Save What's Left

Finished June 26

Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano

This debut novel follows Kathleen Deane as she makes a major life change. Her husband Tom tells her that he's not happy with his life or with his marriage and takes off on a round-the-world cruise. Kathleen sells their house in Kansas and buys a small cottage in the seaside town that her childhood best friend Josie lives in. 

While she enjoys being close to her friend and her hometown of New York City, she finds herself living next to a construction zone as the house next door to hers is being rebuilt. It is a large glass structure that locals refer to as the Sugar Cube, and the construction debris often ends up in Kathleen's yard, along with some of the workers, who have ruined the new couch she had delivered, which is sitting on her ocean-facing porch. As her resentment builds, she begins a long one-way conversation with a local councillor, but nothing changes in terms of the construction which continues its intrusiveness, and its flouting of building by-laws. 

Kathleen makes a friend, the neighbour across the street who is also offended by the large construction project, and finds herself heavily involved in the politics and pettiness of the town. 

This is a novel that reveals the dark side of living in a beach town and all that goes with it. 

Amusing in many ways, it also looks at perseverance, second chances, and unexpected life changes. 

The Guest

Finished April 2

The Guest by Emma Cline

I grabbed this book from the library to fill a challenge. I would say that it's a book that made me feel kind of like I was watching a train wreck in slow motion.

The main character Alex is very unlikeable. She behaves very much like a narcissist, and tries to manage the relationships, but doesn't necessarily put a lot of work into it. She moved to New York City as a young woman and lives with roommates. She has been in the city for a while as the book opens, and it appears that she worked as an escort, but never made a lot of money at it, and now is finding it more difficult to draw the men that she wants to. She has also missed rent payments and her roommates have kicked her out. 

After an encounter at a bar, she has decided to go in a different direction, beginning a relationship with an older man with the expectation that it will be long term. He doesn't pay her, but he does buy her things like clothing and accessories. She has traveled with him to his vacation home on Long Island, and accompanied him to various dinners and parties. When she makes a misstep at one of the parties, she finds him distancing himself from her and the sending her back to the city. His assistant buys her a train ticket and leaves her at the station. 

But Alex has another issue. She has got on the bad side of a man who doesn't suffer fools, and he is looking for her to return something she's taken from him. We do eventually find out what that it, but he has been calling her and trying to get her to meet him, so she is wary of taking a chance and going back to the city.

As she maneuvers herself into various living situations through meeting people and pretending she knows them, she has a plan to go back to the man who has sent her away, timing it for a party he has planned for Labour Day. 

Alex is desperate, but also very manipulative. She looks for opportunities to ingratiate herself into others' lives for her own benefit. She can be charming, but also cold and uncaring. I found myself wondering what crazy thing she would do next. 

An interesting and unique look at a life situation beyond anything I could imagine. 

The Tender Bar

Finished May 15
The Tender Bar: a Memoir by J.R. Moehringer

This is a captivating book of a boy turning into a man. JR spent most of his growing up years in Manhasset, New York on Long Island. His mother moved back into his grandparents' home when he was very young escaping domestic abuse. She struggled to move out, and finally followed a sister out to Arizona and made a life for herself and JR there. She sent him back to New York every summer though.
His mother's brother, his Uncle Charlie worked in a nearby bar, and took JR under his wing, taking him on outings to the beach, to baseball games, and other excursions along with Charlie's friends, many of whom also worked in the bar. JR grew up listening to these men's stories and watching them and trying to be someone they liked.
Once he got to be drinking age, he had his first drink in the bar, and it became even more central in his life.
I loved the characters here, the various idiosyncrasies that each one has and how JR makes them come alive. Colt, with his voice like Yogi Bear's. Joey D, large, manic, and his way of talking into his breast pocket. Bobo, a handsome blond with a lovable black mutt of a dog. Their boss, Steve, who owned the bar and gave everyone nicknames that stuck whether they liked them or not. Fuckembabe, the porter, whose speech was almost unintelligible except for that one line. Bob the Cop with his seriousness.
We see JR grow up, go to university, fall in love, try various jobs before falling into the journalism career he loves, and come to terms with the issues in his life, from his phantom of a father, to his class awareness, to the role alcohol played in his life.
A fantastic read.

Fix Her Up

Finished July 5
Fix Her Up by Tessa Bailey

This spicy romance novel is the small town of Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York. Travis Ford is a local boy who became a baseball superstar, playing in the majors. He also got a reputation as a ladies man, never staying with one woman for long enough to have a relationship. But after an injury, his skills weren't what they were, and he was traded around a bit before ending up without a contract. So now he's back home, and feeling sorry for himself. Enter Georgette (Georgie) Castle, the little sister of Travis' best friend Stephen.
Georgie has been in love with Travis for years, but never expressed her feelings. Her family knows, but no one has told Travis. Georgie has been working as a clown, making a living doing parties and other events. Now she's looking to step it up and hire some performers and become a larger entertainment company. Only problem is that no one seems to take her seriously, always treating her like a kid. And she's tired of that.
She's easygoing though, and has enough personality to take on Travis. She challenges his attitude, getting him out of his apartment and among the living again, and then she challenges him again, and just keeps on doing that.
And Travis finds himself seeing her in a different light, and feeling guilty for being so attracted to her. But also feeling like he's not felt about a woman before.
And so the story goes.
There is humour, graphic sex, and a decent plot. A fun, summer read.