Week in Review - 1/20/2018

More snow, cold temps and inactivity on my part (yoga canceled on Monday & Wednesday) has resulted in me finishing (3) books this week and watching (4) movies as well.  Here's what I read and saw.

 My Absolute Darling; Gabriel Tallent

Riverhead - 2017

4/5 stars

My Absolute Darling was a painful, coming of age story which takes place in northern California near Mendocino.  Fourteen year old Turtle Alveston is somewhat of a wild child but she has a good reason. Her mother died and her father, Martin,  is whacked. She goes to school but her grades are poor and she doesn't have any real friends.  She detests most girls and women that she meets and although she seems to know that the way her father treats her is wrong (he physically and sexually abuses her), he is all she knows.  The reality begins to set in for Turtle after her grandfather dies and her father takes off only to return home with a ten year old girl he has picked up and seems to be thinking about her as his almost grown daughter's replacement.

This book told in the third person and is a tough read. It's very detailed when it comes to the physical abuse Turtle endured.  The writing is good but, seemed very slow at times as well.  Definitely not a book all readers will be glad they read.  

Sisters; Lily Tuck

Atlantic Monthly Press-2017

 5/5 stars

A short novel, just over 150 pages, “Sisters,’’ tells the story of a marriage. Told in the first person by an unnamed narrator who happens to be wife #2.  Wife #2 is obsessed with finding out everything she can about her husband's first wife, (also unnamed). She plans ways to run-into her, has conversations and questions her two teenaged step-children and, when it feels okay to do so,  questions her new husband. Where wife #1 is tall and blond, wife #2 is short and dark. Both women live in Manhattan and, the husband, who travels a lot for work, is mostly out of the picture, but we do get a good glimpse at the way the couple meets and his inner persona.

I loved the writing and the fact that it written is very short chapters, this is one enjoyable book, that is meant to be read slowly and savored.  An intimate look at a marriage, obsession, infidelity. Loved this little gem.

An American Marriage; Tayari Jones

Algonquin - 2018

4/5 stars

Married just over a year, Roy, a young executive and Celestial, an artist are a black couple getting their rhythm as husband and wife.  One day Roy is arrested for a crime he didn't commit. He is tried, convicted and is sent to prison. While they await the appeal process, Roy makes the best of prison life in Louisiana while Celestial must try to adjust to life on the outside without Roy.  When Roy is a free man, 5 years later, he hopes to return to Celestial and resume their life together but, does time change what this young couple once had?

A well-written, timely novel about racial injustice and the how it affects a marriage.

The Post  (2017) - A cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government.

Be sure to see it on the big screen!

Before I Go to Sleep  (2014) - A woman wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. One day, new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everyone around her.

Held my interest but just okay

(I never read the book)

The Wizard of Wall Lies (2017) - The fall of Bernie Madoff, whose Ponzi scheme robbed $65 billion from unsuspecting victims; the largest fraud in U.S. history.

 Very good; worth seeing!

The Book of Henry (2017) - With instructions from her genius son's carefully crafted notebook, a single mother sets out to rescue a young girl from the hands of her abusive stepfather.

Disappointed; I was expecting something different!