Tag: fiction

fantasy, literature, Science Fiction, Uncategorized

I who have never known men by Jacqueline Harpman

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This book, while not long in length, leaves a very long shadow. This is a study of what it means to be human, what is hope, and how loneliness can define us.

Our protagonist is a young girl that is living with 39 other women, caged in a bunker with no windows, lights on at all times, and men patrolling them without ever interacting with them. The only voices they hear are their own. They shun the young girl, who has no memories of before being in the cage. The older women have memories, but they will not share with the girl.

One day there is an opportunity to take the keys of a distracted guard, and the women are able to unlock the cage. They are, however, uncertain of what to do. The guards seem to have disappeared. No one comes to check on them on the regular schedule or bring food. When the women find the courage to explore outside the remainder of the area surrounding the cage, they timidly emerge from underground into a desert landscape. They see nothing but barren land, and no guards. They have disappeared. The women then must decide how to move forward to take care of themselves outside the cage that men had kept them in.

SPOILERS:

To me, this is a metaphor for how women are treated by men. The men put the women, of all ages and backgrounds, into a cage to patrol them. The men controlled all parts of their lives from the definition of day and night, to what and when they eat, and who they could interact with. They guarded these women against any intruder or change. They were not allowed to be too loud, too lazy, or too anything. And they were not allowed to learn and grow.

When the cage is unlocked there are those afraid of the freedom, those that embrace it, and those that begin to make their own rules. When faced with being responsible for their own survival these women made a plan, executed it, and cared for each other with respect. The loneliness each feels even when surrounded by others is the inability to understand where they are, who they are, and why they were placed there. It is loneliness forced upon them by the men’s forceful breaking of community norms. The weight of other’s valuation of them holds them down.

We may not see the walls going up around us, we may not recognize that what we cherish is being stripped away from us. We may not recognize ourselves or those around us when we finally open our eyes. We must work together to unlock our cages, and support each other so we survive.

Family Drama

The same as it ever was by Claire Lombardo

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It is obvious that Lombardo can tell a story. She is able to create characters that are well drawn out and complex. She is able to keep them consistent over time. But she is also able to draw out a tale longer than it should be.

The story centers around the main character, Julia. She is a mother, a wife, and a daughter. She is not very likable. We hear interior dialog of her throughout, always stating that she was playing at how she thought people should act, and felt abnormal for the way she was unable to act toward people. The story we hear is weaved together by flashbacks and at times can be confusing as to where you are. This becomes more of a distraction to me, as I just want to hear the tale move forward, having context at once to understand what is happening, not having it piecemealed out.

Julia’s son, a teaching assistant at a nearby college, informs his parents (Julia and Mark) and sister Alma that he is getting married to a former student that he had impregnated. This leads Julia to swirl into the past, wallowing in her self-loathing for failing everyone.

Julia was brought up by a mother that was manipulative and distant. Julia doesn’t feel worth loving; this lack of worthlessness was ingrained by her mother, who knew that would be the meanest thing to do to Julia.

We see that Julia longs for a relationship she sees as motherly, leading her to Helen. Julia falls hard, finally getting the relationship she wanted with her mother. All this comes apart at the seams, as this becomes a well-worn path of destruction.

It is through the planning of the wedding that Julia begins to see how others viewed her – such as Francine, Mark’s best friend’s wife, and an intern at the library that was in awe of her. Her perception was not the way she felt she presented herself to others. Perception is reality, and Julia couldn’t reconcile this.

I didn’t care for this self-centered woman that blamed everything on her mother and hid from life thinking she was the only one that had it hard. She never accepted that she played a part in the break with her mother, or entertained the thought that her mother taught her the path toward pushing others out before they hurt you. Julia floated through life, trying not to be her mother, but yet going down the path of destruction she illuminated.  If Julia, and her mother, would only be honest with themselves and open to hearing from others instead of shutting them out, then maybe they could have had less lonely.

Family Drama, Women's literature

The nature of fragile things by Susan Meissner

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Susan Meissner has once again taken a real-life experience and made it come to life with engaging people to watch experience the event. This is the story of Sophie, an Irish immigrant living in a terrible tenement in New York City, who answers an ad for marriage to a widowed man with a young child in San Francisco.

Martin Hocking meets her train, and they go directly to city hall. Sophie insists upon having a photograph taken to commemorate the occasion. After that he brings her to a beautiful home to meet his 5-year-old silent daughter, Kat. Martin leaves them that night to go on a business trip. Sophia takes her responsibility to Kat seriously, and the bond between them grows, while interactions with Martin are stilted and cold.

On April 18, 1906 a pregnant woman named Belinda comes to the door looking for her husband. Sophie begins to put answers to questions she never fully acknowledged but now must face. As the two women piece together the information they have, the earth begins to quake. San Francisco sustains significant damage, and fires begin to rage. Sophie takes charge, making sure that Belinda and Kat are with her and taken care of. It is Sophie’s poverty history that helps make sure they all survive and continue to search for answers to questions asked before the quake.

It is the resilience of women, and the understanding of what is right and just, that brings the surprising ending – no spoilers here. This is a reminder that most things are not as they seem, and not all stories have a happy ending.

book-review, Women's literature

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman

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This book is beautifully written, with a difficult topic. If you have ever witnessed someone you care slip toward death, this book will hit the spots in your heart that will forever be raw. You will question every thing you did or did not do to make the journey easier, and wonder how the feelings expressed in the book were so similar to those you felt?

While I cried throughout the story, it was because I wanted to crawl into the scenes and hold both Edi and Ash close. Their emotions are front and center, and in my opinion, really the whole purpose of the book. It is a study of friendship, devotion, despair and acceptance. You go through all the stages of grief, watching from the sidelines, but knowing exactly what they are feeling. When the inevitable happens, everyone gathers, deals with things the only way they know how, and find themselves looking at those around them with not new eyes, but grateful ones. They are better able to see those that would walk through this journey with you, both holding you up and letting you go.

While the subject matter is very sad, the book ends on a note of resilience. You take the pain you experienced and it becomes part of who you are. It determines your future. The person you lose remains an influence in your life by what you witnessed and what you lost. They are forever near, continuing to guide and support you.

This story will linger with me, not just as sad, but as an acknowledgement that you can survive, and the love remains.

book-review, Family Drama, Women's literature

Every Tom Dick and Harry by Elinor Lipman

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Elinor Lipman hits upon another fun one. Emma Lewis is taking over her parent’s estate sale business. She is living in their home rent free, and her father’s friend and her high school algebra teacher Frank is moving in as a renter. A former “bed and breakfast” that had more use for the beds than for breakfast, is going up for sale and an estate sale is needed. Emma jumps on the opportunity, coming to realize the open secret of the town – it was a brothel. Emma begins dating the handsome new Police Chief, and Frank begins dating the mother. Screwball comedy ensues. Light, fun romantic comedy.

book-review, LGBQ+

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

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Rosie and Penn fell in love, got married, and had kids. After 3 boys they decided to try one last time for a girl. Then Claude was born. Creative, smart, and by 5 years old obsessed with becoming a princess. ER Doctor mom and Author Penn go to great lengths to keep this a family secret. While they tried everything to support their child, the complexities of what this truly is and the choices that must be made are overwhelming. And secrets are difficult to keep. When this is reveled the confusion grows for everyone. The truth of this is stark. No matter what is done there are two sides to each choice. While there are a few things missing, like the mom not knowing what additional resources to use to help, it faces a difficult topic with compassion. The fact that there is no one answer is the point of the story.

YA Lit

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

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In the year 2044 the world is harsh to those that don’t have much. The escape is into a virtual reality game called Oasis. Created by James Halladay, a pop culture fan of the 1980s, who passed away five years earlier. Control of this program/world is to be gained through an “easter egg hunt”. Clues are hard to find, and no one has been able to find them in all these years.

Eighteen year old Wade Watts spends as much time in Oasis as possible. With few friends, and few resources, he is able to project who he wants to be by selecting an avatar and hiding behind it. This is where he meets his friends. And you can’t believe that it is Wade that solves the first clue. The world takes notice, and the chase is on – and is real in both Oasis and the real world.

Great puzzle, engaging characters, and a timeless message. Be true to who you are, and you will always find your place.

Black Experience, book-review, books, literature, reading, Women's literature

What ever happened to Kitty Karr? by Crystal Smith Paul

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This novel is a story told by two people – Kitty Karr, a star actress, and her former co-star’s daughter, Elise St John. When you start you are with Elise, and you are sent in circles trying to figure out who she is, how she is connected, and why we should care. The Kitty Karr parts are fascinating, learning how she came to California in a long and winding fashion. It is even more circuitous to finding out the relationship to Elise St John.

In the end, this was an easily guessed premise that has been used many times. I did, however, enjoy Kitty’s story. Elise’s seemed too contrived.

books, Historical Fiction, literature, reading, Women's literature

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

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Inspired by the life of Martha Ballard, a well‑known midwife from the 1700s, this book gives a close look at a world where women had to live very carefully. They worked hard at home, supported their husbands, raised their children, and went to church. Anything outside those roles was risky. A woman’s word was rarely trusted. She could only speak in court if her husband stood beside her. Even years of hands‑on experience meant less than a man’s formal education. And if a woman became pregnant outside of marriage, she carried all the blame and shame.

In this setting, Martha Ballard is asked to examine the body of a man pulled from the river. With no doctor in town, her experience as a midwife made her the closest thing to a medical expert. The dead man was a well‑known citizen who had recently been accused of a violent rape. One of the other accused men—the town magistrate—decides that a newly arrived doctor should give the official opinion instead. This doctor immediately contradicts Martha’s conclusion that the man was murdered.

Against this backdrop, we see Martha support and protect women through her work as a midwife, pushing back against male arrogance and sexism. We also see her try to raise her children, especially her sons, to be good and responsible people. Her husband loved her and even taught her to read and write, which gave her opportunities most women of the time did not have.

Some of the conversations between the Ballards, and between groups of women, felt more modern than I expected, which made me wonder how much creative license the author used. Still, the story was interesting and worth reading. I do prefer her other book, The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress. That was really good.

books, Family Drama, literature, reading

Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

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Elizabeth Strout brings many of her familiar characters back together in Crosby, Maine. By pulling in people and histories from her earlier books, she continues the character‑driven storytelling she’s known for.

This time, Lucy Barton and her ex‑husband William, Bob Burgess and his wife Margaret, and Olive Kitteridge and her friend Isabelle Goodrow all end up in the same orbit. It’s an unusual mix, and even when I tried to map out how everyone was connected, it still felt tangled. What holds the book together is the way these characters pair off and share stories about other people. There is a lot of this. Bob hears about his sister‑in‑law’s declining health from his sister instead of his brother. Olive learns about Isabelle’s future living situation from the retirement‑home staff. Bob hears about Lucy’s plans from William. Almost everything comes secondhand, like gossip passed along before reaching the source. It made me want to know the full truth behind each story.

Each character is trying to understand not only their own place in the world but also what life means more broadly. Lucy and Olive meet to talk about “unrecorded lives,” hoping to shine light on people who might otherwise be forgotten. The fear of not being remembered—or not mattering—runs through many of Strout’s stories about these women, and it feels like the force behind their need to tell and retell these moments.

Bob’s murder case also ties into this theme of being seen. The young man accused of killing his mother has lived a life mostly unnoticed while caring for her. Bob helps bring him into a world he has been shut out of. This storyline requires action based on what Bob observes in the present, while many of the other stories rely on looking back at things that have already happened.

I enjoyed reading about these people, but this is a very contemplative book.