Dr. Jennifer White is slowly losing her mind after having been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Jennifer, once a prominent and skilled orthopedic surgeon, has not only lost her ability to practice medicine, but her independence, mobility and cognitive skills. Now she regresses day by day to the point of an aggressive and almost childlike senility. Jennifer has good days and bad days, but recently she’s had to have a home health aide move into her home to assist her, a fact that embarrasses and angers her. Her grown children, Fiona and Mark, visit frequently, but it’s debatable whether they’re helping their mother or hindering her. When Jennifer’s best friend and neighbor of many, many years, Amanda, is found murdered with four fingers from one hand surgically removed, the police investigators come right to Jennifer as the prime suspect. The problem is that Jennifer has deteriorated so badly that she can’t remember if she committed the crime or not. But this isn’t a cut-and-dried case, for Amanda was good at alienating and threatening everyone around her, and through the increasingly muddy reflections of Jennifer's ailing mind, a picture begins to emerge of two women who are ideally suited for each other yet repugnantly averse to each other as well. As Jennifer’s cognitive abilities begin to dwindle more and more rapidly every day, she’s left in the position of having to be moved into a full time care facility while her children watch her mind slowly slide away. Will Jennifer ever remember if she played a role in Amanda’s death or not, and what will become of her when she’s no longer able to mentally function or recognize those around her? In this harrowing and suspenseful novel, the day to day life of one woman living through Alzheimer's disease is achingly portrayed in all its terrible impact, leaving her to cope with impotent fury at the inevitable future that’s lurking just around the bend.Though this book was incredibly suspenseful, it was also very, very sad. Having to watch as one woman loses every faculty her mind possesses was not only enervating, but also at times torturous. The book is written in a unique style of small paragraphs that each house snippets of dialogue or action, and as such, the story moves quickly in small digestible bits of information and narration. As the reader works their way through the tale, more and more is revealed about Jennifer and the people surrounding her, and the effect of the parceling out of this information has a stunning impact on the realities of what type of life this woman is living and has lived in the past. Though her future is terrible to contemplate, her past was also filled with woe and discomfort, and it’s Jennifer’s ability to remain detached, both in the past and present, that allows for greater impact in the story of her life.
Both of Dr. White’s children are somewhat suspect. Her son, Mark, seems always to be looking for a handout and will sometimes manipulate his unwell mother in order to get what he wants. He seemed to be very untrustworthy and at times even cold and hostile to his ailing mother. Fiona was a little better, but there was something about her that evaded normalcy and made her a person who was not always trustworthy either. LaPlante succeeds in making the people who interact with Jennifer seem a bit debauched, and by doing this, the reader can start to feel like they’re inhabiting Jennifer’s mind and feeling the suspicion and paranoia that the protagonist is experiencing. As Jennifer deteriorates, she has moments and even hours of stiff lucidity that allow her to reflect on her life and the lives of her family. She never regrets the things she’s done, but there is a certain wistfulness at the way things have turned out for her. At other times she’s no better than screaming, biting harridan, incapable of behaving normally or remembering who her family are. In the typical fashion of Alzheimer’s, Jennifer swings from bad to good several times a day, and though she’s usually compliant, there are times when she is violent, refuses her medication, and acts out.
When the news of the murder reaches Jennifer, she is disbelieving, and because of the nature of her disease, she must have the news broken to her over and over again. As Jennifer mentally regresses, she’s sometimes able to get lost in the memories of her friendship with Amanda in all its unhealthy and strange permutations. Amanda was the type of woman who was controlling, demanding and secretive. She has information at her disposal and uses it to blackmail others and make demands that she would otherwise not be able to make. Her friendship with Jennifer is strange in that both women seem to both hate and love each other, and there is a dependence that they share for one another that is not in the least healthy. When I was reading, I was wondering why Jennifer kept her friendship with Amanda going, why she kept forgiving this woman. Ultimately I think it came down to power. Amanda had it, and Jennifer was envious of it, and because of the inequality in the balance of power between them, the friendship crossed boundaries that it normally wouldn’t have. At the bottom of all this was the fact that no matter how abusive Amanda was to her, Jennifer genuinely loved and cared for her. This was one reason why it was so hard for her to understand that the police suspected her in Amanda’s murder, and why it was so painful for her to have to receive the news over and over again. In a way, Jennifer was closer to Amanda than she was to anyone in her own family, even her children.
This was a suspenseful knot of a read that kept me guessing all the way to the final page. The book’s plotting was exceptionally tight and though the story was written in a slightly different style, it was the kind of book that’s easy to become emotionally invested in on several levels. Far from being only a murder mystery, this book has the added depth and pathos of sharing the story of a woman in the throes of a disease that is eating her consciousness away day by day. In the end, I think you‘ll be just as surprised as I was at the implications of this story, and though it’s a difficult read, it’s definitely one that will keep its readers guessing time and time again. Recommended.
This book was provided as a complimentary review copy.
When young Charulata Apte is sent to Miss Timmins’ School for Girls as a new teacher, she is sheltered, shy and reclusive. Believing herself to be disfigured by a birthmark on her face, Charu spends a lot of her time fading into the background and observing the world from behind her dark curtain of hair. Navigating her way among the other teachers and students, Charu is suddenly swept up into a curious relationship with one of the more unconventional and wayward teachers, Ms. Moira Prince, and this relationship begins to change the reserved and quiet Charu in ways that no one can imagine. But when Moira is murdered and rumors fly through the school, Charu finds herself at the center of a controversy regarding Ms. Prince. Added to this mysterious murder is Charu’s new and unpredictable relationship with a man named Merch and the wayward drifters he spends time with, and Charu’s increasingly difficult relationship with her parents, whose hidden secrets have finally burst forth in destructive and powerful ways. In this novel of India during the 1970s, one year of boarding school mayhem and an unexpected murder is examined through the myopic lens of those who reside inside Miss Timmins’ School for Girls and the surrounding area.
About the Author
Claire Boehning is dealing with a lot these days. After a disastrous complication with her husband Addison's new drug research, Claire and her small family are left financially destitute. This is a severe change, as in the days leading up to the disaster, Claire, Addison and their teenage daughter Jory lived a very expensive lifestyle. Now the family has sold their beautiful and spacious home in Seattle and moved to a small farmhouse in rural Washington. Addison is not deterred by these complications and continues to seek funding for his new drug, flying to cities all over the country to meet with entrepreneurs who might be interested in backing him. This leaves Claire to struggle alone at the farmhouse with Jory during a blisteringly cold winter, a winter in which she cannot afford to purchase propane to heat the house. As Claire struggles to make ends meet, she hatches a plan to seek employment as a doctor in the nearby small town. But having given up her schooling after Jory's birth, Claire has not actually been certified as a doctor, and as such can only find work caring for the sick in an underfunded clinic that mainly treats migrant farm workers. Meanwhile, the relationship between Claire and Addison is deteriorating rapidly due to the anger and resentment Claire feels about Addison's financial mismanagement. In addition, issues begin to crop up with Jory, who is not only lonely in her new surroundings, but acting out as she sees her parents' marriage crumbling. In this timely and realistic tale, Cassella shows us the life of one family struggling under the financial burdens that so many today are facing.
Meghan Chase, a half human and half faerie girl, is finally coming home to her human family after being drawn deeply into the faerie world in order to battle the Iron Fey. But just as Meghan and her companion and lover Ash, prince of the winter realm, finally reach Meghan’s home, she’s accosted by malicious servants of the Iron Fey and dragged back into the all-consuming war that is taking over the faerie realm. It’s only Meghan and Ash’s quick thinking and use of their faerie power, called glamour, that they escape unscathed. But just when Meghan thinks she’s free, she’s summoned by her father, the Summer King, and offered a reprieve of her exile from the faerie world. If Meghan agrees to assassinate the new Iron King, she’ll be granted freedom to travel between the human and faerie worlds again. This doesn’t hold that much interest for Meghan, who is happy enough leaving faerie behind, but when she realizes the Summer and Winter Fey are at the mercy of the Iron Fey who wish to destroy them and their realms, Meghan agrees. Traveling with her on her journey are the same group of friends who have done battle with her previously, including the serious and loyal Ash, the ever instigating Puck and the adorably coy cat Grimalken. Will Meghan and her cohorts arrive in time to save the world of faerie from the Iron Fey and their murderous king? Fans of the Iron Fey series will relish Meghan’s continuing journey through the land of faerie and will be at the edge of their seats in this, their most suspenseful encounter yet.
For Frances, a young Chinese-American girl who lives in a dilapidated apartment with her mother, the pressure to succeed and fulfill her mother’s dreams for her is almost too much to bear. Though Frances is an excellent student, her mother is constantly pushing her to more and more rigorous feats of academics, hoping that one day Frances will become a doctor and take care of her financially. But though her mother is ostensibly looking out for Frances’ welfare, she can be very abusive and demeaning. At times, it’s all Frances can do not to give up when her mother repeatedly attacks her, both physically and emotionally. When a mistake is made with Frances’ schedule during senior year, she finds herself taking a speech class instead of the calculus class she needs to get into Berkley. Frances decides to remain in the class, and finds the class and its related competitions are the one safe haven for a girl who is trying to make her way against the heavy strictures of her mother. Soon Frances is lying and enlisting the help of her best friend to hide the fact that she’s competing in speech tournaments. Will Frances ever be free of her manipulative and cruel mother, or will she eventually bend and succumb to forces that seem stronger and stronger everyday? In this stunning and perceptive work of fiction, Cara Chow brings us the life of girl who’s desperate to escape the power of her all-consuming and abusive mother, and shares the triumphs and defeats she faces on her journey towards freedom.
In this somber and heartbreaking novel, an older woman, mother to four children and three grandchildren, goes missing after she fails to follow her husband onto a train in a crowded station. Though her children immediately take to the streets to hand out flyers offering a reward for information, time passes with no news or plausible leads. Park So-nyo is out there somewhere, lost and confused as each child reflects on their life with a mother who would do anything and sacrifice all for each of them and her husband. As the chapters move forward, an intimate picture or Park So-nyo is revealed: a hardworking farm woman living in the rocky hills of Korea, cooking and cleaning and farming the land year after unchanging year, giving her children the kind of love and support that is often taken for granted. When the grown children begin to talk amongst themselves and their father, it’s revealed that Mother had been acting strangely even months before her disappearance, succumbing to violent headaches that sometimes left her unconscious and other times forgetful. Now it’s up to the children and their father to bring Park So-nyo back home, despite the extended length of time she’s been missing, for they all wish to finally tell her they love her and that her seemingly inconsequential life has meaning to each of them. Spare and unflinching, Please Look After Mom is a story with immense emotional weight and heft, and will leave its readers hungering for a resolution to the dilemma of a missing woman, gone before her time, and the pain it sparks in the family that still searches for her.
In this haunting and penetrating memoir, author Mira Bartok shares her story of living life with a mother who suffers from schizophrenia, and the lengths to which she and her sister have gone to break away from the spreading violence and madness that so corrupt their lives. From Mira’s earliest memories, there was something not right about her mother, Norma. She often held conversations with unseen voices and became dangerously agitated when confronted. Living with her two young girls after being abandoned by her husband, Norma finds herself unable to take care of the three of them properly, her instances of illness growing exponentially. Eventually Norma and the girls move back into the home of her parents, but this too is a fraught situation, as Norma’s father is extremely abusive. As Mira and her sister grow older, Norma’s mental illness reaches an all time high and she becomes a persistent interrogator, and at times can be violent with her girls. Eventually the girls decide they must move to far-off cities and leave no forwarding address, hoping their mother will not be able to locate them. But when they learn that Norma is homeless and physically ill, the emotional toll it takes on Mira is severe. Though the girls try to get their mother the help she needs, she is far too stubborn, and it’s only when she’s in the throes of her final battle with cancer that the girls reunite with her and are able to get past the mental illness that has so decimated their lives. Stark and unflinching in its intimations, The Memory Palace is a chronicling of a life lived in the shadow of severe mental illness and the corrosion it inflicts upon a family.
Olivia was born to a Chinese father and American mother and has lived all her life in San Fransisco. Her father passes away while she’s still young, but not before telling her mother he was married before and fathered a child in China. As his dying wish, he asks Olivia’s mother to find this child and bring her to America. Soon Olivia’s half-sister, Kwan, is living with the family, but she’s not what you would call normal by Chinese nor American standards. Kwan claims to have yin eyes, a condition that allows her to see and speak with the ghosts of the departed, and also to have had some very interesting past lives which she shares in detail with Olivia over and over again. Olivia doesn’t much like Kwan, and the two sisters never manage to have the close relationship that Kwan so hopes for. Olivia is also having problems of a different kind, for she is going through a divorce from Simon, a man whom she once loved but now can’t stop arguing with. Though Kwan tries to push Olivia and Simon back together over and over again, it’s only when the three agree to go to China for a visit to Kwan’s old home that Simon, Olivia and Kwan discover each other again and realize the fateful place they all share in one another’s lives. Part family drama and part ghost story, The Hundred Secret Senses is Amy Tan at her best, once again telling a story that is nestled somewhere between China and America.
In this intricately woven novel, Margaret Atwood gives us the life story of Laura and Iris Chase, sisters whose fates are intertwined from their first recollections to their last. Daughters of a dissolute and extremely wealthy factory owner, both Laura and Iris are raised in the lap of luxury by their parochial mother; but when she dies, it’s up to their housekeeper Reenie and Iris herself to do the job of raising the sisters, a job their father cannot do. While Iris is mostly a solitary young girl and woman, Laura is more flighty and taken by strange notions and beliefs that shape her consciousness and the way she views the world, a fact that will change both her destiny and her sister’s.
Laura Martinez is struggling to manage her career and relationship with her family when her mother, Helen, suddenly becomes debilitated by a stroke. Mother and daughter have not had the most successful of relationships since, after the death of her father, Joseph, Laura's mother has become distant and cold. Now it's up to Laura to bridge the distance between the two and discover the secrets of her parents' strange marriage. Drawing on a series of old letters from her father to her mother, Laura begins to trace the delicate faults in her mother's heart and comes to understand that, now more than ever, their relationship needs to be mended. Reaching far into the past, a dual narrative emerges focusing not only on Laura and her mother's painful relationship, but also on the early days of Helen's relationship with Joseph. Theirs is relationship marked with tenderness and love, but also with painful separations and deception. As the novel winds forward, Laura struggles to close the distance between herself and her mother while also juggling the feelings of resentment towards her husband and her frustrations with her children. As it winds back, Helen draws on her ingenuity and creativity to craft beautiful designs in fabric to take her focus away from missing Joseph and having to raise her children virtually alone. Tender and stirring, Sea Escape becomes a novel that carefully crafts the fragile bond between mother and daughter and shares the way that the tragedies of our past can affect us even today.
When Ruby Donaldson learns she is afflicted by Alzheimer's, or Big Al as she calls it, she decides she’s not going to hang around in limbo as she becomes a shell of her former self. As she organizes and reorganizes her life to leave her family safe and well taken care of after her eventual succumbing to the inevitable, Ruby is consumed with creating a future that she will likely not be a part of for those she loves.
About the Author
In this novel of vignettes, six women gather to celebrate their friend Kate’s remission from breast cancer. As they gather for a wonderful night of shared conversation and good food, Kate levels a challenge to each of the women assembled. Each woman is going through a rough patch in her life and Kate’s task for each of them is designed to make them take stock of their life and help propel them forward from their static situations. Both lyrical and wise, Bauermeister’s second novel of stories touches on the resiliency and wonder of womanhood, and expounds on the remarkable journeys that each woman must take to become whole and sound.
About the Author
It’s 1978 and fifteen year old Samantha Bonti is living in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, in a shabby apartment with her ailing mother and grandmother. Though her grandmother is loving and kind to Samantha, her mother, a prisoner of addiction and ill health, is constantly berating and maligning her daughter to no obvious effect. When Samantha’s older friend Janice introduces the young girl to twenty year old Tony Kroon, a local who is part of the “Brooklyn Boys” crew, Sam’s life is changed forever. Soon she’s living the high life of expensive gifts, hot cars and exclusive clubs, but it all comes with a hefty price tag. Before she even realizes what’s happened, things begin to take a sinister turn. Though her relationship with Tony goes from smooth to rocky in the blink of an eye, Sam still has dreams of becoming a writer and moving across the bridge to Manhattan, dreams that may perish if she continues to be Tony’s girl. As Sam grows into a young woman, she must navigate through the rough waters of Tony’s possessiveness, violence and disregard. Though her mother and grandmother constantly tell her Tony is trouble, it’s only when Sam begins to see him through newly clear eyes that she discovers a man unlike any she has ever known, and must decide whether to remain the girlfriend of a small time mobster or to attempt to realize her dreams of becoming famous across the water. In this realistically gritty portrayal of a young girl caught up in a dangerous relationship, Suzanne Corso brings 1970s Brooklyn into fast and furious relief, and shares Samantha Bonti’s heartbreak and joy as she attempts to make a better life for herself.
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