The Forgotten Garden

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

A tale within a tale within a tale...

1913: A portmaster on some Australian coast finds a small girl on an English ship that has just arrived in Australia. The little girl has no recollection of her name and is carrying nothing but a small suitcase containing a book of fairy tales. The portmaster has no choice but to bring the small child home. Day after day, he and his childless wife wait to hear news of some family searching for the girl, but no news appear. Eventually they claim her as their own.

Nell grows up to be the apple of her father's eye, the delight of her mother and younger sisters, and one of the most beautiful girls around. But on her 21st birthday, her father chooses to reveal a deep secret: Nell is not their biological daughter.

And she disconnects. Breaks her engagement. Becomes distant from her family. Moves away.

1976: Now 65, Nell finally decides to attempt to trace her true roots. (Yeah, I know. Doesn't it seem like she would have done more of that a lot sooner?) Nell eventually discovers where she is from, but not much else surrounding her mysterious arrival in Australia or why she was abandoned and by whom. Although she wants to go back to England to continue her search, her own daughter leaves her granddaughter, Cassandra, with her for a few weeks. And those weeks turn to years.

2005: After Nell dies, Cassandra learns her grandmother's dreadful (sarcasm on my part) secret and takes up the search. The search leads back to a rich family in England. A rich, young lady named Rose and her cousin Eliza, an author of fairy tales. Cassandra works tirelessly to discover who Eliza is and why she would have taken Rose to another country.

So this is really and truly a tale within a tale within a tale: rotating between Cassandra's continued search for Nell's origins to Nell's own search during 1975 to Eliza's own story at the turn of the century.
And sometimes Eliza's own fairy tales are inserted between these chapters.

It's a lot, right? That's my primary complaint. The story of how little Nell got to Australia is a compelling and worthwhile one, but the narratives that follow Nell and Cassandra as they unravel the mysteries are not. And neither are the fairy tales. And neither are the many side characters that pop up in Cassandra's story. I don't care about Ruby, the daughter of an Australian Cassandra knows, who now lives in England. I don't really care that Cassandra is falling in love with the English gardener. I don't care about the woman who bought Rose's family estate and turned it into a hotel. I just don't care. In fact, I found myself skimming a lot, sometimes skipping pages outright.

All in all I only made it through this 549 page story because Eliza is a compelling character, as is her cousin Rose. Unfortunately, we don't hear nearly enough from them.

Grade: C

I Am Legend

by Richard Matheson

A long time ago, when I saw the movie I AM LEGEND with the lovely Will Smith, I thought "Wow! Can I read this book?" Years later, while at the Goodwill, I found a copy. I read this book in April, so my review is going to be a bit dusty and perhaps a bit more of a book-movie comparison than a book review.

Robert Neville is the only man alive. Everyone else has succumbed to a deadly vampiric infection. Or have they? Neville spends his days refortifying his house and killing the infected. At night, he holes up in his fortress-like home and tries to drink away the howls of the now dead and the memories of the ones he used to love. (So far, pretty similar to the movie.)

However, the book Neville isn't one of the best scientists in the world, so gone are all the absolutely wonderful science-lab backstory and vaccine montages that I loved in the movie.

Another however, this book has absolutely none of the hope that the movie does. The book is an end-of-the-world and there's not much you can do about it type of story. I'm torn between which I like better: the bittersweet, yet hopeful ending of the movie or the damned, that's it? ending of the book.

That being said, this is a great read at only 169 pages and while it's not hopeful, I would still easily classify it as light beach reading. B+

Bitter is the New Black

Bitter Is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending Egomaniacal, Self-Centered Smart-Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office by Jen Lancaster

The memoir opens describing Jen’s pricey lifestyle: expensive shopping trips, expensive salon visits, and expensive apartment. She works in the finance industry, and she’s paid dearly for her expertise. She comes off as a spoiled bee-otch, but slowly you begin to realize that she does indeed work her butt off for her job; and you have to respect that. She calls it like it is – even when it’s shockingly cruel. She lacks all tact, and she’s all about business. That is, until in the recession that hit after 9/11, she finds herself laid off from her job.

(SPOILER AHEAD.) For almost two years, she pounds the pavement searching all of Chicago for jobs, but there are none. She’s over-qualified and on a job search when a large number of experienced professionals are doing the same. Eventually, she goes on the dole, but it takes her months and months and months to ever realize that she needs to curtail her spending. However, as your sympathy for Jen finally begins to build - she becomes a volunteer, gets closer to her family, starts a blog – she reverts back to spoiled brat. As she and her boyfriend, who has also lost his job, begin to hit rock bottom, she comes up with another spoiled, brilliant idea: Using a wedding as a means to further pay for their lifestyle. As much as I balked at this selfishly concocted idea, I could help but think “Why not?” She and her boyfriend are in a long-term committed relationship, and when the economy is tough you’ve got to do what you can to survive. As her story winds down, things finally start working out: Fletch, the SO, gets a job; they realign their spending habits to their actual financial limits; and Jen’s blog becomes hugely popular.

In the end, this was exactly what it looked like: chic-lit. Jen’s funny, sarcastic, and witty. It’s fun to live in her high-priced luxury world in the beginning; it’s fun to cluck your tongue in disapproval as she continues to spend recklessly when out of a job; and it’s satisfying to see her finally find her way. However, it was REALLY nice to see a book in which the protagonist maintained a committed relationship throughout the entire book.

Grade: B

Let the Right One In: A Vampire Novel for Adults

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist is a vampire novel. The most unromantic and depressing vampire novel I have ever read. There is nothing seductive about vampirism in this novel. The thrill and fascination for death, immortality, and power are nil. This is a vampire story by Wally Lamb: gray, depressive, and in need of a real anti-depressant. The back of the book claims that the author is “Sweden’s Stephen King.” If that is so, I am eternally grateful that I live in America. If King’s works seem a tad less serious, the impression they leave is still as lasting as this story and yet much more engrossing.

Oskar, a 12-year-old misfit, is ostracized and bullied to the extreme. He really has no one with whom he can connect with other than his mother, who seems to be just as desperate and lonely. No one really understands the extent to which he is subjected to cruel and inhumane harassment from bullies. No one tries to alleviate the problem. Oskar fantasizes about killing his bullies, and this is where you begin to question the empathy you developed for him. Is this kid whack-o? Is he going to go crazy and kill everyone? But as soon as you develop an aversion to Oskar, Eli enters the storyline and pulls you back in.

Oskar meets the strange, waif-like girl in his apartment complex's playground one night. He is unused to any attention that is not scornful. She, too, seems lonely. From the get-go, the narrator lets you know that Eli is a vampire and that her situation is as sad as the dull, cold apartment complex in which she and Oskar live. Due to her child-like appearance, Eli must live with an adult: a pedophile who is willing to kill for her and clean up the mess. In no uncertain terms is vampirism made appealling. Her situation is not glorified: she is a killer. When Eli hasn’t fed, she becomes old and decrepit looking. She often smells.

However, there is something between Eli and Oskar. Some understanding between their souls, some understanding of the quiet loneliness they both live with. They become friends. An odd friendship comprised of meeting at night and communicating through walls using Morse code. But this friendship, however strange, seems to give Oskar a little more strength in daily life.

It is Eli, primarily, and Oskar whom you want the story to develop around. However, there are so many subplots to the story that weave in and out, dampening my enthusiasm for the book. There’s the group of alcoholics that have little in their own lives but each other and the need to drink. There’s the pedophile that is willing to kill for Eli who has his own depressing and repellent background. There’s Oskar’s own sad alcoholic father. The author even develops the stories of the main detective who investigates the mysterious murders. And the story of his girlfriend and her drug-addict son, Tommy. Even the background of the main bully is explored. There’s just too much in the way of character development, and I’m not sure if it really adds much to the story….

Except to focus on the complete lack of connection these characters feel to any other human in their lives. So little love is displayed. So little enthusiasm for life.. And why would that be relevant other than to depress us? Well, it highlights the fact that maybe Oskar and Eli’s friendship isn’t all that odd. In a place with so little life, so little warmth, so little to hope for, perhaps Eli is a good choice as a friend.

Grade: C+

Eaters of the Dead

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

A great take on Beowulf. Once again, Crichton uses a "pseudo-documentary" style to help "authenticate" his works. The entire book takes the form of a scholarly compilation and translation of ancient copies of Ibn Fadlan's journey from the Middle East to the north. While journeying north, he is forced to join a group of men who are returning to their homeland to battle mist creatures that attack and savagely kill their countrymen.

This was a fun read. I would write more, but I'm working on the BEST.

Grade: C+

Nice to Come Home To

Nice to Come Home To by Rebecca Flowers

I'm on break... sweet, sweet spring vacation ... and I took out several books to divert my attention from the more relevant, more terrifying May 15th deadline of my BEST.

I always steer myself to the YA section because 1) reading YA is more beneficial to my business and 2) I really do have a passion for YA literature. But I do feel the calling to read something, on occasion, for the adult masses. Also, it's nice to be able to throw out one book appropriate for an adult conversation. (Needless to say, when socializing, not everyone shares my joy when discovering that the 4th Wimpy Kid is coming out in October and that The Last Olympian is coming out in a few weeks!) This week I picked up Nice to Come Home To to fulfill that need.

I got this book with the assumption that it would be a quick, typical chick lit book. It was quick, but only because I enjoyed it so much. Rather than leaving me feeling like I could have better spent my time elsewhere, I finished this book with the satisfaction that I had just read good literature.

Our protagonist in this story is Pru Whistler. She's 36, has a gay friend, lives in a city, and has recently been dumped and fired! And to make matters worse, she's now the owner of her ex's former lunatic cat! All of the makings of chick lit, right? But it's not the quintessential chick-lit, either. It's funny, but not in an embarrassing way. The protagonist doesn't spend hours complaining about her body. There's drama, but it always seems so subtle and tight. No room for drama queen moves by the protagonist.

Despite the catastrophic events that occur in the first few pages, Pru remains relatively calm during these times of duress. And the story quickly moves past the firing and the break-up. Typically, chick lit would harp on these issues throughout the story, but Flowers uses these quietly to help Pru grow. Pru wrestles with finding a new job. While developing a new life plan, she meets John Owen, who has recently separated from his wife. They develop a friendship that sits on the fence of "something more" throughout the whole book. The relationship feels very real, in the sense of people who are reluctant to give it another go. In the meantime, Pru's sister Patsy moves to the East Coast. Patsy and her daughter end up moving in with Pru, while both sisters recover from job loss and hurt.

This quickly goes from being a story about a girl to a story about a girl and her family. There are many important characters in this book, and Flowers does a great job developing them. Pru, Patsy, John, and Pru's mother are all drawn up so wonderfully.

However, like chick lit, this story ends happily, and that's always nice.

Grade: A/A-

BTW, this is my 44th book.