a collection of tried and true
Two adult sibling are having relationship problems in Charleston. Both characters are very unsympathetic and not likeable at all – I didn’t like this book at all – not sure why it got good reviews. I think I finished it just because I was on vacation sitting on the beach and drinking beer and reading 🙂
PJH Rating: **
2 or 3 pages into this short novel I was thinking what the fuck is this. Seriously. Seemingly random paragraphs about this and that. But I stuck with it and slowly it started to come together and tells the story of a couple falling in love, marrying, having kids and falling out of love – or at least dealing with it. An interesting read.
PJH rating ****
Set during the end of WW2 a young blind Parisian girl is enduring the occupation on the coast in her great uncle’s house. At the same time a teenaged orphaned German boy finds himself in an elite Nazi training camp. Their paths cross in climax of this unique wonderful novel. A great read if you are one of the few who haven’t read it yet.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
A group of loosely connected short stories about American soldiers in the Iraq war told from different soldier’s viewpoints. Some in Iraq, some at home after the war, and all rather detached about the conflict or at least the reasons why they are there. Sad but interesting read.
PJH Rating: ****
Novel goes back and forth between two points of view both describing their relationship with a young African man named Isaac. The story set in the 1970’s involves a revolution in Africa and one of the displaced African’s experience at a mid-west American University. Interesting and well written.
PJH rating: ****
A female sheep herder lives alone on a farm on a remote British island. The novel explores her loneliness going back and forth from her upbringing and her recent past. An interesting, dark novel.
PJH rating: ***1/2
An A-list celebrity has a heart attack while on stage portraying King Lear and sets off this post-apocalyptic tale where 99.9% of the world dies from a flu virus. Seemingly disconnected characters from different periods and different geographic locations bring the horrific yet suspenseful and enjoying tale to life. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
An elderly couple in the mid-west and their grown children living in Philadelphia and NYC dealing with life in the 21st century and the corrections that one must take to keep on track… but most importantly to spend Christmas together. I thought it was an amazing novel. Franzen delves into the mostly unlikable and depressed family members but the plot is interesting and sucks you into the drama. The last chapter from the father’s point of view was extraordinary and so so sad. It made be a blubbering mess.
PJH Rating: ****1/2
Set in an elite boarding school in the early 1960’s a student deals with being an outsider among the privileged boys in the school culminating in a horribly bad decision he makes at the very end of his tenure. Interesting literary short novel with fictional visits to the school from Robert Frost and Ayn Rand – who was a complete bitch – great. Powerful ending with a switch in perspective from the ex-Dean of the school
PJH rating: ****
The story continue from the previous The Rosie Project with Rosie and Don moving to NYC and finding themselves pregnant. I was so disappointed that this was nowhere near as fun as the first novel. It seems like it was thrown together pretty quickly to get it out to the masses. Too bad.
PJH Rating: ***
Eat On Edgecliff 