G Kingston's Memoir "Did I Ever Tell You" Mom's Posthumous Presents to Remain Present

Genevieve Kingston and her mother both shared the same February birthdate. "The best birthday gift I ever got," Genevieve "Gwenny" was told by her mom on every birthday they shared. Sadly, Gwenny's mom, Kristina Maillard, was diagnosed with cancer and died at 48 just days before Gweny's 12th birthday. Kingston's bittersweet memoir "Did I Ever Tell You" recounts her mother's legacy through a treasure trove of gifts and notes bequeathed her to sustain a loving connection to her daughter on her future birthday and momentous events. My first response to this book was that it would make a profitable, sappy screenplay. My more reasoned reaction though was of admiration for Kristina's determination to provide as much loving guidance and support for her daughter (and son) in a future she wouldn't be sharing with them. Kingston is oftentimes candid and pragmatic. During the final year of her mom's life, Kingston noted, "We couldn't sustain the urgency with which we'd been living our lives. It was exhausting, spending every moment together, living every day to the fullest." In a note Kristina left behind she wrote, "How is it that I can allow myself to drift through a day with you, even now, knowing my time with you is short! Why have I not learned how to seize the essence of each day, and suck the marrow from its depths." I was struck by Kingston's honesty when waiting for her mom's impending death. "I felt I'd spent my entire life at home, watching. But I'd never imagined death could be like this, so slow, so boring." Kingston takes us into her future without her mother although her mom is interwoven into Kingston's life. She shares the   numerous tapes, letters, beautifully wrapped gifts and eloquently written notes despite the emotional toil this exacted on her mom. The years following her mother's death are provided with loving support from her father, a community of friends and family. Her high school years are happy with her close group of friends and steady boyfriend. Her boyfriend came out as gay his freshman year in college. Unlike her friends, Kingston couldn't adjust to life outside her childhood home. Her first foray into college out east ends abruptly before classes begin. Trying again at Berkeley where she planned to commute from her father's house also ended before it began. Gwenny learns posthumously of her parent's failed marriage. She's resentful of her father for remarrying. Tragedy strikes again when Gwenny was back at Berkeley with her father's unforeseen suicide. Gwenny's constant support came from her close ties to her older brother, with counseling and within the theater. "The emotions I struggled to control at home and in every other context of my life were welcomed in this one. Onstage these were assets." And, by the omnipresence of her mother's treasure chest filled with presents which remained a constant presence in her life."Opening  the chest was, by now, a familiar ritual, like lighting birthday candles, or placing ornaments on a tree."This   tender and touching memoir is a tribute to the omnipotence of parental love. It's also testament to living. Kristina sagacious words echo from the grave "...birth to adulthood is only 1/4 of your life. 3/4s is spent looking back at youth. Enjoy it while you have it and enjoy each bit of it to the full. Take time to make friends with yourself. Take time to learn what interests you, what your opinions and feelings are, find your own sense of the world and which values you hold most dear." 

Geraldine Brook's MEMORIAL DAYS-Memoir and Tribute to her Late Husband Anthony Horowitz

The sudden loss of a spouse is a heartbreaking tragedy that befalls many. Grief is the response to the loss of a loved whom one bestowed their love and is no longer there to receive it. The process for giving is as individual as one's fingerprints. Accomplished writers like Joan Didion and Joyce Carol Oates were able to channel their emotions into their forte of writing. Brooks' husband, Tony Horowitz, died suddenly at age 59, leaving Brooks with their two sons and an immeasurable void after decades together in a blissful marriage. Writing about their unlikely coupling, their even more surprising successful literary careers and the morass of loneliness following her husband's death was a means for Brooks to process her mourning and challenges of widowhood. Having read both Didion and Oates' memoirs, comparing them felt required. All three writers have received numerous literary honors including Pulitzer Prizes in Literature. Of the three, Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" resonates poignantly with her ephemeral references when confronting her husband's death and daughter's flailing health. Oates' memoir,"A Widow's Story" is blatant in her tactile descriptions of her husband's corpse. Oats' writing felt too harsh and detached. Conversely, Brooks memoir, "Memorial Days" resounds candidly and clearly when sharing her suffering and state of mind. Brooks' prose ebbs and flows like the tides on the shores of their home recounting their courtship, the arduous/adventurous years of foreign reporting to falling in love and becoming a family four folded into the welcoming arms of each other's parents and siblings. Brooks is direct concerning her financial status which left her secured in their dream home on the Vineyard and the joys derived from raising their sons. Brooks Admitted to being thrust into handling fiscal matters she gladly left to her husband such as taxes and insurance which reverberated with the fears for many of not only losing one's soul mate but the guilt associated with many couples who gladly turn over various responsibilities knowing they should take more responsibility for knowing what to do. Both Brooks and her late husband's paths fortuitously intertwined into a loving couple hood, expanding family each establishing a literary legacy and most of all a legacy of having lived, simply put, happily-for-what-it's worth and while it lasted in a most congenial way - where July and August never got too hot. MEMORIAL DAYS provides solace in its calibrated allotments of grief. This eloquent memoir tugs gently at the heartstrings resounding with sorrow offset by blessings that abound in life, 

K Morton's Novel HOMECOMING-You Can Never Get Your Wasted Time Back Reading It

Kate Morton is a best selling author who hails from down under. As far as I'm concerned, her novel HOMECOMING should remain under wraps. It's underwhelming, overly convoluted and a complete waste of time. The heroine Jess also hails from Australia and studied literature abroad in the UK as did Morton. The relevance is of little importance to the story. A call from overseas regarding the flailing health of her beloved grandmother (GM), Nora Turner, brings Jess back to care for her GM. Nora raised Jess from early childhood and only went to her mother Polly's sporadically. Jess' life in the UK was floundering. She just had a recent breakup with her longtime boyfriend and her career was stalling. There were no ties holding her in England. Neither is anything else in the story tied into Jess' years abroad.  Upon returning, Jess visits her GM in her hospital bed.  Nora's cryptic comments set Jess on a whirlwind quest to decipher what her GM's last words meant. The story is told in the present and 3 decades prior; Christmas Eve just before Nora gave birth to Jess' mother Polly. A terrible tragedy befell the Turner family which was kept in the dark from Jess. Nora's sister-in-law Isabel who was married to Nora's beloved brother was in the UK at the time of his family's infamous catastrophe. Isabel died along with 3 of her 4 children. The bodies of Isabel and her 3 eldest children were discovered in repose on the estate. The serene picnic setting of the mother and children alongside their lake belies the horror of discovering the 4 of them are deceased and the infant missing. The tawdry tale of what befell this robust family is a mystery that is confusing to unfold.  Worse, this befuddling and turgid crime/mystery with its numerous trajectories are all misfired. The plot is a painfully slow burn saga. The final payoff when it finally arrives is a complete bust. Pass on this morass read.  Do not stop at home, the library or bookstore. I regret the arduous hours spent with HOMECOMING and I can never get my time back. 

ORDINARY GRACE-W Krueger's Extremely Ordinary Coming of Age Novel In Midwest Mid 60's

If you're a fan of Stephen King's novels or short stories (especially the non-horror ones) you'll recognize William Kent Krueger's style of story telling told by an older but wiser narrator looking back on a pivotal, early-teen year in which life-altering events augur him towards adulthood. Frank (an overly obvious choice of an honest sounding name) is the middle child of Methodist Minister Nathan Drum and his wife Ruth (a biblical name worthy of rubies). Frank's beautiful, older, Juilliard bound sister Ariel and younger, "Howdy-Doody looking," brother with a stuttering issue, Jake, live modestly in their church relegated home in a small, riverbed town an hour or so outside the Twin cities. The story is entrenched in the good v. evil attributes of small rural town; neighborliness with hosted block parties replete with pop and jello molds, bigotry towards the few Native Americans living on the fringes. There's the rapid gossip hot-line and railroad tracks that divide the town; literally. It's too easy to compare Krueger's story and writing to King's, but I will. The story begins with the gruesome discovery of a young boy's body along the train tracks. Secondly, the story focuses on the close knit relationship between the brothers within a virtuous family, i.e. sagacious, altruistic father and admirable wife and daughter; both are leading assets to the church's choir. King and Krueger set a similar scene in a bucolic haven. The neighborhood kids have pickup games, the local drug store has an old fashioned soda fountain and listening to a Twins' game or getting a haircut at the local barbershop is de rigueur. King's novella "The Body" which was made into a blockbuster pick "Stand by Me" stood as a paving stone for setting the tone of Krueger's "Ordinary Grace" (OG). The simple life for the salt of the earth citizens is soon badly shaken in the summer of '61; a time when innocence died (along with several others) in Krueger's coming-of-age/crime novel. As Frank tells us right upfront in the story, young Bobby was only the first of several deaths to occur during the coming lazy days of summer vacation days. Along with mounted bodies, Frank's dawning empathy and his appreciation for his father rose. The story is driven by Ariel's disappearance and Frank's inner turmoil. Ruth's refusal to accept God's grace after tragedy strikes their family and the racist, quick to condemn attitudes of many in town, and perhaps his own, gave Frank plenty to grapple with. Overall, this is an easy read with obvious clues to culpabilities. If you're already a King fan you'll likely enjoy this easy read, or as in my case, take umbrage at obvious appropriations made. Either way, ORDINARY GRACE is an end of innocence/coming of age story that is nothing out of the ordinary. And, not a worthy Library Book Club   Selection.

The READING LIST-A Book to Be Banned for being so Bad DO NOT READ IT

"The Reading List" by Sara Adams is intended as a tribute to bibliophiles. Sara Adams was born in England to Indian and English parents. The story is set in contemporary West London and connects two families of Indian heritage. The catalyst for the connection is a brusque conversation between Mukesh, a recently widowed older gentleman and Aleisha, a high school student who begrudgingly takes the desk job at the library. Mukesh's wife with whom he shared 3 daughters and 3 grandchildren was a dynamic, outgoing woman and voracious reader. Aleisha is a very intelligent teenager dealing with her parents' split, her mother's clinical depression and her own isolation from her peers. Though well intended as a symbiotic story of love, friendship and the omnipotence of reading, this is a mawkish melodrama over- loaded with trite witticisms. The reading list in the title refers to a mysterious scrap of paper discovered by Aleisha and several others with the titles of 11 novels. Mukesh meanders hesitantly to the library to return his wife's misplaced, over due library book, "The Time Traveler's Wife." Mukesh requests a reading selection from the librarian. Aleisha happened to be the librarian on duty. Meanwhile, Aleisha having dealt with her mother's debilitating depression, her attitude was gloomy and she's curt with Mukesh. From this unfavorable encounter, a friendship is germinated and flourishes along with the discoveries of pleasures stemming from reading; especially exchanges from shared readings. I'm vehemently opposed to censorship and book banning. I'm also against banal insights that are intended as pearls of wisdom. The author touches on the obvious memes of what reading deems. Aliesha needs a respite from her dismal days at home and finds "reading creates magic beyond its pages". Mukesh discovers "comfort in curling up with a book and his lonely days go faster." Both main characters make the obvious observation that reading is a good way of connecting with others. Aleisha's beloved older brother kills himself by jumping in front of a train which further exacerbated Aleisha's mental state and puts the final nail in the coffin on this already dreaded read. Oh brother! If the story wasn't maudlin enough already, Mukesh gets the idea of having a community gathering at the library not unlike Mickey Rooney wanting to put on a show to save the day. Mukesh suggested to Aliesha making the event a tribute to her late brother and encouraging support of the local library threatened to be shut down. "Snack and Stay" was the motto for the day to entice people to attend. At the very end of this overly long story is the miraculous discovery of a posthumous letter from Mukesh's late wife which resolves the enigmatic matter of the origin of the reading list. Why did I take the time to finish reading this annoying novel? It was the book assigned for the local library's monthly book group. It was a BIG MISTAKE and a big waste of time and paper.  

E Stout's TELL ME EVERTHING-Everything Stouts Writes Shouts to be Read and Savored

Elizabeth Stout is an American literary novelist whose novels are a continuous tale of characters whose lives overlap in her prolific collection of books set in the fictional small town of Shirley Falls, ME with Lucy Barton, a successful novelist at their fulcrum. Stout is a critically acclaimed, best selling author. Her previous novel "Olive Kitteridge" (K) won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. In K, Stout strung together a series of loosely entwined short stories that meshed together into a richly, descriptive novel of a town and its sundry inhabitants. The motifs running through "Tell Me Everything" are Stout's common memes of loneliness or need for being seen, love in all its various forms constitutes love, and the meaning of life remains an eternal enigma. The overriding message is that everyone's life is a story worthy of being told. These recurring themes may seem trite or banal, but in Stout's skillful hands, crafts a beguiling tale of grace and intrigue. All Stout's characters and the town itself come alive with her sharp descriptions and use of humor, emotions and behaviors. The people are all fallible, remarkable and likable. Lucy Barton, now middle-aged with two grown daughters, granddaughter and ex-husband (with whom she resides) has defied the constraints of a bleak and abysmal childhood and still managed to achieve success as a writer. She distanced herself from the shackles of Shirley Falls and chose to return home. Lucy reconnects with her old steadfast friend, Bob Burgess. Burgess is an attorney, married to the town's parishioner, Margaret. Margaret likes the sound of her own sermons a tad too much. William, Lucy's ex, drones on too much about his boring field; parasites. And, old Olive Kitteridge, feisty as ever at 95, is still a sounding board for others' stories; especially Lucy's. There's assorted loco, locals who imbibe too much, have illicit affairs with friends' spouses and those putting noses inside others' houses. Plus, there's more with a murder mystery to solve. The prime suspect is an oddball loner who becomes Burgess' client. Lucy and Bob take regular strolls together in all kinds of weather while friends and lovers fall from favor. Out of all Stout's exceptional novels, TELL ME EVERYTHING contains everyone from her past literary works. In this ambitious and gratifying read, everything eventually tugs at the heartstrings. Stout satisfies loose ends in her character's lives. so it seems. Still, life is full of surprises. Surely, Stout will provide us with more from the lives of Lucy and her Shirley Falls' family. Hopefully! Stout leaves us with Lucy saying to Olive, "Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love. If it is love, then it is love." 

WIN ME SOMETHING-Something Special in this Millennial Coming of Age Novel in NYC

Lusica Wu's debut novel, WIN ME SOMETHING (WMS) is a captivating tale about a 24 year old college graduate, Willa Chen, who finds herself at odds and lands a nanny job for a wealthy couple living in NYS's trendy Tribeca neighborhood. Willa is the only child from the marriage of a Caucasian mother and Asian father which leaves her floundering to find roots. She's distanced from both parents who've moved on to second marriages and more children. The name Willa translates to strong-willed warrior or desire. Our young heroine, while not strong willed, is resolute in her pursuit to forge connections having grown up feeling very much alone. As she puts it,  "in my solitary world...I don't know what it's like to be in a family." Willa wins the reader over by not being pitiful despite being lonely. We admire her unflappability and willingness to open herself up to form attachments. After graduating, Willa worked nights as a bartender and wanted to try something during daytime hours. She finds working for a rich couple caring for their precocious 9-year old daughter, Bijou, as a live-in nanny. The relationship between Willa and Bijou moves the story along with zest and warmth. Bijou's packed schedule is filled with enrichment classes of ballet, violin, mandarin etc. Bijou is also a budding chef whose culinary skills are encouraged at home. WMS does give a fun peek inside the extravagant lifestyle of NYC's rich and parodies some of their snobbish behaviors. However, the main focus is Willa's quest for any port in a storm.  As much as she'd like to be accepted as a member of Bijou's family she will also always remain an outsider to them and to others remain at a distance being bi-racial and of two disjointed families.  Wu's debut novel traverses Willa's childhood and back to the present through Willa's keen understanding of  herself being on the sidelines. In truth, neither her parents or Bijou's parents are cruel or heartless, but neither provides the nurturing Willa craves.Throughout, Willa retains a pragmatic understanding of herself and a sense of humor which lends enjoyment to this clever and delightful read. Besides being geared for millennials, there are universal themes of feeling listless and unanchored in Wu's winning debut novel. Willa's father confides that her younger sisters are too coddled and tells her,"You were never like that, picky, or afraid. I know you can handle life. You're tough."  We agree with that assessment which we've perceived all along. Willa maintains our affection with her desire and to fit in and our admiration for her self-realization. At a party of wealthy, young urbanites Willa observed the other sophisticated women and admits, "I watched all this and I tried to do it, but it never worked for me. Everyone knew I was pretending to be someone else...But I didn't feel the way I used to-that I'd give anything to become one of them. They'd see through me, and that was worse. I would have to be myself."