Tag: See what Ann S. Epstein Writer is reading

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Aviary by Deirdre McNamer (Rating 3) – Caged Characters. When Aviary by Deirdre McNamer was published, about a developer’s scheme to take over a retirement residence in pre-COVID Montana, I was already well into well into my novel-in-progress about a similar venture at an old age home, albeit set in 1960s Michigan. Hence, I read this book with curiosity about how the subject was treated, and dismay that another writer had beaten me to it. I was relieved to discover that while McNamer and I both tell our stories from multiple viewpoints, including seniors and other community members, our tales are otherwise quite different. Aviary is in many ways a mystery: Who is behind a fire in the building? Why have the manager and an elderly tenant disappeared? Is a troubled teenager connected to these events? I found the loose ends and far-fetched plot elements unsatisfying. Aviary is also meant to explore how the elderly come to terms with life’s disappointments and losses as they weigh how, or even whether, to go on living. However, among McNamer’s quirky and stereotypical characters, I was invested in the fate of only one, Cassie McMackin, whose portrait is itself sketchy. Ultimately, the varied cast is an aviary of caged birds, desperate to be freed by the author. As a fiction writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I don’t limit myself to likable protagonists. But they should be complex enough to make readers reflect on their motivations and assess the “fitness” of their actions. In the end, McNamer prizes the mysteries of plot rather than those of character.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (Rating 3) – Neither Acrid Nor Sweet Enough. I was frankly disappointed by Avni Doshi’s acclaimed novel Burnt Sugar. Her portrait of an artistic daughter’s abuse by her mother, now suffering from dementia, echoes too many others to offer a fresh perspective. As a visual artist, I hoped Doshi would describe the creative process of her protagonist, Antara, and render her drawings vividly enough for me to picture them. She does neither. As a writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I looked for finely observed details about the setting, fully developed characters, and revelatory interactions. While Doshi’s cultural commentary is intriguing, especially on the differences between the narrator’s Indian-born upbringing and her husband’s American-born Indian background, much of this rich territory goes unexplored. Nor did her images of Pune today, and the ashram where Antara and her mother lived during Antara’s childhood, provide the depth I wanted. The main drawback was that I wasn’t invested in the characters; ergo Antara’s secret and postpartum meltdown did not elicit much reaction. Burnt Sugar is neither acrid nor sweet enough to deliver a shiver of surprise nor the satisfaction of inevitability.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout (Rating 5) – A Spirit Who Steals People’s Hearts. Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout is nominally a short road trip that takes readers on a long journey. Ex-spouses but still good friends, Lucy Barton and William Gerhardt travel to Maine where he hopes to learn more about his late mother’s past. Lucy is grieving the loss of her beloved second husband, while William has had several head-spinning shocks of his own (which I’ll leave for the reader to discover). In their loneliness and sense of dislocation, they join for platonic companionship and comfort, a risky demand at best. Strout excavates the relationship between two people who know each other well, although not as fully as they believe. They fall into old patterns that get disrupted by new discoveries, about each other, and most important, about themselves. While William often remains hidden, guarded with others and not wholly trusted by readers, Lucy is open, honest, and thoroughly likeable. As William says to her, “You are a spirit. There has never been anyone in the world like you. You steal people’s hearts, Lucy.” He speaks the truth. However much William has gotten wrong in his life, in this he is correct. As a fiction writer (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I’m awed by the range of emotions that Strout expresses with the word “Oh.” She uses these two letters to convey deep sympathy, sharp pain, a dull ache, nudging insight, and utter surprise. From the book’s title to its final page, Strout deftly deploys deceptively simple language to bring readers another rich chapter in the life of the resilient Lucy Barton.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of How Icasia Bloom Touched Happiness by Jessica Bell (Rating 5) – A Meditation on Mortality in a Vividly Imagined Future. Jessica Bell transcends the constrictions of most dystopian novels with a vividly imagined story that ultimately asks why we are put on earth and what our obligations are to ourselves – and especially to others — before we leave it. Icasia surprises herself, and the reader, as she evolves from being a shiftless “tatter” to a caring person. Bell’s futuristic setting is layered with an inventiveness that simultaneously evokes recognition and inspires awe. Her complex characters struggle with love in its many manifestations: parental, filial, romantic, platonic. They confront painful emotions: longing, loss, and despair. As a writer myself, (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire how Bell deftly juggles these elements. Her prose turns positively poetic at the end as she takes on the daunting challenge of defining something as elusive as “happiness” without sounding trite or treacly. If you want to know how you too can touch happiness, be touched by the wisdom in this book.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Inseparable: A Never-Before Published Novel by Simone de Beauvoir (Rating 4) – Sartre Was Wrong! Inseparable, a heretofore unpublished novel by Simone de Beauvoir, is worth reading for Margaret Atwood’s introduction alone. There readers learn that de Beauvoir decided not to publish the book after the “great” Jean Paul Sartre dismissed its focus on the lives of young women as uninteresting and unworthy compared to existentialism’s significant themes. Sartre was wrong. The book IS indeed about the search for a raison d’être, among women living within the confines of religious, social, and intellectual expectations of post-WWI France. What transforms the book from didacticism into a moving novel is the story of the intense love the narrator Sylvie feels for her schoolmate Andrée, a lively rebel who is nevertheless bound by duty to her mother, social class, and God. The characters are barely disguised versions of de Beauvoir herself and her childhood friend Zaza. The novel captures the asexual passion that women carry for their girlfriends. Any woman who has been devastated by the end of such a relationship — whether from an irreparable rift, diverging lives, or death — will understand the enormity of the lingering fixation on the beloved and the pain of losing her. As a writer of historical fiction (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire how the picture of a particular place and time is balanced with universal portraits of unforgettable individuals. Just as Andrée (Zaza) stayed with Sylvie (Simone) for the rest of her life, so will the friendship between these inseparable girls live on in readers.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Tender Cuts by Jayne Martin (Rating 5) – An Astonishing Range of Subjects and Emotions. The collected vignettes in Tender Cuts by Jane Martin cover an astonishing range of subjects and emotions. Many are mournful, depicting lives filled with bitter regret. In others, protagonists exact sweet revenge against those who have hurt or disappointed them. Tales that flow with melancholy break your heart, while quick jabs break the rhythm of your breathing. Each vignette is economical without being skimpy. After reading one, you never want more or wish for less. For example, in “Stepping Out,” Martin animates a coat rack and sums up a woman’s life in one finely observed paragraph. The success of brevity lies in finding a single word or phrase that captures a larger truth. As a writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I appreciated Martin’s skill at finding le mot juste or succinct combination of words that manage to encapsulate multitudes. Together, the short pieces in this compact book comprise a full and satisfying meal. Readers won’t go away hungry after consuming these tender cuts, and the satisfactions of dining on a memorable meal will endure.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Wayward: A Novel by Dana Spiotta (Rating 4) – A Wayward Woman Finds a Way Forward. Samantha (Sam) Raymond, the protagonist of Dana Spiotta’s novel Wayward, is a well-to-do white woman whose reaction to going through menopause is extreme and yet entirely natural and predictable. Rarely do novels feature women in their fifties going through “the change,” and more rarely do they receive the attention Spiotta lavishes on Sam: ferocious and gentle, serious and funny, perplexed and insightful. Set in the aftermath of Trumps’ election, Sam’s own upheaval is contemporaneous with the country’s dislocation. She responds by impulsively buying a crumbling old house in a questionable area of downtown Syracuse, and leaving her kind husband and distancing teenage daughter in the suburbs. Sam fixes it up the house while seeking to repair herself and the world. Sam’s thoughts often dwell on her dying mother and growing daughter. As an author myself, who often writes about complex family relationships (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I was impressed by Spiotta’s ability to capture the push-pull of the mother-daughter bond. My only criticism of the book is that the social commentaries — the “smart” ruminations Spiotta is known for — sometimes became trite and tedious. I was eager to get back to Sam’s story. Likewise, the few sections written from her daughter’s point of view were distracting. What resonated was the honesty of Sam’s position, a middle-aged white woman looking for meaning in her own life and the national psyche. She doesn’t find a pathway to the latter, but in the continuity of women, from grandmother to mother to daughter, the wayward Sam finds a way forward for herself.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Careless Love by Steve Zettler (Rated 5) – A Carefully Constructed Tale. Imagine being told by your mother as she confronts the end of her life that the person you thought was your father was not the man half responsible for beginning yours. (Not a spoiler; readers learn this at the novel’s outset.) With little to go on, the narrator of Steve Zettler’s carefully constructed novel Careless Love sets out to discover not only who his real father was, but also the identity of the man who killed him. His dogged pursuit uncovers a cast of often unsavory, but always intriguing, characters. Set in Hawaii, the sordidness of the lowlifes contrasts sharply with the pampered lives of the privileged guests at the beach getaway where Grace and Lee, the narrator’s parents, have each retreated to escape their respective demons. Likewise, the flashbacks to the grim realities of the war in Vietnam are in stark contrast to the sweet romance between these central characters. The detective work brings to mind an absorbing film noir production. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire Zettler’s deft blend of plot and personality in this entertaining and revelatory tale.

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Something Wild by Hanna Halperin (Rated 5) – Scary, Scarring, and Salving. Hanna Halperin’s novel Something Wild is about female desire and the fraught relationship between women and men, but mostly about the complex connections between women: mothers and daughters, and sisters. If the book has a flaw, it’s that the men are one dimensional. Yet, in a sense, these stereotypical men only highlight how complex and worthy the women are. Halperin questions what draws them close, what drives them apart, and what ultimately pulls them back together. Sisters Tanya and Nessa, close as children, became distanced from each other after a traumatic sexual encounter as teenagers. As adults, they discover that their stepfather Jesse is abusing their mother Lorraine. Sex and violence — something wild — simmer below the surface of every page and, inevitably, erupt. Yet, despite these big events, the book’s impact lies in its small moments: a big sister showing her little sister how to insert a tampon; the women warming each other’s feet under a treasured blanket. Halperin throws rocks into the water, but waits to watch the ripples they generate. Not that the book lacks for plot — its momentum never flags— but it plumbs the depths rather skimming the surface. As a writer who also observes ripples rather than hurling rocks (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I appreciated her ability to linger, to wonder whether calm can ever be restored after a traumatic or tragic event. In this scary and scarring account, sisterly love is the salve that heals.

My Amazon and Goodreads review of From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins with Alexandra Dunietz (Rating 4) – A Testament to the Power of Children’s Literature. From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins with Alexandra Dunietz, is a thoroughly researched and insightful biography about children’s book author Sydney Taylor, née Sarah Brenner. Taylor, best known for her All-of-a-Kind Family series, was a pioneer, the first to present a Jewish American family — religious yet assimilated — as the main characters. Like Taylor’s books, which drew on her experiences growing up, Cummins’s biography is also a historical recap of immigrant life on the Lower East Side in the early decades of the twentieth century, of particular interest to me because it portrays the place and time of my parents’ childhoods too. Further, the book reflects on how the evolution of children’s literature, and the publishing world in general, dictate what is acceptable (i.e., marketable) for authors to write. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I share Taylor’s wariness and resistance to such constraints. Her defense of her work’s authenticity and enduring values, which Cummins forcefully presents, is admirable and inspirational. Perhaps most appealing is the story of the lifelong closeness and entanglement of the five real-life Brenner sisters, and the support of Taylor’s husband, as uncommon in its era as her books. This comprehensive biography is a testament to the power of children’s literature to confirm identity, educate the young about diversity through engaging storytelling, and create new generations of enthusiastic readers.