Author: Monique (Page 11 of 123)

Empire of Wild by Cherie Demaline

April 23, 2021 / Monique

A fantastic read, bit of magic realism—you know—werewolves, Indigenous magic.

Description: Joan has been searching for her missing husband for 11 months and 6 days when she stumbles upon a church revival tent and the preacher turns out to be her husband Victor. Well, Victor is not Victor, but Reverend Eugene Wolff. And his manager Mr. Heiser swears to the police that Wolff has been with them for 3 years. This is not true.

Joan and nephew Zeus set out to rescue Victor, along with the help of an elder named Ajean. Along the way they learn to beware of the Rogarou (a werewolf-like creature that haunts the Métis).

There are so many great monsters in this novel. And Dimaline weaves in traditional stories of the Rogarou with European tales of the Big Bad Wolf and other wolf lore.

No matter which community claimed them, rogarous were known for some specific things. They smelled odd, like wet fur and human sweat. They were men turned into beasts for any number of reasons—each one unique to the storyteller. They were as notoriously bad at math as they were obsessive. A rogarou, try as he might, could only count to twelve. Put thirteen things by your door and he would be inclined to stop and count them. But since he could only get to twelve, he could never count the entire pile, so he was doomed to start again and again, stopping at twelve and returning to one. Eventually, he’d give up and go away, forgetting he’d ever intended to enter. At least that was the theory.
Chapter 13, Hide and seek, page 190

Perfect read for anyone who loved Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves, Eden Robinson’s Son of a Trickster, or Heather O’Neill’s Lullabies for Little Criminals.

Get the paperback from the publisher.

View the author site.

The Searcher by Tana French | Book Review

April 20, 2021 / Monique

Description: A quiet and unnerving book about an American ex-cop who moves to rural Ireland and finds himself wary of the neighbours.

This is a great literary suspense novel, and the subtle Irish humour reminded me a lot of my time living in Ireland.

Cal Hooper has purchased a fixer-upper outside a small village on the west coast Ireland called Ardnakelty. (It’s a fictional location but goodness it feels real.) He’s enjoying retirement, likes his neighbour who chews the fat, and is otherwise enjoying himself until he gets caught up in the disappearance of a village teen. Cal’s cop instincts kick in and he starts investigating, and ignoring the advice of his neighbour to let it be. No good comes of it, but I don’t want to spoil the story.

The Searcher is lacking great thriller/suspense action but it makes you uneasy. I think that’s an even greater feat of suspense writing.

Favourite Moment: Trey is a nearby neighbour kid who’s taken to hanging around Cal’s. Cal’s fire arm license comes through and he teaches the kid how to shoot a rabbit. They make a stew and bond.

The perfect read for those who like Night Boat to Tangier, The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn, or some of the quieter Stephen King novels.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig | Book Review

April 7, 2021 / Monique

This book is so much fun. A crazy “*what if” novel.*

There’s something about The Midnight Library that reminded me of Daisy Jones and the Six and The Glass Hotel.

The Midnight Library is the story of Nora Seed. She’s feeling down and out. Nora loses her job, loses her piano student, loses her cat. It’s a bad day in a line of bad days. Nora decides to end her life but instead of a straight line to heaven or hell, she ends up at the midnight library where the librarian Mrs. Elm (who she hasn’t seen since elementary school) helps her find a better life. The library is full of books, all of which are the outcome of different life decisions.

Nora can see what life is like if she’d followed her swimming dreams to the Olympics, if she’d stayed in the band with her brother, if she’d gone to Norway to study glaciers.

Each life offers a lesson. Each life offers the opportunity for Nora to live out her life in a different reality. Of course there’s a lesson here, but the novel does not come across as schmultzy. It’s a fun, fast-moving read about regrets and the choices we make.

The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams | Book Review

April 7, 2021 / Monique

A quirky novel about a woman who works for a dictionary publisher.

Description: Mallory is a young woman who is a bit lost in her professional career. She’s taken an internship with the publisher of an encyclopedic dictionary that is being digitized. Through some happenstance the publisher discovers that there are a number of fake words throughout the dictionary and Mallory must uncover them. The fun twist is that her story is interspersed with that of Peter Winceworth, the 19th-century man who added the fake words.

This book was an Amazon recommendation. I’ve never bothered with the recommendations before but I loved the cover of this book and ordered it on a whim. So much of the novel is about people who follow a whim. It’s quaint, slightly absurd, and overall a fun read.

Favourite Moment: Peter Winceworth is invited to an office party and feels ill at ease. He works out a plan to circulate the room with intent so as to not have to chat to anyone. Eventually he decides to hide behind a large potted plant, but he sidles straight into a young woman already hiding there.

The woman was crouching slighting and caught in the act of eating a slice of birthday cake. They stared at one another—both of their eyebrows went up at the same time and tilted into identical angles of surprise. Their expressions changed simultaneously: their eyebrows were at once a grave accent, then acute, then circumflex ò ó ô signifying shock then furtiveness and then an attempt at nonchalance. She deposited her cake into a beaded purse without breaking eye contact and then set her shoulders, and Winceworth, drunk enough to interpret this as an invitation to dictate proceedings, cleared his throat.
H is for humbug (n.), page 101

The Liar’s Dictionary is the perfect read for anyone who likes books, libraries, publishing, slightly absurd storylines, wordplay and puns, and cats.

Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less, blurbs the book, and so does CS Richardson, author of The End of the Alphabet. Both are good comps.

Edith’s Diary by Patricia Highsmith

January 30, 2021 / Monique

Edith’s Diary was published in 1977 and is billed a psychological thriller. You may be familiar with the author Patricia Highsmith, who published 22 novels, including The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train.

There is no crime that occurs, well maybe but it’s hard to prove and there’s no real evidence. The true crime is that Edith has to raise a selfish, drip of a son on her own because her husband runs off with his secretary. Not only does he leave Edith to the parenting, he also leaves his bedridden uncle in her care. What a guy.

Overall I kept expecting more. I thought there would be some psychological twist at the end, or that the crimes would be bigger (not the small slights and misdemeanours). This is a sad story about a woman who doesn’t give up but doesn’t give herself a chance either.

If you enjoyed The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn, then give this one a go.

Indians on Vacation by Thomas King | Book Review

January 30, 2021 / Monique

A quietly witty book about marriage and travel.

Indians on Vacation follows Bird and Mimi through the streets of Prague where they look for signs of Mimi’s Uncle Leroy, who decades ago sent postcards to the family from around the world.

Mimi loves to travel. For her, it’s an adventure. And she is never arm’s length from her travel guidebook. Bird likes his creature comforts, and travel isn’t comfortable. The room is hot. The train trip too long. The river is no better than the one at home. He has quite the share of personality quirks, and his “demons” natter at him throughout the trip. If you’ve travelled, you know this couple–you might even be this couple 😉

The pair’s wanderings through Prague bring up chatter and memories of past trips, of how they met, of home, of that sense of belonging, family and identity. It’s a simple plot that unfolds a complex history.

I enjoyed the subtly of this novel. The small jabs at tourists, the need to see things other people have seen, to buy the thing or memento. There are funny moments mixed with poignant insights, and overall it’s an enjoyable read.

Here’s a representative quote: “I’m sweaty and sticky. My ears are still popping from the descent into Vaclav Havel. My sinuses ache. My stomach is upset. My mouth is a sewer. I roll over and bury my face in a pillow. Mimi snuggles down beside me with no regard for my distress.

‘My god,’ she whispers, ‘can it get any better?'”

Indians on Vacation is perfect for fans of Canadian Literature (Thomas King is an icon). If you enjoyed Less by Andrew Sean Greer, you’ll probably enjoy this too.

And if awards are important, this book kicked butt:

CBC Books: Best Canadian Fiction of 2020

Globe & Mail 100: Our Favourite Books of 2020

Indigo Best Books of the Year

Scotiabank Giller Prize, Canada

Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue | Book Review

January 5, 2021 / Monique

A chilling read about 3 days in a maternity ward at the height of the great flu (1918).

Emma Donoghue is acclaimed author of Room, which I never read. But her writing prowess is well known and I was looking forward to reading this novel set in Ireland in 1918.

Description: Nurse Julia Power finds herself on duty (alone) in the maternity ward. It’s the height of the great flu. Beds are full. She’s managing 3 women, in basically a broom cupboard, and begs for some help. She is left with Bridie Sweeney, who has basically been pulled off the street by a nun and told to help. Thankfully Bridie is a quick learner, and she and Julie become fast friends during a hectic 3-day period where they lose patients, help others birth their babies, and somehow manage to help the only female doctor evade police.

The characters and setting are vividly portrayed and I heard Emma Donoghue interviewed on CBC talking about the research she did into medical practices in Ireland at the time. Fascinating. And frightening.

In 1918, Ireland is post-war but the tragedy is still felt and now the flu is another heart-wrenching reminder of how quickly loved ones can be lost. The women giving birth and attending are so young. Nurse Power is the senior at 30 years old.

I really enjoyed this read.

Favourite Moment: There are many touching moments in this book and I fear that by mentioning any details, I’ll ruin it for someone. So instead, the book opens with Nurse Power pedalling her bicycle to the hospital but taking side routes and the tram as a way to evade the scolding eyes of her superiors who frown on women cyclists. Ah, what a time.

The perfect read for fans of Emma Donoghue and anyone who watches Call the Midwife. If you like Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven) or Jeannette Walls (The Glass Castle) then this is kind of between the two. Pandemic meets family hardships, with a hint of humour and levity.

The Certainties by Aislinn Hunter

November 11, 2020 / Monique

A beautiful novel about the in-between places.

The Certainties follows two different people in two different times, whose lives intersect briefly in 1940. The man, our main narrator, is a road-weary traveller who is fleeing Paris. The war is looming, people are disappearing, he has already been held in a volunteer work camp and been released, and now he is sneaking into Spain with two friends.

At a small village cafe, he briefly meets a little girl named Pia.

His story unfolds over a treacherous 48-hour period where his life is held in flux by the police and visiting German officials. Pia’s life is a flash-forward to the 1980s. She’s living on a remote island in the Atlantic, working in the kitchen of an inn, and having a casual romance with a local builder. There is a wedding, a storm, and a shipwreck. Bit of people’s lives wash ashore while life carries on. The juxtaposition of some of the scenes is masterful.

What we learn about the man is that he’s a German intellectual, living large in Paris, cavorting with various philosophers and artists. Two of these connections are his current travelling companions. I can’t really say he was “living life.” He’s a bit of a downer and is told so by his sister. On the run, he does brave things and stupid things. And either way, the trap is laid, and he knows it.

There are beautiful passages about bridges and mirrors, all part of his thesis and work. He reflects on the various interpretations of Narcissus. Our narrator is self-absorbed, but he teaches us that the Narcissus story is much more nuanced.

Bridges and mirrors — what it means for two sides to be connected, reflected…

Pia is also on the run, but only from herself. Her mother, a journalist, disappeared when Pia was young. She has moved around from job to job, never setting down roots. She can pack up her room at the inn in 10 minutes. For her, there are small tragedies and large traumas that sit quietly with her.

My favourite moment in the story is a spoiler so I won’t share. It’s a heart-breaking pause.

Hunter has woven these stories so loosely that it might feel frayed, but we are getting only a glimpse of two lives lived. I felt the sadness and weight of loss while reading The Certainties, and reading the acknowledgements after was like the second shoe dropping.

To me, the novel is about love and philosophy, and looking in the mirror and seeing a reflection of yourself, another self, your own self.

It’s a story of great sadness. Many times, I felt melancholic. What do you think about when it’s the end? What will you miss the most? Who are you? Which self will be remembered? When I think about philosophy, it’s this deep look into the nature of knowledge and how you live with what you know.

The perfect read for fans of Aislinn Hunter’s other works, readers of Jon McGregor‘s So Many Ways to Begin, or Timothy Findlay’s You Went Away.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

October 30, 2020 / Monique

Description: This novel is so widely reviewed, and loved, that I waited to read it. Such a great read. Highly recommended.

This is the story of Kya Clark, who is a poor white girl growing up in the marshlands near a little town called Barkley Cove, North Carolina. The story is set over 20 years from the 1950s to 1970s. Kya’s mother flees after years of abuse, leaving Kya, at the age of 7, to fend for herself. Soon after her brother leaves, then her father. But Kya remains and makes it work. She’s a scavenger, a fighter, a poet, and a keen observer of the marsh and the wildlife around her.

Kya learns to read, with the help of a friend of her brother. She figures out how to earn a living, with the help of Jumpin’, who runs the marine gas station. And she manages just fine, thank you very much, until she’s accused of murdering the town’s prized quarterback Chase Andrews.

Favourite moment: There are many beautiful descriptions of the marsh, its shells and grasses, the birds and animals. Kya’s love of nature is what connects her to Tate, who comes to teach her to read. There is a game of cat and mouse, which captures that excitement of a first crush.

In the center of the clearing was a rotted-down stump, so carpeted in moss it looked like an old man hiding under a cape. Kya approached it, then stopped. Lodged in the stump and sticking straight up was a thin black feather about five or six inches long. To most it would have looked ordinary, maybe a crow’s wing feather. But she knew it was extraordinary for it was the ‘eyebrow’ of a great blue heron, the feather that bows gracefully above the eye, extending back beyond her elegant head. One of the most exquisite fragments of the coastal marsh, right here. She had never found one but knew instantly what it was, having squatted eye to eye with herons all her life.
Chapter 13, feathers

The next day Kya rushes back to the stump to see if another feather is left. She starts leaving small gifts too. It’s electric. And then Tate appears and Kya is rather disappointed that the game is over. It’s young love and so touch-and-go. She’s like a fawn ready to sprint but Tate is kind and has good intentions. Thankfully, because the town kids are real arses.

There is great rhythm to the writing. I sped through this book. If you’re not one to read the award-winnings, it’s ok to give this one a try. It’s worthy of the praise.

Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry

October 16, 2020 / Monique

Description: A modern-day Waiting for Godot, with more overt drug references. This clever novel reads like a play, which is why it reminds me of Godot. Here we have two Irish ex-crooks who are waiting for a young woman at the port of Algericas. She doesn’t know they are waiting. It’s darkly comic, full of banter and great Irishisms.

Charlie Redmond and Maurice Hearne are long-time friends, and long-time drug runners. They’ve lucked out, lost out, and now have aged out. They are rundown, just like the terminal at Algericas, where they wait for 23-year-old Dilly who fled Ireland (and her father). They think she’ll be on the boat to or from Tangier. They are lying in wait.

The novel is a mix of stream of consciousness narrative and witty back and forth between the two men, with some prose sections that help fill in the details about how the two men met, their drug running days, romances and fights, and daughter Dilly. The characters are full of mirth, madness, and merriment in a way that reminds me so much of living in Ireland.

Personally speaking, Maurice? My arse isn’t right since the octopus we ate in Malaga.
Is it saying hello to you, Charlie?
It is, yeah. And of course the octopus wasn’t the worst of Malaga.

One of my favourite scenes is when the men accost a young traveller who they assume knows Dilly. They are playful at first, then threatening. The tension is real, especially if you’ve ever been on the receiving end of this type of encounter. It’s not the best scene in the book but it creates discomfort that is riff throughout the novel.

Geography lesson: Tangier is a Moroccan port on the Strait of Gibraltar. Algericas is in Spain and just across the bay from Gibraltar. Imagine that little tip where Europe bends down to the northern tip of Africa.

Night Boat to Tangier is brilliant. It can be hard to like but there is master and genius here. I think the audiobook of this would provide a rich experience with the Irish accent but might be harder to understand.