literary fiction

BOOK REVIEW: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

/ E.A. Hoffmann / Leave a comment

Title: Tom Lake

Author: Ann Patchett

Audiobook Length: 11 hours and 22 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

Read Start Date: September 16, 2023

Read Finish Date: September 23, 2023

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: In the spring of 2020, Lara’s three daughters return to the family’s orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, they beg their mother to tell them the story of Peter Duke, a famous actor with whom she shared both a stage and a romance years before at a theater company called Tom Lake.

As Lara recalls the past, her daughters examine their own lives and relationship with their mother, and are forced to reconsider the world and everything they thought they knew.

Tom Lake is a meditation on youthful love, married love, and the lives parents have led before their children were born. Both hopeful and elegiac, it explores what it means to be happy even when the world is falling apart. As in all of her novels, Ann Patchett combines compelling narrative artistry with piercing insights into family dynamics. The result is a rich and luminous story, told with profound intelligence and emotional subtlety, that demonstrates once again why she is one of the most revered and acclaimed literary talents working today.

My Review: Tom Lake tells the story of Lara Novak, a woman who lives on a cherry orchard in Northern Michigan with her husband. Her three adult daughters return to the farm for the season. I believe that the present day events are set during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pandemic is mentioned only in passing and doesn’t become an overarching theme of the novel. While picking cherries, the daughters ask Lara to tell them the story of Lara’s summer at Tom Lake during her early twenties, where, while participating in a summer stock theater company, she fell in love with a famous actor named Peter Duke. The daughters grew up watching Peter Duke in several favorite movies, and only recently learned that their mother had dated him in her youth.

The novel alternates between the present and the past, and the stories soon intertwine in a intricately woven story, where past actions / events, resonate with /dictate the present.

The storylines are character heavy, and not much happens other than the telling of their lives. In such books, I always find that it is vital that the book is written well, and that the lives of the characters are engaging enough to keep my interest. Both are true with Tom Lake. Patchett writes in beautiful prose, and her characters are relatable and loveable.

Stats: as of writing this post (October 9, 2023) Tom Lake has a 4.23 rating on Goodreads. My review of 4 stars is on par with the masses.

Recommended? Yes!

BOOK REVIEW: Alone With You in the Ether by Olivie Blake

/ E.A. Hoffmann / Leave a comment

Title: Alone With You in the Ether

Author: Olivie Blake

Audiobook Length: 9 hours and 57 minutes

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Literary Fiction

Read Start Date: August 23, 2023

Read Finish Date: August 28, 2023

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: CHICAGO, SOMETIME—

Two people meet in the Art Institute by chance. Prior to their encounter, he is a doctoral student who manages his destructive thoughts with compulsive calculations about time travel; she is a bipolar counterfeit artist, undergoing court-ordered psychotherapy. By the end of the story, these things will still be true. But this is not a story about endings.

For Regan, people are predictable and tedious, including and perhaps especially herself. She copes with the dreariness of existence by living impulsively, imagining a new, alternate timeline being created in the wake of every rash decision.

To Aldo, the world feels disturbingly chaotic. He gets through his days by erecting a wall of routine: a backbeat of rules and formulas that keep him going. Without them, the entire framework of his existence would collapse.

For Regan and Aldo, life has been a matter of resigning themselves to the blueprints of inevitability—until the two meet. Could six conversations with a stranger be the variable that shakes up the entire simulation?

My Review: I wasn’t particularly in love with Blake’s book The Atlas Six (you can find my review here), and so had decided not to read the other books in that series. However, I figured I would give Blake as an author another shot, and so picked up Alone With You in the Ether from the library as an audiobook. I had no idea what it was about, other than it topped the “popular” charts at the Vienna library.

In reading the book, my mood was constantly at status quo. I neither loved, nor hated the book. I didn’t feel much of anything about it, really…it was more something to listen to in order to pass the time. I did become annoyed from time to time at the different voices in the audiobook version, as Blake had some weird “narrator” POV that popped up sporadically and only for a sentence of two to describe to the reader the backstory of what was happening at that moment.

Some people absolutely love this book, like Ary and Books. I believe the review even mentions that Ary and Books bought multiple editions.

“the relationship (Regan & Aldo) in this book is another reason I am still mentally brainrottingly obsessed over it. Their connection is so beautiful and so deep, I loved both of them dearly throughout, but together it was a wild, heart wrenching, beautiful love. I felt through the whole book that I was fighting for them, fighting with them.”

Ary and Books

For me, Aldo and Regan (pronounced Reegan not Raygan) were not particularly enjoyable/likeable characters, and their “love” story was more like watching two trains barreling at full speed toward each other. You know they are going to crash and burn, which is not something you really want to witness, but somehow you can’t look away either.

From all the reviews of this book that I have read, it seems that you either love this book or don’t. I am sorry to say that I fell into the category of don’t.

Stats: My three star rating is below the average rating for this book, which on September 8, 2023 is 3.91 stars.

Recommended? Given that my 3 star rating is below the average for this book, and that other people absolutely love it, I can neither recommend, nor not recommend this book. You will have to judge for yourself :).

BOOK REVIEW: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

/ E.A. Hoffmann / Leave a comment

Title: Hello Beautiful

Author: Ann Napolitano

Audiobook Length: 15 hours and 6 minutes

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction

Read Start Date: August 7, 2023

Read Finish Date: August 19, 2023

Goodreads’ Synopsis: An emotionally layered and engrossing story of a family that asks: Can love make a broken person whole?

William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it’s a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three younger sisters: Sylvie, the dreamer, is happiest with her nose in a book and imagines a future different from the expected path of wife and mother; Cecelia, the family’s artist; and Emeline, who patiently takes care of all of them. Happily, the Padavanos fold Julia’s new boyfriend into their loving, chaotic household.

But then darkness from William’s past surfaces, jeopardizing not only Julia’s carefully orchestrated plans for their future, but the sisters’ unshakeable loyalty to one another. The result is a catastrophic family rift that changes their lives for generations. Will the loyalty that once rooted them be strong enough to draw them back together when it matters most?

Vibrating with tenderness, Hello Beautiful is a gorgeous, profoundly moving portrait of what’s possible when we choose to love someone not in spite of who they are, but because of it.

My Review: The novel begins with the birth of William Waters, a boy who is unwanted by his parents. He grows up in a house filled with silence and sadness, and he never feels loved or accepted. When he meets Julia Padavano, the oldest of the four sisters, he finds a connection that he has never had before. Julia’s family is everything that William’s is not: they are loving, supportive, and full of life.

William and Julia fall in love and get married. With Julia comes her family, the Padavanos. The Padavanos are a close-knit family who are always there for each other, no matter what. William finally feels like he belongs somewhere. However, the Padavanos are not without their own problems. Julia’s father, Charlie, is a struggling alcoholic. Her mother, Rose, is a devoted wife and mother, but she is also exhausted and overwhelmed. The sisters themselves are all struggling to find their own way in the world.

The novel spans four decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s, and explores themes of love, loss, forgiveness, and redemption.

Hello Beautiful is a beautifully written and moving novel that deals with some heavy topics, such as childhood trauma, grief, and loss. I often felt melancholy while reading this book, so I think that you have to be in a good headspace before starting it.

Each character is well developed and complex and feels like a real person.

William Waters is shaped by a childhood trauma that follows him into adulthood. For decades, his choice to abandon his wife and infant daughter created ripple effects throughout the Padavano family. When abandoned by William, Julia, a strong and independent woman, blazes her own path despite the obstacles ahead of her. Sylvie is a dreamer and a romantic, and she is always looking for a new adventure. She is drawn to William’s vulnerability and makes a choice that creates a rift between the once close-knit sisters. The first to go her own way, Cecelia is an artist and a free spirit, and she is not afraid to be herself. Emeline, Cecelia’s twin, is the family’s caretaker and is always there to lend a helping hand. Emeline struggles with her sexuality and whether to be herself in the face of outside scrutiny or bigotry.

It is a story about the power of love and the importance of family, even when things are at their darkest. There is so much to unpack in this book, that it will stay with you long after reading it. Apparently, it is supposed to be based on Little Women, but in my opinion it is at best “loosely” based on Little Women.

Stats: As of September 8, 2023, this book has a 4.23-star rating on Goodreads, so my review is on par with that of the general public.

Recommended? YES!

BOOK REVIEW: Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

/ E.A. Hoffmann / Leave a comment

Title: Cleopatra and Frankenstein

Author: Coco Mellors

Book Length: 384 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, (Romance)

Read Start Date: May 8, 2023

Read Finish Date: May 28, 2023

Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Twenty-four-year-old British painter Cleo has escaped from England to New York and is still finding her place in the sleepless city when, a few months before her student visa ends, she meets Frank. Twenty years older and a self-made success, Frank’s life is full of all the excesses Cleo’s lacks. He offers her the chance to be happy, the freedom to paint, and the opportunity to apply for a Green Card. But their impulsive marriage irreversibly changes both their lives, and the lives of those close to them, in ways they never could’ve predicted.

Each compulsively readable chapter explores the lives of Cleo, Frank, and an unforgettable cast of their closest friends and family as they grow up and grow older. Whether it’s Cleo’s best friend struggling to embrace his gender queerness in the wake of Cleo’s marriage, or Frank’s financially dependent sister arranging sugar daddy dates to support herself after being cut off, or Cleo and Frank themselves as they discover the trials of marriage and mental illness, each character is as absorbing, and painfully relatable, as the last.

As hilarious as it is heartbreaking, entertaining as it is deeply moving, Cleopatra and Frankenstein marks the entry of a brilliant and bold new talent.

My Review: When I first read the title, I thought this book was a clever reimagining/love story between Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the Egyptian Queen. I picked it off the shelf at the bookstore on my birthday, wondering whether this would be the book I gifted myself. The synopsis quickly dissuaded me from the notion that this would be a parody horror love story set in ancient Egypt. Although, that sounds like an awesome book. Just saying.

I won’t get into the book too much, as the synopsis lays out the plot nicely. “Cleopatra” and “Frankenstein” are the pet names that Cleo and Frank give each other. I thought, ok, eh, and left without buying the book.

When I saw it on the shelf at the library, however, I decided to give it a go and was pleasantly surprised (almost enough to regret my decision not to buy it).

Having read mostly commercial fiction of late, the literary style of Mellors writing was a welcome change.

Written in the third person (mostly), Mellors not only gives us the POV of the main characters Frank and Cleo, but also their closest friends. The ensemble of characters is highly intriguing, but some of their interactions exhibit toxic dynamics. The only chapters which were in the first person was for the POV of a woman named Eleanor, and to be honest, I am not a fan of alternating from third to first. I know it is a legitimate style of writing, but its just not my thing.

Trigger warning for animal death, drugs and alcohol abuse.

What Others Have Said that Resonated With Me: Sophie’s Edit: “Anyway, the bit I really wanted to write about was the fact this novel is a letter to New York. And although this may be to contrary opinion, I actually think it is quite a clever one. It highlights that some people thrive in the city and some people are destroyed by it. Mellors, in conjunction with the theme of growing up, shows how addiction and success are in the veins of such a place, which is why Cleo struggles so much to find herself. The younger characters spend the novel ‘finding’ themselves in a city which has too much of a personality for you to find yourself with any ounce of integrity. Whereas the older generation are in a state of success but also unhappiness and discontent with the decisions they’ve made – Franco turns to alcohol and Santiago is enamoured by his weight loss journey and how he appears to others. It makes you wonder if any of them can be truly happy in the world they live in. New York breeds unhappiness and problems, and in that sense, it makes you fit into a mould that truly, only some people are made for.”

Stats: At the time of writing this review (July 6, 2023), this book has an average rating of 3.85 stars on Goodreads. My rating of 4 stars, therefore, falls a little higher than the average, but is still within range of the general audience.

Recommended? Yes!