Review: The Candy House

Recap: In a dreamy, interwoven bit of organized chaos, Jennifer Egan once again delivers an exceptional story that’s not really a story, a tale with connecting throughlines, characters and themes but no real plot. It’s a tough one to explain to others. In fact, I tried to explain Egan’s storytelling to one of my coworkers recently who looked at me puzzled, and may as well have responded by saying “well, that sounds awful.” But what’s confusing, once understood, becomes brilliant and truly awe-some.

About ten years after her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, Egan published The Candy House as a sequel, following some of the characters from Goon Squad. Those carryovers include Sasha, LuLu and Bennie among others. Egan does the same thing in this sequel as she does in her first book: each chapter reads like a short story about a particular character. A minor character from that story is then the “hero” of the next chapter, so the reader learns more about another person in the story. Then another minor character tells the story in the next chapter. That same thread continues throughout. The stories aren’t necessarily connected either. They’re just little slice of life pieces of each of these characters. Some stories are told in present day, some in the future, some in the past. There’s a lot of hopping around and putting together the puzzle pieces of who’s connected to who, how and on what section of the timeline.

In Goon Squad, Lulu was a young girl. In Candy House, we meet her as an adult, where she is a spy (and has maybe the coolest chapter in the book?). Here, Lulu is also part of another chapter made up of emails sent between many of these interconnected characters, which further emphasizes the brilliant interweaving of everyone. It’s very “Love, Actually” and fun to read! The connections between the characters is one of the central themes of Egan’s books: that each person has an impact on another. But Candy House has another overarching theme about social media, authenticity and who you are versus how you portray yourself online and preserve yourself for the future — big themes about which we are already talking when it comes to AI and which make this story particularly relevant.

Analysis: What’s fun about The Candy House that I don’t remember from Goon Squad is that Jennifer Egan is playfully meta in her writing. Near the end of the book, she calls out the book’s title by writing “tongue in cheek nostalgia is merely the portal, the candy house, if you will, through which we hope to lure in a new generation and bewitch them.” It’s exactly what she’s doing with this book: trying to lure in a new generation of readers to her eclectic writing a decade after publishing her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that younger readers may have missed altogether. She goes on to question “do all roads start to converge after age 70?” The Candy House has an answer for that too: yes, or maybe even earlier.

When I read A Visit from the Goon Squad years ago, I remember being excited to read an award winning book. I liked it, but it didn’t have much of an impact on me. It took me a while to understand what was going on, and by the time I got it, I felt like I had spent so much of the book focusing on the wrong things and missing the beauty and creativity that was right in front of me. So sadly, it didn’t land. But for some reason, The Candy House clicked much more easily and earlier for me. Reading it felt like an adventure and made me appreciate Goon Squad and Jennifer Egan much more.

MVP: Lulu. There are a dozen characters I’d love to put here, but Lulu’s chapters were the most creatively written format-wise, and her character displayed such strength and a beautiful mix of masculinity and femininity.

Get The Candy House in paperback for $15.19.

Or on your Kindle for $13.99.

Review: It Starts With Us

Recap: It Starts With Us is the sequel to Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us and picks up immediately following the epilogue of It Ends With Us. That epilogue ends with about a year’s time jump and a brief interaction between Lily and Atlas, Lily’s first boyfriend from high school. As this second book in the series starts off, Lily is wondering if it’s even possible to make that relationship work again when she still has Ryle in her life. She and Ryle are now divorced, and their daughter is now about a year old. Co-parenting has not been easy. It never is, but when your ex is an abuser, there are added layers of challenges. She and Ryle have learned to get along while passing the baby between them but Ryle is clearly still holding out hope that they will get back together. He doesn’t quite understand the deep-seeded fear that now lies in Lily’s body. She quite literally contracts when he’s near. And he seems to be near a lot as he still has access to Lily’s apartment.

For the first time in the story of Lily and Atlas, the reader gets a clearer idea of how Atlas feels about their history and relationship. The book alternates narration between Lily and Atlas, bringing Atlas to the forefront of the story, compared to the first book in the series. As Lily deals with creating distance and space between her and Ryle to make room for Atlas, Atlas is ready to make room for Lily in his life, but it comes at a bad time. Someone has been vandalizing his new restaurant, and he quickly learns there’s a personal connection. As the two try to navigate all the complicated relationships around them, the one relationship they know they don’t have to question is the one they have with each other.

Analysis: After not loving much of It Ends With Us, I was concerned I would like It Starts With Us even less. But I was wrong. Revisiting familiar characters got me on board with the sequel much more willingly. I was happy to see Lily finally get the true happiness and joy she deserved. I was also happy to see Atlas deal with some of the abuse he faced when he was younger. It’s a point of pride – and relief – when Lily finally creates space between her and Ryle. My biggest gripe is her best friend, Allysa, who also happens to be the sister of Lily’s ex, Ryle. Though Ryle’s actions were reprehensible, it felt pretty implausible for her best friend to so quickly and willingly denounce her brother and stand by her friend. That makes her strong, sure. And her actions are right. But I do find it hard to believe that someone who loves her brother would so quickly take the other side.

It’s interesting to note that author Colleen Hoover did not originally plan to write this sequel at all, but her fans – and later, publisher – demanded it. It was nice to the rest of the story flushed out though. This is a rare occasion in which I feel the sequel actually added something of value, allowing for a real happy ending for Atlas and Lily and a more clear picture of and plan for how Lily and Ryle would continue to co-parent their daughter despite their relationship status. After having read this book, it makes It Ends With Us feel unfinished. This really completes the tale.

MVP: Atlas. He really is the best. He takes on new challenges without doubts and instead, full confidence that he can either a) handle it or b) it will all work out even if he can’t.

Get It Starts With Us in paperback for $9.65.

Or on your Kindle for $13.99.

Review: Verity

Recap: You know the start of author Lowen Ashleigh’s journey is off to a dark start when she’s on her way to a meeting, witnesses a deadly crash at an intersection and finds herself covered in blood splatter. What follows is a man walking behind her until she can get to a public bathroom. He locks himself inside the bathroom with her and offers her his crisp, white button-down to replace her shirt. That’s how Lowen first meets Jeremy. The second time she meets him is minutes later when it turns out her important meeting with him. Jeremy is the husband of another author, Verity Crawford, who is injured from a terrible incident and isn’t able to finish writing the series she had started. Jeremy, along with Verity’s publishing team, now want Lowen to complete the series for her.

Despite all the red flags (she doesn’t want the attention, she doesn’t want the pressure of living up to Verity’s writing, etc.), Lowen signs onto the project in part for the money and certainly in part because she is naturally drawn to Jeremy. Jeremy insists that Lowen stay at his and Verity’s home so she has complete access to all of Verity’s work, manuscripts and outlines. But while there, Lowen finds herself becoming more intrigued by Jeremy and his and Verity’s family. She wants to understand how their two daughters died, what led up to Verity being in this fragile state, what Jeremy’s relationship is like with both Verity and their one remaining child, a son. Lowen also finds something else in Verity’s house: a manuscript, not for the book she’s supposed to finish but for a memoir/autobiography that indicates Verity is much darker than the public, or even her husband, knows her to be. Lowen starts to question the truth about what happened to Verity, what happened to her daughters and whether she’s safe living in Verity’s home…all as the relationship between she and Jeremy evolve.

Analysis: Verity was my entry into Colleen Hoover novels since this is the one I’d seen all over the bookshelves, all over Goodreads and all over the Internet. As such, Verity gave me huge Gone Girl vibes, and I immediately understood why it’s so popular and beloved. There’s the back-and-forth narration between Lowen and the Verity manuscript, the deep, dark secrets, the unreliable narrators, the mysterious deaths of children and the mystery of Jeremy. Reading it promises to put you in a constant state of discomfort in that you don’t know who to trust. There’s nothing you can do but to keep reading to have your questions answered.

And the twists! The twists! There are several. And just when you think there couldn’t be another, Hoover sneaks it in. I tend to find myself a pretty good reader and often pick up on the foreshadowing in books, but I didn’t conceive of what was to come in Verity. Not knowing anything about Colleen Hoover before picking up this book, I didn’t realize that part of what she’s known for her is her sexy writing, and that was a fun surprise. Listen, Colleen Hoover is not a prestige, literary, Nobel Award-worthy novelist. Her writing can be a bit hokey at times. BUT Verity proved her plotline cliffhangers, sex scenes and twists make her books the definition of the kind you simply can’t put down. Making Verity even more interesting is the open-ended interpretation of the ending of this book. The end is finite, but the characters are left wondering why they did what they did, if they made the right the decision and what’s the right thing to believe. There’s no way of knowing, and it’s a fun ending to debate with other friends who have read the book.

MVP: Jeremy and Verity’s son. The reality is none of the lead characters in this novel are good, likeable people. But maybe that’s the beauty of this book; that even so, it’s still a great, entertaining read.

Get Verity in paperback for $10.98.

Or on your Kindle for $13.99.

Limited Series vs. Book: Fleishman Is In Trouble

When you first set out to read or watch Fleishman Is In Trouble, you think you know what you’re getting into: a story about a man and his divorce from his wife. That is mostly what the novel is about…until you learn the story really isn’t about that at all.

Toby Fleishman is a 40ish-year-old whose ex-wife, Rachel, drops their two children off at his Manhattan apartment and promptly disappears. Hours become days become weeks of Toby not being able to reach Rachel and floundering as he tries to juggle his career as a doctor and now full-time caring for his hormonal tween daughter, Hannah, and son, Solly. In modern-day post-divorce fashion, Toby is also on dating apps, where he’s trying — but not really — to date around. Mostly he’s just sleeping around. And masturbating around. And pornographing around. And again, trying to manage it all while also keeping up with the rich folks in his and Rachel’s elite social circle and not spontaneously combust. So yes. Toby Fleishman is, in fact, in trouble.

But so is Rachel Fleishman, which is what this story is really about. In fact, the story is a trojan horse, less about Toby and more about the women in his life: Rachel and Toby’s best friend from college, Libby. Libby is the narrator of the story. In the novel, this detail is slowly revealed over time. Initially, the reader learns the narrator isn’t Toby. Then we learn it’s a woman. Then we learn it’s his college friend. It’s not until more than 200 pages into the novel that the reader even learns this college friend’s name is Libby. All this goes to show how much Toby really thinks of Libby – or doesn’t, as the case may be – since he is so selfishly caught up in his own shit. As Toby deals with his own spiral, Rachel is having a nervous breakdown and Libby is struggling with a mid-life crisis, wondering what happened to her career as she grew a family in the suburbs. Libby writes about Toby, Rachel, herself and she and Toby’s other college friend, Seth as they navigate marriage, dating and divorce in their 40’s.

Both the book and series made me deeply fear divorce, since it’s portrayed as straight-up miserable for all parties involved. But the story is a more of a coming-of-age story set in mid-life as the four characters think about where they’ve been, what they want, and how they’re going to get where they want. The series follows the novel quite closely, as to be expected since the author of the novel also wrote the series. But the limited TV series (available on Hulu) makes some changes I don’t think quite work.

Compared to the overall length of the limited series, the show moves through Toby and Rachel’s story quite quickly, allowing the rest of the show to focus more on Libby and Seth. While they are main characters in the novel, there’s not quite that much of a focus on them so this turn feels sudden and forced Libby. In fact, the series really emphasizes Libby and her narration, whereas — as I mentioned before — the novel doesn’t and again, doesn’t even reveal her name until much later in the book. The overarching theme and statement the author is trying to make is that sadly, people are more likely to read stories about men than women. So she uses a woman to tell a man’s story that ultimately is secretly a woman’s story. The de-emphasis on Libby in the novel better evokes this statement. By centralizing her character at the end of the limited series, I found myself asking where did this come from? I wanted to see more of Rachel.

The series also lets Toby off the hook quite a bit and makes many of the characters more likable. In the novel, Toby is far more obsessed with his apps than in the series. He is disgustingly galavanting around New York City with random women. He is not focused on anything, which adds to his downfall. And his daughter is not quite the sweet girl they make her out to be in the series either. Author Taffy Brodesser-Akner wrote her Bat Mitzvah into the limited series. It does not happen in the book. But also, I was surprised to see the scenes in the series when Hannah asks to practice for her Bat Mitzvah because she is completely disinterested in the novel and has to be forced to study. She is a lot more annoying and has a lot more attitude in the novel than in the series, which makes sense as her parents’ marriage and lives crumble around her. She, Rachel and Toby are overall much more awful people in the novel than the show. That may make for a happier and more hopeful showcasing, but I also think the misery in the novel is pretty realistic considering what they’re all going through.

That’s not to say the book is miserable. For the record, the novel is fantastic. There’s a reason it was a bestseller when it came out; it resonates deeply with people of a similar age as these characters. There are moments sad and traumatic, and there are moments hopeful and uplifting. I recommend watching the series as the casting is great and the crux of the story is still well-told, but I recommend the book more.

Nasty Amazon Review Has Author Suing

Every once in a while, I come across a story that makes me think “REALLY?!” This is one of those stories.

According to this article by the L.A. Times, a British author is suing someone over a negative book review they wrote on Amazon. Yes, really. Apparently, British libel laws are completely different from those of the United States, and this lawsuit is somewhat warranted there.

Author Chris McGrath is suing Vaughn Jones for writing a review — which has since been removed — of his book The Attempted Murder of God: Hidden Science You Really Need to Know. He’s also suing Amazon, Richard Dawkins, and the Richard Dawkins Foundation — for whom Jones also wrote an article.

The article also mentions that Jones could not afford representation. That, and the fact that Britain’s dafamation laws generally work in the favor of the claimant make it seem like McGrath is the likely winner here.

To me, the fact that an author could sue over a bad review is ludicrous. Freedom of speech is an obvious right in the United States, and critical reviews are a daily occurrence. The fact that this could cause an uproar in modern times just blows my mind. What do you guys think?

 

Positive Reviews for Pottermore!

If you’re still waiting for the email saying you’ve been chosen to enter the wonderful wizarding world of Pottermore, then you’re wasting your time.

It seems the Sorting Hat has already picked the special few who get an early look at the Harry Potter-infused web site. And so far it’s getting good reviews.

Writers from Huffington Post and Entertainment Weekly got first looks (I’m not sure if that was purely by chance or because they’re writers for Huffington Post and Entertainment Weekly), and it seems they had few bad things to say about it.

The cons: moments of slow connectivity, glitches in hidden content, trouble stirring potions, not much to do upon first entering the site.

The pros: character backgrounds, location histories, excluded plot lines, fun facts (like Hermoine’s last name was originally going to be Puckle), having a wand choose you (and match your personality traits), few ads, House points, House Cup, surprise video clips from J.K. Rowling herself, etc, etc, more fabulousness, etc.

It’s clear that the pros outweigh the cons here. But probably the most interesting thing I learned upon reading the reviews is that only Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone content is available at this point. I suppose content related to the other books will come in due time, but that’s kind of a downer. The good news is…October is just around the corner, and Pottermore will be free to all of us Muggles!

For more, here’s my take on the web site, the Huffington Post review, the Entertainment Weekly review, and more photos from Entertainment Weekly.

**Edit: It has come to my attention that all those who have signed up for Pottermore WILL gain full access to the site prior to October. The site is operating on a rolling admission. Please see comments below.

Get the entire Harry Potter box set in paperback for only $50 — a total savings of 43%.

Review: Sweet Little Lies

Recap: The second novel in Lauren Conrad’s L.A. Candy series, Sweet Little Lies tells the story of Jane Roberts coming to terms with her relationships. At the end of L.A. Candy, indecent photos of her and her non-boyfriend, Braden, have been published in the tabloids. In Lies, Roberts relies on her new BFF, Madison, to get her life back on track. But her close bond with Madison pushes her away from longtime BFF, Scarlett. Scarlett moves on with a new man and unexpected friendship with Gaby (the “reality” show’s 4^th lead girl). But Jane continues to spiral, making all the wrong decisions. She resumes her relationship with ex-boyfriend and celebrity manwhore, Jesse, and continues to confide in Madison – though she’s the one leaking all of her personal information to the gossip world. Ultimately, the sweet little lies come out.

Analysis: This novel serves its purpose: it’s a light and fluffy book that more or less gives tweens a look into Lauren Conrad’s life on The Hills. Though the plots are fictional, the series is semi-autobiographical, telling the story of two girls who move to L.A. and magically get picked to star in a new reality show.

The novel does a good job of showing how unrealistic “reality” TV is. For instance, when the show’s producer learns his “star” and boyfriend have broken up via text message, he begins piecing together a “breakup scene,” so the viewers will “understand what happened.” We also get further insight into the producer’s edits, with Scarlett picking her scenes apart word for word.

Aside from the ­­obvious platform on the current state of “reality” TV, this book is about relationships, between both lovers and friends. Friends become lovers (Scarlett and Liam). Friends grow apart (Scarlett and Jane). Girls become friends with each other too quickly (Jane and Madison). And someone you never thought you’d become friends with is suddenly your confidante (Scarlett and Gaby). Relationships are never easy, and that’s what Jane learns here. At points, she doesn’t know who to trust. Her boyfriend is abusive, her truest friend is out of her life, and her current friend is using her.

Jane’s a damsel in distress and annoying. But as readers, we relate to her for the same reasons the viewers of her show relate to her. We’ve all been there. We’ve all had friendships that have died, been revived, or grown. And when it comes down to it, we all know who will be there for us in the end.

MVP: Diego Nieri aka D. D’s a minor character, but he saves the day and shows Jane how naïve she’s been. D’s a little sidekick; a friend of Jane and Scarlett, who pops up a few times throughout the novel. But when he does, it’s always with flavor. He’s gay and fabulous, but most importantly reliable. In a city where Jane learns she has no one to trust, D is her rock. He protects his girls. And scenes with D always make me laugh. (Think Anthony Marentino in Sex and the City.)

Movie vs. Book: Never Let Me Go

What would the world be like if genetic cloning was a common occurrence? If people were genetically designed to donate organs to those who were sick? If these donors weren’t even considered humans, but just clones? That’s the world that Never Let Me Go aims to explore.

A science fiction novel set in modern times, Never Let Me Go follows the lives of Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth, who are students at Hailsham boarding school in England. Initially the reader learns Hailsham is not your average boarding school, but we don’t understand why until later. We learn that the students are all genetically designed to make organ donations to the ill until they “complete,” or die. This is never said outright, but the reader learns it from context clues. Suddenly, the dynamic of the relationships in the book become much more engaging.

The story sounds weird, but in actuality, it’s tragic. Tommy and Kathy have always been in love, but Tommy dates Kathy’s frenemy Ruth instead. After their schooling, the three friends join society and start their work. Ruth and Tommy become donors, spending their time preparing for surgery, undergoing surgery, and recovering from it. Kathy, in turn, becomes a carer – taking care of donors for years until she decides she is ready to become a donor herself.

After 10 years of not seeing each other, the three reunite. Ruth apologizes for keeping Tommy and Kathy away from each other and urges them to try to get a deferral. A deferral, they’ve heard, is a 3-year delay for donations, granted to donors who can prove they’re in love.

As mentioned, this is a story of tragedy. And surprisingly, that’s felt both in the book and the movie. Though the movie leaves out a few minor plotlines (like Kathy’s exploration into sex), it follows the story pretty closely. The movie is more blunt about their purpose as donors than the book. Whereas the reader has to figure it out for him or herself in the book, the movie outright tells the audience what the situation is. The bluntness forces the movie to lose some of the story’s mystique, but it’s necessary to keep it moving.

Overall, the story translates quite well to screen. The acting is solid (with Carey Mulligan as Kathy, Andrew Garfield as Tommy, and Kiera Knightley as Ruth), the cinematography is beautiful and the story flows well. It didn’t do well in theaters, but I think that’s because the story is unusual when compared to your average love triangle. I would still recommend the movie, as well as the book.

Review: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Recap: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is the third and “final” novel in the Millenium series. It picks up with the protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, being transferred to the hospital after she narrowly escapes death in the second novel. Salander spends the majority of the book in the hospital, healing and waiting to stand trial for the attempted murder of her father, Alexander Zalachenko. Nest  centers on the way in which Mikael Blomkvist (a reporter, who is also a good friend and former lover of Salander’s) furthers his investigation. With his investigation also comes revelations about The Section, the group within Sweden’s Security Police, or Sapo, that has been covering up illegal activity for some 30+ years.

Analysis: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is everything a last story in a trilogy should be. It ties up loose ends, gives the reader a desirable ending, and still leaves a bit of room for growth should the author  change his/her mind and decide to write more. (**In this case, Stieg Larsson wrote half of a fourth book before he died in 2004, but more on that later.)

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is a direct sequel to The Girl Who Played With Fire. Whereas Fire explains Salander’s background and history to the reader, Nest reveals this information to the other characters. Salander is an undeniably jaded woman, but Nest confirms that she isn’t crazy. Her innocence is proven as the complicated web of lies, cover-ups, and murders unravels.

The best part of the book is learning about the Section – its function, power, and disregard for those hurt in the crimes they work to cover up. In Fire, we learn there are a bunch of rats, but we don’t care. In Nest, however, we learn how integral the Section is to the story. And let’s be honest. Audiences love a good story about a rat getting crushed. As a reader, one becomes more caught up in this plot than the fallout of the murders that happened in the second book.

The one downfall of the novel is the access Blomkvist gains regarding the police’s murder investigation. Yes, he’s a journalist and has the ability to investigate. But as a journalist myself, I know the police would never give media the access Blomkvist receives. Though one might say it makes sense because he is a part of the story being investigated, I don’t believe he’s so involved to be allowed to sit in on private meetings among the police and the Prime Minister.

MVP: Monica Figuerola. Figuerola is introduced in this novel as a Sapo investigator, assigned to look into The Section. The Section, of course, is made up of fellow officers, putting Figuerola in a tricky position. But she does her job successfully. We also learn Figuerola is a former bodybuilder. Herein lies her purpose: she is the anti-woman – a female with a male role. She takes charge and gets results. She’s actually a parallel to Salander, but a stable one. This is why we like her. (Plus, she sleeps with Blomkvist, and we’re jealous. )

**Stieg Larsson died of a heart attack in 2004. By then, he had written 3 novels and half of a fourth. His longtime girlfriend, Eva Gabrielsson, who has published her own memoir, could potentially publish the fourth. But right now, she has her own legal matters to contend with.