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A
a big storm knocked it over
laurie colwin
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This is the second novel I've read by Colwin and I'm in love with her formula of sweet characters, honest thoughts and simple writing. This book centers on marriage and motherhood and the friendship between Jane Louise and Edie and it contains the single best paragraph about the early weeks of motherhood i've ever read:
"Motherhood is a storm, a seizure: It is like weather. Nights of high wind followed by calm mornings of dense fog or brilliant sunshine that gives way to tropical rain, or blinding snow. Jane Louise and Edie found themselves swept away, cast ashore, washed overboard. It was hard to keep anything straight. The days seemed to congeal like rubber cement, although moments stood out in the clearest, starkest brilliance. You might string these together on a charm bracelet of your memory if you could keep your eyes open long enough to remember anything. Jane Louise had found herself asleep standing up at her kitchen counter, and Edie reported that she had passed out on a park bench."
So brilliant, and with each book I finish by Colwin, I miss her more and more (she died in 1992). |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
October 2006 [link] |
recommend
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a complicated kindness
miriam toews
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Each year there comes that book I want to press on everyone I know. Last year it was A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews.
Nomi Nickel is a teenage Mennonite girl with a sense of humour and observation that brand her an outsider in the rigid Mennonite community she has grown up in.
“Imagine the least well-adjusted kid in your school starting a breakaway clique of people whose manifesto includes a ban on the media, dancing, smoking , temperate climates, movies, drinking, rock'n'roll, having sex for fun, swimming, makeup, jewellery, playing pool, going to cities, or staying up past nine o'clock. That was Menno all over. Thanks a lot, Menno."
After both her mother and older sister were kicked out of the church for their independent thinking and spirited lifestyles, Nomi is left in the hands of her hapless, pious father. He adores her, but is too wrapped up in his own grief to stop her downward spiral. To make things worse, he is inexplicably getting rid of the household furniture, piece by piece.
But Nomi as narrator is hilarious, tragic, and hopeful. She describes her first sexual encounter with her boyfriend:
“Move with me,” he says, to which she replies: “To Montreal?” In retrospect, she reflects, “I think it might have gone better if I hadn't been bald, drunk, depressed and jealous.”
When the book ends, it is like a revelation. You realize that the slow accumulation of small stories and details has been woven together into a beautiful, full narrative and you are rooting for Nomi - her punk-ass intolerance for bullshit, her brutal honesty, and her wicked humour.
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reviewed by: adina |
September 2006 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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a death in belmont
sebastian junger
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As a writer of non-fiction, it must be hard to follow up a book like "The Perfect Storm", Sebastian Junger's runaway bestseller-turned Hollywood blockbuster film. However, upon reading "A Death In Belmont," Junger's account of his family's personal connection to The Boston Strangler, one can't help but wonder how he chose to pursue other subjects before writing this book.
The book centers around a muder in the upscale Boston suburb of Belmont, when Junger was a small child – a sexual assault and strangling which to many seemed to fall in line with the numerous similar murders attributed to the elusive Boston Strangler. However, on that day, the victim had called upon a job placement organization to hire a man to help clean her home. That man, an African American by the name of Roy Smith, had of course met the victim, worked in the victim's home, and was subsequently charged and convicted in the murder. Roy Smith has never confessed to the killing, even upon his parole hearing when such an admittance, along with regret, is key to ever being free again.
That same day, Albert DeSalvo, the convicted Boston Strangler, was also in Belmont, working as a carpenter at the Junger home. Although DeSalvo never confessed to this murder, it bears many hallmarks of a classic Strangler murder.
Junger weaves a compelling narrative, alternately following Smith's and DeSalvo's personal histories, the accounts of the murder (as well as the other Boston Strangler murders), the state of race relations at the time, and accounts of both men's lives behind bars. Junger never comes right out and says that Smith was wrongly charged for a murder he didn't commit, but his intent is clearly to place a reasonable doubt in the mind of the reader.
The book is compelling on many levels: as a family memoir, as true crime, as a mystery, and as a meditation on race, class, and justice.
junger has done his homework here, as he includes a wealth of police and court transcripts, interviews with key law enforcement, medical, and correctional facility personnel, as well as interviews with acquaintances of both men, both inside and outside of prison. although the book does not serve to prove Smith's innocence or guilt, it asks the right questions, which in turn serve to underscore the fragility of justice throughout history and especially in present times.
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reviewed by: ericS |
May 2006 [link] |
recommend
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a fortunate age
joanna smith rakoff
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A measure of the likeability of a book, for me, is whether I am anxious to find out what happens to the characters in an obsessive, read-while-making-dinner way and in this case, dinner just did not get made. Starting with six friends, all recent Oberlin grads, together at one of the friends' wedding and ending with the same six friends some ten years later, all very far from where they began, "A Fortunate Age" is richly detailed, nostalgic and wonderfully compelling. Having spent time in NYC in the 90s made the book familiar but it's the characters' thoughts, actions and experiences that really hit home, as they work their way through life getting married, getting divorced, finding careers and finding themselves (or not.) My favorite character is Sadie, a member of the old-moneyed Peregrine family and, to me, the most level-headed. Her mother Rose is an old New York socialite who says things like "That's a whole different pair of gloves" (my new saying as well) and I would love a sequel of sorts just about Sadie and her family if only because the blue-blood aristocracy is so damned interesting.
Comparisons to "The Group" and "The Emperor's Children" don't need to be made (they've been made just about everywhere else) because "A Fortunate Age" definitely holds its own.
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reviewed by: lisa may |
May 2009 [link] |
recommend 9 thumbs up
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a garden of earthly delights
joyce carol oates
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I've been a little afraid of reading Joyce Carol Oates, ever since college when I had to dissect "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" front and backwards. There's nothing like a college lit class to turn an entire author's genre into a buzzkill. So, for my first post-college foray into Oates, I choose "Earthly Delights" and was not disappointed. Oates takes a good hard look at society, gender roles and the relationships we form throughout our life in this first novel of the so-called "Wonderland Quartet" (Earthly Delights was published in 1967, followed by "Expensive People" in 1968, "them" in 1969 and "Wonderland" in 1971).
Earthly Delights follows Clara from her birth to her death and how men shape her life (or do they?). From her initial days as a migrant worker's daughter, to her time with Lowry during her teenage years (who dusts her off, helps her get a job and eventually knocks her up) to Revere, a married man who "keeps" her until the death of his wife and then marries her and finally, the fourth force in her life, her son, Swan, we see Clara grow and change and adapt to what life hands her. Beautifully written conversations and lovely descriptions. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
August 2007 [link] |
recommend
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a girl named zippy
haven kimmel
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another bestseller whiz that i managed to glean over several hundred times until finally packing it in my suitcase for my flight to paree. i practically read the first chapter outloud to craig until he finally said he'd read it after i was done, so i could STOP reading it to him. hrmph.
how could you not laugh at a a mother looking at her new baby's too-close together eyes saying "well, i'll love her anyway"? how funny that for a while, kimmel thought she was adopted and that her real parents were gypsies, all backed up by a convincing story told by her mom? each little vignette is cute and quaint and funny. nothing traumatic happens and it's just a straightforward story of siblings and family and growing up. kimmel now lives in durham, nc. yay! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
April 2004 [link] |
recommend
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a homemade life
molly wizenberg
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| Wizenberg is the creator and author of Orangette.com, a dreamy, yummy food blog where I've found such recipe keepers as Scottish scones, nutmeg donut muffins and apple butter. What's great about her book is that it's not an exact repeat of her blog – even those recipes and narratives that have already appeared online are tweaked and elaborated upon to make them even fresher. Wizenberg writes with such tenderness about topics like the death of her father (at the end of which I cried and also made Italian Grotto Eggs to console myself) and about meeting her husband through her site that she reminds you how inextricably linked food and feelings are in our lives. I've marked quite a few recipes from the book; tonight I'm making pasta with pesto and zucchini and for my birthday I'm totally whipping up fresh ginger cake with caramelized pears. And eating the whole thing myself. That's the kind of thing that Orangette inspires and approves of. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
August 2009 [link] |
recommend
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a primate's memoir: a neuroscientist's unconventional life among the baboons
robert sapolsky
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| yahooie! baboons!! the african outback!! i thought this book was tremendous. sapolsky writes about the time he spends observing baboons in east africa. along with intimate, human-like and funny descriptions of the baboons behaviors, he shares tales about his experience among the tribal people in africa. it's an amazing read that made me shush my husband many a time since i was so into it. sapolskyhas a talent for straightforward storytelling that is poignant and funny. fyi - "poignant" was a word used on the book jacket. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
March 2003 [link] |
recommend
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a scanner darkly
philip k dick
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| This is one of Dick’s later novels, complete with his requisite themes of identity and reality. Set in the near future (at least the near future for 1977, when this was published) A Scanner Darkly follows the tragic-comic misadventures of a nark named Fred. Fred takes on the identity of small time dealer of a drug called Substance D, Bob Arctor. Things get complicated for Fred when he receives his new assignment: investigate alleged drug dealer Bob Arctor. One of Dick’s later novels, and inspired by events and people from his own life, this is a harrowing novel about addiction and identity. It gets off to a slow shaky start but quickly gains momentum and becomes a lot of disorienting fun as the narrative voice becomes very nebulous as the lines between Bob and Fred become more distinct. |
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reviewed by: JohnLawton |
July 2004 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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a year in the merde
stephen clarke
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| A funny little fiction story drawn from Clarke's real-life escapades working and living in France. Marketing guru Paul West moves to France from Britain to help start up a chain of British tea rooms (his fame is from his success in setting up a chain of French cafes in Britain cleverly named "Voulez Vous Cafe Avec Moi" - so funny!) and encounters accents impossible to decode, crazy French manners (or lack of) and French bureacracy (or why co-workers can't be fired). In addition to sleeping with the boss' daughter he uncovers a bit of a scandel as his boss is buying mad-cow diseased beef instead of homegrown French beef for his restaurants. Alls well that ends well, as West finds a girlfriend and gets to open a tea room all his own. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
June 2006 [link] |
recommend
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absurdistan
gary shteyngart
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In "Absurdistan" we meed Misha Vainberg, who is, yes, vain, and funny, weighs 325 pounds in his vintage Puma tracksuits (he calls himself an "incorrigible fatso") and is the son of the 1,238th richest man in Russia. "Beloved Papa" not only made Misha get circumcised on his way to college in the U.S. (a botched circumcision, as we intimately learn) but upon Misha's return from NYC a few years later it turns out that his Papa had killed a man in Oklahoma and authorities won't let Misha travel back to the U.S. and to his other beloved, a Bronx girl named Rouenna. And so, after the sad assassination of Papa, Misha hefts his portliness to oil-laden country of Absurdistan to secure a Belgian passport and winds up in the midst of a coup/civil war/oil company chaos all while wooing woman (one of which woos while still in Russia, his father's young widow whom he hilariously seduces with lines from a Zagat's guide) and almost never skipping a meal.
If you missed Shteyngart's witty and splendid "The Russian Debutant's Handbook" you cannot miss "Absurdistan" for its humorous storyline and clever characters, made-up rap lyrics and all the fun Shteyngart's pokes at fat people, religion, oil conglomerates and even himself. (One of the people Misha can't stand is a guy he went to college with who is now a professor named "Jerry Shteynfarb". "Shteynfarb" has just written a bestselling book in the U.S. titled "The Russian Arriviste's Hand Job" and is called a Jewish Nabakov by Misha's friends - one gets the sense that Shteygart is rather humoured by his success in the literary circuit.) I found myself savoring every word of the book, wondering how soon is too soon to go back and read it again. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
September 2006 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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ada blackjack: a true story of survival in the arctic
jennifer niven
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| Before you begin this incredible story, get out your atlas and look up Wrangel Island. It's practically at the tippy top of the world, above Siberia. Now, imagine it being 1923 and an expedition of four men and one Eskimo woman traveling there to live and scout out the territory. No Patagonia jackets, no L.L. Bean boots, no contact with the real world for a whole year. Actually, make that two years, as the relief ship that is supposed to reach them one summer never makes it. And, as it turns, out, the four men don't make it after one year either. Just Ada Blackjack, who survived on her wits and good sense until finally a relief ship showed up two years after the expedition started. This is an amazing story, especially if you keep reminding yourself that it was in the 1920s! It was probably hard enough traveling from town to town let alone to another continent! The expedition was woefully under provisioned and under prepped for such a trip. There was supposed to be an entire Eskimo community helping to hunt and cook food and the only person they were able to get to come along was Ada, and she was only supposed to sew fur clothing for the men. She ended up learning to hunt, trap and cook and it saved her life. Forget "Into the Wild" - this story is the real deal! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
October 2007 [link] |
recommend
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amy vanderbilt complete book of etiquette
amy vanderbilt
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| if you want an amusing afternoon read, pick up this sucker. you will be endlessly amused at topics such as what to expect when a maid unpacked your bags, where to sit people for an 8 person dinner party and how to announce you and your gay companion have adopted a child. it's totally rewritten for the '00s. i think it would be even more amusing to see the original etiquette book from the 50s. what a freakin' hoot, i bet. i imagine that if you were having a fancy 500 person wedding, this might actually help with the planning in terms of what you're "supposed" to do. but for the rest of us, it's just plain interesting. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2003 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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an almost perfect moment
binnie kirshenbaum
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"An Almost Perfect Moment" has it all: mah-jongg playing, gold lamé wearing Jewish mothers; Catholic Italians neighbors bringing over manicotti; homely high school teachers that still live with their parents; unrequited love and a seemingly immaculate conception. What's not too love?
It seems all far-flung but somehow it works in this sassy and nutty story. Valentine Kessler is a 15 going on 16 Jewish girl growing up in Brooklyn who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Virgin Mary (except, being Jewish, she and her family and friends have no idea). She's in love with her plain, boring, 24 year old math teacher and he's in love with her (neither one knows). Set in the 70s, this book addresses all the painful parts of high school - being ostracized, having sex for the first time (or not), being religiously confused and learning about love.
Kirshenbaum's style of writing reminded me a lot of Zadie Smith's "White Teeth" which is to say solid character sketches, lots of lovely details and dark humor. A funky and pleasurable little read. (I also abnormally adore the cover, it's just so cool looking.) |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
April 2006 [link] |
recommend
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an arsonist's guide to writers' homes in england
brock clarke
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| Wacky and entertaining is the only way to descibe this novel by the improbably named Brock Clarke. Sam Pulsifer gets out of prison at the ripe old age of 28 after serving ten years for accidentally burning down the Emily Dickinson House - with two people inside. He sets out to make a normal life for himself and almost succeeds until the son of the couple Sam killed shows up and vows to ruin his life as Sam did his. Suddenly, someone is setting fire to writers' homes all over New England, Sam's parents have become drunks and Sam has to make things right. Filled with funny and sad moments - one funny one being that after Sam burns down Emily Dicksinson's house, a disgruntled townie throws his size 12 Birkenstock through his parent's front window (Sam assumes the thrower is saving the other shoe to throw through the window another time) - the book is about confronting your past in order to clarify your future. The ending really takes a wild turn which wasn't all together satisfying but Sam is such an amusing, likable and wonky character, all is forgiven. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
February 2008 [link] |
recommend
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an idiot girl's christmas: true tales from the top of the naughty list
laurie notaro
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Another great book of essays from Laurie Notaro, this time Christmas-themed and still side-splittingly funny. Notaro is sooooo that koo-koo friend who calls you up to say "I had to go to freakin' Kmart on Christmas Eve to buy tampons and this gang was making fun of me in line" (as written in this book) and when you get off the phone you have to go re-apply your mascara. Also in this book are stories about the time she almost killed her mother by turning up dead (also on Christmas Eve) and a story about her craptastic neighbor Frank's garish holiday decorations.
The only thing ever bad about a Notaro book is that they're too short! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
January 2006 [link] |
recommend
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angels & demons
dan brown
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I believe this was the pre-quel to Da Vinci Code and it's practically the same formula - high-profile person dead, Robert Langdon, a prominant symbologist, gets called in before the police to decipher the strange ambigram branded onto the victim. Victim has hot & smart daughter and a madcap adventure ensues.
Just like Da Vinci Code, this book explores the true existance of the Illuminati and the struggle between science and God. I love these books because it's mostly non-fiction, so many of the religious conspiracy facts are true. The fiction parts include the poisoning of the Pope (never a good thing) and some really gruesome murders.
There's also some detailed information about the dollar bill actually being full of Illuminati symbols. It's all very creepy and cool. Once again, www.danbrown.com has some really neat photos and factoids about both Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons - although he calls them "spoilers" I would almost have preferred seeing some of the images before I read the book. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
June 2004 [link] |
recommend
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angus, thongs and full-frontal snogging: confessions of georgia nicolson
louise rennison
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| A Bridget Jones for the young adult set, this book is funny -if not funnier- than its adult counterpart. Fourteen-year-old Georgia is saddled with a nerdy Mum and Dad, a 3-year-old sister who poos in the corner of Georgia's room, a cat named Angus who terrorizes the neighbor's poodles and a crush on Robbie - sex god du jour. There's THREE follow up books:"On the Bright Side, Now I'm the Girlfriend of a Sex God", "Knocked Out by My Nunga-Nungas" and "Dancing in My Nuddy Pants". Each book comes with a handy glossary in the back to help decipher british terms like "how's your father" (a penis) or "nuddy pants" (being naked). |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
December 2003 [link] |
recommend 5 thumbs up
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animal, vegetable, miracle
barbara kingsolver
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| Since I was unable to sludged through "The Omnivore's Dilemma" (much to my dismay) I was happy to accept "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" as a consolation prize. I found each and every word of this book to be an inspiration on how to get back to the land, eat healthier and make a difference in our little corners of the world. Kingsolver and her family move from Arizona to Southwest Virginia to a farm her husband owns. They renovate the house and decide on a year-long experiment: sustain themselves by growing their own food and where ever else possible, eat locally (i.e. local dairy and locally raised meat). The result is this beautiful book that is part a garden manual and part social commentary on the state of food consumption today: are we really willing to pay so little for our food so that we think organic is "expensive"? do we realize that eating out-of-season fruits and veggies actually costs more in terms of fossil fuels and environmental change? This book has completely changed the way I think about food. I've been making small changes in my grocery buying and meal planning and I've been making my own bread and granola! I've been buying local! I'm this close to raising my own turkeys and growing tomatoes in the bathtub! Okay, not that close but I look forward to getting my own yard some day and gardening the hell out it. Kingsolver includes lots of delicious recipes and a myriad of links for organizations committed to eating locally such as Slow Food USA. I've ordered my organic and heirloom seed catalogs in preparation to at least grow herbs on my porch come spring. And I'm sooooo making my own mozzarella (visit the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company - you can do it too!) Hallelujah and pass the homemade bread! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
November 2007 [link] |
recommend
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another bullshit night in suck city
nick flynn
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Nick Flynn reveals a disturbing relationship with his father, something that has haunted him his entire life and shaped him the way a painful absence can shape a child. His technique of punchy, short chapters are a knife slash to the gut, over and over, while his touching insights into the real lives of men and women living homeless on the streets of Boston-including his father-rubs salt in the wounds.
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reviewed by: nate |
July 2005 [link] |
recommend
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anywhere but here
mona simpson
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| This was a good solitude book. I liked it fine - partly/mostly because it had people (much like me) who didn't have a career or any glory but had lots of desire. I'm a bit of an isolationist with a mother, so I did indeed empathize. It was a lonely book. |
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reviewed by: kristen |
September 2000 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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apprentice to the flower poet z.
debra weinstein
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| A truly wacky and original novel, Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z., follows Annabelle, a NYC college student as she works as an assistant (she prefers "apprentice") to a famous and published poet who writes about flowers. Annabelle quickly becomes Z.'s personal assistant doing everything from buying handtowels and groceries to researching, sketching and describing flowers at the botanical gardens for Z.'s new book. Annabelle is a talented writer - can she escape the pull of the crazy, egomaniac Z. and her family? |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
August 2004 [link] |
recommend 2 thumbs up
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as always, julia: the letters of julia child and avis devoto
joan reardon
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| When Julia Child wrote a "fan" letter to the author Bernard DeVoto she couldn't have known that it would lead to not only a life-long friendship with his wife, Avis, but more or less would pave the way for "Mastering the Art of Cooking" through Avis' publishing experience and contacts. Julia and Avis began writing in 1952 while Julia was in France and Avis was living in Cambridge. The 200 letters are not only a thrilling look at two amazing woman but also a great peek into life in France and the US in the 50s and 60s where canned food was the latest rage and dinner parties were held every weekend after the children were in bed. This book made me nostalgic for good old-fashioned letter writing! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
March 2011 [link] |
recommend
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assassination vacation
sarah vowell
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| In this latest and greatest from alternative It-Girl Sarah Vowell, we travel with Vowell to all the best sights related to the assassinations of McKinley, Lincoln and Garfield. What sounds like a potentially boring topic (I'm assuming she leaves out JFK because it would need a whole book of its own) turns out to be funny, brilliant and intellectual. At times, I thought the book was funnier than anything David Sedaris had written. Not only that, but I learned a lot historically as she visits places all over the country - places where the assassins hung out, where they took refuge and where they were imprisoned as well as where the murders took place. The text is peppered with Vowell's own political views (such as her thing for referring to President Bush as "the current president") and her quirky little self (we learn of her phobias which include "water, heights, snakes and 'Children of the Corn'"). This book is making me backtrack to her fiction novels - hopefully I'll be just as charmed. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
August 2005 [link] |
recommend
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assisted loving
bob morris
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| After the death of his mother, writer Bob Morris works to come to terms with her passing and his father's aloofness during her illness. He feels guilty for not spending time with his father now that he's alone but also gets increasingly annoyed with him. And then his father starts trolling the personal ads. Morris decides he can either freak out or help him and thus becomes an accomplice in his father's dating adventures which rival any young stud on the market. With three women for every man in the retirement circles Morris, Sr. runs in, it's quite a scene. And while his father looks for love, Morris himself is searching for a soulmate (and happily seems to find him). This is funny and loving look at parental-child relationships and a sweet tribute to Morris's father as well as his mother. Bonus: The cover had me hooting all the while I was reading it as it shows Morris' father in a teeny, weenie Burberry-plaid Speedo noshing on a sandwich pool-side. Yikes! |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
December 2008 [link] |
recommend
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autobiography of a fat bride : true tales of a pretend adulthood
laurie notaro
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| If you missed Notaro's first book "The Idiot Girls' Action Adventure Club" then shame on you and you better get this one too. Notaro wrote columns for an Arizona paper and these books are mostly the compilations of those essays. In this book Notaro writes about finally meeting the man of her dreams and wooing him with her one talent: breading and frying chicken cutlets. She shares her madcap adventures of planning a wedding, buying an old home and trying to pretend she's a grown-up. Funny stuff. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
July 2004 [link] |
recommend 1 thumbs up
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autograph man
zadie smith
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First let me say that I loved Smith's first book "White Teeth". It's one of those books that I grab off my shelf from time to time and re-read, it's that excellent. Her second book, "Autograph Man" - eh, not so great. I don't even think I finished reading it. But "On Beauty" sees a return to her "White Teeth" roots with the telling of a complex yet moving story about love, racism, politics, gender and growing old all while being funny and gorgeous.
The story follows the Belsey and Kipps families in a wealthy Boston suburb of Wellington and the private college also called Wellington. The families are enemies because both father's are professors with totally different agendas and the story unfolds from there touching upon infidelity, death and forgiveness.
Smith's characters are so rich and well-developed that it's hard not to fall in love with them, flaws and all. |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
November 2005 [link] |
recommend
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away
amy bloom
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Hokey, I know, to say that I was blown "away" by Bloom's novel "Away", but I really was. I settled in for a good story and emerge three days later for air and food and am still thinking about the book. Set in the early 20s we meet Lillian Leyb, seemingly meek and newly arrived in NYC from Siberia, where her Jewish family – parents, husband - had been brutally murdered by Gentiles. Fearing for her toddler daughter's life, she had lowered her out of a window of their home instructing her to head to chicken coop, and never saw her again. Inconsolable and desperate, she makes her way to a cousin in Brooklyn and quickly finds work as a seamstress with a popular theatre in NY, run by a father and son. Soon after, she begins an affair with both father and son when she receives word that her daughter is in fact still alive and still in Siberia. And so she sets off across the states, up to Alaska, with the goal of reaching Siberia to search for her Sophie. Along the way she is helped by the unlikeliest of people – a black prostitute named Gumdrop, inmates in a women's prison (where she spends the holidays watching a woman get "Merry Christmas" tattooed above her...ahem) and finally a man on the lam living in the Alaskan frontier. Lillian does a little saving of her own when she comes upon a cabin where a mother has accidentally died and three children await the return of their father from a hunting trip – they surely would've perished had she not stepped in.
Lillian is a strong-willed and determined heroine and the ending is bittersweet indeed. Full of the most gorgeous prose, witty moments, and wonderful characters, the book fairly sparkles with gems like this: "...she believes in will. It is so frail and delicate at night that she can't even imagine the next morning, but it is so wide and binding by the middle of the next day that she cannot even remember the terrible night. It is as if she gives birth every day." |
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reviewed by: lisa may |
September 2008 [link] |
recommend
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