The Secret Keeper

The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
Atria Books 2012

Once again Kate Morton weaves a tale of love, family and secrets across the years.   The story starts when Laurie Nicolson returns to her family’s farm for her mother, Dolly’s, last days.  Memories churn to the surface and Laurie becomes obsessed with finding the answer to one crucial memory.  When she was 16 years old she witnessed her mother commit a crime.  Now before Dolly passes on, Laurie is determined to find out why.

Fans of Kate Morton will be able to guess what follows.  Laurie’s sudden desire to reopen the past is met with convenient clues, hale and healthy acquaintances of her mother’s, and even a back-story set in Australia.   It may seem formulaic, but Kate Morton still writes an intelligent and entertaining story that is worth the read.

The Secret Keeper takes readers from present day London to the Blitz of 1941.  Dolly is a young woman intent on starting a life of her own during some of the darkest days of World War II.  Her story, which Laurie slowly unravels with the help of her brother, is filled with romance and tragedy.  The characters are well developed, though not always likable.  The history of war torn London is detailed and realistic.  The mystery of Dolly’s crime isn’t totally unique though.  Morton manages to throw a few interesting twists into it but a keen reader can probably guess at the ending.   Admirers of her work will still be pleased.  Newcomers should also enjoy the book, however if they don’t, they should try The Forgotten Garden for Kate Morton at her best.

Matched

Matched by Ally Condi
2010 Dutton Books

A refreshing satisfying YA dystopian novel. 
This is the story of Cassia, a young girl growing up in a future where free-will has disappeared.  Everything in her world is decided for her.  From what she studies, what she eats, how she exercises, to who she will marry.  "Society" no longer leaves life or death or reproduction in the hands of the people but instead controls everything.

Sound familiar?  It is.  You can find similar stuff in Lois Lowry's The Giver or in a Margaret Atwood novel, and it may be that those are better, but Ally Condi does a fine job.  The characters and their relationships are well developed.  The plot moves along at a good pace with all the required twists and turns.  Her descriptions are decent, though not as detailed as an adult reader might want.  And the end is satisfying in a way that other YA novels (like the Meyer ones) are not.  Cassia is a heroine, make no mistake.

This would be a good introduction to dystopian or science fiction literature for teens and tweens.  Kind of a Hunger Games without the crossbow and vicious to-the-death gaming.

The Leftovers

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

2011, St Martin's Press

The Leftovers is certainly one of the best books of 2011.  It is the story of what happens after millions of people across the world suddenly, and inexplicably, disappear into thin air.  The book doesn’t explain why this happens or why it happens to some and not others, what The Leftovers does describe is the lives of those who were left behind.  Tom Perrotta centers his novel in a town called Mapleton where a random selection of people disappeared in a Rapture-like event.  (In simple Christian terms, this Rapture refers to a moment when devote believers will be whisked away to Heaven.  Those who are not, will be left here on Earth to await The End.)  At the heart of the story is the Mayor, Kevin Garvey, and his family.  The novel opens about three years after “The Rapture.”  Kevin’s wife Laurie has left him to join up with the local Guilty Remnants cult.  They are a rather frightening group who believe The End is near and don’t see the point in wasting breath so they take vows of silence and chain smoke.  They also creep around watching people and get creepier as the book progresses.  His daughter, Julie, after losing her faux best friend and watching her mother sign up with the white clad Remnants, not surprisingly goes from a straight A student to a troubled Goth girl.  And his son Tom somehow manages to join one cult only to end up in the midst of another.  Along the way Kevin meets Nora who is trying, through a bizarre Sponge Bob ritual, to get over the loss of her husband and two young children who dematerialized during dinner.  The scene Perrotta writes of their disappearance, as well as the one of Julie’s friend, is heart rending in its honesty.  

Perrotta illuminates the suburban world in all its glory, desperation, banality, and hope.   His prose carries the reader along without boredom, or as happens more often, disgust or ambivalence.  The characters are people, like those who live next door or share a bus seat or steal your parking spot.  Perrotta has a talent for exploring the powerful emotions and motivations of ordinary people.

Perrotta seems to have found his niche with suburban angst.  His other novels, The Abstinence Teacher and Little Children, are also available at Clift Rodgers and I’m guessing, worth a a read.  He will also be part of the Boston Book Festival again this year on Saturday, October 27th.  Last year his short story, The Smile on Happy Chang’s Face, was the BBF’s One City, One Story selection.  This year he is one of the presenters.  

Gone Girl

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
2012 Crown Publishers

I just finished this book last night.  Usually I wouldn't try to write a review this soon, but I am not sure how I would write one without giving away the plot anyway, so I decided I might as well blog about it.  Basically it is the story of a marriage gone very, very wrong.  Nick's wife Amy goes missing after they move back to his hometown in Missouri.  Or did she?  ...

This isn't my usual type of read; murder, abduction, the who-done-it type stuff.  However, the way this one was climbing up the best seller lists plus the fact that some very well-read people recommended it to me, made me think I had to give it a try.

I did like it.  The writing was good  The plot twisted.  I am continuously in awe of writers who can create these intricate plot lines, who can know that the clue in chapter two would become essential to chapter twelve.  I know that trying to keep all those loose ends together can be difficult.  Managing to weave them into a cohesive plot line is remarkable.  Flynn's characters were also good (not literally), and twisted.  One minute you feel for them, think you understand them, and the next, Flynn turns things on its head.

Unfortunately, by the end of the book I was getting bored.  It became almost routine to read something and then in the next chapter have it turned around on you.  And I didn't like the ending.

Not sure what else I can say without giving it all away.  Email cliftrodgers@comcast.net and tell us your view!

The Night Circus

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Random House 2011

Bold and unique, like describing a bottle of fine red wine or some Gordon Ramsey entrée, that’s what Erin Morgenstern’s Night Circus is. 

Morgenstern tells the tale of two star crossed illusionists, deeply in love and irrevocably competing under the black and white stripes of a circus tent.  This is the Le Cirque des Reves however, the Circus of Dreams, and quite unlike any other.  Celia and Marco are trained by two distinct gentleman (in Celia’s case, her father) and unbeknownst them, pitted against each other in a battle of style.  It is their magic that fuels the Night Circus.

In this debut novel, Morgenstern takes a fresh look at fantasy literature.  She allows it to flow in a hypnotic pattern that draws the reader along.  The chapters move between time, weaving the storyline together and creating a very exclusive mood and atmosphere for the novel.  This and her descriptive powers are Morgenstern’s true talents.  From the magic and aromas of the circus to the extravagant dinners with Chandresh (the circus’ enigmatic proprietor) she creates scenes that will haunt the reader long after the novel is finished.  It is no wonder that Summit Entertainment snatched up the movie rights.

The characters, unfortunately, remain a bit flat.  Celia and Marco are described as sharing an intense love but it somehow never quite makes it across to the reader.  The young twins as well, who are introduced as a new and mysterious piece in the competition, seem to travel along as mere flotsam.  Even Tsukiko, whose true role is revealed late in the novel, never quite blossoms into what she could.  Her back story is hastily described and the reader is left wanting more.

So who will enjoy this book with its remarkable scenes, tepid characters, and vividly imagined illusions? Is it for fans of Harry Potter and Twilight?  Is it for fans of literature and the written word?  Probably on some levels, it will appeal to all of them.  The magic of Harry Potter is certainly there.  Perhaps even more beautifully told.  But the depth of the characters and the plot can’t come close to Rowling’s.  (I don’t believe Ms. Morgenstern was really trying to anyway.)  The Twilightesque romance?  As much as this reviewer disliked “those” vampire novels, the passion between Bella and Edward certainly overshadows anything between Celia and Marco.  Other titles that come to mind are Magicians by Lev Grossman, The Bartilmaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud and one I intend to read again, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke.  The Grossman title, like Morgenstern’s, has a flaw in its character development.  Unlike Morgenstern’s, Grossman’s unfortunately also lacks descriptive beauty.  Stroud’s YA stories about a djinni and the young magician who enslaves him are remarkable, and unforgettable.  Similarly, Clarke’s 2006 novel about two 19^th century magicians is one that never fully left me.  Pieces of it, images or scenes, will still float unbidden to mind.  I imagine that someday I will be saying that about The Night Circus as well.  In a way, it is almost too bad that Hollywood will turn it into a blockbuster; I quite like the images Morgenstern’s words created.

Moth Diaries

Moth Diaries by Rachel Klein

Bantam Trade Paperback 2003

Creepy fun.  I picked this book up because on the cover the Kirkus Review says it’s “A chilling debut, in the best gothic style...” and it is.

Written as the diary of a young girl at boarding school, “The Moth Diaries” describes her life, friendships, teachers and what happens to all of them when a strange new student enters the picture.  On one level it is the story of adolescence.  The protagonist talks about her best friend, Lucy, and their increasingly estranged relationship, about other girls and their quirky sometimes dangerous behavior, and about her parents, a poet father dead by suicide and a mother still coming to terms with grief.

On the other hand, it is a departure into gothic superstition.  Through some creepy discoveries, the protagonist comes to believe the new girl, Ernessa, is in some sense a vampire.  Her best friend Lucy first becomes distant then descends into a strange illness.  Another girl dies after, perhaps, getting too close to Ernessa’s secret.   There is a gruesome killing of a teacher’s pet.  Add to this the strange everyday things about Ernessa like not eating and a smelly room, and the protagonist creates a fairly good case for her vampire hunting crusade.

However, when introduced to the handsome young English teacher’s reading requirement, “Dracula”, and taking into account the already fragile and unbalanced nature of an adolescent girl’s mind, the reader is never quite sure.

A good beach read - i.e. in the daylight, with lots of people around, and warm sunny weather.

Age of Miracles

Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker

Random House 2012

A book that combines the best of Juvenile reading with an exceptional setting. 

The protagonist here is a girl of eleven, facing all the regular issues a girl that age faces; boys, bras, friendships and family.  The difference is that this girl is living through extraordinary times.

One Saturday morning, Julia wakes up to find that the whole world has changed.  The Earth’s rotation has begun to slow down.  In ways familiar to all of us who lived through the World Trade Center attacks, the tsunami in Japan or Hurricane Katrina, Walker describes this young family’s reaction.  The day is spent glued to their TVs waiting for some kind of answer.  Watching interviews with scientist after scientist, listening to fanatics rave, and news anchors philosophize, they are completely and utterly absorbed by the tragedy around them.  The freaky thing about this scenario though is that this catastrophe is happening very slowly, and life for this suburban family keeps going.

Walker takes the reader through this changing landscape both gradually and suddenly. Juxtaposing the steady changes to the earth with the every day events of a middle school girl, she creates a wonderful flow to the timing of the novel. 

I just can’t say enough about the creativity that went into this seemingly simple novel.  I praise Walker for not letting it carry her away either.  She somehow finds a balance between letting her imagination soar and keeping the story real.

A die-hard sci-fi fan may be looking for a more factual account of what would happen when the Earth’s rotation slowed (Walker has been criticized for not researching the true effects).  But then those readers probably wouldn’t be interested in a thoughtful, character driven coming-of-age story either, which at its heart, is what “Age of Miracles” is.