Cahokia Jazz

 

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford 464 pages

 

I love this novel so much that I am going to claim that it will be one of the must-reads of 2024!

 

What Amazon says:  Francis Spufford’s Cahokia Jazz inhabits a different version of America, now through the lens of a subtly altered 1920s—a fully imagined world full of fog, cigarette smoke, dubious motives, danger, dark deeds. And in the main character of Joe Barrow, we have a hero of truly epic proportions, a troubled soul to fall in love with as you are swept along by a propulsive and brilliantly twisty plot.

On a snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner find a body on the roof of a skyscraper. Down below, streetcar bells ring, factory whistles blow, Americans drink in speakeasies and dance to the tempo of modern times. But this is Cahokia, the ancient indigenous city beside the Mississippi living on as a teeming industrial metropolis, filled with people of every race and creed. Among them, peace holds. Just about. But that corpse on the roof will spark a week of drama in which this altered world will spill its secrets and be brought, against a soundtrack of jazz clarinets and wailing streetcars, either to destruction or rebirth.

 

What I thought of it: This novel has it all! I was captivated by the opening scene that sets a harrowing stage of what is to come to the heartbreaking last scene. Part alternate history, part noir thriller, part mythology legends, with science, jazz, crime, mob scenes and the KKK all thrown in to make a highly readable novel.

 

Cahokia Jazz is a complicated, complex, easy to follow and fabulous novel. Therefore, it receives 6 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

If I Were You

 If I Were You by Lynn Austin 464 pages

Lynn Austin is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Granted, this is only the second
book of hers that I have read, but both stories have swept me away.

“If I Were You” is set in London between 1931 and 1946 and the USA in 1950. Growing up Eve
Dawson and Audrey Clarkson are best friends although they are from very different stations in
life. Audrey is part of the aristocracy. Eve is a scullery maid, and her mother serves of a lady’s
maid to Audrey’s mother.

The drift apart as they blossom into young women and begin to fulfill their destinies. They
reunite in London, eventually becoming roommates and ultimately ambulance drivers. Austin
excels with descriptions of the Blitz. Both young women suffer a devastating loss during one
night’s bombing.

Each falls in love with an American soldier. Audrey marries her beau who is then killed while
Eve’s beau returns stateside to his wife and child. Unfortunately, both women are pregnant. But
this only seals their need for each other. Both have sons.

Audry applies to go to the U.S. to be with her in-laws. Her mother is dead, her father is not who
she thinks he is, and Eve is the only friend/family Audrey has left. When her papers arrive, she
throws them in the trash and decides to return to her manot home in the English countryside.
Eve, struggling to raise a baby on her own, picks Audrey’s discarded papers out of the trash and
heads to America. Eve passes as her friend, only until Audrey, who has a change of heart, shows
up on her in-laws doorstep.

I found “If I Were You,” riveting and could not turn the pages fast enough. There were several
other gasp-worthy incidents that cemented this novel getting “If I Were You” getting 6 out of 5
stars in Julie’s world.

The Titanic Survivors Book Club

The Titanic Survivors Book Club by Timothy Schaffert 320 pages

 

Don’t be like me! If you want to read anything about the Titanic, this novel is going to be a major league disappointment.

 

The survivors are not Titanic survivors at all. They are people who were supposed to be on the doomed liner and at the last minute were not able to board. Okay, I can go along with this. Fascinating plot. The survivors, eleven in total, were mostly men, surprisingly. However, the novel focuses on three main characters:  Yorick (who was supposed to be the ship’s Second-Class Librarian), Zinnia (of Japanese descent and a candy-making heiress) and Haze (a photographer who takes shelter anywhere he can). The toymaker, designer of souvenir toys for the liner, brings these survivors together in Yorick’s Paris bookshop.

 

In a book that was supposed to be about books, only a small fraction is about books. The plot mostly centers around Yorick who is in love with Haze who is in love with Zinnia and Yorick who is in love with both men. It should be complicated, but Schaffert does a remarkable job in keeping the three separates while creating a convoluted tale.

 

I must admit that although my hopes were high for an intriguing story, I was bored. The three seem to only scheme how to get their hearts’ desires and constantly try to thwart the other two.

 

The Titanic Survivors Book Club receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.