Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Publication Date: July 17th, 2018
Rating: 2 Stars
Suzette has the perfect marriage, a doting husband and their gorgeous custom home, so when their daughter Hanna is born their family appears to be living the American Dream…on the outside. The reader is dragged through this psychotic ride as we navigate the thoughts of both young Hanna and mother, Suzette.
This book was a dramatic combination of the troubling imagination of young Mark in Imagine That and the psychopathic tendencies of the husband in Poison. Unfortunately, both books were reads I didn’t entirely enjoy the first time around.
Author, Zoje Stage, undoubtedly did an incredible job taking the voices of a mom and child as she switched between each character, each chapter. The characters created within the pages of Baby Teeth were hard for me to love, from the overcompensating father to the crazy daughter completing the cast with a needy and insecure wife. Parenthood is certainly re-evaluated as we are shown Suzette’s daily nightmare and forced to look within ourselves for how far we are willing to go for our child.
*Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
The Stolen Marriage: A Novel by Diane Chamberlain (Narrated by Susan Bennett)
Publication Date: October 3rd, 2017
Rating: 3 ¾ Stars
Another of my New Year resolutions was that of giving audiobooks another shot. Historically, I have not been a successful audiobook listener as distraction rapidly kicks in, which was evident in my last attempt at listening to books when I listened to A Farewell to Arms. Regardless, in 2018 I am making a renewed effort to use my 40 minute one-way commute productively, by listening to books. As such, I began this resolution with the listening of The Stolen Marriage.
This novel follows Tess as she ends her engagement to her childhood love as a result of her surprise pregnancy to a stranger. Tess uproots her life, moves to Hickory, North Carolina and marries this stranger who has knocked her up (the author more eloquently labels it rather than using “knocked up,” but you get the point). Set among WWII, during the Polio Epidemic, the reader is transported to a time of racial tensions, fear and the importance of class structure.
I immediately hated the stranger Tess marries, Henry Kraft. It is his abrupt rape and subsequent pregnancy of Tess that causes my immense hatred, although Tess maintains no such act occurred throughout the book. It is this lack of ability to call the act rape that makes it hard to reconcile the times and actions to present day as polio has since been eradicated, rape is no longer a “taboo” word, and racial segregation is “relatively” abolished (it is clear, as a society ,we have not yet abolished racism in 2018). Yet, by the end of the book the author has artistically crafted the story of Tess and Henry that the reader begins to almost feel for and enjoy Henry Kraft, despite his MANY shortcomings as a son, husband, friend and business owner.
While I know I would have enjoyed this book just as much had I read it, I am glad to have started my 2018 audiobook resolution on such a great choice!
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book via Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
The Storm King by Brendan Duffy
Publication Date: February 6th, 2018
Rating: 3 ¼ Stars
The Storm King provides readers a mix of flashback, present day and journaling entries as we seek to uncover the mystery surrounding the disappearance and ultimate death of a girl long lost. Normally, books pair, at most, two of these writing styles together in the telling of a story. For instance readers are often presented flashbacks to events as they happened in childhood before being thrown into the present day or a young character’s journal entries are provided as evidence to a present day outcome. But, rarely do you see ALL these styles combined within a single book.
Author, Brendan Duffy, strategically interlaces this variety in writing style in an attempt to keep the reader at suspense throughout his telling. However, I felt I was working far too hard to keep all the storylines straight as the reader is ripped from present day, to high school graduation, to the story of the town’s mysterious sisters, to the journal entries of the missing Lucy Bennett and back. An otherwise intriguing suspense is distracting as it is tangled amongst too many storylines and writing styles.
*Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book via Goodreads Giveaway in exchange for an honest review.
Where My Body Ends and the World Begins by Tony Romano
Publication Date: December 12th, 2017
Rating: 1 ½ Stars
I really wanted to like this book. It had all the ingredients to resonate with me.
- Based in Chicago – my husband is from Chicago and I enjoy reading about his roots in a city we both love.
- Italian family – again, my husband is the spitting image of his Italian heritage as his grandmother emigrated from Sicily. Pasta is ONE of few foods I can actually get him to eat (he is seriously picky) and the aromas described within this house reminded me of my own home.
- Fire – this story revolves around a fire to a school and how it impacts Anthony, a survivor whom lost a sister to the blaze, and the detective next door that is convinced Anthony set the fire. For anyone that enters our house, my husband is quick to steer guests to our fire place. As we renovated our home we uncovered the bricks surrounding our fire place are originally from the historic Chicago Fire, left over from the abundance of brick remains. These bricks are a constant reminder to the dangers of fire, but also tie us back to his childhood in Chicago.
Despite this significant connections to my own life, this book was not satisfying. It was haphazardly thrown together with odd undeveloped tie-ins. For instance, Anthony is introduced to us as he tries to throw himself in front of a car. Why did he try to do this? Because he does not feel like his left leg should be attached to his body. Fast forward to the final third of the book, we learn that his sister (whom died in the blaze) had a limp left leg, BUT Anthony’s feelings for his leg developed prior to the arrival of his sister’s gimp leg. This is such an odd, un-relatable fact about Anthony and his leg, but weirdly enough much of the book revolves around Anthony’s feelings toward said leg.
Furthermore, I expected more of the book to revolve around the school fire and death of many within, but the reader was not introduced to much of Anthony’s experiences as it related to the fire and its aftereffects until nearly the last few pages of the book. While normally I enjoy a last second reveal, the author failed to elude to any of the shocking final twists or rather I was so unengaged I failed to pick up on them. Regardless, the plot was only minimally developed and seemed to take a back seat to Anthony’s own internal feelings about his leg, childhood friend Maryanne and absent father.
*Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
For The Love Of The Page 