Much as I bad-mouth this area (California it’s not!), I must admit that February wasn’t all that bad. Little of that cold white stuff and temps that ranged up to 74-75 degrees. In this area, anything above 50 is t-shirt weather, so February was pretty nice with the exception of a few throwback days to below freezing temps. Can’t wait to see what March will bring, besides winds and rain, the other problem with this area—wind. Chicago isn’t called “the Windy City” for nothing and the wind always wreaks havoc when trying to ride (whether bicycles or motorcycles).
February is also a month for getting everything caught up on the blog; still wrestling with that and doing the necessary yearly appointments. The CE volunteers with our son at the annual AARP tax service for seniors at a farming community library which gives him a nice outside interest for a short while and he always enjoys. Slows down his reading services though!
I’m always excited about March–Reading Ireland Month—that and my birthday—a big one last year. I am, however, increasingly dismayed at the treatment service people extend to seniors. I would argue that some gray hair does not always mean a loss of brain cells. (And no—not something I’ll just get used to without some blow-back.)
With all that and continuing to work with the little Pomeranian (now with us almost five months), we managed to provide reviews for twelve books. As always, links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase or source information.
Several great books in February caught our attention. Clyde loved The Lost Pope, while I gave five stars to both Henry Winkler’s book, Being Henry, and The Wager. I didn’t read The Lost Pope and feel Henry enjoyed professional and brilliant collaboration on his. So I have to give The Wager the nod for February. I didn’t want to shut down the audiobook and listened while grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Okay—not vacuuming—I couldn’t hear it.
My Reading Challenges page… I’ve worked on the Reading Challenges page but am not completely up-to-date yet, nor have I been able to incorporate the Goodreads Challenge banner. Always a work in progress.
Miscellaneous Comments
Update on Punkin adopted the first week of October last year. At almost five months with us still prefers her crate to human companionship, but she is beginning to seek us out sometimes. We think she wants company or to play but has no idea how to do that. We’ve been trying to find ways to engage her. Still doesn’t want toys, doesn’t respond well to treats, or games. Being ever vigilant, we are catching her potty habits more often. Now if only we could tie those successes with her initiating the desire to go out.
I’ll be posting a list of books and activities tied to Reading Ireland Month shortly. Still getting that gathered and organized. Spoiler alert: Includes a Michael Connelly audiobook, of course.
Welcome to my new subscribers! I appreciate all my followers and love your likes and comments.
“The Millionaire” is in jail on a murder charge. Violent inmates beat him savagely, trying to extort money. To save his life, Maureen Gould must find the truth and free her client.
When Maureen Gould’s former client, Tony Paredes, known as “The Millionaire,” is accused of killing his abuser, she believes he’s innocent. But the authorities don’t care. They throw him into jail with violent criminals who almost beat him to death to extort money he doesn’t have.
As he recovers in the hospital, Maureen must find the evidence that will convince a jury to acquit him. If he goes back, the next beating will surely kill him.
My Review:
My turn for a Keenan Powell novel. The CE read both Implied Consent and The Sorrowful Girl, the latter of which should have been saved for March and Reading Ireland Month. He loved both of them. It’s definitely my turn.
I love a good legal thriller and Book 2 in the Maureen Gould Series is just that.
Gould is defending Tony Paredes accused of murdering the coach who raped him when Paredes was involved in the chess club of a private school. While those closely connected with the original lawsuit that Paredes eventually lost against Oscar Wenderholm believe he murdered Wenderholm, Gould believes her client is innocent. The evidence appears to be mainly circumstantial—he’s an easy, obvious perp.
It’s a multi-layered plot, one that involves Gould’s own secreted experience as well as Paredes’s story. The author has packed authentic support characters around her, including a prosecutor hubby and a daughter who wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps. There is also a very intelligent kitty named Germaine Greer that at times I forgot was a cat.
As Gould picks away at what few leads she’s gotten, her client has been badly beaten in jail and is now in the hospital. If he’s sent back—he won’t make it out alive. In order to win his freedom, however, she’ll have to explode the case wide open, against a prosecutor who has never lost a case and it’ll cost the loss of her own secret in the doing.
It’s a multi-layered plot using Gould’s own secret and Paredes’ backstory that includes a court case he lost to jury tampering. While some of the evidence of the murder appears contrived, there seems to be a credible witness with the victim’s wife. But a gun planted in Paredes’ trunk? Come on…Every step forward leads to another twist and the biggest of all in the conclusion. Good storyline, great characters, and I love it when I get surprised.
I’ll be looking forward to her next installment—this one can be read as a standalone, but hubby really enjoyed Implied Consent—you may wish to begin with Book 1. (Books 1 and 2 are available as audiobooks.)
I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.
Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Legal thrillers, Murder, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Three Hooligans Press LLC
ISBN: B0CS9R5BFS
ASIN: B0CK677XCP
Print Length: 285 pages
Publication Date: January 26, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author:Keenan Powell is the Agatha, Lefty, and Silver Falchion nominated author of the Maeve Malloy Mystery series.
Despite being one of original Dungeons and Dragons illustrators, art seemed an impractical pursuit – not an heiress, wouldn’t marry well, hated teaching – so she went to law school. The day after graduation, she moved to Alaska.
She is the author of the Maureen Gould Legal Thrillers, the Maeve Malloy Mysteries and numerous short stories.
In this twisty thriller from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Robert Bailey, a disgraced attorney’s mistakes come back to haunt him when he’s tried for a murder he didn’t commit.
Once the flashy, successful lawyer known for his in-your-face billboards—IN AN ACCIDENT? GET RICH—Jason Rich has fallen from grace, his reputation scrubbed of its glitz and his life stripped of the people he cares about. All thanks to meth kingpin Tyson Cade.
But when Cade is shot and killed in the heart of his territory, things go from bad to worse for Jason as he is charged with his murder.
To clear his name, Jason seeks help from an unlikely source: Shay Lankford, an old adversary and attorney almost as disgraced as Jason himself. Now Jason and Shay have even more to lose—their lives—as they dig into the dangerous truth behind Tyson Cade’s murder.
Neither time nor evidence is on their side, but after everything he’s lost, Jason is determined to save his future from the mistakes of his past—no matter the price.
His Review:
Small towns in Alabama are often one-horse towns. Guntersville is a very good example of this fact. The control of the town rests on a former US Army Colonel named Chuck Tonidandel. Everything in the town and immediate environs is controlled by Chuck and his three sons. Everyone else in the burg answered to the Colonel or his three sons.
Jason Dean was raised by the Colonel and everything he did was to please the Colonel. People who crossed the Colonel or his family wound up in various stages of dead. The local gendarme pointed out that Jason was responsible for the killings in the area. He lost his law license due to malfeasance and is in limbo waiting for a two-year suspension of said license.
This book is well written with the exception that it has too many murders. Anyone who seemed to cross the Colonel or Jason Dean wound up dead. There are simply too many deaths pointing back to the Tonidandels and their father, nor does the author leave the fairer sex out of the mix. Dating any lady in Guntersville could be a quick trip to a three-by-six-by-six future. I enjoyed the book but found the number of killings over the top. Read to see if you agree. 4 stars – CE Williams
[Note: It’s been a while since we read a Bailey book, Legacy of Lies, that one in 2020 that I read from a different series and thoroughly enjoyed. VW]
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Sibling Fiction, Legal Thrillers Publisher: Thomas & Mercer ISBN: 1662516630 ASIN: B0C62FWRL2 Print Length: 515 pages Publication Date: May 7, 2024 Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author:Robert Bailey is the bestselling author of the McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers series, which includes The Final Reckoning, The Last Trial, Between Black and White, and The Professor. The first two novels in the series were Beverly Hills Book Awards legal thriller of the year winners, and Between Black and White was a finalist for the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year.
For the past nineteen years, Bailey has been a civil defense trial lawyer in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, where he lives with his wife and three children. For more information, please visit http://www.robertbaileybooks.com.
Middle child Aaron Gimmelman watches as his family goes from a mild-mannered reform Jewish clan to having over a million dollars of stolen money stuffed in their RV’s cabinets while being pursued by the FBI and loan sharks. But it wasn’t always like that. His father Barry made a killing as a stockbroker, his mother Judith loved her collection of expensive hats, his older sister Steph was obsessed with pop stars, and little sister Jenny loved her stuffed possum, Seymour.
After losing all their money in the Crash of 1987, the family starts stealing from convenience stores, but when they hit a bank, they realize the talent they possess. The money starts rolling in and brings the family closer together, whereas back at home, no one had any time for bonding due to their busy schedules. But Barry’s desire for more, more, more will take its toll on the Gimmelmans, and Aaron is forced into an impossible choice: turn against his father, or let his family fall apart.
From Jersey, down to an Orthodox Jewish community in Florida where they hide out, and up to California, The Great Gimmelmans goes on a madcap ride through the 1980s. Filled with greed and love and the meaning of religion and tradition until the walls of the RV and the feds start closing in on the family, this thrilling literary tale mixes Michael Chabon and the Coen Brothers with equal parts humor and pathos.
BUCKLE UP!
My Review:
Well, knock me over with a feather.
I’m speechless.
Well, almost.
Nothing here I expected. Caught off-guard, more than once, the way this very well crafted, fast-paced narrative followed the thoughts of middle child Aaron Gimmelman. Aaron has an older and younger sister. His younger sister Jenny is a bit (no—a lot) different than other folks. But then, so are his mother and father.
Having been a successful and upper middle-class family, Aaron’s father Barry lost his job as a stockbroker in the crash of 1987. Not prepared, no clue what to do, where to go, or how to proceed, Aaron takes it upon himself to steal a few things for the family.
But his father, seeing a success replace the failures, takes on more and Aaron discovers he cannot close that Pandora’s box. The 80s grips his mom and dad and creates a monster he could not have foreseen. Caught between his father and the family, he goes along for the ride—literally—as the only remaining asset they have left is used to escape, first to Florida (and relatives) and then to California.
There is humor, but the humor is permeated with pathos. My mind kept reeling as the plot continued to spiral down into ever-deepening crevices into which none would scale unscathed. Disbelief rises and the reader is rooting for some way out, hoping for sanity to win out—the children to prevail—but this dysfunctional family has already gone too far.
I read with horror wondering how the parents could have degenerated this completely. The youngest child is scary—in fact, the characters are very well developed. Perhaps that was the problem, so real, could this actually happen? The writing style is poignant, the tragedy searing, the humor genuine.
“The sun peeking over the horizon, an orange flame mixed with purple dust.”
It’s a strongly mixed emotional message, using coming-of-age, humor, noir and thriller elements in themes of religion and family. No ending would satisfy everyone and my heart was crushed, the injustice of it all. Or was it? I kept going through the “what ifs.” What would you have done with Jenny? This book will hook and grip through the last heavy sigh. Brilliant, captivating storytelling. I’ll look for this author again.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Recommended!
Rosepoint Publishing:Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Heist Crime, Heist Thrillers, Suspense Publisher: Level Best Books ASIN: B0CCSPZD8Z Print Length: 442 pages Publication Date: November 14, 2023 Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author:Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of twelve novels including THE ANCESTOR and THE MENTOR along with his five-book DESIRE CARD series. His YA series RUNAWAY TRAIN is currently with actress Raegan Revord from Young Sheldon attached to develop his original written pilot. THE GREAT GIMMELMANS comes out in 2023. He is a finalist for an Anthony Award and nominated for the Prix du Polar. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, he’s been published in multiple languages and his writing has also appeared as a contributor in CrimeReads, Pipeline Artists, LitHub, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, LitReactor, Mystery Tribune, Monkeybicycle, Fiction Writers Review, Cagibi, Necessary Fiction, the anthology Dirty Boulevard, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Maudlin House and others. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City. Follow him at LeeMatthewGoldberg.com
His favorite authors are classic writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Emily Bronte, W. Somerset Maugham and Raymond Chandler. For modern authors, he’s been influenced by Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis, Denis Johnson, John Irving, and Paul Auster.
A cross between Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple and a Cheers bartender, Sally Witherspoon, a 50-something accountant turned biker-bar owner, loves solving puzzles. Up to now, she has focused on helping neighbors and friends find lost jewelry, lost pets, and lost loves.
But when she finds her best friend and business partner, Bill Arnold, dead in a dumpster behind her bar on a Saturday night, she needs all her wits and grit to find out who did it.
And she won’t stop until she does.
His Review:
Berry Springs is a small Ozark town and is usually very peaceful. However, all that changes with a sudden spate of unexplained deaths. Sally Witherspoon owns a club called “Sally’s Smasher.” Some evenings a large profit is made which then has to go into inventory for continued operations. Also, Sally envisions herself as a detective who can augment the local overworked police department.
When someone close to her and associated with Sally’s Smasher is suddenly and brutally killed, she feels that she is the one to assist the local law enforcement professionals. The town of Berry Springs has a very close-knit community and Sally cannot think of anyone who could be culpable, however, the culprit had used an unusual method of murder.
The local police department considers Sally’s investigation of the crime meddling. She is reminded that she may be charged with impeding an ongoing investigation. She volunteers what information she has gathered and the police chief grudgingly shares some of the department’s findings with her. The victims begin to mount up though and they are all people associated with her establishment.
Meddling in police work and crime investigation can be very dangerous as Sally soon finds out. Can she solve the mystery or will she become the next victim? Read and enjoy this thriller. 4.5 stars – CE Williams
The first in a new series with promise for compelling characters and location. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.
Rosepoint Publishing:Four point Five Stars
Book Details:
Genre: Traditional Detective Mysteries, Amateur Sleuth Mysteries Publisher: Level Best Books ASIN: B0CKWT4FY2 Print Length: 298 pages pages Publication Date: December 12, 2023 Source: Publisher and NetGalley
The Author: Currently in Austria, I’m an American abroad for years and years who has lived or worked in six countries on three continents, the longest in Germany. I’m an award-winning author and communications professional with 25 years of expertise in a variety of corporate roles, including a broad range of communications disciplines, technical writing and translation, and corporate strategy. Reading and writing are my passions, when I’m not hiking one of the amazing trails in Austria or elsewhere. My motto is “fight the hype” and I enjoy taking a unique, perhaps unorthodox, view of the current topics and trends.
The opportunity of a lifetime lands in Peter Cullen’s lap and nothing is going to stop him taking full advantage, not even the misgivings of his wife. Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret has been flying high, but the real goal, the secret desire of Peter’s heart, America, is finally, incredibly, looking like a reality.
The troupe are not at all prepared for what awaits them in prohibition era Atlantic City and they are dazzled by the bright lights. Keeping discipline and ensuring everyone remains focused drives Peter to the edge of his patience, but he soon realises that this is the least of his problems, as the gloss and sheen of the New Jersey shore reveals a dark side, and somehow his cabaret has fallen foul of it.
My Review:
When last we left Cullen’s Celtic Cabaret, the troupe was experiencing the dark side of the troubles between the Irish and the English during the twenties. Political tensions created drama for Peter’s brother and Nick acknowledged his aristocratic status with an extended visit to Brockleton.
Book four introduces the cautious decision to sail to America where they have an eye-opening introduction to prohibition era Atlantic City, New Jersey. Maud Flynn owns the theatre where the cabaret will play as well as the troupe’s residential accommodations. She has made extensive arrangements for them and laid down rules and expectations. It appears to be a clean, tight ship surrounded by sights and sounds, as well as slang and colloquialisms.
As “Oscar Wilde’s line in his short story ‘The Canterville Ghost’: ‘We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, the language.”
There were interpersonal struggles as well between those who found romance from within their group, but were not exactly free to act on their passions. May and Peter have a daughter now, Aisling, who has become somewhat of a darling of the troupe. Many of the members have discovered her intelligence and aptitude for learning either their particular skill or language. There may have been no booze, but the living was rowdy.
“The old Irish adage that ‘twas often a fella got his nose broken by his mouth’ was particularly true here.”
Despite the wildly successful splash they’ve made with their acts, their interpersonal relationships begin to force hard decisions. Tension escalates as each has to take a hard look at status quo. Additionally, there is an ever-darkening atmosphere as people and activities at arm’s length hide behind those bright lights and change the course of plans. Issues with Peter’s brother Eamonn become seriously tragic.
I can imagine that Atlantic City during prohibition was probably a wide-open port city during prohibition, entertaining everything from bootlegging, speak-easies, and the Boardwalk to summer resorts. There were bound to be gangsters as well.
The widely diverse characters are a strong hook in this series as well as the descriptive location in this installment. Any threads previously hanging were handled quickly in an Epilogue—almost too quickly—but settled the characters and issues.
I received a review copy of this book from the author who in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.
The Author:JEAN GRAINGER – USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
SELECTED BY BOOKBUB READERS IN TOP 19 OF HISTORICAL FICTION BOOKS.
WINNER OF THE 2016 AUTHOR’S CIRCLE HISTORICAL NOVEL OF EXCELLENCE
Hello and thanks for taking time out to check out my page. If you’re wondering what you’re getting with my books then think of the late great Maeve Binchy but sometimes with a historical twist. I was born in Cork, Ireland in 1971 and I come from a large family of storytellers, so much so that we had to have ‘The Talking Spoon’, only the person holding the spoon could talk!
I have worked as a history lecturer at University, a teacher of English, History and Drama in secondary school, a playwright, and a tour guide of my beloved Ireland. I am married to the lovely Diarmuid and we have four children. We live in a 200 year old stone cottage in Mid-Cork with my family and the world’s smallest dogs, called Scrappy and Scoobi..
My experiences leading groups, mainly from the United States, led me to write my first novel, ‘The Tour’. My observances of the often funny, sometimes sad but always interesting events on tours fascinated me. People really did confide the most extraordinary things, the safety of strangers I suppose. It’s a fictional story set on a tour bus but many of the characters are based on people I met over the years.
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Many of the people who have reviewed my books have said that you get to know the characters and really become attached to them, that’s wonderful for me to hear because that’s how I feel about them too. I grew up on Maeve Binchy and Deirdre Purcell and I aspired to being like them. If you buy one of my books I’m very grateful and I really hope you enjoy it. If you do, or even if you don’t, please take the time to post a review. Writing is a source of constant contentment to me and I am so fortunate to have the time and the inclination to do it, but to read a review written by a reader really does make my day.
I was thrilled to learn that the book I was reading was also going to be a Netflix miniseries, so of course I had to stick around and view the screen adaptation of that powerful book. It’s always fun to compare the scenes with the visuals conjured from reading the narrative, putting the buildings, the location, and in this instance, the sea to reality.
The Netflix MiniSeries
Marie-Laure lives in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When she is twelve, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel. In a mining town in Germany, Werner Pfennig, an orphan, grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments and is enlisted to use his talent to track down the resistance. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
My Thoughts
Sometimes when Netflix gets ahold of a popular, ground-breaking book, they manage to make hash of it. Not so this time.
While the novel is not based on a true story, it could so easily echo stories untold from WWII. Netflix managed to create such realistic scenes it was not uncommon to cringe or cry depending on the setting. The actors include newcomer Aria Mia Loberti and Louis Hofmann as well as Mark Ruffalo and Hugh Laurie. Apart from Ruffalo’s accent (now almost a running joke), all turned in remarkable performances.
Directed and executive produced by Canadian filmmaker Shawn Levy, it is described by Netflix as “an epic story of hope, love, and connection.” The story plays out in four parts inducing a binge watch.
Overall Impression
The scenes are explosive and brilliant, at times played against a peaceful sunrise or streetscape. War scenes or not, it’s a visual feast, often heart-pounding. Netflix smooths out the timelines a bit and creates a slightly more hopeful and palatable ending.
The eBook
Editors’ pick Best Literature & Fiction (Audiobook) #1 Best Seller in War Fiction Winner of the 2015 Audie Award for Fiction Goodreads Choice Award Winner for Best Historical Fiction 2014
Book Blurb
*NOW A NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES—from producer and director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) starring Mark Ruffalo, Hugh Laurie, and newcomer Aria Mia Loberti*
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist, the beloved instant New York Times bestseller and New York Times Book Review Top 10 Book about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
Marie-Laure lives with her father in Paris near the Museum of Natural History, where he works as the master of its thousands of locks. When she is six, Marie-Laure goes blind and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighborhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home. When she is 12, the Nazis occupy Paris and father and daughter flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s reclusive great-uncle lives in a tall house by the sea. With them they carry what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
In a mining town in Germany, the orphan Werner grows up with his younger sister, enchanted by a crude radio they find. Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these crucial new instruments, a talent that wins him a place at a brutal academy for Hitler Youth, then a special assignment to track the resistance. More and more aware of the human cost of his intelligence, Werner travels through the heart of the war and, finally, into Saint-Malo, where his story and Marie-Laure’s converge.
My Thoughts
I was lost to the book almost from the first page. The child, Marie-Laure, is going blind, and her thoughtful father finds a way to teach his daughter the streets of Paris. Picturesque, vibrant, breath-taking in the historic grandeur of the location, the buildings, the artsy atmosphere. But the tension is there. The world is changing. And so too, must Paris.
Beautiful writing style, emotional, powerful prose and it is the prose in the storytelling that drives the reader as well as the storyline and characters.
“If your same blood doesn’t run in the arms and legs of the person you’re next to, you can’t trust anything.”
The novel is set for the most part in Brittany, (St. Malo) France, however, and follows the plot line of the blind girl surviving in an ever-escalating Nazi environment. She spends a tremendous amount of time in hiding.
“A dozen pigeons roosting on the cathedral spire cataract down its length and wheel out over the sea.”
Werner Pfenning, a German orphan, discovers parts from a radio and curious, intelligent, and inventive manages to create a crude radio. That fascination grows into an expertise, one that he will use as an escape from being forced into the coal mines when he turns sixteen. Instead, he will be recruited into the Hitler youth using his proficiency with radios to find those in the French resistance sending communications. It will define his life but the results of his success wear on him.
A third thread—that of a German officer Von Rumpel rabid to find a stone worth “three Eiffel Towers” and said to have magical powers is the driving force in his collection of valuables from those the Germans occupy. The girl’s father who worked at the National History Museum where it was said to be housed may be in possession of that stone and von Rumpel will stop at nothing. When they fled Paris for St Malo—did he take it with him?
“You know the greatest lesson of history? It’s that history is whatever the victors say it is. That’s the lesson. Whoever wins, that’s who decides the history. We act in our own self-interest.”
The two and then the three are bound to collide. The author throughout has pulled no punches; it’s a war. There are shocking moments, the worse coming in the conclusion. My heart broke.
Nooo!…I’m still naively looking for the happy ever after.
The Author
Anthony Doerr has won numerous prizes for his fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize and the Carnegie Medal. His novel, ‘All the Light We Cannot See,’ was a #1 New York Times Bestseller and his new novel, ‘Cloud Cuckoo Land,’ published in September of 2021, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Learn more at http://www.anthonydoerr.com.
Book Details
Genre: War Fiction, Military Historical Fiction Publisher: Scribner (Reprint edition May 2014) ISBN: B084TPDQRR ASIN: B00DPM7TIG Print Length: 552 pages Publication Date: May 6, 2014 Source: Local Library Title Link: All the Light We Cannot See [Amazon-US] Amazon-UK
Overall Impression
There is considerable discussion over the plot being divided between three POVs as well as the jump in timelines. It is disconcerting at first. But then the rhythm of the narrative begins a familiar pattern that actually draws the scenes together, and completes a total picture. The book is so compelling, the characters so well developed that there is considerable sympathy for the condition of the time and engagement with each child—caught in a circumstance neither can control–only attempt to survive. It’s suspenseful, hair-raising, alternately sad and triumphant in small victories. Von Rumpel provides the perfect foil, the antagonist easy to hate.
I absolutely loved the book and breezed through it as if it were a novella. I understood at some point reality would take a big bite, but it was still crushing nonetheless. Dramatic irony: The idea that we know what’s coming but are still unable to look away.
Conclusion
The book is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel full of prose, beautifully written. It’s a lengthy read but one you won’t want to put down. It’s easy to become invested in the two main characters, one controlled by a disease that renders her blind in a treacherous and dangerous time in France. The other is an orphan using only his wits with a radio to keep him from following in his father’s deadly steps deep into a coal mine. The sub-plot adds a suspenseful line to the well-plotted and paced book but is hampered somewhat by introducing several POVs and non-chronological timelines. It’s easy, however, to be completely absorbed by mind-blowing prose.
The Netflix miniseries cinematography is stunning, the actors do an amazing job pulling at your heart and selling their roles. The leading actress, Aria Mia Loberti is legally blind. (She turned in a masterful inaugural performance in this series and we watched mesmerized. The series might be worth watching simply for her compelling presence.)
True, Netflix puts a softer Hallmark spin on the original novel, softening some of the blows and smoothing out an often confusing timeline switch. It crafts a beautifully compelling tale of the young caught in a conflict they may not survive only briefly experiencing what possibilities life might have held for them.
The book may be a challenge given the length and you’ll get a condensed Reader’s Digest version if you choose the series. Perhaps you are a reader, like myself, who enjoys seeing/reading and comparing the two. Either way, you can’t go wrong and please let me know which you choose.
Or maybe that’s not quite true. At its heart, it’s a love story, isn’t it?
Lana Farrar is a reclusive ex–movie star and one of the most famous women in the world. Every year, she invites her closest friends to escape the English weather and spend Easter on her idyllic private Greek island.
I tell you this because you may think you know this story. You probably read about it at the time ― it caused a real stir in the tabloids, if you remember. It had all the necessary ingredients for a press sensation: a celebrity; a private island cut off by the wind…and a murder.
We found ourselves trapped there overnight. Our old friendships concealed hatred and a desire for revenge. What followed was a game of cat and mouse ― a battle of wits, full of twists and turns, building to an unforgettable climax. The night ended in violence and death, as one of us was found murdered.
But who am I?
My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
His Review:
A mentally disturbed playwright is marooned on an island with the cast of his play. He is egocentric and his world revolves around his plays and the actors that bring them to life. He has fallen in love with the leading lady but unfortunately, she has another love interest. Why does this feel like a Greek tragedy?
The main character is an artist and a great writer in his mind. His narrative develops as the play progresses. All of the characters are involved in his play and as the work develops he becomes detached from reality. He writes the dialogue as the changes to the play develop.
Although the leading lady loves another, he is sure she will learn to love him if she just gives him the chance. The other man, however, seems to hang on and always spoils his plans. What can he do to become the leading man in her life?
I found this book to be slow at times and a little Edgar Allen Poe-ish in some of the scenes. He talks to himself and the reader as the plot develops and it does, indeed, defy the reader to keep up with the twists. 4 stars – CE Williams
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.
The Author:Alex Michaelides was born and raised in Cyprus. He has an M.A. in English Literature from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and an M.A. in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The Silent Patient was his first novel, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list, and has sold more than 6.5 million copies worldwide. The rights have been sold in a record-breaking 51 countries, and the book has been optioned for film by Plan B. His second novel, The Maidens, was an instant New York Times bestseller and has been optioned for television by Miramax Television and Stone Village.
This book is well written with the exception that it has too many murders. Anyone who seemed to cross the Colonel or Jason Dean wound up dead. There are simply too many deaths pointing back to the Tonidandels and their father, nor does the author leave the fairer sex out of the mix. Dating any lady in Guntersville could be a quick trip to a three-by-six-by-six future. I enjoyed the book but found the number of killings over the top. Read to see if you agree. 4 stars – CE Williams
Meddling in police work and crime investigation can be very dangerous as Sally soon finds out. Can she solve the mystery or will she become the next victim? Read and enjoy this thriller. 4.5 stars – CE Williams
Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense (Kindle)
Rosepoint Publishing 