RelizzScholar27

Heartrending, illuminating novel

Revisado: 04-12-25

This is an incredibly well-written novel. The narrative develops in a compelling way, without falling into predicability. It is emotionally engaging without being sensationalist. In large measure, this is because it is so firmly grounded in historical reality even as it brings to life both fictional and historical characters that you can't help but root for. You'll ache for Charlotte, as she finds her way in an often hostile world. You'll cheer for Nell, as she seeks to make her own place through direct action for justice. And, you'll weep for Evie and celebrate her as she embodies the pain and hopes of a people still marked by forced servitude and violence. For those who are unaware of the gray areas of abolition and slavery in the so-called "free states" before the civil war, Lattimore's artful narrative is illuminating and inspiring. To those who are aware, it can be nothing less than a bold affirmation of the resilience of Black Americans. Bravo, Ms. Lattimore!

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Pleasingly, Low-Key Feminist Adventure

Revisado: 03-11-25

A lot of this story is quite predictable, but that really wasn't a fault for me. It was comfortable. What was interesting was following the characters as they developed greater confidence and the happiness associated with giving up old patterns and expectations. It was also a delight that the three women at the center of the story were not drawn into an adversary tangle when the plot might well have allowed that. Overall, it's a pleasingly, low-key feminist adventure that was fun to listen to while gardening or taking a long walk. Also, there's a turtle, and that's kind of awesome.

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Wonderful Book, Not a Good Listen

Revisado: 09-24-24

Basso is a wonderful thinker and writer, and so much of what he shares in this book is just astonishing in its depth and complexity. But that is exactly what makes it a book meant to be read rather than listening to. There's just too much going on to focus on in an academic text of such nuanced erudition. One wants footnotes to round out certain references and a highlighter in hand to note key passages that eventually make sense of elements of the story. I have to confess my own laziness: I thought I could access Basso's insight, at least at a surface level, by listening by walking my dog or gardening. But this is a text that requires engagement at a very active level for real learning. Read the book, but don't listen.

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Insightful Reimagining of Much Maligned Character

Revisado: 09-21-24

This is a wonderfully insightful reimagining of Chaucer's much maligned Wife of Bath. It illuminates the prison of lived misogyny in late medieval England and the general conditions of everyday merchant and lower class life. The story brings to life the pretty much Handmaid's Tale legal and religious restrictions on women that repressed and hampered women like Elinor/Allison. It also illustrates how disease and climate upheavals pounded on ordinary people just as much as unjust laws and policies. The revisionist tale is important not just because it shows the resilience and agency of a woman who has long been mocked and demeaned in academic literature, showing the challenges she faced to eke out something of an independent life. It is also important because it relegates the machinations of kings and popes to occasional asides given that they had little direct impact on the everyday lives of ordinary medieval folk (which makes the marker of royal reigns at the start of each chapter odd).

The narration is compelling and consistent, though the author's use of "mayhaps" to signal something of Middle English authenticity grated on my ears after a while. Not the fault of the fine narrator, though. Likewise, the reality of violence, loss, and death throughout did make it difficult to stay with at times, particularly in the second half of the book. But overall, it's well worth a listen.

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Painful Past and Uncertain Healing

Revisado: 05-29-24

The part of me that wants a tidy, elegant resolution was disappointed by the end of this painful story. Even the corn, a literal and figurative kernel of hope, made no promises by the end of the novel. And, as a white woman, much of the story was hard for me to connect to emotionally—the generational trauma, the legacy of family disruption the main character, Rosalie Iron Wing’, passes on to her son, Tommy—though the historical thread woven through the novel of the 19th century U.S.–Dakhóta War brought some clarity through the connection to a Dakhóta woman who saves corn, bean, and squash seeds even as her people are being starved and driven from the land.

The novel traffics in stereotypes of Indigenous People as inherently connected to nature, having mystical relationships to animals, and being guided by dreams. This is balanced somewhat by Rosalie's friend Gaby, who struggles to finish college and law school after becoming pregnant in high school. Rosie attempts to address the poisoning of rivers that sustain the people through public advocacy and policy-making, though this means she alienates herself from her son. There is also a sensitivity to the struggles of Euro-American farmers and their late modern exploitation by agribusiness. Rosalie's husband, John, reflects an ambivalence among some white farmers when he shares with her a quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt his father was found of: “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”

Ultimately, the novel is a layered psychohistory that challenges readers to reflect on their own complex histories on the lands they inhabit and their relationship to the earth. It is painful, haunting, and offers only uncertain healing, as if Wilson is insisting that no work of fiction will sort out a violent past and a fraught future. Only our reflection and the action it inspires might possibly do that. I was troubled by so much in this novel, and I expect that is as it ought to be.

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Beautifully Written and Exquisitely Narrated

Revisado: 04-21-24

I wasn't quite sure what I was in for when this complex, beautifully wrought tale began. But Jayne Entwistle's exquisite narration lured me in, and the story itself captured me, mind and heart. At turns enchanting, bellicose, and heart-wrenching, the tale of Angrboda, Loki, their species-diverse children, their friends, and a panoply of vainglorious and cruel gods captivates. Well worth a long listen!

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Compelling, but ultimately disappointing

Revisado: 03-24-24

There is so much about this story that is beautifully rendered, particularly in the first half, which takes place in Chile. Allende has an obvious affinity for the complex colonial history of Valparaíso and a deep appreciation for the landscape and culture. Every step through the seaside city seems richly lived, setting the characters within a landscape that animates and challenges them. But the rendering of Gold Rush California is flatter, which is surprising given the similarities between the two cities.

At one point, in the 1850-1854 section that ends the book, as Eliza Sommers and her friend Tao Chi’en walk from Chinatown to Union Square to have pictures made, I imagined the dizzying walk down Geary St. and wondered how the city's white shoppers would have reckoned with the Chinese/Chilean duo. These sorts of details were not part of the story, as they had been when Eliza attended a Catholic festival or met with her lover in a hillside chapel in Valparaiso. This led me to google information on when the square was developed. I learned from a "History of Union Square" that "Throughout the 1850s, the Square, like all public squares in San Francisco, remained undeveloped. It was used primarily for dumping, by occasional squatters, and for sand-lot baseball games." So much for excruciating research!

Character development is the real strength of the story, and Allende offers vivid portraits of Eliza, her adoptive mother, Rose and her brothers, as well as Tao Chi’en and a host of other characters who would appear less three-dimensions under the pen of lesser writers.

The ending is abrupt, even after 13 hours, leaving many unanswered questions to the reader's imagination. But the story is narrated with great beauty by Blair Brown.

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Engaging, but Ultimately Disappointing

Revisado: 03-13-24

The writing of this novel was consistently lovely, beyond the nuanced development of the main character, her family, and the network of friends she develops in her 16-month foray into a "new life." Small turns of phrase—"warm spring days that smell like clean linen"; "her lamp formed a nest ... of light"—create an intimate felt sense of the scene. And the thought experiment that grounds the novel—what if I just walk away...?—is explored in the first half of the novel with engaging curiosity. But, without revealing too much, the second half of the book veers toward a disappointing ending that makes sense of little. It seems as if Tyler gave up on the thought experiment, as one does, and just crawled back into bed. Otherwise, Elizabeth Rodgers vivid narration gives much life to the story. It's a pleasing, if ultimately disappointing, listen.

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Meh Story, HORRIBLE NARRATION

Revisado: 01-30-24

The tone of Maria Liatis's voice is fine, but there are so many words she simply can't pronounce. At the simplest level, it's saying "thEE" when "tha/e" is called for words that start with a consonant ("thEE house"). Chicken die-van for the dish chicken divan. Maybe worse, there are place specific words like the town Aliquippa, Allegheny--the county, the river that runs through Pittsburgh--that you'd think she'd research to how pronounce correctly (Al-i-QUIP-pa; Al-li-GAY-Nee). It often sounds like she didn't read the book before recording it. Every ten minutes or so, there's something, which makes for an annoying listen, especially for listeners like me who are natives of the region.

The story itself is just meh, which is surprising given the favorable reviews of the book. It's often predictable, perhaps in a way that the reviewer from the New York Times would expect in a story set in a Western Pennsylvania town possibly modeled on one-stoplight towns like Mercer (where there was a Mellon Bank branch across from the court house in the 1990s) or Zelienople (where the police station and the library shared the same building, though not as late as the 1990s). There are leaps in logic throughout. How does a teenage girl get licensed to open a hair salon before she graduates high school? How could the smell of a deteriorating body be muted for years? Lots of loose threads that don't get woven into much.

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Predictable, but Pleasant

Revisado: 11-20-23

Aside from the main crisis that sets up the rest of the novel, there's hardly a turn in this chick-lit minor-piece that doesn't flag itself well ahead. The nervous effort to illustrate literary prowess with book summaries throughout are eye-roll worthy. See! I'm a real writer who has read EVERYTHING and can quote Antoine de Saint-Exupéry! In French!

That said, as a portrait of a certain genre of San Francisco life, it's quite lovely. Moreover, Emily Rankin's deft narration gives the characters more complexity than they would likely appear on the page. The book makes for a pleasant enough listening experience that's great for a long drive when you don't want to be distracted too much by a complicated plot or 3-dimensional character development.

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