The Girl You Left Behind

I'd posted online that I was reading The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes for one of my daily photography prompts*. People who don't follow this blog got an opportunity to see what I was reading. I got all sorts of recommendations for other books to read. Kind of ironic, too, if you think about the fact that The Last Letter from Your Lover isn't the type of book I've been reading of late.

One of the recommendations was for The Girl You Left Behind, also by Jojo Moyes. I read the synopsis.

Jojo Moyes’s word-of-mouth bestseller, Me Before You, catapulted her to wide critical acclaim and struck a chord with a wide range of readers everywhere. Now, with The Girl You Left Behind, Moyes returns with another irresistible heartbreaker—a breathtaking story of love, loss, and sacrifice told with her signature ability to capture our hearts.

Paris, 1916. Sophie Lefèvre must keep her family safe while her adored husband, Édouard, fights at the front. When their town falls to the Germans in the midst of World War I, Sophie is forced to serve them every evening at her hotel. From the moment the new Kommandant sets eyes on Sophie’s portrait—painted by her artist husband—a dangerous obsession is born, one that will lead Sophie to make a dark and terrible decision. Almost a century later, Sophie’s portrait hangs in the home of Liv Halston, a wedding gift from her young husband before his sudden death. After a chance encounter reveals the portrait’s true worth, a battle begins over its troubled history and Liv’s world is turned upside all over again. 

It sounded good. It was available at the library immediately. I decided to read it.

There's been a lot about returning stolen artwork to the families of victims of the Nazis during WWII. But not much written about WWI. That was part of the intrigue. The Girl You Left Behind follows to plot lines, one set during the occupation of France by the Germans. The other is set in more modern day London. A piece of art called "The Girl You Left Behind" is what binds the two storylines together.

In 1916 Germany, Sophie is the subject of the artwork painted by her husband, Edouard, while they were living in Paris. Edouard is off to fight the war and Sophie returns to her family hotel in northern France. Sophie brings the painting with her and hangs it, her most cherished possession, in a prominent place so she can enjoy it and so she can be reminded of the girl she once was.

She and her sister keep the hotel going. Moyes give a rich picture of what the occupation was like for the people in Sophie's town. The Germans requisition many things from the residents of the town. Eventually they show up at Sophie's hotel, demanding that she and her sister feed the Germans nightly. The Kommandant becomes obsessed with the painting as well.

The modern story is about young widow, Liv, whose most treasured possession is the painting "The Girl You Left Behind," which her husband bought for her on their honeymoon. Liv had been so down, emotionally and financially, when she meets a guy in a bar. She has hope that live can be happy again. That's when the family of Edouard learns about the painting and they want it back. Complications ensue and we're not really sure who will end up with the painting in the end.

I think that I didn't know which way the story is going to go because I wasn't sure how it should go. Emotionally, I was vested in Liv and I wanted her to get to keep the painting. But ethically, was that the right response? What about Jewish family during WWII who lost their possessions to Nazi looting? If those items were "sold" later on, shouldn't the Jewish families get their items back? I was so torn. This book gave me so much to think about. The Girl You Left Behind would probably make an excellent book club choice.

Suffice it to say that I was very satisfied with the resolution.

Upon turning the last page, I noticed that there was a prequel novella, Honeymoon in Paris, to this novel. That was available from the library. It's only about 70 pages long so I'm now about 1/3 of the way thru that one, too. I'm not sure if it's making me like Sophie and Liv more or less. I'll report back when I finish.

*In case you're wondering about daily photo challenges, check out the one I've been part of the longest. Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day (otherwise known as FMS PAD).

The Giver of Stars

I started 2019 with a Jojo Moyes book, and I'm (nearly) finishing the year with another one. The Giver of Stars is an interesting mix of historical fiction and chick lit. It's a book about women's friendships. And then there's some romance, not my cup of tea, but the rest of the story made up for it. This is a book that I believe would appeal to a diverse group of readers.

In The Giver of Stars, English author, Jojo Moyes, weaves a tale around the WPA Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky, a actual initiative by Eleanor Roosevelt that had women on horseback delivering library books to underserved in the mountains in an attempt to get people reading. (Now I'm wondering if this is something was included in The Library Book that I finished as soon as I finished that book.) I loved reading about the development of this library.

Alice Van Cleve, newly arrived from England, unhappily newly wed, is one of the first to volunteer to be a librarian. She joins Margery, an independent tough talking woman with a reputation based on her father's reputation before her. Eventually there are 4 other librarians, each with an interesting backstory. One of the librarians, a black woman, had gotten her experience at the Louisville Colored Branch (library).

As in every other Moyes book that I've read, character development is excellent. We see most of the librarians change, grow, and develop as the story moves along. Moyes doesn't ignore the men in their lives. We get to see growth and development there, too.

This novel is very popular in one of the reading groups I participate in on Facebook. I'd highly recommend it... if you think you can put up with the romance aspects of the novel.

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek

How coincidental that two novels were published about the Pack Horse Library project within a few months of each other! Kim Michele Richardson's The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was published in May of 2019 and The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes just a few months later, in October. I read The Giver of Stars earlier this year.

Shall I start with the comparison of the two historical fiction novels? Hard not to compare them since they are pretty similar. They both use the backdrop of the Pack Horse Library in which to set their stories.

I think I'll start with the biggest differences first. To me, The Giver of Stars is primarily a story about friendship and about overcoming odds. The romance got a bit schmaltzy at times, but I enjoy Moyes straightforward writing style. And since it was the first of the two that I read, I got to learn about the (mostly) women who drove all over Appalachia delivering books to communities that wouldn't have had access any other way. So that's The Giver of Stars. The main storyline of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek was about skin color. Notice how I didn't say "race"? The main character in Book Woman is Cussy Mary, also called "Bluet," one of the blue-skinned people from Kentucky. People afflicted with an enzyme deficiency can have blue  skin. In the 1930s in Kentucky (and I'd imagine a while afterwards), those with blue skin were lumped with "the coloreds." This is a big part of the story. The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek is almost a coming-of-age story about what it was like for Cussy Mark to reach adulthood as someone with blue skin.

The biggest similarity is that in both historical fiction novels the main characters are book women and have a love of books and words.

As soon as The Giver of Stars was released, there were accusations of plagiarism. That Jojo Moyes had copied many of the ideas from Kim Michele Richardson. I don't know if that's true, and I don't recall anything strikingly similar between the two plots. I would imagine that the similarities exist in description of the Pack Horse Librarians, but I can't be sure.

Richardson's language is a little richer and probably more fitting with the time during which the novel is set. Sometimes that language slowed me down a little, but not in any terrible way.

I gave both novels 4-stars on goodreads. That was a rounding up for The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, but a solid 4-stars for The Giver of Stars. Which is not to say that I liked the latter much more than the former. I just found Moyes a bit easier and quicker to read, and I love stories about women's friendships and second chances a bit more than coming of age stories at this point in my life.

You can't go wrong with either novel.

Someone Else's Shoes

I love Jojo Moyes, but I don't think I was the target audience for Someone Else's Shoes. Just since starting this blog, I've read quite a few of the novels of Jojo Moyes so anticipated this release and assumed I'd be blown away. It was a quick, easy, nice read, but I think I would have enjoyed it more when I was a little bit younger. (Am I only jealous that I can't even imagine wearing six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes - because I wouldn't be able to stand in them, forget about walking?)

Someone Else's Shoes is the story of two women trying to figure out who they are. When Sam accidentally takes Nisha's gym bag, with her really expensive, kick ass high heel shoes... and starts wearing them... it enables her to start thinking about a Plan B for life. At the same time that Nisha needs to develop her own Plan B when her life is thrown into disarray.

The story is humorous, warm and relatable. Similar to some other books of this author, female friendship is in the forefront. We can do so much more when we're working together.


 

After You (Me Before You, #2)

I read Me Before You by Jojo Moyes about 3 years ago with my community book club. I'd heard that they'd come out with a sequel. (I'd also heard that they'd come out with a movie, but movies, that's a whole 'nother story.) I figured I'd get around to reading the sequel one of these days.

Getting to know that a new neighbor loves to read (but doesn't like book clubs - imagine!), we started talking about books. This was back in November. She recommended a few books, some that I'd heard of and some that I hadn't. And she emphatically recommended this book. I came home that night and requested After You from the library. It finally became available in early January. Following my new norm, I waited until the latest Outlander expired off my iPad before starting to read After You.

This review includes spoilers for the first book, Me Before You. I highly recommend that book so if you haven't read it and want to, go read that first. And then come back...

I'm not sure why but I expected to pick up this book and love it. Quite the opposite. I picked up this book and thought, oh, this is horrible. Too many books, too little time? Is this something I even want to read. The characters were so whiny and annoying to me. This was the book I'd been looking forward to reading? I tried to remember what my neighbor said she liked about it so much. Was it a twist towards the end? Was it the ending? I knew she'd mentioned something specific and I remember her telling me she didn't want to share too much because she didn't want to ruin the story for me. I grumbled through a few more chapters. And then the book turned for me. I was hooked.

Me Before You is the story about a young woman, Louise, in a far out suburb of London whose live needs a kickstart. She's living at home with her parents, has a dead-end job and a dead beat boyfriend. She sees a job advertised for a caregiver, applies and gets the job. It's not at all what she expected. The man she will be caring for is Will, a wealthy former playboy (at least that's how he came across to me) and as a result of an accident, he's left a quadriplegic. So here we've got Lou, timid and not willing to create life on her terms, and Will, whose accident thrusts him into a whole different life. But is it a life worth living? That's the big question.

Will would like to end his life. He feels it isn't a life worth living. He's preparing for assisted suicide. He makes a deal with his mother that he won't do anything for six months. Those are the six months that Lou was hired for. She makes it her mission to change Will's mind. At first, Will is miserable towards her, trying to scare her away and trying to get her to leave him alone. Eventually, though, Will also has a mission. He wants Lou to become the type of woman to really live life, the way that he lived life prior to his accident. He wants her to have adventures and take risks and really L-I-V-E!

Will is more successful in his endeavor than Lou is. At the end of Me Before You, Will is dead and Lou is left with certain instructions and quite a bit of money.

After You picks up about 18 months later. Lou has spent time in Paris, she's bounced around a little bit. Now she's bought a flat on the edge of the city of London and she's working as a server at a bar at the airport. She knows that she's not doing what she promised Will she'd do. She's not really living but rather just going through the motions. She hasn't made her flat her own. The manager of the airport bar makes her working days miserable. Something has to change.

Then Lou has a rather bizarre accident where she is injured. Not as severely as Will had been injured. Not really life changing at all. But enough that she needs to go home and recuperate at her parents' house and making her wonder how she ended up back where she'd been just two years ago.

Once she's recovered enough, before heading back to London, Lou makes a promise to her father that she'll join a grief support group. She needs to get over Will's death. At the first meeting, Lou sits there wondering what she possible has in common with these other people. After all, her loss was so unique.

The group is pointless, her job gets worse and worse. She wonders what her life is all about. And then... as a result of the group she meets a man. And part of Will's past barges into her life. This is where I'll stop giving the details and just get on to the themes of the book.

Unlike the first novel which forces the reader to think about assisted suicide, this book takes on many more issues. It's about coming to terms with loss and learning how to live with the loss while still actually living. It's about family and all its strengths and weaknesses. It's about women's roles, even after they're in their 50s after years of being a stay-at-home mother. It's about what teens need. It's about love. Moyes covers all those themes - in the second half of the book - really well.

Do I recommend this book? Yes, I do. But don't pick it up expecting a second Me Before You. As a sequel, I'd only give this book 2 stars. But as a stand alone story about characters for whom we know the backstory, I give it 4 stars. Thank you, neighbor, for planting the bug in my head to read it... and for your words that kept me to stick with it even when I felt like giving it up.

2017 Reading Challenge - How Am I Doing?

According to goodreads.com, I've read 27 out of the 36 books that I hope to finish this year. They include one book that I dropped (Kazunomiya: Prisoner of Heaven, Japan, 1858) and they've doubled counted After You by Jojo Moyes. So, 25 out of 36 books. And I'm in the middle of reading two more, Beloved by Toni Morrison and Anne Tyler's The Accidental Tourist.

How am I doing with this 2017 Reading Challenge that I found online? Pretty well. Although I'm using several titles several times... which I'm sure isn't the intent of the challenge creator.

• A book I read in school - A Wrinkle in Time
• A book from my childhood - The Hobbit
      It was published in 1937 so I could have read it in my childhood had I wanted to!
• A book published over 100 years ago -   Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson 
• A book published in the last year - Hum If You Don't Know the Words
• A non-fiction book - Hillbilly Elegy
• A book written by a male author - My Reading Life
• A book written by a female author - 1929
• A book by someone who isn't a writer - When Breath Becomes Air
• A book that became a film - A Wrinkle in Time
• A book published in the 20th century - Everything that Rises Must Converge
• A book set in my hometown/region - Best. State. Ever.
• A book with someone's name in the title - LaRose
• A book with a number in the title - nine, ten: A September 11 Story
• A book someone else recommended to me - Lilac Girls
• A book with over 500 pages - Barkskins
• A book I can finish in a day - nine, ten: A September 11 Story; Golf Chronicles; Hum If You Don't Know the Words; Best. State. Ever.
• A book with a one word title - 1929   That counts, right?
• A memoir or journal - The Watchmaker's Daughter
• A book written by someone younger than me - Commonwealth
• A book set somewhere I'll be visiting this year - nine, ten: A September 11 Story
• An award-winning book - The Girl Who Drank the Moon
• A self-published book - Golf Chronicles

In order to truly, legitimately complete this challenge, I need to find - and read - the following books. I'm looking for suggestions.

• A book that became a film
• A book with a character with my first name
• A book I can finish in a day
• A previously banned book - I've got that one covered as I'm reading Beloved for banned books month at Books & Beer Club
• A book translated from another language
• A book that will improve a specific area of my life
• A book set somewhere I'll be visiting this year
• An award winning book
• A self-published book      

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. 

Update: I probably should have taken the time yesterday to check and see which of the books I've read have won awards. Not surprisingly, there were several. With many more being nominees. Here is a list of the award winning books that I've read and what awards each one won.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - Newberry Medal (2017)
An Echo in the Bone - WABWAHA Romance Tournament for Best Novel with Romantic Elements/Crossover (2010)
The Hobbit - Keith Barker Millennium Book Award (1997); Books I Loved Best Yearly Awards for Older Readers (1997); Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies (1990)
After You - Woman & Home Reader's Choice Award for Book that Made Me Cry (2016)
LaRose - National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction (2016)
Hood - Stonewall Book Award for Literature (1997)
Everything that Rises Must Converge - National Book Award Finalist for Fiction (1966)

I really wondered about the Woman & Home Reader's Choice Award for Book that Made Me Cry as cited on goodreads.com, especially since the apostrophe in "reader's" seemed to be in the wrong place. Shouldn't it be readers'? I looked it up and it is, indeed, an award given out by a magazine based in the United Kingdom. FYI, on their  website, they don't use any apostrophe. Of my award-winning books, I most liked The Girl Who Drank the Moon which made me happy since when I was teaching I tried to keep up with all the latest Newberry Medal winners.

 

Honeymoon in Paris

Honeymoon in Paris was written as the prequel novella to The Girl You Left Behind, for those who were really anxious to get a head start on the Jojo Moyes novel. I read it afterwards. And I guess I'm glad I did.

The characters of Sophie and Liv were particularly unlikeable to me in this "honeymoon" appetizer to the main course. I think if I'd read this first, I wouldn't have gone on to read The Girl You Left Behind, and that would have been a shame. I really enjoyed The Girl You Left Behind.

Maybe because I didn't like this novella, I'm finding it impossible to write a review without giving lots of both books away. Suffice it to say, this was a waste of a reading day. The only saving grace was that it only took one day to read.

The Last Letter from Your Lover

Romance novels aren't my usual genre. However, I am a sucker for a book that includes written correspondence. In this case, the letters were love letters. If the story is good - and this one was - and that crucial element is included, I'm in.

The Last Letter from Your Lover by Jojo Moyes starts with Jennifer recovering from a bad car accident. She's got amnesia and can't remember what's come before. She finds a letter, what appears to be a love letter, while straightening up in her bedroom... and that starts to jog her memory. She eventually finds more and more letters, and after a chance encounter at a cocktail party, she seems to remember a big huge chunk of what's been missing from her life since the accident.

Interspersed with Jennifer's post-accident story are chapters which fill us in with details of the back story. Many of the same characters are in that story so the book was confusing at first. I didn't realize I was reading a "current" story and a back story.

The book then picks up many years later. Ellie, a journalist who is focusing too much on a bad love relationship and not enough on her career, is tasked with writing a story that connects the 1960s to the 2000s. She goes to the archives of her newspaper and is handed a folder. In the folder, she finds some love letters. She's then determined to find out more about the lovers who sent and received those letters.

Other than the confusion in the beginning, this is a well-crafted story. It wasn't too schmaltzy for me. There is some reference to asbestos and since I'm much more of a historical fiction fan, I would have really loved this book had that part been much more developed.

In any event, I'm really glad that I picked this up when I wasn't sure what to read next.