BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Katherine P. (Post Mills, VT)

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
by David Grann

Incredible Story (2/24/2025)

Incredible journey of a British Armada headed to the West Coast of South America to intercept a Spanish galleon filled with silver from the New World. Britain and Spain are at war and it would be quite a coup to capture this ship and its wealth.

But, it is 1740, the Atlantic …more

The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes
by Chanel Cleeton

Female Endurance, Rom-Com, Mystery, History and The Importance of Books ( and the Usefulness of Iron Frying Pans) (2/16/2025)

Chanel Cleeton provides them all in this book. She has chosen to reveal them all through the revolving chapters among three women, Eva a Cuban teacher living in Cuba at the turn of the 20th Century, Pilar, a librarian, also Cuban who leaves for Florida during Fidel's rule, …more and Margo, a Brit in modern London who is a finder for a fee of lost or stolen items for rich clients.

Needless to say the lives of Eva and Pilar and their friends and family describe the history of Cuba from its overthrow of Spanish dominian, through the short-lived influence of the United States, to the revolution that brought Fidel Castro into power and reduced the country to one of submission and fear.
It is during these chapters that we learn of Eva's experience as a member of a group of teachers who came to Harvard to learn about American educational practices and to show Cuban life and culture to their nearest neighbor now that they were free of Spanish rule and could establish themselves as an independent nation, Here, too, we are privy to the short romance between Eva and an American, James Webber. A romance that lead to heartbreak for her, not a real surprise. It also resulted in her penning of a novel she wrote about the experience called A Time for Forgetting. This book becomes the real star of Cleeton's book! And its writing is the first of Cleeton's demonstration of the importance of books--here to the writer-- allowing her to express her sorrow and grief and alleviate the pain somewhat.

Also Pilar's story takes place under Fidel's rule. Her husband has been taken by his troops. She has no idea where he is of if alive. But, in an effort to defy the regime in some small way, Pilar has taken to rescuing books of families who are fleeing Cuba and cannot take them. Some are very valuable and should be turned over to the soldiers but she hides them and as the time goes on this activity brings her into danger. Once she uses the frying pan she too must flee Cuba. But, one of the books in her care is Eva's novel and she searches for Eva and returns the book to her. Once she lells Eva of how important the book became to her in her loneliness and then grief at the loss of her husband, Cleeton's second belief that some books are meant for some people and give them the strength or hope needed to live.

And finally, we have Margo and her ex-husband Luke, in London looking for Eva's novel. No one seems to know what happened to it and they must learn its story and whereabouts without Cleeton giving them the information we, the readers, have. And this is the rom-com, mystery piece. Several people seem to be looking for the book. Margo has a client as does Luke both interested in finding it. Why? My first thought was the secret of a child in the book--an effort to keep it a secret. Then, still related to the child, I thought it was for money. Either blackmail or a claim to an inheritance. Well, money is involved--isn't it always? Along with the mystery, Margo and Luke analyze their failed marriage and look, they are getting together again--easy to see it coming. But, here is the last point of importance of books--can give someone a place in the world, a knowledge of one's heritage and its importance.

An easy read, that covers all these aspects surprisingly well with good integration. Some of it is obvious in its conclusions but the parts pursuing Eva's novel is complex enough to keep it interesting.. (less)

Going Home: A Novel
by Tom Lamont

Parenting Is Not Innate! (11/10/2024)

Lia is gone but she's left a 21/2 year old toddler behind. Teo was babysitting Joel when Lia was discovered and so by default he becomes his temporary guardian. But what does a 30 year old bachelor know about taking care of a kid in diapers who speaks his own private …more toddler language? Not much, as it turns out. What does Teo want to learn about taking care of said child? Not much, either. No one seems to know who Joel's father is so therefore finding him is problematic. For the time being child services think Joel is in good hands--Lia trusted Teo to baby sit after all, Teo is stable with a good job from which he can get leave, and has a home with his father, Vic, for the duration. He can go back to his London flat when either Joel's family or a foster family can be found for him. Preferably, Jewish since Joel and Lia were Jewish. Teo doesn't practice but his father a Scot Catholic, widowed from a Jewish wife, has been active in the local synagogue.
Teo is surrounded by his old group of school friends to which Lia belonged -the only female. His best friend, Ben, is rich, unemployed and lives in a mansion that has been his since his 18th birthday. Whenever Teo came home he fell right back into the care-free card playing, drinking, partying, clubbing lifestyle they've shared since they emerged from childhood. Their relationship is old and fraught with the stresses that familiarity and established roles that over time have developed. Ben is the star, the leader, the jock and Teo is the shorter, quieter, steadier follower. He is also the one of the group that has broken free of the hometown--he's moved to London and only comes home once a month to visit his sick father, Vic. A toddler certainly changes the dynamic.
I loved the book because, despite the circumstances, a child alters everything about the life led by its caretaker before its arrival. It is funny, having had a child, to see the situation from the aspect of a male in charge. Though people think women are born knowing exactly how to raise children that isn't true. What is true, however, is that women from early on are more involved with children--younger siblings, cousins, and as teens babies for whom we babysit, then as we get older our friends' or older siblings new babies--we just are around them all the time and usually are interested in them even in their earliest stages. Men just don't pay that much attention and so if they find themselves in charge, they are really at sea. To see Vic attempt to make up for what he sees as shortcomings in his role as Teo's father, and Teo try to determine how much TV is acceptable and Ben try to avoid the whole situation is fun but serious, too.
In the end, since everyone cares about Joel and wants him to be safe and happy all three of them figure it out and somehow a new life develops for them all.
Interwoven with the questions of parenting are also the concepts of faith, jew vs jewishness and the process of maturing from our foot in adulthood 20's into 30 year olds with a touch of awareness of one's future.
One of the characters, new to the community,is the young rabbi, Sybil. Her affluent family considers themselves to have assimilated in the English community and are upset at her choice of career. This was only mentioned in passing but it was an idea that was a bit jarring, especially in the present time with the worldwide problems in nations finding themselves dealing with an influx of immigrants. She, too, as the religious leader becomes involved in the question of what to do with Joel. Also, being close in age to both Teo and Ben, she becomes involved in their relationship as well.
Closing the book brings with it a sense of satisfaction that the characters are on a path of success leading to lives filled with possibility. (less)

The Story Collector
by Evie Woods

There is Magic for Those Who Believe (8/10/2024)

I found this book a true delight.

Sometimes when a book has alternating time lines the story becomes confusing and the reader loses track of where they are in time. Woods handles the switching very well and smoothly.

In 2011 a young woman grieving her failed marriage …more

The Bandit Queens: A Novel
by Parini Shroff

Bonobos United (3/12/2024)

Having thought the caste system has been outlawed in India, it was surprising to find this tale set in current time. Still, the system is so very confusing, not the basis necessarily, but the strange differences in economic situations that can exist in the various levels--a …more

The Lincoln Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill America's 16th President--and Why It Failed
by Brad Meltzer, John Mensch

Incredible What If in US History (9/15/2023)

Meltzer and Mensch do it again-- they have produced an interesting, exciting and thoroughly researched report on a significant period in American history. Their writing and the use of short chapters made covering almost 400 pages of intrigue and chaos almost easy.

Imagine, …more

Do Tell: A Novel
by Lindsay Lynch

Not Sure To What Audience the Author Intends This Book (6/23/2023)

The book rehashes old Hollywood scandals that have been thrown together and mixed up and written into a mishmash in which no actual scandal is left clearly. Even the purported author of the book, Edie O'Dare is a conglomeration of Louella Parsons ( Poppy?, although LP was …more

The Montevideo Brief: A Thomas Grey Novel
by J. H. Gelernter

Pirates, Spies. Exotic Locations and the Sea-Who Could Ask for Anything More? (4/24/2023)

Loved this book especially since I read it while vacationing at the shore, where several days the weather was dirty--very atmospheric for the setting of the book. The sea, that is, not the Maine coast rather than the seas of the Southern Hemisphere. There is so much history …more

The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
by Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch

Well-researched and Interesting Story of The Big Three (4/2/2023)

One of the most engrossing, interesting and stirring books I've ever read about the Second World War. Having been born in Washington DC in 1942 this is a particular chapter in American history that has fascinated me very much. There is no flamboyant language or overly …more

The Bell in the Lake: Sister Bells Trilogy #1
by Lars Mytting

The Stave Church Represents So Very Much (10/4/2022)

Received a copy of this book to discuss on BookBrowse. Although the human story revolves around three young people and their interactions, the true story is about tradition and modernity.

One of the characters is Kai Schweigaard, the newly arrived, young, unmarried priest. …more Kai has been sent to the isolated village of Buntagen, Norway. It is his first assignment and he is eager to make a good impression and rise in the ranks of the Church. He has a fiancee back home and his success will allow him to marry and bring her to his side. The church in which he finds himself is too small for the congregation, is cold and drafty and totally dark and depressing. Indeed, at one of his first services, the snow falls through the roof onto the congregants and one of them, an elderly lady, literally freezes to death and is frozen to the wall upon which she had collapsed. Needless to say,one of Kai's plans involves building a new Church.

Astrid Henke, is a young unmarried member of the parish. She comes from an ancient, once wealthy farming family of the town. An ancestor, much to Astrid and her family's dismay took all of his money to purchase new bells for this Church in which Kai finds himself. That donation involved the melting of the ancestor's silver and its inclusion in the metal used to create what are known as the Schwesterglocken, or Sister Bells. These two bells are huge and loud and their sound is as much part of the town's life as the heartbeats of its individual residents. They hang in this ancient building, known as a stave church, which is built in an old and beloved style of the towns of Norway. There is no way that they would be able to fit into the design of a new modern Church.

Soon, Kai finds that his Stave church is considered to be unique and important to historians and architects from Germany, who offer to purchase it. Ecstatic at this influx of funds to help his build his new church, Kai readily enters into a contract and Gerhard Schnauer is sent to supervise the dismantling and marking of the pieces of the Stave church which will be razed and rebuilt in Germany. Gerhard, too, is young and unmarried.Astrid does not want the bells to go from the village-- both men want to please her--but how? The conflict and resolution is interesting in itself but, in my opinion, the star of the story is the Stave Church and the symbols and forms found within it.

All in all, a multifaceted historical novel with interesting characters, environment and conflicts. (less)

Hamnet
by Maggie O'Farrell

The Backstory to Hamlet? (6/20/2022)

A fictional imagining of Shakespeare's early life and marriage in Stratford-Upon-Avon. The focus, however, is not really upon him but rather the family in which he was raised and the young local woman who becomes his wife. Indeed, he is never mentioned by name and once …more

The Lighthouse
by Christopher Parker

Not At All As Expected (10/28/2021)

A most unusual read. The title brings to mind coastal beaches and sun-drenched romps in the surf. While there is some sandy beach and dunes and even a Lighthouse Festival, that is not the chief backdrop of this story at all. The Lighthouse does play a significant role in …more

The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn

Heart-rending Memoir (7/28/2021)

The story of Carrot's early life in Alaska was so devastating that it was necessary to take a break from reading. At first, also, the moving back and forth in time was a difficult adjustment but once I decided that that really is the way we think back over our lives, …more

The Girl in His Shadow
by Audrey Blake

Women Cannot Practice Medicine! (5/2/2021)

Received a copy of this book to discuss on BookBrowse. I found it incredibly interesting for many reasons. As a pre-med grad and a teacher of Anatomy and Physiology for about 30 years the history of women in science and the restrictions on their opportunities to study and …more

The Narrowboat Summer
by Anne Youngson

Midlife Does Not Always Bring Crises (1/30/2021)

How delightful to read a book about mature women navigating changes in their lives.

Eve, single and an engineer, has been fired by the company in which she has worked most of her life. Through dedication to the work she rose through the ranks of men to a prominent …more administrative position only to be found redundant and unnecessary.

Sally, a married woman with grown children, has found her life in the suburbs boring and unsatisfying. She has decided to leave her husband and, when revealing this bit of news to her hairdresser, has found that most people find that unacceptable and her reasons trivial.

Both women find themselves walking the towpath along the side of a canal in opposite directions, but both headed home with no idea of what they are going to do now that their lives have changed so drastically. As they meet, alongside a narrowboat named Number One, they come to a halt at the sound of distress emanating from the seemingly empty vessel--but for the thing wailing so distressingly, of course. They look in the windows and doors --finding no easy means of entrance, Eve breaks the window in the door, opens it and is almost bowled over by dog racing by and off into the distance.

Approaching along the path is an irritated older woman, the owner of the boat. She has left to do errands and the dog, Noah, as usual raised a racket to bring attention to his desolation as being locked up for the duration. And, as usual, some helpful soul came along to release him or at least commiserate as they berated his mistress, Anastasia, for her inhumane treatment. And, as usual, once free, he took off for parts unknown--not worrying her in the least--he always returns.

Since the women are already aboard, Anastasia invites them for tea--sort of--and so begins the tale. A woman, sick possibly dying, needing someone to take her narrowboat through English canals to a man's shop for repairs and maintenance. Two women, strangers to her and to each other, at loose ends, knowing not what they want to do with the path of unknowns rising before them. And so, Eve and Sally embark on a weeks long voyage in more ways than one or even two or three, as Anastasia, too, remains behind to face her unknown future in the form of medical tests and possible surgery.

Noah returns and off they all go--meeting so many others along the canals, familiar to and with Anastasia--who is not easily known nor abided. As the narrowboat travels ups and down through the locks of the beautiful countryside and into tunnels long, dark and dank, so too the adventures of these women and others move slowly to a satisfying end.

Loved it so much, I'm off to find Meet Me at the Museum. Enjoy! (less)

The Paris Hours: A Novel
by Alex George

Can Anyone Move Forward After A Tragic Loss? (5/24/2020)

Come spend a day on the streets and in the bookstores and bars of Paris as four very different people try to capture what has been lost. An Armenian immigrant performing puppet shows for French children while narrating in Armenian. A wounded WW I vet searching for the …more

Evening in Paradise: More Stories
by Lucia Berlin

Harrowing? Only If You Make Her Choices (11/23/2019)

Okay, I know alcoholism is a disease BUT it is not an excuse for poor choices, self-indulgence and lack of responsibility. Nor, in my estimation, does it make meandering autobiographical stories written while drunk, stoned or both literature. One of the blurbs says the …more

The Seine: The River that Made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino

The Seine--( Sen NOT Sane ) (10/4/2019)

Although it took me quite awhile, for me, to read it the snail's pace was not due to disinterest. Quite the contrary, I loved the book from the first chapter. Sciolino's interest in the River and its surroundings, its history, its people, its place in movies, music, art is …more

The Last Collection: A Novel of Elsa Schiaparelli and Coco Chanel
by Jeanne Mackin

Sometimes There is Too Much Color (4/9/2019)

At one point the author in discussing a painting mentions that a thin wash of gray can make the background recede more from the foreground. It was as though a thin wash of gray lay between the story and the reader. It felt as though everything was being told through the …more

Force of Nature: Aaron Falk Mystery #2
by Jane Harper

A Force of Nature--It Is! (12/20/2018)

Having read The Dry, I was really excited to receive the second installment of Harper's Falk series from BookBrowse to discuss on their website. I was not disappointed. Five women are selected to make a trek into the outback of Australia by their corporate employer in an …more

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