The Very Unremarkable Life of Etty Bloom

Talya Jankovits, has written a very endearing first novel, The Very Unremarkable Life of Etty Bloom.  Along with the title the novel takes a slow stroll through the life of Etty Greenberger as she grows up in the Hasidic neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  We watch her grow from the child of Holocaust survivors to a grown woman, getting married, becoming Etty Bloom, and struggling to have children.  We follow her life through to old age and find her not only growing old in age, but slowly growing smarter as she ages.  

Growing up in a time of great superstition, following the Holocaust, Etty's parents are over protective and social norms are constraining. The goal of every parent is to see their daughter married, taking care of a husband and many children.  Etty is headstrong and has other interests.  She has trouble fitting into the accepted society she was born into.  Her mother tries really hard to fit into the small world they live in and works hard to make Etty fit the role she is meant to play.  

Etty never seems to be happy.  She is not able to see the positive side of her life and experiences. As her friends all quickly make matches, marry and start building families, Etty has trouble accepting any of the young men she is offered in marriage. When she finally marries, she has trouble conceiving a child.  Then following the same mistakes her mother made, she imposes on her own daughter some of the same pressure to fit in, marry and raise a family.  Pushing her daughter to follow the accepted social practices of the Hasidic community, she did not favor. 

This is the story also of how from one generation to the next times changed.  Etty's daughter, Sarala, is very similar to Etty, but is stronger than her mother and fights the pressure of the community to stand strong in her beliefs. She is satisfied with her life even if it is not the prescribed pattern of the women in the neighborhood.

Though Etty Bloom’s life seems unremarkable, author Talya Jankovits has captured the voice of the NY immigrant Jewish community very well. The smells of the traditional foods and superstitious beliefs of the time period . The reader will be able to picture the Lower Eastside of New York and the life of the immigrants who came to America.  

The plot keeps you engaged until the end, always hoping maybe that Etty will find clarity and become a better person.  It will take Etty a lifetime but maybe she will finally realize that her unremarkable life is really rather remarkable. A wonderful lesson in humility, tzedukah and being your best self.

Murder on the Marlow Belle

As we move through the series of the Marlow Mystery Club it gets harder to keep the mysteries intriguing but Thorogood is nothing but great at his craft. Judith an her friends still manage to present a interesting and compelling read and keep the reader in suspense all the way to the concluding page. This time even though it seems the murderer has been apprehended there is a last minute current that sends the plot downstream toward another possible ending.

This time Judith Potts, the puzzle solving, woman of a certain age, citizen detective is called to a woman's home when her husband seems to have disappeared. Then when his body is found Judith, Suzie and Becks, the Marlow Murder Club, start to quietly ask questions.  This time DI Tanika Malik asks them not to investigate because she is being harassed by her colleague, who doesn't like the trio getting involved in police investigations. 

Judith joins the local amateur actors group, playing a role in the upcoming performance, which gets her on the inside with all the suspects.  The murdered man was the director, Oliver, who had issues with every one of the cast members. The cast members were all together on a boat ride, the Marlow Belle,  when the murder occurred. 

Blunt Instrument

 Amy Bloom has written her first crime novel, Blunt Instrument.  What a wild ride it is .  We follow self-taught private investigator, Dell Chandler, as she takes on her first solo case.  Dell was professor of English before she was fired from her position. The year her mother died she did everything she could do wrong in the job and ended up without a career.  Her Uncle Lou, who she had worked for through her teenage years, helping him with his private investigator firm, Martinez and Associates, offered to take her on as a partner.  She learned what she could from watching Law & Order.  Then she went to the gun range and learned how to shoot for protection.

Now her uncle is gone and her father has given her name to the Cromwell College president, Elizabeth Curry, as someone who can find the killer of Professor Oliver Bullfinch.  Killed in his office, Curry wants to find an answer quickly and the police have not been able to find the killer.  Dell sets to work trying to smoke out the killer.  She runs into many obstacles along the way.  The police do not want to share information.  She has angered a few people and they are trying to scare her away.  

She might be falling in love and she is not really sure who she can trust.  Someone who seems like a friend  could be or they could be a suspect.  As Dell negotiates her way through the suspect list and tries to keep herself, her father and her godfather, Theo Gurwitz, who was her mother’s closest friend, safe.  At seventy five he was blind and supposed to be retired but was still teaching on class at Cromwell.   

This novel takes the mystery plot a little deeper, building character development to round out the private investigator and the prime suspects personalities. Giving more depth to the relationships and motives.  Clever dialog and descriptions make this a perfect read.

The Secret of Cherry Hill Orchard

 

The Secret of Cherry Hill Orchard , written  by Kim Davis, is the second in the series about 11 year old, Amber and her younger 5 year old half sister, Ava.  In the first book they were playing a game and they were pulled into the land of the game.  This time Amber is supposed to babysit for Ava and her friend Harper.  Their mothers are going shopping for items they will both need when they each give birth to their next children.  Amber, Ava and Harper are not so excited about the new additions to the family.  As they start to play a game called Cherry Hill Orchard, a large cherry appears and takes them into the game.  There they meet a group of cats who are being harassed by a group of dogs. The dogs are chasing them and keeping the cats from harvesting their cherry trees. All the food the girls get to eat there are made with cherries.  Cookies, pies, even the drinks are cherry flavored. The three girls learn the importance of working together and getting along as they try to bring peace between the cats and dogs.  They travel through dangerous territory to meet the Queen and ask her to punish the dogs and protect the cats.  It is only then that they can return to the real world.  

A Slice of Murder

 A Slice of Murder is the first mystery novel in the Abigail Murphy series, written by Sophie Maddon. 

Abigail is a socially awkward young woman who works in the IT department, working on a new computer system for  a biscuit making factory.  She has set routines that work for her, like eating the same lunch everyday for a week and then switching to something new. Buying certain cheeses at the local shop after taste testing some new varieties.  She is not very sociable, but likes to spend time with her best friend, Hannah.  Abigail also likes to solve puzzles like Sherlock Holmes. 

When her tyrannical boss asks her to investigate an anonymous letter she received Abigail has no chose.  Then her boss is missing and the office director gives Abigail a promotion,  her boss' job.  Now she has to do the work of both positions. 

Abigail tells Hannah she knows something is wrong and when her boss turns up dead, it is time to put her dection skills to work. How would Holmes follow the clues?  Abigail and Hannah start doing some sniffing around and are ready to share information with the police to make sure they do not think Abigail is the number suspect. 

A light entertaining cozy mystery.  Easy to follow and there are some good red herrings.  I was on the wrong trail for the killer .. 

Theo of Golden

 I really did not want to read this book.  Everyone is talking about it.  There is so much publicity about how great it is , touching the heart strings, making you feel good in a time when people are so angry and bad tempered.  So I held out as long as I could and finally the stars aligned.  My book group put it on the to read list and just as I had thought maybe I will skip the meeting to discuss Theo of Golden, the book was sitting on the pile fo returns when I walked in to the library.  Ok I guess I was meant to read the book.

It is what everyone is saying, a feel good book about an elderly man who shows up in a small southern town to live for a short while.  He wants to do something good in life before the end.  He wants to give to others in need without the thought of thanks or reward. 

Walking into a small coffee shop in Golden he sees portraits hanging around the room of townspeople.  He decides to buy them and give them to the person in the painting.  We meet the members of the community as Theo meets them as he gives them each their portrait.  He learns their life story. Using the art of evasion he does not answer their questions. 

I kept reading because I knew somewhere in the end there had to be a connection  that has brought to this town and these people.  Of course I will not ruin the surprises but needless to say there two twists at the end that bring the story around to full closeure.

It is a feel good book with a happy ending that ties up all the loose ends in a neat package. 

This is Not About Us

I just finished reading Allegra Goodman's newest book, This Is Not About Us.  

I am blown away.  It was an incredible collection of stories that tied together so well I forgot at times I was not reading a novel.   The book spoke to me in so many ways.  So many of the life experiences were so relevant to my life like sibling rivalries. So many overlaps of the places I have attended and am still involved with.  Camp Ramah Palmer, Emerson College, Brandeis University.  I closed the back cover and announced to the empty room, " I am in love with Allegra Goodman!"  

This is a collection of short stories that follow a family through many lifecycle events.  

Reading this book and learning the perspectives of the various characters is enthralling.  You are pulled into the family dynamics, agreeing with some and finding fault with others. It is like living with your own relatives. Meeting up at get togethers and holidays and seeing the interaction between siblings, cousins and the aunts and uncles.

We meet the three Rubenstein sisters who are the matriarchs of the family. Jeanne, the sister who held the family together, is dying from cancer leaving Helen and Sylvia to figure out their place in the puzzle that has lost a piece of the whole.  At the shiva Sylvia turns up with an apple cake. Helen says that was her recipe and sees a slight in Sylvia's behavior.  It is not really about the apple cake, it is the competition and fighting for attention that siblings experience that never leaves the relationship. The estrangement will last through all the family lifecycle events that follow.  

In each story we meet the children and the grandchildren of this family. Seeing lfe from their perspective as they negotiate the everyday experiences of family and life. The balancing of carpools and after school activities, preparing for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and getting home to make dinner.  Keeping a marriage together or figuring out the divorce with children.  

We meet their families and see how the different personalities all work in concert with each other.  It is an incredible book that I think touches on so many personal issues that all of us can relate to.  I really felt like the author knew me and was paralleling my world. Every family has drama and disagreements.  Every family member just wants to be seen and loved. How we all fall into the traps of birth order and the competition for approval.

The author captured the personalities and needs of people, blending them between the short stories seamlessly. The book reads like a novel, not a set of individual stories.