Category: fiction (Page 1 of 4)

Maame by Jessica George | Book Review

April 3, 2024 / Monique

This book is as beautiful and colourful as its cover.

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi, but for Maddie, it means woman. That is her family nickname. She is not the head of the household, but she is the most responsible. Her mum regularly spends a year in Ghana running a family business, then returning to London for a short time. Maddie’s older brother James is away working and travelling in the music industry, and he never picks up on the first ring. Maddie is busy working as PA in a hectic theatre company but is otherwise at home caring for her retired dad who has Parkinson’s.

This is a smart, funny, sad, beautiful book about a young woman growing up, and fighting microaggressions at work and family friction at home. In some ways Maddie is comforted by the sheltered upbringing orchestrated by her religious mother and her Ghana traditions, but in other ways Maddie is ready to break out on her own.

When her mum returns this year from Ghana, she encourages Maddie to move out of the house. The rollercoaster that ensues has a hint of Bridget Jones’s Diary as Maddie aims to reinvent and improve her social life (and love life). It’s joyous, funny, awkward and heartbreaking. But it’s also a story of depression, social anxiety, and grief. It’s about growing up Black and dealing with stereotypes.

Maddie’s parents moved to London as an opportunity for their children. But with an ill father and an absent mother and brother, Maddie has to navigate her identity solo. Her ability to speak Twi is mocked by various aunties, she has to deal with the “I’ve never dated a Black girl before” comments, a roommate questions her full-day of hair washing. The beauty of Maame is that Maddie loves to write and she has stories to share; the novel is presented as her telling her story through a mix of interior monologue, emails and texts, and background stories.

I think ultimately this is a story about belonging and the relationship you have with yourself. Maddie is worthy of so many things—especially positive attention from family, coworkers, and friends. I’m so glad she comes into her own.

The audiobook is great: https://www.audible.ca/pd/Maame-Audiobook/B0B1KJ4M3X?eac_link=mJg7UvxCdz4Q&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=B0B1KJ4M3X&qid=3FCSwMGe0W&eac_id=145-2640021-0791633_3FCSwMGe0W&sr=1-1

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai | Book Review

March 1, 2024 / Monique

The Great Believers is a beautiful, gentle, heart-wrenching novel about a group of friends decimated by the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The story is told from two perspectives and timeframes. The Chicago 1980s story focuses on Yale Tishman and his boyfriend Charlie, who’s the editor of Out Loud magazine. They have a tight-knit group of friends who are quickly dying from AIDS. They are realizing too late that some earlier cases of pneumonia were likely the virus. Condoms and safe sex are new conversations and not everyone is onboard. It’s all a mess—and eerily similar to the shame and blame game of the early COVID days. The second storyline is Paris 2015 and is told from the perspective of Fiona, or Saint Fiona as her grown daughter likes to moan. Fiona’s brother was one of the first in the 80s friend-group to die and Fiona ended up being power of attorney for many of his friends. Fiona is reconnecting with another member of the group in Paris and it’s clear that she’s carried the burden of burying those beautiful boys for decades.

Beautiful boys abound in this novel. Yale is working on acquiring a private collection of works done by artists in Paris just before and after World War II. The donor is Fiona’s grandmother and she specifically wants Yale to have the works for the gallery he manages. She sees the connection between Fiona and Yale losing their friends to the same loses she suffered during the war. Likewise, Fiona’s stay in Paris coincides with the 2015 terrorist attacks on nightclubs and other venues, again where young lives are cut short.

This is a novel about love and all its forms. There’s clearly the love among friends, in particular the familial love you feel for your chosen family vs. your biological family, especially in the case for most of these boys who are estranged from their parents. There’s romantic love, unrequited love, self-destructive love, and self-love.

There are a few Shakespeare references to Hamlet, in particular the role of Horatio as the deeply trusted friend and, after Hamlet’s death, the keeper and teller of Hamlet’s story (insert Fiona here). But given the themes of love, I can’t help but think of Romeo and Juliet. Fiona as the nurse. There’s a Roman and Julien, there’s thugs and street battles, beautiful parties and costumes, the tragedy of young lives sacrificed. Surly there’s a joke about dying on one’s sword to be made?

Like other fans of this book, I can’t heap enough praise on to it. I found it emotionally moving but not distressing. The reverberations of the 80s are felt from the first page through to the death metal bass drop of the Paris nightclub in 2015. Oh boy, this was a good book.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin | Book Review

February 26, 2024 / Monique

A rollercoaster of a novel about friendship and ambition.

Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow takes readers on an emotional journey through the intertwined lives of two friends, Sam and Sadie, as they navigate the complexities of their friendship and their shared ambition to build amazing video games.

Sam and Sadie meet as kids in a hospital rec room where they quickly bond over video games. Sam is a patient and Sadie is visiting her sister. Their friendship blooms until Sam discovers that Sadie is also getting community service credit for their time together. They have a falling out and don’t reconnect until university when through happenstance they spot each other in a subway tunnel.

Sam and Sadie re-bond over video games. Sam is studying mathematics and Sadie is studying video game design. Sadie shares one of her games with Sam and it kicks off a grand adventure, which involves them quitting school (or deferring a semester initially) in order to create their game. Their game ends up having mass appeal and launches their careers.

This is the story about two best friends, who often fight like siblings but love each regardless. It’s about the enduring power of connection we have to friends who have known us since childhood. There’s a ton of emotional depth as Sam and Sadie explore the bittersweet nature of human relationships. Tragedy and poor communication pulls them apart multiple times but they always find a way back to each other.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow delivers! This novel is a must-read for anyone who has ever cherished a friendship that transcends time and distance. The cultural references from 80s and 90s art, music, and entertainment will provide anyone who grew up during that time a great sense of nostalgia. Highly recommended.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver | Book Review

February 7, 2024 / Monique

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver is a heartbreaking reimagining of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. This is institutional poverty American style, set against the backdrop of the rugged Appalachians, with Hillbilly racism and an unhealthy dose of opioid crisis.

Damon (nicknamed Demon) Copperfield, is a young man navigating the trials and tribulations of growing up in a small Appalachian town. Much like his literary predecessor, Demon encounters a cast of colourful characters who shape his journey, from the enigmatic Mr. Peggot to the sinister U-Haul Pyles. Damon is knee deep in poverty, over his head in opioids, and caught in the middle of America’s clash between rural and urban values.

Demon loses his family to poverty and pain pills, he loses his school friends and sense of belonging as quickly as his caseworkers lose his files, and he’s invisible and then far too visible as he moves from orphan to football star, where he then loses everything again. This novel is about survival, and you are never quite sure if Demon is going to make it. Indeed, his narrative throughout is about trying to pinpoint where his great unravelling begins. Is it when he’s born to the drug addict mother or is it at some point along the way—because this kid is let down so many times, it is hard to put your finger on just one moment.

Hillbillies, crackers, rednecks, and white trash. There are so many labels for poor and working-class white southerners. Demon Copperhead forces the reader to think about those labels, where they came from, and what they mean for the those folks who have a love-hate relationship their culture and the place they live. Kingsolver won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for this novel and it’s no surprise. She’s deftly woven Appalachian history with that of the coal, tobacco and pharmaceutical industries to reveals the lost boys and cursed places left in the wake of the great American dream.

Barbara Kingsolver is the award-winning author of a great number of books, including The Poisonwood Bible. Check out her official site for more.

The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society by Christine Estima | Book Review

December 1, 2023 / Monique

Christine Estima’s debut work is a wonderful read. The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society weaves together the stories of many generations of women from an Arab family as they flee the Middle East in the nineteenth century, settle in Montreal, and then visit or return to their roots. These women are connected through time by their culture, their bravery, and their tenacity. The book is a collection of short stories but they feel connected like chapters of a novel. This is an impressive work.

Christine Estima draws on her own Lebanese, Syrian and Portuguese heritage to write incredible multicultural portrayals, especially of living in Montreal. There is also a dark undercurrent of cultural stereotypes and biases about women, but Estima’s characters challenge those notions and find a place for themselves.

The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society is a serious yet delightful book. It has an unusual trim size (7″ x 6″) making the whole package unique.

If you liked How to Pronounce Knife then give this a read.

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan | Book Review

October 31, 2023 / Monique

This jaw-dropping novel is about families being upended by violence. Olivia McAfee has escaped her abusive husband and has found a way to settle back into life in her hometown. Her son Asher is a hockey star and well liked. Ava Campanello has also escaped a violent husband and has settled in the same small town as the McAfees. Everything seems to be working out until her daughter ends up dead and the boyfriend is accused of her murder. The boyfriend is Asher.

Mad Honey covers so much ground. What is secret vs. private. What actually happens in the US legal system. How well kids mature or don’t, and the problem with gossip. There’s also a lot here about honey and beekeeping.

This is a novel that kept me up at night. There are so many questions. So many twists and turns. Will we ever know what happened to Lily? Is Asher innocent?

Spectacular book by two amazing authors.

Still Life by Sarah Winman | Book Review

September 5, 2023 / Monique

Still Life by Sarah Winman is an expansive novel with a great cast of characters. The basic summary is that an English soldier during WWII saves a man in Florence. That man later leaves his home and possessions to the English soldier, who takes a chance and moves from East End London to Florence.

Beyond the basics, there is so much happening in this novel. The soldier and main character is named Ulysses Temper. During the war his captain, Darnley, teaches him how to appreciate art. In a random meeting, Ulysses and Darnley enjoy an amazing glass of wine with an art historian Evelyn, whose father is HW Skinner and who is friends with EM Forster and Constance Everly. Some of these characters are real people and others are great fictions.

After the war, Ulysses returns to the East End London to live above his friend Col’s pub. He reconnects with a long-time friend Cressy, and learns that his wife Peg had a daughter Alys while he was away at war. When Ulysses learns that he has inherited money and property, Cressy and Alys come with him to Florence where they set up a pensionne for British and American travellers. They meet another cast of characters, and collectively survive and flourish.

This is such a big hearted book about love in all its forms. Plus, there’s all the art and food you could expect from a novel mostly set in Italy.

Published by Penguin Random House Canada

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk | Book Review

August 25, 2023 / Monique

First published in Polish in 2009 and newly translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a literary murder mystery set in a small Polish village. The novel opens with the death of a man in a remote forest area. Two neighbours go to investigate lights left on in the home and discover the man dead. They move the body, dress the man in a suit, and call it into the police. To do the latter, they have to climb a hill in order to get enough reception to call the Polish police vs. the Czechoslovakia authorities. .

Our protagonist Mrs. Duszejko is one of the neighbours. She teaches English at the village school and is an astrologer. She has nicknames for many members of the community: Oddball (the other neighbour), Big Foot (the dead neighbour), Dizzy (her friend with whom she translates Blake’s poetry), Good News (thrift shop woman), and Black Coat (Oddball’s son, who is also the police inspector).

Mrs. Duszejko is quite the character. She is convinced that the forest animals are seeking revenge on hunters in the area. As more men end up dead, her horoscopes and theories are presented repeatedly to the police who write her off as a crazy old crank. But there might be something to her madness.

Author Olga Tokarczuk is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and her novel Flights won the Man Booker International Prize. In Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, she pushes the reader to reflect on philosophical questions about human nature, our assumed superiority over animals, and the role we have in tending to the land. There is a quiet, unwinding to this tale.

I discovered this book at Upstart & Crow so I highly recommend you get your copy from them. The novel is published in Canada by Penguin Random House.

Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid | Book Review

July 27, 2023 / Monique

The audiobook of Carrie Soto Is Back is super. Carrie Soto is an incredible, record-breaking tennis player. She retired after an injury but is spurred into coming out of retirement to defend her title against young upstart Nicki Chan.

There’s excellent drama in the sports world and it comes through in this novel. Plus the author includes all sorts of subtle mentions of characters from her other novels. Plus the main reader is great, and then there are several others who narrate as the sports commentators. It adds an extra layer of audio delight.

Carrie Soto Is Back is a really fun summer listen.

Published by Penguin Random House Canada

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

July 15, 2023 / Monique

Berry Pickers is a heartbreaking novel about a young 4-year-old Mi’kmaw girl who is stolen from her family by a heart-broken woman. It’s July 1962 and little Ruthie is sitting on a rock while her family picks blueberries at a farm in Maine. The woman who takes her raises her as Norma. It’s an emotionally fraught childhood that doesn’t quite make sense until Norma learns the truth.

This novel is a great debut by Amanda Peters. It’s raw, emotional, riveting and full of trauma on all sides. What makes someone think they can take another woman’s baby? What makes someone carry on the lie? What grief does the family go through?

I enjoyed the East Coast pacing of these families’ lives and celebrated the resolution at the end. Totally worth the read.

This is a story about knowing who you are and not abandoning hope and love.

Published by HarperCollins Canada.