Review: "Mrs. Kimble" by Jennifer Haigh

I picked this one up a long time ago- probably more than a year ago- at our local Coles store when they were having a 4/$10 sale. I was intrigued by the premise- three very different women all marry the same man (at three different times). This story is essentially their story- the story of how one man can be perceived in so many different ways.

Mrs. Kimble opens with the story of Birdie, Ken Kimble's first wife. He's just left her, alone with two children and no income, to chase greener pastures (read: younger women). She had an idea that he was cheating, but refused to admit the facts even to herself. It's at this point that we meet Charlie, his son, whose point of view is the only male perspective in the book. From here we meet Joan, a wealthy woman in her own right, a breast cancer survivor, and a woman who has never been married but deep down has wanted to be all along. Ken arrived in Joan's town with his young girlfriend in tow, but quickly realized that it would never work with the young girlfriend. Finally we meet Dinah, who coincidentally was the baby-sitter for Ken's children with Birdie way back in the day. Despite their age difference the two marry, and create a life with one another. Dinah is the one who attempts to reconcile Ken with his older children, but when a scandal breaks, the truth about Ken becomes glaringly apparent.

Mrs. Kimble was interestingly enough not focused on Ken, even though he was the thread that held all of the stories together, but is focused on each individual woman- their downfalls and their self-esteem issues. Ken is so thoroughly unlikable, smooth like snake oil salesman, but not much substance, that the reader wonders what these three women saw in them. In fact, Ken seems to prey on women's insecurities about themselves, and makes them feel good about themselves by doting on them. It was an interesting character study, about women, our individual hang-ups, and the lengths that we'll go to just to "belong" to someone.

The well-developed characters were what made this book so compelling, although the plot was interesting as well. I especially like that the ending is left open to interpretation; each individual reader could create their own happy (or not so happy) endings. This is yet another book that I have read recently that I can highly recommend.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Recommended to: Fans of women's/general fiction
Challenges: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, RYOB Challenge 2010, Read Remember Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge

Review: "The Year of Fog" by Michelle Richmond

I don't feel that I can truly express to you how much I loved this book. Funnily enough, I don't think that I would ever have picked this one up had it not been for the fact that WalMart made this book one of their book club picks of the month. I had run in there for something else and happened to see a prominent display of this book. I picked it up, read the back, and was hooked. For some reason the title didn't appeal to me, it sounded depressing, and even though this book is not filled with sweetness and light, it was compelling and I'm so glad that I read it.

The Year of Fog tells the story of Abby Mason, a photographer, a fiancee, and a soon-to-be stepmother. Abby is both excited and fearful about becoming a stepmother to 6-year-old Emma. Emma's own mother essentially abandoned her when she was young, and keeps in only sporadic contact. Abby knows that there will be walls that need to be broken down in order for the little girl to trust, and hopefully love, her, but Abby holds out hope that someday they will have a good relationship. Everything changes in an instant. Emma's father goes out of town for the weekend and leaves Abby in charge. The two go for a walk on the beach, Emma wanders ahead in the dense fog, and she disappears without a trace.

The rest of the book focuses on the search for Emma, and the search for answers. Jake, Emma's father and Abby's fiancee, is beside himself with grief and refuses to give up his search for her. Abby, devastated by the fact that her actions have led to so much pain, searches tirelessly for her. Michelle Richmond's decision to tell this story from the point of view of Abby, essentially an outsider, was a wise one. We, as readers, could experience the horror of the loss of a child, but we never get quite close enough that this pain and grief becomes too much to handle.

The Year of Fog was written with a delicate touch, and I'm not surprised that so many readers have devoured this one. I'm only surprised that it took me this long to pick up a copy. The characters were fleshed out and relatable, the plot realistic, and the conclusion fitting. Alternately horrifying, devastating, and complex, Michelle Richmond has written a gem of a book. This one is a must-read for any parent.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Recommended to: Fans of fiction, parents
Challenges: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge 2010, RYOB Challenge 2010, Read Remember Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge

Review: "The Girls" by Lori Lansens

I've had this one sitting on my shelf for a while, but I'm usually so busy reading review books and blogging that I don't have a lot of time to get to my own books (something that I'll be trying to remedy in 2011!). On the weekend I was in the mood for something other than what I was reading at the time, and this one caught my eye. I can't believe that it took me so long to get to it, because I absolutely loved it!

The Girls is the fictional story of Ruby and Rose Darlen, the world's oldest craniopagus conjoined twins. Joined at the head, the girls have had to learn to adapt to their limited circumstances. Ruby and Rose have been through far more than the average person, aside from the fact that they're conjoined. Their mother, young when she got pregnant with them, gives birth to them and flees. A kindly nurse present at the delivery, unable to have her own biological children, falls in love with the infants quickly and she and her husband, who the girls know as Uncle Stash, adopt them. Aunt Lovey, Uncle Stash, Ruby and Rose live in the small town of Leaford, Ontario and although a curiosity at first, Ruby and Rose quickly become an accepted part of the community. The Girls is their story, written in the alternating voices of Ruby and Rose.

I fell in love with this story within the first couple of pages. What stood out for me was the fact that this book wasn't written from a "poor me" point of view. Although Ruby and Rose could certainly justify being bitter given their unique challenges, they are filled with optimism and a certain gratefulness for their uniqueness. Ruby mentions at one point that she is happy that she can be with her sister, her best friend, all of the time; that she can tell by a quickening heartbeat or a heated cheek how her sister is feeling. The girls seem to tackle life's challenges with an overall grace and quiet charm, but that's not to say that they don't have their moments of being frustrated or wishing that they could do something simple, like sleep by themselves.

I especially loved this quote about books, found on page 187 of the edition that I read:

I feel, holding the books, accommodating their weight and breathing their dust, an abiding love. I trust them, in a way that I can't trust my computer, though I couldn't do without it. Books are matter. My books matter.

I loved Ruby and Rose and the people that filled their lives. I loved their town (and could relate directly to it since I live in a small Ontario town as well). I loved learning their story, their stories being very different depending on which of the sisters was telling it. I spent a lot of time while reading picturing the girls and how hard it was for them to move as a single unit, to sleep as a single unit, and to even use the bathroom as a single unit. I found the whole thing fascinating and couldn't put it down. Overall, I simply loved The Girls.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Recommended to: Fans of general or Canadian fiction
Challenges: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge 2010, RYOB Challenge 2010, The Canadian Book Challenge 4, Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge

Review: "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger

For some reason, I've never read The Catcher in the Rye. I switched high schools in the summer after grade 10, so although I got stuck reading The Lord of the Flies twice, I've never read J.D. Salinger's classic novel. Reading it became so much more important when my husband and I named our son "Holden", and many people asked if we had named him after the famed literary character. We didn't. So, when Mandy, my virtual friend from Mandy's Life After 30 spent a month reading classics as a personal challenge to herself, I decided to finally read The Catcher in the Rye, and she decided to read it along with me!

The Catcher in the Rye is the story of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield. He's just been kicked out of yet another boarding school for failing, he finds his roommate annoying, and he's in trouble with the fencing team because he left their foils on the subway and they had to forfeit their game. It's right before Christmas vacation, and rather than sticking around, he decides to head back to New York, where his parents and little sister live (older brother D.B. is a screenwriter in Hollywood). He doesn't want to return to his parent's apartment, though, because they don't yet know that he's been kicked out and he isn't due home until Wednesday. So, he takes the money that he's been sent by his senile grandmother, rents a hotel room, and spends time wandering around New York, calling up previous friends and teachers, getting drunk, and generally wasting time. We later find out that after all of his wandering he ends up in a psychiatric hospital, dealing with his psychiatric issues.

Can I admit (without being booed out of blogging-land) that I just didn't get this novel at first glance? I understand that it's a classic, I understand that it has been studied in high schools around the world, but I just didn't get it. Perhaps I would have understood it better if I had read it as a teenager, rather than as an adult. The frequent profanity didn't bother me (although this is the reason that many parents have lobbied to have it removed from school curriculum), but I just found myself thinking "when is something going to happen?".

Luckily, I found this reading guide, which I found infinitely helpful for decoding The Catcher in the Rye. I understand now that this is a coming-of-age novel. I understand that Holden is in a kind of stasis, unable to move forward to adulthood, yet unable to fully participate in being a teenager. Now I understand that there was really no climax to the story, but rather a series of smaller climaxes. After having devoured the reading guide, the story makes much more sense to me and I can understand the overall significance.

I'll be honest: this is something that I have little desire to read again, but I am glad that I read it. Now when someone asks me "Did you name your son after Holden Caulfield?", I can tell them that I didn't, but I will at least know more about the literary character that they are referring to. Plus, I broadened my reading horizons!

Rating: Can you really rate a beloved classic? Well, I'm not going to :)
Recommended to: Anyone looking to read more classic (award winning) novels
Challenges: 2010 100+ Reading Challenge, New Author Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge, Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge

Other Reviews:
Josette at Books Love Me

Review: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

I find that I have the tendency to shy away from "bestsellers" or books that have been raved about all over the blogosphere. Sometimes I'll read these books and find out that for me, they couldn't live up to the hype surrounding them. Then I'm disappointed. What I'm trying to do here is explain why I waited so long to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society , when in fact it is a book that fulfilled every expectation that I had for it and more.

It is January, 1946. London, England is just beginning to rebuild after the Second World War. Juliet Ashton is on a book tour for a book that she wrote during the war meant to lift the spirits of those who read it, and is looking for inspiration for a new book, one completely different from her first. When she receives a letter from a stranger, Dawsey Adams, a man who lives in Guernsey and is in possession of one of her old books, she begins a friendship through correspondence with him and the entire Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. She discovers how their literary society came to be, and she forms lasting friendships in the process.

I can't even describe fully how much I loved this book. It is comprised entirely of letters and telegrams between the characters in the book, a format that I love, and I couldn't devour it fast enough. The characters are what made the book so engrossing, though. Juliet is strong-willed and a talented writer, and her enthusiasm was contagious. Sidney, her close friend and one of the owners of her publishing company, was protective of her and caring. The people that she meets in Guernsey were people that I would all have loved to meet in real life- big-hearted, determined to put the horrors of the war and Occupation behind them, yet warm and loving. The war scarred them, but didn't change them beyond recognition.

Another aspect of the book that I loved is that it showed multiple sides of the war. It wasn't black and white- Germans= bad, everyone else= good. There were a few times when those who lived in Guernsey described a German soldier who was kind-hearted, or compassionate towards those that they were essentially imprisoning. It would be so easy to villanize every one of them, but those in Guernsey were able to show compassion to those who deserved it.

Despite the many heart-wrenching scenes, the saddest part of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society was that it ended. It had it all- a compelling story, a new perspective on the war, humour, and romance. I was also saddened to learn that Mary Ann Shaffer passed away in February 2008, shortly after her debut novel was released. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who would have loved to read more from her and her niece. Ultimately, this is one book that every fiction lover should take the time to read.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Recommended to: Everyone who loves fiction, especially to those interested in World War II (but you truly don't have to be interested in the war to love this one)
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge 2010, New Author Challenge 2010, 2010 Support Your Local Library Challenge, Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Reading Challenge (mentioned on pgs.90,97,121,136)