Title: Non-Genre Reveals
Description: Reveals ONLY!
Description: Reveals ONLY!
HoserLauren - June 13, 2008 01:18 AM (GMT)
:wizard:
msjoanna - June 13, 2008 03:23 PM (GMT)
morsie's non-genre reveal:
On a Day Like This by Peter Stamm
On a day like any other, Andreas changes his life. When a routine doctor’s visit leads to an unexpected prognosis, a great yearning takes hold of him–but who can tell if it is homesickness or wanderlust; a deathwish or a fresh lease on life? Andreas leaves everything behind–sells his Paris apartment, cuts off all social ties, quits his teaching job, and waves good-bye to his days spent idly sitting in cafés–to look for a woman he loved half a lifetime ago. The monotony of days had been keeping him in check; now he hopes for a miracle and for a new beginning.
Andreas’s travels lead him back to the province of his youth, back to his hometown in Switzerland where he returns to familiar streets, where his brother still lives in their childhood home, and where Fabienne, a woman he was obsessed with in his youth, continues to visit the same lake they once swam in together. Andreas, consumed with longing for his lost love and blinded by the uncertainty of his future, is tormented by the question of what might have been if things had happened differently.
Peter Stamm has been praised as a “stylistic ascetic” and his prose as “distinguished by lapidary expression, telegraphic terseness, and finely tuned sensitivity” (Bookforum). In On a Day Like This, Stamm’s unobtrusive observational style allows us to journey with our antihero through his crises of banality, of living in his empty world, to the realization that life is finite–that one must live it, as long as that is possible.
On BookCrossing
On a Day Like This by Peter Stamm
On a day like any other, Andreas changes his life. When a routine doctor’s visit leads to an unexpected prognosis, a great yearning takes hold of him–but who can tell if it is homesickness or wanderlust; a deathwish or a fresh lease on life? Andreas leaves everything behind–sells his Paris apartment, cuts off all social ties, quits his teaching job, and waves good-bye to his days spent idly sitting in cafés–to look for a woman he loved half a lifetime ago. The monotony of days had been keeping him in check; now he hopes for a miracle and for a new beginning.
Andreas’s travels lead him back to the province of his youth, back to his hometown in Switzerland where he returns to familiar streets, where his brother still lives in their childhood home, and where Fabienne, a woman he was obsessed with in his youth, continues to visit the same lake they once swam in together. Andreas, consumed with longing for his lost love and blinded by the uncertainty of his future, is tormented by the question of what might have been if things had happened differently.
Peter Stamm has been praised as a “stylistic ascetic” and his prose as “distinguished by lapidary expression, telegraphic terseness, and finely tuned sensitivity” (Bookforum). In On a Day Like This, Stamm’s unobtrusive observational style allows us to journey with our antihero through his crises of banality, of living in his empty world, to the realization that life is finite–that one must live it, as long as that is possible.
On BookCrossing
Jordanne - June 13, 2008 04:10 PM (GMT)
Jordanne's reveal:
Icy Sparks
In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Cape Ann, a funny, sad, wise, and redeeming first novel about a young girl's battle with a troubling affliction. Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up in, and it's especially hard for 10-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan who lives with her grandparents. Life becomes even more difficult for Icy when the violent tics and uncontrollable cursing begin. Icy's adolescence is marred by the humiliation brought on by her mysterious condition, and its all-too-visible symptoms are the source of endless hilarity as everyone around her offers an opinion about what's troubling the girl. Eventually, Icy finds solace in the company of an obese woman who knows what it's like to be an outcast in this tightly knit Appalachian community. Narrated by a now-grown Icy, this first novel shimmers with warmth and humor as it recounts a young girl's painful and poignant journey to womanhood--and the many lives she touches and enriches along the way.
Icy Sparks
In the tradition of To Kill a Mockingbird and The Cape Ann, a funny, sad, wise, and redeeming first novel about a young girl's battle with a troubling affliction. Rural Kentucky in the 1950s is not an easy place to grow up in, and it's especially hard for 10-year-old Icy Sparks, an orphan who lives with her grandparents. Life becomes even more difficult for Icy when the violent tics and uncontrollable cursing begin. Icy's adolescence is marred by the humiliation brought on by her mysterious condition, and its all-too-visible symptoms are the source of endless hilarity as everyone around her offers an opinion about what's troubling the girl. Eventually, Icy finds solace in the company of an obese woman who knows what it's like to be an outcast in this tightly knit Appalachian community. Narrated by a now-grown Icy, this first novel shimmers with warmth and humor as it recounts a young girl's painful and poignant journey to womanhood--and the many lives she touches and enriches along the way.
AceofHearts - June 13, 2008 08:37 PM (GMT)
My reveal is : The Wentworths by Kate Arnoldi
From Publishers Weekly
With a wry touch, Arnoldi draws a mocking portrait of a powerful Southern California family that, while not the worst family on record, is remarkably warped by wealth and power. The Wentworths' individual faults play off the milieu of familial grotesques: mother Judith's a dieting narcissist who abuses the servants, while patriarch Gus's compulsive philandering has been inherited and surpassed by his sexually deviant son Conrad, defense lawyer to the scummy stars. Conrad's sister, Becky, is the only offspring with a family of her own, and their problems (kleptomaniac son, depressed teenage daughter) hover closer to the edge of normalcy. The final family member, gay Norman, lives in a fantasy world in the pool house and offers analyses of his kin's foibles. The Wentworths' fortress of supposed superiority is threatened by two women: Angela, a conniving ex of Conrad's, and Honey, Gus's naïve paramour. As the family closes ranks, comedy and tragedy ensue. A page-turner both for its well-paced intrigue and for its witty, sordid description of just how awful these people can get, the book's coup isn't the skewering Arnoldi (Chemical Pink) gives her overprivileged clan; it's the redemption they find after they're served twisted justice.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6053725
From Publishers Weekly
With a wry touch, Arnoldi draws a mocking portrait of a powerful Southern California family that, while not the worst family on record, is remarkably warped by wealth and power. The Wentworths' individual faults play off the milieu of familial grotesques: mother Judith's a dieting narcissist who abuses the servants, while patriarch Gus's compulsive philandering has been inherited and surpassed by his sexually deviant son Conrad, defense lawyer to the scummy stars. Conrad's sister, Becky, is the only offspring with a family of her own, and their problems (kleptomaniac son, depressed teenage daughter) hover closer to the edge of normalcy. The final family member, gay Norman, lives in a fantasy world in the pool house and offers analyses of his kin's foibles. The Wentworths' fortress of supposed superiority is threatened by two women: Angela, a conniving ex of Conrad's, and Honey, Gus's naïve paramour. As the family closes ranks, comedy and tragedy ensue. A page-turner both for its well-paced intrigue and for its witty, sordid description of just how awful these people can get, the book's coup isn't the skewering Arnoldi (Chemical Pink) gives her overprivileged clan; it's the redemption they find after they're served twisted justice.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/6053725
VeganMedusa - June 13, 2008 10:05 PM (GMT)
Lauren's reveal:
True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy
A provocative transformation of the classic fairy tale into a haunting survival story set in Poland during WWII, Murphy's second novel (after The Sea Within) is darkly enchanting. Two Jewish children, a girl of 11 and her seven-year-old brother, are left to wander the woods after their father and stepmother are forced to abandon them, frantically begging them never to say their Jewish names, but to identify themselves as Hansel and Gretel. In an imaginative reversal of the original tale, they encounter a small woman named Magda, known as a "witch" by villagers, who risks her life in harboring them. The story alternates between the children's nightmarish adventures, and their parents' struggle for survival and hope for a safe reunion. This mirror image of the fairy tale is deliberately disorienting, as Murphy describes the horrors of the outside world compared with the haven inside Magda's hut, and the fear and anguish of the other people who conspire to save the children and protect their own families, too. The na‹ve siblings are only half-conscious of much of this, though they are perfectly aware of their peril should they be discovered. The graphic details-the physical symptoms of near starvation, the infestations of lice, the effects of bitter cold-make it plain that this is the grimmest kind of fable. Eventually, the Nazis indulge in wholesale slaughter, and the children barely survive, hiding and on the run. No reader who picks up this inspiring novel will put it down until the final pages, in which redemption is not a fairy tale ending but a heartening message of hope.
True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy
A provocative transformation of the classic fairy tale into a haunting survival story set in Poland during WWII, Murphy's second novel (after The Sea Within) is darkly enchanting. Two Jewish children, a girl of 11 and her seven-year-old brother, are left to wander the woods after their father and stepmother are forced to abandon them, frantically begging them never to say their Jewish names, but to identify themselves as Hansel and Gretel. In an imaginative reversal of the original tale, they encounter a small woman named Magda, known as a "witch" by villagers, who risks her life in harboring them. The story alternates between the children's nightmarish adventures, and their parents' struggle for survival and hope for a safe reunion. This mirror image of the fairy tale is deliberately disorienting, as Murphy describes the horrors of the outside world compared with the haven inside Magda's hut, and the fear and anguish of the other people who conspire to save the children and protect their own families, too. The na‹ve siblings are only half-conscious of much of this, though they are perfectly aware of their peril should they be discovered. The graphic details-the physical symptoms of near starvation, the infestations of lice, the effects of bitter cold-make it plain that this is the grimmest kind of fable. Eventually, the Nazis indulge in wholesale slaughter, and the children barely survive, hiding and on the run. No reader who picks up this inspiring novel will put it down until the final pages, in which redemption is not a fairy tale ending but a heartening message of hope.
AceofHearts - June 14, 2008 01:24 AM (GMT)
msjoanna's reveal:
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
From Booklist
Myers combines an innovative format, complex moral issues, and an intriguingly sympathetic but flawed protagonist in this cautionary tale of a 16-year-old on trial for felony murder. Steve Harmon is accused of acting as lookout for a robbery that left a victim dead; if convicted, Steve could serve 25 years to life. Although it is clear that Steve did participate in the robbery, his level of involvement is questionable, leaving protagonist and reader to grapple with the question of his guilt. An amateur filmmaker, Steve tells his story in a combination of film script and journal. The "handwritten" font of the journal entries effectively uses boldface and different sizes of type to emphasize particular passages. The film script contains minimal jargon, explaining camera angles (CU, POV, etc.) when each term first appears. Myers' son Christopher provides the black-and-white photos, often cropped and digitally altered, that complement the text. Script and journal together create a fascinating portrait of a terrified young man wrestling with his conscience. The tense drama of the courtroom scenes will enthrall readers, but it is the thorny moral questions raised in Steve's journal that will endure in readers' memories. Although descriptions of the robbery and prison life are realistic and not overly graphic, the subject matter is more appropriate for high-school-age than younger readers.
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Though this book is marketed as a young adult/teen book, I don't think it really fits that genre. If people don't think it's a non-genre book, though, I'm happy to offer something else. I just happened to get two copies of this one from my exchange group, so thought I'd share one that folks won't have to wait for me to read.
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
From Booklist
Myers combines an innovative format, complex moral issues, and an intriguingly sympathetic but flawed protagonist in this cautionary tale of a 16-year-old on trial for felony murder. Steve Harmon is accused of acting as lookout for a robbery that left a victim dead; if convicted, Steve could serve 25 years to life. Although it is clear that Steve did participate in the robbery, his level of involvement is questionable, leaving protagonist and reader to grapple with the question of his guilt. An amateur filmmaker, Steve tells his story in a combination of film script and journal. The "handwritten" font of the journal entries effectively uses boldface and different sizes of type to emphasize particular passages. The film script contains minimal jargon, explaining camera angles (CU, POV, etc.) when each term first appears. Myers' son Christopher provides the black-and-white photos, often cropped and digitally altered, that complement the text. Script and journal together create a fascinating portrait of a terrified young man wrestling with his conscience. The tense drama of the courtroom scenes will enthrall readers, but it is the thorny moral questions raised in Steve's journal that will endure in readers' memories. Although descriptions of the robbery and prison life are realistic and not overly graphic, the subject matter is more appropriate for high-school-age than younger readers.
------------------------------------
Though this book is marketed as a young adult/teen book, I don't think it really fits that genre. If people don't think it's a non-genre book, though, I'm happy to offer something else. I just happened to get two copies of this one from my exchange group, so thought I'd share one that folks won't have to wait for me to read.
HoserLauren - June 14, 2008 02:19 PM (GMT)
VeganMedusa's Reveal:
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Book Description
Amazon.com
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black is an acquired taste, and I have acquired it. The novel is original and deeply dark, but as one interpretation of its title suggests, the author tries hard to push herself past the stark grimness of the world she describes and take the reader somewhere new and compelling.
The book explores the relationship between a genuine-article psychic named Alison and her assistant, Colette, as they travel through England, along with Alison's spirit guide, a lowlife figure from the past called Morris, who is forever sprawled in doorways and lounging on chairs, playing with his genitals or muttering. The obese, tormented Alison and the singularly repellent Morris are characters who (as you might expect) can be hard to take and (as you might not) still harder to turn away from.
...
Beyond Black is a daring and extravagant book, filled with as much wit as darkness. Sometimes, wit can't really replace light, and I found myself longing once in a while for the novel to take a sudden sharp turn and leave the paranormal and the traumatic far, far behind. I never got my wish, of course, which is probably just as well. Mantel's books are boldly different from one another; her novels have taken place among missionaries returning from Africa, in France during the Revolution, and in present-day Saudi Arabia. This, her 10th, is expansive and ambitious. It is not an entirely loveable novel, nor does it seem to aspire to be. She reminds me a little of an English Margaret Atwood, going anywhere and everywhere she likes as a writer, while never losing her finely honed sensibility and ear for the way people really talk to each other.
Contemporary American audiences remain captivated by TV psychic John Edward and his ilk, indulging him as he "struggles" to pull a name of a dead loved one from the air, recount a trip, or describe a lost trinket. His admirers, like people the world over, want to believe in something beyond the very ordinary confines of their lives. Readers of fiction want something different: They long for writers to pull fully formed characters from the air and animate them, to dredge up entire histories and futures with a conjurer's panache. They will be satisfied by Hilary Mantel's abilities to perform these feats, and to imbue her writing with a unique combination of exhilaration and dread. With Beyond Black, she shows us how fiction can lift us into the extraordinary.
This book is still TBR, but I feel confident that it's a good one with a recommendation from Philip Pullman "One of the greatest ghost stories in the language". :D
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
Book Description
Amazon.com
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com
Hilary Mantel's Beyond Black is an acquired taste, and I have acquired it. The novel is original and deeply dark, but as one interpretation of its title suggests, the author tries hard to push herself past the stark grimness of the world she describes and take the reader somewhere new and compelling.
The book explores the relationship between a genuine-article psychic named Alison and her assistant, Colette, as they travel through England, along with Alison's spirit guide, a lowlife figure from the past called Morris, who is forever sprawled in doorways and lounging on chairs, playing with his genitals or muttering. The obese, tormented Alison and the singularly repellent Morris are characters who (as you might expect) can be hard to take and (as you might not) still harder to turn away from.
...
Beyond Black is a daring and extravagant book, filled with as much wit as darkness. Sometimes, wit can't really replace light, and I found myself longing once in a while for the novel to take a sudden sharp turn and leave the paranormal and the traumatic far, far behind. I never got my wish, of course, which is probably just as well. Mantel's books are boldly different from one another; her novels have taken place among missionaries returning from Africa, in France during the Revolution, and in present-day Saudi Arabia. This, her 10th, is expansive and ambitious. It is not an entirely loveable novel, nor does it seem to aspire to be. She reminds me a little of an English Margaret Atwood, going anywhere and everywhere she likes as a writer, while never losing her finely honed sensibility and ear for the way people really talk to each other.
Contemporary American audiences remain captivated by TV psychic John Edward and his ilk, indulging him as he "struggles" to pull a name of a dead loved one from the air, recount a trip, or describe a lost trinket. His admirers, like people the world over, want to believe in something beyond the very ordinary confines of their lives. Readers of fiction want something different: They long for writers to pull fully formed characters from the air and animate them, to dredge up entire histories and futures with a conjurer's panache. They will be satisfied by Hilary Mantel's abilities to perform these feats, and to imbue her writing with a unique combination of exhilaration and dread. With Beyond Black, she shows us how fiction can lift us into the extraordinary.
This book is still TBR, but I feel confident that it's a good one with a recommendation from Philip Pullman "One of the greatest ghost stories in the language". :D
HoserLauren - June 14, 2008 10:59 PM (GMT)
Ri's reveal:
Change of Heart
by Jodi Picoult
From Publishers Weekly
Picoult bangs out another ripped-from-the-zeitgeist winner, this time examining a condemned inmate's desire to be an organ donor. Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon, and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival—an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets. The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart. The point-of-view switches are abrupt, but this is a small flaw in an impressive book.
Change of Heart
by Jodi Picoult
From Publishers Weekly
Picoult bangs out another ripped-from-the-zeitgeist winner, this time examining a condemned inmate's desire to be an organ donor. Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon, and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival—an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets. The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart. The point-of-view switches are abrupt, but this is a small flaw in an impressive book.
HoserLauren - June 14, 2008 11:14 PM (GMT)
Giz's reveal is:
The Gravedigger's Story by Ged Simmons
Book Description
A promiscuous 1960s teenager falls pregnant to an unknown man, much to the distress of her Irish Catholic parents. To preserve the family’s honour, a neighbouring widower agrees to marry her and give the child, Mason, the saving grace of social respectability.
While Mason’s mother has little time for him, his stepfather – the neighbour - Dadda, dotes on him completely. Mason has many happy memories of the first seven years of his life but this all ends abruptly when his mother leaves town with another man, taking her son with her and ruthlessly cutting off all contact with his beloved Dadda.
Matters only get worse - his mother moves from one horrendous partner to the next, creating an unstable and disturbed environment within which Mason evolves into a social misfit. Eventually breaking free from his mother’s destructive influence, Mason embarks upon a soul-searching journey, living an itinerant lifestyle while working menial jobs. Ultimately his search results in a long-awaited reunion with Dadda, but brings with it an unforseen and shocking twist. The Gravedigger’s Story is a compelling hybrid of Alan Bennett and the classics, a riveting read and a breathtaking debut.
About the Author
Ged Simmons is a popular actor known for appearing in many British TV dramas. He has written a number of screenplays and theatrical works. The Gravedigger’s Story is his first novel.
Giz says
I've not read this yet but it comes highly recommended by another BCer Rivercassini :)
BC link
The Gravedigger's Story by Ged Simmons
Book Description
A promiscuous 1960s teenager falls pregnant to an unknown man, much to the distress of her Irish Catholic parents. To preserve the family’s honour, a neighbouring widower agrees to marry her and give the child, Mason, the saving grace of social respectability.
While Mason’s mother has little time for him, his stepfather – the neighbour - Dadda, dotes on him completely. Mason has many happy memories of the first seven years of his life but this all ends abruptly when his mother leaves town with another man, taking her son with her and ruthlessly cutting off all contact with his beloved Dadda.
Matters only get worse - his mother moves from one horrendous partner to the next, creating an unstable and disturbed environment within which Mason evolves into a social misfit. Eventually breaking free from his mother’s destructive influence, Mason embarks upon a soul-searching journey, living an itinerant lifestyle while working menial jobs. Ultimately his search results in a long-awaited reunion with Dadda, but brings with it an unforseen and shocking twist. The Gravedigger’s Story is a compelling hybrid of Alan Bennett and the classics, a riveting read and a breathtaking debut.
About the Author
Ged Simmons is a popular actor known for appearing in many British TV dramas. He has written a number of screenplays and theatrical works. The Gravedigger’s Story is his first novel.
Giz says
I've not read this yet but it comes highly recommended by another BCer Rivercassini :)
BC link
VeganMedusa - June 15, 2008 08:33 PM (GMT)
Candy's reveal:
Both a poignant love story and a period portrait of America, this is the story of a solitary woman in great turmoil. As the Eisenhower years end and 1960 ushers in John F. Kennedy. Mary van der Linden confronts the terror of the Cold War - a dark background to her carefree existence in Washington.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3943271
Both a poignant love story and a period portrait of America, this is the story of a solitary woman in great turmoil. As the Eisenhower years end and 1960 ushers in John F. Kennedy. Mary van der Linden confronts the terror of the Cold War - a dark background to her carefree existence in Washington.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3943271
Lizabeth86 - June 16, 2008 01:49 PM (GMT)
Marlene's Reveal is:
The Ice Queen: A Novel by Alice Hoffman TBR!! (received today!!!)
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. "Be careful what you wish for. I know that for a fact. Wishes... burn your tongue the moment they're spoken and you can never take them back." Thus begins Hoffman's (Practical Magic; Here on Earth) stellar 18th novel about healing and transformation. As an eight-year-old, the unnamed narrator makes a terrible wish that comes true; remorseful for the next 30 years, she shuts down emotionally to become a self-proclaimed ice queen. Unlike her brother, Ned, who relies on logic, math and science to make sense of the world, the loner librarian fears the chaotic randomness of existence and is obsessed by death. Then lightning strikes, literally. In a flash, she's jolted out of her rut, noticing for the first time all that she's been taking for granted—even the color red, which after the strike she can no longer see: "How could I have been so stupid to ignore everything I'd had in my life? The color red alone was worth kingdoms." The novel turns sultry when the slowly melting ice queen seeks out reclusive Lazarus Jones, a fellow lightning survivor who came back to life after 40 minutes of death: "I wanted a man like that, one it was impossible to kill, who wouldn't flinch if you wished him dead." Blanketed in prose that has never been dreamier and gloriously vivid imagery, this life-affirming fable is ripe with Hoffman's trademark symbolism and magic, but with a steelier edge: "Every fairy tale had a bloody lining. Every one had teeth and claws." Both longtime fans and newcomers will relish it.
out of 74 reviews on amazon.com.My Bookcrossing Journal Entry
VeganMedusa - June 17, 2008 06:18 AM (GMT)
Lizabeth's Book is “Range of Motion” by Elizabeth Berg
http://bookcrossing.com/journal/4774845
From the Publisher
As Jay lies in a coma, his young wife, Lainey, is the only one who believes he will ever recover. When his doctors try to reach him, Jay does not respond. Yet Lainey believes he knows when she is there, and is stimulated by the gifts of ordinary life she brings him: sweet-smelling flowers, his children's drawings, his own softly textured shirt. As Lainey struggles to keep believing and to keep the family going, she goes deeper into herself, looking for solace, for strength, and for understanding. Overburdened, distracted, depressed yet determined, she feels desperate only at those times when her faith falters. It is then that she is sustained by her friendships. Alice, her next-door neighbor, is strong when Lainey cannot be, though she has problems and secret fears of her own. And the spirit of Evie, a woman from the 1940s who used to live in Lainey's house, now takes up a kind of residence again, offering advice and philosophy from a simpler time.
http://bookcrossing.com/journal/4774845
From the Publisher
As Jay lies in a coma, his young wife, Lainey, is the only one who believes he will ever recover. When his doctors try to reach him, Jay does not respond. Yet Lainey believes he knows when she is there, and is stimulated by the gifts of ordinary life she brings him: sweet-smelling flowers, his children's drawings, his own softly textured shirt. As Lainey struggles to keep believing and to keep the family going, she goes deeper into herself, looking for solace, for strength, and for understanding. Overburdened, distracted, depressed yet determined, she feels desperate only at those times when her faith falters. It is then that she is sustained by her friendships. Alice, her next-door neighbor, is strong when Lainey cannot be, though she has problems and secret fears of her own. And the spirit of Evie, a woman from the 1940s who used to live in Lainey's house, now takes up a kind of residence again, offering advice and philosophy from a simpler time.
Lizabeth86 - June 17, 2008 01:49 PM (GMT)
HoserLauren - June 18, 2008 09:59 PM (GMT)
Blue's reveal is:
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
From bookrags.com:
Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American fisherman living on the small island of San Piedro off the coast of Washington in the nineteen fifties, is accused of murder. The dead man is Carl Heine, another fisherman. Carl and Kabuo grew up together. Kabuo's family was in the process of buying some of Carl's family's land when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Soon after that, Kabuo's family was sent to internment camps in California with many other Japanese families who were suspected spies. While Kabuo's family was gone, Carl's mother Etta took advantage of their absence to sell the land to someone else, even though the Miyamotos only had one payment left to make. Kabuo returned from the war furious with Etta and determined to get the land his family had wanted.
While in the camps, Kabuo married a beautiful Japanese girl named Hatsue Imada. She had had a long childhood romance with a Caucasian boy named Ishmael Chambers. Ishmael loved her with all his heart, but Hatsue had often felt some "wrongness" nagging at her, and when she forced to go to the camp she wrote him a letter telling him their relationship was over. Ishmael, like Kabuo, went to war and served his country well.
When he returned, he was still very much in love with Hatsue and very lonely and angry.
Carl Heine also went to war, and came back with some dark memories and some anger at the "Japs." Nevertheless, he felt that his mother's treatment of the Miyamotos was wrong, and when Kabuo approached him to buy his land he leaned toward yes, but wanted to think about it. Soon after, Kabuo came upon Carl late at night while fishing. Carl's boat had lost its power. Kabuo gave Carl one of his batteries, and Carl made an agreement with Kabuo to sell the land. Kabuo left, and later a huge boat came close enough to Carl's boat to knock Carl into the water with its wake, hitting his head on a pole in the process. When Carl's body was found, it appeared that someone had hit him with something to knock him out and then thrown him overboard. Since Kabuo had recently had a conversation with Carl about his land and was known to desperately want the land, suspicion was raised. A major contributor to this suspicion was Kabuo's race: many San Piedro residents still hated the Japanese, even ten years after the war. The trial was long and full of racism. No one was aware of the huge freighter passing so close to Carl's boat until Ishmael stumbled upon the information while doing research for an article for his newspaper. When he finally brings his knowledge to the judge, along with some other information, the case is dismissed. Though Ishmael has not regained Hatsue, he finally feels she respects him for how he has helped her, and he can begin to respect himself again.
I hope not everybody has already read this! :D
Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
From bookrags.com:
Kabuo Miyamoto, a Japanese-American fisherman living on the small island of San Piedro off the coast of Washington in the nineteen fifties, is accused of murder. The dead man is Carl Heine, another fisherman. Carl and Kabuo grew up together. Kabuo's family was in the process of buying some of Carl's family's land when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Soon after that, Kabuo's family was sent to internment camps in California with many other Japanese families who were suspected spies. While Kabuo's family was gone, Carl's mother Etta took advantage of their absence to sell the land to someone else, even though the Miyamotos only had one payment left to make. Kabuo returned from the war furious with Etta and determined to get the land his family had wanted.
While in the camps, Kabuo married a beautiful Japanese girl named Hatsue Imada. She had had a long childhood romance with a Caucasian boy named Ishmael Chambers. Ishmael loved her with all his heart, but Hatsue had often felt some "wrongness" nagging at her, and when she forced to go to the camp she wrote him a letter telling him their relationship was over. Ishmael, like Kabuo, went to war and served his country well.
When he returned, he was still very much in love with Hatsue and very lonely and angry.
Carl Heine also went to war, and came back with some dark memories and some anger at the "Japs." Nevertheless, he felt that his mother's treatment of the Miyamotos was wrong, and when Kabuo approached him to buy his land he leaned toward yes, but wanted to think about it. Soon after, Kabuo came upon Carl late at night while fishing. Carl's boat had lost its power. Kabuo gave Carl one of his batteries, and Carl made an agreement with Kabuo to sell the land. Kabuo left, and later a huge boat came close enough to Carl's boat to knock Carl into the water with its wake, hitting his head on a pole in the process. When Carl's body was found, it appeared that someone had hit him with something to knock him out and then thrown him overboard. Since Kabuo had recently had a conversation with Carl about his land and was known to desperately want the land, suspicion was raised. A major contributor to this suspicion was Kabuo's race: many San Piedro residents still hated the Japanese, even ten years after the war. The trial was long and full of racism. No one was aware of the huge freighter passing so close to Carl's boat until Ishmael stumbled upon the information while doing research for an article for his newspaper. When he finally brings his knowledge to the judge, along with some other information, the case is dismissed. Though Ishmael has not regained Hatsue, he finally feels she respects him for how he has helped her, and he can begin to respect himself again.
I hope not everybody has already read this! :D