Father's Day - Simon Van Booy

First sentence: "Harvey was born in a redbrick hospital on a hill."

Even though yesterday was Mother's Day, today I'm writing about Simon Van Booy's newest novel, Father's Day. In this heart-warming tale about what defines a father, six-year-old Harvey loses her parents in a car accident and goes to live with her uncle--her father's estranged older brother, Jason. Their story is told through a series of flashbacks during Jason's Father's Day visit to Paris, where an adult Harvey now lives. Harvey has created a Father's Day box for Jason containing a series of symbolic gifts. Each day Jason removes one of the gifts and opens it during their travels around the scenic city. The unveiling of the gifts are interspersed with flashbacks explaining the significance of the gift in relation to Harvey and Jason's relationship. All of the gifts lead up to mysterious revelation Harvey plans to make to her father.

Jason is a ex-con and a recovering alcoholic with an anger management problem when Harvey comes to live with him. He's disabled from a motorcycle accident and supplements his government assistance by selling things on eBay. Harvey's social worker, Wanda, has a gut feeling that despite these problematic characteristics, he's the ideal placement for Harvey. A veteran of the Children's Services Department, she manipulates the system in order to finagle Jason a trial period as Harvey's guardian, and ultimately the adoption is finalized.

The pair never have a lot, but together they possess everything they truly need and make a complete family. As much as Jason teaches Harvey about life, she reciprocates. They save each other.

Van Booy's stark style makes every sentence burst in this beautiful novel about the value of families, whatever form they take. Jason and Harvey's life together mirrors that spartan style. Jason can't give Harvey a lot of material possessions, grand vacations or elaborate experiences, but she treasures everything they have. He regularly sacrifices for her and she understands the value, seeing the beauty and vulnerability beneath Jason's harsh exterior.

Harvey's voice as a child is as authentic and endearing as Jason's frustrated, adult perspective is empathetic. Van Booy drives home the importance of redemption, even in those society would consider beyond it. Sometimes we need to see those people through the eyes of a child, someone who hasn't learned biases, judgements and most importantly how to hold grudges. 

Early in the novel, when Jason is remembering his younger brother--Harvey's first father--Van Booy says, "He considered how memories hold our lives in place but weigh nothing and cannot be seen or touched." The memories in this charming novel hold the lives of Jason and Harvey in place and they hold the readers captive. Harvey's surprise for Jason at the novel's conclusion may not be a surprise for all readers, but it doesn't diminish the powerful theme behind the novel: a father isn't defined by DNA and dad's don't have to be perfect. The best ones are simply present, making those memories with their children.

Father's Day is available from Harper in hardcover (ISBN: 9780062408945) It's also available as an unabridged audiobook download, narrated by Bronson Pinchot, from Harper Audio.

  

   

My review today is part of the TLC book tour for Father's Day. Check the schedule to see what other bloggers are saying about Simon Van Booy's newest novel.

Disclosure: I do some contractual work for one of the owners of TLC Blog Tours. My work with them does not obligate me to a specific kind of review. The reviews are still my own opinions and reflect only my thoughts on the novels. If you care to read more, you can find more information on my Disclosure page.

What Was Mine - Helen Klein Ross

My review of Helen Klein Ross' What Was Mine first appeared in Shelf Awareness for Readers. I am posting it today with their permission.

First line: "Kidnapped."

Told from an array of perspectives, Helen Klein Ross' intimate debut tale of a kidnapping makes determining right and wrong--justice and crime--a fuzzy shade of gray, nearly impossible to pinpoint and full of ambiguity.

The law has no doubt that Lucy Wakefield committed a felony when she carried Marilyn and Tom Featherstone's four-month-old daughter, Natalie, out of a New Jersey IKEA store and drove away with her. But twenty-one years later when the truth is finally exposed and Natalie--a.k.a. Mia Wakefield--is a college senior preparing for law school, the ramifications aren't so cut and dry. They are weighted down with the emotion of humanity, the intensity of memories and other forces that exist outside the vacuum of the U.S. justice system.

Ross explores those forces by telling the story from many people's points of view. Primarily the narration of Lucy, Marilyn and Natalie/Mia, the novel also offers insights from others including Lucy's sister, Marilyn's second husband and their children, and Mia's Chinese nanny. As one character's rage sweeps the reader up into its twisting storm, the next character chimes in and snatches the empathy for herself. This emotional tornado illustrates how powerful and far-reaching the eye of the storm can be. It also highlights the destruction that isn't so easily visible or assessable.

A powerful plot told with exactly the right approach, What Was Mine is capable of sparking plenty of discussion whether it is over a water cooler, in a book club or simply in the reader's mind.

What Was Mine is available in trade paperback (ISBN: 9780316309677) from Gallery Books and as an unabridged audiobook (ISBN: 9781442396371), narrated by Julia Whelan, Cassandra Campbell, Amanda Carlin, Rebekkah Ross and Jonathan Todd Ross from Simon & Schuster Audio.

  

   

The Opposite of Everyone - Joshilyn Jackson

First line: "I was born blue."

Life hardened Paula Vauss and that makes her a great divorce attorney. It doesn't help, however, with interpersonal relationships. As a child, Paula's mother, Kai, carted her from town to town, boyfriend to boyfriend, telling her magical tales of mythology and folklore. Until a drug bust landed Kai in jail and Paula in a group home. Neither would ever be the same again.

Now it's been fifteen years since Paula last saw her mother. She's settled into her bachelor lifestyle in Atlanta but continues to send her mother a check every month. Payment for a debt she believes she owes Kai. And Kai cashes the check every month, until the last check. She returns it to Paula with a cryptic note. Not long after a young man shows up at her practice claiming to be her brother. Paula's safe, insulated life begins to go into a tailspin and soon she finds herself on the hunt for her estranged mother.

I went from Joshilyn Jackson newbie to devoted fan in approximately 300 pages. The Opposite of Everything is a delightfully dark tale of families and story and redemption and change and many other delectably rich facets of real life. Jackson's humor and charm compliment the painful verisimilitude Paula's world has to offer.

Jackson's characters drive the novel with their larger than life spirits and personalities. Paula carries so much baggage, she's regularly paying the over-weight charges on her life flights. She describers her life like this:

"My story is a Frankenstein's monster made of stolen parts, many too small to be sourced, the original morals melded or cut away entirely."

And that highlights one of the major themes of the novel, which is how story shapes a person's life. Then what happens when that story turns out to be very different from what you first perceived it to be?

Paula's trusted P.I. pal, Zachary Birdwine, totes his fair share of baggage as well. But he also provides a stabilizing element to Paula's existence. His compassion and fortitude make him a hero worth cheering for, even if he does have his weaknesses and personal demons.

But the central characters aren't they only stars on this stage. Many of the minor supporting characters are as fascinating and engaging as Paula. Oakleigh Winkley is what Paula terms a BANK divorce client--"both assholes, no kids." Oakleigh is attitude personified, and she's viciously smart to boot.

The children of Paula's group home are heart-breakingly authentic with coping mechanisms of every shape and color. I was especially captivated by Candace, a conniving young girl who really just wants to be loved. As part of this blog tour, the hosts held a conference call with Joshilyn Jackson and had the chance to ask her some questions. My question dealt with Candace, and this is what Joshilyn had to say about her:

"Candace is a creature that I understand. They use to say you had 'flight' or 'fight' reflexes. Now they say it's 'flight,' 'fight' or 'freeze." Candace is probably a 'freezer' and I'm probably a 'freezer.' I had a different life from Candace, but I see how you end up going down that path. I think I'm not done with Candace. I don't think Candace is done with Paula. Paula would like to be done with Candace." 

I'll share a little more from our conference call at the end of this review.

Part of what makes Jackson's characters so outstanding is her strong gift for dialogue and the wonderful Southern flavor to the language. The flow of conversation is natural, often humorous and always faithful to the character.

The Opposite of Everyone will ring true for anyone who's ever felt on the outside. And even if you were always part of the "in" crowd, you'll find much to appreciate in this novel packed with love and loss, hope and despair, devotion and betrayal. It's charming and witty and slightly unnerving. It's what good reading is all about.

The Opposite of Everyone is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780062105684) from William Morrow and as an unabridged audio (ISBN: 9781504695558), narrated by Joshilyn Jackson, from Harper and Blackstone Audio.

  

   

As promised, I wanted to share a little more of the conference call we had with Joshilyn Jackson. I was especially moved by a response she gave to a question about readers finding things in her books that she didn't intend to be there. Here's what she had to say:

"No one on this planet is going to read the book I wrote and that's good. The book I wrote was a conversation I had with a story that to me was about the mechanics of forgiveness and with how narrative and story has the power to shape us--both cultural narrative and personal narrative. And that's the conversation I was having, but there's all this other stuff in there. And when the book is published, this really neat thing happens. What happens is I have to shut up and I don't get to have the conversation anymore. And all over the country hundreds of thousands of conversations will happen between my book and a reader, and every one of those conversations will be absolutely as valid as the conversation I had with the book; and some of them will hate the book and some of them will love the book and some of them will be enraged by the book and some of them will be validated and delighted by the book and I won't have anything to do with it. The book will bring half the conversation and the reader will bring the other half. I will have absolutely no control over it.

The first book when that happened it was so terrifying and horrifying, I think that's why so many people have trouble with the second book and why so many people publish one book and then stop. You have to come to a point where you think it's kind of beautiful that your book, separate from you and completely outside of your influence, is having conversations with human beings."

I had a wonderful conversation with this book. If you pick it up, I hope you'll let me know how your conversation goes. If you're interested, you can watch the entire call and see what else Joshilyn had to share:



My review today is part of the TLC book tour for The Opposite of Everything. Check the schedule to see what other bloggers are saying about Joshilyn Jackson's eighth novel, meanwhile I'll be checking out her earlier books.

Disclosure: I do some contractual work for one of the owners of TLC Blog Tours. My work with them does not obligate me to a specific kind of review. The reviews are still my own opinions and reflect only my thoughts on the novels. If you care to read more, you can find more information on my Disclosure page.

Best Boy - Eli Gottlieb

Happy Friday. For my American friends who were observing it yesterday, I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My review of Eli Gottlieb's Best Boy today first appeared in Shelf Awareness for Readers. I am posting it today with their permission. Hope you enjoy.

First line: "Payton Living Center was the sixth place in a row Momma had taken me but neither of us knew it was the one where I'd stay forever and ever."

Todd Aaron is a seasoned veteran of Payton Living Center. Eli Gottlieb's (The Face Thief) fifty-year-old autistic narrator lives in a cottage on the center's grounds, works in a nearby school cafeteria and follows all the rules so he can be a "best boy."

With the exception of his annoying roommate, Todd is content at Payton--until the arrival of "Mike the Apron." The new staff member reminds Todd of his abusive father, and his discomfort foreshadows trouble for the vulnerable protagonist: "I was nervous and I stayed that way. I carried it around with me like a fizzy drink I drank too much of fast, that was always about to make me burp. The pressure was inside me and pushing steady, even though I hoped it would go away."

To compound Todd's uneasiness, Martine, a female resident, encourages him to stop taking his medication. Torn between his budding attraction for her and his need to be a best boy, Todd says, "My feelings pushed out of me towards Martine as strongly as the Law pushed back. I stood between the feelings while they canceled each other out to make an emptiness in my head."

The burp comes when Todd decides he can't cope any longer. Quietly setting off in the night, he leaves Payton, determined to go home.

Best Boy packs an emotional whopper of a story into a relatively quick read. Gottlieb respectfully molds Todd, avoiding stereotypes in a faithful portrayal of autism. Both heart-breaking and heart-warming, Best Boy leaves a dazzling impression.

Best Boy is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9781631490477) from Liveright and as an unabridged audiobook (ISBN: 9781504617499), narrated by Bronson Pinchot from Blackstone Audio from your favorite independent bookstore and the following retailers:

   

   

All the Stars in the Heavens - Adriana Trigiani

First line: "A cold gust of wind sounded like a faraway train whistle as it blew through South Bend that morning."

Based on the true story of Gretchen "Loretta" Young and Clark Gable, Adriana Trigiani tells a fictionalized account of their brief love affair in her novel All the Stars in the Heavens. Gretchen was a child actor turned leading lady in the golden age of Hollywood. Following a heartbreaking and chaste relationship with Spencer Tracey during their filming of Man's Castle, Loretta Young is cast opposite Clark Gable in The Call of the Wild.

Alda Ducci is a young Italian woman who fully intended to become a nun. She was working in a Catholic facility for unwed mothers as a novice, just before she would have taken her vows. It was at this point that her Mother Superior decided the convent was not where Alda belong, and she recommended Alda for the job of Loretta Young's secretary.

All the Stars in the Heavens tells Alda's story alongside Loretta's in epic strokes of art befitting the glamorous world of Tinseltown.

Shooting on location on Mount Baker, a snowstorm stalls the filming of The Call of the Wild and keeps the movie cast and crew stranded on the freezing set much longer than anticipated.  Isolated from all the fanfare of Hollywood in this frigid world, both Alda and Loretta's worlds will be forever changed. Both women return to the realities of California as different people than when they ascended the mountain.

All the Stars in Heaven has a bit of a slow start, but as Trigiani builds up the characters and the world of Hollywood, it soon becomes engrossing and captivating. She builds the atmosphere with the detail of a set artist, whether it's a sound stage in Hollywood or an open air market in Italy. And the perspective is vividly connected to the character seeing it. Alda views her world markedly different than Loretta, despite their being in the same places.

The book also makes the film super stars accessible, human, contrasting the gossip and celebrity news images of them. This works to make them empathetic characters, ones readers can relate to instead of look up to.

This is a fascinating story to tell in 2015 as there will be readers who remember these Hollywood idols very well, some who have a small inkling of who they were and others who unbelievably will be able to say--in all seriousness--"Clark who?" Those different experiences will make reading All the Stars in Heaven vary drastically between the groups. As one who fits in the middle category, I was drawn in and desperate to learn more. These down-to-earth, emotion-filled versions of glittery names are far more interesting than the gossip rags could ever conjure.

All the Stars in Heaven is available in hardcover (ISBN: 9780062319197) from Harper and as an unabridged audio (ISBN: 9780062419910) , narrated by Blair Brown, from HarperAudio

   

   

My review today is part of the TLC book tour for All the Stars in the Heavens. Check the schedule to see what other bloggers are saying about this divine account of Tinseltown's stars.

Disclosure: I do some contractual work for one of the owners of TLC Blog Tours. My work with them does not obligate me to a specific kind of review. The reviews are still my own opinions and reflect only my thoughts on the novels. If you care to read more, you can find more information on my Disclosure page.

Sit! Stay! Speak! - Annie England Noblin

First line: "Adelaide Andrews stared out the living room window and into the yard across the street where an elderly man, who she could only assume was her new neighbor, was frolicking through the sprinkler in his underwear."

Adelaide Andrews hadn't been to Eunice, Arkansas since she was twelve. But when her aunt passes away and leaves Addie her house, she sees a trip to Eunice as a potential cure--or at least a hiding place--from the pain of a recent tragedy. Addie packs up her life in Chicago and moves south. Intending to get the house in order and sell it then return to Chicago, Addie is caught a off-guard when Fate intervenes.

Out on a walk one evening, Addie discovers a moving garbage bag. Inside lay a young, badly injured pit bull.  Addie rushes it to the town veterinarian in hopes of saving the poor creature, and mercifully, with treatment and time, Felix recovers and becomes Addie's shadow. Little does Addie know, her new pet is about to lead her into a dark, ugly element of her new community. Felix isn't the only positive outcome of Addie's vet visit, though. She also meets her first friend in Eunice, Wanda, the vet tech.

As Addie gets to know more of Eunice and its citizens, she discovers hiding isn't as easy as she first thought, but this small town has plenty to distract her from the pain she's been carrying around for far too long.

Sit! Stay! Speak! is a quick, heartwarming tale of human-dog bonds, small-towns and the healing power of love. It's also a dark narrative of human evils, a merciless culture too often ignored and the limits of legal protections for animals that perpetuate that culture.

While there are a couple inconsequentially minor blips in the plot, the delightfully robust characters, charming Southern atmosphere and colorful dialogue more than make up for them. Addie's crazy neighbor Augustus Smoot, Wanda's adorable four-year-old son Bryar and many other Eunice residents provide humor and a rich dynamic that rebukes small-town clichés. Wanda's treasure trove of creative family aphorisms, such as "'he's so dumb he couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions written on the heel'" lend additional authenticity to an already astute local color.

Sit! Stay! Speak! isn't likely to wind up an American classic, but it's a wonderfully entertaining debut that kept me captivated and engaged for a nearly one-sitting read. I'll be keeping my eyes open for more from Annie England Noblin.

Sit! Stay! Speak! is available in paperback from William Morrow (9780062379269).

  

  

My review today is part of the TLC book tour for Sit! Stay! Speak!. Check the schedule to see what other bloggers are saying about this charming story.

Disclosure: I do some contractual work for one of the owners of TLC Blog Tours. My work with them does not obligate me to a specific kind of review. The reviews are still my own opinions and reflect only my thoughts on the novels. If you care to read more, you can find more information on my Disclosure page.