Big Mushy Happy Lump (Sarah's Scribbles #2)

Big Mushy Happy Lump (Sarah's Scribbles #2) by  Sarah Andersen Pages: 125 Rating: 3 out of 4 stars I was looking for a quick, humorous read and this collection of comics fit the bill. Author and cartoonist Sarah Andersen's shares her struggles as an adult woman in today's world. Everything from budgets, cramps, self-esteem and the joys of staying home are addressed in this funny, but thoughtful comics.

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The artwork was gorgeous and emotional. It won me over fast. 5 stars for the art.

The themes were excellent. This story is all about being on that cusp of a girl to becoming a woman, and figuring out what that means and how females are perceived by others, including what ideas and opinions they absorb from others, versus what opinions they form on their own. It's that cross divide that comes between giggling and playing kids games in one moment, and doing and talking about really grown up things in the next moment. This element of the story is brilliant, and it comes with a bit of nostalgia for those of us who are grown up and remember those confusing times of sorting out not only what kind of human we wanted to be, but also what kind of woman we wanted to be, including whether we are who we are, or we are how people see us. For theme, the story also gets 5 stars.

The reason I gave it three stars, is because the actual storyline is so rough and sometimes very tedious. There's no real plot. It's more character driven, so you are just along for the ride. There are bright moments, but they are few and far between, and then there are pages where you just want to keep turning and not linger. I remember thinking several times that I was just ready to be done, and it's not like it's a lengthy read.

It's not a particularly memorable story either, though I appreciate the grace in some of its subtlety. Also, there's a limited number of people that I'd actually recommend this to, and I definitely wouldn't read it again.

I think there's some underlying brilliance here, but it ended up being more of a disconnect for me. I think there are some sections that could have easily been edited out to help the story, and had they added a few scenes that gave the story a bit more heft or urgency, that would have helped compel the reader to turn the page out of interest, instead of just out of obligation to power through.

Book 59 read in 2018

Pages: 320

All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg

All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I drug my feet while reading this multigenerational adult novel, because it’s so gorgeous and intense. Yoerg has a style that’s beautiful, simple, and subtle. She says powerful things that really sit with me.

Actually, she rarely tells me what to think. Instead, she shows the story in a way that makes me think knew things, different things, or forgotten things, which is what I love best about her stories. She has a real talent for storytelling, and nothing ever feels forced or false. It’s always truthful, raw, and introspective.

I confess, I was almost afraid of where this was headed--not that it might be bad--just that it might hurt to get there. But it doesn’t hurt, not any more than it should. There were moments when this story could have gone in 10 different directions, and I remain fascinated by the direction it chose. It took me time to wrap my head around the characters and the way their stories wove together across time, but it was so well done, with each generation and voice contributing another layer.

Also, I love the subtle interchanges between magic and reality, luck and choice, good and bad. There are so many fascinating contrasts in this story, and the historical elements were a nice touch, as well. It’s clear Yoerg did her research, and she approached the history of mental illness in a way that is honest, accurate, and sometimes disturbing.

Now, I’ve said plenty, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the lake-dwelling people of Vermont, who were endlessly fascinating to me. I’d read a whole story about these “pirates” if one existed.

Pages 368

PS: The release date for this book is tomorrow, May 2, 2017!

The Pearl That Broke its Shell by Nadia Hashimi

In 2007, nine-year-old Rahima lives with her parents and four sisters in Kabul. Her father is increasingly dysfunctional, and the family is barely surviving. With no brothers to protect them, the girls can seldom leave the house, even to attend school.  Her mother decides she should become a bacha posh, a girl who dresses as a boy so that she can go to the market, and escort her sisters when they go out.  This is an ancient Afghan custom which allows a girl to dress as, and be treated like, a boy until she is of marriageable age.

Rahima is not the first in her family to adopt this custom. A century earlier, her great-great grandmother, Shekiba, left orphaned by an epidemic, saved herself and built a new life the same way. As a young girl, Sekiba was scarred by kitchen oil and reviled by her family. She eventually made her way to the king’s palace in Kabul, dressing as a man to guard his harem.

For a few years, Rahima enjoys freedoms unavailable to most girls. But when she is 13 she is forced to marry a vicious warlord who decides he wants her for his wife.  She finds strength in her aunt’s stories of her ancestor Shekiba. Alternating between the two, Hashimi weaves a compelling tale of two women, separated by a century, who seem to share a destiny.

Recommended for those who enjoyed 'The Kite Runner'.

469 pages

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

My nephew, who is a sophomore in high school, had to read this book over the summer and he said that it made him cry! I had to read this book!  And what a book!  I had read The Kite Runner so I was familiar with Hosseini's style and the often brutal depiction of events in Afghanistan.  But I was still unprepared for the impact of reading about two very different Afghan women whose lives become intertwined after the Soviets leave Afghanistan.  Miriam is an older woman, the illegitimate daughter of a wealthy businessman, married at age 15 to Rasheed, an older man.  Laila is the daughter of a university professor.  Laila's future looks promising until the Taliban take over the country. How these two women become first antagonists, then sisters, is an unforgettable story.  372 p.