You Weren't Meant to Be Human

You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White, 336 pages

After presenting as a peppy cheerful girl for most of his life, Crane had trouble fully being himself. So when Levi, a handsome ex-Marine, lures him to mysterious hive-centric cult in Appalachia, Crane finds that, for the most part, they're OK with him being a silent man. However, when Levi gets Crane pregnant, the hive forces him to go through with the pregnancy, despite all of Crane's attempts to MAKE. IT. STOP. Can this really lead to anything but horror?

The answer, of course, is no. However, the horror of this book — Crane's forced pregnancy and captivity, the lengths to which he tries to end the pregnancy and escape — is so brutally and unflinchingly told that it's a very hard read and made me want to just reach into the book and give Crane a hug (as little as he'd like that). Indeed, while reading this, there were several times that I had to set this aside and pick up something lighter, and I probably wouldn't have finished it at all if I didn't have to. There was a chance to go for something easier to read by focusing on the hive — which seemed ripe for more exploration in the text — but unfortunately for readers, White chose not to go in that direction. Not my favorite, and I wouldn't recommend it.

The Expectant Detectives

The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes (2023) 371 pages

Alice, her boyfriend Joe, and Helen, their unruly dog, have moved from London to a rural village about three hours away. Alice and Joe want a safer, less expensive place to raise the baby they are expecting in a month. Within a week of their arrival, while they are in a prenatal class above an herbal shop, Mr. Oliver, a co-owner of the shop, dies. There had been no end to the chaos during the class because one of the pregnant women had gone into labor. Alice and a few other women from the class are trying to figure out whether Mr. Oliver was murdered and who would have done it. All they could definitively say was that Hen, the woman who had just delivered her baby, was not a suspect.

Alice and her new friends—some of whom intimidate her a bit—think that the nearby commune where the shopkeeper had lived until 20 years before, figures into the story. There had been a death at the commune 10 years ago, which also might be related. Meanwhile, some of the couples are having relationship issues.

Alice is a funny, sympathetic character who is trying to stop saying the first thing that comes to mind at any given time. This novel is the first in a series, with another one, Dead Tired, recently released.

The Bright Side of Disaster

The Bright Side of Disaster by Katherine Center (2007) 249 pages

This book was responsible for me waking in the middle of the night to read more because the story was going so well, and then when things took a turn for the worse, I had to finish it, making me groggy the whole next day. But... it's the kind of story that a woman can relate to, even long past child-bearing years.

Jenny is engaged to Dean, and she is unexpectedly pregnant. Then Dean leaves her and the baby is born. All the details ring so true: Jenny's first-person narration of her pregnancy, heartbreak, labor, and then falling in love with her baby. It's a great story with its expected and unexpected ups and downs, a lot more than what I've indicated.  Plus what I've already said is on the book's flap, so it can't be called a spoiler. See if you can finish it before bedtime!

Georgie, All Along

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn (2023) 331 pages

Georgie Mulcahy loses her job as a personal assistant to a famed screenwriter and director in the movie industry when her boss decides to dial it back and live a quieter life. Georgie moves back temporarily to her parents' home in small town Virginia, where her best friend Bel has moved with her husband as they await the birth of their first child. Georgie's parents are out of town, so Georgie will stay at their rather disorganized home and take care of their plants until their return. But her parents forgot that they had already found someone to watch the house before they knew Georgie was coming, so when Levi shows up, it makes for an awkward situation.

Levi is a gruff guy, a few years older than Georgie, a well-known troublemaker in the town in his teen years, who is estranged from his family. It's clear that Georgie and Levi are attracted to each other, but their attempts to communicate are often misunderstood, usually due to Levi's tumultuous past. It seems that they might eventually get together, but there is a lot to work through. Meanwhile, Georgie is still trying to find herself, and is using a "friend fic" book that she and Bel had written together just before they started high school, as a template for how to go back and redo the past.

After a bit of a slow intro, I found this to be a fast book filled with relationship nuances, while some of the characters attempt to answer the question of how to fill the blank spaces inside ourselves.

The Husbands

 

The Husbands by Chandler Baker (2021) 346 pages

Nora is stressed: She's under review this year to determine whether she'll make partner in her law firm. Her immediate boss is a huge drain on her time. She and her husband are trying to find a bigger house before their second child is born. While her husband, Hayden, is the sweetest guy, she still feels the pressure of being the primary parent for handling the life of their preschooler and other household duties.

The couple looks at a house in a neighborhood outside Austin, called Dynasty Ranch. The house seems perfect to Nora and the neighbors seem terrific—lots of women of various professions gather regularly and support each other. And their husbands all seem extraordinarily focused on taking care of their children, their homes, and their wives.

Nora is asked by her potential new neighbors to try to find out whether anyone/any company can be held responsible for a fire that destroyed the home of one of the neighbors and killed a neighborhood man, in order to provide for Penny, his wife. As Nora investigates, the situation seems headed in a very weird direction.

Fight Night

 Fight Night / Miriam Toews, read by Miriam and Georgia Toews, 251 pgs.

Swiv is 9 years old, living with her pregnant mom and her loving but aged grandma.  Her dad is no where to be found and so she writes him a letter.  That is basically the whole premise.   She is constantly embarrassed by her mom and grandma who seem to be out only to embarrass her. Swiv is quite precocious, actually a little unbelievable in that way but her adventures are epic.  Maybe she has become such an old soul because she needs to be.  A lovely book well narrated by the author and another Toews.

Goldilocks

Goldilocks by Laura Lam, 340 pages

I read this book about female astronauts stealing a spaceship last year, so I won't rehash the plot here. I read it again for our Orcs & Aliens discussion this past Monday, and I loved it both times. And it was great for discussion!

Flowers for the Sea

Flowers for the Sea by Zin E. Rocklyn, 107 pages

Iraxi is one of several refugees on a ship that left a flooded land in hopes of finding somewhere safer. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened and resources are dwindling. Already an outcast among her fellows, Iraxi's pregnancy is just one more thing that separates her — she gets special treatment and more food because of the baby, you see. However, Iraxi doesn't want the baby and fears that it may not be human.

This is a short book and a quick read, but it's also horrifying and visceral. I felt like there was a lot of potential here that didn't quite get fully fleshed out in the barely 100 pages — this would have benefitted from more pages and more details, regarding both the plot of the book and Iraxi's backstory.

Crooked Hallelujah

 Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford (2020) 288 pages

Fifteen-year-old Justine is a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. When her father had left many years ago, her mother, Lula, took refuge in the Beulah Springs Holiness Church, complete with faith healing, prophetic visions, speaking in tongues, and the requirement of modest dress. Justine is feeling hemmed in by her mother's congregation. And now she is pregnant.

Justine gives birth to Reney, and although she works multiple jobs, they are just getting by. Justine drinks too much and the men she associates with are unreliable, sometimes scary. Reney often finds more stability in time spent with her grandmother and great grandmother.

The novel chronicles the relationships between the four Cherokee women over time, especially from the viewpoints of Justine and Reney. The bonds of love are strong, but so are the difficulties encountered. Justine feels helpless when her mother develops seizures but Lula prefers the prayers of her congregation to any medical care. Unable to change her mother's view, Justine bounces between Texas and Oklahoma, trying to find her place in the world. Reney grows up quickly, and struggles to avoid her mother's pitfalls.

The debut novel of a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Crooked Hallelujah feels authentic and loving, but heavy.

Bloodline

Bloodline by Jess Lourey, 331 pages

After being mugged in Minneapolis, pregnant journalist Joan Harken has been whisked away from the dangerous city by her fiance, Deck, who's convinced that his idyllic hometown of Lilydale is the perfect safe haven for their burgeoning family. While Joan is cautiously excited to put down some roots, something about Lilydale seems...off. The neighbors on Mill Street are just a bit too nice, and everybody (and I do mean *everybody*) seems to know Joan's business. The longer she spends in Lilydale, the more sinister everything seems, and weirdly, the more interested the longtime residents are in Joan's baby.

This is like an odd mashup of Stepford Wives and Rosemary's Baby, with a bit of that really disturbing "Home" episode of X-Files thrown in for extra creepiness. It was a fast and disturbing read, though not a particularly fantastic one.

The Pull of the Stars

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, 295 pages

In the midst of the 1918 influenza pandemic, nurse Julia Power finds herself working almost entirely alone in a small maternity ward for in a severely understaffed hospital. Desperate for assistance, she accepts the help of an uneducated young woman named Bridie Sweeney. Set over the course of four stressful days, The Pull of the Stars delves into Julia's world, from her skills as a nurse to her naivete when it comes to the women in her ward. The book is powerful, full of heart and historical detail, and timely. A fantastic novel that I highly recommend.

This Is How I Lied

This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf, 332 pages

Twenty-five years ago, detective Maggie O'Keefe Kennedy's best friend Eve was murdered in a cave just outside their small town, and the killer was never found. But when Eve's shoe is suddenly discovered, the case is reopened and Maggie is determined to uncover the truth once and for all. Maggie's investigations, however, seem to be uncovering more than just clues about Eve's death. It seems that everyone around Eve was lying, including Maggie herself. Will the truth actually come out?

This is a taut thriller complete with a controlling ex-boyfriend, a creepy neighbor, an unhinged sister, and a retired detective who, in this case, is absolutely no help because of dementia. Oh, and our protagonist Maggie is heavily pregnant. The description, however, doesn't really do it justice. I was completely swept up by this suspenseful book, and honestly did not see all those twists coming.

Conjure Women

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora, 400 pages

During Slaverytime, Rue learned how to be a conjure woman and healer for the slaves at Marse Charles' cotton plantation. Rue's mother, May Belle, helped keep the older slaves healthy and helped usher many new babies into the world, while concocting several "hoodoo conjures" and "curses" for the slaves and masters alike. No matter that these conjures and curses pretty much amounted to satchels of herbs or funny sticks--what mattered is that the people who asked for them believed in their power.

Now that the Civil War has ended though, Rue is on her own trying to help the former slaves have babies and recover from all sorts of illnesses and injuries. But two people are making it mighty difficult for the former slaves to believe in Rue's ministrations: traveling preacher Bruh Abel and Bean, a light-skinned, black-eyed child that everyone believes is a familiar of the devil. Between these two, Rue has enough trouble, but throw in a few complicating secrets, and she has quite the task at hand.

Told in chapters that hop back and forth between Slaverytime, Freedomtime, and Wartime, this debut novel weaves a complex Civil War-era story in which the war itself serves only as a way to mark time and all the action focuses on the residents of a single former plantation. It's a fantastic look at the lives of African American women during the war, and I highly recommend it.

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift

The Pursuit of Alice Thrift by Elinor Lipman (2003) 269 pages

Alice Thrift has always been an excellent student, but she is finding that good academics (graduating second in her class at Harvard, for example) isn't enough to make her a good doctor. In fact, she's waiting for the other shoe to drop, doubtful that she'll be asked to stay for a second year in the residency program at the Boston hospital where she has been training. If only she weren't so socially awkward, that could help.

Alice finds herself being wooed by Ray Russo, a 45 year-old candy salesman who says he was widowed in the past year. Ray's kind of a slimy dude, always making a sales pitch, telling lies, or worse, telling everyone he sees that Alice is a doctor. This novel shows the progression of Ray's courtship of Alice, as well as her budding friendships with Leo, a nurse she's sharing an apartment with, as well as a couple of doctors she meets along the way.

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry

My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry  by Fredrik Backman (2015) 372 pages

Precocious Elsa, seven years old, is often the adult to her grandmother's inner child. They share a made-up language as well as a make-believe universe. When her grandmother dies of cancer, Elsa is left with a treasure hunt of sorts, with letters to find and deliver to people her grandmother had known, most from their apartment building. Some of the letters are very difficult for Elsa to deliver, going to people like the man she'd dubbed The Monster. Delivering these letters gives Elsa a view into parts of her grandmother's life she never knew about.

In addition to mourning the loss of her fiercest champion, Elsa is not looking forward to the birth of her half-sibling, or to returning to school‒where she is constantly bullied for being different‒after the winter holiday.

I feel this story depicts the inner working of a child's mind so well. Backman's first novel, A Man Called Ove is now on my "must-read" list.

Severance

Severance by Ling Ma, 291 pages.

I love post-apocalyptic novels that are less about the grim struggle and more about the nostalgia, and are quietly reflective on the smaller things that were lost, more about the continuity of small sadness after the world has come crashing down. Station Eleven and Colson Whitehead's magnificent Zone One stand out in this sub-genre. And now Severance is there too. This is a character-driven piece of Post-A fiction and Candace is a quiet, likable, and compelling central character.
Candace is rooted in her small apartment in New York, still stuck in the loss of her parents and in the sense that she disappointed them. As Shen fever takes hold, and the world starts falling apart, Candace is left with her job, her photo-blog, and her failing relationship with Jonathan. The book cuts back and forth through time, settling at times in scenes of memory; Candace's parents and their journey to America, and their ongoing battle about staying or returning to Fuzhou, or the recent past with Jonathan, and her work on the Gemstone Bible, or settling into the present with Candace's role as a reluctant member of a survivalist group / low-rent cult, following the not-so-charismatic Bob on his quest to relocate to the mythical and sad "facility" somewhere outside of Chicago. A quietly great book.

Start Without Me

Start Without Me by Joshua Max Feldman (2017), 276 pages

Adam is a recovering alcoholic who was invited to his family's Thanksgiving gathering across the country eight months after going through rehab, and he thinks that his family expects him to fail. After arriving at his parents' home in the late evening, he flees from it in the early morning after accidentally breaking the coffee pot, expecting that they'll blame it on a relapse. He returns his rental car and is eating at a hotel restaurant near the airport, planning to skip Thanksgiving with his family after all.

Marissa, a fight attendant, has just finished working an overnight shift and is struggling with whether to secretly abort her fetus, the result of a fling with an ex-boyfriend, and pretend all is well with her husband, the son of an extremely wealthy senator and his antagonistic wife. She is expected to arrive at the in-laws' home in time for a photo shoot (for the senator's annual mailing) and Thanksgiving meal. Meanwhile, Marissa's been estranged from her own mother for 5 years in an attempt to escape the ravages of her mother's own alcoholism. She's at the same hotel restaurant as Adam, getting coffee to prepare for her long drive to her husband's family mansion.

Initially, I thought that the set-up for the novel took too long, but later I appreciated the care taken by the author. Over the course of a very long Thanksgiving day, Adam and Marissa travel together, learning about each other and buoying each other up, but also sometimes getting extremely annoyed by each other. When their respective family members make their appearances in the story, we get a better sense of the difficulties they've experienced and their need to figure out what comes next in their lives.

The diving pool

The diving pool: three novellas / Yoko Ogawa, 164 pgs.

Three novellas that are each a bit bizarre which makes them memorable.  The first is The diving pool which tells of a one-sided obsession of a girl towards her foster brother.  She has a few issues of her own but is the one biological child of her parents who run a large foster home.  She obviously feels some neglect but is also counting on her actions not being noticed.  Over time, she realizes Han, the focus of her obsession seems to know of all of her slightly evil deeds.

Next is Pregnancy Diary which is the diary of the sister of a pregnant woman.  She recounts all the odd behavior of her sister and then sort of reveals that it isn't really the pregnancy that is to blame for much of it, her sister is just pretty odd.

Finally Dormitory takes a woman back to the place she lived in college and the manager of the dormitory.  An out of town cousin is coming to go to school and is too late for regular housing so she gets him into the private dorm where she used to live.  She becomes obsessed with the manager, a man she had few dealings with as a student, and returns each day to care for him. A strangely moving tale.

Japanese literature with more than a passing resemblance to Murikami.

Nutshell: a novel / Ian McEwan, 197 pp.

Trudy and her lover Claude set out to murder Trudy's husband John, who also happens to be Claude's brother.  Their plot is hatched from  Trudy and John's marital home, a run-down but high-value London townhouse which is actually filled with decaying trash, in case we need another pointer to Hamlet's rotten state of Denmark.

The twist is that the story is narrated not by Trudy and John's adult son Hamlet but by their unnamed fetus.  As I read Nutshell, I kept thinking that I should have been annoyed by this novel-as-conceit, but in fact I loved it.  McEwan is confident and skilled, but he also keeps in mind the fact that he's writing for an audience.  He strikes a bargain with his readers:  he'll write the novel he wants to write, but he promises to keep his readers engrossed, amused, surprised, and entertained.

The Rosie Effect

The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion, 344 pages

In this sequel to The Rosie Project, geneticist Don Tillman and his (spoiler alert if you haven't read the first book!) wife, Rosie, are in New York, working and studying at Columbia University. Rosie is midway through her psychology and internal medicine double-PhD studies when she announces that she's pregnant. Logical and clinical as always, Don immediately begins adjusting schedules, making spreadsheets, and preparing nutritious meals for Rosie to prepare for the baby's arrival. As you could probably guess, this straightforward and emotionless approach rankles Rosie, and adds to the stress that Don is attempting to relieve.

I really liked The Rosie Project, and while some of the things I enjoyed there are in The Rosie Effect, I can't say that I enjoyed it nearly as much as the first book. Part of what made the first book sparkle so much is the interplay between Don and Rosie; in this one, while Rosie and her condition are central to the book, Rosie herself is largely absent. Instead, we end up relying on a cast of supporting characters that, while occasionally amusing or engaging (particularly rock star George), pale in comparison to the Rosie that we fell in love with in The Rosie Project. Too much Don and not enough Rosie equals one frustrated reader. Read it if you want, but it's probably just as worthwhile to reread the first book.