The Get Away

Julia is a woman who needs to get away from her life.  Her husband has just committed suicide after being outed as "The Midwestern Bernie Madoff".  As a corporate officer, Julia will face some of the blame and possibly prison.  Suddenly, Adrian knocks at her door.  He offers her the opportunity to care for his aging mother in her home, a mansion in northern Minnesota.  Julia knows who Adrian's mother is because she is a famous author.  Julia also knows that this famous author died years ago. 

And so begins The Vanishing by Wendy Webb.  The story is set mostly in the mansion, known as Havenwood.  To get there, Julia has to surrender her cell phone, her credit cards, and anything that would allow anyone to trace her to her old life.  Figuring that this might not be so bad given her present circumstances, Julia agrees to give it a try.

Once at Havenwood, Julia immediately senses strange happenings.  It seems that people in pictures on the walls can speak, and sometimes she thinks that she is hallucinating scenes from the past.  She dismisses it a side effect of discontinuing her anti-depression medication, and the fact that she is in a really old, beautiful yet creepy house, caring for a woman who the world believes is dead.

This story has a lot in common with The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, where the narrator spends time with an aging author and eventually draws out the scariest tale yet, one that happens to be true.  It also is similar in many respects to Webb's earlier book, The Tale of Halcyon Crane, which was set in a haunted mansion on Mackinac Island.  However, The Vanishing has enough twists and turns to distinguish it from those other stories, and to keep the reader turning the pages.

There's something about The Tale of Halcyon Crane that seems to appeal to you.  Yes you.  Although it was never a best seller, my review of that book has been among my top 10 posts in terms of page views for at least the last year.  If you liked Halcyon or Thirteenth Tale, then grab The Vanishing and start reading.  Yes, some of it is predictable.  Yes, there are improbable plot twists.  As Webb says in her acknowledgements, she's "not trying to define a generation, right any great wrongs, or change the way you think about the world or your place in it.  [She] just want[s] to craft a good story that will delight you, entertain you, grab you and not let you go, and send some shivers up your spine along the way."  That she does.

I requested and received a free electronic copy of The Vanishing and agreed to review it.  Other than that, no promises were made and no payments were received.

Next Up:  The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie

Still Listening to:  Manson:  The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn

The Perfect Shot

A group of boys go into the woods.  One of them has a slingshot that he made himself.  The boys all think the slingshot is pretty great, but they doubt the boy, Will, when he claims to be able to hit a rook on a branch far away.  Somehow, he finds the perfect trajectory, and the bird falls.  The boys are thrilled!  While they don't know it, William Bellman's life has been changed forever.  And so begins Bellman and Black by Diane Setterfield.

From that time on, death follows William everywhere.  His family members, his friends, his children, everyone he loves seems to be dying.  For some reason, the same person appears at all of their funerals.  William doesn't know who this stranger is, but he begins referring to him as "Black".  In a fit of grief induced madness, William decides to make a deal with Black, to try to keep his last daughter alive.  The problem is that once the deal is made, William is not quite sure what he agreed to do.

William spends the rest of his life trying to live up to his end of the commitment.  He creates a funeral department store, selling everything that a mourner could need.  He makes a fortune, but carefully saves a fair share for Black.  It is only when business declines that Bellman recognizes a familiar trajectory from his past.

I went into this one expecting a ghost story.  Perhaps this is because the full title is Bellman and Black:  A Ghost Story.  There wasn't anything in the story that sent tingles down my neck or made me wonder what was lurking behind my curtains late at night.  The ghost here (if there was one) was more like the Ghost of Christmas Past than like the ghost in The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.  It's funny though, because when I reviewed Setterfield's last book, the best seller, Thirteenth Tale, I cautioned my readers that although it too was billed as a ghost story, it really wasn't.

What Bellman and Black is like, unexpectedly, is World Without End by Ken Follett.  Both stories begin with children in the woods being part of something that shapes the rest of their lives.  They both involve families struck down by the plague, a daughter who miraculously survives, and a revolutionary building project, with Merthin in World building a bridge and William in Bellman building his department store.  Merthin and William share the same business acumen, attention to detail and foresight.  But where the bad guy in World is an evil person in a position of  authority, that role in Bellman is played by Black.  The question of whether Black is evil or even if he is a person, is shimmering at the edge of every page.  If you liked World, you will tear through Bellman, which is only 336 pages, compared to World's 1,024.

There is more that I want to say about Bellman and Black, but I don't want to ruin it for you, so I will post those comments on my Spoilers Page, for you to read after reading the novel.  And you should read the novel.  It's certainly a good book, even if it isn't scary.  Bellman and Black will be released on November 5, 2013.

Full Disclosure:  I was offered and claimed a free electronic copy of this book from Net Galley.  No promises were made, no payments were received.

Next IRR:  I've noticed that the last five Industry Requested Reviews that I have done were for books by well known if not best selling authors.  While I do like doing those, I'm feeling like I'm missing out on the "unknowns" out there.  So, for next month, I have requested two books from lesser known authors, Melt:  The Art of Macaroni and Cheese by Stephanie Stiavetti, Garrett McCord and Michael Ruhlman, and Upload by Michael McClelland.  If I get them both, I'll review them both!  Stay tuned.

Next Up on Paper:  Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Still Listening to:  In the Woods by Tana French

Party Crashers

While the Torrington-Swift family was in the midst of preparing for the daughter, Emerald's, birthday party, they got quite a shock.  There had been a train crash on a branch line near their isolated old mansion in the English countryside, and the survivors were walking to the family home for shelter.   Thus the title of Sadie Jones' novel, The Uninvited Guests.

There is one uninvited guest who stands out from the others, and who works to ingratiate himself with his hosts.  This survivor, Charlie Traversham-Beechers, seems to have some relationship with Emerald's mother, Charlotte, which Charlotte is not eager to explain.  As time goes on, the Torrington-Swifts begin to think that there is something strange and a little frightening about the uninvited guests, and Charlie Traversham-Beechers in particular.

The Uninvited Guests is a ghost story, set in a crumbling estate in 1912.  The Torrington-Swifts are in danger of losing the home, and can no longer afford to heat a whole wing of it.  There are three children in the family, Clovis, Emerald and Imogene, who is more often referred to as "Smudge".  The guests who are actually invited to the party include Emerald's friend, Patience, Patience's suddenly handsome brother, Ernest, and a wealthy neighbor who seems to be interested in Emerald, John.

When I first read of the train crash on the local line, and the passengers needing a place to stay, I thought of Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin, where the travelers found shelter in the Lake of the Coheeries when their train broke down.  In The Uninvited Guests, Jones worked to create the mystical, other worldly feel of  Winter's Tale, but the story was going in so many directions, that it didn't really work.  Why the kitten?  Why the pony?  Why the paternity question? Why, while we are at it, did we need an unused wing of the house?

If you are interested in reading a ghost story set in an old mansion, I would recommend that you try The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb, The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters or Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.  If you read and loved all of those and still want more, then give The Uninvited Guests a try.

Next Up:  The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

Still Listening to:  Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Magic Enough

Imagine a circus, which arrives in a field, at night while you sleep.  Unlike every other circus that you have ever seen, the only colors on the tents and decorations are black and white.   Unlike any circus that you have ever heard of, this circus is open from dusk to dawn.  This is the circus that Erin Morgenstern imagined in her novel, The Night Circus. 

In the night circus, unexplainable things happen. These happenings are not the result of magic, but of the skill of two particular people who are engaged in a secret contest with each other.  The contestants, Celia and Marco, claim not to be magicians or wizards, but they are able to make the circus feel as though it is enchanted.  Celia is an illusionist in the circus, and her feats range from changing the color of her dress to complement the clothing of others, to arranging for the circus to travel via train between cities such as Sydney, New York, and London.  Marco works behind the scenes, but creates attractions that astound Celia and the circus goers alike.  The story is set in the 1890s, and the first years of the 20th century, mostly in London and in cities in the Eastern United States, but it could have been set anywhere and in any time.

Bailey is a young boy when he first discovers the circus, and he is immediately enthralled.  He meets twins, Poppet and Widget, who are about his age, have a circus show, and treat him as though he is their best friend.  Poppet has the ability to read the future in the stars, while Widget can read people's pasts. What Widget reads, he records, not in writing, but in bottles containing smells that remind people of of where they have been.  Poppet realizes that there is something special about Bailey, even if no one can quite figure out what it is.  My favorite quote from the book is spoken by Celia to Bailey, and it is this:  "You're in the right place at the right time, and you care enough to do what needs to be done.  Sometimes that's enough."  In this circus, it turns out that it is.

Morgenstern's circus is amazing.  One tent contains a cloud maze.  In another, everything is made of ice.  A wishing tree keeps wishes constantly burning, and feeding off of each other.  The entire circus always smells like popcorn and caramel.  I could go right now.

I listened to the book on CD, and while the reader was great, I think that I may have liked this one even better and found it more powerful, if I had read it myself.  Apparently a movie is in the development stages. If it is done right, it should turn out to be a "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for adults.

At the end of the book, a visitor to the circus is handed a business card with an "@thenightcircus" email address on it.  Even though I'm an adult, and generally am not suckered in by these gimmicks, I am finding myself oddly tempted to write and let the addressee know that I really love his circus, and think it should swing by Michigan soon.

Next up on CD:  The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

Still Reading:  Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Haunted Island

Every year, my family spends some time on Mackinac Island, which is in northern Lake Huron, close to the Mackinac Bridge.  Note to people outside of Michigan:  Mackinac (the island and bridge) and Mackinaw (the city) are pronounced the same, both ending with an "aw" sound. 

The Island is a step back in time, as cars are not permitted, and horses pull carriages through the downtown shopping district.  Below is a shot of the downtown area, on a typical summer day.  During the day, endless ferries carry tourists to and from the Island.  At night, the Island becomes quiet, as the locals and the tourists who are staying overnight settle in, free from the day trippers.  After the last ferry leaves for the day, the Island can be a little eerie, if one ventures from the beaten path between restaurants and pubs.  There is a lot of history on the Island, with stories of old Indian wars, plenty of spooky graveyards, and Fort Mackinac, which the British captured in the War of 1812.

The Tale of Halcyon Crane by Wendy Webb is set on a fictional "Grand Manitou Island", which Webb admits is based on the true Mackinac Island.  In the story, Halcyon, or Hallie, as she is called, learns unexpectedly that she has a connection to the Island, and travels there to learn more.  In the course of her trip, she uncovers a haunted house, and a ton of family secrets. 
 
On the author's blog, she boasts that The Tale made it to the North West Michigan Bestsellers list last summer.  Really, although I can see how this book would be attractive to people vacationing in Northern Michigan, there is no reason why it shouldn't enjoy a wider audience.  The Tale was suspenseful, not too predictable, and is a good book for anyone who enjoys a ghost story.  There may be some aspects of Grand Manitou Island which seem too hokey to be real, like the lack of reliable cell phone service, the necessity of horses and bikes for transportation, the big old Victorian houses, and the close-knit relationships of the Islanders.  As someone who visits Mackinac Island, I can tell you that there is such a place.  I was left with a few questions, which I will post on the Spoilers page for anyone interested.

One of the events that Webb incorporates into her story is the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, which affected all of the Great Lakes, and the surrounding states.  I had never heard about this storm before, and liked learning about it. 

Interested in spooky stories based in Northern Michigan?  The Tarnished Eye by Judith Guest is based on a true crime that took place in the northern lower peninsula in 1968, where a family was murdered in their summer home.  The crime remains unsolved.

Next up on CD:  Hopefully Lord of Misrule by Jaimy Gordon - I have a hold on it at the library, but haven't gotten it yet.

Still Reading - Contested Will by James Shapiro

The Book Group Report - 6

Do you have any idea how many book groups call themselves "The Eclectic Book Group"?  Lots and lots of them.  As such, I need to start calling my book group something else.  We don't call ourselves anything, other than "book group".  I will try to come up with something clever, but in the meantime, I think it will just have to be "my book group" that I talk about.

Any how, my book group met tonight to discuss The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.  As you know, I really liked this book, and I have tried not to give away any plot twists while blogging about it.  We had 10 people here tonight, and all but one had read at least part of the book.  Two people were about half way through, and seven of us finished it.

The consensus was that The Little Stranger was a great book.  A few people found it too frightening to read at night, but others read the whole book through wondering when the scary part was going to come.  A primary point that we discussed was why the strange events started occurring.  Did Dr. Faraday's appearance trigger them?  Was it bringing Betty in?  We couldn't decide, but felt that it was one or the other.  The cause of the final tragedy in the story (which I don't want to give away) was also a hot topic.  We were equally divided between whether its cause was human or of another world.  We also discussed the ages of the characters, as the setting and their mannerisms aged them much beyond their years, in a way that was clearly intentional.  We are all in our forties, and reading the descriptions of Mrs. Ayers as a decrepit old woman, even though she was not yet fifty, caused some reflection on how (we hope) we seem a lot younger than her. 

Most of us really liked the descriptions of the house, and I have to say that my fellow book clubbers also heart crumbling estates.  My copy of The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield went home with one member, and my guess is that others will borrow it later.

Next up:  The Persian Pickle Club by Sandra Dallas.  This book came out in 1996, and I have a vague sense that I read it around that time.  I guess I'll find out how familiar it is as I read it next month.

Still reading:  Sunnyside by Glen David Gold

Still listening to:  Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant

I Heart Crumbling Estates

When I was posting about The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters in November, I looked again at the Amazon review of that book, to confirm that it really did have spoilers.  The next time that I went to Amazon, it told me that since I had recently looked at The Little Stranger, I might also like The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.  Now Amazon has led me astray with shaky recommendations in the past, but since The Thirteenth Tale was sitting in my nightstand waiting for me to read it, I checked out the editorial reviews to see what they said.  Based on those reviews, I was a little worried that The Thirteenth Tale would turn out to be an earlier, better version of The Little Stranger that I had somehow missed.  They said that The 13th  was a ghost story, set in a "haunted ruin of a house" in England, and was full of family secrets.  Does that sound a little familiar to you?

After reading The 13th, however, I have to disagree.  The 13th is not a ghost story, nor a mystery, nor a fairy tale, but instead is a crazy blend of the three.  It is certainly set in a crumbling estate in rural England, like The Little Stranger, but where the Ayers family in TLS was eccentric, the Angelfield family in The 13th is mentally ill.  The story teller in The 13th is Margaret Lea, who although she is our narrator, is actually reporting the story that she is hearing as The 13th unfolds.  As in TLS, there is a kindly housekeeper, who understands the family and their problems perhaps better than the family itself does, and a doctor, who races to misdiagnoses.

Margaret hears the story of the Angelfield family when she is hired to write the biography of a reclusive writer who has attained celebrity status.  This writer knows how to keep Margaret and the reader interested by doling out little morsels of truth, which in this case are more interesting than any fiction. 

If you are a fan of a true ghost story, this book may be a disappointment to you.  However, if you liked The Little Stranger, like I did, and want to read something else along those lines, The 13th  is a great find.  And now I have a new "mini-genre" to follow, which I didn't even know I liked three months ago - 20th century stories set in crumbling estates in rural England and the crazy families that inhabit them.

Next Up on CD:  Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Next Up in Book Form:  Enemies of the People by Kati Marton

The Unspoiled Little Stranger

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters is not the type of book that I normally read.   It is surprising that I even stumbled upon it, but I'm glad that I did.  It was named one of the top 100 books of the year by the New York Times in its 2009 Notable Books List, which may be where I first heard about it.  Each year, I eagerly await the Notable Books List, which usually comes out around Thanksgiving.  This year I read lots of books on the list, but of the books that I have blogged about, The Little Stranger, Museum of Innocence, Wolf Hall, and Columbine were named Notable Books of 2009.

The Little Stranger is an old fashioned ghost story.  It is set on an estate in rural England after World War II.  While the story must take place in 1949 or 1950, it feels more like it is taking place in the 1800s.  The Ayres family is committed to dated ideas of class and the formalities that proper people follow.  They are also economizing by not running their generator, and depending on candlelight for much of the story.  Our story teller is the family doctor, Dr. Faraday, whose mother worked for the Ayres family when she was young.  I remember hearing in high school that normal people go crazy, but rich people get eccentric.  The Ayres family is plenty eccentric. 

I listened to this book on CD in my car, and I loved it so much that I was constantly on the look out for opportunities to drive somewhere by myself.  This book was especially good to listen to since it is a ghost story, and stories like that are more often heard around a camp fire than read.  The important thing for me to tell you about The Little Stranger is to not read anything else about it.  The New York Times review and the Amazon Editorial Reviews are full of spoilers that I wish I hadn't read.  So trust me on this one.  Go get it and read.  We can talk about the plot later.  I think that this will be my choice for The Eclectic Book Group to read the next time it is my pick, so I will write more about it then.

Next Up on CD:  Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. 

Still waiting for:  The Hidden by Tobias Hill.  I was really interested in this book after reading the NYT review last year, but apparently no one else was.  My library doesn't have it, and had to order it from another county.  In fact, there are only 4 copies of it available in libraries in the entire state of Michigan.  I requested it last Sunday and am still waiting to get it, which puts me in a strange place because I don't want to start reading another book.  Sometimes when the library gets a book from a different library one is only allowed to borrow it for one week.  That means that if I start something new, I'll have to drop it in the middle, and read The Hidden when I get it.  I know that I should take it as a warning that so few libraries have it, and I probably shouldn't expect it to be very good, but I want to try it anyhow.