Malibu Rising

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (2021) 369 pages

The four adult children of famed singer, Mick Riva, have not seen him since he left their mother when the youngest was a baby. When their mother died, Nina, the oldest, wasn't quite eighteen, but she filed for guardianship on her birthday so that her family would not be separated. Their father hadn't responded when they attempted to inform him that their mother had died; they were on their own. He had never sent child support, and with their mother's death, Nina ultimately quit high school to work in the restaurant their grandparents had left to their mother. Now Nina is twenty five, Jay and Hud are 24 and 23, and Kit is 19.

This novel counts the hours in a day before two things occur: a large annual party the siblings hold to celebrate their triumphs, and a humongous fire that will scorch the Malibu area that same night. Reid also dips into the past to tell this family's story, starting with their parents, Mick and June. By the time we get to "today," we know that some of the siblings have earned their own fame, but they have also had their share of troubles. The fire that we know is awaiting keeps tension building up. I found the pacing good, and highly recommend this author.

The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards

The Widow's Guide to Dead Bastards, A Memoir (2024) by Jessica Waite 309 pages

Jessica Waite's memoir details her shock and grief at her husband Sean's sudden death at age 47. Her difficulties are compounded when she comes across information that shows he had been a consumer of pornography, and also had affairs. Her money situation looked scary, too, finding that his credit cards had large balances.

The memoir starts raw with Jessica learning of Sean's death in an airport in Denver, and wanting to break the news to their nine-year-old son gently. As Jessica's grief turns to anger, the memoir chronicles her emotional journey. She comes across as fully human, sometimes saying or doing cringy things, but also showing the many resources she used to find healing.

The Next to Die

 

The Next to Die by Sophie Hannah (2019) 399 pages

This murder mystery has a lot to offer: A serial killer in Great Britain has killed 3 women and 1 man, two pairs of best friends. The killer has thus been dubbed "Billy Dead Mates" by the police. Kim Tribbeck is a stand-up comedian who is apparently another target of the killer, based on a homemade booklet left with the intended victims before their murder, but Kim is having trouble understanding why, since she doesn't have a best friend. She is still dealing with the fallout of having been adopted out as a newborn, against the will of her mother, who was a teenager at the time.

The team of investigators are from different police stations in the vicinity. Their idiosyncrasies are on full display as they spar with each other while coming up with ideas on how to narrow their search for the killer. Detective Constable Simon Waterhouse seems to be the investigator with the best track record for solving crimes, but he's got his own weird habits, as his wife Charlie, another one of the investigators, can attest to. Meanwhile, a journalist, Sondra Halliday, is cranking out columns criticizing the police for their delay in finding the killer, insisting all men are misogynists.

There's a large cast of characters to keep track of, but it's well worth the effort.

Naked Sleeper

 Naked Sleeper by Sigrid Nunez (1996) 235 pages

Nona is forty, married to Roy, and trying to write a book about her father, a painter who never gained repute and who died in his 40s. It's clear that Nona--an only child--is haunted by him and didn't understand why her mother uprooted her, moving across the country when her mother learned her father was gay.

Nona takes the opportunity to work on the book at a friend's estate at a house party over the course of one month. She works hard at first, but then allows herself to get distracted by other people at the estate, especially a man named Lyle.

Like real life, her own life gets messy when she impulsively goes to visit Lyle for a weekend. She makes a number of decisions, taking the reader to unexpected places, and through the remainder of the novel, Nona tries to find her path forward.

I'd previously read two recent works of Nunez, The Friend and What Are You Going Through. I found those novels excellent and wanted to see one of her earlier works. This novel is not as tight, but okay.

The Painted Veil

 The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (1925) 246 pages

Set in the 1920s, this novel follows Kitty, a beautiful young English woman whose mother has high hopes for her to make a great match. But Kitty's mother thinks that each beau who woos Kitty isn't good enough. When Kitty is 25, in a panic, she marries Walter Fane and moves to Hong Kong, where he's a bacteriologist who works for the government. When Walter discovers she's having an affair, he gives Kitty a choice: if her lover will divorce his wife and marry Kitty, Walter will give Kitty a divorce. Otherwise, Kitty must follow him to an area in China which lost its only doctor to cholera, and where cholera is still raging. Heartbroken when her lover won't leave his wife, Kitty goes into the heartland of China with Walter. The story finally takes off and Kitty begins to show some character.

The Husband's Secret

The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty (2013) 396 pages

In Sydney, Australia, Cecelia accidentally finds a letter in her attic addressed to her, to be opened in the case of her husband's death. But John-Paul is very much alive, and when he learns that she has found the letter, he freaks out, leading her to open the letter after she has agreed not to. What Cecelia learns will turn her life upside down, making the very organized woman lose her focus in everything she was known for: selling Tupperware, organizing parents at the local Catholic elementary school, hosting large parties, etc. Meanwhile, in Melbourne, Tess has just been told that her cousin Felicity and her husband Will are in love. She flees to Sydney with her six-year-old son to figure out what to do next while helping our her mother, who has broken her ankle. Another family group in Sydney includes Rachel, a 68-year-old woman who still acutely feels the loss of her 17-year old daughter some 28 years ago. The killer has never been found, and the only balm for her hurt is her two-year old grandson. She has just learned that her son and daughter-in-law plan to move to New York for two years, which devastates her. She comes across some information that she believes fingers her daughter's killer after all this time and she is determined to find justice.

Liane Moriarty weaves a most compelling story around these different families, linking them together. The interrelated plots are captivating, and how the characters speak and deal with their quandaries rings true. I don't usually read a book of this length in one day, but this one wouldn't let go!

Isabel's Bed

Isabel's Bed by Elinor Lipman (1995) 385 pages

Harriet Mahoney is blindsided when her live-in boyfriend of 12 years asks her to move out so that another woman can move in to their apartment. Nursing her wounds, Harriet finds both a new job and a new (temporary) home when she is chosen to ghostwrite Isabel Krug's autobiography. Harriet moves into Isabel's fabulous home along the Massachusetts coast. Isabel is renowned as the huge-breasted mistress whose lover was shot to death when he and Isabel were caught in bed by his wife. The story gets stranger and stranger the more Harriet learns about it. When Nan, the wife-murderess, is released from an institution once she is deemed capable, she comes into their lives, wanting to write her own story. Nan's son, a soap opera star, figures in as well. Isabel's husband, Costas Dimantopoulos, is another unexpected character.

I often wondered where this story was heading, but enjoyed the unexpected turns as Harriet, out of her element, handles her new role, and a possible new love interest.

Dept. of Speculation

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill (2014) 177 pages

Jenny Offill's small book packs a wallop in its quiet way. The short chapters are not really composed of paragraphs, but what look like unrelated thoughts set near each other. Keep reading (it's impossible to stop, anyway) and a story grabs hold, pulling you into the lives of the wife, the husband, and the child (all unnamed). Pithy thoughts, some by famous philosophers, are sprinkled around the boundaries of the sketched-out story line.

Here's something that stuck with me (page 114): "... now it seems possible that the truth about getting older is that there are fewer and fewer things to make fun of until finally there is nothing you are sure you will never be."

Thoughtful and poignant.

Tales of the City

Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin  419 pp.

This was a re-read of the first book in a series I adore. It is the beginning of the tales of the residents of the apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco and their charming, quirky, and much loved landlady. The first three books in the series became a PBS series with Olympia Dukakis playing the indomitable pot growing Mrs. Madrigal. Taking place after the "Summer of Love" but before the AIDS crisis, the novel covers subjects like free sex, drugs, infidelity, race, and LGBT/Queer identity before the advent of the letter salad. I was fortunate to meet the author many years ago and he is as charming and gracious as his famous landlady character. This time around I listened to the audiobook read by Frances McDormand with an introduction by Rachel Maddow.

Anna Karenina in 100 Sketches

Anna Karenina in 100 Sketches, adapted by A.R. Eguiguren  (2010) 128 pages

Knowledge about Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was just one of the gaps in my education, so when I saw this short book in the UCPL Graphic Lit section, I checked it out. The characters are drawn simply, as humans with heads of rats. A much simplified rendition of a complex story, it seems well done. But of course I'd have to read the original Anna Karenina with its 800+ pages in order to be sure.

All This Could Be Yours

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg (2019) 299 pages

Victor, a rich, 73 year old man on the threshold of death, lies in a hospital in New Orleans, a victim of a heart attack. This book looks into his life and into the lives of his family: wife, Barbra, daughter Alex, and son Gary.

Alex has flown to New Orleans to be with her mother, and she presses her mother about what crimes and misdeeds her father did during their years in Connecticut, and especially wants to know why Barbra stayed with him, since he was so abusive. Barbra, on the other hand, wants Alex to make her peace with her father.

Gary, staying in Los Angeles, is trying to find work as an assistant director of television programming. He struggles with whether or not to return to see his father before he dies. Meanwhile, his wife, Twyla, is in New Orleans, struggling with her own demons.

The story abounds with multifaceted characters and rings true, although it's hard to square why Barbra did stay with Victor. Then again, that's often true in abusive relationships. It was hard to put this book down.

Your Oasis on Flame Lake

Your Oasis on Flame Lake by Lorna Landvik (1997) 296 pages

This story, set in small town Minnesota, focuses on two families handling a variety of issues, including marriage, divorce, body image, teenage emotions, infidelity, the aftermath of tragedy, and more. The point of view changes at each chapter, with five people supplying points of view: BiDi, who looks as good at 40 as she did in high school, and who seems bent on reshaping her 14-year-old daughter; Sergio, second husband of BiDi, who adores both her and her daughter Francesca; Devera, who is finding her life too predictable; Devera's husband Dick, a salesman who loves to clown around and has a special talent at changing song lyrics for comedic effect; and my favorite, Darcy, a preteen who relishes being in the spotlight when her parents open their basement as a nightclub for friends. Darcy often seems the most rational of all the characters.

As usual, author Lorna Landvik's character development feels true: the characters deal with the consequences of their own actions, as well as with whatever else life sends their way. Even the most annoying characters become people with whom I can sympathize, while some of the most likable characters show that they are, yes, imperfect humans.

The House Swap

The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet (2018) 294 pages

Caroline and Francis, a married couple in Britain who have a young child, take a vacation a few hours away from home as part of a house swap through a website. Their relationship had weathered some rough times in the past few years as Francis battled an addiction to pills and Caroline became enamored with a  co-worker. Caroline and Francis stayed together, but their relationship was still somewhat fragile; they hoped that this vacation for just the two of them would help.

The house they stayed in was oddly barren of personal touches, but there were a few things that started creeping out Caroline, including a bottle of the same aftershave that Carl, her ex-lover had used, which was  hidden under the bed, and a lone photo on the wall, which showed a place that she and Carl had gone to together. Who house were they staying in? Who was in their house? Was the house swap a coincidence or was something odd at work here? Why does Amber, who lives across the street from the vacation home, persist in showing up at strange times and asking questions?

Alternating points of view tell the story from the perspectives of Caroline, Francis and the person occupying their house/the person whose house they are occupying. The story also pivots in time from when Francis was an addict and Caroline was starting her relationship with Carl, to the present time. I usually shy away from suspense, but this novel gripped me. Each time I thought I was starting to understand something, I found there were still layers of unknowns yet to be revealed.

Mother's Milk

Mother's Milk (Patrick Melrose bk. 4) by Edward St. Aubyn  288 pp.

This is the longest of the Patrick Melrose novels although it is also rather short. Patrick has finally embarked on a somewhat normal life. The beginning of this volume is told from the point of view of his older son who has inherited the habit of running internal dialogues. The arrival of a second son triggers a sort of abandonment of Patrick and young Robert from the attention of Mary who is terminally besotted with the outrageously precocious new arrival, Thomas. Patrick's own mother has bequeathed his birthright of the home in France to a New Age "Shaman" and is now slowly dying in a nursing home.Alcohol abuse, extramarital affairs, and the discussion of assisted suicide add further complications to the story. So far, this is the best one of the lot. One more book to go.

A Separation

A Separation by Katie Kitamura (2017), 229 pages

At the beginning of this novel, a wife who has been separated from her husband is called by his mother, Isabel, who does not know of the separation, but who does know that her son Christopher went to Greece. Isabel is insistent that Christopher's wife travel there and make sure he's ok since she has not been able to contact him. The wife (whose name isn't revealed), decides to go ahead and travel to Christopher's hotel in an isolated area of Greece in order to ask him for a divorce.

Upon her arrival, she learns that Christopher hasn't been seen by the hotel staff for several days. Based on the behavior of one of the hotel's employees, a desk clerk named Maria, she suspects that Christopher has had an affair with the young woman, not surprising since Christopher had a habit of infidelity. The wife decides to hang around for a few days to see if he returns, taking a couple of day trips to look at a church and meet an old woman who was a professional weeper at funerals.

The time spent waiting to see if Christopher would return was also spent in mulling over relationships, not only her own with Christopher, but also that of Maria, the desk clerk, with Stefano, a man who is clearly in love with her, and also the relationship between Christopher's parents, Isabel and Mark. The outward lustiness of the only other guests at the hotel is also something to consider. This novel isn't uplifting, but it does provide something to think about...

Secrets and Shadows: A Novel

Secrets and Shadows: A Novel by Roberta Silman, 296 pages.

As the novel opens, in 1989, Eve and Paul have been divorced for about 5 years. As news of the fall of the Berlin Wall dominates the news, Paul, who has steadfastly refused to discuss the failure of their once happy marriage, calls Eve and asks her to accompany him to Berlin. Eve knows that Paul is keeping secrets, and feels that she should do more to find out what those secrets might be.
We know all through the book that something terrible happened to Paul while he was a young man, a young Jewish man, hiding in Berlin.
I found Paul a difficult character to relate to or like. Silman tells and shows us that Paul is very well regarded by almost everyone even though he is kind of a dick. Eve puts up with him, despite his numerous infidelities (I guess the 70s and 80s were different times), and his coldness and quasi-abusive behavior. She comes back to hear the secret and somehow ends up believing what? that the secret being revealed means Paul's behavior will somehow change? Paul's story is very interesting and Eve is a good solid character. Pretty good.

A Field Guide to the North American Family

A Field Guide to the North American Family, an illustrated novella by Garth Risk Hallberg. 127 pages

This is a strange little book. It has an attached ribbon bookmark, as if it were a bird book or a Bible. Some pages are made to appear bent, smudged or doodled upon. Two families who are neighbors on Long Island are discussed in out-of-sequence snippets, alphabetized by headings such as Guilt, Infidelity, Innocence, Rebellion. Each right-hand page has a photo that purportedly helps to illustrate the heading of the prior page, but the photos often seem to add obscurity instead.

Although the book is short and the snippets are brief and incomplete, an aura of drama about these families emerges, a storyline is sketched in.  I was moved, even though I didn't really want to care.

The Address

The Address by Fiona Davis  354 pp.

Sara Smythe is an Englishwoman with a good job as the head housekeeper in a pricey London hotel in 1884. Staying at the hotel is American architect Theodore Camden, who is currently working on plans for an apartment house in New York City. Camden offers her a lucrative position at the building which will be known as The Dakota and a ticket for the ocean voyage. Sara travels to America to take her place as the "Managerette" of the building. Her life takes a downward turn after a wrongful accusation of theft, exoneration, and the murder of Theodore Camden. Fast forward 100 years to a young woman named Bailey Camden who is fresh out of rehab and trying to regain her footing in the world of interior design by helping her cousin "remodel" the Camden apartment in the Dakota. The stories of the two women intersect when Bailey finds trunks full of Camden possessions from the previous century which only raises more questions about her great-grandfather's murder and her position in the Camden family. The story alternates between the centuries and, while the premise is intriguing, it is too often predictable. The author's notes list the references on The Dakota she used in writing the story which includes Life at the Dakota. In addition the author admits altering the timing of some historic events such as the arrival of the Statue of Liberty in New York and reporter Nellie Bly's famous undercover stay at the Blackwell's Island lunatic asylum.

Illumination Night

Illumination Night by Alice Hoffman  224 pp.

I've read a number of Hoffman's books and this one is my least favorite to date. It's the story of a family Vonny & Andre and their young son, Simon, a problem teenager sent to help her ailing grandmother, and a reclusive gentle giant. The couple has money issues and worries about their young son's lack of growth. The Elizabeth, elderly woman, is failing in health bit by bit. Jody, the teenager, is a wild one and her grandmother is hoping to turn her into a decent human being. There is an illicit attraction between Andre and Jody. All the family worries cause Vonny to have panic attacks and agoraphobia. The giant recluse doesn't appear until the last half of the book when he develops a crush on Jody. A horrible accident brings the giant out of hiding. There are a few too many twists for such a short book. It would have been better if either a few things were left out or the final product longer.

Stolen Beauty

Stolen Beauty by Laurie Lico Albanese, 302 pages.

The parallel stories in this novel follow Adele Bloch-Bauer and Maria Altmann, two actual Austrian women, aunt and niece, through their lives, especially exploring their strength as women, and how their lives were intertwined with the paintings of Gustav Klimt. Adele, who lived in Vienna from 1862-1925, sat for two portraits by Klimt, and was the model for his portrait of the Biblical heroine Judith. Lico Albanese portrays Bloch-Bauer as an exceedingly gifted woman who struggles to maintain her ideals, identity, and passion during a time when all three of these could be taken from a woman. Her niece, Altmann, as a Jew in post-Anschuluss Vienna struggles with a much more concrete set of threats. She must keep her wits about her as she attempts to win her husband's release from Dachau and find a way for them both to get out of Austria.