The Need by Helen Phillips

 

Reviewed by Christy

            Paleobotanist Molly has two young children, four-year-old Viv and baby Ben, who run her ragged day in and day out. With her husband out of town for a few weeks, Molly is essentially a single mother until he gets back. She has her baby sitter who watches them during the day while she works but the evenings are just her. No extra hands to give her a break or even just to help. She’s all alone.

            Until one night, she hears sounds coming from her living room. Scooping up her children, she lurks in the dark trying to convince herself she’s hearing things but at the same time searching for a glimpse of the trespasser.

            This is how the novel opens up, and I’m hesitant to say more than that because it’s hard to describe the plot in any detail without getting too deep into spoilers which I don’t want to do. I will say that there is an interesting speculative element and even with that, I found Molly deeply relatable. She intensely loves her children but she feels overwhelmed and utterly lost in her many daily responsibilities as a mother. She daydreams about the rare times she and her husband can be a loving couple instead of just Mommy and Daddy. She revels in her time at work where she can be an adult and a scientist. I think it could be easy to get distracted and hyper-focus on the slight science fiction component. (It’s never explained which could frustrate some readers but I think it works in the novel’s favor.) Even its synopsis is purposefully vague which makes the reading experience even more interesting. Moreover, Phillps’ writing is sharp and resonates.

I’ve seen this book categorized as a thriller or even a horror, and I don’t really think either of those are an apt description. The book is ultimately a speculative drama about a woman who is desperately trying to balance the demands of motherhood all while trying to find herself again.

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

Reviewed by Christy

            Mary Deerfield is a deeply unhappy woman. The twenty-four year old Puritan is the second wife to a seemingly respectable man twice her age. Because of this, she has a daughter-in-law who is around her age and “grandchildren” as well. The arrangement feels odd but she accepts it as God’s will. Even though her husband, Thomas, is an angry and violent drunk, she commits to being an even better wife than she was the day before. Until one night, Thomas goes too far and stabs her through the hand with a three-tined fork. Mary refuses to keep living in fear of her husband’s mercurial rages and wishes to seek a divorce.

            In 1662, divorce is no easy feat, and Mary must make her case in front of the magistrates who will then decide what’s best for her. Over two days she must listen to witnesses discuss what a good man Thomas is, and how they never witnessed any abuse or even heard Mary discuss it. The request for divorce is denied. Mary must go home to her abuser. Because of this, and because Thomas’ rages are becoming more frequent and starting to happen even when he’s not drunk, Mary becomes desperate.

            Though Hour of the Witch is marketed as a thriller, it is a courtroom drama more than anything. The story is slow and methodical while still being engaging. I found Mary to be an interesting character because, while she is very pious, she struggles with the restrictions of the time without fully understanding why. She chalks it up to her being sinful because, after all, she has made note of her son-in-law’s good looks. She also travels to the docks often to watch the sailors unload their cargo. It makes perfect sense she would be more attracted to men closer to her age. But, of course, she doesn’t see it that way. These are transgressions for which she will be punished.

            I believe it is a credit to the story that I liked it as much as I did while listening to the audiobook. The narration is very flat, and the narrator does little (if anything) to differentiate between the characters. I found myself rewinding more than usual to make sure I understood who was speaking. I was so baffled with this choice of narrator that I did some digging and discovered that she is the author’s daughter and has narrated several of his audiobooks. Well. That solves that mystery.

            There is also some repetition throughout the book that is grating (particularly references to a fork as “the Devil’s Tines” and Thomas’ insistence that Mary has “white meat for brains”.) The latter one will probably be stuck in my head for a while. Bohjalian must’ve particularly liked that turn of phrase because he used it again and again and again. Overall, however, I think it is a well-paced, slow burn drama that is satisfying. I just would not recommend the audiobook.

Nevermore: Cattle Kingdom, Boop and Eve's Road Trip, Perestroika in Paris, Denali

Reported by Garry 

This week’s Nevermore book club selections included stories about road trips, cattle drives, talking animals and more. Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West by Christopher Knowlton fascinated our first reader with stories of the Old West prairies, and the indelible stamp they left on American life. Diverging from the Hollywood version of cowboys, the author examines the cattle industry from a business standpoint as both a financial journalist and the head of an investment firm, viewing the turn-of-the-century cattle industry in a larger context, while still bringing to life the cowpunchers who drove their herds across the plains on trails that eventually became our national interstate system. 

 

 The multi-award winning Boop and Eve’s Road Trip by Virginia native Mary Helen Sheriff was up next. Eve is a young woman struggling with both depression and her first year of college, whose best friend has just vanished. It doesn’t help the situation that Eve’s mother Justine is domineering and that their relationship is strained. Justine herself is estranged from her own mother, Betty (aka Boop.) Boop, seeing herself her granddaughter’s struggles, decides to hijack Eve’s trip to find her friend. Our reader found this book about the healing power of intergenerational family love to be laugh-out-loud funny, poignant and reflective, and highly recommends it to anyone who had or has a complex relationship with their mother or daughter.

 

 Perestroika in Paris by Jane Smiley is the funniest book you will ever read, according to our reviewer. This imaginative novel follows the adventures of Paras (short for Perestroika), a curious, spirited young filly who finds unexpected freedom in the city of Paris. Befriending Frida, a German shorthaired pointer dog, two ducks, and an opinionated raven, Paras is living the high-life in the City of Light, until she is befriended by Etienne, a young boy who lives with his secluded one-hundred-year-old great-grandmother. Our reader says that this book is a real screwball comedy and kept her laughing all the way through. 

 

Denali: A Man, A Dog and the Friendship of a Lifetime by Ben Moon demonstrates how someone can come into your life unexpectedly and change your life in ways you never thought possible. This is the memoir of Ben Moon, a socially inept young outdoor photographer who adopts a shelter pup named Denali. They change and enrich each other’s lives in ways that Ben never anticipated, and Denali sticks with Ben as he goes through treatment for colorectal cancer. When Denali comes down with the same cancer, Ben was able to return the care and affection that Denali had shown him during his battle. Our reader absolutely loved this book, stating how strongly it resonated with her and the relationship she has with her own dogs. She very highly recommends this book to any dog lover. 

Also mentioned:

 

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

 

Yours Cheerfully by AJ Pearce

 

The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende

 

The Big Truck That Went By: How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind A Disaster by Jonathan Katz

 

Survivor: My Life as a Haitian Refugee by Leferne Preptit

 

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

 

Friends Like These by Kimberly McCreight

 

Betty Crocker Cookbook

Campbell’s Soup Family Cookbook

Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer

 

Best of Friends by Dee Riser and Teresa Dorme

 

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong by James Loewen

 

The Truth About Covid-19: Exposing The Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports and the New Normal by Dr. Joseph Mercola and Ronnie Cummins

 

Never Saw Me Coming by Vera Kurian

 

 

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

 

Reviewed by Christy 

Grady Hendrix is one of the few authors whose every release I eagerly anticipate (along with Megan Abbott and Gillian Flynn, although I fear we’ve lost the latter to screenwriting for a while). In his newest novel, Lynette is a Final Girl. In horror movies, the Final Girl is the last one standing, the sole survivor. 

 

But what happens after she survives? For Lynette, she joins a support group. They’ve been meeting in a church basement for years. They’re all women, they’ve all survived horrible massacres, they’re all Final Girls. Along with their therapist, she meets with the group every week in the hopes of getting some semblance of her life back, though she struggles to do so. But when one of the women misses a meeting, Lynette fears something is very, very wrong. Her fears are confirmed when she realizes someone is hunting the women once again.

 

 While I felt the novel started off a teeny bit slow, the second half really picked up steam and became quite action-packed. It very much had a slasher feel to it but on a grander scale. Slashers are not my favorite subgenre of horror but I did enjoy the deconstruction of the Final Girl trope, as well as matching up the horror movie inspiration with each character’s background. There are some touching moments, too. (Although one such moment was kind of ruined by an obnoxious character’s rudeness. I think said character is supposed to be annoying but I wasn’t 100% sure. At any rate, I don’t think it’s a good idea to undermine what’s supposed to be a deeply emotional scene.) 

 

As much as I liked this novel, it doesn’t top some of the other Hendrix books I’ve read. I felt a little jumbled reading it at times, and I wasn’t sure if it was a convoluted plot or poorly executed explanations or maybe just me? I think this is one of those books a reader could easily pick apart if one was inclined to do so. But at the end of the day, I still had a good time! I’m happy with that. 

 

 ** I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **

Fangs by Sarah Andersen

 

 

Reviewed by Ambrea

 Elsie is three hundred years old, but, throughout her centuries of undeath, she’s never met her match.  And then one night she meets Jimmy:  Jimmy is handsome and charming, and he has a wry sense of humor and he just seems to get her.  He’s also a werewolf.  Together, Elsie and Jimmy will explore their relationship, learning to understand and love each other’s curious quirks, unusual habits, and monstrous appetites. 

Written by Sarah Andersen, creator of Sarah’s Scribbles and author of Adulthood is a Myth, Fangs is a short collection of black-and-white comics that features a vampire and a werewolf—and all the mischief that’s to be expected when they fall in love.  It’s a fun and delightful (if slightly macabre) romp, and it’s certainly worth reading if you enjoy a bit of dark humor with your gothic romance.

 I actually purchased a copy of this book late last year – shortly before Halloween – and I immediately fell in love with the comic.  I already enjoyed Sarah’s Scribbles online and I have absolutely adored Andersen’s published comic collections (Adulthood is a Myth, Big Mushy Happy Lump, and Herding Cats), so, I suppose, it was inevitable that I would enjoy her other works, too.  I loved the humor and the sarcasm and the puns – oh, yes, the puns! – and I loved the evolving dynamic between Jimmy and Elsie as they work through their relationship.

 Overall, I think Fangs was one of my favorite comic collections of last year.  (I’ve read it half a dozen times already, and I’ve found it doesn’t get old.)  Although it’s rather small, weighing in at just a little over a hundred pages, it’s an enjoyable read that’s perfect for the upcoming spooky season or just a free afternoon.