Review: French Exit, by Patrick DeWitt

French Exit, by Patrick DeWitt. Published 2018 by Ecco. Audiobook narration by Lorna Raver.

As some of you may know I was a pretty big fan of Patrick DeWitt's 2011 Booker-Prize-nominated comedy The Sisters Brothers. So much so that I honestly hesitated to read his latest, French Exit, for fear that I would be disappointed and not have the same delightful experience. Well I needn't have been afraid.

The premise of French Exit is a little less enticing, I have to admit- wealthy widow and man-child son lose their money and must spend their declining time in, of all places, Paris. Poor dears! But the physical location is only incidental to their situation; it barely even registers, honestly. They could be anywhere; what matters is what's going on inside them.

Frances Price is the stunning widow of Franklin Price and the survivor of a scandal that she caused when her husband died. Malcolm is their 30ish son, who still lives with his mother, has no profession and few relationships of any kind. There is Susan, a woman who loves Malcolm, and a cat, Small Frank, who seems attached to Frances for some reason. Frances has a friend named Joan, another wealthy woman who lends Frances and Malcolm her Paris apartment when Frances discovers that their money is gone and they are about to be evicted from their home. Quickly selling what possessions she can, Frances takes her son, her cat and a wad of Euros on a one-way cruise to the Continent, where she picks up a ragtag assortment of friends and enacts a plan.

Patrick deWitt's sense of black humor and his pitch-perfect character building, not to mention talent for the arch phrase and knowing wink of the pen (if there is such a thing) make this story absolutely delightful. I really enjoyed every minute. Lorna Raver's narration shapes the book into theater, with her slightly scratchy, mannered Frances and lumbering-dolt Malcolm especially good. The ending is predictable and the book takes a turn towards the bittersweet at its approach; nevertheless I was still shocked at the last-minute violence of it. It's just a wonderful book, frivolous in just the right way and serious when it counts.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary audiobook from libro.fm.

Review: MADE FOR LOVE, by Alissa Nutting

Made for Love, by Alissa Nutting. Published 2017 by Ecco. Audiobook narrated by Suzanne Elise Freeman. Literary Fiction. Science Fiction.

A woman runs away from her techonut husband while her elderly father finds companionship in a sex doll and another man becomes attracted to dolphins in Alissa Nutting's funny, twisted and thoroughly delightful new novel.

At the outset, Hazel, a young woman in her thirties, abandons her marriage to Byron Gogol. He is founder of a tech company looking to take over the world, or at least the people in it, through the introduction of more and more intrusive technology. Finally he wants to "meld minds" with his wife, in one-sided arrangement that would give him access to her every thought but give her nothing in return (haha sounds like my last relationship too). His incursions start out with low-level technostalking when they first meet and escalate to monitoring her without her knowledge 24/7. She wants out; what started out as a loveless marriage for money has become something frightening and deeply threatening and now, hiding at her father's house, she believes Byron will eventually kill her rather than let her go.

At the same time her father, who is more ill than he lets on, has taken up with a sex doll named Diane and wants to live out his remaining time in a fantasy world of plastic love. He lets Hazel stay with him for the time being, but only if she agrees to buy him a second doll.

Then there's Jasper, a con artist and gigolo who gets a number done on him after an encounter with a dolphin changes him in a way he struggles to come to terms with, first through employment at an aquarium and later through Gogle-sponsored surgery. Eventually all three characters come together, but not in any way I expected.

Made for Love; what does it mean? Hazel's father's doll was manufactured for sex; Hazel herself becomes an object in the eyes of her husband, there to be used for his experiments; and Jasper has created of himself a character who pretends to love women while he steals from them. But at a metaphorical level, or literal if you're religious, the human soul as made for love is a religious concept that reaches back to the Bible. Pope John Paul II said "A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use." All three main characters, and many of the minor ones, have to learn this lesson over the course of this strange and wonderful book.

I'm calling this book science fiction because it is deeply concerned with the ways technology affects our lives, and portrays a current-day or near-future world in which technology is threatening to become hyper-intrusive, a world in which we have literally no privacy, not even the privacy of our own thoughts. The beating heart of the narrative is Byron Gogle's company, the extension of his self with its wireless tentacles stretching out, trying to enclose everyone in his life just as a start. Byron/Gogol's grasping is desperate and needy and belies Byron's blasé, blank affect; there's more going on with him than we see, but the whole point is that he is the one character whose interior life we will never see, and that's the way he wants it.  As his tentacles get closer and closer to our protagonists I was feeling a real tension and suspense, wondering how this was all going to turn out.

The ending is quick but satisfying; an otherwise throwaway character saves the day, and those that remain move on to uncertain but somehow better futures. I really enjoyed Made for Love; it was quirky, hilarious, edgy and at times outlandish, but it kept me reading and held my attention, which is saying a lot for audio fiction. Suzanne Elise Freeman's expert narration helped a lot too; she is expressive and charismatic and brought the words to life.  If you have a slightly off-kilter sense of humor and are ready for the unexpected, Made for Love is a great choice for you.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary audio listening copy from libro.fm.

Review: BEAUTIFUL RUINS, by Jess Walter

Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter. Published 2013 by Harper Perennial. Fiction.

Beautiful Ruins is a book that straddles the line between commercial and literary fiction, and between soapy and romantic. It took me a long time to get around to reading it; I had it in galley and met author Jess Walter at a prepublication event sponsored by the publisher, but it languished on my shelf and eventually I gave away my copy, even after lots of friends raved about it. It just seemed too... I don't know... commercial for my taste. But curiosity won out, and I picked a copy up after Christmas and devoured it.

For me it started off a little slow, with a disaffected producer's assistant dreaming of making "films" while stuck in the mire of Hollywood schlock. She's considering switching careers, to librarianship of all things, when an aspiring writer walks through the door and changes her life, though not in any way you might think.

The narrative moves around in time and next thing we're in Italy in the early 1960s as a young actress named Dee is taking refuge in a tiny hotel in a hole-in-the-wall town, whose owner, Pasquale, is fascinated and troubled by her presence. Then we meet a frustrated writer, an elderly producer, a troubled young man, and more. When the narrative shifts definitively to the present these characters intersect and their stories take final shape. What comes next will either having you rolling your eyes or wiping the tears away from them.

For me it was the latter. I wasn't expecting this but I was totally swept up in these characters' lives, the many lives each one leads, especially Dee and Pasquale. I know the story is kind of cheesy but Walters totally won me over with these two. The other characters were less interesting to me but I loved Dee and Pasquale's friendship, their journey, and the beautiful ending that Walter gives them both.

I would definitely recommend Beautiful Ruins as a literary beach book, or just a wonderful escapist read to help you forget about the winter weather. You will feel like you're wandering the coast of Italy with Dee and Pasquale, and the other characters too, rooting for their beautiful stories all the way.

Rating: BEACH

FTC Disclosure: I received a copy of Beautiful Ruins from the publisher.

Review: THE HOUSE ON MOON LAKE, by Francesca Duranti

The House on Moon Lake, by Francesca Duranti. Published 2000 by Delphinium Books. Literary Fiction. Translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli.

Fabrizio Garrone is a translator from a wealthy family whose fortunes have faded. His best friend Mario, who grew up idolizing Fabrizio and his refined family, is now Fabrizio's boss at an Italian publishing house, and Fabrizio is struggling to keep afloat both his career and his foundering relationship with Fulvia, his on-and-off-again girlfriend of many years.

One day Fabrizio stumbles on what he believes will be a literary firecracker- an unknown book, a masterpiece really, just waiting to be brought to light. The discovery shatters Fabrizio's life; the book's explosive success, and Fabrizio's newfound role, take him places he never dreamed he would go.

And this book was nothing like what I expected. What starts as a literary detective story becomes a tale of obsession and annihilation, narrated in luminous prose by a woman who is becoming one of my favorite writers. The title is that of the book Fabrizio discovers, a love story so beautiful that Fabrizio becomes set on finding out the truth of it. Duranti maintains the suspense the whole way even as the story takes some very strange twists. At the end I didn't quite know what to think; the mysteries are irresistible and hard to forget.

I don't know if this book is published in the United States; I tracked down a used copy published the UK after having Duranti recommended to me as an excellent literary Italian writer. She is, and her books are worth your while to track down.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure:  I did not receive this book for review.

Review: NOT MY FATHER'S SON, by Alan Cumming

Not My Father's Son, by Alan Cumming. Published 2014 by Dey St./William Morrow. Memoir.

I don't read a ton of celebrity memoirs- usually I have to be a fan of the author, and even then let's just say I manage my expectations. I can't say I'm a particular fan of Alan Cumming (I did see "Circle of Friends" on a flight to Ireland in 1995) but the buzz on his book was just so intriguing that I had to check it out, and I'm so glad I did.

Cumming's book tells two stories. First, he tells us about his father, Alex, who was monstrously abusive, both emotionally and physically, towards Alan, his brother Tom and their mother Mary. Alex tormented his children even into adulthood, first by telling Alan that Alan was not his biological child and then by playing a cruel trick designed to come to light after his death. Cumming tells Alex's story in alternating chapters with the present-tense search for the truth about his maternal grandfather. Tom Darling was a World War 2 soldier with the Cameron Highlanders, a Scottish unit that served in Europe. He died under shaded circumstances in Malaysia; Cumming sets out to find out what happened to him, with the help of a British television show called "Who Do You Think You Are". This reality show helps celebrities find out things about their families and documents the search.

Cumming's writing is very good and I found the narrative compelling and emotionally affecting. I was sorry to see it end, and I really enjoyed following his journey to find out more about Darling- a journey with two endings, one bitter and one very, very sweet. The story of coming to terms with Alex Cumming's sad legacy is also very emotional, but I loved the way Cumming finds of turning his father's last betrayal into something beautiful for Mary Darling. He also turned out a beautiful book full of love and forgiveness and acceptance. In the end that's all we can ask. I would certainly recommend the book to memoir readers and to people who enjoy reading about families. Ultimately it's a very happy story.

P.S., if you're interested in the story of Tom Darling, you can find the entire episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" on YouTube.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: THE WORLD OF POSTSECRET, by Frank Warren

The World of PostSecret, by Frank Warren. Published 2014 by William Morrow. Art, Popular Culture.

In 2004 Frank Warren started asking people to send him postcards with their secrets written on them. People responded in droves to the opportunity to participate in his public confessional, and he's received countless secrets since then, started an extremely popular website/blog (postsecret.com), traveled the world doing events and shows, and published five earlier books.

This book is several things. It's a collection of secrets, like the earlier five. It's also a look back at the project, now ten years old, containing reminisces by Warren and his mail carrier, and stories about controversies, victories, special secrets and more. He also discusses the fate of the PostSecret app, and what the future might hold for the project, hinting that he's looking for a successor to take it on.

I've always been fascinated by PostSecret and have made a habit of visiting his blog every Sunday to see the latest secrets. I think the project appeals to people on several levels. There's an aspect of voyeurism at wanting to see others' secrets. There's a wish to find out if someone else has the same secrets one has. (Am I the only one who...?) And there's the art itself, the beautiful and strange and wonderfully bizarre and personal images and messages that people take the time to produce. Finally, I think the project appeals to people not only as a way to express their own secrets but to see others reaching across the digital world, reaching out, and being that person who receives the message, like a message in a bottle.

The messages take all forms. Just about any secret you can think of, you will find on the website or in one of Warren's books. It makes you think how alike we all are, how we struggle with so many of the same things. Empathy is the biggest take-away, the chance to consider struggles from many different  perspectives. I wonder about the stories behind the secrets, too. What compelled the person to share, what got him or her into the situation and how will it be resolved? What's it like to live with these secrets day to day? Probably, it's the same as it is for all of us to live with our secrets. Reading this book reminds you you're not alone no matter what you struggle with.

I recommend it to readers who like the confessional and the personal, and I also recommend it as a holiday gift for anyone for whom you bought Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half last year. It's the kind of thing that different kinds of people who enjoy on different levels, including a lot of people who wouldn't think of picking it up for themselves. It can kind of hang out on the coffee table or the nightstand and be the kind of book you pick through a little at a time, then return to in a quiet moment now and then, a book for introverts if you will. I liked it.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from HarperCollins.

Review: THE ALL OF IT, by Jeannette Haien

The All of It, by Jeannette Haien. Published by Harper Perennial 2011.

So a week ago legendary author/bookstore owner Ann Patchett made a last-minute appearance at the bookstore where I work. The event was packed and she was terrific- funny, charismatic and polished. As part of the event she recommended a couple of her favorite books, including this little gem, The All of It, which she was influential in getting republished and for which she wrote the introduction. Naturally everyone scooped it up, myself included.

The All of It is a short novel, really a novella, about a priest named Father Declan and his relationship with a couple, Enda and Kevin, in midcentury Ireland. Kevin is dying as the book opens, and he has a last secret to share, but he passes before he can let it out. So Enda tells him "the all of it," the secret behind her and Kevin's longstanding relationship. She spills the secret quickly so that some readers might look at the 125-odd pages that remain and say, "well, I know the big thing, why should I finish?" The reason to finish is Jeannette Haien's luminous prose and the meditations that follow on the nature of love, life and empathy.

The All of It is a novel to read by the fireplace in an afternoon, with a cup of cocoa and a blanket. It will shake you up emotionally but it will comfort you, too; pondering Enda's revelation and its implications, watching Father Declan sort out his complicated feelings towards this enigmatic woman and enjoying the last few pages of suspense are what make this novel great even after the twist has come and gone. It's deceptive in its simplicity, a novel that isn't even really about what you think it's about when you first open its pages. It's a book I'd recommend to just about any reader, too.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

Review: THE SON, by Philipp Meyer

The Son, by Philipp Meyer. Published 2013 by HarperCollins. Literary Fiction.

It's hard to know how to start a review for a book like The Son. I met author Philipp Meyer at a HarperCollins dinner thanks to my employer and as interesting a person as he clearly is, and as lauded as his first novel American Rust has been, I was lukewarm about reading The Son and wasn't sure I was going to get around it to. What a mistake that would have been.

The Son is destined to be an American classic. Telling the story of Texas through a family of misfits and outcasts, it's a staggering book. The McCulloughs make their fortune in cattle but quickly turn to oil; patriarch Eli, "the Colonel," is kidnapped by the Comanches as a boy only to return to white society and build a fortress of wealth and power around himself. Eli's son Peter struggles to deal with the brutal massacre of his neighbors, the Garcias, and the takeover by the McCulloughs of the Garcia property. He also struggles with a failing marriage and his own failure in the eyes of his father. Peter's granddaughter Jeannie is a woman in a man's world, the heiress to the oil fortune and the person tasked with moving the family into the modern era and picking up the pieces of a family falling to time and change.

The book is primarily character-driven; it reads like three autobiographies but they vary in tone and style and voice. But don't take that to mean that there is no suspense. There is plenty to drive your fingers forward across the pages, plenty of tension and violence both physical and psychic. Early scenes depicting the violent deaths of Eli's family and passages later describing the aftermath of the Garcia massacre are haunting and vivid. Meyer consistently underplays the emotional consequences of these harrowing events, especially in Eli's passages which read like a simple cold recitation.

That said, Meyer provides an impressive amount of detail regarding Comanche life. Eli is telling his story to a WPA historian, as we learn in Jeannie's sections, and he's an old man as he does it, looking back on events years ago. Nonetheless we can see glimmers of the emotional weight he still bears. Meyer writes Peter's sections in diary form, lending his thoughts a right-now immediacy. I liked his chapters the best, I think for this reason. I also loved the way he grows and gradually rebels against his domineering father.

Jeannie's chapters were also wonderful. Meyer does a great job of getting inside her head; you'd think it was Margaret Atwood writing sometimes. Then there is a fourth character who appears at the end and whose actions form a circle that both closes and continues the McCullough saga.

So the bottom line is, read this book. You can skim over the gory bits if you need to, but don't miss out on The Son. You have time though- this is no fly-by-night pile of hype. It's a book that's going to be with us for a long time to come.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received an advance copy from HarperCollins.

Review: THE ILLUSION OF SEPARATENESS, by Simon Van Booy

The Illusion of Separateness, by Simon Van Booy. Published 2013 by HarperCollins. Literary Fiction.

Simon Van Booy has made a name for himself in literary circles with his lovely, poet writing, beautiful love stories and moving short stories. I feel like his latest, The Illusion of Separateness, will be the book that brings him to the attention of the wider reading public.

It's a series of connected short stories about a cast of characters whose stories range much of the 20th century and into the 21st. Martin is a French baker living in California; Amelia a wealthy blind woman living in the Hamptons; John is a British soldier in World War 2; Victor Hugo is a disfigured and amnesiac older man living on the margins. Their stories, and those of other characters, are connected in ways both known and unknown to each other. Van Booy's characteristic poetic writing weaves them together beautifully.

The Illusion of Separateness is definitely a character- and voice-driven book, not long on plot but containing rich character studies and memorable writing. At the same time it raises questions about our responsibilities to others and to ourselves, and how we should view the disadvantaged among us. Who knows who that person might be, what his story is, how his life might touch or have touched our own. There but for the grace of God, as they say.  Illusion posits that we are all closer than we think to each other, that our stories overlap and interlock in ways that might be unlikely or strange but nonetheless true, and asks us to think of others in this way and treat them accordingly. I think it would make an excellent book club choice as there is much material for discussion. It's a lovely, moving read that many readers would enjoy.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from the publisher.

REVIEW: The Colour of Milk, by Nell Leyshon

The Colour of Milk, by Nell Leyshon. Published 2012 by Ecco. Literary Fiction.

"this is my book and i am writing it by my own hand."

So begins the testament of Mary, a young girl aged fifteen as she writes. It's 1831 and, instilled with a sense of urgency that we don't understand right away, she tells us she's the daughter of a bitter man with a house full of girls, cast off to be the servant of a pastor and his reclusive wife. Bright, a hard worker and just a little rebellious, Mary endeavors to work hard- making bread, cleaning, taking care of the "mrs." as she calls the pastor's wife, suffering from a nameless illness and confined to her bed. Hard work is the only life she's ever known, and all she expects to know.

But Mary has some adjustments to make at her new home. She misses her family, especially her grandfather, the only person to ever show her love. She misses her sisters, especially one who is pregnant by the pastor's son. And she has a hard time assimilating the relative luxury of the new place. She also has a hard time with the pastor, who doesn't abuse her exactly- at least not at first- but who doesn't seem to understand that Mary is not an automaton, that she has feelings and a will of her own. Too bad for him. But he does teach her to read and write, and so she is able to tell us her story.

The Colour of Milk has been compared to Margaret Atwood's Alias Grace in the way Leyshon deals with themes of power and submission, and class and gender conflict. The comparison is apt but The Colour of Milk is a much less complex book than Atwood's searing masterwork. There's no real ambiguity here, no real question about what happens- just Mary telling her tale in that naive, straightforward style. The writing strikes me as the literary equivalent of folk art- simple but masking a rich inner life. I enjoyed reading the book, watching Mary's world unfold and the course of her life along with it. The action moved at a smooth pace and the suspense, though muted, whispered its presence throughout. At a mere 176 pages, it's a relatively quick read and lots of readers will be intrigued and won over by Mary's simple story, as timeless and universal as it is unique.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: The Round House, by Louise Erdrich

The Round House, by Louise Erdrich. Published 2012 by Harper Perennial. Literary Fiction.

The year is 1988. Thirteen year old Joe lives on an Ojibwe reservation in North Dakota with his parents, his mother Geraldine a tribal administrator and his father Bazil a judge. By reservation standards, he is well off and his family is stable and prosperous. He likes to hang out with his friends and they're all obsessed with a new show on television, Star Trek: The Next Generation.

But then one ordinary Sunday his mother is attacked. Someone has raped and beaten her, and had meant to do worse. The family is thrown into chaos; his heretofore reliable and nurturing mother refuses to leave her room, or eat, or talk. His father is helpless in the face of his wife's trauma, and Joe is forced to take on the adult world long before he's ready. Frustrated with the slow pace of the investigation and the hurdles presented by tribal law, he goes out with his friends, especially his best friend Cappy, to find answers and seek justice himself. What follows is a slow-motion tragedy that will mark them all for life.

The Round House gives up its secrets slowly, and some not at all. Joe's investigation, alongside his father's, exposes buried family sagas, unspoken truths about reservation life and the white American world beyond it, and forces almost everyone into making painful choices and accepting horrific realities. The book is filled with supporting characters whose lives contain tragedies of their own; Linda Wishknob, a white woman adopted by an Indian family after her own left her to die as a infant, and Sonja, Joe's uncle's girlfriend, had, for me, the most poignant arcs. But everyone is transformed by the fallout of the attack on Geraldine.

I hadn't read Louise Erdrich before and didn't know exactly what to expect. What I found was a novel that was at once easy to read and difficult to fully assimilate. The Round House is a book that asks a lot of hard questions about guilt, remorse, justice, family, love and the search for quiet in our lives and in our hearts. The smoothness of Erdrich's prose belies the uncompromising toughness beneath the surface. I would encourage readers of literary fiction to pick it up but be ready for some difficult, emotional reading.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: Lanceheim, by Tim Davys

Lanceheim, by Tim Davys. Published 2010 by HarperCollins. Crime Fiction. Translated from Swedish.

Lanceheim is the sequel to the plush-toy crime novel Amberville and the second in the Mollisan Town Quartet series by Tim Davys, a pseudonymous Swedish writer. More original and multilayered than Amberville, it's a puzzle and an enigma.

Mollisan Town is a land populated entirely by living stuffed animals, creatures made of fabric and stitches but otherwise as human as you or I. It's divided into four districts, not coincidentally the same as the four books in the series- Amberville, Lanceheim, Torquai and Yok. Yok comes out today and it's the publication of the final volume that spurred me to move forward in reading the series. I own all four volumes now and intend to keep going and finish this year.

In the mean time though, I read Lanceheim, very different, as I said, from its preceding book. Amberville was a fantasy noir; Lanceheim is harder to characterize. The story centers on a strange creature named Maximilian, different from all other Mollisan Town creatures in that he gets bigger over time, has fabric that gets red in the sun and even changes his appearance as he grows. He is raised by Eva Whippoorwill and Sven Beaver, who find him in the forest. Over time he becomes a shadowy figure, a prophet and the center of a strange religious movement. He utters strange things; he makes no sense but he seems to have the power to heal. Two stuffed animals narrate the story- Wolf Diaz, Maximilian's most loyal follower and oldest friend, and Reuben Walrus, a composer who is slowly going deaf, and is desperate to find the legendary Maximilian and be healed of his illness which is destroying his life along with his hearing. But in Mollisan Town, everybody has a secret, even those whose secrets seem to be told.

This series has not fared well commercially and it's easy to see why. It's just not like anything else out there, and the books tend to get lost in the general fiction section when they should be shelved in fantasy next to their big brothers Robert Rankin and Terry Pratchett. Davys's books aren't anywhere as funny as Rankin and Pratchett; they're quite serious and even solemn in tone, but their fantasy-laced world of plush is hard to sell to the reader of general fiction.

I enjoyed Lanceheim; I found it more challenging than Amberville and a very satisfactory entry in the series. There was plenty of suspense to keep me turning the pages, and Davys creates some very complicated, engaging and surprising characters. Wolf Diaz keeps us guessing right till the end, and Maximilian is a strange and possibly unique creation. I want to see what else Davys has in store for us with the next two novels in the series, Torquai and Yok. I'll definitely keep you posted!

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from HarperCollins.

REVIEW: Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama

Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama, by Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet. Published 1990 by HarperOne. ISBN 9780060987015

I became interested in learning more about the 14th Dalai Lama after reading a brief manga biography about him late last year; that book gave a kind of pencil sketch of his life, from when he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Buddha of Compassion at the age of 2 and sent away to be trained to be a political leader and religious icon through his exile in India. This book covers much more ground and in more detail, through almost the present day.

The Dalai Lama tells his story in a pretty matter-of-fact way, laying out facts and chains of events from his childhood through around the time of the book's publication in 1990. He presents a vivid picture of pre-invasion Tibet, recounts with candor his initial interest and respect for Chinese Communism, his growing disillusionment with Mao and his government, and later, his growing and painful knowledge of Chinese atrocities committed against Tibet and Tibetans. I really got the sense of a lost world, or at least a world in some kind of stasis as the diaspora community tries to maintain a sense of its culture and figure out where to go from here, all the while Tibetan culture inside Tibet is being swallowed whole. I also got the sense of a very thoughtful man who was brought up to expect something rather extraordinary out of life, and found that life had something else to offer entirely.

 Every once in a while a little of his cranky, silly personality comes through, but I wish there were more personal touches. His hobbies include gardening and scientific inquiry, and one of my favorite passages recounts what happened when he tried to build a place for birds to perch near his window:

...I constructed a bird table just outside my study window. It is surrounded by wire and netting to keep out the larger birds and birds of prey, which tend to scare off their smaller brethren. This is not always sufficient to keep them away, however. Occasionally, I am compelled to take out one of the air guns that I acquired shortly after arriving in India, in order to discipline these fat, greedy trespassers. Having spent a great deal of time as a child at the Norbulingka [palace] practicing with the Thirteenth's old air rifle, I am quite a good shot. Of course, I never kill them. My intention is only to inflict a measure of pain in order to teach a lesson.

Air rifles? Shooting birds? This is not what I expected, but I was sort of delighted to read about these kinds of shenanigans. This ordinary tone persists throughout the book. Frequently I had to remind myself as I read about this often very ordinary-seeming man that he is not ordinary at all, that he is a holy man to millions, although it's clear at every turn that the life he is leading is anything but the life of an ordinary person. I only wish he had offered us even more in the way of personal thoughts and insights; even anecdotes like the one I quoted above seem made ready for public consumption, and while I don't begrudge him his privacy, I was hoping for more reflective musings.

But you know what? On the whole, Freedom in Exile is a really fascinating book that I can recommend to just about any reader. The Dalai Lama illuminates not just the events of his own life but the ongoing troubles of Tibet and its relationship with China. And I'm still interested to read more about the Dalai Lama, too. I feel like this book is another piece of the puzzle and that there's still a lot more to learn.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, by Ben Fountain. Published 2012 by Ecco. Literary Fiction.

I don't read a lot of contemporary war novels, that is, books about wars that happened during my lifetime, and I hesitated a long time before picking up Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. I guess I'm always just a little worried about the point of view I'm going to encounter and how that's going to affect my enjoyment of the rest of the book. I'm not sure what it was exactly that pushed me over the line and persuaded me to give it a try, but I'm glad I did.

The book takes place over the course of one very long day. The men of Bravo squad, recently returned to the United States after their heroic acts in battle in Iraq were captured by an embedded journalist, are spending the day at a Dallas Cowboys game. They are at the tail end of a long "victory tour" across the country- mostly in swing states, as it happens- and they are all wiped and worn out. They've been feted and fussed over and Hollywood wants to tell their story. Word has it Hilary Swank wants to star. Now, though, they've got one day to get through before the next phase of their journey- not back home, but back to war.

The reader spends the day in the head of Billy Lynn, a private at the center of the action that went down, the action for which they're famous. Other members of the squad come in and out of the story, especially Dime, their commanding officer, an antiauthoritarian authority figure who provides a backbone of cynicism and skepticism but has his mens' love and loyalty absolutely. These guys are a unit, truly; whatever threatens one, threatens all, and as the day unfolds the men learn who is and is not truly on their side. In the mean time, they go through their day; they meet Cowboys honchos, flirt with cheerleaders and receive, not always happily, adoration, worship and appreciation for their service.

Tension builds slowly as we traverse Billy's memories, his family and his time in the service. The most important day of the story and maybe Billy's life, the day of the battle, plays like music in the background as the men negotiate the mundane events of this day at the stadium. Everything leads up to the halftime show, when the football field becomes another kind of battlefield for these men whose pent up stress and exhaustion threaten to overwhelm them.

The book is so completely engrossing that sometimes I forgot I wasn't reading about real people. I read it quickly; often the narrative slips into a sort of stream of consciousness but one that still kept me glued to the book. I think Ben Fountain has written a very brave and difficult book that takes a hard look at the cost of war both for our country and for the men and women tasked with fighting it. It undercuts a lot of the blind obedience and herd-following that goes on in civilian culture with respect to attitudes about the military while showing a great deal of empathy and respect for the private struggles of the armed soldier. It reminds of the sections in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, the parts where we see a character's cynicism around attitudes about soldiers and veterans. It's a book whose implications and meanings I know I'll struggle with for a long time, and one that I'd highly recommend to every reader.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

REVIEW: The Testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers

The Testament of Jessie Lamb, by Jane Rogers. Published 2012 by HarperPerennial. ISBN 9780062130808.

This year's winner of the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award and originally published by the small Scottish publisher Sandstone Press, The Testament of Jessie Lamb is a book that will definitely get you thinking, and talking.

Veteran writer Jane Rogers tells the story of a 16 year old British girl named Jessie, who as the book opens is being held captive by her father. The story takes place in the near future after the spread of a deadly disease called Maternal Death Syndrome or MDS, which kills every infected pregnant woman. And everyone on Earth is infected. Panic spreads; scientists race to find a solution to the extinction of man while factions protest and regular people try to figure out what to do next. Jessie's father is a scientist at work on one of the most controversial projects, the Sleeping Beauties. Sleeping Beauties are young women- girls, really- who are impregnated with embryos then left in a coma until they deliver, and die.

When the book opens Jessie is tied up in a neighbor's house. She writes the book to keep herself occupied during her captivity, as a kind of reminiscence about the onset of MDS, the ensuing panics and reactions of her friends and family, and worldwide responses and consequences. Rogers lets Jessie give us a pretty good idea of the kind of chaos and uncertainty spreading through her society and her circles. Her aunt Mandy, childless and single, latches onto a cult for what she believes is her last chance at happiness. Her parents quarrel; her friend is raped and joins a feminist group. Jessie finds herself confronted with all kinds of conflicting ideas and input, and, eventually, comes to the decision that will land her in her cell and change her life forever.

I have to say I was very impressed by the novel. It's a genuinely creepy and disturbing dystopia, with a heroine who exhibits all the symptoms of teenage narcissism and still decides to take an active role in what's going on. She has no idea how her actions are impacting those around her; right up to the end she's blind to the effect she's having, totally cocooned in her own solipsistic righteousness. But the reader can see, and it's chilling, this single-mindedness of hers. I was totally engrossed and engaged from beginning to end. A paperback original, I think Testament would be a fantastic and very challenging book club selection, and a great read for lovers of dystopias and literary science fiction.

Rating: BUY

Buy it online from Powell's:

The Testament of Jessie Lamb (P.S.)
by Jane Rogers

I'm a Powell's partner and receive a small commission on sales.


FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: Arcadia, by Lauren Groff

Arcadia, by Lauren Groff. Published 2012 by Voice. Literary Fiction.

Arcadia, writer Lauren Groff's latest after the critically acclaimed The Monsters of Templeton, tells the story of Ridley "Bit" Stone, child of hippies and born on a commune. What a lovely book it is.

The book follows Bit's life from early childhood through midlife. When he's a child, life on the commune of Arcadia is young, too, and fresh and exciting. He's the adored only child of Hannah and Abe, idealists who've helped found a community based on high ideals. Hippies living in tents and mobile homes have found a large house in which to make a home; Arcadia House is an impossibly large and rambling mansion which the community transforms. Tasks are divided, a thin leadership structure is developed and over time the community takes shape.

But as it takes shape, and as Bit grows, chaos and interpersonal conflict eat away at the community like mold. Arcadia becomes famous and attracts more people than it can handle, people who don't share the founders' ideals. And the founders themselves grow apart as power struggles and conflicts over drugs and money create impossible rifts. Heretofore idyllic-seeming families fracture; the long-term effects of the lifestyle prove themselves to be not as wholesome as was hoped. Bit is in love his entire life with the mercurial, damaged Helle, daughter of Arcadia's leader Handy, himself unstable, charismatic and a key player in the community's dissolution.

Bit's life orbits around three women- Helle, his mother, and later his daughter Grete. One will disappear, one will decline, and one will flourish but all are the walking wounded, refugees in one way or another from Arcadia. Groff writes with great beauty and grace about the life of this place and the people who make it come alive. The book is lyrical and poetic but Groff doesn't get lost in mere style. She uses her beautiful writing to create unique, fresh characters. Sometimes I had to remind myself that I was reading fiction so well does she bring these people to life. She renders the setting vividly as well, both in terms of the physical descriptions and the idealism that drives the Arcadians to work so hard on their fragile community. But this is a novel that will stay with me for a long time pondering the trajectories both sad and triumphant of its members and its heirs. Arcadia is a must-read for literary fiction readers this spring and summer. I hope you get a chance to check it out!

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from HarperCollins.

A Decade Later, And Still Essential Reading: FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser: An Appreciation

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric Schlosser. Published 2001 by HarperCollins.

Every once in a while I read a book that does more than entertain me for the moment, or give me something to chat about with friends, or post about here on my blog. Sometimes I read a book that actually changes the way I look at something, enriches my understanding of the world around me and might even make me change how I live. The first book like that was Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States; in college, it was Michael Harrington's The Other America. In my twenties, I read the mind-blowing Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser's brilliant, thought-stirring, perspective-changing jeremiad on the ubiquitous fast food industry and the ripples it creates all across our society with every hamburger we eat.

In this recent article from the Daily Beast, Schlosser reflects on the 10-year anniversary of his groundbreaking book and how the world has and hasn't changed since it came out. He talks about how the government has continued to block reforms that would make our food supply safer, how labor conditions are still appalling and dangerous for those who process our meat, and how we're having public dialogues about things like obesity and marketing to children in ways we never did before. For me, the book was a true wake-up call to reconsider how my actions impacted and were impacted by the food industry and society.

Schlosser presents a broad cross-section of the industry and reveals some scary facts in the process. Unlike Morgan Spurlock's great documentary "Supersize Me!", which focuses mainly on the nutritional dangers of fast food, Schlosser's book covers everything from the origins of fast food restaurants in California car culture, to corporate agriculture, to conditions on the slaughterhouse floor, to the flavor and scent industry, to food safety, environmental impact and more. He talks about schools and about marketing to children, and tells us things that shocked me, like how early brand preferences are formed and how marketing executives seek to manipulate even the smallest children. He takes on all these issues to give the reader a primer on the affect of the industry on different facets of American life. Readers will hear from executives, farmers, workers, scientists and marketing professionals- and more.

And the writing? It's firecracker good. Schlosser writes in a punchy, confrontational style that's not afraid to take sides and pass judgement. Don't mistake Fast Food Nation for an objective assessment of the food industry. From a section called "the worst," about the meatpacking trade:

Some of the most dangerous jobs in meatpacking today are performed by the late-night cleaning crews...Three to four thousand cattle, each weighing about a thousand pounds, have been slaughtered [at a plant] that day. The place has to be clean by sunrise. Some of the workers wear water-resistant clothing; most don't. Their principal cleaning tool is a high-pressure hose that shoots a mixture of water and chlorine heated to about 180 degrees. As the water is sprayed, the plant fills with a thick, heavy fog. Visibility drops to as little as five feet. The conveyor belts and machinery are running. Workers stand on belts, spraying them, riding them like moving sidewalks, as high as fifteen feet off the ground. Workers climb ladders with hoses and spray the catwalks. They get under tables and conveyor belts, climbing right into the bloody muck, cleaning out grease, fat, manure, leftover scraps of meat...They routinely spray each other with burning hot, chemical-laden water. They are sickened by the fumes...Jesus [a worker Schlosser interviewed] says the stench in rendering is so powerful that it won't wash off...the smell comes home with you, seeps from your pores...Although official statistics are not kept, the death rate among slaughterhouse sanitation crews is extraordinarily high...The nation's worst job can end in just about the worst way. Sometimes these workers are literally ground up and reduced to nothing.

And he's got 60 pages of detailed notes with sources and a bibliography to back up everything he says.

As for the effect all this had on me, while I don't have it in me to be a vegetarian or a vegan, I have stopped eating at McDonald's and its ilk, and I do pay attention to where my meat comes from and buy organic and local when I can. It's been more than 10 years since I passed under the golden arches for anything more than a shamrock shake, and I don't even miss it. So if you haven't read Fast Food Nation I would urge you to add it to your reading list right away. It's a fascinating, highly readable evisceration of an industry that affects everyone whether you consume the stuff or not. Read it because more people are hurt by ignorance than by information.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser

I'm a Powell's partner and receive a small commission on sales.

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt

The Sisters Brothers, by Patrick deWitt. Published 2011 by HarperCollins.

I picked up The Sisters Brothers because I had time to kill at the airport one day and because my friend Ann Kingman of Books on the Nightstand said it was great. Well, it is. It is great.

Set in the Gold Rush days of California and Oregon, The Sisters Brothers tells the story of a pair of hired killers and their last big job. Eli and Charlie Sisters are sent to kill Hermann Kermit Warm; Warm has invented a formula for finding gold and their boss wants the formula. Eli narrates the story, and he is a wonderful fictional creation. I don't know how to describe Eli except to say he's a nerd who ended up in the wrong profession. Overweight and bumbling, with a horse as desperate as himself for love and affection, he grows in self-confidence as events go slowly and tragically awry. When the story opens, Charlie is the "lead man," the one who fancies himself in charge. But little by little, slowpoke Eli takes the reins. Eli has a quiet charm and likability that almost make me forget he's a serial killer on a mission.

I have to say, I really loved this book. The story follows their adventures as they chase, and eventually find, Warm and his companion. Along the way they stay in flophouse hotels, shop for clothes, try to seduce women and even learn to brush their teeth. It's a picaresque that never gets dull and never ever loses its way. I can see why it was shortlisted for 2011's Man Booker Prize, although as a Western it seems at first glance an unlikely choice for a prestigious European literary award. But it really is that good.

And it's funny. Like, not exactly laugh-out-loud funny but chuckle-enough-to-get-attention funny. Eli has a terrific sense of humor and the situations the brothers find themselves in are frequently absurd to hilarious. Reading The Sisters Brothers makes me want to pick up my Charles Portis stash, or try something else outside my comfort zone. It's just as great a time as I've had reading all year. I'd strongly recommend it to just about any reader. There is some violence but nothing too graphic- although that one scene where the horse's eye- well, you'll see what I mean, no pun intended, if you take my advice and pick up this wonderful novel.

And it counts towards the Complete Booker Challenge!

Rating: BUY

The Sisters Brothers
by Patrick deWitt

I'm a Powell's partner and receive a small commission on sales.


FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.

REVIEW: The Flight of Gemma Hardy, by Margot Livesey

The Flight of Gemma Hardy, by Margot Livesey. Published 2012 by HarperCollins. Literary Fiction.

So, I wasn't sure I was going to review The Flight of Gemma Hardy. I think it's really hard to rewrite a classic- Gemma is a retelling of Charlotte Brontë's immortal Jane Eyre- and I don't think the book is bad. I guess I just don't get it though.

When you start to rewrite a classic set in another time and place (Livesey sets Gemma in 1960s Scotland as opposed to early nineteenth century England), there are some things to consider. You have to consider how closely you want to hem to the plot points of the original. There are advantages and pitfalls to how you carry off the plot in relation to the original. Hem to closely, and it's boring- the reader already knows what's going to happen, so why keep reading? Stray too much, and you risk disappointing the fans. The author has to carry off what's important in a way that feels fresh but not be a slave to what's not. Most importantly, for the new book to be a success, the author has to create a truly original, engaging heroine (or hero), and the new heroine has to do the things she does not because that's what happened in the original but because that's what she'd do. The best example of the classic-rewrite that I've read, Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (a retelling of Pride and Prejudice) carries it off without a hitch. While I thought it's mostly pretty solid,  Gemma Harding has some shortcomings for me.

The book is set mostly in the Orkney Islands; the dominant feeling is cold and gloom. Gemma Hardy is an orphan living with her dead mother's family, who despise her. They send her away to a Dickensian nightmare of a boarding school and from there she winds up as a governess at a Scottish estate, where she falls in love with the lord of the manor. Can such a love ever be? There are secrets and lies, and Gemma has some self-discovery to do, too. So if you know Jane you know already you can tick off the plot points pretty easily. Gemma herself is reasonably sympathetic and her journey is interesting to see unfold.

I couldn't forget about Jane thought- Gemma isn't different enough or a strong enough character for that- and the book seems more interested in the plot than in the character development.  I found the central romance to be tepid and under-drawn; I wish I'd gotten to know Mr. Sinclair better. I didn't really understand his "secret" and wished for a little more drama on that point.  I found Gemma's "growth" to be kind of shallow; in the end it seemed like she didn't really learn anything or grow except to discover that she could be as unethical as the man she loves. So it wasn't perfect for me and I wished for a little more heat with regards to the romance, but I have no doubt that Gemma will do very well with womens' fiction readers and most literary readers. If you're a Jane Eyre fan it's definitely worth checking out anyway.

Rating: BACKLIST

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for review from HarperCollins.

REVIEW: The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, by Caroline Preston

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt, by Caroline Preston. Published 2011 by Ecco.

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt is a delightful little trifle, a novel told in vintage ephemera- fashion plates, ads, photos, postcards and more. It tells the story of Miss Frances Pratt, a young lady of lesser means from New Hampshire. She meets a dashing gentleman, absconds to Vassar and then to Paris. She has a scrapbook and an old typewriter when she leaves high school in 1920 which she uses to record her adventures and make her way in the world.

Caroline Preston tells Frankie's story with concise, witty first-person narration, so that we feel that we are reading Frankie's own diary. We see her insecurities and mishaps, and her tentative steps towards adulthood. We share in her friendship with the glamorous Allegra Wolf, her Vassar roommate, and her near-romance with Allegra's brother. We see her time in Paris and what happens when she comes back, and her ultimate happy ending as well.

The book is charming and unusual. The pictures illustrate rather than tell the story, so while it's tempting to describe it as a graphic novel for adults, it really isn't. Preston has written this sparse tale with skill such that neither the characterizations nor the story feel thin. Nonetheless, The Scrapbook is a quick read, maybe two cups of tea long with enough left over for a scone if one were in the mood. It's a fun, funny and sweet book with a winning heroine at its helm. Pick it up for a light, enjoyable and visually engaging read.

The American Library Association agrees and awarded the book a 2012 Alex Award for Best Adult Book for Teens!

Rating: BEACH

The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt: A Novel in Pictures
by Caroline Preston

I'm a Powell's partner and receive a small commission on sales. 

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review.