The Whip

Author: Karen Kondazian
Publisher: Hansen Publishing Group, 2012
My Source: Amazon for Kindle

This book is a historical novel about triumph in the face of adversity, loosely based on the true life story of Charlotte "Charley" Parkhurst (1812-1879), a woman who lived most of her life as a man to get a job as a whip (a stagecoach driver.)

Charlotte grows up in an orphanage in New England where she meets a boy named Lee. They form a friendly childhood bond that turns sour when they become adults. Due to their friendship, Charlotte gets into a lot of trouble. Her punishment is to live in the barn and learn how to care for horses and drive a stagecoach with Jonas, the man who cares for the animals on the property. Jonas teaches her everything he knows and becomes like a father to her.

Fresh from her beating, Charlotte was led across the yard by the iron clasp of her headmistress at a great pace. The stable yard at night might have been nightmarish--all those long shadows, the soughing in the branches, the sudden mad motion of the underbrush shagging the margins; but strange though it might be, Charlotte felts at peace. Being led at all by someone felt good.

In her 30's, Charlotte meets and falls in love with an African American man despite the prejudices of the time. They have a baby together and then tragedy strikes at the hands of Lee and Charlotte is determined to seek revenge on him.

Charlotte finds out that Lee is living out west. She sees an advertisement for a position as a whip that would take her out west and decides to apply for it. The only problem is that they don't hire women, so she disguises herself as a man, changes her name to Charley, and gets the job.

Charlotte has many adventures as a whip. She conducts a secret love affair, kills a famous outlaw, and lives with a female housekeeper who, not knowing Charlotte's true sex, falls in love with her.

I was fascinated by the description of this book, especially knowing that it was based on a true story. I was not disappointed as the book lived up to its engaging description despite a slow beginning. Given the fact that Charlotte, like all women of the time, was raised to be submissive, it was amazing that she was able to bridge the gap between the sexes and convincingly pass as a man. She kept her secret safe until her death. It almost wouldn't be believable if I didn't already know that it was true.

Although this story is one of the wild wild west and will certainly appeal to fans of that time period, it is much more than that. It is an emotional human interest story that transcends its time and place and offers a little something for everyone.

                                                      Rating: 4 out of 5 high fives

Eleanor & Park

Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2013
My Source: Amazon for Kindle

I skipped this book when it first came out because it is YA and I don't tend to read YA, but I heard so many good things about this book and I enjoyed Attachments, also by Rowell, so I gave this one a try. I am so glad that I did!

It is a story about first love between two teenagers over the course of a school year in 1986. Eleanor is the new girl at school and sits with Park on her first day on the school bus and everyday after that. They don't speak, but one day Park notices that she is looking over his shoulder reading his X-Men comic books. He starts to move them closer to her and then brings in more comics for her to read at home. Park finally speaks to Eleanor when he sees handwritten song lyrics on her book cover and finds out she has never listened to The Smiths. He goes home that day and makes her the first of many mixed tapes. Slowly they form a friendship around their shared love for comic books and music, which then turns into a love for each other.

Eleanor has challenges at school and at home. At school she gets bullied for her unruly curly red hair and mismatched outfits. At home, her step-father is a tyrant who controls the family with intimidation, threats, and strict rules. Park provides a safe haven away from all of the chaos in her life.

This novel beautifully captures the essence of being an insecure self-conscious adolescent experiencing love for the first time. Unlike other books of teenage love which are written only from the perspective of one of the main characters, this story is told from the perspectives of both main characters through short alternating chapters dominated by engaging dialog.

Eleanor and Park are adorable, likeable characters with strengths and weaknesses everyone can relate to. I found myself rooting for them the whole way through. The story is a quick read and once I started I couldn't put it down.

I would recommend this book to young adults both experiencing or yearning for first love, and "old" adults who are young at heart reminiscing about first love from the past.

Rating: 5 out of 5 totally awesome high fives

Bonus: In 2014 DreamWorks purchased the rights to turn the book into a movie, however it was supposed to have been completed by now.

Here is a link to a blog post by @wildfirecharm discussing what she thinks would be a fitting potential soundtrack if the movie version of the story is produced. Brilliant idea!

June

Author: Miranda Beverly-Whittmore
Publisher: Crown, 2016
My Source: Goodreads Giveaway

I won this Advance Reader's Edition of the book from a Goodreads giveaway contest. I entered the contest for this specific book because I read and reviewed the author's first book, Bittersweet. Whittemore's second novel is an enjoyable read, but in my opinion, not as good as her first one.

The story revolves around a grand house called Two Oaks built in 1895 in rural Ohio. The action alternates between two time periods: 1955 and 2015. In 1955, 18 year-old June lives at Two Oaks with her mother, a disabled distant uncle, and a female African American servant. June's best friend, 14 year-old tomboy, Lindie, lives next door and often sneaks into June's bedroom window to read movie star magazines with her. In this particular summer, a Hollywood movie called Erie Canal starring Jack Montgomery, is being filmed in their little town of St. Jude. Lindie gets a job with the film crew, but June is uninterested in the movie. She has just agreed to marry Artie, though he has been away from St. Jude for sometime now.

In 2015, the reader meets 25 year-old Cassie, whom has inherited Two Oaks from her recently deceased grandmother, June (yes, the same June.) Cassie finds herself having pleasant recurring dreams of two girls from the past living in Two Oaks. The house has fallen into disrepair and Cassie doesn't have the money to fix it up. One day, a man comes to her door telling her that the actor, Jack Montgomery, has left his $37 million fortune to her because he believed her to be his granddaughter. One of Jack Montgomery's famous daughters is contesting the will and comes to St. Jude to meet Cassie. Together they try to determine whether or not June had an affair with Jack Montgomery in 1955.

Good god, yes, Tate Montgomery in the flesh, removing her glasses and cap, climbing the steps, getting closer and closer like she had stepped out of some ridiculous Technicolor movie where she was larger than life and a chorus of strings swelled at the sight of her. But this was not a movie at all. It just kept going.

Essentially this novel consists of two stories in two different time periods, both of them compelling. The author portrays Two Oaks as a recurring character in the two stories. In 1955 it is a happy place unlike any other home in town, large and ornate, and inspiring curiosity among the townsfolk who jump at the chance to tour it at the movie's wrap party. By 2015 it is a sad broken down house, in need of much repair, not unlike its sole inhabitant, Cassie. Through the use of Cassie's dreams, the author beautifully connects the events that take place in the house of the past to those that take place in the house of the present.

Cassie tells Tate Montgomery that she will only give a DNA sample if she first helps her research the events that took place in the summer of 1955. It seems unrealistic that they would together sift through historical documents and talk to long-time residents of St. Jude to find the answer to Cassie's parentage, rather than just doing the DNA test, but then there wouldn't be this lovely story.

The novel is longish (379 pages) or at least it felt that way. It was drawn out and could have been wrapped up in about 300 pages. Also, my expectations were quite high based on my enjoyment of the author's previous novel. While a very enjoyable read, my expectations were not fully met.

                                                      Rating: 3.5 out of 5 high fives

Hausfrau

Author: Jill Alexander Essbaum
Publisher: Penguin Random House, 2015
My Source: Louisville Free Public Library

"Anna was a good wife, Mostly." 

That is the first sentence of Hausfrau, a novel about the downfall of Anna Benz, a 37 year-old housewife, mother, and American expat living in a suburb of Zurich, Switzerland. Nine years prior, Anna met and married Swiss born Bruno Benz. Shortly thereafter, Bruno took a managerial position at Cedit Suisse and they moved to his hometown in Switzerland.

Unhappy in her marriage and isolated in a foreign country, Anna seeks out a psychoanalyst at the suggestion of her husband. Anna is guarded in her sessions, evades questions, and lies by omission. The psychoanalyst encourages Anna to take German language classes so she can communicate better with the locals. In class, she meets a Scotsman and begins an illicit affair with him. The reader finds out that this is not Anna's first affair, nor her last.

One day a family tragedy strikes while Anna is away with one of her lovers. Anna's world is turned upside down after that.

The parts depicting the psychoanalyst are interesting and correspond with Anna's circumstances, but are fictional. From what I learned about psychoanalysis in graduate school, the analyst does not generally answer existential questions from the patient. Typically, strict analysts say very little and when they do speak they ask open-ended questions of the patient. Also, they do not offer specific analysis of dreams because dreams are open to the patient's interpretation. Jungian psychoanalysis is very different from general psychotherapy in which the therapist takes a more active role.

One aspect that was interesting to me was the way the author combined the German language lessons with the ways Anna was feeling and the ways she saw others in her life.


          This is basic, class. Present tense. That which happens now. Future tense.
          What will occur. Simple past: what was done. Present perfect?
          What has been done.
          But how often is the past simple? Is the present ever perfect?
          Anna stopped listening. These were rules she didn't trust.


While I enjoyed this book, I also found it quite sad. Sad does not automatically equal bad, but it did equal only 3 out of 5 high fives from me. Bruno is distant and unsympathetic to Anna's plight. Anna is dissatisfied with her life and compulsively uses sex as a way of distracting herself from her boredom and depression. She lacks adequate coping mechanisms, but then it wouldn't be a very interesting story if she did.

                                                         Rating: 3 out of 5 high fives

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Author: Rachel Joyce 

Publisher: Random House, 2012

My Source: Louisville Free Public Library

I know I’m late to the party on this book, but in my defense, I base most of my reading choices on which books on my TBR list are currently available to download from the library. Luckily, Harold Fry was available.

The title of this book is no joke; it certainly is an “unlikely pilgrimage” for a 65 year-old retired Englishman to walk 600 miles across the country without physical preparation, proper footwear, or a cell phone (or as they say in England a mobile.) As I read this book, I made some notes in my phone. Why didn’t he just drive? Why didn’t he go back and pack a bag? What happens if he spends all of their retirement money on his journey? Why did he wear a tie every day? What was his connection to Queenie that made him feel so compelled to make the journey to see her? Well, all of these questions (except for the tie one) are answered as the story unfolds.

One day Harold receives a letter from Queenie Hennessy, a person from his past, telling him that she is dying of cancer. He struggles with what to write in response and finally comes up with a short note that he intends to mail. He walks to the post office, and then the next closest post office and on and on, until he has an epiphany and realizes he needs to make the 600-mile journey on foot to say goodbye to her in person.

On his journey, Harold recalls early memories of his marriage to Maureen, his relationship with his son David, his connection to Queenie, and his difficult childhood. These memories weave the back story of Harold’s life and explain his current emotional state. The memories and the meanings he attributes to those memories were the most interesting parts of the story for me.

Harold meets many kind and quirky strangers along the way, including a man who wears a gorilla suit. At first he is reluctant to tell others why he is walking because he believes they will think him crazy. Eventually he becomes comfortable talking with strangers about his purpose and finds that others want and need to share their stories with him, too.

He understood that in walking to atone for the mistake he had made, it was also his journey to accept the strangeness of others. As a passerby, he was in a place where everything, not only the land, was open. People would feel free to talk, and he was free to listen. To carry a little of them as he went. He had neglected so many things that he owed this small piece of generosity to Queenie and the past.

The story of Harold Fry is one of hope, faith, regret, forgiveness, and love. It invoked a wide range of emotions in me. At times I felt impatient with the characters he meets on his quest. Some of them help him cope with his past, but some of them felt unnecessary. I predicted what was going to happen with his marriage, but that did not detract from the satisfaction of the ending. I felt like I might have missed some symbolism, so I read a few literary reviews, however, they did not have much more to offer beyond what I already observed. It was certainly a book that made me think about what is most important in life. 

                                                         Rating: 3 out of 5 high fives


Bonus: The author did not plan to write a sequel, but was encouraged to do so by her fans. It is entitled The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy. I plan to read it when it is available at the library.

                                                       

GodPretty in the Tobacco Field

Author: Kim Michele Richardson

Publisher: Kensington Books, 2016

My Source: Louisville Free Public Library

I became aware of this book because Carmichael’s held an author event with Kim Michele Richardson. You can read my post about that event here. 

Themes of poverty and racism are central to this coming-of-age story set in eastern Kentucky during the summer of 1969. The main character, RubyLyn, is a 15 year-old girl being raised on a tobacco farm by her strict uncle, Gunnar.

As sure as ugly is found in the morning addict waiting to score in the parking lot of a Kentucky Shake King, there is GodPretty in the child who toils in the tobacco field, her fingers whispering of arthritic days to come.

My uncle Gunnar Royal, says I’m that child and that I’ll find Salvation if I work hard enough. But it’s doubtful. I’ve been working these fields since knee-high, and ain’t nothing but all kinds of GodUgly keeps happening around here.

RubyLyn is orphaned at the age of five and taken in by her mother’s brother. She still feels the absence of her parents in her life and holds onto the few memories she has of them. Her stoic uncle teaches her to work the tobacco fields and to follow his rigid rules of behavior. RubyLyn’s closest companion is her uncle’s African American hired hand, Rainey, whom has had a crush on her since they first met 10 years prior. In her free time and when she can find paper, RubyLyn creates fortune tellers for the townspeople. She draws pictures of rural life on them and is praised for her talented artwork. Gunnar, however, disapproves of her hobby and punishes her and destroys her creations when he finds them. RubyLyn becomes restless in her small town of Nameless, Kentucky. She sees poverty, violence, racism, and hardship all around her and dreams of moving to the big city of Louisville for a better life. With Rainey’s help, RubyLyn prepares a tobacco plant to be shown at the Kentucky State Fair. She is counting on wining the blue ribbon and using the prize money to help her get out of Nameless. RubyLyn and Rainey make plans, but Gunnar’s long-held family secrets are revealed, permanently altering RubyLyn’s life.

The compelling story of RubyLyn is both heartbreaking and uplifting. The most notable aspect of this novel is the beautiful writing. The painstakingly detailed descriptions of the characters, settings, and events filled my mind with vivid images of rural life in eastern Kentucky. I particularly enjoyed the description of small town girl, RubyLyn’s experience of attending the big city Kentucky State Fair (an event I have also attended in the past.) The dialog, written in the vernacular of rural eastern Kentucky in 1969, transported me back in time. The historical events woven into the plot, such as the visit by President Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson and the looming Vietnam War, lent authenticity to the story and anchored it in time. It was obvious that the author did a lot of research for this project.

I recommend this book to those who enjoy southern fiction and want to be transported to a different time and place. As a Kentuckian, it was particularly interesting to me to learn about a different part of the state that I have not visited. The book depicted an intimate look into the personal lives of the Appalachian people behind the commonly held stereotypes.

                                                         Rating: 5 out of 5 high fives

Circling the Sun

Author: Paula McLain 

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2015

My Source: Louisville Free Public Library

Like the author’s previous book, The Paris Wife, the current book is another foray into historical fiction. The main character is based on the real life Beryl (Clutterbuck) Markham, an English woman who grew up in Kenya in the early 1900’s when it was a British colony.

When the story begins, Beryl’s mother has just abandoned her to return to England with her brother, leaving her father to raise her alone. Because she has no female role model until later in her development, Beryl doesn’t learn “girl things” and thus grows up in an unconventional way for a girl at that time. She instead learns how to care for and train racehorses on her father’s horse farm and how to track and hunt animals in the bush with her African friend, Kibii.

This was certain: I belonged on the farm and in the bush. I was part of the thorn trees and the high jutting escarpment, the bruised-looking hills thick with vegetation; the deep folds between the hills, and the high cornlike grasses. I had come alive here, as if I’d been given a second birth, and a truer one. This was my home, and though one day it would all trickle through my fingers like so much red dust, for as long as childhood lasted it was a heaven fitted exactly to me. A place I knew by heart. The one place in the world I’d been made for.

When she is a teenager, Beryl’s father encourages her to marry a local farmer much older than herself. The marriage fails and so begins the string of unsuccessful romantic relationships she has throughout her life. As a young woman, she learns through trial and error the social rules of the wealthy adult colonists of the time and often raises an eyebrow or two with her decisions. Beryl is continuously trying to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. She eventually finds success as the first female horse trainer in Africa during a time when most women didn’t even work outside the home. Beryl also becomes a pilot and the first woman to fly from Africa to North America alone. In my opinion, she could be considered a pioneer and a feminist.

I usually enjoy historical fiction, and this one did not disappoint. The descriptions of the land were vivid and beautifully detailed, but I felt the action of the story started out slowly. For me, it didn’t get interesting until she became an adult and found herself in complicated relationships with friends and lovers. As a female, I was inspired by the way Beryl forged a new path for women. By the end of the story I was fully engaged. For the readers interested in learning more about Beryl Markham, the author added references to other books and movies about Beryl’s life, including a memoir written by the woman herself.

                                                         Rating: 4 out of 5 high fives.