RU (KIM THUY)

 

 

Story Description:

 

Random House of Canada|September 6, 2012|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-307-35970-4

 

Ru.  In Vietnamese it means lullaby; in French it is a small stream, but also signifies a flow—of tears, blood, money.  Kim Thuy’s Ru is literature at its most crystalline: the flow of a life on the tides of unrest and on to more peaceful waters.  In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec.  There, the young girl feels the embrace of a new community, and revels in the chance to be part of the American Dream.  As an adult, the waters become rough again: now a mother of two sons, she must learn to shape her love around the younger boy’s autism.  Moving seamlessly from past to present, from history to memory and back again, Ru is a book that celebrates life in all its wonder: its moments of beauty and sensuality, brutality and sorrow, comfort and comedy.

 

My Review:

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the book but felt it was somehow ‘unfinished’.  I really would have preferred to of had more detail in each section.  I felt it lacked in detail and would have enhanced the story greatly if the author had of delved into the lives and experiences more deeply. 

 

I can only imagine though the difficulties and challenges one would encounter being a refugee coming from Vietnam to Quebec.  Talk about a culture shock!

 

Trying to raise an autistic child in a completely new world would be difficult at best and would present a myriad of challenges all on their own, challenges we probably couldn’t even begin to fathom, but the author handled it with grace. 

 

Overall, Ru was a most enjoyable experience.

 



THE SLEEPING DICTIONARY (SUJATA MASSEY)

 

Story Description:

 

Gallery Books|August 20, 2013|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-4767-0316-9

 

YOU ASK FOR MY NAME.  THE REAL ONE, AND I CANNOT TELL.  IT IS NOT FOR LACK OF EFFORT. 

 

In 1930, a great ocean wave blots out a Bengali village, leaving only one survivor, a young girl.  As a maidservant in a British boarding school, Pom is renamed Sarah and discovers her gift for languages.  Her private dreams almost die when she arrives in Kharagpur and is recruited into a secretive, decadent world.  Eventually, she lands in Calcutta, renames herself Kamala, and creates a new life rich in books and friends.  But although success and even love seem within reach, she remains trapped by what she is and is not.  As India struggles to throw off imperial rule, Kamala uses her hard-won skills for secrecy, languages, and reading the unspoken gestures of those around her to fight for her country’s freedom and her own happiness. 

 

My Review:

 

In Johlpur, West Bengal, India in 1930, a massive ocean wave entirely wipes out the village, leaving 10-year-old, Pom completely alone as the single survivor.  Her entire village and family are all drowned: both parents, twin sisters, a brother, and grandparents.  Luckily, Pom had climbed high up into a tree just seconds before the rogue wave hit, ultimately saving her life but making her an instant orphan. 

 

After a few days trapped alone in the tree, almost dying from hunger and thirst, a family in a row boat happened along.  Pom was able to jump from the tree into the water and swim to the boat.  The family wasn’t the kindest as they recognized Pom as a lower-caste than themselves but paddled her to the closest shore and told her she was on her own. 

 

Pom finds a wild water buffalo, befriends it for its milk to drink and to ride for she was barefoot.  The water buffalo was just as near starvation as Pom was.  She named her, Mala which means ‘garland’.  Each morning, Pom milked, Mala using half a coconut shell as a cup and drank until she was sated.  Pom was also drinking any water she could find and soon she was feeling ill and had sharp pains in her stomach from hunger.  While, Mala ate ferns, Pom ate raw snails that she’d pull out of their shells.  Soon, Pom found herself on the ground sick from both ends of her starved body.  Finally, she passed out and when she awoke she was laying on a cot in a mission hospital suffering from cholera.  A man had found her hanging upside down on the water buffalo. 

 

Dr. Andrews was in charge of her care at the mission hospital along with Nurse Das.  After five days she was up walking and healthy and Nurse Das said: “…in need of a job.”

 

Pom, was eventually taken to the Lockwood School to work as a servant under the authority of a horribly cruel and crass woman named, Miss Rachel.  Miss Jamison, the headmistress felt Pom’s name was too strange and changed it to Sarah. 

 

At the school, Sarah becomes a servant for the British and upper-caste Indian girls.  However, when Bidushi Mukherjee, whose family owned, Sarah’s home village, arrives at the Lockwood School, Sarah in her heart of hearts believes she has found a true friend.  Bidushi, is at the school to gain an education so she can become knowledgeable and worldly in order to converse with her lawyer finance she will soon marry.  Together, the two girls form a strong bond when the teacher, Miss Richmond requests that, Sarah be allowed to sit in her classroom and turn the blades of the fan in heat.  Sarah has a gift for languages and when Miss Richmond discovers just how intelligent, Sarah really is, she allows her to sit with Bidushi to help with her academic work creating an even stronger bond between the two.  Their ultimate dream is for, Sarah to return home with Bidushi at the end of her schooling and become her personal ayah. 

 

Sadly, Bidushi becomes deathly ill and Sarah is accused of stealing a piece of jewellery from her while she was in a coma and runs away before they could arrest her.  With help, Sarah boards a train bound for Calcutta but gets off at the wrong stop and finds herself in a place called Kharagpur.  She wants to find a job as a teacher but with no formal education, qualifications, or diploma, every door is slammed in her face. 

 

While sitting on a bus stop bench perusing a newspaper searching for jobs, a beautiful Anglo-Indian woman named, Bonnie befriends her and invites her home for lunch.  When, Sarah enters the gorgeous Rose Villa she cannot believe her eyes.  The place is a mansion beautifully decorated and full of beautiful young girls.  Here, Sarah is renamed, Pamela and falls into a life of prostitution.  Pamela makes up her mind to do what she must do and promises herself she’ll only do this work until she saves enough money to educate herself to get her teaching degree.  Sadly, life throws yet another curve ball at Pamela and she becomes pregnant by one of her johns.  She bides her time, delivers the baby and leaves it with the people who aided in her escape from the Lockwood School so she can leave once again for Calcutta. 

 

Once in Calcutta she stumbles into a job working as a librarian for a British Indian Civil Service worker named, Simon Lewes.  Pamela, not wanting him to know or find anything out about her background tells him her name is Kamala Mukherjee and leads him to believe she is well-educated.  Kamala ends up living in a small bedroom in Simon’s house since this is where she works.  Simon has a massive collection of books on India that need to be unpacked, put on shelves using the dewey decimal system and repairs made to some of the oldest books.  Kamala will have enough work for about a year. 

 

The war begins and Kamala begins to spy on Simon and turning the information over to Pankaj, the very lawyer her friend, Bidushi was to marry.  However, as time marches on things begin to change and Kamala finds herself in a place she’d thought she’d never be. 

 

To fully understand this story is a profound discovery and the exact opportunity offered to us, the readers, in The Sleeping Dictionary.  This novel gracefully unravels how tradition, culture, and sense of place affect the human heart and is truly a rare must read!!  I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and just couldn’t put it down.  I seriously hope Ms. Massey is considering a sequel.  This is one book you don’t want to miss!!

 



 

FIN AND LADY (CATHLEEN SCHINE)

 

 

Story Description:

 

Farrar, Straus And Giroux | July 9, 2013 | Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-374-15490-5

 

From the author of ‘The Three Weissmanns of Westport’, a wise, clever story of New York in the 60’s.

 

It’s 1964.  Eleven-year-old Fin and his glamorous, worldly, older half-sister, Lady, have just been orphaned, and Lady, whom Fin hasn’t seen in six years, is now his legal guardian and his only hope.  That means Fin is uprooted from a small dairy farm in rural Connecticut to Greenwich Village, smack in the middle of the swinging 60’s.  He soon learns that Lady-giddy, careless, urgent, and obsessed with being free – is as much his responsibility as he is hers. 

 

So begins Fin and Lady, the lively, spirited new novel by Cathleen Schine.  Fin and Lady lead their lives against the background of the 60’s, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War – Lady pursued by ardent, dogged suitors, Fin determined to protect his impulsive sister from them and from herself. 

 

From a writer The New York Times has praised as “sparkling, crisp, clever, deft, hilarious, and deeply affecting,” Fin and Lady is a comic, romantic love story: the story of a brother and sister who must form their own unconventional family in increasingly unconventional times. 

 

My Review:

 

I was a tad disappointed in this one and the story really didn’t do all that much for me.  I’d purchased it on someone else’s recommendation that I would absolutely “love” it.  I guess my idea and this person’s idea of an interesting story are a bit different.  However, just because I didn’t particularly enjoy the novel doesn’t mean that there aren’t tons of you out there who will.

 

 



NIGHT MUSIC (JOJO MOYES)

 

Story Description:

 

Hodder | June 18, 2013 | Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-340-89596-2

 

Isabel Delancey has always taken her gifted life for granted.  But when her husband dies suddenly, leaving her with a mountain of debt, she and her two children are forced to abandon their home and move to a crumbling pile in the country. 

 

With the house falling down around their ears, and the last of her savings fast disappearing, Isabel turns to her neighbours, not knowing that her mere presence there has stirred up long-standing obsessions. 

 

As she fights to make her house a home, passions and lives collide.  Isabel will discover an instinct for survival she never knew she had – and that a heart can play a new song.

 

My Review:

 

Isabel Delancey and her husband, Laurent enjoyed a good life together – a rich life.  They had two children, Kitty and, Thierry who attended private schools and they employed a nanny who had been with them for years.  Isabel played lead violin in the symphony orchestra and, Laurent was employed working with an investment bank.  Suddenly and unexpectedly, Laurent passed away and Isabel was inconsolable with grief.  She just wasn’t functioning well these days trying to deal with her feelings and the fact that she’d never again see, Laurent.  Conducting the smallest of tasks was overwhelming for her, even the mail had piled up left unopened on the table to the point it was all spilling onto the floor. 

 

Isabel was upstairs playing her violin with tears cascading down her cheeks when fifteen-year-old, Kitty began calling to her to let her know a Mr. Cartwright was downstairs waiting to speak with her.  He had been, Laurent’s financial advisor/accountant and had come to relay some very bad news.  Basically, Laurent had died and left her and the children almost penniless.  Mr. Cartwright went on to explain that, Laurent: “…had borrowed heavily against this house to maintain your lifestyle.  He was relying on the value of your property continuing to increase.  But the biggest problem is that when he extended the mortgage, he did not increase his life insurance to cover the new sum.  In fact, he cashed in one of his policies.”  He continued to notify her that the house was not paid for, she had significantly outstanding mortgage repayments that he was sure she would not be able to meet.  Basically, Isabel was going to lose the house they had raised their children in.  Isabel was awestruck and assured Mr. Cartwright that there must be ‘something’ she could do to rectify this most devastating debacle she was finding herself in but Mr. Cartwright was quite forward in telling her: “…Mr. Delancey had spent heavily in the months leading up to his death.  He all but emptied several accounts as well as using the proceeds of the life insurance policy, any monies remaining will have to settle his credit card debts and his back payments due on the alimony to his ex-wife.”  The only solution Mr. Cartwright could see for, Isabel would be to sell the house and if she didn’t she would lose it.  Even if she took he kids out of private schools and let the nanny go she’d still be left with significant mortgage repayments.  The ONLY option he could see for her would be to sell her precious violin which would fetch a six-figure sum, in which case she’d at least be able to keep her house. 

 

After Mr. Cartwright left, Isabel and Kitty made tea and Kitty insisted that they must begin opening all the piled up mail but Isabel’s heart just wasn’t in it.  Kitty began tearing open envelopes and reporting to her mother what each contained.  She even ran across a warning that her hydro bill was so severely overdue that the company was just about to shut it off.  Isabel told Kitty not to worry about it that she’d take care of it but deep down she knew she couldn’t, there was literally no money.  As Kitty continued to open envelopes she came across a type-written letter of great importance and with excitement she tried to get her mother to read it but, Isabel said she was too tired and they’d continue with the rest the following day.  However, Kitty was adamant that Isabel read this particular letter for it seemed someone had left her a house in their will!  Neither of them was quite sure if it was a joke or not.  After some checking, Isabel found it to be true, it had been left to her by her great uncle and was situated out in the country.  She had remembered visiting when she was a young girl and if memory served her correctly it was a big sprawling space but had learned the place was in need of some real modernization.  Isabel made the comment that her great uncle had been living in it up to the time of his death so how bad could it be?  She was planning on taking this place sight unseen. 

 

Within a few weeks they were on their way to the inheritance house.  They arrived in town and stopped to ask directions and were shortly on their way again.  They finally found it and Kitty was appalled when they drove up front.  She thought it looked derelict but didn’t say anything out loud for fear of hurting her mother’s feelings.  The house was an absolute mess – an utter eyesore!

 

They eventually hire, Matt McCarthy to totally renovate the house not knowing that he and his wife, Laura had been taking care of the old codger who’d lived there before he died.  The only reason they looked after him, did his laundry, cooked his meals and put up with his extremely mouthy and rude comments was because they thought they would be left the house when he died, and Matt wanted this house more than anything else in life.  However, when he realized he didn’t end up with the house after all, he plans to exact his revenge at the expense of poor, Isabel. 

 

I was literally glued to this book and read it in two sittings.  This is my third Moyes novel and I thoroughly enjoy her writing and I’m looking forward to reading the next one. 

 



THE SECRET RESCUE: An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines (CATE LINEBERRY)

 

 

Story Description:

 

Little, Brown and Company|May 7, 2013|Hardcover|ISBN: 978-0-316-22022-4

 

The compelling untold story of a group of stranded U.S. Army nurses and medics fighting to escape Nazi – occupied Europe. 

 

When 26 Army nurses and medics – part of the 807^th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron – boarded a cargo plane for transport in November 1943 they never anticipated the crash landing in Nazi-occupied Albania that would lead to their months-long struggle for survival.  A drama that captured the attention of the American public, the group and its flight crew dodged bullets and battled winter storms as they climbed mountains and fought to survive, aided by courageous villagers who risked death at Nazi hands to help them. 

 

A mesmerizing tale of the courage and heroism of ordinary people, THE SECRET RESCUE tells not only a new story of struggle and endurance, but also one of the daring rescue attempts by clandestine American and British organizations amid the tumultuous landscape of the war. 

 

My Review:

 

Twenty-six Army Air Forces flight nurses and medics board a military transport plane in November of 1943, they never anticipate a crash landing in Nazi-occupied territory, or their ensuing months and their long fight to survive. 

 

There were: thirteen female nurses, thirteen medics, and a four-man flight crew. 

 

In December of 1943, Gavan “Garry” Duffy, a twenty-four-year-old special operations lieutenant working for Britain was looking through his binoculars from the cover of a hillside in Albania and watched in frustration as waves of German troops and tanks moved through the steep and winding roads of a town on the valley’s other side.  American rescue planes were supposed to land that morning in a risky and dramatic mission to evacuate a group of stranded army personnel.  These people had been lost for fifty-two days and were barely surviving the treacherous winter landscape while evading capture by the Germans. 

 

Three German trucks and one armored car drove from the town and parked near the main road that ran in front of the main road making it too risky for the rescue planes. 

 

The men and women to be rescued wore filthy, tattered uniforms and the cold icy wind just blasted through their clothing pushing against their severely malnourished bodies.  They were so sick and weak from hunger, sickness, and despair and riddled with lice. 

 

There were ninety personnel of the newly formed 807^th Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron (MAETS) piled into two railroad cars in Louisville, Kentucky the second week of August in 1943.  The group included twenty-five female nurses who were busy stashing their field packs away and settling into their assigned seats.  The officers, including the nurses, sat in one car, while the enlisted men were assigned to another each having no clue what was soon to become of them.    

 

All of them were new members of the Army Air Forces’ MAETS and were part of an innovative program that transported the wounded and sick from hospitals near the frontlines to better equipped medical facilities for additional care.  During the course of the war, MAETS would transport more than one million troops, with only forty-six patients dying in flight.  I would say that was an absolutely awesome accomplishment on their part!  

 

This was such an interesting story that I just couldn’t put the book down and read it in two parts.  Had I of had the time, I would have read it in one day.

 



THE CHERRY COLA BOOK CLUB (ASHTON LEE)

 

 

REVIEW:

 

Kensington Books|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-0-7582-7341-3

 

Twenty-eight-year-old, Maura Beth Mayhew was having a meeting with the Councilmen – Durden Sparks, Chunky Badham, and Gopher Joe Martin.   Maura Beth had been the librarian for six years and now Gopher Joe was the consummate “yes” man if there ever was one.  They felt the library was failing miserably and proposed to Maura Beth that she had five months left to turn things around or the library would be history, they would refuse to fund it any longer than that.  Instead, the Councilmen wanted to fund the Industrial Park and felt their money could be better used there.  Ha!  That was their opinion, not Maura Beth’s. 

 

The Councilmen had commissioned a study and believed several viable companies would locate there if they prepared the land for them properly which would bring jobs to their struggling little community. 

 

All this was taking place in Cherico, Mississippi.  The Councilmen had gotten re-elected two years ago  in the fall of 2010.  Cherico was small and parochial, it had never taken full advantage of its picturesque location on Lake Cherico, which was a finger of the Tennesse River System in the extreme northeast corner of Mississippi.  Councilman Sparks wholeheartedly believed that “nobody out there really gave a damn about the library.” 

 

Maura Beth asked if they would continue to fund the library for the five full months.  Councilman Sparks responded: “I wish I could give you a guarantee, Miz Mayhew.  But if you do nothing to change the status quo, The Cherico Library is history.  We can’t justify the expense any longer.  If you should impress us enough, maybe we’ll be willing to work something out.” 

 

Poor Maura Beth walked down the steps of the Cherico City Hall and out onto Commerce Street as if she’d just been handed a death sentence.  Only five months to get cracking.  Her shoulders were slumped and the blazing June sun glinting off the asphalt made them slump even more. 

 

Maura Beth went to the Twinkle Café to see her friend, Periwinkle.  She knew she could always rely on her for sound advice.  Periwinkle told Maura Beth she had to have some sort of gimmick to get the patrons in the door of the library.  As they were discussing things a new woman in town came in and Periwinkle introduced her to Maura Beth.  Her name was, Connie McShay.  She and her husband had just moved there from Nashville about a month ago and lived in a lodge on the lake.  Connie promised to come into the library for a card very soon. 

 

Connie had mentioned a book club she belonged to back in Nashville and Maura Beth wondered if she could get something like that going at the library in Cherico to drive the people in. 

 

True to her word, one week after meeting Maura Beth at the Twinkle Café, Connie McShay came into the library to get her card.  Maura Beth was very happy to see her to say the least.  Connie explained to Maura Beth how the book club she attended worked and together they brainstormed as to what would work best in the small community of Cherico, like having each person bring a meal of something such as a casserole, salad, desserts and such that could enjoy together while discussing the book they were reading.  In Nashville, Connie said they had only started out with seven people which eventually turned into over thirty; and hardly anyone ever missed a meeting.  Maura Beth was excited and said that’s just what they needed to jumpstart her library, that same type of loyalty.  They discussed ways to advertise the start-up of the book club and decided flyers would work well and they could also give some to Periwinkle to hand out at her café.  At the end of their meeting they’d decided that Maura Beth would design and produce the flyer, but Connie would pay for everything out of her “mad money”, as the library simply lacked the funds to pull it off; they would allow a period of two weeks for people to sign up for the club; then Maura Beth would call an organizational meeting at the library and officially get things under way.  They would name the book club “The Cherico Page Turner’s Book Club” but that name was about to change at their first organizational meeting. 

 

The Cherry Cola Book Club is a marvelous read full of great characters and a wonderful story!  I just couldn’t pull my eyes away from this one so ended up reading it in one sitting.  I’d love to see a sequel to this someday.

 



BURNING EMBERS (HANNAH FIELDING)

 

 

REVIEW:

 

Omnific Publishing|Trade Paperback|ISBN: 978-1-936305-46-9

 

Twenty-five-year-old Coral Sinclair was aboard a cruise ship crossing the Indian Ocean on her way to Kenya.  Sadly, her father, Walter Sinclair has passed away and she is now returning home to her inheritance which is the plantation she had once called her childhood home.  The plantation is called, Mpingo which means ‘The Tree of Music’ in Swahili.  Coral’s family had originally been expatriate settlers there. 

 

Coral was only nine-years-old when she’d left the plantation due to her parent’s divorce.  It was no secret that Walter not only loved his wife, Angela but many other men’s wives as well.  The most difficult part of the divorce for, Coral, other than missing her father, was attending an English school.  After roaming the wide open plains of Kenya, she felt cooped up and trapped in the school, and never got quite used to it. 

 

When, Coral was sixteen her mother married a man named, Edward Ranleigh – a happy-go-lucky man whom, Coral hated in the beginning.   She just could not imagine anyone ever taking her father’s place especially where her mother was concerned.  But, she eventually came around after he taught her how to ride and sail. 

 

The year after her mother and Edward were married, they gave birth to a set of twins – Lavinia and Thomas.  This was another huge adjustment for Coral to make.  She wanted to move back to Kenya but those plans were very quickly waylaid by her mother. 

 

Coral is finally home at the plantation and Aluna, her childhood caregiver is ever so happy to see her, it had been years since they’d seen each other and their meeting again was sweet.  Coral also met someone else, Rafe, a friend of her father’s.  He was a handsome, striking looking man with a bad reputation as being a womanizer.  Aluna was constantly trying to instill in Coral what a horrible man, Rafe was.  She, with her African superstitions full heartedly believed he was evil and dangerous and that he would end up hurting, Coral badly.  Aluna, told Coral: “You’re like a moth attracted to a fire.  Your wings will get burned.  He is an afiriti, a devil.  He has cast a dua over you, and you will need a kizee to free you.  Believe me, my little one, there are stories about him, many stories going among the people.”

 

Coral had grown up her first ten years in Africa and the Africans had a sixth sense about people, it was all part of their culture.  Therefore she could not dismiss so easily Aluna’s superstitions, and her words to Coral had struck a chord.  When she thought deeply she realized that she really knew little about Rafe other than his womanizing.  Something in the back of her mind told her there was “something about him – something primitive and dangerous – warning her to retreat while there was still time.” 

 

Hannah Fielding is a wonderful storyteller and she drew me into the love relationship between Coral and Rafe in no time making me regret having to remove my eyes from the page for even a moment. 

 

I so enjoyed the descriptive prose throughout the novel.  I could picture in my mind’s eye clearly, the massive open plains, the wild animals like the silver backed gorilla, the black and white rhino’s, the antelope, black lion and other animals.  It was an exciting feeling to get lost in the wilds of Africa. 

 

Burning Embers isn’t the type of novel you simply read – it is the kind of book you devour!  Once you’ve begun reading this you’re going to find it impossible to put down.  You will totally and wholey lose yourself in Coral and Rafe’s world.  You will root for these two very, very special people to love each other and forgive each other’s shortcomings and past histories.  By the end of the story, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be clutching and shredding Kleenex in your hands.

 

Burning Embers is one of the most beautiful and powerful love stories I’ve read in quite a while.  Well-done!