Monday, February 27, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
In Death series Nora Roberts
In case anyone is interested in this series as well (see blog post on The Search below), this is the first book.
The Search by Nora Roberts
When reviewing books, I normally choose what I would describe as literature; more literary type books and authors. That being said, I have mentioned here before that while I enjoy literature, I REALLY enjoy the more commonly read types of fiction. Most especially, I like mystery and fantasy novels. I am not a fan of the romance novel, per se. Although I do enjoy a little romance mixed in with a story about something else, especially if it has a bit of an edge.
I only began reading Nora Roberts about a year ago. She does write many romance novels, but she has quite a few novels that have that edge I so enjoy. I am a big fan of her In Death series, written under the nom de plume of JD Robb.
One of the things I liked best about The Search was that although it was about a woman stalked by a serial killer, and there was a romance aspect, there was the opportunity to be exposed to something else. That something was dog training. I am always interested in learning about something new, especially if I have no experience with it at all. Dogs play a big part as characters in this story, as the main character, Fiona, is an expert dog trainer, with three of her own dogs that are expert Search and Rescue dogs. There were several short subplots on this topic, which was fun, interesting and different.
Another aspect of Nora Roberts' writing that I really enjoy is how she writes her romantic lead men. In The Search, Simon plays the foil to Fiona. He is cranky, unsociable and generally difficult to like. He doesn't say anything that he doesn't mean, which is refreshing in a character, as his whole personality is refreshing for a romantic lead man. Ms. Roberts does not write wilting flower females, either. Her ladies are tough (see Eve Dallas from the In Death books for more!) but their characters are very well created, and the author takes the time to build the backstory for Fiona, the only survivor of the Red Scarf Killer and the one who eventually helped to put him in prison.
The build up of tension in this novel is excellent. The author again takes her time to get us there, and the middle parts are very enjoyable, switching between Search and Rescue activities as well as romantic interludes between the main characters, spiced with a little sex along the way.
I would recommend this book to all readers. It is a fun and easy read, with lots of well-researched information for those interested in dogs as more than pets.
I only began reading Nora Roberts about a year ago. She does write many romance novels, but she has quite a few novels that have that edge I so enjoy. I am a big fan of her In Death series, written under the nom de plume of JD Robb.
One of the things I liked best about The Search was that although it was about a woman stalked by a serial killer, and there was a romance aspect, there was the opportunity to be exposed to something else. That something was dog training. I am always interested in learning about something new, especially if I have no experience with it at all. Dogs play a big part as characters in this story, as the main character, Fiona, is an expert dog trainer, with three of her own dogs that are expert Search and Rescue dogs. There were several short subplots on this topic, which was fun, interesting and different.
Another aspect of Nora Roberts' writing that I really enjoy is how she writes her romantic lead men. In The Search, Simon plays the foil to Fiona. He is cranky, unsociable and generally difficult to like. He doesn't say anything that he doesn't mean, which is refreshing in a character, as his whole personality is refreshing for a romantic lead man. Ms. Roberts does not write wilting flower females, either. Her ladies are tough (see Eve Dallas from the In Death books for more!) but their characters are very well created, and the author takes the time to build the backstory for Fiona, the only survivor of the Red Scarf Killer and the one who eventually helped to put him in prison.
The build up of tension in this novel is excellent. The author again takes her time to get us there, and the middle parts are very enjoyable, switching between Search and Rescue activities as well as romantic interludes between the main characters, spiced with a little sex along the way.
I would recommend this book to all readers. It is a fun and easy read, with lots of well-researched information for those interested in dogs as more than pets.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Review of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Ernest Hemingway is a writer steeped in both history and mystery. A fascinating character, one whose mythos extends 50 years past his suicide death. The Paris Wife is not about Hemingway, per se. It is about his first wife Hadley Richardson, a woman who he was wed to for 5 years and had one son, called Bumby. It is a somewhat fictionalized account of their marriage (the details are real, but who knows about the private conversations or how Hemingway was feeling and thinking?) and life in Paris in Hemingway's early writing years.
McLain paints "Hem" (and from what has been written about him before, probably very accurately) as a self-centered, drunken jerk, very impressed with "Hemingway" as a personality rather than invested in himself as a person, husband, father or friend. He was extremely macho and obsessed with Spanish bullfighting (read The Sun Also Rises, for more information on that!). He was not unloving, and seemed to believe that Hadley was his true love- that is until Paulette came along and befriended Hadley to get close to Hem and begin an affair with him.
Hadley is not drawn as a feminist, or as the time period might have suggested, a suffragette. She was a simple person, musically gifted, loving and unfussy. This was probably the best kind of mate Hemingway might have had, someone to balance his dark moods and drinking, except that she often took to drinking to maintain her relationship with Hemingway herself.
One of the most fascinating things about this story is the depiction of relationships between Hem and Hadley and the 1920's Paris expat literary glitterati, including Gertrude Stein (of course, not without Alice B. Toklas), Archibald McLeish and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Reading about these real writers as people casually throwing out statements about trying to get published, "It's called The Great Gatsby...and this Gatsby fellow is still with me" is quite thrilling for someone who enjoys classic literature. Of course, Fitzgerald, like Hemingway, was a drunk and his bad behavior outdid even Hem's.
The story is fascinating on its own, even without the name-dropping, and at it's heart a true depiction of a flawed and co-dependent marriage. It was refreshing to find that Hadley did eventually find love, of the stable and kind variety after Hemingway. But McLain does a terrific job of writing two people truly in love who have no idea how to form a marriage, especially since one of them is a flawed, creative type of person who is only in his early 20's and appears to have PTSD from his experiences in Italy during WWI. One could assume their marriage was doomed from the start, but while Hadley describes them as continually "naive", there is an element of hope from both Hemingway and Hadley, and they did seem to want to truly make it work, at least for a while.
I would recommend this book to all readers, but especially to those who are fans of the classics.
McLain paints "Hem" (and from what has been written about him before, probably very accurately) as a self-centered, drunken jerk, very impressed with "Hemingway" as a personality rather than invested in himself as a person, husband, father or friend. He was extremely macho and obsessed with Spanish bullfighting (read The Sun Also Rises, for more information on that!). He was not unloving, and seemed to believe that Hadley was his true love- that is until Paulette came along and befriended Hadley to get close to Hem and begin an affair with him.
Hadley is not drawn as a feminist, or as the time period might have suggested, a suffragette. She was a simple person, musically gifted, loving and unfussy. This was probably the best kind of mate Hemingway might have had, someone to balance his dark moods and drinking, except that she often took to drinking to maintain her relationship with Hemingway herself.
One of the most fascinating things about this story is the depiction of relationships between Hem and Hadley and the 1920's Paris expat literary glitterati, including Gertrude Stein (of course, not without Alice B. Toklas), Archibald McLeish and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Reading about these real writers as people casually throwing out statements about trying to get published, "It's called The Great Gatsby...and this Gatsby fellow is still with me" is quite thrilling for someone who enjoys classic literature. Of course, Fitzgerald, like Hemingway, was a drunk and his bad behavior outdid even Hem's.
The story is fascinating on its own, even without the name-dropping, and at it's heart a true depiction of a flawed and co-dependent marriage. It was refreshing to find that Hadley did eventually find love, of the stable and kind variety after Hemingway. But McLain does a terrific job of writing two people truly in love who have no idea how to form a marriage, especially since one of them is a flawed, creative type of person who is only in his early 20's and appears to have PTSD from his experiences in Italy during WWI. One could assume their marriage was doomed from the start, but while Hadley describes them as continually "naive", there is an element of hope from both Hemingway and Hadley, and they did seem to want to truly make it work, at least for a while.
I would recommend this book to all readers, but especially to those who are fans of the classics.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
A Review of Room by Emma Donoghue (some spoilers included)
Room is a story narrated by Jack, who lives with his Ma in Room. Jack is five, and through his perspective, we come to understand that Ma was kidnapped by a man Jack refers to as "Old Nick" several years before. She has been held in Room and visited in the night by Old Nick. Eventually, she gave birth to Jack there, and has raised him as best she can in this tiny space.
The book is told in several parts, but it is divided mainly between the beginning, in which Jack and Ma are living in Room and after they escape, by having Jack play dead.
The author tells the story from Jack's perception, which is not narrow but is limited by his 5 years of only living in Room. He has no contact with the outside world, which he thinks of as everything in the television. People outside aren't real, buildings, other lives not held captive aren't real to Jack.
After coming out of Room, Jack is forced to confront a world in which he has no frame of reference at all, except in the one hour per day of television his Ma lets him watch. He is exposed to paparazzi, well-meaning, and not-so-well-meaning relatives, germs and just regular people who do things Jack cannot understand.
Despite this, it is Ma who has a much harder time reintegrating into the real world. She goes a little crazy, and Jack is forced to be without her for a time, something he has never had to experience in his life.
Room is a sad but hopeful story about the human condition. It is well written and telling it from Jack's perspective keeps it fresh as well as preventing the story from sinking into melodrama or maudlin territory. It does not, and the end of the tale is a hopeful one, we are hopeful that Jack will adapt to life outside of Room and become just like any other child in the world.
The book is told in several parts, but it is divided mainly between the beginning, in which Jack and Ma are living in Room and after they escape, by having Jack play dead.
The author tells the story from Jack's perception, which is not narrow but is limited by his 5 years of only living in Room. He has no contact with the outside world, which he thinks of as everything in the television. People outside aren't real, buildings, other lives not held captive aren't real to Jack.
After coming out of Room, Jack is forced to confront a world in which he has no frame of reference at all, except in the one hour per day of television his Ma lets him watch. He is exposed to paparazzi, well-meaning, and not-so-well-meaning relatives, germs and just regular people who do things Jack cannot understand.
Despite this, it is Ma who has a much harder time reintegrating into the real world. She goes a little crazy, and Jack is forced to be without her for a time, something he has never had to experience in his life.
Room is a sad but hopeful story about the human condition. It is well written and telling it from Jack's perspective keeps it fresh as well as preventing the story from sinking into melodrama or maudlin territory. It does not, and the end of the tale is a hopeful one, we are hopeful that Jack will adapt to life outside of Room and become just like any other child in the world.
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