Review: Saving Grace by Fiona Mccallum

Title: Saving Grace {The Button Jar Series #1}

Author: Fiona Mccallum

Published: Harlequin April 2013

Status: Read from March 28 to 29, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Harlequin Australia}

My Thoughts:

Saving Grace is the fourth book by Fiona Mccallum set in South Australia and the first in a new series named The Button Jar series. In this contemporary rural fiction novel, Emily Oliphant has endured three years of marriage to John Stratten and, when he destroys her hope of developing a B&B (literally) and threatens her only companion, a puppy named Grace, she decides she can’t take his cruelty anymore. Despite her mother’s vehement disapproval and her own doubts, Emily leaves and must find a way to rebuild her life and her dreams.

After struggling with Mccallum’s lead protagonist in Wattle Creek, I was hoping to find Emily a more personable character. Unfortunately I quickly grew frustrated with Emily’s passive attitude which swings wildly between self pity and bitterness. There were glimpses of strength but too fleeting, and almost immediately undone by semi hysterical rhetoric. To be fair, I was not completely without sympathy for Emily and thought that her thoughts and behaviours were not unrealistic, especially as she wavers, but I found her pessimism wearing.

I often find when I can’t relate to the main character of a book it influences how I feel about the story as a whole, and that is certainly the case here especially as very little else happened plot wise. Saving Grace is a character driven novel and without the connection to Emily I care little about what happens to her. This novel feels as it ends abruptly with very little progress or resolution. There is some growth but generally at the instigation of others and I really wanted for Emily to take a more active role.

I did like Barbara quite a lot though, I appreciated how supportive and practical she proved to be, given the newness of her friendship with Emily. I also liked the way in Emily’s father extended his quiet support to Emily, especially in the face of her mother’s endless criticism and disapproval.

I really wanted to fall in love with Saving Grace, and I am sorry I didn’t. I consider my opinion to be the result of a personality conflict with Emily, and not a reflection on the author but I can only describe it as an okay read (hence the 2 stars).

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Review: Chasing Sprits by Nick Groff

 

 

Title: Chasing Spirits: Behind the scenes adventures with  TV’s hit Ghost Adventures Crew

Author: Nick Groff with  Jeff Belanger

Published: Allen & Unwin March 2013

Status: Read from March 08 to 09, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy Allen & Unwin}

My Thoughts:

Chasing Spirits is the story behind the popular ‘documentary’ show, Ghost Adventures, that investigates haunted locations around the world. Currently in it’s fifth season on The Travel Channel, it is hosted by Nick Groff, Zak Bagans and Aaron Goodwin. Even though I hadn’t heard of the show, I was looking forward to reading Chasing Spirits as I have a fascination for the paranormal. I find the idea of things that go bump in the night intriguing, though if I was ever to confront a ghost I would run screaming in the opposite direction (and I am completely incapable of watching any of the Paranormal Activity movie franchises).

In Chasing Spirits, Nick Groff shares how his childhood experiences, including a near death experience and an encounter with a menacing ghostly figure collided with his love of film in his college years to  conceive the idea for paranormal investigation documentary. As amateur filmmakers, Nick, Zak and Aaron borrowed the cash to upgrade their equipment, talked their way into known haunted locations and devoted themselves to the project. The documentary was picked up by the Sci Fi Channel and was the seed for the television series to follow.

The behind the scenes detail of how Ghost Adventures evolved will probably be of interest fans of the show who have gotten to ‘know’ Nick but I found myself wading through it in order to get to the parts that interested me specifically. I think had I been familiar with the show (I don’t have Pay TV, i.e. Cable TV, where it is exclusively shown in Australia) I might have enjoyed the whole book more instead I found myself skimming his complains about editing and focusing on his accounts of his interactions with the paranormal.

I didn’t really like the structure of the book. I found the insertion of both the Q&A and the location history text boxes distracting and thought the information could have easily been worked into the main text, or more carefully placed.

The impact of Nick’s accounts in the book are much stronger when combined with visual evidence. I was disappointed to find a handful of photos of Nick as a child and on location but no photos or stills from encounters. However I spent quite a while after I had finished the book browsing the Ghost Adventures website and viewing the videos available that complement the incidents Nick writes about.

Even though I think Chasing Spirits is probably a book more for fans of the Ghost Adventures series, a reader with an idle interest in similar shows, or paranormal investigation, should find themselves entertained.

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Review: The Last Runaway by Tracy Chevalier

 

Title: The Last Runaway

Author: Tracy Chevalier

Published: HarperCollins Australia Jan 2013

Synopsis: When modest Quaker Honor Bright sails from Bristol with her sister, she is fleeing heartache for a new life in America, far from home. But tragedy leaves her alone and vulnerable, torn between two worlds and dependent on the kindness of strangers. Life in 1850s Ohio is precarious and unsentimental. The sun is too hot, the thunderstorms too violent, the snow too deep. The roads are spattered with mud and spit. The woods are home to skunks and porcupines and raccoons. They also shelter slaves escaping north to freedom. Should Honor hide runaways from the ruthless men who hunt them down? The Quaker community she has joined may oppose slavery in principle, but does it have the courage to help her defy the law? As she struggles to find her place and her voice, Honor must decide what she is willing to risk for her beliefs. Set in the tangled forests and sunlit cornfields of Ohio, Tracy Chevalier′s vivid novel is the story of bad men and spirited women, surprising marriages and unlikely friendships, and the remarkable power of defiance.

Status: Read from January 08 to 09, 2013 — I own a copy {Courtesy TheReadingRoom}

My Thoughts:

Girl with a Pearl Earring, was a bestseller for Tracy Chevalier so when I received a copy of The Last Runaway I was looking forward to read it. Set in the 1850′s, this novel follows Quaker Honor Bright, accompanying her betrothed sister, on her journey from England to a new life in America. When tragedy strikes, Honor must continue to Ohio on her own where she struggles with an unfamiliar society, far from her family and friends.

Unfortunately I was rather underwhelmed by The Last Runaway. The larger themes examined are the difficulties of choosing between principles and practicalities, passion and duty, but the contradictions are only cursorily explored.

Honor lacked the spirit I expected from a lead character, even as a Quaker woman of her time. She makes little effort to connect with her new life and her passive demeanor is uninteresting. Her letters home reveal more of her character, but it’s only a glimpse without sharing nay real insight. For me, Honor’s rebellion against her husband and the Society by not speaking for six months, came across as a passive aggressive ultimatum rather than the spiritual choice Chevalier intended.

I thought most of the characters in The Last Runaway tended to be fairly one dimensional, including Honor’s new husband and mother in law. I really liked Belle though, a milliner who welcomes Honor into her home during her journey and is instrumental in supporting the Underground. Belle’s brother Donovan, a slave hunter, is perhaps the most complex character in the novel but he remains largely incidental to the story.

Much is made of Honor’s role in the Underground Railway in the synopsis, however her actual interaction with the escaping slaves was minimal. She leaves food out under upturned crates and whispers instructions to those that occasionally pass through but it is passive assistance, even with the threat of the Slave Fugitive Act. While there are glimpses of the fear and desperation of the escaping slaves, it seems almost irrelevant somehow.

The ending was quite the surprise however, not what I was generally expecting though it was not quite enough to redeem the book either.

For me The Lost Runaway was not much more than okay. It gave a brief glimpse into life during a specific time and place but without the depth I thought the subject deserved and the author capable of.

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Review: Being Anti-Social by Leigh K Cunningham

Title: Being Anti-Social

Author: Leigh K Cunningham

Published: Vivante Publishing May 2012

Synopsis: Mace Evans is single at thirty-eight. When her much unloved older sister, Shannon, declares that Mace is anti-social, she embarks on a journey to understand her condition; whether she was born that way or if it is the accumulation of thirty-eight years of unfortunate encounters with other humans and dogs. For reasons unbeknown to Mace, she has an affair with a work colleague, which brings an unexpected end to her perfect marriage. And as if the self-imposed torture and regret is not enough, Mace endures ongoing judgment from her older sister and mother, which further exacerbates already tenuous relationships. With support from her four best friends, merlot and pizza, and with guidance from her life coach and mentor, Oscar Wilde, Mace recovers to a degree, but in her quest to understand her anti-social ways, she finds herself wondering about the quality of the fabric that keeps her network of friends intact. When Mace’s mother is diagnosed with cancer, Mace searches for common ground on which to connect before it is too late.

Status: Read from November 22 to 23, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy the author}

My Thoughts:

Despite Being Anti-Social’s cartoonish, pastel cover art I disagree with it being labeled as chick-lit. It lacks the light hearted approach to life and love that defines the genre and instead is a fairly serious minded analysis of character, though there are the occasional flashes of dry humor, mainly from well placed quotes by Oscar Wilde, who certainly has sage advice to offer for every occasion.

When Mace Evans is accused of being anti-social by her older sister she gives the complaint considerable thought. While she admits her idea of a good time is an evening spent alone with a bottle of merlot and a slab of chocolate on her couch, she resists the idea that she “unwilling or unable to associate in a normal or friendly way with other people”. Over the course of a year or so, as Mace approaches forty unmarried and childless, she examines her past and present relationships in an effort to define herself.

Being Anti-Social is well written but I found it difficult to sustain interest in what is essentially a first person monologue. Perhaps if I had been able to identify with Mace it wouldn’t have been such an issue but I found it difficult to like, or even understand her. She treats the people in her life carelessly, often with barely veiled contempt, and I thought her behaviour bordered on narcissistic, expecting family, friends, lovers and even colleagues to accommodate her personality ‘quirks’. Though there are incidents that counter her selfishness, and some signs of growth, I didn’t warm to her, which I think is crucial in such a character driven piece.

As I was unable to make that crucial connection with the main character, Being Anti-Social did not really work for me, despite the author’s technical proficiency. However I do think this novel would find an audience amongst readers who can relate to Mace and her journey.

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Leigh K Cunningham is a lawyer with a career as a senior executive for a number of public companies in her home country of Australia. She has master’s degrees in law (Master of International Trade & Investment Law) and commerce (Master of Commerce) as well as an MBA (International Management). RAIN, Leigh’s first title for the adult fiction market (April 2011) was named the winner in the Literary Fiction category at the 2011 Indie Excellence Awards. RAIN was also awarded a silver medal at the 2011 Independent Publisher Awards (IPPY) in the Regional Fiction: Australia/New Zealand category. RAIN was #1 on the Amazon bestseller list for Women’s Fiction (December 2011). Leigh’s first two children’s books, THE GLASS TABLE and its sequel, SHARDS are recipients of silver medals from the Mom’s Choice Awards. SHARDS was also a finalist at the 2011 Indie Excellence Awards in the Juvenile Fiction category. BEING ANTI-SOCIAL is Leigh’s latest title (May 2012). It has been awarded the Gold Medal at the 2012 Readers Favorite Awards in Chick-lit.

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Review: Elza’s Kitchen by Marc Fitten

 

Title: Elza’s Kitchen

Author: Marc Fitten

Published: Bloomsbury September 2012

Synopsis: For years, Elza has managed to get by. She has her own little restaurant in the Hungarian city of Delibab cooking quality versions of her country’s classics and serving them with a smile. But lately her smile has become tired. She is weary of serving the same customers the same dishes, and the loveless affair with her sous-chef is now an irritation. With her country in a state of transition from communism to capitalism, Elza embarks upon her own change. She decides to woo The Critic, one of the harshest, most powerful restaurant columnists in Europe, in the hope of landing a glowing review that will push her above the competition. But as relationships in the kitchen sour, the food threatens to turn with them, and not even Elza’s strained composure can prevent the chaos that seems fated to engulf her.

Status:  Read from November 19 to 20, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy BloomsburyANZ}

My Thoughts:

Elza’s Kitchen is the story of a Hungarian woman in the grip of a mid life crisis. Her restaurant is a success, she entertains a virile young lover and she enjoys bourgeois comfort but her passion for life has faded, much like her youth. Casting around for inspiration she seizes upon the idea of attracting a well known Parisian food critic to her restaurant in the hopes that he will recommend it for the prestigious Silver Spoon Award but change will not come easily and Elza stands to lose it all.

In many ways I feel like this novel didn’t quite come together, I thought the focus was too often pulled away from Elza, by the Critic mourning his dog, the Sous-Chef and Dora’s new venture and the mischievous Gypsy family. It didn’t help that I found it difficult to care much for Elza whose dissatisfaction seems selfish, all the more so when she discards her besotted lover, her Sous-Chef, but objects to his developing relationship with Dora. She is oblivious to his hurt feelings and, it seems, deliberately obtuse about the impact of her rejection on their working relationship. As a result the kitchen begins to fall apart, yet Elza accepts no blame for it.

For me the strength of this novel lies in the description of dining on Elza’s simple Hungarian fare with a creative twist, a Paprika Chicken that is both tangy and sweet, pork tenderloin marinated in white wine with a paprika and dill sauce. Elza’s menu is mouthwatering, especially when dessert pastries are added.

An interesting yet inexplicable, aspect of the novel involves the naming of the characters. While the women in the story are referred to by their first names – Elza, Dora and Eva, all the men (excepting the young Gypsy boy, Pisti) are referred to by description – the Sous-Chef, the Dishwasher, The Critic, The Motorcycle Man etc. It is clearly a deliberate choice made by the author and I wonder at its significance.

I am left feeling fairly ambivalent about Elza’s Kitchen, while I thought the writing was stylish and I was interested by the unfamiliar setting of post communist Hungary, I didn’t really connect with the characters or the story. Still, I was glad when Elza rediscovered her passion for her restaurant and I headed for my recipe books looking for a recipe for paprika chicken when I had finished the last page.

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Review: Kiss River by Diane Chamberlain

 

Title: Kiss River

Author: Diane Chamberlain

Published: Mira November 2012

Synopsis: Separated by a continent from her child, Gina Higgins comes to Kiss River with little more than a desperate plan. Now, saving her daughter depends on whether she can uncover a message buried deep below the ocean’s surface. Kiss River’s historic nineteenth-century lighthouse has all but fallen into the sea, taking with it the huge Fresnel lens that once served as its beacon. Gina is desperate to find a way to raise the lens as the glass holds the key to her future, her fortune and her only chance to save the one person who matters to her. Clay O’Neill lives in the old lightkeeper’s house, a home he shares with his sister, Lacey. When Lacey invites her to stay with them, Gina eagerly accepts. As Gina begins her quest to raise the lens, Clay finds himself drawn to her struggle, and to Gina herself. But the answers lie deep below the ocean. And the lighthouse holds secrets that neither Clay nor Gina can anticipate…

Status: Read from November 13 to 15, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Harlequin Australia}

My Thoughts:

The Keeper of the Light was first published almost twenty years ago as a stand alone but was revived in the early 2000′s when Chamberlain decided to use the novel as a springboard for a trilogy, writing Kiss River and Her Mother’s Shadow. This year, the series is being reissued in both print and digital formats to the delight of her fans.

Set twelve years after the events of Keeper of Light, Kiss River introduces Gina Higgins, a science teacher from Washington DC, who has has come to the Outer Banks looking for the miracle she needs etched on the Fresnal lens of the town’s lighthouse. She is devastated to find that the lighthouse was destroyed in a storm, the lens buried in the sea’s sandy depths and desperate, begins to campaign the community to rescue it.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the story of Kiss River. Primarily, I didn’t understand why Gina felt it necessary to lie about her motivation to raise the lens or hide her connection to Kiss River and thought that her deceptions undermined both her character, and the story as a whole.

Even the romance in Kiss River failed to convince me of its sincerity. Clay O’Neill, who lost his wife just eight months earlier, succumbs to Gina’s charms with little more than a token protest despite his grief and her lies. To be fair he doesn’t over extend himself until he learns Gina’s secret, which does evoke sympathy, but it just didn’t work for me.

With the core of the novel so compromised I found it difficult to involve myself in the story and would have given it up if it weren’t for Bess’s story as related through her journal extracts. I thought the historical aspects interesting of this storyline and Bess’s personal tale touching. Bess is a fifteen in 1942, the bright, precocious daughter of Kiss River’s lighthouse keeper. Her diary reveals a tumultuous year of love, betrayal and heartbreak as German U-Boats haunt the North Carolina coast.

I have enjoyed several of Chamberlain’s newer titles like The Good Father and Secrets She Left Behind so perhaps the flaws in Kiss River can be attributed to it being penned not only early in her career but also under some pressure. Kiss River isn’t a complete disaster, and I think the author’s stalwart fans will be satisfied with it, but I thought it a weak example of Chamberlain’s storytelling gifts.

[And just a note - I rarely comment on the covers of novels but I am at a complete loss to explain the relevance of this one to the story at all. ]

 

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Review: Heart of Danger by Lisa Marie Rice

Title: Heart of Danger {Ghost Ops #1}

Author: Lisa Marie Rice

Published: Avon Red October 2012

Synopsis: Ghost Ops. A small team of super elite soldiers so secret only two men know of their existence-General Clancy Flynn and their commanding officer, Colonel Lucius Ward. On a mission to destroy a US-based lab working on weaponized bubonic plague, the team is betrayed by their commanding officer. The Team is massacred and only three men survive to be court martialed: the Team Leader, Tom ‘Mac’ McEnroe, tech genius John Ryan, and lethal Nick Ross. They disappear en route to prison and are never heard of again. Mac and his men hole up in a high tech lair, completely off the grid. But when a beautiful woman somehow finds him, he doesn’t know whether to kiss her, or kill her.
Dr. Catherine Young is on a mission, propelled by forces beyond her control to find a man who has disappeared off the face of the earth. She is bearing a deadly message from a dying man. Catherine has a gift that allows her to see into the heart of others. But looking into Mac McEnroe’s heart is like looking into the heart of danger itself

Status: Read from October 19 to 20, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy HarperCollins/Edelwiess}

My Thoughts:

Lisa Marie Rice is a popular author of romance suspense and Heart of Danger is the first book in her new series featuring the men of Ghost Ops – a secret unit of elite American soldiers with no identity. In this first installment, when the Ghost Ops team is betrayed during a mission, only three men escape, believing their commander Colonel Lucius Ward, sold them out. Hidden in their high tech lair, the arrival in the middle of a snowstorm of Dr Catherine Young arouses Tom ‘Mac’ MacEnroe’s suspicions. A scientific researcher working in the field of dementia, Catherine insists that the commander is her patient and desperately needs Mac’s help. Though fearing a trap, Mac and his men will leave no man behind and with the help of Catherine’s special talent, they mount a rescue that reveals a horrifying secret.

Though there isn’t anything particularly original about this new series, Rice balances the action with romance well. I found myself caught up in the suspense as it becomes clear there is something sinister happening at the lab for which Catherine worked and rescuing Lucius will not be easy, even for Mac’s elite corps. The idea of the Haven provides another layer of interest to the story which pleasantly diffuses the focus on military operations.
The technological advances sets this novel a generation or two into the future with some nifty gadgets available to the team. Interestingly Rice also chooses to develop a futuristic political climate with the villain motivated by an allegiance to China. I like that Rice has ground the series in something larger than itself.

Mac is the bad ass, brooding, tough guy who dissolves with a simple touch from Catherine. Catherine is stunning, smart and psychically gifted to boot, all without being aware of her appeal. It is a little cheesy but the sexual tension is well developed and when the pair finally succumb to their attraction the sex is pretty hot.

I did tire of the repetitive internal monologues of both Mac and Catherine though. Mac loses his train of thought every time Catherine looks his way, slipping into a self flagellating loop of lust and suspicion, while Catherine berates herself for thinking Mac could ever be interested in her, given she is such a freak.

A fast, escapist story that blends sci-fi, paranormal, action and romance genres this is an enjoyable read.

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Review: Destined To Play by Indigo Bloome

Title: Destined To Play {Avalon #1}

Author: Indigo Bloome

Published: Avon Red September 2012

Synopsis: It′s simple. No sight. No questions. 48 hours . Dr. Alexandra Blake is about to give a series of prestigious lectures, but the butterflies in her stomach are for a far more exciting reason …After the lecture she is meeting up with Jeremy Quinn, esteemed doctor and dangerous ex-lover – the only person with whom she has ever let her guard down completely. After a few glasses of champagne in his luxurious penthouse suite, Jeremy presents her with an intriguing offer: stay with him for the next forty-eight hours and accept two extraordinary conditions, the first of which leaves her utterly at his mercy, and he will give her an experience more sensual and extreme than any game they have ever played before. This scorching novel is an erotic exploration of trust and betrayal, experimentation and control, lust and love. Forget Fifty Shades of Grey, this daring debut will leave you breathless for more .. Read an Extract

Status: Read from September 21 to 22, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Harper Collins/Edelweiss}

My Thoughts:

BDSM is not my thing so I have yet to read Fifty Shades of Grey despite the hype, however I was tempted by Destined to Play because the author is Australian and therefore the title fits neatly into my AWW Challenge tally. Rushed to print after the success of Fifty Shades of Grey it was released in Australia in July and was picked up by both the US and UK publishers when it performed well. Destined to Play is the first in the Avalon trilogy to feature Dr. Alexandra Blake and lover Jeremy Quinn in a series of erotic adventures.

Dr. Alexandra Blake is no shy naive virgin but a married mother of two with a doctorate in workplace psychology. While presenting a series of lectures in Sydney she is planning to catch up with her one time best friend and lover, eminent medical researcher, Jeremy Quinn. Even thinking about Jeremy generates excited anxiety in Alexandra, and she wonders if she will be able to resist him once they are together again.
As it happens, just a look is enough to reignite their lust and Alexandra decides to enjoy a single night in his arms. But Jeremy wants more and demands she give him 48 hours, promising an adventure like no other if she submits to his rules, to ask no questions, and to demonstrate her trust in him by remaining blindfolded for the entire time.

The pitch I received for Destined to Play led me to believe that I could expect relatively mild BDSM but it quickly became obvious when Jeremy blinds Alexandra with eyedrops that the interaction between the two is very much based on a master/slave dynamic. It’s a position Alexandra agrees to, despite her tiring inner monologue of doubt, but it’s Jeremy’s insistence that he is doing it all for her own good that dampened my enjoyment of their erotic play. When Jeremy’s ulterior motive – to use Alexandra as a subject in a (laughably serious) experiment into women’s sexuality and depression (think hysteria cures of the 1800′s) is revealed it all but destroyed my libido.

The sex is graphic, as expected, but some scenes are oddly vague in the way an imagined fantasy might be. The story is told in the first person so it is Alexandra’s experience the reader is forced to identify with. Though I enjoyed the flashbacks to Alexandra and Jeremy’s college interludes I got lost when Alexandra was being experimented on, she may have been overwhelmed by sensation, but I couldn’t visualise the scene much at all.

The element of suspense is first sustained by Jeremy’s undisclosed plans for Alexandra, blind and at times handcuffed, Alex has no idea what is expected to do until Jeremy tells her what he wants. However Alex’s constant loop of questioning herself and Jeremy continually interrupts the build up of erotic tension. Near the end, Bloome hints at some possible espionage involving the research Jeremy has now involved Alexandra in as a lead in to the next book and a way to keep the tension going once Alexandra is in control again.

There were elements of Destined To Play that didn’t appeal to me at all but a handful of scenes were erotic as intended. The writing is mediocre with instances of repetitive phrasing and stilted flow, but I wasn’t expecting a high standard anyway. Destined to Play wasn’t awful, I have read much worse, but neither did it rock my world. I can’t speak as to what will appeal to you, so you will have to make your own mind up as to if you read this one.

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Review: Triburbia by Karl Taro Greenfeld

Title: Triburbia

Author: Karl Taro Greenfeld

Published: Atlantic Books September 2012

Synopsis: With an unflinching eye, Triburbia explores Tribeca, Manhattan, a neighbourhood synonymous with western affluence, in which an artists’ community has been overrun by the faux-bohemian haunts of those made staggeringly wealthy by the world of finance. Thrown together by circumstance, a group of fathers – a sound engineer, a sculptor, a film producer, a writer, a career criminal – meet each morning at a local cafe after the school run.
Over the course of a single year, we learn about their dreams deferred, their secrets and mishaps, their passions and hopes, as they confront terrible truths about ambition, wealth and sex. Seen through the eyes of these men and the women with whom they share their lives, Triburbia shows that our choices and their repercussions not only define us, but irrevocably alter the lives of those we love.

Status: Read from August 31 to September 01, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Allen & Unwin}

My Thoughts:

Just a week or so ago I reviewed Motherland, a satirical exploration of parenthood and relationships in upper class Brooklyn. Triburbia is set just across the East River in Manhattan with a near identical premise and unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this novel any more than I did the other, despite the premise grabbing my interest.

Loosely connected by business, relationships or simply the school run, the men of Triburbia, whose creative professions allow them some flexibility, meet casually over breakfast to discuss film, sports and politics. Beginning with the Sound Engineer (113 North Moore), Greenfield reveals the histories of this group of men that includes a sculptor, a film producer, a writer, a career criminal, and the wives and daughters who share their lives.
With a mixture of first and third person narratives, it’s disconcerting to start a chapter with a new character that has no identity except for an address and a profession. I was never entirely sure who was speaking, surprised once or twice to find it was a wife or even a daughter interjecting into the narrative. More properly a series of vignettes rather than a novel Triburbia has a disjointed feel, with no sure direction, though Greenfield does bring things full circle eventually.
There are one or two characters than inspire some sympathy, the father struggling with doing his best by his autistic son and the man who lost his first love and to his sister for example, but largely these men are shallow and self involved, fretting over real estate values, sex and social status. After the first few introductions, these men – their concerns and their ambitions – are all too similar. While Greenfield’s observations may be wryly accurate they lack the insight I hoped for.
The wives are almost uniformly distant from their husbands, busy with work, childcare or in the case of at least one mother, an extensive drug habit. The vignettes that introduce the daughters of these men – the precocious, status aware Cooper and the ambitious Sadie in particular are a more interesting commentary on parenting in the enclave of the affluent.
I was perhaps more interested in the evolution of the Tribeca neighborhood than its residents. A once bohemian community full of shabby artist studios and warehouses the influx of wealthy financial types ordering “…renovations as vast and grand in scale as the construction of ocean liners…” ensure Tribeca is home to New York’s newest millionaires. Still, a few artists remain like the puppeteer turned repairman (47 Lispenard) one of the lucky few in rent controlled loft spaces who by default is now privy to quality public schools for his children and a social status he cannot afford.

Greenfield, a resident of Tribeca, seems to have mined his own personal background for character inspiration and I suspect that his neighbours may also some recognise themselves within the pages of Triburbia. While I am sure the inhabitants of New York will delight in this portrait of their neighborhood, despite being largely unflattering, I suspect it will have little cultural relevance or interest outside of its environs.

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Review: Motherland by Amy Sohn

 

Title: Motherland

Author: Amy Sohn

Published: Simon & Schuster August 2012

Synopsis: It’s just before Labor Day and five mothers and fathers in Cape Cod, Park Slope, and Greenwich Village find themselves adrift professionally and personally. Rebecca Rose, whose husband has been acting aloof, is tempted by the attentions of a former celebrity flame; Marco Goldstein, saddled with two kids as his husband Todd goes on a business trip, turns to sex with strangers for comfort; Danny Gottlieb, a screenwriter on the cusp of a big break, leaves his wife and children to pitch a film (and meet young women) in Los Angeles; fallen sanctimommy Karen Bryan Shapiro, devastated by her husband’s infidelity and abandonment, attempts a fresh start with a hot single dad; and former A-List movie star Melora Leigh plots a star turn on Broadway to revive her Hollywood career. As their stories intersect in surprising ways and their deceptions spiral out of control, they begin to question their beliefs about family, happiness, and themselves.

Status: Read from August 13 to 14, 2012 — I own a copy {Courtesy Simon & Schuster/Edelweiss}

My Thoughts:

Motherland is a follow up of sorts to Sohn’s Prospect Park West, with a few of the characters reappearing in this satirical exploration of parenthood and relationships in upper class Brooklyn.

Half a dozen or more narratives intertwine to reveal a cluster of shallow, privileged men and women who parent only when it doesn’t interfere with their latest affair, high or career goals. Actually that is probably a bit unfair, but it’s hard to find sympathy for Sohn’s characters who all want more, despite having so much. With the cushion of money and status, they tend to manufacture their own drama in a search of the elusive holy grail of happiness, but I can’t see any of them ever finding satisfaction.

Amy’s characters are certainly PC enough in terms of of race, ethnicity and orientation. Three of the main characters are married, mostly unhappily with the pressures of parenthood a factor in their misery. Rebecca is hiding the fact that her youngest son is not her husband’s but the result of an affair with a celebrity, Danny Gotlieb is ambivalent about both fatherhood and marriage with his longed for career his priority and Marco resents being a house husband to his wilful adopted son and newborn baby. Karen is newly a single mother after her husband abandoned her for a transvestite escort, divorced Melora’s fondness for her son is easily eclipsed by her desire for fame while it is revealed that the stroller thief refers to her ex husband as The Bastard even more than 18 years after he left.
None of them are particularly likeable though I felt more for the circumstances of some than others.
The children of these characters, mostly young (under 6) are barely present, safely cared for by nannies or private pre schools which seems odd when these parents very rarely do any parenting at all.

Perhaps if I was more familiar with the rarefied world of the Upper East Side I would have enjoyed Motherland more, instead I found I was mainly annoyed with it, especially with the excessive celebrity name dropping. Sohn likes to shock with some salacious sexual encounters, including Marco’s cruising of Grindr, an incestuous hook up and a toe sucking masseuse. Titillating perhaps, but largely ridiculous.

I can’t really fault the writing or much else, it’s just I didn’t  care for the story or characters. While Motherland is not for me, I am sure New Yorkers will enjoy gossiping about the source of the author’s inspiration and celebrity hounds will find plenty to keep them satisfied.

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