Category: General Fiction

Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin

Writing: 4/5 Characters: 4.5/5 Plot: 3/5

I first read Maupin’s Tales of the City books (the first five) back in the early 80s — a lifetime ago. After a long hiatus, Maupin continued producing additional books, but at a slower pace. Mona of the Manor comes ten years after the last book and my memory for any of these past plots is a little challenged! However, reading this novel was like slipping into a comfy blanket — the same easy and intimate writing style, plenty of familiar (and beloved) characters, and a delightful new locale — Mona’s manor house inherited from her late husband — a fun story on its own. Mona will be a familiar character to Maupin fans — she is the woman who (many, many, novels ago) discovered her long lost father in the form of her landlady — the transformed Anna Madrigal.

Although this is the tenth book in a long series, I think there are enough embedded recaps and hints to make it accessible to new readers. Although written in 2024, it seems to take place in the late 90s when the AIDS epidemic was at its height. Interestingly, in this book, AIDS is referred to as a pandemic, which was not the way I remembered it being referred to at the time but which is obviously correct. Although I lived through it, I admit to having largely forgotten about how horrible it was at the time. I found a thorough timeline here: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline/. While AIDS is not the main point of the story, its continuing destruction has a big impact on our characters and their community.

The book does unsurprisingly include a very clear and outspoken sexual / gender agenda, but primarily the characters are all seeking what most of us seek — love, meaning, and a place in life regardless of their sexually diverse backgrounds. Some positive experiences with the Romani — a group that is rarely portrayed in fiction at all, never mind nicely. Well written and enjoyable — not particularly insightful but perfectly paced, easy to read, and always surprising. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Thank you to Harper and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on March 5th, 2024.

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4.5/5

This is a portrait of a dynamically happy, multigenerational family with some serious dysfunctional fractures. As the four incredibly close Padavano sisters grow from childhood to late middle age, we are privy to the interactions, traumas, and healing experienced by everyone in the extended family. Napolitano allows her characters to learn and take risks in relationships and not be stuck doing the wrong thing out of fear or miscommunication. Themes of mental health as well as finding and being true to one’s self permeate the story which explores the impact of death, divorce, and disappointment along with success, love, and belonging on family structures and health. There is a fair amount of drama — it wouldn’t be an Oprah book selection without that — but I was happy to find this was a book about people with problems who actively try to address their own responsibilities in terms of their problems; they are not life long victims or people who continually keep making the same mistakes.

The writing is rich and full of reflection, interaction, and experience. It contains a well structured narrative arc that allows readers to enjoy their intimate time with the family while progressing steadily towards a denouement that works perfectly (although it was both upsetting and surprising to me). I loved the fact that the men in the story had such close friendships and such concern for kindness — nice to see that in male as well as female characters. I really enjoyed the small point made by one character who forgave someone immediately for doing something that was somewhat cruel because she wanted to be able to love that person and couldn’t do so if she felt angry and vindictive. The story includes a nice positive view of therapy and mental health and some great articulation of each individual’s personal discoveries and progress. I found myself thinking that some “solutions” were overly simplistic, but then I really couldn’t defend my own premise. Perhaps they really were core truths rather than sound bites. It was a good feeling.

The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

I enjoyed every minute reading this book. It’s one of those books that you’d turn to rather than most other activities on offer. On the surface (ie the cover) it just looks like a light hearted romantic comedy — which it sort of is — but largely due to the stellar writing it is also a set of lovable and realistic characters, great dialog, and a variety of relationship styles that bear further study.

The stated plot focuses on a baby who lands in the laps of three women — Lauren, a ceramic artist who just got her big break; Melinda, recently dumped after 30 years of marriage and raging for revenge — unfortunately applying said revenge in all the wrong places; and Olivia, the daughter of the bar owner who rents the basement of Lauren’s Greenwich Village brownstone for a song. It’s funny, full of characters who are deeply interesting rather than quirky on the surface, and steeped in New York city culture and habitats. Lots of fun — I can’t remember where I heard about it, but I’ll certainly go back and read some of her other books.

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo (Fiction)

I read / listened to this book simultaneously, going back and forth between the two editions. The audio book really gives you the lilting flavor of the poetic prose, and much of it is read by the author. On the other hand, for some reason, the audio book does NOT read aloud the chapter headings that tell you which family member is narrating. This can be very confusing as it often takes some time before it becomes obvious whose story is being taken up.

The novel tells the stories of the women of a multigenerational Dominican-American family — each with a gift that is not wholly of this world. It begins with one of the sisters — Flor — demanding a wake for herself in three days. Since her gift is predicting the day of someone’s death, her family naturally expects the worst, though Flor won’t answer any questions. The prose is lyrical, moving between present and past and among the three sisters and the two cousins of the next generation.

The story is slow paced and completely sensual — it is a story of sensory experiences and personal feelings, not a story of plot or thought. That was interesting to me because I realized that I personally prefer more thought and a little less feeling and experience, but I can appreciate the flow. The stories center on women — all the men are described from the women’s perspective which is another interesting way of telling of a story.

I enjoyed the story but you do have to be in a patient mood, as the story unfolds slowly with a different sense of time than I’m used to. Read after the caffeine in your system is spent, else you will not be able to settle in to the language the way you should.

Thank you to Ecco and HarperAudio and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on August 1st, 2023

The House on Prytania by Karen White (Fiction)

This book is completely engaging — a fun, fun read. It’s well-written and full of southern charm, not-always-benevolent departed spirits, quirky but solid characters, with a solid (spirit driven) mystery and threads of romance. Plus it’s set in one of my favorite cities — New Orleans — with plenty of old houses, restoration tales (mostly nightmares), and architectural history. The plot never lets up with kidnappings, hauntings, angry spirits, and whole bunches of stubborn, stubborn, people. So stubborn! Plenty of humor and sass — I particularly like the banter and polar opposite best friends Nola and Jolene who are at the center of the story. Always fun to see the interplay between a woman who dresses in whatever was closer to her on the floor and a woman who won’t leave her bedroom unless she is fully accessorized. Guess which one I identify with!

This is book 2 of White’s new series, a spinoff of her (deservedly popular) Tradd Street series. Nice to have read the others, but not necessary.

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman (Audio Book)

Writing: 4.5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

Four years later, Lily is just barely getting her life together and keeping the grief to a simmer after her husband is killed in a car accident mere feet from the family home. But this is honestly not a sad book (although the author does a good job of exploring how Lily does claw her way back up out of the grief trough). Instead it’s uplifting, humorous, and meaningful all at once.

An illustrator for children’s textbooks, Lily is sent off to a gardening class at the L.A. Botanical Garden to become one with the vegetables she will need to illustrate for a brand new client. She takes her two children (5 and 7) and her sister Rachael with her, and to say the class is populated with some wonderful characters is an huge understatement. The book is clever, literary, and linguistic — I love that Waxman is both a fantastic writer and chooses to write a world where bad things happen, but the individuals involved can make good things happen too. Her characters have agency. I also like the way she works with stereotypes and diversity issues — tackling the assumptions people make about each other and the surprise and follow up understanding when their assumptions are challenged. Very skillfully done.

I listened to this on audio book and the reader was fantastic. I probably would have preferred to read it in book form, though, because I like to savor Waxman’s writing and that is hard to do when you’re listening (and driving, hiking, or otherwise too busy to stop and do some kind of audio underlining). I did manage to capture a couple of lines though: “Just turn the handbag of your soul inside out, and shake it“ and “She has people skills like lions have gazelle skills.” As a bonus, there was a lot of actively good gardening instructions, given in small, digestible, pockets. Take note!

Harold by Steven Wright (Literary Fiction?)

Writing: 5/5 Plot: 3/5 Characters : 2/5
A deeply interior book with constantly catchy and cerebral writing. The narrative purports to be the thoughts of an obviously gifted and unusual seven-year old boy, primarily while he is sitting in a classroom absolutely not paying attention to the woman in charge. Harold has “tangent festivals in his head” — what a great way to put it! While I’ve read other interior novels, they often seem to focus on neuroses and over thinking, while this one is focussed purely on imagination.

I very much enjoyed the writing and the constant stream of bizarre and connected thoughts — my own brain works that way and it was fun experiencing someone else’s stream. Every thought in Harold’s head presents itself as a well-depicted bird flying through a rectangle in his head. I liked the imagery. However, to be honest, I did get a little bored with the book about half way through — the novelty wore off and I began to notice that Harold’s thoughts were more bitter, superior, and snide than comical (yes, I realize that that is the very definition of comedy for some people, but not me). I also started realizing that there was a fair amount of misogyny — his thoughts on his mother, the young, pretty girl he is obsessed with (Elizabeth), and his teacher are all pretty negative in stereotypical ways. For example, on Elizabeth: “Said the pretty very very smart, blonde girl who years later would send several men to their emotional deaths.”

A couple of good quotes:
“Harold loved living in the circus in his head. He saw his mind as a soup made up of a mixture of what was on the inside of his head and what was on the outside of his head. He considered himself a brain chef.”

“Harold thought that an echo was audio plagiarism.”

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on May 16th, 2023

Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace by Tracey D. Buchanan (Fiction)

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 2.5/5 Characters: 4/5

Minerva Place, church organist, piano teacher, and long time resident of Paducah, Kentucky. Relatively crusty with a deeply suspicious nature and a dislike of personal interactions of any sort, Minerva does have one angle in her life which is quite engaging: she often visits the local cemetery, finds an interesting gravestone, researches the person portrayed and … is often visited by the spirit of that person who sets her story straight. Newcomers to the town — engineer Robert McAlpin and his seven year old, somewhat undisciplined son, George — appear on her doorstep requesting piano lessons. From this set of characters the story follows three separate lines simultaneously: the current day, the slow unfolding of Minerva’s person history, and the elaborations of the lives of the cemetery denizens, injected with Minerva’s imagination to fill the blank spots. There is personal growth and a real shift in Minerva’s life — however it comes rather slowly, and I admit to skimming a bit at the end. I really enjoyed Minerva’s creative stories about the historical figures interspersed in the narrative, but too much of the story focussed on shame and guilt (for my taste) and took too long to get to a (weakly) positive resolution.

Thank you to Regal House Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 20th, 2023

We’re All damaged by Matthew Norman (Literary Fiction)

Broken wrist making reviews hard to type, but I have loved every Matthew Norman book I’ve read, and this is no exception. Humorous (very), yet deep. Wild characters (mom is a Fox News wannabe and his new friend Daisy teaches “vagina fiction” for a start). Draws you in within the first two paragraphs. Kind of a non-Jewish Jonathan Tropper (high praise for me).

Some fun quotes:
“It was our waiter. He was smiling in that maniacal way, that waiters at places, like Applebee’s smile, like they’re all doing methamphetamine back in the kitchen.”

“I’m still not used to living here. I’m not used to the crowds and the constant noise and the weird hours. I’m not sure exactly what it feels like, but it doesn’t feel like home — more like a strange, wildly, expensive Sleep away camp for pseudoadults. I step across the street and I’m nearly run down by a pack of skinny men on bicycles.”

“In all our family portraits growing up, I looked like a short, half-Jewish kid being held captive by a family of Vikings.”

“Jim is the hyper-achiever. You’re the moody one. That’s not a bad thing, by the way. Never trust someone who isn’t miserable at least half of the time. That’s my motto.”

“ ’There’s an entire genre of writing now that’s empowered women to type out their sex fantasies and publish them on the Internet. If you knew how many euphemisms for vagina I endure on a weekly basis, your little heart would break.’ I wasn’t prepared to hear the word vagina this evening. Up front at the register, Gail, apparently wasn’t, either. She clears her throat and gives us a librarian look. That’s the thing about the word vagina: it really carries in a quiet place.”

Games and Rituals by Katherine Heiny (short stories)

Kathryn Heiny is a fantastic novelist, and I requested this book thinking it was a new novel. Slightly disappointed when I realized it was a set of short stories instead, I nevertheless kept getting trapped by the prose and the characters in each story until I found I had finished the collection in record time. While a few stories left me unmoved, most kept me interested and provided human behavior insight which is my sucker-point (as in I’m a sucker for narratives that include such). From a day in the life of a driving examiner at the DMV to a woman caring for her elderly father to unintentional affairs to pandemic inspired Migraine flairs, this collection hits a lot of human experience points. Fantastic writing, too. I’m including some of her more humorous lines, but suffice it to say that I spent a lot of time snorting with laughter as I read (apologies for the visual).

Quotes:
“Your elderly father has mistaken his four-thousand-dollar hearing aid for a cashew and eaten it.“ (first line of third story)

“Your shirt is stuck to your back, your underpants feel like a piece of hot, wet, spinach, wrapped around your hips.”

“William had begun to worry that he no longer sparked joy in his wife and that she would give him to Goodwill.” (another story first line)

“Some people say time is like a river, but it’s really much more like an accordion, constantly squeezing you back to high school.”

“She resists the urge to shrug her shoulders, to flick the weight of his gaze off like confetti after a New Year’s Eve party.”

Thank you to Knopf and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 18th, 2023