Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse

I bought and read Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse after finding out there was going to be a "buddy read" (really, a small group discussion) on Instagram. I ordered the book, signed up for the group, and dived right in. It's apparently classified as Young Adult but it didn't have the feel of a YA. It was much like any other WWII book I've read, with plenty of tension although lacking any harrowing scenes like torture. 

It's 1943 in Amsterdam and Hanneke Baker rides her bike around town delivering goods bought on the black market. She's doing it as part of her day job and she knows there's some danger but so far she has had few problems beyond the occasional attention from German soldiers — not for what she's doing but because she's a young lady. 

On one of her deliveries, she's asked to help find a missing girl, Mirjam, who was staying in a hidden room at a widow's home. The widow has lost her entire family, misses her young companion, and is worried about what's become of her. Hanneke is hesitant but reluctantly agrees. Then, she begins to look into Mirjam's life for clues and it's there that she comes across something unexpected, the brother of the man she loved and intended to marry. He knows the young woman Hanneke wants to talk to and invites her to a dinner party, where she can ask her questions. 

At home, Hanneke's parents are unemployed and one is disabled. So, Hanneke is the sole income earner in her household and it's this that she thinks about at the dinner party.  When no food appears and the "dinner" turns out to be something else entirely, a meeting of one little faction of the Resistance, Hanneke is not interested in helping out. How can she? She is responsible for her parents and they would be helpless without her. Even staying out past curfew makes them crazy with worry. 

The main questions are always whether or not Hanneke will be able to locate Mirjam, what became of her after she left the widow's house, why did she leave, will Hanneke join this Resistance group, can Hanneke trust the Resistance members or are they hiding something from her, and will Hanneke's new Jewish friends be able to survive the war or continue working at the local detention center and nursery, from which they know people are regularly being deported to concentration camps. It's a little harrowing, at times, but only a few scenes are particularly frightening.

Recommended but not a favorite - I love WWII books, enjoyed Girl in the Blue Coat, and gave it 4/5 stars but it's not a favorite WWII read because it felt more like a mystery than a WWII book, in a way. And, yet, it becomes more interesting as the story progresses. It was particularly fascinating to be in the head of someone with Hanneke's dilemma about her parents and just how much danger she could or should put herself in. I often wondered what I would do in her situation. I don't think one can really know till the circumstances exist in real life.

There are a few unexpected twists and the ending is definitely surprising (what became of Mirjam). It leaves you with a question that I can't mention because it's a spoiler but I didn't feel like it was one that annoyed me. It's simply unknowable. 

I especially enjoyed being part of a small group discussion. I felt like I got a lot more out of the book by reading other readers' thoughts, just as in an F2F discussion group. The only problem I had with this particular type of group is that sometimes it's easy to fall behind. At least in this case, the discussion moved quickly. While you're reading a discussion question, answering it, reading other replies, and then formulating your own thoughts to those replies, it can feel like you have to race to keep up with the conversation. But, I enjoyed it so much that I plan to keep my eyes peeled for more buddy reads, especially while my F2F group isn't meeting (in person or otherwise). 

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams

I bought a copy of Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams after seeing that Mike Chen, author of A Beginning at the End, was going to talk to Kelly McWilliams about what it's like to release a pandemic novel in the midst of a genuine pandemic (which both of them have done). I neglected to put the time for that talk on my calendar but would have really liked to sit in. However, I did make a beeline to buy a copy of Agnes because I love a good pandemic novel.

In fact, I don't really consider Agnes at the End of the World a "pandemic" novel, per se, although there is a pandemic in the book and it is the catalyst for change. The vast majority of the book focuses on Agnes, her life as a woman in a restrictive and isolated apocalyptic cult community that's been around for several generations, how she became the perfect, compliant member of her community and what caused her to break the rules, in the first place, then really break them when the "Prophet" in her community forces everyone to go into a dark and terrifying underground bunker and Agnes breaks away with her little brother.

There's what I'd call a paranormal, spiritual, or mystical aspect to this story. Agnes has a special ability to hear the natural world. The stars sing, the trees hum, sometimes she thinks she's spoken to directly by God. The cult and Agnes's realization of how she's been deceived is a major part of the storyline but first you get to know Agnes and see her daily life. Then, you realize something is going to have to change (it's obvious why). But, it's not clear that Agnes will have to do more than just run away till later in the book, as her powers grow.

Highly recommended - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣  Excellent writing. I felt entirely immersed in Agnes's uncomfortable world. While not exactly what I was expecting, once I got into Agnes at the End of the World, I was eager to race to the ending and particularly enjoyed what happened after she escaped.

The religious/mystical aspect of Agnes at the End of the World was a little off-putting to me, at first, but also a bit familiar as I grew up Baptist and dated a fundamentalist during high school (women only were allowed to wear skirts or dresses in his church, which I attended while we were dating). I could relate to the tug between personal beliefs and the thought that there must be something better, at least as far as the treatment of women. And, there's this: A friend of mine (now deceased) once told me she learned her psychic abilities by first learning to listen to the land when her father, a farmer, picked up a handful of dirt and said, "The soil will tell you what it requires." Partly because of that friend, Mary, the woo-woo part of the book actually felt quite real to me.

Many thanks to author Mike Chen for the recommendation. Also, you should read his books.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin is a middle grade book that tells the story of Suzy, who has become silent after the death of her best friend from drowning. It doesn't make sense to Suzy that Franny drowned; Franny was always an excellent swimmer. Suzy's convinced that she can't have simply drowned without something major having occurred, even though her mother says these things just happen and even strong swimmers like Franny can drown if something goes wrong.

Convinced that something strange must have happened to lead to Franny's death, Suzy studies up on jellyfish and decides it must have been a jellyfish sting that killed Franny instantly. But, Suzy needs help making sure that's the case, so she reads up online and searches for a scientist who specializes in jellyfish to help her.

Franny and Suzy had fallen out, a while back, and just before Franny's death Suzy did something to let Franny know that she was hanging out with the wrong people, just to get her attention. Is guilt driving Suzy's determination to find a lethal jellyfish to explain Franny's death or is she just unable to accept the death of a person she cared for when it happened so far away? Can a new friend help Suzy move on?

OK, this is weird. When I closed The Thing About Jellyfish, I was totally blown away. I liked the progression from "girl not speaking because she's clearly traumatized" to "friendship and kindness help child emerge from grief" and while I thought the facts about jellyfish were a bit much, the story didn't go where I expected it to go, exactly, and I liked that. It's best to be surprised in your reading, rather than for things to unfold as expected, in most cases.

Having said that, when I went to review The Thing About Jellyfish, this morning, I couldn't remember a thing about it. That's unusual for me. I find very few books instantly forgettable and it's only been 2 weeks since I read it. So, while I gave it 5 stars because I had to know what would happen to Suzy and whether or not she was actually going to get in touch with the scientist of her choosing, in hindsight I probably ought to bump that down a bit for so quickly evaporating from my memory (I had to read the book description to jog my memory). But, it's an excellent read so I won't.

Recommended - Sad and uplifting, interesting and (at one point) a little shocking. While I found this story didn't stick with me, as a child I think I might have just shrugged and reread it, remembering that I enjoyed it in spite of having forgotten the details of the content.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.