Tag Archives: Literary Fiction

January 27, 2015 · 1:06 pm

Review: Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

I received and advanced review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley

My Review:
Otto Vogel comes from a family of fifteen children that live on a farm in rural Saskatchewan. Russell, when he is nine years old, is sent to live with his aunt and uncle who are neighbors of the Vogel family. Russell plays with the Vogel children, eats with the family and does a fair share of chores on their farm and thus becomes the honorary 16th member of the Vogel family.

Otto, against the wishes of his mother, joins the army and is shipped to Europe when World War II breaks out. Otto keeps up a correspondence with the teacher at the local school whose name is Etta. Through their letters they fall in love and when Otto gets back to Canada they marry and have a long and happy life together. Russell, who lives next door, becomes just as good friends with Etta as he has been with Otto.

The story flashes back from the present when Etta, Otto, and Russell are in their eighties to the younger years of the Vogel farm when Otto and Russell are children, to Otto’s experiences in World War II and to Etta’s life with her family before she meets Otto and Russell. The writing style of the novel is very curt and direct and mimics the simplicity of the characters themselves.

When Etta is 83, she is starting to lose her memories and she decides that she has never seen the ocean and decides to walk from Manitoba to Halifax. Along the way she meets a coyote named Russell who becomes her loyal traveling companion. For the first time in their lives, Etta, Otto, and Russell each pursue separate paths from one another. Etta walks for months towards the east, Otto stays at home making paper mache animals and Russell goes up north in search of wildlife.

Although they have been together for their entire lives, it seems that the more they are apart, the more they lose themselves and their identities. They each feel compelled to pursue separate goals at the end of their lives, but can they ever really break the strong ties that have held them together for so many years?

This is a heart-warming story of family, love, memory and personal identity. ETTA, AND OTTO AND RUSSELL AND JAMES is a quick and easy read but one that will resonate in your heart and memory for a long time to come.

About The Author:
Books about Places and People. Songs about Dinosaurs and Insects. Research about Pop Music and Robots. Emma lives, writes, plays and teaches in Bath, England, but goes home to Canada to cross-country ski as often as she can

Review: Black River by S.M. Hulse

I received an advanced review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley.

My Review:
This is a simple yet moving book about love, loss, redemption and forgiveness. Wesley Carver lives in the small town of Black River, Montana. Like most of the adult males in this town, he works as a corrections officer for the State’s maximum security prison. Although his job is difficult and stressful, it pays the bills and supports his wife Claire and his stepson.

Wesley’s entire world is changed when one day a riot breaks out at the prison and he is held captive by one of the prisoners and is tortured for 39 hours. Wesley’s fingers are horribly deformed and he can longer play music, which was one of his favorite hobbies and escapes. Wesley learns that the man who caused him such harm and grief is up for parole; he has so many other problems to deal with in his life, but can he let the hearing go without saying a word about his unspeakable suffering caused by this inmate?

To make matters even worse, Wesley’s home life deteriorates when his stepson Dennis becomes belligerent and angry. Dennis points a loaded gun on Wesley after an argument, so Wesley decides to take his wife and move 4 hours away to Spokane, Washington. We can’t help but feel sorry for Claire who is torn between allegiance to her husband and concern for her son.

This novel makes us reflect and ask ourselves, when someone has harmed us and wronged us, can we ever truly forgive? Can old grudges be laid aside and forgotten? Does anyone ever truly change and learn from his or her mistakes? The author’s simple, yet eloquent writing and flawed, yet likeable characters provide the reader with so many themes and issues to ponder.

BLACK RIVER is an emotional, heart-wrenching read. I encourage you to delve into this book and follow Wesley on his emotional journey through healing, forgiveness, loss and soul-searching.

About The Author:
S. M. Hulse received her M.F.A. from the University of Oregon and was a fiction fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her stories have appeared in Willow Springs, Witness, and Salamander. A horsewoman and fiddler, she has spent time in Washington, Montana, Idaho, and Oregon.

Review: Us by David Nicholls

Today I welcome TLC Book Tours back to The Book Binder’s Daughter with a novel by David Nicholls which was long-listed for the Man Booker Prize. I invite you to read my review, learn a bit about the author and visit the other stops on the book tour.

My Review:
This story is funny, sad, heartwarming and frustrating all at the same time. Douglas Petersen’s life is ordered, and organized and drama free. He is, after all, a bio-chemist and he approaches his life with the precision of a scientist. When he meets Connie Moore, an artist who is his exact opposite in every way, he falls in love and wants nothing more than to settle down into a well-ordered domestic life with her. But he quickly learns that life can be messy. Very, very messy.

Despite their differences and some serious obstacles, Connie and Douglas manage to stay together for 25 years and raise a son named Albie. One day, just before Albie is about to leave for college, Connie wakes Douglas up in the middle of the night and announces that their marriage has run it’s course and she wants to leave.

About half of the book is taken up with Douglas’ musings and reminiscence about how he met Connie, their early years of marriage and their foray into parenthood. Douglas is not sure where things went wrong in their marriage, but he truly believes that for many years they were happy. I felt, at many times throughout his flashbacks, that he was much more devoted to Connie than she was to him. It bothered me, for instance, that Douglas proposed to her in Venice, but it took her three months to finally say yes while he waited patiently for an answer. He didn’t give her an ultimatum, he didn’t bring it up constantly, he simply waited.

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Filed under Literary Fiction

Tagged as Literary Fiction

November 18, 2014 · 12:00 am

Review: The Heart Has Its Reasons by Maria Duenas

I received an advanced review copy of this book from Atria through NetGalley. This is an English translation of the original Spanish novel.

My Review:

Blanca Perea has just found out that her husband of 20 years has not only left her for a woman 15 years his junior, but he is also having a baby with this other woman. In order to escape the inexplicable pain she is experiencing, Blanca leaves Madrid and accepts an appointment as a visiting professor at a small university in California. She is essentially running away from and avoiding her problems.

Blanca’s main task as a visiting professor is to sort out the papers and documents of Andres Fontana, a deceased professor of Spanish Literature. What begins, for her, as a bland secretarial position, turns into a excavation and investigation into the fascinating life of this professor. But I would argue that the central figure in the book is not Blanca, or even Professor Fontana, but it is Daniel Carter, the professor’s student. Daniel takes one of Professor Fontana’s classes at the University of Pittsburgh and gains an appreciation for the Spanish language and culture that changes his life forever.

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Filed under Literature in Translation, Literature/Fiction

Tagged as Literary Fiction, Literature in Translation, Spain

November 12, 2014 · 8:47 am

Review: All Days are Night by Peter Stamm

I received an advanced copy of this book from the author through NetGalley. This edition of the book is translated by Michael Hoffman.

My Review:

When the book opens, Gillian is waking up in a hospital room after a terrible car accident. Her husband, Matthias, is dead, and she has been terribly disfigured. She must undergo several operations to repair her nose and make her look normal again. As Gillian spends a lot of time alone, she contemplates her previous life as a wife, a television news journalist and a minor celebrity.

On the night of the accident, Gillian had a terrible fight with her husband and they were both drinking heavily. Matthias found nude pictures of Gillian and confronted her about them. Gillian had conducted an interview with an artist named Hubert whose specialty was taking pictures of and painting nude women. Gillian starts meeting Hubert in secret and he tries to paint her nude as well, but he seems to have lost his artistic inspiration.

The second part of the book is narrated by Hubert himself. He is stuck in a marriage in which there is no real depth of emotions. When he met Gillian his artistic creativity is on the wane and he cannot quite figure out how to get it back. Hubert takes a job teaching art at a local college, which means more financial stability for his wife and son, but he seems unfulfilled and uninspired.

The range of emotions that the author conveys in this short novel is astonishing. Gillian feels guilt, pain, remorse and finally happiness. Hubert feels stifled, jealous and confused. This book brings to light the contrast between what we are on the outside and who we actually are behind the façade. Can Gillian and Hubert reconnect and get beyond their past? Can Hubert fully disconnect from his wife and move on? ALL DAYS ARE NIGHT is a short read, yet it is full of dialogue that will make you contemplate life, personal identity and the passage of time.

About The Author:

Peter Stamm grew up in Weinfelden in the canton of Thurgau the son of an accountant. After completing primary and secondary school he spent three years as an apprentice accountant and then 5 as an accountant. He then chose to go back to school at the University of Zurich taking courses in a variety of fields including English studies, Business informatics, Psychology, and Psychopathology. During this time he also worked as an intern at a psychiatric clinic. After living for a time in New York, Paris, and Scandinavia he settled down in 1990 as a writer and freelance journalist in Zurich. He wrote articles for, among others, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the Tages-Anzeiger, Die Weltwoche, and the satirical newspaper Nebelspalter. Since 1997 he has belonged to the editorial staff of the quarterly literary magazine “Entwürfe für Literatur.” He lives in Winterthur.