Love and Summer by William Trevor

Ellie, a convent-raised orphan, was sent to serve as housekeeper to Dillahan, a widower who tragically lost his wife and child. She ultimately married him and has a routine-driven life with him on their farm. She rides her bicycle from their farmhouse to the fictitious Irish town of Rathmoye once a week to deliver eggs and pick up necessities, and connect with the town’s locals. When a young photographer, Florian Kilderry, makes her acquaintance, love arrives quietly but inevitably. “…it was silly, all she had to do was to think of something else when he came into her mind. But now, when she tried to, she couldn’t.” (pg. 52) In prose as lyric as his native tongue, Trevor guides the reader through familiar emotions such as passion and disappointment. He creates verbal portraits with minute details - the old bowl for gathering eggs and the decaying wall where messages could be hidden - during one delicately evoked summer.

The other characters are gently but clearly defined and their stories not only move the main plot along, but add a depth and richness that is part of Trevor’s great talent. Strangely, I found myself harking back to a similar plot line: a decent but dull husband, an unconsciously discontented wife, an intriguing wayfaring stranger, and the heat of summer. But believe me, Love and Summer is as far from The Bridges of Madison County as the Mona Lisa is from my old refrigerator art. 

CAS

The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith

Mark is an unhappy 11-year old who has just moved from London to Brighton with his sick mother and hated stepfather. Missing his father and sad over the destruction of their family, he gets to know the old lady who lives in the basement apartment of the house. She shows Mark the servant’s quarters that remain under the house where the servants are seemingly going about their usual duties as if it’s still the early 1900’s. At first this order is reassuring to Mark with all the chaos of his real world above, but he comes to see that things are going wrong below stairs as well.

This book was easy to read and follow, and I loved the way Michael Marshall Smith captured Mark’s rage. I was able to sympathize with his character while still understanding that the situation was not quite the way it seemed. As the book progressed I became aware that Mark’s interactions with the old woman and servant’s quarters helped him to grow from a young child with selfish needs to one who could step outside of his comfort zone and understand that people and events from the past are always part of the present. The Servants is both a coming of age novel and a ghost story all wrapped together. I am not a science fiction reader, generally speaking, but this was more about believable interactions and characters and was a truly enjoyable experience.

CAS

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

    It's all in the details! And it has been a long time since I have read a novel that could have turned out to be a boring Dickensian novel instead of a creepy, gothic, historical, mysterious, OUTSTANDING read.

The first thing you need to know is the meaning of the title Fingersmith. According to Wikipedia (because I could not find the definition in The American Heritage College Dictionary or The Oxford English Dictionary) a fingersmith is a petty thief.

Set in Victorian London, this is the story of Sue, who is seventeen years old and was orphaned as a baby. She is growing up in a home that is not only owned by a baby seller but is frequented by the absolute bottom feeders of society. There is always a new scam, a new deal, a new forgery. This is Sue's world and all she knows.

And that is really all I can say without spoiling this unbelievably engrossing book. Oh, except that it is really, really long (511 pages) but so worth it!

Karen

Read-alike: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. Same feel and pace, although very different storylines.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Things have been going downhill for A.J. Fikry ever since his wife died unexpectedly in a car accident. They ran Island Books together, the sole bookstore on Alice Island. Since her death, A.J. has taken to drinking too much (though he insists he’s not an alcoholic) and not being particularly nice to Island Books’ customers or his friends and family.

Things change when A.J. returns to the bookstore one night to find that someone has left a baby in the children’s book section. Much to the surprise of everyone on Alice Island, and somewhat to A.J.’s surprise as well, he ends up adopting the baby and embarking on a crash course in parenting.

I’ll admit that I considered returning The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry when the baby mysteriously showed up. It seemed a little too cute for my tastes. But I enjoyed previous books by Gabrielle Zevin enough that I stuck with it. I definitely made the right choice.  The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is a heartwarming and clever read, and consistently strong characters save the book from Hallmark Movie territory.

John

Mister Wonderful by Daniel Clowes

This is my very first adult graphic novel, and I must admit that much of it I enjoyed. I do not think I would regularly read graphic novels just because they really are not my thing, but I can certainly understand the appeal.

Mister Wonderful is a story about a very lonely man named Marshall, who has been set up on a blind date by one of his friends. When the date, Natalie, finally shows up after being over an hour late, Marshall has already had enough dialogue with himself to fill many, many pages. After that, with Natalie in the picture, an already awkward situation has poor Marshall in quite a state. And damaged Natalie has her own issues as well.

The way the author/illustrator tells this story is by putting squares of character thoughts directly over dialogue, creating an inner monologue that overshadows what is actually being said. Interesting but at the same time a bit confusing to someone who has not read graphic novels in the past, or even a comic book for ages!

That being said, the layout was quite nice and fairly easy to follow. The story line was plausible, and the characters believable. Overall, a pretty good first impression of this format.

Karen

Carry the One by Carol Anshaw

    On the dust jacket of Carry the One, this is the first thing you read: "in the hours following Carmen’s wedding reception, when a car filled with stoned, drunk, and sleepy guests accidentally hits and kills a girl on a dark, country road. For the next twenty-five years, those involved, including Carmen and her brother and sister, connect and disconnect and reconnect with each other and their victim. As one character says, ‘“When you add us up, you always have to carry the one."

What a perfect summary! The novel is set around twenty-five years of Carmen, Nick and Alice's ups, downs, highs, lows, etc. as well as the others that were in the car that fateful night. And every time something bad happens, well, they deserve it because of what they did on that fateful night. And if something good happens - well, that cannot possibly be enjoyed because of the all-consuming guilt about what happened on on that fateful night.

Interesting premise. Great writing. But overall, you quickly begin to not really care about what happened to them on that fateful night.

Karen

Read alike: Sing Them Home by Stephanie Kallos

Words Will Break Cement by Masha Gessen

On February 21, 2012 the band Pussy Riot performed what they called a “punk prayer” at a church in Moscow. This performance caused three members of the band to be arrested and footage of the incident, which consisted of members of the group performing in ski masks and brightly colored dresses, to be shown around the world. Many news outlets have also shown footage of the subsequent trial that sent members of the group to Russian penal colonies.

Pussy Riot remains an oddity to most people. The group has a memorable name and, particularly with their “punk prayer,” memorable, headline-making performances. In Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot, author Masha Gessen explores what motivated the group in the first place and why they received such harsh sentences for what would probably be nothing more than a trespassing charge in the United States.

The members of Pussy Riot were inspired by movements such as the American riot grrrl bands of the early nineties. While presenting a seminar on radical feminist art, several future members of Pussy Riot were unable to find a Russian equivalent to the riot grrrl movement for the presentation. Undeterred, they simply recorded and used their own song. Not long after, Pussy Riot was formed.

Gessen does a good job helping readers get to know the members of the group. She also delves into recent and not-so-recent Russian/Soviet history to show the importance and controversy of Pussy Riot, including why their sentences remained so harsh despite international outcry. (When members of the group were finally released, most suspected it was due to the forthcoming Winter Olympics and a possible public relations issue for Russia.) The book gets bogged down a little when it gets to the group’s trial. However, this is a minor complaint about a book that has a lot to say about artistic expression and the state of things in Russia.

John