Haven't we heard this story before? This book is a barely fictionalized amalgamation of several tell-all Hollywood memoirs, written by embittered daughters about their movie star mothers. It was never a pretty story, and the reader needs a persuasive argument to travel down that road again. This story rambles and whines, without ever justifying the trouble it takes to travel its dull and meandering paths.

So many whales! The sea fauna references came so fast and furious I lost the point of the book. And yet the human characters were less interesting than the shadowy ocean creatures: the absent mother, the well-meaning but addled dad, the confused scientist-daughter—haven't we met these folks many times before? The difficulties of life on a fishing island… pretty sure I've read enough books along that line for a while. Then there's the random and annoying change of tense throughout the novel, with emphasis on the present tense to describe events of the past. And just way too many whales.

As a confirmed skeptic, I am hard to please when it comes to sci-fi literature. The story better cohere as an ideology, and it better follow scrupulously its own set of internally-logical rules, or I'm gone. "Nothing to See Here" did a remarkably good job of carrying me along its odd sci-fi journey. I could suspend disbelief adequately to keep plugging along, even as the sci-fi gimmickry got pretty intense. What I could not fathom was the strange choices made by the allegedly normal characters, nor could I believe their back stories or motivations. Any time a man writes from a woman's perspective the hair rises on my neck, a bit. Sure, it can be done well (e.g. "Mating" by Norman Rush), but rarely is. I was ultimately unconvinced by this novel, and it wasn't the bizarre science fiction elements that kept me from believing.

This is an enchanting book about lost souls finding each other in the beauty of the English countryside. Like a poem or a song, the lyrics of this story reach out and grab your heart and remind you that there are kind and sensitive people in the world, and they occasionally overcome the burdens of everyday life and discover each other. This book transported me to a place of beauty and sensitivity that I didn't know I craved. The plot is almost irrelevant—I expect most readers will, like me, be grateful for the time spent in the company of such deeply felt characters, their music, and their search for kind and meaningful lives.

I would have loved to learn more about Rhodesia and the political and cultural turmoil surrounding the country of Zimbabwe, but I found the mode of storytelling in this novel convoluted. I felt that the author obscured the issues, rather than clarifying them. I came to this novel with little understanding of the people or policies of Zimbabwe, and left the novel feeling I knew even less. The author’s style did not engage me, and I felt disappointed that I was missing an opportunity to learn more about the times and people.

Loiuse Candlish's "Our House" is a failed attempt to get in on the Girl Gone-Girl on a Train theme. Its convoluted plot is heavily weighted by the use of every literary gimmick available to modern writers. It starts out like a podcast, including cutesy # comments from alleged listeners. Then we move to a long-winded suicide note (no spoiler here—it's identified as such in the first few pages), then on to a third person narrative, and the rest of the novel swings haphazardly among these plodding devices. I was constantly confused—not by the arc of the unfolding drama, but by which voice and format was currently on offer. By the time I reached the big reveal I was too tired of the choppy writing to care.

Being sympathetic to, but not of the Jewish faith, I found this book irritatingly exclusionary. The author's perspective seems to be that there is something particular and specific to a Jewish family's experience of guilt and redemption that does not apply to those from other, or no faith. I kept wanting to be allowed into the discussion, but felt there was a prohibition against my participation based on being from the "wrong" culture. I generally enjoy books that illuminate how others live, allowing me to see that we earthlings have more in common than not. This book made me feel that interesting discussions were being had, but I could not possibly contribute to or benefit from the conversation. Surely lying to one's family about one's alleged successes, remorse for wrongs committed, and the search for meaning and redemption are universal themes. Yet Wolas seems bent on convincing me otherwise.
Wolas structures the novel by giving each character dedicated chapters in which she or he expounds on the particular slant of their own mendacity and remorse. Yawn. This is an approach we've seen far too often, and often rings trite even in the most capable hands. I slogged through the book, trying to find a spark of originality or believable tension. It wasn't worth the struggle.

This fabulous book has a light touch, stellar writing, mystery, love and sex (ahem...among older folks...), and a warm Italian setting. I loved it.

Remember how you were constantly thirsty while reading Jane Harper's debut novel "The Dry"? For her latest read, grab a warm drink and a heavy blanket before you settle in, because once again Harper has made the weather a full-ledged character of her story. In an equally thrilling story of flawed detectives and their search for clues, Harper leads us through darkness, cold and wet to a complex conclusion involving the breakdown of relationships among five women undergoing an adventure style team-building exercise. The women are finally undone by the elements and the venom of their mutual distrust.

This book suffers from having no one to like. I didn't much like the book, yet I found I couldn't put it down. It reminded me of our current political climate—there's no one to root for, but I want to see what happens next. I'm often a fan of the multiple-perspectives tactic, but instead of providing me insight into the characters' motivations, it just left me even more annoyed with the characters and their flaws. I found many aspects of the plot unconvincing. And who wants to rehash the Monica Lewinsky story? Loved Fikry - not a fan of this one.