The Day I Died by Lori Rader-Day

Anna Winger has a special skill, reading people through their handwriting. Most of the time, she uses her skill to help companies looking for trustworthy employees or finding hints about whether or not someone should commit to a romantic interest. She has enough of her own problems and likes to maintain a quiet life, moving from one town to another if she feels threatened.

When a boy goes missing and a woman is murdered, the local sheriff is torn. He thinks Anna's skill is a crock but he needs help figuring out who wrote the ransom note and what they have in mind. And, he makes both clear to Anna. But, Anna knows her own mind and isn't afraid of the small-town sheriff and his doubts. With the help of the sheriff's secretary, Anna begins to search for the truth while keeping an eye out for hints that her past may be catching up with her and dealing with the frustrations of life with a teenager.

After her son disappears, the search widens. Are the two disappearances connected or is her son simply in search of his own past? What happened to Anna that keeps her running? And, what will happen when she has no choice but to face her own mistakes?

Oh, boy. Lots to unpack, here. It's been two months since I read The Day I Died but I have no trouble remembering it at all, which is obviously a mark in its favor. I did find that there was a point the book started to lose my interest but I liked the fact that there was so much going on and when it came time to weigh the decision about whether or not to continue, I decided it was a no brainer. I wanted to know the answers and it was worth wading through the slower portion of the book to get to them. While I didn't think Anna's past was all that earth-shattering - certainly not enough to keep her running from one town to another - it was interesting enough to keep me from feeling like I'd been needlessly dangled, and I did like the denouement of the story, especially the way one particular thread came together.

The only big problem I had with the book was that Anna was so distracted by her past that at times she was completely blind to what was right before her eyes (verging on the "too stupid to live" concept). There were some pretty blatant hints and she made a stupid choice or two. But, in the end I enjoyed the way the book was wrapped up enough that I felt like the conclusion helped overcome some of the bumps on the path to getting there.

Recommended - I would not call The Day I Died a thriller or suspense so much as a novel including a light mystery with an unusual twist. Because the story was told through the eyes of a handwriting analyst, it was as much about the protagonist's life - it's a bit angst-ridden - as it was about finding a missing child, and later two missing children. I liked The Day I Died for the uniqueness, the hint of romance that doesn't dominate the story, and the satisfying ending.


©2017 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.

Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence by David Samuel Levinson

Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence by David Samuel Levinson
Copyright 2013
Algonquin Books - Contemporary Fiction
313 pp.

Source:  Unsolicited from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; a June release

Catherine has been a widow for about a year, her husband's mysterious death still haunting her.  She's working in a bookstore, not making enough to get by, grieving deeply, occasionally going out with friends but otherwise drinking a lot of wine, working, pondering.  When young Antonia Lively, an author whose novel is selling like hotcakes, moves to town, Catherine is intrigued.  She read Antonia's book with fascination.  Her own husband's book was supposed to have made their fortune but Henry Swallow, a respected book reviewer, trashed it and the book didn't sell.  

With Antonia Lively's appearance comes Henry Swallow.  Henry is back in Catherine's life and she is not happy, but she needs the money and renting her cottage to Henry, whose home has burned, seems reasonable at first . . . and then intolerable.  What possessed Henry to tear apart a book that many others said hinted of brilliance?  How were Catherine and Henry connected, in the past?  How did Catherine's husband die?  And, what secret is Antonia Lively keeping from her new love?

I found Antonia Lively Breaks the Silence both engrossing and bizarrely vague.  Quite a contrast, but I think the writing is beautiful and it definitely drew me in.  There was just something about the storyline . . . the peeling of the layers to reveal the core . . . that was too slow, too broadly painted.  I wanted the author to be more direct about what happened and what he was trying to say.  Still, it's a bookish novel about bookish people and that alone was entertaining.

A few quotes I marked, the first three because of vocabulary and the latter two because they're thought-provoking:

Had her show of friendliness simply been an act? Catherine wasn't sure, but she was sure about Antonia's irrefragable talent, which, she had to admit, was exciting to her.  Wyatt, she knew, would have hated the story, not because it was terrible but, on the contrary, because it wasn't.

--p. 33

irrefragable - Adjective 1. Impossible to refute 2. Indisputable

Lover and amanuensis, Catherine thought, but said, "I wasn't sure he was interested." 

--p. 62

amanuensis - Noun:  A literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts.

" . . . their kisses flat and cool whereas they'd once been warm and tumid."

--p. 74

tumid - Adjective (esp. a part of the body): Swollen

"Everyone does have something to say," Jane said, frowning.  "Don't you think so, too, Antonia?"
Antonia paused thoughtfully before answering:  "I think there's something to that, yes.  I also think it's important to see that as writers we have an obligation to give our voices to those who can't speak.  We have to speak for the living who might not be able, and for the dead who can't."

--p. 94

"Good fiction lies to get at the truth," Wyatt used to say.  "Good journalism tells the truth to get at the lies.  It's only great literature that does both.  It presents a world in which the two aren't just intertwined, they're inseparable."  What differentiates a good writer from a great writer, then, Catherine thought, is the victory of his lies -- the scope and determination of his imagination.

--p. 113

The bottom line:

Recommended - I liked the bookish aspects, the talk about literature and the fact that most of the key characters were connected in some way to books or writing.  And, the surprise ending actually did surprise me. But, I thought the author could have been a bit more direct and less circumspect in his writing.  It took too long to peel the damn onion, in other words, and once he did . . . I wasn't entirely certain that I understood what had just been thrown at me.  I didn't feel intrigued enough to desire an immediate reread but I wouldn't count that out in the future.

Cover thoughts:  Don't you just love that cover?  I think it's beautiful.  And, what writer/booklover doesn't adore the sight of a typewriter?


©2013 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.

Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke

Swimming at Night by Lucy Clarke
Copyright 2013
Touchstone Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) - fiction/general
372 pp.

I'm going to go uber-casual on this one and say up-front that it's a book about sisters . . . which I usually hate.  I've never had a great relationship with my sister (her choice).  We get along fine but the word "close" is just not happening.  However, my dud sister relationship really didn't bother me much in this case because I was totally sucked into the story pretty quickly.

Swimming at Night is told from alternating viewpoints.  As the book opens, Katie is receiving news that her sister Mia has committed suicide in Bali.  Mia's been touring the world with her good friend Finn for several months, but Bali wasn't on her agenda and Finn was no longer with Mia when she died. What happened on Mia's trip? Why was she in Bali and what led to her death?

Katie is convinced that Mia could not possibly have killed herself.  When she's given Mia's backpack, which contains her journal, Katie quits her job and follow's Mia's path, reading the entries as she follows in Mia's footsteps.  She never reads ahead, which was the one thing I couldn't buy into about Swimming at Night.  Your sister dies of a suspected suicide, you've got her journal and -- seriously? -- you don't sit right down and read it cover to cover to try to figure out what on earth happened?  I can't fathom not reading the journal immediately; that's the first thing I'd do.

Beyond that oddity, though, Swimming at Night is a story of betrayal and lies, love and friendship, facing fears and grief and learning what's important in life.  There's quite a bit of s*x but not the graphic variety. Although there were moments that I was pulled from the book due to a relationship that I couldn't relate to and the odd choice not to read ahead in the journal, I found Swimming at Night quite gripping and the ending perfect. The chapters alternate between Katie's viewpoint and Mia's, as events unfolded on Mia's journey.  I thought that the alternating chapters worked very well and the story was handled skillfully.

Highly recommended - Yeah, the ploy of having the main character choose not to immediately read her sister's journal to keep events mysterious is a bit of a stretch, but Swimming at Night is a good story that will make you want to grab a backpack and go explore the world.  The writing style is above average -- not brilliant and quote-worthy, but there's just something about the way the book unfolds that makes the pages fly.  I gave Swimming at Night a 4.5/5 at Goodreads because it grabbed me, held on and had a satisfying ending.  Love, love, love the changing settings.

My thanks to Jessica at Simon & Schuster for the review copy!

In other news -- and this is very important:

I got a new pair of flip-flops, today (Tuesday - yeah, I'm pre-posting, again).  They're white.  Kind of boring, actually, but they were cheap and had the kind of fabric thingy-that-goes-between-the-toes, which is crucial because everything else causes blisters.  Anyway, that's a relief, since we've already crept into the 80s and I discovered our new pebble-dash sidewalk and driveway are Really Freaking Painful to walk across barefoot.  And, I keep stepping on sweetgum balls on the deck.  Actually, I finally picked those up, but seriously . . . you don't want to step on those suckers.

Currently reading:

Poison by Bridget Zinn - Scratch that.  I stayed up late finishing this one.
Shadows and Strongholds by Elizabeth Chadwick

Loving both, so far.

No idea, but it must have been interesting:

©2013 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.