"Everything We Ever Wanted" Was Not This Book...

In the past five months, I have read four books about high school scandals. There must be something in the air that has turned so many people’s attention to these events. Of course bullying is in the forefront of everyone’s mind these days and I think that many of these books do justice to such a complicated topic. Unfortunately, there are other novels that fall short and do not add anything to this canon of literature. Sadly, Sara Shepard’s “Everything We Ever Wanted” is one of these works.

The story is told from various viewpoints within the Bates-McAllister family. First, is the matriarch of the family, Sylvie Bates-McAllister whose family established a private prep school in Pennsylvania. Two months after her husband dies, Sylvie receives a phone call from the headmaster of the school informing her that her son has been involved in a hazing situation. Sylvie’s son, Scott, is the school’s wrestling coach and was in fact adopted by the Bates-McAllister’s when he was young. Due to this, he has never felt like he fit in with the rich and famous with whom he was raised. Sylvie’s other son, Charles, is devastated that once again his adopted brother has dragged the family name through the mud. Watching all of this unfold is Charles’ new wife who has striven most of her life to become a Bates-McAllister and still is made to feel on the outs. The family must attempt to come together during this time and face their past demons in order to save their name, the school, and their family.

Clearly, there is a lot going on in this novel. I would like to say that it is handled well...but it’s not. There are far too may issues for a book that is under 300 pages and with characters that lack any development. The plot is horrifically predictable which would not be such an issue if the characters were more realistic and grew during the novel. The relationships portrayed are very thin and therefore hinder the novel from progressing or being meaningful. Though one can easily see where the book is leading you, there are many questions left unanswered. However, this is not like other pieces of literature where you mull over the ending and discuss with friends what really happened. Instead, this is as if you’re doing a crossword puzzle and someone forgot the clue for 39 across...you can still figure out the answer but it’s annoying and you lose interest. Personally, I will not be recommending this to any friend, book group, or family member. I give it two stars because I believe Shepard could make this into a decent young adult book, but there’s nothing here that hasn’t already been done...and done better.

"The Wonder Years" Meets "Stand By Me" in "Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea"

This book is the complete package; sorrowful, humorous, inspiring, dark and filled with love. I believe that this is Morgan Rogers’ first novel and it couldn’t be better. She has already been compared to Fannie Flagg and Elizabeth Stroud but I will go out on a limb and say that she is better!

Florine Gilham is an only child living in a coastal village in Maine during the 1960s. She has a motley crew of friends who also grew up on “The Point” with whom she gets into trouble, falls into love, and leans on in times of need. When Florine’s mother goes missing, Florine’s entire world is thrown upside down. Florine and her father disagree about the grieving process which further alienates her from what is left of her family. She moves in with her paternal grandmother where she finds the love and acceptance that she craves. Sadly, her relationship with loss and grief is not done with Florine or her family.

When trying to explain this novel to others, I describe it as “The Wonder Years” meets “Stand By Me”. It captures all of the hope, security, and love of the 1950s and 1960s while always hinting at the changing times and future hardships. The setting of coastal Maine is perfect as Rogers compares the simple lives of the year-round residents with the glamorous lifestyle of the seasonal visitors. In doing so, she investigates issues of class, familial relationships, and the meaning of home. Her characters are wonderfully dynamic while remaining real. At times you disagree with their stances, dislike their attitudes, and become angry with their choices. Yet, you can’t help but love them. When you come to the last page, I’m certain you’ll be as sad as I was to have to say goodbye to the characters and The Point. You’ll want to re-read it all over again...

Summer of '39: Almost As Scary As I Know What You Did Last Summer

Wow. That’s all I can say. I finished this novel about two weeks ago and it’s taken this long for me to put my words on the page. This novel is fantastic in the way that only good literature can be; it’s dark, depressing, exquisitely written and filled with compelling characters. My only disappointment is that it took me this long to read it!

Nancy is part of an old Boston Brahman family where she has been ignored and abused by her family. When her brother dies during WWI, Nancy’s life becomes exponentially worse. Her only solace comes when she visits her aunt and uncle in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Sadly, when these visits end, Nancy’s mother sends her to NYC. Once there, she meets Chance. Chance is the epitome of bohemian Greenwich Village (he runs his own publishing company from the printing press in his apartment). But when the couple becomes entranced by philosophical poet Isabel March, there are violent and destructive repercussions for the whole family.

I have to say that when I finished the novel I was even more depressed than at the conclusion of “The Bell Jar”. I had so many complex feelings that it has taken me two weeks to sort through them. While I found the story to be incredibly disturbing, it truly is great literature. The writing is just about flawless, the characters are deep, and the language is beautiful. Do yourself a favor and pick up this book! But if you’re depressed by the end...don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Spoon River Anthology Takes It To The Stage!

First Edition

I am a huge lover of Spoon River Anthology! It is by far one of my favorite books. So when I heard that it had been turned into a play, I was a bit suspicious but also curious. I was pleasantly surprised. Though nothing can compete with the original!

Basically, this play picks up where the play “Our Town” left off. For those who have not read “Spoon River Anthology”, it takes place in a town cemetery in which every inhabitant of the cemetery gets a chance to speak about their life and death. These soliloquies are compact and are typically about ten lines of free verse poems. Many of the poems are connected with others as the majority of the inhabitants of the cemetery are related to others. Due to this, each verse gives a clearer picture of the town’s residents as well as the town itself.

Takin' It To The People!

In regards to the play, each poem is read by its subject which include adulterers, bastards, widows, town drunks, murderers, and a whole gang of colorful residents. Similar to “Our Town”, there is minimal stage direction which places the focus of the play on the story’s strong and emotional content (where it belongs). That being said, there are few interactions between characters but those that do occur are pivotal. The poems in the play are only a selection from the original book but they are still very moving and just as dark and depressing as the original book. Despite the serious tales, there are a few glimmers of hope.

Classic Makes a Return Appearance: The Tunnel

I am extremely disappointed that this is the first I have come across Ernesto Sabato because he is FANTASTIC! He has been compared to Gogol, Camus, Mann, and Greene and he certainly deserves that place amongst the greats. For the first time in almost 30 years, “The Tunnel” is being reprinted and it would behoove you to pick up a copy. I’m only looking out for you on this one!

Though it was written in 1948, the story couldn’t be more contemporary. The narrator, Juan Pablo Castel, is a successful artist who falls for a woman he sees at one of his exhibits. His adoration for her quickly becomes obsession and eventually paranoia which could put his love and life at risk.

The story is exceptional. It is dark, eerie, and has a very heavy atmosphere. Basically, it’s everything that I look for in a book. The language is sublime and not a single word is wasted. Still, the most amazing aspect of the book is the narration. At first, it seems very straight-forward in which Castel speaks directly to the reader about his past infractions. However, it quickly becomes clear that Castel is not a reliable narrator and his paranoia has made him delusional. Therefore, the novel changes from being about a heinous act and becomes a psychological drama that spirals further and further into Castel’s own psychosis. It is beautiful!

Thank You For Smoking: Movie AND Book Review (2 for the $ of 1)

I chose to read Thank You for Smoking when I stumbled upon it at a book sale and was able to pick it up for 25 cents. Ever since then, which was about a month ago, I have been dying to read this novel and I am thrilled that I finally found the time!

The plot of Thank You For Smoking revolves around Nick Naylor and his work at the Academy for Tobacco Studies in Washington D.C. Basically, he is the spokesperson for the company and spends the majority of his time defending cigarettes and trying to debunk the “myth” that cigarettes are bad for people. Though the majority of people would find this job to be immoral, Nick is able to pull it off splendidly to the point that it appears he actually believes the lies that he tells the public. Nick is as alienated in his personal life as he makes himself in his professional life. He is divorced and though he helps to support his ex-wife and son, he has little to do with either. The majority of his support comes from the self-proclaimed “Merchants of Death”, also known as the Mod Squad, which is made up of Nick and his two closest friends one of whom is a lobbyist for the alcohol industry and the other is a pro-gun lobbyist. Nick’s boss and co-workers are even less helpful in giving him a moral balance to his character. BR, Nick’s boss, is driven solely by money and power and has no qualms about casting employees aside if they refuse to help him in either of these ventures. Even more dubious is Jeanette who is BR’s office love interest and has had her eye on Nick’s job. Though the characters are interesting in themselves, the action in the novel really begins when Nick is brought on the Larry King show where a caller threatens Nick’s life.

Overall, this is a great novel! It has everything that an enthralling tale should: sex, lies, deceit, and redemption. A lot of the humor is tongue and cheek and the majority of the dialog is sarcastic. All of the characters are cynical and do not hide their prejudices which leads to some hilarious situations. Most of all, I loved the characters. I thought that Buckley did in excellent job in making almost every character seem to be without a conscience and yet the reader is encouraged to root for “the enemy”.

Less than 12 hours after I finished this novel, I ran out and rented the movie. Though they share the same title and some of the same plot points, the novel and movie are completely different. In order to make the movie stay within in an hour and a half, the director/screenwriter took out a main character who was crucial to the novel. In doing so, the film has a completely different feel than the movie. The moral of the book is to basically watch one’s back because a friend or co-worker could be your greatest enemy. However, the moral of the movie is that you should never tell anything to a reporter even if you are sleeping with her and she seems sweet. In other words, the enemy is from the outside. Due to this, the ending of the novel and that of the film are almost exact opposite of each other. While the film eliminated a pivotal co-worker character, it added Nick’s son. Though the scenes between father and son were humorous, I don’t believe that it added anything to the movie. In contrast, the book only mentions Nick’s son once or twice which further shows Nick’s alienation from his family and any kind of love. Lastly, the novel puts a great emphasis on Nick’s relationship with the owner of the Academy of Tobacco Studies (known as the Captain). It is this relationship that gives Nick any hope for the future and the Captain acts as Nick’s only ally. Yet in the movie, the profoundness of this relationship is stripped down. Overall, I think that the movie and the book are wonderful! I fully enjoyed both. I have to say that I might have even enjoyed the movie a bit more than the book (but the jury is still out on that). However, they are so different that they must be viewed as entirely different entities that merely share the same name.

Want Some Grits With This Southern Novel?

Let me get this out in the open first: I love southern literature, I love southern writers, and I can’t get enough of books set in the South. So when I heard John Milliken Thompson speak, I knew that I had to be first in line for his novel. I read it the first time when it had just come out and I have to say that I felt a bit bogged down. There seemed to be a lot of characters and descriptions that I could have done without. Two days ago, I picked it up again because it was the only book in my car and I needed something to read. I have to say that my second reading was nothing like my first!! I found the novel to be incredibly compelling, the descriptions placed me right in the action, and the characters were fantastic.

When a young woman is found floating dead in the reservoir, the officials in the sleepy town assume that it is a suicide. Upon closer examination, they find that not only was it a homicide but the young woman was pregnant! The little town goes wild as nearly every resident tramps through the local almshouse to see the body of this mysterious woman.The novel then cuts to Tommie, the murderer, who is the beloved son in his family. As a college-educated, soon to be lawyer, he far surpasses his brother, William, who is kind and gentle but far from scholastic. The story continues to bounce between Tommie, William, and various towns members as the tension builds and Tommie is brought back to the sleepy town where he possibly committed unforgivable acts.

Some have described this novel as a mystery but I believe that to be a misnomer. It’s no more a mystery than “To Kill a Mockingbird” is. Some have described it as a courtroom drama. I also believe this to be false as it is no more a courtroom drama than “Midwives” is. It is, however, an enthralling piece of historical fiction about the post Civil War years. Even more important, it is a story about family, kinship, and community. Tommie’s guilt or innocence is not the driving force of the story. Instead, it is his relationship with his brother, his aunt, and himself that truly make the novel. The fact that the novel was based on an actual case is fascinating but not surprising as Thompson’s descriptions feel so real and almost tangible. In many ways, I reminded me a great deal of “Midwives” in which the driving force of the novel isn’t the character’s guilt or innocence but the overall concept of guilt and innocence and the many ways in which a person can be put on trial.

Maine Isn't Just For Maine-iacs

If you like your beach reads to have sand, an old house, and generations of family dysfunction (like I do!)...then this is the book for you! It conveniently fits into your beach bag even with all of the baggage the characters are carrying.

The novel follows four women in the Kelleher family during a monumental summer at their beach house in Maine. Alice, the matriarch, is a strong willed and loose tongued woman who feels little affection for her family. She finds it difficult to relate to her children and grandchildren despite the fact that they are her blood. Her sections flash back and forth between the current summer at her house in Maine and an event from her past that still plagues her with guilt after over 60 years. Kathleen, Alice's daughter, is the misfit in the family. She is a recovering divorce with two children and a worm farm in California that she runs with her boyfriend. Her and Alice have always butted heads which was only exacerbated with Kathleen's father died. However, a momentous event causes Kathleen to uproot herself from her peaceful life in California and come east one last time to face her demons...and her mother. Anne-Marie, Alice's daughter-in-law, is the character everyone loves to hate. She was a stay at home mom who is a stickler for proper manners and etiquette. Though she was from the wrong side of the tracks, she has abandoned most of her past in hopes of becoming an upper-class socialite. Her only problem is her dysfunctional children and distant husband. Maggie, Kathleen's daughter, has always looked for love in all of the wrong places. Unfortunately, this last place left her pregnant and alone. She goes to Maine in an effort to get back to herself and plan her next move. When these four women are forced to share a house (or two), fights erupt, skeletons are unleashed from closets, and their love of family is tested.

Don't be fooled by the rocks that Maine "got", those waters are treacherous!

I know this sounds like a lot of material, but Sullivan pulls it off without ever confusing the reader. Each character has her own dynamic and personality which is a feat when writing a novel that is constructed of all female narrators. Interestingly, none of the characters are likeable but I was still hooked on their every word. Perhaps the reason is that every family has an Alice, Kathleen, and Anne-Marie. The dynamics between the four women was fascinating and completely real. I would have enjoyed some insight from the men in the family, but I think that's another book as this one is all about the Kelleher matriarchy. Some reviewers were annoyed that the book didn't have more to do with Maine and wasn't really a beach read. Both of these statements are true. If you're looking for chick lit complete with a quirky main character and prince charming, this is absolutely not your book. If you're looking for a book that drops the names of various town and restaurants in Maine so if you have been to Maine you can feel like you're "in the know"...this is not it! This is a reasonably dark family drama that just happens to be set on the beach. Unfortunately, I could not give this book five stars because some of the Kathleen sections were a bit cliched or clunky. I felt that all of the other women were well developed and unique. However, I felt like I had met Kathleen before in many novels and Lifetime movies. Still, it didn't hurt my opinion of the novel which I will certainly be recommending.