We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride

We Are Called to Rise by Laura McBride
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well written, causing me to think and feel. Loosely based on an event in Las Vegas, the story tackles the difficult subjects of PTSD of returned soldiers, Vegas culture, homeless youth, accountability, and discrimination. On the other hand, the story ends with hope.

I also found a lot of excellent phraseology that I can't recall at the moment because I finished this book last week. Well written description of Vegas is included. A short historical lesson on Las Vegas is given that includes the weird marriage of Mormon bishops, mobsters, and casinos. I enjoyed the different perspective of choosing Vegas to raise a family. The author describes how the parents build neighborhoods, develop relationships, and have a little village within the city limits. They are soccer moms who sometimes change into a cocktail waitress outfit at night or on weekends. They are dads who wear a suit and tie to work but work at a casino. But when they come home, their homes and neighborhoods are insular in nature. The children grow up knowing about casinos and shows, nudity and and nude shows, but it is merely background noise to their soccer games, their school plays, their bike rides.

Motherland by Maria Hummel

Motherland by Maria Hummel
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book accomplishes exactly what the author was shooting for, I think. The story is loosely based upon her father and his grandparents at the end of WWII in Germany. Frank, a youngish father becomes a widower with the birth of his third son. Within short months he marries Liesl and is drafted as a surgeon for the Weimar. Close to the end of the war, Frank goes AWOL and returns to his villa, the villa where his young wife and three sons live, along with some displaced refugees, assigned by the government.

The story is not one of grand heroism or atrocious mistreatment. The war is the background to the goal of keeping the children safe, returning home, and protecting one another. This is the basic story of the author's grandparents. Her father did not know about the Holocaust until he was 15 years old. Frank and Liesl hear rumors but see no concentration camps, witness no heinous cruelty to Jews, but are aware of the discrimination. They are aware the Jewish people have left. They may have even heard some rumors that were disturbing. So inhumane, they would have brushed them off as fabricated. Liesl was busy raising the boys. The oldest son was becoming belligerent, the middle son was suffering from a condition referred to as "dystrophy," or some sort of mental illness, the baby was growing from infant to toddler. Their attention was on securing daily food, staying warm, and hiding during air raids. Frank was on the front, consumed by one surgery after another by day and escaping by night.

I found the story to be a probable common one in Nazi Germany living outside Berlin, Frankfurt, and Dresden. The men are gone and the mothers are scrabbling to care for their children without an income, little food, and sharing homes. The author also chose to include a piece of the Germany that Hitler envisioned, the Aryan Nation and master race. What would happen to the children who were Aryan but unwell? She uncovers insane asylums for the children who are mentally unstable or disabled and the solution at the time, including the harrowing concerns of a mother caring for a child displaying these behaviors.

The writing style did not flow for me. There were portions I had to re-read to understand the undercurrent. Like real life, everything is not resolved in the end. There are substories that I wanted better closure for the ending. Background information was sparse and difficult to cobble together for me. It is not an exciting book but it is a worthwhile read. Like I mentioned, I believe it is probably a common childhood for many families.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

Is there a way to write a review without a spoiler? The book elicited a strong emotional response which is always difficult to see through in order to write a review. There were moments of Me Since You by Laura Weiss.

The book begins with Finch and Violet on the bell tower at their school. Finch talks Violet down then barges into her life by volunteering to be her partner on a school project which involves seeing a couple of marvels of the great state of Indiana. Violet is not a happy camper about this if only for the fact that she has a facade to maintain. But Finch sees that her smile never reaches her eyes. Except once and that's why Finch decides to intervene.

These are two vastly different characters yet they begin the book at the top of the bell tower contemplating suicide independently and at the same time. There is a strong element of comparing and contrasting by the author without her expressly writing it out. Violet is a pretty, bright, popular girl who lost her sister in a car accident. Violet is changed due to the tragedy and uses her extenuating circumstances to not push herself.

Finch's demons are internal, for the most part, although his family dynamics are a contributing factor for his depression. The aspect that was new for a book like this one is that the author writes the character in a bipolar cycle, although this is not cemented until later in the book. Finch talks of disappearing and going to Sleep. The Sleep is not literal but a place where he loses himself.

Finch is interesting, charismatic, and unstable, although he presents himself with confidence and stability, he changes personas often, trying them on like a different coat or shoes. He then discards them when he believes they no longer work. Nobody really knows Finch and the reader gains a greater understanding of external and internal forces that push these two characters to the brink of mortality. While Finch's relationship with Violet develops into something unique and stabilizing, the reader enjoys the healing power of friendship and acceptance for Violet. In contrast, the reader watches Finch through his bipolar spiral and feels the helplessness of an untreated condition.

It is such a heavy and difficult subject to write about and, I think what really pushed my emotional buttons, was the realization that the book is semi-autobiographical. The author is not writing a book about something removed from herself. She is writing about her personal experience that changed her. She was able to process the experience to a point that she understood enough to see the bright places of her relationships and shared her insights by writing a novel. Honestly, fiction rarely moves me and it ticked me off that I was crying through the end of the book until I realized it wasn't a true fiction novel but a personal experience which means that I get to keep my integrity, private as my tears were. Thanks for that.

There is much more I want to say but I don't want to spoil it because it is a book to be experienced and not summarized.

Grace Unplugged

Grace Unplugged by Melody Carlson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An uplifting book for teens. Parents are not really the bad guys and teenagers are not all trying all manner of rebellion. Grace wants to spread her wings but decides she bit off more than she can chew. Spoiler: Her parents love her and want what is best for her. I really liked it. And not just for that reason. It has a positive message and I'm comfortable giving it to my daughters to read. Grace is a strong protagonist that has her doubts but she holds to her standards.

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great book based on real women, Sara's and Nina Grimke. Although Nina gains more notoriety in real life, Sarah is the older sister and the protagonist. Told in alternate voices of Sarah then a slave named Hetty, the two protagonists lives divirge in their twenties. Betty's story is mostly fictional, although she did exist. The author contrasts the two women and their caged struggles toward freedom. Sarah's are largely societal but also self imposed. Hetty or Handful is a family slave who is, at times, treated brutally. Very well written book.

Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence Gonzales

Flight 232: A Story of Disaster and Survival by Laurence Gonzales
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Suppose you are a huge sports fan of a particular football team. Suppose that team is playing in the NFL championship. Your team is up 1 point, they have ball, it's 4th and 1 yard with 2:01 on the clock. The last three plays were run but defense is holding tight. The ball is snapped to the quarterback who fakes a pass then throws a real pass too long for the receiver. The ball is intercepted and the opposing team runs the ball forty yards for a touch down. Rather than kick for the extra point, they complete a 2 point conversion. Your team gets the ball again and the quarter back is sacked three times and fumbles on fourth down. The opposing team has the ball, it's snapped and the quarterback takes a knee.

Who lost the game? A good coach will commend the team, praise the quarterback for the first half, then concentrate on the game holistically without singling out any player. It is a team sport and took nearly three hours to play out on the field, after all. The fans remember the overthrown ball, the sacks, and the fumble. The coach disaggregates all of the plays throughout the game.

If you are still reading after my football story, know that it was an analogy. What the author of this book does beautifully is twofold; the crash of 232 is personalized as he retells the stories of the victims on the airplane. Know this much - they were all victims and suffered greatly from the experience even those few who were uninjured. The reader is taken through the grueling forty some odd minutes from the time the engine blew and the fan disk damaged the hydraulic lines, to the harrowing crash on the runway then continues to the aftermath - clean up then life continued for many. The other chapters interspersed in the book explores, in fascinating detail, the journey of making a DC10, the chemistry of forging the perfect titanium, and measures put into place to maximize safety.

Like the fans of the football team, many want an easy scapegoat; the last person that touched the ball or checked the engine fan disk integrity. The truth of the matter is that the crash in 1989 of Flight 232 was a rare confluence of circumstances (an irregularity in the titanium, multiple checks that missed the resulting slow growing crack, the architecture of the DC10, the fact that it is impossible to fly a DC10 without hydraulics, etc.) that resulted in a catastrophic event.

There is a third element to the book that is miraculous. Another rare confluence of circumstances that resulted in the survival of one third of the people on that airplane that crashed on an airfield in Iowa, that nearly just had a rough landing but instead, without hydraulics and manipulated mostly by throttle by a passenger who happened to be a flight instructor, the copilot who instinctively pushed in a throttle that prevented the plane from spiraling, the airfield situated in farmland, and many other miracles that added up to people surviving.

The book details the landing, the dip of the right wing, the resulting nose to the ground and tail perpendicular to the ground, the breaking apart like the Titanic, the fireball, the sounds, the smoke, the smells, and even the dissonance of the beautiful sunny day. The details are uplifting and heart wrenching. The book is very well researched then explained in terms that even the non chemistry person can understand. I'll admit to cheating a bit. I googled the crash. Someone caught it on tape. An unusual feat in 1989. Go look at the images. Pull up the short video of the crash then come right back.

I'll wait for you. Go ahead. But come back.

Go on.



Are you back?

Good. Now I will reiterate that people survived. Don't get me wrong. It was a a horrific catastrophe. 112 people died. Yet 186 people lived. Many walked out of the plane and out of the cornfields. So bad was the crash, when some walked out of the fields, first responders yelled at them for being too close to a major catastrophe, what are they doing wandering around an old aiffield, anyway. They weren't expecting any survivors.

So well researched is this book that I completely agree with the author's conclusion. Like a good coach who knows every member of his team, the author disaggregates the information and the fault does not solely rest on the last person that checked the engine fan disk. Conversely, the miracle of flight 232 can not be solely attributed to any one person. Building and flying the DC-10 was a team effort. Bringing it down in the safest manner on two engines, no hydraulics, and a couple of holes in the ship took a team of capable, skilled, and, I'd add, inspired team of people.


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Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Who is Glendower and why do I still care? I really don't know that I do. Gansey has become more boring and his impending doom is still on Blue's conscience. On the other hand, I've grown more accustomed to the verbal volleys between the characters and I'm finally starting to like some of them more than just in a passing matter. Although I still haven't connected much with the main characters like I wish I had.

But it's going slowly again and my eyes are glazing over when Orla, a cousin, subtly enters the boat and jumps in the man made lake which prompts Blue to yell an exasperation and jump in which prompts Ronan to laugh which I found very entertaining. But then it slowed down again. Sigh. But then another character was written into the book that delighted me named Jesse. He's huge and because he is huge, his voice IS ALWAYS YELLING. And he only eats spaghettios but makes a decent cup of tea. It's these subtle details that tickle me.

A few more questions are answered but many more introduced or befuddle me. For instance, why can Ronan tame one nightmare yet the others are still trying to kill him? Among other questions that don't make sense to me. But I'm still reading.

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell

The House We Grew Up In by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Writing is excellent. The story is just weird. It's the story of a family and skates right around the edges of incest without quite crossing over. I was weird. That's the best I can do.

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar

The Story Hour by Thrity Umrigar
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

The book is a surprising story of how two dissimilar women of unequal status and "caste," had they been in India, share commonalities, after all. The book is named for Maggie's profession, a therapist and the way she explains it to an immigrant woman who has recently attempted suicide. The Indian woman does not understand and figures it is a sort of friendship and steps over the boundaries time and again until the two are friends of a sort. Yet the divide is ever present in that one sees the other as a maternal figure, unshakable and wise. Turns out, all of the characters are fallible and human.

The stories told are from the perspective of the Indian woman's childhood but also somewhat allegorical. I'm still thinking about the stories. The bottom line is that both women carry the wounds of their childhood and attempt to compensate in sometimes destructive ways. I loved the author's voice and writing style. There was some wonderful wit with the cultural divide and nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout. Deeper than I had anticipated. I liked it quite a bit.

Hello From the Gillespies by Monica McInerney

Hello From the Gillespies by Monica McInerney
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a wonderful surprise! I'd put this author in the same category as Liane Moriarty. It has some similarities to What Alice Forgot but it is a much different book. A woman, married and living far from civilization, questions her choice to marry the Australian she met while traveling abroad. He's a good man but they don't communicate. Her children are absolutely delightful! The author writes the characters in such a way that they are not only very distinct but you may know people who resemble them. She has 29 year old twins whose decisions wreck their careers and they return home. A younger daughter has a hilarious case of learned helplessness. Then there is Ig. He's 10 and just like a 10 year old boy.

The book begins with the protagonist writing the Christmas letter but her first draft is an honest assessment of what is happening with each member of the family. It was never meant to be sent, she was just venting. Then she gets distracted and the story continues.

The book is one of my favorite this year. I loved it.

Blood Of My Blood by Barry Lyga

Blood Of My Blood by Barry Lyga
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wow. How do I even...?

How about I start with a few basics. This is the third book of a trilogy. It does not stand alone. All three books are fascinating in the worst kind of way. It is a YA book but no way would I recommend it to my young adult children or students. I'm thinking older young adult. Maybe. My girlfriends? Absolutely. Especially the ones with the hidden darker side.

The basis of this trilogy is that Jasper Dent is the son of the infamous Billy Dent, serial killer. Jasper is always grappling with the notion of being genetically predisposed to violence and disturbing stuff. Part of this is that his subconscious is beginning to creep up and he is either remembering or vividly imagining some weird stuff. A given is that Billy Dent trained Jasper on the fine art of prospecting or choosing a victim. He also gives disturbing anatomy lessons for the murders.

Disturbing? Absolutely! Although the gruesome details are told in a matter of fact manner rather than dragging it out like many adult books. That said, still for an older audience.

Book 2 left a cliffhanger with every possible hero or heroine in mortal danger. Sorry. That's a slight spoiler. Yet what do you expect when the book is about a serial killer? Book 3 picks up immediately where 2 left off. If you have not read the first books, you may want to tune out for a minute.

************playing elevator music****************

Without giving too many spoilers here, Jasper and gang realize in Book 2, while Billy Dent is jail broken, he doesn't act alone. In Book 3, Billy plays some wild mind games with his closest partner on Jasper yet Jasper is virtually alone on this one. His sidekicks are close by and still integral to the story development, but this is Jasper facing his own demons and answering the question that has him stymied, is he a killer who hasn't yet killed?

Strangely fascinating and well written.

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes

As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride by Cary Elwes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I remember seeing "the Princess Bride" at the dollar movie at the end of 1987. I loved it completely and wondered why I'd never heard of it. Of course, I was smitten by Westley. I bought the book at the campus bookstore before I graduated the following year. The movie has since become a classic and my children quote it better than I ever did.

The actor playing Westley grew up and wrote a memoir on the making of this epic movie. I do not use epic lightly. Cary Elwes a little known actor who was just getting some solid experience in the business when he was approached by Rob Reiner to play Westley. He was ecstatic. Turns out, this was a very special and exact movie, a screenplay written by the author of the novel, years earlier for his daughters. How do you make a perfect movie for the perfect book? The right director, the right cast, and best supporting staff, and some magic thrown in by Miracle Max.

The movie is an anomaly; the perfect balance of satire and fairy tale. Every character given perfect lines (some ad libbed), yet a perfectly clean, seamless adventure, love story, fairy tale emerges. So, it seems, the making of this movie was also. A few wonderful secrets are given away like how they climbed The Cliffs of Insanity and the story of the broken toe, the secrets of the swamps, the fire, and best of all, the sword fights. Big spoiler here, the sword fights were real and hard earned.

This is really the story of what can happen on the set of a movie when there is mutual love and respect for one another and a true passion about the art.

Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir

Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

1.5 stars

It's not that this is a poorly written book or lacked a feasible plot. It's simply a matter of wondering what the book was about. What was the point?

So Gannon is a 17 year old girl who was displaced by three adoptive brothers 5 years ago. The boys have major reactive attachment disorder issues and the mother is an enabler while the father avoids. Gannon hates her home life. Enter Brooks.

Brooks is an edgy kid, age 17, who will say no to nothing. He's been in foster care most of his life and is seriously messed up. Not necessarily from foster care because there are two threads not fully explored, hence Brooks is not fully explained. One thread is that Brooks has serious paranoia for flimsy reasons. Is he mentally ill? Well, yes, but not unlikeable. Also, will a teen know mental illness and RAD without it being expressly pointed out? Probably not. Second thread is Brooks is afraid if his father. No real reason and it was years ago.
I would have liked to see a greater tie between Gannon's brothers and Brooks but there is very little introspection. Instead, the book is about two broken teens who keep making bad decisions and nothing is learned. The ending left much to be desired.

Not my cup of tea.