Book Review: Maine

Many of you may remember by review of the author's first novel "Commencement". While I didn't give it that great of a review, I did mention that I was looking forward to reading her books in the future as I thought she had some potential as a writer. It is for this reason that I jumped at the chance to her new novel "Maine". This is certainly very different from her first novel and I love it!

The novel follows four women in the Kelleher family during a monumental summer at their beach house in Maine. Alice, the matriarch, is a strong willed and loose tongued woman who feels little affection for her family. She finds it difficult to relate to her children and grandchildren despite the fact that they are her blood. Her sections flash back and forth between the current summer at her house in Maine and an event from her past that still plagues her with guilt after over 60 years. Kathleen, Alice's daughter, is the misfit in the family. She is a recovering divorce with two children and a worm farm in California that she runs with her boyfriend. Her and Alice have always butted heads which was only exacerbated with Kathleen's father died. However, a momentous event causes Kathleen to uproot herself from her peaceful life in California and come east one last time to face her demons...and her mother. Anne-Marie, Alice's daughter-in-law, is the character everyone loves to hate. She was a stay at home mom who is a stickler for proper manners and etiquette. Though she was from the wrong side of the tracks, she has abandoned most of her past in hopes of becoming an upper-class socialite. Her only problem is her dysfunctional children and distant husband. Maggie, Kathleen's daughter, has always looked for love in all of the wrong places. Unfortunately, this last place left her pregnant and alone. She goes to Maine in an effort to get back to herself and plan her next move. When these four women are forced to share a house (or two), fights erupt, skeletons are unleashed from closets, and their love of family is tested.

I know this sounds like a lot of material, but Sullivan pulls it off without ever confusing the reader. Each character has her own dynamic and personality which is a feat when writing a novel that is constructed of all female narrators. Interestingly, none of the characters are likeable but I was still hooked on their every word. Perhaps the reason is that every family has an Alice, Kathleen, and Anne-Marie. The dynamics between the four women was fascinating and completely real. I would have enjoyed some insight from the men in the family, but I think that's another book as this one is all about the Kelleher matriarchy. Some reviewers were annoyed that the book didn't have more to do with Maine and wasn't really a beach read. Both of these statements are true. If you're looking for chick lit complete with a quirky main character and prince charming, this is absolutely not your book. If you're looking for a book that drops the names of various town and restaurants in Maine so if you have been to Maine you can feel like you're "in the know"...this is not it! This is a reasonably dark family drama that just happens to be set on the beach. Unfortunately, I could not give this book five stars because some of the Kathleen sections were a bit cliched or clunky. I felt that all of the other women were well developed and unique. However, I felt like I had met Kathleen before in many novels and Lifetime movies. Still, it didn't hurt my opinion of the novel which I will certainly be recommending.

-DLP

Book Review: Lies that Chelsea Handler Told Me

While it is not exactly an enormous feat to read all of Chelsea's books, I feel as if I have come to know her over the years through her essays and memoirs. When this book came out, I was a bit leery. Though it's about Chelsea (who is almost always funny), it wasn't written by her and therefore I was suspect. Still, I had read all of her previous books and was in a serious Handler drought so I decided to take a chance. I was disappointed. While I chuckled a few times and smiled every couple of chapters, it lacked the side-splitting milk-coming-out-of-your-nose kind of laughter.

Basically this book is a collection of essays written by Chelsea's family, friends, and writers about the pranks that Chelsea has pulled on them ranging from attempting to ruin a co-workers honeymoon to trying to get her brother to sleep with one of her staff. Some of the essays are funny but it's really hit or miss. Interestingly, I found the sections written by her comedic writers to be the least funny and those written by her family made me giggle. Still, I think these essays made her come off as sounding mean and ungrateful. While I have a suspicion that this isn't true, it did taint my view of her a little bit.

For fans of Chelsea, I think you might find some interest in this book. But I will spend my time re-reading "Are you there vodka" instead.

-DLP

Book Review: Lucille

I picked up this book recently because many of the reviews I read compared it to "Blankets". While I didn't adore "Blankets", it had a certain appeal to me that I still haven't been able to put my finger on. I thought that maybe this book would have that same appeal. Unfortunately, I felt that it had all of the negative aspects of "Blankets" and none of the positives. I know I shouldn't compare it to another work, but even on its own I found it lacking.

The graphic novel follows Lucille who is a troubled anorexic teen with few friends. She struggles with her relationship with her mother and often feels alone in the world. Her only confidante is an older woman in the geriatric unit of the hospital. At first, it seems that she is just your average conflicted adolescent. However, it becomes clear that she is suffering from numerous issues that are rooted in her unhappiness for herself. The second main character in the graphic novel is Arthur who is also a troubled youth. We first meet him when he is trying to convince one of his peers to sell his soul to Satan in exchange for a date with a girl and good grades. It is soon revealed to the reader that Arthur is dysfunctional because of his father's alcoholism and rage. Though Arthur loves his father, he is pained by his father's violent actions. Of course Arthur and Lucille meet and they are able to find in each other the love and acceptance that no one has shown them. That is until they journey out on their own and realize that the grown-up world may be even less forgiving than their adolescent world.

While I think the story was interesting, I feel like plots centered around misunderstood teenagers is a bit hackneyed. We have all seen it before in graphic novels, movies, TV, and literature. While I am always looking for people to put a new pin on it, "Lucille" does not do that. Additionally, I felt like the characters were beyond depressing. I love dark stories and crave unhappy characters in my novels. Yet, this went even a bit too far for me! I typically love simplistic graphics when reading a serious novel. Unfortunately, these illustrations seemed to make the story even more drab and depressing. Granted, the final page states that it is the end of part 1; therefore, one can assume that there will be multiple parts to this story. I hope that the future parts are a bit more developed than this installment and that the author turns away from the cliched plot of the poor outcast kids finding each other. Still, if there is a part two...I doubt I will pick it up.

-DLP

Book Review: Alice in Wonderland

Though I know this is a classic, I sadly have never read it until now. As an English major and voracious reader, I feel a bit guilty about this confession. Yet, I think that reason why I held off was because I was waiting for this specific edition. With it’s dark and slightly eerie illustrations, it certainly evokes the unsettling atmosphere that I think Lewis Carrol was aiming for. This is not the Disney version with bright colors and funny animals. Instead, this is a twisted dream that is far from comfortable but not exactly nightmarish.

For those of you who live under a rock, Alice is a young girl who accidentally falls dow a rabbit hole one day while in her garden at home. While falling, she sees a white rabbit with a pocket watch and begins to wonder what kind of place she has found herself in. She eventually hits the ground and must find a way to pass through a tiny door in a room with no other exits. Once she opens the door, she is faced with a myriad of complex situations from a caterpillar that smokes a hookah to a mouse that lives in a teapot. The deeper and goes into this surreal world the more she wonders if she will ever find a way home.

Being that this is my first reading of the novel, I found the characters to be a lot more sinister than I had expected. I had watched many films of the story and they all seemed bright and wholesome though odd. However, this tale is far more darker than Disney portrayed it to be. It is for this reason that I have to endorse this edition which has beautiful intricate pictures with vibrant colors but also a sinister twist that I think Lewis Carrol would appreciate.

-DLP

Book Review: Sleepaway

It’s summer and while I am too old for summer camp, there is nothing stopping me from reading about it. It is for this reason that I picked up “Sleepaway”. Though I never attended a sleep-away camp, I knew that it would make me nostalgic for summer vacations. In that regard, it hit the spot!!

As the cover shows, this collection includes numerous famous authors as well as some unknowns. The selections range from fiction, to memoir, to graphic/comics. In that aspect, the book is very well-rounded. There are eerie stories such as Margaret Atwood’s “Death by Landscape” in which two best friends attend summer camp but only one returns. There are humorous tales like Mark Oppenheimer’s remembrances of spending summer at a nudist camp only to spend the following summer at a leftist camp. If you’re looking for a story to pull at your heartstrings, Kevin Canty’s “Flipper” and Josh Lambert’s “The Brief Summer of Amir and Ariella” will do just that. “The Performance of Drowning” and “Apple Pie” had me completely captivated and I could easily have read a full novel based on both stories.

Of course, there were some duds in the collection. But these were very few and far between. I wold definitely recommend this as a summer read that fits perfectly into your beach bag.

-DLP

Book Review: Are You There Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea

Before driving cross country, I made a list of audiobooks that I thought would be good to listen to in the car. The only problem is that my partner and I almost never agree on literature. It is for this reason, that I chose books that leaned more towards humor and/or memoir. This is not my favorite genre, but I was willing to endure it for a couple of days. First on my list, was “Are You There Vodka? It’s Me Chelsea”. My partner is a pretty big Chelsea Handler fan so I thought I would surprise her with this audiobook. What I didn’t expect was that I would love it too! Her stories are even more hilarious than I thought and the fact that she reads the book herself just adds another fantastic layer.

Though Chelsea tells the reader many of her memories, this is far from a memoir. To say that she “tackles” issues such as sibling rivalry, incarceration, and parental discourse...is a bit of an overstatement. Her essays aren’t really about her reflection on certain events in her life as much as they are her witty assessments of situations. At the same time, they are incredibly compelling. While going cross country, we drove straight through a tornado warning and laughed the whole time because we were so caught up in Chelsea’s family antics.

Some critics have harped on her for being frivolous and offensive. While I can understand where they are coming from, I think they’re missing the point of this book. She is not writing as a way to overcome past hardships and search for herself. Instead, she is writing to be funny and most times she succeeds. Her insights and attitudes are those that anyone would have when vacationing with an annoying parent or complaining about a friend’s boyfriend.

Overall, her book is fun and funny. I will certainly pick up another of her books.

-DLP

Book Review: Liar's Kiss

Liar’s Kiss is everything you could want from a graphic novel noir. It is classic, edgy, and is filled with intrigue. I took a chance on it because I love graphic novels and I figure that even if it is bad, at least I can be amused by the illustrations. I wasn’t let down AT ALL by this novel. From the first page, I was hooked.

The plot is like that of any film noir. A private investigator, Nick, is having an affair with his client’s wife Abbey. One night, Nick gets a call from Abbey saying that her husband has been killed...and she’s the main suspect! She hires Nick to find her an alibi that will not place her at the scene of the crime. This assignment gets Nick into a bit more trouble than he had bargained for. Consequently, he finds himself facing demons from his past and putting his fate in the hands of another.

I thought this was superb. It is written in the traditional black and white “comic book” style. Where it could come off as being cliche, it actually sets the perfect tone and atmosphere for the story. When reading the book, you feel as if you’re watching an old fashioned noir. Including, the classic noir twist.

If I had to voice any complaints, it would be that the story is a little thin and the dialog is a bit stilted. Yet, I can’t really get update about it because most noir is thin on the plot and big on the intrigue. Still, as a first book I think he did a great job. I look forward to his future works.

-DLP