Kristin Hannah’s gripping novel told from a combat nurse’s point of view during the Vietnam War, a beautifully written short story collection by Anthony Doerr and the incredible tale of a young man’s trip across the country with two giraffes were the highlights of my three book clubs in May and June.
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‘The Women’
By Kristin Hannah
The Vietnam War ended when I was 4 years old, so I admit I never paid much attention to it while growing up. Now that I am older, I am more interested in history, which is why I enjoy Hannah’s books. She has taken readers — me included — to World War II (“The Nightingale”), the Dust Bowl (“The Four Winds”) and an isolated town in 1970s Alaska (“The Great Alone”).
In her latest, she introduces us to bright-eyed nurse Frances “Frankie” McGrath. Longing for a place on her father’s “Hero’s Wall” and missing her brother who is already in Vietnam, Frankie volunteers for service as an Army nurse. She is quickly in over her head, witnessing mass casualties, horrific wounds and unending destruction. The only thing that keeps her going is the friendships she forms with fellow nurses Ethel and Barb.
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The second part of the novel deals with the war’s aftermath, when Frankie returns home traumatized and broken with everyone expecting her to be the same carefree girl she was when she left home.
I was instantly caught up in this emotional read, and I will admit to shedding some tears. Sometimes in sadness. Sometimes for the injustices Frankie and others faced. And sometimes in happiness for enduring friendships.
No U.S. women served in Vietnam, Frankie was told many times as she tried to seek mental health help after returning home. None of us at book club could imagine how frustrating it would have been to hear those words after sacrificing so much of yourself and risking your life to save others. “It made me cry, but it also made me so angry for the women who served,” said one book club member. Another member, who is a military veteran, said many of the frustrations still exist today.
It was not most readers’ favorite Hannah book as far as writing was concerned, but the subject matter, one that most of us had not read much about, made the novel hard to put down.
Frankie drinks a lot of gin in the book, but guessing most of us wouldn’t like straight gin (she would be right), the hostess created a French 75 cocktail to go with some culinary treats. An enthusiastic “Cheers!” to Hannah’s portrayal of the strength a person can find in friendships.
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‘Memory Wall’
By Anthony Doerr
I don’t willingly pick up a book of short stories on my own, but a member selected it for book club, and fortunately, it was Anthony Doerr.
“His stories are so incredibly sad, but his writing is so beautiful,” said one member. And sad, but beautiful, most of them were. One member said her favorite was “Memory Wall,” the first of six stories in the collection, because it was the least depressing, and she enjoyed the sci-fi elements.
As the title indicates, the six stories all involve memory — losing it or trying to retrieve it. In “Memory Wall,” an older woman who is trying to combat dementia has had an operation that allows her to download her memories onto cartridges. Many of Alma’s memories are of her husband, an avid fossil hunter who discovered a large intact dinosaur skeleton right before dying of a heart attack.
In an attempt to access the location of that valuable fossil, a fossil broker and a street urchin break into Alma’s home. The street urchin has had the same operation as Alma and has a portal to read the cartridges. Wacky? Yes. A little weird? Absolutely. But also, fascinating and thought-provoking.
One member was especially drawn to Doerr’s descriptions of Cape Town and the street urchin character: “Despite being essentially enslaved, he was generous. Despite his illness, he was tenacious.”
Another favorite of the group was “Afterworld,” the story of Esther, a German Jew, who escaped the Holocaust as a teen. Esther, who is 81 and living in Ohio, has epilepsy, and her seizures trigger memories from her childhood and her friends from the orphanage where she grew up. One aspect of the story — the idea of being reunited with friends after death — particularly appealed to one reader, who had lost some close friends.
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‘West With Giraffes’
By Lynda Rutledge
I never miss a chance to see the giraffes when I visit the St. Louis Zoo, so I was delighted when one of my book clubs picked “West With Giraffes.”
In a sweet coming-of-age story told before it’s too late, 105-year-old Woodrow Wilson Nickel recalls a cross-country road trip with two giraffes from New York City to the San Diego Zoo in 1938.
Set at the beginning of World War II and inspired by true events, we learn how Woody, a 17-year-old who has lost his entire family to the Dust Bowl, fortuitously finds himself behind the wheel of the rig carrying the two animals who survived a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic.
We follow him on the adventures and problems he encounters on the trip and get to know the others involved — zoo representative Riley Jones and a young woman named Augusta, who dreams of seeing her photos in Life Magazine. We also meet Girl and Boy — the giraffes themselves — who transform the lonely, lost young man.
As animal lovers, all of us in this book club were delighted with Woody’s unforgettable trip with these magnificent creatures, though the idea of a 105-year-old being able to recall this story so vividly and writing it down while on his deathbed seemed a bit implausible.
In the book, the giraffes devoured onion after onion and munched on trees. Our hostess provided a large spread for us to graze on — including “Tennessee Onions,” sweet onions covered with different kinds of cheese.
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‘Tom Lake’
By Ann Patchett
I read “Tom Lake” for another book club in December and later listened to the audiobook read by Meryl Streep. Set during the pandemic, Streep brings the characters to life, lending a comforting voice to Lara Nelson, a woman telling a story to her three daughters about her ex, now-famous, lover.
Isolated on their Michigan cherry farm with only each other for company, Lara entertains her grown daughters about the time she played Emily in “Our Town” at a stock theater production during the summer of 1988 at nearby Tom Lake. During that time, she dated Peter Duke — now a major movie star.
Though one book club member thought the characters didn’t have any depth, other members found the characters interesting while also being totally normal people. “Often, when there are three daughters, they all run together with a lot of authors. In this book, I had a distinct impression of each daughter,” said one member.
Everyone agreed Patchett’s lovely descriptions of the Michigan cherry farm and Tom Lake made the reader feel like they were there.
Like many days during the real pandemic, not a lot of action happens in the novel, and some readers may not enjoy the slow pace. But if you are looking for a cozy read where you feel like you are spending time with a real family, “Tom Lake” delivers.
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‘Miracle Creek’
By Angie Kim
I read Kim’s latest novel “Happiness Falls” in March for a book club, and it inspired me to read Kim’s debut, “Miracle Creek.” One of my book clubs picked it for June.
Like “Happiness Falls,” this book also has a neurodivergent character central to the plot. Most of the action takes place in a courtroom, a place where Kim, who went to Harvard Law School, is clearly comfortable. Her courtroom scenes were powerful and realistic, one book club member said.
The murder trial takes place a year after an explosion in the “Miracle Submarine,” a pressurized oxygen chamber that is used in experimental treatments of young patients with a variety of health issues. Elizabeth is accused of planning and causing the fire that killed her son, Henry, and the mother of another special needs child.
Each chapter is told by different eyewitnesses, whose reliability is problematic. As the trial progresses and readers learn each character’s role, guesses as to who the guilty party is shift. I am usually not a fan of multiple points of view, but Kim’s transitions were smooth and easy to follow. Character development also didn’t suffer as secrets, lies and rivalries were exposed.
On the surface, “Miracle Creek” is a murder trial, but it digs deeper, exploring the adaptation problems immigrants face in a new country and the demands and challenges of being a parent of a special needs child, among other topics involving guilt, resentment and maternal love.
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‘The Wrong Daughter’
By Dandy Smith
If you are looking for an easy read with a lot of unexpected twists — some far-fetched and nonsensical — and you don’t mind reading about an incestuous relationship (eww!), “The Wrong Daughter” might be just the thriller you are looking for.
Two storylines unfold, and it’s a mystery how they will converge or if they are even in the same timeline.
Thirteen-year-old Olivia is taken from her home one night after her parents leave her in charge of her younger sister. Caitlin, 6, witnesses Olivia being led away by a man in a mask but, frozen with fear, fails to act immediately. Sixteen years later, Caitlin is still racked with guilt when her missing sister returns. But Olivia doesn’t want to talk about where she has been.
In the second storyline, a brother and sister, who are in an extremely close relationship, are being raised by an abusive uncle who is the trustee of their estate, a large manor in a rural area.
Memorable food — chicken salad, ham sliders, a fruit salad, crème brûlée and other treats — made up for a somewhat forgettable book.
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Bonus book
I was drawn in by the description of “Chasing the Boogeyman” — an “ultimate marriage between horror fiction and true crime.” Richard Chizmar’s novel was so convincing that I went to Google to see if any of it was true. He even had some “true crime photos” to substantiate his story. Told in the first-person point of view by a fictional Richard Chizmar, the reader is intimately introduced to the small, working-class town of Edgewood, Maryland. Chizmar really did grow up in Edgewood in the 1980s. That much is true. The author’s personal remembrances of a serial killer who terrorizes the town, murdering teen girls in 1988, are all made up. Read the author’s note at the end to find out which true experiences the author weaved into this unique work of fiction.
Norma Klingsick is a former designer and editor at the Post-Dispatch. She can be reached at mythreebookclubs@gmail.com.