One of the better book titles I’ve seen so far: Fear and Yoga in New Jersey.
I’ll tell you, and the readership of the Star-Ledger, how it is in a week or two.
Wit’s End (book review)
Karen Joy Fowler’s latest, “Wit’s End” (Putnam, 336 pp., $24.95) is a must-read for fans of “The Jane Austen Book Club” and any readers looking for a good, literary mystery. An engrossing read, crowded with odd subplots and quirky characters, it features Rima Lanisell, a rootless twentysomething who comes to stay with her godmother Addison Early, a mystery writer who hasn’t published in years. The greatest mysteries in Addison’s life aren’t between book covers. What are the real ties between Addison and Rima’s father? Why does an old woman from a defunct religious cult keep writing letters to Addison’s fictional detective? When a mystery writer names a murderer after a dear friend, does it hint at a darker secret? Fowler also raises contemporary questions about intellectual property on the web, fan fiction, blogging and Addison’s fascination with politics. These questions will keep Rima, and the reader, engrossed in finding answers until the very last page.
Target audience
I’m about to read and review a book about a father and his teenage son connecting and bonding. Am I inherently going to miss something? Is the emotional resonance of the reading experience particular to being a father or a son? Can someone who is neither provide an accurate review, or am I doing a disservice?
Then again, my personal reading tastes skew away from “urban chick lit” novels, despite the fact that I am a woman living in a major metropolis. As with this father-son memoir, I feel like I am visiting a strange country, and feel politely curious about the customs. It’s intriguing because it’s a camera lens, rather than a mirror. That’s worth remembering.
Also, and particular to this memoir, I haven’t watched nearly enough of the Great Movies.
Books on the Beach
Just got back from an all-too-brief trip to Grand Cayman island. Five days, some of which I spent on the beach with a book. The vacation reading list:
1. Grave Talent: Laurie R. King
2. The Art of Detection: Laurie R. King
3. Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries and the Revolution in Forensic Science: Bill Bass and John Jefferson
I absolutely did not intend my reading to be quite so thematic, or dark. I brought other books along: Derek Walcott essays, and a history of burlesque. Didn’t get to them though. Wound up wallowing in murder mysteries with my sun and sand. It was very nice indeed.
“Chick Lit?”
Got a book review in the works, for a book that will, in all likelihood, wind up on a “chick lit” table in some large chain bookstore. I don’t know if calling it “chick lit” is an accurate representation of its place in a certain satisfying genre, or if that label diminishes the book and others like it.
There is definitely a genre– young woman searching for tangible things like career success, maybe moving to a new place, and also for the intangibles: fulfilled dreams, sense of body image, and inevitably and invariably, some kind of One True Love.
Successful novels spin the genre by giving it some kind of hook- the themes of an industry, a specific region, or a pastime. Or maybe the heroine sees herself as “different”- a little older, recently divorced, a single mother, struggling with her body image. (Noting- I’m listing these “differences,” not because I see them as anything glaring, but because they seem to be spun as such, set up by protagonist and plot as obstacles prior to self acceptance.) In that, it’s almost a fairy tale- the Disney kind, not the harsher, European originals. No violent monsters, but a soft-focus view of romance, and a strong moral bent: acceptance, not perfection, guarantees happiness, with a plot embedded with unsubtle pushes in that direction.
I’m thinking this through, still. I’m trying to weigh the balance between cynicism and understanding of a genre that has become well defined, and complicated because it is so clearly pitched to women. Any recommendations for other essays and blogs, by those who have already tackled these ideas?
Last Call (book review)
Gangland suspense is a riveting read.
Last Call
James Grippando
HarperCollins 326 pp., $24.95
Reviewed by Elizabeth Willse for the Star-Ledger, March 2, 2008
426 words
Set against the backdrop of urban Miami, “Last Call” is a tale of redemption, an innocent man clearing his name. It is the story of an unlikely friendship, between criminal defense attorney Jack Swytek and a former client, Theo Knight. It is a grisly novel, vivid with detail about gang initiations and violent crime.
More than the sum of these parts, though, it is a riveting read, a mystery full of surprising turns.
Once an inmate on death row, Knight’s sentence has been overturned, and he now runs a bar called Sparky’s. He stays in touch with his former lawyer, Swytek, out of friendship rather than legal need. His bar’s doing well enough for him to think about opening a jazz club, he’s got a gorgeous girlfriend, and Uncle Cy, who raised him, is in ex cellent health.
Into this story of inner city boy making good plunges Isaac Reems, former gang member and escapee from prison. Threatening Knight with Knight’s own gun, Reems is a danger to the new life Knight has made for himself. It could be straightforward blackmail, but that’s when things start to get interesting.
What works best about “Last Call” is the element of surprise. Reems’ escape from prison and his threats to Knight’s new life are not surprising to the savvy reader of crime novels. However, Reems serves as a catalyst for a series of much larger questions.
Questions about corruption in prison, gang rivalries, and even the unsolved murder of Knight’s mother come to light. Working together with Swytek’s former flame, FBI agent Andie Henning, Swytek and Knight begin to uncover the possibility that something in the hands of much more powerful people is at work. And the closer they get to real answers, the more those powerful people work to stop them.
Who can they trust? Untangling the conspiracies keeps the characters — and the reader — guessing.
Another strength of Grippan do’s latest novel is the complexity of the characters. This is the seventh in his Jack Swytek series. His friendship with Theo Knight emerged in the second book, “Last To Die” (HarperCollins 2003). Al though Swytek, Knight, and a few other characters in their circle were introduced in previous books, a reader starting with “Last Call” will get to know them quickly. The humorous banter between Swytek and Knight is great fun, and provides a welcome relief from the ten sion and stark violence of some of the scenes that depict gang life.
Many of Grippando’s fans will come to his latest looking for the lawyer-turned-author to delve into the complexities of the legalsystem. The tension that drives this novel is largely focused outside the courtroom. “Last Call” will intrigue loyal fans and new readers alike, and invite them to read more of Swytek’s adventures.
