Month: February 2020

Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes

~ noveltherapy

This was a very entertaining and thought-provoking quick read about parent/teacher/student high school drama, and the collateral damage that it can cause. Liston Heights High School will seem very familiar to many: privileged but stressed-out students, over-involved parents, and teachers and administrators walking on egg shells.

I hate to admit it, but the high school theater angle hit very close to home, though I think that would be true if it had been about the volleyball team or the debate team, or any competitive endeavor. Both of my children have been involved in the arts (one in musical theater and the other as a classical ballet dancer) so I know this world well, and I know how hard it is to find the right level of involvement — you want to support your kid’s dream but you don’t want to become “that mom.” Also, our school, like most public schools, relies on the time and money provided by parents — it’s essential to the survival and viability of most programs. Yet, how do we balance that necessary involvement with being too involved and too invested? These are tough questions and I don’t have the answers, but as a parent I think it’s important to think about these things.

Recommended!

Crossings

~ noveltherapy

Available July 28, 2020

Thanks to Alex Landragin, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this astonishing novel. This book is a bit hard to describe so I’m going to quote the official description from Amazon, which probably sums it up best:

“On the brink of the Nazi occupation of Paris, a German-Jewish bookbinder stumbles across a manuscript called Crossings. It has three narratives, each as unlikely as the next. And the narratives can be read one of two ways: either straight through or according to an alternate chapter sequence.

The first story in Crossings is a never-before-seen ghost story by the poet Charles Baudelaire, penned for an illiterate girl. Next is a noir romance about an exiled man, modeled on Walter Benjamin, whose recurring nightmares are cured when he falls in love with a storyteller who draws him into a dangerous intrigue of rare manuscripts, police corruption, and literary societies. Finally, there are the fantastical memoirs of a woman-turned-monarch whose singular life has spanned seven generations.”

I was drawn in from the very first page and had trouble putting the book down until I finished. I chose to read the alternate pagination, which was interesting but sometimes confusing. Now that I’ve finished the novel, I’m inclined to read it again straight through.

I loved this story. The writing was captivating and the historical detail seemed authentic. My only complaint is that the ending left me hanging. I had hoped for a more definitive conclusion. Maybe there’s a sequel in the works? One can hope!

I highly recommend this inventive, wonderful novel. Put it on your list for Summer 2020!

The Topeka School

~ noveltherapy

This was a disappointing Did Not Finish for me. I had really looked forward to this novel due to all the good buzz — it made many best of 2019 lists — plus the high school debate angle intrigued me (at the risk of outing myself, I was a high school debater), but I found the writing too dense/confusing and ultimately, reading this just felt like work. I hate giving up on books, but a few years ago I decided that time is too precious to waste any of it on a book I’m not enjoying. Also, there are too many other good books waiting in the wings! So, I gave up on The Topeka School and moved on. As always, your mileage may vary.

Hard Cash Valley

~ noveltherapy

Available May, 2020

Thanks to Brian Panowich, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel.

Panowich’s previous novel, Bull Mountain, was one of my favorite books of 2016, and I also very much enjoyed his next novel, Like Lions, so I couldn’t wait to start Hard Cash Valley. While this novel is set in the same part of north Georgia and has some of the same characters as the previous two novels, it is very different. It features a new main character in GBI Agent Dane Kirby. I enjoyed Kirby’s complicated backstory and I liked him a lot as a character. However, I liked the plot of this novel less than the previous ones — the cockfighting angle and the very long list of bad actors in this novel left me kind of cold.

Overall, I would recommend this book but with a few caveats. I hope that Dane Kirby will be a recurring character in a future novel from Panowich and I look forward to reading his next work. If you have not yet read any of Panowich’s books, I highly recommend reading Bull Mountain.

Running Out of Road

~ noveltherapy

Available March 24, 2020

Thanks to Daniel Friedman, St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for providing me with a digital advance copy of this novel. In Running Out of Road, elderly retired Memphis detective Buck Schatz must come to terms with his own mortality, his wife’s serious illness, and the pending execution of Chester Marsh, a man he put on death row decades ago.

Buck’s story alternates with the transcript of a podcast by a journalist who is fighting to stop Marsh’s execution. The podcast attempts to investigate the circumstances of Marsh’s arrests and confessions, as well as to give a platform for his appellate attorney to detail his arguments against the death penalty. It’s an effective device that allows Friedman to show alternative opinions about justice and retribution.

I really enjoyed this novel, in part because Buck Schatz’s character is so irreverent and so cranky, but yet touching at the same time. The contrast between the earlier scenes with him as a young detective and those in the present, where he is physically and mentally frail, are poignant and sometimes heartbreaking. Friedman also does a good job here showing both sides of the death penalty debate, while at the same time telling an engaging story.

This is the first novel I’d read by Daniel Friedman, but it won’t be the last! I enjoyed this book so much that I’m planning to go back and read the earlier Buck Schatz books. I’m glad to have discovered this series.