Category: Books

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

After writing the last books about the Owens family, Alice Hoffman takes us on another magical realism adventure in The Invisible Hour.

If you have ever declared your love for a long dead author or fictional character, this book is for you.  I myself have my three favorite fictional loves and they are “Aragorn” (LOTR), Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles) and Shadow (American Gods).  In this book, we meet Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the book that most of us read in high school “The Scarlet Letter.”  I will admit, my knowledge of this classic American author stops at that book and the little I learned from a college professor who did his dissertation on Hawthorne (but I only half paid attention).  It is a delightful way to bring someone like Hawthorne alive and see him as a Man instead of some dead guy who wrote some cool stories.

Bringing Hawthorne to us, is Mia.  A young woman who had a horrible childhood and found solace in Hawthorne’s words.  It is his words that inspire her to make changes in her life.

I like Mia.  Even as a child growing up in a very strict religious environment, she still asked questions.  She never took an adult’s word as the absolute truth.

I do not want to give too much away, because I hate it when things are spoiled for me when I am reading, especially when a book came out just a few days ago.  I will say this, if you are a long-time fan of Alice Hoffman and her work, not just the Practical Magic series, I think you will find some fun “easter egg” type of references in the book. Again, not spoiling, but if you know, you know.

If you are new to Hoffman or have only read her Practical Magic series, definitely check The Invisible Hour out along with “The Dovekeepers” and “The Museum of Extraordinary Things,” just to name two of my all-time favorite books by her that did not involve the Owens clan.

Book Review: The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk

Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

I was not prepared for this story. I thought it would be a typical women’s fiction story based in a library. I love that it was not that type of story. The other surprise, at least to me, was that the main character was not your typical “young woman looking for purpose .” Liesel Weiss is middle-aged and knows her purpose. Or at least she thought she did.

While I love that Liesel was not your typical character, I was not a fan. I did not like her decisions, especially when it came to her family. I felt she mistreated her husband and was more smothering her daughter than a parent. I think you are meant not to like her. Because I wasn’t a fan of Liesel’s, I found that I didn’t care about her or any changes she may have gone through.

I feel the same for the rest of the characters featured. They all felt very one-note. I pushed through the story because I would hope that something would spark and make me like it, but sadly I didn’t care very much about the result of the main problem in the story. I so wanted to cheer for the team. I wanted them to come together to find a solution. Still, all they achieved was being a bunch of self-centered career people who could care less if their team succeeded or failed.

The setting was fun. I have not read many books where the location is Canada. I found it interesting to read about a place I have yet to visit as an adult (I went to Toronto once when I was 7, and I barely remember it). However, any setting in a library makes me smile. The story gave insight into how university libraries are run and the specialness of curating rare books. I related to the scenes at the bookseller conventions, as I have a museum background, and I’ve been to a few shows in NYC where there were rare book vendors. They are unique places.

Overall, while I’m not a fan of this book, I think the writing was decent. The plot has potential. I may not have liked it, but that’s the great thing about books; just because you don’t like a book doesn’t mean the next reader will feel the same.

Book Review: Forest of the Vanishing Stars

The Forest of the Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel

I received an ARC from NetGallery for an honest review.

The Forest of the Vanishing Stars is a story about family, survival, love, and discovering your place in the world. Set in World War II, a young woman named Yona, who was kidnapped and brought to the woods as a baby, is forced to make decisions in her life that she never expected to make.  At least, that is what she tells herself in the beginning.  Yona’s knowledge of nature, the woods where she lives, and religion help Yona help others.

I don’t want to say much more about the story and the plot because I don’t want to give any hints that may lead to spoilers.  I really liked this book, and I think everyone should read it when it comes out.

I enjoyed the well-thought-out characters. I appreciated that all the characters were not totally good and not totally bad.  Yona is brave, naïve, worldly, and stronger in mind and body.  She is a character that will most likely stay with me for a very long time.

The story’s events were based on real events during World War II in Poland and authentic places. The author, Kristin Harmel, did thorough research for the book.  Her descriptions of the woods and surviving the forest for long periods of time were so in-depth, I felt like the woods were right outside my house.

The story is both heartbreaking and triumphant and well worth the read.

Book Review of Castle Shade by Laurie R. King

Note: Thank you, NetGallery and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, for giving me a free ARC of Laurie R. King’s newest title, “Castle Shade,” for my honest review.

I’ve loved Sherlock Holmes stories for a long time, especially re-imagining versions of the stories, such as the Robert Downey Jr. movies and, of course, the excellent BBC series starring Benedict Cumberbatch.
This latest installment in Laurie R. King’s series focused on Mary Russell is right up there with the others for me. I love Mary’s ingenuity and her relationship with her husband. I’ve only read one other book in this series, and that was the first book, “The Beekeeper’s Apprentice”.

Castle Shade brought elements in a story I enjoy. History, the supernatural, mystery, and folklore.
The setting in Bran was familiar to me as I had previously read a historical non-fiction book on the Crimean war. I also felt that the small town featured in the story felt like any small town. I think whether it’s the early 20th century, 19th century, or today, small towns have the same feel all over, especially in fiction. There are family ties, legends, and feuds.

Using Dracula’s castle was delightful as I am a big fan of Bram Stoker’s novel and myth surrounding the most famous vampire.

The relationship between Mary and Sherlock is wonderful. They make it work despite their huge age gap. If anyone could get the eternal bachelor to settle down, it was definitely Mary. I love their banter. I also enjoy that Sherlock doesn’t talk down to his wife. He encourages her to come up with her own opinions, and even if he disagrees, he doesn’t tear her down. At least in this book, I have yet to read the other books in this series.

I highly recommend picking this installment of Mary and Sherlock’s adventures. It’ll keep you guessing until the end.

The Inciting Incident – Writer Igniter Challenge #5

I am so very far behind with the rest of the group regarding these challenges.  I had hoped to have them all finished by now, but because I read slowly and with purpose, it’s taken me a bit longer than usual to get through all the questions.  I hope for those in our Word Nerd group following these posts can understand my position.  Also, as we go forward with the challenges, spoilers will be happening with the book.  You’ve been warned.

For Challenge #5 in the Writer Igniter challenge, we are asked to unpack the inciting incident in our story.  It’s where our character passes the point from Act 1 to Act 2.

In The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, the inciting event happens when Stella peeps at her parents having sex.  Stella, like her siblings, could have slept through it every night, but one night Stella hears her mother’s voice and she sees her parents in the act.  Stella is fascinated and disgusted by it all.  She doesn’t like her father very much.  He hasn’t been involved in her life for most of her 10 years. She finds him dirty and brutish. She also feels its unfair what “he’s doing to her mother”.

Tony catches his daughter peeping and comes over to the bed she is sleeping in with her siblings.  He calls her a slut and tells her she’s a pervert for watching.  He then reaches under his daughter’s nightdress, pinching her.  Stella is determined not to cry out and stares down her father.  He tells her no one is to ever touch her but her husband “Or I’ll kill you myself”.

Stella decides to never let anyone touch her or have sex with her.  She has decided at the age of 10 never to get married if her parent’s so-called marriage is what it will be all about.

I feel sorry for the young Stella.  While I do admire that she wants to be an independent woman, I feel bad because Stella is so fearful of the future.  Her traditional way of being raised scares her. She has no positive role models.  Stella feels her mother is a saint and the best person on this Earth, however, she can’t help but feel sorry for Assunta because she cannot stand up to her husband.  Stella’s mother, aunts, and grandmother all repeat to her and her sister Tina how a good Italian girl grows up and gets married to be an obedient Italian wife and mother.  There is no other goal for any female in their village but to get married.  Even though everyone works, no one has any desire to move higher than where they are now in life.

I hope to keep up with the posts even though they’re moving behind the Member wall of DIYMFA as of today.  Next up:  Supporting Cast.

Character Compass (TADA) – Writer Igniter Challenge #4

Today’s challenge from the Writer Igniter Challenge is to create a character compass.  Gabriela Pereira has developed a chart to help writers and readers understand their characters more in-depth.  It is also meant to use to help the writer see what methods they rely on most to reveal the characters in their story.

I have been reading and studying the book “The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna” by Juliet Grames.  The scene I have chosen to analyze is from Part II – Youth, toward the end of the Death 5 section.  Stella is about to be engaged.

The picture below shows that in this scene Grames uses thought the most to describe what is happening at this point in Stella’s life.  The narrator tells us how Stella has decided to make a plan so that she may achieve her ultimate goal of being an independent woman.   Stella realizes that if she wants to gain her freedom, she must agree to marry Carmello.  Her main worry about the situation is that if her plan is successful, she may be torn away from her mother, who is the most important person to Stella.

Briefly, Stella has thoughts about being fair to Carmello.  Carmello had been after Stella for years to get married and every time, Stella refused.  This final time, she relents, knowing that she intends to not honor her promise.  She convinces herself that it doesn’t matter what Carmello thinks or feels because he doesn’t care about Stella’s wants and desires.

There is very little dialogue in this scene.  Carmello’s only dialogue is asking Stella to marry him and asking her after he slips the ring on her finger if she is sure.  Stella’s reply to him is “Before I didn’t want to get married at all.  Now I’ve decided I would never marry anyone else.”  This statement from Stella is not in line with her thoughts.  Stella knows she plans on not honoring her promise, but her words placate her fiancé and her family.

Action and appearance are the two other methods Grames uses in this scene. In this scene, these methods are linked together to describe not just what is happening in the scene but how Grames can establish Stella’s character more.  Stella’s actions when she comes home from work is to “make herself pretty”.  She takes time to dress in her favorite dress and do her makeup and hair.  When Carmello arrives at the house her sister Cettina knocks on the bathroom door to tell her sister of his arrival. Stella tells her sister she’d be out in a moment as she applies slowly a final coat of lipstick before putting her plan into action.

This exercise was a little hard for me.  Visual learning is not my strong suit.  However, I did appreciate learning a new technique to understand not just what I read, but how I can improve my writing as well.

I’m very slow with these challenges. I’m hoping to have all the challenges finished by the deadline of February 7th.

The Five Promises – Writer Igniter Challenge #3

For the DYI MFA Writer Igniter challenge #3, the question given to us is about the five promises an author makes to the reader when writing their book. The five promises are character, voice, world, problem, and event.  Each of these promises should be within the first 20 pages of the story for the reader to be invested in the story.  In the book The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna, these promises are listed by the author within the first 10 pages of the story.

Character

The character that the reader is introduced to is Stella Fortuna.  There are other characters in Stella’s story that you care about, but the story is about Stella and her life.  Her sister Cettina (Tina) and her mother Assunta play important roles in Stella’s life.  The reader can learn about their lives and how they are intertwined with Stella’s.  We care about Stella right away.  Just knowing that Stella has died nearly seven or eight times, catches the reader’s interest right away.  We know she was a beautiful young girl, smart, stubborn and most importantly, a tough woman.  Stella would only do something if she knew she was great at an activity, such as shucking chestnuts for the Don or being the prettiest girl in the village.

Voice

The voice of the story is the narrator.  The narrator is a relative of Stella’s, who has known her their whole life.  In their family, Stella is a person that is both difficult to deal with but also the one everyone cares about because they know the story of her long life.  We’re not sure how the narrator is related, perhaps a child/grandchild of Stella’s or Stella’s niece.  The narrator is telling the story of Stella as they gather information from other relatives.  The narrator breaks up the story by focusing on each “death” as a chapter.

World

The story of Stella Fortuna starts in a small town in Calabria Italy before World War 1. Stella and her family move to America just before World War 2 and goes to contemporary time in Connecticut.

Problem

Stella overcomes many obstacles throughout her life.  Her near-death experiences are just part of what she experiences.  Her main obstacle is to be the woman she wants to be, not what family tradition tells her what she should be.  From the beginning, we learn that Stella never wanted to be married.  She saw how her mother was treated growing up and knew that wasn’t the life she wanted for herself.  Stella is always battling others who tell her how to live.  She becomes frustrated, even with those closest to her, because she feels like she’s not being heard.  She wants to shed the traditional Italian ways she was born into and have her own life.

Event

The story begins after we are introduced to Stella with her mother, Assunta and her life leading up to the birth of her tough, unlucky daughter.  Juliet Grames writes:  “Stella Fortuna is like most women in that you can’t understand her life story if you don’t understand her mother’s.”  It is here where the story grabs the reader’s attention fully.

I am approximately ¾ done with this book.  I don’t want to jump ahead while answering these questions and mistakenly spoil anything for potential readers.  The story of Stella connects with me because this could be the story of one of my maternal female relatives. Our family comes from Calabria and they too left after at the turn of the century to make a life in America.  Some traditional values from Calabria seep into our family dynamics. It was my mother than bucked tradition and married a non-Italian and had her a career.  Still, some of the traditions my grandmother was raised with come out, like how one needs to care for family no matter what and a sauce recipe that has been handed down to me and soon to my niece.  I do find that I do not apply my modern sensibilities about being an independent woman to Stella as I understand the world she came from.  I am curious about her life and the more I read, the more I want her to succeed at her dream of living an independent life.

Writer Igniter Challenge #2

The book that I chose for the Writer Igniter Challenge is The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Juliet Grames.

The protagonist of this novel is the title character, Stella Fortuna.  She is born into an ordinary family in the small town of Ievoli, which is located in the region of southern Italy known as Calabria.  Stella’s circumstances seem normal to her, but to others, she is a larger than life character.  As the title implies, Stella seems to cheat death.  By the time she is 10, she has cheated death at least twice.  To some in her family and town, they feel she has extraordinary luck, good or bad, no one can agree upon.

Stella is also a cross between protector and survivor.  Not only does she survive the brushes with death, but she survives the rough life she and her family lead in Italy.  She is barley educated and goes to work at a very young age.  She works to help her family because her father has left them to live in America.

Stella is also a protector.  She protects herself, her family and most importantly, she is her younger sister’s protector.  When her sister Tina was born, her mother told her that Stella needed to look out for Tina always. Stella took that directive to heart.  She was always protecting Tina, as well as her mother Assunta.

Stella is also trying to protect herself.  Stella has known since she was a little girl, she never wanted to be like the other women in her family. She never wanted to get married and have children. She wanted to leave an independent life.  She wants to break away from tradition, but she finds obstacles constantly being thrown at her.