had a complicated relationship with her mother, Iris. Iris made it known that she struggled with her daughter's sexuality and this has a lasting impact on Maggie's life. As we spend time with Maggie, we see how she processes her feelings and past and current decisions in the shadow of this complex relationship. When Iris suddenly dies, Maggie grapples with past interactions they both had and tries to understand the woman she learns more and more about. I think if this were a book club choice or group discussion, there would be a lot to ponder about parents being people with lives prior to having children and how those lives continue once children come into the picture.
While I'm not gay, I found a lot to identify with here because of our similarity in age. It's not at the forefront, but there definitely is a coming of age aspect to this book - particularly in a time that is very unstable and scary (2017 - we haven't even gotten to COVID yet!!). Maggie very much is trying to figure out who she is as a person still and how that role might change now that she lost her mother.
I highly recommend this as something to pick up. Maybe you will feel differently than I did regarding it being repetitive. I think the book could have been a little shorter, but that's just me. This book overwhelmingly provided value to me as a reading/listening experience and I can't wait for Ms. Masad's next book.
Thank you to Edelweiss, Dutton Books and Ilana Masad for the opportunity to read this and provide an honest review.
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