5 Spot Books, April 2008

In Frenemies, author Megan Crane addressed the way women treat one another; specifically, the way we treat friends who do us wrong. With her newest work, Crane takes on the subject of sisterhood, of actual siblings who can't seem to forget the past. Told primarily through the eyes of Courtney, a successful musician who is about to marry the love of her life, this is a story of three sisters with extremely different outlooks on life, love and family. Norah is the hard working, type A sister who lives her life by the rule book and holds her grudges close to her heart. Raine is the free spirited sister who ran off to San Francisco to live the life of a poor artist, her best friend and sometime boyfriend in tow. When Courtney goes to visit Raine with the hope that she will return home for her engagement party, her life and that of her family is thrown into chaos.

What does sisterhood really mean and do you have to love your family simply because you were born into it? These are the important questions that Crane addresses in this enjoyable and worthwhile read.

The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

Riverhead Books, 2008

When my daughter turned three and my son six, I was faced with the fact that I had to return to work. Recently separated and in financially precarious straits, I could no longer rely on my freelance writing to pay the mortgage or put food on the table. Even though I had worked off and on while raising my children, it proved exceedingly difficult to find a full time job. I was competing against younger people who were willing to take a lower salary, who had not yet defined their skill set and who were able to be easily molded. The realization that I might not be able to return to work full time was like a punch in the gut; it was maddening and frustrating – a tough pill to swallow.

In her newest work, The Ten-Year Nap, author Meg Wolitzer addresses this exact scenario. Told from the points of view of four friends, but primarily through the viewpoint of Amy, the book focuses on the crossroads a woman experiences when her children no longer need her full time but she is unable to re-enter the workforce. Amy, a Manhattanite married to a mildly successful attorney, wakes up one morning to discover that her ten-year old son is self-sufficient and that she no longer has anything to fill her days with. Jill adopts a child from Siberia, moves to the suburbs and is unable to fit in with the women of Holly Hills. Roberta, an artist, whose son attends his Manhattan private school on financial aid, feels she is at the mercy of the school PTA for fear of being a social outcast. Karen, a brilliant Chinese woman and mother of twins, lives with the constant fear of being left out even as she fails to hide her disdain for others. Add to the mix, brilliant, hard working Penny Ramsey, whose life seems perfect (but is far from it) and you have the typical, if not stereotypical, 21st Century woman. These are women who have been raised to believe that they could do it all; take care of their family, hold down a great job, be perfectly coiffed and well-read.

Wolitzer delivers a book that teeters on the edge of being the Feminist Mystique of our day. Her voice and message are important ones – do women give up a part of themselves upon becoming mothers? Can women re-enter the workforce after taking a long sabbatical? Does there always have to be a choice between motherhood and career? Where Wolitzer leaves the reader a bit flat is in the meandering plot line; the story does not truly move forward until the middle, until a true conflict occurs. Prior to that, the book is slow and almost devoid of dimension with characters that seem a bit pathetic and irritating. When Amy finds herself in the middle of Penny’s marital problems, the book takes on interest as we begin to see these characters as three dimensional. While a reader wants to see herself in the author’s words, it is still essential that a book has conflict that is not only mental but visual.

Women will find a piece of themselves in The Ten-Year Nap, whether they are the stay-at-home mother or the working mother. Wolitzer has taken a topic of such import that, even where the book falters, one can argue the worth of this novel and possibly its place on the shelf next to Betty Friedan.

Erotomania by Francis Levy

Two Dollar Radio, August 2008

Imagine that you engage in passionate, feral sex with someone. After the sex is over and you have left the building, you can not remember what your lover looked like; your amnesia of everything but the sexual act is complete. In a truly original literary work, Francis Levy introduces the memorable characters of Monica and James. Told through James' eyes, the story unfolds as James realizes that he wants to know his lover, wants to be able to recognize her on the street (her face, not simply her sexual organs) and may actually be in love, rather than simply lust. Monica, a woman who looks much like Peter Pan, has a sexual appetite that is insatiable and confusing. When James tries to have a "normal" relationship with her, she seems to become enraged, frustrated by his unrelenting pursuit.

Levy writes with honesty and a dry sense of humor that adds to the unique tone of the book. While our characters seem without empathy at the beginning, it soon becomes clear that with sex may come love and a type of relationship that is meaningful and filled with worth.

Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

Little, Brown April 2008

My younger brother chose years ago to move from the East coast to the South; specifically, he moved to Savannah, Georgia where he practiced medicine, raised a family and lived on the edge of a swampy, wood in a large home. At first they loved Savannah but soon he found that the difference between South and East was as large as the crevices that define the Grand Canyon. Savannah was made up of people who had lived their entire lives in the South, people who distrusted Northerners, people who defined themselves by the homes they owned and the families they had come from. My brother and family soon sold their home and moved to a college town in Virginia where they were accepted.

Katie Crouch in her new work, Girls in Trucks, relates the story of Sarah Walters, a Charleston debutante, who is determined to leave behind her Camellia Society past and start anew. Crouch, a talented writer with a honest voice, moves through time and space quickly; Sarah is a college student, an aspiring writer in New York City, a woman grappling with a failed relationship. The reader moves through Sarah's experiences and roots for her to succeed. Crouch has created a character that the reader adores and understands. When tragedy brings Sarah home, it is clear that she can not run from her past; that she must accept her roots in order to become the person who she needs to be.

I can't wait for the next Katie Crouch book.

Keeper and the Kid by Ed Hardy

Thomas Dunne Books/St Martin's Press(2007)

James Keeper is a man who finds himself emotionally at odds. After his marriage ends, he moves to Rhode Island to work with his best male friend selling antiques at a store called Love and Death. His girlfriend, Leah, is wonderful - smart, funny, filled with a sense of life that keeps James on his toes and passionately in love. Things seem to be going extremely well, at last.

Of course, life always throws curve balls. Keeper receives a phone call from his former mother-in-law advising him that his ex is ill and asking him to come to Boston to pick up the dog. It soon becomes clear that the dog is not a four legged animal but a two legged boy. Keeper has a son, Leo, who is now without a mother and forced to live with his inept and terrified father. Exhibiting all of the traits of a man who never wanted to or dreamed of being a father, James lets Leo eat what he wants, sleep in his clothes and bath once a week. As the relationship between father and son tenuously strengthens, Keeper's relationship with Leah ends. She can not allow this child into her life, a life that she has become comfortable with and has no intent on changing. Turning the typical genre on its head, Hardy's bad guy is the woman who can't commit to family versus the man who must.

Hardy's writing is at times poignant, at times humorous. The author succeeds when he focuses on Keeper's character arc. The author falters on story line - it is difficult, if not impossible to emphatize with many of the characters. Leah, at first likeable, becomes so disagreeable that a reader's first instinct is to put the book down and walk away. Keeper's initial inability to accept his son is offputting, if not absolutely frustrating.

Ed Hardy's writing falls into the new genre of male lit, a challenge to the chick lit genre that was huge years back. Whether or not men will actually pick up a book such as this will remain to be seen.

Sway by Zachary Lazar

Little Brown, January 2008

Thank goodness for Zachary Lazar!! For awhile there I was ready to throw my book critic hat into the ring and wait for someone to stomp on it - there was a long period there where I was positive that the publishing industry was done for. Then along came Sway by Zachary Lazar. Tackling three separate story lines set in the late 1960s - the founding of the Rolling Stones, the Manson family and the strange life of filmmaker Kenneth Anger - Lazar leads the reader on a historical, emotional and physical journey that is at times unsettling but is always remarkable.

A fictionalized account of these three events, the reader enters the back halls of poverty ridden London, the mansions of the British countryside, the Laurel Canyon ranches of record producers and movie stars, the hippie commune of Manson. As each narrator takes us on a journey into the lives, both tragic and profound, we are propelled into their world, a world that we want to learn about, a world filled with freedome and a sense of absolute angst. Lazar's careful use of words adds imagery to each story - this is not simply a book we read but rather one we live. Lazar is my new hero.

The Turnaround by George Pelecanos

Little Brown, August 2008

Imagine if one event in your life was so unforgettable, so unforgiveable as to define the rest of your waking days. That is the dilemma addressed in George Pelecanos' The Turnaround. Pelecanos, a writer who seems to have one of the keenest insights into the human soul, tells the story of two boys, one from the right side of the tracks and one from the wrong side of the tracks. When a prank leads the young white Greek boy into the African American side of town, a crime occurs that will mark both boys for life.

Time passes and these young men grow into adults; adults who wish to forgive and forget the past before their lives are over. This notion of redemption echoes throughout this beautifully written novel; Pelecanos takes us deep inside the lives of men who have journeyed down a path that seemed fated for each. Hailed as a mystery writer, Pelecanos, a television writer, brakes genre labels - his writing combines the human insight of Steinbeck and the keen sense of timing of Stephen King. Pelecanos is truly one of the great writers of our time.