Sister of Mine by Sabra Waldfogel

Hello there!  I am just back from a wonderful week in Barbados!  It was amazing! 

This is the teachers and friends book club selection for this month.  It was chosen by a music teacher in our group, but not Ms. M. I took it as my reading material on the plane.  However, I STRUGGLED!  I was only able to get through three chapters on a five hour flight. On the return flight, I only got in another two.  This was a ROUGH start.  I texted Ms. M. and she too was on Chapter 6.  We did something I've never done before--read together and motivated each other by text.  We were able to talk through some points and keep each other going.  I have to say the book gets much better after section 1.  I felt like the author was trying to figure out exactly where she wanted to go and didn't have a clear idea until 7 or so chapters in.  From there, I was satisfied with the plot.  Until it just ended.  Like, THUD.  Turns out this is book 1 of a duology.  And it just, ends.  Lots of loose threads.  

The story centers around a Jewish immigrant plantation owner's two daughters: his proper societal lady Adelaide and her slave Rachel.  Adelaide's father Mordecai is a shrewd businessman who seems to forget his ancestors were slaves in Egypt in order to sell more cotton.  Adelaide learns she and Rachel are sisters, and she loves her as one, even teaching Rachel to read.  Rosa, Adelaide's mother hates Rachel as a constant reminder of her husband's unfaithfulness, but Mordecai will not sell her.  

Adelaide, a free spirit, ruins her engagement to the son of her father's business partner.  Her mother will only allow a Jewish marriage, so she is married off to a tailor with a hefty loan from Mordecai to start his own plantation.  Henry struggles with being a slave owner and business in general.  Henry and Rachel fall in love, and the terrible cycle repeats itself of a child born in slavery to a white father.  

Then The Civil War erupts.  

I don't want to spoil too much more, although I really don't know how the story ends, since the plot simply ends with much more to wrap up.  We will be discussing this tonight at Katz, as we continue to match plot/characters with restaurant.  Later, we're going to see the movie version of Where The Crawdads Sing. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog are solely mine. 

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia

Morning!  It is a beautiful but HOT start to the day; hearing we should get some strong thunderstorms later.  Being that I'm in a very old house in one of the oldest West Haven neighborhoods, our internet and TV usually go out in storms, so I want to get this done stat.

I ordered this last year for our collection.  When I did inventory this year (the first full inventory since our move, thanks to COVID and then being short-handed; shout outs to my Teaching Assistant Ayonnah and Work-Study Justin for their help!), I thought it looked interesting and added it to my summer reading pile.

Now, first off, this is horror.  It's really weird, occultish horror.  Think Stephen King, Amy Lukavics, Kim Liggett, Christopher Pike-esque.  There are some pretty gory scenes. Second, there is a LOT of Mexican history discussed, and I admit I am not knowledgeable on the topic.  I honestly don't think I ever had a unit on Canada or Mexico in school, come to think of it.  I had to Google some of the events and people mentioned to understand the plot.

On to the plot.  Noemi (I looked up the pronunciation as naw-em-ee) and her father receive a disjointed letter from her newly married cousin Catalina that suggests her new husband Virgil is trying to kill her.  Noemi heads to Catalina's new home, what was once a grand manor in the times of the silver mines, but now a dilapidated mess barely maintained by a staff of 3 and Virgil's family (his father, cousin, and cousin's son).  And Noemi agrees that SOMETHING is REALLY off with these people.  I was really reminded of Dark Shadows (the Depp movie, not the 70s series).     

This is a ghost story, a murder mystery, and has a pretty big plot twist, so I don't want to spoil too much.  But, Noemi has to figure out who is telling the truth, who is lying, and who is not at all who they seem.  

Find this on display when we return.  

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog and the video version of it are solely those of Mrs. W.  

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Hi there!  Today's review is book #3 of my summer reading pile, video review #2.

First off though, I definitely want to encourage everyone to participate in the West Haven Public Library Summer Scavenger Hunt.  My son and I had a really fun time crossing West Haven looking for clues, starting at Forest in Allingtown, heading to Pagels in West Shore, stopping at the beach, and ending up in the Center.  We didn't find everything, but it was nice to spend some time together.  You could certainly do the route on bikes (not this gal) or even break it up into sections over a few days and walk each district.  

I actually finished this book Monday afternoon, but I needed some time to digest and figure out how to write this review without giving too much away in the plot twist.  Theo is a psychologist with a special interest in a six year old criminal case.  Alicia, a successful artisit, was found holding a gun, her photographer husband Gabriel shot dead at point blank range.  Since his death, she's been mute.  Committed to a mental hospital, she has not spoken a word, a confession of guilt in the public eye.  Theo decides to make it a career changing goal to get Alicia to talk again.

OK, seems simple enough.  Except it's not.  Theo is also need of mental health care.  He's got severe unresolved PTSD from childhood trauma and definitely parental-relationship issues.  He admits to getting into psychology to help himself first.  But as the novel progresses, it's sometimes really difficult for the reader to decipher if he's talking about himself or Alicia or both.  They have also crossed paths before, but again I was confused at times when the plot does flashbacks and flashforwards and then to the present.  I almost began to question if the entire story was actually inside Alicia or Theo's head, or possibly both since marijuana and psychosis medications seemed to be mixed frequently, like some sort of communal trip between them!

All in all, I wasn't a fan, but I can see someone interested in psychology, criminology, forensics, or art/fashion/photography being totally into this.  I am not sorry to have ordered this for our collection and/or read it myself, just not something I personally enjoyed. 

A reminder all opinions expressed on this blog and video version of it are solely those of Mrs. W. (aka me).