Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review: Finding True Home

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Heidi M. Thomas’ Finding True Home, a novel that continues a fictionalized story of her mother’s life, is an intriguing sequel to Seeking the American Dream.

Anna Moser immigrated to Montana from Germany as a war bride. Although Anna and her husband Neil are very much in love, life has not been easy. Through harsh winters and searing summers, she’s content to work on their ranch alongside her husband, plus take care of their children and keep up the housework. It’s not the work that Anna finds a burden, it’s the lack of acceptance by her neighbors. She perceives she is still thought of as “that foreign woman,” and that her neighbors can’t forget, nor forgive, someone from Germany, a country America fought in World War II.

The Mosers have two children, Monica and Kevin. Family is everything and it’s tough for Anna to allow her children to find their own way. When their third child, Lizzie, is born, Anna finds her more challenging than the first two. As a baby Lizzie constantly cries, as a little girl she is unpredictable, and as a teen she’s constantly in trouble. Anna struggles to understand her children, especially Lizzie.

When tragedy strikes, Anna and Neil are devastated, but Anna blames herself, the old self-doubt haunts her. Later, when serious illness strikes, Anna is forced to look honestly at her life and the blessings she has been given.

Finding True Home is a heart-warming story, a story parents will recognize in their own lives and in their own struggles raising a family. As this novel so aptly describes, love endures, love is triumphant.

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Book Review: Lily and the Octopus

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Ted, the narrator, has a special friend, Lily, who is both very short and very long. Lily is a dachshund.

Ted is distraught when he discovers a growth on Lily’s head, a growth he likens to an octopus. As the story develops, we learn a lot about forty-two year-old Ted and why his relationship with Lily is so important to him. As a dog-lover, I enjoyed many of the interactions between Ted and Lily. I talk to my dog all the time. In Lily and the Octopus, Lily answers, which for me strained the believability. Even the evil octopus talks.

Although possibility or probability for me was dampened, I thought the book delightful in many respects. I put aside my dislike of fantasy and simply enjoyed the touching and whimsical story. Anyone who loves dogs would find kinship with Ted and his dog.

Lily and the Octopus is an emotional tribute to the love between a pet and its human. People usually outlive their dogs and author Steven Rowley does a good job of describing the wrenching experience of losing a beloved pet.

I found this quote from the book memorable: “A heart is judged not by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” Despite the fantasy, there is much to be admired about this novel. It’s more than charming; it is a profound message about love and acceptance.

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Book Review: The Kitchen House

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In her debut novel, The Kitchen House, author Kathleen Grissom has given us a glimpse of life on a Virginia tobacco plantation in the late 1700s.

When a little red-haired white girl is brought to Tall Oaks, she doesn’t know her own name, nor can she remember anything of her past. Captain Pyke “gives” the child to Belle, a slave, as help in the kitchen house, a building quite removed from the main house. The girl is sickly and constantly in the state of tears. Before Captain Pyke, the master of Tall Oaks and also a ship’s captain, goes back to sea, he casually mentions that the girl’s parents and brother died at sea while on their way to America from Ireland. The traumatized girl learns her name is Lavinia McCarten and that she is seven years old. The Captain explains that he didn’t know what else to do with the girl; he couldn’t just leave her on the dock. By default, she is his property and he keeps her as an indentured servant.

As years pass, Lavinia becomes a part of the household, learns to cook, clean and to serve food. She’s loved by her black family, plays with other slave children and, although she recognizes that she looks different, is content.

The Captain’s wife, Miss Martha, mostly stays in her room in the large, grand mansion, especially when the Captain is at sea. Although she has two living children, she has had several miscarriages, leaving her depressed and dependent upon strong doses of laudanum. When Miss Martha sees Lavinia, she mistakes her for her long deceased little sister, and insists that the girl spend time with her in the “big house.”

As this remarkable story develops, I found myself in a different world, a world of exacting class distinctions and values. The majority of people had no rights, no say in where or how they lived, down to the tiniest detail. Yet, those in bondage showed love and fierce loyalty toward family.

The Kitchen House is a heartbreaking yet hopeful story of class, race, and dignity. I highly recommend it.

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Book Review: West

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West, a novel by Carys Davies, is a stark reminder of how difficult American life was in the early 1800s, even in relatively settled places like Pennsylvania. To venture beyond, following the footsteps of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, was an invitation to potential disaster.

When mule breeder Cy Bellman, a widower with a young daughter, reads in the newspaper about huge ancient bones being found in Kentucky, his curiosity is stirred. He must see these beasts for himself. He convinces his taciturn sister to live on his farm and oversee his mule operation and take care of his daughter, Bess. He assures her that their neighbor, Elmer Jackson, will help when needed. Cy leaves his Pennsylvania home, promising to return in two years, and rides toward unknown western wilderness.

Bess, approaching womanhood, misses her father terribly and anxiously awaits his promised letters. She’s a lonely girl with few possessions or joys in her life.

Along the way, Cy hires a young Shawnee boy to accompany him. Their only communication is hand signals as neither speaks the other’s language. The two travel into harsh unknown land.

Davies’ West offers stark yet vivid descriptions, bringing life to the more settled east and to the wildness of the west.

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Book Review: Everything She Didn’t Say

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Author Jane Kirkpatrick’s new historical novel, Everything She Didn’t Say, reveals the plight of many women, even today.

The novel is based on a true story, and knowing Kirkpatrick’s skillful extensive research, there is probably more truth than fiction to this story.

The novel takes place in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Carrie, the daughter of a prominent physician, married Robert Strahorn who worked for the Union Pacific railroad. His job was to develop new towns that the railroad would follow on its way west. Robert also wrote books and pamphlets designed to entice people west.

Carrie and Robert’s years were filled with adventure, riding for miles by stagecoach or horseback. Although these adventures sound exciting, what they really amounted to were unending days in gritty, jolting stagecoaches, days not necessarily ending with hot meals and a decent place to sleep. Carrie yearned for a normal home and children, yet she knew Robert’s dream and dedication to his job when she married him. She just thought it would some day end.

In 1911, Carrie wrote a memoir sharing some of the exciting events of the past twenty-five years of shaping the American West with her husband. That book, Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage, is still available today. Throughout Everything She Didn’t Say, excerpts from that memoir are highlighted. But also highlighted are Carrie’s private thoughts, revealing and stark, about her struggles to accept her own worth, not to become lost in her husband’s ambition, and the pain and disappointments of a pioneering life.

Everything She Didn’t Say is a remarkable novel, a work of deep thought and emotion. I highly recommend this heartfelt historical novel.

 

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Book Review: Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse

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Author Win Blevins’ extensive and passionate research is obvious in Stone Song: A Novel of the Life of Crazy Horse. Reading this novel carried me back to the early days of our country when native cultures clashed with land and gold seekers coming to the Northern Great Plains.

Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota Sioux, is one of history’s great warriors, perhaps best known for his role in defeating Custer at Little Big Horn.

The story covers most of Crazy Horse’s life, beginning in his youth when he was known as Light Curly Hair. He was often referred to as Strange Man, the result of a vision he had as a youth when he took certain vows that made him different than other young warriors. Crazy Horse considered himself a loner who wished to avoid politics. He rarely gave his opinion, but tried to stay true to his path.

The expansive novel offers views of Native People as a culture, giving the reader more understanding of the heart of a warrior. Time and again Crazy Horse’s people were betrayed and deceived by the white man. The Lakota and other Native Peoples watched their way of life dwindle to patches of barren land unsuitable for sustaining themselves. But it wasn’t only the white man who betrayed Crazy Horse; his fellow tribesmen also plotted against him.

Although the author claims the novel as a work of imagination, his in-depth research has created a vivid account of a prominent historical figure. At the end of the book, in the Afterword, Blevins claims that an author must “… see his subject not analytically but holistically, as in a dream. Then he must sing boldly the song of his dream….” Win Blevins has accomplished that goal in this novel. It is a masterpiece.

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Book Review: The Past

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In her novel The Past, Tessa Hadley gives us an interesting insight of a contemporary British family. The novel takes place during a reunion of four grown siblings at their deceased grandparents’ rural home.

The reunion involves Harriet, a sensible human rights lawyer, Roland who is there with his third wife, Pilar, and his 16 year-old daughter Molly, their scatter-brained sometimes-actress sister, Alice, and Fran with her two children, a spiteful little girl and her gullible younger brother. Also in the mix is Kasim, the son of Alice’s one-time lover.

The story begins as the family members and their guests arrive. The author does a good job of capturing the essence of their personalities and priorities. One of the purposes of the 3-week visit is to decide what is to be done with the deteriorating home, whether or not it should be put on the market for sale.

The book has three sections: The Present, The Past, and then again The Present. The Past involves Jill, the children’s mother, when she returns to her parents’ home with her three children after she has left her husband. She has a brief affair with a realtor, then agrees to return to her husband, the children’s father.

When the book returns to The Present there are four grown children. The fourth child’s appearance is never directly referred to, but it made my mind whirl. I kept waiting for an explanation. You have to pay attention, but it’s there.

The Past offers an interesting study of family dynamics and how the past shapes and influences our future. I also enjoyed the descriptions of English country-side and customs.

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Book Review: The Last Pilot

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The Last Pilot, a debut novel by British author Benjamin Johncock, is a masterpiece about the early years of the space program and the Cold War in the late fifties/early sixties.

The story centers on Jim Harrison, a fictional test pilot based in the high Mojave Desert in Muroc, California. The strong, silent type, Jim embodies the American hero. One of the special things about this book is that our fictional hero rubs elbows with the legends of the early astronauts—Chuck Yeager, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton, Jim Lovell.

Back to earth, Jim and his wife Grace are blessed with their first child, a surprise after years of infertility. When tragedy strikes, it deeply affects not only the immediate family, but the community of those involved in the unknown frontier.

Johncock captures the perfect pitch of dialogue, the toughness, the nostalgia, as well as the grueling roles played by the astronauts’ wives. It was a time of hero worship and the author manages it all without a hitch. The Last Pilot is an amazing book of American lore. I savored every word.

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Book Review: The Checklist Manifestso

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Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right is much more interesting that the title suggests. The scope of this eloquently written work goes beyond medicine–the principles apply to everyday life.

The author is a physician and goes into some detail about how and why checklists are important in treating the complications of modern medicine. In many medical procedures, it takes a team to adequately care for a patient. To have a checklist makes sense, especially when there are cross-over issues between specialists. The importance of checklists within each specialty and as they apply to others can make a difference between life or death.

Dr. Gawande worked with the World Health Organization to develop effective surgical checklists, and today more than twenty countries use these as a standard for care.

Among the first professions to create checklists was the aeronautic industry. With the complexity of airplanes, the necessity of a checklist was recognized. Even the most experienced pilot might overlook a small detail that could result in a fatal crash.

Almost any profession benefits by making checklists. Gawande goes into some detail about building a skyscraper that could withstand an earthquake. The author spent time with a well-known builder and was shown the sixteen intricate trades that go into building a structure. Huge checklists are formed to track and communicate between trades such as basic construction, electrical, plumbing, mechanics, etc.

In the complexity of our everyday lives, checklists can make life more meaningful and organized. Rather than relying on memory to accomplish tasks, making a checklist frees the mind and allows more creativity with less stress.

I immensely enjoyed The Checklist Manifesto. Atul Gawande is a brilliant writer who tells fascinating stories to make his argument for the importance of checklists. The premise of the book may not sound exciting, but it is one of the most compelling books I have read this year.

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Book Review: The Swan Keeper

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The Swan Keeper by Milana Marsenich, a novel placed in the 1920’s, is set in the rugged Montana Mission Mountains.

On her eleventh birthday, Lilly’s fondest desire comes true when her family picnics at her favorite place, the Cattail Marsh, to see the newly hatched cygnets. Lilly and her father love the trumpeter swans and faithfully watch their habits. But someone is killing the magnificent birds and great numbers of them are either dying of gunshot wounds or are poisoned by eating lead shot. Their celebration turns to tragedy when Lilly’s father is fatally shot and her mother critically injured. But the shooter, rather than escaping, attempts to revive her mother. Although Lilly sees it all and knows the truth, that it was intentional, no one believes her.

As Lilly struggles to cope with their terrible loss, she is determined to prove who the killer is, that there was a reason for her father’s hate and distrust of the man. She turns to Charlie West, the sheriff, who also runs a shelter for injured swans. Jerome, his son and her best friend, reluctantly helps Lilly in her attempt to bring the killer to justice.

Author Marsenich does a magnificent job showing the extremes of an eleven-year old’s anguish and frustration. The family lived a meager, but loving life. Now the father is dead and their mother gravely ill. Although neighbors help, the greatest burden to keep the family going is carried by Lilly’s fifteen year-old sister, Anna. Lilly is obsessed with proving the killer’s guilt and spends most of her time in the hills and forests tracking down evidence.

The young girl fantasizes a beloved swan protects her, giving her courage to carry on with her mission to fight for justice. Reality abruptly ends the fantasy when Lilly is face to face with the killer. Marsenich deftly takes the reader into the craggy Mission Mountains with its threats of extreme terrain, bears, and quickly changing weather.

The Swan Keeper is listed as a coming-of-age novel, but this gripping story would be of interest to anyone who loves nature and who strives for justice.

 

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