Loyalty

I have very mixed feelings about Loyalty by Lisa Scottoline. I know she's a bestselling author. And her story telling is wonderful. I love the way several very different stories eventually mesh together to create one cohesive story about the growth of the Mafia in 1800s Sicily. Early on, I asked my husband for more information about the Mafia. Like me, he thought it had been around for a lot longer than just 200 years. But I researched that... and eventually read the author's notes at the end of Loyalty. And now I know that is exactly when the Mafia become a significant organized force in Sicily. I feel better prepared for my trip to Sicily. 

The author has tons of videos on her website showing actual spots that were in the novel and lots of information about Sicily. I will probably binge through those over the weekend.

Why the mixed feelings, you might be asking yourself? Well, the novel gave me a great sense of place. I loved that part of it. Some of her descriptions were repetitive, like there were always prickly pear in the landscape or along the road or next to the house. Likely that's true, but I didn't need to read that over and over again. What I liked even less, though, was the dialogue. It was so inauthentic, even when the characters were speaking Italian? Sicilian? something that wasn't English. The overly simple way that the dialogue was written didn't match the sophistication of the story to the point where I found it a little jarring. There was no character development for several of the characters and this doltish dialogue just reinforced that feeling.

People seem to love this novel. And the story was excellent, engaging, interesting, twisty. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. But I'll continue to wonder about the way the dialogue was written.

I'm planning on reading Eternal by the same author soon. That will help me get ready for my trip to Rome. I'm curious to see if I run into the same writing style.

The Dutch House

Ann Patchett's The Dutch House had been on my "to be read" list for I don't know how long. Then a woman from my community book club suggested it. And a few weeks later, one of my college roommates recommended the audio book narrated by Tom Hanks. I was in need of an audio book, it was available, and that was that!

Tom Hanks is a wonderful narrator. The story of the Dutch House, an estate in a suburb of Philadelphia, is told by Danny. We follow Danny after his mother leaves home for India - because she hates the Dutch House. We go along with Danny and his father as they make their Saturday rounds to collect rent and make routine repairs in buildings that Danny's father owns. We're appalled but not surprised when Danny and his sister, Maeve, are exiled from the house. Dealing with the life choices that result from this banishment and the bitter feelings that ensue is the biggest part of what this story is about.

The novel is called The Dutch House and while the estate is highly important in the development of the story, I didn't feel as though it was a character in the book. But it was really important.

The book was engaging from start to finish, and I give Tom Hanks some of the credit for that. Now I need to find something else where he's the reader!
 

The Matchmaker's Gift

 

The Matchmaker's Gift which I suppose I would classify as "Magical Realism" if I had to pick a genre had rave reviews, from both friends and people in Renee's Reading Club. It made me think that Lynda Cohen Loigman's story about a Jewish matchmaker in the early 1900s and her granddaughter in the 1990s probably wasn't simply a light, fluffy romance novel. It was not.

As a small child on an immigrant ship from Europe, Sara and her family realize that she has a gift for helping people find their soulmates. As she gets older, it's a gift she wishes to capitalize on. However, the well-established matchmaking network in NYC at the time was exclusively older, married men. This went far beyond not being taken seriously. The establishment felt threatened by Sara and wanted her stopped.

After Sara's death, her granddaughter, Abby, a rising divorce attorney, is left all her journals. It took Abby a little while to figure out exactly what she was reading about. Then she wondered why it was left to her, what sort of message was her grandmother sending her, and what was she supposed to do with this information.

Told in two different timelines, this is a story about women trying to figure out their places in the world. Abby's story really resonated with me. She became a divorce attorney after living through her parents' terrible divorce. She felt her mother had been unheard during her divorce and she wanted to help other women who might end up in that situation. By the very end of the novel, I was thinking about my divorce attorney and about her history as a divorce attorney, first representing immigrant women who couldn't get a fair shake in divorce court.

The Matchmaker's Gift was a well-developed story that was easy and enjoyable to read.

This is the second novel that I've read and enjoyed by Lynda Cohen Loigman. The first was The Two Family House back in 2016.

Beautiful Ruins

I'd asked for recommendations for books set in Italy from Renee's Reading Club on Facebook, trying to get (even more) excited about my upcoming trip to Italy. I really wanted books set in the locales that I'll be visiting but got very few of those. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter was recommended by a couple of people. A few others commented that they weren't crazy about the book.

I'll add myself to the list of those who weren't crazy about the book. I really did enjoy some of the descriptions of the Italian locations. Beyond that, I didn't enjoy the book. Not to mention that the Italy scenes were set in an area near Cinque Terra that I don't have the fondest memories of and probably will not return to.

None of the characters were likable, not that that determines whether or not I'll like a book. This was part war story, part family dysfunction and a huge part Hollywood melodrama. The latter is totally not my thing. I'm also confused as to why they'd use real people (Liz Taylor and Richard Burton) for a story like this. Why couldn't the stars have been as fictional as the rest of the story?

Does anyone have any better suggestions for novels set in Puglia or Sicily? Or even Rome?
 

One True Loves

I wasn't at book club when they selected One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid as our April title for our "romance" (genre) month. I was surprised to see a contemporary title selected as usually they go with classics. (And it will be streaming on Amazon Prime beginning tomorrow. Is that why they selected this one?)

I was happy to give this novel a try. I was even happier when I got intrigued right away and enjoyed reading about Emma and her two loves, Jesse and Sam. Both Emma and Jesse were anxious to flee Acton, Massachusetts, where they both grew up. They went to college in Los Angeles and after graduation, they stayed. They were living their dream life, traveling the world. Emma was a travel writer and Jesse worked on environmental documentaries. After a few years, it was only natural that they got married.

The novel starts with Emma and her fiancé, Sam, having dinner with Emma's parents when Emma gets a phone call - from her husband. Huh?

The story unfolds in an engaging way. Where was Emma's husband that she thought it was okay to have a fiancé, too?  Will Emma have to make a choice between the two men?

I'd definitely recommend this one and am looking forward to watching the movie.

Siracusa

I finished reading Delia Ephron's Siracusa a day or two ago and I already can't remember how it ended. Why? Probably because I didn't really care.

I have been looking for novels to get me ready for an upcoming trip to Italy (as if I'm not already ready) and Siracusa popped up. The reviews weren't great, mostly talked about unlikeable characters. But several reviews talked about how Ephron really gave a sense of place. Sense of place was exactly what I was looking for so figured I'd read the book.

Lizzie and Finn had a summer romance, remained friendly for years after. They bumped into each other with their spouses on a trip to London and decided that they'd plan to go away together the following summer. Lizzie and Michael met Finn and Taylor and their daughter, Snow. The four adults couldn't be more dissimilar. And the entire novel you kind of wondered what was wrong with Snow. 

The story is told by each one of the four adult characters. Snow, who is central to the entire story, is the one character we never hear directly from. As most of the reviews stated, the characters were not particularly likeable. I didn't feel sorry for the troubles that any of the characters brought upon themselves.

I did get a good sense of place from Ephron's descriptions. My favorite line, which I've already recited to my husband twice, is "That's right, there's no dirt in Siracusa. It's wall-to-wall stone."

Would I recommend this novel? Nope. Not unless you want to get a good sense of what Siracusa might be like. It was also a good reminder about why I prefer to travel alone with just my husband and not with another couple.

Does anyone have recommendations for any more novels I might want to read before my trip?

The Bookseller of Dachau

 

As is our tradition, my Jewish book club will be discussing a Holocaust novel in conjunction with the synagogue's observance of Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year's selection is The Bookseller of Dachau by Shari J. Ryan.

Part typical Holocaust novel, part romance story, The Bookseller of Dachau is a novel full of hope. In fact, one of the characters whom we don't get to know well is named Runa which secret. Matilda is always looking for a sign that will give her hope, always associated with her secret.

The novel is told in two storylines. One is the story of Matilda and Hans during WWII in Dachau. The other is a contemporary story about American Grace and German Archie who meet in Dachau when Grace inherits property in Dachau. I especially loved the explanation that those who live in present-day Dachau as to why they are still there.

As with other books about the Holocaust that I've read recently, I can't help but make connections to what happened then to what is happening in our country now. That frightens me. I don't want to allow the hopefulness of this novel to get my guard down. I'm also amazed in one way, not surprised at all in another, that while atrocities were going on in the concentration camp at Dachau, "Life is moving about as if nothing out of the ordinary is happening." Yikes!

This should be a good discussion.

The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett

 

I loved Annie Lyons' novel, The Brilliant Life of Eudora Honeysett. It was highly recommended by one of the members of one of my book clubs and it's the title that we will be discussing this month. I'm looking forward to a robust discussion.

Eudora Honeysett was a young girl at the outbreak of WWII which all helps contribute to the path her life ultimately takes. A chance meeting at a hospital leads to Eudora thinking about what her death should be like.

The overall message of the book is to live life every moment that you are alive. Highly recommend. I listened to the audio which I believe enhanced the enjoyment of the novel.