Review: My Name is Lucy Barton

My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lucy Barton is a writer. Her story starts as a "sort of" journal that she started as she was confined to the hospital for nine weeks due to a complicated surgery. During that time she receives a visit from her estranged mother and they were able to make a peace with each other.

Her story is very emotional making you actually believe that Elizabeth Strout must have herself endured poverty and abuse. The relationships of life are examined; parents, siblings, relatives, husbands, children and friends. The writing is a gentle matter of fact.

There was always a "thing", her words, in her background. Was it abuse? The reader is left to accept that theory or puzzle further.

The ending may have been a bit of a letdown, but then again, whose lives end on big highs.

A thoroughly engrossing read.

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Review: Lilac Girls

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book IMO should be on everyone's compulsory reading list. Its an incredible first book for this author and it brought to life the events of Ravensbruck prison for women and the holocost. I had never heard of Caroline Ferriday and all her good works, but just saying good works is putting it far too mildly. She worked tirelessly it seems, during her whole life to help anyone and everyone.

The story is based on two Polish sisters, one a doctor, a German female doctor and an American socialite. But it is much more than that and I can only say "read this book".

As an aside, the term lilac girls meaning, I believe, is meant to mean that it blooms only after a very hard winter.



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Review: The Body in the Library

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Another Miss Marple mystery. Two young girls have been murdered and Miss Marple just seems to know who the murderer is and the motive. In the end she had everything just pat. It was really a bit too pat for my liking.
An enjoyable read.


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Nora Webster by Colm Toibin

Nora Webster by Colm Tóibín
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to like this book but just couldn't get into it.

A widow in Ireland with four children is getting back on her feet. The story was good but it began to feel like a long ramble and the characters just were not interesting.

In many ways though I did think that it was very true as to what life would be for a widow as young as Nora.



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Review: Spare Change

Spare Change by Bette Lee Crosby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ethan Allen was a boy that was so unwanted by his parents that his mother couldn't even bother giving him a proper name and called him the name of a furniture store. She fancied herself a singer and spent most of her life planning on leaving for New York to start a stage career.

Her marriage was extremely rocky and she had a roving eye. This would be her undoing.

Ethan Allen saw and endured much more than a child should ever have to. Between fights, plans for trips to New York and affairs, this story will tug at your heart. The characters are well drawn and likeable for the most part.

Even though the story was somewhat predictable, it was interesting and thoughtful.

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Review: After You

After You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Louisa Clark is grieving for Will Traynor. She loved him deeply, but I think the love she felt was deeper than romantic love and how do you move on when you were so close to someone who had made the decisions that he had made.

After Will died, Louisa wondered for several months in Paris and was basically just hanging on by a thread. She finally returned to England and bought a condo in London with the inheritance that Will left her and lands a job in a bar at the airport. Will wanted her to "just live".

Louisa is just going through the motions, drinking too much, not eating properly and just barely living when a terrible accident happens to her and new people come into her life and everything changes.

I loved the first book in the series, Me Before You, and was a bit nervous to read this one. I shouldn't have been worried because this was excellent. Moving on is not an easy task. Louisa had faced a very upsetting episode with Will in the first book and she was a very sensitive person with a history of her own. Will was the one that brought her out of her shell and gave her confidence. How could she let him go! She had wanted him to live.

A great read and especially for anyone who has lost someone. A helpful reminder that we must all "move on".

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Review: Memory House

Memory House by Bette Lee Crosby
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars. This was a shorter story. If you read the notes from the author at the end you will see that the memories come from characters in her other novels. I have read most of them. The stories are longer and more involved and IMO, very good.

I am not sure if I am a fan of the "memory" of an article as described in the book, but it was an interesting concept and the story came together quite well, albeit predictably. It was lovely to visit Ethan Allen again and to see the path his life had taken.

I would definitely recommend reading Spare Change at the very least before reading this book.

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