~Once Upon a River Diane Setterfield On the banks of the river Thames is a pub, The Swan, where the locals have turned storytelling into something of a sport, meeting up to while away the long, cold winter nights with the promise of a good tale. But you know what they say, truth is stranger than fiction and so on the evening of the winters solstice, a real story starts to unfurl before their very eyes. A large man, dripping blood and river water, walks through the door of the pub carrying what turns out to be the body of a dead child. Except a little while later the young girl takes a breath and returns to life. Anthony and Helena Vaughn believe she is their daughter, kidnapped two years earlier. Robert Armstrong believes she is his illigitimate grand- daughter, recently missing after the death of her mother. Lily White believes her to be her sister. Hope abounds, mystery swirls and tongues wag as speculation takes hold at the Swan. And so the stories of all three parties who lay claim to the un-dead girl are woven together, along with Henry Vaughn the man who carried her in and Rita Sunday, the nurse who was present that night. It’s a gorgeous fairy tale of a story which dabbles in the supernatural and flirts a little with magic. It’s a slow, atmospheric burn, as deep and windy as the river upon which it takes place. You just can’t beat a book like this to carry you through a few warm evenings with a cold glass of rosé.
~Less Andrew Sean Greer Arthur Less, single, gay and a failed writer, is about to turn 50 when he receives a wedding invitation from a recent ex with whom he had shared a relationship for nine years. In order to avoid going, Less accepts an array of invitations to obscure literary events around the world sending him on a journey to such far flung fields as Mexico, Morocco and Japan. Along the way, our affable, rather hapless protagonist, manages to butcher the German language, have a brief affair in Paris, accept an award in Italy and celebrate his big 5-0 in the desert, all the while coming face to face with a myriad of humiliations, both real and imagined, the biggest one being that, apparently he isn’t so much a bad writer as a bad gay. Oh, the effrontery. Greer’s writing is smart and funny, leaning ever so gently into erudite yet remaining unfailingly approachable. He delves into the timeless issues of loneliness, self-pity and aging, you know, the ones none of us are immune to and throws in an endless array of life’s cringeworthy moments. Which makes this a book you can really relate to. I mean, who hasn’t tried to concoct an elaborate story to fend off an ex. It’s a joy to read, poignant and bittersweet, and what struck me as pure genius is the way Greer manages to write a whole book replete with satire, one which is essentially a romantic comedy no less, and not once lets it wobble into the inane. Quite an achievement. But then that’s probably why he won a Pulitzer.
~The Traveling Cat Chronicles Hero Arikawa I have no idea how I came to read this book. The prose is simple, bordering on the juvenile and it’s partially narrated by a cat. Not really my thing. But once I got comfortable with the style I proceeded to become quite smitten with this charming little book. Nana the cat is a stray who is injured and taken in by Satoru. After some time the two begin a road trip, for reasons which are not made apparent until the end. The journey introduces us to three of Satoru’s longtime friends and as we get to know them, we also get to know Satoru: his life, his devastating losses and how the important relationships in his life all began. The simplicity of the writing defies the complexity of the the spirit behind it. It’s a lovely story, admittedly a bit twee at times, but, honestly, that was part of its charm. It’s uncomplicated, gentle and kind. And a few tears may have been shed at the end.
~My Sister, the Serial Killer Oyinkan Braithwaite Korede, a nurse, has a sister, Ayoola, with the rather annoying habit of killing off her boyfriends. And then calling her sister to help with the cleanup. It’s all quite awkward really, especially when the beautiful Ayoola makes a move on a handsome doctor at the hospital where Korede works. And who just happens to be the same man that Korede has had a long standing crush on. Ouch. Looks like things are about to get messy. It’s a quirky concept but as you read, cracks start to appear in the storyline which, with time, split open to reveal a much more complex and nuanced tale of the lasting legacy of childhood abuse and the suffocating power of a patriarchal society. It’s nicely told with prose which is crisp and efficient and chapters which are short, all of which propel you along at a brisk clip. Its delivery is wry and deadpan with a side of dry, dark humor and I thoroughly enjoyed every page of it.
~Elsey Come Home Susan Conley Like the cat chronicles this was another book which I put a hold on at the library after reading about it somewhere. And yet again, I almost stopped reading because I just wasn’t crazy about the writing style. In the end I kept going and while I didn’t dislike it, I didn’t love it either. It’s an odd mishmash of lots of things, some of which I liked, some of which just felt extraneous. Elsey is American, her husband is Danish, they live in China. With two young children, Elsey struggles to balance her life as a wife, mother and painter, turning to alcohol to numb her pain. So when her husband hands her a brochure for a mountain retreat, she views it as something of an ultimatum. Once there she meets a group of men and women with whom she spends the next week hiking in the hills and doing yoga. One person is Mei who just happens to be a famous Chinese painter. Things happen, things don’t happen, then she leaves and goes home, accompanied by Mei. Mei leaves, Elsey hops on a plane with her kids back to the States to visit her mother and sister. Without telling her husband. And then her daughter gets appendicitis. There are no theatrics in this book due to the spare, straightforward manner in which it is written, which I liked but also hold responsible for keeping me rather detached. After a while the book starts to feel like a laundry list of disparate happenings in Elsey’s life. Yes, there was some interesting musings on motherhood, and life and marriage, which I really did enjoy, but as a whole it felt a little thin and I struggled to emotionally connect with it. Do love the cover though.
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