Sunday, April 7, 2013

February 5

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn  I have to start by saying I threw this book on the ground when I finished reading it, that's how into I got and how frustrated I was with it.  This was the first book I read by this author after repeatedly hearing from others that I must read it.  It was very good.  I love the author now and really respect her way of writing and leading you as a reader exactly where she wants you to go and think.  This story was of a married couple who recently moved back to the husband's hometown leaving behind their former Manhattan lives.  It is clear the marriage has become an unhappy one and we begin with the book being narrated by the wife and then start alternating in various sections back and forth between the wife and the husband.  The wife goes missing by the end of the first section of the book and the rest of the book takes us back and forth from former days in the relationships to the present day potential murder case.  Warning for this book, just as soon as you have it all figured out, guess what, you don't.  Flynn is remarkable at moving you along with the book and getting you to think you've solved the mystery and then throwing huge surprising curveballs.

"And it's so far beyond fine that you know you can never go back to fine.  That fast.  You think: Oh, here is the rest of my life.  It's finally arrived."

"Maybe that is what I like best about him, the way he makes me.  Not makes me feel, just makes me."
difficult era to be a real perosn, how to be real again

Promises to Keep by Jane Green  I'm not certain I understood the plot here.  I get it that one of the main characters had cancer and we earn this early on and then continue on with what is happening for her and her family and friends as a result of this.  That being said, I didn't feel like the book went anywhere.    I understood as a reader that I was following the life of two sisters and some of their women friends.  We learned about different choices woman make as far as career and children and family.  But I'm still not sure what the author's message was.  I like Jane Green and her novels are usually good for a quick light hearted story, but I'm starting to feel like there are a lot of repetitive story lines and not a good clear story being produced in some of the books.  May need to take a break from her books.

The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center  Really didn't like this book.  The writing wasn't bad, or I wouldn't have finished it, but the concept was cool but then went romance novel very quickly.  A young woman is pregnant and right before she is due to have the baby the baby's father, her fiance, leaves her.  For awhile we watch her pick herself up and enter single motherhood with courage but then the book becomes about her next relationship rather then continuing on with her independence.  Not the overall message I was looking for.

Rape A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates  Loved this story.  It wasn't an easy read even though it was a quick one.  As someone who has heard numerous women's rape stories this fictional woman's story was hard to read through.  A woman and her daughter are walking home through a park after a July 4th celebration and she is gang raped by a group of men in her neighborhood.  The story tells the aftermath for both the victim and her daughter.  Though justice is not served through typical court justice, the story also follows the cop who was a first responder to the scene and how he connects to the victim and her family.  I love JCO and her work and this one did not disappoint.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn  Really growing to like this author.  This novel followed a young woman returning home as a journalist after many years of being away.  The young woman is a former cutter who used to carve words into her skin.  She does not have a good relationship with her mother or her half sibling or step father.  Her mother and her have not been able to get along well since her younger sister died many years ago.  The main character has to come of age all over again in returning to her childhood roots and having to confront all that she left behind.  This story was a little easier to predict then the other novel by the same author that I read, but possibly only because of my own career choices.  I really like how Flynn paints the story for us as readers and how difficult it is to put down her books because of that.



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