May Mini-Reviews ~ A Half Dozen!

Much like April, I was able to read quite a few books in May, but didn’t get a lot of actual reviews done. I had a couple “special” blog posts including Beach Bag Books 2020, my summer reading guide, and Summer Preview 2020, a look at new releases for June July and August. I’ve also still been in that weird place where my level of satisfaction has been all over the place (often times within the same book). I don’t fully trust my own opinions right now, so please consider that when reading through my May mini-reviews.

All Adults Here by Emma Straub
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Length: 368 pages
Amazon

My Thoughts: I always love a good dysfunctional family story and All Adults Here is just that, but in its own unique way. Astrid, a 68-year old long time widow, witnesses the death of a woman her own age and that sets Astrid on a journey to reconcile mistakes she’s made while she still has time. She’s not estranged from her three grown children, but there is an awkward distance between all of them. Over the course of the book, Straub introduced the reader to Astrid’s daughter and two sons, all with problems of their own. Astrid also has a big secret to share with her children and she fears they may not understand. I really liked the family dynamics in this book. For me it highlighted how easy it is to drift apart and how hard it is to come back together. For me, it moved a little slowly in the second half, but I also read it in the early days of quarantine, so? Still, with All Adults Here, Emma Straub has moved solidly onto my auto-buy authors list. She always has a great story to tell. Grade B+

“Who ever did something right the first try? Astrid knew that she had failed, maybe not in the ways that she thought she had, but in so many ways she had never even noticed. this was the job of a parent: to f**k up, over and over again. This was the job of the child: to grow up anyway.”

Note: I received a copy of this book from Riverhead Books (via Edelweiss) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Shiner by Amy Jo Burns
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Length: 288 pages
Amazon

My Thoughts: I had high expectations for this story of a girl growing up with a “preacher” father deep in the hills of Appalachia, but for me this book fell short. Make no mistake about it, the writing was wonderful and I highlighted many passages. It was the story I had problems with. For me the characters were too clichéd: the snake-handler preacher whose word is law, the long-suffering wife, the kind hearted moon-shiner, the young girl/daughter wishing for something different. All that might have been fine if any of them had done something to surprise me in a good way. Instead, they disappointed me over and over. Amy Jo Burns is from Appalachia, so I’m sure her story is authentic, but for me (and for the time) it was just too bleak. Grade: C-

Note: I received a copy of this book from Riverhead Books (via Edelweiss) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Red Dress in Black & White by Elliot Ackerman
Publisher: A.A. Knopf
Release Date: May 26, 2020
Length: 272 pages
Amazon

My Thoughts: Elliot Ackerman’s last novel, Waiting for Eden, made my Best Books of 2018 list, so I was eager to read his latest. While Waiting for Eden immediately grabbed on to me and would not let go, Red Dress in Black & White didn’t quite have that same power. This was a complicated story with lots of charcters whose lives were interwoven in different ways, but it centered on Catherine, the wife of a successful Turkish real estate developer. The couple have an adopted son, whom they each have complex feelings about. For many reasons, including an affair, Catherine wants to return to America with her son. The story revolves around her odd quest to do just that. Even though the story kept me going, there were two problems. First, the connections were just too complicated and not developed enough to draw me in. Second, Catherine. She was just a hot mess and I couldn’t like or even root for her. Ackerman is clearly a very talented writer, but Red Dress in Black & White just didn’t come together for me. Grade: C

Note: I received a copy of this book from A.A. Knopf (via Edelweiss) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Stray by Stephanie Danler
Publisher: A.A. Knopf
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Length: 256 pages
Amazon

My Thoughts: I loved Stephanie Danler’s debut novel Sweetbitter, so was thrilled when I heard she had written a memoir. I was a little curious about publishing a memoir at such a young age, but early in the reading it became clear she’d had A LOT going on in her young life. Danler wrote this memoir during the time leading up to and just after the publication of Sweetbitter. She was writing to try to come to terms with the train-wreck that had been her youth. Both her parents were alcoholics/addicts and the two divorced when Danler was young. It was both absolutely amazing and incredibly tragic the neglect Danler and her sister suffered throughout their childhoods. Neither parent ever did anything to deserve that title and their influences on Danler led her down dark paths in her own life. Stray was her brave attempt to understand and ultimately forgive her parents and herself, while never forgetting where she’d been. Though not easy to read, I thought hers was a brave and moving memoir. Grade: B+

“Grieving the living feels like an infinite state, until you remember that it ends in regular grieving. It happens in breakups, or in prolonged illnesses. It has happened with my parents. As I write about them, they’re still living. But they aren’t here anymore.”

Note: I received a copy of this book from A.A. Knopf (via Edelweiss) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
Narrators: Sarah Zimmerman, Karissa Vacker, George Newbern
Publisher: Harper (HarperAudio)
Release Date: May 5, 2020
Length: 400 pages (12 hrs. 57 min.)
Amazon      Libro.fm

My Thoughts: I don’t easily fall into suspense novels, but I did just that with A Good Marriage. In this lawyer Lizzie is contacted by Zach, a man she went to law school with. He’s in Rikers, about to be accused of killing his wife, Amanda. Kimberly McCreight alternated the telling of her story between Lizzie, investigating the case, and Amanda, in the time leading up to her own murder. She also dove into the marriages of both women. This back and forth created more and more mystery as the story progressed. I listened to this one and the three narrators were excellent, and made me eager to keep listening. The one flaw for me in A Good Marriage was the ending. Like in many suspense stories, it just felt too out there and definitely required me to suspend disbelief. Despite that, it was a fun read and one I definitely recommend. Grade: B+

Note: I received a copy of this book from Harper in exchange for my honest thoughts.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Narrators: A cast of six.
Publisher: William Morrow (HarperAudio)
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Length: 320 pages (9 hrs. 54 min.)
Amazon      Libro.fm

My Thoughts: The Guest List is the story of a wedding taking place on a small island off the coast of Ireland. Both the bride and groom are public figures, so they want the privacy this island can offer. Guests include family, colleagues and friends, including a group of men who went to school with the groom. These men all share a dark secret from their days in school and that and many other secrets pop up in the course of the story. I liked how Foley moved her story between different characters in each chapter, slowly developing connections and revealing secrets. The cast of readers did a fabulous job giving personality to all the players in this mystery. Where the story fell short for me was in all the connections between this group of characters. It just became way TOO much for me. TOO hard to believe. By the end i just didn’t care. Grade: C

Note: I received a copy of this audiobook from HarperAudio (via Libro.fm) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

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