Like bajillions of other true crime addicts around the world, the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard is one that is like a trainwreck I couldn’t simply looLike bajillions of other true crime addicts around the world, the story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard is one that is like a trainwreck I couldn’t simply look away from. From Mommy Dead and Dearest to binging The Act to reading fictitious takes on Gypsy’s story in novels such as Darling Rose Gold, I have been hooked on this wilder than fiction tale of murder and Munchausen By Proxy for years now. When I saw a book was being released you bet your butt I was the first on the library waiting list. What I didn’t realize this was simply a sampler of around 100 pages – otherwise known as . . . . .
These transcriptions of phone calls from the prison leave nearly all of the story left untold (and would have worked so much better as an audiobook than in hard copy). I 100% anxiously await Gypsy’s full memoir and want to hear her side straight from the horse’s mouth. I will say, the general reaction of “YAAAAAAS QUEEN” by the public upon her release has been more than a little disconcerting to me. Yes, Gypsy-Rose was a victim, but are the same folks who seem to be offended by nearly everything really celebrating murder now? Odd. Also, her Peter Griffin looking husband skeeves me out to the max so it will be interesting to see if he is an opportunist. Let’s face it, Gypsy is an easy mark. She clearly suffers from a severe case of arrested development and dives right into relationships head first looking for her fairy tale. Or is it all an act? She certainly drops her bubbly persona and lets it be known she has some serious sour grapes off of others making money from her tale without her getting a cut (as explained in this book – the public record is free for the taking). The one thing that is certain is she has fully embraced being front and center in the public eye and her millions of new followers on social media. Time will tell if there is to be more than 15 minutes of fame. ...more
For years I’ve referred to Matthew Quick as Matthew Quirk – unintentionally to start (I am the girl who thought Riley Sager was a female for like fourFor years I’ve referred to Matthew Quick as Matthew Quirk – unintentionally to start (I am the girl who thought Riley Sager was a female for like four books, after all) – and then on purpose because he does tend to lean into the quirky when it comes to his characters and/or plotlines.
The story here is about Lucas. Lucas has been struggling through the grieving process after losing his wife to a mass shooting at the local movie house. Lucas was deemed a hero, but all he knows is he didn’t save 17 people and thank heavens his beloved wife still visits him in her angel form. In an attempt to make his way out of the darkness, he writes his former Jungian analyst Karl, cohabitates with his deceased wife’s best friend and offers his back yard as shelter to Eli, a young man who has been ostracized due to his relationship with the shooter.
But Lucas and Eli have a plan to fix the town . . .
“You didn’t say you wanted them to star in a monster movie about the shooting that killed all of their loved ones.”
“It’s a metaphor that’s designed to heal!”
As I said, Matthew Quirk. This is a dark novel written by an author experiencing one of the darkest times of his life. But as Florence and her Machine so eloquently stated . . . .
I blamed my robot heart for not feeling all of the feels along with everyone else who read Summers’ last release Sadie, but made sure I was first in lI blamed my robot heart for not feeling all of the feels along with everyone else who read Summers’ last release Sadie, but made sure I was first in line for this one (despite that awful cover) to attempt some sort of redemption arc on my own behalf. Worked out great too because I really dug this one!
I took a sneaky peak at the blurb after checking this one out from the library and was a little concerned to see it was supposed to be about a couple of teenage girls solving the case of who raped and murdered the sister of one of them. Good news if you’re like me and don’t always love an amateur sleuthing show, these gals did not channel their inner Nancy Drew. Really, this book could have been dubbed . . . .
There weren’t a lot of surprises when it came to the whodunit, but the story itself was pretty fascinating for me and kept me invested the entire time. ...more
Not much to say here. Premise sound interesting to you? Save yourself some reading eye strain, go pop a big bag of corn and watch one of the eleventy Not much to say here. Premise sound interesting to you? Save yourself some reading eye strain, go pop a big bag of corn and watch one of the eleventy trillion specials that have already been made about the JonBenet case. There's inspired by and then there's inspired by. This was waaaaaay too close to the real thing for me. I also really wanted to punch the lead in the throat for leaving her uncle on his own so much when the entire point of her returning home was because he wasn't capable of being left alone any longer. But I do love a house cover, still, so you know I had to snag an early copy of this instantly ; )
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!...more
I put this book on my TBR simply for the title alone. If you are new here, one of little joys I get out of life is carrying around my own selection ofI put this book on my TBR simply for the title alone. If you are new here, one of little joys I get out of life is carrying around my own selection of “NSFW” book titles and covers so this one automatically hit the sweet spot simply for the outside. Then the Center for Fiction debut novel nominees were announced and – yay me – I already had this on hold at the library. Unfortunately for this novel, I think it has zero chance at winning thanks to said nominations also including the brilliant Nightwalking, but I thought this was great too.
NSFW is the story of a young Harvard grad who, thanks to a fairly healthy dose of nepotism adjacent connections, lands a temp job at the television network XBC. Her own skillset is what gets our unnamed protagonist promoted to an assistant position for one of the major movers and shakers of the network and eventually even allows her to sit in on pitches for new program development. The timeframe is prior to #metoo where office engagement is taken as . . . .
“Little comments, tiny things, nothing really.”
It is a time where compliments should be received with a smile, women expect the worst from other women and apologize for the behaviors of certain men, things sometimes just “go too far” – and we are active participants in our own oppression. So basically, about a decade ago.
I have been an “assistant” since Jesus was in diapers so there might have been a deeper level of appreciation for me that others who have not held this illustrious job title won’t feel. Luckily I have never been sexually harassed or assaulted at work, but boy did the words here still resonate. The dark humored delivery and conversational tone rather than a preachy approach (which would surely get the authored labeled as some sort of shrieking harpy even with the strides that have been made) make the readability factor of this one go straight through the roof. Don’t let the low Goodreads rating fool you, NSFW is whip smart and worth your time.
If one thing is for sure it is the fact that Laurie Frankel can really spin a yarn. And if a second thing is for sure it is that I am, at the pit of mIf one thing is for sure it is the fact that Laurie Frankel can really spin a yarn. And if a second thing is for sure it is that I am, at the pit of my soul, a horrible person. You see, when I first saw people talking about this, my mind went to a severely underrated cartoon . . . .
Proving I could never qualify as any sort of emotional support animal. But then I noticed this was by the author of This Is How it Always Is so even though I wasn’t super interested in reading it, I still needed to have a copy immediately. Because I am the poster child for first world problems.
One, Two, Three is about a town that was decimated by a chemical company who had poisoned the water. If you get these vibes . . . .
You are pretty much spot-on, because the plucky mother and her decade plus long battle most certainly will give you Erin Brockovich vibes. The story, however, is told in three-part narration (hence the title) via Nora’s (the mother) triplet daughters. All three have distinctive voices, personalities and issues, but I will admit it took me a minute to settle in to the who was who. Mainly due to them calling each other both “One Two and Three” but also by their given names of Mab, Monday and Mirabel – which, let’s just be honest, don’t really roll off the tongue easily. It can also be blamed on the fact I’m . . . .
One of the things I love best about this book is that for so long there appeared to be a potential gray area regarding Big Oil the goings on at the chemical company. No documents had ever been discovered implicating any wrongdoings and, despite one of the triplets being born with disabilities and a father who had died of cancer, other people in town seemed to have been impacted more from fluke accidents such as losing limbs in the machinery or feeling trapped due to their property no longer being worth any money and the other so-called “different” twin was clearly just someone on the spectrum. But of course that all ended up being just some shit my brain was conjuring up. It still ended up being a story that gives the reader something to gnaw on regarding man’s inhumanity to man, the power of money, but also about family and friendship and loyalty (whether right or wrong). I will say this could have been quite a bit shorter as my attention waned in parts and things got a little repetitive, but as a whole this was a quality character driven type of read and I will absolutely be first in line for whatever Ms. Frankel comes up with next.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley!...more
Ooooooooh boy it’s has been a minute since I’ve had a book hangover. Usually I mix up genres a little to keep things fresh, but I generally have zero problems starting a book right after finishing the previous one. It took me a solid day to figure out what was going to be coming up next for me after finishing this, however.
I also have to disclose that I actually sorta read a bit of the blurb here and confess that I put myself back at the bottom of the library hold list due to the story’s timeline running simultaneously with the L.A. Riots. A couple of months ago I just wasn’t in the right headspace to read a fictionalization that would serve as a reminder of how little times have changed. But then I read some real good stuff like Uncomfortable Conversations and my firm started posting more about inclusivity and diversity and this queued up the morning after a guilty verdict FINALLY was achieved in a blatant case of murder caught on tape so I put my big girl pants on and downloaded this.
And holy shit am I so glad I did. Not only can this author write her ass off, but the setting taking place so close and yet so far away from the uprising due to location as well as income level was just brilliant. If you know me you know I love a good coming of age story and young adult fiction that can be appreciated by us oldsters as well as the target demographic and this just checked every single box. This will easily go down as one of the best books I read in 2021. All the Starzzzzz.
Allow me a moment of indulgence her to express my utter disdain for the “sync” feature that declares not only have you finished a book and therefore cAllow me a moment of indulgence her to express my utter disdain for the “sync” feature that declares not only have you finished a book and therefore changes the status on your behalf, but does so before you even get to the author notes and thank yous.
But I guess it did force my hand to jot something down the same night I got done with a book and not wait six months to create a post, so maybe the powers that be know what they are doing.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Even if this hadn't been written by a billion-copy-sort-of-bestelling-author, I would have still picked it up. Because - duh . . . . .
The cover art might have been a little lackluster, but the title is EV.ER.Y.THANG.
Lauren Weisberger will continue to be an auto-read author for me as one of the queens of Chick Lit, but unfortunately I didn’t love this one quite as much as When Life Gives You Lululemons. The really terrible part is my lack of luuuuuuurv mainly stemmed from the fact that I found both of the sisters to be pretty unlikeable, but it’s not like Miranda Priestly - or heck even Andy - back in the Devil Wears Prada days were peaches either. Maybe after my last experience I just hoped for more.
The story here is a ripped from the headlines type about a news anchor who finds her family embroiled in a college admissions scandal. There’s definitely a been there done that vibe - most likely due to the entire world being shut down for a year and the true story of this subject matter playing on a loop for months.
Surprisingly enough, the teenager was the least insufferable person in the entire story, although I did enjoy the sisters’ dynamic and their dialogue was laugh-out-loud-able .....
“Well, on that note, I’m headed home to drink a bottle of vodka and listen to Leonard Cohen before shopping for guns online. Thanks for the pick-me-up.” “Welcome!” Skye said cheerily before slamming the door. “If you do off yourself, please remember that I’ve always wanted that white leather jacket of yours….” Peyton gave her the middle finger, but she was grinning as she shifted into reverse....more
If we can truly integrate white people and black people together, working in tandem, tFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
If we can truly integrate white people and black people together, working in tandem, that’s when our world will make its joyful noise.
My non-reading husband was actually the one to turn me on to this title last week when it was released. Unfortunately for him, the wait list for the hard copy is about eleventy trillion long, but yay me I got first dibs on the Kindle version : ) He has settled for watching the videos (on You Tube???? me = old timer so I have no idea) while I ploughed through this sucker in one day.
Like most books regarding the subject matter at hand, the people who really need to read it will be the ones who absolutely don’t due to the fact they are too busy picking out the perfect madras shirt to match their tiki torches while gathering in the town square in order to wave their confederate flags with their knuckle dragging brethren.
As for the rest of us who aren’t super busy like those snowflakes (hehehe, turned the tables on ‘em didn’t I?), inside this book you’ll find nearly every topic you could possibly have questions about when it comes to the current state of race relations in America. From white privilege to “reverse racism” to implicit bias to the “N” word and “thugs” and “angry black men” to gangs and black on black violence to cultural appropriation to “Karens” to systemic racism when it comes to racial divides as far as income, housing, the criminal justice system, etc., this is a book that does not shy away from any uncomfortable conversation.
As far as I’m concerned, it should be required reading. What puts Uncomfortable Conversations above some others is that it not only encourages you to talk the talk – and it REALLY encourages you that the talking is the first step (hence the title, duh) – but also teaches you how to walk the walk. From book and film recommendations (both non-fiction as well as fiction), to music, to websites where you can research various subjects in greater detail on your own, to reputable charities which to donate money, to civic and philanthropic volunteer opportunities, there’s really no excuse after reading this to claim ignorance when it comes to actively becoming anti-racist. And if you determine your comfort level has an ending point and you don’t want to/can’t accept the responsibility of being a true ally at least you gained some knowledge and learned the only bad questions are those that go unasked. (But really, all of us can do better than only talking – simply voting might be enough to start making changes in your neck of the woods when it comes to taxes, zoning, schools, etc.)
At this point I think it’s pretty safe to say I would read Tiffany D. Jackson’s grocery lFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
At this point I think it’s pretty safe to say I would read Tiffany D. Jackson’s grocery list. She’s just effing phenomenal and has helped propel the Young Adult genre to a whole new level. Her latest release follows her previous works – a mystery wrapped in a “ripped from the headlines” type of storyline. This one pops off immediately with our leading lady waking up . . . .
eye-level with a puddle of beet juice soaked into the carpet, soft fibers cushioning my cheek. The beet juice is dark, thin, dried sticky between my fingers.
‘Cept it ain’t beet juice.
The story then does the wibbly wobbly where we meet Enchanted as a 17 year old aspiring singer auditioning for a fictional Idol-like television program on BET called “Music Live” and being noticed by R&B superstar Korey Fields. As Fields’ protégé all of Enchanted’s dreams are about to come true, and as his potential love interest, well, the sky’s the limit. And who cares what others say about the age gap, right? After all . . . .
Beyoncé was eighteen when she met thirty-year-old Jay-Z. Mom is seven years younger than Daddy. It’s not that uncommon.
But Enchanted isn’t quite sure what to make of Korey’s mood swings and tantrums. He loves her, right? He’s only looking out for her best interest, right? He doesn’t mean to hurt her, right??????
Okay, so being a woman of a certain age, this story immediately called to mind someone I had a massive crush on back in high school . . . .
^^^^That video? Holy crap. Like a mini movie complete with plotline and dialogue? Genius. But then he married his protégé Aaliyah who turned out was only 15 years old and, well, y’all probably know the rest unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere. But back in the day when he was lifting all our spirits making us believe we could fly, R. Kelly was about the most bangable man in the music industry. It was sooooooooooo easy to believe a young girl like our fictional Enchanted could get caught up in the fame and riches and even that her parents would make some questionable decisions in order to not deny their daughter her potential one chance at making a name for herself in the music industry.
4 Stars rather than 5 due to the fact that I could have lived without the narrative that brings into question Enchanted being a possible unreliable narrator. When it comes to stories of abuse women are already not believed and we really do not need to perpetuate that bullshit any more. But as a whole when it came to page turnability? This one was a win. Be warned, however, that if you decide to read it, there’s a good chance . . . .
When Emily finds herself unemployed, about to be evicted and cut off from her faFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
2.5 Stars
When Emily finds herself unemployed, about to be evicted and cut off from her family’s pocketbook due to asking for assistance one too many times, she has no clue what will save her tail. Enter former boss Scott. Emily may have been a terrible receptionist at his company, but she has a good personality and might just be the perfect fit as a personal assistant for his wife at their French estate. Gardening, home decorating and helping keep an eye out on their solo child coupled with great food, drinks and lounging by the pool? Sounds almost too good to be true.
Okay, so really the only problem with this was . . . . .
If you have ever read a mystery or thriller – like EVER, even once in your life – you should be able to guess what the big reveal of this one is going to be loooooonnnnnnnnnng before it ever gets there. That being said, somehow this was still really readable so I’m going to round my average rating up to a three. ...more
Your House Will Pay is a story of two families. It follows both the fictional retelling of the murder of Latasha Harlins (a case I will admit I knew nothing about and since I don’t read author notes wasn’t even aware was the inspiration behind this story even after I finished reading this book until coincidentally it was discussed on some news program) as well as covering the present day with the aftermath of a verdict in a fictional case of a police officer shooting an unarmed black teenager. It should go without saying it’s not a light read.
The timeliness of this story was spot on. The character development, pacing, flow from past to present, the pull no punches storytelling – nearly every page was necessary. I think it’s best to not know a whole lot more than the basics before picking this one up. Obviously you’ll be the only person who knows if you are up to basically “reading the news” with a story that shows how the more things change the more they stay the same. If you are okay with a book that is certainly not an escape from reality, this is simply brilliant....more
I had zero intention of ever picking this book up after having a real-not-so-grFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
3.5 Stars
I had zero intention of ever picking this book up after having a real-not-so-great-time with Everything I Never Told You. Even when it became a show with my decades-long girl crush Reese as the star and my years-but-not-quite-decades-long newer crush Kerry as the other star. And I even have Hulu thanks a package trio that began with the hubs’ obsession with Marvel (hence Disney+) and ESPN the Ocho (hence massive amounts of tears because everything sportsball related has been cancelled for 2020 and you have to watch old Tiger Woods victories on repeat if you want any Saturday action). But then my real-life reading pal Reggie told me it was good and we are of like minds when it comes to books and it was also available for instant checkout through the library so I figured what the hell.
In case you’re new here, allow me to sum up my personality in .gif format for you . . . . .
During lockdown I have been mixing up my reading as much as possible to keep things from blending into one another (especially thrillers – boy do I forget what those are about like 12 seconds after finishing the book), but I really dig a story full of unlikeable people. Generally I tend to root for the underdog (even when they are murderers or meth-heads), but everyone once in a while I really appreciate a book where I can just kind of hate on everyone. Thus was the case with Little Fires Everywhere. When my husband asked what it was like, my response was pretty much . . . .
I am just old enough to remember when surrogacy and foreign adoption and birth mother rights were new and the court battles that went on regarding change of mind or change of heart. Placing this firmly in that time (with subtle reminders in the form of television programs/songs/election campaigns, etc.) was a smart choice by the author. This would be a fun one for a book club to see just which characters people found sympathetic/which side of some of these hot button topics people choose. And then there would be me sitting in the corner by myself with my shitty attitude that found all three female leads to be atrocious . . . . .
“So many lives destroyed, and for what? So one man could be king of a patch Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
3.5 Stars
“So many lives destroyed, and for what? So one man could be king of a patch of desert full of men and women who desperately wanted to believe in something.”
I’m running out of days of the year so let’s knock another review out real quick. Basically, After the Fire is a fictionalization of what is an absolutely unforgettable moment in history to people my age . . . . .
The story takes place literally “after the fire” when the compound burned down and focuses on a 17-year old survivor named Moonbeam. The setting is the hospital where she and other survivors are being cared for and in intense therapy to try and help them not only get through the immediate trauma they just experienced, but that they have incurred their entire life while living in a religious cult. I thought this was a very well done Young Adult book which tackled a moment in time that should not be forgotten. It handled more risqué subject matter (like the plural marriage of the leader) with kid gloves where no details were given and the wives all had to be 18, but it didn’t shy away from addressing questions my generation will always have about the actual event . . . . .
“You have to understand how an investigation of this scale works. The priority was gathering the necessary evidence for federal firearms and conspiracy indictments. They were building cases of illegal imprisonment and assault and pursuing about a dozen other charges at the same time, but it was the automatic weapons and blasting caps that were going to put John Parson away for the rest of his life.”
“So in the meantime, they just watched people get hurt? They just let it happen?”
I’d recommend this one to high schoolers looking for a more “true crime” type of experience while still reading a fictional story. ...more
American Dirt has been on my TBR for a minute. All I knew about the story before knowing I wanted to read it was it begins with the gunning down of nearly an entire family at a quinceañera by the cartel. That right there is what you call . . . .
By this point 99.999999% of you have already decided if you’re going to read this or not. I mean, not only did it make the internet explode (we’ll get to that later), but it has also been chosen by The Queen of All Things and Barnes and Noble as their book club selections. For the one person out there who doesn’t know anything about this book, from the jumping off point above survivor Lydia knows that her son’s life is in jeopardy and they must immediately escape Acapulco. The only place she can imagine being far enough away from the reaches of the cartel to disappear completely is the United States. Thus begins a fifty-three day, 2,645 mile journey detailing the lengths a mother will go to for her child. Basically . . . .
“Like in the movies?”
“Yes, mijo. Just like in the movies.”
Interspersed within that tale is the background of just how their family became targets to begin with as well as those of other migrants they meet along the way. It is a FICTIONAL depiction. There are a lot of instances of right place/right time, kindness of strangers, better them than me, thank god we had money, etc., etc., etc. that obviously make this dissimilar to most true accounts. But no one ever said it was based on a true story, so my rating has been driven by my investment in the characters and the page turnability factor.
Talk about a story that sucked me in until the last page! Well, nearly the last page. Per usual I could have lived without the Epilogue. This was a story of the migration itself, after all, and having a blip of an “after” without any details regarding the hows behind Lydia and Luca’s new life, school, etc. was unnecessary to me (and also left a lot of unanswered questions to those truly ignorant of the undocumented person’s experience when it comes to becoming a member of society without truly being allowed legally to be a member of society). I did not feel like this was ANYTHING resembling “tragiporn” until the very end (as I said, in reality I’m sure many more tragedies generally face those attempting to make this trek) and a fade-to-black approach was taken rather than graphic content being added to amp up the shock and awe factor. There were no “white saviors” to come rescue the characters. The story did not perpetuate negative stereotypes other than the cartel is not made up of good guys, which hopefully everyone can agree on. To me, it was simply brilliant.
Now it’s probably time to address the pink elephant in the room.
Once upon a time there was an author who showed up at a reviewer’s house and stalked her for not liking her book. I immediately went to the library so I could read it (and my husband was absolutely horrified by what a whackjob I obviously am). When asked if I was still going to read this, my response was simply . . . .
I had tried and failed to get an ARC, then begged the library to buy it for me, then waited an eternity for it to be released and got first dibs for my efforts . . . which just so happened to be the same day the poo really hit the fan on the intertubes. I couldn't wait to start this son-of-a-gun.
I want to make something real clear in that I believe everyone has a right to have an opinion as well as the right to express it. People should stand up for what they believe in. I thought the conversation was going to be that encouraging publishers/readers to experience more #ownvoices selections, which is great. What I didn’t expect was this attempt to keep authors from writing any character or story they have in their brain due to not be “brown” enough as the case was here (or gay enough or Muslim enough or any other type of “enough” in other cases). Censorship is something I will never get behind. We need as many voices as possible bringing real-life issues to the forefront. Not to mention the flat-out trolling of any reader/reviewer who dared to give American Dirt a chance.
I also encourage people to make sure they have their “own voice” before jumping onto the bandwagon of some of these social justice warriors. You will find people who have not even bothered to read the book themselves and are simply regurging what others have said, or who have an ulterior motive of attempting to sell their own wares, or who have gone viral by devolving into calling a complete stranger a bitch and a “white” person (despite her being of Puerto Rican descent). That is gross. But again, bottom line is opinions are like assholes and what people think about a book is 100% an opinion. My opinion just so happens to agree with the Instagrammer who renamed this release . . . . .
Maybe that’s my privilege showing. And speaking of . . . . do you see that blurb? DON WINSLOW??? A white dude who has made an entire career out of writing books about Mexicans. Yet no one seems to have a problem with him. Or even better, why weren’t people up this guy’s ass????
Dammmmmmmn, son. Talk about #hollywoodsowhite. Not to mention those two actually write stuff that perpetuates the falsity that MexicansSoBad.
But enough of this. Read the book if you want, don’t read it if you don’t. And now to quote my boys Ed Sheeran and Khalid . . . .
♪♫♪I could use some help Gettin' out of this conversation, yeah♪♫♪
Let’s end this with some recommended selections for those who may be looking for #ownvoices stories:
Fruit of the Drunken Tree Prayers for the Stolen Persepolis Darius the Great Is Not Okay The Joy Luck Club Inside Out and Back Again Two Boys Kissing Exit West Night The God of Small Things anything by Sherman Alexie anything by Jason Reynolds
Trollish comments will be automatically deleted this time around. I don’t feel like playing with you dickheads....more
Oh look, it’s an immigration story written by a “white” person. With zero controversy surrounding its release and a 4.23 rating. Yeah, keep telling yourself the uprising about American Dirt wasn’t about the money. But I digress. The Beekeeper of Aleppo is the story of Nuri and Afra and their journey from Syria in attempts to seek asylum in Britain after the war breaks out and they lose everything. Both suffer from their own forms of PTSD and are haunted by what they have been through. Their story is one that kept me engaged throughout and I thought it was wonderfully written. This could have easily been a book I could see Oprah picking for her book club because it follows the format of family, superbadawful occurrences, a whole heap of misery and hopes for a happy-ish ending. Anyway, if you’re in to immigration stories that make you feel the feels, this is probably a selection you should check out. ...more
Saint X is the story about a family of four who goes on their annual Christmastime holidaFind all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
Saint X is the story about a family of four who goes on their annual Christmastime holiday to a tropical destination and return to their lives in New York City with only three members. More particularly . . . .
What is known about the night Alison disappeared: At approximately 8 p.m. she met the blond boy by the swimming pool, a fact confirmed by an elderly security guard named Harold Moses. They went to the staff parking lot and smoked a joint together. At 8:30 p.m., the boy arrived at the hotel bar without Alison. At approximately 10:15 p.m., Alison returned to the parking lot, where Edwin Hastie and Clive Richardson picked her up in Edwin’s car, a 1980 Vauxhall Astra, eggplant in color, and the three of them drove across the island to the Basin. They spent two hours at a local watering hole called Paulette’s Place, where my sister was seen with the two men, smoking pot and drinking rum and dancing. Several patrons at Paulette’s Place confirm that she departed with the men at approximately 12:45 a.m. At 1:30 a.m., a police officer named Roy Cannadine pulled the Vauxhall Astra over on Mayfair Road for erratic driving. Only Clive and Edwin were inside . . . .
I know it’s against the “rules” to quote from a not-yet-published book, so please note the above may change/not even be in the final version, but I think it’s important to acknowledge the pink elephant in the room that is automatically going to make many readers' minds go to . . . .
And that is absolutely okay because obviously the jumping off point of this book is truly “ripped from the headlines” – just don’t expect the end product to be some Nancy Grace titillating twisty turny over-the-top type of thriller. If that’s what you’re looking for, there’s a solid chance you will end up becoming a “wrongreader” like so many others (myself included – times infinity, sadly). Same goes for . . . .
For readers of Emma Cline’s The Girls and Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies.
First, because I’ve never read Fates and Furies so I have no clue (but it did receive a lot of stinky ratings from my friends), and second because THE GIRLS???? That thing was a turd and it is nothing like this. Nope. This is the story about the people affected most by the disappearance/presumed death of Alison – even years and years and years after the fact. It’s a story about how one event can change lives forever. It’s about grief, and a bit about obsession (but again, not in some sort of tabloid television type of way). And if you really feel the need to compare it to another author? Make that author be Ivy Pochoda because if you like the way she delivers a story there’s a good chance you’ll like this too. The blurb is right about the ending, though. It comes out of left field and makes you have some unexpected feels. For those looking for shock and awe? Readjust your expectations and give it a go because this is real good.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review....more
Kelly (and the Book Boar)
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ripped-from-the-headlines
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