The Editor by Steven Rowley
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication Date: April 2, 2019
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
After years of trying to make it as a writer in 1990s New York City, James Smale finally sells his novel to an editor at a major publishing house: none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Jackie–or Mrs. Onassis, as she’s known in the office–has fallen in love with James’s candidly autobiographical novel, one that exposes his own dysfunctional family. But when the book’s forthcoming publication threatens to unravel already fragile relationships, both within his family and with his partner, James finds that he can’t bring himself to finish the manuscript.
Jackie and James develop an unexpected friendship, and she pushes him to write an authentic ending, encouraging him to head home to confront the truth about his relationship with his mother. Then a long-held family secret is revealed, and he realizes his editor may have had a larger plan that goes beyond the page…
From the bestselling author of Lily and the Octopus comes a funny, poignant, and highly original novel about an author whose relationship with his very famous book editor will change him forever–both as a writer and as a son.
James Smale has written a novel about a son’s relationship with his mother. He sells his novel to a major publishing house where the editor is none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. She recognizes that his novel is autobiographical and pushes him to come up with a more authentic ending. In doing so, he must confront his mother about the past.
Even though this book is called The Editor, it’s more about James’s journey as a son than about Jackie. It’s also about James’s relationship with his siblings and with his partner, Daniel. I have now completed my goal of reading Steven Rowley’s backlist before his next book, The Celebrants comes out in May. I highly recommended The Editor.
Other books I’ve reviewed by Steven Rowley:
Lily and the Octopus
The Guncle
Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: June 7, 2016
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
When you sit down with Lily and the Octopus, you will be taken on an unforgettable ride.
The magic of this novel is in the read, and we don’t want to spoil it by giving away too many details.
We can tell you that this is a story about that special someone: the one you trust, the one you can’t live without.
For Ted Flask, that someone special is his aging companion Lily, who happens to be a dog.
Lily and the Octopus reminds us how it feels to love fiercely, how difficult it can be to let go, and how the fight for those we love is the greatest fight of all.
I chose Lily and the Octopus because I loved Steven Rowley’s The Guncle and I wanted to read more of his work. Lily and the Octopus is his first book and it’s quite a bit different from The Guncle. It’s about Ted and his dog Lily. Lily is Ted’s best friend – they know each other inside and out. One day Lily wakes up with an octopus on her head. Ted must figure out how to get the octopus off. That’s all I can say without spoilers. I will say that it is definitely a story for dog lovers (which I am not – don’t judge!) so even though I did enjoy it, I think I would have liked it even better if I was a dog person.
April 17th, 2023 in
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Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Publisher:
Publication Date: March 2, 2021
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Here is the story of Klara, an Artificial Friend with outstanding observational qualities, who, from her place in the store, watches carefully the behavior of those who come in to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. She remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that explores the fundamental question: what does it mean to love?
Klara is an Artificial Friend – a life-sized doll with artificial intelligence designed to be a child’s companion. She reminded me of the robot on the old show Small Wonder. She’s different from the other AFs on the shelf at the store. She’s more insightful and is starting to develop emotions. She is chosen by Josie, who she instantly connects with.
Kazuo Ishiguro doesn’t do much world-building in this novel, which I found a bit frustrating. It’s set in an unspecified, dystopian time in the future. Josie is sick but with what we don’t know. Gifted children are “lifted” but it’s never really explained what that means or why. We don’t find out why the world is a dystopia now. Even with all of that said, I still enjoyed this book. Klara was a great character who made astute and sometimes humorous observations about the humans around her. This book also reminded me a little of the movie Ex Machina, although not nearly as violent. And I loved that movie.
This is the first Ishiguro I’ve read and from what I’ve heard, his other books are even better. I’m looking forward to reading them.
Recommended.
April 13th, 2023 in
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Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Day: April 13, 2021
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
The history of the Sackler dynasty is rife with drama—baroque personal lives; bitter disputes over estates; fistfights in boardrooms; glittering art collections; Machiavellian courtroom maneuvers; and the calculated use of money to burnish reputations and crush the less powerful. The Sackler name has adorned the walls of many storied institutions—Harvard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oxford, the Louvre. They are one of the richest families in the world, but the source of the family fortune was vague—until it emerged that the Sacklers were responsible for making and marketing a blockbuster painkiller that was the catalyst for the opioid crisis.
Empire of Pain is the saga of three generations of a single family and the mark they would leave on the world, a tale that moves from the bustling streets of early twentieth-century Brooklyn to the seaside palaces of Greenwich, Connecticut, and Cap d’Antibes to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. It follows the family’s early success with Valium to the much more potent OxyContin, marketed with a ruthless technique of co-opting doctors, influencing the FDA, downplaying the drug’s addictiveness. Empire of Pain chronicles the multiple investigations of the Sacklers and their company, and the scorched-earth legal tactics that the family has used to evade accountability.
A masterpiece of narrative reporting, Empire of Pain is a ferociously compelling portrait of America’s second Gilded Age, a study of impunity among the super-elite and a relentless investigation of the naked greed that built one of the world’s great fortunes.
Read this book when you’re in the mood to be pissed off. It’s the story of the Sackler family, who almost single-handedly started the opioid crisis. The methods they used to make sure that people were addicted to their drugs are astounding. They really are no better than street drug dealers. Actually, worse than street drug dealers because they duped patients and doctors into thinking their drugs were safe, while raking in millions and millions of dollars.
This book was packed with information but highly readable. It’s one of the best narrative non-fiction books I’ve read.
Highly recommended.
April 10th, 2023 in
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Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: January 17, 2023
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Set during the partition of British India in 1947, a time when neighbor was pitted against neighbor and families were torn apart, award-winning author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel brings to life the sweeping story of three sisters caught up in events beyond their control, their unbreakable bond, and their incredible struggle against powerful odds.
India, 1947.
In a rural village in Bengal live three sisters, daughters of a well-respected doctor.
Priya: intelligent and idealistic, resolved to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a doctor, though society frowns on it.
Deepa: the beauty, determined to make a marriage that will bring her family joy and status.
Jamini: devout, sharp-eyed, and a talented quiltmaker, with deeper passions than she reveals.
Theirs is a home of love and safety, a refuge from the violent events taking shape in the nation. Then their father is killed during a riot, and even their neighbors turn against them, bringing the events of their country closer to home.
As Priya determinedly pursues her career goal, Deepa falls deeply in love with a Muslim, causing her to break with her family. And Jamini attempts to hold her family together, even as she secretly longs for her sister’s fiancè
When the partition of India is officially decided, a drastic—and dangerous—change is in the air. India is now for Hindus, Pakistan for Muslims. The sisters find themselves separated from one another, each on different paths. They fear for what will happen to not just themselves, but each other.
Set against the backdrop of The Indian Partition in 1947 that created Pakistan, three sisters are also searching for their independence. Priya wants to become a doctor, like her father, virtually unheard of for a woman in the 1940s, Deepa falls in love with a Muslim man, which as a Hindu herself, is strictly forbidden. Jamini walks with a limp and wonders if she’ll ever get married and have a family of her own. And she happens to be in love with Priya’s fiancé. When the result of the partition is widespread violence, pitting Muslims against Hindus, their family is torn apart.
This book has it all. Richly developed characters and a fast-paced plot that had some surprising turns. I also learned a lot – I didn’t know much about the history of The Indian Partition.
I chose this book because I loved Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s book Oleander Girl. I’m happy to say I loved this book too. Highly recommended.
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
April 6th, 2023 in
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Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: July 6, 2021
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.
Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.
The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.
Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed of his father’s criminal record. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.
Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
When partners Derek and Ike are murdered, their fathers take matters into their own hands to investigate what happened. Neither father was accepting of their sons being gay and must deal with the fact that now it’s too late.
The crime element of this book was well-done with nice twists. I thought some of the dialogue bordered on preachy, but perhaps that’s what some people who will read this book need. While I didn’t think it quite lived up to the hype when it first came out, I did enjoy reading it. Recommended.
April 3rd, 2023 in
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The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
Publisher: Celadon Books
Publication Date: May 11, 2021
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written―let alone published―anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.
Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that―a story that absolutely needs to be told.
In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.
As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?
Jacob Finch Bonner is a washed-up author who teaches writing a local college. One day, Evan Parker, one of his students, tells him that he’s written the perfect book with the perfect plot. Jake is dubious but after he reads it, he agrees. He’s sad and jealous that one of his students is a better writer than he is. When he hears that Evan has died, he decides to publish Evan’s book as his own. It makes him rich and famous. Then one day, he gets an email that says, “You are a thief.”
The Plot was so good. It is Jake’s story but it also has excerpts from Evan’s book. It really is the perfect plot – tons of twists that I did not see coming. I don’t want to spoil anything for you – just read it and see for yourself!
(I received a complimentary copy of this book for review.)
I Wish You All the Best by Mason Deaver
Publisher: PUSH
Publication Date: May 14, 2019
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they’re thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents’ rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school. But Ben’s attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan’s friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life. At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity.
I decided to choose a book about a nonbinary person for the Transrights Readathon because that’s probably the
identity that’s hardest for me to wrap my head around. And reading is a great way to gain understanding. I Wish You All the Best is a young adult novel about Ben, who is kicked out of their house when they come out to their parents as nonbinary. Like, kicked out so fast they don’t even have time to grab their phone or their shoes! Luckily, Ben finds a pay phone and calls their older sister to come to get them. She left their parents’ oppressive household ten years ago and never looked back.
Ben starts a new high school in the town their sister lives in but is still afraid to come out to their new friends, in part because of how traumatizing coming out to their parents was. They have panic attacks and are in therapy. Eventfully, they start medication as well.
This book was so well done. The author is nonbinary as well and their author’s note explains how they have drawn on their experiences as well as the experiences of others to tell this story. This book will lead to greater understanding for those people who want to learn more about what it means to be nonbinary and will make any nonbinary readers feel like they are not alone. Highly recommended.
March 27th, 2023 in
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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: June 13, 2017
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Publisher’s Description:
Publisher’s Description:
Nikki lives in cosmopolitan West London, where she tends bar at the local pub. The daughter of Indian immigrants, she’s spent most of her 20-odd years distancing herself from the traditional Sikh community of her childhood, preferring a more independent (that is, Western) life. When her father’s death leaves the family financially strapped, Nikki, a law school dropout, impulsively takes a job teaching a “creative writing” course at the community center in the beating heart of London’s close-knit Punjabi community.
Because of a miscommunication, the proper Sikh widows who show up are expecting to learn basic English literacy, not the art of short-story writing. When one of the widows finds a book of sexy stories in English and shares it with the class, Nikki realizes that beneath their white dupattas, her students have a wealth of fantasies and memories. Eager to liberate these modest women, she teaches them how to express their untold stories, unleashing creativity of the most unexpected – and exciting – kind.
As more women are drawn to the class, Nikki warns her students to keep their work secret from the Brotherhood, a group of highly conservative young men who have appointed themselves the community’s “moral police”. But when the widows’ gossip offers shocking insights into the death of a young wife – a modern woman like Nikki – and some of the class erotica is shared among friends, it sparks a scandal that threatens them all.
Nikki comes from a Sikh family but she has bucked tradition. She lives alone and works at a bar. To earn extra money, she takes a job teaching creative writing at the community center, but the Sikh women who take the class think they signed up for a class to learn better English. Nikki ends up teaching them how to write stories that are erotic fantasies. The men of the community find out about this and are not happy about it.
There is also a mystery element to this book with a twist that surprised me. And if you’re unsure about erotica, that part of it is pretty tame. It’s not 50 Shades of Gray. I also learned a lot about the Sikh religion and culture.
Recommended.
March 23rd, 2023 in
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Today while scrolling through Instagram, I learned that this week is the Transrights Readathon. I had no idea that such a thing existed but I’m excited about it. It was started just this year by trans author Sim Kern, author of Depart, Depart and Seeds for the Swarm. Several independent bookstores have suggested reading lists on their web pages and/or in-store displays of books by trans authors. You can participate by reading books, donating money to trans rights organizations, or both. This article from Book Riot has more details about it.
In perusing my Goodreads shelves, I found that I am lacking on books by transgender authors so I will be reading at least one this week. On my shelf, I have just three, and two are by the same author.
Melissa (formerly titled George) is a middle-grade book about Melissa, a fourth-grader who was born a boy but knows in her heart that she’s a girl. She hasn’t told anyone, not even her best friend. Every day is a struggle. She comforts herself by looking at the models in her secret stash of fashion magazines when she gets home from school.
The fourth-grade school play is Charlotte’s Web. Melissa desperately wants to play Charlotte and decides to audition for the part. She knows she’d be perfect. Unfortunately, her teacher is not open to a “boy” playing a female role.
Gino has several middle-grade books that look really good.
Secondly, I have two books by Jennifer Finney Boylan. The first is Parenting in Stuck in the Middle with You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders. It’s a memoir of her experience was parenting her two boys as a male while going through transition to a female and then as a female. She has a previous memoir, She’s Not There, that is the detailed story of her life as a transgender person and her transition to female. I haven’t read that book yet.
The other book I’ve read by her is Long Black Veil. It’s a novel and completely different from Stuck in the Middle. Long Black Veil starts off in 1980 with six friends sneaking into a closed, run-down prison. They get locked in and one of them goes missing. Thirty-five years later, her remains are found and her husband Jon Casey is the prime suspect of her murder. His old friend Judith can attest to his innocence. We meet Judith in 2015 after the remains are found. Her connection to Casey is actually more of a mystery than who the murderer is.
What trans authors do you like? Leave your suggestions in the comments – I’d love to hear your recommendations!
March 20th, 2023 in
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