I thought this was a great read. My only regret is that I will be at the beach next week and this is a perfect beach read! The narrative set in 1999 and 1979 moves seamlessly and I was engaged in both. I will admit that I was a little more involved in the the 70s timeline, but I was 14 in 1979 and the music/surfer Northern California story was too great! The underlying suspense kept me going, and I liked our protagonists. All in all I really enjoyed this one.

So... the Irish slang itself didn't bother me, I read Roddy Doyle, Tana French et al. But the phonetic spelling - seriously?!? I do not need you to spell tea "tae" or beast "baste"! I know what an Irish accent sounds like. Honestly what a slog, and a great way to break up the rhythm of the language. That said, I am giving it 3 stars because I liked the story. I rather enjoy slice of life stories, and I think that this glimpse of a week in the life of Majella is really well framed. By time stamping and listing Majella's (mostly) dislikes as headers throughout her days we get a feel for this character who is trapped by circumstance and her own fear to break out of her routines. The Chipper where she works serves as a window into her world - a small village in Northern Ireland. It allows us to join her, and observe the characters that move in and out of her world revealing the sublime that may be found in a workaday life.

I thought this book was a little shallow, considering the subject matter. I mean girlfriend in a coma and all that. The book moved at a nice clip and was easily digestible - great for a beach or quarantine read. I just really did not care about any of our 3 main characters - they were overly simplified. They all lacked depth and emotional maturity, and were a little bit ridiculous with their refusal to reexamine their beliefs about their childhoods. For a book about people coming to terms with their lives it seemed like not a lot of personal growth going on. I feel like a little more nuance could have gone a long way here.

This book is - well - a little dark. I thought from the synopsis that it would be funnier after all... "On the eve of Evangeline's wedding, a dead whale is trapped in the harbor, the groom might be lost at sea, and her mother has shown up out of the blue." It sounds a bit -you know - wacky, but in a good way. Turns out that it is a really stark and beautiful, but deeply messed up, story of a girl trying to navigate life with a broken compass in the form of an absent mom and a ne'er do well father. The narrative jumps around and often the chapters feel more like little essays - snapshots of a life, that when put together in any order offer a portrait of Evie and her version of love. I would recommend this book to my hard core literary friends, but not casual readers, if that makes sense.

So I went back and forth with this review. I did not hate this book, but I did not love it. It was all a little much for me - too summer romance novelly. I did not care for the protagonist - too indecisive and emotionally immature. The idea of dreaming about the same person and then recognizing them (not to mention them doing the same about you) was very intriguing to me, but sadly the execution fell flat for me. No one was particularly objectionable and the story telling moved along at a really nice clip, it just wasn't my jam.

Charming, quirky, delightful... I am probably the 367th person who has used these adjectives to describe Kevin Wilson's book, but I am at a loss as to what other words could suffice. Parenting is often a job of degrees. What can I do to keep my kid from bursting into flames - metaphorically for most of us, but quite literally for protagonist Lillian. We strive to maintain a balance, keeping them safe and happy while letting them be as much themselves as the possibly can be. I think Mr. Wilson's enchanting (another adjective!) tale articulates perfectly the ennui of parenting, the giant wallop upside the head loving your kiddos is, and the constant worry that you are doing it all wrong. This novel could have gone over-the-top insane really quickly, and instead was a fantastic and heartwarming treatise on love, friendship, and being OK with the "weird" in the people you care about.

There were parts of this story that I found compelling and there were parts that I struggled to get through. The concept excited me as a reader - a historical novel of love and family set in Malaysia in the '30s with a dash of magic. I just found the narrative to be uneven. There were times I could easily put the book down and I cannot quite put my finger on the why of it. The dream sequences were wonderful and too few - I think. The "Nancy Drew Mystery" portions felt a bit contrived, and did not hold my interest at all. All in all - I liked the book, I just didn't find it to be quite enough to wholly recommend it.

Ah - the protagonist you love to hate - so cathartic! Maurice Swift is a terrible, awful, no-good very bad person, and a truly excellent character. His ruthless climb to the top of the literary world is perfectly crafted, and every time you think he has hit rock bottom as a human being, Boyne says "wait, there's more!" I read this book hungrily hoping for an epic comeuppance, and fearing the revelations that would precede it.

The behind-the-curtain look at publishing, along with the use of real and characters in this fictitious situation, lent the book a realism that made Maurice all the more sinister as a character. Much of the novel stayed with me after I finished reading it. I have already passed it along to my husband with a "you will love this" endorsement. Can I give it 6 stars?

Well - who'd have thought - a funny and charming read about a young man with a serious mental health issue. This debut novel is a highly entertaining read about a very real and dark subject, mental illness in the wake of a personal tragedy. The main character is an extremely likeable, borderline schizophrenic suffering from an obsessive compulsive disorder. His appeal is a testament to author Dan Murray's skills. This is the tale of a man who has lost his moorings so profoundly in the aftermath of an accident that he is literally unable to stand any human contact. Yet we smile at the absurdity of his situation while we root for his recovery as he takes his first tentative steps to rejoin the living. I read this book quickly as I wanted to get to the "why" of the story - the "what" and the "how" was apparent very early on - but more importantly I wanted for Denis to come out the other side. This story was truly about the journey, and I was happy to ride along with Denis. Dan Murray is an excellent storyteller and I look forward to reading more from him!

I was initially a little disappointed to discover the book I had selected was not a novel. That did not last long. Populated with true "characters" and a wealth of cultural and dairy information I was hooked almost immediately. The book is ostensibly about cows and their place in Hindu culture, but it's really about unexpected friendships and the things that matter to us as we get older. It turns out you CAN go home again, and it can feed and enrich your life tenfold if you let it. Great read!

This was a beautifully written book about a less than attractive subject. Marginalized characters are introduced in 2 time lines, and their stories of questionable choices and loss unfold independently of each other in Southern California from Skid Row to sketchy compounds in the Mojave. Eventually the stories from 2006 intersect in the 2010 story line and that is where I was hooked. The latter half of the book seems to move at a brisker pace as these lost people converge and we look for answers. I felt like the author did an excellent job of tying up the individual story lines without making the package too pretty for our gritty and very real-seeming protagonists.

I have already given this book to my husband to read. Although I could see how this book - with it's less than savory characters might not be to everyone's taste - I would recommend it!

I breezed through this book, thoroughly enjoying it and rooting for the characters even when they weren't being particularly likeable! Francesca Hornack does an excellent job of presenting the Birches as a family of archetypal "characters" and then peeling back their layers to reveal their humanity, rendering our preconceived notions moot.

By allowing each character to narrate his own chapters we get a larger view of the entire family while gaining an understanding into each character's true self.

I would recommend this book to anyone and look forward to reading more of her work.

I requested this book because Daniel Wallace wrote Big Fish - not that I had read it mind you - but the movie was so magical I had to try his new novel. It did not disappoint - I loved it!

Edsel Bronfman travels through the world on the outside looking in. He wants to be inside - he just needs to figure out how to do it. When a random telemarketer informs him he has won a trip to Destin, but has to bring a companion and has 79 days to cash in the offer - he is spurred into action. Bronfman opens up to life and discovers that every ordinary happening can be extraordinary. Populated with funny, off-beat characters Wallace's story moves quickly and hilariously along allowing us a front row seat for Bronfman's excellent ride. With a deft hand Wallace delivers a perfectly balanced tale of a man too timid to fully live and too terrified not to try. I rooted for Bronfman throughout and was reminded that an unexamined life is not really a life at all.

The concept of this story intrigued me. Its execution almost undid me. Was it necessary to be so overwhelmingly long-winded in telling the story of Henry James' typist? A young woman of moderate means and a vague desire for more than she is offered by society, gains access to a world beyond her everyday reach. She moves in glittering literary circles with an unheard of access to the process behind the scenes of one of the key figures of 19th century literature. Yeah - sounds great! But her tale suffers from prose that is too dense and overwrought. The narrative was lost in a pedantic and archaic style. It would seem as I have grown older I find that, for me, less is often more - specifically in writing. I struggled to maintain interest in this book which, in the end, felt like a chore.

Edgar is eight. His grandmother loves him unconditionally, his mother is distant and enigmatic, his father is dead. This story of a little boy navigating life in the face of profound sorrow and dangerous choices is engaging and gripping. Told from the perspectives of several different characters we are able to see all sides of Edgar and Lucy's story and root for them to find themselves and each other. I loved this book and these people, even when they were doing unlike able things.

If only I had gotten it a few weeks later I could have read it on vacation in much less time! Sadly, I would have to put it down to go to work or sleep.

I enjoyed this book very much. Sometimes I felt the prose was almost too simple for such a dark subject, but I was engaged by the characters and wanted to know more. The simpler style of the author allowed the story to unfold at an excellent pace, and it was a page turner to be sure. This tale of family cobbled together by circumstance and torn apart by the impetuous act of a teenager "in love" was compelling and engaging. The protagonists were very likeable and relatable. The author gave us insight into their character and actions by allowing us to know their back stories - providing us with a larger understanding of them and the world they inhabited. Even though it was essentially the tragic story of a runaway girl, and the fallout of her actions it left me surprisingly hopeful. I felt it was ultimately an uplifting tale of sacrifice, strength, and familial love.

This is a finely crafted, beautifully written book about a very ugly world. The love story of Wavy and Kellen is definitely not the stuff of dreams. It is the stuff of life and the story of how two people can love each other enough to rise above all the pain and brutality of their surroundings and save each other in the process. At many times I was made uncomfortable by the burgeoning sexuality of Wavy, and the wildly inappropriate actions of Kellen and Wavy. Perhaps because their world was so devoid of a moral compass it was easier to deal with what in any other situation would be simply unacceptable. It was critical to have multiple voices narrating events to provide balance - sort of a "Greek Chorus" for the reader. I devoured this book - every ugly wonderful bit of it.

I so enjoyed Ashes of Fiery Weather. The characters were extremely well drawn and fleshed out. It almost felt like several short stories that worked together to form a narrative. Full disclosure - I love a book that starts with a family tree, and I did flip back to this one to reference who was speaking and how they were related to the narrators I had already encountered. Just as I thought I had a grasp on a character as described by a specific protagonist, I would meet them in their own story and find I was completely mistaken in my assumptions.

The book as a whole captures a place in time through the lens of a specifically female point of view, interesting as it revolves around a predominately male vocation - fire fighting. The story, spanning more than a century, is told as the men's wives, mothers and daughters experienced it. The non linear time line - not only of the chapters but within them - felt like unearthing a box of photographs jumbled together, jumping from year to year and from scene to scene. It was like looking at a crazy quilt up close - marveling at the pieces and their individual beauty before moving back to appreciate it in its entirety. It was a compelling story, beautifully told!

On the surface this is a good book. It captures perfectly the scene in New York City at the end of the seventies - when Manhattan is still dangerous and gritty, and art is just beginning to be seen as currency and about to explode as a commercial enterprise. It moves along at a good clip, and we are certainly engaged enough as readers to want to continue. Something was missing however - the three main characters remained at arms length, as though they were not fully fleshed out and three dimensional. I was left feeling a little cold, and so their tragedies and situations did not necessarily move me. I kept hoping for something more as far as our 3 protagonists were concerned, but I never got there.

Munaweera's prose is beautiful, her characters finely crafted and her ability to set the scene is uncanny. As in her first novel the story begins in war-torn Sri Lanka, but the civil war outside does not really touch our protagonist. Instead she is torn asunder by a tragedy in her childhood that she cannot escape. The first person narrative is haunting in its immediacy and we know that any respite she finds will be temporary. Unspeakable acts beget unspeakable acts, and this mother's confession is magnificent and terrible. The book stayed with me long after it ended, I will read anything Munaweera writes!