Published by: Penguin

Published on: October 31, 2011

Page Count: 288

Genre: Memoir

My Reading Format: Audiobook sent to me for review through Audiobook Jukebox’s Solid Gold Reviewer program

Audiobook Published by: Blackstone Audio

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 4 minutes

Available Formats: Hardcover, eBook and Audiobook

My Review

Donna Johnson’s mother grew up in a strict religious home. Her mother had a talent for playing the organ and, after a disastrous marriage, returned to her hometown with her tail tucked between her legs. She gains her footing once again when a young traveling preacher by the name of David Terrell visits her church. When Brother Terrell left town, Donna’s mother went with him, serving as the music minister. She brought her two young children with her. Donna was only three years old at the time. What follows is a childhood lived off and on the great sawdust trail blazed by Terrell and what happens when fundamentalist Christians don’t live up to the tenants of their faith.

Knowing nothing more than the premise of the memoir when I began, I found the unfolding of the story enthralling. For those readers who haven’t read a more detailed description, I am not going to discuss anything specific here. Donna Johnson has lived an extraordinary if not chaotic life. That she took the time to share the experiences of her young life is a gift. There were things that happened on that revival trail that were shameful, hurtful and dangerous. At the same time, people outside of David Terrell’s inner circle were healed in all ways possible. Johnson had all the reason in the world to simply shine the harsh spotlight on the scandalous, but she never hid those things that she cannot to this day explain. In that way I understood the draw of the tent. What’s real is what is in the heart of the believer. It matters not what is in the heart of the preacher or whether another single person under that tent believes along with you.

I was more than interested in reading this memoir and was pleased to have been selected for the Solid Gold Reviewer program. Growing up Roman Catholic, my religious upbringing was traditional and, while strict, not stifling. I was often bored of the services and wondered what it was like to have been brought up in a fundamentalist home. From the outside, those services always seemed lively and passionate. I wanted to know more. Donna Johnson wrote her memoir as if directly answering my questions. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to me that this was a case of the grass being greener.

Carrington MacDuffie was fantastic as narrator. She made the atmosphere of a tent revival come to life. When she narrated Brother Terrell’s sections, I was glued to the story. She brought his charisma through the speakers. The Paris Wife was my first experience with MacDuffie as narrator. While I thought she did a good job with the story, it’s clear to me now that it didn’t do her justice. She thoroughly shined while reading Holy Ghost Girl.

Holy Ghost Girl is, like The Glass Castle, an example of why I enjoy reading memoirs. Donna Johnson grew up in less than ideal circumstances and was able to grow as a result. What might have given others an excuse not to take responsibility for their lives led her to ask questions. In her memoir, she explores the past and the questions it raised without bitterness. I find memoirs like this thought provoking and inspirational. You will, too.  Pick up a copy of Holy Ghost Girl and see for yourself.

Restoration by Olaf Olafsson

Published by: Ecco

Published on: February 7, 2012

Page Count: 336

Genre: Historical Fiction

My Reading Format: ARC sent to me by a publicist for consideration

Available Formats: Paperback and eBook

My Review

Alice, the daughter of British ex-patriots living in Florence, gained a title when she married. Unfortunately, her husband offers little else than his title and her parents disapprove. Still, she finds happiness early in her marriage as she and her husband set out to restore a Tuscan villa. Unfortunately, after boredom sets in, she runs into a gentleman from her past with her mother’s blessings. Only heartache results. Meanwhile, Kristin, a young artist who is technically proficient if not lacking in her own spark, finds restoring older paintings for Robert Marshall, a reputable art dealer. Kristin makes the mistake many young women do and begins an affair with Robert. The consequences for both women are heartbreaking. Then, as WWII heats up, their lives intertwine in Tuscany. The novel’s title refers to art, the old Tuscan villa, and the lives of both women. When all is lost but your own life, what other choice is there?

Tuscany isn’t a part of the world I’ve spent much of my time reading. That is what drew me to Restoration. Sometimes I feel like I’ve overdosed on WWII historical fiction, but I love it when it is both good and unique to my experience. Restoration is just that. The way that Olaf Olafsson told Alice’s story, Kristin’s story and then weaved them both together sparked my interest from the very first page. There is something about a well written doomed affair that will always fascinate me, I absolutely loved Kristin’s work. Imagine having the talent to take a famous artist’s work and restore what has been damaged. It must be thrilling. At the same time, it’s a little less the work of the master. The more I thought about this, the more it shaped my reaction to the final pages of the book.

It is such a satisfying experience to read a book like Restoration that is both enjoyable and thought provoking. The title itself provides an initial frame of reference, but it is not static. Its meaning expands as the novel progresses. First there is the villa, then the art, and ultimately the lives of the two women left to fight for so much. Just remembering Restoration makes me want to curl up under my warm afghan and read. This was my first Olaf Olafsson read and it will not be my last. Having a taste for his writing and his story telling, each of his four previous novels sound wonderful. I highly recommend this novel and this author.

A Year and Six Seconds: A Love Story by Isabel Gillies

Published by: Voice

Published on: August 2011

Page Count: 256

Genre: Memoir

My Reading Format: Audiobook provided to me by the narrator for consideration

Audiobook Published by: Tantor Audio

Narrator: Karen White

Audiobook Length: 6 hours 48 minutes

Available Formats: Hardcover, eBook and Audiobook

My Review

Isabel Gillies, the actress best know for playing Detective Stabler’s wife on Law & Order: SVU, was married with two young sons living in an Ohio college town when her husband asks her for a divorce. He has fallen in love with another woman. As there was no turning back, Isabel moves with her sons back to her parents’ lovely rent controlled apartment in Manhattan. It is there that she grieves her marriage, adapts to single motherhood, and finds a new footing for her life.

After reading A Year and Six Seconds and reflecting on Eat, Pray, Love while doing so, I’ve come to realize that divorce memoirs aren’t my cup of tea. I suppose on the one hand this is a good thing because I certainly never want to live through the experience myself. Even though these types of memoirs seem to end with the author in a much better place, I’m just not very interested in the details of why this person’s marriage  didn’t work out. These books start off strong for me. I enjoyed the first sections where Gillies describes how someone can fall in love in six seconds. The endings of her marriage and the beginnings of her new life back in her parent’s rent controlled apartment in Manhattan were interesting. It was what happened between those rough and tumble beginnings and the happy ending that seemed long and repetitive. At that point, unimportant details seemed like unnecessary speed bumps. For example, there is an important scene between Gillies and her mother. At the beginning of the scene, she is in her childhood bedroom with her sons. Before getting to what was important in that encounter, Gillies makes a point to write about her telling her sons to say hello to their grandmother. I know she loves her children. She is a good mother. However, in that situation, their presence and the prompt to say hello added nothing to the story. It made this reader, who was more than ready to get beyond the “what did I do wrongs,” impatient.

This audiobook is narrated by Karen White. She did a wonderful job rolling with the punches and small joys that filled Isabel’s Gillies’ account of her divorce and its aftermath. It was her reading of the book that made it possible for me to finish. Regardless of how I liked Isabel Gillies, I would have lost interest in the book in print somewhere in the middle. Luckily, with Karen White narrated the meat of the story, it was impossible not to continue. The way she read the scene where Gillies parents’ had to have bars placed over their beautiful window was perfect. I can honestly say that I’m glad I finished the book because the last 45 minutes redeemed the experience for me. There is a scene where Karen’s reading brings out the beauty in an otherwise sad experience that warmed my heart.

To Gillies credit, I never once considered tossing the CD across the room the way I did with Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir. She is a kind, down to earth woman who means well in all that she does. I did think she was overly generous to her ex-husband, but in a world where people are tearing each other’s throats out in the public arena for less, this was something like a breath of fresh air. I liked her and I wanted her to be happy. While A Year and Six Seconds wasn’t a perfect read, but I am glad that I finished it. I simply would have preferred the middle section of the book to have been condensed.

Running the Rift by Naomi Benaron

Winner of the 2010 Bellwether Prize for Fiction

Published by: Algonquin Books

Published on: January 3, 2012

Page Count: 384

Genre: Literary Fiction

My Reading Format: Review copy sent to me by the publisher for consideration; read and reviewed to coincide with Book Club, hosted by Jen from Devourer of Books and Nicole of Linus’s Blanket.

Available Formats: Hardcover, eBook and Audiobook

My Review

Jean Patrick Nkuba was just a little boy when his father was killed in a car accident.  His father was an educated man who believed that the Hutus and Tutsis could live together in Rwanda peacefully. As that little boy, Jean Patrick had only a vague notion of what it meant that he was a Tutsi. His biggest concern was training to outrun his older brother. Once he’d reached that goal, he set his eyes on the true prize, an Olympic gold medal. It took Jean Patrick a war and a lifetime to understand who he was and why it meant life or death in the country he so desperately wanted to represent in the Olympics.

From the first pages, I fell in love with Jean Patrick. He found his heart’s desire and he never let it go. Because he wanted to run, he put his whole soul into it. Because he wanted to run, he studied hard to be accepted to the schools that would allow him to compete that would that would otherwise not give a Tutsi a chance. The desire to run and do himself, his family, and his country proud gave him the focus he needed to survive the terror and death around him.

Jean Patrick could have only been the person that he was, but his story is not that of a Pollyanna character set in Africa. There were no shiny prisms to bring smiles to all of the grumpy people around town. Despite what Jean Patrick’s talent could have brought to Rwanda, there wasn’t an outpouring of communal support and good will when the chips were down. There wasn’t even a UN envoy there to keep him safe. There was nothing there for him but his own spirit and the war that was raging all around him without reason and without end.

Running the Rift is a novel about the Rwanda leading up to and including the genocide of  1994. There are so many characters I hated. There were so many characters I loved. There were so many naive people. There were so many cynical people. There was so much corruption. There was so much love. It took each of those people and that unique and volatile situation to nurture the boy who became the athlete who became the man. Naomi Benaron took these horrific events full of blood, terror, and despair and wrote nothing short of an amazing novel. It is a novel which steadfastly bore witness to human determination, loyalty, the love of family, and, against all odds, hope.

Go now and read this book.

For more discussion about Running the Rift, visit Jen’s blog throughout the day for the Book Club discussion. I can guarantee that the discussion will be well worth the read.

First You Try Everything by Jane McCafferty

Published by: Harper

Published on: January 17, 2012

Page Count: 288

Genre: Fiction

My Reading Format: ARC sent to me by the publisher for consideration

Available Formats: Hardcover and eBook

My Review

When offered the opportunity to review First You Try Everything, there was just something about the description that made me want to read it.

An engrossing tale of a marriage that’s falling apart and a wife who will stop at nothing to keep it together.

From their early days in college, Evvie and Ben were drawn to each other by feelings of isolation stemming from their wounded childhoods, passionate idealism, and zeal for music. Sheltered by their love, they weathered the challenges and trials of the imperfect world around them. But as the years passed, they grew apart. Now Ben has his sights set on a completely different kind of future—alone, or with someone else.

Convinced that Ben cannot live without her, Evvie begins to unravel, as she obsessively devises ways to reclaim the love that she cannot let go of. She gambles on a spectacularly dangerous scheme, one that may ultimately have devastating consequences.

Divorce isn’t a new topic, but the idea of the wife going to extreme lengths to repair her marriage must have caught my eye. Unfortunately, the premise was not enough to carry the novel.

There are things I loved about First You Try Everything. I loved Ben. Had it not been for Ben, I wouldn’t have read beyond the first 50 pages. His voice and his moral nature grabbed my attention and my affection. I wanted him to be happy and the more he worried about Evvie, loving her despite her mental illness, made me want the ordeal to be over for him so that he could move on and find a place in life where he could experience joy. I also loved the location. I have an aunt who lives in the Pittsburgh area and, early on in the book, Ben is driving to Cranberry for work, I knew exactly where he was headed. We drive through there to visit Aunt Donna. I also have familiar enough with downtown Pittsburgh that I could picture the location where certain events took place.

Unfortunately, what I liked about this novel was not enough to salvage it for me. Evvie’s mental instability, which first made me want to stop reading the novel, was what ruined the experience for me. There was nothing for me to grab on to with Evvie. Sure, she and Ben had a good relationship at the start, but there was nothing about her specifically that made me care about her future. In addition, I simply could not follow Jane McCafferty where she took the story of Evvie and Ben. Not only could I not buy the chance encounter that brought about the ending, I couldn’t pin a true or even plausible motive to the outside forces involved. It simply was frustrating.

If you have read First You Try Everything, I would love to hear your take on the book. In the meantime, I’m moving on.

Come In and Cover Me by Gin Phillips

Published by: Riverhead

Published on: January 12, 2012

Page Count: 352

Genre: Fiction

My Reading Format: ARC sent to me by the publisher for consideration

Available Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook

My Review

Ren is an archeologist who has made a name for herself through her discovery of specialized Southwestern American Mimbres pottery that she has attributed to one artist. Currrently working for a museum, she receives a call from a dig where they believe they may have found new sherds of bowls that may have been crafted by her artist. She arranges with the museum to head to the dig to see what has been found. What no one knows is that there is a supernatural aspect to her work. She frequently is in touch with the ghost of her older brother and often sees things from the past when she is on site. It was these visions that led her to her big archeological discovery. She fears what her colleagues might think of her if her secret gets out. Her visit to the site and her keeping her secret becomes more complicated when she begins a relationship with a fellow archeologist on the dig, Silas. Not only is getting close to another professional emotionally risky, the visions she begins having of her artist seem to be sending her warnings.

Beginning in junior high, I wanted to be an archeologist. Perhaps it was the influence of Indiana Jones, but the idea of discovering history in the ground was appealing to me. In the end I found I lacked math skills and, more to the point, the discipline required to keep digging when nothing seemed to be there. It’s still a subject that interests me, so when I had the opportunity to read an ARC of Come In and Cover Me, I jumped. Throughout the book, I enjoyed the aspects that pertained to the work itself and about life on a dig. The long days working in the sun followed by quiet evenings eating around a camp fire felt real. Partaking in philosophical discussions about how to interpret findings and spending quite hours working with your hands outside. I could imagine having a vocation to for it all and living that life like a archaeological prayer.

Although I loved the idea of this novel and how the spirits of the departed could still play a role in the uncovery of what they left behind, I didn’t fall in love with the novel a whole. There are three story lines: Ren’s brother Scott and how his lingering presence impacted Ren’s adolescence and adulthood, Ren’s new relationship with Silas, and her interactions with her artist. Mixing and mingling the three together slowed the novel down. Had there been just two story lines or if one had been much less prominent than the other two, I think it would have worked better for me. It isn’t that the stories weren’t interesting. Far from it. It just seemed to take forever to get anywhere. Just when something significant happened in one area, it got  unnecessarily bogged down in another. Perhaps it wouldn’t have felt that way had I thought that Ren’s interpretation of her vision was in any way correct. It just reaffirmed that Ren over analyzed everything. Combined with her inability to reach out for help or advice, it drove me just a little crazy.

While Come In and Cover Me wasn’t a book I fell in love with from cover to cover, I enjoyed the peak into life in the Southwest of an archeologist of today and of a Mimbre potter of long ago. Spending time in this book made me want to take a trip to explore that area of the country.  I haven’t read Gin Phillips first novel, The Well and the Mine. I have a feeling that either that book or another book down the road will simply be amazing to me.

As a child of the 80s, the title Come In and Cover Me immediately reminded me of a Bruce Springsteen song.I couldn’t close this review without sharing it. It really has nothing to do with the novel whatsoever, but it’s my blog and it makes me happy. Ha!

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

Published by: Knopf Doubleday

Published in: 1985

Page Count: 208

Genre: Fiction

My Reading Format: Audiobook purchased from Audible.com using a credit

Audiobook Published by: Brilliance Audible Modern Vanguard

Narrator: Christian Rummel

Audiobook Length: 5 hours and 23 minutes

Available Formats: Hardcover, paperback, eBook and Audiobook

Note: This review contains spoilers and emotionally charged commentary.

My Review

Back in December, I had a couple of Audible credits and I was at a loss for how to use them (it felt that way at the time, but I can’t explain how I could ever really felt that way). I decided to explore new-to-me narrators.  I found Christian Rummel. He sounded good, so I explored his catalog. I found Less Than Zero and I thought I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Bret Easton Ellis is an author I’ve always wanted to read and a book upon which an iconic movie from my teen years was based. Best yet, it was less than 5 and a half hours long. Less Than Zero certainly featured its fair share of pot among other drugs, but that was as close as it got to my expectations.

I normally discuss the narrator near the end of the review. For this audiobook, I will start with Christian Rummel’s performance because it was the one bright spot in the whole experience for me. I thought his style worked very well with the story. Right from the beginning his reading gave the sense of how removed Clay was from his life. At the same time, he gave some life to characters, however superficial they may have been. There were only two times I cracked a smile while reading this book – when MTV and playing videos were mentioned in the same sentence and when Christian Rummel narrated an exchange between Clay and another character smoking pot. He did a wonderful job reading a difficult book. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for future Christian Rummel reads.

Less Than Zero tells the story of Clay, a college freshman returning to Las Angeles from his first semester away in New Hampshire. His parents are separated and no one is especially close. This was well depicted by the scene of Clay, his sisters and his mother heading to meet his father for a Christmas dinner. His sisters ride his case about locking his doors until he says that he locks his bedroom door. In exasperation, he explains it’s because they stole his cocaine the last time he didn’t lock his door. Their mother didn’t say a word.

Up until the last section, this novel followed Clay from one awful party full of equally privileged drugged out teens to another. None of them have anything of substance to talk about and are equally uncaring about anything unless it annoys them. Clay had a sexual relationship with Blair, but then again he has a sexual encounters with Griffin and a couple other young men. As with the casual drug use, there is nothing but casual sex. I got the idea that something mysterious was going on with his long time friend Julian, but it never seemed to go anywhere. Before and after Clay lent him a substantial amount of money couldn’t find him when he needed him.

Leading up until the end, I was glad I didn’t grow up with anything my heart desired by friends and family who cared about me. I was glad I grew up in the Midwest. I was glad I took Nancy Reagan’s advice. With approximately an hour and 15 minutes remaining, I was more than ready for Clay to go back to New Hampshire and put this painful Christmas vacation behind me (Yes, me. I never really thought Clay deserved much better than his life – for heaven’s sake he cared more about a dying coyote than he did a mother stranded along the side of the road with her kids in the middle of the night). Then it got ugly.

As per my tweet to author Kristina Riggle (@krisriggle), I sum up the novel thusly: “privileged collegiates drugging their way through Christmas break, then WTH, then WTF, then OMG this is messed up!” I’ve covered the privileged druggy collegiates on Christmas break. Here we go with the rest (note that emotional cursing as well as mental images you may not want are forthcoming):

What the Hell?

Things that happen at the parties and places Clay hangs out at get increasingly awkward. The novel’s turn for me happens when Clay is at a house watching what may or not be a snuff film. To Clay’s credit, he leaves the room after the raping of a bound young woman and man, but before they were actually murdered. He can’t escape the screams from the film as he does a line of cocaine outside. Afterwards, his friends were enamored by the whole thing: how much it cost and whether it was real. There wasn’t a hint of concern about the people who would have been the victims of the film were it were a snuff  film after all. They were just excited about how gruesome the castration was. His friend Trent, a male model, walked up to him with a hard on and couldn’t figure out why Clay left the movie. Isn’t degradation wonderful?

What the Fuck??

Shortly thereafter, Clay finds Julian, who drags him to yet another house in order to get his money back. Clay there discovers the kind of trouble Julian has gotten himself into. In order to get out from under a huge debt to a drug dealer, Julian turned to Finn. To pay Finn back, he had to become a male prostitute. Clay is uncomfortable, but when Finn “requests” that he follow Julian to his next job because the man likes to have another beautiful young man watch, he goes along fairly readily. There is a part of him that feels somewhat responsible for Julian’s safety (Julian tried to get Finn to let him out of his obligation because he was so unhappy and tired, but Finn just shot him up with heroine instead), but mainly he wants to get his money back and was curious to see just how bad it could get. With friends like Clay… In the end, Clay spends five hours watching a friend he’s known since 5th grade being degraded with not a word or thought as to how he could help Julian escape his personal hell.

Oh, My God!

Just when I thought I had discovered the full extend of Clay’s hedonistic self-absorbed world (for the record, I don’t feel that anyone really got much joy out of their hedonism, but who’s to say, right?), it got much, much worse. Rip, Clay’s drug dealer, invites Clay back to his apartment for something especially amazing. What could possibly be so amazing? Well, somehow rip got a 12 year old girl into his apartment, tied her naked to his bed to be used as a sex slave. He kept her drugged, which may have been a small mercy for her, but Clay could see the evidence of how badly she’d been used with his own eyes before Rip invites those there to have their own turn. Despite friends like Trent trying to talk him in to staying, Clay leaves the room. The conversation that followed made me feel like vomiting almost as much as the mental image of what was happening in that room. Rip felt he was entitled to this girl because he should have everything he wants. Clay pointed out that Rip had everything already and questioned him about what more he possibly could want. Rip said he didn’t have anything to lose.

There was a glimmer of hope in my heart that Clay would do the right thing and take action. I begged him to call the police and safe this girl from further abuse. There had to be some redemption to this novel. Instead, he never seemed to give the girl another thought after he left Rip’s place. What was she worth, anyway? At that point, I had to turn the audiobook off to calm down. I couldn’t believe this complete lack of humanity Bret Easton Ellis has created. If I listened further, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t vomit.

When I got around to finishing the novel, the blame for all the twisted shit that happened was lousy parents. I wanted to throw something. Certainly there were no responsible parents to be found in this fucked up landscape, but I bet there are sociopath’s who would find the people who inhabited Less Than Zero morally bankrupt. I have no idea how this novel would have come across in my teens or 20s, but as an adult mother of two young girls, I was horrified by the ending. Parents can scar a person. I understand that. At some point, every person has to take responsibility for their own soul. That the characters in this book lost theirs isn’t a sin that can completely be laid at the feet of their parents. There was not an ounce of redemption anywhere. Clay’s commentary at the end fell flat. It is cop out, utter bullshit.

Certainly there is something to be said for the reaction it generated within me. Never before have I felt so dirty and ashamed for having born witness to what I have read a book. As if my tweeting  wasn’t enough, I immediately began writing this post the minute I got home. Likewise I had to discuss it with my husband the moment he walked in the door. He told me that his friends were reading this book in college. They didn’t have anything good to say about it. That it was vapid kept him from reading it himself. After he listened to my rage, he said something brilliant. He said, “And Salman Rushdie was the one under a death threat?” Exactly!

I understand that Bret Easton Ellis was making a cultural statement about the Reagan era with Less Than Zero. When you go bold with your delivery, your message may very be obscured. Perhaps once I  have come to grips with the fact that I can never unread this novel I will care enough to give it further thought.  I wouldn’t suggest holding your breath waiting on that anymore than I would suggest you read Less Than Zero.

Everything That Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor

Published by: Farrar Straus Giroux

Published on: January 1965

Page Count: 272

Genre: Short Stories

My Reading Format: Audiobook won during June Is Audiobook Month

Audiobook Published by: Blackstone Audio

Narrator: Bronson Pinchot, Karen White, Lorna Raver, Mark Bramhall

Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 5 minutes

Available Formats: Hardcover, paperback, eBook and audiobook

My Review

When I first endeavored to read Flannery O’Connor I began with her novel, The Violent Bear It Away. If the wrong and somewhat inappropriate titles I kept tweeting about were any indicator, it didn’t click with me. It was suggested that I start with her short stories, specifically A Good Man is Hard to Find. I have been wanting to give Everything That Rises Must Converge a listen ever since I won it from Karen White’s June Is Audiobook Month giveaway, so I took most of that advice. While I’ve yet to read A Good Man is Hard to Find, O’Connor’s short stories are fantastic.

I would have to reread Everything That Rises Must Converge in order to talk in more depth about each story. O’Connor has much to say about discord in family relations, faith, and race relations. What stood out the most to me was the relationship between adult children living with or near their parents. In every occurence, this situation led to nearly paralyzing resentment for at least one of the parties involved. With each story, O’Connor shines more and more light on how common yet unnatural those living arrangements are. The story that most brilliantly illustrates this is “A View of the Woods.” You have the struggle of a parent to manipulate and control his daughter seep down into the next generation with the most devastating results.

I had a personnally hilarious Aha moment listening to this audiobook for reasons completely unrelated to the text. I have been interested in listening to one of Bronson Pinchot’s audiobooks since I first learned that he was a narrator. He, along with Karen White, Lorna Raver and Mark Bramhall narrate the stories in this collection. A male narrator read the first story. I assumed it was Mark Bramhall. Then, Karen White narrated “Greenleaf.” I knew that the second male narrator was a) different from the first and b) the same man who narrated A Prayer for Owen Meany (which I really must finish). Unfortunately, the audiobook didn’t list which narrator read which story. So, I thought, was Bronson Pinchot the first male narrator? I assumed it couldn’t have been him, but how? I guess I thought I would know it was him when I heard him. To be sure, I went on Audible.com and listened to a clip from Matterhorn. Yes, the first male narrator was, in fact, Bronson Pinchot. As soon as I hear that clip I realized I had been expecting some kind of foreign accent like Balki Bartokomous from Perfect Strangers. I laughed myself to the point of tears. Reading clears up ignorance in more ways than one. Bronson Pinchot is a fantastic narrator.

All of the narrators who collaborated on Everything That Rises Must Converge were outstanding. Audiophile Magazine has selected this audiobook as one of the best of the year and rightly so. The magazine also recognized Lorna Raver and Bronson Pinchot for their particular roles on this project. For me, each of the narrators brought life to the stories they read. Karen White, who I’ve previously experienced in a whimsical romantic novel, was impressive as the self-righteous Mrs. May, ranting against the world, but most especially the bull running rough shot over her land. I think the voice of Grandfather Fortune as rendered by Mark Bramhall will remain with me forever. He made me love an otherwise unlovable cantakerous old man.

Whether you’re new to Flannery O’Connor or would like to revisit her work, I highly suggest picking up this audiobook from Blackstone Audio. It’s a reader’s treat.

The Odds: A Love Story by Stewart O’Nan

Published by: Penguin Group

Published on: January 19, 2012

Page Count: 192

Genre: Fiction

My Reading Format: eGalley requested from NetGalley

Available Formats: Hardcover and eBook

My Review

Art Fowler, a middle aged man, has lost his job and his life is falling apart. He and his wife Marion are on both the verge of foreclosure and divorce. In a last ditch effort to save both their marriage and their home, they cash out all of their money and head to Niagara Falls with the hopes of doubling their money in the casino. Art plans the trip and sweats every single detail. Marion is simply going along for one last ride before divorcing. Together they spend Valentine’s Day weekend trying to make up for a marriage full of mistakes and regret.

There is so much to like about The Odds. Each section of the novel begins with different statistical odd that sets the mood for the section to come. This both kept the title close in mind and brought focus to what was to come for Art and Marion. There was also an incredible scene at a Heart concert full of middle aged drunkenness and drug use. I defy any reader familiar with Heart to leave this book without having at least one of their songs playing in your head (and there’s “Baracuda” again). Best of all was simply the way in which the story of this Valentine’s Day weekend in Niagara Falls was told. The weekend develops in sections alternately narrated by Art and Marion. There is always two sides to every marriage and this narrative decision made me feel as though I knew the couple well. As Art made his plans, I was anticipating Marion’s reaction, feeling sorry for them both. There isn’t another way I could have felt more invested in the story.

Last Night at the Lobster remains my favorite O’Nan novel. It may always be because it was my first. Unlike Songs for the Missing, The Odds evoked the same emotion. It left me amazed that I would find a story about a common occurrence and feel as though the outcome very much was about me. The Odds is classic O’Nan. Within an intimate situation fraught with the stress of imminent loss, he shines a light on a small spot on the map and makes it feel universal. The more O’Nan I read, the more I seriously consider making appreciating his work a requirement for friendship.

The Night Swimmer by Matt Bondurant

Published by: Scribner

Published on: January 10, 2012

Page Count: 288

Genre: Fiction

My Reading Format: Review copy provided by the publisher for consideration

Available Formats: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Thoughts about Format: The audiobook is narrated by Hillary Huber. After reading this in print, I wonder how my experience might have been different had I read this in audio. If you’ve listened to this audiobook, I’d love to know what you thought.

My Review

Elly has a unique physical trait. Her body holds a thin layer of fat just under her skin much in the same way as a seal. This allows her to swim in waters normally too cold for a typical person. She is married to Fred, who has just won a pub in Baltimore, a small town near the Southern coast of Ireland. They set out on this grand adventure as excited soul mates. Fred is thrilled to be a pub owner and have time to write his novel. Elly is excited for new places to lose herself in the water. They leave the United States passionate about their lives, each other, and the future. They didn’t anticipate becoming entangled in a local feud that would tear them apart.

There was much I enjoyed about this novel. Bondurant’s writing was beautiful. I loved the pictures he painted both of Elly and Fred’s early marriage as well as the beauty of Ireland. Elly’s voice and the way she described her love of Fred and her passion for swimming was as intoxicating as the massive amounts of cocktails and beer the two of them drank. I loved the picture of a young couple making a unique life for themselves. The supporting characters, especially those on Cape Clear Island were I nestled right in to their story and it felt good.

The darker mystery of the Cape Clear Island and the novel’s conclusion were more puzzling to me than satisfying. I wanted the whole of the novel to captivate me the way the tone and the setting did, but it wasn’t there for me. I finished the book feeling that I had missed something major. I appreciate a subtle hand in an author, but I just left the novel feeling sad.

The Night Swimmer is fascinating as a character study and makes a beautiful, wind swept escape from everyday.  Bondurant writing, characters, and settings are marvelous and make up for the lack of punch in the end. I have a feeling Elly and Fred will stick with me over time. I have no doubt that I will be reading more Matt Bonderant.