Sycamore Row by John Grisham

3.5 Stars

 

Coming off the trial of the century, Jake Brigance thought he would finally realize his dream of becoming a rich and famous trial lawyer.  Fast-forward three years and Jake finds himself still struggling with the same nickel and dime cases he was handling before Carl Lee Hailey walked into his life.  There is a chance that will change when reclusive millionaire Seth Hubbard ends his own life rather than waiting for the cancer to kill him, naming Jake as the attorney who will handle the probate of his estate.  An estate that Hubbard decided to change the day before he committed suicide, leaving nothing to his heirs but rather to his black maid.  For the first time in his career, Jake will be paid an hourly fee – no contingencies, no bartering with poor clients for whatever they can afford, no waiting for a verdict to see if he’ll get paid at all.  Jake will be paid no matter what, but he will have to work for his money – digging into Hubbard’s past to see exactly why someone would choose to leave such a fortune to a woman who had only worked for him a few years.

 

I stopped reading Grisham 12 years ago.  When you work in law, a fantasy land of another law firm is not exactly the literary escape of your dreams.  Legal reality is:  even the most exciting case is bogged down in a sea of endless paperwork – once I break free of my desk, I don’t want to go back until I have to.  There’s always an exception to the rule, though.  That exception for me was returning to the setting of A Time To Kill.  In my opinion, Grisham’s first work was his best – a heartbreaker filled with characters you felt like you knew personally by the time the book was finished.  When I heard about the release of Sycamore Row I couldn’t wait to revisit my old friends.

 

In all honesty, had I not been so emotionally invested in the lives of Jake, Harry Rex, Lucius, Ozzy, etc. this book probably would have scored a 2 or 2.5 from me.  There are no surprises as to why Seth Hubbard chose to modify his will, it’s too long, at times it bogs you down in legalese, the courtroom proceedings are unrealistic, etc.  But I loved these people and wanted to hear what happened to them after the Hailey trial.  Grisham provided those answers for me and at the end of the book I still loved the characters.  Therefore, it’s getting it a big ol’ bump in the star department.  I just hope Grisham leaves well enough alone and doesn’t write a third Jake Brigance novel.  If he does, I either won’t be reading it or I won’t feel the need to be so generous in my review ; )

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

4 Stars

 

NoViolet Bulawayo tells a tale that is almost unfathomable.  Who could ever imagine living the first few years of life as an average middle-class girl, in an average house, in an average town, attending an average school and having that world flipped upside down?  That is the story of what happens to Darling and her friends when bulldozers sweep through their average lives in Zimbabwe, demolishing everything in their path.  Now the children and their families live in a shanty town, overrun by starvation, disease and despair.  Darling’s only hope that keeps her going is the dream of one day making it to America and living with her aunt.

 

What a remarkably honest book.  NoViolet Bulawayo makes you become Darling.  You truly feel like you are reading a story told by a 10-year old girl (and you progressively get older along with her).  Dealing with the horrors of reality ranging from poverty to rape to racism to AIDS to the fact that America may not be the land of milk and honey which so many dream of, Bulawayo pulls no punches.  The writing style of chapters that read like miniature stories rather than a continuous narrative really works in this book.  Bulawayo has a lot to say – a lot that NEEDS to be said – and she found a great way to put it all in one book that is just the right length.

Wise Young Fool by Sean Beaudoin

3.5 Stars

 

Richie Sudden has some time to reflect on his life.  Ninety days, to be exact.  That’s how long he’s stuck in juvie – pondering his existence and what got him to his breaking point.  The bad things like a dead sister, a dad who split and started a new family a nanosecond after the death, and his mom’s new girlfriend.  The good things like his best friend, the girl he fantasizes about and the battle of the bands competition he competed in. 

 

I was seriously loving this book until the last 20 pages or so.  We’re talking solid 4 stars, maybe even 4.5.  This book has great momentum, the overused but somehow okay once again “tough kid dealt a tough hand – the young cynic” lead character, gazillions of pop culture references that a nerdgirl like me can truly appreciate.  Beaudoin’s writing style is pretty genius.  The back-and-forth storytelling between the past and the present flows.  And, if you are unlike me and happen to know ANYTHING at all about music, you’re probably going to have an even deeper appreciation of how smart this book is that I can’t even pretend to understand.  But then the “A-HA” moment came.  And it was such a letdown that Wise Young Fool will be forever known on the internets as a 3.5 Star book by me. 

 

Wah wah.

 

I don’t know what happened to the end of the book.  Time crunch?  Fizzled out?  Thought he’d reach an awesome conclusion when he got to that point but it just didn’t happen?  I don’t know the answer, but I feel like there needed to be MORE.  I’m not writing Beaudoin off just yet, though.  He’s got several other acclaimed novels that I need to read before I finalize my opinion.

Fat Angie by E.E. Charlton-Trujillo

2.5 Stars

 

Fat Angie’s size had made her an outcast for quite some time, but when she decided to slit her wrists in the middle of a pep rally, she REALLY became a target for the mean girls.  After her failed suicide attempt, Angie tried to be as invisible as possible – sharing her feelings only through unsent letters to her sister, a soldier who was taken prisoner in Iraq.  All that changes when she meets new transfer student, KC Romance, and her neighbor Jake starts speaking to her again.

 

This book could have been a lot better.  It had a chance of scoring a higher rating from me had I not started a really good YA book immediately upon finishing it. 

 

It also may have received more stars had I not watched Pitch Perfect again and again and again and again with my children over their Christmas Break.  Fat Angie wasn’t nearly as likeable as Fat Amy.  The world needs more characters like Fat Amy.

 

 

Characters like Fat Angie make me feel next to nothing.  When I read a book about a fat girl who is holding out hope her M.I.A. sister is still alive and tried to kill herself in front of the entire student body, I want to feel SAD.  Like the darkest dark, rip your heart out, maybe I should stick my head in the oven for a little while sad.  Feeling “meh” is not the way to get a great review : (

 

Along the same lines, books with super predictable plot twists don’t score real big in the twinkly star department either.

 

 

In a nutshell, Fat Angie was an okay read.  It won’t change your life.  It might not even change your opinion about Fat Angie when you’re finished.  It may, however, remind you of Fat Amy’s awesomeness and make you want to watch Pitch Perfect ten more times ; )

Thousand Words by Jennifer Brown

3 Stars

 

Like a lot of people, Ashleigh made a dumb mistake. Feeling saucy while a bit tipsy, she decides to take a nudey pic of herself and send it to her boyfriend to remind him what he will be missing while away at college. She never guessed that they would break up or what a nightmare she would find herself a part of when her ex forwards the text to someone else. Now everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has seen the text, Ashleigh a complete social pariah at school, and the police/court have decided to use her as an example of the repercussions of sexting – forcing her to spend all of her free time in community service with some real thugs (or are they?).

 

I feel bad about giving this a "meh" rating because I LOOOOOOVE Jennifer Brown. Talk about a cool author who interacts with her fans. Unfortunately, though, I can’t give extra stars just because I’m a fangirl. Don’t get me wrong, this book is perfectly okay (hence the 3 Stars). The problem? It’s not The Hate List. If you have not yet read anything by Jennifer Brown, I beg you to pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase save The Hate List for last. It’s knockyoursocksoff good and a prime example of why an old bag like me still wants to read YA books. Thousand Words isn’t a bad book at all – it just really pales in comparison. It reads a little younger (especially given the subject matter), it’s a bit more contrived, it’s just not on the same level : (

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

4 Stars

(Read at Thanksgiving, but I'm a lazy slacker and just now did the review)

 

Cormoran Strike figured he’d be in the military for life. An I.E.D. in Afghanistan had other thoughts. Back in England, minus a leg, Strike has opened up a failing private investigation business – missing cats and cheating spouses his specialty. To add insult to injury, his on again/off again relationship is officially off again. Strikes has two options – (1) be homeless or (2) sleep on the couch in his office and steal showers from the local University shower room. His luck may be on the upswing when John Bristow, brother of the recently deceased starlet Lula Landry, walks into his office. Flashing an unlimited amount of cash to investigate whether his sister’s death was actually a suicide as the police have ruled or a murder like Bristow suspects, Strike will finally get to use his training on a case that actually interests him.
 

 

I will admit I fell into the category of "The Cuckoo’s Huh?" until I learned that J.K. Rowling was the author. I waited months in trepidation before reading it, fearing the worst that Rowling was a one (okay, seven) hit wonder and that somehow the magic and majesty of Harry Potter that gave me such a happy for so many years would be tarnished by a shit novel written under a pen name. Thank the heavens that was not the case. Rowling proves that she can write. I mean REALLY write. Write ANYTHING. Talk about a 180 from Hogwarts. If you are a fan of detective novels, you should find the endearing Cormoran Strike and the never-ending cash of characters a real page turner. If you are a fan of Rowling, you will appreciate her humor, storytelling ability and familiar bits like characters who are described as soooooo not good looking, but somehow you find them attractive anyway.  Cuckoo is marked as "Cormoran Strike #1" and I hope future books are truly in the works.

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

3.5 Stars

 

Salvage the Bones follows the Batiste family through 12 days in August of 2005 as they prepare to ride out what starts as a tropical depression, but ends up turning into Hurricane Katrina. As the impoverished family attempts to scrape together enough scrap wood to board the house and a stockpile of food and water to last them a few days, they are also forced to come to terms with their past, present and future. The past is a mother who died giving birth to Junior, the youngest sibling, leaving the family to be raised by an alcoholic father. The present is a litter of puppies born by Skeetah’s prize fighting pit bull who could sell for enough money to change their lives for a bit, but who are instead dying one by one. The future is 14-year old Esch’s baby that she hasn’t been brave enough to tell anyone about.

 

One of the most beautifully written books I’ve read all year and I’m finding it so hard to review. This is a book that is about nothing, yet about everything at the same time. I found myself completely hypnotized by the prose, waiting for the crescendo of Hurricane Katrina. Although this book isn’t free of problems Jesmyn Ward is a master of language and honest, believable, bleak, brutal, gritty, characters.  A very "book clubby" book that will spark great conversation over a glass (or three) of vino.