THE LIBRARY BOOK by Susan Orlean

THE LIBRARY BOOK

by

Susan Orlean

            The genesis of The Library Book, by New Yorker reporter Susan Orlean, is the fire at the Los Angeles Public Library on April 29, 1986. However, the book is about so much more than this one library fire or the Los Angeles Public Library itself.

            We do learn a great deal about the 1986 fire and its primary suspect, Harry Peak. But, we also learn about book burning and some other library fires – including the Library of Alexandria – as well as the history of the Los Angeles Public Library. Naturally, Ray Bradbury and Fahrenheit 451 (much of which was written at a library in Los Angeles) are included. Orlean also discusses the multitudinous roles filled by the library as an institution. After all, the library is not just for collecting and/or lending books.

            In addition to being highly informative, The Library Book is well written and enjoyable to read. One of my favorite parts is the chapter wherein Orlean relates her experiment burning a book (in fire prone California). Orlean deftly describes my feelings about books as she explains her dilemma in selecting a book to burn.

Also, each chapter begins with card catalog entries. I began looking forward to them as much as the material in the chapters themselves. At some point, I would like to go back and read the materials referenced in those entries.

            Orlean’s latest book is informative, interesting, and unique. Quite simply, The Library Book is an amazing reading experience.

THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt

THE GOLDFINCH

by

Donna Tartt

In The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, we meet young Theo Decker. Theo lived with his mom in New York City until the Life Changing Event occurred. The two visited a museum and viewed a small painting of a goldfinch that had greatly influenced his mother. This unusual painting, his last connection with his mother, becomes a sort of center or grounding of Theo’s life.

We accompany Theo on his journey after the Life Changing Event. Tartt gives us access to the impact of such a tragedy through Theo’s eyes. We meet the people that he would not have met otherwise. We witness how this one event bends and skews the direction of Theo’s life.

            The Goldfinch tells a tragic tale. This is not a quick summer read; it does not leave the reader feeling warm and fuzzy; it is a downer from the outset, and it is a very long book. Nonetheless, it is an extraordinary work, well written and compelling, that provides a rich three dimensional reading experience. The reader is impelled to continue reading to reach resolution.

            Between the time that I finished the book and began this review, I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie release. I did not know that a movie was being made, and while watching the trailer, all the feelings I had while reading the book came rushing back. I look forward to seeing the film. Nonetheless, The Goldfinch is a powerful literary experience.

THE 18th ABDUCTION by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro

THE 18th ABDUCTION

by

James Patterson

& Maxine Paetro

            The 18th Abduction, the latest installment in James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series, begins at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague with the impending prosecution of war criminal Slobodan Petrovic. It quickly flashes back to five years earlier, when Lindsay Boxer is investigating the disappearance of three school teachers. At this same time, her husband, Joe Molinari, meets Anna Sotovina and becomes involved in an investigation into crimes allegedly committed by Petrovic in San Francisco. And, of course, their cases dovetail.

            Most of the book takes place in this flashback to five years earlier, and I found this to be troubling. I was left feeling like I found a book from earlier in the series that I had missed. I do not like the fact that Patterson has now gone back and added to, or modified, Lindsay’s and Joe’s backstories. Not all of what has been added fits with my recollection of the history of either character.

            The parts of The 18th Abduction pertaining to the ICC and war criminals being set free are interesting. However, using one continual flashback as the vehicle for this feels lazy and does not work for me. I continue reading the Women’s Murder Club series as I like the characters and the idea behind the club, and I will likely read The 19th Christmas, the next book in the series. Nonetheless, I am not enamored with the latest, eighteenth, installment.

EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER by Linda Holmes

EVVIE DRAKE STARTS OVER

by

Linda Holmes

            Evvie Drake Starts Over is the first novel written by Linda Holmes, a correspondent for NPR. It is about Evvie, who lives in Maine. She grew up in Calcasset; then, she and her high school sweetheart, Tim, went to USC. Tim became a doctor, and they returned to Maine and married. But, not all was happily ever after.

            It is also about Dean, a major league pitcher who developed the yips. Forced into an untimely retirement, Dean needs to get away for awhile. So, he comes to Maine and rents the apartment in Evvie’s house, a house that is now too big after Tim’s untimely death.

Evvie and Dean appear to be normal, albeit fortunate, people. Each may be a person whom many of us admire and perhaps even envy. But, as Holmes chronicles their struggles with the adversity that has confronted them and the battle to find a way to move forward, we see that all is not as it appears.

            The characters in Evvie Drake Starts Over are not the typical, “juicy” characters found in many novels. To many of us, Evvie and Dean are not worthy of a book. They are seemingly normal; some might even think that they are flat or boring characters. One interpretation of this might be that this is simply a shortcoming in new novelist Holmes. But, in my opinion, Holmes purposefully crafted her characters in this manner. Although we all know many such normal-but-boring people, none of us truly knows what lies behind this perceived normalcy. Once we peek, we just might be surprised by what we find.

            Some of the early reviewers comment that Evvie Drake Starts Over is a quick, easy read – that it is a charming or lovely romance. I think these reviewers miss the point – as many miss, or overlook, the richness of the Evvies and Deans in our lives. Holmes is spot on as she portrays those in our modern society who appear one way, who are misunderstood, and who get lost in the shuffle. Evvie Drake Starts Over provides an interesting perspective about a segment of our culture that is often overlooked or taken for granted. As Holmes reminds us, all is not as it appears.

NEON PREY by John Sandford

NEON PREY

by

John Sandford

            Neon Prey is the 29th book in John Sandford’s Lucas Davenport series. In this installment, we are reunited with deputy U.S. Marshall Davenport and two of his co-workers, Bob and Rae.

            Clayton Deese is a hired goon who failed to make a required appearance while on bond. When law enforcement went looking for Deese at his Louisiana home, they instead found numerous graves with murdered, cannibalized remains. Just the sort of case to interest Marshall Davenport. Suspecting that Deese has fled to his half brother in Los Angeles, Lucas takes the hunt – and Bob and Rae – first there and later to Las Vegas.

            As always, it feels good to be back with our old friend Davenport; but, this Prey book is a bit different from prior installments. There is no real mystery, or crime to solve, in Neon Prey. We basically know who did what. Rather, the plot focuses more on where the perpetrators are and how Lucas finds them. We are treated to Sandford’s methodical, step by step progression of Lucas’s hunt; there are no leaps in logic, no unrealistic surmises involved. This Prey installment has Sandford’s typical good writing, as well as some of his humor. However, Neon Prey feels more superficial than the earlier books. Although the plot is detailed, there is only a mention of some of Davenport’s family and old friends like Flowers, Jenkins, and Strake. Although this may not trouble many new Prey fans, to a long time Davenport devotee, this feels like the picture of Lucas portrayed in Neon Prey is flat or missing a dimension.

            Nonetheless, I enjoyed my visit with Marshall Davenport, and I look forward to Sandford’s next installment in the series.