contemporary fiction – Portable Magic

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

April 15, 2021April 15, 2021 Nikkimarie

Gifty is a fifth-year candidate in neuroscience at Stanford School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after a knee injury left him hooked on OxyContin. Her suicidal mother is living in her bed. Gifty is determined to discover the scientific basis for the suffering she sees all around her.

But even as she turns to the hard sciences to unlock the mystery of her family's loss, she finds herself hungering for her childhood faith and grappling with the evangelical church in which she was raised, whose promise of salvation remains as tantalizing as it is elusive. Transcendent Kingdom is a deeply moving portrait of a family of Ghanaian immigrants ravaged by depression and addiction and grief--a novel about faith, science, religion, love. Exquisitely written, emotionally searing, this is an exceptionally powerful follow-up to Gyasi's phenomenal debut.

I read the Book of the Month hardcover edition.

This is the first novel I have read by Yaa Gyasi but it will not be the last. From the first chapter, the first page, I found myself completely engrossed with Gifty and her family. Switching from past to present, through Gifty’s thoughts and journal entries, we learn the history of her family through her mother and brother’s immigration from Ghana to Alabama and Gifty’s journey from Alabama to California, alone.

Though the novel deals with some heavy topics, mental illness and drug addiction to name a few, Gifty narrates her life in the same matter-of-fact manner as she does with the rats in her lab. Although we can see and feel the pain Gifty carries around with her, we are still feeling and seeing it through a lens of near detachment.

Despite the detachment, we are still privy to everything. We know Gifty’s every thought and emotion through this novel and Gifty, despite being aloof and seemingly indifferent to those around her, is a completely formed person.

I gave this novel four out of five stars and I am excited to return to her previous novel Homegoing and to look for future projects.

Yaa Gyasi was interviewed on Fresh Air which you can listen to here.

You can also listen to an excerpt from the novel on Storybound.

City of Sparrows by Eva Nour

April 14, 2021April 14, 2021 Nikkimarie

55012472. sy475 — Based on a true story — the thoughtful, raw, and ultimately heartening tale of a young man fighting for survival in a city under siege

Growing up in Syria in the 1990s, Sami’s childhood was unremarkable. His day-to-day life largely sheltered him from the horrors of the authoritarian government, until he founded a successful internet company—which landed him on the regime’s radar. Suddenly Sami finds himself in jail, then forcibly enlisted into the Syrian army during the early days of a fast-growing civil uprising.

Assigned to the mapmaking division, Sami yearns to simply serve his time and go home, even as he finds himself literally charting the course of the army’s response to the growing revolt. The situation that hits him full-force when he receives a text from his girlfriend: “They’re shooting at us.”

With that, Sami realizes that it is not enough to endure Assad’s regime — he has to resist. He has to return home, to the city that will become known as the “capital of the revolution.”

Based on true events as told to journalist Eva Nour, City of Sparrows is the story of coming of age under siege and the power of hope in the face of unfathomable loss.

I read the Kindle edition of this.

It wasn’t until I read the afterwards with the author that I realized that this was based on a true story and “Sami” was a real person. Upon reading that, my perception of this book changed, not dramatically, but it did make me appreciate Sami’s courage all the more as I know that often times memories of the past are more damaging then the events themselves.

I have all too vivid memories of the news stories of the war in Syria. There were heated exchanges on my Facebook page about the crisis and reluctance of the United States to open their borders for those trying to escape the violence that had taken over the cities. Even having a limited knowledge about what was going on on the front lines, I hurt for the refugees and I wished there was something concrete I could do.

The City of Sparrows finally gave me a more clear insight as to what life was like in Syria before the war and as the war was waging. Told through the perspective of Sami, we see normal day to day life of school, falling in love, work…and then being thrust into mandatory military service followed by a precarious life spend in an active war zone. Through Sami, we pick through rubble to find food and water. We watch as friends and family are bombed and gunned down. We gain and lose hope over and over again.

Though based on a true story, City of Sparrows is a work of fiction. It is told in the third person limited, but i think the novel would be better told in first person. Although the novel was still powerful, having the story told in first person would be even more impactful as I believe the emotions that skim the surface here would dig down deeper.

I am glad that I found and read this novel. I am thankful to Eva and “Sami” for bringing me in for a look at what Syria was and is now, because sometimes it is important to look at the horrors of history and hopefully learn from them.

book review

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

December 10, 2020April 11, 2021 Nikkimarie

Where do you see yourself in five years?

When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan.

But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future.

After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind of person who believes in visions. That nonsense is only charming coming from free-spirited types, like her lifelong best friend, Bella. Determined to ignore the odd experience, she files it away in the back of her mind.

That is, until four-and-a-half years later, when by chance Dannie meets the very same man from her long-ago vision.

Brimming with joy and heartbreak, In Five Years is an unforgettable love story that reminds us of the power of loyalty, friendship, and the unpredictable nature of destiny.

I read a lot of books this year. Thanks to the pandemic, two separate injuries that have kept me out of work for weeks at a time, and a toddler who is increasingly learning to play independently…it has been a good reading year. The only problem is though, although I have read a lot and a good majority of those books have been solidly good to solidly great books…there hasn’t been one book that has completely destroyed me in the way the truly great books have. You know, the books that cause ugly crying. In Five Years ended up being that book for me. In fact, I ended up sobbing so hard that one of my cats ended up running to the living room to make sure I was okay.

I had put a hold on this title months ago, I am not even sure why. I had glanced over the summary and honestly, it didn’t really jump out at me as being a book I’d typically go crazy over but I liked the cover and based on the popularity I figured I’d give it a try.

I am so so glad that I tried it. While initially I thought I knew where the story was going to go, it completely threw me off guard and I ended up loving every single moment of this story and it ended up being the book that completed my marathon reading year. There’s still a few weeks of 2020 left of course, and there’s a possibility that I will end up reading another book to displace this book from the number one spot…but I doubt it.

book review

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

December 7, 2020April 11, 2021 Nikkimarie

Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.

Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.

A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.

I listened to the audiobook version of this.

I went into this book without knowing much about it and without much expectations. The last “new” Jennifer Weiner books were a bit of a disappointment and I didn’t want to be disappointed. I did know that despite the title and book cover it would be a little more deeper than a typical beach read thought.

I ended up really loving this. I love how Weiner wove together elements of friendship, romance, body positivity and mixed it all together with a murder mystery. If I had paid a bit more attention, then I probably wouldn’t have been shocked by the murder of Drue, but I think that going into this book blind was perfect. I was so busy soaking up the fun parts of a new romance, rekindled friendship and the beach that the murder completely threw me for a loop.

The second half of this was a straight up mystery with enough twists and turns that should be satisfying to most mystery fans. For me, the end came as a surprise, though, I’m usually not great at solving mysteries.

If I had one complaint though, it would be that Daphne constantly mentioned her “plus size”, and well, I understood where she was coming from but it did get to be a little too repetitive. It was a minor annoyance though and did not take away from the story enough that it affected my enjoyment.

I rated this four stars.

There are few books between my last review post and this one, but I have decided to jump ahead and skip those reviews because I just don’t have it in me to dig into my memory bank to review books that I read while in pain and/or on pain medications. I think I remember what the books were like and what I thought of it but I just don’t think I can do it justice. Maybe I will do a second mini review post for those books.

book review

Relatively Normal by Witney Dineen

September 15, 2020September 14, 2020 Nikkimarie

Catriona Masterton's fiancé, Ethan, is Normal.

He plans trips six months in advance and arrives at the airport a minimum of three hours early. He purchases life insurance, luggage insurance, and always opts for the extended warranty. He's responsible, reliable, and would make any woman a wonderful life partner.

In other words, he's the exact opposite of the Masterton clan.

Cat's mother has a kitchen gadget fetish, a father whose best friends are taxidermied field mice, and a super stoner man-child brother who lives--where else?--in the basement. Then there's Nan, her proud Scottish grandmother with a proclivity for profanity and mischief.

What on earth will Catriona's Normal fiancé think when he comes home with her to meet her parents? What will he think when he discovers his soon-to-be in-laws invited Cat's ex to join them for a holiday dinner?

I read the Kindle edition of this book which was (I think) a Kindle freebie.

This was a cute romance. When I started reading it I didn’t have very many expectations for it as it seemed to be one of those overly formulatic romances that are cute and fun but don’t have a lot of substance to it. I was happy to see that this book, though it had plenty of cute and funny moments, also contained some more unconventional characters and situations that I truly was not expecting.

Of course this book wasn’t without flaws. I thought that Cat’s family was really over the top…they are funny and fun but the extreme difference between Cat’s family and Ethan’s family is so extreme that instead of being funny it’s more cringey then anything. It just seems odd that Cat and Ethan have been in a relationship for so long yet they seem like they don’t know each other at all and Cat seemed to know Ethan’s family pretty well, but this was the first time Ethan is meeting anyone in Cat’s family.

But of course the story wouldn’t have been plausible without those factors in place, I just think there should be a more plausible explanation of why these things happened.

Overall, I really enjoyed having something fun and light to read, as so often I read heavier type novels and nonfiction books so this was a welcomed change.

I gave this a four star rating.

book review

Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi

September 14, 2020September 13, 2020 Nikkimarie

In the spring of her senior year, Donna Parisi finds new life in an unexpected place: a coffin.

Since her father's death four years ago, Donna has gone through the motions of living: her friendships are empty, she's clueless about what to do after high school graduation, and her grief keeps her isolated, cut off even from the one parent she has left. That is until she's standing in front of the dead body of a classmate at Brighton Brothers' Funeral Home. At that moment, Donna realizes what might just give her life purpose is comforting others in death. That maybe who she really wants to be is a mortician.

This discovery sets in motion a life Donna never imagined was possible. She befriends a charismatic new student, Liz, notices a boy, Charlie, and realizes that maybe he's been noticing her, too, and finds herself trying things she hadn't dreamed of trying before. By taking risks, Donna comes into her own, diving into her mortuary studies with a passion and skill she didn't know she had in her. And she finally understands that moving forward doesn't mean forgetting someone you love.

Jen Violi's heartfelt and funny debut novel is a story of transformation-how one girl learns to grieve and say goodbye, turn loss into a gift, and let herself be exceptional...at loving, applying lipstick to corpses, and finding life in the wake of death.

I picked this up at one of my favorite used book stores, I had never heard of it and honestly, I thought it was a memoir (I wasn’t paying too much attention that day I guess). It wasn’t until I actually sat down to read it that I realized that it was a novel, not a memoir.

This was an okay book. I mostly liked it, though at times I felt annoyed at the characters. Donna was an odd narrator at times. She seemed uneven, though as she’s only 18 it does make the novel seem believable. What 18 year old is so secure that she never changes. I did find Donna’s mom and family in general to be unlikable and not quite as developed as I would have liked but it wasn’t a huge problem as a lot of this story is seen between Donna and her mother and those characters were well written.

I gave this a rating of three stars. It was a solid story that was good, but not great.

book review

Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner

September 10, 2020September 9, 2020 Nikkimarie

Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she's intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her his name. She tells him a story. After Andy's taken back to the emergency room and Rachel's sent back to her bed, they think they'll never see each other again.

Rachel, the beloved, popular, and protected daughter of two doting parents, grows up wanting for nothing in a fancy Florida suburb. Andy grows up poor in Philadelphia with a single mom and a rare talent that will let him become one of the best runners of his generation.

Over the course of three decades, through high school and college, marriages and divorces, from the pinnacles of victory and the heartbreak of defeat, Andy and Rachel will find each other again and again, until they are finally given a chance to decide whether love can surmount difference and distance and if they've been running toward each other all along.

With honesty, wit, and clear-eyed observations about men and women, love and fate, and the truth about happy endings, Jennifer Weiner delivers two of her most memorable characters, and a love story you'll never forget.

I started reading Jennifer Weiner in my twenties and while I might not love everyone of her novels, I have definitely had fun reading most of them. What I usually enjoy about her novels is that romance is generally not the main focus of the novel and it’s something that I really appreciate about her novels.

Who Do You Love? is the exception, this is a quasi romance novel, though true to form, the romance aspect isn’t quite front and center. Andy and Rachel are each their own characters and their own stories. The time they spend together in this book is actually very minimal, so their romance is slow building and allows the reader to get to know each character independently.

I enjoyed the premise of this story, how can you not appreciate a story about two people who are orbiting one another over the space of thirty years. The two characters are from two different worlds, growing up in two different parts of the country and still they manage to appear in one another’s life over and over again.

I felt like this was a little too slow moving and I am not sure how much I actually enjoyed Rachel and Andy. There were things about each character that didn’t really enjoy. Not enough to say I didn’t enjoy this, but it was enough that I felt this was only a three star read instead of a four star read.

book review

A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum

September 9, 2020September 8, 2020 Nikkimarie

In Brooklyn, eighteen-year-old Deya is starting to meet with suitors. Though she doesn’t want to get married, her grandparents give her no choice. History is repeating itself: Deya’s mother, Isra, also had no choice when she left Palestine as a teenager to marry Adam. Though Deya was raised to believe her parents died in a car accident, a secret note from a mysterious, yet familiar-looking woman makes Deya question everything she was told about her past. As the narrative alternates between the lives of Deya and Isra, she begins to understand the dark, complex secrets behind her community.

Over all, 2020 has been a good year for reading. Everything else is pretty crappy but I have been introduced to a lot of new to me authors and have read some truly memorable books. This book is probably the best example of this. This book not only introduced me to a new author but it introduced me to a brand new culture that, to be honest, is severely under represented.

Now, I am going to make a confession here. Sometimes (often) the best books I read are the hardest to write reviews for. When I write reviews I do try to review in a space away from the book so that I try not to let my emotions take over…usually taking a few days away from finishing the book is enough to disengage enough but with this book…I think the scars this left me will always be with me, just below the surface.

This book was brutal and although I’d love to buy like 1000 copies of this and just hand them out to random women I see, I will be the first to say that this book is brutal. It does not shy away from the mistreatment that women in this culture are often subject to. Arranged marriages are the norm. Domestic violence is all to often ignored. It is not graphic, but I found myself having to take a palate cleanser (aka switch to another book) fairly often because it upset and angered me.

It is also claustaphobic. A lot of this book takes place in an apartment in Brooklyn, and in so many ways, the apartment served as a prison, first for Isla and then for Isla’s oldest daughter, Deya. So when and if you choose to read this, make sure you do have something fun to do during breaks and try to get some sunshine. And the ending especially is brutal so definitely plan for that.

I know based on this review it sounds like this is the most depressing misery porn you can read, but I promise you that it doesn’t seem that way when you are reading it. There is hope in this book. There’s characters that you will love and want to fight for and the writing is flawless.

Personal

Red, White, & Royal Blue

September 7, 2020September 6, 2020 Nikkimarie

First Son Alex Claremont-Diaz is the closest thing to a prince this side of the Atlantic. With his intrepid sister and the Veep’s genius granddaughter, they’re the White House Trio, a beautiful millennial marketing strategy for his mother, President Ellen Claremont. International socialite duties do have downsides—namely, when photos of a confrontation with his longtime nemesis Prince Henry at a royal wedding leak to the tabloids and threaten American/British relations.

The plan for damage control: staging a fake friendship between the First Son and the Prince. Alex is busy enough handling his mother’s bloodthirsty opponents and his own political ambitions without an uptight royal slowing him down. But beneath Henry’s Prince Charming veneer, there’s a soft-hearted eccentric with a dry sense of humor and more than one ghost haunting him.

As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. And Henry throws everything into question for Alex, an impulsive, charming guy who thought he knew everything: What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?

I am on the fence about this book. I think I was on the fence about it sense it was published, hence it took me awhile to get around to reading it. I was able to pick it up for my Kindle for cheap, and then it was a pick for a group read on a Discord server I’m a member so I finally ran out of excuses to avoid it.

The first thing I will say is that I enjoyed the romance aspect of it. It was definitely a shake up on the normal royal romance troupe. I also completely appreciated the entire escapism of the story as the presidency went from Obama to the Claremont presidency. (Sorry, I know that last sentence was clunky). As I was reading it, it was definitely nice to be able to escape into the story and pretend that Donald Trump didn’t exist, a deadly pandemic wasn’t killing people at an alarming rate and we weren’t having almost daily police shootings and race protests going on every single day. So it had that going for it.

Escapism only really goes so far though. I don’t know a huge amount of the inner workings of the White House and First Family but it seemed way too lax from the bit I do know. I’m aware that this story is 100% fiction, and there is license to bend things to make them fit into the narrative of the story but I found it kind of annoying (and hence the reason I don’t often read books involving characters that are based on real people or have high profile roles). These are the kind of details that, personally, take me out of the story a bit too much.

The biggest thing however was the writing style. I was never able to put my finger on what was off about it, I even pointed it out to the other people in the group and they agreed but they couldn’t point to it either. It just felt off reading at times, and I found myself skimming over entire sections and then realizing I had no recollection of what I had read and then having to reread it…and then there was the profanity. Now, I’m not a prude. I am perfectly fine to let loose with a eff bomb when the situation requires, but there was one character in particular who did nothing except curse. This was suppose to be a character who was well educated, had a job in the White House working directly with the First Family and all she did was curse. It was excessive, exhausting and completely ruined a character that may have actually been interesting.

I gave this book a three stars, with in my rating system basically means that I liked the book, but I probably won’t recommend it nor will I read a sequel if one is released. If this turns into a movie/series I “might” consider watching it as I think that might be a fun watch.

book review

Book Review: Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips

July 21, 2020July 20, 2020 Nikkimarie

One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the north-eastern edge of Russia, two sisters are abducted. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women.

Set on the remote Siberian peninsula of Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth draws us into the world of an astonishing cast of characters, all connected by an unfathomable crime. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty – densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska – and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

In a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer's virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel provides a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before.

I read the ebook version of this from Libby.

I went into this book without knowing much about it. I had heard about it and knew the very basics of what it was about but that was the extent. I was definitely impressed and a little intimidated by the sheer number of awards this novel had won or was nominated for.

The book starts out with two preteen girls being kidnapped by a stranger that the girls felt compelled to help to his SUV. As a thank you, the man offers to give the girls a ride home and although they are hesitant, they go with him. The rest of the novel is then told by multiple narrators who, on the surface, are not related at all, but as you dig into their stories, see their connections. Some of the connections appear weak, often the new characters barely registered the kidnapping on their personal radar but each character is connected by going through the process of loss.

Each chapter builds on the novel, but each chapter is a story contained within itself. Each chapter then can be read, and understood, as a standalone story but together each chapter and each character builds on one another and characters intertwine with one another until the conclusion. The chapters are long, and it took awhile to read this between the slower pace and the unfamilarity with the Russian setting/characters but it was worth the extra time to just get lost in the stories, characters, and language.

Rating: Four stars

“It hurts too much to break your own heart out of stupidity, to leave a door unlocked or a child untended and return to discover that whatever you value most has disappeared. No. You want to be intentional about the destruction. Be a witness. You want to watch how your life will shatter.”
― Julia Phillips, Disappearing Earth