Book Reviews......

I'm an avid reader, often reading more than two novels a week.  So, I thought I might provide some ideas for your reading enjoyment based on things I've read.  Beginning this second week in December, 2021, I shall share my thoughts about some of these novels, and will try to post a review once a week.  I'm hoping to review recent reads, but if they're not fully compelling, I will replace them with novels that I've read over prior years that I particularly connected with.  When they stick within my memory, they are worth recommending.  I also try to adhere to Thumper's admonition that "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all."

The Push:  A Novel by Ashley Audrain

     The Push begins with an Epigraph and is immediately engaging, as the narrator describes sitting outside a house either spying on or stalking her daughter who lives there with her father, stepmother and new baby brother. This creates a terrible sense of foreboding and sets the tone for the rest of the novel, documenting the story of her upbringing, her mother's upbringing and her mother's mother as well.  The question circling my mind as I read was "nature vs. nurture" and which is at play in her daughter's life.  As the reader descends into the narrator's life, surviving her defining moments with her, one can't help but anticipate the inevitable trauma to come. I highly recommend this novel to those who enjoy a suspenseful and engaging 

The Son by Philipp Meyer

    I read this book about five years ago and thought it was wonderful! It is historical fiction, spanning several generations, beginning with the narrator Eli as a young boy, his capture by the Comanches, and his survival.  After several years with the Comanche, he returns to Texas Anglo society in exchange for a large payment to his Comanche family.  He acquires land in Texas and participates in the cattle industry and then the oil industry.  Eli, his son Peter, and his granddaughter Jeanne Anne, who eventually inherits everything, tell the story through their perspectives. The novel provides insight into the conflicts between the Texas settlers, the Native Americans, and the Hispanics and how the economy dictates the morality of those living there.  This is definitely well worth the read! Read it before you watch it!

The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian

     This is a devastating account of the Arminian Massacre woven through a love story during the years just prior to World War I.  A young American girl, Elizabeth, volunteers to deliver medical supplies and food for Armenian refugees following the Turkish purge of the Armenians.  She meets a young Armenian man who has lost his family in the purge and falls in love.  Coincidentally, her granddaughter discovers her story years later, and in doing so, exposes the atrocities committed during this time by the Turks.