The Revolution of Marina M. by Janet Fitch

The Revolution of Marina M.

By Janet Fitch

First off, this tome is 800 pages, so get ready.

Secondly, the last four words of the book are "End of Book 1." 

AACCCKCKKKKK!!

Now y'all know I love historical fiction. It has been a while since I read anything set in Russia, much less in 1916-1918 Russia. And this author has done her research. I could feel the cold, I could feel the despair and I could feel the revolutionary frustrations and energy from the Bolsheviks. And while I thought it would be a bit of a slog to get through and kind of heavy for summer, I could not put it down. I did get a little tired at the end and I was not jumping up and down to read the next book even with so many story lines unfinished. (What will become of Marina? What happened back at the summer home? Where is her one true love???) Of course there is a lot of conflict, and there are a few quite violent scenes, including a pretty graphic sexual assault (trigger alert here!). And in the last half some situations seem really really far fetched and unnecessary and just plain weird. Some of Marina's decisions don't fit with the person she is becoming, I think she gives up on Koyla too easily much to her disadvantage, and the whole scene at her old summer home with the people now living there - meh. Not sure I will dive into the second book, especially if it is this long again, but this is a good book if you are into epic novels about Russia or historical fiction. Very well written even with its plot flaws (imho). 

Into The Free by Julie Cantrell

(Note: I point out triggers in this novel which some may find to be spoilers, so proceed with caution. I don't name names or give too much away I don't think, but there you go. More than fair warning.)


In-ter-est-ing.

I just skimmed several other reviews of this book and am vindicated in my opinion here somewhat. Yet, still conflicted. Mightily.

I gave it four stars because it is so beautifully written. And, that is hard to do in the present tense I think! Made it kind of dreamy. Millie is a girl to root for, who has everything stacked against her, and we yearn with her in all her hopes and dreams. She has an abusive rodeo star father (tough to read about - in detail - but only abusive to her mother, let me clarify), a mother who slides between painkillers and severe depression, grandparents who want nothing to do with her, and a big ole' crush on a travelling gypsy. By the time she is 16 she has decided to run away with the gypsies. I would too!!!

Of course - conflict intervenes. Tragedy strikes. A nice nurse and a nice cowboy enter the picture and things change. As does the novel. I did not like the second half of this story - it is almost like two different stories - and the ending chapters really turned me off. There is a big trigger scene for sexual abuse that is graphic, terrible, and the aftermath is NOT well handled in my opinion. Maybe that is the way it (the aftermath) was back then, but I was not impressed at all with the reactions, or lack thereof. My only half hope for why that was even part of the story was because there is a book two and it must have repercussions. But, I am probably not going to read book two. Which is a shame because, like I said, this book was otherwise a pleasure to read, for the prose more than the storylines. I was annoyed with Millie and her seemingly Oh Well decision at the end, her treatment of her gypsy friend - almost like the book is almost over gotta sort this out! I would be willing to try other books by this author, but I think I am done with Millie, bless her messed up little heart. 

*Funny, I just listened to a podcast about trigger warnings. Did I mess up the story by revealing a rape? Am I turning some people away from this book because I have mentioned domestic abuse and sexual assault? Maybe. But I am a big advocate for knowing what you are getting into if you have triggers. I was shocked and so disappointed that the story took this turn in this book. So yes, this review seems very negative in the re-reading of it and I don't mean it to turn everyone off the story. It is worth reading, hence the four stars. BUT, if you are triggered by these things, or even if you are like me and just DON'T WANT TO READ ABOUT IT, especially right now during this pandemic where things are already stressful, then I do not want to lead you to a book that is upsetting, even if it is beautiful. Just my opinion, in my review. Happy to discuss further!

The Invention of Exile by Vanessa Manko

(If receiving this via email, please click on the title above to read the entire review, and check out other reviews on my blog at rawlesreads.blogspot.com!)

A very different writing style here - broken, gauzy, flowing.....not much dialogue but I think that is on purpose - really suits the story.  The story is Austin's - a Russian immigrant to the US who because of a language misunderstanding, ends up deported to Russia, then flees to Mexico, and begins the process of trying to legally enter the US.  His American wife takes their three children home to wait for him.

Begin Heartbreak.

This was a bit too depressing for me this summer - lots of themes here including family, loss, mental breaks, and lots of stubbornness!  Because Manko based this story on the true story of her grandfather, there is a certain poignancy as well.  But I was bored.  I skimmed.  Nothing much happened.  Which, as another reviewer pointed out, might be just exactly what the author was going for in atmosphere.  

I appreciated that Austin was so determined to enter the country legally, and was dogged in his efforts to make the Consulate hear him.  My husband is foreign as well (citizen now), and we went through all the hoops to get him into the US legally.  But this is 1934 and things are different.  Reds are the enemy; they will not listen to Austin.  So he keeps up with his inventions, his drafts, his brilliance, just knowing that they will see how much his work will help the US so they have to let him in to be with his family.

Bless his heart.

I expected the ending to be tragic.  Or at least hopeful.  But I did not feel either of these things.  I felt like I was missing the last chapter, it was that sudden.  I found myself even WISHING for the tragic ending over that.  Sigh.  What I will say is that the title makes a lot more sense at the end.  That, at least, was brilliant.  I think this author is worth watching as well.

In Another Life by Julie Christine Johnson

(As always, please click on the title to be taken to the blog for the entire review!  Please leave me a comment if you decide to read this one too!)

I actually really liked this book!  I frowned at the cover's statement that this book was in the vein of Outlander - you know that is my favorite series EVER, right?  So, nothing compares to Outlander.  

However, this was a good twist - more modern, no time traveling back and forth, but only the idea that a soul lost in one life can find comfort and closure through another.  So, yeah, you have to have an open mind here.  I liked the parallels to a previous time and the flashbacks that explained what might be happening. I liked that the flashbacks contained real life historical figures, and a real life "yes it happened but maybe not the way history said it happened" murder.  I liked how well fleshed out our main character is, even if the men in the story remained sketchy (double entendre, I love it).  This is a passionate love story too, but not racy.  A perfect beach read, if anyone is actually going to the beach........

Hanging Mary by Susan Higginbotham

Very pleasantly surprised by this book!  I am a fan of historical fiction, but I don't read much US history.  (Shame on me)  But after finishing Dan Abrams' Lincoln's Last Trial (about Lincoln's law career before he became President) earlier this year, I felt it fitting to read this book that has been on my shelf for a year or two about Lincoln's assassination.  And it is not even about the assassination itself - it is about the people involved and not involved and partially involved in the plot to bring the South back into the war and get revenge on Lincoln.  Specifically, Mary Surratt, John Surratt, Nora Fitzpatrick and of course, John Wilkes Booth.  Very strange to read a story about Booth as a man rather than just a wicked assassin.  But the focus really is on Mary and her part in the plot.  Higginbotham imagines things from Mary and Nora's (a young boarder in Mary's boarding house) alternating perspectives in the months leading up to April 1865.  Was Mary guilty of conspiring to kill the President?  Was she complicit or an innocent bystander, or somewhere in between?  How guilty was her son?  Students of history know there is no spoiler here regarding the ending; this story is more about the journey to that end.  Very well done!!!

Magruder's Curiosity Cabinet by H.P. Wood

What a delightful surprise this book was!

My sister in law started giving the same books to my mother and me (and her own self!) for Christmas a few years ago so that we could do a family book club.  This is one of those books!  She gave me all sorts of disclaimers - she had not read it, wasn't sure it would be any good, etc etc.  I always feel like with a random selection like this, you win some and you lose some.  Well, this one was a winner.

In further full disclosure, this is also a fictional account of a black plague like disease hitting Coney Island, NY, so that was also a surprise considering I picked it up to read during 2020's Pandemic Quarantine.  Truth is stranger than fiction, eh??

In 1904, 19-year old Kitty Heyward is newly arrived in NY from England after a traumatic discovery, only to be traumatized again by being mysteriously separated from her mother.  Enter a con man, a half man, a machine man, and a half and half, among other Colorful Carnival Characters.  Kitty and the others begin to form a new family while facing an unknown assailant in both the illness and the city's reaction to it as well as the "normal" and now increased discrimination towards the carnies.

The author debuts tremendous talent and potential with this book in my opinion.  She tackles so many issues with kindness, education, humor, tenderness and honesty.  The book alternates narrators so we get a view of life on both sides of the economy, while several of the characters also come to a new understanding of their own prejudices - and that works both ways.  No matter which character's head we are in, the reader feels fully invested and the characters are fully fleshed out.  Everything from automatons to leopards to gender fluidity to politics to fleas are covered here.

After all, real life is circus, too. 


PS - even with a handful of f-bombs, I would let my older teenagers read this one.  Not really historical fiction as there was no plague in NY at that time, but the other themes of acceptance of physical deformities, differing lifestyles, working together, and forming families are really well done here. As is the writing, which sometimes for me overrules all else.  I will definitely be searching up this author!!!

The Pull of the Moon by Elizabeth Berg

I am a bit conflicted on this one.  So really, 3.5 stars.

At first I was like - YES!  A journal-ed story about a woman (like me) over 50 (like me) who feels a bit lost from her younger self (like me sometimes) who has a grown daughter (like me) and who runs away and just drives off on a road trip by herself with no warning to her husband.

Wait, what?

Now, the writing here is stellar.  Very lyrical, and heartfelt and brutally honest as only a woman can be about herself and her life when she is writing in her journal.  She also writes letters to her husband to assure him she hasn't left HIM, she just needed to go explore and get away and find herself.  I was with her until about half way through (plus I kept thinking, where is your cell phone???).

Half way through I felt like she was just whining.  She starts telling her husband in her letters what she really wants in life, and how he should get ready for when she comes home.  She is very sure of herself that he will still be there waiting when she does decide she is ready to go home, and she is very bossy.  And while I certainly connected with her feelings of sometimes being invisible and always on someone else's schedule, never her own, I really lost my sympathy for her as well.  This is a short novel, and I think it would have been interesting to have a bit of the husband's perspective.  He gets a good bashing here - but it is all about how he doesn't notice her, the real her  - which she herself has admitted she has lost as well.  So how is he supposed to notice what is no longer being shown??  And seriously, how many husbands would truly appreciate all those letters when you LEFT HIM??  If he is still there, she better hope he didn't change the locks.

Now, if I am also brutally honest - how WONDERFUL would it be to actually do what this woman did?  She just got in the car and drove.  Stayed where she wanted to stay, ate when and where she wanted to eat, stopped and talked to random people - just because she could.  She actually made the pipe dream happen.  She took control of the remote, so to speak.  She traveled with the best travel buddy ever - herself.  Maybe I am just jealous.  Women get like that when they look over the fence at that grass for too long.  And in the end, our yard is just fine, thank you.  Because I made it myself.

Not that my husband noticed.  ;-)