Where'd You Go Bernadette: A Novel

by Maria Semple, Little, Brown and Company, December 2012 

Lots of fun, a beach read in the best sense.

This wonderfully satiric novel is set in present day Seattle.  The Fox family – husband Elgin a widely successful Microsoft exec, daughter Bee (short for Balakrishna)a precocious 14 year old and mother Bernadette a genius architect suffering from  acrophobia – live an unorthodox life style in a deteriorating former girls convent school.  As the novel opens we are presented with the fact that Bernadette has mysteriously disappeared a few days before Christmas.  The story then jumps back in time to about 6 weeks before her disappearance.  Using emails, memos, FBI documents and first person narration by Bee we get to meet this widely funny cast of characters and get the story.

In a nutshell Bernadette, an award winning young architect, has retreated to her home and is unable to work because of her acrophobia.  While loved by her husband and idolized by her daughter, Bernadette has retreated into her own quirky world.  She employs a person assistant Manjula who resides in India to complete any tasks that would require her to leave her home.  Bernadette is in constant conflict with neighbors and helicopter parents at her daughter’s elementary school.  Her husband is so engrossed with his Microsoft project he fails to notice the spiraling out of control issues at home. Ecology issues arise when the next door neighbor demands that Bernadette remove blackberry vines that encroach on her property.  Things get wild after that! I don’t want to tell too much of this plot as it sounds so absurd but is in fact laugh out loud funny.  Bee using information that is slowly revealed to her in many forms works to try and find her mother. 

I liked so many things about this story – it unwinds at a fast pace, the characters are fully drawn and likeable, the unconventional methods used to tell the story, the portrait of Seattle, the Microsoft corporate culture so realistically drawn -  but mostly I liked that is was such a fun book.  In some deft plot mastery the author manages to pull together the minor plots that seemed extraneous to the story for a great ending.  I read afterwards that the author Maria Semple was a screen writer for Arrested Development; you can see this story presented as a TV series (think Portlandia set in Seattle).  Lots of fun, a beach read in the best sense.  

I read a copy of this novel provided by the publisher.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving

by Jonathan Evison, Algonquin Books, August 2012 

...definitely recommended

This is the story of Ben Benjamin, a 39 year old broken man.  He has lost everything, his home, his marriage, his job and often his will to live.  Ben, long a stay-at-home dad who hasn’t been in the work force for 11 years has taken a home nursing course (hence the title) and is employed as a caregiver to Trevor a 19 year old  who has late-stage Duchene muscular dystrophy.  Ben and Trevor develop an unusual but effective relationship that culminates in a road trip to see Trevor’s father in Las Vegas.  As the road trip story unfolds the author intersperses it with a recount of the events leading up to the tragedy that happened some years previously to Ben’s family.

This is a sad book not doubt about it, but oddly it is also funny, warm and ultimately redemptive.  I don’t want to give any of the key plot details because I really enjoyed the pace with which the author told this story.  You know bad things happen but somehow rolling them out as the author does is important in this story.  The writing is very good, no wasted words in the telling of this story. The dialogue between Trevor and Ben seems so natural, it just flows along.  During the road trip Ben and Trev pick up a couple of characters who enrich the story, particularly Trev’s love interest. 

It would be hard to categorize this book – part road trip tale, part coming of age story, part literary fiction – but it is definitely one I’d recommend.  There are enough thought provoking issues in this story that would make it excellent for book club discussions.  I read this author’s last book West of Here and wasn’t a big fan, but I really enjoyed this one – just proves you shouldn’t give up too soon on a new author.

I read a copy of this novel provided by the publisher.

The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume Three: Defender of the Realm, 1940-1965

by Willaim Manchester and Paul Reid, read by Clive Chafer, Blackstone Audio, November 2012, 53 hrs.

...excellent conclusion to a great historical bio

I read William Manchester’s volume one and volume two of the Churchill biography when they were first published in the 1980s.  They both were tremendous books, majestic in scope and marvelous in riveting detail - in my opinion the quintessential biography of a historical giant Winston Churchill.  With Manchester’s illness and subsequent death I never thought there would be a final installment in this series that could compare to the first two.  I was wrong, Paul Read has completed the trilogy with the story of Churchill’s life from 1940 until his death in 1965 and it is excellent.

The book opens with a reintroduction to the Churchill personality, quirks and all.  He is presented as a Victorian gentleman (never drove a car or cooked a meal) in an emerging modern world.  Once the stage has been set the story begins as Churchill accepts the prime ministership in truly Britain’s darkest hour 1940.  Alone, with her army in retreat and the island isolated only Churchill through his words and actions rallied the British to face Hitler and overcome the long odds in front of them.  The story chronicles WWII from a British perspective.  Churchill’s total involvement in every facet of the war is fascinating, he dictates military strategy in one breath and takes on the intricacies of food rationing in the next.

Churchill’s understanding (or lack thereof) of the post war expectations of the British people is outlined.  His loss of the prime ministership late in the war because the public did not want him leading the post war economic comeback is another intriguing chapter in this story.  The story continues as the war ends and issues related to the USSR and communist aggression takes center stage.  Here also Churchill has recognized the threat well before most of the rest of the national leaders.  Interspersed with public events are Churchill’s relations with his wife and children.  He is a true disaster in this arena oblivious to anyone’s needs but his own.  The prodigious amount of alcohol consumed each day really makes me wonder how this man functioned in such an effective way.  Churchill’s public career after the mid 1950’s is essentially concluded although he continues to write until his death in 1965.

No part of this story is as exciting as the events in 1940-41.  It is not an exaggeration to say that if the British had not had Churchill they would have made a separate peace with Hitler freeing him to conquer the rest of Europe and all of Russia, radically changing the course of the twentieth century.  The author takes the reader inside of this story by providing the detail that brings it to life.

I listened to the audio version of this biography.  It was read by Clive Chafer and he was an inspired choice for this work.  When he was reading from Churchill’s speeches you felt like you were listening to the great man himself.  The audio version is not for the faint of heart, it is 53 hours long!  It worked for me because I had a lot of car travel to do in December so I got well immersed in it, but normally that would be a time commitment I’d be reluctant to give.

So in summary if you’ve read the first two volumes in this series, you will be well satisfied with the conclusion.  If you haven’t read volumes one and two and you are a history devotee get a move on and read them!

I listened to a copy of the audio version of this book provided by the publisher.

My Best Books of 2012

This is always my favorite post to write.  I get to go back and look over all of the books I’ve read through the year and pick my favorites.  I seem to read between 80 and 90 books each year mostly fiction but with a healthy dose of history mixed in.  My list this year is as usual somewhat eclectic.  Half of my choices come from authors publishing their first books, guess that could bode well for great books in the coming years. I’ve chosen six books that are fiction, two that are history, a medical case study and one that almost defies categorization (Beautiful Forevers).  I try to keep my choices to books that are published in 2012 but I read two great books that were published earlier and I’ll mention them at the end.  Follow the link for the complete reviews.  So with no further ado and in alphabetical order my favorites from 2012.

The Age of Miracles (speculative fiction) despite a weak ending this coming of age story set in apocalyptic times is fresh, clever and memorable.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers –   the story of the underclass in a slum city in Mumbai blew me away. It is an unforgettable story that is rich and beautifully written, the characters are heartbreaking and the setting haunting. The story read like the best fiction, unfortunately it wasn’t.  A tremendous accomplishment for this author.

Brain on Fire (medical) the story of a young reporter with an undiagnosed brain infection is well written.  The author synthesizes complicated medical issues into readable prose offering yet another reminder not to enter today’s’ medical system without a strong patient advocate.

Broken Harbor (mystery) more tales of the Dublin Murder Squad result in an excellent psychological  mystery from the queen of them, Tana French. 

Casual Vacancy (fiction) the much anticipated JK Rowling adult novel was not everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoyed this English small town story for its immersive experience and well drawn characters.

City of Women (historical fiction) this beautifully told story set in wartime Berlin examines the personal courage it takes to work against a totalitarian government.  Memorable!

Double Cross - (history) the story of British double agents and their deceptions in WWII.  A quirky British tale; great history well told.

Gone Girl – (mystery) this one is on everyones’ best books list and deservedly so.  A complex, suspenseful mystery that keeps you guessing right up until the end.

The Last Lion – (history) the final installment in William Manchester’s massive biography of Churchill is admittedly not for everyone.  But for me the story of this Victorian politician who had only words to fight Hitler in 1940 was superb and inspiring.  I listened to the audio edition and loved it.  Review to come.

In the Shadow of the Banyan (fiction) a fictionalized telling of the genocide in Cambodia in the late 1970s. This story and these characters will be embedded in your consciousness for a long time. 

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Art of Racing in the Rain (fiction) 2009 a poignant family story that is funny, sad and uplifting told from the point of view of the family dog Enzo.  Don’t miss this one.   

Child 44 (mystery) 2008 – a taut, chilling serial killer mystery set in Stalinist Russia.  The mystery is first rate and the back-story of the protagonist is excellent.  Best mystery I’ve read in a long time

The Casual Vacancy

by JK Rawling, Little Brown Publishing, September 2012


JK Rowling continues to tell stories that are interesting, well written,  funny and rewarding to read.

This story opens with the death of Barry Fairbrother, “a man of generous spirit”.  He is a family man living in the small insular town of Pagford in rural England.  Barry’s death resulted in a “casual vacancy’ on the town council.  There is a polarization between the forces that want to close a drug clinic and cut loose a poor section of town, the Fields and those citizens who see some obligation to support those who are at the lower end of the economic spectrum.  Seems like a good v. evil plot but not so fast.

The local shopkeeper, Howard Mollison is the chairman of the council and is focused on closing the drug clinic and redrawing the town lines to exclude the lower income residents.  I could not get the Durnsleys’ (Harry Potter’s step parents) out of my mind when reading about Mollison and his wife Shirley.   The forces on the other side of the issue are led by an Indian physician Dr. Jawanda and Colin Wall a local teacher. There are way too many characters in this story to describe here but the ones who most came to life for me were the teenagers.  Maybe because they were not as jaded as most of the adults in this story.  Defamatory posts written by ‘the ghost of Barry Fairbrother’ start to appear on the council website and the election heats up.

The election and the machinations of the locals are essentially the whole plot.  This is not a plot driven novel but more an immersive experience in the characters and setting of the story.  The author, JK Rowling, has a well deserved reputation for writing richly imagined and wonderfully peopled stories.  She delivers here.  Pagford comes to life in this story.  Everyone knows everyone else and the claustrophobic feel of a small town is well described.   There are no heroes in this story, in fact most of the characters are flawed and in some cases downright evil.  There are humorous episodes and the humor is of the dry British variety.  There is some melodrama in the end but it might have been the only way to end this sad story.  I liked this book even though it cast of Muggles was singularly uninspiring and occasionally depressing.  JK Rowling continues to tell stories that are interesting, well written,  funny and rewarding to read.

I read a copy of this book borrowed from the Free Library of Philadelphia

The Boy in the Snow

by MJ McGrath, Viking Adult, November 2012

This is the second Edie Kiglatuk novel by MJ McGrath.  In this mystery Edie, an Inuit from near the Arctic Circle is in Alaska to support her ex husband Sammy in his Iditarod race.  In a walk in the woods prior to the race, Edie finds a frozen corpse of an infant boy. Who he is, how he died and how he came to be placed in the woods serves as one of two major story lines.  The second story line centers on tourism land development and the cut throat politics that is involved in it.  Edie relentlessly follows the clues related to the infant's death wherever they take her.  An Old Russian Orthodox community comes under suspicion for the child’s death because Edie has reported seeing some members of this community near the spot where she found the boy.  Local prejudices against this reclusive community lead the local police to the Old Believers for their murder suspect. 

The look we get into Inuit culture and customs and descriptions of the landscape of the frozen North are the strong suites of this story.  The author knows this culture and is able to weave into this story many aspects of this fascinating native community.  A scene later in the novel where the characters fight for survival is compelling in its realism.  Unfortunately the mystery and its characters do not hold up through this story.  Edie as the heroine is hard to like; she is somewhat self righteous and lacking in emotion (is Derek a love interest a/o partner -impossible to tell from this story).  The two storylines which finally intersect are improbable at best.  The denouement is way too convenient to accept.  

In my opinion the first novel in this series, White Heat was stronger than this one.  I still think this could be a good mystery series.  Its settings and characters are  unique in a genre where many protagonists are indistinguishable from one another. I think a more focused story with a bit better character development could really improve this series.  Read this one if you love stories of the frozen wilderness, but read White Heat first if you haven’t. 

I read a copy of this novel provided by the publisher.