Review: Next to Love by Ellen Feldman

Review: Next to Love by Ellen Feldman

Jan 17, 2012

Next to Love by Ellen Feldman

Release Date: July 2011
Publisher: Random House | Spiegel & Grau
Pages: 320 pages
Source & Format: Christmas gift; Hardcover
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Goodreads)

Next to Love follows the lives of three young women during the years of World War II and its aftermath. Beginning with the men going off to war and ending a generation later, it's a novel about love and loss.

Childhood friends Babe, Millie, and Grace are changed when their men are called to duty. Left at home to fend for themselves, they must learn how to exist when the people they love are faced with danger at every turn. The war leaves nothing untouched. Lives are lost, and those that return are never the same. In the wake of the war, the women are thrust into a new world and way of life.

Thoughts on Next to Love

Reading the summary of Next to Love, I was drawn to the story. I really love books about World War II, so the description for this book really appealed to me. I also love books that deal with female friendship, and the blurb about the power claims that it is "beautifully crafted and unforgettable" in its depiction of the "enduring power of love and friendship" and the way it "illuminates a transformational moment in American history."

Those are mighty big words for one book, and I had high expectations going into it. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed in this book. It is told from the point-of-viw of all three women with different chapters shifting the perspective. While this can sometimes work wonderfully (The Help), it can also really detract from a story. In this case, I found it difficult to connect with the story because I could not connect to any of the narrators. If I don't become engaged with the characters I'm reading about, I have a hard time really falling in love with a book.

Also, it is told in present tense, which really threw me off. That may seem like a strange criticism, but the tense didn't sit right with me the entire time I was reading it. I think I didn't like the use of present tense because the author uses some rather heavy-handed for shadowing (ie "Years later, she would tell so-and-so's granddaughter that this was nothing new...") that didn't really seem to fit with the use of present tense.

The story was interesting, but the execution was lacking. I just wasn't impressed. I think it would have been easier to connect with the story if it was a first-person narrative or wasn't constantly trying to shift perspectives. With so many years packed into 300 pages, I still felt like there were entire sections that could have been removed with altering the story in any noticeable way.

I also really didn't see the female friendship aspect. I just finished the book yesterday, and I can't think of a single instance where the girls' "friendship" took the spotlight. All in all, the book fell flat for me. This book is proof that I should never take a blurb for its word - because I ultimately found it pretty forgettable. I enjoyed it enough to want to finish it but not enough to remember much about it.

So Quotable

"Love may endure a lifetime, but it is less reliable on a day-to-day basis."

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So Quotable: Betty Smith

So Quotable: Betty Smith

Jan 16, 2012

Source

"From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. On that day when she first knew she could read, she made a vow to read one book a day as long as she lived.”

        ― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

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Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford

Review: Hotel on the Corner of Bitter & Sweet by Jamie Ford

Jan 15, 2012

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Release Date: January 2009
Publisher: Random House | Ballantine Books
Pages: 290 pages
Source & Format: Library; Kindle e-book
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Goodreads)

The Panama Hotel was abandoned, a shadow of its former glory. It was once the gateway to Seattle's Japantown, but it was boarded up long ago. Henry Lee never expected to see a crowd gathering outside one day, and he was even more shocked to learn that the belongings of Japanese families, left before they were rounded up and sent to interment camps during WWII, were discovered.

All it takes is a simple Japanese parasol to take Henry Lee back to his childhood. Now a widower, Henry searches for remnants of his past. The book chronicles his journey to find his voice, and his acceptance of both the bitter and the sweet.

Thoughts on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

This is one of those books that drew me in immediately. From the title to the cover, I had a feeling this book would be a delightful journey. I had very little idea of what it was about when I started reading it, except that it dealt with WWII.

I was surprised when I realized that it dealt with the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. To be honest, this is an aspect of American history that I have often overlooked in my reading choices. This may be one of the only fictional books I've read about the subject.

This book deals with two different periods of time - 1942 and 1986. By setting up the story this way, Jamie Ford is able to portray Henry Lee at two very different points in his life. While many things change, Henry's devotion and bravery does not.

I loved the story, and I appreciated the way Ford chose to tell the story as a love story. Rather than use the novel as a political tool, he allows readers to form their own opinions about the treatment of the Japanese. The book is, above all, about the characters and their journeys. I love a book that is more character-driven than plot-driven so this book was right up my alley.

The book was well-paced (not too fast or too slow), which I have found can often be a problem in books that are very focused on character development. I was impressed by the simplicity of the novel, and I enjoyed the way a heavy subject was treated with a delicate touch.

If I had one complaint, it's that I think the author missed the boat on some of his fact-checking. The Panama Hotel is a real place, in Seattle, and the belongings of Japanese families were really discovered inside. In his attempt to set the novel in the correct year (1986), Ford makes a few noticeable mistakes. He references Internet chat rooms, finding someone's contact information online, and converting a record to a CD. In 1986, I think almost all of those things would be highly unlikely. However, 1942 was portrayed wonderfully, and his research of this time is evident.

So Quotable

"The hardest choices in life aren't between what's right and what's wrong but between what's right and what's best."

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Review: Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs

Review: Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs

Jan 11, 2012

Mine is the Night by Liz Curtis Higgs

Release Date: March 2011
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Pages: 480 pages
Source & Format: Library; Kindle e-book
Series: Here Burns My Candle #2
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Goodreads)

This is the second of two books by Liz Curtis Higgs, set in Scotland following the Jacobin rebellion, that is based on the biblical account of Ruth. Following the loss of her husband, her fortune and her way of life, widow Elisabeth Kerr must start anew. The story begins with Elisabeth and Marjory, her mother-in-law, returning to Marjory's former home. Mine is the Night is a story of hope, redemption and restoration.

Thoughts on Mine is the Night

I have read quite a few novels by Liz Curtis Higgs, and I actually just read the first book in this series at the end of last year. Higgs is known for taking a biblical story and re-imagining it in a historical Scottish setting. I really enjoy the way she writes, so I knew this book would be a delightful read.

If you are familiar with the story of Ruth, you'll be able to predict much of the story before it actually happens. You know, for example, that Elisabeth will choose to remain faithful to her mother, despite the disadvantages she'll face in doing so, and that her sister-in-law will choose to leave. Unfortunately, that also means you'll know who the hero is the minute he rides across the page. If there is anything that I find lacking in Higg's novel, it's that some of the attempts to mirror Ruth's story felt a little forced.

However, I love that Higgs uses the story as a means of exploring the emotions the women would have felt (grief, fear, abandonment, remorse) and the lessons they would have learned. Marjory's struggle with bitterness and pride fleshes out the details provided in the Bible about Naomi's own bitterness. Higgs doesn't just plop the biblical story into Scotland. Instead, she carefully and skillfully uses the new setting to explore hard lessons and the miracle of restoration. These lessons are central to the story of Ruth, and Higgs weaves them into her tale with generous helpings of truth.

So Quotable

"You have a fine mind, a bonny face, skilled hands, and the Lord's favor. Use them well in the service of others, and a full reward will be yours."

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Review: Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

Review: Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

Jan 2, 2012

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

Release Date: November 2010

Publisher: Hachette | Little, Brown
Pages: 368 pages

Source & Format: Christmas gift; Hardcover
Amazon | Goodreads

Summary (from Goodreads)

Cleopatra's life spanned fewer than 40 years, but her legend lives on. She married twice, each time to a brother. She poisoned one and warred against the other. To this day, much of what we know about Cleopatra is through unreliably sources. This biography is an attempt to tell the true story of the woman behind the myth.

Thoughts on Cleopatra

I was excited to read this book because I love well-written biographies, and I am not very familiar with Cleopatra or the time in which she lived. I had obviously heard some of the varied accounts about her life, and her death, but I was looking forward to getting a more in-depth picture of this legendary woman.

Unfortunately, I just could not finish this book. I expected a lot more from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author. The writing was not very engaging. Schiff uses incredibly long paragraphs, which made it very hard for me to follow or to find the significance of what she was writing. I know it's time to put a book aside when I can't follow what is going on and don't even really care. 

It was, to be honest, dry and lifeless. I felt like I was listening to a droning history professor. The book felt more like a lecture than an insightful or engaging look at a powerful woman.

Also, I got kind of tired of all the conjecture. I only made it about 1/4 of the way through the book before I called it quits, but I noticed a trend emerging:

• Disclaimer: We don't know if [event] happened for sure, but it might have been like this...
• Description: It is believed that [event] happened in this way...
• Disclaimer: Again, that is only what might have happened but we can't really know for sure...

While I understand that a biographer cannot claim to know everything as absolute fact, I could not get past the fact that it seemed like the book was merely a hodge-podge of the history of Rome/Alexandria with some random Cleopatra anecdotes thrown in for good measure.

I hate leaving a book unfinished, but I knew it was time to put it to rest when I was resorting to bribing myself to finish the book: "Now, if I just read five more pages tonight then I can stop and read something else." 

I may try and pick it back up when I am feeling a little more patient and have fewer books in my "to read" pile. Maybe...

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