The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian

The world is filled with horrible tragedies, terrifying calamities, even despicable people, but most of us learn of these truths through the long distance range finder of the evening news or social media.  Generally, I respond to the horrors of the world with sadness and despair, but the sad truth is that when the next news story is presented it whisks away my distress and I literally put the sadness out of my mind.  My "life" is unaffected.  In Chris Bohjalian's novel, The Guest Room, the main characters are not able to turn away from their real life crisis.  The storyline centers around a bachelor party that goes dangerously, murderously wrong.  The hired "strippers" arrive with bodyguards and it quickly is apparent that these two girls are willing to do much more than take their clothes off.  The party descends into total debauchery and then, chaos breaks out.  The girls suddenly and startlingly manage to kill both bodyguards, gather the men's wallets and money and leave.  From this point forward, nothing was ever the same for any of these people.  From this point forward, no one who reads this novel will be the same either.  Bohjalian uses the characters Alexandra, one of the strippers, to tell the story of the girls who were kidnapped when they were very young and forced into the sex slave "business".  He uses Richard, the older brother of the bachelor and host of the party, to tell the story of the men at the party and the women (wives, fiancés, daughters) in their lives.  Alexandra's story breaks the hearts of those who read it.  Richard's story angers, terrifies, exasperates, disgusts but generally leaves the reader with more questions than we can answer and more emotional turmoil than can easily be dealt with.  The novel forces us to think about the very real, very painful consequences that these characters must deal with but it also challenges us to think about how we respond to the realities of the world that are completely transparent but that we generally ignore.  I cannot say that I enjoyed this book.  I can say that I have lain awake at night thinking about it.  Perhaps, that is the result that Bohjalian was trying to reach in the end because each of us individually cannot fix the problems of the world, but each of us can recognize that we have a responsibility to speak up and stand up for what is right.

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout

To describe the main character in Pulitzer prize winner, Elizabeth Strout's novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, as being lonely is a huge understatement.  The narrator and protagonist is possessed by the deep, all encompassing desperation to be loved and to feel connected to the people who fill her life. Lucy wants, even as an adult, to feel that she is accepted and that she is safe.  She has managed to escape her pitiable childhood through sheer force of will and her understanding that education is her only ticket out of abject poverty.  Lucy finds, however, that she cannot escape her deep feeling of isolation brought on by the prejudice she lived with in her small hometown and her ingrained sense of worthlessness promoted by her emotionally stunted mother and emotionally damaged father.  Despite the fact that Lucy has managed to succeed in many ways, she has never been able to develop the emotional bonds she sees in other people.  This novel, though relatively short, opens the door to conversations about the isolation brought on by the shame of poverty, the struggles of post traumatic stress syndrome, the fight against prejudice and ridicule. Perhaps even more heartbreaking is the author's uncovering of the unbearable recognition of the mistakes we all make in our relationships with our children and parents, husbands and wives, even brothers and sisters.  Elizabeth Strout has been described as an author who writes fiction with the "condensed power of poetry."  Her mastery of story telling is clearly on display in her novel My Name is Lucy Barton.

The Crimson Shore by Lincoln Preston and Douglas Childs

Several years ago a wonderfully horrifying movie entitled "The Relic" was released. It was based on a novel by the writing duo of Preston and Childs.  The storyline was twisted and unique and invited a thorough reading of novels by these authors.  Through the years Preston and Child have written many delicious mysteries and a series centered around the character, Aloyius Pendergast.  A modern day Sherlock Holmes, Pendergast is a brilliant yet eccentric sleuth who works as an adjunct agent of the FBI.  The Crimson Shore begins as a seemingly simple theft of a valuable wine collection.  The tale spirals down as a 100 year old murder is discovered when a cript is found behind a fake wall in the wine cellar. The macabre connection to Poe's Cask of Amontillado cannot be missed.  The murder is then connected to a long lost coven of black witches who were said to have escaped from Salem and its witch trials.  Through twists and turns, Pendergast leads us on this mystery ride. If you are looking for a "scary" book, this might be the one for you.

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

Isabel Allende has written a beautiful love story in her novel The Japanese Lover.  This book is not a "typical" love story in that the main character, Alma, is not typical in any way.  Sent to live with an American relative when the Nazis were threatening Poland, Alma became a strong female who was not romantic in her views of people overall.  She was determined to be self sufficient and dependent on no one.  Alma did, however, fall deeply in love with Ichimei Fukuda, the son of the gardener on her uncle's estate.  Theirs was a love that transcended time, social morays and family connections.  This clandestine love affair is nestled into the story of Alma and her grandson, Seth, and his quest for the love of his life, Irina the sweet girl who has suffered an abusive step father.  Irina is afraid to let herself feel strong emotions.  This fear is counterpoised against Alma's fierce love and belief that love will win out.  Allende has created a wonderful tale that opens up the many facets of "love" in any person's life.  We readers are taken on this splendid journey with fingers crossed hoping that all the characters find true happiness and their true soul mate.

The Sound of Glass by Karen White

Some mysteries take years to be solved and that is the case with Karen White's novel, The Sound of Glass.  A plane crash in a small southern town sets into motion a series of unlikely events that intertwine the lives of two families.  Through the use of flashbacks, White let's us see the dysfunction of these two families.  With subtle, disguised references to now dead men and women we are led down a path to discovery.  We slowly come to realize that  both families had long histories of abuse and cover up.  Both families were plagued by fierce feelings of a need for revenge and justice.  And both families sadly, had made misguided attempts at helping the victims of abuse.  The characters in this novel were well defined and the story revealed itself at a pace that was easy to follow thus satisfying readers.  In the end, good wins and isn't that what we need sometimes in a good read?

Circling the Sun by Paula McClain

Paula McClain's novel, Circling the Sun, is a retelling of the life story of Beryl Markham, a record setting aviator in the 1930's.  Markham was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from Europe to America.  Her life story, however, is about much more than her flying exploits.  This extraordinary woman was raised in Kenya from the age of four.  Her father was a horse trainer and adventurer.  Her mother was not cut from the same cloth, and so she left Beryl and her father to fend for themselves after little more than a year in Africa.  The results of this unexpected abandonment changed or perhaps more likely, revealed the indomitable spirit of Beryl.  Throughout her entire life, she seemed to be willing to challenge any obstacle whether cultural or societal with little or no fear of the outcome.  Because of her determination she became the first licensed woman horse trainer in Africa  She also ensconced herself with the upper crust British colonials and consequently, she lived their sometimes amoral life.  The wealthy Brits and transplanted expats seemed to live above any prescribed rules or morays that would have been deemed necessary back in their homelands.  Infidelity was a sport it seemed.  Gossip was a conduit for entertainment.  Using the wealthy to support less than seemly lifestyles was the norm and all of this was done with the unwritten agreement that everyone would pretend it was not happening.  Beryl played this game when it suited her, but more often than not, she balked and went her own way.  Markham was a unique and independent and determined to live life as she saw fit.  She trained herself to be strong and fierce and able to handle anything life threw at her.  It is difficult to think of Beryl Markham as a woman who is warm  or accepting, but she is certainly one who is admired.  This is powerfully written historical fiction novel that reveals the extraordinary life and adventurers of a remarkable woman.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Backman

     There are some characters from novels that become so real you feel you have known them your whole life.  The main character of Fredrick Backman's book, A Man Called Ove is just such a character.  He is the grouchy neighbor we all may have had; he is the social misfit who always seems to be scowling at people around him; he is your father, your brother or your husband.  Ove was a man who saw only black and white, right and wrong.  His life was orderly and controlled until his wife, Sonya, died and then he felt he had nothing to live for.  Suicide seemed the only alternative to the pain of continuing to breathe without her by his side.  Unfortunately, Ove was constantly thwarted by the people who insinuated themselves into his "life."  First, it was the pregnant woman with the totally inept husband and two daughters.  Then it was the delivery boy who had been one of Sonya's "lost" students at the special needs school.  Add to these a "bent" (gay) friend of this boy and the obese fellow who happened to live next door.  Backman created a motley, needy group of people who barge in on Ove and his many attempts to "end it all," but they are all so "real" and loveable.  Eventually, we see that Ove is not the curmudgeon he seems to be and that he is in fact, a man who loves deeply and protects everyone who he calls his own.  I really believed in this character with all his warts.  He made me laugh and cry but mostly he made me feel "safe."  It is nice to know that there are people who will stand firm, who will go the extra mile and who will be in your corner no matter how difficult it may be.  Ove was such a man.  He was dependable and strong and faithful to a fault and isn't that what we all want in the end? Ove was a man I would have been happy to call my friend.