Other Lives
Other Lives
by Andre Brink
316 Pages
Fiction
Sourcebooks Landmark
September 2008
Three men living in South Africa whose lives are intertwined to a degree in the matter of hours change their identities, they loose what perceptions they had of themselves. The man that is white awakes to find himself staring in the mirror at a black man, the man who has not been able to have children gets home after a days work to find that he has kids and a different wife! The way this story is told creates mystery and introspection in the reader. What would it be like if you lived in a nation filled with racism, struggling through apartheid to find yourself the other race? What if something you had tried for for years were suddenly there, but you felt guilty in having it?
The concept of the book is good, well, no- it is amazing! However it didn't live up to the hype it set in the first couple chapters for me. I was thrilled to think it was a mystery, but then bummed to realize that it was more a situation created to cause the reader to think, and not really a book that ended with a conclusion to its own plot. Still, it is very well written, the characters are precise and you could swear they were made of flesh and bone, and the interweaving storylines really is intriguing. But, it just wasn't my delight, too much idea and brilliance and not enough of what sells me books-a story that has beginning, middle and end. The beginning was there, the middle was too and the end...I guess that was left up to me. Maybe it is my imagination that is lacking!
Make sure you check out what the NY Times has to say, because I enjoyed reading it:
Book Review: The Kitchen God’s Wife
photo by John Foley
The Kitchen God's Wife
by Amy Tan
544 Pages
Fiction
Stellar Five Chicken Award Book
For over fifty years two women, Winnie and Helen have guarded some of the worst possible secrets. When Helen confronts Winnie telling her she just can't keep the secrets anymore, Winnie must come clean. Interestingly the person Winnie most wanted to shield from the truth was her daughter Pearl, but Pearl has secrets of her own to disclose as well. After years of holding in the truth Winne is forced to endure the painfulness of remembering so that for the first time mother and daughter can understand each other as a whole, not just the pretty parts. The true question is, are their bonds strong enough to endure the truth, after having been taught generation after generation to hide the truth and put up a fake front?
I had never read Amy Tan before, I have seen people love her and I can't believe I was so slow to jump on the wagon. I grabbed up this read because it was just sitting there staring at me in the library, and it was an audio book. I love listening to international fiction audio books because I enjoy the accents and voices. Plus, yes, I have always liked being read to just as much as reading a book myself. After reading (listening to) The Kitchen God's Wife, I have a new author to stalk, yes a new favourite. I have a couple of her other books sitting on my shelf calling me right now. She is one of my new favourite authors.
In The Kitchen God's Wife Amy brings up women's issues in old China, she dispels some myths, she tells an amazing story and that she told flawlessly. The book is pretty dark at places, and the characters suffer much at the hands of those who claim to love them. It is hard to read at times, but even though it is intense I could not stop reading it. This read rocked my boat and could not have been better-the only thing was that I had wished it would have gone on for a little longer after the secrets were out, but the book was already 544 pages...so that probably wasn't an option. Maybe The Kitchen God's Wife part 2? ha!
Here I go again, giving out my most precious award. However Amy Tan takes it by a landslide. The Stellar Five Chicken Book Award is well deserved, very well deserved.
Have you read other books by Amy Tan? Which gets your highest recommendation? Why do you enjoy Amy Tan?
Book Review: A Love to Last Forever
A Love to Last Forever
Brides of Gallatin County Series Vol. 2
By Tracie Peterson
368 Pages
Pioneer Historical Fiction (Christian)
Bethany House Publishers
Published April 2009
Growing up Beth Gallatin has only been able to put down short roots in a community before she was moved along by her father. Just as she fell in love with a place their father would move them on to the next stop, he did have legitimate reasons, work, a house, a better town, a safer place for his daughters, still she resented it. She has made a secret vow to stay in one spot, with one man and raise a family in one community for the rest of her life. A Love to Last Forever is a story of roots, love, lasting promises and forgiveness, and learning the lesson that you really don't always know what is best for you.
I can relate to Beth in this book and it was fun to go through the process that Tracie Peterson took me on. Her writing was good, the characters worked for me, but it was slow for me and it didn't capture my attention until the mid-point. I don't mind a good Christan fiction book from the pioneer days, but this just wasn't it for me. It is the second in a series and I think I will pick up the third book sometime, but I make no promises. It was okay, just not spectacular. I had high hopes as last year I read two really good books from Bethany House. A Love to Last Forever just didn't do it for me.
55/100
Here are two Christian Fiction books that I really enjoyed:
From A Distance by Tamara Alexander
Deep in the Heart of Trouble by Deeanne Gist
What are some Christian Fiction books that you have loved? How did they win you over?
Book Review: The Islands of Divine Music
The Islands of Divine Music
by John Addiego
256 pages
Unbridled Books
Fiction
A generational story of a little girl, Rosari, who has to flee with her family from Italy because of her collaboration in a crime. She wrote a kidnap note for some coins, a choice that would change her life forever. The Islands of Divine Music contains the history in her family from that day forward. Filled with deep character development, as each member of the family is a story by him/herself. The chapters are set up to narrate one individuals life, to share the choices they made, their thoughts and hopes. It is character development at its best! The Islands of Divine Music was truly a unique book. There are some minor twists and turns, but mostly it just isn't predictable enough to really even need them in order to keep the reader going.
John Addiego wrote a book in which the plot carries itself so well that it might as well be a non-fiction read. The story seams real, not made up. There is a family tree in the beginning, and as the chapters move through the reader can understand where each individual is being added in. I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy this John Addiego's novel. Each subject comes up out of the type and you think of them for days after the book is finished. John Addiego is an excellent writer. I highly recommend this read to people who like a good storyline, a great plot, with good detailing and history to back up the family and to those who enjoy superb character development, this is your read!
Have you read The Islands of Divine Music? What were your thoughts? Did you like how he did the chapters, having the reader get to know one family member at a time?
Some of my other recommendations for good books filled with character development and beautiful details, so make sure you check these out if you enjoyed The Islands of Divine Music:
The Vanishing Moon by Joseph Coulson
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton
Into the Beautiful North
Into the Beautiful North
by Luis Alberto Urrea
342 pages
Published by Little Brown and Company
Fiction
Luis Urrea is a master story teller at its best. He effortlessly interweaves mystery, intrigue, heartache, love and humor in a way that shows his true ingenuity as an author. In Into the Beautiful North he tells the story of Nayeli, and a group of her close friends and an adventure they are determined to live out. When they realize their town is lacking in male companions and defenders (after watching the Magnificent Seven) they take it into their own hands and head across the boarder to the US where so many of their men have gone for work with the intention of bringing some back. The town of Sinaloa is on the verge of being attacked by narcs and other such lawless men who have also been noticing the lack of men. Nayeli and her clan must be quick, but the boarder patrol has other plans for them.
Into the Beautiful North brought me from far away lands of wonder in little towns in Mexico to discovering even the country I live in under a new hue. The theme of illegal immigrants is a big one in this read, and I enjoyed that Luis Urrea refrained from putting himself on either side of the debate, mostly he just allows the reader to simply learn of details of illegals without feeling the need to defend ones stance. I like learning just through people, seeing the picture just a little better through someone elses' eyes, mostly the emotional side of it impacted me this time.
The plot and story are so fun and interesting to read but the characters are also very well developed, I enjoyed every second of Into the Beautiful North and I know I will be coming back to read more books by Luis Alberto Urrea very soon. I thought It was going to be a book of hardship and darkness, because so much international fiction seems to be used as a way to open the world's eyes to the deadliness of the world, this book was so far from gloomy while never neglecting reality. I applaud Urrea for this amazing novel, which shatters stereotypes of international fiction. Let me say though, that just because of the lightness of the book, that does not mean it is lacking in depth, the characters go through scary times.....but it is the overlying theme of endurance and purpose that strings the reader from page to page just to get to that very last drop. ENJOY!
90/100
Do you love international fiction too? Please share! Could you give me some other titles that are hopeful like Into the Beautiful North? I get the point of bringing up heaviness in novels, but after you have read a lot of them you either become jaded or you can't stop crying. Maybe that is just me, is it?
Oh, make sure you check back in for some author event photos of when I got to meet Luis Alberto Urrea in person! I'll give you the whole scoop on him, check back tomorrow.
The Hunger Games
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins
374 Pages
Survival, Adventure, Fantasy
Scholastic Press
If you have made it past the cover, then you are already further along than I was with this book. If I had only seen it once I would have skipped right over it missing all its scrumptious insides. What a loss! I look at that cover and think sci-fi and borring. The Hunger games is not really a true sci-fi and it is the complete opposite of boring. I tore through The Hunger Games like I was rabid for my eyes to suck in the words, the meaning, and the story.
The story is violent, harsh and intense. But since I grew up on a diet of Rambo, Rocky, Die Hard and Terminator I managed to make it through easily, as would an average 12-year-old who hasn't been living in seclusion. As much as The Hunger Games is about a dark time in history, the book does not bring a cloud of murky gloom upon the reader. More than that you'll be rooting for the girl, the unlikely and diamond in the rough heroine Katniss. Katniss Everdeen, ever since her father died she has become the provider for her family, she has made it her calling to hunt enough meat to put food on the table and even uses is to purchase other necessities. Her mom did not immediately wish to survive and out of necessity and hunger Katniss took over to feed her sister and protect her.
The basic concept of The Hunger Games is that somehow for some reason which the narrator does not know, the districts owe the Capitol big time. Each year so as to remind the districts who is really boss, and who owns them there is a contest, a contest in which each district must give up two children, a boy and a girl to fight to the death. There are 12 districts in all and that means 24 contestants or, as they are known in The Hunger Games, tributes. They are selected through a lottery system and then taken to the Capitol to get all glammed up, marketed and trained to be deadly, all to bring awe and importance to the Capitol. They are then all released into the arena, a glass bubble that goes for miles in which the Capitol controls the weather, and the conditions. They are stalked so that their every motion is on screen. It is a forced reality show, which each district watches glued to the screen for fear their own will not make it much longer.
Just the plot in itself really gives only a slice of the cake for me. I am a reader who loves characters and people and character development. The plot is great, but to me the character development really made be turn the pages at warp speed. The plot would be good without the depth, the depth would be good without the great plot, together it is a bond that you will not escape dissatisfied. This was my local book club pick this month, and all of us loved it. They were screaming at me with a death wish because the sequel Catching Fire isn't coming out until the fall!
Throw out the Twilight saga, get rid of the sickly vamps and bring out the real, the tough and the worthwhile YA lit. The Hunger Games will restore what Twilight stole from Young Adult literature, guts. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins will wake you up, and take you to a place in a different time, different and yet so much that we can learn from it, The Hunger Games is an absolute must read! There is no question that this is the most inspiring, the hardest to put down, and the most surprising read for me yet this year! I loved every page and will be reading the sequels when I am able to get my hands on them.
Who else is dying to get the next book in the series? If you aren't it is because you haven't read this one!
Anne’s House of Dreams
Anne's House of Dreams
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
227 Pages
Published in 1917
In this book number five of the Anne of Green Gables classics the reader follows Anne Blythe and Gilbert on to there new home. For years Anne has dreamed of a house, and now she has one, which she calls the House of Dreams. They make many new friends who are just as endearing as the all of Lucy Montgomery's other human concoctions, and they entranced me the whole way through. Anne and Gilbert have their share of troubles, but rather than allowing it to pull them apart it brings the two lovebirds into a stronger and closer bond than before.
The reader thus far has seen Anne and Gilbert in their childishness, yet in this book the youth of the first four books slips into the past and our dear hero and heroine have grown up. Anne no longer gets into constant trouble, and she has also tamed her temper and her tongue. She is just as sweet and precocious, but now all that is balanced with a good dose of maturity as well.
I loved Anne's House of Dreams just as much as the books before it, and could relate even more to it because of my age and season in life. I enjoyed Anne when she was a child, but this book felt like the reward for the wait with her relationship with Gilbert. Finally they get to be together. But, just as in all the things we wait for, even dreams aren't perfect and while they work through their troubles, the characters become even more human and real.
This was another royal performance by Anne, Gilbert, and especially by Lucy Maud Montgomery who dreamed up this beloved character and made her real to me. Loved it! However, I think I am going to stop here for now with Anne. I watched the movies and love them all, but the sequel books aren't calling my name yet. I want to read them at some point, but not yet.
Where did you stop the Anne-mania? Have you read them all? Which was your favourite Anne of Green Gables book?
Dreadlock Girl Reviews Anne of Green Gables series:
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Guest Post and Author Chat: Paul Harris, Author of The Secret Keeper
Yesterday I reviewed The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris, a novel that brings the conflict in Sierra Leone to a whole new level, one of the personal and human side to the chaos. I don't know if it is this way for you, but for me I love the novels that take me along to a place where I can feel the pain, and the anxiety of those citizens, even though it is only a fraction of the true feeling they experience, it is still a human bond, The Secret Keeper holds that gift for Sierra Leone.
Child Soldiers
By Paul Harris
The element of The Secret Keeper that many readers find most disturbing is
the child soldiers. Tragically they are not a fictional invention. The use
of child soldiers was a key feature of the civil war in Sierra Leone, as it
was in many conflicts in West Africa during the 1980s and 1990s. The
problem isn’t limited to that corner of the world during that time,
however. When I was emailing with Bethany about a possible topic she
mentioned that she had done research into the use of child soldiers by the
Colombian narco-guerrillas known as FARC. So neither Sierra Leone, nor
Africa, has a monopoly on using children as a weapon of war.
I do not pretend to know how to solve the problem of child soldiers. I wish
I did and I wish The Secret Keeper held the answers. But in the book I
sought only to reflect my own experience and my own emotional response to
encounters with them. That usually came from meetings at roadblocks, often
manned by rag tag soldiers, some of whom were barely taller than the rifles
they carried. To get past them was usually a careful negotiation, complete
with bribes of cigarettes, bread and booze. Alcohol, much demanded by the
soldiers, always made a return trip more unnerving as by then those manning
the roadblocks would be drunk. That they should have sought escape in
alcohol should be no surprise. They were caught up in wars not of their own
making. Their parents were likely dead. The rebels in Sierra Leone were so
brutal that they even stooped to forcing children to kill members of their
own families. The traumatised children then had no choice but to then join
their ranks.
The government side, and the various rag tag militia that lurked everywhere
were better than that. But not by too much. It was all brutish and nasty.
You prayed never to run into a rebel roadblock (I never did, thank God).
But government ones could be terrifying too, with guns pointed through
windows and, behind the trigger, the drugged-up stares of ten-year-olds.
But I do remember that these boys and youths, despite the horrors of their
situation, would sometimes respond to a simple smile and a joke. Just in
the same way any child or youth would. They would grin back and laugh at
some gesture or friendly shake of the hand. It was a reminder that no
matter what they had seen or done or endured, these children and teenage
boys were still somehow just that: children and boys. If a reader could
look through some of the horrors that The Secret Keeper describes and still
see those truths, then writing the book would have been more than worth it.
Chat with the Author: Paul Harris, The Secret Keeper
He won't be keeping too many secrets today!
Paul Harris has agreed to "lurk" around Dreadlock Girl today and respond to questions or comments about this guest post and his new book, The Secret Keeper. I can't wait to ask some myself. I hope you will take this opportunity as well!
Paul Harris will respond to comments/questions on both Dreadlock Girl and Dreadlock Girl Reads . If you want to follow the conversation along, make sure to check them both out!
Read more about The Secret Keeper:
Dreadlock Girl's book review of The Secret Keeper
The official book website: The Secret Keeper
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The Secret Keeper
The Secret Keeper
by Paul Harris
321 Pages
Fiction/Mystery Thriller
Dutton Books
April 2009
To Danny Sierra Leone used to be a distant land, one filled with unknown plights and faceless bodies, but after his first trip there those bodies have faces, and the plights have a scene. He is a journalist and is sent on assignment to the war zone of Sierra Leone to be the eyes and ears of his newspaper for the world. While there Danny is captivated by an American woman, Maria. She lives in Sierra Leone working with the child soldiers from the RUF giving them what no one else dares, a second chance.
He fell hard for Maria while he was there, but that was four years ago. Life has taken him back to his homeland now, London. There he has a wonderful girlfriend, Rachel, he has a job, and while he has every intention of getting on with life and forgetting all the events of Sierra Leone. This resolve crumbles when he gets a distressed letter from Maria telling him that she needs him. What does it take to leave life behind in order to sort out ones past? A letter, a feeling, a desire?
Sierra Leone is far from being at peace. Upon his arrival Danny sees through the intentions of painted facades and slightly spruced up neighborhoods to the core of reality. While he searches for answers to his own questions, he uncovers dirt that was meant to hide. The Secret Keeper by Paul Harris is a mystery, a thriller, a murder mystery, but more than that it is about a nation of people who are learning to live together again and about one man who's heart is stretched between two nations.
I completely enjoyed my time with The Secret Keeper. The mystery and thrill took me along for the ride easily and the descriptions and perspectives made the conflict in the book come alive completely to me. I have high expectations of international fiction since is that is what I read most often, and The Secret Keeper did not disappoint! Paul Harris captivated my heart and my mind in this great read, I enjoyed it all out. I found myself biting my nails and forgetting to stop to eat!
Dreadlock Girl rating: 89/100
Make sure you check back tomorrow! I will have a guest post by the author of The Secret Keeper, Paul Harris. He was a correspondent for four years in Africa where he covered the conflict of Sierra Leone. Paul is currently the US corespondent for The Observer and lives in New York City. He will be writing about child soldiers,worldwide. I can't wait, but I will and I'll post the guest post tomorrow.
For more information on this book, and the Paul Harris: The Secret Keeper
Anne of the Island
Anne of the Island
by Lucy Maud Montgomery
326 pages
First Published in 1915
Anne of the Island is book three in an extraordinary series of stories of the charming and precocious Anne Shirley. In this tome, Anne leaves the house of green gables and Marilla behind and heads off to Richmond College. She lives with her friends in Patty's Place and they enjoy, as it is impossible they wouldn't many adventures and scrapes of all sorts and sizes. All around her her friends are getting married, engaged and having children, which leaves her to wonder what life has in store for her. Anne is growing up, and maturing, but her impulsiveness still shines right through the tips of her reddish hair. Or is it auburn now? She is still playing at love with others, while Gilbert Blythe is hopelessly trying to forget his little friend Anne from Green Gables.
There is so much to tell about this little spunky heroine, but I wish to not unveil any more. I like to read my novels clueless and I guess I assume you do too. I loved this Anne of the Island just as much as its two predecessors, it is never dull or dry-- you can thank Anne for that, as she seems to be the cure to any dry moments in anyone's life. She keeps winning me over page by page, however I will say that I get pretty annoyed with her for not falling hard after Gilbert, but flitting and flirting while breaking his heart. Anne is many things, but she is not quick to forgive him, she is an expert at holding on to her little grudges and grievances.
I was also entranced by the dream world she lives in, the things she wants to do, wants to accomplish and because of them many times she is willing to forsake herself in order to reach her dreams. It is a good eye opener, that no matter how lofty your dreams, or how close they are to completion-- staying true to yourself is a much bigger aspiration.
Have you fallen in love with Anne Shirley yet?? Goodness, what are you waiting for!?
Dreadlock Girl Reviews Anne of Green Gables series:
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Anne of the Island
Spoilers from here on down:
The ending of this book is one of the most romantic scenes ever. This paired with Anne of Green Gables on film, which does not fail to match the romantic appeal of Anne and Gilbert coming together at long last. I felt like my teeth were going to fall out, and gray hair would pop out before these two sweeties would ever figure out they were meant to be. It is a dream. Oh, and you have to watch Anne of Green Gables, and then The Continuing Story to see the beauty of this classic book moment made into a classic film moment. It is perfection.
Yeah, let this clip refresh your memory, romance....here we come!!!
