I am not absolutely sure where to begin talking about this novel. I liked it and definitely plan to read more of Sarah Addison Allen's books. The Peach Keeper (still not sure about the title) is part mystery, part romance, part paranormal, and part women's fiction. It's the story of an old mansion, the Blue Ridge Madame, which was owned by Willa Jackson's family until their financial ruin in the 1930s and is now being restored to its former glory by the Wall of Waters Women's Society Club under the guidance of socialite Paxton Osgood, one of Willa's high school classmates.
Willa owns an organic sportswear store in Wall of Water, North Carolina. She had returned to her hometown 8 years earlier when her father passed away, leaving Willa his house and business. Willa's grandmother, Georgie, who once lived at the Blue Ridge Madame, is now confined to a local nursing home and suffering from Alzheimer's. Her best childhood friend, Augusta, who is Paxton's grandmother, resides at the same home. When an old peach tree is removed from the Blue Ridge Madame property a skeleton is discovered along with some other puzzling objects. What do Georgie and Augusta know about the mysterious discovery under the peach tree?
Allen has infused this sweet little novel with both whimsy and mystery. You will find yourself rooting for a happy ending for all of the angst-ridden characters populating this novel. Maybe a little bit of magic will help them to make sense of life and love!
BIBLIOPHILY
Thursday, April 16, 2015
P0RTRAIT OF AN IMMIGRANT (Steven A. Bachleda)
This short biography (167 pages) was of special interest to me because the author's father, Anton Bachleda, and mother. Maria Oleksakova, were born in the village of Zdiar, Slovakia. This is the same village where my great-great-grandfather, Gregory Oleksak, was born in 1873. The similarity in names and birthplaces of Gregory and Maria leads me to believe that the author and I may be distantly related!
Steven (Stefan) Bachleda was born in Trstany, Slovakia, in 1931, just a few months after his father left for America, supposedly to seek a better life for his family. Steven was the youngest of Anton and Maria's five surviving children. During the first years of his life his mother struggled to feed and clothe her children and keep a roof over their heads . Anton sent very little money back from America and eventually Maria lost their home, which was heavily mortgaged, and the five children were sent to live with relatives and neighbors. Bachleda vividly describes the difficult living conditions in Slovakia during the 1930's and the family's first attempt to immigrate to America, an attempt thwarted when Hitler closed the borders. Eventually , thanks to the generosity of a dying American widow, the family is reunited with Anton in New York after an arduous sea journey.
Bachleda takes the reader through his hardscrabble childhood in the Bronx with an alcoholic father and lack of money (all of the Bachleda children were forced to leave school early to help support the family), but his story is tempered by friendships formed and a fierce determination to belong to and succeed in this new land. In spite of way too many commas (editing could have been better), I would recommend this book. It illustrates the strength of family and the pride many immigrants take in contributing to their adopted country through hard work and military service. Anyone who believes that immigration is a bad thing should try to imagine themselves working as hard or needing as little to make a life as the Bachleda family did.
Steven (Stefan) Bachleda was born in Trstany, Slovakia, in 1931, just a few months after his father left for America, supposedly to seek a better life for his family. Steven was the youngest of Anton and Maria's five surviving children. During the first years of his life his mother struggled to feed and clothe her children and keep a roof over their heads . Anton sent very little money back from America and eventually Maria lost their home, which was heavily mortgaged, and the five children were sent to live with relatives and neighbors. Bachleda vividly describes the difficult living conditions in Slovakia during the 1930's and the family's first attempt to immigrate to America, an attempt thwarted when Hitler closed the borders. Eventually , thanks to the generosity of a dying American widow, the family is reunited with Anton in New York after an arduous sea journey.
Bachleda takes the reader through his hardscrabble childhood in the Bronx with an alcoholic father and lack of money (all of the Bachleda children were forced to leave school early to help support the family), but his story is tempered by friendships formed and a fierce determination to belong to and succeed in this new land. In spite of way too many commas (editing could have been better), I would recommend this book. It illustrates the strength of family and the pride many immigrants take in contributing to their adopted country through hard work and military service. Anyone who believes that immigration is a bad thing should try to imagine themselves working as hard or needing as little to make a life as the Bachleda family did.
THE GENTLE ART OF MURDER (Jeanne Dams)
Dorothy Martin and her husband, Alan Nesbitt, are truly the world's most wonderful senior citizens. They eat, read, make love, and travel together. They are affectionate, caring, and compassionate, they love animals, and they make a really great crime-solving team. Despite the travails of "older" age (Dorothy has been widowed and had knee replacement surgery, while Alan has been retired from the police force for a few years), they still manage to maintain strong friendships and solve the occasional mystery.
Dorothy and Alan are touring the local art college when they are trapped in an elevator (Dorothy is also claustrophobic!). The grim discovery of a body tangled in the elevators cables with a chisel in its neck propel the couple into investigating a series of accidents and sabotages that all point to political intrigue and possible murder at the college. dams doesn't disappoint with this fast-paced mystery full of twists, turn, and red herrings. I am looking forward to the next one!
Dorothy and Alan are touring the local art college when they are trapped in an elevator (Dorothy is also claustrophobic!). The grim discovery of a body tangled in the elevators cables with a chisel in its neck propel the couple into investigating a series of accidents and sabotages that all point to political intrigue and possible murder at the college. dams doesn't disappoint with this fast-paced mystery full of twists, turn, and red herrings. I am looking forward to the next one!
Saturday, April 4, 2015
LOVE ANTHONY (Lisa Genova)
Anthony is an autistic boy who has died. His grieving parents, Olivia and David, are exhausted and financially drained after 8 years of raising a non-verbal child who could not express love or interact with his peers, and they realize that their marriage has been irrevocably broken. David remains in the family home in Hingham, MA, while Olivia moves into their rental cottage on Nantucket to try and make sense of Anthony's life and death.
Beth is a permanent resident of the island who discovers after 14 years of marriage and 3 daughters that her husband has been cheating on her. Devastated at her husband's betrayal, Beth kicks him out of the house and he moves in with his lover.
Both Olivia and Beth struggle to understand the paths that their lives have taken, facing hard decisions and uncertain futures, each grieving for what could have been. Although the women's stories are separate, their paths cross casually several times before they make a real connection. Like Still Alice, Love, Anthony is a story of struggle, acceptance, and understanding. Genova does a wonderful job of portraying the realities of dealing with a severely autistic child, but she also goes one step further. She delves into the inner thoughts of an autistic person, allowing the reader to take a step outside of the neurotypical world and into the thoughts of an autistic person. I found that oddly calming and reassuring. We can't help but to assume that autistic people are trapped within a world that they can't escape and that they need our help to be more social and "fit in" in order to be happy. Thjis novel makes me question whether those assumptions are true.
Beth is a permanent resident of the island who discovers after 14 years of marriage and 3 daughters that her husband has been cheating on her. Devastated at her husband's betrayal, Beth kicks him out of the house and he moves in with his lover.
Both Olivia and Beth struggle to understand the paths that their lives have taken, facing hard decisions and uncertain futures, each grieving for what could have been. Although the women's stories are separate, their paths cross casually several times before they make a real connection. Like Still Alice, Love, Anthony is a story of struggle, acceptance, and understanding. Genova does a wonderful job of portraying the realities of dealing with a severely autistic child, but she also goes one step further. She delves into the inner thoughts of an autistic person, allowing the reader to take a step outside of the neurotypical world and into the thoughts of an autistic person. I found that oddly calming and reassuring. We can't help but to assume that autistic people are trapped within a world that they can't escape and that they need our help to be more social and "fit in" in order to be happy. Thjis novel makes me question whether those assumptions are true.
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
THE HOUSE OF MEMORIES (Monica McInerney)
This is a sad, sad novel, but full of healing, as well. Australian Ella O'Hanlon is a woman trying desperately to escape her grief after a fluke accident turns her idyllic life upside down and rips apart her family. She leaves Aidan, the love of her life, her mother and step-father, her much-loved half-brother Charlie, and her spoiled step-sister Jess behind as she travels from job to job in Australia to try and escape the sadness and pain that have taken over her life. She eventually ends up with her Uncle Lucas Fox in London.
Lucas, the brother of Ella's late father, has always been her rock and her escape. Ella's parents divorced when she was a young girl and her mother, Meredith, remarried soon afterwards, to Walter, a German-born man with a son who would become Ella's best friend. Half-sister Jessica, the adored and, apparently, perfect child, is born when Ella is 11 and soon afterwards Ella's own father is killed in a plane crash in Canada. Ella and Lucas, her only living relative on her father's side, maintain a close relationship through letters and faxes throughout her childhood. Lucas is an academic, maintaining a crumbling old house where he provides housing for a group of elite tutors. It is there that Ella met and fell in love with Aidan, an Irishman fluent in 5 languages. The two eventually moved back to Australia, married,and started a family together while Ella's mother, after being "discovered" in a shopping mall, becomes a rising star on Australian television with her comedy cooking show. When her own life falls apart Ella is unable to share the grief process and begins her isolated journey towards a future without her son.
This novel is an emotional roller coaster of a journey. You will find yourself alternately teary-eyed and amused, fascinated and horrified. McInereney has a way making you feel personally acquainted with her characters, as if they are friends and colleagues instead of people who are not actually real, living human beings. Maybe it's because some of the things that happen are the things that we all fear and hope will always happen to "someone else," despite the fact that we know in our hearts that any one of us could be Ella. It's kind of a shock when you finish this book and realize that you are not going to spending any more time with Ella or Lucas, but you truly wish them the best because you are deeply invested in their lives and their future.
Lucas, the brother of Ella's late father, has always been her rock and her escape. Ella's parents divorced when she was a young girl and her mother, Meredith, remarried soon afterwards, to Walter, a German-born man with a son who would become Ella's best friend. Half-sister Jessica, the adored and, apparently, perfect child, is born when Ella is 11 and soon afterwards Ella's own father is killed in a plane crash in Canada. Ella and Lucas, her only living relative on her father's side, maintain a close relationship through letters and faxes throughout her childhood. Lucas is an academic, maintaining a crumbling old house where he provides housing for a group of elite tutors. It is there that Ella met and fell in love with Aidan, an Irishman fluent in 5 languages. The two eventually moved back to Australia, married,and started a family together while Ella's mother, after being "discovered" in a shopping mall, becomes a rising star on Australian television with her comedy cooking show. When her own life falls apart Ella is unable to share the grief process and begins her isolated journey towards a future without her son.
This novel is an emotional roller coaster of a journey. You will find yourself alternately teary-eyed and amused, fascinated and horrified. McInereney has a way making you feel personally acquainted with her characters, as if they are friends and colleagues instead of people who are not actually real, living human beings. Maybe it's because some of the things that happen are the things that we all fear and hope will always happen to "someone else," despite the fact that we know in our hearts that any one of us could be Ella. It's kind of a shock when you finish this book and realize that you are not going to spending any more time with Ella or Lucas, but you truly wish them the best because you are deeply invested in their lives and their future.
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