Reported by Jeanne
This week’s Nevermore opened with The Gardens of Kyoto by
Kate Walbert, a first novel about love, loss, and war. The book opens with a line from Ellen, the
narrator: “I had a cousin, Randall, who
was killed in Iwo Jima. Have I told you?”
Ellen becomes infatuated with her cousin, a bookish young man who confides in
the shy, sensitive girl. After his
death, she receives some of his possessions, including a book entitled The Gardens of Kyoto. Her devotion to
Randall influences all of her other relationships, including a romance with a
soldier serving in Korea. Our reader
felt the book shared some similarities with the children’s classic by Burnett, The Secret Garden. She described it as a fun book with a secret
room that served as part of the Underground Railroad.
Gardens in the Dunes
by Leslie Marmon Silko is set around the turn of the last century, when the
Ghost Dance was used to try to bring the Messiah to earth. Native American sisters Indigo and Salt live
with their grandmother, but soon they are taken away by the U.S. government and
sent to an Indian School. Indigo is
adopted by a free-spirited white woman who is married to a botanist. The characters travel from the American
Southwest to South America and Europe, where the vivid descriptions of gardens
help illustrate a number of literary themes. Our reader couldn’t stop praising
this powerful book about plants, the environment, women, Native peoples, and
society.
Another reviewer highly recommended William Bradford’s account
of the Plymouth Colony. Known variously
as Of Plymouth Colony, William Bradford’s
Journal, and A History of Plymouth
Plantation, the book details the
voyage from England, arrival in the New World, and the subsequent hardships
faced there. It is the source for the description
of the first Thanksgiving, and inspired the creation of the current
holiday. Our Nevermore member found it
to be very readable and while she’d intended to only browse a few pages, she
ended up reading much more.
The Broker by
John Grisham also got a nod, with our reader saying that while it was
improbable but engrossing. Washington powerbroker Joel Blackman was sent to
federal prison for attempting to sell a spy satellite system to various
countries. Blackman is released from
custody early and sent to Italy where the CIA waits to see which of his various
associates will try to kill him first.
Henning Mankell remains a favorite author among club
members, as do many of the Scandinavian crime writers. This week’s book was Before the Frost, in which Kurt Wallander’s daughter Linda has just
graduated from the police force. She becomes
involved with a case involving a childhood friend who has disappeared, and soon
it appears that her case is related to something her father is
investigating. This was intended to be
the first book in a trilogy featuring Linda as the main character, but Mankell
became upset when the actress playing Linda in the Swedish version of the TV
series died and he abandoned plans for the other two books. Our reviewer was
disappointed, because she found the book to be very well done and invigorated
the series.
Another fun book featuring a police officer was Fugitive Nights by former police
officer Joseph Wambaugh. Our reviewer felt the plot was thin, but the book more
than made up for it with great characters and wonderful repartee. He said he felt as if he were “in the know,”
with police jargon and procedures. It’s
a feel good book and is definitely recommended.
The Night Sister
by Jennifer McMahon is set in a hotel in Vermont where three little girls once
played together. Then a frightening
discovery drove them apart. Years later,
one of the girls is accused of a crime and her friends come back to try to
clear her name. McMahon is known for her
suspenseful, supernaturally tinged novels.
Our reader said it was a good story.
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