Years ago I read a novel called The Blue Bottle Club by Penelope J. Stokes and to this day it remains one of my favorite books. I know that she has written other things, but they seemed a bit too "inspirational" for me. After a friend of mine recommended Heartbreak Cafe I decided to give Stokes another try. I'm glad that I did!
Dell Haley's life is falling apart around her. Her husband, Chase, has died, apparently during a tryst with one of his paramours. No one is saying who the other woman is, but the sudden silence when she walks into a room leads her to believe that Chase's behavior might have been common knowledge in the town of Chulahatchie, Tennessee. When she goes to see bank manager Marvin Beckstrom (known as 'Bug" along with other unpleasant names) she is informed that Chase has mortgaged their home and that she has barely enough money to survive for the next year. With the support of her good friends Boone, Toni, and a drifter named Scratch, she rents a rundown restaurant and transforms it into the Heartbreak Cafe. The cafe soon becomes the go-to place in town for breakfast and lunch, but Dell is barely breaking even financially when a major setback threatens to ruin her.
Heartbreak Cafe is a story about deep friendships, resilience in the face of adversity, and having faith that the truth will eventually set you free. If you are looking for a wonderful and, yes, inspirational story about working through heartbreak and coming out whole on the other side, try this book!
BIBLIOPHILY
Monday, October 28, 2013
WHERE WE BELONG (Emily Giffin)
It's been a while since I read an Emily Giffin novel and now I'm wondering if I missed one or two! I'll have to check.
Deciding to give a child up for adoption, trying to insure that your baby has a better life than you could possibly provide, is a heart-wrenching, life-changing decision. For Marian Caldwell, her guilt about giving up the daughter she gave birth to at age 18 is compounded by the fact that she lied to the baby's father, Conrad Knight, about her pregnancy. She hasn't seen him since she broke off their relationship the day her home pregnancy test result came out positive. Eighteen years later she is a successful New York based television producer and in love with handsome, successful Peter Standish.
Kirby Katherine Rose is a troubled 18-year-old from St. Louis, confused about her future and feeling like a misfit. She was adopted at birth by loving parents, who conceived another daughter just 2 months after bringing Kirby home. Despite her close, loving family, Kirby has always felt like a bit of an outsider, looking different from her parents and sister, and with different talents and interests. As soon as it becomes legally possible, Kirby accesses her adoption records and decides to travel to New York, unbeknownst to anyone but her best friend Belinda, to contact her birth mother, Marian Caldwell. She is relieved that Marian acknowledges and accepts her when she knocks on her door, and the two embark on a rocky emotional journey of mutual (and self) discovery, tying up loose ends from the past and forging new relationships for the future.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Giffin's latest is the positive development of the characters. Each of them is flawed, as humans are, but when confronted with the facts of Kirby's existence each in their own way ultimately reacts with grace and integrity. It may not be completely realistic, and perhaps some would consider Where We Belong to be a bit too positive, but who cares? I enjoyed every minute of this novel.
Deciding to give a child up for adoption, trying to insure that your baby has a better life than you could possibly provide, is a heart-wrenching, life-changing decision. For Marian Caldwell, her guilt about giving up the daughter she gave birth to at age 18 is compounded by the fact that she lied to the baby's father, Conrad Knight, about her pregnancy. She hasn't seen him since she broke off their relationship the day her home pregnancy test result came out positive. Eighteen years later she is a successful New York based television producer and in love with handsome, successful Peter Standish.
Kirby Katherine Rose is a troubled 18-year-old from St. Louis, confused about her future and feeling like a misfit. She was adopted at birth by loving parents, who conceived another daughter just 2 months after bringing Kirby home. Despite her close, loving family, Kirby has always felt like a bit of an outsider, looking different from her parents and sister, and with different talents and interests. As soon as it becomes legally possible, Kirby accesses her adoption records and decides to travel to New York, unbeknownst to anyone but her best friend Belinda, to contact her birth mother, Marian Caldwell. She is relieved that Marian acknowledges and accepts her when she knocks on her door, and the two embark on a rocky emotional journey of mutual (and self) discovery, tying up loose ends from the past and forging new relationships for the future.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Giffin's latest is the positive development of the characters. Each of them is flawed, as humans are, but when confronted with the facts of Kirby's existence each in their own way ultimately reacts with grace and integrity. It may not be completely realistic, and perhaps some would consider Where We Belong to be a bit too positive, but who cares? I enjoyed every minute of this novel.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
THE HUSBAND'S SECRET (Liane Moriarty)
I don't think that this is my favorite Liane Moriarty novel, but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy it. I must be getting old, because again I had problems keeping track of who was who during the first few chapters.
Efficient, organized Cecilia is married to handsome John Paul Fitzgerald and together they have 3 daughters. Life seem idyllic until Cecilia finds a letter written by John Paul to be opened after his death. John Paul is every much alive, but can Cecilia resist opening the letter to discover her husband's secret?
Tess arrives at her mother's house with son Liam just after husband Will and her cousin and best friend Felicity have revealed that they have fallen madly (but chastely) in love and want to live together. As business partners, Tess, Will, and Felicity spend nearly every day together, so this revelation changes every aspect of the life Tess thought she was living. Meeting old love Connor Whitby makes Tess question herself and her commitment to her marriage.
Eleanor, a widow, mourns the unsolved murder of her daughter Janie. At 17 Janie was strangled in a local park and Eleanor believes that Connor Whitby is the guilty party. Elanor's husband was away at the time of Janie's murder.
Moriarty's little asides about what was happening behind the scenes throughout the novel add an extra touch of interest to the story. They put the reader in a position of know more about the story than the characters themselves. I imagine that some might feel that the process of tying up loose ends is a bit contrived, but I liked it. Overall, I would recommend it!
Efficient, organized Cecilia is married to handsome John Paul Fitzgerald and together they have 3 daughters. Life seem idyllic until Cecilia finds a letter written by John Paul to be opened after his death. John Paul is every much alive, but can Cecilia resist opening the letter to discover her husband's secret?
Tess arrives at her mother's house with son Liam just after husband Will and her cousin and best friend Felicity have revealed that they have fallen madly (but chastely) in love and want to live together. As business partners, Tess, Will, and Felicity spend nearly every day together, so this revelation changes every aspect of the life Tess thought she was living. Meeting old love Connor Whitby makes Tess question herself and her commitment to her marriage.
Eleanor, a widow, mourns the unsolved murder of her daughter Janie. At 17 Janie was strangled in a local park and Eleanor believes that Connor Whitby is the guilty party. Elanor's husband was away at the time of Janie's murder.
Moriarty's little asides about what was happening behind the scenes throughout the novel add an extra touch of interest to the story. They put the reader in a position of know more about the story than the characters themselves. I imagine that some might feel that the process of tying up loose ends is a bit contrived, but I liked it. Overall, I would recommend it!
WHERE'D YOU GO, BERNADETTE (Maria Semple)
This is a really unusual book, mainly because of Semple's odd, yet strangely heroic characters and partly because it is written in epistolary format, which I find very appealing. Semple uses a combination of emails, faxes, letters, and reports (police, FBI, medical, etc.) interspersed with Bee Fox's commentary to tell Bernadette's story. It reminded me at times of Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series, but I think that was mainly because of the crumbling home, brilliant minds, and eccentric behavior.
Where Bernadette Fox actually went is examined on several levels. Does the title refer to her disappearance from the architectural world after winning a prestigious award just before the destruction of her brilliant signature project, to her apparently fragile mental state and agoraphobic tendencies, or her sudden departure from home after her husband stages an intervention because he believes her to be suicidal or addicted to drugs? Daughter Bee (short for Balakrishna) and husband Elgie, an inventor who works for Microsoft, love Bernadette unconditionally and don't seem especially bothered by her behavior as the story unfolds. They even plan a trip to Antartica to reward Bee for her excellent grades. Bernadette's dealings with her next-door neighbor and fellow Galer School mother (whose name escapes me at the moment) and the email exchanges between her and Elgie's assistant (with the multi-hyphenated, multi-cultural name) are absolutely hilarious, adding an irresistible slapstick element to the novel. Is it believable? Absolutely not! Will you love? I think so! Check it out soon!
Where Bernadette Fox actually went is examined on several levels. Does the title refer to her disappearance from the architectural world after winning a prestigious award just before the destruction of her brilliant signature project, to her apparently fragile mental state and agoraphobic tendencies, or her sudden departure from home after her husband stages an intervention because he believes her to be suicidal or addicted to drugs? Daughter Bee (short for Balakrishna) and husband Elgie, an inventor who works for Microsoft, love Bernadette unconditionally and don't seem especially bothered by her behavior as the story unfolds. They even plan a trip to Antartica to reward Bee for her excellent grades. Bernadette's dealings with her next-door neighbor and fellow Galer School mother (whose name escapes me at the moment) and the email exchanges between her and Elgie's assistant (with the multi-hyphenated, multi-cultural name) are absolutely hilarious, adding an irresistible slapstick element to the novel. Is it believable? Absolutely not! Will you love? I think so! Check it out soon!
THREE WISHES (Liane Moriarty)
I've decided that I need to stop myself from starting a new book until AFTER I blog about the one I just finished. For some reason colder weather increases my need to read, so I'm getting behind yet again!
Liane Moriarty is amazing. She manages to combine intrigue, psychological drama, humor, and traditional chick-lit elements into one very entertaining novel. The Kettle sisters, Cat, Lyn, and Gemma, are Australian triplets. Cat and Lyn are identical blondes while Gemma is fraternal and a red-head. All are tall, beautiful, and a force to be reckoned with. The story opens during a celebration of the triplets' 34th birthday in a Sidney restaurant, a celebration that turns into brawl resulting in one triplet accidentally embedding a fork into her pregnant sister's abdomen. Moriarty then takes us back almost a year, retracing the events in each sister's life that lead to the fateful birthday dinner. Lyn, an organizational dynamo, owns her own successful business and is a perfect wife and mother who suddenly finds herself suffering panic attacks. Cat, a marketing executive who longs for a baby, is devastated to learn that her marriage is not the success she believed it to be. Gemma is the sister still trying to find her place in life, working as a house-sitter and unable to even consider sustaining a relationship for more than a few months after the death of her fiance, at least until she meets Charlie. Added into the mix are the girls' dysfunctional parents, whose 34-year relationship (beginning with the conception of the triplets) is fraught with sarcasm and disdain. Starting the novel with the restaurant incident seems unusual for this type of novel, kind of like one of those old movies that start with the murder and then go back to the beginning so the audience can see how the crime unfolded, but it certainly made me want to read more.
Liane Moriarty is amazing. She manages to combine intrigue, psychological drama, humor, and traditional chick-lit elements into one very entertaining novel. The Kettle sisters, Cat, Lyn, and Gemma, are Australian triplets. Cat and Lyn are identical blondes while Gemma is fraternal and a red-head. All are tall, beautiful, and a force to be reckoned with. The story opens during a celebration of the triplets' 34th birthday in a Sidney restaurant, a celebration that turns into brawl resulting in one triplet accidentally embedding a fork into her pregnant sister's abdomen. Moriarty then takes us back almost a year, retracing the events in each sister's life that lead to the fateful birthday dinner. Lyn, an organizational dynamo, owns her own successful business and is a perfect wife and mother who suddenly finds herself suffering panic attacks. Cat, a marketing executive who longs for a baby, is devastated to learn that her marriage is not the success she believed it to be. Gemma is the sister still trying to find her place in life, working as a house-sitter and unable to even consider sustaining a relationship for more than a few months after the death of her fiance, at least until she meets Charlie. Added into the mix are the girls' dysfunctional parents, whose 34-year relationship (beginning with the conception of the triplets) is fraught with sarcasm and disdain. Starting the novel with the restaurant incident seems unusual for this type of novel, kind of like one of those old movies that start with the murder and then go back to the beginning so the audience can see how the crime unfolded, but it certainly made me want to read more.
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