The Breakwater House

Finished June 18

The Breakwater House by Pascale Quiviger, translated by Lazer Laderhendler

This literary novel follows Lucie as she goes through a difficult period in her life, with flashbacks to her past. Lucie grew up with her single mom Aurore, struggling financially. Early on she meets Claire, who is only five days apart by birth, but who lives with her wealthy mother Suzanne. The girls are almost inseparable. Aurore wove stories about her own past and relatives that she told the girls, but when Lucie turned fifteen, Aurore left and began a life elsewhere. Lucie grew even closer to Claire and when Lucie in turn has a child on her own, Claire moves in with her and becomes another parental figure in her daughter Odysśee's life. 

When tragedy comes into their lives, Lucie struggles, and she eventually finds a house by the sea, where an older woman lives, that is for sale. When she moves to the remote house, with no connection to the rest of the world she finds strange occurrences, odd dreams that bleed into her waking life, and time that passes in an elusive fashion. 

This is a story of grief and loss and how one woman experiences it. Captivating. 

A Long Petal of the Sea

Finished April 12

A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende, translated by Amanda Hopkinson and Nick Caistor

This novel is a fantastic read, with the main events part of real history. Beginning in 1936 in Spain, we are placed amidst the Spanish Civil War., The war is drawing to a close and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians are fleeing to France. One of them is Roser, a young pregnant woman who lover, a soldier, is missing. His brother, Victor Dalmau, a medical school student who is serving as a medic, has arranged for a friend to bring Roser and his mother out of Spain, choosing a Red Cross nurse as a contact point for them to connect through in France. With so many people fleeing it is chaotic and Victor's mother is worried about slowing them down, and Roser and the friend find their way over the mountains into France before becoming separated. 

France is overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of people fleeing Spain, and there are limited opportunities for the many refugees. Roser finds a place to work and live, but it is not a permanent situation. In order to take advantage of getting away from Europe, Victor and Roser marry. By doing so, they gain a spot on the Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda. In Chile the small family starts over. Roser begins her career as a pianist supplemented by giving lessons, and Victor re-enrols in medical school while running a Catalan-style pub with a fellow Spanish exile. They always hope to return to Spain one day when Franco is no longer the leader, but the hope grows fainter over time. 

They make good lives there, with Victor working as a respected cardiologist while still showing his penchant for helping those in need, and Roser working with a Venezuelan man to create an international orchestra respected for their use of traditional South American instruments. Roser's child is raised within their strong household love, and their growing love for each other. 

Then they end up living through another upheaval as Chile is taken over by the fascist Pinochet. They realize that Chile is now their home, a land they truly love and feel tied to, and that the love they have built is strong and their son has grown up with their shared values and feeling a true Chilean. 

The real history of the characters' difficult episodes is told well, even to the presence of the author's father in the story. But it is their strong character and how they live their values that is at the centre of the novel and so well told.

I loved the inclusion of Neruda's work at the beginning of every chapter as it really spoke to the time and place. 

A shining example of Allende's writing. 

Girl's Girl

Finished March 25

Girl's Girl by Sonia Feldman.

This coming of age novel follows fifteen-year-old Mina over the summer as she navigates first love and friendship complications. It's a debut novel, and I quite enjoyed it. 

Mina has two best friends. Her first friend was Margaret, whose parents have recently divorced and who often spends time with her slightly older cousin. As the book begins, she is sharing her first sexual encounter with the friends. 

Eleanor is the other friend. She moved to the community later, but the three friends are a cohesive group. 

Mina's mother is an involved parent, and she asks that Mina let her know where she is and who she is with, and Mina is a rule follower. She feels close enough to her mother to confide in her. Mina has suddenly realized that she feels differently about Eleanor than about Margaret. She finds herself attracted to Eleanor, but isn't sure that the feeling is mutual, and doesn't know what to do about it. 

As it is the summer, the girls are spending a lot of time together, including having sleepovers. When Mina breaks one of the rules her mother set and confesses, she is grounded and worries that this will affect her place in the friendship.

This book brings to life so many things that happen around this age. In terms of sexuality there is curiosity, trepidation, and exploration. There are also feelings around so many things that are changing. For her friend Margaret, the divorce of her parents means another change that is having an influence on their situation, one that is outside of their age-related changes. They have more independence, but that independence isn't complete. This story felt very real to me, 

Room on the Sea

Finished March 1

Room on the Sea: Three Novellas by André Aciman

This was my first encounter with this author and I really enjoyed these novella. I think my favourite is the title one. 

The first novella in the book is The Man from Peru. It is set in coastal Italy, at a hotel in a small town. 

A group of American, friends from college, is there, meeting ten years after graduating. One of them was unable to attend, but the others are letting him know about the good time they are having. They've noticed an older man by himself, along with other fellow guests, and some of them have been making unkind comments about them and guesses about their lives. 

On of the Americans, Mark, has a shoulder injury that is bothering him and the older man stops at their table and holds his shoulder for a moment while telling him it might help and the shoulder appears healed. The man, Raul, reveals that his family used to vacation here regularly when he was a child, and he offers other predictions and advice that proves to be true. He seems to have an interest in one of them, Margot, even though she is the most catty of the women, and gets her to spend some time alone with him. The outcome is interesting and unexpected, but fits with the other strange stories he has.

The second novella is Room on the Sea, and takes place mostly in New York City. Two people in their sixties are both attending the courthouse for jury duty. They begin a friendship, going for lunch together, meeting for coffee before jury duty, wandering the streets and visiting art galleries. As they share details of their lives, they also befriend an Italian-born barista at the coffee shop and his stories of Naples get to be part of their story as well. This is an interesting look at the serendipity of relationships and how we as people change over our lives as well.

The third novella is Mariana and is also set in Italy. The title character is attending an art school, and she is drawn to a man already there as a student when she arrives. They have a short relationship, and he moves on, but she finds herself unable to get over him. Her actions draw attention and she learns more about herself and the other women he has spent time with.

The Deep

Finished February 14

The Deep by Mary Swan

This novella was originally published as a short story that won the O. Henry Prize, and is told through a series of short chapters that have a variety of narrators. The central characters are twin sisters, Esther and Ruth, who leave their North American home to volunteer in Europe during World War I. The narrators include teachers, school friends, family members, and acquaintances. 

The twins, throughout their lives referred to themselves as one, always saying 'we' and acting and speaking together. Their birth had a detrimental effect on the health of their mother, and although she lived for several years beyond the birth, she was confined to bed, and there is a sense that the twins are blamed for this by both their father and their older brothers, but more so their older brothers. 

As the war ends, and the women prepare to leave France, there is a situation where they acted as separate individuals, with both recognizing that and being unsure how to deal with it. It is obviously disturbing to both of them, and we see their actions following this. 

The Glitter Scene

Finished January 28

The Glitter Scene by Monika Fagerholm, translated from Swedish by Katarina E. Tucker

This literary mystery novel is told out of chronological order and from a variety of viewpoints. 

The story starts with the most recent time period, from 2004 to 2006. Johanna lives with her aunt Solveig in a house outside of town. When a girl a little older than her Ulla, tells her of a tragedy nearly forty years earlier, where an American girl died and then her boyfriend killed himself, she is intrigued and wonders where her parents, who were children at the time, fit into the story. She knows her father, Solveig's brother, is dead, but she doesn't know who her mother is. 

We then jump back in time to a story about a mask and some shoes, with the intriguing subtitle "an entirely different story, or maybe not?" and a second story about a girl who pretends she is a wild child from far away. We see Solveig and her twin sister Rita, girls who plan to become swimming stars; a brother and sister, Tom and Maj-Gun Maalamaa; Solveig and Rita's brother Bengt; their cousin Bjorn; and Doris, a girl looking for a more welcoming home than the one she was born into.

From there we move to 1989 when Maj-Gun and another local girl Suzette are in their late twenties and still unsure of their futures. When the two girls reconnect, a friendship of a sort is formed, but Suzette has secrets she doesn't want to share. 

This is a complex read, with interactions between locals and a wealthier group of people who move into a new, gated development that has repercussions. 

We Need No Wings

Finished December 19

We Need No Wings by Ann Dávila Cardinal

This novel really caught my attention and kept it. The main character is Tere Sanchez, an English professor at a New England university. She is currently on leave, almost a year after her husband was unexpectedly killed in an accident. She has been having a very hard time moving on. As the book opens, she is out looking after the garden that her husband loved so much when she found herself having a very unusual experience, she levitates. At first she thinks she might be going crazy, but after having more such experiences, and making some discrete inquires of an older aunt, she remembers that her family is said to be descended from the family of Saint Teresa of Avila, who was also known for levitation. 

On an impulse, she decides to travel to Spain, to Avila, and see what she can learn, both from the place and from a distant cousin who lives there. Her Puerto Rican Spanish will make it relatively easy to get along. 

She lets her son, who lives in California, as well as a university colleague who was a close friend of her husband, know that she's gone to Spain. Once in Avila, she starts by trying to find her relative, a task harder than she expected, and unexpectedly begins to make friends with some locals. The landlord at her apartment helps, as well as a young homeless man that she takes under her wing. When she decides to rent a bicycle, she also finds an friendship forming with the owner of the bike shop.

Her inquiries into Saint Teresa lead her to churches and museums, and give her insight into how women were treated then, and how little has changed in some ways. 

I loved this book and Tere's story of mid-life change. 

Perfume River

Finished November 29

Perfume River by Robert Olen Butler

This novel is, like all Butler novels I've read, beautifully written. The main character here is Robert Quinlan, a seventy-year-old history professor at Florida State University. His wife Darla is also a professor at FSU, she teaches art theory and is working on a paper about Daughters of the Confederacy Monuments. They live in a Craftsman house that they built with an inheritance from Darla's parents years ago.

As the novel opens, they cross paths with a homeless man while eating a buffet dinner, and Robert buys him the meal and has a short conversation. The man, also named Bob, decides that the cold weather warrants a long walk to a shed behind a church, a place he knows is always left open to those who might need it. 

Robert had mistaken Bob for a Vietnam veteran, forgetting just how long ago that war was, and this error takes him back to his own youth, and his time in Vietnam and he considers why he went and what he did, particularly on one particular night. 

Robert has a brother Jimmy that chose a different path. Jimmy went to Canada, and their father William disowned him. Now their father is close to death and choosing to give unasked-for opinions. And their mother Peggy has somehow got hold of Jimmy's phone number and wants Robert to talk to him.

This is a story of family, of fathers and sons, of expectations and resentments, There is also a theme of war that arises. A book that made me sit and think for a while. 

Aug 9 - Fog

Finished November 1

Aug 9 - Fog by Kathryn Scanlan

This is a very odd little book. It originated from a diary that the author found at an estate auction. The diary in question began when the author, a woman, was eighty-six and covers the years 1968 through 1972. The entries were ones that described life in a small community where the writer had lived for years if not her whole life. She talked about her friends and neighbours, the weather, the nature around her, household chores, social visits, and family.

Scanlan decided to play with the sentences that drew her in, cutting, editing, rearranging, and placing them into this new work. The work is arranged by seasons, with the sentences chosen reflecting their time of year. Each page has only a few sentences on it, and it reads almost like poetry. This is a book that invites reflection.

Command Performance

Finished July 23

Command Performance by Jean Echenoz, translated by Mark Polizzotti

This novel is quite different from anything else I've read. It's ironic and reads like a send-up of mystery suspense with a central character who is not very bright and rather inept, but doesn't realize his own limitations. It also has a literary style of writing in many respects, and that comes through in this translation from the French. 

The main character is Gerard Fulmard, a man who used to be a flight attendant, but something (we aren't told what) happened that made him lose his job. Now unemployed, he decides to try his hand a being a private detective, and gets hired by an obscure political party that is in the midst of infighting about their future direction and choice of leadership. 

The book opens with a piece of a satellite landing on the grocery store in Gerard's neighbourhood, followed by a kidnapping related to the political party previously mentioned. As Gerard is drawn in to the dynamics, it is unclear whether he is to be an information source or a fall guy. 

With cliché phrases flung in to add to the style, this book surprises and entertains. 

Echenoz is one of France's most respected contemporary writers, and is known for his plot twists and distinctive voice. Definitely a great read. 

Watch Us Shine

Finished June 13

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

This novel is a story of trauma and recovery, of families, and of forgiveness. It has dual timelines, one in the present and one in the 1960s. Cornelia Brown is the mother of two children, in a strong marriage. She is also the daughter of Ellie, the main character in the older timeline. 

Cornelia is recovering from a traumatic event that we learn about gradually as she talks about it to others. When her father lets her know that her mother was injured in a hit and run, she returns to her childhood home in Virginia to help. 

Ellie struggles to recovery physically, but sometimes she has periods where she seems to be grasping for a past that Cornelia doesn't understand. Ellie begs Cornelia to bring her the northern lights, and despite not understanding what Ellie means by this, Cornelia promises she will.

This starts a quest, first by Cornelia, and then joined by her older sister Ollie, to dig into her mother's past to find clues to this desire of hers. 

They gradually follow clues to different places from Arkansas to Michigan, to the Carolinas, to learn about their mother's childhood and the people that she was close to, but is no longer in contact with. Ollie has questions deep within her that she has never talked about either, and these drive the quest as well. 

In the past, we see the life that Cornelia and Ollie are searching for, the difficult childhood of abuse, the escape to college and acceptance into a family that Ellie grew very close to, and above all the relationship to her sister Martha, whom Cornelia and Ollie never knew about. 

This is a story of trauma, of the desire to be loved, of recovery, and of families, both blood and found. 

I found myself having trouble putting this book down. Highly recommended. 

Mercy Snow

Finished May 19

Mercy Snow by Tiffany Baker

This story takes place in the mid-1990s in a small town in the mountains of New Hampshire called Titan Falls. A great many of the men in the town work at the local paper mill, run for generations by the McAllister family. There is another family that has owned land for generations as well, further along the Androscoggin river, the Snow family. The town thought that Gert Snow, the last of the them had died after going missing in the 1950s, until a distant relative named Pruitt showed up in the 1970s to claim it. When  siblings Mercy, Zeke, and Hannah roll into town in their old RV and pull it onto the family property they've come looking for Pruitt their father after their mother Arlene died. But Pruitt is dead as well, and so the three settle in. They've lived a nomad life, travelling around the country with their mother, Arlene until she died recently. As they discover the death of their father, they settle in, but find that the community feeling is against them from the beginning. Zeke has trouble finding work but Mercy finds a job assisting Hazel Bell at her sheep farm. 

When a teenage outing by bus results in an accident that has one girl dead and the bus driver, Hazel's husband Fergus in bad condition in hospital, the Snow family is soon drawn into the drama, and Mercy's efforts to work against that bring unexpected stirrings of other emotions to the town. 

The McAllisters are also involved as June brings her own feelings along with her husband's plans to work on the Snow family. 

This book reminds me of the books of John Irving, and would be a great read-alike for those that love his stories. The setting is a big part of the story, but the characters are also deftly drawn and have deep backstories. A great read. 

The Garden of Evening Mists

Finished May 18

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

This literary novel is a slow-paced read, which I took my time over. In Malaya in 1951, the central character Yun Ling Teoh went to the Cameron Highlands area of Malaya to follow her sister's dream. She and her sister Yun Hong had been in a Japanese internment camp for three years, a remote camp that the prisoners didn't know the location of. Yun Ling was the only survivor of the camp, and she and her sister had kept their spirits up by talking about the Japanese gardens that they'd seen and what her sister wanted to create in her garden. Since the war ended, Yun Ling had worked for a few months as a researcher for the War Crimes Tribunal before getting a law degree at Cambridge. She returned to Malaya and became a deputy public prosecutor, but her unhappiness at the way the English-controlled government had dealt with the Japanese war crimes drove her feelings to become too vocal for her superiors. 

She is staying with a family friend, Magnus Pretorius and his wife Emily at their tea plantation, Majuba. She plans to visit out their neighbour, Aritomo, a Japanese man who had once been a gardener for the Japanese emperor and has been building his own garden, Yugiri, since coming to Malaya. She has asked him to design a garden for her sister, but he won't decide until they meet. 

Instead, Yun Ling becomes his apprentice, learning the craft of this type of garden by doing the work herself. She is the one who passes his instructions to the local workers, but she also works just as hard as they do. 

Thirty-six years after that first visit, Yun Ling returns to Yugiri after resigning from her position as a judge for the Supreme Court. She will be meeting with a Japanese historian specializing in wood block printing about using Aritomo's blocks in a book. She also meets her old friend Frederik, the nephew of Magnus, who now runs Majuba. Aritomo had bequeathed Yugiri and the copyright for all his writing and art to Yun Ling, but she hasn't visited in years and finds the house and garden both needing much work. 

The novel moves back and forth in time. In the early 1950s, Malaya was still ruled by the British, and there were communist rebels fighting in the jungle, killing the foreign estate owners, and causing unease across the country. In 1987, the country of Malaysia is independent, calm, and a tourist destination. 

We see how the relationship between Yun Ling and Aritomo grew as they worked together on the garden and how she dealt with her hatred of the Japanese through this growth of her abilities and outlook. There are still unanswered questions that Yun Ling must decide whether to pursue. And she must make plans herself, both for her own story, and that of Yugiri. 

This book is wonderful and eye-opening. The characters are complex and the story is as well. The writing brings the setting to life, not only the garden, but the Cameron highlands themselves. You can see the jungle, the forest mists, and the way that both Majuba and Yugiri have put their own visions on their land. This book made me reflect on many things as I read it. With themes of memory and forgiveness the book is one I will think of often. 

The Golden Mean

Finished March 2

The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

This novel is narrated by Aristotle, the real historical figure, and creates a story around his time with Philip of Macedon, mostly taking place at the city of Pella. Philip had known Aristotle when they were both boys, and Aristotle arrives in Pella carrying a message from Hermias, the satrap of Atarneus under whose patronage Aristotle had been living. 

Along with Aristotle and his household, are his wife Pythias and his nephew Callisthenes. Aristotle soon meets Philip's sons, Arrhidaeus and Alexander, and is asked to work with both of them in very different ways. Arrhidaeus suffered an injury early in his life that damaged him, creating learning disabilities. Alexander is the golden child in many senses, spoiled, used to getting his way, and entitled. Aristotle is one of the few people who challenges him, and that creates an interesting dynamic. Aristotle covers many subjects in his teaching, but at the core of them is the idea of balance, the golden mean referenced by the book's title. 

We see Aristotle's personal life, his relationship with his wife, servants, slaves, and his nephew. We also see his inner thoughts about both this personal life and his more public responsibilities. 

Lyon makes her characters come to life, they have personality and flaws, and she has obviously researched the real people she portrays. 

This was her debut novel, and won the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, as well as being a finalist for the Giller. I found it a compelling read. 

Fortunate Son

Finished March 1

Fortunate Son by Walter Mosley

I've read a few standalone books by Mosley, and I find they always have depth and make you think about the world in different ways. This one is no exception. 

When Tommy's mother Branwyn got pregnant with him, his father Elton wanted nothing to do with the situation. Branwyn managed on her own, and when Tommy was born with health issues, visited the ICU every day after work, hoping that he would survive. A doctor at the hospital, Minas Nolan, noticed her and began a courtship. He had recently had a son, Eric, and his wife had died in childbirth. His nanny Ayn did as well as she could but the child was inconsolable. When Branwyn and Eric meet, he is immediately calmed by her, and soon they become a small family. 

When tragedy comes to them, Tommy is separated from Eric, and though the two have a strong connection, they lose track of each other for years. 

Mosley shows how they class origins and the colour of their skin has a big effect on how they manage through life. Despite trauma and setbacks, Tommy gains the nickname Lucky, and feels that he is as well. Eric has a charmed life, and yet longs for something that he can't identify. 

When another tragedy brings the two back together again, they find more barriers between them and it is their found family members that each of them has gained along the way that help them find a way forward. 

This book explores social issues in America, particularly race and poverty, with the prejudices that underlie even the organizations that are supposed to support people. But it also explores outlook, and how each of us views the world we live in, and treats the people that we interact with along the way. A thought-provoking read. 

A Big Storm Knocked It Down

Finished January 17

A Big Storm Knocked It Down by Laurie Colwin

This literary novel, published in 1993, is the last book Colwin wrote. It follows Jane Louise Parker, from just after her honeymoon through the next few years in her life. It has themes of friendship, family (including found family), and self awareness. 

Jane works for a small publishing firm in New York City, as a book designer. She has several co-workers that we see through her relationships with them: Sven, the art director; Adele, the department secretary; and publishing agents Dita and 

Jane's husband Teddy is a child of divorced parents, and he was raised by his mother, in a house in a small town in New Jersey that has been in the family for generations. Teddy is a chemist and product designer for a small company developing natural cleaning products. His best friend Peter is someone he has known from childhood, who now has an organic farm.

Jane has moved a lot as a child and has no real sense of belonging. Her mother has remarried, to a wealthy man, following Jane's father's death. Her best friend is Edie Steinhaus, her former college roommate. Edie is a caterer and pastry chef and an outlier in a family of male lawyers. Her business partner Mokie Frasier is a man she met at cooking school in Paris. He is tall, black, and also Edie's life partner, something her family tried to ignore. 

As we see Jane's life, we see her insecurities, her passions, and her relationships. With both of them having little in common with most of their family members, they have created a substitute family with Peter and his wife Beth, and Edie and Mokie. 

This is a character driven novel that lets us into Jane's life completely. I loved it. 

Orbital

Finished January 11

Orbital by Samantha Harvey

This exquisitely written book is short, just over 200 pages, yet one I took my time reading as the imagery she writes and the thoughts her writing provokes made me want to stop and think often, and reread certain passages. The novel was a Christmas gift chosen because it won the Booker Prize for 2024. 

It is set mostly in the International Space Station over 24 earth hours. There are four astronauts and two cosmonauts at the station and the story is told in third person, but giving us access to each of their thoughts at times. Sixteen orbits of the earth by the Space Station occur over the course of 24 hours, and the book is structured around these. 

We see their professional interactions and get a sense of the work that they engage in, both scientific and housekeeping. We also see their personal thoughts and concerns, sometimes in real time and sometimes through memories of interactions with loved ones. 

One of the things they observe on this particular day is a large typhoon moving over the Pacific Ocean as it heads towards people ill-prepared for the massive storm. Another is the launch of a rocket carrying four astronauts to the moon. 

I found it fascinating as the novel talks about the land moving beneath them, the countries and land masses sliding by, with the lights at night showing the presence of human life more than the land viewed by day. It gave me a new sense of our planet and its place in space. I was also moved by the human connections between these people thrown together through circumstance, and the disparate connections they had to people back on earth. 

This novel has taken its spot as one of my favourite books of all time. 

The Sweetest Dream

Finished December 16

The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing

This novel takes us from the early 1960s through the late 1980s, following generations of one family and their friends. We see relationships, both intimate and friendly, come and go, and we observe how the political landscape changes over time. 

In the early part of the book, the main character is Frances Lennox, a divorced woman, who sacrifices her own dreams to support her children, Andrew and Colin. Her ex-husband, Johnny, is deep into communism, travelling and speaking about his politics not just across the country, but internationally. Johnny's mother Julia had tried to give money to Frances when he didn't pay maintenance, but Frances found work and managed. Both boys agreed to go to schools funded by Julia, Andrew to Eton and Colin to St. Joseph's. It was only when Frances realized how much their living situation was resented by the boys, that she agreed to move into Julia's house, with Julia living on the top floor and them having the rest.

Frances soon found herself catering to more people, as the boys friends and girlfriends, ex-friends and girl-friends came to meals and some ended up moving in. 

The reader can see how Frances is resigned to her situation, and keeps Johnny at a distance as much as she can, but accepts whoever of the younger generation appears at her table, and even those young African men that Johnny brings as young communist idealists. She deals with the issues of the time, rebellion against her generation, rebellion against traditional expectations, experimentation with drugs, the sexual revolution, and more. She even deals with the added presence of Tilly (Sylvia) the daughter of Johnny's second wife, when she is moved into the house. 

The later part of the novel follows Sylvia as she goes to Africa as a doctor, working in a remote community and trying to help the local people who are starved for medical, and educational assistance. The country she goes to, Zimlia, is a fictional one, but has strong parallels to the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. 

The writing is so good, and the story interesting. The only issue I had with the novel is that there are no chapters, just occasionally a few blank lines, indicating a change in time, setting, etc. For me, as a reader, I like to have a feel for when I can make a pause in my reading and the lack of chapters in a book is something I find personally frustrating. 

That aside, this is an amazing read, with so much depth, both of characters and of setting, that it is worth reading. It immersed me into the story. 

The Summer without Men

Finished June 28

The Summer without Men by Siri Hustvedt.

This short novel is very engaging. Mia Fredrickson, the narrator and central character, had a breakdown after her husband of thirty years left her for another woman, a French woman that Mia refers to as 'The Pause'. She was hospitalized for a short time, diagnosed with a Brief Psychotic Disorder, and once she was well, decided to return for a few months to the small Minnesota town of her childhood. She rents a small house near the senior complex where her mother lives in a small apartment. She also gets a job teaching a group of teen girls poetry. 

Her mother has a group of friends that spend a lot of time together, and Mia thinks of them as the Five Swans. She regards them as women who "shared a mental toughness and autonomy that gave them a veneer of enviable freedom". We get to know these women. George is one hundred and two and has a great sense of humour. Regina is eighty-eight had married a diplomat and lived in several countries and had several relationships after her husband's death. Peg, at eighty-four spent her life in a smaller town nearby, and has six children and numerous grandchildren that she keeps detailed track of. Abigail, at ninety-four has osteoporosis and hearing issues, worked as a teacher, but is a textile artist with hidden depths that she gradually reveals to Mia. 

We also get to know the teenagers. Mia has taught graduate students for years, but she adjusts quickly to this younger group of students. Peyton, thin and tall, is still getting used to her longer limbs. Jessica is small but has a woman's body, and talks in a babyish voice. Ashley is self conscious, but confident of her developing body. Emma is shy. Nikki and Joan function in tandem and giggle a lot. Alice has moved recently from Chicago, and is interested in books and art. Mia teaches them three times a week for six weeks, giving them interesting exercises and prompts for their writing. 

Mia also starts getting anonymous emails that are nasty and critical. When she begins to engage with this unknown person, the conversation becomes very interesting. 

She also has emails with her husband Boris and her daughter Daisy. During the summer both Daisy and Mia's sister Bea visit her. 

She also engages with the family living next door to her house, Lola and Pete, and their children Flora, and Simon. Flora makes quite an impression with her stuffed animal menagerie and her Harpo wig. Lola makes and sells jewelry and is a calm and capable mother. Pete travels a lot for work and Mia seldom interacts with him. She hears the arguments between the couple and helps sometimes with the children when Lola gets overwhelmed. She describes Flora so well, I can see her in my head. 

Scattered throughout the novel are poems, some by other poets, some by the teen characters, but many of Mia's own, and this is part of the skill with language that Hustvedt has. She also has insights that touched me. One example is this:

Sitting across from her in the small apartment, I had the thought that my mother was a place for me as well as a person. ...But it was my mother herself whom I had come home to.

Her other insights about her mother were also interesting to reflect on. Mia cooks for her mother and visits, listening to her talk about earlier times in her life, and walks back to her rented house reflecting on her own life. She has weekly telephone sessions with her psychiatrist Dr. S. and spends time writing poetry. 

This is a novel that drew me in, that made me read slowly with attention, and that made me care about the characters. A gem. 

A Strange and Sublime Address

Finished June 4

A Strange and Sublime Address by Amit Chaudhuri

This novel is narrated by ten-year-old Sandeep, an only child who lives in Bombay (Mumbai) in an apartment with his parents. They go on regular visits to extended family in Calcutta. The novel covers two visits, one in summer and one in winter. His family usually stays in the house of a family on his mother's side, where he has two cousins of a similar age Abhi and Babla. 

Sandeep is a child who observes closely what is happening and his view is an innocent one that lets us see what is actually happening. He observes his cousins, his aunt and uncles, the servants, and even the neighbours closely, catching small actions and looks. The language here is full of description and evokes a sense of happiness and comfort, surrounded by those he loves. It also uses the natural terms used by a real family, with endearments and nicknames, and words that evoke the place and time of the setting. 

This was the author's first novel, originally published in 1991, and, in the foreword, is compared to other novels narrated by youthful observant characters.

I loved immersing myself in this world, of food, comfort, and family, feeling life slow down and appreciated in the small things that happen, from bathing to eating to resting. The excursions, both to other family members and for just a thing to do on a weekend afternoon are also slow and relaxing. This novel depicts those small moments in life that we often don't take the time to appreciate. 

Definitely one of my favourites of this year's reading. A lovely novel.