Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - It’s Not A Cult by Lauren Danhof
I received a review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I requested Lauren Danhof’s new book It’s Not a Cult because I think cults and high-demand religions are very interesting. I went into this book not exactly sure what to expect.
It tells the story of Glinda Glass, a single, late 20’s woman who is down on her luck, living at home with her mother and younger sister. She is estranged from her twin sister for reasons that become clear as the novel progresses. Glinda’s mother is a member of a cult, though of course, everyone insists it’s not a cult.
This book is split between present-day narration and Glinda’s memories as she works to try and free her mother from this organization and figure out her own life.
The Glass family has a lot going on—Dorothy and her partner have severed most contact and moved to Oklahoma to look for Bigfoot; North is just trying to finish high school and get away from her family, Glinda is working at a dunk tank at a Renaissance fair (but keeping it from her family), and their mom is heavily involved in her church and its leader Arlon.
The one thing all these people have in common (besides being family) is their incredible inability to communicate clearly with each other.
I enjoyed the characters and felt that Danhof did a great job building believable characters with fairly believable problems. But the communication breakdowns between characters was sometimes maddening. I kept feeling that much of the conflict in the book could have been solved with a good conversation.
I also liked the premise of this book. It does a good job showing the ability that a particularly charismatic (and narcissistic) person can have to persuade normal people to believe things that at first seemed unbelievable. It shows the power of a cult leader, and how hard it can be to break away. And for most of the novel, this is done somewhat lightheartedly, but everything comes to a head near the end, and we see the true evil behind Arlon’s machinations.
My overall impression of this book is that it was entertaining, though frustrating at times. It highlights important things about high-control religions and family communication. It could be triggering for people who have suffered physical and emotional abuse.
Review - The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I enjoy reading books about family dynamics and characters coming to terms with their true selves, so the description of this book drew me in. It tells the story of the Hanrahan family—patriarch Ray, making his artistic comeback with an exhibition; matriarch Lucia, trying to make sense of her role both within and without her family; shy son Patrick, desperately working to hold himself together and do what is right; daddy’s girl Leah, putting her father and his wishes above everything else; and self-exiled Jess, the one who got away.
Though Ray tries to make everything about him (with Leah’s help), this book is really about Lucia. She is a woman who has put her family first, who has suffered tremendously, and who is abused. And she is a woman who struggles to reconcile her desire to stay faithful with her desire to break free.
The characters in this book are a mixed bag. I absolutely hated Ray, and by extension, Leah. The two of them are a toxic pair, propping up Ray’s narcissism. The rest of the family sit uncomfortably under Ray’s thumb.
I felt that the author did a great job showing the effects that this type of family situation can have on different types of children (and adults). Each character has their own issues that they are trying to work through, and it’s made clear that the combination of dominant, blustering Ray, and submissive, indecisive Lucia have perpetuated these issues in their children, to the point of crisis.
The plot of this book is slow-moving. The whole story takes place over a weekend, but at times, it felt like a slog. The reader is let in on each character’s inner life and is led (frustratingly) to dead ends when the characters fail to communicate clearly with each other.
Perhaps that is what the author was trying to do—show the cumulative damage and frustration of these types of personalities and relationships. If that was the goal, it was done well. Nothing in this book made me feel positive about these peoples’ futures.
By the time the book ends, each character is in a deeper mess than where they started, except maybe Lucia and Patrick—who seem to be breaking free, but not necessarily toward better things. So maybe they’re just in a different mess than where they started.
I think this book could be great for a reader who is interesting in negative and problematic family dynamics or the problems facing individuals who try to break free from relationships with narcissists. I also think the book could have accomplished all this in fewer pages, or perhaps at a quicker pace.
The Exhibitionist by Charlotte Mendelson is available now in the US!
Review - A Likely Story by Leigh Abramson
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
A Likely Story is an interesting look at the inner lives of a successful literary novelist, Ward Manning, and his family. Ward portrays himself as a self-made success. He is driven solely by his ego throughout the entire story. His wife Claire is like his brain trust—she is the driving force that got Ward’s career started, and her sacrifices are what have allowed him to maintain his ridiculously large ego throughout his adult life. Their daughter Isabelle worships Ward but loves Claire. She wants nothing more than to write and be successful in the eyes of her father.
This book is told from many different perspectives. Throughout the book, we see the POV of Claire, Ward, Isabelle, Brian (Isabelle’s unlikely best friend), and we get snippets of a book manuscript. There are several timelines at play as well. I felt this head-hopping and time-hopping was a little convoluted and distracting. Each chapter begins with the POV character’s name and the year, but I found myself taking a few paragraphs to reorient with each change.
I would consider Isabelle the protagonist of this book, though she is not a terribly sympathetic character. She is the only character in the book who completes a convincing character arc, though I found myself questioning her motives all the way through to the end. Isabelle was raised an only child, a rich kid with a famous father and a philanthropist mother. She seems incapable of maintaining any relationships except for with her doting best friend Brian.
Isabelle’s father, Ward, is so egotistical he feels like a caricature at times. He doesn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities.
Isabelle’s mother, Claire, was probably my favorite character in this book. She is smart, generous, insightful, and caring…yet somehow ends up in a lifelong relationship with Ward. I found it hard to understand her motivation for beginning a relationship with him and then maintaining it.
And then we have Brian, Isabelle’s best friend. Their relationship didn’t make any sense to me. It’s almost like she became his friend so she could keep him like a pet, and he worshipped her. When he decides to cut off contact with Isabelle, I thought, “finally!” But by the end, he’s back.
Overall, I thought the premise of this book was very interesting. I think it would benefit from greater focus (limiting how many points of view we see). I also think the relationships within the novel could be more believable.
A Likely Story by Leigh Abramson is available now.
Review - Keeping Family Secrets by Margaret K. Nelson
I received a free review copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Keeping Family Secrets: Shame and Silence in Memoirs from the 1950s is a nonfiction book that felt more like a summary of more extensive data. Nelson takes several big issues around the theme of shame and silence in the 1950s and then pulls details from a variety of memoirs to explain each issue. She addresses the institutionalization of children with disabilities, same-sex attraction among boys, unwed pregnancies, Communism, adoption, and Jewish ancestry.
This book was an interesting glimpse into the 1950s in the US. Nelson did a great job explaining why each of these issues led to shame and silence throughout the country.
Americans were after the “ideal” family, and all of these issues were perceived as detracting from that goal.
Nelson looks at individual memoirs to pull stories for each chapter of her book. It is interesting to note that most of the memoirs were written by people who grew up with these secrets in their families—and decided as adults to expose the secrets.
I felt that this book gives the reader good information. But it felt very sterile and unemotional to me. Perhaps that was the author’s intent. It also felt like a fairly dry summary of other people’s work.
I suppose my impressions of this book are tainted by my expectations. I began this book looking for a deep dive into some of these issues, seeing the emotions involved, and feeling some sort of redemption for the people who lived through these things and reclaimed their power later in life by exposing these secrets. Instead, I left with more general overview of these six issues and why they were taboos in the 1950s. I was left wanting more depth.
Keeping Family Secrets was released yesterday and is available now.
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Review - The Maze by Nelson DeMille
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Maze is the latest installment in DeMille’s John Corey series. These are contemporary detective stories. In this book, John is recently retired from his job in federal law enforcement. He’s enjoying some downtime at his uncle’s summer house when he’s approached by an old flame and a job offer with a private investigation firm.
Sometimes it doesn’t work to jump into a series in the middle, but DeMille does a decent job of catching a reader up with John’s history without getting too bogged down. I never felt like I was missing anything about the protagonist/narrator that would have helped the story.
Although DeMille is a prolific author, I had never read any of his books before. I didn’t realize what I was getting into.
Let’s just say that John Corey is portrayed as “a man’s man” and a “cop’s cop.” He’s a hyper-masculine, chauvinistic character with a fair number of ex-wives and ex-girlfriends in his wake. He rebels against authority and is a smart-ass. He’s borderline belligerent and obviously objectifies women. And yet somehow, this man keeps getting women to sleep with him.
So I had a hard time getting into this book because I really did not like John Corey.
But the mystery that is set up was intriguing enough to keep me reading, hoping John would grow on me. Spoiler alert: he didn’t.
John is entangled in an off-the-books investigation of a private investigation firm that smells of corruption. He gets hired on as a consultant at the firm and quickly alienates most everyone there, compromises the investigation, and nearly gets himself killed. He also has time to hatch elaborate plans and join in for the “Thirsty Thursday” strip show, courtesy of his new employer.
In the process, he does help uncover some crimes and corruption, culminating in an intense chase sequence where John is outnumbered and outgunned. Then, the book ends so suddenly that the reader isn’t given concrete answers on some of the book’s biggest mysteries.
This book was a miss for me, though I have to give DeMille credit for creating an intriguing mystery, a plausible conspiracy, and establishing backstory without overwhelming a reader new to the series. The Maze was released October 11.
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Review - The Lives of Diamond Bessie by Jody Hadlock
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Lives of Diamond Bessie is an historical fiction novel set in the mid-1800s. It is based on the life of a real woman.
Bessie is actually Annie, a teenage girl who is sent away to a Magdalene laundry when she becomes pregnant out of wedlock. This is where we first meet her. We quickly see the conclusion of her pregnancy and the immediate aftermath—her daughter is taken from her to be placed in an orphanage.
Annie is a poor teenager who has been cast out by her family, but she needs money in order to support her daughter, and she is determined to find a way to remove her daughter from the orphanage. Due to her past, she is unable to find employment, and ultimately becomes a prostitute who goes by the name Bessie.
The reader is privy to Bessie’s life in the brothel, her relationships with her fellow sex workers, and her quest to regain her daughter. The characters are well-written and complex. I enjoyed learning more about how and why women ended up in these types of situations, and how difficult it was for them to get out.
Bessie became successful and rich (her jewelry providing her moniker of Diamond Bessie), but she never was able to recover her daughter. This was the part of the story that gave me the most trouble. With how important her daughter seems to be to Bessie, very little time and attention is given to that portion of the story. Instead, we see her go from man to man, searching for one who will marry her and help repair her reputation. She does marry, and that is the decision that leads to her untimely death.
The book is divided into two parts--the first half of the book is her life, and the second half is after her death. I felt this structure was innovative and interesting. We stay with Bessie through both parts of the story, as she seeks to redeem herself and as she seeks justice.
There were things I enjoyed about this story. I found the subject matter interesting and the characters well developed. But I really didn’t like Bessie. And it’s hard to be sympathetic toward a protagonist that you don’t like and who makes terrible decisions. I feel that the author tried to cover too much territory, which made the side plot about Bessie’s daughter feel stilted.
The Lives of Diamond Bessie by Jody Hadlock is available now!
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Review - The Family Tree by Steph Mullen & Nicole Mabry
I received an advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
I read a fair number of thrillers and mysteries, so I’m always keen to snap up advanced copies in those genres. I really respect a mystery author who can lead the reader along, dropping clues, and then completely surprise them at the end. This book was trying to be one of those mysteries, but the execution was not great.
The Family Tree is told from two different perspectives: Liz, a young woman seeking to learn more about her biological family, and an unidentified (until the end) serial killer. I feel like this book had a great premise, possibly inspired by some real-life criminal cases solved using familial DNA. But the authors seemed to struggle to make the protagonist (Liz) likable and relatable, and to lead the reader toward the solution. Instead, readers are stuck tagging along with Liz, who makes terrible decisions, alienates those closest to her, and rushes into danger, only solving any mysteries by accident. And the big mystery—the identity of the killer—was a big disappointment for me. I don’t want to spoil too much, but let’s just say the killer’s identity seems to come out of nowhere.
Another problem I found with this story is the epilogue, which sets the stage for a sequel, maybe? We spend an entire novel getting to know the main characters, only to suddenly have two additional characters thrown in at the last second. They seemed like an afterthought. This book left me with a lot of unanswered questions because the authors didn’t provide the breadcrumbs to lead me organically to the solution.
This book was not a total miss. It kept me turning pages and I read to the end. I thought some portions were well-executed, such as the premise of how the serial killer operated and the storyline of the victims. I found most of the characters to be rather one-dimensional and unnatural, though I did like Liz’s cousin Andie and her boyfriend Travis.
One thing I will say about this book is that it is pretty clean for a thriller about a serial killer. There isn’t much adult language or sexual content. So readers who are sensitive to those things, but still want to read the genre may find the book appealing in that way.
The Family Tree by Steph Mullen and Nicole Mabry is releasing October 5, 2021.
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Review - Partners in Lime by Bree Baker
I received a free advanced copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Mystery novels are my go-to when I’m looking for a quick read. Cozy mysteries are even better at filling these gaps in my reading. This book definitely falls into that category. It is also part of a series, and I have not read the earlier installments. I came into this book unfamiliar with the characters and setting.
Author Bree Baker does a great job of setting up character and setting in a way that catches the reader up on the series without over-explaining (for the most part). If you start with book 6 like me, you won’t feel lost at sea. The only thing I can think of that might be spoiled by reading out of order is the romantic element.
The main problem I had with characterization in this novel is the focus on the protagonist’s weight and size. Granted, many women’s thoughts focus on their body size and weight (which is a big cultural issue that I have a lot of problems with), but I felt adding those details in did nothing to help me better know the character of Everly Swan. The size of her pants has no bearing on the plot of the novel, the course of her romance, or the success of her business. It could have very easily been left out. The references left this narrative feeling a little out of touch in our current “body positive” or “health at any size” cultural movements.
That said, I enjoyed this book for the fun, quick read it is. The mystery itself was enough to keep me reading, and I enjoyed the relationships that were established throughout the book. Don’t open this book hoping for a deep, thought-provoking read. Take it for what it is and enjoy the cozy ride through the Outer Banks.
Partners in Lime by Bree Baker will be released August 31, 2021.