And the Mountains Echoed

And the Mountains Echoed is the best book I have read this year. Khaled Hosseini continues to craft masterpieces. He is a beautiful writer and bewitching storyteller. His technique is delicate, yet purposeful. He makes suggestive comments that gradually reveal key plot lines. The narrative is appropriately complex. Hosseini’s characters are rich. Not one of them lacked interest. Every character (and there were many) had story lines for which I would have loved further exploration. I was so drawn to the characters and invested in the story that the last twenty pages had me bleary eyed with tears. I did not want the book to conclude.

Beautiful Ruins

Beautiful Ruins was well written, but I did not enjoy it. I would have preferred a story focusing solely on Pasquali, who is so endearing. Additionally, there are too many meaningless side plots. I found the story to be a downer. It is a book about how entertainment types are most often destructive and deceptive. What a nasty, heartless industry. At least, Jess Walter’s skewers the industry.

The Garden of Evening Mists

The Garden of Evening Mists takes the reader on a beautiful, haunting, painful, turbulent journey. Tan Twan Eng demands that the reader pay close attention, as instead of crudely spelling everything out she slowly reveals importance aspects of the plot.  

The book is filled with intertwining themes. A central theme is the role of memory in human existence. She connects memory with guilt, particularly survivor guilt. Eng also focuses on the relationship between memory and forgetting. She illustrates brilliantly how memories are tenuous. Often one's grasp of the past is severely limited.

Art is shown as a powerful medium. Art heals, soothes, frustrates, manipulates, excites, challenges. Eng illustrates through her different characters varying attitudes towards colonialism. Yun Ling downplays the importance of nationality. Tatsuji carries post-colonial guilt. Magnus has strong memories of his home country under British rule. Finally, war is analyzed. War creates inconceivable circumstances. In a war there is no logic or reasoning.

Eng has carefully constructed her characters. This is a character driven novel. None of the characters are perfect. They have flaws and vulnerabilities.

Eng does not wrap up the story. Instead she leaves the reader with unknowns thus enhancing the richness of the novel and its believability.

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? is a very funny, girl read. Mindy Kaling had me laughing aloud. The picture of Kaling and her brother in which she states, this is a photo of me plotting to eat my brother is hysterical. I loved when Kaling describes breaking her best friends nose. I related to the chapter, “Why Do Men Put on Their Shoes So Slowly?" In my experience, most men are not as skilled at multi-tasking. The slow shoe analogy is perfect. This book is the ideal read for a day when you need some light, distracting, hysterical entertainment. 

The Boy in the Suitcase

The Boy in the Suitcase created by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis is written in that uniquely Scandinavian style. It is sparse, dark, uncomfortable and perplexing. I often wasn’t sure where the story was leading which is good indicator of a solid thriller. The writing was frequently choppy, perhaps due to the translation. I seem to like to blame the translator. Kaaberbol translated the book from Danish to English. (Sorry Lene.) The multiple perspectives made the book a bit challenging to start. Stay with it as the subject, characters and reveal make it worth the read. Additionally, the shifts in points of view create a suspenseful effect, as you questions how will all these characters be brought together? One implausible element is Nina Borg’s reason and hence decision not to go to the police with the strange, emotionally charged situation. Instead she goes it alone to try to manage the mystery. I guess we wouldn’t have had as interesting of book without Nina and her not so wise choices.