Hell of a Book by Jason Mott

 

Whoa.  I am not sure what just happened.

But I think Jason Mott might be a genius.

This might be the strangest book ever in terms of structure.  I struggled to get in to it. I could not find the plot, the character has no memory and no name, and the chapters switch from him (an author on book tour for a book he can't remember anything about) to a young black boy traumatized by his super dark skin color - or let me correct myself and say he is traumatized by how other people treat him BECAUSE of his super dark skin color - and then in pops a boy only the Author can see.  A very wise boy.

See what I mean?

But - about halfway through this novel, the story suddenly gets super focused and you will think OH.  Mott pulls no punches, he does not go down the stereotypical path of "books about race," he presents a lot of questions on all sides of the race issue that we all think but don't want to ask because we will be labeled racist or stupid or uninformed or worse.   The main character has convenient memory lapses, including the topic of his book, (which he discusses ad nauseum on his tour but can't remember any of the conversations later), and the color of his skin (76 pages in and he says, wait, I'm black???), and anything about his mother.  He questions why his publisher tells him he has to write about being black and only about being black, because white people don't have to write about being white, right?

"Am I allowed to be something other than just the color of my skin?"

Yeah.  Whoa.

I took SO MANY NOTES while reading this book.  I copied down quote after quote while trying to recover from the whiplash storyline.  My favorite passage was the heartbreaking one about the "condition" of being the parent of a black boy; no wait, it is the realization of the terror his father felt every single day that something would happen; no, it is really THAT KISS; but oh wait there is the whole thing with Nicolas Cage.......

So, here's the dealio.  This is an important book.  There is a LOT to talk about, think about, reflect about.   This is more than a story, it is not even really a story.  It is Mott waxing philosophical about race, condition, mental health, truth, loneliness, reality, and life.  Hell of a Book, aptly named, is not his usual type of novel and he had to fight to get it in our hands. (He is the author of The Returned, which was also a TV show about a small boy who comes back from the dead decades later, like he never left.  And then others of the dead from that community start showing up alive and well too. See??)  I have a feeling this story took on a life of its own.

That is a lot to pack into a relatively slim volume.  Maybe take a clue from the black, white and caution yellow cover.  But do not shy away.  This one was a finalist for the National Book Award, and for a good reason.  

UPDATE:  Mott actually WON the 2021 National Book Award after I wrote this review!  Congratulations!!

 

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

 

Definitely epic, definitely reminiscent of Huck Finn, and maybe just a teeny tiny bit overhyped.  

Or maybe I just waited to long to read it.

I found this to be a bit more simple in writing style than I expected.  My first WKK and probably not my last, but I think because I waited so long to read it and have read such stellar reviews that I might have suffered from Great Expectations. 

Still, a good read and a good story.  Four kids in 1932 have a rough childhood for various reasons.  They band together after a devastating tornado and run away - down river.  Adventures abound and await! The novel focuses on the first few months, but at the end takes us way down river to their longer lives, which I appreciated.  Lyrical and a classic story of a Life Journey and taking the road/river less travelled. A worthwhile weekend read.

The Huntress by Kate Quinn

This is one I listened to via audiobook.  Until recently, when I got a job with a 45 minute commute, I was not especially a fan of listening to a book.  I like to READ.  With my eyes, not my ears.  But I was listening to a podcast about books on my way to work, and she (Anne Bogel, What Should I Read Next) talked so much about audiobooks and gave me so many titles to add to my already overwhelming TBR that I thought, wait a minute, I should be using this time to get through some of these books!

Enter, The Huntress.

Performed by three different actors, this story is told in (take a guess!!) three perspectives:  Ian, British war correspondent who hunts Nazis; Nina, one of a group of Russian bomber pilots known as the Night Witches; and Jordan, a young photographer in current day Boston.

Say what?

Yep, stay with it.  The audiobook is long at 19 hours but oh so worth it.  The woman who reads Nina has such a good accent that I started whispering her Russian curses under my breath too.  The three characters are in three different time periods, but as the story progresses they begin to merge in a most unbelievable way.  Connections abound and the truth will out.  What is it that connects these most unalike lives?  Will each of them find what they are looking for?  Do they even know what they are truly seeking?

Kate Quinn is a reliable historical fiction author and has done it again with this novel.  Daring and different, this one was especially good on audio!!!!

We Begin At The End by Chris Whitaker

 

This one is a 4 1/2 star read.  Very atmospheric with main characters that are very much down on their luck, this novel is so well written that you can't put it down, even as these characters face blow after blow in their going nowhere lives.  While set in California, I got the sense that this could have also been set in Alabama or my home state of South Carolina.  Small town, local boy turned Police Chief Walker (Walk to his friends) who still reels from the fact that his testimony decades earlier helped to put his best friend in jail.  He looks after Vincent's addicted high school girlfriend and her struggling kids, Duchess and Robin.  And he pines after his own lost love, Martha May, who moved away years ago.  Life seems a standstill, and he is doing the best he can to plod along.  Until Vincent gets out of jail, a stranger comes to town trying to buy up property, and secrets start exploding.

There are several plot lines here.  You'll hear from more than one reader that Duchess is one of the best young female characters you'll find.  (Hello, Chris, sequel material?)  She is tough, she is self-sufficient and not by choice, and she is fiercely protective of her little brother.  She will literally do ANYTHING for him.  Another reviewer on Goodreads compared her to a younger version of Ruth on Ozark.  Spot on!  She is the Outlaw Duchess Day Radley.  Do not cross her.

You'll also find a man so torn by his past that he cannot face those he loves.  Another man hiding a secret that could cost him his job. Hell, everyone in this story has a secret.  Some you'll know, others you won't.  There is an angel in disguise waiting patiently to just be there, and another one willing to take a second chance. 

And don't you dare read the end first.  There is one of the best last lines ever here that will break your heart and lift it up at the same time. 

I don't mean this to sound like this book will bring you all the way down to the depths of depression.  It is sad and it is beautiful, and it is definitely redemptive.  Do all the story lines end happily? Nah.  But you know what?  That's life.  It ended better than I thought, and tragically too.  At first I was a little bummed after reading this, hence no five stars, but now that I am reviewing and rethinking I definitely would recommend this one.  Just read a happy book next!!

A great book club pick - lots to unpack here.  Thank you, Mama, for this recommendation!!! (And, for buying me the book when we accidentally went to the bookstore, as we do. ;-))

Not to mention, this author was pretty brave to use the last name Radley. Anyone else immediately think of Boo from To Kill a Mockingbird??  I am sure English Lit majors can draw some deep parallels there!

The Whispering House by Elizabeth Brooks

Another recommendation from Modern Mrs. Darcy's 2021 Summer Reading List.  Billed as a Gothic novel, my reader's heart thought, "Yea!  It'll be like Rebecca!!!"

Well.....not really.

I mean, there is a creepy house with a name.  And a Master of said house with a mother that is whacko.  And a disappearance, and a heart that gets sucked under.  So there's that.

But my main problem here was the main character.  Freya travels to England after her sister has committed suicide, and stumbles into a mansion near the site of her death where she sees a portrait of her sister.  All the flags are flying high here, so to speak, but yet Freya still gets pulled in to a romance with the mysterious man who lives there.  I was yelling at her.  I was hopeful for her.  But....she had no backbone whatsoever.  Ugh. 

I didn't hate this book, but it was not as good as it could have been.  What DID happen to Stella?  Was she murdered or did she leave this life the only way she thought she could? Why did Freya stay as long as she did? Is Cory so mysterious after all, or is he just a plain old jerk?  What role did Cory's mother play?  Is he a victim or victimizer?  I would caution that there are triggers here for partner abuse; not the physical violence kind, but the cut you down to nothing/controlling kind.  Hard to read, and most successful in its atmospheric fog.  I will say all's well that ends well so if you can make it through, there is a tiny bit of redemption there for this reader who likes a happy ending.  Or, at least not a thoroughly tragic one.

Tell that to Stella.......