CBR 13 # 10 The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

It has been around two weeks since I've finished this book and frankly, its taking me some time to conjure up details of the book.  Not to say that it's bad, maybe just a bit generic?  Even the title and the author name is generic (sorry Sandie Jones) I'm sure I've read a lot of psychological thrillers like this.  You know that ones where the bad guy could be anyone, and there is definitely a *SPOILER ALERT* big twist or some misunderstanding.  This one book just hangs along the with the rest of them and does not really rise above.

Emily met the man of her dreams.  Adam seems to be the perfect man. His brother James is also perfect (maybe too perfect) but his mother Pammie is the mother in law from hell.  And he seems unhealthily attached to her.  But Emily is never really sure that her Pammie is actually being horrible.  Everyone seems to think she is wonderful.  What  is up with all that?

Like I said above, it is a serviceable psychological thriller and it is a function of the genre that they must be compulsively readable, even if just to confirm if your theory is correct.  In that sense, it is a success.  However, I think it fails in giving is a heroine that is fully characterized.  Her characterization is very superficial.  I know nothing of her except that her ex fiance cheated on her and she is super in love with Adam.  And she makes some fairly stupid choices.  But I do appreciate that unlike most books like this, her bestfriends and her family completely believe her, even when her assertions seem paranoid at times.  So that's a plus.  Makes it less frustrating to read. Anyway, it's not bad for what it is, just a bit forgettable.

CBR 13 # 9 No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai is an esteemed author of classical Japanese literature, but he was a troubled man in real life.  Like a lot of classical Western authors, he squandered his money on alcohol and prostitutes, and ultimately, died by suicide at a relatively young age.  The tortured genius thing is not just a Western trope, I guess.

This book, his last before his death, is purported to be fiction, but is almost biographical in how the beats of the story reflect his real life.  So maybe it is the truest explanation of who he was or how he saw himself.

The novel follows the life of Obo Yozo, from his boyhood in the countryside to his time in college, and his various self destructive and just plain destructive "adventures".  From a very young age, he has felt like he could not relate to, could not connect with and was deathly afraid of other people.  Of people finding out his real self.  So he covers it up by being a clown, a perfectly amiable person who hides his true self.  His true self, which he sees it is not being completely human.  Or not qualified to be human. The effort of keeping this mask on eventually becomes too much and leads him to spiral, bringing others down with him.

It is an engrossing and interesting book.  The soul baring was at times intense.  Days after having read it, I still find myself parsing out and analysing how I think of it.  What my opinion of the book and the protagonist is.  At times, I find myself empathizing deeply, for who has not put up a mask and felt othered.  I feel so sad for Yozo, and by extension, the author.    But then, I have spent too much of my life associating with damaged men and being collateral damage that I feel anger bubbling up.  So, in the end, I guess it does what good literature is supposed to do.  It makes you feel and think, it challenges, it provokes.

CBR 13 # 8 Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

*WARNING, THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS.  NOT REALLY MAJOR ONES, BUT IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BEFORE READING THE BOOK, SKIP THE REVIEW 

I read three Lisa Jewell books in succession more than ten years ago.  They just seemed to pop up a lot in my  favourite second hand book store.  From what I remember, they were more or less "chick lit", some twists but mostly focused on romance.  They were light, fast reads, and I liked them but was not totally wowed by them.  But I do remember, that she had the ability to write infuriating characters that you're still interested in.  

After all these years of not keeping up with her work, I was surprised to find that she seemed to have branched off to a more thriller/suspense/mystery genre.   Those kinds of books with twists that got ubiquitous after the success of Gone Girl.

15-year old Ellie was a golden girl, with the perfect boyfriend.  Favored by her mother, with a bright future ahead of her.  Then she disappears..  Ten years later, her mother Lauren,is living an unsatisfying life, divorced, barely having a relationship with her two remaining children and still desperately wanting to know what happened to her beloved girl.  Then Ellie's body is finally found.  This seems to Lauren some measure of closure and opers her up to a handsome single father she meets at a coffee.  She is the happiest she has ever been in 10 years.  Until she meets his 9 year old daughter.  Who looks exactly like Ellie.  What happens next is the unravelling of the mystery of what happened to Ellie.  But along the way, our protagonists learns some things about herself, her grief, and her family.

Like all the other Lisa Jewell books I've read, this sure is a page turner.  She also still knows how to write annoying and flawed but ultimately relatable characters.

The twists and crimes are dark, but they somehow have a lighter feel.  It just didn't seem as grim and dark as say a Gillian Flynn or Tana French book. There is a little bit of Lovely Bones feel.  I liked that the family relationship was a big part of the resolution of the book.  As a thriller, it was not really that thrilling.  It was more of a mystery.  Unfortunately, I could make out the twists pretty early on, but that did not really damp my enjoyment too much.  It is quick and engrossing read.

CBR 13 # 7 Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden

 I was not going to read this book, but then I heard Hunter Biden on WTF being interviewed by Marc Maron and I was.. intrigued.  They talked about his book of course, but some details were unclear to me and I felt that the timeline would be better understood (by me) when read.  But what really caught my attention was Maron saying that he was concerned or worried about Hunter still.  You could just feel Maron liking, relating to, and being very worried about him.  So, read the book, I did. 

The first part of the book relates, from Hunter's viewpoint, the well known tragedies of the Biden family.  The accident that took his mother and sister's life, which he barely remembers.  And Beau's death, which he can never forget.  This part, no matter if you've heard the story before, will make you cry.  Well, it made me cry.  

Then Hunter gives some background into his early life and marriage.  It is filled with the warning signs of addiction.  In early days, it was alcohol.  He was in and out of rehab.  Then the perilous descent when he got addicted to crack.  This story is grimy and harrowing.  And if you have ever loved someone with an addiction, very triggering.  His years long bender finally ends when he meets and falls in love with his present wife.

The writing is serviceable, the timeline was cleared up for me.  Hunter offers in this book a confession, or explanations.  To how he became a board member of Burisima, how he got together with Hallie, and other questionable things.  He is defensive about his qualificationsm at times angry.  I am left unsure of how to feel about him as person.  I am unsure about the sustainability of his sobriety.  But of this, I am sure.  His love for his brother was true.  And Joe Biden is a loving father.

CBR 13 # 6 - Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

 

In Oklahoma during the1920s, oil was pouring out from the ground and the Osage were being killed. Especially the wealthy ones.  The book follows events of how the Osage tribe were driven out of their homes, settled in Oklahoma, and became the richest tribe.  Then it moves on to how many of them were systematically, yes, systematically, killed for their oil wealth.  Then the ensuing investigation and how it tied to the founding of the FBI by J. Edgar Hoover.

The book primarily focuses on the cases related to Mollie Burkhart and her family, as well as Henry Roan.  But it also provides a good historical background on the Osage tribe and how they came to own so much oil rich land.  There is a lot of Western color with the oil barons, cattle rustlers, bootleggers, bank robbers and sheriffs.  It also gives an overview of how the case of the Osage killings were instrumental in the birth and success of the FBI.  On the FBI side, the main character and one of the few good white men in the book is Tom White, who was assigned to the Osage murder cases and was instrumental in bringing the perpetrators (some of them) to justice.

The book was infuriating to read and I wasn't so sure I could finish it at first.  It was hard to read how colonialism and white supremacy led to so much oppression, both through legal and illegal means.  Maybe it is my country's history of being colonized by basically everybody that leads me to empathize so much, or maybe I'm just a normal non shitty human being.  In any case, the first part of the book made my blood pressure rise.  The last part, on the other hand, when it moves to the present time and the author connects with the descendants of the victims, brought me to tears.

It is a really good book.  Necessary if you are an American.  On another note, I am excited to watch the upcoming film based on the book.

 

CBR 13 # 5 Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

 

In this post-apocalyptic novel, there is not single earth shattering apocalyptic event.  Instead, there is just a gradual breakdown of society brought about by climate change, corporate greed and social inequality (all interrelated anyway).    Lauren Olamina is a relatively privileged teenager living in a small walled enclave.  She's privileged in that she has a home, her father still has a job with a salary, and she knows how to read and write.  This is not much, but compared to the thousands, or maybe millions of homeless poor outside a few walled enclaves, this is a lot.  Their community is small and there are some unlikeable characters, but they are close and have not yet succumbed to the barbarism, looting and killing outside the walls.  Lauren's father is a preacher, a professor and the leader of their community.  She has a stop mother and little brothers, a boyfriend, and friends.  But she has some ideas that go beyond the confines of their walls, and a debilitating condition that she keeps secret, and that makes her different.

The novel has a before and after.  Before is the setting up of the world, and the preparations leading up to the destruction of Lauren's community.  The after is Lauren's  and some other survivors' travels to find a safe haven.  A running theme towards the whole journey, from the before and the after, is Lauren's development of a religion that she hopes will guide them into making a life on the destroyed earth, and take their descendants to the stars.

It has been quite a while since I last read a book until 4AM.  Age and eye problems prevented me from doing that.  But this one, I could not put down.  There are a lot of ideas and events that seem to be applicable of prescient to American society these days.  There is certainly a lot of commentary on the black experience.  But not being from there, i don't feel I'm very qualified to talk about it.  I think I learned a lot, and it offered a good perspective.  On the other hand, the story also works purely as a post-apocalyptic adventure, a genre that I am very partial to.  It is very dark and there is a lot of death and some gore.   Considering how much of a post-apocalyptic, speculative fiction fan I am, I am ashamed to admit that this is my first Octavia Butler read. I am excited to read the sequel and all her other books.  Suggestions as to the next one?

CBR # 4 - The Heir Affair by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan (aks The Fug Girls)

I think I have mentioned in numerous comment diversions and facebook threads that I came to Pajiba by way of  GoFugYourself (by way of thefashionspot, by way fansofrealitytv by way of watching america's next top model on youtube).  Needless to say, I have  a soft spot for The Fug Girls.  I don't read the blog anymore because I can't with the interface, but I have read some of their books, which are breezy, light and fun (as far as I can remember them).

The Heir Affair is the sequel to their 2015 book The Royal We.  That book was a quite transparent Will and Kate fantasy with Kate as an American, and a lot more down to earth.  My problem when reading book two, was that I had read The Royal We 5 years ago, and my memory is not it.  So, I had forgotten the specifics of the ending and the side characters, which made it a bit frustrating for me at first.  But the book is not high literary fiction, so things do get explained and recaps are done so it wasn't really THAT confusing.  

This book starts with Will and Kate (not their book names, but whatever) running away from the Harry (the heir's younger brother)-Kate related scandal.  But the Queen is sick (or so they say), so they come back to face the music, and their royal duties. 

The book was long and kinda meandering, but not in a totally bad way.  There was no sense of urgency to the plot and it understandably focuses less on romance.  I think this is because they are already married and it has been established that they love each other and are in it for the long haul.  So the story is more about coming to terms with their life and dealing with frayed interpersonal relationships, especially between the couple and Harry.  Like I said, it's not a bad thing.  I find these long reads covering long periods of time strangely comforting.  But there are a few plot twists and choices that made me go WHAAAT.  There is definitely some soap opera stuff going on. Plus, I can't with Kate.  He's your husband's brother and you know he loves you, NO, you aren't allowed to have a "special" relationship with him!  I don't care if you love him as a friend.  All interactions should purely be within the sister-in-law realm.  Ugh.

Another struggle I have is that these characters are so obviously patterned after the real royals, at least in the initial book, that all the stuff going on with their real versions sort of intrude a little bit with my enjoyment of reading the book.  But, it is an enjoyable and soapy read.  Not world changing and a bit too wish fulfillment-y sometimes for my personal taste but overall worth your time if you're into this kinda thing.