Women's Lit Review: Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik

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Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons
by Lorna Landvik

Description:
The wise and funny national bestseller about four decades of laughter, heartache, and friendship in the lives of five small-town women--members of AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons), an unofficial club that becomes much more.

My Review:
I read this book about a book club under the utmost sense of irony. I couldn’t help it. Why? Because I was reading it for a book club. I kept getting distracted by all the books the women in the book were choosing and fighting the urge to write them down for later. What can I say?

Anyhow, as for what I thought? It’s a pretty good, bordering on great book following the lives of five women whose common connection is their book club, Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons. I think the story did a good job of tackling a variety of issues, life challenges, tragedies and triumphs spanning three decades. It’s really five different stories, but all tangled together.

Really, the only common thread in the telling of it is Faith and her letters to her mama. Other than that, everything is in first person, and the person telling the story changes. I both enjoyed this and found it difficult. It was difficult because sometimes the person changes multiple times in a chapter. Usually it’s a clean transition with a very clear indication of who’s speaking, but sometimes it isn’t.

So overall, I thought this was good, particularly keying in on things folks in book clubs, particularly women, would enjoy. There’s plenty of stuff to talk about, and the cast of characters is such that everyone’s likely to recognize someone they know in one of them.

I borrowed this book from the library to read it for my book club. Funny thing is, I know I can’t even make it to that meeting.

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So you may be asking, what did the Angry Housewives read? Good news, I couldn't resist writing them down after all. Here you go:

1968-1970
Hotel by Arthur Hailey
Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver
Middlemarch by George Eliot
On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann

1970s
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask by Dr. David Reuben
Fear of Flying by Erica Jong
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan
Roots by Alex Haley
The Grass is Always Greener over the Septic Tank by Erma Bombeck
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell
Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

1980s
My Home is Far Away by Dawn Powell
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse by Peter Matthiessen
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Out on a Limb by Shirley MacLaine
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler
West with the Night by Beryl Markham
The Fountain Overflows by Rebecca West
The Awakening by Kate Chopin

1990s
Handling Sin by Michael Malone
The Stand by Stephen King
My Antonia by Willa Cather
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Beginning and the End by Naguib Mahfouz
Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset
Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler
Eastward Ha! by S.J. Perelman
Love in the Ruins by Walker Percy

And that's all of the ones that headed chapters. A few others were mentioned in the body of the story, but I really do have to get this book back to the library today so these are it.

As for how these are covered in the book, they head each chapter, including which character picked them and why. Some of the chapters cover the discussions of the books, but some don't or just do in passing. It's really just treated like the common thing that brings the women together and also to highlight the different personalities. For example, the ones picked by Slip were often banned or likely to be banned or otherwise political or controversial. Anyhow, I enjoyed these little snippets and thought this made a pretty good list of potential books to read. I'd only heard of a fraction of these titles and authors.

So, have you read any of these? What do you think?


Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness

by Susannah Cahalan

Description

A gripping memoir and medical suspense story about a young New York Post reporter’s struggle with a rare and terrifying disease, opening a new window into the fascinating world of brain science.

One day, Susannah Cahalan woke up in a strange hospital room, strapped to her bed, under guard, and unable to move or speak. Her medical records—from a month-long hospital stay of which she had no memory—showed psychosis, violence, and dangerous instability. Yet, only weeks earlier she had been a healthy, ambitious twenty-four year old, six months into her first serious relationship and a sparkling career as a cub reporter.

Susannah’s astonishing memoir chronicles the swift path of her illness and the lucky, last-minute intervention led by one of the few doctors capable of saving her life. As weeks ticked by and Susannah moved inexplicably from violence to catatonia, $1 million worth of blood tests and brain scans revealed nothing. The exhausted doctors were ready to commit her to the psychiatric ward, in effect condemning her to a lifetime of institutions, or death, until Dr. Souhel Najjar—nicknamed Dr. House—joined her team. He asked Susannah to draw one simple sketch, which became key to diagnosing her with a newly discovered autoimmune disease in which her body was attacking her brain, an illness now thought to be the cause of “demonic possessions” throughout history.

With sharp reporting drawn from hospital records, scientific research, and interviews with doctors and family, Brain on Fire is a crackling mystery and an unflinching, gripping personal story that marks the debut of an extraordinary writer.

My Review:

This story, which really happened, catalogues the horrific illness that befell the author some years ago. It played out just like an episode of House, as mentioned in the description, though the real life House in this didn’t come on the scene until Susannah’s team of doctors realized they had nothing left to give. Particularly terrifying and heartbreaking is the fact that Susannah lost a part of who she was from this. It seems that she’ll never quite be the same, despite that her recovery in itself is miraculous.

What I really liked about this book was how thorough it was in portraying the progression of the disease. I found the snippets of Susannah’s notes, the catalogues of her behaviors and footage of videos taken while she was hospitalized, and the documented points of view of her friends and family fascinating. What’s even more amazing is that she had to turn to these. The disease pretty much warped or wiped her memory during the worst of it.

That being said, this reads more like a journal or extended account of facts, rather than a story. It isn’t a narrative. The timeline unfolds, the disease’s symptoms emerge, and Susannah battles her way through to the other side and beyond, but it still reads like someone else’s account. There’s also some jumping around. It isn’t quite a chronological timeline, and certain data and interview results are sprinkled in much later in the book than their related events, sometimes repeating from another perspective. Still, it’s a gripping read.

Overall, I really liked this story. It was a chilling account of a real life medical mystery that very nearly could have sent Susannah into a mental institution for the rest of her life, which likely would have been short due to the progression of the disease. Folks who enjoy non-fiction or stories where someone overcomes great odds will likely enjoy this one.

I borrowed the review copy of this book from the local library so that I could read it for my book club.

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 Intrigued? Pick up a copy at Amazon.com and let me know what you think of it.

Review: Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer

Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very well-done. Two distinct stories, not one. Link between them is tenuous. Both stories are gripping in themselves. One seemed to resolve a little to easily. A flip flop of situation. I very much liked this story, though I didn't expect that I would.

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So, that's probably one of the shortest reviews I've posted here. I borrowed this from the library and read it for book club, which this book seems made for. These are some of the things we discussed.

Book club topics:
Huntington's disease: knowing vs. not knowing, whether suicide in the case of terminal disease is acceptable, whether leaving while somewhat functional is better than staying beyond one's ability to even recognize family.

Adoption/foster care: motivations of families who decide to foster/adopt, resolving feelings of jealousy of attention (foster mother in this was jealous of her husband's attention to Curtis over the baby she was carrying), marital strain when one spouse wants to adopt while the other doesn't.

Suicide: Selfish or selfless, particularly in the case of debilitating terminal illness.

If you've read this, feel free to tell me what you thought of it in the comments.

Contemporary Review: Everything I Never Told you by Celeste Ng

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Yet another book that surprised me.

Honestly, I'm not a person who seeks out realistic and tragic stories, the kind that tug at your heart, like this one. I would not have picked this up were it not for the book club picking it and me not wanting to sit there not knowing what everyone else was talking about. Ah peer pressure. Anyhow, I found myself engrossed in this story. The tangled web of Lydia's family's past and present as several timelines work towards the moment that both begins and ends the book: Lydia's death.

The opening line sent shivers down my back. Wow. The initial few days afterward showing the family's confusion and hope. Then the revelation that dashes that hope. Just the beginning of the story. And then the author begins to reveal why we should care by taking careful backward leaps in time to explore each family member's past and how their experiences molded both them and their family and ultimately led, in part, to Lydia's untimely demise.

There were some amusing things about this book, but for the most part, each thread of the web linked to each other, and as the book progresses, it became clear why Lydia died. Why she had to die. A sad story, to say the least.

On the down side, this is one of those stories that hops around the timeline with abandon, jumping from perspective to perspective and giving the reader the story in snippets both long and short. I can see someone getting a bit lost in this timeline.

The copy I'm reviewing is an audio book, 8 CDs, 10 hours. Whew. Listened to this while driving to and from work. Overall, the quality of the narration seemed good. The narrator, Cassandra Campbell, took on different voices for the various characters and stuck to them consistently, making it easy to recognize each one. Her voice is steady and smooth. One thing I didn't like, however, is how some words were oddly pronounced, like sweat (swat?) and barrette. The book translates well to audio, and this narrator did an excellent job keeping everything straight for the listener.

So, overall, I loved this story, though it broke my heart. I strongly recommend this to folks who like dramatic, tragic stories and also to folks who like stories set in the past (1930s-1980s). The quality of both writing and narration made this easy to enjoy, despite the sad context of the story itself.

I borrowed the audiobook copy of this book from the local library.


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Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This story is set in Germany during WWII and tells the story of Liesel, a young girl sent into foster care when her mother can no longer care for her.

There's a lot going on in this story. One of the things I found interesting is the identity of the narrator and the way he catalogs Liesel's life. The figurative language is at once beautiful and at times nonsensical, but I got a kick out of it. The use of colors to convey the feel of a place or an interaction is one thing I particularly liked because it required me to think abstractly.

As for the characters, they are all built up so well they seem real. I particularly love the foster parents, even mama, who is a firecracker and takes a rather abundant glee in tossing about insults. I also love Liesel's admirer, Rudy, and his claim to fame, a rather dangerous thing to be known for in the time period, but lovable all the same.

That being said, the setting and the times make it obvious this story can't be all sunshine and rainbows. Tragedy looms large over everything, and even the narrator throws in spoilers, usually right when something great has happened. You know, stuff like 'this was great and Liesel was the happiest when such and such happened, but then this horrible thing was just around the corner, and oh, maybe I shouldn't have told you yet.' That sort of thing. Each time, a few additional heart wrenching details are revealed, but by that point, you can't stop reading.

Then, toss in all the German words and phrases. I both enjoyed and disliked this. At first, I tried to look all of it up with Google Translate, but there's just so much of it sprinkled in, I realized that was a futile activity, particularly for a couple of the most used words in the book, saumensch and saukerl. So, that was a bit annoying, until I realized that the author kindly includes the translations. Sometimes he tosses them in as a repeat in English; others, he throws in a definition from the narrator, all formatted and centered so it stands out from the story.

Overall, I loved this book. It's humorous and tragic and likes to remind the reader that everyone does, in fact, die. There are corny lines and silly jokes right next to horrific images and insights into one of the darkest times in recent human history. A constant balance between good and evil, life and death, beauty and ugliness. This is a masterpiece. I highly recommend this to folks who like stories that make them think and that do so in a unique manner. This is a long book but, in my opinion, well worth the time to read it.

I borrowed this ebook from a local library.


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Review: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Amazon link.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (Goodreads links)

Ah, what can I say? This is one of those stories that gets under your skin. Love it or hate it, if you make it to the end, you’re going to remember it. So, on the face of things, this is a coming of age story, but it’s also an art heist, a romance, a tragedy and a philosophical commentary on the meaning of life (frequently diverging into whether life, with all its heartache is worth living at all, and whether doing the right things and being a good person actually mean anything, too).

You might have noticed this won a Pulitzer Prize. I noticed this, too. Was it a factor in finally picking this up and reading it? No. Do I understand why it won now that I’ve read it? Yes. It’s a masterpiece--hard, emotionally taxing, uplifting and depressing, all of these things woven in at once. The characters are real (they come alive in the pages), and the significance of the painting, The Goldfinch, while elusive as the pages fly by, is never completely abandoned. The symbolism in this story is heavy and wrought with meaning, but I think every reader will see and hear something different.

That’s why I think book clubs tend to choose this book so much. My friend is one of the folks who hates this book; I’m one of the ones who love it. I can totally get why she does. This book spans over a decade of time and it gets there at a snail’s pace, though I read late into the night for a week (thank goodness for vacation, or I’d have been useless at work). Yet, I couldn’t put it down. It’s odd, a page turner that I could totally see myself working my way through for a month or more. I tried to calculate how long it took me to read it, I gave up. I’m not sure some of the time wasn’t spent half-dozing at 4:30 in the morning, just trying to get to the end of a chapter, to find out what kind of crazy Theo’s friend Boris would deliver next. Hours lost to this book, but I don’t regret it.

I couldn’t read anything else while reading this, either. I often read two or three at a time, just shuffling between them whenever the whim takes me, but not with this one. I think I had to keep going because the threads, as they are woven into the tapestry of this book, are thin and easy to miss. This book requires focus, an absence of distraction. It is, by no means light reading. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen sentences and structure quite as complex and mindboggling. One sentence lasted over a page. Just one. The author favors a choppy style, tossing images and impressions out like handfuls of bread to a pigeon, but it works. It flows. The world and the people in it bloom in the mind from these snippets. At times grammar is abandoned completely, but on purpose, definitely on purpose. It’s one of the things I found so interesting about this book, but I think it might drive some folks crazy trying to wade through the organized madness.

I loved this book. It’s a tough read and a page turner all at once. I think it’s worth giving a try for folks who like an immersive reading experience, but folks who want that clean happily ever after, who like a book that gets to the point in short order, may find this one daunting. This truly is one of those love it or hate it books. I think it demands to be discussed, so really, the book clubs have it right.

I borrowed this book from a local library so that I could read it for a book club I just joined.


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