I think I've lost my objectivity when it comes to Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch was such a spectacular book (you can read that review here) - the best I've read in ages, that I'm willing to give her leeway on meandering plots or superfluous details. The Secret History is so wildly different from The Goldfinch, it's hard to know where to start.The main protagonist is Richard Pappen, an unhappy California youth who does what many young people do, goes to college as far away from his parents and home as he can get. In this case, to Hampden Vermont. As a transfer student, he steps into established sociological webs and connections and tries to find a place for himself. The place he singles out is with an enigmatic and intriguing Classics professor who only takes a few students on each year. Julian hand picks and then guides each student personally through coursework he himself designs and teaches. Originally denied entry to this group, Richard seeks to impress the other five students - genius Henry Winter, twins Charles and Camilla, dashing Francis, and gregarious Edmund "Bunny" Corcoran. He succeeds and is soon admitted to their circle. But no matter how close he gets to the group, he remains slightly on the periphery. So it comes as quite a shock when he discovers a secret about the group and their extracurricular activities. In an effort to show he is part of the exclusive tribe, he agrees to hide their secret, even to the extent that it means killing Bunny Corcoran, who threatens to expose the others. Bunny becomes wildly unpredictable and unhinged and so the group believes Bunny must be taken care of. Even though Richard tells the reader early on that Bunny is killed, the series of events leading to Bunny's death are so intriguing that the dramatic tension still exists, even up to the point where Bunny tips over the edge of the ravine to his death. The aftermath and its effects on the group - through the eyes of Richard is fascinating. The one weird element is that it is never really clear why Richard is telling this story. The events he imparts are so volatile that naturally one would imagine Richard would never tell a soul, so playing the narrative device out to its fullest extent is inexplicable. This niggling detail detracts from some of the enjoyment of the book. But Tartt's writing carries the rest through.
4/5 Stars.
This is probably 3.5 Stars. The writing it terrific as I would expect from Alice Hoffman. Faithful follows the story of Shelby Richmond, a 17 year old girl who has destroyed the life of her friend and herself during a near fatal car accident. Shelby is terribly depressed and pushes away everyone who tries to love and get close to her. The story is of her long, slow healing process which takes place in the book over the course of a decade. There are predictable elements and I didn't exactly like Shelby throughout the story, which made it hard for me to really fall in love with this book. The cast of supporting characters was great though. This book would probably make a good mini-series. The melodrama parts probably play better on screen. The character development Hoffman creates is well done for the most part, and her characters are nuanced and colorful. Otherwise there's really not much else to say about this little spare novel about a girl who has to learn how to love herself all over again.
3.5/5 Stars.
Thank goodness for business travel. A six hour round-trip drive to Southern Illinois where the only successful outcome was my finishing The Rosie Effect. I absolutely loved the first book of this "series", the Rosie Project (you can read that review here). While I wasn't quite as tickled with this sequel, the writing, the humor and the beloved characters are all still there. This time the stakes are a bit higher.Don and Rosie are living in New York City. Don is a professor at Columbia University and Rosie is finishing her PhD thesis in psychology while also beginning an MD program. When Rosie gets pregnant, hilarity and misunderstanding ensue. However, as Don and Rosie have now been married for ten months, I would have expected the characters to have gotten a bit better in the communication department. However, they let self-doubt get in the way of their relationship and I did actually feel a bit of stress about the characters and what they were going through. In the meantime, we meet a few new friends, George, an aging rocker with a string of bad marriages and one really messed up kid; Lydia, a terribly judgmental social worker and some other new minor friends. The biggest disappointment was Rosie herself. In the first book she's likeable and moves Don in new directions. She's not perfect, but you can relate to her. In this book, she's a shell character, a plot point. She's compelling action from Don without any reciprocal understanding. I was outraged on Don's behalf that she would become pregnant without telling him, and then judging him on how he reacted, how he prepared, whether he felt "connected" to the baby, and then somehow deciding he wasn't going to be a good father, even though ALL evidence in the book pointed to the contrary. Don is a loyal friend, and a reasoned sensible mentor. He helps Gene's children through issues and into eventual reconciliation with their father. He's constantly doing nice things for people because he is good as solving problems logically. Rosie misses all of this, despite being the only one to see it in the first book. Cheapening out Rosie's character to somehow create dramatic tension wasn't fitting with the characters. Definitely not as good as the first, but then, Don is still a great character. Try not to be disappointed.
3/5 Stars
I have to hand it to Matthew Thomas. This book was long. Very long. But the writing throughout was really superb. We are Not Ourselves follows the lives of Eileen, Ed and Connell Leary (again sorry for spelling, I listened to the audio version). Eileen's story begins in her childhood and continues through her meeting and marriage to Ed, and the eventual birth of Connell. It would seem no detail of Eileen's life is too small to be left out. Which ultimately is the major flaw of this otherwise engaging novel. There's just too much. Connell becomes a narrator of the story in his own write as he reaches adolescence and then further on into his young adulthood. The book ultimately became more interesting after Ed is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. The story becomes tragic and engrossing. And yet, throughout the entire book, Ed remains the character with the most redeeming qualities. Eileen and Connell are selfish and flawed. Eileen does eventually let go of much of this, but never quite when you want her to. Ultimately the characters feel very real. They don't learn life lessons well, or sometimes at all, but never when you want them to, and never in a way that feels like satisfaction. The length of the book was its biggest drawback as the unnecessary details kept me from really falling into the book and getting lost in it. Had it not been for a long vacation car ride, I'd probably still be reading it.
3/5 Stars.
Once again I thoroughly enjoyed reading about 9th Century England and the various kingdoms. Lords of the North focuses, not surprisingly, on the Kingdom of Northumbria, to where Uhtred has been trying to return since the Saxon Stories began. Following his victory at the battle of Ethandun (Edington), Alfred has granted Uhtred a small holding, and Uhtred is, understandably, a bit miffed. But he takes Hild and his horse to bury his horde and then heads north to try to figure out a way to reclaim his lands. But the North is in disarray. Arriving in Eoferwic (York), Uhtred finds the Danes have been slaughtered based on the sermons of a priest. Fearing eventual retribution, Saxons are fleeing the town and Uhtred agrees to go with a wealthy merchant. In order to go where the merchant intends, Uhtred must past through Kjarten's lands, thus bringing him within sword distance of his enemies and satisfying a cliff hanger of a confrontation begun in the very first novel.This encounter was ultimately satisfying because it answered so many questions left from the first novel, principally, what happened to Thyra!? And it's always satisfying to finally see Uhtred get some of the respect he deserves for being such a great warrior (not until after he's been thoroughly humbled of course). This novel also brought forth a new love interest for Uhtred, Gisela is sister to Gothrid, the new King of Northumbria. And it was nice that she didn't die this time around. (Sorry Iseult). All and all this was a solid book in the series, although it did, at times, have a bit of padding that was evident. I continue to be thoroughly entertained by these, even if they do prompt my husband to ask which one of us went to engineering school (he thinks I'm a giant nerd).
4/5 Stars.
I think I've lost my objectivity when it comes to Donna Tartt. The Goldfinch was such a spectacular book (you can read that review here) - the best I've read in ages, that I'm willing to give her leeway on meandering plots or superfluous details. The Secret History is so wildly different from The Goldfinch, it's hard to know where to start.
