Holla! Ploughshares is the best. Solos is the once yearly volume that I get the most excited about. Longer stories, that I could have read online if I wasn't too lazy - instead I wait until Ploughshares beautifully prints them and binds them into a portable volume.
Omnibus 4 contains 9 stories, all playing on varying themes, all of varying but longer lengths then you'll see in the regular Ploughshares editions. Below are my comments on the various stories in the edition:
Biting the Moon - this first story was probably my least favorite. The prose was experimental - a bit narrative, a bit free form, a bit stream of consciousness. The writing was interesting, but it interrupted to flow a reader can get into while reading a story. This first story took me about a week to read, and for Ploughshares, that's saying something. It's 53 pages long so it should have been much quicker. The story is of a woman who once had an affair with a famous composer who has now died. The story is her reflections on their relationship and how his death has affected her. There were some truly interesting parts, and the process of grief relayed over the course of the story was well done. However, the overall piece lacked in clarity and flow.
The Children's Kingdom - This one turned the edition around for me. This is the story of two parents, left in the aftermath of a heinous act by their only son. They struggle with feelings of guilt, forgiveness, love, and anger. It's brilliant.
Adopting Sarajevo - The story of an adopted girl, now a teenager, an ice skater, who returns to her birthplace of Sarajevo to reconnect with herself. Both she and her adopted mother find something of themselves there that they had maybe thought lost. It's really well done and paints a vivid picture of post-war Sarajevo.
Confession - A first-date between a minster and a farmer. Crackles with sexuality but also funny.
The Detroit Frankfurt School Discussion Group - I loved this one. Recent divorced, adjunct professor Colin Spanler, PhD is down on himself, and looking for love while living in Ann Arbor. What he finds instead is a group of Detroit citizens looking to use Frankfurt School critical theory to improve their city. It's a great look at the intersection of academic theory and actual community organizing. And watching Colin being forced out of his comfort zone to think of academics as more than just words on paper was refreshing.
Men Be Either Or, But Never Enough - This is a heartbreaking story of a young girl being raised by her OCD/Schizophrenic step-mother. The failures of the parents for this child are... well heartbreaking. I know I said that already, but these people are awful.
Cordoba Skies - This was a really beautiful story about a young teen dealing with his mother's chronic illness. His parents live in and run a museum dedicated to aliens and UFOs. He's left on his own a lot to fend for himself and try to figure out who he is. I just loved the narrative and plot choices made by Federico Falco in this one.
The Soul in Paraphrase - This was a slightly odd story about a priest, a widower, an orphan, and a ghost. The story kind of meanders around as the orphan makes a play for the widower and the priest contemplates the presence of the ghost, who is busy watching the orphan.
Beach Plum Jam - A "townie" in a Maine beach town is acquainted with an old school friend, who has made a lot of money in her new life. There is some clashing between old and new money, and old and new friends. It's a theme popping up in other stories and popular fiction, sort of like a Sue Miller or Lianne Moriarty.
Overall, I really enjoyed this edition of the Omnibus!
4/5 Stars.
I really needed this book this week. It was funny, and light and interesting. Where'd You Go, Bernadette is a collection of letters and e-mails pieced together to tell the story of Bernadette Fox, a wife and mother in Seattle Washington who has disappeared. But before Bernadette Fox was those things in Seattle, she was a famous architect, recipient of a McArthur Genius Award, and a free wheeling spirit whose creative side was channeled toward a vision only she could imagine. But, 15 years later, she's living in Seattle, wife to Elgin Branch, a VP at MicroSoft working on artificial intelligence technology, and mother to Bee, a super-smart 8th grader who decides as her gift for straight A's - she's going to ask her parents for a trip to Antarctica. Bernadette, who has become increasingly reclusive over the years, responds to the request by outsourcing a position as a personal assistance to an e-mail address in India.Meanwhile, down the slope from their home (actually an old school for girls), lives Audrey Griffin, a Seattle socialite who has never met a problem that wasn't caused by someone else. Audrey's best friend, Sue Lynn works at MicroSoft and reports back to Audrey all the things that Elgin is up to while his wife spends her day ruining Audrey's life. As smart as they are, Elgin and Bernadette don't communicate very well, so much so that when Sue Lynn informs Elgin about some of his wife's more odd behavior, he becomes concerned enough to stage and intervention - an intervention that goes horribly wrong and ends up with Bernadette running away, and an angry Bee left to pick up the pieces and try to discover what happened to her mother. I know reading the above synopsis may not actually seem like this book is as funny as it was, but it was actually very funny and delightful. It's a shame I had to rush through it, but I've recently discovered that my library will let you borrow Audiobooks for FREE! (can you imagine) so I may have overcommitted to my borrowing shelf!
4/5 Stars.
I'll start by saying that I probably should have allowed more time to pass between reading the prior book (Deadline - you can read that review here) and this one. I was a little burnt out by the repetitive nature of some of the statements made by the narrators and I understood the conspiracy laid out so I didn't need it needlessly detailed in some parts.Book 2 ended on such a cliffhanger that I wanted to get right into this one, but that ended up feeling more like reading an exceedingly long book, rather than reading two separate stories and my experience as a reader suffered for it. Things that hadn't bothered me in the first book started to bother me in this one. First, both Shaun and Georgia needlessly repeat themes and statements that are no necessary. There is also large parts of unnecessary dialogue between the news team characters at given points. If this were a first book, this would make sense to establish the report between the characters, but at this point it just feels like overkill and unnecessarily lengthened the book. In this installment, Shaun and Georgia Mason (the clone version) are reunited and work together to uncover the final chapter in the wide-ranging government conspiracy that is causing people to be killed in the continuing battle against the Kellis-Amberly virus. The story ropes back in President Peter Ryman and Vice President Richard Cousins, both notably absent from the second book in the series. Their involvement shows just how high the conspiracy goes. In the end, Georgia and Shaun must decide how much truth they can reveal and whether the world is ready for it. The conspiracy angle is a bit diminished when you consider this is a world-wide issue and even though the United States Centers for Disease Control may be committing crimes and covering up truths, it's hard to swallow that the rest of the world may be playing by the USA's rules and not uncovering these truths on their own.In any case, the book does manage to wrap up the entire thing nicely, without being overly saccharine or too convenient. The final book just missed some of the freshness and pop that existed in the first book, even if it was a solid ending to the trilogy.
3/5 Stars.
I'd give this book a solid 3.75 stars. I liked Eilis (pronounced Eye-lish). I liked watching her "come of age" through the process of the book. I like how she makes decisions and isn't overly dramatic or needlessly whiny. She accepts her choices like an adult and makes the next step.
In this story, Eilis is the younger daughter to a widowed mother in Ireland. Smart, but slightly less beautiful than her older sister Rose, Eilis works hard at her studies trying to advance herself and her family's fortunes. When it becomes apparent that there is no work for Eilis in Ireland, her sister and mother make arrangements for Eilis to go to Brooklyn to work in a shop and hopefully take classes to become a book keeper.
Eilis suffers through a rough crossing, but once in America, gets on well at her job and eventually makes friends. She begins a relationship with an Italian plumber named Tony and corresponds with her sister Rose in secret because she's not quite ready to tell her mother that she's moved on from Ireland. Part of the time Eilis seems like she's inhabiting someone else's life in America, as if she's going through the motions of her day without thinking of who she is becoming. But eventually she starts to make decisions of her own and use her intellect to excel at school.
Following Rose's death, Eilis must decide if she will go back to Ireland to stay, or if she'll claim the new life she's made for herself in Brooklyn. In a very real question of whether you can go home again, Eilis is presented with what her alternative life would have been had she stayed in Ireland. And she has regrets on both sides of the decision.
Understated, yet understandable, the story of Eilis is the story of us all, growing up, making decisions, living with the consequences and deciding our own futures. The only complaints were some fairly plodding points in the story that got a little boring, and the fact that nothing ever seems to really happen to Eilis. The lack of drama makes it realistic, but sometimes a bit tedious.
3.75/5 Stars.
Meticulously researched and well written. Mira Grant's second installment in the Newsflesh Trilogy doesn't disappoint, even if it does feel sometimes like it's the middle book treading water until the ultimate finish. Deadline continues where Feed left off (you can read that review here) - Georgia and Shaun Mason, brother and sister news team followed the presidential campaign of Senator Ryman to the nominating convention, only to have Georgia killed by a vast conspiracy which included Gov. Tate, the other possible candidate. Tate dies at the hands of Shaun without giving up the head of the conspiracy and Shaun vows to track down those responsible for Georgia's death. You see, a freak accident explained in exquisite detail in the first book, caused two viruses to combine to create a super virus that redirects the body'd energy into becoming a shambling infected vessel determined to infect or eat any living thing. Yay. Deadline picks up a year after those events with Shaun as our new narrator. I have to say, I miss Georgia. She was analytical and wry. Shaun's great, but he's no substitute, the fact that Mira Grant has written him to be aware of this drawback is next level aware and I appreciated it. To deal with the trauma of losing his sister, the only person he's ever loved, he latches onto a non-corporeal (not literally) Georgia, who speaks to only him. The rest of the team just rolls with it and it only occasionally becomes a concern. In any case, the conspiracy starts rolling once a CDC doctor winds up at Shaun's Oakland apartment, claiming she has some secret information to deliver. While she is delivering the message, a massive outbreak occurs and the team is running for their lives to evacuate the city before it is "cleansed" in a massive fireball. The information the doctor shares is that individuals with dormant virus conditions are dying at disproportionate rates to the rest of the country. In this world that means these people, like Georgia, are being targeted. In his quest for answers, Shaun unveils even more secrets that dwell right in the heart of the CDC. But a massive outbreak suggests a terrifying evolution in the disease. The action in this book was more subdued than the last time as the characters aren't moving around quite as much and the book lulled in moments where the main focus was setting up events for the conclusion in book three, but the book took the time to lay it all out and I'm sure book three is going to be a great conclusion. It's hard for the second book in a trilogy to outshine it's predecessor and Deadline is no exception. But the cliffhanger ending and the revelations added excitement of their own and made Deadline an enjoyable read. This is a must-read for anyone into the Zombie genre.
4/5 Stars.
I received this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. I've had some pleasant surprises from NetGalley recently so I probably had higher expectations going into reading this that never fully coalesced into a feeling of satisfaction. The story begins with Aaron Englund packing up his stuff and leaving his partner of 20 years, Walter at their home in Albuquerque. It's really unclear what led to this ultimate split, but it appears that Aaron has more or less fallen out of love with Walter and is ready to change his life. So he heads to San Francisco to begin anew.Upon arrival he rents a horrible studio apartment from a feuding married couple, and begins work as an ESL teacher in a poorly run school. And then Aaron struggles. Part of this is likely based on his background. His father was abusive but died before a cathartic parting would give him mother any satisfaction or confidence. So his mother moves them to a small town, proclaiming it is NOT the kind of place to start over. With that omen hanging over their story, they barely get by together until Aaron turns 15 and his mother leaves. In swoops Walter and the rest is really, well kind of boring (I read another review that used the word tedious - which is probably more on point).
Aaron is a collector of stories and the vignettes he relays regarding other people are pretty fascinating. But Aaron, who is our eye piece in the story, tries to use these outside stories to define himself. It's a technique that feels almost, but not quite successful. The narrative is harmed by a dizzying skip through time and place which is distracting when it's not down-right confusing. I wouldn't say I liked this book in total, although some parts were bright spots. I also wouldn't say I disliked it.
3/5 Stars.
I'm actually pretty torn on how to review this book. On the one hand, Sue Miller stories are a master class in character examination. On the other, the book was a bit slow and plodding and ultimately a little boring. The Arsonist follows the life of Frankie Rowley, who returns to her parents retirement home, a place she spent summer vacations as a child, in Pomeroy, NH (again, I'm sorry if these spellings are incorrect, I listened to the audio version of this book). Frankie is coming off another stint as an aid worker in Kenya and she's feeling a little lost, a little forlorn at what seems like the repetitive love and life cycles of "temporizing" in Africa.She arrives in Pomeroy to find her father mentally deteriorating due to Alzheimer's or perhaps Lewy Body disease. Her mother, Sylvia, is dealing with her own feelings of unfulfillment as she contemplates a retirement life taking care of a man who she never quite loved enough. There's a lot of deep character stuff going on in this book. Whether we can shake who we are, find fulfillment, that kind of thing. Typical stuff that Sue Miller does better than basically any other author I've ever read. In the background, fires are being set at the houses of Pomeroy's summer residents. The fires begin to fuel fear and mistrust in the town. This is all covered in the local paper by Bud Jacobs, a man who left Washington DC to escape the big city stories and who's aim was to settle into small town life in Pomeroy. Bud eventually falls for Frankie and their romance is complicated by her being unsure about what she wants to do with the rest of her life. The arson does little more than set a backdrop to the characters lives, and to focus the book in time by giving events to move the story forward. In all, Sue Miller does such a great job delving into the motivations and lives of Frankie, Bud and Sylvia that you end the book really understanding who they are and why they do the things they do. But there is also a faint unfulfilled longing for change or progress to be made by the characters that really sets in motion the ultimate lesson that people don't change, they make decisions based on their personalities and backgrounds, and sometimes they make good decisions, sometimes bad, but they are fundamentally who they are. And what they do with their lives is entirely up to them. While the ending doesn't feel fully satisfying, it does feel overwhelmingly real. And that is what I have come to expect from Sue Miller (you can read my review of another Sue Miller book here). So in that respect, she didn't disappoint.
4/5 Stars.
