EXPLORING THE BONDS OF FRIENDSHIP VS. FAMILY — “Surrender, Dorothy”

In a mustard-colored house in the Hamptons, four friends gather every August. They are thirty-something these days, and sometimes, they can scarcely bear to revisit the dilapidated and somewhat trashy house. But sentiment and habit draw them back every year.

But this year will be a very different one for Peter, Maddy, Adam and Sara. In the first week of this, their summer retreat, Sara will die in a car accident.

It happens when Sara and Adam are returning from buying ice cream at the Fro-Z-Cone shop. As the effects of this tragedy ripple through all their lives, the after shock also envelopes Sara’s mother Natalie more than any of them. Natalie and Sara have been like a “twosome” of us against the world, ever since Natalie split from her husband many years before. They share many intimate deals of each other’s lives in a way that suggests some boundary issues. They talk by phone almost every day, with a unique greeting—”Surrender, Dorothy.” Like a code, formed years before when they watched The Wizard of Oz over and over.

So now in her grief, Natalie impulsively goes out to the little house on the beach, just to see where Sara was in her last moments. And the friends invite her to stay on.

What unfolds in the weeks that follow will remind everyone of the fragility of life, the bonds that connect friends and family, and the boundaries that need to be rebuilt.

Will Natalie learn how to live without Sara? What will Peter, Maddy, and Adam discover about themselves without their friend? And finally, will they all grow up at last and put an end to what now feels like an extended adolescence?

Surrender, Dorothy: A Novel was a very quick and poignant read. I had already seen a movie based on this book a few times, and couldn’t read the book without envisioning Diane Keaton as Natalie (the mother). What I liked about the book that wasn’t part of the movie was how the author shared bits and pieces of back story for the characters as we met them, or in moments when they were pondering their lives.

Pleasant and enjoyable, and I would give it four stars…or 4.5.

WHEN FRIENDS BECOME FAMILY — A Review of “The Friday Night Knitting Club”

“The Friday Night Knitting Club,” by Kate Jacobs, is a book that invites you in, like a friend. You curl up right next to the others who are shopping and attending this club event at a yarn store.

Georgia Walker is a single mom to a biracial child named Dakota. She was abandoned before the baby was even born, twelve years before. When she had to support herself and her daughter, she worked odd jobs, but did knitting for people. Through some strokes of luck and financing, she managed to open her shop, which she calls Walker and Daughter, on New York’s Upper West Side. Her shop—and her apartment—are in a building whose bottom floor is occupied by Marty Popper and his delicatessen. He, too, is like family.

Anita Lowenstein happens to have been her benefactor who lent her money to start the business, and has become like her right hand/mother figure, etc. Anita found her crying on a bench all those years ago after her boyfriend James Foster left her.

Nowadays, the shop is a bustling business, but what sets it apart from other shops is the cozy atmosphere, which morphs into this gathering place for knitters (incidentally, on Friday nights). More than a club, the knitting group is a place where the women share their lives.

Then when Georgia’s ex and a friend from the past—someone who betrayed her!—show up out of the blue, she begins to think that her world as she knows it is coming undone.

What will Georgia do, and what surprises are in store for her? How will a trip to Scotland to visit her granny offer a unique perspective on her life and her choices?

When you reach the final pages of this cozy book, you won’t want it to end. Which is why I gave it five stars.

A JOURNEY OF SELF-DISCOVERY — A Review of “The Next Thing on My List”

A young woman gives another woman a lift—they’ve just met at a Weight Watchers meeting—and tragically, there is an accident and the passenger is killed.

This is how June Parker, an employee at a ridesharing company, finds a list belonging to Marissa Jones, her deceased passenger…in the personal effects afterwards. It is a list of twenty-five things Marissa wanted to do before her twenty-fifth birthday (she was twenty-four when she died). Two things are already crossed off. And to assuage her guilt and to possibly change the course of her own life, June decides to complete Marissa’s list. June’s own obituary, she decides, would say something like this: June Parker, on-and-off-again girlfriend, midlevel employee, and lifelong underachiever, died waiting for something to happen…

Following June’s journey through Marissa’s list is funny, exciting, suspenseful, and eventually…well, telling too much would spoil the fun. Anyone anywhere who has ever felt like nothing important has ever happened to them will totally relate to June’s task. And will root for her along the way, even while hoping that finally she will find whatever it is she is looking for.

The Next Thing on My List: A Novel was a quick read that I could not put down, so of course I’m giving it five stars.

BEHIND THE PINK DOOR — A Review of “Girl (maladjusted)”

Molly Jong-Fast’s memoir chronicles her childhood and young adulthood as the daughter of famous writer Erica Jong (Fear of Flying) and grandfather Howard Fast (Spartacus), with all the aspects, good and bad, of that celebrity existence.  Living in a “townhouse with a pink door and paintings of ladies playing naked Twister,” her childhood also featured many visits to therapists, numerous nannies, and private schools where she felt like a misfit most of the time.

Much of what she describes is told in a wry, self-deprecatory fashion, and she habitually renames her celebrity acquaintances and therapists (like calling one woman Adolf Hitler), allegedly to avoid lawsuits, but I also think she enjoyed the comic value of such renaming.

Some parts of “Girl (maladjusted)” were enlightening and enjoyable, while other sections seemed so uneventful as to be irrelevant.  I skimmed these sections, I must admit.  With most of this book seemingly dedicated to what it was like to be the daughter of a celebrity, there were surprisingly few descriptions of mother/daughter interactions.  In fact, the few descriptions that did come across seemed like footnotes to the real story, whatever that was supposed to be.

This book was only mildly interesting, which is why I’m awarding it three stars.

IN PURSUIT OF THE BIG BAD WOLF — A Review of “The Big Bad Wolf”

When Alex Cross first joins up with the FBI, he is assigned to a big case. One involving the kidnapping of men and women in broad daylight–who then disappear completely. The victims are being bought and sold, and the shadowy figure behind it all is a Russian predator dubbed The Wolf.

Every time the agents have a lead, they are stymied. They find and arrest several participants in this ring, but everywhere they turn, The Wolf eludes them. Each time they think they have finally identified him, they come up short.

Meanwhile, Alex’s family life is taking a hit, too. His youngest son, Alex, given up by the mother, Christine Johnson, in his infancy, is now the subject of a new custody battle. It seems that Christine is pulling out all the stops and stating that Alex Cross is a lightning rod for danger, which puts his son at risk.

This is a very exciting tale, between the FBI pursuits, bureaucratic hijinks, and various near misses…while on the periphery, the shadow of the custody battle looms.

Until the very last page, I wasn’t sure how this would end up, but I knew I had to keep reading. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed this particular Alex Cross adventure,The Big Bad Wolf (Alex Cross), it wasn’t one of the best. Therefore, the four star rating.

CHERISHING THE MOMENTS — A Review of “Evenings at Five”

An author and a composer have a daily ritual. Every evening at five o’clock, they begin with Happy Hour; they then share their love of language and music along with their cocktails. This tradition is so much a part of their lives that it’s only natural that its absence would leave a huge hole in the author’s heart when her companion dies.

Author Gail Godwin had similar experiences, and has commemorated these traditions and moments by fictionalizing an account, which she has added to a series of additional short stories about her alter-ego Christina.

In these stories, we meet Christina at various crossroads in her life, and woven in with these “flashback” type portrayals are more moments between “Christina and Rudy.”

A provocative read, Evenings at Five: A Novel and Five New Stories (Ballantine Reader’s Circle) is a reminder that we must cherish our moments with our loved ones, because when they are gone, the memories of those moments could sustain us.

I deducted one star, as sometimes the story’s back and forth movements was confusing, and I had to stop a moment to figure out where the characters were—the past or the present.

SMALL AND LARGE MIRACLES — A Review of “The Handmaid and the Carpenter”

Elizabeth Berg’s The Handmaid and the Carpenter: A Novel is a richly detailed saga of an historic time and a Biblical couple; it is a tale that she has imbued with her special skill of immediacy and an everyday voice, and as a result, we can visualize this young couple as they struggle with the effects of a miraculous conception on their relationship and their lives.

We follow them in their journey to Bethlehem and the events that unfold there, just as we come to see the other small and large miracles that accompany them throughout their lives together. And we watch as Joseph’s doubts rise up again, and how, finally, he comes to believe.

This brief and powerful account is memorable and evocative, and one which adds another dimension to Berg’s body of work.

Five stars!

WHEN AN EPIPHANY CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE — A Review of “The Happiness Project”

What would happen if one day you had an epiphany in the unlikeliest of places—a city bus? “The days are long, but the years are short.”

Thus begins Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun, in which, for one full year, she dedicates herself to making herself happier without significantly changing anything about her circumstances. Her changes came in the form of resolutions that would help her change her life, one step at a time. The first of her twelve commandments was “Be Gretchen,” an important lesson for all of us. If we know what we like and what makes us feel good, we should only pursue resolutions that are based on our own needs.

Rubin’s resolutions were based on the following actions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, and forget about results.

Illuminating and entertaining, Rubin speaks to us in the voice of a friend (or neighbor) as she details her progress. One important lesson she learned: “If I keep my resolutions and do the things that make me happier, I end up feeling happier and acting more virtuously. Do good, feel good; feel good, do good.” Most of what she describes is a way of taking specific actions that result in more positive experiences (and feelings).

Act as if, fake it `til you make it, etc. All are ways of changing and reframing events so that our actions lead to more positivity. Sometimes it’s as simple as changing a voice tone or the wording of a message…from a negative spin to a positive one.

Mindfulness is another aspect of her plan. Finding ways to notice and be aware.

Each chapter is dedicated to a specific month, and for each one, she outlines specific tasks. One of her initial tasks, for example, is finding more energy, which involves getting enough sleep and more exercise. Then she moves on to clearing out the clutter. This is important to her because disorder was a constant drain on her energy.

Chock full of great ideas, I couldn’t even imagine NOT doing this. So I’m thinking that I will dedicate one of my existent blogs to creating my own project. Probably my Obsessions and Compulsions blog!

This book deserves more than five stars.

QUIRKY AND UNIQUE CHARACTERS — A Review of “Noah’s Compass”

Liam Pennywell is one of those quirky characters that compel us to root for him. Nothing in his life seems to be very special, and then when he loses a job he’s held for many years, he doesn’t even fight it. It’s like he expects life to dish out nothing but disappointment.

He moves into a downsized space, to accommodate his shrinking resources, but on the first night in the new home, something happens that turns his life upside down.

Has he lost his direction now, as well as his job? Obsessing over the events only seems to isolate him further.

But then he meets a strange young woman who intrigues him, and before he knows it, this unexpected detour changes everything for him.

I love Anne Tyler’s characters, and this one was so intriguing that I started and finished this book within the day. I think I enjoyed Liam as much as the characters in The Accidental Tourist: A Novel (Ballantine Reader’s Circle). They are flawed, unique, and sometimes frustrating individuals who totally capture our hearts.

I am definitely giving Noah’s Compass five stars!

POOR CHOICES, ULTIMATE RESPONSIBILITY — A Review of “Not My Daughter”

What constitutes a good mother? How much responsibility must a mother take for her daughter’s poor choices?

These are the issues at the root of Not My Daughter. Susan Tate is a single mom to her seventeen-year-old daughter Lily. She had her own daughter at seventeen, her parents threw her out, and she has had to struggle alone for all these years. She has made something of her life and stubbornly clings to the hard-won control over her life. She is the principal at her daughter’s school. At age thirty-five, she is the youngest principal to ever lead here.

But then she is blindsided by her daughter, pregnant at seventeen. Within weeks, her two best friends are also pregnant and a “pact” is revealed.

Suddenly fingers are pointing, questions are raised, a media storm is brewing…and Susan fears that her job will be terminated.

Her own best friends (whose daughters are also pregnant) are seemingly her only support system.

But in the weeks and months that follow, she discovers untapped strength—something she must draw on when more unexpected disasters loom.

What will Susan discover about herself and what she needs during this trying time? Will she finally be able to share her burdens with Lily’s father and her own mother Ellen? What will she learn about herself and about “mothering”?

A very dramatic and somewhat unsettling story unfolds as we reach the conclusion and the answers to these questions. Definitely five stars from me!