Book Review: "Heartwood" by Amity Gaige

“…hiking the Appalachian Trail isn’t a reasonable thing to do. Anyone who wants to walk two thousand miles in a row does it because they find beauty in the unreasonable.”

Valerie is nearing the end of her journey hiking the Appalachian Trail. But 200 miles from her final destination, she disappears in the woods of Maine. No clues can be found regarding her whereabouts or what might have happened.

Beverly is the Maine State Game Warden in charge of the search for Valerie. She feels confident that they’ll find her quickly, and hopes that she’s not been injured or harmed in any way. She knows that every day that passes lessens the chances that Valerie will be found, knowledge that takes its toll on Beverly and her team.

“I’ve heard it said that the sorrow of human life is that it ends. But I don’t think that’s the source of our sorrow. Everything ends, not just human lives. Days end. Species disappear. Planets die. No, the real sorrow of human life is that we feel. That’s our affliction. That’s why I wanted to walk for months on a trail through the woods.”

The narration shifts among Beverly, Valerie (including letters she wrote her mother while she was lost), and Lena, an elderly woman in a retirement community, who takes an interest in the search for Valerie. Along the way, we also get transcripts from interviews with the hiker who becomes close to Valerie and other people as well.

Amity Gaige’s writing is so evocative. I’ve never hiked anywhere, but reading this book, I felt as if I had. I could see the surroundings Valerie was in, feel the conditions. For a while, I felt that the portions of the story dealing with Lena robbed the narrative of its momentum, but everything ties together nicely.

Book Review: "We Were Never Here" by Andrea Bartz

As if I needed more reasons not to go hiking? Now there's Andrea Bartz's new thriller, We Were Never Here.

Emily and Kristen have been best friends since college. Kristen has always been there for Emily, helping to try and shake her out of her routines and build her self-confidence. But now that Kristen is living in Australia and Emily is still in Wisconsin, both are looking forward to their annual reunion trip.

This year they go to Chile to go backpacking. On the last night of the trip, Kristen goes back to their hotel with a handsome backpacker she picks up at a bar. When Emily goes back to their room a little while later she finds Kristen covered in blood, broken glass everywhere. Kristen says the backpacker attacked her so she had no excuse but to kill him to ensure her safety.

Emily is shaken by the scene in front of her. She immediately snaps into action to help Kristen. But what floors her is that last year, when they were in Cambodia, Emily was attacked by a hiker she picked up in a bar, and the same thing happened. Is it possible they both could have experienced an identical incident?

After the trip, they go their separate ways and Emily tries to put what happened behind her and concentrate on her new boyfriend. She is thrown when Kristen shows up in Milwaukee, and Emily starts to wonder what Kristen wants from her and whether she has to fear her friend.

I felt the tension in We Were Never Here right away, and even though I’ve seen similar stories, I needed to see how Bartz would tie everything up. There were a few surprises and one thing in the story definitely piqued my curiosity.

I felt like the pace slowed down in the middle but as the book got closer to the end, wow! Bartz really gets you hooked on unlikeable characters.

Thanks to BookSparks, Andrea Bartz, and Ballantine Books for providing me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review as part of #SRC2021!

Book Review: "Cover Your Tracks" by Daco S. Auffenorde

Daco Auffenorde's thriller, Cover Your Tracks, is a heart-pounding thriller that reads like it would make a great movie.

Margo Fletcher is traveling by train from Chicago to Spokane, Washington, for a family event. The weather forecast called for light snow, but the storm seems a little heavier than expected. Somewhere in an isolated portion of the Rockies, the train starts to brake but initially no reason is given. Since Margo is eight months pregnant, she’s justifiably concerned about what is going on.

Nick Eliot, a former Army Ranger, knows trouble is ahead. A massive avalanche is headed directly for the train. He warns everyone in their train car to move to the back of the train for safety, but since the conductor tells everyone to stay seated, only Margo is willing to listen. Is Nick right? Should she trust this man she’s never met with her life and her baby’s?

She decides to follow Nick, and they make their way to the last train car, which he uncouples to separate them. Not long after, the avalanche engulfs the rest of the train, destroying it and throwing the cars into a ravine far down below. It is doubtful anyone could have survived.

Now they’re alone in the middle of nowhere, in the midst of a winter storm. A rescue crew may never find them, if they even realize the train is missing right away. Nick and Margo try to find shelter but must contend with the elements and worry about wild animals looking for food, with Margo growing increasingly concerned about her baby.

But as Nick leads her to a watchtower on top of a mountain—away from where she thinks they need to go to find help—Margo has to decide whether to trust this stranger. Both have secrets that have brought them to this moment—will these secrets impact their ability to survive?

When I first heard about Cover Your Tracks I joked that it sounded like a Liam Neeson movie, and it really does. The plot alternates between the present and both of Margo and Nick’s backstories. It’s an intense story at times and so atmospheric—I really felt like I could be out in the middle of the storm. There are lots of twists and turns which take you to a very different place than I expected.

One warning: the book is a bit graphic in its descriptions of violence and killing animals. It’s not gratuitous but it could be a trigger for some. (You could skim over those parts and not miss anything.) But this is definitely one pulse-pounding read!

Book Review: "Six Stories" by Matt Wesolowski

Wow, this was crazy good! I wasn't really sure what to expect but it definitely surprised me!

I may be in the minority, but I never listened to any of the Serial podcast. I know, I know...it was supposed to be fantastic, but strangely enough, I have a real problem focusing if I have to just concentrate on listening to something. Reading, watching television, listening to music are all fine, but listening to a podcast or an audio book doesn't work for me. I'm a little too manic, I guess!

Matt Wesolowski's Six Stories follows the work of investigative journalist Scott King, whose program of the same name explores complicated cases, looking at them from six different perspectives. (Get it? Six perspectives, six stories?) He doesn't have a particular purpose in selecting the case—he's not an advocate for freeing unfairly prosecuted criminals or looking to reopen cases, he's just fascinated by complicated cases.

King decides to take on the 1996 disappearance of 15-year-old Tom Jeffries, who went missing during a trip his Outward Bound-type group took to the Scarclaw Fell Woodlands Centre. Tom was one of five teenagers who participated in the trip, and none of his peers knew what happened to him—when they went to bed he was there, and when they awoke in the morning, he was gone. Tom's body wasn't discovered until a year later by the son of the man who bought the land where the Centre once stood. His death was ruled a "misadventure," and no one was found liable.

Twenty years later, King interviews many of those involved at the time—the leader of the outdoors group who took the teens on the trip, a man who became inadvertently enmeshed with the teens, and several of the participants themselves, as well as the man who discovered Jeffries' body. The story that emerges years later sheds new light on the events leading up to the night Jeffries disappeared, the dynamics of the group of teenagers and their sometimes-troubling behavior, the instances in which more adult supervision might have changed things, and the disturbing and bizarre legends and ghost stories about a sinister figure or creature who haunts the Fell.

"There is evil in the world. There is definitely evil in this world of ours. We carve monuments to our fallen, engrave them with the names of those whose lives were snuffed out when trying to stop evil. We don't forget."

What really did happen the night Jeffries disappeared, and why did it take a year for his body to surface? Was someone supposedly innocent actually guilty, or was there a supernatural force at play? Can our memories, our interpretations of events which occurred so long ago, particularly when we were young, be trusted, or is everything open to manipulation? Can the person who weaves the threads of the stories together be trusted either?

This was a tremendously compelling book, full of suspense and twists. While I might have had some suspicions about how things would unfold, Wesolowski really kept me guessing, and kept me hooked as if I were listening to one of his podcasts. The story is a little creepy, a little sad, a little frustrating, and a little confusing—just like life itself.

I'm still not 100 percent sure how everything tied together, or what really happened in the end, but I enjoyed the ride Wesolowski took me on. Definitely one of those books that grabs you and doesn't really let you go.

Movie Review: "Captain Fantastic"

At least some of you know that once the Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations are announced, we spend a lot of time at the movies, seeing all of the movies and performances nominated for the major awards, so we're reasonably prepared come Oscar nomination time. (Then, of course, comes the crush to see anything we haven't seen before the Oscars—we usually come really close, if not hit 100 percent.)

I'm actually grateful for this obsession, because sometimes the Golden Globes and SAGs nominate performances or movies that got very little, if any, time in theaters around here, so learning about them introduces me to some great films and performances I might not have otherwise seen. Captain Fantastic is definitely one of those.

Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) and his wife Leslie have raised their six children in a remote cabin in the mountains of Washington state, almost completely off the grid. They've educated their children in history, science, politics, culture, survivalism, even socialism. (A favorite holiday is Noam Chomsky Day.) These children know how to hunt, forage for, and grow their own food; they know how to rappel, climb rocks, defend themselves, and treat injuries; and they are stronger, faster, and more agile than most adults, let alone children their own age. Ben and Leslie have also taught their children to be critical thinkers, although they mostly believe the same things their parents (or more so, their father) do.

Over the last several years, Leslie has been suffering from mental illness, and is starting to tire of life off the grid. She wants her children to live more typical lives and interact with their peers. Yet this is a source of significant friction between her and Ben, and she has been hospitalized while he remains with the kids.

While some of the children are devoted to their father and the life they know, some are beginning to think like their mother. The oldest child, Bo (George MacKay), wants to go to college, and realizes that he has no understanding of how people interact in the "real world." When a tragedy forces Ben and the children back into society, their interactions with Ben's sister and her family, as well as Leslie's parents (Frank Langella and Ann Dowd), devout Christians who blame Ben for what has befallen their daughter, show just how wide the divide is between Ben's way of thinking and others', and it sets up a situation in which the children must choose what path they want to follow.

Mortensen is a tremendously versatile actor, equally comfortable in both fantastical and realistic roles. His performance is Captain Fantastic is both intense and sensitive—he's a man who so fully believes that the way he has raised his children is right, and can't believe anyone (including his children) would disagree with that, but he's absolutely horrified when he realizes that he may have done his children a disservice. He is proud of the ways his children excel over others, yet turns a blind eye to where they may be lacking. And he is a man devoted to his wife, but he cannot understand why she would suddenly change her mind about the life they have chosen for them and their children. (Oh, and he goes full Viggo again in this movie, if you know what I mean.)

The actors playing the children are all quite good, particularly MacKay and Nicholas Hamilton, who plays the son whose questions and wants start to cause cracks in the foundation Ben has built. Langella has a fairly one-dimensional role as the film's heavy, and Kathryn Hahn and Steve Zahn, playing Ben's sister and brother-in-law, don't have a lot to do other than be shocked at how outlandish Ben's behavior and obsession has become.

This is a sweet, predictable movie, but its quality is ratcheted up a few notches because of some of the performances, particularly Mortensen's. He has been nominated for Golden Globe and SAG Awards, and I hope to see his name among the Best Actor Oscar nominees later this month. It's definitely a movie worth seeing—it's thought-provoking, a little emotional, and quite enjoyable.

Book Review: "Treehab: Tales from My Natural, Wild Life" by Bob Smith

Bob Smith is a tremendously funny comedian—in fact, he was the first openly gay comedian to appear on The Tonight Show and have his own episode of HBO Comedy Half-Hour. He's also a writer, of both novels and essays. (I really enjoyed Remembrance of Things I Forgot, a twist on a time-travel novel, which I read a number of years ago.)

About 10 years ago, Bob was diagnosed with ALS. While he can no longer speak, or walk, he is determined not to wallow in his disease or allow it to hamper his enjoyment of his life. Treehab—named for a retreat cabin in rural Ontario—isn't, as I expected, a book about how he finds the courage to fight every day, or a tribute to his incredible support system. Those elements certainly do have their part in the book, but it's more a story about his lifelong interest and enjoyment in nature and the outdoors, particularly the Alaskan wilderness, and how he has derived peace, satisfaction, and enjoyment from his time spent with nature.

"It took a life-threatening illness to make me see that the reason most of us love the natural world is because it's a visual and vocal echo that we're alive."

Much of the chapters in this book focus on the sheer joy he feels when he and his friends are hiking, seeing the amazing array of birds that inhabit the places he has visited, and realizing that we are tremendously lucky to be witnessing the beauty of the natural world. He has a particular fondness for Alaska and the people (not to mention the men) he has met on his many visits. But even now, as he struggles to fight ALS, his time in nature provides comfort, centering, and security.

Treehab is also a book about friendship, as Bob recounts the relationships he has with his "Nature Boys," his closest group of friends who have helped him through many of the ups and downs in his life, and share his zeal for the outdoors. And it's also a book about fatherhood, since he fathered two children with friends of his, and his desire to instill in his children the importance of being good people, as well as loving and caring for the world around them.

"I definitely want to teach Maddie and Xander that being angry about other people's selfishness and lack of compassion is actually a virtue...I'm afraid I'll die before they are old enough to know—or even remember—me, and I'm immodest enough to think that people who don't know me are missing out on something terrific."

I really expected this book to be a maudlin read, given the seriousness of ALS. Bob had a very deft sense of when the tone was getting too somber, and quickly lightened things with some humor. But for the most part, this is a book that dazzles you with the imagery he recounts of beautiful, colorful birds, picturesque sunrises and sunsets, and the breathtaking beauty of Alaska. He also isn't above being self-deprecating, especially if he thinks he can get a laugh out of the readers.

While you know where Bob's story will ultimately end someday, and that adds a bit of a pall to the book, this book didn't leave me feeling sad. I felt inspired to appreciate the natural world around me a little bit more, and realize how lucky I am to have the love and support of my family and friends. But more than that, I felt thankful that Bob was willing to share his life's struggles and his life's joys with us. Both moved me, made me think, and will stick in my mind.

Book Review: "The Last One" by Alexandra Oliva

Alexandra Oliva's The Last One is really thought-provoking. A look at the making of and the people involved with a Survivor-type television show, crossed with a bit of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, this wasn't quite what expected, and it moved me more than I thought it would.

In the Dark is going to be the next big thing in television. A wilderness survival show with an enormous budget, the producers are ready to pull out all of the stops—and the truth is, no one knows just how far the show will go, or how it will end. They assembled a cast that the viewers will both love and love to hate—there are those who seem like real threats to win the competition, those who seem like appealing people the audience will root for, and those who will make good television. (Sounds like every reality show out there, doesn't it?)

We get glimpses of the characters, labeled by the nicknames those involved with the show use to refer to them—Tracker, Carpenter Chick, Air Force, Black Doctor, Waitress, Exorcist, Engineer, Banker, Rancher, Asian Chick, and Cheerleader Boy. But it is Zoo, a researcher at a wildlife refuge near her home, whose eyes we see the show, and the entire book through.

As the episodes of the show unfold, it doesn't seem too surprising if you've ever watched Survivor. But the behind-the-scenes stuff is coupled with a more real survival tale—the contestants are sent out on an individual challenge, and during that something catastrophic happens. Zoo keeps moving forward in her pursuit of her next clues, going where she believes the show wants her to, and starts encountering props and situations more disturbing than what they've had to face thus far. Yet even as she grows physically and emotionally weaker, she keeps on, desperate to make it home to her husband and, if possible, to win.

"If I allow myself to doubt, I'll be lost. I can't doubt. I don't. It all makes sense."

This book was a very interesting juxtaposition between the entertainment world and the much bleaker "real" world that Zoo faces. Having watched Survivor in its first few seasons, as well as a few other reality shows here and there, I didn't find that part of the plot as interesting as Zoo's own journey was. And while I felt it took a little too long for Zoo to realize what had happened, and what was around her, that part of the plot was compelling and tremendously moving, as a person so mentally and physically exhausted, fighting her own psychological demons even before joining the show, has to accept a new, well, reality vastly different than anything she was expecting.

Oliva is really talented, and she really balanced the more lighthearted and sensational elements of the plot with the weightier ones. I thought Zoo was a pretty fascinating character, but I almost wish we had gotten to know a few of her fellow competitors a little bit more, although I understand the point of the book. Beyond the items I mentioned above, my only other criticism is that, while the book refers to the show's characters by their nicknames, Zoo refers to them throughout the book by their first names, which we were never privy to, so it was difficult to keep straight in some cases whom she was thinking about. (I'm hoping that might be caught in the last round of edits before publication.)

This is a thought-provoking, well-written, and emotionally satisfying book. It may not necessarily surprise, but it definitely will make you think, and perhaps look at your favorite reality shows a little differently.

NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group — Ballantine provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Movie Review: "Wild"

I have been a fan of Reese Witherspoon for years, since I saw her in her film debut, The Man in the Moon, almost 25 years ago. Nearly all of her performances, particularly those for which she's most known, have an inner pluckiness which helps her characters overcome the challenging situations they find themselves in. While I don't have a problem with that in general, sometimes I feel as if I'm watching her play the same parts over and over, despite enjoying watching her.

But with Wild, the film adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's memoir recounting her 1,100-mile solo hike up the Pacific Crest Trail, Witherspoon is at times an absolute mess, at times fighting to keep afloat, and it's definitely one of the strongest performances she's given in her career.

Following the death of her beloved mother (Laura Dern), Strayed's life completely unravels. She feels utterly empty, and tries to fill that void by sleeping with various men (much to the chagrin of her husband) and experimenting with drugs. When she feels as if she's about to hit rock bottom, she decides to challenge herself with a solo hike up the Pacific Crest Trail, from California to Oregon. She's never really hiked that much, and she has no idea what she's getting herself into—which is easy to see with the first glimpse you get at her gigantic pack (nicknamed "The Monster" by a fellow hiker).

While she has the opportunity to be alone with her thoughts and revel in the beauty of nature around her, she also tries to figure out how she let her life go so off course, and wishes she had the opportunity to be the woman her mother always thought she could be. She has to face harrowing conditions and more physical aches and pains than she could ever imagine, and every encounter she has with other hikers or people she meets has the possibility of being fraught with peril. But this is a journey of self-discovery, and an opportunity to regain the faith in herself she so desperately needs.

Strayed's hike is interspersed with flashbacks of her childhood, being raised in a home with an alcoholic, abusive father, and then watching her mother struggle to make ends meet for her and her younger brother as they live on their own. But despite the bleakness of the situation, Strayed's mother never lost her zeal for life, her positive attitude, and her desire to be the best person she could be, and this frustrated and confused Cheryl more times than she could count. How could her mother not just give up? How could she not want to curl up into a ball, or do something self-destructive, instead of soldiering on each day and trying to better herself and her children?

I didn't read Strayed's book, but I expected it to be a little more Eat Pray Love-ish than the more introspective and inspirational story that it was. While obviously I knew that Strayed survived her hike in order to write about it, I watched most of the movie half expecting some crisis to befall her while on the trail. But little did I realize that the crises were mostly her own, having to come to terms with feeling she disappointed her mother and didn't know how she'd be able to go on after she was done with her hike.

Dern gives a beautiful, charismatic performance, as does Thomas Sadoski in his few scenes as Strayed's ex-husband. But this movie belongs to Witherspoon, as for most of it, she's the only one on screen. Her performance is raw, nuanced, emotional, yet restrained, and is simply mesmerizing. As much as I loved her in movies like Legally Blonde and Election, this is the movie which truly demonstrates the depth of her talent, and this is a performance absolutely worthy of an Oscar nomination. (More so, in my opinion, than the role she won for, in Walk the Line.)

While Wild is a little slow to start (much as Strayed was at the beginning of her hike), as it picks up steam, it picks up emotion, depth, and heart. It's a movie that makes you think as it tugs at your emotions.