Reviewed: My May Reading (What I loved, and what I didn't)

 

May was a fantastic reading month! Without meaning to, I read SIX books that were told from multiple perspectives! I didn't know before I began them, but most are newer books so it seems like this is a writing mechanism that is trending right now. I don't know, but I loved it! With multiple storytellers, I feel like I'm being allowed to dig deeper than typical storytelling allows, and then the truth becomes clearer. Also, it allows me to feel closer to the characters, seeing their view juxtaposed against others. Anyway, I had such good books this month! Here's a list of what I read:

My Rating Key:

DNF = Did not finish

1/5 = I hated this book

2/5 = I did not like this book

3/5 = I liked this book

4/5 = I really liked this book

5/5 = I loved this book

Hello Beautiful, by Ann Napolitano. 

I enjoyed this story so much! It's a New York family saga, told by several main characters over the course of 30 years or so, beginning in the late 1970's. At the heart of the story we are following sisters Julia, Cecilia, Sylvie, and Emmaline Padavano, but other family members step in and share their perspectives as well.  I love a family saga, and this is one of the best I've read. It has both a strong sense of time and place, which helped to carry me along with the characters. 

I was struck by the presence of two seemingly opposed forces in this book: it is both quiet and exciting. I wonder how Ann Napolitano accomplished this? How did she meander us through the lives of these people while always keeping tension and mystery? I was completely wrapt by her storytelling, and now want to read all of Napolitano's work. Very well done!

*The narration by Maura Tierney is fantastic! One of my favorite narrations ever!

Content warnings: Language, a mental health crisis, instances of immorality, and a few easily skipped over scenes containing intimacy. 

My rating: 5/5

The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles.

Woah! This was one of the best books I've read so far in 2024. So unique, exciting, emotional, and surprising. 

This is the story of 18 year-old Emmett Watson and his 8 year-old brother Billy, newly orphaned and about to make the journey from Minnesota to California, to find their long-lost mother. However, before they can embark on the trip a series of events unfold that take them on a whole different kind of adventure--and not a good one! 

The plot had many twists that kept me on my toes, turning pages as quickly as I could and even shouting, "Nooooo!!!!" out loud a few times! Told from half a dozen perspectives, I quickly found my favorites and the one that I loathed. Like A Gentleman in Moscow, this story is so well written, but the two books couldn't be any different in topic, tone, and pacing. It's a testament to how incredible a writer is Amor Towles. Because of this book I'm prioritizing his other two books this summer: Rules of Civility and Table for Two. 

Wow.

My rating: 5/5

Trust, by Hernan Diaz.

Oh man, our book club's May pick was a doozy! Unprecedented, excellent, and well-worth remarking on, this story is unlike any I've read before and I loved it. I went into it without any framework or expectation, knowing only that it won the Pulitzer Prize and that the Close Reads hosts were adamant about reading it this year. And now I feel a little paralyzed. I don't know how to talk about this book! 

One thing that I didn't know going into it, from the marketing literature for this book: it's a novel told in four parts, through four different delivery systems. The first is a novel (within the novel), the second is an autobiography, the third is a memoir, and the fourth is a journal. All are related to the same story, but give different information and perspectives. You, as the reader, are a kind of detective. While this book is not a mystery per se, there is mystery in it. You are discovering the truth and deciding who to trust as you go along. Had I known this piece of information, things would have fallen into place much faster for me!

There are lots of summaries of this book you can read, like this one, or this one, or this one. And after you're done reading the book, when you're sitting in awe and dying to know more about how this book came to be and what kind of genius person wrote it, you can watch a great interview with the author here.

This book shook me up and got me excited about discovery through reading! I think it's one that I will remember and talk about for a long time.

My rating: 5/5

The Good Left Undone, by Adriana Trigiani

"A family is only as strong as its stories."

So says Matelda Cabrelli, one of the narrators of this book. She and her mother, Domenica, share their stories in a back-and-forth pattern that jumps from the era surrounding WWII to modern day.

I picked this up because it was recommended by author Kristin Hannah, one of my favorites. While I did like it, there were obstacles that kept me from fully engaging in the story. Really, I think it had two main problems that made it not a good book for me.

The first problem is that it's yet another WWII novel. It was told from the perspective of people living in Italy, but Italian life was the only interesting angle for me. I know lots of people are still up for more WWII fiction, but I'm just not. 

My second issue was a pacing thing. The author had quite a few compelling ideas but I felt like they were drowning in puddles of uninteresting and drawn out details. 

A passage that stayed with me: 

"Her conscience felt buoyant in her body. For any evil she had done, she had asked for forgiveness. She had not wasted time--women rarely did. They squeezed each moment out of the day serving others. But the good left undone? Had she been enough, done enough? No answer came. But it wasn't her problem anymore. Her final desire was to leave this world in a state of grace."

My rating: 3/5

I Cheerfully Refuse, by Leif Enger. 

Not something I would normally reach for, this is written by the author of one of my favorite books, Peace Like a River, so I gave it the benefit of doubt. 

This is the story of Rainy, who lives in Michigan in some future time. Immediately we realize that something has happened and people are not living as they once did. We don't understand exactly what happened, but the stakes and result become clear as the story goes along. 

I don't normally read dystopian fiction because it can cause fear to creep up in me, and I'll be honest and tell you that I was pretty uncomfortable as I read this story. However, I Cheerfully Refuse was told in a way that felt undiscovered. It didn't feel predictable, and the world Enger built was intriguing. I wanted to know more. I listened to the Barnes & Noble author talk in which Enger said that he wanted to show that even when the worst happens, love is still right there in the middle of it. I can see that is exactly what he accomplished. Most dystopian stories depict people as cold rogues, looking out for number one and doing what it takes to survive. This story rode on a different track, and I appreciated that.

My rating: 4/5

Mary Jane, by Jessica Anya Blau.

Mary Jane is a fourteen year-old living in Baltimore, and has been hired to be a nanny for spunky five year-old Izzy Cone in the summer of 1975. While they live in a house that looks like the one Mary Jane grew up in, inside things are very different! Izzy's parents are the polar opposites of her buttoned up and hyper-religious parents. The Cones are free-thinkers who stop just short of being hippies. We learn they've invited one of Mr. Cone's psychiatric patients to live with them for the summer, for intensive therapy sessions. The patient is rockstar Jimmy Bendinger, and Jimmy's famous Marie-Osmond-esque wife, Sheba, will be joining him. 

Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane is exposed to ideas and worldviews that challenge the ones that she was raised with. She has to decide what she believes, apart from her parents. 

This coming-of-age story had the tone and voice of a Judy Blume novel, but is definitely only for adults content-wise. It includes all the typical hippie stuff: sex, drugs, and rock & roll, though all told through the lens of a young teen. I think that, rather than reveling in the glory of hippy life, it instead used it as a launching pad for thought. Is that a good way to live? Are the people living it happy? Are Mary Jane's parents better off? What would be better? Mary Jane (as well as the reader) consider as the story unfolds. 

Content warnings: Addiction, Language, Racism, Discussions of sexuality, and one sex scene.

My rating: 4/5

One Day, by David Nicholls.

I listened to less than a chapter and quit this one. Not for me.

My rating: DNF

The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh. 

The Love of My Life is a mystery novel that does not contain a murder. I appreciated the departure from the usual formula. However, this went on for far too long and for no good reason. I saw every one of the twists before they arrived, unfortunately. And in addition to that, I found the protagonist to be very unlikeable and overly-dramatic, so I was rolling my eyes regularly. I wanted to like this book, but didn't. 

This GMA book club pick was a light mystery novel that was good enough to keep my mind busy while I worked, but I wouldn't sit down and read a physical copy. 

My rating: 2/5

Real Americans, by Rachel Khong

I listened to this on a solo road trip to Oregon and was completely invested right away. Lily Chen meets, marries, and has an IVF baby with Matthew, then soon after learns that her parents and his parents have a shared history that neither she nor Matthew knew about. In fact, they worked together in a biology lab, on a revolutionary gene-modifying project. The whole story is sent into a tailspin after they find out what their parents did with the scientific breakthrough they achieved. (It's pretty wild.) I loved the writing and storytelling in this book, but felt that the last section was the weakest. Not that the ending was bad, only that the character's story was the least interesting to me. 

This is Barnes & Noble's June book club pick. The author talk is free to listen to on June 4th at 1 pm MST. You can register for the event at Eventbrite.

Content warnings: Sexual situations (not terribly graphic but there are a few of them), language, wartime trauma, misogyny, a sexual assault (not graphic).

My rating: 4/5