Ask Again, Yes - Mary Beth Keane

Generational trauma is a heavy lift. Emotionally, the tendrils of the trauma wrap around each participant and create outcomes as different as the individuals effected. In Ask Again, Yes, Keane delves into the ripple effects of such trauma with themes of abuse, addiction, abandonment, and violence. 

Beginning with Frances and Bryan, who are trainees together for the NYPD and partners at their very first assignment. Frances, serious and cautious approaches his job with a professional air and thoughtful contemplation. Bryan appears more rash. Talks of the pregnant girlfriend he must marry and searches out ways to stop for a pint of beer while walking the beat. 

Fast forward to their children. Frances' youngest, Kate and Bryan's only, Peter grow up the best of friends. Living next door to each other, they never grow close because something is certainly off about Peter's mother. She's distant and abrasive. And it's clear to the reader that she has some elements of mental health crisis probably not helped by her clearly absentee or alcoholic husband. 

Bryan is only interested in an easy fix for his wife and his issues. So once a disturbing incident happens at the grocery store involving Anne, his wife, he's reassured she's on medication and it's business as usual. But of course it's not.

And everyone being willing to let these things slide in the acceptable and neighborly silence has bad consequences, of course. Violence erupts and both Kate and Peter's families are never the same. But their affection for each other, which was just beginning to blossom into young romance is left interrupted and unfulfilled. As they find their way to each other, they are willing to take whatever broken parts of themselves are left. 

I liked the way that Peter and Kate's relationship serves as a central hub in the book. I liked how smart and independent Kate was, and how unwilling she was to let anyone else dictate the course of her life's events. Maybe the book felt a little overlong, but otherwise it was a good read. 

3.75/5 Stars. 

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

I give up. I'll admit it. I love Neil Gaiman. I seem to like everything he writes. Ever since American Gods was my top book of 2015 (you can read that review here), I've delighted in the bizarre and funny stories he weaves. Neverwhere was no exception. The result is a look into "London Below" - a place where the forgotten live parallel lives to those in London Above, the paths never really crossing.

Poor Richard Mayhew is going nowhere in life. Engaged to a domineering woman with whom he has nothing in common, and plodding along in an everyday job, it seems that Richard will continue on his life of mediocrity until one evening, as he's walking to work with his terrible fiance Jess - sorry, Jessica - he happens upon a bleeding semi-conscious girl on the street. Richard, being a meek, but overall good person, decides to help the girl, despite Jessica's protestations that they are going to be late for dinner. In picking up the girl and choosing to help her, Richard tumbles into the confusing and disorienting world of London Below. 

Pursued by two incredibly creepy assassins, Richard must help the girl, Door, get in contact with someone she can trust. And because he's useless, Door aims to leave him behind and hope that she hasn't caused too much damage to Richard. Unfortunately, Richard becomes unrecognizable to those in London Above and must search out Door in order to regain his life. 

Along the way he meets with very interesting people and creatures of all kinds. What a rich, vibrant other world Gaiman has created. I can't wait to go watch the BBC series. You can read my review of Ocean at the End of the Lane here. 

5/5 Stars. 

Tell the Wolves I'm Home - Carol Rifka Brunt

I'm torn on this review. I started out really liking this book, then it started to wear on me. Really really wear on me. And then it ended well enough. So this is probably a 3.5 Star review, for what it's worth.

This is a classic YA coming of age story about June Elbus, 14 yo Renaissance fan and her dying uncle, Finn Weiss, who, in 1986 is dying from AIDS related complications. June and Finn have a special relationship which is full of inside jokes and stories. What doesn't work in this premise is the reliance on YA tropes. June is "quirky" and feels unloved and misunderstood (she's not). She thinks she's ugly and doesn't understand why anyone would like her (sigh). But Finn loves her, and she believes he loves her above all others. So she has a romantic crush on her own uncle, and she has a lot of self-loathing associated with this fact. 

When my sister and I were little, we spent weeks in the summer and over Christmas Break at my grandparent's house in Canada. My mom's much-younger brother still lived at home until my sister and I were approaching Tween years. We both loved him desperately. Not in the romantic way June feels about Finn, but close enough that the truth of love, and child love felt real about the book.

In any case, Finn dies and June learns that he's had a boyfriend for nine years. Toby seeks June out to try to have a relationship with her - seeking kinship in the one other person he believes is grieving Finn's loss as much as he is. June is hurt to learn that Finn led another life separate from her. This is common enough for children on the brink of adulthood, to learn that the people they love have other lives and interests. But man does June take it hard. She becomes a paragon of self-absorption and jealousy. It's not pretty. And if I was just left with Carol Rifka Brunt's great phrasing, it may be okay, but it goes on too long, becomes too much. 

Poor Toby. He has no one, and Finn leaves a note for June, asking her take care of him. But instead of really feeling for the Toby character, I found him a little creepy, and their budding friendship, built on mutual grief, somehow never seemed to blossom to me. Toby gets June hooked on cigarettes and even gets her drunk. He's in his 40s. I think it's meant to show what a mess he is, but it's hard to really feel for an adult who lets a 14 year old get wasted on volcano bowls. 

In the background is June's malicious sister Greta, her uninvolved boring father, and her uptight vicious mother. None of these characters were endearing, except maybe toward the end, Greta became redeemable. The stuff this family was willing to say to each other, good god. There was a jot of jealousy flying around here and a lot of self-righteousness that got old and felt staged. In the end, it was just a bit much and took a lot of shine off an otherwise nice looking apple.

3.5/5 stars