River City Reading
Helping readers of literary, contemporary and historical fiction find their next great book.
Following years of devastating storms, the new boundary line for the United States has been drawn ninety miles north of the Gulf Coast. The government is no longer able to provide services or protection for people living in the storm ravaged areas, leaving them to their own devices. Cohen is bound to his Mississippi home by the loss of his wife and unborn child, but is forced to leave his land when his supplies are stolen by a pair of young thieves. While tracking them down, he discovers a group of survivors led by a disturbing preacher determined to breathe life to the area through the women he is holding captive. Faced with the task of saving the preacher's victims and heading north, but restricted by his past and his secrets, Cohen makes his journey through the relentless landscape of Michael Farris Smith's Rivers.The pages of Smith’s novel are filled with the deceptively simple, richly layered sentences that trace his characters' thoughts, both past and present. While much of Rivers is true to the grim tones common in dystopian fiction, there is a thread of hope running through the novel directly connected to Smith’s brilliantly developed characters. It is that thread that leads readers along what might otherwise be a path too bleak to take.
"The children of his dreams were both girls and boys, sometimes blond and sometimes dark-haired, sometimes loud and rambunctious and sometimes tender and mild. The children of his dreams were never wet and never cold and they had shadows because they had sunshine."
While attempts to compare and pigeonhole Rivers will surely be made, there is much more to Smith's novel than surface level similarities. One of the most hauntingly distinctive aspects of the novel is its realistic setting. Though seemingly endless apocalyptic stories have been written in recent years, the depleted and divided land Smith creates does not feel far off. Rather than wandering an Earth scorched by a mysterious disease or unknown savagery, Cohen is plagued by the same disastrous storms Americans encounter today.
Michael Farris Smith has skillfully filled his violent, dangerous tale with hope and love, making Rivers a stand out, unforgettable read.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
Professor Andy Waite has dedicated much of his life to the field of evolutionary biology and has poured himself into both his teaching and research since his wife's sudden death at the hands of a drunk driver. When he is approached by Melissa, an impassioned Christian seeking an advisor for her independent study on intelligent design, Andy's first inclination is to refuse. Still driven by the events of his past, Andy soon finds Melissa changing his life - whether he intended her to or not.I hesitate to say too much about Andy's journey because it's one worth reading in its entirety. Lauren Grodstein's characters feel very real and make the same rash life choices that people do in real life, particularly when they are overcome by guilt or grief. The novel does show several connected characters making the same drastic decisions, which seems a little over the top. Still, The Explanation for Everything manages to tackle some big, heavy topics without ever dropping the weight on readers.
Rather than seeking an answer in the debate over intelligent design, The Explanation for Everything examines how faith, or lack thereof, can be shaken by loss or personal tragedy. While this might come across as an uncommitted resolution to some, it allows Grodstein to write a novel that can appeal to readers from across the religious spectrum. In the end, The Explanation for Everything is thought-provoking and compulsively readable as it focuses on the blurred lines between faith and doubt.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
The Diary of Anne Frank has been beloved since its publication in 1947, with several film versions made and shifted perspectives written. But Jillian Cantor’s Margot is both a retelling and an alternate history of the original story recorded in Anne Frank’s diary. Cantor imagines a scenario where Margot Frank does not perish in Bergen-Belsen, but survives the Holocaust and begins a new life as Margie Franklin, working as a law secretary in Philadelphia. Though she tries desperately to hide her true identity, the popularity of her sister’s recently published diary and the possibility of a new relationship force her to face the realities of her past. Though it was never recovered, Margot Frank also kept a diary in the secret annex. After learning this, Jillian Cantor began to wonder what might have been written and how it would have been different from Anne's perspective. In Margot, Margie Franklin has come to Philadelphia and assumed a new identity, following the postwar plan she and Peter van Pels laid out while in hiding. Much of the novel surrounds Margie's hope that Peter is still alive, so the pair can rekindle their romance, and the guilt she feels over the loss of Anne. In both her new American life and short flashback scenes, Cantor is able to bring Margot's story to the forefront while keeping the information available historically accurate. However, while there is a very clear section delineating fact from fiction already in place at the end of the book, I would have liked to see a quick note at the start of the novel as well.
Writing a retelling or re-imagining of history is always a delicate job, but taking on the iconic story of Anne Frank requires extra care. Jillian Cantor seems to have felt the weight of the past while writing Margot; not only to stay true to Anne’s diary, but also to honor the memory of her title character. In careful prose, Cantor has composed a story that examines the possibilities of what could have been while still respecting the lives that were.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
Jeremy Johnson Johnson has felt like an outsider most of his life. He’s been supporting his reclusive father ever since his mother left them and recently admitted to his classmates that he can hear voices. Though it causes the townspeople of Never Better to shy away from him, Jeremy knows that being able to hear the voice of Jacob Grimm, famous half of fairy tale writing pair The Brothers Grimm, is a gift. When Jeremy begins a friendship with popular Ginger Boultinghouse, she encourages him to take risks and break free from his usual routine. But these changes set off a series of events that will expose Never Better’s secrets in a tale dark enough to be plucked from the past.Far Far Away is narrated by the voice of Jacob Grimm, who is charged with protecting Jeremy from an unknown person with evil intentions before he can transition to the afterlife. At the start of the novel Jeremy’s reserved state keeps the tone safe, as he and Jacob struggle to figure out who could be plotting against him. But as Jeremy's friendship with Ginger grows and he begins to experience the world around him, the book’s mood is altered in a way that masterfully echoes the work of the Grimm Brothers.
"I suddenly understood that, for Jeremy, the surprise of love would not arrive, as it does in the tales, with a strange enchantment or with a smiting glance or with a lilting voice riding the wind through the woodland. No, for Jeremy, the surprise of love would be carried on the lazy currents of friendship."
I tend to be overly picky with the YA novels I choose to read, but Far Far Away marked everything off my checklist and then some. The story is brilliantly original, with a dash of history and perfectly dark overtones. Tom McNeal has taken the heart of The Brothers Grimm tales and updated them, making Far Far Away a thrilling, relevant story for readers of all ages.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
Duke and Jerene Johnston are pillars of Charlotte, North Carolina’s high society, holding up the façade of their family’s rich Confederate heritage while attempting to bury secrets both past and present. Rather than helping the Johnston’s hold their spot on the social ladder, Duke and Jerene’s four children seem bound to knock the family down as their lives grow increasingly scandalous. Even Jerene’s siblings have a difficult time conforming to the high Southern standards her family was raised to follow. Though she understands that society is changing around her, Jerene is determined to hold on to her family’s legacy – at any cost.I've mentioned before that I've only lived below the Mason-Dixon for five years, so I'm still adjusting to all the intricacies of Southern culture (like when I had to give my students a flier for cotillion, though I had no clue what it was), but there is no denying the truth behind the characters in Lookaway, Lookaway. While they are no doubt extreme and satirized, it's hard not to find a familiar face in the Johnston clan, regardless of your background. Among them a drunk, slurring brother who penned a series of bestselling Civil War novels, leaving him piles of cash. A daughter who gives up her preppy outfits and perfect GPA to join the wildest sorority in college, only to find herself being taken advantage of, while her sister fights to swim against everything the Johnston family stands for. But Lookaway, Lookaway's most unforgettable character is the family matriarch, Jerene Jarvis Johnston. The polarity between Jerene's strict Southern manners and brutally uncompromising tactics when protecting those around her is both shocking and endlessly entertaining.
Each member of the family is given a point of view chapter, which allows the plotlines to be told from different perspectives - a perfect device when dealing with family secrets. Over the course of several years we are welcomed into the Johnston family, through tales both humorous and heartbreaking, and watch as it slowly falls apart. After nearly fifteen years, Wilton Barnhardt has returned with an insightful, irresistibly fun novel that is already on my favorites list.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
Picking up where 2013 Edgar Award Winner The Last Policeman left off, Countdown City begins with just 74 days remaining before a catastrophic asteroid collides with Earth. Though he is no longer working with the Concord Police Department, Henry Palace takes on a final case when a childhood friend asks him to help find her missing husband. As the asteroid inches closer to Earth, society's basic functions begin to fall apart, which makes finding someone like Brett Cavatone nearly impossible. Henry uses the unconventional resources at his disposal to retrace Cavatone's steps and return him to his wife while humanity's clock ticks away.Following up a successful first novel is not an easy task, but it's refreshing to see that Countdown City has all the things that made The Last Policeman so enjoyable, especially for someone who rarely picks up crime fiction. Winters sets his characters in a world thrown off course by an impending catastrophe, but is never bogged down by clarifying technical details of the asteroid's path, as they are not central to his stories. What is important is the human reaction to the news that the world is coming to an end, and that's where the shifted world becomes clear: food shortages, children left behind by parents going "Bucket List", suicides, and colonies for those who think the disaster can be stopped.
By the end of Countdown City, we know that Winters will be expanding Henry's world a bit more as time winds down in the third and final book of the trilogy. There are several possibilities, but I'm quite anxious to see what decisions Henry will make and what paths each supporting character will follow. Countdown City has established that Winters is far more than a one hit wonder, but a wonder of world building and genre-blending.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
By all appearances, the setting of Duplex seems familiar: a suburban street where middle aged teacher Miss Vicks lives alongside her students, school sweethearts Mary and Eddie, with her childlike dachshund. But this suburb is folded in time and place, dominated by a sorcerer and populated by both humans and robots. In the blurred lines where fantasy and reality meet, Kathryn Davis has found her space.My first inclination after finishing Duplex’s slim 208 pages was to turn the book over and start again, a luxury I’ve not often had with books that toy with my mind because of their length. Even on a first read, what becomes clear is that, despite its small size, there are endless pieces to pull apart and examine within the pages of this novel. The figures Davis creates appear more as vignettes than directly connected characters, many with just the slightest threads binding them together. Combined with the overall dreamlike feel of the book, there seems to be a single unifying piece missing – though, that may be the intention.
What cannot be overlooked is Davis’s incredible ability to spin together a sentence and bring her world to life in such a small space. Duplex is an ambitious novel, best for readers who don't mind an eccentric mix of characters or working out puzzling bits of ambiguity.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
In 2009, Bill Dedman noticed a massive home for sale and, though it was far out of his price range, was instantly intrigued by its near-perfect preservation. The home piqued Dedman's journalistic curiosity and was the starting point for his journey into the life of Huguette Clark, the daughter of Gilded Age industrialist W.A. Clark. In Empty Mansions, Dedman pairs with Clark's cousin Paul Clark Newell, Jr. to collect the pieces of Huguette's past, highlighting her family's place in history along the way. The early pages of Empty Mansions explore the extravagance of the Clark family at its height before digging into the family's rise and eventually focusing on Huguette's seclusion in later chapters. Each section is fascinating in its own way, making it possible for readers with different interests to enjoy the book as a whole. The Clark family's wealth is absolutely mind boggling, despite the numerous examples and modern comparisons Dedman and Newell give. Their New York mansion, finished in 1911, would have cost close to $250 million today-more than Rockefeller and Carnegie's homes combined. But the cost of the home was minimal, roughly the profits from one Clark copper mine over two years. Those interested in history will love the book's section on W.A. Clark's political career. His time as a state senator was wrapped in scandal and became the epitome of Gilded Age politics, even earning criticism from Mark Twain.
As the book comes to a close, Dedman and Newell dig into the final, reclusive years of Huguette Clark's life and the shocking ways she chose to spend her family's fortune prior to her death at 104. Endlessly enchanting and mysterious, Empty Mansions is both a captivating story of rising power and a portrait of life under the thumb of extravagance.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
 - Mary MacLane)
Living in Butte, Montana in 1902, nineteen-year old Mary MacLane penned her confessional memoir over the course of three months. In hyperbolic phrases and daily descriptions, MacLane charted her intentions, emotions and hopes for happiness. Though it was an immediate success upon publication, selling over 100,000 copies in its first month, I Await the Devil's Coming faded into obscurity until its recent repress. "I can think of nothing in the world like the utter little-ness, the paltriness, the contemptibleness, the degradation, of the woman who is tied down under a roof with a man who is really nothing to her; who wears the man's name, who bears the man's children -- who plays the virtuous woman. There are too many such in the world now. May I never, I say, become that abnormal, merciless animal, that deformed monstrosity -- a virtuous woman."
MacLane’s voice fills every point on the spectrum of teenage emotions, but also writes in passages well beyond her nineteen years. She often flutters in egotistic, self-serving rhetoric; a nineteenth century version of celebrities like Amanda Bynes, spouting off to Twitter followers who are endlessly willing to listen. But unlike today's Twitter mouthpieces, MacLane spends much of I Await the Devil’s Coming dissecting and criticizing the place of women in American society. MacLane writes in a voice meant for another era in both respects, making every page of her short diary a fascinating peek into the life of a young woman decades ahead of her time.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
After September 11th, 2001 Caleb Oberest left his successful finance job in New York City to join a group of secluded ultramaraton runners living in Boulder, Colorado. Cut off from their families and much of society, members of the Happy Trails Running Club devote their lives to competing in 100-mile marathons through treacherous terrain. In San Francisco, Caleb's brother Shane is moving from selling pharmaceutical drugs to working with a biotechnology company when he hears from his brother for the first time in nearly ten years. Breaking one of the running club's rules, Caleb has fallen in love with another member and is desperate to find a cure for her infant daughter's fatal genetic disease, something Shane is unsure he is able to do with a new baby and family of his own.While Race Across the Sky may seem like a novel about marathon runners and drug companies, its core is much deeper and more intricate. Sherman manages to use two science-centered topics to hold up the inner workings of his book; themes of family, morality, and truth, which feel incredibly human. As the novel progresses, it becomes clear that he has a talent for finding and highlighting the beauty in small, seemingly insignificant moments that others might miss.
Despite the fact that I am definitely not a runner or a scientist, I found myself begging for just one more chapter through my whole reading experience. Though their situations and lives are extreme, Sherman's characters feel undoubtedly real and they are hard to let go of. Race Across the Sky is a wholly original, well researched and beautifully executed debut that should be in the hands of as many readers as possible.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
What if the people we have loved and lost were able to come back to us? In Jason Mott’s The Returned, they do. Across the world, people are returning to Earth just as they were before their deaths with seemingly no pattern or reason. After spending decades adjusting to the loss of their 8 year old son, Jacob, in 1966, Harold and Lucille Hargrave are both disheartened and thrilled to see their child re-appear at their door. But not everyone in the Hargrave’s small town, or the rest of the world world, is willing to welcome the returned with open arms. Communities are soon pushed to the brink, forced to sort out the true meaning of humanity.Jason Mott's greatest strength is building characters that feel real in a setting that is hard to imagine. Harold and Lucille's playful banter is the perfect tool for showing both the painful years the duo has spent alone and their deep love for one another. At the same time, their differing religious opinions create another dynamic in their relationship while also highlighting one of the novel's major questions. Even with his secondary characters, Mott is able to bring in backstories that give readers good insight into lives and choices.
Based on a dream he had following the death of his grandmother, Mott’s concept for The Returned is brilliant. Many of us have wished for our loved ones to return, but plotting out what might happen if they did is a map with endless possibilities. While I don’t expect every loose end in a speculative novel to be tied up, I finished The Returned with many unanswered questions. After realizing it is the first in a series, I could not shake the sense that it was intended to be a stand-alone novel and had information removed to move into later books. Whether or not this is true, the spotty world building ended up slightly frustrating, disconnecting me from Mott’s well developed characters.
Positive or negative, The Returned raises dozens of questions and creates a perfect opportunity for discussion, which would make it a great pick for book clubs. Jason Mott has an open road before him and it will be interesting to see where the journey of The Returned goes next.
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Following an incident that left a policewoman in a coma, fifteen year old Anais Hendricks is transported to The Panopticon, a home for juvenile offenders. Ever cautious of her caretakers, Anais will attempt to clear her name while digging into her past and working to protect the new family she creates.Fagan paints a gritty, truthful picture of the world Anais calls home: a constantly changing place with regularly rotating names and faces, where guilt is assumed and innocence is rarely an option. Raised an orphan, Anais teaches herself to adapt to this world by building up a nearly impenetrable exterior by the time she arrives at The Panopticon. Soon, however, the similarities between Anais and her housemates become clear and strong bonds begin to form.
The dialect used in The Panopticon feels slightly jarring, perhaps because the spelling and phonetics don’t seem to match, at least to an unfamiliar American. I found myself stopping to repeat the words written in the Scottish dialect, which tended to remove me from the story instead of bringing the setting to life. This may be a case where I would have preferred the audiobook version in order to get more fully immersed.
As a whole, Fagan’s debut is successful in its ability to show the reality behind the curtain of social work. With no holding back, The Panopticon is a flood of drugs, violence, sex, cursing and injustice – everything a real teenager in Anais’ situation would be submerged in. But there are the smallest moments of hope; brief snapshots of self-assured confidence that prove even the toughest exteriors can be broken.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
Just outside a large Midwestern city Louise Washington attempts to hang on to the last pieces of Poplar Farm, which has been in her family for generations, as architect Paul Krovik develops a luxury suburb on tiny tracts around her. Though their creation has cost Paul his family and savings, the poorly constructed Victorian style homes fail to sell, pushing him to the edge of insanity. While Louise and Paul feel like they are losing everything, Boston couple Nathaniel and Julia excitedly purchase one of the suburb's foreclosed homes after Nathaniel’s job moves them to the area. But the family’s idyllic situation soon shifts when their son Copley’s behavior begins to change and he becomes convinced that someone is living in the house with them. Though he exposes the house’s secrets early on, Flanery fills Fallen Land with an eerie sense of dread that is nearly impossible to shake. That feeling is not caused by spirits or the supernatural, however; it comes from a blend of competition, greed and inevitable failure. Flanery’s characters speak to the American mindset of recent years, constantly grasping for more and eventually feeling the fallout in an incredibly written parallel.
"They do not know the beauty of blackness, the glory of the dark earth. Their lights are everywhere, flooding gardens and houses, blocking out stars. For the first time, I knew summer evenings with no fireflies, as though the creatures saw the light of those blazing houses and realized they were outmatched."
Louise is the callback to previous generations and the single, graceful exception to the excess of the novel's other characters. Instead of writing a bitter woman determined to distance herself from the world, Flanery allows Louise to express her sadness over the loss of both her husband and her land while also creating a close bond with young Copley.
With marvelous passages, well developed characters and a driving plot, Fallen Land has the trifeca that instantly shoots a novel to my list of favorites. Patrick Flanery has penned a book both disturbing and astute that should be penciled in on every summer reading list.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
In The Telling Room, Michael Paterniti traces the backstories of both a rare Spanish cheese and Ambrosio, the man who learned to master its creation. After finding the delicacy working for a deli in college, Paterniti set out on a journey from Ann Arbor, Michigan to the small town of Guzman, Spain to unfold the mysterious cheese. Instead, he discovers a village brimming with secrets, ready to be released. As The Telling Room begins, Paterniti details his spiral from confident writing student to struggling writer with a relateable, witty voice. Once he discovers Ambrosio’s cheese and makes the decision to tell his story, Paterniti’s style shifts to that of the telling room: detailed and verbose with pages of footnotes, a story for every story. While I commend him for working to bring Ambrosio’s storytelling to life, it’s a difficult voice to translate to the page and, despite my curiosity, I often found myself wishing for more simplicity.
This, however, is coming from someone with little background in the food culture. I have a sense that foodies will find the details in The Telling Room fascinating and have plans to recommend Paterniti’s book to several friends – perhaps they’ll cook me dinner in return.
Self-deprecating, lifelong nerd Eric Mueller has spent years attempting to apply the tricks of computer coding, which has earned him millions of dollars, to women. As a freshman in high school, Eric keeps a notebook filled with data on potential girlfriends. The list's only requirement: "Would I prefer to be involved with her or to graduate high school without ever acquiring a girlfriend?" In his adulthood, Eric is better able to turn his awkwardness into charm, but will he allow his feelings to override facts when he meets the perfect girl? Roth opens The Unknowns at a party, which is a perfect setup for Eric's fumbling wit, but also allows readers to watch his acute sense of observation at work. In hilarious anecdotes, Eric takes notes on the people around him, mastering the art of partygoing and, eventually, picking up women.
Throughout the novel Roth flashes between Eric's teenage years, as he navigates the social waters of high school, and 2002, where he is dealing with a budding romance. It is in the later storyline that the book takes a surprising, but spot-on, turn. Rather than a comedic tale of a nerd's coming of age, this change takes The Unknowns a step deeper.
Gabriel Roth uses an insightful, funny voice to bring Eric's character to life, while giving him the depth to explore more than just the surface of relationships. The Unknowns is a great little book you will find yourself peeling through, looking forward to the next laugh.
Blog: www.rivercityreading.com
Night Film
When early reviews for Night Film started coming in and I was repeatedly seeing chilling, twisty and haunting, I just knew I had to have a favorite on my hands. Cult films and novels with endless plot twists, even those left unanswered, are right in my wheelhouse so my excitement level for Night Film was sky high.I think much of that excitement contributed to my feeling of disappointment as I finished reading. While I still enjoyed the book, it certainly didn’t live up to the expectations I had going in. Pessl’s work in creating a backstory for Cordova is breathtaking, and as the story progressed I kept hoping she would use that great imagination as a building block for some incredible twist. In the end, the novel’s reveal fell flat and felt too simple, where I was looking for something more puzzling.
