Thursday Book Review

Finished reading "The Writing Class" last Friday and would recommend it if you like murder mysteries and aren't a fan of gore. Great writing without the need for blood and guts. In fact, I rarely skip to the end of a book because that's cheating; but I couldn't wait to find out who the murderer was AND I was completely surprised at the answer.

I picked up seven new books this last weekend at the library and I just finished "Songs Without Words" by Ann Packer. Also a great read. It's about two women who have been best friends since they were kids. Sarabeth's mother committed suicide when the girls were in high school. Sarabeth moves in with Liz and her parents to finish out her senior year. Chapter one begins with the women now in their forties and still close. Liz has a family with her husband and two kids while Sarabeth has remained single. The daughter of Liz and her husband, Brody, attempts suicide and that's where the struggle begins between the friends. Lauren's suicide attempt turns Sarabeth's attention inward to her own loss and by default, her need for Liz to see her through it. For obvious reasons, Liz can't be the strong one this time and their friendship begins to splinter. At first glance you might react with dislike for Sarabeth and the terrible selfishness of her neediness but the author has somehow made it ok that both of the women are victims and neither one is the bad guy. At one point they are in their favorite restaurant trying to find their way back to normal and suddenly, Liz has snapped at Sarabeth, "I'm not your mother." I found myself going back to reread and thinking, what just happened? But that's the beauty of Packer's writing. Isn't that the way of life in the real world? Two people with equal right to want solace from their pain and with equal right to resent, or to at least be unable, to give solace? And how many moments in life does conversation suddenly become horrible and hurtful and yet true and just all at once? How many times do we really wonder, what just happened? And yet lack the energy to go back and try to figure it out?

Although "Songs Without Words" is driven by the friendship between Liz and Sarabeth the other relationships in the book are fully developed and one is not left trying to juggle the characters. I felt the struggle to stay in love between Liz and her husband and completely understood that pain can turn love into hate and back again in a heartbeat. At one point, Sarabeth states that Liz's son Joe "is so cute" and Liz replies that this is what worries her, that he "thinks it's his job to always been cute." I understood that, the pain of the too good child.

I'd recommend both of these books as page-turners for different reasons. "The Writing Class" for plain old entertainment. You won't find yourself thinking deeply about the story but you'll enjoy every moment of a well told mystery. "Songs Without Words" will pull you in to the pain of no one to blame and yet, the deep need to blame someone. Even to hate someone you love is better than to feel out of control.

I also finished a book of short stories by Richard Russo, author of "Bridge of Sighs." The collection is entitled "The Whore's Child" and is also worth checking out. I am not usually a fan of short stories but this author has a gift of finding the voice within us all, the one that doubts and hopes and fears and believes all at once. His characters seem to have a common thread of wanting things to be good and fine while at the same time, they are unable to pretend that ugliness isn't there.

On the nonfiction list is "A Girl From Yamhill, A Memoir", the autobiography of Beverly Cleary. Mrs. Clearly is the author of the Ramona Quimby children's books that thousand of us have read. This short book begins at the author's earliest memories around age two living on the family farm and continues chronologically through her departure for college at age eighteen. It's no surprise that the book is beautifully and simply written. There is a sweet unassuming feeling to it that reminded me of my own grandparents' childhood experiences during the Great Depression. She lived a happy and secure early childhood in Yamhill, Oregon until her family moved away from the country to spare her mother the farm life she hated. Her life reminded happy but in a different manner as she learned to adapt and change to not only her own life but an entire country and world very much in flux. Mrs. Cleary finds a way to express the easy and fun relationship with her parents that became more tense and difficult without giving in to the temptation of drama for drama's effect. As life changes, so does her relationship with her parents. No one has to be demonized nor is anyone the hero. It is just the true story of the life experienced by an entire generation. And of course, I love reading about days when families were found laughing out loud to simple radio programs and children's greatest hope for summer was their own pair of roller skates. I absolutely enjoyed every page of this honest simple true story. Oh, and for good measure there are pictures of little girls in Mary Janes and with bows in their bobbed hair! What more could you ask for?

So there's my weekly book review. What are you reading?