Little Syllables: The Blog
Review - The Caretaker by Ron Rash
I received a review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Ron Rash’s latest work of fiction, The Caretaker, is a character-driven tale of love and loss. The story follows Jacob, his wife Naomi, and his best friend Blackburn (the titular caretaker). Jacob has been conscripted into the army during the Korean War, leaving behind a pregnant Naomi, who is shunned by his parents. Jacob asks his best friend Blackburn to take care of her while he’s gone.
Blackburn does his best for Naomi, to protect her from Jacob’s parents, and to shield her from the judgmental community. But after an accident, she returns to her father’s house in another state. Soon Jacob’s parents see an opportunity to be rid of her—and get their son back. Blackburn proves key in the aftermath, driven both by his desire to create a happy life for himself and by his loyalty to his friends.
This book has beautiful description, complex characters, and an intriguing plot. I was swept up in the world of 1951 Blowing Rock, North Carolina. Rash immerses the reader in the beauty of a cemetery, the pain of loving and losing, and the redemptive power of love.
I absolutely loved this book and highly recommend it! The Caretaker is available now.
Review - The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger
As I read William Kent Krueger’s newest book, The River We Remember, I found myself getting lost in his descriptions of time and place. I felt transported. If nothing else, Krueger’s work feels like a love story to a beautiful river in rural Minnesota.
The River We Remember tells the story of James Quinn’s death and its aftermath in the small town of Jewel. Sheriff Dern and his deputies are called in to investigate the death of Quinn—an important, but hated man, and they are forced to make choices about the true meaning of justice. The story not only follows Dern’s investigation, but also the intertwining lives of the citizens of Jewel—the sheriff’s family; the local newspaperman; the owner of the local diner; teenagers Scott and Del; Quinn’s wife and children; and the enigmatic Noah and Kyoko Bluestone.
The book is a beautifully written portrait of a quaint but wounded hometown where no one is left untouched by the tragedies of their neighbors.
Because in a town this small, everyone is connected.
This book touches on a lot of important themes, like racial prejudice in the aftermath of World War II, the personal impact of war, the appropriation of indigenous lands, and the choices good people are forced to make in impossible circumstances. Krueger makes his characters very human. Nobody here is flawless.
Sensitive readers should know this book contains references to suicide, sexual assault, child abuse, drug use, and racism.
The River We Remember is available now!
Review - The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Cypress Maze is a wonderful book for fans of the genre. It is structured similarly to Valpy's other books with a modern POV and a historical POV. We begin with Tess, who is grieving her recently deceased husband and needs to get away from her everyday life. She heads to Italy to stay with her grandmother’s friend Beatrice. The two bond as Beatrice shares her story with Tess.
One thing I especially liked about this book is its different take on WWII fiction. The historical narrative follows Beatrice when she was a young woman who was stranded in Italy when war broke out. She was forced into hiding and protected by a sympathetic couple in a rural villa.
The politics and fighting of the war are not front-and-center here.
As Beatrice relates her story to Tess, we see the courage of good men and women during the worst times of their lives, we see the redeeming power of love, and the resilience of the human spirit.
The historical portion of the book was my favorite.
In the modern day, we follow Tess as she settled at the villa, helps Beatrice, and gets to know the villa’s new owner Marco. Although Tess is the protagonist of the story, I felt she was a rather passive character who spends much of her time observing others.
I appreciated the parallels between Beatrice's love story and Tess's--both of which ended in tragedy and loss. Having Tess hear Beatrice's history and the story of her love and grief helped Tess heal from her own grief. I love that Valpy highlighted this important component of grieving and healing.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I felt I couldn't give it five stars because I really didn't care for Marco and didn't feel his character was developed quite deeply enough to make his character arc feel substantial and sustainable.
The Cypress Maze is available now!
Review - A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales
I received a free review copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, but also love a good parody, A Most Agreeable Murder may be just the ticket for you. I found this book to be amusing and fun.
This book tells the story of Beatrice Steele, a plucky young woman who secretly loves reading about murder (a completely scandalous secret in Swampshire). Her family attends the Stabmort ball to attempt to woo the rich Mr. Croaksworth and save themselves from destitution. The heir to their estate, Mr. Grub, is also in attendance, attempting to seduce Beatrice. But when Mr. Croaksworth drops dead, Beatrice sets out to find the killer. She soon discovers that most everyone in attendance has secrets they might kill to keep.
Seales has created (sometimes quite obvious) parallels to Austen’s characters and plots—Mr. Grub is clearly a Mr. Collins, but worse. I spotted a Mr. Woodhouse, a Miss Bates, a Captain Wentworth, a Mr. Bennet, and more.
One thing I especially liked about this book was the way it bucks conventions of its time, including a diverse cast of characters, showing the most eligible bachelor to also be the most insufferable bore, and allowing its heroine to pursue her own interests. This book is also great at showing why following rules simply for the sake of tradition isn’t always the best route.
A Most Agreeable Murder is lighthearted and doesn’t take itself too seriously. Some of the comic exaggerations are a bit overwrought, but I felt this was a fairly solid book for readers familiar with the tropes and willing to see them turned on their heads.
Julia Seales’ A Most Agreeable Murder comes out June 27, 2023.
Review - Nocturne by Alyssa Wees
I received a free galley of this book through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Nocturne is a lyrical fantasy about an orphaned ballerina in Depression-era Chicago. This story is reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast or Phantom of the Opera.
Grace has risen through the ranks of her ballet company, seemingly through her own talent and determination. When her best friend, Emilia, is set to retire from her position as prima, Grace is selected to take her place, and a specific role is set for her by a mysterious benefactor.
Soon Grace realizes that things are not as simple as they seem, and she becomes obsessed with discovering the identity of her patron, Master La Rosa. Once the show run ends, Grace is taken to live with La Rosa—an exchange that seems to have been made between her Mistress and her patron to secure the future of the ballet company. Grace is cut off from all she has known, isolated from her friends, and spends all her time either alone, dancing with La Rosa, or driving with La Rosa’s assistant Mr. Russo.
The first half of this novel is slow and took me quite a while to get into. Grace has a tragic backstory, filled with the deaths of those she loved most. But she has also been given so much as she was taken in by the Mistress and allowed to train in ballet. Once she joins La Rosa, she must decide if she is to give herself wholly to him or not (though it’s never made clear what will happen if she refuses). The relationship between Grace and La Rosa was supposed to be a romance, but it felt more like abusive grooming to me, especially at first.
Eventually, a plot is uncovered that makes Grace question everything once again. Ultimately, the book ends with Grace having redeemed herself and resumed her rightful position. But the reader is left wondering if she ever really had any choice.
I found the author’s description to be beautiful, but sometimes overdone. There were details within the story that I kept expecting to find were important later on. Some were, but others weren’t. I felt Wees’s strength lies more in describing settings than it does in building complex characters and relationships.
I gave this book 3 stars because I felt that the premise was a good one, though it could have been executed more cleanly. The plot was slow to progress through the first half, then seemed scattered through the second half. Grace is the most well-developed character, though I found myself feeling sorry for her more than I was rooting for her. I would have loved to see more of Lorenzo, Emilia, Beatrice, and a more fully developed relationship between Grace and the Mistress.
Nocturne by Alyssa Wees is available now!
Review - The Witch of Tin Mountain
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Set in Arkansas and spanning a century, The Witch of Tin Mountain is historical fiction with a paranormal twist. The story follows generations of women from a single family—women with powers that many others do not understand. The dual timelines follow Dierdre (in the late 1800s) and Gracie (in the 1930s) as they navigate the emergence of their powers and grow from teenagers into adults.
Each of their lives are upended with the arrival of a mysterious preacher who causes a stir in the town of Tin Mountain. While these preachers perform miracles within the community, they are not what they seem.
Gentry haunts Dierdre, even as she flees Tin Mountain to escape him. He ultimately lures her into a trap, and she makes a deal she will later regret. Bellflower has come to Tin Mountain to collect on Dierdre’s debt. Gracie is forced to rely on herself and her ancestors as she works to thwart Bellflower’s designs.
This book is a tangle of love and loss, power and sacrifice.
Ultimately, I felt this book is about the power of women. I thought the author did a great job with characterization and the overarching storyline. Things get a bit muddy because the stories of the various characters have so many similarities—at times the coincidences felt too contrived.
Overall, I enjoyed this book, and I think fans of the genre will enjoy it as well. Sensitive readers should know there are references to witchcraft, sexual assault, murder, suicide, and abortion in this novel.
The Witch of Tin Mountain came out yesterday, February 1!
Review - Scatterlings by Rešoketšwe Manenzhe
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Scatterlings was a slow, but interesting read for me. This book is historical fiction set in South Africa in 1927, when the Immorality Act was passed. The story revolves around Abram and Alisa and their daughters, Dido and Emilia. Abram is of Dutch descent and Alisa is Black, the daughter of former slaves in the Caribbean who was raised by a white couple in England.
Obviously, the Immorality Act complicates Abram and Alisa’s lives. As Abram considers leaving the country with his family, Alisa commits a terrible act, doing something that she thinks will be best for her children.
This story is built around several different points of view. A large portion of the book is excerpts of Alisa’s journal, and that is how the reader learns her backstory. We see her struggles with mental illness and with feelings of displacement. And we see how her actions affect the lives of her husband and daughters.
The characters in this story are complex and deeply wrought.
I appreciate how the author gives the reader intricate people to drive the story forward.
The setting is also very well done. This book provides a very detailed sense of place, and the reader falls in love with South Africa along with the characters.
Ultimately I felt this novel was about finding belonging and coming home. Each character in the book deals with displacement in their own ways, and I love how the author weaved different cultural beliefs together to show how these characters find their own homes (physical and metaphorical).
Scatterlings came out on December 13. Check it out and let me know what you think of it!
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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 - Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
I received a free advanced copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Anthony Doerr’s new novel, Cloud Cuckoo Land, is unlike anything I have read before. This book follows five different characters (Konstance, Zeno, Seymour, Omeir, and Anna), detailing their lives lived in different times and places, eventually weaving them together. Konstance is a girl living aboard a spaceship in the future. Zeno is a retired snowplow driver and amateur translator in Idaho. Seymour is a troubled teenager who wants to save the world. Omeir is a young man with facial deformities conscripted into war. Anna is a book lover stuck in a city under siege. They are all tied together by the story of Cloud Cuckoo Land.
This book takes the reader on an adventure around the globe (and beyond) while also showing the different forms of isolation each of the characters experiences. While reading this book, I felt immersed in each character’s unique situation, feeling their loneliness and despair along with them, but also feeling their hope. These characters are nothing if not resilient.
I loved this book. It blends genres of historical, contemporary, and science fiction. It is magical, epic, and extremely human. But it’s not perfect. In the end, I found myself wanting to know why. I think Doerr was intentional in leaving some questions unanswered. After all, those unanswered questions have left me thinking about this book long after finishing it. And ultimately, this book is about the power of literature to change the world—one person at a time.
Cloud Cuckoo Land is set for release on September 28, 2021.
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Review - The World Played Chess by Robert Dugoni
I received a free reading copy from NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
Robert Dugoni’s The World Played Chess is an incredible read. Three storylines intertwine to tell the story of William Goodman and Vincent Bianco, who became friends on a work crew in 1979. William is a Vietnam vet and Vincent is a recent high school graduate. As they work together, William begins to tell Vincent about Vietnam. The other storyline finds Vincent 40 years later, navigating life as his son Beau finishes high school. William sends him his Vietnam journal. The reader gets to experience the journal along with Vincent, while also hearing stories directly from William as he told them in 1979.
As with any book about war, this one is heartbreaking. William’s journal and stories bring so many of his fellow soldiers back to life. This book is the ultimate coming-of-age novel, following William, Vincent, and Beau as they encounter struggles that cause them to grow up quickly.
I loved the interwoven plots in this novel. It is masterfully done. I loved the characters and their development. This book is about growing up, but it’s also about letting go and learning to stand alone. It’s about the relationships that make and break each person.
Overall, I highly recommend this book. Sensitive readers should anticipate the violence found in a war novel, as well as racism, language, and sexual content.
The World Played Chess is set for release on September 14, 2021.