The other widow, by Susan Crawford

 

This is an entertaining, although completely implausible, thriller focusing on three women at the center of this mystery surrounding the death of a successful businessman. His wife just took out a million dollar insurance policy on his life. His girlfriend was with him when he had the car accident that killed him, but she ran away before anyone found them. Finally, the insurance investigator who's looking into the claim begins to question some of the details about the accident. The author throws in a lot of red herrings, including the girlfriend's husband who's been acting strange, the wife's romantic interest in another man, the partner who appears to be doing something fishy with the finances of their company. There are a lot of loose ends that aren't really tied up in the fairly rushed ending, and one important detail about who is responsible for the murder is left intentionally vague. This is a very readable diversion, but not ultimately very satisfying.

Original sins: a memoir, by Matt Rowland Hill

 

Hill’s heart-wrenching, emotional tale begins with a sordid account of his drug use at the funeral of a close friend before he takes the reader back in time to his childhood as the son of an evangelical Baptist preacher and his devout wife. The piety of the Hill household hid the dysfunction and unhappiness of both parents from outsiders, but Hill and his three siblings were immersed in the deeply unhappy life of their parents. As they grew up, each in turn rejected their parents’ faith, and Hill’s rejection took the form of atheism and drugs. His experimentation with alcohol quickly turned to other drugs, including cocaine and his preferred drug, heroin. Hill’s struggles with heroin in particular led to many overdoses and at least one suicide attempt, landing him in a psych ward for six weeks. In these pages, Hill chronicles his attempts to get and stay clean along with his efforts to rebuild relationships with estranged family members. This compulsively readable book shines a light on the devastating results of the opioid pandemic that exists not just in Hill’s native Wales, but also in the U.S. VERDICT: This is an exceptionally well-written and heartfelt memoir.

Review published originally in Library Journal 147:6 (2022): 154.

One amazing thing, by Chitra Divakaruni

 

I really enjoyed this short (220 page) novel by Chitra Divakaruni. A random group of people are trapped in a visa office in an Indian consulate in an unnamed American city. To pass the time and stave off anxiety, one of the women suggests that each person tell a story about one amazing thing that happened to them. The rest of the book consists of each person telling their story interspersed with their increasingly anxious efforts to survive in the cold, rising water, with occasional rumbles and aftershocks. Each of the stories reveals something deep and personal about the speaker. Very well written and enjoyable, although the ending is a little abrupt and (spoiler alert) leaves it to the reader to guess whether the ominous sounds coming from above are rescuers getting close or the building settling around them.

Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner

 

I loved this memoir by Michelle Zauner, a Korean American writer and musician, about her relationship with her mother. As Zauner exits a difficult adolescence, she rekindles the close relationship with her mother, using food as a way to bring them back together. Delving into her Korean heritage, she cooks many of the dishes her mother made for her growing up. Just as their relationship has really turned around, though, she finds out her mother has stage-4 cancer. She drops everything to move back home to help her mother through her cancer treatments. Zauner and her boyfriend decide to get married so that her mother can be part of the wedding planning, and they rush their nuptials. Throughout this story, she relates tales from her childhood and her many summer trips to Korea with her mother. Food is a strong cultural glue that holds her family together, and Zauner tries to learn more dishes to entice her mother to eat when she's struggling to keep her weight up. When her mother loses her battle with cancer, Zauner continues to use cooking as a way to heal, following the popular Korean Youtube chef Maangchi. She also relates how the songs she recorded while grieving her mother eventually garnered the attention of a record company, resulting in a concert tour and further success. Zauner ends the book by relating her first international concert tour, ending in Seoul, where she's able to perform for her remaining family members. The writing is very good, and it will definitely make you hungry for Korean food. I had heard of Zauner's band (Japanese Breakfast) before, but hadn't listened to them; I'm looking forward to exploring their music and videos next (their third album was nominated for two Grammy's).

I used to live here once, by Miranda Seymour

 

Jean Rhys is best known as the author of Wide Sargasso Sea, a 1966 prequel of sorts to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, in which Rhys used her deep knowledge of Caribbean life and culture to create a backstory for the “madwoman” in the attic, Mr. Rochester’s first wife, “Bertha.” With I Used to Live Here Once, author Seymour shares her prodigious research into the writing of Wide Sargasso Sea, along with Rhys’ other novels and short stories, as she explores Rhys’ eventful and chaotic life. Rhys was born on the Caribbean island of Dominica, where she lived for her first 16 years before moving to England. Failing as an actress, Rhys turned to writing, where she had some success but remained relatively unknown for many years until her works began to be adapted for radio. Rhys’ life is noteworthy for heavy drinking, periodic mental breakdowns, many marriages, and heavy reliance on friends and family for financial support. Following a strict chronological approach to Rhys’ life, Seymour effectively connects events in Rhys’ life with the plots and characters of her novels and short stories. VERDICT: A deeply researched and insightful exploration of one of the 20th century’s lesser-known women authors. 

Originally published at: https://www.libraryjournal.com/review/i-used-to-live-here-once-the-haunted-life-of-jean-rhys-2144465

Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid

 

Two people fall in love in a country that is on the verge of civil war. When things heat up and become dangerous, Saeed and Nadia take the only way out they can: paying to escape through one of many doorways that have appeared that take people to another place in the world. They walk through, and end up on an island in the Mediterranean. They wait to be accepted into another country, but as their resources diminish, they decide to take the plunge and go through another door. This one takes them to a palatial mansion in a suburb of London. There, they join with the many other people who have traveled through that door, battling against police who are trying to make them leave. Eventually, Nadia and Saeed make their way through another door and end up in California, where they stay together as a couple but begin to drift apart. I liked this book because it shows us the plight of refugees including all of their motivations and obstacles, although the use of magical doorways eliminates the need to narrate the challenges of the actual journeys. We see the characters facing hunger, poverty, finding work, dabbling in religion, missing their family members they left behind, and making new friends. The book is written in a very dispassionate and simple style. It's a fast read (only 231 pages) and won several literary awards; it was also shortlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.