Another installment of my take on books, so you don't have to slog through the bad ones:
Reading Turgenev
William Trevor
Mary Louise marries an older man to escape the boredom of her rural lifestyle. To escape his ineptitude as a husband and the hatefulness of his sisters with whom they share a business and household, Mary Louise becomes increasingly enmeshed in a fantasy world built upon her childhood affections for a sickly cousin. Trevor employs two alternating chronologies, one describing her increasing isolation and the other her return to a changed world. This novel was short-listed for the
Man Booker Prize, and the volume containing this novel and
My House in Umbria (see below), entitled
Two Lives, was named to the
New York Times Editor's Choice list in 1991. I rate it at 8 out of 10 stars.
My House in Umbria
William Trevor
On the surface, this novel tells the story of the recuperation of four victims of a terrorist attack: a retired British general, a young German man, an American child, and the owner of a house in Umbria. Lurking beneath, as in all of our lives, are the stories we tell--to ourselves, of ourselves--that combine to produce a reality not always grounded in fact. I rate this delicately layered book at 8 out of 10 stars.
The Blue
Mary McCallum
This is a gem of a novel. Part adventure, part domestic drama, part romance. The characters are caught between land and sea, between world wars, between love and duty. 9 out of 10 stars
Last Lessons of Summer
Margaret Maron
A disappointing stand-alone by Maron. I thought she captured the spirit of the large Southern family and their gatherings, but the female characters were a bit insipid. 4 out of 10 stars
Over Tumbled Graves
Jess Walter
A sprawling police procedural. Could have, should have, been tighter. 4 out of 10 stars
Where I'm Calling From
Raymond Carver
I can only muster 5 of 10 stars for this collection of short stories. It felt like the same story, the same character, over and over and over again, superficial examinations of alcohol abuse and turning points in relationships. I enjoyed the recent stories, written in the 1980s, more than the earlier works.
The Innkeeper's Song
Peter S. Beagle
This standard fantasy fare is complete with warring wizards, some shapeshifting, and journeys into an abstrusely described alternate world/ reality. Beagle's use of language, however, is gorgeous: from the comic turn-of-phrase ("He always sighed like that to inform his students that their answers to his last question had shortened his life by a measurable degree and filled his few remaining days with quiet despair.") to Lal's full name, which I wanted to say aloud every time it appeared on the page (Lalkhamsin-khamsolal). But, because I fell asleep 10 times while trying to read the last 50 pages, I can only rate this book at 6 out of 10 stars.
The Last Child
John Hart
This mystery was the 2010 winner of the Edgar Award. Hart throws the reader a tangle of unpleasantness and proceeds to unravel the various loops and knots in unexpected yet satisfying ways. I rate it at 8 out of 10 stars.
American Wife
Curtis Sittenfield
In this fictional autobiography, Alice Blackwell wants us to believe that she is a good person, that the mistakes and missteps of her life were a matter of circumstance, a byproduct of her ideals concerning self and family. In an effort to assure the reader of her honesty, she provides detailed descriptions of her sexual encounters and the crudity she tolerates in those around her. But why provide an autobiography if she truly believes her motivations to be private? "No one's true self was the business of more than a very small number of family members or close friends." Her simultaneous capacity for both justifying her behavior and deceiving herself regarding the consequences of her inaction are the defining aspects of Alice's personality. "There was rarely anything I wanted more than I didn't want to keep fighting."
What makes Alice interesting and tolerable as a fictional character is that her husband becomes President of the United States. She says of her husband, "He seemed to be someone who found his own flaws endearing and thus concealed nothing." Alice could say just the opposite of herself. I rate this Booklist Editors' Choice selection at 6 of 10 stars.
In Plain Sight
C. J. Box
The matriarch of the Scarlett family disappears, and the residents of Twelve Sleep County are forced to choose sides as her sons begin a battle of succession. In the meantime, game warden Joe Pickett and his family are the target of an escalating series of threatening acts. While the source of these entwined situations are well-telegraphed, I found the climax, including Box's incorporation of nature's fury, to be thrilling and suspenseful. I rate this 2006 Library Journal Best Book at 7 of 10 stars.
The Potter's Field
Ellis Peters
I'm not sure how this series has managed to stay off my radar for so many years. There are 20 entries in the Cadfael Chronicles, and some of them have been adapted into a TV series by the BBC.
The Potter's Field is the 17th in the series and can be read as a stand-alone. Brother Cadfael, herbalist and Benedictine monk, assists his friend Sheriff Hugh's investigation when a woman's skeleton is unearthed on a piece of land that has been acquired by Shrewsbury Abbey. The language is important to the atmosphere of the book, as in this passage: "He heard the change in their tread as they emerged upon the solid ground of the Foregate, and saw as it were an agitation of the darkness, movement without form, even before faint glints of lambent light on steel gave shape to their harness and brought them human out of the obscurity."
The series takes place against the backdrop of the struggle between King Stephen and Empress Maud as well as the Crusades, from 1135-1150. The attention given to this historic period would emerge as an influence in Cadfael's life if the series were read in order. I rate this installment at 7 of 10 stars.
