Bloodroot

Bloodroot by Amy Greene is the author's debut novel.  I had been wanting to read it for some time, and finally got to it.  It was a quick read and at one point, I even checked to see if it was a Young Adult novel.  That seems foolish since the content of the story wouldn't really be appropriate for young readers, but the Ms. Greene's writing style seemed quite simple to me.  I also had a bit of trouble following the story, as it would seem to rather abruptly change perspectives, being told by different people and at times, I could not figure out who the person was telling the story.  She did eventually get around to letting the reader know, but I found it confusing.  However, after saying all of this, I found myself thinking about the story quite awhile after I finished it, which is an indication of a good book for me!  And actually, the story was very good.

From the back cover of the book:

Myra Lamb is a wild girl with mysterious, haint blue eyes who grows up on remote Bloodroot Mountain.  Her grandmother, Byrdie, protects her fiercely and passes down "the touch" that bewitches people and animals alike.  But when John Odom tries to tame Myra, it sparks a shocking disaster, ripping lives apart.  Bloodroot is the dark and riveting story of the legacies-of magic and madness, faith and secrets, passion and loss-that haunt one family across the generations.

That is what initially attracted me to the book.  And it sums it up well.

Chapter One is told alternately by Byrdie Lamb and Doug Cotter.  Byrdie is Myra's grandmother, who has raised her.  Doug is a neighbor on the mountain, who has loved Myra since they were little kids.  Byrdie and Doug are dealing with the fact that Myra has fallen in love with John Odom and both are afraid that he will take Myra away from Bloodroot Mountain.   Chapter Two is then narrated by Johnny Odom and Laura Odom Blevins, the twin children that were born to Myra and John Odom.  Chapter Three is told by Myra Odom, and  the Epilogue is told by John Odom.

For me, Bloodroot was primarily about mother and child relationships.  The story takes place in the mountain country of Tennessee.   Byrdie had lost all of her children, then raised her granddaughter, Myra.  Myra left with John and their relationship quickly became abusive and difficult, which resulted in Myra being lost to Byrdie.  After much abuse, Myra got away from John, then lost her children.  Her children ended up paying a high price for John and Myra's past.

I feel as if I am being very vague about the story, but I don't want to give anything away.  I was impressed with how Ms. Greene ended the book, and as I said, I kept thinking about the story after I finished it, even as I was reading my next book!  Do I recommend the book?  Yes, I highly recommend it.  I think that it would make a good choice for a woman's reading/book group! 

Three Junes

Three Junes by Julia Glass is incredible for a debut novel.  Actually, I would consider it incredible even if it weren't a debut novel! This was our March pick for one of my book groups, and a wise choice it was!  We had a great discussion about the book and the numerous nuances occurring through-out the story.  There is really alot going on in this book as you begin to think through it.  It may seem as if nothing is really going on (no huge plot) but the characters are so well-defined and interesting, that the book held my attention all the way through and I was rather sad to have it end.

As the title implies, the book is about three Junes covering ten years of the McLeod family. It is divided up by the three Junes.  The first June (1989) is about Paul McLeod, a Scotsman recently widowed, who is on a group tour of Greece.  This section of the book is where Paul reminisces about his marriage and his three sons.  The second June (1995), begins with Paul's death and the family gathering at their home in Scotland.  This section is primarily seen through Paul's eldest son, Fenno, a gay man who had long ago moved and settled in New York. The third and last section (1999), takes place in New York, where Fenno meets Fern, a woman who had met Fenno's father Paul in Greece in 1989.

Of course, the above is a very simplistic summary of the book.  Ms. Glass' prose is beautiful and is very easy to read, although some of it needs to be re-read because of the beauty and wisdom in it. 

"Mind what you love.  For that matter, mind how you are loved."

The book touches on so many different emotions and relationship issues, including fidelity, loss, love, gratitude, and grief.  It includes issues of AIDS, sperm donation, children, parents, lovers, and siblings.  Some things remained unknown/unresolved in the story (like whose lipstick did Paul leave to Fenno?), but those issues resulted in great book group discussion!

Congratulations to Darin Strauss

I posted on this blog on January 3 of this year about a memoir, Half A Life by Darin Strauss, that I had read.  I just thought that the book was outstanding.  Well, today I read that it has won the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award for memoirs.  Excellent!  Good decision, NBCC!

If you haven't read Half A Life, I highly recommend it.  If you haven't seen my post about it, you can go here to see it: 
http://alifeofbooks.blogspot.com/2011/01/half-life.html

Room-Awesome novel!

Upon the recommendation of a good friend (and a great reader...well, she is also a great friend!), I got Room by Emma Donoghue from the library.  Once I started it, I absolutely could not put it down!  A great read!  It was just fascinating!

Today I am five.  I was four last night going to sleep in Wardrobe, but when I wake up in Bed in the dark, I'm changed to five, abracadabra.  Before that I was three, then two, then one, then zero. "Was I minus numbers?"

The book opens on Jack's fifth birthday.  Jack was born in Room and that is the only place he has ever been.  He lives there with his Ma, and once in awhile Old Nick visits, but Jack stays in Wardrobe when Old Nick visits Ma.

Ma has been held captive in Room for seven years.  She and Jack have spent every single moment of Jack's live together.  She has taught him to read and has taught him games to play and made his life as "normal" as she possibly could.  But as Jack turns five, Ma decides that he is old enough to help her with their escape.  What is unknown to her is how difficult it will be if the plan succeeds, and they enter Outside.

The whole novel is narrated by Jack, which I found to add to the profound impact that the novel had on me.  Room opens up so very many questions about survival, love, and perseverance.  I am hopeful that this will be one of my book group choices, because it will make for such wonderful discussion!

Excellent book!  Thanks, Lynn!

Two Books about Women

 February's pick for one of my book groups was an Irish novel, Annie Dunne by Sebastian Barry.  It was a great pick, as it led to insightful and lively discussion.  Rather surprising for such a small, unassuming novel!

The main character is, of course, Annie Dunne, a simple Irish woman in her 60's living on a small farm in rural Wicklow with her cousin, Sarah.  The story begins in 1959.  Annie has never been married, and spent years living in her sister's home as a housekeeper.  When her sister died,  Annie's brother-in-law remarried, and sent Annie away, as she was no longer needed.  She was then homeless, and was invited by Sarah to come and live with her.  One day, her nephew, whom she helped raise while her sister was ill, came to ask if Annie would care for his son and daughter over the summer.  The children add a whole new dimension to Annie and Sarah's lives and Annie is surprised at her deep feelings for the children.  However, this pleasure is threatened when Annie learns that Sarah is being courted.  Old feelings arise in Annie.

This was really a quite fascinating book, with many sub-themes going on.  I loved how Annie incorporated things that her grandfather used to say and do into her everyday life.  The language and prose of the book is beautiful.  One of the very interesting things noted after reading the book, is that the children never were named.  They were always referred to in the book as "the boy" or "the girl".

All in all, an excellent book!

I followed Annie Dunne with Alice Hoffman's latest book, The Red Garden.  Each chapter of the book takes place in a different time period, going from 1750 to sometime in the 2000's.  All of the stories are about the town of Bearsville, MA (later changed to Blackwell in 1786).  In 1750, Hallie married William Brady and he led an expedition that landed in the area that Hallie named Bearsville, because of the bears there.  In the first story we are introduced to Hallie and the others who stayed in Bearsville.  Hallie helped the others survive their first winter in Bearsville. After the first winter, Hallie started a garden where the soil was as red as blood and everything grown there was red.

Each chapter was about descendants of the founders of Bearsville.  I did have a little trouble with following who was who, but finally let that go, and just enjoyed the stories.  It was very interesting how Ms. Hoffman tied all of the stories together, and to see how the world events over the years affected this small town and it's people.  This book also had lovely language and prose. I enjoyed the book!

$13.50 bought all of this! Library sales rule!

Two weekends ago,  I had noticed in the Bloomington Illinois newspaper that there was a library sale going on the following weekend.  As I found myself over there last weekend, I headed to Crossroads, where the sale was going on.  I was incredibly impressed with the sale.  Not only was it well organized by categories, the fiction section was also organized on shelves by author.  I was in heaven!!!  As I browsed, I became more and more excited...there were really, really good books there!  Already, I was planning for my next visit in June when the sale was again.  I needed to be more organized in my search and have a list of authors with me!

However, I ended up being quite pleased with what I did end up getting, especially the very last book I found.  I am listing all of the books that I purchased, along with the blurb from the back of the books, in order for you to see what attracted me to the choices: 

1. Life Sentences by Laura Lippman

Author Cassandra Fallows believes she may have found the story that could become her next bestseller.

2. The Seduction of Water by Carol Goodman

 Iris Greenfeder, ABD (All But Dissertation), feels the "buts" are taking over her life: all but published, all but a professor, all but married.

3. A Death In The Family by James Agee

On a sultry summer night in 1915, Jay Follet leaves his house in Knoxville Tennessee to tend his father, whom he believes is dying.

4. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

Hanna Heath, an Australian rare book expert, has been offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war.

5. Remember Me by Trezza Azzopardi

Set in England against the backdrop of WWII, Remember Me is a story of pursuit of stolen goods, of missing years, and of one woman's forgotten history.

6. The Live You've Imagined by Kristina Riggle

Have you ever asked yourself, "what if?"

7. Broke Heart Blues by Joyce Carol Oates.  It didn't even matter what the blurb said.  I love her books!

In the heat of a languid July, fresh from Las Vegas, John Riddy Hart drives into the quiet upstate town of Willowsville, New York.

8. Three Junes by Julia Glass.  This was an amazing find for me and the last book that I found.  I had just looked for it that afternoon at Borders, willing to pay $25 for it, but they did not have it.  It is the March pick for one of my book groups.  Found it for $1.50!

So I headed home (actually to my daughter's home) feeling triumphant with my wonderful finds that cost me all of $9.50!

But wait, the weekend got even better.  Sunday we went to a Pancake Breakfast in the small town where my daughter lives, and their library was selling books!  So for another $4, I got the following:

1. Cast Two Shadows by Ann Rinaldi

It's 1780, and war has come to Camden, South Carolina.

2. My Old True Love by Sheila Kay Adams

The Stantons and the Nortons were families in the truest, oldest sense; extended networks of kin stretching across the mountains, everyone within hiking distance.

3. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

Leo Gursky is trying to survive a little bit longer, tapping his radiator each evening to let his upstairs neighbor know he's still alive...

4. Burning Bright by Tracy Chevalier

No. 13 Hercules Buildings, Lambeth, 1792.

And there is it.  My haul of reading from the past weekend.  Now added to my already full pile of TBR books.  When will it stop?  As long as library sales continue, I will be buying books!

Wench

During our recent blizzard here in the Midwest, I read Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. 
I had come across it  at the bookstore and from the blurb on the back:

Situated in Ohio, a free territory before the Civil War, Tawawa House is an idyllic retreat for Southern white men who vacation there every summer with their enslaved black mistresses.  It's their open secret.

I was hooked!  The story sounded very interesting. But even more interesting was that at the end of the book, I read the Author's Note that reported that Tawawa Resort did actually exist.  As Ms. Perkins-Valdez stated, the resort was located near Xenia, Ohio.  It was opened in 1852, and was actually used as stated: for Southern white men to vacation with their slave/mistresses.  After it closed, it became the Ohio African University for several years, then was purchased by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and became Wilberforce University.  As the author wrote, "it continues to be the nations' oldest, private, predominantly African American university. It is believed that the children of the unions between the slave women and the slaveholders were among the early students at the university."

The book is a fictionalized account of four black women who were slaves and were brought to the resort by their owners each summer for the years that the resort was open.  The story is a fascinating look at the years right before the Civil War broke out and how the women considered what it might mean to be free.  After all, while being there at the resort they were in Ohio, a free territory.  As events occur, the women are caught up in the tragedies that occur, and each have to consider what freedom would mean, both good and bad, for each of them.

The book is a fascinating look at pre-Civil War history.  It made me think of Beloved and The Help, with all being such important studies of our history and of great survival.