BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

All You Could Ask For
by Mike Greenberg

Actually, you could ask for more.... (11/14/2012)

Mike Greenberg's story of three Greenwich, CT, women (unconnected in the early part of the story) who link up through a common crisis left me lukewarm. i read all the hype on the back of the book about how surprising it was that a man could understand a woman's perspective so deeply - but what I found inside was some pretty conventional chick lit that didn't require lots of insight, The story is poignant, the tone is sensitive, and the characters have distinct and sympathetic personalities, but the book is also pretty cheesy - and there is absolutely NO dramatic tension. The story line, while an easy and pleasant read, provides no surprises, and that was disappointing.

A Land More Kind Than Home: A Novel
by Wiley Cash

A Land More Kind Than Home (3/8/2012)

This story, which revolves around a rogue preacher and a faith-healing gone wrong, leaves a number of questions unanswered - but that's it's only weakness. Voiced through three characters - a midwife, a sheriff, and the younger brother of the victim, Cash's tale provides a clear sense of place, excellent character development, and a clear story line with just enough backstory to define all of the character relationships. There was room for more detail, but the author's restraint in providing it kept the story crisp and compelling. I did not want this book to end, and I will certainly read Wiley Cash's next effort.

The Red Book: A Novel
by Deborah Copaken Kogan

The Red Book (2/14/2012)

This 20th college reunion story (Harvard '89) uses the practice of publishing a reunion book ("THe Red Book") as a foil for the story of 4 college roommates whose lives are very different from the images they choose to project. The characters cover the spectrum of racial, sexual, and national categories, and touch on pretty much every controversial social issue out there - same sex marraige, abortion, pre- and extra-marital sex, sex change surgery, May-December relationships are all there. WIth a boatload of characters, Kogan is able to do very little actual character development, and few of the characters she focuses most on are sympathetic. (It's hard to feel too sorry for the producer's wife who might have to sell her second home in Antibes.) On the plus side, though, the writing is more than competent and it's really hard to put the book down. I would take it to the beach in a heartbeat, but I will not be recommending it to my rather serious book group.

Tides of War: A Novel
by Stella Tillyard

Tides of War (11/9/2011)

I really wanted to like this book. It deals with a period of history about which I know little, and Its mix of real and fictional characters seemed intriguing. However, the book suffers from an overabundance of characters (all of whom seem to be primary) and the absence of a compelling theme. The result is a novel that, while it has its moments, is generally way too easy to put down. I felt like it was never going to end - and not in a good way.

Defending Jacob: A Novel
by William Landay

Defending Jacob (10/13/2011)

This crime/courtroom drama which tells the story of an Assistant District Attorney whose son is indicted for the murder of a middle-school classmate raises complex questions about the relationships between parents and children, between evidence and proof, between nature and nurture, and between truth and justice. The characters are realistic, though not particularly likable. The plot moves along using a combination of narration and grand jury transcripts - although it is not until the last ten pages that one is aware of the nature of the grand jury inquiry. The book is well-written and hard to put down - it's well worth the time it takes to read it.

The Memory of All That: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and My Family's Legacy of Infidelities
by Katharine Weber

The Memory of All that (6/22/2011)

First the good things: There's nothing more fascinating than a good dish on a totally dysfunctional family, and this story of the extramarital affairs of two generations of a very prominent family certainly fills that bill. The writing is excellent - Weber's description of her father's career as being "at the intersection of making it and making it up" really caught me. On the down side: the combination of a cast of characters so extensive that it should have been presented on a spread sheet and the author's choice to use a reverse chronology for part of the story was terribly confusing. Also many of the characters who were quite prominent in the early to mid 20th century aren't so well-known now and could have been better introduced. I'm not sorry I read the book, but I didn't love it.

Prophecy: An Historical Thriller
by S.J. Parris

Prophecy (3/13/2011)

S.J. Parris's second book featuring former Dominican monk Giordano Bruno as he navigates the religious upheavals of Elizabethan England does a good job of balancing the "historical" and the "thriller" elements of its story line. Parris does an excellent job of creating her setting, and the overlay of murder and mayhem onto the events of the times is entirely believable. Bruno is a well developed character, and the action of the story is, for the most part, well-paced. The loose ends remaining at the end of the tale suggest a series of Giordano Bruno thrillers may be in the works. If you like stories from this time period, you'll most likely enjoy this book.

Agent X: A Novel
by Noah Boyd

Light a fire, pour a drink... (12/12/2010)

...and curl up with "Agent X" for an evening of action that leaves bodies scattered all over the Washington, DC, area. Like Lee Child's Jack Reacher and Nelson Demille's John Corry, Steve Vail has never met a weapon he couldn't shoot. Along with erstwhile love interest Kate Bannon, he can decipher the most arcane clues almost instantly - why would you not think to check the edge of a CD for notched-in Morse code messages? - and is considered a whiz-bang of an investigator even by those whose instructions he refuses to follow. Hard to believe? You bet. But for a "take me away' evening this one is hard to beat. The writing is competent; the plot moves quickly and systematically with sufficient twists and turns to keep the reading interesting. It was good enough that I'll go back and read "The Bricklayer."

Gone Tomorrow: A Jack Reacher Novel #13
by Lee Child

Gone Tomorrow (10/4/2010)

The next time you are looking at a long sit in an airport or an afternoon at the beach, Lee Child's "Gone Tomorrow" will provide you with lively entertainment. The book clearly qualifies as a "thriller," with a quirky lead character, a plausible but not too obvious plot line, and the requisite amount of terrorist gore. Although the book is the 13th in a line of Jack Reacher stories, it's not necessary to have read the previous 12 tomes to enjoy this one. I wish I knew a bit more about the rather peculiar Mr. Reacher, though the author kindly fills in a few gaps with a cheat sheet at the end of the volume. The story is so clearly action driven that the main thing demanded of our hero is the ability to relate the relevant events, which he does in a clear, wry style that is easy to follow and credible.This book is better for the beach than for your book club.

After the Fall
by Kylie Ladd

Soap opera on paper (6/6/2010)

Like a good soap opera, Kylie Ladd's After the Fall held my attention - I wanted to know when the adulterous couple would get caught, and how much damage they would do - but gave me no sense of literary satisfaction. I didn't like the characters - even the "victims" were shallow and self-absorbed - and her constant switching of the narrator was at times confusing (It took a while before I was sure who was married to whom). The book was easy to read, the style crisp and clear, but if it had not been so, I'm not sure I would have bothered. Even if you are only looking for a "beach read," you can do better.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
by Heidi W. Durrow

Deserving Prizewinner (3/3/2010)

This Bellweather Prize winner addresses issues of racial identity, class prejudice, substance abuse, and adolescent sexuality through a compact, well-written, and moving story packed with sympathetic and well-defined characters. The story revolves around an unthinkable family tragedy and its impact on the several narrators, most notably Rachael, a mixed-race child who is the survivor of the event. While the story is not a mystery, the details of the keynote incident are revealed slowly through out the story in a way that allows the author, Heidi Durrow, to explore a number of issues from various perspectives. It's compelling reading!

Under This Unbroken Sky
by Shandi Mitchell

How depressing! (8/31/2009)

This book is a real downer! The central characters, a family of Ukrainian immigrants homesteading on the northern Canadian prairie in 1938/39, are victims of the elements, the government, and each other. Nothing good happens to anyone, I confess I kept reading because I was hoping for a turnaround - some positive event that might give any character a reason for hope. Not one appeared. The author's style is as spare as the landscape - which suits the story, except for her annoying habit of inserting descriptive sentence fragments. When commas would produce grammatically correct sentences.(Like that.) I've read "downer" stories told with humor and enjoyed the presentation,but I just did not enjoy this book.

The Secret Keeper
by Paul Harris

The Secret Keeper (3/6/2009)

While I had a hard time putting this book down, I can't say that I liked it. The story line, which focuses on a reporter's efforts to investigate the murder of his former lover who is caught up in a civil war in Sierra Leone, is compelling, and its tensions are well developed. The characters, while not particularly likable, are quite human and appropriately motivated. However, the writing is too flabby and casual for this high tension story. Harris is particularly fond of the verb-less description posing as a sentence, and sometimes strings 6 or 7 together in a distracting way. The stylistic devise of switching between two time periods to tell the story is confusing at times. On several occasions, I had to flip back to the beginning of a chapter to determine whether I was in the 2000 or 2004 segment of the story. Tighter writing would have turned this book into a first-rate thriller.

Cutting For Stone
by Abraham Verghese

Read this one! (1/9/2009)

Cutting for Stone is a family saga that has it all - birth and death, sin and forgiveness, love and hate, politics and medicine - wrapped in a balanced and gripping plot involving compelling characters and exotic locations. Verghese tells a great story with none of the overwriting so common to "big" novels. His fiction debut is even better than his outstanding nonfiction (My Own Country). This was the best "curl up with a good book" read I've had in ages.

The Sweet In Between: A Novel
by Sheri Reynolds

Not So Sweet (9/2/2008)

I generally enjoy Sheri Reynolds, but The Sweet In Between will not be on my favorites list. This “dysfunctional Southern family” novel is long on dysfunction. Our heroine’s mother died of cancer, her father is in prison, and she has significant problems with OCD and sexual confusion; Dad’s girlfriend (with whom the heroine lives) is a drug and alcohol abuser with three kids of her own: a sex-obsessed older son, a skateboard-obsessed younger son, and a developmentally-delayed daughter. But why should we care? There’s not much action here; even a murder next door merely spawns more obsession and confusion. When someone does step in the help, the help comes from what the book jacket describes as “a most unimaginable source” – translate that “Where did these people come from?” While the writing itself is good, and Reynolds is particularly skilled in the use of irony and a sort of black humor, this wasn’t a book I enjoyed, and it’s not one I’d recommend.

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time: My Adventures in Life and Food
by Moira Hodgson

A Pretty Good Idea (7/28/2008)

Part travelogue and part food commentary, this memoir by New York Observer restaurant critic Moira Hodgson brings to mind the work of Ruth Reichl but is not quite as satisfying. Hodgson exemplifies her memories with recipes, sometimes easy to follow and sometimes not. She name-drops relentlessly, particularly in the latter sections of the book, without telling us much about the names she is dropping - I guess we are supposed to know! The writing is entertaining; Hodgson's life as the well-traveled daughter of a British Foreign Service officer, and as a gadabout adult searching for a writing career is interesting and she tells it well. If you are looking for a "foodie" book, though, Reichl is a better bet.