Author Herman Koch’s Summer House with Swimming Pool opens with Marc Schlosser, the main character and narrator, explaining to the reader what a caring doctor he is to his patients - how his patients come from miles away because of his genuine, heart-felt bedside manner. He is woefully unconvincing in his delivery.
Despite what his patients may think, right off the bat, Marc is unlikeable. He is insensitive and judgmental. Koch lays down Marc’s thoughts in long, self-important paragraphs that drag on for pages. Surprisingly, though, the antagonist in the book, chauvinistic stage and screen actor, Ralph Meier, is even less likeable.
Read moreEntry Island, written by accomplished author Peter May, has two story lines: a murder mystery in present day on a Canadian barrier island and a tale of forbidden love in mid 19th century Scotland. Both involve the same main characters, Sime and Kristy.
Sime, short for Simon but pronounced “Sheem,” is our protagonist. In current times, he is investigating Kirsty as the key suspect in the murder of her mega rich husband. He is overcome by the notion that they have met before. She assures them they have not.
So begin his dreams of times past with her in Scotland.
Read moreHollow Man's intriguing narrator, our protagonist Dominic, is an Englishman living in Austin making his living as a prosecutor and musician. He’s also a psychopath; or as Dominic prefers, a sociopath. It sets up an interesting plot with a cast of curious characters. I met author Mark Pryor, himself an Englishman living in Austin, at BookExpo America in May, and received an early release of the book. As my first foray into reading Pryor’s work, it was definitely a fun read.
The story begins with Dominic providing us an education about his condition. In his arrogant, yet affable voice, we hear how he has a rather troubled history as a youth, how his parents shipped him off to America, and he is now adept at hiding behind a well-crafted facade.
Read moreSarah Hepola shares her harrowing escapades as a blackout drinker in this unforgettable memoir. She yanks you into her checkered drinking history from the get go. The opening scene has her in Paris on a magazine assignment, out drinking with a friend. She writes about returning to the hotel, walking through the lobby and how, then, the lights of her memory go out.
Until she wakes up the next morning in the middle of having sex with a complete stranger.
Read moreAn American doctor and his family live out Hitler’s destruction during WWII in Paris. Writer Alex Kershaw, a journalist and historical author has conducted a deep inquiry into a particular family’s involvement in the French Resistance in under German occupation. Avenue of Spies is the completely absorbing result.
American Sumner Jackson is a surgeon at the American Hospital in Paris and provided medical care during the first world war, so he is no stranger to combat wounds and care. His is married to Swiss-born Toquette, and they have a son, Phillip. They live on a very posh street in Paris - Foch Avenue. The street is an important setting, as many of the homes become the headquarters for Hitler’s SS, the Gestapo - spy hunters and gruesome torturers.
Read more“The panic he felt then was unlike any he’d known before. A sensation of being trapped in someplace small, and abandoned in someplace endless, all at once.” These are the thoughts contemplated by the protagonist in Michael Koryta's Last Words as he finds himself stranded in an underground cave.
If reading something can make you claustrophobic, this might not be the book for you.
Read moreThis book is not for everyone. For me though, it was beautiful. Beautiful in its gutted heart and soul, its raw emotion, its incredibly precise writing, and its palpable heart ache. And its truth, according to David Payne in his recent memoir, Barefoot to Avalon: A Brother’s Story. It’s Payne’s story and his brother’s of growing up with an angry, alcoholic father, of playing favorites, and not being able to speak the truth. It’s of Payne’s brother, George A., with mental illness, his tragic death, and Payne’s own manic struggle to leave behind, then reconcile his family ties.
The book is dark. This is Payne’s therapeutic release from the guilt he has around his brother - not just his death, but in his life, diagnosed with bipolar disorder and having had several psychotic breakdowns. George A., as Payne describes wins by losing. That is, he gains the affection and attention of his divorced parents; attention Payne feels cheated of. Yet George A. earns this by breaking down. We see the brothers converge at family events and holidays, yet fade from each other’s lives in their separation, becoming two very different individuals - financial broker versus writer; conservative versus liberal; encircled by family versus trying to escape the family he was born into.
Read moreI’m familiar with the writing of Jojo Moyes, as I’ve previously read The Girl You Left Behind, and my cohort, Elizabeth, has read and reviewed on this site One Plus One. Me Before You was loaned to me by a friend and avid reader. I could not put it down, and I am now a big advocate for reading Moyes’ works.
Me Before You is a wonderful story line about a controversial subject. Moyes writes with an authentic voice and infuses humor into a very smart book. Our protagonist, Louisa Clark is a working class girl - a waitress in a diner, and perfectly happy doing so. When the diner closes for good, she struggles to find work, not being highly skilled, and finds herself as a caregiver to a paraplegic. Her patient, Will Traynor, is rude, brash, and clearly disdains her. She hates her new job through and through. However, her family is relying on her income, so she hangs in there and decides to adjust her attitude. She won’t be a pushover and combats Will’s fiery moods with tough love. Soon they warm to each other and more.
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