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Reviews by Cathryn Conroy

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The Sandcastle Girls: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian

Historical Fiction at Its Best (4/22/2023)

This is a difficult book to read--not because of inferior writing, a confusing plot or one-dimensional characters. The writing is excellent, the plot is well-conceived and the characters ring true. Rather, it is difficult to read because of the horrific subject matter: the …more

Commonwealth
by Ann Patchett

Powerful and Compelling (4/22/2023)

It all began because of an illicit kiss.

Bert Cousins kissed Beverly Keating at a family christening party, and that set in motion two divorces, a marriage and a Brady Bunch of six kids who get tossed back and forth from the state of California to the commonwealth of …more

Moonglow
by Michael Chabon

Bizarre. Strange. (Really, Really Strange.) And It's a Must-Read (4/22/2023)

This is by far THE strangest book I have ever read. And maybe ever will read. The full title (and this is important) is "Moonglow: A Novel." Yes, it's fiction. But wily author Michael Chabon has written it and presented it as a memoir of his (never named) grandfather. …more

The Promise
by Ann Weisgarber

Just One More Page...You Won't Be Able to Stop Reading This Book (4/22/2023)

Riveting. Captivating. Spellbinding. Entrancing. Get the idea? This short, can't-put-it-down novel by Ann Weisgarber will grab you at page one and not let go. This is the kind of book that will make you forgo sleep, housework and other responsibilities. Just one more page. ( …more

The UnAmericans: Stories
by Molly Antopol

Read It! Compelling and Intelligently-Written (4/22/2023)

I have recently discovered the joys of reading a well-written short story collection. Short stories are a tough sell to readers. The writer has to reel in the reader fast--in the first few sentences, ideally. And when each story ends, often abruptly, the next one had better …more

Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty
by Ramona Ausubel

A Story About the Heartbreak and Humor of Life's Changes (4/22/2023)

FYI: It's a sin to covet the riches of others. And that's exactly what makes this book so delicious!

In this case, we're talking about the filthy rich--those who are so rich that they can buy anything they want at any time they want--and they don't even have to work. That …more

What Alice Forgot: A Novel
by Liane Moriarty

A Fun, Escapist Read, But a Totally Predictable Plot (4/22/2023)

I am arriving late to the Liane Moriarty party, as this is the first book I have read by this best-selling author. Now I know why she is a best-selling author. What a fun book! It's almost like time travel--but more believable. Thirty-nine-year-old Alice Love falls down her …more

Internal Medicine: A Doctor's Stories
by Terrence Holt

Superb Writing...As Engrossing as a Novel (4/22/2023)

To become a physician, I believe, requires as much of a spiritual calling as it does to become a priest, minister or rabbi. If a fat paycheck is the primary motivator for a career in medicine, I suspect that person will not survive residency. Exhibit A: This book.

Written …more

Burial Rites
by Hannah Kent

A Dark, Disturbing Book--And You Must Read It! (4/22/2023)

This is a dark book. With an even darker ending. But that's not a spoiler because this extraordinary tale by Hannah Kent (published in 2010 when she was only 25 years old!) is based on actual historical events. While it is a novel, the author's prodigious research gives the …more

A Certain Age: A Novel
by Beatriz Williams

Delicious! Delectable! Daring! Oh, Dahling...You Simply Must Read This! (4/22/2023)

Delicious! Delectable! Daring! Oh, dahling...you simply must read this. Great literature it is not, but it is so much fun. So between Joyce Carol Oates, Jane Austen and Anne Tyler (all of whom I highly recommend), read this sinfully delightful book by Beatriz Williams.

It's …more

Ordinary Grace
by William Kent Krueger

Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Story (4/22/2023)

It's summer 1961 in New Breman, Minnesota. JFK is president. It is a time of innocence. Kids wander everywhere in this small town--in the fields, down by the river, on the railroad tracks. But this idyllic town is rocked by five deaths--accidents, suicide, homicide--in just …more

The Lady of the Rivers: A Novel (The Cousins' War)
by Philippa Gregory

Read With Caution (You Will Be Hooked--and It's the First of a Six-Part Series!) (4/22/2023)

If you read this book, do so with caution! Why? It's really good. And it's the first in a series of six books (with a seventh reportedly in the works). I read the second in the series, "The White Queen," first, and it's even better than this one.

Written by Philippa Gregory, …more

Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian

A Not-to-Be-Missed Story of Tragedy and Consequences--and Love (4/22/2023)

I don't know what most impresses me about author Chris Bohjalian's writing in this book:
--He wrote from a woman's perspective.
--He wrote with the knowledge of a physician.
--He wrote with the knowledge of an attorney.

And he pulled it off expertly!

When a woman giving birth …more

The Fortunes
by Peter Ho Davies

A Work of Literary Genius (4/22/2023)

Plain and simple: This is a work of literary genius.

But this is what it is not:
• It is not an easy read. Don't even think of taking it to the beach.
• Even though it is billed as a "multigenerational novel," it is not. It is four novellas about four people spanning 100 …more

Vinegar Girl: Hogarth Shakespeare Series
by Anne Tyler

Laugh-Out-Loud Funny! (4/22/2023)

If just the thought of reading Shakespeare is enough to make you groan, grunt or growl, this is just the book for you!

As part of the Hogarth Shakespeare project in which the Bard's plays are retold for a modern audience by some of today's best-selling authors, the …more

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey
by Alison Weir

Mesmerizing! (4/22/2023)

Even students of British history who know how this story ends will find this fictionalized version (that is solidly based on historical facts) a riveting and even mesmerizing read. Author Alison Weir masterfully tells the life story of Jane Grey, known as the nine-day queen …more

Big Little Lies
by Liane Moriarty

Delicious and Gossipy--But With a Vitally Important Message (4/22/2023)

This is one of those rare books: A delicious, gossipy, laugh-out-loud funny, escapist read with an intricate "can't-put-it-down" plot with a message that is quite profound. And while there is a murder--we are told that at the beginning--it's not a classic style murder …more

Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic
by Sam Quinones

This Should Be Required Reading--For Everyone (4/22/2023)

This should be required reading--for everyone.

"Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic" is the tragic, frightening and prescient story of the heroin and opiate epidemic in the United States. And if you think none of this applies to you, that is all the more …more reason to read this book. Although it's especially corrosive in the heartland of Ohio, this is a nationwide problem, and we all need to be educated.

Reading more like a novel or a detective story, this cross between journalism and storytelling traces the "perfect storm" that led so many people--from professionals to prostitutes, teachers to cheerleaders--to became hooked on painkillers. Occurring in tandem was the uptick in heroin addictions, led primarily from high-quality "black tar heroin" from Mexico with dealers following business models that rival the nation's best-run corporations and delivery methods as efficient as your favorite pizza parlor. And then all hell broke loose when the paths of opiates and heroin crossed.

For five years author Sam Quinones did prodigious on-the-ground research to write this book that is on the one hand the most fascinating tale I have read in ages and on the other scarier than anything Stephen King could dream up--because this is real. And it's in your community. Find out how young men from Xalisco, Nayarit, a tiny village on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, became heroin entrepreneurs in the United States using methods that confused and confounded local law enforcement. Find out how Big Pharma embraced nefarious marketing methods for painkillers, especially OxyCotin, to convince family doctors to write millions of prescriptions. Find out how doctors, who were taught in medical school to be wary of prescribing addictive painkillers, found their hospitals' accreditation was at risk if patients were not aggressively treated for pain. Find out about quack MDs, who set up pill mills in hard-hit communities in southern Ohio and eastern Kentucky, became extremely wealthy off the residents' addictions. Find out how Walmart became an unwitting accomplice in the scourge of opiate addiction.

But there is hope. A lot of hope. The book ends on a positive note about all that is being done--finally--to fight the opiate epidemic, especially in southern Ohio.

"Dreamland" is compelling , riveting and eye-opening because it is not only the story of what has happened, but also the tale of the people--the individual lives--who got caught up in it. I gave this book five stars, but I would give it 10 if I could. (less)

The House Girl
by Tara Conklin

A Magnificent Book (4/22/2023)

This book is two disparate stories with loose threads that bind them together, and first-time author Tara Conklin brilliantly succeeds in weaving this tale of Josephine Bell, a slave on a Virginia plantation in the mid-1800s, with the modern-day story of Lina Sparrow, a …more

The Little Stranger
by Sarah Waters

A Good Ghost Story, But Way Too Longwinded (4/22/2023)

Imagine "Downton Abbey" meets "Rebecca." Well, a downtrodden, shabby, dilapidated Downton Abbey, that is. This gothic ghost story set on a crumbling and decaying English estate just after World War I tells the story of a small family--Mrs. Ayres and her two grown children, …more

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The Jackal's Mistress
by Chris Bohjalian

From the New York Times bestselling author of Hour of the Witch, a Civil War love story of a Confederate wife and a wounded Yankee.

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Dream Count
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A searing new novel from the bestselling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, exploring four women's desires.

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