Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy   963 pages 

The last time I read a Russian novel, it was required reading in high school, so…a long time ago. Have I avoided Russian works because I was traumatized or simply bored to death? I don’t remember, but after reading Anna Karenina, probably the latter. This book took me a while to finish. For one, the tome could be used as a wheel chock, and secondly, the plot is like a Russian nesting doll but in reverse, every layer of the novel reveals an increasingly bigger tale. 

Anna Karenina is a rich cultural forum, a series of linked meditations on farming and politics and religion and family and relationships and war and the meaning of life, not just about sex and romance. There is a lot to absorb and consider in this book of faith, of family, of affirmation, of belief in the land, nature, goodness, and simple human joys over pretentious society life. Yes, affirmation, in spite of Anna’s demise. The book consists of two separate yet interconnected plots. Anna’s story, with its complex emotions, social conventions coupled with women's position legally and socially, provides for the excitement and life of the entire work. Levin’s story, more or less modeled on Tolstoy's life, provides for the political, philosophical, social and religious views of the author as well as an insight to the author's life struggles.

It’s important to note that Anna Karenina is not a straightforward morality tale. Perhaps Tolstoy had intended Anna to be an ugly, vulgar old adulteress who represented Evil Womankind, and Karenin to be a model of sainted Christianity. But as the story progressed, the black-and-white moral rigidity acquired shades of grey. Anna became beautiful, then sympathetic until the bitter end. Karenin became clueless, hypocritical, desperate, and even unmanly. Vronsky no longer twisted his mustache, but became a man with a code who wanted very much to be allowed to keep that code and live a life. Morals become increasingly tangled, and we intuitively understand what makes a tragedy a tragedy. Tolstoy does not force us to make judgement. There’s a wonderful quality of generosity and empathy that runs through the whole novel: Judge not, lest ye be judged.

Posted by: Regina C.   

The Rooster Bar

The Rooster Bar  by John Grisham   352 pages

John Grisham is another guilty pleasure, my go-to source for all things legal Seriously, I’m sure those with legitimate legal experience might roll their eyes, but in addition to being fast-paced, entertaining and easy to understand, Grisham’s books have given me a rudimentary understanding of: basic concepts of law and legal procedure, relationships between law and politics, the various disciplines of law, key social and political issues confronting individuals and corporations, and behind-the-scene corruption, favoritism, dogmatism and power games of America’s politicians, lawmakers, judges, and lawyers (although I guess I could just read the news.) All that having been said, The Rooster Bar is probably my least favorite of Grisham's efforts. 

Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam.

But maybe there's a way out. Maybe there's a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes and no . . .

I appreciate the timely topic that tackles the trap of high-end college degrees, where students incur gigantic student loan debt at sub-par schools only to find their chances of  landing a decent paying gig are very long odds. Some people might struggle with the questionable ethics of the struggling soon-to-be-graduates, but I found their desperation and initiative to be more honest, and consider the ending to be a cop-out. If you’ve never read John Grisham, do not start with this book.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Baby Teeth

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage   304 pages

Literature has a dark sorority of bad, creepy, and cruel girls, which now includes seven-year-old Hanna Hansen. Hanna is mute, and there is not a test known to modern medicine that can discern why. In the eyes of her father, she is a silent and sweet little angel. When he is not around, Hanna consciously makes her mother Suzette's life a living hell. They engage in a battle of wits that rivals Rosemary's Baby.

Evil child tropes make me uncomfortable, hopefully because I find the premise far fetched. I was not scared, while I was reading, but Hanna's POV gave me the intended creepy vibe. When she stood in front of her mother with a hammer and her mother just freaks out, any normal person was thinking 'OK Suzette, you are more insane than your daughter. Just call the police.' Hence the implausible plot, or the unrealistic behavior and reactions of the parents, which ultimately made this an irritating exercise in believability. Also, the pacing contributed to the annoyance factor. The story could have been told in a fraction of the pages. And not to discount a serious health issue, but Crohn’s disease so was omnipresent that it was a plot device...rhetorical why? Basically, I wish the story lived up to the book jacket, but it doesn't.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Vox

Vox by Christina Dalcher   326 pages

On the day the government decrees that women are no longer allowed more than one hundred words per day, Dr. Jean McClellan is in denial. This can't happen here. Not in America. Not to her.

Soon women are not permitted to hold jobs. Girls are not taught to read or write. Females no longer have a voice. Before, the average person spoke sixteen thousand words each day, but now women have only one hundred to make themselves heard.

For herself, her daughter, and every woman silenced, Jean will reclaim her voice.

Vox is very much in line with the resurgence of feminist dystopia novels that have scary elements of truth to our realities. To coin a term from 1984, we live in a NewSpeakian world, where the power of language, or words and how they are used and controlled, offers considerable insight into the non-science fiction reality we currently inhabit. Vox is not at all different from our societal  norm, that those in power want to silence those who object, whatever their gender. 

The story moves along at a good clip, making this a pretty fast read. It is engaging and anxiety-inducing, in a good way. But I found the resolution even more unlikely than the underlying notion. If tight plotting  is important to you, then you will probably be disappointed. But then this is not intended to be an action-adventure story; it is a warning about the cost of silence, and how not speaking up now can shut you up later, to the detriment, not only of yourself, but of generations to come.

Posted by: Regina C.  

Waiting for Eden

Waiting for Eden by Elliot Ackerman   173 pages

This haunting novella is a story of a gravely wounded Iraq veteran, partially blind, brain damaged and near comatose. He lives on for three years by the miracle of modern medicine and his wife’s refusal to pull the plug.

The narrator is this soldier’s unnamed Marine Corps buddy who was killed in the same IED explosion that injured Eden. He tells the story from beyond the grave of a complicated relationship between the three of them prior to deployment.

It’s such an intimate portrayal of grief that begins even before death…hence the title. Mary never leaves his side and struggles with her decision of whether or not to take her husband off life support even as she wishes him to die. 

Although framed by consequences of war, this is not a war novel.  Instead,iIt details what happened to Eden because of the war. It was powerful, evocative and full of symbolism revealing the human cost of America’s endless wars. Thank goodness the story is brief, because there’s only so much heartbreak a reader can take.

Posted By:   Regina C.  

The Wicked Girls

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood   378 pages

One fateful summer morning in 1986, two 11-year-old girls meet for the first time and by the end of the day, they are charged with murder.

Twenty-five years later, journalist Kirsty Lindsay is reporting on a series of attacks on young female tourists in a seaside town when her investigation leads her to interview funfair cleaner Amber Gordon. For Kirsty and Amber, it's the first time they've seen each other since that dark day when they were just children. But with new lives - and families - to protect, will they really be able to keep their secret hidden?

The Wicked Girls has a twisting plot and a range of secondary characters, each bringing up other issues that add to the depth of the story, from Amber's emotionally manipulative boyfriend to Kirsty's struggles to support their family with her husband "excessed" out of a job in his mid-40s, from the minimum wage workers at the amusement park to the media, which just like twenty-five years ago, seizes on lurid details and interviews with unreliable people to construct a narrative that will sell papers and generate moral outrage, whether or not it actually bears any resemblance to the truth.

Watching two women whose lives were destroyed as children try to reconstruct an existence under the constant fear of discovery, even by their own families, and then see it all come unraveled once again, makes this book both a suspenseful psychological thriller and a tragedy even before the climax. This book is for people drawn to crime thrillers - real and fiction, but also for students of human psychology because the content should make you question preconceived notions of guilt and innocence, of rehabilitation and retribution.

Posted By:   Regina C.  

Lab Girl

Lab Girl by Hope Jahren   289 pages

A rare and emotionally engaging close-up look at the development and practice of science, its empowerment and challenges, and the ability of Hope Jahren to transform influences from her father and her questing personality into a successful career in paleoecology. From her time helping her father manage the physics lab, she came to appreciate the outlook of scientific inquiry, feel empowered in a laboratory full of equipment she could master, and get rewarded from problem solving. I actually wanted more about the science and her contributions, but that would impede the more substantial success this memoir has as a portrait of a partnership with Bill, a graduate student who became a lab manager, technician, and essential collaborator in all her research.

I so loved the snap of the quirky dialog she reconstructed from their day to day lives in the lab or on the road at exotic study sites. The humor is fresh, often slapstick, sarcastic or ironic, but it makes an effective channel for them both that combines unconditional support and brutal honesty. The scenarios with Bill that she spins out like acts on a stage careen from low points of self-deprecation and absurdist dissipation of their failures to driven efforts to reach a goal with many all-night stints in the lab or busting ass and threatening their health in the field. And sometimes they get epiphanies over results and rewarding dreams of glory over their discoveries and, more practically, some payback in near-term job security. I also loved the adventures she and Bill have in building labs at different academic postings she climbs and in their entertaining trips to scavenge equipment and in student instruction through field trips. The latter trips with students in soil science involve almost unbelievable tales of camping, excavations, and sampling work, disasters with vehicles, and R&R trips to odd tourist spots like Reptile World.

Interspersed with the narrative history, Jahren inserts lyrical reveries and essays on how the lives and wonders of plants inform her understanding of herself and the planet. Many of these mental excursions make for metaphors of lessons for her own life. It is a tribute to her writing or teaching style that these stealth botany lessons are so entertaining that we are educated unawares.

My only concern about the book is that Jahren details all the negative aspects of her personal and professional journeys. Although she deserves kudos for baring all, it is only in reading the book jacket that we learn that she is a celebrated and highly awarded scientist. None of these accolades are alluded to in her narrative, which  I think does a disservice to her mentorship of future (especially female) scientists. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

Books in the Stephanie Plum series

I must confess: Janet Evanivich’s Stephanie Plum series is my feel good place. I didn’t realize how far behind on the series I was until I noticed that I had to catch up on the most recent three books. The characters are quirky and the plots are implausible and each story reeks of every literary trope

known...I love it! There is absolutely no depth to any of these books, which makes them a perfect escape - highly recommend if you're in the mood for silly and predictable.

To anyone unfamiliar with Stephanie Plum, know that what New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum lacks in skill and experience, she makes up for with tenacity, luck, and her true talent... the ability to attract disaster, killers, and general nut jobs. If she needs help there is always her mentor, Ranger, a security expert with a dark past, and Trenton P.D.’s Joe Morelli, a homicide detective who shares a past - and sometimes a present - with Stephanie. Family and romantic partners, friends and colleagues, memeses, and supporting characters - human and otherwise - are all shake-your-head, laugh-out-loud, over-the-top additions to each story. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

Hardcore Twenty-Four

by Janet Evanovich   285 pages

Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won't let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Stephanie's main qualification for babysitting an extremely large snake is that she owns a stun gun - whether that's for use on the wandering serpent or the petrified neighbors remains to be seen.

Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it's just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church Stephanie knows that she's the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.

Look Alive Twenty-Five

by Janet Evanovich   311 pages

There's nothing like a good deli and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World famous for its pastrami, cole slaw and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction. Whatever it is, they'd better figure out what's going on before they lose their new manager, Ms. Stephanie Plum.

Twisted Twenty-six

by Janet Evonovich   306 pages

Grandma Mazur is a widow...again. This time her marriage lasted a whole 45 minutes. The unlucky groom was one Jimmy Rosolli, local gangster and heart attack waiting to happen...well, the waiting is over. When Jimmy’s former “business partners” are convinced that his widow is keeping the keys to their financial success for herself, Stephanie Plum has to find them quickly.

Millennium series

I really enjoyed the Millennium series created by Swedish crime writer Stieg Larsson. In 2013, the publisher awarded author David Lagercrantz the contract to continue the series with these three books (rumored to be the end) since Larsson died in 2004. There is much debate whether Lagercrantz’s continuation respected Larsson’s legacy, an analysis beyond this simple review, but I do believe that the spirit of the Lagercrantz stories is quite different than the original author intended.  

The (new) Millennium books don't necessarily follow Larsson’s part blistering espionage thriller, part riveting police procedural, and part piercing exposé on social injustice formula. Larsson also introduced readers to Lisbeth Salander, one of the most original inventions in popular fiction. Although Salader remains a vengeful, homicidal, self-destructive love rat (yet surprisingly admirable because of Larsson’s careful attribution of her psychological wiring to survival instincts developed during a terrifying early life), her emotional depth is diluted in Langercrantz’s portrayal. Does this mean that these books are not as good as the originals? Not necessarily; the style and characterization is just different, but that translates into a death knell for purists. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz   399 pages

Lisbeth Salander is Sweden’s answer to Wonder Woman, Stephen Hawking, and Mike Tyson all rolled into one five-foot, 98-pound package. She can debate the finer points of quantum mechanics and number theory with the world’s top physicists and mathematicians, hack her way into the most secure computer system on the planet, punch out a gang of the meanest, nastiest bikers you can imagine - and she has an evil twin. In other words, Lisbeth Salander is completely unbelievable. Yet this novel, and the three that preceded it, are crafted with such skill that you’ll probably get so caught up in the sheer complexity and suspense of the story that you won’t even think about how unlikely it all is.

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz   347 pages

Lisbeth Salander has never been able to uncover the most telling facts of her traumatic childhood, the secrets that might finally, fully explain her to herself. Now, when she sees a chance to uncover them once and for all, she enlists the help of Mikael Blomkvist, the editor of the muckraking investigative journal Millennium. And she will let nothing stop her -  not the Islamists she enrages by rescuing a young woman from their brutality; not the prison gang leader who passes a death sentence on her; not the deadly reach of her long-lost twin sister, Camilla; and not the people who will do anything to keep buried knowledge of a sinister pseudoscientific experiment known only as The Registry.

The Girl Who Lived Twice by David Lagercrantz   347 pages

Lisbeth Salander has left Stockholm, seemingly forever, and gone to Russia on a mission to finally hunt down, ruin, and kill her sister and nemesis Camilla. Meanwhile, Mikael Blomkvist, suffering from a slump due to a lack of interesting news stories, gets roped into a case involving a homeless man who may have been murdered and who had Blomkvist's phone number on him.

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Circe

Circe by Madeline Miller   393 pages

I liked The Song of Achilles and cried many tears over it, so it saddens me to share that I did not enjoy Madeline Miller's Circe as much. The novel follows Circe, daughter of the sun god Helios, who possesses the power of witchcraft and a heart kinder than most who dwell with the gods. When Zeus learns of her abilities, he banishes her to a deserted island where she develops her craft in isolation. Over time, Circe learns that she must stand up and fight for what she believes in, lest she be struck down by the same gods who raised her.

Miller tries to give Circe a back story by name dropping the most famous figures in Greek mythology: Hermes, Prometheus, Daedalus, Minotaur, Odysseus. But in this retelling of well known mythology, the characterization feels static and the episodes are disconnected. For those who have already read Homer, Hesiod, Euripides, and everyone else, there’s little new information.

Additionally, I was disappointed by the pacing of Circe. The story line played out at a super slow speed. Once Circe got exiled to the island Aiaia, very few important or seminal events happened across the span of the following 300 pages, and I became unsure of her character's main motivation. I also found it confining that the majority of Circe's growth and passion came from her relationships with men and her role as a mother. I wish that more of her development happened before or in addition to the men in her life, as opposed to the men motivating a lot of her character's trajectory. Overall, a good read I would recommend to fans of Greek mythology and those who do not mind a book with a slower place. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

The Song of Achilles

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller   378 pages

Miller manages to mix the greatest events of the Iliad, including various interpretations of events, and imagine the blanks to create a believable and captivating story. Miller has a way with words and imagery and figurative language in a classic (yet modern) style. Yes, modern. This is not some stodgy read favored by readers steeped in the ancient classics. In fact, its narrative reads like a modern novel, even if the trappings are all ancient. In that sense, believe the hype: Miller breathes new life into old classic!  

Miller’s writing, if often prosey, stays compelling and flows smoothly, capturing these great characters in an honest light. Truth be told, most of the story is dull, but this is not a story of great battles and honors, this is a story of the men behind them; stripped of the sparkling lights of fame, they remain flawed people whose lives were as ordinary and mundane as the rest of ours.

Starting during his childhood, the book revolves around Patroclus as he befriends Achilles, who is fated to be the greatest fighter of all time. Telling the story from the secondary character's perspective was a brilliant choice. Not only was the protagonist relatable, but as Patroclus slowly learns more about Achilles, so do we. The ending was a beautiful gut punch, all the more so since it happened quickly after the meandering story that it had been up to that point. I wish the climax had a few more pages so I had time to process what was happening before it was over.

Students of the classics, of the Trojan War,  of convention, risk disappointment with this retelling because it is, above all else, a love story.

Posted by: Regina C.  

I Was Anastasia

I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhorn   332 pages

For those unfamiliar with the controversy that surrounded the basis of this novel, this book will be very interesting. It is a bizarre and fascinating story. I found this fictional version entertaining, but it was difficult to follow. 

This novel follows two characters. Anastasia's story is told chronologically from start to finish while Anna's story is told in reverse, making it very difficult to understand where in the story I was and how exactly the two connect. Perhaps I was just waiting too hard for the connection to happen that I was distracted from the story?

Overall, the descriptions and characters were decent and the story line is entertaining. If you have read other books about the Romanovs and know the outcome of this debate (no spoilers), then this book probably isn't for you. 

Posted by:   Regina C.  

The Great Zoo of China

The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly   392 pages

It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for forty years. They have proven the existence of dragons—a landmark discovery no one could ever believe is real, and a scientific revelation that will amaze the world. Now the Chinese are ready to unveil their astonishing findings within the greatest zoo ever constructed. A small group of VIPs and journalists has been brought to the zoo deep within China to see these fabulous creatures for the first time. The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they will be struck with wonder at these beasts, that the dragons are perfectly safe, and that nothing can go wrong. Of course it can't.

Does this sound familiar? That’s because as much as The Great Zoo of China tries to be something extraordinary, it is Jurassic Park with dragons. Simply changing the country, species, and purpose doesn't make the adventure any less predictable. Not one of the best novels I've read, but it was an easy to read, action-packed experience. This novel would be better appreciated by people who haven't read Jurassic Park. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

Spinning Silver

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik   469 pages

I’m always willing to give an author a chance to challenge my first impressions of their work, so I tried a second title by Naomi Novik. Spinning Silver holds all the ingredients of a magic spell, but the execution leaves one cold and unsatisfied. 

Novik introduces three daring female protagonists in this clever re-imagining of Rumpelstiltskin. Here is a realm of magic and mysticism, of cruelty and heartbreak, fringed with glittering ice and populated with creatures carved from the wildest corners of the imagination. The initial chapters titillate with high stakes, compelling characters, and enchanting descriptions and details, but the narrative is soon bogged down by several ruinous flaws.

Despite encountering wondrous and unexpected forms of magic, Novik's characters are neither astonished nor surprised. Their flat response evokes a perpetual sense of apathy, a problem that's exacerbated by glacial pacing, further compounded by two of the female protagonists having such similar plot lines as to feel redundant.

The final nail in the coffin - or icicle in the heart - is the inclusion of multiple Points of View. Novik opens with two primary voices, but more characters are introduced as the story progresses. A change in POV is indicated by an icon of a spinning wheel, but the speaker is not identified and new character voices are dropped without preamble. Not only does this create extra work and confusion, Novik elects to recount scenes from varied perspectives, resulting in even more redundancy.

Overall, Spinning Silver holds all the ingredients of a magic spell, but the execution leaves one cold and unsatisfied. 

Posted by: Regina C.  

Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik   438 pages

This book has been highly reviewed butI felt the only thing that has been uprooted is my interest. The hype hooked me:  a fairytale retelling with a spooky forest and a mysterious castle and an enigmatic wizard and a village with a  creepy tradition of gifting a young woman to said  enigmatic wizard every ten years. I don’t know if it’s the incessant foul weather or stay-at-home tedium, but I am struggling to appreciate the books I’m reading during this pandemic hiatus, and this one failed to live up to its hype. I really love the idea, but it almost feels like a rough draft that I would better appreciate when a final copy is polished.

The heroine, Agnieszka, a perpetually filthy klutz, the epitome of the overused clumsy heroine trope, has no explored personality or depth and never becomes  more interesting than her flaws. So when this character transitions from “Who, me?” to “I know all the magics!” her triumphs seem sudden and unearned and  out of character. All other characters were equally undeveloped and reduced to one dimensional stereotypes. 

I’m hesitant to mention the ‘romance’ element, if that’s what it can even be called. There was no emotional undercurrent, no physical attraction, no sexual tension. The Dragon’s role as a romantic interest can only be described as classic Stockholm Syndrome; verbal and emotional abuse is not alluring, no matter how it is delivered or for what reasons. It’s as if the author was putting in scenes to check off a prescribed formula of story requirements: awkward heroine ✔, mysterious wizard ✔, evil archetype ✔, capricious romance ✔.

Overall, I really like the premise of the story, but it almost feels like a rough draft that I would better appreciate when a final copy is polished. Maybe fantasy lovers can overlook the mediocre writing, but it’s not a book I would recommend above others.

Posted By: Regina C.