Book Review : Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
Written By: amodini
-
Mar•
10•21
Title : Ladder of Years
Author : Anne Tyler
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Vintage
Pages : 336
Rating : 4.5/5
Anne Tyler has written The Accidental Tourist, a book I haven’t read (but mean to) which was transformed into the fabulous film of the same name starring Geena Davis and William Hurt. Recently I tried to get into Anne Tyler’s Vinegar Girl but had to give up on the book after a few hours. So Ladder of Years is almost a sigh of relief – a lovely book I read into the wee hours of the night.
Delia Grinstead is the wife of Dr Sam Grinstead, and the mother to three now grown-up children. On their annual vacation to the beach which Delia has spent much effort planning, she walks off and away from her family. The act is spontaneous, but Delia does not return even after much time has passed and overtures have been made. The rift, and Delia cannot clearly identify it, may not ever heal.
Tyler’s writing reminds me of Richard Russo’s (the lovely Empire Falls is one of my favorites). Her words are un-complicated, but so astute. She doesn’t use flowery language, and I could read a paragraph, a page, 20 pages of straightforward prose without realizing that she is building pictures, making delicate tragic-comic observations, getting to the heart of the matter, without ever appearing to do so. Such skill!
In “Ladder of Years” she draws her characters with sympathy. Delia’s reasons for leaving are never firm or finite or expressed in definitive words, but we can sense her despair and sadness.
Sometimes she felt like a tiny gnat, whirring around her family’s edges.
Even though I can’t identify with Delia’s actions, I thoroughly sympathize with her. Tyler fleshes out her innermost thoughts and her vulnerabilities; the book made me weepy-eyed more than once. The end left me a little stumped, but then life is strange. Strange and sad.
Highly recommended.
Audiobook Review : The Dry by Jane Harper
Written By: amodini
-
Feb•
10•21
Author : Jane Harper
Narrators : Stephen Shanahan
Genre : Thriller
Publisher : Macmillan Audio
Listening Length : 9 hours 59 minutes
Rating : 4.3/5
Narrator Rating : 4.3/5
Federal Agent Aaron Falk has returned home to Kiewarra after any years, for friend Luke Hadler’s funeral. Luke has shot his wife and son and then himself. The only survivor is his baby daughter Charlotte. Falk is at the funeral because of Luke’s father’s threat-like request, hinting at buried past secrets. Falk himself features in them, since he left Kiewarra amid suspicion of having drowned a local girl, and he has no wish to suffer the taunts and insults of a town that believes him guilty.
The rumors were fed well…and grew fat and solid. They sprouted legs and heads, and they never died.
When Luke’s sorrow-stricken mother asks Aaron to investigate the suspicious deaths – she does not believe Luke would have killed himself, much less gunned down his family – Aaron cannot refuse and begins to assist local cop Raco. As he pokes around he finds underlying tensions fueled by the poverty of the region – the land is dry and droughty and the farmers of Kiewarra are getting the brunt of it. Raco and Falk dig into the alibis of the potential suspects, and Jane Harper goes in several different directions opening up possibilities – a jealous ex-girlfriend, financial troubles, a violent temper – to account for Luke’s death.
Bloody tragic.’ The farmer at Falk’s side spoke out of nowhere. His arms were crossed, fists wedged tightly under his armpits. ‘It is,’ Falk said. ‘You knew ’em well?’ ‘Not really. Only Luke, the –’ For a dizzy moment Falk couldn’t think of a word to describe the man in the largest coffin.
I recently read Jane Harper’s “The Lost Man” and that was very good. The Dry is just as suspenseful and thrilling. A hair-raising set-up, dubious suspects, plentiful red herrings and a compelling protagonist make this book a must read/listen. Narrator Shanahan is excellent although he has a strong Australian accent. I have heard Australian narrators before, like Caroline Lee narrating The Husband’s Secret, but I haven’t ever had to concentrate so hard :). I got used to it after some time though, so it was all good.
Book Review : Circling The Sun by Paula McLain
Written By: amodini
-
Jan•
13•21
Author : Paula McLain
Genre : Historical
Publisher : Ballantine
Pages : 400
Rating : 2.5/5
Beryl Clutterbuck is a rancher’s daughter in 1920s Kenya. Brought up by her father, after her mother, sick of the hard-scrabble life of the farm, ups and leaves with her younger brother, Beryl grows up with very few restraints, running wild and free with the local children, and learning to ride and hunt like a man would – in those times. She finds her independence severely curbed when her father’s farm goes belly-up and she must, at 16, make a marriage of convenience. Life is rocky and uncertain when Beryl, unable to keep up the “homely” act and hankering for the land and the horses, returns to working for an acquaintance as a horse-trainer.
Buffeted by unfortunate circumstances, Beryl goes from job to job, and into different personal relationships developing a reputation in the British colony’s small social circle. She remains focussed on her work however, striving to keep her love for her horses above it all.
Circling The Sun was a quick, placid read. It read almost like a memoir or a personal journal, with Beryl at the center of it all. The writing is good and the descriptions lyrical, giving us a feel of the land and the people that inhabit it. While I understood Beryl’s need for independence, and her quiet rebellion against a society which severely penalized women for not kowtowing the line, she did come across as calculating and grasping. It’s not that I don’t sympathize with her – being thrust into a marriage and fending for oneself at 16 will probably make one grow up fast – but her actions seemed self-centered and dilletante-ish.
This book is not feel-good or fantasy, it is a chronicling of the real world, where it is all a give and take. While our heroine does have a few wins, the overall tone is one of gloom especially after she falls in love with Denys Hatton Finch, a man she can never have. Beryl is celebrated as the Kenyan aviatrix and was the first person to fly solo non-stop from Britain to North America. Despite her spirit and her many accomplishments, she is a hard heroine to root for.
Wordless Wednesdays #110
Written By: amodini
-
Dec•
30•20
I tweeted this list out in response to a question on the #TSBC Book Chat, so here it is again! My Top 10 Books of 2020 – some have been reviewed here and some will appear in the following months!
Audiobook Review : The Body Double by Emily Beyda
Written By: amodini
-
Dec•
16•20
Author : Emily Beyda
Narrators : Emily Rankin
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Random House Audio
Listening Length : 12 hours 26 minutes
Rating : 1/5
Narrator Rating : 3/5
The book blurb for The Body Double compares it to Hitchcock’s Vertigo, a comparison this book does not deserve because it is not even in the same league. Read on to find out more.
Our unnamed narrator is a movie theater concession stand attendant, short on money. When she is offered a lucrative gig – that of a stand-in or double for famous celebrity Rosanna Feld, she takes it without a second thought. Rosanna’s operative Max explains that Rosanna has had a breakdown and needs help keeping up public appearances. The narrator must move to Los Angeles where she will learn Rosanna’s mannerisms and then make appearances as her. This is all hush-hush and for doing as specified she will be handsomely compensated. As she goes through the grooming process though, she realizes that all is not as it seems . . .
This is a very interesting premise, and why I got sucked into listening to this book. It starts off well, with measured descriptions, where we get a sense of the narrator’s life and the decision she must make to steer it to a hopefully better course. However soon the descriptions got repetitive and there wasn’t much going on. The narrator spends much of her time holed up in an apartment, undergoing her transformation (which includes plastic surgery). Her only point of contact is Max, and it never seems odd to her that she never gets to meet Rosanna. She seems extraordinarily gullible and naive, even if for a person escaping a previous miserable life.
As time passes (very slowly) she also becomes increasingly delusional, convinced that the hallowed Rosanna will come visit her and be very pleased with her. Her common sense, in evidence at the beginning of the book, is completely gone, and she doesn’t see any logical holes in her situation. She doesn’t ask any questions or get suspicious. We are never sure if this is because of low self-esteem/difficult childhood, her suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or that she is beginning to lose it. It became very difficult to sympathize with her because she displays no resentment for her poor treatment and makes no plan to escape what is essentially forced captivity. Her deluded ramblings where she strives to “please” Rosanna, convinced that she is the perfect “vessel” for her, got very annoying to listen to.
The Body Double was extremely boring. I kept at it (although I did start skimming, which I normally never do with an audiobook) because I wanted to get to “the twist”. It came at the very end, and was predictable and weak. Narrator Rankin does a passable job, although I suspect she’d do better with a finer book.
Book Review : Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Written By: amodini
-
Nov•
18•20
Author : Kazoo Ishiguro
Genre : Dystopian
Publisher : Vintage
Pages : 288
Rating : 3.5/5
Remains Of the Day remains one of my all-time favorites. And since Ishiguro is a master story-teller I had high hopes from Never Let Me Go. It is very different from Remains; where that was old-worldly, this is contemporarily dystopian. Both depict human emotion, but Remains of the Day is the better book.
Kathy is one of the many students at the boarding school of Hailsham. She, along with close friends Ruth and Tommy, is given a good education, but there is something mysterious about Hailsham and its students. There is talk of their future lives, which seem to be pre-ordained as Carers and Donors, although we are never quite sure what that entails. Little nuggets of information come our way, adding to the creepiness and portending a horror that only humans can concoct and implement.
The book is narrated by Kathy in the first person. At the time of narration Kathy is already a Carer, and she recounts her life at Hailsham, the good times with her friends, and the slow realization and acceptance of their pre-ordained future. Ishiguro with his lovely word-smithing and detailed situations and dialogues, beautifully captures the mental makeup of Kathy and her friends. What is truly horrifying is their acceptance of their fates – and they are not the only ones, there are many, many “students” – going along calmly, like lambs to a slaughter.
There is a love triangle between the three main protagonists, and there are descriptions of laughter and good times – the push and pull of emotions, the waxing and waning of friendships. The book is as interesting as it is because it is delicate and emotional, even as it frames the larger story in a more brutal context. Ishiguro maintains this exquisite balance perfectly.
While this is a well-written book and a thought-provoking page-turner (I read it in 4 quick sittings, taking huge gulps of it in each), I didn’t quite feel for the three protagonists. Yes there is the universal refrain of lost time, opportunity and love, but that is as far as it goes. Despite the first person narrative and the detailed descriptions of their situations, Kathy and her friends felt distant. Ruth’s character verges on the unlikeable and even Kathy is so ordinary. She displays no protagonist like characteristics – there is no fire, no rebellion, only dissatisfaction, sadness and then acceptance. Despite the very clear injustice of the unfolding horror, it is very hard to root for the three – and the cause of my not being able to recommend this book.
