Artemis by Andy Weir

I don't usually read "science fiction" but I do enjoy it. I LOVED The Martian. What a fresh voice! And the science, while very detailed, was fascinating!!! Great story.

In his sophomore attempt, Weir again goes to the stars - well, the moon in this case. A future colony has been established there with peoples from all over Earth, creating a new kind of melting pot. And new opportunities for Jasmine to "improve" her station by earning money on the black market - just a bit of petty smuggling here and there won't hurt anybody. Until one of her clients makes a BIG ASK, and all her skills from her estranged father along with her quick problem solving skills and brazen courage come full circle. Jaz, who has grown up on the moon, gets quick lessons in economics, the caste system and the omnipresent mob factors in her colony. Can she outwit them? Can she earn the prize money that will allow her to move out of her tin can abode and have her own private bathroom (priorities!)? Can she even survive when she is asked to face the desert moon alone and unsupported? And what is up with her Earth Bound pen pal that keeps interrupting our story here? The only thing that storyline supported was the possibility of a sequel where they meet up. 

Still, an interesting story and kept me reading. Weir's first attempt at a female narrator falls a bit flat, but considering Jaz's upbringing it makes sense. I would still read more of Weir!!

Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford

I met Jamie Ford at our Library's Fundraiser last year.  I complimented him on Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, and told him how much I appreciated a sweet, happy ending.  He smiled and said to me,"Then you are going to love this one!" as he handed me back my personally signed copy.

He was right.  :-)

The set up is very similar to Hotel.  Three Asian youngsters trying to assimilate into America, this time in Seattle during the World Fair in 1909.   Like in Hotel, the reader almost immediately connects with the main character, in this case a boy called Ernest.  It is very easy to fall in love with these characters the way Ford writes them.  Maisie and Fahn are his two best friends/loves and of course a choice must be made, if not made for him.  Because Ernest was literally raffled off at the Fair, and the woman who "won" him runs a brothel.  And Ernest ends up loving his new family regardless of their line of work - he has completely lost the one he was born into an ocean away.

As we once again toggle between two times - the beginning and near the end of his life - Ernest reflects on his life, his choices, his loves and his secrets.  His grown daughters visit and ask questions which bring back many memories of the paths his life has taken.  Ford did a lot of research here, and actually based the premise on a true story (or as the author calls it, "lost history") of a baby named Ernest who was to be given away during the time of the fair, but was apparently never claimed.  And so this story was born.  Add in some side scenes nodding to the women's suffrage movement, the health hazards of the "trade," the transport of children and women to America for less than honorable purposes, and even the different levels of cribs - from downright abuse to the select education and expensive dresses Madam Flora's girls received in her respected establishment - and you have yourself an interesting, well presented, and emotional story based on truth.  And yes, the ending was quite the consolation prize......I love it!!!!

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

Ok...a couple of things here......


One, I listened to this one on Audible and the narrator (or maybe the editor, to be fair)  NEVER paused. This story is told from three perspectives, and the narrator blended one sentence to the other and 5 seconds in I would think, OH, this is a new chapter.  ANNOYING!!!!!


Two, that ending.  Just - no.  I know what happened, that is subtly clear.  But it makes no sense to me to drop the story like that.   Revenge without the revengee realizing what is happening isn't really revenge, it is just torture.  And no questions?  No accusations?  (well, ONE)  Not the ending I would have thought for Esme, no matter what.  Yes, she has changed, but it just didn't sit right with me.

Three, the story.  Lots of subplots here, yes, and a beautiful juxtaposition of social expectations and the freedom in a woman's life between three generations.  Iris and Esme have quite opposing experiences, and the unthinkable yet undeniably realistic injustice that was Esme's life is hard to fathom in these times.

A quick "listen," but I think this story had such potential.  The voice of Kitty is actually well portrayed for her condition, and there could have been some kind of a future of reconciliation at least between Esme and Iris, if not with Kitty.  And that Robert had no role but in passing at the end just added to the sadness.  Such a waste, just like Esme's life.  A dark read.