THE UNIT by Ninni Holmqvist

Imagine living in a society where single or childless people are considered dispensable.  Oh, wait, we do. Okay, imagine that these people are legally dispensable. In The Unit, a Scandinavian dystopian novel, women over fifty and men over sixty, that are single, childless, and working in nonessential professions are sent to live in Reserve Bank Units. Here they have a comfortable living environment, everything they could want or need available to them at no cost. In exchange, they are expected to participate in drug testing and donate an organ or two or three, until the make their  final donation, the heart. These organs are given to essential people, those with children, those needed by society.

The Unit begins with Dorrit, who has turned fifty, works in the arts and has no children. She has to leave her house and her dog behind and move into one of these units. She quickly adapts to her new life, making friends and enjoying what the facility has to offer in the way of restaurants, exercise and swimming facilities, bookstores, and gardens. She does miss her dog, Jock, who she gave a a nice family but is not allowed to find out how he is. Because Dorrit is so healthy, the experiments that she participates in are much nicer than some of the other residents. But then Dorrit meets a man, falls in love, and miraculously becomes pregnant. But Dorrit will not be allowed to keep her baby, though she decides not to abort, it must be given to someone necessary. This changes how Dorrit has thought of her life and thinks of her new circumstances.

This book was thought-provoking, but not really political, focusing mostly on Dorrit and her personal experience. The details of this government and society are mostly alluded to, though we know that Dorrit and others are aware of what will happen to them when they turn fifty. It is not known if the dispensable can leave the country before age fifty or if other countries engage in this practice. Sperm banks are available, so it leaves one to wonder why they don't have kids just to avoid this fate. In Dorrit's case, she actually had an abortion when she was in her twenties, thinking she had plenty of time to start a family.
Now that she is pregnant, Dorrit rethinks how she had always thought of her life as a free-spirit and the way she thought of mothers.
A lot was left unanswered, but I think the author just wanted to focus on Dorrit and her story and that I believe was the downfall of this novel. To take such a society but only portray it in a microcosm defeated the powerful effect the novel could have had.
While an interesting subject, it could have been explored more fully, explored more relationships and lives of other characters. Perhaps the point of view of those living in the outside, essential world would have provided an interesting contrast.
As a single, childless, forty-year old, this did hit close to home. Of course, I was most upset that Dorrit had to leave her dog as my dogs are my children. But then also, that was the relationship that the author portrayed the most poignantly, it almost had me in tears.
Recommend as a library read.

my rating 3/5

What Are You Reading Monday and Thankful Reading Wrap-Up

hosted by Sheila of One Person's Journey Through a World of Books
Last Week I finished :

The Distant Hours by Kate Morton
The Keep  by Jennifer Egan (finished during start of Thankfully Reading Weekend)

Then for rest of Thankfully Reading Weekend I read:

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
Taroko Gorge by Jacob Ritari
and most of Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay, which I will try to finish up today

Next up: Something Missing by Matthew Dicks and finally finishing The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson

end of year goal- 96/100 books read

Happy Reading!!

Thankfully Reading Weekend: mini-challenge #1 & #2

 

The first challenge comes from Jenn at Jenn's Bookshelves- write about a book you are most thankful for. No way can I pick just one. I have so many favorites, some new some old. So I think I will go with the series that got me hooked on reading in the first place- The Nancy Drew Mystery series. My earliest reading memory is of these books, I loved to read them all over and over and I think this is first where my love of reading developed. If it wasn't for that love, I might not have gone on to discover so many great and amazing books, so I am thankful for them.

The second challenge comes from Candace at Beth Fish Reads- to show a picture of your TBR shelves. Mine are all mixed in together, so I took pictures of 4 of my shelves. They are only vaguely organized. I usually keep my non-fiction separate from fiction and I try to keep several works by the same author together. I have my B&N classic books together but after that it does start to fall apart. I have unread books mixed with read books. And I have more shelves in other rooms but this is enough for now!

 This is where I usually read, but I have to share with my baby, Scout. He thinks that is his chair, plus he loves to help me read.

THANKFULLY READING WEEKEND

I am slow to sign up but I have started my reading weekend. Today I finished the latest by Steve Martin, An Object of Beauty, which is a trek through the New York art world over fifteen years. It was pretty good but more on that in a later review. I am now working on Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay.  I have been on a Jennifer Egan kick since reading A Visit From the Goon Squad, then moving on to The Keep. So my next read for this weekend may be The Invisible Circus by Egan. I saw the movie and loved it. Another book I am contemplating is Taroko Gorge, a thriller debut  by Jacob Ritari that received rave reviews from Rebecca at The Book Lady's Blog, so it must be good.
I am up to 95 books in my 100 books for the year goal. Yay!

Happy Reading to all this weekend!

DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING by Deanna Raybourne

Lady Julia Grey is back, now married to sexy investigator Nicholas Brisbane. While honeymooning, they meet up with Lady Julia's sister, Portia and brother Plum, en route to rescue Portia's former lover, Jane, who is pregnant and newly widowed in India.
Julia and Nicolas join the expedition to the tea plantation in India, belonging to the family of Jane's deceased husband, Freddie. If Jane has a baby boy, she will inherit, if it is a girl, the plantation goes to Freddie's cousin, Harry.
First, they have to prove that Freddie's death was even a murder. While investigating this, Julia comes up with a list of suspects that seem to include most of the characters; suspecting the poor March relations, Lucy and Emma, who may have murdered Lucy's husband in the second Lady Grey book, Silent in the Sanctuary and are coincidentally living on the plantation, the widowed doctor with a drinking problem who tended Freddie, Harry, his Aunt Camellia, a local British couple, a nanny, and even Jane herself. The only one not suspected is the man-eating tiger roaming the outskirts of the isolated plantation.

While I was happy to have another installment of Julia and Nicholas, this plot seemed to take on way too many side stories, too many deaths, and way too much bickering between Julia and Nicholas.
We have all the stories of those living near the plantation, including a man known as the White Rajah, living in an abandoned monastery, I won't spoil anything but the identity of the White Rajah seemed preposterous and a deliberate plot set-up for future works.

The bickering between Nicholas and Julia was excruciatingly mean at times, the point seeming for the author to put Julia in her place. The deaths seemed to be purely for plot clean up for future novels.

I was disappointed in this installment, though I had adored the author's previous three Lady Julia books, as well as her stand alone work, The Dead Travel Fast.
The reviews on Amazon are mostly positive, so I may be alone in my view. Maybe I just had more expectations. I may read the next one, but I will get it from the library.

my rating 2.5/5

THE WHOLE TRUTH by Nancy Pickard

Raymond Raintree has been convicted of the murder of six year-old Natalie McCullen in South Florida. Marie Lightfoot is the true-crime writer covering the case. But Raintree escapes after his conviction and Marie's straight-forward murder story becomes much more complex.

First of all, no one even knows who Raintree really is, where he came from, or why he murdered and removed the pineal gland from the little girl. Then a connection to a disappearance in Kansas is made and everything is not what it seems.
Pickard manages to make Raymond both repelling and sympathetic in this fast-paced thriller. Marie is another interesting character, with her own personal mystery- her parent disappeared when she was a child, though that is a story for the third in this series.

This is one of Pickard's earlier works, before The Virgin of Small Plains and The Scent  of Rain and Lightning and the plot is not as smooth as those works. But it was fast, exciting, and I read this in a day.
This is a great option for a quiet Saturday in need of some excitement.

my rating 3.5/5

THE DISTANT HOURS by Kate Morton

3 sisters live in a castle in England, where they have lived their whole lives. There is mystery, secrets, a Gothic castle, hidden passageways, murder, suicide, lost loves, dark and stormy nights, and a famous scary children's book.
Are you hooked yet? I was.

The Blythe sisters, twins Saffy and Percy, and the younger Juniper live in Milderhurst Castle. Edie Burchill is a young editor in London, who discovers that her mother briefly lived with the sisters Blythe, during WWII when London children were evacuated out to the country, and that the writer of her favorite childhood book, The True History of the Mud Men, the book that made Edie a bibliophile, was the father of these sisters.

Edie becomes fascinated: why did her mother not talk about this? What secrets do the sisters hold? What happened to Juniper's lover, Thomas Cavill? Why is Juniper forever trapped in the past, waiting for her lover? Why did Percy and Saffy never marry? What horrible secret did their father tell Juniper? Does  The True History of the Mud Men have it's origins in a real story?

Morton does finally answer these questions and more, answers I mostly did not see coming. It does take 576 pages to get there, though. While I love Kate Morton's work and I loved this as well, there was a lot of back story that could have been tweaked a little. But the writing lives up to her usual standards, very atmospheric, great character development. As usual, she weaves between past and present, creating questions and  building suspense. But it was well-worth the wait. This book is perfect for this time of year, with the dark coming so early, all those long hours to fill until bed, while the cold nips at your door...I'm getting carried away. But I definitely recommend this. Fans of Kate Morton won't be disappointed and this is perfect for those new to her work.

my rating 4.5/5

CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER by Tom Franklin

This story takes place in rural Mississippi, starting in the 1970's. Larry Ott is a white, shy boy, a constant disappointment to his father. He befriends Silas "32" Jones, a black boy that lives with his mother in a shack on Larry's father's land. But after Larry is accused of murdering a girl that disappeared and Silas goes off to college, their friendship ends.
Twenty-plus years later, Silas is the town constable and Larry lives a solitary existence, ostracized by the community though never convicted of the girl's murder.  Another girl has disappeared, Larry is a suspect and Silas is no longer able to ignore his former friend.

This literary suspense novel was riveting! It moves fluidly between past and present, giving us bits of information but never enough to draw conclusions until the end. Both Larry and Silas are very complex characters. Despite what Larry is suspected of doing, he comes across as very sympathetic and sad. He was considered a 'weirdo' as a child and the cloud of suspicion that hangs over him does not help him as an adult. His childhood friendship with Silas was secret due to race issues and the now adult and popular Silas does not want to admit to having once been friendly with 'scary Larry' as he is now known. All the characters are well-written, well-developed and the writing sharp and descriptive of a small Southern town. Though part mystery, it is also about friendship and secrets and never leaving your past behind.

I really, really enjoyed this novel, whose  title is taken from a rhyme that was used to teach children how to spell Mississippi. This is one of those books that is so good you want to put it down so you can make it last longer. Unfortunately, I was way to hooked to do that. Instead, I will just have to read more by this fantastic author.

I feel like I have been on a streak of great reads lately and this is no exception.
my rating- 5/5

THE FORGOTTEN GARDEN by Kate Morton

I had this book on my Kindle for months before I finally read it. I don't know why I waited so long as I absolutely loved The  House at Riverton.

Nell is a 4 year old little girl, found wandering the docks in an Australian town after being left on a ship. She can't even remember her own name, much less who she was supposed to wait for. She is taken in by Hugh and Lil and raised as their own after no one comes looking for her. But Hugh tells Nell the truth on her twenty-first birthday. Nell  feels as if she has been leading a fake life and searches for her birth parents, her only memory of the ship being of a woman called The Authoress. But Nell's search is eventually put on hold as she faces a new responsibility.

Cassie, her granddaughter, finds out Nell's secret after Nell's death and upon finding out she has inherited a property in Cornwall, England and Cassie takes up the search for the truth.
This book was long but beautifully told, a great Gothic tale, with plenty of mystery and intrigue. Morton leads us through this labyrinth of a story moving back and forth from the past to the present, with different points of view, through several generations without losing the reader.

I loved the settings, I loved the characters, the mystery, and I loved the different stories that made up this amazing novel. It kept me hooked until the end. This is a must-read! Once I finally started this book, it didn't take me long to finish.
I am now reading Morton's newest work, The Distant Hours and so far, it doesn't fail to deliver.

my rating 5/5

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD and other books I have been reading while I've been gone!

I have been absent from blogging awhile but have been reading a ton of great books. I've just been so tired from work and not spending a lot of time on the computer, but now I feel refreshed and want to share some great reads.

Thanks to all of those who stayed with me and for those that left, I hope you will come back!

Here are some mini-reviews on a few books I have just loved recently.

A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan

From the publisher-Bennie Salazar, an aging punk rocker and record executive, and the beautiful Sasha, the troubled young woman he employs, never discover each others pasts, but the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other people whose paths intersect with theirs in the course of nearly fifty years. A Visit from the Goon Squad is about time, about survival, about our private terrors, and what happens when we fail to rebound.

I loved this book. It moves from the past to the present and follows the lives of some great characters that met in the '80's. It is funny and dark, with sharp writing and I will be reading more from this great author.
my rating 5/5

CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese

I almost gave up on this great book. At 688 pages, it is no light tome. It starts with a nun in Ethiopia giving birth to twins and gives flash backs to the lives of those around her. I never thought birth could be so long, but by the time those babies were born, the book hooked me and moved much faster. It is mostly the story of Marion and his identical twin, Shiva, though Marion is the main character. It is about their lives in Addis Ababa and those that raise them after their mother dies and the father leaves. It follows Marion to the United States to become a doctor and the past that is never gone. Well-written and moving, incorporating great characters with the politics and history of Ethiopia. It is unlike any book I have read before and I am so glad I did not give up on it.
my rating 5/5

SKIPPY DIES by Paul Murray

You wouldn't think a book that gives away the ending with it's title would be so great, but it was. Skippy Dies is an excellent read. Another large tome at 672 pages, but it flies by.
Skippy is a young teenager in boarding school in Dublin and this three part book follows the trials and tribulations of him and his friends and the aftermath of Skippy's death. Despite its dark title, there are some very funny moments. Not everything is what it seems and I was riveted to this tragic but humorous book.
my rating 5/5


That is all for now, but I have plenty more to come.  I am at 91 reads so far this year, within reach of my 100 book goal.