The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue

I think the best way to describe this book is to go back to my old format (of about a dozen years ago) and talk about what I liked and disliked. 

The Temple House Vanishing by Rachel Donohue is set at a Catholic boarding school on the edge of the ocean in England. Louisa has just arrived at the school as the book opens. As a scholarship recipient, she's quickly made an outcast. Most of the girls are wealthy and frown on the addition of scholarship students. But, Victoria is an outcast, herself, (for different reasons) and welcoming, if a bit strange. Victoria and Louisa become fast friends. 

25 years later, a journalist is tasked with finding out what happened to Louisa after she and a young, handsome art teacher (upon whom pretty much everyone had a crush) vanished. 

What I liked: 

I liked the gothic feel of this Young Adult novel. It's sinister and tense, set in an older building with the fog from the nearby ocean adding atmosphere. I also liked the fact that the author successfully kept me guessing till the end of the novel. 

What I disliked:

I wasn't sure of the right word to describe how I felt about The Temple House Vanishing till I read a couple of reviews and found it in someone else's description. So, with apologies for plagiarizing a single word, it's tedious. It dragged and was far too character-centric for my taste. Also, there was a lot of talk about the cleverness of the girls and their use of irony without such cleverness/irony showing up in their dialogue. Show don't tell, ya know. 

Iffy on recommendation - If you like a character-driven gothic novel, you might love this and if you do buy it or check it out, it would make an excellent fall read. The atmospheric writing is on point for spooky season. I think if the book had been more plot-focused and less detailed about every thought and motion of the main characters I would have been more entertained. But I give the author credit for not giving away the ending and making so many alternatives possible that I couldn't help but keep reading. It's notable that slower-paced, character-driven novels are generally not my favorite. 

TW: Suicide at the beginning of the story (not a spoiler), which is told by Louisa and the Journalist in alternating sections. 

This was the last ARC I read before my break and I still have a few remaining so if you're a publisher, hang in there. I'll get to your book. 

My thanks to Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill for the review copy. 

©2021 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.

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot

I had to give Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot some thought before I even managed to rate it at Goodreads. I had (and still have) such mixed feelings. I found it poetic but strange and gut-wrenching. It's a memoir by a Native American author that's a patchwork of memories of pain, obsession, mental illness, and confusion, all written to the man she loves. She describes being institutionalized briefly after attempting suicide and her diagnoses, her early marriage and other relationships, having her son taken away by her first husband while she was pregnant with his second child, her determination to get the education she desired, her appalling childhood. But, throughout this entire narrative, there's the angst over having lost the one man she truly loves and trying to figure out if they can make it work.  

You can't help but admire the author for accomplishing so much academically while fighting to keep herself alive, make sense of her place in the world within her Native American heritage and outside of it, and protect her children from the horrors she lived through. But, I'd like it if I could have comprehended more of what she was trying to say. The writing was frustrating and disjointed. Its fragmented nature can be seen as an echo of her emotions, which were all over the place, but I'm not sure if that was a deliberate stylistic choice or she simply had to write that way for the sake of her own sanity. 

Iffy on recommendation - There are a lot of gushy pull quotes in the front of the book, and Roxane Gay's cover blurb is very positive. So, it's worth mentioning that a lot of people think Heart Berries is a fabulous work of art. I'm not among them. Her writing was just a little too vague for me. I felt like she was using poetic language to keep the story at arm's length because it's too painful. My preference is more straightforward writing. I couldn't tell, for example, what exactly her father did to her. There are hints, but whether he sexually assaulted her or not I couldn't tell. 

What I like best about the book is that it does give you a look inside her head, even if that's a rather hallucinogenic place to be. She often repeated that Native American women's bodies are neither respected nor cared for and in this she made some references to the many Native American women who have disappeared or been murdered. This is a serious issue and one that was touched on in The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich (link leads to my mini review, within a post of several reviews), a story that shows how difficult it is for Native Americans to get justice when harmed. 

This was the January read for my personal challenge to read at least one book by a Native American or Indigenous author each month in 2021.

©2021 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 Nanny by Gilly Macmillan - #2 for RIPXIV

In The Nanny, Jocelyn (Jo) was deeply attached to her nanny, as a child. Hannah was trustworthy, kind, and a better mother to Jo than her own mother. So, she was traumatized when her nanny disappeared in the night and her mother claimed it was due to Jo's behavior. As soon as she was able, she fled the country and has most recently lived in California with her husband and daughter, Ruby.

But, now Jo is home in Wiltshire at her family's 1,000-year-old ancestral home. A young widow, Jo is unhappy to be back with her mother (her father having recently passed away) but she has no choice. Her husband's money was tied up in his business and Jo can't work in the US. Jo needs a job and help with her daughter. Returning home was her only option.

When Ruby and Jo find a skull in the lake on their property, Jo's mother, Virginia, is certain she knows who it belonged to and expects that the truth will soon be uncovered. But, then Hannah shows up and Virginia's confused. Is it really Hannah or is she dead and someone else is pretending to be her? If it's her, how is that possible and why has she returned? When Hannah becomes a part of the household staff, Virginia is horrified. And, Ruby absolutely doesn't like Hannah but is Ruby trustworthy? She's been behaving badly since just before Hannah's arrival.

The story is told from several viewpoints  (Jocelyn, Virginia, one of the detectives, and Hannah in the years before and during her work as Jo's nanny) but I thought of Jo as the heroine. It's Jo's return to the UK and her discovery of the skull that are the inciting incidents. Virginia is there to make you question what's happening. Is it really Hannah or an imposter? The detectives are either trying to lead you down the garden path with a diversion or there as filler (not sure, but their scenes just baffled me, although they eventually get it together). Then, there are scenes from the past that are told from Hannah's viewpoint and they reveal Hannah's backstory. How did Hannah end up becoming the nanny for a posh family when she came from a lower-class background? Is it possible that the person posing as Hannah (if Hannah is an imposter) is Hannah's friend and former roommate?

Iffy on recommendation - The Nanny is the fourth book I've read by Gilly Macmillan. My feelings about the books have varied but one thing is consistent: her writing has an excellent flow and a tendency to suck you in right away. This one I gave 3 stars. I finished it, but there were times I considered abandoning it because I felt like the mystery was transparent to a certain extent, the heroine too stupid to live (sorry, Jo, I just thought you were dense), the facet of grief almost entirely lacking, and the detectives stunningly incompetent. So, not a favorite, and yet . . . no regrets. I particularly loved the gothic atmosphere, which fits well with the setting of an ancient home in the English countryside.

I'm calling this my second RIPXIV read. Working on the third, this time a ghost story.


My reviews of past titles by Gilly Macmillan:

• What She Knew
• Odd Child Out
• I Know You Know 

I received an advance reader copy of The Nanny in exchange for an unbiased review. My thanks to HarperCollins! You can't see how the cover reflects light, but it's got a lovely, metallic sheen that is gorgeous. Love the cover. 

©2019 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.

Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley

I thoroughly enjoyed Tessa Hadley's last novel, The Past, so I was really excited when I got the opportunity to review Late in the Day. Unfortunately, my second foray into Hadley's writing was not as great as the first.

Late in the Day is the story of two couples who've been friends for many years. When Zachary, the kindest, liveliest of the bunch dies suddenly, all are bereft. His widow, Lydia, moves in with Christine and Alex temporarily and then stays for a surprisingly long time -- well past the funeral. Will she be able to cope on her own? A novel of grief, betrayal, and discovery, Late in the Day is character driven and low on plot as The Past was, but I found it less compelling. I'm going to defer to the cover description for a tiny bit:

Late in the Day explores the complex webs at the center of our most intimate relationships, to expose how, beneath the seemingly dependable arrangements we make for our lives, lie infinite alternate configurations.

I thought that was an interesting way to state something rather bland, which is that there's infidelity in the story. Now that I think back on it, the side storylines do add a bit of interest. I particularly liked Alex and Christine's daughter. But, the vast majority of the characters were unlikable. That's not generally as much of a problem in a novel that's plot driven (at least to me) but when the story is about the characters it's a different matter.

Iffy on recommendation - Much as I like Tessa Hadley's writing (I will definitely read her again), this book was just not for me. It's told as a mix of present-day scenes and flashbacks. The three characters I disliked . . . I didn't even like their younger selves. Christine and Alex perplexed me. What did they see in each other? Alex was a handsome, frustrated poet and perpetual grouch; Christine was an artist but she came off as dead inside. While they appeared affectionate and even well suited, something just seemed off about their relationship. Alex, in particular, appeared to always be unhappy, even when he enjoyed his job and was no longer struggling financially. Lydia was a beautiful slacker who ended up with the average-looking rich guy, around whom the rest of them revolved in some way: Christine as an artist whose work was shown at Zachary's gallery, Lydia as his wife, Alex as his best friend. Lydia and Zachary's relationship was more believable to me than Alex and Christine's; Zachary was the only likable character. 'Twas a pity that he was the one who died.

Having said all that, a few days after I closed the book I felt like I sorta kinda maybe got the point of the story -- that we're not necessarily the people we desire or need to be within a marriage and that a death or betrayal can not only change the dynamics of friendship and marriage but may even open up new possibilities. I've seen a little bit of that in my own life as my mother seemed to flower a bit when she was widowed. She grieved deeply, don't get me wrong. But, my father had a huge personality and my mother always seemed quiet by comparison. It wasn't till after she was widowed that I became aware of my mother's sense of humor, which had been subdued by my father's raucous joy. Maybe something of that nature is what Hadley was trying to show.

My thanks to HarperCollins for the review copy!

Link to my only other read by Hadley:

The Past by Tessa Hadley 


©2019 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.

Bagel in Love by Natasha Wing and Helen Dardik

Bagel wanted to join a dance contest but had trouble finding a partner.

Poppy told him his dance steps were half-baked. 

He asked Pretzel, who was at the spa getting a salt rub. She told him his moves didn't cut the mustard. 

Matzo flat out told him no. 

Continuing with loads more puns, Bagel kept looking for a partner, unwilling to give up. The dance contest was already beginning at the Cherry Jubilee and Bagel had decided to try again, next year. But, the music had him tapping his foot. Someone tapped back. Cupcake admitted to not being a very good dancer, but they gave it a whirl and liked each other's style. They were barely in time for the dance contest, where they won the grand prize trophy. But, winning was "just icing on the cake."

Well, huh. There are two ways to look at this story. One way is to look at it as a fun book of puns in which a bagel's determination pays off. The other is to find the rejection up front frustrating and the abrupt ending a little weird. I fell halfway in between. The first time I read the book, I thought, "Wait. What?" The ending was a little too abrupt and maybe even a little too perfect, after all that rejection. But, I did love the puns. The second time, I still didn't love the abrupt ending but this time I was all about the puns and the determination. And, I suppose one could get used to the ending.

Iffy on recommendation - Bagel in Love is an average read, in my humble opinion, but if you happen to be a big fan of puns . . . this is your book. It's chock full of them. And, I did appreciate Bagel's can-do attitude. He didn't let a little rejection (well, a lot of rejection) get him down. The illustrations are bright and bold; and, for fans of shiny things, there's a nice touch of glitter on the slipcover. I received a copy of Bagel in Love for review from Sterling Children's Books and it came with a page of 6 Valentine's cards and a bookmark. I don't know if those are included with a purchase or if they were publicity material, but they're super cute.

Happy Valentine's Day!

©2018 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.

Girl in the Woods by Aspen Matis and a Fiona Friday pic

Yes, it's true that I posed Girl in the Woods in the middle of a nandina in my yard (and then came inside scratching).

I just finished Girl in the Woods by Aspen Matis, last night, and immediately thought, "I've got to write about this, right now," because I'm at the point that I've read so many books in such a short time span that I'm beginning to have trouble keeping them all straight. So, I may work my way backwards for a bit.

Girl in the Woods is the memoir of a young lady who was raped on her second night of college and how she eventually walked the entire 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada. In her words:

I was on a grand walk hoping to discover my best path forward, my strength, my place in a frightening world. 

~p. 92

I mentioned the rape up front because it's the central issue and when she mentioned she'd been raped to people, early on, she was blown off or told it was her fault -- a common theme amongst friends who've been raped and certainly in news stories. So, let's just acknowledge it here and now: the author was the victim of a crime, a violation, and she did nothing to deserve it, despite what the world told her. Her family did a lot of hiking and Aspen had hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail before college, so it was only natural that the trail was the place to which she retreated to do her pondering.

A little background, though, is important. Aspen had an unusual (maybe "weird" is a better word) upbringing in that her mother didn't want to let Aspen, then known as Debby, grow up. To that end, she coddled her all the way through high school. Aspen was so over-protected that she didn't know how to dress herself or brush her own hair. That's hard to fathom but I know some people find it difficult to believe that one can go off to college not knowing how to do laundry and there were plenty of us who learned by turning white clothing other colors because we hadn't learned to sort.

In other words, it's important to work at not being judgmental when you read Aspen's story because her experience and her lack of ability to cope was not her fault. And, more importantly, it was not her fault that she was raped.

The vast majority of the book focuses on the hike up the Pacific Crest Trail, her sexual experiences and friendships, the dangers she faced and the trail magic and trail angels that saved her from herself. There's a nice photo section in the middle of the book with pictures of Aspen, her childhood paintings, scenery on the trail, gallon bottles of water that saved her when she walked one stretch completely unprepared, and the man she met toward the end of the trail (whom she married). I think the most important thing that you get out of the book is that when a person is traumatized, sometimes it's important for her to find her own way through the pain. Her family considered her selfish and she was often reckless but she got out of the experience what she needed.

Even more important is the distinction between rape and consent, which is clearly show through her experiences. She did a lot of testing - getting close to men and then saying no to prove to herself that she really was not responsible for a rapist's refusal to stop when she told him to, that it was possible for her to have control over her own body.

You do have to wade through a lot of verbiage to get to the point, though. Much as I appreciated the importance of Aspen's memoir, I found it a bit overwrought and tiresome. And, yet, I wanted to know the answers. What would walking over 2,600 miles do for her? Would she emerge unscathed or injure herself in the process (it's a dangerous walk, in many ways)? Would she find strength in the accomplishment alone or need to keep testing men and constantly trying to convince herself that she was beautiful, talented, in control?

Iffy on recommendation - As important as I believe personal accounts like Aspen's are, I must be honest and tell you that I found the author's wordiness and constant fretting about whether or not she was pretty enough, talented enough, etc., wearying. It's a bit self-indulgent, in other words, always a danger with memoirs, although I know some people don't mind that as much as I do. I personally think a full 100 pages could have been cut from the book. Having said that, I think the importance of the book lies in how clearly is shows the distinction between a violent crime and the way sex ought to be. And, you also have to admire the author for daring to take on such a huge challenge when she had been so fiercely protected for so long. That can't have been easy, even if hiking was something she'd always found comfortable.

On to Fiona Friday, a picture of Fiona gazing out into the wilds of our backyard:

©2016 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.

Mixed feelings about these: A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith C. Mitchell and Homemakers by Brit Morin

I had mixed feelings about both of these books, so I've decided to pair them up for mini treatment in spite of the fact that one is a novel and one nonfiction.

A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell is a novel about three sisters who believe their family has been cursed. Their great-grandfather invented a toxin that may have been used to kill millions of people. Since then, every generation has been plagued by suicide or tragedy.

Lady, the eldest, has never been happy and has attempted suicide at least twice. Middle sister Vee has had a recurrence of cancer and is no longer willing to fight it. Delph is painfully shy. None of them have children. They've decided to write their story then commit suicide together.

I was reading A Reunion of Ghosts when I went to get my hair colored, last week, and I realized just how awful it sounded when I described it to my well-read beautician. She scowled; I defended it. The writing is, in fact, very witty and light-hearted. But, the characters are not happy people and you can't help but cling to the wish that the three women will discover some unexpected joy that will stop them from deliberately meeting their maker.

Spoiler . . . only highlight this part if you don't fear having the ending ruined:

They don't.  In fact, it appeared that at least one character was on the verge of changing her mind; certainly, she went through a brief time of self-discovery. But, the ending was not at all what I'd hoped for.

Iffy on recommendation - The writing is excellent - clever, detailed, with an interesting historical perspective (although the idea is based in part on reality, the story is heavily fictionalized and the sisters are entirely fictional). Unfortunately, in the end I was immensely disappointed by the denouement and how it occurred -- and I'm pretty sure I didn't want to know about Albert Einstein's personal failings. The final chapter is sweet, touching, a bit clarifying. But, it wasn't enough to redeem the book for this reader.

~*~

I'm clearly not amongst the target audience for Homemakers: A Domestic Handbook for the Digital Generation, but I like books with clever ideas for things to make and do, so I requested a copy from William Morrow when it became available for review. The author is around my eldest son's age and Homemakers is directed at that generation: youngsters who missed out on the joy (gag) of Home Ec, were not even taught to boil an egg, sew or craft by their mothers, and are absolutely tied to their smart phones. It's about new ways to improve your home life, often using current technology, but also about ideas that are still in the works . . . or will be . . . or at least someone is thinking about them.

I own a pay-by-the-minute phone, which makes a good portion of the book completely useless to me; and, I did grow up in the generation of Home Ec, although I confess it was more burden than learning experience. My mother taught me about sewing and cooking; Home Ec just gave me a chance to try to bribe whichever guy happened to be my current crush into adoring me (during the cooking portions). If you grew up in my generation, have been sewing, cooking and crafting for eons and aren't particularly interested in the latest apps to make your life easier, the most you can possibly get out of this book is a craft idea or two, maybe a recipe or a new way to organize. Probably not. I'm really trying to be kind. For my part, I liked a few simple craft ideas like using milk cartons, concrete and paint to make a couple cute bookend planters and this idea for an inexpensive jewelry board:

I also marked the URL for a website from which one can order 3-D printed creations but haven't looked into that, yet. Otherwise, the book was pretty to look at, not particularly useful as a guide to domestic bliss. A few problems I had with this book:

1. Much of what the author mentioned being able to do craft-wise via local businesses is likely not even a whiff of an idea where we live. She's in a large city; I'm living in a mostly-rural state that tends to run about a decade behind the trends.
2. The instructions for various crafts often left me with questions. It felt like there were a lot of missing steps. Even when there were illustrations of the steps, I sometimes couldn't figure out exactly what she'd done to get from one step to another.
3. Overuse of the new, dumb-downed word for everything (formerly known as creative ideas, clever tips, brilliant suggestions): hacks. Gah. I hate that word with a purple passion. Only a true hack could have come up with its new use.
4. The author repeatedly pitched her company. If you have the book in hand, I'm guessing it's not necessary for the author remind you she owns a web-based business after she's mentioned it once.
5. No resources. The best of the crafting/idea books I've read over the years have been those that not only provide readable instructions but also include sources, online and otherwise, for obtaining the items used in the book, particularly those that are harder to find. This is especially necessary for those of us who live in the Boonies.

There are also [long] hair and makeup tips, decorating ideas (kind of lame), tips on how to buy glassware (I do not need 8 different types of glasses taking up cabinet space, no), how to pack -- basically, suggestions for things to do in every room of the house, including the closet. There are a million pictures of the author (she's cute but, good grief, it's tiring to see the same person model everything) and lots of pages with merely a grid, space masquerading as room to take notes.

Recommended only to a specific audience - Clearly, in spite of the fact that I found a few crafts that I might maybe want to someday try possibly, this was not the book for me. However, I absolutely love the theme colors and her airy style. They're "in" and they'll go out quickly but I do like the look. Homemakers is relaxing to page through. It's probably of greatest interest and applicability to the 20- to 30-something crowd, as the cover indicates, and I would recommend the book specifically to that crowd. Older and already crafty? Check it out from the library if you're interested.

©2015 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.

One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore

One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Copyright 2014 
Harper - Historical Fiction/Russia WWII and post WWII
Source: HarperCollins via TLC for review

Well, I have good news and bad news, sort of.  The good news is that I decided not to give up on One Night in Winter.  The bad news is that even after reading a good portion of the evening, I'm not finished.  So, I'm going to write my current thoughts and then return when I've finished to update. According to Goodreads (which conveniently does the math for me), I'm 77% of the way through. I'm currently unable to focus. It sometimes takes a while before my eyes wake up.

One Night in Winter is set just after the end of WWII in Europe (the Pacific War has not yet ended). Andrei's father disappeared during the war and he and his mother have just recently returned to Moscow. He is a teenager and applies to a number of schools but is shocked when he's accepted into School 801, the school attended by the children of Moscow's elite.  He is growing a small circle of friends and has been invited into a club for romantics when two of the group's members are killed. Was it a murder/suicide or was there something more to the deaths? When the young romantics are taken to Lubianka prison, it quickly becomes apparent to their parents that the questioning of their children is a test of their loyalty and Bolshevik restraint. But, then the cryptic and misleading notebook of the group's dead leader is found and things become very serious.

I've already mentioned that I was only on page 130, yesterday, and strongly considering the possibility of giving up. I can't entirely say why. The story is definitely an interesting one and becomes more twisty and fascinating (if a bit violent) the further you get into it. At this point, there have been a lot of arrests, we've bounced back and forth in time to get a hint of what the parents may have done wrong and only one person has been released from prison, possibly so that she can be followed.  And, the honest truth is that I could set One Night in Winter aside without finding out what happens, no worries.  However, I don't think I can blame the book entirely. I think it's more a case of "not for me" than "bad book".

What I like best about One Night in Winter is the fact that it has reminded me of how terrifying it must have been to live in post-war Soviet Union. I've read stories, of course.  I remember the so-called "Iron Curtain" and how restrictive it was. I remember reading about daring escapes in Reader's Digest and attended a "10-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall" party hosted by a German couple. But, reading about how people were forced to speak in code because merely uttering certain words could get them killed, beaten or sent to prison for life (the fact that one only had to be 12 years of age to be old enough for the death penalty is repeatedly mentioned) brings the history home more vividly.

Addendum:  I finished reading One Night in Winter several hours ago, threw it aside and promptly fell asleep. I woke up feeling a little ticked. The author's notes say both the story of Serafima (who fell in love with an American) and the Children's Case (the murder case in which young people playing a game caused a tremendous amount of grief for a large number of people) were based on true stories. He also said the book was mostly about love. I read about torture of children and a sort-of-creepy middle-aged affair and the intention was to describe love? Ack. I was hoping for a slightly thrilling story with a little mystery and romance but One Night in Winter was not quite any of those things, a book that couldn't seem to decide what it was about, and the ending was way too tidy and coincidental. For this reader, the book fails on all fronts and I am no longer recommending it.

Even later:  After sleeping on it and giving the reading experience some thought, I'm backpedaling to the lesser "iffy on recommendation" with warning for graphic sex and violence. Although I don't believe the book succeeded as a book about love, I do think it succeeds as a story about what life was like during the transition from WWII to the terrifying years of isolation and restriction that continued for nearly 30 years. Whether or not that's what the author intended, I learned from the reading experience. The fact that I had to force myself through the book serves as an excellent reminder of why I normally stop at 50 pages if a book isn't grabbing me.  Finishing a book that never does quite click tends to make me unreasonably angry at the waste of time. I'm not angry with the author, though; I am upset with myself for not saying, "OK, this one's not for me," and moving on. 

Iffy on recommendation with warnings for graphic sex and violence (including torture of children) - A large cast and an interesting story set during a fascinating time in history were not enough to grab me by the hair and drag me into One Night in Winter. But, it was the fact that the book was none of the things I expected -- neither thrilling, romantic or all that mysterious -- that led me to unreasonably recommend against the book, immediately upon finishing.  If you have a particular interest in the Soviet Union just after WWII, you may enjoy it for the historical setting. It is certainly a learning experience about what it was like to live in the Soviet Union during the post-war Stalin years. The cast of characters includes both real and fictional characters.

©2014 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 Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell
Copyright 2013 
Berkley Books - Historical Fiction (1920s)
Source: Penguin Books for Tour

My doctor says it is our animal nature to judge the weak more harshly, owing to how survival depends upon weeding these creatures out.  He says I have highly developed animalistic tendencies. The way he says it, it does not sound like a compliment. 

p. 222

Brief synopsis:  

Rose works as a typist for the New York City Police Department, recording confessions. When a new typist named Odalie arrives at her precinct to help with the increased work load caused by a crackdown on bootlegging, Rose is fascinated by Odalie's chameleon-like charm and becomes aware of her own power to cause a criminal's conviction with the alteration of a few key sentences. And, when Odalie sweeps Rose up into her illicit world of speakeasies and lies, Rose finds herself willingly following along in her shadow, becoming the kind of person she would normally judge.

My thoughts:

I didn't ever feel like I could relate to or sympathize with Rose because her weakness and vulnerability make her annoying.  "Stop, Rose! Don't go with Odalie!" is the way I felt throughout the entire book. There's a mystery dangled from the beginning but I was constantly tempted to put down the book because I didn't feel it was so much compelling as a tease. You know practically from the beginning that something has happened to Rose that led to her incarceration in a mental facility and because she's in a mental facility, she is clearly an unreliable narrator. But, you can't help but assume that everything will eventually be clarified.

Unfortunately, the ending is something on the order of a "What the hell just happened?" kind of ending. Even knowing Rose is unreliable, a single paragraph calls the entire novel is into question.

There are also two completely different ways to look at the writing style: overwrought or deliberately haughty in tone. Was the narrator trying to double up on the confusion factor, lending a haughtiness to the tone through the use of too many adjectives and adverbs or was the author simply going overboard in an attempt to sound "of the time"? It's hard to say but I personally found the writing style exhausting.

Iffy on recommendation but good for discussion - I like an unreliable narrator when the facts of a story are, at some point, clarified. Nabokov's Transparent Things is probably a good example. Whereas the author of The Other Typist throws unreliability in your face with her repetitive comments about the mental institution, there is a subtle undercurrent of something sinister in Transparent Things and it's only when you get to the end of the book that the "Aha!" light goes on and you realize the author has been slowly revealing an equation and its solution is right in front of you. It makes you want to read the book all over, again. I would have preferred to throw The Other Typist at a wall rather than reread it because the sensation was less an adding-up than a tearing-down of everything you've grown to believe when you reach the end, which I found very unsatisfying.

However, I do believe there's a certain amount of skill involved in the setting of the scene and that the overwrought style, such as it is, may have indeed been deliberate.  It's that probability that's had me waffling between giving the book 2 or 3 stars out of 5.  I felt used and let down, so I want to give it a 2 for the sense that the author wasted my time. The story is not a subtle one. But, the idea that the style may have been entirely deliberate makes me feel like it's not quite fair to go that low. Waffle, waffle.  

The fact that I feel so torn about the rating and there's so much that is left unanswered (plus the fact that I noticed the reviews are polarized) does make me feel like The Other Typist would be a knock-out choice for book club reading. The moment I closed it I thought, "I want to talk to someone about this," and I can visualize a nice, noisy argument about who really was narrating and whether the narrator was obsessed by the other woman's skill at deception or the obsession was something entirely different. So, while I'm iffy about recommending the book, the fact that there's much to discuss lends me to give it a nod for book group discussion.

Cover thoughts:

I like the cover but when I did an image search I discovered that there's an alternative version of the same exact head shot in black and white with only the flapper's lips (red) and the title of the book colored and a New York skyline rather than blurred hands at the bottom. I thought the black and white image was much more striking.

In other news:

My desktop is down with either a virus or worm so I've had to find another way to post and I don't have access to photographs. So, there will be no Fiona Friday post, even on the wrong day, this week. I also had some children's books I planned to review but they require access to the interior photos I snapped. Hopefully, the spouse will figure out the problem over the weekend.

Happy weekend!

©2014 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.

Mini Reviews - Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen and Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

I need to do some catch-up, so it's mini review time, again.

Lost Lake is the latest release by Sarah Addison Allen. I've read all of her books and rushed out and find a copy of Lost Lake during release week.  It took me about 4 or 5 days to locate a copy and then I spent the next evening gobbling the book down.

Kate has spent her first year as a widow in a daze. On the day Kate and her daughter Devin are due to move in with Kate's mother-in-law, Cricket, she "wakes up" after finding a postcard from her Aunt Eby's lakeside cabin business, Lost Lake.  Kate spent the last, best summer of her life at Lost Lake and now she has a sudden urge to return.

At Lost Lake, she finds that her widowed Aunt Eby is on the verge of selling her business to travel the world but Eby's hesitant to say goodbye to Lost Lake for good.

There's a wonderful hodge-podge of characters in Lost Lake: Selma, who seems bitter about the special charms which have helped her acquire (but not keep) a large number of husbands; Lisette, a French woman Eby once saved and who is unable to speak; Jack, a guest who is painfully shy and in love with Lisette; Buhladeen, who is everyone's friend and comes up with the idea to host a goodbye party for Eby; Wes, the boy Kate spent her last best summer with, now a grown man who is wounded by his dark past: Lazlo, the wealthy developer who wants to tear down the cabins to create a new development. And, there's an alligator who talks to Devin.

Highly recommended - I had a little trouble getting into Lost Lake because Kate sounded a bit too much like me in some of her pains and yearnings but with the advantages of youth and money to change her life.  Eventually, though, I got over myself and was swept away. I closed the book with little joyful tears streaming down my face. As usual, Sarah Addison Allen has succeeded at telling a lovely, wise, heartwarming story with her own special touch of magic. I particularly loved the alligator.  Lost Lake is an especially meaningful release because it's Sarah's first published novel since her battle with late-stage breast cancer ended in remission.  I hope she will live a long, long time and write many more books.

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill has gotten a lot of gushy praise. The first time I opened it, I gave up in frustration. I didn't like the dislocated style: a paragraph or two about the protagonist as her romance progresses through marriage and child to affair with factoids (some seemingly random, some relevant) interspersed throughout.  It was an odd, jolting manner of storytelling.

The second time I opened the book, I did so at the urging of other bloggers, who advised me that Dept. of Speculation requires patience but eventually the story comes together. Michele of A Readers Respite told me there were so many little gems that she thought she might need to reread it with a highlighting pen. Andi of Estella's Revenge loved it. And, there's definitely some truth to Michele's statement about all those little gems. I think I enjoyed the random quotations and tidbits of information as much as or more than the storyline that wove through them (although I did love the way the story ended).  Often, I found myself setting the book aside to go look up more about a particular topic.

Meh, you might like it (aka "iffy on recomendation") - While I did eventually like the way Jenny Offill pulled together this story of a struggling marriage and a wife-gone-bitter in the end, the truth is that I always felt far too distant from the characters -- even the narrator -- to become fully engaged.  So, I gave it three stars and if I ever touch my copy again it will be to for the same reason Michele mentioned - to highlight those little interesting tidbits scattered throughout.

Other reviews:

Michele's thoughts about Dept. of Speculation at A Reader's Respite
Andi at Estella's Revenge reviews Dept. of Speculation


©2014 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 Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason

Is that a gorgeous cover, or what?  

The Clockwork Scarab is the first in a new Young Adult Steampunk series by Colleen Gleason known as the "Stoker and Holmes" series. Evaline Stoker is author Bram Stoker's little sister and Mina Holmes is the niece of Sherlock Holmes.  The two young ladies are asked to investigate when a girl their age turns up dead and another goes missing.  A scarab is the factor in common at each site.  

Since The Clockwork Scarab was my first foray into the bizarre alternate reality known as Steampunk, I have to admit I had a terrible time just getting used to the idea of a world in which electricity is outlawed and all sorts of crazy gadgets are run by steam.  Next to thwart my efforts was the fact that Evaline Stoker is not only the sister of a real-life author but also counts Victoria Gardella, a fictional vampire hunter created by Gleason, as her ancestor.  And, then, of course Mina is the niece of a fictional character. It all makes one's head spin a bit.

As the misses Stoker and Holmes begin their investigation, something entirely unexpected turns up: a time traveler, who mentions that electricity was never really outlawed . . . not in his world, anyway.  He is also puzzled by the fact that one of the two young ladies is related to a fictional character. 

Lordy. Seriously, there was a bit too much adjustment necessary for the reading of The Clockwork Scarab.  Eventually, though, I got used to the many oddities of the book and began to enjoy the storyline.  Right away, the misses Stoker and Holmes discover a shadowy society of young women led by a person of indeterminate gender who is seeking to resurrect an Egyptian goddess. 

I won't tell you any more about the story but basically you have two girls investigating the deaths of their peers, a time-traveler from just a couple years beyond contemporary time and a secret society.  Mina has been taught well by Uncle Sherlock and it's quite fun to read her observations but Evaline threw me a bit.  She has the skills and strength of her ancestor but there aren't any vampires around.  The Gardellas have nicely nipped that little problem in the bud.  So, she's basically a Victoria Gardella-alike who wears split skirts and tucks sharp objects in various hidden places on her person but her part in the investigation boils down to knowledge of society girls, chasing down clues dropped by a shifty character who may or may not be Cockney and beating up on bad guys when necessary.

****UPDATE****

While The Clockwork Scarab didn't work for me and I felt iffy about recommending it (see my original thoughts, below), Colleen shared a very upbeat letter about her latest book on Facebook and I asked if I could post it, here, to give you an opposing viewpoint:

"Hi Colleen! Merry Christmas! I just wanted to share with you the difference you have made in my daughter's life. [She] has always hated reading, which is hard for me to understand since I have always loved it. (As the daughter of a librarian and working as an editor/proofreader for 16 years, it comes with the territory!) 

"I have always thought that if I could just find something that [my daughter] would enjoy reading, it would open her eyes to all the places reading could take her. Well, we found that in your book, The Clockwork Scarab. She loves it! She told me that she was up til 5:00 this morning, reading, because she just couldn't put it down! That's a first!! Keep up the awesome work, [she] needs more reading material!"

Iffy on recommendation - I had trouble getting into The Clockwork Scarab. Although eventually I did feel like it picked up a bit and I became accustomed to a world of steam-powered funky gadgets and the strange assortment of characters, there was still a mind-bending aspect -- too much going on, too bizarre the way those elements were placed together.  At Goodreads, I gave it an average 3-star rating. 

I was a big fan of the Victoria Gardella Vampire series so I chose to hang in there; but, the story was, unfortunately, also not wrapped up enough to suit me and that is the main reason I don't feel comfortable heartily recommending The Clockwork Scarab.  I'm okay with series books as long as they leave you with some sense of completion. The Victoria Gardella books were wrapped up well.  Hopefully, this is a one-off, the way the book ended up teasing the reader without providing a sense of completion.

©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.

The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan

The Curiosity by Stephen P. Kiernan

Copyright 2013

William Morrow - Fiction/Hmm - Science Fiction?

426 pp.

****WARNING!!! THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!***

On the overnight we did the proper, correct, appropriate thing: we got smashed.

"Don't worry, lovely, I'm not going to attempt some tawdry seduction on you," [Billings] said, wobbling in the aisle against the sway of the train.  "Altogether too much the scientist, don't you know." He flopped into the seat beside me.  "Socially spastic, few deep allegiances, suspected of borderline Asperger's.  You know the lot. My brother aside, you're the closest thing I have to a friend."

~p. 58, Advance Reader Copy of The Curiosity (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

I'm going to have to go with the Q/A routine for this title.

What led you to pick up The Curiosity?

The description grabbed me - a science thriller in which a human is found in an iceberg and brought back to life?  Freaky.  I liked the idea.

Summarize the plot but don't give away the ending:

Erastus Carthage is an award-hungry, egotistical scientific genius who has been experimenting with the concept of "reanimating" frozen creatures -- primarily tiny life forms such as plankton and krill.  He has hired a team of scientists to search for more and bigger creatures to bring back to life.  At the beginning of the novel, the team is on a ship and they've found an extremely large iceberg.  Inside that iceberg is a man who died in 1906.  Can he be brought back to life?  If so, what does this say about the concept of death and an afterlife?  Given the known (and by "known", I mean in this work of fiction) stages of reanimated life, how long can a man brought back to life remain alive?

Capsule description:

Dead man is brought to life and held captive by scientists. Religious fundamentalists go crazy, lonely female scientist falls for the man and tries to spring him from his aquarium-like room, risking her career and possibly putting the man's life at even greater risk.

What did you like best about The Curiosity?

I loved the man who is brought back to life, Jeremiah Rice. The author makes it clear that Jeremiah is a gentleman from a graceful past, thrust into a new world.  Part of the point is obviously to highlight the differences between Jeremiah's literate and highly moral life and the modern world with its casual use of vulgar language, acceptance of violence and lack of genuine interaction between people enclosed in their own little electronic bubbles.  I'm not actually sure what the theme to The Curiosity was, though.  More about that in a moment.

What did you dislike about The Curiosity?

Erastus Carthage is a rich, egotistical, scientific genius jerk.
Daniel Dixon is a sleazy hack reporter.
Kate Philo is a scientist with a heart.
Jeremiah Rice is a former judge, brought back to life after a painful drowning death.

These are the four voices through which the story is told in alternating chapters.  Because Erastus and Daniel are truly appalling people and so archetypal that they're practically caricatures, half the time the book feels like a joke and the rest of the time it's almost, but not quite, a reflective and romantic tale of science and life. But, they're not the only archetypes. I chose the quote at the top of this post because I think it gives you a good idea of the author's unfortunate choice to portray just about every character as a narrowly-defined archetype. That honestly drove me bananas.

On to the storyline.  If you can get past a scientific idea that is so much of a stretch that it should be placed in the future (but which might have worked better if the scientists hadn't made a jump from animating tiny creatures to something as big as a human) and the two disgusting characters through whom you must see half the story portrayed, then what you're left with is a lonely female questioning herself and a gentleman from the past observing our present. Is The Curiosity a romance?  Well, not really.  Is it a scientific thriller?  Not quite. Apart from some really exciting scenes at the end of the book The Curiosity doesn't really fall into "thriller" territory and the science is wildly improbable because of the missing steps between the animation of little shrimp and big human.  Is it about corruption (political and scientific) combined with lack of morality?  Hmm, the elements are there but there are moral people, as well.  They just get shoved off to the side.  Secrets and lies and surprises? Religious zealotry? Yeah, yeah.  Some of that. Honestly, it's all over the place.

Share a favorite scene from the book:

There's not particular scene that jumps out at me, but there were some great moments in The Curiosity.  I liked pretty much every scene involving the hippie genius goofball scientist.  I loved the moment when Jeremiah was discovered in the ice, although it was cut short, probably to ramp up suspense.  I liked the scenes in which Jeremiah talked about literature and life.  When Jeremiah quoted a line from "Andrea del Sarto" by Robert Browning, I marked it and then promptly forgot where I'd read that wonderful line, then rustled around for a few days and figured it out:

"A man's reach should exceed his grasp--or what's a heaven for?"

I want to frame that line.  I'm glad I read about Jeremiah for the bits of wisdom and the look at our world through the eyes of a man who lived over a century ago.  I thought Kate was a likable character, as well, although I was not thrilled with the denouement in regard to the changes in her life.

In general:

I was entertained and annoyed by this book.  I absolutely detested the chapters that were told through the eyes of Erastus Carthage and Daniel Dixon, to the point that I considered abandoning the book, although I was curious enough that I decided to hang in there.  Had the book been told entirely from Kate's perspective or in 3rd person, I think it might have worked better.  The ending was a terrible let-down.  I can't share what I disliked about the ending without giving away too much but I will say I that because the story was Hollywood-like in its characterization I thought a big, overblown and exciting ending would have been fitting and definitely satisfying.  Might as well close it with the big-bang, someone-saves-the-day, after all that build-up.

I was also very disappointed that one particular thread was brought up and pretty much dropped: What became of Jeremiah's descendants?  I thought that was lazy on the author's part.  He could have easily made that portion of the story complete and fulfilling with the addition of a scene or two.

Recommended or not?

Uh, maybe?  I liked The Curiosity but it was not a favorite. You seriously have to be able to suspend disbelief.  The jump from reanimating tiny creatures to reanimating humans was far too much of a stretch.  But, was The Curiosity fun reading?  At times. I definitely wanted to know what was going to happen, in spite of some extremely heavy-handed foreshadowing. I liked the questions the story brought up, even if I thought the book was almost cartoonish in its excesses. Maybe it would make a better graphic novel than a book.  The author can write but he just went too far in some ways and fell flat in others, plot-wise.  I actually think it would be a fun book to discuss. The fact that the story is a little too big for its britches means it touched on a lot of topics that are worthy of discussion.  Good, bad, love, hate.  I don't regret reading The Curiosity but it's not a book I'll tell all my friends to read.

I love Ryan's review of The Curiosity at Wordsmithonia.

I received an Advance Reader Copy of The Curiosity from HarperCollins in return for an unbiased review.

©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.

She Rises by Kate Worsley

She Rises by Kate Worsley

Copyright 2013 

Bloomsbury - Historical Fictionl/LGBT

421 pp.

Publisher's description:

A panoramic historical novel of love, adventure and identity--with an astonishing twist.

It is 1740 and Louise Fletcher, a young [dairy] maid, has been warned of the lure of the sea for as long as she can remember--after all, it stole away her father and brother.  But when she is offered work in the bustling naval port of Harwich serving a wealthy captain's daughter, she leaps at the chance to see more of the world.  There she meets Rebecca, her haughty and fascinating mistress.

Intertwined with Louise's story is that of fifteen-year-old Luke, who is beaten and press ganged, sent to sea against his will on board the warship Essex in the service of His Majesty's Navy.  He must learn fast and choose his friends well if he is to survive the brutal hardships of a sailor's life and its many dangers, both up high in the rigging and in the dark decks down below.

She Rises brings to vivid life both land and sea in Georgian England but explores a thoroughly modern and complex love story.  Bold, brilliant and utterly original, She Rises is an accomplished and gripping search for identity and survival.

What that description doesn't tell you:

There should be some kind of warning about graphic sexuality, crude language and violence for people like me (softies, that is).  You know, maybe just little icons of a boob, a mouth and a knife.  The thing about She Rises is that it's about people who lived the harshest type of lives in the 18th century and it's told so well that you are there.  Just to say the characters are men pressed into service for the British Navy and a young dairy maid who falls in love with her mistress doesn't cover it.  You climb under the sheets (so to speak), listen to the swearing, see the cruelty and murder, hear the women scream as they're raped, walk through . . . gross stuff.  Whether or not you can cope with that depends on the reader, of course, but I dislike graphic sexuality and the language in this book was about as vulgar as it gets, not to mention the bullying and violence.  I could have used a little warning.  I did finish the book, though, because . . .

Things I liked about She Rises:

There are two parallel stories about Louise and her brother Luke, as in the above description.  Louise was happy as a dairy maid but couldn't turn down the offer to advance to a position as a ladies maid.  The descriptions are always graphic and heavily descriptive.  By the time Louise left her place in the kitchen, I was firmly convinced I knew how to make butter and wishing my mother had not sold her antique butter churn in a garage sale (something she always regretted, as well). She Rises has a seriously amazing sense of place, in other words.

Luke's story was one I tolerated well for a while because it's not so very different from some of the more frightening scenes in Hornblower or Master and Commander. If you've seen the movies (I've read one of the Horatio Hornblower books but none of the Aubrey/Maturin series), you know that living in close quarters in a boat is a lot like being trapped in a junior high locker room. There are bullies and fights, filthy language and crude jokes. You have to expect some of that.  I was impressed with the depth of historical detail and I applaud the author's research and skill.  However . . .

The things I didn't like outweighed the mind-boggling research and writing:

Unfortunately, a dairy maid's sweet affection eventually became a graphically-described lesbian affair.  I'm okay with love stories but I don't like graphic sex scenes.  If you've read my blog for any length of time, you're already aware of that.  It didn't matter that the affair was between two females. The problem was that it was not only graphically described (I'm not interested in reading about what people do in bed, period -- brief scenes, fine, but just don't give me detail) but it was an extremely obsessive relationship between the two young women, not a healthy one, in my humble opinion.

And, on the ship . . . oh, Lord, the language, the conditions, the smells so well-described you wanted to hold your breath, the violence, the creeping terror that someone will kill you and toss you overboard in the night.  Too much, too much for this gal.

However, and this is a big however:

If you can tolerate or don't mind the graphic sex, the crudity and the violence, She Rises does indeed have one of the most truly astonishing and unexpected surprise twists I've ever encountered.  When I was struggling to decide whether or not I should go on, I skimmed a couple reviews and people mentioned "the twist" in a way that made me think it must be a rare surprise and they were certainly right about that.  One of the reviewers said she skipped Luke's scenes because of all the blood and vomit, etc..  To do so would cause one to miss the point completely.  You have to read the entire book and the shocking twist followed by the ending . . . they're exceptional.

The bottom line:

Iffy about recommendation - She Rises is a harsh read that is not for the faint of heart, but it is also a truly stunning and unique piece of writing with one of the most amazing twists I've ever read.  It's raunchy, crude, violent, graphic and cruel and the "romance" so sadly unhealthy that the bad overshadowed the good for this reader, but I'm a softie so I know that won't be the case for everyone.  I simply don't know who I'd recommend this book to, so I have to go with the "iffy" designation.  It's a shame that something so stunningly researched and vivid is also in many ways repulsive.

Cover thoughts:

That is the coolest cover, ever, definitely one of my favorites of the year.  If this book sells like hotcakes, I'll credit the cover for a good portion of its success.

My thanks to TLC Tours and Bloomsbury for the chance to read and review this title.

In other news:

As of Saturday, we are fostering a kitten currently named "Prissy" (if we get to the point of adoption, that name will change).  She is a little ball of fire, energetic and spirited, personable but feisty. She's a people-cat who was bottle fed.  I'm surprised Prissy wasn't immediately snapped up for adoption after her first owner returned her. Since we were the first people to pass muster and there's a special place in my heart for kitties that are adopted and then given back, I asked if we could give her a trial run.

First attempts to expose Miss Priss to Isabel and Fiona had a 50/50 success rate.  Fiona hissed a little to make her place clear but was otherwise unruffled.  Isabel pretty much went off her rocker.  Prissy currently has a room of her own with toys, her bowls & litter box, a window and a nice little West Elm couch thingie (with that blanket she's lying on in the photo).  We take turns going into the room to spend time with her so she won't get lonely and we'll try to let her out again, little by little, but she'll stay in her own room for a few days.  Hopefully, the other kitties will get used to the new scent and not freak out.  Well, the other kitty . . . Isabel.  Fiona the Zen Kitty would let her hang out, no problem. Isn't Prissy a beauty?

©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.

Dr. Who: Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole

Ten Little Aliens by Stephen Cole

Copyright 2013 (reprint)

BBC Books - SciFi/Fan Fiction - Dr. Who
322 pp.

Source:  From the publisher for TLC Tours

What's it about?

A team of futuristic soldiers land on an asteroid for a training mission and everything goes wrong. They find the bodies of 10 aliens from a mystical group known as the Morpheians (a faction of their enemy, the Schirr) but one by one the bodies disappear.  And, so do the soldiers.  Meanwhile, the Doctor and his assistants, Ben and Polly, show up on the asteroid. The TARDIS is locked by a force field, trapping them, and Polly promptly disappears through an invisible portal.  What in the flying petunias is going on?  Who are the dead aliens and why are they disappearing?  Why are the soldiers being killed?  Did someone on the team of soldiers betray them?   By the time the Doctor and his sidekicks figure out where they're headed and why, it may be too late for everyone.

What I liked about Ten Little Aliens:

The best thing about Ten Little Aliens was the portrayal of the Doctor, Polly and Ben.  They were distinctive characters, well described.  Although I haven't seen more than brief clips of William Hartnell as Dr. Who, I had a clear image of all three characters.  I also liked some of the action, at least at the beginning of the book, with the soldiers.

What I disliked about Ten Little Aliens:

I'm afraid this list is a bit longer.  While I enjoyed the reading, up to a point, I thought the author tried too hard to cram too many ideas into one novel.  The name Ten Little Aliens is based on the early name of an Agatha Christie novel, so he used what he'd learned about Christie's mysteries to create his own mystery.  Then, there's a bit of a space opera aspect with the soldiers, who are much like Starship Troopers.  There's a war between two races, a whole bunch of soldier storylines to explain why they behave the way they do, the magical faction of the alien race, some scary bad angels (I had to wonder if they led to the weeping angel plot) and then . . . as if the whole mess wasn't confusing enough . . . about 2/3 into the book, it suddenly became a Choose Your Own Adventure.  How weird is that?

First of all, I hate Choose Your Own Adventures because I'm a very linear person.  It bothers me just flipping to the back of a magazine to finish an article.  So, I read the CYOA part straight through and skipped all the bits saying, "To read more of Haunt's story, turn to page [whatever]," etc.  Eventually, that bit ended and it reverted to the novel.

However, the worst thing about Ten Little Aliens was the gore.  It is by far the nastiest book I've read in a long time, when it comes to violence and gore -- way, way too graphic and absolutely disgusting.  When I think back on it, I'm really stunned that I kept reading.  If you have a weak stomach, avoid this one.

The bottom line:

I'm iffy on recommendation.  I think I'll only recommend it if you don't mind a senselessly complex plot with a stunning amount of gore.  I liked the parts with Dr. Who, Ben and Polly, simply because they were interesting characters.  But, there was so much violence and some truly ghastly scenes.  It will take me a long time to get those images out of my head.  I wish I could take an eraser to my brain.  Still, I finished the book and I thought the writing itself was sharply rendered.  It was just all over the place.  The author tried to meld too many different concepts into one book and, in the end, my general feeling was that it was . . . well, a hot mess.  I gave Ten Little Aliens a 3/5 at Goodreads and I'm concerned that I'm being a little too generous.

Husband's opinion:

My husband is a slow reader and has only made it halfway through Ten Little Aliens, but from about page 40, he's been telling me he's "pretty sure it's going to get better".  He agreed with me that he likes the Dr. Who characters and found the soldier action pretty interesting.  He is intrigued by the convoluted plot.  But, he is not the kind of person who puts up with icky, bloody violence.  I told him about the most graphically revolting part of the novel and he stared at me for a minute.  "So, I think it's probably not for people with weak stomachs," I told him.  He said, "Hmm, I may not want to finish."  He's really appalled by violence -- the kind of guy who won't even watch an action movie with you unless you beg, loud and long.  I think I'll recommend that he just move on to another of the Dr. Who novels.  

Believe it or not:

I'm still really looking forward to the rest of the Dr. Who Classic reprints on my stacks.  I've stopped here to read a few other reviews.  Some people love it, some absolutely hate it.  I fall in the middle.  But, the consensus of those who didn't give it a high rating is surprise that it was chosen as the first published in a series of reprints . . . a bad choice, that is, as an introduction to the series.  I tend to agree.  It can only get better from here.  There were definitely things I liked about the book, though.  I might have loved it, in spite of my other minor dislikes, if it hadn't been so gross.

We went to The Who Shop, while we were in London:

I highly recommend popping into The Who Shop if you're a Dr. Who fan and happen to be in the London area.  There's even a small museum in the store.  You have to get a TARDIS key from the proprietor and walk through the TARDIS doors to get in.  Ridiculously fun.  We had a great time.  While the guys were looking around, the owner taught me how to say Llandudno properly (a Welsh place name).  And, then he forgot to put one of our purchases in the bag and you'd think he'd tried to kill us, he was so apologetic.  Point being: great place, great people, loads of fun, worth a visit.  

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