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*****
*****Big Little Lies – Moriarty, Liane – 2014. New York: Putnam. AUDIOBOOK narrated by Caroline Lee
This ostensibly comic novel about an elementary school community in a beachside Australian suburb portrays the petty conflicts and jealousies that circulate amongst the parents to great humorous effect. Yes, the narrator clues us in that someone will eventually end up dead, but at the outset, that all seems part of the hand-waving future, and in the meantime, we can laugh at these silly parents, their preposterous expectations for their children, and their goofy vanities. In spite of their parents, the children come to light as careful, generous creatures, but it’s the growing friendship between three mothers, and their private lives, that capture us. These are serious women, with thoughtful observations, and real problems. As secrets, hypocrisy, and betrayals emerge, we spend less time laughing and more time reflecting on the pressures of motherhood and the complexity of human relationships. When past and present cruelties burst from hiding at an alcohol-soaked school event, they explode into a stunning act of violence. The audiobook is a hoot, entertaining from beginning to end, but the writer’s willingness to take on topics like bullying and domestic violence is truly laudable. The narrator is excellent, especially her portrayals of the children, and her Australian accent is amusing throughout.
*****
*****Dear Life – Alice Munro – 2012. New York: Alfred A. Knopf
The greatest short story writer ever and at her prime here where her prose is even more spare, precise, and exquisite, Alice includes here some autobiographical pieces which convey the mysterious opaque nature of our own memories.
*****
*****Freedomland – Richard Price – 1998. New York: Broadway Books.
Awe-inspiring. Be prepared to be drawn into a complex world of danger, plight, and emotion.
*****
*****The Goldfinch – Donna Tartt – 2015. New York: Little, Brown and Company. AUDIOBOOK narrated by David Pittu
Intoxicating tale, memorable characters, a tour de force. Incomparable. Best narration ever.
*****
*****Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn – 2014. New York: Crown Publishers. AUDIOBOOK narrated by Kirby Heyborne and Julia Whelan
A hair raising expose of the power struggle inside a marriage. A must listen.
*****
*****Ladder of Years – Tyler, Anne – 1996. New York: Ballentine
Delia, a forty-year-old mother and wife disappears while on vacation at the beach with her family. Has she met with foul play? Has she done a runner? Or has she accidentally drifted away from her pod, like a milkweed seed, and can’t seem to find the right current to get back? Ann writes like a dream, and her observations about the human experience range freely among the peculiar (why isn’t celery called corduroy plant?), the shared—such as the ambivalent feelings children have about their parents, and vice versa—and the unanswerable, like questions about love and marriage. This book will particularly appeal to wives who have survived two decades of marriage and mothers who have watched their children lurch into adolescence, to the befuddlement of both parent and child. I wish I had read this book as part of a book club—I am curious to know what others thought of Ann’s ending. To all those who have have planned, casually or not, executed or not, an escape from their lives and those who long for clean, fresh starts…
*****
*****The Likeness (Dublin Murder Squad #2) – Tana French – 2008. New York: Penguin. AUDIOBOOK narrated by Heather O’Neill
A tough detective who suffered her own trauma while previously undercover is pulled out of the domestic violence division to pose as a murdered woman. Yes, it’s farfetched, but the story is so compelling, and household of graduate students that she finds herself in so mesmerizing, I couldn’t stop listening. It turns into one of those books that you wish you could fall into yourself – half fairy tale, half spy novel. Narrated by the inconceivably talented Heather O’Neill. She even sings!
*****
*****The Love of a Good Woman – Alice Munro – 1998. New York: Alfred A. Knopf
Alice Munro is a god.
*****
*****The Ten-Year Nap – Wolitzer, Meg – 2008. New York: Riverhead Books
Fabulously-written novel that, despite being fiction, feels entirely accurate in its depiction of a bunch of New York women and their relationships with their work, children, husbands, and each other. Terrific prose and laugh-out-loud observations.
The Witch Elm – Tana French – 2018. New York: Penguin Random Books. AUDIOBOOK narrated by Paul Nugent
This renowned literary crime fiction writer has taken a big step toward literary and away from crime which has cost her in fan reviews but has moved her into the ranks of serious English writers. Despite my fatigue with the unreliable narrator (this one has been bashed on the head as well as suffers from selective memory when it apparently suits his purposes), this story wormed into my mind and held me captive for days (it’s really long which fans also objected to though that seems to bother us less when we are being read to). The character development, multiple plot intricacies, trips back in time, evenings talking and rehashing, fights, wonderful meals, a few hospital trips and deaths – all this takes a lot of writing, but a few plot twists still remain at the end. The final paragraphs find us wrung out as if we had endured the same enlightenment and torture as the protagonist. There were lots of chuckles, especially at French’s tone-perfect depiction of how young people talk, but let’s just say the fans hated the ending too. [Disclaimer: It’s not because a young privileged white male got damaged that I liked this book. Unlike some reviewers, I’m not like that.]
Fiction reviews:
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