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Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
I LOVE Barbara Kingsolver. Her books are something you find yourself immersed in, one second turning the page, the next second in the story. I read The Bean Trees last year and wasn't disappointed with that, either.
Animal Dreams is about two sisters (twin-like in their closeness) and how each finds her way, though that way leads them in vastly different directions. Hallie ends up in Nicaragua while Codi finds herself returning home, ostentatiously to keep an eye on her aging and ailing father. The story focuses largely on Codi's point of view, with occasional flits from her father. The father's chapters grasp the feeling of an Alzheimer's patient and you can also get some impression of what life must have been like for the two "orphaned" daughters (single father, an "outsider", orthotic shoes, and the like). Much of the story is centered around Codi's sense of loss (she loses her mother early, she loses some key memories, she loses her cool while in medical school, she loses her long-time boyfriend, she loses her sister, she loses a baby), but Codi's story is also about getting over that loss.
Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
This book had every reason to go south: judge/cop romance, school shooting, geeks vs. jocks, and so on. But Picoult writes a decent story nevertheless. While I predicted that Alex Cormier and Patrick would be dating (or at least having sex) by story's end, the road to that relationship was less predictable. The same can be said for the shooter's development--I don't think any reader would be surprised to learn that Peter Houghton is the shooter--the pale skinny kid with glasses. What holds the story together, believe it or not, is the judge's daughter Josie. Both outcast and popular, Josie's story unfolds between alternating chapters--a format that could discourage some readers that prefer a more linear tale. Overall, character development wasn't that great and I think part of that can be attributed to the jumpiness of the story: first it's the day of the shooting, then it's the month before, then the month after, then 5 months before, then 19 minutes (the title) after, then 5 months later, and so on. A lot of effort is required to keep those story lines straight when writing, and so I think character development failed because of this (Josie, early on, is presented as suicidal. This doesn't make much sense until you get to the end and the true nature of her Oh-So-Perfect relationship is revealed...).
That said, I would recommend Picoult's latest--despite its flaws, it's well-crafted and presents an otherwise overwrought tale in a fresh way.
I LOVE Barbara Kingsolver. Her books are something you find yourself immersed in, one second turning the page, the next second in the story. I read The Bean Trees last year and wasn't disappointed with that, either.
Animal Dreams is about two sisters (twin-like in their closeness) and how each finds her way, though that way leads them in vastly different directions. Hallie ends up in Nicaragua while Codi finds herself returning home, ostentatiously to keep an eye on her aging and ailing father. The story focuses largely on Codi's point of view, with occasional flits from her father. The father's chapters grasp the feeling of an Alzheimer's patient and you can also get some impression of what life must have been like for the two "orphaned" daughters (single father, an "outsider", orthotic shoes, and the like). Much of the story is centered around Codi's sense of loss (she loses her mother early, she loses some key memories, she loses her cool while in medical school, she loses her long-time boyfriend, she loses her sister, she loses a baby), but Codi's story is also about getting over that loss.
Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
This book had every reason to go south: judge/cop romance, school shooting, geeks vs. jocks, and so on. But Picoult writes a decent story nevertheless. While I predicted that Alex Cormier and Patrick would be dating (or at least having sex) by story's end, the road to that relationship was less predictable. The same can be said for the shooter's development--I don't think any reader would be surprised to learn that Peter Houghton is the shooter--the pale skinny kid with glasses. What holds the story together, believe it or not, is the judge's daughter Josie. Both outcast and popular, Josie's story unfolds between alternating chapters--a format that could discourage some readers that prefer a more linear tale. Overall, character development wasn't that great and I think part of that can be attributed to the jumpiness of the story: first it's the day of the shooting, then it's the month before, then the month after, then 5 months before, then 19 minutes (the title) after, then 5 months later, and so on. A lot of effort is required to keep those story lines straight when writing, and so I think character development failed because of this (Josie, early on, is presented as suicidal. This doesn't make much sense until you get to the end and the true nature of her Oh-So-Perfect relationship is revealed...).
That said, I would recommend Picoult's latest--despite its flaws, it's well-crafted and presents an otherwise overwrought tale in a fresh way.
