This novel is the story of the Bergamot family, who've just moved from small-town Ithaca to big bad NYC for dad Richard's new job at a university. Apparently it's a great job at a wealthy school, because mom Liz gets to stay home and the kids - Jake and Coco - go to a chi-chi private school. But then 15-year-old Jake gets an emailed video from an eighth-grade girl - which he then forwards to his best friend - and their world starts to collapse.
That's where I stopped reading. When I read the book description I thought the story would appeal to me, but after reading that much it just didn't. It's just not something I care to read about. So, I don't recommend this book, although it might appeal to some people. It's just not my kind of story.
This Beautiful Life
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
I have to admit, I liked the beginning and the ending of this novel better than I liked the balance of it. The novel opens with a lot of potential - David and Norah Henry, so very much in love, are about to have a baby. When the baby comes in the middle of a blizzard, it's not just one baby but two - a perfect boy, and a girl with Down's Syndrome. But it's 1964, and Dr. David wants to spare Norah the heartbreak of a less-than-perfect child, so he gives the girl to his nurse to take to a home for the mentally ill, and he tells Norah that the baby has died.
The rest of the novel is about how David, Norah, their son Paul, and the nurse Caroline, deal with what happened. David has his guilt, Norah has her grief, Paul has a sense of something missing, and Caroline has her own issues to deal with. I have to say I didn't find David or Norah particularly sympathetic, but I thought Caroline was a very strong character. I also found the story to be a bit trite, and found myself skimming a lot of it.
The novel ends 25 years after it began, in 1989, and I definitely enjoyed the ending. The characters had all grown through their experiences and were more sympathetic. It was a nice read, but not an amazing read.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
The rest of the novel is about how David, Norah, their son Paul, and the nurse Caroline, deal with what happened. David has his guilt, Norah has her grief, Paul has a sense of something missing, and Caroline has her own issues to deal with. I have to say I didn't find David or Norah particularly sympathetic, but I thought Caroline was a very strong character. I also found the story to be a bit trite, and found myself skimming a lot of it.
The novel ends 25 years after it began, in 1989, and I definitely enjoyed the ending. The characters had all grown through their experiences and were more sympathetic. It was a nice read, but not an amazing read.
The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Monday, November 5, 2012
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
What a sweet, lovely, uplifting novel! Playwright Rachel Joyce gives us Harold Fry, a retired salesman in a small town in England whose life is just the same day over and over. He and his wife, Maureen, barely speak, and in fact Harold rarely leaves the house - or even his chair it seems. Then one day a letter arrives - his old friend Queenie Hennessey, whom he hasn't seen in 20 years, is dying of cancer. So Harold decides to write Queenie a note.
But then something happens to Harold. Walking from the house to the post box, he keeps going, and he even goes past the post office... he just keeps walking. At some point he decides he is going to walk across England to see Queenie in person, and he adds a line to the note asking her to wait. He doesn't have the right shoes or equipment, in fact he hasn't walked further than the driveway in years, but he's walking across England for someone he hasn't seen in 20 years.
Along the way Harold meets some interesting people, but he also meets the man he used to be, as well as the man he would like to be. And he comes to terms with the parts of his life that have made him who he is, and shaped the relationship he has shared with Maureen for much of their married life.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
But then something happens to Harold. Walking from the house to the post box, he keeps going, and he even goes past the post office... he just keeps walking. At some point he decides he is going to walk across England to see Queenie in person, and he adds a line to the note asking her to wait. He doesn't have the right shoes or equipment, in fact he hasn't walked further than the driveway in years, but he's walking across England for someone he hasn't seen in 20 years.
Along the way Harold meets some interesting people, but he also meets the man he used to be, as well as the man he would like to be. And he comes to terms with the parts of his life that have made him who he is, and shaped the relationship he has shared with Maureen for much of their married life.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
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