A complicated kindness (2004) by Miriam Toews

"The novel is told in the style of a memoir and is not fully chronological; therefore there is no classical plot line. The most present-day events detail the involvement of the main character, Nomi, with Travis, whereas she also explores her past and how her family came to be so fragmented.

It is revealed that Nomi's sister, Tash, was excommunicated and left town during her late teens, with her boyfriend, Ian. Tash had become an atheist and her rebellious spirit was not satisfied with the limits of the  Mennonite community. Seven weeks later, Trudie, Nomi and Tash's mother, is also excommunicated and leaves town to spare Ray, her husband and the girl's father, the agony of choosing between her and the church. Nomi speculates that Trudie left her with Ray because Ray needs Nomi more than Trudie does. She also speculates that Trudie knew Ray would not be able to choose between her (Trudie) and the church and therefore she left to make it simpler for him.

With Travis, Nomi becomes more rebellious; she spends most of her time trying to get high and eventually begins to take oral contraceptives and loses her virginity. She stops going to school and church. At the end of the novel, Nomi is excommunicated for setting a fire, and Ray leaves town because he realizes that Nomi wouldn't have the heart to leave him, and therefore must leave so that Nomi would be free to do the same. It can also be interpreted as a suicide on the part of Ray."

Wikipedia, Mar 6, 2012 19:45

Run (2007) by Ann Patcette

Family, Everything Is Political  by  Janet Maslin   Sep 20, 2007   New York Times 

"To appreciate the silken agility with which Ann Patchett constructs her fiction, consider the way the opening sequence in her new novel, “Run,” invokes the Virgin Mary. On the book’s first page Ms. Patchett reveals that one of her story’s central characters, Bernadette Doyle, died two weeks earlier. Now Bernadette’s sisters have arrived to grapple with a family tradition.

A statue of the Virgin, adorned in blue robe and halo, portable enough to be placed on a bedroom dresser, has been passed down from generation to generation in this family. It has an unusual history. The Italian sculptor who created it used the delicate beauty of Bernadette’s great-grandmother as part of his inspiration. Through the generations there has been an enduring resemblance between the iconic, red-haired image and the family’s real women.
Tradition dictates that the statue be handed down to a worthy relative. But Bernadette spoiled the pattern. She had no daughters, only sons. The oldest, Sullivan, has the statue’s hair color but none of its virtue, as he is the family ne’er-do-well. The younger two boys look even less like the statue, because they are black. But Bernard Doyle, Bernadette’s husband, overrules his sisters-in-law by insisting that his younger sons are entitled to the precious family artifact, appearances notwithstanding.
One thing that makes this political maneuvering so intriguing is that it is political. (Bernard Doyle is a former mayor of Boston, well-schooled in the art of bending others to his will.) Another is the lovely ease with which Ms. Patchett shifts her characters through time.
In the first few pages of “Run,” without apparent effort, she glides through time. She glimpses Bernadette as a bride, telling her husband the history of the statue, and then Bernadette as a mother who eagerly adopts two more sons when Sullivan is 12. A visit to the pediatrician, who notices a lump on Bernadette’s neck, swirls the chapter back to its starting point. She is gone, survived by one holy statue and a household full of men, as united by nurture as they are different in nature.
No stranger could glance at the Doyles and figure out what they have to do with one another. This author specializes in delving beneath the surface of such incongruity. As she did in the beautiful “Bel Canto,” Ms. Patchett once again thrives on juxtaposing wildly different characters and creating volatile chemistry among them. (Nothing so exotic is liable to happen in the workaday fiction of Ann Packer, with whom Ann Patchett should not be confused.) At the same time she creates an entirely credible set of dynamics for the Doyle family.
Then, long after Bernadette’s death, the Doyle men are quite literally shaken by a new arrival. In the midst of a Massachusetts snowstorm, a Chevy Tahoe plows into Tip, the more scholarly and coldblooded of the adopted brothers. He might have been killed without the intervention of a black woman, an apparent stranger named Tennessee Moser, who shoves him out of harm’s way and is then badly hurt herself.
The woman is hospitalized, and that leaves her 11-year-old daughter, Kenya, with nowhere to go. When the Doyles take charge of the girl , they begin to suspect that Kenya was secretly part of their family all along.
In place of the shock and sibling rivalries that might be expected in such a story, Ms. Patchett provides room for contemplation. She dispenses with her material’s least interesting prospects by making the Doyles deeply devoted to one another in ways that make racial divisions meaningless, and by making Kenya, Tip and Tip’s genetic brother, Teddy, exemplary and accomplished people. Although Bernard Doyle was accused of political opportunism at the time he adopted Tip and Teddy, he has proven to be the most devoted of fathers, despite the usual pangs of fatherly frustration.
As their names indicate, Tip and Teddy were raised to be Massachusetts politicians and fulfill their father’s dreams. But Tip is an aloof Harvard ichthyologist, “the kind of kid who could hang from your neck and still maintain a critical distance,” and he is impatient with the family ambitions. Teddy contemplates becoming a priest like his 88-year-old Uncle Sullivan, who is said to be a miraculous healer.
The other Sullivan, Tip and Teddy’s older brother, is the son who destroyed his father’s career. He has spent years lying low in Africa but reappears suddenly on the night of the accident to somehow, uncannily, become the Doyle who understands Kenya and her mother best.
“Run,” with a title that suggests many things (including Kenya’s athletic prowess and Doyle’s political drive), and with a watery looking cover that reflects the whole book’s aura of a human aquarium, becomes an elegant mélange of family ties. Ms. Patchett gives her readers much to contemplate when genetics, privilege, opportunity and nurture come into play. And to her credit she is neither vague nor reductive about any of these things; she creates a genuinely rich landscape of human possibility. If she does not wildly exploit the drama of colliding fates on a snowy night and subsequent life-or-death medical crisis, there are plenty of other writers who tell such stories.
“Run” is muted only insofar as its characters are all so accomplished, their natures so decent and their barbs so civilized. It’s as if the story’s racial nuances, which are rendered almost nonexistent, are still present enough to preclude any rough edges.
Ms. Patchett showed no such restraint in “Bel Canto,” a more astonishing book and a less inhibited one. But “Run” still shimmers with its author’s rarefied eloquence, and with the deep resonance of her insights. When Kenya arrives at the Doyle home, a place she has looked at with longing all her life, and is given one of the boys’ white T-shirts to sleep in, Ms. Patchett invokes the image of a ship’s sail. That’s an exquisitely simple image of how much Kenya’s life has changed overnight."

Brass Verdict (2008) by Michael Connelly

"Things are finally looking up for defence attorney Mickey Haller. After two years of wrong turns, Haller is back in the courtroom. When Hollywood lawyer Jerry Vincent is murdered, Haller inherits his biggest case yet: the defense of Walter Elliott, a prominent studio executive accused of murdering his wife and her lover. But as Haller prepares for the case that could launch him into the big time, he learns that Vincent's killer may be coming for him next.

Enter Harry Bosch. Determined to find Vincent's killer, he is not opposed to using Haller as bait. But as danger mounts and the stakes rise, these two loners realize their only choice is to work together.

Bringing together Michael Connelly's two most popular characters, The Brass Verdict is sure to be his biggest book yet."


Copied from Goodreads, Internet, May 19, 2012

Ex Libris Confessions of a Common Reader (1998) by Anne Fadiman

A delightful book of a collection of 18 essays about the author's love affair with books.  The prose is intelligent, as are the stories, which are autobiographical in content.  The author affirms the value of books and reading in our lives.  Whether it is a messy bookcase or a musty book store, all books receive attention for the meaning they bring to Anne Fadiman and her equally hooked-on-books husband.  A fun read!

One Was A Soldier (2011) by Julia Spencer-Fleming

On a warm September evening in the Millers Kill community center, five veterans sit down in rickety chairs to try to make sense of their experiences in Iraq.  What they will find is murder, conspiracy, and the unbreakable ties that bind them to one another and their small Adirondack town.

The Rev. Clare Fergusson wants to forget the things she saw as a combat helicopter pilot and concentrate on her relationship with Chief of Police Russ Van Alstyne. MP Eric McCrea needs to control the explosive anger threatening his job as a police officer. Will Ellis, high school track star, faces the reality of life as a double amputee. Orthopedist Trip Stillman is denying the extent of  his traumatic brain injury. And bookkeeper Tally McNabb wrestles with guilt over the in-country affair that may derail her marriage. But coming home is harder than it looks. One vet will struggle with drugs and alcohol. One will lose his family and friends. One will die.

Since their first meeting, Russ and Clare’s bond has been tried, torn, and forged by adversity. But when he rules the veteran’s death a suicide, she violently rejects his verdict, drawing the surviving vets into an unorthodox investigation that threatens jobs, relationships, and her own future with Russ. As the days cool and the nights grow longer, they will uncover a trail of deceit that runs from their tiny town to the upper ranks of the U.S. Army, and from the waters of the Millers Kill to the unforgiving streets of Baghdad.


Review copied from Goodreads May 2012

Sense of an Ending (2011) by Julian Barnes

Winner of the Man Booker Prize.  I did not think that this novel was a Booker winner, however, that decision was not mine.  It was an interesting look at a man  examining his past and how he may have impacted the lives of others.  In reality his role was quite small and could be limited to a mean-spirited letter he had written to a school mate who was dating his former girlfriend.  There was a lot of naval gazing and pretentiousness in the characters.  The ending, which revealed Adrian's suicide and explained Veronica's relationships with her mother and  mentally handicapped brother, was illuminating, but did not redeem anyone.

Flash and Bones (2011) by Kathy Reichs

"Either the formula is wearing thin or I'm tiring a bit of the formula but I didn't love this latest installment in Kathy Reich's long-running series about a forensic anthropologist. This episode takes place in her home town of Charlotte, home to NASCAR, and has tie-ins to the race business. It also links to American extremists, and several missing people
I'm not going to give away plot points here. My main problem with the story and its telling was the telling: too many repeated comments about her cat, too juvenile a response to a new male character, occasional choppy writing, repeated descriptions of FBI operatives, etc. I don't recall being struck by these elements in the past. Has Reichs changed or have I?
All that being said, it was a quick read and I did want to know who did it (though I knew before Tempe).''

I couldn't agree more!

Review copied from Goodreads, Interenet, May 6, 2012

Blind Assassin ( 2000) by Margaret Atwood

Though this book won The Booker, I really did not enjoy it.  The separate stories into space and with the lovers caused me to feel disjointed in my reading. The story of the sisters was interesting enough, however. The last few books by Atwood e.g. Onyx and Crank are also an example of her taking her writing in another direction.  However, I do not want to travel that direction of her.  This may be a case of The  Emperors New Clothes. I used to love Margaret Atwood, but some love affairs come to an end.

9 Dragons (2009) by Michael Connelly

                                                                                      
Yes, I've been on a bit of a Michael Connelly spree.  But after trying to get through Margaret Atwood's 'Blind Assassin' I needed some thing superficial.  The 9 Dragons is one of my least favourite MC novels.  It seems unrealistic.  Harry's daughter getting kidnapped in Hong Kong because of a case he was working in LA.  His trip to Hong Kong was also fantastic as he had to join forces with his ex-wife's Chinese boyfriend (security at the casino where his wife worked playing cards). As the two men tried to chase down the clues with the 'ex' in tow, she gets killed by bullets intended for Harry.  But, Harry and the boyfriend leave her body behind and continue on with the mission.  Once the daughter is freed and details come forward, Harry whisks her via air to LA.  Only then does it seem she feel bad about her mother, but is ready and pleased to attend a new school immediately.

Mom's body will be shipped home for a funeral.  Why is it that  Harry's female love interests seem to get killed or injured or transfered? I guess it keeps him free for a new adventure.

The Drop (2011) by Michael Connelly



 "Harry Bosch has been given three years before he must retire from the LAPD, and he wants cases more fiercely than ever. In one morning, he gets two.

DNA from a 1989 rape and murder matches a 29-year-old convicted rapist. Was he an eight-year-old killer or has something gone terribly wrong in the new Regional Crime Lab? The latter possibility could compromise all of the lab''s DNA cases currently in court.

Then Bosch and his partner are called to a death scene fraught th internal politics. Councilman Irvin Irving''s son jumped or was pushed from a window at the Chateau Marmont. Irving, Bosch''s longtime nemesis, has demanded that Harry handle the investigation.
Relentlessly pursuing both cases, Bosch makes two chilling discoveries: a killer operating unknown in the city for as many as three decades, and a political conspiracy that goes back into the dark history of the police department. "




Indigo, Internet, May 3, 2012