My bookshelf 25 - the last half dozen: some diverse stories for summer reading

The cool and rainy spring here at home meant plenty of time to curl up with a good book - or six; but summer is technically only days away and hopefully that means long, lazy days which is also a good excuse (as if we need one) to sit in solitude and escape life for awhile amidst the pages, maybe in a hammock with a fluffy drink.

My last six are a diverse bunch - World War II, homesteader life in the Canadian north, plenty of family drama, deep grief, and reflections on the human condition. Maybe there will be something here for your summer TBR pile.

In the order they were read:

The Shock of the Light is  set during and just after World War II.  Twins Tessa and Theo live in Cambridge,  England, the children of an English man and a French woman. Tessa and Theo share a bond so deep, their attachment is almost off-putting to some people; but some distance starts to grow  and secrets start to form, when, as teenagers, Theo stays in Cambridge to study law while Tessa travels to France to attend university.   When the war breaks out, Theo signs up as a pilot with the Royal Air Force, and Tessa finds herself in a secretarial pool despite her university education.  But when she is recruited for the highly confidential Special Operations Executive she jumps at the chance for the excitement, danger, secretiveness, and  the chance to play a real role  in the war effort. In more ways than one, she disappears from Theo’s life.  But he has some secrets, too.  The story unfolds in the third person alternating between Tessa’s and Theo’s lives. Theo returns home after being injured during fighting;  and he is angry and depressed about the war and the deaths of his comrades and about the loss of Tessa who does not return home.   He becomes quite self-destructive.  He is obsessed with the need to find out what happened to Tessa.  Some six decades later, a PHD student enters his life, and together they go on a hunt for some answers and, in the process, learn more than they set out for. This book is a fast, engaging read that held my attention.  I really liked the intrigue, the research,  the insight into the role of Britain and France in WWII,  the personal toll of war,  the clever twists and turns,  the themes of loyalty and love, and the question of  just how well we know others, even those closest to us. As the author states, “It is difficult to trust anyone when they’re all pretending to be something they’re not.” This would be a great book club discussion book. Rating: 4.0/5

This book will stay with me for a long time; but Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead is a book that you really need to decide for yourself if you should read because the entire story centres around a woman grieving the loss of her newborn infant and all that accompanies that (it’s heavy with depression and suicidal thoughts),  so obviously this book might be very painful for some. Cleo Dang is a  professional actuary married to an anesthesiologist.   Her lifelong dream is to be a mother.  Cleo and Ethan live across from Cleo’s longtime friend Paloma with whom she shares all of life’s major events, even becoming pregnant at the same time. But Paloma’s baby lives while Cleo’s does not. Cleo’s grief is profound, made even more so by the fact that everywhere she turns, she is faced with young mothers, including Paloma,  living the life of her dreams with their infant children. To keep her mind occupied, Cleo accepts employment in a funeral home and, strangely, it is here that she starts to learn how to confront her grief.   Amidst the raw emotion and some rather graphic scenes, there’s dark humour and some pleasant surprises.  The ending is especially strong. Mai Nguyen has the ability and life experience to write this story.  Although protagonist Cleo Dang is fictional,  the story was written when the author herself was grieving the loss of her infant child, so parts of the story are based on her own experience. Mai Nguyen recognized the benefit of dark humour to help manage her  pain. I really liked all the wisdom in this story about the grieving process - how there is no one right way to grieve,  about finding support or guidance where you least expect it (I especially liked funeral home owner Kenneth), about the role of spouses and families and even ethnicity, about our inappropriate responses to someone’s grief, about the depth of lasting friendships, and about eventually reclaiming life (including pleasure) even if it was never the life you imagined. In my opinion, this is a valuable book for some people, and some might even nod their heads in understanding.  But, given the trauma,  you have to decide if it is for you, depending on your life circumstances. Rating: 4.5/5

This Is Not About Us tells the story of several generations of the Jewish American Rubenstein family.  The story opens with the death of  the youngest of three elderly sisters, 74 year old Jeanne, leaving her older sisters Helen and Sylvia in mourning and disbelief as Jeanne was the knot that tied them together. But Helen and Sylvia become estranged over an apple cake recipe which, I imagine, is just the tipping point of underlying conflict and grievances. The story  continues through chapters  which bounce between daily life events of at least a dozen family members, events that include divorce, shared parenting, new relationships, career challenges, school issues, dance recitals, religious celebrations . . .   you might need the family tree at the front of the book to keep track. This Is Not About Us is not an exciting nor fast read. It’s more a commentary or a saga about an extended family, of relationships, of decisions, of conflicts, of pressures, of expectations, of growing apart, of growing up, and of growing with the times. More importantly, it’s about the underlying threads that hold a family together, despite transgressions in the past.  I liked the fact that the younger generations appeared to learn from their elders about the silliness of holding grudges, especially over petty issues. In a way,  This Is Not About Us just might be a bit about all of us. If you like family sagas, you might really like this book; and if you are Jewish, you might especially like all the references to customs and food. Rating: 3.0/5

 Wildwood  was first published in 2018 and republished after Elinor Florence’s huge success with Finding Flora. This is another winner.  Wildwood is a clever historical fiction in that we learn about early 1900’s life in rural northern Alberta, Canada, when a modern day character, Molly Bannister relocates to a farm near the fictional town of Juniper where she and her young daughter Bridget live without running water or electricity or technology.  Molly is from Phoenix Arizona, with all the latest conveniences; but when her  life takes a downturn, she receives notice that her great aunt Mary Bannister Lee has left her a homestead with the understanding that if she lives there for a year, she will be able to sell for a large sum which is Molly’s plan so that she can return to Phoenix as soon as possible.  Molly learns to survive with help from neighbours and the local indigenous people  on the nearby reserve but also through reading her great aunt’s diary which is almost a parallel to Molly’s experience in the harsh northern environment.   I loved the descriptive writing. If you are from the rural prairies, you will be able to smell the flowers and bushes, feel the breezes soft on your skin,  hear the crackle of ice, and shiver at the biting cold. And if you have a few years behind you,  I think  you will also love the references to recipes and  story books and wood burning stoves and wringer washers that were just normal life for many of us.  In addition, we  learn of the character of both old and modern small town Alberta, of friendships and assistance.  We learn of the helpful relationship between the indigenous and white populations as both simply tried to survive in a rough climate and a rough terrain,  and we learn of threats to the rural way of life such as the desires of huge oil and gas companies to encroach on rural land. There is personal trauma to be confronted, some unethical dealings, and of course a rather attractive farmer nearby.  We even  get a glimpse of American/Canadian differences such as Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons and colourful money. It's a clever and engaging historical fiction. Rating: 4.5/5

In The Things We Never Say,  Elizabeth Strout dives deep into the human condition.  She places this story in 2024 during the US election which has a strong influence on her characters and which some readers will like and some, not so much. And be forewarned, depression and suicide are prevalent topics. Artie, is a 57 year old who teaches history to eleventh graders and who loves his profession and his students.  He lives in a beautiful home on the coast of Massachusetts with his wife and enjoys sailing as a hobby.  It all sounds perfect. But Artie is in a real life crisis as he is experiencing loneliness and isolation and confusion amidst his family dynamics and amidst the undertones of society. He starts to have deep philosophical thoughts about how we think, who we are,  and how much we know about ourselves and each other. He really starts to question his own mental health. He is sent into a tailspin when a long-held secret is revealed.  We live with Artie as he navigates his insecurities, his relationship with his wife Evie and son Rob, his old and new  friendships,  his beloved students,   and the changing dynamics of the world. I really liked Artie because I think he is a portrayal of what I think is a current quite prevalent loneliness in society, especially amongst middle-agers and seniors. I think  the strength of this book lies in the realization that every single one of us has issues of some sort, despite our situation in life (privilege does not guarantee happiness). Every one of us has either identity or personal life problems, but we need to remember and try to recognize the kindness that exists even when and where and from whomever we least expect; and what really stood out for me was the reminder that we might think ourselves worthless but to someone else, we might be life-saving. It’s about the need to talk to each other and to really care about each other simply as human beings, regardless of our differing beliefs and actions. Rating: 4.0/5

I really liked the premise behind this story. The Wish is set in modern day and focuses on two main characters: 15 year old Jessie who is suffering from terminal cancer and  29 year old introverted and socially-inadequate virtual reality game designer Alex who lives  with his dog Max.  When Alex receives an instruction to help grant a final wish, he meets Jessie who has a large request for him to  develop a specific immersive video experience of her life that she can leave her family and friends.  Alex believes this is beyond his capability and resources. In the process of Alex getting to know Jessie, we meet her little brother and her conflicting parents, her best teenage friends on the cancer ward, her nurses, and one particular social worker.  Everyone is struggling with Jessie’s inevitability.  So, obvious warning, this story focuses on a youth dying from a terminal illness and the effects on everyone involved - family, friends, and health care workers.   The Wish is a very fast read. The writing is so simple that I wondered at one point if it might be a young adult novel;  and I wondered if the interactions between the teenagers and the scenes involving  the hospital environment and the video design process were realistic – but I don’t have experience in any of these areas. I will note that the author spent over 20 years working as a social worker in a hospital setting, so she has some insight. The strength of this novel,  I think, is in the kindness and wisdom and hope and the little surprises and  personal growth, especially in one particular character, that come about through hard times. Some readers found this book quite emotional, and you will have to decide if the subject matter is for you. Rating: 3.0/5

So, that was my spring reading. Remembering that some books are liked for their subject and some for their style and that sometimes writing style can make or break a book, here is my ranking (it's all subjective, anyway): 1) Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead 2) Wildwood 3) The Shock Of The Light 4) The Things We Never Say 5) This Is Not About Us and 6) The Wish

"I kept always two books in my pocket, one to read, one to write in" - Robert Louis Stevenson