Kitchener Public Library - Fiction Reviews

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Fiction Reviews

Welcome to our choices of Great Reads! Each month we will bring you reviews of selected titles from the Kitchener Public Library fiction collection. Click on the title to look at library copies, locations and to place a hold. We hope you enjoy our selections. This month's titles were reviewed by the staff of the Circulation Services Department at the Main Library.

Big Stone Gap - Andriana Trigiani
Bubbles Unbound - Sarah Strohmeyer
A Dangerous Silence - Catherine Palmer
The Falls - Ian Rankin
From the Corner of His Eye - Dean Koontz
I Wish I Had a Red Dress - Pearl Cleag
In This Sign - Joanne Greenberg
Mitla Pass - Leon Uris
Plain Truth - Jodi Picault
The Outsider (L'Etranger) - Albert Camus
The Quilter's Apprentice - Jennifer Chiaverini
The Rescue - Nicholas Sparks
Shock - Robin Cook
Smoke Jumper - Nicholas Evans
Ling Shan (Soul Mountain) - Xingjian Gao

Big Stone Gap by Andriana Trigiani

"This will be a good weekend for reading"; with these words we are introduced to Ave Maria Mulligan, the main character of the novel Big Stone Gap. Ave Maria is a self-fulfilled single 35 year old woman who has no end of activities to occupy her time: she is the town’s pharmacist, director of the annual play, part-time ambulance driver and mentor to Pearl, an awkward teenager desperately in need of a friend. Ave Maria is also surrounded by wonderfully quirky individuals including her best friend the sexy bookmobile librarian, Iva Lou Wade; a gentle snake-handling minister and two prospective suitors: Jac Mac a quiet mountain man and Theodore Tipton her friend since forever. Ave Maria has need of these friends because lately a lot has been going on in her busy, though predictable, life. Her loving mother has only recently passed away and as Ave Maria deals with her loss she is shocked to discover that her real father is still alive in Italy. In addition to coping with her grief she must contend with bitter spiteful relatives and the well-intentioned but unsolicited advice from concerned townsfolk. Ave Marie thinks she has everything under control—until the breakdown. Thus begins a journey of self-discovery that is both funny and heart breaking. Ave Maria discovers she isn’t all that happy with her life and determines to do something about it and learns something about trust and faith along the way. Big Stone Gap is a captivating novel and a great way to spend a cold winter weekend.

Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer

This is Strohmeyer's debut mystery featuring Bubbles Yablonsky, a hairstylist and single mom from a Pennsylvania steel town. She decides to shed her image as a "blond bimbo" and get an education. She takes every course offered at the local community college before settling on journalism as a fulfilling career. Her first opportunity as a trainee at the New-Times comes when her high school physics teacher is threatening to jump off the town's highest bridge. Surely she can answer a simple physics question and change his mind. Surely writing the story will lead to her Big Break. She intervenes in the suicide attempt thereby losing the story, but acquires a sexy photographer suitor with a knack for disappearing. Her next opportunity is equally unproductive when she discovers a run-over corpse and the drunken wife of the steel mill's vindictive owner still in the vehicle, a scenario that has been radically transformed by the time the police arrive. Mixed in here is the unexplained decade-old death of a cheerleader, class warfare and plenty of seething small town relationships. This comic first mystery will provide the reader with a perfect blend of suspense, an engaging character and step-by-step home beauty treatments.

A Dangerous Silence by Catherine Palmer

After her father suffers a disabling injury, successful pediatrician Marah Morgan arranges to take a leave of absence from her St Louis practice to help manage the family farm in Kansas. Marah finds herself in the midst of deadly terror, as events past and present become inexplicably linked to hidden Indian burial grounds on the Morgan homestead. There is the mysterious death of Marah Morgan’s mother some twenty years earlier. Then two young burn victims under Dr Morgan’s care in St Louis, die from mysterious symptoms. A short time later, the physician who assisted Marah in the children’s care is also dead from the same sudden sequence of symptoms. Marah becomes suspicious that the deaths are all linked in some way.

The truth begins to unfold when Marah discovers that agents from the Indian Bureau are doing more than archeological excavations on the Morgan farmland. In fact they are a private research team intent on developing a new biological weapon. When they deliberately expose a child on the farm to a deadly virus, it is a race against time to save her life, and the lives of others.

This book is a suspenseful read, especially in light of current news headlines. Haunting excerpts from unpublished Indian manuscripts attest to the horror of biological threats in the past.

The Falls by Ian Rankin

In the year 1836 in a cave on the slopes of a hill in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland some children found 17 miniature coffins, four inches each containing a small wooden figurine in custom-made clothes.

Ian Rankin (whose fascination with the history of Edinburgh is evident in his novels) uses this unexplained find as a pivotal point in his latest Inspector John Rebus novel The Falls.

A wealthy student from Edinburgh University goes missing and is later found dead. A miniature carved wooden doll is found in a tiny coffin in the student’s home village. Rebus finds himself out of his element amid the city’s upper crust as he tries to solve the murder.

An examination of the victim’s computer points to her involvement in a role-playing game. She has been solving clues and moving up the various levels of difficulty set by an individual called the Quizmaster.

As Rebus pits his wits and experience against the killer his teammate DC Siobhan Clarke is put in charge of finding the quizmaster. She makes contact and she too becomes caught up in the game.

Through their methods of detection Rebus and Clarke are led to a final discovery of who the killer is but has Siobhan’s success in the Quizmaster’s game led her to the same fate as the victim and will Rebus solve the crime in time to save her?

A chilling climax will answer those questions.

From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz

Koontz explores the effects of quantum physics on human relationships in, From the Corner of His Eye. If the idea of this complex scientific bent scares you, think again. Although the underlying science and its implications are mind boggling, Koontz flavors it with enough humanity to assure it goes down easily. And the end result will profoundly change the way most readers view their lives, one another, and the world in general.

Readers will be captured from chapter one, loving the characters in this book, especially those of the children, Barty and Angel. I read on the jacket of the book that one reviewer said that Koontz's gift was being able to make the reader believe the impossible. After reading, I have a thirst to discover this new world of quantum physics. This book is not a waste of time. Just when I thought I knew what happened, it twisted and turned and I'd questioned my decisions on how the book would go. Okay - I have to hit the library for Koontz's other novels.

I Wish I had a Red Dress by Pearl Cleag

I Wish I had a Red Dress - Powerful and truly touching. Pearl has done it again. Readers who thoroughly enjoyed her previous novel, What looks like crazy on an ordinary day... will be delighted to see that she focuses on Joyce Mitchell, the lady and older sister of Ava from that novel. Joyce is truly refreshing and inspiring. Through her the reader comes to meet people like Tee (Tomika), Sheila, Sister and Bill, to name a few. Even with three plots going, the story is easy to follow and it offers wonderful life lessons and moments that make you really thing about your life, and its impact on the lives of others as well.

Readers will laugh, cry and rejoice while reading this book. It will remind you just how important it is to be surrounded by those you love and those who love you in return... unconditionally.

In This Sign by Joanne Greenberg

In her fourth novel, the author of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden tackles another neglected topic in popular literature—the world of the Deaf. With unsentimental compassion, the book chronicles the 50 year marriage of a Deaf couple, Abel and Janice Ryer from the post World War 1 era and onwards. On one level it is a story of one couple’s pursuit of the American Dream and their struggles against ignorance and poverty while raising a family.

On another level, it is a portrayal of Deaf life and culture in the first half of the twentieth century before the age of computers, closed captioning, assistive devices and other technologies. This was a time period dominated by an oralist approach in the education of the deaf, often with devastating effects. The book presents a compelling case for the use of Sign in deaf education. It also explores the experiences of the CODA-child of a deaf adult. It underscores some of the historical inequities that may have fueled the Deaf power movement of the 1980’s and beyond. This book is recommended reading for students of ASL and Deaf culture.

Mitla Pass by Leon Uris

Leon Uris is known as one of the world’s most respected novelists. Some of his more notable works include QB VII, Exodus, Topaz and Trinity. Many of his works are based on real-life events, generally historic in nature, but with enough additional drama to involve the reader. He explores both the human and political side of events and loves to examine the nature of conflict, whether personal or political. He also examines the decisions we all make and the repercussions for us and the world around us.

Mitla Pass is roughly based on events that surround a key battle on the eve of the 1956 war in the Sinai. It is the story of a writer, Gideon Zadok, who believes he must take this opportunity for one great story, one that can repeat the success he achieved at a very young age. Gideon manages to pull in a few old favors and thus joins the Israeli forces prior to their opening strike. As a reporter secretly covering the events, he moves with the army, far into enemy territory. This is also the story of Gideon the man, his past and his present.

Uris breaks away from the current day’s events to recount Gideon’s past, where he struggles to come to terms with a dysfunctional family in mother Russia, a family made up of a host of colourful characters. We get a glimpse too of his key relationships, one a difficult marriage to his a wife Valerie who he takes for granted, as well as a long-term affair with Natasha, a sophisticated and powerful Jewish woman who is a holocaust victim and an important consultant to the Israeli government.

Anyone who has found him or herself a part of the human condition will find that Leon Uris does an excellent job depicting the life of Gideon. The writing, as always, is excellent. The characters are real, the story sound and though the mood of the book is often sad, it is a very realistic depiction of life in that part of the world at that time. The books suffers from some discontinuity as the story begins with present events and then takes a prolonged look at the life of Gideon before returning near the end of the book to the war that is about to take place. All in all though, another good read from Uris.

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

The setting for Plain Truth is amongst the Amish community of Lancaster County in Paradise, Pennsylvania. The peaceful, pastoral lifestyle of the Fisher family is shattered when a newborn infant is found dead in their barn. An investigation startlingly reveals that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher has given birth and her son did not die of natural causes. Although Katie denies the medical evidence of the birth and the death of her baby, she is charged with infanticide.

Ellie Hathway, a highly successful Philadelphia attorney, agrees to defend her. Ellie has reached a crossroads in her life and welcomes the opportunity to take a break from her high-pressure lifestyle. Building the defense for Katie takes her back to her childhood roots in Paradise. She asks an old flame, a psychologist, to help Katie to regain her memory of the birth and the circumstances of the infant's death. Working with this friend rekindles old feelings in Ellie while living amongst the plain folks causes her to re-evaluate her goals and beliefs. Ellie's high tech world of criminal justice clashes with the Amish system of justice.

The courtroom drama and investigation of the infant's death hold the reader's interest. Jodi Picoult has captured a charming portrait of Amish life while exploring the bonds of family, friendship, and love in the making of complex life choices.

The Outsider (a.k.a. The Stranger) by Albert Camus

Intended as an introduction of sorts to Absurdism, The Outsider is a tale of one man’s persecution by society due to his unwillingness to adhere to the norms and standards expected of him. Meursault seems much like the middle-class everyman – he works as a clerk, lives alone and doesn’t do much else. However, as the narrative progresses, he begins to seem disaffected and amoral, showing no remorse over his mother’s death or deep affection to his girlfriend. He later becomes caught up in the petty affairs of a local pimp and winds up killing an Arab. Though not considered a serious crime, Meursault is continually dogged by the justice system for non-conformism and eventually convicted and executed solely because of his character. The main point of focus, however, is not the plot but Meursault’s reactions and attitude towards them, which challenges the reader to rethink his or her own views. As a classic existential text, The Outsider is both a study of the fundamental nature of man and his relationship to society.

The Quilter’s Apprentice by Jennifer Chiaverini

Sarah McClure, estranged from her mother, newly married and unemployed, hopes to make a fresh start when she and her husband Matt, move to the small college town of Waterford, Pennsylvania.

Matt’s new job as master gardener takes him to Elm Creek Manor, the estate of Sylvia Compson, a reclusive bitter old woman. Unable to find a fulfilling and practical job, Sarah reluctantly takes a temporary position as the personal assistant to Mrs. Compson, by helping her prepare her family estate for sale, after the death of her estranged sister.

When Sarah learns that Sylvia is an accomplished quilter, they agree that as payment for her work, Sylvia will teach Sarah the art of quilting. As the barriers of age and initial dislike break down Sarah learns the heartbreaking secrets of Sylvia’s lonely life and about living through the hardships of the World War II home front.

There’s lots of folklore about quilting and how these artistic endeavors bring women together in circles of quilting and friendship. Quilters especially will enjoy this tale of family friendship and forgiveness.

The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks

Taylor Mc Aden’s passion is his work as a volunteer firefighter in the small town of Edenton, North Carolina. Driven by his unarticulated feelings about his father’s death, one risk Taylor refuses to take in his dedication to saving lives is that he seems unable to let any woman into his heart, when a crisis is over.

During a raging storm, Denise Holton, a young single mother and Kyle her four-year-old learning disabled son are involved in a near fatal car crash. After Taylor finds her, Denise regains consciousness only to discover that Kyle is missing and has disappeared into the storm. While the difficult search is on for Kyle, the connection, the lifeline between Taylor and Denise takes root. Taylor can’t help wanting to be involved with Denise beyond the initial rescue of Kyle, so as he helps her recover from the accident and get to know the town, they discover a magical chemistry that pulls them together. Though Taylor fits perfectly into Denise’s family, he’s unable to open his heart to being loved by her. However, before Taylor can welcome Denise and Kyle into his life he must confront his past to learn whether it’s not too late to take a chance on the future.

Shock by Robin Cook

In Cook’s latest suspense novel two doctoral students, Deborah Cochrane and Joanna Meissner, answer an ad in the paper, which offers forty five thousand dollars to Harvard co-eds for egg donations. The pair decides it is a good idea and, duly paid for their donations, they buy an apartment in Boston, which they rent out and set off to spend a year in Venice, Italy to complete their thesis.

On return to the United States they try to find out if their eggs resulted in the birth of children and, having been unable to obtain any information, they set out with false I.D.s to start jobs at the Wingate Clinic where their donations had taken place.

With the knowledge Joanna gleans from breaking into the computer system, and what Deborah uncovers in the laboratory, it is obvious that the clinic is not what it appears to be. An exploration of the property confirms their fears as they learn of experimentation on animals and humans and also of the murders of missing women.

Their flight from the horrors they uncover and subsequent capture ends in an unusual finale.

Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans

Another bestseller for Nicholas Evans, Smoke Jumper is a story about four people who are brought together by the physical forces of smoke jumping--the act of dropping with a parachute to fight forest fires. The one force that brings them together may ultimately tear them apart.

Evans begins with Skye, a teen at fifteen years old, who has a rough beginning in life. Then he explains how Edward Tully meets Julia Bishop, who then gets to meet Connor Ford. Edward and Connor are long-time friends who work in Montana over the summers as smoke jumpers. Julia follows Edward to Montana to meet Connor, and be close to her new boyfriend Ed. She takes a job with an organization called WAY, Wilderness and Youth, where young offenders are given a last chance by learning how to survive in the wilderness. Read how Julia meets Skye, and how four lives can be affected by a fire that starts with one strike of lightning. As the spark smoldered in the heart of an ancient pine, Julia and the rest of the group slept soundly.

Skye slips out through the night, unaware yet of the danger, and when Julia wakes up, she gets an uneasy feeling, that has nothing to do with the fact that Skye is missing.

In The Horse Whisperer, you read about horses. In The Smoke Jumper, Evans has a way of interweaving the complex relationships of people.

Ling Shan (Soul Mountain) by Xingjian Gao

It was not without awe and trepidation that I started reading Ling Shan, the original Chinese work by Xingjian Gao, as the English version of the book won the Nobel Prize in 2000. Ling Shan, or Soul Mountain (the official prize-winning title) is very different in terms of literary constitution. It does not follow the typical structure of a fiction in which the story and characters develop through encounters and endeavors. It is at once poetic and prose-like, set in a fictional setting. The most striking feature, though, is the lack of names for the characters in the book. Indeed, Ling Shan is the only proper name – it is the name of a crucial setting yet also symbolizes a place in the soul.

A brief understanding of 20th century Chinese literature may explain the birth of such an original book. After the 1966 revolution, Chinese literature became non-existent after a purging of existing literature and all things cultural. It wasn’t until ten years later that political changes brought upon a sense of rebirth to writers and literature returned.

By the 1980s, Chinese literature was blooming again, with works that reflected themes of soul searching and discovering one’s roots, known as "scar" literature. Literary works, especially fiction, thrived. It was during that time that the Nobel Laureate Xingjian Gao started writing this epic fictional piece. Before starting, he had traveled extensively throughout China, and the amount of time he spent soul-searching was equally as extensive. The result is a non-traditional fiction loosely describing a traveler looking for a place called Soul Mountain.

The book develops along the journey but branches off to many other scenarios. It consists mainly of flashbacks, symbolism and poetic lyrics that complement the creative, non-committal use of language; consequently, like poetry, it is up to the reader to interpret and appreciate the meaning in his or her own space and time. Unlike what a typical novel offers, by the end of the book there is little closure. Instead, there is a feeling of being hopelessly detached. Perhaps this is apt, as the whole book is not structured in any traditional way.

The Chinese language is very rich and a good writer can certainly exploit the lingual depth to craft a beautiful work. Ling Shan is quite an example of the clever manipulation of the written language. Unfortunately, in an effort to be unique, it veers off the "regular" path of story and its readily recognizable features of character and place names. The book fictionalizes fiction to the point of creating a new literary genre that challenges the reader to accept it.

Given my level of understanding, and appreciation of this original work, I wondered about the translated English version. How accurate is it? How does one translate a page without any pause between words or punctuation? I, personally, could not fully grasp the inner meaning of beauty presented in the book. All I can say is that it is a very daunting task to finish reading it.