Mini Reviews of Recent Reads – August 2019

When an intriguing woman appears at the neighborhood book club and threatens to derail Amy’s perfect life by revealing secrets she’d rather leave buried, Amy has to figure out who just who the woman is, what she knows, and how to beat her at her own game.

Joshilyn Jackson’s first foray into domestic suspense did not disappoint, and this was excellent summer reading. Jackson was on point with her usual quirky, well-developed characters and excellent writing. Add in a twisty cat-and-mouse game that truly surprises–I thought I had things figured out multiple times and was so close, but new layers emerged–and you have one of the most fun thrillers I’ve read in a while.

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One summer on Block Island, three strangers’ lives intersect: Joy is a single mom, struggling to keep her pie business afloat; Anthony is an author, brought down by scandal and trying to put himself back together; and Lu is a mom of two young children, struggling with her feelings of discontent and her desire to build a business.

I am really into island settings this year and I loved visiting Block Island–it was a change from the wealth that underlies Elin Hilderbrand’s Nantucket. Some of the characters in this novel frustrated me, and I struggled to like them, though I believe they were meant to be sympathetic. I did enjoy reading a book with a blog as a main plot point. If you like Hilderbrand, give this one a try–the tone and writing felt very similar.

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I admit to a weakness for dystopian novels–particularly ones that seem plausible today and are told on a small, personal scale (like The Age of Miracles or Into the Forest). This one imagines a collapse of the global economy and electrical grid. Carson is on the east coast and is desperate to make his way to Beatrix, on the west coast. Beatrix, meanwhile, joins with her neighborhood to share resources and rebuild their lives. Hovering over these efforts is the persistent voice of Jonathan Blue, promising food and safety–but is the promised salvation too good to be true?

Dystopias tend to be persistently dark. The Lightest Object in the Universe was not without darkness, but true to its title, it offers more light and hope than any other novel I’ve read about similar circumstances. Filled with characters who are ready to offer help, empathy, encouragement, friendship, and family, Eisele offers a refreshingly optimistic view of human nature and behavior in the worst of circumstances. She weaves into the story examples of impoverished communities in Latin America where people band together in similar ways to survive. Maybe such community is too much to hope for if the fall ever does come to the U.S., but I like to think that thousands of communities like Beatrix’s would rise again.

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In post-Apartheid South Africa, two estranged sisters find themselves back in their childhood home. Ruth is attempting to hold it together after several breakdowns and the collapse of her marriage, while Delilah faces her past and the things she left behind when she was disgraced out of the convent. When a black baby is abandoned on their doorstep, with his desperate mother Zodwa not far behind, they may be able to rebuild as a different kind of family–if the world will let them.

I haven’t read many books set in South Africa, and the political upheaval, rampant racism, and emerging AIDS pandemic were fascinating historical backdrops to this deeply personal story. Zodwa’s heartbreaking story in particular illuminated the lack of options for women in poverty, as well as the sexism, prejudices, indignities, and violence that force them to make unthinkable choices–for themselves and their children.

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Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret are roommates and best friends in college, and the independence and intensity of campus life bonds them forever. Over the years, as the women graduate and move into adulthood, each makes a terrible mistake. The book walks through each–the Accident, the Accusation, the Kiss, and the Bite–examining the shifts and evolution in the women and their friendships.

I loved following the women through the ups and downs of their friendships--The Other’s Gold is easily one of my favorite books of 2019. They are each differently flawed, and these flaws tinge their relationships in wonderfully complex and subtle ways, forcing the women to again and again examine themselves, their values, and their loyalties.

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Alicia is a successful painter, living with her photographer husband in London–until he returns home one night and she shoots him in the face. She never says another word. Now she’s locked away is a psychiatric facility, and criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber is determined to figure out what Alice isn’t saying.

This is a truly unsettling book with very few likable, reliable characters–which left me feeling a little icky, but also made it a great twisty psychological thriller (there’s a reason I don’t read a ton of books like this). The “big twist” I had heard about truly left me reeling, even though I knew it was coming and was on the lookout. I’m skeptical of gimmicky “twists” these days, but I actually felt a little dizzy as the pieces fell into place and my understanding of the story shifted–definitely a first. Impressively done, and a great pick if you like psychological thrillers.

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Ruth Jefferson is a labor and delivery nurse who has faced all kinds of families. But for the first time ever, a new mother and father demand that she be banned from caring for their newborn son--because she is black. Upset but unsure how to proceed, Ruth hesitates when the baby goes into distress--does she help or follow orders?--and dies on her watch.

Thus begins a high-profile trial between grieving white supremacists and a black woman determined to keep her own son safe. Ruth's white public defender, Kennedy, takes a special interest in Ruth's case but advises against discussing race in court. Ruth fights for her freedom while the baby's family fight for their own warped sense of justice.

With alternating narration between Ruth, Kennedy, and Turk, the baby's father, Small Great Things was a fantastic audiobook that was hard to turn off. The look into the world of white supremacy was particularly fascinating (and repulsive), as was the exploration of race in the justice system. There are without a doubt more nuanced stories that cover all of these areas, but Picoult writes page-turners and this is one of her best.

Nantucket is again the backdrop for this story from Elin Hilderbrand, in her first foray into historical fiction. In the tumultuous summer of 1969, four siblings each have their own struggles. One is pregnant with twins in Boston, another has a foot in the civil rights movement but is pursuing her independence on Martha's Vineyard, another is deployed in Vietnam, and the fourth is a young teen on Nantucket with her mother and grandmother.

This was an enjoyable enough audio listen, but I'm not sure if I would have stuck with this one in print. Most of the storylines did not feel as propulsive as they could have. While there were high-stakes issues, most fizzled a bit. It felt like a meander through a family's island summer that happened to be studded by a few dramas and backdropped by a particularly rocky year in U.S. history.