Recent Reader Reviews

This brilliantly written book by John Boyne is layered with tragic secrets that are slowly revealed. It's a palimpsest in novel form—that is, a manuscript on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain. As the novel progresses, the past secrets are peeled away, but traces of them always remain, scarring and tainting the future.

The story begins in September 1919 in Norwich, England. On his 21st birthday, Tristan Sadler travels from London to Norwich to meet Marian, the sister of his deceased wartime buddy Will Bancroft. His stated mission is to deliver to …more Marian the letters that she wrote to Will during the Great War, but in reality he has come to unburden himself of a shameful, horrific secret about Will's death. After months of fighting, Will became "an absolutist," meaning he refused to fight or even assist in noncombat roles.

The novel bounces back in forth in time from Tristan and Marian's meeting in 1919 to the French wartime battlefields and the treacherous, grisly foxholes in 1916. This back-and-forth in time adds to the tension that slowly builds as we learn what really happened to Will and Tristan's role in it.

Tristan is guarding two secrets, both of which would devastate Will's family: One of them is not a spoiler…Tristan and Will were lovers. The other secret that is revealed near the conclusion of the novel is haunting and horrific, making the ending a real gut-punch for the reader.

This is a haunting and gripping saga that magnificently captures the conflicted feelings of wartime, social class, patriotism, and revenge. At times viscerally brutal and at times fiercely redemptive, this is a story of what it means to be a hero—and a traitor.

John Boyne is one of the most gift novelists writing today. (less)

Thanks to First Look Book Club & Penguin Random House for a gifted copy. All comments and opinions are my own.

I couldn’t resist this one – a pony solves a murder mystery. This unique novel met my high expectations and more. I was reminded of "Black Beauty" (which I loved as a child) as the story is mostly told from Pony’s point of view. He travels back and forth across the country in search of Penny, “his person” who has been arrested for a murder he (and we) knows she didn’t commit. Chapters alternate between Pony and Penny, and offer humor, heart, and insight into the world of animals from a fictional …more perspective.

Please be forewarned this is so much better than a cutesy animal story, even though it has heartwarming moments. This unputdownable novel is an homage to Homer’s Odyssey, with Pony encountering various perils and challenges during his travels as he searches for Penny.

Themes of friendship, family, and integrity mixed with magical realism. This easy-to-read novel kept me on the edge of my seat as Pony continually escapes from the humans who are preventing him from reaching Penny. I highly recommend this entertaining and charming mystery that kept me turning the pages until the end. (less)

Oh, this book! It is an ingenious, riveting, and truly profound novel that is a brilliant statement on the interconnectedness of human beings even generations apart. We are not separate. We only have an illusion of separateness.

Do note: This is a short novel at 225 pages or so, but carve out your reading time carefully. Once you start it, you won't be able to stop. It's THAT good.

This novel is a series of stories that take place from 1939 to 2010, bouncing back and forth in time and between characters—from the battlefields of France to Manchester, England in the 1980s to the Hamptons in 2005 and Hollywood in 2010 …more . It may seem like literary whiplash, but it's literary brilliance. Author Simon Van Booy is always in tight control of the story, which I quickly realized could only be told this way.

The genius of the novel is that the characters are interconnected to one or more other characters, often without realizing it until the end when Van Booy pulls off the seemingly impossible by ending a novel in 1944 that began in 2010. (Yes, you read that right.)

We meet:
• John, an American World War II pilot of a B-24 bomber who parachuted into Nazi-occupied France and had to try to escape with a broken foot if he had any chance of survival.

• Amelia, John's 26-year-old granddaughter, who is blind and bravely trying to create a full life for herself, including finding romantic love.

• Mr. Hugo, a World War II soldier who was horribly maimed when half his face was shot off by a Nazi in Paris and along with it his memory. His only possession is a novel by Victor Hugo, so the medical staff name him Victor Hugo.

• Danny, a scared little boy from Nigeria who lived next door to Mr. Hugo in Manchester, England in the 1980s and grows up to become a successful film director.

• Sébastien, a dreamy child in Saint-Pierre, France in 1968, who finds the wreckage of a World War II jet on his family's farm, including photos the pilot stashed under the seat.

• Martin, a devoted orderly at the Starlight Retirement Home in Los Angeles, who has a startling secret in his past that his parents kept from him for years.

This multilayered story about war, love, resilience, imagination, and service is narratively compelling with bold and vibrant characters, but the secret sauce is the writing. It is lyrical. Tender. Magical. Magnificent. Read it.

Just a thought: This is an ideal book for someone who only reads occasionally. It's short, unputdownable, and suitable for men and women. (less)

This is a richly imagined novel that transports readers to a utopian commune in New York State in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s…until eventually, it becomes a disintegrating, dying, and problem-filled commune. What makes this so special is that the story is told through the perspective of a small child—basically from his birth until far into his adulthood long after he joined "the Outside" world.

Masterfully written by Lauren Groff, this is a vibrant and captivating story of life in Arcadia, a 600-acre forested plot of land on which sits a (literal) mansion. When the scraggly group of several dozen acquired the …more property for $1, they were astounded that the house existed. That said, the house was broken—rodent-infested, rotted wood, shattered windows, collapsed roof. But with years of work and a lot of scavenging for pieces and parts, the group managed to build it back up. Living in Aradia was never easy. The residents worked long hours to survive and basically lived in poverty.

The story centers on a little boy named Ridley Sorrel Stone, who weighed only three pounds at birth and quickly acquired the nickname Bit—as in the Littlest Bit of a Hippie. Bit, who is always small for his age, is brilliant, teaching himself how to read and write. He is extremely attached to his parents, Abe and Hannah, who adore him. Hannah suffers from clinical depression, especially in the dark winter months.

Arcadia grows and within 10 to 15 years, the population explodes to more than 1,000 and now includes the "Trippies" (drug-addicts), the Runaways, and the Hen House (pregnant women) who gravitate to the commune. The Newbies are not turned away as long as they adhere to the rules. But eventually this experimental society falls apart with infighting and theft, desertion and poverty.

And this is where Bit's story becomes even more riveting when at age 14 he is thrust into "the Outside" and must make a life in a world he has never known. It is as an adult that he suffers his greatest heartbreaks and greatest joys.

This is not just another failed commune, a failed experiment in living. It is the only life Bit has ever known, and we readers are plunged into his despair, his anger, his longing, his insecurity in a way that would not have happened had the novel not been told from his childlike point of view.

What makes this novel a five-star book is not the vibrant characterization or compelling plot. It's the writing. Lauren Groff has the gift. Some sentences are so lyrical, so extraordinary that I just had to stop, take a breath, and reread them.

Lauren Groff is and will always be one of my favorite writers. (less)

The River Knows Your Name by Kelly Mustian

This haunting atmospheric southern story paints a vivid picture of the Mississippi Delta and its people. The characters are well developed; complex and nuanced with compelling backstories. Kelly Mustian created an immersive read that engaged me from start to finish. We follow Nell and her sister, Evie, who discover their mother, Hazel, is not Evie’s mother. For nearly thirty years, Nell promised to never reveal what they found. Told in dual storylines, Nell, forty-two in 1971, delves into her past to uncover buried secrets, and Becca, a struggling young mother trying to …more survive during the thick of the Depression in 1930s.

A story touching upon secrets, heartache, betrayal, survival, endurance, love, family, mother-daughter relationships. Enjoyed her debut book, The Girls in the Stilt House, and I enjoyed this one, as well.

Thanks to BookBrowse and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC of this beautifully written book. (less)

"The Mighty Red" employs the classic literary trope of making a small town seem vast by portraying all its residents as necessary. A failed engagement is our focal point, but there's so much more that goes on. Two men trying to marry the same woman form the main story, but so much else happens that you could easily oversimplify and sell the novel short.

Our heroine, Kismet, agrees to marry Gary after drinking, following the third request. She immediately regrets her decision and plots an exit strategy. Hugo anxiously awaits his overdue opportunity. Somehow, the wedding proceeds and Mother Crystal worries about …more her daughter's happiness and future. The story is so bizarre that you cannot look away. Does this stuff happen?

Erdrich portrays the plight of a new wife pining for another relationship more as bizarre than wrong. I had no idea what torn Kismet would do from one fleeting moment to the next. Once the book passes its halfway point, the main plot returns after taking a backseat to the character and setting development, none of which helps explain why the marriage occurred.

With so many characters, I often struggled to figure out who was necessary, and the book reveals that slowly. Hugo, the "other man," was mysterious and not as evil as the average home wrecker. Gary and his friends also have intentions that we do not discover right away, which shows them to be cruel and, at the same time, more typical.

To recommend this winding story to you, I need to know how much you enjoy thinking because most of the subtle action lies beneath the surface and is symbolic. Its thesis remains that we are journeymen, not the sum of our experiences. If we stay on course, we can still achieve what we want and need on life's path. (less)

It's 1956, the war is over and American politicians are working to publicize the names of people who are thought to be members of the Communist party. The Hollywood blacklist was a list of people in the entertainment industry that were ineligible for employment because of their suspected ties to the communist party. A Map to Paradise looks at three women who are struggling to find happiness in their lives despite all that is going on in the world.

Melanie is an actress who had a major role in a hit movie. Her name is on the black list because her co-star in the movie is suspected of being a Communist. They acted …more like a couple in love to help publicize the movie so she is also a suspect. To keep her safe, her boyfriend makes arrangements for her to live in a house in Malibu, far away from reporters. Melanie wants to go back to acting and doesn't understand why she is unable to work in Hollywood. The only people that she talks to are her cleaning lady, Eva who is an immigrant from war-town Europe and her neighbor Elwood who is a script writer with agoraphobia and lives with his sister in law next door. Early one morning she sees Elwood's sister in law, Jane, digging in his rosebushes. After that she's unable to get him to the phone and she becomes suspicious of Jane. She sends Eva next door to help with the cleaning but wants Eva to find out what's happened to Elwood. Eva wants to keep a low profile because she lied on her entry forms to the US and is fearful of being sent back to Europe.

All three of these women are hiding secrets from the world. In the beginning, they aren't friends - they are individually doing what they can to survive in their worlds. As several secrets come to light, their friendship begins to grow. But can they really trust each other or are they only setting themselves up for trouble?

I really enjoyed this book. All three women were very strong in their own way. Even Melanie who was the most naïve grows as she becomes involved with the other two women. This book is full of suspense - a fire in Malibu, a possible dead body and the black list in Hollywood all add to the story and make it an interesting look at America in the 1950s. I really liked all three female characters but my favorite was Eva who had been through so much in her life and had the most to lose if her secret was revealed.

Be sure to read the Author's Notes at the end of the book to find out more about the author's research into the beginnings of the Cold War and the blacklisting of the early 50s. This was another great book by Susan Meissner. (less)

Genius. Pure genius.

Written by Louis Bayard, this is a novel about one extraordinarily scandalous event in the life of renowned playwright Oscar Wilde and the effect the intense public notoriety and scorn had on his wife and two sons. Not only is the story riveting, but the style is so creative in that it is written—exactly as you would expect a novel to be—but within the shadow of a stage play.

Each of the novel's five "acts" is set (basically) in one place, making it easy to imagine it taking place on a stage. I could even see stage directions carefully disguised in the prose.

It is August 1892, and the Wilde …more family—Oscar, Constance, and 7-year-old Cyril—are vacationing in a rented house at Grove Farm in Norfolk, England. Their younger son, Vyvyan, is staying with friends in London as he recovers from whopping cough. Accompanying the family are their close friends Arthur and Florence Clifton, newlyweds who are on their honeymoon. One day, Oscar tells Constance that a new friend named Lord Alfred Douglas will be joining them. The aristocratic and flamboyant Lord Alfred, nicknamed Bosie, is years younger than Oscar, but the two seem incredibly close. Very, very close. For quite some time, Constance has wondered if Oscar truly loves her, and while it takes a while for her to figure it out, she finally does: Oscar is having a sexual relationship with Bosie. Her husband is gay! Constance angrily leaves Oscar, taking the boys with her. At this point, Oscar Wilde exits stage right and doesn't appear in the novel again—until the fantastical last chapter.

A pause for a bit of history: Lord Alfred's father, the Marquess of Queensberry, highly disapproved of the relationship between his son and Wilde. He publicly confronted Wilde. That led Wilde to sue Queensberry for libel, but his plan backfired—big time. Because homosexual sex was illegal in those days, Wilde was arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for two years. His career was destroyed, and he died in 1900, two years after Constance died in 1898.

The book focuses first on Constance and her shocked and deeply hurtful reaction to the scandal and then later to their tormented grown sons, who continued to live in their father's shameful shadow.

And then, somehow, it gets even better in Act 5 when Bayard creates an alternative account of their lives that is wonderfully creative and possibly believable—if only Constance could have done in real life what she did in this final section of the book.

Ingeniously plotted with an exceptional eye for detail, this is a harrowing story and emotionally devastating tale that is brilliantly written.

Reading this book is a lot like ending up on stage in an Oscar Wilde play! (less)

Bestselling author Susan Meissner says she was researching the 1950’s when she learned “how fearful people were in the early years of the Cold War.” Americans were terrified that their way of life would be taken from them, and peace in the world was tenuous given that World War II was not that far away in the proverbial rearview mirror. She began considering “displacement” and possible reactions to it. “What does someone do when they’ve no sense of home anymore? How do they live without it? What are they willing to do to get it back? And if the loss of home is imminent, what are they willing to risk to keep it …more from being taken from them?”

The result is A Map to Paradise featuring three female main characters, each of whom has been displaced from or is facing the imminent loss of her home, lifestyle, and the security that comes from having a place to belong.

Melanie Kolander disappointed her parents when she left Omaha, Nebraska and moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actress rather than going to college. Known professionally as Melanie Cole, she scored bit parts in movies before finally landing a lead role in a successful film that was released just months ago. She also had a high-profile relationship with her costar, Carson Edwards – arranged by the studio – that they both enjoyed, even though neither saw it as a real or lasting romance. Melanie was finally earning enough money to splurge on luxury items and looking forward to the start of filming on her next big movie in which she would again have the starring role.

And then, at just twenty-five years of age, her dream life evaporated before it really got started. Because of her association with Carson, her name was placed on Hollywood’s blacklist, she lost the role in the upcoming film, and no studio will hire her. Her parents are embarrassed and, along with her agent, have urged her to come home to Omaha, enroll in college courses, and build a more stable life for herself. Melanie steadfastly refuses.

Instead, wealthy Carson has admirably arranged for Melanie to escape to a rented house on Paradise Circle in Malibu and agreed to pay Melanie’s living expenses for the foreseeable future, hoping that the Red Scare will be short-lived, and their careers will survive. In the meantime, they must avoid being seen together in order to keep further rumors from circulating. Melanie not only is not a member of the Communist party, she has never attended any meetings, and is not even sure what it means to be a Communist. Like too many in the entertainment industry, she has been unjustly targeted solely because of her relationship with Carson, who has been suspiciously cagey when Melanie has questioned him as to whether he is a Communist or sympathizer.

Isolated and alone in her rental house, Melanie has had no social life for months and has sought solace and advice about her predicament from her next-door neighbor, Elwood Blankenship, a successful screenwriter. Since a tragic automobile accident nearly a decade ago in Palm Springs that claimed the life of his passenger, Ruthie Brink, a woman he was dating at the time, Elwood has suffered from agoraphobia. He has not ventured out of his residence in all those years, and converses with Melanie either while near a doorway or from his bedroom window, where he spends countless hours drafting scripts that are delivered to the studios for him. Elwood’s brother, Frank, and his wife, June, moved in to care for him after the accident. And June remained after Frank’s sudden death from a heart attack five years ago.

The other person Melanie interacts with consistently is Eva Kruse, the housekeeper who spends six hours each weekday mostly cleaning a house that is already clean and preparing meals for Melanie. The two women don’t converse much, and Eva is conscientious and reserved. Dispatched by Marvelous Maids, Eva would like to secure a different assignment, but fears that lodging a request could backfire and she needs the job.

Not only is Malibu a long bus ride from the room she rents, Eva harbors secrets that could both complicate matters for Melanie and result in Eva's deportation from the United States. Eva is a thirty-year-old survivor of World War II who lost her home, family, and the young man, Sascha, she loved and planned to spend her life with. After the war, she spent time in Displaced Persons camps before landing a housekeeping position in London and, from there, emigrating to Los Angeles after securing a sponsor. But Eva falsified her history and immigration officials would take swift action should the actual details about her background become known.

As the story opens in December 1956, sleepless Melanie is shocked when she observes June digging up several of Elwood’s beloved rose bushes in the yard. Melanie cannot fathom why June would do such a thing, especially in the middle of the night, knowing how it will upset Elwood. Meissner relates that June came to life in her “mind as an image of a sad and desperate woman digging up rose bushes at three a.m.” and she filled in the details – June’s history, her relationships with both Elwood and Frank, and the events that have led up to that pivotal moment.

Melanie questions June about not only the roses, but Elwood’s sudden disappearance. She doesn’t see him in the bedroom window, is not able to talk with him through the fence, and June refuses to call him to the telephone when Melanie calls. June has always been protective of Elwood, but is particularly evasive, insisting that Elwood isn’t speaking to anyone because he is experiencing a depressive episode and needs to focus on completing a script that is due to the studio soon. Melanie does not buy June’s explanations, growing increasingly worried about Elwood and fearing that he is not in his house at all. But where could he be? Learning that June injured her back while moving the rose bushes, she concocts a scheme to send Eva next door to assist June with housekeeping . . . and find out whether Elwood is there and safe.

Meissner set her story in Malibu, “a fragile paradise,” on a fictional street named Paradise Circle. Malibu is not only set on the beautiful Pacific coast, it has long been known as “the wildfire capital of North America,” and the timing of the publication of Meissner’s tale – March 2025 – is eerily ironic, coming just a couple of months after the historic Palisades fire that decimated huge portions of the area. For Meissner, the setting presciently illustrated that “you can’t know for certain that what you think of as home there will always be around.”

Eva and June bond, developing a relationship that can be mutually beneficial. Eva shares some of her secrets with June, who dangles offers of assistance securing a better job in exchange for Eva’s cooperation. Soon, Melanie finds herself joining their surprising alliance in an effort to ensure that potentially devastating truths remain buried.

Meissner’s characters are fully developed and sympathetic. Melanie, who naively came to Hollywood with big dreams and quickly learned that success can be both hard-earned and wrongly ripped away, is ambitious, tenacious, and surprisingly principled. She becomes the voice of reason when she learns the truth and what is at stake. Eva already knows how it feels to lose everything, but is intent on surviving, even though she has remained heartbroken about losing Sascha. Others, including her landlady, Yvonne, have urged her to put her past behind her and open her heart to love again, but she has been unable to do so. Nonetheless, she has been adept at self-preservation in the past and is ready to again do whatever the situation requires. She feels a kinship with and fondness for both Melanie and June but is particularly protective of June. She feels great compassion for her because Eva knows all too well what it is like to be pushed to the brink.

June is the most complex of the three characters. She has a victim mentality that is infuriating, even when viewed within the context of the time period. At a time when women were disqualified by their gender from securing a mortgage in order to purchase real property and were expected to marry, raise a family, and let men be the decision-makers, June fears losing the only home and security she has ever known. Her mother left her home alone overnight in a closet, and Frank (with her acquiescence) invested in an unsuccessful venture that cost them their home. With Elwood in idyllic Malibu, she finally has the home she has longed for and the possibility of losing it is more than she can bear. Inarguably, she made poor choices over the years and developed unrealistic expectations, but she remains a tragic figure, at least to Eva and, to a lesser extent, Melanie.

The story is intriguing and as events unfold, Meissner explores her characters’ pasts, revealing how they came to be on Paradise Circle at the same time, how their pasts have shaped and motivated them, and why they must trust each other and work together to carry out their plan in order to secure the kind of futures for themselves they want.

At its core, A Map to Paradise is a tale of friendship. Meissner employs an outrageous premise, punctuated with surprising revelations and complications, to demonstrate how three women unite, initially motivated by secrecy and fears of betrayal, but end up protecting, supporting, and assisting each other through an unimaginable crisis. Circumstances throw them together with a common desire “to recover that exquisite feeling of knowing you are right where you belong, and that you can rest there because no one is trying to take it from you.” They had each known that kind of paradise at one point in their lives. “They’d each found it before without a map, and had to believe they could all find it again, the same way. Because there is no map to paradise. There is only the dream that such a place exists, as does the desire to possess it, and the determination to find it again when it’s been lost.”

Meissner’s skillful storytelling makes finding out whether Melanie, Eva, and June find paradise again a riveting and highly entertaining experience.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book and to BookBrowse for a hardcover copy in conjunction with their First Impressions program. (less)

Set during the McCarthy era, we meet three women.

Melanie has been blacklisted because she was seen with a producer that they think is a communist.

Eva is a Polish housekeeper for Melanie.

June lives next door to Melanie and is taking care of her brother-in-law who won’t come out of his house because of an accident he caused a while ago.

The odd thing is that June won’t let anybody see Elwood, and it’s a puzzle where an agoraphobic person would go.

Elwood must be there because Melanie hears a typewriter clicking.

How will these women - all with secrets - become connected?

A Map to Paradise started out slowly for me, …more but once the background information of each character was revealed and their predicaments were revealed, I enjoyed a thoughtful, well-researched read. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own. (less)