After You by Julie Buxbaum

Let’s pretend things are different. That in the last couple of days, I haven’t become the kind of person who resorts to wishing on eyelashes, first tears of the night, and the ridiculous 11:11, both a.m. and p.m., in earnest and with my eyes closed.

Title: After You
Author: Julie Buxbaum
ISBN: 9780670066834
Publisher: Viking, Canada/2009
Pages: 336

When Ellie’s best friend Lucy is murdered in London, Ellie rushes there from Boston, to be with Lucy’s eight-year-old daughter, Sophie. After greeting Ellie, Sophie stops speaking. Meanwhile, Lucy’s husband has withdrawn into himself and the charge of taking take of Sophie falls on Ellie. Sophie had seen her mother mugged and killed while they were going to school. Ellie loves Sophie and will go to any length to get her back on track.

Sophie, like Ellie is a book lover. Ellie thinks she has the right book to share with Sophie and that can help both deal with their feelings. Hence, both starts on the journey of reading The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. In the process of sharing the secret of that beautiful book, the healing process for both starts in the right direction.

Ellie too has certain issues to deal with in her personal life. Even though her marriage is disintegrating and she doesn’t want to go back to her home and husband Phillip, leaving behind Sophie. For a while now, their relationship has gone down the hill. Ellie doesn’t know how to deal with it. Sophie and Ellie deal with their griefs in the company of each other. Sophie has nightmares, misses her mother yet loves Ellie and can’t think of letting her go. Ellie too can’t leave the child even though she knows her marriage will disintegrate. Greg and Ellie become friends, what with Lucy and Sophie being the common bond. When Ellie discovers some secrets about Lucy, she is deeply shocked, about the secret and also about the fac that Lucy didn’t trust her enough to share those with her. Lucy knew Ellie would disapprove.

Ellie is the narrator of the story and she understands the value of friendship, and being there at their times of need. She also knows her own deficiencies, although she doesn’t know how to deal with it. The sadness is balanced out by the funny, witty moments. The sardonic manner of the narrator is not repelling as that is directed towards herself. And when she away from home, she understands the real value of home and belonging.

The colourful characters of Ellie’s parents too take us in, along with her very straight brother. Her husband Phillip, too comes across well. A novel, which totally grips us, the sadness, the funny quirky moments, Gregs’ idiosyncrasies, Sophie’s childishness, the death of Lucy hanging in the background. And most important of all, The Secret Garden can and does heal Sophie. As it helps Ellie find home finally.

I know this much is true by Wally Lamb

On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother Thomas entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut Public Library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable.

Title: I Know This Much is True
Author: Wally Lamb
ISBN: 9780061097645
Publisher: HarperTorch/ReaganBooks/1998
Pages 890

When I received this novel as a gift from a friend of mine, I was daunted by the sheer size of it. I thought no way I was going to finish this book. I started it last night and finished it a while back. All 890 pages of it. I just couldn’t put it down. I think it covers my whole week’s reading!

Thomas Birdsey, a 40-years old, goes to a library, all the while praying and with quite deliberation cuts off his right hand from the wrist. His only explanation being: by his sacrifice he can stop the war. His twin Dominick has always taken care of his schizophrenic brother for the last twenty years.

From there starts a journey of their story backwards. Dominick is the sane identical twin. He is the narrator of the story. This book goes back and forth from present to past. With deep dark secrets, a dysfunctional family, who really is responsible for Thomas’ state? Born illegitimate with an unknown father, only father they know is Ray Birdsey, who had adopted them when he married Connie, their mother. For them he always remains the step father, at least in Dominick’s eye.

The deep search into Dominick’s own psyche to understand his own inner being might give a clue about Thomas’ state of being. That’s what he believes. No matter what, Dominick has to take care of Thomas. We see him hating his identical twin, and also the deep abiding love for his other half. The question is who is the stronger twin? Dominick also gets to read his family history but he still can’t know who is his real father. His mother died without letting it out. Despite his love and care for her, he hates her for it.

This novel questions our own beliefs, our life’s journey, and soul searching. Reading it makes us go through a whole gamut of emotions. Despite its length, it takes us in, with beautiful prose. With wit and dark humour, reading is not as difficult as I had initially presumed. With complexities of relationships, it is not a book for those who want everything neat and hunky dory.

Signora Da Vinci by Robin Maxwell

A lie. I needed a fresh lie to help me escape the house this day. Call it “deceit,” I corrected myself as I threw another log in the furnace, enduring its search blast on my face before shutting the iron door with a clank.

Title: Signora Da Vinci
Author: Robin Maxwell
ISBN: 9780451225801
Publisher: New American Library/2009
Pages: 422

This book is about Caterina, mother of the great maestro, Leonardo Da Vinci. She bore him illegitimatelly at the age of fifteen and he was taken from her soon after. To be with him in his initial years, she endured insults, indignity and abuses at the hands of the Da Vincis. When Leonardo was sent to Florence to apprentice under Verrocchio, Caterina devised a plan to be with him. Her scheme was filled with wrought and danger. If caught she would taken to be a heretic and burnt at stake. But she had to take that risk to be nearer him and also for her own sake. She was an outcast in her own village, Vinci.

Caterina has the ability to redefine herself. Her father Ernesto, made sure she is well read and also knows all about medicinal plants. She is a passionate woman, who deeply loves her son, Leonardo and living away from him is unendurable for her. Yet she wants him to excel in his life. He has great talent for art and imagination and he must pursue that, no matter what. While apprenticing under Verracchio, he meets other great masters like Botticelli.

This novel takes us to the richly cultured Florence, Rome and Milan. A love affair ensues between Lorenzo Medici and Caterina. We get to see the brilliance of Leonardo Da Vinci, a man of many talents. This story is about a mother and her son, who are very free to discuss anything and yet be a parent and a child.

This, according to the author, is a work of fiction as nothing much is known about Caterina. Maxwell built a story from whatever little she had access to, about Caterina. She used her imagination to build the character of a mother, who is always supporting of her son. There is so much of history and political facts in this book that the fiction becomes believable. That’s what matters, doesn’t it?

Letters Between Us by Linda Rader Overman

This journey could have started differently, but the fact is that it didn’t.

Title: Letters Between Us
Author: Linda Rader Overman
ISBN: 978189386626
Publisher: Pain Views Press/2008
Pages: 165

Letters between us is an epistolary novel covering the lives of two friends. Katherine is found dead mysteriously and Laura, a writer is much saddened by it and tries to find why and how Katherine died. Laura starts reading the letters they sent to each other since they started their friendship. She tries to keep the letters in some chronological order so that she can make some sense into those.

From those letters, we can see their past in which they shared so much-friendship love, pain and so much more. Reading the letters and remembering the past is painful but Laura has to do it for her friend’s sake. We read about secrets they shared and also about those they did not share. Katherine had kept a Journal too as had Laura. So we also get to read their innermost thoughts unknown to each other but themselves.

Everything from childhood secrets to sex and drugs, from which unexpectedly Laura comes out, the one person, who is impulsive and not expexcted to make it. The sensible Katherine turns out to be more troubled one. It is growing of age novel, with deep dark secrets and pain. Reading through the letters back and forth, Laura finally understands the strange compulsions of her friend and also about her death.

Maybe life comes full circle. Very vividly portrayed, intricately written, this short novel is powerful and very thoughtful. Not a book to breeze through. It does not cater to all readers as it a difficult read but well worth it once you begin it.

Also reviewed by
Sandra

The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve

“She heard a knocking, and then a dog barking. Her dream left her, skittering behind a closing door. It had been a good dream, warm and close, and she minded. She fought the waking.“

Title: The Pilot’s Wife
Author: Anita Shreve
ISBN: 031660195
Publisher: Back Bay Books/1998
Pages: 293

With that opening, The Pilot’s Wife does not let our interest waver. Kathryn Lyons’ world comes crashing down when the plane that her husband Jack had been flying goes down. It had supposedly exploded, no one knows why and how. Then there are all sorts of speculation, rumours start which affects her deeply. She has to protect their 15 years old daughter at any cost.

Piece by piece she comes to know Jack led a dual life. Kathryn has to find out the truth about him no matter how it costs her. Yet she has to think of her daughter too. She sets about knowing all about him, the other life he led.

This sets her towards the question: “How well can we truly know a person?” Can we really know a person even if we live with together for a lifetime? Why can’t we recognise the hints? Does trust means blind faith? This novel explores all this.

Shreve’s prose is very powerful and gripping. One can’t put down the book after beginning it. We journey along with Kathryn. Her sadness can be felt by us.

Twins by Katherine Stone

Title: Twins
Author: Katherine Stone
ISBN: 0821726463
Publisher: Zebra/1989
Pages: 478 pages

Buying this book was a whim. I had not heard of Katherine Stone but liked the premise. Another thing was, it was available for a pittance! Having read it, I don’t regret buying it.

As the title says, it is about twins. However, it about two pairs of twins, not one. With a strong story line, this made a very good read. It has sibling love, rivalry, romance, mystery and suspense.

Reading about Charles’ childhood as compared to his twin Jason, is so touching. Their bonding is apparent since their birth yet they are separated for no fault of theirs. They can’t bridge that gap despite wanting to. As none knows how to. However, the bonding is such that even they can’t understand it. They are twins yet they are different in every other way.

Similar is the case with Melanie and her twin, Brooke. She is a successful model as Brooke a lawyer. Yet they both need approval from each other.

With lots of emotions, heartbreak, tears, this book moves forward. This is definitely not what is called a romance. This a book about bonding, misunderstandings and coming out of it all. And one can’t reveal the story without spoilers. So I leave it here. But I say, read it!

Losing Kei by Suzanne Kamata

Title: Losing Kei
Author: Suzanne Kamata
ISBN: 9780972898492
Publisher: Leapfrog Press/2007
Pages: 193

A painter Jill Parker goes to Japan after she loses out in love. She is, in a way emulating Blondelle Malone, a late–19th-century South Carolina artist who had gone to Japan.

Jill chooses to live in a small island, where there are very few foreigners apart from Eric, who is a surfer. He gets her a job of a hostess in a seedy place. Meanwhile she meets a Japanese gallery owner Yusuke Yamashiro who offers a show for her. Eventually they fall in love and get married. She has to live with her in laws and tries to be a Japanese housewife as best as she can. However, she resents it after a while as her mother in law is not ready to give up her power. Now Jill has no interest in painting.

Jill gives birth to a son, Kei. That does not make her place in the household any better. However, she leaves Yusuke one day and files for divorce. But Kei is lost to her. The laws are such that, she has no rights over her son. Jill tries to cope up with it but she also has financial constraints to fight it legally.

This book made an interesting read. It talks about the problems a person faces in a foreign land. How the laws act against that person. Is that person able to cope or give it all away? Why is fitting in all this so difficult? Kamata has taken in account of it all and written a good book. Thanks to the author for sending me the book.

Losing Kei by Suzanne Kamata

Title: Losing Kei
Author: Suzanne Kamata
ISBN: 9780972898492
Publisher: Leapfrog Press/2007
Pages: 193

A painter Jill Parker goes to Japan after she loses out in love. She is, in a way emulating Blondelle Malone, a late–19th-century South Carolina artist who had gone to Japan.

Jill chooses to live in a small island, where there are very few foreigners apart from Eric, who is a surfer. He gets her a job of a hostess in a seedy place. Meanwhile she meets a Japanese gallery owner Yusuke Yamashiro who offers a show for her. Eventually they fall in love and get married. She has to live with her in laws and tries to be a Japanese housewife as best as she can. However, she resents it after a while as her mother in law is not ready to give up her power. Now Jill has no interest in painting.

Jill gives birth to a son, Kei. That does not make her place in the household any better. However, she leaves Yusuke one day and files for divorce. But Kei is lost to her. The laws are such that, she has no rights over her son. Jill tries to cope up with it but she also has financial constraints to fight it legally.

This book made an interesting read. It talks about the problems a person faces in a foreign land. How the laws act against that person. Is that person able to cope or give it all away? Why is fitting in all this so difficult? Kamata has taken in account of it all and written a good book. Thanks to the author for sending me the book.