Tuesday, August 31, 2021

The House on Vesper Sands

 Tell me a story… of lost souls



The House on Vesper Sands by Pariac O’Donnell

Publishing date: October 18, 2018

Date read: June 28, 2021


London, 1893. A seamstress jumps to her death from the window of the home of a wealthy man. After investigating the scene, Inspector Cutter of Scotland Yard discovers that a message has been stitched into her skin. His young sidekick, Gideon Bliss - a divinity student who, through a case of mistaken identity, ends up working with Cutter - wants to investigate the case of a missing girl he knew from his past. But as they begin to dig deeper, the connections between the two cases become apparent, and nothing is quite as it seems.

This is a hard book to categorize. I'd say that it best fits into gothic mystery, with a touch of the supernatural for good measure. It's not your thrill-a-minute murder mystery that I worry the reviews might be hinting at. It's a definite slow burn. The mystery is interesting and certainly kept me intrigued, but I think it's important to go into this book knowing what you're getting into, rather than be disappointed because you were expecting something fast-paced.

The real draw for me here was the characters. Aside from his bouts of love-sickness (which got a little old), I thought that Gideon Bliss was wonderful. Both Cutter and Bliss had a wonderful dry humor that played off each other really well. I wanted more of Bliss's police reports (as odd as that might sound), and loved his take on the mystery from an outsiders perspective. I don't know if O'Donnell has any plans to write a sequel to this book, but I would read it as long as these two characters are at its center. It reminded me a bit of the character relationships in The Alienist, a book that I also really enjoyed. 

I also have to mention the other lead character - Octavia Hillingdon, a young journalist who wishes to leave behind the women's society column and finally pursue a story that matters. I thought Octavia was a strong character, and the chapters that featured her were enjoyable. I just wanted her more involved with the main storyline. (Another reason why I would like to read a sequel.)

Overall, an enjoyable gothic mystery with wonderful characters and a decent plot. Could have been a bit better, but the characters made this one for me. 

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

Trigger warning: murder, suicide

Monday, August 30, 2021

Beautiful Country

 Tell me a story… about the immigrant experience 



Beautiful Country: A Memoir by Qian Julie Wang

Expected publication date: September 7, 2021

Date read: August 27, 2021


In Chinese, the word for "America" - Mei Guo - translates directly to "beautiful country". 

When Qian arrived in New York City in 1994, she was just seven years old. Her father had come to America a few years before, and now she and her mother were joining him. In China, her parents were professors. In America, as illegal immigrants, they are barely scraping by, working jobs in sweatshops and going "shopping" on the side of the road. Speaking almost no English, Qian teaches herself the language through books and learns about her new country through American television. When the stress of this new life begins to break her parents, Qian does her best to keep her family together, never losing hope of a better life. 

This was a wonderfully written memoir. Wang is able to perfectly capture what her childhood was like, to the point that I often forgot that I was hearing an adult tell the story. Her childhood was harsh and unimaginable, but Wang was able to tell her story with a mix of truthfulness and hopefulness, never glossing over the difficult times, but also not complaining about them. To her, as a child, this was just the way things were. 

As a white, middle-class American, it's difficult to accept sometimes that this was reality for a number of people as recently as the 1990s (and I have no doubt that its still true for many people today.) This memoir, in a way that wasn't at all preachy or angry, showed what many people are willing to do in order to achieve the opportunities they believe that this "beautiful country" can offer them if they work hard enough for it. 

Note: While this book itself is not at all political, there is a forward by the author that briefly discusses the recent political climate and how it led her to finally tell her story. 

Overall I found this to be a really well-written memoir about Qian Wang's childhood in America. I loved hearing her story, and found it an easy read despite the subject matter - while it was often serious, the fact that it was all being told from the child's point of view helped keep the tone light. I'm glad I read this one. 

Rating: 4/5 stars

Trigger warnings: racism/racial slurs

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

Sunday, August 29, 2021

Strange Beasts of China

 Tell me a story… of humans and beasts 



Strange Beasts of China by Yan Ge (translation by Jeremy Tiang)

Publishing date: August 1, 2006 (China), July 13, 2021 (US)

Date read: August 19, 2021


In the fictional Chinese town of Yong’an, humans live alongside various races of beasts, many of which look almost identical to humans. Our narrator, an author and former cryptozoology student, tells us the history of these beasts as she researches them for her stories. Each short story follows the following narrative: a brief history of the beast and any common knowledge about their race, a personal story of the authors interaction with someone of that race, a recap of the race in general, with new information or clearing up any false information from the original summary. 

Story list: Sorrowful Beasts; Joyous Beasts; Sacrificial Beasts; Impasse Beasts; Flourishing Beasts; Thousand League Beasts; Heartsick Beasts; Prime Beasts; Returning Beasts. 

Note: this book was originally published In Chinese in 2006, but is only now being published in the United States. 

Okay, this is a difficult book to review. But I’m going to do my best. 

I wasn’t sure how I felt about the narrative style at first, with the stories being told as though the author was writing a nonfiction text, but it didn’t take me long to get the feel of it. And I found the wrap-up at the end of each story very useful on some of the more confusing tales. 

There is a little bit lost in translation, I’m sure, but I found that most of the text translated well. The only thing that I think an American audience might find off-putting is some of the interpersonal relationships in the book, especially the narrator and her professor. I don’t know how university labs work in China, but to this American, his treatment of her was rather cruel and it was hard to understand her reverence at times. I didn’t take this as poor writing, though, just a difference in culture. 

As for the stories about the beasts themselves, most of them I found really cool. Especially at the beginning of the book, the stories were stand alone and wrapped up pretty well. (My favorite story was “Sacrificial Beasts”. Around “Thousand League Beasts”, the underlying thread began to get more complicated and, frankly, pretty confusing. But this isn’t a deterrent - just a warning. It’s worth the read, and most confusion is cleared up by the end. There were still a few parts that I found confusing, but I still felt pretty satisfied by the end. 

I do recommend this book, but go into it with an open mind. It’s unlike anything I’ve read before and is definitely book that will be running through my brain for a while. 

Rating: 4/5 stars

Trigger Warnings: euthanization (off page)

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. 

The Stranger in the Woods

Tell me a story… about a truly solitary life 



The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel

Publication date: March 7, 2017

Date read: June 10, 2021


In 1986, a shy twenty-year-old man named Christopher Knight left his home, abandoned his car, and walked into the woods with nothing but the clothes on his back. 27 years later, he was arrested for stealing food. This book tells the story of his years of solitude, as well as what happened to him after his arrest. 

I thought that this book was a very interesting story about this man, who decided to just drop off the grid with no preparation. He had some survival skills going in, but also relied on a fair amount of luck along the way. 

Knight was not a survivalist, living off the land - he actually stole everything he owned, from shelter to food to a radio. His goal (as much as he had one) wasn’t to live without help, but to live without face-to-face interaction with other people. 

There are definitely some unanswered questions in his narrative, but it’s not the fault of the writer. He was only able to go off of what Knight was willing to give him in the four or five interviews that Knight agreed to. The author does, in addition to giving us Knight’s story, also give us some history about hermits in general and how Knight fits (or in some cases, doesn’t fit) into the history. 

A very interesting story about one man’s life off the beaten path. I wanted more, but found what we got worth reading.

Rating: 3/5 stars 

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Comfort Me with Apples

  Tell me a story... about the "perfect" life

Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente

Expected publication date: October 26, 2021

Date read: August 1, 2021

Sophia is made for her husband. She feels it. And their life together in Arcadia Gardens is perfect. Her neighbors are enamored with her husband, which means she's one of the most popular people in the neighborhood. But even though everything seems perfect, Sophia does have some questions. Like why do her neighbors keep asking her if she is "happy"? Her life is perfect - isn't it?

First, I just want to say that this book is going to be really hard to review without spoilers, but I am determined to keep this blog spoiler-free, so I'll do what I can.

This is a really short book - only 112 pages - and I just want to say that I am amazed at what Valente can do with so few pages. (She did the same with The Past is Red, which I reviewed in a previous post). 

Right from the start the reader knows that something is "off" with this community (the Homeowners Association rules are a little bit odd, and are added to after every chapter). It honestly reminded me a little bit of the X-Files episode "Arcadia" (I have to believe that the location of this book was in homage to this episode, although I have no idea one way or another), where Mulder and Scully are investigating a murder in a gated community. 

I'll be honest - even though I caught on to some things fairly early on, around the midway point - I did not see where this story was going. And I loved that. I love it when a story can, realistically, go against my expectations and provide an ending that I wasn't expecting but that makes perfect sense. 

Overall, this book is really hard to review, but I think really easy to recommend. I think that anyone who likes a good psychological or domestic thriller will like this one, but you HAVE to go into it with an open mind. The Goodreads review compares this book to Gone Girl, which I think is a mistake. They're both good mysteries, but they're of a completely different story-set. This book would do better to be compared to The Stepford Wives, because it's more of a "something is off, but I don't know what" kind of domestic thriller than a Gone Girl type of story.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good thriller and doesn't mind a bit of WTF in their stories. Valente is a force to be reckoned with, especially when it comes to the novella-length stories. I can't wait to go back and read more of her novels. A fast, enjoyable read that I think a lot of people will enjoy as long as they go into it not expecting a specific kind of story. 

Rating: 5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (MacMillan-Tor/Forge) for an advanced copy of this book.


Maybe Once, Maybe Twice

  Tell me a story... about figuring out your own happiness Maybe Once, Maybe Twice by Alison Rose Greenberg Publication date: October 3, 202...