Books Set in North America; United States of America, New York, California, Washington State

Real Americans, by Rachel Khong (2024)

Read:  May 15, 2025

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; Maine, United States

The Frozen River,  by Ariel Lawhon (2023)

Read: December 22, 2024

5 Stars

Books Set in Asia and North America: Pakistan, Iraq, and San Francisco, California

The Bad Muslim Discount, by Syed M Masood (2021)

This novel follows two Muslim families who immigrated to the San Francisco from Islamic countries.  Anvar Faris’ family left Karachi, Pakistan in the mid-1990s when fundamentalism begins to take over their country.  Safwa, a young girl living in war-torn Baghdad, Iraq, illegally escapes with her father to the United States.

 

Anvar’s mother is a deeply devout Muslim, but his father is more laid-back.  Anvar’s mother and older brother easily settle into California and into its Muslim community.  His father, however, finds the community a bit more difficult.  All is well until 9-11.  Anvar’s brother is the “good” Muslim in the family.  He goes to mosque, prays five times a day, doesn’t smoke or drink and becomes engaged to a women chosen by his parents.  Anvar, however, it the “bad” Muslim.  He drinks, sleeps with women and goes to mosque only when his mother insists.

 

In college, Anvar meets and falls in love with Zuha Shah.  Although they part ways, Anvar never stops loving her.  He isn’t as religious as Zuha and settles for being a “bad” Muslim.

 

Meanwhile, Safwa is living with an abusive father and confined to her house in Baghdad.  Her father then was abducted by Americans during the Iraq War, and she was left along with her brother who was dying of a terminal illness.  As the war drew closer to her home, she was forced to flee to Basra.  Ultimately her father was released, and they were reunited.  His abuse, however, continued.  Enter Oais, an evil villager.  He offers Safwa and her father an opportunity to escape to the United States, but at a terrible price.

 

Safwa and her father begin a new life with new names in San Francisco.  Safwa is now known as Azza.  As it happens, they live in the same apartment building as Anvar.  The landlord has a tender heart and gives people in need what he calls a “good Muslim discount” on the rent.  Anvar and Azza begin a relationship, but from her perspective, it is a way to escape the violence inflicted upon her by her father.

 

This novel explores faith and geopolitical issues through the eyes of the lens of Muslim Americans.  The author points out that Muslims have been a part of American fabric throughout the history’s country.

 

I loved this novel.

 

Read: August 2, 2023

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: New York, New York

The Social Graces, by Renée Rosen (2021)

 

Set in the 1870s, The Social Graces focuses on two of the wealthiest families in New York ~ the Astors and the Vanderbilts.  The Astors were “old money” and the Vanderbilts were the nouveau riche, having earned their money through the railroads.  Old money looked down on the new money.

 

When the novel opens, women are basically chattel of their husbands.  Society marriages are arranged as business transaction not as love matches.  The wives must ignore their husbands’ affairs.  What the women do have is Society with a capital “S” and their children.  Caroline Astor, the Mrs. Astor, is the Queen of New York Society.  She is one of the most powerful women in New York Society.  She holds the cards for who is who in New York Society.

 

Alva Vanderbilt is the young bride of William K. Vanderbilt.  When she was young, her father lost the family fortune, so Alva had grown up in Alabama in relative poverty.  After her marriage to a Vanderbilt, she is suddenly thrust into tremendous wealth, but her husband’s money won’t buy her a place in Society.

 

Alva tried to enter into the Astor circle only to be snubbed time and time again.  A chance encounter with Emily Astor seemed to be the key to the Astors.  Alas, it wasn’t to be.  Still, Alva was determined to enter into the coveted Society Circle.  With the Vanderbilt money, Alva has certain powers that allow her to make her mark in New York.

 

This novel, based on facts of the Astors and Vanderbilts, is a delightful read and a page-turner.  I couldn’t put it down.  It reminded me of the novel The Swans of Fifth Avenue, by Melanie Benjamin, which was about New York Society in the 1950s.

 

Read: December 24, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Newton, Massachusetts

Defending Jacob, by William Landay (2012)

Defending Jacob is a courtroom drama that centers around 14-year-old Jacob Barber who has been accused of murdering a classmate who bullied him.  The reader sees the story unfold through the eyes of Andrew Barber, Jacob’s father.

Andrew Barber is the First Assistant District Attorney in Boston.  As such, he was the first attorney called to the scene of the crime.  Andy, as he is known, works with the police on the initial investigation.  Has the First Assistant, he has the option to take case himself, or pass it on to another ADA.  He initially takes the case, and he focuses in on a suspect who is a known pedophile.

Suspicion, however, soon turns towards Jacob.  One of Jacob’s friend’s posts an incriminating statement of Facebook suggesting that “everyone” knows that Jacob committed the crime and he owned a knife, much like murder weapon.  Later Jacob’s fingerprint is found on the victim’s clothing.  Circumstantial evidence seems to pile up against Jacob.  Andy must be recused from the case and his former protégée, Neal Logiudice, takes over.

Jacob’s defense attorney must prepare for all possible defenses.  He looks into the family’s past for inherited violence.  For several generations, the men in Andy’s family have exhibited extreme acts of violence.  Andy never knew his father, Bloody Billy, who is serving a life sentence in prison.  Andy never shared this fact with his wife, but now he must.  This revelation blindsides Laurie, Andy’s wife, and she begins to question whether her son, Jacob, might actually be predisposed to violence and could have committed this brutal murder.

I enjoyed the courtroom scenes.  They were very true to life in a criminal trial.  The novel fell apart at the end with several events coming together that didn’t make sense.

Spoiler Alert:  Andy finally visited his father in prison and his father later arranges, unbeknownst to Andy, to have a hitman “protect” Jacob.  The hitman ultimately tracks down the pedophile, has him draft a confession, then hangs him.  Thus, Jacob, is a free man as the case against him is dismissed.  The family then goes on vacation, where Jacob meets a young girl named Hope.  The two connect, but when she goes missing, Laurie suspects her son might have something to do with her disappearance.  The novel ends with Laurie driving her car over a cliff and Jacob is killed.

Read:  December 23, 2021

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; North America; New Orleans, Louisiana

The Things We Lost to Water, by Eric Nguyen (2021)

The Things We Lost to Water is a wonderful novel about a Vietnamese family that immigrated to the United States from Vietnam after the war.  The novel begins in 1978 when pregnant Hương and her young son, Tuấn, run towards a boat to escape from Vietnam.  Hương was grasping her husband’s hand, but in the crush of people, they were separated and he stayed behind.  Hương gave birth to her second son, Bình, in a refuge camp.

Ultimately, the family finds itself in Louisiana and settle in New Orleans East.  Hương writes and continues to try to communicate with her husband Công, begging him to leave Vietnam and come to New Orleans.  Most of her letters are returned to her, however, she eventually received a postcard from him telling her not to contact him anymore.  She tells her sons that their father died in Vietnam.  His absence in the family is actually a presence in the family.  His “ghost” hovers over his sons.

The author captures New Orleans East with its shotgun houses, slummy apartment buildings and bayou filled with garbage.  As a young teen, Tuấn rebelled against his mother’s overprotection and joined a Vietnamese gang.  Although he was very young when he left Vietnam, he had some memories, hence ties, to his country of birth.  Bình, however, never lived in Vietnam, and felt American, so insisted that he be called Ben.  Ben is studious and after he landed a job with a literature professor, was able to obtain a scholarship to attend college.

Although she never stopped loving Công, Hương met and began dating Vinh, a fellow refugee with no apparent ability to hold a job.  He moves in with the family and tries to assume a surrogate father to Hương’s son.  Years later, Hương learns that Công died.  She and Tuấn return to Vietnam for his burial service.  They find that the country has vastly changed in the years since they were gone.

The novel takes the reader from the family running through water in Vietnam to facing the flooding following Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.  Water is a thread throughout this novel.  The Vietnamese word Nước means both country and water, thus the book’s title is a bit of a pun.  This novel captures the flavor of the New Orleans immigrant experience.

Read:  October 28, 2021

5 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States

Fast Girls: The 1936 Women’s Olympic Team, by Elise Hooper (2020)

 

This is a novel that focuses on the lives of four young women athletes who competed to make the 1936 United States Olympic track team. The novel is based on the lives of Betty Robinson, Helen Stephens, Louise Stokes, and Tidye Pickett.  Each woman came from very different backgrounds and the author takes the reader back to their origin stories.

 

Running, and athletics in general, were not considered “suitable” for women at the time, and the Olympics Committee threatened to cancel future women’s events.  A strong lobby, however, kept women’s sports in the Olympics.

 

Betty Robinson was from the Chicago area and had competed in the 1928 Olympics at age 16.  While in high school, she caught the eye of the men’s track coach and was allowed to join the men’s track team.  From there, she ultimately qualified for the 1928 Olympic trials.  She had hoped to be able to compete in future Olympics, but a small plane accident in 1931 (although the story has the incident occurring in 1932), left her seriously injured.  She was not expected to live, but sheer will-power got her walking again.  Once she was walking again, her brother-in-law urged her to try running.

 

Helen Stephenson was from a small farming town in Missouri.  She was tall and gangly, and always felt like a misfit.  Her father was a poor farmer who wanted her to work and earn money for the family.  Her mother, however, had gone to college and wanted her daughter to gain an education.  Helen loved to run, and running was a way for her to be herself.

 

Louise Stokes was from a working-class Black family in Malden, Massachusetts.  She loved running but knew that she needed to help with her family’s finances.  Her church and her town, however, supported her ambition to run and provided her with the funds to join the Olympic team.  She faced discrimination but did become one of the earliest Black professional runners.

 

Tidye Pickett is the least developed character in this novel.  She, too, was a Black runner who made it to the 1936 Olympic team while fighting racism.

 

The novel also briefly delves into the politics of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.  The United States Olympic committee had debated whether or not to allow athletes to compete in the Games that were being held in Nazi Germany.  The decision to compete was close.  Some of the team members themselves, questioned whether or not they should participate in the games.

 

This is an interesting novel and the author tried to tackle such topics as feminism, racism and sexual identity.  The novel takes place when women’s sports is in its infancy and all of the women initially face obstacles intended to halt their competing for fears that it is unlady-like and will impair their ability to have children in the future.

 

I would classify this book as a Young Adult novel.  It is a book I would have really enjoyed as a junior high student.  It was an interesting look at the beginning of women’s track competitions.

 

Read:  October 16, 2021

 

3.5 Stars

 

Books Set in North America, United States, Seattle, Washington

Firefly Lane, by Kristen Hannah (2008)

 

This is a novel about a life-long friendship between two women who couldn’t be more different.  They became friends as young teens, when Tully Hart and her hippy mother, Cloud, moves into the house across the street from Kate Mularkey.  Although Kate and her mother have the normal teen mother-daughter struggles, she comes from a stable middle-class family.  Tully, on the other hand, lives mostly with her grandmother unless her mother floats into her life for brief periods.

 

Tully is a risk taker.  She decided early on that she was going to become a star reporter.  Nothing will stop in her way.  As teens, both girls were going to pursue that path, but that wasn’t the route that Kate wanted.  Kate knows that Tully always gets what she wants.  When both young women intern at the local television station, both are smitten by Johnny.

 

Sadly, this book is filled with cliches.  I quickly tired of the constant pop culture references beginning in the 1970s and continued throughout the length of the book, which ended around 2008.  The author constantly teases the reader into thinking that a rift will divide the friendship, and hints that the rift will be over Johnny.  The rift, which the reader knows is coming, is actually over another matter.

 

As Kate and Johnny’s daughter, Marah, becomes a teenager, she and Kate enter into their own teen-age mother/daughter struggle.  Marah turns to her “Aunt Tully”, who typically takes Marah’s side.  Hence the rift, which actually came about when Tully basically accused Kate of being an overprotective mother on live television.  After this event, the two women didn’t speak to each other for some unspecified years.

 

The point the author is trying to make is that in life, family is what matters most.  This comes only in the last 30 or so pages (and this is quite a long book).  As the book nears the end, we learn that Kate, who married Johnny after she became pregnant, has inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and is dying.  She thinks that Tully is after Johnny but has reconciled with that thought.  Although Johnny had a one-night stand with Tully before he and Kate married, he was truly in love with Kate.

 

I read the book in its entirety.  If this had been the first book I read by Kristen Hannah, it would not have been inclined to read her other books.

 

Read:  October 10, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in North America; United States, Baltimore, Maryland

A Patchwork Planet, by Anne Tyler (1998)

 

This novel is narrated by Barnaby Gaitlin, the black sheep of his wealthy family.  As a teenager, Barnaby and his friends got their kicks breaking onto other people’s homes.  Instead of going for the money and valuable objects, however, Barnaby liked to read people’s diaries and look at photos.  His antics eventually got him in trouble, and he was sent to a reform school.  His teenage past is told slowly through his memories as he moves forward in his life.

 

Barnaby works at manual labor at a company called Rent-a-Back.  His job mainly involves doing small chores for elderly clients.  Although he could work for his family Foundation, he prefers living a quiet life, albeit one with little money or future prospects.

 

He had a short-lived marriage, and now has a young daughter, who lives with her mother and stepfather.  Barnaby visits her once a month.  Because she lives in a different town, he must take a train to see her.  On one of his train trips, Barnaby meets Sofia Maynard, who is on the train on one of her regular visits to see her disagreeable mother.

 

When Sofia learns of Barnaby’s job, she arranges for him to do some small tasks for her Aunt Grace.  All goes well until Grace accuses Barnaby of stealing her lifesaving, which, because she doesn’t trust banks, she kept hidden in her flour bin.  Barnaby claimed he never touched it, but the accusation causes him to reevaluate his life.

 

I would call this a very quiet novel, but one in which the characters are interesting, and the reader wants to know how they navigate their lives.

 

Read:  October 2, 2021.  I first read this book on May 17, 1999.

 

4 Stars

 

Books Set in North America: the United States

How to Fight Anti-Semitism, by Bari Weiss (2019)

 

Antisemitism is on the rise in the United States.  In this book, journalist Bari Weiss provides a brief history of antisemitism in the Western world and how it has manifested itself throughout the years.  Antisemitism has many faces.   It displays itself very differently depending on one’s political bent.  Some displays of antisemitism are obvious and violent.  Other displays are more subtle.  I found the first part of this book to be all over the map, as the author wanted to include so much.

 

The last chapter of the book was the most informative and provided tools that American Jews must use to combat antisemitism.

 

Read:  July 17, 2021

 

3 Stars

 

Books Set in North America, Canada, Newfoundland, Gander

The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, by Jim Defede (2020)

 

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, after terrorists crashed 4 planes on United States territory.  United States airspace was immediately closed, so the planes bound for the US were ordered to either return to their country of origin, or if they had passed the half-way point, to land at the nearest airport.  Thirty-eight planes were diverted to the remote town of Gander International Airport in Newfoundland.  The airport had once been a military base, so had exceptionally long landing fields.

 

Gander, however, was a very small, remote town in Newfoundland ~ far from any major city.  The townspeople were so welcoming.  When they learned of the tragedy unfolding in the United States, the townspeople opened their arms and welcomed thousands of the stranded passengers.  They immediately opened up churches and schools to make room for the passengers to sleep, they brought their own bedding and towels for the passengers.  Many people welcomed passengers into their homes.

 

No one knew initially how long it would be before planes could once again fly into the United States.  Over the next four days, many of the passengers became friends with the Gander townspeople.  Most of the passengers were grateful for the assistance.  When planes were initially given clearance, passengers believed they would be flying directly back to the United States, but some planes were ordered back to their country of origin.  Most passengers understood this, and accepted this inconvenience.  A couple of families, however, chose to find their own way back home.  (I found I had little sympathy for their behaviour.)

 

One passenger was Werner Baldessarini, the then-chairman of Hugo Boss.  He had been on his way to New York for Fashion Week.  He had the opportunity to have a private jet come and collect him, but he appreciated the kindness and humanity of the residents of Gander, so stayed with his fellow passengers.  As a show of thanks, many of the stranded passengers collected money to provide scholarships and computer equipment for the Gander schools.

 

This book provided the inspiration for the musical Came From Away, which I saw a few years ago and loved.  This book shows that there is good in the world even in the face of evil.

 

Read:  June 20, 2021

 

5 Stars

 

 

Books Set in Asia: Siberia, Russia and North America: New York, New York.

The Nesting Dolls, by Alina Adams (2020)

 

The Nesting Dolls focuses on three Jewish women: Daria (from 1931 to 1942), Natasha (from 1970 to 1991) and Zoe (1991).  Daria is Zoe’s great-grandmother, who was born in Russia and married the talented musician, Edward Gordon.  They and their two young daughters were sent to Siberia for a minor infraction during the Stalin years.  The janitor, Adam, of their building was also deported to Siberia.  He had a reputation for having reported on his mother for her infractions, thus was feared.  He ostensibly was being deported for not having reported Daria’s family to the authorities.  In Siberian village, however, he was granted better quarters than most if its occupants.  Adam would come to play a vital and integral role in saving Daria’s family.

 

We then skip a generation to Natasha, Daria’s granddaughter.  The family was now living in Odessa.  Natasha had a brilliant mind for mathematics and was hoping to attend the prestigious Odessa University.  Sadly, the quota for Jews was filled and Natasha was giving failing marks on her entrance exams.  She had to settle for a mediocre school and was then given a job teaching math to junior high students.  Her childhood friend, Boris, had always been in love with her, but she took him for granted.  One day she met Dima, a refusenik, who convinced her that she could be instrumental in letting the outside world know about the atrocities going on in Russia.  Natasha fell in love with Dima, and soon finds herself pregnant.  Her only way out was to marry Boris who, while being seemingly apolitical, was able to gain passage out of the USSR.

 

Finally, we meet Zoe, Natasha’s granddaughter.  She was born in America but bears the burdens and guilt imposed upon her by her grandmother and great-grandmother.  Like them, she, too, has two men in her life and must choose between what she believes is best for her family and what is best for herself.

 

Each of the three women are encased in each other’s lives, much like the nesting dolls that Russia is famous for.  Life does not always give you want you think you want, but it just might give you what you need.

 

I loved this novel.  I really felt the characters come alive.  I also loved how the author skipped a gereration and focused on the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of Daria, the initial character.

 

Read:  June 15, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States: Utah

The Glovemaker, by Ann Weisgarber (2019)

 

This is a beautiful novel about a small Mormon town in the late 1880s.  There are only a few families in the town of Junction.  The was built by families who were Mormon; but wanted to separate themselves from plural marriages.  Polygamy has been outlawed, however, some Mormons continued the practice.  Law enforcement officers would seek out families where there were multiple wives.  Thus, men with multiple wives would sometimes travel through Junction on their way to Floral Ranch, a hard to find place in the wastelands of Utah to hide from the law.

 

The novel focuses on Deborah, a glovemaker.  Her husband, Samuel, is a wheelwright who travels several months of the year.  He was due home in December, but by mid-January has not returned home.  It is a hard winter with many snowstorms so Deborah is alone.  Her house is on the edge of town, the first one that a visitor would encounter when entering Junction.

 

One day a stranger knocks on Deborah’s door.  It is odd for someone to be seeking refuge in Floral Ranch in the middle of winter, but Deborah allows the man to spend the night in her barn and the next morning, her neighbor Nels, agrees to lead the stranger to Floral Ranch.

 

Soon, a deputy from Tennessee is at Deborah’s door looking for the stranger.  His appearance in the town has ramifications that will impact the entire community.

 

The Mountain Meadows Massacre, which had happened about 30 years before the events of this novel, foreshadows the events of this book.  I had never heard of this massacre, but in 1857, between 120 and 140 members of a wagon train were killed in southern Utah.  Only 17 children survived the massacre.  The massacre was perpetrated by Mormons, but the Paiute Native Americans were initially used as scapegoats.  The novel explains the Massacre, so one need not have a full understanding of it to appreciate its significance.

 

Read:  June 8, 2021

 

5 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Nashville, Tennessee

No One Knows, by J. T. Ellison (2016)

 

No One Knows, by J.T. Ellison is a fast-paced thriller.  The novel begins on the day that Aubrey Hamilton’s husband, Josh, has been officially been declared dead.  He disappeared 5 years earlier, shortly before amending his life insurance policy listing Aubrey as the beneficiary of his $5M policy.  His mother, Daisy, however, always had an intense dislike of Aubrey and threatens to contest the policy.

 

Josh disappeared on the eve of his best friend’s wedding.  Aubrey and Josh were to attend separate bachelor parties, but Josh never showed up at the groom’s party.  What happened to him?

 

All that was left was a large pool of blood in their home.  Aubrey was immediately cast as suspect in foul play and was tried for his murder.  She was subsequently acquitted, but the experience, along with her past encounters with law enforcement left her shattered and bitter.

 

As we delve into the shared history of Josh and Aubrey, we go back and forth in time from Aubrey’s troubled childhood.  Her parents were killed in a car accident when she was a young child and Aubrey spent much of her childhood living in a foster home.  Her best friend there was her foster brother, Tyler, who became a druggie and minor criminal.  Josh had his own childhood traumas.  He grew up believing that his biological father was dead and was adopted by Tom, his step-father.

 

It was serendipity that Aubrey ran into Chase Boden, a man who resembles Josh.  After a one-night stand, Aubrey finds herself falling for him.  Chase claims to be from Chicago but is always just a few short minutes away from Aubrey.  What are his motives?

 

Aubrey begins to hear rumor that Josh is still alive, so seeks to find out more of his past.  The story is told from many points of view: Aubrey, Daisy, Josh, Tom, Chase … There is also Meghan, the care-free spirit who owns the coffee shop where Aubrey works to supplement her salary as a Montessori teacher.

 

Ultimately, the ending left me unsatisfied.  The ending just come to any logical conclusion.

 

Spoiler Alert:  I felt that Meghan should have played a greater role in the novel’s resolution.  Furthermore, when Josh did appear, his behaviour over the past 5 years changed him from the loving husband to a mean, bitter and controlling man.  We also learn that Daisy had been briefly been married before she was married to Josh’s father.  She had a brief affair and gave birth to a son, who turns out to have been Chase.  Thus, it was no coincidence that he resembled Josh and that he “bumped” into Aubrey.  Then, we learn that Aubrey was in on the disappearing scheme all along.  Sorry.  Up until the last few pages, however, I enjoyed the book.  I probably won’t seek out other books by this author, however.

 

Read:  May 15, 2021

 

3 Stars

 

 

Books Set in North America; United States, Massachusetts: Boston, Marblehead

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, by Katherine Howe (2009)

This novel takes place in Massachusetts primarily in 1991 and with interludes in the late 1692 during the infamous Salem witch trials.

 

The main character is Constance “Connie” Goodwin, a 20-something graduate student in colonial American history.  When the novel starts, Connie has just passed her oral exams and is in search of a solid research project.  Before settling on a dissertation topic, she is called to assist in the sale of her grandmother’s long-abandoned house in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

 

She must first clean up the house, and so decides to stay there for the summer.  The house has running water, but no electricity or telephone.  Remember, 1991 is before the age of cell-phones; so Connie is often in a phone booth calling on a pay phone!

 

One of the first things Connie comes across, is an old family Bible.  When she picks it up, she feels a strange electric charge and a key with the name Deliverance Dane.  Suddenly, Connie thinks that she has found her research topic.  She spends much of the summer tracking down this Deliverance Dane person, who, Connie discovers, had a “physick book”, which contained recipes for folk remedies, but might also have labeled its owner as a witch.

 

The book was a fun read, but fell apart near the end.  I did find the author’s spelling attempt at the Boston accent to be annoying and unnecessary.

 

Read:  April 13, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in Africa and North America: Egypt and Boston, Massachusetts

The Book of Two Ways, by Jodi Picoult (2020)

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the Book of Two Ways describes the roads through the afterlife.  One route is through water and the other by land.  The roads are separated by a lake of fire, but both routes have the same destination.

In this novel, the author uses this theme as a way to describe Dawn’s life.  Dawn had been an up-and-coming graduate student in Egyptology, when she learned her mother was in hospice and would soon die.  Dawn left her studies to be with her dying mother.  After her mother died, Dawn suddenly found herself responsible for raising her young brother.  At the hospice facility, she met Brian, whose grandmother was dying.  They took comfort in each other, had a child and then married.

Brian represented security.  He was a respected theoretical physicist at Harvard who studies, in its own way, a theoretical path of two ways.  After giving up her studies in Egyptology, she becomes a death doula – she assists people at the ends of their lives.

For 15 years, Dawn has had a wonderful life.  Her relationship with her teenaged daughter becomes rife with teenage angst.  Her marriage reaches a stalemate.  Dawn finds that she can’t forget Wyatt, the pedigreed fellow graduate student, with whom she initially had a love-hate relationship, back before she gave up on her studies in Egypt.

The novel takes the path of two ways.  In one path, Dawn travels to Egypt to find Wyatt.  In the other path, she stays with Brian as their relationship frays.  The novel also goes back and forth in time, from the present to events that occurred in Dawn’s student days.

The author seemed to try too many story lines.  Dawn’s parents never married.  As presented in the story line, the reader thinks there must be a reason for this that will be later explained.  Kieran’s brother is gay, but this is irrelevant to the story line.

Ultimately, none of the characters were very likable.  I read this book while trapped on a plane for several hours.  Otherwise, I might not have finished reading it.

Read:  March 19, 2021

2 Stars

Books Set in North America: United States, Mississippi

A Spark of Light, by Jodi Picoult (2018)

 

I have read several novels by Jodi Picoult.  She selects often controversial topics and explores various sides of the issue without lecturing or telling the reader the “right” answer.  This book, that explores an abortion clinic is no exception.  What is unique about this novel is that it takes place in one day, but it told backwards, one hour at a time.  (We do learn the backstories of the characters as the layers of each person is slowly peeled back.)

 

As is true in many states, laws have been enacted that severely restrict a woman’s ability to procure a safe and legal abortion.  This novel takes place in the only such center available in Mississippi.  As soon becomes clear, the Center, as it is called, also provides a plethora of health and reproductive services for women.  This book was carefully researched and is grounded in fact from both sides of the issue.

 

The novel begins when a gunman enters the Center and begins shooting, immediately killing the receptionist.  The women in the Center at the time of the shooting are there for various reasons.  Wren is a 15-year old girl who talked her Aunt Bex into taking her there for birth control pills; Joy needed an abortion; and 68-year-old Olive was there for women’s health care.  Janine is a “spy”, pretending to need an abortion in the hopes that she can capture incriminating evidence “proving” that women are coerced into getting an abortion.

 

George, the gunman, had just learned that his daughter had an abortion and wants to take revenge on the Center.  As has happened throughout the country, there have been a number of shootings at women’s health clinics.  In the afterward to the book, the author provides a summary of much of her research.

 

This is one of Picoult’s best novels.

 

Read:  February 21, 2021

 

4 Stars

Books Set in North America, United States, Virginia

Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim (2019)

 

This novel is part courtroom drama, part mystery.  Pak and Young Yoo and their daughter Mary, are South Korean immigrants.  They immigrated to the United States in hopes of providing their teenaged daughter a good education.  For visa reasons, Young Yoo and Mary arrived several years before Pak could join them.  Once the family is together, they find themselves in rural Virginia in a town called Miracle Creek.

 

Pak was able to get a license to run a private hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) center.  The therapy claimed to provide treatment for a variety of illnesses and conditions, including autism and infertility.  The HBOT chamber is a refurbished submarine that can accommodate several patients in one “dive.”

 

The novel opens with a fire at the facility, in which two of the people chamber were killed, and several others seriously wounded.  The mother of the 8-year-old autistic child who died in the fire is the prime suspect.  Usually, the mothers would enter the chamber with their children, but on this day, Elizabeth, opted not to participate.

 

Elizabeth’s demeanor in the courtroom certainly makes her look suspect, and as witnesses testify, her guilt seems clear.  But as the trial continues, the author peels back the stories and motives of the Yoos and the other families who were in the chamber on the day of the fire.  Each person has his/her own reasons for keeping secrets.

 

This was a quick read as a novel, but ultimately, I was left unsatisfied.  There were still too many issues that were raised in the book, that were left unanswered.  As Chekhov noted: If in Act One you have a pistol hanging on the wall, then it must fire in the last act.

 

Read: February 2, 2021

 

3 Stars

Books Set in Asia and North America: Sri Lanka and California

What Lies Between Us, by Nayomi Munaweera (2016)

 

This novel is narrated by a young woman who was born in Sri Lanka during a tumultuous political period of war.  Her father was the son of a wealthy family and her mother was of a poor family.  Her father was light-skinned, but her mother was dark.  Although her father’s family had little to do with her, she grew up in a loving family, surrounded by servants.  One of the servants, Samson, who worked as a gardener, was one of her childhood’s closest friends.

 

As a young teen, however, her life is transformed by events that she dares not speak of.  She has memories of being molested that are closely associated with Samson.  One night, during a monsoon, her father goes to confront Samson.  That same night, her father mysteriously disappears.  His body is found several days later, ostensibly having been drowned in the monsoon.  Samson soon disappears also.  After her father death, she and her mother immigrate to America to live with her mother’s sister and her family.

 

Although our narrator was light-skinned in Sri Lanka, in California, she suddenly finds herself dark-skinned.  This is just one of her adjustments living in her new country.  She adjusts, attends college and becomes a nurse.  She is still a bit of a loner and has dispensed with all thoughts of finding love due to her foreign status.  Then she meets Daniel and falls deeply in love.  

 

They marry and, although, they had not planned to have children, but when she discovers she realized that she wants a child.  Daniel initially says that he doesn’t want a child and she agrees to an abortion.  At the last minute, Daniel changes his mind, and they have a beautiful daughter.  The secrets she has suppressed since childhood, however, bubble to the surface.  As Daniel grows close to the baby, our narrator has traumatic nightmares of her childhood.  She fears for her daughter and makes the ultimate sacrifice.

 

 

In addition to an intriguing tale, this novel provides a beautiful view of Sri Lanka.

 

Read:  January 29, 2021

 

4 Stars

Books Set in the North America: United States

ExUs, by Josephus IV (2014)

 

This is a cautionary tale of what could happen.  The book was written in 2014, but the events happened in the “future”, which was shortly after 2017.  The United States Congress enacted the Victims Law of 2017, which ostensibly gave an advantage to minorities.  Its impact, however, largely targeted Jews.  As more and more restrictions were placed on American Jews, they found themselves without jobs, property and the ability to travel.  Technology had advanced so that a mere pinprick could determine one’s ethnic status.  People who never knew they were Jewish but had one Jewish grandparent were suddenly ostracized.

 

The novel is narrated by a young computer hacker.  He was offered a job sponsored by the NSA that was designed to build security walls within that agency.  He was given high clearance, so was also able to view extensive files, where he realized that the government was backing an Exodus of Jews from the United States.

 

This is a very fast read, but has a lot of food for thought.

 

Read: January 27, 2021

 

4 Stars