The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo (2019)

This novel is a family saga about  David and Marilyn Sorenson and their four daughters.  The novel goes back and forth in time as we learn about the lives and struggles of this dysfunctional family.  In the "present", which is 2016 in the novel, each of the four adult daughters are struggling with live.  The eldest daughter, Wendy, seemingly has a perfect life, she dropped out of college to marry the love of her life, a wealthy man 15 years her senior.  When she is widowed young, she sought solace with a parade of men.  In her early 20's, Liza had a child whom she put up for adoption.  She later married and was a promising young attorney until she became a stay-at-home mother.  She began doubting herself and her life choices.  Liza lived with a very needy man who was more child than functioning adult.  When she became pregnant, he left her.  Finally, there was Gracie, the "epilogue" who was far younger than her sisters.  She failed to get into law school but was unable to tell her parents for fear of disappointing them.  When Liza son who had been given up 15 years earlier suddenly enters their lives, the family members must face the family secrets.

The book kept my attention, but wasn't great.

Read: April 26, 2026

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States; Chicago, Illinois

White Collar Girl, by Renée Rosen (2015)

 

White Collar Girl is set in the late 1950s and focuses on budding journalist Jordan Walsh.  Jordan comes from a journalistic family – both her father and brother were journalists.  After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, Jordan lands a job with the Chicago Tribune.  She has dreams of landing an investigative position on the city desk, but women journalists were assigned to writing puff pieces.  She is assigned to cover society weddings, cooking and other light “women’s interest” pieces.

 

Jordan’s brother had been killed in what was ostensibly a hit-and-run accident and the driver was never caught.  His death plunges Jorden’s parents into a downward spiral.  Jordan thinks there might be something to her brother’s death.  She learns that he was investigating a horsemeat scandal when he was killed.  Was his death related to a coverup?

 

As a young, new reporter, Jordan realized that she must pursue stories.  She didn’t just settle for writing up the stories she was assigned but sought out stories.  She befriends a source in government who passes on leads. Initially, the stories she writes are credited to her male co-workers.

 

The author attempts to put as many of Chicago’s scandals into this novel with Jordan being the investigative reporter.  The stories that Jordan pursues are based on actual events that occurred in Chicago, but the time frames are not necessarily within the scope of this novel.  The author did accurately portray the trials that a young female reporter would have encountered in the 1950s (some of which are probably still encountered today).  Jordan being the reporter so single-minded just didn’t ring true.

 

In the 1960 Presidential election, President Kennedy narrowly won the election, and largely due to the results from Chicago.  This novel discussed how the election was rigged and that Nixon probably did have the election stolen from him.  Interestingly, White Collar Girl was published in 2015, before there was talk of the 2020 election being stolen.

 

I read Renée Rosen’s book The Social Graces and totally loved it, so wanted to read something else by this author.  While White Collar Girl was good, it wasn’t as good as the first book I read by Rosen.

 

Read:  January 17, 2022

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States

Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933 ~ 1934, by Bryan Burrough (2004)

In the late 1980s, the files on the activities of the early years of the FBI were released.  The author, while watching a documentary on the Barker Gang, became intrigued by the first spate of criminals deemed Public Enemies.  This book is the result of his interest.  He poured over FBI files and wrote this comprehensive look at the FBI’s pursuit of four groupings of criminal gangs that were active in the early 1930s ~ Machine Gun Kelly, Bonnie and Clyde, John Dillinger and the Barker Gang.

Although the FBI had been in existence since 1908 (as the Bureau of Investigation), in the early years, the agents were forbidden to carry weapons.  The philosophy was that they were an investigative branch ~ the arrests were to be accomplished by the local jurisdictions.

This changed in the 1930s.  The Great Depression brought with it a new kind of criminal ~ bank robbers.  It was the deadly Kansas City massacre of a number of law men that changed the face of the FBI.  In June 1933, a criminal gang led by Vernon Miller set out to free fellow criminal, Frank Nash, who was in Federal custody and was being transported in Missouri.  Miller’s gang ambushed and opened fire on law officers, killing four.  Nash was killed in the ensuing gunfire.  This massacre got the attention of the J. Edgar Hoover. It has been speculated that Pretty Boy Floyd was involved in the massacre, but this has not definitively been proven.

The FBI had few trained agents, and none with any really experience with weapons and very limited jurisdiction.  At the time, robbing banks was not under the jurisdiction of the Feds.  The FBI had to work with local law enforcement officers, some of which were also ill-equip to handle major crimes, or were not willing to work with the federal officers.

This book shows the growing pains of the early years of the FBI.  Homer Cummings, the United States Attorney General, had to convince Congress to expand the power and authority of the FBI.  Soon after the Kansas City massacre, the FBI was training its agents to use weapons.  Some of their interrogation procedures, however, left much to be desired.

The book delves into the activities of Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and the Barker Gang.

Dillinger came from a middle-class background.  He was good looking and was known to jump over bank railings when he robbed banks.  He was exceedingly polite.  He captured the public’s attention and was seen as a Robin-Hood figure in robbing banks. It was not his aim to hurt anyone during his crime sprees.  When he was ultimately betrayed and killed outside the Biograph Theater in Chicago, he had achieved near national folk hero status.

During this same period of history, Bonnie and Clyde were ruthlessly crossing the country, leaving a bloody path in their wake.  During their lifetime, they were largely unknown, except for the locales of their robbing and killing.  The FBI sought the couple, but bungled their investigative efforts.  In the end, it was a posse of local law officers who ambushed the two criminals.

The author also followed the exploits of the Barker Gang.  Although Hoover publicized that the “brains” behind the Barker Gang was the criminal’s mother, Kate “Ma” Barker, the FBI files showed that she was actually more concerned with jigsaw puzzles and had little before-the-fact knowledge of the gang’s criminal activity.

The FBI had a tip that Dillinger and his gang were holed up in an inn called Little Bohemia in northern Wisconsin.  The FBI agents, still without expertize in weaponry, badly misjudged the situation. In the dark of night, in a raid lead by Melvin Purvis, came upon the inn.  The FBI, mistaking local patrons leaving the inn for the Dillinger gang, began a shootout, killing the innocent patrons.  One federal agent was also killed, but Dillinger slipped through their fingers.

Baby Face Nelson was one of the most brutal criminals during this era.  He seemed to delight in terrorizing and killing victims during his robberies.  Agents trailed him all across the country before he was finally killed in another shoot-out in Illinois.

By the end of the 1934, the FBI had gained its footing and overcome the fumbles of its earlier year and was well on its way to the power and prestige is has today.

A fascinating and very readable book.

Read: August 2, 2019

5 Stars

Books Set in the United States: South Carolina and Chicago

By Invitation Only, by Dorothea Benton Frank (2018)

A quick beach read.  Frederick was born and raised on a farm in South Carolina.  His family ekes out a living, but doesn't have a lot of money.  Shelby is his rich fiancée, who grew up in Chicago.  She had everything growing up.

When the families meet, Shelby's mother, Susan, looks down on Frederick's family.  She is intrigued by Frederick's uncle Floyd, however.  Her husband is too busy on conference calls to pay much attention to her.

It is Susan's dream to have the wedding of the century for her daughter.  She plans to pull out all stops and spare no expense ~ including $40K worth of butterflies to be released at the climax of the wedding.  She even wants Frederick's family to host a rehearsal dinner for over 200 guests.  This is something that Frederick's family can clearly not afford.

Shelby and Frederick, however, decide to plan the wedding their way, which upsets the superficial Susan.  Will the families be able to reconcile their differences?

This book was by the same author who wrote The Hurricane Sisters, which I read four years ago.  I wasn't crazy about that book, either.

Read:  July 22, 2018

3 Stars