Updating my Blog November 30, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Randomness.add a comment
Hey everyone. Just wanted to make a quick note about some updates to this blog. Now if you go to one of the “What I’ve Read Archives” pages, many of the books are linked to the reviews I wrote.
So, if you’re looking for inspiration for, say, a good mystery to read, you can click on “What I’ve Read Archives: Mystery” glance down the list, and click on the links for the review I wrote for that book.
I haven’t finished updating yet, the Fiction section is a bit daunting, but the rest should work! Try it!
Tethered November 28, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Amy MacKinnon, Fiction, police procedural, Tethered, trichotillomania
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—4.5—
As a mortician, Clara Marsh prepares the dead for their funerals. But not for the afterlife; she doesn’t believe in God or a heaven. She is alone, except for the owners of the funeral parlor, who try to treat Clara like their own daughter although she still remains aloof. Abused as a child, and suffering from the demons the abuse has left, her world is upset when a small girl, Trecie, comes to play in the funeral home. At first Clara wants to ignore the little girl, and wishes to maintain her solitude. When out on a call to pick up a deceased man, Clara and several detectives come across a kiddie-porn stash, in which Clara recognizes Trecie on the tape. Now Clara must find Trecie again, and try to protect her, in the processes giving up her introverted and isolated existence.
MacKinnon’s writing is incredibly haunting. Clara’s character comes across as incredibly despondent, without ever seeming pathetic. She doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her, she really doesn’t want anyone to notice her at all, but the reader empathesizes anyways. She is honest and frank, she knows how she wants to live and what she believes. Tethered’s plot is entirely unconventional. It’s simplicity is powerful. I was a little disappointed in the ending, however. I thought it was being tied up together too predictably, that Clara was going to learn some lesson about faith or redemption that would have been too trite for a novel that was so original up to this point. But, the end didn’t up exactly where I thought it would (although close), retaining some of its mystery and uniqueness. An excellent book for those not afraid of something dark!
4.5/5
The Serpent’s Tale November 26, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, General Fiction.Tags: Ariana Franklin, Historical Fiction, Mistress of the Art of Death, The Serpent's Tale
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—2.5—
I didn’t want to review two books I didn’t like in a row, but I promise I’m getting to reviews of several books I really did enjoy, so I might as well get this one out of the way first. I read Ariana Franklin’s The Serpent’s Tale because I enjoyed her other novel The Mistress of the Art of Death, which follows the same main character Dr. Vesuvia Adelia Rachel Ortese Aguilar (yes, it IS a mouth-full). Set in the 12th century, Adelia is a woman of science and deduction, at a time when women weren’t much of anything other than wives or nuns. In The Serpent’s Tale, Adelia’s forensic skills are called upon when the mistress of King Henry II is found murdered in her tower. Most suspect the Queen, Henry’s estranged wife, and if this is confirmed it could set the country into rebellion, war, and complete turmoil.
I liked The Serpent’s Tale much less than The Mistress of the Art of Death for several reasons. I thought the plot and the crime were much less intriguing than in the first novel. I also thought that Adelia wasn’t portrayed as strongly as she came across in the first. Furthermore, much of the book, especially the second half, lacked anything much happening at all. There is less humor in this novel, and less wit, and the murder is less frightening. I do however like the idea of a strong, intelligent, woman scienctist at a time of unreason and superstition. I also thought the scenes Franklin described were quite beautiful and full of imagination. I especially liked the twisting labyrinth that surrounds the slain mistress’ tower, it was very Alice in Wonderland/Sleeping Beauty, if that makes any sense at all. Basically, if you enjoy historical fiction, or forensic-style fiction, I certainly recommend The Mistress of the Art of Death, and if you enjoy that one, you still may want to skip The Serpent’s Tale.
2.5/5
Read my review of The Mistress of the Art of Death, also by Ariana Franklin.
The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story November 25, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Book Reviews, Nonfiction.Tags: Diane Ackerman, Holocaust, Nonfiction, The Zookeeper's Wife, World War Two
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—2.5—
Well, I finally have some time to review the books I have been reading! Hooray for Thanksgiving Break and the end of another quarter at school! The first of the catch-up-reviews is The Zookeeper’s Wife: A War Story by Diane Ackerman. It follows the Zabinski family; Jan, the director of the Warsaw zoo and his wife Antonina, who has a special gift with the animals. In the cages of the zoo and the rooms of their home, the Zabinski’s sheltered Jews during the heart of the Holocaust. Ackerman obtained a great deal of her information from Antonina’s diary, as well as other records of the time. This is a true story of some remarkable people who risked a lot to save their friends, family, and animals.
I wanted to like this book, I really did. The premise is fascinating, and Antonina and Jan are truely a likable pair. But I almost wished to just read Antonina’s diary itself. Much of the book was spent with details of the natural world that is crashing in around them due to the war, which is fine, but I didn’t feel Ackerman convincingly tied it all in with the larger story of Warsaw’s Holocaust. It sometimes read like two separate books squished together. Overall, I thought the basic plot was fascinating, but the side stories (and tangents) never came together as a cohesive unit. However, I had never thought of World War Two’s destruction of the natural world or the lives of animals, whether in captivity or free, and so The Zookeeper’s Wife provided an interesting perspective in that way.
2.5/5
Where do you get most of your books? November 17, 2008
Posted by sadiejean in Randomness.4 comments
